Our first week Down Under's been glorious, great hitch hiking, relaxed friendly people, no dangerous animals, what more could we ask for? We have spent most of our week here taking advantage of Monique and Manolo's hospitality, and that of their extended family in various parts of the far north. Lots of lifts with fellow tourists, European New Zealanders and Maoris, lots of things to learn about this new hemisphere! The only bus we've taken so far drove on the sand down the Ninety Mile beach (at low tide of course) and took us sand dune tobogganing, which was remarkably similar to snow tobogganing, except for the sand lodged in our eye sockets for about 24 hours. The most northerly point of this beach, and of New Zealand, is where the spirits of deceased Maori people are said to travel to the pohutukawa tree which sits on the tip of the peninsula. The spirits slide down a root of the tree to the sea below to rejoin with the ancestors in the next world.
We had time to do some hikes in the bamboo and palm tree forests where we saw 1500 year old kauri trees 5 meters in diameter, and have learned a few new seafood recipes from our lifts. Last night at our campground we slunk out to the inky black forest at night time to scout out the endangered nocturnal flightless kiwi birds and glow worms, flicking on our flashlight in time to see a possum creeping over to check us out. All the New Zealanders that we related this story to have demanded to know if we promptly killed it! Possoms are a vermin here brought from Australia (where they are now endangered) and they are eating through New Zealand's forests at an alarming rate.
Tomorrow we are off to meet Carli-Ann's university Yukon friend, Suzanne, at Lake Taupo (eerily close to Mt. Doom). She has invited us to stay at her boyfriend's farm for a couple weeks to work a bit, so we are off to get a taste of some kiwi rural life! If we like it, we might settle around there. If not, we will probably head to Wellington. Aah, we love those moments when everything is a possibility! We forgot to ask what kind of farm it is though...oh, and the one sink we could determine the direction of water drainage went clock-wise, but Mike's pretty sure that it's determined by the sink rather than the hemisphere. Any of you northern hemispherers going to test it and get back to us with the results?
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