Aotaeroa. The Long White Cloud. Neeuw Zeeland. Nova Zealandia. New Zealand.
The first thing I thought when I stepped out into the terminal was, “Man the air smells great here.”And then I saw the pair of hulking 5m tall fiberglass Dwarf statues, unveiled for the release of the Hobbit films. Within moments it was obvious, New Zealand is not just a small Australia, though at times it felt like a small Canada. It’s not just another Polynesian island. It is a place truly unto itself.
The last leg of our trip. The remaining third of the Oceania trifecta. The last island before we tripped over the International Date Line and were dragged by our fingernails over the equator back to real life. As the legend goes, the god Maui fished North Island out of the ocean while on his canoe, which was South Island. The nook-like bay where Wellington was supposed to be formed by Maui's fish. Kiwis and Canadians have a strange affinity, a similarity that one can’t completely put a finger on. In a way, we are the polite, quiet nation that lives in the shadows of a noisier, more notorious neighbor next door. We have similar inferiority complexes. We integrate freakish sports allegiances into our daily life and routine. We are described as ‘laid back’ and ‘polite’. We are often described by what we are not.
Three weeks was, in retrospect, not really enough to do both islands. Roughly two days per destination, we had to be brutally honest as to what we wanted to see and what we didn’t. After three quarters of a year practicing, we had the brutality nearly down to a science.Backpacking is a robust industry in New Zealand and they do hostelling right. Moozh and I had stayed at hostels twice in nine months of travel because every other destination we had been to, we could find hotel rooms and B&Bs for cheaper than a double room at a hostel. In Russia, we were introduced to the hostelling culture: cheap food, twenty-four hours, in the arts district. Our next check in was in Kuala Lumpur where our hostel was smack dab in the middle of all the fun stuff. But everywhere else, Europe and Australia especially, the hostels were overpriced (in our opinion) and usually fully booked. But in New Zealand we discovered a legion of travellers on a budget, who knew how to do the best things and how to do them cheap. Aside from great advice and killer discounts, we got cheap, clean and safe accommodations.
The wallaby fixation I had been consumed by in Australia was quickly replaced by a Kiwi bird fixation in New Zealand. The tiny, flightless bird’s likeness is found in everything from pendants and jewelry to blown glass figurines and stuffed animals. Paua shell, Pounamu or greenstone, bone and kauri wood are turned into everything from po’pos (or tikis) to pendants, hair combs, and intricately carved boxes. My bag was too full as it was and we hadn’t even gotten started.
Out of the 3-ish million people in New Zealand, about 1.3 of them live in Auckland. Almost unanimously regarded as the “cool” city in New Zealand, Auckland is the arts and cultural center for New Zealand. It’s been dubbed the “City of Sails”, armed with a substantial yachtie population and around 3702km of coastline. It represents a veritable Wheel of Fortune for choice with everything from the performances and handicrafts of the Maori culture to the vineyards and wine boutiques of Waiheke Island. Our timing in Auckland coincided with the Auckland Beer Festival, which boasted 150 different brews from over 30 different breweries. Prize incentives were offered to patrons who dressed up, which meant everything from Batman and Flash Gordon to a group of flamenco dancers and bull fighters.
Down in the Viaduct Harbour, which has become the place to be for arts and fun in Auckland, boasting everything from an outdoor movie night to croquet courts and live music, we found Big Picture Wines. Tucked away next to the Auckland Fish Market, Big Picture Wines offers a wine experience unlike anything else in the city. Their wine experience includes a “visual trip” over the Auckland wine region as well as an aroma room, where one can smell the common scents and aromas that occur in wine to better be able to identify them during the tasting. They offer a red and a white flight, and also have an extensive menu of dishes to pair well. On a blissfully breezy afternoon, we shared a wine flight and chatted up our hostess who, with a wine focus, gave us some must sees for the North Island.
We ended our time in Auckland with a visit to the Auckland Museum. While the beginning of our visit was spent browsing through the Maori artifacts exhibit, entering a marae (cultural house) and reading about the history of race relations in New Zealand between the Maori and the Pakeha (Europeans), we soon heard music. I turn into a meerkat when I hear music and it really doesn’t matter what I’m doing at the time, I will prioritize live music over many things. While twice a day, the Auckland Museum puts on a “cultural performance” as part of their Maori tour which includes ceremonies and the traditional ‘haka’ dance, we happened to be at the museum during a special events. The Tatau Dance group and the Diamonds of Paradise Tongan Brass Band were in for a special performance. The Tatau Dance group is based in Auckland but tour around the South Pacific performing traditional Samoan dance with a little personality thrown in. I wholeheartedly advocate that men should dance more. It was during one montage that integrated some of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” that I actually had to pick my jaw up off the floor and roll my tongue back into my mouth.
We were told that you don't go to New Zealand for the cities but for the outdoors. Headed out from the urban whorl of Aukland, on our first outing with NakedBus, we headed for Paihia. The Bay of Islands is a hugely popular destination not only for tourists of the land but also for boating enthusiasts of all kinds. Famous for its beauty, it is also renowned for being the first European settlement in New Zealand. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed at the Waitangi Reserve a five minute drive up the road from the central town of Paihia. The Treaty of Waitangi recognized Maori control over their own land and gave them rights as British citizens. The complicated part of the Treaty was that the English version and the version written in Maori differ significantly. To the British, it was the Maori giving up their sovereignty to live under British control. To the Maori, they were giving up their sovereignty in return for protection, but they got to manage their own affairs. The ensuing decades of which it was regarded as binding or completely ignored by the parliament, it is seen as New Zealand’s founding document.
Our arrival in Paihia was on a cloudless day. The bay was like a Lite-Brite of glittery-surfaced water and tiny islands capped with plumes of palm trees and mossy-canopied kauris. Kayaks pepper the waterfront like crayons and the bowed sails of sailboats dance in synchronicity with the winds. Moozh picked up some custom Maori ink from tattoo shop across the water in Russell at Bay of Islands Ink. Specializing in one of a kind Ta Moko designs, they also do Sailor Jerry, Japanese and graffiti styles. Peter, the artist, is not only Maori himself bus also of a Northland tribe in the Bay of Islands area. His design for Moozh was hand drawn on his calf to represent the heritage of Moozh's family. Lineage is important in Maori, he explained to us. Not only what has been but what will come. Intentionally, he left an empty space opposite the symbols of Moozh, his father and grandfather for something to be added at a later date, should a mini-Moozh arrive.
Next on our hopscotch tour north of Aukland, was Hahei. Our next stop was on the tourist destination of lore, the Coromandel Peninsula. In the advice swap of fellow travellers, after the mandatory Lord of the Rings spiel and the inevitable mention of Milford Sound and the majestic mountains of the South Island, Coromandel was unanimously regarded as a must see. Hahei, though an odd town, is an accommodation hub for tourists on the peninsula wanting to see Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. The Peninsula hosts a plethora of activities such as hiking, kayaking, and snorkeling as well as wildlife sanctuaries and historical tours. Hot Water Beach lives up to its name. The water that bubbles beneath the sand comes in at around 65C. While the activity is to dig a ‘tub’ into the sand with a spade, the real trick is to also get some cold water from the surf to take the temperature from scalding to bearable. Cafes and groceries in the area all have a bucket of shovels outside and there are many places in the area that will rent spades out for a small fee. Though the pools can be dug two hours on either side of low tide, which was roughly 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the sands really fill up by early morning. If you're not on top of it you might be cuddling in a pool with a perfect stranger.
Cathedral Cove is a marine reserve best known for the cave that is revealed at low tide, which can be seen in the Prince Caspian film in the Narnia movies. It is New Zealand's sixth marine reserve, thusly established for the soft coral, caves and underwater arches that are formed in the area.
We were bumped from our home stay in Hahei because they had family coming in for the holiday weekend so we made our way two hours south to Whitianga. Though a brief stopover to wait out a full bus, our stay in Whitianga was immortalized by our encounter with New Zealand’s Easter Trading laws. We pulled into the small town the day before Good Friday. In Canada, while not much will be open, national chains are always open with special Easter hours and there is not much that is unavailable during that weekend. We ran into a Kiwi couple while travelling through Thailand and they diplomatically put it as, “Stepping into New Zealand is like stepping back in time”. There is absolutely an untouched quality to not only the landscape but also the way of life. Things are slower, people seem less rushed. But on Easter, where you are turns into a ghost town. Though we were warned, we didn't take it seriously and thusly scrounged together some ramen noodles and instant coffee for our Easter weekend. Tomorrow was a new day, a new destination and notably not Easter.
There is a mysticism that surrounds the Maori communities in the Northland that I can only chalk up to being magical. Where we were headed was only about to become more so.
Things I learned in NZ Pt. 1:
More men should dance.
Stepping into New Zealand is like stepping back in time.
In cider, "scrumpy" is a really good thing.
Quote for New Zealand Pt 1:
Me: Cute kiwis, great wine, and beautiful Maori men. This place is like the Holy Land!
The powder fine sand beaches of the peninsulas of the North shore soon gave to romantic, rolling farmland blooming with pearly-backed sheep herds as well as rustically, unkempt orchards of apple and pear. Out of some romanticism poets sweet fantasy, the region wears the tattoos of its history. A devastating oil spill in 2011 threw the sea-borne industries of the region into a tailspin. Tracts of logging cut lines run up the hill sides. Color has drained from a region declared officially in a drought. And yet, even in the lazy Autumn change, tree canopies bloom and the famous ferns stretch out like a prickly blanket.
Rotorua is likely the most popular tourist destinations on the North Island. Though the entire city smells like sulfur, it’s the entertaining one-two punch of geothermal activity and Maori culture that provides an endless list of uniquely Kiwi experiences. Primordial bubbling mud pools, plumes of thermal steam, and geysers to the tune of 30m high. Nestled in the Bay of Plenty region, the volcanic soils produce a vibrant growing area, best known for its kiwi fruit but also a great region for citrus and New Zealand’s hidden fruit, feijoa. As recently as 1886, the thermal activity in the region has been active enough to be devastating. Though Mount Terawera hadn’t been active for over 500 years, including since before Maori arrival, the eruption in 1886 covered 1500 sq km in lava and mud. The Pink and White Terraces, a layered set of pools made of silica deposits from volcanic activity, were completely destroyed by the eruption and numerous villages were buried, one of which is now a tourist attraction appropriately dubbed “The Buried Village”.
Many Maori cultural events are available in Rotorua. Everything from dance performance, including the ‘haka’ war dance, to a hangi meal, which is the traditional Maori method of cooking on coals buried underground. Many tours offer cultural ceremonies as well as tours through artisan workshops of carving and sculpture as well as wildlife sanctuaries for indigenous wildlife, like the endangered (and nocturnal) kiwi bird, and the pre-historia tuatara. Wai-o-Tapu, south of Rotorua, means “sacred waters”, and is a park that includes 3km of trails that take you around pools bubbling at nearly 100C and past sulfur pools that are colors ranging from pastels of sea foam green and ivory, to the alarming chartreuse and orange.
Between Rotorua and Wai-o-tapu, Wai-Mangu means “black water”, thusly named for the muddy pools and geysers that pepper the thermal area created by the Terawera eruption. The Waimangu Geyser, which went defunct in 1904, was rumored to spout to heights of 500m. There are numerous thermal springs in the area, that offer everything from mud bathing and mud-related spa therapy, to heated pools for relaxation and the easing of physical ailments like arthritis and poor circulation. We took in the Polynesia Spa, which is an institution in Rotorua and one of the original spas in the city. With pools ranging from 38C to 41C, the springs were opened by a priest who reportedly cured his arthritis by soaking in the pools daily.
We got our inner Lord of the Rings geek fix while in Rotorua as well. An hour from Rotorua, just outside the town of Matamata, is Hobbiton. Newly rebuilt and refurnished for the Hobbit films, the Hobbiton set is built on the back few acres of a sheep farm run by the Alexander family. All the reviews we read about Hobbiton spoke extremely high of the tour. While Moozh and I aren’t fanatic about the LOTR franchise, Moozh has read the books and we both enjoyed the films. So much hype is given the Tolkein books and their impact on New Zealand culture. It’s common to run into someone in NZ who was an extra in the film and even the New Zealand military helped out in the production of the films. Tourism New Zealand even playfully awarded New Zealand an Oscar for “Best Supporting Country in a Motion Picture” after Fellowship of the Ring came out. All of this led us, perhaps unintentionally so, to believe certain things about the Hobbiton experience. The gardens are well maintained and so much effort has been given to the preservation of the village as it appears in the films. The Green Dragon Inn has actually been converted into a functioning pub that serves beer, cider, and ginger beer as well as a small bar menu as part of the tour. While the set is immaculately maintained and the attention to detail alone is staggering, we felt the price was a tad inflated for what is actually offered. The tour is extremely low key, but inevitably feels rushed and underwhelming when the tour guide feels bored and everyone is being shuffled along instead of being able to take the tour at the pace they desire to. In short, if you are a LOTR fanatic and simply seeing Bag End with all of the intricacies maintained would be a complete thrill, then the tour will likely be satisfying. Otherwise, there are better things to spend your money on in the region.
From Sulfur City we headed to The Art Deco City: Napier. When a catastrophic volcano eruption caused numerous earthquakes in the Hawke’s Bay, towns like Napier and Hastings had to be almost completely rebuilt. But because they were rebuilt in the Art Deco style popular at the time, including Stripped Classical and Spanish Mission, Napier remains internationally recognized as one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in the world. Napier is the coastal city, with a seemingly unending stretch of smooth black pebbles and turquoise water. It is described as "a small New Zealand city that seems sometimes fictional". It has this beautiful suspended quality, like being on a movie set, where it almost doesn't seem that real life can occur there. The consistency of the styles is so seamless, so complete. It encompasses everything from the doorhandles on the local Subway shop. The Art Deco Trust, which provides history on the Art Deco history of the region, offers both guided walks by passionate volunteers from the region as well as pamphlets and information for self-guided tours. Tours range from a city-wide trek that can be taken to the Mareka Meander that includes the surrounding landscape and 360 vistas of the Hawke's Bay region in addition to vintage car tours and jewelry and vintage shops.
Roughly 80% of New Zealand’s red wine is produced in the Hawke’s Bay region. So even given the popularity of the Central Otago and Waiheke regions, the cool climate of Hawke’s Bay produces the majority of NZ red. Around 5000 hectares of land are planted for wine and around 91 wineries are established in the area. The New Zealand Wine Center, located in central Napier, offers a "Wine Experience" that includes an aroma room with 54 aromas of wine and then a film that provides a visual tour of the Hawke's Bay region as well as an interview with the winemaker introducing their wine. Everything from plumpy fruit Bordeaux blends, to white pepper packed Shiraz, the red flight we tasted provided a beautiful run down of the Hawke's Bay region. And it being the end of the tourist season, we had the tasting theatre all to ourselves. That characterized our time in Napier. Not many tourists and thusly a quieter experience of what would likely have been a quiet experience anyway. We got to chat with artists, winemakers and shopkeepers more than we likely would have been able to. No cropping the back of ball-capped heads out of our photos. Calmly quintessential.
Back on the bus, we drove until we hit the water. Our stay in Wellington was only slightly longer than it took to check into our hostel and stay the night. A beautiful bay city, the city is embroidered like blossoms on the densely forested face of the steep hills that encircle the bay. Much like San Francisco, it has an artistic, bohemian feel built on a landscape of hill of no small scale.Wellington suffers from "Sydney Syndrome" in my opinion. While everyone extols the 'cool' factor of Auckland. Rotorua gets plenty of attention. But Wellington always gets the leftovers, some kind of eye roll due to it being "the capital" and that "all the cool stuff is in Auckland". It could easily be the micro brewery capital, with more breweries and brew pubs than we could count on a brief walk around the waterfront area. With more cafes and restaurants per capita than New York City, the culture of the city is well weighted towards the urban lifestyle. Cuba Street, long a culture capital of its own within the city, is crammed with vintage shops, eateries, murals and art installations. Moozh and I chowed down on some local Indian food put on by our hostel before collapsing into bed.
The next day was the InterIslander. The next day was a twisty jaunt through the Marlborough Sounds. The next day was South Island.
Things I learned in New Zealand Pt 2:
Canada has a lot to learn about indigenous relations from New Zealand.
Capital cities get a bad rap.
Quote from New Zealand Pt 2:
Moozh: (in Rotorua) It actually does smell like rotten eggs.
The first thing I thought when I stepped out into the terminal was, “Man the air smells great here.”And then I saw the pair of hulking 5m tall fiberglass Dwarf statues, unveiled for the release of the Hobbit films. Within moments it was obvious, New Zealand is not just a small Australia, though at times it felt like a small Canada. It’s not just another Polynesian island. It is a place truly unto itself.
The last leg of our trip. The remaining third of the Oceania trifecta. The last island before we tripped over the International Date Line and were dragged by our fingernails over the equator back to real life. As the legend goes, the god Maui fished North Island out of the ocean while on his canoe, which was South Island. The nook-like bay where Wellington was supposed to be formed by Maui's fish. Kiwis and Canadians have a strange affinity, a similarity that one can’t completely put a finger on. In a way, we are the polite, quiet nation that lives in the shadows of a noisier, more notorious neighbor next door. We have similar inferiority complexes. We integrate freakish sports allegiances into our daily life and routine. We are described as ‘laid back’ and ‘polite’. We are often described by what we are not.
Three weeks was, in retrospect, not really enough to do both islands. Roughly two days per destination, we had to be brutally honest as to what we wanted to see and what we didn’t. After three quarters of a year practicing, we had the brutality nearly down to a science.Backpacking is a robust industry in New Zealand and they do hostelling right. Moozh and I had stayed at hostels twice in nine months of travel because every other destination we had been to, we could find hotel rooms and B&Bs for cheaper than a double room at a hostel. In Russia, we were introduced to the hostelling culture: cheap food, twenty-four hours, in the arts district. Our next check in was in Kuala Lumpur where our hostel was smack dab in the middle of all the fun stuff. But everywhere else, Europe and Australia especially, the hostels were overpriced (in our opinion) and usually fully booked. But in New Zealand we discovered a legion of travellers on a budget, who knew how to do the best things and how to do them cheap. Aside from great advice and killer discounts, we got cheap, clean and safe accommodations.
The wallaby fixation I had been consumed by in Australia was quickly replaced by a Kiwi bird fixation in New Zealand. The tiny, flightless bird’s likeness is found in everything from pendants and jewelry to blown glass figurines and stuffed animals. Paua shell, Pounamu or greenstone, bone and kauri wood are turned into everything from po’pos (or tikis) to pendants, hair combs, and intricately carved boxes. My bag was too full as it was and we hadn’t even gotten started.
Out of the 3-ish million people in New Zealand, about 1.3 of them live in Auckland. Almost unanimously regarded as the “cool” city in New Zealand, Auckland is the arts and cultural center for New Zealand. It’s been dubbed the “City of Sails”, armed with a substantial yachtie population and around 3702km of coastline. It represents a veritable Wheel of Fortune for choice with everything from the performances and handicrafts of the Maori culture to the vineyards and wine boutiques of Waiheke Island. Our timing in Auckland coincided with the Auckland Beer Festival, which boasted 150 different brews from over 30 different breweries. Prize incentives were offered to patrons who dressed up, which meant everything from Batman and Flash Gordon to a group of flamenco dancers and bull fighters.
Down in the Viaduct Harbour, which has become the place to be for arts and fun in Auckland, boasting everything from an outdoor movie night to croquet courts and live music, we found Big Picture Wines. Tucked away next to the Auckland Fish Market, Big Picture Wines offers a wine experience unlike anything else in the city. Their wine experience includes a “visual trip” over the Auckland wine region as well as an aroma room, where one can smell the common scents and aromas that occur in wine to better be able to identify them during the tasting. They offer a red and a white flight, and also have an extensive menu of dishes to pair well. On a blissfully breezy afternoon, we shared a wine flight and chatted up our hostess who, with a wine focus, gave us some must sees for the North Island.
We ended our time in Auckland with a visit to the Auckland Museum. While the beginning of our visit was spent browsing through the Maori artifacts exhibit, entering a marae (cultural house) and reading about the history of race relations in New Zealand between the Maori and the Pakeha (Europeans), we soon heard music. I turn into a meerkat when I hear music and it really doesn’t matter what I’m doing at the time, I will prioritize live music over many things. While twice a day, the Auckland Museum puts on a “cultural performance” as part of their Maori tour which includes ceremonies and the traditional ‘haka’ dance, we happened to be at the museum during a special events. The Tatau Dance group and the Diamonds of Paradise Tongan Brass Band were in for a special performance. The Tatau Dance group is based in Auckland but tour around the South Pacific performing traditional Samoan dance with a little personality thrown in. I wholeheartedly advocate that men should dance more. It was during one montage that integrated some of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” that I actually had to pick my jaw up off the floor and roll my tongue back into my mouth.
We were told that you don't go to New Zealand for the cities but for the outdoors. Headed out from the urban whorl of Aukland, on our first outing with NakedBus, we headed for Paihia. The Bay of Islands is a hugely popular destination not only for tourists of the land but also for boating enthusiasts of all kinds. Famous for its beauty, it is also renowned for being the first European settlement in New Zealand. The Treaty of Waitangi was signed at the Waitangi Reserve a five minute drive up the road from the central town of Paihia. The Treaty of Waitangi recognized Maori control over their own land and gave them rights as British citizens. The complicated part of the Treaty was that the English version and the version written in Maori differ significantly. To the British, it was the Maori giving up their sovereignty to live under British control. To the Maori, they were giving up their sovereignty in return for protection, but they got to manage their own affairs. The ensuing decades of which it was regarded as binding or completely ignored by the parliament, it is seen as New Zealand’s founding document.
Our arrival in Paihia was on a cloudless day. The bay was like a Lite-Brite of glittery-surfaced water and tiny islands capped with plumes of palm trees and mossy-canopied kauris. Kayaks pepper the waterfront like crayons and the bowed sails of sailboats dance in synchronicity with the winds. Moozh picked up some custom Maori ink from tattoo shop across the water in Russell at Bay of Islands Ink. Specializing in one of a kind Ta Moko designs, they also do Sailor Jerry, Japanese and graffiti styles. Peter, the artist, is not only Maori himself bus also of a Northland tribe in the Bay of Islands area. His design for Moozh was hand drawn on his calf to represent the heritage of Moozh's family. Lineage is important in Maori, he explained to us. Not only what has been but what will come. Intentionally, he left an empty space opposite the symbols of Moozh, his father and grandfather for something to be added at a later date, should a mini-Moozh arrive.
Next on our hopscotch tour north of Aukland, was Hahei. Our next stop was on the tourist destination of lore, the Coromandel Peninsula. In the advice swap of fellow travellers, after the mandatory Lord of the Rings spiel and the inevitable mention of Milford Sound and the majestic mountains of the South Island, Coromandel was unanimously regarded as a must see. Hahei, though an odd town, is an accommodation hub for tourists on the peninsula wanting to see Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. The Peninsula hosts a plethora of activities such as hiking, kayaking, and snorkeling as well as wildlife sanctuaries and historical tours. Hot Water Beach lives up to its name. The water that bubbles beneath the sand comes in at around 65C. While the activity is to dig a ‘tub’ into the sand with a spade, the real trick is to also get some cold water from the surf to take the temperature from scalding to bearable. Cafes and groceries in the area all have a bucket of shovels outside and there are many places in the area that will rent spades out for a small fee. Though the pools can be dug two hours on either side of low tide, which was roughly 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the sands really fill up by early morning. If you're not on top of it you might be cuddling in a pool with a perfect stranger.
Cathedral Cove is a marine reserve best known for the cave that is revealed at low tide, which can be seen in the Prince Caspian film in the Narnia movies. It is New Zealand's sixth marine reserve, thusly established for the soft coral, caves and underwater arches that are formed in the area.
We were bumped from our home stay in Hahei because they had family coming in for the holiday weekend so we made our way two hours south to Whitianga. Though a brief stopover to wait out a full bus, our stay in Whitianga was immortalized by our encounter with New Zealand’s Easter Trading laws. We pulled into the small town the day before Good Friday. In Canada, while not much will be open, national chains are always open with special Easter hours and there is not much that is unavailable during that weekend. We ran into a Kiwi couple while travelling through Thailand and they diplomatically put it as, “Stepping into New Zealand is like stepping back in time”. There is absolutely an untouched quality to not only the landscape but also the way of life. Things are slower, people seem less rushed. But on Easter, where you are turns into a ghost town. Though we were warned, we didn't take it seriously and thusly scrounged together some ramen noodles and instant coffee for our Easter weekend. Tomorrow was a new day, a new destination and notably not Easter.
There is a mysticism that surrounds the Maori communities in the Northland that I can only chalk up to being magical. Where we were headed was only about to become more so.
Things I learned in NZ Pt. 1:
More men should dance.
Stepping into New Zealand is like stepping back in time.
In cider, "scrumpy" is a really good thing.
Quote for New Zealand Pt 1:
Me: Cute kiwis, great wine, and beautiful Maori men. This place is like the Holy Land!
The powder fine sand beaches of the peninsulas of the North shore soon gave to romantic, rolling farmland blooming with pearly-backed sheep herds as well as rustically, unkempt orchards of apple and pear. Out of some romanticism poets sweet fantasy, the region wears the tattoos of its history. A devastating oil spill in 2011 threw the sea-borne industries of the region into a tailspin. Tracts of logging cut lines run up the hill sides. Color has drained from a region declared officially in a drought. And yet, even in the lazy Autumn change, tree canopies bloom and the famous ferns stretch out like a prickly blanket.
Rotorua is likely the most popular tourist destinations on the North Island. Though the entire city smells like sulfur, it’s the entertaining one-two punch of geothermal activity and Maori culture that provides an endless list of uniquely Kiwi experiences. Primordial bubbling mud pools, plumes of thermal steam, and geysers to the tune of 30m high. Nestled in the Bay of Plenty region, the volcanic soils produce a vibrant growing area, best known for its kiwi fruit but also a great region for citrus and New Zealand’s hidden fruit, feijoa. As recently as 1886, the thermal activity in the region has been active enough to be devastating. Though Mount Terawera hadn’t been active for over 500 years, including since before Maori arrival, the eruption in 1886 covered 1500 sq km in lava and mud. The Pink and White Terraces, a layered set of pools made of silica deposits from volcanic activity, were completely destroyed by the eruption and numerous villages were buried, one of which is now a tourist attraction appropriately dubbed “The Buried Village”.
Many Maori cultural events are available in Rotorua. Everything from dance performance, including the ‘haka’ war dance, to a hangi meal, which is the traditional Maori method of cooking on coals buried underground. Many tours offer cultural ceremonies as well as tours through artisan workshops of carving and sculpture as well as wildlife sanctuaries for indigenous wildlife, like the endangered (and nocturnal) kiwi bird, and the pre-historia tuatara. Wai-o-Tapu, south of Rotorua, means “sacred waters”, and is a park that includes 3km of trails that take you around pools bubbling at nearly 100C and past sulfur pools that are colors ranging from pastels of sea foam green and ivory, to the alarming chartreuse and orange.
Between Rotorua and Wai-o-tapu, Wai-Mangu means “black water”, thusly named for the muddy pools and geysers that pepper the thermal area created by the Terawera eruption. The Waimangu Geyser, which went defunct in 1904, was rumored to spout to heights of 500m. There are numerous thermal springs in the area, that offer everything from mud bathing and mud-related spa therapy, to heated pools for relaxation and the easing of physical ailments like arthritis and poor circulation. We took in the Polynesia Spa, which is an institution in Rotorua and one of the original spas in the city. With pools ranging from 38C to 41C, the springs were opened by a priest who reportedly cured his arthritis by soaking in the pools daily.
We got our inner Lord of the Rings geek fix while in Rotorua as well. An hour from Rotorua, just outside the town of Matamata, is Hobbiton. Newly rebuilt and refurnished for the Hobbit films, the Hobbiton set is built on the back few acres of a sheep farm run by the Alexander family. All the reviews we read about Hobbiton spoke extremely high of the tour. While Moozh and I aren’t fanatic about the LOTR franchise, Moozh has read the books and we both enjoyed the films. So much hype is given the Tolkein books and their impact on New Zealand culture. It’s common to run into someone in NZ who was an extra in the film and even the New Zealand military helped out in the production of the films. Tourism New Zealand even playfully awarded New Zealand an Oscar for “Best Supporting Country in a Motion Picture” after Fellowship of the Ring came out. All of this led us, perhaps unintentionally so, to believe certain things about the Hobbiton experience. The gardens are well maintained and so much effort has been given to the preservation of the village as it appears in the films. The Green Dragon Inn has actually been converted into a functioning pub that serves beer, cider, and ginger beer as well as a small bar menu as part of the tour. While the set is immaculately maintained and the attention to detail alone is staggering, we felt the price was a tad inflated for what is actually offered. The tour is extremely low key, but inevitably feels rushed and underwhelming when the tour guide feels bored and everyone is being shuffled along instead of being able to take the tour at the pace they desire to. In short, if you are a LOTR fanatic and simply seeing Bag End with all of the intricacies maintained would be a complete thrill, then the tour will likely be satisfying. Otherwise, there are better things to spend your money on in the region.
From Sulfur City we headed to The Art Deco City: Napier. When a catastrophic volcano eruption caused numerous earthquakes in the Hawke’s Bay, towns like Napier and Hastings had to be almost completely rebuilt. But because they were rebuilt in the Art Deco style popular at the time, including Stripped Classical and Spanish Mission, Napier remains internationally recognized as one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in the world. Napier is the coastal city, with a seemingly unending stretch of smooth black pebbles and turquoise water. It is described as "a small New Zealand city that seems sometimes fictional". It has this beautiful suspended quality, like being on a movie set, where it almost doesn't seem that real life can occur there. The consistency of the styles is so seamless, so complete. It encompasses everything from the doorhandles on the local Subway shop. The Art Deco Trust, which provides history on the Art Deco history of the region, offers both guided walks by passionate volunteers from the region as well as pamphlets and information for self-guided tours. Tours range from a city-wide trek that can be taken to the Mareka Meander that includes the surrounding landscape and 360 vistas of the Hawke's Bay region in addition to vintage car tours and jewelry and vintage shops.
Roughly 80% of New Zealand’s red wine is produced in the Hawke’s Bay region. So even given the popularity of the Central Otago and Waiheke regions, the cool climate of Hawke’s Bay produces the majority of NZ red. Around 5000 hectares of land are planted for wine and around 91 wineries are established in the area. The New Zealand Wine Center, located in central Napier, offers a "Wine Experience" that includes an aroma room with 54 aromas of wine and then a film that provides a visual tour of the Hawke's Bay region as well as an interview with the winemaker introducing their wine. Everything from plumpy fruit Bordeaux blends, to white pepper packed Shiraz, the red flight we tasted provided a beautiful run down of the Hawke's Bay region. And it being the end of the tourist season, we had the tasting theatre all to ourselves. That characterized our time in Napier. Not many tourists and thusly a quieter experience of what would likely have been a quiet experience anyway. We got to chat with artists, winemakers and shopkeepers more than we likely would have been able to. No cropping the back of ball-capped heads out of our photos. Calmly quintessential.
Back on the bus, we drove until we hit the water. Our stay in Wellington was only slightly longer than it took to check into our hostel and stay the night. A beautiful bay city, the city is embroidered like blossoms on the densely forested face of the steep hills that encircle the bay. Much like San Francisco, it has an artistic, bohemian feel built on a landscape of hill of no small scale.Wellington suffers from "Sydney Syndrome" in my opinion. While everyone extols the 'cool' factor of Auckland. Rotorua gets plenty of attention. But Wellington always gets the leftovers, some kind of eye roll due to it being "the capital" and that "all the cool stuff is in Auckland". It could easily be the micro brewery capital, with more breweries and brew pubs than we could count on a brief walk around the waterfront area. With more cafes and restaurants per capita than New York City, the culture of the city is well weighted towards the urban lifestyle. Cuba Street, long a culture capital of its own within the city, is crammed with vintage shops, eateries, murals and art installations. Moozh and I chowed down on some local Indian food put on by our hostel before collapsing into bed.
The next day was the InterIslander. The next day was a twisty jaunt through the Marlborough Sounds. The next day was South Island.
Things I learned in New Zealand Pt 2:
Canada has a lot to learn about indigenous relations from New Zealand.
Capital cities get a bad rap.
Quote from New Zealand Pt 2:
Moozh: (in Rotorua) It actually does smell like rotten eggs.