So long New Zealand, and thanks for all the fish (and chips)

With heavy hearts we left New Zealand on April 27^th. Aotearoa, the land of the long white cloud, and the people we met there, treated us very well and we had a fantastic time throughout the four months.

It was funny how our last few weeks in NZ bookended our first few weeks there. Instead of unpacking and settling into our temporary home, we cleaned and packed up and returned a lot of things, including Lego, that Sharon and Chris had lent to us during our stay. Rather then buying our van, we sold it—two days before we left, much to our relief. Instead of meeting people for the first time, we had to say goodbye to friends.

Marshall and Will - Mercury Islands

Shortly before our departure we also got revisit some of our favourite places and activities. On the weekend of April 14, Sharon and Chris had us and Will and Diana out to their bach in Hahei on the Coromandel Peninsula for a last visit. On Saturday morning we all individually or in groups went for a morning beach walk where Marshall, Karen and I gathered a few more shells for our collection.

(Small aside: For our flight from NZ to Australia and our flights within Australia, we have been struggling to be under our baggage weight limits. Part of the problem is we are probably carrying close to 3 kilos in shells, lava rock, and other bits of NZ nature—and this is after paring down our collection before we left NZ.)

Boat Harbor near Hahei

Later on Saturday we went out in the boat for a picnic lunch and sight-see to Boat Harbor. On the way there we set a long-line for snapper and other fish, which we reeled in later on our return to the bach. This was very successful as we caught 12 fish, snapper and gunnard, in total. Marshall was right in there waiting to see what might be on the next hook. We obviously ate well that night and had a great dinner with lots of fun conversation. Later we put on a short slide show of some of our favourite NZ moments.

We made a bit of an earlier start of it on Sunday and boated out to the Mercury Islands. Once there we did some snorkeling off Stanley Island. Although the water was still nippy, we saw a lot of fish and sea urchins. At the beginning of our trip Marshall wasn’t really wild about snorkeling around the kelp beds—he found it a bit creepy. He clearly became more comfortable with it as the trip went on because on this day he was free-diving down as deep as he could go to see more fish and he didn’t really want to get out of the water despite being cold.

After snorkeling we had lunch in a quiet bay and then went out and did some fishing. The snapper were really biting—Marshall caught twenty himself. As you probably have guessed, snapper are great to eat and therefore are one of the main species targeted by fishermen. We didn’t catch a lot that were keeper size, but Marshall didn’t care, he was just happy to catch a lot of fish. My one regret was that I lost a smallish yellow-tailed kingfish. They are a prized catch because of the fight they put up and their taste. Oh well, next time.

With all our fishing, Sunday was a late day, so everyone spent the night and went back to Hamilton on Monday. Karen left early with Sharon and Chris, while Marshall and I went home with Diana and Will. Before we left, the four of us went for a final walk to, and swim at, Cathedral Cove.

Cookson Kauri

Throughout most of our trip Marshall was the only kid in the group. I am sure he was bored sometimes, but on the whole, he did really well having to spend time with groups of 2, 4, or 6 adults. Chris and Sharon and Will and Diana catered to him a lot, so he had it very good. At the same time, being a kid he often added a perspective on what was important and fun that was different than ours. As adults, none of us took ourselves too seriously, but I know having Marshall as part of the group broadened our range of activities. For example, I would not have swam as much if not for him (and his insistence).

Our last weekend in NZ (April 21) required that we go camping and hiking one more time. We went to the Kaueranga Valley in the Coromandel Forest Park with Will and Diana. It was reputed to have some excellent trails and we had tried to hike there one other weekend but got rained out. On Saturday we walked the Cookson Kauri Trail. While it was a scenic walk that brought us to a huge kauri tree, I can’t say it was everyone’s favourite track. Getting to the kauri tree required climbing, according to Marshall, 700 steps (I think it was less, but there were a lot).

Summit of Cookson Kauri Trail,
Coromandel Forest Park

That night we had a fun campfire but no s’mores. A little later in the evening we went searching for kiwi birds one last time. We heard some calling but didn’t see any on the trail. This and our other fruitless searches made me realize just how lucky Marshall and I were to see a wild kiwi near the beginning of our time in NZ. It also got pretty cold that night and we would not have been able to do much more camping unless Karen and I upgraded our sleeping bags. (Campground rating (Catley’s): scenery – 3.5 (good view of surrounding forested mountainsides), facilities – 2.25 (no showers, water, but it did have firepits), noisiness – 5 (we were the only ones in the campground)).

Along the Kauri Dam Trail,
Coromandel Forest Park

On Sunday morning we hiked the Billy Goat and Kauri Dam Tracks. After the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, these were the roughest tracks (least maintained), with a lot of ups and downs, we hiked in NZ (we saved the best for last). I really enjoyed them for their “naturalness” and the surrounding forest, although we all got tired of crossing over and through the same stream about 40 times. Speaking of stream crossings, at the very start of our walk we had to cross a small river. I was standing on a rock and grabbed Marshall’s arm as he tried to step across a wide gap. Whoops, it was a little too wide—Marshall went right in the drink, taking me with him. After a quick return to and change at our campsite, we were back on the trail again. However, this time we took the five-minute detour and used the bridge. Surprisingly for all the walking, climbing, swimming, boating, etc. we did, this was our only really serious slip (provided you don’t count the infamous leg grab in the pool incident).

If I was on the North Island of NZ again, I would do some more hiking in the Kaueranga Valley. The landscape was fantastic, the trails offer some opportunities for more rugged hiking, and it isn’t as touristy as other parks.

After our weekend of camping we spent the next few days working, packing, and visiting with friends. We drove to Auckland on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday (April 26^th, my birthday), we went to Kelly Tarlton’s Antarctic World (a small but fun place with different aquaria—penguins, rays, cool fish, etc.) and then out for a late thai lunch to celebrate my birthday. On Friday we were up early for our 7 a.m. flight to Cairns, Australia.

***

I have delayed publishing this post because I have struggled to find the right words to use to elegantly conclude our time in New Zealand. I still haven’t found them, but I am afraid if I wait much longer I will never publish this update.

For all of us, our time in New Zealand was memorable. The four months we were there went by too quickly. We were all ready to come home, but at the same time the tears and feelings of things left undone or goodbyes not fully said attest to the fact that it wasn’t easy to leave.

We met so many fantastic people and saw and experienced so many awesome places—much more than I ever expected we would. After the friends we made, Karen’s highlight was hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, followed by our visits to podocarp forests. For Marshall, we did too much for him to pick a favourite—he loved the exploring we did, the camping, the searching for birds, the swimming and snorkeling and beaches, and, just for Will, all the waterfalls. I loved the ancientness of the podocarp forests. I will also really miss the freedom of being able to so easily access, explore, and use the stunning coastline and ocean.

Living vs. being tourists in New Zealand also pushed all of us out of our comfort zones a bit. This helped each of us to learn new things about ourselves and grow as people.

Most importantly, we had a great time as a family. We spent a lot of wonderful days together and our experiences in and memories of New Zealand will be a shared touchstone for all three of us. With our busy and over-structured lives, I think all families should take a sabbatical every once in awhile.

E noho ra New Zealand.

Tuesday, April 10 - Hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Hello from Australia. We left New Zealand over a week ago. Since then we have been in Australia snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef, hugging koalas in Brisbane, and now visiting our friend from grad school, Sebastian, and his partner Justine, in Adelaide. I apologize for the delay in this posting. Our last few weeks in NZ were pretty busy and since we arrived in Australia we have been living in hotels and have not had unfettered access to the internet. Plus, we had a fantastic day doing the Crossing, so I wanted to do the day justice by not rushing through a posting.

Our guidebook describes the Tongariro Alpine Crossing as the “best one day hike in New Zealand.” Not having done every day-hike in NZ, we can’t say whether this is true, but it is spectacular and we would recommend it to any physically fit visitor to New Zealand.

The track for the Crossing is 19.4 kilometres long and takes you between Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe in Tongariro National Park. There is a third mountain in the park, Mt. Ruapehu. All of these mountains are dormant or resting volcanoes (Ruapehu last erupted in 2007). It is this volcanic activity, along with the surrounding vistas, that makes the Crossing so interesting. Most of the day you hike through and up fields of volcanic rocks. The last few kilometers of the hike are a complete contrast as they take you through the thick, green Ketetahi podocarp forest.

We began our hike at 8:30 a.m. Weather-wise it promised to be a perfect day. The sun was up and shining and there was little wind. This was a real bonus because apparently the Crossing is often cloudy/foggy and all the vistas are blocked from sight. We were there to see the landscape and not simply to say we had conquered the Crossing (I can think of better ways to get 7 hours of exercise), so our day got off to a great start.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing early in the morning

For the first hour and a half we walked from the Mangatepopo car park to Soda Springs. This part of the Crossing is pretty flat and most of your walk is on a boardwalk—the trail runs beside and over a small, intermittent stream. Like other walks we did in NZ, the boardwalk took away from the naturalness and ruggedness of the Crossing. However, on some days there can be over 1,000 people doing the Crossing, so without the boardwalk this part of the trail, and park, would become very eroded.

The Kidd Family visits Mt. Doom

The landscape on this part of the walk is dominated by Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is to the right of the trail up to Soda Springs. Mt. Ngauruhoe is the volcano you made for one of your science fair projects. It is perfectly conical and has a single vent at the top. Because of its perfect “volcanoness”, Mt. Ngauruhoe became Mount Doom in the filming of The Lord of the Rings. For those of you who don’t know or have forgotten, throughout the books and movies, Frodo and Sam, hobbits, are on a quest to throw a magical ring into Mount Doom where the ring was originally forged by the evil Sauron. This will melt the ring and destroy Sauron. We were told that since the filming of the movie, people now hike to the top of Mt. Ngauruhoe and throw their own rings into the volcano. (I said to Karen that would certainly make it clear your marriage is over). We didn’t do the side-trip to the top of Mt. Ngauruhoe as it requires a 500 metre ascent and adds around 2.5 hours to your day. One final note about Mount Doom. The motel we stayed at had a DVD of the third part of The Lord of the Rings in which Mount Doom is featured a lot. To get us more in the mood, we watched it the night before our hike.

It is once we reached Soda Springs that our real hike began. From Soda Springs we walked up a steep 350 metre ascent to the South Crater, which took us about 45 minutes. There are some stairs on this part of the Crossing, but for the most part the trail is pretty rugged. It was a stiff walk up, but Marshall did well on it. It became much easier about three quarters of the way up after his mind became occupied with his eating of a really dense chocolate and peanut bar. What I found interesting was how we leapfrogged other groups going up the climb, and throughout the whole Crossing for that matter. We would stop and take a rest or photo break and they would pass us, then they would stop and we would pass them.

Looking back from the top of the Devil's staircase 

Fortunately, the climb up was well worth the effort. Once we reached the top of the Devil’s Staircase, we walked across the South Crater and then up to the Red Crater. I really liked the walks through the South and Central Crater. They are both wide, flat areas of seeming moonscape—very unique. What is nice about the South Crater is that it lies between Mt. Tongariro, to your left, and Mt. Ngauruhoe, to your right and behind you. This is one of the best vantage points from which to take pictures of both mountains. 

We reach the Tongariro Crossing Summit
and the Red Crater 

After the South Crater we did another steep, 250 metre ascent up to the Red Crater, which is the highest point of the Crossing (1900 metres above sea level). We were told the Devil’s Staircase was the hardest part of the Crossing, but as a group, we found this ascent the most difficult. The trail here was very rugged, winding its way through and over rocks and boulders.

The Red Crater is part of Mt. Tongariro, which is a multi-vent volcano. Marshall found it very interesting. He particularly liked the brilliant shades of red in the crater. Looking at makes it clear you are in volcano country. It is also a great vantage point from which to take photos. Standing up there also made us doubly glad for the great weather. At this point in the Crossing a decent wind was blowing even though it had been calm at the base of the Crossing. Because you start to sweat doing the ascent, it is easy to become chilled with the wind blowing over you. Doing it wearing a rain jacket would not be fun.

From the Red Crater we slid down about 150 metres to the Emerald Lakes and the Central Crater. For many people, the walk down from the Red Crater to the Emerald Lakes is the worst part of the Crossing. It is a very steep scree slope which in places feels like you are walking on marbles. The trick is to lean back and dig in with your heels, not your toes, and let gravity do the work. We conquered this part of the walk with no troubles, but we saw a lot of people wiping out on their way down.

Once we reached the Emerald Lakes we stopped for awhile, ate our lunch, and explored. Visually, I think this is the most interesting part of the Crossing, with the bright green of the lakes contrasting with the grays, browns, and blacks of the surrounding humps and bumps. At this point of the Crossing we were still on schedule to meet our shuttle at 4:30, so we spent around 45 minutes at the Emerald Lakes.

An Emerald Lake along the Tongariro Alpine Crossing

Tongariro Central Crater

After the Emerald Lakes, we crossed the Central Crater and did a short ascent up to Blue Lake. At Blue Lake we got a spectacular view of Lake Taupo to the northeast. Lake Taupo is NZ’s largest lake. It sits in the caldera (bowl) of an older, massive volcano (Tongariro National Park and its three volcanoes would fit inside the caldera). From Blue Lake we began our long descent (1000 metres over 9 kilometres) to the Ketehahi Car Park where our shuttle van was to be waiting for us.

The landscape on this side of the Crossing is much greener, with a lot of grasses and small shrubs. I am not sure why this is—the soil didn’t look much better than the other side, perhaps this side of the park gets more rain or it wasn’t affected by recent eruptions.

Tongariro Alpine Crossing - the descent

Being honest, after the first half of the Crossing, I found this part sort-of disappointing. The scenery is nice but it doesn’t feel unique. Walking through a lush podocarp forest, after the barrenness of the rest of the Crossing, is a neat way to end the hike, but by the time you reach it your mind is focused more on the destination (finishing the hike) vs. enjoying the journey. Also, being all down hill, the walk itself is no longer challenging. If I was to do the Crossing again, I would walk to Blue Lake, do a side trip to either the summit of Mt. Tongariro or Mt. Ngauruhoe, and walk back to Mangatepopo.

Looking at and out over Blue Lake

At around kilometre 14, Marshall began to really slow down and a lot of groups began to pass us. Then we got to a little sitting area at kilometre 16 where we took a break for a minute. It was here that Marshall realized we didn’t have much further to go and thought we could catch a shuttle at 3:15 (we didn’t) rather than the one at 4-4:15. Next thing, he is running down the trail and jumping off all the stairs. Karen didn’t think this was a fun way to end a peaceful day, so she let us race off ahead. Now he and I started passing many of the groups that passed us around kilometers 14 and 15. He and I did the last three kilometers in about 35 minutes. In total it took us a little under 7.5 hours to do the Crossing.

We reach the end

What can I say other than we had an exhilarating day. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing was the last big “want to do” thing for our time in New Zealand and we were all happy not to have missed out on it. We even got the t-shirts to say we were there.

A few final notes about our trip to Tongariro. We stayed two nights at the Adventure Lodge and Motel in the aptly named town of National Park, which offered a really good Tongariro Crossing package. While not the fanciest place, the rooms were clean, the food was excellent, and the owners were very knowledgeable, helpful and accommodating. At the motel we met Stuart and Pat who live on Darlings Island (Hampton, NB), which is about 15 minutes from our home in Quispamsis. They had been touring the South Island of NZ and before going back to Auckland to fly home, had stopped to do the Tongariro Crossing. They were really nice and it was fun talking to them about their trip and their impressions of New Zealand.

Our fun weekend of (mis)adventure and Scott does something embarrassing

As I wrote several postings ago, in March we spent several weekends camping, hiking, and enjoying the beaches in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty area. Before I get to our weekend of misadventure, I will give you a brief update of our March 9-11 weekend.

Our intention for that weekend was to camp and hike in the Coromandel Peninsula Forest Park, which is located in blocks east and south of Thames, and spend an afternoon at Opoutere Beach, which is one of our friend Landis' favourite NZ beaches. Friday after school we drove to and did a short walk in the Karangahake Gorge. The Gorge was a big gold mining area in the late 1800's and early 1900's and the trails through the area introduce you to some of its history. One trail takes you through an old train tunnel that is 1 km long. We did the tunnel but it was pretty gloomy. Marshall found the goldmining history fascinating, especially the amount of work people did and stuff they built to get the gold.

Karangahake Gorge

On Friday night we camped at the Wentworth Valley DOC campground, which was nice but pretty basic. On Marshall's campground rating: scenery - 2.5; campground quality - 2.5 (outhouse toilets, no showers, swimming in the river, fishing (if you had a rod)); noisiness - 4.5 (the campground was pretty empty).

On Saturday morning we packed up and then went for a 2 hour walk (which became 3) to Wentworth Falls. The walk was nice, but not as good as other forest walks we have done. The falls were very scenic with an upper and lower pool. Marshall griped a bit about the length of the walk on the way there and then proceeded to have us bushwack for an extra hour so we could explore the falls in greater detail.


Wentworth Falls, another one of
Marshall's favourite NZ waterfall walks

After Wentworth Falls we drove up the coast a bit to Opoutere Beach. We agree with Landis, it is a really nice beach. In the high tourist season I can see why it might not be as busy as other beaches. To get to it you have to park your car and then walk about 3/4 of a kilometre to the beach. It was cloudy and cool when we visited Opoutere, so it wasn't the best beach day. Still, we had a fun afternoon beachcombing (great shells) and braving the waves.
On Saturday night we stayed at the Broken Hills DOC campground in Coromandel Forest Park (same rating as Wentworth campground above, but no swimming). It rained that night and we woke up to a wet tent and sleeping bags. Karen and I have had the tent we are using on this trip for 20 years. It has been a great tent but sadly its time has come and it is not making the return trip to Canada. First, despite a recent waterproofing effort, it leaks pretty badly. Second, now that Marshall is bigger, the three of us are really squished in there. Oh well, now we have more room/weight allowance for souvenirs.

On Sunday morning we did a few short walks near the campground (another old gold mining area) and then because of the rain, cancelled our plans to hike in the Kauaeranga Valley (directly east of Thames). Instead, we spent the afternoon visiting a mining museum, an art shop, and a fish and chip restaurant in Thames. A good afternoon but way more expensive than hiking. On our way home from Thames we stopped in a small town, Ngatea, where by good fortune Karen and I found our piece of NZ art that we are bringing home to remember our trip by. We hope to hike in the Kauaeranga Valley sometime during the few weeks we have remaining in NZ.


Big waves at Opoutere Beach

Our fun weekend of (mis)adventure

Even after getting rained on, we decided we still had not had enough camping or beaches, so on the weekend of March 16-18 we packed up again and headed to Awakeri Hot Springs Holiday Park, about two hours southeast of Hamilton. We had two plans for the weekend. One was to spend time at Ohope Beach and the other was to do some hiking in the Te Urewera National Park Mainland Island (an ecological reserve).

After an easy drive we arrived at the campground around 7 pm. It received an interesting rating: scenery - 2.5 (green but nothing special); campground quality - 5.5/5; noisiness - 3 (you could hear some highway traffic). Karen gave the campground a 5.5 for quality/amenities because of its swimming pool. The campground has an Olympic size swimming pool that is heated by hot springs to a toasty 38-40 C. Karen was in heaven Friday night as we took our first swim. It is a really nice pool; big, clean, etc., and we all enjoyed it, although it was a little too hot for actual swimming. No matter, we came to this campground for the pool and it lived up to our expectations.

Our fun began on Saturday morning. Our plan was to get up early and drive the hour to Te Urewera Nat. Park, hike for awhile, and then head to Ohope Beach for the remainder of the afternoon. Our van had other plans. Pulling out of the campground we heard a loud squealing from our engine which abruptly stopped. Then the battery light came on and after a short bit of driving, the engine coolant light came on. Uh oh, we lost our alternator and water pump belt!

We limped back to a small gas station and garage near the campground. No luck, the mechanic was away for the weekend. So we called NZ AA (our CAA membership transferred to NZ, thank goodness) and arranged for a tow truck from Whakatane to come and get us. Whakatane is the major centre on that part of the coast. It took a bit but the tow truck found us. Karen and I were surprised at the appearance of the tow truck driver, who also became our mechanic. He was youngish, clean-cut, no tattoos--different than your stereotypical tow truck driver.

Tim, our mechanic and new best friend, drove us to his garage in Whakatane, opened up the hood and said no problem, he had the belt we needed and we would be on the road shortly unless he got called away to tow someone else. While he fixed our van we just hung around the garage chatting with him and planning the rest of our day. Marshall spent a good deal of the time rolling around on one of the little carts mechanics use to slide under cars. By 11:30 we were back on the road. As an added bonus, the whole job only cost us $75. Given that it was a weekend and emergency repair, we were expecting a bigger bill. However, Tim said because we had been so nice and patient about the whole incident he wanted to do something nice for us. Sweet. I guess he gets some pretty uptight tourists sometimes. Being honest, as a family we did handle the whole incident pretty gracefully. The hardest part for me was waiting for the tow truck. I have never had a car break down before and having to wait on someone left me feeling out of control. Tim also gave us some tips about things we could do in and around Whakatane.

As it was 11:30 and a beautiful day, we skipped Te Urewera Nat. Park and drove straight to Ohope Beach.


Who's going in first? Ohope Beach, NZ

To put it simply, we had an awesome afternoon at Ohope. After Rarawa Beach (silica sand beach I wrote about a long time ago), Ohope Beach is our favourite NZ beach. Huge, beautiful sand, great swimming and boarding. It was also our best beach weather day of the trip--sunny, calm winds, warm but not too hot. 

It turned out to be one of those idyllic family times you just can't plan for. We spent the afternoon swimming, beachcombing, talking, and having a picnic lunch. Later in the afternoon we got to help two fishermen who had been longlining from the beach for snapper. It is hard to describe, we just were all in-sync that day.

A very happy family at Ohope Beach

To finish our day off we had a great fish and chips dinner at a restaurant in Whakatane recommended to us by Tim our mechanic. As a family we don't eat a lot of deep-fried food, but we seem to have a weakness for good fish and chips. At least this time we got it right and ordered more fish and less chips.

Embarrassing moment for Scott - On Saturday night, after our hard day at Ohope Beach, we all needed to unwind and relax in the campground's geothermal heated pool. The pool wasn't too crowded so Marshall and I started playing one of our pool games. Marshall climbs on my back, we each take a deep breath, and then we see how far we can swim underwater with Marshall riding me. (Okay, it is more of a game for Marshall and work for me, but what's a dad to do.) This time we decided we would be stealthy and "sneak" up on Karen, so under we go. Swimming with your eyes open in 38 C water is not the most pleasant thing, so I didn't open my eyes until I thought we were close to Karen, and even then I was sort of squinting through one eye. I am sure you can see where this story is going. I grabbed Karen's ankle and then started working up to her knee. By this time Marshall had got off my back so I popped out of the water in front of Karen with a big smile on my face. Much to my horror, it wasn't Karen in front of me, but instead a mature woman talking with a group of four friends. (Karen was about 5 metres to my right.) I can't really describe the look on the woman's face--she didn't yell or scream or get mad, but she wasn't smiling about my mistake either. I started stammering something about game with son, hot water, etc. This didn't seem to be helping matters, so I apologized, told her I was just glad I stopped at her knee, and slunk away as best as can be done in a pool. Meanwhile Karen and Marshall, who had abandoned me, were watching all of this and laughing away. Ha ha! Marshall, who was wearing goggles, said he saw us swimming towards this group of ladies and tried to warn me by pulling on my shoulders. Maybe he did, but if so, it wasn't a very serious effort because like I said, by the time I surfaced he was already at Karen's side. When we told our NZ friends this story, they thought it was hilarious, all the more so because it happened to me and not them. Karen thinks the lady I grabbed got a laugh out of it later when she told the story to other people.

On Sunday morning we packed up and went for one last dip in the pool. Fortunately for me, my victim from the night before wasn't there. We then drove an hour to Te Urewera (TU) Mainland Island.  TU National Park is the largest park on the northern island, and TU Mainland Island is the largest NZ mainland island. There are several places to access trails in TU National Park. Most people go to the trails around Lake Waikaremoana, which is towards the south end of the park. The Lake Waikaremoana trails are a long drive from Hamilton and we could not do them and spend time at Ohope Beach in one weekend, so we opted to visit the northeastern part (Mainland Island) of the park, which is pretty close to Awakeri and the coast. I wanted to visit this part of the park because it is very ecologically diverse. It has 650 plant species and all of the North Island's birds except the weka. Unlike some other mainland islands, the Te Urewera Mainland Island is not fenced in. At 50,000 ha it is too big. They use planes and helicopters to drop poison for pest control.

Te Urewera National Park, Ngatuoha Nature Trail

At one point during our drive in to Te Urewera that morning it seemed we were destined to once again not see the park. TU  Mainland Island is at the end of a 30 km road that gets progressively windier, narrower, and bumpier the closer you get to the park. At around kilometre 20 there was a sign that said "Road Closed 5 km ahead Rockfall." Karen and I looked at each other and we both had the same thought, which was to keep driving and see if the road really was closed. We were in luck because when we got to where the rockfall had occurred we found that the road had been cleared. So, going slowly and quietly, we continued on to the trailheads. Not surprisingly, there was only one other vehicle in the parking lot.

Unfortunately from our perspective the walk we did (Ngutuoha Nature Trail) wasn't worth the drive. We were hoping to see and hear more bird life, particularly the kokako. The trail itself was nice but unless you are a hardcore botanist, it is impossible to make sense of the 650 different plant species. Karen didn't like the walk so much because the forest was much more closed in and darker than other walks we had been on. Saying all of this, I know we did not give the TU Mainland Island all the time it deserved. There are some longer walks in the area suited to more experienced hikers. I suspect if you hiked one of those trails you would get a better appreciation for the grandeur and wildness of the TU Mainland Island.
 

Whio ducks on the Waimana River,
Te Urewera National Park, NZ

After our walk we went down to the Waimana River to sit on the shore and have our picnic lunch. It was here that our weekend of misadventure continued to reward us. We were lucky enough to see a pair of whio (blue duck) land on the river close to us. There are now only around 1200 whio left in the wild. They are a unique duck that lives in fast flowing rivers, where they eat insect larvae off of the rocks on the river bottom. Their numbers have declined as a result of hunting, predation, habitat loss from hydro dams, and competition from introduced trout which eat a lot of the insect larvae whio feed on. What was neat about seeing the pair of whio is that we saw them in a natural setting, compared to the takahe we had seen previously.


Karen being artistic at Papamoa Beach

After Te Urewera, we drove north up the coast to Papamoa Beach near Tauranga where we spent a good part of the afternoon. Along the way we stopped at Kiwi360 in Te Puke, a tourist trap (my opinion) dedicated to the noble and iconic kiwi fruit. Papamoa is another great, long beach that gets a lot of big waves. Papamoa is a town and/or suburb of Tauranga that stretches along the beach. Like many beaches in NZ, at Papamoa you can park your car pretty much anywhere along the road that runs parallel to the beach and then access the beach at a number of marked paths. I envy people who have homes on these types of roads.

Thus ends our weekend of (mis)adventure, which I know will put smiles on our faces whenever we look back on it.

Well this and our previous three postings pretty much wrap up how we spent March in New Zealand. We really settled into our "home-life" in Hamilton and got to explore some more of this unique country. We are not completely sure of our plans for April, except that we know we leave for Australia on April 27. The weather for the Easter Weekend doesn't look great but we will get out and do some fun things. (It is also a long weekend and the start of a two week school break, so many places will be busy). We definitely want to spend time doing the Tongariro Crossing (reputedly the greatest one day walk in the world). We have also been invited out to Hahei for a weekend. In between those things we need to sell our van, sort through our mountain of sea shells and other beach findings, and pack. We will not be going to the South Island. It sounds amazing and we really wanted to, but at this stage of our trip another week-long driving and camping excursion just feels like too much. Plus, unless we drove eight hours a day, we would only see a little bit of the South Island. Next time we come back to NZ we will make the South Island a priority.

Happy Easter from Aotearoa (Maori name for New Zealand).

Marshall's Birthday and a busy Balloons over Waikato week

On Monday we celebrated Marshall's 11th birthday. His actual birthday itself was pretty quiet. Marshall took cupcakes to school for his class, which were a big hit for obvious reasons, and he got lots of "Happy Birthdays" from his classmates, which he appreciated. For dinner we went to a good sushi restaurant. Marshall really likes sushi, but I would not call him hard-core. He doesn't like raw fish sushi, but he loves sushi with cooked foods in them, like tempura shrimp, crab, teriyaki chicken, etc. After dinner we came home and had more birthday cupcakes and Marshall opened up the presents and cards that had made their way to New Zealand. Marshall wanted me to say thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes, either through cards or by email.

Most of the exciting stuff for Marshall's birthday took place on the weekend. However, before I get to that, I need to back up and talk about last week.

Balloons over Waikato - Iwi the Kiwi

Since 1988 there has been a hot air balloon festival in Hamilton, with the present format "Balloons over Waikato" starting in 1999 or 2000. Every year it runs in late March or early April and attracts 30 balloonists, some local, some international. This year the festival ran from Wednesday, March 28 to Saturday, March 31. Every day of the festival their are, weather permitting, two mass ascensions (launches), which are open for free to the public. What is great is that while the balloons are inflating and preparing to lift off the public can walk through the field of balloons and get really close to the action.

On Wednesday morning we got up bright and early and were at the field near Hamilton Lake for 7:00 am. The highlight balloons for this year's festival were Iwi the Kiwi and two kangaroo balloons. The weather was perfect for ballooning on Wednesday morning - sunny with little wind. We watched the balloons inflate and saw the mass ascension lift off around 7:45. It was great fun--something about seeing 30 hot air balloons lift off together really stirs your inner kid.

Thursday was also fun for the Kidd family. On Thursday morning Marshall's school had a "Parade of Countries" to help celebrate the multiculturalism of the school. Marshall's NZ school has students from close to 50 different countries, so the parade was colourful and lots of fun to watch. At present, his school has three students who were born in Canada. Some of the more well-represented countries included Samoa and Somalia, but there were students from Egypt, Germany, Israel, Iraq, etc. Marshall represented Canada with two other boys.

After the parade we drove to Tauranga, which is about an hour east of Hamilton on the coast. Once there we met up with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Janet, who are on a cruise around NZ that started in Auckland and ends up in Sydney, Australia. We had lunch with them and then spent a pleasant afternoon swimming (Marshall and I), chatting and going for a little drive down the coast. (My Uncle Tom is an avid and accomplished curler, so it was great for me to catch up on some Canadian curling news.) Tauranga is a major centre with a significant port, but being on the coast, it of course also has great beaches. As a result, the area close to the cruise terminal, Mt. Maunganui, is very popular with tourists, in particular surfers. I wrote in an earlier posting that Raglan on the west coast is the probably the best known NZ surfing location, but Mt. Maunganui/Tauranga is probably the more popular surfing location. Not being a surfer, I don't know which spot has better waves. After my Aunt and Uncle reboarded their ship, we explored the coast and kicked around the beach for another hour and a half before heading back to Hamilton.

On Friday morning one of the balloons launched from Marshall's school. After the launch, most of the students partook in a breakfast that they had pre-ordered. Once the balloonist came back to the school, via his chase vehicle, some of the students got to ask him various questions. Marshall's question was whether the balloons can be turned/rotated. The answer is yes, they can. Each balloon has two vents, one on each "side" of the balloon which can be opened. Once a vent is opened, air rushes out and the balloon rotates.

A short balloon ride story someone we met last Tuesday night told us. She had guests visiting from overseas who had arranged for a balloon tour outside of Hamilton. When she and her two sons took their guests out to the balloon, the balloonist said other guests who had prepaid for the same balloon ride had not arrived and would this woman and her two sons like to go on the balloon ride as well. She said yes and away they all went. The takeoff and flight were apparently lots of fun and very smooth. The landing however was not. Coming down they ran into really bad turbulence and the basket ended up going through trees, a stream, etc. and the basket crashed/got dragged on its side, eventually stopping in a field of cows. They were all shaken-up (the women telling the story stills gets a sore shoulder from the "landing"). However, she said the worst part was the reaction of the farmer. He came out and proceeded to swear up a blue streak at them for crashing in his field and scaring his cows (which can sour the milk). She said he was not at all concerned about the people in the balloon, only his cows. The farmer's neighbour came to investigate the crash and had to send the farmer away and then the neighbour helped this lady and the others in the balloon. She said there was nothing the pilot could do, once they got low to the ground, the turbulence just took them.

After hearing this story I asked Marshall if he wanted to go on a balloon ride. With rather wide eyes he said, "No way!"

On Saturday night we had more fun with balloons. The finale to the balloon festival is the "Night Glow" event at the University of Waikato. As you can see from the picture, once it gets dark all the balloons are inflated and the balloonists use their propane burners to light up their balloons. At the same time they choreograph it to music, so the balloons are being lit up to the beat of the music. The balloons remained tethered to the ground throughout the show--it is too dangerous for them to fly in the dark. After the Night Glow there was a fireworks display. The Night Glow is very popular. In 2010, it was estimated 80,000 people watched it. We all really enjoyed the show, particularly Marshall and his friend Tyler.

Seeing as we live on the University campus, we had friends over for a light dinner before the show and drinks afterwards. They brought Marshall some nice gifts. Following up on their earlier joke, Will and Diana gave Marshall a card entitled "Marshall's Walks to Waterfalls - 100 New Zealand Waterfalls". Inside the card are pictures of 12 different NZ waterfalls. Marshall thought the card was very funny.

On Sunday we went to Rotorua and brought Marshall's friend Tyler with us, who had come to the Night Glow with us and then slept over Saturday night. We spent the day seeing a few sites in Rotorua and having a picnic. We spent most of the day at Rainbow Springs which is a small wildlife park that Marshall really wanted to visit. While there we got to see some more kiwi birds and tuatara (the ancient reptile). The park has lots of other neat birds, fish, and reptiles/amphibians. One bird there was a kea, which is a parrot that lives in the mountains of the southern island. We had read that keas are smart and curious birds, but a video playing at the park showed them doing some pretty amazing stuff, such as solving hard puzzles. They also like to rip open backpacks and tear apart peoples' cars when they get a chance. If you watch the video, you will see what I mean (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twg4Yg4gFoo). I told Marshall and Karen that keas are fun to watch but I wouldn't want them in my backyard. The park also has a log ride that takes you through a short history of NZ's wildlife and ends with a plunge into a pool of water (think Big Thunder Mountain at Disney World). Marshall and Tyler went on it 4 times. It was fun, so I don't blame them.


Marshall's 11th Birthday, Rainbow Springs, Rotorua

That in a nutshell was how Marshall celebrated his birthday down under. He told Karen and I he had had a great week. He certainly was tired on Sunday night. This coming week is Marshall's last week at his NZ school.

Finally, a shout-out to Marshall's school in Quispamsis, Lakefield Elementary School. Rick Mercer has been running a contest on his show called "Spread the Net", the purpose of which is to raise funds for malaria nets for children in Africa. Lakefield raised $15,000, the most of any elementary school in Canada. Rick Mercer came to the school and taped a segment of his show there. The segment ran on Tuesday, April 3. It might be available on CBC or Rick Mercer's website. Great job!

We have now seen 2.5% of the world's takahe

In late February we visited Tiritiri Matangi Island ("a place tossed by the winds") with Chris and Sharon and Will and Diana. Tiritiri is a 220 ha predator-free island located a little way off the coast east of Auckland that is a home for many of NZ's rare and/or endangered birds. It is a place I wanted to visit since we first arrived in New Zealand.


Tiritiri Matangi Island shoreline, near Auckland, NZ

Tiritiri has an interesting ecological history. Prior to the 1400's, it was covered with a dense, NZ coastal forest. It was then settled and partially cleared by different Maori tribes. After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) between the Maori and British Crown, the island was leased to sheep and cattle farmers and a lighthouse was built on it in 1865. Over the years, land clearing, grazing and trampling by sheep and cattle, and the munching of any new growth by kiore rats, denuded the island of almost all its original forest. In 1971 the farming lease for the island ended (was withdrawn), and Tiritiri became a Recreation Reserve in the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park.

I am not sure what the original plan for the recreation reserve was, but in the mid-1970's, several biologists determined that Tiritiri was not going to naturally regenerate, or that it would take a very long time to do so. So, after a program of pest eradication, between 1984 and 1994 volunteers planted approx. 280,000 native trees and other plants on Tiritiri. (I thought I read somewhere else it was 360,000, but whatever the number, it was a lot of trees). Some native birds had managed to survive on the island, but since its restoration, 12 bird species have been re-established there, such as little spotted kiwi, takahe, and stitchbird. There are also tuatara on the island. (For more info on Tiritiri Island, see: http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/history.)

Tui at feeding station, Tiritiri Matangi Island

The restoration of the island's forest has been very successful. Although it will still be quite some time before it matures, Will and Diana said it has really changed since they last visited it 14 years ago. The regrowth of the forest has in turn helped to restore some bird populations. For example, at one point there were only around 170 adult stitchbirds left, with all of them living on Little Barrier Island, which is fairly close to Tiritiri. There are now more than 200 stitchbirds on Tiritiri alone and some are relocated from Tiritiri to other reserves, such as Maungatautari Ecological Island (located south of Hamilton--I talked about it in a previous posting). Not all is perfect. Because the forest has not matured yet, there are feeding stations set up around the island, particularly for the nectar-feeding birds, such as tui, bellbirds, and stitchbirds. Without these stations some of the birds would starve.

Another interesting thing about Tiritiri is that right from the beginning of its restoration, it was designed to be open to and accessible by the public. There is a daily shuttle to the island and private boats can land there as well. Tours of the island are available. There are a series of nice paths around the island, and because of the feeding stations, even non-hardcore birders like us are able to see a lot of birds. While we saw a lot of birds, what I really liked about the island was the chance to hear a lot of native birdsong. Places like Tiritiri seem so vibrant when you compare them to other NZ forests. I would definitely go back to Tiritiri if we found ourselves in New Zealand again.

While we were at Tiritiri we saw three takahe. As I wrote before, there are only around 200 left. So, between these three and the two we saw at Maungatautari, we have seen 2.5% of the world's takahe. I told the group that given how rare they are, I found it strange that we have seen so many of them. Because there are so few, you could get to know them as individuals--I named these three Jack and Diane and Junior. (Jack and Diane is a reference to the John Mellancamp song, not Karen's mom, who looks nothing like a takahe.) Again like Maungatautari, I cannot say we saw these takahe in the wild. They were tearing up the grass around the picnic area near the old lighthouse.


Marshall and Diana beachcombing at Tiritiri 

As always, we had a fun day with Chris and Sharon and Will and Diana. We drove up to Auckland in the morning, where Chris and Sharon launched their boat at the marina in Half-Moon Bay. From there we motored out to Tiritiri, which took about 45 minutes. Along the way we came across a pod of commpn dolphins who started riding the bow wave--always cool to watch. After touring the island for a few hours we had a great picnic lunch on the beach. Marshall and Diana did some beachcombing, having a competition to see who could find the most beachglass. We left Tiritiri around 2:00 because the wind and tide were getting up, making the boat ride home pretty lumpy. Marshall and I sat at the front of the boat and had a lot of fun getting tossed about. (It reminded me of fishing with my Uncle Rick on Big Sand Lake near Minaki. I could write a lengthy blog about my fishing adventures with my Uncle--perhaps some other day.) We had it good; those riding in the back had a smoother ride but they got very wet from the spray.

Once we got closer to Auckland we anchored at Waiheke Island for awhile, which is now a kind-of suburb of Auckland. It has every type of home on it, from old baches to million dollar mansions. Will, Marshall and I did a bit of snorkeling, although we did not see much. When we got back to Half Moon Bay, our trip ended with Marshall getting an ice cream treat, which seems to happen regularly when he spends a day with Diana.

Where has the time gone?

Tiritiri Island (near Auckland), February 25th

Good day,

I apologize for being so delinquent in posting any new stories about our time in New Zealand. Many of you probably know the feeling, you fall behind on something and the longer you stay behind the harder it becomes to start (or restart). So, to help me restart our postings, I am going to keep this one pretty simple. In this posting I will tell you a little bit about what we have been doing with our time when we have not been seeing the sites. I will also talk about a few things we have noticed about NZ.

Marshall:

After a bit of a rough start transitioning to a new school and new friends, Marshall has really pulled it together and is making the most of his school time here. He has made some friends and one really good friend in particular, Tyler. In fact as I write, Marshall is spending the weekend at Tyler's bach (cottage) where he will get to spend lots of time playing on the beach, exploring, and having fun without his parents.

At school, we have received nothing but glowing reports from his teacher. She says he is an excellent role model and would love to have him for the whole year. Not to brag, but Marshall even received a certificate from the principal and his teacher for his "amazing manners and for working hard all the time." One thing Karen and I found funny was to hear how organized she thinks Marshall is. They are given class work assignments at the start of the week that are to be completed by Friday. Apparently Marshall is very diligent about getting them done early or on time. Before NZ, this was not his usual modis operendi.

Marshall finishes school here in two weeks. The first term ends on April 5th. Then the students get a two week break and return for term 2 of their school year. Marshall has said the time has gone by really fast but that he is also really looking forward to getting home and seeing his friends and classmates. We return to Canada in time for Marshall to attend the last month of the school year. This is important to Marshall because he and his classmates will be "graduating" from Grade 5 and going to a new school for Grade 6.

One example of how Marshall has stretched himself since we have been here is his trying out for his school swim team. Karen and I were both surprised at how keen he was because to this point in his life, Marshall has not been a trying-out kind of kid. Anyway he made the team (fastest breaststroke). Last week there was a swim meet where Marshall's school competed against around 10 other schools. Unfortunately, the result was not what Marshall was hoping for. Marshall can swim fast, but some of the other schools have very serious, real swim teams (labelled swim caps, racing bathing suits (seeing them on 8-10 year olds made me shake my head)). They started the race from actual diving blocks. Like me, Marshall is not a born diver and his school never practiced any diving to start his race. So, of the 5 swimmers in his heat, Marshall was the slowest starter (by a lot). However, Karen and I (no parental bias here) both think he was the fastest swimmer as he came third and was catching up to the two boys in front of him. So, Marshall did not make it to the final 5, which he was unhappy about. What he liked least about the day was only getting to swim once. All that build-up and nervousness for one short lap. Still, he can't have been too discouraged as he said he would think about trying speed swimming classes in the fall, vs. an outright No! to the idea.

I think you can tell from what I have written that Karen and I are proud of and pleased for Marshall about how he has embraced his time here.

Karen:


Karen hard at work

Karen is now three months into her sabbatical and has no idea where the time has gone. She has been very diligent and other than our week-long trip has worked full-time (other people on sabbaticals here say she is working too much and/or making them look bad). A lot of her time has been spent co-writing and co-editing a report for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). The report is a state of the science review about estrogen compounds and their impacts on human health and the environment in general. From where I sit, it has been a very demanding project. The one down-side of the report is that Karen has not been able to spend as much time working on some papers she wanted to complete for publication, which was one of the main purposes of her sabbatical. That is likely to change though as the UNEP report is due Monday. Karen has also given two well-attended seminars in the past month.

Of the three of us, Karen has been the most social. The institute where she is working has regular tea-times every day and on most days Karen goes in the morning and catches up with people. (She always has news for me at the end of the day.) She finds tea time quite civilized. Her office mates in Winnipeg did the same thing, but this is not a regular occurrence at UNB. She has also got out a bit more in the evenings than I have (or wanted to), such as going to a few wine tastings.

Finally, she has been keeping fit by going to the gym and doing some jogging.

Scott:

Not writing our family blog.

Okay, I've been doing a bit more than that. Over the past month I have been volunteering with two organizations. The first project has been assisting one day a week with the restoration of a creek gully within the City of Hamilton. Sounds glamorous, but my work has been pulling weeds. Still, I am happy to be helping with this project as the gully has a neat history. It was owned for a long time by a local doctor. When he got the gully 60+ years ago, it was a donkey paddock and pretty much devoid of natural vegetation. Since that time he has been replanting the gully with native trees, shrubs, ferns, etc. and has rewilded much of it. A few years ago, he gave the gully to the city. They were happy to have it, but had/have no real budget to do much work on it, hence the need for volunteers. It is really neat to walk through this natural area in the heart of the city and hear true NZ forest birds. Given time and dedication, one man can accomplish a lot.

Another project I worked on involved building a stretch of boardwalk around a lake that is about 40 minutes south of Hamilton. To make a long story short, I enjoyed working on this project and given the building skills of a majority of the volunteers, they were happy to have me.

Outside of my volunteer work I have been keeping up to date with a few projects back in New Brunswick, doing some reading, managing the household, planning a few of our weekends, and running.


A few things about New Zealand

1. No shoes, still service: One thing I don't think I will get used to seeing is the number of people in bare feet. Kids wear bare feet at school and lots of people walk on the sidewalks and streets with no shoes. While this was surprising, what I find most strange is seeing people in bare feet in grocery stores and restaurants. It just does not fit with my Canadian sensibilities. If people are wearing something on their feet, 9 times out of 10 it is jandals (flip-flops).

2. Friendly people, unless you're a pedestrian: Marshall and I walk a lot here and we are constantly dodging cars. Simply put, at uncontrolled intersections pedestrians do not have the right of way. In Hamilton, there are very few stop signs or traffic lights and almost all side streets merge with either a modified yield or round-abouts. Because of this, drivers do not stop at intersections and are usually looking to their right for oncoming traffic. They will not stop for pedestrians who are on the sidewalk at the intersection. Again, very un-Canadian. The classic for Marshall and I so far was once we were halfway across an intersection of a side-street where it merged with a main thoroughfare. A driver coming down the main road took the time to give us two friendly beeps, wheeled through the intersection literally running over our toes, and waved at us as she went by. I find I have to be especially careful when I am out running because I still find myself looking left first at intersections vs. right. I don't have this problem driving anymore (too much), but when running I am constantly slowing down and triple checking at every intersection.

3. The weather: Unfortunately for us, the north island has experienced its cloudiest summer in 70 years. As a result, it has not been as summer-like as we expected. We are not complaining because we have missed a Canadian winter, although several days this week it was warmer in many places in Canada than it was in Hamilton. We have been pretty lucky though with our weekends. Although cloudy, we have not had much rain on the weekends. During the week has been a different story.

4. Kiwi fruit: We have been eating a fair amount of kiwi fruit since our arrival. Please take note that it is kiwi fruit, not simply kiwi as we would call it in Canada. Kiwis the people (New Zealanders) don't mind having the same name as an odd-looking flightless bird, but they take strong exception to having the same name as a fruit, hence the emphasis on kiwi "fruit" vs. simply kiwi.

Like all food in NZ, we are surprised at how expensive kiwi fruit is here. I think there are two reasons for this. First, kiwi fruit orchards are being attacked by a disease that is resulting in fewer kiwi fruits. Second, the price for kiwi fruit, at least in stores, seems to be tied to the export price of kiwi fruit. This seems to be the same for all foods here as both lamb and dairy products are surprisingly expensive. People we have met from Britain say they can buy NZ lamb much cheaper in Britain than they can here. On the plus side, good NZ wines are very reasonable.

Regular gas has averaged around $2.10/liter during our time here.

5. Sheep: Yes, New Zealand has a lot of sheep--around 48 million of them. About 12 sheep for every 1 New Zealander. The number of sheep has been declining, while the number of cows has been increasing (now around 6 million). As an aside, there are an estimated 70 million nasty possums living in NZ.

NZ is very green and pastoral. The only problem is that like the Canadian prairies, pretty much anywhere that can be farmed/have a pasture, has been. So, like in Canada, you find parks on "useless" land, e.g., mountains, swamps, etc.

To the left is a picture of Shrek the Sheep, a Marshall favourite. He was a merino sheep that avoided being sheared for 6 years and became famous in NZ, with books, pictures, and even meeting the NZ Prime Minister. He died in 2011 at the ripe old age of 17. (Photo from: http://nemp.otago.ac.nz/read_speak/2004/read_comprehension/shrek.htm).

One last thing about sheep, they are not as docile as they appear to be.

6. The Great Kiwi Migration: A lot of young people from NZ go on this trek where they move to England for two years, then to Australia, then back to NZ. Under the age of the 30, they are allowed to live and work in England for two years visa free. (One person I talked to about this migration said that many NZers still view England as the motherland.) From there they go to Australia, where there are more and better paying jobs. After awhile, they tire of that and return home to NZ, often to raise a family.

7. Rugby: New Zealand as a country is as obsessed about rugby as Canada is about hockey. A few weekends ago Karen and I went to see the Waikato Chiefs play, who are part of NZ's professional rugby league. We had seats in the end zone right at field level. We had a fun evening, in part because the Chiefs won and scored most of their points at our end of the field, so we got to see lots of action. Before we went we boned up on some of the basic rules. However, throughout the game we were pretty lost about what made something a penalty or other infraction--the subtle nuances of the game that take a while to learn. Fans being the same everywhere though, we heard loud and clear when the referee made a good or bad call for or against the Chiefs. One final note about the game, it was played by some very big men.

8. JAFAs: JAFA stands for "just another f#$&!ing Aucklander". This is a common expression on the north island, particularly along the east coast where there are lots of nice beaches, which apparently get over run with tourists from Auckland. (Even people from Auckland call themselves JAFAs.) NZers believe in being modest and that people shouldn't think too highly of themselves. Auckland is prosperous compared to much of the country and is the most populous city by far, so it is not looked on so favourably by the rest of the country. Reminds me of Canada and Toronto.

Enjoying the surf at Papamoa Beach, near Tauranga NZ

 9. The beaches: After the friends we have made here, the thing we will likely miss most about NZ is the easy access to an endless number of spectacular beaches. The past few weekends we have spent a lot of time at different beaches, all of them offering kilometres long stretches of clean sand and great, if cool, swimming.

Well that's it for now. Now that I have started writing again, you won't have to wait so long to hear about some of our recent weekend adventures. Cheers.