Journeys: New Zealand 2009
After a great conference in Australia, it was back to New Zealand and three days playing tourist before the Kiwi conference began in Auckland. Since our touring time was limited to two three day chunks, the second after the conference, it made sense to stay in the north area of the North Island. The South Island is spectacular and alpine, but there just wasn’t the time, and I didn’t want to spend any more time on airplanes than we were doing already. Plus, New Zealand is south of Australia, hence colder, and that could mean snowy on the South Island in mid-winter.
So, I rented a car in Auckland and off we went. Like many Commonwealth countries, vehicles are driven on the left side of the roads. (Same in Australia, but I didn’t drive there.) I drove right hand drive cars when I lived in England, but that was a long time ago, and I was rusty at driving on the left.
Staying on the correct side of the road isn’t the hardest part of making the shift, though mistakes can be disastrous. Much harder is knowing where the left side of the car is. There’s a tendency to clip hedges while driving. It’s no fun picking up a strange car at an airport and going out into rush hour traffic and construction (there is always construction around airports) with a strange car, but I managed to get to our destination without turning into a hood ornament on a large truck.
New Zealand is a farmer’s paradise of greenery, with both islands looking as if they were designed by a really good Regency landscape architect. There are many tiny villages and farms, and lots of truly fabulous B&Bs. We stayed at three of them—each wonderful in a different way.
The farm stay at Bonnie Brae Farm was particularly amazing—we ate with the family, feasting on great local produce. As an old farm girl, I loved riding over the hills on a hay bale on the tractor’s lift—and was fascinated that it was possible to grow citrus trees next to fruits like peaches and apples. (When we said yes, we’d like fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast, our hostess scooped a double handful of her oranges from a bowl on the coffee table and went into the kitchen to juice them. <g>)
MJP & MAYHEM CONSULTANT BY TRACTOR
Our hosts could not have been warmer or more welcoming. Hilda is a Scot from the wild northern Shetland islands. She came to New Zealand to see the world, got a job working for Rhys Jones, and the rest is pure Mills & Boon romance, complete with the happily ever after. <G> Rhys is a four or fifth generation Kiwi, but he’d also spent years touring the world as an itinerant sheep shearer, working in places like Wyoming and Australia.
Because Australia and New Zealand are so far from their cultural kin in Western Europe, it’s so common for young people to spend years traveling that there is a term for it: Overseas Experience. In the long gone days when I hitched around Europe and stayed in hostels (the steerage form of a Grand Tour <G>), I met any number of intrepid young Ozzies and Kiwis who were working their way around the world.
While Australia is an ancient land, New Zealand is geologically perhaps the newest nation on earth (though Iceland might be a contender.) The town of Rotorua on the North Island is famous for both geothermal activity and Maori culture. We enjoyed both.
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Our first night, we attended a Maori cultural show and dinner (the Maori warriors were wearing traditional costume, which is to say, not very much! On quite a chilly night.) As a fun bonus, a van picked us up to take us to the show, and the other passengers included two couples from America—sisters, their husbands, and their kids. And the sisters turned out to be huge fans of my books. <G> We all enjoyed that!
Naturally, before we left, we visted geysers and bubbling hot pots in an area right next to the town.
But the best fun was visiting the Agrodome (URL: http://agrodome.co.nz/ ), which is a kind of theme park for farming, especially the raising of sheep. We’d attended their sheep show 25 years ago and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to go back.
I’d gotten sheep facts for my books the first time around, and now the Agrodome has added new attractions. You still get to meet the different breeds of sheep and see herd dogs work, but there’s also an organic farm tour and other cool stuff. Since it was pouring rain, we were glad to tour the farm on a wagon covered to keep off the worst of the weather as we were pulled by a tractor again.
The Agrodome also had a first class gift shop. We were fascinated to discover knit garments made of a yarn spun from possum fur and merino wool, with maybe a little nylon or silk added. The result is a gorgeous, lightweight, incredibly cozy material. The sweaters are great fun to pet. <g>
The possum in question is different from our American variety, which look like large gray rats. The brush tail possum is an import from Australia and a major destructive nuisance in New Zealand, so I think that turning them into sweaters is a fine idea.
It was interesting to see lovely, civilized Kiwis talk about running possums down with their cars whenever they can. (The possums do a lot of damage to the forest and native birds.) When the conversation turned to possums, inevitably someone said with exasperation that the little beasts are actually a protected species in Australia. (Apparently New Zealand is paradise for possums as well as farmers.)
Waipuna conference center, sunset over the lagoon
The New Zealand conference in Auckland was another great time. More tasty tea breaks, and a conference center gull hoping to score a scone.
We had three more days to enjoy the North Island, so we headed to the scenic Coromandel Peninsula east of Auckland. Still more gorgeous New Zealand scenery. One thing that intrigues me is how distinctly tropical look trees are mixed in with
COROMANDEL B&B
COROMANDEL TREE
But all vacations must end, and deadlines loom, so after a couple more days of touring and a last night at Bonnie Brae farm, we headed for home. I am vastly pleased with myself for finishing the draft of a fantasy novelette while flying through the night between Auckland and Los Angeles. It was the only lick of writing I did the whole time, but at least it’s something!
Mary Jo, adding a picture of the Auckland waterfront, and hoping she gets to go Down Under again some day
