Monthly Archives: May 2015

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…

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

28. Rotorua: Waiotapu

Tuesday, March 10: Sunny with a couple of clouds in the distance, and warm

Tramping: 3.3 km

Astray

Two French girls who are working here have a shared room on our “corridor” and were up very early, which of course had to be followed by everyone else. My first self-provided breakfast was sultana bran, coffee with fresh milk, and toast. Internet was briefly checked for today’s distance, and the clothes that I eventually washed yesterday were still not dry, so I left them on the clothes horse outside reception.

Then it was off to Waiotapu ($32.5) for the photography session. Managed to forget to load the cameras with their usual cards, but had all the spare cards with me and the first one worked for Mel. After buying a ticket I returned to my car where a hitchhiker asked me whether I could ferry him to the geyser, which I did (Tilman from near Stuttgart). We were quite early so I was able to try out various different locations before choosing the very back and getting a couple of sequences of the dormant geyser in the process. Read more…

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

27. Hamilton – Rotorua

Monday, March 9: A few drizzle patches in the morning & a little cloudy throughout the day

Tramping: 7.5 km

Astray Motel & Backpackers, 1202 Pukuatua St, Rotorua 3010, tel.: +64 7 348 1200, single room scarcely larger than the bed (BBH, $32 + $3 + $5)

Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning
Waikato River, Hamilton in the morning

Sleep was so interrupted during the night that I was one of the first at the free breakfast: Cornflakes & milk, coffee, toast, I was ready to leave by just after 8:30. Looking at the maps last night it occurred to me that I might do a river walk to avoid arriving in Rotorua too early, and drove around the corner to the end of the street, parked the car and proceeded to walk towards the town centre and then do a loop of the river involving two bridges before heading back to the car. One bracket of a park with a river landing, quite a pleasant surprise in the middle of Hamilton.

Down by the river
Down by the river, [download id="1793"]
Then it was to a supermarket to buy some strepsils, as I had a rather sore throat after my hattrick of skeptics in pubs, before pushing off down the road to Rotorua with only one further stop to clear the windscreen. Read more…

New Zealand, Skeptics

26. Palmerston North – Hamilton

Sunday, March 8: Rain and a thunderstorm overnight, clearing before morning with some darker clouds towards the mountains & one or two short showers

Central Green Backpackers, 846 Victoria St., Hamilton 3204, tel.: +64 7 839 1928. Single room ensuite (BBH, $59 + $3)

I was up fairly early and had some muesli, toast and coffee that could be found in the kitchenette. Was fairly quickly packed together and took my leave of Dan and took off towards Matthew’s – one wrong turn but managed to find the street. His daughter Betty answered the door and her dad was having a snooze in the garage after dismantling a trampoline. They are in the middle of a move, so things seemed a little chaotic. The family dog was very forthcoming and in the course of a cup of coffee, his wife Lisa turned up as well as one of Betty’s friends and her mum; only Alice seemed to think it was still night time. Read more…

New Zealand, Skeptics

25. Tawa – Palmerston North

Saturday, March 7: Variably cloudy at first and then a storm blew up in mid afternoon and it rained quite heavily

Dan’s (airbnb, $50)

We were up around 9:00, and there was not much in the way of breakfast (coffee, toast) and Missy & Brian were on their way to the shops to get some breakfast for themselves, and at least some milk for home. I went onto the internet briefly and there was one over the top comment saying how Dell was so disrespectful to the speaker, etc. Hey, it was Skeptics in the Pub! At least no beer glasses flew through the air.

Had my stuff all sorted and gave my hosts a copy of Te Wai Pounamu – for them at least some information will be new. Then just after 10:00 I was on the road. 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, Topo Map, Tramping

23. Waitarere – Waikanae Beach: Otaki Forks/Arcus Loop

Thursday, March 5: A couple of clouds about, more in the mountains, but sunny by the sea

Tramping: 3.5 km

James & Julie’s (airbnb, $47)

The only problem with sleeping in the tent – especially so close to the sea – was the dew fall. The whole tent was soaking wet inside and out by morning, and I had pitched it in the shadow of the amenities block from the point of view of the morning sun.

After possibly the last breakfast of tramping/kayaking diet I set about drying things out. In the end I chose the clothes line that runs on the road side of the camp, and within half an hour or so the tent (both internal and external) was dry. The stuff I had washed two days ago was still having difficulty drying but in the course of time was dry enough. Read more…

GPS Tracks, New Zealand, Photography, Swimming, Topo Map, Tramping, Youtube Videos

22. Whanganui – Waitarere Beach

Wednesday, March 4: Very cloudy the whole day and very warm with some rain drops in the late afternoon, clearing again by sunset

Tramping: 8.1 km

Waitarere Beach Motor Camp, Park Avenue, Waitarere Beach 5510, tel.:+64 6 368 8732, tent site ($17)

The start to the morning was much better organised, and having all the necessary stuff distributed logically over just a shopping bag, a chilly bin, and the pack meant that I could try out my experiment tonight and camp out in the tent.

I was ready to go by about 9:00 even after having switched on the computer, gotten the reservation OK for Hamilton, and installed an update. Today’s drive was not going to be long, so there was plenty of time. Read more…