Going back to Oz

Day 230

"We're off to see the wizard
the wonderful wizard of Oz"

Tomorrow I'm going back to Oz! Honestly I can't wait to see my favourite country again. It's been over 4 months now and I already miss Oz more than Finland. Besides, 84 days in New Zealand is really starting to be enough.

Before summing up this country, let's rewind few days to Wellington. I passed through Wellington earlier with Tuulia and Sami on Christmas Day. Since my flight was set to depart from Auckland, I traveled through Wellington again. This time I decided to stay few days and say hi to Tommi(former co-worker) who had settled to Wellington for 2 years. As it turned out, weather in Wellngton was God awful. It poured rain without a stop for 2 days so there really wasn't anything to do. I tried to catch couple of gaps to walk up the hill of Mount Victoria and to find LOTR filming locations. Apparently, it wasn't that hard :)

After walking little while I stumbled these 4 geeks re-enacting scene from Fellowship Of The Ring at precise location where it was originally shot.

Also went up to Botanical Gardens with Cable Car, one of the major Wellington icons. But as you can see, there weren't any good views cause of rain.

Last evening in Wellington we had quite funny Finnish gathering. Grand total of 7 finns having dinner together at local Indian Restaurant.

It's funny how small world is. As we were chatting there I heard one of the finns say "Unioninkatu" so I asked where in Unioninkatu they lived. It turned out that couple lives in same building as I :) Small world really...

Now I'm back in Auckland again after 1-night side trip to New Plymouth. West coast of North Island was only area I had not seen yet here so I stopped there for 1 night. Hehe, again less is said about New Plymouth the better. In short: gang infested, rundown little township.

So New Zealand...NZ is very high on people's list of "dream holiday destinations". After 84 days here I think I can form pretty clear picture what this country is about. New Zealand is extremely pretty on the outside, but more or less rotten from the inside. There are no attractive cities in New Zealand what's worse, there is major security issue.

All towns seem to have some form of gang culture going on, it's nothing big and certainly nothing too organised but none the less...teenage gangs mostly 15-20 year olds flock the streets after shops go down with their pimped cars. And if they happen to see tourist alone walking by they more than often start barking to them trying to scare tourist for their own pathetic little amusement. Not once did I feel scared, I more or less felt like I'm in kindergarden watching grown-ups make fool of themselfs. Really pathetic.

What else? There are lot of small issues that I found so wrong here. First of all 90% of commercial breaks in TV are filled by "educational videos" educating citizens to drink less, drink responsibly, not drink and driving, road safety, fire safety, earthquake safety, beach safety etc. etc. Watching TV here makes me feel like all New Zealanders are bunch of morons who need to see this stuff on TV or otherwise whole country would be in chaos. Oh, and even with all this educational crap, people still get themselfs killed here on the roads and beaches more than in Australia for example. Just month ago one of New Zealand's brightest stars in Rugby died when he went swimming near Auckland and torrent took him. What is wrong with Kiwis?!

I guess it's a bit unfair to make comparison between New Zealand and Australia but I can't help it. In paper these 2 countries are fairly similar, but they are so different from one another. Even traveling scene here is completely different. I guess it's pretty clear I like Australia so much more. All the problems I pointed out above are non-existent in Australia. That country can offer 1000 more ways to get yourself killed yet, people can take care of themselfs there without constant educational commercials. I think overall New Zealand is prettier, but lacks soul completely.

Ok, so this is only an opinion by one person. I have met lot of people in New Zealand who say they like New Zealand more than Oz. Mostly I have been hearing this opinion from females. Only way to form your own opinion is to travel both these countries ;-)

Enough with the rant now, lets move on to positive stuff. What were the highlights of New Zealand? As I started to think this through I realised I have to divide North and South Island experiences because these 2 islands are so different. Why? South Island is like Australia's east coast. It's themepark with gorgeous sceneries but filled with tourists. North Island feels like authentic New Zealand and has much better atmosphere and vibe.

North Islands highlights:

1. Tongariro Crossing. Anyone visiting NZ needs to do this day walk. What makes this so great is how the scenery changes multiple times. First you are walking in valley next to mountain, then you climb up rocky mountain, then you are inside crater, then...There was just so many different amazing landscapes.

2. Bay Of Island. Great place little off the major tourist track. Very beautiful with relaxed atmosphere.

3. Tauranga&Mount Maunganui. Easily best town in NZ. Scenery in Mount Maunganui was breathtaking and vibe on the Esplanade bars in Tauranga was very comfortable.

South Island highlights:

1. Mount Cook. Easily my favourite spot in South Island. Scenery there was just stunning and it lacked all the annoying partying teenagers which most other locations in South Island had.

2. Abel Tasman National Park. Yes, it was gorgeous. Bit repetitive scenery but still great. Good thing was that it too was little out of the beaten track.

3. Arthur's Pass. Again, this out-of-the-way place became my favourite(hehe, see the pattern here?). I was blessed with gorgeous views on top of Avalance Peak.

Why not Fiordland? Hmm, I thought about it long and hard. It was beautiful place but I guess the constant rain ruined it a bit for me. If weather would been there similar that it was in Mount Cook for example it might have maded into top 3.

Now I'll finish this long entry. I might have forgotten something but doesn't matter. Tomorrow I'm finally going back to Oz, yay! But where in Oz am I going...hmmm...any bets?