Archive for month: December, 2015

Aspects of New Zealand I will remember the most clearly and for the longest time will likely be first the astounding natural beauty of the islands and second the remarkable (seemingly) genuine kindness of its people.

A key purpose of this trip was to seek out remarkable products made by remarkable people. New Zealand has some amazing design and certainly no end of wonderful people, but in contrast to other countries we visited, I did not find or stumble upon much of the type of product I had hoped to find. Nelson was the exception to this experience.

But picking back up chronologically, we left the North Island, sailed through the Marlborough Straits, and landed in Picton. It was just an overnight stop. Although we had the smallest wine pour of our entire trip, the rest of our dinner was delicious with a bowl of fresh green-lipped mussels and the most elegant garlic bread ever.

Green Lipped-Mussels, how does nature come up with these colors?

The most elegant garlic bread I’ve ever seen

Our motel was unremarkable aside from this old radio on the wall. Sadly it didn’t work.

Vintage radio, form over function in this case

The next morning we picked up a decidedly not luxurious rental car (picture to follow in a later post). Jeff bravely took the first leg, driving us back to the motel. We had been worrying for months about driving on the “wrong side” of the road. A woman on one of our flights gave me the best advice, “steering wheel to the center of the road.” That became my driving mantra. That plus numerous signs along the roads, and an always-alert passenger, kept us safely on the left side of the road. I did a few laps of sleepy little Picton (actually found it harder to drive with little other traffic… you’re not likely to turn into the wrong lane if there’s a car sitting in it already facing you). Then screwed up my courage and we headed out on the Queen Charlotte Drive through the Marlborough Sounds towards our next stop, Nelson.

View out a branch of Queen Charlotte Sound

A slightly different view out this branch of Queen Charlotte Sound

Our motel in Nelson was one of the nicest of the trips, Century Park Motor Lodge. Beautiful spacious room with an exceptionally nice host and hostess. And the best organized kitchen accessories drawer of the trip.
[huge_it_gallery id=”66″]

There was a boarding school next door that was knocking out Wi-Fi signals for a couple block radius. Apparently there was going to be a meeting about it the following day, but as the internet went in and out over our one-night stay, even though they warned us before check in (when we could have left if we so choose), they refunded us over 20% of the hotel cost the next morning (and emailed me several days later to let me know the problem had been fixed).

After wandering a bit together, Jeff and I decided this was a town for me to explore on my own, popping in and out of the numerous stores featuring local designs. Stores that stood out for me were Red Art Gallery, especially products by Dinosaur Designs such as useful yet quirky home accessories (though should mention they’re from Australia not New Zealand).

Also enjoyed the Little Beehive Coop. Owned and operated by local artisans, the store had everything from weaving to drawings to jewelry. I was especially drawn to jewelry by Marielle Estelle, especially the sea urchins (or kina as they’re called in New Zealand).
[huge_it_gallery id=”67″]

Perhaps what I most enjoyed in Nelson were the beauty products. New Zealand has a number of small (to larger) companies that produce high quality, natural face and body products (as I had been vainly searching for in France, and yes, both senses intended). I stopped into one natural products store, Bodywise www.bodywisenaturalhealth.co.nz where a calmly enthusiastic (yes, sounds like an oxymoron, but she was) naturopath named Bridget introduced me to the many lines they carry. Here are the ones I “met” there:
[huge_it_gallery id=”68″]

Living Nature: A fairly large range of face and body products. Claims to be “New Zealand’s original certified natural skincare company”. Was tempted by several products but did not buy any.

Antipodes: This line and Triology (which I originally mistook as being a UK company) seem to be the most sophisticated of the New Zealand natural brands. Beautiful packaging, especially the hand and body creams in jewel-toned metal tubes. Unfortunately I did not buy any of this line as it was very expensive. But as a brand that uses unique, local ingredients like the mamaku black fern and to research the best extractions (with no animal testing of course), it’s one I definitely want to watch.

plantæ: Made locally in Nelson, this is a smaller line of products, but seem to be very pure and intense. I did buy the Rose Hip Fruit + Seed Serum, which is the most concentrated rose oil I’ve ever used. They use the entire rose hip (apparently most rose oils only use the fruit, or the seed, I’m not clear on that…), resulting in what feels like the absolute essence of a rose in liquid format. Heaven.

The Herb Farm: A mother-daughter team, this line was the most attractive to me physically. Simple, clean design that somehow conveys a subliminal message that your skin will likewise be pure and elegant with these products (I’m a sucker for marketing). Their products are as natural and fresh as any of the others, but in addition they have a stated commitment to keeping their products affordable, and the prices were very reasonable, especially for the “natural” market. I left with a sampler line of their rose-based dry skin set. Love it, especially the powder exfoliate.

So, with slightly heavier bags and perhaps a more radiant face, we departed Nelson for our first national park, the smallest in New Zealand, considered the “sapphire”of the system, Abel Tasman National Park. More adventures await!

As of the last post, Jeff and I had arrived in Auckland after a beautiful train trip up the center of the North Island. In one of those rare moments of great timing, our late arrival by train (given the electrical problems) resulted in an upgrade to a club level room, so we got to be posh and comfortable for a night at the Langham Hotel.

Our posh, club-level room in Auckland.

So wonderful was this room and the hotel spa (sauna and an ice pagoda thing…), and so late was our arrival, that it was an easy decision to postpone our 7:30 am departure for a more sane sounding 1 pm one. Prying ourselves away from luxury, we rolled our carryon bags down a steep hill to the Intercity bus terminal and settled in for a sinuous drive to the Bay of Islands.

Intercity bus to Bay of Islands, who chooses this upholstery?

But the bus did take us to this marvelous destination.

We had a choice of staying in the more party town setting of Paihia or the more laid back, sleepy town of Russell. No contest there, so we hopped onto a ferry within 10 minutes of getting to Paihia and zipped over to Russell.

The weather was cooler and wetter than we had hoped (a pattern that unfortunately repeated, guess that’s the risk of traveling off season…). But we stayed at the sweet Motel Russell  with plenty of space (and a very kind hostess who drove us to the ferry as we departed in the pouring rain) and managed to eat and drink well and get in some good walks.

[huge_it_gallery id=”63″]

The highlight was an afternoon boat trip around the islands. The area is rumored to have more than 140 islands, so claimed by Captain Cook upon his visit in 1769. No one has actually counted that many since (we learned that to be called an island, a body of land has to have some surface area permanently above high tide and contain some form of vegetation). But that doesn’t detract from the beauty of this bay filled with water of all colors and at least 80 islands if not more. We took the Great Sights fast boat tour in the afternoon (maybe we should have gone to the party town after all…). Cruised around some beautiful islands, learned some history, got to hike to a lookout where the resident Maori took Captain Cook on his arrival, and learned perhaps my favorite bit of information of the whole New Zealand trip – the Bay of Islands has wild rock oysters that are safe to eat and anyone can gather. This knowledge vastly improved my day, and perhaps the trip as a whole.

[huge_it_gallery id=”64″]

For more than ten years at least, I have wanted to wade into the ocean and pull out fresh oysters (yes, we’re talking about oysters again…) to eat there and then. Fresh oysters on the docks in Normandy was amazing. But wading in and eating them immediately, that’s something else entirely. Upon our return to Russell, I asked our guide where I could find rock oysters nearby. He pointed to an outcropping just around the bay and told me all I needed was a butter knife and I’d be good to go. So Jeff and I dropped our things at our motel, grabbed one dull and one sharp(ish) knife, and headed back to the bay, going as fast as I could make us.

Luckily the tide was out just far enough to let me wade right up to the rocks, but rising so that Jeff didn’t have to eventually leave me there with a flashlight as I might well have stayed and eaten oysters all night.

This was my heaven. The oysters were phenomenal. Sweet, salty, firm, small, delightful. I honestly didn’t even mind the lack of a crisp white wine. A nice couple from Australia stopped by at one point and I shared a few with them. Some terns also wanted to share in the feast, but they were a bit scary. Then along came a pair of ducks who seemingly are above terns in the pecking order, as the terns all took off. In exchange for this service, I did share some oysters with the ducks. All in all an amazing hour or so standing in the bay, trying to pry loose, then open, these fabulous oysters. I would say that next time, a pair of thick gloves would not hurt…

[huge_it_gallery id=”65″]

(photo credits, Jeff Baumgartner)

The next day it was time to depart and start our voyage towards the South Island. We spent a quick night in rainy Whangarei. Nothing much to report from there except perhaps one of the best Thai meals I’ve ever eaten at Suk Jai Thai. A flight from the teeny airport at Whangarei took us to Auckland where we had to dash, cut in line, and dash some more to get to our flight to Wellington. They were calling last boarding, but as it turns out they still had a line a mile long to get on the plane. I tend to worry too much about logistics and this was one of those times I could have slowed down a bit. Most notable on this flight were the strikingly beautiful flight attendants and the only safety video I’ve actually watched in years of flying. Air New Zealand got the All Blacks rugby team to do the safety video (they are absolute national heroes and recent winners, yet again, of the Rugby World Cup). If you’re really bored, like stuck on a plane bored, you can watch it here.

Why back to Wellington and not fly directly to the South Island? Only one reason: to sail through the Marlborough Straights. Next post, a beautiful ride south to the land of green lipped oysters and unreasonably beautiful countryside.