World Famous Toilets

This was another one of those 'Yes, Ross, I know it sounds stupid but we’re going to see toilets' moments.

In fact these toilets were designed by architect and visual artist Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser (not his real name)  who lived in the area.  His style is quite distinctive and is made up of mosaic-like ceramic tiles, glass blocks, built in knick-knacks, etc. These are public toilets.

Not surprisingly, these are the “most photographed toilets in New Zealand”. (citation at bottom)

We’re staying in a tiny house on an actual farm in Kawakawa; we were greeted by a chorus of moos when we arrived. You might see them in the background here. It’s a lovely, peaceful setting (when the cows aren’t mooing).

Also greeted with a rainbow on the view from the deck.

From Kawakawa we drove past Kirkiri (a lot of these names have confused us!) to Rainbow falls which was quite stunning.

Had to include a picture of this tree which NOT one of those New Zealand Christmas Trees I referenced earlier, but you could see it from a distance and it stood out from the others with its brilliant red (I think they were) berries.

Couple of notes about New Zealand. If it’s called a bakery it doesn’t necessarily have bread (in fact none of the ones we’ve been in do) but boy do they have a lot of meat pies. If it’s called a 'dairy' as in ‘most stores will be closed on Christmas but a few dairies may be open', it's not a place that processes milk - it’s a 7-11 type corner store. Don’t judge the time to drive somewhere by the distance. Ross figures he’s done 10,000 corners so far. Have never seen such windy roads. Mind you some are posted 100 kph with slow to 25 every 100 m. The sharp drop offs to the sea below are protected by sturdy wooden guard rails. And don’t expect to understand them just because you think we speak the same language. One lady told us NZ has a lot of 'deet'. Puzzled looks from us thinking we haven’t seen any mosquitoes, why the need for deet. 'Yes, deet, they owe a lot of money to other countries'. Oh, debt.

In a few days we drive into Auckland to celebrate New Years before heading back.

[Citation via Wikipedia: Rawlings-Way, Charles (15 September 2010). New Zealand. Lonely Planet. p. 163. ISBN 9781742203645.]

Forests and Hobbits

The geography of NZ makes it an amazing place for outdoor adventures and there are a lot of places we’ve been where we are the only folks walking or driving through incredibly scenic vistas. But there are also a few touristy things that seem like must dos.

Not unlike the Luau you might have in Hawaii we went to a Māori celebration which included entertainment, education, Haka dancing and awesome food. It’s very striking the difference between how we North Americans have treated the indigenous and the way they are here. One in five New Zealanders are Māori and they are more prominent in the North Island.

There is an incredible redwood forest near Rotorua with trees about 70 m - look how tiny those people on the bottom left are. They’ve set up a 'tree top walk' through the forest with about 20 suspension bridges - it’s pretty cool.

Then there’s Hobbiton of course. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed all the hobbit house and the beer at the Green Dragon Inn at the end.

Since I was here a few years ago they now have houses that you can go inside.

We’re spending Christmas at a beautiful spot on the Coromandel Peninsula - right on the 3rd hole of a golf course. I’ve spent several Christmases in places far from home - Disneyland, Buenos Aires, Namibia, Johannesburg - and it always seems a bit odd. I said Merry Christmas to a few folks and they seem to reply with an oh yeah merry Christmas to you too. Everything is closed so we’ve got a few things to put together for our Christmas dinner after a walk on the beach. All the best to everyone - enjoy time with friends and family.

Random NZ Things

Took a boat on a fjord.

The seals we saw on the fjord.

We went to Puzzling World which has a bunch of optical illusions. This room was at a 30 degree tilt but really messed with your mind and made me slightly dizzy. 

Yes, Ross, we drove here, got out of the car and walked 50 metres just to see this tree! (Apparently a local landmark).

Deer hunting is big here. This bar had quite a few hanging from the rafters and on Ross's head.

We saw lots of these NZ Christmas Trees - blazing red flowers that bloom in December. Pohutukawe

Watching the sun set over the Tasman Sea between NZ and Australia.

Feeding eels at a Kiwi sanctuary. Hmmmm

You could also pet them. Hmmm

We saw 2 kiwis at the sanctuary. No photos allowed so this is a photo of a photo.

Another interesting geographical feature - Pancake Rocks. Flat rocks stacked on top of each other.

A 1.5 hr hike up to see Fox Glacier. Lots of helicopters flying around.

Not much here to indicate it’s Christmas but every once in a while a giant gas station Santa.

NZ must have more waterfalls per capital than any other country.

This statue at the Gumboot capital of the world New Zealand. Every year there is a gumboot festival which features a gumboot throwing contest.

We’re headed north now - hopefully with better weather. Temperature range of 6-18 some rain.

Meoraki Boulders and other Unusual Things

I’m always amazed by what mother nature has to offer and what a crazy natural world we live in. I love the random, but completely natural, Giants Causeway in Ireland. The Morekai Boulders also fit into that category. They are large round rocks hanging about on this random beach on the east coast of NZ. They are all spherical although you can see that most are now partially buried. 

In Dunedin we went to the Orokunui Ecosanctuary - a lovely place with hundreds of native plants and birds. It took us an hour or two to walk through and it was delightful to hear all the amazing bird sounds that I’ve never heard before.  We saw lots Kaka (parrots) and others as well as the rare Takehe:

They were thought to be extinct until rediscovered in 1948. Still only about 500 in existence.

Just like the Giants Causeway there is an area here made up of those same hexagonal columns called 'The Organ Pipes'.  When I saw it on the map I thought it was something we had to see. Unfortunately it involved a climb not unlike the one at Mt Cook - hundreds of stairs about 1 km straight up and when we got there it looked like the 'organ' had suffered a massive earthquake and all the 'pipes' were in a big heap. There was a nice view though.

Onward to Queenstown and a stop at the famous Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge where we could watch this craziness:

This was the spot for the world’s first bungy jumping and the gorge is beautiful. They had a steady flow of participants (at $320 a pop) but it'a definite NO for me.

Queenstown has a place where you can indoor skydive - tunnel flying- and it’s open for viewing. It looks pretty fun and a lot safer than the bunjy!

Possibly a maybe!

Ice Bergs in the middle of New Zealand?

Ice bergs aren’t the first thing you think of when you think of NZ. But we found some!

Mount Cook is the highest mountain in NZ at just over 12,000 feet and we had a spectacular view driving to it (it’s often shrouded in cloud). The mountain range is the Southern Alps and spans the entire south island. Driving along Lake Pukaki. 

After reaching the Mount Cook village we hiked up to get a view of the lake formed by the Tasman Glacier (largest glacier in NZ) and sure enough there were ice bergs floating in the lake. That’s Ross up there on the right  

Then another hike up about 300 stairs to view the actual glacier (somewhere behind us) and with very strong wind gusts we didn’t stay long. Ross wasn’t taking any chances with his hat. In his words - better to risk melanoma than lose a Tilley!

There are several glacier fed lakes in this area which are reminiscent of the ones in the Rockies - that beautiful turquoise. Lake Tekapo is one of the largest and covered in lupins this time of year.

Unfortunately the glacier is retreating about 180m a year average and at that rate won’t be around much longer.

Crate Day in NZ

We arrived in New Zealand just in time for Crate Day - the first Saturday in December where you try to drink a crate (12) bottles of beer in 12 hours. You can read more about it here. Who knew such a thing existed (it’s not in the tourist info). Apparently it’s mostly males 20-34 that need treatment for alcohol consumption the next day so we’re not really in that demographic. Instead we attended the South Island Wine and food festival at a big park a few blocks from our hotel. About 50 NZ wineries were selling samples, glasses or bottles. Big stage with music. Thousands of people. Many interesting food options - Ross had the pulled lamb sliders and I had the crab crème donut. Thumbs up on both of them.

It was a beautiful day and we spent another part of it just wandering the downtown area. Although the population is 380,000 it seems like much less. It’s quite spread out and there aren’t any high rise buildings - I think because of earthquakes. There is a park that runs the length of the river through the city and lots of public art, a lot with indigenous themes.

We had to pick our car up from the airport so figured out how to take the bus there for $2.  It just so happened that today was the first day they instituted paying by tapping with credit cards and we were the first to do so. Because of that we were ‘interviewed' by a transit employee.  After telling her we were from Canada she said she spent 6 months at a small ski hill called Silver Star - yup small world.  She’s also a singer in the only professional choir in New Zealand.  

After we got the car we headed to Lyttleton, the port, and hopped on a ferry over to Diamond Harbour. There’s a nice park but not much else within walking distance.

As you might expect we managed to find an Irish pub which coincidentally had a session this afternoon. Ross persuaded me to go (nothing to do with the Guinness of course) and they were very welcoming. I knew quite a few of the songs and one guy was even from Cape Breton. Irish music surprisingly has a large presence in NZ.