Wellington, Cook Strait, Picton
February 10, Day 12 was time to leave the south island for the north island. We had to leave by 6 AM for a 7:30 departure on the InterIslander ferry. We were going to Wellington, across Cook Strait, with a travel time of 3 1/2 hours. We passed the time on the ferry playing “Fast Track” a board and card game, with Sallie and Sue. It was interesting to see how many vehicles fit on the ferry. Many of them were livestock trucks. The poor sheep were really crammed in tightly.
Upon arriving in Wellington, we toured the Te Papa Museum for some background on New Zealand animals, wars and culture. Later, we wandered the wharf and found lunch at Mac’s Brewbar. We continued to wander around the wharf and nearby city area. The artwork is amazing!
We also drove past the Beehive, New Zealand’s Parliament building and St Mary of the Angels cathedral.
We wanted to go to the botanical gardens which are an important feature in all of NZ and Aus but there was absolutely no parking available. Others in our group told us later that they were not all that great so we didn’t feel bad.
Later, we made our way to the night’s campground, Wellington Top 10 Holiday Park in Moera.
Pahiatua, Takapau, Upper Hutt
Saturday February 11, Day 13 was a travel day to Napier Kennedy Holiday Park. We drove 320 km or 192 miles.
We started our morning with a large, noisy flock of Canada geese over our campground. Everyone was amazed to see that bird in NZ!
A highlight of our day was a stop at Mt Bruce National Wildlife Center where there is a nocturnal Kiwi house. There are 9 kinds of kiwi, each living in different areas of new Zealand. Some of the things we learned are that they will hatch 1 or 2 eggs in a clutch. However, because the eggs are so large, there is a difference of about 20 days between eggs. They then incubate for 70-80 days. The guide told us the egg is so large that it would correlate to a human giving birth to a 4 year old child. OUCH!!!!! Once the egg is laid, the mail does the nesting. He does not leave the next for the entire time. No wonder he is smaller than the female. This bird will never imprint on humans as other birds do. We were lucky enough to see a kiwi in the darkened cage. Because they are nocturnal, we have never seen one in wild. (A fact we noticed, there are very few dogs in NZ. We suspect dog ownership is discouraged because they prey on kiwi.)
Other things we noticed in New Zealand are the milk and eggs. The egg yolks are very yellow but that did not seem to affect the flavor. However, the milk is flavored differently; Dave did not care for it so after part of one glass, he did not drink milk for the rest of our trip.
We also noticed that scaffolding is used for all building and repair projects, completely encompassing the building. That is a nice safety feature and creates a large scaffolding industry.
Almost to the campground, we stopped to tour the Central Hawkes Bay Museum in Waipawa. We arrived at almost 4 and it closes at 4. Since it was slow, the volunteer was turning on the “Closed” sign as we walked in. She did let us tour so we did so quickly. It was kind of neat but cluttered and not well documented. She was concerned to hear we are heading north because Cyclone Gabrielle is forming and tracking north.
We were seeing pastured llamas now and then.
We pulled over to view the sign at Rimutaka Crossing, a memorial to 60,000 troops marching this hill in WWI.
We made a stop at Tui Brewery in Mangatainoka for one beer. Dave and David Carr liked the banners with funny sayings that hung around inside.
Napier
Sunday February 12, Day 14, we took an Art Deco tour of Napier.
An earthquake in 1931 pushed the ground UP by 2 kilometers. Normally, the ground sinks during an earthquake. The city was rebuilt quickly, much more quickly than south island reconstruction still going on from 1930, because there was no insurance. So, the city rebuilt in two years. However, by1985, it was starting to deteriorate. It was suggested as they revitalize, to do so around a theme. Because the quake had happened in 1931, they decorated in 1930’s art deco. This city rivals Miami, Florida for art deco. Art deco characteristics are zigzags, sunrises, Maori art, waves, ziggurats, optimism and colors. The city holds an Art Deco Festival once a year and it is scheduled for a week after our visit. Everyone dresses in their finest 1930’s clothing, hold a parade and other festivities. Unfortunately, this was cancelled for this year because Cyclone Gabrielle hit the area two days after we left. Interestingly, the tour guides here were also concerned about our plans to travel north because of the impending storm.
After our tour, Dave and I wandered by ourselves, looking for lunch and our Sunday Bloody Mary. We found our Sunday drink in an Irish bar, Rosie O’Grady’s, and enjoyed a bacon cheese bread as lunch. We have noticed that a spicy Bloody Mary in New Zealand means they put in a lot of black pepper and tabasco. Dave had to ask for more tabasco.
One more stop on the way to the campground was Mission Estate Winery. We had to park a distance from the building and it started to sprinkle, then pour as we were walking. However, we enjoyed a flight of wine before leaving.
Our travel plans were to head more inland the next day. At our travel meeting that evening, it was decided we would leave by 7 AM the next day and travel as a caravan.
Taupo, Hawke’s Bay
Monday February 13, Day 17 brought us to Lake Taupo Holiday Resort in Tauhara. It was a short drive of 145 km or 85 miles. We arrived about 11:30 AM. Dave and I left almost immediately to find a bar, Jolly Good Fellows, where we could watch the Super Bowl, starting at 12:30 our time. Yes, we saw it on Monday, not Sunday!
We found out that some Australians introduced black swans to New Zealand as ornamental waterfowl in 1864. Because they have no predators, they continue to multiply and some call them a nuisance. There is an annual swan hunting season but it is said the meat is not very good so they continue to multiply.
Rotokawa, Taupo, Frying Pan Lake, Rotorua
Tuesday February 14, Day 16, we drove to Blue Lake Top 10 Holiday Park in Rotorua. However, there were difficulties and fun things along the way.
That night, Cyclone Gabrielle passed directly over head of where we were. It had passed much farther north than anticipated. We were lucky to be inland. Our trailers rocked quite hard. There was a lull and then it started again. The eye had been over us. Areas that we just passed through, such as Napier were flooded and damaged by slips (mud slides). The road that we took from Napier to Lake Taupo, State HIghway 1, is still closed as of this date, March 21 and there is no re-opening date in sight. We were very lucky.
We had a group activity for a river boat cruise on the Huka River, to the Huka Falls at Aratiatia Dam. Because rain was in the forecast, we were going to have two boats, leaving the campground before 8 AM. Somehow, Dave and I lost track of the planned route and followed our rig’s GPS. We saw many downed trees and slips. When we reached the cruise site, there was no one there except a few small vans who had camped there overnight, not even the boat staff. After waiting for quite a while, we drove in a different direction, toward our campground. There were more downed trees. At one point, it was narrow, passing between trees on both sides of the road. We came to a road closure. This was the route the rest of our group came on. They all managed to follow a front end loader through as roads were cleared. Our boat captain was there too. We all got to go on the cruise as one group, with blue skies and sun shining.
We continued to see cyclone damage for the rest of our time in New Zealand. Some of t had not been cleared up but trees falling and slips continued long after the storm, due to wet, unstable ground.
Huka Falls are the most photographed falls in the world. The dam is usually only opened a few hours a day but has been open 24/7 because there is so much water flowing right now, ?????/hour. Wow! DAVE NEEDS TO FILL IN THE WATER AMOUNT.
Our next stop was going to be The Waimangu Volcanic Valley to see a lot of geo thermal activity. However, our boat captain had told us about some mud boils that were between us and Waimangu so we stopped there for lunch and to see the burping mud. It was really neat.
Of course, we did continue on to Waimangu where we did a lot of hiking and took many pictures. I will rely on Dave to label the pictures from this area. It was quite a long hike. We walked about 2/3 of the way before hopping a park bus which took us to the end, then returned us to the beginning.
