Farewell to Aotearoa (New Zealand)

The Pohutukawa Tree. The tree bursts out in red blooms in December – so it is called the New Zealand Christmas Tree.

Three days ago we went into the caves at Waitomo to see the fascinating glowworms. In their larvae stage, the glowworms build a nest in the ceiling, generate multiple sticky silk-like lines that hang down, and emit a bluish light that attracts insects which get stuck on the sticky lines (and then eaten). During our tour, we rode in a boat on the river that flows thru the cave bringing insects into the cave. All the lights were out on our boat ride and the ceiling was covered with hundreds of glowworms making it look like the Milky Way in the night sky (except the stars here were blue) – what a great sight!

After the cave tour, we drove thru Auckland to Muriwai Beach to go wading in the Tasman Sea (one of our traditions is to wade in each major body of water that we visit). Then we went to the viewing area of one of the three Australasian Gannet colonies in New Zealand. What an amazing experience to be so close to these fabulous birds and to be able to watch them interact with each other. This colony has expanded so much that the birds come right up next to the viewing stands. What a treat for us to see them so close, since we had not able to see them at one of the colonies and only saw them in the very far distance at the other colony.

Two days ago, (on a very windy day), we rocked and rolled on a 15 minute ferry ride to the bird sanctuary on Tiritiri Matangi to see some rare birds and of course to see the lighthouse there. We got to see one of the less than 300 South Island Takahe birds in existence. One of these birds is very bold and we watched as he snatched a sandwich from someone in our group. After tramping on some of the trails, we rode back on the ferry – fortunately we were not affected by the ferry rides this time.

Yesterday, it was time to prepare to complete our great 7 week adventure here in New Zealand. After doing our biweekly laundry, cleaning up the campervan, and filling all tanks (including LPG), we drove to the campervan owner’s home to pack up our suitcases which we had stored there. Earlier in the day we had purchased an inexpensive suitcase In order to pack our souvenirs and quilt fabric. But guess what – we had so much stuff that we had to go back out and buy a 2nd large suitcase.

After finishing packing, the campervan owner invited us in for tea with his wife and to hear about our travels. It was really great to deal with such a great, friendly, and helpful small businessman . There were no unforeseen charges and we were even reimbursed for the items we had to buy to fix small problems. Throughout our journey, we sent him emails about our travels and he responded with very helpful travel tips of what to see and do. We can highly recommend ‘NewZealandFrontiers.com’ (one of the over 25 companies here that have campervans for hire (rent).

We had mixed emotions as we turned over the keys to the campervan – our home for 50 days. We could celebrate all of the great memories that we can take with us and give thanks that we did not have a major breakdown or accident driving 7,900 plus kilometers (over 4,900 miles) on the opposite side of the highways. I (Jan) was also very glad to ‘give up’ the manual transmission shifting (after shifting into wrong gears numerous times and stalling the engine a few times). When we had planned this trip earlier in the year, we came knowing that this would be our only trip here. But, after seeing this great place and meeting many great people, we would jump at an opportunity to return (however, next time we would like to come back in the wintertime to see the mountains covered in snow).

This morning we board a plane to Brisbane, Australia where we will travel around for 16 days in the 90F degree plus heat in a rental car (with automatic transmission & A/C) chasing down lighthouses, quilt shops, National Parks, birds, kangaroos, koalas, etc.

So, we say Kia Ora (farewell) to Aotearoa (the name that the indigenous Maori call New Zealand – which means ‘The Land of the Long White Cloud’) – and say “G’Day mate” to Australia.

View of the coast of the Tasman Sea at Muriwai Beach. We went wading in the surf in sand that was really all black. The gannet colony was on the bluff in the distance.

Lighthouse on Tiritiri Matangi Island. When we were planning our trip we thought that we might see about 15 lighthouses, but we far exceeded this and this was our 34th one to photograph in New Zealand – bringing our overall total to 474.

One of the many nesting areas in the gannet colony.

One of a parents feeding their chick.

One of the gannets – it almost looks like he is smiling.

Jan taking pictures of gannets that flew very close – at times they flew only a metre (3 ft) away from us.