Cool place, hot sunset

Tweet

Not for nothing was New Zealand recently voted the coolest holiday destination in the world (in a study by CoolBrands) as well as the best destination in the world (by British traveller magazine Conde Nast.) The fact that it’s so far away from Europe and North America is just about the only thing that doesn’t work in its favour.

Certainly, it costs a bit to get here but everything else – the thrills and spills of adventure tourism, the exchange rate, the wine, the clean and green reputation, the world-class sailing, even the Lord of the Rings film locations – attracts tourists like Anna Nicole Smith attracts rich old guys. Plus, it’s kid-friendly, super-safe and everyone speaks English. What more could a travelling family want?

OK, OK, the sunsets are pretty damn good too.

Neither cute nor cuddly

Tweet

I’ve noticed a bit of a travellin' mama animal theme lately, with my last few posts being big on teddy bears, calves, piglets and jokes about sheep. Today is no different, it’s just that the animals in question – eels – don’t rank quite so high on the cute-o-metre.

We’re visiting Golden Bay’s famous wild-but-tame Anatoki eels, which have been hand-fed for decades in a pre-WWII tradition that began when a local Kiwi woman discovered that clicking her fingers at the surface of the water could bring the eels right to her.


Long misunderstood and reviled for their slippery black slimy-ness, these eels provide a great learning experience for Annie and Molly who delight in feeding them chunks of raw meat (gross!) on a stick. I have a newfound respect for all things slippery and black, although being a total wuss, I do draw the line at feeding them myself.

School's such a beach

Tweet

We've now been on the road for about 60 days and nights and it's places like these - where the girls' classroom for the day is one of my favourite beaches in New Zealand - that make it all so worth it.

This wee slice of paradise, in Golden Bay at the top of the south island, is called Tata Beach. Like many other places in NZ, Golden Bay is gloriously and ever so slightly behind the times, if not completely frozen in time, and it's a place where women can still hitchhike and farmers will still stop to pull hapless drivers out of the ditch - as one did for us on this very day when my husband pulled too far over to the left to let the school bus pass. He must have been lost in nostalgic thoughts at the time (his family used to holiday here, foraging and eating pipis and mussels until they would puke their guts out) but we're hoping the rental-car company that loaned us the Loser Cruiser doesn't notice anything amiss.


Ditch landings notwithstanding, nothing could ruin this perfectly perfect day.