On Sunday Irene and me went off to another Auckland City church. We had seen a Green Lane Community Church building ever since we first came to Auckland in 2003 and we thought that it would be a good idea to visit. Although I had a good idea about its general location, 20 minutes from here, I set the SATNav to help. What I did not know was that there were two Marewa Roads and that I should have set the SATNav to Marewa Road, Ellerslie. Half an hour late we arrived and the door steward tapped in the entry code and let us in.
It was a very large congregation. At that moment they were putting on the stage representatives of many countries from around the World. What then followed was an introduction to the vast team of people who ran the church. The new pastor then gave his vision statement which very much about going forward in unity.
Communion was fascinating. Despite the large number of people every person had a small communion glass and a small piece of bread which we all took together.
At the end of the meeting I bought a little something to eat and we helped ourselves to free tea and coffee. Different types of coffee was available from the restaurant and, like the other large church we visited, you could pay by credit card.
We also purchased a worship CD from their to listen to on our journey next week.
After lunch Irene and me had a walk to the sea before packing for our three day trip in the morning.
On Monday morning we set off south. Google had shown a route to Taupo through Morrinsville. This is small NZ town, but we did find a pleasant cafe called the Crazee Cow.
From there we travelled on down the Highway to Taupo. We stopped, briefly for a picnic in the Rotorua district. The picnic area was not what we expected. The tables and benches had long been destroyed and people had been using the area as a dump. I found this so sad in such a beautiful setting.
I had thought that the road would pass the Huka Falls, but we were not on the right road. Our only visit to Taupo had been in 2003.Also the town now had a massive bypass over a huge concrete and steel viaduct. We needed to get to the motel and get directions to the falls. When we arrived the falls were just as powerful as we remembered. The sound of the falling water is almost deafening.
The motel was one of the more basic ones. The rooms were around a courtyard. There was one room with bed, table, easy chairs, a TV and the usual cooking appliances. The toilet and shower facilities were separate.
Once settled in we made our way to the lakeside. There was only a sixty minute parking zone in this area so we had our refreshments and moved on down the lake side. Surprisingly there was no restriction on parking and so we left the car and walked. The first crazy game that we came to was a hole in one competition. I say that it was crazy because the tee was on the shore and the hole was on a raft out on the lake. Punters paid for a number of balls and teed them off, generally, into the water. We did see one bounce off before its inevitable demise. On the way back to the car we watched as a couple were launched from a boat to be towed through the air.
We drove off a short distance, took a photo of some boats and headed back.
Having parked we walked off to the toilets. By the lake we saw a group of people enjoying dipping in a pool. We noticed a notice warning of scalding water. From the rock was coming steaming water which cooled down enough a few feet away and was still quite hot to touch.
Then we sat on a very solid wooden bench to wait for the sun to set. We were not disappointed.
We collected our Subways and returned to enjoy them and a good nights sleep.
Once again the sky was blue and we set off down the lakeside; stopping off at a bay where Irene collected some soft, light pebbles. Again the views were magnificent. There were interesting shaped rocks and the phenomenon of a stream so rapidly entering the lake that its path could be picked out for some distance.
We joined highway 4 at the village of 'National Park'. Here to Irene's surprise the SATNav turned us left towards the coast. I found out later that it had been wise to follow the SATNav's directions. Going north would have taken us over the 'Forgotten Highway'. This is a very steep and very windy road over the mountains and for most of its length it has no tarmac covering (unsealed).
I did have something of treat. The road took us by the mighty railway viaduct. See our MOTAT entry. I had also had a view of it from the train as went from Wellington to Auckland in 2009.
From Wanganui we followed the coast westward to the village of Hawera were we turned north to allow us to skirt the eastern fringe of Mount Taranaki; or to give it its full name 'Mount Taranaki or Mount Egmont'. We took this route because we thought that this might be our only opportunity to see the mountain. (There is a saying that goes 'If you can see the mountain its going to rain; if you can't see the mountain then its raining already.)
Much to my disappointment cloud began to build around the base of the mountain and climbed up to cover the peak. However, the was some clearance as we got closer a our next stopover.
Ian had booked us into a bed and breakfast in a place called Bell Block, which is the dormitory area for New Plymouth. The owner was a lady called Jenny. She turned out to be a faithful member of the local baptist church and we learned much that we did not know about NZ. I had not known that as a means of opening up trade with the Middle East. Most meat in the country is slaughtered according to Muslim rules.
After a cup of tea, a chat and unloading our belonging she furnished us with maps, information about the New Plymouth walkway and a recommendation to eat at Marinovich's Seafood Restaurant and Cafe. We were told that the chips were hand cut and that the fish was fresh caught that day.
New Plymouth had a wonderful idea of free parking at the sea front after 5.00 pm. We parked right next to the wind wand, which is a tall, slender, bendy pole with a red ball on which seems to have no other function than to make it easy to find our car. We walked along the boardwalk towards the port and industrial end to sea the mix of waves and setting sun and another great sunset.
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| New Plymouth 'Wind Wand' |
Once the sun was down the wind blew very cold from the sea and we were pleased to find Marinovich's. It was a lovely seaside fish and chip restaurant. The waiter was a jolly chap. I started by ordering a Tui and then decided to have the snapper and chips. The sweets were irresistible. Irene died with chocolate and I set the place on fire with 'drunken rice'. This sweet consists of a bowl of sweet rice topped with tiramuso. It had a blob of ice-cream and a blob of cream with a model of the wind wand (a cherry with a stick). There was a little jar of brandy source which the waiter set light to and poured over the rice. Spectacular and tasty.
We went straight to our room in Bell Block and after a good nights sleep went in for 8 o'clock breakfast which was not the 'full English' but very nice with some home grown products. Despite the closeness to the mountain Jenny is able to grow grapefruit and lemons. Apparently, being close to the sea means that their are no frosts.
Having said our good byes, including taking a picture of Jenny, Irene and the B and B, we followed our host's directions to the mountain. I told Jenny that the address for the Egmont Visitors Centre was 2817 Egmont Road and was told that this was this distance from the start of the road. Most of the drive was very straight and flat and began to wind as we entered the park. At the end of the road was a modern building and plenty of car parking. From here there were numerous walking tracks starting at 10 minute ones to 7 days.
The low cloud around the base of the mountain cleared completely and the mountain was in sharp view against a clear blue sky. Jenny told us that her father-in-law having made numerous visits (some lasting over a week) to the mountain had died at aged 80 never having seen the mountain. We were indeed blessed. After a short walk we settled to do our pencil drawing. We were even photographed, with our permission, by a foreign visitor. As we sat cloud began to form and I photographed the changes to the point when it looked like the sky had been splashed upwards with white paint.
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| Egmont Visitor Centre |
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| Drawing the mountain. My collar is to keep the sun off and the hat is to keep the cold out |
Following lunch at the visitors centre we set off on our travels once more.
The road once again went through spectacular country side. In a few places tunnels had been cut through the rock. They were no longer than bridges and were simply unsupported archways. Road works were to be the bane of the journey. They were frequent extensive and slow.
At one point we were able stop for refreshments, but is getting late in the day and I thought better of driving on this kind of unlit road and it would be dark by 5.30 pm.
We arrived at the Raglan Motel at about 5.15. We were just in time to unload the car and walk around to watch the sunset again. Young people were diving off the bridge despite warnings of the danger of doing so at low tide. We also saw a Maori canoe setting off into the dark.
The motel was fantastic. It was a two floor apartment. The first floor had a large lounge area with three seater sofa, TV kitchen, which included an electric hob. Upstairs was an equally large bedroom with sofa. On this floor was the toilet and shower. The shower had a choice of two separate heads. One was a fine spray and the other a large shower.
For our meal we purchased a pizza and pies at the 4Square store, which we cooked in the microwave.
The motel had a large balcony which looked over the sea.
Raglan is a very small town and after visiting the information centre we decided to make our way to Hamilton as we would find a Pak n Save and then some time in the beautiful gardens.
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| The Waikato River on the edge of the gardens |
We needed some special bread for our evening meal with our friends when we got back. We found out later that we could have waited until nearer home as bread stocks do not run out as quickly as they do in the UK.
In the gardens at there is a cafe where we had our lunch. Then, following a wander around we made our way back to Auckland. Hamilton is being changed dramatically. There are detours all over the place, but we eventually got on to the routes out. The one unexpected interruption to the journey was the police. They had blocked off a road with several police cars in both direction and every driver passing though was subject to a breath test. This consisted of counting to five near gadget and being wished a nice day by a friendly officer.
Traffic became heavy on the junction were we left the motorway, but we were able to finish our Sylia Park shopping before heading to base.
In the evening we had a good meal and fellowship with our Christian friends to end the day.
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