Good-bye to Middle Earth

Kiwi Traffic jam: It's TOTAL gridlock out here!

What do you do after Milford Sound?

Pretty much anything you do after that has to be an anticlimax.  However, we soldiered on in the knowledge of inevitable disappointment.  And disappointment we found – we were disappointed in our surety of disappointment.  Does that sound convoluted?  All this touring around at the bottom of the world where the blood is constantly rushing to your head has probably done some damage to my already somewhat shaky intellect.

We hopped off the bus at Te Anau just outside of Fjordland National Park to spend the night before travelling to Dunedin.  We just had a brief stopover and decided that, rather than make our own breaky (which has been our habit up to now), we would have one of the famous venison pies made at the local pie shop.  We had been told that the meat pies in New Zealand were wonderful – but the person that told us that is a Kiwi and probably just homesick for comfort food. 

So, we decided to “bit the bullet”.  Since it was a venison pie a bullet was a possibility but we were hoping the term was metaphorical.

It was an interesting experience.  The meat pies were very large, very warm and very fresh.  I was expecting there to be something other than just venison in the pie.  You know – some peas or carrots or whatever.  In the pie were just large chunks of meat and a bit of gravy.  My stomach found that to be a somewhat unexpected breakfast and was not entirely sure how to deal with it.  After a bit though it settled in and decided it was a good thing.  Since then we have been periodically eating the local meat pies and spending some time after periodically checking our heart rates awaiting the inevitable myocardial infarction.  So far – so good.   I don’t want a cholesterol test done for a while - I know I will fail. 

Dunedin is the oldest city in New Zealand and is the furthest south that we went.  We noticed a definite difference in climate between the north end of south island and Dunedin.  It felt more like September back home than mid-summer – cooler and a bit crisp.  No one was wearing jackets but you could see them itching to put them on.  Since they are made from wool the itching bit is included at no extra charge.

Dunedin is famous for its architecture.  The buildings were certainly ornate but not enough to make one gasp in awe.  What we found interesting was the boat tour that took you out to see the albatross.  Dunedin has the only known albatross-nesting site that is on the mainland and is easily accessible.  Seeing the albatross gliding in against the wind with their three-meter wingspan was worth the trip.

Albatross!

From Dunedin to Christchurch.  It was a long and tedious bus ride.  The east side of the south island is fairly flat and more given over to agriculture than the west side.  That meant more sheep and more cattle.  Yawn.   The dairy industry in New Zealand is now the largest industry there – surpassing the sheep raising.  I guess the high tech fabrics have replaced wool as the textile of choice these days.  I did buy some Merino wool socks, though.  When you put them on it almost feels as if they have been pre-warmed.  But I know they are not THAT fresh.

Christchurch looked pretty good.

That is like saying to someone who is recovering from a horrible car accident that they look pretty good.  The earthquake did a lot of damage to property and people’s sense of security.  About fifty thousand people decided to move out of the city.  In spite of the inevitable bureaucratic nonsense that happens when government and insurance hacks try to figure out how to get out of paying the city is doing pretty well at putting itself back together.  Certainly the trade’s people are doing well by it.

Some of the damage caused by the earthquake in Christchurch

We took an “Alpine Safari” while we were in Christchurch.  That entailed heading into the mountains in a four-wheel drive, a jet-boat ride up the river and then a train ride back to Christchurch in the world-famous Transalpine Express. 

Thank goodness for Telen and her magic.  The four-wheel drive bit went up into the mountains and along barely discernible tracks on the edges of precipices.  Strangely I handled it well – although the fact that we were up in the clouds and the drop-offs simply dropped into the fog may have helped.  Going along a ridge that was about 10 cm wider than the truck and dropped off on both sides into the abyss did make me feel somewhat uncomfortable, though. 

The 4-wheel drive vehicle we climbed the mountains in

I know, I know – I said riding in a jet boat was puerile, juvenile, and senseless – but did I happen to mention that it is fun?  Part of the Safari included a jet-boat ride up the river.  The jet-boat was invented in New Zealand to navigate the very shallow rivers they have.  They only draw about 6 cm of water and they have no keel.  What this means is that they can zoom along on water that only comes up to your ankles.  I swear we were going to rip the bottom out of the boat a number of times and I know I felt rocks touching the bottom.  I mentioned this to the pilot but he just looked at me with psychotic eyes and did the maniac laugh.  I didn’t think I was going to get any satisfaction from him.

riding the jet boat

After the jet boat we ended up on the Transalpine Express train back to Christchurch.  This was supposed to be a spectacular train ride through the mountains.  It was more serene than breath taking.  It was enjoyable (especially because we had warm meat-pies) but not something to write home about – so I will say no more.

Telen and one of the deadly meat pies

We flew back to Auckland and from there we took the bus to the Bay of Islands.  The town of Puhia is where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the English and the Maori allowing the English to cheat the Maori out of their land.  The settlement across the bay, now known as Russell, was the first settlement in New Zealand and earned the name of “Hell Hole of the Pacific”.  It had been a hangout for whalers, seal hunters, escaped prisoners, smugglers, pirates and prostitutes.  Now it is just a slightly boring little town with a few quaint restaurants and souvenir shops.  I was quite disappointed when we went there and saw hardly any drunken brawls or shootings.  I guess I will have wait until I get to America for that – for the shootings anyway…

We took a bus up to Cape Rienga – the most northerly point in New Zealand.  The interesting thing about the bus ride is that it went along 90 Mile beach (which is actually 64 miles long).   I don’t mean on a road beside 90 Mile beach I mean ON 90 Mile beach.  Such a bizarre experience to ride along at 90 km/hour on a sand beach with the water lapping at the wheels of the bus and seagulls taking off from the beach in front of us to get out of the way. The driver stopped for us to take some pictures.     

That would probably best be described as “unfortunate”.

We came to halt and the bus sank in the sand up to the axles.  When I say bus I am not referring to an over sized van – this was a full sized Greyhound type bus full of people.  Needless to say we were not going to be able to push this thing out by brute force.  Brute force is something I am good at but, in spite of my Neanderthal tendencies, there was no way I was going to move that thing.  The tide was coming in.

Our attempts to pull the bus out of the sand

Every guy on the bus had some advice for the driver.  I am sure he took it all into account but chose not to go with it and we waited until two more busses showed up.  They attached the two busses to the front of our bus and tried to pull it out.  Interestingly enough the two new busses had their rear wheels in the ocean as they attempted to get our bus out.  After a number of tries during which one of the cables did a spectacular break they managed to get our bus onto relatively firm sand.

 Because the tide was now very close to the busses we high-tailed it along until we came to a river.  The busses all turned and we drove up the river.

 As weird as that sounds it actually happened.   To make matters stranger we stopped at the bottom of some huge sand dunes and the driver got out and started handing wake boards to everyone.  We all went sand boarding.  You have seen nothing weirder than some old granny in a pink cardigan and flowered dress riding down the sand dunes on a wake board and shrieking with delight.  I thought I had inadvertently wandered into the twilight zone.

Me Sandboarding

We made it to Cape Rienga albeit somewhat late.  We could see where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean met.  It was a beautiful spot with unbelievably blue ocean and sky.  Again, you cannot explain it with words or show it with photos.  You gotta go there.

Telen at Cape Rienga. You can see the white-caps where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific Ocean

The next day we took a cruise into the Bay of Island.  The point of the cruise was to take us through the “Hole in the Wall” which is sea cave on one of the islands.  We were underwhelmed by the whole experience.  However, to make up for it, some dolphins came for a visit followed shortly by about six little Blue Penguins. 

The little Blue Penguins

Then Telen and I had a guided walk on one of the islands given by a Maori man named Rua.  We did not learn so much about the island as about the Maori.  It was fascinating!

Telen and Rua

The trip to Cape Reinga and the cruise on the Bay of Islands was a great way to finish our stay in New Zealand.  I would prefer to call New Zealand by its Maori name Aotearoa – which means, “Land of the Long White Cloud”.  Aotearoa is a wonderful place with spectacular scenery and down-to-earth, unpretentious people who would take you into their own homes given the opportunity.  It is a place that has its problems – particularly between the Europeans and Maori – but nothing that is not resolvable.  We met many wonderful people and ate too many meat pies.  I don’t think I have ever been to a place where I felt more welcome.  Although New Zealand is not Tolkien’s Middle Earth – there are no Elves, Wizards, or Goblins, there is a kind of magic here.

Check this out:

Telen writes:

I am sad to have reached the end of our one-month tour of New Zealand.  The pace of life here seems more laid back and the people in general are very hospitable.  We have taken numerous coaches and shuttles during our tour.  Every single driver has been friendly and welcoming.  Each of the places we stayed at always offered us some complimentary delicious New Zealand milk to have with our tea. 

Such a welcoming gesture! Haere Mai!

The Maori people have achieved a much stronger economic progress than the aboriginals in Canada.  It was an inspiring experience to have a Maori captain and crew on our cruise in the Bay of Islands.

New Zealand is definitely a place worth returning to for more exploration.  The next trip would be to try some of the hiking trails scattered throughout the country.