Girls Skydiving In Bikinis
An American's perspective on New Zealand
Advice for travelers and New ZealandersAn account based on a five week stay in Maraetai Beach -- a semi-rural bayside suburb of New Zealand's largest city of Auckland -- in July 2010 (the "winter" season). Advice for travelers. Thoughts about the land and people and politics and culture and economy and geography. Theories about extreme sports. Note: this article & pictures are public domain; feel free to copy them without attribution. Like it? Add weblinks to it.
Note: the kitty cat from Auckland (see picture at bottom) which I used to play with traveled with her owner to Christchurch and was undoubtedly in the recent earthquake. I hope kitty and all Christchurchers are safe. Best wishes from this American. -- tom sulcer February 23, 2011
Unrelentingly gorgeous landscapes and seascapes
New Zealand is a stunningly beautiful place. Even the drive from Maraetai (muh-RYE-TYE) Beach to Botany is one breathtaking nature-scape after another. When possible, I pulled the minivan over to snap photos -- each could be used for a
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| Aspiring American screenwriter near Maraetai Beach. |
I'm an American from New Jersey, a mostly flat state with some hilly sections west of New York City, visiting
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| The Botany-Maraetai road (Pacific Coast highway) has countless spectacular views such as this one near Whitford. |
Friendly people
What surprises me most about New Zealand is how friendly people are. I can make eye contact with people I don't know and start up conversations, exchange information, share stories, offer advice. A couple at a
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| American teenager in a pohutukawa (or macrocapra?) tree. Photo by Tom Sulcer (public domain) Waiheke Island. |
We visited beautiful Hunua Falls after a rainstorm and marveled at the thundering spray, getting as close as we could to the waterfall's base. Cliffs towered above; could earthen sections come toppling down? It was too chilly for swimming in the churning waters under the spray, but I challenged my kids anyway. There are no snakes in New Zealand, I told them. We climbed scenic paths leading to overlooking positions; the walkways had wooden beams forming stairs (great idea). Driving back our car-swap minivan attracted a nail in the front right tyre; tick tick tick it sounded, clicking with every rotation. I stopped and felt it; trying to extract the nail I heard the hiss of escaping air (so I stopped, and the swooshing stopped; phew). The tyre stayed inflated until Clevedon, where the excellent tyre mechanic (named Ivan of the Clevedon Garage) fixed my car in a jiffy for a modest fee and told me about eels in the Hunua pools -- eels generally don't bite, but if they do, the bite feels like sandpaper. We exchanged email addresses and told them about our home exchange experience. Every farm we pass has visible sheep and cows and goats and horses (usually wearing covers); in America, farms are not as numerous, at least in parts of New Jersey (the midwestern U.S. has huge agribusinesses), and it's sometimes harder to see the livestock; are they in barns? Most unusual? I don't remember seeing many barns in New Zealand; it's possible that it never gets cold enough to insist that the animals have some kind of protection. Public parks have live sheep wandering about: hey, they cut the grass! Cows look away and won't meet my gaze; the only exception to this was in India, when I looked at a cow walking down a street in Udaipur, unattended; the cow didn't blink, but stared back at me as if to say "What are you doing here?"
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| Auckland, from a hill near Devenport. Winds from different directions make it easy for sailing. It has two harbors (one on the east, one on the west). It's called the "City of Sails". Photo: Haley Sulcer. |
Later, on Waiheke island, while building a sandcastle, some young moms with kids got a chance to help pat down the towers while their dogs got good exercise chasing balls in the flat sand into the water. While the beach was almost empty of swimmers since it's winter, it has a friendly feel. It's possible to swim (some children do it for short bursts) but it's still a bit chilly for a long afternoon of water sports. In the NZ summer season (October-April roughly) the water is much warmer and suitable for swimming.
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| Hot springs in Rotorua. Don't jump in. It's 212 degrees F. |
There were times when I wondered whether the omnipresent friendliness could have been manufactured somehow, as if there was a team of government friendliness enforcers predicting my every move in advance, and carefully monitoring people to ensure they were friendly. Or, do people get ticketed for being unfriendly? Or maybe professional greeters were hired to be friendly, and were planted deliberately in places I might visit, knowing that I would write this. I occasionally felt like the character Truman on the movie The Truman Show, with everybody smiling at him with a kind of eerie hard-to-believe artificiality; I wanted to wheel around quickly and catch people giggling in cahoots. But the friendliness is genuine, omnipresent, as if a cheerfulness bubbles up from the ground like hydrothermal activity at Rotorua. And it's quite amazing. While rummaging for a piece of paper to write down a link to this column, a motorist who was parked nearby the store pulled out a blank envelope -- here mate, write on this, he said. People are thoughtful and caring.
Environmental concern
The concern for all things environmental runs deep, literally. Exploring the Kawati caves with a Maori-
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| Nature walk on a trail up to a hill overlooking Clevedon. |
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| Trees in New Zealand vary from palms to pine. |
Beaches vary. The west coast of the north island is famous for its black sand which is mined for iron ore. Giant ships arrive and scoop up the black sand to extract the ore, according to one person I spoke with. In winter, it's not fun to walk on it -- the black sand clings to your suit, feet, and finds it way back into your house, said another. West coast swimming can be treacherous, since currents are unpredictable, and huge holes can develop and sandbars disappear in an hour; there have been numerous drownings of swimmers caught up in riptides, and fishermen caught off guard by a large wave. Beachgoers often encounter a rogue wave which attacks without warning, rising ten feet above normal; the person I spoke with said they were well up on the beach and found themselves in two feet of water in a split second. In the hot season, the black sand gets extra hot, and can burn your feet without protection. Dogs' paws have become burnt on the hot metallic sand, so people have to be careful with pets.
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| Beach on Waiheke island. Great sandcastle sand. |
Generally New Zealand's climate is mild, mediated by the immense Pacific Ocean, with temperatures varying
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| Winter sunrise at Maraetai Beach, looking east. It was mild, not chilly. |
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| Some trees resemble American cell towers. Photo: Haley Sulcer. |
British orbit
I see New Zealand in the British (not necessarily American) orbit. While it's clearly a western country, it seems closer to nations culturally like the U.K. and Canada and South Africa and Australia. I met people who moved here from South Africa, have family in Australia, relatives in Canada. One chocolate specialty shop owner from the U.K. was having trouble adjusting to the chilly NZ winters; "houses aren't insulated" she complained. In the house where I'm staying, there is no town water source; rather, rainwater from the roof is channeled into tanks and stored. When needed, a pump pushes water through a filter, and it supplies a house. This works effectively because it rains often, but when occasional droughts happen, it sometimes is necessary to pay a hundred plus dollars to get a truck to deliver more water. Ancient Venetians did something similar, if memory serves correctly, except without the pumps or filters. I did not meet many other Americans, surprisingly. After hearing my accent, two supposed I was Canadian; one correctly tagged me as American. What's British? Horse jumping shows on TV, shrubberies, rugby and cricket, British-sounding names for towns and prominent streets (Nelson, Dunedin, Queens Road, Khyber Pass Road) and words (barrister, car hire, etc), grassy lawns, manicured gardens.
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| View from Duder Regional Park. Composite photo: Haley Sulcer |
Politics: alive, leaning left of center
Most people have a left-of-center orientation with strong concern for environmental protection and tourism, with somewhat of an anti-business attitude. People know their MPs (members of Parliament); one said if they communicate in writing to an MP, their representative will respond. In contrast, in America there have been reports about representatives throwing constituent mail routinely in the trash. Several commented how NZ's previous prime minister, Helen Clarke, made an appearance at the local Maraetai Beach school a year or so ago. I had the sense that the government was on the ball, and understood economics better than citizens.
I participated in a political discussion at the cafe about mining. That in itself was amazing -- political discussions between neighbors! I was impressed that people had conversational exchanges which were friendly and showed respect for opposing viewpoints; in the United States, talking politics is practically taboo unless you're with close friends or family or in a well-padded insane asylum. At a party once in my hometown in the U.S., somebody brought up politics and the room went silent for a tense few seconds. In NZ, your correspondent got to express his point of view when the conversation went from mining, to terrorism, to dairy farms.
There had been a recent government decision to back away from mining the so-called "Crown" lands. Newspaper accounts suggested that this had been a victory of popular anti-mining sentiment against the government, although the issue was far from resolved. At the cafe table, my three kiwi neighbors applauded the anti-mining decision, but I disagreed. What, dear reader, was my brilliant pro-mining argument? I said: Rocks are rocks ... people want them ... they're not valuable in the ground but are valuable out of the ground ... why not move them from below ground to above ground and make money? Such was my brilliant argument. My American pro-money pro-business agenda was revealing itself. But the others disagreed that it would impact tourism negatively and only benefited select industries and not the whole nation. My kiwi neighbors most likely were not persuaded by my sophisticated argument.
Surprisingly, I found people interested in an issue that concerns me very much as an American, namely, how to prevent terrorism. I have a pamphlet called Common Sense II in which I advocate a strategy of identifying public movement for all people and things, but protecting this information with strong privacy fences, along with other rather controversial suggestions which require people to, among other things, act like citizens again by participating in politics. The people at the cafe listened to my thinking. One disagreed with the strategy on the basis that she worried it would undermine civil rights. In America, even bringing up the subject of terrorism prevention causes people to turn away and tune out; in New Zealand, people are listening and thinking.
My general sense was that the level of violence in both NZ and the US was about the same, with sporadic
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| Goodbye Mr. Guy. If I had met him, I bet he'd have been friendly like all New Zealanders. |
Back at the political discussion at the cafe, the conversation had shifted to a dairy purchase, and I got a chance to weigh in on that debate as well.
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| Rainbow at Maraetai Beach. Bright beautiful rainbows are plentiful. It rains but often without lightning and thundering. |
A common public sentiment is along the lines of "We don't want to become tenants in our own country." But I argued that the assets were not New Zealand's assets but are owned by particular firms, individuals, or stockholders who may be citizens of New Zealand or citizens of other countries. And the nationality of the owner, in my view, is irrelevant to the interests of the owner. Regardless of who owns something, the land will still be there and the government of New Zealand will still get tax revenues from businesses which buy and sell in the country. Selling New Zealand land to a Chinese state-owned enterprise might be a problem if, after the sale, a giant barge pulled up with giant earth-moving equipment, dug up all the land leaving only puddles of Pacific Ocean water, and then hauled it to another (warmer?) location in the Pacific, then raised a Chinese flag on the replanted island. That would pose a worry. But, as kiwis say, no worries mate.
I see a mild popular public sentiment against business, against capitalism, against ownership, against buying and selling, somewhat similar to a Western European political sensibility, but it's hard for me to tell if this sentiment hurts NZ economically. And it's balanced by respect for the rule of law. Unlike America, New Zealand has few lawyers (barristers or solicitors) per capita and avoids much needless litigation such as class action lawsuits. Why? My guess is that a healthier political sphere has structured incentives for lawyers in such a way as to avoid unnecessary litigation. For example, in 2001, Parliament passed the Accident Compensation Act which established a no-fault way to pay accident victims; it cuts down on lawsuits but gives an agency called the ACC wide power (sometimes criticized) for making decisions about medical treatments to victims.[2]
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| New Zealand coins are logical, easy to figure out. The $2 coin was easy to carry and used often. |
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| Pine Harbour marina. It is likely that a road will soon connect this marina with the town of Beachlands. Many commuters take the subsidized ferry boat (not shown) into Auckland each morning. Photo: Haley Sulcer. |
If I lived here permanently, my greater concern wouldn't be which particular businesses operated or how big they were, but that store owners don't rope off space from the so-called public sphere. In American malls, for example, political discussion or protests are nonexistent, since mall owners own the space between the shops. It's part of an overall shopping experience. If I try to protest any political issue in any American shopping mall, mall managers can have me arrested for interfering with their "rights" of commerce by interfering with customers' shopping experience. And US courts will generally side with the mall managers. Malls are a more structured, pleasing shopping experience with indoor fountains, improved lighting, trash collection, bathrooms and music, but they cut off people from interacting with other people politically. In a town like Beachlands, with it's present arrangement, it's possible to approach people and talk about anything you like. I see an unfortunate worldwide trend in which there is a general erosion of the public sphere. I hope this doesn't happen to towns like Beachlands. For further information about this topic, see my article on History of citizenship in the United States.
The combination of functioning democracy among a people with a somewhat anti-business attitude can be problematic for entrepreneurs, particularly from abroad. I got an email from an Australian entrepreneur who had read my account here on Google but thought it was too positive, and he wanted to warn people about possibly moving to New Zealand for business purposes. He complained about having to constantly "dodge and manoeuvre past bureaucratic approval processes" to seek permission for his projects, and after six mostly unproductive years (there were scattered successes) of cumbersome delays and procedural run-arounds, he's returning to Australia. He described himself as "shattered and in shock" from his experience in New Zealand. He complained about an anti-business attitude among local councils as well as a tendency to favor locals and entrenched elites rather than immigrants.
Politically healthy
I see numerous signs that there is an active healthy relation between people and government. While it's probably a result of New Zealand's smaller size (it's harder for populous nations to keep a spirit of democracy alive), I believe the parliamentary system is superior to America's constitutional variant. Professor Adam Tomkins in Our Republican Constitution ("our" meaning the U.K.'s) argued that asking government ministers to seek support from Parliament each week was a powerful brake on corruption; it kept Parliament in the driver's seat and ensured that it was well-positioned to get facts and weed out poor performers. In contrast, the American system of government has broken down with a corrupt Congress (controlled by corporate lobbies). In many respects, US government is like a giant corporation. Power within government has gravitated to an essentially undemocratic branch -- the presidency -- which controls a vast number of federal agencies. Presidents have appropriated congressional power by quasi-legal devices such as signing statements in which a president says how a given law is intended as being understood and enforced; presidents have vast budgetary authority. A still-vital check on executive power is the judiciary which can work, but it works slowly, inefficiently. The Supreme Court can not act on its own, per se, but it can only react by making decisions in court cases which take time to bubble up from lesser courts. Serious debate doesn't happen within the U.S. Congress. In contrast, the NZ Parliament has regular debates readable online. Debates in the British parliament are lively and informative.
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| Tree at Pine Harbour Marina, in Beachlands. Photo: tom sulcer (public domain) |
I see many signs of New Zealand's political health. That people power prevented the mining decision shows that government does listen (although the issue isn't fully settled, and I personally thought the decision was not in NZ's best interests overall.) But it's what the people wanted. In another example, motorists complained about a ticketing policy which targeted Auckland drivers who drove in a designated bus lane; complaints that a 50-meter rule was confusing were reported in newspapers and led to policy reconsiderations. People talk politics and listen courteously to opposing viewpoints; on radio shows, callers were well-informed and reasonable. Litigiousness (rampant in America) seems to be under control here. Doctors in America, particularly obstetricians, live in nagging fear of lawsuits and, as a result, have to pay extraordinary monthly premiums to guard against possible lawsuits; they pass these insurance premium costs along to consumers. Health insurance in NZ works and generally people seem to be satisfied with it, although I met a few who thought they'd have to travel abroad for specialty operations; some bought "private insurance" to cover services and conditions unavailable here. In another instance, traffic authorities wondered about reducing the speed limit on a section of road; so authorities polled local residents to ask their opinion on the question with a mail survey. Statistics New Zealand, a government agency tasked with national data, does a competent job with much less funding than their U.S. equivalent. Censuses happen more often (every five years in NZ; every 10 in US) and a policy of fining non-respondents seems sensible and boosts accuracy. In contrast, the US census is sometimes riddled with undercounting. As a former market researcher, my instincts are to trust the NZ data more than the US data, although it is cumbersome getting data quickly out of both agencies. One good thing about the US data: it's free.
Extreme logic
I'm still trying to make sense of New Zealand. I get the emphasis on sailing and water sports, since there's
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| Zorbing is climbing inside giant transparent spheres (left) and rolling downhill. Cost of a ride? $49 NZ$ or about $40USD. |
When New Zealand drivers do find a flat stretch of empty road, they want to make up lost time. So they speed. I understand this. Perhaps this explains the skateboarder going 100 kilometers per hour (around 70mph) on a flat stretch by hanging on to the backs of vehicles. Now that's not safer than driving.
My daughter's "Zorbing" outside Rotorua is starting to affect her sense of humor. We drove by cattle on hillsides. "Wouldn't it be funny if that cow rolled down the hill? What a great YouTube video!" I try to keep my eyes on the turns. I predict newer, more incredible sports will emerge from the kiwi imagination.
Driving strategies
Many of the rural roads in New Zealand are two-lane wonders, separated by only a broken white line. There is
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| Steam rising at Rotorua. |
Driving back from Rotorua, there was a car behind me which didn't pass when opportunities arose. Why? Then I figured -- my car was serving as its shield. If an oncoming car crossed the center line, it would probably hit my car first. So, I started adopting the strategy as well -- I found a large truck as a rugby-like blocker to hide behind, and followed rather closely, trying not to tailgate. It worked. But roads can be treacherous -- that same evening, in the Rotorua area, teenagers in a van, some without seatbelts, had a dangerous late-night accident which everybody saw on the news -- bodies spilled on pavement, two in critical condition, sharp truckers blocking traffic from each direction.
Generally adjusting to drive-on-the-left was not difficult. I had trouble conceptualizing how to approach a highway or how a cloverleaf might work, but simply following the signs and the other cars did the trick. Auckland motorway drivers are reasonable and cautious, generally, and drive like Americans by having an imaginary bubble-space around their cars; when changing lanes, drivers let other cars in the lane if they signal in advance, generally.
Auckland: well-managed cosmopolitan small city
Our first trip to Auckland, we parked and walked around the city. It's New Zealand's largest city in the northern section of the north island, considerably warmer year round than other cities; it has two bays on each side.
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| What a baby robot sees when it looks up at its mother? No, this is Auckland's SkyTower. People jump off it and rappel down fast. |
Auckland had shops similar to any western cosmopolitan city with familiar worldwide brand names. There were beautiful kauri (pronounced COOR-ee) trees in Albert Park. The University of Auckland had many covered walkways which we guessed were to get students to class on extremely rainy days. But my initial assessment was there wasn't much to do in Auckland. I didn't see any theaters (I was looking for a protruding marquis with flashing neon lights.)
A week later, we visited Auckland at night and it seemed a totally transformed, more vibrant city culturally. My
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| Tree in Auckland Park. Watch your head walking underneath. |
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| Public parks have real sheep. They cut the grass. Looking southeast towards the bay near Maraetai Beach at Duder Regional Park. |
Before the show ended, I spoke with a director named Amber who has a Ph.D.; one of her favorite writers was Janet Frame. Amber figured I wouldn't have known who Janet Frame was since I was American; I responded "the writer spared from a prefrontal lobotomy by a vigilant doctor who lived in Dunedin and who wrote imagistic novels?" Hey, this American knows his Janet Frame, but most other American handymen might think she's a type of window. I gave her a link to my screenplay Fifteenth Reunion; why not use it for an upcoming play? "But it's a screenplay" she replied; they produced stage plays. It wouldn't take much to turn it into a live play, and it's free for small-scale productions, I argued. Other cast members wearing bizarre costumes were friendly and engaging, but I don't think my excellent screenplay got any attention.
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| New Zealand burgers are delicious, many have beets. French Fries are called "chips", mate. |
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| North Shore (suburb of Auckland) from a park. Photo: Haley Sulcer. |
Waiheke Island: defying expectations
The beautiful rolley-polley island off the coast from Auckland is like a miniature New Zealand, a study in contrasts. It's a 35 minute fast ferry ride from the main Auckland harbor terminal. Most likely, the ferry ride is subsidized by government for commuters (but round-trip fares for tourists cost about $40 (NZ) each and included a helpful tour bus. En route to the island by ferry, I had expected rich, well manicured lawns and understated elegance, like a kiwi version of California's Carmel, since I figured that only rich people could live there. After all, there were no bridges, and the island was accessible only by ferries and helicopters, and people went to see the fancy houses. But I was quite surprised to see an engaging mix of people and lifestyles. There were some fancy houses on bluffs, but there were some shacks and middle-class houses as well, along with a centrally located school (population about 1100 children). There are a few windy-curvy roads and two semi-town centers, with a delightful mix of artists' shops, touristy places, Maori settlements. I found the most delightful beach for sandcastle building in New Zealand at Onetangi beach. The sand had few shells and rocks, meaning I could dig into it with my hands without risking a scrape, and the sand's clean consistency was ideal for tall drip-castle towers. Sandcastle building competitions are held on this beach annually -- contestants have three hours to make their creation. An
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| Waiheke sand is great for building. Photo: Tom Sulcer (public domain). |
Culture
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| Beautiful combinations of trees, plants, ferns, forests. This is a pathway near Rotorua, a city in the middle of the north island famous for its thermal geysers and sulfur smell. |
Perhaps the market here, with only four million people, isn't large enough to be financially feasible, but why not have a New Zealand version of David Letterman? These shows don't cost that much to make. Perhaps the problem is finding enough celebrity guests in Auckland to make it worthwhile. But why not tape a late-night New Zealand oriented show in Los Angeles which uses an evening Auckland-sky background? Or have two hosts -- one in L.A., one in Auckland? As the Internet and Skype brings us closer together, new options emerge.
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| A cheerleader on a motorcycle at a Vodafone Warriors match. The song they danced to? California Gurls by Katy Perry, an American. The game? British. The cheerleader? Made in New Zealand. |
Overall, however, I wondered why there weren't more TV channels (only about 14 or so) or radio channels, or why the power and range of the existing signals couldn't be boosted. Why not? The waves can be licensed by the government. Isn't more better than less? When driving in the Beachlands area, I often lost the radio signal.
New Zealand is relatively expensive
So, you're perhaps wondering why these Americans haven't visited the South Island, done the Christchurch train ride, visited Queenstown. Why not? Partially because it's colder there people and this New Jerseyan spent every week shoveling a foot of snow in January and February. This American is happy to meet new people, have a coffee or two, and do daytrips in your beautiful country, and I'll stick to the north island this winter, thank you.
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| Whangarei Falls, en route from Auckland to Paihia. |
I think NZers have figured out creative ways to keep from expending money, such as riding bikes, not turning on electric heat, eating out less often, and other shortcuts. A helpful Pakakura couple told me about a real farmers' market (not like the Clevedon Sunday market which sells rather high-priced specialty items such as chocolate Labrador-shaped cookies called "Barkers") near Pokono (sp) past Bombay towards Hamilton. One owner of a fish-and-chips shop in Paihia said he went duck hunting regularly; he had a dog to fetch the felled ducks. Many NZers like to go camping, sometimes in trailers which they park in inexpensive lots around the country where they can get electric power and running water. There's a cool YouTube video in which a NZer catches a trout bare-handed.
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| Handsaws: $15 NZD (or $12 USD) In U.S., only $8 USD. Photo: tom sulcer (public domain) |
And the house-swap car-swap strategy is a huge cost-saver; our five-week stay in beautiful Maraetai Beach would have cost perhaps $5000 (NZ$) or $4300 (US$) -- the exchange rate varies. House-swapping is not for everybody, but if you find a good arrangement, it can be a sweet deal all around. Another money-saving strategy: use your credit card rather than converted cash as much as possible. The credit card firms get much better exchange rates (you may not see the savings until you get home and get your bill). If you must change American dollars into New Zealand dollars, avoid exchanging money at airport kiosk counters; some of them charge an exorbitant service fee in addition to giving customers a lackluster rate. The rate was horrible at the Los Angeles airport; I only changed a hundred there to pay the taxi. You'll find better rates at banks in the Auckland area, such as the ASB bank in the Botany mall.
New Zealand has its act together with tourism promotion, in my view. There were several times when I was driving along the highway and needed information -- once on the outskirts of Hamilton (trying to find the way to Rotorua) and once approaching Whangarei. Almost by magic, there was an i-Site location with convenient parking and helpful, knowledgeable (and friendly) guides. They steered me around Hamilton's traffic; they showed me how to get to the Whangarei Falls. Government is clearly working hand-in-hand with tourism promotion. For example, as a visitor, I not only had to fill out an information card upon arrival to New Zealand, I had to fill out a card when I left, akin to a reverse customs. Information such as where I stayed and for how long is relayed to agencies like Statistics New Zealand, which compiles visitor information and makes it available for government planners and tourism boosters. The biggest overall promotion, perhaps, is Air New Zealand -- an excellent and highly professional airline with diligent and hospitable attendants which charges reasonable rates for traveling such a long distance. Airline attendants make the journey comfortable; each seat has a TV/movie/videogame console; meals are excellent; attendants serve complimentary good-tasting wine by coming along with glasses and bottles. The airline understands travelers and have their act together. When I got thirsty, attendants appeared (almost by magic) with plastic cups and pitchers of water. An American comedian once commented about the stressfulness of long airplane rides, and joked that if you ever find yourself stuck on an airplane ride to New Zealand, you might as well proceed to the airplane's bathroom, wedge your head in the toilet, and flush. But Air New Zealand finagles the time wisely by having most of the trip happen overnight which encourages people to sleep. It's a pleasant trip, overall; you wake up in Auckland or San Francisco. I experienced some jetlag afterwards, but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined.
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| Steep cliffsides between Beachlands and Maraetai Beach. |
More advice for US travelers: make sure your passport is up-to-date. They expire every ten years. And it takes a month or so to process them through the mail. If you have to renew your passport at the last minute, it's expensive and stressful.
Ideas for economic growth for New Zealand
Overall, I think New Zealand is in a good position economically, and shouldn't fret too much about Australians widening the financial gap or about investors from other firms buying things. New Zealand has strong assets which are easy to overlook. People are honest. The judicial system has integrity. British law applies. The political sphere functions. People participate in the political process. These factors suggest that the nation will adequately deal with continuing and difficult problems such as the challenging geography. And it's possible for the nation to prosper more fully by taking advantage of strong pluses like these:
- Hydroelectric power. It's hilly. It rains often. There's no oil. There's coal (but requires unpopular mining).
Importing gas and oil is obviously expensive. I bet government will effectively push for even more hydroelectric power, which is considerably developed at present, to a greater extent, perhaps even in smaller areas and rural towns, and other strategic locations. My sense is it will concentrate on hilly areas close to towns and cities in the interior of the north island -- where most people live -- where the land to be inundated is unproductive; it will probably take environmentally sensitive steps by perhaps providing pathways for fish to travel upstream. Unlike wind power, rainwater is a storable energy resource which can be released when needed to turn turbines.
It rains hard. It's hilly. New Zealand's excellent resource for energy
is hydroelectric power. Photo: Whangarei Falls.
- Improve motorways. The major north-south highway in the north island runs the length of the island, but in rural sections it is only two lanes (one for each direction), and at one point is only a one-lane bridge. In the north, it intersects working railways with no drop-down flashing light signals (only a single signal) which suggests it's possible to have train-car collisions. There are few tunnels. As a result of the difficult geography, the road is often curvy and windy, not straight, not flat. It is natural to expect that government will make this road wider, flatter, straighter, working outwards from key cities such as Auckland and Wellington. I bet the central city of Hamilton will have in the next decade a limited access motorway (or perhaps staggered lights) to allow rapid transit between the north island's two big cities of Wellington and Auckland.
- Broadband Internet. Speed times are important. Sometimes I found Internet service to be fast, but other times pages loaded slowly if pictures were being sent. According to an article in The Economist, there are only two undersea cables linking the Internet with the rest of the world. This is an important area that residents have said that New Zealand prime minister John Key is working on. Software exports can be sent around the world with practically no shipping expense.
- Immigration. More people means a larger market, which will bring costs down, and possibly create new trading opportunities with businesses around the world.
It's possible to expand maritime traffic in the Hauraki Gulf. This is a large bay southeast of Auckland, bounded by the Coromandel peninsula, which is like a flat highway linking many towns in New Zealand. The water is not choppy, easily navigable, although subject to tides. The government has an opportunity to make this area more economically productive by studying the feasibility of subsidizing more ferryboats, and possibly large barges to carry truck and vehicles from point to point easily. There are subsidies for ferryboat traffic which encourage commutation.
Pier on the bay. Livestock
used to be loaded on boats
here to go to Auckland.- New technologies that help elsewhere will help New Zealand. For example, one idea is for homeowners and businesses to have a standard outdoor delivery receptacle box. It would be possible for delivery trucks to drop consumer goods and groceries, which were ordered earlier online, in a locked secure box accessible by homeowners. At the end of a day, workers coming home would get their groceries from this box outside their home rather than making a trip to the store. This would cut down on unnecessary shopping trips, save gas, and reduce traffic congestion.
- Insulation for homes. This is being done presently and will help reduce energy bills for houses; heating by electricity is particularly expensive. Many houses in the northern island would only be classified as summer homes in places like the United States. My handyman's instinct is to insulate walls -- one U.S. firm drills holes in the cavities between the sheetrock (inner wall we touch) and the outerwall, and then blows in insulation made from cellulose. Why not use large hang-down curtains across large windows to trap in an insulating barrier of air during the winter months? They can be pulled back when it's warmer. On the radio, I heard there was an activist campaigning for laws to require landlords to insulate rental properties better as well as remove the dampness.
- Focusing development on flatter swaths of the northern island, particularly in the Hamilton area, as well the area north of Wellington, can have a substantial impact on the nation's economy. My guess is that government will encourage people to move or immigrate to these areas by providing tax and business incentives for persons and businesses who do.
- Subsidizing a few key export-oriented industries. Economic ministers realize that dollars intelligently shunted to the right industries will pay big dividends. Particular emphasis on high-tech computer industries and software is wise since these information services can be sent worldwide at the touch of a button, with no shipping expense; Silicon Valley is the world's software hub, but perhaps there are Internet sectors which can be developed in New Zealand? My sense is there's a strong commitment to maintaining the nation's position as a strong leader in the dairy area.
Conclusion
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| Your correspondent with the kitty next door. Note: this kitty moved with owner to Christchurch and was probably in the earthquake. Hope kitty and humans are well and not shaken up too much. -- Feb 23, 2011 |
And while the current economic conditions are hard to measure, the long term outlook for the world is incredible and robust growth unlike anything in human history, and New Zealand will benefit from this growth, while possibly lagging behind Australia and other parts in the short term. But it will always be a beautiful country. I hope people can keep a sense of political participation alive, and keep talking about politics in a friendly way.
Note: this article is undergoing constant improvement; your feedback will help. Comments are welcome!
Check out my other writings:
- Mentally healthy mind -- strategies to flourish as a human
- Dating and mating in the twenty tens -- advice for men and women about finding love
- History of citizenship in the United States -- essay tracing how citizenship evolved from 17th century direct participation to a legal and economic marker in the present day
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