The forecast was not good for today so we decided to follow the blue sky east of the mountain and just see what the weather did when we returned down the west side. This proved to be a good plan because it remained dry and fairly bright for most of the day but frigging cold up high on the desert road!
We first skirted the east side of Taupo Lake which is the largest lake in New Zealand with a surface area of 238 square miles. It is world famous for trout fishing, hot pools and beautiful landscape and I am lucky enough to be staying right here, thank you Leigh!
Then as we ascended to the mountainous region along the Desert Road, the vegetation changed dramatically to black sand and tussocks, waving grasses, interspersed with heather.
It got more and more barren as we got nearer to the dramatic mountains.
Wild horses roam up here but but I didn’t see one. There are not so many now as they were becoming a pest to the vegetation. They are not native to New Zealand.
Several of the mountains were still ice-capped and looked stunning against the blue sky. One of these was Ruapehu.
We came down the other side into farmland again and headed to a New Zealand Army Base where Fran worked. Fran is Leigh’s younger daughter and she showed us around her workplace then we chatted over a coffee in the “Hot Shot” cafe.
We also called in at Annie’s farm and met her lovely daughters and son. Leigh had taught three of the daughters at her school and one of them was still in her class.
While we were there, Michael one of the farmhands came up the driveway and was immediately attacked by Magpie from a nearby tree! It would seem this bird has a grudge against Michael and does this every time he comes near. Michael had previously picked up an almost dead baby bird from the driveway and the bird obviously thinks he killed it and is therefore a constant threat. I tried to photograph this attack.
Ohakune was the next little town we arrived at, a ski resort and popular with backpackers but also the place where Leigh works as a teacher in Ruapehu School. What a great place to work – at the foot of a mountain! I had heard so much about Ohakune from Leigh so it felt strangely familiar.
We stopped briefly at the school where I saw photos of Leigh’s students on the wall. I also have to share this newspaper cutting with you – a record sized fish that LEIGH caught!! She wasn’t fibbing after all, although she admitted to having some help from the rather nice young man in the pic who held on to her waist to prevent her going overboard 🙂 (I wonder which gave her the most thrill!!)
I saw where Leigh spent her childhood, the fuel station which her Dad owned and the house where she lived. There were many changes and I could feel the nostalgia in Leigh’s voice as she recalled how it was back then.
As we travelled back on the other side of the mountain which was more fertile, we stopped at the bridge where there was a Memorial to the dead after the dreadful train disaster of 1953. I tried to imagine the horror of that Christmas Eve as I stood beside the bridge looking downstream. The lake in the crater of the mountain above burst open sending a deluge of water down the mountain just as the passenger train was passing over the bridge and sent the bridge and the train with its contents hurtling down the river. 157 men, women and children lost their lives.
Not far from here we also saw the spot where 7 outward bound youngsters lost their lives in the flash floods last year.
Further vegetation and superb scenery on the way back included Mangawhera Falls. There were some very good examples of the Mountain Cabbage Tree here, a native palm of New Zealand.
Further on we passed under the impressive Makatote Viaduct,
an important physical reminder of the substantial resources and expertise that were invested in the construction of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) railway, and is an iconic monument of the ‘final push’ to complete it.
Watch out for Kiwis on the way home, we don’t want to hit one of those on the road!
Margueritas tonight!! 🙂
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