Thunderbirds are go!

Wellington put on quite a show for the final two days of our North Island road trip. The weather played its part with sunny skies and light winds.  We also got lucky with a last minute change of hotel.  I used some loyalty points to book us into the Doubletree by Hilton. This is a new venue.  It opened last year in a restored colonial building directly opposite the Wellington Cable Car station.

Thanks to my Gold Hilton Honors membership the hotel upgraded us to a spacious corner room that was pure decadence.  My status also gave us a free breakfast each morning which proved to be an impressive daily buffet.  We also received a couple of free drink coupons.  For a free room, we certainly felt rewarded for our loyalty!

Our first full day in town was spent riding the Cable Car up to Kelburn where spent an hour or more exploring the Cable Car Museum.  I can't recall visiting this attraction before but it proved to be an interesting insight into the history of Wellington's early suburban development and the public transport that enabled it.

A leisurely road tour along the city's coastal roads eventually led us to our lunch destination.  We bought Fish & Chips from Huckle & Co in Seatoun and spent an hour relaxing on the harbour foreshore at the nearby Wahine Memorial Park.  The fish was as fresh as you can get it.  We literally watched the chef fillet it before tossing into the deep fryer.

We then spent the afternoon at Weta Cave, the home of Peter Jackson's famous special effect studio.  We booked the classic behind the scenes tour and followed this with its Thunderbirds set tour.  Both tours were fascinating.  We learnt how Jackson created many of the special effects that made his Lord of Ring trilogy so epic; before getting up close and personal with its Thunderbirds miniature sound stage.

Our final day in town was devoted to a leisurely morning of shopping before making our way to the airport via the Mount Victoria lookout.  The view from the summit was as stunning as ever.  Wellington really does sparkle in the sunshine.  Before we knew it, our flight was boarding and our vacation was well and truly over.

Manukura the white kiwi

We stopped for two nights after leaving New Plymouth before finally reaching Wellington. Our first night was spent in Palmerston North after a long drive around Cape Egmont.  We stopped several times to enjoy the scenery including a sunny break at the Cape Egmont lighthouse.  The lighthouse is now fully automated but its location on a small hillock overlooking the Tasman Sea was truly magnificent. 

Our second night was spent on the outskirts of Martinborough.  This was a last minute change to our itinerary that ultimately proved to be another highlight from our North Island road trip.  We made our way south from Palmerston North via Mt Bruce.  My brother recommended we stop in at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre. 

We’ve couldn’t have asked for a better recommendation.  The centre is well laid out and gave us some exception wildlife spotting opportunities.  Here we saw the fattest native eels we’d ever seen swimming in a stream, got up close with a Tuatara and spotted a host of native birds includingTui, Whio, Kaks and Wood Pigeons.  However, the highlight of our visit was the Kiwi House where we saw Manukura, the world’s only captive white kiwi.

We then made our way to Martinborough for a special wine tasting session at the famous Atarangi winery.  Its McCrone Block Pinot Noir is undoubtedly one of the world’s finest expressions of this particular varietal. Again, the highlight of our day was most unexpected.  We stumbled upon Greytown, just ten minutes from Martinborough. 

This quaint country town has been beautifully restored to reflect the best of late 19^th Century architecture.  Its bustling cafes and shops proved incredibly inviting.  So much so that we returned the next morning to spend a few hours wandering the main street.

New Plymouth

New Plymouth proved to be the perfect place to relax, unwind and see in the New Year.  Sadly, low cloud-shrouded Mt Taranaki the entire time we were there so we never did get to enjoy the city’s iconic backdrop.  However, as luck would have it, the hotel we booked proved to be one of those rare finds that transforms a dot on the map into a true vacation highlight.  We’d definitely stay here again!

We stayed at the Nice Hotel which included a fine dining restaurant called Table.  The hotel was a classic upmarket boutique experience. The owner, Terry, was warm and friendly. Nothing was too much trouble.

We were upgraded to a private suite in a standalone building with its own vine-shaded outdoor patio. Between us and the main building was a sunny, sheltered, sub-tropical outdoor garden space that stepped its way down a gentle slope. We spent more than one afternoon enjoying cheese and nibbles surrounded by waving palms, goldfish ponds and bird song.

Garry and I ultimately ate at Table every night. Terry also slotted us into the guest list for a huge party that the hotel hosted on New Year’s Eve. We wined and dined and partied in 2019 with several hundred guests, a live band and an appropriately kilted bag-pipe player. Definitely one of our more memorable NYE parties.

We ventured out of the hotel a few times to explore the surrounding city and its art galleries. We also walked a fair stretch of New Plymouth’s popular coastal pathway. This stretches along its waterfront for more than 8kms. Everywhere we looked the Metrosideros Excelsa was in full bloom (that’s Pōhutukawa to you common folk) and the city’s famous Wind Wand kinetic sculpture silently waved its way north.

The Forgotten Highway

I’ve waited more than 50 years to visit the Taranaki region. I’ve always wanted to see the iconic (and conical) Mt Taranaki up close. Therefore I was delighted when Garry and I decided to base ourselves in New Plymouth for three nights including New Year's Eve. However, getting there ultimately proved to be half the fun. We decided to drive from the Central Plateau to the coast via the remote and wild Forgotten Highway. This 155km road winds through some of the North Island’s most rugged terrain linking Taumarunui with Stratford and the Taranaki plains.

However, before we wound our way through the wilderness we took time out to experience the 5 Tunnel Tour. This is an intriguing 16km journey via golf carts along an abandoned railway line that once linked Taumarunui with Stratford. The tour is operated by Forgotten World Railway. It takes visitors from Okahukura through 5 tunnels, including one that’s 1.5km long, through hill country farmland and native bush to the rural community of Matiere. Garry loved it. 

We then drove the full length of The Forgotten Highway, stopping several times to soak in the stunning scenery that opened up around almost every corner. Highlights included the winding, and wild Tangarakau Gorge, the remote Whangamomona Hotel and our first glimpse through evening skies of Mt Taranaki’s soaring peak from the top of the Whangamomona Saddle.

Whangamomona is a fascinating place. This sleepy village is the capital of The Republic of Whangamomona. The public was formed in 1988 after the local council planned to split Whangamomona into two regions: Taranaki and Manawatu-Wanganui districts. The locals were mortified as they'd always seen themselves as part of Taranaki. They were equally angered by the lack of consultation about the change. In response, the residents declared Whangamomona as a republic and appointed their own president.

Lunch on a super volcano

I know it’s become a bit of a cliché whenever I say this but it’s always been a childhood dream of mine to stay at the Chateau Tongariro. Photos of this grand old hotel’s exterior, sit against the back drop of Mt Ruapehu always invoked visions of Edwardian charm and decorum. I imagined it as a place where high tea was served while musicians filled the air with classical chords.

Sadly our visit to the Chateau proved rather disappointing. We encountered a venue that seemed a little shabby around the edges, with mediocre service and underwhelming dining options.  However, our disappointment was somewhat offset by the truly magnificent landscape that surrounds the hotel.  It was virtually impossible not to take postcard-perfect images of Mt Ruapehu towering in the background; or capture the conical perfection of nearby Mt Ngauruhoe.

We’d originally planned to take a chairlift ride up to Knoll Ridge to soak up views of the Volcanic Plateau and a distant Mt Taranaki.  However, the chairlift was closed. It’s currently in the process of being replaced by a shiny new Swiss Gondola system.  As a result, we revised our plans and spent a day exploring the southern shores of Lake Taupo. 

The lake is a spectacular body of water in the heart of New Zealand’s North Island.  Ominously, its actually the immersed caldera for one of the world’s largest super volcanoes.  Its last eruption occurred in 232 AD. According to Wikipedia, this eruption “is believed to have first emptied the lake then followed that feat with a pyroclastic flow that covered about 20,000 square kilometres of land with volcanic ash. A total of 120 km3 of material is believed to have been ejected, and over 30 km3 of this is estimated to have been ejected in just a few minutes.”

However, on our visit, we saw little more than lots of fat and happy rainbow trout.  We began our day with a visit to the verdant lakeside resort of Kuratau.  We enjoyed a leisurely picnic lunch under shade trees while trailer boats filled with vacationing locals came and went.  We then visited the mud pools at Tokaanu before finishing the day with a tour of the Tongariro National Trout Centre.

The Trout Centre was a real highlight.  A well laid out exhibit explained the operation of Taupo’s trout hatcheries and the region’s modern fishing heritage.  Outside we watched mature trout swimming in a stream; from the railing of a footbridge and from a spectacular underwater viewing gallery.  The centre also has a Whio (Blue Duck) breeding program.  This includes two enclosures in which juvenile ducks could be seen swimming and diving to their heart's content.

Kiwi Country

The itinerary I created for our central North Island road trip took us through several regions I'd never seen before.  This included the Forgotten Highway, the Taranaki region and the winelands of the Manawatu. The final journey saw us cover more than 1300 kms over ten days.  However, we did stop for several days in two locations to rest, relax and enjoy some lazy Summer days.

We began our road trip shortly after lunch on Boxing Day.  Our first day's itinerary took us back over the Kaimai range, then west towards Waitomo Caves for the evening.  We stopped briefly in Arapuni to walk its famous suspension bridge. The 152-metre long structure was erected in 1925 to provide easy access for workers constructing the Arapuni Hydroelectric Dam.  It spans the Waikato River as tumbles through a narrow gorge. 

Our first night on the road was spent at the historical Waimoto Caves Hotel.  Sadly the venue has seen better days.  However, the hotel gave an enormous room in one of its oldest wings that opened out on to an expansive balcony overlooking the main entrance.  We later realised that our room was the only room that had access to this huge outdoor space.

It quickly became apparent that we were travelling in peak season.  We went to book a tour through the Gloworm caves and discovered some options were booked for days in advance.  We eventually settled on the classic boat ride through the original tourist cave but couldn't book it until mid-afternoon. As a result, we spent the next morning visiting the Otrahonga Kiwi House where we saw our first two kiwis for the holiday.

The caves were just as I recall them.  As you glide silently through the pitch black interior the ceiling comes alive with thousands of points of light.  It really is just like looking up at the night skies arcing overhead.  We then finished our day with a two-hour drive through the King Country.  Our next stop for two nights was the world famous Chateau Tongariro, located on the foothills of Mount Ruapehu.  More about our adventures on the Volcanic Plateau tomorrow.