1) the bird whose call I so love, with the white pom-pom hanging off of its throat, is called the Tui.
2) the Maori, having come and gone over several hundred years, only settled permanently in New Zealand in 999, and it was 1400 before Cook, Abel Tasman and the like came to f *** things up… this land has only had people living on it for a little over a thousand years!!! 3) deer were brought here for sport hunting originally, then they bred like… deer (or bunnies) and wrecked havoc on the landscape and are now farmed, for venison and the Asian deer velvet market. It is very weird (to say the least) to see a pasture full of deer. 4) people are good… i LIKE them!!! 5) the “modern milking shed” involves a carousel onto which the cows step, get their udders hooked up to milking machines, and which then slowly revolves around full circle until they exit and amble back to their pastures. this happens twice a day. it made me want to go vegan. 6) travel reveals the most bizarre of habits, ones you never knew you had. who knew, for example, that about 45 years of crossing the road where people drive on the right ( and the Right) side of the road would create an ingrained , cellular response of turning one’s head to the right, then left, before crossing the road. well… turns out this habit can get you killed, or nearly,, about a hundred times a day, when one is in a country where they drive on the LEFT (Wrong) side of the road… 7) the Pinus Radiates flourishes here in New Zealand and is the preferred tree of the New Zealand timber industry… it is originally from California. ok so #5 needs a little backstory- on Thursday, Susan and I went to Rotorua to hike the redwoods (gorgeous, serene, sacred) and another trail (sorry, track) that led to a lookout over all the geothermal pools (a few pics to follow). Anyway, we hitchhiked back to Taupo and the 2nd driver who picked us up was a dairy farmer - long story short, my interest in the whole deer farming phenomenon made him quite fond of us, and very animated, and he asked if we wanted a 5 minute tour of his “modern milking shed”. Of course we said “sure”, and so we turned off onto his farm, he gave us the tour, and then drove us way further than he was actually going just to get us to a good place for our next pickup!!! …it was all very strange and weirdly sweet. hitchhiking here so tickles my 16 year old self, wrapped up as I was in my own fantasy of being a musician traveling wherever I pleased, etc etc… My lovely bus driver, Graeme - on the way from Taupo to Mt Maunganui - answered many of my other questions about the forest industry,, agriculture, flora and fauna, New Zealand history, and also made a special unscheduled stop for me so i didn't have to walk too far to my hostel. he was AWESOME. So yes, I am now in Mt Maunganui. Arrived on Halloween (a virtual non-event here, or at least devoid of the grotesque distortion of consumerism I am accustomed to) and the All Blacks WON! My first night here was in a tiny 3-person dorm with 2 young men…it reeked like a monkey cage when the owner took me in - I was being such a good sport, but in spite of myself and quite unintentionally, let out a little gasp, I think, as we entered, and the next day, his wife offered me my own room for the rest of the week at a great discount!!! …gotta love New Zealand :)))
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December 2016
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