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Holidays in NZ
Topic Started: May 29 2011, 03:22 PM (812 Views)
Catraoine
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We have spent the last two holidays in NZ, each one for a month’s duration. I have never seen such an amazing country. The first time we spent time in both the Nth. and Sth. Islands. We are both very interested in the Maori culture, my husband works with Indigenous Australians and the similarities were very apparent.
Visually I found the country to be overwhelming at times, driving from Picton after taking the Ferry from Wellington we saw vast rolling green hills covered with sheep of course (September so the lambs were out in force) In front of us were snow-capped mountains and on the left was the Ocean, where I saw sea lions and their pups for the first time in their natural habitat. We sat there for over three hours just watching them. My husband is an avid photographer so we have hundreds of photographs.
I remember getting back into the car and actually crying as the beauty touched my soul. I was on visual overload. We also went to Doubtful Sounds, again an overwhelming experience.

We went back again last September, this time do see more of the West Coast in the Sth. Island. Our first night there was in Christchurch to be jolted awake at 4.20am by the first Earthquake. It was terrifying and to see the loss of life, the devastation, the heartbreak with the more recent one really had an impact on us. I would find myself feeling the ground moving under my feet as it triggered off those memories.

We would love to retire there, Dunedin was a place I really loved but apart from Twizzle there wasn’t one place I would not want to live in.

Maybe one day?
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Kahu
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Glad you had a great time here ..... we are certainly spoilt for landscapes, and it's quite a contrast to Australia.
I'm very near Wellington, so very likely you've passed by in your travels. I've met Toodles and Begete-Justicette, and Erka and Tipacanoe have also been to Aotearoa for varying lengths of time ..... so next time, give us a hoy before you come!
I can understand you not wanting to live in Twizel ..... it was built as a hydro town in the McKenzie Country and its about as far inland as you can possibly get anywhere in the country, except for Waiouru on the volcanic plateau in the middle of the North Island ....... very cold in the winter, and very hot and dry in the summer. A lot of people have bought the old hydro houses as holiday home bases. There's a lot of great skiing and ice skating in the winter, and the fishing and hunting in the area can't be beaten .... and it's close to Queenstown, the adventure capital and the international airport.
They don't call us the 'Shaky Isles' for nothing ..... but you learn to live with it ..... touch wood!
Is Catraoine, erse or gaelic, Scots or Irish? That's probably why you liked Dunedin .... Robbie Burns and all, the old name for Edinburgh.
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FuzzyO
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I've never been, and doubt that I will ever get there, but I remember a travelogue sort of film I saw on television a decade or more ago. I decided then that NZ was clearly one of the most beautiful places on earth. I think though that much of the scenery viewed on that film was probably inaccessible as a lot was filmed from the air.
Edited by FuzzyO, May 30 2011, 05:39 AM.
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Kahu
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FuzzyO
May 30 2011, 05:38 AM
...... much of the scenery viewed on that film was probably inaccessible as a lot was filmed from the air.
New Zealand is not like Australia, the US or for that matter, Canada, Fuzzy. You all suffer from the internal tyranny of distance ..... NZ is a small landmass with almost ALL the world's landscape types packed into these two islands ..... we suffer from an external form of tyranny of distance ..... we're out on a limb, far from anywhere, a blessing and at the same time a curse. Apart from Fiordland, in the mountainous SW of the South Island, where there are places where Canadian moose were released early in the century are there still places where humans have never trod ..... everywhere else is easily accessible, and temperate in climate because we're closely surrounded by the moderating sea.

BTW NZ's #1 ecological enemy is the Australian Brush Tailed Possum .... now you can add to the the list Canada Geese ...... open season all year round!
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FuzzyO
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Sorry to hear you have the !@#$$%* Canada geese to deal with. They can certainly be a huge problem. Our city employs two geese-chasing dogs to try and keep some of the waterside areas clean.
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Kahu
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They can wreck a pasture overnight!
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Catraoine
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My name is Irish for Katie Kahu !

I liked Dunedin for a variety of reasons, I like living near a City, but within minutes you can be miles away from the hustle and bustle, we went to see the Penguins, I have photographs so I can post them. We saw the Albatross, what a magnificent creature and one of the chicks. When we were there last September it snowed a lot. Many farmers lost their new born lambs, in the tens of thousands I heard..but as we drove around and over Albert pass the Tree Ferns everywhere were covered in snow and they looked like the most delicate lace umbrella's. It was magical.
I was sad and embarrassed that when I told someone how friendly people were to us as tourists that they do not get the same reception here, and we heard that a lot.
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Tipacanoe
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My wife and I and the couple we travelled with also fell very much in love with NZ and the good folks who live there - despite my wife's accidental injury of which I have spoken before. We do hope to return one day and were very upset to see all the earthquake devastation to Christchurch, the beautiful city where we began our tour of the islands. Our prayers are still with everyone affected.

In some ways, it was like travelling back in time to the Canada we knew and loved many years ago. Not to say that there's anything terribly old fashioned about the place - it's just so genuine and sensible. We loved it.

Kahu has hit the nail on the head once again about the diversity of landscape, accessibility and the unhappy circumstance that it is located so far from us. exactly.gif
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I fell in love with NZ as I watched The Lord of the Rings Trilogy....

It is a beautiful place with exceptionally literate people. I think what amazed us the most, besides the natural beauty, was how clean it is. If there are poor people in NZ, you cannot identify them by shabby buildings and unkempt yards.

Cat - do you have a horticulture degree? I think it is a requirement for all prospective immigrants.

and even those making money off of tourists, seem to do so in an evironmentally responsible fashion. I can't imagine what might happen to the rude tourist who raises his or her voice in the albatross observation hut, or tries to get too close to marine mammals. The guides were certainly very protective of their inhabitants.
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Kahu
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begete_Justicette
May 30 2011, 02:14 PM
......... was how clean it is. If there are poor people in NZ, you cannot identify them by shabby buildings and unkempt yards.

Cat - do you have a horticulture degree? I think it is a requirement for all prospective immigrants.

and even those making money off of tourists, seem to do so in an evironmentally responsible fashion. I can't imagine what might happen to the rude tourist who raises his or her voice in the albatross observation hut, or tries to get too close to marine mammals. The guides were certainly very protective of their inhabitants.
You just didn't get to look in the right places ..... there are shabby, unkempt places ..... but we do have state housing which is a quarter of the household income. However in some places (Auckland in particular) there's a shortage of housing stock and things can get a biy rough .... as tenants are forced to pay market rents for sometimes unsuitable privately owned accomodation.

There's a free border between Australia and NZ for citizens of both countries and basically a common market between both countries.
Closer Economic Relations (CER)

The Environment ..... the protection of our unique species habitats .... is very important to all New Zealanders. Those species exist nowhere else but here, so if any thing happens there's no one to blame but us.

Zealandia

Edited by Kahu, May 30 2011, 11:22 PM.
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Does the free border mean that any Aussie can get residency or citizenship in NZ and vice versa?
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lilal
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My parents had booked a trip to New Zealand and Australia but my Dad passed away two months before they were to go. A year later my mother and our elder daughter took the same trip and fell in love with New Zealand. At a farm stay daughter made a friend there and has been in contact with her ever since. My mother thought NZ was like a combination of Canada's lifestyle and Ireland's green countryside. If I had a magic lamp it is where I would wish to visit but with our age and health conditions I'll have to settle for pictures and videos.
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Kahu
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begete_Justicette
May 31 2011, 04:32 AM
Does the free border mean that any Aussie can get residency or citizenship in NZ and vice versa?
Yes ..... although the Aussies do tend to get their bits in a tangle over what they perceive to be other nationalities entering Australia by the back door (eg Pacific Islanders, Chinese, Indians, Sri Lankans, Vietnamese, Cambodians). There are also reciprocal arrangements on health, pension/superannuation portability, taxes paid in one country are not double taxed by the other. Food standards are aligned for the most part, although we had to take them to the WTO twice because they won't take NZ apple imports .... which is pure protectionism. Australian farmers are state and federally subsidised ..... NZ has no subsidies at all, which is why we're internationally successful. Most of us have family links too which go way back.
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Tipacanoe
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Kahu
May 31 2011, 09:32 AM
begete_Justicette
May 31 2011, 04:32 AM
Does the free border mean that any Aussie can get residency or citizenship in NZ and vice versa?
Yes ..... although the Aussies do tend to get their bits in a tangle over what they perceive to be other nationalities entering Australia by the back door (eg Pacific Islanders, Chinese, Indians, Sri Lankans, Vietnamese, Cambodians). There are also reciprocal arrangements on health, pension/superannuation portability, taxes paid in one country are not double taxed by the other. Food standards are aligned for the most part, although we had to take them to the WTO twice because they won't take NZ apple imports .... which is pure protectionism. Australian farmers are state and federally subsidised ..... NZ has no subsidies at all, which is why we're internationally successful. Most of us have family links too which go way back.
Very interesting! Thanks Kahu!
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Catraoine
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begete_Justicette
May 30 2011, 02:14 PM
I fell in love with NZ as I watched The Lord of the Rings Trilogy....

It is a beautiful place with exceptionally literate people. I think what amazed us the most, besides the natural beauty, was how clean it is. If there are poor people in NZ, you cannot identify them by shabby buildings and unkempt yards.

Cat - do you have a horticulture degree? I think it is a requirement for all prospective immigrants.

and even those making money off of tourists, seem to do so in an evironmentally responsible fashion. I can't imagine what might happen to the rude tourist who raises his or her voice in the albatross observation hut, or tries to get too close to marine mammals. The guides were certainly very protective of their inhabitants.
When we visited the Albatross Sanctuary the guide that we had was a lady in her fifties, she was Maori. She told us that for the first forty years of her life she was forbidden by her father to embrace her Maori heritage, but after his death she reclaimed this. If I remember this correctly her great grandfather was the elder of the land and he is buried there in the Sanctuary. There are some paintings of him in one of the tunnels that you walk through to get to the look out where you could view the Albatross. She spent so much time with us and to see the pride she held for her heritage and that securing a job on the very land that her Ancestors lived was to her like ‘coming home’.
We had been asked to purchase one of the Maori symbols for an Indigenous Australian that my husband works with, so she blessed it for us in her Native tongue. I can still see the tears running down her face as she stood in front of her Ancestors likeness and asked him for the blessing.
A very moving and special experience.
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