Things We Didn't Like About New Zealand

Finally, we feel like it wouldn't be fair to only post what we loved about New Zealand.  Here is our list, and we promise, thought out as much if not more than, the things we liked...

1) Very expensive...housing, transportation, clothing, you name it.  Even the products that New Zealand is known for, such as kiwis, wine, and dairy products were gut-wrenchingly priced.
2) Jetstar Airlines.  We took a one-way trip to Christchurch on this airline in January for our South Island tour.  You even had to PAY FOR WATER.  That was just one of a number of issues we had with that airline.

um....that's about it.

If we think of anything else, we'll let you know.

April 21, 2012 Update:
3) Butter is available only in 500g (1.102 lbs) blocks.  It is a pain to have to estimate how much butter you need for a cookie recipe--or anything else for that matter, but especially cookies.  Yes, if we had a scale it would have been easier, but we didn't, and a 500g block of butter is unwieldy.

Things we love about New Zealand

Now that we're stateside again, we thought it only appropriate to publish our Top 50 Things We Love About New Zealand.  These are in no particular order, but we do realize now, that there are tons of wonderful things we never posted about (many marked with a *).  Maybe we'll have it together enough to post some of those things in the near future, as we see this as a chronicle for the long term for our family as much as for you.

1. Lack of capitalistic attitude.
2. Friendly kiwi natives (the people, not the birds),.  Although we're not sure the people are MORE friendly than many Wisconsinites.
3. Seeing water pretty much wherever you go as we travel through Auckland.
4. Ability to get to the water quickly and easily.
5. Black sand beaches, some nearly secluded: Piha, Muriwai, Bethells, and Whatipu
6. White/yellow sand beaches: Mission Bay and Long Bay, and the across the Northland.
7. On the South Island, smooth-rock covered beaches, such as Hokitika.*  
8. Christmas on the Beach.
9. Easter on the Beach (at Long Bay*).   
10. Air New Zealand.  Fast, easy, friendly, efficient.  
11. Auckland's PLAN, in writing, to be the most livable city in the world.  They ranked #3 in 2011, but that isn't good enough for them, and they have details and strategies outlined to 2040.  They are walking the talk.
12. Coffee, coffee, coffee (all espresso based)...especially flat whites.  Or even lattes in bowls--actual bowls!  Wherever, whenever.  We've never seen so many cafes, coffee trucks, espresso machines, in our entire lives!  And only about 1 out 20 cups isn't delicious.
13. 100 cultures represented in Auckland alone. 
14. Bi-cultural integration.  Although there may be issues, the Maori culture is in line with and inseparable from the mainstream.
15. Walking barefoot--anywhere and everywhere.
16. No air pollution.
17. Seeing the constellation Orion standing on his head.
18. Seeing the constellation the Southern Cross.
19. Seeing a sky full of stars even in the metropolis of Auckland.
20. The Auckland skyline.
21. Devonport.
22. Wellington.
23. The South Island.
24. The Northland* (we only touched the top of the iceberg with Liam's videos).
25. Rotorua.
26. Auckland and its various neighborhoods.*
27. Tax is included in all purchases.  No surprises or recalculations at the register.
28. Tip is included in all food prices.  Again, no surprises.
29. At cafes, it is usually frowned upon to clean up your own table.  Not that we cannot clean up after ourselves, but if we're paying for it, it is nice to have it done.  Also, you always get a clean table--  never a semi-clean table where the last customer didn't do such a great job.
30. The sounds (such as Milford and, the other one we hope to see some day...Doubtless Sound).
31. The sounds -- of bugs and birds, even in our Auckland neighborhood.  
32. The volcanic cones.  How often can we walk out our door, go for a quick stroll, and decide to climb a volcano?  We did it many times. Our walks included Mt. Eden*, Mt. John*, One Tree Hill, and a myriad of other smaller cones.
33. The food.  We've been here four months and had two meal that were questionable.  Okay, three...one was the night R cooked some random mixed up dinner with what we had in the fridge. But there is so much good food to choose from--we've had Malaysian, Chinese, Maori, and northern Indian food to name just a few.  We found a fantastic southern Indian restaurant last week and have already been there twice.
34. Pies.  Not the sweet kind, but meat pies.  They are a staple of snacktime.
35. Fish and Chips.  We've had it all: tarakihi, hoki, snapper, and maybe some other types.  After several months, we favor snapper.  Our favorite spots are in Devonport and Manganui* (in the Northland)
36. "No worries" attitude and"Leisure and Lifestyle" way of life, even for those who HAVE jobs.
37. Parnell Baths*, Auckland Museum, Auckland Art Museum*, Winter Gardens*, etc. etc.
38. Flightless and nearly flightless birds: brown kiwi, spotted kiwi, etc., weke, and pukeko.  We could watch pukeko for hours.  They are very strange birds.*
39. The flying birds:  the tui's beautiful song, the friendly little fluttering fantail, and the clever kea and its antics.*
40. Very little dangerous flora and fauna here.
41. 53,000 Kiwis who in the 2000 census stated that their religion was "Jedi," making this the second most popular religion in New Zealand.
42. The whole country has about half the population of New York City.  This really came to light with our recent return trip to Los Angeles and the staggering number of people at a science museum we visited.
43. Wine.  We now even appreciate wine with twist off caps--you cannot buy anything else that we've seen.
44. The smell of Manuka (of Manuka honey fame).
45. Festivals, festivals, and many more festivals.
46. Bungy jumping.
47. Kid-friendly stores and restaurants.  Almost everywhere that we've been, there have been toys or books for the kids to play with or read.  
48. Low crime rate.
49. Different trees:  especially kauri, pohutakawa, and tree ferns.
50. Long weekends, multiple holidays, and the holiday bach, the place to go during these times with family and friends.

So for now, we say with sadness "E noho ra" ("good bye" from those leaving) to New Zealand and New Zealand says "E haere ra" ("Good bye from those not leaving" to us).  We're sure to return again.

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Signs

There have been tons of great road signs in New Zealand.  Here are pictures of some of our favorites.  We have to explain the first one, as we couldn't get a great shot.  The sign on the right is a close up of the sign behind the bench.

And, or course, we've shared this already:

The exclamation point is a ubiquitous road sign throughout New Zealand.  It just makes us smile every time we see it because the range of what it means is so broad. The ones below have explanations but often times, there is just the exclamation point without the cue.

We believe these remaining are fairly self-explanatory:

Only one more full day in New Zealand for us.  Really unbelievable how quickly time has flown and all the adventures we have had.  We'll try to finish at least one more post before we head back into the northern hemisphere.

Taking a Big Leap

For those of you who haven't been connected with R or me on Facebook will not know this yet, and we haven't really discussed any of the details, so I thought I would share the story here.  R and I both took a big leap--we bungee jumped off of the Auckland Bridge, the whole 40m (around 131 ft) down.  Instead of just sharing the photos, we want to document the jumps.  It should be noted that R jumped on March 28 with his friend E.  At that time, I thought, "Good for them" at points and also "they must be out of their minds to do that" at other points.   I never thought that a mere 4 days later I would gather up enough gumption to actually jump myself.  However, with so many good points coming together (such as it being April Fool's Day and not wanting the two males to show me up) I just had to do it.  However, this story is mostly a conflation of both our experiences because the routine was just about the same for the jumps.

The story starts about 2.5 months ago when we visited Kawaru Bridge near Queenstown.  This bridge is the home of the original public bungy jump established in 1988 by A.J. Hackett,  the New Zealand entrepreneur who invented a super-stretchy bungee cord.  When we visited, I asked R if he wanted to jump (because he mentioned it in previous conversations) but he just wasn't into it.  We had a great time watching others...although there was one somewhat ugly jump where a guy didn't want to go but he ended up jumping instead of diving (which makes a much smoother go).    Here are some pictures from Kawaru Bridge.

At Kawaru there are about 50 or 100 people always watching.  And when you get done with the bouncing after the jump, the workers come out on a little dingy to lower you down.

 

 

We got a kick out of the bungy themed bathroom signs:

 So that was January.  I am not sure exactly how R and E got to the point of deciding to bungy jump while E was here, but it was pretty much a done deal by the time E arrived in Auckland.   And I already let you know how I got to the point of jumping.  So here is how a bungy jump might go, if you wanted to do it.

First, you sign your life away.

Then you get weighed in, and your weight in kgs is written on your hand (which is a much better number than in pounds).

Wouldn't it be great if the kids were intently watching what either R or I are doing to prepare for the jump?  Well, they aren't.  They are enthralled with a video of the Nevis jump, which really puts the little Auckland Harbor Bridge jump to shame--at 134m vs a mere 40m.  

The next step in my case was to wait and wait and wait (for  at least 15 minutes past the scheduled time).  It started to become quite unsettling just looking at this:

 

In the case of E and R, they didn't have a moment to think as they had to rush, rush, rush to get geared up.

This is quite the pic of R:

  

Then, a last moment for photos and goodbyes in front of the bridge:

 



Unlike, Kawaru, there aren't hundreds of people watching.  Instead, only five jumpers are allowed at a time (instead of an unending line of jumpers), and friends for each who can come along and watch.  The kids are too small to walk the 10 minute walk on the bridge span, so when E and R jumped, the kids and I drove across the bridge to the other side, and watched from the only viewpoint available on land.  R walked up with me when I jumped, and E graciously watched the kids.

E and R didn't take a lot of pictures on their way up. So most of the pictures of the next set of events are of my trip to the platform.  It is about a 10 minute walk up, but we had a "guest" who was watching two of my fellow jumpers and she was afraid of the whole experience--even the walk up, so it took us an extra 10 minutes to get there.



  In this picture, Rangitoto is in the background.

Finally, the jumpers (and R) arrive at the pod.  I learned--only after I jumped--that it was much windier than when R and E jumped.  I had the extra special experience of seeing the pod closed, because it was so windy.

Then, the two guys working start to call out the names of the first people who are jumping.  E and R were first and second in the order of their set of jumpers.  I, of course, had to wait, 

and wait and wait some more.  I was last in my group.  Ugh.  Talk about excruciating....

Here's the cord:

The pod opens for the first jumper:

Here's a boat going under the bridge.  They have multiple cameras that make sure no one bungy jumps when a watercraft is nearby.  On the left in the background, you can see the live photographer who we waved at prior to the jump.

As the workers bind your legs, they chit chat you up.  Not sure who is really listening at this point. 

Now with your legs bound (together) with the bungee cord attached, you have to hop over to the platform.  It isn't a graceful sight.

Then they have you look up at the camera above:

They have you wave at the photographer across the way:

And I was given great advice (by my husband just not to look down), so I didn't.  But then they do the quick, 1-2-3 count, and....

then you have to look down.  It's too late, you are out of there:

R wins the prize for most graceful both here and...

in his other jumps.  As I mentioned, when R and E jumped, the kids and I were able to get some great pictures from a different perspective of R's jump:

 

 And here's me:

You get three bounces, and then you pull a cord at the side of your knee.  You flip up, and then are raised back up to the platform.

After all is said and done, you walk back down from the pod,

get some great views of the city,

and get an enthusiastic greeting from your kids.

All of us, kids included, were able to celebrate overcoming fear. stepping outside our comfort zone, and growing in our own way.  Isn't that what life is about?