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New Zealand: Up North November 8 - 21, 2006
New Zealand's Beginnings
In Search of What Fascinates
I never had much interest in history, with the lines of
succession and battles over borders always boring me. And even monumental
achievements like fine castles and grand cathedrals only hold my attention
for a short while. But our traveling life has made it crystal clear that I am
fascinated by the ancient beginnings of things, like how, why, where and when ceramics, metals and glass came to be made--and even 'why not' in some
instances.
"Older is better" for my interest level, but even ancient
politics hold my interest only long enough to understand the fundamental
differences, like that the Romans were initially driven to expand as a defensive
tactic; the Greeks expanded because of lack of food for their ever-growing
population; and agriculture made prolific by the annual flooding of the Nile
kept the Egyptians content to stay home.
Beyond that, their political histories also rapidly become the blur of following
family trees that puts me to sleep.
Fully understanding the narrow slice of history
I find intriguing had me a bit worried about being restless in New Zealand, as
learning history (and languages) has become an important source of pleasure in
our cycling life. And with New Zealand's occupation by humans spanning less than a
thousand years, its history is in the era that generally leaves me yawning.
(Learning Maori seemed like a waste of time as only a third of the Maori speak
their language.)
Grand-Scale Geology
But luckily I was wrong--New Zealand has some
riveting history--its that it goes back about 85 million years.
Suddenly tracing the course of the super-continent Gondwana drew me in, whereas
in the past I didn't bother to learn how to pronounce it. Gondwana consolidated
as a land mass 680 million years ago and for much of New Zealand's history, New Zealand was
a strip of submerged rock debris off Gondwana's coastline. In the course of most of Gondwana's
history, life wasn't much bigger or more complicated than that represented by
jellies, corals, and anemones. Eventually, New Zealand broke through the water line, then away from Gondwana and was soon
on a
course for isolation near the south pole, toting the now more complicated life forms, including a few
dinosaurs.
Breaking off 85 million years ago was pivotal in making New
Zealand unique as it headed out before mammals and their cousins the marsupials
evolved (or if it had any, they didn't survive). It wasn't until fully evolved humans touched the land that New Zealand had any
land
mammals. Instead, birds, insects, and a few types of reptiles filled all of the usual
ecosystem niches, as well as those of the missing mammals. Birds especially
flourished as they had no significant predators.
Learning this early history hooked me in and I became
intrigued by New Zealand's ancient past and how it is reflected in the flora,
fauna, and terrain
we were and would be seeing. In our first minutes out of the airport I was
struck by the sound of unseen birds--not a usual airport grounds sensation amid
the too plentiful exhaust and noise. And in the many urban parks we walked
through or sat in our first days in Auckland, birds were always a prominent part
of the background, constantly reminding me of the country's unusual ancient history.
The Polynesians and Maori
Humans arrived late on the scene in New Zealand and the conventional wisdom is that there were no human
settlements, or mammals, in New Zealand until the 13th century ce with the arrival of the bold
northern Polynesian mariners in their dug out canoes, probably traveling from
the north almost
2,000 miles to get to New Zealand. But as is often the case when we arrive at a
location, the less discussed and still debated fragments of history surface.
In New Zealand's case, it is the skeletal remains of a special Polynesian rat
that muddies the waters, as Carbon-14 dating shows that some of these rats were on
New Zealand's 2 largest islands 2,000 years ago.
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There is no evidence of human settlement before the
13th century, but Polynesian sailors were on both islands of New Zealand long
enough to for this kiore rat to become established at the time that the Romans were expanding
their reign in Europe and the Egyptian pharaohs were becoming insignificant. The
introduction of the rat created the first of several modern waves of extinctions
in New Zealand's massive bird population with the next big extinction occurring
after the Polynesians were well settled on the islands.
The navigational ability of these early Polynesians was
astounding and we'll also be pondering the sea in a new way since learning that
the Polynesian mariners recorded their routes in terms of
seemingly subtle tracking of phenomena like ocean swells. The sun, the stars,
and
the swells were reference points and the increasing
presence of birds and the clustering of clouds revealed yet unseen land masses ahead of
them.
As we pedal through New Zealand, we'll be looking for
opportunities to learn more about its unusual flora too, as many of the more
primitive ferns
and conifers on Gondwana were preserved rather than being lost as was the case
on the bigger land masses. The still-active volcanic history will catch our eyes
and divert our attention with its influence on the roadside geology and some
stunning viewpoints. Unexpectedly, there
was going to be sufficiently fascinating ancient stories to further unravel in
our journey through New Zealand to keep our minds occupied.
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Howick Historical Village
Our first day's ride southeast out of Auckland was less
than 20 miles to Howick. We felt a little sheepish going such a short distance,
but the intermittent pounding showers between bursts of sun slowed our progress
as they were accompanied by 30 mph gusts. The almost steady 10-15 mph winds
were hard enough, but the stronger blasts had us giving second thoughts about
being in New Zealand for 4 months. And the need to make reservations a week in
advance would test our meddle as we struggled to stay on schedule on days like
this.
Little did we know that the winds sucking the day's heat out
of our motel room at dinner time were lifting roofs in the form of tornados in
Auckland proper. Wind gusts between 60 and 90 mph were lashing the city. The
landmark tower like Seattle's Space Needle was closed as a precautionary measure
as it was swaying to a worrisome degree. We were disheartened to realize that
none of this had been predicted on the 2 online weather forecasts Bill had
checked that morning or on the TV news, giving us little hope of adjusting our
schedule in the future to the latest weather conditions. But we felt lucky that visiting the Howick Historical Village
had pulled us off the road early that day. Arriving later than we hoped because
of the winds, we postponed our visit until the morning.
Howick was the largest
of 4
defensive communities that the Brit's established south of Auckland to protect
the new city from Maori attacks in the late 1840's. Staffed by the "fencibles"
or retired military men, the communities weren't forts but a somewhat protective line. "Fencibles"
were also sent to Australia, Canada and the Falkland Islands as settlers for
defensive purposes. In New Zealand they and their families swelled the size of the migration to
2500, about doubling the European population of New Zealand at the time.
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The scheme was largely bungled as the Howick site was
selected because the land was cheap and not because it had strategic advantage.
And the men and their families who were lured to New Zealand with the promise of
land and a cottage ended up living in tents or reed huts for years before
getting a drafty cottage half the promised size. But especially for the over 600
Irish that came during the Potato Famine years, it was better than being back
home and none of the fencibles returned to Ireland. The life expectancy of the
Irish fencibles
doubled from living in New Zealand over that of their peers living in the old country. Escaping the
squalor of the Industrial Revolution drove other British retired soldiers to
migrate to New Zealand. Lucky for everyone, the Maori never attacked and over
all, it was considered a successful scheme for promoting immigration if
ill-conceived in other ways.
The current Village is a collection of about 30 original cottages
relocated with the
intendion of educating visitors about life for the early colonists. It was an exhibit that
in some ways didn't have a lot to work with as 150 year old household relics
aren't all that novel and rare, but it held our attention for hours more than we
expected. The information boards in each of the indoor and outdoor displays went
into greater detail than is usually the case. We've admired many an old millstone in the last 6
years, but the Howick display explained more than we'd ever learned before about
the furrows carved into the stone and the need to deepen them periodically and
how the flour bags were often more prized than the contents because of the
scarcity of fabric. We've seen scythes in museums and in use on Alps hillsides
but never had we heard than a skilled user could cut an acre in a day and that 1
of 4 different blades was selected depending upon the crop cut. At each turn, there were new little
gems of information that made this snapshot of life in the 1850's more
interesting than others we'd seen from the era.
The next riding day was a pleasure despite the 3200' gain in
42 miles--it didn't rain and the less ferocious winds didn't warrant pulling out
my new wind gauge. The dark clouds threatened and I thought I heard rain drops
many times, but it never materialized. And by evening, the sky was the clearest
we'd seen since arriving in New Zealand a week earlier.
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When the Auckland 'burb
traffic finally dropped away, we began understanding the enchantment people feel
with the country. It's just plain pleasant. The relentlessly rolling terrain
along the coast delivers constantly changing views that kept us from getting
bored. The sight of one of the many inland canals; hilly panoramas speckled with
curious but calm and clean sheep; roadside ferns that tower 2 or 3 stories high;
and the unfamiliar calls of unseen birds made for satisfying touring. We
expected to be able to
ride for weeks or months with this type of scenery as a steady diet and be
contented.
The Miranda Shorebird Centre
We had feared that the need for making lodging
reservations up to a week in advance, especially in the less populated areas, would spoil our spontaneity. But we quickly got a reprieve as we made a last
minute turn into the spare looking Miranda Shorebird Centre. We knew nothing
about it but hoped it would deliver some welcome nature-oriented tidbits.
Their display boards went far beyond birds and
described some of New Zealand's most unusual natural phenomena, like cheniers.
The cheniers are cockle shell banks that create mudflat plains behind them that
allow mangroves to begin creating a suitable environment for less bizarre plants
to take hold. Mangroves are very special in that they generate a giant mat of
shallow roots in the salty muck that send up special accessory roots into the
air to get the needed oxygen that is unavailable in the saline soil. We were
captivated, learning about the cheniers and then braided rivers. Next we were
stunned to learn that some birds have magnitite glands
that help them navigate using the magnetic fields of the earth.
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Even though it was a shorter riding day, we felt a need to break away
and get to our night's lodging. But one thing lead to another and we discovered
that the Centre had lodging like the campground cabin we'd rented the night
before (but with the welcome addition of some heat and a private bath--for less money). The
Centre hostess
gladly let us borrow her phone to determine that we could cancel our reserved
campground cabin for the night that was double the price.
Suddenly we were spending the
night at a birder haven and had time to take the nature walk to see some of the
phenomena we had just read about. All of that combined with the grand New
Zealand geology book and bird identification flip chart made us feel back in
control of our itinerary--at least for a day.
Our stay at the Shorebird Centre jump started our bird
watching from the usual sightings of city pigeons, little brown birds, gulls,
and mallards to include a white heron, dozens of white-faced herons, several
pied shags, and even more pied stilts. Over the next days, we were pleased to
recognize a black-form Varied Oystercatcher with its brilliant orange beak, a
kingfisher, and a pukeha (all of which eluded our camera).
Kind of Like Iceland
It only took a few hours in New Zealand before we found
ourselves making comparisons with Iceland and the museum education reinforced
the links. The most striking similarities seemed to be driven by both countries
being small, contained, and isolated, with recent histories of
settlement by Europeans and eventual prosperity.
Iceland and New Zealand have similar geographical and geological backgrounds
with volcanoes, glaciers, fjords, and their proximity to the poles. All of those
elements contribute to the natural beauty they share, a beauty which attracts outdoors-oriented
tourists to both islands.
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Both islands were devoid of human occupation until ambitious mariners
established settlements about a 1000 years ago, with the Vikings settling
Iceland and the Maori ancestors settling New Zealand. They have similar social
histories as their relatively small current populations were under the rule of
Europeans outsiders until 1940's, though with 1 big difference: Iceland was
originally settled by Europeans and then dominated by outsider Europeans until the 20th
century; New Zealand's initial human settlement was about the same time, but by
Polynesians whose heirs were dominated by Europeans in the middle of the 19th century.
Both cultures were basically subsistence living until the
late 19th or early 20th century, with the sheep raising industry
increasing over the decades and then rapidly
changing as the rural folks moved to the cities in recent years. Both islands
have very high prices, even on locally produced goods. And both receive tourists
with open arms and have special bus systems that have evolved to support campers
and hikers and some unique lodging arrangements to help out budget travelers.
One immediate difference between the 2 islands was the
climate induced vegetation differences. Iceland's oldest living tree was planted in the
20th century and new little stands of trees are their pride and joy. In
contrast, New Zealand has an abundance of flora and fauna, with some of the
trees having ancestors dating back to Gondwana. And the heavy sweet scent of honeysuckle now
growing wild along side the road; the enormous, near tropical Bird of
Paradise plants in bloom; and the giant date palms made it clear that this wasn't
Iceland, despite the other similarities.
The relatively small populations is reflected in the road
systems of both island nations, and on both we encountered many one lane
bridges, even on primary roads frequented by freight
trucks. Another marker for a smaller
and less dense population was the frequency of drivers making U turns--something
that you have to be ready for at any time in both countries.
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Both Iceland and New Zealand have smaller towns that, rather than look charming, look like they came out of the old US TV show "The Twilight Zone." They are old boom towns that have survived and are making awkward looking attempts at becoming gentrified. Places in New Zealand like Thames and Coromandel Town in the north were boom towns during the gold rush days in the mid 1800's and still look like they are stuck in the past--perhaps the 1950's. Most of the downtown businesses are 1 storey, with a few 2 storey buildings. Most of the homes are modest, square abodes without foundations and with corrugated sheet metal roofing. Most look like they have seen better times recently, as most are very tidy, in good repair and freshly painted. But they still looked locked in the past to us, just like small, old boom towns we've seen in Alaska and in Iceland.
Boldly Going Their Own Way
We noticed the easy going affect of New Zealanders before we
left the Auckland airport and it drew our attention daily thereafter. Watching the TV
news our first few days in the country highlighted it even more. The blunt
side-comments during the coverage of the US mid-term elections had us simultaneously laughing
and gasping at opinions that would be far too indecorous for the US nightly news.
We were also stunned at the chuckles amid the news host banter about their
preferred modes of execution for Saddam Hussein at the conclusion of his trial. A
TV ad sponsored by the New Zealand tourist board made a crack about the kids enjoying the
scenery in New Zealand as one was shown puking by the side of a winding coastal
road. A casual frankness in New Zealand displaced the relatively stiff correctness we expect to see on TV.
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And that readiness to be disclosing in the media made me take a second look at a
billboard-sized real estate "For Sale" sign that stated "Ignore all previous
prices, vendor will meet market." A few days later the city limits welcoming sign read:
"Coromandel welcomes careful drivers. We have 2 cemeteries, no hospital."
And a very accommodating wood man's posted sign read: "Drop off your trailer,
pick it up on the way home" presumably loaded with firewood.
New Zealanders also kept turning our heads with some of their own
solutions to problems, like a common breakfast menu item being spaghetti on toast
(we assume canned spaghetti).
Another independent-minded approach
that caught our eye was
stringing the telephone wires over the ocean on poles set in the ocean floor:
"But, but, but...you just don't do that...." was all we could think at the sight
of them.
And the topics that get time on the news are a little
different too. A recent big story was the spotting of several icebergs now visible from New
Zealand that broke away from Antarctica 5 years ago. That story got nightly
coverage for over a week, including interviews with folks paying for a fly-by over the
bergs. In this era of too much eagerness for "regime change" we were disappointed to learn that a number of island countries in the
region, like Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Tahiti, have volatile
political situations that New Zealand is trying to recruit the US into solving.
On a lighter note, we have to give the Kiwi's credit for
innovation in the souvenirs department for
the chess set with the
play pieces being fanciful sheep and another board game using sheep and sheep
dogs for the playing pieces. The concept was better than the execution or I might of had to buy one as
sheep have become an icon for our travels.
(And breaking news suggests that neighbor Fiji also has its
own way of doing things: the military coup scheduled for Friday was being
postponed until Monday because of a rugby game--apparently even the weekend is
an unacceptable time for a coup.)
Waihi Gold Mine
Though the scenery our first days on the road in New
Zealand was very pleasant, there weren't many distinctive tourist sights to
visit, so we started digging a little deeper to find some. Our figurative
digging quickly yielded a literally large hole: the still active open pit mine
at Waihi Gold Mine on the Coromandel Peninsula up north.
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A huge seam of gold and silver was mined from the 1870's until the early 1950's at the site of the open pit mine. In the 1950's, the internationally noteworthy, discreet seam was tapped out so since then the smaller seams have been accessed using open pit mining. At today's rates, a yield of 1 gram of gold per 1 ton of ore is economical mining here and they produce about $1million of gold a week from the ore in this mine.
Aggravations for New Zealand Cyclists
The Weather
The end of our second week in New Zealand had us wanting to leave. Unlike the
previous rainy, blustery, days, now there was no let up. Before, we could always
count on the weather changing in an hour or 2, but not on this day. The only
variation was in how hard it rained and in how hard the wind blew. Fortunately, it
was planned as a short day, as we were desperate to get off the road. It wasn't
suppose to be like this: we'd traveled to the southern hemisphere to escape the
trials of winter riding only to be clobbered by this hideousness.
We did have to admit that it was spring and not winter
weather as the temperature was in the low 60's instead of the 30's or 40's as it
might have been at home or in Europe. But nonetheless, it had all the cyclists
scattering. We'd seen 2 other pairs of cyclotourists that day and they were all stopped
under an awning in our destination town in the early afternoon when we arrived.
The German
couple we'd seen several times were bagging it and arranging to take a bus to
wait-out the storm for a couple of days in the bigger, inland city of Rotorua. The NZ couple were
pressing on for the rest of the day but instead of camping as usual, were going to hole-up at
the home of a friend to wait out the weather. Having a week's worth of reservations lined up, we
resigned ourselves to sticking to our plan and heading out into another
miserable day in the morning. Our compromise was to decline to stay at the very
sorry looking hostel where we had reservations for the night and get a roomier
motel with a heater to sooth our nerves and dry our gear--thank goodness the
hostel hostess let us cancel without a penalty.
We couldn't believe the next day would be so terrible as our
limited experience had shown NZ weather to be incredibly changeable, and
changeable multiple times per day. We just hoped we were right as the next day
was almost twice the mileage, once again dictated by the sporadic clustering of lodging.
By dinner time, the rain had finally stopped and discrete
clouds were visible and by nightfall, we'd spotted several patches of clearing sky
and the non-stop winds had slowed to breezes. We wondered if we'd see the other
cyclists
on the road in the morning. Dry but still discouraged by the weather in general,
we headed out the next day hoping for an improving trend but this November would prove to be
an especially bad one from a weather standpoint.
The Traffic
We were pelted by wind accelerated rain drops several
times the next day but the weather did finally improve with a combination of a
change in weather systems and moving into the typically warmer and drier Bay of
Plenty region. But it was hopping from the frying pan into the fire as now we
were in fierce freeway-like traffic for the next several days. The truck and
trailer rigs charged by in packs, with many being loaded log trucks. The combination of
their fast speeds, the narrow lanes, and the ever-present winds made for
stressful riding. And New Zealanders, whether in cars or trucks, aren't too
gracious about sharing the road and tend to ride the white line regardless of
the absence of oncoming traffic.
Every 4 miles or so we pulled off the road to let the tension
ease in our bodies from straining to control the bikes so precisely and to let
the roar of traffic drain out of our heads. Talking with each other was out of
the question most of the time because of the steady din of engines and wheels on the
unusually noisy asphalt.
At least there were usually shoulders on the roadways, unlike on previous days,
but they narrowed down to nothing on the frequent small bridges. Vehicles rarely
slowed to accommodate changes in the conditions and we crossed our fingers at
each bridge hoping to make it over without a truck passing in each direction.
Only once in several days of riding did a car slow to help us out in a tight
situation.
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The Country's Changing Culture
The assaults on our nervous systems took an irksome turn
to more direct confrontation with some motorist pitching their greasy French
fries slathered in ketchup on us. I took the brunt of it on my shoulders
and we immediately pulled off the road to wash off before the afternoon sun set
the stains for good. Angry and violated, we scrubbed the mess from our clothes and
bikes with the
detergent stored on Bill's bike frame and our drinking water. Had the glop
landed on our faces and obscured our vision, we could
have been hit by one of the vehicles in the stream of heavy traffic before being
able to stop on the uneven
shoulder.
New Zealander's have been very friendly but as with more serious crime, they seem to be in denial about the bad
behavior creeping into their world. When we've been assured on the phone by a lodging host that
there is a secure place to
keep the bikes at night, it often turns out to be leaning on the building in their front yard. Not locking homes
and cars as been the norm, but that is changing. Each night the TV news has the
body count like everywhere else, with a honeymooning Dutch couple being abducted, sexually
assaulted and having their bank account looted with their stolen ATM cards just
after we arrived. Men
wielding machetes at shop owners; tying up and beating to death a man in front
of his young son at their home; and the other more usual murders dot the news.
It's hard for us to accept the reassurances "Your bikes are
safe here" with the crime we hear of in the news and the absence of any bikes sitting outside other than those with a
hefty coating of rust. No doubt the overall crime rate is low but I suspect that
the rate of increase is higher than many want to accept. I have ratcheted up my
personal security measures back up to their usual places in the last few days
after initially having accepted the story about how safe New Zealand is--or used
to be.
And Changing Plans
We were disheartened that our next evening's host didn't seem surprised by the 'ketchup
& fries" incident, suggesting that he was familiar with such bad
behavior in his area. We were even more disappointed at his quickness to discredit Bill's planned coastal route that
included 8 nights of reserved rooms. Despite the accolades of our local bike
touring guide book, the host emphasized that only 2 of the days would be in sight of the
ocean. Back to the drawing board that night and
after hours of research, a new plan emerged at bedtime. We would turn inland in
the morning, heading almost due south towards Rotorua, a tourist hot spot.
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With almost 2 weeks of plodding along the eastern seaboard of
the North Island and another week planned, we could see that 4 months wasn't
enough to loop around the perimeter of both islands at our sustainable pace. Turning inland now
would take us to
the tourist hot spots that we planned to pick up on the way north to Auckland in
February, thereby clearly setting aside 10 of our 17 weeks to see the more scenic South
Island.
The downside of the new plan was heading into worse weather
in the mountains
and missing a week's break in heavy traffic by being in an isolated area. But the new strategy would
ensure seeing
the best of New Zealand in our allotted 4 months so as not to feel compelled to
return. The daily doses of steep roads, persistent winds, and calling ahead for
reservations were so far conspiring to kick New Zealand off our short list of places to
winter over in the future. The pleasure of cycling was definitely suffering from
the lack of freeways to funnel off the truck traffic and the general lack of
back roads, forcing all of the traffic together on the overtaxed 2 lane routes. The final decision would come at the end of February,
but New Zealand was rapidly moving on to the "once is enough" list for
being seen by bike. But despite our disappointments, it still ranks high on our
list of places to see by 4 or more wheels.
Where We Are Now December 5, 2006: the village of Taihape, South of Lake
Taupo on Hwy 1
Our turn inland towards Rotorua was a success and we've just wrapped up our
tour of the volcanic region of the central portion of the North Island. We are
continuing to work our way south towards Wellington where we'll catch a ferry to
the South Island.
Love,
Barb
