Advertisement
Published: January 9th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Kia Ora, hello in Maori from Aotearoa "the land of the long white cloud" Maori for New Zealand. We had only 44 days to explore in our Explore More Campervan the North then by ferry to the South islands. As usual its been a bit of a rush although we tried to prolong our stops sometimes to 4 days to give us a chance to really feel culture. What we discovered was that on the map distances were not far but in reality the roads can be windy and steep meaning a slower journey more so on the coastal areas of both islands. We were here for the summer holidays which brought more traffic/kiwi families out to camp,do water sports,fishing etc. So driving a small but heavy Campervan was tricky with the traffic and slow. We were quite good at finding the isolated roads, all very similair to Scottish lanes. Anyway 6500km and 43 days later we've made it to my cousin Ailsa's place near Raglan an hour to Hamilton. We hadn't seen them for 8 years so it's been great catching up and playing with the kids and walking Maddy etc. We leave tomorrow for Auckland Airport and on to
Santiago Chile. A and J and the kids have been very kind hosts and we have much appreciated the reststop.
Where to start is difficult as there were so many highlights. One of the best ways is to enjoy some of the photos as New Zealand has some of the best vistas I have seen. The countryside is glorious North and South equally,don't let anyone tell you otherwise, its not true the South is more "photogenic". It is also very hard to squeeze a landscape onto a thumbnail, better to come and visit NZ and see for yourself the scale and diversity of the flora and fauna. many being unique to NZ.
Another aspect of NZ is the quality of the natural light that brings out the best in clouds especially but also the seas. You're never far from the sea in NZ which is great for a refreshing blast to ward off the Sandflies! they are real and not as bad as our Midge,but the bites sometimes go poisinous if scratched.
Water is everywhere,or is it?, drought orders were in place in the Northlands but flooding 1500km away west of Nelson! 4 seasons in one day? yes, the weather
whistles inland very quickly and changes can be quick too. I have never seen so many waterfalls in my life, and the Kiwis certainly know how to utilise all the falls. There are too many extreme sports to mention but I'm sure there's more to be invented. Rest assured it'll be the Kiwis that will do this first as they are very entreprenerial.
There are Scots everywhere in NZ. Seeing the Saltire flying outside property gave us a patriotic buzz. Often communication was comical as they(the kiwis)asked to repeat questions several times before understanding us.It should of really been the other way round as they pronouce sylables a funny but infectious way,often to the point of copying them, sweet as bro!
Its good to see the Kiwi cultures all working together, more so the Maori's, you see them working in all fields and have obviously profited in the long term from the Waitangi Treaty signed by Maori chiefs and the British Crown in 1840 unlike the situation in Australia.
We might of driven 6500km but we also walked 120km in 6 weeks, in nature reserves and national parks. There were many but my favourite and one of the biggest was
Te Urewera NP near Rotorua. We had to drive 190km dirt road to access Lake Waikaremoana where we camped for 3 days. You can still find wilderness in NZ similar to Australia with big journeys to "get to".
Another classic was the Milford Sound which we took first boat of the day to avoid the rush of coaches.
I think the overcast weather gave the whole experience more atmosphere and certainly was a highlight of our tour.
Another first for us was whale watching in Kaikoura(Kaikooda,means catching crayfish),where we saw Sperm Whale and Dusky Dolphins. There is a diverse amount of sealife because of the Continental Shelf off shore which is deep and has an excellent supply of Krill.
Of course when you mention Continental Shelf you think of Plates moving to create these Shelves with the effects of earthquakes. We were in Christchurch for 1 day and it was very sad to see all the damage of the old city and CBD.There was another tremor just after we left, they continue to shake the town and some believe it could be the end of the CBD!,as there are shopping centres on the outskirts untouched. But then you don't need
an earthquake for that to happen! It didn't help that it was pouring as this kept the tourists away as well as the damage etc.
Finally, they are very hard to see in the wild, Kiwis(the bird) are nocturnal and the DOC have "night houses"for captive birds for the tourists to see during the day. Well we were very lucky to see one in the wild having been given a tip off where to find them. Only in our first few days we 'ticked off' the cute icon but didn't blind her with a camera flash! We were very privilaged to have encountered this unusual bird, she was very tame staying just one meter from us.
South America on we come...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 55; dbt: 0.0428s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
katie siviter
non-member comment
amasing !! very jelouse , i realy miss NZ !!! also scott your misted here at the ski school!! heeps of peaple asking after you and wanting your blog adress!!! not the same with out you here , though at the rate you gyes are going you might not want to come back. have a fab time and im looking forward to seeing the next entry love katie xx rog xx and evie xx