Build it and they will come, or is it vice versa?

So we spent a few weeks on day explorations and it is time to head off into a bit more wilderness. Why start small? So we started with the tallest peak in the Waikato, that’s our region… a two day trip up Mt. Pirongyia. It was pretty fun climbing up and down on the thin ridge of an ancient volcano through all kinds of weird and wonderful plants, roots and mud (Pirongyia is famous country-wide for its mud, and it delivered... on us). Also the word “switchback” is clearly not in the New Zealand vocabulary. Why go around something when you can go over it? "No worries, mate!" So up and down we did. 

Now it is hard to capture steep inclines with a camera but let's just say that the chain in the right picture was not there for no reason.

A great view of the ridge we followed.

From the peak across to a smaller cone with Waikato farmland behind it

Hopefully the pictures share a bit of how beautiful the "bush" is, but then you likely already know about that from others stories. But most striking to us, was not the beauty but the facilities. It is the priority this country places on outdoor recreation and the facilities to make it tick. It is absolutely amazing. Pirongyia is not a "Great Walk" (the name for the tourism marketed NZ wilderness trips), in fact it barely gets an auxillary paragraph in the Lonely Planet Tramping Guide. It is known mostly for nice views and a lot of mud (both true). But the network of trails (and signed and interpreted nature walks) up and around it are amazing. On top there is tons of boardwalk to avoid the mud (in the middle of the top of a mountain) . Here is a picture of the hut you can stay in at the top for $5 a person a night. In fact this hut is slated for demolition to be replaced by a bigger and better version. Out tent site cooking shelter put the roadside provincial park campgrounds on the bike trip this summer to shame (and they cost $30-$40)

Most of all we loved the solar powered composting toilet system which excretes clean water for the plants and the end of the process. It is perched on the cliff with an awesome view.

Since Pirongyia we headed to another cool spot (more on that next blog). Again this one is not for international tourists. 

Check out this solar powered hut in the middle of a beautiful alpine wilderness valley...

and the boardwalk infrastructure leading up to a higher peak. 

The hut sleeps 80! and is three hours up a mountain. Guess what? It is filled up all weekends and all summer, every night (the rules sign said they turn people away if you do not have a reservation... and what if you did not bring a tent?). We were there on a Tuesday in what was equivalent to mid-April in Nova Scotia. There were 25 folks in the hut so we chose the campground. Thousands of people stay here every year, and these are regular old New Zealanders. There is a big ethic of high schools taking students backpacking. We saw several  large groups of students. We ran into a Dad and his two kids (10-12 or so) on the trail. He was out for 3 days in the bush with the kids and had taken them out of school. He was a farmer and had to get back for afternoon milking. Outdoors is a priority and the infrastructure in the backcountry to support tramping is phenomenal and everywhere. And the infrastructure tradition has been there long before New Zealand recognized it could make money off global tourism. How did this amazing outdoor priority develop? Now there's a question for further investigation...

The Same but Different

It is so interesting being here in New Zealand where so much looks the same as it does in Canada, but is so very different. Unlike our experiences in India where frankly everything looked so very different, we were always surprised when we found similarities.

Looks pretty similar...

What is different?

Traffic patterns! Yes I knew that people here drive on the “other side of the road” (not the wrong side….) and I know that Indians drive on the “other side too”, so I should not have been so discombobulated with trying to learn to drive on the left side of the road. But we never drove in India, so this is really my first experience with it. And it was weird. Where do you look when you pull out onto a busy street? Right …? Left… ? yikes.! Also, I had not been in a car virtually for 3 months prior to arriving here, so driving itself was just plain different – and was a bit weird! Now I am used to it, but in the beginning it was strange.

Hot and cold water taps. Don’t know why but they are reversed here. You can wait along time for the water to warm up if you turn on the left faucet.

North versus South – The best garden or house exposure is a north facing slope…Makes sense when you think about it because we are in the southern hemisphere, however, it is so non intuitive that it really threw us for a loop, especially to start. Initially when looking for a place to stay, we automatically dismissed anything that advertised a north facing deck for example. Duh… that is what we should have been looking for! In the forest on a hike, I can’t just subconsciously look up to see where the sun is and then orient myself. I have to consciously look at the sun, and then calculate which way is east or west by a conscious thought process. Getting better now, but it was really a mind warp to begin with.

Grass  & Weeds– Somehow here the grass is green and healthy looking, but it barely grows. We have been here for a month now, and the grass has only grown about 1-2 inches. And in our very small vegetable garden, the weeds were so incredibly whimpy! That section of land had not been dug up probably for several years, and yet when I dug it up, it was really easy – no deep roots, no roots that clung to the soil… Dealing with the insects is a challenge, but the weeds are whimps!

Language - Yes I know people here speak excellent English – the difference is the accent. People typically try to hold back a growing grin when they hear me speak. “You’re not from here are you?” they ask. But to my ears it sounds like “Yau nut frum heah, ah yu? And often I don’t really fully understand what people are  trying to tell me! Vowels are all different, and you never pronounce an “r in the middle of a  word,  A long A sounds like a long I, so mate sounds like mite. A short E becomes a  short I, so wet becomes wit.  And a short I becomes a short U, so fish becomes fush.  Lots of “plices” serve “fush and chups ”! Add to that the fact “wh” sounds like an “f”, and one can get pretty confused. And lastly of course, there are numerous  expressions we need to learn. “Put your togs in the boot!” means “Put your bathing suit in the trunk of the car.”  Or  “ I am totally nacked” evidently means “I ‘m really tired…”. All in all the language is different!

Friendly people – Everyone here is totally friendly and very safety conscious,  (not that different from Canada) but put them behind the wheel of a car, and they forget all sanity. The posted speed limit is 100 km/hr on small winding roads. Imagine the bottom of Deep Hollow Road with a speed limit of 100.  Hmmm.

Looks pretty different...

Animals and Vegetation – Wow. From a distance the forests look like forests, but up close they are full of giant tree ferns, palm trees, incredible vines and other trees which only grow here. The bush” here is absolutely amazing. New Zealand has no indigenous mammals, so no bear, coyote, cougar , no dangerous animals in the wild. No poisonous snakes either. So no problem camping or tramping in the bush.  They do however have possums, rats, ferrets and some weasels all of whom  don’t belong here, and are doing terrible damage to the ecosystem. The possum were imported for trapping for fur, in the early 1900’s but with no natural predators they run unchecked, and are deadly to some species of trees, and birds.  The ferrets and weasels were imported in misguided attempts to control rabbits (which also were imported for fur). Unfortunately flightless birds are a lot easier targets for ferrets and weasels, so the indigenous species suffer. And rats, well they just came uninvited on ships, with devastating effects to unsuspecting birds. It is hard to wrap my mind around possible solutions to the problems these non native species cause. One solution – which is really different for me – is widescale poisoning. Current government policy is just that, and it is widely supported by conservation groups, environmental groups, the scientific community, and the general public. I need to understand the ins and outs better, but for now all I know is that it is just very different!

Yipes!

So it is a different world for us, even though on the surface one expects it to be so similar to our world in Nova Scotia. Having said that, it is an incredible experience here in New Zealand, and truly New Zealanders are among the friendliest, least pretentious and most accommodating folks I have ever met. And the mountains, and plants and animals are incredibly fascinating. It is like living in the Lord of the Rings, when we are hiking in the bush. And that is remarkable!

So all is well with us. Hope all is well with you.

 

Hi from Ginny!

Life  is good for Alan and me here in New Zealand, and I apologise for being so slow to do blog posts. In part it is perhaps because one day seems to blend in with the day before, and I have the luxury (and I know it is a huge luxury) to be able to really relax and  not have deadlines here in New Zealand. On the bikes last summer, we were always on the move, and each day was punctuated with a blog from one of us. We did not have a real schedule, but we did have a long term plan to do the trip in 3 months, so we had to keep moving. Before the bike ride, life was really busy – busy at work, busy packing up the house, busy riding practice runs up the mountain on the bike, and I never felt like I had enough time to do what needed doing. Here, for the first time in ages, I do have time, and I am enjoying it. I have gotten involved some with some really interesting folks doing community garden work here in Hamilton. But I also have time to explore the city’s wonderful bike paths along the river, wander in the gorgeous Hamilton Public Gardens, take extended bike rides in the countryside, participate in community events like planting indigenous plants along the waterfront to help restore the native plants here. Alan and I have also done a few overnight hikes, which have been gorgeous. So all is well. More from me in a bit.

Ginny having the time to check out the sights!