which is north of our “home” about 3 hours, and on the southern edge of Tongariro National Park www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/national-parks/tongariro We arrived here yesterday. We left Waitarere Beach and Levin on Friday night just when Kevin finished work (thanks dear!) and headed north about 1.5 hours, to a idyllic setting...little did we know. We booked Friday and Saturday nights through the Affordable Travel Club, you should google it to know more! All we knew of the place was that Howard and Marice were members, they like to garden yay and golf no yays from us, and so would put up with us and give us breakfast according to the rules of membership, and that it was enroute to our goal of spending time near Tongariro. Well, were we in for a major happy surprise. After driving a ways off the beaten path and along a beautiful river canyon, we drove in through a white picket fence with the name Manoroa on it, and met the McGraths. They own 100 acres and have very lovingly and with much talent, planted perennials and TREES galore among the 100+ year old trees that attracted them to the place 20 years ago. They left the business world in Auckland to do this, and now run a B&B there to boot. www.gardenstovisit.co.nz/garden.aspx?gardenid=78 AND, they were featured in NZ Home & Garden in June 2010! I hope I can get a back issue online. We had a garden/tree tour right away, and in the morning Kevin got to go out with Howard (he has a special place in my heart, his middle name is Howard, same as my dad and they both went by that middle name!) and his four dogs to do the farm chores, which meant moving 45 of their bulls from one paddock to another. They finish feed bulls for grinding meat for….McDonalds! (which of course we see here frequently, along with Pizza Hut, Subway, Domino’s, Burger King occasionally) Then Kevin and Howard discovered another mutual hobby, which Kevin has recently become passionate about, that’s photography. Kev got to show Howard some hints that he’s recently learned and perfected, which Howard can use for...garden pictures! During the day Kev and I drove to Wanganui, a west coast town, taking the back roads and enroute stopping at a place the McGrath’s put us on to, Sutherland’s Reserve, where we walked through old growth forest. And took pictures. Hmm, seems to be a theme here…..
One of the most frustrating points of our stay here has been expensive internet, and now in Okahune it’s not good reception either. That’s why you’re not seeing more pics on my blog or on Facebook, as one pays for transmission of data. So if we just read email or news, it’s expensive enough…...if we skype or upload pictures or download anything (podcasts, music, pictures) we run out of minutes really quick and have to buy more. I shouldn’t say minutes, it goes by data. Oh well! So I’m going to try to give you links to websites, that will give you an idea.
So we left Manoroa yesterday on Saturday after saying good bye to more new friends, and drove up here (stopping at a yarn shop enroute!). We hiked into Tongariro National Park to Waitonga Falls past peat bogs and Mt Ruapehu, the highest peak on the north island. After the hike we got into the car and drove further up the mountain to the Turoa Skifield, which must take a lot of snow in winter to cover the completely rocky slopes (Tongariro’s peaks are volcanic) www.mtruapehu.com. Today we got on mountain bikes and rode the Old Coach Road from Hokopiko back to Ohakune. www.ohakunecoachroad.co.nz It was awesome, other than the few fortunately mild, slooow falls that one of us took. (some of us fell 3 times, and some did not fall). Took about 3.5 hours, over the path that horse-drawn coaches used to take train passengers between the two ends of railway running between Auckland (north on the North Island) and Wellington (southern tip of the North Island). They had not been able to accommodate the differences in elevation between the two ends, so left the middle railway track unbuilt, using coaches in between instead. Part of that path, through the national park, has recently been restored to trail. So we went through more trees, biked a tunnel, and went over the loooong viaduct that has now been replaced by the neighboring viaduct that we had ridden over during our first week here when we took the train south. Cool. And we came happily back, had lunch and showered and now, a nap :)
Hopefully, this will work to show you some personal pics
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