New Zealand Revisited
Patti Bradfield 19/1/01

Patti Bradfield

Many years ago I wrote about my first experiences in New Zealand, from my American stand point. Twenty years later, OH MY, how you have changed! As you read, please excuse me, for what I experienced was more culture shock than I did so many years ago.

Getting off the plane in Christchurch on October 17, 2000, I was met with the wonderment of your modernized airport, and off in the distance tall buildings that were not there when I left so many years ago.

Driving through the city I was amazed at how much had changed. I could barely pick out the Square where the Wizard once was, but the wonderful fountain with its rounds of water cascading, I did remember. I guess the masses of cars and people is what hit me the most. Where did they all come from?

I was a bit dismayed to see how many corner dairies were replaced with shops of varying kinds, and supposed that progress has moved people to the larger shops for buying milk, eggs and bread. But the hot bread shops are still alive and well, and my first yearning was for a hot sticky bun - and that was still the same warm wonderful flavor I remembered.

I was very sad to see billboards that were very explicit in nature, and television commercials were very much the same. The obsessive world of sell, sell, sell has met New Zealand head on, in ways even the United States does not allow. We have curbed such advertisements for our children's sake, and this writer hopes New Zealand will stand back soon and see what it has taken us way too long to understand.

The American dollar made our trip more than we had hoped for, but sadly I can see how New Zealand is losing out to the imports from the rest of the world.

If I had the power I would take many of the imports out, tell the KIWI's to make it themselves, and bring the products out of New Zealand, turning your dollar back to what it should be.

Flying into Wellington a week later was a massive culture shock also. Industry, cars, hotels, motels, restaurants and tall new buildings kept me wide eyed as the plane slowly came to ground. Taking a walk on Queens Wharf was a shock. A large sign met us stating, "No swimming, no shell fish eating, etc. because the water is polluted from sewage". I wanted to cry.

The drive to Fielding was a breath of New Zealand I needed after Wellington. The hills are still alive with sheep and green grass. The farms still clean and serene like out of a picture postcard. Small tea shops were still where they were, with warm greetings and wonderful pastries for the tired travelers.

The flowers of spring, baby lambs and calves, greeted us at every turn and I knew that not everything had changed. Coming upon paddocks of deer was a surprise, and a great camcorder experience. My friends and relatives will be bored to tears, but I could watch the footage forever, and wish I could live in the heart of KIWI land with the sheep, cows and deer. Beautiful and serene are the only words I can think of.

The small town of Feilding has not lost its character. The people are wonderful, the streets alive with the colors of spring, and the yards and homes neat and tidy like no other place I have seen. This is what my mind remembers of New Zealand, the country of my dreams.

Driving through the country side to Auckland the film kept rolling. Hedgerows (I call them) so reminiscent of Scotland, with mostly cows, as we headed North were a fascination. I didn't remember them being so vast, but was awed by the beauty of the fields of green and gentle rolling hills.

Coming into Auckland was really an eye opener. The first thing that hit my senses was the buildings, and rows and rows of apartment houses that definitely were not there twenty years ago. And of course the Sky Tower. Now that is one very large looming piece of concrete. Someone said it looked like a giant spark plug. Well, I don't know about that. But it was very awesome stuck dead center as you crown the hill coming in from the south.

I could still make out the land marks of Mt. Eden, Roskill, One Tree (now no tree) hill, and the one road that was always my landmark, Karangahape Road. Ponsonby has changed vastly. Restaurants, little boutiques, and cars’ cars, and more cars.

I tried very hard to recognize something familiar on the waterfront, but only when I saw the old ferry building did I remember where I was. Wow! the Americas Cup has really opened up the once sleepy town of Auckland. Of course the restaurants were amazing, as they were everywhere, on every corner - and Starbucks, which made me laugh. KIWIs now can enjoy what Seattleites have been known for - coffee of all kinds and for every taste bud.

The ever present wind was a stark reminder that I again had brought the wrong kind of clothes with me, for even with the sun beating down, the wind was cold. But getting out on the jetty where the Team New Zealand black boat hung high over her slip, the air was crisp and clean, just as I had known it would be.

Speaking of the harbor, I was amazed at not only the massive apartments that have sprung up, but the money that seemed to permeate the air. Private boats (or I should say ships?) that screamed dollar signs, were everywhere. It seems to me that the world has found that the best boat builders are still alive and well at the bottom of the world.

The buildings that have sprung up along the waterfront were mind boggling. I watched it all on TV when Team New Zealand did their magic, but was totally unprepared to see it up close and personal. Also seeing the American flag flying in so many places was strange. The newspaper I read said that New Zealand had profited well from the challenge held there, which is a good thing for the economy. Some said you have become very cosmopolitan. Maybe that's a nice way of saying the commercialism of the event has turned your beautiful country into an oasis for big time money in the boat building arena. I for one was amazed at how many restaurants there were. Every variety I could think of was there for the asking.

Overall, the trip from the South Island to the North Island, was a complexity of varying stages of culture changes, beauty beyond what I had remembered, and an uneasy feeling you're moving too fast. Sorry, but I guess I am like so many that fear change will ruin what nature has taken so long to build. Your children, your life style, your people and your land are taking on a look of 21st century adulthood, but in some ways a frantic chase to get there before anyone else.

Please slow down, preserve your beauty, your way of life, and your natural resources, for they are your strongholds in a sea of plenty.