Ginger Without Borders

As we left Auckland with the end of our adventure in sight, Dawn asked the question “What was your favorite part of our trip?” We mentally began to relive the last two months and compared notes on what stood out in our memories. Rather than events, what really came up was the little things that a traveler notices.

Since we are so fascinated by wildlife (OK Lena, we admit we are wildlife nerds), we both were struck by the extraordinary steps both Australia and New Zealand are undertaking in an effort to preserve the remaining indeginous (and iconic) wildlife. Both are known by highly endangered animals, the koala and the kiwi. Reserves, usually on their many islands that can be more easily separated from the issues of the “mainland” (or with specially fenced reserves in NZ) appear to be having some success. Both countires are very serious with their customs inspections designed to prevent importation of additional pests or disease.

Truthfully, while we loved the birds of NZ, we have missed trying to spot the mammals of Australia along the roadside. This may change since we found out that NZ has agreed to host some endangered wallabies in the north island. Maybe in a few years, we could be spotting wallabies in NZ. But overall, it has been a joy to search for new animals and to adjust to forests of tree ferns. And Lena, we really enjoyed finding all the different varieties of plant life (also plant nerds).

Australia had serious water use restrictions (we only used showers in our rooms) and we were lucky enough to get out before the bad fires in Sydney. NZ is like Ireland (one of our favorite places) with its almost constant rain (particularly in the south island), so it is several shades of green all year. Its native trees (now less than 25% of NZ’s land area) are all evergreen. While we loved the everpresent Southern Alps of the south island, it was nice to leave the rain and cold of the south island for the warm sun and the rolling hills of the north island (the occasional rain usually fell while we were driving).

In part because our first experience in NZ was the incredible damage to Christchurch, the evidence of earthquake risks in NZ has been constant (almost all the historic buildings in all NZ cities were posted with “subject to earthquake risks” signs at their entrances). While the earthquakes led to the art deco architecture of Napier, the need for earthquake proof buildings appears to limit the creativity of NZ’s new buildings (there seems to be an abundance of glass and steel box buildings).

As we review our pictures, it is fun to note that the steam rising from the cold glacial rivers of NZ’s south island was replaced by steam rising from the heat of the volcanic streams of the north island. Since the north island hosts 80% of NZ’s population, it seems appropriate that the roads are much better here, but we don’t seem to be stopped any fewer number of times for road improvements in the north than in the south. I must say that the drivers in Australia were much more polite than NZ and the southern NZ drivers were much nicer than the northern NZ drivers.

I think we may now be able to tell an Australian accent from a New Zealand one, and the two share a lot of customs, except one. In Australia, there is the pint of beer and a schooner (3/4 of a pint). Ask for a pint or schooner in NZ (like I did until I figured this out) and the bartender will give you a look. In NZ, it is a handle of beer (their pint jar has a handle) or a half pint (or in one bar in Rotorua, a medium).

For the most part, food in NZ or Australia costs about the same ($13 for eggs benedict for example) but petrol is almost $4 dollar more per gallon in NZ. Fish and chips is the most common meal in both places (hamburger joints are starting to catch up), although we had some very fine dinners in both. In my experience, NZ had better restaurants in the smaller towns.

The nicest part about NZ was the knowledge that wherever you walked in the bush or forest (unlike Australia), there were no snakes or anything else that could kill you. A parrot might bite you if you were stupid enouth to feed it. And the only dead animals beside a NZ road were possums. The (imported from Australia) possums are such a problem that there is a bounty for their fur, which is blended with sheep’s wool to make clothing that is light and warm, won’t pill or wrinkle, and is antistatic. I bought a possum hat.

While Australia is making strides in developing tourism (now 3% of their GDP, slightly more than the US’s 2.8% of GDP), tourism has overtaken agriculture in NZ as the biggest industry (representing 5.6% of their GDP). Tourism contributes 21% of NZ’s foreign exchage earnings. There are tourist information offices in even the smaller towns. Maybe it is the time we came, but we have had few problems with restaurant reservations, found parking spots at tourist locations, and the roads have been mostly light with traffic.

Which gets back to my original idea for this blog. Dawn and I will not try to develop a list of the “Top Ten” of this trip or Australian or NZ. Each day has been an adventure with experiences and scenery that delight your spirit. If anything, we have become travel nerds due to the rewards of this trip. We have had issues (traffic related mostly) but none were difficult enough to dampen the joy of our journey.

And tomorrow we will have the opportunity to play with dolphins. It only gets better.

PS. Lena, spending of your inheritance is about to get a little lighter but we will have a good dinner out tomorrow. Mom almost killed me today because I chose a hot sand trail up from the beach. She was barefoot and I had shoes, so her feet got a little burned. But she gave me a TimTam while I drove, so I guess I can sleep easy tonight.