I had gone south this weekend. to Napier and Hastings, wine country and art capital (said somewhere/someone) of NZ, apparently. It was in the book--a rough guide to NZ. It's a small quiet town (but not rural) further south on the eastern coast of the North Island.
It took about 5-6 good hours of looking out the window of a minivan/MPV/whatever the fuck have you, into a largely different scenery that you see back there, wherever that is; into a world of rolling hills, thick dense bush, coastline, rolling hills once more, vineyards, paddocks, way too many farm animals, and sometimes: combinations of the above.
In my travels--as though I've traveled a lot--I happened across hundreds in both cattle and sheep, loads of red deer, plenty of horses, some ponies, emu, and one donkey (just one in the middle of nowhere; alone; like me; jackass... and the being alone part). There were probably more animals than I can remember. But that's one big farm blur to me. I tried to take pictures for you but the car/minivan went by too quickly.
There are so many varieties of things to view from down there, though I didn't get the full views.
Mini breweries can be found there and about; there was one place called 'The Rooster,' where you are able to buy big bottles (called flagons)--these are the LARGE coca-cola sized ones--of whichever ale you want to take back home
There was a night at a motel, with a visit to the hot springs or thermal bath area alongside the coast. This must be a place where the locals go on weekends with the family (at a price of $10 a head for adults) because it was pretty crowded. The other thermal area we stopped at was a place called Kerosene Creek--an actual creek where natural (pungent) thermal water flows freely, which was off the beaten path somewhere in Rotorua--I don't know, I fell asleep in the car.
It took about 5-6 good hours of looking out the window of a minivan/MPV/whatever the fuck have you, into a largely different scenery that you see back there, wherever that is; into a world of rolling hills, thick dense bush, coastline, rolling hills once more, vineyards, paddocks, way too many farm animals, and sometimes: combinations of the above.
In my travels--as though I've traveled a lot--I happened across hundreds in both cattle and sheep, loads of red deer, plenty of horses, some ponies, emu, and one donkey (just one in the middle of nowhere; alone; like me; jackass... and the being alone part). There were probably more animals than I can remember. But that's one big farm blur to me. I tried to take pictures for you but the car/minivan went by too quickly.
There are so many varieties of things to view from down there, though I didn't get the full views.
Mini breweries can be found there and about; there was one place called 'The Rooster,' where you are able to buy big bottles (called flagons)--these are the LARGE coca-cola sized ones--of whichever ale you want to take back home
There was a night at a motel, with a visit to the hot springs or thermal bath area alongside the coast. This must be a place where the locals go on weekends with the family (at a price of $10 a head for adults) because it was pretty crowded. The other thermal area we stopped at was a place called Kerosene Creek--an actual creek where natural (pungent) thermal water flows freely, which was off the beaten path somewhere in Rotorua--I don't know, I fell asleep in the car.
