Written by Sam Sharples (Den Haag, Holland)
New Zealand! What more could you ask for in a country?
New Zealand’s awesome landscapes, lush forests, diverse wildlife and pleasant climate make it a haven for the ‘I want to see more of life’ gap year student or traveller. The country boasts many outdoor activities, and is a great place to unwind. Sophisticated, multicultural, and friendly - the honesty and openness of the Kiwis (locals) will astound you.
The country has it all, including THAT scenery! New Zealand is a photographers paradise and I have to admit that I became rather snappy-happy on my travels – with so much on offer everywhere you go I doubt your right click finger will get much rest.
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I found the country has a lazy, placid and tranquil feeling to it – after just a few hours in the rural countryside you feel peaceful and at-ease. The locals contribute to this feeling of peacefulness with their laid-back and easy-going nature. In parts time seems to stand still.
While New Zealand is a relatively young country, it has a rich and fascinating history, reflecting both the Maori and European heritage. In a way, New Zealand is rather old-fashioned – excepting all the mod-cons and hustle-bustle of the big cities, old 60/70’s cars phut-phut quite happily along the country roads (often crawling up the never-ending stretch of hills), and many local farmers prefer the use of ox and plough over the industrial super-tractor!
New Zealand is an independent nation and a member of the British Commonwealth. It has a population of roughly 4 million people, the majority of whom are of British descent – though a Dutchman was the first European to sight the country, it was our illustrious, daring, magnificent, entrepreneurial, and damn-right legendary ancestors (hint hint – the British) that colonised New Zealand. New Zealand's indigenous Maori make up around 14 percent of the population.
For a country comparable in size to Great Britain, Colorado and Japan, New Zealand’s puny population becomes even more amazing. Add the fact that a massive 1.3 million people (yes, that’s near-enough a third of the country) live in Auckland, and it’s a surprise that people bump into others elsewhere in the country. On my travels in the North island I met an efficient German backpacker called Lando (yes, like the star wars dude) who claims he spent a full day on the road to Invercargill (bottom of the south island) and didn’t see a single person or car…..literally…. not one!
Sheep? Yes…. There are a lot! Infact for each person living in New Zealand there are 11 sheep and 4 cows! Just a random piece of kiwi-trivia.
If this all seems rather boring to you, fear-not! Bungy-jumping more your thing? Rather be speeding in a jet-boat down a river canyon? Prefer a quick skydive to a spot of tea? New Zealand has your number too!!
Granted, NZ is slightly ‘out of the way’ but the country really does offer something for everyone – from the adrenaline junkie to the culture vulture, you’re sorted!
In order to fund my travels around the country and my ongoing tours elsewhere, I worked for 6 months as a school tutor in a coastal town called Wanganui. The mighty ‘Wanga-Vegas’ as we christened it sits comfortably on the west-coast of the North Island – roughly 2 hours drive north of the capital Wellington!
I worked at Wanganui Collegiate School – a rather prestigious and historical boarding school established in the 1850’s. I was kept busy busy busy during my stay. I was given responsibility for a boarding house of 80 boys (aged 13-18) on 3 nights a week, supervised various classes teachers could not make, took P.E. lessons, coached numerous sport teams and tutored a special-needs boy one-on-one. I was given my own apartment in one of the boarding houses and got the privilege, I hesitate to say that word, to eat at the canteen 7 days a week. Despite the food monotony, and having become rather attached to Domino’s Pizza, I loved working at WCS. The vast majority of pupils were lovely – very accepting and friendly! The fact that they are all sport-mad (like me) helped!
I was shocked on my first day to find that the boys chose to wear shorts and sandals as their uniform - even in the winter…. Despite the more sensible trouser option! The reasoning behind this madness became apparent, and I gained an insight into the kiwi psyche, when I questioned one of my favourite pupils!
Me: ‘Why on earth do you guys CHOOSE to wear those ridiculous shorts and sandals over trousers and proper shoes?’
Bryce (16-year old Kiwi): ‘We’re not soft sir!’
‘Nuff said.
For those that are interested in doing a similar thing (i.e. teaching/tutoring in New Zealand) you will be pleased to know that I had no problem finding schools that were interested in taking me on! The position was entirely my own doing/fault – I emailed the New Zealand Education Authority for a list of all the schools that were likely to take on ‘Gappies’ and made contact with a number of them. It was that easy.
What about actually seeing the country I hear you ask? Patience my friends, is a virtue! I got the chance to travel both islands on the school holidays and opted for a tour bus company appropriately titled ‘Magic’. As you might expect, there are numerous tour companies that offer the same budget travel and accommodation options for the ‘money challenged’/tight-fisted traveller.
‘Magic’ offer a number of pre-determined routes across both islands – appealing to all tastes and fancies. The buses come and go through various settlings every day or so, allowing you to spend however long you want in each place (a sort of drop-off/pick-up bus scheme).
I highly recommend this form of travel – not only is it relatively cheap, efficient and flexible, it is also a great way for individual travellers to meet other people. I met a large number of interesting people on my travels – those of note include Lando (as mentioned above) and a group of 6 rather attractive Irish girls…. But perhaps that is another story!
I stayed in hostels everywhere – some better than others – and found this another great way to meet people! Just be prepared, should you desire the cheaper dorm room, for the inevitable ‘token snorer’. I found myself screaming out at a large number of them in the middle of the night!! On one occasion, after one too many, a couple of us ‘Magic’ travellers decided to move ‘token’ out into the garden to treat the birds and rose-bushes to his night-song! He woke up in the morning still on his mattress, in the front garden of the hostel – being snapped by Asian tourists! Totally deserved ofcourse.
While ‘Magic’ encourage you to interact with your fellow travellers, there is no pressure to do so. This is one of the major reasons I chose them over rival companies such as ‘Kiwi Experience’ and ‘Stray’. It was a running joke with the ‘Magic’ bus drivers that ‘Kiwi-Experience’ primarily offer a drinking club - sightseeing comes 2nd. I’m not sure how much of the country the ‘Kiwi-Experience’ travellers remember at all!! Although that wasn’t personally for me, it is definitely for a lot of people and I know that everyone on ‘Kiwi-Experience’ buses enjoy their tours!
I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time on my South Island tour with ‘Magic’ driver Boff (is it me or is there a pattern of crazy names occurring?). Boff is Maori and was undoubtedly the best driver I had. Informative, wise-cracking, life-loving and friendly – he entertained the entire bus with Maori legends, personal reminisces and rather inappropriate jokes. He even arranged a night out in Franz Josef for my birthday after I unwisely let it slip to a fellow traveller! I didn’t pay for a single drink all night…. And how many people can say they spent their 22 nd birthday with a Maori bus driver called Boff and 20 multicultural/multi-national strangers (including those 6 stunning Irish girls)! Brilliant!
I have a number of resounding memories from my trip but by far and away my best experience came at the top of the south island in Abel Tasman National Park (named after the aforementioned Dutch explorer) - I was so elated by the experience I got onto the internet the next day to tell my family. Below is either an extract of the email I sent, or the rantings of a mad-man – you decide:
‘At the moment I am in Nelson - yesterday I did a kayaking trip to Abel Tasman National Park which was just stunning.... amazing rocky/beach coast line to explore in our 2-man kayaks! The trip was polished off (and made) by an encounter with dolphins... on our way back to base we spotted a feeding frenzy just out to sea and set off to check it out! Dolphins were leaping up out of the water doing back-flips etc! We had encountered a pod of about 10 dolphins in the middle of their lunch break! When they spotted us they just continued to splash and play about... showing off! They came so close to our kayaks and jumped around seemingly unperturbed! My Kayak partner (Mark) and I thought it a good idea to paddle ourselves to death in an attempt to get up enough speed so that the dolphins would surf our bow… and it worked! It was great fun and the best thing I have done in New Zealand to date! I'll send some photos when I get the chance!’
Now I’m not a soppy guy – but that sort of encounter with dolphins was so special, they really are intoxicating creatures! I was lucky (ish) to have had that dolphin experience but not amazingly so – Abel Tasman Kayak’s told me they see dolphins roughly every 5 or 6 trips…. You could be the lucky group!
Northland – surprise surprise, at the top of the North Island was also very special. Cape Reinga Lighthouse, which sits on a steep headland 290 metres above the sea and marks the disorderly meeting point of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean is well worth a visit. According to Maori legend, Cape Reinga is the 'place of leaping' where departing souls leap into the ocean from a gnarled Pohutukawa tree and journey back to the ancestral land of Hawaiki. Please don’t try the leaping thing.
You can also take a tour along the magnificent Ninety Mile Beach, a driveable beach that is actually only 60 miles long (still, long enough eh?). In 1932, the stretch was actually used as a runway for some of the earliest airmail services between Australia and New Zealand. Ninety Mile Beach also provides some awesome sand dunes, lending themselves to sand-boarding!
I think my favourite place in the country was Lake Tekapo. Nestled among the Southern Alps and smack-bang in the centre of the south island, Lake Tekapo is a tiny settling at 710 metres (2300 feet) first established by the Maori as a ‘stop-off’ point where they hunted moas, birds and eels, before returning to the coast for food and trade. It was here that I felt I had reached New Zealand…. Fresh air, beautiful surroundings, and a remoteness unequalled.
Other ‘must-sees’ for me include Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier and the Waitomo Caves.
I had just one major disappointment on my travels – my Kaikoura whale-watch (Kaikoura being where the film ‘Whale Rider’ was filmed). A massive sea-shelf plunges thousands of feet down into the depths roughly 2 km off the coast of Kaikoura, allowing the sea-giants the perfect place to feed. I was especially looking forward to seeing whales in the flesh – how often do you get the chance to see them? However, the weather was shocking during my 2 day-stay in Kaikoura (as it often is) and I was forced to take a plane trip out to see them. Although we did indeed see a pod of whales from the plane, there was no idea of scale or magnificence from the giddy heights. All I really saw resembled floating logs - a real disappointment! My advice to you, if you are to sample the whales properly, would be to allow for adverse weather conditions in Kaikoura and try get on a boat-tour out to them (they run regularly… when the weather is good enough).
Despite this fairly minor complaint, New Zealand is a back-packers paradise and deserves to be trekked/seen/explored. The country hasn’t got its reputation through false acclaim. If you haven’t been, go! If you have been, go again, I intend to!