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canadian_turtleMood: 
|| Bouncy
Tune : Dr. Horrible OST - "Brand New Day"
June 28: Because we arrived late on the Saturday today was the only day left in the weekend we could explore the region with the advantage of Parul's parents driving us, so we planned to make it a long day to see as much as possible. The previous day we had decided to leave at 10am, that quickly became 9.45am but eventually we left at like 9am because we were all ready to go.
Our first stop for today was Mount Egmont (also called Mount Taranaki) which is the highest mountain in the region and snowcapped, very beautiful! While it was still foggy (and now also raining, ugh) it was still great to see it up close. We parked at the base and from there wanted to do a hike up as far up as possible. Some of the pathway was wet/slippery and when the more dangerous part started the safety gate disappeared so we didn't continue (though we saw people coming back, wearing short and everything even though it was freezing, some people are insane!). Btw, (totally snagging this info from Parul) but Mount Egmont was a substitute for Mount Fiji in that Samurai movie from Tom Cruise.
Next up was New Plymouth, the (I think) biggest city in Taranaki. Our first stop was Puke Ariki, which is a visitor's centre, library, art gallery and museum in one. It sounds impressive and it was. We first went to explore the museum and the best part without a doubt was the video that explained how Mount Taranaki (and the better part of the North Island really) was created by the continuous eruptions of volcanoes in the area.
In the art gallery there were some really random displays. Like a circle made up of various little computers with a remote control car in the middle. Every time the car would touch the front of one of the "computers" a letter would be generated. Several letters in a row would form words and those were displayed on the screens attached to the computers. Another one was a display of I believe five television screens with a life-size cow costume displayed in the middle. On the television screen the cow could be seen on a big sports field (with two people wearing it) walking (and sometimes running) from one screen to the other...
After that we had lunch before setting out for the Coastal Walk. It was still pouring down but Parul and I still set out hopeful it would clear up (yeah, right...). Arriving at the coast line we could walk left or right and we randomly picked left, thinking we were about midway on the walk anyway. Afterwards we heard from Parul's father we should've gone right, lol, oops. Anyway, the walk was wet and cold and we shortened it significantly, not exploring both ends because we wanted to go back inside :$
On our way back to Hawera we made a detour to see Lake Rotorangi; the longest man-made lake in New Zealand. It took us, however, several hours to actually find it. On our way there we apparently missed the sign that said we had to make a turn and only when backtracking did we find it. When we eventually saw it we were flabbergasted as to how we missed it before as it was right next to the road we'd driven on to get there, lol Unfortunately for us at the time we arrived at the lake it was still raining so we pretty much ran out of the car, snapped a picture or two, and ran back in. At least we'd had a beautiful, though unintentional, scenic ride getting there xD
For dinner we had AWESOME rotis with dahl, spicy potatoes and beans with a (homemade?) cheese (I still don't know, fail!).
Mt Egmont
Close-up
In my defence: it was pouring down and I hate it when my glasses get wet…
The 45m tall iconic Wind Wand in New Plymouth
Art (colourful, light)
Coastal walk (d'uh)
Lake Rotorangi
Parul & rain drops & lake
June 29: Today was another sleep in, I do love travelling <3 The morning was spent for me for the most part planning my South Island trip (as it was right around the corner and I had nothing but a rough plan!). I booked the ferry to the South Island, all my busses and half of my hostels; I felt very productive.
In the early afternoon Parul's dad dropped us off at the i-site (that's what they call a visitor's centre in New Zealand) where we enquired about the walk up the Water tower. Copying the info off Parul, because she was able to describe it so wonderfully and to the point: Hawera is maori for 'the burnt place' or 'breath of fire', so named because the town has a history of devastating fires (1884, 1895, 1912). Because of this insurance people demanded that a fire fighting reservoir in the form of a water tower be constructed in the town. Our 54m water tower's construction finished in 1914. These days it serves only as a decorative purpose AFAIK and after recent renovations it became accessible to climb to the top of via its 215 steps.
The walk up the tower didn't take very long, though we did read all the displays on the inside which had information on the various historic buildings in Hawera that we could view from the tower. When we reached the top it was so incredibly windy we could barely walk! But we managed to walk all around and tried to snap a few pictures of the view before making our way back down and taking some pictures from the tower itself from the outside.
After that we browsed through Hawera, where I got cash from the ATM (a fairly large amount to should cover most, if not all, of my travels in New Zealand and I got it all in twenties so it was a thick wad!) and we found a cafe to have lunch at. We must have spent several hours in there (because it was so nice and warm!) just talking, lol We also went into a secondhand shop where I found an old hardcover copy of Heidi with beautiful drawings inside of it.
In the evening we had delicious pasta, made the "Indian way". And after that we finished volume 4 of Heroes (we even watched it partially during dinner, I think, we are so addicted...). Parul's mother also gave me a gift bag with an awesome, giant Heffalump in it and a big bar of Whittaker's (New Zealand chocolate), which was incredible sweet of her <3
View from the top of the water tower
Winding stairs inside
FTW xD
The tower as seen from the outside
I took loads of pictures from the tower...
See?
Random lol-worthy item in gift shop
Pretty library building
Parul’s coffee, doesn't it look nice?
Awesome old fashioned mailbox
"This park contains fresh Taranaki air. Please do not smoke in our parks" ROFLMAO! Parul made me aware of this ridiculous sign (I mean, really, how can the air in the park be any different than the air right outside of it?)
More pictures can be found HERE.
|| BouncyTune : Dr. Horrible OST - "Brand New Day"
June 28: Because we arrived late on the Saturday today was the only day left in the weekend we could explore the region with the advantage of Parul's parents driving us, so we planned to make it a long day to see as much as possible. The previous day we had decided to leave at 10am, that quickly became 9.45am but eventually we left at like 9am because we were all ready to go.
Our first stop for today was Mount Egmont (also called Mount Taranaki) which is the highest mountain in the region and snowcapped, very beautiful! While it was still foggy (and now also raining, ugh) it was still great to see it up close. We parked at the base and from there wanted to do a hike up as far up as possible. Some of the pathway was wet/slippery and when the more dangerous part started the safety gate disappeared so we didn't continue (though we saw people coming back, wearing short and everything even though it was freezing, some people are insane!). Btw, (totally snagging this info from Parul) but Mount Egmont was a substitute for Mount Fiji in that Samurai movie from Tom Cruise.
Next up was New Plymouth, the (I think) biggest city in Taranaki. Our first stop was Puke Ariki, which is a visitor's centre, library, art gallery and museum in one. It sounds impressive and it was. We first went to explore the museum and the best part without a doubt was the video that explained how Mount Taranaki (and the better part of the North Island really) was created by the continuous eruptions of volcanoes in the area.
In the art gallery there were some really random displays. Like a circle made up of various little computers with a remote control car in the middle. Every time the car would touch the front of one of the "computers" a letter would be generated. Several letters in a row would form words and those were displayed on the screens attached to the computers. Another one was a display of I believe five television screens with a life-size cow costume displayed in the middle. On the television screen the cow could be seen on a big sports field (with two people wearing it) walking (and sometimes running) from one screen to the other...
After that we had lunch before setting out for the Coastal Walk. It was still pouring down but Parul and I still set out hopeful it would clear up (yeah, right...). Arriving at the coast line we could walk left or right and we randomly picked left, thinking we were about midway on the walk anyway. Afterwards we heard from Parul's father we should've gone right, lol, oops. Anyway, the walk was wet and cold and we shortened it significantly, not exploring both ends because we wanted to go back inside :$
On our way back to Hawera we made a detour to see Lake Rotorangi; the longest man-made lake in New Zealand. It took us, however, several hours to actually find it. On our way there we apparently missed the sign that said we had to make a turn and only when backtracking did we find it. When we eventually saw it we were flabbergasted as to how we missed it before as it was right next to the road we'd driven on to get there, lol Unfortunately for us at the time we arrived at the lake it was still raining so we pretty much ran out of the car, snapped a picture or two, and ran back in. At least we'd had a beautiful, though unintentional, scenic ride getting there xD
For dinner we had AWESOME rotis with dahl, spicy potatoes and beans with a (homemade?) cheese (I still don't know, fail!).
Mt Egmont
Close-up
In my defence: it was pouring down and I hate it when my glasses get wet…
The 45m tall iconic Wind Wand in New Plymouth
Art (colourful, light)
Coastal walk (d'uh)
Lake Rotorangi
Parul & rain drops & lake
June 29: Today was another sleep in, I do love travelling <3 The morning was spent for me for the most part planning my South Island trip (as it was right around the corner and I had nothing but a rough plan!). I booked the ferry to the South Island, all my busses and half of my hostels; I felt very productive.
In the early afternoon Parul's dad dropped us off at the i-site (that's what they call a visitor's centre in New Zealand) where we enquired about the walk up the Water tower. Copying the info off Parul, because she was able to describe it so wonderfully and to the point: Hawera is maori for 'the burnt place' or 'breath of fire', so named because the town has a history of devastating fires (1884, 1895, 1912). Because of this insurance people demanded that a fire fighting reservoir in the form of a water tower be constructed in the town. Our 54m water tower's construction finished in 1914. These days it serves only as a decorative purpose AFAIK and after recent renovations it became accessible to climb to the top of via its 215 steps.
The walk up the tower didn't take very long, though we did read all the displays on the inside which had information on the various historic buildings in Hawera that we could view from the tower. When we reached the top it was so incredibly windy we could barely walk! But we managed to walk all around and tried to snap a few pictures of the view before making our way back down and taking some pictures from the tower itself from the outside.
After that we browsed through Hawera, where I got cash from the ATM (a fairly large amount to should cover most, if not all, of my travels in New Zealand and I got it all in twenties so it was a thick wad!) and we found a cafe to have lunch at. We must have spent several hours in there (because it was so nice and warm!) just talking, lol We also went into a secondhand shop where I found an old hardcover copy of Heidi with beautiful drawings inside of it.
In the evening we had delicious pasta, made the "Indian way". And after that we finished volume 4 of Heroes (we even watched it partially during dinner, I think, we are so addicted...). Parul's mother also gave me a gift bag with an awesome, giant Heffalump in it and a big bar of Whittaker's (New Zealand chocolate), which was incredible sweet of her <3
View from the top of the water tower
Winding stairs inside
FTW xD
The tower as seen from the outside
I took loads of pictures from the tower...
See?
Random lol-worthy item in gift shop
Pretty library building
Parul’s coffee, doesn't it look nice?
Awesome old fashioned mailbox
"This park contains fresh Taranaki air. Please do not smoke in our parks" ROFLMAO! Parul made me aware of this ridiculous sign (I mean, really, how can the air in the park be any different than the air right outside of it?)
More pictures can be found HERE.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 02:25 pm (UTC)Thank you for sharing them and your adventures!
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Date: 2009-07-08 11:24 pm (UTC)