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What You Didn’t Know about Auckland

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On our last two days in this part of the world, we visited Auckland, located on New Zealand’s North Island.  What we found was a very friendly and beautiful city.  Here are the highlights. 

We toured the city by bus and walked throughout its downtown area, especially near the sea.

Within a block of our hotel was Quay Street, and the building ahead is the Customs House.

Downtown Auckland

Auckland’s Skyline

The bus tour began with a drive around the city’s port basin.

Auckland’s Seaport

We also took a drive through some of its residential areas.

Some of its residential areas are built on hills overlooking the sea basin.

Its skyline included a building locally called the “toilet seat” building.  Can you pick it out?

Driving into Auckland

Sadly, we never made it up into their space needle.

Quayside in Auckland

Our Aussie guide and our Scottish Kiwi bus driver got into quite an exchange when comparing their home city’s harbor bridges..  It seemed to be all in good fun though there is quite a lot of competition between the two nations.

Crossing Auckland’s Harbor Bridge

Our bus drive though was quick to counter with Auckland’s Team New Zealand, and that they currently hold the America’s Cup. 

This was one of their America’s Cup sailing vessels.

Auckland also has a War Museum that is a must see.  It was built after World War I because of all the Kiwis killed during that war.

The museum’s central war memorial room, which names the war and the Kiwis who gave their lives for their country’s freedom.

It was well done and included later wars and the Maori warriors as well.

A Japanese Zero

We even got to see more about the Maori culture.

A Maori ceremonial hall

They were great seamen,

 

A re-creation of the sailing vessel that the first Maori used to come to New Zealand, which before them was only inhabited with mostly birds many of which did not fly such as kiwis, penguins and moas, a bird similar to an ostrich but is now extinct.

This is a Maorian war canoe.

It carried about thirty men.

We especially enjoyed driving around their harbor basin,

Tamalo Drive

which offered a different type of New Zealand landscape,

but no less scenic!

As you’ll remember, while in Australia we never got to see a Kangaroo in the wild. The same was true for New Zealand penguins.

Chuck and his stuffed friend, but Chuck underdressed for the occasion. He forgot to wear his tuxedo.

We left Auckland to go back to Sydney for a fourteen hour flight to Los Angeles. It was October 9, and by then we were beginning to notice the hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico back home. Unfortunately, he grew into a monster storm and got to our area in the panhandle of North Florida about the time we flew into Atlanta. It would be more than 24 hours before the roads were cleared enough so we could drive the rest of the way home.

Hurricane Michael

The Real Story Behind Glowworms

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On the North Island of New Zealand is a cave at Waitomo. So many of my daughters’ generation grew up in the 1980s with a Glo Worm, a stuffed toy which had a pajamaed worm body and a glowing head when squeezed. Both girls loved and slept with them.

I had no idea that the concept came from New Zealand, and we got a chance to see the real glowworms of Waitomo renouned for its limestone formations and glowworms also called Arschnocampa luminosa. They live in a cave system which includes the Ruakuri Cave the one we visited.

Wai means water and tomo means hole or shaft in the Maori language. They had known about the cave and the glowworms for over a century.

The glowworms are on the ceiling of the Waitomo Cave. A photo from Wikipedia.

One can tour the caves by boat as there is an underground river, but we toured on foot. We could hear the river though rushing through the cave.

It was important to stay on the pathways through the caves for safety and ecology.

We went through a Glowworm Grotto and marveled at the twinkling glow coming from its ceiling,

It was hard to photograph the worms, as it had to be pitch black to see them glow.

At one point our guide showed us up close the thin strands of slime that the worms emit, a form of excrement, something all of God’s creatures has to do. But still “ewww”.

Yep, those translucent threads are poop.

The limestone formations were also an attraction,

Especially the curtain formations which take hundreds of years to form.

A speleothem called a curtain.

We entered this cave walking down a long spiral ramp.

Going down was easy!

We reached this area north of Rotoruta by bus on our way to Auckland, and this is what was above ground and on top of the cave system.

On the ground above the caves.

The countryside between Rotorua and Auckland was pastoral,

The wooded area is a protected part of the original terrain before they cleared the fields.

Beautiful,

And scenic.

New Zealand is a beautiful emerald green country that reminded us of Ireland.

The Best Way to Visit a Sheep Station

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Well, to visit a sheep station take a boat like we did. I’ll explain later. I grew up around a lot of cattle, but certainly not sheep. In New Zealand, there are over 25 million sheep.

We visited the Mt. Nicholas Sheep Station near Queenstown, a station across the lake and only accessible by boat. This is a high country merino sheep farm.

We toured its high mountain pastures

and marveled at its pastoral panoramic views.

Later, we toured their sheep shearing sheds to learn how it’s done.

This is how much is sheared from one sheep.

One sheep followed us around and was quite domestic.

We even fed her.

While we were eating a picnic lunch we watched some men and dogs bring a large herd down from the upper hills.

The wool is shipped from here by boat, and this was also how we arrived and departed.

They demonstrated how a single sheepdog can work a small herd.

We spent most of the day here and especially enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Rotorua: The Maori’s Geo-thermal Lands

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Perched on the edge of a caldera on a crater lake, Rotorua is a land of geothermal activity as well as the center of Maori culture. Here’s what we found when we visited this hot springs resort town.

This is Te Puia’s Whakarewarewa Valley where we found geysers which popped up in the most unexpected places.

Notice the small geysers near the residential fence.

and the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute

with traditional wood carving instruction and other cultural skills taught to their students to make sure their culture does not get lost in time.

This Maori gentleman is practicing their art of carving.

I call this city the Roto-Rooter city, because its name is somewhat easier to remember that way. It is pronounced Roto-Ruah.

This is a hot springs health resort, and we especially loved the gardens

surrounding the old hot springs hotel,

The ground is unstable with boiling springs.

which sadly is no longer used.

This is a city of earthquakes, but thankfully we were spared any “big wiggles” from the ground below, though it didn’t make me sleep any better knowing we were sleeping on the side of a caldera.

We learned about the Maori,

They performed a ceremony used for greeting strangers.

their traditions,

An example of their beautiful wood carvings.

and their fierce warrior culture.

They were skillful at a distinctive guerrilla type of warfare. The tongue thing was to frighten their adversaries.

They fed us a meal that was somewhat similar to our Hawaiian Luau.

A Maori feast cooked underground.

We spent two days here and really enjoyed walking throughout the town. It is springtime here in October, and their azaleas were blooming.

And we got to have our picture taken with a Kiwi. No, it is not real because they are nocturnal and to do this with a live Kiwi would be abusive. We did get to see them in a nocturnal environment, but they were hard to view.

The kiwi is a flightless bird the size of a chicken.

Milford Sound’s Fiords and Waterfalls

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West of Queenstown on the Tasman Sea is a land of waterfalls called Milford Sound . It is known for its fiords, but on the day we visited it was truly a land of waterfalls.

Milford Sound

We stayed in Queenstown for our third place of residence while visiting the South Island, but we used it as a base for other excursions, including a day long trip to Milford Sound beginning early that morning with a spectacular sunrise, one like I’ve never seen before, which is saying a lot for a Florida girl.

The view from our hotel in Queenstown

The scenery on our way to Milford Sound was spectacular,

On the single Milford Sound road, scenic views are everywhere.

and very diverse. We went from lush to desert and back several times.

but fortunately, as we’ll realize later, it began raining and boy did it rain.

Raining in the Fiordland National Park

Still, it was a beautiful drive,

even complete with rainbows.

A Rainbow over Sheep

And on the way we got a close up experience with a rather friendly Kea, New Zealand’s mountain parrot who was likely looking for a handout. We stopped for road construction and he came to visit.

New Zealand’s Mountain Parrot Called a Kea

Finally, we got to the glacier-carved fiord of Milford Sound and boarded a boat.

We took the Milford Mariner with its picture windows for awesome views.

Fortunately, it rained and rained and rained; and Milford Sound with its emerald-colored waters,

It was surreal.

sheer rock faces,

Cliffs that plunged into the sea

and for the day hundreds of waterfalls was amazing.

This fjord gets an average of 252 inches of rain a year

and is one of the wettest places on earth.

In some places, its peaks are almost 5,000 ft high.

There were dozens of waterfalls…everywhere you looked.

Everywhere, they cascaded down the cliff faces, some over 3,500 feet in length.

Up high some smaller waterfalls disappeared in the wind and never reached the bottom.

On the walls of the fiord are rainforests.

We even traveled out its narrow entry and out into the Tasman Sea. Its narrow passageway is why it remained undiscovered for so long.

It was a beautiful day at Milford Sound; but because of the low ceiling, we had to go back by bus instead of by air as planned.

Secrets to Bungee Jumping in New Zealand

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Did you know that New Zealand is where commercial bungee jumping actually began?  Well neither did we!

We recently went on a Road Trip on the South Island of New Zealand.  Driving from Mount Cook to Queenstown gives one an opportunity to travel through some of New Zealand’s most scenic areas.  Here’s what we found.

The Crown Range

The views were awesome, especially when we drove through the passes and canyons of this range.  We stopped several times for rest breaks, one at a store called the Wrinkly Ram where I bought several woolens to take back to the states.

The Crown Range

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even the valleys where we followed a river were beautiful as well.

A Valley Within the Crown Range

 

We stopped again about an hour later for a wine tasting at one of New Zealand’s many wineries.

New Zealand’s Wonderful Wineries

 

Then it was on to more pastoral views.  We began to see cows and sheep everywhere.  It is easy to see that this country’s economy depends on agriculture.

New Zealand Agriculture

Bungee!

Finally, we got a chance to go bungee jumping at the world’s first ever commercial bungee jumping site, AJ Hackett’s Bungy.

This girl never hesitated.

Did we do it? Liquid courage was the secret, but it didn’t help. In the long run, all of us chickened out; but it was fun watching the younger people do it.

Didn’t Help at All

Lunch was in historic Arrowtown, a quaint old gold mining village with many buildings dating to the 1800s.  Reminds me of our old west towns.

The Streets of Arrowtown

By User: Bgabel at wikivoyage shared, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22685826

Finally, we got to beautiful Queenstown and its gorgeous lakeside views.   We stayed at the Hotel St. Moritz and had dinner together that evening.

Walking down into Queenstown from our hotel.

How to do the Mount Cook Park in One Day

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Mount Cook is New Zealand’s highest mountain at 12,218 feet.  It sits in Aoraki Mount Cook National park, and its elevation is low by world standards (Mt. Everest is over 29,000 feet.)  It is still, though, one of the most imposing and intimidating peaks for climbers in the world.

Mount Cook

You really need weeks to see the park well, but if you only have one day, may we make a suggestion.  We suggest hiking the Hooker Valley Trail.

We visited Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in the heart of the Southern Alps to get a closer look at Mount Cook.  Here there are 18 more peaks over 10,000 feet high.

Mount Cook and other Peaks Nearby

What Makes Mount Cook So Difficult to Climb

It’s the weather which is usually horrible–that is the weather up there on its peak.  Massive amounts of snow fall year round.   Its glaciers and snowfields are extensive with frequent avalanches.  Its rugged terrain is rocks and ice.

During the short time we were there, we watched several snow storms move over its peak.

Mount Cook’s vertical rise is about 10,000 feet on either side of its range, a long and tiring approach.

Mount Cook on the other side of the Hooker Valley from our hotel.

Mt Cook helped Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand’s most famous mountaineer, hone his climbing skills in preparation for his conquest of Mount Everest.  He tackled Mount Cook in 1949.

Our Personal Experience

We spent two days in New Zealand’s Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.  Our hotel was on one side of the McKenzie Basin and on every side of the basin the Southern Alps scraped the sky.

The Hermitage Hotel in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park

 

We had these landscape views in every direction from our hotel room.

On the second day we took a day hike up the Hooker Valley Trail, a six mile (round trip) trail, though we didn’t realize it at the time. All we knew at the time was that the pamphlet said it was a three hour trail.  We thought, “a piece of cake.”

Our hotel in the foreground and the Hooker Valley between it and Mount Cook

We think they meant it was three hours return from the trail head and not from the hotel because it took us over six hours to make the entire hike, but what a glorious walk it was.  When we added to the trail the walk between the trailhead and our hotel, this was an additional two miles one way.

We walked through much different terrain between the hotel and the campground.

On the Hooker Trail itself we walked on a well groomed path over basically flat terrain, past alpine streams, through desert terrain, and below glaciers in the shadow of Mount Cook.  The mountain is called Aoraki by the Maori and the park is called the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.  The Maori are New Zealand’s native or earliest people.

Chuck on the Hooker Valley Trail

We had views of the Mueller Glacier, Hooker Lake, and Mount Cook all the way.

Lake Mueller

We crossed over three suspension bridges with glorious views in all directions.

2nd Suspension Bridge on the Hooker Valley Trail

This was a walker’s paradise, and I thought several times of my walks with my father over the earlier years of my life.  The two of us walked trails all over America, usually in the early morning hours before my Mom and sister awakened.  We were campers, and we stayed a lot in national parks.  What a great tradition he left me.

Hooker Valley Trail

The scenery here is alpine in the purest sense with its skyscraper peaks, spectacular glacier views, and permanent snow fields.  At night this valley is also a magnificent place to star gaze, a Dark Sky Reserve.

The park sits beside Lake Pukaki.  Within the park is the kea, the only alpine parrot, which we failed to see here but would see later in another part of New Zealand.

Later on the Hooker Trail we hiked past the surreal streams and milky lakes, whose suspended, glacier-ground rock sediment makes the water opaque, a surreal greenish turquoise color.

Hooker Lake with its icebergs.

We went all the way to the end of the trail overlooking a closer view of Mount Cook and the glacial Hooker Lake with its floating ice.

The End of the Hooker Valley Trail

Of course, the walk back was equally scenic but we really felt the miles about mile ten near the White Horse Hill Camp Ground.  My dogs were barking, and we both felt bereft when we realized that there was no shuttle back from the campground to our hotel.  We still had two miles to go, the sun was going down, and it was beginning to get cold.

The Heritage Hotel as seen from the White Horse Hill Campground

A word of caution about clothing, food, and water, though.  Take a packed lunch.  We did, and the rest break turned out to be perfect.  We also took a small bottle of wine and some cheese.  We stopped about 4 p.m. for another good break.

In addition, we layered our clothing.  I got chilly especially on the way back as the sun went down, but had a lined rain jacket to layer over my thin sweater.  So check your weather before leaving.  Finally, take enough water.  We stayed hydrated.

Layering was important. The weather changed several times on the trail.

This turned out to be Chuck’s favorite part of the entire trip.  It was my second favorite, right up there with the Great Barrier Reef.  If you only have one day here.  Park at the campground and take this trail.  What a wonderful walk!

A late afternoon view of the Hooker Valley Trail with a snow storm approaching Mount Cook in the distance.

The Real Truth about Christchurch

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Christchurch is a distinctly English city in New Zealand located on the eastern coastal side of its South Island, but it also has European influences with much Gothic Revival architecture.  However, Christchurch is much more than its façade.  To really know Christchurch one has to examine its people especially in light of their fortitude, tenacity, and perseverance.

A River Runs Through It

A river runs through Christchurch called the Avon, but it wasn’t named after any of the three Avons in England.  Instead it was named after another one in Scotland, the River Avon.  Apparently, New Zealand has a lot of Scottish people who migrated here in the 1800s, who fled Scotland for religious purposes.   The city itself, though, was named after Christ Church, Oxford, in England.

By the way Avon is a welsh word which basically means river, so the translation of the River Avon or Avon River is simply ‘river river’.

The Earthquakes of 2010 & 2011

Christchurch suffered a series of earthquakes between 2010 and 2012, with the worst a magnitude 7.1 in 2010.  Six months later another one at 6.2 struck the city, and over 185 people were killed when thousands of its already damaged buildings collapsed.  There were several more earthquakes which followed.

Since then, an ongoing recovery took place, and Christchurch continues to rebuild.  The city is a true phoenix rising from the ashes.

Down every street one sees construction as they replace the destroyed buildings.

Many of its Gothic Revival buildings were destroyed but many survived and are being reconstructed or rebuilt.  Even now seven years later all over the city we saw cranes working to put back what was lost.

An example of their gothic revival architecture at one of their boys schools. One sees cranes everywhere.

At the centre of the city is Cathedral Square with its iconic Anglican church which was also greatly damaged during the earthquakes.

Their cathedral right after the earthquake and before the clean up. Photo by Wikipedia.

Temperatures on our day there averaged about 65 degrees and our evenings in the low 40s.  It is October but it’s spring here and like early April back in the states.  Flowers were everywhere.

A College Town

We observed several campuses initially believing these were universities but learning later that they were state and high end private boys and girls high schools. They have names like St. Thomas of Canterbury College and St. Andrew’s College.  Also in Christchurch is the University of Canterbury.

A True Remembrance

On the Avon River is a small park with an interesting piece of structure by the river’s edge.  We learned that New York City sent a piece of our Twin Tower’s wreckage as a gift to the city of Christchurch.  The memorial at water’s edge commemorates the 343 NYFD firemen who lost their lives.  Both cities experienced major disasters and feel a bond.

The Avon River

Finally, we visited their botanical gardens before leaving for Mt. Cook.

 

Christchurch Botanical Gardens

Springtime in New Zealand is beautiful especially in these gardens which were founded in 1863.

What’s Better: Australia or New Zealand?

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So what are the differences between Australia and New Zealand?  Actually, there is little comparison.  Both are islands and both are in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition, both were British colonies, but that’s about it.  Here’s a comparison showing how much they actually differ.

Map by Wikipedia showing Australia to the left and New Zealand to the right, both down under the world.

A Penal Colony vs. A Religious Colony

Here’s one great difference.  Australia was a penal colony, a place where England unloaded its burgeoning prison population.  New Zealand began its European settlement as a religious colony.  Maybe it was a good thing that the two countries are over 1,200 miles apart with the Taxman Sea in between.

Governments

Another great difference is how they are governed.  Australia’s governmental bodies are somewhat similar to America.  There are states with state governments, and a prevailing central government over all.  In New Zealand there is only one central government with a unicameral legislative body, a parliamentary democracy.  Both, though, are constitutional monarchies.

Climate

Climate wise they are very different.  New Zealand has glaciers, fertile soils, mountains, lakes, and coastal plains and seems to be as green as Ireland, maybe because it was spring when we visited.

New Zealand (North Island)

Australia though is tropical at one end and arid and dry in its vast middle.  There are deserts and long-term droughts.  New Zealand has droughts but they are short-term.

Australia in the Outback down in a canyon near Alice Springs

Demographics

Australia has over 24 million people in a country of almost 3 million square miles, while New Zealand has less than 5 million who live in a little under 103,000 square miles.  Over 4.5 million Australians live in the greater Melbourne area  alone, which is about the total population for all of New Zealand.  Australia’s GDP per capita is almost $54,000.  New Zealand’s is almost $43,000.  In comparison the US’s is over $59,000.

Economy

Australia’s primary export is minerals (global coal) and New Zealand’s is agricultural (dairy products and meat). Australia’s minerals are owned by its government. Australians may own land but their government holds all the mineral rights on the privately owned lands.

Land in Australia is primarily owned by its governments to the tune of 72% of all land. Thirteen percent is owned by the aborigines and 15% by private landowners. I could find no land ownership estimates for New Zealand other than a ban on land ownership by foreigners.

Natural Disasters

New Zealand has major earthquakes. Australia natural disasters include cyclones, bush fires, and floods.

Languages

Both countries primarily speak English but New Zealand also speaks Maori, though Maoris only make up 8% of the total population.  The indigenous people of Australia make up less than 1% of its population.

 

So what’s better is relative to us individually.  Some will love Australia, especially those who like urbanity and the finer multi-cultural things of life, and others will prefer New Zealand for its long vistas and pastoral way of life.    I liked them both because they were so different.

Four Terrific Ways to See Sydney

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Our last stop in Australia was Sydney.  After the remote Outback and steamy Queensland, Sydney was a breathe of fresh air literally.  It was a cool 55 degrees when we got there, though the days’ temperatures rose to a comfortable 70 degrees.

Sydney is the state capitol of New South Wales, Australia’s largest city, but not its capitol city.  Greater Sydney sits on Australia’s eastern coastline on the Tasman Sea with over five million people living in the city and over 650 suburbs.

Sydney, Australia

The explorer James Cook found it in the 1770s but Australia’s indigenous people had already been here over 30,000 years before him.  We spent two days exploring the city.

Sydney’s Harbor Bridge

Sydney is built around a wonderful natural harbor, and this bridge built in 1932 is a focal point of the city.  The views of the city from the bridge were awesome.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge as seen from outside the Sydney Opera House

The steel-through arch bridge crosses between Syndey’s central business district and its north shore suburbs with lanes that carry rail, vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.

Sydneysiders (that is what they call themselves) nicknamed the bridge “The Coathanger.”

For the really adventurous, one can climb the bridge from the south side for $400.  Climbers wear special clothing and are attached to the bridge by a wire.

They climb in groups with a guide the upper eastern arch of the bridge to the summit, cross to the western side and then descend down the upper western arch.  It takes about 3 1/2 hours.  There were no takers from our group.

We’re told the best views of the city are from this climb.  Still no takers.

The Sydney Opera House as seen from under the Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Opera House

Opera House might be in its name but the center is a multi-venue performing arts center sitting on a promontory in Sydney Harbor.  Its distinctive modern expressionism architecture makes it an iconic Sydney focal point, and a visit and tour became one of the highlights of visiting the city.

The Sydney Opera House as seen from the city.

Outside are pre-cast concrete shells covered in tiles which are striking in the sun.  The building itself covers over four acres.

The inside of the center is made of glass curtains and Australian birch.  Walls are also of pink granite.  We loved its lines and views of the harbor.

Inside the Sydney Opera House

It houses several theatres, a playhouse, a recording studio, gift shops, cafes, bars and restaurants.  We had lunch there and enjoyed the views of the city, its harbors, and its harbor bridge.

Having a drink at the Sydney Opera House overlooking the Harbor Bridge.

Originally estimated at $7 million, the finished Opera House cost $102 million in 1973.

Harbor Tour & Luncheon

One great way to tour the city is from the harbor.  We took a harbor boat tour and viewed many of its suburbs from the water.  Later, we took a bus and toured the suburbs from within.

Sydney Harbor and its boat traffic as seen from the Sydney Opera House

Walking Tours

Of course, the best way to view Sydney was on our own by foot.  We found its downtown streets to be clean and safe, even at night.  It is full of good restaurants and shops, too.

One of Sydney’s Parks

The street in front of our hotel within walking distance of Sydney Harbor, the Harbor Bridge, and the Opera House.

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