A Trip to Zealandia: Auckland

Over Christmas of 2019 and the New Year of 2020, I did a whirlwind trip to the north island of New Zealand, visiting Auckland, Rotorua, Hobbiton, Waitomo, Napier and Paihia with one of my friends. I also did one of the Great Walks of New Zealand at Lake Waikaremoana.

New Zealand is a fascinating country. Right from the plane, wherever there are no buildings, it is entirely green in summer. The green hills roll on endlessly, and it looks like a jade pendant set in the azure waters of the Pacific Ocean. 

 The minute we entered Sky bus, we met our Punjabi bus driver. Over the course of the next few days, we met a lot of Punjabis, driving cars, running restaurants, but few Indian tourists.

 First impression: the complete absence of people! We were traveling in an empty bus.

New Zealand as an island country, has roughly 268,000 sq.km spread across the North island, South Island, and 600 very small islands. Compared to Hyderabad city (India), which has an area of 650 sq.km, it is more than 400 times larger.

It has a population less than 4.8 million people, which is less than half of Hyderabad’s population of 11 million.

That makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries (rank 166) with a population density of barely 18 people in a square kilometer.

As a tourist coming from India, even Auckland, New Zealand’s most populous city, looks like a ghost town, with cars, shops, and almost no people.

 Our hostel.

The second strongest visible impression is the virgin cleanliness through the country. Coming from India, where you grow accustomed to people throwing their garbage across the neighbor’s wall, or on the public road, it was shocking not to be able to find a scrap of paper, plastic for days together anywhere in public.

While cities like Wellington and Queensland do have a reported garbage problem, my subjective visit to the North Island for two weeks would place New Zealand very high on cleanliness, if not recycling. Of course, in terms of recycling rate of metal, glass, and plastics, Japan may be legendary.

Part of this culture may come from the Maori people who hold themselves as guardians and responsible for land, forests, oceans, aquatic life, and everything around them.

 — in Auckland, New Zealand.

The third impression and a perceptible difference is the people and their helpful and polite attitudes. Politeness to each other is almost automatically assumed and expected. I had a moment of awkwardness when I asked my hostel owner for toast, and was asked, “What’s the magic word?” and couldn’t guess it.

The magic word was, “please” at the end of course, but it was strange to be reminded as an old man. “Thank you” is another often used phrase in New Zealand.

I will come back to the kindness shown by people.

The fourth strong impression I have is one of the differences and sameness of people. Till 800 years ago, New Zealand wasn’t rediscovered by humans. Of course, it had its share of migration in prehistory with human footprints frozen in rock several millennia ago, but when the Polynesian tribes discovered the islands with their canoes, there weren’t any humans around. — in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Maori tribes kept warring and killing (and sometimes cooking and eating) each other, and there was even an incident of the English offering a cooking pot to boil the dead war victims to the winning Maori chief.

The English sold guns, alcohol, and drugs to the warring tribes, greatly exacerbating the conflicts, and a musket commanded a great price.

The English as usual, went about trying to get all the tribes to sign the Waitangi treaty (1840) to accept the Queen, and guaranteeing protection for all the chiefs, and treating the Maoris the same as other English subjects, in turn getting the sole rights to buy and own land from Maoris where the price was accepted by the Maoris.

The Maori and the English differed substantially in their treatment of land which caused much confusion.

For Maori, the tribal group belonged to the whenua (land) and had responsibilities for it. For the English, land was a commodity that was owned by individuals who could trade it.

That means unscrupulous land speculation buying land for a song, which the government would then sell to the New Zealand Company which in turn would sell it to colonists.

Today, Maoris are less than 17% of the population, with Europeans accounting for 70%.

A moorhen (swamp fowl or Pukeko in Maori) — in Auckland, New Zealand.

This girl had a beaming smile! She directed us to our hop on-hop off bus.

 Captain Scott's cabin in Antartica - a recreation. — in Orakei, New Zealand.

 Kelly Tarlton's underwater aquarium is a treat to go through — in Orakei, New Zealand.

 Kelly Tarlton Seaworld.

 I'm a sucker for Octopii.

 A homeless person in Auckland

 The other major difference between New Zealand and every country I am aware of is the complete absence of animals till two centuries ago. Life seems to have evolved entirely based on plants, aquatic mammals and other life forms, insects and birds. Dinosaurs were present early on millions of years ago but died out.

Cats, dogs and the Australian possum, were all introduced in the last two centuries. As a result, in the absence of any predators, New Zealand evolved the largest number of flightless birds (like the now extinct Moa). — in Auckland, New Zealand.

The Kiwifruit is actually a Chinese gooseberry, which began being called Kiwifruit by New Zealanders for the export market, and China still controls 50% of the market. The expression kiwi refers to either the bird or a New Zealander itself.

Kiwi is an unusual bird, a nocturnal flightless species which really doesn’t rely much on its sight for catching insects and invertebrates, crayfish or amphibians. They seem to rely on a combination of smell, vibration, and auditory cues.

Very few people have seen a kiwi in the wild, and it is a very shy bird. Unfortunately, the kiwis being raised in captivity were in a very dimly lit environment and photography was prohibited. I had to settle for a museum photo of a stuffed kiwi!

 — in Auckland, New Zealand.

 I liked the wind sweeping through this woman's hair and the way she sat at the front of the boat. — in Auckland, New Zealand
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 Tantalus Estate Winery — in Putiki, New Zealand.

 A closer look at Tantalus Winery — in Putiki, New Zealand.

 We went wine-tasting here — in Putiki, New Zealand.

The wine tasting was followed by beer tasting! — in Putiki, New Zealand.

 At Waiheke Island : Te matuku Seafood Market — in Surfdale, New Zealand.

 At Waiheke Island : Te matuku Seafood Market and sushi — in Surfdale, New Zealand.

 Oysters and sauce. I had a difficult time eating raw salty oysters. One of 'em tasted quite bad and I had to eventually throw up after an hour. — in Surfdale, New Zealand.

Skytower is 328 meters high and the tallest building in Auckland. We went for a sky walk all around it right at the top outside the building. The views are spectacular! You can see the 1 meter wide iron grid of the sky walk at the top of the tower. — in Auckland, New Zealand.

 View from Sky Tower — in Auckland, New Zealand.

 By the mid-17th century, when the Dutch Abel Tasman discovered the coastline, and the mid-18th century when the English Captain Cook landed, they found about half-a-thousand tribes in New Zealand. It’s a name from “Nieuw Zeeland” in Dutch.

The Maori (“ordinary people”), descended from the Polynesians still call it Aotearoa (“long white cloud”). — in Auckland, New Zealand.

Sunset at North Head of Devonport, Auckland. You can see the black outline of Sky Tower among the buildings far head on the horizon.

 Sky Tower, the highest building in Auckland on Dec 31st night.

 Raviz, a popular Indian restaurant on New Years eve, had people standing in a long line outside, while others sat inside. Bring Your Own Wine meant you could buy wine outside, and have it over dinner at Raviz. — in Auckland, New Zealand.

 Auckland's busiest day of the year, outside Sky Tower on New Year's eve with people celebrating.

 A street performer. He was tone deaf, flat pitched, but courageous.

 I HAD to capture a record of our most busy day and time in Auckland (besides New Year's eve outside Sky Tower). This crowd at a street crossing would rate as Auckland on an extremely busy summer day.

 This is one of the oldest - Tony's Steak and Seafood restaurant on Wellesley Road

 Tony's Steak is the original on Wellesley Road, and has the photos and atmosphere to prove it.

Our table had a lot of ancient family photos, to reinforce that you were indeed eating at Tony's! Maybe my plate was kept on his supposed grandmother or schoolfriend.

The tabletops are decorated in a variety of ways under the glass. This one was with old currency notes.

The steak itself was quite ordinary. I had asked for a medium cook. I should have tried medium rare, because it proved a little difficult to chew.

Saravanaa Bhavan: Home base at Chennai, listed the world over! Singapore, US, UK, South Africa, Middle East..we ate idli-wada with relish and the taste was just perfect!

 

Miann Fort Street is renowned for its desserts

A smiling owner at Miann Fort Street - they also make cookies and sandwiches. But stick to as much gelato as you can eat!

 I could see why Miann Fort Street is famous! And tried about 5 tastes of gelato, each more heavenly than the other!

Christmas was in the air — in Auckland, New Zealand.

Auckland Museum — in Auckland, New Zealand.

A canoe similar to those that would have been used by the Maori when they crossed the ocean to discover Aotearoa. — in Auckland, New Zealand.

These long spears were used by the Maori to kill birds from below trees! — in Auckland, New Zealand.