Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 5

We took the bus into Wellington Central early, watching Wellingtonians ‘go to work’. As it was well before opening time for the Te Papa Museum, we scurried about visiting areas we had not seen before. The wind was picking up! Even though we tried to do the museum justice by spending 3 hours learning, thoroughly enjoying and being ‘moved’ by the fascinating displays and information we knew we still had only scratched the surface. Te Papa is full of the treasures and unique stories of Aotearoa New Zealand from Maori and Pacific culture, to art and the natural environment. Level 3, Blood Earth Fire, was my favourite. We began at level 6 and worked our way to level 3, with 2 and 1 still to go, however, we were out-on-our-feet. When Jane said she was tired, ... read more

An absolutely beautiful, pleasant, discovering day. The weather was terrific. We began by wandering the Waikanae Beach, making comments that the driftwood, shells and volcanic stones would be an artisans mecca. The weathering by sea and sand of the pieces of driftwood and stones into all sorts of shapes and smoothness had us wanting to take many pieces home but knew that was not possible. We were present when the local ferry ‘berthed’ (see photos). Birdlife was prolific. Kapiti Island is 5km across the Rauoterangi Channel and is a popular destination for many. Waikanae, meaning ‘waters of the grey mullet’ is also home to numerous walking, running, cycling and horse trails. The Tararua Ranges which we white knuckled experienced yesterday look over Waikanae and the Kapiti Coast. Tripping further south we came across, Paraparaumu. Its beach, ... read more

Pulling the curtains aside and seeing absolutely clear skies, it was, “Oh beauty”, however, upon setting out after breakfast, a fog occurred from out of nowhere, reducing visibility to 50m or less. We ‘drove-out-of-it’ after about 30kms as we headed to our destination of Castlepoint on the eastern coast of the North Island. It is enough to say that wherever you travel in NZ the countryside is lush and scenic. Literally minutes after turning-off at Masterton for the coast the saturated and still flooded fields both sides of the road were in evidence. Things were to become worse. The streams had become rivers and the rivers had become raging torrents during the recent cyclone and infrastructure damage was clearly visible. Tall cornfield crops still had water to half of their height, farmhouses with mudlines a third ... read more

As we set off we were mentally prepared for an overcast rain filled day. However, as we slowly winded our way south the skies cleared and the rain ceased. The higher we went the stronger and colder became the wind. We followed the undulating highway 30 through scenic cattle filled lush countryside. From just before Atiamuri we drove high above the mighty Waikato River stopping where we were able to take a few photos and to walk some of the trails, one which included numerous stairs beside the highway which we climbed to be rewarded by sensational views. Through the Hydro village of Whakamaru and onto highway 32 keeping Lake Taupo to the east of us. Highways 47 and 48 took us into the Tongariro National Park, a place at high altitude, barren landscape and cold. ... read more

After a confusing start due to road works and road closures we finally freed ourselves from the metropolis of Maunganui-Tauranga and hit the countryside roads but not before we fell victim to a Toll Road due to road closures before the Toll. Deliberate I’d say! We followed the long Kohioawa Beach to our first stop, Matata where we had a coffee and shared half a muffin each and enjoyed the small community. Our NZ neighbour back in Perth, Ron Hardie, is from Kawerau and as that was not many kays from Matata we headed there. It is home to the Tasman Pulp Paper Mill. We watched some of the action from the side of the road. Our biggest surprise while exploring Kawerau was coming across the huge Ron Hardie Recreation Centre named after our neighbours Dad. ... read more