Category: Landmarks

We had been to New Zealand once before in 2017. I had a full-time, 9-5 job then, so we got away for about 12 days and tried to cover a few key places. We all fell in love with the New Zealand laid back and friendly approach to life. One of the kids, upon finding an elaborate playground in the middle of Wellington with a zip line said “I love this new land. They thought of everything in this new land.” And with that, we were determined to come back for a longer sojourn. Well, we all know what set that back a few years, since New Zealand closed its borders for a couple of years, but we arrived here in June with seven weeks to explore the country. (Spoiler alert: once again, it wasn’t long enough)

Once again, right I away, I noticed the lovely vistas of the country.

A few weeks in, and I had some additional observations that I did not notice the first time around. This country is huge. And there is no one in it. Now, I know it doesn’t feel like that in Auckland or Tauranga but we drove hours and hours in many directions and saw open land, rolling hills, vast farm land, forests, and almost no development. Tiny towns followed by stretches of open road.

New Zealand is basically the size of California. But its population is a little over 5 million. In the whole country. Los Angeles County alone has double that number. If you count the general LA to San Diego swath, it is like 17 million people. Three times the number of people in the whole country of New Zealand. They have like 12 acres per person in New Zealand. In California, we have like 12 feet per person. Here, in New Zealand there is so much open space and land per person that it’s like living in one enormous small town. It is a little hard to describe the vibe.

Other places are just cute, or funky, or beautiful, and in many places they make an effort to incorporate Maori culture.

All told we were here seven weeks this time. And the feeling was unanimous — not long enough!

It would not be a true narrative of New Zealand adventures without a nod to the New Zealand playgrounds. NZ has the most amazing kid playgrounds. In any and every town. Lots of slides.

Some with zip lines

And some even amazing Steampunk themed ones, in a small town on the South Island known as the steampunk capital of NZ — Oamaru.

This Oamaru playground had the weirdest circular treadmill like contraption. Fun for kids and adults! (Yes, I tried it out!)

And right next door was the steampunk HQ!

Many, many years (decades!) ago now, I visited a friend in Vienna. We went to a place I knew nothing about called the Hundertwasserhaus. Very interesting I thought at the time. Obviously memorable since I still remember it more than 25 years later. Since that trip, I had mentioned that “famous” architect Hundertwasser to friends and colleagues. No recognition of this person. So, I thought, I guess he was just a local Viennese architect with one unusually designed building.

We arrive in New Zealand, motorhoming our way North of Auckland through Northland and what do I run into, but a Hundertwasser Museum! What?? How did this guy who as far as I know only did a building in Vienna also have this museum in the middle of semi-rural New Zealand (in a smaller town called Whangārei) and yet no one I know had heard of him?

Turns out, like many an American and European, Hundertwasser had it with the rat race and moved to New Zealand, near Whangārei, in the 70s to get away from it all. He became famous here and they eventually built an art center honoring him, about a decade after he died in 2000, based on one of his designs.

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THEN I learn, he has a famous building in New Zealand built while he was still alive — a toilet. Yes, really, there is a public toilet in the small town of Kawakawa that he designed. So, this leg of travel became the Hundertwasser hunt. We went out of our way to stop at Kawakawa (I just love the name of that town) to see…a public toilet. We plan to be in Vienna this fall for a few days and the Hundertwasserhaus will be on the must-see list!

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