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This is an HTML-ization of my "trip report" on a two-week visit to New Zealand as part of my sabbatical in 1994. I'm gonna add some links to places I mention later.
Losing a day as I cross the International Dateline, I arrive in Auckland. It looks like a cross between England ( they drive on the left) and California (England never had plants like this). One walk down Queen Street (about 2 km) from my hotel to the train station to book train to Rotorua on Friday. Hotel is Kiwi International, part of Best Western. Downgraded my room from a double (@ $72 / night) to a single (@$30/night). With a coupon worth $8 off this becomes a very cheap room. Queen Street is like just about any other large city's main street. Second walk to the Auckland Domain (a large park) and the Auckland Museum. The museum is on top of a hill in the middle of the park, quite an impressive building. Nice Maori collection.
Food note; First ( and probably last) Tandoori Chicken pizza. Surpisingly good.
Beer Note: DB Bitter is good. Lion Red is Not.
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Rose at 6. Took 8 a.m. ferry to Waiheke Island. I wanted to go to the Great Barrier Island (further away and bigger) but weather was too rough for half day trips. Waiheke is a sort of local equivalent to Sausalito, but on an island : artists and commuters. Took the "Island Explorer" bus tour - saw wineries and housing developments. The island has power and phone by underwater cables, but the drinking water is all roof-collected rain! Tour ends at Otenagi beach, where I found some nice shells. That was after a two hour hike in a forest reserve. Ferns the size of palm trees. Met a woman named Barb from Carbondale Illinois whose husband is in Auckland for a forensic science conference. Got to wish somebody Happy Thanksgiving. Dinner this evening at Ghopal's, the local Hare Krishna restaurant. I liked Govinda's in San Diego better.
Bird notes: Lots of Australian magpies. Also on Waiheke saw puhekas - a sort of local chicken. 6:45 a.m. after breakfast catch the train to Rotorua. 7:50 All aboard the "Silver Fern". I saw lots of silver fern on Waiheke yesterday. The inside of the train is a lot like an airplane (except for the sheepskin seat covers). I have a window seat, and just as on a plane, I hope no-one shows up to take the aisle. Auckland to Papakura: Mostly freightyards, "panel beaters" (a great name for body shops) and suburbs. Papakura to Hamilton: Farms. Mostly cows, but some horses, goats and yes, SHEEP. Traveling in the valley of the Waikato river. Saw another winery, lots of magpies, one large parrot looking bird. Large trees with lots of yellow flowers all over the place are called kowhai trees. Hamilton to Rotorua: more dairies, a hawk, a herd of domestic deer. Puataruru station is 513 feet above sea level. End of the journey heads into the volcanic mountains, some timbering in Puataruru.
Beer Note: DB Export Lager is just barely OK.
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The Polynesian Pools were very relaxing, and just a short block from the B&B I'm staying at. Today's centigrade lesson: 44 is too hot, 34 is too cold, 38 is JUST RIGHT.
Beer Notes: Waikato Draft and Black Mac are good.
Black Mac only available in bottles.
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Hangi is a hole-in-the-ground form of cooking used by the Maori. As a tourist attraction it also includes a concert and dancing. I went to one run by a Maori tribe (as opposed to the "less authentic" ones at hotels). The bus was our waka (war canoe) and we elected a chief. When we approached the marae (open space in front of the meeting house) the visiting chiefs got challenged and then accepted. Dancing and singing followed in the meeting house, along with us singing OUR song: "You are my sunshine". We then went to another building for dinner. Food (pork, chicken, pumpkin, potatoes, fish) was abundant and good.
The hangi was on the 25th (the day I got to Rotorua). So this morning I did the Maori Arts and Crafts center followed by Whakarewarewa thermal reserve and a walk in a redwood grove (yes, California redwoods) 6 hectares worth about 100 years old. The thermal reserve has been a tourist attraction long enough that there are Maori guides whose family have been guides 3 and 4 generations back. I walked a lot. This is good as I made a mistake and had sausage, bacon and eggs for breakfast. Grease city - tomorrow fruit compote instead. Two nights in a row in the Polynesian Pools - I may never leave Rotorua or at least consider moving to Calistoga when I get home. I have met there: two Japanese ladies who live in Rome, a family from Lichenstein, and numerous Australians and New Zealanders. Rotorua also has a good Mexican restaurant. A pub called the Hare of the Dog has an excellent ploughmans lunch. There I met John. He and I swapped AWFUL jokes. He drinks bloody marys with MILK! Blech.
I am staying at Eaton Hall B&B, which is quite nice, and convenient to downtown Rotorua. I have met at breakfast other guests from Alabama and Pittsburgh.
Got up early and went for a walk along the shore. Seagulls, ducks, cormorants, black swans ad one bunny rabbit. Maureen ( the proprietress at Eaton hall) when I asked where the laundromat was offered to do my laundry. Accepted! Colin ( her husband) regales us at breakfast with tales of a tourist who stepped off the marked trail to get a better photograph and fell into boiling mud.
Waitapo trip includes the Lady Knox Geyser which goes off every day
at 10:30 a.m. This is , alas, a crock since the eruption is assisted by
a liberal dose of soap flakes. The Waitapo Geyser reserve has colored pools
and hot and cold running air. I can't compare it to Yellowstone ( never
been there) but it`s pretty impressive. In the afternoon a 4WD trip to
Mt. Tararewa
("Burned Mountain" - named for the fact that a Maori chief would
burn the mountain while hunting, long before the volcano erupted). This
is an international expedition: One local, one australian, two belgians,
three british, one singaporean, me and our driver (1/2 Maori, 1/2 Irish).
A fun, bumpy trip, but I lacked sufficient agility to navigate into the
cone and back out, so I just walked around the top.
I will miss the Polynesian Pools. Colin recommends that I check out Kaikoura, since I'm going to the South island. I am starting to experience small world of tourism: the Indian newlyweds from the Hangi were at Waitapo the same time I was, and the Belgians from Mt. Tararewa are across the aisle on the bus. As we head south I can see I was lucky not to get fogged in on top of Mt. Tararewa. A little north of Lake Taupo we leave the fog amidst acres of future wood pulp - fast growing commercially planted pine.
Now we leave Lake Taupo. Snow covered mountains to the west - Taraniki? The mountain scenery gets better as we pass thru Tongariro Mountain Park. The mountains we can see best are Ruapeha and Ngaruhoe. Lunch break at Flat Hills - a Lambburger! Over lunch I meet Hans from Somerset England who emigrated there from Germany in early 1939. At the age of 74 he is realizing his lifelong ambition to visit the South Pacific after manufacturing some form of hospital equipment most of his life. Our departure was delayed for about 5 mins to back up and pick up two stragglers. About eight hours to go: 3 to Wellington, 2 hrs layover and 3 across the straits. Flat Hills to Levin is extremely boring.
Spent the night in Picton - a small town with nothing outstanding about it, other than being the ferry or rail terminus for the South Island.
On the ferry; Dropped about $2 in the poker machines, but it took a while. The trip was little rough and kind of wet. Met Katrina who although a pakeha (Maori for white person) teaches Maori language in Kerikeri on the North Island. She and her class are headed for Kaikoura for the whale watching.
Beer Note: Tried a Speight's Beer (OK) and some
Guinness - apparently contract brewed in Christchurch.
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I find it amusing that the local abbreviation for christchurch is not XCH (which I would have expected) but ChCh.
The hotel in Picton was average, but it was nice to have a shower in the room. Took an early walk in the Victoria Domain, saw what I think were a chaffinch and a goldfinch - neither are natives, but still striking.
Beer Notes: Marlborough Steam Beer - a little bit
like anchor. Maitland Dark - a nice malty brew.
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On the way into the train station someone spots my KQED sweatshirt and says "Isn't that public television?" His name is Brian - from Maine en route to the Bush in the northwest of the South Island. On the train I get to ride backwards. Saw some llamas and lots more sheep. Different seating arrangements: 4 passengers around a table. My companions are Phil from York and Paul form somewhere in England. Paul is on holiday after doing a triathlon in Wellington. The train is pretty crowded, probably because, it's the one which connects with a Southbound ferry. I am already looking forward to swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura - hope the weather clears a little. From Kaikoura to a point about 3 hours north of Christchurch, lots of tunnels - going right along the coast. We are joined in Kaikoura be a disappointed German who, other than saying he took a day trip to Kaikoura only to find whale trips cancelled because of weather, has been busy reading a German translation of "The Fall of the House of Usher".
I'm staying at the Christchurch YMCA , which is spartan but nice.
Beer Note: Also right across the street from the
Dux De Lux - local brewpub. I tried Hereford Bitter, a dark malty porterish
beer which I liked a lot, and a Nor'Wester which is the same color but
a lot sweeter; too much so for my taste.
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Arthur's Pass is a small town with not much to do but hike around the
park. It is beautiful scenery and I'm glad (I went , but also glad I didn't
stay there overnight. I walked to Devil's Punchbowl (difficult trail) and
Bridal Veil falls ( slightly easier). The
Tranz Alpine Express
is really neat with lots of viaducts and switchbacks and spectacular views
of the Waimakiri river gorge. On the trip back the music on the train is
the TranzAlpine Waltz. Tune is pretty close to the Tennessee waltz.
Beer Note: Monteith's Extra Bitter Dark Brown is
fine on tap but yucky in cans. In fact all of the canned beer I had was
at best so-so.
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Saw two keas: Large green parrots with orange arm (wing?)pits. They are unafraid of humans and in fact the locals find them obnoxious. The waitress at the Arthur's pass chalet (the only restaurant in town) said one came up and started ripping open one of her shopping bags. As I left Christchurch the desk clerk at the Y said I was lucky - a week earlier some folks got rained in (bridges out ) at Arthur's Pass.
In spite of some good times in between, most of the last three days have been bus and trains; I'm looking forward to one whole day in Kaikoura. My travel companion is Brenda from Coventry, England in the midst of an 8 week visit to her son. How I know I'm in New Zealand : the train stops for a herd of sheep.
Arrive in Kaikoura around noon and it's wonderful. The fact that it`s my first sunny day helps. I spent the afternoon taking a long walk around the seal and bird preserve. Crayfish for lunch. Hogget for diner. Hogget is a sheep which is too old for lamb but not yet mutton. The bed and breakfast I'm staying in is the Old Convent, which is what it used to be. It's pretty far out of town, but the proprietor is good about driving back and forth. I'm writing these notes in the (former) chapel which has been set up as a common room, with some truely awful maroon wallpaper, but otherwise lots of nice woodwork. The glass in the downstairs door says 1912; (well actually MCMXII). There is a domestic deer farm next door. They actually make as much from selling horn velvet as medicine as from the venison.
Good breakfast, cloudy but no rain. The dolphin people pick me up around 8 a.m. About 8 of us go out, and about 5 are pretty seasick, so the trip is cancelled. "Maybe better at 1 p.m." I kill the 3 hours with lunch and a walk to a Maori meeting house with unusual colored carvings. A Maori woman at the train station told me that they are colored because the local tribe wants to look towards the future rather than the past.
1 p.m. Almost everyone from the morning came back. Still some seasick people, but this time we stick it out and about six of us stay in the water with the dolphins. It took me a while ( and a little coaching from the tour people) to get used to snorkeling, but there were dolphins all over! Mostly swimming underneath but also alongside and jumping. Probably about 10 to 15 dolphins, or maybe 5 I saw 3 times. This is clearly the best thing I've done so far. On the way back we spot a day-old baby fur seal on the rocks.
For dinner last night: venison! And it wasn't even cooked to a fare-thee-well. I met Abby at the B&B - a biologist from Yale who's been in Australia for a month working on how to get rid of wild mice. They came up with a virus to make mice sterile. She's here on holiday on her way home. Steve and Liz who run the B&B are very nice. I can't imagine running a B&B, fixing up the buildings, raising sheep , and raising a son (~5) all at the same time. But then I'm lazy. I am almost tempted to stay here one more day and fly to Auckland on Sunday, but no. So off to the 10 am train.
Sitting on the beach by the train station, it looks like the canonical South Pacific island: mountains right down to the coast. I tend to forget: New Zealand IS a South Pacific Island; just bigger than most. The funny smell in my luggage was a week dead hermit crab hiding in one of my shells - well at least I found it before I got home and before it got worse.
Spent the night at the Portland Towers for (gasp) $99. So, for an extra $60 I get a TV, a fridge, a phone and a clock in the room, along with my own shower and toilet. This is because I didn't book ahead and hit town the same weekend as the Nissan 500 motor race. I did get to walk a little in the botanical gardens. The Lady Norwood Rose Garden is pretty and the greenhouse was closed for a wedding party, but I still got to hear the Strauss waltzes they were playing.
This morning it's raining so I'm glad the hotel has a shuttle to the train. On the train: 8:00 a.m. Ten hours to Auckland. The rain continues: if I wasn't on the train it would be a lot of cold wet walking. Apparently North Island trains all have the airplane style seating, South Island the table set up. The South version make it a little easier to meet people. North of Wellington: the green is occasionally interrupted by some bright magenta flowers - I think foxglove. 11 a.m. Leaving Mardon we head Northeast into the hills. 12 noon: Cross the Mangakawa river gorge on the largest viaduct in New Zealand. We peak out at 814 meters which is actually higher than Arthur's Pass. Back down via the Ramiru spiral-- three full circle turns to get down 100 meters. The most amazing thing is it was dug in the early 1900's with picks, shovels and horses. Most sheep and some cows tend to run away from trains. I now have sufficient data to conclude that the rear end of a sheep is in general disgusting. Wellington lived up to it's reputation as the city with the worst weather - the only rain I've had
Other than shopping, no plans for tomorrow other than getting to the airport on time. I'd like to stay longer, but it should at least be on purpose and not because I miss a flight.
Well, the Aspen Lodge is only 2 blocks from the train station, but one of them is straight up hill, and the bed was a little lumpy. Still I got a good night`s sleep.
I didn't get to Great Barrier Island today either. I did shop, take a bus to the zoo (where for the second time I failed to find a kiwi in a nocturnal exhibit).
Beer Note: found the Shakespeare brewpub whose King
Lear old ale is a very nice porter.
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Final coincidence : ran into the newlywed Indians again in a shopping mall. Took a shuttle to the airport and it's back home. I actually arrive in San Francisco 4 hours before I leave here ( because of the international date line going the other way.)
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Last Updated August 5, 1997
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