The Desert Road

This morning began with a visit to the rental agency to pick up our vehicles. I was excited because it was the first day that I was scheduled to drive. It was a great experience, both the right side steering and the scenery.  Even better, I turned right into the wrong lane just once. The two vehicles that I met were gracious…with only horns and no obvious hand gestures. The only other real issue was the fact that I turned the wipers on frequently when I was attempting to signal.

We travelled up the west coast of the North Island into the interior of the country. The changing landscape during the four hour trip was remarkable.  We started with mountains rising from ocean and then moved into rolling green farmland. Then we passed through an area which resembled a scaled down version of the Grand Canyon before arriving in what looked like the Badlands of South Dakota.  The one difference was the three large volcanoes that we passed as we crossed the appropriately named Desert Road. One of these volcanoes, Mount Tongariro, is pictured below.

New Zealand has 20 mountains over 10 000 feet, the tallest of which is Mount Cook in the South Island at 12 316 feet. We learned later that a few schools in the vicinity of these interior volcanic mountains have permafrost for three months of the year. That wasn’t surprising given what we saw today. It was about 21 Celsius as we drove along the highway, yet the mountain tops were snow covered.

The afternoon began with a brief visit at a school in the town of Turangi. It included students from Year 1 to 13…so it was equivalent to our K – 12’s back home. One cool feature of this school is one that it shares with many others in New Zealand…its students wear uniforms.

This school also had a large Maori and Pasifika population. The Maori are the main indigenous group in the country. The Pasifika represent all of the people from the various Polynesian islands that come to New Zealand. Most often, the parents come to work in the farms and their children travel with them to attend school.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the REAP office in Tapoa. We met with four of their staff, including their manager, the early years’ programmer, the school program coordinator, and the adult education facilitator. They provided an overview of the services that they provide and the challenges that they face in meeting the needs of the region.

At the end of the day, we drove north to the town of Rotorua which is renowned for its hot springs. During the ride up the highway, we saw a large thermal plant that resembled a nuclear power facility. The most interesting thing was the numerous hot springs that littered the landscape. It was somewhat surreal to see steam rising from pools in fields and in people’s back yards.

We settled into a nice place just on the outskirts of town. The only unfortunate thing was there was no Internet connectivity so I was unable to update my blog, check my email, or connect with home.

Tomorrow morning we will visit schools in Rotorua before heading north to Auckland. I am still really enjoying the trip but I have begun the countdown to getting home. Five more sleeps.