Motel adventures and rare creatures

Christchurch in the rain

View from the boat in Milton Sound

By the side of the road nearDunedin!

Rainbow from car window

Sea Lions on the Beach Otago Peninsular

We have found staying in motels the easiest way to self cater and find accomodation at reasonable cost. However it hasn't always worked out as we expected. One morning this week in Portobello village on the Otega Peninsula, we were awoken at 6 by what sounded like an air-raid siren. On automatic Israeli reflex, we rushed outside in our pyjamas (at 2 degrees C), only to discover that it was the alarm from the local fire station, which was a few metres away. Later we were told that a car had skidded on the icy bay road and "fallen into the drink", a regular occurence for the early morning going to work traffic.

We usually find ourselves the only inhabitants of these motels as it is the tourist off-season at present, but on Thursday morning an elderly gentleman next door began chatting. When he realised we were "Jews from Israel", his joy knew no bounds. He recited the 23 psalm-being a retired sheep farmer, this was appropriate- and pressed religious pamphlets on us. We have promised to send a postcard from the Holy Land.

The natural phenomena still manage to overwhelm us. We can't believe that we had the privelege to sail on a fiord, watching seals bask on the rocks and dolphins play, or wander on an isloated beach among exhausted sea-lions, who sleep deeply as they build up their oxygen levels ready for their next spate of deep sea diving for food. On a couple of occasions, we witnessed-from nature hides- shy yellow penguins and little blue penguins return to shore at the end of a day or more of fishing out at sea. We were amazed suddenly to see an immense glowing rainbow, its colours so intense, and next day to watch a mythical albatross glide in on its 3 metre wingspan to feed its young.

Tomorrow we fly to Tasmania, after a fascinating shabbat in Christchurch, which is a sepatate story altogether.

Is anyone reading this blog apart from our close family?

Marilyn and Maurice

Wellington to Queenstown

Flooding in Queenstown




Landing on Fox Glacier


















Tranz-Alpine Railway

Sailing on the lake from Queenstown





This is the end of our second full week in New Zealand, during which we have journeyed from Wellington, at the south-east tip of the North Island, to near the south-west tip of the South Island and have had many experiences. We'll tell you about four of them now and add a few photos.(We are finding it rather difficult to download photos, so you will have to forgive us for not adding more.)



Last Sunday was Anzac memorial day for New Zealand's ( and Australia's) soldiers throughout the generations.This particular Anzac day began with tragedy, when an army helicopter en route to the fly-past at the main Wellington ceremony crashed at dawn due to poor visibility, killing 3 young airmen. The national media involvement with the tragedy over the following days mirrored similar situations in Israel and reminded us that this, too, is a country with a small, but nationalistic, population. That afternoon we visited the Parliament buildings and were fascinated to hear that, although the Westminster system strongly influences day to day workings, there is a mix of proportional representation and constituency-elected members.



Two days later, on the scenic alpine railway between Christchurch in the east and Greymouth in the west, we met a Kiwi couple (the name New Zealanders tend to call themselves- probably to avoid any racial bias of the international name as opposed to the Maori one, Aotearoa) who explained the political system to us in more detail. They added that Maoris can choose to vote directly for Maori candidates instead of for a local member of Parliament as today they are scattered throughout the population centres. Our conversation was punctated by frequent trips to the open part of the carriage to try to capture the beauty of the mountain range, despite the heavy cloud and gusts of rain which obscured many of the famous peaks.



Though this weather has dogged us all week, we have woken twice to find towering peaks glittering outside different motel windows, where there had been cloudy sky the night before. So when there was a break in the rain over the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, we quickly decided to take a thrilling helicopter trip, zooming up and down each glacier and actually landing on crunchy,pristine snow at the Fox Glacier.



Driving south is like crossing an enormous botanical garden, with overhanging plants, waterfalls and high snow-capped mountains. Many of the roads are very winding and the numerous river bridges are often open for one direction of traffic at a time. Consequently one has to be very careful and patient and not drive for longer than 2-3 hours without a good break. This is particularly difficult in blinding rain when some of the roads are barely passable. Because petrol stations are to be found mainly in towns, it is important to fill up when you see one. Towns may be as much as 100kms apart!



Queenstown has proved much quieter than we expected, an excellent place to spend a few days now that the torrential rain has passed and especially as we found a comfortable apartment at low-season rates. The rivers are too full for jet-boating (Maurice's plan) so we had to make do with the more sedate pleasure of a steamboat trip (to Marilyn's relief) down the long lake, which is causing flooding in the town itself.The surrounding mountains change from minute to minute . Watching them is a pastime of its own. At sunset tonight they looked like a cardboard backcloth for a stage-set, lit from behind.Nearer hills are clothed in glorious autumnal colours, which are beyond verbal description.



We have met people from all over the world, including a Samoan taxi-driver, but no Israelis.

Enjoy Lag B'Omer

Maurice and Marilyn

Video near Franz Josef Glacier

Rotorua to Wellington

Finally arrived at Taranaki Waterfall

View of Volcano on the way to Taranaki Waterfall

Hukki Falls before Lake Taupo

Cathedral Cove (Coramandel Penninsular)-3 hour walk

Maurice on rope bridge in Coromandel Forest

Auckland Synagogue

Our time in Rotorua was spent learning about Maori culture,
relaxing in the Polynesian spa, viewing the whole thermal area from high up and walking by the lake. On Thursay we continued our southward drive, stopping at the magnificent Huape waterfall, circling large Lake Tapau, a volcanic crater, and trekking for 6 kilometres in the Tongariro National Park. This park consists of 3 volcanic mountains and is a ski area. Now, in the autumn,the vegetation is so varied and colourful, that every few metres we saw new delights.
After overnight in Taihape, we rushed to reach the kosher shop in Wellington.
Shabbat in Wellington has proved full of surprises. The shuls (both the orthodox 160+ year old congregation and the progressive 50 years old) are far from where most Jews live today-what's new?- so no home invites, though a friendly community. Instead, we found ourselves entertaining a young Israeli, who stuck to us, limpet-like, on Friday night, telling us his tale of woe- return ticket had run out, no work here, has to move to agricultural area where there's no Jewish community in order to pay for his flight.Congregation members at this morning's kiddush told us there are always Israelis here with problems, usually lost in the bush or arrested.Our young friend helps out cleaning the shul and tonight fried fallafel for a belated communal Yom Ha'atzmaut event. The ambassador designate turned up, as well as the local "rikudei am" class, Jewish and non-Jewish, who performed with better co-ordination than classes I've been in. The klezmer band members appeared to mostly have Chinese and Polish parentage, though there may have been a Jew. This is such a multi-cultural society and the same goes for the Jewish population.The community was set up by the British chief rabbinate to support British Jewish colonialists/emigrants at the time. Those families have disappeared and the current ones include many descendants of Holocaust survivors. There are also many cases of immigrants,who tell their children that they are Jeish on their death bed. The orthodox community is on the wane, with most youngsters moving to Melbourne, Australia, or making aliyah.

Shavua Tov!

Fortunately we are staying within walking distance of the superb Tio Pape museum, which answers evey possible question about this country's geology and and its ethnic mix.

Auckland-Retouro

The Chinese taxi driver, who took us to collect our rented car, explained that after 9 years in NZ, he has just brought his Chinese wife over so they can now have more than 1 child. Anyway we decided to go to the Coramandel Peninsular &, after passing a breathalizer outside Auckland , made our way West to this fantastic area.We visited & walked through autumnal forests, where the trees and shrubs are like in a botanical gardens, & then had a fabulous tyul to Cathedral Cove (close to where Cooke landed). The South Pacific really is a royal blue colour! We are now in the thermal resort of Rotorua -geysers,boiling mud pools & Maori culture.
Hag Sameah!

After 30 hours travel, with an 8 hour stop off in Hong Kong including a 4 hour express visit to the centre and a wonderful vegetarian meal (thanks to Lynne T), we landed in Auckland mid-day Thursday local time. Clearing the airport, despite "forbidden-food" sniffing dogs, was simpler than we had expected & we immediately sped off to a pre- booked appartment with a South African female taxi driver. Many thousands of South Africans have emmigrated here & you find them everywhere. On Friday morning, on visiting the only kosher shop to buy provisions carrying a large back pack, we were greeted by locals as"here are the backpackers"! We visited the shule complex, which is next to the shop and which has recently been completed rebuilt, is shaped like Noa's Ark & houses a small primary school for 140 children. However, having prayed there over shabbat, we see that it is typical of diaspora communities- the Rabbi has just left but they are struggling on with the help of the Israeli Bnai Akiva shaliach, together with American & South African helpers. The locals do not want Chabad but, without their help , it is difficult to see how this community can progress. We have also found time since arriving to zoom 60 floors up the Sky Tower with its impressive views of the city & harbours ( where we walked this afternoon) as well as shopping for protective clothes to face the elements once we leave for the wilds tomorrow.

Marilyn & I would like to thank all our friends, family & brothers for their warm wishes prior to our departure & we wish you all Yom Atzmaut Sameach .

Just 2 days to go before we fly-can't believe it!