Visit to New Zealand

Our New Zealand Trip

We went to Singapore Changi Airport to catch the Emirates flight to Auckland. We were in for a rude shock. Our travel agent did not tell us that the flight was via Brisbane and that we require a transit visa for Australia (even though we were not to leave the airport premises). Australia is one of the few countries which requires visitors transiting through the country to take a transit visa. It would be great if Indians could also obtain electronic visa at the airport like many other nationals can do. Anyway, we had to reschedule our flight and obtain the Australian visa the next day. Luckily our further travel with in New Zealand was not affected. We then flew to Auckland.

First Stop - Auckland

We were in Auckland for a few hours only. But we made best use of the time. We saw a few tourist attractions like the one tree hill, Mount Eden, Domain, Water Front etc. in the few hours. What strikes you in New Zealand is the greenery. The weather was also very cool and pleasant. The one tree hill once had a tree at the top, now only the name remains. But the hill is carpeted in green. At the top there is a obelisk. View is 360 degree. We could see the sky tower as well as other city land marks.


Mount Eden is nice too. You really have to control the urge to walk down into the crater. I do not know if the crater is volcanic or is created by impact from a meteorite. The crater is considered a sacred site by the local authorities and they only permit you to walk on the periphery.

We left for Wellington in the night aboard an Air New Zealand flight. It is a one hour flight. Wellington airport is small, more like a medium size Indian city airport. Wellington, the capital city is quite beautiful. Wellington is undulating and hilly. The city once suffered earth quakes. Some areas which were once under water now form the green land mass of Wellington. The city is on the extreme southern tip of the North Islands. That is the reason why they say, the city is so windy. Although it was not very cool but the wind chill factor made it seem cooler than it really is.

We took the conducted tour on day two of our visit. The tour took us to Mount Victoria, Botanical garden, ride on the cable rail, the Parliament house etc. The view from the Mount Victoria is quite nice.

The parliament building has a unique shape and is called the bee hive.
Beehive. We saw some demonstrations which indicated that the democracy is alive and kicking. We saw the modest house of the prime minister. They say, she does not get any special treatment because she is the Prime Minister. She has to stand in queue like other citizens. In India, we do make gods out of our petty politicians. We gave a miss to the Te Papa Museum. The conducted tour also took us to a 19th century Church. The church was good. It is fully constructed in wood and has stained glass windows. Our group of about ten were the only people in the otherwise empty church.

The ride through the cable car reminded us of a similar ride in Hong Kong to the Victoria Peak. The botanical garden is beautiful. There were roses in the garden outdoor and beautiful begonias in the glass house. The surrounding areas are beautiful too.

We left in the evening by car to New Plymouth. The drive to New Plymouth was great. The entire route is green and hilly. The journey took about five hours but we did not feel the time pass by as we were looking at the scenery rolling by. We stopped on the way to eat Mediterranean food. Filafil sandwiches, coffee and the Turkish sweets/ Baklava.

On day three, we went around the New Plymouth area. We went to Mount Egmont, which is called Taranaki in the Maori language. The mountain which resembles mount Fuji of Japan is also snow capped at the top. You can drive half way up the mountain. You reach a kind of small plateau. From this place, the view of Taranaki is magnificent. You really feel dwarfed in front of the cool colossus.

The mountain climbers leave their cars behind and walk up the mountain to the summit. We could not climb up as it was raining and was extremely windy too. We waited there for a short while appreciating the beauty of the Mount Taranaki. On a clear day you can take a helicopter ride to the summit. We remembered the train trip to Mount Jung Frau Jok in the Swiss Alps. It was raining there too. Jung Frau Jok is the highest train station in Europe.

We later saw a documentary on Taranaki. The mountain is in volcanic area. The mountain has erupted a few times in the past. Through the volcanic eruptions it was busted and then formed again a few times. It is really nice to see an animation film on the mountain. There is an interesting story in the Maori language. It is said that the mountain moved from its past location to the present. The story depicts mount Taranaki as a person who was in love with another beautiful lady mountain called Pihanga. It fought a battle with Tangariro to win the love of Pihanga but lost. After the defeat it was driven away from its past location to the present.

We went to the sea-front in New Plymouth. It is a nine kilo meter long stretch of shore with a nice paved foot path for the walkers. You also see the wind wand on the beach. It is a tall wand which leans with the flow of wind indicating the wind direction.

We drove to a Baratutu, a small small rock rising a couple of hundred feet from the ground. It has trees on it and steps to climb up. Last few meters are a steep climb. This is a 1/20th to 1/50th scale model of a bigger mountain. I climbed on Baratutu. If during traveling I am not able to climb a hill or hillock, the fulfillment of a journey is missing.

The next place on our itinerary was a nearby lake. The lake is really beautiful and very serene. Calm placid waters, beautiful forest around, green grass between the lake and forest and very few people to disturb the peace. We could see ducks and swans in the lake. While we were watching the Swans from a close distance, near the shore, we notice a duck with a few ducklings was trying to enter the water. The swans made threatening gestures and the duck refrained from entering the lake. But only for a while. After a couple of tries it entered the water anyway. The ducklings jumped in behind the mother duck, without any worries.

Pukekura is another beautiful garden in the midst of the city. Last Samurai was partly shot here. They say the fight sequence involving Tom Cruise was shot here. The garden is really beautiful. Trees of many hues and colours rest in the garden. The garden is elegantly landscaped. Small water bodies lie idyllically in the midst of the trees. A bright red bridge spans beautifully a small stretch of water. There are a few artificial water falls and fountains in the lake which can be started by the press of an electrical switch. On certain occasions the garden is lighted by beautiful lanterns.

Visit to New Plymouth will not be complete without the trip to Waitamo caves. Wai means water and Tamo means hole. Literally translated, it means watering hole. The cave forms a big cavity in the mountain. In side the cave there are stalactite and stalagmite formations. One has to bend a little at the entrance of the cave. But then you enter a large hall aptly called the “Cathedral” The height of the ceiling here is approximately 45 meters, although it does not appear to be that much. The acoustics of the “Cathedral” are so good that you get a pure quality sound. The sound gets fully absorbed in the porous lime stone walls and ceiling of the cave and so there is no echo. Many opera singers have sung in the Cathedral. New Zealand’s very own, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has also given a performance here. There is a small stretch of river that flows through one part of the cave. When the river level rises during the floods the cave has to be closed down some times. What make these caves different are the glow worms. Glow worms have an interesting life cycle. The life cycle involves stages as larvae, pupa and the insect. While the life as a larvae is a few months long the life as the insect is barely three days. So the species have a long boring life as a worm but short exciting life as an insect. The glow worm hangs threads like spiders’ web from the ceiling of the dark cave. It emits light to attract small prey like mosquito. Once the prey is caught in the web, called the “fishing line” the glow worm slowly pulls up the fishing line, eats the prey and then replaces the fishing line. Once you are in the dark sector of the cave and look up, the sight of thousands of the glowing worms give the feeling of a starry night. The tourists are requested to keep absolutely quiet as the noise disturbs the glow worms and they may suddenly stop their “batteries” plunging the whole cave in total darkness. Quite amazing stuff.

We visited the local museum. It was a pleasant surprise. A family collection has now been converted to a delightful museum. The Museum shows life over a long period of time in New Zealand. From the early settler days to now. Details of Maori and settler life-styles and cultures are very interesting. The story of a white man, who became one of the Maoris, the models of Maori villages and homes, Maori weapons, clothing etc are interesting. Models of early work in the collieries, scenes depicting steam engine driven tracks, sawing of logs etc are nice too.

On the last day, I went for a long two hours walk in early morning through the Pukekura garden to the sea front and back. It was exhilarating. Visit to any place is incomplete without some shopping. That is what we did later. Last stop was a rock shop near the air port. There were a variety of volcanic and other rocks on display / sale.

We left New Plymouth by the afternoon flight for Auckland. The New Plymouth airport is small. We had a sandwich for lunch, prior to take off. The plane that took us to Auckland was a Canadian made Bombardier – a twin propeller plane. In this jet age, it was nice to make the flight once again on the propeller air craft. The low altitude flight took only 45 minutes.
Bombardier

Auckland was bright and sunny. We went to the sky tower in the evening. At 328 meters, the sky tower is advertised to be the tallest structure down under. It has two viewing decks – the main deck and the sky deck. The view is terrific. We reached at a nice time. When we went up day light was still there. Slowly darkness fell and the city lit up.

You can see whole of the Auckland from the top. The one tree hill, Mount Eden, the tall buildings from the down town, the harbour view with the harbour bridge (like similar one at Sydney). There is a circular restaurant at the top offering a fantastic view. You can also view a small television documentary on making of the sky tower. Sky tower is part of the sky city complex which houses the casino as well.

Next morning we visited the Museum and the winter garden. The museum houses Maori art as well as exhibits from all around the pacific islands. The usual stuff – weapons, clothing etc. It also has a section on the natural history. There are a few dinosaur exhibits. There was a bird like dinosaur with a wing span of around 20 feet. That was quite amazing. There was also the skeleton of another bird taller than Ostrich and having a height of over ten feet.


The winter garden has three sections. The flowers in the glass house were really colourful. The ferns were interesting too.

In the end, we had a lunch in a Malaysian Chinese restaurant. That was quite good. Eggplant, chicken and vegetable fried rice. After the lunch we hurried back to home to pack and leave.

Our trip was a great success. Despite rains, despite paucity of time we could see every thing worth seeing. Thanks to Ashok & Pratiti in Auckland and Samir and Sapna in New Plymouth.

New Zealand is a great sensory and stimulating experience. We do feel like visiting new Zealand once more, to cover Rotorua & few other places in North island plus the whole of the South island. I wished for a long time to make this visit happen. I am prepared to wait for the second visit as well.

The flight back home was quite comfortable. We came via Brisbane. The flight loading was quite lean. So we got to stretch out and sleep. The flight from Brisbane to Singapore was also nice. We landed at Changi at about one AM….