The Party Tree

Pahiatua was an interesting place to run this morning, a little sleepy town, slow to start. I ran throughout the main drag which didn’t take long. During the run I heard all sorts of various birds chirping at one another and on my way back to the luxurious “carnival park” (yes, the actual name) there was sheep as far as the eye could see. No surprise there. Of course, as is typical, as soon as I headed back to Congo, I noticed a little gate in Carnival Park- a scenic reserve designated by none other than the Department of Conservation. Taking a minor detour on the way back to the van, I ran throughout the reserve, darting in and out of giant tree ferns and felled trees, trying not to get lost. The park was a rainforest, better termed an absolute maze.

It's about time I posted a photo of Congo's interior

During breakfast, Annie and I got to talking to a resident of the park about America. Unusual as it seems, he had a thick Scottish accent and a love for American history that I feel only a select few have. He had a number of speeches given by American presidents memorized, a rarity in our own country.

Not wanting to spend too much time in one place, we headed west towards Palmerston North (aka Palmy) and then pointed north from there. Palmerston North is home to Massey University, a well-known collegiate center in NZ especially for agricultural studies. I want to go.

The normal scenery- so blase. Ha!

Somehow the time seemed to disappear today; it certainly doesn’t help being here in the winter when the sun sets no later than 5. We finally reached Taihape, and did some shopping around. Here they are all about their cities being the capital of something- in Taihape’s case it’s the gumboot. Apparently back in the day the Taihape residents, today there are 2000, used to get massive amounts of rain (and thus needed the boots) and to keep themselves occupied they would throw gumboots as far as they could across the paddocks. What a great way to entertain. We did a few errands in town and then headed back south to see the Rangitikei River where there is a massive bungy jumping spot. The view of the bridge was spectacular; it’s no wonder why the LotR film crew opted to use it for the River Anduin in the films. This riverside (if you can call a 20 meter drop a riverside) was a fantastic spot for a picnic lunch which is coming a bit of a norm for us.

Kiwi thought: mountain in the way. Time to grab the explosives.

People voluntarily jump off the bridge into this.

Time being of the essence, we made a stretch to see Tongariro national park, but only made it as far as Okahune. Okahune was a lovely little village that just screamed ski resort. Little did we know, but we were very fortunate to see Mt. Ruapehu as well as Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe since these three are often shrouded in cloud cover. All of these were previously (or still are) volcanoes; one of which erupted in 1995, covering the surrounds in ash. The place was absolutely frigid, only too appropriate. The greeting into the city was a giant fiberglass carrot, since the city is known as the carrot capital of NZ. Weird.

Mt. Ruapehu in all of it's glory. Stunning! On the east side is a desert.

 Trying to make it to our next destination by nightfall, we drove back to Taihape as fast as we could, abiding by all the traffic laws of course, and followed Elizabeth’s directions to her house. Following the directions, we found their home after driving around many “curvy bits” and passing a teeny little village, population 100. Elizabeth is Annie’s boyfriend’s mom’s best friend. Try saying that five times fast. She’s a southern belle from Georgia and her husband is a native kiwi (can I have her life please?). The pair invited us to stay at their farm here in the middle of nowhere, NZ (the official name of course) and it has been absolutely phenomenal.

Reaching the farm, we were greeted by Mark and his crew of stock dogs while he was out feeding some of the animals. Elizabeth greeted us both with open arms, far exceeding our expectations of anything we could have imagined. Their gorgeous country home was filled with warmth from the two fireplaces that they had running for us. Elizabeth fed us appetizers and kawakawa New Zealand tea while telling us all about their Romney sheep and other farm occupants. Mark also told me stories about the ’95 ash which covered the area back in the day. Since this region is so close to the volcano(es), all the trees around here are actually planted. We passed the time before dinner sipping on pinot noir courtesy of Australia and chatting around the fire. I made good friends with their indoor dog, Bailey who was very snuggly and loved having new playmates. I even retrieved the frisbee that the campervan company gave us- I’m sure she will enjoy it much more than Annie or I ever will!

They welcomed us into their home like family- I will never forget them! I hope I can go back soon!! :)

Dinner was quite an event in itself. Elizabeth made us roasted kumara (the orange sort), pumpkin, onions, potatoes as well as leeks in a cream sauce, green beans, and the roast lamb. The lamb itself was delicious; it absolutely melted in my mouth. She also made gravy to accompany the lamb and I’m glad she insisted that I try it. SO GOOD. It was great eating a meal that didn’t come from a can or a bag. REAL FOOD! And for dessert we tried some ripe fejoas, a treat that I haven’t had in three years. Fejoas taste near to a pear, but much more “perfumed” as Elizabeth described it. I would say that they have a pear’s texture combined with an apple’s sweetness and with a heavy floral note. Wonderful. Just GREAT!

Early morning tomorrow- we’ve got to make it to Matamata in time for a… HOBBITON TOUR!!!