Well, completely mixed feelings about this one: Dejan liked
and Nives didn't.
Bottom line is that NZ has a lot of natural sights that
Dejan enjoyed, while Nives really didn't Positive is they are close by,
pretty, sometimes possibly spectacular, but definitely don’t deserve all the
hype. And hype there is…
On the other hand there is no history really. Real one would
be Maori only anyway. But sadly seems a lot of it got destroyed. Integration in
the society is better that in Australia, but we feel there is still space for
improvement. Even thou the deal they made with colonialists was far better than
one in Australia, it still is not good. Apparently translations of the treaty
they signed were not exactly the same. Guess, no other explanation required.
However, sites that are still there are really special and definitely worth seeing.
What REALLY irked us both is Kiwi approach to their sights –
everything is best in the world. Well guys, wakeup call – it isn’t! We are not saying
it is not pretty or worth seeing, but a bit of perspective would be welcomed.
It gets only worse with historical sites. Seriously, anything 100 year old in
decay is not a historic site – it is just a ruin. Actually was funny at first,
but then it just got annoying. NZ tourist board is the most imaginative body we
have ever seen. We are positive the people from Coca-Cola go there on
internships to learn how to sell. Seriously, things these guys are selling and
for what price… Feels like a bad joke. Only, you are on the receiving end of it
and that is where it stops being funny… At start you have your postcard picture
goggles on, but soon you realize that there is something seriously wrong with
the picture.
Some of the types of vistas we enjoyed more than others (like
fjords, glaciers and volcanic thermals), but more so because we haven’t seen
many of them during our travels (as always, Dejan more so than Nives – we are
talking nature after all!). We have to fit in Norway , Iceland and some glacier
skiing on some of our future travels.
What they should do is concentrate on the infrastructure.
Which is in shameful state for the first world country. Tunnels are concepts
that have obviously eluded Kiwis. Not to mention mountain passes. A little bit
of advice: you don’t need to reinvent the hot water, just go to Austria, Germany
or Switzerland. These things have been in use for a while now lads. So, instead
of making it easy, one has to zigzag the country over and over again. Without
all the promised vistas! We were offered helicopter flights to see mountains
that are readily available just by driving in Europe. And that was another
thing – helicopter scenic flights. Not everything you see from the chopper is
scenic, you know and too much is really too much.
There is one thing that Dejan hated more than Nives about NZ
– the 10am checkout time, which is strictly adhered to everywhere. We had to
beg all the time to get late checkout (got extra 30min at most!) – we do carry
lot of get that takes time to unpack and repack after all. Guys, not all people
wake up at 6 am to start a day!
Only thing we both liked were wine regions. Memories are a
bit hazy, but hey, that’s the point!
No comments:
Post a Comment