Taupo to Lake Whakamaru to Tauranga

Great Lake Trail

Taupo has never floated my kayak so to speak and indeed it still hasn't, however our 2 days here has altered my perception with warm balmy weather, good riding and plenty of scenic highlights. The Great Lake Trail is flat & smooth, a pleasure to cycle. There is still a fair portion of the country on holiday so not feeling overly conspicuous with our leisurely pace. We stayed at the NZMCA park which is generously proportioned (tons of room) and enjoyed a relaxing sundown with very modest amounts of food and alcohol, having eaten our main meal on the lakeside before our ride earlier in the day.

Wednesday dawned hot and fine which is a hallmark of our time on the road to date.
We drove to Spa Park Taupo with the intention of riding to the Huka Falls, onto Arataia Rapids. The ride, initially, to the falls is a grade 2, and Doc frowns on bikes on the walkway thus the cycleway was enjoyable for me but a little hardass for S. The Huka Falls are never disappointing, however the ride on to the Rapids was not an easy option so returned to the park and drove on to the rapids via the GeoThermal steamfields lookout. For me very interesting, S could see room for improvement, and who was responsible for cleaning those pipes, they should try a magicloth!!

Huka Falls

The Arataia rapids were a new one on me surprisingly, as the kids will attest to, having TikiToured every goddamn inch of this country, well there is still a lot to see.

Before Spill

After Spill

The rapids were bypassed to form another hydroplant on the Waikato but due to public outcry, what we would now know as the resousce act requires the power company to release water regularly, to keep the falls alive over the 500m stretch. The water is spilled 4 times during the day and is truly worth the wait, I liked it so much we stayed for two spills, interspersed with lunch ,a ride, a swim and a little litter collection at a beautiful camping spot that some of the country's youth seem to appreciate (why else would they be there??) but seem to think that it is ok to trash!! Moving on, the second spill was as good as the first and have a zillion photos and video to bore any one who cares to ask.

After Spill

Onto Lake Wakamaru, a flooded section of the Waikato River and a luverly camp stretching about a km along its banks amongst tall plantation pines. Possibly 30 other campers (tenting etc) several boats lots of kids and plenty of room. Neighbours were 150m either side so not to boxed in. The lake is weedy along the edges and testimony to our failed pest control measures, the freshwater carp introduced by  the Waikato farmers to eradicate weed in their waterways has successfully spread through out the Waikato filling the lakes with goldfish beating out the native fish. All is not lost however for as we kayaked around the lake we managed to sneak up on many trout congregating at the fresh water streams leading into the lake. Possibly 30 or so at one and 10 -15 at another, some well worth catching but with the weed not sure how you would go about snaring them, legally??!!.

The other interesting trait along the shoreline is the pumice stone. It is thick on all the shores, big and small, and the pumice sand in the shallows swirls round for a long time before languidly settling, after being disturbed. This is not good in your sandals.
The pumice is great for scrubbing the BBQ plate and have filled my trailer (very lite) to hawk off round the country and  for unsolicited gifts. I know.. you're excited ..............

The drive thru to Tokoroa from Mangakino has in my memory always been heavily forested, but with recent logging the whole nature of the country is altered, back to what it probably was prior to the 60s I guess. Dairy conversions are also changing the face of country with forestry being converted after logging. The big machinery and soft volcanic soils make for short work of turning stump filled landscape into river polluting green dairy fields. Diesel prices are variable round the area with Napier being 10c more than the outlying districts north and south, and in Papamoa Gull self service 20c cheaper at 86c!!

Hawkes Bay - Napier

Saturday 17th - Party time in Napier
We arrived in Napier just after mid day - another stunning day. Napier's Marine Parade is a waterfront the City should be proud of. Lovely wide beach front, riddled with shared walk/cycle ways. Caught up with a very sweaty brother, Graeme, & partner Claire( they had been cycling for the morning), and cousin Sandra (who wasn't sweaty). Then it was off to park up at the RSA which was just a street away from where my cousin Kevin's 60th was being celebrated - easy walk. Well easy when one is sober!
It was a good night of catching up with family (Aunt / cousins/ second cousins) and their friends in a very hot sunny afternoon / evening. Great Party with loads of smoked trout and rare venison

Sunday Oh Sunday! What was an enjoyable night was not an enjoyable next morning! I blame the heat :( Anyway no  time for sympathy), it was up and off to the Farmers Market in Hastings,  G&C picked us up on the way. Lovely big market with lots of food (smells not that great for me today) - lots of fresh produce not that cheap but lots of variety.

Bill, Graeme & Claire off in the distance.

Then off to the Puketapu Pub where we did a lovely cycle with G&C along the Tutaekuri River (18km return). On our return the Pub was buzzing with cyclists, motorcycles, a horse and locals, live music, good food, which was much needed after our ride. Lots of cycle trails leaving this area, will return and do more some other time.

Puketapu Pub with bikes & a horse!

Bill, G&C had an ocean swim at Westshore, before going to one of the trendy bars on the strip around the water front.

Next morning was of to the dentist for a double whammy, curse Bills rotten teeth courtesy of an overly proactive 60's school dental system, then met birthday boy Kevin and Debby our hosts from the party, for a coffee on the fore shore, our original venue on the wharves strip was untenable due to the huge amounts of fish being offloaded. The place was uber whiffy.
We set course for Taupo at 12 ish but got sidetracked at Westshore with a 2 + hr cycle ride on the way out which was scenic wetlands exposed from the harbour after the 1931 earth quake ,which incidentally S's father was caught in at school. This raised the seafloor, but for this Napier's Port area would be very similar to Nelson's, a large protective boulder bank encircling the harbour and sheltered lagoon

Water Ride Trail - Napier

We went on to Tarawera, a small local on the Napier Taupo Highway notable for its now unusable hot springs and Maori War shenanigans with the Pakeha.The Maori history all thru here is a tragic indictment on our relationships with them, with tales of betrayed trust and hostility on both sides


Onto Taupo with some more walks thru lovely forests, rich in history with the Pit sawing off totara telegraph poles being of particular interest, recalling photographs and conversations with my Grandad Cameron,as he was involved with pitsawing the timber in the 1920's to construct the first huts on the Milford track to accommodate tourists.

Opepe Historic Reserve

Massacre Cemetery Opepe 

Wairarapa to Hawkes Bay

Farewelled Masterton heading north through lovely (very dry) rural New Zealand, arriving at Alfredton Domain for the night. Passed through areas settled by the Scandanavians back in the 1800's - lovely old churches with a trident on the steeple.
Alfredton once a thriving little town now consists of a very tidy rural school, community centre, less than half a dozen homes, and of course! a well kept cemetery.

Ekatahuna for lunch

The Domain had an active horse & tennis club with their renovated club rooms and storage sheds over the domain. No sign of anyone while we were there though.
After our 5 minute walk through the whole town in the morning, we continued on through to Herbertville. We had been through here 3 years ago and spotted freedom camping at the end of the beach after obtaining permission from the farmer (it took nearly an hour to find the farmer and watch him selecting sheep to sell with a stockman).
The weather had closed in with heavy cloud but it was lovely to be back by the sea once again after our time inland by rivers. Had a lovely big walk along the beach, finally got cell coverage at the township end to ring Joan (Bills mum) for her 83rd birthday, and to get the good news of my niece in Australia's engagement - congratulations Abbey & Ben. (Cell coverage is very limited throughout country NZ but Bill who is on Skinny (using the Telecom network) certainly has the better coverage than my 2 Degrees (Vodafone network), but occasionally I have the coverage, so it is good to have the two networks covered).
From Herbertville we continued back inland to head north again travelling through a lot of small towns. There are a lot of old pubs in these towns up for sale for any of you looking for a change in lifestyle. Bet they are cheap! Only little problem that would appear to be is no customers!! One pub that was functioning well though was the Patangata Hotel where Bill met up with the publican to discuss some possible work

Moving sheep at Patangata

Unfortunately the job was too big and would have involved organising other contractors, but he came up with some other work at another property. While we hung around waiting on the owner to get home after work, we had a bike ride along the Tukituki River, where there was a lot of evidence of campers over the Christmas / summer break. Some campers still there. The day was getting on so arrangements were made for Saturday to meet up with the property owner and look at another renovation job, so we headed off out to the coast.

Kairakau Beach

Kairakau Beach we had stayed at 5 years earlier (time flies doesn't it?) and it was pretty much the same - lovely stretch of beach, a tidy little beach settlement. Last time we managed to get out in the kayak but unfortunately it was a little windy for that this time. We had a chill out day the next day, Bill did a little bit of maintenance on the bus, we read our books, had walks (one of which went straight up the hill to limestone bluffs behind us. I almost made it to the top before I had to sit down and cling onto the hill! For those of you who know my fear of heights, this was an achievement for me. Bill continued on up and took the necessary photos).
The next morning, Saturday, it was time to head north to Napier, via Patangata again, checking out future work. This was unfortunately another no goer, too big a job with fishhooks, little resources available and limited transport (only our bus) to get required materials, it wasn't really an option. So we carried on north through extremely dry farmland to Napier

A Days Excursion into Wellington

Monday 12th January 2015
It seemed a good idea. Catch the commuter train to Wellington getting in at 12 have lunch with  Nick and Shannon, and hour or so round town then back to Masterton for a relaxing evening with a Peak Brewery Beer by the riverside.
And by and large that is what transpired. It was a stunning day as we left camp and went to the Masterton rail station parking up under the trees, boarding with our $22 pp return tickets. We had to catch the mid morning trains to get the excursion pass which gave you almost unlimited travel on the trans metro rail network. The ride took 90 mins and took in a the Rimatuka tunnel - 9 minutes, (Sheryl closed her eyes and went to a happy place).Those from Nelson who rarely get to see trains let alone ride one, can

appreciate my excitement. Wellington's weather was not up to Mastertons so when we met Nick at the railway station (presumably so the oldies didn't get confused and lost) we opted for a meal at Mac's Brew Bar rather than Kebabs round the waterfront. On the way thru town we picked up Shannon from her work and went to lunch which was adequate. (won't mention the fish). It was good to catch the kids in their work clothes looking every bit the professionals they are.
We spent a short time in town doing retail therapy, without the purchases of course, then looked round Parliament buildings and the old Government buildings. Beautiful old building that are a testimony to the workmanship still around to keep up the repairs etc.
From there to the station is but across the road and home. The train was packed by the time we left the Wellington side stations at 4.20pm but emptied out at Featherston.
It was over 2 hrs back not sure why except we did crawl over the Upper Hutt bridge hit by the truck over that weekend (indeed the same bridge I thought we might leave our kayaks entangled with when we went under a few days earlier) . So returned to a pleasantly warm Masterton and the short trip back to our riverside spot to enjoy a Peak Brewery beer NOT. Leigh our skirt wearing friend from the next bus didn't get past the first sip. He had standards!
All in all a pleasant day with no ice cream on the top.

More Paliser Bay and onto Masterton

Ngawi Bulldozer - Tinky Winky

Spent 2 hours exploring up the Mangatoetoe river looking for a spa pool but the rivers are so low. I always enjoy fossicking up river beds or shore lines, looking for treasures & brick a brack. Closest we got to a treasure was a sheep carcase and the meat was well past it. Damn it.
It remained cloudy up the river but was clearing to fine as we came back to the coast. Saw lots of seals which impinged on our olfactory senses. Also an elephant seal basking amongst rocks, easily 4 times the size of the fur seals, at over 2m in length.



Walked the beach the next day to a point where surfers were doing their thing on some lovely braking waves, got long rides, Daniel would love it here Rocky

The beach was littered, as would be expected during the xmas break with lots of visitors, with cray fish remnants and paua shell numbering many hundreds of fresh shells and mostly all of a legal size. Paua isn't really our dish (I can see some of you rolling your eyes) but the crays would be ok, but neither am I a diver.

We moved on to Masterton and had a short walk thru town for some fresh food and on to a reserve on the side of the Ruamahunga River, 15 kms out. A pleasant spot with elusive trout and a popular swimming hole with some of the locals. Next day went back to Masterton and quartered the town on our push bikes before again returning to our spot by the river.
We had a leisurely breakfast, reading our books, me the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, Sheryl with some sordid little novel. I can recommend my book as very thought provoking, no comment on Sheryl's bodice ripper.
Then the "its all turning to custard" bit.
Leaving our spot taking the bus over the graded berm I bottomed out leaving the rear wheels suspended over the ditch with the bus resting on its rear motor and front wheels.

Someones once loved home

Wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been right across the access road. l panicked a bit, but was slightly relieved to see that vehicles would be able to get round me, with only a little inconvenience and some caution. It was appropriate, I feel, to let loose with the F bomb (Children! this is one of those times that this is acceptable) and rapidly went looking for a teaspoon to dig to get us out.
Holy shit batman what this, a cock up Robin....
Being 9ish, too early for a drink to calm the nerves, adrenalin was doing the business anyway, dug the tow bar out, so could get the trailer off. After several attempts at packing stones behind the wheels to back up ,to no avail, finally resorted to jacking the wheels high enough to get my blocks under, managing to get enough traction to back up. By this stage the local farmer had come by on his quad bike which I thought may be opportune if my tactic hadn't worked, so we conversed, me slightly distracted, did the intros with farmer John Booth, the Carterton Mayor no less. Well it payes to get the right sort of help, thanks for the offer of the big tractor if needed John, but dropped the bus off the jack and praise the lord (apologies to Richard Dawkins) we were able to drive back over the berm and the day was saved! Let that be a lesson to young players (and old!).
So a little more sweaty and possibly a bit smarter it was on to Carterton to inject some small measure off econmic benefit to the region.
Carterton is a small village over both sides of the highway, it started as a camp for the road makers, grew into a service town and now arguably an elite suburb for some Wellingtonians. They are able to sell up in Wellybobs, buy a nice house and car, bank some money and enjoy a restful 90min commuter ride to the capital, if indeed they are required at work & can't work from home.
We then headed of into the Gladstone area, walked through Carterton Scenic Reserve - a Doc reserve that had a walk through to another section of the Ruamahunga River, that we failed to find, only doing the loop track. Would have been a wonderful track but is sadly neglected (Doc funding cuts impacting on these smaller rural areas).
Further along the road was Gladstone Reserve where we had a refreshing dip in the river, before walking over the bridge to the Gladstone Inn which was buzzing. A lovely old hotel which was being well supported. We had a lovely pizza & drinks before returning to camp. Met Allan & Leigh from two of the other buses parked up for the night, interesting guys, particularly Leigh in his long denim skirt (his petticoat on his handlebars as he got hot riding back from the pub). These two had been in the public bar of the same pub we had just returned from, but they returned with two lovely blue cod on the back of Leighs bike - amazing what you can catch in the country they said! As he now had too much choice in foods, he gave us a Crayfish he had only caught the day before. Made for a lovely mornay the next night.

The Peak Brewery garden bar seemed a to be a sign. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon and only 5mins down the road to our campsite. Nice music and pleasant relaxing vibe coming from the 10 or so guests already soaking it up.

Peak Brewery Garden Bar

The beer was ok given it was not overly chilled or indeed gassed but one could still enjoy the moment which we did. The brewer Rhys turned up after having been serving his wares at the Clareville music Festival over the weekend but was not a sellout. He has been brewing out of his shed for eight years and has an on licence but really doesn't appear to have taken the concept past the two picnic tables under the gazebos. We enjoyed the moment and took a 1ltr glass rigger each of his IPA  and Golden Lager which I knew would improve with some chilling. Alas this still didn't manage to improve the fact it was still dead flat, in fact the only way to improve it was to mix it 50/50 with commercial beer to give it a head and doggedly drink on.
Lesser men I know wouldn't have perservered but they hadn't paid the $10a litre I had. I can't  positively recommend this beer.

Palliser Bay

On parting with Nick & Jacky we drove back to Ocean beach to spend more time. We stayed here 3 years ago almost to the day. Ocean Beach sits in Palliser Bay and is super exposed to the south, however weather permitting is a superb ocean beach, several kilometres long, great for fossicking and fishing, (yeh right don't start me on the bloody fishing again) & the Rimataka Cycle way which passes thru on its way round the coast to Eastbourne. We were only able to complete a third of it for various reasons, it was a slightly more challenging ride than some of our last excursions. It was VERY windy with a strong northerly dropping over the escarpment's and whistling out the valleys, we were reduced to walking on several occasions, the wind hitting from all directions, when we weren't bogged down in the coarse sand. However it was still a stunningly hot beautiful day and we will complete the ride at some stage, possibly from the other end.










The sun sets directly behind  Mount Tapuae-o-Uenuku (the highest peak in the Kaikoura Ranges), and makes for a stunning photo. During a clear day it's snow capped flanks are clearly seen from Palliser Bay in the Wairapa at a distance of about 120 kms, also special is that it stands 80metres taller than anything the North Island has to offer. Significant also for us, as we rafted down the Clarence (with Shannon) in Labour weekend 2013 in the company of our friends from the Nelson Canoe Club, the Clarence flowing over the feet of this Majestic Mountain..

The next day was spent mooching around the bus getting burnt, walking the beach, giving myself a haircut, & Sheryl catching up on the paperwork.The wind continued unabated, but apart from not knowing which direction the next gust came, was very pleasant. Today, after soaking my bait, we have gone back to Featherston to replenish, and relocated to Ngawi, further round Palliser Bay on the foreshore for another few days, as long as the southerly stays away.
Sheryl is still whizzing up culinary delights, tonight, kidneys in gravy with homemade pie & fresh beans. Should've left home years ago.

2015 - In the Wairarapa

New Years day 2015
Started the year off with a lovey ride along the Hutt River down to Petone & return, back to N&J's for brunch before heading off to the Wairarapa staying at Ocean Beach for the night. Just as lovely as it was 3 years ago.
Friday - met up with N&J at Lake Ferry Hotel for lunch, lovely seaside setting. Everyone else had the same thought with the restaurant being booked out, but the bar meals were good value, and more pleasant sitting outside.

From here we went onto Cape Palliser Lighthouse, where we walked up all 252? steps. Called into Ngawi and watched the bulldozers launching and retreaving the boats on the beach. Very impresive skills of both boat and bulldozer operators. Back to Putangirua Doc camp where N&J had set up their tent earlier to mark our spot. You guys really need an air pump for that mattress - lucky you have young lungs!
The next day after a walk up around the Pinnacles at the back of the camp (Lord of the Rings "The Paths of the Dead") amazing natural formations, we headed off to bike ride around Martinborough's Wine Trail. Perfect day for the ride but with each Vineyard doing $5 tasting where the total volume of the tastings would be the equivalent of a whole glass, we were a little concerned about how many we could actually visit and still make it back to our vehicles. Nick was fine as he didn't participate not being into wines. There were a lot of Vineyards all around a small area, sooooo easy to visit, all looking their best before the summer takes hold and dries everything out. Poppies was ideal for our last tasting and a bite to eat. Poppie herself doing the tastings was very passionate about her wines and had the ideal set up with her partner being the Chef. Reminded us of the Hop Federation.

Christmas in Wellington

Had a pleasant sailing, crossing to Wellington on the 22nd Dec with Joan on board, getting to Nick & Jacky's in Lower Hutt for a lovely relaxed evening.
In the morning the boys dropped Joan & I into Wellington City to meet up with Shannon for lunch, lovely day around the waterfront. Flagged the shopping (living in a bus has certainly killed the need to shop other than for food & drink of course), much more entertaining people watching. We caught the train home. Bill & Nick called into Nicks work briefly, before making it to Pete's Emporium - the highlight of Bills day - they stock everything you could possibly NOT want! great for mystery Santa pressy's though. BB Guns to band aids!
Christmas Eve (Wednesday 24th)
Another stunning day, off to Mall for final Christmas shopping, the afternoon lazing around back yard under improvised shade (Lucky Jacky got her Christmas present early from Nick)- a very relaxed Christmas Eve. Shannon arrived late evening (going well after her carol singing at the S&F in the City, looking a little dishevelled in her friend Sam's over sized jersey hiding her elegant little black dress)
Christmas Day - overcast & dreary outside but festive in N&J's lounge, lots of food, pressy's (even Geoffrey the cat got a pressy), Skype to Rocky in Perth who was celebrating with flatmates & friends and Nana Pat in Waihi Beach to complete the family. Enjoyed the games of cards & Buzz Nick.

Boxing Day was over to Eastborne for a bike ride with N&J round to Pencarrow Lighthouse, another great cycle trail, stunning views across Wellington and out the head of the harbour.

Saturday 27th December
Another day of relaxation this time at Kaitoke Regional Reserve north of Upper Hutt, a lovely picnic / camping spot full of families, lots of swimming holes, Nick managed to get into one of them.
Sunday -  Shannon had us all to her place overlooking the harbour for lovely brunch and then off to the movies where we met with Sam for the first time - well planned Shannon - I could hardly interrogate his intentions with our daughter at the movies could I? Dinner at Petone Speights Ale House where we enjoyed a lovely meal Rochelle shouted us all. Very generous thank you Rocky, sorry you weren't actually with us but I'm sure you enjoyed us all trying to talk to you at the same time on the phone after a drink or two or three!!!

Monday 29th December
Bill & I rode the Hutt River Cycle Trail that went through Lower Hutt on down to Petone Foreshore Bridge and back up the other side. Great trail. On our return Bill & Nick went for a swim in the river which is right on N&J's doorstep. Plans were made (but sadly not carried out!) for Nick to get a tube, and travel down the river with Bill on his sit on kayak. Perhaps next time boys!










Tuesday 30th December

Family (except you Rocky sadly) visit to Somes (Matiu) Island in Wellington Harbour - lovely Ferry ride over calling into Seatoun & Eastbourne on the way. The Island has Skinks (of which we saw many) & Tuatara's (saw none) - a very pleasant Island to walk around. Then it was onto a BBQ with John (The Godfather), Sarah & Finn - a lovely catch up with old friends. Thank you guys, hope you got over the shock of the tattoo news, as I hope Joan has recovered from the naked buttocks revealing said tattoo!

Wednesday- New Years Eve
Joan left us today to return to Nelson as we prepared to end one year and see a new one in. The rain & wind came in for the afternoon and evening, clearing just in time for New Year. N&J's friends Kelly & Sam came round to join them to see the new year in, we played cards (Kelly is not only a doctor but a card shark!) and Buzz. Then I dropped them all off in Petone before mid night (apparently ,in hindsight, it isn't the place it all happens on new years eve!) Bill & I saw it in quietly in Big Yella.