Massey Univeristy was where my conference was held.
A funny-looking tree in the campus.
Massey has huge tough trees around the area.
One of the buildings in Massey beside the pool.
Wind farm near the Manawatu Gorge. The picture shows just a few of the many wind turbines.
Enjoy the view of the land from the wind farm.
A scene at the campus.
Palmerston North
My conference was held in Massey University , Palmerston North (PN). We arrived at PN on a gloomy and rainy day. It was hard to find a budget accommodation as most of the hostels were fully booked. Out of a sudden, we saw Ann’s Kate Bed and Breakfast (B&B) Inn and decided to try our luck there. We came into a warm and comfortable hall from the cool air outside, greeted by Louis, the friendly host. We felt really grateful that they gave us discount to stay in a cozy room with only NZ$ 50 per night. (Note: B&B is a refurbished home in comfortable relaxed surrounding).
We wake up early in the next morning to attend the conference at Massey University . Massey has a big, greeny, leafy and bicycle friendly campus. It houses many faculties and each faculty’s building has its own unique architecture. It was a drizzling day and there were not many students out there. Nonetheless, we still grabbed the opportunity to take pictures around the beautiful campus.
During our stay in PN, we visited the wind farm located on the north side of the Manawatu Gorge, which is known to be the largest wind farm in the north hemisphere. It was located on a high-hill area with very high wind speed of over 35km/h. We drove up a very narrow and windy gravel road. The drive up to the farm was tricky and we were very careful as in some areas it is not wide enough for two cars. However, in the end it was worth it just to be able to see the sheer size of the fan. We marveled at the gigantic wind turbines mounted on a 40 metres steel lattice tower. The three blades were 23.5 m long and have the ability to feather in different conditions to maintain relatively constant speed of 28.5 revolutions per minute.
The visit to Massey and wind farm had made our journey to PN memorable and educational.