Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Capital and Coast

13th February 2012 - 21st February 2012

Wellington
On then to the Capital…..We had thought camping might be a bit of a problem here but in fact they have a small municipal site in the middle of the city – by the waterfront.  This is the only site for a 10 mile radius.  It was brilliant for accessing all the central sites, restaurants and bars.  Like so many other parts of NZ Wellington is directly on the fault line – so they have always anticipated an earthquake here – at least as much as one can prepare for such a thing.  Many of the older buildings have been either strengthened or pulled down and replaced with “earthquake-proof” structures – although in the wake of the carnage in Christchurch last year this is again under debate.  Situated in a delightful bay it seems tranquil but also very vulnerable to a tsunami.

Around Wellington:

The renovated Embassy Theatre - thanks to Peter Jackson - Lord of The Rings Director

Inside the Embassy Theatre

River Art?  Huge bubbles being blown on the water...
On our first evening we went for a guided walk around the city – very interesting – followed by a meal and a fringe theatre production.  On the second day we visited the famous Te Papa Maori museum which gave a fascinating insight both to the history of Wellington, the geology of NZ and the Maori culture.  At the top of the Museum there is a Marae (Maori Meeting House) – a beautifully decorated area.



One of the more bizarre exhibits was the chance to enter a small reconstructed cottage where one could experience a simulated 7 scale earthquake!  Let’s hope they don’t have the real thing….
We took the ancient Funicular to the top of the botanic gardens and walked back through the gardens – including the lovely Rose Garden - and the parliament back to the city. 


Wellington from the botanic gardens




In the Rose Garden


We attended another fringe theatre production about a Kiwi guy and English girl who were really getting married and wanted the audience to help them decide in which country to live – very amusing.
We left Wellington the next morning for Whanganui on the West coast of North Island.
Whanganui
As well as being an interesting place to stop we had another reason to visit this town.  We knew that an old school chum of Malc’s lived here.  Rick Rudd left Great Yarmouth Grammar School and went to various art colleges where he ended up specialising in pottery.  In his early twenties he moved to NZ - has been there ever since – and is now one of NZ’s most renowned potters.  He specialises in exquisite teapots – much too posh (and expensive!) to make tea in….  We spent most of the day with Rick in his delightful bungalow overlooking the ocean.  His massive cliff garden is also a work of art in itself.  It was great to swap stories of the past 40 years.  Thanks to Rick for a lovely meal.

Rick and Malc
What a view from the dining table (Rick's work table during the day)
Part of the garden leading down to the sea
Sunset from Rick's garden
Before we left the town we rented kayaks at our campsite.  They drove the kayaks 5kms up the Whanganui river for us and we part drifted/part paddled our way back on a delightful sunny day.


New Plymouth
More volcanoes…….!  We had been told that there was a particularly nice campsite on the cliffs at New Plymouth on the western side of North Island.  The town sits at the base of a large volcano – Mount Egmont (or, more correctly, Mount Taranaki).  In most other parts of NZ the volcanoes are covered in vegetation and look more like hills/mountains.  Not this one!  It looks and feels like a volcano – has non vegetation in its upper reaches and looks like it’s ready to explode again any moment.  The last major eruption was in 1655 and it’s overdue for another go!   As usual in NZ the locals think little of such a threat.

As we’d been told, the campsite was fantastic – with a view over the ocean and the port – including what looked like lumps of lava rock.  There was also a very pleasant board walk into the town itself.

Malc having a nice time!

Wanda having a nice time!
 Waitomo
North to Waitomo.  This limestone area is famous on the NZ tourist trail for two things – the caves and the unique glow-worms that live in them.  We toured two of the caves and both were very interesting.  The glow-worms are different from what we know as they are simply fly larvae.  In the larval stage – which lasts nine months – they attach themselves to the roof of the dark caves and extend silken sticky threads downwards.  Through bio-luminescence (light without heat) the bodies of larvae light up and attract insects – which get caught in the threads and get eaten by the larvae.  Photography is difficult – and in most caves - banned – but it is fascinating to see what looks like thousands of stars on a dark night.  





That night we “freedom camped” in a lookout spot at the top of a nearby hill – and had our very own dark sky and stars as our only company.

Waipu Cove and Orewa Beach
The next three days were spent between Waipu Cove and Orewa beach (another department of conservation site) on the East coast.  The weather was changeable but we did get to spend some time on the beach.

Waipu Cove

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