Day five of the Alps to Ocean and we open the curtains to cloud. The forecast is for ‘possible’ rain but the hills beneath the dark mass glow orange so I’m hopeful it will stay fine. What has arrived is a fierce wind, which makes crossing Benmore Dam challenging – even Neil is nearly blown […]
Tag: New Zealand
Alps to Ocean: Part Two
I wake on the third day of the Alps to Ocean with my stomach in knots. Today we cross the highpoint of the trail and it is rated grade 3 rather than the grade 2 of the previous sections. Words like rockier and rougher, coupled with exposed to mountain weather and sustained climb, jump out […]
Alps to Ocean: Part One
As we went to bed on our last night in Akaroa the wind hit the side of the house with such a loud roar I thought a plane had landed on the deck. It lasted all night, the gale accompanied by rain and we woke to, as Neil said: ‘A fire hose aimed at the […]
L’Akaroa
The lowering sun blinds us as we walk to dinner on our first evening in Akaroa, the small town on Banks Peninsula in the South Island originally settled by the French and retaining their influence. The rough-pebbled beach is dark, the sea brown and murky, not inviting a swim. On our return the light from […]
The Mills
Travel anywhere in New Zealand and you’ll see evidence of our primary industries. Cows graze in fields and amble along purpose-built tracks, through tunnels under roads towards milking sheds; sheep dot hillsides and crowd into farmyards, awaiting a haircut (if you’re lucky you’ll catch them between the two). On the roads trucks carrying towering piles […]
Tree Trunk Gorge
About an hour’s drive northeast of Ohakune, deep in the Kaimanawa Forest, the Tree Trunk Gorge track leads off a narrow road and into the bush. It follows the line of an old road associated with the Tongariro Power Scheme and is mostly wide and straightforward, albeit shared use with mountain bikes. Neil rode it […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
Weathering: Part 2
(A lame title, I know, but I’m hopeless at naming things and my usually helpful assistant clearly has inspiration issues.) I realise this is my third post in a row about weather, but it’s a fascinating subject and I am English, therefore predisposed to talk about it. I’m also now a Kiwi, and Kiwis like […]
Tracy Annenberg 