The road north of Ohakune, although not as familiar to us as that south – our route to Wellington – is a beautiful stretch of road. To me it screams New Zealand more than any fiord or alpine view, with Mt Ruapehu looming over a plain of harakeke, last year’s dead stalks standing to attention […]
Woman with a Plan
It could be said that I’m a woman who likes a plan. I pause here to describe the image that has entered my head: the face of my friend, Julie, eyes wide in disbelief, mouth twisted with scepticism. ‘Like a plan? Like? As in: would hardly get out of bed without one, let alone leave […]
To Joe’s Hut
Having talked about Joe Blyth’s track, it would be remiss of me not to mention the other local place named after him, Blyth Hut*, especially as it’s one of my favourite places on the mountain. I suspect that at one time the Old Blyth track was the main route to the hut but it’s now […]
Gabrielle
It’s hard for me to fathom what is happening across New Zealand right now. Here in Ohakune we’ve had rain, yes, but it was nowhere near as heavy as we had in January, or November. Yes, it’s been windy, but no more than an average strong wind; I wouldn’t say it’s been anywhere near gale […]
Hiking With Joe
Hiking boots on, poles in hand, I wonder why one of my favourite walks on Mt Ruapehu is so named. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I remembered to look it up when I got home. Turns out Joe Blyth was one of the inaugural members of the Tongariro National Park Board, skied the mountain […]
A Tui in a Pohutukawa…
It’s that time of the year again, the time when it’s obvious where HG Wells got his inspiration from. Yes, the pohutukawas are in flower or, more to the point, are losing their flowers and turning the ground beneath them red, much like the Martians’ weed does in The War of the Worlds. To northern […]
Serendipity
Through lack of choice I’m a believer in fate. I’m a planner, rarely doing anything spontaneous (I know, boring) but sometimes the grubby hand of fate grasps hold of my feeble plans and squeezes the life from them even as I stand, a la Romeo, screaming and cursing at its machinations. This was particularly apparent […]
Twenty Years a Kiwi
Recently my brother sent me a link to an article on a British news website about New Zealand being a great place to retire. It cited the quality of life, how cheap things are here, how great is our healthcare, etc. I read most of it with a wry smile, wondering where on earth this […]
A Visitor
The visitor from Wuhan (as described by a better writer than I’ll ever be) arrived on our doorstep last week. Neil greeted him first, his dismay at a second line appearing on the RAT test he had just done evident in his croaky wail as he saw it. This was two days after he’d first […]
Volcanic
A decade or so ago we’d just signed a binding contract to buy a house in Ohakune when the alert level for the volcano that looms over the town was raised. Last week, for the first time since such levels were introduced, it was raised for the volcano that lies under New Zealand’s largest lake, […]
Tracy Annenberg 