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With this last, 13th entry on my New Zealand blog I would like to thank Aotearoa (New Zealand or “The Land of the Long White Cloud” in Maori), for being so lovely, for making its nature so accessible, and for its friendliness. The landscape is incredibly varied and multi-faceted with snowy mountains, earthy rainforests, pristine beaches, dramatic rockscapes, green-hilled farmland, tumbling waterfalls and rushing rivers. In the company of my travelling companion I drove 4430 kilometres, took 1697 photographs (60 of which I inadvertently deleted, including those I had taken of the world’s rarest penguin – arrgh!), and packed and unpacked my suitcases 14 times – all of this about 12.000 kilometres and 12 hours’ worth of time difference away from home.
I have tasted home-baked Bed & Breakfast bread with great pleasure and accidentally choked on the salty waves of the Pacific
My body has felt the steadfastness of an ancient kauri tree, bobbed like a cork on alarmingly large ocean swells in the company of curious dolphins, felt at one with the gentle waves of the Tasman Sea, been cooled by the breath of glacial mountain air and been sizzled by a sun glaring through the Southern Hemisphere’s too-thin layer of ozone
I have listened to the earthy quiet of the rainforest, the raucous greetings of a nocturnal penguin homecoming, the pounding of the surf on the miles and miles of New Zealand’s coastline, a frightening haka and a hauntingly beautiful love song performed by Maoris, the bark and growl of seals and sea lions, and the wind chime song of the bellbird.
My nose has smelled tangy sea air, stinky seals and mouth-watering, tender New Zealand lamb chops.
And oh! The sights I have seen! No more words – look at the photographs and enjoy!
