Category Archives: Travel Planning

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Tramping, Travel Planning

38. Whanganui Bay – Track End – Wairoa – Waipawa

Friday, March 20: Cold at night (down to 5°), variably cloudy in the mountains, fine and warm on the coast

Tramping: Waikaremoana Great Walk, Whanganui Bay – Track End (water taxi landing), 2.2 km

River’s Edge Holiday Park, 26 Harker St, Waipawa 4210, tel.: +64 6 857 8976, double cabin ($35)

I had slept in periods of about 100 minutes a piece with waking in between and was finished with sleeping by about 7:00 when it had reached 5°, which was the limit for sleeping in the thermal underwear, sox & turtle necked sweater. Breakfast was quickly dealt with as was the last part of the track – all of about 40 minutes, so the whole thing could be done in two days if you could get a water taxi to pick you up at 6:00.

Morning over Waikaremoana
Morning over Waikaremoana, just before the water taxi landing area (snapshot panorama)
Read more…

New Zealand, Photography, Travel Planning

35. Gisborne – Wairoa: Te Reinga Falls

Tuesday, March 17: Cloudy the whole day with occasional showers and a little cooler

Jude’s (airbnb, $48)

The storm had passed by last night without too much to notice it by, except the rain, and certainly the winds were much weaker than had been predicted. I had my breakfast and then Ethel had to go to the doctor’s about the fall that she had had last week, and visit a friend as well, so Mischief, the dog, the attention-seeking cat, and myself were left to our own devices.

I started off by getting a couple of pictures into the blog posts, mainly of the Tongariro Crossing. All the posts had been scheduled for publication right up to departure date, and three more had been transcribed onto the computer, so all I need to do when I have another technical day is to find some photos for them and schedule them as well. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

34. Gisborne

Monday, March 16: Moderately strong rain and somewhat windy as cyclone Pam moved south to the east of New Zealand

Ethel’s

Pam arrived during the night and by the time I was up it was clear that nothing would be on the agenda today except for sitting in front of the computer. Ethel’s breakfast was peaches and cereal, then toast, and of course, coffee. Then it was time to transcribe the diary. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

33. Whakatane – Gisborne

Sunday, March 15: Sunny for a brief spell then clouding over and a few rain showers gradually increasing in intensity as Pam approaches

Ethel’s, spacious bedroom with shared facilities (airbnb, $50)

Danger Watermelons
Danger Watermelons/back at petrol stat[ion], Ohope Beach

Breakfast and packing were very quickly dealt with and I was on the road before 10:00. Took the coastal route to join the SH2 near the unfindable kayak place then along to Opotiki and the shorter route to Gisborne.

Very abandoned looking places up in the hills and nothing much like civilisation until Ormond with its vineyards. The going up until now had been fairly slow and I had stopped for two pictures (Dangerous Watermelons, and Other people make mistakes) earlier along the way. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

32. Whakatane: Nga Tapuwae o Toi

Saturday, March 14: Sunny and very warm, clouds appearing in the evening, and some rain

Tramping: Nga Tapuwae o Toi, 16.9 km

Windsor Lodge

The weather was very tempting for a paddle so I was up and organised early, and Kenny the kayak man offered a freedom hire, the only problem was that it was from his place. I indicated that I would take it, and set off with a Google Map in mind to drive the 30 or so km down to his place. Was ready to leave here just after 9:00. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

30. Rotorua: Lake Tarawera

Thursday, March 12: Rain at first, then somewhat drier, rain again in the evening

Tramping: Tarawera Trail, 13.4 km

Astray (BBH, $37 + $3)

The day wasn’t turning out so well for a tramp, but I decided on going ahead with it anyway. By about 9:30 the car was packed and ready to go, and I was a the car park for the trail by about 10:00. The forecast had been for showers but it was coming down in a constant stream.

I had my full-length trousers and the raincoat on right from the beginning. The path is rather narrow and the wet plants on either side were hanging over the track and transferring water first to the pants and then to the sox and boots. I made brief stops every now and then and at the second picnic place it had virtually stopped raining so I stopped for my two rounds of sandwiches and mandarine for lunch. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

29. Rotorua: Waimangu

Wednesday, March 11: Sunny becoming cloudier in the afternoon, warm

Tramping: 5.4 km

Astray

This place is fairly quiet at night after 10:00, but it was the buses and general traffic that woke me before 9:00. Today’s plan was to do the Waimangu ($36) walk with plenty of time lapses and polarised brackets, and to have it fill up the day.

I was at the car park at around 10:30, and had everything ready except for the hat that I had left in the car. Since Waimangu – as opposed to most of the other thermal/volcanic walks – is very shaded that won’t have made too much difference since sunscreen had already been applied. Read more…

New Zealand, Skeptics, Travel Planning

24. Waikanae Beach – Wellington – Tawa

Friday, March 6: Cloudy at first with a few showers, then in Wellington very heavy rain clearing in the course of the afternoon

Missy & Brian’s (airbnb, $45)

At just after 9:00 I was the first up and proceeded to make some coffee, after which Julie got up and offered me some wheatbix and toast as well. I was determined to get as much of a day’s work done as possible and started on scheduling the next few blog posts with pictures so that I can concentrate on organising the rest of the tour. Low tide at Napier seems to be reasonable to do the gannets (Cape Kidnappers) walk in two weeks’ time, so it won’t be on the agenda for next week. Put in a request for kayaking on the Manawatu for the day in Palmy. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Topo Map, Tramping, Travel Planning

21. New Plymouth – Whanganui: Dawson Falls

Tuesday, March 3: Very cloudy at first, becoming fine in the course of the afternoon

Tramping: 1.4 km

Hikurangi StayPlace, 1 Mount View Rd., Whanganui 4500, tel.: +64 6 343 3333. Single room with shared (1x) bathroom & toilet (BBH, $40 + $3)

Under the volcano
Under the volcano. Topo set: [download id="1677"]

Couldn’t sleep the last hour or so, so I was up at 8:00 and had a very frugal breakfast of muesli bars, crackers and coffee. The car had to be properly organised for the rest of the trip and that took up the next 2 hours. The case was reserved for the rest of the books and fresh clothes, the pack takes on the computer and diaries in the main compartment, and the vanity bag in the bottom one, the chilly bin is packed full of spoilable food and other stuff that needs to be kept cold, and there is a shopping bag with non-spoilable food and the large shampoo etc. bottles. The camera bag is now loaded with batteries and cards; one A470 is ready to go in the glove box, and the SX120 is in its pocket in the pack. A notebook with pen is with the glasses & ipod in one of the open compartments on the passenger side. Almost 100% ready to go. Read more…

New Zealand, Travel Planning

20. Raglan – New Plymouth

Monday, March 2: Quite cloudy at first, becoming fine & warm

Sunflower Backpackers, 33 Timandra St., New Plymouth 4310, tel.: +64 6 759 0050, triple as single (BBH, $45 + $5)

Robert was up earlier than me and the table was already laid out for breakfast. The usual fare: Cornflakes, banana, two poached eggs on toast and coffee. Then the packing had to take place – got most of the stuff into the rucksack, and the chilly bin is now fully functional with two frozen water bottles.

Decided to make Robert a present of the book and he insisted on an inscription (he had given me a print of one of his paintings the night before) and then the obligatory picture had to be taken for his collection. Fiddly mobile phone camera. He was also very pleased that I had gotten his ancient XP machine to run a little faster by clearing caches, deleting zombie files, killing a few processes, installing a few updates and eventually reducing the processor load to less than 100%. We swapped emails and no doubt he will find me on facebook. I’ll check to see if he has had his hip replacement surgery if I pass through Hamilton at a late stage in the journey. Read more…