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New Zealand - described on a tourist ‘T’ shirt as a country in three parts - the North Island, the South Island and the West Island! I’m quite sure the Australians have similar jokes regarding NZ, but despite their similar accents we’ve found NZ and Oz to have quite different cultures.
When Gill and I were trying to be specific about the differences we found them difficult to pin down, but we managed to talk around the issues of NZ being a smaller, more welcoming place - provincial in its nicest sense. We thought also that because of its relatively small size compared to its huge diversity of culture, landscape and climate that it’s an exciting place to be no matter what your tastes or interests.
At this point we should be honest and explain that our preference is for the South Island. I suppose our interests being paragliding and other ‘outdoorsy’ stuff would make us enjoy the south more because of its opportunities (more of that shortly), but for linearity I’ll quickly tell of our first month which we spent in the North.
After landing in Auckland we were very kindly collected by Gills relatives who then
very generously gave us a place to stay while we went into the city to purchase a small van (mid April’s a very good time to buy - everyone’s leaving). Once on the road we headed south via Rotorua, Taupo, Napier and Hastings - our destination being Masterton where Gill was to work for two weeks. As it happens this was very convenient timing because I developed Labyrinthitis - an inner ear virus which in my case completely removed my sense of balance, and this lasted well over two weeks (the first week left me in bed either watching TV or with my eyes closed to stop the world spinning).
Not wishing to skip over the areas we went through - Rotorua is interesting. Simply walking around the city you come across thermal pools, bubbling holes, and patches of dead grass with steam rising up from it. The city is situated very close to the fault line where the Indo-Australian and Pacific Tectonic plates collide, this creates frequent tremors, relatively recent volcanic eruptions and the afore-mentioned thermal activity.
Taupo - well it’s a very pretty lake. The city is also nice and it has its share of thermal
pools and spas, we only stayed a couple of nights - it was here that I became ill.
Napier and Hastings, I’m told, are very pretty. Unfortunately at this point the world was spinning out of control and I was being violently ill so we had to rush past these Art-Deco laden cities (because of the timing of an earth quake which led to rebuilding apparently).
After Masterton we went to the coast, Cape Palliser, to see a seal colony and stay in the nearby conservation park. Incidentally these conservation parks are scattered over both islands and allow you to stay in the most beautiful areas, at low cost, and at the time of year we stayed with very few people. The only downside, if you see it that way, is the lack of facilities such as kitchens and warm water/showers.
From Palliser we wandered over to Wellington for a few days for a little history (museums etc) and to meet up with some friends -fellow Paraglider pilots we flew with in Bright. It was nice to see and stay in Wellington - it’s a very nice city. The layout and geography of it make it varied
and interesting, and the city itself isn’t unpleasant. We found it very different to Auckland which seemed to ‘sprawl’ over a huge area with little individual distinction.
Without waffling too much that about sums up our North experience. Not, you may say, as comprehensive as other travellers journeys around the North but we were eager to move onto the South. Not only for the promise of paragliding flights (we still have them with us) but for the chance to spend weeks in the mountains - snowboarding.
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stupee
non-member comment
You mentioned the "S" word
have a good time snowboarding - GRRRR - not jelous or anyhting. Have a great time guys. small van in no place to be ill. Stu