For the Love of Ben G.

Rainbows and Random Thoughts

I was going to tell you all about my day skiing on the beautiful slopes of Mt. Ruapehu on the Whakapapa (pronounced "fuck a papa"—no, really) ski fields, but I realized my blog posts had become somewhat repetitive. Instead, I'll share some thoughts on New Zealand culture, language, and memories as I pass the halfway point of my trip.

Brew

New Zealand has some great locally brewed beer. Ales and lagers are both readily available, but my favorites so far are the Speights Porter and Monteiths Black (on tap, naturally). Best enjoyed in a local pub watching a rugby match with locals cheering on with colorful calls (I loved the "Mooloo" cheers, complete with ringing cowbells, for the Waikato rugby team).

Words

Helpful New Zealand terminology I've learned on my trip:

Dairy

A convenience store. Sells fresh sandwiches, cell phone recharge cards, and great New Zealand fruit. Oh, and milk.

Short black (or long black)

Espresso drinks. A short black is a single or double shot of espresso. A long black is an espresso with hot water added; not as much as a Café Americano, but easier to drink than straight espresso. (Bonus New Zealand coffee lingo: A fluffy is frothed milk, for the kids.)

A related term is the flat white, which is more or less a cappuccino with more milk and less froth. Espresso as a type of drink doesn't seem to be used here.

Toilet

The restroom. Don't ask for a bathroom or a restroom; although people will know what you mean (and I saw at least one restaurant with a room labeled "restroom"), it can cause confusion. Just ask where the toilet is.

JAFA

"Just Another Fucking Aucklander". Slang term used by everyone outside Auckland to refer to city folk.

Bach

Pronounced "batch". A beach rental house. Usually shoddily constructed of aluminum siding.

Tramping

Hiking. Unlike in the States, to tramp is not at all a bad thing.

Fully licensed

A restaurant or café that has a full liquor license. Unlike the States, tons of tiny restaurants have full hard liquor licenses; they probably don't cost nearly as much.

BYO

Bring Your Own (bottle). This means you can bring your own wine to a restaurant (but it doesn't mean the restaurant doesn't serve its own alcohol as well). A corkage fee is generally charged.

Thoughts

The weather in New Zealand really is temperamental. Long underwear was the best thing I brought, along with a rainproof, roll-up-able windbreaker. Since the rain starts and stops quite often, rainbows are not at all uncommon. People usually sleep with an electric blanket on during the winter; insulation and double-paned windows are pretty rare except in very new construction. Because it's so damp, even the most modest home has electric towel bars that warm and dry the towels as you hang them. (It's awesome to wake up to fresh, warm towels.)

Traveling by car is the only way to go in New Zealand. There are some trains, but they're few and far between. The roads are quite well maintained and clearly marked, though there are a lot of one-lane bridges, especially in the Northland. When you go to the grocery store, you'll usually get a coupon for an X cents off discount on gasoline, so make sure to stock up on food, then only fill your car when it's nearly empty, to maximize your coupon. Having an audiobook or three to listen to while driving is essential; the drives aren't terribly long, but there's a lot of them.

People are extremely frugal about power consumption in New Zealand. Every wall socket has a little switch on it that lets you turn each socket on or off immediately. This is great, especially because standard AC wall warts chew up power without you even realizing it. The wall switches are small and round, and very adorable. Oftentimes, the switch turns on when you flip it down, and off when you flip it up; such switches usually have a red line that only shows when you flip it downwards.

Phone numbers in New Zealand don't have a consistent number of digits. 0800 numbers, the "free dial" numbers, have six digits following the area code. Most, but not all, regular area codes use seven digits, but some use six. Mobile phones have their own area codes, but there appear to be about a dozen different area codes in use for mobiles. The general "information" number is 123 (like 411 in the states), and the emergency number is 111.

---

OK. Now that I have those thoughts all out of my head, I'll return to posting gorgeous photos of volcanic ski slopes—in the morning. Now, I have a nice warm bath to which I shall attend.

Through the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves

At the Entrance to the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves
See All My Photos

Oh, man. I had the most fantastic day black water rafting in near pitch-black darkness through the beautiful Waitomo Glow Worm Caves in the central north island of New Zealand today.

We bumped our way riding black inner tubes through the water-filled caves, staring above us into huge caverns lit up by bright green glow worms fishing for food from the cave's ceiling. My heart was pounding every time we jumped a waterfall or had to press our way in darkness under a stiflingly low cave ceiling.

Charles was a real champ and came with me on the trip, and we had an absolute blast! I never thought doing something so touristy could be so much fun. It really made the caves special and personal having adventured through them myself, rather than just watching from a boat or a raft. I'm really glad I went.

Warming my Toes in Taupo

Hot River
See All My Photos

I'm in beautiful Taupo, New Zealand, staying with Charles, a great guy introduced to me by a mutual friend. (I owe you big-time, John!)

Taupo is a hotbed (literally!) of geothermic activity. There's geysers, hot springs, bubbling mud pools, and fumaroles everywhere. It's a bit touristy, but that's what I'm in New Zealand for!

So far, I've gone on a jet boat ride up to the Huka Falls, gone swimming in a hot spring, and hiked around the beautiful bubbling Orakei Korako geothermic area. It's beautiful here, and absolutely relaxing. It's fascinating to see how the subtropical scenery of the Northland gave way to a more temperate, almost sub-Alpine area as I get closer to the mountains of the North Island.

Lots more to post, but I had a long day hiking around Taupo, and I have a full belly of delicious Thai food. I've got tons more photos uploaded to my Flickr page, so just click the image to check them out.

New Zealand's Incredible Northland

I've fallen in love with New Zealand. This place is absolutely, positively, the best-kept vacation secret in the world, and I'm utterly shocked that there aren't a bazillion people here.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday went by in a blur. I drove up with the Hardies to their Northland weekend home in Matakohe on Thursday night, and woke up to the most beautiful rolling green paddocks gently sloping down to Kaipara Harbour, with cows and sheep peacefully munching the grass. I met the Hardies' neighbors, got to pet their adorable alpaca, sheep, and cows, and explored the Northland by car.

I have to say, getting the New Zealand GPS maps for my Garmin Nüvi was the best investment I made on this trip; I got to zoom around the unpaved country roads in the middle of nowhere without any fear of actually getting lost, as a push of a button took me to a café, gas station, or back home at any time. It's a terrific way to travel, and I highly recommend it. (I'll certainly always travel with a GPS from now on!)

Saturday morning I woke up before the sun had peeked over the horizon, about 5:30 am. I drove above valleys of fog nestled deep below the road to the sleepy town of Kerikeri for a tour of the northern tip of New Zealand, Cape Reinga, by fixed-wing prop plane. I kept gasping time and time again as we flew over yet another mind-blowingly beautiful vista; from the pearl-white 90 Mile Beach (really 60 miles long) to the crystal-clear azure waters off the eastern coast, I reveled in the fact that most folks never get to see the beautiful far north from above.

On a whim, I found a bed and breakfast called “At Our Place” in Paihia, an adorable little town nestled on the Bay of Islands. They had excellent reviews online, and the wonderful lady running the place treated me very well. Since it's winter in New Zealand, business is very slow for most places, so I had the inn and a great restaurant virtually all to myself. I woke up Sunday morning to the sound (and sight) of waves lapping at the shore outside my window. I went for a jog as the sun just started to rise over the bay, and ran 5 km to and from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, just up the road from Paihia.

Storm clouds rolling in, I boarded a catamaran along with lots of expensively-dressed and coiffed Japanese tourists for a cruise around the Bay of Islands. We were extraordinarily lucky to meet up with not one, but two different pods of dolphins along the way! Seeing dolphins cavorting in the waves is always a magical sight, and it was incredible to see their playful nature up-close and personal. I was really glad I'd dressed up in lots of layers, as it started to rain pretty hard on the boat (sending the many well-coiffed Japanese tourists fleeing for cover). We circled round the impressive Hole in the Rock, then headed back to Paihia.

I'm planning on meeting up with a new friend, Charles, down in Taupo (about seven hours' drive south), so I headed back to the Hardies' place from Paihia. I took the very scenic route along the western coast of New Zealand, stopping along the way to gape and gasp at the beautiful sandstone cliffs of Arai te uru Recreation Reserve, which I can honestly say was the most beautiful view I'd ever seen in my life. I was literally left breathless by the contrast of the sandy cliffs dotted with tea tree plants, all draped against the aquamarine Tasman Sea. The scent of tea tree was everywhere, giving the whole scene a dreamy, hypnotic feel. Really, absolutely stunning.

Heading south, I went through one of the last remnants of subtropical rainforest in New Zealand: the Waipoua Forest, filled with ancient kauri trees, incredibly huge ferns, and dripping with life everywhere. The highlight is a 2,000 year old tree named Tane Mahuta, and photos of that magnificent tree just don't do it justice. It has dozens of species living in and off its canopy alone; the best comparison (geeky, I know) is to the Tree of Mana from the Secret of Mana video game series. I'm not a religious person, but I could clearly feel that it was an extraordinarily holy place, and I felt awed to be in Tane Mahuta's presence.

The Hardies treated me to a home-cooked chicken soup meal (yum!) and we drove back to their place in Auckland. I'm in their cozy guest bed now, and plan to drive to Charles's place first thing in the morning. Goodbye, beautiful Northland. I'll never forget you. Central North Island, here I come!

Downtown Auckland and Tiritiri Matangi Island

With my whale-watching plans nixed, I made reservations for Thursday to go to Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf. Having a free day, I spent Wednesday exploring downtown Auckland. It's a tiny city, just a few kilometers on a side, and you can easily walk the interesting parts in a day. Some is touristy (the Victoria Park Market was filled with low-quality souvenir shops), some is bustling (Queen Street and Wellesley Street), and some is desolate and empty (the Waterfront area on the northern edge of the city during the day).

Definite highlights of my day were the city's museums: I loved the Auckland Art Gallery, and felt particularly blown away by the detailed, intricate Māori portraits by Gottfried Lindauer, as well as the sad, everyday tribal faces recorded by Charles Goldie. I also explored the grassy Auckland Domain, and visited the wonderful Auckland War Memorial Museum. They had a whole natural history museum inside, along with Māori art and sculpture, in addition to the war memorial museum on the third floor. Highly recommended!

Of course, after leaving the Art Gallery, I was confronted with lots and lots of naked people marching up Wellesley Street. Riding tanks. And motorocycles. There were thousands of gawkers for what turned out to be the Boobs on Bikes parade, with porn stars (male and female) proudly showing their stuff for the crowd. I had to ask two of the Kiwis near me if this was something that happened every day! I'd heard Kiwis were liberal, but this was awesome.

Oddly enough, when browsing through the art at the Auckland Gallery (remember, this is a city of one million people), I completely randomly ran into my friend from the States, Sean Castro. I knew he'd be in the country, but I hadn't heard he would even be in Auckland! Terry and I ended up meeting up with Sean and their friends Matt and Andy Wednesday evening, and had a delicious curry dinner (traditional Kiwi fare for sure!). I really loved meeting Matt and Andy—they were proper geeks, we definitely clicked right away.

Thursday I got up bright and early, braved the traffic to downtown Auckland, and got on a catamaran to Tiritiri Matangi Island. Tiritiri is really a miracle story: after the island was cleared of trees and brush for farming by the Europeans, a group of dedicated volunteers replanted the entire island in the mid-1970s with native trees, and got rid of the few introduced predators. They started repopulating the island with birds that had disappeared from the mainland, and 30 years later, the island's full of endangered and rare birds. It was truly a sight to behold, and it's completely built and maintained by unpaid volunteers.

The weather was calm and beautiful, although I was really glad I wore long underwear and lots of layers. Exploring the island, I felt like I was on the inside of a giant calliope, with 360º of birdcalls and song surrounding my head. I really felt blessed to be able to interact with and watch these beautiful animals, and moreso by the fact that they didn't exist anywhere else in the world—not even on the mainland of New Zealand.

After returning to the Hardies' place in the evening, we drove up to their weekend house in Matakohe, on the northern edge of Kaipara Harbour. I woke up to a glorious view of rolling hills, sheep, pukeko birds, and the fingers of the harbor water poking through the entire area. Really beautiful! From here, I'll be driving up north towards the Bay of Islands, and then touring the gorgeous Ninety Mile Beach (which is actually only sixty miles long). I don't know if I can properly handle this much beauty! I'm glad I can share it with everyone through this journal.

Bugger!

Whale watching was cancelled due to mechanical troubles on the boat. Time for Plan B: the Hauraki Gulf Islands!

Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road

I never saw myself being able to handle driving on the left side of the road. But here I am, the proud owner renter of an adorable Daihatsu Sirion hatchback, zooming around Auckland, rounding roundabouts, and remembering to "give way" rather than "yield".

Had a fantabulous day yesterday. Got myself a prepaid SIM card, so I can send and receive calls and text messages. The prices aren't too shabby—receiving texts and calls is free, and sending international messages is only NZ$0.30/message. (I have to keep reminding myself that yes, we do indeed live in the future, when I can keep in touch with all my US friends wirelessly anywhere in the world). Lunch brought me my first encounter with a savoury pie (chicken and asparagus) and sausage roll (surprisingly, it was lamb sausage—the first sheep I've seen in NZ!).

To be good little Auckland tourists, we visited the gorgeous 328 meter tall Sky Tower, with its beautiful panoramic views of the entire skyline of Auckland. It was a gorgeous, clear day, and we were blessed with a perfect 360º view of the city. Auckland was remarkably low-key, I felt, much more relaxed and easygoing than San Francisco or Tokyo for sure. I got a great feel for the layout of the city, how it's nestled between natural harbors and gently spreads out towards the hills.

There were even people bungee jumping (well, guided-cable-jumping) off the top of the tower. One girl actually paused right in mid-jump in front of the glass and held up a big sign saying "THIS IS FOR YOU, MUM AND DAD"! Made me grin from ear to ear. I'd love to try that! I'll be heading to the South Island in about two weeks, so I'll hope to make it to Queenstown, the home of extreme sports like bungee and Zorbing.

Afterwards, we rented the aforementioned Daihatsu Sirion, and I practiced driving and turning right for a while. Surprisingly, I had no problem shifting (I like driving a manual) with my left hand, but what caught me unawares was how difficult it is to signal a turn with my right hand! I kept using my left hand like I would in the States, and I ended up turning on the windshield wipers more than once. I swear I'll get the hang of it sooner or later.

Today (Wednesday, August 22nd), I'm going whale watching on the Dolphin Explorer, which was highly recommended by Terry's good friend Ingrid Visser. I'm completely stoked, as Ingrid said they have a fantastic strike rate of being actually able to see dolphins and whales on a regular basis, especially in the winter.

I'm still posting lots of photos to my Flickr page, so check 'em out!

Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand

Safe Touchdown in Auckland

I made it safely to Auckland! The flight was amazingly smooth; with a few glasses of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc in my belly, I promptly fell asleep, thanks to my travel pillow and eye mask. (I'll never, ever travel without my Rick Steves travel pillow again.)

I barely got to play with the awesome in-flight entertainment (they had dozens of movies and hundreds of CDs) before we were landing. Terry's parents Jen and Roy met me at Auckland Airport, along with Terry's great friend Ingrid, and we were soon off to their adorable home. They fed me homemade bread and delicious New Zealand butter, and I feel human again.

I'm off to rent a car and get a SIM card with Terry and Roy. Woo hoo, fun, here I come!

South by Southwest to New Zealand

After working nonstop for, well, the past six years since I graduated from UC Santa Cruz, I'm about ready for a vacation. A nice, long vacation. I realized I'd been working so hard on VMware Fusion for Mac that I'd sort of forgotten how to relax. And we can't live without our healthy daily dose of slack now, can we?

So, I had to figure out where to go to relax. Unfortunately, if I burrowed all the way through the earth from California, I'd end up somewhere off the coast of Madagascar, so that plan was right out. Thinking back, ever since I was little, whenever I'd have a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day, I'd resolve to move to Australia. On top of that, I was fascinated as a young kid by a New Zealand TV series on Nickelodeon called The Third Eye. Oceania was looking like a prime candidate for some serious R&R time!

When a worldly friend of mine recently mentioned he was off on a six week whale-spotting jaunt to New Zealand (just one of several countries he grew up in), my eyes lit up. Visions of hobbits and orcs dancing in my head, I resolved to make my first long vacation be to the gorgeous Kiwi island nation.

Armed with sound travel advice from trusted sources, I spent way too much money on superlight Rymplon™ travel clothes (you know, the ones that look their absolute best when they're creased and sweaty), and I'm packed and ready to go. Traveling coach across the Pacific is something I've only done once before, when I picked up and moved to Japan in 2001, but I think I'll be able to handle the 13 hour flight with plenty of entertainment.

36 hours left in the States. How should I pass them?