Location: Ohakune (Small Mountain Village home of The Giant Carrot)
Population: Several Hundred
Crime Rate: ‘It depends on who’s in or out of Jail’. (Someone actually said this)
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| Quiet little Mountain Town! |
We’ve upped sticks and headed off to higher pastures. Following a three weeks whistle stop tour of the south island and part of the north island (more details to follow) we headed back to Auckland for two days in Hotslots refugee Camp ;D before catching the train to Ohakune to begin out time working on Mt Ruapehu a.k.a Mt Doom From the Lord of The Rings Trilogy (Oooo lala). The train journey was another adventure in itself. The service here isn’t the world’s greatest with only three trains per week traveling Auckland and Wellington leaving on Friday, Saturday and Sunday ar 7 am in the morning. It was an early start. BOOOOO! But what was missing in frequency was made up in entertainment. The entire journey is narrated by the driver and there was a not to shabby food cart and the last carriage had a panoramic view glass backed lounge. You wouldn’t get that on the DART! Having reached the train we were told that due to a technical fault that the train would only be going half way and then we would have to get out in the pissing (cursing is the social norm here) rain and coach the rest of the way. The train was further delayed having hit and pulverized a unsuspecting or perhaps suicidal cow that had wandered onto the track. Minutes later after pulled the beastie out from under the locomotion carriage and an unrelated announcement was made that there was steak for everyone in the dining cart. HORRAY! A jolly old time indeed .
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| The Giant Carrot |
Truth be told the coaching actually worked to our advantage at it dropped us off right outside the lodge where we are now living in Ohakune as opposed to the train which would have dropped us off about 1 km away from there. Happy Days. The quiet mountain town (The Kiwi Answer to South Park) which is home of the Giant Carrot ( I haven't figured out the backround to this one yet.) is a mere two street wonderland but has plenty of things packed such as a cinema reminiscent of the picturehouse in Cinema Paridso (one of my favorite movies); a library which provided free internet access from where I am posting this very update (score!); a hard ware store; a onestopshop which serves as a postoffice/bank/newsagents/bookshop; a supermarket; several restaurants and pubs; some ski rental shops ,a pharmacy, a hairdressers, a real-estate agents, a petrol station, a bottle shop and a funny little opshop that someone build in a shed in their back garden. A hip happening place if ever I saw one however the whole place is shut down and disserted by 9 p.m every evening. :/ Nightlife happens about 1 km in a place called The Junction which is based at the foot of the mountain where the road up to the ski field begins which is serviced by a booze bus which goes every half hour to ferry people back and forth to the village for the bargain price of $4 per trip.
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| Mt Ruapehu / Mt Doom |
Work on the mountain is slow as the snow coverage isn’t high enough yet to open the higher slopes so in a twist away from the norm, everyone here is praying for bad (cold and snowy weather). Fingers crossed :D
Well that’s all for now Folks. More updates to follow told in flashback form about our adventures around the south island. :D
Tata for Now
Lee
More!!! I want moreeee, thanks for this me Leela, it's fabulous... <3 xxxx
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