Nov 10 Wanganui to Waitomo Caves

After posting, took advantage of the hot free showers, as it’s always a dice roll whether the campsite showers are free, too cold/hot, poor pressure, run cold just as you soap up, etc., so you really enjoy the good ones.

Got driving. Not much to take pics of this post, so I’ll talk about the roads and cars for a bit. (Ladies, you can probably skip this section altogether.)

Minis. The real ones. Still a presence here, seem to do well with the lower speed limits. Always been a pretty car to me.

Oh yeah, the retro car I photographed way back in Dunedin? Saw another, it had “Figaro” on the wheel covers, it that helps anyone that has the inclination and a better web connection than I. Please toss the answer in the comments if you do.

Again, even though there are slightly more trucks out here, kiwi’s still use their cars for things like towing trailers ( saw one four door sedan pulling a huge trailer with two big horses aboard. Squatted in the back, but moving along just fine.) Odd that U.S. towing capacities are so much less than the same car over here. Maybe liability?

Still odd to me that oncoming traffic turning right has the right-of-way over you turning left onto the same street. Makes me double check my blinkers frequently, as if one was left on, a car would assume I was turning and legally turn across my path. I wonder why it is as it is?

Roundabouts are nice, but I can see where they’d reach a saturation point and lights would work better. Then again, there’s a 5 way rotary in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada that does really well, even in rush hour, cars just follow the one for one rule and everybody gets where they’re going. Might be an interesting American experiment.

Seeing more and more motorcycles about. Better weather? They must like their exotic bikes here, Ducatis are frequent and I’ve seen 3 MV Augustas ( That’s a U.S. $16,000 base to $120,000 top of the line bike).

Lots of speed/drinking/tired signs roadside here, friendly reminders like “Going downhill? Check your speed “ that kind of thing. Different slogans, different message. Short, sweet, many rather clever.

Many of these vans cruising about… four wheel drive looking 2.8 intercooler turbo…




Yet another cool toy we don’t get to play with in North America. When will we start seeing oem turbos and superchargers on cars? They just make sense, especially on small motors that are becoming more and more popular? The “ No replacement for displacement.” attitude has run it’s course.

Decided to forgo our original plan of driving the jagged coastline around Mt. Taranaki/Edgemont, as our guidebook said there was little to see, it was overcast with occasional rain, and to count on 3 hours of drive time. We wanted to get some miles in, as we’d slowed our pace these last few days. Taking the more direct route, the mountain soon appeared to our left…




Regarding the above panoramic… I’d been waiting for a clear shot of the mountain, found a suitable pulloff spot, but had to walk back along the road to find the same view. Once there, I realized that on foot, the berm of a roadside field blocked my shot. Damn. I scampered up the embankment, stopping at the omnipresent fenceline. Utilizing a thick fencepost to stabilize the camera to line up the multiple shots to compose the panorama, I leaned in and….


BZZZZZTTT!!!

A tingling/numbing zap shot up my arm. Almost dropped the camera. Touched the electric fence. Hope you all appreciate the sacrifices I make to keep you entertained.

Another shot of the mountain, shortly before it was kneecapped by the lowlying cloud bank you see creeping in from the right….



Lots of farm machinery on the roads, most are sympathetic and pull off as much as possible to let you past. Also, lots of “stock effluent” dump stations roadside, with (I just read this somewhere) nine sheep to every New Zealander, there’s a lot of animals being transported along the road. Good idea. I remember being a fairly new motorcyclist back in Nova Scotia, following a cattle truck in the rain for miles, not realizing until I got off the bike that I’d been riding in a fine mix of rain, tire spray, and cow manure/urine for miles. Thought the stench would never come off.

Got to the campsite, after some discussion, booked the maximum “Black Abyss” tour. Caving in the morning! Going caving!

Goodnight.

P.S. those funky vans I’d mentioned? Here’s one in the spot next to us…