Wanganui - School of Design - I enjoyed a lively staff meeting with the faculty and took the opportunity afterwards to take pictures of the art on display and the building itself covered with ivy. In order there is a lampshade made out of old men's ties, and earrings made out of gem stones and featuring a special NZ wood.

Wanganui National Park - parting shots of the valley where the Atena Skyline Hike took place. The Rural Mail Delivery man enjoyed stopping for frequent pictures because its a glorious view.

Pigs in Wanganui National Forest - while big trucks and four wheel drive vehicles trundled past two separate sows were suckling their young right beside the road. The only reason the two mothers and their piglets moved off was because I got out of the van and took their picture. These are not wild pigs but domesticated pigs.

Atene Skyline Walk - So I did manage to open up my camera and get some spectacular images from the ridges even though I was anxious. You could see light rain showers coming your way from far off but they blew over and the sunshine came back.

Atene Picnic Area - Like the men in WWII under deprivation and having to make fast time in difficult circumstances, all I kept thinking about was making it to the picnic shelter because by that time I was half done and surely the last half couldn't be worse than the first half. Anyway when I reached the picnic shelter I was more than half through the alotted time so I had to eat while I walked. You can't say that the walk was not beautiful. Look at the native lowland forest of tree ferns and vines. I kept expecting Tarzan to leap out at me. I never did see the blue duck that birdwatchers are always hoping to spot.

Atene Skyline Hike - occasionally there would be breaks in the heavily forested tramp to look at the river valley below. I agree with publicity that says the slopes are steep. Towards the end of the tramp on narrow ledges with intimidating drop offs either side and wind gusts, I had to use positive self-talk to walk forward. Sometimes even when the scene was breathtaking I could not or would not open up my camera because I was afraid looking down I would lose my nerve. I did wonder many times why I had paid to go on the tramp. While the rock I was walking on appeared to have beautiful sandstone shapes eroded by the forces of the river, I was just concerned by all the bits on the trail that were missing.

Atene Skyline Hike - I started off like the "Last of the Mohicans" not making a sound in the forest, being light of foot. Because I was so quiet, I startled calves and young goats browsing on the trail. I actually set off some stampedes as I came quickly and silently from behind the young animals. I would curse the fallen trees on the trail but came to be thankful because they stopped the browsing animals from being an issue. I actually found a group of 8 big calves pretty intimidating. Can you see how enticing the forest is and how it would be the perfect place for Lord of the Rings to be filmed?It was actually filmed on the South Island near Queenstown. But the 2004 movie called "River Queen" was filmed on the Wanganui River. It tells the story of an Irish woman's search for her kidnapped son who was taken by her Maori lover in the 1860s to be raised by his people.

Wanganui National Park - encompasses the wild upper and middle sections of the Wanganui River which you can see was very brown from all the rains and runoff. There was actually a lahar, or mudflow at 11 am on Sunday March 18th, causing the tephra dam at Mt. Ruapehu to burst. That was fortunately the day after I did a 7 hour hike at Atene. You can see that the hike was supposed to take 8 hours so I did it in record time. You walk in a circle so you come out at a different entrance seven hours later. I had a Rural Mail Delivery contract person drop me off and pick me up seven hours later.

After the Hike Beverage - a beer after the hike is the tradition and this is the inside of a frontier bar in NZ. The walls are covered with trophy heads. I would rather have the animals alive. We just finished our drinks and a van of 50 tourists arrived. We were so lucky!

Proof I was there! My favourite is the shot the tramping club insisted I get in - right beside the soil slip and the sheer drop to instant death. I had up until this time refused to get anywhere near that edge but for posterity I took my destiny in my hands. I am the speck off to the left of the slip.

Ruahines - Wanganui Search and Rescue - It felt like the set of MASH. Young men and women were doing practise search and rescue maneuvres on the very steep hillside. The nurse in our tramping club knew some of the people and we had fun and excitement. When the blue helicopter took off a red helicopter showed up to evacuate the remaining volunteers.