A Kiwi Playground
(Navyn) North Island, New Zealand. Even after traveling for days on end, the girls are always happy to see something new. It could be anything. A new minivan rental seems to delight as much as leaving the driest place on earth and landing in the sheepiest place on earth, New Zealand. Homework continues to be a challenge as we always seem to be short on time. They have nicknamed me the “nagivator” (not navigator) as I try to squeeze in reading and writing whenever possible.
In fact, there is only one way you could have gotten out of writing in your journal on January the 19th:
A) Mom was sick with food poisoning and couldn’t muster the strength to nag the girls.
B) Paul was in charge of all pedagogy for the day.
C) Technically we missed the 19th of January because we left Santiago, Chile on Sunday the 18th and landed in Auckland, New Zealand on the 20th after crossing the international date line and spending 13 hours in the air time traveling in a forward direction. So as Maya summarized, “Mom, that was a three day flight. One for the record books.”
The answer is C.
New Zealand is a perfectly pristine, utopian land, full of romantic landscapes, farms, and nature, all uninterrupted by people. Me, being the orderly type, would fit in quite well here. Perhaps I will check the listings for a nice vineyard, a few cows and a small dairy factory where I can make yogurt in small glass pots (Just kidding Maria).
Our first stop was The Bay of Islands and the dreamy town of Russell. It used to be a whaling town and is quaint and postcard perfect. The rolling hills are carpeted in every shade of green, the pale green blue sea is alive with sailboats preparing for a race and children jump off the pier to cool off as dolphins swim off in the distance. Well known for their blueberries, avocados, tomatoes, olive oil, and wine – I have nearly died and gone to heaven. This place cannot be real. After two hours of wandering through the small seaside town and a lunch at the Duke of Marlborough, the twins have decided to move here. Clearly they are still too jet lagged to remember how long of a flight we just took.
To get the lay of the land, and to have some fun, we decided to rent some jet skis. There are 144 tiny islands around these parts so lots to explore. Some of you may know that Jolie is also known as my shadow, due to her shyness and being the youngest of four. She is by my side all the time, always has been. As expected, she starts out on my jet ski, but within minutes she has bumped me out of the front seat, learns the controls and takes over. Next thing I know we are going 78km/hour and I am hanging on for dear life. My quiet mouse has turned into Mario Andretti. Needless to say, I never got another turn.
We have rented a house here for three nights. It’s great to have the ability to cook some basic food on our own schedule and do our own laundry. Every morning at 6:00 am the sun rises and on cue we are surrounded by a coordinated symphony of crickets and birds. Time to get up and see what adventure is next on the agenda.
(January 22) There are many ways to see New Zealand. We have decided to try all of them. So far we have been on a car ferry, a passenger ferry, horseback, a helicopter, jet ski, jet boat, zorb and today a quad bike or all terrain vehicle. The twins convinced the guide that they were competent drivers and we each boarded our bike. Today I insisted Maya come with me for a change of pace. She then proceeded to bark orders at me, “faster, turn here, go, go, faster, beat dad, I won’t read my books if you don’t go faster.” We raced down 90-Mile Beach, swerving our quad bikes across the wide sandy beach with bright blue waves crashing as far as the eye could see then up and over and winding through the sand dunes sending flocks of seagulls out of our path. The way home led us through hiking trails lined with tall northern pine trees on all sides. Exhilarated and exhausted we made it back to base camp with all of our body parts still intact and nothing but ear to ear smiles.
(January 23) Today went to Hobbiton, the set of the Hobbit movies. While very touristy, it was fun to play on the hobbit holes, have a picnic and hear about director, Peter Jackson’s outrageous efforts to make the set appear just like the book, including creating an oak tree and painting 200,000 leaves green. Next, we traveled via helicopter to White Island to see an active volcano. We had been in the air for about five minutes when I hear a noise through my headset, look down and see the door next to me has opened as we soar over the hillsides. What else to do but grab the handle and hold it shut as best I can while I alert the pilot. As beads of sweat drip from his forehead, he scatters some sheep and lands us within seconds on the top of a hill. Disaster averted. Now on to more safe adventures like walking New Zealand’s most active volcano that last erupted in 2013. We put on our helmets and gas masks and start walking the rocky terrain towards cauldrons of bubbling gray mud and yellow sulphur crystals that spout gas and heat emanating from the unsettled world below the rock. The mineral deposits created bright reds, yellows and greens underfoot and on the rock faces. Once again, I am always checking for an exit strategy just in case.
(January 24) More adventures in the kiwi playground today. The first one being the survival of a car ride with Paul at the wheel as he drove our 8-passenger van along winding narrow roads on the wrong side of the road. I really was trying not to be a backseat driver but it was quite hard as mailboxes stood poised to take out my front teeth at every turn. Flashbacks of previous incidents on foreign roads (and in Barrington) came to mind as I closed my eyes and hoped for the best. To his credit we arrived safely somehow at the jet boat center. I am not quite sure how they think up all these crazy ideas but today we will board an 800 horsepower jet boat and head down a river to get to “The Squeeze”. The jet boat parked in a geothermal stream that led to a very narrow gorge of chest high warm water. We all followed our guide single file as he led us into a progressively more narrow passageway which became so narrow you had to turn sideways to fit through the rocks while trying to keep your head above water and not hit the rocks below. The girls wondered if Uncle John could make it through – ha ha!
Then it was off to do a little Zorbing. An unusual pastime invented right here in Rotorua, NZ. Basically, it is a large plastic bubble with a pod inside that has water in it. You are put inside this giant hamster wheel and chucked down a hillside while screaming for your life and trying to stay upright and not drown.
(January 25) Excerpt from Maya’s Journal:
Today we spent the day with the Maoris, the indigenous population (the natives, the first people of New Zealand, like our Wampanoag Indians). We met with two warrior men, a woman and her fifteen year-old daughter. Dad was our tribal leader, he had to make a speech, sing a family song (we sang This Land is Our Land) and to let them know that we were coming in peace. To make sure they knew that we were coming in peace, he had to keep good eye contact with the warrior. The traditional Maori greeting is to touch your nose and forehead to the other person while closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. Once we came in peace we had a hangi (the Maori word for food cooked in a underground oven which we made ourselves). While the food was cooking we asked questions and they taught us a lot and how the world was created. Rangi, the father represents heaven and the skies, earth is the mother she is called papa.
The Maori gods are a very important part of their culture and are all around us. Tane- the forest god who created all the forests. Tangaroa- the god who created the lakes, rivers, oceans, and all the bodies of water. Tawhirimatea- the god who gave all the strength to the Maoris. Rongo- who gave peace and war and cultivated food (to work the land) to Maoris. Haumietiketike- the god of uncultivated food.
We talked a lot about the importance of whanau (family). I learned that as a middle child I have two tuakana (older siblings) and one teina (younger sibling) and a whaea (mother) and a matua (father) and I am tekau (ten) years old. I thought it was very cool to learn a different culture. While we had lunch they sang us a couple songs and they had beautiful voices. Maoris are very proud of their culture and I was happy that they shared it with us. ~ Maya
Today we leave the north island and fly to Christchurch and Queenstown on the south island. Check the Photo Gallery for some photos to go with this post. I hope to add some GoPro video clips to give you an idea as soon as I work out how to do that (maybe by the end of the week).
Wow, wonderful to hear from you and the good time you have in New Zealand! Maya, I am proud of you and how you were interested to learn Maori culture:”the importance of Whanau (family), having two tuakana (Older siblings), one teina (Younger sibling) one whala (mother) and a mutua (father) and you are tekan (ten) years old. Oh my God, thank you so much for such history course I learned from you Maya. Have a good time you all.
Aline Binyungu
Navyn,
Your adventures sound amazing. Sounds like you are all living it up to the fullest, which is wonderful. I am glad though that you decided not to settle down for a vineyard and dairy factory in New Zealand just quite yet!
Be well,
Maria
Today’s entry was hilarious. We loved reading about the exploits in the helicopter (door wide open) ,the van(on the wrong side of the road), all the different forms of transportation. Try to,keep yourselves safe despite paul’ s driving. Thanks for all the beautiful pictures. Tony
Such a small world as my brother is living in NZ with his family (off their boat for a few weeks) right now and just blogged about visiting Hobbiton the other day. Sounds like a beautiful place to be. Enjoy!!
I love traveling thru your journals for my stomache would never make it in your footsteps. My laundry would have doubled if that was me on the helicopter ride and the door came open!! A ferris wheel is tough enough to get on.
Did you see the Maori perform the Haka?
Yes, they did do a bit of the haka!
Clearly you don’t miss any of us at all, understandably. Nice for us to live life vicariously through such an amazing experience. Love the Nagivator terminology!
Miss you guys!
The Parkers (you may vaguely recall we’re friends, or once were, with three kids and live over on Mathewson road)
If you ever do come home, all of us in Rhode Island are going to seem hopelessly plebian to all of you……….will you ever speak to us again? Congrats on this amazing journey, and safe travels.
Please, please, please tell me someone is filming this….
I LOVE LOVE your posts and pictures of the Salem Marvelous Adventures…….. What a FABULOUS family experience…… The pictures are stunners, the writing even better! Thank you for sharing this with us! Xoxo carol
Hard to find words to respond, but having just finished an article about Steve Jobs … insanely awesome! seems appropriate. So glad to read of all your north island adventures and tales of fellow lead footers and thrill seekers. Maya’s blog was beautiful too. From our whanau to yours….xo!
Maya that’s so interesting, and so cool that you got to meet native people and learn about their culture. Miss you so much.
Paris
Thank you for the update. New Zealand sounds magical. Bracing for a record breaking blizzard here today so the sights and sounds of New Zealand are most welcome.
Sends love and hugs,
Kathleen
Nagy, (oops, I mean Navy)
Maybe my driving in Wadi Rum doesn’t seem so bad now? I can easily relate to Jolie on the jet ski, Maya on the quad
bike and Paul driving on the narrow roads in NZ. I guess we all have a little Mario Andretti in us.
Love hearing about your adventures in New Zealand. E N J O Y the South Island!
xo
Annie