2.3 litre Triumph Rocket III

This is a behemoth!

The story

Cruise Ship Departing Tauranga

Two shots taken by Rob & Paul

Paul and kids on the right. Shot taken from Matakana

 Grace & Thomas

Our Old Cars

Morris 1000

Rob had this

 Mk1 Zepher 1955

I had the 1954 version of this, with mods!

Mt Karangahake

The trig on the lower peak.

Wider view toward Waihi

Quick stop on the track for a snack

Us on top

Swing bridge at start

We took the "long way up"  via the County Rd track a very gradual climb to 544meters and the stated walk time one way was 4 hours. We did the round trip, taking a different way back, in 3hrs 40min.

Is it worth it? Yes but not so much for the view as all of the southern sectors is overgrown. We never went across to the trig that may be better.

But on the way up there are many old mine shafts and if you are brave enough go in and check out the ceiling! Wetas'. Not giants but big enough to be freaky  and well worth a look. Pics of those soon.

MORE INFO

Tauranga Harbour & Beautiful Older style Boat

Kaimai range in the background.

I suspect this is a relatively new hull built in a more traditional style. With radar.

Maitai Valley Nelson

Digital impression

Pilot Ken Lupton

No this is not what it looks like. This is a GP Hydroplane

The story

Not Your Usual Fishing Boat

Great for the fast trip home

Rope On A Rock

Old wire rope on heart shaped rock

Hang 20 Easy

Definitely not a YouTube moment but these stand up paddle boards are catching on.

This is in the Raglan harbour

The Wait

Fishermen. Ever optimistic. 

The buzz of heading to the "spot" getting set up and throwing the line in is soon dulled back to a brain throb as boredom sets in while you await the inevitable...packing up and going home with just the sad remnants of the bait!

Living In A Cement Silo!

This is something a little different. Located in Raglan New Zealand.

Link to story

Auckland City From Westhaven

Cloud Display

From Westhaven Auckland

Amazing

Natures engineering up close

West Coast Wind Power

Te Uku wind turbines close to Raglan New Zealand

Very distinctive west coast ridgy landscape

NZ Offshore Powerboat Racing. Round 2

Tauranga harbour.

Lots more to come.

Hot exhaust gases

Signage

Don't you just love the constant brain invasion from signs?

They have crept into our lives and pop up frequently even off the beaten track like these examples.

Well meaning but.......

Smells Good Tastes Great

Thomas Started School

A big boy now I'm 5

Takaka

At the top of the South Island close to the Abel Tasman National Park is the township of Takaka. This is a great place to have a coffee and look around the specialty craft shops. However this time we passed right through and headed North East to the Tarakohe area right out on the coast. This is a beautiful spot with a large camping ground and plenty of exploring to be had.

Tarakohe cement plant looking like something from Weta studios. This plant was commissioned in 1908 and ran continuously right up to 1988 when Golden Bay Cement company closed it down. I was about to have a good nose around only to be confronted by a security guy. I think he was happy to have some action.
This link takes you back to when the plant was running
This link to more background

Further along the coast is Limestone Bay and there is the old wharf and a new small marina. To the left is the quarry area.

Then we headed inland for a good walk to Wainui falls. This is in the National park and you wind your way up the riverbed track to the falls.
Rob finding her way through

The falls are lovely and worth the hike in. The water is freezing but people (kids mostly) were swimming not that you can see them..

Its a popular walk.

The map explains the area. Click map for larger view of the entire area.

View Larger Topographic Map

Howling Winds 100kmh Jan 8th

Sudden winds cause havoc around Port Nelson.

Rob and I were having a lovely early dinner in a restaurant overlooking the Nelson Haven and outer waters of Golden bay when all this unfolded. Note pics taken through a window (while sipping a nice cool beer!)

Tanker close to coming into the entrance is turned away back into Golden bay at last minute as the wind got to strong gale force so that tugs and pilot boats can attend people in trouble.

Pilot boat and Tug with one of the yachts caught outside the harbour

 Tug tries to come along side but too dangerous

 Decision made to shepherd yacht into safety which it did

  In the middle of this chaos a swimmer!

 Another 50 year old German swimmer was rescued by the pilot boat and had been clinging on to a mooring and was said to be close to death. Meanwhile the tugs rescued two other yachts one with rope around the prop. I spoke to one of the yachties (from the yacht above) when they came back to the marina (we rushed around there) and he said it was a hell of an experience and took them totally by surprise and they had no option but to drop the anchor and hang on till help arrived.