Archive for the ‘Around Town’ Category
Road Trip – Day 3 – Wellington to Hamilton
Comments (1)All photos taken on a Leica C-Lux 3 camera – Click on the image to get a better quality view.
Please Subscribe and Comment 🙂
Hello again humans… this is the third leg of my randomly pointless but yet great waste of fuel and time trip around the North Island of New Zealand..
YAY
I left Wellington nice and early, and ended up here as my first stop…
First stop: LEVIN (as in, “That’s it, I’ve had enough, I’m LEAVIN” ) lol
Not a lot going on here…
There is a clock tower… OOOhhhhhh 
… and some road…. yeah…
Next Stop: FOXTON
There is a plaque about the main street, and then, there is also the main street..
Some old stone steps, which were slightly more challenging to climb then I thought…..
Another Water Tower… retired…
And.. an actual working Windmill.. of which was built in 2003 and is currently used to mill wheat 🙂
Just before the next stop, is New Zealand’s OHAKEA Royal Air Force Base (see picture below). If I’m not mistaken, our Air Force consists of about’… nothing. Fairly much.
Next Stop: BULLS
Indeed, this is where milk comes from.. yes, milk comes from bulls.. not cows..*grin* …
Follow this link to Wikipedia about Bulls 🙂
Follow this link for proof that Milk really does come from BULLS… Oh my goodness….
Noteworthy note: I even found a random book from the late 1800’s (1895 or something) so I bought it cause I know someone over seas who might like it 🙂 YAY
Bulls is where I stopped to have Lunch, buy a book from 1887 or something, and then leave.
There is even a Dutch shop in Bulls…I bought me some horrible sweets that tasted like salt.
Next Stop: WANGANUI
Not overly intersting.. but: Follow this link for their very own place in the internet
I saw this old building, carefully restored, looking rather posh, so I had to stop and take a picture.
Oh look, another water tower… or is it bell tower….after a while, they all look the same…
A very nice looking Art Gallery building..
Another monumint dedicated to something, in the middle of the main stree
t…
A weird Bell Sculpture thing…
and finally… me getting the hell outa Wanganui…
Next Stop: PATEA
Not a lot going on in Patea, but I did take a bunch of photos of an old closed down Meat Works, which I’m told by a local, closed in 1983.
Next Stop: HAWERA
Yes, you guessed it, another Water Tower….
Next Stop: MANIA
Where apparently, they make bread… who would have guessed ??
At least their Post Office was nicely restored and painted….
another monument thing….
This building I thought was very kool indeed, it reads right at the very top, Established 1875.
That is an OLD building.
and the origional Post office, from 1883 to 1993, 100 Years old, then retired.
Next Stop: OPUNAKE & Areas
A rather big hill with snow….
I drove into the National Park, but there wasn’t much to see other then trees.
And an old barn, that is falling appart, if you look at the left/bottom there’s an old car parked in the old barn… I assume, the car is also falling appart….
Next Stop: OAKURA
Fairly much, just some beach… a place for dead people to hang out and chill, and some animals…
Next Stop: NEW PLYMOUTH
This is where I stopped and had dinner, Fish and Chips… and watched the sun set in the west, as New Plymouth is fairly much the west most point.
There is a smoke-stack tower thing..
the same smock-stack hiding behind a rock…
and.. the sun setting in the west (as it does here in New Zealand)…
Three Sunsets for NerdJanet 🙂
Going…..
Going………..
Gone.
That is it really …. after the sun went down, I did the long drive from New Plymouth up to Hamilton, where I stayed the night with friends, from Hamilton i will venture back to Auckland, about 1.5 hours drive , on the 31-10-09.
Here’s a few pictures of me driving at night heading to Hamilton.
Boy.. it’s dark……
Good thing the GPS knows where it’s going (most of the time)….
Yep… it’s still dark….
Oh, look how slow I’m going.. hehehe.. anyways….
That’s it for Day 3.
Stay safe.
Road Trip – Day 2 – Napier to Wellington
All photos taken on a Leica C-Lux 3 camera – Click on the image to get a better quality view.
Please Subscribe and Comment 🙂
Part Two.
My Hotel room in Napier had a Hot Tub.. Yeah 🙂 … I didn’t use it though.. DOH!
Napier is known for its Art Deco design, after the big earth quake that near flattened the place, they re-built it in like.
And a cool looking sculpture thing….
Next Stop – Cape Kidnappers
Cape Kidnappers is a Gannet Colony Reserve, I was going to drive out to it, but the tide was high, and it wasn’t worth the risk.. so here’s a photo of the information board instead.
So continuing along.. it rained…
Next stop – WAIPUKARAU (I’ve changed to a slightly more detailed map for this area)
Not allot to look at here, other then quite a cool looking Masonic Temple..
On to – DANNEVIRKE
On the way, I see mountains with snow caps 🙂 YAY SNOW 🙂
Then, we got into town….
Vikings ?????
Yes, Apparently, in 1880, the fist boat load of Swedish peoples landed… Dannevirke is a Norse town.
Not much to see, so on to the next town….
Next stop: MANGATAINOKA – Home of TUI Beer 🙂
The opening and Closing hours had me a little confused…
The “Actual” Tui Brewery Building (behind protective fence)
Follow This Link for funny TUI Beer Add on YouTube
And… TUIWOOD … Yeah, take that Hollywood!! 🙂 Hahahahaha errr….
Next Stop: EKETAHUNA
This was the only interesting thing I could find in Eketahuna
Next Stop: Mt Bruce National Park
This is the visitors centre at the wildlife centre.. Nice Building..
This is where they save and bread New Zealand’s native bird, the Kiwi.
This is the only Kiwi image I can give you, as Kiwi’s are nocturnal, they are in a dark enclosure, and not allowed to use Flash on the Camera. They are cute though.
The fist gives you an idea of the size of a single egg from a Kiwi… damn! That’s big!
There is also an outdoors thing, not much going on.. but here you go.. looks nice and so I went for a walk 🙂
… And a Duck…..
.. and some bird thing in a tree that was REALLY LOUD 🙂
.. and some water..
.. and a track…
.. and the outside of the building ..
Next Stop: MASTERTON
A few interesting things….
Just outside of Masterton is Carterton
And a wicked looking fountain thing…
And then… TOTALLY out of the blue…Read the Sign…. I kid you not! It’s for real!
Follow this link for: Stonehenge New Zealand
Next Stop: FEATHERSTON
Just a war memorial…
.. and I thought this church sign was quite funny 🙂
Finally.. WELLINGTON… YAY…. Bottom of the North Island of New Zealand.
Here, I will stay the night…
saw this old building.. it looked interesting (x2) 
Can you see how dirty the water looks ?? Ewww
As Wellington is the Capital City of New Zealand (not Auckland) this, sadly is the Government House Building, called “The Beehive” cause it looks like a beehive…
Ok enough of politics…
Then I saw a awesome looking church building, just as the sun was starting to set, so there is a light hint of sunset pink on the building also..
I liked the lines and design on this building, the National Library of New Zealand…
I managed to catch the Moon above the corner of the building… YAY 
This, just looked interesting… a splattering of red… 
I wonder why they want to refurbish the Royal Thai Embassy building…???
As I was driving around looking for a place to have dinner, I saw this wicked looking building… so here are a few shots of it…
A zoomed in shot…
Thi
s is where I had dinner….
BTW… Dinner was Fantastic!! 🙂
Then.. Driving back, this area is called Oriental Bay, Wellingtons nicely developed water front…
And… that’s all for the day err night….
Bed time.
See you tomorrow 🙂
Road Trip – Day 1 – Auckland to Napier
All photos taken on a Leica C-Lux 3 camera – Click on the image to get a better quality view.
Totally by accident, this happened, I woke up, and felt like going for a drive…
I drove, and drove, and drove and… well, you get the idea….
This is my transport 🙂 YAY, love my Toyota Surf 4×4.
Huntly Bridge – about an hour south of Auckland.
Tirau – A Little Town….
Imagine that, a church co-operating with people… ha!
The Good Tin Shepherd, with this Good Tin Dog
The Good Tin Sheep to go with the above.
A Clock Shop
Some grassy hill thing with a tree..
Next Stop – TOKOROA (yes I came from the bit at the top that says Auckland)
A quick stop at Tokoroa, not much to see, see…
The Road Is Long…..
Next Stop – TAUPO – Middle of the North Island of New Zealand.
Had Lunch, saw some things, took some pictures, got bored, left.
Hydro Electric Lake for power generation at Taupo. The Generation plant is under ground. Neat.
A local of Taupo, well, a Lama.. near enough to a local. 🙂
Thermal Power Generation and Heating
The Mighty Huka Falls River
Me driving, Leaving Taupo on my way to Napier
My GPS telling me I should get ready to turn RIGHT in .. 98.9Km ??? What The ?? Come on, I know I’m dumb, but do I really need THAT much forward notice of a pending Right Hand Turn ?
The Road goes on.. and on.. and on…with forestry industry on the left and right
A cool looking waterfall in the middle of nowhere…
Then finally… NAPI
ER – Gawds, what a long drive… Here I stay the night :)
Napier’s Shipping Port
Where the Trees turn into Logs, turn into Wood, get shipped away…
Napier, from Hills Point Lookout
Sleepy time in Napier.
Good night, … more tomorrow 🙂
Road Trip
HI, I’m going away for a few days on a random road trip.
Stay tuned, and I’ll have random photos for you also.
Yay.
Winter Garden Expedition
A few months ago, I went to the local gardens, called The Winter Gardens (yes it was winter).
I swear, these are REAL plants.
All these images were taken on a Nokia N96 cell phone camera.
Night time adventures
This is an old building in town buy one of my favourite Asian food courts… dusk was just approaching. looks like all that holds this building together now is paint..
I saw, what I believe to be an unsuccessful attempt at jumping out a window….
Our colourful communications tower, Sky City Casino
The Sky Tower again, from the base, looking up to the 220m lookout deck
That’s all, until i work out how to make nighttime images less grainy.. damn digital cameras.
I want my 35mm back again 😦
Uneasy Pills - Rantings of a lost ID.iot 