Milky Way, police house in a size of shed, “Last Christmas” at +28 degrees, eels during the low tide, complete lockdown, international family, Thai stir-fried ice cream, curious fantails, green flash dividing the nightly sky and free peanut butter!
- Congratulations, you have started reading a compressed post about the travel to New Zealand! Aoetearoa – Maori word for “New Zealand”. Now, once upon a time, Māui the demigod, crept into his brothers’ canoe and hid himself under the floorboards. Overhearing their discussion, that they didn’t want to take him with them, this was the only opportunity available to him. Only when the canoe was far out from the closest land and the brothers had filled the bottom of their canoe with fish that Māui took the chance and revealed himself. Using his magical fishhook, he threw it over the board and the hook went deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean… As he tugged, gently – Māui felt that the hook caught onto something – it was a giant fish! His brothers started to carve out pieces for themselves, before Māui had appeased Tangaroa, the god of the sea. The carved out pieces symbolize the lakes, the coastlines, mountains of the Northern part of New Zealand. The South island is the canoe on which Māui and his brothers were fishing from, while the tiny island on the bottom – Stewarts’ island, is the anchor stone. This is the story of New Zealand! It took me 6 months to finally get a grip and write this… I started to write it on a run-down boat in a middle of a river when the evenings were warm and pleasant, then at an apple orchard, where the yellow leaves symbolized the start of the autumn, and winter – when I sit near a fireplace and redo these lines and look how frost covers my car. Like a symphony, the text takes a shape in my mind, but everything becomes out of tune if I hit the wrong key. I need harmony… Perhaps, like Newton, I just needed an apple to fall on my head, but in my case, it would be an apple trees’ branch that hit me in the face. To understand why – I was on an apple orchard with a hefty Hercules deed – to gather 1,4 tones of apples per day I needed! And just recently, after 2 months – we are finished with it. And to think – that there was a day I managed to gather 3 tones of apples in a single day! The beginning, the beginning…. Beginning of what though? How this idea of going to New Zealand came to fruition? Why am I taking part in this journey/flock, which encompasses like-minded people from all sides of our world, gathering in New Zealand for the greatest migration of its kind? Curiosity, challenge & knowledge, definitely! Things that you start on a whim become the most important things of all! They shape you into the person you are supposed to be. So my New Zealand story began during my time at my university – when I met people who had been in New Zealand before and how they told me how they loved it. Fast-forward 1,5 years later on 4th of October – and there I was, waving goodbye with my backpack of 23kg for the next year and a half! Flying there was rather tiresome – considering the flight from Doha to Auckland takes 18 hours… So 5 movies, 7 glasses of white wine, a cup of peppermint tea, fidgeting sleep and immense amount of food & snacks later – I am in Auckland in the middle of the night. Goodbye Europe & hello Oceania. Greeted by an authentic Ozzie taxi driver with a thick outback accent, making you feel, like kangaroos will be present as well. But no, no kangaroos – just kiwi birds, kakapoa, long-fin eel etc. He took me to a hostel, just so I could adjust – and I felt like I had exponentially aged – I went to sleep at 18 o’clock for the next week just to wake up at 4 in the morning. I didn’t feel as I had left the comforts of Europe – I didn’t feel like I was too far away from home. Only when you look at the map – oh, 18,000 km, it’s just a tad bit away… Oh – and the fern trees, killer whales at the bay and the beautifully steamed Chinese buns were the giveaway that I sure wasn’t in Latvia anymore! October – 3 months. Starting from this point onwards, I met up with my first host, where I volunteered at for 3 months. I rode the bus to Otorohanga. My host had a few sheep, a flock of chickens (chooks), two cats, a pond of goldfish (and green treefrogs, which sound like a miniature chainsaw going off during the nighttime) and some possums during the night, who make pig-like shrieks – can get terrifying when you are out and about in the fields and hear this noise coming off from a tree nearby! Heard that they are even prone to climb up on you, if they feel threatened. Nonetheless, they are an invasive species the New Zealanders are trying to get rid off, as it destroys the native wildlife (including the kiwi birds). One thing that do characterize the New Zealanders (we are gonna call them Kiwis’ now, as they say), they do sure love their beer! 3 months straight – I had a beer every day! Good thing I was working on the fields grubbing thistles or helping out on the neighbor’s farms or swimming whenever I could! I got to know the local community pretty well – it was a rather small town, but there were 4 car dealers – they say people were starting to move a bit more inland, due to the rise of the accommodation prices and also due to the quiet lifestyle they lead. I could feel it – finally, you can go out with torn shorts, jandals (Japanese sandals), dirty hat and smudged all in dirt and nobody would bat an eye – the most surprising part? How every employee at the cash register initiates a conversation with you – when they really share a proper discussion and not just “how are you?”. One time you can be talking about the best ways to fertilize your tomato plants or the other – how the rugby game results affected the beer sales or even discussing about the whereabouts of a small Eastern European country and what’s your traditional cuisine like based on the kefir purchase. Every time and EVERYWHERE – even in the capital it is no problem. That’s how I also got a free piece of fish – by chatting up with the local and them throwing an extra piece in, just because they enjoyed the conversation. I felt… joy – people not being sour, but instead, showing smile wherever you go. Even on the sides of the roads you can find unattended small stalls with different products the family or farm might be selling. You deposit the required money into the box and take what you need. Neat system, which allows you to get certain things which would be hard to procure if the nearest grocery shop is 30km away or even the next gas station is after 180km. While riding the bus, I noticed all these small streets and villages which would be hard to access if you don’t have a vehicle of your own – as the busses run mostly between the big cities, stopping at the small cities/towns just seldomly. So, I set out a goal to procure for myself a vehicle – took some time, but got myself a sedan – Mitsubishi Lancer 1998. Great car – I didn’t need a space to sleep in necessarily, and it had more than enough room to put all of my things in. And it is not that challenging to drive on the other side – the rules stay the same but it’s just the opposite. Gave the car a second birthday too – changed everything that was needed to be changed there – either spark plugs, radiator hoses, all the liquids, oil change, cambelt, for the interior as well. I thought the car will stay with me till end of my trip… Sadly, it was not the case. It gave out on me in mid-February. November – nostalgia. Has it ever creeped up on you by moments, the environment or a smell you have not experienced before, but have read about it. Like nostalgia going into overdrive… You know you have it stored in your minds database, but feel completely baffled when you come across it. Walking into a cinema is an experience everyone is familiar with – the smell of popcorn, the cutouts, the advertisements, comfy seats – but what if, what IF the cinema transports you back into the time when people used to go to the cinemas in an evening dress or a tuxedo, the freshly popped popcorn or the curtains that roll up to present the screen! The billboards, the posters – just by opening its’ doors, from 2019 you go back into 1960s’. When movies were black & white, monsters were just animals enlarged for the camera or a man in a costume, or the Moon being as large as 1/3 of the whole sky, thinking “hey, if this would be real, imagine the natural disasters that would occur – you wouldn’t have the time to be sitting in a rose garden”. This experience happened right after I celebrated my 25th year into this world. How I pictured it? Sitting on top of a mountain with a bottle of wine and gazing upon the nightly stars. That’s how I wanted it – and that’s what I got – except, the mountain was changed to a hill + add a small bonfire to it as well. Feeling all warm & cozy as you sit – breathe in… breathe out – look above. What are all these constellations I haven’t seen before? What is this foggy part in the sky? Oh shoot – is it? I can see part of the Milky Way? What are these small insects biting you? Oh boy – and who would have thought, sandflies don’t even stop during the night! While the nights were still a bit chilly, the days were rather warm – warm enough to hit the beach, but not necessarily warm enough to swim in the ocean. Coromandel – an area in the North island, where many people go visit “hot water beaches”, yes, hot water. But Kawhia is the place that not many tourists frequent if you know when to go. And it sure was peaceful – just couple of other people. Nonetheless – getting to the point – you dig your own hole in the sand and you lie in it. Why? Because its like sleeping in a very warm bath. The only thing that provide a challenge getting there, an ordeal one could say – not the right pair of footwear. The beach is covered in black sand, so as you cross the dunes with either jandals or barefoot, just cause nobody informed of the black sand and the car is too far away now to change your shoes. In some cultures or followers or specific beliefs, can stand either on sharp glass or walk over hot coals. And as everything, it takes time to master. Here, you do not have the time. So what are your options? Just run… as quickly as your feet can carry you. Or, just bring a spare pair. It is especially true if you venture into caves or any humid places to see the famous glowworm caves! Waikato region is pretty famous for it - so, a glowworm is a carnivorous insect, which mainly inhabits humid and dark places and create this “spit string”, where other insects get stuck as they are drawn to the blue light that the glowworms emit much like anglerfish in the depths of the ocean. As the animal kingdom goes – New Zealand has heaps of them. And more surprisingly, it doesn’t have any dangerous animals its neighboring country Australia has. However, it has “Ozzie” immigrants – like the magpie, wasp, white-tail spider etc. The bird & insect life is just thriving. So much buzz & cheets around you as you perform your everyday tasks. And the nests – so many, ranging from common blackbird, friendly fantails (and I will reveal sometime, why they turned to be my most favorite birds of all time), peacocks or the colourful rosella, which, at first, makes you wonder if they escaped from a nearby aviary or are long-lost cousins of macaw. |
AuthorOn a self-discovery in a country down under-ish! New Zealand! Archives
May 2020
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