Kiwi Hospitality

Parker and I have fallen in love with New Zealand but as amazing as this country is, it is nothing without it's people, the beautiful Maori and wonderful Kiwis. In our four months in NZ, we have been fortunate to make so many new friends, locals and travelers from around the world. Through our travels we have meet trampers, fishermen, 3 teenage pig hunters, deer hunters, tahr hunters, a gold panner, sheep farmers, sheep shearers, dairy farmers, as well as the city folks and everyone in between. We have been offered rides, tea, food and places to stay. They have opened their homes to us and shared with us their way of life.

Jack is an old friend from our days on the Appalachian Trail. He is Kiwi-American. He spends half the year in the NZ summer and the other half on the A.T., what a life. He guided us around Northland and showed us some of the most special places in the North Island. He intruduced us to the Kiwi way of life, the locals and the Maori of Waitangi.

Ski and Sonya became mentors in our time at the Bay of Islands. Ski is a Tai-Chi instructor who taught us how to control our breathing and how to connect our breathing with the present. Sonya is a yoga instructor and helped us with our morning yoga routine. These two are very special and we had an instant connection. Each session with them enriched us and taught us a different way of seeing and experiencing the world.

Maraea is the leader of the Maori Tribe in Waitangi. The Maoris are the natives of New Zealand. She taught us about the rich Maori culture and she shared with us their history and stories of her people. She also gave me a traditional Kumara Ho cleansing treatment and taught us how to weave tekes (baskets), a Maori cultural art and craft.

We met Bryce and Germaine at Mavora Lakes and again in Christchurch. We discovered they are adventurers and world travelers. They were our trail doctor and nurse and they kept an eye on our progress in the South Island.

Catherine in Te Anau offered us her rental cottage. She took us into her home and gave us a glimpse of rural life in Southland.

We met Paul and Els our first week and ran into them a week later in Te Anau. They decided to hike the Kepler Track with us. They are from Holland and Els was born in NZ. They are on a six month trip to explore NZ and Australia. We enjoyed our time with them and even learned a little Dutch.

Varsha and I met at the start line of the Rotorua Marathon. We became instant running buddies and ran 15k together. We met up in Auckland and talked about meeting up during our travels and running another marathon together.

We were honored to spend the last few hours of our time in New Zealand with the creators of the Te Araroa, Geoff Chapple the CEO, Miriam Beatson the secretary and Kim Olliever thier map Guru. The Te Araroa Trust is a small group of people with a big dream of completing a path across their country. We shared with them our adventures through the South Island and shared our thoughts on how to possibly make to trail easier for the next trampers. We also offered our assistance in answering the flood of emails they get about the trail. They thanked us for honoring the spirit of the Te Araroa and told us that we were their ideal hikers.The Te Araroa was very special part of our trip and an amazing and a fitting begining to our journey.

New Zealand has always captured our imagination. It has everything Parker and I love mountains, rivers and beaches. We have enjoyed our four months in NZ and feel that we got a good glimpse of the country and it's people. We have not met many Americans and we are surprised to find ourselves in the minority among the travelers we have met. It's still a good laugh when people ask why we don't have big hair or Texan accents. We leave NZ with a list of things to do for our next visit that could easily take up another four months. We'll be back.

Cheers, New Zealand!!