Kingsgate Hotel Palmerston Palmerston North

... Due to a recent snowfall (and perhaps more so my fitness worries!), I didn't attempt the crossing, but I did manage to get some nice pictures of the snow-capped Mount Ruapehu. Ruapehu is the largest mountain on the North Island and is New Zealand's largest and most active volcano (last erupting in 2007). The mountain is also famous for featuring in the Lord of the Rings’ films. I passed through a number of towns that were essentially closed for the skiing ...

... to wait for Auckland before buying anything major (it cost $180!). Sarah also spotted some more shiny jewellery but decided against any more purchases. So there aint a huge amount left to say about Palmerston other than it suffers from the plague of New Zealand's larger towns - the boy-racers that drive about in their unneccesarily noisy cars. Admittedly they do use a large variety of cars - old Fords in particular - but they also use more modern stuff like ...

... and who, irrespective of their legal status, retain some of all of their own social, economic, cultural and political institutions' (Nuttall). Although different in origin of their nation, these cultures have much in common. The people of the circumpolar north have suffered not only because their territory has been regarded as a wilderness or wasteland, but they have also been victims of resource ...

... took our choice of couches in a large lounge area reserved for folks who are willing to pay $40 over the $52 passage. We did. We were the only ones who did. Wine flows, there are mini-mince pies and a toaster along with various fruit, dessert canopes and the like. And, wireless internet is included. We Skype Megan and then Cianan and Debi tries the McLaughlin sisters who are in Chicago with their friend Oprah. Nobody is answering in the Windy City, however. We assume they're ...

... again. Anyway, not a very long bus journey, only an hour and a bit north of Wellington along the Kapiti coast. We arrived at 11.25 and were met by Jane, the wife of the family we were wwoofing for. She seemed really nice and friendly which was good. We went back to their house and were presented with our room, which due to her daughter leaving home for university meant that it was a tip and we had to clean that up before we could ...

... and chairs for her grandchildren, i planted lots of corn and peas in the vege patch (which have grown pretty big in only a couple of weeks) and various other jobs. Also spent the first few days (when it was chucking it down with rain)opening hundreds of packets of out of date crisps which she soaks and feeds to her chooks. We went along on one of her veg runs, where she picks up all the thrown out veg from local grocers to ...

... I feel truly lucky. Anyway, I continued on down, passing Ohakune (where I stayed last year) and turning up in Bulls. This place always makes me chuckle - at least it too has a sense of humour with naming its buildings 'Soci-a-Bull' etc. I stopped a few times en route to refuel both the car and myself. I had begun to suffer from drivers collarbone (which I am sure isn't a condition, but really ought to be) from driving too much ...

... Palmy'. Sandra read this in the Lonely Planet on the drive there, and we didn't quite believe it. But sure enough, the radio newsreader called it 'Palmy'. Restaurant menus declared their food 'best in Palmy'. The hostel was described as 'being in a great location in Palmy'. Now, I fully understand that 'Palmerston North' is a pretty big mouthful. But 'Palmy'? Seriously? Apparently the people are called 'Palmies' too! As in 'Palmies ...

... hike across to Mt.Tongariro). We were planning to go to a much more active volcano later in our trip (White Island) so opted to do neither of these. Instead we progressed northwards towards Taupo, a town situated on the edge of New Zealand's largest lake, funnily enough called Lake Taupo! After checking into our accommodation we found that we were just in time to get to the Aratiatia Dam and Rapids for the opening of the dam. The dam is part of a chain of Hydroelectric ...

... like the sign I saw in this library: "Save time, save stress...ask a librarian." I'm sure they wouldn't mind if we used this in our own libraries. Palmerston North Central Library is "housed in a skillfully refurbished heritage building" that used to be a department store. Strikingly modern, the architect won a national award for its design. It calls itself the "Living Room of the City." The director, Anthony Lewis, traveled to the USA and Scandinavia to ...