Monday 7 January 2013

Monday's Ride

Today  we went to Ngatea on the Hiraki Plains...and boy, was it windy!
We ended up on Highway 2 for a bit...The Pirate needs to listen to his Navigator!!
It was 48 k there, and about the same back- so call it 100k again, when it was supposed to be an easier ride!!
At least it was on roads all the way!

The plain used to be an inland sea, millenia ago...and the centre is a peat dome.


This is a memorial in Ngatea to those who turned it into farmland with hand hoes.

While we were there the wind rose, and it was difficult to ride across it.  As we traversed the plain on the way home we saw dykes, canals and pumping stations....monuments in fact to the people who came from the Nederlands and helped drain the plains.

3 comments:

Sandy Miller said...

I will never again complain about turning over my little garden! Pedal on potter :)

red dirt girl said...

Oh I love that Pedal on potter :-) ... I'm so enjoying all the sights and sounds and smells of your new temporary home. Thanks for the sharing.

xxx

ps word verify is R ficus. I bet you see some huge ficus naturally there! or is it a bit too cold in the winters?

gz said...

I haven't noticed any...but possibly somewhere like Hamilton Gardens...or other botanical gardens- I don't think that the fig is native here?