By Maree Shogren (because Atom is Lazy)
The four-hour drive from Auckland to Whakatane featured stunning views, a traffic accident and a quick toe dip in the South Pacific. Luckily before we started our adventure, my friend Sam, who lives in Wellington, had forewarned us that "wh" is pronounced "f" in New Zealand. So just saying Whakatane was fun! "Fak-a-tani! Fak-a-tani! Fak-a-tani!"
I felt like we were in the Twilight Zone, considering that 38 hours earlier we were in Alaska with temps at -15F, or minus 26 Celsius. It was dark, cold and frozen with the possibility of our pipes freezing while we were gone. Now, we found ourselves in a very small, coastal town with the sun beating down on us. Everything was lush, bright and colorful, but really, really windy. It was around 75F and humid on the coast.
They have GIANT fern trees in NZ that are as tall as a building. The fern fronds are as tall as a person. The fronds that are bunched together on top of the tree trunk are as big as a Volkswagen bug. I fell in love with them immediately and I got a tattoo later to prove it. That's for another post tho...
We were exhausted from traveling, but really excited to be there just the same. It only took 2 minutes to drive through town so we decided to find a hotel room and get cleaned up before we went looking for a place to eat dinner, a grocery store to buy breakfast vittles, and the place to reserve our tour of White Island Volcano in the morning, which was the reason we were in Whakatane.
These fake Christmas tree looking plants were all over on the North Island.
Anything that looks like palm trees in our photos were actually fern trees.
Kiwis don't have bug screens on their doors or windows, which causes some mayhem in the evenings when it gets dark and all the bugs are attracted to the light in your room. When I went to take a shower, there was a praying mantis on the bathroom counter drinking from a drop of water that had spilled. I consider myself an organic gardener in the summers in Alaska and I usually buy praying mantis cocoons and hatch them in the garden for pest control (much to Adam's dismay). I was tickled to see one roaming around free in it's natural environment (not the bathroom - he came in from outside!) and especially since I wouldn't normally see one until June.
The trip to the grocery store was enlightening. Pay n' Pak didn't have any of our usual staples, and just as people drive on the left side of the road down there, the grocery aisle traffic also runs on the left side. It took a few dirty looks and harrumphs from other shoppers before we figured that one out. They don't carry products such as saline solution or antibiotic ointment at the grocery - you have to go to a pharmacy to get those. It cost $25 for the saline. They also don't have baggers. When you go to check out - they scan your item and just throw it behind them. You have to pay 10¢ for a plastic bag and you bag your own groceries - supposedly to bring your costs down.
Apparently people in NZ like their potato chips to taste like meat. Chicken, beef or even lamb and mint-flavored potato chips are everywhere. Adam said they weren't bad. I didn't like them much and I wasn't ready to trade in my Cheetos for those.
After shopping there was still some daylight left, so we went exploring. Some of my favorite activities on our vacations are when we just decide to go down a random road or up an unusual set of stairs coming out of the side of a hill or something. We always seem to find interesting stuff.
We followed a tip given to us by the owner of the hotel and went over a mountainous hill to Ohope Beach, which was very serene with the waves lapping the shore and had a view of one of many volcanoes that we would see on this trip. Later we were able to go up another random dirt road to find a birds eye view of that beach on one side and of Whakatane on the other. It was a really nice place to see our first sunset in NZ.
When the Maori people decided to come and explore the Whakatane region for possible colonization, the men went ashore and left their women and children in the boat. Maori tradition forbids women and children from paddling or steering the boat. Whakatane is located at the mouth of a river that flows into the ocean - you can only get in and out of the harbor at high tide. When the tide came in, the current started to pull the boat out to sea. The women and children tried shouting to their male counterparts, but were unheard. So Lady Whakatane shouted at the sky begging the gods for forgiveness and picked up a paddle and led them safely back to shore. This bronze statute is a memorial to her and the fishermen ask her for protection every time they leave the harbor.
The sun sets over Whakatani.
Next time: White Island
