Our five month adventure in New Zealand has come to an end and it has been everything that we anticipated and more. Every country has its own culture and passions and we’ve enjoyed learning about things that are truly Kiwi. For those of you that don’t know, the flightless kiwi bird is found only in New Zealand and is the national symbol of New Zealand, hence the reason that New Zealanders refer to themselves as ‘Kiwis’. Also, when farmers first started to grow the Chinese gooseberry in the early 1900’s, it was notably similar to the appearance of the kiwi bird, quite round in shape with fuzzy brown feathers, thus it became called kiwifruit.
Learning to talk ‘Kiwi’ is important to understand the meaning of what is being said. We like ‘flat white’ coffee, about 20 grams of espresso coffee grounds, warm milk with a short layer of foamed milk on top, and know that a ‘fine’ day generally includes some cloud since New Zealand, Aotearoa is known as the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. Flash is one of those words, like cool, that can be used to describe everything from a stunning outfit to the weather. You’ll be going ‘full on’ if you’re hosting a party or something similar and you become empty nesters when your kids ‘go flatting’. Capsicums are the vegetable we know as green/red peppers, there are more varieties of fish available than we’ve ever seen and Kiwis know how to cook it to perfection. We’ve eaten more fish and chips these past five months than we have in the past five years. Kiwis get pretty chuffed when their favourite footie (rugby) team wins and if someone has lost the plot, well that’s not good.
New Zealanders spend a lot of time in the water, understandable as they’re surrounded by the Tasman Sea to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. Sailing, surfing, kayaking, fishing and swimming are only a few of their normal activities. They produce very competitive sailors and currently have a team competing in the Volvo Ocean Race that takes several months to complete. These elite sailors cross through some of the world’ most difficult ocean currents and endure many challenging situations.
Keen adventurists, it is common for New Zealanders to go on four to eight hour tramps in one day or on one that takes several days. Shorter walks are found everywhere throughout the country with trails that are cleared, outfitted with stairs where the inclines are steep and maintained by DOC, the Department of Conversation. A number of Kiwis spend their weekends and holidays at their caravan, bach, beach house or they rent a camper van and tour about the country.
We’ve learned a lot about the Christchurch earthquake that occurred just over a year ago. The city is still feeling regular tremors and part of the city has been cordoned off and deemed a red zone where only authorized personnel have been allowed to enter since the day of the major earthquake. Even today, people are still having their homes red-zoned, meaning it is uninhabitable, yellow -no final evaluation as yet, white - they can repair and continue to live in the house. It will be years before the city returns to a normal state.
The Rena, a Greek owned ship but leased to a Chinese company, ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga, is another catastrophe that occurred last May and has been an ongoing, ever changing situation. The ship, loaded with lumber and containers full of food and other products, finally broke in half about two months ago spilling more containers and their contents, along with the ship’s oil, into the Pacific Ocean. Responsibility for this disaster has yet to be resolved in future court cases.
Small dogs rule. Just our observation, New Zealanders tend to have small to medium dogs that have short hair rather than the larger, long-haired species that we normally find in Canada. Men proudly walk their canine friends along the pathways and so far we’ve never seen a dog sporting anything but a collar.
Few Kiwis own a clothes-dryer though everyone owns an outdoor and indoor clothes-line and when rain is forecast, the weather man will sometimes comment, “Don’t put your laundry out today.”
Most of the roads in the North Island of New Zealand are narrow with little or no shoulders and they drive on the left side of the road. The country has some of the steepest hills and the view of the steep embankment from the passenger side of the car can sometimes be terrifying but the destination was always worth the journey.
We would highly recommend a visit to New Zealand and feel confident that you will enjoy the many activities that the country has to offer.
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