(A few days late... It's 2pm on April 12 in Moorea, and it is pouring outside, so now seems like a good time to get this posted.)
Dave R will be disappointed when he reads that New Zealand was not one of the highlights of my trip. And I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I'll figure it out I write...
Part of it was I didn't get as much out of the South Island as I could have. I had too little time to see too much (mostly my fault for bad planning, and that cold made me want to stay in) and I spent too much time on the bus. I liked what I saw in the South Island, but I didn't get get to immerse myself in it.
I also think NZ followed too closely on the heals of Australia, which I really liked. NZ is more laid-back than Australia, which isn't a bad thing at all. But maybe it lacked the psychological punch of Australia because of its more casual ways. Its cities are smaller. Its bridges are less spectactular. Etc. Its climate is nicer, though.
My three city experiences in NZ probably weren't the best either, compared to other big cities I've visited. Christchurch was mostly closed down because of the recent earthquake (not its fault). [No pun intended... seriously, I only caught then when I was proofreading my entry.] Wellington had personality and was walkable and had some cool stuff to do, but there were too many people out on the sidewalks, walking around like retards. Maybe I was in a bad mood the day I toured Wellington, I dunno. Auckland I liked, although its traffic was very off-putting, and really what I liked most there was spending time with real live people.
So what did I like? A lot, actually. The kind and welcoming (if slightly more reserved) people. Although New Zealanders are, I guess, a little less obviously outgoing than Australians or Americans, I'd count them as the second-friendliest people I've met on this trip (after Ghana, where everyone wanted to talk me). What NZ lacked in quantity of people wanting to talk to me for no reason, they made up for in quality of interaction.
The food was great, especially the meat pies. There's a lot of "comfort food" there, which was filling and tasty. New Zealand is very beautiful, and Wai-O-Tapu, the thermal spot, was one of the coolest places I've seen on my whole trip. Getting to view the southern night sky through a powerful telescope was also a great treat. I liked how sparesly populated the South Island was. Don't know if I'd want to live there, but land like that is always great to travel through.
I liked learning about the Maori culture, and I like that there seems to be mutual respect between the native New Zealanders and the later european arrivals. Things like how both groups have adopted or accepted the good things about each others' cultures. Someone, I think it was Andrew(?), suggested that the Maoris had some fairly decisive military victories against early european forces -- or at least put up really good fights -- and so were in a better position to stand up for themselves than some other peoples whose lands were colonized. I'll need to look this up sometime I'm not over-paying for internet access...
Looking back, I can't think of anything I really disliked about New Zealand. It just didn't charm me the way I'd expected it to. I would have no objections to returning, and in fact, I sort of want to give the country another try, especially the South Island, because other people love it so much. The thing most likely to stop me is the same as many other places: By going to NZ again, I'd be giving up the chance to go somewhere else.
Final observation: There are definitely more sheep than people in New Zealand. It would have taken too long to count them all, so I made all the people line up on side of a field, and all the sheep line up on the other side. When I yelled "Go!" everyone ran to the middle to find a partner from the other side, and there were only sheep left over after all the humans found their partners. Conclusion: # of Sheep > # of People.
Dave R will be disappointed when he reads that New Zealand was not one of the highlights of my trip. And I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe I'll figure it out I write...
I also think NZ followed too closely on the heals of Australia, which I really liked. NZ is more laid-back than Australia, which isn't a bad thing at all. But maybe it lacked the psychological punch of Australia because of its more casual ways. Its cities are smaller. Its bridges are less spectactular. Etc. Its climate is nicer, though.
My three city experiences in NZ probably weren't the best either, compared to other big cities I've visited. Christchurch was mostly closed down because of the recent earthquake (not its fault). [No pun intended... seriously, I only caught then when I was proofreading my entry.] Wellington had personality and was walkable and had some cool stuff to do, but there were too many people out on the sidewalks, walking around like retards. Maybe I was in a bad mood the day I toured Wellington, I dunno. Auckland I liked, although its traffic was very off-putting, and really what I liked most there was spending time with real live people.
So what did I like? A lot, actually. The kind and welcoming (if slightly more reserved) people. Although New Zealanders are, I guess, a little less obviously outgoing than Australians or Americans, I'd count them as the second-friendliest people I've met on this trip (after Ghana, where everyone wanted to talk me). What NZ lacked in quantity of people wanting to talk to me for no reason, they made up for in quality of interaction.
The food was great, especially the meat pies. There's a lot of "comfort food" there, which was filling and tasty. New Zealand is very beautiful, and Wai-O-Tapu, the thermal spot, was one of the coolest places I've seen on my whole trip. Getting to view the southern night sky through a powerful telescope was also a great treat. I liked how sparesly populated the South Island was. Don't know if I'd want to live there, but land like that is always great to travel through.
I liked learning about the Maori culture, and I like that there seems to be mutual respect between the native New Zealanders and the later european arrivals. Things like how both groups have adopted or accepted the good things about each others' cultures. Someone, I think it was Andrew(?), suggested that the Maoris had some fairly decisive military victories against early european forces -- or at least put up really good fights -- and so were in a better position to stand up for themselves than some other peoples whose lands were colonized. I'll need to look this up sometime I'm not over-paying for internet access...
Looking back, I can't think of anything I really disliked about New Zealand. It just didn't charm me the way I'd expected it to. I would have no objections to returning, and in fact, I sort of want to give the country another try, especially the South Island, because other people love it so much. The thing most likely to stop me is the same as many other places: By going to NZ again, I'd be giving up the chance to go somewhere else.
Final observation: There are definitely more sheep than people in New Zealand. It would have taken too long to count them all, so I made all the people line up on side of a field, and all the sheep line up on the other side. When I yelled "Go!" everyone ran to the middle to find a partner from the other side, and there were only sheep left over after all the humans found their partners. Conclusion: # of Sheep > # of People.
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