Chip and Bere are two rhinos who are accompanying them. They will be telling the story of their experiences in New Zealand and Australia. ‘Chipembere’ means rhino in Shona. Here are some excerpts of their experiences on the trip:
June 28
The start of our New Zealand, Australia tour. We were due to leave OR Tambo at 18:15, but the incoming flight from Sydney was delayed due to the ash cloud, so we left four hours later at 22:00, stressful as we had to get on a connecting flight to Auckland and were not sure that we would make it in time. Charlie was due to do an interview on New Zealand TV Morning breakfast show and we had to be at the studios by 7:00 am on the Thursday. We flew Qantas and the crew were fantastic – ensuring we were able to get off the plane quickly to catch our next flight.
We landed in Sydney at 17:30 Wednesday evening and there were ground staff waiting as we came off board with a buggy to transport us through the terminal to the boarding gate for our Air New Zealand flight to Auckland which left at 18:35. The buggy hooted its way through the crowds of walking passengers as we sat like royalty. We finally landed in Auckland in the early hours of Thursday morning exhausted from lack of sleep and traveling across a number of time zones, we lost Wednesday along the way!
New Zealand
Around 180 million years ago, New Zealand broke away from a giant land mass called Gondwana and drifted nearly 3,000 km South to where it sits today. Polynesians sailed there in the early 1300’s, following their ancestor Kupe, who had named the country Aotearoa – “land of the long white cloud”.
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman arrived in 1642, naming the land “Nieuw Zeeland”. European settlement began in 1769 with the arrival of British navigator Captain James Cook. In 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi confirmed New Zealand as a British colony and it became an independent nation in 1947.
June 30
When we arrived at the Jet Park hotel we were so excited to see a rhino sculpture in the foyer, we had to take a ride on it even though it was almost one in the morning. After a few hours sleep, we met up with Veronica’s parents, Ray and Yvonne Feltoe, who are our hosts during our stay.
Prior to our journey to Auckland, we had been in communication with Helen McKenzie, a Kiwi, who has a passion for Africa and it’s wildlife. Helen had organized two talks, one in Auckland and the other in Wellington. She had also contacted the local media and NZ TV Good Morning Breakfast show invited Charlene on their early morning show for an interview.
The TV interview was a success and we started receiving emails shortly afterwards. After a much needed cappuccino with Helen at her company, Tyndall Investment Management, we walked to our next hotel in central Auckland, the Mercure Windsor in Queens Street, two blocks only away from the harbor.
We met up with Helen at 16:00 and walked to the Northern Club to set up for our presentation. We had seventeen people attend the talk and they had a number of questions afterwards. We received a very positive response to the talk and four of the audience sponsored a rhino acre directly after the talk. If you would like to support Conservation and Communities in Southern Africa and sponsor an acre you can go directly onto our website, it is easy to do. We ended off the evening with. We are looking forward to another talk organized by Helen in Wellington, on July 12 at the Wellington Club, you are welcome to join us – go to our website www.environmentafrica.org.
July 1
After breakfast on Friday morning, we left Auckland and drove to Rotorua, arriving at lunch time at a well maintained motel called Malfroy’s Motor Lodge and were greeted by our friendly hosts, Ron and his wife Mairi, www.malfroymotorlodge.co.nz.
Having established an ecologically viable geothermal re-injection system, guests have exclusive use of their genuine mineral hot pool or a geo-thermally heated plunge pool in private gardens allowing for a therapeutic and relaxing experience in an eco-friendly environment. It is a sustainable system which is utilised above ground, the re-injection bore allows all of the waters being taken out of the ground to be returned to the underground reservoir from whence it came.
Rotorua, the heartland of New Zealand's Maori culture. Enveloping warmth, a proud spirit, a deep sense of history and a quick humour – you'll find all these qualities in your experiences with Maori culture. Rotorua, a Maori word meaning literally "second lake", was originally settled by the Maori of the Te Arawa iwi.
Many famous Maori legends and stories are based in this area including Hinemoa and Tutanekai—perhaps New Zealand's most famous love story, the beautiful Pink and White Terraces that were destroyed in the Mt Tarawera eruption, as well as many interesting Rotorua personalities.
The founder of Rotorua was a Maori explorer named Ihenga in the 14th century. The first Maori inhabitants arrived shortly after his discovery, transported by canoe from Hawaiki in Eastern Polynesia.
The Arawa people of Rotorua were New Zealand's first visitor guides, leading the way to the natural wonders the many geothermal hotspots, spouting geysers, boiling mud pools, warm geothermal springs and silica terraces, that have been part of their home for more than 600 years. Their welcoming tradition has been carried on from generation to generation expressed with true warmth and energy in Rotorua.
Our first stop was the beautiful Redwoods, Whakarewarewa Forest, www.redwoods.co.nz one of Rotorua’s most spectacular natural assets, it is famous for the magnificent stands of towering Californian Coastal Redwoods. In their natural habitat the lifespan of a Redwood is 600 years and they can grow as tall as 110 metres with bark growing up to 30cm thick. In the Redwoods, Whakarewarewa Forest the largest trees now stand at an incredible 67 metres tall and 169 cm in diameter. We walked into the forest and hugged a redwood, they are so huge, you cannot get your arms a quarter of the way around its trunk.
It was an evening that gave us an authentic introduction to Maori culture where we experienced a natural cultural village setting, saw warriors in traditional dress paddling a waka (ancient warrior war canoe), demonstrating fighting techniques, coupled with the grace and beauty of the poi dance and of course, the grand finale being the famous haka. After eating a traditional hangi meal which is cooked in the ground, we walked through the forests, beside the crystal clear waters flowing from a natural spring and saw hundreds of glow worms glowing green and blue in the night along the banks.
From the Mitai Maori Village, we went on a night tour of the Rainbow Springs Kiwi Wildlife Park www.rainbowsprings.co.nz and had a close and personal encounter with the endangered Kiwi birds. Committed to conservation, in 1995 Rainbow Springs became involved in the Bank of New Zealand’s ‘Save the Kiwi’ recovery Programme known as 'Operation Nest Egg' (or O.N.E. for short), with the arrival of a kiwi egg that had been abandoned. They now receive eggs from 13 conservancies and community kiwi trusts around the North Island. Since 1995 Rainbow Springs has successfully hatched, raised and released 492 kiwi chicks back into the wild.
Post published in: Environment