New Zealand (North Island) It was our first time crossing the equator and international date line as we made the twelve and a half hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckalnd, New Zealand. At that point, we knew we were going far, far away. New Zealand looks like Italy (a leg and boot), but the New Zealand boot is at the top. It is separated into two islands, North and South. there are about 3.8 million people that live in New Zealand, 1.3 of them living in Auckland. Most of the rest of the country is sparsely populated and amazingly beautiful. When we landed, we stopped at an internet cafe and sent off an email, picked up our rental car (they drive on the wrong side of the road down there), and headed straight for the toe of the boot, to an area known as the Bay of Islands. Driving in New Zealand is like a dream. There are only a few four-lane highways in the whole country and the rest is well-kept, winding two lane roads. No billboards (they are illegal), no semi-trucks, no huge SUVs. Just beautiful landscape to look at around every corner. We were in heaven. We were looking forward to some local radio stations with original Kiwi music, but found ourselves listening to American music. We thought we had found a local radio station because the songs were unfamiliar to us until we realized that it was a Christian Rock station. In the Bay of Islands, we took a ferry over to a quaint little village called Russell where we wandered around as the shops opened for the day. It was sunny and fresh, the village like some place time has forgot. We found lots of interesting things in Russell, including a huge Fig tree and some Monarch butterfly caterpillars. The caterpillars were on a plant on the sidewalk and we found out that they live there all year long since it hardly freezes. Everything in New Zealand is either named for something from the English settlers or something Maori (the native people). So, we were either in places like Wellington, Christchurch, Nelson, and Hamilton or in places like Paihia, Waitomo, Wharangai, Rotorua, and Motueka. There are such things as 'glow-worms' that live in caves in New Zealand and you can not only go and see them, you can ride on an innertube in an underground river and look up at them as you float by. We expected this. It is what the tour books said was one of the most popular tourist activities in NZ. What we didn't expect was such a wonderful caving experience to go along with it (Natalie's favorite activity of the whole trip). Our guide talked about a lot of things during our expedition, but one thing stuck out in particular. In NZ, minimum wage is NZ$7.50 an hour (which he was making). Since the NZ dollar is about $0.40 on the American dollar, he was making the equivalent of US$3 an hour. What got me though was that he said about 35% of all workers in NZ make minimum wage. They also don't tip waiters or anybody, which felt so wrong to us (we left money most of the time anyway). Since we are talking about money, some other things we noticed: They don't have pennies. If gas comes to $4.32, they round it to $4.30. If gas is $4.33, then they round up and it is $4.35. Also, they don't have dollar bills. They have dollar coins as well as two dollar coins (which are gold instead of silver). After getting used to it, Natalie and I both liked not having pennies and using coins as dollars. White Island is the only privately owned volcanic island in the world. It lies about 15 miles off-shore of the Bay of Plenty region in NZ. Boats go out a few times a week when the weather cooperates and we were lucky enough to have great weather the morning we went. There used to be a small factory on the island where about a dozen men harvested sulfur and cooked it down to a more pure form and sent it off to the mainland. But it being an active volcano and all, it erupted and killed all of them (a cat named Peter survived, thereafter known as Peter the Great). Now there are only corroded ruins of the place and nothing much lives there at all (plant or animal). We wore helmets and had gas masks around our necks for when the sulfur steam blew our way. The tour guides all told of having to wear special equipment because everything corrodes so quickly. The volcano is not a major threat because it releases it's energy slowly. There is instrumentation on the island that geologists use to check for possible changes in volcanic activity. On the day we were there, one vent in particular in the main crater was spewing out a pretty sizable amount of steam. Other smaller vents were more accessable. We walked up to the main crater and looked in to find a bright green lake. The pH of the lake is around 0.5 (which is about acidic as you can get). The rest of the island was equally impressive in its remoteness and beauty. We felt like we were on another planet somewhere far removed from Earth. At the same time, we felt closer to the inner workings of Earth as it hissed and vented all around us. It was a new feeling. We had been in NZ for about three days at this time and were starting to pick up on some differences in culture. First off, when you checked into a motel for the night, they gave you a half-pint of milk with your keys. It is an odd thing to be given milk with keys in a motel. All of the motels had kitchenettes, which we put the milk into. We discovered after a few nights that the milk was for hot tea (like the Brittish). We also found out that at any motel in the country, you could have breakfast delivered in the morning to your room. It took us a few mornings of driving around for 45 minutes looking for a breakfast place and finally, begrudgingly, end up at McDolalds to wise up and ask about it. Another thing we noticed was that all of the houses were about the same size; no shacks, no mansions. Also, they were all kept up pretty well. We didn't see any of the "keeping up with the Jones'" that goes on rampantly in America. It was refreshing. After our adventure on White Island, we rode the 15 miles back to the mainland on the boat and spotted a pod of Killer Whales (sorry, no good photo). Everyone was excited because they only come around once a year so are rare to see there. We also saw huge numbers of dolphins. They played with the boat and jumped and generally showed off to us. It was greatly entertaining. Our next stop was Rotorua, which is like Old Faithful in Yellowstone but surrounded by Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was one of the only places truly built up for tourists and we decided to go to another thermal reserve down the road a bit and less built up. It was neat, but I don't have a good photo because it was overcast that morning and photos of steam clouds on an overcast day just don't make for exciting photography. We stopped at the edge of Lake Taupo and sent of an email to our friends and family back home. We then headed to Napier, on the East Coast of the North Island. It is known as the 'Art Deco City' and rightly so. A 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck the town in the 1930s and demolished it. They decided to build the town in the architecture of the day and all of the central downtown buildings are distinctly Art Deco. We stayed at a B&B in Napier, owned by an older couple. They had a Golden Retriever about the same age as Daisy, so we had a good time playing with her. We asked for a good restaurant in town and they told us about an Italian place across from the Municipal Theater. They said the owner was from Tuscany and goes back there once or twice a year to get more ideas. The place was small and had great ambiance. We had bread, dipping oil, and black olives for an appetizer. We had wine. We had a main dish (Natalie had ravioli, I had the special of the night which was seafood linguine). We had dessert. It was, hands down, the best Italian meal I have ever had. The owner came out during the meal and asked in a thick accent if the food was good. I almost wanted his autograph. It was that good. The best part about it is that the bill came to NZ$80, including tip. That is about $32 American. Wow. The next day we made the trip down to Wellington for the night before taking the ferry over to the South Island. Wellington is the capitol of NZ and our hotel was about a block from the Parliment Building (known as the beehive due to its shape). The whole city was buzzing because the next night, the New Zealand All Blacks (the National Rugby team) was playing France in the Wellington Sports Arena. People in NZ are mad about Rugby and since teams only come every few years, this was a big event. Even though we had no clue how Rugby is played, we were rooting for the All Blacks (they crushed France the following night). The next day, we took the ferry to the South Island. [
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