We stopped just north of Taupō for a short hike to Huka Falls. The furious cascades are created when the calm, 325 ft wide Waikato River (which drains from Lake Taupō, but more on that later) is forced through a narrow chute of hard volcanic rock only 50 ft wide and 33 ft deep. The ice blue water churns and roars through the chasm, ending with a furious 36 ft waterfall. Huka is the Maori word for “foam”; the name couldn’t be more appropriate. There’s a pedestrian bridge over the middle of the chasm, and several viewpoints
Looking upstream
And down, where a jet boat has brought thrill seekers below the falls.
About 200,000 liters (over 47,000 gallons) of water burst over the falls every second, enough to fill 5 Olympic swimming pools per minute. Below the falls is a maelstrom, which calms down within a few hundred meters to resume its placid flow north.
Along the trail - does anyone know what this is?
Lake Taupō, the river’s source, fills an ancient crater the size of Singapore. It is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand or Australia. The caldera, at least 27,000 years old, last erupted in 186 AD with a blast powerful enough to color the skies in China and Rome.
After we wrapped around the lake, we continued south towards Wellington at the southern tip of the North Island. One anticipated landmark was seeing Mount Ngauruhoe, which served as Mount Doom in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. We saw the base of the mountain, but the top 2/3 was cloud covered. We covered 500 km along mostly 2 lane roads, winding through hills and along mountains. It was a beautiful drive. All told, we drove 800 km in the North Island.
We decided to return our rental car in Wellington today instead of two days from now. We figured we could walk or Uber anywhere we wanted to go in town, and also didn’t want to deal with trying to park near the hotel. Finding the kiosk to return the car was quite the adventure; we’re so glad to have that out of the way instead of trying to deal with it when we have a ferry to catch early Thursday.
Day 5 - in which we wander around Wellington for a day. Wellington is known as the world’s windiest city, with gale force winds of 63 km/hr gusting an average of 178 days/year. Just like the stormy Drake Passage, Wellington’s weather is a result of its geography. Recall how the fury of Huka Falls results from funneling a wide river through a narrow channel. Wellington sits on the Cook Strait at the southern tip of the North Island. It’s buffeted by the predominantly western flow of winds passing through the Strait, funneling between the mountain ranges on the north and south islands..
Wellington has a fine harbor and a long waterfront hosting warehouses, museums, walking paths and mooring for boats large and small. This morning we had early access tickets to the Gallipoli exhibit at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. Before the centennial of the beginning of World War I, museums evaluated whether and how to commemorate the event. This exhibit is New Zealand’s result. Its centerpiece is a series of 2.4 scale renditions of real-life people whose stories are well-documented in accompanying displays. The models were created by the award-winning Weta Workshop, the special effects company which rocketed to worldwide attention with the Lord of the Rings movies. Our lively guide, Roger explained the incredibly detailed process used to create everything from the number of stitches on a canteen cover to eyelashes to drops of sweat under the edge of a cap.
A medic with a failed rescue.
Staff Nurse Lettie Le Gallais, who joined up hoping to find her brother, Leddie, during her hospital-ship travels. Here, she reads the letter notifying her of his death months earlier.
Staff Nurse Lettie Le Gallais, who joined up hoping to find her brother, Leddie, during her hospital-ship travels. Here, she reads the letter notifying her of his death months earlier.
Te Papa (rough translation: the treasure box) is a huge 6 story museum with everything from dinosaurs, Maori artifacts, halls on the immigration experience, and natural history. We visited the Maori section and some vignette films on what their space means to different Kiwis.
We did some caching along the waterfront.
We did some caching along the waterfront.
Sixteen very good boys (and girls).
Late brunch at Floraditas on Cuba Street. Greg had Flo’s fish pie, a staple since the restaurant opened 20 years ago, and I had smoked fish hash, a tasty concoction of potatoes and a couple kinds of smoked fish under a lemon-mayo drizzle.
We Ubered to the Weta Workshop in Wellington’s Miramar neighborhood for a 90 minute tour. There be trolls lurking outside.
The tour visited several stations - masks and prosthetics, sword-making, overview, 3-D printing and sculpting, etc. There were lots of film props and costumes, fun to see and recognize. Most things we couldn’t photograph or touch; the historic costumes and props are valuable and fragile. Current projects can’t be discussed by Weta staff for obvious reasons, although Roger at the Gallipoli exhibit said that James Cameron is currently working on the next Avatar film at Weta. Our final stop at WW, however, let Greg show his inner Gandalf. Too bad he shaved off his beard before we left home.
No comments:
Post a Comment