The Wairarapa towns are not too far away over the Ranges as the crow flies, but where we live it’s quite a different story going by road. We have a choice of heading north then crossing over the Tararua Ranges or traveling south and driving over the Rimutaka Hill – a two hour trip whatever choice we make. Driving over on Friday we opted to go north, up and over the Pahiatua Track.
New sign at the top of the hill
It was a little misty at the top of the hill and we spotted some of the new wind turbines through the mist. This project has been in the news lately as things have not been going to plan. Power generator Mercury has run into problems to get its turbine blades up the hill to the Turitea Wind Farm. The 99 12-tonne, 55-metre-long blades stored in Palmerston North were due to start being transported to the top of the Tararua Range in September. But a new track being built to bypass a steep, tight S-bend on the Pahīatua Track has slipped and failed, forcing turbine suppliers Vestas to look for another way up.
The schedule for completing the 60-turbine, $465 million wind farm had already been challenged by the Covid-19 lockdown, when work on turbine tower foundations and transmission line preparations stalled. The current goal is to have the 33-turbine first stage of what will be New Zealand’s largest wind farm completed in April to July 2021 and the second, southern stage by Christmas 2021. Part of the challenge of getting the turbine blades up the hill was that they were 10m longer than envisaged 10 years ago. We saw on the TV news that the blades are being transported at night, standing up at quite an angle, what a job that must be.
Goodness, that’s a long load
Once over the ranges, we have to travel south into the Wairarapa, and our first stop was at Eketahuna at the rather royally decorated public loos. What is the Beefeater doing with those corgis in tow? Maybe the Queen had a comfort stop here some time ago and this is the royal acknowledgement of her visit.
Seen at Eketahuna
Our next stop was at Pukaha National Wildlife Centre at Mt Bruce for lunch. We admired a lovely carving of the now extinct Huia in the café. Their beautiful tail feathers were much prized by the Maori people who wore them in their hair. It is interesting to note that the female huia has a much longer beak than the male.
Pukaha National Wildlife
Just a week ago there was a ceremony here when the 942 hectares of Pūkaha Forest, home to native birds and conservation work in northern Wairarapa has been gifted to the nation by Rangitane “for everyone to enjoy”. The Rangitane people had received the Pukaha Forest in its Treaty Settlement in 2017 but has now officially gifted it to New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has described it as an "extraordinary act of generosity" by the iwi, and she said it was a privilege to accept the gift.
Gifting of Pukaha Forest
Henley Lake at Masterton was our next stop, such a lovely peaceful place. Many species of water fowl make their home here, including both black and white swans. We whiled away a little time soaking up the atmosphere. The drive into the park was through a a line of beautiful trees sporting their Autumn colours.
Henley Lake
Our trip to Carterton was touched with sadness, we had travelled here to attend the funeral of of SLG friend Les. Les and his late wife Anne had been much loved members of our Super Leisure Group and we had enjoyed their company at many of our monthly outings. RIP Les, you and Anne are now together again.
1 comment:
That’s fascinating about the wind turbines. I can’t believe how long the blades are. They have just installed some the same size about an hour from here. However, they didn’t have quite as windy a road. We saw some of the turbines on trucks when we were travelling with our van. I’m sorry to hear that your trip was for such a sad occasion.
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