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A stroll around Pirongia Village

This is a selection of photographs taken around historic Pirongia in North Island’s Waikato during our visit there this Easter weekend.

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A Kiwi spot of Tudor, Anglican and Maori

Time for a snapshot of some New Zealand history and architecture.

There is a quiet little suburb of Rotorua where you can see a Tudor style Anglican church set in a historic and sacred Maori village.

Ohinemutu is the beautiful lakeside setting for St Faith’s Church & Tamatekapua Meeting House.

Ohinemutu on the banks of Lake Rotorua

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Take the waters in Te Aroha

Old bath houses in Te Aroha domain

Te Aroha is less than an hour away from Cambridge and we often drive through en-route to Thames, Waihi or the Coromandel.

Although we have not stayed there overnight (yet) I thought I would feature Te Aroha in my post today because it’s a pretty little place and I like it! Read More…

Road trip reaches Tolaga Bay and Gisborne

Just photos today….
I’m feeling a little bleugh and don’t really trust my washing machine head and the thoughts spinning around in it.

These pics are from our road trip taken around the East Cape of New Zealand this January. Read More…

History unpreserved at Tokomaru Freezing Works

After visiting Waipiro Bay we were keen to go and see Tokomaru Bay further down the east coast as I had read about the ruins of the old freezing works there.

The Tokomaru Sheepfarmers’ Freezing Company Ltd opened the works in 1911 after a group of local farmers raised the money for its construction. Many of the bricks used in the buildings were made at a local brickworks.

A small locomotive was built to link the freezing works with the wharf where up to 400 ships a year arrived to collect frozen sheep carcasses.

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More East Cape capers

So we will continue…

It is late December 2011 and we are travelling around the East Cape of New Zealand in the Kiwi Blog Bus.

It is supposed to be our main summer holiday.
Sam has taken time off work.
The kids are on their school holidays.
My parents are visiting from the UK and are touring with us in their campervan.
And it is raining.

New Zealand sure knows how to do rain too. Read More…

East Cape beginnings and Opotiki

Over the next few days I am going to post about a trip we took this summer around the East Cape of New Zealand.

I have long wished to go on this journey.
The Pacific Highway from Whakatane round to Gisborne takes in one of North Island’s most isolated areas – rich in Maori heritage and spectacular rugged coastlines. Read More…

The P in L&P

I mentioned in an earlier post (about Thames) that I would come back to give more details on Paeroa.. so here we go…

You may, or may not  – depending where you live and if you’ve ever visited New Zealand – have heard of L&P.

It’s world-famous in New Zealand. Read More…