Day 28: Tuesday, March 18, Whanganui River

Click to enlarge. The boulders at the mouth of one cave were full of shells that had retained their color.

After having breakfast with our host family it took quite a while to get off – the whole saying goodbye thing took a long time. We had really enjoyed our time with them, though, so it wasn’t as if we were eager to leave. We spent the afternoon canoing on the Whanganui river; note that the town is Wanganui and the river is Whanganui. The river was very low, but it didn’t prevent the trip from being eventful. Several sets of small rapids gave John a thrill, and there were two caves to explore. My sister lost a flip flop – excuse me, “jandal” – in some thick mud. To get to and from the canoing location we had to drive two hours into a national park, half of which was on a one-lane gravel road.

Fortunately for us the water flowed uphill at one point.

The official speed limit? 100 kph. It meant that we had a late night. We rolled into a town about 9 pm looking for dinner and the only option was a hotel restaurant. The place was owned and staffed by an Indian family and the food was surprisingly good. Perhaps more surprising, however, were the big portions. Restaurants are a lot more expensive over here, but they also don’t give you as much. At a nice restaurant over here you would expect to get free bread or something like that before the meal, but that is nonexistent over here. Portions are smaller and sometimes we haven’t been full after our meal.

One great thing about Oz/NZ is that there are very few situations in which you tip, and all prices listed include GST (sales tax). In the U.S., a dish that costs $20 will really end up costing you about $25 after tax and tip. In NZ, a $20 dish costs you exactly $20.

Another great thing is that prices over here are almost always round numbers. Most things are priced to the dollar or half dollar. They don’t even have pennies over here. The only store in which I remember seeing prices end in .99 was in a souvenir shop whose primary customers are, of course, Americans. I use a credit card everywhere I can in the U.S. because I absolutely hate carrying around change. (I then pay said credit card off every month.) In NZ, you don’t really have to worry about that.

I've been told that if you want to tell whether someone is a Kiwi or Aussie you ask them to say "fish and chips." If it comes out like you expect it, the speaker is an Aussie. If it comes out as "fush an' chups," the speaker is a Kiwi. I didn't test anyone, but we did meet someone who pronounced "chicks" as "chucks."

The TV show Dancing with the Stars is a smash hit over here. I’m not sure why that show specifically is really popular. It’s heavily advertised, but I’m not sure which came first – the ads or the popularity.