Day 9 – Steampunk! (23 September 2023)

Today was a travel day. We headed out from Christchurch early, enjoying some lovely scenery along the way. I didn’t get any photos of the “venison on the hoof” that is farmed in New Zealand – maybe tomorrow.

One scourge has been (like back home!) the Scotch Broom. Unfortunately, as the sheep/venison/cattle are basically just allowed to graze away up and down the hills and dales alone, the Scotch Broom can get a foothold before the farmer even has a realization that something is going wrong. As you can see from the pictures, it’s taken over prime pastureland – and it’s likely to just keep going unless there’s a concerted effort to pull it out. One of the other gals, Pam (from California), and I were opining that it didn’t look like they could possibly get a handle on it. :-(

We stopped in a small town for a “bio-break,” and  I not only found more crochet hooks at a thrift store that sends the money to Sherpas in Nepal, but also a couple of unbreakable wine glasses to “celebrate” Lynn’s new house in Chicago. (She’d told me a story about breaking a few of her daughter’s glasses through “unfortunate circumstances” – I thought this would be a bit of a giggle and – hey – they were only $1 apiece.)

I finished the hat for “gluten-free Marilyn” (v. “Jim and Marilyn” Marilyn) before we hit Oamuru for lunch. Not only did it turn out to be her favorite color, but she even appreciated my feeble attempt to put a “silver fern” on it to commemorate New Zealand. She took a few photos of me making the hat, and I took a few of her in it!

Lunch in Oamaru was delicious. We generally pre-order, so as not to overwhelm pubs/restaurants. I had a vegetarian pasta that was made with a pumpkin/curry type sauce. It was just delicious. (Point of fact, we haven’t had a bad meal yet!).

As we were coming into Oamaru, I was excited and surprised to hear our guide Rod announce the big Steampunk Museum!

Oamaru’s Victorian precinct is the perfect setting for steampunk, as the architecture is a great backdrop for this “alternative version” of 19th century England, with all steam-powered technology. HERE is an article on Oamaru Steampunk.

Steampunk HQ” is located in an old grain elevator, built of the “white stone” (limestone) for which the region is known.

For $2NZ, you can get a full scale train engine outside to spit fire and billow smoke. This is only 1/4 of the “action” you get – I couldn’t get my gloves off fast enough to record it all. Sound on!

Inside, you’ll find a museum of contraptions & bizarre machinery featuring heavy use of copper, gears, pipes & gas cylinders, as well as an ensemble of skeletal sculptures lit by flickering lights & accompanied by film, projection & sound. It’s something referred to as “retro-futuristic sci-fi.”

A back door leads to a large yard with projects in various stages of being steampunked.

This is the inside (sound on):

One of the areas was really remarkable. It was called The Portal. With mirrors, lights, and sound, they had created an “immersive” experience (sound on):

I knew of course that this was the perfect place for my 2nd H cremarble. H absolutely loved steampunk. I held onto the marble for a while, trying to figure out the right place for it.

Finally I decided – as H also loved trains – that the train in the back yard was perfect. I tried to get onto the top, but without doing a James-Bond-run-down-the-top-avoiding-the-curved-sides-of-the-locomotive maneuver, I thought I’d be out of luck. However, I realized if I climbed on the “cowcatcher,” I could lob the cremarble up and behind the skull topping the engine. Perfection! Herbert is now part of a winery, and part of a steampunk exhibit. Nothing better!!!

new next to old

Now – here’s the crazy part – after placing the cremarble, Lynn and I realized we were running short of time, but I wanted to get a sticker for the back of my computer.

We headed into the small guest shop – and there was a light shining from a window onto a dragonfly necklace, made of “parts” (very steampunk).

It reminded me of the necklace H had made for me out of car parts, which I had brought on the trip. I was afraid to see the cost – but it was super reasonable, and so different! So, of course, I got it :-)

Right after buying the necklace, I signed the guest book – and look at the town of the person right above me:

Come to find out that “Herbert” is a town just outside of Oamuru – because we passed a sign (a bit blurred here), as well as signs for the “Herbert forest” and “Herbert grange.” Think he liked the placement? I sure do!!

On our way to our final stop of the day, Dunedin (pron: Dun-Eden – as in “a color like tan” and “the place Adam and Eve came from), we hit the Moeraki boulders. HERE is a story about them.

Dunedin is where we are staying for the night. It touts itself as having the steepest street in the world – Baldwin Street. The top of Baldwin Street is concrete, because when it was all asphalt, it would heat up and slide down the hill in the summer! There was apparently a “fight” between San Francisco and Dunedin about the steepest street “award,” but it turned out that Baldwin Street won by a 1% grade over the San Francisco competitor. I think that my 20% grade driveway could have been a contender if a public throughway! 😊

The story of Baldwin Street is that when City Planners in England drew up the street plan for Dunedin, they just basically “laid it down” without considering the topography. The result was Baldwin Street.

Our hotel, another Distinction (like in Rotorua) is built inside what used to be the old Post Office. This town definitely has some grand buildings! We had a really delicious dinner tonight at the hotel. And…Lynn and I found, and split, a bottle of my precious Waireke Island Man-O-War wine!

We will get to explore the only castle in New Zealand tomorrow, and then some more of the town. After that, we are to Milford Sound. We understand that the snow that’s blocking the road should be gone by then, so we can get to our liveaboard! 😊

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 8 – Cardboard Cathedral, Sheep Shearing, Happy Birthday to Me (22 Sept 2023)

Our breakfast today at the hotel definitely highlighted the fact we are in the “breadbasket” of New Zealand.

It included an actual full honeycomb just pulled out of the hive, plus gorgeous yellow new cream.

This reminded me of when I lived in England – the milkman would bring you your bottles of milk in the morning, but you had to put a board out. Why? Because the milkman would put it on the top of your bottles – if you didn’t, the crows would peck through the foil caps on the bottles and suck the cream top off your milk!!!

We got out at 9:00 a.m. to do a bit of walking near our hotel before getting on the bus to head to the sheep station.

The first place we went was the “transitional” cathedral. It is all (Christian) denominations, because so many churches were destroyed by the earthquake. The interior of the church is made of cardboard! I couldn’t get over it! And the entire thing – which seats 700 people – only cost $5 million to build.

The story goes that a few weeks after the earthquake, a Cathedral staff member saw an article in a design magazine about an “emergency architect” called Shigeru Ban. After the Kobe earthquake, he had designed a cardboard church to replace one that had been destroyed. He was invited to Christchurch and offered to do the same for them. It’s not just made of cardboard – it’s cardboard, local wood and steel, with a polished concrete floor and a polycarbonate roof – but mainly waves of cardboard tubes, that draw your eye and attention upwards and forward.

More about its fascinating history is HERE. (The crane behind the Cathedral is building the new sports center.)

On the way, we walked through a park with this sculpture.

It’s hard to tell in the picture, but it’s floating in the air, suspended on guy-wires.

It represents the spire on the steeple of the Cathedral downtown (that we saw yesterday). People come and picnic under it and often remember the earthquake and the victims.

I always light a candle for my grandmother Tutu.

However, there weren’t any matches!

So I had to “go walkabout” and find someone who had them!

(I wound up finding a guy at a computer behind an office door – he was chagrined he’d forgotten to set matches out.)

Next we headed over to a park where the CTV Building used to be. The CTV Building housed Canterbury Television as well as an education languages school, a medical center, and several other offices. On 22 February 2011 just before 1:00 p.m., the 6.3 magnitude earthquake collapsed the CTV Building. 115 people who were in the building died – 61% of the total 185 deaths – and many many others were injured in the collapse.

The people who lost their lives were not just from New Zealand, but from Japan, Malaysia, China, Turkey, Philippines, etc. This garden was completed in 2018 to reflect the thoughts and wishes of bereaved family members as well as those injured in the collapse. There is a wall upon which you can place your memories and thoughts.

I thought this might be a piece of the CTV Building, but it’s a piece of the Berlin wall! The murals change periodically.

“runaway” sheep – the border collie is trying to herd them as are the wet owners!

And off we went after our walk to the sheep shearing station. We learned so much from Chris and Dell! Luckily, we were mainly under cover, as it was raining (but not snowing, as had been forecasted!)

Chris had two border collies, which as we all know are silent, “visual” dogs, plus a “huntaway” dog, which barks at the sheep and gets them moving fast. I’ve never heard of a huntaway, but boy could she bark and boy, did those sheep run!

Jim (of Jim and Marilyn) from our group was chosen to be the “helper,” and was taught how to sort the sheep using a gate that swung one way if you wanted the sheep to go back out into the field, the other if you wanted to pen them.

He did great – he didn’t let any of the sheep that we wanted to “keep” out on the field, just “penning” one wrong one.

This was, of course, after the main border collie (not the one “in training”) had gotten them into the first pen to begin with.

The sheep that were used in the demonstrations were Romney Sheep. They are “rug quality” sheep, with their wool running about 28-32 microns. It’s very sturdy – but super itchy – wool.

The demand for wool is way down in both clothing and carpeting. It’s been supplanted by plastic byproducts of various and sundry. However, sheep need to be sheared for their health – if they aren’t shorn, the wool gets too wet and heavy, which can lead to infections and such. Interestingly, wild sheep only have about an inch-long coat – and they shed their wool. So this “problem” is a man-made one.

Unfortunately, 45 years ago, you could get $7-9/kilo for wool (a sheep generally gives about 3) and paid about 85-90c to have the sheep shorn. Now, you get $1 a kilo, and it costs $3 to the shearer to have the sheep shorn – so, no profit!

However, 40 years ago, you’d receive $10-11 to export lamb – now, it’s about $110. So the sheep you see are mainly ewes, used to lamb. Males are always sold for meat, whereas some of the females will be kept to increase the flock.

A mother sheep is shorn before lambing – the ewe that Chris sheared for us was very pregnant. The reason it’s done this way is that the ewe then gets cold in the rain/bad weather and will head for cover – and the lamb will follow her. Unfortunately, sheep aren’t the greatest mothers, so if you don’t shear her before she lambs, she won’t be cold/need to head for cover, and the lamb will be out in the elements with her, which it can’t withstand.

We learned about the different types of wool from Chris. For example, merino wool is from merino sheep, which are smaller and live in high, arid country. Their wool is only about 18-19 microns, so not itchy – but also not for carpets or strong socks, as the fibers will break. Romney wool is strong for socks, rugs, outside sweaters (with a shirt underneath), but, again, itchy. You can’t raise a merino where the Romney can be raised – the weather is too wet and they get foot rot, plus they aren’t used to such green, abundant grass, and they get too fat. The Romney is a “tough sheep with a big engine,” perfect to raise in the area where we were having the demonstration.

After five years, a sheep isn’t profitable. They grow 2 teeth a year (bottom teeth only) until they’re 4 years old. After that, the teeth wear down, so they can’t eat enough and can’t feed their lambs milk properly. Sheep can live longer – the problem is, their teeth won’t.

yep – me and ze alpaca

Then we learned about alpacas. Alpaca wool is a cottage industry. You get about 14 kilo per alpaca, however, it’s not like sheep where the wool is basically the same all over. The “saddle” area of the alpaca is 19 microns of fine wool (about a kilo), but the rest the wool is far less fine at about 30 microns. As you can see from the picture, he has a black and a white alpaca. Because the wool is colored, you have to wash and card it separately by hand, which is difficult and expensive. Chris just gives it away to “cottage spinners” and if he can’t give it away, he puts it out in the garden or burns it. Alpaca don’t spit like camels or llamas (I was actually afraid of that, but – nope).

Formerly they packed duvets with wool and sold them (because the color didn’t matter) and they were warm like a down comforter. However, they have moved away from that because – again – duvets are generally now filled with an acrylic – similarly warm and less expensive to produce.

Another issue is that black wool can be black/black, brown/black, blue/black, or grey/black. If you happen to want to make something from natural alpaca wool, first, you just want that “saddle” area, second, to get enough, you have to stick with the same animal! And sometimes that doesn’t even help, as if the animal is out in the sun, the wool will bleach from black to a brown.

Black wool doesn’t pick up the dye – so that’s why merino sheep -which were originally black – were “modified” over time to be white. Even if there is a small black spot anywhere on a lamb, it will be sold for meat early, as you don’t want this recessive gene in your gene pool. Chris explained it this way: Imagine that you have a pile of wool, and it has even a tiny bit of black wool in it. You die the white wool pink, to make pink sweaters. But the black wool won’t take the dye. So you wind up with a sweater with a teeny tiny bit of black in the weave. Would you buy that sweater? No.

However, this is a 4th generation farm, and for the first time, there are two black sheep that currently won’t be slaughtered, because the “4th generation wife” wants to spin and weave it. So it is hand shorn away from all the other sheep (so the black fiber won’t get mixed in). But this is almost like having “sheep as pets” which is not “the thing” on a farm. As Chris said, for example of his dogs, “they are better than pets – they are tools.”

The floor of the shearing shed is varnished, so that the sheep will slip if they happen to get away. As sheep’s wool has lanolin in it (which makes them slippery already), with a grippy floor, a shearer wouldn’t stand a chance. I took a number of Marco Polo videos of our day out in the paddock, sheep shed, etc. and sent them off – but won’t download them here. Chris did the bulk of the shearing with the electric clippers, that (as you can see), take all the wool off. He also showed us using the metal “sheep shears,” which actually don’t clip down so close to the skin, leaving a bit of the wool on the sheep for warmth.

So are there better ways to get wool off sheep? They tried at one point to have an injection that would make the sheep just drop the wool. But it would take 10-20+ days, and if you didn’t time it right, you’d find wool all over the field and naked sheep standing around. To remedy that, they decided to put nets on the sheep (truth! I asked because honestly I thought he was joking with us). However, then (once the sheep “blew its coat”), you had to unwind the wool from the net. Too time consuming. They also tried robots, but they would cut “bits of the sheep that weren’t mean to be cut” if the sheep squirmed. So, shearers it is.

Chris could shear by the time he was 12. You start off giving the child a little bit to do (like the last bit on the leg), then from there more and more. He went from being on the farm to being a cop for 20 years because “it was way too hard being a farmer” – then once he’d retired, he came back to have a farm where he could educate people about farming, but he doesn’t (for example) raise the sheep, he “borrows some” from the neighbor for demonstrations, etc.

We went in after our demonstration to a delicious “shearer’s lunch” of lamb, fresh bread, salad, corn, fruit, egg salad, potatoes, tea/coffee. One of the “jams” was a delicious “apricot and capsicum” spread – unfortunately, made fresh and not for sale!

But the big surprise was Happy Birthday To Me! Rod had given me a birthday “medal’ to wear for the day, but I was surprised by a big card signed by everyone, fancy New Zealand champagne in not-so-fancy glasses (“for the sommelier”) and a delicious Sacher torte-type cake! We did the “COVID candles routine” where I had everyone take a candle and make their own wish, so as not to blow them out “on the cake” – and raised a toast with the champagne to Chris and Dell, Rod, Tony our driver, and to my “Whanau.” 😊As you can see, I was so surprised I didn’t even have the presence of mind to snap a photo until I had taken the candles off!

I bought some wool from Dell, because one of the gals forgot her cap and has been borrowing mine, and I thought it would be kind of fun to make her one. She apparently was in New Zealand before and said she “left her New Zealand-branded warm cap” at home by accident. But she was teasing it was probably actually “Made in China”. So Dell was kind enough to give me a crochet hook, and I bought the wool to make her a real New Zealand hat. 😊I also got myself a wool coffee “cosy,” and then got a present for my Mom that I think she’s going to love. This time – I’m not telling!!!

Once we were back in Christchurch, Lynn and I went to get gelato at the best place in town per Rod – we got a “hokey pokey” which is the one with chunks of honeycomb. NOM NOM.

Unfortunately, New Zealand food is amazing. I’m going to roll home.

And then, as a final capper, champagne in our room! What a day!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 7 – Christchurch (21 Sept 2023)

Today was mainly a travel day – and also mainly will be photos.

We stopped by on our way to Rotorua Airport (about the size of Santa Rosa airport) and visited a redwood forest that had been planted about 100 years ago.

It was odd to see coast redwoods in and amongst huge tree ferns!

This was interesting to me – this gigantic redwood “celebrates” the first woman – in the world! – to get a forestry degree. (She was Welsh, but settled in New Zealand.)

Check out these bathrooms at the redwood grove! Super cool and artsy 😊

Finally was able to snag a photo (in passing) of the gigantic camelia trees!

Our plane – and a shirt and the airport that made me laugh (Hello, Dr Seuss!)

We did have some turbulence on landing – though I didn’t think a lot of it. I spoke with Lynn later, and she was actually going over her finances/will/trust in her head! I believe that she blogged about it. We weren’t sitting together, so I didn’t know about it til we got to the hotel!

Our hotel is the Rydges, about a 10-15 minute walk from the CBD. Unfortunately upon heading to our room, Lynn and I were given one bed – nope. I had to wait quite some time to get this rectified – we now have a room with a queen and a single. We therefore had a lot less time than the rest of our “merry band” to get acclimated/unpacked/etc.

The Silver Ferns – New Zealand’s women’s professional “netball” team (basically like basketball) is staying at our hotel after a game in Australia. Coming back up from securing the new room, I was in the elevator with some of them. One had a chill pack on her knee, and I asked if she was all right – she said yes, it was to keep herself all right – which made me laugh. They commented that I was “regular sized” and asked if I had “played ball in my day” (ah yes, now that I’m a faded glory…). Instead of mentioning that I’d done fencing (which I had done in college), I said that I rowed and they nodded knowingly. :-) Rod was quite taken by the fact that they were in our hotel. It was kind of fun to see his reaction!

I will insert more about the devastating 2011 earthquake later, but the photos pretty much tell the story. There were many murals on the walls. The government invited artists to “pretty up” the sides of building that were left uninhabitable by the earthquake. Basically, Christchurch never thought it would be hit. “Everyone” though that the surrounding hills (“Ring of Fire”) would bear the brunt of it, so the buildings, people, etc. just were not prepared. Here’s some murals, and our tram around Christchurch:

These photos are of the cathedral. It will be 2027 before it’s functional again. During the quake, the tower of the original neo-Gothic Cathedral collapsed. Further aftershocks destroyed the iconic rose window and cracked the whole Cathedral like a plate.

A tram going past the cathedral (taken from the 4th floor of the library):

Fun photos from the library – completely new after the earthquake.

“urban” sheep outside the library.

War memorial (“Canterbury” is their county):

From the wall of the ice cream/gelato store – made me laugh (okay, and, of course, copyright infringement!):

okay, and another that made me laugh (chip shop)

And an arch memorializing the farmers’ kids who had headed off to war – basically to be cannon fodder.

Finally, quite an amazing “trompe l’oeil” mural – of what used to be there before the earthquake. Yes – this is all painted on (except the very last building, facing you, with the windows – that’s real :-) – there is a street between that and the trompe l’oeil murals).

We went to an Irish pub for dinner – half of us wound up there, the other half at the “food market” area that reminded me of the one in Seattle. Had some lager and a delicious Irish lamb stew New Zealand food does not disappoint! Tomorrow – when it’s supposed to snow! – we are off to a sheep shearing station and for a lamb bbq lunch :-)

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 6 – Waimangu Thermal Valley & Home-Hosted Dinner (20 Sept 2023)

top of the valley looking down on Echo Crater

Waimangu (Wai = water, Mangu = black) is the world’s youngest thermal valley. The Waimangu Geothermal system was created by the eruption of Mt. Tarawera on 10 June 1886, the only one created as a direct result of a volcanic (basalt) eruption. In the earliest hours of that day, persistent and increasingly large earthquakes were noticed as far away as Rotorua. At about 2 a.m., a column of black ash suddenly erupted from Ruawahia, the mountain’s highest dome. For the next two hours, the whole length of the mountaintop was a gigantic broad sheet of erupting fire. At about 3 a.m., an enormous cloud was seen above Rotomahana (“Warm Lake”), indicating the eruption was extending to the southwest. The rift eventually opened in both directions until a line of 16 kilometers extended from the northeast of the mountain to the Southern Crater at Waimangu.

At Rotomahana, the rising basalt magma triggered a tremendous explosion of the hydrothermal system that had fed the hot springs there, which had become a big spa destination for visitors, including both pink and white “terraces” very similar to Pamukkale in Turkey. The resulting “ejecta” rose to a height of about 11 kilometers of dust, sand, rock, lava, steam and other gases. As it fell, it inundated the surrounding country in a circle of about 6k with a rain of boiling debris. Further explosions continued for hours. Altogether, an area of about 15,000 square km received an appreciable covering as a result of the six hour upheaval. Seven small villages were destroyed, with 105 lives lost and all plant, bird and animal life extinguished.

We walked down into the volcanic valley. In 1917, the last major event occurred with the hydrothermal eruption of Echo Crater. This led to the formation of Frying Pan Lake, which is acidic with a 3.2 pH and a temperature of about 50C (130F).

these are called the “angel wings,” though Jon told us that due to the rains, the other “wing” is under the surface of the water.

The evolution of the Waimangu ecosystem has been carefully recorded since the entire ecosystem was destroyed by the eruption. Rotomahana has many bird species, such as Grey Duck, Scaup (the native Diving Duck), Cormorant, Black Swan (of course), Mallard, Coot, Grebe, White-Faced Heron, Pukeko (New Zealand Swamp Hen – we’ve seen many of these), Kereru (New Zealand pigeon – like ours but a gorgeous almost surreal green running up to a red/green head/white chest), kawaupaka (“little shag” – we saw one today – a bit like a sea hawk, they eat eels, fish, etc.). Also American steel head rainbow trout were introduced in the lake in 1913 and are now prolific. Difficult public access conserves the population, which is a pure breed as there is no escape from the lake.

We learned a lot more about the “imported” fauna that is doing so much damage to the New Zealand habitat. Reminds me of the “Little Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly” situation in Hawaii where one animal was brought in to “combat” another then overran the islands and another was brought in and another…We saw some of the possum and stoat (ferret) traps with which they’re trying to combat this situation. (Their possums look nothing like our opossums btw – they are more like a gigantic bushy-tailed squirrel. They were brought here for their fur and – surprise – escaped and multiplied as there are no “apex predators.”)

these critters cause SO much damage in NZ. Locals say that the only good possum is a roadkill squashed possum…

Our hiking guide, driver, and now boat driver, Jon, then took us on the cruise on Rotomahana. This lake is about 20x bigger than it was before the eruption and its water level is 40m higher due to the blockage of the former outflow valley. We chugged over the areas that used to be the white and pink terraces (now 40m under water). The lake is 100m deep, mainly from rain water.

this is actually a spring. The yellow is not sulfur – it’s a yellow algae

We saw many “hot spots” along the edges on our cruise:

hot spot

Elizabeth and I were looking at Rotomahana, “trying” to see the crater that Jon was discussing. Suddenly, I realized that the “shadow” on the side of the mountain was the crater! I outlined it for her, and we were both open-mouthed at how big it was! I took the photo on the left, then enlarged it and darkened it a bit, so you can see the crater clearly (below). Wow!

We had a sandwich lunch back at the valley lodge, and I bought a pair of paua shell earrings (New Zealand abalone – lustrous nacre, but deep blue instead of pearly white like our abalone). I also bought two T-shirts, because the price was quite reasonable for the quality, and a pack of cards for my grandson Caleb, who (at least at last check) collects them (he does card tricks), plus a “rangatira” necklace for my friend Marty.

I’m not very good at buying presents – I am terrible at “giving things” or “buying things” just for the sake of it. If I see something that “speaks to me” for a specific person, I do get that – but I don’t buy just to buy.

(Point of fact – ahem – I bought a “possum G-string” for my friend James who is a bit outrageous – but I haven’t gotten “chachkis” for anyone and keep trying to remember that people like things like that.)

Lynn and 10 others are currently doing the Canopy Tour/ziplines and high bridges. It was voted #1 in the world – but without my BFF Sharon to protect me, I passed. (We did one on the Big Island – one and done, bay-bee…)

wee carvings are everywhere

We head from here to the Home-Hosted dinner on Lake Rotorua. I will post this now to get it up, but you might want to re-visit it tomorrow as I will post about the dinner. I am bringing two big one-pound bags of assorted Ghirardelli chocolates as my gift, because the S.F. sourdough was rejected. (I understand this a bit more now, as Kiwis are rightly proud of their New Zealand sourdough, made entirely from local yeast.) Let’s see how the chocolate compares to their “pride and joy,” Whittaker’s!

Tomorrow – up early, then flight to Christchurch!

UPDATE: The home-hosted dinner was SO much fun! Apparently, usually, the group is split up, so that 4 or so folks go to a home. This time it was a big meal, all together, with one Whanau. It was a big one though! We had the mama and papa, then his sister ?Ruth? (I believe she said that they were a family of 14). She was the youngest of her siblings…just turned 65 four days ago and looked about 42, Papa was the oldest boy. Then also there was Uncle Walter who might have been her brother or might have been mama Maria’s brother, then Maria (daughter), her husband, and 2 of her kids . . .

We had amazing lamb straight from the firepit, salad, sweet potato, bread, and then “Hokey-Pokey” ice cream for dessert.

some of the family

The family split up and sat at the different tables. Mama Maria and I started talking when others were “talking story” at the fire pit, and she came and sat with us, as did ?Ruth?. So we had two members of the Whanau at our table of of six!

We talked a lot about the idea of pepeha. I’m really taken by that. I was directed to a video that talks a bit about it in a song, which is lovely. We also talked about the concept of “Manakitana” – which means giving the best to others, even if you have to do without.

Turns out that there are a lot of “September babies” in their Whanau! ?Ruth? had had her birthday on September 19th. Then – surprise! – Papa, me, and one of Maria’s kids were all on September 22nd!

Well once I found that out, Papa was over tending the fire, and I brought him over my “home-host gift” (the chocolates) and told him that was his birthday present. He was so cute about it!

at the outdoor fire (“Papa” is in the middle of the shot, white hair, beer in hand)

One of the stories that Ruth told me was about Aokapurangi. The story (though a scan from a newspaper from 1962) is HERE. She and I were talking about things like whether you track your lineage back through the maternal or paternal line (they are paternal), how women in myth and legend save the day, etc. The short version of Aokapurangi’s story is that a very fierce and strong warrior came to kill her people. She stood up to him, and he told her that she could “save the number of people that she could get between her legs.” Well, she thought about it, got up on the Marae roof with its steep pitch, spread her legs across it and had her whole village get into the Marae. When the “bad guy” came to slaughter all those that were not “between her legs,” he found this – and saved everyone due to her ingenuity.

I got a hangi from Papa (a long one, there were like three breaths before I felt the break-away), Mama, and ?Ruth?. That just felt really special. Not sure if they do this with everyone but I know I was one of the last in the bus, and it seemed like we had a special connection. Great night!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 5 – A Day In The Māori Life (19 Sept 2023)

words to live by (from the Lodge bathroom)

Today was a day in the life of the Ngāti Manawa people. We got out from the hotel early and headed by bus to learn about all aspects of life of the Ngāti Manawa Māori.

We had a very energetic young gal as our guide. She started out by giving us her “pepeha.” A “pepeha” is a way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells people who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you.

By the way, if I haven’t said this already, Māori is pronounced “MAH-rri” (flicked or lightly rolled R), not “may-OH-ri.” I’ve said it wrong all my life and am really trying to get it right.

And back to our regularly scheduled program…

In essence, the pepeha is an introduction of a person and their affiliations in a Māori context for one purpose, to make connections. Most people mistakenly think that the pepeha is all about introducing yourself – it’s not. It’s a way to find common ground – our guide called it a “verbal passport.”

Generally, the “template” goes from the mountain your “people” identify with, then river, then ancestry (your boat from Tahiti), your community, your Whānau (pron: Faaah-noh) or family, then your given name.

Our O.A.T. group is referred to when we meet Māori as that word – “whānau.” Dave (“Rawe” in Māori) is the oldest of us and therefore our Rangatira (“Chief”). When we are meeting Māori, he not only introduces his “whānau,” but also invites the Māori we are meeting to become part of it. It’s quite like Hawaiian family ties. Families are usually large, encompassing all extended family through in-laws and blood ties because kinship is a vital part of Māori culture. There are lots of “Aunties” and “Uncles.”

In case you’re interested, HERE is a bunch of Māori words that we have learned and are actually using, along with kōpaki, which means “folder” – as in the folder that has our itinerary for the day. And if you’re curious, “Sandy” is “Kirikiri” in Māori – but that means “sandy” as in “beach.” That’s okay – I like it.

Our keen young guide used Ka pai (“KAH-pie”) a lot, which means basically “All good?” To which you respond Ka pai! (All good!) She also said “you’se” a lot, which I know was annoying to a number of folks in our group but come to find out that – like “Ya’ll” in the American South – that actually is how native New Zealanders say “you, plural”! Our Guide Rod, being transplanted British, does not use this phraseology, but after being exposed to it with the guide, I’m hearing it constantly.

The town where we had our outing is called Murapara. Our guide explained that there are not as many Māori in the South Island as the North, because “The South Island was covered with ice when we came, and we are tropical people.” Back 100 years ago, this town was the richest in New Zealand because of the timber industry. Of course – you guessed it – the government quite recently (believe she said 1930 but I might be mistaken) took the land away and their job prospects plummeted, which led to a lot of violence, suicide, gangs, etc. The government then sold the land, of which a huge part was purchased by Harvard University. (Surprised?) So basically, the people that owned it now are working (when there’s work) to make money for Harvard.

Some of this is changing, and in some parts, the Māori now own the land . . . but Harvard and the like own all the forests on top of the land.

We learned that 20% of the curriculum needs to be Māori-oriented in schools, including myths, legends, and land history. As we had heard from Dane back in Auckland, there are even kindergartens that only speak Māori – but the problem is whether the parents can help the kids (i.e., how can they help with the homework if they don’t speak the language?)

We drove through the town, which is quite obviously very poor. It was so sad to see, especially after hearing that it had once been the wealthiest town in all of New Zealand. We headed then to Tipapa Marae, where we had a special Māori ceremony to welcome us. It involved “bringing in and welcoming to the Marae” not only the living (us), but also the dead/ancestors.

The two welcoming priestesses sang to us, and in a call and response with the elder (woman) who was leading us, we walked slowly up to the Marae. Women went first, men after. Then, we took seats with the men in front (protecting us), women in back. A male elder did a very long presentation story in Māori. Is it bad to say that – as I had gotten up at 2:00 a.m. – I was definitely trying to hold my head up during this part?

Our “Rangatira” David “introduced us” to the priestesses and the male elder leader who had told the story, and then we sang our song to them. Luckily, Cindy had the words with her, and I remembered the tune. Rod was a bit flustered trying to find it on his phone, but with the words, I was able to lead. We did really well. It’s fun to see the reaction in the gathered Māori, especially as we can hold a tune and sing pretty loud!

Then, after tea and cookies, we were welcomed by traditional hangi (pressing of noses). I took a few pictures of our group after I got through the line (men went first). We were told that the hangi is the way of greeting because “God breathed life into Adam this way – he didn’t shake his hand.” 😊 (The male elder was born-again Christian; there was a lot of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, if you’re not born again you’re going to Hell with this guy, which was surprising and not my favorite . . . Oh oops, going to Hell again . . . )

I did like the story he told of how The People started in Egypt, then came through Israel, then “got into canoes like Noah’s big canoe” to come to Polynesia. 😊 He also told us that when different Māori Iwi (tribes) would meet, an olive branch would be cast down between them, and if the visitor took it by grabbing it with his hand over the top (i.e., palm down), that would signify War, but if he grabbed it with his hand underneath (i.e., palm up, branch in the palm), Peace. He told us a bit more of the story of how their Iwi originally harvested the forest with axes, then his uncle was one of the first to be given a chain saw – which he took out to immediately take a “whack” at the trunk of a tree as if it were an axe!

Unfortunately, the technology went from axes to chain saws to mechanized machines. These can take down the trees at an amazingly fast pace. I’m not 100% sure, but my memory is that a gang of men could take down 100 trees in a day, but the mechanized trees can take down a tree in 3 seconds and if they take longer than 6 seconds, they’re losing money, because the mechanized method is so expensive. It also, of course, put everyone out of work. Not to mention that after World War II, the government gave choice portions of this Iwi’s land to white people who had served (usually Irish or Scottish), so they became farmers on the land, pushing the native people into the “bush” to “live on eels from the river – until the chemical runoff from the farms started to kill the eels.” The Māori – who were strong and valuable fighters – did not get this ability to “colonize” for fighting in WW2.

If a person dies in the community, they are kept out on the porch and then brought into the building by the window, because the door is for the living. People sit with the body and get up and share stories. After the third day, the body is brought to the cemetery, and the community has a huge meal to release it from the grieving. The photos on the wall of the Marae are those who have passed in this community.

Speaking of eels (weren’t we?), they have to migrate from the streams down to the ocean to spawn. Of course, the white folks put up a big hydroelectric dam without thinking of this, and they are now endangered from being chopped up in the turbines. This Iwi got an actual government grant to take boats out, gather the eels, take them up over the dam, and release them. (!) When talking about the eels coming back after spawning, the elder said that they “looked like little butterflies made of glass.” (!)

Next, on to Kohutapu Lodge, where we had a traditional hangi lunch. Our guide was very excited to tell us that they had been the Supreme Winner of the New Zealand Tourist Awards this past year – the first fully-owned Māori business in over 20 years.

.While we were waiting for the hangi to be dug out, we wandered around the farm. They had a horse, a deer (venison is farmed in New Zealand), a goat, a black pot-belled-type pig, and then Porkchop, a big sow. We were told that if an animal is given a name, you can’t eat it. So Porkchop will not be one 😊

I love pigs (please, no bacon comments . . . ). I have a great picture from our Honeymoon of me chatting with a pig. I even have photos when I traveled up through Alaska after law school of me and a big pig. Well, Porkchop received a lot of attention from me. I started by scratching her back. She was so happy about it that she flopped down on her side and raised her head to me (a bit like Clementine!) so that I could scratch her big ears. I think she might have tried to get in my lap a la Clemmie if there hadn’t been a wire fence between us! Funnily enough the goat got very jealous of my attentions to Porkchop!

After the hangi was unearthed, we had a big buffet lunch. They had made fried bread (recipe below), and you were instructed that “their way” was to open it up and make a bit of a “Thanksgiving sandwich” from the smoked meat from the hangi (I took chicken), kumara (sweet potato), stuffing, and cranberry sauce! Nom Nom! We had hand-woven (believe from flax leaves?) “baskets” to put the lunch in.

Afterwards, we had kawakawa tea, and learned about the kawakawa plant. You can see from the photo that it’s heart shaped. It’s good for your heart and veins. They make not only a tea but poultices, etc. When you pick the leaves you want the ones with the holes in them, as the “caterpillars tell you” that the leaf is ready to eat. It will have caterpillar slime on it, but “that’s good for you too.”

Finally, we learned how to do the haka. The only real difference between women doing the haka and men is that women don’t stick their tongues out because “they didn’t take part in the ritual cannibalism that this move represents.” They do the rest the same – bugged out eyes, “scary face,” etc.

Here’s a video of the New Zealand Rugby Men’s Team doing the haka:

Here’s a woman’s one:

Our young guide bid us “Kia kite ano” (kia Kee-teh Ah-no)– till I see you again – and I was back to the hotel in time to head off with two of the other gals to Wai Ariki, the new spa in town.

Our Guide recommended the Wai Whakaora (Why Fa-ka-OR-ah)  – “Restorative Journey.”

Take a look at the link above if you want to get an idea of what the two-hour experience is like. It was $110NZ, which is about $65 (less if you don’t want the robe, towel and slippers, but who wouldn’t?). The way that they describe it is a lot more romantic than I will here!

You are walked through with a Māori attendant before you go to put on your bathing suit. While you’re told about how much time to spend in each section, you guide your own journey. (In other words, there aren’t attendants to take you from place to place, though there are attendants around if you need anything.) The three of us from O.A.T. were Pam (who had a facial, and then just the outdoor pools), Betsy, and me. After being taken through, Betsy and I left Jan, put on our bathing suits, and off we went on our Journey!

First area: You go through this one at a time. It’s a short hallway that has water and light flowing from the ceiling, each for about 15 seconds. Warm, cool, hot (red lights), then COLD (turquoise lights)!

From here to the “Fire and Ice” area. You are to spend 10 minutes (or, as Betsy figured out, four of the relaxing songs that played in each area) in each hot/dry sauna, doing cold/wet in between. The first sauna was a “bio” sauna – not very hot, comfortable. Then, we walked slowly through a horseshoe of freezing cold water up to about knee height (there was one at Sanoviv like this). Next was a hay sauna. Yes, hay was hanging on the walls in burlap sacks! I stepped in and actually blocked the door and immediately said to Betsy “You don’t have hay fever, do you?” She didn’t, luckily! That was my favorite. The sweet smell of hay in the dry/hot sauna was pretty awesome. The last sauna was a very warm “wet” sauna (in other words, you put water on the rocks and it made a bit of a steam in the room).

But what was in between?

The “Frigidarium” of course! Betsy said that she didn’t want to do it but I egged her on and I went first. It was a glass box with a lavender light inside, with a big pile of SnoCone-type shaved ice on the left. I turned my back to her and said “Just pile it on.” EEEEP it was cold! We were really laughing. (What a bonding experience 😊) Then I had her turn around and packed the ice on her back, back of her arms, legs. After that, there were big cedar buckets on the right wall, both with a chain hanging down. You pull the chain, and ice water comes crashing down on your head. Betsy looked at it with trepidation, so I said “All right then, let’s go, on the count of three . . . “ and I counted 1…2….3, but waited a split second to be sure she was really going to pull the chain, because if she didn’t, I wasn’t! But she did – so I did. We both screamed!

After the last sauna, we headed outside, where we met Jan coming from her facial. There are a number of large pools, looking out on Lake Rotorua. In the first one, you lie and float above benches affixed to the bottom. This was very clever, because it meant you could float, but if you stayed above your bench, you didn’t float into anyone else. It was 32C (90F). The next pool was like a square with another square inside. The “outside” of the square was very very hot – definitely made your skin red. I’d say it was something like 44C. After you walked “around” that outside of the square (which you did very slowly as every movement moved the deeply hot water against your legs/body), you walked down into the middle pool, which was a very cold deep bath. Betsy went in first, and said that she had “broken a rime of ice” to get in. Whew it was cold!

After this was a herbal pool (with kawakawa as one of the herbs!), then a pool with bubbler chaises under the water to lie on, and waterfall-like fixtures that you could sit under and let it gush down on your head and shoulders.

From there it was to the mud. Betsy and I convinced Jan to come with. She’d done a “full mud bath” in Calistoga and hated it, but this was much more civilized (laugh!) You lay down on a warm black tiled chaise and got a metal bowl with warm Rotorua mud in it. You put it on yourself, then lay down on the chaise until it dried (about 10 mins – again, about 4 songs). Then to a steam room that was huge/like a Turkish bath with a dais in the middle and water wands on the walls to wash off the mud, then another shower just in case you missed some mud morsel . . . then we were through our “Journey.”

I called the Uber, and though Betsy said that she’d walk the couple streets to the evening dinner (Jan and I were headed back to the hotel), I had her come with us. During the pandemic the country was shut tight and Lufthansa, etc. were called in to take anyone not a resident back to their home countries. Of course, that meant that there was no tourism, jobs…and a lot of homeless. As Rotorua has an area that used to be called “Roto-Vegas” because its a strip of motels (motel = “room with kitchen”), the government put up the North Island’s homeless there. Unfortunately, as the homeless were not paying anything for the accommodations, they destroyed their hotels, and there is still a lot of drugs, theft, and just general unsafety, particularly at night. There are still seventeen motels with the unhoused in them – many near our hotel.

Our hotel here is a bit of a dowager. Though we have a fantastic room, the room was freezing! (We discovered later than top windows were open in a few of the rooms) When we called down to have the heat increased, we were offered space heaters and extra blankets (we took the latter).

After downloading the “Journey” experience to Lynn – off to bed!

NOTE: Here you can pick Uber “Green” or “regular” Uber. They have been the same price each time I’ve called one (out and back to the boathouse in Auckland, and out and back to the spa here). When I went to call the Uber, I received a message that “since I had used Uber Green three times,” if I continued to use it, I would now receive a 20% price discount. Wow! Again – the price was the same as the “regular” Uber, so I thought “Why not?” Glad I did!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 4 – Hamilton Gardens & The Kiwi Encounter Conservation Project (18 Sept 2023)

We put our bags outside our door at 7:00 a.m. to be taken to the bus, and after another delicious breakfast at the VOCO, we were off on the road again.

We had a few stops along the way – the visitor’s center below in the town of Tirau was pretty classic. Everyone (but me – foot a bit sore) went shopping – most particularly for warm hats! (Lynn got 2 wonderful jackets – one made of merino wool, silk, and possum!) We were told at our home-hosted visit in a couple of days that it would be along the shore of Lake Rotorua for dinner and very cold. I had a couple of utility guys who were having a coffee leaning against their “Rotorua version of a PG&E truck” take the photos of me. One of them said “Tilt up your chin so he can lick ya!” That photo really makes me laugh.

slurp!
lots of time on their hands in this town? (Photo courtesy of Pam)

After Tirau, we were off to Hamilton Gardens. Hamilton Gardens has over twenty themed garden areas and we had an about 75 minute guided tour here. The land was recovered from a “tip” (dump). We had a very nice meal in the garden cafe, then were off to our next adventure.

Some photos of the various gardens – here is the Egyptian one:

guardians at the Egyptian garden
our guide said that this exact copy of an Egyptian frieze was “the original propaganda” for the Pharoah.
our gang wandering around – we have personal listening devices and the guide has a microphone – they’re called “Whispers.” This allows us to walk around while the guide is giving us information, as opposed to the “usual” situation where you have to crowd around the guide and stand still to listen.

Here is the Indian “Char Bagh” garden – it’s coming out of winter so looks a bit straggly, but the flowers are positioned so when they grow, they look like a living Persian carpet. These gardens were poetic, secret pleasure gardens in which you could feel the breezes in the open-sided pavilion (this one looks down on the river), and enjoy the perfume of the garden:

The English “knot” garden:

This is the Māori area. The soil mounds are traditional (and still used in this garden) for Kumara (sweet potatoes). The Māori brought the Kumara from Polynesia, but they struggled in the chilly weather. They were placed in the top of these mounds (with the roots facing Polynesia) which gave them more sun as it could hit the soil from all sides. The Kumara planted here are the ancient Polynesian variety. You can’t buy them commercially – the Māori use them for ceremonies and come and do a ceremony to plant them each year.

This arch looks down on their small outdoor amphitheater area:

The “Surrealist” garden:

This portion of the Surrealist garden was so odd! The “trees” had mechanics in the arms that waved slowly and then faster as more people came into the garden. The size of the door and the wheelbarrow are to signify Surrealism.

A scarecrow (they call them “straw men”) and a close-up of a mouse in his pocket. This sculpture was ordered from England and came with a wren on the shoulder – the artist re-made it when the Gardens said that they don’t have wrens with a New Zealand fantail.

Renaissance Garden:

Elizabeth from our group next to one of the tree ferns – she’s not very tall, but they sure are! –

My favorite was the Japanese garden. (Note the small print on the sign as you go in – not sure what that’s about!) There is a dry garden, then you turn and the water garden was just so peaceful and lovely. I could have stayed there looking at that scene for a long time.

The dry garden with raked sand that is to represent wind. (In the Japanese Garden in San Francisco, it is raked around the stones, to represent water.)
This is a close-up from the last photo – can you see that it’s a turtle with the “world” (a tree) on its back?

The Kiwi Encounter Conservation Project non-profit was next. It only allowed photos in an area with the taxidermied kiwis. The Hatchery is a leader in kiwi husbandry, egg incubation systems, hatching techniques, and Kiwi chick rearing.

Kiwis mate for life, and can have an 80 year life span in captivity (40 in the wild). They don’t even stick around much after the eggs are laid, which is why the eggs (and baby kiwi) are preyed upon by all the usual suspects (that were introduced by whites) – dogs, feral pigs, stoats (like a ferret) and possums. NOTE: New Zealand possums were imported from Australia to eat the slugs that the Europeans had brought over . . . they don’t look like ours in the slightest. They look like a very small kangaroo with a bushy long tail. Of course, it all worked like on the Big Island of Hawaii, where white folks brought in frogs to eat the mosquitoes. They had no predators so multiplied wildly, then something was brought in to eat the frogs (that instead ate the native birds), then ferrets were brought in to eat that . . . and on and on . . . (Remember the old margarine commercial: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” <Thunderclap>)

Dave, one of the guys in our group, said that the last time he and his wife Elizabeth were in New Zealand, they had rented a car and toured about. At one point, they ran over a rabbit that ran across the highway. When they got into the hotel, he told the concierge, who said “Thank you!” She told him that if he would like to take a few thousand home in his luggage that the country would thank him too. :-)

At the Kiwi Encounter, first we went into a “nocturnal” forest area where we had to be super quiet. The idea was to try to see some kiwi, but they were already asleep. You could see one’s “bum” sticking out the back of one of the nesting boxes! Then, we were off to one of the highlights: going into the incubation room and seeing a kiwi that was only a day or so old. They are a lot bigger than I thought (somehow I had thought that kiwis were about the size of my palm – nope!) There was also an egg that was cracking – the attendants were helping the kiwi inside, widening the crack in what we referred to as a “Kiwi C-section.”

The eggs are very heavy – and huge if you compare the size of the egg to the size of the mother kiwi! (we were told that it would be equivalent to a woman having a 35 pound baby.) No WONDER they lay the eggs and take off – letting the male kiwis take care of them! Kiwis don’t imprint – this is why the hatchery can be a success, since they raise the birds and then release them back into the wild where the egg originally came from. Kiwis can give nasty bites, scratches, and kicks – I guess it’s a labor of love!

We got to our hotel in Rotorua, and Lynn scored basically what we’re calling the Queen Suite. It’s bigger than her apartment, by far. She said that this often happens when you’re at the high level she is with Overseas Adventure Travel. We now have 2 separate rooms and 2 separate bathrooms. We also have a huge sitting area, a kitchen (including a wine fridge!), a jacuzzi tub . . . :-) I just wandered to “my” bathroom and actually made a “wrong turn” on the way back to my room!

The dinner in our hotel (the Distinction Hotel) was very good. After Lynn and I shared a couple of glasses of Gimblett Gravels red (highly touted in my Sommelier classes – “If you can find one, buy it!”), time for bed! We get a “leisurely” morning tomorrow!

POSTSCRIPT: I keep getting up at 4:00 a.m. Today it was 2:30 a.m. though . . . so I decided to get this edited and published to stay “current”!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 3 – Waiheki Island (17 Sept 2023)

This morning was my first breakfast at the VOCO. It was really great! A special “barista,” everything from hot food to small pastries to fruit to (YUM!) local ancient grain and sourdough bread (they even have my secret passion – Vegemite)! The hotel is well located, though in the middle of a very steep hill! So you have a hike like the beginning of River Oaks Road back home to get either back to the hotel, or from the hotel, to anywhere else. My foot is doing okay – I am using KT tape under my sock plus my brace. The 30 minute hike in LAX absolutely did it no good, but I used the “nubbly” Lacrosse ball to try to move my arch up and bones back together – so far, so good.

Our group couldn’t be nicer. As my Mom would say, no “Poops.” I’m the youngest, with the oldest being in their mid-80s. With my foot, everyone is spryer than I am! There are 16 of us, 5 guys (2 Jims, David, Mark, Don), and 11 women – Jim is with Marilyn, David is with Elizabeth, Jim 2 is with Bev, Mark is with Elizabeth (who goes by “Betsy”), then singles are Cindy, another Marilyn, Lynn, Toshiko, Jan, Pam, me, and Don (he is a widower, but he and his wife used to travel with Jim and Marilyn so they’re an “OAT pod” doing their travels together).

Today was Waiheke Island. “Long Sheltering Island” in Maori – “Winery Island” to the tourists! There are 30 wineries, 18 winery “venues” for events, craft beers, a gin distillery, and an award-winning whisky. It’s the third most populous island in New Zealand (after North and South Island) but the most densely populated, and the second largest island in the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. It has 9,400 permanent residents and boasts over 1,000 hours more of sunshine than other parts of Auckland (as well as a slightly warmer overall climate and over 40 kilometers of beaches), so it’s definitely an “island paradise.”

I’ll skip the basics – how long/wide the island is, etc. – but if you click on the words above, it will take you to Wikipedia. I guess I’d say that (while far smaller), Waiheki is a bit like Sedona. It started out as a hippie artist’s colony, and now is a “mix” of artists . . . and millionaires, with over 3,000 holiday homes on the coast. It’s one of the most desirable “suburbs” of Auckland and is a thriving arts, theatre, music, and cultural venue reachable by about a half hour ferry ride. There are no hotels or high rises on the island, so their version of “Air B&B” does a booming business, especially for weddings. New Zealand was the first country to give women suffrage, and they added same-sex marriage in 2012.

the $14 million “holiday home” . . . 

. . . overlooking Palm Beach

wild jasmine and tree ferns – Mother Nature’s bouquet

For $1 million NZ, you can get a shack or bare land with no view – to get sea view, you’re looking at up to $40 million. Above is a photo of a $14 million dollar “holiday home” looking down on Palm Beach. The house is empty 46 weeks of the year (!)

We had a stop in the main town, Oneroa, and a shop reached out and grabbed me, spitting me out with a merino wool Dolman-sleeved zip-up sweater (with pockets!) and a local artist’s earrings and a necklace that represents Māori New Year. It was not an inexpensive purchase, but the U.S. dollar is strong, and all were exceptional pieces.

We had learned about Māori New Year from Dane yesterday – a constellation that looks exactly like the Pleiades back home (upside-down “P”) comes into the sky. Each star represents where one can get food – salt water, fresh water, land, air, etc. The star that is shining brightest that year represents what will be abundant.

I’ve been wearing the “greenstone” (jade) necklace that my parents brought me back from NZ many moons ago, which everyone is commenting on. :-) But now I’m wearing my new Waiheke Island necklace representing Māori New Year, with the Pleiades on the top in raised silver, over a land/sea hammered area with a dark sapphire representing the moon.

Our driver/guide Neil is ex-pat British who now lives full time on the island. He was funny – said that many Argentinians had moved to the island, had added a great vibe … and also were “ringers” on their soccer team until the rest of New Zealand wised up 😊

Water is a bit of a problem in the island – it’s mainly rain collected on roofs and stored in big tanks. Water “bores” (wells) are few and far between. If you run out, it costs $300NZ to half fill a tank, which lasts a couple months. Everyone is on a septic system which is based on bedrooms – so there are a lot of HUGE “two bedroom” houses, so that they can stay within the confines of the septic on their property. The wineries have no irrigation, but this makes the vines dig deep (our guide said: “To panic the vines”), which as I know from my Master Sommelier course makes better wine. Syrah is the most predominant because of the Bordeaux-like land, and Waiheke winegrowers won best Syrah in the world in 2009. But it runs the gamut – there is even Batch Winery at the very top of the highest hill, which makes a Prosecco style wine in tanks that they imported from Italy.

As you can imagine, petrol on the island is at a premium, at about $1/liter higher than the mainland. There is a lot of intra-island swapping of things, to try to keep importing to a minimum. Electric cars/motorbikes are making big inroads. Our guide commented that while the “Leaf” car doesn’t have a lot of distance on a charge and therefore isn’t as big on the mainland, its “about 50k distance on a charge” is plenty for the island! The roads wind and are very steep in spots – didn’t see anything like golf carts for example, because I don’t think they could power up the “ups.”

cork tree at Casita Miro

cork tree close up

We headed to Casita Miro for a wine and tapas tasting. It’s the most unique winery on the island, started by Barnett (a doctor) and Kat (a lawyer). Now their son George is the winemaker as his dad is in his 70s, but Barnett still is the “artist in residence” for the artistic installations. They have four types of white wines (fermented in stainless steel) and reds fermented in French oak. While the “miro” is a native tree that feeds the native birds, Barnett has made a play on words, as the wall leading up to the winery reminds one of “Miro” the artist. The art “installations” were inspired by Barcelona.

wine flight – pinot gris, merlot rose, syrah, bordeaux blend, fortified wine “Madame Rouge”

tapas menu

dessert – sort of a lemon flan (very tasty)

our merry band – on the left, “alone” Marilyn, Jan, Toshiko, Pam, Don, Marilyn’s Jim standing up behind, Jim’s Marilyn, our guide Rod, Mark who is learning to guide. On the right, me, Lynn, Mark, Betsy, [Cindy missing from her chair], Bev, Jim 2. Elizabeth and David are also missing.

I had fun practicing my wine tasting, but their wines weren’t a huge hit. I did have fun though with the Marilyn that was sitting across from me, explaining how she could take some of the tapas and change the flavor profile of the wine. She particularly disliked the fortified red “Madame Rouge,” but I told her to take a piece of chocolate out of her purse, let that melt in her mouth, then try the wine. Et voila! Madame Rouge was my favorite actually – it is made solera style and reminded me a bit of madeira.

Below you can see some of the photos of the art that the owner made.

all the walls and art made by the husband/owner (a doctor)

bar at the top level

see the clock?

so eclectic

see the shells?

lots of work to make all this art!

And below, here is my first placement of an H “cremarble.” I had SuperGlue in my purse (Be Prepared…) and so I carefully placed the marble onto this sculpture. I wonder if the artist will notice it. Well . . . it’s stuck there now! I thought it was the perfect spot for it. What do you think?

The Love You Take Is Equal To The Love You Make

Off to olive oil tasting!

Olive Tasting

See the Sky Tower back on the mainland?

Now you See it? (A bit hazy)

Allpress has 10 varieties of olives: French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, plus, about 200 years ago, a missionary planted olives here, which have the creative name of J-1, J-2. Etc. (Called the “J” varieties), which have a distinctive nutty flavor. The green olives have increased polyphenols and a peppery “bite” – the black olives make more, fruitier, oil.

We got to see a video of how they collect the olives – silk parachutes are laid under the trees to catch the olives, which are “raked” off with electric rakes. It takes 4-6 people about 10 minutes to clear a tree. 7 kilograms of fruit makes 1 liter of oil; Allpress made 6,000 liters this year.

The fruit is then taken to a centrifugal (not “crush”) mill, which gives better control of the oil and its byproducts. The “fruit paste” of the olive/stone mash is made into compost, the “fruit water” is used for irrigation, and then the oil is, of course, oil 😊 The entire fruit is crushed (including the stone), which actually has tannins that help bond the oil together. No pesticides are used on the island because the ocean air keeps the bugs away.

Apparently, the mill (which is at a different spot on the island) smells like fresh mown grass when the oil is being extracted. The Allpress gal said, “If Green were a smell, that would be it.” The very first press of the season is unfiltered and goes rancid in about three months – but is highly prized and basically just the locals get it.

We tried six different oils, from a very crisp lively herbaceous one to a bold nutty peppery one (that had an intense “leafy” scent). You could pick and choose to buy three small bottles from five of the oils (one, called “Waiheke ‘22” is only sold in bigger bottles – it’s a mélange of all the oils from 2022, which was a great year). Lynn bought three of the last oil (the intense one), I bought three different ones to bring to my folks, as my Mom loves to use EVO. (Hi Mom, I know you’re reading this blog to Dad, pretend you didn’t read that!)

The photo to the right is Onatongi Beach, which is a mile long and gorgeous. But, back to olives. Most wineries and even private persons have olive trees. Allpress, where we had our olive oil tasting, allows any islander to come “mill your own vintage” from their olives. Because of the hot/dry summers and the very small time between pick and press, the olive oil is a spectacular quality, and wins many, many awards, even against Italian olive oil, at Italian competitions! Olives don’t like land that holds water – if there is too much rain or the land holds the water, there is too much water in the fruit.

We took the ferry back to Auckland and got an hour to rest, then the bulk of us met Rod at a local Belgian pub that specialized in green-lipped mussels, which are grown on the far side of Waiheke Island. I had the best beer I’ve ever had – perfect flavor profile for me. (I’m not an ale person.) The beer portion of the Master Sommelier training really helped me to consider why I might not love beer – turns out that I don’t like ales, but pilsners are great! (top-fermenting versus bottom-fermenting yeast.)

The pub had something to do with music – lots of musical instruments around and this Dutch writing has to do with types of saxophones

Green-lipped mussels from Waiheke Island (and frites)

Not much left!

Our merry dining band. Rod, our Guide, on the right of this photo, then Don, Toshiko, Bev, Jim, Pam; other side from the front: Jim and Marilyn, Lynn, Cindy, me, Betsy, Mark.

We toddled back to the hotel and were lights out by 9 – though back up at 4 (“rowing time”?) I am typing this after taking a shower and packing, though time to get dressed and out! Tomorrow is a well-known gardens and a kiwi bird hatchery, on the way to Rotorua.

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 2 – Sugoi! (16 Sept 2023 – Happy Anniversary)

I learned a new Japanese word today – Sugoi. One of the women on our trip, Yoshiko, used it when I told her I was getting up at 6:00 a.m. to go row with the North Shore Rowing Club Masters, the “Tyred Swans.” She told me it meant “Brave” but in looking it up on Auntie Google, it is more like ‘Wow’ or ‘Awesome’ or ‘Fabulous.’ (I’ll take it.)

The boathouse is on Lake Pupuke, a collapsed volcano/caldera about 20 minutes from the CBD.

I ordered an Uber the night before to deliver me by 6:50 a.m. The driver arrived early and the traffic was non-existent, so I cooled my jets for a bit before someone showed up, and admired the black swans and baby cygnets “swanning around” the lake. The weather was crisp and very clear. As photos were frowned upon, all you get are a few not particularly close up photos of some swans by the dock. :-) When we were out rowing, a family with wee tiny baby cygnets glided past very close to the 8 . . . wish I had been more “brave” to try to sneak a picture! The cob (male swan) was reaching into water, clipping the long grass/seaweed (“lake weed”?), and laying it across the pen’s back. (Not sure what that was about, but it was fun to watch.)

The club was started one year after SERC, where I row in San Francisco. Everyone was excited to be planning their 150th next year – which SERC has been doing this year! (I’d chosen to wear my SERC long-sleeved shirt and was asked about the 1873 on the sleeve, which started that conversation.)

I rowed with the Women’s Masters 8. The actual shell was quite different from ours. The riggers were fixed (no spacers), with no bar “across” the boat. The boat had an incredibly shallow draft and was super heavy. The oars had big fat wooden handles. I liked their paddle logos – blue with swans – but of course forgot to take a photo. (I’ve asked for one – hopefully I can insert it into this post at a later date.)

I was head and shoulders taller than anyone in the boat (except the cox/coach/captain – no motor boats on the lake so the coach coxes). Therefore, carrying it and rolling it was a bit of a chore. When I put the boat on my shoulder, the two ports (or “stroke side” as they’re called) had nothing to carry… the boat was easily 5 inches above theirs!

They get into the boat a pair at a time, which was easy enough, especially as the draft was so shallow that it was basically at the level of the dock. (Also they dock the boat on the same side as we do – stepping in with the right foot first – which made the process easier.)

They had a clever way of making sure that everyone had the same seat position at the finish. They had a mark on the boat deck to the side of the seat rails. Once everyone was in the boat, you put your finger on your back seat wheel, matching it up to the line. Then, you adjusted your feet from there, keeping your legs straight, so that everyone was at the same spot at the finish. Took the guess work out of things.

We rowed around the lake for about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. The lake isn’t particularly big, so there was a lot of turning. :-) There are no speakers in the boat; the cox has a headset, but it is attached to a speaker that is up with her. I learned new terminology (“Easy” for “Weigh enough,” etc.), and we worked on various drills (mostly balancing and square blade work), then rowed 6s and 8s. Unfortunately with the super shallow draft (and inability to move the rigger) I couldn’t really get the oar in position on my body. The port behind me (trying to be helpful) told me to bring the oar handle “up to” the standard “under the bra” level – but as soon as I did it, the cox/coach shouted that I’d been fine, now I was way too deep in the water. ;-) We also were constantly down to port (“stroke side”), so in trying to “tap down” farther, every now and again that big fat wooden handle wound up actually under the gunwale!

We did have two crabs – one my port pair that knocked her flat. The second though was a nearly ejector crab of the port-side gal in the next pair, where her feet actually came out of the shoes! She sort of “starfished” on both gunwales and kept herself in the boat. (Such drama…!)

The water is so clean and clear that they don’t even need to wash the boats or oars. That was a welcome surprise! The MRA oar lapel pins that I’d brought were well received. That was fun.

I was invited to “have a coffee” with them at their local “coffee house.” Oh. My. Goodness. I have never seen more beautiful food in my life. Rebecca, the cox/captain/coach, told me that one of the “biggest problems” in New Zealand was that all the food was amazing. So much for my idea of trying to lose a pound or two on this trip!

Rebecca was great. She specializes in coaching programs for masters rowers – FasterMastersRowing.com. They have a podcast on RowingChat, e-newsletter, etc. Rebecca is often invited to commentate on rowing events – she was the “Studio Expert” at the London Olympic Games and is one of the commentators at the Henley Royal Regatta. She’ll have a booth for her programs at Head of the Charles. I asked how she dealt with such a long plane trip to Boston and she said “It’s not as bad as the Henley!”

one of the new MRA Novices sent this after reading about the cinnamon rolls – !!

I got back to the hotel with just enough time to change and get to the coach taking us to meet with Dane from Ngati Whatua, a Māori Iwi at Bastion Point/Mission Bay. We learned about a controversial topic – Māori Land Rights and the Treaty of Waitangi. We also learned a lot about the myths and legends of the Māori, especially related to the land/sea/wind/area of Tamaki Makaurau (the Māori name for Auckland, which translates to “desired by many.”)

Dane was amazing. He particularly discussed how the Māori language is now an option for school kids. He had not had “te reo Māori” (“the Māori language”) growing up, but did a one year immersion when the government started advertising that having it was a bonus for jobs. He said that his kids did not have “te reo,” but his grandkids did. He talked a bit about his 93 year old dad, who unfortunately had taken a spill at Tapatapuatea marae (“place of worship”) when they had just been visiting Raiatea, which the Māori consider the starting point of their people from which all Polynesia was colonized.

Our eldest tour member, Dave, was “voluntold” that he would be our Rangatira (“Chief”) and that he had to introduce us in a particular way to Dane, including a hongi. Then, we sang a waiata to Dane. It was called Te Aroha, and went:

Te aroha (“Love”)

Te whakapono (pron: vah-ka-po-no) (“Faith”)

Me te rangimari-e (“And peace”)

Tatou tatou e (“Be among us all”).

HERE is the song. We did our best :-) (Actually, our guide, Rod, said that we did an amazing job, and I do think that we did. He wanted us to sing to the music, which he had on his cell phone. The problem was that the pitch was outside the reach of just about all of the group. So when he said that it was time for the waiata, I (ahem) just started singing in a key that I knew everyone could reach. He didn’t have a chance – ha ha. Such a disturber, I am.)

We had a very lovely lunch in a local restaurant on the water, and then the rest of the day was our own. Lynn was able to go out and find a few sundry items – and (you guessed it!) I thought I’d memorialize this blog!

Tonight, the “Welcome Dinner” at a local restaurant – suboptimal (free) wine, pretty good food. Here’s a photo of the Sky Tower lit up from our walk back!

Toshiko, Lynn, Pam, one of the Marilyns, Jan

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

Day 1- or is it 2? (13 Sept U.S. – 15 Sept NZ, 2023)

Melissa is back! First of all, can I say that I *hate* the new WordPress. I can’t figure out for the life of me how to wrap text, insert photos, etc. It used to be SO EASY. Hopefully I will get the bandwidth at some point to figure out how to do this correctly . . . but that’s not going to be today.

Melissa’s best fan Winston was glad to see her (“Where ya been, Auntie?”). The last time that she came to bail me out and house sit/dog sit was back in 2019. Yep – COVID happened. Melissa met Clementine with a bit of trepidation, as a 100# big blockheaded 2 year old American Bully was a lot different than Winston, the 16 year old “elder statesman.” However, as you can see from the photo, Clementank won her over – or, perhaps, just wouldn’t let Melissa get up until she submitted to loving her. Ha!

Melissa took Lynn and me to SFO on Wednesday – we had both done the “pre-check” that allowed us to just do the bag drop. Lynn had seen this/the boarding pass check-in online, I had seen the New Zealand Customs online check in, so (fingers crossed), a good pair thusfar.

God bless American Express Centurion lounges – both the SFO and LAX ones saved our bacon. The airports were packed but the lounges gave us some elbow room – okay – and great food and some champagne ;-) Above is my “patented” Herbert-marble-in-champagne-pre-trip shot with Lynn :-)

Too much walking for my foot (including about 30 minutes in LAX from one end to the other). Way too much walking. Soldier on . . . Kia Kaha :-) Lynn hadn’t realized her bag didn’t have a shoulder strap – when she was investigating the Centurion Lounge in LAX I asked if the (free) masseur had time, and was able to get her something for her neck and shoulders. Yay ;-)

We had upgraded to Premium Economy (thank goodness!), and so were welcomed to our own personalized greeting on Air New Zealand. (“Kia Ora” basically means “Hello.”)

Mind you, the idea of being in a mask for a zillion hours on the flight wasn’t my idea of a great time, but I’ll be darned if I will go from “NO-vid” to “COVID” on the plane before a holiday!

The flight attendants were great – Premium Economy better than Economy (ho boy, cattle call, Moooooo), with seats that kind of reclined and kind of had a leg rest – though of course not the “lie-down-flat-and-peel-me-grapes” of the upper class. :-)

After a day on board (well, not really, but yes really, if you go by time zones), all I could do was croak “coffee” at the lovely flight attendant, who gladly obliged.

Once we got to the Auckland Airport (Friday – we’ll “grab” Thursday back when we return), first you need to go through passport control. If you have a U.S. passport and have filled out the “NZeTA” app, you can do the “e-scan” and waltz on through.

If you’re Lynn.

Obviously they believed I was some sort of nefarious character, and the “e-scan” gave me the big red circle with the crosshatch. (Luckily no alarms sounded.) I was led to the “control official” line instead.

It did take some time, so I waved Lynn to go downstairs to Baggage and see if she could retrieve our luggage. Wow, WHAT A PAL am I….I sashayed on down JUST has she heaved my luggage off the carousel – !!

Off we went to Customs. Once again, there is an app, this one called “NZTD.” Lynn hadn’t seen the notification to fill out this app (it came in an Air New Zealand email) – but once we got to our group leader, Ron, he said that it was new enough that he had never seen it either!

You use it to fill in the declaration forms 24 hours before your plane takes off for New Zealand. New Zealand is VERY strict with respect to what can come into the country. NO fruit, animal products, etc. – or shoes that have been on a farm within the last x number of days – or shoes with dirt on them – or (dot dot dot). The NZTD app allows you to declare what you ARE bringing in. Though allowed, you must declare things like (pre-packaged, not handmade) protein bars, etc. – including the Ghirardelli chocolate minis I’d brought as a gift for our homestay family. (Our guide had informed me that the dry sourdough starter from Boudin would be confiscated. Whaa-whaaaa.)

I’d checked box for “machine-packaged Chocolates, Sweets or Lollies.” The sticky point was that Lynn had Kind bars, which are not only chocolate, but also nuts, seeds, etc. so she checked “Other.”

I thought she was behind me as I wound my way past hundreds of folks with the paper Customs forms clutched in their hands . . . right to a Customs official. Whoa! She took my passport, asked me if I had anything “but the chocolates” to declare, I said No, she stamped my passport, Done.

Wait.

Wasn’t Lynn behind me?

Nope.

Scanning back through the sea of humanity, I saw her way-way-WAAAAAY back at the entry to the area. Unfortunately, the “Other” she’d checked for the Kind bars (Note to others: declare it as chocolate…) had held her up while they tried to figure out what to do with her. Unfortunately, they made her go through the line where all the “paper declaring” people were queued . . .

20 minutes later . . .

I just waited behind the Customs officials, though there wasn’t a place to sit. I didn’t want to go OUT of the Customs area, in case Lynn got held up further.

I emailed our guide, who had said he would be waiting for us (and 4 others on our flight) right outside the Customs exit, to tell him that Lynn had been held up, I was through, but we were here.

Lynn ultimately got through, we were led past the bag-sniffing deerhounds (like a long-legged beagle) – very interested in my CLOTHING but not my BAG (hello Winston & Clemmie), and out the doors we went, I was sure the last to arrive.

We were the first to meet the guide!

I’m not quite sure how we managed it – but we were WELL in front of the other 4 folks – three traveling together from near Scottsdale (a married couple and a widower), and then another gal from West of Phoenix (Japanese, super nice, light on English but long on OAT trips – actually – all but me are at the “VIP” level). Toshiko was last out the Customs door, perhaps because English is not her first language. It was two hours from when we touched down before she emerged (I believe it took Lynn and me maybe 30-40 minutes all told).

We drove to the VOCO Hotel in downtown Auckland. Downtown is called the “CBD.” All I can think of every time I hear that, of course, is CBD/THC :-) I’m typing lying on the bed – nicely appointed room, a bit light on the water pressure, but two big queen beds looking out on the Auckland Sky Tower, which looks a bit like the tower in Toronto.

view from our room

We had a few hours to relax, re-pack, etc. until about an hour from now when we have our first “official” meeting with the other travelers. Dinner isn’t included today, so I imagine that Lynn and I will toddle down to Queen Street, find an ATM, and get some dinner. In case you want to see the real details of our trip instead of what my addled brain is remembering, follow Lynn’s blog HERE. :-)

It will be an early evening for me FOR SURE, as I have to meet my Uber at 6:30 a.m. to head out to row on Lake Pupuke, in Takapuna, tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.! HERE is the club’s website. I’m bringing MRA oar lapel pins, to try to bribe them to forgive me for whatever I do on the water. Wish me LUCK!!!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!

2023 New Zealand!

Yep – I’m back. I know. I know. It’s been a while. That’s okay – I mainly just write for myself.

Short story? A friend who lost her husband suddenly a few months back asked me to go with her on a trip. She and her husband have done just shy of 30 trips via Overseas Adventure Travel (they were introduced to the company by my parents, who also traveled with “O.A.T.”!). She was therefore able to obtain a steep discount for booking a trip in a month. Would I go? Maybe we could each be the other’s new travel partner?

My first exclamation: “I snore!”

Her answer? “I wear hearing aids!” (LOL)

HERE‘s the trip.

My husband’s absolute favorite architect is an Austrian named Hundertwasser. His works are exceptionally whimsical. (He once stated that “everyone should have a gold onion dome on top of their house.”) By way of example, the Hundertwasserhaus apartment block in Vienna has undulating floors (“an uneven floor is a melody to the feet”), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. We stayed at his spa in Bad Blumau once when we were visiting H’s kin in Austria – still the best spa I have ever been to in the world (and we’ve been to quite a few!) There is even a winery near us that we “always were going to visit” that was designed by him.

So – get this. On the trip, we are doing a “post-trip extension” to Kawakawa, on an island off the coast of the North Island. Who had retired there? Hundertwasser. What did he do there? Public buildings – including these toilets (photo to the left) open to all!

I turned some of the husband’s ashes into about 100 cremarbles. I have given these out to friends who are traveling, and they send back photos of where he now rests. (That will be a blog post at a later date. Promise.) My plan? Superglue and a marble, et voila – H will be PART of a Hundertwasser! I can hear his laugh and see his smile.

I’ve been my husband’s “wingman” in travel for 20 years. I’m a super amenable travel partner – if things go wrong, I just roll with it. Hopefully that will continue!

In getting the luggage out of the attic (for the first time since H passed), I did have one completely non compos mentis day. It is said that when you lose someone close to you, time passes and it “seems like” you’ve “gotten over” the grief . . . then you find their shoe under a piece of furniture, and dissolve again. Yeah, I get it.

I’ve decided that I will actually bring my computer, so that I can both download photos, and keep a travel diary in the most efficient manner possible. So – here we go!

If you want $100 off, call OAT at 1-800-955-1925 and request a catalog, tell them you were referred by Sandy Shepard, customer number 3087257, and get $100 off your first trip!