Tramping in the Ruahine Forest Park

The Ruahine Forest Park is a short drive from our home in Palmerston North. My friend and colleague, Jens, invited us to join him and his girls Xiomara and Keira on an overnight excursion to the Alice Nash Hut this past weekend.

From the trail head, it was a 30 minute hike through the lush bush to this DOC cabin. Our hike took place during a pleasant rainstorm in the late afternoon. One highlight was the impressive arched wooden bridge spanning a deep canyon.

Once at the hut, we settled in for a dinner of Mexican-American bean burritos with all the fixings. "Yum." The hut was full tonight with a friendly group of hunters and another family with three other kids of similar age to Keira, Xiomara, and Maddy. With autumn upon us, darkness arrived at an early hour. The torches (flashlights) were fired up early this evening. Jens was masterful in bringing together this group of precocious individuals through a suspenseful card game of "Murder". The smiles and laughter were contagious to all.

The next morning we left the hut and took the short drive to the nearby glow worm cave. The cave was much larger than I had expected. It had a small stream cutting through it and some glow worm activity was visible even during the daylight hours.

Our family had a great time. Thanks Jens, Xiomara, and Keira for inviting us to join you on this special adventure.

A Day on the Rangitikei

My beautiful bride Linda and I headed out for half-day of fishing on the Rangitikei River, a short drive north from "Palmy". Highway 54 is a winding stretch of secondary road over the hill separating the Manawatu plain to the Rangitikei valley. Atop the hill, we found great view of the giant volcanoes (Ruapehu and Tongariro) found in the central plateau. This beautiful river was set aglow today beneath the sparkling blue skies and autumn colors. The season has changed here on the North Island and the non-native trees are awash in color. Low river flows exposed mushroom-like rocks in the canyon as we walked along the cut bank cliffs and sheep invested paddocks. Fishing was slowed early, but picked up about the time we needed to leave and return home. I can report landing one nice rainbow in the 3-4 pound category, along with numerous smaller fish. How fortunate we are...

Auckland or Bust

The Easter holiday has arrived. With a five-day weekend for Ross Intermediate School students and Massey students on a two-week "Study Break", we decided to make a trip to Auckland. My friend and colleague Peter and his wife Patricia invited us to stay at their beautiful home near Long Bay, North of Auckland, while they traveled to visit family in South America. The Google maps app showed 535km and 6 hours 22 minutes of driving time from our place on Ruahine to Long Bay along the winding roads of the central plateau. Our plan was to break up the trip by stopping in Waitomo for a tour of the Glow Worm caves on our way North.

I've entitled this adventure Auckland or Bust, as "Bust" nearly happened on a desolate stretch of highway on the edge of Tongariro National Park not too far from the foot of Mount Doom (Mtn Ngauruahoe). The New Zealand road system is built through rugged terrain and even primary routes have a secondary road feel when cut through these remote areas. The lanes are narrow and in some places the shoulder non-existent. Traveling at 95 kpm, we rounded a bend with no shoulder and the left tire slipped off the pavement into the grass. As our vehicle moved back onto the pavement, it fish-tailed out of control for another 200 feet before landing in a farmer's paddock having taken out several fence posts and a string of baling wire. How we didn't roll the car is a mystery to me. God was looking out for this family on Good Friday.  With shaking hands, I turned off the ignition and all of us stepped out of the car. Maddy, being a cool customer, made a comment about her disappointment in spilling the macaroni & cheese she was enjoying for lunch. I breathed a sigh of relief in that we were all able to walk away from this potential tragedy.

A good samaritan, Chris, quickly arrived at the scene from the farmhouse. He invited us up to his place while calling a wrecker for us. The front tie rod was bent along with some ugly body damage and a missing front bumper. Dave gave us and the Suburu a tow to his shop in Owhango. He also called on the bus schedule (Owhango is a bit off the beaten track) and a rental car in the nearest town of Taumarunui. After the leaving my contact information with Chris (pay for the fence) and Dave (tow and yet to be determined repairs), we sat at 39 degrees South latitude of the equator. 39 degrees South is the name of the cafe we were at sharing a coca cola, with real sugar not high fructose corn syrup, as we weighed our options. We could jump the bus back to Palmy or rent a car to continue our trip. Yep - we chose to continue on.

Graham in Taumarunui agreed to meet me at his Ford repair shop (Good Friday is a national holiday) to rent us a car. I hitched a ride to town with a nice lady (vet - large animals) on holiday while Maddy and Linda stayed at the cafe identifying our latitude. Also joining us was Bram, a friendly Aussie who had been backpacking through the Tongariro. The three of us had a lively visit on our way to town. Graham met me shortly after and we were back on our way to Auckland minus this three-hour delay. Thanks to Chris, Dave, Tim, Graham, and everyone else who put us back on the road.

We arrived at Peter and Patricia's place after dark, but awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise across the Hauraki Gulf. The next four days raced by. Saturday was a city day to tour the Auckland CBD including the wharfs and Sky Tower. Sunday was church followed by snorkeling at Goat Island. Monday and Tuesday were beach days, at Long Bay. We had a blast. Linda and I had an adventure on riding a tandem bike ride. We enjoyed several walks on the beach and the coastal track. Maddy and I played in the surf and kayaked in the bay. We found a large (size of Maddy) Sting Ray in the bay. A really unusual sight involved a large school of mackerel trapped between the low tide and a flock of birds followed by swarms of predator fish arriving for dinner.

Tuesday night we shared Happy Hour with Peter and Patricia's neighbors, Lyn and Garry. They were a real highlight. Lovely people with a great sense of humor and appreciation of American culture. Wednesday we made the tour to the glow worm caves in Waitomo, pick up the car and returned to Palmerston North. It was a whirlwind. Tim was a magician with the body work on the car and it is once again running at peak performance (for a mid-1990s vehicle) ready for the next adventure.

Auckland or Bust!