Reflections on New Zealand

We’ve been in dreamy Bali for a few days now, and already memories of New Zealand are fading away, so I have to try to remember what I was going to write for the blog about the month we spent there. A second factor in my lackadaisical attitude is that the number of “views” of the past few postings has been 1-2, so I don’t feel there is much of an audience any more. Still, Matthew has implored me to write something just for “us,” as a record of our trip, and I know he is right, so here goes:

Hobbiton

I have been reading G.K. Chesterton’s book on “Orthodoxy” recently. Chesterton makes a case for an orthodox view of Christianity, as expressed in the Apostles’ Creed. His arguments are quaint and fun to read, at least for me. He begins the book by telling the reader that he has always had this funny idea about an explorer who sets out from England to discover an exotic place, and who ends up “discovering” his own country by accident, planting a flag on the banks of the Thames and going out amongst these strange people, observing their customs, and finding out that they are actually his own countrymen.

Milford Sound

Chesterton’s point is that Christianity is this same combination of the familiar and homey with the novel and bizarre. He says that what we all long for in life is this “romance,” as he calls it, where we find things that are completely familiar and yet have an element of newness, of strangeness, as well, so that we are both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. I do think he is right, and this is in fact what I wrote my master’s thesis about all those years ago, that creativity takes place in a kind of liminal state, a state of “semblance,” as I called it, where we can playfully explore new ideas while still enjoying elements of the familiar.

The reason I bring this up now is that New Zealand combines these elements of strangeness and familiarity. When we first arrived, we had been in Hawaii for several weeks and we found ourselves saying, “This is just like Hawaii.” It was also like the UK, also like Seattle, or perhaps Canada. Indeed, my parents’ friend Bill, a Canadian, reportedly said he never bothered visiting New Zealand because it was too much like Canada.

For me, traveling in New Zealand was effortless. The country seemed to combine the best elements of the Pacific Northwest (breathtakingly beautiful rugged scenery, relaxed informality), the UK (best fish and chips – and pies - ever), and Hawaii (the incorporation of Maori culture, exotic plants and animals, tropical beaches). New Zealand seemed to combine these elements and move beyond them to a realm all its own.

Here are my New Zealand highlights:

·       having brunch at a cozy outdoor restaurant with my old friend Regan, who has moved to New Zealand, fallen in love with a Maori guy, and started a body recovery group in Auckland;

·       smearing ourselves with mud and lounging in various hot springs after marveling at the crazy bubbling crust of the earth in the “Gates of Hell” thermal park in Rotorua;

·       attending a traditional Maori performance and dinner (very much like a Hawaiian luau), at which Matt was chosen as chief of the tourists and got to go up on stage for the welcome ceremony;

·       spending time with Dad and Susan in Wellington, playing Scrabble and taking long walks to discover the sights and tastes of the area, including Chinese New Year and a local farm owned by their wonderful friends Nikki and Beverley;

visiting Lothlorien

·       getting locked out of our camper van in the middle of nowhere under the Milky Way after being swarmed by thousands of Sand Flies, Matt hoisting me up on his shoulders so I could wriggle through the high-top window and tumbling in so I could unlock the door;

·       the staggeringly beautiful Milford Sound and the dozens of raging waterfalls the morning after the torrential rain;

·       driving on the windy mountainous roads with stunning views, many of which reminded me of the Scottish Highlands;

·       the lovely AA meeting outside Dunedin, and the place we camped that night by the boat ramp with one other couple – so peaceful;

·       the holiday park on the beach where we stayed, playing the Police Synchronicity album on a continuous loop in the bathroom, being visited by the noisy and fun Kea parrots;

·       re-enacting scenes from Lord of the Rings in various locations throughout our trip, including Mordor, Gollum’s pool (Matt’s amazing Gollum imitation), dancing through the woods of Lothlorien;

·       the quirky town of Oamaru with its Steampunk museum and Victorian architecture, the bookstore and gallery there;

·       the Little Blue Penguins making their way from the ocean at night.