New Zealand 2010: Observations & Impressions

New Zealand 2010

Some Observations & Impressions

Kenneth Alan Collins

Words, Phrases, Pronounciation

· Kia Ora Maori term used much the same way as Shalom in Hebrew – used in formal or official or commercial settings more than in everyday speech (pronounced key-ora, per the discussion below of Maori word pronunciation).

· Seal Asphalting or paving on a road. Wherever we drove, we had to slow down for signs saying “new seal” meaning it had recently been asphalted and to still expect loads of gravel, so you had to be careful to not get cracks in your windshield.

· Long drop Pit toilet. About as descriptive a phrase as one can imagine (apparently the same term is used in Australia).

· Bush Forest, woods, the great outdoors. This is a term loaded with meaning and connotation in New Zealand, since the whole country is so outdoors-oriented. In a single word, one sums up the ethic, the idea of being a Kiwi. The bush is whatever has not been civilized, tamed or taken over by man.

· Track Trail. Hence the famous multi-day walk on the Milford Track (which we did). But track is used even for relatively short trails, requiring perhaps a mere 10 minutes to get to the objective.

· Tramp Hike. To tramp does convey the sense of a long hike, usually more than one day. Otherwise, walk is commonly used to mean hike, and the most prestigious trails in New Zealand are named the Great Walks.

· Dock pronunciation of the acronym DoC which stands for the revered New Zealand Department of Conservation (more on this in another section).

· Bache Summer cottage, derived from bachelor cottage, but now a stand-in for any simple summer cabin, cottage, or get-away place – it has generally lost the connotation of scruffiness.

· Plunger French Press. Virtually the only way “real” coffee is made in New Zealand is by the method called the French Press in the U.S. but called, exclusively, plunger coffee in New Zealand. Every B&B and self-contained apartment (hotel/motel room with rudimentary kitchen facilities) has one of these.

· Fine spells Patches of sunny weather. Much of New Zealand has weather a bit reminiscent of Britain – the sky goes from partly sunny/partly cloudy to dark gray and showers very quickly, and then back to sun. It was delightful to listen to the BBC-inflected weather forecasts on state radio, because almost inevitably, it mentioned there would be fine spells in between the rainy periods. It’s a phrase I keep wanting to use, but it doesn’t apply much in Santa Fe.

· Cellar door Winery tasting room. Most wineries in New Zealand have free tastings.

· Backpackers Budget hotel. Every town has one or more backpackers, some well-regarded – clean, safe, etc., and some grungy.

· Take-away To go. Virtually every restaurant, as well as places that are exclusively for take home food, offer take-away – anything on their menu prepared to go and thus for eating somewhere else. This is far more prevalent than in the U.S.

· Toilet Restroom. How nice to use the real word instead of our silly euphemism!

· Perhaps the most charming, distinctive, and confusing pronunciation characteristic is how the vowel e is said – if it is between two consonants, and sometimes even when joined with another vowel, it is almost always pronounced as a long ee – so seven comes out seeven and west comes out weest. This can be very strong and sometimes we thought we could not possibly be hearing a familiar word pronounced so oddly, but we did. Conversely, if my name was on a reservation list, and I gave my name, Ken, inevitably they could not locate me, since they translated in their own minds to something more akin to Kim. One Kiwi told us that the way to get New Zealand pronunciation down is to shift the sound of each vowel to the next vowel in the alphabet – make an “a” like an “e’, an “e” like an “i,” etc. A bit of an exaggeration but not as far off as one might think.

· Increasingly over recent decades, Maori names for trees, birds, and places are being used, or the European names are being changed back to their earlier Maori name, what with the passing of a sense of European superiority. There were two main pronunciation rules I figured out for Maori words:

o Though many Maori words include syllables with double vowels, the second vowel in the syllable is generally silent;

o All syllables are given equal weight – there are no stressed syllables.

· New Zealand follows many British conventions in words and phrases, such as loo (bathroom, toilet), signs reading Give way (instead of Yield), queue (line, as in forming a line), rubbish (litter, trash), lift (elevator), petrol (gas, gasoline), wee (small, little, a bit), ensuite (private bathroom), serviette (napkin), aubergine (eggplant), capsicum (bell pepper), coach (bus), caravan (RV). Interestingly, you can find zucchini called both zucchini (American usage) and courgette (British usage). And they say the American truck, instead of the British lorry.

· Kiwis use guys much the same way as we do (e.g., “hey, you guys”), but also use the Australian mate for buddy or friend. You also find the Australian greeting “g’day” used a fair amount.

Driving and Roads

· New Zealand drivers seem far, far less aggressive than American drivers. I cannot recall anyone honking the horn or flashing lights to force us to get over. Drivers rarely exceed the speed limit (never more than 100 km/hr or 62 mph), and more typically drive under the speed limit. Often, a slower driver would partially drive on the shoulder, or some such effort to help you pass him or her.

· New Zealand is a long, narrow country with almost no freeways (there are brief exceptions near the largest cities). So you are always driving two-lane roads of various lane widths. Roads are more often curvy than straight, and only on the major trunk highways do you find brief stretches of passing lanes (you are alerted to them well in advance). So you have to figure you are making good time if you cover distances, in kilometers, that are the same, numerically, as miles in the U.S. That is, you’d be making excellent time if you could do 100 km (62 miles) in the time you could drive 100 miles in the U.S.

· We were warned that the rules are very strict regarding drinking and driving and they are strict. But they are not unreasonable, and you can go for a day of moderate wine tasting, or have a couple of glasses of wine at lunch (it helps to have food in your stomach) without being overly concerned. However, blood alcohol limits are lower (0.04% is the limit I believe, compared to our 0.08%) and drunk driving has serious and immediate consequences. When I compare it to New Mexico, where we have unremitting DWI homicides caused by drivers with 10 or even 20 DWI citations, I realize it is one more sign of what a “well-ordered” country New Zealand is.

· Driving on the left was something we adapted to fairly quickly, with one amusing exception. The turn signal stick and the windshield wiper sticks are reversed coming off the steering wheel, and early on, when we needed to quickly signal a turn, we inevitably got the windshield wipers going, somewhat disconcerting on a perfectly sunny day. The aspect of driving on the left that took more concentration (I almost lost David a couple of times) was remembering, as a pedestrian, upon stepping out into the street, to always look RIGHT first, then LEFT.

· I have never seen so much road work in any country in the world. Nowhere in the country, it seemed, could you drive more than 5 km. without seeing orange roadwork signs with “temporary” speed limits down to 30 or 50 kph. Often, traffic was reduced to one lane, with a construction aide posted to let one direction, and then the other, proceed. Combined with the relatively slow drivers, curvy roads, and abundance of large trucks, you quickly learn to allow much more time for a trip between Points A and B than you might have thought conservatively reasonable.

· There are frequent advisory signs about high accident zones, driving while tired – they are tend to be very direct and to the point, and have the kind of earnestness which reminds one of Soviet era exhortations. Whether they do any good is an entirely different question.

· A unique feature of driving in New Zealand is the one-lane bridge. In open country (i.e., most of New Zealand) a high percentage of bridges over ravines, rivers (of which there are many) and the like is one lane. A standard sign is used to show which direction has priority for driving across. The other direction has a painted line on the roadway before entering the bridge where one is to stop if there is a car on the bridge, or about to go on the bridge from the other direction; one waits there until the other car or cars clears the bridge. On exceptionally long bridges (usually crossing glacial rivers which have very wide boulder fields with the flowing water meandering in thin ribbons) there are even pull-out bays in case one direction has begun when another gets on. Apparently one-lane bridges were built because they cost less – we were told they were gradually being replaced. The pace appears to be very gradual!

· Gas costs just under $5.00 (U.S.)/gallon – roughly what we paid in Canada. When the U.S. hit $4/gallon, the screams of pain were incredible, yet every other industrial nation has far higher gas prices, and somehow their economies survive. (They also happen to also have government-run health care for everyone and don’t collapse on that account either). It’s amazing how much more thoughtful one becomes about driving when prices are higher.

· It should be mentioned that there is almost no part of New Zealand where the drive is not beautiful. Some countryside is simply lovely and some is utterly spectacular, but it is rarely disappointing. What enhances the experience is that outside of towns and cities, there is almost no visual clutter of the sort that constitutes much of American open space. We rarely saw private billboards and when we did, they were tiny. Most small businesses (restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions) participate in the government’s signage program which is very basic and standardized and quite tolerable.

Drink, Food, and Restaurants

· As mentioned in another section, there is almost no tipping. As all taxes are included in the price, when you get the check at a restaurant that is what you pay. Wow, is that a simple way to do things.

· One thing we could never get used to: it is almost unknown to automatically bring bread or rolls to the table at a restaurant. If you want bread or the like, it is a separate order, often of poor quality, and terribly expensive, for a tiny portion. When you consume that tiny portion, then you place another order at an additional charge. You quickly learn to just do without bread or nice rolls, which only leaves you to drink more than you want to, while you wait for your order to come out.

· The range of prices from inexpensive to expensive restaurants seems to be much narrower than in the U.S. Inexpensive restaurants tend to be pricier than in the U.S. but high-end restaurants less expensive. Interesting!

· In New Zealand, entrée has the meaning it has in France (and really, the correct meaning) – appetizer or starter. What we call entrée goes by the name main, and that section of the menu is called Mains.

· As much as we’ve sampled some New Zealand wines in the U.S. (mainly sauvignon blanc), we were in for a real treat, exploring some of the wine districts there. We spent a healthy amount of time exploring the two most important districts, Hawke’s Bay (North Island) and Marlborough (South Island), though we had to pass up Central Otago, which is an important up and comer. We also sampled wineries in a fairly new district called Waipara about an hour north of Christchurch, on the South Island. Almost uniformly, the wines were good to absolutely excellent. Wineries varied from small, friendly family affairs, to magnificent, architect-designed modern trophies overlooking fabulous settings. Some had beautiful luncheon areas – usually set in a garden or looking out on a fine view - we had lunch at at least three such, all excellent.

· Restaurant food was consistently high quality, all along the price spectrum. We did have lamb several times – it is expensive, considering New Zealand produces so much lamb – but our real love and focus was fish and seafood that is fresh, local and widely available.

· Our two finest seafood discoveries were green-lipped mussels and Bluff oysters. Green-lipped mussels are gigantic and the shell has an iridescent green border along the shell. The best of them are big and plump and tender, prepared in a variety of broths.

· Bluff oysters are a whole other story. We tried to get them on Stewart Island, which is across from Bluff (the southernmost town on the South Island) and when we got back to Bluff, but four days of horrendous weather meant no boats had gone out, and there were no oysters. But by the time we got up to Queenstown, the restaurants were proudly advertising that they had Bluff oysters. These are available for only 6-8 weeks each year and we were there at just the right time. They are expensive, but without doubt, these are the finest, most complex and subtle-tasting oysters either David or I had ever tried. Long after our plates on the half-shell were gone, we kept fantasizing about them.

· Strangely, and a little odd to take note of, was the fact that whenever string beans were served as a vegetable side dish at a restaurant, they were, invariably, the tastiest, “beaniest” beans we have ever eaten, so much so, that it was difficult to ignore just how tasty they were.

· All towns and cities seem to have a good selection of Asian restaurants, particularly Thai and Indian. New Zealand is a relatively close shot to Southeast Asia, and immigration rules are far more open than they used to be, so this is not entirely surprising.

· We were told that the national ice cream flavor is Hokey-Pokey and that we had to try it, and it had to be Tip Top brand, so of course, with a name like that, we did try it. I guess it must be a New Zealand thing – Hokey-Pokey is basically vanilla ice cream with lots of toffee-cubes interspersed (tasting somewhat like our butterscotch) – it was okay but for us, nothing memorable.

· We had one of the great Farmer’s Market experiences of our lives in Hastings, a small town near Napier, on the North Island. Our host at the B&B we stayed at near Napier told us that on our way to explore the Hawke’s Bay wineries, we should stop on the outskirts of Hastings for their Sunday Farmer’s Market. It’s the kind of thing a traveler would never know about, as we needed detailed directions to it. It was held in a park-like fairgrounds, which felt like being on a New England green, with well over a hundred vendors, who beautifully set out a gorgeously arranged array of vegetables, fruits, cheeses, breads, jams and preserves, honeys and spreads, cut flowers and plants. Every vendor generously offered tastes (we had a virtual meal by the time we got out of there), musicians were playing at various spots, and the vibes were as good as they get. The burst of colors and textures left us tingling at this peak time for any Farmer’s Market, namely, the end of summer (we were there on February 28).

Figure 1: Hastings - Farmer's Market - shelf of preserves

Civic Life and the Polity

· There is definitely something to be said for being a small country (3.5 million people) in a far off corner of the world. The kind of constant intensity and even widespread craziness of life in the U.S. seems absent. There is very little international news or analysis available, whether in the newspapers or on the radio and TV news broadcasts, even by the New Zealand version of the BBC. They are just too far away from it all to get all that worked up. The pace of things just seems so much calmer there. It is quite refreshing in many ways.

· One very specific example of being in a country out of the mainstream without the perpetual fear environment we in the U.S. have created for ourselves, was our flight from Napier (southern part of the North Island) to Blenheim (northern end of the South Island) with a change of planes in Wellington. When we checked in for Air New Zealand in Napier, we were not asked to present any photo ID (or any ID, for that matter) and there was no, zero, nada, security check – we just walked out to the plane. It must be at least 40 years since flying was that simple in the U.S. (We subsequently learned that on larger planes for domestic flights, there is a security check (but no photo ID) although it is much less rigorous than in the U.S.

· The general sense one gets is of a well-run country – not as orderly as Switzerland, but nevertheless one that takes care of what needs taking care of. One little example is that there are signs where signs need to be, explaining clearly what has to be explained.

· One gets the impression that almost everyone reflects a basic level of awareness and education – people, regardless of their line of work and place on the economic ladder, seemed to have a good picture of the world around them. Perhaps this is why the spectrum of various “crazies” movements that are such on on-going part of U.S. life seems absent in New Zealand.

· There is a definite sense of trust. Again, this may be a consequence of being a small country with a somewhat homogeneous citizenry. Whenever we stopped at a gas station, we just pumped our gas and then went in and paid afterwards – none of this pre-pay before the pumps are released business, like here. Many roadside fruit stands (it was end of summer, and the local fruit was wonderful) were unattended, and just had a box to leave your money in for whatever fruit you self-purchased.

· New Zealand is one of the most anti-nuclear countries we’ve encountered, and must be right up there with Japan. There was an incident with the French over a decade ago and New Zealanders have never gotten over it or really forgiven the French, and it has affected their bilateral relations.

· Meanwhile, there is friendly rivalry between New Zealanders and Aussies. Kiwis make a lot of jokes about the loud, pushy Australians, but they are the only two European countries in a very isolated part of the world, so one senses that it is all rather affectionate. In contrast, when Canadians joke about the U.S. and Americans, one often senses something more – a real barb of serious dissatisfaction with our ways. This was not apparent when Aussies and Kiwis talked about each other, even though they made some pretty hard-swinging (but very funny) remarks about each other. At one visitor center, there were brochures in about 8 languages. The guide apologized that they hadn’t gotten around, yet, to the translation into Australian!

· Cities and towns are generally not why one goes to New Zealand. We did not find the largest city, Auckland, particularly attractive, and many of the towns were almost indistinguishable from a small Midwest or Western town. But there were a few favorites – of the large cities, we definitely found Christchurch quite lovely. Of the smaller towns, our favorites were Napier, Akaroa, and Oamaru, all of which have interesting histories which account, in large part, for why they remain so attractive.

Figure 2: Napier - Art deco commercial buildings

· One clear indication of the orderliness and civility of New Zealand life is that every town, regardless of size, has clean, attractive public toilets. Signs on roads and sidewalks always point them out, and for the traveler this is such a delight. They are clean, modern, and almost without exception, free. One, in Kawakawa (on the North Island) was designed by a major 20^th century artist, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and according to the Footprint Guide to New Zealand, is one of the 10 important sights on the North Island (we did pass through the remote town where it is situated and it is quite wonderful – we have some photos to prove it).

Figure 3: Men's toilet stall - Designed by F. Hundertwasser

· Along with an abundance of public toilets, most small towns have a board, protected by a little roof, giving the history and background of the place, with photographs and maps. It’s a great way to break up a trip and learn something about where you are.

· Much of the above seems to tie in with the fact one senses that New Zealand history, compared to ours is calm and lacks the extremes. American life is filled with violence, ethnic and racial conflict, utopians and paranoids, ideologues and demagogues. While New Zealanders are real people, with their share of crime and chicanery, one really picks up the sense that public life flows, to a much greater extent than ours, somewhere down the middle.

· Speaking of crime, the general impression one gets is that it is not nearly the concern in New Zealand that it is in the U.S. Driving through neighborhoods, you don’t see signs in front of residences pointing out that they are alarmed and with a guaranteed “arm response.” There are warnings at outdoor car parks to lock your car, but no one warns you to be careful about your car, about yourself, the entire mindset does not concern itself about such threats.

· A very nice feature of civic life in New Zealand is that the country has agreements with any number of other countries that allow young citizens of those countries to work for one year under a provision called a “holiday work visa.” We met countless young people working as servers in restaurants or for tour guiding companies – kids from Brazil, France, the U.S., England, and many other countries. Typically they would work for a while (some pick grapes at vineyards during the harvest season) and then travel, and then work some more. The visas are obtainable with minimum hassle.

The Maori

· The first thing one comes to learn is that the “first peoples” on New Zealand were a diverse group of tribes of Polynesian origin, from different parts of the mid-Pacific. “Maori” is a term Europeans created to designate all the people they found, but it is the equivalent of saying “American Indian” in that it brings under one term a variety of distinct tribes. The various Maori peoples fought viciously amongst themselves and even practiced cannibalism towards their captured enemies.

· Maori peoples speak a language that is, in essence, Polynesian. In fact, Captain Cook, the first European to explore New Zealand (in the late 1770’s) – Abel Tasman, the Dutchman who first sighted New Zealand, in 1642, apparently never disembarked – brought a Tahitian with him who was able to converse with the native peoples.

· Maori utilitarian crafts and “arts” are complex and magnificently beautiful, as we had a chance to appreciate in several different museum exhibits, as well as by visits to a few Meeting Houses and a chance to view several wakas (war canoes), which are elaborately carved.

· As best as I can learn, though New Zealand has its share of troubled history between European and Maori, with the Maori typically getting the short end of the stick, that history is much less horrible than the American, Canadian or Australian encounters with their respective native peoples.

· While in general the Maori were good stewards of the land, and most of the severe ecological problems began with western settlement, land clearing, marsh-draining, etc., the Maori did cause some problems, most notably, the extinction of several of the unique flightless bird species – even before European arrival – through overhunting.

House and Home

· There were certain almost uniform characteristics of bathrooms in private homes (when we did B&B) and “self-contained” apartments (motel/hotel rooms with simple kitchens):

o Towel-warmer racks, useful for drying out underwear and socks you have washed, as well as for having warm towels (if you don’t mind the energy wastage involved);

o European style douche-style showerheads (hand-held);

o Water-efficient toilets along the European model – that is, a flush button for “small” flush and one for “big” flush depending on what needs to go down the tube – the flush arrangements were all quite intuitive as to how to accomplish the goal.

· A characteristic of virtually all homes (including B&Bs) as well as hiking lodges is the expectation that you take off footwear before entering – there were usually signs at the entrance to this effect. This was perfect for me, as I have never felt “at home” until I can take my shoes and socks off.

· Bathrooms everywhere were uniformly beyond spic-and-span – the cleanest, most immaculate bathrooms we’ve ever seen.

· One delightful aspect of most of our stays in motels and self-contained apartments was that when you check in you are given a small bottle of milk (whole milk is called full cream) to take to your room, for morning coffee and/or tea. It was always enough to use in cereal if we had taken a box of cereal along with us. For us, it was like something out of pre-war Britain.

· A slightly odd aspect of staying in hotels, motels, self-contained apartments, and B&Bs was that check-out time was uniformly the rather early time of 10:00 a.m. There was never any exception to this.

Manners and Mores

· What is the basic character of a New Zealander? Years ago, New Zealand had been viewed as a sort of “Little England” with quiet, excessively polite citizens. I didn’t find that the case. New Zealanders are definitely low key, and not boisterous in the way that Australians and Americans tend to be, but they definitely don’t come across as English. They come across as strong and resilient but in a very non-macho way, confident in themselves. In general, they have a dry, wry, somewhat self-deprecating sense of humor.

· New Zealanders are casual and informal, and in certain instances, it was quite delightful. We were on several small, all-day guided tours (in one case, David and I were the only customers, so it was like a private trip) where the guide joined in to the activity. For instance, on an all day tour of the Coromandel Peninsula, our guide, Ian (about our age), took us down a cliff trail to a beautiful, secluded beach, and stripped down (changing to his bathing suit) and went into the water along with the rest of us.

· Apparently, though, New Zealanders are somewhat modest or hung-up about nudity. While we were always free to go into the water without bathing suit in relatively private settings, we were assured that few Kiwis would do the same under similar circumstances.

· A characteristic that emerges as one spends time in New Zealand is the sense that a national trait is a lack of showiness and fussiness –people come across as understated and their built world, seems, largely, unostentatious. Again this is a generalization, but it seems mostly true and goes along with the somewhat reserved and unobtrusive style that seem so typical of most people.

· Tipping is virtually non-existent, be it for waiters, guides and drivers for trips, etc. Whether this is due to all forms of work being well paid or for some other reason is not clear, but this is the way it is. We asked New Zealanders about it and we watched what others did after a day of an organized trip, and behaved accordingly.

· Compared to the U.S., the presence of religion and its visible representation, churches and other houses of worship, were relatively invisible to us in New Zealand. We did see the occasional church, but they were few and far between compared to here. Cruising the radio dial, we never heard evangelical or “Christian” radio stations. It all seems to tie in with the generally even-keeled, levelheadedness that is such a part, to us, of the average New Zealander’s character.

· One sees virtually no obesity in New Zealand, a dramatic contrast with the U.S. One gets the impression that most people eat and keep fit in a healthy manner. A few men are hefty, but more in a muscular, brawny way rather than looking overweight. Gross obesity is not seen at all.

DOC (pronounced “dock” and the Outdoors

· As indicated elsewhere, “dock” – the acronym DoC (New Zealand Department of Conservation) – is revered by all New Zealanders, because it is the steward of much of the set aside natural areas. What DoC is not responsible for, is handled by various regional, district, and city councils, which have their own marvelous network of parks and natural areas. The extent of scenic reserves, natural reserves, forest reserves, wildlife reserves, and national parks is truly mind-boggling, and all Kiwis seem to consider it part of their national heritage, their birthright, and what makes them uniquely New Zealanders.

· As best as I can tell, DoC gets the kind of national support and funding that our National Park Service can only dream about. Marvelous explanatory signs are everywhere on walks and tramps, the system of overnight huts on the various multi-day walks is beyond anything I’ve ever seen in the U.S., and trails are actively maintained. I am not aware of a corps of devoted volunteers who turn up for work parties, like we have here, because DoC gets the funding it needs to do a marvelous job of maintaining the thousands upon thousands of tracks throughout the country. Trail signposting is the best I’ve ever seen and it would be hard to get lost. A well-developed system of reservations, when needed, is used, and with the Internet, DoC has provided online resources to do this that are detailed, information-laden, and yet easy to use.

Figure 4: Milford Track - Sign at the start of the track with David (l.) & Ken (r.)

· Perhaps most impressive is the national commitment to undo the damage by European colonization, which introduced so many plants, trees, and mammals (except for several species of bats, there were no mammals on New Zealand when the white man arrive). New Zealand has a very active program of eliminating predators – the worst are all mammals, such as possums, stoats, ferrets, rats, mice – and by so doing creating sanctuaries where birds, in particular, that are not yet extinct, may increase their populations to viable levels. New Zealand includes a number of small islands, some hundreds of miles from the “mainland” and these are the main focus of such efforts. Everywhere one goes, one hears about the efforts to create predator-free sanctuaries and hears stories about the restoration successes. We got to spend a day on one of these – Ulva Island, a small island reachable from Stewart Island – and as a result had a chance to see bird species whose total numbers are down to a few hundred (but that is already a healthy increase from their low points). Everywhere one sees traps, because some of the predators can swim and there is an active trapping program, eternal vigilance being necessary. But to be on an island reverting to native trees and native bird species and walk through it is an uplifting experience in these troubled environmental times. And because this program has such universal support, everyone cooperates to ensure its success.

Figure 5: Ulva Island - Endangered Stewart Island robin (too friendly for its own good)

· One exception is that various species of deer (introduced from Europe and North America) are generally not being eliminated because there is too much state revenue to be gotten from the hunting community. At least it can be said that the deer seem to do less ecological damage than the predators that are being actively eliminated.

· As part of each New Zealander’s birthright, we never encountered an entrance fee in any reserve or park. Instead you are charged for hiking maps and trail guides, but the places themselves are all free.

· A much higher percentage of New Zealanders have gone tramping through their great outdoor reserves than is true in the U.S., where it is a dedicated minority, but a minority nevertheless. This truly seems one of the defining characteristics of New Zealanders.

· Another sign of the commitment to the outdoors was the frequent sighting of bicyclists on the roads, often long distances – singly, in small groups, in large groups. We passed them all the time, and there is a standard road sign warning drivers to keep 1.5 meters (almost 5 feet) from bicyclists as they pass them. On the West Coast of the South Island, where it rains almost perpetually, we still saw many groups of bicyclists, suited up in raingear, pedaling along, seemingly unperturbed by the foul weather!

· The one negative in the treatment of the outdoors that was obvious to us is the extensive lumbering that goes on, with certain large areas converted into monoculture tree farms.

· All our outdoor guides, whether on day trips or multi-day trips, were knowledgeable and friendly, but they were not at all overly protective of one’s safety. They were sensible but assumed you were competent and could take of yourself. One gets the distinct sense that New Zealand is a non-litigious society, the diametric opposite from ours. There was a very refreshing balance of helpfulness combined with a certain reserve and distance. In fact, several waivers we signed, seemingly with American clients in mind, had a specific warning that bringing lawsuits against the outfitter would get nowhere in New Zealand.

· The plant life was one of the highlights for me. All the trees now go by their original Maori names – totara, manuka, kauri, rimu, miro, rata, pohutukawa, rewa, hakehake, and on and on. They are beautiful to behold, some getting to enormous size. There are parts of New Zealand – the West Coast of the South Island is one area in particular – where you don’t see a lot of introduced species. Much of the forested bush is temperate rainforest, with lush growth of up to 200 species each of mosses and ferns. The various species of tree fern give the bush a sense of being back in the time of the dinosaurs.

Figure 6: Tane mahuta ("Lord of the Forest"): Giant kauri tree - largest individual tree in New Zealand

Figure 7: Milford Track: Lush mosses and ferns

· The most common introduced trees throughout New Zealand appear to be Monterey cypress and the various species of eucalypt (the New Zealand term for what we call eucalyptus). These often grow much faster in New Zealand than their country of origin. An excellent example are groves of California redwood, which in 75 years have reached the size of redwoods that took 300 years to mature in California.

· I’m an amateur birdwatcher and had a great time of it in New Zealand. First day I arrived, I bought a good bird identification book. For someone like myself who has great difficulty distinguishing one warbler or flycatcher from another here in North America, New Zealand was very satisfying, because it has a relatively small number of species, and in each family, there are generally just a few member species. As a result, I found it fairly easy to identify many of the birds using the bird guide and focusing on a few characteristic features. There are very few songbirds but New Zealand is particularly rich in shore, marine, and wading birds – I added over 60 new species (a number of them Australian, European, or North American introductions) to my lifetime bird list – quite respectable.

· The Milford Track is famous, often called the finest walk in the world. And while the peaks of the Southern Alps, snow-covered even at the end of summer, and in some places, with glaciers, is as spectacular as mountain scenery gets, what was really special about it were two aspects I had not paid attention to in advance: the magnificent, lush, green-overload “bush” and the waterfalls, most of them impromptu immediately following the beginning of rain (of which we had our share on the West Coast of the South Island, in the area known as “Fiordland.” It’s one thing to be told that the saving grace of a rainy walk is the waterfalls – it sounds like a pep talk – but the reality is wondrous, as literally tens and hundreds of waterfalls spill down the mountain sides, many about the height of Yosemite Falls. Living in the high desert of the U.S. Southwest, this was one of the most special of our outdoor experiences.

Figure 8: Milford Track: Countless waterfalls after heavy rains

· Another amazing aspect of being in the outdoors, particularly mountainous areas, is that the stream water is absolutely pure. In U.S. wilderness areas, you can never drink stream or lake water without purifying it, but in New Zealand, most of the water can be drunk directly, because cattle grazing is not permitted in their wilderness areas, unlike with us. What a treat to drink water as you find it in a lake or stream!

· The one pest we were warned about repeatedly, was sand flies, a tiny biting insect found only on the West Coast of the South Island and somewhat inland from there in the mountainous regions. Unlike mosquitoes, they thrive where there is moving or running water, and we were warned they can be a living hell. It was the one aspect of the outdoors we were anxious about. And we did have sand flies, but they were, for us, nowhere as bad as some mosquito-infested areas of the U.S. (such as the Upper Midwest or Alaska).

· We were told by one of our guides that over 50% of New Zealand’s land area is set aside in public (national, district, regional, municipal) reserves and parks – this is an incredible figure by any standard.

Summing Up

Here are a few things, based on the above, I will remember most positively about New Zealand.

· The people – almost uniformly friendly but not in an overpowering way, and with a calm, dry-wit view of themselves and the world around them..

· The sense that you don’t have to worry much about where you are – crime is not a big problem, people can be trusted and are helpful and live by the Golden Rule.

· A magnificently beautiful country which has been by and large been well taken care of, and to the extent it hasn’t been, efforts are under way to make amends.

· The national ethic of enjoying the natural wealth of their country in non-destructive ways and the dedication to experiencing some of life in outdoor activities – tramping, climbing, bicycling.

· Good but simple food – good produce, dairy, and marvelous seafood and fish.

· Experiencing a citizenry that seems calm, civil, and existing according to a live-and-let-live principle.

Stray Thoughts on New Zealand

DAVID JENNESS

· The official building style, in Christchurch is not just Edwardian, but there is a touch of the Raj; and in the countryside, sometimes a bungalow that is reminiscent of the Caribbean.

· In Auckland, the huge handsome former post office, now a transportation center, has large fluted pilasters, elaborate protruding half-capitals, heavy cornices, turban-like small domes. It is like visiting elderly aunts.

· The majority of Maoris have lovely dark faces, but they are mostly slim. Lithe Polynesian, whereas “aboriginal” to me, as in Australia, suggests a heavy build.

· The Maori meeting houses, deeply and intricately carved, are reminiscent of the temples of S. Asia, and the small Maori versions of Anglican churches are stick-Gothic with an efflorescence of light carving

· The kauri trees are among the largest and genetically oldest in the world. The petrified ones, buried for centuries under soil and lava (I think), still hold “gum”, which is to say amber.

· There is the sense, which NZ guides often put forth, that the odd richness of the country’s flora, like the fauna, comes from separation at just the right time, island-isolate evolution. The split from Gondwanaland, which I mostly take to be a mythic aggregate, occurred before land mammals evolved, and many of the bird species, having no need to migrate or escape from anything, became larger and eventually flightless. This seems like the temporal equivalent of the misty strangeness of Lord of the Rings.

· Another strangeness is that some trees, known to the Old World or North America, grow here, but much taller and faster, owing to the moist volcanic soil – so they seem somehow photo-shopped. Basically, a relative lack of evolutionary competion (and human population pressure) has led to fewer species within a given family, but perhaps freer morphological change in each genetic line.

· Especially on the North Island, the landscape kept reminding me of the California coast and coastal inland: tan flowing hills, green patches, and the sea beyond. But the California coast does not have, to the same extent, the same pattern of continual headland – cove – headland, constantly turning corners in terms of the driver moving along a road. The CA coast is more linear. The NZ beaches are like little secret scallopings. Like California, the land sometimes gives off mist, but in NZ it is more like steam – much of the flowing water is hot, near-to-boiling.

· The houses in Napier look like a modest form of Miami Beach neighborhoods: bungalows, but done in colored cement with chevron and striped patterns. You can see similar blocks in the flats of Los Angeles, above Wilshire and below Sunset, or in old Albuquerque.

· As we noticed in Ontario, some of the wineries are so elaborately expensive and architecturally zippy that it is peculiar: it seems as if the claim is being made that bottling and selling wine is some 21^st cultural innovation. In Napa and Sonoma, as I recall, the tendency is to go for imitation of Tuscan or Provencal building styles, perhaps more appropriate to the merchandise.

· The clean and frequent public toilets. The lack of jaywalking. The signage – there is a nanny state tone here.

· Every morning on the national radio, on the hour, there is today’s bird call. Perfectly charming. The weather prediction that follows includes a claim to ‘fine spells’ later.

· Mt Cook, a gleaming faceted blade.

· The yellow-billed penguins have a comical walk, as do all penguins: they remind you of uniformed factory workers trudging home, lunchboxes in hand.