Leaving.

In less than three weeks’ time, we will be moving back to Australia.  Our one year adventure quickly grew in to more than the three years it has ended up being.  I thought this imminent departure would surely be an exciting time, having made the decision to return to my beloved homeland to be embraced by its warmth once more.  Many months ago, the thought of returning would have generated all sorts of wistful emotions and immediate thoughts of what I miss so much about Australia.  Now, sitting three weeks out from the departure date, I can’t see any of these things.  My vision is impeded by all that is around me now and exactly how much of an amazing place New Zealand is.  It has been a generous home and we have been gifted with far more than deserved by the people we have met and the places we have visited.  I’m not sure how I am going to get through this.

The packing has been largely done.  There was none of the grand shedding of physical belongings which I found so exhilarating and liberating when packing to move over here.  We have accumulated little since arriving, but still it has been sad to discard even the most mundane of belongings.  I have never been so attached to a kettle in my life as I am right now to our current one. I recall purchasing it on our first shopping trip in our new country, along with an assortment of other household items.  The sense of new beginnings and unknown adventures became embodied in this kettle.  It has greeted me each morning, whispering the continuing promises of this new beginning and adventure.  It has been part of every visitor to this house, family and friends from Australia have benefited from its faithful presence.  As I gather it up, ready to be packed for selling, all of these thoughts go through my head; all of these memories are fighting to stay free and continue being remembered.  But as the box of items disappears down the road in the back of someone else’s vehicle, so to do the memories which are attached to them.  Like I said, I’m not sure how I am going to get through this.

I know I am going to be excited to be home in Australia, to catch up with family and friends, see the sights, the experience the heady smell of eucalyptus laden air again.  I know it is going to be great shopping for new cars, going through our storage shed of belongings and re-packing for Darwin.  I know it is going to be exhilarating to arrive in Darwin with its tropical climate, majestic palms, dramatic scenery and outstanding sunsets.  I know it.  I just don’t feel it.  Not while I can see all that I am leaving behind.

“Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” - Seneca (4BC-65D)

A sunburt country no more....

When it rains in New Zealand it really does a good job of it.  My last post, too long ago to be forgivable, I lamented the long dry spell which had been cast upon this alluring green landscape, threatening to turn all things brown and parched.  As nature would have it, not long after that it rained, and then soon after that again, and again and again and…..well you get the picture.  The total rainfall over the last few weeks is close to 300 mm of life giving precipitation thanks to a series of dying cyclones which have been carried south from the Coral Sea off Australia and tropical pacific regions to the north of New Zealand.  This pattern is set to continue, shaping the summer up to be one of the wettest on record for the North Island of the country.  Now that I have said all that, it won't rain again now………

A sunburt country...

When leaving my 'sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains' and moving across the Tasman, I never imagined that the word 'drought' would be used to describe New Zealand.  I understood New Zealand to be the land of green grandeur, rolling hills of lush grass, substantial rainforests, lakes, glacial streams and waterfalls.  Water, water, everywhere. Our first two summers here were described to us as ‘dry’ and drought ridden, which we couldn't balance with our Aussie appreciation of the terms.  The fields remained green the creeks still flowed and it continued to rain enough to maintain these elements of the New Zealand environment.  This summer has changed all of that.  By the end of autumn, the rolling hills had already begun to look unfamiliar to the impression I had acquired up to this point of time.  The local landscape has begun to appear more like our Aussie farm in autumn as the rain dries up and the greases all die – not yet brown, but no longer green either – a painful moment between seasons when I would realise the cool and comfortable winter has passed and the harshness of summer is about to strike.  So, the desire for more rain which played out its annual cycle in Australia has followed us to New Zealand.  You can guess what I will be hoping for Christmas this year……..

Summer is here!

Raglan and serentiy....

Raglan is only 45 kilometres from Hamilton, yet it feels like you are in a far flung corner of the country, forgotten by the masses but enjoyed by a few. There is a low but significant range of hills which stretches along the edge of the flat Waikato farmland. This range separates the coastal communities of this area from the interior of the North Island. The road which crosses this range at its highest point is known and The Deviation, locally called the ‘divvy’. At this point it is not only the crossing of a physical barrier that you sense, but also that of a psychological one. Leaving Hamilton, it is a relatively flat to low undulating urbanised terrain, which gives way to ‘lifestyle blocks’, known in other countries as ‘hobby farms’, all compressed in to an uncomfortable example of urban sprawl. Crossing the divvy travelling towards Raglan sees an increase in native forests and streams, with larger agricultural areas lush with green pastures year round. Finally, this all falls in to the Tasman Sea with some extravagantly contrasting dramatic and serene scenery. Arriving in Raglan brings a deep breath, and respite from the rest of the world is inevitable as the overwhelming sense of arriving in a nurturing and welcoming place takes hold. Wooden cottages are strewn around the harbour and in to the hinterland. Friendly locals, an eclectic mix of hippies, surfers, fishermen and travellers all nod and wave as if you are lifelong friends and neighbours. It is a perfect match of scenery, lifestyle and serenity and one which I feel fortunate to have landed in.

The worst of South Island

- Gorse: the noxious weed is everywhere and scars the vistas all too frequently

- Hamner Springs; marketed as tiny mountain village with quaint attitude and a destination in itself, horribly good marketing for a dull, crowded and souless urban settlement.

- Recreational hunters and hunting everywhere. A mentality I just don’t understand and a practice I abhor.

-Picton: The first landfall for the ferry from the North Island is encircleed by scarred hills from forestry. What isn’t covered in rubble or pines is covered by gorse.

In hindsight, if this is the worst on offer then the best can surely be noted as being brilliant!

South Island....again

The best of the South Island


- The West Coast: aggressively rugged coastline, being comforted by a lush smooth blanket of wind sculpted rainforest, a true juxtaposition of beauty.

- Oamaru: architecturally gracious city reflecting the perseverance and strength of the early European settlers.

-Coronet Peak: Queenstown ski field with the most impressive facilities and efficient operations I have ever seen at a ski field.

-McKenzie Basin: endless, sweeping, snow covered pastures, surrounded by protecting ranges, a white wonderland.

- Kaikoura: coastal village managing to retain its small village atmosphere amidst a multimillion dollar whale watching tourism industry, jagged mountain peaks plummeting down to the shoreline.

For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. -- (Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894)

Southern Alps, New Zealand

The governing feature of the South Island is the magnificent Southern Alps. They run for 450 kilometres stretching the entire length of the island . Their highest point is Aoraki/Mt Cook at 3,754 metres compared to Mt Kosciusko 2,228m, Mt St Helens 2,549m, Kilimanjaro 5,893, Mt Fuji 3,776m, Mount Blanc 4,810m and Mt Everest 8,848m. They are one of the most southern ranges in the world and as such they have a permanent snowline above 1600-2700 metres and over 3000 glaciers. Associated with the Alps are raging mountain rivers, wild fjords and expansive glacial lakes. For anyone who has seen Lord of the Rings, you would have seen some of the Alps without realising as the scenery featured significantly in the movie trilogy. My enthusiasm for snow was set free and wild amongst this scenery as the mid winter climate cloaked these glorious vistas in gentle white. It evoked memories of when I studied in the USA and worked in Norway. It cleansed me and fed my soul with nourishing magic.

Me? A tourist??

When did I become a camera carrying, rubber necking tourist? Was it when I turned 40? Was this the point at which I leapt at being an independent traveller to a crusty crazy snapshot tourist? Maybe I am over exaggerating, but it was thoughts like this which burst in to my head during our recent holiday on the South Island. Buying a new multi lens camera kit, with carry bag, on the first day of the road trip, probably aided in me seeing myself in a different sense. I couldn’t take enough photos from enough angles without feeling like I was viewing everything through a lens, and not the reality. A bit like watching someone else holiday unfold on a television travel show, a hazy insight in to the experience but not doing it yourself. Now that I am back to base, I have hundreds of photos of the trip. What I didn’t realise at the time that I do now though, is that these hundreds of photos will immortalise the many memories I also have of the trip. So the crusty crazy snapshot tourist may not be a comfortable coat to wear, but the physical evidence of memories which evoke emotions of enjoyment and adventure outweigh any fleeting negative self image I may have stumbled upon. So if you will all excuse me for now, I have some more photos I need to go and take…..

South Island

 

McKenzie Basin, South Island

 

Queenstown....

 

South Island....Awesome.

We have just returned last night, from a two week road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. After 3954 kms, my eyes are full of the visions of snow, soaring mountains and panoramic landscapes that evoke feelings of strength, wonder and spectacle. Being my second visit to the South Island, this recent trip rekindled the magical impression I already had of that astonishing fragment of the world. Historic modest seaside villages nestled in picturesque coves, appearing diminutive against the backdrop of the Southern Alps. These Alps are the spine of the island and viewable from almost all corners. As a size comparison, the South Island is 151,251 km², roughly the equivalent of the size of the US state of Illinois and twice the size of Scotland, Austria or the Australian state of Tasmania. Here are a few photos to begin the picture I want to paint for you. In upcoming entries I hope to share more about the journey, what I discovered and to relive the experiences which have already begun to be converted into past memories.

25 things you may not have known about New Zealand

1 - Cook's cure - Captain James Cook, the man who navigated New Zealand, is said to have discovered a cure for scurvy, a disease that results from Vitamin C deficiency, when he played around with medicines.
2 - More births- New Zealand births exceeded deaths by 29,890 in the September 2005 year.

3 - Older brides - New Zealanders are getting married older. The latest statistics show that the median ages of men and women marrying for the first time is 29.9 and 28.1 years. These brides and grooms married, on average, nine years older than their parents did.
4 - Big on butter - For each person who lives here, New Zealand produces 100kg of butter and 65kg of cheese each year.
5 - Clever Kiwis - A New Zealander invented the tear-back velcro strip, the pop-lid on a self-sealing paint tin, the child-proof pill bottle and the crinkle in hair-pins so that they don't fall out.
6 - Olympic gold - New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals a head than any other country.
7 - Sheep dip - In the early 1980s, New Zealand was home to more than 70 million sheep, but now has 40 million, or about 10 sheep to one person. This decline hasn't stopped New Zealand from bringing in 50 per cent of all international trade in sheepmeat.
8 - Golf swings
Measured by club memberships, golf is the most popular sport in New Zealand, followed by netball.
9 - Curious Kea - The kea, native to New Zealand, likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
10 - Quick work - The shortest interval between separate births in the world is 208 days. New Zealander Jayne Bleackley gave birth to Joseph Robert on September 3, 1999, and Annie Jessica Joyce on March 30, 2000.
11 - Why bother? - Two Massey University students broke a Guinness World Record in December for the world's largest tape ball. The ball, which weighs 53kg and has a circumference of more than 2.5m, was made by winding Scotch tape continually around itself.
12 - Spelling test - The longest place name in the world still in use is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipikimaungahoronukupokaiwenuakitanatahu… a hill in Porangahau in the Hawkes Bay. The Maori name translates to "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as Landeater, played his flute to his loved one."
13 - Middle age - The median age of New Zealanders is growing. In 1901 it was 23. By 1991 it was 31 and in 2001 it was 35. By 2021 it is expected to be 40.
14 - Rising prices - In 1984, $43 in New Zealand would buy approximately the same as $100 today.
15 - Blacked out - The longest blackout in the world was on February 19, 1998, when the four main power cables supplying Auckland city, broke down. The disruption, which lasted 66 days, affected 7500 business and residential customers and cost businesses an estimated $300 million.
16 - The sea, the sea - No part of New Zealand is more than 128km from the sea.
17 - Lost in space
In the scene of Star Trek: First Contact, when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible but New Zealand is missing.
18 - Bottom line - No capital city in the world is further south than Wellington.
19 - Animal farm - Less than 5 per cent of the population of New Zealand is human - the rest are animals. This is one of the highest ratios of animals to humans in the world.
20 - Pipebands galore - There are more Scottish pipe bands per head of population in New Zealand than in Scotland.
21 - Big readers - New Zealand has more book-shops per head of population than any other country; one for every 7500 people.
22 - Bad behaviour - New Zealand has the third highest rate of deaths in the developed world from maltreatment among under-15-year-olds; third to Mexico and the US.
23 - Freshwater spring - More fresh water flows up from cracks in the limestone at Waikoropupu, near Takaka, than from any other freshwater spring in the world - more than 2100 million litres every 24 hours.
24 - Trout heaven - More rainbow trout in the 2kg to 3kg category are caught annually in New Zealand than in the rest of the world put together.
25 - World-beaters - New Zealand is home to the world's smallest dolphin, the Hectors Dolphin, the rarest sea lion, the Hookers Sea Lion, the largest flightless parrot, the kakapo, the oldest reptile, the tuatara, the heaviest insect, a weta, the biggest earth-worms, the smallest bats, some of the oldest trees, and many of the rarest birds, insects, and plants in the world.

Ngarunui Beach

Hamilton Zoo

As I sit writing this, it rains outside. In the past two and a half weeks we have had 359 mm's, that's more than the yearly rainfall where we lived in Australia.

One of the preliminary postings I was going t o make on this blog was a brief introduction to Hamilton Zoo so all and sundry can see the environment I have been working in. Almost a year after arriving here, I have remembered this and so in a lame attempt to create ‘the bigger picture’ here is a short introduction to Hamilton Zoo. I have used a few figures of comparison to Adelaide and Monarto Zoos, for those who know or work there can use these as a comparison to augment the impression.Hamilton Zoo is a moderately new zoo. Started in 1969 (the year I was born) it was originally a game farm where birds such as pheasants were bred for release for hunting. Not a very pleasant beginning to the story. There were also numerous other bird displays as the owners were avid bird keepers. Eventually a few exotic mammals come in to the collection and there you have it, a Zoo. The Hamilton City Council stepped in during the 70’s to prop it up financially and when the Zoo faced financial ruin, the Council took it on board completely, rejuvenated it and has run it ever since. Now it is 25 hectares in size (Adelaide Zoo (AZ) 8 hectares, Monarto Zoo 1000+ hectares), holds approximately 450 animals (AZ 1800, MZ 400) of 95 species (AZ 200, MZ 40+). Unlike Adelaide Zoo though, the collection is not filled with little critters like fish or invertebrates or small birds, but larger species of mammals as well as numerous birds, especially waterfowl and parrots. It is just outside the city set among thickets of native and exotic vegetation on low undulating hills, peppered with lakes, stream and waterfalls. The zoo is involved heavily in native New Zealand conservation programs as well as being highly regarded for its success in breeding White Rhinoceros. The zoo is about to expand in size by about another 10 hectares, with the land already fenced off and ready to be developed. This area will become the new African section with the addition of Lions, amongst others. There will also be safari tent accommodation and educational facilities. One of the best things about Hamilton Zoo is the size of the enclosures. Nothing is being kept in tiny cages for the ease of the viewing public. The African section at the moment is a large field, which from different locations you can see herds of Zebras, Giraffe, Blackbuck, and Nilgai mixing with Ostriches and Guinea Fowl as they would naturally. There is walkthrough aviary which is the largest in the southern hemisphere and a series of lakes which are home to numerous waterfowl in a natural environment.

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. (Albert Einstein)

Our local beach, Raglan