Day five was winding down. I was back on the road after Rotorua and all that stood between me and the Coromandel Peninsula was a little town with a big name – Paeroa, New Zealand. Anyone who’s spent any time in New Zealand has probably had the chance to taste the country’s national soft drink, … Read More
There’s no denying the popularity of referring to Rotorua as Roto-Vegas, a nickname that just about sums up the conundrum of this central North Island city. With a population of about 55,000, it is known for its significant Maori population and manicured English gardens (a contradiction in and of itself, perhaps), but also for its … Read More
In the valleys of southwest Iceland, the Great Geysir is part of a system of hot springs that, in addition to spewing boiling water some seventy meters into the air, have lent their name to the English word for ‘geyser.’ The word ‘geysir’ itself comes from the Old Norse verb geysa, to “gush” or “rush … Read More
Somehow, I’d ended up in Rotorua for the night. Well, I knew exactly how it happened. State Highway 1 had led me from Hamilton through Cambridge to Tirau, where I picked up SH5 to Rotorua. But I was late leaving Raglan; partly because it was such a lovely little town and partly because things got … Read More
On the highway out of Cambridge, I’d passed a large warehouse-like building with the words “Corrugated Creations” painted on the side like a built-in billboard. There were a few cut-outs scattered around the complex – made from corrugated iron, of course – large cartoon-ish images of a donkey, a car, and an alien eye, but … Read More
Near the crossroads of Victoria and Queen Streets in a little town called Cambridge, the Prince Albert Olde English Pub offers “traditional cuisine at affordable prices.” Just across the street, the Jubilee Gardens, built in 1897 to celebrate the sixtieth year of Queen Victoria’s reign, features a cenotaph memorial dedicated “to the immortal memory of … Read More
I have a habit of expecting a lot from myself. It began in high school, I suppose, this self-enforced pressure. While friends faced the gauntlet of their parents to achieve and succeed, I answered to no one but my own high standards. I was the one pushing myself into college admissions meetings and AP classes, … Read More
It had been a day of Germans. There were six and myself on my caving trip in Waitomo that morning and tonight, the back kitchen of the hostel in Raglan is full and I am again the only one not fluent in Deutsch. As I quietly scrape the remains of spaghetti bolognese off my dishes, … Read More
Otorohanga had left me thinking. The authors of the book I’d read in the town’s i-Site had included a poem by Denis Glover titled “Home Thoughts”: “I do not dream of Sussex downs or quaint old England’s quaint old towns — I think of what may yet be seen in Johnsonville or Geraldine.” Johnsonville, a … Read More
The world’s largest apple is reputedly located in Winchester, Virginia, fixed oddly on the lawn of a stately Civil War mansion as a symbol of its beloved local fruit industry. I’ve seen bigger. On a hillside just outside of Otorohanga, New Zealand, sits an apple so large it can’t not rival that of Winchester, perhaps … Read More