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Rural Wiararapa
The Waimimi farm is bounded by the river in the distance Wairarapa June 21 2015
The travelling really stopped in Darwin. Sydney was better than we expected and now we are in New Zealand we are on familiar territory. This our fifth visit in the twenty five years Jane's sister Rachel has been living here.
A major highlight of any visit to New Zealand is just to come out and experience rural life in the Wairarapa which is so very different from anywhere in the South East of England and most of Europe. This time we were able to share it for a few days with our new travel buddies, Emma and Moos.
Travelling has always been for me about who you meet and sharing experiences rather than looking at inanimate objects, no matter how old and incredible. So it was great that we could link up with Moos and Emma again having already spent a week travelling together in Northern Sumartra. We had taken very different route to get here. To their credit Moos and Emma had reached Perth in Australia from the Netherlands with outflying at all. We enjoyed hearing their stories of the 'cultural experience' of travelling from Java to
Perth on a cruise boat full of Western Australian pensioners. They had flown to Auckland from Perth and had spent a month touring the South Island in their rented camper van before meeting us in Masterton.
I came into town to show them the way to Rachel and Les's home at the Waimimi farm on the East Coast forty minutes West. This is the rural Wairarapa and other cars were few and far between. Les was a wonderful guide; describing the finer points of crutching and mustering sheep, humanely killing and butchering a hogget, taking them deer spotting and a giving an enlightening tour of his varied gun collection.
One sunny day we took the boat down the river to catch flounder and mussels (remember it is the equivalent of December in North Hemisphere in New Zealand at the moment). We had 14 good size fish with only three sweeps of the seine net. There was drama too when Jackson, the dog fell in the river and went under the boat. Before anyone else moved Emma, bless her, was in the water to the rescue. The water is cold. Both Emma and Jackson were
subsequently rescued and warmed up. The neoprene balaclava made all the difference when I dived for green lipped mussels at a muddy river corner on the return journey.
There is never any shortage of meat. Toby regularly brings home a carcass from pig hunting expeditions around the surrounding farms. I will spare you the gruesome details suffice as to say that they are a pest introduced by Cook which will rout up good land unless controlled. With Les otherwise engaged I was proud to blow torch (to remove the hair) and butcher my first pig in the backyard. Just yesterday Toby had caught four wild piglets which are now being bottle fed until they are old enough to feed for themselves in the paddock at the back. They will be fatten up for eating in six to twelve months.
We did only our second ever trip to the South Island to Nelson, the home of Les's newly rediscovered family. His sprite Grandma, Beryl, at 92 remains a role model for us all. The nearby Abel Tasman National Park was arguably at its best out of season. It is a magical coastline of rock bluffs
and golden beaches. A boat taxi took us up the coast so we could have a easy walk back from Anchorage. Small mammal traps are everywhere because they are trying to regenerate the native environment. In Nelson we found a small Heath Robinsonesque distillery making hop flavoured gin which was surprisingly good. Many of the locally renowned craft beers tend to over do it.
On a sunny afternoon you can not beat a leisurely cycle ride around Hawkes Bay wineries tasting as you go. It is flat and there are more open even in winter than you can visit in day (and still ride that is). It is a young industry and the hosts in each case were very knowledgeable whilst each trying to promote their own product. Te Mata gave a great view of the vineyards below with volcanic Raipahu visible in the far distance.
Te Pape museum in Wellington is worth many hours even days. The big exhibition of the moment describes the Allies farcical Gallipoli campaign in WW1. The stars of the show were larger than life incredibly detailed models of participants from which there are remaining diaries. Sound tracks played
extracts while you studied the figures. I wish I had known that my Great Uncle Bill had been in the battle before I went.
Our one hike (tramp?) has been up Mount Holdsworth just West of Masterton. The mountains are not just in the South Island. The Tararuas have a fierce reputation particularly for the wind. Our timing was perfect. We made use of the extensive mountain hut network in New Zealand. Powell Hut just below the Holdsworth summit has bunks for over thirty and is a common stop for school parties in the summer. On a Tuesday in winter there were three of us staying overnight, ourselves and a Canadian lady, Christine. Our visit coincided with the regular inspection by the local warden so wood and coal was plentiful for the fire and the gas cookers all operational. The hut has no electrics and I passed the evening reading Kipling short stories out loud by candle light (the only material to be found). We slept on mattresses around the log burner and twice in the night restoked the fire to keep warm.
There was 10 to 15 cm of snow on the ground
outside. We woke to a clear blue sky and Christine and I scampered up the hill to watch the sunrise. When we returned later to summit the peak (1470m approximately the height of Ben Nevis (1433m)) the bitter wind had dropped away to almost nothing and we had an uninterupted panorama in all directions. On our decent we were passed by two mountain runners, one in shorts, T shirt and running shoes, a bit extreme when the snow was knee deep in places.
The only challenging journey we have had in New Zealand was the drive from Masterton to Taranaki on the West Coast earlier this week. Two days before there had been devastating floods in the Wanganui region. Many key routes were blocked by landslides (and still are!). We were lucky a ridge road North of Cheltenham (!) was open. Even so there must have been a landslip every few km by the road side. As with many journeys that are not straight forward this one took down the spectacular Mangamako Road which we otherwise would not have found. The road wound around the edge of the high sided river gorge of compressed volcanic dust dotted
Lunch break on the river
Remember this is the equivalent of December in the Northern Hemisphre with waterfalls. We had to go way North so we could get on the one open road to New Plymouth. It was nine hours in the car. Our return took a mere four hours the debris of the flood still very much in evidence. Only in one place had the road completely collapsed.
Our reward was to be in Taranaki for two clear days with many distinctive views of Mount Egmont/Taranaki (8260m) on offer. It is quite simply the picture postcard of volcanoes. Its sides slowly increase in incline towards the symmetric summit crater. At this time of year half the mountain is snow covered. Despite blue sky across most of Taranaki we were turned around 2 km from the North visitors centre at 3140m because of ice and snow.
We had booked into an AirBnB room in New Plymouth. It often turns up characters and this visit was no exception. Doug, our host, was an experienced hiker and a font of knowledge on the area. He was in his late seventies I would guess and must have lost his wife recently. What made him stand out was that he was clearly a committed
naturist, although we never got around to discussing it directly. Our room had tasteful nude photos on the wall and a folder of articles he had written for the New Zealand nudist magazine. He displayed a book on naked hiking and had a article on summiting Mt Taranaki in the buff. He was a great host. We all kept our clothes on and we can heartily recommend him.
There has been so much to experience in New Zealand without even touching the major attractions of Rotorua, Taupo, Queenstown, Fox Glacier etc. Just like in so many countries we have visited this year it is aspects other than the 5 star tourist attractions we shall remember in the long term.
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Michele Bell
non-member comment
Beautiful
Inspiring! New Zealand is on our list!