Taranaki

We spent the weekend in Taranaki. This is the area in the west of the central North Island. It takes its name from the wonderful volcano that rises gracefully from the sea to its full height of 2518 metres. The mountain was shrouded in cloud for all the time we were there, although it started to clear as we were leaving. Consequently this is the best shot I managed to get, from near Eltham.
Here is a better image from te web.

The main reason for visiting was to see an exhibition of Len Lye’s work at the Govett Brewster Gallery. Lye was a New Zealand born artist who was active in the avant garde movement from the 20s until his death in 1980.

Many of his ideas were unable to be realised with the technology available at the time. There are several modern interpretations of his designs, including the Water Whirler in Wellington and the 45 metre Wind Wand on the foreshore walk in New Plymouth.

New Plymouth was one of the first places outside Wellington we visited after arriving in 1976. We liked Pukekura Park then and it still is a magical place. This is Poets Bridge – so named because the original was built with the proceeds of a bet on a race horse called The Poet.

This is a recreation of a photo we have from our first trip to New Plymouth. I must try and find the original for comparison!

Here are a couple of views of other areas of the park.

While in New Plymouth we caught up with several friends, and handed over Sirloin to Janet and Mike representing Phoenix Morris. Sirloin was made in the late 70s for The Pride of Holland Street, the Morris side that Noreen and I used to dance with.