New Zealand Day 21

New Zealand  Day 21  Friday  February 7th

Taupo

Visted Huka Falls this morning.  This is a set of rapids with a waterfall at the end of them on the Waikato river that drains lake Taupo.  There are lots of boat jet boat tours to them but we drove to it and managed to get photos from both sides of valley. This was very popular and loads of tourists there.

Rapids on Waikato River

Falls at end of rapids

From there we went to the 'Craters of the Moon' volcanic area.  This was quite good but hardly a moonscape.

From there we went to the Aratiatia Dam further down the river, where they let out the head of water every 2 hours throughout the day.  The released water floods the otherwise low level river in a narrow gorge.  We had to rush to get to the viewpoint in time but made it.  Worth rushing up that hill to see.

We tried to see some glassblowing but the glassmaker had stopped for the day so we went on to see the silica terraces at Wairakei.  These are in a thermal spa complex but we only went for the walk around the thermal area.  The terraces were started by humans to recreate the nearby famous pink terraces lost during the eruption of  Mount Tarawera in 1886.  There is also a geyser in the grounds.

Thermal area

Terraces

Geyser in area

New Zealand Day 20

New Zealand Day 20  Thursday February 6th   

Taupo  

Waitangii Day public holiday commemorating signing of treaty with Maoris in mid 19th century.

We are her on Lake Taupo a neat modern holiday resort.  Everything looks clean and well cared for.  Our motel is very upmarket with lots of nice features own spa bath, thermal mineral outdoor hot pool and heated swimming pool.  Some of the beachside suites are really fabulous.

Heated pool in bottom left corner thermal mineral pool above.

Beachside luxury rooms

Beach on Lake Taupo at sunset behind motel

We set out to look around town to see what was on offer and decided to go on a sailing ship tour of Maori carving sited on east side of lake.  The day was a very good sailing day sunny and breezy.  The ship was called the 'Barbary ' and was reputedly owned by Errol Flynn for a while.  He had it in lieu of a gambling debt for about 6 months until the debt was paid off.  They can't prove it but there are photos of him on the 

boat.

The Barbary

We went out at 2 o'clock in afternoon and there was a strong breeze.  The skipper was a woman as was her mate.

We were sitting along seating area running along deck.  When we got under sail the boat (I'm not a sailor so excuse lack of nautical terms) listed to the side that we were on and our feet were under water -absolutely terrific feeling -very exciting.  We seem to get most of the waves and our feet were frequently in the sea - literally.

After a really exiting voyage out to the carvings we reached quieter waters and were able to get a good look at the carvings.  These are not old but were created by Maori artists in the late 70s on a rock face and represent the face of the leader of the main Maori settlement to New Zealand and the minor ones represent stories connected to Maori legend.

We should have had a drier time coming back but we still seem to have more than our fair share of the waves particularly the people on the prow of the boat.

They were a lot wetter than this looks

   

New Zealand Day 19

New Zealand  Day 19  Wednesday February 5th

Travelling up to Taupo today, this is one of our longest journeys about 280 miles.  We had our usual start in Wellington fighting our way out, by far the worst traffic (and traffic system) we have had in NZ.  We had a few small stops when we passed something interesting and a stop for coffee in a place called Fielding.

We didn't realise we would drive next to the Tongariro National Park on the way.  We saw both the snow covered Mt Ruapehu and Mt Ngauruhoe which they used for Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings.

Mt. Ruapehu

Mt. Doom

We eventually got to the southern side of Lake Taupo which is the largest lake in NZ (I think).  It looks more like and inland sea but is fresh water.  It is surrounded by volcanoes and was formed by volcanoes.

We finally reached or very nice motel room after 5 hours travelling and it was a quick supper and relax.

New Zealand Day 18

New Zealand   Day 18  04.02.14

We are having a quiet day in Wellington again and started by driving out to Miramar suburb out on the peninsular to the south of the city.  It may be a familiar name as it the name of a film company used by Peter Jacksom.  Yes we are off to the Weta Cave, the place they do the special effects for many films including Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.  

They do the physical effects there - making models, facial effects, weapons, costumes etc.  

Next door is Weta Digital but you can'y go in there.  The cave is basically their shop with some of  their models etc.  Very expensive.  There is also a film charting the history of the company.   They now do a tour into part of their workshops, unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos in the workshop but it was very interesting with the guide one of their craftsmen (woman) explaining their techniques.  There were lots of their weapons, hobbit feet, dwarf arms and models in there  which we were allowed to handle.  Excellent.

In the afternoon we went to the Te Papa museum.  This is the national museum of New Zealand and contained natural history, geology, history and art.  It also had an exhibition of The World of Wearable Art.  The museum is exceptional.  It is hands on, stimulating, innovative and we really enjoyed it.  The skeleton of a young Blue Whale was immense until you stand under it you don't realise the size.  Whilst the preserved specimen of a 'Colossal Squid'  was also very big - lots of calamari there.

There was a re-creation of a Maori meeting house, which was exquisite and we hope to see more when we go to Rotorua.

Woven walls inside of house with wooden carvings between each different section.

A fun extra for me was the exhibition of wearable art.  This is a renowned international  textile art competition that takes place in Wellington every year.  The entrants are from all over the world often from textile design courses.  They are really fun.

This was covered with hundreds of shells.

New Zealand Day 17

New Zealand  Day 17  Monday 03.02.14

We decided to have day without driving today and stayed in Wellington itself.  We started with a cable car ride from Lambton Quay where we were staying up to Kelburn a suburb on the hill above.  There are other stops on the way but we went right up to the top and got out for a stunning view of Wellington.

Cable Car near top of hill

View from top of cable car ride at Kelburn

We had a coffee in the cafe there again overlooking the city below.  

The Botanic Gardens of Wellington are sited on the hillside, so you can walk down from Kelburn through the gardens (or up as some runners were doing - we went down).  They contain lots of well established trees some are very unusual, mostly from new Zealand but there are others.

In the afternoon we went on a tour of the New Zealand Parliament buildings.  The original part is of a traditional  Victorian style but a newer part was added in the 60 /70s and is often referred to as the Beehive. 

The Beehive

 We were taken down to the basement where we were shown how they have had considerable structural alterations to withstand an earthquake as Wellington is very near a major fault.  unfortunately we were not allowed to take anything in with us so no photos of the interior.

Our last stop on our Wellington tour was the Wellington City museum.  We arrived there at 4.40pm and it was shutting at 5 so we hope to get there tomorrow as it looked very interesting.

New Zealand Days 15 and 16

New Zealand  Day 15 Saturday 01.02.14

Went to the Saturday market in the morning.  Lots of stalls selling local produce, odds and ends and all manner of things.  lots of people singing playing violin, and other instruments - very colourful.

After that we went for a drive north of the city towards the Abel Tasman National Park.  You can only access it by car at the north or south end - we chose the north end which entailed lots of hills and hairpin bends as usual here pretty but tiring.  We ended up in a small village called Pokara which was beautiful and again fabulous beaches that were virtually deserted.



This was in the village but further out was even better.

AND NONE OF OUR OTHER PHOTOS CAME OUT.  We are really disappointed as it was so lovely and different from other beaches we had seen.

Sunday 03.02.14

We took the ferry today for North island.  We had to be up early as we had a 2 hour drive to Picton and the ferry and had to be there an hour early, so we set out at 8 am.  the drive was partly over yet more forest covered mountains so not the  best when your in a hurry.

The ferry ride was lovely through the islands and sounds off the North East South island coast.  once we left those North Island was in view and we had an impressive view into Wellington Harbour with its sea front and high rise buildings.

 Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island.  The colours look dull I don't know what went wrong, this one below shows the colours far better.

Leaving South Island

Coming into Wellington Harbour

We found the hotel - a Travel Lodge in the centre, through a public carpark on one side (6th floor of building).  The other entrance on the ground floor is via a flight of steps on a narrow passage.



We weren't impressed initially especially as they charge $29 a day for parking and the same for the internet for a day.   The hotel itself although not as good as some of the places we have stayed is not bad.  City centre accommodation  is expensive in Wellington, but at least we can walk around the city to explore it from here and leave the car for a while.  Wellington is by far the biggest place we have been to, with a more typical cityscape.

New Zealand Day 14

New Zealand  Day 14      31.01.14

Anyone following this will have noticed that I put the wrong date yesterday but its been corrected  now.  We are both very tired now as we didn't really leave enough time to just do nothing, but its great.  I'm actually (ACTUALLY !!!) writing this a couple of days later using the diary that I am keeping written in the lovely journal Monica gave me, I'm not really a writer though and I think of lots of things to say after so you will just have to put up with me as I am.

Today we set out for Nelson only about 80 miles through yet more lovely mountains covered with forests and farmed river valleys.

We arrived in Nelson at about 12 o'clock, a bit early for the motel but we left the car there and were able to have our room at 1 o'clock.  The room was one of the best yet, with everything we could want in our own room - dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer.  John was tired so had a nap and I went out for a walk.  The weather was really good, hot and sunny.  Nelson looks neat and affluent with lots of really nice houses banked  upon hills overlooking the sea.

We went for a drive when John woke up first to a beach are on the east of Nelson, lovely beach with a few dozen people on it.  We had a paddle in the sea, nice and clear and turquoise green as ever here.  

We also had some really nice icecreams.

We then went on a few miles west of Nelson to Cable Bay.  This was at the end of a very minor road on a peninsula and it was almost deserted.  It was so unspoilt, a long beach backed by a pebble bank in a large cove - so we went for another paddle there. 

We were able to drive straight up to the pebble bank in the car and on to the beach.