We are now back in Wellington after a great week travelling to Gisborne, Rotorua and Turangi.
In Gisborne re re-visited the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (Arboretum of New Zealand) and enjoyed several hours walking various trails. We were almost the only visitors on the day of our visit, and only saw one other family (as we were leaving), so it felt like we had the place to ourselves. If you are interested in photos, check out the posting from our visit in 2014.
We also checked out something new in Gisborne, the Footrot Flats statue which has recently been erected temporarily in a riverside park, while it waits for its permanent home to be redeveloped. Footrot Flats is a cartoon by New Zealander Murray Ball, a local Gisborne boy, and was very popular in the 1980s and 90s. The main characters are a farmer named Wal, and his dog named Dog, who lived at Footrot Flats. In the photo below I tried to do my best Wal pose.
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Jim, Wal & Dog
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While cruising the residential streets of Gisborne, I spied the road safety sign shown in the photo below....food for thought.
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| Road Safety Sign |
From Gisborne we headed to Rotorua, where our destination was the Blue Lake Holiday Park, which is a little out of town, beside the Blue Lake, and close to the Green Lake and the Buried Village. We only had two nights in Rotorua, but managed to fill our time well. On day 1 we visited the tea house at the Buried Village (great scones) and later did the walk around the Blue Lake, which stayed close to the lake, and was primarily in native bush.
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| Blue Lake, Rotorua |
On our second day in Rotorua, before heading to Turangi, we walked in a Redwood Forest, amongst the massive trees, which reminded us of the Douglas Firs on Vancouver Island. There was a great network of trails within the forest, and certainly more for us to explore next time.
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| Redwood Forest, Rotorua |
Turangi was intended only as an overnight stop to break up the journey from Rotorua back to Wellington, but it turned out to be a highlight. Firstly, our accommodation at Creel Lodge was a great surprise - an excellent unit in a quiet location, with direct access to 15 Km of walking trails along the Tongariro River. If only we had brought our fishing rods.....next time maybe?
As children we enjoyed several summer holidays in a bach (holiday house, pronounced "batch") at Pukawa, a few miles from Turangi, on Lake Taupo, and we decided to go and see if it was still there. Fifty five years ago, Pukawa consisted of 3 houses somewhat back from the lake and 1 house on the lakeshore, with no electricity, all accessed down a narrow dirt road if it had not rained too much. Today, the area is covered in houses, fully-serviced with utilities, accessed down a 2-lane asphalt road. Without too much trouble, we managed to find the childhood bach, tucked in behind a Maori marae, and the other 3 houses were also still standing and recognisable. The area brought back many memories of our childhood holidays, making for a very nostalgic visit.
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| Bach at Pukawa |
Before heading out the next morning, we did a short walk along the Tongariro River, but again, much more to explore on our next visit.
The trip back to Wellington was uneventful, with coffee in Taihape and lunch at a (noisy) picnic area along the Himitangi straight. We delivered Tricia to the 5:30 pm train back to Featherston, and so ended another great family vacation. I wonder where we will go next year?
Always being on the lookout for items of interest, I noticed the sign below in a Kiwibank branch. Interest rates in New Zealand tend to be higher than Canadian rates at the moment, as the New Zealand economy has not needed as much stimulus, although that is likely to change. The 2-year mortgage rate of 4.39% is a little higher than the current RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) rate of 3.25%, and the 150-day term deposit rate is substantially higher than the RBC rate of 0.35%. But what is most noticeable is the difference between what the bank charges in interest on loans and what they pay as interest to depositors - Kiwibank survives on a 1.14% spread, while RBC takes a whopping 2.69%. It is worth noting that RBC also charges a monthly fee to deposit our money with them, but Kiwibank charges no account fee. I know where I would rather keep my money.
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| Kiwibank Interest Rates |
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