Friday 7th March
2008
Another early
start; we slipped quietly out of the camp site and joined the queue of
campervans waiting for the ferry on the dock side. The day was bright with broken cloud and
a light wind (thank goodness). The last 48 hours had been calm but we knew from
the shipping forecasts we had been getting from Mailasail that the wind would be
stronger today but it hadn’t arrived yet.
The sail out through
Queen
Charlotte
Sound was almost like
the roads out here; lots of bends and very beautiful. Have a look at a map and you will see
what we mean. (Presumably Google Earth will show it?) Once into the open sea the wind was
quite strong – about force 5 (20 knots) I would estimate – making the sea a blue
sparkling turf with white horses racing across it. Fortunately we were into
Wellington before the
waves could build up and had a very memorable crossing. We spoke to a lady the following day who
had come across 12 hours later and she said the ship was rolling and had made
her, and others, sea sick, so our early start had its
benefits!
From the sea there was a
real marked difference in the South and North
Islands. The South
Island hills are covered in trees
with the odd dwelling along the Sound, whereas the
North
Island hills are bare
with extensive habitation along the shore into Wellington.
From
Wellington we drove
straight north to Wanganui, about 200Kms, through fertile valleys full of dairy
cows. The hills here are not so
high and more rounded than those in the south and all grazed and not
forested. We set up camp by the
river just in time to see New Zealand’s last paddle steamer go by under full
steam; The PS Waimarie. A very
pleasant place.
Saturday, 8th
March 2008
Set off north
at a much more reasonable hour but only got a quarter of a mile down the road
when we had to stop. Below us on
the river there was a full scale rowing regatta in progress. Naturally we went down onto the bank to
watch and got chatting. We learnt
that it was the Wanganui District Secondary Schools Regatta for the under 14’s
to the under 18’s with single and double sculls, fours and eights for all years,
girls and boys. As you can imagine
it was quite a big event with keen rivalry, no wonder these countries do well at
sport!
We dragged ourselves away
and did another 200Kms to Taupo, the beginning of the thermal attractions The road ran all the way round the
Tongariro National Park in which there are five mountains, and Mount Ruapehu
still has snow on the top. We also
drove round Lake
Taupo, the largest in
New
Zealand, and are wondering if it
is warm as the hot spring streams appear to run into it and there were a lot of
bathers as we drove by. We will
explore thermal bathing tomorrow, in the meantime Mum is enjoying with the pop
concert going on in the park next door.
It’s now 10.30, I shall probably sleep OK but Mum will let me know when
it finished!
Roger &
Mags; Mum & Dad
