Recently we spent a week doing a North Island Road Trip. We needed to be in Auckland on Sunday so decided on a scenic route down the middle of the North Island, through the Wairarapa to Wellington, and then back up the west coast to make our Auckland appointment. We revisited some familiar places, caught up with old friends and discovered some new destinations. Having spent the weekend on a work course, there were some chores to deal with on Monday morning so we made our first stop fairly close to home.
A trip through Taupo to Turangi to look for Blues Ducks ended our first day at Chateau Tongariro in the Tongariro National Park. Well known as a winter destination for skiing, the summer delights of the area are often less well appreciated as reported in this article in the New Zealand Railways Magazine of June 1940.
We had a few hours of gorgeous afternoon light to wander and enjoy the alpine flora. There is enough interest in 100m of track to occupy yourself for a couple of hours with delicate White Gentians, pink heather, scaly dracophyllum, warm red and gold tussock and deep green beech amongst a myriad of other plants and lichens.
The Chateau itself is a special experience with an old world aura about it and a breakfast buffet to suit every palate and more than a single appetite needed to do it justice.
Photos with FujiX100s except for Tongariro River with Nikon D810 and Nikon 18-35mm f3.5-4.5 lens and Chateau with Nikon D810 and 24-120mm f4 lens
Kinsa Hays
4 Apr 2017In March 2014 I went through the Desert Road when the heather was in bloom. I had a couple of hours to spare and the weather wasn’t too windy. I had all my painting gear in the car, so I stopped, and protected by the car, painted a view of the Kaimanawas framed in tussock. En plein air painting, surrounded by all those little plants you mentioned. Memorable.
Kinsa
tony
6 Apr 2017That sounds like a fabulous memory, Kinsa. And you have a painting to remember it by.
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