2017-10 Wellington (New Zealand)

Model of Haast eagle attacking moa bird

It seems fitting that my final day in New Zealand was in the city with the best museum, the Te Papa. Out of it's five levels, it has two completely full of different exhibits. One afternoon was not enough to see and immerse myself in all the exhibits.

Colossal squid

Some of the highlights included an earthquake house (that you could stand in and feel a simulated earthquake as the house shook), a colossal squid (with eyeballs the size of soccer balls), and life size models of now extinct wildlife such as the moa bird and Haast's eagle. 

Slide along the waterfront

I didn't see much around Wellington, although I did find some delicious chocolate, walked along the waterfront and even slid down a slide.

2017-10 Wai-O-Tapu (New Zealand)

What do you do when your alpine crossing hike of Tongariro National Park gets canceled due to weather? Visit a geyser and thermal springs. New Zealand has a wide range of nature sites to visit and enjoy. We enjoyed beautiful, blue skies as we visited Wai-O-Tapu, a park of thermal hot springs.

The geyser erupts!

First, we made sure to get good seats while waiting for the geyser to erupt at 10:15 am. Such precision for a geyser to erupt at the same time each day! However, at 10:15, there was no eruption; and, a park staff member was standing next to the geyser greeting everyone in their respective languages. We soon heard the story of how the geyser was discovered by prisoners who were washing their clothes in the hot springs, only to have their clothes blown sky high by a geyser. It turns out that this geyser is two layers of water in a chamber: the upper layer is at 100 degrees C (212 degrees F); and, the lower chamber of water is 250 degrees C (482 degrees F) since it is under pressure. When the water comes in contact with a surfactant (as found in some soaps), it breaks the surface pressure of the upper chamber of water, and the pressurized water below it gushes upward into a geyser.

Mud flats

Next, we made a five minute photo stop at the mud flats nearby before heading to the all the different thermal pools within Wai-O-Tapu. It turns out that thermal areas can take on a variety of shapes and colors. One of the most colorfol placdes is the main Champagne Pool. Even my phone camera did the colors some justice. The colors are due to all the minerals in the water. The map lists gold, silver, mercury, sulphur (yellow), arsenic, thallium, and antimony (orange).

Champagne Pool

Perhaps the most impressive of them all was the "Devil's Bath" at the very end of the loop trail around the thermal pools. It was a vivid neon green, caused by sulphur + ferrous salts.

Devil's Bath

Be prepared to smell sulphur the entire time that you tour the grounds. It's a beautiful walk around unusual natural hot pools. We managed to do the 3 km walk in an hour and a quarter; but, the sulphur fumes were part of the entire experience.

2017-10 Maori community of Ohinemutu

What would a visit to New Zealand be without experiencing a bit of Maori culture? At Waitangi, we had been greeted by a haka and enjoyed a show. However, now, we were getting a chance to visit a Maori community that has been around since the 13th century!

Ohinemutu was founded by Tama Te Kapua who had to leave his home island of Hawaiki after another chief ate their relative's dog. Three things that Tama Te Kapua was know for were that (1) he was a thief, (2) he loved to play practical jokes and (3) he was the greatest lover of the south pacific with two wives in Tahiti and five more in New Zealand. Did you know that with the right winds, it would only have taken two weeks for Tama Te Kapue to sail his catamarans from Tahiti to New Zealand? He brought with him 108 people, dogs and rats (for food). Yet the name for the community comes from the Maori words "O" for "of", "hine" for "girl" and "mutu" for "death". Ohinemutu is the place where a chief's daughter was found murdered.

Our Maori guide Shaloh greeted us into the community within the community center. He gave a short speech and sang a song of welcome. Then, it was time for our group's elected "chief" to speak; and, we all sang a Maori song in response. Thankfully, our host was gracious with our lack of tune! Perhaps the most intimate portion of the welcoming ceremony was the individual greeting by touching noses, the hongi. This changed our status from not just visitors to part of the community.

Now that we were part of the community, Shaloh showed us to his house, which is also his parents' house and was his grandparents' house. The land has been his family for 23 generations. The house is like any other house in contemporary New Zealand. The only difference would be the bath house that is a separate building not attached to the house. There is no bath or shower within the house itself. Instead, there is a communal bath and shower on the property. The hot water is straight from the hot springs that bubble all over the community, coming in at a boiling 100 degrees C (212 degrees F). All of the hot water used in the community is from the slightly sulforous smelling hot springs. The thermal springs are slightly acidic. And, the cold water is slightly alkaline, blending to a neutral PH level.

Ohinemutu Marae

Shaloh's house was very near to the Marae or meeting house of Ohinemutu. In Maori, Marae is made up of three words: Ma represents female energy and the moon; Ra represents male energy and the sun; and, E brings together. In a meeting of the Marae, there must be both males and females represented. The different parts of the house are all anthropomorphic: the head is the head; the center pole represents the spine; the eaves represent arms; the door represents the mouth but also the womb of a woman. There are three main Maraes in New Zealand: the Waitangi Treaty House Marae, the King's Marae and the Marae at Ohinemutu.

Carving from Ohinemutu Marae

Carved on the Marae in Ohinemutu are 39 generations of Maori, counting back from it's building in 1871. Before colonization brought the Christian religion, the Maori were cannibals. In order for a person to earn a carving in the Marae, a male would have to go through a rite of passage of killing an enemy and eating the human flesh, which would help the warrior gain the other person's mana. Mana is what a person is born with, an aggregation of all your ancestry passed onto you. This is also how a male would earn a tattoo, which was wearing the pain of your enemy on your face. Facial tattoos on men listed their ancestry (whakapapa) whereas tattoos on their thighs were a resume of their exploits. Females did not have to kill anyone to earn their tattoos. Instead, females acquired a tattoo on their chin after giving birth. Tattoos were inked by either tapping or chiseling into the skin.

2017-10 Waitomo Glowworm Caves

Map of the Waitomo region

Today we made it to Waitomo and the Glowworm Caves! Did you know that Waitomo is made up of two Maori words? Wai = water; and, tomo = hole. Therefore, Waitomo = waterhole. These caves are made by rain water flowing into the ground. The underlying rock is all limestone. All of NZ used to be under the sea. Limestone is made up of all the shells and coral from that time period. The rain water brings with it minerals that eat away at the limestone, which creates the caves underground. Even as we drove out to the see the caves, our guide would point out different tomos in the hills that the cows were grazing on.

On the way to Waitomo caves

While in New Zealand, we saw a lot of cattle grazing on hills. There were sheep, too; but, there seemed to be equal numbers of cows. Interestingly, almost all cattle in NZ is free range. Even on the drive out to the caves, the guide pointed out a group of dairy cows that we just grazing up top until they would be ready to calve, at which time the dairy farmer would truck them back to the farm. Whether it’s because NZ has only 4 million people or because there are so many lush green hills or because just is this the way it’s always been done, it was very interesting to learn about.

The population of Waitomo is officially 41. However, there have been up to half million people visiting during a year. The first cave surveyed here was in 1887; and, there are now 100 surveyed caves over a length of 7 km. In comparison, the longest cave found to date is Mammoth cave in Kentucky, which is 600 km long.

At the glowworm caves

Several of us went on the Spellbound tour, which takes a total of 13 people at a time out to a section of the Waitomo Caves under a farmer's land. The farmer has beef cows and 2500 head of sheep on the green vegetation above ground. It was nice for it to be just us in a quiet, secluded portion of the cave. We started with hardhats with headlamps on them as we walked into the cave. Our guide pointed out little green sparkles on the ceiling. Then, he had us come close to a low hanging range, where we saw lots of clear strands hanging down. A glowworm secretes 60-100 of these sticky strands from it's mouth. The bio-luminescence of the glowworm is produced by it's kidneys. This greenish light attracts bugs, which get stuck in the sticky strands. Since a glowworm turns into a fungus gnat with no mouth, it has to do all of it's eating while a larva.

Sticky strings of the glowworms

The best part of the cave was once we got into a dinghy and turned off all our lights, cellphones and cameras. At the beginning, we could only see a scattering of green lights, much like the night sky in the city. Our guide asked us not to speak (noise disturbs the glowworms) as he pulled us silently through the subterranean water tunneling through the cave. We gazed in awe above us as the green lights increased to a carpet of light above us. When we had first switched off our headlamps, we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. However, by the furthest point into the interior of the cave, we could make out our hands, the boat, the people next to us. This was all due to the chemical bio-luminescence of the glowworms.

Walking to the next cave

When we finished in the glowworm cave, we had a break for hot chocolate/coffee/tea and biscuits. Extra points from me for the hot chocolate! We sat outside in the beautiful landscape then walked over to a second cave.

Flowstones

The second cave was set-up to see the different rock formations. There was a solid boardwalk from boards made out of recycled bottles with electric lights along the way. The cave had just been opened for tours starting in 2004. We could see different formations in this cave, such as stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), stalagmites (built up from the ground), columns (when stalactites and stalagmites meet), and flowstones. Did you know that the largest part of the cave is called the "cathedral"? The largest cathedral found so far is in Vietnam and could contain an entire New York city block with all the skyscrapers.

Moa bird bones

We also saw bones from a few creatures that had died in this cave, including a goat and a moa bird. The moa bird was a flightless bird similar to the emu that was hunted to extinction by the Maori. Before the Maori arrived, the only natural predator of the moa bird was the enormous Haast eagle with a 3 meter wingspan. Once the moa became extinct, the Haast eagle soon followed suit.

2017-10 New Zealand watersports

Raglan is a small beach town with nothing much to offer beside water activities. Perhaps October spring is not the best time to visit. Even the kayaking guides wore stocking caps while they led us around the bay. Finally, though, I had had enough of missing out of activities because I was freezing cold. I joined everyone in slipping into a swimsuit under my layers, donning a lifejacket and braving the ramp on a kayak into the cold water. As these were seafaring kayaks, our butts were almost immediately wet in our seats. I also had water running down my arms from not doing a good job of following the instructions on how to row properly.

Bay of Raglan

We crossed the choppy waves acros the bay and then congregated at a beach on the other side. Then, we maneuavered our kayaks along the edge of and in between pancake rock limestone formats on the edge of the bay. By that time, I was actually feeling warm! Yet, the easy part was over. We turned our kayaks back around toward the ramp and started crossing the now even choppier waves. At one point, with the waves striking my kayak parallely, I feared my kayak would tip over. Fortunately, I was able to get my kayaking pointing perpendicularly into the waves and managed to get to the ramp without capsizing. Then, after getting out of my kayak, I face-planted on the ramp trying to drag my kayak up.

Sunset form Inspiration Point

At least there was Namaste Kitchen (NK) Indian food to make me feel better. The chicken jalfrezi was delicious!

From Inspiration Point

That evening, we stayed in a giant house called the Lava Lounge. Giant house + caravan (where three of us girls stayed) and hut (where two guys stayed). Just up the hill, was a platform and benches called “Inspiration Point”. We walked up after dark in order to see all the stars above us in the night sky. Still no Southern Cross. Afterward, we walked a little further up the driveway to get our first glimps at glowworms. More about these in a later post on Waitomo.

Wetsuited and ready to surf!

In the morning, we woke up to rain. Rain that had drenched all the clothes that we had hung overnight on the line and the shoes that we had forgotten outside. But, when in Raglan, do as the surfers do. We were pretty cold, wet and miserable as we trudged up to a drafty barn for our 9 am surfing lesson at the Raglan Surf School. We practiced standing up on the boards on the floor. Repetiion makes permanent...unless you’re me and all the training flies out the window once the wave hit my feet. Then, we trudged back down the hill in the rain to the van to drive to the beach. At the beach, we were handed wetsuits that we put on in a drafty communal changing area. The wetsuits were wet. We were wet and cold. I figured that I’d jump in for one attempt and jump back out.

You can still seeing the surfers in the water

We carried our boards from the surf hut to the beach in pairs: one person at the front of the two boards; and, one at the back. Once we arrived on the beach, we laid out our boards and practiced getting up again. Then, the instructors gave us the go ahead to take our boards into the water. Just getting out over the intiial breakers into deeper water was work. We’d hold up the noses of our boards against the incoming waves to cross over them. Then, the current would suck us back toward shore. Finally, I made it out for an attempt: an attempt that ended in nothing more than a wipeout. But, with lots of help from the three instructors, I was able to stnd on the board a couple of times! It was great fun; and, the first time that I’d felt warm since kayaking the previous day. The 1.5 hours passed quickly in the water.

Namaste Kitchen samosa, momos and chai

Afterward, we dried off and changed in the same cold, drafty changing hut. By now, though, the adrenaline was pumping; and, I felt warm even in the outside rain. We handed back into to town; and, I went back to Namaste Kitchen (NK) for a hot chai, samosa and momos. After lunch, we headed over to The Space to do a beginner yoga lesson and attempt to ward off soreness from our kayaking and surfing adventures.

2017-10 Auckland to local farm

Looking into the crater of Mount Eden and across the city of Auckland

An evening free led to an epic walk out to Mount Eden. Epic not only for the hour long distance but for the beautiful views at the top of this dormant volcano. After finally making it to the very top, there were signs noting not to walk inside the crater. Not until that moment had I realized that I was walking around a volcano crater. Like everything else in New Zealand, the crater was a luscious green. From the very top, there was a 360-degree view of the city of Auckland below.

Whitebait

In the morning, we visited a local farmer, Jan. She raises a wide variety of animals and crops on her farm; and, she is quite an interesting person. The first step was to put on gumboots, also known as Wellingtons. Next, we checked out some whitebait that she is farming. Whitebait season is only 6 weeks; and, it is sold for $200/kg. Jan also raises bees. She provided lots of interesting facts on bees and bees in NZ, including: NZ has higher clover concentration, NZ exports bees all around the world, bees only live six weeks, during which each time they have very specific tasks, to make 1 teaspon of honey, bee has flown the distance of six times around the world, and, shape and size of honeycomb cells determine their use. (I was taking notes as fast as I could at this point.) High quality Manuka honey is very antibiotic. Jan even uses it to rub on cuts on her livestock. She said that she had heard that all the agriculture in NZ would end in two years without honeybees. In fact NZ has one of the three underground seed bunkers in the world.

Hungry lambs

We had a lot of fun feeding bottles of milk to the lambs. They were energy drink bottles with bottle nipples on them. The lambs followed us bleating plaintively even after they drank all the milk. We also fed the goats, alpacas, donkeys and eels. The eels were perhaps the most interesting, not to mention disturbing as they popped their heads out of the water to grab for the pieces of bacon we’d been swishing in the water for them. We were extremely careful, as the teeth face backward. Eels can grow more than 6 feet long and up to 100 years old. Slippery as an eel is a true saying, as eels bodies are covered with gel that helps them build their burrows.

Alpacas and goats waiting for breakfast

Back at Jan’s barn, she had baskets of shorn fibers that we had to guess which animal they came from. There was alpaca and merino. However, Jan was also experimenting with possum and dog hair. After hearing how amazing merino is (it doesn’t smell) and alpaca is (it alter’s personal body temperature, no matter exterior temperature) and how terrible polyesters are, I am convinced that I need to buy some merino and alpaca clothing. Jan’s spinning wheel was the impetus for two more fun facts: (1) Google has figured out that 20 minutes on the spinning wheel drops a person’s blood pressure; and, therefore has spinning wheels at it’s sites (I haven't been able to verify this); (2) the term “spinster” comes from the fact that a daughter’s job was to spin until she got married; therefore, she was a “spinster” until marriage.

Feeding the eels

Jan, always the hostess, wouldn’t let us leave without trying some of her bees’ honey on some fresh scones. She even had macademia nuts from one of the trees on her farm. Everything was delicious!

2017-10 Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Haruru Falls

This morning, we started the day with a beautiful 5 km walk from Haruru Falls to Waitangi Treaty Grounds. Spacing out from the rest of the group, I enjoyed a solitary stroll through the pristine woodlands. Along the way, I encountered large birds hanging out in the trees. Apparently some type of crane, as they were standing on one leg. There were also large black and white birds roosting. Also seen on the walk were a large old tree, a mangrove grove, fish and birds with little black tufts on their heads. The mangrove section was really interesting. It looked like sitting water with a bunch of tubular plants growing up in it. However, the tubular plants are really part of the mangrove tree: they are the breathing tubs for the tree, rising from the roots, which are always covered in water.

Mangroves. Those vertical items sticking up from the water are the tree roots' breathing tubes

The 5 km walk ended at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. There, we took the guided tour, which I’d highly recommend. The guide was passionate and knowledgeable. The tour was set-up with individual radios with earpieces so that we could catch everything the guide was saying, even though we were quite a large group. In fact, it was probably the quietest tour that I’ve taken around a site, with everyone listening intently on their earpieces.

War canoe from the stern post

Our first stop within the Waitangi Treaty Grounds was the War Canoes. These were built to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Waitangi Treaty signing in 1840 and were launched in 1940. Instead of the traditional flax cords, these are held together by nylon. The flax cords had the benefit of constricting once wet, tightening the ship together. The largest ship, built out of three kauri trees, weighs a total of 6 tons. This is before all the paddlers get into it. After it’s maiden voyage, it weighed 12 tons because of how waterlogged it became. Instead of a rudder at the back, there is a stern post lashed on that rises into the air. The purpose of this stern post is to keep the canoe from tipping over. The paddlers can’t even sit down. The boards across the ship are for them to rest their backs against while they are standing. Along the top rim of the canoe, there are various decorations. Along the side of the hull there are grooves. The canoes are far from just decorative: they are launched each February 6 on Waitangi Day.

United Tribes of New Zealand flag

Next, our guide walked us over to the flagpole, where there are three flags flying. Perhaps the most interesting of these is the United Tribes of New Zealand flag from 1834. The local Maori chieftains chose this flag to represent New Zealand. It contains the four stars of the Southern Cross, which are still present in New Zealand's flag today. New Zealanders like to point out that they had a flag before Australia. However, after the Waitangi Treaty was signed in 1840, the British removed the United Tribes of New Zealand from the flagpole in the town nearby (Russell) and instead flew the Union Jack (Great Britain's flag). One of the local Moari chiefs, Hone Heke, protested against this show of New Zealand being part of Great Britain by chopping down the flagpole. The British governor would re-erect the flagpole; and, Hone Heke chopped it down again and again and again. This was the beginning of the Northern Wars from 1845-1846.

During the Northern Wars, Kawati, a Moari chief, barricaded himself into a "pa" or fort with his warriors and children. The Governor Fitzroy attacked the pa; and, eventually, the Maori left, melting into the forest to build a new fort. The Governor didn’t believe his spies who told him that the Maori were just fine until he entered the original pa. Then, the new Governor Grey went after Kawati in his new forest pa. However, Kawati had done a great job of barricading himself and his men in the middle of his new fort. His entire intention was to withstand the cannons and firearms of the British. He did this by digging bunkers and tunnels between the areas of the fort. There were zig zag walls to attack at various angles. In fact, the British were so impressed with Kawati’s fort that they used the same methods in WWI, which was then known as Trench Warfare.

Our "chief" being welcomed at the Meeting House

Our next stop on tour was the Carved Meeting House, a house built and opened in 1940 to face the Treaty House, Busby's original residence that was closed for remodeling the day we visited. The houses are facing each other as equal parties to the Treaty. Outside of the Meeting House, we were welcomed by the Maori doing a impressive and slightly frightening welcoming dance. The men performed a highly choreographed seeming attack with their spears and angry looking faces. The lead man even came all the way up to our volunteered “chief” from the crowd, thrusting his spear at him a couple of times with a menacing looking face. Our “chief” had to bend down, pick up the leaf peace offering without losing eyesight of the Maori poised in front of him with a spear and slowly back up. Then, we were all invited into the Carved Meeting House for a show.

Showing off taiaha skills

The show consisted of singing and showmanship with a few different weapons. It was very entertaining! The meeting house itself is beautifully carved. We had to leave our shoes outside the door.

Bust with traditional facial tattoos

After all the excitement, I made a trip to the Museum. The museum was informative and gave equal coverage to both Maori and European New Zealand history. Even entering it, there were parallel information on the Maori and the Europeans. Then, throughout the museum, there would be an exhibit with a Maori and an accompanying European. One room dealt entirely with the two treaties and the discrepancies. There was even a 14 minute video on the treaty signing, mostly with Maori talking about what they thought of the treaty.

2017-10 The Rock Adventure Cruise

Twenty-four hours on a boat. This sounds daunting for me, the girl who can barely handle three hour party boat rides. Yet, now we're on the boat "The Rock" for our 24-hour adventure ride. We had spied the boat while we were sitting on shore, trying to decide if that sad looking blue ferry in the bay was possibly the houseboat we were looking for. It turns out it is. It also turns out that it looks much bigger and nicer on-board.

Heading out on the Rock

Originally, The Rock was a ferry. Now, the first floor houses a bar, game area, room to share a large, communal meal and adventure water sports gear stored in every possible nook and cranny. The second floor is the sleeping quarters for crew and guests. Six of us girls share a room that barely fits three bunk beds. The top bunks are so close to the 2x4s in the ceiling that I repeatedly hit my heading getting up and down from the bunk and experience a moment of claustrophobia as I'm trying to get to sleep. Yet, I sleep the sleep of the happily exhausted.

Fishing off the back of The Rock

After getting settled in and getting to know each other a bit, the crew invites us to try our hand at catching our evening dinner. The crew makes it so easy by baiting our hooks for us and even removing from the line any fish that we catch. Not that we're very successful. The fish are wise to our bait, which they careful nibble off the hooks without getting hooked themselves. We reel in hooks missing bait. Among all of us, we manage to catch three fish, which make pre-dinner sashimi. During our fishing the sun sets behind the islands in front of us.

After dinner, we have the choice to go late night kayaking. It is completely dark on the water in the Bay of Islands. We are far from any city lights. It is also quite chilly. I'm wearing all of my layers; and, still, I'm cold. It doesn't help that our feet are constantly wet walking barefoot around the boat. After being gung-ho about kayaking, I change my mind when they say that we'll get wet butts in the kayaks. Instead, I stay on the boat, gazing up at more stars than I've seen in years. We search for the Southern Cross. Unfortunately, part of it is hidden behind the islands surrounding the Bay of Islands.

In the morning, I don't awake until it's light out (6:09 am); and miss my chance at sunrise. I stumble out of bed with high hopes but see no bright colors behind the islands.

Attempting to see sunrise

After a breakfast where I try my first "weet-bix" (think bigger shredded wheat), it's time to get ready for snorkeling. Now, I've decided to brave the cold weather and cold water since we'll be given wet-suits, albeit not full wet-suits. After we get zipped up in our suits, we huddle together, waiting for our leader. Finally, we've listened to all the instructions; and, he gets us moving with the "penguin dance", getting us to move our arms and legs so that there's some circulation going before we plunge into the icy water. The water comes as a shock to my system. I gasp and then move out of the way of the people entering behind me. Every portion of skin not covered by the wet-suit is screaming at me from the cold. I tread water until the last person enters the water. Then, I swim back to the edge and have the crew haul me back out, sitting gasping in cold on the edge of the boat. That's one way to wake up in the morning. The rest of the guests survived much longer in the frigid water, some even assisting in the collection of mussels from a rock outcropping.

View from the top of Roberton Island

Once everyone is back and dried off, we are dropped off at Roberton's Island, one of the seven main islands making up the 140+ islands in Bay of Islands. To be considered an island in the Bay of Islands, the land form must be at least three meters tall and have something growing on it that is not from the ocean. From where we stood on the top of Roberton (Motuarohia) Island, we could see Moturua, Motukiekie and Okahu Islands along with the Black Rocks. While Roberton Island has some houses along with the Project Song to nest kiwi birds, many of the islands are strictly wildlife reserves. In order to protect the kiwis, there are no pests allowed on the island, including rats, dogs and cats. This is because before the arrival of the Maori and the Europeans, the only mammals (aka "pests" in this part of the world) were three types of bats. Therefore, none of the traditional wildlife in NZ had any defenses against all the imported pests brought by immigrants.

Mr. Roberton bought the island from a Maori chief in the 1800s. The story our guide told us was that Mr. Roberton and his son died in a sailing accident. Then, the Maori chief sent his 13-year-old son to take care of Ms. Roberton and her kids. However, The Roberton's hired hand tried to lord it over the Maori chief son, who killed the hired hand, since it was a great sign of disrespect for a Maori chief or his son to be treated in such a way. The son returned to his father, the chief, who praised his actions except for leaving the Roberton wife and children alone and unguarded. The Maori son then returned to the Roberton's, who were found at the bottom of the cliff on the island. No one knows what happened. Perhaps they thought that the Maori son was going to kill them next and committed suicide? The Maori chieftain, wanting continued peace with the Europeans, handed his son over to a European tribunal to be tried. His son was found guilty and hanged at the age of 15. His name, Maketu, means "cursed child".

Fresh mussels!

Once we arrived back at the boat, we enjoyed a filling lunch of sandwiches (with lots of beet root. I'm going to like NZ food.) followed by enjoying the fresh mussels the snorkelers had gotten in the morning. The first one that I choose still had a bit of seaweed in it. It's last meal.

2017-10 Auckland to Bay of Islands

Kauri tree

After a light breakfast on the 7th floor of Nomad's Auckland, our tour guide packed our luggage in a trailer behind our GAdventures tour bus. Our first stop was to see an 800 year old kauri tree at Parry Kauri Park. These trees are honored by the Maori. The wood was too soft for their type of boats. However, when the Europeans arrived, they decimated the kauri population because the wood was soft and flexible enough to be molded for their boats.

3.49 for avocados and they're not even large?!?

We boarded the tourbus and made our way the Warkworth for a quick stop for snacks and coffee. At the tiny convenience/grocery store, the local Hass avocados sold for $3.49 each while the local strawberries were $5.99/pint! Since both were grown in NZ, I expected the rates to be more reasonable. The avocados weren't even the large Hass. However, I did end up buying and enjoying the perfect, deep-red strawberries.

Goat Island Marine Reserve

Our next stop was Goat Island Marine Reserve, a beautiful island not far from Auckland. The water is clear blue/green. The island is a "pest-free" sanctuary from the pests, like rats, that arrived starting with Maori and then the Europeans. Even the water around the island is protected. In one of the rock pools, we saw feathery seaweed with a little black crab scurrying among it.

Rock pool at Goat Island Marine Reserve

By now, we were hungry for lunch; and, we stopped in Whangarei at the Cafe Press for sandwiches ($14.50 each). So delicious! Even the greens salad was delectable. By the time I was ready to order, there was a 30 minute wait for sandwiches. Therefore, I ordered an amazing quiche instead, which was full of hard-boiled eggs, bacon and cheese.

Quiche at Cafe Press

Next, we stopped at a waterfall. It was small but tranquil. The water wasn't terribly cold (think Barton Springs, for Austinites). From the top, overlooking the falls, we had seen people sitting in the water at the bottom. Just walking down through the beautiful greenery was nice and quiet. If New Zealand is anything, it is green. From the fields to the mountains, everything that we've seen has been a verdant, succulent green.

We finally arrived in Paihia, the jumping off place to visit the Bay Islands. My guidebook mentioned only one site, an Anglican church. It is small but quaint, with beautiful stained glass windows in the nave. Don't know if the "no heels" sign on the door or the fact that the door was just open for people to walk through was more surprising. There is a small cemetery in the back.

St. Paul's Anglican Church, Paihia

2017-10 First day in Auckland, New Zealand!

Finally made it to Auckland, New Zealand! My first impression of New Zealand: cloudy like Iceland but slightly warmer, like Seattle in February. There were even palm trees and trees with different type of ferns/fronds. It is nice to understand at least 70% of the English spoken here! It's spring here and very green. At the airport, my first stop was the "i-SITE" tourist office, where they provided me with a Central Auckland map and sold me on a SkyBus pass for $18 to get downtown. It is similar to an airport shuttle, with large racks for luggage; and, the SkyBus dropped me a block away from my hostel: Nomad's Auckland.

Some interesting things that I saw on the bus:
- All the parks have cricket pitches, even the school fields. There are shorter goal posts at the ends of each field, which someone mentioned is for "footie", also known as rugby. These are the two main sports in New Zealand.
- There are no shingled roofs: most are Spanish style tile or tin.
- Gas at the Mobil station is $1.90 per liter

Nomad's Auckland is in the center of Auckland, just off Queen Street. While it was too early to check-in, I was able to leave my luggage next door in the Mad Travel Shop. This is also the only source of WiFi for the hostel. Sadly the Mad office (and WiFi) close at 7.

Food is extremely expensive in NZ. The hostel receptionist recommended that I go next door to Queen's Kebabs for their $5 lunch kebab. It was completely worth it, even if I did have to keep an eye on the birds wanting my crumbs. Here, the scavenger birds are sparrows. Three sparrows hopped up on the outdoor tables and snatched up bits of lettuce and pita crumbs that we diners dropped on the table.

Sparrow crumb snatcher at Queen's Kebabs

Next, I walked to the Auckland Art Museum via the street one block off of Queen. The street was packed with little cafes and restaurants, mostly Asian (Thai, Japanese, etc). The Art Museum is free except for any special exhibits. It was my first exposure to New Zealand artists. Perhaps the most impressive is the exhibit on Charles Goldie and all the portraits that he did of Maori elders in the 1800s. Surprisingly, half the elders seem to women and the other half are men.

Maori chieftainess portrait by Charles Goldie

The museum sits next to Albert Park. While I was sitting on a bench in the corner to take on the view from the floor to ceiling windows, two young men stopped to question me about why I was traveling to NZ for their school hospitality project at Cornell. While I am a tourist at the moment, tourism does seem to be a very popular field of study (or maybe it's just the people that I'm meeting while being a tourist). After answering their questions, I popped into the cafe for a chai to keep me going. The cafe had more large windows to Albert Park. My server was actually from California, taking time off from the corporate life to work in Australia and NZ. Even in the cafe, two sparrows swooped over our heads and then settled under some tables.

Idyllic bench in the Art Museum, facing out to Albert Park

The server had recommended seeing the War Memorial. Therefore, I packed up and walked past the University of Auckland to get to The Domain park, walking up the Centennial Trail. As I trudged slowly, out-of-breath up the paved trail, students passed me like I was standing still. The park was gorgeous with birds singing, ancient looking trees and conveniently placed benches. After wearing three layers up to this point (long-sleeve shirt, light weight jacket and down jacket), I was down to just my long-sleeve shirt while slogging uphill.

Winter Garden in the Domain park

Within the Domain, the highlights were the Winter Garden with it's cool house and hot house as well as the war memorial. Finally, I made it to the top of the Domain and looked across the many white crosses of the war memorial to the bay down below.

Looking down toward the bay from the War Memorial