Trip of a Lifetime

New Zealand

Hey Y'all! Well, I've arrived safe and sound in New Zealand. To my horror, it's much colder here than I was expecting, so I'll have to buy some warmer clothes - I don't think my tiny Thai t-shirts will do in negative degrees Celsius. But, other than the climate (which really hasn't been so bad - I'm just a spoiled brat after being in OZ and Asia), I've already grown quite fond of New Zealand. The people are, once again, quite friendly, and it's really easy to get around the country, which itself is serenely beautiful. I've yet to leave Auckland, and I've already seen two volcanoes (One of which is still active...), beautiful landscape and scenery, and some great wildlife. Actually, the fauna here in New Zealand is quite odd - there are no land animals other than mice, possums, and other small helpless creatures. No large predators, in fact, no predators of almost any kind, unless of course you venture into the ocean. Quite a change from Australia, where just looking at certain insects causes coma and death. Before the Europeans killed them all off, however, there were a few larger land animals that lived here - one of which was called something I'll not even attempt to pronounce/type/spell, a very large bird - VERY large, we're talking 4 meters tall - that was unable to fly, much like an ostrich. This thing would have made big bird from Sesame Street look like a pigeon. Of course, the only thing that was able to eat these massive birds were even BIGGER birds of prey. The largest one of these massive Eagles ever recorded had a 14 meter wingspan. 14 meters... You know the bird that rescues Gandalf in the lord of the rings movies? The bird that lived in Australia would have been even bigger than that. Now that's a huge freakin bird. I've learned some about Maori culture (The Maoris were, and are, the indigenous people of New Zealand), including the fact that they used to eat each other on a regular basis, probably just for fun. Tomorrow I hop on a Kiwi Experience tour bus, and I go out into the wild parts of New Zealand, to meet these same Maori people and learn about their culture and whatnot. I'll make a point of not showering so that I smell less appealing than the other passengers. I'll soon have pictures and such for you all, but until then, stay safe, don't eat yellow snow, look both ways before crossing, and don't get eaten by indigenous tribes. I'll try to do the same. Cheers! Spiker

posted by Spiker @ 11:10 pm