Not a real busy couple of days as it turned out, so I'll lump them together in one post.

Tuesday, October 7th
 We gather in the morning in Fielding.  The Manawatu club wants us to visit the Rugby Museum there.  We did watch the NZ All Black team lose, just barely, to South Africa.  They kind of looked like UNL - not ready to play the first half of the game and then catch-up the second half.  But not quite enough.  Our hosts, Barry and Joyce did their best to explain the game.  And we tried to keep up with it.  Much better than "net ball" played by women.  It looked like basketball except the players couldn't dribble, and once near the basket (no backboard) the defense had to keep 3 feet from the shooter, so they just lobbed the ball through the net.  The announcers seemed to think that this was great playing.  Whatever.

Anyway, we arrived at the museum and toured it, David tried to look interested, but was not all that successful.  Joy was better at it.  Never really could get excited about looking at old sports equipment, jerseys, and grainy photos.  But we have to remember that rugby is a national religion here.  Our Manawatu hosts worked hard to make it all work for us.  And we thank them for that.

 

Manawatu Team Jersey

Lunch at a local golf course.  Then Barry shows us the inner workings of one of his supermarkets, known as "New World".  Actually, he's sold it to the family trust now.  They have another in a different city.  He employs about 200 people in the store.  Seeing the back room activity and how they manage grocery products was very interesting.  We visited everything from the flower arranger to the air handling equipment on the roof.  These supermarkets are very close to what we find in our best stores at home, say HyVee or Bakers.  Now this was quite interesting to Joy and I.  No photos as they are very competition conscious.

That evening, our hosts son and daughter-in-law arrived from the South Island, on their way to the family "holiday home" on a lake where the son had some remodeling work to complete - to oversee the tradesmen.  Later they intend to return to the South Island to look for a new home.  They've just come back to NZ from a stay in England.  It was great to meet more of Barry's and Joyce's  family.


Wednesday, October 8th

Dreary and windy again.  Today our home hosts get a respite, and we are hosted by our day hosts, Elaine and Graham.  Our first stop is in the small town of Ashhurst where we gather to venture up into the rugged hills to see a wind farm and one of the units in particular.  First we gather in a park in the town what offers a good view of the several wind farms that run together.  Our guide and commentator is a technician from the Vesta company.  You can see some of their units in Iowa.  The rain has stopped.  After a description of the various units and their power potentials we caravan up to the wind farm itself and enter the restricted area for a real close-up of one of the units.  They stand on a high ridge.  The hillside is rugged, with sheep grazing among the towers.  And now the winds are gale force.  The wind howls around our cars and the huge structure.  We can barely hear our guide from the Vesta company explain what we are seeing.  Fortunately, he gave us a good explanation at a viewing site down in the much quieter valley.  Now for photo ops.  If the weather had been better, we'd have great views of the valley stretching out below.  As it is, it's somewhat ethereal with the clouds scudding by and the winds whipping at us.




We return to Ashhurst and are are supposed to have a picnic lunch at the town park before starting out on tours.  Starts fine, but by the time we finish lunch, the wind is up and it's raining again.


Now the best part at this point was a surprise to everyone.  It turns out that a local Maori woodcarver, Kraig Kawana uses half the structure as a studio.  He's carving panels that will mount on a structure on the highway that welcomes people to the Manawatu River gorge.  His work is beautiful, and he has an easy way of explaining what he does and what the various carved pieces mean.  They will be on the entrance to the structure, meant as a Maori welcome to visitors to the gorge.

After lunch, we are to explore the river gorge.  With the wind and rain it'll be a simple driving tour.  But we decide to give it a try anyway.  The road twists and turns as it climbs up the hills.  Still the wind howls about our car.  Down into the gorge, which would have been spectacular on a good day.  As it is, it's shrouded in clouds, and a light, wind-blown rain.  We stop for coffee in the small town of Woodville.  An odd place.  Most every shop is closed for the day.  It's about 2:30 PM.  At one shop, the owner closes the door and turns the card to "closed" as we approach.  Apparently, they roll up the sidewalks early in Woodville.  We do find a coffee shop, and manage to get our coffee just before they begin closing up.  How bizarre.

End of travels.  We gather at Barry and Joyce's home with our day hosts, Elaine and Graham, where Joyce has prepared a marvelous dinner.  What a great evening, weather notwithstanding.

Monday, October 6th

We wake this morning to dark clouds, plenty of rain, and high winds.  As we eat breakfast, we all wonder if today's program, including sheep shearing and a dairy farm visit will have to be cancelled.  Whatever the day brings, we do have a meeting with the mayor of the Manawatu District in Fielding.  So that goes.  On our way to the council office, the rain pours in torrential fashion and the wind howls.  Doesn't look good.

We arrive at the council office.  Whaddaya know?  The rain has stopped.  The wind still tries to push us over.  Must be 40mph or even more.  As it turns out, by the time the meeting is over, the sun has broken through and all we have is the wind.  Fierce wind.  All day long.  But NO rain.  In the council chambers there's the now-traditional coffee, tea, and cookies.  Then we meet the mayor.  She's an unassuming lady who gives us a presentation on the area, it's people and economic efforts.  Very different from the usual mayoral meet-and-greet.

Out into sunshine and, of course, wind, and now to Kichener Forest Park.  This is a stand of old growth forest like that which the first European settlers encountered.  It is thickly wooded

Flooding Reforestation

with a combination of trees and bushes, and would have been difficult to travel through.  Along the edge of this preserved forest we can look out on the open fields of today.  So this park exists to remind us of what have been much of New Zealand's north island.  It is maintained mostly by volunteers, and, interestingly enough, by a group of at-risk teens run by one man.  Here they are away from old "friends" and their pressures and the drugs and alcohol that afflicted them.  One of the teens greeted us.  She is now back in school and is studying nursing, expecting to graduate in 2016.  The high winds whistle through the park causing many of the taller trees to moan and groan and to dance in the wind.  Now we feel just a bit nervous to be next to these 200-300 year old trees.







Our next stop is a demonstration of sheep shearing.  We arrive at the Campbell sheep farm and go into the main shearing building.  The owner tells us of the history of his family's farm, going back to the mid-1800's, and then the farm manager gives us a skilled demonstration of shearing.  It's funny that the sheep are very docile while being sheared.  Otherwise they mill about bleating and acting very nervous.  The owner then releases the sheep into a large pen and demonstrates how they gather the sheep using dogs.  Two are trained not to bark, and control the sheep with their eyes, and a nip or two on the sheep's legs.  The other is allowed to bark, which he does well, and is sort of a "pusher".

 We can see just how stupid sheep are.  Because we are along the fence of the pens and they can see us, the dogs, AND the men find it very difficult to get the sheep to move into a sorting runway.  We move back from the fence, but with little effect.  Frankly, I found it to be pretty funny to find that critters that brainless can thwart intelligent dogs and the men.  Ultimately, they get them into the runway where a machine weighs them and sorts them into receiving pens by weight.  Now THAT is pretty awesome.

Who ARE these People?

Still the wind blows a gale.  We push on to the last tour stop - milking at a nearby dairy.  The milking barn is large building with a circular milking parlor arrangement.  It only takes a couple of people to manage this.

Business End

 

Social End

The cows seem to know their job.  One after another they step forward and into a stanchion, where a worker attaches the milking tubes.  The parlor turns slowly, and when the cow is milked, with the milk going by tubing to the collection tanks.  No human intervention is required past connection.  When a cow has been finished, the tubes automatically disconnect and clean water rinses them.  Once the cow is back to the opening area, the cow backs out of the stanchion and returns to the pasture while another steps up to repeat the operation.  Our view is lots of cow butts.  They milk about 550 cows an afternoon this way.  This is a beautiful example of farming technology and we are most impressed.



















Finally we gather at one of the Manawatu member's home  for fish and chips, and of course lots of gab.  Then it's time to head home.  We are all getting weary by now, so the evening is not all that late.  Funny how you can get tired just riding around and watching people work.  Oh, and by the way, the wind has now been joined by rain.  Pretty nice timing, eh?

Saturday and Sunday, October 4-5.  We leave Wanganui for Manawetu and the city of Palmerston North.  No, I do not know if there even is a Palmerston South.  Saturday morning is leisurely.  Joy and I pack for the next homestay and tuck it all nicely in the back of her little Nissan.  We are still amazed that it all fits.  Then we drive downtown to the riverside.  In one area is a farmer's market.  Once out of the car we find that the wind has come up... again... and the clouds are building.  It appears as though this is very common this time of year.  Note:  in the future, try to come in November through February, and not early October.  Anyway, we wander the stalls.  Nothing very unusual.  At least unusual enough to try to fit it into our luggage.  We, as apparently many locals, find that the wind and threat of rain are enough to cut the shopping short.  So we pile back into the car.

Later that morning we gather in a cafe located in an old bank building.  I've noticed that there are a number of bank buildings that have been "re-purposed" in Wanganui.  Sue mentions that 2008-2011 or so was a bad time for many banks in NZ.  Same as home.  We have an early lunch, along with our Friendship Force gang and their home hosts. Then we split up and travel to a nearby town to meet up with our new hosts.

Our new hosts are Barry and Joyce Melody.  Nice car.  A BMW.  Ironic that our luggage won't all fit in the trunk/"boot".  They have a lovely home in a nice area of Palmerston North, looking out over a man-made lake.  Ducks and geese swimming around.  Kayakers paddling about.  No, we're not suffering.
















After a bit of relaxing, we re-joined our group of ambassadors at one of the Manawetu Friendship Force member's home for a welcome BBQ.  Plenty of food, beverages aplenty (but only just enough!) - noisy with conversation.  We have the chance to really get to know our new hosts, and to get to know our traveling companions better.  The winds continue to whistle.  Think that this is the norm here,




The next day we're on our own, so our hosts, Barry and Joyce show us a little of the town of North Palmerston, and then we head out into the beautiful countryside to a rhododendron and azalea garden.  The day starts out clear blue, but clouds thicken as the morning wears on.  Fortunately, the gardens provide nice large umbrellas, just in case.

Barry is set for any rain

It's still a bit early for the garden, but still there is plenty to please the eye.  Not just Rhodys and azaleas, but all types of trees, waterfalls and ponds.

 

Joy heads off deeper into the garden, but David is intrigued by a Carmelia maze.  Barry and Joyce join in.  Somewhere in the middle, David makes a lame Harry Potter comment about "shooting sparks for help".  But Barry leads us out.  Now we've lost Joy.  So we wander around sort of looking for her, but really more checking out the gardens.  Finally we rejoin for a light lunch at the garden's cafe.















Homeward bound in the afternoon for some relaxation and then a delightful dinner.  Tomorrow should be busy.

Friday, October 3rd.  Well, the sunny days seem to be over.  We wake to dark clouds.  But it does look promising. Looks aren't always reality.

Pretty leisurely this morning.  Mid-morning we gather at a Maori Episcopal church in nearby Putiki, one of the oldest settlements in Wanganui.  Our guide, Huia, is a very entertaining ex-teacher.  We meet first in the social hall for... wait for it... tea/coffee and sweets.  This seems to be a requirement in New Zealand, or at least in Wanganui.  Huia tells us about the area - the church, the Marae (meeting house).  We will see the church, but unfortunately, the Marae is booked so we can't go in.

After the mid-morning goodies we repair to the church next door.  The looks now turn into reality as rain starts accompanied by strong winds.  We are all glad that it decided to do this today when we'll be inside rather than yesterday on the river.

 The church is quite simple on the outside - just a frame structure with a steel roof.  Inside, though, it is literally covered wall to wall, ceiling to floor, with Maori designs.  Carved wooden panels with the classic Maori faces, and patterned panels of rattan-like material.   The patterns convey different facets of Maori life and beliefs.  The result is simple, humanistic, and just incredible.  Huia explains each in turn, giving their meaning and their construction.  As before, she is animated and loads the talk with humor.  Meanwhile, the wind howls outside and heavy rain pelts the roof.  Now, besides Huia's talk, the rain keeps us glued to our seats.  Sadly, we can't take pictures.  But Huia allows one each.  And Joy cheats just a little.














Home again, in between rain storms.  A little later we do a town tour with Sue our hostess.  One interesting side event was to take a 95-year-old  elevator down from a hilltop to the lower area next to the river.  The whole thing, except the top, of course, is in the ground.  At the bottom, a very long tunnel leads out to the roadway beyond.

The final visit is to city hall to view the stained glass panels in the council chambers.  The council receptionist enthusiastically describes each panel and the history of the panels.  Each depicts an aspect of the Wanganui region.

Some relax time and now it's time for our farewell dinner.  As has become usual, the dark clouds gather with a threat of rain.  But we'll be inside, so who cares?  Dinner is at a nearby hotel.  We fill the dining room edge to edge.  After dinner, we are serenaded by the Wanganui Ukelele Orchestra - about a dozen people, with a mix of different types of ukeleles.  No, this was not the Arthur Godfrey (for those who can remember him!) type of simple strumming.  They are amazingly good - and had a broad range of music.

Included at the end were some Friendship Force ambassadors entertaining us, including our three ladies from Taiwan. We ended the day with our thanks to our great friends from Wanganui.

You probably noticed that I missed a day again.  Yep.  Too tired last night to blog.  So, here are the last couple of days.  First note.  Great weather.  sunny and warm yesterday - in the upper sixties.  Then today, which was to be rainy, was threatening in the morning and then turned nice, breaking up in the afternoon.  Not quite as warm, but still nice.

So… yesterday.  We started the day on an art tour of Wanganui.  We were surprised that there were so many art options in a town of this size.  Our first stop was the Sarjeant Gallery.  This was a bit of a surprise.  They were in the process of moving and were packing up the non-display items.  So instead of just talking, we were given a rare behind-the-scenes view of the work effort and of the new off-display storage facilities.  This was very cool.  Unfortunately, because of these public works, we could not take photos.  Next stop was a private gallery/salesroom visit.  The owner, Sue Cook described the process of making art prints from etchings, and then involved several of us in processing a simple scene to produce a print.

A couple of more stops – the first at a shop with forgettable ceramic stuff, and finally another ceramic art studio, this time with some very interesting items.  But no room in the suit cases.  Thank goodness.

After lunch a group of us assembles at a glass blowing studio.  No we don't blow glass bottles.  We use the molten glass to form... wait for it... paper weights!  Joy goes first.  Turns out she's a natural.

Me, I'm not so good.  But I do make something that looks sort of like what I wanted to make.  Each of the group goes in turn.  There are three experts to help us, so it goes pretty quickly.  Tomorrow we pick up our "finished" products.

Today, Thursday.    We have to be up early to meet our vans and get to the destination early on.  The day dawns with dark clouds and looks ominous.  But looks are about it.  Yay!  What is on the docket today is a snaking trip up a highway that follows the Wanganui River to a point where we can take a jet boat further up river (no roads from our stop off point of Papirika).  The ride seems long, and twists and turns.  Not all that good for a couple of people who's stomachs rebel.  But they persevere.  Several stops along the way to see remnants of old pioneers in the area and Maori sites.

At last at the launch point.  We grab our backpacks, get fitted for life vests, and board our jet boat.

We reach the drop-off point for the trail to the "Bridge to Nowhere".  This bridge was built to serve people who were to farm the land above the river.  As it turns out, nearly all left the area after discovering that farming was nearly impossible as a way of life up there.  So the road was abandoned, and all that was left was the bridge itself.  The trail follows the old road bed.  A beautiful rain forest.  Dense growth, lots of lichen and moss, and plenty of fern trees and palms.  Sort of a Jurassic era forest.  Very damp, at least right now.  Lots of beautiful streams and waterfalls cascade down the very steep slopes.

Drops nearly straight down to the river

A bridge, but not the one to "nowhere"

Here, we're looking straight down in a carved channel

OK, so now we are at the bridge.  Concrete, no less, far above the river.  We stop for photos, have lunch, and hike back to the boat.  Round trip around 3 miles.  Great walk.  By the time we're at the boat, the sun is out.  Then it's a quicker trip down river (with the current), a flashy spin out front of the dock, and we land and get in our van for the trip back to town.

Along the way we stop at a place called Jerusalem, which was a small Catholic convent and church,  Only one sister remains, with volunteers to help keep up the buildings.  The old convent is now used for visitors.  Peaceful and quiet, with stunning views across a meadow to the hills on the other side of the river.

 

End of day.  End of blog entry.  I'm headed for snooze time.