The Drought in Turangi Must be Over

April 22
Our outing before the rain today was to the Tongariro National Trout Centre. This is a museum, aquarium and hatchery dedicated to freshwater fish, mainly trout.  We take the river walk in the bit of bush around the center.

Making eyes at a huge freshwater eel.

making eyes at William.

At the river

An old Maori smokehouse.  Probably for smoking eels.

April 23
Hoping that the day will be dryer, we drive up to the Tongariro National Park Visitor Center in Whakapapa Village.  Since I see evidence of roadside herbicide spraying, I wonder at the dead looking vegetation further out from the road.

 dead looking vegetation 

I find out an interesting story at the Visitor Center.  In 1912 one of the early park superintendents decided it would be a good idea to transform the lower slopes of the volcanoes that make up the park to fields of heather for hunting grouse. They were originally covered with tussocks, big grass clumps. The superintendent  imported tons of heather seed and had tens of thousands of heather seedlings planted. The heather took off and smothered out the native vegetation.  The quail did not take off.  Now the park is covered in heather. Although it looks pretty when it is in bloom, once frost hits it heather turns a dead brown color.

heather blooms are lavender blue

So instead of fluffy red gold tussocks, there is brown heather.

The park originally came into being when a Maori chief who owned the land the three volcanoes were on decided to gift the land to the queen to preserve it. Enough land was later added around the volcanoes to comprise the park.
We hope the rain will only be a mist as we try out a nature walk near the visitor center.  We soon realize that we are not going to see the volcanoes on this trip.  The rain and clouds are clinging to the mountains.

a predator trap

Since this is our 47th wedding anniversary we head out to dinner at River Vineyard and Restaurant.  I was amazed that a wonderful restaurant like this exists in Turangi where the Burger King dominates the entrance to town.  The restaurant is quite small, one waitress and about seven tables.  The wine is only served at the restaurant.  We had a pinot noir that was as soft as pinots produced in the Santa Ynez Valley.  I think I can safely say that you could order any dish on the menu here and be amazed at the flavor, quality and presentation.

A Wet Day in Turangi

April 21
Although it rained heavily most of the night, it seems to only be lightly raining today. The children on vacation are still playing in the pool. So maybe we can go on some short walks and look around the area after morning tea.
We drive to the Hot Springs and walk around on the Thermal Walk. There are boiling pools, bubbling mud and steam vents.

As we are heading back there is what looks like a car park with an open gate at the end. Looks like there used to be a path across an open area, but cracks have opened up. William heads over and out a path on the other side.

 He comes back behind me and takes me to an area that looks like it is not part of the park.  Looks like it has private usage.

There are covered vents steaming behind me.

 We had read that the Maori used to use the hot springs for cooking and here comes an older Maori with a basket of food. Mostly looks to be kumara (sweet potatoes). He says he is going to cook them there.  Says it saves on the power. Reminds me of the bird eggs I had in Thailand, cooked in a hot volcanic vent.

We drive around more heading to the edge of Lake Taupo. There are black swans on the lake.

Lake Taupo is huge. This is just a tiny bay.

We see a sign warning about pukeko on the road.

 This is a likely habitat for pukeko as the end of the lake shows on the map as quite swampy.  And there they are on the edge of the road. It looks like they are digging up worms.

Showing the white under their tails.

They just duck into the reeds as we drive closer.

The rain gets harder, so we decide to go back to our apartment to learn how to operate the DVD player.

The North Island from Wellington to Turangi

April 15^th

After dropping off our car, GRL, we take the ferry from Picton to Wellington. The South island has been great, but now we are on to the North Island. Beginning in the fairly big city of Wellington.

Barry! It says no sitting on the rail.

As we near the North Island, dolphins frolic and dash at the ship, leaping five abreast.

Our new car is a guy named GQ. Slightly more room in the boot. We are up on the top floor of the hotel with a view of the harbor.

We run out quickly to the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.

In the museum, which has a heavy Maori influence, the labels and descriptions are in Maori and English. I can't help thinking about the Australian Aborigines. The Maori language has been written out, helped no doubt by its closeness to other Polynesian languages.

The Maori only arrived in New Zealand 800 years ago, only a few hundred years before the Europeans. The Maori had a somewhat warlike culture and were able to influence events. They had the Treaty of Waitangi signed in 1840. Not a perfect document by any means, but one which gave them all the rights of citizens and promised that land would be purchased from them. The only problem was that the Maori held land roughly in family groups and purchases were often made for little from one family member. Still even though the whites controlled about 90% of the land by 1930, there had been some attempt at fairness and people are encouraged to make a claim under the treaty, if they feel land was taken unfairly. The aborigines were just chased off.

Why? The Maori wore clothes, built houses, had a boating tradition, quickly converted to Christianity, were Polynesian, and had myths and stories of their history.

The aborigines, since they had been in Australia since prehistoric times, 40 to 60 thousand years ago, had a dream time history. A history since before memory. They mostly did not wear clothes or build houses except for the stray rain shelter. It is warm in Australia. They did not put up any kind of coordinated fight. But what I do not understand is the lack of study of their language. Although the aborigines do retain some secretiveness about their beliefs. There is a lot of variability in the language from place to place, due to the length of time the aborigines were here and it would be a monumental task to write and study. But I don't understand why no one is working on it. These languages are just being left to die. The aboriginal families were broken up and the lighter skinned children were adopted by white families. The Aussie plan was just to absorb the aboriginals. Sounds like how the USA treated the Native Americans in many areas and instances.

April 16^th

Back to the museum. We stay until our parking tag runs out at 2pm. We skip over a lot. We could have used another day here.

William decides what Polynesian islands we might visit some day. Not Banaba, nothing left after New Zealanders bought the mineral rights for 24 cents and stripped the island of phosphate to fertilize the grasslands of New Zealand. Not Kirabatu, too polluted. But it is washing away with the rise in sea level anyway. Not any of the atolls like Bikini where atomic bombs were set off. He says maybe we will sail a boat from Hawaii. I think not, unless we have a Polynesian to sail the boat.

Land use changed with human settlement. Before humans 85% of the land was indigenous forest and 5% was grasslands. Now 55% is grasslands, 25% is indigenous forest and much of the rest is pine plantations. But much of the Eastern USA was forested. Now not so much. You have to put things in perspective. Increased populations put heavy demands on the land. Scotland was a land of pines. Remember the Cedars of Lebanon, may they rest in peace.

Decisions about tomorrow. Maybe the Woolshed. There is a demonstration every Wednesday.

April 17^th

We spend quite a bit of time in the Woolshed learning about sheep farming. 

We then go to the Masterton Museum, where we spend time reading more about the history of New Zealand. The Maori were intimidated into selling their land to the Crown for little. The land was then offered to whites for homesteads.

Guard rails of sticks and number 8 wire.

On to Napier. I see a group of three pukeko at the roadside. I have seen these birds three times at the roadside, so I know I am not seeing things. I do some research and find that currently the roadside ditch is their habitat, since most swamps have been drained. Who could know?

April 18^th

Napier

We climbed the hills where Maori villages once stood. The Otatara Pa Historic Reserve. We climbed over at least 6 styles. Most of the fences had insulators on them, but maybe the electricity was not turned on.

This style was OK to climb. Some others not so.

Possum World has a huge display about the depredations and natural history of the possum and tons of items made with possum fur. You can buy a possum tail for only $4, but I decide not.

You press a button and the possums sing On The Road Again. They are the most frequently run over animal in New Zealand.  If you are driving at night, better to hit one of these guys than a moose, like in Alaska.

After the downtown of Napier was demolished in a huge earthquake in 1931. The town was inundated in workers and in a few years, in a make work project supported by the government, the town was rebuilt in an Art Deco style.

Clive Garden

The bells play a number of tunes on the hour. One I recognized was Tiptoe Through the Tulips.

April 19^th

One of the purchases we made in India was to be shipped after the first week of April. I guess they got tired of holding on to our purchase and shipped it on the 8^th of March. It arrived in LA, not Oakland and was then trucked to Oakland and warehoused there on the 15^th of April. Lots of problems and lots of extra expense.

We had to hire a lawyer in Napier to notarize papers hiring a customs agent and authorizing daughter Valerie to manage these items through customs and to deliver them to our house.

There were times yesterday when we really felt like wringing the neck of a certain Indian merchant.

All of this business took all day. We then drove from 6PM to 8PM to Turangi.

Just got here before the front desk closed.

April 20^th

Our 6^th day on the North Island. We are here in Turangi for a week. This is school holidays for two weeks. There are some children here. So far it is pouring rain. Needed we are told. We went to the intro this AM with the lure of grilled sausages. Actually pretty good. We learned that the video store offered a discount for visitors to Turangi Leisure Lodge, so we get some videos. We hit the Saturday Market. Sparse for vendors, but we buy something from almost every one. Jam, honey, shortbread, corn relish, and purple potatoes. Then on to the New World grocery store. We gravitate to the Pam's brand. I think this is the house brand, but it usually suits our taste. Though I did buy Watties pasta sauce, another iconic New Zealand brand.

Maybe the rain will let up later in the week. At least I have my cheery NZ apron to cook lamb chops in.

Picton

April 14^th

We leave Motueka heading to Picton. In the town of Tasman I see a sign “Jester House Cafe, Tame Eels.” I always wonder what they really mean. There is sometimes a problem translating Kiwi English to American English. Any Kiwi will tell you it it just the other way around.

Lots of bike riders are out this sunny Sunday, young guys in kits and old guys in sweaters.

No Parking

More safety messages

We see lots of honor stalls. Some with fruits and vegetables and a box for money. Lots more with bags of manure and an honor box. Horse poo $2 a bag.

In Nelson, William takes a picture of the Nelson Cathedral and a little red car.

3 wheel car with the name of 1-SETA

Nelson Cathedral

We stop for lunch at Havelock, the green-lipped mussel capital of the world. We head to the Mussel Pot and order the sampler platter for two.

The Mussel Pot

Someone has to like light beer

All this and chowder too. Delicious.

We see cows walking under the road through an underpass for cows. Two cows lead the parade. I was too startled to get a picture.

We take the high winding road to Picton, so we can look back at Havelock.

Clear cuts are very visible from the road. But they are quickly cleaned up and replanted. The rows are so straight they look like machine planting, but some of the hillsides are quite steep. The new trees look to grow so quickly that they over top any brush that comes in. The Kiwis are used to this type of forestry. It is just like any other crop. Just with a slightly longer regrowth time. A clear cut is just like a plowed field or an orchard cut down for replanting.

multiple age fields with bush over to the right

Recent clearcut

We look down at the ferry terminal. Time to get organized again. We drop GRL off at the terminal and pick up another car when we dock at the North Island.