Green Rocks and Beans

Aloha

After a trip of 35 hours we’re on Big Island, Hawaii. Stepping back in time is possible, but you don’t get to relive the old day, you live a new one. Flying on the 20th from Christchurch to Sydney and from there to Honolulu we crossed the International Date Line and arrived on the 20th in the morning, we got a new day. A day for new decisions, different situations. But before you get too excited about possibilities, there is a price:  later, you will lose a day, you don’t get to live it to the full extent.

We rented a condominium for 4 nights and we stayed for the first two days without doing anything. 

It is comfortable to be back where you know things. I was giddy thinking of returning on American soil, you know where to find things, and what to eat, and where, and what is expected of you. And yet, Hawaii is more. 

One evening we went for a stroll and they had a canoe contest. People were waiting their turn to have the race; women had their long hair tied up in a conch or a pony tail; children were huddling in towels, watching their parents. I liked to see them there on the beach.

There are many things to do in Hawaii, but we chose to see the olivine beach. We drove in our rented car for almost two hours at a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour on winding road to get to a parking spot close to the sea. From here we had to walk for another hour. Intrepid people wait there in their 4W and offer you a bumpy ride for 20 minutes, for a $15 per person. We chose to walk, so we could take pictures. 

It was very, very windy, the spray from the waves as they were crashing in the cliff, stuck to our skin and clothes. The road was a mixture of bare rock, dusty red soil or gullies, where you could easily break your car. As I was trying to shelter my face from the wind I realized that in the spaces sheltered by grass or rocks it was a fine layer with a greenish hue. The olivine! We can consider that we saw it and turn back! But no, we plow through. We’ve met some people walking back and we were passed by some cars. Suddenly it didn’t seem such a bad idea to take a car. Fortunately one stops and take us for the next five minutes. 

When the car stops, there is a horseshoe erosion. We immediately climb down the hill, the children taking their shoes off and burrowing their feet in the green brown sand.

 The other family that was in the car is slowly making their way down,they stop and then go back. I presume someone is not comfortable with the terrain. We just arrived and I don’t want to hurry. We are grateful for the short trip, but we chose to walk back. So we take pictures, shout, laugh, feel the sand between our fingers and toes. It is much finer than the one from Galapagos. 

Olivine, or peridotite, is a semiprecious stone that forms in the lava as it cools down. It needs some special conditions, so you can’t find them everywhere where volcanoes are. There is a sign stating that is forbidden to remove sand from the beach, and I think, without this sign and the taxi drivers, they wouldn’t have much of a beach left, as this is just a small cove. Though, we did take some sand, the one that stuck to our feet as we hurried up, because they we’re waiting for us. Mahalo, thank you!

Next day we were walking and visiting the Holualoa Village, taking in the old houses that were transformed into galleries of art. Maria noticed a hairdressing saloon and entered to inquire about prices and if we could have a haircut (which, with Ileana’s exception, we all needed). We were welcomed by Dinah Kunitake and while we were waiting our turns she offered us a book to look through. It was the book that she made about her family, her twelve siblings and their families. How their grandparents moved here from Fukuoka, Japan and bought a farm. How their parents worked hard and the values they gave them. How they have all traveled in their lifetime and with one exception, they all came back to Kona. One of her brother takes care of the farm, growing coffee and food for their tables. We listen about stories from her childhood. She warns us not to take anything from the island, because they belong here, their spirit will be restless in our homes and cause havoc just to be reunited with the island. While chatting back and forth, finding out that we travel the world, she offers us a tour of her family coffee farm. It was one of the most enjoyable haircuts that we ever had.  

After we pack our bags and load the car we drive to Dinah’s hairdressing saloon. One of her brothers picks us up and drive to the farm. We go down on a steep, winding, lava-paved road, between trees and bushes. The farm is a collection of buildings and we’re welcomed by one of her sisters and two more brothers. 

The children are given baskets with a special harness, hooks made from coffee branches and are instructed to pick up the red fruits, the stragglers. 

This is not a time to have ripe beans, especially as the shrubs were almost white with flowers three weeks ago, but we could find some. We found some flowers too, white with a strong vanilla pungent smell. 

The anatomy of a fruit is this: on the outside they have a red meat, that hides two seeds, each. They are called white beans because of a parchment that envelopes the green beans. These are the ones who are going to be roasted. After being picked the fruits are then dropped through a chute, where they are shelled,

 the red meat dropping in a compost pile and the white beans flowing with water in a reservoir, where the dried, un-useful pods would float, be gathered and separated.

 From here they are going up to a shaking sieve, that made separation from water easier and also, picking up the leaves or shells. 

Then they are left to dry for 5 days on a rolling roof (if it rains, they would roll it under a shelter) and raked every day to make it an even process. 

When it is dried, they have to separate the green bean from the parchment, a white husk, and at this point they can store it or roast it.

 It has more caffeine if it is lightly roasted. After roasting comes grinding, packing and labeling. 

On this screen it is a paragraph describing the process of how coffee is transformed in something that you can recognize. In reality is a way of living, with long hours and many worries for the bore beetle that could infest the plants, tending the plants, pruning them, watering (now they have plans for an installation that would filter the chemicals out of the district water), organically enriching the soil, having enough people to pick and so forth. They have one less worry, because the energy that they have to use is solar. From three bags of cherries (the red fruit) they get one of white beans. After dehusking, is 20% less weight. Roasting the green beans takes out another 20%. If you started out with 100 lb of fruit you end up with 20 lb of roasted coffee.

While they were showing us around, we saw flocks of parrots flying around, moving from one huge mango tree to another (and they eat all the fruits), wild chickens, we ate the fruit of the eggplant tree, Hawaiian guava (round, red and sour) and macadamia nuts, that we got to shell ourselves.

 Each sibling had a role, they were all working together, and they helped us understanding the works. From where we were sitting we could see the beach and the modern buildings. At my suggestion that they could sell the land they answered that the farm belonged to their grandparents, they bought it so they, the grandchildren, will have a place to live. They were wondering about the next generation if they would come to work the farm or hold on to it.

In the end we got to taste coffee, even the children. The adults appreciated it for its taste and aroma, really good and different from others (you’ll have to imagine it or buy it from http://konaroast.com). We are thankful to Dinah and her family for opening their farm to us.

Thank you, Dinah!

We Missed Everything

For several reasons, we missed everything that was to see in New Zealand. At times it was bad luck, at times our parsimony, occasionally bad planning or just not enough time. Of course, we first missed the North Island, the bigger, more crowded part of the country. This happened some time ago, when we shortened our stay here by two weeks. Everything here is very expensive, so by missing things we "saved" a lot of money. The New Zealand Dollar (NZD) is between 0.82 and 0.84 American dollars.

The main attraction in Christchurch is the Anglican Cathedral. It was destroyed by the earthquake last year, it will remain a ruin, and we couldn't see it, hidden by other ruins in the closed city center. The Christchurch Art Gallery is closed because of the earthquake.

We missed the swimming with the dolphins in Akaroa, supposedly a unique experience with wild Hector dolphins, the smallest in the world. But it was to be in the open ocean, there was a big swell and we got our money back (665NZD). The girls missed the whale watching experience, Ileana was under the weather, Maria felt that 80% success rate is too low for her to bother (290NZD).

Was this Lewis Pass?

The next day we ended up in Hanmer Springs. It's a significant attraction for the locals because of its hot springs. It was raining, the pools were all outside, the pricing was confusing. We skipped, just rested for the night preparing for a very long trip the next day. It probably saved us at least 100 NZD.

There are several passes to cross the Southern Alps of New Zealand, with spectacular views. The most famous is the Arthur's pass. Deciding to go through Hanmer Springs, we chose Lewis Pass. Not only did we miss Arthur, but we also missed Lewis, it was poorly marked and we only realized half an hour later that that sign on the side of the road might have been it. Still we got enough views of the gorgeous scenery and moved on to a famous landmark in New Zealand, Reefton, the first city to have electricity in the Southern Hemisphere, in 1888. It is just a small modern village now, some history of the gold rush and just that, no time to stop, we just took some pictures of the main street and an interesting house. We continued our road toward the West Coast, passing just a few miles south of Westport. Countless attractions are in this area, but we skipped them all rushing to get to Punakaiki. This place is famous for its pancakes rocks and blowholes. The weather got perfect, the sun was up, the sea has calmed down. The blowholes are best seen at high tide, with high waves of course, but we had no way of knowing the timings. We arrived 3-4 hours after the high tide, we loved the pancakes, but the blowholes were quiet.

We stopped here looking for the Lewis Pass only to realize that we already missed it

A pretty quiet blowhole

One famous bridge for train and cars. Thankfully no train was coming when we got through it.

We passed through Greymouth, got to the supermarket, but it was too late to visit the local attractions. We continued our way south, passed nearby the famous Shantytown, but that closed at 5.30 pm. We arrived in Hokitika, found a holiday park 50 meters from the beach. We missed the full moon rising because we were watching the sunset and then missed the end of the sunset because we were watching the moon. We gave up on trying to see the glow worms, it was too much light with the full moon. A small village of maybe 1000 people, Hokitika becomes the center of New Zealand once a year, 10000 people come for its wild foods festival. This year was on March 9, but we couldn't wait another day. So we missed it.

Videocamera surrounded by waters, filming the sunset. 

Careful, it's hot!

Tasting the moon...

We went to the Franz Josef Glacier. The sun was setting, we barely arrived to see it lighted. It took time to convince my family to disregard the warning signs, pass the barrier, and climb a little hill. By the time four of us arrived there, the light was mixed, hard to take pictures with half the glacier in the shadow. We could have gone a little further, but because our daughter Ileana chose to wait by the barrier, we had to return in a hurry and missed the chance to touch the ice. Preparing for the trip, we entertained the thought of skydiving on the glacier, maybe taking a helicopter ride, or just a flight over. We missed all of these chances, we had no time or money for this and we were happy with what we saw. We passed on the guided tour. The cost of the visit was in the end zero, it could have been between 500 and 1250 NZD for any one of the above mentioned experiences. Same thing applies for the Fox Glacier, we saw it the next day just for free, again we were happy with the ground experience.
Before Fox, we stopped at Lake Matheson, for the picture perfect image of New Zealand, two famous mountains, Cook and Tasman, reflected in the waters of the lake. The sky was clear, the mountains were magnificent, we started the 90 minutes tour of the lake. We arrived close to the point of "view of views" and the mountains were now covered by a thick layer of clouds. No reflection, no great picture, we missed that.

Approaching the lake, a chance at the perfect shot...

... a few minutes later, the view is now closed! Exactly the same mountains in consecutive shots.

We continued our drive South, toward Haast, the last village on the highway on the West Coast. We passed by it, missing again a great view of the Tasman Sea. There wouldn't have been anything to see, it was raining hard and the visibility was close to zero. A few hours later the sky was clear again, we saw the lakes Wanaka and Hawea on our way to the town of Wanaka. We decided to stay two nights here, there are a couple of great views, it is a fun touristic center. From Johann, a Swedish diving instructor in Ko Tao, I learned about the Puzzle World, a local attraction. Next day was raining too hard to see anything, no question about trekking. We just stayed all day in the holiday park, when we finally arrived at the Puzzle World, I saw the sign "last tour at 5.30pm." We suspected that it was a little late, but we couldn't believe that it was 6.40!

The next day we went to Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. There are so many experiences to be had here, a ride in a 100 years old steam boat, bunjy jumping, jetboat rides, mountain bikes, and on and on it goes. We would have done the paragliding. As we watched some people landing, it looked awesome and the guidebook said that the price can be 85-95$ per person. When we arrived at the top of the gondola, we saw the place for paragliding. The lady explained that they had to put that on hold because of the weather. It was nice and sunny, but some winds over the lake made the ride dangerous. The price was 199$, not reduced for children. The winds made us miss this, not my stinginess, and we saved another 995NZD!

We drove on toward Milford Sound. The main objective on our trip to New Zealand, it has an underwater observatory, you can walk on a platform under 15 meters of water and see the marine life of the sound. It is an optional addition at the end of some cruises, but it was not for the one that we booked. The observatory closes at 3.30 pm, our cruise was at 3 pm. We missed that, and we were forced to save another 200NZD.

The underwater observatory; it's there, but we cannot get to it.

No rain, nor clouds over Milford Sound

Just never enough pictures of this waterfall

Few people know that there is a third island in New Zealand, Stewart, at the bottom of the South Island. We would have had time to get to Invercargill, the southernmost city, then to Bluff, the last settlement and then we would have had to take a ferry for another hour. Stewart Island is one of the last places in New Zealand where one can see the Kiwi birds in their natural habitat, but there is a very small chance of that, they are nocturnal and very shy. It was a long shot and a long way out of our way. I was on the internet, reserving tickets for the ferry and, just before clicking on the pay button, I realized that it is hard to justify spending NZD552 for two trips on a ferry. So we missed that. Later, we would decide that even a trip to Invercargill is hard to explain and we bypassed that, shortening our driving by 140km.

When we arrived in Dunedin, we learned from our guidebook that the main attractions are outside of the city. The most important, is the Otago peninsula. It is an hour drive, and at the end of the road you arrive at the Royal Albatross Reserve. It is the only place in the world to see albatrosses and their chicks on the mainland. We learned a lot about albatrosses in the free exhibit, but we chose not to pay for a guided tour to see the only chick available. We saw the birds flying freely above our heads and we saved another NZD100. The other attraction on the Otago peninsula is the penguin. There are two species, the yellow eyed ones, the rarest in the world and the blue ones. You can see the yellow eyed ones on a private property, they charge a lot, NZD 240 for our family. The blue ones come only at sunset and some volunteers guide tourists in the dark. For free. But as we learned at the albatross center, these are very shy creatures and seeing people is highly disturbing. The risk is that with all the tourists coming, the penguins might be afraid to return to their natural habitat and their fate would be sealed. They blocked the access to the public beach where the blue ones come, to protect them, and I just couldn't morally justify paying a private person to see the free wild, penguins that just happen to land on his property. Ioan would have been the only one interested in that, but he agreed not to go, joking "I think you vote NO just to say that we missed another thing in New Zealand." "Of course", I said, "that's the reason we are not going".
You can see penguins at another place, further north from Dunedin, in Oamaru. We were there in the morning, the penguins come out at sunset, but again, after learning about their shyness and the danger that people might put them in, it just doesn't justify my curiosity and getting a couple of nice pictures. Similarly, on our Doubtful Sound cruise, I learned about a pod of dolphins. The cruise companies decided not to advertise the possibility of seeing them and set some rules to avoid a possible encounter, because if they initiate contact and search them out, it will put them in danger. I liked that, and it was OK for all of us that we missed the dolphins too.

We arrived in Christchurch earlier than we expected, partly because we wanted to see more of the city. I considered going up the local mountain in a gondola, it was closed for refurbishment until the summer of 2012 (NZD55). I also wanted to see a traditional Maori show as a cultural experience, the best seems to be at Ko Tane, but they didn't have a show on Sunday, the only day that would have worked for us (NZD 280). The alternative would have been Nga Hau a Wua, but they also were closed on the weekend.

So long is the list of things we missed in our three weeks in New Zealand, that it might feel like we missed everything. A good excuse to come back at some point in the future. Or maybe not.

We managed to see a lot of places, we managed to stay in our budget and we are all ready to move on to the next country. I have mixed feelings about our trip here, I would like to make sense and learn from what I did right and wrong about planning this part of our trip.

At least, we made it to the 45 parallel South

I wrote all the above more than a month ago. Somehow I kept accumulating negative feelings about New Zealand and they bubbled out some time ago. Check it out.

After that, everything got much better and I am slowly joining the rest of my family in having some very nice memories of this section of our trip. Including the above mentioned "missed experiences." It was a very expensive leg, more so, by adding the $6000 for our plane tickets to Hawaii. If money and time would not have been an issue, we might have done some things differently, of course. What started as a blogpost joke, became a running log of what we had to give up along the way. But we were lucky to have made it here in the first place and to see all the phenomenal places.

Touring the South Island

Sunrise in Kaikorua

They pronounce Kaikorua as Calcutta. We are on a whale watching trip, they talk about the region and quite often they say Calcutta. And I wonder what are the whales doing in India. Eventually I get it and start enjoying our experience. It was a complete success, it almost seemed scripted, like the whales would know where to wait, the dolphins would play when it was their turn, the albatrosses would fly when there wasn't much else going on. And in the intermission we approached the shore to see some other birds and some New Zealand sea lions. We saw four whales, pretty close, and they all did their perfect move with the tail, the iconic image that is so hard to catch on camera. We only have a hundred pictures now.

Albatross in Kaikorua

This was the first day on the road. We left Christchurch as planned, we rented a campervan nicknamed the Big Bear, the lady joked about not having a chance to go over the speed limit. The truck is huge, slow and very noisy, but in the back it has all the comforts, six beds, 8-10 seats, three tables, two heaters, plenty of plugs, airconditioning (we would never need that here), a full kitchen, a full micro sized bathroom. It is 11 years old and has 422,000 km! At the beginning it just didn't seem to work, I was trying to get it in the fourth gear but it was making too much noise, like I put it in the second; the fifth even worse. I realized that I would never have a chance to reach the speed limit of 100 km/h (about 60 mph). The long line of cars behind me was getting impatient. Long story short, after about an hour I realized that I was in the fifth gear all along, the first only goes to 5 km/h, the second to ten, the third up to 15-20. After that is the fourth gear up to 40 and then the fifth all the way. At 90 the car makes a huge noise, and at 97 it gets to about 3000 rpm. It will take another day to see the sign plastered on the windshield, in front of my eyes, "the maximum legal speed for this vehicle is 90 km/h".

Maximum speed posted on the windshield

After the first 100 km, we come to a construction area and a car passes us at full speed, throws a rock behind and cracks my windshield!
Anyhow, especially in a group of five, this is the way to go around New Zealand, we are completely independent, we could stop wherever, we don't have to reserve rooms in motels. We have the van for 14 days, 13 nights. We would choose to stay in official camper grounds, use their kitchens, bathrooms and power supplies. It is about $70 per night (they charge per person) but worth the money. After the first night in Kaikorua we turn inside to cross the mountains toward the west coast. Amazing landscapes even in the rain. It would be the main enchantment throughout our trip. Never boring, always changing, always surprising and at least beautiful. Sometimes much more than beautiful, superlatives, pictures or movies cannot capture. The vegetation changes as we keep going. The trees, the forests, the hills, the mountains, the creeks, the rivers, the lakes, the oceans and especially the clouds and the sun rays going through them combine in an infinity of variations. The road is always in perfect condition, hardly any people or any cars. After a while I get used to the noisy truck and start feeling comfortable.

New Zealand landscape

Deer, just deer

New Zealand. Again

The second day to Hanmer Springs was short because of rain. The third day was long, crossing the mountains through Lewis pass, getting to Punakaiki, Greymouth and in the end to Hokitika. We loved the pancake rocks, the ocean coast and the perfect weather. It was so clear that we could see Mountain Cook and Tasman in the background. By my calculation it would be another 200 km on the road until we get there, maybe 100 km as the crow flies, still we could see them. Incredible.

Detail of the above picture, the mountains are in the middle background

In Hokitika we caught the sunset over the ocean and next day we visited the little village. We had a surprisingly good experience at the National Kiwi Center, we learned about the kiwi, the tuatara and the eels, the children helped to feed them. As we left, we took a couple of hitchhikers, Ben (19) and Lesley (18), Canadians, who were on a six month tour of New Zealand. Independently. They were traveling this section together. They were lost in the back of the caravan, talking with our children. After two hours we arrived at our next destination and said good bye to them.

Sunset in Hokitika

Turning 180 from the picture above, moonrise in Hokitika

Next morning, sunrise again

Feeding eels. Yes, feeding eels.

No comment

The west coast of the Southern island of New Zealand has six huge National parks. Together they were declared a World Heritage site mostly because of their natural wonders. There is a little cultural component, these being also traditional areas for the maori, honestly I think that part is just politics. But the nature is great and special. There are several glaciers that are unique, the main ones being the Franz Josef and the Fox glaciers. They are at the lowest altitudes and latitudes, they are easily accessible and commercialized. They have been an attraction for the tourists even from the 19th century. We visited Franz Joseph on the afternoon of that fourth day, with the schedule open for the following days. There was a chance that we would want to spend more time, do some organized trips or other experiences, like skydiving, parasailing, helicopter rides, etc. The regular trip, 90 minutes walk, was a bit disappointing, we couldn't really get a good view. I pushed to cross the barrier and go further. It was strongly discouraged but not forbidden. It paid off and it was enough, we were ready for the next one.

Franz Joseph

We left late the next morning, only 29 km to the Fox Glacier. Soon we saw a couple of hitchhikers, I stopped to pick them, they were the same. Lesley and Ben would spend the next 10 hours with us, great companions, at some point when I interrupted her talk with Leslie, Maria said that "they have the time of their lives." We toured together the Lake Matheson, went together to the Fox Glacier and rode the next 300 km south on the West coast toward Haast and back East through the mountains to Wanaka. We left them in the center of the village, they had friends there and they planned to stay longer.

Fox Glacier

Mount Cook

Lake Wanaka

The sixth day, Sunday, we rested. It was raining all the time, I would have wanted a short, 1-2 hours trek up the mountains, but it was impossible. The rest and the peace and quietness of an empty campground helped us recharge our batteries.
Monday we were back on the road. It was a little over an hour to Queenstown, but it was a beautiful and challenging road. After a few hours in the city we took off to Te Anau, the gateway to the Milford Sound.
If I would have to name one reason for coming to New Zealand, this would be the one. There are a number of great fiords in this area, many of them improperly called sounds. Milford is the most famous one, it is much more accessible then the others, it is large enough for cruise ships to enter, and it is the end of the Milford track, a four-day, 53 km walk, that is generally considered the most beautiful trek in the world. That would not have been an option for us, we are not quite that enthusiastic about physical activity and it requires reservations months in advance. But the road to Milford is also considered one of the most beautiful in the world. It was recommended to us to just take a bus, it is dangerous to drive on that road, it is so beautiful that drivers lose control of the car and jump in the gorges while looking at the scenery. The bus drivers get special training and have a special permit to be allowed to drive this road. Yes, but the cost for the us would have been more than NZ$400 (compared to the $65 for gas that we put in our truck). We drove, on the eighth day, leaving Te Anau in the late morning. We had a cruise at 3 pm and we did the 122 km in almost five hours. We stopped numerous times along the way, taking pictures or just admiring the surroundings. It was a gorgeous day, really a little too perfect. In the sound the weather can change dramatically, it rains here every day, up to 7 meters of water per year, and the rain enhances the landscape with numerous waterfalls. As usual, the shadows and the clouds add to the beauty of the land. But on our trip to Milford Sound there wasn't even one little cloud. It was probably the best day they had in ages and unfortunately our pictures are not that great. The waterfalls were almost dry, the sun was reflected in the water and blocked the view. Still, it was a good 90 minutes cruise, and a quick two hour ride back to the village of Te Anau.

On the way to Milford Sound

Milford Sound, ground level

I had this picture on my desktop for two years. Now it's mine, I got to take it myself.

On our boat we met again with a family of Indians from Delhi, we first saw them at the Franz Josef Glacier. Ioan had a long discussion with them about school and our trip. The mother is an immunologist in New Delhi. The son, a young adult, graciously helped us take some family pictures.

Actually there are two sounds. Besides Milford, they allow tourists on the Doubtful Sound, much bigger, much less accessible, much further away. People would like one more than another, we got contradicting advice from fellow travelers and we decided that the only right way to go about it is to see with our own eyes. The trip to Doubtful can be made only in organized groups, it involves a boat trip of 40 minutes, a bus trip of 40 minutes, over the Wilmot pass, then the cruise itself and then the return. As a free addition there is another hour spent visiting the Manapouri power station. The story is pretty good, they figured out even in 1904 that they can use the natural drop of 174 meters between the Lake Manapouri and the Doubtful Sound and produce electricity. It was built in the 70s. The construction was influenced by the first public movement to protect the environment in the history of New Zealand, and probably one of the first in the world. Eventually, the politicians gave in and the station was built underground and it has to maintain the level of the lake within it's natural limits. It rains here between 5 and 6 meters per year, there is plenty of water, but obviously there are variations and they have to adjust to that. It is a very remote corner of the country, there are hardly any people here, the electricity produced represents 14% of the whole New Zealand output, it would easily cover the needs of the South Island. It all goes to an aluminum swelter in Bluff, some 200 km away.

Manapouri power station

Wilmot pass, the lowest in the Southern Alps

Doubtful Sound

Doubtful Sound meets Tasman Sea. Captain Cook spent one month in this spot.

Yes, this is in New Zealand.

It was a long and beautiful day and in the end our vote for the best goes to Doubtful Sound, even if the cost of the trip is three times more. We learned during our trip that, behind a certain mountain, there is a beautiful lake, gorgeous scenery. You can only see it with a private helicopter. Somehow Steven Spielberg heard about it and he decided to film the Jurassic Park there. They came with a lot of equipment and set everything up. Then it started to rain. The crew and the actors waited patiently for the filming to start. After a month of continuous downpour, Spielberg lost his patience and decided to move everybody to Hawaii!

History in New Zealand, once there was a train in Lumsden, now they have a hotel. On our way to Dunedin

Next day we turned East, toward Dunedin, the second biggest city of the South Island. It has a special meaning for me, I heard a lot about it during my psychiatric training, studies on mental illness were done here in the 70s and the results represent a big part of what we know about psychiatric epidemiology. It is a town of a little over 100000 people, it is said to be more Scottish than Scotland itself. We didn't see much of that, there were some preparations for St. Patrick's day in the center, otherwise, not much. The train station is advertised as the most photographed building in New Zealand, built at the end of the 19th century - it's nice. I couldn't stop thinking that my native little town has probably a couple hundred buildings much more impressive than that but nobody seems to notice. Another draw to Dunedin is the official "steepest street in the world." We got to its base and I was the only one interested in climbing all the way, it was good exercise. The store that sold certificates for the successful climbers was open, but there wasn't any attendant.

Train station in Dunedin

Yes, St. Patrick's Day in Dunedin. Quite a bargain.

Dunedin, the steepest street in the world

The visit to Otago peninsula, was a good half day trip from Dunedin. It was a tough but beautiful road along the coast. We felt many times that we and our van would end up in the ocean, I think it was tougher than the Milford road. We saw some great landscapes and we learned about the albatross. To top it all, the Big Bear got to show what it can do on one of the steep streets of Dunedin. A normal street, that seemed to be the shortest way back to our holiday park, suddenly became quite abrupt. The truck just couldn't go anymore, we were slipping backwards, the engine would stop in the the second gear. Eventually we got through in the first (!) with 3-5 miles per hour. We were sweating in the front seats and only later I would learn from Maria how frightening it was all in the back.

Albatross over Otago

Windy but beautiful

Sunset, tree, ocean, Ileana.

We were all pretty tired by then, short nights, long drives and an overload of beautiful images have got to us. We decided to return to Christchurch earlier. It was good to spend a few more hours in the city, we were able to visit the Canterbury Museum, learn about the Maori heritage, about the Moriori abuses and about the first English settlers. Again, like with many history lessons, I wonder, what if? The Maori arrived on these lands about 800 years ago and had everything handed to them. It took them 300 years to kill and eat all the moa birds on the islands, and after that they started to get into agriculture, fishing and wars between their tribes. They might have killed each other by now if the europeans wouldn't have arrived to beat them all. The Moriori have an interesting story, apparently they derive from a Maori tribe that emigrated on the Chatham Islands, a place where nobody in the right mind would want to live. About 870 km east of New Zealand, the climate is described as "incessant winds, constant cloud cover, little sunshine, wet winters and humid summers." Living in isolation for several hundred years they developed a peaceful and equalitarian society based on hunting, fishing and gathering economy. Discovered in 1791 by the boat Chatham, they were affected by the loss of their sealing source, the lack of immunity to the european illnesses, the fall into slavery to some Maori settlers (in the 19th century), and the public perception promoted by some European scientists and the Maori mythology that the Moriori are an inferior race (in the 20th century). Apparently they were effectively "eradicated" by 1930. Recently some anthropologists were able to identify a handful of remaining Moriori who mostly have no idea about their inheritance and are well mixed in the New Zealand society. Great museum! We also learned some more about Antarctica, about the birds of New Zealand, about the three major earthquakes that shook the South Island last year and saw a house decorated in thousands of shells!

Up the coast after Dunedin

Somebody didn't plan things right. It wasn't flood or rainy season.

Botanical Garden in Christchurch

Finally, we get to go to a museum!

The famous house of shells

We retrieved Ioan's replacement iTouch and donated our winter clothes to the Salvation Army, in just the same bag as we got them. We never had a chance to wear them, but I still think it was a good $40 expense. We spent the last night in a hotel next to the airport and at 6 a.m. we said good bye to New Zealand.