Comments on: Te Kaha Sunrise

By: josh

josh — Wed, 16 May 2007 04:40:18 +0000

They girls like all kinds of snacks – nothing distinctly kiwi. Mainly things like chocolate, milk shakes, chips and cookies (called crisps and biscuits here), etc.

Yeah I guess I am turning into Grandpa. We have a lot of ground to cover and have to get Sheryl to the airport in Nelson on the 22nd, so we are covering a lot of ground.

By: dad

dad — Mon, 14 May 2007 11:11:27 +0000

whoa! you made quite a trip. Didn’t picture you getting all the way down to that lake today. (I’m not going to try to type it out…) Now you’re turning into Grandpa – driving huge distances every day! The seafood sounds great. What kind of good snacks do you find? Sheep jerky, or what? Is the general landscape like forests, or grassy hills with sheep, or what is it like?

By: Peg Moore

Peg Moore — Mon, 14 May 2007 05:17:36 +0000

What a gorgeous sight to be treated to! How cool that you happened to wake up and then that you happened to go for that walk. You done your dad proud. XOXOX

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:20:29 +0000

Oh yeah, food! Let’s see… unfortunately there is lots of bad food in New Zealand. Most notably, they like to ruin lots of good fish and seafood by deep frying it. Sometimes that is the only option. We have also eaten lots of great food. We have had Thai a couple of times, unfried sea food (snapper, John Dory, scallops, mussels, etc.), some steak, and the Johnson girls like getting lots of snacks. I think I may have already gained back any weight I lost coming to New Zealand.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 May 2007 21:04:28 +0000

Hey Dad,
We didn’t make it into Raukumra Forest Park, as there aren’t really any roads servicing it. I’m not sure how you would get there. Today we are going to Te Urewera National Park, which isn’t too far away. I think we are going to stay in the park on Lake Waikaremoana.

I just posted a picture of the lighthouse. No photos from Te Puia Springs though. Lots of these places that look like towns on the map, you drive through without realizing they were a town. There may be like one sheep shed and a house and no sign.

By: dad

dad — Sun, 13 May 2007 18:59:04 +0000

ha ha! You’re turning into me! Van and all! ;^) Looks beautiful! What’s the Raukumra Forest Park like? Looks cool on the map, but maybe you didn’t side trip into there. What a great looking trip around East Cape! Wow! Say hi to Sheryl for me! She must be having a great time. Unless she’s getting carsick in the back of the van. What are you eating? Stopping a local places for seafood and grubs? Or what you’ve got with you? Show me a picture of Te Puia Springs if you can. And the East Cape lighthouse, of course.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 May 2007 10:33:53 +0000

In real life, the sunrise was not pixelated.

By: josh

josh — Sun, 13 May 2007 10:33:24 +0000

After a couple of relaxing days in the Bay of Plenty, we headed east along highway 35 which goes all the way around the north eastern region of New Zealand, called East Cape.

We stayed at a holiday park in Te Kaha about half way to the East Cape lighthouse, the most eastern point in New Zealand. Somehow I woke up at 6am and decided to head out for a walk, feeling a bit like my father. The photo above is the sunrise I was treated with, as the sun rose over the bay to the east of Te Kaha, one of the larger small towns in the region. By this I mean that a couple hundred people may call it home.

This region of New Zealand is one of the closest points in the world to the International Date Line, and is one of the first places to greet the new day as the sun rises. There are hardly any people living in this area at all. The ones that do are primarily Maori. The highway wraps around the coast for about 300km, and there are small “towns” along the way consisting of a house or two. Petrol stations are also scarce, making the drive a bit more of an adventure when fuel gets low.

We saw lots of horses (one dead of heart attack) and cows often crossing the road. I’m not quite sure what else I should report, but everything is beautiful. The road is windy and hilly, but well kept.