A Day in Palmerston

So we ended up heading up to Palmerston North, a town about minutes away for the day.  The main reason is there is a very popular set of walking tracks there (actually they have 10 very popular ones).  We only had time for two this day and were happy to get them in.  The weather threatened rain most of the day on us, but we had a great time.  We started off on the Manawatu Gorge Tawa LOOP walk.  You can walk this one of two ways.  The loop takes about 2 hours while the gorge take 3-4 ONE way.  We opted for the shorter version as we didn't start till noon lol.  Anyway, the walk itself is great.  It starts off passing streams and the gorge/river.  Then you climb up for about an hour to a popular art sculpture that represents a famous Maori chief/explorer.  You also can walk down and see the "Big Slip" that happened a few years ago.  By big slip I mean "hillside is gone".  From there it is literally all downhill.  We only saw a few people on the track so we hear a lot of birdsong and nature sounds which was great.  There were some amazing trees and bush life to see, check out this quick video HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk5He0tD9EE) We really enjoyed it.

(Posing for our start photo, all chipper at the start)

(This is the Manawatu River.  Apparently its normally more blue but the overcast sky makes it green-ish)

(Some small streams feed the river that we had bridges to cross over.  Great start to the hike)

(Cec is also prety chipper to start our Tawa Loop hike)

(This is one of the viewpoints looking out onto palmerston north from the top of the gorge)

(This is the chief Whatonga, immortalized for helping to settle the region.  Props to cecil for the cool perspective in the photo)

(Looking at the river and the "big slip" which is directly in front.  See the area without any trees?  That "slipped" off and had to be repaired.)

(The Tui were very active.  This guy is all poofed up protecting his territory- LOUDLY)

After our Tawa Loop walk, we headed out to Omanawatu walkway.  Its a 10K sirt path that goes right along the gorge.  It looked like a really great place to bike.  However, bikeless, we walked just about 45 minutes up then turned around and went right back.  The wind farm was always in view which is cool to watch them spin.  It also is a prime habitat for fantails and small tuff birds who were flitting around us as we kicked up bugs.  After that we headed into town and ate at Cecil's favorite restaurant called "Arranged Marriage".  It is a south Indian restaurant that apparently is pretty authentic.  He got Dosha and I got the Kiwi's favorite dish, butter chicken.  It is like my favorite thing to eat here.  Then, we headed home after a nice day of tramping.

(Ready for walk #2!)

(This one was much more flat and right by the river.  See a quick video HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTpu5cPhEw )

(Amazing photo #1 of a Fantail catching flies.  They are so fast it can be hard to photograph)

(Amazing photo #2 of a fantail.  Notice the eyebrows, they can look like they are glaring)

(Cecil enjoying his reward for all the hiking at the restaurant.  It was so dark in the place the photos turned out like crap but it was tasty!)