Sunday 8th February
As soon as we left New Plymouth Mount Teranaki dominated the landscape. It is an active volcano and an eruption is considered to be overdue.


We stopped at the first beach on the side of the road and found a tug-of-war competition taking place.

We have seen some huge herds of Fresian and Jersey cows and were told that most of the milk is turned into powder and exported to China.

We arrived in Wanganui and explored the town. To get up to the highest point we walked through this very long tunnel and took an old fashioned, wood panelled, manned lift to the top. It is still busy every day with commuters.

The views from the top were magnificient, showing the river, the town and the distant hills.

Very smart modern housing is being built around the top of the lift (the red building).

We saw this old paddle steamer arrive at the pier. It was shipped from England in 1900. It sank in 1952 and was raised and restored and finally relaunched on the first day of the 21st Century.