A Tallented Trampoliner

A double back-flip? No problem. "Would you like a high slow one or a low fast one?" was Fraser's response when, on the tramp at the timeshare in Taupo I asked him if he would do a double back flip for me so that I could see if I could photograph him in mid air.

These are the results:

Maori Rock Carvings: Matahi's Gift

The cruise on Lake Taupo on the Ernest Kemp took us to see the Maori rock carvings at Mine Bay. They are over 10 metres high and are only accessible by boat. The peaceful spiritual and cultural beauty of these magnificent carvings towering over deep waters are quite awe inspiring.

In the late 1970s master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell came to his mother's land at Lake Taupo and on a boat trip around the Western Bays he saw the cliffs at Mine Bay and saw the opportunity to use them as a canvas for his work.

Matahi decided to carve a likeness of Ngatoroirangi, a visionary Maori navigator who guided the Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa tribes to the Taupo area over a thousand years ago. In recognition of the multi-cultural nature of New Zealand, Matahi also carved two smaller figures of Celtic design, which depict the south wind and a mermaid. The Ngatoroirangi carving took four summers to complete and the carvers took no payment other than donations to cover the cost of the scaffolding.

The carving has become an important cultural attraction for the region and is a wonderful gift and example of traditional Maori knowledge and skills.

A Sail on Lake Taupo

On Thursday before we came home we all went for a sail on Lake Taupo on the 'Ernest Kemp'. Described as a 'vintage steamboat' in some articles on the Web was, in fact, launched in 1980 and is a replica of many boats built in New Zealand in the 1930s.

It has a splendid history and I was rather hoping to tell you about it. Unfortunately I didn't make any notes and can't find anything on the web which is reliable. So I'm just going to show you a few photos and ask you to admite the detailed work which went into the ropework covering almost every part of her iron and brasswork.

The 2 hour cruise was relaxing and interesting - as you will see in the next post.

The Journey Home: How Driving Should Be

I drove home from Taupo - 150 k drive usually taking about two and a half hours - along SH5 which is the principal road from this area towards Auckland. Like all roads outside the main cities it is a single carriageway with one lane in either direction. On steep hills there are passing lanes at intervals. They can occasionally be frustrating when someone decides to potter along at 60 kph for kilometre after kilometre. The highest speed allowed on any road is 100 kph. The majority of New Zealand's road system winds round, through or over one geological feature or another ie they are rarely straight for very long. The road out of Taupo does, however, have a few straight stretches until it reaches The Ranges. The photos show the road before the Ranges. After that taking photos was not so easy!

It is, on the whole, an absolutely wonderful road for a sports car like the MX5 where grip and handling are more of an element than power (the Nighthawk is far more powerful and can accelerate much faster).

When I returned on Thursday in the late afternoon I had expected a lot of traffic - it is the middle of the holiday period. The road was deserted. I travelled the whole distance and only encountered a couple of vehicles going in my direction.

It was the hottest day so far so I had the hood down the whole way and didn't even need to wear a bodywarmer.

I stopped twice to take photos and the whole journey took just less than two hours and I didn't break the speed limit at all.

In fact the journey can be summarised as being the very essence of what owning a small open-topped sports car is all about. Wonderfully exhilarating.

State Highway 5: Leaving Taupo

Taupo is now 30 k behind me

Gosh! There's a station (farm) ahead

One of the four watering holes between Taupo and Napier

- all but one of which are within 40 k of Taupo

The Ranges in sight

Craters of the Moon

North of Taupo on SH1 (State Highway 1) to Rotorua is the Wairaki Thermal Valley with a geothermal power project producing about 5% of the Country's electricity. Not far away is an interesting and unexploited thermal area called Craters of the Moon. We went to see it on Wednesday afternoon. Although not as visually interesting as the Waiotapu area a few kilometres away which I went to in 2005 it is nevertheless pretty spectacular. It is run by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and is less touristy that other commercially exploited areas. The area sprang up in the 1950s when the power station lowered underground water levels, reducing the pressure of the heated water and causing more vigorous boiling and steam. New mud pools and steam vents appeared and one can wander amongst them on board walks. The ground can be extremely hot - hot enough if you stray from the path and sink into a soft area to cause very severe burning.

Jet Boating

Wednesday's morning highlight was Jet Boating. Two massive supercharged Buick engines thrusting us along the Waikato River at speeds up to 90kph with only 10cm of the boat's keel in the water. It is an awesome experience. Needless to say you don't just wander along the river looking at the Black Swans and ducklings. We careered up and down the river inches away from the bank and various obstacles in the river and in and out of channels narrower than the boat - it didn't matter because at that speed so little of the boat was in the water who cared if the channel was only a yard wide. We also did wheelies. Serious, fast wheelies over our own wake.

Catriona had been seriously concerned about the activity (it looks really scary from the bank) and at one point it looked as though she was going to bottle out. Once we were on the water it was a different matter and she thoroughly enjoyed it.

We were very lucky because the other people booked for our boat didn't turn up so we had a bot to ourselves which not only meant that we were not squashed in with other people but our boat could go faster than a fully loaded boat by about 10kph.



We went up river to the Huka Falls. The water level in the falls was fairly low but even at that level 300,000 litres fall over it every second: enough to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in four seconds. Impressive from where we were. When we went to the viewing point (from which everyone is waving in the picture) it looks far less impressive.

New Year's Day

What a lovely day - once it got started. We all slept late! What a way to start the New Year. My first New Year's Day breakfast of 2008 was yoghurt and a pear. Healthy. My second New Year's Day breakfast of 2008 was a bacon roll. Yummy.

Rotorua was our destination for the day: an hours drive North. The car has TV screens in the back with a DVD player. There can hardly have been a better invention for keeping four children quiet in the back of a car. How wonderful that would have been for Andrew and Gareth on their long journeys between Lewis and Liverpool (and our October trips to Berlin).

Rotorua and Taupo are tourist areas for hot springs and geysers - a geothermal wonderland. That was not, however, one of our objectives for the day as we have all done the geothermal experience before.

So our first stop in Rotorua was the Luge. Up the mountain in a gondola, down in a luge, back up on a chairlift and back down in the gondola. Gondolas are a wonderful way of getting up mountains if actually doing the walking is not itself the activity of the day. We had our lunch overlooking the town and Lake Rotorua. Then Martin and the children luged their way down and chairlifted back. Then it was the turn of Wendy and me. The only other opportunity I've had to luge was in France on a very different set-up but I had to pass on that because I had a broken wrist at the time. So I had two firsts a luge ride and a chairlift ride. Wendy could not believe that I'd never been in a chairlift before. More rides for Martin and the children whilst Wendy and I had what was supposed to be iced coffee but was more like a very thick coffee smoothie. Where did four hours disappear to?

Then to the Zorb. Only Kiwis could think up such an experience. Absolutely amazing. You and a lot of water get into a clear plastic sphere which is suspended inside a larger clear plastic sphere and you roll down a hill! Yes. Really. And you pay a lot to do it. As I assumed it involved going upside down (I do not do upside down) I passed. Martin, David and Fraser took up the challenge. Having seen it, I would have done it if I could have been arsed getting changed and wet and then drying out again.

Back into the lake in the centre of Rotorua and by now the afternoon had gone and it was time for food. The remains of the picnic were disposed of whilst Wendy went off to explore a seaplane ride from the lake. Rather like the fireworks experience I have been in enough small planes flying over the Outer Hebrides (sometimes in stormy conditions I would rather not have experienced) not to be excited about another ride. However I was Wendied and off Wendy, Jamie and I went. And I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. New Zealand from the air is as magical as the Outer Hebrides.

Then back to Taupo and dinner after which Wendy and I went to the internet café and I came back to the Motel, downloaded photos and authored this posting before it was time, as Zebedee said, for bed.

Off we set

We've staked our table at the top

Martin and Catriona followed by Fraser going down the luge

Martin and Catriona returning up the chairlift

Rotorus and Lake Rotorua below us

Zorbing

Fraser prepares to enter the Zorb

Martin arrives at the bottom

Jamie ready to board

How Did You Spend Midnight?

At midnight I was standing in a queue for 20 minutes. I was at an open-air pop concert. I was wearing jeans and 'trainer' type shoes. I hadn't had an alcoholic beverage all evening. I could hardly have had a less GB style start to a year if I had tried. As all my friends know I hate queues, have never worn a pair of jeans (although at a friend's behest I bought a pair during 2007 for a specific purpose only to be told by a (nameless) friend and CJ that that the proposal would look terrible) nor owned a pair of trainers. Pop concerts are an unlikely venue for me although I've been to several in New Zealand with the family and friends and enjoyed them very much. No drink??

The reason I was in the queue was because I'd joined a (fairly short) queue 20 minutes before in 2007 to buy coffees. I was wearing jeans because it was a bitterly cold evening (after a very hot day) and I'd not thought to bring long pants and was wearing a pair of Martin's. I bought the trainer type shoes in The Warehouse (I must do a posting on New Zealand Institutions) for $20 to use on just such occasions. The last abberation was because of an alcohol ban in public places for the evening in, as far as I can work out, almost all of New Zealand.

Martin and I and the three boys had gone to the Pop Concert in the park at 2030. It started with a popular Wellington Group with two very good female leads. The rest of the evening was a Latin American band and six extremely energetic Salsa Dancers. Wendy was at their appartment looking after Catriona who had been really poorly all day and, in fact, had slept for 5 hours of it. Wendy had spent a hot summer's day of her holiday indoors reading a novel. At midnight there was, of course, the usual firework display. It was good and brought some oohs and aahs from the crowd although I think we are now fireworked out and more blasé about things unless they get more and more spectacular. The Stornoway display at New Year is much more spectacular which will, of course, have something to do with the setting as well.

Preparations

Performance

Fireworks!

Happy New Year

I wish for all my friends and anyone else who is reading this - 0h wotthehellarchiewotthehell - I wish EVERYONE good health, happiness and peace during 2008. And why restrict it to 2008? I wish everyone everything positive for ever.

To Taupo

What had started as a flawless sunny day turned into a dull day with promise of rain. As I pulled up for petrol on the outskirts of Napier at the last petrol station on State Highway 5 for 150 k or thereabouts, it started to rain. The hood went up. In fact despite the promise of rain over the Ranges through which I was travelling (and of which I'd hoped to get some good photos for the Blog) it didn't rain at all. About 30 k from Taupo as I came down from the Ranges the sun started shining again. I completed the journey with the lid off as I had originally intended. Hopefully I'll get the photos on the way back.