To our favorite travel agent, Julie from All-Travel.com

March 5, 2008

To our favorite travel agent, Julie; to my Friday lunch group; to our friends who were on our tour of New Zealand; and to our longtime friends and family. We would like to share with you some residual thoughts about our recent trip to New Zealand.

Some notes from sunny southern California where that great humorist, Will Rodgers, claimed that New Zealand was just like California except for all those funny little characters called sheep.The British established their total sovereignty and control over all of New Zealand not until 1840, nearly 200 years after A. Tasman of Holland discovered it and long before Captain James Cook ever thought of becoming a sailor. Today it’s a booming nation of 4 million souls and 45 million sheep.

The well known natives of New Zealand, the Maori, comprise about 17% of the population, and had immigrated southwest to New Zealand from perhaps Tahiti and Hawaii about 800 AD through 1300 AD. A friendly people, now, the Maori we saw during our stay on the north island put on a first class show for us.Falling back to their ancient tradition of war, tempest and chaos the male Maori constantly fought each other- tribe by tribe by tribe. And later in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, they fought the new settlers of ‘Kiwi’ land.

In their warlike posturing, (as seen by we tourists during their show), they were domineering, fierce and definitely frightening. With a spear held in one hand, they slowly advanced toward their ‘enemy’, (we tourists) their massive tattooed thighs flashing beneath their grass skirts, the shell beads on their chests clashing but not silently, their blue-dyed tongues stuck straight out over their tattooed chins and their eyes bulging like a wild banshee, we were totally startled as, we supposed, were their arch enemies.

Their fast and quick motions with their long spears, and their guttural sounds at the top of their lungs gives the observer a desperate feeling of insecurity. This act, accompanied by drums lasted a full 15 minutes and when it was over, we definitely knew that in the ‘old’ days, the battles between tribes was exceptionally brutal, exceptionally terrifying with neither side exhibiting mercy toward the other. It was an impressive show for us to see, hear and experience.

New Zealand has 2 main islands and is about as large as Japan- the north island has about 3 million people, lots of rolling hills like the central coast of California and is generally considered the more civilized part of the country.

The south island, the frontier, is much more rugged and much more like our California during the heady days of the 1849 gold rush. It has 3 great centers, Dunedin- a sophisticated and lively University town- Christchurch- a cosmopolitan city with a strong British flavor whose massive central square seems to be the cross-roads of the southern hemisphere- and Queenstown- once the place for placer mining, gold miners, 4-wheel driving, jet boats and para-sailing and water-skiing on their immense lake and the world’s home to ‘BUNGEE’ jumping. A great spot to enjoy being alive and the favorite stop of many of our traveling companions- of which there was a large number on our coach. And of the 48 intrepid travelers most were British and Australian. The Brits sense of humor is truly amazing- really understated. They are very enjoyable to be with. And any opportunity to ‘rib’ the Aussies in our group was met by a quick, witty retort and laughter.

The south island also contains one of Earth’s natural marvels- the Milford Sound. This vast, mountainous area on the west coast has sky-high peaks, glistening glaciers, tumbling waterfalls, wide fjords, perpendicular cliffs to the stars, and majestic and eminent scenic beauty as far as one can see. The Milford is truly exalted and one of the highlights of the trip.

The New Zealanders are great too, but they sorta talk funny. I was asking the lady maitre d’ where I should sit for breakfast and she said, “sit where the ‘reed’ cards are.” “You mean red cards”, I responded. “No, the ‘reed’ cards”, she repeated, somewhat annoyed. “Oh OK ,I got it, by the ‘REED’ Cards, I answered. My what a puzzle! So all their ‘E’s’ are pronounced like ‘EE’. Jeet boat as in jet boat, preegnant as in baby, reed- as in red, beed as in bed, deegree as in degree , keeg as in keg, weest- as in west, etc, ,etc,

The New Zealand people are exceptionally easy-going and humorous in a wry, witty way. Our guide was an exuberant Kiwi and together with a fun-loving driver set a swift but highly entertaining pace. On the journey home we stopped off at the Fiji Islands for 3 days at one of their marvelous beach resorts. It was so relaxing after the fun but hectic coach travel through ‘Kiwi’ land.

Good on ya, mates. (Translation: Good for you, friends).

Rick and Susan Evans, March 2008

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To our favorite travel agent, Julie from All-Travel.com

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