Day Twelve: Final Day, Haere Ra!

posted by Jazz and Rosie

An NZ song of farewell, at the end of a special occasion, or to farewell loved ones on a voyage. We also sang this song in the action style of 'Auld Lang Syne' at the close of the Maori cultural show at Rotorua.

http://folksong.org.nz/poatarau/index.html

NOW IS THE HOUR Now is the hour, when we must say goodbye Soon you'll be sailing, far across the sea. While you're away, Oh please remember me. When you return, you'll find me waiting here. Te iwi, te iwi, e te iwi e Tahuri mai ra te ngakau e Ki nga kupu o te Rongopai He oranga o te iwi e "Haere ra," te manu tangi pai. E haere ana, koe ki pamamao. Haere ra, ka hoki mai ano, Ki-i te tau, e tangi atu nei

Everybody, everybody Turn back your heart to the word of the Gospel for the welfare of all of you. "Bon Voyage" cries out the seabird as you depart for a distant land. "Farewell, but return again to your loved one, weeping here."

Wheels away, up into the cloud at 1:40pm - Auckland in an hour, then a short wait at Auckland International for the early evening Qantas service to LAX.

"Haere ra Joe and Yvette - we enjoyed having you share your special time with us, and we look forward to your 10th anniversary visit"

Away she goes - into the strong breeze, a quick takeoff.




Taxiing out toward the south western end of the runway
ON the move!


Firing up the starters....



Leaning into the cold easterly gale - nearly escaped, and still smiling!


Out the door, airside...

Into the line, out the single door to Gate 5.
Top up the fuel, on with the baggage, kick the tyres! (that's kiwi spelling for tires ;-)
Boarding call, time to go...

The ATR-72 service to Auckland arrives...


Baggage checked in with time to spare, checking the boarding passes (Joe, Yvette, Rosie)

After some frenzied last minute retail therapy Rosie and Yvette returned home. When the panic over a possible miscalculation of airline departure time was resolved (phew) Rosie knocked up a batch of cheese scones, and blueberry muffins - then it was off on the arduous 8 minute drive to the Palmerston North International Airport.

Day Eleven - Pohangina Valley and Cookie Time ride

Sherm Pic!

Dimitri itching for a food fight.

Neil, Darius (obscured) Megan, and Steve

Mal and Yvette, Bev and Clive (Jazz' brother and his wife)

Megan, Steve, Mal and Yvette

From the Motorcycles Unleashed exhibition, the crankcase on the Burt Monro replica which was built for the movie, "The World's Fastest Indian".

A Kiwi emblem on a race bike. This was Kim Newcombe's experimental race bike using a Konig outboard motor engine, which had a number of international wins.

Agapanthus everywhere

"Did I hear a zipper?"

A lichen covered table

Farm critters

Some nice looking yard birds.

Alas, the DC-3 Cafe was closing down, and only had microwaved maggot packs left. We decided to travel a bit back down the road to a very nice cafe, Flat Hills, which has a maze and a petting farm. Here is a Sherm shot of lunch. Jazz and I had a hot meat sandwich, Yvette had some fish and chips.

Cookie Time!

Vagabonds on the side of the road.

The Rangitikei Valley near Ohingaiti

The size of the arrow tells you who has the right of way. In this case, you would give way to oncoming traffic.

Red Deer

The old post office store at Umutoi, now a farm cottage

One lane bridge. The back roads are full of them.

Dirt bike jumps?

Totara Reserve, Pohangina Valley

More scenery

The back yard

The carport

Out the back door.

Jazz and Rosies Kitchen

The last day on the bikes. We are going to make it a short run, only 5 hours or so. We will travel thru the Pohangina Valley then out to the main road to get to Mangawenka to check out the Cookie Time Cafe. This is a national landmark, it is a DC-3 that has been converted into a tea-room (cafe). We saw it briefly when we came down SH-1 from Rotorua, and I wanted to go check it out a little closer... After the ride some of Jazz and Rosie's family came over for dinner. What a geat way to end the perfect vacation!