Eastland/Pacific Coast Highway

 

Alternative title   Est

We left flat Palmy on a fine Friday morning and drove about 400 kilometers through the usual green hills with sheep and wonderful views, the cold, windy, and rainy desert road with volcanoes hidden in the clouds, the volcanic lake area, geothermal springs, the rainforest “bush”, and onto the sunny and warm, sandy beach of the Pacific at Whakatane-all in 6.5 driving hours! (The locals would drive it in 5.5.) By the way, Whakatane is pronounced “fokka a tar nay”.  

Whakatane is the sunniEST city in New Zealand and we enjoyed the sun on the shell beach-broken, worn down shells with a few rocks are the sand. The Pacific Coast Highway around the coast of Eastland also boasts the largEST Pohutakawa tree in the world, the longEST wharf in the Southern Hemisphere, the earliEST city to see the sunrise, the highEST rail viaduct in Australasia, and EastEST lighthouse in the world. We soaked up the warmth and sunshine as any Texan would do after several months of rainy weather.

The Shell Beach

East Cape Lighthouse. The lighthouse used to be on East Island in the background, but was moved because of the difficulty of accessing the island.

The longest wharf in the Southern Hemisphere was built in 1929 in Tolago Bay and is 660 meters (around 2200 feet) long and not in good condition.

The Mohaka Viaduct at 95 meters

Christmas in New Zealand

Although the stores were busy, and I was aware of the hustle bustle, it also felt like a typical Saturday afternoon at almost any US mall or big box store. The consumerism here is just less than in the states. And with fifteen hours of daylight and the Kiwis preparing for summer vacations, barbecues and the beach, the feeling of Christmas didn’t quite fit. I understand that Christmas is Christmas regardless of our circumstances but I still felt a bit off balance this year.

However, none of that mattered when Carolyn and Jeff arrived on December 19^th and Rachel and Elizabeth arrived on December 22^nd. It still didn’t “feel” quite like Christmas, but our non-traditional Christmas was one of family and love. And we couldn’t have been happier.

Christmas Eve hike on Sledge Track

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Epiphany all in one

 

We had a live Christmas tree, and the decorations arrived on Epiphany-perfect! The other decorations are things I have picked up through our New Zealand travels and some berries from our yard. And Kiwi crackers-how could I resist!

Whanganui or Wanganui?

After much discussion over many years, either spelling is correct. The pronunciation is another story. “Wh” in Maori is usually pronounced as an “f”, but not always, and I have trouble with the double vowels (and also the triple vowels) - I just can’t make those sounds, at least not at this point. So I sort of slur out W(ah)ng a noo ee and it seems acceptable.

We had two short visits in Whanganui, a town of about 40,000 on the Whanganui River and an hour from Palmy. There was an attempt to settle the inland area of the river and make it suitable for farming. A bridge was built to access this land, but the environment was too harsh and the land was abandoned. The Bridge to Nowhere remains and is a popular, but hard to reach tourist attraction, and the river is now mainly used for recreation.  We have not yet been to The Bridge to Nowhere, but it is on our list. (Of course, the Maori were already here and thriving in the area before it was "settled" but that is another blog.)

We were given a key to St. Paul's Anglican Church decorated with Maori carvings and inside we found a lovely, worshipful space.

 



 We walked through the 213 meter tunnel to the 1919 elevator that took us to the top of Durie Hill where we climbed two towers for a nice view of Whanganui.

 

The Whanganui River flowing into the Tasman Sea

Taking a break after the hour climb to the Atene lookout. The view was nice, but less spectacular than others we have seen.

Wellington and Makara Beach

Wellington Civic Center

Shopping in Wellington was the draw this past week end. After ten weeks, it was time to do some fun shopping and also get a few things that aren’t available in Palmerston North.The weather was fine requiring one clothing layer. Jim and I split up and spent several hours going to different shopping areas in the city and had a great time. We both seemed to need that urban fix.

 The biggest surprise was the 5.7 earthquake that occurred while we were eating dinner. We felt the ground and building shake and being unprepared, just sat wide-eyed until the shaking stopped. Estimates are that it lasted for 10 to 20 seconds. We always talk about earthquakes, but now the talk is more serious, perhaps how to react faster. Most people acted as we did, looking surprised and not moving, but one person immediately stood up and was on his way out the door. We will take lessons from him if there is a next time, although I surely hope this is a once in a lifetime experience. Jim, however, says "Bring 'em on!" We have since found out that it was the largest earthquake in Wellington in twenty years and affected a very large area, the center being about forty kilometers away. There was very little damage from the quake other than my nerves!

A hike in Makara Beach was planned for Sunday and despite some uncertain weather, we did climb the cliff to some gun emplacements from WWII. The one hundred men  and the two six inch guns that were to guard Cook Strait probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference, but we enjoyed the steep hike and the fabulous views of Cook Strait, a bit of the South Island, the rocky cliffs, windmills, and the ever present lush green hills and sheep. The overcast day kept it from being one of the best views we have had, but still very high on my scale.

Taupo

We have become accustomed to the beautiful green hills with sheep and cows and were surprised as we drove through the central part of the North Island to see desert! Once again we thought we had made a wrong turn and were back in Texas, but the snow covered volcanoes in the background proved that we were still right here in New Zealand. 

 We spent a day near the beautiful Lake Taupo formed about 25,000 years ago from a supervolcanic eruption.














 




 The water coming from Lake Taupo into Huka Falls is used for 15% of the electricity in New Zealand.









 
We were told of a geyser north of Taupo that erupted every day at 10:15, and were eager to see it (It has been thirty-six years since we saw Old Faithful). Imagine our unpleasant surprise when the guide put chemicals into the hot water underground to force the eruption!  We did see the geothermal activity in other parts of the park, so it wasn’t a complete bust. Our first New Zealand tourist trap.