A Future Posting?

Mount Ruapehu


Now I have got my permanent appointment, I am free to apply for any post that is advertised across the country. A magazine is produced every two weeks with loads of jobs. Last week I applied for a job at a little village called Raetihi in the Tongariro National Park.


Oohhh I want to climb that hill!


This is the area on North Island where the ski-ing is found and it also has three active volcanoes! The biggest one is Ruapehu at about 2900 metres above sea level.

It was the Queens birthday weekend and we decided to drive down to Raetihi for a look around. It took about four and a quarter hours to get there and it is about 350km south of Pukekohe.

Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings)

The police station at Raetihi!!!


The village of Raetihi was a bit of a let down as it is very run down and not in keeping with the other villages we have seen. All is not lost though, as there is a cool village 10km away called Ohakune. This is like an alpine ski resort and was a much nicer place to live. I just need to get a job interview and hope I can talk them into letting us live there and not at Raetihi.

A nice waterfall on the road to Wanganui


We also drove out to the coast along a spectacular mountain road for 88km to Wanganui. It was one of the most scenic roads I have ever driven along but it was hard work with all the hair-pin bends!

Hayley and Charlie on the beach at Wanganui

It's pretty remote on the road to Wanganui!

One thing we really noticed was the difference in temperature. We have still been getting temperatures around 18-19 degrees in Pukekohe, but in Raetihi it was about 6 degrees during the day. It made us realise how used to the nice weather we have become!

Holiday at Taupo

The town of Taupo

Last week we travelled south to Taupo for a week's holiday. Taupo is pretty much bang in the centre of North Island and takes about three hours to get to from Pukekohe.

It is situated next to the largest lake in New Zealand and is about thirty minutes north of the main Ski areas for North Island at Mt. Ruapehu.

We were staying in a small cabin on a holiday park, which was basic, but fine for our cheap budget. We took the mountain bikes with us, as we had planned to visit the many mountain bike tracks in the area.

Huka falls

The Huka falls is one of the main tourist attractions in the area and we started a couple of our rides from the bridge crossing the falls. It is possible to pay to go on a jet boat which rides right up to the base of the falls.

Rapids a bit further down the river

On the first bike ride

Whilst on one of the bike rides we found the Taupo bungy. It is straight off one of the cliffs on the river bank and looked pretty scary!

That's not me!

On the craters of the moon tracks

Charlie on the see-saw

Hayley on the tracks

Nice walk along the beach

Busy on the beach!

We went for a nice little 24km walk along our local beach a few days ago. The beach is about 40km long and runs along the rugged west coast, bordering the Tasman sea.

The area is pretty remote and not many people except locals head out there.

I am starting to build up my fitness now and hopefully I can stay injury free for a while!!

Local horse trainers having a workout

Is that a crocodile or a log?

The tide is out a long way

A round of golf at Remuera

Nice narrow fairways and lots of water hazards.


I had my first round of golf in New Zealand today. It is the first time the trusty clubs have been out of the bag for nearly eighteen months! A friend on my section at work still has a corporate membership to Remuera golf course, which is rated as one of the best in the Greater Auckland area, so we had a free round.


On the fairway



The weather was absolutely scorching and I must have lost a few pounds in sweat! One of the boys was playing off ten so I raised my game a bit to give him a good contest (not like me to be competitive!)

The course was really challenging and very fast. I got round in Par and managed to win after playing really well, so the eighteen month lay off must have done me good!

The nineteenth hole is in sight!

Walking in the Coromandel Peninsula

The start of the track



Yesterday both myself and Hayley had a day off together. The weather was great so we decided to head east to the Coromandel. We picked a route called the wires loop track. It took five hours and was mainly in the forest, with occasional clearings giving us good views.

A view towards one of the pinnacles

About half way around the route we found this nice little hut called The River Inn. It is for trampers and has a barbeque and fire if you want to have a barbie. Cool.

Hayley in the pub!

Getting out of the forest near the end of the walk

Easter Holiday to Rotorua

We decided to head south to Rotorua for a four night camping trip during the Easter break. It worked out really well because I had just finished a set of night shifts and had five days off. The summer weather has extended well into the Autumn here.

I don't think they really have an Autumn or a spring as we know it in England. There is really only a summer and what they call a winter, but in reality it is more like an English Autumn.

We were warned that the roads would be really busy heading south for the Easter break and that we would need to allow loads of extra time for the trip. It is about 200km south from Pukekohe and should take anywhere between 2-3 hours to get there.

We left at three in the afternoon, which allowed us five hours to get there before dark. We ended up reaching the campsite by six. The journey was very pleasant and the roads were quiet. I spoke to a friend who had also made the trip and he thought it was busy! I guess that is the difference between here and the UK roads. I don't think they really know what a traffic jam is here!

A New Zealand Traffic Jam!

The town of Rotorua

Putting up the tent

Rotorua is situated pretty much in the middle of North island and there is a lot of volcanic activity in the area. It is famous for its hot pools and mud baths. Tarawera volcano overlooks the area and it had a violent eruption in 1886 which killed lots of people.

Boiling mud pool in the local park

Mt. Tarawera

And again form the other side

The town itself has a population of 65,000 people and is very clean and pretty. Rotorua lake is one of the main focal points and it is basically an old volcanic crater that has been flooded. The lake is very large and is about ten miles in diameter.

Hot pools at Lake Kairau

Rotorua is geared towards outdoor pursuits, therefore we were very interested to see what was on offer. There is the chance to do tandem parachuting, river rafting, power boating, tramping, mountain biking, adventure racing..........the list goes on! Needless to say, if you are an adrenalin junkie, then this is the place to visit.

We managed to visit the local Maori village, where we were shown the famous Haka by the locals. Quite intimidating when you see it close up!

Pronounce that one after a few beers!

Trying the Haka with the locals

Hmmmmm....been out in the sun for too long!

The ducks on Lake Rotorua

We also drove around Tarawera volcano and went up the Gondola to have a go at Luge racing.

The chair lift to get to the Luge

Charlie in the lead

Rotorua is a great place, although it does smell of rotten eggs! We will be heading back there again in the future. Our next trip will be down to Taupo in the Tongariro National park at the end of April.

Some Snaps of the Past 2 Months.

Port Waikato & Rangitoto

Rainbows End

Charlie in his new uniform. Happy 11th Birthday
Tramping on the Coromandel.

The family came to stay.

Here's just a few snaps of whats been happening over the last 2 months. For more info read our '2 month catch up' post.