Mary Jane Walker's Blog: Adventures at Snow Farm Part 1 – Skiing with a broken shoulder! , page 17

The Milford Track Revisited

At the beginning of April 2002, I decided to revisit the Milford Track, the subject of an earlier blog post. This time around, I've included a lot more photos, and a long video of my adventures on this famous track, once dubbed "the finest walk in the world."

Big Country: The Haast Pass/T��orip��tea Highway (Part 2)

In this post, I continue along the Haast Pass/T��orip��tea Highway, one of the great roads of Aotearoa New Zealand, past the summit of the pass. I continue to describe the many hikes and campsites that line both sides of the highway. I arrive in the township of Haast, which has plenty of tracks in its own vicinity. And, just up the coast, I also visit the fabulous coastal wetland of Ship Creek/Tauparik��k��.

Whang��rei: Countercultural Capital of the North

In this post I arrive in Whang��rei, the capital of the northernmost region of Aotearoa / New Zealand, called Te Tai Tokerau or Northland. The city and its hinterland are a hidden gem, with an amazing wild walkway along the H��tea River, huge waterfalls even in the city itself, verdant native bush everywhere encroaching, old stone walls built at the direction of a French bishop, and a countercultural vibe capped off by the new Hundertwasser Art Centre!

Travelling North from Auckland

This summer, I went north to Whang��rei and was blown away by the new Hundertwasser Museum. But I'm going to write about that in another post! This post is about the first part of the lazy summertime journey north out of Auckland, up the east coast to Te ��rai Beach.

Should we Bring Back Angela Merkel? What caused the Ukraine War, and how it might be diplomatically ended.

It's a funny thing, but for as long as Angela Merkel was talking to Vladimir Putin, there was no full invasion of the Ukraine. A closer look at the backstory to the Ukraine invasion, including the question of why now? And yes, NATO enlargement does have a lot to do with it.

The Kaweka Forest Park: Two Hot Springs up one Road

In this post, I visit the Kaweka Forest Park and the lovely Mangatutu Hot Springs at the end of Makahu Road, which I have to myself! If you leave your car behind and hike further, you can get to another hot spring resort, the Mangatainoka Hot Springs. But there are a heap of other tracks and things to see in the Kaweka Forest Park, also known as the Kaweka Ranges, including views over the land and sea. You can visit smaller scenic reserves and an old country pub on the way to the Park as well.

Terrible Tarawera: Rotorua's burnt peak and its buried villages

This post is about the dormant volcano Mount Tarawera ('burnt peak') and the area around it, to the south-east of Rotorua. There are many amazing tales of this area and more continually emerge as the village of Te Wairoa, a colonial time capsule buried when the volcano erupted in 1886, continues to be excavated.

Around Rotorua: Te Puia's thermal wonderland, Ngongotah��, Railcruising, Hamurana Springs and ��kere Falls

In this post I venture out from downtown Rotorua, the subject of my last post, to the area outside the city centre and around the lake: to Te Puia's thermal wonderland, Ngongotah��, Railcruising in Dansey Road Scenic Reserve, Hamurana Springs, and ��kere Falls, where you can go over the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall!

Return to Rotorua

This is the first of three blog posts about the Rotorua area, a thermal region with many lakes and an abundance of M��ori culture, which I revisited in January 2022. I talk about the city first. Then, in my next post, I talk about the thermal area of Te Puia or Whakarewarewa, Rotorua's Redwoods Treewalk, and a visit to the ��kere Falls. In the third one I climb Mount Tarawera, travel to Lake Tarawera and visit the amazing buried village of Te Wairoa, a colonial Pompeii frozen in 1886.

Terrific Taup��

Lake Taup�� is the largest lake in New Zealand, with a surface area of 616 square kilometres or 238 square miles. It's a fabulous resort area, and yet until the 1950s, very few people went there. I talk about its many geothermal attractions, and go on a boat to some modern M��ori rock carvings on a bay that's only accessible by water.