The Forgotten World Highway.

Views from the Forgotten Highway.

Day 4. Having found out that this coming week-end is Republic Day in Whangamomona, our next destination, we decided that we had better make an early start so that if we found the Whangamomona camp site full we would have time to find an alternate camp site.

We all headed off to refuel, fill the water tanks and empty the waste tanks as there is nothing on the Forgotten Highway between Stratford and Taumarunui. So you have to be well provisioned before you hit the highway. The road between Stratford and Whangamomona is a slow hilly road with plenty of hairpin bends to catch out the unwary. We had to move over to let one truck and trailer pass and did meet another in the opposite direction. Luckily this was on a wide bend where we could pull over to give the truckie plenty of room to squeeze past.

Views around the Whangamomona camp site.

Arriving at the Whangamomona camp site we were pleasantly surprised to find it empty. The manager has given us all power sites for now but this situation may change as more campers arrive over the next day or so. After setting up camp we walked into the village to time ourselves in readiness for our trip tomorrow.

Whangamomona pub and post office building.This is only a dummy frontage as the original building has now gone.Whangamomona's old butcher shop.Didn't know Wellington buses ran this far north.

We called into the pub which is basically the only business in the village for coffee’s and ice creams. We have also booked in for dinner tomorrow night. Four of our group also had dinner there tonight.

Whangamomona main street.Whangamomona bus shelter?This is our meeting point at 9.30am tomorrow.  An interesting day awaits us!

New bread and old tractors.

Says it all!

Day 3 and we were off to Manaia the home of Yarrows Bakery. This family owned business is now run by the third generation. The shop was certainly popular as we joined the queue for some very cheap bread, savouries, pasties and lots of other lovely baking.

Yarrows family bakery, Manaia. The old BNZ bank building to the right.

The prices were amazing with Xmas mince pies $2.50 for a dozen, exotic bread for $2 a loaf and very cheap mix and match biscuits and pasties.

Waiting for a sticky bun.

This area of Taranaki used to be considered the granary of the South Pacific but improvement in growing and harvesting saw this all change just before WW I and dairy farming took over.

Mt Egmont (or as it is now known as Mt Taranaki).

After lunch we headed out to the Tawhiti Museum and the Traders and Whalers display.The latter has been 5 years in the planning and production and is a credit to the designers and builders. Covering the history of the Taranaki coast between 1820 and 1840. Using very realistic life size diorama’s it covers the interaction between the local Maori tribes and early seafarers and whalers.

Tawhiti Museum. Blacksmiths corner.

This trading caused quite a lot of problems among Maori tribes when some tribes obtained guns and started to attack tribes who were unable to protect themselves. Eventually this imbalance was corrected with traders supplying all the tribes and European soldiers being bought in as peace keepers and rounding up the trouble makers and shipping them out of the area.

Tawhiti Museum. The mining collection.

We last visited the Tawhiti Museum about 15 years ago so it was interesting to see what changes had taken place. Basically being a museum of agriculture it was interesting to see the improvement in tractors and machinery over the years.

Tawhiti museum military vehicle collection. Two Chevrolet puddle jumpers.Dairy farmers British Bedford circa 1935.1908 Burrell 8HP traction engine. Tractors and chain saws.Farming history.

It was amazing to see what devices had been developed by the farmers to improve their lot. One such machine was a milking machine which was patented and sold world wide.

We’re on safari.

With Xmas and the New year celebrations done and dusted it was time to head home. However our stay at home was to be short lived as we were back on the road by the 11th January. We were heading North to help friend’s at the Tongariro Holiday Park. This was for just a week, after which we were off to the Heretaunga Caravan club’s Wellington Anniversary weekend’s rally. So from Tongariro it was off to Himatangi Beach. During our stay at Tongariro the weather was wet and miserable with more snow being dumped on the mountains.

This is supposed to be summer, yer right! However the sun did appear for the club rally making it a good week-end.

Monday morning rolled around all too soon and 5 of us from the club were heading North West to Taranaki on a safari. Our first stop was Waiinu Beach just North of Wanganui. The South Taranaki District council have made improvements to the camp site with a new toilet block and it’s a very popular place.

Waiinu Beach camping ground.Ground a little uneven but we were level.Waiinu beach with black sand.

Day 2 and we left Waiinu beach for Hawera. Instead of just passing through Patea we decided to stop and have a look around. Since the closure of the local freezing works in 1982 the town has declined with little or no work in the district. At it’s peak the works employed 800 people. Empty buildings lined the main street but one we found of interest was the Star Garage.

Star Garage (museum) Patea.

This is like a working museum with a collection of cars included very old Buick’s (parts required please), Austin and Morris’s. The proprietor was a real character and had been involved in the NZ racing scene. Well worth a visit if you are passing this way.

Promotional vehicle that once graced the street's of Lower Hutt.1937 Austin covered in 27000 shells.

Happy New Year 2013

To all our friends and family and readers we wish you all a wonderful year.

Wellington Revisited.

After taking in the sight’s from the top of the Cable Car we walked through to the Carter and Dominion Observatories and read up on some of the history of the site and buildings. Next to the Dominion Observatory formerly Hectors Observatory building was once a gun battery, one of 6 to protect the city and harbour in 1894-1904 in what was known as the Russian Scare. The gun was never actually mounted but stored in the bunker below.

Dominion Observatory, formerly the Hector Observatory built in 1907 changed the name in 1925.Carter Observatory, Botanical Gardens, Wellington

Hectors Observatory also employed astronomers as time keepers for shipping, railways and government ministers along with civil servants. Accurate time is required to work out longitude essential for ships navigators. There is an old Krupps cannon on site, a German made 135mm field artillery captured by NZ troops in France in 1918 and bought back to NZ as a trophy. In 1920 it was gifted to the City of Wellington and thought to be the only one of it’s kind left from the 190 originally made.

Botanic Garden Battery 1894 -1904 with a captured German Krupps Cannon.

The path back down to the city took to the Lady Norwood Rose Garden which was a bit past it’s best at this time of year but nice still the same.

Lady Norwood Rose Gardens.

From here it lead us to a place we had heard plenty about back in the early 1960’s, the Bolton Street Cemetery or what there is left of it. The urban motorway sliced right through the middle of this sacred site with what finished up as 3700 burial sites being moved. Head stones were stored at a council yard in Wilton for years until the development was completed and then returned in an orderly fashion. All the remains were buried in a vault below the memorial lawn by the Chapel. Only 2000 of the burial site’s had headstones.

The Beehive. New Zealand's Parliament buildings.New Zealand’s Old Government Buildings, the largest wooden building in the world. Completed in 1876. That's all timber.

We eventually arrived back at the railway station in good time so it was McDonald’s for a light shared tea before returning to the station and boarding our train.

Wellingtons Grand Railway Station.

However the fun wasn’t over yet as we were delayed leaving Wellington by 5-10 minutes. At Upper Hutt we were further delayed as we had to wait for a South bound goods train. The Main Trunk line is closed for repairs and all goods trains are being re routed down through the Wairarapa. We eventually got home only 20 minutes later than expected so it wasn’t too bad but we were in need of a good cuppa to finish the day.

Wellington

Wellington's famous cable car which helped to establish Kelburn and Karori.

Wandering down to what had once been the Overseas Terminal we found this has been demolished and undergoing a new lease of life. It started life as the Clyde Quay and in the early 1960’s was transformed into the Overseas Terminal catering for passenger ships arriving with tourists and migrants. Unfortunately this was built too late and had a very short life due to air travel killing off sea travel. By 1970 it had become a White Elephant costing the harbour board more than the revenue it was generating. It was then leased out as a conference/function centre with some retail outlets but still had lots of waste space.

What was once Clyde Quay then the Overseas Terminal now being converted to a living and retail centre alongside Chaffers Marina.

Herd St Art Deco Post and Telegraph building. Now upmarket apartments.

Down at what had been Taranaki St wharf we found the Steam Crane Hikitea. This marvellous old vessel was built in Scotland in 1926 and holds the record for the longest voyage under it’s own power of such a vessel when it was sailed to New Zealand complete with the crane erected.

Floating Crane Hikitea. Steam operated and still used for special projects.

Retired  in the 1980’s by the Harbourboard it has been looked after ever since by Maritime Heritage Trust. It is reputedly to be the only working steam crane of it’s type left in the world. Recently it was bought out of retirement to place a new loading ramp in place for the Interislander ferries. This took several days as they could only work while the ferries were at sea.

Sea Shepherd Whale protection vessel "Bob Barker". Preparing for another visit to Antarctic waters to monitor whaling ships.

Next to the Hikitea was the Sea Shepherd Whale protection vessel "Bob Barker". This 30 year old vessel was originally a Norwegian whaler which has been converted to sail in Antarctic waters to keep watch on foreign whaling ships.

Circa Theatre which was once on the city side of Jervois Quay, now on the waterfront.Art Deco Wellington Free Ambulance Building.From City to Sea bridge across Jervois Quay. Artistry by Sara Matchitt 1993. Michael Fowler Centre in the background.

Sculpture celebrating NZ's tradition with Rugby.Suspended sculpture of NZ fern fronds behind the Micheal Fowler Centre.

After a picnic lunch in Frank Kitts Park we walked through what used to be Mercer St between the library and council offices into Willis St. Here we did some window shopping at Kathmandu where we found a few good specials but opted not to buy them at this stage. Down into Lambton Quay where a lot of the buildings were a familiar sight among them being the old DIC building. Sadly this is in a sad state of repairs and reportedly due to be demolished.

Corner of Willis St and Lambton Quay with the old Bank of New Zealand building, now a shopping centre.

We popped into Kirkcaldie and Stains to have a look at their Christmas shop. A half price sale was in full swing on all their Christmas decorations etc. nice but still too dear for our liking. Back along the Quay we found Cable Car Lane and the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens. Here we found another old workmate of Derek’s behind the controls of one of the cars.It’s hard to go anywhere without bumping into somebody we know.

Pohutukawa tree's in bloom in Kelburn Park.

The Hobbit!

At Wellington we transferred to the Airport Flyer bus to see the new display at the airport promoting the new movie “The Hobbit”. We were not disappointed as the Weta Workshops had once again excelled themselves with a 1.2 tonne “Gollum” fishing for his dinner suspended from the ceiling. It would have been easier to photograph at night because of all the background light from windows behind the creation. However we did succeed to a point.

You can almost believe the underwater effects.Gollum catching his favourite food at Wellington Airport. Part of the publicity of the "Hobbit" movie.Hobbit Holes or houses on the luggage conveyor belt at Wellington Airport.

After a coffee and donut from the Donut King we caught another bus back into the city. The driver of the bus was most apologetic as it wasn’t a regular airport bus with lots of luggage space. This one just had seats and passengers had to balance their luggage on the seat’s beside them. The original bus had been taken out of service after a collision with a drunken driver. As there were no passengers for the suburbs the driver took a short cut back to the city to try and get back onto his set timetable.

Getting off the bus in Courtenay Place we headed to the Embassy Theatre where The World Premiere of “The Hobbit” movie is being shown. Above the theatre entrance is a giant sized “Gandalf” knocking on the door of a Hobbit hole with his staff. Again another Weta Workshop production.

Gandalf and a Hobbit house at the Embassy Theatre.