Today was predominantly a travelling day, making our way from Ohakune to Wellington southwards along SH1. However there was the added excitement of experiencing some of NZ's finest town claim to fames and gimmicks.
Before we had even left Ohakune we had the visual wonder that is a fibreglass carrot, possibly the largest fibreglass carrot in the world however neither the information presented near the carrot or the guide book confirmed this.
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| It is bigger than it looks |
What we do know is that it was officially unveiled by the Prime Minister of the time, it was second-hand having originally been used in a ANZ Bank promotion (???) and it was commissioned as a celebration of the town being in the heart of the country's market-gardening region by the growers of the area – apparently a response against the town's new recreation economy of skiing, or as they put it, people “who wear boards on their feet”. Maybe they thought a giant carrot was a whole lot better than a massive ski-pole or gigantic tube of sunblock that would have been inevitably erected if they didn't fill the void.
What seemed like just a few minutes after we had left the shadow of the huge orange root vegetable we arrived in Taihape “New Zealand's one and only Gumboot city”. Imagine our disappointment when realising that we were a couple of months late to experience 'Gumboot day' and the annual gumboot -throwing competition. We filled with petrol and drove straight through the town, making a mental note to ensure that if we do return to this area to do so in October - and to bring our wellies with us.
South of Taihape is a town called Bulls. Not to be outdone the locals have let their sense of humour get the better of them with their signage. Using a rather basic sense of wit they have leveraged the town's name to provide a description of each of the shops or services on the High St and surrounding areas. This is best described by an example of two.
After a few minutes of walking around and getting into the spirit of it we decided it was time for us to make like a magician's assistant and become vanish-a-bull and so we proceeded on the SH1 towards Wellington.
We arrived in Wellington around 3.30pm and went straight to Zealandia a native bird sanctuary. Only minutes up the hill from the city centre stood this parkland that had been fenced off to all of the predators that had been introduced to NZ since the settlers first arrived. Animals like stoat, cats, rats, possums etc. Until the settlers arrived the NZ bird population had no natural predators and lived in harmony.
The place was surrounded by a 2 metre high fence that ensured none of the above could jump in and the results were pretty impressive, within minutes we had seen Tui, NZ robin, numerous types of Shag and a Kea or two. The concept seemed to work and the proof, as we would learn in the future, is that other places, near Dunedin for instance, are replicating it.
It was well worth the NZ$18 each and we only wish we had longer there.
Upon booking we had told the B&B that we would be arriving around 6pm so we made our way there. After 30mins of waiting outside the owner turned up, showed us our room and left us to it.
We dumped our bags and went for a run along the Wellington seafront and harbour. It was good to go and do this, on a fine evening in December, with what seemed like half of the city's population – the average Wellington inhabitant seems to have the keep fit bug!
We finished the day with a Malaysian meal at a café at the bottom of the hill from our B&B and a ginger beer.
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