Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Invercargill to Milford Sound

Greetings from Milford Sound, Fiordland, South Island, one of the Wonders of the World. This World Heritage site is beyond belief as Patrick would say. I actually hitched from Invercargill to Milford sound, one of the longest days of my life. My first lift was from a sweet couple with a great dog and a little girl. Tehy offered me a cup of coffee, did not drive me very far but put me on the right track and the man gave me almost two kilos of freshly caught and frozen blue cod, which I believe is about $36/kilo. Anyway I kept it wrapped and frozen and in my bag for the entire day's journey. Then I met an equine dentist, who knew! Then a series of lifts from a Kiwi couple heading to a beach, a van with 2 Chileans, 1 Canadian and 1 German, two guys studing rare species of plants and insects in Milford Sound, and finally a van full of mostly Kiwi rock climbers heading back to their base camp from town. By the time I actually made it to mIlford ZLodge I was pooped and a little bit of a train wreck considering my ordeal. I had no idea it would take so long or that the roads were so windy or how little foreign travelers helpmout other travelors on foot. It was such fun talking to this group of climbers. Climbing is almost an addiction for them. Such an adrenaline rush that they do it as often as possible.
The vistas as you enter the sound are breathtaking, huge gorges with snow capped mountains, winding steep terrain that feels like us in the north until you see a fiant fern tree and realize again that is subtropical as well.
I also saw a Kea, a rare parrot, that is protected and very smart, clever, amd destructive. It was climbing all over a truck trying to pull pieces off of it. Scientists do lots of studies with the Kea making puzzles they need to solve with trick doors, levers, etc for them to get to food. Great to watch.
That night at the lodge I made Ramen noodles and blue cod cooked simply in a little olive oil, had a shower and CRASHED! Tomorrow night I have enough fish to feed a few others. Ai just need to make some friends.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hot Water Beach, Coramandel Peninsula






















Just 45 minutes to the beach if you do not get lost or distracted with three little kids in the backseat eager to hit the sand and the surf. Darren timed our arrival perfectly! Two hours before and two hours after low tide you can dig holes in the beach where 2 fresh water springs meet the gorgeous blue waters in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Geothermal activity abound on the islands of New Zealand below the ocean and terra firmas. Here at Hot Water Beach the hot rock beds 100s of meters below the sand heat the water rising from the earth of two springs. As you dig into the sand the warm and often HOT spring water fills these sandy pools we have all dug. Sit and enjoy and let your body soak up the heat and then pounce into the refreshingly cooler but still quite warm ocean waves at one of NZ's deadliest beaches. Due to rips you cannot see from land often swimmers are pulled under and out into the ocean. So we waded, tumbled and did not go out over our chests. Safety first!

The Coramandel Peninsula has wonderful vistas overlooking breath taking cliffs and marine reserves. Oh my! Snorkeling trails and hidden coves for the smallest of sailboats and home to the best beaches in New Zealand. Lots and lots of clever cafes, roadside fruit stands, and chic boutiques.

In New Zealand honey bees live the life! There are stacks and stacks of bee hives everywhere and not the typical white colored ones of the USA but all colors are celebrated. Bright blues, greens, golds, pinks, purples, grays, and browns.



Te Aroha, the mountain we love































Te Aroha is about two hours south and east of Aukland nestled into deep cattle farm country at the foot of Mount Te Aroha, the mountain we love in Maori. With a population of only a few thousand Te Aroha has a lovely little downtown shopping area with local artists, an organic food shop, 3 grocery stores, meat pie shops, a chemist, clothing and a lovely geothermal spa with geysers and foot baths to boot. It also has an Asian food shop and a top knotch sushi restaurant called Lavendar Sushi.



Darren, Caleb, Jade and I took several wonderful hikes experiencing magical vistas across the cow paddocks and through the lush green tropical forests littered with giant fern trees Jade calls Spider Monkeys. We saw heaps of stick bugs, giant ferns called Korus, silver ferns, one of the signature symbols of New Zealand. We hiked up Mt Tearoha to Bald Spur Lookout and then we hiked Wairongomai Loop, which was a gold mine for years in the early 1800s.



We then drove to Karangahake Gorge which too was a mine in the 1800s. The Karangahake Gorge has tunnels and tracks laid to move mold and minerals and today you can walk through the tunnels and along the tracks. The swinging bridges were my favorite because it felt like a wee roller coaster just much safer.



Paeora, an adjacent little town is famous for a local soda drink L & P (Lemon and Paeora), now sadly owned by Pepsi but in its' hayday was New Zealand's signature soda made with natural spring water and lemon juice. Quite refreshing and served really everywhere in NZ.
























The landscape of NZ is the first one notices arriving in this pristine modern society. New Zealanders grow up recycling, celebrating and protecting their environment.






















Tauranga and The Rena

I am currently in Tauranga for 4 days while Darren's parents are on holiday we are housesitting for a few days. Yesterday we went to the beach for the kids to body surf. Beautiful huge waves. It was lovely. Due to the wreck of the Rena there is still oil floating toward shore. We got soaked by the waves and we had small specks of oil on us as well, little specks on our feet and the backs of our legs. Imagine what it does to the sea life. We struggled to wipe it from our skin. The worst wreck in NZ's history. Lots of seabirds died from the oil spill and are dying from the massive amounts of food mostly milk powder and styrafoam bubbles spilling onto the shore. The amount of volunteers pitching in to clean up was amazing and information about the extensive clean up is now at museums around the country. Why the news does. ot report hardly any of this is beyond me and somehow the ship itself is respnsible for very little of the $ burden. Craziness.

Jade and Caleb did see a healthy little blue penguin while the grown ups went for a walk up a cliff on Mount Mauganui called the blowhole. We watched the surfers surf. We have climbed up 3 mountains in 3 day one was Te Aroha mountain and the other was called Wairongimai Valley. We also visited the Karangahake George, walked over 2 swinging bridges (scary) and through tunnels and tunnels used for rail cars to move gold. We also found some silver ferns, the symbol of the All Blacks, the 2011 world rugby champions and native baby fern fronds called koru which symbolise new growth in Maori culture.

My observations of milk farming in New Zealand

Cow farming unlike sheep farming is growing here in New Zealand. There are 16 sheep for every person in New Zealand but the numbers of cows are increasing because of the world demand for milk. There are the most shwep in the south of the south island with huge cow herds in the middle and northern part and smaller herds on the northern island. there are no real predators here so farmers can easily keep their calves and cows in pasture year round. No foxes, bearsm coyotes, cougars, bobcats. but lots of pests including hares, possums, weasels, cats and dogs. Each small farm may have 100-300 cows at a gross profit of $1,000/cow. And each farm has its own milking shed where the cows are milked 1x or 2x a day. Smaller milking farms are found on the North Island and families seem to make a pretty good living out of it. There is a "Meat Works" down the road. This is where newly born young bulls are sent off to be butchered along with females about age 7 that are not producing as well. Cows produce milk productively for about 7 years and then they are sent to be turned into petfood. Females who do not get pregnant by awrtificial insemination or by bulls are also sent to the Meat Works. This place is the largest employer in Te Aroha with I believe several 100 employed. Trucks regularly stop by to load the cows and huge milk trucks stop by once or twice a day as well. Very well organized system that is for sure.

I met a cow farmer on the west coast of the South Island who has 4 partners, over 25 staff and several herds of cattle numbering in the thousands. He is a very wealthy man, loves his life and says that most Kiwis hate milk farmers because they are destroying the environment. I asked him why the price of milk here in NZ was so high considering that it is produced so efficiently in everyone's backyard. Stunsaid that since they get more money on the international market, the general population hates them then why wouldn't they charge as much as they could.

The smaller farmers in Te Aroha certainly seem respected by the other professionals in the area and I have to say seem to have a wonderful network with each other through farming, social events, sports events and their chikdrens schools.