North Island
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2008
1
28
44
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand
Friday, December 26, 2008
01 - Auckland skyline
.Auckland, our first stop in New Zealand, is truly a cosmopolitan and very livable city, with nice cafes, malls, entertainment & cultural venues. Therefore, we spent our first two days in Auckland doing what we do best in urban settings: walking around, trying the food and watching people while enjoying a coffee, a beer or a glass of wine. After this thorough slack off, on the third day we've decided it was time to start going through our "to do in New Zealand" list and we started with the Auckland Museum, to learn more about the history and the people of the land. In particular, we were interested in finding our more about the relationship between the European colonists and the local population, the Maoris, as we have noticed that the Maoris do seem to be better integrated in the mainstream than other "colonized" populations we got a chance to observe in other countries.
Indeed, we've found out the Maoris put up a good fight against the colonists, much like other native populations did elsewhere. However, what was different in their case, was how quickly and successfully they incorporated new weapons and technologies into their traditional warfare and tactics. Therefore, they managed to inflict significant damage to the colonists and, although defeated in the end, looked like they managed to obtain more generous peace terms than other natives did
02 - Auckland
. Interestingly, the official term for this fight in NZ is "civil war" and not "European colonization" or "settling." What's more, the New Zealand government started an integration program since the early 1950's (well ahead of the US or Australian governments, for example) and that program seems to be working quite well in achieving a relatively harmonious inter-ethnical relationship (the fact that up to 75% of New Zealanders have some Maori blood might have also been conducive to this achievement). While at the museum, we've also gotten a chance to see a Maori show (one of the several to follow) that included our first live "haka." Made famous by the New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks, haka is tribal war dance performed to intimidate the enemy during a first contact or before a battle. The sheer energy of this dance, the aggressive postures, the threatening battle cries and gestures, together with some well-timed protrusions of the tongue and wide-opening of the eyes, make this dance a fierce sight and, definitely, an experience to remember. Even the version from the museum, interpreted by a puny number of three "warriors," made for an impressive show. You can imagine that the same dance performed by a significant number of real warriors can be quite intimidating and it can be speculated that the this might be one of the reasons why the first Dutch explorer to discover NZ, Abel Tasman, decided not to explore it further and move on to more friendly territories after only a brief encounter with the locals. G's other hypothesis though is that he might have seen the prices at the local tour-operators and left in horror; hard to prove that theory though ;-)
Talking about rugby, the All Blacks (arguably the best team in the world) are venerated like Gods here and the entire country is rugby-obsessed
03 - Auckland
. To G's delight, who does not waste any occasion to converse with locals about it (G is a former high school rugby player himself, hence the keen interest in the sport). Like most things that can bring in tourist money though, the All Blacks memorabilia comes at a hefty price; mind you, not even affordable for the flashpacker budget!Since our stay in Auckland was coming to an end and all we managed to see was the downtown and the museum, we've decided to take an explorer bus to hit all the major attraction in a half day. Bad decision, as the nicely painted double-decker bus proved to have horrible suspension that made L giggle every time G was trying to photograph some relevant edifice/park/panorama. And you can imagine G's gratification at not being able to take a single decent photo and being laughed at in the process ;-) However, we did stop at a few nice places, like the Victoria square market (a nice souvenir market where we had a photo taken dressed in late 19-th century clothes and where G finally managed to get his All Blacks T-shirt at a decent price), the Harbor, a very beautiful rose garden and one of the local entertainment districts, Parnell.
Happy that we've seen Auckland the Griswalds' way (check, check, check), the next day we picked up our van (it converts into a sleeping place in case we can't find housing; we are at the height of the tourist season here) and we headed to Rotorua
04 - L ready for the Holidays
. Roturua is a resort in the center of the North Island that is remarkable for 2 things: it is one of the most geothermally active places in the world and is also the headquarters of a national center whose purpose is to preserve the Maori traditions. As you arrive in the city, the geothermal activity we've mention is apparent immediately: (recently extinct) volcanoes, geysers, mud pools and steaming lakes are everywhere. But even more obvious is this ever-permeating stench of sulfur that follows you everywhere you go around the city. Even the holiday park where we've stayed had a few "spa" pools filled with thermal water coming from the ground and we have to admit that, in spite of the unpleasant smell, it was quite relaxing to lay in the hot water for a while knowing that you don't increase your carbon footprint in the process.During the day we've spent in Rotorua we've visited Te Puia, a touristy spot displaying Rotorua's most famous geysers (Pohutu) that can shoot hot water and steam up to 30 meters in the air. Te Puia also offers an insight into the Maori culture and their way of living before the European invasion and an opportunity to watch the workshops of the Maori traditional arts school. Of course, here we've seen another Maori cultural show but this time the artists tried to share some of their skills with the public and the men in the audience where invited to learn a few haka moves. It was incredibly funny to see grown up men from all over the world sticking their tongues out and making funny faces, while trying to replicate the moves of the Maori dancers. They succeeded in making the female audience laugh to tears, although, as one of the Maori artists pointed out, "the goal is to scare the enemy, not kill them by laughter." And if you think he was exaggerating, take a look at G's picture practicing haka :-) Before leaving, we also checked Te Puia's great souvenir shop, with products made by the local Maori art students
05 - Auckland seen from above
. One of the few places with souvenirs at reasonable prices, it also had some of the most authentic wood carvings and paintings and we settled for middle-sized Tiki (not to break our budget or our backs) and then moved on to the next attraction.Whakarewarewa thermal village is an active Maori village where about 40 families still live on a daily basis and, while not living in Maori huts anymore, they still live in a traditional way from many points of view. One peculiarity of their living is that they use the geothermal activity to the max for heating, cooking, washing, bathing and, of course, tourism. For example, the village ovens continue to be these holes in the ground sealed with concrete and covered by a lid. The heat is free and, to adjust it, one has only to keep in mind that the deeper the hole, the higher the temperature. And since we've tried some of the food cooked in those ovens (a traditional Maori "hangi" meal that included chicken, cabbage, taro, etc.) we can testify that it is delicious. Not to mention the corn on the cob that is thrown in a pool of crystal-clear boiling water coming straight from the ground and then taken out well done 5 minutes later.
After this intense cultural day, we checked Rotorua off of our "to do" list and next morning we headed for Wellington
06 - Auckland harbor (one of the two)
. On the way we stopped and took a few photos of the Huka waterfall, but we didn't want to make another dent in the budget and said "no" to a jet boating tour that would have taken us straight into the base of the waterfall. Instead, we've spent our time and money in a honey farm shop, looking in amazement at what an industry these people could make out of the product of the unassuming bee. One could buy honey (8 types), propolis, pollen, honey wines, honey liqueur, sweets, aioli, cosmetics, candles, magnets, postcards and so many other things, all made of the honey and the wax the bees produce. G couldn't pass on the honey & honey wines tastings while L tried all the cosmetics testers available, the end result being that she smelled like a walking beehive as she came out of the store :-)We continued on our way to Wellington on a rain that was getting thicker by the mile. By the time we got to Tongariro National Park, a world heritage site supposedly with some breathtaking views of three huge volcanoes, we could barely see the highway; no chance of seeing the actual volcanoes! After waiting for a few hours, we've decided to move on and, hopefully, see the park on our way back.
We've reached Wellington on Christmas Eve and, since Christmas was going to be followed by a 4-day weekend, we've decided to spend only one day in the city and then move on to other destinations, hoping to see the city more thoroughly on the way back
07 - Maori Marae (Community house)
. We were lucky enough to find a Romanian Church in Wellington so we've spent Christmas day with the small Romanian group that took pity on us and fed us some very good Romanian food to help alleviate our home sickness. On holidays like this is always hard when you are far from home and this one was worse than usual given the even greater distance (NZ is 11 hours ahead of Romania and, literally, at the other end of the globe) but, thanks to the tiny group of Romanians, we managed to forget about it and have a great time. As the party was drawing to an end, we drove to Mount Victoria overlook, took a few photos of this beautiful city from above and then returned at the motel, ready for our new adventure: South Island. To L's "delight," the only tickets left were those for the 5 AM ferry :-( 
