Animals
The countless squashed feral possums and hedgehogs along the road and the hovering coastal sea birds of various descriptions have been the most prolific wildlife observed. One tiny, cute and rather slender stoat did gallop across the road in front of our vehicle. Our night spent in Carters Beach found us swatting mozzies and brushing away moths for the first time since leaving the tropics, and those fabulous red flowering pohutukawa (or Maori Princess) trees support multiple varieties of native bees and bumble bees hovering around the gorgeous red blossoms.
Bird songs were quite delightful to hear, but most of the well camouflaged forest birds were difficult to clap eyes on in amongst the dense branches. The rather strangely named California Quail, with its weird front hanging top-not was seen strutting along the road a couple of times, and a colourful New Zealand Wood Pigeon was observed balancing on a wire. Bee eaters, sparrows, swifts, native ducks and various other avian creatures were all seen at various times.
In one lovely stretch of beech forest we did spot a couple of feral goats beside the road, and of course there were millions of sheep, cows and horses behind fences in the cleared areas.
Cleanliness
The air is clear and clean, the land is rubbish free and everything is really quite beautiful, even the rolling treeless hills are rather pretty to look at. The milk products are fantastic and have a well earned reputation. There has been no evidence whatsoever of pollution thus far.
Denuded hills
I was surprised to learn that 40 percent of the country’s forest cover was removed by the Maoris before the Europeans arrived. Fire was the tool they used to kill the forests then to remove any regrowth. The total lack of shade in so many parts of the Eastern coastal regions we viewed was astounding.
The good news there is that the current generations of humans are promoting a return of forests in some areas, probably realising that there is more money in eco-tourism than destructive industries such as timber cutting and sheep farming. That is a strong lesson North Queensland learned with its rainforests.
Hospitality
All people encountered so far have been warm and friendly and very welcoming. Even a computer repair chap seemed to go right out of his way to help us with a difficult problem. New Zealanders are rightly well known to be friendly folk.
Flowers
The stunning red pohutukawa trees were by far the most flamboyant, but the road verges were absolutely covered with pretty wildflowers of multiple colours. Many gardens abounded with gorgeous agapanthus beds and the forested mountain tops had beautiful Leptospermum trees in full bloom. These ti-trees would sometimes appear to be blanketed in masses of tiny white petals that were very popular with the local buzzing nectar feeders.
Soil types
Surprisingly not a lot of ‘young’ volcanic soil have been observed in our travels so far. Apparently much of this country is old sedimentary soils that have been pushed up from the sea beds by tectonic movements. Previously I had assumed that the islands were created by eruptions, but that has proven to be not entirely so. Gosh there is so much to learn…