New Zealand, Photography, Travel Planning

35. Gisborne – Wairoa: Te Reinga Falls

Tuesday, March 17: Cloudy the whole day with occasional showers and a little cooler

Jude’s (airbnb, $48)

The storm had passed by last night without too much to notice it by, except the rain, and certainly the winds were much weaker than had been predicted. I had my breakfast and then Ethel had to go to the doctor’s about the fall that she had had last week, and visit a friend as well, so Mischief, the dog, the attention-seeking cat, and myself were left to our own devices.

I started off by getting a couple of pictures into the blog posts, mainly of the Tongariro Crossing. All the posts had been scheduled for publication right up to departure date, and three more had been transcribed onto the computer, so all I need to do when I have another technical day is to find some photos for them and schedule them as well. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

34. Gisborne

Monday, March 16: Moderately strong rain and somewhat windy as cyclone Pam moved south to the east of New Zealand

Ethel’s

Pam arrived during the night and by the time I was up it was clear that nothing would be on the agenda today except for sitting in front of the computer. Ethel’s breakfast was peaches and cereal, then toast, and of course, coffee. Then it was time to transcribe the diary. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

33. Whakatane – Gisborne

Sunday, March 15: Sunny for a brief spell then clouding over and a few rain showers gradually increasing in intensity as Pam approaches

Ethel’s, spacious bedroom with shared facilities (airbnb, $50)

Danger Watermelons
Danger Watermelons/back at petrol stat[ion], Ohope Beach

Breakfast and packing were very quickly dealt with and I was on the road before 10:00. Took the coastal route to join the SH2 near the unfindable kayak place then along to Opotiki and the shorter route to Gisborne.

Very abandoned looking places up in the hills and nothing much like civilisation until Ormond with its vineyards. The going up until now had been fairly slow and I had stopped for two pictures (Dangerous Watermelons, and Other people make mistakes) earlier along the way. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

32. Whakatane: Nga Tapuwae o Toi

Saturday, March 14: Sunny and very warm, clouds appearing in the evening, and some rain

Tramping: Nga Tapuwae o Toi, 16.9 km

Windsor Lodge

The weather was very tempting for a paddle so I was up and organised early, and Kenny the kayak man offered a freedom hire, the only problem was that it was from his place. I indicated that I would take it, and set off with a Google Map in mind to drive the 30 or so km down to his place. Was ready to leave here just after 9:00. Read more…

Kayaking, New Zealand, Photography

31. Rotorua – Whakatane

Friday, March 13: A little cloudy to begin with, but very sunny & warm in Whakatane

Windsor Lodge, 10 Merritt St., Whakatane 3120, tel.: +64 7 308 8040, double as single, shared facilities (BBH, $45 + $3)

There was just a little bit of business to be cleared up after the excitement of yesterday. A trip to the closer and smaller i-site just revealed that I had to go to the main office and speak with Tyra-Lee which I promptly did, and told my story of how the boatie jumped in and took me back. Got my money back, and a promise that there would be consequences. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

30. Rotorua: Lake Tarawera

Thursday, March 12: Rain at first, then somewhat drier, rain again in the evening

Tramping: Tarawera Trail, 13.4 km

Astray (BBH, $37 + $3)

The day wasn’t turning out so well for a tramp, but I decided on going ahead with it anyway. By about 9:30 the car was packed and ready to go, and I was a the car park for the trail by about 10:00. The forecast had been for showers but it was coming down in a constant stream.

I had my full-length trousers and the raincoat on right from the beginning. The path is rather narrow and the wet plants on either side were hanging over the track and transferring water first to the pants and then to the sox and boots. I made brief stops every now and then and at the second picnic place it had virtually stopped raining so I stopped for my two rounds of sandwiches and mandarine for lunch. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

29. Rotorua: Waimangu

Wednesday, March 11: Sunny becoming cloudier in the afternoon, warm

Tramping: 5.4 km

Astray

This place is fairly quiet at night after 10:00, but it was the buses and general traffic that woke me before 9:00. Today’s plan was to do the Waimangu ($36) walk with plenty of time lapses and polarised brackets, and to have it fill up the day.

I was at the car park at around 10:30, and had everything ready except for the hat that I had left in the car. Since Waimangu – as opposed to most of the other thermal/volcanic walks – is very shaded that won’t have made too much difference since sunscreen had already been applied. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping

28. Rotorua: Waiotapu

Tuesday, March 10: Sunny with a couple of clouds in the distance, and warm

Tramping: 3.3 km

Astray

Two French girls who are working here have a shared room on our “corridor” and were up very early, which of course had to be followed by everyone else. My first self-provided breakfast was sultana bran, coffee with fresh milk, and toast. Internet was briefly checked for today’s distance, and the clothes that I eventually washed yesterday were still not dry, so I left them on the clothes horse outside reception.

Then it was off to Waiotapu ($32.5) for the photography session. Managed to forget to load the cameras with their usual cards, but had all the spare cards with me and the first one worked for Mel. After buying a ticket I returned to my car where a hitchhiker asked me whether I could ferry him to the geyser, which I did (Tilman from near Stuttgart). We were quite early so I was able to try out various different locations before choosing the very back and getting a couple of sequences of the dormant geyser in the process. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping

27. Hamilton – Rotorua

Monday, March 9: A few drizzle patches in the morning & a little cloudy throughout the day

Tramping: 7.5 km

Astray Motel & Backpackers, 1202 Pukuatua St, Rotorua 3010, tel.: +64 7 348 1200, single room scarcely larger than the bed (BBH, $32 + $3 + $5)

Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning
Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning

Sleep was so interrupted during the night that I was one of the first at the free breakfast: Cornflakes & milk, coffee, toast, I was ready to leave by just after 8:30. Looking at the maps last night it occurred to me that I might do a river walk to avoid arriving in Rotorua too early, and drove around the corner to the end of the street, parked the car and proceeded to walk towards the town centre and then do a loop of the river involving two bridges before heading back to the car. One bracket of a park with a river landing, quite a pleasant surprise in the middle of Hamilton.

Down by the river
Down by the river, [download id="1793"]
Then it was to a supermarket to buy some strepsils, as I had a rather sore throat after my hattrick of skeptics in pubs, before pushing off down the road to Rotorua with only one further stop to clear the windscreen. Read more…

New Zealand, Skeptics

26. Palmerston North – Hamilton

Sunday, March 8: Rain and a thunderstorm overnight, clearing before morning with some darker clouds towards the mountains & one or two short showers

Central Green Backpackers, 846 Victoria St., Hamilton 3204, tel.: +64 7 839 1928. Single room ensuite (BBH, $59 + $3)

I was up fairly early and had some muesli, toast and coffee that could be found in the kitchenette. Was fairly quickly packed together and took my leave of Dan and took off towards Matthew’s – one wrong turn but managed to find the street. His daughter Betty answered the door and her dad was having a snooze in the garage after dismantling a trampoline. They are in the middle of a move, so things seemed a little chaotic. The family dog was very forthcoming and in the course of a cup of coffee, his wife Lisa turned up as well as one of Betty’s friends and her mum; only Alice seemed to think it was still night time. Read more…

No 1 css.php