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Published: October 18th 2006
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A Kiwi
A Kiwi (bird not fruit) - although this one was stuffed and I had nothing to do with it! New Zealand is made up of two islands, which together are around the same size as the United Kingdom. However, there are just 4 million inhabitants, 2/3 of which are regular marijuana smokers, many walking around with no shoes on despite the cold climate, and around 50 million sheep (that's just over 12 per person). The result is a well organized hippy commune living on a huge farm.
Perhaps I have been living a very sheltered life, but up until quite recently I thought New Zealanders where called 'Kiwis' since the small green fruit grows in abundance here. I told a Kiwi chap, Winston, that I try to eat a Kiwi most mornings as they are full of vitamins. After a look of utter disgust, I received a long lecture about Kiwis being endangered, flightless and defenseless.....how was I to know their national bird is called a Kiwi. Having now been to a Kiwi conservation centre, I am of course a reformed and more informed person. We were lucky enough to see one chick that had only just broken through his shell and in the nocturnal area we witnessed a Kiwi scourging around for food.
We started our tour
The Van
Our transport and home for five weeks! I am eating a large pot of green-lipped mussles prepared by super chef, Garry. at Milton's house, one of our drinking buddies from Los Angeles. He lives just outside of Auckland so after spending the night at his home, we headed into the city and collected our campervan which would be our home and transport for the next five weeks. We were both chuffed with our decision to hire the van as we had arrived at the end of New Zealand's bitterly cold winter. We drove up north to a town called Kerikeri and visited New Zealand's oldest surviving building, a mission station built by the Christian ministers who intended to covert the Maoris. We then spent a day in an area known as the Bay of Islands, where I celebrated my birthday in our campervan which Garry had decorated in birthday banners. Despite the limited space and resources, we still managed to have a good night dancing to Jamiroquai.
We began to head south, stopping at a city called Rotorua. Although many places are referred to as 'cities', they are in fact what the English would class as towns due to the small populations and lack of cathedrals (according to Garry!). Anyway, Rotorua is famous for its' geo-thermal activity, so we took
Seals
Seals relaxing on the rocks at Kaikoura a walk around one such site named 'Hell's Gate' where the water pools reach temperatures of 110*c, and the holes in the ground reveal bubbling mud pools. The 45 minute walk also took us past sulphur pools which have been used by the Maoris for centuries to cure skin diseases and other complaints such as arthritis. There is a constant noise of sizzling from the various pools with steam rising from mere cracks in the ground giving the place a sinister feel, hence the name, and the smell of sulphur is quite unbearable. However there is no disputing the healing properties of the natural mud packs and skin treatments that Hell's Gate produce.
Rotorua has a large Maori population so it is a good destination for a cultural visit. We headed to a Maori village called Whakarewarewa, where this community have been living for over three hundred years. It has also has its' bubbling mud pools and sulphur pools which these people use and sell, although walking past the town cemetery was an eerie experience as the steam from produced from the activity underground is actually rising through the tombs! Some of the villagers came together to perform some
traditional dances for the visitors such as the Haka, an ancient war dance which they performed to psyche themselves up before a battle and to hopefully distract their opposition. It is now better known as the prematch performance of the New Zealand rugby team.
After two weeks touring the North Island, we caught the ferry to the South Island, a three hour crossing over the Cook Straight. We spent the first night in Blenheim, a town in the Marlborough region which is an up and coming wine growing area. We hired some bikes and visited a couple of the local vineyards and sampled their wines, starting at the sparkling all the way through to the desert wine. An excellent way to spend a morning and a good excuse for being half cut before lunch.
Blenheim was also where we caught up with fellow Inca Trailers, Tim & Jess, who invited us to stay in their beautiful home. They thoroughly spoilt us with an amazing dinner and it was obviously a bonus to have a bed for the night, as opposed to sleeping in the van!
The scenery on the South Island is quite stunning and Kaikora captured
Hell's Gate
An erupting mud volcano at Hell's Gate, Rotorua all of the elements in a single glance: huge snow capped mountains dropping off in to the sea, with background of rolling green hills. Since there are only a million people living on this island, there is in contrast an abundance of wildlife. Driving through Kaikora, we stopped off to view a large colony of seals who were chilling out on the rocks, from pups all the way through to big daddies with big boy teeth and bad breath.
Seeing animals in their natural habitat was defiantly a highlight of New Zealand for us. Further down south still, in a wild and remote area called The Catlins, we also the rare Yellow Eyed Penguins walking across the beach back to their young. Walking along Cannibal Bay, we came across four huge sea lions sleeping peacefully on the sand.
The most stunning town in our opinion was Akaroa, set out on the Peninsular. The French arrived in Akaroa some 170 years ago with the intention of colonizing the whole of the South Island only to find that the British had signed a treaty with the Maoris just five days before they arrived. However, after the epic journey, they decided
Sleeping Sea Lion
Cannibal Bay - The Catlins to stay and turned Akaroa into Petit France. The streets are still named in French, the cuisine is French and the general look is of a pretty rural French village based around a bay. However, we knew we were in New Zealand as they were far too friendly to us English!
Across the other side of the island, we took a drive to Milford Sounds, an area that the Japanese flock to for that Kodak moment. I had unfortunately hurt my foot so after taking in he views from the passenger window, we started to head back through the towering mountains only to break down in an avalanche zone which is strictly no stopping. Garry had to hitch a lift back to the visitor centre as there wasn't a town for literally miles (not uncommon here) and left me waiting by the van. Meanwhile a large green parrot like bird called a Kea decided to stalk me, attacking the windows and the air vents in an attempt to get in the van.....it was a horror movie in the making!
Although we did various hikes during our stay, the most exciting was the Franz Josef glacier hike, which was
Milford Sounds
Picture Perfect a five hour walk through walk can only be described a the Hampton Court maze of ice. We went along with our friends Alison & Lee, whom we had met in Fiji. Our guide walked on ahead through the ice corridors, cutting steps with his axe and warning us of the constant dangers of falling down the ice caverns. Our Fijian tans are now well and truely a thing of the past.
Back on the North Island, after five weeks of gypsy living, we returned the campervan and headed to a hostel in Auckland City. The hustle and bustle of the city was a stark reminder that we had just come from a peaceful and spacious paradise. We headed out for a meal in a revolving restaurant situated at the top of the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. An excellent way to see the city without even getting out of our chairs! To finish off what has been a chilly five week adventure, we headed down to a bar called -5, where absolutely everything down to the glasses are carved out of ice! Before embarking on this trip, Garry has assured me that we would
Milford Sounds
We broke down at the worst possible spot! be following the sun - I feel his career as a weather presenter will be a short lived!
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Wicked. Behave = ) -Patrick