25 posts tagged “nz”

Kauri trees made up most of New Zealand’s forests until colonials decided they’d look better as houses and furniture. Some of these giants remain, and the most amazing is Tane Mahuta. It stands at 51m with a girth of 13.8m and is between 1200 and 2000 years old. Ben and I are a bit skeptical about things that are hyped up, but this took even our breaths away.

Elsewhere in NZ, Ancient Kauri have been preserved underground in peat swamps, no-one really knows why they died, complete with the large clumps of gum that the trees use to seal injured limps. The water in the peat swamps prevented these trees from being either petrified or turned to coal. Now people are digging up these massive trunks and using them to make sculptures, furniture and plenty of tack for NZ tourists.

These things appeal to our sensibilities, NZ really is our kinda place. The otherwise unremarkable town of Kawakawa plays host to the most photographed toilets in New Zealand (and feature in the June edition of the NZ Top Gear). They were designed by the Austrian artist and ecoarchitect (whatever one of those is), Freidensreich Hundertwasser. I’d never heard of him, but his stuff is amazing. The loos are crazy, bright colours, wavy lines, glass bottles for windows, handmade tiles, mosaics and a garden on the roof.

Having been to the very south of the island (both the genuine most southerly point and the more popular southerly point, Bluff0 we had to drive up to the most northerly point. Once again there’s a northerly point for the masses, Cape Reinga, and the real north at the Surville Cliffs. Sadly, we didn’t have the time for the real north so we made do with touristy top. We were accompanied by a backpacking hitchhiker, Martin, who we’d picked up.

This place (Te Rerenga-Wairu) is very significant for the Maori (no eating or drinking allowed) because it is were souls depart on the journey to their spiritual homeland, and it is where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, breaking together into bubbly waters.

We spent a great few days staying with Ben’s cousin and her family. The kids are very Kiwi – they love rugby and outdoor life running around in bare feet and making the most of the farm on which they live.

Yes, it’s another crazy New Zealand town, this time a tribute to corrugated iron. It began with the lady who commissioned someone to turn her shop into a giant sheep. After that, everyone wanted a piece of the action, the tourist information centre is a large dog and the church sports a giant shepherd sharing the gospel message. As the Lonely Planet says, “only in NZ could such a humorously ironic testimony to Kiwi practicality and egalitarianism be adopted by a small town with such obvious delight.” Not sure I would have put it quite like that, put it’s pretty cool.

There are loads more examples on Flickr!

The thing that Ben most wanted to do in Rotorua was go to the sheep show at the Agrodome. Forget zorbing, sheep are the thing. We had a whirlwind introduction to the different breeds of sheep in NZ we had a sheep sheering demonstration and were introduced to the working dogs. Their sheepdog that looks like our collie is bred with greyhound (and something else) and works just like our dogs. The amazing one was a sheepdog bred to round and move flocks of around 3,000. They are collies crossed with bloodhood (and something else) and bark at the sheep to get them moving, when this doesn’t work and the ones at the front start getting complacent, it runs over the back of the sheep to the front of the flock to get them moving. The highlight of the show (and really, it didn’t take much) was that Ben got to milk a cow, live on stage for which he was awarded his very own certificate.

Rotorua is an active geo-thermal area giving the town a rather unusual whiff of sulphur wherever you are. There are spurting geysers, steaming hot springs and exploding mud pools. The mud pools were my favourite, they bubble away, farting and spitting hot mud into the air – it really looks like the puddle is host to a comical monster that keeps letting out gas. Whilst you can pay lots of money to see the highest geyser, the most active geyser, the old geyser etc etc etc, the most spectacular thing about this place is that the mysterious wonders of nature mix with every day life – clouds of steam rising from the park, fields, woods, sulphur leaking out of drains and people’s gardens.

I made this video and put it on YouTube so folks could see our van in more detail than the A4 poster would allow (and because I'm a geek). Emma asked me to put it on here for all our loyal followers to see. We've had a few calls about it so we're pretty hopeful it'll sell.

This pioneer town of around 300 people has dwindled to a very sorry 30. Many of the old buildings display plaques telling of their former glory. But this town ain’t dead yet – indeed, it isn’t just a town, it’s a republic, New Zealand’s only republic. In 1989, the local council sought to change the town’s boundaries, meaning that it would have to shift its jurisdiction to another council – and play for a rival rugby team. Not standing for this, the townsfolk declared themselves a republic, complete with democratically elected presidents. These have included Billy the Goat (elected after eating all the opposition’s votes) and Tai the Poodle (who stepped down after an assassination attempt).