Tennis

Home again, home again jiggety jig.

Only for one night, then away for the weekend to celebrate my grandson's engagement.  Only an occasion as important as that would get me on the road again so soon.

Aiden is keen on tennis, a sport I played a lot when his age.  I took him to a coaching session and since then have been reflecting on how different things were back in the day.  No-one taught us how to play any sport but I was lucky to live next door to tennis courts where all the youngsters in the street played.  Best playground ever!  We watched the older kids who were good players and tried to do what they did.  Peter Wilson was my tennis idol; my friend, Marie wanted to emulate her brother, John.  Oh, I can still remember the two of us sitting on the sideline, breathless with anticipation, when Peter played John.

Marie and I, and two boys from our class were the school tennis team and played in a schools competition around Brisbane.  Every Saturday we'd either be at the school courts or finding our way around Brisbane by train or bus to play.  I don't think the parents of any of us ever saw us play except for us just playing for fun on the courts next door. Mum might have glanced out the kitchen window occasionally but usually when she did it was to see if I was playing and tell me to come and do some chore or other when that game finished.

The older kids were patient with the younger ones and we knew we were improving when an older child invited you to play with them.  Names long forgotten have been popping into my head since I started thinking back on it all.  There was never any formal draws of who we played with or against but somehow we sorted it out.  We didn't appreciate it then but I think Forrest Street may have been a very special place to be a child.

As always when in Taranaki, I tried several times to get a great photo of the mountain.  This one was a quick click before I went inside to get my camera.

I'm falling out of love with my camera.  I struggle with finding the correct setting, sometimes my memory is the problem, at other times it's my eyesight.  I think I'll just stick with the phone.  

This shot is taken with my camera.  I like the phone shot better.

 

A week somewhere else

Any time spent in Taranaki is time well spent in my book, even when it's a fair bit colder than here at home.  I didn't even complain about the wind.  Well, not much.  Spending time with my daughter and her family are added attractions, staying with her in her new home with a view of that marvellous mountain, Taranaki, make for the perfect getaway.

Taranaki is the home of Betty who hosts Welcome to my Corner of the World each week.  It might be just as well I don't live there all the time, I'd just post constant photos of that mountain.

I drove down there this time, didn't like the thought of wearing a mask for hours on two flights and while waiting in Auckland for the second flight.

I set my GPS for the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hamilton thinking that would be a good place for a little rest and walk around.  Should have looked it up before I left home, that would have saved me from driving out of my way only to be disappointed that it is closed for renovations (estimated to be completed in 2021).  The best I could do was a photo from the side of the road.

It wasn't very far out of my way, to be honest.  The same road gave me a very pleasant drive through to Pirongia where I had booked a Shed to stay the night.

 

A very creative couple had taken a half round farm shed and turned it into a funky and very comfortable one bedroom accommodation.  It had been raining lightly most of the way and continued to do so through the night, so I didn't get to enjoy the view of Mt Pirongia which is out there in that mist.  Despite the rain, I enjoyed what there was of the view.

It was still raining the next morning when I stopped for a cup of coffee at the Otorohanga playground.  The brightly coloured equipment looked as dismal as the weather with no children to be seen.

However, the weather cleared as I went further south and I could easily see the mountain as I drew nearer and started pulling off the road to take photos. 

My grandson, Aiden is soccer mad.  He's outside with his soccer ball for hours every day.  While I was there I got to attend his club prizegiving so could share the family pride when he won Most Valued Player for his team.

A great reward for the hours he puts in.  And a good lesson for a young bloke to learn - you have to  put in the time to reap the rewards.

This was very much a family visit, I didn't go off wandering.  Had a day shopping with my "shopper" daughter.  Three hours of it!  I was exhausted after that but have some nice new clothes that my daughter decreed as an improvement on my usual.  There are so many things one should think of when clothes shopping according to the fashionista.

Found this delightful spot one day in Pukekura Park.

Love your corner of the world, Betty.

Housekeeping

Babysitting a child with an ear infection who knows how to entertain himself.  With the ear infection he's a little off colour and not up to Games with Granny, although sick or not he still beats me at card games.  And the whole family beat me at Scrabble last night.  Luckily they're a small family, only three of them, so I don't feel utterly brainless.  Fourth is only just out of the medals.

So here I am in Taranaki, in New Plymouth this time, my only duties keeping the fire stoked and checking on the child occasionally.  The perfect day for some housekeeping.  I decided I'd do some blog housekeeping and went through the list of blogs I've followed for the past ten years.  So many of my favourite bloggers are no longer active.  Most who have stopped just abruptly disappeared.  Here one day, gone the next.  So like life.  

Just outside the kitchen/dining room window where my daughter and her family are living while their new house is being built, is a gully with lots of beautiful big, trees which are attractive to several different birds.  It's hard to imagine such a quaint and quiet street with a stunning bush outlook so close to the city.  Practically in the CBD.  Of course, it's been here a long time.

Earlier today, there were so many birds flitting past that when I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye, I thought the floaters had returned. I had them a while ago.  Apparantly, a lot of people have them and learn to ignore them but I found them very disconcerting and had my eyes checked out by a specialist.  All good.

Taranaki again

I've just returned from my third visit to Taranaki this year.  I think I'll have a little "Home" time for a while.  Snuggle up in my own bed for the rest of winter. 

I experienced a variety of weather while I was away.  One night there was a storm which ensured the ewes in the paddock next to my daughter's house produced a lovely crop of lambs.  It's always a joy to watch lambs playing.

These four were great mates.  They ignored all the other lambs and only played with each other.

My duty while I was there was to get this little man off to school each morning.  I had to turn him around so he was facing in the right direction to get to school in the heavy fog.  Not really, but he thought it was funny.  Gotta love little ones who smile at their grandparent's daft jokes.

 

And then there was the little flood.  Blocked drains sent the runoff from heavy rain down the road and into my daughter's yard. 

I thought it was jolly cold when I was down there but it was here at home that the heavy frost came.   That was yesterday morning but I wasn't up early enough to get photos.  I was enjoying one of those snuggles I mentioned before.

Ahu Ahu Road

Diagonally opposite the road exit from Lucy's Gully is Ahu Ahu Road.  When my friend, Bev and I were there, she recalled the family of a friend who lives down that road and I was sure I'd heard my daughter talking about a wedding venue down that road.  We both had heard enough about it to be tempted to take a drive to see where it might lead us.  

We thought the beach at the end of the road, with it's tree lined shore would be a great place to spend a hot summer's day.

It was just a stroke of good luck that, as we turned around to go back, we noticed the road narrowed to a track and carried on, parallel with the beach.  It was like an invitation to follow it.  Which, of course, we did.

Where the road ended it was obvious there was nowhere else to go.  Unless on foot, across the little swing footbridge which lead to the beach on the other side of a little mountain stream.

 Two surfers returning from surfing the Far Side.

Driftwood - one of the things I love about Taranaki beaches.  

A little piece of driftwood sitting on the hand rail of the swing bridge and 

freshly arriving driftwood in the mountain stream below.

Lonely Planet's Taranaki

In reasonably resent times the joke was that most travellers who reached Taranaki had taken the wrong turn.  That has been changing and will change in a big way now that Lonely Planet has decreed it the second best region in the world to visit.  

Thanks to my daughter's decision to make Taranaki her home I've enjoyed more than my share of the Taranaki sights.  My hope is that such recognition will not spoil the natural feel of the region and bring commercialism. 

There's much more to Taranaki than the parts of it I love so much in my not so active years. For me, it's all about the mountain, lakes and the beaches. 

a beach and the mountain

I'll be back down there in a couple of weeks and the mission this time is to get a mountain reflected in a lake shot.  And, weather and my hips permitting, a Dawson Falls short walk.  There is also a garden, right beside a beach that I've read about but not yet found.  

Perhaps I will venture to a driftwood strewn beach:

Or an isolated cove amongst the cliffs:

I know for sure I will make several roadside stops to fire off a shot of the beautiful mountain.

 Provided, of course, the mountain comes out to play.  

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

Don't get me wrong, I love visiting Taranaki, my daughter and her family and the visits on my way down there and coming back with my other daughter.  But nothing beats coming home again, the comfort of the familiar sights and routines. And attending a stretch class.  How my body misses those strenuous stretch classes.  No matter how hard I try on my own I don't push myself like I do in class.  And I do so enjoy the company of the other ladies who attend this class.  This morning, from my position on the floor I could see out the door, across the lawn and burial ground of the marae to the other side of the harbour.  Who could ask for more?

I flew down to Taranaki on a very early flight, leaving Auckland in the dark and watching day break along the way. 

  Mt Ruapehu in the distance.  It sits in the middle of the island, roughly 250 kms from the coast. 

 I should have known from the strong colours in the sky that morning that rough weather was ahead.

But why worry about what can't be changed when there is a beautiful early morning to enjoy?  The morning was still and clear, the sun just starting to touch the tops of trees along the roadside.  No snow on Mt Taranaki as yet.  It's been unseasonally warm lately.

It wasn't long before the rough weather moved in and the mountain, which can most times be seen from this spot, is hiding behind the fog and mist.

Not that I cared too much about the weather.  I had a lovely visit with the family.  And when I went down to the harbour to take another photo this morning it had started to cloud over and now it is raining here.  Well, trying to rain.  

One day, two lakes

I'm lucky enough to visit Taranaki a few times a year.  My love affair with Mt Taranaki has deepened since my daughter moved there but that hasn't stopped me from falling for a few lakes as well.  When I was last there visiting my daughter, after I returned from Australia in mid February, I was in need of a day out by myself and new sights.  I'd been itching to visit Lake Rotokare since I first noticed the road sign and had googled it.  

Justine suggested I have a look at Lake Ratapiko and to look out for a wedding venue that is there. It's only 12 kms from where she lives, practically on her doorstep.

Lake Ratapiko is not a natural lake but was formed by building a 15 metre-high earth dam across the Mako Stream to create the lake which is approximately three kilometres long.  It is owned by TrustPower and is used for storage for the Motukawa Power Station.  But there are no concrete walls, it looks for all the world like a natural lake.  

I stopped when I came to Lake Farm Garden.  The house sits on the far side of the lake, a very pretty scene.

 An old calf pen stands at the roadside entrance, a testment to the place's life as a dairy farm.  

 As I wandered around I realized the road had passed over a little causeway.  The water on the other side of the road looked more like a pond, not that I'm any sort of expert on bodies of water.  It was covered in something green but looked fresh and alive, not in the least stagnant or smelly. 

A duck family leave 'footprints' on the water surface. 

I'd like to come back on a day when there is no cloud as I've seen photos of the mountain reflected in the lake.  Next time, perhaps.

It was not yet lunch time so I decided to head south to Lake Rotokare which sits about 12km off the main road, just north of Eltham.  A very pleasant drive.  

Entry to the lake is designed to ensure the effectiveness of the predator proof fence which encircles the 8.2 km reserve perimeter, acting as a barrier to pests that might visit from surrounding farmland.  Push a button for the gates to open, drive into the 'vacuum', wait till the first gate closes behind you, then move on and press another button for your release.

 

It's immediately obvious the difference that fence has made to your surroundings.   One minute you are in open farmland, the next you are in a lush, magical forest.

It was a relief (in more ways than one) to find toilet faciities.  I really should have thought about that before turning off the main road.  But I needn't have worried.  There was also a small information room in the visitor's facilities.

I had company as I sat at a picnic table and ate my lunch to continuous birdsong.

My view from the picnic table.

The bush walk was magnificent, with many seats along the way, abundant bird life and beautiful native bush with frequent lake views. 

The walk was flat and easy although there is another longer and more challenging walk for those who have a need for serious exercise.

I give thanks to the Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust for their work in restoring and preserving this beautiful place.  The Trust formed in 2004, in response to concerns about the damage pests were causing to the Reserve’s forests.  It originally set out to raise $30,000 for a pest-trapping project.  With that achieved, they set about fundraising and building the $2 million pest proof fence, eradicating pests (12 pest species disappeared from inside the fence during 2009-2011 alone), revegetation of 12.5-hectares of land that was gifted to the project by neighbouring landowners.  

A wonderful example of what a caring community can achieve.