Showing overseas visitors around makes me see things anew; scenery that's taken for granted takes on renewed respect as I realise how lucky we are to live in Aotearoa with its fresh air and wide open spaces. Our road trip party was an interesting cross-section - me from bush-clad Rakiura, 2 from Christchurch and 5 from overseas. Population density figures that I could find (mostly June 2011 data) showed how diverse our living spaces are:
More up-to-date info was available for New Zealand and I was surprised to find how similar the land areas were for Rakiura and Territorial Christchurch - but with very different population densities!!
Also surprising were the varying statistics for Rakiura's land area ranging from 172 to nearly 2000 sq km. I'll remember to take my tape measure next time I venture out ha ha.
Back to our trip! We travelled from New Plymouth to Taupo via Te Kuiti, stopping off at The Fat Pigeon Café in Piopio for lunch. The Awakino Gorge's bush-clad hills made me feel at home although I'm sure there's been more felling of native bush since I last went through. More stops at Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon were slotted in before heading to Waiotapu.
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| Looking across Lake Taupo to the Central Plateau mountains |
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| Huka Falls |
Our accommodation for two nights was
Waikite Valley Lodge, overlooking Lake Ngapouri. This excellent 6-bedroom base was 3km from the Waiotapu Tavern (best fish burger I've had) and only a 20 minute drive to Rotorua. The spacious central room with kitchen, dining and lounge areas was 2½ times my entire house area! Coincidentally it wasn't far from my sister and brother-in-law's new home so it was great to visit them for dinner and to have a dog trial exhibition from Graham and Murphy.
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| Waikite Valley Lodge |
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| Get in behind!! |
Time was limited in Rotorua but we fitted in a trip to Whakarewarewa Village and thermal area - the last time I went there with Arnaud, my French exchange student, it was frosty cold and only a tour around the village; interesting for English-speaking visitors but perhaps not the best option for others. This time the temperature was in the 30s and the native bush around the thermal area offered some respite from the sun's glare.
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| Whakarewarewa Village thermal walk |
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| Ha ha, don't want to get scolded so had better stay out! |
Back on the road again for our last leg to Auckland via Lake Karapiro, Cambridge and Hamilton.
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| Lake Karapiro and dam structure |
We had lunch in the
Hamilton Gardens; what an amazing place to showcase different styles of gardens and architecture. It featured on Campbell Live last night which prompted me to sort through my photos so I could put them up on this blog.
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| The Italian Renaissance Garden |
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| The Chinese Scholar's Garden |
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| The Japanese Garden |
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| The biggest vege garden I've ever seen! |
Back in the cars for the last stretch to Auckland; up until now I'd been reasonably okay with fast-moving traffic (I wasn't driving but 3 years on Stewart Island has changed me) but 4.30pm traffic on the motorway was scary. No wonder people get out of touch with their natural environment when living in such a concrete jungle.
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| They paved Paradise and put up a motorway |
More about Auckland and my trip to Waiheke Island in the next blog :)
