February - March 2019 NZ trip

February - March 2019

A 16-day adventure by The Little Tune Runs Away Read more

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Traveler February - March 2019 NZ trip
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- Feb 26, 2019, 7:45am
- 🌧 15 °C
- Altitude: 394 m
- United States Hawaii Maui Kala‘e 21.135339, -156.99646621°8’7” N 156°59’47” W
Day 1
Leaving for NZ
February 26, 2019 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
While I waited at the bus stop in Kaunakakai to go to the airport, a rainbow briefly appeared in the sky. Flew Mokulele Air across to HNL to catch an Hawaiian Airlines flight to Auckland, NZ. The little HA pack contained earbuds and a sleep mask, not snacks--as I was hoping! But they gave us a very nice sandwich soon after take-off.Read more
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- Feb 27, 2019, 11:59pm
- ☁️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 23 m
- New Zealand Auckland Mangere Williams Park -36.969871, 174.78713236°58’12” S 174°47’14” E
Day 2
Auckland, NZ
February 27, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
I arrived just before midnight the next day, having crossed the international date line. It was about a 9-hour flight. The photos are of the entrance gates in the arrival area of the international terminal at AKL.Read more
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- Feb 28, 2019, 6:45am
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 17 m
- New Zealand Taranaki New Plymouth District Westown Huatoki Stream -39.063956, 174.07103939°3’50” S 174°4’16” E
Day 3
Auckland to New Plymouth
February 28, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
I stayed overnight at the Auckland International YHA in the CBD and caught a bus back out to the airport early in the morning. New Plymouth is the regional airport for Taranaki, the province where I was born and raised. It is named after the now dormant volcano that formed the peninsula on the west coast of the North Island.Read more
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- Mar 1, 2019, 3:00pm
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Altitude: 302 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford Patea River -39.339583, 174.28939239°20’22” S 174°17’22” E
Day 4
Taranaki, the mountain
March 1, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Taranaki maunga viewed from The Plateau area of Egmont National Park that it is part of. Egmont was the name that Captain Cook gave the mountain, but the Maori name is more commonly used these days and the mountain's official name is Mt. Taranaki.

Looking out across to the central North Island Plateau area, famous for the active volcanoes Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngaruhoe. There is a legend that says Taranaki was previously in the center of the North Island, too, but had a battle with Tongariro for the attention of a beautiful little maunga to east, Pihanga, and was banished after losing.

In the 1980s, I worked in the Department of Conservation's Egmont National Park Ranger Center, but it has not been staffed or used for many years now, leaving the native plantings surrounding it to take it over somewhat.

Taranaki, te maunga, causes a lot of rainclouds to form and thousands of streams and rivers flow off its flanks, irrigating the rich volcanic soil of the area that surrounds it. One of them is the Patea River, on the banks of which sits my hometown of Stratford.Read more
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- Mar 2, 2019, 11:00am
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 302 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford Patea River -39.339583, 174.28939239°20’22” S 174°17’22” E
Day 5
A day at the races
March 2, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
The Stratford Harness Racing Club held a race event on the Saturday and I went with a family member in honor of my sister who used to volunteer with St. John's Ambulance at the races and at local sporting events, as well as teaching First Aid in schools.

In one of the shop windows on my way back home through town there was a display in honor of the Americarna vintage car event that had been in town earlier in the week. The local newspaper had it as a front-page story, which I read later in the week in one of Stratford's many cafes, where I'd gone to buy a meat pie--staple diet for Kiwis!

Stratford and the surrounding area are also home to a lot of talented artists and craftspeople.

This painting of peonies was on show at the coffee bar in the town's central plaza, Prospero Place.Read more
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- Mar 3, 2019, 6:39am
- 🌙 9 °C
- Altitude: 302 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford Patea River -39.339583, 174.28939239°20’22” S 174°17’22” E
Day 6
Stratford and the Mountain House
March 3, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 9 °C
From the verandah of the home where I was staying, I could see Mt. Ruapehu way in the distance as the sun rose n the east behind it.

The morning sun also makes Mt. Taranaki look even more special.

Within the National Park, the Stratford Mountain House, which has accommodation and a restaurant is managed by a Maori tribal trust. I went there for lunch with a family member and chose the mussels, which are likely sourced from Egmont Fisheries in New Plymouth.

Stratford, unsurprisingly, is very Shakespeare-focused. All the streets are named after characters in his plays, and even the surveillance camera warning notices around the town center are Bard-themed. (Coulda done with a copy editor's touch, but let's not make much ado about nothing!)Read more
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- Mar 4, 2019, 9:51am
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Altitude: 302 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford Patea River -39.339583, 174.28939239°20’22” S 174°17’22” E
Day 7
Stratford Library
March 4, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
The Stratford library is now in a purpose-built, modern building in Prospero Place, with a bust of Shakespeare outside, but when I was a child and teenager growing up, it was in an imposing two-storied building on the town's main street. It was upstairs, where the council chambers also were housed.

To get to the stairway, you first had to walk through the Hall of Remembrance which is the only war memorial of its kind in New Zealand. It features photographs of all the people from the Stratford district who lost their lives during the two World Wars. (It may even feature more modern wars these days, but I didn't check whether that was so.)

The tile pattern on those stairs was very familiar to me as I went there so often, and even sometimes sat on the stairs to read a book I couldn't wait to get started on!Read more
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- Mar 5, 2019, 2:33pm
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Altitude: 302 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford Patea River -39.339583, 174.28939239°20’22” S 174°17’22” E
Day 8
Trucker and tucker
March 5, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
In New Zealand, a packet of 20 cigarettes costs $30, and the tax on them goes up each year in an effort to curb the effects of nicotine addiction. Ironically, in New Plymouth, a converted ambulance provides a mobile service for people who vape instead.

The rest of the photos show some tucker (food):
chocolate fish, which are marshmallow inside,
cream-filled donut,
lolly cake (or No Bake Cake), which is made from crushed malt biscuits with hard marshmallows scattered through it and rolled in shredded coconut.Read more
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- Mar 7, 2019
- ⛅ 20 °C
- Altitude: 294 m
- New Zealand Taranaki Stratford -39.356435, 174.29361239°21’23” S 174°17’37” E
Day 10
Taranaki Pioneer Village
March 7, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
The Taranaki Pioneer Village just south of Stratford has a plethora of old buildings filled with items from pioneer days. A little train takes you around the perimeter of it, setting out from outside a train station that was relocated from the coastal community of Opunake--a popular destination in summer because of its beach.

In one of the homes is a kauri bathtub.
The cafe at the Village has beautiful stained glass windows showing Mt. Taranaki and the Village. The food is excellent, as is the coffee.
The utility box painted to remember Parihaka--where a peaceful resistance to oppose colonial settlement took place--isn't at the Village, but on the street in Stratford itself.Read more
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- Mar 8, 2019
- 🌧 17 °C
- Altitude: 19 m
- New Zealand Taranaki New Plymouth District East End Henui River -39.055625, 174.07522839°3’20” S 174°4’31” E
Day 11
New Plymouth
March 8, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
The largest town in Taranaki, New Plymouth, is a popular destination from Stratford in the summer because it has a beach, near the port. Ngamotu Beach--like all those around Taranaki--is a black sand beach. Nga motu means "the islands" in Maori and there are several islands just offshore, formed by the same volcanic activity that formed Mt. Taranaki. For many years, oil was pumped from beneath the beach.

Puke Ariki is a state-of-the-art museum of natural history and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, with its recently acquired reflective skin, has an eclectic collection of contemporary NZ art. The plants growing round the tree outside the gallery are their own art!

New Plymouth also had a power station that used natural gas and fuel oil to generate electricity. The chimney stack and buildings are still there, but it is no longer in operation.Read more
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