We had really pushed ourselves for time when we finally left Masterton and, as a result, spent hardly any time in Palmerston North the city I went to university in. Palmie itself isn’t much but I do still have many friends there and called through to see two of them on our way northwards.
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On our way there I saw that the wind farms in the ranges between the Wairarapa and the Manawatu districts had grown dramatically and can now be seen for miles around, their huge blades seemingly nearly sweeping the ground. Here are a few.
We called through to see Simone and her partner Warren for lunch. Simone and I have been mates since we met in nappies and, aside from a few years break where we went to different high schools, went through school together, university, flatted together etc.
We also caught up with Bonita and Chop and their two girls that I hadn’t met. B and I used to live down the road from one another, played netball together and were (grumpy) early-morning gym buddies for years and years. Some mornings, we were so grumpy that neither would say a word until we got to the changing room after our workouts, always a source of amusement when we’d meet up for a natter later in the day!
The drive from Palmie to Taupo is a scenic one and we were doing it at the best time of day when the air was clear and any wind likely to be dying down rather than picking up. I took Euan over the very windy hilly scenic route rather than the rolling straight highways and this was the view from what is known as Vinegar Hill.
You can just see Mt Ruapehu in the distance
An hour later we were on the Desert Road in the middle of the North Island with great views of Mt Ruapehu
and Ngauruhoe in the distance.
Then we hit Lake Taupo, a lake created by a huge volcanic explosion 26,500 years ago. The last eruption was known to be the most violent in the last 5000 years (the eruption column was twice as high as that of St Helens in 1980) and the ash from the Taupo eruption turned the sky red over China and Rome. There is still underwater hydrothermal activity and the volcano is considered dormant rather than extinct.
This is Motutere Bay, a place at which I spent a lot of time in the 1990s camping and fishing for trout in the lake. The trout fishing in this area is world class and, as a result, there are a lot of international anglers around.
Motutere is the sort of place that extended families holiday at, year after year and if you’re there over a period of time, you get to know them, see kids emerging, others growing up and so on. It’s a really special place to spend summer holidays. The island in the background is an old Maori burial ground and the only place I’ve seen Pohutukawa trees growing far from the sea.
We stayed in the town of Taupo at the foot of the lake and we were there in time to catch the sunset over the lake.
There is a lot to do around Taupo and one gimmick (I don’t know what else to call it!) is the ‘Hole in one challenge” where a raft with three holes is anchored about 100m offshore and you’re invited to select a club from the many on offer and give it a go. Euan didn’t get a hole in one but did manage a good placement rate, with 3/8 balls making it onto the raft. Not bad after an eight month break!
Just out of Taupo is the Huka Falls in the Waikato River, the main output from Lake Taupo. The river, normally around 100m wide, is channelled through a narrow chasm of about 20m wide before plunging over a 20m drop.
The amount of water passing through is huge and the bowl that has been created under the falls creates a tumble effect and if people go in they don’t come out in a hurry.
A wee way downstream from the falls the river returns to absolute calm and passes slowly on its way to meet the sea at Port Waikato, some 300km further north.
Down the road from the falls is the ‘Craters of the Moon’ site that, somehow, has not been turned into a massive tourist attraction. It's an active geothermal site, constantly changing and is a very hot and noxious environment. I guess it’s not as dramatic or stunning as some of the other sites but its very authentic nonetheless, with bubbling mud, gysers and loads of smelly steam.
We had a long drive ahead of us. We’d decided to do a huge loop around what is, in my view, some of the most stunning, original parts of the country – the East Cape. The starting point for this is Gisborne, over on the east coast.
View Larger Map
On our way there I saw that the wind farms in the ranges between the Wairarapa and the Manawatu districts had grown dramatically and can now be seen for miles around, their huge blades seemingly nearly sweeping the ground. Here are a few.
We called through to see Simone and her partner Warren for lunch. Simone and I have been mates since we met in nappies and, aside from a few years break where we went to different high schools, went through school together, university, flatted together etc.
We also caught up with Bonita and Chop and their two girls that I hadn’t met. B and I used to live down the road from one another, played netball together and were (grumpy) early-morning gym buddies for years and years. Some mornings, we were so grumpy that neither would say a word until we got to the changing room after our workouts, always a source of amusement when we’d meet up for a natter later in the day!
The drive from Palmie to Taupo is a scenic one and we were doing it at the best time of day when the air was clear and any wind likely to be dying down rather than picking up. I took Euan over the very windy hilly scenic route rather than the rolling straight highways and this was the view from what is known as Vinegar Hill.
You can just see Mt Ruapehu in the distance
An hour later we were on the Desert Road in the middle of the North Island with great views of Mt Ruapehu
and Ngauruhoe in the distance.
Then we hit Lake Taupo, a lake created by a huge volcanic explosion 26,500 years ago. The last eruption was known to be the most violent in the last 5000 years (the eruption column was twice as high as that of St Helens in 1980) and the ash from the Taupo eruption turned the sky red over China and Rome. There is still underwater hydrothermal activity and the volcano is considered dormant rather than extinct.
This is Motutere Bay, a place at which I spent a lot of time in the 1990s camping and fishing for trout in the lake. The trout fishing in this area is world class and, as a result, there are a lot of international anglers around.
Motutere is the sort of place that extended families holiday at, year after year and if you’re there over a period of time, you get to know them, see kids emerging, others growing up and so on. It’s a really special place to spend summer holidays. The island in the background is an old Maori burial ground and the only place I’ve seen Pohutukawa trees growing far from the sea.
We stayed in the town of Taupo at the foot of the lake and we were there in time to catch the sunset over the lake.
There is a lot to do around Taupo and one gimmick (I don’t know what else to call it!) is the ‘Hole in one challenge” where a raft with three holes is anchored about 100m offshore and you’re invited to select a club from the many on offer and give it a go. Euan didn’t get a hole in one but did manage a good placement rate, with 3/8 balls making it onto the raft. Not bad after an eight month break!
Just out of Taupo is the Huka Falls in the Waikato River, the main output from Lake Taupo. The river, normally around 100m wide, is channelled through a narrow chasm of about 20m wide before plunging over a 20m drop.
The amount of water passing through is huge and the bowl that has been created under the falls creates a tumble effect and if people go in they don’t come out in a hurry.
A wee way downstream from the falls the river returns to absolute calm and passes slowly on its way to meet the sea at Port Waikato, some 300km further north.
Down the road from the falls is the ‘Craters of the Moon’ site that, somehow, has not been turned into a massive tourist attraction. It's an active geothermal site, constantly changing and is a very hot and noxious environment. I guess it’s not as dramatic or stunning as some of the other sites but its very authentic nonetheless, with bubbling mud, gysers and loads of smelly steam.
We had a long drive ahead of us. We’d decided to do a huge loop around what is, in my view, some of the most stunning, original parts of the country – the East Cape. The starting point for this is Gisborne, over on the east coast.
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