Volume XIV, No.3

MARCH 2002

WOMEN EXPLORERS

As early as the 1850s intrepid women were climbing, tramping and exploring New Zealand’s rugged landscape.

Following in the footsteps of Frenchwoman Henriette d’Angeville, who wore knickerbockers and red flannel underwear when she became the first woman to climb Mont Blanc in 1838, these early women visitors wore breeches and trousers, much to the horror of the male population. In the days when only the fashionably daring wore skirts above the ankles, this was highly risque attire for women. But practicality ensued and by the late 1890s most women climbers and trampers were making concessions to their clothing. In 1855 the first woman climbed Mt. Egmont, Mt. Earnslaw in 1892, the Milford Track in 1895, and Mt. Cook was conquered by Australian Freda Du Faur in 1906.

Others explored with less fanfare, like the young English bride Caroline Chevalier, who accompanied her artist husband on a seven-week tour by horseback through Canterbury in 1866, an outing very much frowned upon by her friends.

Department of Tourist and Health Resort records show that 26 of the 63 climbers guided up peaks in the Southern Alps in 1915-1916 were women. Just two years later this number jumped to 41 women and 47 men.

Women were also among the many early travel writers and journalists who came to report on the new colony. Beatrice Grimshaw visited the North Island in 1904 and describes her trip on the Whanganui River in her book: “Shut in by fold on fold of great green mountain peaks, scarp on scarp of fern-wreathed precipice, one can almost fancy that the swift little paddle-steamer is churning her way for the first time into solitudes never seen of man.” The early women travelers paved the way for today’s woman traveller, whose travel is a far cry from the harsh conditions that greeted them 150 years ago.

NEW ZEALAND NO LONGER SO SHEEPISH

(from STUFF)

New Zealand’s world-famous sheep-to-people ratio has tumbled to nearly half of what it was 20 years ago.

Latest Meat New Zealand figures show the national flock fell to 43.9 million last year — a fraction more than 11 sheep for each person. There were nearly 1.5 million fewer woolly-coated Sunday roasts running around than a year earlier.

At the peak of their powers in 1982, New Zealand’s 70.3 million sheep outnumbered people by about 20 to one. But that was when taxpayers forked out generous subsidies guaranteeing minimum payments to farmers no matter what the state of world markets.

But at their rate of decline in the past two decades, sheep might just about be outnumbered by people in about 50 years.

INTERNATIONAL VISITORS KEEP COMING

Despite the upheaval of September 11, the consequent war in Afghanistan, and issues with air capacity at the end of the year, international visits to New Zealand for 2001 were up by 6.9 percent on the year 2000.

There were 1,909,381 visitors to New Zealand in 2001, which equaled 122,616 extra visitors for the year 2001.

“Given the growth in visitor numbers to New Zealand throughout 2001, it was predictable that the overall number of visitors for the year would be up,” says George Hickton, Chief Executive of Tourism New Zealand.

He says the December figures appear to show a softening of the effect of events at the end of last year.

WAIRARAPA AIRSHOW - from the

Wairarapa Times-Age

We may never know who flew first—the Wright brothers or New Zealand's own Richard Pearse. But at the Wings over Wairarapa Airshow in 2003—for the first time ever—people are likely to see both the aircraft that made those historic flights on the same airfield.

It's an event that may well lead to Wairarapa's airshow being the largest ever held in the southern hemisphere, says the airshow's chairman, Garry Daniell.

By securing a visit of the Wright brothers air- craft replicas, and hopefully the Richard Pearse replica from MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) in Auckland, the 2003 event is likely to attract several other significant aircraft and at least 50,000 spectators, Mr. Daniell said. "We're hoping to cover the history of man and his fascination of flight," Daniell said.

Months ago, when Mr. Daniell jotted down his wish-list of aircraft to appear at the 2003 airshow, he half-jokingly put the replicas of the Wright brothers and Richard Pearse's aircraft at the top of the list. Today, what once seemed a pipedrearn—to have the first two aircraft on the same airfield, on the centenary of their first flights—looks just 16 months from becoming a reality.

As well as coinciding with the centenary of man's first flight, 2003 is also the 75th anniversary of the first crossing of the Tasman by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross replica will mark the anniversary by flying from Australia to Masterton, NZ, on schedule for the airshow's opening on January 25. After touching down, the Southern Cross will pull up to the official opening of the new Sports and Vintage Aviation Society museum.

The next 48 hours will include displays by balloons, Tiger Moths, WWI aircraft, a Catalina flying-boat, some of the earliest jet aircraft (Meteor, Venom, Vampire, Canberra), Korean and Vietnam war fighters, top-dressing displays, an aerobatic display, and the eternal crowd-pleaser—the airfield attack.

At the end of the 19th century a small group of eccentrics from all over the world were busily trying to master the art of flight. Balloons had been around since the late 1700s, and by 1894 there had been four documented takeoffs in aircraft But none were controlled, and none had travelled further than 30m.

Fully-controlled flight remained elusive (fully controlled flight is defined as a pilot being able to get his plane into the air, fly it on a chosen course and land at a predetermined destination).

In the early 1900s, while the American brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, were tackling what they called "the flight problem" on the beaches of North Carolina, a reclusive New Zealand farmer, Richard Pearse, was doing the same in a South Canterbury paddock.

The Wrights and Pearse were both certainly at the forefront of controlled flight, and while history may record that the Wrights won the race on December 17, 1903, many experts have argued their flight that day was not controlled. Others say Pearse beat them by nine months.

Records and eye-witness accounts show Pearse made his first substantial flight on March 31, 1903. Whether this was controlled or not has also been debated, and even Pearse's own claim that this was not a controlled flight, has been open to debate in past years.

Richard Pearse (1877-1953), the fourth of nine children, was a quiet, introspective and aloof character, widely regarded as an eccentric dreamer (known variously as Cranky Dick, Mad Pearse, or Bamboo Dick). He was a solitary, sporty boy who wanted to study engineering at Canterbury University but his family, who farmed near Temuka, could not afford it.

At 21, while looking after a 40ha farm block, Pearse built a workshop, forge and lathe. Similar to the Wright brothers, his first project was to design a bicycle before beginning to toy with his real passion, flight.

He kept in touch with the outside world through the Scientific American magazine, and by 1902 he had designed and built his own lightweight two-cylinder petrol engine.

His first aircraft, a 7.5m monoplane, resembled a modern microlight, and was made of bamboo, tubular steel, wire and canvas. The date on which Pearse used this aircraft to make his first substantial flight is still widely debated.

In 1902 he made several short "hops" and "skips", but apparently did not manage a controlled flight. Several eye-witnesses were certain that his first flight occurred on Easter 1902, but Pearse did not count these as flights as he was not happy with the amount of control he had.

While the exact date is likely to be the subject of constant debate, events surrounding the flight itself

have been widely recounted. On the afternoon of whatever day it was, Pearse fired up the aircraft's homemade engine on a main road alongside his farm, taxied a short way before cautiously opening up the throttle, and became airborne after 50m. He flew for about 50m, rising to a height of about 4m, and crashed into his own gorse fence.

Pearse always conceded that the Wrights beat him as far as sustained controlled flight was concerned, and modestly refers to his trials as experiments, not flights. All he wished to take credit for was for being the first to use ailerons, a pneumatic- tyred tricycle undercarriage, nosewheel steering and direct transmission to the propeller.

In the 1930s Pearse built his "convertiplane" (or utility plane) with a homemade engine that when tilted backwards would give vertical takeoff and landing, and when tilted forwards would give horizontal flight. This aircraft, which has never been flown, is kept at Auckland's MOTAT.

A failure as a farmer, and a very secretive man, he went on to spend years designing aircraft before the lack of interest from aviation companies finally took its toll.

An embittered and disillusioned Pearse was admitted to Sunnyside mental hospital in June 1951. He died there in obscurity on July 29, 1953.

The replica of Pearse's original 1902 monoplane will hopefully be on display at the 2003 event.

WAIREPO HOUSE (From NEXT)

Joyanne Easton had reached that quiet patch that hits after the last child leaves. Her four children were all living away from home and life had a "what's next?" feeling. She and her husband Richard had spent most of the past 20 years running a large apple and pear orchard just outside Motueka, in Tasman Bay (near Nelson). The land had originally been Richard's grandparents', broken in before the war. Despite being the fourth generation of growers to raise fruit on the property, changing tastes had seen some parts of the orchard lose value. The Sturmer apples were unloved and due to come out. Joyanne's dormant urge to expand her own horizons took over after she read about growing peonies for export in a horticultural magazine.

"I already loved them as a garden flower." She made a round of phone calls, spoke to MAF and visited peony exporters. New Zealand-grown blooms fetch premium prices in the United States where a peony-adoring public snap them up while their own

plants are still under snow. They are also exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong and occasionally Europe.

A family trip around England staying in Bed and Breakfasts got her thinking about revamping the home as tourist accommodation. "We stayed in everything, from the little to the grand. Some of the beds were hard as rocks, but the homes were all special and different. It was a great way to learn about a country."

She came home with a plan. "I realised there was a need for something smarter in the way of accommodation in this area." The Abel Tasman Park is within easy driving distance, drawing thousands of visitors each year.

Fortunately, the homestay business begins to hot up just as the picking season comes to an end. Joyanne fills Wairepo house with bowls of late-season peonies and welcomes guests from around the world. Breakfasts are always a treat, taken in the privacy of the guest suites or upstairs in the garden room with windows open to the view.

"One thing we learned when we stayed in bed and breakfast places ourselves is that guests remember a comfortable bed and a good breakfast."

Joyanne cooks the best of whatever is in season, whitebait fritters, eggs Benedict, pancakes, waffles, muffins with home-made treats like pear and ginger jams or quince jelly. "When you are not offering dinner, you have to make sure the breakfast is memorable. I consider it a challenge to try to think up something different they might not have had elsewhere."

(Wairepo House is on Weka Rd, Mariri, RD2. Upper Moutere, Nelson, phone (03) 526 6865, or check out www.WairepoHouse.co.nz).

RUGBY UPDATE (by Stephen Mangum)

International rugby has become even more competitive as the 2003 World Cup fast approaches. England is currently rated No. 1 in the world, followed by Australia, New Zealand, France, and South Africa. Other teams which continue to show great improvement include Ireland and Argentina.

New Zealand's All Blacks, coached by John Mitchell, are reloading with young talent for the 2002 campaign. Mitchell and the selectors will assemble the final squad in late May following the conclusion of the Super 12 season.

The All-Blacks 2002 fixtures are as follows:

June 8 - NZ vs Italy at Hamilton

June 15 - NZ vs Ireland at Dunedin

June 22 - NZ vs Ireland at Auckland

Tri-Nations Test schedule:

July 13 - NZ vs Australia at Christchurch

July 20 - NZ vs South Africa at Wellington

July 27 - Australia vs South Africa at Brisbane

Aug 3 - Australia vs NZ at Sydney

Aug 10 - So. Africa vs NZ at Durban

Aug 17 - So. Africa vs Australia at Johannesburg

The Australia-New Zealand tests are also Bledisloe Cup matches. The Aussies have held the Cup since 1998. Australia also faces off vs France on June 22 in Melbourne and on June 29 at Sydney.

Samoa will host South Africa in a test match in Auckland on July 6. This allows a much larger crowd, better television and media coverage, and greater revenue.

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa plan fall tours to include matches against the European powerhouses in November. More to follow later on these great matchups.

The highly regarded New Zealand Maori team, coached by Matt Te Pou will play three matches in June in Australia. The opener is June 4 vs Queensland at Brisbane, followed by New South Wales on June 8 in Sydney. Last but not least they take on the Wallabies at Perth, W.A., on June 15. The traveling squad will include 26 players, all of whom are of international caliber. The Maori team last faced Queensland and New South Wales in 1979.

The Super 12 season opened on Feb. 22-23 and wraps up with the semis and finals May 18 and 25.

The Air New Zealand NPC 2002 opens the weekend of Aug. 16 through 18 and concludes on Oct. 27 with the championship game.

Canterbury continues to hold the Ranfurly Shield with ten consecutive wins, including a brilliant comeback vs. Wellington. A try at fulltime won the match.

New Zealand's great winger Jonah Lomu continues to be the most visible and highest paid player in world rugby.

More info and results to follow in later issues including details of the Rugby world Cup 2003 to be played in Australia and New Zealand. Until next time, play on!

READERS - Please send in articles and letters for the next issue. I need them by May 15. Thanks.

NZer OF THE YEAR: KIWIS WHO MADE THEIR MARK IN 2001 - New Zealand News

*Warren Larsen. Former Dairy Board chief executive Warren Larsen was the key to forming New Zealand's biggest company, Fonterra. The joint venture, which will have almost $2 billion in sales, allows NZ to penetrate the previously unassailable North and South American markets.

*Valerie Adams. 16-year-old Valerie Adams beat an international field to claim the under- 18 shot put gold medal at the World Youth Championships in Debrecen in Hungary.

*Sheila Laxon. Sheila Laxon's triumph this year, completing a Caulfield Cup (horse racing) double with Ethereal, was a victory that will live in the memory. She was, of course, a history maker as the first woman trainer officially to take the trophy.

*Mike Moore. When he was Minister of Trade and even Prime Minister, Mike Moore's unstoppable flow of enthusiasm sometimes made it hard to take him seriously. But as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, he has one of the most serious, and difficult, jobs on the planet and has done it superbly.

*Stephen Tindall. Stephen Tindall inspired the "Catching the Knowledge Wave" conference in Auckland in August by declaring that he had personally invested more than $100 million in NZ venture capital funds and business start-ups such as Deep Video Imaging and Peter Witehira's latest venture, U-Clic.

*Neil Finn. By any score Neil Finn had a big year. The music industry voted his Don't Dream It's Over New Zealand's second greatest song after Wayne Mason's Nature. There was a second solo album One Nil, the soundtrack to the movie Rain, a couple of books, and a tour.

*Russell Crowe. Russell Crowe's first Best Actor Oscar (for Gladiator) has barely left his clutches since he picked it up in March. We say "first" because the 37-year-old's performance in the current A Beautiful Mind also has him tipped for this year's Oscars, as well as winning a Golden Globe award.

*Tarryn Pitzer. Waiuku 16-year-old Tarryn Pitzer turned her time on the internet to good use. As a member of the online advice agency Teenhelp she has helped scores of troubled youngsters and that experience helped her to recognise one online contact in Pennsylvania as a real threat. Her suspicions brought in Interpol and then the FBI who swooped on her contact and confirmed him as "a likely schoolyard shooter."

*Sir Thomas Eichelbaum. The job of heading the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification was never going to be easy but one of chairman Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's biggest challenges was mastering a staggering volume of information. The formal hearings alone produced 4600 pages of transcripts covering health and environmental objections and social, cultural and ethical concerns.

AIR NEW ZEALAND CLOSING OUTLETS -

(Stuff)

Air New Zealand is in danger of losing overseas business following its move to close three reservation centres in North America and London. according to industry commentators.

But the airline insisted the latest move would not affect business, but would improve service to overseas customers.

Air New Zealand spokeswoman Rosie Paul said more than 50 Air New Zealand staff in London, Vancouver and Los Angeles would go as a result of the closures, but 39 new full-time staff would be hired in Auckland.

The airline would transfer the services to New Zealand by April. The changes were aimed at cutting costs and improving productivity for the cash-strapped company, Air New Zealand stated.

One North American call-centre worker likely to lose his job said Australian airline Ansett closed call centres in the 1990s to save money and lost half its business in America.

"We had a very unhappy meeting at work." he said. "The call volume has been so low since September that something had to give."

He was not bitter with the airline, blaming the changes on Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

Aviation analyst Les Bloxham said "only time would tell" how much the closures hurt Air NZ's business in North America and Europe. It was another dent in the airline's international image.

"It is another sign that Air New Zealand is withdrawing into itself. The result is that they are going to lose their image and their presence, as ghostly as it may be, in these other countries," he said.

Air NZ said it would offer an improved 24- hour-a-day service, seven days a week, and would be able to better manage market peaks and troughs as a result of the changes. New Zealand staff would field

inquiries from Australia, the United States, Canada and Britain.

From WYSIWYG NEWS — by Brian Harmer

(Copyright by Brian Harmer, reprinted by permission)

Bookshops are a constant delight to me, and this week in Quilter's on Lambton Quay, I found a treasure. Edward Musgrave Blaicklock was a professor of Classics at the University of Auckland from 1948 until sometime in the 1960s. As well as being an extremely erudite man, he was a writer. A real writer. Much of his writing was published in the long defunct Weekly News under the pseudonym of "Grammaticus." In later years, after the closure of the dear old weekly, his column was carried in the Auckland Star which is now also gone. He was a theologian and a preacher, a scholar and grammarian and in every way a gentleman. I was privileged to meet him just once, in the seventies. Of all his great volume of works, those which most stirred my soul were those in which he described in loving and lyrical detail, the magnificence of the bush and the harbour near his beloved Titirangi in West Auckland. He painted pictures with words which bring to life the scenes of those times. His book "Hills of Home" published in 1966 is a carefully crafted composite of many of his writings from the Weekly News. Among the thousands of scruffy, musty, sun-faded books was a copy of this jewel. His book now resides near my pillow where I can re-read at will his marvellous way with words. Meanwhile my own musings for this week follow.

No matter that I do it every working day, the journey to Wellington always has some new dimension. On Friday this week, before the sun was quite over the horizon, in that grey-washed period when the sky is light, but colours are soft, and detail less distinct, a container ship sailed in. The harbour was undisturbed, save for the odd ripple as it slopped over the rocks along the Western sea wall beside the railway line. And suddenly the sound of Judy Collins singing Kurt Weill's song "Pirate Jenny" popped into my head... ."And a ship, a black freighter, with a skull on its masthead, will be coming in." No skull, and indeed no masthead on this ship, but it was most certainly a black freighter.

Almost stealthily, the big ship was gliding across the smooth surface, visibly in motion, yet leaving no apparent wake. In contrast to the softness of the morning, this ship, the Pegasus Bay, was all black bulk, sharp lines and fine detail, as if picked out

for sharp focus in a soft scene by some celestial film director.

Though not among the very biggest as modern container ships go, she was nevertheless an impressive sight. At 44,600 tonnes, give or take the weight of the ship's cat, she was the biggest thing in sight, and all the more impressive because she was moving so purposefully. In sharp contrast with the black slab sides of her hull, huge white letters proclaimed her owners to be P&O Nedlloyd. Her white superstructure towered like an apartment block, six or seven stories over the already considerable height of the main deck, and yet the windows of her bridge appeared to give her crew just sufficient height to peer over the great stacks of containers on her decks. Not usually regarded as things of beauty, the ISO containers have different colours depending on who owns them, and they provided an oddly attractive and colourful patchwork effect above the stark black and white of the hull. Above the superstructure, the tapering black funnel with the broad orange stripe inherited from the Nediloyd side of the family provided a platform for the radar, and for the vestigial mast from which today the New Zealand ensign flew in the time-honored acknowledgement of local sovereignty.

Pegasus Bay can carry the equivalent of 2,850 standard twenty foot containers, which is a long way behind the 6,600 her newer sisters can handle. Even so, enhanced by her proximity to the shore and a high tide, she was an impressive sight. Like most of her type, just below the bridge deck, she has five or six luxurious cabins which are available for passengers to whom the idea of being pampered at sea for six weeks or so, without the hoop-la of a cruise liner is appealing. As I understand it, the voyage to Britain is via a route, and to a timetable, either of which can change without notice, to suit the needs and demands of shippers. Such a voyage of cnforccd idleness, and fust class catering apparently costs something in the order of NZ$6,000.

Pegasus Bay is at present on the coastal part of her run, having just arrived from Napier. After less than a day in port, she will be on her way, first to Lyttelton, then to Port Chalmers, and then out across the wide Pacific and around Cape Horn to the port city of Rio Grande in Brazil. From there, unless things change, she will proceed to Lisbon, Zeebrugge, Tilbury, Hamburg and Rotterdam to arrive at last by September 6. In contrast to the graceful glide of the big ship, the two tugs Toia and Kupe heave themselves by brute force through the water, pushing an avalanche of white water in front of them. They are all

briskness and business as they rush to position themselves for the delicate task of bringing the big ship to a gentle halt a foot or so from the wharf, directly beneath the towering insect forms of the container cranes. Already the impatient flashing lights of the straddle trucks signify that the port is ready to process this welcome visitor with efficiency and despatch.

HOME AT FIRST

(Bed & breakfasts, Inns, Lodges, and small hotels in

New Zealand)

With Home at First's help, you custom- design the ideal trip to discover New Zealand in the right number of days, at a comfortable pace, and at a great price! Moving from one quality bed and breakfast lodging to the next lets you see the wonders of New Zealand and ensures that you meet its friendly, fascinating people. Explore New Zealand from the near-tropical northern tip of the North Island to the sub-antarctic southern toe of the South Island. You will discover the best of eleven New Zealand regions in a self-designed itinerary of at least two weeks.

You will see glaciers reaching almost to the sea, snow-crowned volcanoes and great swaths of inviting, empty beaches. You will visit modern glass and steel cities and clapboard frontier towns. You will walk in jungles, cross high mountain passes, and explore seductive badlands of geysers and deserts. Most always there is water: rugged coastlines and placid bays; fine trout steams and muddy, slow rivers; waterfalls and rapids; great lakes and saltwater sounds.

Your hosts may practice diverse professions, but all share a dedicated concern for the comfort and happiness of their guests.

Your itinerary comes with all the necessary trans-Pacific and domestic airline flights, car rental and lodging arrangements you require. With our advice, you choose the number of regions you want to visit and the number of days you wish to spend in each region.

(Home at First, P.O. Box 193, Springfield, PA 19064. Tel. (800) 523-5842. Fax (610) 543-4970. email: info@homeatfirst.com.

Website: www.homeatfirst.com)

MAORI MYTH, LEGEND AND LORE

For many a century the pre-contact Maori developed a sophisticated structure of beliefs and customs about the birds of this land, this Aotearoa, this New Zealand. The basic myths and traditions came with the immigrants from legendary Hawaiki, the original homelands in the Pacific. Changes the

Maori made here to these legends were to give them relevance, to make them understandable in the new found natural world. This is shown in the stories of Maui, the man-god hero who is known to islanders throughout the Eastern Pacific. When Maui sought to slay the goddess of death, Hinenuitepo, it was the small local birds such as the fantail, the robin and the whitehead that he took along for company.

Larger birds like the harrier (kahu) and the morepork (ruru) had other tasks in the Maori world, they acted as messengers to the gods in the heavens, winging their ways there along spiritual paths. They were the mediums used by tohunga experts to communicate with the gods. Tohunga also applied their skills to practical methods of bird catching. They read the signs of the sky, of the foliage, of the bird life. They oversaw the manufacture and storage of traps, lines and ladders used in hunting in the forests of Tane. They knew that Tane was the power and origin of all tree, bird and even human life. They recited the proper chants to him and other gods so that birds would be plentiful and the hunting sucessful.

(from Maori Bird Lore, Murdoch Riley, Viking Sevenseas NZ Ltd. 2001)

SADNESS AS SOUTHERNER BIDS FAREWELL

Green Party co-leader Rod Donald has condemned the government for the loss of the Southerner rail service.

"There has been a passenger train service running south from Christchurch since 1878," said Mr. Donald from aboard the Southerner, "but that part of our history ended today.

"While the rest of the world, particularly Europe, is increasing services we have allowed a train that serviced a line stretching a quarter of the country, including three cities and many provincial towns, to be axed."

On the last day of service Tranz Rail staff controlling the locomotives and tending to passengers in the powder blue cabins did their best to put on a smile. From the following day many of them would be seeking new jobs.

Locomotive engineer Gavin Mortimore of Invercargill had been running the diesel engines since 1971 and said he'd never seen anything like the crowds who greeted and waved along the final tracks home.

The crowds added an extra hour to the journey as children were hoisted into the locomotive cabin for a look around and staff signed autographs on napkins for grateful rail fans.

Inside the Southerner the atmosphere had reached a party pitch, as Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt led passengers through a rendition of Auld Lang Sync and a tribute called Train Whistle Blowing over the PA.

Mr. Shadbolt, a longtime advocate of the Southerner, said there were still options and plans for some type of southern rail service. "Maybe the rail car service will be developed," he said.

"Passenger numbers had increased in the past few months, he said, "but maybe we don't appreciate things until we lose them."

A number of passengers on the final run had never experienced the journey and were glad that even though the end had come they had been onboard

Ken Adams of Toronto, Canada, said the journey was a great way to see the country. "It's such an easy way to see and travel somewhere without the confines of a car or a bus," he said. "Things are going the same way in Canada. The car has replaced the romance of the train."

Despite rolling into the Invercargill railway station about an hour behind schedule, a large crowd complete with a bagpiper had assembled to farewell the Southerner and its 31 years of service.

NEW ZEALAND BIRDING TOUR

—

Pacific Pathways

September 23 — October 11, 2002

For a country with such a small land mass, New Zealand has a wide variety of habitats where birds live and breed, all within easy reach of birders. Our tour includes birding sites such as the Gannet Colony at Muriwai and Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf. This island, which has been rid of predators, is home to many of New Zealand's endangered species such as Takahe, Brown Teal and Kokako as well as more common bush birds. Two nights here will enable you to see most, if not all species living on the island including the nocturnal Kiwi.

and the Yellow Eyed Penguin Colony will both be viewed at Otago heads.

In addition to these fabulous birding sites we have included some local New Zealand cultural and scenic highlights such as a hangi feast with a Maori family in Rotorua, a visit to the new national museum, Te Papa, and a farmstay in the Catlins. Also, some free time for you to explore on your own. Group size is limited.

(Pacific Pathways, 1919 Chula Vista Dr., Belmont, CA 94002. Ph. (650) 595 2090. Fax (650) 591 7721.

Email: nzaustours@pacificpathways.com

Website: www.pacificpathways.com

HOLLYFORD FOOTSTEPS

Fiordland National Park

In this new year the world's eyes are feasting on Fiordland—the backdrop for much of the first film of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

But this mythical "Middle Earth" is glorious reality for those of us lucky enough to walk the Hollyford Track. Lush mystical forest where Frodo and his friends might easily be found.

As one hiker wrote: "It's like being in a fairy tale!"

Except it's even better because with Hollyford Track, it's a real-life fairy tale. Others do the cooking, cleaning, guiding and organising. You get to concentrate on enjoying yourself. This is life as it ought to be.

Respected magazine National Geographic included Hollyford Track in their feature on Fiordland National Park in their December 2000 issue. They described it as "soft on the sole and close to nature" and

"an extravance of greenness ".

Further they added the proximity of nature and its tumultuous forces mean "Fiordland seems in every sense a work in progress, Earth 's unfinished symphony."

But don't just take their and our word for it. Come experience the timeless wonder of this remote valley for yourself. Let us lead you from the Alps to the sea, through lush forest to endless dunes. Just keep your eyes peeled for Frodo.

(Hollyford Track, 7 Henry St. P.O. Box 360, Queenstown, NZ.

Tel. 64-3-442-3760.

Fax 64-3-442-3761.

Email: info@hollyfordtrack.co.nz

Internet: www.hollyfordtrack.co.nz

MILFORD SOUND (From Discovering Our World, Reader's Digest)

Dawn on a still day is the best time to appreciate Milford Sound. Mist tips the mountain

peaks that rise steeply from the water's edge and are mirrored in the motionless blue of the sea. Captain James Cook, the first European to discover New Zealand's fjordland in the 1770s, missed the narrow, concealed entrance to Milford Sound altogether, so was denied a sight of its dazzling scenic splendour.

A finger of sea stretching 9 miles (15km) inland, the sound was given its European name by John Grono, the Welsh captain of a sealing vessel, in the 1 820s. He called it after his home town of Milford Haven in South Wales. But to the Maoris who came to collect greenstone from the beach at Anita Bay, near the mouth of the sound, it was known as Piopio-tahi, which means "lone thrush".

The thrush was said to be the constant companion of a legendary Maori folk hero, Maui, who sought immortality for the human race from the Goddess of Death by making love to her while she slept. But next morning she was awakened by the thrush's song, and in her fury crushed Maui to death between her thighs. The broken-hearted bird flew to Milford Sound to live in solitude and repentance.

Glaciers gouged out the hanging valleys and deep, steep-walled narrow troughs of Milford Sound and its fellow fjords on South Island's southwest coast around a million years ago. The Tasman Sea took over as the ice melted some 10,000 years ago. Maori legend, however, has a more poetic tale. It tells how South Island was the hull of a partly sunken canoe that turned to stone, and was shaped into habitable land with an axe by the Sea God. He began his work in fjordland, and the jagged coast and islands at the extreme south around Dusky Sound are attributed to his initial inexperience. He improved as he worked northwards, and Milford Sound, the most northerly of the fjords, was his finest creation.

The Goddess of Death also took a hand, however. She was so alarmed by the attraction of the area that, to discourage human visitors, she released insect pests—small black sandflies that inflict itching bites. The place of release is said to be Sandfly Point in Milford Sound, where the insects are most troublesome.

Mitre Peak, 5550ft (1691m) which lies halfway along the southern shore of the sound, is one of the highest mountains to rise straight from the sea. It was named by Captain J.L. Stokes, commander of the British Navy survey ship Acheron in 1851, who thought the peak looked like a bishop's mitre. Captain Stokes was entranced by the towering cliffs of the sound which, he wrote, "dwindled the Acheron 's masts to nothing". As with many of Milford Sound's

mountains, verdant rain forest clings to Mitre Peak's lower slopes, encouraged by the high rainfall of one of the wettest parts of New Zealand. Fierce, frequent winds and heavy rain make the sound a wonderland of fleeting waterfalls, some wind-blasted with such force that they soar skywards.

There are many impressive permanent water- falls, too, such as Stirling Falls, which sluice 480ft (146m) straight into the sea from between two curiously shaped rocks known as the Lion and the Elephant. Bowen Falls, around 50ft (15m) higher, make a two-tier drop to the sea, bouncing off the rocks as they go. But these waterfalls are just trickles compared with the magnificent Sutherland Falls, which cascade in three huge Leaps down the mountainside from Lake Quill into the Arthur River, at the head of the sound. These falls are, at 1904ft (580m) the tenth highest in the world.

Donald Sutherland, who discovered the falls while gold prospecting, first visited Milford Sound as a sealer in the 1860s. "If I ever come to anchor, it will be here," he vowed. He fulfilled that vow in 1877, and remained at Milford Sound until his death at 80 in 1919. Known as the Hermit of the Sound, Scots-born Sutherland built himself a cottage beside Freshwater Basin and explored alone for two years before being joined by a friend, John Mackay. Together they came across the Sutherland Falls in November 1880, while exploring off-roots from the Arthur River valley. Until a track was cut by Sutherland in 1888, commissioned by the provincial government, the falls were inaccessible to all but the most determined visitors. Will Quill, one of the young surveyors with the job of mapping the track area, climbed to the top of the falls and came upon the lake that now bears his name.

Quill told colleagues, "The outlet is a deep chasm about a hundred yards in length. The water rushes through this chasm with great force and swiftness, making a terrible noise". Quill died a year later in a fall from the Gertrude Saddle, not far away. The track cut by Sutherland became part of the Milford Track, a rugged, three-day walking route that stretches 30 miles (50km) north from Lake Te Anau to the head of Milford Sound.

Donald Sutherland married a fellow Scot, widow Elizabeth Samuel, in 1890. After an adventur- ous life—as a stowaway at 12, a Red Shirt in the army of Garibaldi (the Italian guerrilla general) at 17, and as sailor, sealer, herring fisherman and gold prospector— he became a hotelier upon his marriage. As tourists flocked to the falls, the couple set up the John O'Groats Hotel at Milford at the head of the sound.

Visitors today can appreciate the magnifi- cence of the Sutherland Falls from the air, or cruise in comfort along Milford Sound. Or they can approach from the south, not only along the Milford Track for walkers but also along the motor road through unsurpassed scenery between Te Anau and Milford.

One of the world's rarest birds, a flightless rail known as the takahe, lives in the fjordland mountains. Thought to have been extinct for 50 years, the 24 in (610mm) tall bird was rediscovered in the area in 1948. Sinbad Gully at the southern foot of Mitre Peak, where Sutherland once went in search of gold (without success), is one of the last-known habitats of the rare kakapo—a large, flightless nocturnal parrot that is in danger of becoming extinct. Once the yellowish-green kakapos were numerous, and the booming calls of the male birds kept explorers awake at night. Stoats and ship rats, introduced in the late 19th century, devastated the population.

Seldom seen by visitors are the night- foraging, flightless kiwis that are common in the region. But their plaintive cries, shortly after dusk and just before dawn, are part of the haunting attractions of Milford Sound.

LETTERBOX

* I took the Milford Track on my first visit to New Zealand in September 1979. A New Zealand farmer friend and I went as independent walkers on this hike. We carried our own food, hiking gear, and sleeping bag.

At that time the New Zealand agency running the track would send 16 people every few days to start the hike. The hikes lasted four days—and the sandflies were horrible. One could not sit still without being bitten by the insects. If we kept moving we were okay.

In our group of 16 people, the majority were from Germany, Greece and England. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. I remember especially the "Fairyland" section. The Fairyland was called that because of all the green fern, soft green moss under your feet, and the moss hanging from the trees.

The only animals we heard or saw were various varieties of birds. There were hardly any mammals there. The Milford area of New Zealand gets about 400 inches of rain a year. In the winter, a time when few people are hiking, winds can get over 200 mph.

Gary Ball, Calif.

* I have come across a site that might be of interest, if old postcards entertain you:

http://www.nzpostcard.co.nz

Yes, they are selling them, but the pictures can be freely viewed (click on one to get full size image). They have many general images, as well as a number of rail related ones. Most are early 20th century.

Charles Eggen, Oregon

NEW ZEALAND, THE ANGLER'S EL DORADO

Since the dawn of time, the seas surrounding New Zealand have sported a bounty of marlin, sword- fish. tuna and a variety of other species. The inland lakes and streams, however, remained relatively un- populated.

Following the introduction of trout into New Zealand at the latter part of the 1 800s, and the recog- nition of this country as a world class fishery in the early part of the last century, anglers from all over the world have looked to New Zealand as the Mecca of Angling—the world's best wild trout fishery.

Both the North and the South Islands of New Zealand offer excellent stream fishing for browns and rainbows. In particular, there are certain areas of the North Island that offer anglers a chance of a lifetime to fish on water holding the purest strain of brown trout in the world. Other streams hold large rainbows and browns. Their reputation draws anglers from far and wide in search of a trophy fish. Each year trout in ex- cess often pounds are taken.

Besides New Zealand's famous "gin clear" streams and spring creeks, there are hundreds of fish- able lakes throughout the country, including the areas of Rotorua, Taupo, Nelson and Southland. Most lakes throughout New Zealand arc well worth the visit.

New Zealand is often compared to Alaska, but the quality and diversity of its fresh water species is a heaven on Earth to the fly fishing purist. The average size of the trout is 3 to 4 pounds, exceeding most anglers' wildest imaginations. A good day on a New Zealand stream might only be 3 or 4 fish, but they could average better than 5 pounds

(The Best of New Zealand Fly Fishing, 2811 Wilshire Blvd., Ste 950, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (800) 528-6129. Fax (310) 829-9221.

email: info@bestofnz.net

http://www.bestofnzflyfishing.com

BEST BUYS IN WINES - From NEXT

- Named after Daniel Le Brun's daughter, this is a delicate and elegant bubbly with crisp lemony fruit and a biscuity finish. About NZ$45.

- Saints Hawke's Bay Pinotage 1999. A smooth, well-rounded wine with plenty of ripe, smoky fruit and a distinctive aroma of violets. About $17.

Hunters Chardonnay 1999. Rich and creamy on the palate, with a caramel and butterscotch bouquet and a crisp, citrus fruit finish. About $22.

- Esk Valley Black Label Sauvignon Blanc 2001. Offering a different style from Marlborough wines, this sauvignon blanc has a sweet herbal aroma and is crisp and dry on the palate. About $20.

- Deen De Bortoli Vat I Durif 2000. A fresh, easy-drinking red with an intense aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and soft, sweet plummy fruit. About $15.

- Gibbston Valley Pinot Gris 2000. Ripe pears are obvious on the nose. A rich, ripe and flavoursome wine that also seems delicate and subtle. About $26.

HELP YOUR FELLOW KIWIPHILES!

Some of you must have been in NZ during the last year or so. Please send along your notes, your memories, your suggestions to help others in their planning. THANKS.