My last day - Sat 23rd Jan 2010

I woke up quite early and wondered about the possibility of squeezing one last excursion in before setting off to the airport at about 3.00pm. Having showered, had breakfast, packed and stored my baggage I set off to walk downtown to the Britomart travel centre to enquire about the feasibility of going to Karekare Beach which I had only just discovered was the beach where 'The Piano' was filmed. For some reason I had always thought that it was in some remote spot on the South Island. It turned out the be about 35 kms west of central Auckland. I thought it might be possible to go out there on the bus and get back for lunch in Auckland. It turned out that that was not possible as no public transport goes there. You either have to go by car or book a special excursion. There was no time for that.Instead I set off back up Queenstreet to go the Auckland Art Gallery. It was not such a brilliant day weatherwise as it was cloudy and drizzly again although still quite warm. I had toyed with the idea of trying to get to Dress Smart at Onehunga once more, to see if I could get a possum/merino jumper, but did not fancy another long bus ride in traffic. The art gallery was a good choice with lots of interesting painting, sketches and photographs by artists who told the story of the development of New Zealand. Paintings of Maoris by Goldie and others and a tremendous painting of the white and pink terraces destroyed by the eruption of Mt Tarawera in 1886. Also entertaining was the work of Colin McCahon, whose landscape paintings of Canterbury and Nelson areas I was especially struck by.

By the time I came out I was ready for lunch. I had decided that for my last meal I would walk around to the Auckland Fish Market which was recommended to me as a great place to have a really fresh sea food meal. The walk there is very pleasant and only takes about 15 - 20 mins along the harbour front.

I had a look at the fishmarket itself first. It rivalled those I have seen in France. This tank with the eels in was spooky:

I then went for a meal. Oysters to start and once again my complaint about oysters in the antipodes. They open them earlier in the day and refigerate them which means that by the time you get them they have dried out a bit. Still they were nice. But better still was the yellow fin tuna steak I had to follow. It was pink in the middle and very fresh. Mild and sweet tasting. No wine this time. I did not want to feel sleepy in the afternoon. Then back to the hostel to do a bit of blogging before setting off to the airport.

Well that is it for my NZ adventure. I have done most of the things I wanted to do. I have certainly seen fantastic volcanic and glacial scenery. I rather regret that I did not get to Franz Jospeph glacier as that would have given me a chance to walk on and in a glacier. However I would not change any of the other things I have done and in fact the weather was not good at Franz Joseph when I arrived at Mt Cook (which I had chosen to go to instead). I have been very very lucky with the weather. New Zealanders have been complaining about their cool rainy summer. Each time I arrived in a place the weather cleared and I got sun. I have met some fascinating people and all my travel arrangements have worked well.

As to the New Zealand I imagined from my A level studies it is and isn't like the picture I had. There is something 1950s in the look of the place at times. It is driving along country roads and seeing bungalow type houses. The roads are mostly single lane and there is not much traffic in rural places. It is a very clean place and there is hardly any litter or graffiti any where. In a place like Murchison the pace of life is slower and more rural. Towns are so far away that shopping apart from occasional big shop in the city is done locally.

I expected the landscape to be very green and it is, but not as green as the UK. It is very brown in places especially on the east side where there is less rain in summer. I imagined it would be a wild unspoilt place and it is nowhere near as built up as the UK but 90 percent is cultivated. I thought that environmental issues would be very important and there was certainly plenty of recyling in the cities but none whatsoever in small towns such as Murchison. Even glass bottles went in the general waste. There is less crime that in the UK. Whenever I checked the latest news for the UK online I was struck by the number of headlines about murders and attacks. You don't see that in NZ newspapers or on TV. It is not a country under the shadow of terrorism either. There are political tensions over things like Maori land rights but they do not seem to be as extreme as at home. Perhaps that is because of the famous laid back attitude of the Kiwis. Lastly the weather was better than I would expect in an average British summer but it is by no means perfect. They get a lot of cloud and rain and it gets cold in winter especially on the South Island. There can be snow as far north as the Auckland though it does not settle.

I think it is a great place to go for a holiday and is a wonderful and beautiful country but not the perfect paradise that some people repute it to be. Apart from missing my friends and family I also missed the vibrancy of British cites and the sense of being in the centre of things in a European country.

Well as I wait for my car to the airport I realise I have come full circle. I started my journey here in Auckland and have returned here. But I have done it in another way as well. Some time ago I researched my family history on my mother's side and discovered that her father had been an interesting character. After WWI he had got involved in various business enterprises one of which was director of the Bank of New Zealand. As I walked down Queens Street on my first day I spotted the original bank building (now converted into shops) and wondered if my grandfather had ever been here. He travelled abroad a lot and had a brother in Oz so I thought it perfectly possible. As I walked past I speculated that I could be treading where he had trod. Awesome.