Days 41 - 46 of NZ 2022 Trip

DAY 41: We left our camp site very early and headed back towards the centre of Wellington along the coast road. Some parts are protected forest, others built up. I think we've decided that about 80% of Wellingtonites must have water views. The country round here is so steep. Note the houses on the top of the hill in the second and third photos. The first photo is actually one I took as we were arriving into Wellington last night.

Somewhere along here we had breakfast and I had another sleep to make up for the lack of it last night! I need my sleep at the moment.

Today was a city day. We first visited the Te Papa Museum, the main National Museum. Not only is it interesting architecturally, but it is a very good museum. We will have to visit again tomorrow as our time was cut a bit too short by parking time restrictions!

After moving our car to another carparking spot, we decided to take up a trip on the cable car, an essential means of transport for people who live up the hill and also a tourist attraction since 1902. The track is decorated with artworks describing the history of the track and tunnels are lit up with fancy lighting.

The Wellington Botanic Gardens are at the top with 25 hectares of meandering paths and beautiful plants. We wandered around a small part of it, visiting the visitor centre which is also a tree house from which you get a great view into the canopy of a small part of the Gardens. There was an interesting human interaction clock that told the time perfectly when Pete stood as instructed. The numbers on each of the stones are moved twice a year to cater for daylight saving time.

I want a bench seat like this at home.

While up the top of Wellington we also visited the Cable Car Museum that gave a fascinating insight into its history. There was a restored example of one of the early cars. Note that the seats are on a slope because of the slope of the track.

Of course you also get wonderful views across the city and its harbour, either with or without people in them!

Once we'd descended the hill again by means of the cable car, we took a good look inside the Wellington Museum. This is housed in the old Bond Stores and Harbour Board building and part of it is set up to look like the stores once would have looked.

An interesting fact we learned in here was about the selection of Wellington as the nation's capital. As was the case in Australia, there were a number of cities vying for the honour. Apparently New Zealanders must not have trusted anyone in NZ not to be overly partisan, so an AUSTRALIAN selection commission made the choice! The governors of the colonies of NSW, Vic and Tas each choose one commission member and after NZ spent the equivalent of $475,000 ferrying them around the contenders, the three Australian commissioners decided upon Wellington. Who would have thought?!

Wellington, as most people know, is often called Windy Wellington. For good reason. There is rarely a time without at least a breeze and often much more. All over the city there are references to it in sculptures, graffiti art, words etc.

In fact, artworks are randomly placed all over the city in funny little nooks and crannies. This one reflects how Wellington is really pronounced!

We decided on a caravan park in Lower Hutt for our camping tonight. It is about 14km from the city centre. Unfortunately, we've landed between two lots of smokers so are having to close up earlier than we would normally like to.

DAY 42: We had a bit of a sleep-in this morning and made no effort for any early start. Today was another city day. While yesterday we explored the first two floors of the Te Papa Museum, today we looked at the next 3 floors and went out to the rooftop for another view of Wellington. The exhibitions were really good, one on the ocean- going history of the Maori with examples of their waka, or canoes, another on the experience of migrants in NZ, and an art exhibition on colour.

A waka such as this one can fit more than 60 rowers in it!

This is a life-sized replica of the heart of a blue whale!

The view from the top of the building wasn't bad either.

We next went for a tour of the NZ Parliament buildings. Very interesting. The Beehive building, we learned, is really the building that houses the executive part of the ruling party, eg cabinet. It is a weird mix of styles inside and really no more likeable than my first view of it from the outside. We were unable to see the best room in the building, the cabinet room that sits in the roof space under a rather beautiful round skylight.

We were also taught about the Parliament and voting systems. I had no idea how different both are to our systems.

In NZ, everyone has two votes, one for the party they want in government and one for their local member. The party vote decides the proportion of seats that each party will have. If there is a discrepancy between proportion and the numbers of local candidates, they can add a few more seats to make it work. Parliament has about 120 seats but this can be adjusted if need be.

Also, the NZ parliament has only one chamber. A bill is read once, debated and voted on. If the ayes win, it is then put out to the public for submissions and taken to a select committee that debates what changes should be made for a better bill. These changes are then debated in parliament and voted on again. If the ayes win, the whole of parliament debates changes that they suggest. After a third reading, a vote is taken and the bill becomes law or is rejected. I guess that this system allows for a lot more public input into all pieces of proposed legislation.

In New Zealand, it is also the Speaker of the House who determines whether or not a bill requires a conscience vote or not. The Speaker cannot demand that each party allows this, but any vote will be treated as a conscious vote after it is debated. A party is still allowed to demand its members vote a certain way. Another interesting thing is that for votes in parliament, the Whip of each party just tells the Speaker how many votes they are giving to the Ayes or Noes. There is no actual show of hands.

We saw the Parliamentary Chamber which is housed in the middle of the three buildings, and briefly visited the third building which is known as the Parliamentary Library but actually mostly houses offices for MPs. All the Library staff work in another building.

After having our heads stuffed full of this information, we wandered around the parliamentary precinct and discovered the old Government Building, one of the largest timber buildings ever constructed. Not that you would know it at first glance. From the outside it looks like an Italian style of stone building. Up close, you can see that it is timber cleverly worked.

It now houses offices of the University of Victoria but the public does have access to a small part of it. You can therefore appreciate the interior timber work.

Just around the corner, we found the Wellington Railway Station. It was obviously designed to look grandiose, but had none of the class of Dunedin's equivalent.

Our next area of exploration was the Cuba Street shopping/food/art precinct of Wellington. We did little more here than wander around and sample some icecream from a local ice-creamery. We would head back there for dinner later.

In Wellington I have noticed that there are a number of different stop/go lights for pedestrians. There should be more variation like this. The red and green colour meanings are universally understood and it doesn't take much to have a little fun with the symbols. The last one actually moves, looking as though it is walking.

We had dinner at Aunty Mena's, a popular vegetarian cheap eat in Wellington. The servings were generous and it was good value for money.

A slightly long way back to our camping spot for the night (right next to the Te Papa Museum) took us past one of Wellington's famous buildings. Originally built as public toilets and nicknamed the Taj Mahal by the locals, it has since been converted to various businesses, including an Indian restaurant! It is now a Welsh bar and restaurant.

DAY 43: Before bidding a final farewell to Wellington we drove up to the Mount Victoria Lookout that gives you a great 360 degree view of the city.

Having driven to one of the south-western coastal parts of Wellington at night, then having driven right around the coast the next day, I had completely lost any sense of direction. Mt Victoria gave me that back. As usual, the steep sides of the hill are littered with houses in seemingly impossible positions. Great views, but come the next earthquake??? There was a big one, according to Maori tradition, sometime in the 1600s, and another massive one in 1855. Does that mean another is due??? I obviously think about this too much whereas most New Zealanders seem not to give it a thought!

We left Wellington to travel for a little bit up the west coast rather than retrace the roads we had travelled on the way south.

Our eyes were set on a place called Paekakariki and a 10km walk on the Paekakariki Escarpment Track, between that town and one to the south called Pukerua Bay. Ideally you'd drive there from the north. We didn't. That meant we travelled the road before going back along the escarpment by foot and returning to our car by train. The same stretch of NZ covered three times. But in the very different ways. The track is not ideal for anyone who suffers vertigo with steep stairs, narrow paths with loooong drops, and two swinging bridges.

There has been a lot of replanting along the track and there are some lovely patches of native bush. There have been a couple of landslips in recent times and diversions have had to be made for those. It was a beautiful day, reaching 26 degrees!!! We haven't had that sort of temperature since ... well, never in NZ. We enjoyed lovely views of the coastline as well, looking over to Kapiti Island, one place we had considered going but for which we've had no time.

The walk took us about three and a half hours including a lunch break and no ill-effects for either of us since. I think we have kicked Covid in the guts.

Since our next real destination is Rotorua and surrounds, the rest of the day involved a long drive to our next camp at Mangaweka on the edge of the Rangitikei River opposite some huge cliffs. These cliffs stretch, on and off, for miles down this river. These cliffs were just on the other side of the river to where we camped.

DAY 44: Such was the appeal of the Rangitikei River that we couldn't resist checking in for an hour's raft downstream from Awastone, the property that runs the campground. Our guide was a friendly Mexican. We were the only two on the trip and had a great time. Nothing scary, enough water for me to get soaked, and pretty stunning scenery.

Our guide asked whether we had been to see Whitecliff Boulders, saying that many people who came to Mangaweka also went there. We decided to go back the 10kms or so to check them out. We didn't realise there was a 1.7km walk from the carpark down, down and down a bit further to river level. That meant a walk back up again! However, the boulders were worth seeing - hidden in a little forest, surrounded by sheep and cattle paddocks. Large lichen and moss-covered marbles, shaped like the rocks at both Koutu Boulders and Moeraki Boulders, but this time not next to water. We had fun wandering around for a while - there was even a table and chairs for enjoy some morning tea, but we had not thought to bring any.

Then, back on the road again, past the cliffs of the Rangitikei River and on to Rotorua. Unfortunately, the quickest route there, via the State Highway No.1, was closed for 50 km and required a half-hour detour. Apparently the roads people are taking two days to fix an underslip in the road.

Anyway, we have reached the Blue Lake not far from Rotorua where we are camped at a caravan park.

DAY 45: We awoke to pretty miserable weather and were in no hurry to get started. The World Cup football game between France and Morocco was on this morning and for the first time, the caravan park where we were staying actually had a TV with the right channel. We missed the start and when we arrived there was already a small crowd of about 15 French supporters in good spirits with France a goal up. It was fun watching the game with such invested spectator even though I was going for Morocco.

After the game we moved on into the centre of Rotorua for morning tea at Cafe de Paris - a suitable venue, we thought, to celebrate France's win.

We decided to go on a tour at Te Puia, the home of Rotorua's largest geyser, adding on a Maori cultural experience. This latter part involve Pete acting as chief of the visitors in the Maori welcome and him betraying Australia by learning the haka!

All I did was make a mess trying to use poi. I discover I couldn't wiggle my hips and play poi at the same time!

The cultural experience was worth going to - beautiful singing, a scary haka, and poi and other dancing. Even the drizzle and sometimes rain couldn't make the trip around the mud pools and geyser any less fascinating. We first visited a kiwi house where they are breeding kiwi to release back into the wild, but our wild encounter put this experience at a poor second-best. We had also heard that the geyser was no longer working but apparently, when they stopped using the underground water for use in housing, the geyser started up again. We were in luck although it didn't do any of it's bigger spurts for us.

Boiling mud pool

Silica deposits at base of geyser

Sulphur crystals

Boiling water pool

The tour ended by going through the Maori Art School on site where they teach stone carving, woodwork and carving, and weaving. Very interesting and a worthwhile way of keeping tradition arts and crafts alive, while using both modern and traditional techniques. The school receives many commissions.

We were delighted, once we got out to the carpark, to listen to an impromptu sing-along by some of the young guides who had just finished work.

Because the pools at Te Puia are all so hot you would cook yourself in them, we visited Kuirau Park in the centre of town where you can have a foot bath in beautiful warm water. Heaven!

On our subsequent drive around town we found the beautiful museum building, unfortunately not open due to renovations, the Government Gardens and a boardwalk along part of Lake Rotorua. The museum building was the NZ government's first foray into tourism and was built as a medicinal and therapeutic spa, opening in 1907. The waters and mud around here have long been thought to help treat certain ailments.

We walked along the boardwalk, feeling warmth rising up towards us from the rocks and water along the path.

Three types of gulls inhabit this area and the red-beaked ones had lots of chicks. I've never seen not-yet-fledged gulls. Very cute with big feet!

I spent a little while in the Rose Garden (part of the Government Gardens) while Pete got the car. The scent of the rose blossom was divine. I don't enjoy perfumes much, but walking in a fully blossoming rose garden is just wonderful.

Our camp tonight was a free one a little out of town, near a small river that flows out of Lake Rotorua. What we didn't know was that it was a white-water kayaking hotspot. At the beginning of the road we noticed people getting ready to go kayaking and at the end we saw a car with a kayak trailer. Putting two and two together we headed to the river, going to get a view. I was horrified to think that people would go down what we saw! The river is quite full since they have had a lot of rain in recent weeks.

We learned later, that this is a level 5 drop (levels go from 1 which is virtually flat to 6 which is impossible) and only a few people are able to do it when the river is at this level.

As we were waiting, we noticed a guy walking along a dirt path opposite us wearing a life jacket. The next thing we knew - he was backflipping into what looked like a cauldron of water. He was having fun! He floated downstream, got out of the water to do it all again.

We decided that the kayaks could not come here, so found another path that took us a little further upstream to where someone was obviously waiting for them. So we waited too. When they finally arrived, they all made it look so easy, well almost all of them did.

DAY 46: It was still drizzling when we woke and we had a bit of trouble deciding what to do first. There was no reception where we were camped so we headed back into Rotorua to make some decisions. We passed by some amazing hydrangeas.

Eventually we decided to head to The Buried Village of Te Wairoa, NZ's mini version of Pompeii. It had an excellent museum that told the story of, and had many excavated artefacts from the eruption of Mt Tarewera in 1886. The area was a very popular tourist destination because of pink and white terraces, levels of thermal pools fed by a geyser and of differing heat levels depending on how far they were from the water source. They must have been amazing! NZ claimed them as the eighth wonder of the world. Sadly, they were completely destroyed by the destructive forces of our natural world.

Fortunately this town was just far enough away from the eruption that most people survived, but 120 people are known to have died, most were Maori, from villages closer to the eruption that were covered in some cases by 15 metres of mud and ash.

Because many of the structures were timber, very little survived. The main 'whare' (Maori house) that did escape major damage was later taken apart and somehow sold to some English lord who took it back to his estate in England as a summer house! I hope that one day it may be returned here as part of this really well done excavation site. After visiting the museum, you walk for about 1km around the site of the township of Te Wairoa, passing various excavations where you can see the depth of the debris from the eruption.

These 'walls' are the volcano debris that fell around the building that would have been in the centre.

Two water tanks like this were found buried.

This was the cellar from a hotel that was destroyed. It was found with full crafts of beer and unopened bottles of spirits and wine when it was finally excavated.

The next two artefacts were found at the base of a waterfall near the old town. One is part of a 'waka' or Maori canoe and one is a cannon-like weapon that I can't remember the name of. Both were found in the 1930s.

You are still able to go to the Wairere Waterfall. Along the last part of the excavation site track you pass by a quiet, clear stream. It becomes a rushing torrent at the waterfall. The first photo is at the start of the waterfall track. The quiet stream is becoming a little more agitated.

We then went down to Lake Terawera in the hope that we might be able to catch a water taxi to a hot water beach on the lake, but we had missed the last going out taxi for the day. Oh well, another something to do sometime in the future.

I then did more walking around the Government Gardens and the edge of Lake Rotorua.