Homeward Bound

 

We woke to cloudy skies and threatening rain over New Plymouth on our last day away, but that never stopped us from visiting the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge on the Coastal Walkway trail.

The unusual shape of this bridge has been described as being reminiscent of a breaking wave or a whale skeleton, and on a fine day the end frames the volcanic Mount Egmont (Mount Taranaki – it has two official names).

Heading home, we stopped at Pio Pio at a pleasant little café for our lunch and then continued on to Te Kuiti.

There were more Big Things to photograph here, such as this 6 metre tall statue of a man shearing sheep.  Te Kuiti promotes itself as the Shearing Capital of the World, being the home of legendary competition sheep-shearer Sir David Fagan.

A bronze sculpture of a bat chasing three moths represents the native long-tailed bat that is found in this area.

At one end of the main shopping street is found the Mahoenui Weta Wall.  This giant flightless weta can grow up to three inches long and for many years was found only in a couple of small areas at Mahoenui.

Today the weta is being distributed to different ecological reserves in the hope that it will establish itself and the species will not be so vulnerable to extinction.

Our last major stop for the day was Otorohanga, where we were able to photograph this colourful kiwi statue.

I hope you have enjoyed travelling along with me on this road trip around some of our beautiful country.  It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun, and it has been my pleasure to share it here.

Until next time,

Margaret 😊

New Plymouth

 

New Plymouth is a coastal city of some 85,000 people and was named after Plymouth in Devon, England.

One of the well-known features of the city is the Wind Wand.  This kinetic sculpture by Len Lye was first erected in 1999, and is constructed out of red fibreglass and carbon fibre.  It is 48 metres high and bends in the wind.

The Gables was originally a colonial hospital, built in 1848 to the orders of Governor Sir George Grey.

During the Maori wars in the 1860s the building was used as a military outpost, before being turned into an Old Man’s Home. 

It was purchased privately in 1904 and gifted to the city in 1934.  Today it is cared for by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust.

I spent a happy hour wandering around the peaceful gardens while my travelling companions explored the nearby Brooklands Zoo.

Next door is the Kunming Garden, a gift from sister city Kunming in the Yunnan Province of south-west China. 

This beautiful pavilion was made by Chinese craftsmen without using power tools, nails or screws.  The intricate carvings were all made by hand.

The Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary has a history dating back to 1842 and is classified as New Zealand’s oldest stone church.

This Anglican church operated until 2010, when it was consecrated as a cathedral to reflect its importance to the church in the Taranaki region.

The churchyard is home to an old cemetery, closed for use in 1861.  Many of the graves lie beneath the dappled shade of mature trees and it was a pleasant place to wander through, although some of the headstones made for tragic reading.

There is much more to be seen in and around New Plymouth but time was against us visiting more places.  It is on my list as a future place to visit again!

Our weather here today is tumbling towards summer.  We have had sunshine, clouds, rain, and wind – typical spring weather, but the temperatures are most definitely warmer (23 degrees C yesterday).

Cheers,

Margaret 😊

Elvis Presley Museum

 

Elvis is fine in the garage, but he is not allowed in the house!

Kevin (KD) Wasley of Hawera has been collecting Elvis Presley memorabilia for the past sixty years, and his wife insists the best place for him to store it is NOT inside the home.

Probably a good reason why he is still happily married!

And so Elvis continues to live in the garage which KD first opened to the public as a museum around forty years ago.  It is free to visit (donations are appreciated), and is currently open by appointment only.

Even the roof is covered with souvenirs.  There is not an inch of space that does not display something.

There are baby guitars and key rings,

Along with music boxes that jostle for space with mugs and ties and sparkly jackets.

There was so much to see that it took us over an hour to look around.  Almost anything you can name can be found here, or so it seemed.

And no prizes for guessing who was singing the hit songs playing in the background!

Although I do love several of Elvis' hit songs, I am not what you could call a massive fan of Elvis Presley.  

However, I found this collection incredibly interesting – and the infectious enthusiasm of the curator collector made our visit a real pleasure.

If anyone wishes to learn more about this place, there is a webpage available:  www.elvismuseum.co.nz

Have a great day 😊

Margaret.

The Penultimate Day

 

It was another early morning on the road on Day Six of our travels, the penultimate day of our Road Trip.

One of our group is a dedicated fan of Elvis Presley, so a stop at the Elvis Presley Museum in Hawera was an absolute must-see.  It was so interesting that I will write a post about it tomorrow.

Also at Hawera is this fabulous concrete water tower.  Built in 1914 to provide water for the local fire brigade, it now has an interesting sign at its base that reads:

“Welcome to the historic Hawera water tower.  This is a strenuous climb of 215 steps taking approximately 10 minutes and is done so at your own risk.  Entry fee applies and is payable at the Information Centre.”

We never climbed it!

Manaia, it seems, is a Bread Capital.  I am unsure quite what that is meant to mean, but this small town can boast a bakery that was established 97 years ago.

They say you learn something new every day, and this day I discovered that the great athlete Sir Peter Snell, famous for his running achievements, was born here in Opunake in 1938.  He died in 2019 in Dallas, Texas.

On our way to New Plymouth, we chose to drive around the longer but more scenic coastal road, known as the Surf Highway as there are several good surfing breaks along the route.

It is seldom safe for swimming though, as much of the coast is prone to ferocious ocean swells and fierce storms.  Its rugged beauty belies how dangerous it can be.

Loving lighthouses as we all did, we simply had to detour to see the Cape Egmont Lighthouse.  There has been a light shining out from here since 1881, to warn passing ships of the hazardous coastline.

It was a beautiful day for traveling, with blue skies and sunshine most of the time.

Tune in tomorrow for our visit to Elvis Presley!

Margaret 😊

Virginia Lake

 

A beautiful place, well worth visiting, lies at the heart of Whanganui city.  It is the Virginia Lake Reserve, 18 hectares (45 acres) of lake, bush, gardens, walkways, sculptures and other pleasant Sunday-afternoon diversions.

Virginia Lake itself was originally known as Rotokawau, which refers to the native black shag that still visits here to feed (I believe it also breeds here). 

Maori believed the lake had been formed by the tears of angry gods and of the beautiful woman named Tainui, after her lover was strangled by a jealous suitor.

The Higginbottom Fountain is a floating copper and steel waterlily, and has been a feature here for the last fifty years.  It can be activated for 10 minutes by inserting a $1 coin into the machine (on shore, so you don’t have to wade out there!).

The Lake is home to numerous birds, especially ducks, geese, coots, and pukeko.  Their droppings were a bit of a problem though, and one had sometimes to be very careful where one placed one’s feet!

I enjoyed seeing the swans, both white and black, and was intrigued to see how the white swans treated the smaller black ones – they were quite bossy, and the black ones did their best to stay well out of the way.

Different sculptures and art works are scattered around the place, and this pleasant seat was sited near the Winter Gardens for those who just wanted to sit and contemplate for a while.

The indoor Winter Gardens were full of bold displays of vibrant colour.

Tucked into various corners there were different pieces of art work to be discovered.

There were also peaceful corners to be found in the Winter Gardens, which helped relieve the eye of all the bright colours.

And occasionally a lurking danger could be found to scare unwary children.

After dark, Higginbottom Fountain is illuminated by fifteen jets of amber, blue, green and red, giving an ever-changing display which lasts for forty minutes.

Our return visit to see the lights made for a very pretty way to end our day.

I hope you have enjoyed this wander around some of Virginia Lake Reserve.  It really is a beautiful place to visit.

Margaret 😊

NEWSFLASH (30 Oct 2020):  Whanganui has been awarded the title Most Beautiful Small City in New Zealand (Hamilton is the most beautiful large city!) in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Awards 2020.  Congratulations Whanganui and Hamilton!

Wandering Around Whanganui

 It is Wanganui city and Whanganui river, right?

As a child I was taught to spell the name without the h, and as an adult I came to know the river as having the h.  Very confusing, so I have been doing some research.

Since the mid-1800s both spellings have been used interchangeably in the district, but in 2015 it was officially decided that the spelling would be Whanganui as it better suited public opinion and the local iwi (local Maori tribes).

The name was officially gazetted on 19 November 2017 so I will have to get used to using the new spelling!

This was Day Five of our trip and we spent our time in and around Whanganui.  There is a very pleasant boardwalk alongside the river in the centre of town.

The Whanganui River is tidal here, as it is close to the sea.  Rising from Mt Tongariro in the centre of the North Island, it is New Zealand’s third longest river.

Along the riverside we found some different art sculptures. 

This one is called Bearing, produced in 2011 by David McCracken to represent the winding path of the river as it makes it way to the sea.

This bronze kereru (native wood pigeon), created by Paul Dibble, won the People’s Choice Award in the 2010 Sculpture competition.

These stainless steel pencils were also made in 2010.  Their creator, Daniel Clifford, called his creation Balancing Act and said the pencils reflected the idea that Maori is traditionally an oral culture while European is traditionally a written culture.

This Mama Duck came over to see if anyone had any food to offer (we didn’t).  The little ones’ legs were going as fast as they could to try and keep up with her.

Our next stop was at Virginia Lake, which I will write about in my next post.

This was followed by a visit to nearby Castlecliff Beach, a black sand beach covered in driftwood.  Although we only saw a few people around, there was a Surf Life Saving Club based here so presumably this beach is used for swimming during the summertime.

In the distance we could see another tower but could not find it on our map, so we went searching and eventually found this at the top of a hill.

The Bastia Hill Water Tower was built in 1927 and holds 2000 tonnes of water in its top tank.  The tower is not open to public access as it is now home to a lot of telecommunications equipment, but it can be viewed from the road.

We had a good day wandering around.  Whanganui has a very restful peaceful atmosphere about it, at least in the parts we visited!

Have a happy day 😊

Margaret.

Bulls And Bits

 

This was Day Four of our road trip.

We travelled across country this time, stopping briefly in Palmerston North (another place I would like to revisit at some stage, and have a closer look around).

Sanson was next.  It is a small settlement on a busy road junction.  They have a Sky Hawk Playground for restless children, inspired by the proximity of the Ohakea Air Force Base.

Our first big stop for the day was at Bulls, a town full of puns about its name.

Here I am, loitering in front of the cop shop with some of the const-a-bulls (painted on the shed door).

We even found a bit of toilet humour.

Arriving at Wanganui early afternoon, the day was too pleasant to waste and so we decided to visit the Durie Hill Elevator.

Accessed by a 213 metre long pedestrian tunnel, it is the only public underground elevator in New Zealand.  It was built in 1919 (and it shows!), and was operated by a friendly informative lady (and cost us $2 each person each way).

This photo shows the top part of the Elevator Tower.

From here, we obtained a lovely view out over Wanganui city and the Whanganui River that winds through it.

Nearby is a World War I Memorial Tower, built in 1925 from shellrock (cemented marine sandstone containing shell fragments).

There are 176 internal steps to reach the top (it is 104 metres high), but a sign at the bottom warning of earthquake-prone issues was enough to put me off attempting to climb any of them!

Have a great day everyone 😊

Margaret.