The bounty of the North Island

Hello friends!

We hope this finds your world beginning to look a bit more normal.  We are certainly glad to be free to explore again.  The north island of New Zealand continues to surprise us with its variety of landscapes. Fruit harvest appears to be in full swing with lemons, limes, tangarines, avocados and kiwi fruit ready to be picked. We are living in the area of NZ that took the Chinese gooseberry and built a successful export industry by renaming this tasty gem, Kiwifruit.  This crop brings nearly $2B to their economy and employs about 30,000 people making it a very important business for NZ.  Our neighbors are a group of young people from Argentina who are participating in an Experience the World tour and they are employed by the kiwifruit industry.  So lucky for us, there is always a box of the tasty fruit available.  We've become expert kiwifruit eaters.  (Hint don't waste your time peeling them.  Just cut them in half lengthwise and then take a spoon and scoop out the insides like you do an avocado.) 

Kiwis are a vine so they are trained to grow similar to grapes

We've spent a good bit of time exploring the area south of here in places like the Kahoroa Conservation area, Rotorua, Papamoua Hills, Waiotapu, and Te Kopia reserves.  You will notice that the names of places here are expressed in their traditional Maori languages.  The influence of the Maori culture on the North Island is prevalent everywhere.  Here the Maori make up 20% of the population and the language is taught in schools alongside English so most New Zealanders are fairly fluent in the language.  The Maori language uses mostly vowels in its words making it difficult to pronounce things correctly.  Our favorite city name so far is Whakatane which is pronounced "Fa ka tawny".  

The places we've been exploring host a variety of geothermal features.  Mud pots, hot springs and even geysers dot the landscape along a road  called the Thermal Explorer Highway.  

Kerosene Creek, heated by hot springs, is a favorite for soaking

Steam rising from cracks on Rainbow Mtn.

Mud pots bubble

Rugged hills and lakes cover this part of the North Island


Rotorua is a famous tourist town that boasts a number of exciting attractions including a traditional Maori village.  Unfortunately, due to the virus, much of the town remains closed.  The Maori, like many indigenous peoples across the globe,  are a very vulnerable population to this virus.  We have miles of outdoors to explore so we're pretty sure we aren't going to run out of things to do in the near future!



Enjoying the hike of life


Stay Curious

Cheryl & Dan











Comments

  1. John ClarkDecember 26, 2020 at 1:27 AM

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