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We did not venture to New Zealand to bungee jump or jet boat or even to survey movie locales. We simply sought a warm and pleasant place to celebrate in style our 10 years of marriage. It did not disappoint. Other destinations might have worked as well but Patty had never been to the “Land of the Long White Cloud”, as the Maori call it. John’s only experience with New Zealand was almost 25 years old and that mostly on the North Island. So, planning for a three week trip with an unhurried pace, we chose to concentrate on the South Island.
Short stays in Los Angeles en route and San Francisco returning allowed us to acclimate somewhat to the time difference between home and New Zealand (7 hours with DST in NZ). Better yet, these stopovers provided brief visits with Dan and Denise, two of John’s children, as well as with several longtime friends --- all of whom we see too infrequently.
We would have preferred to fly directly from Los Angeles to Christchurch but we found no such option available. Thus, our arrival in Auckland was followed several hours later by a short hop to Christchurch. After three days on foot there, we picked up our car rental and proceeded to “Drive New Zealand” until we left the country at Auckland. The map below shows our route, heading west initially from Christchurch. We drove the same car on both islands, an option with Apex Rental not available with all rental companies. Of course, that meant paying extra to have the car transported on the Interislander ferry out of Picton.
The car we hired was a Nissan Bluebird, several years old. Our one concern with it was the more than 160,000 kilometers showing on the odometer. However, the car ran well with no problems --- so, either we were lucky or the car had good maintenance.
Our visit was not without surprises. The abundance of sunshine and paucity of rain was unexpected for a visit spanning Feb 10 to Mar 5. As a result, we squeezed a lot of sunblock because the sun is quite intense this time of year --- feeling almost harsh. Fields are commonly watered with the long irrigators on wheels that we saw so frequently last year in Idaho but these are even longer! We were amazed at the array of restaurants featuring international cuisine all over the country --- much has changed in 25 years! It was novel to deal with a penny-less New Zealand; purchases are rounded up or down to the nearest 5 cents --- actually not a bad idea. Tongue-twisting Maori place names are everywhere and can be confusing when ONLY the Maori name is provided, which does happen sometimes. Sandflies are stealthy, biting insects found on the west coast, especially in Fiordland. However, though we encountered some, they were not nearly as thick as we feared. Our only memorable disappointment was a minor one: not seeing cloud-shrouded Mt Taranaki after going out of the way for the view. Much more numerous were the surprises that amused and delighted us.
So, as you launch into this travelog, “Fresh yourself up!”, as the Kiwi’s would say --- especially if you’re feeling “shattered”. And if one day you decide to drive New Zealand, too, we encourage you to drive safely and “Do it up!” .... In case you need a translation for those Kiwi-isms, in American English we would say, “get yourself a soda” --- especially if you’re feeling “exhausted” and “buckle that seat belt!”