One Tree Hill, Onehunga, Auckland. The volcanic hill was named after a tree that used to sit on top of it. But the tree is gone now and the whole estate is today a massive park with roads for cars. It’s easier to drive into the park than to walk because of its size. We were the only ones entering it by foot. Very odd. From the top you can see downtown Auckland, the surrounding islands and the other volcanic hills around the city. Fun fact: all the hills in New Zealand are or were a volcano. It adds danger to the thrill of climbing one! When we made it to the top, a thunderstorm loomed in the distance, and it was already time to go back down (or face the rage of the Māori thunder god Tāwhirimātea).
The story behind it dates all the way back to the first Māori settlements in the 15th century with roughly 5000 inhabitants. The area was subsequently sold to a merchant, but was later incorporated into the Colony of New Zealand in 1840 under the Treaty of Waitangi, declaring independence from the Colony of New South Wales in what’s today Australia. The Treaty gave sovereignty over the whole lands of New Zealand to the British Crown under a new colony. Later, in 1852, the tree was cut down for firewood in an act of vandalism. In its place was planted a Norfolk Pine, but the Māori saw in this a great insult because it wasn’t a native species and attacked the tree in 1960 with chainsaws. The attacks went on till the 1990’s when the tree was in a very bad shape and had to be cut down by the city council. Today, the hill is filled with a water reservoir. An obelisk was built at the top as a memorial to the Māori, though it’s not much of a memorial since the Māori are still living in the area, so it’s more of a centennial monument. The chainsaw used to cut the Norfolk Pine tree was found on sale on the popular Kiwi selling website TradeMe, but was taken off due to complaints, though it was later sold on eBay.
Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. This small mountain of a hill sits right at the end of a peninsula stretching along the Pacific Ocean. Hiking up on it gives you a beautiful panoramic view of the whole town and the neighbouring marshlands. Going up, we met many sporty people running up and down the 2 km track. It seemed Kiwis would start and end their days with a small jog up the 200m mount. (This is in fact true; some wake up at 5AM and go for a run or walk up the nearest hill for a view). The hill is in fact a lava dome and is roughly 2 to 3 million years old. The volcano that used to sit here has since moved south to Rotorūa (hence the geothermal activity and sulfur lakes), then Taupo (hence the massive lake leftover) and is now in Mount Ngauruhoe in the Tongariro National Park (which we also hiked and took a selfie with).
The Hobbiton, Matamata, Waikato. The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit film-set in Matamata, was built from scratch in the idilic hilly area chosen especially by the Kiwi film director Peter Jackson. With about 400 small houses dug up in hills, and with another 4 built on a real-life scale, the set still feels very much alive, with the gardens actually producing veg and fruits and with a daily upkeep from the maintenance team making sure the fictional village looks lively. There is nothing behind the doors as the scenes inside the houses were filmed in the studios in Wellington. The site was built on a local farm property, chosen for its perfectly round small hills and the proximity to a state highway. It’s open for visits only on guided tours as you wouldn’t want to break anything that cost years of construction. At the end of the tour, you are invited to drink a free glass of the LOTR beer, brewed especially for the film. Although relatively high in alcohol level (from 5 to 8%), the beer on-set was watered down for obvious reasons. Apparently, many people pay to visit the set without actually having seen the trilogy, and have no clue what they’re looking at. Guides have notably been asked during the tours “So where does Dobby live?” or “Does that mean the Māori were short?”
McLaren Lake, Bay of Plenty. A friend of mine gave us a tip to go to the McLaren Lake to see the glow worms. The lake is not famous for the activity and usually not many people will turn up to book a kayak tour. For a small fortune, you’ll be served wine, cheese, fruits and some crackers, before hopping in some kayaks and being guided to a narrow canyon. The whole activity takes place at night, and it’s quite amazing. The 30m-tall canyon will glow with thousands of small greenish lights all the way to the top, where they merge with the stars. It’s a unique experience to see glow worms and to be able to kayak at night. In Māori mythology, the glow worms are called the “sons of the stars”. When the Earth mother (Papa in Māori) and the Sky father (Rangi) were separated by one of their sons (the Tree god Tāne), the primordial gods we’re sadism confused. Rangi hence sent some of the stars down to earth as a token of the love they still possess for each other. Biologically though, the glow worms are a type of spider that attract insects at night with their bioluminescent light. The stronger the light, the hungrier they are, and the more insects they’ll catch. So if you don’t want to be bitten by a mosquito, travel with some glow worms.
Rotorūa, Bay of Plenty. The city is built on a hot plate. Every lake in the area is steaming with sulfur. A pungent smell of rotten eggs and a warm cloud of air will suddenly brush past you every so often. It is an exciting city, with many Māori artefacts, settlements, traditions and geological features such as volcanoes, geysers and steaming sulfur lakes. Apparently these lakes can appear anywhere at any time. We were walking once on the pavement and thick clouds of steam were coming out of people’s basements. In parks, there are rough yellow patches of dead grass that mean a small puddle of sulfur will steam its way up soon. Rotorūa is also a sacred place for many Māori families as many stories and myths take place around the surrounding lake. One story is that of a man and a woman of two different tribes, who were deeply in love, yet lived far apart from one another. The man was in Rotorūa, whilst the woman was on an island in the lake the city is built next to. The two families were at odds with each others and the couple longed to meet at last. As the woman remembered that she possessed a flute, and knew a song her lover would also remember, she started to play the instrument to sooth her loneliness. The man, startled by the beauty of the song, recognised it immediately, and could at last localise the origin and meet with his beloved.
Māori World Wars Cemetery in Rotorūa. The Bay of Plenty region, and especially Rotorūa, is a very important area for the Māori. It is roughly where they landed in the 13th or 14th century on their highly intricately-built boats from probably the nearest island Fiji. As a Polynesian nation colonised by the British, New Zealand (or Aotearoa) became throughout the last century, a trilingual nation, with English, Māori and New Zealand English Sign Language as official tongues. Māori is still spoken by 15% of the 4 million citizens, and some of the Māori will speak it as a mother tongue before English. There are radio stations, TV channels, newspapers and even emojis (called Tikis) in Māori. Many towns have Māori names and a Te Reo way of pronouncing it, which emphasises the consonants not the vowels. The indigenous culture has recently seeped through the identity of New Zealand. That’s partly due to a couple factors. Firstly, the indigenous Māori are relatively homogenous with one language and with little variations on the South Island. Their culture, identity, language and customs are unique and spread across the country as the sole indigenous presence on the land. Secondly, their ancestry, mythology, language and culture resonate strongly with other Polynesian countries such as Tonga, Samoa, and puts New Zealand at the crossroads of multiple cultural spheres, namely Western, Polynesian, and South-East Asian/East Asian with China and Japan as close economic trade partners. None the less, the Māori have been marginalised, lied to, deceived and killed in military expulsions during land conflicts and with European diseases. Their contributions to both World Wars and the Kiwi identity have only recently been cherished and recognised, alongside a sense of regret and resentment of past behaviour on behalf of the European NZs. The Māori feel they’ve been cheated from the outset. On the 6 February, New Zealand celebrates Waitangi Day, when the British Crown and the Māori chiefs signed the Waitangi Treaty in 1840. Though translated, and signed in good conscience, the implicit meanings of the treaty have trickled down through history in two very distinct ways. The British understood they were given the sovereignty of the lands on which the Māori settled, the full governance of the islands and the right to colonise, in exchange for protecting the indigenous peoples. Sadly, the Māori translation wasn’t exactly the same. They understood that, indeed the sovereignty of the lands was given to the British Crown in exchange for protection, but that the actually governing power remained in the hands of the chiefs. Moreover, the Māori were to become subjects of the Crown, which had its advantages (protection), but also its disadvantages (military duty, conscription for European wars, resettlement). That, and many other things, was what triggered the slow and lingering battles on the field and in the court rooms for the following 150 years. The treaty is still legal and abolishing it isn’t on the state’s agenda. In fact, only recently has there been talk of righting the colonial wrong of deceit and misery that the Treaty has created over the years. Today, they have priority on any natural resource and settlement they deem sacred or important for their culture and religion. For example, any piece of jade that is discovered, is automatically property of the Māori, except if you’ve had it for over 24 hours then it’s yours weirdly – and we have some! In many places that have significant sacred importance to them, such as a natural spring or canyons, an official wood-carved entrance (like the one on the photo) will be built with a ritualistic poem written next to it thanking the gods for their protection. The Te Papa museum in Wellington narrates the story of these people and the struggle to keep their cultural identity intact.
Huka falls, Taupo, Waikato. The Waikato river becomes a continuous waterfall as it narrows from 100 to 15m wide, before cascading into a small lake and making its way down to Taupo Lake. You can actually pay to go on a speedboat down the rapids. However, looking at the water go quickly is enough adrenaline for some. The Huka falls are also generating electricity through a generator that regulates the amount of water passing through the gorge. As such, the river generates enough electricity for Taupo and even more to export around the country.
Paekakariki, Wellington Region. The sea shores in New Zealand are always stunningly beautiful. The beach goes on for miles in both directions and its ruggedness and natural state give it an authentic and comforting feel. Going to the beach in New Zealand is at polar opposites than going to the beach in some parts of Europe. Usually, there will never be more than 10 people (at most!) on a 5km stretch of beach. Even in Tauranga, a famed Kiwi holiday destination, there were surfers, swimmers and joggers in the water, but overall, there was plenty of space to take in the whole breeze and beauty of the ocean. It’s a real treat for someone who links going to the beach with an unnecessary show of male hegemony, overpopulation, strategic positioning of towels at 7AM, and annoying sand scratching your underwear. The sand here is smooth, delicate and natural, carved by the ocean daily into a neat and even horizontal surface that doesn’t stick to your feet. There are, of course, more populated beaches, but even there, sunbathing, and lying on your towel for 2 hours a day and dipping in the water for a bit is just not a thing. You go for a swim, maybe to surf, a jog, but you most certainly don’t sunbathe! Austral sun is harsh on the skin. With no pollution in the air and no ozone layer to filter the sun rays, even a factor 50 will leave you tanned after a good hour of walking outside in the summer months. Put no sun cream and your legs are red within 20 minutes; regardless of the skin type. We hiked up the Tongariro crossing, at 2000m elevation, next to the Mount Doom volcano, and I didn’t put any sun cream on my legs. I felt the burn for nearly a whole week.
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