If It Was Today...

Taupo

Posted on February 21, 2025 by If It Was Today

Sometimes, when you are on a long vacation, you get to a point where you start missing home. You’re still having fun, but part of you is also looking forward to getting back to your usual routine. Not on this trip! We’ve been in New Zealand for three weeks, and away from home for almost a month, but when we looked at the calendar and realized that in two weeks we would be on the plane home, Jan’s only reaction was “awwww”. Looking at the weather reports from home helps, but it’s also because New Zealand is so amazing. We’ve found a good routine for this road trip. We each have our tasks, and when it’s time to unload, or to pack up, everything is going pretty seamlessly. Jan is now giving me the evil eye because I’m going to jinx things by saying that, but I honestly don’t believe I have that much power. I guess we’ll see.

We checked out of our hotel in New Plymouth and swung past New World (grocery store). I filled the car with petrol, and Jan bought ready made sandwiches for lunch. There weren’t any towns of significance on our route today, so bringing lunch seemed wise. We were finished and heading out of town by 10:20 AM, which for us is amazing.

One iconic landmark on our route was Three Sisters and the Elephant Rock. It had been raining, so we weren’t sure it was a good idea to stop, but we were right by it, so it seemed silly not to check it out. Unfortunately you need to walk across tidal flats to see it. The tide had just gone out, it had been raining, so everything was wet and we didn’t have the right outfits for the trek. We decided to leave it for our next visit. Here is a view of where we would have had to walk.

The path to Three Sisters and the Elephant Rock

Bringing lunch was definitely a good idea – there really wasn’t anyplace to buy lunch on the drive. So we found a quiet picnic spot just off the highway beside a stream with stunning views of an eroded cliff face.

Then it was on the road again. The drive was very scenic, but the road was narrow and winding. And it’s summer here, so that means lots of roadworks. But we made good time and arrived at our hotel by check-in time.

The hotel we are staying at in Taupo is called The Retreat, and the name absolutely fits. We’ve had rain off and on today, but sitting here looking over the lake and listening to the rain on the roof was the perfect way to relax after a (reasonably) long drive.

We had a cup of tea when we arrived, then moved on to rose wine and another Old Peculier.

I’m looking out over Lake Taupo as I write this, sipping a Riesling we bought at the vineyard in Marlborough. It’s starting to clear so I can see across the lake now. It’s the perfect way to end today, which will be the final day of my 60’s. Tomorrow will be a big day. The forecast is for sunny skies and we’ve booked dinner at a lovely restaurant.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Taupo, Travel | 5 Comments

New Plymouth

Posted on February 20, 2025 by If It Was Today

This is basically a driving holiday. We rented a car in Queenstown, headed south, then drove up the east coast of the South Island. Now we are working our way around the North Island, revisiting some favourite spots, and investigating other cities to perhaps add them to our list of favourites. But even though this is mostly a road trip, when we arrive in a new city, we park the car, and if possible, walk everywhere until it is time to leave for our next stop.

One of the interesting things about cities worldwide is that each one has a different balance between cars and pedestrians. In some cities, like Stockholm, if you look at something on the other side of the street, cars might stop to let you cross, even though you were just looking. In other cities, pedestrians take their life in their hands every time they cross the street, no matter what the traffic signs say. New Zealand is somewhere in the middle, though it does seem to lean toward benefiting drivers. In New Plymouth, the balance seems to be tilted even more toward drivers. The nearest coffee shop for our morning latte is half a block away, but it would be a three-block walk if I used legal crosswalks. And even when there is a crosswalk, cars might be given priority. Seriously!

Just in case you missed it, here is the sign on the crosswalk.

It just occurred to us that it might possibly mean that if there are pedestrians, the cars should give way. This is yet another instance where punctuation could save lives!

That having been said, once you head away from the roads, New Plymouth has much to offer. Two blocks from our hotel you can access the Coastal Walkway, which is a 13 km long paved path along the sea where you can listen to the waves crashing into the shore and enjoy the cool ocean breeze.

The scenery is varied along the walkway. This section brought back memories of the abandoned ochre mines in Provence.

The entire path is paved, but there are also sections where you can walk along the black sand beach if you want. Of course, we wanted…

I mentioned the driftwood on an earlier post. The storms here seem to bring in a lot of driftwood. Someone has been turning it into shelters, or perhaps sculptures. Here is one example.

There are also many stone sculptures in the city and along the walkway. This one represents a fallen leaf, curling up as it dries.

Here is another sculpture.

This next one is my favourite. It is hidden in the rock, and I nearly missed it.

Here is a closeup to give you a better view. So cute.

The Wind Wand (see yesterday’s post) is in the middle of the walkway, and it is very near our hotel. So first we walked one direction, stopping for a light lunch at a food stand to enjoy the food and the cool breeze in the shade. Jan was done for the day, but after a brief rest I decided to try the other direction. It was quite different.

It was high tide, so the waves were crashing onto the rocks.

I was also treated to views of Mount Taranaki, the stunning volcanic peak near New Plymouth. We drove past it yesterday, but it was overcast. There were still a few clouds today, but you can definitely see it here.

And of course, there were flowers, and because I’m me, I took pictures. I like this one because it shows the flower in three stages -the open flower, the dried flower, and the white seeds.

Here are two more.

Tomorrow we’re off to Taupo and my birthday celebration.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Plymouth, New Zealand, Photography, The Beach, Travel | Leave a comment

Not What We Expected

Posted on February 19, 2025 by If It Was Today

I don’t really have a favourite beer. I enjoy a variety of beers from a range of styles. Generally I’m drawn to “interesting” beer, whatever it might be. But if I did have a favourite beer, it would be Theakston Old Peculier. Brewed in the small Yorkshire town of Masham, Old Peculier doesn’t always travel well, and it’s generally difficult to find. So you can imagine my surprise when Jan spotted a bottle (bless her heart) in the local New World grocery store. Needless to say, my choice of “blog-writing-beer” was obvious.

We had a bit of rain on the drive here this morning, but by the time we arrived in New Plymouth it was mostly clear. While Jan had a pedicure, I headed for the ocean. It was not what I expected…

The road to New Plymouth is called the Surf Highway, and it was easy to see why. I walked along the seaside path listening to the waves crash into the rocky breakwater. The path was a good twenty feet above the water, but driftwood had been thrown up beside the path. I think they must have significant storms here.

The rocks had things growing on them – I assume lichen, but I’m not sure. This is a closeup showing the structure. For scale, this is about the size of a silver dollar.

New Plymouth is like many New Zealand towns, with Māori sculptures and street art.

The next few pictures were on an underpass near the water. I’m sure that Duncan and Sarah can tell us what birds these are.

Here is an iconic view from the New Plymouth waterfront. It reminds me a bit of the haystack along the Oregon coast from our 2022 trip.

And here is another iconic landmark – the Wind Wand, which bends in the very strong breeze that blows off the Tasman sea. Note the person at the foot of the wand for scale.

On our drive up from Whanganui we started seeing American flags (not something we were seeing before) and then classic American cars. At first we thought “how strange” but before long we realized something must be going on here. Sure enough, we’ve wandered into the first day of Americarna, an annual celebration of classic American cars. Over the next few days, some 900 fully restored classic American cars will be on the streets of New Plymouth and the surrounding towns. Here are a few shots taken as we were walking about today.

A lot of things in New Plymouth are turning out to be not what we expected. But that can be a good thing.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Classic Cars, New Plymouth, New Zealand, Photography, Travel | Leave a comment

Time to Relax

Posted on February 18, 2025 by If It Was Today

We woke up this morning, made ourselves a coffee, and sat on the deck in shorts and t-shirts looking out at the ocean. Morning puzzles, reading, listening to the news reports about the snowstorms in Ontario, and relaxing. “Just how relaxing was it?” you ask? What? You didn’t ask? Too bad, I’m telling you anyway. My Garmin watch tracks my ”body battery” as it re-charges while I sleep, and then decreases over the day. By noon today, my body battery was higher than it had been when I woke up. That’s how relaxing!

We are now entering the portion of our trip where the focus will be walking along the beach. With the exception of Taupo, which will be on a lake, the rest of our trip will be near beaches. After lunch, we took a short drive to the Whanganui beach. Every New Zealand beach is different, thought they all seem to be fabulous. Today was no exception.

We are on the west coast of the North Island, on the Tasman Sea. So we waved to Larry and Heather who are currently enjoying Australia. We’re confident they will wave back, but we couldn’t see them. It’s a big sea.

The Castlecliff beach has fine black sand and unlike most sand, it says soft even when it’s damp. As a result, your feet sink into the sand with every step. It’s sort of like walking through snow, except that walking through snow in your bare feet is never a good idea. See how deep Jan’s footprints are?

There were even had a number of convenient benches along the beach.

Our walk was relatively short – about a km each way – but the soft sand made it more tiring than you would expect, and by the end we were short on breath. Nothing to do with our level of fitness, I assure you. In spite of being tired, it was great to walk along the beach listening to the waves crash onto the shore.

Then it was back to the Little House on the Hill and a swim in the pool, followed by drinks on the deck.

We finished the day with dinner on the deck watching the sun set over the Tasman sea.

Tomorrow we head north to New Plymouth.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, The Beach, Travel, Whanganui | 3 Comments

Another Day in Paradise

Posted on February 17, 2025 by If It Was Today

The place where we stayed in Wellington was lovely, but it was right in the city. Our next stop in Whanganui was called “The House on the Hill”. Combine that with a mention of “ocean views” and we were cautiously optimistic. When we arrived, our hopes were fully realized.

It comes with a large deck with a table and lounge chairs.

It also comes with a hot tub and a pool. And, if you are feeling especially energetic, an outdoor pool table.

And, after a pleasant swim, you can cool off in the lounge chair on the deck.

You also have views over the surrounding pastoral scenery, and can listen to the sheep, and the Tui.

And the it was wine o’clock. The fridge was stocked with sparkling wine.

And then I couldn’t resist trying an interesting beer I picked up in Wellington.

When I started writing this post, I was enjoying this view…

We have a full kitchen so we had a salad on the deck.

And then we watched the sun set over the Tasman sea.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Travel | 2 Comments

Family

Posted on February 16, 2025 by If It Was Today

We were coming to the end of our time in Wellington, so we focused on spending time with Duncan and Sarah. We had pre-dinner drinks at one of their favourite brew pubs. It is the brewery with the large street art mural on the front of the building – Garage Project, Wild Workshop. I showed a picture of the street art on an earlier post. Today I’ll show the tasty beer.

Sunday we visited the Te Papa Museum, right on the waterfront in Wellington. There are many fascinating exhibits, including Moa skeletons, the giant NZ eagle (extinct now) and the only example in the world, of a preserved giant squid. They are very large!

On previous posts I’ve shown many pictures of NZ trees that grow with a thousand odd angles. Kind of like this one, but even more so.

I always wondered if this was just my imagination, or if there was an unusually high frequency of this in NZ. Turns out it wasn’t my imagination, and Te Papa offered one possible explanation.

On Sunday we visited another of Duncan and Sarah’s favourites before dinner, called Mean Doses. I’m sure there is a story behind that name… Then, after dinner, we had a final visit over wine and a Fuller’s Vintage Ale – 2018.

Monday morning we packed up the car and then tackled getting the car out of the very small garage onto the very small street, without denting anything. It was close.

On my way to pick up my morning latte I spotted another interesting piece of street art.

Then we headed north, up the west coast.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Te Papa, Travel, Wellington | Leave a comment

The Happy Wanderer(s)

Posted on February 15, 2025 by If It Was Today

I promised myself that I wouldn’t take too many pictures today. Alas, I failed miserably. One of our stops was the Rose Garden in the botanical gardens, where Duncan found the theme for today’s post.

We started the day by walking up to the Cable Car Museum where we were treated to views over Wellington.

From there, it was a short walk to the botanical gardens. It isn’t as wild as Zealandia, but there are still lots of quiet paths and opportunities to take pictures. Lots of pictures. I’ll apologize in advance…

There are many quiet little streams throughout.

We are trying to learn about New Zealand plants. We were told there are two native ferns, and you can tell the difference by looking at their trunks. The trunk of the black fern has a diamond pattern like this.

The other fern is the silver fern, with a trunk that looks like this. The underside of the leaves of the silver fern are … wait for it … silvery, and the Māori would cut the branches off and turn them upside down on paths to make them visible at night.

I love the way the branches of the trees here grow in angles that I just don’t expect. It gives the forest a magical feeling.

And of course, there are so many flowers. I’ll show you some of my favorites.

As we were walking through the trees we could hear the cicadas. At one point we discovered a tree where hundreds of the cicadas had molted, leaving their old exoskeleton on the tree branches.

Some of the pine trees have their cones lining the branches like this.

More flowers…

This next plant is a hanging plant from the Hoya family. It was in a pot in the greenhouse.

One of the greenhouses had a lily pond.

This next plant is interesting – it almost looks like someone painted a picture of a leaf on the leaf. But this is just the way the leaf looks.

More plants in the greenhouse.

We had a lovely lunch outside, and then headed to the rose garden.

Jan decided that she wanted to follow every path in the rose garden. After a while, we went and sat in the shade and watched her.

Our last stop was the Peace Garden. Jan and Duncan were reading the history, explaining that the eternal flame had been lit from the fires after the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

And here is the eternal flame.

As we were leaving the botanical garden we passed a magnolia tree with a single blossom.

We’ve been getting reports from home, and a winter storm just dumped 30 – 40 cm of snow on Ottawa, with another storm expected tomorrow. We were very happy wandering around the botanical garden.

Posted in Travel | Tagged Botanical Garden, New Zealand, Photography, Roses, Travel, Wellington | Leave a comment

Zealandia

Posted on February 14, 2025 by If It Was Today

For over a hundred years, the valley that is now Zealandia was the main water reservoir for Wellington’s water supply. And then, in 1978, an engineering report discovered that the dam was an earthquake risk. It was directly over the Wellington fault, which isn’t a great place to build a dam. The water level was lowered and the upper dam was decommissioned in 1991. The lower dam was decommissioned later, with only a small lake remaining as an emergency water supply for Wellington, and habitat for the local birds.

Local groups were already working on a plan for a wildlife sanctuary for native New Zealand birds. The former reservoir was perfect, but first they needed a way to keep invasive species out – things like rats, mice, stoats, cats, and possums. A special fence that provided a barrier both above and below ground was developed and now encloses the site. The fence is 8.6 km long and completely surrounds the sanctuary.

Zealandia is an amazing place where you can walk through native flora and observe native birds. This means lots of excellent pictures.

This next plant is the Kawaka, which a local caterpillar loves. When it eats the leaves, the Kawaka produces a substance that the caterpillars don’t like, so they move elsewhere. But this substance has useful medicinal properties, so the partially eaten leaves were prized by the Māori.

One of the popular bird species at Zealandia is the California Quail. It isn’t native, but it fills an important ecological niche that had been filled by a New Zealand quail that is now extinct. When we were visiting, the baby quails were following their parents around. They have no fear of people, so we got many excellent pictures. The babies are soooo cute -it took enormous restraint to show only one picture.

This next picture looks like a lizard, but I was informed that it is definitely not a lizard, but a reptile. It is the Tuatara, another native species.

The Kereru is a species of wood pigeon, native to New Zealand.

The Kaka is a native New Zealand parrot, and like all parrots, they are intelligent and very dexterous with their feet. We watched them open the feeders and then hold the food pellets in one claw as they ate them.

The Kawaka Nut is another native species.

At various points around the park, decaying logs had cavities with a plexiglass cover, and a wooden door to keep it dark inside. You could open the outer wooden door and see what insects were eating the dead tree. It’s a bit like the traditional “ant farm” with a glass side. In one of them we found a Weta – about 5 cm in length.

We also spotted a North Island robin, which is only distantly related to North American and European robins. They are very inquisitive and if you stand very still they will come so close that you could almost reach out and touch them.

There are a number of trails around Zealandia, some gentle and some more challenging. But you are always immersed in nature and have opportunities to see native birds, and take pictures, of course.

One of the main attractions at Zealandia is the Takahe. These flightless birds were believed to be extinct, until a small group were discovered in a remote area on the South Island in 1948. They are slowly making a recovery – there are currently over 500 individuals, some in Zealandia. These birds mate for life, and we were very fortunate to come across a pair.

At first we could only see the female. We stood very still and watched, and then she called to her mate.

We kept watching and eventually he came into view.

Here is another view of the female.

It was getting late, so we headed back and spotted a Rifleman or tītipounamu. Look carefully and you will see it hanging upside down from the branch.

When we were nearly back, Jan suddenly spotted a Kakariki, which is a native New Zealand parakeet. The kakariki has excellent camouflage, so seeing it was a real treat. Kudos to Jan.

The main focus of Zealandia is the native New Zealand birds, but they are also trying to create the natural vegetation as well. It looks so strange to us, like something out of Jurassic Park. I’ll include a few shots to give you an idea. The first picture is a fern. Note the regular dots on the surface of the leaves. On one plant you can see the underside, which shows that they are spore sacs.

I’ll end with another picture of the California Quail chick. They were so incredibly cute.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Travel, Wellington, Zealandia | Leave a comment

Down the Hill, and Back Again

Posted on February 13, 2025 by If It Was Today

The focus of our visit to Wellington is to spend time with Duncan and Sarah. We went out for a lovely brunch today.

When we were in Dunedin we went in search of street art. It is a bit of a thing in many New Zealand cities, and we continued to spot interesting art while walking around Wellington.

One of the most interesting murals in Dunedin was by an artist called Cracked Ink. On our walk back from brunch we passed the Wild Workshop by Garage Project. Jan thought that it looked a lot like the Dunedin mural by Cracked ink, and sure enough it was.

Sarah assures me that the Wild Workshop has some very interesting beers, so I plan a visit it to check it out before we leave.

We visited the Wellington Museum for the afternoon, and then headed back to the house for an ad hoc meeting of The Other Champagne Club.

If you are wondering about the title of this post, our house is fairly high up the hill in Wellington, so wherever we go anywhere, we are walking downhill. And of course, that means that when we come back home we are walking uphill. Memories of Porto. Tomorrow we are going to Zealandia. We’ve heard so much about it, and are really looking forward to seeing it. Fair warning – there will be lots of photos tomorrow!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Champagne, New Zealand, Photography, Travel, Wellington | Leave a comment

Wellington

Posted on February 12, 2025 by If It Was Today

We were sad to check out of the Tin Hut and leave Blenheim today. The accommodation was wonderful and the wineries were calling us to explore further. We couldn’t help wishing that we had stayed at least another day. This is becoming a theme for this trip.

We had to check in for the ferry from Picton to Wellington no later than 1:15. It’s only half an hour to drive to Picton, but traffic and roadworks can cause significant delays, so we arrived early and wandered around town. It is a pretty little town nestled between green hills.

There was a small open air market for tourists, so we had a pleasant stroll in the sun. One of the stalls was named “The White Wabbit” which had been the name on the house next door to The Tin Hut. Sure enough, it was the same place, selling original watercolors and prints. What are the odds? Of course, we had to buy some.

The seas were calm, but even so, you could definitely feel the boat rolling gently. We were very glad it wasn’t a stormy day. The landscape changed dramatically as we went along. This seems to be another theme in New Zealand. I’ll post a few taken pictures from the ferry to give you an idea.

Before we knew it we were sailing into Wellington harbour.

We are spending five nights in Wellington, visiting with Duncan and Sarah. They have been living here for almost a year now, so they have lots to show us. We started tonight with a lovely meal at a restaurant with small plates for sharing. The meal was fabulous, but then we had a very steep walk back to the wonderful place Jan found for us in Wellington. We are going to get a lot of practice with hills…