Hawke's Bay

Based on a fairly good weather forecast, we drove to Hawke’s Bay on the Pacific for a three day week end. We stopped on the way to visit Di Jones, an ultrasound tech, who lives in the country with her husband, Kevin. Di works at the hospital three days a week, and Jim is always in a better mood on those days he works with her. 

Some bike riding, hiking, a market, several beaches, a couple of restaurants, and a lovely view of the bay from our hotel along with some sun and warm temperatures (18C or 64F). A great week end!

The weather during the ride was a bit chilly and I took no chances of getting cold.

Some great cabbage! It really was this green.

We took a coastal walk at Waipatiki Beach north of Napier

It is so fun to see the lambs again but the moms were not happy 

to see us!

We drove to the top of Te Mata and hiked around a bit-another beautiful spot.

It was so gusty that I wouldn't go where Jim was.

Aloe growing along the beach

Ocean Beach

Two Day Hikes

Having heard about the new Ironsgate Gorge in the Ruahine Forest, we set out on a cold and sunny day to check it out. It took some time to actually find the track, but with the snow covered mountains for much of the drive we didn’t mind wandering around on the backroads. This particular track was built and is maintained by the community and is said to be up to “tramping standards”. We prepared for about a two hour return trip to the gorge, and we gave it a go, but turned back after about fifteen minutes (it wasn't to our tramping ability) and instead took an easy trail up to one of the overnight huts. It was an average hike and we got some needed exercise, but the view of Mount Taranaki, Mount Ruapehu, and Mount Ngauruhoe from the “car park” was worth the whole trip! 

Not a bad Sunday ride in the countryside

Mount Ruapehu and Mount Ngauruhoe

Mount Taranaki

 Without the pink triangles we wouldn't have known where to go. We had to hop between frosty tufts of grass to stay out of the water underneath. When the path became steep, rocky, muddy, and slippery, we turned back.

A new hut for overnight tramping and quite nice!

And as we headed home, we saw the best rainbow we have ever seen! Right outside of Palmy was a big, bright, long lasting rainbow with the Te Apiti Windfarm in the background. 

On another day, we drove to the Rimutaku Hill, north of Wellington. We hiked up a brand new trail, this one in excellent condition, to a beautiful view of the Wairarapa Valley, Wairarapa Lake, and Palliser Bay-on the Pacific Ocean.

 

Some Down Time in Palmy

After three trips in New Zealand (Stewart Island, Cape Reinga and the West Coast) with nine different planes, three rental cars, several ferries, many hotels, one train, and a lot of driving, all within thirty-three days, we, mostly I, needed a break from planning and traveling. And time to catch up on my blogs!

During our three week end down time in Palmy:

We had dinner with Rich and Vivian, friends from Albuquerque, ate dinner out a couple of times by ourselves, Saturday work for Jim, a few errands and projects, and did some skyping :-)  And, of course, some day hikes. 

We also watched several movies, renting some DVD’s at the library. And we saw a couple of films at Cinemagold, the boutique movie theater which shows “quality mainstream and independent films”. While there we watch non-action, non-violent movies in an intimate setting of 26 seats (or 50 seats in the other theater), sipping wine and eating warm cashews. Cinemagold is also a part of the Metropolitan Opera HD live series and has morning tea for senior citizens twice a month. We haven’t been to the Met and I guess I have to wait a couple of years for morning tea!

Palmerston North Public Library, one of my favorite places

 We went down several roads that didn’t quite get us to the beach on the Tasman Sea, but finally found our way to a spot where we could take our always new, always nourishing walk along the beach.

And why are we trying to drive on this road?

Watching the tide come in

Walking in the Bush on the West Coast

In addition to the mountains and beaches along the west coast we did some walking in the bush. In New Zealand, the bush usually refers to the very dense, subtropical rainforest.

 

 

 

Many varieties or mosses, ferns and lichens

We drove out of Westport and north past Karamea to “the end of the road” as it is referred to. There is talk about continuing the road around the northern part of the South Island, connecting to Nelson, but the end of the road designation is probably safe for quite some time.

There are some remnants of the coal mines from the 1870's to 1960 near the old rundown mining town of Denniston . But coal mining has been revived and we also saw a big, new, opencast operation. Most of the coal is exported to India and Japan.  

 

 We had hoped to walk a bit on the popular Heaphy Track, but because of the rain and limited daylight, we had to make a choice and opted for the Oparara Arch Track, which is said to be the largest limestone arch in Australasia.

It was too dark to get a good view of the very large arch.

Would we expect anything else?

And, at the end of the road, we were rained out of a beautiful beach.

One Long Fabulous View

The 100 kilometer ride along the Tasman Sea from Hokitika to Westport was one long fabulous view! And one of Lonely Planet's best road trips. The "clouds" in the distance in these pictures are actually snow-covered mountains. (The Southern Alps)

Pancake Rocks

Pancake rocks with me in the shadow

 We spent two nights at the beautiful Cape Foulwind.

Standing on a rock while the tide was coming in to get the perfect shot

Steep downhill and climbing over rocks to get to this Cape Foulwind beach, accessible only at low tide

We had a big storm the morning we left and had quite a different view of the beach

An amazing 360 sunrise on our first morning in Cape Foulwind.