Getting There is Half the Battle
On November 18 I started making my way to New Zealand for a 2-week hiking trip. I drove the 45 minutes to Pikeville to pick up my dad who would drive the car home from Cincinnati. After that it was a direct flight to Los Angeles and then on to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand boasting a population of about 1 million people. On the way to Auckland we crossed the international dateline, another first for me. It was November 20 upon arrival.
After Auckland it was a short 1-hour flight to Christchurch, the major metropolitan city on the South Island with about 300,000 people. All in all, the trip was only about 26 hours total, 18 of those in the plane. Coming home was quite a bit longer (38 hours) and more tiring, but if someone handed me a ticket today to go back I would jump on the plane.
The hiking trip was with a small group of 5 others and 2 guides. In between deviling us with slightly untrue facts about the country, the guides were a wonderful source for legends and history and identifying birdcalls and plants.
Just a few of my favorite New Zealand facts:
The country has 4 million residents
For each of those people there are 10 sheep. This number is down from 20:1 in the 1980s.
It is home to the Kea an alpine parrot considered to be one of the smartest birds in the world.
Kiwi—a fruit grown in the country, a rare bird, and what the residents of New Zealand call themselves.
The west coast of the South Island gets 6,000-8,000 millimeters of rain a year. That’s 21-26 feet.
Only 1 million people live on the whole South Island.
They hate possums but have found a new use for their fur—blending it with merino wool to make the most luxurious knitted products.
Until 1,000 years ago New Zealand was uninhabited.
A Kea parrot near Arthur’s Pass
I could go on and on, as per usual. Basically this trip I decided to do on a whim was the most exhilarating, exciting, and fun trip on the year. I didn’t do a lot of food research, since our guides cooked a lot of the meals, but I did come back with a bird call CD and loads of amazing pictures.
After Auckland it was a short 1-hour flight to Christchurch, the major metropolitan city on the South Island with about 300,000 people. All in all, the trip was only about 26 hours total, 18 of those in the plane. Coming home was quite a bit longer (38 hours) and more tiring, but if someone handed me a ticket today to go back I would jump on the plane.
The hiking trip was with a small group of 5 others and 2 guides. In between deviling us with slightly untrue facts about the country, the guides were a wonderful source for legends and history and identifying birdcalls and plants.
Just a few of my favorite New Zealand facts:
The country has 4 million residents
For each of those people there are 10 sheep. This number is down from 20:1 in the 1980s.
It is home to the Kea an alpine parrot considered to be one of the smartest birds in the world.
Kiwi—a fruit grown in the country, a rare bird, and what the residents of New Zealand call themselves.
The west coast of the South Island gets 6,000-8,000 millimeters of rain a year. That’s 21-26 feet.
Only 1 million people live on the whole South Island.
They hate possums but have found a new use for their fur—blending it with merino wool to make the most luxurious knitted products.
Until 1,000 years ago New Zealand was uninhabited.
A Kea parrot near Arthur’s Pass
I could go on and on, as per usual. Basically this trip I decided to do on a whim was the most exhilarating, exciting, and fun trip on the year. I didn’t do a lot of food research, since our guides cooked a lot of the meals, but I did come back with a bird call CD and loads of amazing pictures.
posted by LKS at 8:53 PM
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