I thought for all my friends far and wide, and for posterity I would create a narrative about my New Zealand trip with links to the photos in order of our trip.
Overall the New Zealand trip was great. Everyone was right about the people being amazingly friendly – by far our interactions with the Kiwis made the trip.
Getting to New Zealand
It started out a bit rocky from San Francisco though. Mom and I had booked separate flights into San Fran with the same flight to New Zealand. Mom’s flight out of Charlotte was delayed, and it didn’t look like she was going to make our 9:30 PM flight. Her flight touched down at 8:40, and three staff from Air New Zealand was posted at her incoming gate, at baggage claim to get her to the outgoing flight. Mom laughed that I sent the Cavalry for her. If we missed the flight, the tour company (who booked it) would be unable to even think about re-booking us until the next morning at 8 AM, and who knows if we would have had to pay for a new flight…. So mom made it, and two days later her bags made it as well.
Air New Zealand is an amazing airline. The plane was so spacious w/ high ceilings. The plane was only partially full, so we had the entire middle section of 4 seats to ourselves. The flight attendants were amazing, as was the food and ever flowing wine, the entertainment options at your seat were overwhelming, and the seats were big enough that I felt like I was flying business class. Granted, business class had seats that became beds, but…
Landing in Auckland
When we landed in Auckland after the 14 hour flight, we lucked out by being able to check into our hotel at the Crowne Plaza immediately (at 6:30 AM). It felt great to finally be able to take a shower, change clothing, and brush our teeth. We tried to stay awake for as long as possible, and visited the Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World and Antarctic Encounter. Check out the photos of the penguins. I’m also a dork and took some pictures of the signs explaining the coldest temperature and how much rain Antarctica gets. I didn’t realize it was such a dry continent There was also a replica of the original Antarctica research lodge where you can see the cramped quarters with the constant whine of wind hitting the outside of the building. There was also an aquarium shaped in an arch where you can see the fish along the top, left and right. There would be sting rays and sharks swimming over our head. Mom and I were fascinated by the fish that had great camouflage. It didn’t move the entire time we were there, and had to ask a worker at the museum if he was even still alive. The pufferfish and lobster were also really cool there. They also had huge sting rays. The view of Auckland harbor from there was also beautiful. Mom also wanted to have her picture taken by a New Zealand Moa, and I took a picture of the sign so that we could get the history behind the extinct bird.
What shocked and pleased me was that Auckland women don’t seem to wear makeup or work on their hair. I actually had to check to see if they sold cosmetics at all. It was great! My makeup stayed packed away until performance day.
We didn’t make it all day and crashed out that afternoon for a nap. That evening for dinner, I tried food with soy and realized that my sensitivity seems to have disappeared. The rest of the trip I ate what I wanted to – including mayo and pastry- both of which have soy in them.
Road Trip thru the Northland
We didn’t realize until the next day how jet lagged we were. That was also the day that we picked up our rental car and mom made me drive on the wrong side of the road for the first time. Luckily Auckland isn’t a busy traffic city. My first day of driving was pretty intense – probably 7 hours of driving and almost all of New Zealand is switchbacks – 30-50 different left than right turns and a “shortcut” that turned out to be a lonely dirt road – at night, through the woods, in the rain.
We stopped off briefly at Eutopia which was an outdoor hippy café. I took pictures of the scene from the road, the entranceway, the fountain, the carvings, crystalis and butterfly in the larger meeting room, and even the stone work on the toilet.
We stopped often along the route to take pictures of the landscape, and signs for railroad crossings, areas were you need to take caution and random birds and yet more landscapes. The light in the Northland was incredible, so bright and intense.
Got to see the huge Kaori tree out in the boonies, and the energy and sheer size of the tree was amazing. Turns out it’s the second oldest tree in the world. The walk in was tropical and getting quickly dark. I finally convinced mom to stop for dinner even though we were close to our hotel. I was starving and cranky. Even though the town didn’t look promising, we found a great restaurant where mom got carrot salad with apricot yogurt. So yummy! It was also were I took pictures of the weird toilet for Dad.
Cable Bay
Our hotel for two nights was probably our favorite place to stay during the entire trip. It was the Driftwood Lodge Motel in Cable Bay – and faced the beach. Totally magical. Due to jetlag, it was impossible to stay asleep after 5:30 AM, so I saw quite a few sunrises (1, 2, and 3) there. Mom was impressed to see the sun rise up over the Pacific Ocean. It was so relaxing to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean. This place was right on the ocean and had a kitchen, so we had a good breakfast. We had bought groceries the day before.
90 Mile Beach
We took a trip to Cape Regina with “Dune Riders” which picked us up at the town's ice cream shop, next to a cool tree. Instead of taking a bus tour, we were in a military 4 wheel drive vehicle converted into a short bus. I’m so glad we took a tour up there – the roads on the way were also dirty road switch backs with no shoulders. Our guide (of course) took them at a crazy speed that almost made us nauseas. Even though we were bundled up, he spent the day in shorts and a T-shirt with no shoes. Cape Regina is the top of New Zealand where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific. It was a gorgeous site. We took some pictures of Cape Regina –which is a native spiritual site where the spirits of the Maori people head off into the ocean—and pictures of the lighthouse with a description, and the sign that points to all other locations from the top of New Zealand. There's also a picture of mom and one of me, to prove we were there.
Mom got a chance to put her feet in the Tasman Sea, and I took some gorgeous photos of the beach on the Tasman Sea side. The water there (even though it was their winter season) was warmer than Maine in the summer, so mom and I waded in enjoying the surf. I got a chance to sand board off the sand dunes, and gather clams (tuatua) along the beach. If I had known we were providing our guide with a way to get around the 150 clams per person per day harvesting rule (or if I had thought ahead) I would have brought our own container for clams. Ah well. I did try eating some raw on the beach. The 90 mile beach is actually New Zealand’s Route 1 highway, and you can get stopped for speeding along the beach by New Zealand police. At the end of the day, we enjoyed some local fish and chips with our fellow “Dune Riders”.
Kerikeri
The rest of our time in the Northland was learning about the founding history of New Zealand and sampling the local food and arts. We stopped by a local farmers market where we picked up brie, tasted hazelnuts, mom got to try persimmons for the first time and we picked up local mandarin oranges as snacks for our trip. We also got to experience the standard toilet for New Zealand public toilets which includes a wooden toilet seat linked to the stainless steel toilet bowl, w/ metal bolts protruding from the wooden slats. I learned more about how to drive on the left, and took pictures of their cute railroad crossing sign.
In Kerikeri we found a mug for my brother at a local pottery studio, and found a fabulous café where they brewed their own coffee, and we enjoyed one of our many delicious meals that used pumpkin. We also learned about the first English settlement in New Zealand, you can see my picture of the original stone store, signs for how to handle the one lane bridges, and a few of the traditional Maori village. The village had small buildings, low ceilings, barely room to get in. It was rainy and Mom thought it must have been miserable living there.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds
We also went to a museum that told the Maori side. I took a few pictures of the carving at the door to the museum and a few close up ones from dad (who is a wood carver himself). It was amusing how sterilized the English version was – the Maori version definitely painted Maori as originally sets of warring tribes that slaughtered the foreigners who landed in New Zealand – only aligning with England when they needed protection against other less appealing foreigners who were landing there. The English version talks about how they “saved” the Maori from killing themselves off due to fighting between the tribes. I took a few pictures of the totem that was next to the movie screen which told the Maori side of things.
We saw the site where they signed the treaty aligning the Maori with the English, and enjoyed the carvings in the Maori meeting building (here are the carvings). I also took pictures of the war canoe and the carvings on the building that protected the canoe.
Paihia
The view of the Bay of Islands as we drove into Paihai was gorgeous. That night we decided to stay in a backpackers hostel called the Mousetrap. It’s like a student’s dream group housing. I had to take pictures of the two living rooms (with a fireplace in between), the strange ocean netting above one of the living room spaces, the piano, the kitchen and kitchen nook, the outside porch, the backyard tropical area, and the outside laundry facilities. The view from the building was also gorgeous, as were the tropical flflowers that were growing outdoors. (More flower pictures here) Unfortunately the buildings are not insulated and it was so cold. We got extra blankets and went to bed early to get warm (Maine-style).
Kawa Kawa –
The one thing that Mom wanted to see on this road trip was the Hundertwasser Toilets. These are art deco toilets created by an Austrian artist. Just part of her ongoing art appreciation touring. They reminded us of Dad’s creations – bottles imbedded in cement. So we took pictures for Dad - including nearby buildings
Kaiwiti glow worm caves
The one thing that I wanted to see was a glow worm cave. In planning for the trip, I had thought that we would not be able to see the glow worm caves (because I thought they were only in one location in New Zealand not on our route, but Mom had found mention of one in this area ). I was excited when we drove by a location that advertised that they had glow worms. It was such a neat experience. Our guide was the 14th generation of her family to take care of the glow worms in the caves, and she expertly guided us through the caves with warnings about avoiding “knee bashers” or “shoulder bashing” stalagmites and stalactites. And she explained the difference in a way I’ll finally be able to remember…Stalagmites are using all their might to reach for the ceiling, and stalactites are holding on tight to the ceiling. It turns out glowworms exist throughout New Zealand wherever there is an abundance of bugs, water, and damp underhangings. We wandered in, and once the lanterns where turned off, the ceiling above looked like the milky way – thousands of tiny lights. It was magical even if I was looking at the glowing poo of the worm.
Whangeri
We also took in the Whangeri Falls. Not anywhere near as impressive as falls I’ve seen, but I took pictures anyway. In Whangeri we stopped near the harbor to have lunch, our daily afternoon coffee, and mom convinced me to check out the national clock museum that was nearby. Have to admit, I was skeptical about paying the $ to get it. I completely thought it was going to be a waste of money, and I wasn’t quite captured with the place until one of the volunteers who worked there decided to give us the tour. So here’s the background. There’s this guy who LOVES clocks and music boxes, and goes overboard collecting them. Then he runs out of space, and decides to start a museum. Our friendly volunteer (who I wish I had taken a picture of) started telling us all the history of the clocks, how old they were, where they were made, and started to turn them on for us. Here are some of my highlights:
The duck clock run by magnets underneath the pool of water with a rubber duckie floating…no matter how you shake up the pool, the duckie always finds it’s way back to pointing at the right time.
The windup clocks – the one with birds flitting about just can’t be done justice with a photo – it was hard to see how the birds where flying, and considering it was made over 150 years ago, it was totally impressive. There was another one with a dance performance. There were cuckoo clocks, 24 hour clocks, impressively painted clocks, Ferris wheel clocks, Victrolas, and even an Elvis clock. The weird dog on the shelf felt out of place until the volunteer picked it up like it was alive and asked me if I wanted to pet it – she deftly pulled a string and it looked like it was going to take my hand. A watchdog it seems made out of paper mache. Knowing we were American, she even put a John Phillip Sousa record on a huge music box that used to live on a steamer ship to entertain the seafaring passengers.
Our trip shifted in feeling once we met up with the rest of the Washington Women’s Chorus in Auckland. Gone was the rental car (and I was glad to no longer be driving) and we joined a bus tour. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had less ability to stop wherever and take photos when we wanted. And in returning the car at the airport, I had my only moment switching to the wrong side of the road. Delirious at 5 AM, I’m just glad that there wasn’t much traffic on the road. It made me freak out though, and certainly got my heart racing.
Rotorua
Along the way to Rotorua we stopped to enjoy some corrugated sculptures, and I picked up Merino and Possum sweater to attempt to keep me warm. It was so freezing that I thought it was a critical move on my part and the sweater make me so happy on the rest of the trip.
Our first stop with the rest of the chorus was in Rotorua, a thermally active part of New Zealand. The city smelled like sulfur, steam was leaking out of the surface everywhere, and we got a chance to visit their mud pits and geysers. Our guide called their geyser “Old Unreliable” (vs. Old Faithful) and while it was not as impressive as Old Faithful in Yellowstone, the “hot seats” that were nearby that we got to sit on while waiting for Old Unreliable where delightful on a freezing day. The rocks where thermally heated with steam escaping from the cracks. You sit long enough and it smells like you’re ironing your clothing. It was on that tour that we got to have our first Silver Fern pointed out to us, the tea trees and flax plants that grew there.
We also got a chance to see Kiwi birds, and to see traditional Maori woodcarvers and weavers at work and I experienced probably one of the best parts of our trip. Our Maori guide had a fantastic personality and was related to the weavers in the shop. She showed us how they create baskets and skirts, etc out of plant leaves. Once the women found out we were a choir, they asked us to sing for them. Our rendition of “Embraceable You” brought all the Maori weavers out of the woodwork to listen to us and they were so touched that they gave us all roses made out of flax leaves. It was such a touching artist to artist moment. And we sounded great singing – I got verklempt with the entire experience.
By the time we met up with the choir, I was getting fatigued with travel so on a particularly rainy and cold day I convinced mom that we should just “take a Sunday” by only visiting the thermal hot springs, and then read a book bundled up in our rooms. It wasn’t hard to convince her. So we decided to take advantage of the Polynesian spa where the water was thermally heated, and then enjoyed reading a book in our hotel. It was in Rotorua that I decided to pick up a cookbook about savory pies. Considering I love cooking pies but I always get stumped when I try to come up with more than three savory pies, I figured it was a good purchase.
That night we got to experience a traditional Hangi feast at one of the local tribes. We got picked up by a bus driver from the tribe who convinced us that we should think of the bus as a war boat heading toward the tribe’s land. We had to pick a chief for our village, and by default our conductor, Don, got picked as our chief. This is hilarious because Don’s flaming gay. He was taught how to greet other Maori in the traditional ways with a touch of noses – twice, not three times. Three times would mean something else…and if the chief did a good job, he would get two wives. Of course, Don would have rather have two husbands. He wanted to bring home a nice Maori man for a souvenir. Once we arrived at the village, we were greeted by the traditional Haka war dance where the warriors were trying to scare us away by sticking out their tongues, showing off their tattooed bodies and thrusting spears. If our chiefs did not act frightened, at some point the tribe we were visiting would lay down a piece of greenery (ferns, etc) and then if our chiefs picked up the greenery, we would be able to enter the tribe. We were then treated to a traditional Maori performance with Haka shows, songs with guitar accompainment, and other performances that traditionally were created to train the hand/eye coordination of their warriors. Then we were off to the hangi meal, which is kind of like a clam bake. They layer food and pudding and kumara (New Zealand sweet potatoes) over hot coals and let it cook for 3 hours or so. The tribe was clearly focused on singing as a part of their culture, and our choir was asked to sing for the whole group of bus tours. On the way back to our hotel, our bus driver took advantage of the fact that we were part of a choir by having folks sing a song from their native country. One of our singers picked Summertime – what a great song to sing!!! We also started singing “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain” while we took a roundabout enough times to make it seem like it was an amusement park ride. Made us all laugh and made us slightly nauseas.
Lake Taupo
The next day we drove to Napier and stopped for lunch at Lake Taupo where I attempted to take a picture of the sheer number of cafes on one street, a neat picture of a railroad stop, and the fact that you had to pay to use the public restroom. Though the restrooms also offered shower facilities.
Napier
In route to Napier we stopped at a winery. I had never done a wine tasting before and it was tragic that the places we stopped at did not import to the US. Mom enjoyed the wine educational experience. The first winery we stopped at was the first winery in New Zealand called the Mission Vineyards. It had been hit and rebuilt after the huge earthquake in the early 1931. The scenery in the Napier valley was gorgeous. Our bus driver told us that the area holds a blossom festival when the fruit trees bloom in the spring – with all the trees, I was sure that would be gorgeous.
We ended up in Napier that evening with some daylight to explore the Art Deco buildings, and enjoy the corrugated King Kong sculpture. Our hotel looked over the beach and I caught quite a few pictures of the black volcanic pebble beach with the sunset. I also took a picture of a caution sign for my friend Joe.
The next morning we started with a schnapps tasting at 9 AM at Penzel liquor. They had samples of flavored rice bran oil and honey schnapps (which tasted like cough syrup for all those who are curious). It was there that we realized that we had a national star as our tour bus driver, Ken. He was a former All Black rugby player and had even coached the team. The staff at Penzel came on board the bus to lead a cheer for our former all black and to give him a gift.
From there we went to yet another wine tasting. At this point I was getting excited about tasting more dessert wines. The view from the driveway was stunning, as was the view from the eating area. I also enjoyed and picked up some of the chocolates that had wine in them.
To Wellington
We then drove along to Wellington where we had our first choir rehearsal. On the way we saw TONS of rainbows – at least 10 on the way. We landed late that afternoon, and didn’t have much time to wander around. The next morning we got a chance to visit the Te Papa museum (for only an hour and ½!). I literally speed walked the museum. My favorite parts where the carved Maori temple where native Maori were playing native instruments, an exhibit that was about importing plants into New Zealand and how those items can bring in unwanted diseases, etc into the country. It was very interactive with being able to open boxes, etc. I also loved the exhibit about native birds from New Zealand which also had birds who were now extinct. It was depressing and fascinating to see the birds that were no longer with us. The music section was also fascinating where I got to hear artist who combined traditional Maori music with hip hop and contemporary music (amplifier.co.nz). I also got to enjoy their art exhibit. I picked up a postcard of a watercolor which I felt like captured the unique New Zealand light. Mom liked the art gallery and the sheep cam.
To Christchurch
We then caught a flight to Christchurch and upon landing went right to the Christchurch Girl’s High school to participate in our dress rehearsal for a few hours. After a rough dress rehearsal where we tried to meld two choirs that had never heard each other before and a pulled together orchestra, it was amazing that we pulled off a great performance.
Mom met up w/ Jean Arnold, a friend of Donna & Arthur, who showed her around Christchurch. The highlight was the stained glass windows and art work in the Provincial Council Buildings. Jean joined us the next day at the performance.
Once we landed in Christchurch, we had a chance to wander to the Cathedral Square where I took a few pictures of a chess game, the cathedral, a cool sculpture, and one of the outdoor cafes where people were enjoying their coffee outdoors all bundled up. When looking for dinner, I was fascinated by all the restaurants that had outdoor fires (sometimes in the middle of the table) where people could eat outdoors in 32 degree weather. Needless to say, we decided to enjoy dinner indoors.
The next morning we had a few moments to enjoy a farmers market and the Art Center shops before we had one more last minute series of rehearsals before our performance that afternoon. After the show, we explored the streets where I got to explore the talking seats outside of the Dyslexia Office building which had interesting sculptures. There was one of an artist falling in love, and one of a girl trying to read with the words escaping off the page and floating away. When you sit on the talking seats, you get to hear the girl talking about how she struggles with reading.
I also took a picture warning cyclists of the hazards of hitting the trolley tracks which I thought was funny. Right near our hotel there was the picturesque River Avon that was overhung with willow trees, and gorgeous buildings. Between our rehearsals and show (where I wore extra layers under my choir outfit to keep warm since they were not heating the building) I had a roasted veggie pizza (more pumpkin and silver beet) with a curry yogurt sauce on top. So yummy. I also got hooked on their organic ginger beer with real sugar and picked up some almost everywhere.
Our performance space (the Arts Center in Christchurch) was amazing. The acoustics were amazing, and we sounded phenomenal. The stage was gorgeous, there was a fireplace inside, and stained glass windows. During the show I noticed that during singing Bewitched that there was a guy in the audience swaying to the music, and mom was swaying back and forth and mouthing the words – similar to what I was doing on stage. I’m so like my mom! And as usual, when singing Come All Forsaken, I had a hard time not getting so wrapped up into the music that I needed to hold back the tears.
We explored the Christchurch Art Gallery where we got to see contemporary art. I was drawn to the museum by the inflated bunny that was laying in the entryway – the feet of the bunny had to be at least 10 feet long. I kept thinking “bunny down!” It also had a unique contemporary exhibit where they were focused on gathering art pieces that they felt would be significant pieces in New Zealand history. There was a sculpture of a blond man sitting on a chair leaning up against a wall with a balloon above his head and when you get closer you realize that he is talking about his insanity. But really my favorite was a tea set that was entirely croqueted – including the table legs, the candles with melted wax, the tea and cups, and cake with kiwi on top. The cake was singing a Maori lullaby. Mom liked the photo of a outdoor café in Antarcticia.
We took some time to wander the Christchurch Botanical Gardens with gorgeous trees, fountains, and I tried to capture how the light highlights the silver fern. There was also a cool fountain with a woman reaching with arms open, and an area with huge great energy trees.
We also took a tour of Lyttelton, a port town, and perhaps took some of the most beautiful pictures of New Zealand. Enjoy some of the gorgeous views.
We also stopped by a beach that had a whole in a lookout rock, some pictures of ferns. I also found it fascinating that folks out there had houses on the rock ledges, and huge staircases from the bottom of the mountain to their houses up above. Some of the staircases were four flights or more. In Lyttelton there is the Timeball station. Each day at 1 PM the large black ball hanging from its tower is lowered to signal Greenwich Mean Time to the ships in the harbor.
While we were enjoying Christchurch for two days, we heard about the snow that had shut down the roads and airport into Queenstown. We lucked out that by the time we needed to head out to Queenstown the roads had cleared. I took tons of pictures on the road to Queenstown.
We also stopped by the Lake Tekapo with the Church of the Good Shepherd and a dog statue. This was the first time we took a picture of mom and me after realizing that we hadn’t yet taken a picture of the two of us. For some reason the light here was even more intense than other areas, and you can see that in some of my photos. Perhaps the snow reflection made it even more intense.
Due to the snow, the Winter Festival was delayed until the day that we landed. You can see the Remarkables mountain range from our hotel, and it was a great place to see the fireworks from the festival that evening. It was freezing there (you can see that it was zero degrees Celsius) and while we could heat our hotel room, the hallways where not heated and all the businesses kept their doors open during the day. The gym view in Queenstown was amazing – you got to see the Remarkables from there.
Milford Sound
We decided the next day to splurge on a plane fight to Milford Sound. The plane was a six person plane (including the pilot) and we got to actually fly through the mountains. I took TONS of pictures from the plane. You can see how lush the landscape got once we got closer to the Sound. The flight was 45 min or so, though you could also take an 8 hour bus ride. In the summer, the hiking trail in takes 5 days and 4 nights, and has 15,000 hikers who hike the trail every summer. Once we landed in the sound, we then joined a cruse ship where you can see lush mountains, waterfalls, and seals. On the flight back, I got to sit in the co-pilot seat and took tons of photos which included shots were I caught the prop from the plane in my shot. Mom found the flight and the cruise to be so peaceful. We were wearing ear phones on the plane and so everything was so quiet. We seemed to be flying so slowly over the snow covered mountain ranges, but the pilot said we were flying at 150 miles/hour.
The final night we took a gondola to the top of the mountain over the Queenstown area. It was a huge buffet, but we took a few pictures of me and mom.
On the last morning in Queenstown, we wandered around the lake in Queenstown and caught a parasail framed by beautiful weeping willows, and explored the Queenstown botanical gardens which had great trees, some with the light playing through the leaves, a sculpture of the princess and the pea, and Frisbee golf cages. I also took pictures of the harbor, and a Kiwi statue. And we stopped off at a burger place for lunch that sold “Little Lamby” burgers and “Little Bambi” burgers. I had to take a picture of their menu.
And that was it for New Zealand –we had a long trip home where mom and I landed (delayed off course) and it took mom 41 hours to arrive home and it took me 37 hours. Well worth it though.
