Kiwiland, North Island

---

---

Arriving in Auckland, we learn that it stands on about 50 volcanos, the last one erupting about 600 years ago, brave are those living in Auckland! Not the bravest though, the award goes to Christchurch with its almost daily earthquakes. It has become such a usual occurance of daily life, that it has even made its way to the topics of the comedy scene of Auckland. We took a look at one of the volcanos, Rangitoto, looking green and peaceful. But it still can erupt, no one knows when.

Another thing we notice immediately, is that the Maōri presence is everywhere, Maōri language or te reo Maōri, has gained a status of official in 1987 with the Maōri Language Act. The third official language is the New Zealand Sign Language, the main language of the deaf community in New Zealand, a peculiar fact... Almost all the places in New Zealand have as well a Maōri name, or only a Maōri one. New Zealand is Aotearoa, and the phrase 'made in Aotearoa' is found on many local products. It has been about 170 years since Maōri tribes, although not all of them, signed the Treaty with the British Crown in February 1840 at the beautiful Bay of Islands in Waitangi. The Treaty did promise them protection of the law and stated that they will keep their lands and traditions. In practice, the two versions of the treaty, English and Maōri differ significantly and there was no agreement on what the Treaty is actually saying on the rights of the Maōri people. One of the argued topics is that Maōri have not been paid enough for their lands, and nowadays some still grieve for this on personal level. Maori in big cities are known to have social problems, as some of stand-up comedians at the comedy night point out with jokes that we first thought were outright racist. However, we could witness a scene on our first bus trip in Auckland, when a Maōri policeman enters the bus and puts handcuffs on two Maori girls who were claiming they have bought the playstation found under their seat, but failed to show a receipt for it.

It is said that in northen New Zealand one is never farther than 20km from a shore, isn't it beautiful ? We did not need to go far to be surrounded by green waters on the Corromandel peninsula just a couple of hours drive from Auckland. Seafood, wine and hidden beaches were on our agenda. Would you believe that you could actually eat too much of mussels ? It is possible on Corromandel, green New Zealand mussels are huge, at least two bites per a piece. And they come grilled, boiled or smoked with well matching sauces. Washed down with full bodied New Zealand beer, they do make a complete dinner. Another discovery, the French would say 'beurk' to, is batted deep fried oysters, they are really good! Same goes for Noix de Saint-Jacques. They also work miraculously as a good deep fry. Eating is believing.

Water, especially in such a far corner of the Earth, means an abundant marine life, which we were eager to explore. Goat Island or Te Hawere-a-Maki is claimed to be one of the best spots for snorkeling in NZ. In 30 minutes we saw huge snappers, colorful corals and a few sting rays flying over the rocky bottom of the marine reserve. On the Tutukaka coast, the main diving attraction is the Poor Knights Island, a group of volcanic rocky islands that look from afar as a buried knight. According to the legendary diving authority Jacques Cousteau, the islands are among the top ten diving sites in the world. The islands are a protected area, and have been uninhabited since 1820, when a Maori chief declared the islands sacred. The underwater is crystal clear with bright colors and happy creatures crawling, swimming or just lazing down for the joy of divers, us included. The Poor Knights is also a home of a huge sea cave Rikoriko, where even big sea vessels can poke their nose in. At the very east of the Northern Island, along the most spectacular shores on this part of New Zealand we picked up, ourselves, some shellfish for a dinner, although there are strict limits to be obeyed, only 50 mussels, 20 scallops and 100 oysters per person per day! That sounds like a reasonable meal to us.

To accompany the seafood we do have a large choice of whites from the many New Zealand wine regions. The country is famous for the Sauvignin Blanc that in New Zealand version has a very aromatic nose with grapefruit and lemon zest. Recommended ! Chardonnay is rich and golden by color. Italian-German Gewürztraminer has become the grape of choice in New Zealand and it is quite successful on the local tables, bringing orange and litchi on the palate. Since it has a challenging name, I dug out a bit of history for it. Gewürztraminer means spicy traminer, where Traminer is an old variety of grape named as the village it comes from, Tramin in South Tirol in Italy. Apart from seafood, it goes very well with white chocolate, especially with white lemon truffles, an idea for a gourmand we are happy to support.

Thanks to the volcanic origin, there are a few wonders that are unique to the country. A soda geiger in Te Aroha pumps soda water from under the earth, a bit warm to fill a cocktail glass though. Or a famous Lady Knox geiger that erupts as high as 20 meters if a piece of soap in put into its mouth. Another day we used a most eco-friendly oven, build above the vapors of a hot mud geiger. It was hot enough to make a delicious ratatouille and boil eggs for breakfast. Some areas are still quite volcanically active creating a very particular environment, marked with 'Thermal Danger' boards. One can for example dig a hole on the beach which will then fill with hot water making a private hot bath with a lake view and, on the down side, a sulfur odour ... The colors and smells are vivid, the soil is bubbling and vapors are seen from afar making one think that there is some hot work done under the surface.

No surprise that such a rich diversity of untouched nature had inspired Peter Jackson to shoot his epic movie just here, in his home country, New Zealand. While driving through some countryside and gasping at beautiful rolling hills, we spotted a statue of Golumn, and realized we were in Hobbiton. So we set off to find the Precious. Instead we found a whole tourist industry around the movie, a monopoly that we did not want to support. We had to extrapolate for the movie scenes and the hobbits holes and the little folk minding its everyday life while driving around the shooting grounds. And even that much was harmoniously beautiful. There is another Lord in New Zealand which was free to admire, that one belongs to the forest, it might have appeared in the movie as well, for it is legendary grand. Tane Mahuta, a huge, I mean HUGE Kauri tree. Kauri are the native trees to the Northen Island, and, of course, their wood is too precoius, and the people were to greedy to cut a lot of the kauri forest down. This one survived, and now is protected. The tree is almost 60 meters high and has 14m at its waist, and it is believed to be 2000 years old. Maōri legends say it is the Father of the World, it has created every living being. Their legend says "Tane is the son of Ranguinui, the sky father and Papatuanuky, the earth mother. Tane tore his parents apart to bring light, space and air and allowing life to flourish ... ". Marvelous !

We left the Northern Island across the Cook Straight on board of Aratere or 'quick path' ferry. The South Island is said to be even more beautiful, to be continued ...

---