A Gorge-ous Weekend

Arbon Farm, bottom left

"Be good, take care of
yourselves—and
DON'T LEAVE THE PATH!" (Tolkien, 1937) 

A swift five o'clock Friday departure from Welly took us up to Dora's Aunt Helen, who lives in a wonderfully remote farmstead in the Pohangina valley, north of Ashhurst. The area has rural beauty and a HUGE wind farm that caused much excitement in our little Holden Barina - for me because of my love of large infrastructure, for Dora because of its relevance to her new job.

Intrepid explorers/excitable tourists

Helen's home is a great weekend retreat, with idyllic scenery in which to complete our second tramp (more on this later) and Dora's first trail run; clear mountain streams in which to cool off (and get bitten by sand flies); an unlimited supply of fresh venison; and an indoor cinema in which to eat ice cream and watch 'The Woman in Gold', 'Hot Fuzz' and (it was only a matter of time) 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

Admiring Te Apiti - Meridian's first wind farm

A lean, white, windy eyesore, and a wind turbine

On Saturday we tramped the Manawatu River Gorge, which takes you across the spine that separates the southern bit of the North Island. A precarious road and railway run the length of the Gorge below a mountainous footpath, and are occasionally severed by giant landslips that become tourist attractions in their own right. Highlights of the walk included eating sandwiches at a spectacular viewpoint, almost bumping into a wind turbine (cue sustainable infrastructure-selfies) and watching Dora spend 20 minutes photographing a fern. 

Returning to Welly, we're now making plans to move into a rented apartment. It's near the middle of the city (so 5 mins from the countryside), fully furnished and will be warm in the winter. More on that to come!

Next week we'll muse on working life in Wellington, once we've recovered from the Rugby 7's this Saturday!