I was bored, so I wrote up a NZ trivia blog...
1. New Zealand has ~4 million human inhabitants, ~40 million sheep, and an estimated opposum population of?
a. 45 million b. 100 million c. 60 million d. 34 million
2. The first European explorer to 'find' New Zealand was?
a. Captain James Cook b. Captain Abel Tasman c. Captain Ferdinand Magellean d. Sir Francis Drake
3. The current Prime Minister of New Zealand is?
a. Dr. Don Brash b. Winston Peters c. Helen Clark d. David Longe
4. New Zealand participated in its only world cup of football (soccer) in what year?
a. 1982 b. 1994 c. 1974 d. 1958
5. In 1985, The Rainbow Warrior Greenpeace boat was sunk in Auckland Harbour by what foreign country's secret service?
a. Japan b. USA c. USSR d. France
6. New Zealand's only native land mammal is what?
a. Opposum b. Bat c. Stoat d. Sheep
7. New Zealand's 4th largest city is?
a. Wellington b. Hamilton c. Dunedin d. Masterton
8. Fiordland National Park averages how many meters of rain per year (there are ~ 38 inches in a meter)
a. 20 b. 15 c. 9 d. 12
9. The 2005 All Blacks won how many test matches?
a. 9 b. 11 c. 12 d. 10
10. Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand. Roughly translated it means what?
a. Land of the stupid, blind, flightless, nocturnal bird
b. Land of the long black turning cloud
c. The promised land
d. Land of the long white cloud
11. All of the following beers are brewed in New Zealand, except?
a. Speights b. Tui c. Macs d. Emersons e. XXXX
12. What sport do more Kiwis participate in than any other?
a. Rugby b. Crickett c. Basketball d. Curling
13. New Zealand Vintiners are world renowned for their?
a. Pinot Gris b. Savagnon Blanc c. Chardenay d. Merlot
14. True or false: The electric fence was a New Zealand invention
15. According to Christchurch police, ~ this many vehicles are stolen per month in Christchurch?
a. 50 b. 65 c. 75 d. 95
The answers:
1. C, 2. B, 3. C, 4. A, 5. D, 6. B, 7. C, 8. A, 9. B, 10. D, 11.E, 12.B, 13. B, 14. True, 15.C
A parting shot:
Did you here about the Kiwi who moved to Australia?
No? Well, he increased the IQ of both countries.
So long, thanks for all the fish.
Neither Mo nor I were very keen on hitch hiking out of the big city, something to do with multilane highways and the intimidation factor associated with it. So, we opted to purchase bus tickets from Wellington to Napier via Palmerston North for the low, low price of $31/person. Intercity Bus Lines is a lot like the Grey Dog in the states except the buses are newer and the clientel are cleaner. We checked out of our room at Nomads and made our way to the train station, the departure point for our Intercity bus. The bus was virtually empty and so we managed to grab two seats each to ourselves.
The ride out of Wellington North is pleasant and brings you along the West Coast beaches before heading inland through the heart of the North Island. It took about 2 hours to reach Palmerston North where we switched buses bound for Hastings and then Napier. Oddly enough we had to change buses again in Hastings just a 30 minute drive from our terminal destination, Napier. We arrived in Napier just after 5pm and Mo called our hostel for a pickup. 5 minutes later we were cruising through the streets of the city with our host who was kindly pointing out the attractions and local watering holes. We had made reservations for a pair of dorm beds at the Napier Prison Backpackers but when we arrived we were given a double room for the price of two dorm beds-they were overbooked-sweet as. Napier Prison Backpackers as the name suggests is a converted gaol; the rooms are prison cells that were in use up until the 1980s. Cool. The prison is located on top of "the bluff" and it is a 10 minute stroll into town. After we squared away our gear we made our way back to the local Pac N' Pay for some groceries. It was immediately apparent that we had arrived in the agricultural heart of New Zealand as the prices for fruits and vegetables was actually reasonable. We wasted no time in stocking up. Back at the prison we cooked up a phat dinner and settled back to some eats and wine. After dinner we joined some of our fellow 'inmates' for drinks and a goss session.
The next day we made a walking tour of the city. Napier was completely wiped out by an earthquake in January of 1931 and subsequently the city was rebuilt. The architects of the day decided to go with an art decco theme and in the city center the main buildings all reflect the style of the day. Of course for about 45-50 years no one noticed the unique architecture of the city and the buildings became delapidated and fell into general disrepair. Then the city council came to its senses-realising the tourist potential of the architecture-and instead of tearing down the buildings and modernizing the city the council instead subsidized building facelifts. Thus, the buildings have all been restored to their original pastoral colored selves and the city center is an art decco afiandos wet dream. Well, we strolled through the center and then made our way over the hills out to the British American Tobacco Company buildings (also done art decco) near the port. From there it was a pleasant stroll back along the coast-through an industrial park-to the Aquarium. Napier has perhaps the best aquarium in all New Zealand and while it is nice, it is no Monterey Bay Aquarium. Fortunately the Napier Aquarium did provide us a glimpse of some real life kiwi birds. All in all, a good day.
We had a quiet night back at the prison and woke the next morning to some dreary weather. We kicked about the prison in the morning and when the sun broke out we promptly made our way down to the local salt water pool and hot baths for the afternoon. The highlight for me was the sauna. The lowlight was the sunburn I suffered. Don't tell me there is no hole in the ozone layer above NZ. That night after the Simpson's we enjoyed our final evening with our fellow inmates, drinking the night away. The plan for the next morning was to hitch a ride to Lake Taupo. The host of the hostel promised to give us a ride out to the hitch hiking 'spot' but in her laziness she instead arranged a ride for us with some other backpackers who were headed to Taupo. So at about 10am we met Sergio (Spain) and Christoph (Germany) our ride to Taupo. They, Sergio and Christoph, wanted to visit the local museum before we left and Amy and I agreed to wait for them at the hostel, scheduled departure time noon. While we were waiting Amy decided she wanted to walk to town real quick and do some shopping. I decided to stay put and read. As Amy walked out the door of the prison she bumped into our friend and former flatmate Thomas from Christchurch and Blenheim. Thomas had recently been traveling with his girlfriend who was visiting for a week from Czech. Thomas had decided to look for work up in the Napier region and thus was canvassing the local backpackers for leads. After a brief chat Thomas headed off, girlfriend in tow, and Mo went to town. That was when I got the news: the road to Taupo was closed (since 0100) due to a truck crash. A bad crash. 3 fatalities. Chemicals on the road. Closed until at least 3pm. Sergio and Christoph made it back just after Mo and I told them all the news. Optimistically we decided we could postpone our departure until 3pm and we set about making lunch. 3pm came and went and the road was still closed. At this point we had a pow-wow and decided that we would leave for Taupo if the road opened anytime before 6pm. In the meantime, I called the hostel in Taupo where we had reservations and cancelled them, if we did not make it there that night I would be charged for the beds. 30 minutes later, much to our relief, the road opened. I called back to reserve the beds but alas they had been sold so we had to settle for another hostel, around the corner from the Rainbow Lodge. We made the drive in about 2 hours in Sergio's trusty Ford Falcon wagon, a lot like our Australian Elmoe. It was cool getting to know our new friends and I was able to practise my Spanish lessons with Sergio. We pulled up to Burkes Backpackers in Lake Taupo in time to realize that we would not stay there more than one night. It was a hole.
The next day we checked out of Burkes and into the dreamy Rainbow Lodge. Sergio and Christoph followed us there and a new travel partnership was formed. That afternoon we all decided to go for a walk out to Huka Falls and on to the thermal grounds known as Craters of the Moon. The sky was ominous but we figured we could do the 10 K walk without getting wet. We were wrong. The walk itself was nice enough and the Craters of the Moon were interesting. Unfortunately the rain came before we could make it back to the Lodge. When it came it came heavy and with strong winds. It was horizontal droves of rain. By the time we made it back we were all soaked to the bone. We all showered and then made our way to the Pac N Pay for some supplies. In the mean while a friend of Christoph's (name of Philip) had arrived at the hostel and was planning on sky diving the next day. My birthday present to Amy was to pay for her to jump out of a plane strapped to another man and I had yet to make this gift a reality. We all quickly made reservations to jump the next morning. The weather the next day was less than ideal for sky-diving and we spent the whole day hoping the clouds would break long enough for us to fall 12000 feet back to the earth. We were originally scheduled for 0900. That got pushed back to 12pm. Then 3pm. Then 5pm. Finally we just agreed to re-schedule for the next day. It was a burn day, they kept our hopes up-despite the fact that there was not a snow-balls-chance-in-hell of us getting to jump. Amy and I missed out on an opportunity to go fishing in what is arguably the premier trout fishing lake in New Zealand and perhaps the world. The next day started out in similar fashion, our 1000 jump was postponed to 1pm. Ugh!!! By about 1100 the sky broke blue and at 1pm we were wisked away to the airport. After endemnifying FreeFall Skydivers of any responsibility we found ourselves dressed in some stylish jump suits ready to climb onto a plane and take the big leap. I met my tandom master, Charley from Portland Oregon, and joked with him about this being his first day on the job-it wasn't. Soon we climbed into a little arsed plane and started the climb up to 12000 feet above the lake. It takes a good 15 minutes to get up there and in that time I did not so much get nervous as excited with anticipation. Christoph was the first one out the door and he tumbled away from the plane so quietly. There were about 5 others ahead of me (including Mo) and then I was up. Oh the humanity! Jumping out of a plane at 12000 feet. It was freaking awesome. Charley told me to keep my eyes open and when we jumped (fell) out of the plane I did as instructed. We did a nice slow roll and I could see the belly of the plane drop (rise?) away from me with all that blue sky behind. As we accelerated back towards the earth Charley brought us around so I could see the full glory of the view from that astounding height. By this point we had reached maximum velocity (somewhere around 120mph) and the earth was coming up quick. Charley did a few spinners and then gave me the signal that he was pulling the cord. Sweet as! It was another few minutes of fantastic views and easy gliding down to the ground where we made a picture perfect landing flat on my arse (I was taller than Charley and it was the only way to come in). WOW! Absolutely worth every penny (about $110 US) even with the not so male friendly harness.
Back on the earth and at Rainbow we made the snap decision to spend another day in Taupo in order to complete the one day tramp over the Tongariro Crossing. This 17 K tramp is considered New Zealands finest 1-day tramp through the volcanic Tongariro National Park. What they fail to tell you when you cough up the $40 in transportation fees (the track is not a loop) is that if the weather is bad the Tongariro Crossing is the worst day hike anywhere in the world and potentially dangerous. We woke up at 0500 to some not so promising weather. After initially missing the 0540 bus pickup we made the bus come back for us. That was a mistake, we should have just gone back to bed. Instead we made the ride out to the start of the tramp and walked off into the mist of the mountain. It takes about 2 hours to get to the Devil's Staircase a steep ascent up the side of a volcano. The only cool thing about the hike is that it is Mount Doom. Of course, I aint no hobbit and the wind and rain made the climb absolutely miserable. The spectacular views from the top were nonexistant for us and so we continued on, crossing through an active volcano cone and over a ridge dropping down into another valley. By the time we made it to the DOC hut on the trail we were once again soaked but to our joy the sun had broke through the clouds. We spent an hour at the hut eating our lunch and drying our clothes. It was another 2 hour hike back down to the pickup spot where we had to wait about an hour for the bus and then the 2 hour ride back to Lake Taupo proper. It was a good walk just poor weather. Of course, there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes. At least I can say I climbed Mount Doom, BITCH! Compared to the day before it was not such a good day.
The next day we were off to Rotorua about an hours drive North and East. Sergio, Christoph and Philip were all headed out to Mount Taranaki in the opposite direction. They provided us a ride out to a good spot to hitch rides to Rotorua and we said our farewells. About 5 minutes after we started hitching the sky filled with clouds and it started to look, smell, and feel like rain. The Maoris name for New Zealand is Aotearoa and it means 'land of the long white cloud'. I was beggining to think it was a misnomer and instead should have been named 'land of the long, black, rain cloud'. Another 5 minutes passed and we finally got a ride with some kids headed North to Auckland. Unfortunately the road from Taupo to Auckland does not pass directly through Rotorua and so we were dropped off at the split. Fortunately it was not raining. It only took about a minute to catch a ride the rest of the way to our hostel in Rotorua. We arrived at the Funky Green Voyager just ahead of the rain and about 1.5 hours after we left the Rainbow Lodge. For a change, we checked into a double room (bOW-CHikKa-CHikKa-Bow-WOW). The Funky Green is not so much 'funky' as it is 'green'. The hostel is bright, friendly, clean, environmentally friendly, blah, blah, blah. We would get to know the hostel very well during our visit as the weather for the next 4 days could only be described as craptacular.
That first afternoon in Rotorua, as the clouds gathered, we stopped in at the local tourist information center to find out what was on in the city. Rotorua is located in one of the world's most active geothermal zones and thus there are many resorts and spas taking advantage of the natural hot springs. There are also a lot of thermal parks where you can explore the freaky nature that results when molton earth bubbles towards the surface (geysers, steamy mud puddles, hot rocks, hot water, the wonderful smell of sulfur). The Maori must have found the area sacred because there is a rich Maori history in the region and there are many 'cultural' experiences to be had. On top of that there is your normal NZ adventure travel activities^: jetboating, bungy jumping, white water rafting, and street luge. All of this has made Rotorua a favorite stop for tourists-despite the smell-and the cost of the place reflects this. Amy was keen on participating in a traditional Maori Hangi (feast) but when we found out that the staged Hangi's would involve at least 150 other guests (up to 200) at $80/person we were both a little put off. We did learn about a thermal park/redwood forest* that offered what appeared to be some pretty decent tramping opportunities and the park was free entry. We found out about the Polynesian Spa and street luge before we headed over to the bus counter for information about forward travel opportunities. We wanted to go up to the Coromandel Peninsula. We learned that it would not be cheap to go by bus, nor very convenient. We went to the car rental agencies and learned that it would be convenient to have a car but also very dear. We decided to think about it. We managed to buy groceries and get back to the Funky Green just before the rain. The next day it continued to rain and we were stuck inside the hostel most of the day, only venturing out to do some shopping and travel research. It was on this day that we realized there just would not be time to enjoy the Coromandel and that it would be very expensive. Considering the current weather situation and the forecast we decided to skip the Coromandel and make directly for NZ's biggest city, Auckland. That was still a few days away but we called to make reservations at a hostel as it was coming into the busy season.
With our travel plans settled we were able to enjoy-to the best of our abilities with the weather-Rotorua. Our planned tramp through the redwoods out to the thermal lakes were cancelled, too much rain. Instead we opted for the street luge slopes at the top of the Rotorua Gondola. This was definitely a good decision, even in the rain. For $37 you get a Gondola ride (up and down) and five runs on the street luge hill with its five courses. We did the scenic track first and that was fun, then we tried one of the intermediate courses and I knew I was ready for the advanced run. So, the next three runs were advanced and it was a blast. On our second advanced run Mo wiped out and went flying off-course. I was laughing so hard I almost followed her into oblivian. Instead it was not until the final run that I crashed and burned, slamming off logs and almost flipping my luge. Great fun. That night we made our way to the Polynesian Spa where we soaked for about an our in 4 different pools (38, 39, 40, 42 Celsius) all for only $15/person. The spa was really good, soaking in hot water while it rains is awesome. While we may not have accomplished all there is to do in Rotorua, not even everything we came to do, we still enjoyed our brief stay.
But it was time to move on. We decided to give hitching one last go and, as the weather had improved that morning and we could actually see the sun we were pretty confident we could catch a ride. So, we gathered up our bags and made for the local bus to ride out to the main North road. It was a Sunday and it did not seem the buses were running. After about a half hour waiting for the bus we decided to walk. Now that the sun was out, walking with 18 kilos strapped to my back was less than ideal. It was about a 3 K walk to a good spot and we were both sweaty when we finally started to thumb for rides. About 5 minutes on the local bus drove past. Damn! After about an hour we were calling Intercity to get the bus schedule for the afternoon. Before we made our reservation we got a ride. Mok was a young medical intern living in Hamilton, originally from Malaysia, on his way to visiting some friends up in Auckland. We squeezed into his little car and proceeded North. It started to rain as we Mok told me that the reason he stopped was because I looked like Jesus on the side of the road. He informed us that he was not Christian (Budhist) but that he was 'cool with Jesus'. We had a good laugh. Mok drove us all the way to our new hostel, The Garden City Lodge in the Parnell district of the city. The Garden City Lodge is a wooden villa that was once home to the Queen of Tonga. In its current capacity it is one hell of a nice hostel, especially for a big city, with large grounds, garden, and yoga room. We took a double room for $22/night. We would be there for 4 nights before we had to move down the street to the hostel we had shipped all our gear for storage before we left Christchurch the first time. And the weather continued on craptacular.
The next day we started exploring New Zealand's largest city. Auckland is home to over a quarter of the country's population at over 1 million inhabitants. The city has beautiful natural features (mostly volcanic or water oriented) and is famous for its large property lots, making it a nice city to live in, if you have to live in the city. Of course there are the typical New Zealand city green spaces and many parks. We called in at the information center and they were of course no help. We then walked along one of the prime shopping areas, Queen Street, before making our way to the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the Southern hemisphere's tallest structure and you can go up to the really cool observation deck for some amazing views of the city. The cool part of the observation deck is that you can stand on 33mm thick glass and see the street below you! It is really weird. People struggle to step onto the windows and it is quite fun to people watch. The views are stupendous, even with the clouds. Of course, you can also do a sort of 'base jump' from the tower. The jump is not a true base jump or even true free fall, instead the jumper is in a harness connected to cables that control the 192 M drop. The best part is that jumpers are stopped on the cables for people in the oberservation deck to gawk at them. LOL! Some girl was hanging there, screaming her head off, suspended 190 M above the ground and I was just sitting there watching her. Creepy. While we were in the Sky Tower the rains returned and so we beat it on back to The Garden City by bus.
I went on line and learned that the Las Vegas Bowl featuring my California Golden Bears (sorry to be so possessive) would be broadcast on ESPN International and thus available at any local sports pub. Awesome! We spent our days at the Garden City Lodge continuing to explore the city while dodging the rain. Despite what every one says, Auckland is a rather nice city and we were enjoying ourselves very much. Our accomodation was fantastic and every day they provided us with free bread. Unfortunately our stay was coming to an end and we moved to the Lantana Lodge down the street. The owner of the Lantana Lodge is a friendly bloke but his hostel is a little run down and we were back to the dorms. One of the redeeming factors of Lantana was the free internet. Of course it was the computers at the Garden City Lodge that told me the Las Vegas Bowl on ESPN International had been pre-empted for a midseason Spanish Futbol League game*^. D'oh! Anyway, from the Lantana Lodge we continued to explore the city but the weather continued on crappy so we did not make a trip out to the beaches at Mission Bay or up North for the legendary surf breaks at Pahia etc. The rain was intermittent and allowed us the opportunity to shop or walk the streets between showers (it was always at least 20 C). We even managed to do the coast to coast walk through the city and parks. The walk is 16-17 K and takes you through the heart of downtown, through the domain, up Mount Eden and One Tree Hill (optional) for fantastic views and then out to the West Coast. Back at the Lodge I immediately jumped on line to check the score of the LV Bowl. Cal 14, BYU 7. I proceeded to 'watch' the game via ESPN's game log (CBS SPortline would not load, double damn!). BYU tied it up with about 30 seconds left in the first half. Cal managed to score a touchdown in 27 seconds to go into the break up by 7. You all know the rest of the story, and probably got to watch the game, Cal went on to win 35-28, although BYU mounted a come back and I was in panic mode-clicking refresh-considering Cal's season long tendancy to snatch defeat from the clutches of victory. Nothing much else was happening until the next day, Christmas Eve Day.
We finished our shopping, found a place to have a dinner meal (sushi!) and then bought some Christmas cheer (Speights) and headed back to Lantana. The party was already in full swing, and we joined in with other backpackers from all over the world. Germans, Irish, Austrian, Aussie, American (there was a cat from Chicago riding his Harley around the world!) Japanese, New Caledonian (French) and so on. It was great fun, exchanging travels stories and tips, drinking beer and laughing at ourselves (humanity). A contingent made the walk up the hill to "The Bog" Irish pub for some live entertainment (I couldn't stop watching the Cleveland Caveliers/Indiana Pacers game; that LeBron James is gonna be a baller one day). The Bog closed at midnight-Christmas day-so we headed back to our hostel for more merryment. The Lantana Lodge is no City Garden Lodge but when you consider the circumstances of our last Christmas# it was glorious. Now, it is Christmas morning and I sit here typing away at this blog and wonder what the hell am I doing?!? Oh that's right, wishing you all a happy Christmas and a merry New Year-let's make it a good one, without any fear! Don't worry about us, we will be flying to Ta'hiti this afternoon-landing on Christmas Eve, so I can do this whole Christmas morning thing over again and hopefully get it right-woo hoo! From Ta'hiti we fly back to reality and California but just for two weeks then it is on to South America. So, again, seasons greetings, and maybe we will see you in the new year.
NOTES:
^ Rotorua is the only place on earth to go "zorbing". What the fCuk is zorbing? Well, have you ever seen the hamster ball? You know, where the hamster is stuck in a ball and where ever it walks the ball roll. The "zorb" is a giant hamster ball designed for humans. To each his own.
* Redwoods have been brought to New Zealand from California. The trees thrive in NZ growing 3 times as fast as their counterparts in California. Of course this only means that in about 3000 years they will be as big as the ones in Cali are, right now!
*^ It's not like Barcelona was playing Real Madrid. No, No, No. It was some crappy match between two middle table squads. I was so pissed I emailed ESPN with a complaint-that's right, I finally 'wrote a letter'. The end result, for the second year in a row I did not watch a single Cal football game. The up side is that Cal has won 18 games against 6 losses in that span, better than any other run in my life time. Hey!?!? Maybe the Cal Alumni Association should pay me not to come home-you know, sponser my travels.
Wellity, wellity, wellity. If it isn't Wellington, the up and coming capital city of New Zealand. Wellington is sWellington. Enough already. Many forms of transportation can be used to reach the city. Planes, trains, and autos. In my opinion the best way to approach Wellington has got to be from the sea. Entering the harbour from Cook Strait you immediately recognize the geographic importance of the city. Wellington sprawls out on the hills and valleys surrounding the Bay-an ideal port for commerace and harbour for naval vessels.
We pulled up to the ferry terminal at just about half five in the afternoon (That is 1730 for you military buffs). We claimed our bags and made our way to the courtesey shuttle that carried us to the train station and thus closer to the city center and our accomodation. We managed to get on a bus headed in the general direction of our hostel, Rosemere. I asked the bus driver to let me know when we were close to the appropriate cross streets and he obliged. We scrambled off the rush hour filled bus and made our way up a hill towards "the terrace" and our hostel. After a 5 minute climb we found ourselves in the foyer of Rosemere's where we received a rather unfriendly welcome. The manager informed us that our reservation had been canceled and our beds sold on because the credit card number provided was rejected. Whoever took my details completely mucked up the last 6 digits or so...communication breakdown. There were no beds available for us at Rosemere. The manager did help us (begrudgingly) to find other accomodation at another hotel. So, we gathered up our bags and made our way back down the hill and across town, a 20 minute walk. Finally we checked into a dorm room at the Cambridge Hotel. The room was not bad, the facilities were nice but it cost $23/night for a bunk. Ouch!
It had been a long day of travel and frustration and so we decided to eat out for the night. We found a nice little Chinese food joint. The food was delicious. Satiated we decided to have a wonder about the city keeping an eye out for alternative accomodation. A German girl we befriended in Queenstown and Te Anau text us on our mobile that she was staying at a place called Nomads. We knew Lena was always trying to save money so we figured the place would likely be cheap. We were right. Nomads is a new hostel centrally located across from the Information Center and a 5 minute walk from Te Papa Museum. It is a new style "flashpackers" with in house cafe/bar and modern stylish furnishings in a renovated building. Because it was new on the market (open just 4 months) beds could be had for as low as $18/night^. The paint was barely dry so the place was still clean and despite its huge size it maintained a pretty fresh atmosphere. We made reservations for 3 nights. After a short conversation with Lena we made our way back to the Cambridge.
The next morning we checked into our dorm at Nomads. We spent the rest of the morning grocery shopping for a few days food supplies, checking in at the local information center, and checking our email. That afternoon we made our way out to the "Beehive" or Parliamentary Buildings for a free tour of the place. You do not get to go into "the Beehive*^" where the Prime Minister (The Right and Honerable Helen Clark) has her offices but you do get a rather extensive tour of Parliament House and the Library. Security was so lax Mo and I could not believe it. Then I remembered, New Zealand has yet to join the 21st Century of global terrorism. Good on you New Zealand. The tour was informative and the guide was impressed with my knowledge of Kiwi politics-what can I say? I have lived here for 6 months and as a Berkeley grad I always have an eye on the politics of my chosen environment.
Back at our hostel we made dinner and took our meal before we met up with Lena and a couple of English birds Hariet and Kate for a night out on the town. We were joined by an American girl who was staying in our dorm, Veena from Cleveland. The party started with happy hour drinks (2-4-1) at the Nomads cafe/pub. Hariet met up with some local lads who happened to be friends with a mate of a mate of hers-or something like that-and they became our nightlife in Wellington guides. The first bar we went to was so-so but had fantastically expensive drinks and it was not long before we broke (were broke?) for a change of venue. The next pub the boys brought us to had reasonably priced drinks, good tunes-at least my father would have thought so-but was a tiny affair with hardly enough room to breath let alone drink. From there we tried our luck at a posh club but we were denied entrance based on some ill contrived dress code. So we worked our way into another "club" that had decent house music, if there is such a thing. After 10 minutes I was ready to split. Wondering about the city earlier in the day I had made a mental note about a pub that had live "jazz" music for the evening. I told the guys I wanted to go there but they did not seem interested. I made up my mind to go and Amy was more than happy to join me. So at about 0100 we split from the group and made our way to the pub. Before I even got in the door I knew I had made the right choice. The "jazz" band could be heard from the street and they were easing into some Stevie Wonder as we pulled up. The band was full of funk and the singer was the big beautiful Maori lady with a soulful voice. The place was virtually empty except for three large Maori chaps and the staff. Mo and I grabbed some handles of beer and then found a nice spot on the dance floor to cut a rug. The band continued to play dance classics of the late 70's early 80's much to our enjoyment. At about 0200 they took a short break and the place filled out with people. While they were resting Amy and I started talking with the slightly intoxicated Maori blokes. They were typically friendly and we talked them up for the set break. Then it happened. I caught fire, literally. A candle on the table behind me lit the back of my shirt. Don't tell me polyster bends don't burn, I know better. I managed to quickly extinguish the flames-before one of the Maori blokes doused me with liquor. The damage was not too bad, I was not burned but the jersey was toast. Well then, the music started back up and there was nothing to do but dance. The three Maori guys were eventually asked to leave because one of them-the really drunk one-kept joining the band on stage and taking the microphone from the songstress. It was quite amusing to see but awful to listen too-have you ever woke up to the sounds of street cats making love? Before he was asked to leave Amy dragged him off the stage but he only went back for more. They left peaceably and the music continued uninterupted until about 0330. The house was rocking and good times were had by all. Closing time came and we wobbled back to our dorm beds trying not to wake up our temporary room mates.
The next few days were spent exploring the city. We spent about 5 hours hours at Te Papa Museum-easily the best museum in New Zealand. We even sat in on a discussion of Genetics and Disabilities that of course degenerated into a debate about ethics and eugenics. We walked up to the top of Victoria (Vic) Mountain for awesome views of the city and harbour (see photo gallery). Wondered through the botanical gardens on our way to a street fair in the historic Thorndon district of the city. Generally we had a good time, so much so that we decided to extend our stay a few days. On Tuesday we went back out to the Beehive to sit in on a session of Parliament. That's right, you can sit in the gallery of the House and watch the proceedings, live. It is the ultimate political drama experience. We got front row seats, so close I could have spit on Winston Peters**. The first hour or so of each session is dedicated to a sort of Question/Answer forum. All questions are submitted in advance so that the PM being interrogated has an opportunity to prepare a response to the intitial question. After the answer is provided any PM can ask follow up questions that must be answered on the fly. Anyway, the session we were going to promised to be filled with fireworks. One of the ministers (inside the Labour led government), the Honerable Benson-Pope, got himself into a bit of trouble. A few months back Mr. Benson-Pope was accused of tieing a student to his chair and sticking a tennis ball in his mouth whilst he was a teacher at a highschool in Dunedin in the early 80's. Mr. Benson-Pope denied the allegations-in the House and on record-at the time they surfaced. There was a subsequent police investigation into the accusations and over the weekend the police report was released. The report concluded that while no criminal charges could be brought against the PM it was almost certain that the tennis ball gag incident had happened and that the Honerable Benson-Pope had lied to the House about the events#. Like I said, fireworks. The Prime Minister was the first one to face questions about how she could have faith in her minister. The Right Honerable Ms. Clark handled herself admireably. Then Mr. Benson-Pope came under fire. Everytime he answered a question the opposition benches exploded in huffs and puffs, groans and coffs of disbelief. You could barely hear the poor bastard's response. The bickering went back and forth. Winston even got involved a bit and really pissed off the leader of the Act Party the Honerable Mr. Hide. It was quite a spectacle. Entertaining, yes. My favorite part came when the Maori party PM's interogated the Minister of Maori affairs. The questions and answers were spoken in Maori and translated by some old geezer. The Minister spent about 10 minutes eloquently answering a question-in Maori-and when it came time for the translation the geezer said: "Everything is going well." The place broke out in laughter. The translator had obviously lost interest in the proceedings. The Minister then provided a more complete translation. After about an hour of this I could not understand how any legislative work got done. I mean, the proceedings were unbelieveably childish-straight playground tactics with rabbit-in-a-hat tricks. Yikes!
We left the Parliament house with a lasting smile on our faces. Amy wanted to go and try climbing on a rock wall and I was obliged to be her rope man. Not a bad job for me, I just got to stand there and stare at Amy's posterior while she climbed. Too bad they didn't serve any beer, eh? The next day we bought bus tickets to head up the East Coast to the Art Decco city of Napier. Another day. Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.
NOTES:
^ This price is for a minimum 3-night stay in a rather spacious 10-bed (5 bunks) dorm.
*^ An ugly and apparently inefficient building
** Winston Peters is New Zealands ultimate "slick" politician. He is the leader of his minority party. Recently he managed an agreement with the party in power (labour) that has him representing NZ as their Foreign Minister, outside of cabinet. A very unique situation. Winston is great for soundbites and thus the media gobble him up.
# Remember Monica Lewenski and slick Willies deniles and the subsequent impeachment proceedings? It was a lot like that. Sure, everyone knows Bill Clinton was guilty of a little 'slap and tickle' in the oval office, that wasn't what he got impeached for. It was the perjury that was his downfall. Same thing here, Mr. Benson-Pope obviously ball-gagged a student with a tennis ball...that wasn't criminal, what was is the fact that he lied about it. What a crazy mixed up world we live in, eh?
I arranged a rental car relocation to get MoWenck and our gear from Christchurch to Picton. The relocation deal we agreed to worked like so: The rental car company provided us (the 'relocators') with a vehicle that was needed at another location. In exchange for waiving the rental fees, we agreed to deliver the car to the desired location within a specified time frame. We only had to pay for the petrol we burned enroute. This type of relocation rental is often exploited by backpackers in New Zealand and forms a mutually beneficial relationship between the rental car agencies and backpackers. It is win-win. Of course there are drawbacks like the relocator must take whatever vehicle is on offer-in our case a little Korean made compact-and potential pitfalls like accidents and speed traps. All that aside, it is a sweet deal...
and so we made our way out to the Christchurch Airport Europcar office to pick up our ride at 1400 on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. I filled out some paperwork and after we loaded our gear up we were on our way. The car was like The Little Engine That Could and we huffed and puffed our way up the coast through townships like Cheviot and Kaikora. We stopped off in Blenheim for dinner and a little grocery shopping before driving the final 40 K into Picton. It took us about 5 hours all told to get from door to door of our respective backpacker accomodations. We found ourselves not in Picton proper but rather in Waikawa Bay about 5 K East of Picton on the Queen Charlotte Sound. Our hostel, Bayview Backpackers, has fantastic views of the marina and Waikawa Bay and offers guests free access to their bicycles and kayaks. Bayview Backpackers is a friendly family run hostel and they welcomed us into their hostel. We were told about opportunities for day hiking on the Queen Charlotte Sound as well as other local tramps around Picton. We also learned that we might have a chance to sail on the Sound in an actual yacht race. This was all very enticing and so we settled into our digs in Picton happy that we decided to spend 5 days there.
Of course that night a South Easterly weather flow settled over the country and the weather was cold and wet. The next morning we delivered the rental to the Europcar lot near the Ferry Landing in Picton and had a wonder around town and even stopped in to talk to the Information Center peeps. The weather was turning for the worse when we stepped into a local pub to watch the afternoon replay of the All Blacks vs Scottland rugby match from the night before. It was the final game of the AB's Grandslam tour of the UK. Of course they won, 29-10 but it was closer than the score might suggest. While we watched the match we befriended several locals including a very kind-if slightly intoxicated-Vietnam war veteran (that's right, Kiwis and Aussies fought side by side with Americans in Vietnam). After the game he invited us back to his house for a feed and we gently declined. He persisted. We finally did accept his offer of a ride back to Bayview. The weather continued to be poor the next day Monday, 28Nov05. Mo's birthday. We had all kinds of plans for a pleasant day hiking around Picton followed by dinner in town to celebrate 31 years. The South Easterly had other ideas. We did manage a brief walk on 'the snout' to the Queen Charlotte Lookout but had to beat it on back to the hostel before the rain and wind wiped us out. We could not manage making it to town for dinner because we missed our ride. Besides, there was no place open to serve an adequate birthday meal. I was very frustrated and not very nice to Amy on her birthday. I really wanted to do something special but it just was not meant to be and instead of accepting this (like Amy did) I kept trying. It only made matters worse and made it uncomfortable for Amy, I am sure.
The next morning I got up early enough to have a nice 12 K kayak on the bay before the winds kicked up. While I was out padlling, Amy went to town and we met up for lunch back at the hostel. We spent the afternoon reading and arranging a day walk on the Queen Charlotte Sound track. Then at around 5pm we made our way down to the Waikawa Marina Yacht Club to try our luck getting on a yacht for the evening races on the sounds. Bayview Backpackers has an agreement with the Yachties to let their guests sail in the races. No experience is necessary you just need to understand English and do what you are told. It was a good afternoon, the South Easterly was finally weakening and the sun was blazing. I ended up sailing with a couple of experienced (older) seamen. As I was the young buck on the boat I did all the leg work. Amy on the other hand took the helm of the yacht she was on. It was a lot of fun and we even finished in the top 7. I don't know when Amy's yacht crossed the buey start/finish line. After the race we made our way back to Bayview and exchanged stories about sailing with our new Kiwi friends. Really cool. Our last full day in the Marlborough region was spent hiking the end of the Queen Charlotte Track from Ships cove back to Fernaux Lodge. The weather was perfect for hiking: high clouds, light breeze. The track is really good on this stretch and we were entertained by several Wekkas (bird, see photo gallery) along the way. We topped the whole day off with a birthday dinner for Amy back in Picton. All is well that ends well. The next day we made our way to the ferry terminal with heavy hearts...we were leaving the South Island and we are not sure when we will get to come back. It was a fine afternoon when we finally climbed onto the ferry for the 3 hour trip to the capital city, Wellington. Headed north for the summer. It is what you do when you are down under.Happy Christmas everyone and a merry new year, let's make it a good one, without any fear!
Beth a lovely lady from Western Australia provided us with our ride from Te Anau to Dunedin where her sister was finishing up her studies at Otago University. There is not much to say about the drive across the southland. The highlight of the trip was riding on the Clinton-Gore or "Presidents" Highway. Seriously, the road connects the cities of Clinton and Gore and hence the name of the road. Never mind the fact that Al Gore has never been president, that does not matter to Kiwis. At least Al Gore won a presidential election. Our approach to Dunedin came via the Southern Scenic Route along the coast past picturesque beaches with good surf.
We had no troubles finding our hostel, the Chalet, just up the hill from the city center or Octagon (see 23Sep05 blog: Haka? What Haka? for more about Dunedin). The Chalet was formally a hospital and the building is supposedly haunted. The facilities at the Chalet are swell and the dorm rooms are without bunks making it a pretty good deal at $18/night. We dropped our bags in our room and rejoined Beth for a drive around the city. We drove up the world's steepest street (Baldwin Street) and then went to a viewpoint for spectacular views of the city and Otago peninsula. Finally Beth dropped us off at a Pac N' Save (Pic N' Pay) where we bought provisions for a 5 night stay in New Zealand's Scottish city. Back at the hostel we got new room mates in the form of a very kind Scottish couple. Our first full day in Dunedin was spent planning what we would do over the next 5 days. We arranged to take a tour of the Speight's Brewery that afternoon followed by a matinee screening of The World's Fastest Indian. We planned to stay out after dinner until the 0330 kickoff of the All Black's v. Ireland rugby match live from Dublin.
Our tour guide for the brewery tour was a humorous Scottish immigrant who provided us with all kinds of information about the benefits of beer consumption, a history lesson about the beer brewing process and Speight's place in New Zealand brewing lore. It was entertaining enough, even the cheesy Speight's propaganda and marketing ploys that were sprung on you around each corner. The highlight-isn't it always?-was the tasting room where you are allowed 10-15 minutes free reign on 7 taps whilst watching the classic "Southern Man" Speight's Adverts campaign play on a teevee. Good stuff there. After the tour I was able to fill my Nalgene with the unadulterated natural spring water used to make Speight's*. Best water ever. Over 1 million gallons of water are taken from the tap each year and consumed by locals and visitors alike. We made our way from the tour to our seats at the local Hoyt's Theatre where we were treated to a fantastic piece of movie making. Everyone should see The World's Fastest Indian, it is just plain good. The story is awesome, Anthony Hopkins is brilliant, and the Holleywood cheese factor is noticeably absent (it's a Kiwi film afterall). After the movie we made our way back to the Chalet. There was a fantastic sunset as we walked up the hill to the Chalet and I commented to Amy that the sunset reminded me of a sky from a Bob Ross painting. Back in our dorm we had new roomie, a German named Dirk. The same Dirk whom we had ride-shared to Te Anau with. Small world, eh? Dirk and the Scottish couple agreed to join us for drinks and a night of rugby and we all went out on the town. On the walk down the hill to the Octagon Amy was telling Dirk about the sunset we had recently seen and to her amazment Dirk said it sounded to him that it looked like a sunset in a Bob Ross painting. I was pleased to learn that Bob Ross is big in Germany (not David Hasselhof big, but popular none the less) and Scottland. Everyone knew Bob Ross. Cool. The Simpsons and Bob Ross, who says the USA is not exporting culture?!? Quality programming there mates.
The All Black's starting 15 for their match against Ireland included 13 changes from the team that beat Wales the week before 41-3. The result against Ireland with what was essentially the AB's second team was much the same as the week before: 45-7. By the time the final whistle sounded the sun was coming up and we were in no condition to cope. We all stumbled back to our beds at the Chalet and wearily collapsed into them. That afternoon we managed to get up and go for a drive with Dirk out on the Otago peninsula. It was a cold windy day-typical of Dunedin-but enjoyable none the less. The next day we went to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory for a tour and then wondered the streets taking in the architecture. The students had just finished finals and so the city was getting quiet. Despite the cold weather we kept enjoying ourselves for another day. After 5 nights though it was time to move on from Dunedin and so we decided we would hitch out of town the next day. We were hopeful that we could make it to Lake Tekapu in just one day, boy were we wrong.
Hitch hiking has a lot to do with luck, but you make your luck by chosing good locations for catching a ride. You need to be visible to traffic that is going your direction. There needs to be a place for ptential rides to safely pull off and pick you up. Most important, you need to be on the road out of town. We thought we had picked the right spot for Dunedin, it met all the criteria. After about an hour without a single offer it was clear something just was not right. We were about to go and buy a bus ticket when some locals pulled up and informed us we would never catch a ride from where we were. They agreed to give us a lift to the "hitch hikers" spot on the highway. Sweet as. We hopped in. When they pulled over and dropped us off I had not even got our bags out of their vehicle when another car stopped and offered us a ride to Oamaru. Nice! So we made it to Oamaru (110 K from Dunedin) before noon. Our ride however, dropped us off just before town and we had to walk about 3-4 K before we could try to catch another ride. It was only 1230 so we thought we were on schedule. At 1500 it started to rain and we decided to give up and take a room in Oamaru for the night. So, we walked 3 K back to the town center and took a dorm bed in the Empire Hotel and Backpackers. The host was a kind lad from Chile and he promptly told us all about the Victorian Heritage Days happening all week and about the opportunities for penguin viewing on the local beaches. After reviewing the Herritage Days activities and what else the city of Oamaru had on offer we decided to stay a couple of days. That night we walked out to the beach to see the yellow-eyed penguins (or in our case, penguin as we only got to see one). It was cold but fun and worth it to see the little guy.
Sometimes when you travel you find yourself in the strangest of places, doing things you would never have imagined. Such was the case the next day when we found ourselves at the local Baptist Church for a performance by the local Accordian Orchestra as part of the Heritage Days. I had never heard of an accordian orchestra and could not really fathom what to expect. I mean, would it be German Folk music and make me thirsty for a beer? What kind of crowd would be there for the performance? The answer to the latter question is elderly folk. I thought we might not hear the accordians because of the overwhelming sound of arteries hardening. Seriously, we were the youngest people in that house of god by about 30 years. The answer to the former question was yes. They played a wide range of composers but shockingly nothing from Lawrence Welk! It was quite a classic scene. After about 30 minutes we decided to cut out before the finale and headed off to the cheese factory for some fungus. The cheesecake was not all that it was made out to be but good enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. The afternoon culminated wih us watching a penny farthing race down the main drag of town-all in the name of Victorian Heritage. Citizens were all decked out in traditional outfits and it was rather weird. I mean, John Cleese was doing a stand-up comedy tour of New Zealand at the time and I heard a quote from him promoting his tour. Something to the effect: "I was in Dunedin in 1912. At least, it was 1912 in Dunedin when I was there." LOL! True dat! Some places in New Zealand do seem to be in a time warp, adding Victorian costumes and penny farthing bicycles to the mix does nothing to change that image.
Finally on Friday we made a break for Tekapu again. This time we got a ride almost immediately, unfortunately he only took us about 10 K out of town to the main road up the valley towards Tekapu. No worries though, we quickly caught another ride with a carpet layer headed to a job out in Ometata-or something like that-in the middle of no where. Seriously. An hour went by and so did about 3 cars. I went to have a slash and when I came back a tiny little old lady in a tiny little old Honda was offering Mo a ride. Swell! The lady was about 70 and I think she was a bit surprised to learn that she would also be giving me a ride (when she saw me she about jumped out of her skin). She was quite kind and, despite trying to kill us with her driving, we made it to the township of Twizel in one piece. We decided to have lunch and try our luck on a full stomach. It worked. A high strung young Aussie picked us up for company on his drive back to Christchurch via Lake Tekapo. He liked to talk detracting from my ability to enjoy the fantastic scenery and views of Mount Cook and Lake Pukaki on the way. He dropped us off at the door of the local Backpackers where we were lucky to get a twin room for $23/person/night. Ouch! The good news was that we had made it to Lake Tekapo by 2pm on a clear day giving us time to complete an afternoon tramp, soaking up the good weather and views of the Southern Alps. The tramp took us up to the top of Mount John with views of Lake Tekapo and the township and the surrounding Alps. It was a great walk and on the way back to town we met up with a kind Irishman who asked if we would "like to make the journey shorter and save the world on the way?". I didn't exactly catch his meaning but when Amy asked him to repeat himself I knew what he meant. He sure liked to talk and by and by the walk back to town did seem to be shorter. After dinner we called Marcus at Dreamland Hostel back in Christchurch to see if we could get a room for the week. Marcus remembered us from our 2-week stint at Dreamland in July and offered us our double ensuite room at the winter rate $250 for 7 nights. Brilliant! We decided to forgo the rest of Lake Tekapo's attractions (and expenses) and make for Christchurch the next day.
It took us about an hour to catch our first ride out of Tekapo and dropping us about 50 K down the road in Fairlie. Again we found an excellent-so we thought-place to catch a ride and we settled in. After 2 hours and no luck we checked the bus timetables. Another hour went by and on a whim I lifted my thumb to a passing mini-tour bus. BINGO! The driver/guide had dropped his group in Queenstown that morning and was making his way back to Christchurch and was willing to give us a ride. It was about 5pm when we finally made it to Dreamland. In the mean time I had made contact with my former co-workers and, as it turned out, one of them was having a house warming party that night. So, Amy and I settled into our room for the next week, cooked and ate dinner, had a quick shower and made for the party. It was good fun to see all my old workmates again and to hear all the funny stories and office gossip. As the party died down we all made our way into town for more drinks. Before we knew what hit us it was 0330 and time for the All Blacks v. England Rugby match. We made it to a pub and watched a shakey All Blacks side dispatch the reigning rugby world champions. It was another great night in New Zealand.
The next day was a waste, we barely made it to the store to buy provisions for our week long stint in Christchurch. On Monday Amy started looking for a few days of work. She got "lucky" and was able to get 2 full days and a half day working for the pre-schools again. I spent a lot of time at the library, on line, and exploring the Botanical Gardens and Art Gallery. I also went to see the movie Turtles Can Fly about Kurdish refugees and the American led civil war in Iraq. Not a very uplifting movie because turtles can not fly. On Thursday we met up with one of my workmates Glen-a designer-for his twenty third birthday. Good times were had by all and we even managed to find a poker game. On Friday I arranged a rental car relocation for our drive up to Picton the following day. I dropped by the old office to say my final goodbyes (and pick up some mail). Amy went to work. Christchurch was good to us again. Saturday morning we picked up our little rental car and left Christchurch behind. It was an uneventful drive up to Picton and we made it there around 8pm, just in time to cook dinner and relax before calling it a quiet night. And that is where I will leave off this time.
NOTES:
* The water used in the brewing process has to be treated but the water from the tap outside is all natural spring water. Due to the law, only treated water can be used in the brewing process for commercial beer.