New Zealand: Page 3, January 2018
The Mahia peninsula is wild and beautiful and famous for crayfish. It's on the east side of the North Island, north of Napier
Check out a blog about crayfish from the local school
click
Te Mahia Kura
Gisborne is next along the coast ...
We planned to stay for just one night but stayed for four and didn't really want to leave then either.
Those 2 pics above fit together for the view from the yacht club
Back in the town, there is a brilliant museum and art gallery.
There are really good exhibits, an amazing historic photo collection and GREAT cake in the café (served with cream)
And guess what ... that's a Pokéstop too
Thank you to the local Pokémon group for making our stay in Gisborne fun too.
Nearby, there are two fab bronzes ...
... which are both almost impossible to photograph due to the shadows. It didn't help that we had the most incredible fabulous weather. This is Footrot Flats above. Do follow that link and enjoy some New Zealand farming humour.
Evolution is a 4 tonne bronze sculpture showing the evolution of one of the world's oldest sports, archery, from Roman times, through the Imperial era to contemporary.
It was gifted to Gisborne by the Beijing Olympic Sculpture committee and China's Ministry of Culture, who also chose Gisborne as one of only 12 cities around the world, outside China, to host a sculpture which commemorates the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Whakatane
A Marae (Maori meeting place) and a tree growing on a rock right on the High Street !
Rotorua (again)
Well, I just had to check on that parsley ...
Wow! Who'd have thought parsley could make such a show. But, in the background, there is a very sad story. That iconic building was built in 1908 and was used as a bath house, and to treat wounded soldiers, using the warm and theraputic muds from this area. More recently, it became the main museum for the town and John and I visited some years ago. Our tour included the underground, naturally warm bits (hot actually) and that was quite scary at the time. Well, it has now been totally condemned, no-one is even allowed inside the place.
Heading north, we took a break in Katikati. Here's another of the towns 66 murals ..
This was painted by Peter Nicholson, acrylic on concrete.
Roads were atrocious and service cars were the only public transport for Katikati people in the 1920s. Drivers made every effort to help people reach their destination and this mural shows Les Hume with a record load of 21 people in his 8-seater car.
Local legend says he was headed for Waihi, already with a load of passengers, when he stopped to cram in more at the Athenree corner. Ten people were squeezed on to the seats, 4 sat on the hood, 2 stood on each running board with 1 on each mudguard and another astride the bonnet. Les said he never knew how the tyres took the load.
Passengers would have had to walk uphill and call instructions to the driver who had only a limited view of the road. Brake pads were not enclosed in drums in those days - they became caked with mud and often failed to operate so drivers simply opted not to use them. Locals wisely avoided the Athenree Gorge with its hairpin bends when the service cars were on the road.
We thought it amusing that we also found this Lagonda parked nearby, it could almost have been that car in the mural above ..
Note the Aston Martin in the background. Small world.on to the next (Page 4)
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