Air New Zealand has a fun Middle-Earth theme for their safety video. Must see!! In fact, Hobbit and Lord of the Rings themes are found here, there and everywhere, even in the big Te Papa museum in Wellington.
At first everything seemed super expensive. We finally quit worrying about it. But when you analyze the food prices, it is not as high as it seems. They do not expect tipping at restaurants. When you combine that with the difference in value between US dollars and NZ dollars, everything seems like it is at a big discount. Suddenly a $30 meal compares with a $20 meal at home.
Right now I am typing on my iPad and looking out the airplane window leaving Christchurch. It is lovely to see the snow capped mountain peaks in the distance and the green farms beneath us. Such a beautiful place. As we go along, there are more and more white mountains below. More than I realized we would see! Way more than we saw while we were there!
I really enjoyed learning more about the Maoris and coming to appreciate their heritage and culture. We loved getting to know some of them, all wonderful. It was particularly interesting to visit their village at Whakarewarewa. There they still live in a village where their needs are met through the supply of naturally hot spring water. We learned how they do everything together as a village. I asked a shop keeper as we were leaving if she felt invaded by all of the visitors who come there to look. She said not at all; in fact, she feels no need to travel around the world because the world comes to her door every day. So sweet. We also learned about the history of their relations with the settlers who came from Europe. Those of Maori and European descent are mostly great neighbors with each other now.
I liked how conservation minded the people are here, evident everywhere: recycling, careful use of water, etc.
I am glad we spent some time in Christchurch. There we learned about how the people are recovering from the earthquakes which they suffered 3 and 4 years ago. These have been very hard times for these people. Many people left to establish their lives in other places. Those who remained have been patiently cleaning up and rebuilding. There are many tall giraffes around town, each decorated differently. They were put there to remind the people to be strong and to look up! There are about 90 of them. At some future time they will be auctioned off. There is also quite a bit of fun artwork around town to brighten things up. Our tour guide expressed gratitude to us for coming to visit their city, as not many people come to do that any more. We could sense the spirit of optimism as people are doing their best to move forward.
I hope we can come back some time. There is much that we did not have a chance to see. This is a wonderful place to visit. Nice to go around the world to a place so different, and still be able to communicate in English. :)
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