Time Travel

The tour officially ended with the Farewell Dinner in Devonport last night. We had most of a day to kill in Auckland. We slept in, packed, took our time at breakfast, did some reading, then checked out of the hotel at the last possible moment, just before 10 a.m.

The hotel was happy to store our luggage for us. Then we struck out on a long walk, heading back to the “Domain” we had visited as a group by bus the day before. We had to navigate some very warm city streets with steep, up hill climbs. But we weren’t in any hurry.

It was only necessary to ask directions once, when we needed to find the pedestrian crossing over a motorway. Once in the Domain, we walked a nicely paved path, up another steep hill, and found ourselves right back at the Winter Garden once again.

For the return, we found a narrow little gravel trail along a creek in the rain forest. It was quite pretty, and difficult to believe that we were in the midst of a huge city where one third of New Zealand’s total population lives and works.

On the way back, we took a short-cut through the City Campus of Auckland University — one of the three public universities in New Zealand. Since tuition is so low for students from New Zealand, there are no private universities

We sat and rested a bit in Albert Park, not far from the life-sized statue of Queen Victoria. People watching was good there, and even a couple of people from our tour group happened by as we were sitting on our bench.

From the park, we did a very steep downhill (which is why we hadn’t gone that way on the outbound leg), and walked Victoria Street back across town to the hotel.

Even though we had to be out of our rooms by 10 a.m., the hotel provided us with a key card for access to the pool, as well as wi-fi access. After taking advantage of the lunch special down the block at The Shakespeare pub, we sat by the pool awhile. Then, just an hour or so before departure for the airport, we used the poolside shower rooms and, clean and refreshed, got into our clothes for the flight.

Our flight departed Auckland on time at 7:35 p.m. on Thursday evening. We landed in Houston, Texas at about 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. No, Air New Zealand aircraft are not capable of time travel. We crossed the international dateline, and gained back the day we had lost on the way to Fiji.

We had two seats to ourselves at the very back of the plane, with plenty of extra room around us for “stuff” so that the leg room was unobstructed. Both of us got several hours of sleep, but there was a lot of turbulence. It made for a bumpy ride, and they even delayed serving beverages a couple times due to the chop.

In Houston, we got through Immigration swiftly, walked a long way to our gate, and sat for two hours waiting. Then we suffered a last-minute gate change that made it necessary for us to take a very brisk 15 walk/train ride to a completely different terminal. Then, United Express had a mechanical issue with one of the overhead bin doors which the mechanic literally fixed with duct tape!

The delay was made up in the air, and the flight arrived on time. Arriving at MSP, where it was 55 degrees colder than the Auckland we had left, Katherine met us at the airport. We were home and in bed well before midnight.

Auckland

Of all the major cities in the world, Auckland is one of them. It’s not a particularly bad city. It’s not a particularly nice city. It’s just another city. On our day tour today we saw a few things that are unique, and we saw a lot of things that are much like modern cities everywhere.

Our tour began at the Michael Joseph Savage Memorial. Savage was the first Labour Party prime minister of New Zealand from 1935 until his death in 1940. He was New Zealand’s FDR, taking over in the midst of the Great Depression and initiating economic reforms. He is considered to be the architect of New Zealand’s social welfare system.

Savage’s memorial is in a park overlooking the city. The view is nice and the gardens are well-maintained.

Nearby is the meeting house of the local Maori Iwi (EE-wee) or tribe. Since the reparations, the Iwi is a major landholder in downtown Auckland, and collects sizeable rents.

This meeting house is used for formal ceremonies. President Obama was welcomed here when he visited New Zealand. His traditional Maori welcome ceremony was a bit more ornate than the one we experienced in Wellington a couple weeks ago.

We drove on to a beach at Mission Bay, where we got a nice view of Rangitoto, Aukland’s youngest dormant volcano. In an eruption approximately 600 years ago, Rangitoto created its own island, which is now a nature preserve.

Mission Bay is also where the first Anglican missionaries originally set up shop to convert the Maori to Christianity. They were rather successful in doing that, but all that remains of the mission today is an old stone church, which is now a restaurant.

On the drive from the beach, our tour director had the bus driver take some back streets through one of the most expensive neighborhoods in all of New Zealand. Homes here have wonderful views, but run to many millions of dollars.

The wealthy residents tried to get tourist coaches banned from their street some time ago. The measure didn’t pass, and the street remains public. But in sort of a passive-aggressive move, many tour guides insist on using this public street, even when it’s out of the way. Many of the homes were beautiful, but as our tour leader remarked, “Money doesn’t necessarily buy good taste.”

We drove past the Auckland Museum, which is a free time option for us. But it didn’t sound terribly intriguing. We continued through the “Aukland Domain” (short for public domain — a very large park) to “The Winter Garden.”

The name is ironic, because this far north, Aukland is in a sub-tropical zone and gets very little in the way of winter weather. Nevertheless, this collection of three green houses, or conservatories, is full of beautiful flowering plants, ferns, a some interesting birds.

Next stop, Maungawhau, also known as Mt. Eden, a dormant volcanic cone quite near downtown. The bus took us about 2/3rds the way up, then it was a steep walk. But the panoramic view of the city, and of the caldera at the top, was quite stunning.

We could really get a feel for how spread out the city is. Aucklanders tend to avoid high rise housing, and prefer single family homes. The homes are usually only one story, two at most. It probably has to do with earthquakes.

Finally, we ended back at the waterfront. We walked through the marina, past rows of very large, very expensive motor yaughts. In the area of the fish market, our tour ended. We explored here a bit — the fish market is more a collection of pricey seafood restaurants than an actual fish market. Then we tried to visit the America’s Cup Sailing Center (New Zealand will host the race in 2021), but it is still under construction except for the shop.

Feeling tired and a bit warm in the midday sun, we caught the City Link, a city bus that drives a continuous loop through the CBD for only one New Zealand dollar a ride (about 66 cents U.S.). It was easy, and dropped us only a few blocks from our hotel.

We visited a few shops on Queen Street, then began the trek up hill toward the hotel. But we had to pass The Shakespeare, an old, red brick hotel that bills itself as “The oldest microbrew pub in New Zealand.” We felt obligated to stop in for historical reasons, and to sit awhile and enjoy a brew.

A short detour took us to the base of Aukland’s iconic Sky Tower, and past the headquarters of TVNZ, New Zealand’s equivalent of the BBC, the state-owned TV network. We stopped in, but no tours are given. So, we returned to the hotel, showered and got ready for the evening farewell dinner.

We met in the lobby and walked together back down to the waterfront, where we all boarded a ferry for Devonport, a peninsula across the bay. The ferry was packed with people headed home to the northern suburbs from work in the city.

Our excellent dinner was at The Esplanade restaurant, located in a splendid, 120 year old hotel right on the waterfront. Following the meal, many returned on the next ferry, but some of us remained. Four of us climbed Mt. Victoria (Takarunga), yet another volcanic cone.

This one has no caldera at the top, but a good deal of history. The New Zealand Navy put a large gun emplacement here to guard the harbor a century ago. Bunkers were built here during WW II.

And the Navy still maintains a radar and weather station here. Views of the harbor and the city were even better here than on Maungawhau earlier in the day.

After our return ferry ride, we walked back the hotel. Our tour is now officially over, but we still have some time to kill before we fly home tomorrow night.

Maungatautari

As we near the end of this adventure, the day’s primary task was to get from Taupo to Aukland. But we made the trip interesting with several stops along the way.

The first stop was the Arapuni swinging bridge over the Waikato River. Arapuni is a tiny town with very little other than a hydroelectric dam and power station. The swinging footbridge doesn’t actually swing that much, but it provides a good view of the valley.

We continued a short distance to the Sanctuary Mountain nature preserve at Maungatautari. This is a piece of restored natural rain forest that has been totally fenced to exclude all land mammals other than humans.

New Zealand originally had no mammalian predators until humans brought them. That is how so many of the unique species developed here, especially flightless birds, such as the Kiwi. The mammals also upset the natural environment of endemic vegetation by eating plants and seeds that originally grew without being removed from the forest floor.

Since some of these offending mammals are as small as rats and mice, the fence must be very fine, and must be kept in constant repair. Inside the perimeter, traps and poisons must be used to eradicate species that do not belong.

The result is that many plants, birds, and reptiles that have been at the edge of extinction have flourished here. For example, many of the Kiwi chicks that we learned about at the national hatchery are returned to the wild here.

Our local guide here was both knowledgeable and entertaining. We knew immediately upon being introduced to him — with long hair, multiple Maori tattoos and piercings, and bare feet (even on course gravel!) — that he was going to be an interesting fellow.

We were fortunate on our walk to get to see several New Zealand pigeons and a couple of KaaKaa parrots at fairly close range.

Leaving the Sanctuary Mountain, we drove only a short distance to a small family cafe that served us an excellent lunch. Then it was back on the road on the way to Aukland.

Aaron, our tour director, made use of the time to tell us about a number of issues related to New Zealand culture and politics. The failed referendum to change the New Zealand flag, the change in gun laws after the Christchurch terror attack, and the push to construct mass transit systems in Aukland, where the population is growing rapidly, were the key topics.

We managed to get into Aukland before rush hour, but the traffic congestion was similar to what one would expect in any city of 2 million population. After checking into our hotel, which is well-located in the central business district, we met for a brief walking orientation.

Our walk ended at the America’s Cup pavilion on the harbor, and from there we joined another couple for a small supper at a local pub. Prices are high here, which one would also expect in the heart of a major city, especially just a block or two from where massive cruise ships dock every day. But the food and beer were good.

On the way back to the hotel, we got a bit damp in a brief shower, but were rewarded with a double rainbow. We took a few detours to explore various stores and sites that had been mentioned on the orientation walk. Some were closed, but tomorrow is another day.

Taupo

A late start today allowed us to sleep in. We got on the bus and headed for a geothermal area about a half hour outside of Taupo (which we have learned that the locals pronounce as “TOE-paw”).

We once again noted the unusual topograhy of this area, with many hills and mounds that have been created by volcanic activity long ago, but are now covered with topsoil, grass, and trees.

Many acres of Monterey Pines, a non-native species brought more than a century ago from California, cover these hills, and many other places in New Zealand, as part of commercial tree farms.

The geothermal activity in this area is evident, also, in the fact that electrical power here is generated by a large geothermal power plant. Steam from the earth is channeled to turbines to generate electricity.

Our destination, Orakei Krako was once a Maori holy site, then became commercialized by white settlers, and is now back in the hands of the local “iwi” or tribe.

Part of the site was drowned by a hydro-electric dam built on the Waikato, New Zealand’s largest river, in the 1960s. So, our tour began with a boat ride across the lake from the visitor’s center to the site itself.

The site is much more compact than Yellowstone, but the various springs, pools, and geysers (or guysers, as they spell it here) are very reminiscent of what one sees there. The walk was a little over a mile and a half, mostly on wooden board walks constructed over the mineral-laden soil.

A highlight was the mud pots, that were boiling away madly. But the sun was so hot that we were all boiling a bit when we couldn’t find shade.

After crossing back over to the visitors center by boat once again, we were served a very nice lunch, and got a chance to see some of New Zealand’s famous eels swimming in the clear lake water.

After lunch, we took a short bus ride to Huka Falls, farther downstream on the same Waikato River. It’s not the biggest waterfall we’ve ever seen, but the volume of water, and the color of the water, are nevertheless impressive.

Finally we visited the Aratiatia Dam, the hydroelectric project that caused so much damage at Orakei Krako. For some reason, it is necessary for the dam to partially open its flood gates four times each day to release a large volume of water.

Why the release isn’t regulated to constantly release an amount of water equal to that building up behind the dam, as most dams in the U.S. do, wasn’t made clear. Perhaps it’s just another example of British engineering, as we encountered so frequently when living in Nottingham.

In any case, the water comes cascading out of the dam at appointed times, and people come to watch. Alarms are sounded as warning, because these human-created flash floods have caused deaths in the past.

On the way back from the dam viewing site, I managed to get into the midst of a conversation between two Tui (TOO-ee), the bird with two voice boxes, so it can harmonize with itself. In this instance, they were using their normal calls, and not imitating another bird or other sound.

By this time, it was mid-afternoon and the temperature had risen into the mid-80s — and honestly felt a lot warmer than that to Minnesotans so recently transplanted from winter. So we called it a day. The bus made a stop at a local supermarket so that we could stock up on items for dinner. Beer and wine seemed to be the commodities most sought. Then we returned to the hotel and enjoyed a dip in the pool and some cool adult beverages.

Rotorua

Our day began with airports and planes, as we left Queenstown for Christchurch (a short flight on a twin turboprop) and then immediately from Christchurch to Rotorua on the North Island. Flying here on domestic flights is easy — no security, no getting rid of water bottles, just get on the plane. We were in Rotorua by noon.

This is volcano country, and the landscape is dotted with hot springs. It is very much like the Yellowstone area in the U.S. As we landed at Rotorua, we could smell the sulfer in the air.

First stop was the Redwood Memorial Grove. In 1901, some California redwood seedlings were planted here as an experiment. It has been shown that they grow taller and faster here than in California. In only 120 years (a short span for redwoods), many are more than 100 feet tall.

The native ferns thrive in the shade of the redwoods, as well, making for a very unique forest setting. We had a great walk through the trees and beside an amazingly clear hot spring pond.

After our walk, we drove to the city center or Rotorua and took in Eat Street. This is sort of like a mall food court, but instead of being in a mall, it is a partially enclosed, pedestrian only street in downtown.

There were all sorts of restaurants, but since we had had a big breakfast, and knew that we would be having a big dinner later, we only snacked. We used the extra time to walk around the town a bit. It was pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon.

Next stop was the National Kiwi Hatchery at Rainbow Springs National Park. The Kiwi, of course, is the national bird of New Zealand. It is also an endangered species. This facility helps them increase their numbers by reducing the Kiwi infant mortality rate.

Before humans arrive on these islands, roughly a thousand years ago, there were no preditors — in fact, no mammals at all except for a few small fruit bats. Birds like the Kiwi evolved to be flightless, and to feed and nest on the ground. Humans are preditors themselves, and also brought animals such as dogs, rats, possums, weasels, etc. In the wild, newly hatched Kiwi chicks have only a 5% survival rate.

The Hatchery sends naturalists with trained dogs into wilderness areas across the country to find and gather Kiwi eggs. The eggs are incubated artificially, then the hatchlings are raised in the protected environment until they are a little over 2 pounds in weight. At this point, they are large enough to defend themselves and can be returned to the wild.

We got to see a one day old hatchling, and also got to see the oldest Kiwi in captivity — a female approximately 40 years old. Unfortunately, photos of the live Kiwis are not permitted, so we had to be content with the taxidermy Kiwis.

Back on the bus after this fascinating experience, we drove south to the town of Taupo, which is on the north shore of Lake Torpo, the largest lake (by surface area) in New Zealand. Located almost at the dead center of the North Island, Lake Taupo is the caldera of a dormant volcano. It is much shallower and much warmer than Lake Wakatipu, on the South Island, where we have just come from. The topography of the land here is much different, as well.

We arrived at our hotel about 4 p.m., and we were surprised (and a bit disappointed) to discover that, while the Hilton is very nice, it is at least a 20 minute walk to the lake. That walk is also almost all downhill — which means a steep uphill climb coming back. Not an ideal location.

We had some time to check in, unpack, and get acquaited with the place before meeting for dinner around 6 p.m. The coach drove us into the central business district, more like a 20 drive. The meal was good, but it is distressing that the town is so far away.

After dinner we returned to the hotel, where we changed clothes and took in the sunset. Then we took the walk down the hill to the lake, where the last light of the day was on the horizon. It was very pretty, but we then had to do the up hill in the dark. After that climb, on a warm evening, we both needed showers before bed.

Queenstown

This was a free day in Queenstown. Originally, an optional tour was offered for this day, but because of poor reviews from previous travelers, the company canceled it and has not yet replaced it. The thinking seems to be that there are so many things to do here, and so many operators willing to sell various adventure sports, that it is just as well to turn people loose and let them do their own thing.

Our thing was to sleep in a bit, then enjoy a large breakfast, followed by a walk of about 3 miles along the lakeshore. We did about 1.5 miles out and back from the hotel on the gravel trail, retracing what we had done a couple evenings before, but extending farther this time. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Rain had been predicted, but it amounted to little more than a sprinkle.

On the way back, we passed briefly through part of the residential neighborhood that features so many beautiful and (based on the lakefront location) expensive homes. One happened to be for sale, and the realtor was having “open home” (which is New Zealand-speak for an open house). We figured, why not?

We followed the signs up a driveway into sort of a back alley, discovering that these folks all park their cars in garages on the back side, so as not to spoil the lake view. We removed our shoes, as others had done before us. The realtor immediately picked up our accent, and we admitted to being curiosity lookers. This house was priced at 2.55 million New Zealand dollars (roughly $1,685,000 U.S.) so would be just a bit(!) out of our price range, even if we had the residency permit to live here.

The house was 260 square meters — or just slightly larger than our home in Brooklyn Park. Upstairs were four bedrooms and three baths, all with greater or lesser lake views with lots of glass. Downstairs was a spacious kitchen/dining area and a living room, both opening out to a large patio overlooking the lake through large sliding glass doors. It was a beautiful home, and we could get a really good idea about how people were living in this neighborhood.

After our impromptu real estate tour, we returned to the hotel for a quick clothing change, as it was getting warmer than forecast. We also tried a Facetime to Katherine and Clara back home, but had a poor connection. Then we got onto the water taxi for a ride to Queenstown proper.

Chinese family feeding ducks by the water taxi dock

We spent our time, initially, with some people-watching and reading on a bench by the wharf. Many Australians are still on summer vacation, and this is the weekend of the Australia Day national holiday, so that brings lots of Aussies here. Today is also Chinese New Year, so hordes of Chinese tourists (who haven’t been trapped by the Corona Virus travel restrictions) are also here. There are also plenty of Americans and others from around the world, so the people-watching is very entertaining.

On Saturdays, various local artists set up tables in the park near the lake to sell their wares, so we wandered through the art fair, listening to street musicians and enjoying the general atmosphere. We then walked among the shops until it was time to purchase our tickets for the Gondola.

The Gondola is a cable system that takes people up to Bob’s Peak, on the mountain high above Queenstown, where there are scenic views, restaurants, and various adventure sport venues. One of the most popular is The Luge, which is really a bunch of little carts one can drive down a paved track — popular with kids. Others include mountain biking (many were bringing their bikes up with them on the Gondola), paragliding, and bungy jumping.

The bungy concession is operated by the same A.J. Hackett company that pioneered the whole business out at Arrowtown. However, the jump here is a little different. First, it isn’t as long of a drop. Second, rather than having the bungy cords clamped around one’s ankles, the jumper is in a full body harness. And third, there is no water at the bottom or boat to recover the jumper. Instead, after a lot of swinging around, the jumper is hoisted back up to the jump platform.

Two members of our group signed up to jump, and most of the rest of the group went to watch. One was a 75-year-old widow from Texas, who discovered that anyone at 75 and over who comes to jump gets to go for free. The second was a 60-something woman from Wisconsin. Both accomplished their mission.

After a much more tame drop for us — riding the Gondola back down to Queenstown — we got in line at Fergburger. The Fergburger claims to be the best hamburger in the world, and the line of tourists waiting to try one seems to support the claim.

The operation is efficient, and we didn’t have to wait too long. They are huge, so we split one. Whether it’s the best burger in the world is a matter of opinion, but it was a very good burger, indeed.

Our receipt at Fergburger got us a 10% discount next door at Mrs. Ferg’s gellato shop. Again, probably not the best in the world, but excellent ice cream. We missed the departure time for the next water taxi by just minutes, so there was nothing to do but find a table in the shade at the pub next to the wharf and get a beer. Other members of the group had the same idea, so we nursed our beers along until the next ferry departure. It was a good, relaxing free day in Queenstown.

Sheep Station

No transportation by motor coach today. Instead, on this bright, beautiful, blue-sky day, we met at the hotel boat dock to take a water taxi to the central business district of Queenstown.

We did not stay long, but moved to a different pier from the water taxi dock and boarded yet another motor catamaran for a trip across Lake Wakatipu. Views of the surrounding mountains were stunning.

Our destination was the Mt. Nicholas Sheep Station — a 100,000 acre ranch where 29,000 Marino sheep, a herd of Herford cattle, and an assortment of pigs and chickens are raised essentially by one family. Five family members and employees, along with about 30 very smart dogs, run everything.

Everything, that is, except the tourist operation, which is contracted to a company that brings its laborers and its customers in and out by boat each day. Nevertheless, our guide was a young New Zealand woman who had grown up on a farm and was both knowledgeable and comfortable around animals. It was clear that she loved her job.

She gave us an introductory talk in the sheering barn, explaining how teams of expert sheerers are brought in each spring and how they do their work. The sheerers have a global operation, moving from New Zealand from Australia, and then working in England and Scotland when it is winter here.

We also had opportunity to feel the raw wool and learn about its marketing and processing. Then we were introduced to a couple of semi-retired dogs who gave us a brief demonstration of their herding abilities. Some of the sheep were eager to eat from the hands of tourists.

After the demo, we went to another barn where we were served an excellent lunch of various meat pies and trimmings. There was time to linger along the lake shore until the boat returned to collect us, bringing the next group of visitors at the same time — a well-run operation.

After docking back at Queenstown, our tour director gave us an orientation tour. The business district is quite small, only a few square blocks. It consists primarily of booking agencies selling tourists opportunities for jet-boat rides, parasailing, sky diving, hang gliding, bungy jumping, and a long catalog of other “adventure sports.”

These are interspersed with souvenir shops, bars, restaurants, and clothing stores selling the finished products of the same Marino wool we saw on the hoof just a bit ago. Everything here is on the pricey side, and it is clear that one could spend a great deal of money here in a very short Queenstown vacation. No wonder there are so many expensive homes on the surrounding hillsides!

After our orientation walk, we had free time in Queenstown. We spent the bulk of it walking through the large, public botanical garden — one of the few free things available here. Then we inspected several of the shops, including one that referenced a certain Mary who was reported to have had a little lamb....

An excellent dinner was served to us at a restaurant called “The Fat Lamb.” Just down the street was another, called “The Fat Badger.” In Te Anau, some in the group had eaten in a place called “The Fat Duck.” Several of us remarked that all of the good food included in this trip will probably turn us into “The Fat Tourists.”

We returned to the hotel by water taxi, getting a good look at Queenstown’s iconic coal-fired steamship, which still takes excursions across the lake several times a day — for a price, of course.