New Zealand North Island 3 (Turanga, Te Puke)

24 March 09. On the way to Turanga from Auckland we found a few Indian names such as Bombay Hills. On the way we saw a number of eye-catching road warnings, such as "Speed plus alcohol is equal to dead end". This is a good warning to those drunk driving people in this wine producing country. But during the time we drove in NZ, we haven't seen any car accident. The roads are narrow without sufficient road shoulder. The narrow road shoulder made it difficult for us to stop to take interesting photos or to change driver. It is harder to drive there but most drivers were careful accept for a few crazy ones.

On the way to Turangan, we stopped at a seaside town called Waihi which was a gold town where we lingered for a while at the seaside before moving on . I picked a few seashells for Najidah as souvenirs. Since we took a different road, we missed the Athenree Gorge but was compensated by a quint town called Katikati. This is a mural town - every wall space in town is decorated by attractive murals done by local artists initiated by Katikati Open Air Art Inc. It becomes the pride of the town. There is not a single graffiti to mar the work of those artists.. In fact I came across the artist, Irene Tusera Falconer who was repainting and retouching her mural which was done in 1991. We came across intereting quotes such as 'It is better to have love and lost than to have a psycho in the house.' Hei, isn't it an interseting reminder of whom you share your house/life with. Beside murals, Katikati also exhibits sculptor which we found one in the garden by Donald Peterson entitled 'BARRY: A Kiwi Bloke'.
















Indra and Chom at one of the murals in Katikati.














Katikati Fire Station - purple in colour, established in 1955. The first time I saw a fire station other than red in colour!








Turanga is a busy harbour town. We checked in Cobblestone Court Motel, Turanga in Chapel Road. We weren't interested spending time in the town but instead we drove to Mt. Maunganui which is situated at th end of a tanjung with beautiful beaches. The scenery is so calming accompanied by soft tantalising wind from the deep blue South Pacific Ocean. Chom and I decided to climb the path around the mountain, not knowing that it was a long way around. Indra had to wait for us and we were sure she would be annoyed for being forced to wait over an hour for us. I tried to call her but we knew she left her handphone at the hotel. Poor Indra!! But Chom and I had a good walk around the mountain with magnificent scenery of part of Turanga.






The beach at Maungunui Mountain, Turanga.












Mount Maunganui, Turanga.

The seafront of Mount Maungunui.

At dusk. Chom on the walking path around Mount Maunganui, Turanga.

25 March 2009. We left Turanga towards Te Puke ('Te' in Moari language is 'the' in English). I wanted to see kiwi fruit trees and along the way, we stopped at Kiwi 360, a kiwi fruit farm. I was amazed and tickeld when I was told by the staff there that kiwi fruits are from vine, not trees. No wonder from far we saw what we thought was vineyard. This is quite a big learning for me. Since we were early, we took the first tour and got all the attention from Simon, the guide who patiently answered our curious questions. I learned:

1. Kiwi fruits grow on vines.

2. There three types of kiwi fruits:

a) the normal hairy skin that we found in our supermarkets.

b) smooth skin, yellowish in colour - gold kiwi, expensive, very sweet mostly exported to Japan.

c) kiwi berry, thumb size, extremely sweet and expensive, not exported.

3. kiwi fruits are originally from China.

Kiwi fruits aplenty - the normal hairy skin that we found in our supermarkets.

Kiwi bird is nocturnal. We did not see them in their natural habitats. The kiwi birds are protected specie. So we found a huge one in Kiwi 360!!

We left for Whakatane to check in White Island Rendezvous Motel but was disappointed that the White Island Tour has left for the day. White Island is famous for it accessable live valcanoes as a natural attraction. However we enjoyed the serene harbour. I managed to capture a sunset scene at the harbour. We left Whakatane the next day to Gisbourne and Napier.

At White Island Rendezvous Motel, Whakatani.

In Whakatani town, small, cozy and quint with colourful impatients generously flowering in variety of colours.