Taranaki Falls

When lockdown was over and we were in Level 2, the Chateau Tongariro was advertising special deals to stay- and I decided to take advantage of their offer. The weather was brilliant, and I was able to walk the Taranaki Falls track, perhaps my favourite New Zealand track as it has turned out beside the Hooker track in Mt Cook National Park.

The track started not far from the Chateau itself. It was a loop track, and by accident really, I took the lower of the two tracks first, which in hindsight I am quite pleased about. It descended at times down to streams, and so the views up higher came as a delightful surprise.

 It wasn't long before I was noticing icy deposits near the path.

 You could look back past the alpine scrub to see the Chateau.

 The stream that I walked alongside in places had icy stretches in the shade. The patterns in the ice were quite beautiful.

 Then all of a sudden I found myself climbing a little out into more open alpine scrub. The three young men in this photo were from France- so had obviously been with us through lockdown.

 Up high I came across a stream that was pretty much completely iced over, and frozen into stillness.

 The Taranaki Falls came into view, and were stunning.

 The white 'circle' around them was ice, as you could see when you went closer. Not a pool to plunge into midwinter!

 I sat beside the waterfall on a rock for ages, just soaking in the unbelievable sunshine and blue skies, listening to the sound of the water falling.

 But then came the return loop. There was a bit of a climb, though not unduly harsh, and soon you were seeing the stream away from the falls from above.

 And above on high you had views of Mts Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, and also in the distance, Mt Taranaki.

 Later, back in the Chateau I could relax in deep armchairs and enjoy the art deco windows...

 This view of the sunset was from the terrace of the Chateau building, right beneath my window.

 Next morning I drove home via the road near Rangipo and over to Turangi. There was a frost, and the drive was somewhat scary in places with icy roads- but it was so worth it just to see this icy spidersweb- a first for me!

subtle autumn

It is all a wee bit strange at present, noticing just the first changes of autumn around me. So far, the changes have mainly been quite subtle, though in places the deciduous trees are starting to look more obviously autumnal. The strangeness comes from the fact that I know when I reach Paris in less than three weeks now, I am going to be plunged headlong into spring, with blossoms blooming, and leaves budding out in spring green. But then when I start walking at a higher altitude, I will 'step back' again towards winter where some trees might still be quite bare.

But for now, I am still home in the southern hemisphere, in the subtle part of autumn. Out walking this morning I even saw a tree in full blossom- a native lacebark, which rather unusually does flower profusely in autumn.

And back home in my garden, I looked at the magnolia that is the first garden tree to blossom when the spring arrives. Its leaves are only just showing the first signs of autumnal browning, but when I looked closely, I was surprised to see the buds that will burst forth in a few months time are already forming.

This blog will have a little hiatus soon. For those of you who want to follow a little of my exploits in France, I will try and blog when I can at another blog, Festina Lente.

Along Green's Rd

Last night I read an account written by someone who has walked the route I am planning to walk in a few months- and it scared me somewhat! I knew that the Cluny route was going to be very hilly- but I didn't really think too hard about the long distances that might be needed if the limited accommodation is booked out... So, I decided that my 'training' so far has been a bit like 'playtime' compared to what is to come, and today had to be another 'hill' day. And finally, we had a 'proper' summer's day for it. I parked my car at the end of the sealed section of Turitea Rd, so I could walk up the metalled road and through the walking/biking section onto Green's Rd- then return.

There were lots of wildflowers along the way.

 And it also seemed to be a busy time for 'nests' for various insects or spiders.

The sunshine was pouring down as I reached one high point, ready to walk downhill then up the other side again. You can't see them here, but a group of soldiers were training for what looked like mine-sweeping operations. One of them offered me some water if I needed it: my face probably looked quite red and sweaty when I passed them, but I had a bottle of drink ready for when I reached the high point of the walk at the top of the very next hill.

 As I sat down at the high point for a drink and some fruit, I noticed a power pole, that seemed to provide a good contrast with yesterday's small pylon...

 There were quite a few native tree ferns alongside the road in various places.

And to finish- a bee on a thistle...

Manawatu Gorge

Now that I am 'seriously' into the countdown, I expect to walk the Manawatu Gorge track at least once a week until 'departure'. It's the 'best' (ie steepest, hilliest, longest) track near to home. By NZ track standards it's actually not all that steep, and the track has been graveled so it's easier walking, but it was perfect training for the kind of hills/tracks I walked on last time in France.

When I walked the Camino I used to carry little pieces of paper in my shorts pocket, with quotes on, that I'd read and think about during the day. Today I took a couple of short quotes. and one was: "We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand, and melting like a snowflake." ~Sir Francis Bacon. So I was pretty 'switched on' to noticing little things around me, and enjoying them, being aware of their passing beauty. There were raindrops on leaves, fungi of various kinds, sunlight on ferns...

 Then when I reached my 'endpoint' for the day at the "Windy Point" lookout, it was the big view that took my breath away. At this point you can look back along the Gorge, or look over to Woodville and the landscape beyond. Today the weather was in the process of 'changing', with real drama in the clouds above.

 I retraced my steps back to the newish lookout over the wind turbines, and had lunch at the picnic table. The turbines were really humming in the wind. The 'front' was really obvious, stacked up from the eastern side, with little clouds lower down scudding over from the west.

 Not so many people have been on the track since the Gorge road has been closed- and there's a patch where ongaonga (native stinging nettle) is growing well. It is every bit as vicious as it looks, but fortunately I never banged into it today!

 I was a bit surprised to see this bridge. Maybe I have daydreamed my way across it before- but I couldn't find an old track- so perhaps it just looked different with new planks on it...

 Some of the little fungi were quite well 'camouflaged'.

One really nice surprise today was to see these nikau palms flowering. There's quite a big patch of nikau, but I've seldom seen them flowering. I know they are doing quite a bit of 'pest control' on the track, so maybe these flowers are a sign that possum numbers are being reduced.

Akitio Beach Road Trip

Today I decided to take a little 'road trip' over to Akitio beach on the east coast. Though I've explored some of the other beaches and settlements in this area-  eg Porangahau, Herbertville, Pongaroa- I have never before made it down to Akitio.

I fell in love with Akitio Beach as soon as I arrived there. The pohutukawa were in the early stages of flowering right on the beach front- the flowers seem late this year after a grey November. I don't think anything shouts out 'summer' quite so loudly as pohutukawa by the sea.

It was a lovely beach to visit, with a peaceful, relaxed 'feel' to the settlement, and I must go back there sometime soon with my tent and stay a night. It is quite 'far away', and you have to travel on narrow, windy, hilly roads to get there, so even though it is peak holiday season, it wasn't too busy. There were quite a few people fishing, and boats were being taken in and out of the surf by tractors, (including some very ancient ones.) As I walked along the beach, I kept meeting friendly, relaxed people, keen for a chat. All very pleasant and low key.

The whole journey there and back was through a part of rural New Zealand we tend to call the 'heartland', and several times I met up with a 'traffic jam' along the road. It seems that this is a busy time of year for sheep farmers, getting their sheep into the shed for shearing etc.

I came home via the rural town of Eketahuna- and this lovingly knitted nativity scene was in the information centre.

And outside the information centre, was quite the largest Kiwi I have ever seen. Remarkable!

357: Gorge Walk

It's definitely time to ramp up the amount of 'training' I am doing for the Chemin that I will start in April. And the Manawatu Gorge is a great place to do it, with lots of hill climbing and a few steep descents... This photo is the view over to Ashhurst from the Te Apiti viewpoint.

I have more Gorge photos I should make a Nomad post with- but in case it isn't 'soonish', here is a second photo, of a tree fern.

 I always think the fronds look glorious against a blue sky.

349: tui on flax

It is that happy time of year again, when I can watch the tui feeding on flax in my back garden. I am giving you three photos: none of them is a perfect shot, but the different angles show you more about the bird, in this case a juvenile.

322: flax breakdown

section of one of the older leaves on the large flax bush in my backyard, breaking down

319: busy bumblebees

The bumblebees are all busy at present on this flowering bush in the garden.

Turitea Rd Walk

It was a nastily cold afternoon/evening outside yesterday, and I guess I wasn't expecting to wake up to sunshine today. But I did, and that sunshine spelled 'Walkies'. Camino/Chemin training has begun for me now:- in about six months I will be in the northern hemisphere for their spring, and walking will be my daily diet for more than a few weeks, so the time has come to start getting ready!

 I decided that a casual stroll up Turitea Rd might fit the bill this morning, so parked my car at the walkway carpark on Old West Rd. I came across these sheep sheltering under a tree very early on, and they kindly stayed still and posed for me.

They were just the first of the 'cooperative' animals today. Next were the alpacas in a front paddock. (There is another photo of them on my 365 blog.)

Soon after that I heard a kereru fly overhead, and it perched itself on this tree for a good feed.

 I walked up as far as the bridge by the Turitea Water Reserve, and decided to walk back via the Green Corridor as far as I could. Here they have been planting trees over the years, and you can access a track that runs near the stream.

 And if in fact you want to walk the length of the corridor, in three places you even have to cross the stream...

 ...and get your feet wet. Ahhh but it was fun- I haven't done it for a while. (And my shoes don't seem to have minded the dunking either: they are nearly dry after spending several hours in sunshine on the back deck.)

 Here's where I left the Green Corridor- feeling grateful to those who keep adding to it.

The last stretch back to the car was in warm sunshine- no jersey needed. And when bathed in sunshine, even mundane things like rusty fences become things of beauty.

That was the first of many walks I expect to take in the coming months. I'll keep you posted....

277: kowhai

The kowhai tree outside the classroom is coming into bloom...