DAY 225 MONDAY NOVEMBER 5 WATERFRONT

Our last day in N.Z. so we walked along the waterfront looking at the big yachts.  First we came to a statue of an albatross on a training frame designed to get him used to flying after being injured.

This huge boat was registered in George Town.

Another one was called the Arctic.

We saw a restaurant which was cladded outside with lengths of pallet timber. One for Evelyn. This seat used a whole tree to make.

On the way back we saw how they use old shipping containers.  This one housed a public Video Screen.

And these featured the lovely M.M.

She was advertising paint and was made of test pots.

She was next to a waterfall that had a disappearing flame on top.

We spent the rest of the day shopping for souvenirs and catching up on the blog.  A lovely soprano was singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow in Queen St and we recorded her for our Video Musicians collection.

 We have contacted the agent who told us the Bahia docks at 7am tomorrow so we can board any time until 1pm.  This may be the last blog post before we get to Killcare, hopefully on Friday.

DAY 224 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4 TOKOROA

We walked round to the bus stop through almost deserted streets.

Boarded the bus for Auckland and travelled through the fruit growing hinterland where the containers get their cargo from.  Some big vineyards there.

First stop was Lake Taupo, which was too big to fit in the camera.

Next stop the village of Tokoroa for lunch.  Many wooden carvings here.

That one was so good we bought a poster of it.  The other one was Pine Man.

Most of the chainsaw was timber.

This totem suggested a project to carve our stairway treepost. Any one offer to carve native animals on it?
We arrived back in Auckland at 3.10 and settled back into the Mercure Hotel.

DAY 223 SATURDAY NOVEMBER 3 NAPIER AGAIN

We moved on again, travelling by bus back to Auckland via Napier.  Helen drove us to the bus station and we had a hug to say goodbye.

 The bus passed hundreds of wind generators on top of the hills and we were told by a passenger that these farms supply more than enough power for Palmerston North.

 As we came through the very scenic Manawatu Gorge we saw road works still in progress.

I accidentally photographed this cute Maori baby while trying to get the above photo.  I hope his parents don't mind him getting in the blog.

The Manawatu River flows fast through the gorge.

 It had been closed until recently after two huge landslips over 12 months ago.  It was actually closed on Wednesday all day to clear large rocks away.  We arrived in Napier at 1pm and walked to the Art Deco Masonic Hotel.

 It looked beautiful outside and the staff were very helpful.

 The room had everything we wanted and the wifi is excellent. It rates among the top few hotels of our trip and it has a lovely feel about it.  We rang Hamish Jamieson our agent and met him in the Hotel Cafe for brunch.  We arranged the final payment of $795 for our trip with him and shared some of our experiences.  We walked around the town, which is one of our all time favourites, especially the Art Deco Centre which had moved in our absence to a waterfront site opposite our hotel. The cathedral spire is the highest point which was always what it was supposed to be.

Now that we have returned to Napier we can say that our world circumnavigation without leaving the ground (or water) is officially complete.  We will save the celebration for arrival in Sydney.

DAY 222 FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2 BRIAN AND HELEN

We spent the day getting re-acquainted with Palmerston north.  It is 35 years since we lived here for 12 months, so a lot has changed. After a hearty breakfast with Brian and Helen in their lovely house that they moved into ten years ago, Brian invited us to go with him to the Chaplaincy at Massey University for a discussion on the Christian book "Caring For Creation".

 Malcolm accepted the offer and Lyn offered to go with Helen to a campus coffee shop.  On the way to the Uni they took us along walking tracks through the bush.

 After the discussion group Brian went off to a Science lecture elsewhere while us three walked into town to see the changes.  We spent some time in the big, new shopping mall which looked the same as the ones we saw in Europe and Asia.  We then walked around the town square

 and as we passed the Art Centre we found this interesting statue. Lyn found a metal stick insect on the strut.  The sparrow is not real.

Robyn and Philip should recognise this place.

 Helen led us via more walking tracks about 4 kilometers back to her place at 5pm.  After a rest needed from the all day walking we went to the Rendezvous Restaurant at the local hotel.  Helen shouted us a beautiful meal, but she had to go back as soon as we came home because they had charged her for the wrong bill.
During the day we had caught up on news of families and friends. 

DAY 221 THURSDAY NOVEMBER 1 EXPLORER TRAIN

The train for Palmerston North left from the "Britomart" station at 7:50 am.  We left three of our four bags at the Mercure Hotel as we had booked in for two nights on our return.  The train had only four carriages for seats plus a buffet car and an open air viewing car. The tickets cost us $117 each which is too dear for most of the locals, who can travel by bus for less than half that.  Many of the passengers are probably tourists like us who want to go the scenic way.  We will come back to Auckland by bus.
We have been used to European trains which can have 30 or more carriages and be booked out.  It was worth the money.

 It had large scenic windows, comfortable seats, very clean toilets and excellent staff who were flat out: They had to staff the ticket office for an hour before departure, serve food to passengers in their seats and read the prepared commentary commentary all along the way.  Every time the train stopped or slowed they gave a complete explanation of the reasons.
The pastures were very green and the cattle were put into quite small paddocks.

When we got to National Park area after King Country we got frequent views of the snowy mountains: Ngaurahoe, Tongariro, Ruapehu.  We took many photos but here are a few:

Just befor arriving in National Park Station the train goes up the famous spiral which takes it up to nearly 900 metres. As you climb you can look at the lines below and above.
Coming back down we crossed several 80 metre high viaducts over the Rangatikei river.

The train arrived at Palmerston North at 4:30pm and we were met by Helen and Brian and they took us on a walk around the Lido and the Esplanade Gardens.

Anyone remember the miniature railway? It is twice as long now.

Is this where the family on bikes photo was taken?  In the rose garden?

We found the source of those emails, blogs and esoteric publications.

DAY 220 WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31 HALLOWEEN

McDonalds was just around the corner so we tried their Wifi over breakfast and managed to get some work done. Outside we saw a Skeleton and Alice in Wonderland (with vampire bite) and a wicked fairy and a yeti giving away mini chocolates so we collected more than our fair share over the day.

We made a phone call on the hotel phone (we never do that!) and booked an afternoon tour with Beach and Bush.
Our guide, John, turned up at 12.30 on time and picked up a German couple then drove us to the Waitakere Ranges.  He took us to a National Park display centre where we could see the West Coast harbour down below and some young kauri trees.

The circular plaque in front of the tree looks like this:

The Maoris put some of their carved statues here.

The height was 300 metres  plus so we got a good view of the city.

 From there we drove down to Karekare Beach where a horse race was to be held next weekend.  It was isolated and almost deserted, which made it suitable as the place to film "The Piano", which you may have seen.  The sand was  black and consisted mainly of iron that was exploded from Lake Taupo during a volcanic event.

 Lyn put a magnet on the sand and it responded just like iron filings. She asked John why iron is red in Australia and why the black iron does not rust.  John could not explain so Lyn hopes it can be a new form of rustless steel.
We also went to a lookout over Piha Beach where surfing competitions are held and "Xena Warrior" and the Narnia films were filmed.

John found we liked bushwalking so he offered to take us on the walk which he leads on the all day trip.  So we walked through a pristine subtropical rain forest with kauris up to 1000 years old.

 We saw rimu trees old and new as well as silver ferns, beautiful streams and two little swallows. A really great walk.