Tiki tour

We put some kilometers on Paula and Kevin’s little car this week. A visit with old friends Gary and Kaye Pollock took us to Taupo. They drove 2 hours over from Napier and met us at our hotel. We had a great catch-up with them over lunch (hadn’t seen them since a visit to their farm near Tamworth on our sabbatical in Australia, 2003). We got as far as Huka Falls with them when they got a call; their son was ill, so they had to jump in their car and head home. It was a lovely if brief visit.

After they left, we went out to Orakei Korako thermal area. A little boat took us across Lake Ohakuri and we spent the afternoon hiking through a preserve with boiling mud pools, geysers and steam huffing out of the ground. A bit sobering to think of what’s happening just under your feet. That evening, we fired up the spa and put our suits on. Jim always likes a good Jacuzzi.

We took a longer route home through Te Kuiti and Waitomo where we stopped to go through the glowworm caves. We’ve been here before, but Jim hadn’t. We think he was pretty interested in the “stars” inside the cave. It looks like the Milky Way, but just thousands of little worms working hard to catch a fly or two. No photos allowed inside; it scares the worms, so we had to settle for just our little boat as we left the cave and a few at the site, which is quite a bit more touristy than we remembered.

Raglan by night

A day with the Moxons

We drove out Waingaro Road to Glen Massey just this side of Ngaruawahia to see Paul and Daphne. They laid out lunch and after a tour of the house and gardens, we were off on a drive to see the countryside (that’s their house in the centre of the photo from up on the hill). BUT not before Karin could be reunited with the baby Captain Cook pig she saved from the dogs on the pig hunt in 1999. Hori went to live with a neighbour, who had domestic pigs, and has since had a pleasant reproductive life. He’s a bit bigger than when we saw him last. Paul let the neighbour know we were coming, so Hori waited in the stye for us. There was definitely a twinkle of recognition and Rick captured the reunion with many photos. Jim was not particularly impressed.

Off to Taupo tomorrow!

Raging sea

Sunday morning we went out to Wainamu Beach, just out of Raglan, and watched a very impressive tide coming in. When they talk about a raging sea, that’s a perfect way to describe it. The power of the tide on this morning was fascinating to watch; gave us a very, very wee feeling of what seeing a tsunami might be like. There’s a full moon now, so that may explain some of the power. We went out again in the afternoon and though the tide was out, you could still see the waves crashing out at sea. The beach was littered with shells and stranded jellyfish. We waded out in the little pools to watch crabs running around like pool cleaners, popping into the sand when they felt footsteps. Then suddenly it seemed like someone opened a floodgate and water would start flowing in and pulling out from nowhere. Very weird. You can see how a little kid could get swept out into the Tasman, though people didn’t seem very concerned!

By the way, our neighbour goat is a girl, and her name is Floppy. We know you’ve been wondering! J

The Shire (but we can't show you)

We thought it might be touristy, but it was great! We visited near Hinuera/Matamata this week and took the tour of the set for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The farm is a long drive off the beaten path on Buckland Road in a stunningly beautiful valley. The movies do it justice. We had to sign confidentiality contracts agreeing to not show or post any photos or movies taken at the site or pass on any details we heard about the filming. We got to visit the hobbit village built recently for the prequel that’s in production now and Peter Jackson would be very grumpy if photos of that got out. But we can share some around the Shire’s Rest and Wool Shed.

When we arrived, an older guy and his dog Kate were mustering some sheep so we visited a bit with him. We figured he was a hired stockman on the farm. Karin talked to him for awhile inside and then he went out to chat with her while we waited for the bus to take us to the site down in the valley. Great old guy–that’s him in the hat; he wanted to hear all about her cow milking days at Ohinewai. They discussed the high prices of lamb in the store, what weeds he’s battling, and talked farming. She soon realized he was Ian Alexander, the farmer who owns the entire 1250 hectare sheep & cattle farm. When a location scout found this site, the Alexander family eventually gave permission to Peter Jackson to use their land for the movies way back in 1998. Ian and his sons still operate the farm, but also worked out a deal with the movie company to run visits to the Hobbiton set.. Sets built for the movie in other parts of the country were dismantled after filming. Anyway, the tour was fantastic. Ours was a small group and we walked around for 2 hours; Teresa was our fun tour guide and had loads of information. Wish we could tell you more, but we don’t want lawyers knocking on the blog door. Afterwards, we came back to Shire’s Rest to watch Craig shearing a sheep (Jim liked it) and got to feed some very hungry lambs. Jim even gave that a go.

A wonderful day. If you’re ever in this part of New Zealand, and even have a remote interest in the J.R.R. Tolkein stories, you really should do this.

Cambridge market day

Paul and Daphne have a keen eye for nice “bits and bobs” and have been finding and selling items at antique and collectible fairs for the last five years. They invited us along to Cambridge, in the middle of horse breeding country, to the monthly market on Sunday. Several blocks both sides packed with vendors selling everything from antiques to vegetables. We bought loads of the latter at great prices, and a few things from Daphne, and Jim offered them banana chips to keep up their strength on such a hot day. We helped wrap up all the leftovers, and a lovely lunch followed.

We’ve made a date to go see them at home near Ngaruawahia next week. The wild boar piglet Karin rescued and refused to let be killed on the Great Pig Hunt with Kevin and Rick in 1999 is still at the neighbour’s farm, so it will be a lovely reunion, Rick is certain and can hardly wait. By the way, here’s what Kiwis (us included) are paying for petrol (that’s $6 something a gallon U.S.).

Worms and goat

Jim’s job every few days is to carry in our veg and fruit scraps, tea bags and coffee grounds in to the local environmental centre to feed the worms. The lady there helps Jim sprinkle it all in the big compost bins. She says the worms also serve as her paper shredder. And, couldn't resist a photo of our nice neighbour goat. We still haven’t found out his name.