Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud

Ever since I was young lad I dreamt of coming to New Zealand. It is one of those countries where I had heard of its unique beauty, amazing and sometimes curious wildlife; somewhere unspoilt and not wrecked by mans' negative influence. And what did I find? A country that not only lived up to its reputation, but far exceeded what I had dreamt.


The Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, probably refers to the magnificent Southern Alps on the west coast of South Island. The snow is found along these majestic mountains throughout the year forming the 'Long White Cloud'. Apart from the obvious Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and other major towns, the majority of town and place names are Maori - each one having a significant meaning. A place name was not simply given in any old fashion, it had to be passed and approved by the elders and chiefs!


New Zealand has a reputation for being green and eco-friendly and as you travel around the country you can see why. In one country there is virtually everything you can want; beautiful old sub-tropical forests, stunning coastline with vast tracts of golden sands (and hot black sands on the west coast), unspoilt and unpolluted lakes, gently rolling pasture lands, magnificent mountain ranges, fjordlands and wilderness areas as well as plenty of geothermal and volcanic excitement.

But when you look around in some of the bigger cities you realise something strange is also happening. Take your general everyday shopping for instance. There you are at the checkout, the assistant asking you if you are having a good day and being generally friendly and chatty. You purchases are scanned and as you look across to the packing area your eyes bulge as three or four items are dropped into a plastic bag and then another bag is plucked from the seemingly endless supply and a few more items are dropped in - and so the process continues. By the time you have a few pieces of fruit, a bit of cheese and maybe your favourite slab of steak you have three or four badly packed bags. Beth and I were astounded! But this is New Zealand - surely things like this are a thing of the past? Oh no they're not!
Or maybe take a look at what people are driving. Electro-petrol hybrids perhaps, or maybe hydrogen cars? Nope. We're talking here about thumping big pickups with lowered suspension, alloy wheels, metallic paint and a very impressive sounding engines. We're talking big RV's and it seems anything that doesn't have a particularly good mpg. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh - it just didn't fit with the eco-world I was expecting. And recycling - just going!! Maybe the small population of 4 million in a country the size of the UK simply doesn't make so much of a dent.


Enter Alan, Beth's cousin and eco-warrior, together with girlfriend Sarah. These guys were our guides when we first arrived in Auckland. To get around they have a classic 1976 Datsun 100A, an absolute beauty, which if I'm honest, I'm a bit jealous of! This car has character! Although in New Zealand, Auckland is regarded as the stress pot and not a pleasant place to be, after our time in China, and having just left a city with five times the population of the whole of New Zealand, we were more than happy to wander the tree lined streets and enjoy the seemingly generous amount of greenery around the city. Here is a picture of Alan and Sarah with the backdrop of Auckland and Skytower. Directly behind them is the crater of an old volcano, this one is known as Mount Eden. As you scan the horizon from this viewpoint you'll see many more of these now grassed former volcanoes.


To kick start our time in Auckland, I had my belated birthday present, sailing an Americas Cup racing yacht NZL41, a 77' brute of a boat made entirely from carbon fibre. To make this monster move there are a variety of ridiculously large sails, we started with the mainsail and jib - a collosal 320 square meters. Just think about how much area that is!
To ensure you have at least a chance of not capsizing, a 20 tonne torpedo shaped ballast hangs from the hull attached by a worryingly thin fin! Just to give you a feel for the speed of this boat, we were heading out of the harbour towards Rangitoto Island lighthouse, close hauled in a 15 to 20 knot breeze, easily cruising at 12 knots and heeling at about 25 degrees! Awesome. Taking the helm of this Formula 1 boat was simply fantastic - pure adrenalin and delight. With the heel of the boat you are easily high enough to see the gusts coming, and when they do the battle is on. The bow swings ferociously windward and you have to wrestle the wheel to bring her round, all 2m of rudder in the water trying to direct this wild animal. Not content with the current sail set up, on our return into Auckland, up went the gennaker, another 220 square meters of sail - I've never been so fast in a sailing boat!




In the afternoon we picked up our home for two of the four weeks - a bright orange Toyota Lucida people carrier converted into a camper van, otherwise known as Alf. Although Alf is getting on a bit, the old lines betray a very neat interior which has a gas cooker, fridge, water tank and pump, double bed and - get this - a plasma DVD TV with FM surround sound meaning all six speakers in the camper blast out the DVD soundtrack. We tried not to use the DVD player too often - why would you in such an outstandingly beautiful country?



And so began our journey through New Zealand, one awesome landscape after another.....