Arohena to Mangakino

The road to Arohena DoC camp is quite a beauty. Once you hit Landing Road it is metal and heads off down the hill ….

Even Google maps has a problem with the last part… but still the view at the end was fantastic and a huge campsite.

		Arohena DoC campsite VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I unloaded the MiniCat and had a bit of a sail up the river for a while. Quite good sailing but the breeze was very variable and gusty. Fun though.

So then it was washing time again….happens on a regular basis and the sunshine was fantastic so out with the washing machine and clothes line and way I went. There was water on site and I didn’t have to carry water too far as there were taps spread around the campsite.

		Washing Day VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The side panel for the awning worked well today as the sun was extremely hot and it offered a huge amount of protection.

As you can see from the earlier pictures, there were not a lot of people at the campsite. There was one large caravan and a couple of tents when I arrived but they were all gone by mid afternoon leaving just me and a small van. So very quiet night was had. The sunset lighting on the hills was lovely.

For some reason I didn’t feel right at that campsite, I can’t put my finger on it but it was just a feeling of “I don’t want to be here”. Not a feeling of danger or anything but just quite uncomfortable, so I packed everything up in the evening and was ready for an early head out in the morning.

First thing after breakfast I headed back out up the hill and turned south and headed up the river.

The first stop was Waipapa Dam. A quiet humming in the early morning stillness.

		Waipapa Hydro Dam VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This is a dam the road runs alongside rather than across and on the other side of the road was a fascinating little hole in the rock face….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to take a picture inside but that is all I could manage.

So from there I wandered south again and headed off the main road down to the next dam and power station which was Maraetai Power Station

The photos don’ really tell the story of the size and scale of this but I tried.

		Maraetai Hydro Power Station VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The penstocks coming down the hill were quite organic looking as if they were part of the eco system. They are the same colour as the surrounding rock.

From there is was a short trip down to the town of Mangakino and I parked The Fredrock Cafe beside The Bus Stop Cafe.

 

		Mangakino Reserve VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This reserve is a wonderful quiet area until the Cafe owner set up his little model speed boat that runs on a weed eater petrol motor and goes like the clappers.

I set up the MiniCat and headed out for a sail across the lake. Quite quiet but enough wind to make for a nice sail. I went out again in the afternoon when the wind picked up a bit and it was quite exciting sailing. Unfortunately in the process of setting up for afternoon tea I managed to drop my camera so there will be no pictures for a while. The camera still operates but the LCD screen/viewfinder is a white mess.

I spent a lovely hour or so chatting to a lovely couple who were heading home to Timaru after visiting their daughter in Cambridge. They were retired and had moved from Christchurch to Timaru after the earthquake. It was great to get some tips on South Island places to stay and see. Thanks for that.

In the morning it was beautifully quiet and so I unloaded the kayak and headed back down the river to the power station, a trip of about 2km there and 3km back as I went down one side and back the other and it is about 900m across the lake!

Around lunchtime as I was baking some savoury scones, a small Toyota van pulled in alongside me and a young couple got out and were trying to tighten up their wing mirror with a pocket knife screwdriver. I got out the tool kit and offered them a decent screwdriver and got talking to them. A lovely young couple from the USA who have been teaching English in South Korea for the past few months and are here for a year they hope. They had just come out of the Coromandel and were quite disillusioned about freedom camping in New Zealand! I carefully explained to them that they had hit the worst possible place to start their journey but the best was yet to come. I hauled out my DoC maps and brochures and showed them where the great places were. They are into off-road running and had been running the Waikato River Trail. We talked about how to find some tracks for them to run on and then they got an invite to join me for some scones for lunch. So we spent a very pleasant few hours chatting and solving the woes of the world.

Then a lovely 9m Hino pulled in beside the Toyota and I recognised the name Hino Inn. I had met the lovely couple John and Chris (hope I got that right!) at the Campervan Show at Mystery Creek. We all caught up and John was trying out his latest acquisition. A lovely enamelled cast iron Dutch Oven, and he was going to make a roast of lamb for dinner. From what I can gather it was the first time he had attempted to cook a roast in the bus (or cook anything for that matter). The smells wafting out during Happy Hour were lovely and I hope it turned out well.

So it was yours truly, the young American couple, John and Chris and two lovely ladies from Levin for Happy Hour, which extended through to around 7pm….

So after spending two nights there I left early and headed back through to Hamilton in a bit of a straight run up through Te Kuiti to get some paperwork in order for selling one of the rental properties and low and behold there was strange precipitation falling out of the sky. Hadn’t seen that for a while. Quite refreshing to see the rain finally.

So its a bit of a pause again while I do some minor repairs to the bus, the winding gear on the awning had finally worn down in one spot making it very difficult to wind the awning in so that had to be replaced. Roger and I had already taken it apart and shimmed it out to get some more life out of it but that didn’t last long. I need to replace the seals on the toilet as well as they are starting to not hold water well. I have to wait for them to arrive, but have managed to get the winder and replaced that.

I am taking this opportunity to have a bit of a clean out of the bus to get rid of the accumulated ‘stuff’. I have managed to find a load of more space! Also I am starting to get the winter gears stocked up and ready for use. A good autumnal clean!

I hope to be back on the road as soon as I can get the toilet seals installed, they say about a week to arrive here.

Whakamaru to Jones Landing

What an amazing sight to wake up to. The mist sweeping down the river in the early morning sunlight.

		Morning at Whakamaru VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After a lovely breakfast we decided to walk down to the Whakamaru Dam and have a nosy. We actually drove 200 metres from the recreation area to the start of the bike trail, by the boat ramp and headed off down the bike trail towards the dam.

		Whakamaru Dam VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

My photos are untouched and it has made the rather dirty water look quite wonderful!. The dam is only two years older than me and gives a whole new meaning the the expression “humming along nicely”. There is a quite interesting hum that permeates everywhere in the vicinity of the dam. We were unable to get too close to the power generation area. This is one of 9 hydro power stations on 8 dams along the Waikato River.
The power scheme begins at Lake Taupo, which has control gates to regulate the flow of water into the river. Once released through the gates it takes over 18 hours for the water to flow to the last power station at Karapiro. On its journey downstream it passes through power stations at Aratiatia, Ohakuri, Atiamuri,Whakamaru, Maraetai, Waipapa, Arapuni and Karapiro. I hope to be able to get photos of as many as I can.
On the way back we saw three robins, who sat there for a while as we took some pictures.

From there we returned to the bus and had a cup of coffee and then headed north to Jones Landing.
It was pretty busy when we got there, being Saturday and we were the second row from the lake front.
After a bit of lunch we headed out for a walk down river to Arapuni Dam.
It is part of the Waikato River Trail bike ride or walking track and this section is “for experienced riders only”. There are parts where you have to carry your bike up the stairs and up some very steep grades. There is a road detour of 8km to avoid this section.

At the top of the bluff there is a lookout back over Jones Landing….what a view!

		View from the top VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

You can just see the Fredrock Cafe in the distance. Here is the reverse angle looking up to the bluff.

		View to the top VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

From the top it was a flatter walk along the river bank to the dam, passing a paddock with a herd of bulls. Saw so much real bull s#%t that I should have taken a photo.

		Arapuni Dam VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This dam holds the water and diverts it down another spillway to the hydro station further down the river. Its quite weird looking down the face of the dam seeing no water at the bottom.
It was a hot and tired trio that arrived back at the busses at Jones Landing and we lazed around and enjoyed the company for a while before having a lovely meal (yet another one that I didn’t have to cook) thanks to my sister.
I ended up giving a demo of the kayak loader for a group of motorhomers who were quite interested in how it worked.
We were fascinated by the little fish in the lake. They have quite a red tail and Roger checked the book and discovered that they were Rudd and yes there were quite a few Australian politician jokes around.

There were schools of hundreds of these fish and after doing some research found that they were illegally imported in 1967 and stock bred from these were widely released and they are threatening our waterways and native fish. They eat the plants and thus the water quality reduces. They are slowly heading southwards.
Brenda and Roger had decided to head home on Sunday and I headed around the top of the lake and headed to the Dept of Conservation campsite at Arohena.
TBC…….

We are sailing, we are sailing…..

I am currently at Whakamaru Recreation Reserve. #3286 with Dragons’ Rest, my sister and her husband. Today is their 43rd wedding anniversary and they started with a lovely bacon and egg breakfast.

Yesterday I arrived here at about 12.30 and had a bit of a wander about on the bike waiting to see what the wind would do. Not much as it turned out but I decided that I would give it  go anyway. Roger and I set up the cat and carried it down to the waters edge.

It was a lovely little quiet sail with little to no breeze but it was apparent to me just how little breeze it takes to move the MiniCat through the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a lovely evening with a guy fishing off the point. We became armchair critics of his technique but were very aware that it was harder than he made it look.

So this area is magnificent. The lake is just above the Whakamaru Dam, and is nestled amongst some interesting landscapes.

		Lake Whakamaru reflections VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This morning was a bit overcast but a bit of a breeze so after my breakfast I headed out onto the lake again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately I struck a patch of weed and was becalmed for a while, but then managed a lovely hour sailing across the lake and back, tacking upstream and having a lovely time. Interesting when I wasn’t paying attention and hit a patch of weed and came to a grinding halt, but a bit of to and fro on the tiller got me free and away I was again.

The cloud is starting to lift now at 11:45am and the sun is starting to peek through and the wind has died off so it might be a kayak this afternoon, or might do a bit of a bike ride as we are on the last third of the Waikato River Trail. I am probably going to be doing most of it over the next week or so.

At least for the next while I am in decent internet area so can post a bit more regularly.

My condolences, late though they are, go out to Bernice from the brvannini.wordpress.com who’s father passed away last week. I know the feeling when families only get together for funerals. My sisters and I had not been all together for over 20 years before we all came together for my mum’s funeral last year. I am glad that you are blogging again.