mrsjono

We heard that somewhere in Palmerston North there are lots of cherry blossoms during this time of the year. The International Pacific College has Japanese origins and the school has planted lots of cherry blossom trees around its campus. Its annual spring festival is a free event for visitors to enjoy the beautiful sakura and sample a variety of food made by their international students. We spent more than two hours walking around the campus and taking photos of pretty flowers.

Pick flowers for a good cause? The annual Daffodil Festival in Carterton is one such event that gives visitors the opportunity to pick daffodils at a farm called Middlerun for a small donation per bunch going to local charities. The event continues in town with food trucks and market stalls selling local arts and crafts. We set off at around 11am and the rain got heavier as we made our way to Gladstone.


Despite the cold and wet weather, visitors still turned up in rain gear and gumboots.



There weren't many left by the time we got there lol



Children's imagination at work as they start to place a stalk on their nose and pretend to be an elephant.



Fresh flowers in the house makes a difference eh?

When turning into Melling from SH2 facing the hills, there is a very distinct brown "track" running down the hill; it's actually a firebreak to slow or stop fire from spreading in the bush. We've always wondered where it leads to and decided to find out after visiting the Riverbank Market one Saturday. There are several tracks starting from White Lines East that joins up with the firebreak (orange track) at the pond.





My shoes that day were not fit for the rather rocky terrain and the climb up was more strenuous than I thought. One colleague told me his rugby training took place here! I can see why. We were surprised to find views of the Hutt Valley, Wellington harbour and the snowcapped Kaikoura Ranges in the far distant. What's that island in the middle?





Decided to call it a day at the radio masts 

On some Saturdays we would drive up to Palmerston North (or colloquially known as Palmy), the next sizeable town nearest to us after Wellington. It’s not a particularly scenic drive up north but there is something that will definitely catch your attention along the way – the little white fans standing on top of the hills. I have always wanted to take a look from up there but how to get up there?


Access from Woodville or Ashhurst, follow the brown wind farm signs on to Saddle Road


The Manawatu Gorge creates a funnel effect – strong winds from the Tasman Sea is forced through the narrow valley and the consistently high wind speeds makes the area between the Tararua and Ruahine Ranges ideal for harnessing wind power.


Transporting and installing 55 turbines up on a hill looks like a massive project


Took me awhile to get the full 70m tall turbine and all 3 blades into my frame



A worthy stopover when passing through Palmerston North


Listening to the turbines churning away on a calm day


As the sun was setting, we quickly made our way down Saddle Road and realised we had “bypassed” the Manawatu Gorge. Once we hit Woodville, it was a difficult drive back home as we couldn’t see anything in front of us due to the fog!