It has been awhile since I shared a travel story as I have been completing my new, soon to be released book entitled Health Disparities, Diversity and Inclusion: Concepts, Controversies and Solutions to be released soon by my Publisher, Jones and Bartlett Learning. I’m excited about it! After completing it and while it is in final productions stages, before it’s released on 2/16/17, my thoughts have now returned to my marvelous summer of 2016 and the desire to finally share the wonders of it all, before it’s time to get into full book mode again as their will be so much to say about it.
This summer, I traveled extensively with my husband. We began our journey in Greece, namely Athens, Santorini and several other small islands, then headed to Dubai, followed by China (including Shanghai and Guangzhou) then Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. So, I will begin with the last place that we visited, New Zealand, and then go backwards to the beginning in future posts. I am very saddened that I do so, knowing that this beautiful nation was just hit with a sever (7.8 magnitude) earthquake, followed by aftershocks, a Tsunami, and loss of life. My heart goes out to the people of the beautiful nation of New Zealand as I absolutely love it. New Zealand is known as the land of the Kiwis, in terms of the people, not after the fruit, but a native bird.
The Kiwi Bird
Auckland
Our intention was to see the North and South Island, as the country consists of two of them, but time only allowed for a visit to the North Island, which was spectacular. I actually didn’t know what to expect, but we decided to visit this place, based on my love for Pinot Noir and the fact that my father-in-law had recently visited New Zealand with his wife and they loved it and said we must go. It’s so bizarre, but my love for Pinot Noir started because of my watching of a movie called Sideways, starring the acclaimed actor, Paul Giamatti. I won’t go into the details of the movie, but the bottom-line is that in it, he savors Pinot Noir, which prompted me to try it, and fall in love with it. After the film Sideways, I started my new found foray into Pinot Noir, based on my research, with the notion that Oregon Pinot Noir is the best, with my understanding of the contribution that altitude leads to the refinement of the Pinot grape. Then, I went to a wine tasting of New Zealand wines, at our favorite wine spot in Miami, Wine by the Bay. The owner of that place, Stefano Campanini, is a wine connoisseur and his wine tastings are extraordinary. One of his champagne tastings was so great that it led us to travel to Reims, France, to the vineyard of Charles Heidseick, but that’s another story. It was at Wine By the Bay, at Stefano’s New Zealand Wine Tasting that my love was solidified for their Pinot Noir and the beginning of my wine snobbery. So much so, that New Zealand was now on our travel radar, big time. The first portion of our trip began with a stay in Auckland. It’s a true city with “skycrapers and everything” remiscent of Stevie Wonder’s words fro his classic song Living for the City from his allbum, Innervisions. It was pretty cold in Auckland. We went from extreme heat in Vietnam, which I will discuss in another post, to jacket, hat and scarf weather in Auckland, in August.
Auckland Skyline
Waiheke Island
We saw some of the key sights in Auckland but the highlight was a ferry ride to Waiheke Island, the location of fantastic vineyards. The Ferry ride itself was wonderful! All bundled up, we stared at the wake from the ferry with Auckland as the backdrop behind us and Waiheke in the distance.
Waiheke Island
Upon arrival, our plan was to walk the small island, visiting several wineries for tastings and lots of eating. Well, we made that reality come true! The island was absolutely beautiful. It was lush, picturesque, with breathtaking scenery around every corner. My husband and I literally stopped several times to ask each other “Are you looking at this?”as we were in absolute awe of the beauty that surrounded us. Then, we reached the vineyards. I won’t go through each one but beyond the delicious reserve Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah and of course Pinot Noir, we enjoyed THE most excellent cheese board that we have ever had at the Mudbrick Vineyard. We sat facing the beautiful horizon with a fantastic garden in front of us, with our luscious wine and decadent cheese board, that included a delicious honeycomb to drizzle over the perfect crackers and cheese, and experienced nirvana. We were given a blanket to stay warm and we then decided—we’re never leaving.
Of course, never was short-lived but it was one of those classic moments in life where you experience a bit of perfection that you know must sadly come to an end. I realized after tasting the various wines of New Zealand, that my wine snobbery had been solidified, for life, and that I will always want the best for my palate, even though the reality of that may not always be possible. We ended our evening on Waiheke island with a fabulous dinner, in town, in which the oysters were wonderfully fresh, large and succulent. We savored every morsel, followed by our deliciously fresh fish and side dishes and of course, more wine. Then we headed back to the ferry with Auckland in front of us, leaving that treasured island and all of its deliciousness and beauty behind.
Kiwi Rail Scenic Train
Our next journey was on the Kiwi Railway scenic train ride, for 10 hours, across the entire North Island. This was a wonderful experience. I love the train. There is something about it that offers comfort to me. To just be on it for hours, in comfy chairs, looking at beautiful scenery with intermittent snacks and meals and visits to the viewing car to take pictures and enjoy the outdoor scenery was so wonderful.
People come and go at the various stops and some are there for the duration. So, for 10 hours, we chilled, looking at the beauty of the North Island of New Zealand in all of its glory. It was breathtaking. I was enthralled by seeing natural beauty, sheep and cows on green pastures and on mountainsides. Cows eating grass—what a concept!
Wellington
Our destiny, after our wonderful train ride, was the capital city of New Zealand, which is Wellington—a quaint city. We roamed down Cuba Street, which is quite popular there, and popped in an out of odd shops and felt a sense of being in a place like no other that we had ever experienced.
Cuba Street in Wellington
We made our way to an important Museum of New Zealand called Te Papa Tongarewa (language of the indigenous Maori people). It was free to get in and was truly spectacular. It was filled with intriguing exhibits with a special war time installation and the beautiful culture of the indigenous people of New Zealand, the Maori.
Although we were not allowed to take pictures of the Maouri exhibit, we enjoyed every moment as we learned about these beautiful people who we were only familiar with, before our trip to New Zealand, from the famous rugby team, The ALL Blacks, and their challenge in advance of play called the Haka.
Now, after the exhibit, we know who these great people are. The Maori are warriors, and the indigenous people of the land of New Zealand. How wonderful it was to learn about them and later on our journey included, seeing and meeting them, in person. We finished our day in Wellington with an excellent dinner at a waterfront restaurant with fresh seafood that was delectable. We slept cozily that night at our hotel as it was very cold in Wellington but we loved every moment of the experience.
Rotorua
Our next experience in New Zealand was an enchanting place called Rotorua.
This is the location where you find many of the Maori people and an opportunity for an experience of their culture and beyond. I dream of returning to Rotorua and we will do so before we return to New Zealand, during their warmer weather season, when we intend to visit the south island. Rotorua is where we experienced a 350 acre farm, called the Agrodome. On a tour of the farm, we fed sheep and deer, stood next to cows, watched the sheering of a sheep and purchased 100% lanolin from the wool of the sheep, which I now use on my natural locks.
We also ate food prepared by the Maori people called hangi-- which is cooked underground in a pit using heated rocks, (see chicken potato and carrot dish pictured above as we also had this scrumptious food on the Kiwi train ride also), we saw a kiwi, the national bird and the reason that New Zealanders call themselves Kiwis (mentioned above) and we visited the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves, a unique experience, where we drifted in silence, so as not to disturb the glow worms, in the dark with only the light of their glow. It was magical. Pictures are not permitted inside of the glow worm caves.
I cannot do justice to our experience on the North Island of New Zealand through one post, but I can say that it is one of the most cherished places that I have ever visited. Already, I dream of returning, particularly to visit Rotorua again, to learn more about the Maori people, and to visit the South Island which I understand is a sight to behold. Seeing the Maori people was the highlight of our experience there, so I end this piece with images of them and their beautiful art work as well as best wishes to all of the people of New Zealand, with deep concern and condolences for the loss of life, due to the recent earthquake there. I do so with gratitude for their warmth and hospitality during our visit there. Useful travel tips are listed after the images below.
A Performance by the Maori people
Maori Art piece
A Maori Warrior (performance)
A Maori Gateway entrance art piece
Travel Tips:
1. Travel to places that normally you may not consider and when you get there, experience it to the fullest.
2. Take your time and enjoy the moment. A long train ride, as an example, slows you down and enables you to see. Look and take in the beauty that the world has to offer.
3. Layer up and un-layer. As we traveled from country to country, we went from extreme hot to very cold. Just bundle up and enjoy the weather changes rather than allowing it to be a deterrent.
4. Don’t be bothered with the fact that you are a minority in the extreme. During our travels in New Zealand, besides the Maori, we saw no people of color, which was not an issue at all. See, experience and know who you are, no matter where you are, and carry yourself with pride.
5. Love the animals—sheep, cows, deer, emu and beyond—I cherished seeing them and being in their midst, in the middle of lush, beautiful landscapes. Enjoy and love every aspect of nature—it rocks!