Road Trip

WARNING - THIS POST CONTAINS NO TOY SOLDIERS OR OTHER WARGAMING RELATED CONTENT!

So, if you are still reading, here are a LOT of images from our recent five day trip based around our Public Holiday to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February, 1840, which is kind of New Zealand "founding document", although that description might be a bit contentious to some in this country!

I am going to try an experiment and load a couple of short videos too, there seems to be an icon suggesting this is possible so will give it a try!

We travelled down the 6 hr route to the west (a route we don't often go) and returned via the other route, stopping the night in Taupo

"Taumarunui on the main trunk line..." - was a line from a New Zealand song MANY years ago. There is still some evidence this small town is an important hub in our rail network

The main street at lunchtime - not a lot happening

Above and below several views of the Wanganui River a few km south of Taumarunui

An image of Mt Ngauruhoe from the road near Ohakune

Mount Ngauruhoe is an active stratovolcano in New Zealand. It is the youngest vent in the Tongariro volcanic complex on the Central Plateau of the North Island, and first erupted about 2,500 years ago. Although often regarded as a separate mountain, geologically it is a secondary cone of Mount Tongariro

Above and below are more images of the Tongariro Volcanic area

Above and below - sunset at Foxton Beach about 2040 on the day we arrived

Next morning we took a 8km walk along the beach around 0800

Our nephew let me have a play on this toy , a Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade

Note the non standard safety equipment ....I didn't take the bike to its top speed of 286kmph!

After a couple of days doing not very much at all at Foxton Beach, we headed north again on Monday, with the intention of spending a night in Taupo

These images are of the same volcanic area as earlier, but this time from the "Desert Road" gthat runs up the centre of the North Island

About 1500 we reached the south eastern edge of Lake Taupo, which is a huge expanse of water near the centre of the North Island, formed by an enormous volcanic eruption - the following is courtesy of Google:

Lake Taupo is in a caldera created by a supervolcanic eruption which occurred approximately 26,500 years ago

A view of the resort we stayed the night at just north of Taupo - fake colonial cottages that I thought were quite attractive

As it was only mid afternoon, we decided to shoot out and do an impromptu little walk up to the famous Huka Falls

The forest seemed darker and more atmospheric than the images portray...

We came across this old wreck deep in the woods

Several views of the Huka Falls including a tourist jet boat performing tight turns just below the end of the falls

For dinner, we grabbed some food and dined al fresco at one of the picnic tables that line the edge of the lake

The view from our dining table

A couple of hours later, we returned to the same spot to get some images of the sunset over the lake

Next morning, as we were leaving Taupo, I spotted a sign for the Craters of the Moon thermal area, so on a whim, we took the turn and were literally the first visitors of the day at 0905 and had the whole place to ourselves. 

Craters of the Moon Thermal Area (or Karapiti in Māori language) is a region with geothermal activity north of Taupo, New Zealand. It is a part of Wairakei, the largest geothermal field in New Zealand, with a surface area of about 25 km2, which lies in the Taupo Volcanic Zone .

I did mention to my wife that if you looked up and around, we were inside a cone shaped depression - basically, I think we were walking around inside a dormant volcano!

Looks like this video insertion has worked (I did not think it had originally)....so here is another

I am sure most people have now heard of White Island, due to the catastrophic event there a couple of years ago when it erupted while a group of tourists were on it, killing around 25-30 I think.

After an interesting hour spent at the thermal area, we headed north to the small Waikato town of Putaruru to do a walk that ahs been on our "to do" list for quite a while.

The walk takes you about 7km (each way) along the bank of a small stream that leads to the Blue Spring, which is the source of the waterway.

All mod cons included - this is one of two "comfort stops" located along the route!

This view of Scots Pines (I think!) reminded me of scenery around my home region in Scotland

A water wheel used to provide electricity to the adjacent farm - its still spinning and appears to be connected to a generator although I assume the actual farm now has standard mains supply.

The shots above and below indicate where the springs get their name...

Well if you have made it this far, well done! Believe it or not, I did actually edit out quite a few images but there are a lot left so apologies if they were too much - I will return to toy soldiers next time!