New Zealand, where Kiwis call Home
Despite January being what we though was the equivalent of July in the U.S.,
summer on New Zealand's south island and the southern half of
the north island was frequently rainy and not even warm most of the time. However, the rain provides what is needed for the country's lush
landscape (waterfalls!), hydro-electricity, crops and livestock. Other than Auckland and a few other cities, most of the countryside on
both islands is populated by villages and small towns. Below is a sampling of typical NZ landscapes on the coasts and inland.
Please also go to NZ South Island and NZ North Island to see how different each island.
the north island was frequently rainy and not even warm most of the time. However, the rain provides what is needed for the country's lush
landscape (waterfalls!), hydro-electricity, crops and livestock. Other than Auckland and a few other cities, most of the countryside on
both islands is populated by villages and small towns. Below is a sampling of typical NZ landscapes on the coasts and inland.
Please also go to NZ South Island and NZ North Island to see how different each island.
| NEW ZEALAND 'S VARIED COUNTRYSIDE | |||||
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This begins to demonstrate
the wide variety of NZ's terrain. (Above Far L & L) Views of
NZ's "Southern Alps" from aboard the Tranz Alpine train. (Above C L) View from the ferry traveling between north and south islands. (Above C R to Far R) Glacial stream & waterfalls, volcanic mountains and fuzzy, forest-covered mountains on the south island. |
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The Inter-Island Ferry
between the south and north island was incredibly picturesque.
(Above Far L & L) View of the ferry dock and boats in the Picton
Harbor. This ferry carried both 100s of passengers, many cars, and (Above C L) some commercial trucks. (Above C R to Far R) Views as we departed Picton and then the rugged coast filled with small islands and working tugs, log-bearing in this case. |
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Between Dunedin and
Christchurch on the south island's eastern coast is a privately
conserved beach with very unusual formations in Moeraki Rocks
Park. Before the conservation effort, tourists took many of the smaller rocks (Above Far L & L) so only big boulders remain, as you can see from Mark & Rick's pose. (Above C L) These rocks when dry look like turtle shells. The round shape is not due to erosion but from chemicals that naturally bubbled up millions of years ago, almost like the formation of a pearl. (Above C R & R) The various layers can be seen as the other-worldly boulders disintegrate from ocean erosion. They reminded me of the rocks from a long-ago Startrek episode where an alien Horta mother (Above Far R from Startrek website) made of silicon tried to protect her silicon eggs from destruction by the human miners. Spock learned this after doing a Vulcan mind-meld with her! |
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(Above Far L & L) We traveled
along a lot of beautifully rugged coastline as well as inland
along very winding narrow roads and 1-lane bridges. (Above C L to R) We stopped at the Gates of Haast where the wild Haast River pounds over the rocks in some places and is calm in others. There is a lot of volcanic and thermal activity particularly in the north island along with the many rivers, so to take advantage, the country has built (Above Far R) a thermal and hydro-electric plant on the Waikato River near Lake Taupo. |
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Did I mention there are
probably 3 or 4 times as many sheep at people (4 million for all
NZ)? (Above L to R) Of course we then saw 1 herd of cows (Below Far L to C L) for maybe 3 to 4 herds of sheep), and for every 3 herds of cows, we saw 1 herd of (Below C R to Far R) goats, deer for venison meat, and horses. |
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Though Australia has become a
globally recognized wine-growing area, New Zealand is gaining
some visibility and respect. (Above Far L to C L) We detoured for a couple of hours along the Classic NZ Wine Trail, through lovely rolling country filled with many vineyards. Unfortunately, most of the wineries are only open on weekends, so though we tried to walk (Above C R) to 1 or 2 wineries most were closed. But we drove to a couple that were open: Palliser and Vynfields which focus mainly on whites and 1 or 2 reds (pinot and merlot or merlot/cabernet blend). (Above R & Far R) We tasted a flight of wines at Vynfields' garden behind the renovated Victorian house tasting and entertainment facility. |
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(Above Far L to C R) We did
see some of NZ's colorful tropical and mountain flowers, as well
as on a walk through a forest (Above R) we spied an "air root" winding away from a tree trunk. (Above Far R) NZ's national symbol is the Silver Fern, which grows everywhere in forests and jungles. |
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