Mokau to Home

Herewith the second part of my short road trip- now heading homewards.

I stayed the night in my tent at the camping ground near Mokau- just the other side of the dunes from the waves. It was a place I had driven past often enough when I was a student, and I had always wanted to stay here.  It was coming up to full tide as the sun set, and I sat in my deck chair watching. I fell asleep in my tent with the breakers pounding just metres from my head.

By early morning the tide was lower and I walked along the quiet beach as dawn arrived.

I packed up and started heading south into Taranaki. I planned to re-visit some beaches from my childhood, but I got the timing a bit wrong: high tide meant that I just had to look at them rather than walk along them.

That evening in New Plymouth the plan was to visit Pukekura Park to see the lights. This wooden bridge was crowded with people enjoying the lights, but it was also a special place from my childhood: I have a photo with me standing on here when I was quite young, and I am certain most other Taranaki children have one the same.

Lights of various kinds were in all kinds of unexpected places. I quite liked this eerie effect on the waterwheel.

Next day in the car I explored some of the back roads in Taranaki, on the coast side. To start with the mountain was draped in cloud, but by the time I was getting near Auroa, you could see most of it poking out, with Fantham's Peak prominent from this side.

I decided to head into the national park, to take a look at Dawson Falls. We'd done a bit study on the mountain for seventh form biology, and this plant was one I remembered well. Ourisia macrophyllum is the name that seems lodged in my head.

The climb down to the falls and up again seemed much harder than in my younger days. It's definitely time to get back into walking on some local walking tracks to regain my walking fitness!

I drove back down to the coastal road for more explorations. Otakeho was the name of this village that once would have been the centre of a dairy farming area, but now is barely recognisable as a locality.

Next day it was time to head home. First stop was at Lake Rotokare, where a local group has fenced off a reserve with expensive predator fencing so kiwi can make a come-back here. There was a system of double gates for cars to come in.

Once out of the reserve I set my GPS to give me a route to Tawhiti museum so I could see the Traders and Whalers exhibit. The GPS didn't disappoint and gave me a lovey route that had some of the grandest views of the mountain in the province.

And finally I reached home again, and next day there was time for a walk in Bledisloe Park, where I discovered some of the 'secret' parts of the aboretum that I had never found before. I'll be back!

Home to Hamilton

Yes, posting has been a bit light over summer. But I have been on a little roadtrip and finally you get to see some photos!

First photo is from before I left home- a freshly fledged blackbird. She sat patiently on the railing beside the deck so I could get a photo even through the somewhat dirty window of the study. 

And before I took off up north I spent a morning wandering on Himatangi Beach. One of the surprises of the walk was seeing all these vintage cars turn up. They were off on a two-day rally from the west coast to the east. It was a lovely calm morning, with gentle sunshine. But before the afternoon was out, someone had drowned in the surf which seemed almost unbelievable after my peaceful morning. However, the rip currents on these west coast beaches are often quite unpredictable.

 I drove up on SH1 through the volcanic plateau. It was a clear day and the views of the volcanoes were spectacular. Here is Ngauruhoe. Ruapehu and Tongariro both have raised volcanic alert levels at present, but all stayed calm, except for the smell of sulphur in Taupo in the evening.

 Leaving Taupo I decided I had better see Huka Falls which I keep hearing about. I think that maybe I was here once many years ago, but it may have been at a time of low outflow from Lake Taupo, and I don't remember anything memorable. But today was quite another story. What happens is that water leaves Lake Taupo- the start of the Waikato River- but soon gets squeezed in a narrow channel of hard volcanic rock. So the water passes through this channel at high pressure, and both the sight and the sound of the rushing water is very impressive.

I was heading north to Hamilton but decided to divert via Rotorua to see my favourite thermal park, Wai-o-tapu. You can read more about this park here. The cost to get in was a bit of a shock ($32.50 per adult- definitely prices aimed at the overseas tourist market.) However, the colours and sights here are so impressive. The top shot is a first view of the Champagne Pool, from a distance.

 I loved the colours in this pool, the way the sulphur colour sort of looked like frying egg yolk.

 And here's the drama of the colours of the Champagne pool closer up.

Before leaving Hamilton the next morning I visited Hamilton Gardens. These weren't even in existence when I left the city at the end of my student days, but a lot of vision has gone into creating them. There are a wide variety of themed gardens- and I could do a whole blog post on them. However, you just get two photos. Top one is of a feather that happened to be floating on the little lakelet in the quiet Japanese garden of contemplation.

And these water lilies were in the bigger lake near the entrance gate.

One new garden since my last visit here was the Maori garden that showed the methods Maori people had used for cultivation. In this garden were kumara which grew easily on the warmer islands of Poynesia, but here in New Zealand methods of heaping the earth up around the plants had to be developed.

(Part 2 of my summer road trip coming soon.. Mokau to home. )

Happy New Year!

From the part of the world that sees it first, Happy New Year to you all! 

 The countdown is on- the stage for the NYE concert in the Square in Palmerston North.

 Midnight- Fireworks!

 I was using the Fireworks setting on my new camera for the first time. 

Loved the way it captured some stars!

Happy New Year wishes y'all!

Highland Pipers in the Square

Early in December each year there is a gathering of Highland pipers in the Square here in Palmy, and I took a wander down there this morning. They must have been relieved that 'summer' weather had finally arrived as it was a lovely day for it. And since I have recently posted quite a few photos from Auckland, and Christchurch, far from home, I thought it was time to post 'local'.

 The sculptures around the 'marae' always intrigue me.

 The butterfly lakelets are one of my favourite spots in the Square, 

and at present the roses near it look magnificent.

 This sculpture by Paul Dibble, of the extinct Huia, is another of his precious works in the city.

 There is a 'pall' hanging over this landmark on the edge of the Square, All Saints church.

It has been discovered to have very low strength for a major earthquake and will be closed soon- 

until it can be decided if strengthening is affordable. 

 I love wandering through the Square on Highland Pipes Day- 

you get to hear and see groups from all round the country practising and performing.

And on the way home I saw a Tui ad I agreed with. Often I find their billboards sexist, and sometimes offensive- obviously I am not their target demographic. But a Jetstar ad, I could identify with...

TP 224 Mellow yellow

This week Carmi has set "Mellow Yellow" as the photo theme for the week. I found I had several 'softer' yellow shots amongst ones I had recently taken.

This is probably my favourite of the bunch. There were candles burning in front of an icon at St Pat's Cathedral in Auckland when I was there a fortnight ago.

These little bees were also spied in Auckland- in a shop window in Victoria Market. Cute!

The last four photos were all taken from a recent weekend in Christchurch. (Yes I have been a bit of a gadabout lately.) These mellow yellow mugs have newly appeared in my friends' house- they had a lot of kitchenware broken in the earthquakes.

 There were quite a few out-of-towners for tea- and a plate of eggs was one of the choices for dinner.

 I am always surprised to see these lemons this far south. 

And despite the fact it was only early November, even a mellow yellow rose was in bloom. Somehow the desolation around because of the earthquakes has made the garden seem even more glorious.

Auckland Walk

Last weekend I was in Auckland, and luckily the weather was good for a walk downtown on Saturday afternoon.  Here's a pretty random collection of photos from my brief time up there.

From many spots downtown you get a view of the Sky Tower, a feature of its cityscape that Aucklanders appear to be inordinately proud of. But this always puzzles me somewhat- why would you want to give such homage to a symbol of gambling?

I headed down towards the waterfront. At first I didn't like it too much, and I kept comparing it adversely with the Wellington waterfront area which I love, and which is so people-friendly for walking along. Here in Auckland the waterfront seemed dominated by lots of expensive boats in marinas, toys for the wealthy, and another homage to money.

 However, as I got closer to the Wynyard Quarter I came to love what I was seeing. It was all so random, and unexpected, with surprising little details at every turn. For instance, there was this striped walkway, dramatic underfoot.

 And although yachting isn't my thing, I found I still felt very excited when I saw this Team New Zealand inflatable coming into dock.

 And there were all sorts of odd places where people could sit. The sight of these two sets of legs made me laugh.

 I'd seen these towers on TV not long before I headed north- and was glad to stumble upon them as I walked. Interesting to look at, and the snippets of poetry on them were great to contemplate.

 I loved the 'roof' over this little pool. I put this photo on Facebook, and some friends didn't like it at all. But it seemed to suit the 'industrial' nature of this whole quarter, and I found it quite intriguing.

 Another random 'seat' down by the waterfront. 

As I headed away from the waterfront, I passed a huge number of marine stores, something you would only see in Auckland here in NZ. Goods seemed to range from these basic kayaks, right up to high-end marine electronics for the bigger yachts. 

I was keen to reach Victoria Park on my rambles, as I had good memories of the Victoria Market when I was younger, (much younger!) I knew they had been changed by motorway developments in the area, but I was surprised by how much. They looked really attractive from the outside, but the old 'hippy' heart and soul of the place had nearly disappeared. Instead of this being a place for local people to poke around in, it seemed like now it was much more up-market and aimed at tourists.

By now I was ready for a late-lunch break, and for check-in at my basic hotel on Wyndham St, on the same street as St Pat's Cathedral. This was an oasis of peace, with a very attractive little park behind it. I fell in love with the sculpture with running water that had a quote from Julian of Norwich on it- and returned to see this in the morning before I left for the airport.

I rested my feet a little, and enjoyed the view from my small 13th floor balcony, then headed up the hill to the Civic Theatre for the evening. This ornate building has been beautifully restored, and had surprises at every turn- one of relatively few treasures from a bygone era that still sits gracefully on Queen St. 

 

Font- in St Patrick's Square.

I always have ambivalent feelings about Auckland, but I enjoyed my weekend 'taster'. I noticed a board describing a walking route from one harbour to the other.... I'll be back one day before long to do it....