The Mighty 'Tane Mahuta'

I spent 2 nights at Opononi, a small town located in Hokianga Harbour. Opononi became well known in the 1950s due to the appearance of a friendly dolphin that not only performed various tricks but allowed children to ride on its back. The locals christened the dolphin 'Opo'.

A BBC reporter captured Opo in action on film and this documentary, entitled 'Opo - The Gay Dolphin' is played daily at the Opononi Visitor Centre. Some tourists were overheard to have asked "How did they know the dolphin was gay?" Read more about Opo at

http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/SeaLife/Dolphins/5/ENZ-Resources/Standard/5/en

Besides Opo, Hokianga is also home to the biggest Kauri tree in the world located in the Waipuoa Forest Reserve. Known to the Maori as "Tane Mahuta" or "Lord of the Forest", it is estimated to be 2,000 years old and the volume of its trunk is approximately 244 cbm, which would produce enough timber to build 10 houses.

Pictures: (1) me at Opononi with the sand-dunes in the background, (2) the Hokianga Harbour, (3) info on the biggest Kauri in the world and (4) Tane Mahuta.

Goodbye, KeriKeri

Having spent 10 weeks in KeriKeri, it was time to move on. Most backpackers who arrived at Hone Heke Lodge later than me had left much earlier. Besides the fruit picking season is coming to an end.



Anyway, I left KeriKeri on 21 May 2008 to go to Paihia, just a mere 25 km away. During summer, there would be 50 backpackers waiting in a queue for their fish and chips. Now it is so quite.




Just 20 minutes walk from Paihia is Waitangi, where a treaty was signed in 1840 between local Maori chiefs and British Government, thus allowing British to declare sovereignty over Aotearoa (New Zealand).







Pictures: (1) Paihia at nightfall (2) me in a Maori Meeting House and (3) partial view of a Maori Meeting House.

Kiwi Picking

Kiwi picking has started. This is such a relieve after being jobless for 2 weeks and doing odd works like trench digging, carrying camera equipments for a pregnant photographer, moving house and best of all - picking cigarette butts.



The bad news is, there's a bunch of Germans on the team who picks really slow and it piss me off. Kiwi pickers work in a team of 10 - 15 people and earnings are split equally. So fast pickers like me (and a few others) end up picking for the slower ones and everyone gets paid the same amount at the end. It puzzles me why it takes 2 weeks for the contractor to get rid of the slow pickers. And she has been working in kiwi orchards for over 15 years!



Back to the fruit, I now realize there are 2 types of kiwi; green and gold. Not really sure why it's called gold while the flesh is actually yellow in colour. Of course the gold kiwi is priced higher in the market and pickers like me get more money too. Despite the occasional rain and we couldn't work (kiwi must be picked dry), it was a great experience picking kiwi - and I've learned how to drive the tractor too.



Pictures: (1) A typical kiwi orchard and (2) me.

What An Awesome Day !

I booked a tour to Cape Reinga today. This is one of the must-see places located at the northern tip of NZ.

OK, a little bit of facts and history here. Cape Reinga is the colliding point of Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean. Tasman Sea is named after Abel Tasman - the first European who discovered NZ while Pacific Ocean was named by Ferdinand Magellan to mean 'peace'. According to Maori mythology, spirits of their ancestors travel to the tip of Cape Reinga on their journey to the afterlife in the spiritual homeland of Hawaiki. At Cape Reinga, they depart this world by leaping off an 800 years old Pohutukawa tree on the cape.

The tour bus travelled on the 90-mile beach and we stopped at Giant Te Paki sand dunes for sand boarding. The walk to the top was gruelling but it was all worth it when sliding down. An absolute must-try adventure in NZ! Just make sure you have spare change of clothes cos' I didn't have any and landed on water, got wet and had sand all over.

On they way home, we stopped for late lunch at the world famous Mangonui Fish Shop. Nothing special, though. The F&C on Waiheke Island tastes better.

Pictures: (1) Getting ready to climb up the sand dunes; (2) At the top of the dunes; (3) With sand all over me after the descend; (4) With fellow back-packers (L-R) Anne, Jaime, Ryan & Matt; (5) Cape Reinga & (6) Late lunch at the Mangonui Fish Shop.

Mandarin Picking

Ola, como estas? (Spanish: Hi, how are you?)



I got a job picking mandarin oranges on Monday and it was my first day as well as LAST day at work! Yes, picking mandarin is not an easy job but differentiating those fruits with a little patch of green that I'm not supposed to pick is even harder. Yes, you guess it right, I'm colour blind. Yellow fruits are good to pick but reflection from the sunlight made all fruits on the tree look the same so I end up not knowing which one to pick. I didn't tell the boss before starting out that I'm not good with colours but I think somehow he knew something wasn't right when so much good fruit were left on the trees even after he taught me several times on what to pick. Anyway, I confessed later that day and he said he'll try to pull some strings and find me a job in one of the local packhouses. So I got paid NZD70 (NZD56 after tax) for picking a bin (one bin is about 1 cbm) that Monday. Nevermind-lah, it's enough to cover my rent for half a week already.


The lodge is more lively in the evening now as there many backpackers from South America. Loud Spanish music is becoming the norm here but the English backpackers call it dodgy music.


It's only autumn but the weather gets really chill by 5 pm and my fingers are freezing. This is only the 'winterless' North Island. Not sure how I'll survive on the South Island in July.


Adios (Bye).

Regards,
VIENTO (It's 'Weng' in Spanish; given by my Uruguay dorm-mates)


Pictures: House lights are out by 11 pm & a typical evening at the lodge dining area.

Cravings ...

My work in the feijoa orchard just ended yesterday. I picked for half a day and the boss was so nice to pay me full day. On top of that, a fellow picker and I were served lunch and the boss provided written reference for our next fruit picking job. Though the feijoa season is now over, the goods news is kiwi season is starting full swing. Orchard owners are frantically looking for backpackers to save their kiwis.

On a more distressing note, a Maori guy has just check-in into my dorm and he snores so loudly that it wakes me up several times during the night. He's attending business course in a school nearby and will be here for quite a long time ... aiyaaa, die-lah like this.

Weather is getting colder by the day and I miss having my daily dose of 'cili padi' . Can't find 'mee goreng' here but managed to substitute with my own creation of 'spaghetti goreng' with lots of tabasco sauce.

Pictures: The Rainbow Warrior Memorial & hill top view from the memorial.



http://www.rainbow-warrior.org.nz/

Fruit Picking

Hi ...I started picking feijoa; a small green fruit like unripe guava and tastes similar to kiwi, last Wednesday and it was pretty tiring. Anyway, what's important is 1.5 days of work will take care of my room rent for a week. I'm paid by the hour instead of per crates as the unripe fruit once it's picked, won't ripe on its own. And I get to eat while I work, hehehe. Once the feijoa season ends in 4 weeks, I'll move on to picking something else; kiwi, mandarin or maybe even daffodils.

I didn't know about the missing ozone layer in NZ, hence the strong UV. My Japanese dorm-mate told me UV in NZ is 7 times stronger than in Japan! I quickly rushed to buy sunscreen lotion but damage is already done. My legs and hands which have been exposed to the sun now look so 'kedut' (wrinkled). No wonder the kwai-lo and kwai-poh in NZ look so old. I think by the end of my 6-month stint in NZ, I will look like I've aged 6 years!!!

Pictures: Feijoa & me resting in my bunk.

Kia Ora

Kia Ora ('hello') everyone,

Arrived in Auckland since last Tuesday after 11 hours of transit at Gold Coast airport. Getting through the customs at both OZ and NZ were really a hassle. Queues were long as everyone was screened thoroughly.

Anyway, I stayed in one of the many backpacker hostels in Auckland for several days to tour the neighbouring islands. Spent 2 nights on Waiheke Island at a hostel that has great view of the ocean and then travelled north to a smaller town for 2 more nights. Just moved up further north and arrived at KeriKeri this afternoon. Will be staying here over the next 2 - 3 months as fruit picking season is starting soon. Need to save some money to bungy jump in Queenstown and explore South Island during winter in June.

Eating out is expensive so I've been making my own sandwich (so sick of it) and eat instant noodles in between. As I hop from hostel to hostel, so do the leftovers of bread, eggs, butter, cheese, ham and washing powder; as is the case with other backpackers. Only managed to have a meal of rice since last Tuesday. Portion is so huge I could split it into 2 meals.

Postage stamp is expensive here, so I could only send postcards to a selected few who collect stamps. I'm having troubles uploading my pictures. Will let you guys know when it's done. In the meantime, have a great day, mate!

Pictures: An interesting advert at the bus stop, the Sky Tower & a 'Mat Salleh' pulling stunt at the top of a traffic light.