New Zealand was an amazing place full of adventure and peace! No matter what you are looking for, you can find it in New Zealand. It is beautiful landscape with a rich culture and since NZ government took away the right to sue for personal injury, you can find any extreme sport you like here. I spent about a month here and it was not nearly long enough. I wish I had planned to stay for 3 months, that is the way to do it there, take your time and hang out in some of the smaller towns and get to know the people better.
As I was only there for a month, I spent most of my time on the road, but this is half of the reason people go to NZ, to see the sites from the road. I spent each night in a new town. As fun as this is, it is also a little hard on the body, a different bed every night! I met some good people and made many traveling friends. I would love to go back someday.
As for the rich culture, NZ is definitely a unique place in this regard. First of all it is Polynesian culture in a cold climate... a bit odd if you come from Hawaii. Another thing that was cool from the perspective of a Hawaiian resident was seeing their faces. The Maori (NZ indigenous people) are from the same place that Hawaiians are from and look so similar. Because they are from the same place their language is very similar, but yet different. The pronunciation on everything had a weird twist I couldn't quite get a handle on. But the thing I found most amazing about their culture was how it wasn't lost. I mean the Hawaiian culture isn't lost per say, but it is buffered and not really upheld in the day to day living styles of most locals. Where as in NZ the culture is preserved and very much still in the daily practices of most villages. The Maori's were able to accept colonization and melt it in with their culture as to not loose themselves, but also let the king and queen of England believe they were following by their rules. This allowed them to stay true to themselves and keep their culture rich with newer generations when they were pulled to new age luxuries. It is very interesting how they are so at peace with colonization and lived with it in harmony. Today it shows through because everyone there, Maori or not, are educated in the Maori ways and feel they are part of their culture. To be fair, these days the cultures are so intertwined, that most New Zealanders have a little of both in their blood and take pride in knowing the ancient ways. New Zealand is truly beautiful, inside and out!
Below are the accounts of my daily activities through New Zealand. They are in chronological order with the most recent at the top, so start reading from the bottom up! The dates of each post are inaccurate as I forced them to be as if I posted them in April when my tour through NZ ended as to keep the events of my travel correct in the navigation bar to this blog. However, as I have been a bit slack with getting time online, south island was only posted today (6/1/08). I hope you enjoy reading my adventures as much as I enjoyed writing them, reliving each moment! :)
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