Anaura,
East Cape
New Zealand has a land area of 268 000 sq km (compared to England 130 000
and Vancouver Island 33 000 sq km) and 3.5 million people. The
North Island is the smaller of the two, about three-fourths the size of the South Island,
but with about two-thirds of the total population. The largest city, Auckland, has been
growing rapidly in the last few years and the population is now nearly evenly split into
three groups: Auckland, the rest of the North Island and the South Island.
Northern North Island is a subtropical land without winter.
About three-quarters of the west coast of the North Island is wide,
surf-swept, sandy beaches and dunes broken by occasional harbour entrances
and rock bluff outcrops. Famous Ninety-Mile Beach makes up only about
one-sixth of that amount. There are other larger, longer, stretches of
isolated beach, but with less access.
The northern east coast has many scenic small coves and harbours. The
1970's are alive and well in Coromandel, lovely and quaint. Only 100 km away,
Auckland is the modern busy commercial opposite. East Cape is probably the
least-visited rural area of New Zealand and "old ways" still dominate.
| Anaura,
East Cape |
On the North Island, central Rotorua and Taupo are mountainous and volcanic. Nearby Tongariro
National Park is noted for its winter ski resorts. Long stretches of the
southeast coast of the North Island is relatively inaccessible compared to the
southwest coast.
The South Island has the impressive snow-capped Southern Alps running down its spine
with a broad coastal plain along the east coast farmland and British
Columbia coast-like fjords, snow-capped mountains and gold rush rivers
along the west coast. South coast climate, vegetation and soils are dominated by the
wet westerly winds. They dump huge amounts of rain on the west coast creating swamps and
rain forest. Mt. Cook, at 3754m is the highest peak in the country. The ridge of the Southern
Alps then dries the westerlies creating the dry eastern grasslands and ranch country. It says
something good about the people of an area when they give their mountains beautiful names
like "Mt. Aspiring" and "The Remarkables".
Geysers, steam vents, bubbling mud and volcanoes abound in New Zealand.
Very early in European settlement, Rotorua became a major tourist attractions
because of its hot springs and remains a premiere attraction today. Hot springs
have been developed into commercial spas throughout the length of the country.
Rotorua geysers |
The New Zealand wine industry is booming with large wineries especially in
the Napier/Hastings area of the North Island and the Picton/Blenheim area of
the South Island.
New Zealanders, ("Kiwis") are extremely friendly, honest, neat, relatively
environmentally aware, fiercely patriotic, nationalistic, and independent.
Their television has great BBC-type international news coverage, very broad
sports coverage, bland talk shows and terrible old American sitcoms. Their
favourite sports are generally anything physical (especially rugby, soccer,
cricket, sailing, cycling and running) and the more extreme, the better. The
outdoor lifestyle restricts touring opportunities for travellers with
mobility problems, but some mobility-challenged opportunities are spectacular
(ref. Paradise farm). Most individuals support two sports teams, the All
Blacks and then any other team playing against Australia. Their history of
discovery, settlement, and development and their cultural, environmental and
political issues are fairly comparable to those of British Columbia (more so
than to the rest of Canada or the USA).
Maori culture and history is vibrant and interesting. There are numerous
Maori demonstrations and feasting ("hangi") demonstrations, especially on the
North Island. The Auckland War Memorial Museum has a good introduction but
the best one that we encountered was at the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts
Institute in Rotorua.
Except for the largest cities, most of New Zealand has a "small town"
atmosphere. The cities, countryside and beaches are clean. But it is a
country with finite resources that appears to be reaching its limits for exploitive
development. With the exception of parks or reserves,
it is farmed or logged and managed from shoreline to mountain top. Animals
are even grazed in some city parks. This does not mean that it all looks
developed, but it does mean that, if you are not in an area designated as
parkland, then you are most likely on private land and should act accordingly.
There is limited surface water in much of the country and visitors are
cautioned against drinking any free-flowing water because of upstream animal
use, even in the mountains and parks.
Much of the native bush and large kauri forests were cleared during early
years of godl rush, urban settlement and logging. Kiwis are proud and
relatively protective of those remnant populations of native plants and
animals that remain. Government tax breaks and grants are available to
encourage restoration or rehabilitation of some areas. Non-native plant and animals are
being actively eradicated over large areas in attempts to reestablish or
protect remnant native populations. New Zealand has a huge problem with
introduced plants (e.g. gorse and broom) and animals (e.g. possum, ferrets,
dogs and deer). We rarely, if ever, saw any litter in the countryside or on
the beaches. Well-done Kiwis!
Farm Worker, Dog and Quad |
Kiwis and their working dogs are inseparable. It was unusual to see a farm
worker without one or more working dogs alongside
or on board the quad bike, truck, tractor, or bicycle.Dogs frequently get to
sit in a rack across the front, with a driver in the rear. But, because of
their predation on native species, dogs are fairly rigidly prohibited in some
large areas, and permits are required for any human travel to protected
ecological reserves.
The straight line distance from Bluff, the southern end of the South Island
to Cape Reinga, the northern end of the North Island is 1475 km (according
to the Waitangi Trust Monument).
But because there are literally no straight
roads in New Zealand, the shortest distance by road, Cape Reinga to Bluff,
is actually 2043 km; 1098 km on the North Island and 945 km on the South Island.
This excludes the Cook Strait crossing between North and South Islands, Stewart
Islands' few km of track and the Foveaux Strait between Bluff and Stewart
Island. (ref. mileage calculator:
mileage calc)
 Cape Reinga signpost |
Rental vehicles are generally restricted to sealed (paved) roads which
prohibits them from travelling on back country gravel roads or tracks and
beaches. Gasoline is the same price as Canada, much cheaper than the UK, and more expensive
than the USA.
The usual ports of entry by air are either Auckland or Christchurch; by ship
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch or Napier.
Kiwis drive fast, pass with abandon on hills and curves, and park anywhere
(including boulevards and on the grass under trees in parks). Except for
cities, there are few stop signs or traffic lights. The roads are hilly,
curved and narrow by North American standards. There is heavy truck traffic
on main roads, and nearly all trucks are double-trailer "B-trains". We did
not see any speed zones adjacent to schools. Driving had a 'survival of the
fittest' attitude. An example of a New Zealand guard rail on a highway corner
could be a post with an arrow in it.
Although there are some excellent guides to cycling around New Zealand, it
looked like real hard work. The roads are fairly hilly, there is usually a
wind (always in your face) and there is little or no "shoulder" to allow
traffic room to pass.
New Zealand is aggressively marketing its tourism. Tourism is very well
organized and huge economically. There are commercially developed tours and
activities of all kinds, everywhere. That is both an advantage for those
seeking organized activities and a disadvantage to those trying to escape
commercial activities. "New Zealand Tourism Awards" seemed to be posted in
nearly all reputable businesses. From outside, it is hard to tell privately
run tourist information offices from government. Both have knowledgeable staff,
but the private ones are definitely more interested in steering you towards
commercial tours and accommodation that pays them a commission than they are
in providing information about non-commercial activities. Because of this
degree of organization and competition for your custom, all services that we
used were well run and good value.
Any prices quoted are approximate, in New Zealand Dollars effective early 2002
To enable you to navigate around the site, and around New Zealand, our Trip Diary is
presented in five sections:
Trip Diary - Auckland and Vicinity:
Trip Diary - Auckland/North;
Trip Diary - Auckland/South;
Trip Diary - Wellington / Picton Ferry; and
Trip Diary - South Island.
For the sake of continuity, the trip is described as a single circuit of the North Island,
starting and finishing at Auckland, with a side trip at Wellington and single circuit of the
South Island, starting and finishing at Picton. In theory, you should be able to
circumnavigate both islands by road in about 4500 km. In fact, we drove 10 000 km and seldom
drove over the same road twice. With the exception of gravel for the final 40 km to Cape
Reinga, nearly all major tourist destinations are on "sealed" roads. We drove about 2 000 km
of unsealed i.e. gravel, dirt, or sand roads.
Our assessments of the commercial accommodations and activities that we used are listed in
Opinion. Note that these opinions reflect our personal
tastes and other travellers using the same facilities may have a different experience.
New Zealand offers all possible types of accommodation. From very cheap to very expensive it
ranges from tenting, mountain huts, youth hostels, backpackers hostels, campgrounds with on
site caravans and cabins, motels, cabin and summer home rentals, bed and breakfast
accommodation, luxury resorts and remote lodges. We stayed mostly in backpacker accommodation
with a private double room, and shared sitting room, bathroom and kitchen at a cost of $20-25
per person per night. But for the same price, we frequently had an en suite unit and once a
1200 square foot, oceanside, two bedroom fully furnished summer home. Motel units average
double that price, resorts and lodges triple or more. Whenever possible, we avoided tour bus
destination hostels that catered more to the party-hearty crowd, or those located in large
urban core. This would have been more difficult if we were more dependant on public transport.
We ate well, mostly home-cooked meals with occasional restaurant meals; partied socially with
fellow travellers, kiwis and hostel owners and sampled local wines and beers. Total expenses
for two adults, excluding airfare, were NZD12000. This was towards the budget end of the
travel spectrum, but could have been halved by a budget fanatic.
We departed Victoria 1200 January 3, arrived Auckland 0800 January 5. Left Auckland 1700 March 29,
arrived Victoria 1900 same day. Flew Air Canada Victoria/Los Angeles return and Air
New Zealand Los Angeles/Auckland return.