Oakura

When Rich was last in NZ he took the train from Wellington to Auckland. Ohakune, (just down the road from where we were in Raetihi), has a hike through to one of the bridges he went across on that train trip.

You can stand on the old original bridge and look at the bridge that he would have gone across…

How cool is it that Rich is here with his son now?

Funny how these things work out!!!

The old tunnel that the original tracks went through is still there, a highlight for Luca..

The hike in before you hit the bush went through some very typical NZ farmland, filled with sheep 🙂

Ohakune is known for its wonderful growing, specifically things like carrots,potatoes, parsnips, swedes etc. This all began largely because of Chinese immigrants who started the first farms here, their descendants are still on the farms today. There is a playground/park area dedicated to all this. It is constantly being added to and they are doing a wonderful job of turning it into an amazing space.

Rich and Luca were fascinated by the automatic loo! Like the ones in Europe, it plays music while you do your thing and has automated everything, doors, flushing, water etc etc. They went in twice !!!!!

Luca also tells me the carrots here are the best tasting in the world 🙂

From the centre of Ohakune you can do hikes up the river and around the base of the mountain

I am really enjoying seeing all the very Kiwi foliage and flowers, so iconic for us, the Koru and the Kowhai flower

We have down time too 🙂 Here is Luca reading among our washing while it is drying

It is a book on Gnomes which he tells me is very informative! 🙂

The garden space we had in Raetihi was lovely

Out last evening there we went to see a Pantomime put on by the local theatre. It was really wonderful, our hosts were in it. This was Luca’s introduction to live theatre and he loved it! It was held in an very old theatre in the village. So old, that there are warnings it does not meet code, so you “enter at your own risk”, no one blinks an eye 🙂 !

We loved the community spirit surrounding this and people came from far and wide to see it. It is an annual event to put on a play.

This was a typical view driving around this area, pretty spectacular eh?!!!!

We left 2 days ago and took the Forgotten World Highway across to New Plymouth. It is QUITE the road trip and dodgy at times, but so spectacular!!!! Highly recommend it, if, like us, you can take your time and enjoy the ride. It is considered ones of NZ’s most scenic routes and we absolutely agree.

So here we are in Oakura a little village on the ocean just outside New Plymouth. This is our home for 5 days, it is so so sweet

my view while I am writing this is wonderful…

Yesterday we took a hike up Lucy’s Gully, strenuous but beautiful!

Lucy’s Gully is situated at the western end of the Kaitake Range. The area was named after Ruhira Matekai who was also known as Lucy Stevens. By all accounts an amazing woman born around 1820 who contributed to the area in many many ways. Here is an old photo I found of her with a local child.

We have awoken to a gorgeous day today. This pic sums up how we feel about around here 🙂

Rich loves that lemon and orange trees are everywhere!

Today we will go into the city and check it out, we drove through it but did not stop on the way in, it is about 10 minutes away. Our hosts here very helpful with information, have kids in school here and have lived here for a few years. They love it around here and speak very highly of the schools.

My parents gave Luca a book on NZ birds and he is constantly referring to it. We see many here and Luca is always out there looking for and whistling for different ones The Tui now his firm favorite as they whistle back to him :). They are known to be able to speak well if held in captivity.

Rich and I have concluded that choosing a place to settle is going to be very difficult, we are loving so much!!!!!