Well here we are in New Zealand and so much we didn't tell you about Thailand. We had hopes of doing a "food blog", a "transportation blog", a "temple blog", a "beach blog" but too much time was spent traveling rather than hanging out in Internet cafes so we'll have to fill you in when we get home or maybe we'll keep writing the blog from home and it will be more as recollections than an "as we go" type of record.
But for now we want to tell you a little about NZ before we head home. Outside of Auckland it hasn't been that easy to find an Internet cafe compared to Thailand. We suppose more people have Internet in their home and the only people looking for the Internet are travelers like us. Very few places in the kinds of small towns we are near have Internet cafes and if they do they close early just about when we are ending our day of being on the road and ready to do some blogging.
So the story begins with us spending 4 days in Auckland checking into various possibilities for travel in NZ. In between we go to see the National Museum with wonderful displays of the Maori cultural tradition in particular and how it relates to the culture of the Pacific Islands - Somoa, Fuji, etc. We also really enjoyed the architecture of Auckland - so many old buildings that have been preserved and refurbished but also lovely new modern architecture and nicely coordinated with the old. We happened to be in Auckland during a Chinese Lantern Festival which was lots of fun to see.
After much investigation and discussion among ourselves, we finally decided on a campervan for our NZ travels. This is a Toyota truck (diesel) with a big back on it. It is a lot like our trailor at Livingstone's Cove except that it is a lot smaller - the double bed is the table during the day and there is an extra sleeping area above the cab. This is where Courtney sleeps with a skylight above her head - she is going to miss seeing the stars when we get home. The other advantage over our trailor is that the fridge works - both on propane gas and/or electricity. This is also true for the heater and the air conditioner! Wow! We are the 2/3 person Super Deluxe Campervan
So this has been our home for the last 3 weeks with 1 week to go. We spend nights either on the side of the road somewhere or in DOC (Dept of Conservation) minimal-type campgrounds or sometimes we go for the big kahuna and get a real campsite in a Holiday Park - these are common throughout NZ and include cabins, tents, campervans, caravans, chalets, power sites, non-power sites - something for every budget as the saying goes.
We got out of Auckland as quick as we could not b/c we didn't enjoy Auckland but there was so much more we wanted to see of NZ and we have been seeing it. The driving has taken a bit of getting use to - driving on the left to start plus the round-abouts found on practically every intersection, the incredibly twisty, narrow highways that go with the incredibly beautiful scenery so it's hard to watch and drive at the same time. Of course Elaine is the second eyes with lots of oohs and aahs both b/c of the views and b/c of the driving!
We read somewhere that NZ is a land of natural wonders and that's certainly has been the case. Around every turn there is something new to wonder at - it's hard to believe that in such a small place there can be so much variety. The whole country is comprised of mountains - you are either driving in the mountains or looking at them. Much of the country is agricultural - loads of sheep and cattle but also deer. What this means is that there are miles and miles of rolling hills and grazing animals. NZ'ers do not make hay and so all the livestock is free range which takes up lots of room. The forest industry is also big - lots of tree planting in very orderly rows and lots of logging and logging trucks on those narrow steep roads. Most of the native forest has been cut down. We spent quite a bit of time up north learning about the kauri trees and the old forestry industry based on them and the kauri gum mining. Got to see the Tane Mahuta - a kauri tree with a 16m girth which is still alive and standing. It is between 1200-2000 yrs old! Obviously a cultural icon and treated as such by the NZ'ers. Also saw a entire staircase inside a kauri tree - David's day was made early that day and Courtney and I enjoyed it as well. The ferns are incredible in the whole of NZ - they are the size of trees and the fiddleheads have stems as big around as our arms. The fern leaf is up to 6' long. As a result the fern is a common motif for arts/crafts.
We also visited an area in the north called the Bay of Islands - beautiful beaches and coves and bays - unbelievable scenery with the mountains and the ocean - very idyllic and pastoral.
One of the favourite things for Courtney was her visit to Hobbiton in Matamata which is in the centre of the North Island. She and David went on a tour of the place where the Hobbit village was filmed for the Lord of the Rings. It was a sheep farm. It is the only place where there is still a set from the film - this because many of the scenes were in Department of Conservation areas and National Parks and the agreement was that everything would be dismantled and the area returned to it's natural habitat immediately after filming. Due to some particulars that we don't have time for right now, this was not the case for Hobbiton. Courtney and David have lots to tell you about the filming when we get home.
Right now we are on the South Island - the trip from the North Island to the South Island across the Cook Strait and through both the Queen Charlotte Sound and parts of the Marlborough Sound were incredibly beautiful as well.
We are on the west side of the South Island - unbelieveable ocean waves and craggy, limestone rocks - VERY hard to take ourselves away from here. We are constantly moving despite wanting to stay longer just about everywhere we go in NZ. Just saw the Pancake Rocks and on our way to the Franz Josef Glacier and plan to go to a little town (pop 30) - Okarito, where the author of The Bone People - Keri Hulme lives. We aren't going to see her but it sounds like a really lovely spot.
Well that's probably just about it until we are home in a very short week. We are delivering the campervan back to Christchurch here on the South Island - nice feature of this system is the pick up in the North Island the dropoff on the South Island. We are flying from Christchurch to Auckland on the Easter weekend, staying one night in Auckland, then flying via Brunei Royal Airlines (another great story) to Bangkok where we stay one night and then off to home via Tokoyo and New York on Japan Airlines (switching to Continental in NY).
Bye for now - our time is running out on this machine. Love to all.
