51 Days in Kiwi-Land

We have spent longer here in New Zealand than any other place on this or other trips we have taken in the past. We have visited both islands, 12 of the 13 districts into which the country is divided, innumerable national parks and forests and all of the largest cities. The reasons for spending all this time exploring New Zealand? It is so damn far away from the United States and everywhere else, when will we ever get back? Also, Joe especially was so amped about our visit here, for all the different wilderness and outdoors activities available here. I had visited here once before, 9 years ago, for just 2 weeks, by myself and on a tight budget. This trip was different. We had time. And I had a wonderful companion, who asked me 10 times a day, "how sick is this?" After seeing yet, again, the most beautiful beach we'd ever seen the other day, Joe told me in all seriousness, "I feel bad for Kiwis (a very common way of referring to New Zealanders)." "Why, honey?" "Because every other place they ever visit is just going to pale in comparison to New Zealand." That pretty much sums it up. Following are some Kiwi themes that I want to describe further.

DOC, the beloved Department of Conservation- If we ever win the lottery, or otherwise become wealthy, the New Zealand Department of Conservation is going to get a very large donation from Erica and Joe. 1/3 of this country is preserved in public lands: national parks, forests, and scenic reserves. New Zealand is about the size of Colorado, but it is far more diverse. The density of gorgeous spots and pristine nature is unlike anywhere else. And it is so comforting to know that a responsible public entity like DOC is the caretaker of New Zealand's natural resources, and is doing such a damn good job of preserving them for Kiwis and visitors alike. Throughout the country, the DOC signs are dark green, with bright yellow lettering. Just the sight of them made us happy, because we knew we were about to enter some beautiful place and probably find a very well-run campsite there for us to spend the night.


Flora, Fauna and other Natural Wonders- We have seen some of the largest trees in the world, climbed giant sand dunes that made us think of the Middle East, seen many of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen, walked up to a glacier, and I spotted a kiwi (a rare, nearly extinct, nocturnal, hairy flightless bird native to New Zealand). New Zealand is different to anyplace else on Earth; these volcanic islands separated from mainland Asia a very long time ago, thus the flora and fauna found here evolved very distinctly. New Zealand did not have any land mammals before the Europeans (accidentally) introduced rats, stoats and possums. Having no natural predators, these animals reproduce at an amazing rate and cause mass destruction in New Zealand's vulnerable environment. Several strange flightless birds have already become extinct, and the funny kiwi bird, the national icon, is nearly there, too. We met New Zealanders who had spent "a lot of time in the bush" and had never seen a kiwi. Yet, the one night Joe and I spent in kiwi habitat, we went for a night walk to try and see one and I spotted the little critter. So funnny looking! Long skinny, orange beak, twiggy legs, shaggy fur, running around in the forest's undergrowth.

"Staying at the Pub" s - Every town in New Zealand has a pub. Even if there are only 5 houses in the town, there will be a pub. And most of these pubs are also hotels; that is actually what they are called. Early on in our stay here, we found that these pub/hotels offer very reasonably-priced accomodation in quaint and historic buildings. And there's a pub downstairs! The patrons are generally older men and they are usually watching some sort of sport I don't understand: cricket or rugby, but the vibe is laid-back and friendly, like everywhere in New Zealand.

Weather - The weather makes or breaks a trip to New Zealand. When the sun is shining here, the ocean is magnificent blues and aquas, the stars are bright and plentiful, and hiking and camping and eating outside is a joy. When it is cold and rainy and windy, you feel like you will never warm up and never dry out. Our last two weeks here on the North Island have been fabulously "fine" (how they describe nice weather), but prior to that, we had the bad luck of following very bad weather around. It was miserable to camp, but we still tried to as much as possible, to keep our costs down. Because the geography of New Zealand is very compact and changes a lot, it might be very sunny and dry just 100 kms away from where we were camping, but we didn't know it! We were just holed up in our sopping tent.

Radio as a portal into Kiwi culture - We spent a lot of time in the car over the past 51 days. Our MP3 player has too few songs that we have heard too many times over the past 9 months, so we were captive to Kiwi radio much of the day.Radio New Zealand, particularly from 8-12 in the morning was our saving grace. The Kiwi version of NPR or the BBC packed in wonderful news and conversations about life and current events in New Zealand and the world. They read us stories, played us good (and bad music) and introduced us to Kiwi perspectives on a range of things from astro-physics to homosexuality in India and the current policies of the Chinese Reserve Bank. Unfortunately, when our favorite program host on Radio New Zealand came in fuzzy or was off the air, we had to root around for other things to listen to on the radio. This generally lead us to much less salubrious talk radio, which generally left us with our mouths open: "did he really just say that?" I am sure that a visitor to the U.S. would have the same reactions to much of the talk radio on our airwaves, but, damn, the things we heard expressed! That all religions (aside from some Protestants) are cults, that the "feral underclass" of New Zealand should be prevented from having children via operations, and that domestic violence is very common household problem here and people talk about (admit to it) quite freely. Listening to these very different kinds of radio made us think that Kiwis were astute and worldly in the morning and dumb and ignorant in the afternoons.

Produce - We have eaten some of the best produce of our lives here in New Zealand. The best avocados, apples, feta cheese, mussels, and oysters I have ever tasted are abundant and inexpensive in New Zealand. What a joy! Seafood chowder, Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs are sources of national pride. These items made cooking over a camp stove most nights quite all right.

Camper Vans - Nearly every tourist who comes to New Zealand rents a camper van and drives around the country. Thus, they are protected from the weather and are saved the misery of setting up a tent in the rain. They also fit in wonderfully to a thorough camper van culture alive here in New Zealand. Kiwis travel around their country in large vehicles: busses, vans, and trailers, all outfitted to live in comfortably for a week or a year. And we met many older Kiwi couples who did exactly that in retirement: lived in their camper or trailer in a national park or holiday park (camper van cities) for a season or more. We felt like morons, on occasion, with our small-sized vehicle and an orange tent as our home, especially when we saw other people dry in their campers, enjoying a cup of hot tea when it was squalling outside.

Maori - Thee original inhabitants of these islands were treated perhaps nearly as badly as those of Australia or the Americas by the British colonizers. Their land was taken from them for absurd prices, then exploited for all of its precious resources, guns and diseases were introduced to the detrminent of the Maori. Yet, Maori culture is alive and well in New Zealand. It is incorporated into the psyche of the country. Te Papa, the National Museum, in Wellington, the capital, is mostly a history and monument to the Maori and their culture. After all, the Maori were here for 800 years before Europeans were. And they came here in giant big canoes from Pacific islands like Hawaii! New Zealand, unlike any other Western nation that nearly destroyed its indigenous, has attempted to make reparations for past wrongs to the Maori. Lands and rights to resources taken from them under the Treaty of Waitangi (the document that "legalized" Queen Victoria's government domination of New Zealand and its inhabitants) have been returned to Maori tribes. Maoris are still poorer, on average, than other Zealanders and the places where they are the majority of the population, like the Eastern Cape of the North Island, are obviously more economically depressed than other parts of New Zealand. Maoris use cool Pacific/Polynesian designs, sometimes tatoo their faces and have a very wordy and syllabic language. Maori words and names are often printed next to their English equivalent throughout the country. Our favorite bit of Maori language is that "Wh" is pronounced "F". And there are "Wh's" all over New Zealand. Our favorite place name is "Whakapapa." Don't forget the "F" sound. We like to say it a few times a day, at least.

Tough Elements in the South Island

We are at the ends of the Earth here....even though Joe talks more about Middle Earth and there is a whole sector of the tourism industry that is devoted to visiting Lord of the Rings filming locations. The days are long, there is still light in the sky at 10:30 p.m., and sometimes there is a fierce wind that seems to blow up directly from the South Pole- which isn't all that far away.

The elements are severe down here. The weather can change four times in a day. And the weather and scenery change drastically over short distances. When the sun comes out in force, it feels like our skin is sizzling cancerously and when it rains, I still feel cold when I am inside the tent, in my sleeping bag, with a wool hat and sweater on. But we are loving it! The other night we camped at perhaps the most idyllic, remote and beautiful location yet, in the Fiordlands National Park. We went hiking and skinny dipping and the entire time we had to fight against prolific amounts of sand flies that leave giant welts, enormous mosquitoes that flew inside our tent if we opened it for a second, and strange blue inch-worms, that were falling from the trees into our hair and onto our clothes (one time, I picked 4 inch-worms off of Joe at once).

New Zealand has an incredible National Park System. Much of the land, beaches and waterways are protected. And there are walking trails, camp sites, and public bathrooms in every last bit of this country. What land is not public, seems to be sheep grazing land. The stereotype (that Aussies love to joke about) is true. New Zealand is a country of sheep. There are 40 million sheep here and only 4 million New Zealanders. And sheep are cute! Sometimes we get stuck in sheep traffic jams, when they are being herded across country roads.

Joe is hiking one of the country's "Great Walks" right now: the Kepler Track. I walked the route with him for the first few hours but had previously decided to let him do the hard mountain-climbing and inclement weather bits by himself. I will see him in three days when he returns to the Fiordland town of Te Anau, where I am staying. He was ecstatic about it and I think he probably started running up the mountain as soon as I left him. He is strange and very cute like that; running up mountains with a heavy pack on his back is one of his happiest activities.

Kiwi Camping and Music

We arrived in New Zealand 5 days ago and flew from Auckland to South Island, where our first order of business was to pick up our rental car and somehow fill it with cheap or used camping gear that would allow us to hike, cook, camp and weather 4 different seasons of harsh climate within 24 hours before heading to a 2-day music festival (A.R.E.A. 9) in the high country (near Mt. Cook).
We were successful in finding all kinds of gear (some used, some new and on sale), buying lots of supplies and heading out from Christchurch (the largest city on the South Island) in short order. We are ready! And have camped the last 3 days: no running water, very dry hot days and cold and windy nights. Dust everywhere! But it is beautiful, beautiful, other-worldly, Lord of the Rings geography.
The music festival left something to be desired, sadly. We saw some pretty good music. But the facilities, organization and variety of music was just not up the standard we are used to at our favorite festivals at home. We didn't realize we are music festival snobs, but we are. We vowed to not go to any music festivals outside of the United States ever again. We just kept thinking about how much better High Sierra in Northern California and Jazz Fest in Nawlins was. It was a beautiful setting though, and the music was all Kiwi and there was some good people watching, of course.
Now, we are off to camp and hike at Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand). Since we plan on spending a lot of time away from civilization and in the back country, opportunities to blog will be minimal, here, we think. Until next time!

Australian Cities

We have spent the last ten days in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. In our minds, we saved the best for last, as Sydney is one of the most beautiful and livable cities we have ever been. But, Melbourne is fantastic, quirky, has great neighborhoods and is a manageable size. And Adelaide may have a bit of a bad rap compared to the super-sized and more well known East Coast cities but we really enjoyed it, too.

Australia is great. People are friendly and we can speak to them! We have had really good and funny conversations with many locals. We met a girl at the bus stop in Adelaide who invited us out for drinks with her friends. We have talked Obama-loving politics with many an Aussie. And we have never seen as many good natured lovers of country as we did in Melbourne on Australia Day. Even more people celebrate Australia day than Americans do the 4th of July. Almost everyone had an Australian flag draped around their bodies, or Australian flag tatoos, or both. All Australians over 16 was drinking a whole lot on Australia and there were events and concerts and fairs and sports competitions and parades chock-a-block throughout the city. I don't know how the government paid for all the festivities in the midst of an economic downturn, I just imagine that Australians would not take news of a toned down Australia Day very well.

Another treat we have had in Sydney is that we have hung out with groups of Australians that we have connections to from other places. We went to a barbecue at Leanne Matthews' (the sister of my uncle Peter) house the other night and last night we went out with a bunch of young lawyers, one of whom we had met traveling in Africa 6 months ago. Oh yeah, and the tennis: Joe has been addicted to the Australian Open. It's been really fun to watch, especially when an Australian has been involved.

We have just a few days more of exploring Sydney, going for walks, visiting some of the many beautiful beaches that abound in this city, and watching the finals of the Australian Open before setting off to New Zealand.

Western OZ

In Ozzieland, now. It is very hot and dry here: mid-summer. We spent the last week in Western Australia, which is the country's largest state. It is absolutely massive (more than 5 times as large as Texas), mostly desert-like outback, and its capital city, Perth, is the most isolated large city on Earth. It is close to nothing! We liked Perth. It reminded us of cities in California: palm trees, plenty of sun, cool at night, not very densely developed, many pedestrian malls and pretty parks. We have been having a hard time adjusting to Australian prices, especially after spending more than 3 months in Asia. We are finding the prices to be similar to those in NYC! Two beers in a no-name pub costs between $15-18 Australian, which is about $10-$12 U.S. Needless to say, we haven't visited many pubs! But we have visited some vineyards; Australia is chock full of em'.

After spending two days in Perth, we rented a car and headed south. The country was gorgeous and we spent our first night in a posh town in the best Western Australian wine region, called Margaret River. It was like the Napa of Western Oz. The owner of our hotel recommended we go to a place called Wino's down the road for a drink and dinner and we were waited on by an American. She was in Australia for a year, bar-tending at Wino's, and her boyfriend was working as a chef there. He had previously been a chef at the renowned Acqua restaurant in San Francisco, so we knew we were in for a treat. The coast from Perth down to Margaret River is absolutely gorgeous. The water is light, clear Carribean blue in the shallows and deep, Pacific blue in the breakers. And surfers and surfbreaks are everywhere, despite the fact that shark attacks on Australian surfers is on the rise.

From Margaret River, we drove south-east to the region around Pemberton, where we stayed for two nights. There are many National Parks in the area, which are home to Australia's biggest trees: giant eucalpytus species that reach more than 200 feet. We visited three national parks, took a couple of great walks, and Joe climbed some giant trees, which had been fitted with narrow foot pedestals up to the canopy, nearly 200 feet above us. I skipped that activity! (I got up to about 20 feet, looked down, examined my unreliable flip-flops, and retraced my steps). During a hike on the second day, on a trail where we saw no one for hours, we came across a big patch of red, guey, liquid-type stuff. And both of us freaked out and thought: blood! We had just seen a picture of a missing person (a backpacker from England) at the hostel we were staying and jumped to conclusions. We took pictures of "the scene," picked up giant sticks to be used as weapons and started to hot-foot it out of there. About 30 minutes later, we saw another red liquid patch on the trail and saw that it was sap, leaking from the giant trees. Overactive imaginations!

We returned our car in Perth and the next day got on a two day train ride through southern Western Australia, some of the most desolate country imaginable. The land is flat, there is sparse vegetation, and nearly no animal or human life for vast stretches. The sunsets and sunrises were amazing. The train stopped twice during the journey and at the first stop, we got out and wandered around in the mining town (we went to a karaoke bar with some fellow train passengers and they tore the place up- such good singers!) of Kalgoorlie. The second stop, Cook, was 500 further miles from Kalgoorlie (and Kalgoorlie was the closest town to it). It had a population of 4 people, and its main function is to service the trains that stop there. It was perhaps the hottest place I'd ever been, about 118 degrees at noon. And there were so many flies! It was mind-boggling to imagine living there- a stranger existence than perhaps any other I have ever witnessed.

And now we are in Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia. It's a pretty city and feels more urban and established than Perth. There is wine-country and beaches close-by here, too, which we plan on hitting up in the next couple of days before heading to Melbourne.

As we leave Asia...

We are sitting in the Singapore Airport now. Our flight to Australia leaves in 2 hours. We just spent our last days in Asia in this pristine, Asian city-state, staying with the Whites (friends of my parents'). Its a beautiful city, mixing some of the best aspects of Asia and Europe (like London in the Asian tropics).

We are wrapping up 3.5 months in Asia and about 6.5 months of traveling in all and have been having fun remembering and comparing the different places we have been.

During this time, we have visited 16 countries (we are including the U.S. here- is that cheating?), stayed in 70 different locations within those countries and each read more than 30 books.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the places visited in Africa and Asia these last 6.5 months:

Most Physically Beautiful Country- South Africa

Most Physically Beautiful People- Senegalese (Wolof)

Most Spiritually Beautiful People (kindest, calmest, most peaceful)- Thai

Most Beautiful Cities – Cape Town, South Africa and Luang Prabang, Laos

Most Interesting (Fascinating is a better adjective) Country- India

Best Music- Mali

(Worst Music- Vietnam)

Best Bang for the Buck (good quality for lowest prices)- Vietnam

City We'd Most Like to Return to on a High-Dollar Budget for a Long Weekend- Hanoi, Vietnam

Best Beer- Angkor Beer, Cambodia

Best Wine- Shakalaka, South Africa

Best Airline- Thai Airways

Most Interesting Airport- Kuwait City

Top Food Experiences:
Sofitel Metropole, Hanoi (weekday buffet lunch- oh my God!)
Teej, Calcutta (Punjabi thali)
Swagath, Delhi (amazing, relatively upscale Northern Indian)
Alpine Sherpa Inn, Nagarkot, Nepal (sweet, family-owned, spicy Tibetan food with an incredible view)
Food Court Bazaar at the Night Market, Chiang Rai, Thailand- our unbeatable introduction to the Thai food court
Smokin' Pot and White Rose, Battambang, Cambodia- two neighboring, super high quality, low-price restaurants. Fish amok , spicy papaya salad and 50 different kinds of fruit shakes.
*Something, something (can't remember)* Street Food Restaurant, Hoi An, Vietnam- up-scale street food dishes in beautiful setting
Sri Avanda Bagwan, Penang, Malaysia- best Indian restaurant in the world!

Most Perfect food items:
momos- vegetarian dumplings served with curry dipping sauce throughout Nepal
deep-fried catfish with wasabit spring rolls- Highway 4 Restaurant, Hanoi
bright red chili hot sauce, served in a jar at waterfront restaurant in Les Almadies, Dakar, Senegal
pad thai at husband and wife sidewalk restaurant in Thewet (corner of Krung Kasem and Samsen Streets), Bangkok
curry mee- curry noodle soup with tofu, fresh herbs, red onion and chili available at sidewalk stalls in Penang, Malaysia
black pepper crabs- the sauce is everything and the crab are big at Chinese hawker stalls in Singapore

Best Hotel Experiences:
Relax Beach Resort- Ko Phi Phi, Thailand (best staff in the world!!!)
Zebrabar- just south of St. Louis, Senegal
Trung Tam II- Hanoi, Vietnam (most modern, least expensive room we stayed in- great staff)
Champagne Castle Resort – Drakensburg, South Africa (a splurge with an incredible view)
Cozy Cottage- Scarborough, South Africa (little cottage in a beautiful small town with gorgeous ocean sunsets)
Dream House, Udaipur, India ($6 room for an arabian nights type, ancient Indian room with stained glass windows looking out on the city)
Jungle Inn- Bukit Lawang (honeymoon suite in the jungle! monkeys on our private wrap-around porch)
Dorney, Oxshott, Surrey (Heather and Ian's house: great food, amazing liquor cabinet, wonderful company)

Orangutans and other Indonesian Adventures

Going to the Indonesian island of Sumatra to see an orangutan rescue and rehabilitation center (so they can live in the wild) has long been on Joe's agenda of things we should do in Southeast Asia. It was an easy trip by ferry from Malaysia and we planned on just zipping over for a few days, going to the jungle to see the orangutans and heading back to Malaysia.
We did go to the jungle and saw many orangutans (mostly female, with their babies- so cute!) really, really close up (a little too close at times! they are huge animals! and will bite, if threatened). And we did stay in the amazing honeymoon suite (with a private top-floor, wraparound porch with views of the river, waterfall and jungle in all directions- for $35!) at the Jungle Inn in Bukit Lawang across from the national park where the orangutans live. It was all so fantastic! As we were settling up our hotel bill and leaving, I happened to look across the river to see an orangutan loping up the steps of the national park office, just to be chased off by the park ranger with a broom. Two minutes later, she was back. This happened several times and it was really fun to see man and our nearest animal relative interact like that.
Unfortunately, in order to get to the jungle in Bukit Lawang, we had to spend a night in the relatively dismal Indonesian city of Medan, before and after. Indonesia appears much poorer than other Southeast Asian countries we've visited. And Medan, the country's 3rd largest city, displays the characteristics of a crowded, polluted and difficult urban area. When we arrived back in Medan after the jungle, we had a really negative altercation with a hotel owner when we complained about the air-conditioner not working in our room and told him we wanted another room or we were going to leave. We yelled at him and he yelled at us, then he brandished a wrench at us and we took off, adrenaline pumping and feeling pretty down on Indonesia. Twelve hours later, at a much nicer hotel, I succumbed to a miserable and violent stomach illness- intestinal parasites! Giardia! I was incapacitated to the point of making us miss our ferry back to Malaysia, which meant getting stuck another night in Medan! One of the "best" parts about a visit to Medan is that there are mosques everywhere and there is a very loud, extensive call to prayer from these mosques 5 times a day- starting at 4:30 a.m.! It actually sounded like there was a loudspeaker right inside our room! Luckily, we got out of Medan this morning, and are now in Kuala Lumpur (the very comfortable and modernistic capital of Malaysia), holed up in a nice hotel, medicating and recovering until we head to Singapore on Friday.