Hello
everyone,
“Horse
Poop, $1.50”, read the sign by the side of the road.
 |
| A Sign That Says It All |
Lorraine and I had
just arrived in Kerikeri, in the heart of one of New
Zealand’s principal tourist areas, the beautiful Bay of Islands,
near the northern tip of the North
Island, but this was a
sign that could hardly escape our notice. We were to stay for five days in Kerikeri, at
the Linton B&B. Tourism is
unquestionably a very important industry in New Zealand, the second most
important, I am sure. In 1960 only
36,000 tourists came to New
Zealand. Last year, New Zealand, about one-fourth the
size of British Columbia but with equivalent population at just under four
million persons, played host to over two million tourists.
But
if one has any doubts as to what is their most important industry, that sign
says it all. New Zealand is one big farm. Everywhere I have been since I arrived three
weeks ago, it has been one continuous vista of farms, some with sheep, or
cattle, or horses, sometimes deer, ostriches, or alpacas; others have hay or
corn fields, while others are orchards or vineyards. Some of the farms are on rolling hills, others
are more open range, but always they are pictures of pastoral beauty,
unblighted by industrial plants anywhere, belching smoke or otherwise. Our hosts at the Linton B&B were Lynn and
Tony, a retired ‘dry stock farmer’. (We
would call a ‘dry stock’ farmer a rancher, whereas a ‘wet stock’ farm we call a
dairy.)
 |
| New Zealand countryside: Typical, bloody typical |
QUEENSLAND
So,
I left the Philippines and
after a long flight, which took me through Kuala Lumpur,
I arrived in New Zealand
February 2nd. As I had about
one week to fill before Lorraine
was to arrive, I used the time to fly to the south island for a short visit. I arrived in Auckland
in the evening, but at 5:00AM the next morning I headed back to the airport to
board a three-hour flight which took me to Queenstown, the principal city in Central Otago and quite near the southern tip of the
south island.
I
think most of us in Canada
think of New Zealanders as Australians, but with their volume turned down a bit. We know them to be friendly, generally
soft-spoken, dependably courteous, and laid back. And they are. But being laid back certainly does not mean
being inactive. Kiwis are nothing if
they are not nuts over sports and the outdoors. On the short drive into Queenstown from the
airport, I saw sail boats, power boats and ski-doos on Lake Wakatipu, cyclists
on the highway, mountain bikers off road, joggers and hikers going in every
direction, while hang gliders were wafting down from the mountain which
backdrops the city. Truly, there are
more outdoor activities being pursued in New Zealand than in any other place
I know.
And
tourists flock to Queenstown, the self-described outdoor adventure capital, to
participate in the bewildering array of activities being offered. In addition to those noted above, one can also
go swimming, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, caving, jet boating, marine-mammal
watching (in nearby Milford or Doubtful Sounds), horseback riding, mountaineering,
rock climbing, skydiving, windsurfing, white-water rafting, and off-road
driving in 4 wheel drives, motorcycles, or ATVs. In the wintertime, the adjacent mountains,
‘The Remarkables’ are a major ski destination. Did I mention bungy jumping? Just down the
road from Queenstown is the site of the first bridge-bungy jump, Kawarau Bridge. It’s a 43 meter drop to the end of the rope. I passed on the opportunity to jump myself,
but from watching several people who did, I judge it to be quite an adrenalin
rush. But then again, it would be
nothing compared to the 134-meter, 6-second free-fall drop of the Nevis
Highwire bungy, also nearby. If the
foregoing activities seem too energetic, there is also golf and bird watching
here in Queenstown. Many of these
pursuits are available elsewhere in New Zealand,
along with scuba diving, snorkeling, surfing, sailing, and all the other
seaside activities, but no one place has more to offer than Central
Otago.
CENTRAL OTAGO WINES
Aside
from activity freaks, many other tourists come to Central
Otago to visit the nearby historical sites of a gold rush, which
started in 1862, and carried on for some forty years. But still others, including me (surprise,
surprise), are attracted to this area by a more recent development. In the past decade, Central
Otago pinot noir wines have been winning recognition and awards
around the world. At 45o south,
this area is the most southerly wine producing area in the world. It sits on a relatively high plateau in the lee
of mountains to the west enjoying a ‘continental’ climate, the only place in New Zealand
said to do so. Beautifully manicured
vineyards tend to be on north facing slopes, and the small, but modern,
impressive wineries reflect the prices these wines demand.
There
are a number of wineries very close to Queenstown, but about one hour’s drive
through picturesque Kaiwarua Gorge, takes one to the ‘town’ of Bannockburn. Bannochburn bills itself as ‘the heart of the
desert’, and is home to several of the most notable producers. These winter trips of mine have never been
about my interest in wines, but at the urging of my wine pals, it seemed like
this was an opportunity I should not pass up. Having tasted the wines at a number of the
wineries, I can only say I am glad I did come. Most of the wines I tried, from wineries such
as Mt. Difficulty, Olssens, Akarua and Carrick, were wonderfully rich, with
tons of sweet, jammy, earthy, beetroot nose wafting from the glass, the
hallmark of succulent pinots for me, but characteristics which are too often
missing.
MILFORD SOUND
I
also took one day to drive out to Milford Sound, one of the south island’s most
visited tourist attractions. The scenic
drive from Queenstown to the sound took under four hours and initially wound
through undulating farm land, sheep, cattle, and deer farms in every direction. The highway gained considerable
elevation as it approached the Divide through the Southern
Alps, to the point where large snow banks were still beside the
road. Just after the divide, the Homer
Tunnel, a long, dark, downward sloping tunnel empties you out into the coastal
rainforest. It was then a bit like
driving through the canyon on the road to Whistler.
 |
| Milford Sound |
Many
tourists come to Milford Sound to hike the famous Milford Track, a 54km hike,
often described as one of the finest treks in the world. Access to the track is strictly controlled, no
camping is allowed, reservations have to made, and, even in Milford Sound,
“there are schedules to be maintained”, so it must be completed in four days. This area gets, on average, more than twenty
feet of rain fall per year (last year it got about thirty feet), so the hike is
almost certainly to be a wet one. In
fact, with all the rainfall, it is unusual to see Milford Sound when it is not
raining. But the day I was there it was
gloriously sunny. I took one of the many
cruises offered, a two hour boat ride which went the 22km length, out into the
Tasman Sea, and back. The sound is quite
narrow, one kilometer at it’s widest, and lined with sheer cliffs the full
distance. Trees cover the rock faces,
clinging to each other for footing, as there is little opportunity to put down
roots. We were told that, after a
rainfall, torrents of water cascade down off the cliffs, creating massive
waterfalls in the spaces devoid of trees. Within a few hours of the rain ending, the
cascades, likewise, stop. I am sure it
is a most impressive site.
One
of the results of all the rainfall is that a unique marine ecosystem is created
in the sound. Fresh water, to a depth of
about ten meters, lays on top of the sea water, filtering out much of the
sunlight, thereby replicating deep-ocean conditions. As a consequence, many deep water marine
species are present in the sound, so the area has been designated as a Marine
Preserve. Sometimes whales, often
dolphins, and always seals, can be seen on the cruises. We only saw the seals, but we also spotted a
pair of the quite rare, and quite small, Fiordland Yellow Crested Penguins. There are less than 3,000 mating pairs of
these birds left.
AUCKLAND
So
with those adventures behind me, I flew back to Auckland
to meet Lorraine who was flying in from
visiting her family in Melbourne. It was so great to see her.
Lorraine had ten days
to visit New Zealand,
so we decided to stick to the north island for her visit. The day after Lorraine’s
arrival, we spent sightseeing Auckland,
just wandering and driving around (we rented a car for the period, a small
Nissan). One-third of all New Zealanders
live in Auckland,
about 1.3 million people, but it definitely retains a small city feel. The architecture is a bit of a mish mash with
the skyline dominated by the 328m high Sky Tower, the highest structure in the
southern hemisphere. But the city is
sparkling clean, traffic is orderly, there are lots of large shade trees, and
it is certainly not without charm.
 |
| Auckland Museum - Maori Haka |
Also
in the museum is a most impressive Maori war canoe, 25 meters long and carved
from one tree; up to 100 warriors could ride in it. It must have been one hell of a big tree. Unlike Australia
where Aborigines are seldom seen, Maori, and examples of their culture, are
everywhere here in New
Zealand. Many people, not just Maori, but Pakeha too,
as those of European descent are called, sport tattoos, often with Maori
patterns, and sometimes covering a lot of skin.
TAUPO VOLCANO
AND ROTORUA
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| Wai-O-Tapu: Lady Knox Geyser |
 | |||||||
| Wai-O-Tapu: Mud, bubbling mud |
We spent two days in Rotorua where steam can often be seen rising out of vents right beside the highway and where homeowners are able to tap in to the subsurface hot water to heat their homes; and we saw more than one of the geothermal power generation plants which have been built in the area, and which provide New Zealand with 5% of its energy needs. We spent a very interesting one-half day visiting the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, a park that has it all, thermal-wise; Lady Knox, a geyser that spews steam 100 feet in the air on demand (with the help of some soap dumped down the spout to decrease surface tension), bubbling, burbling, plopping mud pots, hot, small lakes of the prettiest colours, steaming craters, silica terraces, and enough sulphur smell to make you swoon.
 |
| Wai-O-Tapu: Devil's Bath and Lorraine |
NEW ZEALAND TOURING
Both
Lorraine and I decided that touring New Zealand
by car is best. The highways are mostly
excellent with paved shoulders and neat, mowed boulevards beyond, and often
lined by agapanthus bushes with their pretty purple or white flowers (or
‘Agatha’s Panties’ as Tony calls them). All highways have well painted traffic lines,
continuous strips of reflector lights for night driving, practical roundabouts
and the scenery is unrelentingly appealing.
 |
| Agatha's Panties |
Beyond
my habit of faking out local drivers by signaling a turn by turning on my
windshield wipers, we had no trouble. There are, however, a couple of quirky things
about motoring around New
Zealand. The speed limit is always 100 kph, but as
elsewhere in the world, there are cautionary ‘slow to’ signs, but this is the
only place I know of where one sees ‘Slow to 95’. How about that, highways so precisely
engineered that curves can be handled safely at 95, but not at 100.
There
are other warning signs, many I might say, one every few kilometers in the
mountains, showing a skidding car with the message ‘Slippery when Frosty’ for
the apparently large number of Kiwis who have not yet made that connection. On the other hand, there are the directional
signs, or I should say, the absence thereof. In the city, it seemed there was never a sign
to tell you on which street you are. Also, highways in New Zealand are a bit like stirred
spaghetti, so there are lots of roundabouts, intersections, or roads veering
off. Often it seemed the directional
sign pointed to the turn you just missed, rather than one you might want (and
was hoping was coming up). Then again,
it was not uncommon to head into a roundabout, signs everywhere, showing every
possible destination in New
Zealand, but after choosing an exit, to be
plunged directly into another roundabout with not one sign at all.
Then
there are the one-lane bridges. It is
quite extraordinary to be whizzing along at 100 kph on a first grade, modern
highway, and to come around a corner and have to screech to a halt to allow
oncoming traffic to clear a one lane bridge dating from the 1800’s. Although we saw lots of highway upgrading, we
did not see one of these old bridges being replaced. Tony told us the replacements are forever in
the ‘Ten Year Plan’ but, likewise, they are forever being rolled over. Nonetheless, motoring around New Zealand was great.
 |
| A one lane bridge |
HAWKES BAY, FRODO AND THE DRIVE NORTH
After
leaving Rotorua, Lorraine
and I drove to Napier, on Hawkes Bay, one of New Zealand’s most famous wine
producing regions. We intended to stay a
day or so, but Rod Stewart got there first. He was holding a concert at the Mission Estate
Winery the next night, and his 20,000 expected fans had booked every room for
miles around. So, we were left with
visiting nearby Te Mata winery, one of New Zealand’s icon wineries, (with
excellent wines), then we had a beach side picnic lunch, and left, headed north.
On
our trip north we visited Waitomo Cave, also known as the Glowworm Cave. There are a number of such caves in New Zealand,
but this one featured a walk down into the cave for about 30 minutes, the light
getting progressively dimmer until it is quite pitch black, at which point we
were loaded on to a small boat. The boat
then drifted into a chamber, the ceiling of which glittered with thousands of
tiny points of a bright, greenish-tinged light (maybe these are the thousand
points of light George Bush Sr. talked about in his unsuccessful re-election
attempt). The glowworm larva produces a
thread of web which dangles below it, and the light it emits attracts other
insects. When the prey approaches the
light, it gets caught by the sticky thread, and voila, food for a month. The effect of all the lights overhead is very
beautiful, but after a few moments, our boat drifted out of the cave and into
daylight.
After
Waitomo, on our drive north, we drove through Matamata, a town made famous, for
forever I am sure, when Peter Jackson chose a farm in the area to be Hobbiton
for his Lord of the Rings trilogy. I
think there are lots of places in New Zealand
that Jackson
could have chosen for Hobbiton, but one has to admit, it is exceptionally
pretty here. Now, of course, Hobbiton is
being relentlessly flogged to Middle Earth tourists hoping to run into Frodo,
and for $50, diehard fans can visit what is left of the set, the location of
which is a closely guarded secret, and not to be revealed by the local tourist
information office to itinerates like Lorraine
and me. (Incidentally, if Queenstown did
not have enough going for it with all its outdoor activities, the historical
gold mining sites, and the emerging wine region, the mountains around
Queenstown were the ‘Misty Mountains’ in the movies and other Tolkien tourists
are now coming to visit those sites.)
And
so, leaving Hobbiton in the south behind, the next day we arrived in the
beautiful Bay of Islands, rolling farmland looking like
English countryside and fringed by spectacular bays and islands. As I mentioned, we spent five days here and we
had a most relaxing time, at least a portion of everyday was spent at one of
the area’s many beaches, but each day we would also visit local points of
interest.
SOME HISTORY
The
first European contact with New
Zealand was in 1642 when a Dutchman, Abel
Tasman, arrived here only to sail directly away. It was another 127 years before Europeans, in
the person of Captain James Cook, returned and it was not until 1814 that the
British established a settlement in the Bay of Islands. The two oldest remaining buildings in New Zealand
are in Kerikeri, the Mission House dating from 1822 and the Stone Store of
similar vintage. Tasman, the first
European here, can only take credit for giving the place a name, Nieuw Zeeland.
Europeans
had only been preceded by a few hundred years by the Maori, who are said to
have arrived about the year 1,200AD. It
is not known where these Polynesian forebears came from exactly, but they share
the same demigod, Maui, worshipped by peoples from New
Zealand to Hawaii. It surprised me greatly to learn that
before the Maori, New Zealand was uninhabited, not only no humans lived here,
but there were no mammals either, other than two species of bats.
Initially,
the new settlers were able to reach an accord with the Maoris, and in 1840, the
Treaty of Waitangi was signed at Waitangi just a few miles from Kerikeri. Differing understandings of what the treaty
meant and pressures on the available land as more settlers arrived resulted in
many years of conflict. The Maori, who
had a well developed warrior culture after centuries of intertribal warfare,
put up a formidable fight in what are now called the Land Wars, and which
lasted for nearly forty years. Today the
Treaty of Waitangi is essentially being interpreted as New Zealand’s constitution and land
grabs by settlers in the mid 1800’s are finally being compensated for.
AND SOME FLORA
AND FAUNA
New Zealand may not have
had land mammals when the Maori arrived, but it sure had birds, including 11
species of the legendary, but now extinct, Moa. The Auckland
Museum had an exhibit
showing one of the largest; it was an amazing 11 feet tall. By the time Europeans arrived, the Maori had
successfully killed off all moa and only bones are to be found. Of course the other famous New Zealand bird is the kiwi. Its existence is also highly threatened. They are apparently shy and nocturnal so we
didn’t see any. As a side note, I
suspect like me, most everyone else closely identifies the kiwi fruit with New Zealand. The people are even called Kiwis. It is New Zealand, right? Wrong! Kiwis were introduced from China in the 1800’s, and were
originally called Chinese gooseberries.
Likewise,
when they arrived, the Maori found much of the north island covered in forests
of giant Kauri trees. First the Maori,
and then the settlers, harvested these trees to near obliteration. But there are a number of preserves where
these monsters can still be seen, and Lorraine
and I visited Puketi
Forest for a nice walk
amongst a few of the giants still standing. The trees we saw were up to 20 feet around,
but the largest stump ever found is apparently over 85 feet in diameter.
 |
| Puketi Forest Kauri Tree |
Other
interesting trees in New Zealand
include the stately but sparse Norfolk
pine, often appearing as a solitary silhouette against the sky. Oil from the manuka tree, a relative of the
Australian tea tree and eucalyptus, contains an agent known to have very
effective antibacterial, antifungal and antihistamine properties. Maoris were well aware of the healing powers
of manuka oil. Recent scientific
investigations have confirmed what the Maori knew, and that trees most potent
in the active ingredient were located in the East Cape area, southeast of Auckland. Honey produced from the manuka tree, with
their tiny leaves and tiny white flowers, can contain this active ingredient,
and the health benefits of eating the honey are vigorously promoted.
|
| Ponga & Mamuka Tree Ferns on the Hillside |
New Zealand is home to 80 varieties of ferns but the most impressive are the fern trees, the ponga, or silver tree fern, and the mamuka, or black tree fern. The mamuka can grow to 60 feet, the ponga half that. These trees with their delicate and lacy fronds sprouting from the top are everywhere to be seen and are easily the prettiest part of hillside landscapes. The delicate lacy frond is widely used as a symbol in New Zealand, most notably on the jerseys of the All Blacks.
BAY OF ISLANDS AND DINING OUT
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| Lorraine at Linton B&B ready for Valentine Dinner |
Kerikeri promotes its ‘Mediterranean,
Café culture’, and a number of restaurants are well recommended. After asking around and checking guide books
etc. we choose the Kina Kitchen Café
which was touted as one of the better in the city and which was described as
having excellent food prepared by ‘hard working young chefs’.
The wine was excellent and our meals were
great. I mentioned above that Kiwis are
laid back, but did I mention they were often informal, casual, one might say
folksy, or even maybe a bit indifferent to appearance. Our server was a pert young woman, and the
service was good given this is a country where servers often don’t expect to
get a tip. But it could not go unnoticed
that she was wearing a T-shirt which read “Have a nice big cup of ‘Shut the
f***up’. Think before you say something
stupid”. Hmmmm. Is she missing her own message? But we did have to laugh.
 |
| Kina Kitchen server's t-shirt |
Lorraine and I had a great time around the Bay of Islands and without doubt, it is the prettiest place we visited. We particularly loved the scenery around Doubtless Bay, (when he sailed past, Captain Cook logged ‘doubtless a bay’) about one hours drive north of Kerikeri. At the famous Mangonui Fish Shop, built over the water, we had just about the best ‘fush and chups’ I’ve ever had.
 |
| Cable Beach in beautiful Doubtless Bay |
A BUMP ON THE
ROAD
Before
I get to the last part of our trip, I do have to give you the bad news about
visiting New Zealand. Any thought of a bargain holiday in New Zealand
is fantasy. Cheap prices have
disappeared with the rise of the New Zealand dollar to near parity
with the Canadian Loony. A NZ dollar is
now about 90 cents Canadian. In
addition, I was told there have been general price increases in the past few years
which have pretty much scraped up any remaining advantage that might have
previously existed.
Our car rental was cheap at $34 per day, but other than that one bargain, we found mid-range motels were mostly in the $90 to $220 per night range (they were always nice, but none that we had offered air conditioning). Holiday Parks were less, but often they did not include linen and were better set up for large families. B&B’s are usually under $100, but it seemed they were harder to find and often already full. (It is true though, we only paid $60 at the Linton B&B, and it certainly was a bargain. Lynn even did our laundry no charge, and we were invited for a lovely dinner one evening.) Restaurant ‘mains’ were almost invariably over $20, even for pasta, pizza, or fish and chips, and often prices were over $30 for anything more substantial. An ordinary coffee in McD’s will generally cost $2.25, in Starbucks it's $3.50, a beer is always $5 or more and gasoline $1.20 per liter.
But
the biggest sticker shock is in supermarkets for local produce. As you know, New Zealand sends tons of produce
to us, and this is the middle of their summer, but we didn’t see any bargains. Rather, some prices we couldn’t help but
notice included cherries ‘On Sale’ at $9.99/kg, asparagus at $22.99/kg, (I saw
a packet of 5 spears for $3.99), small green peppers $1.99 each, orange peppers
the same small size for $2.49 each, but the one that capped it, I think, was
broad beans at $23.99/kg. All these
prices are in New Zealand
dollars, but even if you knock 10% off them, they still look high to me. It could all be a bit discouraging. But that is the note that I want to leave this
report on as we did have a great time.
SHEEPWORLD AND
THE END
Lorraine’s flight home
was to leave Auckland
at 7:00PM on February 18th, so it was time to go. We left Kerikeri early on the morning of
departure day to allow us time to visit Sheepworld at Warkworth on the way back
to Auckland,
and take in their sheep shearing and sheep dog show. The dogs are entertaining as hell, at times
even jumping up on the backs of the sheep to herd them around. We enjoyed it greatly. (Interestingly, for all the sheep dog culture
here, we have seen almost no dogs other than the few at this farm; people just
do not seem to keep them as pets.) As
part of the show Lorraine
got to milk a goat, but based on the output, I think she will be keeping her
day job. There are 40 million sheep in
the country (only Australia
has more) so it is the major agricultural endeavour. We were told an average farm has 4,000 sheep,
an average sheep gives about 4 kilograms of wool per year, and today that
fetches about $2NZ per kilo at auction, with most of the wool going to China. These are historically low prices so with
gross revenues averaging $32,000NZ, it is clear farmers are suffering.
 |
| Sheep Shearing at Sheepworld |
Sheepworld
also has many other animal exhibits, and I can’t not pass on a couple of other
things we were told as fact:
·
Chickens with white ear lobes lay white eggs, chickens with
red ear lobes lay
brown eggs.
·
Alpacas have a natural affinity for cats and will follow
them around.
·
Goats have rectangular pupils in their eyes (they truly do).
·
Originally from Australia,
there are now 70 million possums in New Zealand, eating the equivalent
of 4,000 trucks of vegetation per day, destroying habitats, eating kiwi eggs,
and causing all manner of havoc. (Ignoring
the fact that the possums were doubtless brought in by a New Zealander, this is
just one of the other things for which the poor Aussies are blamed.)
And with that, although I stayed on a few more days, our visit of New Zealand was over. I got Lorraine to her plane on time and she got away, even though initially the New Zealand Airline check-in mistakenly gave her a boarding pass for some guy by the name of Peter Chapman. He was even on a different flight than the one on which she was booked. Luckily Lorraine noticed it in time. I was very sorry to see her go. It has been an enjoyable three weeks and I recommend a visit to everyone, particularly anyone who likes to motor around. And as for those prices, don’t think about it. Besides, I thought the horse poop at $1.50 could have been a good deal, depending on how much you get.
So
that’s it. I hope you enjoy the pictures, and I hope you are all well.
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| Milking a Goat at Sheepworld |
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