I'd planned on a day or two in Auckland, a day in Wellington, and a day or two in Christchurch as my pleasant pitstop between Tonga and India. However, every Kiwi I met on my travels in Africa advised that I spend my short time here entirely on the South Island, so a new itinerary was born, featuring time in Christchurch, overnight stays in/near Kaikoura and Picton, and two scenic train rides (one along the coast, the other from the east to west, going through the mountains).
The good: New Zealand is insanely clean and green and beautiful, so scenic train rides and gondola rides up a mountain have been a good use of my time, as have my jaunts onto the water (whether for whale and dolphin-watching, or simply to get from the town of Picton to my hotel on one of the bays). Also, Hapuku Lodge (oddly enough, discussed below). Wine touring: I've never done it before (seriously), and going to three good (and one crappy) wineries in one afternoon was great. If I weren't traveling for so long, I would have bought a case of something.
The bad: mostly the food. I have had two good meals since I've been here, both at the amazingly beautiful Hapuku Lodge, which was designed by a family or architects and which features a chef and general manager imported from Northern California. The rest has ranged from mediocre to appallingly bad. Last night, for instance, I ordered a steak medium rare. It arrived medium well, with no steak knife, forcing me to saw through using a utensil about as sharp as a butter knife. The sides (including the greens) were inedible. And I'd had such high hopes for New Zealand beef... This morning's breakfast was not much better: eggs benedict featuring partially cooked spinach, overcooked eggs, and far too much hollandaise. The true crime, though, was the pint of balsamic vinegar reduction poured over the entire thing. No wonder I'm having more stomach trouble in New Zealand than I did in Ethiopia.
The weird: the entire country feels like an episode of Cheers. Could be that tourist season is winding to a close, but there's still something strange about being greeted by name by hotel staff, tour staff, train staff, etc. the second I appear. Seriously, how many times have you had a train conductor hop off a train and say "you must be (surname") before handing you your boarding pass? I'm guessing never, unless you were boarding the Tranzcoastal from Kaikoura to Picton.
Another weird thing: the almost complete lack of racial and ethnic diversity. With the exception of a few Japanese tourists, virtulally everyone on the south island (present company excluded, of course) is white. I keep on hearing about the Maoris, and I've even spent a few minutes watching the Maori TV station. But with the exception of one cleaning lady, I haven't seen any, or anyone else even mildly ethnic (unless the Israeli backpackers on my water taxi last night count). Definitely strange. Makes me stand out. But until this morning, I hadn't encountered any problems because of it. And maybe this morning was just a misunderstanding, but it didn't feel that way. On the water taxi, people were being checked in by last name. When the guy got around to me, I said my last name. I repeated it, in case he hadn't understood. Then, he turned to the guy sitting next to me and said "Is she staff?" The guy (who I assume was staff) seemed a little embarrassed when he replied that I was a guest. And I felt like I'd been slapped, but didn't feel like causing a scene, since it was the last water taxi I could take to get back in time for the train to Christchurch. I don't know what bugged me more, though: that he thought I was hotel staff, or the fact he didn't even speak to me directly to ask me.
So, I'm looking forward to seeing snow-capped mountains on the Tranzalpine tomorrow, but I'm also kind of looking forward to getting out of New Zealand. Not that I wouldn't come back: it's beautiful, and there's a lot more to see. But, easy as it is for a solo travel, it strikes me that this is a better place to travel with someone else.
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You pretty much summed up my feelings visiting NZ...it was beautiful, but the only people of color I saw were on the North Island (where most of the Maori population remains) and at the airport, handling baggage. I did see some non-NZ folks of color at hostels, the best places to meet travelers from other places, in my opinion.
NZ was beautiful. But a very lonely place, to me. I traveled with my friend for part of the time while there, but would not go back alone...
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