Month: December 2018

Today I finally caught up with my cousin Dan, who lives in New Plymouth. When I opened the door to him I thought it was my Uncle Ivan, his father, standing there. After some conversation and a bit of exploration by Dan it turned out that he used to visit the original part of the house that I am currently staying in.  After some general catch up we headed back to the coastal path, calling in at his house on the way for me to meet his lovely wife Jenifer and pick up a hat. This morning was much sunnier than yesterday so sun block etc were definitely required. We started again at the Waiwhakaio River with the beautiful bridge gleaming in the sunshine. 

Time passed easily as we walked to Bell Block constantly chatting. After a relatively short time, mostly because of the chatting we arrived at Bell Block. I was interested to see that there was a dedicated cycle track there  and apparently there is an all weather athletics track at Inglewood. 

We retraced our steps back to the bridge, stopping on the way to admire the coastline  and take a couple of photos. I was amazed to see that little penguins could be found along the coast as well as seals. 

After dropping in to see some more family in Bell Block we headed for the Len Lye Building in New Plymouth. This building is dedicated to his works and seems to particularly feature “Wands” While we were there the curator of the room turned on an exhibition of “Wand Dance”, which was quite mesmerising. I made a little video of them because a photo wouldn’t capture the effect. 

He also had some interesting shapes and combinations of textures.

Thursday afternoon was dedicated to retracing old haunts. Where I am staying is in walking distance of Pukekura Park and I was soon there. The Lake and gardens were as lovely as ever, but I was disappointed to see the high safety railings on the red bridge; health and safety taken to the extreme. The outline of Mt Taranaki could be seen in the background 

It was lovely to hear the Tui singing as I made my way to the Fernery  with all its beautiful displays.

After some peaceful time in this tranquil place I made my way to the open space at the entrance to Pukekura Park. Now a cricket ground it forms a natural amphitheater on three sides, which have been terraced.  From the age of 11 I ran here. every Tuesday night in the summer. It was then The New Plymouth Amateur Athletics Club. At the beginning I literally ran barefoot on the grass. As a small child we all gathered here for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in the summer of 1953-54. 

Next on my nostalgic tour was a visit to the now cathedral church of  Taranaki, St Mary’s. It is the oldest stone church in New Zealand. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Selwyn in 1842. Sadly, at the moment it is closed due to the potential earthquake risk, following those in Christchurch and Kaikoura. A huge fundraising venture is underway to strengthen it to meet requirements among other ideas. The lovely colonial style vicarage, where I spent many Saturday mornings having piano lessons with the Vicar is right next door. It is in need of some TLC to bring it back to its former glory.

I was pleased to see that the iconic clock tower still stands and Devon Street looks unchanged. 

After purchasing flowers at Nicki Godwin’s, Barbara and Peter took me to the Awanui Cemetery where I laid them on my brother and father’s grave. The florist tied a black ribbon around the base and the yellow flowers represent the colours of the Taranaki Rugby Team, s sport that Rex excelled at and one my father coached. 

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I’m staying in a rather lovely Airbnb house, which I have all to myself. It was lovely to wake up to the special sounds of New Zealand birds. Nowhere else that I have ever been has birdsongs like New Zealand birds. At the bottom of the garden there is a little stream and on the other side bush, which in English is forest, but somehow New Zealand’s bush is very different with the density and the native trees. 

New Plymouth now has a coastal pathway and I was very keen to walk part of this. Peter decided he would join me on this and the friend that they were staying with drove us to the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge, which crosses the Waiwakaiho River at Fitzroy. 

This was a great starting point for our walk to a cafe, The Bach, at Ngamotu Beach.  Although the day had started grey and overcast the sun broke through and it became quite hot. We passed some beautiful New Zealand Flax on the way. As a child I used to make Palm Crosses out of this for Palm Sunday at St Marys. 

In the distance we could see the rock formation Paritutu and passed the modern Wind Wand by Len Lye.

Peter retired from the walk near Kawaroa and I continued on my on to The Bach where I arrived just as my friends drove up in the car. 

I was most surprised to see a cruise ship in the harbour and our friend informed us that there are only about four a year. 

Once we left Pirongia the next place of interest was Te Kuiti., which is in the King Country. It’s most famous claim to fame is that the rugby players, The Meads brothers came from here. There is now a museum devoted to them and a statue of Colin, described as the Rugby Player of the Century, having played for the All Blacks from 1957-1971.

Once we left Te Kuiti I had the same feeling of leaving civilisation as I had experienced in the past. From there to the end of the Awakino Gorge is very sparsely populated. 

We made a brief stop at Piopio: { I’d be fascinated to hear my English friends pronunciation of this) and was surprised to see it looking more affluent than my past memories of it. Shortly after I saw a sign post to somewhere part of ‘The Hobbit’ was filmed and all became clear. 

We had a brief stop at Mokau for me to take a photo of the inlet tidal water and then it was non stop to New Plymouth. It really is a scenic and dramatic drive with places like Mount Messenger to negotiate. I always find it disappointing that so few people from the UK choose to make this journey. 

Today Peter drove us from Milford to New Plymouth.

It was a perfect day for travel!ing, not too hot, but sunny enough fo the countryside to look at its best.  After an initial log jam in Auckland City travelling on the motorway was pretty comfortable. I was surprised to see how much more motorway there is now and also how much new motorway is under construction than there was thirteen years ago. It certainly made a lot of the drive less stressful. 

After a brief stop at the bottom of the Bombay Hills for petrol our first main stop was at Pirongia where we had lunch. While it is still a typical tiny Kiwi hamlet it had a pub depicting a pastime of the area, hunting. 

One of the sights that was a delight to see was the cows taking themselves back out to pasture after milking. It may be the breeds or a trick of the eye, but I was convinced the cows were. Smaller in stature than those in the UK

One of the lovely things about coming to New Zealand in December is that the Pohutukawa Tree, also called the Christmas tree is in bloom. There is a whole avenue of them leading down to the bay in Milford. This was the best specimen and the sun was enhancing the colours in spectacular fashion. 

The day itself had begun quite grey, but by midday the sun was beautiful and sparkled  on the water. There is a lovely view of Rangitoto from the beach .

 

I was delighted to pass through this Maori carving gateway as I made my way to the Bio Security. I had filled in that my trainers had been on a farm. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for the introduction of foot and mouth disease to New Zealand.  The girl checking them did a great job of steam cleaning them and gave them back to me in a nice plastic bag.

Once I came into the arrivals hall I was anxiously scanning around for Peter, who at 6’ 6” is pretty hard to miss. He suddenly materialised in front of me and as I had done when we landed I felt a bit emotional. It’s quite something to be back after 13 years. 

The drive back to Milford took rather longer than it should have and as we detoured around various streets of Ponsonby and finally crossed the bridge Peter remarked that we’d been on a real Tiki Tour. 

There is no doubt that travelling Business Class made a huge difference to the state I was in upon arrival, I was determined to have my body clocked switched to New Zealand time from the moment I set foot on the aeroplane. Having my own space made this so much easier to accomplish,

Over the two legs I watched three films and tried to eat and sleep according to New Zealand time. I could have read, but  the novelty of having time to watch films was more appealing. When I reached saturation point with movies I moved on to playing Pac-Man much to the amusement of the cabin crew.

My flight with Singapore Airlines arrives at 23.30 on Monday 10th December. My old school friend Barbara and her husband Peter are meeting me. 

As you can see from the map it is a 41 minute drive to their home so it is going to be well into the early hours of the morning when we arrive there. Not only will I have to clear passport control, and pick up my baggage, but I will probably have to have my trainers steam cleaned. This is done if your shoes have been near farms to prevent any disease like Foot and Mouth from entering New Zealand. 

In just less than 9 hours I’ll be taking off from Manchester International Airport and doing the first leg of my flight to Singapore. 

I’m flying Business Class, which will be a new experience for me. I shall take some photos in both the plane and the lounges. After an hour in Singapore Airport I shall set off on the second leg of my journey to Auckland.