Day 29: Wednesday, March 19, Tuaranumai

We stayed the night in Tuaranumai at a holiday park. The next morning I went to the office and ended up in a long conversation with the owner. We talked about currencies and exchange rates, economics, NZ’s economy and industries, and politics primarily. Most of what I learned just echoed what I’ve already talked about somewhere, but the main point I took away is that this guy represented what I have heard is the typical Kiwi attitude toward politics: they’re all just about the same, so I’ll vote but I don’t expect it to make much difference and I won’t bother to follow what’s happening between election years. (I think I already said this, but everyone in Australia must vote by law, whereas NZ has voluntary voting and turnout rates of about 80%.)

The guy himself was also interesting. I wish I had a picture of him, but he was a short guy with a stocky build, bull neck, and a beer belly. He had a bodacious but well-trimmed mustache that came down past the sides of his mouth and the hair he had left was cut short. The tucked-in short sleeve open collared shirt that held in his gut was tucked into a pair of Wrangler-tight jean shorts that came to about mid-thigh, and at the very bottom he was wearing hiking boots with his tall black socks rolled back down over the tops.

I forgot to mention this before, but radio stations in NZ use both even and odd frequencies, i.e. both 99.2 and 104.3 FM.

This was our last day in NZ, so we just drove to Auckland, turned in the car, and got to the airport for our dinnertime flight.

It looks big until you are at 40,000 ft.

My final thought about NZ, unfortunately, was “YOU STINKIN’ SCAMMERS!” They charge a $25 per person exit fee. You can’t get through customs and to your flight without a stamp on your boarding pass saying you paid the $25 fee. I encountered this in the Philippines, though people had warned me. In other countries you show up and pay a “visa fee” – basically a fee to enter. I thought the Philippine deal was crafty, but I didn’t begrudge them too much because I was told in advance and frankly the Philippine economy is such that taxing travelers makes sense. NZ, however, gets no such second-world pass. That’s just low, Kiwis.