Parts of New Zealand have run out of Marmite and prices are soaring following a nationwide shortage of the spread. Report by Sam Datta-Paulin.
Los Angeles Times Visits Napier – Capital of Art Deco
The Los Angeles Times recently visited Napier New Zealand, famous for it’s Art Deco Architecture.
Here’s an excerpt:
At 10:47 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1931, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale shook the town of Napier, onNew Zealand’s North Island, killing 161 people. The fires that followed consumed all but a few reinforced concrete buildings. In 21/2 minutes, Napier ceased to exist.In a bold move two years later, the residents of Napier broke with their colonial tradition and rebuilt the town in Art Deco style, made popular in Europe of the ’20s. This transformation made Napier a leading-edge architectural city and one of the most modern of its day.
Guest Post: A Foodie’s Guide to New Zealand
To really discover the finest culinary delights of New Zealand, you have to be prepared to relax. While the food itself is delicious, one of the things that most enhances the experience is the Kiwi preference for long, languid and laidback meals where you can savour every mouthful. Plan your trip accordingly and be sure to try sample as much of the Pacific Rim cuisine as you can.
Wild Food Festival
Foodies who are keen to try anything and aren’t particularly squeamish must book their flights to New Zealand to coincide with the annual Wild Food Festival. Held in Hokitika, this festival draws about 10,000 people, and gives them the chance to sample some bizarre delicacies from a massive selection of stalls. Think bug larvae, wild highland beef, curried Hoki Tikka, pesto ice cream, mountain merino and much more. Also, while you’re in Hokitika, you must soothe your palatte with some of the delicious Hokey Pokey ice cream.
Flavours to savour
No matter where in New Zealand you’re visiting, there are some national favourites that must be sampled. Look for slow cooked lamb, pork and venison and be sure to try some of the massive range of fresh fish, especially local Kiwi shellfish, pipis and tuatua. You’ll be offered sauces and garnishes that draw inspiration from Europe, Asia and Polynesia, but have their own unique twist.
Have your fresh meat or fish barbequed and finish it off with a glass of the sauvignon blanc or chardonnay (make sure you try Cloudy Bay if it’s on the menu) New Zealand is famous for.
Traditional Maori hangi
True foodies won’t be able to resist experimenting with a traditional Maori hangi during their holiday. Traditionally cooked in an underground pit covered with fire, your meal of meat and vegetables will have a distinctive and delicious smoky timbre. You won’t find hangi-cooked food everywhere, but there are several tourist resorts offering the experience, most notably Rotorua in the North Island
Food celebrations
There are many other festivals for those who’d like a slightly more subdued taste explosion, with the best of the bunch taking place in Auckland, Hawke’s Bay, Martinborough, Nelson, Canterbury and Queenstown. Grab some cheap flights and time them to visit a festival or two or plan a tour of some of New Zealand’s biggest and best vineyards, where you’ll find excellent restaurants serving food designed to show off the qualities of the local wine. Your taste buds will love you for it.
James writes for Skyscanner.net
Kiwi Farmers Say Sheep Shearing Should be an Olympic Sport
Farmers in New Zealand are lobbying for sheep shearing to become an Olympic sport.
From the Washington Post:
A New Zealand farm lobby group says sheep shearing has the potential to become an Olympic demonstration sport. Just don’t count on seeing it at London next summer or Rio in 2016.
The “time has come to elevate shearing’s sporting status to the ultimate world stage,” the New Zealand Federated Farmers said in a statement Monday, adding that the world’s top shearers are “athletes who take it to another level.”
While shearing is a sport, its chances of becoming an Olympic event — even a demonstration one — are slim.The Olympic sports program is decided a minimum of six years in advance of a scheduled games through a complicated process that includes strict criteria including global participation by male and female athletes. For example, baseball and softball were cut from the Olympic program for 2012 and 2016 because they aren’t played in enough countries.
New Zealand produces some of the world’s best shearers and its national championship, the Golden Shears, receives substantial media coverage in the country. Other shearing countries include Ireland and Australia.
Consumer Traveler Profiles Stewart Island – NZ’s Small Southern Island
The website Consumer Traveler has published a nice profile on New Zealand’s small southern most island – Stewart Island.
Here’s an excerpt:
Fifteen flashlights shone downward as we gingerly picked our way through the bush. At the appropriate signal, we extinguished our lights, and 15 expectant adults gathered noiselessly behind our boot-and-camouflage-attired leader. As his sole light hopped and skipped across the dark, remote seaweed-strewn beach, suddenly we saw her –- the elusive New Zealand kiwi.
On orders to stay close, we waddled in muted tandem behind guide Philip Smith as he inched us to within 20 feet. Trying not to intrude upon her late-night supper, we were star-struck by this brown dumpling of a bird, head bobbing up and down, its long beak darting in and out of the sand, single-mindedly nibbling on spiders, berries and crustaceans.Stewart Island, 674 isolated square miles of land to the south of South Island that very few New Zealanders visit, much less anyone else, is the only place in New Zealand where you can spot kiwis, the native bird that few natives ever see.
New Zealand Woman Makes Headlines by Selling Ad Space on her Bum
Bidding reaches thousands of dollars as an enterprising New Zealand woman auctions space on her bottom for a tattoo design of the winner’s choice. Report by Dominic Mason.
Cheeky!
Gadling Sends a Reporter to Travel Around New Zealand in a Campervan
An unfortunate Gadling writer has been given the task (sarcasm intended) of wandering around New Zealand in a Campervan.
Here’s an excerpt:
Well. It’s official. For the next three months I am officially living in my car.
No, this vagabond hasn’t fallen on hard times (yet), but rather, I am going to be embedded in the back of a 1995 Toyota campervan in the magnificent country of New Zealand, where, for the record, summer is just beginning.
While this isn’t my first campervan endeavor around “The Land of the Long White Cloud”, my first visit was as a single, immature 22 year-old fresh off of university touring the country with two other reckless American counterparts. Three boys, three surfboards, one decrepit 1988 Toyota Hiace, and the open road beneath our tires. It was the epitome of freedom.Five years later, the circumstances of my New Zealand campervan expedition are decidedly different. Still immature but now a happily married 27 year-old, the reality of this contrast was brought to my attention at a supermarket where I had purchased some groceries five years prior. Gazing down at the black conveyer belt at my current purchases, I realized the 12-pack of beer and surfboard wax had been replaced by a 12-pack of toilet paper and 200 thread count sheets.
There will be regular articles on Gadling from this trip – you can keep track of all of them on this page.
Very jealous!
Guest Post: 5 Quirky Reasons to Visit New Zealand in 2012
James writes for Skyscanner.net
Travellers often overlook New Zealand in favour of Australia, which is really just next-door. But New Zealand has plenty to offer travellers: from stunning scenery, to adventure holidays, to a rich and interesting history. If you’re planning flights to New Zealand in 2012, here are our top picks for things to do.
Take on a Bush Tucker Trial at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival
An annual festival held on the West Coast of the South Island each year, this celebration of Māori culture allows visitors to sample some gourmet ‘bush tucker’ such as pickled, barbequed, or live huhu grubs and the local delicacy muttonbird. Famously, shots of horse semen are served as an aphrodisiac. Only the most adventurous foodies need apply. The Hokitika Wildfoods Festival is certainly unique, and has been listed as one of Frommer’s ‘World’s Unmissable Festivals”
Climb a Glacier
The Franz Josef Glacier on the South Island is definitely a trip of a lifetime. It’s possible to take a helicopter tour to the more remote parts of the glacier, combining a gorgeous flight over the glacier itself with a two hour hike through the peaks, pinnacles, and ice caves of the glacier itself.
Be warned: the sounds of the ice shifting can be quite nerve inducing.
Get Cosy with Geraldine’s Giant Jersey
After spending some time in the freezing cold ice caves of the Franz Josef glacier, you’ll be looking for a way to get cosy quickly. Sadly you can’t try on the giant jersey of Geraldine, but just looking at the patchwork, 7’3” tall, testimony to knitwear is enough to make you feel all warm and cosy inside.
Spend Some Time in Prison
Before you get any ideas, we’re not encouraging you to run out and cause some crime. If you want some truly quirky accommodation during your stay in Christchurch, the Jailhouse hostel is an award winning converted former prison. It’s far more comfortable than a rail spell inside, of course, with ‘super comfy beds’.
Be Cultural at the Face Value Art Exhibition
The Face Value art exhibition has been travelling New Zealand since 2009. Through pictures and videos, the artist explores the ‘moko’ facial tattoo favoured by Māoris. The exhibition asks six individuals who have a moko what it means to them, and aims to challenge common misconceptions. The exhibition ends in December 2012, so be sure to visit next year. The next date is to be confirmed, but it is likely to appear in the Tairawhiti Museum in Gisborne at some stage during 2012.
Of course, if you’re going to be in Australia during your gap year, that’s fine too. A jaunt across the water to New Zealand won’t take long, and it will be easy enough to get back with frequent flights to Australia running from the major airports.
National Geographic Plans out the Perfect North Island Road Trip
We’re beginning to plan our own trip to New Zealand for next year and one thing we’d like to do is rent a car and drive the North and South Islands.
Thankfully, we came across a great guide for the North Island on the National Geographic website!
Here’s an excerpt:
Boasting some of the most varied and rugged landscapes on Earth, New Zealand has long been a source of adventure. In addition, its eclectic Polynesian and European heritage makes it a remarkable center of culture and history. Given New Zealand’s varied attributes, it is little wonder it was the pick of Kiwi Peter Jackson as the stand-in for Middle-Earth in his film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings fantasy trilogy.
Overview
Driving across New Zealand is a prime way not only to see the movies’ ethereal locations but also to experience a true taste of Kiwiland. Several routes will satisfy your Lord of the Rings hunger, but the jaunt between Auckland and Wellington, spanning the length of the North Island, is perhaps the best way to see a sizeable stretch of the country. This 460-mile (740-kilometer) route will take you through the real-life versions of Hobbiton, Mordor, and Bree, as well as through some of New Zealand’s most diverse regions: volcanic fields, lush rain forest, ragged mountains, rolling hills of farmland, and the country’s largest lake
The Hobbit: Official First Trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
We’ve got the first trailer for the The Hobbit – check it out below.
Plot Synopsis:
Bilbo Baggins is swept into a quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities …