New Zealand.....Hideous!

Bethell's Beach

Just as I suspected, New Zealand is gross! Lousy with deserted beaches, pristine forest and rare exotic birds. For those of you who can't tell, I'm being just a tad facetious. The place is spectacular! I've been in Auckland now for a little over 2 weeks, and expected this part of my trip to be a little more urban. Well it is and it isn't. The city limits cover a very large area and then the region of Auckland is even bigger. There are some parts of it that feel like a major city and others that feel like isolated wilderness. Auckland is the city with the world largest pacific islander population, and along with a good mix of Europeans and Asians it makes for a very diverse group. I'm looking forward to going to the Avondale market this weekend which has an extensive amount of everything pacific islander! Despite having over a million people you are always just a short drive away from gorgeous forests, rivers and beaches. Hiking trails or tracks spread throughout the region, making it very easy to get out and explore. The beaches are amazingly clean and anything but crowded. I spent a couple of days a Bethell's beach also known as Te Henga. If it looks familiar it may be that you've seen it in Xena, Warrior Princess or Hercules, the Legendary Journeys! Its also where they filmed The Piano.

Gannet Colony at Muriwai

I've had two amazing birding experiences so far, the first being Tiritiri Matangi, a wildlife sanctuary island that is completely pest free and home to some of NZ's rarer species of birds such as the kokako, little brown kiwi, and little blue penguins. Its also home to tuataras which are an extremely unique order of reptiles. The second amazing birding experience was a trip up to the Muriwai beach gannet colony. Gannets are shore birds that nest in humongous colonies. These dramatic colonies at Muriwai beach are tightly situated upon steep cliffs which drop off to the crashing waves below. Having spent many a day watching David Attenborough study and document New Zealand's birds, finally being here in person is a bit surreal. It is surprising how tame the birds seem here, since they have evolved with no natural predators they historically have had nothing to fear. However, just as people do, they have managed to unintentionally bring in some hungry rodents and weasels. A couple of the major pests here are rats, Australian possums, and stoats. I recently read an article about how to humanely deal with these pests if you catch them on your property. Drowning is not acceptable; bashing them on the head with a hammer seems to quickly do the job! mleh...

Gannets, making out.

I'm now staying with my third hosts here in NZ and everyone has been very welcoming. There is a strong DIY spirit here which I find very admirable. I have already met several people who have designed and built their own houses, all of which have been beautiful. Totally unique and intricate, most have been made from reused materials! Everyone just seems to know how to swing a hammer down here.

 In a cave on a beach in New Zealand

A few quirky differences about NZ:

-Light switches are upside down.
-Every outlet has an on/off switch.
-Just about all toilets are dual flush.
-Bathing suits are called "togs".
-Muesli is the breakfast of choice.

I have so many pictures and not enough time to load them, they'll be here eventually...

Cheers!