Our April began with a bit of a bang .... literally .... a bang to the wrist for Daniel when he fell of some monkey bars which ended up with us in Taumarunui Hospital on Easter Sunday (1st April) getting xrays and a cast on. It took a while for us to convince the doctor to get x-rays however as there was no swelling and he still had some movement. We have come to learn over Daniel's many breaks that this is normal for him so insisted and reluctantly the doctor came to tell us we were correct in guessing a break.
 |
| Taumarunui ... no April Fools joke unfortunately |
In usual Daniel style though it didn't slow him down and we continued with our plans to head along 'The Forgotten World Highway' from Taumarunui to Stratford. This was an amazing journey with hardly any other traffic, thankfully as the road wasn't that wide!, which wound us through native bush, quiet farmland and the Republic of
Whangamomona. Visiting the Republic has long been on my list of things to do since reading about it a few years back and their president 'Billy Gumboot the Goat' (yes, an actual goat) so it was a great highlight to get a stamp in our passports and have some lunch before returning to New Zealand.
 |
| Themselves playing in Whanganui River near Taumarunui - note the plastic bag for D's cast |
 |
| Whangamomona |
From there we reached Taranaki and had a great time catching up with family in New Plymouth before slowly making our way around the back of Mt Taranaki. To make the most of the trip we began watching a 'New Zealand Land Wars' DVD so that we had a bit more background information on the sites we were visiting. There were so many pa and historic sites that it would be hard to list them all however seeing Parihaka for the first time held a special place, hopefully we can come back to visit it for the International Peace Festival one year. Taranaki pulled out all stops as far as weather went and we had the extremes from shorts and jandels to gumboots and jackets in the couple of weeks we were there. Thankfully we missed the mini tornado that hit just kilometres north of us and while the winds blew and the lightening struck we remained warm, safe and with power in our bus.
 |
| Dawson Falls in Taranaki |
 |
| Sunset at Tataraimaka Pa |
 |
| Cape Egmont lighthouse and Mt Taranaki |
 |
| Opunake before the storm |
Into Whanganui for a new cast, along with a random catch-up with a few road-schoolers and a friend of Liam's, then we cut across the country heading for the East coast. It has been great taking the back roads to places and our route towards Hastings was no different. We received a warm welcome in Makuri, found the birth place of the person who discovered DNA had a double helix structure in Pongaroa, played some pool on a round table in Wimbleton, got blown inside out in Herbertville, visited the longest place name in the world, had the most peaceful night yet in Elsthorpe and were treated to free running ponies and trains in Otane before arriving in Havelock North. With the end of the month nigh we are parked up in a beachside settlement enjoying a catch up with friends, munching on feijoas and sea scapes galore.
 |
| Entertaining themselves in Makuri |
 |
| Wimbleton Hotel |
 |
| Thankfully with only had trains in the daytime while in Otane! |
 |
| Cape Kidnappers Gannet Colony |
Until next month, be happy, healthy and snuggle up
Arohanui
Y
No comments:
Post a Comment