Having recently become the proud owners of a petrol driven vehicle in early December, and not having seen much outside of Auckland City, Prabhash and I set out on December 17 on a round trip to see some of the North Island. We timed the journey to bring us back to Auckland the day before Christmas Eve with the intention of avoiding a season's greeting of oncoming traffic.
The plan was to spend the six days doing a lot of driving and a lot of visiting. The main stopovers being Lake Taupo, Wellington, New Plymouth and its spectacular view of Mount Taranaki, the central National Park where we hoped Prabhash would experience his first snow on Mount Ruapahu, Rororua and its thermal wonders and home to Auckland.
Our first stop was beautiful and massive Lake Taupo. Almost an inland sea, with a perimeter
of 193 kilometres, it is home to the imperious black swan.
Off the highway to Wellington we came to Hobbit country, where the Lord of the Rings was filmed, but our focus was on the little wooly beasts not the fairies. Every human in New Zealand's population of four million has a personal retinue of 12 sheep. These current sheep numbers of 47 million are a serious decline from the 1980s figure of 70 million.
Outside the Wool Shed, the performers rest in the green room. Soon they will have face an audience of tourists that could include talent scouts from international restaurants.
The curtain goes up and the child prodigy takes centre stage. Her mother will soon be modelling the newest hairstyle in the hands of the skilled shearer.
Then it's Prabhash's turn to do the baby sitting.
The journey to Wellington continues across the dry high country that New Zealanders presume to call the Central Desert. A fast path to the capital in summer, but this plateau road is often closed in winter by heavy snow falls.
almost hidden in a miasma of road side grasses lurks a large Sri Lankan mammal
The Wellington residents reflect their attitude as capital city folk by all feeling presidential enough to live in a white house - cliff tops of them.
There's something grand about the original New Zealand Parliament building but -
something far too machinery about the parliamentary offices popularly dubbed the Beehive.
The harbour crowded with yachts as white as the homes on the hills
Then its out of the capital and on the road leading north along the west coast.
where young boys walk out of the ocean
and little girls return to it, determined to become mermaids
Prabhash turns his back on Kapiti Island and the Pacific Ocean
Then out of the mist looms the majestic Mount Taranaki - and yes that is snow, Prabhash!
Sun sets over the tidy water front at New Plymouth
warm rays of the last light of day a kilometre out of town
Next day a farewell to Taranaki as we head west towards her sister mountains
through Stratford with its tudor clock which parades its Shakespearean players hourly
across the challenging Forgotten World Highway and its secluded rain forest valley
to the little city of Tamaranui and its mysterious temple to what? to Elvis?
through fields of air borne silken fluff
past picture perfect landscapes with rivers of melting snow from distant mountains
like the mighty Tongariro and Mount Ruapehu - our next destination
behind Chateau Tongariro we get our first views of the snowy slopes of Mount Ruapehu
We travelled up to the snow and down again by chair lifts
to the meeting point of sun, snow, stone and sky. The clarity of such elemental conjunctions breeds clarity of mind... in rishis and lamas and, just for a moment, even in me.
but soon we found a ridge of snow to trudge along
to slide on
to fall on
to prospect in
to consider eating
to rest on
some for longer than others
and then head down before the cloud covered the summit
MORE NEWS OF THIS TRIP SOON
