Pouring down - around 18 degrees
Today we head off back up to Rotorua. Managing to wake early we hastened to depart our studio in the rain and hurried on to an attraction which only happens every couple of hours...
We drive to the car park at the lock gates of the Aratiatia dam. Getting out of the car to enquire if we were in the right place - it was confirmed as a stampeed of wet, bedraggled raincoat wearing, and one swimsuit wearing, persons hurried past our car in the direction of a pathway with a sign proclaiming “5 mins to lower viewpoint, 8 mins to upper viewpoint”. It was 9:53. Yikes, which one? We hastened to put on our raingear and Graham shot off like a mountain goat with Carol muttering slower behind, up along a narrow steep slippery path.
We both managed to arrive at the lower viewing point in good time ( tortoise and the hare? - C) before a shrill whistle announced the 10 am event.... the opening of the dam enough to flood the dry waterfalls and rapids and lower river section as it would have been before the dam altered the view of the natural enviroment.
View of the dam and waterway from the viewing platform before...
And after... The Aratiatia rapids! Not really as dramatic as we hoped but at least it got us up and out.
After 10- 15 mins the dam closed and that was that. This happens only 4 times a day. It must rain a great deal to service these things... and today is one of those days...
We continued on to Rotorua the intoxicating eggy smell drawing ever nearer as we approached the city.
After popping in to the tourist office to see what there is to do in Rotorua on a rainy day, along with hoards of other mostly younger outdoor looking types, we discovered the only place - the famed Rotorua museum was closed.... due to earthquake damage sustained in 2016. There is a cinema showing Mary Poppins - ( please no...- G) if we get desperate.
We drove on to the impressive Lake Rotorua and had our picnic lunch in the car (against the car hire rules - we wound down the windows so we were almost outside!)
The local birdlife enjoyed our crusts - including this colourful chap... a pukeko.
We then ambled around a supermarket to waste time before checking in to our motel at just after 2pm avoiding the 3pm cinema agony for Graham.
The motel is tucked away down a side street very close to the town centre. All good other than the sulphur eggy smell is enhanced by the fact the motel uses the spring water for heating, and also has a lovely bright green hot spring water filled dipping pool which the proud owner explains is good for so many ailments especially skin complaints. Not sure Carol will risk it though....
On entering our room Carol promptly lit a couple of scented travel candles ( thanks kids!) and settled into the room on the recliner chair for a snooze. Graham siezing the opportunity of a break in the weather took himself off for a stroll.
And a very nice stroll it was. Rotorua is flanked by a large lake. On one side, called Sulphur Point, hot springs and acid, but as you go round you pass some wetlands, (which I guess is whence our blue friend came on a foraging trip) and then on to a park area where children feed ducks, and finally to the quay for pleasure boats and seaplanes.
Tues 15th Jan.
Cloudy, rain promised and 18 degrees.
A leisurely start to the day, the picnic packed ( Graham is in picnic heaven so far on this trip!) and off to walk the boardway around Lake Okareka. After the usual false start trying to set off from the wrong part of the lake.
We drove on and soon found the entrance - the walkway is a 5.5 km trip there and back along the nature reserve part of the lake.
It was delightful.
We spotted many a Tui - it’s song sounds like R2D2! - but getting a photo was a different matter as they are a bit shy, and a bit quick. One on NZ’s native birds it has that shimmery green/blue/black colour that looks different in different light, with a white fluffy bit under it’s neck.
All our photos were rubbish - so here’s a soft toy we bought as a souvenir (it even makes a call when squeezed!)
An other wading bird also again proved easy to see and less easy to photograph.This one had a call louder than it’s size suggested accompanied by impressive head bobbing. A pied stilt.
There were cormorants, ducks of various sorts, little herons, glebes, black swans, yellow hammers, fantails - birder heaven!
The scenery was stunning and the sun tried to shine.
A great place for a picnic.
Glimpses of waterlilies through the trees
And on the hillsides our first real glimpse of New Zealand Sheep
What you looking at haven’t you seen a sheep before ?!
And on the way back to the boat launching area the arrival of a tourist group with a difference....
Before we headed out for an evening out we both braved the sulphury bright green dipping pool. We were advised to remove all jewellery as it would turn black.It was hot bathwater hot!!
A notice on the wall declared it was a cure all for everything from impetigo to menopausal problems.Carol hoped it would cure her unsightly drying sunburnt back. However a notice also warned us not to put our heads under as certain amoebic thingys could cause meningitis! We both shot out the pool and showered thoroughly.
Graham just before we read the other notice.
Tonight is one of Carol’s highlights - a west end show. We are picked up and taken to a reconstructed Maori village for a demonstration of Maori life in days gone by. Unlike the Fijians, Maoris now prefer suburbia to their villages, but still pass down the old traditions and language.
Yes it was very touristy as our guide Manu showed us around the reconstructed Maori village and showed us the sacred spring reverred
by this particular tribe. But the land is owned by a local Maori family who are keen to ensure that the ancient Maori skills and traditions are not forgotten. We watched the warriors come down the stream in a boat.
As part of the role play one of our group volunteered to be Chief of our tribe and undertook a ceremony where he received a peace offering from the Maori chief and made a speech on the group’s, sorry, tribe’s behalf.
The Chief greeting us and giving us information re his tribe.
We were then given a demonstration of Maori warrior weapon skills, traditional music and dance. The participants sang with power and pride and created a lovely sound. It cumulated in the Haka - again powerful but not as intimidating as the “All Blacks”. Carol was quite moved by the whole performance whilst Graham found it difficult to suspend his natural cynicism...
Note quite a few of the women have a chin tattoo “moko” - it represents the move to female adulthood. More Māori women are having traditional tattoos as a sign of renewed pride in their heritage. We have seen many women with them as we travel through the area.
Not sure what the men’s tattoos represent.
We then had a traditional meal, the Hangi - which was like a massive roast dinner with the meat cooked underground for 4hrs. Although a buffet it was very tasty, seafood chowder, followed by chicken and lamb with stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, rice, some potato and creamy spinach dish accompanied by gravy and mint sauce! There were several desserts also but we couldn’t manage them.
(Not like the two girls from Nevada sat next to us who definitely had sweet teeth).
The Hangi ready to serve.
After we had eaten our fill we were escorted through the village into the Rainbow Springs nature reserve by a park ranger who spookily resembled the Masterchef legend Monica Galetti in both looks and voice. As we walked she explained how the Maoris use the underside of Silver Ferns to aid tracking as it reflects light - the cleverer ones rub the underside in their hands to make almost a powder and use that. The Silver Fern is the emblem of New Zealand although informally it is that rotund bird with the long beak.
We passed by a few glow worms but hope we will be treated to a much better show when we visit the South Island.
We entered the reserve and saw an enormous viewing tank of the biggest trout we have ever seen. Trout is not allowed to be farmed in New Zealand but can be caught in the rivers for personal consumption only with a license.
We also saw a local lizard called a Tuatara.
But the highlight of our visit was to see Kiwis! And we saw 2 of these unique nocturnal creatures - both will remain in captivity due to health problems, but this is a breeding reserve where they have a 65 % success rate of releasing the birds into the wild.
The ranger explained that in the wild the success rate of birds surviving is 5%! Apparently the female is responsible only for laying the egg - the size of a 35 lb equivalent baby! After doing that job she clears off never to be seen again... The male then incubates the egg for about 80 days - after which he leaves the egg on its own for 5 days to hatch and returns to sit with the hatched chick for about another 5 days and then also clears off leaving the chick to get on with it - never to return.. You can see why the survival rate!
Apparently the chick embryo is attached to a placenta inside the egg via an umbilical cord attached to its belly button. At the appropriate time the Kiwi scratches it off.
The Kiwis resembled a giant furry hedgehog ( the size of a large chicken/small turkey) with what looks to be a long beak and strong legs - it thudded along as it ran in the enclosure - not the delicate little bird we had imagined! Apparently because it’s nostrils are so far down it’s beak it has the smallest beak in the bird world?!
Wed 16 Jan
Overcast low 20s
Easy drive to Hamilton today, only an hour an a half to pick up train tomorrow morning which will take us across the mountainous Tongariro National Park to a posh hotel. So we take the drive easy, pulling over to let cars and lorries past. 3/4 the way there we turn off to a rest stop signposted as a dam. We spy what looks like a regatta in the distance so we mosey down, driving on a single track road across the dam and find a massive boat race going on with thousands of cars parked, canoes on roofs. We park up ($5) and head on down.
There are stall selling teeshirts, hot dogs, coffee, massages, and all manner of sporting gear. We ask and it is a national Waka-ama competition spread over a week. Teams from all over NZ come and race for medals and a place in the world championships. Waka-ama is a 6 person canoe with one outrigger where the paddlers have a single blade paddle. It’s a testing course, about 400 metres 4 times - up, turn round, back down, turn round, up again, final turn and back down. Today is the 13 to 16 year olds, tomorrow 16 to 18 and so on to the weekend for the adults and individual races.
From the looks of things the competitors were over 90% Maori.
We stop at a stall selling mussel fritters. We imagine a cone of freshly cooked tempura battered mussels and then remember we are in NZ. Nothing as sophisticated. Its mashed up mussels mixed up in a thick pancake batter and fried on a hot plate and served on a slice of white bread. You can make it more palatable with chilli or garlic sauces. The kind lady lets us try some and we promise to spread the word. So there you go and here they are.
Our tester being made.
As we have to return the hire car at 4pm we take our leave and arrive in Hamilton where we have a late picnic in the Hamilton Gardens. These were once the site of a refuse tip but now have been transformed into parklands with a lake and several individual gardens reflecting styles across the world: English Garden, Indian, Italian Renaissance, Japanese, Chines, Tropical, Experimental, it goes on and on. There are beautiful and amazingly, they are free - Here’s a few
We then headed off into central Hamilton to drop off the car. Downtown Hamilton is a laid back affair - the usual rows of shops with overhead sheltered walkways. It seems all efforts go in to creating beautiful gardens and less so in town planning..
Before we did so we went to the railway station to doublecheck re tickets for tomorrow... the railway station did not sit proudly in the city centre as most around the world but in a trading estate off centre - it looked rather forlorn as we approached just 1 car in the car park - it was shut! Looks like it only services the tourist train which does not pass through daily.
As we filled up with petrol the attendant - they still have these! - explained that there is very little public transport in New Zealand - when he first arrived he had to hire a bike to get around and you cannot get anywhere without some form of personal transport.
We overnighted in a fab studio appartment which even had a washer/dryer and a free portion of washing powder! So welcome into our 3rd week of travel.
We ate in a local Italian restaurant - food and atmosphere like ones from the 60’s and 70’s - in fact so far New Zealand feels like we’ve time travelled back a few decades!
Tomorrow we catch the Northern Explorer train down to the National Park. Can’t wait....
No comments:
Post a Comment