Taking It Easy In New Zealand–March 2010

After all of the hassles with the farm house, we decided that it was time to take a break and get out of town.  There was a concert in Wellington we wanted to see.   Plus we have friends down there.  So we decided to take a circuitous route to Wellington via the east and west coasts of the North Island.

This was our route—we went clockwise:

One of the main objectives of a vacation, or should I say holiday, is to have a change of scenery, relax and recalibrate your perspective on things.  There’s nothing like a drive around New Zealand to do that.  You see fantastic scenery and meet interesting people.

Our first stop was the East Cape, which is the bulge at the right side of the map.  It is wild and remote and beautiful. 

We spent the first night on the coast at a place called Te Araroa, population 174.  That is the place closest to East Cape and there you can see the most easterly light house in the world:

And that’s not all.  The campground where we stayed (we stayed in a cabin there, not a tent) also has something to boast about:

To really relax and recharge your batteries you have to slow down, take it easy and take the time to get involved in what is going on around you. 

Some of the unusual sights help you with that because you realize that you have stepped out of your daily routine.  Like when you see a sign like this:

When we saw that, we said “Ha ha.  Isn’t that funny.”  But we soon learned that they aren’t kidding:

Sheep on the road don’t realize that they are on a road.  In fact, they like to take it slow in order to assure themselves that there is nothing to eat there.  The intellect of a sheep is such that they take a lot of convincing that asphalt roading is not edible.   They are oblivious to your presence and the only thing that moves them along is the sheep dogs or the farmer, if he’s around. 

Aside from the fact that they are fun to watch, the wandering sheep also provide you with an unexpected opportunity to slow down and look around. 

As we cruised along the country road behind the sheep, around the next bend we saw a small sign for “Historic Church.”  This being New Zealand and not Europe meant that the historic church would probably have been less than 100 years old.  But we decided to take a look.

The visit proved as cathartic as a visit to one of the great Gothic cathedrals.  It was an Anglican church built in 1924 by local Maori.  The walls are woven panels and the ends of each bench were individually and uniquely carved by local artists.  The stained glass was also done by local artists. 

We spent a relaxing hour exploring all of the intricate details of the church—and we would have driven right past if it hadn’t been for the sheep!

After that we took our time.  The slow drive also allows you to appreciate the beautiful scenery.

And driving along the country roads was easy as the roads are good there was hardly any traffic. Once you are outside of the main cities, all of the roads are, at best, two lane country roads. 

However, every now and then we encountered construction along the road. Usually when confronted with road construction my reaction is a groan . . . if I’m in a good mood.  But I was on vacation.   

When they close one lane for construction, they will have people directing traffic:

We were the first car in line and decided to have a chat with the guy.  He responded by playing the air guitar with his stop sign and coming over to the car.  His colleague was having a morning snack:

And they invited us to join them while we waited!

In exchange for their refreshing watermelon slices, we gave them a few of our unhealthy donuts  and chatted with them for a bit.  We eventually got a sort of laid back invitation to move on:

The whole trip was a nice reminder that if we are always rushing to get to our destination, we might miss out on the many unexpected pleasures that the journey can bring.

But don’t ask me about this one: