From Wellington to Ohakune
New Zealand Travelog #27
Ohakune, NZ - Mon, 15 Apr 2024, 10pm
After our short hike at Percy Falls outside of Wellington we continued north to the small town of Ohakune, NZ for the night. Overall it was 308 km from the airport. The drive got wearisome after a while. Driving on the North Island is different from the South Island. Different, but not exactly better.
One difference in driving on the North Island is that I drove my first actual four-lane highway in New Zealand! The state roads are all country two-lanes in South Island. Here SR 1 was a four-lane divided highway, with entrance/exit ramps and all, for the first 40 km or so headed north from Wellington. Once the freeway petered out into a country two-lane, though, it became frustrating. The speed limit is reduced every time there's a town. That's understandable. But here there are more towns, so more slowdowns. And unlike the South Island, where seeing a small town was a) interesting because it was the first civilization for 30km around and b) charming in its quaintness- " Like 1950s America but with modern conveniences of cell phone reception and civil rights"- the North Island's small towns are just brief stretches of 1950s garish honky-tonk.
Ohakune is one of those small towns, though thankfully it's not that garish. Though maybe that's because we arrived well after dark, when more than half the restaurants were closed- because it was already the late hour of 7pm. The rest closed at 8pm, including the town's one grocery store. We missed it by 10 minutes. We were hoping to stock up on breakfast and a trail lunch for tomorrow. Oops.
For tonight our address is the Hobbit Motor Lodge. Yes, that's it's name. No, there's nothing Hobbit-y or LotR-esque about it. It's just part of how a lot of people in NZ are trying to cash in on LotR tourism- as with the giant eagles at WLG airport earlier today. And the LotR naming has nothing to do with why we chose it.
So, why here? Location. It's just south of Tongariro National Park, where we're going hiking tomorrow.
Ohakune, NZ - Mon, 15 Apr 2024, 10pm
After our short hike at Percy Falls outside of Wellington we continued north to the small town of Ohakune, NZ for the night. Overall it was 308 km from the airport. The drive got wearisome after a while. Driving on the North Island is different from the South Island. Different, but not exactly better.
One difference in driving on the North Island is that I drove my first actual four-lane highway in New Zealand! The state roads are all country two-lanes in South Island. Here SR 1 was a four-lane divided highway, with entrance/exit ramps and all, for the first 40 km or so headed north from Wellington. Once the freeway petered out into a country two-lane, though, it became frustrating. The speed limit is reduced every time there's a town. That's understandable. But here there are more towns, so more slowdowns. And unlike the South Island, where seeing a small town was a) interesting because it was the first civilization for 30km around and b) charming in its quaintness- " Like 1950s America but with modern conveniences of cell phone reception and civil rights"- the North Island's small towns are just brief stretches of 1950s garish honky-tonk.
Ohakune is one of those small towns, though thankfully it's not that garish. Though maybe that's because we arrived well after dark, when more than half the restaurants were closed- because it was already the late hour of 7pm. The rest closed at 8pm, including the town's one grocery store. We missed it by 10 minutes. We were hoping to stock up on breakfast and a trail lunch for tomorrow. Oops.
For tonight our address is the Hobbit Motor Lodge. Yes, that's it's name. No, there's nothing Hobbit-y or LotR-esque about it. It's just part of how a lot of people in NZ are trying to cash in on LotR tourism- as with the giant eagles at WLG airport earlier today. And the LotR naming has nothing to do with why we chose it.
So, why here? Location. It's just south of Tongariro National Park, where we're going hiking tomorrow.