How was New Zealand? Sweet As

Now that I am back, people are asking me about the trip.  "It was great.  It is really nice.  It was good.  It's beautiful.  You should go."  Blah.  I need something better.  You can look at the nice pictures in my previous posts.  Here are the practical, nitty-gritty, tips for getting around NZ with kids.

Traveling There: It is a long trip to travel, but it really isn't that bad.  We have to take connecting flights to Ohio, so my kids are used to long travel days.  When I was a kid, I loved connecting flights because it meant two plane trips.  Now, I loathe them.  A layover in Hawaii, though, it quite special.

Time Change: The time difference between the West Coast and New Zealand is three hours this time of year.  We don't have the flipping of days and nights like when going to Europe or further afield in Asia.

Foreignness: In the "duh" category, people speak English there and the food is fairly western.  The currency is close enough to the value of a dollar (80%) that we didn't have to do too many calculations, like dividing the cost everything we were buying by 5 or 28 or something.

Currency and Cultural Differences:  Food seems more expensive in NZ, but it really isn't.  Tax is included in the cost and you don't have to tip in a restaurant.  In NZ, a hamburger might be $15NZ, which sounds outrageous.  Let's say you buy a $10 hamburger in the US.  The you have 10% tax and 20% tip, for total cost of $13.  The currency rate is about .80 US dollars to 1 NZ dollar, making the $15 hamburger $12.  See?  Not so awful as it first appears.

Total Cost of Trip:  Don't ask.  You don't want to know.  Let's say it would be cheaper sans enfant, but we had to bring the kids.  Will they remember this trip when they are 80 years old?  Yes.  As the MasterCard ad goes...Tickets to see "The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies" in Auckland:  $40.  Tickets to Hobbiton:  $180.  The expression on your son's face when he sees actual Hobbit holes: Priceless.

Restaurants:  Except for fancy restaurants, you get your own water.  NZ has a labor shortage, so they don't have extra folks to bus tables and pour water at your regular bar and grill.  Also, in many cases you go to the cashier, order your food, they give you a number and bring your food out.  This is at reasonably nice restaurants, not just fast food places.

Ownership:  People who own places also work there.  We went to the Kiwi Birdlife Refuge, and the woman who co-owned the place was working the cash register.  Her husband was helping people in the gift shop.  He might have also been feeding and tending to the birds.  You will see a middle aged woman working in a cafe or gift shop, acting like she owns the place.  She probably does.  She will also be taking orders, delivering food, making sure everything is okay.  Division of labor seems to be less than in the US, where people have defined roles and rarely cross the boundaries.  The woman taking the orders and running the cash register will help bus tables while someone else has shifted into those other roles.

Leftovers:  In the US, I usually have leftovers when I go to a restaurant.  In NZ, the portion sizes are reasonable.  I didn't overeat nor was I starving.  The downside of taking an eleven year old and a fourteen year old is that they both eat like regular adults.  One day at lunch, the Boy finished his adult size plate of chicken wings (roasted, not fried), and then finished half of my fish and chips.  No leftovers.

Activities:  This is an outdoor, hiking and camping type of place.  My friend Carla warned me that people will appear in public (i.e., at a movie theater, in the grocery store) in their bare feet.  The style of dress is pretty casual as people are outside so much.  This is not a shopping, visit art museums or learn about history vacation.  I've been to France and learned about the French Revolution.  I've been to Virginia and learned about the Civil War.  This is a learn about nature and natural history vacation: When did the Maori move to NZ?  How were fiords formed?  (They were formed during ice age.) What is a Haast's eagle?  (A very scary bird.  Read this.  I have a link to it in my previous past, but in case you missed it, here it is again.  Hilarious.  Jack was laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.)

Transportation:  This was in some ways a road trip.  The roads between NZ towns are winding, not direct and two lane.  They are not fast roads, and it time it can take to be between Point A and Point B on any given day might vary by 100%.  This isn't so bad because the scenery is usually amazing.  If you get someplace early, there is more time to look at the sheep, get coffee, take pictures or chill.  Given New Zealand is about the length of California divided between two islands, we decided to fly between Auckland and Nelson, Christchurch and Queenstown, and Queenstown and Auckland.  Flying domestically in NZ is a piece of cake.  In some airports, there was no security.  In Queenstown you could see the tarmac through terminal from the parking lot with nothing between the tarmac and the parking lot.  I am not trying to violate any security secrets, but the point here is flying within NZ is not a hassle from our experience.  I got off the plane in Nelson, and I went to the bathroom while Jack talked to the rental car people.  When I was out of the bathroom, I walked over and got our luggage.  As I was picking up the luggage, Jack got the keys to the car.  We walked maybe 100 feet to the car, and drove off.  The time between getting off the plan and driving away in the car was ten minutes.  It might have been closer to seven minutes.  Easy-peasy.

Seattle-ness:  Yes, it is like Seattle in some ways.  Yes, we have mountains and lakes and lots of green all over the place.  As the Boy said, "This place feels familiar."  Yeah, it is like Cascades and the Puget Sound.  But there are other ways it is not.  There are warm, San Diego/Hawaii like beaches.  There are rolling hills and sheep grazing.  Seattle does not have fiords or caves, or Hobbiton, which is very cool.  But parts of the Pacific Northwest are amazing, so going to NZ is like seeing even more amazing stuff.  Let's say Seattle is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  New Zealand is like Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.  Both are good.  Different, but good.

Laid Backness:  You are on vacation.  Chill.  The signs at the Auckland airport will tell you the same.  "Flight 469 to Honolulu: Gate 6.  Status:  Relax."

Natural Beauty:  Sweet As.  Sweet As.