New Zealand News

After three very short weeks in Australia (it´s like three weeks in Canada, what can you see in three weeks? all I can do is say I´ve been there) we flew from Sydney to Auckland. As it´s only a three hour flight, we arrived in the afternoon, picked up our rental car, and zoomed straight out of the city. We even camped on our first night, having taken all (1 tent, 5 mats,5 sleeping bags, 1 burner, 5 bowls, 5 forks and 1 knife) of our camping gear with us. Now, unlike most travelers to New Zealand who rent camper vans (every second car on the road was a camper), were determined to keep expenses to a minimum, and rented a station wagon (like we did in Autralia). But this one was just a little smaller, and our stuff was litterally piled up to the roof; Jean-Francois could barely see out the back window (see photo). The whole trip involved a lot of packing, unpacking, and trying to find things in the jumble of stuff! Needless to say, people were quite astonished see five people and so much gear come spilling out of the car. Perhaps we should have splurged on something a little bigger, but just for the record, we are still speaking to each other.
As I said, we zoomed out of Auckland because we were in a bit of a rush to meet up with another family (la famille Cote) we had met in Thailand. When we compared our itineraries back in December, we realized we would both be in N-Z at the same time. So we hooked up for about a week on the South Island, and had a great time camping together. Julien was thrilled to play with Nicolas and Florence, at last, someone his own age (all the locals being in school, of course) and we were thrilled to have some friends our own age : ) from home. Half the fun is being able to share and compare your experiences with other people.
New Zealand is made up of two islands, the North Island and the South Island (and, as they like to joke, the West Island=Australia). Both islands are not that big, and one month seemed like plenty of time to see everything. What we didn´t realize is that the roads (even the main ones) twist and turn, and what seems like a three hour drive inevitably takes six. Which isn´t a bad thing, since the scenery is absolutely breathtaking no matter where you go: most of the time you can see the ocean and the mountains simultaneously! It´s just that four weeks isn´t enough to see everything.
We did get around most of it though, basically going down the west coast of both islands and back up the east coast. The highlights included a hike (partway) up the Tongariro volcano, a farm stay where we awakened to the sound of bleating sheep, a trek through an amazing rainforest ending with a (wet) view on the Franz Joseph Glacier, a boat cruise from Milford Sound through the fjords out to the ocean, an icy cold swim with porpoises on the southern tip of the South Island, seeing a fossilized forest, eating fresh seafood in a tiny "five star" roadside restaurant (they had lovely square plates and beautiful teak chairs and tables!), the ferry crossing from one island to the other (great views of the majestic rugged coastline), discovering the art deco town of Napier (destroyed in an earthquake in 1931 and entirely rebuilt), seeing sheep, sheep and more sheep, and being hosted by some lovely New Zealanders in Gisborne (un gros gros merci a Marie-Pierre and Nik pour un accueil chaleureux) and in Auckland (thank-you to Shayne and Greg for sharing your lovely, unique home and your time).
The weather however was another story. After 7 months of pretty much non-stop sunshine, we were a bit taken aback when it started to rain on our way down the North Island, particularly now that we were camping. On our second night in a lovely DOC campground (= Department of Conservation = no facilities except an outhouse and running water), we met an interesting English/Finnish couple (Andy and Jenni) who were also traveling around the world on a very limited budget, hence, camping in the rain just like us. As we shared our travel stories, Andy remarked that ever since we had arrived in New Zealand, (after travelling through asia) our standard of living had gone way way down. Indeed, we were now reduced to sleeping on the ground and cooking for ourselves! It certainly seems ironic, but I guess that´s what happens when people get paid decent wages for their work. You can no longer afford to pay someone else to cook and clean for you.
After a week of camping in the rain, we were told that it always rains on the west coast, which made me feel a bit better. It wasn´t just bad luck. I realized then why so many people rent camper vans. And just as I started to feel sorry for myself, we met a young Americain couple from Indiana, Torrey and Luc, cycling around New Zealand and camping and eating rice and lentils. And they didn´t complain about the rain once! It sure put things into perspective. The weather did improve significantly on the east coast, although one very windy night got the better of our cheap tent, snapping a pole in two and ripping the fly. Luckily, we only had two more nights to go, and managed repair it sufficiently to make it till the end: yes, you can fix anything with duct tape!