A Working Holiday

For this trip we are away for 10 days or so, leaving on Friday in the pouring rain.  By the time we pulled into Taihape for our lunch stop the weather had cleared.  I set out our lunch while Robin went to the handy coffee cart next to us. “Keep an eye on that rubbish tin”  he instructed, while we ate our lunch in the van.  Seems that a very cheeky blackbird had discovered that people deposit left over food in the bin and he flutters down inside to have a forage around.  We saw him exit with a chip in his beak, but never when the camera was ready.  What a clever blackbird!

There’s a blackbird in this bin

We like to have  the radio on while we are traveling, tuned to Magic which plays “all the songs you know and love”.  And look, they're playing my extra special favourite song, Ten Guitars.  I love it so much I’ve told the family I want it played at my funeral!  This song was such a hit out here when it was first released it became known as The New Zealand National Anthem.

I know all the words to my favourite song

Driving along the Desert Road we got good views of Mt Ruapehu, with it’s top covered in snow.  Those clouds looked threatening, and as we traveled further along, the mountain top became obscured with cloud cover.

Mt Ruapehu

We followed behind this sign on the litter collection van for a while until it was safe to pass him.  Never seen one of these before, but it’s good that our hi-ways and bi-ways are being kept clean.  Mind you, if people didn’t litter, we wouldn't need staff picking up after them.

New (to us) sign

Before too long we arrived at our site for the night, NZMCA Taupo Airport.  Those dark clouds brought heavy rain during the night, beating on the roof and leaving big puddles everywhere.  The weather wasn’t right for sky diving, but we watched a couple of planes arriving and departing, and there is always action from the helicopters next door to the camp.

At Taupo Airport

Next morning we drove from Taupo to Rotorua, about 100kms, and quite a pretty trip traveling through rolling farmland and forests.  Everything looked so green and fresh.

On the way to Rotorua

Can you see the Skyline Gondolas snaking up and down the hill?  It’s been some time since we’ve had a trip on them, might have to plan another ride sometime soon.

Skyline Gondolas at Rotorua

Almost there – drove through the cute little village of Ngongotaha and we arrived at the Ngongotaha NZMCA park, where we are staying for the next two nights.

Staying at Ngongotaha

That’s where the working part of this holiday came in.  The caravan got a “deep clean” as some people say, instead of just a spit and polish.  Everything got a wipe down, the insides of drawers were washed, as were the base of various cupboards.  With all this activity happening, Gemma wondered what on earth was going on.

What are you doing, Mum?

And the reason for all this extra activity?  If you don’t already know, pop by tomorrow and all will be revealed.

Beautiful Lakes of Rotorua

There are 18 lakes in the Rotorua region, and we went exploring some of them today.  The lakes were all formed by cataclysmic volcanic activity in times past, craters, calderas or valleys blocked by lava flow.  Mokoia Island is located in Lake Rotorua, and is associated with a tale of true love.  According to legend, Hinemoa and Tutanekai were from different tribes and fell in love.  But the two lovers were forbidden to marry, and Hinemoa's father forbade her to travel by canoe to Tutanekai's tribal village on the island. Hinemoa decided to swim 3.2km across the lake to the island, guided by the sound of her lover’s flute-playing.

Lake Rotorua and Mokoai Island

We stopped briefly at the next lake on our list, Lake Rotoiti.  A flock of swans quickly made their way into the water as we drove up.

Lake Rotoiti

Our main destination was to travel to Lake Okataina, somewhere I hadn’t been before.  We turned down a narrow windy road, which had tall native trees hugging both sides of the road.  Almost at our destination, we came to an abrupt stop – there were workmen on a truck dead ahead, and another truck slowly inching past.  Not much room at all.  With one of the trucks out of the way, we slowly made our way past and down to the lake front.  Just as well we weren’t towing the caravan.

Traffic jam on the road

Lake Okataina was raised 12m by the Tarawera Eruption in 1886.  It was also known as The Lake of Laughter when a Maori warrior referred to the lake as an ocean, and this was seen as a great joke by the rest of the men, and their laughter echoed around the lake.

Lake Okataina

Next stop was the beautiful Blue Lake, often seen as turquoise blue due to reflection from the white rhyolite and pumice bottom.  Also known as Tikitapau, the place where the daughter of a high born chief lost her sacred greenstone neck ornament.

Blue Lake

It was lunch time and as luck would have it there was a  sleek and shiny Airstream Café van close by.  The friendly owner quickly made us a toasted sandwich and a hot coffee each, while happily chatting away about his custom fitted Airstream.  We sat and ate our lunch with the beautiful view of the lake in front of us.  

Lunch time at the Blue Lake

The nearby Green Lake is sacred and both lakes can be viewed from a lookout on the narrow isthmus separating the two lakes.  We were last at this lookout on our honeymoon, all those years ago, when we did an all day trip taking in some of Rotorua’s scenic delights.

At the lookout

View of the Blue Lake from the lookout

And we looked the other way to the sacred Green Lake, Rotokakahi

The Green Lake is named after the shellfish, kakahi, and often appears emerald green due to the shallow sandy bottom.  It sacred lake is privately owned by the local iwi (Maori) and boating, swimming or fishing is not permitted.

All the lakes we viewed had wonderfully clear water close to shore.  Rotorua is often called a land of lakes and rivers, and they are all so beautiful.

On the Lakeside at Rotorua

There is just a slight diversion on our trip to Hamilton to take our caravan for it’s annual service.  Our National Body, CCNZ Inc were holding their AGM at Rotorua and Robin offered to attend the meeting.  As luck would have it, there was a caravan site available overlooking the lake.

Lakeside caravan site

Affordable Willowhaven motor camp is situated on the side of Lake Rotorua, and looks across to Mokoia Island. 

The island is Maori owned and is a pest free wildlife refuge and is home to several rare species, kiwi, kokako and saddleback.  Mokoia Island played a part in the long ago love story between Hinemoa and Tutanekai.  Tutanekai, who lived on the island,  was not considered a good enough match for beautiful Hinemoa, daughter of a chief. Tutanekai played his flute every night, the sound carrying across the water.  But Hinemoa's people, suspecting something was afoot, had hidden all the canoes. The maiden decided to swim to the island, supported by six empty gourds.  Guided by the sound of her loved one's music, Hinemoa safely reached the other shore and landed near a hot spring,  in which she warmed and refreshed herself – the pool is on Mokoia Island to this day.  And as all good love stories go, they lived happily ever after.

The lake is teeming with water fowl.

Plenty of boats use the lake, and I watched this one backed into the water.

The AGM went well, and was followed by a quarterly Council Meeting.  Robin took notes to report back to our caravan club.  The weather didn’t quite know what to do, showers came with regular monotony, followed by bursts of sunshine.  Then later in the afternoon a call went out – grab your camera.  What a strange sight, a really low rainbow hovering over the lake.

Low rainbow over the lake

4zees was spent sheltering under the awning with a blue tarpaulin tied to the side to keep the wind out.  As usual with these sorts of get-togethers, the conversation flowed around the group, covering everything from trips away, campsites, former club members, and the state of the world.

4zees time

The barbeque was fired up and sausages and onions were cooked for the masses.  Margaret and Peter did a great job making sure the food was well cooked.  Bread was also provided, and everyone provided their choice of salad.

BBQ cooks in action

It was certainly an interesting day, and so nice to catch up with CCNZ people who we meet only occasionally.  We are moving on tomorrow, heading north.

A slow day’s travelling - Taupo to Rotorua

We should be thankful – the gas bottle ran out and needed changing, but not in the middle of the night, with a storm raging outside, as usually happens.  It didn’t happen till 7.00am, when Robin decided to make an early morning cuppa.  The gas flame flickered, and went out, so it was time to change the bottle, and take a trip up town a little later in the morning  to refill the empty one, of course. 

Watching the tandem sky-divers jumping out of small planes kept us entertained while we were staying at Taupo Airport.  Are they brave or crazy, we wondered?  This is not something that we would ever do!

Tandem sky-divers

The small airport had plenty happening too.  Planes arrived and departed during the day.  And the helicopters just across the road from the camp noisily started up their motors, whup, whup, whup, before finally lifting off and going about their business. 

Planes at Taupo airport

We slowly packed up, topped up the water and left the Taupo Airport NZMCA site.  It had been a good couple of days, just a little chilly overnight.  Through the new gate we went, on to do the necessary business at the dump station.

Time to leave Taupo Airport NZMCA site

We had been invited to lunch and talk quilts with a couple of Jenny’s quilting friends.  They live just a little way out of town, past the lookout at the top of the hill.  It was a lovely lunch indeed, thanks Linda and Peggy, and then they sent us on our way with a little home baking.

Overlooking Lake Taupo

Leaving Taupo after lunch we started our drive to Rotorua, arranging to meet up with caravan friends Bill and Val for afternoon tea.  But we overshot the rest area (how embarrassing is that) and had to turn around and back track a little way.  In our defense we had to say that we didn’t really know about this particular rest area.  But a nice hot cuppa was made on our arrival, plus some of Bill’s home baking, and we spent a happy hour catching up with each other’s news.

Time for afternoon tea

We then headed northwards, and Bill and Val were carrying on to Taupo.  We finally arrived at Rotorua at 4.00pm, found our site and soon got settled.

On site at Rotorua

Our view from the front windows

A Vision of Beauty at Taupo

That's another thing ticked off our holiday list – a visit to the Sculpture Garden at Lava Glass.   I had heard of this amazing place from a friend, so today was the day to check it out.  There was plenty of parking for the car and caravan, it was a lovely warm sunny day,  and the entrance fee was quite modest,  especially with our seniors discount.  The Sculpture Garden came about because of a light bulb moment from the glass blowers, and was officially opened in 2014.  Set in an acre of manicured grounds lie more than 500 glass sculptures. The gentle walk took us around ponds, through fields of glass flowers, and past the water tumbling down the 15 piece waterfall. Created by Lynden Over and his team, the pieces are the biggest pieces of glass ever blown in New Zealand. 

The large Rainbow Sculpture was the first work of art to be seen as visitors enter the garden.  The pleasing form in such beautiful colours made this one of our favourite pieces.

Rainbow Sculpture

Spiral Flowers were a challenge to make and the early trials were dismal failures.  Finally, a technique involving four glass artists working together made the spiral flowers a reality.  The glass spiral was drawn out in one movement, some applying cold air while others applied hot air, while the master craftsman swirled the shape around in a seamless fluid motion.

A garden of Spiral Flowers

The five giant orbs making up the Glass Forest were spectacular.  Built from the inside out, these solid glass balls weigh 8kgs each and took 2 months to cool down.  The detailed flowers and mushrooms had been made previously and were added in during the construction process.  Seen up close, the detail is amazing.

The Glass Forest

What’s taken Robin’s fancy? Here he is looking through the Giant Kaleidoscopes to see the ever changing patterns created by mirrors and different coloured pieces of glass.

  

Checking out the Giant Kaleidoscopes

Water trickled down the glass waterfall

And giant flowers grew in profusion

There was so much more that what we have shown you here  to see, admire, and take in, so a quiet contemplative amble around the garden is a must.  Highly recommended – and the cafe was great too!

Rail Cruising in Rotorua

It was a misty start to the morning at the NZMCA park at Ngongotaha.  Luckily the mist cleared away and the sun came out for our Rail Cruising adventure in the early afternoon.

Misty morning at Ngongotaha

Our self-drive rail trip started at Mamaku Railway Station, a log cabin type purpose built facility.  The passengers all gathered for the obligatory but very necessary safety briefing, then we sent on our way.

Arriving at Mamaku Station

The railway line into Rotorua was first planned in 1877  to bring tourists to view the famous Pink and White Terraces, then known as the 8th Wonder of the World. The famous terraces disappeared when Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886, and the railway was finally completed in 1894.  The line eventually closed and Rotorua Railway leased the section from Mamaku to Tarukenga after it lay unused and overgrown for the last 13 years, and the business venture was officially opened in 2012.

A trio of happy rail cruisers

Four of the units were sent on their way at intervals.  Geoff joined us and sat in front of the four seater car, while the pair of us were in the back, with Robin being the designated driver.  Not that there was any driving to do, as these things are automated and run themselves.  But someone has to be in charge in case of emergencies, to call on the radio for help, or apply the handbrake.

  Geoff was the front seat passenger

The railway line took us through the Dansey Scenic Reserve, full of beautiful native forest.  Rimu trees with their distinctive foliage were in abundance, from huge forest giants to the many young trees we saw alongside the track.  Tree ferns and lancewoods were also plentiful.

Native forest in the Dansey Scenic Reserve

We cruised along at 20km, driving through a deep cutting covered in ferns, and listening to the onboard commentary which told us of the areas we were passing through.  Now and again we caught sight of the rail cruiser ahead of us, but usually we appeared to be all on our own.  Not that we were of course, there were two extra cars following us further down the track, and the monitor back at the station was keeping track of us by GPS.   

Travelling through the deep cutting

Our halfway point was Tarukenga Station.  The passengers got out to stretch their legs while the carts were turned around on the nifty little turntable. 

Turning our rail cruiser around

Time for a quick photo before the return journey

Each  cart is equipped with a generator in the rear, and these were turned on before we departed on our return trip.  We needed this extra bit of help to deal with the steep 1.35 uphill gradient on the return journey.  Back we went, through farmland and the lovely Danseys Scenic Reserve once more, and catching glimpses of Lake Rotorua.  Approaching Mamuku Railway Station, our 19km return trip had come to an end.  Ours was the last trip of the day and we watched while the carts were turned around and prepared to be safely stored for the night.  It was a great trip with an interesting commentary, taking us through very pretty country indeed.

Rail cruisers backed up by the storage units