Mother Nature Soaks the Kiwis

Rain - The Most Annoying Element in Mother Nature's Arsenal
Whoever said, "The good thing about rain is that you don't have to shovel it," ought to be shot.  We picked up the rental camper van on Saturday afternoon just ahead of the rain that came down in sheets without a moment's pause until we managed to drive out of it on Monday at 4:00 pm.  I mean typhoon class rain.  During the height of it (Sunday afternoon) I would gladly have been standing in my driveway bundled-up with a snow shovel in my hands.  And this was nothing to the rain that devastated the east coast of Australia.  That was the most expensive natural disaster in their history.

There was nothing we could do other than huddle in the cramped confines of the van and listen to the drumming on the roof.  Sunday afternoon in Rotorua we sought out a sports pub and sat and watched tennis.  After the match we were able to catch the weather forecast.  The broadcast would determine which direction we drove in the morning.  Wanganui, on the west coast, was forecast to have sunshine by Monday afternoon.

On the drive towards Waganui we skirted mud, rock and boulder slides.  Some of the rocks were the size of fitness balls.  If a car was unlucky enough to be passing as one came down that would be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We drove through flooded patches of highway.  Some areas were so flooded that only one lane was open and maintenance crews were on hand monitoring the situation.  I kept having visons of our van floating away across the tree tops like the scenes that took place north of Brisbane.  You just never know.

In Wanganui the sun was out and so was half the population.  There was a constant stream of vehicles driving down to the river to see the level and to witness the fact that a major portion of their boardwalk was underwater.

Man can control most things but not mother nature.  Whine, rail and complain all you like but that is the way of it.
Post script  - when Don and I picked up the camper van the woman signing it out  asked if we were on our honeymoon.  Imagine! I guess because of the cosy nature of the space.  After 3 days of rain in that van I thought that if we had been newly married we'd be divorced before the ink was completely dry on the certificate.


Neat Down Under Innovations
Two things that are neat innovations and are found in both Australia and New Zealand are:
1.  BYO restaruants - these are restaurants that allow you to bring in your own wine.
2.  Camping ensuites - a powered campsite with a private ensuite (a little cabin)  that  comes along with the sites.  Inside is a toilet, shower and over-sized sink.

Waitamo Area
The one  touristy activity that we did during the diluge was to go the Waitomo district to take in one of the cave excursions that the area is famous for.  Steve and Julia did the Waitomo Glow Worm cave cruise.  As I am not overly fond of the crawly little creatures Don and I went in the Ruakuri Cave.

According the the Maori legend ('rua' meaning den, and 'kuri' meaning dog) was first discovered 400-500 years ago by a young Maori hunting birds.  He was attacked by wild dogs just outside the original cave entrance.  The cave was re-opened in 2005 and is an amazing example of engineering and natural cave structures.  You descend into the cave by a spiral staircase (15 feet across) that was excavated one metre at a time and encased in cement as it was exposed.  The walkways are suspended from the cave walls by steel cables.  The dripping-water carved limestone features of the cave were varied: stalactites, stalagmites and ribbon formations.
(You actually do see the glow worms but they are in small clusters and off to the side instead of overhead.) An unexpected sign in the cave states, "No trespassing.  Trepassers will be prosecuted."

Apparently a local farmer in the 60's, because of the title he held to his land, said that he owned everything on his land that reached to the heavens and to the centre of the earth.  The case was tied up in the courts for a long time.  In the meantime the cave was closed to all but the Maori's.  The end result was that the farmer lost his argument.  It was deemed that the caves were just air and thus were not real estate.  Go figure.

Wellington                                                                                                       Thursday, January 26, 2011
The seat of Kiwi government since 1865.  I am constantly amazed at just how long both Australia and New Zealand have been well established countries.
We spent the day strolling around downtown, especially along the wharf.  Always lots going on at the seaport of major cities.

We sat and listened to an old busker sing and play the blues for over 30 minutes.  In that whole time only one person dropped a donation in his collection box.  A girl of 10 or so walking along with her parents and her brother, asked her dad for some money to drop in his open guitar case.  Other than that everyone walked by as if blind and deaf.
And, yes, when Don and I left we did make a respectable contribution.
There were quite a few museums to choose from.  We only went into one - the Te Papa Tangarewa Museum.

There were some unusual exhibits.  One was a simulated earthquake.  Not something you'd want to experience for real.
People living in NZ have to expect lots of little shake-ups from earthquakes - and, at some time, a big one!
Shake, Shatter, Slide
Ground shaking, rocks breaking, surface layers sliding - these are some of the effects of large earthquakes.
Wellington, like Kobe in Japan and San Francisco, is a city built on an "active" fault.  There's at least one shallow earthquake recorded under Wellington City every week.  Would you sleep well at night?

From North to South

On Friday we took the ferry to the south island.

 It travels between Wellington and Picton and takes 3 hours.


Other:

The only kiwi we have seen - a museum exhibit

                        

Looking for breakfast