Adventures on the West Side

Sunday December 6, 2009

After a few too many days of rain, we finally had a fine day. We are on the west side of the North Island. Our goal was for the kids to see the volcano cone of Mt.Taranaki. Cloud cover really ruined that idea. Two full days and no sight of the top of the Mt., but the city of New Plymouth was a pleasant surprise. We stumbled upon a free zoo which had some really cool birds and monkeys. There was a set of falcons with babies. The sign read, “We have babies, we will protect them.” It was true, we were just standing at the cage looking when one flew directly at us and latched itself on the wires in front of our faces. Let’s just say Bridget and I jumped and scrambled back, with really large eyes. That was enough for 3 of us and we moved on to respect the birds. Amelia on the other hand, went to the other window to look in again. She was keeping an eye on one bird and the other went into protection mode and flew directly at her. Lucky she was wearing brown shorts! She is always pushing the envelope.

We were not going to let the weather stop our plans so we still went up the ‘Naki. It was cool to be up in the clouds and yet still on the ground. Our short trek to Dawson Falls was well worth the downhill and uphill climbs. Bridget said it was the best day of her life when she saw the falls. But this isn’t the first time she has uttered those words on our trip thus far. The kids love doing these little treks through the forests and they have yet to be disappointed at what they have seen.
Today, we are in Wanganui. It has a huge muddy river flowing through it. We are staying at a holiday park. Since it was the weekend there were kids around and the girls met some new friends. They played for hours on the jumping pillow, playground, pool and trampolines with their new buds. It was great for all of us to get a break from one another. The girls are getting used to other kids asking lots of questions about their accent and where they are from.

We kept ourselves busy, by walking in this huge tunnel that lead to an elevator in the middle of the hill. The tunnel was over 200 m long which made it great for echos. They couldn’t believe that it was their voices that they could hear repeating. This old elevator, (60m) was build in the early 1900s and is one of only 2 in the world. At the top, we were able to climb a spiral staircase to a lookout. Nice views of course, but low clouds obstructed the distant places we were hoping to point out. There was another tower a few feet away and we then climbed another 176 steps. Once we caught our breath, we were able to enjoy the area even more. Since we had gotten ourselves up this high, we had to get down. Let’s just say we are done with stairs for awhile. My knees are still aching 8 hours later.

We also went on the Waimarie, a steam paddle boat along the Whanganui River. It was used over a hundred years ago and is trying to make a comeback, now in the tourism industry. The kids liked it. They got to toot the steam whistle and got to steer the boat with the big wheel. The girls were also allowed to down into the engine room and they learned a little about how the coal and steam make the paddle work. Amelia was brave enough to shovel in some coal into the engine. It was ‘burning hot’ when the guy opened the door. It was pretty cool for her.

We stopped off in this really little village and walked around. There was a 4 room school there and we thought that we would nosey around. Low and behold there was a SMART board in one of the rooms. Di and I were blown away. A little school in the middle of nowhere has a SMART board and we fight tooth and nail to get them in Simcoe County. Nice ratio 1 to 4!! Did mention that there were wood fire stoves in the corners to heat the classrooms!

Anyways, we are off to the capital city, Wellington, tomorrow. Hoping for sun and no rain and a couple of days in one place again. We will also get a chance to meet up with Dianne’s Bear Creek colleague, Steph.

Carolyn