Roundelay

 Round as in roundabouts and delay as in travel delays. Kiwis love their roundabouts. Lots and lots of roundabouts. Not very many traffic lights. More about the delay later.

We left our intrepid travelers on Sunday evening in New Plymouth doing laundry. On Sunday we went to Mount Taranaki, the Māori name for the volcano that is the center of Egmont National Park. [Side note: New Zealand history includes a shorter and smaller but just as vicious version of the genocide committed by Europeans in what is now the US. Every historical marker we have seen commemorates a battle or massacre where the British slaughtered the Māori. Unlike the US, New Zealand has at least started to reckon with this bloody legacy as evidenced by the widespread use of the Māori language. The Maori name for the country, Aotearoa, is widely used.]

Back to Taranaki, which was visible from the window of our New Plymouth apartment.

It’s a remarkably symmetrical volcano that bears a striking resemblance to Mt. Fuji. It’s even more impressive as you get closer. There’s an abrupt transition from the field and pastures surrounding the park to dense forest.

Elevation at the summit is 2518 meters, or more than 8,000 feet. We did not go to the summit. We drove to the visitor’s center where we chatted with the ranger who moved from St. Louis to New Zealand 30 years ago. We took a nature walk around the visitor’s center and saw some lovely plants and trees. And lichens. Quite a lot of lichens.

The paths have a rubber mat to reduce erosion that has space for moss and other plants to grow. It’s quite lovely. 

We then drove down the mountain, out of the park, around the perimeter, and back partway up the mountain to hike down to Dawson Falls. There are steps. Lots of steps. Hundreds of steps. It was absolutely worth it.

On Tuesday we left New Plymouth after taking one last picture of Mt. Taranaki

We were headed for Martiborough and we stopped partway there at Whanganui because the glassblower David talked to in Rotorua, who he heard about from the glassblower he had coffee with in Auckland, told him there were several glass studios in Whanganui. We met a delightful community of glass artists and saw some amusing wall art.

When we got to Martinborough we checked in to our lovely B&B, walked to dinner at a wine bar on the square, and spent Wednesday happily wandering the area and tasting wine. Oh, and eating lunch and tasting gin.

Wednesday evening we went to the gin room run by the same people who own the wine bar and had more gin and some delicious Thai food.

And that brings us to Thursday (today!) when we drove from Martinborough to Wellington to take the ferry to the South Island. That’s where the delay comes in. There was an issue with the vehicle ramp that took them about 90 minutes to fix. Once we were underway, the views made us forget about the delay.

David has a lot more photos on his phone - he’s busy right now checking out wineries for tomorrow’s tastings. When I get more photos, I’ll do a photo dump post. For the moment I’m going to enjoy a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and crawl into bed.