One last look at part
of Queenstown
As we fly north toward Auckland on
Air New Zealand Flight 620, our trip is nearing an end; and it’s time to
reflect and pen a few observations about the country and life in it. You will surely be impressed by the
erudition, perception, and sagacity of the thoughts below, and you have our
permission to preserve them for future generations. But if you are pressed for time, you may skip
to the section marked “later”, and find out what we will be doing our last
afternoon and night in this beautiful country.
• The universal currency in New Zealand is plastic; everyone charges
everything. Even the soft drink machines
take credit cards—as well as dollar and two-dollar coins, which are all the
rage nearly everywhere but America. No one
here complains about carrying change in their pockets.
• On the subject of complaining, apparently it is not allowed
here. We never heard any of it during
our three-week visit (except, of course, for those rare occasions when we
managed to engage the locals in the subject of political leadership). Also,
we never observed any pushing, shoving, breaking in lines, or the other kinds
of rude behavior that we have experienced so often in our travels. This may be a result of the fact that many of
the vacationers here are natives of the country; there is a lot for them to see
here. Everyone is friendly and
helpful. Also cheerful, thrifty, brave,
clean, and reverent. Scouting could well have
originated here instead of the U.K.
• Nice, clean public restrooms can be found in every city
here. Occasionally a one dollar coin is
required for their use, but generally they are free. If you cannot afford a dollar to assist you
in a personal emergency, you are never too far from a McDonald’s, Burger King,
KFC, or Subway.
• Possums here have lots more hair than their American
cousins—enough that possum fur purses and other possum skin items are sold widely. But just like our possums (and armadillos),
they have suicidal tendencies, particularly along the highways. The results of these tendencies can be seen everywhere,
essentially because buzzards either have not yet found their way to New Zealand
or have been hunted to extinction for their food value.
• The air here is clean.
The horizons along the coast are crisp, straight lines. If you think crisp is a strange word to use,
take a look at the horizon next time you visit the beach or fly in an airplane. Actually, try to take a look the
horizon; on most days you cannot see it. While we're on the subject, everything here is clean. They recycle like crazy, and you almost never
see litter on the roads or anywhere else.
Perhaps related to this fact—and the lack of carping-- is the pride of
the people in their country. In America,
we ask foreigners where they have traveled, or where they are going next; we
might suggest a special place to visit.
Here, they want to know how you like New Zealand. When you tell them you love it, they quickly
agree and are anxious to tell you why.
Kind of makes you want to resolve to be more positive about the great
country where you live.
• On the subject of 4.5 degrees of separation (formerly 6
degrees): our tour bus driver on the
Milford Sound trip once drove through Camden County, Georgia when he came over
on a temporary job. You may recall the
British couple at our dinner table in Paihia who had spent the night in the
Riverview Hotel and visited Cumberland Island in Camden County. A New Hampshire resident named Charlie,
staying at our B&B in Te Anau, wore a tee shirt with the words “Vernon
Malone’s” on the front. He and his wife
had spent time on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas at about the same time we were there
with our children; and we have eaten quite a few of Vernon’s delicious coconut
pies from his store there. Vernon’s
goddaughter, Alex Kearns, lives in St. Marys.
It really is a small world.
• The pronunciation of the letters “a” and “e” is severely
restricted here, the letter “i” having taken their place. It takes a while to understand what they are
saying. When you visit, here are a few
examples to better prepare you: “might”
means “mate”, as in the phrase “g’day, might”.
A “disc” is a desk; a “bid” is a
bed. “Oi sigh” means “I say”. You get it.
By the way, Henry Higgins’ slam on Americans’ use of the English
language in My Fair Lady turns out to have been grossly unfair. He should not have limited his comment to Americans . . .
•They don’t
have a problem with immigration in New Zealand.
You can move here only if you have a job waiting or if you bring along a
big bankroll—say, $1 million U.S.
Migrant workers are used, primarily to pick the grapes; but they are
brought in from French Polynesia and other places, paid a small wage which is
ten times what they make at home, and sent back. There is no need for a conventional border wall;
theirs was provided for free, and consists of a thousand miles of ocean between
the land and anyone harboring thoughts of sneaking in.
• Outside the cities, there’s not much problem with
locks. They just don’t bother to lock
the doors in their homes, and at most of the B&B’s where we stayed, we
didn’t get a key to the room or the front door.
There was never a wall safe or other way to secure valuables, because
they are automatically secure. Theft is
simply unthinkable.
• Several attempts have been made over the years to improve
the lot of the residents by bringing in other creatures. Rabbits, for example. Someone thought it would be great to introduce
these mammals to provide a source of food, and it worked for a while. But the saying about multiplying like rabbits
may have originated here, because soon the farm crops were disappearing like
crazy and the rabbits were overrunning the place. To control them, a relative of the weasel
which killed and ate rabbits like crazy was brought in. But these new creatures found the flightless
local birds, having never had any natural predators, were much easier to catch—not
to mention much tastier. So now the New
Zealanders are trying to trap and eliminate the weasels and eat more
rabbit. Meantime, many of the native
birds are facing extinction. Sometime it
really doesn’t pay to fool with Mother Nature.
Enough wisdom for one day. Besides, our plane is landing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Much later .
. .
To celebrate my 67th
birthday, we drove out to a couple of beaches in Auckland and looked for shells
and sea glass. We also stopped by a
little shop where I had a small cup of Ferrero Rocher ice cream, based on what
Tricia says is a candy by the same name.
It could have used a little improvement.
But it isn’t actually my birthday.
Today is Tuesday, which is actually Monday where you are. My birthday will occur tomorrow, Wednesday—or
maybe the day after tomorrow, which will be yesterday by then in the USA. Or will that make it two days after
tomorrow? It’s all very confusing,
particularly after a wonderful birthday meal this evening in The French Café,
one of Auckland’s finest. A real surprise
awaited us there; on the table Tricia had reserved we found an envelope that had
been mailed from the Bay of Islands to the restaurant, addressed to me for
delivery on February 26. Inside was a birthday card from Paul and Barbara, our
hosts at their B&B our first three nights in country. That they would take the time to send that card to a person they will probably never see again tells you pretty much all you need to
know about New Zealanders.
We leave Auckland
tomorrow—Wednesday—at one in the afternoon.
After landing in Sydney (see days 1, 2, and 3 for why we are going
through Sydney), we leave there at 3:20 in the afternoon. We land in Los Angeles at 9:50 Wednesday
morning, and after a flight to Chicago, finally arrive in Jacksonville around
11:00 p.m. That’s if we make it through
customs and recheck our baggage in L.A. during our 50-minute layover
there. In any case, this is our last
report for a while; we have no plans at the moment for faraway travel. Of course, that could change if free tickets to some exotic overseas destination
pop up.
You never know . . .
By the way, if you need a slightly
used guidebook to New Zealand or a great map of the country, give us a call; we
have one of each to give away to the next lucky traveler.
Charlie & Tricia
©2013
