If It Was Today...

The Mount

Posted on February 24, 2025 by If It Was Today

When the snow is falling outside, and you are freezing your butt off every time you step out of the door, it’s really hard to pack for a trip to New Zealand summer. Every fiber of your body wants to make sure you won’t be cold, and as a result, you pack too many warm clothes, and not enough cool clothes. If my clothes are too warm, I can live with it – I might even like it. Jan, not so much. And that is how Jan decided to check out the end of summer clothing sales, while I went on one of my favourite walks in Mount Maunganui. But once again, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here is a picture of the setting sun last night from our hotel room. I quite enjoy the view.

After our breakfast and lattes, our first stop was the Mount Hot Pools where we booked massages. All this hard work has us both in need of some relaxing. On a more serious note, all the walking has us both feeling a little stiff, so a massage sounded like just the ticket. With that out of the way, I was off on my walk while Jan set out to address her wardrobe misalignment problem.

My goal was to walk to the top of Mount Maunganui, but there are two ways you can do that. The right way, from my perspective, is to walk up along the path, which is longer, but doesn’t have steps, and then walk down using the steps. The wrong way is to do it the other way around, like I did the first time I was here. Along the way you are treated to views of the “not-so-wild-life” and the pleasant scenery.

As always in New Zealand, there are interesting sculptures along the way.

And interesting plants – in this case another one of those noxious invasive species, but it’s pretty, in spite of that.

And when you get to the top, stunning views over the town and the beach that goes on forever.

Then it is time to head down, and after taking all the steps down (being thankful that you aren’t walking up), there is a lovely walk around the base of the Mount. It’s fairly flat with a cool breeze, the path is mostly shaded, and you can hear the sound of the surf breaking on the rocks all the way. If it gets any better than this, I haven’t found it yet.

After lunch and our massages, I went for another barefoot walk along beach. This never gets old.

And then it was time for Monday Beer Club, another candidate for as good as it gets.

Okay, one other candidate. Here is a picture of Jan at dinner, wearing her new (beautiful) summer dress.

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

Mount Maunganui

Posted on February 23, 2025 by If It Was Today

Mount Maunganui – known locally as “The Mount” – was one of our favourite stops on our first trip to New Zealand, two years ago. The beach is amazing, so I was looking forward to walking it again.

Mount Maunganui on my second birthday of the year?

I celebrated my birthday yesterday, but several people have pointed out that it is still my birthday in Canada, so I can technically celebrate my birthday again today. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Last night we walked into Taupo for dinner. It was a pleasant half hour walk and the exercise also let us enjoy dinner guilt free. Here is the view of the setting sun from the restaurant.

We arranged a late checkout today, so we could enjoy another leisurely start to the day. It’s a short drive from Taupo to The Mount (two hours) so even with our late start, we had time to stop and explore on our drive. We weren’t even out of town when we pulled into a lookout over Lake Taupo.

Our next stop was Huka Falls, just north of Taupo. It is well worth a visit, with a foot bridge over the falls.

The section of the falls visible from the foot bridge was more like rapids, but there are foot paths along the river, with other lookout points, so you can see the actual falls. They aren’t that high, but still very impressive.

The paths near the falls were quite crowded, but once you get away from the falls we had the path to ourselves.

We were hoping to see birds, but didn’t have any luck. Fortunately, we did see a number of interesting plants.

Although we enjoyed seeing this plant, when we investigated, we discovered that it is considered to be a “noxious invasive species” in New Zealand. Here is a closer look at the berries, which may explain why it is so invasive.

One of the most widely known symbols for New Zealand is a fern that is beginning to unfurl. I’ve seen them several times, but whenever I take a picture, it is out of focus. It seems that all the fine hairs on the fern make it difficult for the phone to focus. I guess that’s the disadvantage of taking your pictures with your phone. So I had Jan put her hand behind the fern to help the camera focus. Jan said we should call this picture “Cousin It”.

When I was looking for things to do around Taupo, I spotted Craters of the Moon. It is a geothermal area that features a boardwalk path where you can view steam vents and bubbling mud craters. How could we possibly resist? It was our next stop.

The valley is covered in low scrub brush, interspersed with bare patches and steam vents. The vegetation was interesting – it is a variety of Kanuka, which is usually a tall tree, but because the ground is so hot here, its growth is stunted so that it creates a low ground cover. I’ll show a few more photos that give you a sense of the walk.

Note how the steam is coming from the collapsed walls. This next picture shows how there are multiple steam vents around the valley.

In some places, the steam was more intense, and sometimes the wind would blow it across our path. The temperature effect was a bit like an outdoor sauna. It didn’t exactly “stink” but there was definitely a distinctive odour. Later, as we were driving through Rotorua, we noticed the same smell, but even stronger.

The walk took about an hour, along gravel paths and a boardwalk. Fortunately there was a cool breeze that provided some relief from the “sauna”, but we still felt the heat from the ground and from the steam vents. And if anyone was foolish enough to stray from the marked path…

By the time we finished Craters of the Moon, we had pretty much used up our time, so we got on the road to The Mount. After we arrived, we checked in, unloaded the car, unpacked, and then headed to the beach.

It’s techically the day after my birthday, but several friends have pointed out that it is still my birthday in Canada, so I am embracing that idea. And what better way to celebrate my birthday (even if it is the second one for this year) than to walk barefoot through the surf, in February.

Life is good!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Craters of the Moon, Huka Falls, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Photography, Taupo, The Beach, Travel | 2 Comments

Wairakei Thermal Spa

Posted on February 21, 2025 by If It Was Today

For my birthday, Jan booked a room at The Retreat in Taupo, and made dinner reservations at Roquette. And then this morning, she gave me carte blanche to pick the activity for today. Not complete carte blanche mind you – bungee jumping was out – but almost anything else was fair game. I looked at boat rides and scenic hikes, and then I spotted the Wairakei Thermal Spa, and it was settled.

Fair warning to our friends and family who are still digging out from multiple snowstorms, or enduring bitter cold temperatures. You may want to stop reading now.

We had a leisurely morning looking out over Lake Taupo. Once again, my body battery continued to recharge throughout the morning. About noon, we headed for the spa. We checked in, changed, and then walked to the pools, past a Māori carving.

The centerpiece of the spa is a sequence of three pools, heated by thermal springs, with a range of temperatures to suit every taste. The hottest pool can be very hot!

And if you are foolish enough to go outside the pool area, it can be dangerous.

The pool itself is lovely, and as you can see, it wasn’t particularly crowded, which was great.

Jan’s biggest fear was that the water would be too hot, but she managed to find a spot that worked.

Of course, the pool that was far too hot for Jan, was just right for me.

After a bit of experimenting, we managed to find a spot that worked for both of us.

We spent close to two hours relaxing in the hot pools and enjoying the therapeutic waters. Then it was back to The Retreat to relax and get ready for dinner. Tomorrow we head to Mount Maunganui. It’s a short drive so we will be able to take our time and stop to view some of the sights along the Thermal Highway, including Rotorua.

Posted in Travel | Tagged New Zealand, Photography, Spa, Taupo, Travel | 6 Comments

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.