New Zealand travel blog
The tardis nation New Zealand is a relatively small place. Covering only 268,021 square kilometres, this little nation is only 40,000 km2 bigger than the state of Victoria. In fact, if you were to add Tasmania to Victoria (I can hear the Victorians panicking from here…) New Zealand would fit in with 28,000 km2 of extra room left over for more volcanoes, glaciers, dairy farms and kiwi fruit orchards. Regardless of this fact, a peculiar thing happens as soon as start…
I have often felt that I don’t really fit in. Whether this is true or a neurosis I’m not sure. But I often just feel a little bit on the outer. Travelling as a single, middle-aged bloke is unusual, at least that’s what I’ve found on my world tour of New Zealand. Come to think of it, I haven’t met any other travelling, single, middle-aged blokes at all. I mean, no-one actually comes right out and says to me ‘single…
I have often been criticised for being too outspoken about my musical likes and dislikes. It’s probably fair enough as when I don’t like a particular song or band, chances are I’m pretty vocal about it. In fact, I probably utter the phrase ‘I fucking hate this song’ more often than any other during my waking hours. I have disliked a lot of commercial music ever since I was a primary school kid watching Countdown on the telly and listening…
…a lot of people surf there. Last year they figured, probably three or four…’ So narrated Bruce Brown in his cult 1960s surf movie ‘The Endless Summer’ (see ‘If you go out at Raglan you get two waves…’). In the movie, the surfers team up with two Kiwi blokes who take them to Ahipara in a piece of motoring history: a classic two-tone Holden FB. I made the same journey from Auckland to Ahipara in a rental Corolla station wagon….
When I arrived in New Zealand way back in mid-March I had two weeks of travels planned before moving on to South America. I remember stocking up on food in the supermarket, and wondering if I would get through an entire jar of peanut butter during my stay. Turns out I did, and yesterday I bought another jar. That’s about five so far. I still have no idea when I will leave New Zealand. I could return to Australia, go…
Recently I spent a week surfing around Gisborne in the North Island’s Bay of Plenty region. New Zealand is a chilly place, and the ice-cream headaches you experience surfing in winter are not the only cold water peril you need to watch out for. Just getting to the beach may involve an encounter with some unusual road hazards. Imagine coming around a corner and finding a bunch of seals sunning their furry arses on the road… …or perhaps a waddle…
‘Near hidden reefs we appear in the gloom, luring mariners to their doom…’ Although New Zealand is a relatively small country, what it lacks in area it certainly makes up for in coastline. Aotearoa has an impressive 15,000km of coast, much of which is wild and rugged. The early European mariners visiting the islands were provided with ample opportunity to crash their ships into innumerable unchartered hazards. The changeable and unforgiving nature of the weather just added to the horrors…
I’ve always found it interesting how many state and national faunal symbols are either extinct or on the brink thereof. The animals are often loved and revered today, after having been persecuted fervently in the past. And to be honest, if the species is still around, the love and reverence only goes so far. In many cases society just isn’t prepared to pay the economic or social price to ensure their survival. Although neither have official status, the silver fern…
‘Sunday, Monday, Happy Days…’ One thing the Kiwis do very well is preserve their past. The Rainy Isles contain many world class museums, including a number helping to preserve New Zealand’s motoring heritage. I’m a bit partial to looking at old vehicles, and recently visited the Classics Museum in Hamilton, an amazing place chock full of cars and memorabilia. There was plenty of 50’s style, chrome and shine on display. Car museums often contain not only the spectacular, the sporty…
The other sound of Te Awamutu A google search for ‘famous musicians from Te Awamutu’ comes up with predictable results: it’s all about a couple of brothers that had a successful vaudeville pop band in the late 70s/early 80s. And about the younger brother’s subsequent band that sold zillions of albums of nice gentle pop songs that had British backpacker girls swooning on the steps of the Opera House. Google neglects to mention a contemporary of the aforementioned brothers; the…