New Zealand for South Africans

I have had so may of my South African friends asking me about visiting New Zealand that I have decided to munge the stuff that I have sent them into one short writeup. And so avoid future write ups. Lazy, huh?

New Zealand is a rather interesting place to be, as it is positioned on the top of two colliding tectonic plates. There are frequent earthquakes, and some rather large active volcanoes. If on the right flight path flying into Auckland, as you look out over the city note that there are lots of tiny cones spread out. Yep, Auckland is built on a field of small extinct (supposedly) volcanoes. See if you can spot them as you drive around the city!

This is a sensible country, and as such you will be volcano spotting from the left hand side of the road (the same side as South Africa). The road markings and signs are pretty similar. There is a yield right law in New Zealand that defies a decent description. I did once try in a letter but I failed miserably. As it is a rule designed to cause accidents for the unwary South African, really take the time to understand it.

The roads in New Zealand are not like South African roads. Long, wide and straight are distant memories. New Zealand is a very hilly place. This is what happens when two tectonic plates collide. If you ever traveled through the old Bloukrans Pass at Natures Valley you will get an idea of what the roads here can be like. We traveled from Napier to Gisborne, a distance of 180 kilometers on the 'Great Western Pacific Highway'. The journey took us three and a half hours! The distance from Wellington to Auckland as the crow flies is about 550 kilometers. It takes about 10-12 hours to travel by car.

The real eyebrow raising thing about these roads is that the kindly local farmers are happily taking their sheep sight-seeing in huge articulated trucks. So be warned - overtake with extreme care, and make sure you can see clearly down the road. Also remember that the average New Zealand person has been driving legally on these twisty roads from the age of 15. They can zoom around the corners at speeds us mere South Africans can't hope to match (although I am getting faster). Come to think of it, I wonder why this country hasn't produced more famous racing drivers?

There are no lethal creatures in this country to worry about. However there are some that you should try to avoid. The most annoying and the least lethal are sand flies. Sand flies are tiny black creatures that resemble “miggies”. Just like mosquitoes, the female sand fly makes use of a protein snack to build up for egg laying. The bites themselves are painless, but after a few hours they start to itch. This is the terrible part of the sand fly bite. For if one scratches the itch it gets worse, perpetuating a vicious circle. It is almost an exquisite agony not scratching their bites. Because there were no large mammals in New Zealand sand flies used to target birds. As all the birds are now mostly gone (read eaten), sand flies have come to see humans as a good bird substitute, and zero in on those nice feather free leg bits. Ankles are their favourite spot. Be warned - wear long trousers with thick, thick socks. Also note that they dwell in forest margins and that black is the colour that attracts them (I thus have a theory that Moa's had black legs).

The next thing to guard against is Giardia. This is a nasty microscopic bug that lives in river water. It was imported by returning servicemen at the end of the world wars. It is also common in the United States where it is unfairly called 'beaver fever'. Drink unboiled water from the rivers and 6 to 20 days after infection, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fatigue, and vomiting may start. The symptoms last for between 10 -14 days and require prescription drugs to treat. The good news is that only 25% of people infected will develop the symptoms. So - don't drink that crystal clear river water! I remember that Giardia was starting to appear in some South African rivers when we left the country, so undoubtedly it will become a problem there at some stage.

The last natural threat is a rare spider that lives on driftwood on beaches – the Katipo. They can have you requiring hospital treatment if they bite you, but the chance of this happening is very remote.

A quick rundown of the zones of this land. South Island is the most beautiful countryside we have ever seen. Superlatives fail in trying to describe it... It has a spine of mountains up to four kilometers in hight running down its west coast that are snow capped most of the year. It has beech forests still untouched by humans. It has proper fjords, real glaciers and some wonderful beaches around Nelson. There are large lakes and rivers coloured the most amazing shade of pale blue (the mountains discard volcanic ash which colours the water). The premier wine growing areas are in South Island. There are Sperm whales (sometimes visible from shore) off the coast.

When Terry and I saw the islands and beaches of the sounds at the top of South Island, we were convinced that we were in the most beautiful spot in the world. If we were to spend only a week in New Zealand, this is the island I think that I would tour! The skiing is great, bungee jumping was invented in Queenstown, and the sound of a Glacier moving has to be one of the most awesome forces of nature.

There are downsides, however.

• Getting to South Island is expensive. More New Zealand citizens have traveled out of the country than have been to South Island. That says it all.

• The farmers managed to overgraze the mountains, so when the snow melts they are revealed as ugly piles of rock.

• The average rainfall at Milford Sound (west coast) is 10 metres a year! A touch on the damp side.

By comparison North Island is relatively flat (compared to four mile high mountains - to a South African it is pretty bumpy). Most of the area below Auckland is given over to farming.

There are three areas that we found interesting.

Auckland. North of Auckland lies the Bay of Islands (about a days drive). This is a pretty place and is where the British Empire first made formal contact with the Maori population. Thus there are quite a few places of interest to visit around here. On the way up there are Kauri forests to be explored (a Kauri is a very, very large tree) and we found the Kauri museum to be very interesting.

One place we stayed at in the Northland Kauri forests offered night hikes to spot Kiwis. We went on one and were lucky enough to find a Kiwi in the wild. Something that 99% of New Zealand people haven't.

Also keep an eye out for glow-worm caves. These are caves filled with little worms that glow in the dark. They look very spectacular when they choose to glow. The most famous gathering of these worms is south of Auckland, at the Waitomo caves.

South of Auckland there is the Coromandel peninsula (3 hours drive), with more Kauri forests and some stunning beaches. There is a rickety private railway built by a demented potter in the Coromandel peninsula that is worth visiting.

One to watch out for is hot water beach, which has boiling water seeping out of the sand. A very interesting place, and one that Terry and I enjoyed. Find the right spot on the beach, and you can get a happy balance between hot and cold. Find the wrong spot and you either freeze or burn!

The other place worth seeing is Rotorua, just south of the Coromandel . Terry and I found it very creepy, but I know of no other place like it. There are geysers and vents in a weird tortured land reeking of sulphates. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said of Rotorua "If there is a hell, it must look like this".

When we were there we went for a paddle in the large lake on the edge of Rotorua, and looked down into the crystal clear water, only to see the bottom of the lake bubbling and boiling. This was a place that was very important to the Maori ('Here be demons to worship'). Thus there is a nice tourist industry here introducing the visitors to Maori culture. We had a really enjoyable evening at a Hangi here. A Hangi is the local barbecue style - dig a hole, put hot rocks into it, cover them with food, and fill the hole with soil. A few hours later, the food is dug up, cooked to perfection. If you want try try it yourself, find detailed directions at http://www.shelfordfeast.co.uk/hangi.html.

Repeating myself, there are no dangerous animals naturally occurring in New Zealand. I felt this rather odd as nature doesn't work this way. A short visit to the local museum, and enter that famous extinct New Zealand fowl, the Moa. The Moa is commonly seen as being rather like an ostridge on steroids. However, it would appear that there were many subspecies of different sizes and plumages. There were forest living Moa's, grass eating plain living Moa's, and even, possibly, hunting packs of carnivorous Moa. If birds truly are dinosaurs, then we can say that here the dinosaurs were reverting!

Over this ruled Haast's eagle, an eagle that could take the largest of the Moa's. Moa bones have been found that bear puncture marks from the talons of this huge eagle.

There are still regular Moa 'sightings'. During the last such siting the local supermarket advertised a 'once in a life time opportunity - fresh Moa steaks'. An enterprising local near the sighting phoned the press and breathlessly told them that she had caught a mower, and it was locked in her garage. Needless to say, the press arrived en mass to take photographs of the captured beast!

It is estimated that man was established on these island by about 1000AD. Moa's must have tasted good, and it seems that the last ones were eaten around about 1600AD. Theory has it that without its regular food supply, Haast's eagle also vanished at around this time. My theory is slightly different - any eagle that could take a full grown Moa could take a full grown man. Thus I think that the early settlers probably actively hunted and killed them.

There are lots of motels, bed & breakfasts and caravan camps. The caravan camps generally have a few self contained apartments that they let out for about $40 a day. We found that we could get by through phoning a shortlist of places that we wanted to spend the night at in the morning.

Here are some web sites that will help visitors plan a stay:
The AA: http://www.nz-events.co.nz/main/index.shtml
Air New Zealand: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz
Travel tips and package deals: http://www.unitedtravel.co.nz
Bush walks, jet boats, bungi jumps etc... http://www.remoteadventures.co.nz
Camping sites: http://www.nzcamping.co.nz/

And lastly: Why is the kiwi fruit called the kiwi fruit? Well, it is rather like the bird - round, brown and furry.