Road Trip # 2 Part 2 - Mt Ruapehu, Palmerston Nth, Wellington!

5 July 2006

Whoa, I’ve been absent from the site for quite a while, sorry guys and gals… Today I’ll continue with the tale of our trip from Auckland to Wellington and hopefully get around to showing you some pics of Wellington and my flyfishing trip soon… hang in there, they’re on the way… promise! We set off from Waitomo’s rolling hills and small mountains and immediately found ourselves on another set of winding roads set in steep hills covered in sheep with crazy mountain climbing skills.

Our destination today was the National Park Village at the foot of Mt Ruapehu, the ski hub for New Zealand’s north island. The closer we got to the ACTIVE volcano the colder and cloudier it got. Unfortunately our timing for good weather was off by a few days… Weather forecast predicted heavy rain and gale force mountain winds for the area L We checked into our backpackers hostel and got the low-down on local attractions. Imagine my surprise when we found that the hostel had its own indoor climbing wall with 42 different courses… awesome…

I’m sure that you’ve seen by this time that we don’t like to waste too much time on a trip like this. We set off as soon as possible to explore the accessible slopes of Mt Ruapehu. Fist we had a look around the museum and learned some interesting facts of the seismic monitoring grid that covers the area and constantly monitors for earthquakes and seismic activity. Hereafter we headed up the mountain and stood mesmerized as scenes from the film “Lord of the Rings” unfolded right before us! Fist we visited the highest point accessible by car. (Ski season only started a week after we were there boohoo) We spent some time here to muck around in the snow on the only accesible slope and prove our prowess as snowboarders… only problem being that we did not have snowboards… None the less, looking like absolute idiots has never before been more fun! Liza enjoyed her first snow experience and hey lets face it… given a sled and the opportunity to slide down a snow covered hill, anyone would hop on and start yelling. We were all 6 years old and eventually found ourselves spent of energy and trudging back to the car park diner for a hamburger and the best coffee ever! Snow? COLD... Blue Snow Sled king and queen... :) We headed back down the mountain and passed the museum without stopping. Apparently there were many mesmerizing waterfalls in the area so we I meticulously researched the area and found the most popular trails. Ok, we didn’t plan it exactly that well… (sheepish grin) I saw the hiking trail on a map in the museum and wondered if it was any good (duhhh, one would think that by now I knew the answer to that question.) so when we passed the trails’ name board on our way down the mountain I casually stopped as if I’d been planning it all along. (another sheepish grin) Waterfalls rarely fail to inspire me and this one was no exception at all. It seemed vaguely familiar, as does most of the surrounding landscape. Then again, so many movies have been made in New Zealand that we’re bound to have seen it sometime or another. I’ll have to tell you though, any scene on the big screen, no matter how large, cinematic or impressive is totally obliterated by reality! Anyway’s I gave my camera some work and nearly fell of a rock into the FREEZING river while doing so… hehe all I got for it was a cold left foot and many excellent foto’s. While we were scouting around the mountain, playing in the snow and looking at waterfalls there was an excellent indoor climbing wall awaiting us at National Park Backpackers… and climb we did! (Over and over again until my hands were too tired to lift a glass) Tawai Falls

Liza "DAREDEVIL" Davidson

John "ARM OF STEEL" Davidson

Louis "SUPERFLY" van Zyl

I bought a book by Wilbur Smith (Warlock, the sequel to the Seventh Scroll) while waiting for the rental car at
Auckland airport and got caught in it’s intricate egyptian tale before leaving for this trip. On this night at the foot of mount
Ruapehu I listened to the wind howl and read… and read… and read… until 3AM… Mr Smith really is an excellent story teller. Anywhays, about the trip yea… We departed from National Park Village with rain in our faces, wind at our backs, and the mountain still shrouded in a mantle of grey… Our route stayed as picturesque as it had been so far. After many mountain passes, hairpin turns, bridges, rivers and awesome valleys dressed in autumn colors, we reached Palmerston Noth. We only stayed over for the night so didn’t see too much. Most of the area is known for Rugby, Sheep farming (Mostly wool) and well, sheep! The town is beautifull and feels strangely like home. To be honest, the further South we traveled the more “right” everything felt. We stayed at another BBH network affilliated backpackers lodge (discounts baby yea!) “Grandma’s place” is a former old age home restored for backpackers. It really feels like my grandma’s house. To tell you the truth I became very nostalgic when seeing the old wooden Sony television set like the one my Gran had and the furniture, carpets, everything really… I missed my Granma that night, and enjoyed fond memories of her kindess, untireable smile, love for God and her warmth. She was legendary for her good food (tamatiebredie uit die hemel uit, al julle plaasjapies wat dit kan wardeer!) and for the way she could tease my dad. Hehe, I believe I’ll see Granma Babsie again, but not yet, not yet. We had coffee in a Starbucks (Lekker koffie ouens, glo my vry! En chocolate muffins J ) and walked through a memorial square looking at statues of Maori chieftains that played pivotal roles in the healthy relationship with England and the crown. Like in many first world countries there was a huge momorial for the various wars that involved New Zealand. In all of those, New Zealand was lending a helping hand to some or other alliance. (It is so small and out of the way that having NZ involved in a war of it’s own volition is practically inconceivable, except of course if their rugby rivalry with Australia got out of hand hehe) I’ve seen similar memorials in many other places (Holland, UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, USA) and all of them testify to generations of hurt families, heroes fallen in defence of the innocent and freedom. For the record, war, however necessary due to circumstances, stinks. We shared Grandma’s place with 2 girls from Wales traveling through NZ on holiday and a Indian dude who was in Palmerston to visit his university for a correpondence course thing. We left them behind to travel onwards towards Wellington. Our room at "Grandma's Place" - no school like the old school! In this leg of the trip we made a beeline for the west coast. Yet again I passed an interresting looking sign board promising lakes in the forest… BAH! Think again tourist freaks hehe. We did take the turnoff and found a “pond amongst the trees”! Imagine my surprise… So I tried to make a u turn with a few horses staring on, anxiously awaiting the inevitable. I carefully reversed, making sure to keep the front wheels on the tarmac (surely the purple beast was front wheel drive) while the rear wheels went onto the slippery stuff. (This mud seriously resembles baby dog poop) And so it happened… The car was REAR wheel drive!!! Hahahahaha And so I managed to get myself covered in mud for the second time this trip, ahh bliss. Result of a stuck in the mud... The horses are still laughing at me... Eventually we managed to get our car free of the slimy clutches of immobility and shot down the coast yet again. After a quick look around the beaches close to Kapiti Island (Beautiful surf, awesome surroundings and massive beach) we headed on towards Wellington. The closer we got to our destination the more the surroundings became reminiscent of the southern parts of South Africa’s Cape peninsula. Not only was our car buffeted my the wind but the scrubs, hills and coastline reminded me of the road from Somerset west to Koegel bay. Beach and Sea! Kapiti Island in the background Finally we reached wellington. A breathtakingly beautifull city. It is large and yet feels remarkably small. Soon I’ll write about it’s people, malls, theatres and restaurants. Wellington is like a mixture between Capetown’s city and harbour, and Stellenbosch’s vibe surrounded by mountains, hills, awesome bays etc… Here are some pics of Wellington to give you a warm-up for the next post. These pics were all taken from our first appartment's living room window. We've moved to another appartment in meantime but sure enjoyed the view in the old one! :) Wellington Harbour on a windy day... When in blows... it BLOWS Another Rainbow! Weve seen more rainbows in the last week than in ten normal SA lifetimes Wellinton Harbour has this huge fountain that works when it's not blowing... In other words, if the fountain doesn't work - go windsurfing! Part of Wellington City Skyline... Checks the harbour and mountains in the background... (Yes you astute observer you... I am in fact trying to make you jealous... hehe)

Until next time then… Cheers,

The Superfly