Road slip in Matahina

This morning during a road trip to Rotorua we passed through Matahina and stopped on the side of a road out in the country so I could take photos of this road slip. Not sure when it happened except that it would've been during a period of very very heavy rain. If you look in this photo (above) you can see the road where the side of it has gone. There were road cones up next to me in a line so I wasn't about to go near the edge for obvious safety reasons.

The view past the edge of the road is part of the Matahina River which passes through the Matahina Power Station.

The water would've all come from above this cliff and as you can see on the left the side of the hill has washed away.

After 6 hours of being out and about it's good to be home, especially in this heat...

Karapiro Power Station

This is the Karapiro Power Station just out of Hamilton, the Waikato River has 8 other hydroelectric power stations - this one is the last of them. Construction started in 1940, the building certainly looks vintage, and was completed in 1947.

It's purpose is to maintain the flow of water in the lower part of the river during catchment and low electricity demand. To keep the river flow and a reasonable level only 2 turbines are needed - the third is used for peak generation and maintenance on one of the others. Mercury Energy operates all the hydro electric power stations on the Waikato River.

On this day we visited this place it had been raining on and off all morning, the stormy skies reflected in the background show how temperamental the weather has been.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday :-)

Reflections on the Hoteo River - Kaipara Coast

Once in a while the teens and I go on roadtrips - this one was when we randomly drove down State Highway 16, off the beaten track from Wellsford through to Helensville. We stopped off at the Hoteo River and watched a couple of people walking in the low tide with their fishing gear. It was a clear Spring day with a chill in the air. People travel this way to avoid the main highway with all the busy traffic.

For more weekend reflections click here :-)