New Zealand Odyssey: Indegenous Culture and Natural Beauty -- my 53rd Road Scholar trip! Stevens and I began traveling with Elderhostel, as Road Scholar was then called, in 1996 when they changed the minium age requirement. My parents traveled with Elderhostel, too, so I'm second-generation. Click on the tab at the top to see the entire list.Friday, January 30/Saturday, January 31 [NZ time is 19 hours ahead
of central time, so a day was lost in transit].
The most challenging part of the trip came at the beginning. I got to ORD in plenty of time and the
itinerary allowed hours between landing at LAX and departing for AKL
(Auckland). But it began snowing in
Chicago so the flight was delayed both to de-ice and because of “something
mechanical.” That meant that there was
ONE hour, not four, to get from the domestic to the international terminal at LAX—a
long hike, a shuttle, and an even longer hike.
“Last call for NZ Flight 005” came over the loud speaker as I arrived at
the gate, panting. I made it on board
eight minutes before takeoff.
Sunday, February 1
Though I arrived as scheduled my luggage didn’t. I filed a claim with Air New Zealand. The
agent said the bag would be on the next flight, meaning a 24-hour delay. I reminded myself firmly that the airlines
had no interest in my clothes. I was glad I’d tucked a toothbrush into the
carry-on. A couple from Portland, OR,
and I were the last to arrive and we rode together (RS arranges for airport
transportation). It turned out that many
in the group had arrived a day or two prior to the start of the program
(something I will keep in mind for future trips).
Auckland, day 1: there were 24
people in the group from many parts of the U.S. including four from Hawaii. Five solo women and three solo men. We had
orientation in the morning followed by lunch. In the afternoon local guide Ian
led us on a walking tour of the heart of downtown Auckland. The metro area has
1.7 million of the country’s 5.2 million people. 26% Maori, 26% Asian, 48%
Caucasian. (There were no people here at all until 1500 years ago.) Leisure
time until dinner. I tried to nap but couldn’t settle, so I went out for a
walk. I also bought some necessities to tide me over until my suitcase arrived.
In 1893 New Zealand was the first
country to give women the right to vote in parliamentary (national) elections. (More about that further down.)
Monday, February 2
After breakfast we
gathered in the hotel meeting room for a presentation about New Zealand history
given by Dr. Hazel Petrie from the University of Auckland. She covered
centuries in an hour. It was most informative.
 |
| Aotearoa's creation in Maori legend |
New Zealand was the last major land area, other than Antarctica, to be populated by humans. The Maori came from Polynesia about 800 years ago. Prior to the Maoris the only mammals were bats. Rats came on Maori canoes. More rats came with Europeans, who also brought rabbits, weasels, foxes, deer, sheep, cattle, and cats and dogs. The flightless birds that evolved over millennia without predators quickly succumbed to all the carnivores who found them easy pickings. Some birds went extinct and others are the focus of major conservation projects.
I was unprepared for how big New Zealand is. It’s about the size of Colorado or the United Kingdom though with many fewer people (and many more sheep). We had four intracity flights, each about an hour. Driving would have taken days and involved transversing the mountains.
We walked to the harbor and two blocks down to the pier for a harbor cruise. My suitcase arrived while we were
out and about on Monday. I was mightily
relieved.
Monday afternoon: the Auckland War
Memorial Museum. It honors Aucklanders who gave their lives in WWI and WWII
(ANZAC =Australia New Zealand Army Corps) and expanded to include other wars
(Boer, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan).
Our guide had a great sense of humo(u)r. She pointed at the Afghanistan roll [lower right in photo] and said, "See, Mr. Trump?"
The Auckland Museum is also a
natural history museum. We could have spent hours in the galleries.Left: the moa was the largest bird that ever lived. 12' tall, 500 lbs. It was flightless and went extinct 600 years ago.
Monday evening: We took the ferry across the bay and had dinner at a dockside restaurant in Devonport. Rotary sponsors the welcome wagon at the ferry in Devonport (across the bay from Auckland). It was closed but I couldn't miss the Rotary wheel logo!
Back on the city side of the harbor:
Lighthouse with a giant Captain
Cook at Queen’s Wharf.
Tuesday, February 3
Morning: Mangere Mountain Educational Centre. Site of a
large (3000-4000 people) Māori settlement that lasted for 800 years. Mangere
means “lazy breezy winds.” The depressions are volcanic craters that are deeper
and wider than they seem to be in the photos. The guides provided a lot of
Māori history.
Wildflowers and the vegetable
garden at Mangere Mountain Educational Centre.
Tuesday afternoon/evening: free
time. I spent it with longtime friends
Vivien and Tony Caughley at their house.
They picked me up at the hotel and took me to their house in Mt. Eden,
an Auckland suburb. (It’s a charming
early 1990’s cottage, renovated and expanded.)
I met Vivien on Rec.crafts.textiles.quilting 30 years ago and we were
both in the RCTQ spinoff Baseball Swap for many years. They’ve been to the U.S. several times but I
had not met them in person. What a delightful visit! (And it was so nice to have a simple, home-cooked meal -- roast lamb, fresh green beans, potatoes, with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries for dessert.)
The quilt is made from a Baseball Swap signature exchange.
Vivien is a textile historian. She curated an exhibit of early New Zealand samplers at the Auckland museum. Dinah Hall was one of a group of three white women who taught a group of Māori women how to sew/stitch British style. Had it not been for Vivien’s research their names would have been lost.
Wednesday, February 4:
We checked out of the Auckland hotel and boarded the coach bus.
Destination Rotarua.
Some sights from Wednesday’s ride
through the countryside.
A coffee break at a roadside cafe.
A slice of mid
century NZ popular culture.
A swinging bridge.
What a delight: Waitomo Glowworm Caves.No photos allowed -- I lifted this one.
The glowworms are
arachnocampa luminosa, found only in NZ. Discovered by the Māori in the 18th
century; in 1887 a local Māori showed two Anglo-New Zealanders. It became a
tourist attraction in the 1890s. We had a guided tour of the cave on foot and
by boat.
The glowworm larvae not only glow but also they
drip a sticky mucus to lure prey. The larval stage can last as long as a year
but the adult (a fungus gnat) live only a
couple of days.
This is my photo (it's legit) taken as the boat was emerging from the cave.
We arrived at the hotel in Rotorua in time for dinner. The first course: NZ green-lipped mussels. Tasty. Stevens loved mussels! (He would have loved this entire trip.)
 |
| Geyser erupting at Waimangu |
Thursday, February 5: Morning: Waimangu Volcanic Valley and Lake
Rotomahana. An early tourist destination to see pink and white terraces
(geothermal formations). Then in 1886 Mt Tarawara erupted and obliterated the
terraces. Lake Rotomahana filled the crater. From 1900-1904 a huge geyser
erupted repeatedly, spewing black water = wai mangu. Our guided tour included a
hike and then a pontoon boat ride on the lake.
Thursday afternoon: Te Puia, Māori
Arts and Crafts Center in Rotorua …but before the crafts there was some spectacular
geology.
Two more geysers that erupted right on schedule.
Te Puia, part 2.
Artisans are paid
for their training. Just 10 students at a time in each field. Only men do
woodcarving (Maori cultural tradition) but men and women learn stone carving
(greenstone aka nephrite) and whalebone. Men and women weave flax. NZ flax
processing is different from European flax. Just scrape off the outer layer
(mussel shell or razor blade), separate the fibers with your fingers, and twist
as many strands as needed. (I will write a followup post about NZ flax.)
Thursday evening: back to Te Puia for
a lavish buffet dinner. Meat cooked Māori-style (called hangi)in a pit. (We saw
the pit and the coals in the afternoon.) After dinner: Māori culture in a
replica meeting house—pohiri (welcome), waiata ( song), moteatea (chant), and
haka (the famous ceremonial dance).
 |
| True-to-weight stuffed birds were heavy! |
Friday, February 6: We checked out of the Rotorua hotel and
boarded the bus. First stop: National Kiwi Hatchery. No photos allowed of
the two adult kiwi (who have an indoor habitat) or the actual nursery but there
is a lot of information in the guided tour. There are five species; we saw
North Island Brown. Largest egg-to-adult ratio of any bird. They all have poor eyesight, good hearing, whiskers. They
are grumpy and territorial. Mate for life and can live 50 years. The hatchery
personnel retrieve eggs in the wild and raise them until the are large enough
to be stoat-proof. (Stoats are small cousins to weasels.) The chicks are
microchipped before their release into the wild.
On the grounds of the hatchery:
kiwi fruit orchard. They used to be called Chinese gooseberries.(New Zealand soldiers were nicknamed kiwis in WWI because their uniforms had badges of kiwi birds. The shoe polish brand was invented in Australia in the early 1900's and named in honor of the inventor's New Zealand-born wife.)
Friday, continued. 550-mile flight from
Rotorua (North Island) to Christchurch (South Island). First stop: international Antarctic Centre
Christchurch. Antarctic travelers from Scott and Shackleton to the US Antarctic
program to tourist groups have used Christchurch. Our tour included bundling up
for a few minutes on the Ice, as Antarctica is called. (Note that I'm not wearing gloves for that staged snowmobile ride.)
Upper right: blue penguins, NZ natives.
Christchurch is the second-largest city, pop. 408,000 (city) and 557,000 (metro area). They are still rebuilding after a 6.3 earthquake in February, 2011.
Later on Friday: Riccarton House and Bush.
We began with a walk through the Bush led by the resident forester. It is the only remaining podocarp (evergreen conifer) forest in Christchurch.
Riccarton House: John and William
Deane came to Christchurch from Riccarton, Scotland, in 1840 and 1842. Though
trained as lawyers they wanted to cash in on land and farming in New Zealand.
William died early. So did John, but not until his wife Jane had a son (John
2). Jane could not inherit but was a trustee for her son. She supervised the
construction of the house. Landholdings grew to 33000 acres for sheep. John 2
had 12 children. The house had 40 rooms and 11000 square feet. Family gave the
property to the city in 1947. It is now a historic house museum and events venue. After the
tour we had dinner there.
After dinner, still at Riccarton
House: Storyteller Margaret Copland told us the stories of Sarah Stokes and
Rosalia Gierszewski who emigrated to Christchurch from England in 1850 and
Poland in 1871. Both women were her great-great-great-grandmothers. The courage of ordinary
women!Copland has won awards for her
storytelling.
Saturday, February 7 : a 50-mile
drive southeast of Christchurch to Akaroa in the heart of the Banks Peninsula.
Beautiful hilly countryside (sheep farms). In Akaroa we started with a harbor
cruise to see Hector’s dolphins, seals, and little blue penguins.
After the boat trip we had free
time for lunch and to walk around Akaroa. I went to the local museum. Akaroa
was begun as a French colony, with settlers signing on in France in 1838, but
they didn’t arrive until 1840 by which time the British had claimed New
Zealand. The French stayed anyway and the town has French street names.
Akaroa: the library wasn’t open.
I
waded at the beach.
On the way back to Christchurch: rest stop at Little River. There’s
a consignment craft shop in the old railway station. I indulged in a package of hand-dyed fabric. (Souvenir photo later on....)
Christchurch sustained significant damage in a major earthquake in February, 2011. Our
RS guide was here when it happened. Millions and millions of dollars have been
spent on repairing and rebuilding and they’re not done yet.
Our hotel was adjacent to the
Turanga — the Christchurch Central Library. I had a few minutes to go inside.
Signage is bilingual. All the books on the shelves were in English. There is a
Māori collection but a lot of contemporary books (fiction and nonfiction) just
don't get translated into Māori.[This is the halfway point of the trip!]
Sunday, February 8: early flight from Christchurch to
Invercargill, but inter-country travel with less stringent security that the U.S. meant that checkin was quick. Invercargill is the beginning of the “southland,” settled by
Scots (obviously).
Ian, our guide for this portion, was a
farmer for 44 years. [A different Ian from the guide in Auckland.] At the peak they had 5500 sheep and 100 beef,
then went to dairy and had 500 head, all pasture raised. 50 years ago there
were 8000 sheep farmers raising 8 million sheep; now there are many fewer
farmers and 3 million sheep. There is no money in wool (farmers have to pay the
shearers and then dispose of the fleece — it goes to carpeting and
insulation—and they are meat breeds (fleece is not suited to making wool). The dairy cattle are mostly Jersey-Friesian
cross. They don’t use Holsteins (as in Wisconsin) because Holsteins are too
heavy and pack down the soil, not good for free-ranging. As in the US there is
a shortage of dairy farm labor. Those jobs are filled by Filipinos and Indians.
Ian told us all of this the bus from
Invercargill southwest to Riverton.
Sunday afternoon: after box lunches at
the Riverton Senior Centre building (just a nice, plain, small-town meeting
hall), back in the bus with a few stops.
 |
| As far south as I have ever been! |
We took a secondary highway through
more farm country (rather than the motorway, such as it is—no Interstates like
the US!) and reached Te Anau at 4 p.m. The town is the gateway to Fjordland
National Park and Milford Sound.
After dinner Ian took us on a walk along
lakefront/park (Lake Te Anau). Lower left: takehe (inside an enclosure; it's endangered and flightless). Lower right: wood pigeon (in a tree; a common bird -- bright white breast).
Te Anau library: Closed on Sunday afternoon (it’s a small
town). There was a sign that the Town Council holds office hours at the
library.
Monday. February 9 A beautiful sunny day for our trip to
Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. 72 miles, 2 hours by coach from Te
Anau. The park was created in 1952 and was designated a World Heritage site in
1990. 4858 sq miles, largest of the NZ national parks (bigger than Yellowstone
and Yosemite combined.
En route: mirror lakes and waterfalls.
Milford Sound: two-hour boat tour with
lunch on board. (A fjord is formed by a glacier. A sound is formed by a
river.).
Many more waterfalls!
It took longer to return because we stopped for a bush (forest) walk. Glorious hike through the temperate rain forest. (Reminded me of our RS program in Florence, OR, in 2000, where we learned about temperate rain forests.)
(Stevens would try the water almost anywhere....so I did, too.)
Tuesday, February 10: We checked out of Te Anau hotel and boarded
the bus to Queenstown.
We were stopped in a New Zealand traffic jam. Ian said there were some 5000 sheep. There were seven dogs keeping the flock going.
A short time after that we got up close to sheep at Real County, a 'farm experience.' 
All sheep need to be sheared for their health. It costs $6 NZ per head; the company gets half and the shearer gets half. She lugged the 250-lb sheep to the pad for the demonstration. Shearing took about five minutes.
Right: herders are descended from border collies, with short hair for the climate. They use visual cues to herd. Left: Huntaways developed from several breeds (Lab, some collie) and use their loud barking to herd.
Real Country also has alpacas which are used to herd sheep (though usually in the Andes!). Deer are farm-raised in NZ for venison and for deer velvet (on antlers) which is a component of traditional Chinese medicine.
On to Queenstown. The city developed in the gold rush days. Now it takes a lot of gold to live here—many new housing developments, pricey real estate, popular for retirees and tourists. We went to historic Arrowtown. The Chinese gold miners were “invited but unwelcome.” The old Main Street is now shops.
Last post for Tuesday: gondola ride
to dinner! The restaurant, StratosFare, has a lavish buffet and stunning views. Top right: looking down from the gondola car.
We spent just one night in Queenstown.
Wednesday, February 11: flight to Wellington.
We flew over snow-capped mountains. They're called “the remarkable mountains”
because they are very north-south oriented.
Wednesday afternoon: Wellington is one of the windiest cities in the world because of its location on the
Cook Strait (east/west orientation). [Chicago is the Windy City because its
officials were such windbags. Look it up.]. Back to Wellington — coach bus to
the lookout at Mt. Victoria. Photo: Sir Edmund Hillary monument at the top of Mt. Victoria.
We short walk around the wharf area (a couple
of blocks from the hotel.) We had a terrific lecture by a poli sci professor at
the university to learn about NZ government. That got us ready for the next day.
Thursday, February 12: We began with a tour of the New Zealand
government buildings. The Beehive (1977) is the executive wing. Parliament
House (1922), the Parliamentary Library (which is still the legislative reference
library).The Old Government Building looks like stone but is all wood. The central staircase is a hanging staircase and is still used.
The guide at the Supreme Court explained the NZ judiciary system.
Photo: David, from Portland, OR, is a retired circuit court judge. He posed with site coordinator Julie and group leader Gill.
NZ National Library and
Archives. We saw the founding documents
of the country: the 1835 Declaration of Independence (giving Maori tribes
(rangatiri)sovreignty), the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi (Maori rangatiri agreed to
have a British governor—controversial because the English and Maori language
versions were not identical), and the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition signed by
25,519 people. [The names have been put in a searchable database.] Upper right: the suffrage petition. They reroll it regularly.
Thursday afternoon: Free time after lunch. Cheryl, Lori, Bill,
Gordon, and I went to WETA Workshop. Special effects, props, costumes and a lot
more for Lord of the Rings, Avatar, and dozens of other movies.
Cheryl and I had a quick walk through the Wellington Botanic Gardens. It’s on a steep hill and we took advice to
start at the top and walk down.
Free time for Thurday dinner. I met Mark at the gate to the Botanic Gardens.
He grew up in Beach
Park (the next town from where I live). Our Rotary Club sponsored him as an outbound
exchange student in 2001-02. After college he came to New Zealand and stayed! He is a consultant with the National office of infrastructure (roads, bridges,
and more.) He and his partner have a
three-year-old and a six-month-old; they couldn’t join us (home is in the
suburbs). I brought a baby quilt to
give to them on behalf of Rotary.
We walked from the restaurant (tapas-style small plates) back to the hotel. The communter train station was just a block from there.
His last trip home was some years ago (he came to Rotary) and now that his family has moved away from our town it's not likely that he'll be back soon -- so I'm extra pleased that we could meet in Wellington.
Friday, February 13: Zealandia is an ecosanctuary (nature preserve) north of the city. In the early 1900s a concrete dam was constructed above Wellington. It was decommissioned in the 1990s. If the dam broke in an earthquake the reservoir would unleash a disastrous flood. Now the area is a square mile with an innovative perimeter fence that keeps out non native mammals—stoats, possums, hedgehogs, mice, rabbits, foxes, deer, cats, and dogs. It is over five miles long.
We had a guided hike through the bush,
mostly in the rain. Trees, ferns, birds, and an interesting reptile. Glorious!
The reptile is the tuatara. The Maori thought they had a third eye that provided knowledge of the past to better guide the future.
We all rode the Wellington Cable Car
(technically a funicular). First opened in 1902. The route is 2000 feet on a
17.86-degree grade.
Saturday afternoon: Te Papa, the
Museum of New Zealand. (Te Papa means treasure box.) natural history and human
history in a beautiful building. A guided tour provided highlights and we had
time (but clearly not enough) to explore on our own.Upper left: a modern-art interpretation of a Maori meeting house. Upper right: the largest squid ever caught. Art celebrates Maori heritage.
At Te Papa: the Gallipoli exhibit.
Wow. It lasted so long (February 1915 to January 1916).
So many casualties.
The
representative soldiers (and one nurse) are 2.5 times life size. (Made at WETA
Workshop that I toured yesterday. They explained that they identified the
people they wanted to feature, then found nowaday people as models for the
figures.)
 |
| Strangers no longer |
We had a lovely goodbye session prior
to Friday dinner. My haiku:Road Scholar five-three / / many
memories, new friends / my life has been changed.
Saturday, February 14: there was one more morning activity! Around
the Wellington peninsula with stops on the shore. Geologist Julian was a great
instructor. Among many things we learned is that Zealandia has been officially
recognized as a continent. We had a picnic
lunch at Te Kopahou Reserve. Left: 11-armed starfish
From there to the Wellington
Airport. WLG – AKL overnight to SFO –
ORD. HOME! I walked in the door at 9:03 p.m. on
Saturday.
# # # # #
I was delighted to learn about suffragist Kate Sheppard and that
the suffrage petition is a cherished national document. Center: she's on the $10 bill (now pinned to my bulletin board). She's the "go" light in downtown Wellington.
Libraries!
The New Zealand dollar is about 75% of the U.S. dollar. I could have bought more souvenirs. <g>
Thanks for reading all the way to the end! I'll share some more NZ memories in the days to come.
