Pumpkin Pie and Octopi

---

An octopus right on the beach! We were on the beach at Mt. Maunganui on the North Coast of the North Island and Renee and Bill decided to go for a walk down to the end of the beach. They were looking at the starfish and crabs and various typical things trapped in the intertidal pools among the rocks when Renee pointed out something in the sand by a rock with suction cups that looked like an octopus tentacle. We looked closely and could see that it appeared to be alive. We asked a woman nearby if she thought it was an octopus. She borrowed a little plastic shovel from a little fellow who we presumed was her grandson, and started digging it up. Up jumps this octopus and it sidles along the sand where it met the rocks trying to get away from us. It was a purple-grey colour with a body the size of a woman's fist and tentacles about 20 to 25 cm long. A wave came in and it created a cloud (by releasing some ink?) and then disappeared. By now a number of people had gathered and someone discovered that it had found a crevice in the rocks to hide in, showing virtually nothing of itself this time. Another woman said she had lived in the area all her life and had never seen a live octopus on the beach. Renee ran back to Keith and Susan and they came to see the octopus too. Keith used a stick to gently coax it out of it's hiding place so that they could see it. Then it buried itself in the sand beside a rock again.

So Mt. Maunganui beach was fantastic. We did not climb up Mt. Maunganui itself as intended as we got waylaid by the hot salt water baths at its foot. Today we spent in Auckland. The sailing scow "Ted Ashby" was our home for an hour as we toured around the harbour and under the North Harbour Bridge. Spent the rest of the day (over three hours) in the Maritime Museum. It told you everything nautical you could possibly want to know about NZ from the Maori coming about 1000 years ago in their 25m double hulled sailing skiffs to the America's Cup victories of a few years ago. We spent another day in Auckland last week as well when we went up the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere - SkyTower - which is a replica of Toronto's CN Tower on about a 2:3 scale. Afterwards we sat refreshing ourselves at a sidewalk cafe from which we could watch the insane people (who had obviously decided that the elevator was not fast enough) hurtling themselves out of the tower. It turns out they were attached to some harness which stopped the acceleration a few metres from the ground, and they lived. In New Zealand this is called fun. One of the many versions of bungee jumping (which Kiwis are proud to admit they invented) which is available to those who would like to tempt the grim reaper.

Actually it appears to be an everyday event for Kiwis to tempt death. They still have "suicide roads", those roads with three lanes total, the middle lane being available for cars in either direction to use to pass. They also have plenty of one-lane bridges. On major highways. But the very best thing we came across were the bridges that were shared by cars and trains. I'm not talking about side by side or having the railroad tracks above the road. No, these bridges, I swear this is true, had railroad tracks in the middle of the pavement. Essentially a train bridge that cars can use too. The road actually curves onto the railway tracks just before the bridge amidst signs reminding you that the train has the right of way, if you are so stupid as to need to be reminded. So you drive up close and you come to a virtual stop as you look across the bridge to see if a car is coming towards you (did I mention they were one-lane bridges?) then down the tracks (in both directions) to see if a train is anywhere in sight, then finally down at your fuel gauge to make sure you are not going to run out of fuel halfway across. Then you drive on the train bridge. We did this twice and lived. Bungee jumping is kid's stuff after that.

Other North Island highlights: "Hangi" a traditional Maori feast and show. Renee milking a cow by hand on stage at the Agrodome. The various geysers and mudpools and such at Rotorua and Orakei Korako. The Maori village and national carving school. The great and moving museum at Rotorua. Kelly Tarlton's aquarium and Antarctic centre in Auckland, and The New Zealand Aquarium in Napier, both of which have a moving sidewalk in a transparent tube which moves you through the middle of the aquaria as if you were in there with the fish. (Sharks, eels, stingrays, rock lobsters, etc...). Hamilton Museum of History and Art and Botanical Gardens. Hiking to the top of Te Mata (Maori for "The Peak") (from a parking lot partway up). ANZAC day ceremonies (their equivalent of our Remembrance Day) which they commemorate April 25. Hiking out to Cathedral Cove (and Stingray Bay and Gemstone Bay) and swimming there in the surf. Last but not least, our buddy Dave Dennison's hospitality.

I'll leave you with trivia about NZ's most popular foods: Kumara, which is like sweet potato. The strangest though is pumpkin! Kiwis love pumpkin. They have it in everything. Soup. Quiche. Stew. Pasta. And if you order pumpkin pie it is not a dessert and it is not sweet or spicy. It's a main course like a meat pie. The pumpkin is a different variety than the typical Jack-o-Lantern sort we in North America are used to. The exterior is light green when ripe. And it tastes very much like squash - which Kiwis have never heard of. And here's a final weird horticultural tidbit - Kiwi fruit did not grow in New Zealand a hundred years ago. It was brought into the country early last century - from China! It was originally called Chinese Gooseberry. Believe it or not...

---

Comments

[anonymous]

New Zeland
Wow! A real octopus?! Don't they live only in water? No, seems to be the answer according to your journal entry. Must have been quite an event! Bungee jumping? No thanks! One way bridge for cars and train? No thanks! Come to think of it, there was a documentary on tv a couple of months ago, saying New Zelanders (?) were the people practising the most extreme sports. That must be right after reading your entry today. Enjoy your last day there and have fun in Australia. - Les Leclerc-Racine

[anonymous]

New Zealand
Everything sounds amazing!. The train bridges sound worse than the 401! We look forward to the next installment. - THOMPSONS