IPPN Bursary Blog 2007

Monday, July 19, 2010

Bleak Desert and The Coldest Winter...

The drive from Rotorua to Ohakune took about three hours and the first half was through very picturesque forests. Then we came to The Desert Road. I did not know that there is a desert in New Zealand and this was a surprise. It wasn't a sandy desert and it even had water in the stearms but boy was it bleak. Think Connemara without the scenery!

It is called The Rangipo Desert and gets 1500 - 2500 mm of rainfall per year. It resembles a desert because of a poor soil quality and drying winds. The vegetation is minimal and scrubby, and the headwaters of many small streams, later to turn into large rivers, gouge deep serrated valleys through the earth. The climate here is harsh and alpine, with close to 270 ground frosts per year in comparison with less than 30 in the coastal regions of Hawke's Bay, 80 kilometres to the east. Heavy snowfalls - rarely seen in the rest of the island - are also a common occurrence in winter.

The Lord of the Rings films were shot in New Zealand, and the Black Gate of Mordor scenes were shot in the Rangipo Desert in 2000. "Not a lot of people know that!"

At the end of the desert we arrived in Waiouru. At that stage the temperature had dropped to zero-it was 14 when we left Rotorua. Bleak and miserable best describe this town. We stopped for petrol and on the way out of the shop I noticed a sign which summed up the place for me:
"The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in Waiouru!"

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