Scribbler’s Travels

by Scribbler (Russ Burck)

So you want to go to New Zealand. Where do you start? Do you want the
mountain peaks, the fjords, and all the glorious beauty of the south island?
Do you want to start in the north island for great encounters with Maori
people, the majestic and ailing kauri trees, and historic sites like Waitangi,
where the peace treaty between the British and the Maoris was signed?

Dottie and I decided on the north island because that’s where time-share
lodging was available. Oh, darn, time-share, you may say, and I did say
that a little bit. When we flew off into the black LA sky toward Auckland, I
wondered what we’d find at our time-shares in Turangi and Paihia.

But that was still nearly three weeks away. First there were two nights in
Auckland, with it fabulous museum and waterfront, then on to Sydney with
its incredible exhibit about the Maori people and an aboriginal dance performance at the Sydney Opera House, then to Perth, then back toward Melbourne. Only then would we find out about Turangi. First, our adventure took us to a Microtel, the “hotel of the future” at the Melbourne Airport, before our early morning flight to Auckland.

Back in Auckland (more about Down Under later), we rented a Chevrolet
Holden, which I drove south toward Turangi. A bell or buzzer, plus a
message on a screen inside the car, insisted that after two hours of driving, I stop and rest. I thought, “Maybe it’ll go away,” but NO. So we stopped in Putaruru.

Putaruru has Over the Moon. I needed coffee, but I also found treasures in
cheese and bread.

Over the Moon is a world-first-prize winning cheese store. The competition
took place in Wisconsin. From milk country to milk country.

The owner said she hoped as we drove over a rise in Taupo we’d get a good
view south. Oh, a mystery!

By the time we got to that rise on our way south, it didn’t matter whether
clouds hid the view. Darkness did that.

And the next morning in Turangi, heavy cloud cover hid the three active
white-capped volcanoes directly to the south of Lake Taupo and Turangi.
Besides, from Turangi itself that berm-like mountain at the bottom of the
picture and just left of the crater means “you can’t see there from here.”
Another day of mystery—what is that great beauty we’re supposed to see?
The time share served a meet-and-greet breakfast that morning. On the
wall was this panoramic air photo:

That afternoon we drove south toward Wellington, traversing a desert area
where the New Zealand military trains. Off to the west, clouds teasingly
permitted peeks of the volcanoes—but only of their bases.

But just as interesting to me were the thick layers of ash or other volcanic
deposits that the road builders had to cut through laying the road. I have to
go back to get the picture I wish I had taken, but here’s a pale idea of them:

Next day was clear. We drove off to the southwest, past this entrance:

Then alongside the volcanoes, down to National Park for side views of the
volcanoes. Absolutely astonishing.

We weren’t in Christchurch or any of hundreds of astounding places in New
Zealand, but we were delighted to be in Turangi, previously unknown to us, “Trout-Fishing Capital of the World.”

Even so, after four days in and around Turangi and the volcanoes to the
south of it, we were still longing to see that view from Taupo was that was
supposed to take our breath away.