Dawn view of The Watchman, an outcrop jutting deep into Karekare Bch & site of a pā built ~1750 (📷1). Accessed down the hill in Piha by walking up Glenesk Rd (closed to non-resident 🚗), 3-tier 40m Kitekite Falls (📷2). Above the falls youths were manu back slap training in large swimming hole—seeking combo of style, splash size & acoustics (📷3)! Others chilled in infinity-edged smaller pool (📷4).
Took Adventure Highway nth, again admiring Mt Ruapehu (📷1) & flat-topped Mt Hikurangi. Then onto Forgotten World Highway/ SH43 from the King Country town of Taumarunui. Initially it follows Whanganui River, beside bluffs of alternating coarse sandstone & fine mudstone (papa), former seabed up to 1.3km thick (📷2). Rugged farmland (📷3) gives way to bush in erosion-resistant Tangarakau Gorge (📷4).
Didn’t get $47 value from this hāngī meal & pie at Whakarewarewa: boiled dead vege, chicken & 3cm cut of lamb: flavour free! When B was a lad, hāngī food had distinct smoky earth taste. Anyone recommend an authentic outlet in Central Nth Is?
Such was our disappointment we skipped the Māori village tour.
Whittaker’s Choc Cross Bun captures taste well: perhaps a petition for a 🍫Choc Hāngī edition?
Took Thermal Explorer Highway/ SH5 towards Taupō, passing through the remains of Eskdale (📷1)—piles of silt, abandoned homes & banks of wood debris—the road under active repair. Scars from man-made erosion & logging don’t bode well for the next cyclone. Mohaka River nr. Te Haroto (📷2). Waipunga Falls drop the Waipunga Stream by 40m (📷3&4). We left Hawke’s Bay, heading for NZ’s volcanic heartland.
🌳🌲🌳 B last entered the Whirinaki Forest in the early 1980s, on a high school field trip, counting seedlings and making observations with pencil and paper as a junior member of the school’s ecology club. With the aid of digital technology, we can share the 👁️ sights and 🔊 sounds of this ancient forest with you.
so, starting a thread for talking about our potential #RV purchase, and the ways in which influences don't adequately portray #VanLife, as well as transparency in what we're spending.
(2/2) Peach Cove & Te Whara Tck. Once below the summit enveloped in ☁️ we had hazy views from Bream Head | Te Whara towards Hen & Chickens Is (📷1). After a rough & slippery descent the remains of a wartime radar station can be seen before continuing on towards Ocean Beach (📷2). Lifeguards are on duty here during the summer months (📷3). The 9.3km loop took us 4.5h (📷4).
Back on the road after 🎄 with family/ T-out for life admin & a bout of 🦠 Covid.
Whangārei Heads owes much of its distinctiveness to the extinct volcanoes that shape its skyline. Mt Aubrey at 216m, seen from McLeod Bay (📷1). Mt Manaia at 420m, seen from Urquharts Bay (📷2). WWII gun emplacement at Home Pt on Busby Head (📷3), w/ mural inside battery observation post (📷4).
#Nelson Market offers street foods, produce & displays of artistic flare, such as the steampunk-inspired creations from the workshop of an “Old Coot” (📷1) & upcycled metal sculptures that Bruce has been forging for 12 years (📷2). In #Māpua, Russel bends spoons into a stunning kōtare form (📷3) & the “Nut Job” ice cream donut at Hamish’s is a work of art in its own way (📷4).
Ward Beach on the eastern #Marlborough coast hosts one of our favourite NZMCA park-over properties; there’s no ⛺️ camping in the adjacent reserve (📷1). The sway of NZ bull kelp/ Durvillaea antarctica with the sea swell is mesmerising (📷2). Spring beach & shore decorations include yellow-horned poppies/ Glaucium flavum (📷3) & naturalised bunnytail grass/ Lagurus ovatus (📷4).
Chitina, #Alaska was once pretty much a #GhostTown after an earthquake stopped the building of a highway from there to the Kennicott mines. As a joke, someone once painted a ghost on his house when he left for better pastures. Ghost on the house became a tradition and landmark for this pretty much empty town.
🚴♂️ Cycled a mix of Te Araroa, Alps 2 Ocean & local cycle trails around Lake Tekapo; see www.tekapotrails.nz. Willow Bay (📷1). 🌲 Pine cones on Takapō Regional Park trails were hard to ride over! Tekapo River & Control Structure/ SH8 bridge (📷2), seen from Cowans Hill Trail. Further up the hill are many tarns (📷3) & good views over the Mackenzie Basin & adjacent ranges (📷4).
(2/2) Bannockburn Sluicings, Cromwell #Otago. The loop walk overlooks several vineyards nestled along the flats beside the flooded Kawarau River—part of Lake Dunstan & seen here with purple thyme (📷1) & red sorrel in foreground (📷2). The original ground level of the Carrick (alluvial) Fan indicates just how much gravel was shifted (📷3). An example exploratory dig (📷4).
After a last look at (fully exposed) Mitre Peak (📷1) in Milford Sound, back to DOC’s Cascade Creek Campsite. A pleasant evening (📷2) was followed by a pleasant morning (📷3); these views from pitch are hard to top. We made a third attempt to find the elusive mohua that lives in the beech forest here; only the NZ robin/ Petroica australis was breakfasting in public (📷4).
Milford Sound | Piopiotahi cruise (6/6), #Fiordland. Perhaps the most enduring memory of a Milford Sound cruise won’t be of specific features, nor anecdotes told to tourists, but of the sheer cliffs. Looking upwards from the foot of a 2,000m wall of rock that disappears into the clouds can’t help but rescale your world. Amazing plants manage to cling to smallest footholds.
Milford Sound | Piopiotahi cruise (5/6), #Fiordland. Harrison Cove is a safe harbour, flanked by dark shape of 1,302m The Lion (📷1). Some tours call at the underwater observatory here, while others have an overnight option. Mt Pembroke at 2,015m & it’s glacier sit behind (📷2). The steep Mitre Peak at 1,683m is iconic (📷3); we got only a fleeting look at the summit (📷4).
Taieri River Track is 4.5km to picnic area, or 3km/ 1h to a seat with views (📷1). Initially only few glimpses of the river (📷2). As it was slippery we stopped at the seat, before a steep descent. View upriver to Māori Leap w/ Pseudopanax ferox in foreground (📷3) & downriver toward sea (📷4). Met 5 large 🐕 (none allowed); must terrify wildlife—when not maiming or killing it.