Around Taupo

During our lengthy stay in Turangi, we took several longer distance trips to see interesting sights.

Let's start with some smelly places. Like the Rotorua district, Tokaanu had it's share of misty hot water ponds, bubbling mud and sulphur terraces:

The military museum at Waiouru was first class, with lots of equipment displays, tableau depicting military life, campaign details, and so on:

Ruapehu appear again!

I didn't know until seeing this museum that New Zealand cavalry were also in the victorious charge at Beersheba, alongside the Australian light horse - with their sizeable contingent from my home (Armidale) district. I look forward to seeing the re-enactment at Beersheba on 31 October 2017 -to which I have been invited.

And we took a special trip to Taupo to see some Maori rock art. Before describing this aspect of our travels, I'd just like to say that Taupo was a nice place: not too big; good services; interesting events and landscapes; and so on. Have a look. Art in the park

Long-distance swimming competition.

Our boat - much nicer than modern craft.

Crowds of boats in the harbour.

Attended by black swans. English readers would only be familiar with the white variety, but black ones certainly exist .... although I was not aware they had migrated to NZ until this trip.

Some of the rock art was more traditional than other bits. The nude ... on the left of this group doesn't look traditional Maori and I didn't know that NZ has crocodiles!

Oh and this is Flynn's house. Em could you please draw Flynn's attention this mansion he presumably owns ... unless, of course, it belonged to his namesake, Errol Flynn.

The piece de resistance was this escapade of Bec and Max's. They'd heard of a place called rocknrope, which I presumed was all about climbing cliff faces. Wee, not quite. Have a look at these pictures. I must congratulate Max for handling some of this equipment:

Kitted out and the equipment to use.

Receiving instructions .. and Max to his credit was first to climb the pole.

Max takes off gingerly ... wouldn't you and walks the tightrope high above the ground.

The same with the segmented walkway - but look how high it is!

Being lowered on the end of a rope after the walk. Now walking the plank ... well, not quite. Let's say log. again, Max is a long way up.

And Bec flies through spae on a trapeze. She leapt from the top of the pole to catch the bar, and was fortunately successful. Max couldn't bring himself to do it!

Bec flying through space at the end of a rope, while Max took a ride onn his favourite piece of equipment ... the flying fox. This was a VERY long one.




So, this holiday marked a long list of firsts!

AS

Turangi - Tongariro

For the next week of our stay in New Zealand we based ourselves in the small town of Turangi at the southern edge of the massive Lake Taupo, which is 46 km N-S and 33 km E-W and has a surface area of 616 km2. Our selection criteria for a place to stay were simple that we had to be near Mt Tongariro because Bec and Max were off on a 4-day hike (or tramp as the locals call it) around that mountain and the adjacent Mt Ngauruhoe. Secondly, there had to be a lot for Dot and I to do in their absence. Turangi fitted the bill nicely. Those mountains are impressive as the pictures show, especially Ruapehu, which is snow covered most of the year - even in mid-summer - and is 2800 m (9100 feet) high  In the second picture, Ngauruhoe is the almost perfect cone to the left. These volcanic peaks are active, with steam coming out of Ngauruhoe's vents all the time and Ruapehu erupting in a minor way 60 times since 1945 and spectacularly in 1995-96.

We stayed at Creel Lodge in Turangi, which was delightful. We had large well-appointed rooms in lovely surroundings close to the lovely Tongariro river which attracts lots of fly-fishers trying to catch trout.

There is also a nearby trout hatchery open to visitors telling of the history of the fish in NZ and how the stock is managed, with self-guided walks through the various facilities. The first picture below shows a swarm of fingerlings presumably close to release into the Lake Taupo and its feeder streams. The river banks are home to many long walks, some of which Dot and I took and, at one point, I hired a bike to travel something like 10-12 km  through the enchanting landscape. One of the pictures here shows Turangi from high up on a bluff overlooking the river. Finally, the hatchery was also in the business of hatching birds, namely the Whio. This endangered species features on NZ's $10 note.

Although, Dot and I were alone for 4 days, we immediately targeted a ride in a two-stage chair-lift on Ruapehu to look at its dramatic scenery. Here we're on our way up past the NZ equivalent to chalets and into a fairy-tale world with lots of oddly shaped pinnacles and barren slopes graced with the occasionally tumbling waterfall.

Just above the snow line Dot and I posed for photos taken by the other.

Three days later we did the same again, but this time with Bec and Max after they finished successfully their marathon trek. Max loved throwing snowballs and sliding down the slops on his bum.

AS

A cultural night out

Our last event in Rotorua was also one of the most entertaining. We went to a hangi, or what the Melanesians in Papua New Guinea call a mu-mu. Believe it or not, I once went to a mu-mu here in Armidale. In effect meat and maybe vegetables are cooked by (i) digging a deepish hole in the ground, (ii) putting combustible material- for example wood - in the bottom and setting light to it, (iii) putting your pig's carcass and other ingredients on top, (iv) covering the whole lot with earth or sand, and (v) slow cooking everything for maybe an hour or more. The hole we dug was outside the building where my office was, and in the countryside outside of Rotorua, the mechanism was similar as we saw for ourselves.

The large number of guests for the hangi were transported to the venue in a fleet of buses, and, en route, I had the honour of being appointed a tribal chief - the tribe being passengers in our bus. On arrival at the Maori village the various chiefs stood out in front of their tribal members for a ceremony in which we were confronted by warriors from the local community in a ritualised greeting / show of force. They wanted to know if we came in friendship or as enemies. Having confirmed the former, we were shown the hani in preparation, and guided on a tour through the village to demonstrate traditional Maori lifestyle and culture. Here's Bec playing a game akin to pass the pole.

This lady exhibited traditional woven goods - baskets and that kind of thing.

Here, Max is watching a game played by the men of the village - and I played another myself shortly after, along with the chiefs.

Then we were seated in a long-house to witness a haka, dancing and singing

Finally, we came to the meal, which was delicious.

All in all a lovely night out.

AS