NZ First Month Look-back

Happy Fat Tuesday We just returned from the Anglican Mardi Gras pancake supper, which is more like crepes than pancakes, everyone brings a plate (meaning food - can be pancakes, salad, dessert,whatever)- we were prompted that this is not an empty plate, but shared food - like potluck. Very thin pancakes on which they put sugar and lemon so we were pre-warned and took our own fruit and maple syrup. Nice but sparse attendance, maybe 25 people, very few children. We had suggested they consider having the youth do this as a fund-raiser; problem: no youth.

We have enjoyed getting to know Tim the vicar, Beverley has had several conversations with him, and they explored common interests. He is involved at the diocesan level, so more interaction is anticipated.

Travel in NZ: challenging,fascinating. Drive on left, steering wheel on right, turn signal and light on right, wiper on left. I have "wiped" left turns often. Roundabouts are common and sensible once you learn who has right of way, and how to maneuver. Since I only work 3 1/2 days a week, we explore every chance we get. We are on the north island another month, then to south island. More details when we can attach pictures, which are incredibly slow to load unless we have excellent reception - which means cities or very large towns - we are too far out in the country for decent connection.

Main roads are well-paved, well-marked and many have bicycle lanes. Road route signage generally good, but road and street signs are small and challenging to read. Speed limit 100 kpm (60 mph) or 50 (30 mph) in town. Passing corridors are usually every several miles and especially up long hills or mountains, of which there are many.

Valley farm lands are huge, some rolling hills (rounded by glacier) and astonishing chasms where you would least expect them - in the middle of a field - evidently by seismic activity and plate shifts. There are always mountains in the distance, and when going thru some of the passes/gorges it is really scary as guardrails are almost non-existant except in certain areas. Drop-offs are precipitous and you can be looking hundreds of feet almost straight down, with no guardrail and no shoulder.

Secondary roads are like our country roads,sometimes with side-stripe, sometimes only 1 1/2 lanes wide which makes for interesting passing on-coming traffic, especially trucks. "Rumble-strips" on the edge of the pavement near the shoulder to remind you of being almost off pavement. Good paving, and occasional unpaved roads which are generally one-lane with turn-outs to get by, these are found at the beaches, and to waterfalls and other rustic scenic areas.

In spite of such a large country in comparison to the small population, almost all the passenger vehicles are small or medium-size, Toyota Corolla being the most common and was the entire fleet of our rental choices. Toyota trucks and vans are the next most obvious. Ford is second, with Holde (? from where) next, Honda is not as evident. Hyundai and Mitsubishi
seem popular as well.

There are extremely few large SUV's or large sedans, several camper-vans.
Gasoline prices are uniform thruout are stay so far, only 2-3 cents per gallon $7 between locales and brands: BP, Shell, Gull, NZ Texaco. Lots of logging trucks, some heavy-transport trucks have jointed trailers so a bit scary.

Pastureland for sheep includes lots of hillsides, sometimes almost vertical, 10 sheep for every Kiwi (as NZ folks like to be called, unless they are Maori and they want that identification). Cattle - beef and dairy industry -has become very large- 1 dairy cow per person in this land of 4 million. Many of our US types are represented, including Angus, Hereford, many others I can't name, and my favorite: belted galloways, which daughter Anne once called "oreo cows" for their distinctive white belly stripe on otherwise black exterior.

Fascinating but not very useful fact back home, the power poles are belted with aluminum straps about 18 inches in height, because: possums climb the poles and eat the insulation off the wires, shorting out service and frying themselves. Since possum is the scourge of NZ, about 100 per person and responsible for severe damage to crops and plants, much effort to try to kill, poison, etc.

Possums were introduced by Aussies in the 1800's for fur trade, and have incredibly soft fur, but a major problem. Our landlord was out the other night with his air rifle, got two which were raiding his apple orchard. Says you can't sell the pelts or fur. No bounty, so don't know where the fur for the wool originates, we certainly haven't seen any possum farms.