New Zealand Wrap Up: North Island

New Zealand is a relatively short flight across the Tasman Sea from Australia; it is also a former British colony.  These two countries are pretty isolated from the rest of the world.  Unsurprisingly, they are very similar in many ways.

Both countries speak English exclusively, complete with similar accents.  New Zealand TV is mostly Australian TV Channels.  Cars drive on the “wrong” side of the road in both countries.  The people are all very friendly and approachable.  Cuisines largely seemed similar.  New Zealand has even been proposed to be added as the 7th Australian state several times.

Still, the countries are different in many ways.  Australia is mostly desert – or “outback” – and much larger.  New Zealand seemed very green top to bottom, with lots of scenic mountains and lakes.  Look up a list of the deadliest/most venomous creatures, and Australia will be home to most of them.  New Zealand on the other hand has produced defenseless, flightless birds.  Australia’s population (22.3 Mil.) is a little more than 5 times New Zealand’s (4.4 Mil.); in fact, Sydney alone has a larger population than all of New Zealand.

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Wellington

We left Hawke’s Bay today and headed to Wellington.  I was sad to leave our little vineyard cottage, but I’m always excited to see the next place that Justin has planned.

It took about 4 hours to get to Wellington.  The drive was very scenic (again), lots of sheep, cows, goats, and even a few rams. We traveled through many windy road and hills.  Usually, I’m pretty bad on car rides.  I either fall asleep right away (terrible company) or complain about how long it is taking.  I have done neither of those things on our car rides so far.  There’s just so much to look at……much more entertaining than driving from Baton Rouge to New Orleans (one of the most awful drives which is inevitably made worse with Kenner traffic).

Wellington is the capital of New Zealand.  It is a much bigger city compared to Rotorua or Hawke’s Bay, both of which were more rural.  Unfortunately, we are only here for one night, but I’m really glad that we were able include this stop on the trip.

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