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New Zeeland welcomed us with a cold breeze. At least that’s how it felt after the warmth of Fijian beaches.

Some say that the first sight impression decides about your long lasting feelings about a person or a place. Well, several things about our welcome in New Zealand puts it on my list of ‘the nicest countries’ of the world I’ve been to.

First of all, when you arrive in New Zealand, you and your luggage are thoroughly checked at the airport for any organic particles you might be bringing in from other parts of the world, eg. the soles of your shoes are inspected for remaining of sand or dirt, the tent for any leaves of flies etc. The purpose of all this is to protect New Zealand form foreign seeds and organisms that might change the native environment of the islands. You’ll understand why that is so important, if you know the story of Kiwi. For many happy years the indigenous bird called Kiwi had no natural predators. Kiwi is a funny furry gray ball, has a long neck and a long beak. The absence of predators made it go lazy and lose the wings. However, the rats and possums brought by first Europeans soon made Kiwi almost extinct.

Summing up, if any of your belongings don’t fulfill the cleanness standards, the suspected items are examined and  disinfected by the airport stuff and handed back to you packed nicely in plastic bags. This might take a couple of hours. Fortunately and finally, my efforts to keep the stuff in our backpacks swiss-clean were rewarded! J

Secondly, on the same Auckland airport we found a tidy comfortable free shower facility which felt almost like a gift from heaven after our 4 day non-stop flight-bus journey Belize-Mexico-Santiago de Chile-Auckland. Encouraged by this positive experience, later on during a week long journey in a rented camper van, we sometimes used the free shower facilities at airports all over the country

Thirdly, showered and happy, we were welcomed with a free coffee right at the airport.

Nevertheless, having all that, we finally decided to leave the cozy Auckland airport. Together with Ania and Lucien, we soon headed for the very north tip of NZ. As we had requested, Kiwis finished sealing the road just a week before our arrival (here, of course not the birds, but the New Zealanders, who call themselves that way). The views during the hike on the rocky cliffs and the 90-mile beach were magnificent (see pictures). To make it even nicer, they have huge sand-dunes nearby. After surfing in the big sand box, we returned to Auckland, the ‘city of sails’, where we had a stroll along the waterfront. The harbor was preparing itself for winter, which was the occasion to see great yachts taken out of the water and stored nicely in 5 story yacht warehouses – what a spacious building! (and I thought St.Peter’s basilica in Rome was quite vast.) The best among them were of course some participants in previous America Cups. Finally we felt in the right place wearing our Alinghi polar jackets! Although taking about the Swiss’ performance in the last race, we could have given it a second thought. Anyway, Ania and Lucien were reserving themselves places on the next days cruise on one of the America Cup yachts. Unfortunately, it was time for us to head south, according to our tight time and money schedule ‘New Zeeland on a weekend and on a shoestring’. So how did the race go, guys?

Next point on our trip were ‘glowing worms’. You enter a cave on a boat and as your eyes get used to the darkness, millions of glowing spots appear on the ceiling. Like during a starry night high in the mountains, except that the constellations are different. These bugs produce sticky strings that hang down from the ceiling. Next, they emit bio-light to attract all sorts of flies who get trapped and become a delicious meal.

New Zealand is covered with sites where the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was filmed. Indeed, the whole venture became a big thing in this country and involved many native volunteers as helpers, extras, etc. The topography and nature, especially of the semi-tropical, green northern island is truly the home of small Hobbits. We avoided the ‘Hobbiton’ tourist trap, and, instead, simply admired the views around.

In contrast, Orcs live more to the south, close to a beautiful lake Tapoe, with three magnificent volcanoes towering next to its coast. One Orc actually gave us a ride in his fancy sport car, when we were hitchhiking around the volcanoes. In the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie, he said, he had some makeup and he was not allowed to take the car with him. The Orc dropped us off at the beginning of a spectacular one day hike called ‘Alpine Crossing’. It did not have anything in common with the European Alps. Instead, it offered beautiful views on three craters, amazing lagoons, slides on black dusty volcanic slopes, and a thick humid semi-jungle forest at the foot of the mountains.

We reached Wellington on the next day and had a good time at its waterfront and exploring the simple and practical architecture of beautiful houses scattered on the steep, bushy slopes along the interestingly shaped coastline and coming down to the city’s business centre. The Kiwis seem to truly appreciate the beautiful topography and greenness of their county, designing their houses with enormous glass walls, plenty of windows and balconies already transformed in vast transparent winter gardens for the winter.

SOUTH ISLAND

The four-hour ferry between North and South Island meandered between lots of small, steep islands scattered around the strait. Although here we were already experiencing great cold and a rainy weather, the indigo cloudy views were breathtaking. The drive along the stormy coastline showed us enormous waves splashing against cliffs covered with hundreds of fat lazy seals. In Christchurch, our last city, we decided that the road-trip will be continued in some future, but during New Zealand’s summer.

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