FEILDING

THRUSDAY, 24th October.

Yet another fantastic day.  We left Turangi at 9.30a.m. and in 5 minutes we were at one of the many entrances to the Tongariro River Trail.  

 

We only walked a short way, then hopped back in the car and drove to another gateway at Red Hut Pool.

In trying to find the Pouto Intake, we left the main road, only to find the gates closed so went on down the road, crossed a bridge

to discover the road led to a campsite in the Kaimanawa Forest Park and there was no exit, so turned around, went back to the gate, parked the car and walked down a steep hill, saw the dam and staggered back up the hill to the car.

 Back on the main road, Highway #1 (also known as Desert Road), we began to catch glimpses of snow capped Mt Ruapehu in the distance, eventually being able to stop and get an uninterrupted view.

Shortly after we drove into a dust Storm

which we thought was possibly caused by army manoeuvres as there is a large army base in the area.  It didn't last long and we were through and into a 'desert'

and at Waiouru, we called in to a cafe for coffee, resisting buying a pie each as we had brought home made sandwiches with us.  Just across the road from the cafe is the National New Zealand Army Museum where for $6 each (seniors' price), we spent the next hour and a half wandering through the impressive variety of military exhibits.  Unfortunately, half of the museum is currently closed owing to the building being non-earthquake proof.

Back on the road and the terrain changed once again

and we came to the town of Taihape, famous for being the Gumboot Capital of New Zealand

(and the birthplace of Col)

A work of art, made from corrugated iron!

We eventually found a place to pull off the road to eat our sandwiches....across the road from The Wool Company was a car park where we sat in the warmth of the car, watching a few sheep grazing in the paddock in front of us.

There were a few more sites to be seen before we reached today's destination, mainly the Mangaweka Old Dam, which required a walk through the bush, a couple of old bridges and a Lookout which afforded stunning views.

King of the Castle

In the evening, after checking into our airbnb, we drove the short distance into Feilding to have a wander around, finding several attractive old buildings and monuments, a very nice town.