Queen Charlotte Tramp and Wellington

It was the best of tramps; it was the worst of tramps. We started out the first day of the Queen Charlotte walk with high hopes and sunny skies. After an hour-long water taxi, it was four hours and eight miles with just a few up and down hills, early dinner and ready for the next day. We awoke on the second day to steady rain. We waited a couple of hours for it to recede, but finally started out, and the rain never stopped. It rained for the entire four hours of the walk. Now we can tell you the difference between rain resistant and rain repellant clothing. Rain resistant, which we have, means the first hour is ok, as long as you can duck under the trees. By the second hour you are kind of wet, and after that you are completely soaked from head to your boots, socks and all. Fortunately, it was an easy hike and not too cold. But we decided that was enough and took the water taxi back home the next morning instead of tackling a 15-mile, eight-hour hike the third day. The real surprise about the rain is that it happened at all. New Zealand, including the Marlborough Sound, is experiencing the worst drought in the past 100 years and hasn’t seen rain for weeks—except for the day of our hike.

We returned by ferry to Wellington on Friday and met our surprise visitor—Phil from Canada. He represents the biotech association in Canada and had a conference in Auckland, so flew down to stay with us over the weekend. Phil used to work in DC with Marshall at the Department of Agriculture, and he and his partner Brian now live in Ottawa. Even though he gets to Vancouver a few times a year, which is about three hours from our home on Whidbey, it seemed easier to hook up this way. We checked out the waterfront and the Botanical Gardens and it was good to catch up with him.

While in Wellington we also visited on Monday with Linda’s friends Barbara and Glen Evans, who took us on a tour around the city neighborhoods and then for a pleasant lunch at their home in nearby Hutt City, where Glen was Mayor for nine years. On Wednesday we had dinner with Marty’s cousin Wendy and his second cousin Victoria, who is a law student here. In New Zealand you can study law as an undergraduate major (four years) and the practice of law is de-regulated, which means anybody can do it once you pass the tests. We were joined by two other law students and Peter, a friend of Wendy’s , who is now chairman of the international board that sets policy for the internet. He said the board had just worked out details to start offering domain names in non-English languages (i.e. Chinese, Arabic). And on Thursday we took a train out to the Paraparuanumu golf course, ranked in the top 100 in the world and the best links style course in the entire Southern Hemisphere. However, like most links courses, it often feels like you are playing in a sheep pasture and wonder what the fun is as your ball bounces through the green into the deep bunker.

Traveling throughout New Zealand for six weeks has been a totally enjoyable experience. Compared to other trips, this has been hassle free, mainly because there was no language barrier. It means we can meet people and get information, from booking hotels to sending a package by mail, with a minimum of problems. The people are friendly, helpful and informal, the scenery is stunning day by day, and the wine is greatly underrated. We regularly have wine for dinner, and sometimes even for lunch—can breakfast be far behind?

So here are a few take-away thoughts as we prepare for the long flight home:

--Traveling in NZ feels like we have gone back in time, mainly because there is such a small population. The entire country has fewer than 4 million people, and almost half of that is in Auckland. The rest of the country is open and sparsely populated. The towns have an old-fashioned quality to them, with central squares and low-rise buildings with shops and cafes and almost no big-box retailers. People have access to the internet, but almost a dial-up mentally exists. Few people are seen staring at their phones and checking emails every 10 minutes, which means people actually make eye contact!

--Although the prices are good for us, thanks to the exchange rate, some items seem unusually expensive. A new paperback book costs about $20 USD, a movie ticket costs about $15, Coca cola costs about twice the US price, and gasoline is about $5.50 per gallon, probably all because of sin and gasoline taxes. We can’t figure out why Amazon, for example, doesn’t sell the Kindle and $10 books here, but I think those kinds of things are blocked for sale on the internet.

--There are large numbers of people who have moved here from other countries in the UK. We met people from Britain, Ireland, Australia and Kenya. Apparently immigration is pretty restricted—people can get jobs here for one year, but to stay longer it must be demonstrated that no Kiwi wants to fill the job. There seem to be a number of jobs available, based on ads in the paper, but wages may not be very high.

--We continued to ask people about the health care plan. Like Canadians they get frustrated that they must wait for “elective” operations such as hip replacement for a few months, but without exception they expressed surprise that the US has not had national health coverage. Most people also have supplemental health insurance, which gives them access to immediate coverage for doctors and hospitalization.

--The economy has been impacted by the international recession, and many homes are on the market, but altogether the country seems quite affluent and middle-class. The number of cars sold is quite small—just a few hundred per month nationwide. Dairy is a big business, accounting for a full 25 percent of the country’s exports (it is called “white gold). Sheep are everywhere, but today there are 45 million compared to 80 million about ten years ago because there is less market for natural wool products. Many sheep farmers are converting to dairy cows. There are more than 400 wineries, and we tried our best to sample most of them. There is a low key conversation about merging the NZ economy with Australia, kind of a small EU concept, but the Kiwis do not want to become Australia’s seventh state, so it probably won’t happen.

-- I always read a big history book when I travel and this time it was a biography of Capt. James Cook, who discovered New Zealand back in the 1760s. He conducted three separate trips from England to this area, and each time stopped for supplies in the Queen Charlotte Sound, exactly where we started our hike. On his last trip he discovered the Hawaiian islands, where the local tribes initially thought he was a god sent to fulfill their visions. After a number of conflicts, however, they decided he was not a god and during a battle he was killed. It was later discovered that his body parts were eaten, according to the cannibalism practiced in that day. I was visiting the national museum in Wellington one day and saw the original robe given to Cook by the locals, an intricate red and golf cape made from the feathers of more than 20,000 birds (back when he was considered a god). It gave me a wee tingle, as the Kiwis would say. Back in those early days of exploration, the natives in Tahiti and elsewhere did not have iron, which they wanted for various purposes (spears, cooking, etc.). In order to procure nails, the women of the island were willing to exchange, shall we say, certain favors. Indeed, sailors were willing to exchange so many nails that their ships were literally falling apart when they left harbor. One of Cook’s men got 60 lashes for trying to exchange a whole bucket of nails.

Today we start the long trip home. The big debate is whether to throw our clothes in the trash here or burn then when we get home. We appreciate your comments and emails and we know others have been lurking in the background. We hope to see you soon. Come visit us on Whidbey Island—it is beautiful in the summer.

Here are the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/thomashall99/QueenCharlotte#

South Island #2

Since our last entry, Marshall and I have spent the week driving from the lower end of the South Island to the northernmost point. The roads are small two-lane highways that twist and turn through mountain passes and along the coasts and it is very hard driving. The land varies dramatically every three hours. In one day we went from mountain passes, through a rain forest, visited a glacier, and ended up on the coast of the Tasman Sea. It is like traveling in California along the coastal highway without the population. Truly incredible. Since we are booking our rooms on the fly, we have become regular users of the government-sponsored I-Site visitor centers. It takes us back to 1983 when we spotted the same kind of centers in Europe and inspired the legendary Capitol Reservations. My goodness, that feels like a different life. I always wanted to develop the concept into this kind of walk-in center but could never find the right location in DC. The main drawback has been lack of internet service. Oftentimes we have used internet cafes in 20-minute segments, so we are forced to race through our emails. Please understand if we have not responded to your emails. Apparently the broadband is charged according to data download usage, and nobody wants to offer wi-fi because it will run up their bill.
The natural history of New Zealand reads like a parable: When the land mass was formed 80 million years ago, it was an isolated Eden. There were no natural predators, so birds that settled in evolved without wings, including the kiwi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi which has become the national symbol. (New Zealanders refer to themselves as Kiwis and the dollar is called the kiwi.) That changed when the first Maori arrived by boat from the Polynesian islands about 1000 years ago, importing rats and other animals. Since the rat has no natural predator, they multiplied like crazy. When the European settlers arrived in the mid-1850s, they decided to do something to control the rats, so they brought in weasels (stoats). Instead of feeding on the rats, they went after the native bird eggs, and they, too, bred out of control. Same with possum, deer and anything else that was brought in. We met one fellow who developed a business back in the early 70s by trapping and poisoning the possums for their fur, which he sold overseas at a high premium. That is no longer allowed, so possum today are the predominate road kill on the highways. The same guy said deer are so out of control that anyone can shoot any deer any time (there are no hunting seasons). Back during the 1930s his father was hired by the government to kill as many as possible, in an effort to control the population. His father killed more than 600 deer, but apparently made little dent. As one guide explained, today New Zealanders spend an inordinate amount of time trying to control invasive species of plants and animals brought here more than 100 years ago. Around the trails predator control boxes are planted, trying to capture them before they attack native bird eggs.
Of course, we have the same problem in the US Great Lakes with the Asian carp, a voracious invasive fish that eats everything in sight, including the native fish population. First imported by Southern catfish farmers to control algae, the carp has now moved up the Mississippi River and DNA samples have been detected in the Great Lakes. Michigan has sued Illinois to require the closure of the main barge waterway leading into the Great Lakes, which would be a huge economic loss. If the carp does get into the lakes it may destroy the native ecosystem and all sport fishing (of course, much of the fish there is already inedible, thanks to mercury poisoning). Here in New Zealand we get a more Asian view of the news, and one story is about the blue fin tuna. It is becoming endangered, but Japan refuses to limit the catch. You get the idea.
Do you have your most embarrassing travel story? We got to revisit ours this trip. This is actually our second trip to NZ. We first came here twelve years ago for about 10 days for a drive around the South Island and then spent another 10 days in Australia (Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef). On that trip we stayed at an eco-lodge along the southwest corner of the South Island, near the glaciers. Fit and vigorous, we decided to do an early morning kayak trip on the river in front of the main lodge. As each of us got in our separate kayaks, the outfitter warned us there was a strong current on the river, so just make sure to stay upstream away from the waterfall. Well less than five minutes later Marshall found herself drifting downstream and I was not able to keep her in the right direction without tipping over myself. In a mild panic, Marshall made a beeline for the nearest bush, which she grabbed onto. Immediately she was attacked by mosquitoes on her arms, face and neck. After a few minutes the outfitter headed our way in his kayak and got us safely returned to the dock. We were, of course, mortified. But the final embarrassment came a few days later when we were on a ferry and talked to some familiar looking people. “Oh, yes, we know you—we watched you out the window while we were having breakfast.”
Now we only do hikes, or tramps as they are called here. We did a warm-up five mile hike on the famous Abel Tasman coastline, and we got a bonus sighting of baby dolphins playing in the water: see a movie clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPBgXLyn7aU
We did another two-hour hike along the beach of Farewell Spit, named by Capt. Cook in 1780 when he said farewell to the South Island. It is just a long spit of land, but it has thousands of black swans in the water. We have spent the last three days in Nelson, checking out the restaurants, farmers market, doing laundry, etc. We also have had a chance to catch up with the big news—Tiger is playing in the Masters! No mention of health care, but we sometimes check the news and follow the high drama.
Next we have signed up for a tramp on the famous Queen Charlotte Track for two or three days, depending on how it feels. If it is too much, we have the option of taking a water taxi back home. Wish us luck!
Click here for the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/thomashall99/NZBlog3#\

South Island

The pictures are self-explanatory, so enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/thomashall99/NZBlog2#

New Zealand Report #1 North Island

We have been in New Zealand for over two weeks, and, responding to popular demand, I hereby file the first blog report. We will be here a total of six weeks, and your faithful correspondent will try to send a few more reports. For those who just want the pictures, there is a link at the bottom.

We decided to travel to NZ this year for a variety of reasons: sunshine, English speaking (sort of), some adventure travel and wildlife, and a decent exchange rate. So far things have worked out as planned. The weather has been delightfully sunny and warm (about 75-80 degrees F), similar to September in the US, which was something of a shock to our system. Everybody does speak English, but with such a different accent and colloquialisms they are sometimes hard to understand. The beauty of the landscape has been astounding. The US dollar is exchanged for about $1.42 in NZ dollars, which is like going to Canada in the old days. Of course, we lose the advantage of that exchange rate because we buy more stuff. New Zealand also has great wineries all over the country, a major incentive.


Before we start, let’s give a quick “shout out “ to the 7th graders in Searcy, AR, who, according to a reliable source (Grandson Reed), have been studying NZ and Australia. So here is a study question: When we left San Francisco the date was Feb. 17. The flight was 13 hours, but when we landed (at 5 a.m.) the date was Feb. 19—we skipped a whole day. Also, when it is Saturday here, we are watching the US news as it is broadcast live on Friday. How can that happen? Hint: What is the International Date Line? Now back to regular programming.

Traveling in New Zealand is not exotic like Vietnam or Morocco, but you have to pay attention because everything is familiar, but different at the same time. We drive on the left side of the road, steering wheel on the right side of the car and manual stick shift with the left hand. Everything works smoothly most of the time, until old instincts take over and suddenly we (actually me) are driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic or forgetting to look right as we enter a highway. We have driven on the left in other countries before, most recently in Namibia two years ago, and it gets a little better each time. We must be ever alert.

And here are a few words that we don’t often hear back home: fortnight (two weeks of time, chinwag (conversation), and bitumen (asphalt road). I will try to record an audio file in the next report, so you can really get a feel for it.

During this trip we are consciously trying not to drive too much, preferring instead to stay longer periods of time in each place. For the most part we have stayed in apartment hotels and self-contained accommodations, which are easy to find. We have mastered the art of buying basic groceries (milk, cereal, salads, pasta, etc), creating our own version of home away from home. It makes us feel like we are eating healthier and not living out of a suitcase the entire time. Tonight we had lamb chops on the grill, potatoes and onions, salad, and desert. Very nice indeed.

We flew from Seattle to San Francisco and then to Auckland. When we arrived we had the usual in-depth security search, but the NZ security was not looking for bombs. Instead, they are more worried about bio-security, checking for any kind of plants that were being imported into the country. They even took my hiking shoes out of the bag, cleaned and bagged them, and returned them to me before I could clear customs.


We spent the first week in Auckland, the largest city in NZ with a population of about 1.3 million and growing, sits on a beautiful harbor. During the week we took a side trip by ferry to Devonport for a wine and jazz event, another ferry to Waiheke Island for a two-hour bike ride, long walks around the Auckland itself, a couple of movies, and a day at the Auckland Museum, mainly to study the native Maori collection (required by Linda Beeman, our friend on Whidbey who used to live in NZ). Marshall also celebrated her birthday (63!) twice—one day for the NZ date and the next day for the US date (see International Dateline above) and we had dinner at a five star restaurant, experimenting with various dishes, included crusted pork cheeks as an appetizer.

Our DC friends Jeanne and Marty put us in touch with Auckland locals Catherine and Peter, who they met while sailing in Greece several years ago. They lived for several years in Hong Kong and Singapore, but now returned to their roots in NZ. They graciously invited us to their home for a dinner, where we met their two mid-school sons and got to quiz them about life in NZ. We are under special orders from Susan in Asheville to learn if their nationalized health care system is really a socialist plot that is bankrupting their country. Here is the quick take: Sometimes they do not think they have the world’s best health care, and they are worried about losing doctors, but usually it is fine. They cannot imagine living without health care, or living in a country where it costs $10K per person to buy health care on your own. NZ does not have medical malpractice, so there are no ambulance chasers. In fact, the legal system apparently makes it difficult to sue for a number of reasons. They noted that recently six school children drowned on a river during a school outing, and nobody was prosecuted for the tragedy. (Another example of liability laws: They let tourists sky jump off the tallest buildings in the city! Obviously their insurance policies are different here.) We will continue to grill the locals about NZ health care whenever possible.


After Auckland we drove through the center of the North Island, in the landscape where Lord of the Rings was filmed, to the Taupo region. On Saturday we got up at 4:30 am to catch a shuttle for the famous 12-mile Tongariro Alpine Crossing Track, described as the best one-day hike in NZ. But by the time the shuttle arrived at the start of the hike Marshall was queasy and flushed with cold sweats and looking very peaked. She tried to hike, but was quickly falling behind. We decided it was best for her to stay near the bus while I took off, because it would be a real problem if she got stuck halfway on the trail. There were probably more than 1000 people heading out on the hike that day, so she was not alone, and she did some hiking for about three hours, but I did wonder how she was doing when I saw a helicopter circling. The hike itself was pretty strenuous, although not as tough as last year’s hike down to the floor of the Grand Canyon and back. (Of course, I did not have the Demarr boot camp program to get me in shape this year!) The hike was incredibly varied, crossing past waterfalls, volcanic lava, craters, dormant volcanoes, sulfur springs, geysers, alpine meadows and a rain forest. I pushed along and made it in six hours; of course, others were running the entire track as a cross country marathon. Marshall and I met up at the bus about 3 pm, and she was still queasy three days later.


The next day we drove two hours to the Hawkes Bay wine region, where we stayed for two nights. We drove to check out the Cape Kidnappers golf course, a fairly new course built along the coastline. I was hoping to catch a good deal, but it is now ranked in the top 50 courses in the world, and the price would have cost over $350, so I passed on that—can’t justify that with a 15 handicap! I later played a local course, which was drab and flat and uneventful and did somewhat regret that I didn’t make the splurge. Too late now. We also checked out the local vineyards, even starting at noon one day. I was very impressed with the wine in the area. We will have numerous chances to compare with other areas as we continue traveling.

While we were driving the coast to check out the golf course, we spotted a local vegetable stand with a sign that said "Tsunami Special," and that was our first realization of the Chilean earthquake. A few hours later it did funky things to the tides and surf in NZ, but no real damage. We have become especially alert to earthquakes, because we learned--soon after purchasing our house--that Whidbey Island sits on a huge fault line (in fact, it is called the South Whidbey fault line) and that small quakes occur on a regular basis. Time to buy earthquake insurance after all.


From there we traveled to Martinborough, a village in the south end of the island, and finally into Wellington, where we stayed at the luxury Intercontinental, did some preliminary sightseeing, an Indian dinner, and then got up early the next day for the ferry from Wellington to the North Island. We will pick up the next entry of the blog from there. Here is the link for photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/thomashall99/NewZealandBlog1#