Mount Maunganui

I left Whakatane, and is staying at a hostel at Mount Maunganui. Mount Maunganui (pronouned Mau-nga-nooi) is a seaside resort town about 100km west of Whakatane. It's main feature is "The Mount", a large hill besides the town. It is also near to the port city of Tauranga, the largest port in New Zealand.

Mount Maunganui. Population is about 30,000.

The Mount (also known as Mauao in Maori), is a 232m-high hill overlooking the town. Unlike Penang Hill, there are no cable cars to the top. Visitors have to hike to the top of the hill, which takes about 45 minutes. From the top, you can see the entire town of Mount Maunganui and the city of Tauranga. It's quite a spectacular view.

The Mount

View from the top of The Mount. City of Tauranga is visible in the background.

At the bottom of The Mount, there's a hot pool where visitors can swim and relax. Another attraction is surfing at the beach. I haven't seen anyone surfing yet (perhaps due to the cold weather), but I heard this is popular beach for surfers.

View of the beach and Pacific ocean from The Mount.

Matakana Island, which shields the port of Tauranga from the Pacific ocean.

White Island

I visited White Island on a guided tour. Although rather expensive at NZD200, the chance of visiting an active volcano was too good to pass up.

Aerial view of White Island (photo from http://info.geonet.org.nz)

White Island is located about 48km from Whakatane. It is actually an underwater volcano. The base of the volcano is underwater, and the "island" is actually the peak of the volcano that is above water. It is an active volcano, the last major eruption occurred as recently as 2000. The island is monitored 24/7 by a group on New Zealand scientists, and any increase in seismic activity is immediately known. The tour company had been operating since 1997, and no one had been killed by volcanic eruption (yet), so it should be quite safe.

White Island on the day of my visit.

Our tour departed Whakatane in the morning by boat. The journey to the island took 1 hour and 20 minutes. Even far away, a giant plume of gas is seen, rising from the island. As we learned later, this gas is 85% water vapor, so it's not very dangerous.

When we arrived on the island, my first impression was the barren landscape. There's not a single tree, not even a blade of grass on the island. Not a single animal, except a few birds in the sky. It's like a scene from Mars (or how I imagined Mars would look like).

Mars?

The next thing I noticed was the smell. There's faint smell of sulphur in the air, similar to what you might experience at a hot spring. As we got nearer to the central crater, where most of the volcanic gas came from, this smell got stronger. When the smell got too strong, it was hard to breathe, and we had to put on our gas masks.

Alien from Mars, or me in a gas mask?

We saw fumaroles, mudpools and many interesting features. Our guide explained that the volcanic veins were rich in sulphur, and there used to be a sulphur mine on White Island. The mining activity ended in 1933, and the island is now a nature reserve.

The island is a unique experience. It is not "beautiful" in the same way as Auckland Botanic Gardens or Yosemite National Park, but is uniquely different from anything else I've ever seen. Rather than describe it, I'd rather just show the pictures...

Desolate landscape

Is this fumarole?

Trekking across Mars?

Fumarole

Rich sulphur deposit

View of the main crater

Mudpool

Remains of the abandoned sulphur mine

View from the beach

View from the boat

Far side of the island, far from the volcanic activity. Green plants are visible.

Bonus: on the way back to Whakatane, we spotted dolphins! A group of dolphins swam next to our boat. They seemed very playful, and were jumping out of the water. A nice end to a wonderful trip.

Friendly dolphins 1

Friendly dolphins 2

Olive pressing

Ever wondered how do you get oil from olives? So did I, and last week I had a chance to find out.

We had a small batch of olives that we harvested from Gerrit's neighbor. Instead of sending them to a commercial press, like he usually does, Gerrit decided to press them by hand.

First, we cleaned the olives. We seperated the leaves from the olives, picked out the rotten olives, and washed them. This was more time consuming and tedious than it sounds, because we did it by hand.

Then, we ground and blended the olives into a thick paste. This was done by machine.

Olives blended into paste

Next, the thick gooey mixture is poured into an olive press. This is a cylinder with a crank at the top, and a hole at the bottom. Turning the crank causes a metal plate to press down on the olive paste, squeezing out all the juice, which comes out from the hole.

Olive press

The juice, which is a mixture of water, oil, and other impurities, is left overnight. This causes the oil to float to the top, while water and impurities sink to the bottom. Finally, the oil is skimmed off the top, and thus we have our extra virgin olive oil.

This is known as extra virgin olive oil because we extracted the oil using only mechanical means, i.e. grinding and pressing. There was no chemical or heat treatment involved. Oil produced this way contains the most anti-oxidants, and is the most nutritious. It also has a strong, almost bitter, taste.

100% pure extra virgin olive oil

Most olive oil production today is done at large commercial presses. The method is still the same, except the pressing is done with large machines. It's too labour intensive to press by hand. After 3 days work, we only produced about 20 liters of oil. I suspect Gerrit only did it because he wanted to "show us young ones how it's done in the good old days".

Left over is fed to the cows. No wasting!

Olive harvest

I got to help Gerrit and Wil with the remaining olive harvest for the season. For a city guy like me, it's interesting to see and experience it first hand.

Several large nets are spread out under the olive tree. Then, the olive branches are shaken by a shaking machine. This causes the olives to fall out of the tree, to be collected by the nets below.

Gerrit shaking a tree with a machine

Even after shaking, there are still some olives left on the trees. So, we WWOOFers pick the remaining olives by hand. I'm not sure if this is done on large commercial farms, because it's very labour intensive. But on small farms, we do all we can to increase the yield of the harvest.

Did you know that olives have been harvested for thousands of years? It's so old, it's even mentioned in the Bible: "When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow." (Deuteronomy 24:20) Translation: "When you shake the olive tree, don't pick the branches again. Leave some olives for the poor and less fortunate people." We certainly didn't listen to that!

Me picking olives by hand

Harvesting olive is hard work. We have to work all day from 8am to 5pm, instead of the standard 4-hour WWOOF work day. This is because the work is urgent. If the olives are not harvested quickly, they will rot and the oil produced from them will be bad. We are compensated by extra days off after the harvest, however, so it is all good.

After 2 days of hard work, we harvested about 2000kg of olives. That sounds like a lot, but I learned that it takes approximately 10kg of olives to produce 1 liter of oil. Put another way, the 2 tons of olives that we have will only produce 200 liters of oil. No wonder olive oil is so expensive.

Before harvest

After harvest

Moutohora Farm

I have been staying at Moutohora Farm for the last 10 days. This is a small farm located about 10km from Whakatane. There are 800 olive trees on the farm. It's hard to imagine, but 800 trees is considered "small farm".

The farm is owned by Gerrit and Wil, a friendly couple in their mid-60s. They are originally from Holland, but migrated to New Zealand 30 years ago. All their children have left home: one is in Holland, another in Perth, Australia. So they are enjoying their time together on this quiet farm.

Olive trees.

It is impossible for 2 people to handle all the work on the farm, and that is where I fit in as a WWOOF volunteer. You may ask, what is a WWOOF volunter?

WWOOF stands for World Wide Opportunity on Organic Farms. It is an organization for people who are interested to volunteer to work on farms. The farms that participate in this organization are usually small family farms (usually organic) who can't afford to hire full time workers.

The volunteers (called WWOOFers) work 4 hours a day. They don't get paid, but instead get free food and accomodation. The farms get free help, and the volunteers get to experience live on an organic farm, so it's a win-win scenario. It is also a cheap way to travel around the world, which is why many WWOOFers are young people on holiday work visas. There were 2 other volunteers at the farm, Julien and Rémi. Both of them are from France.

Because I arrived late in the season, most of the harvest was already done. However, I did get a chance to help on the remaining harvest. It was hard work. I was the slowest, and my body ached because I was not used to it. But I get plenty of rest, and the food is amazing.

Dinner consists of olives (homemade from the farm, of course), salad (some grown on the farm), main course and dessert. Main course is different every day: I've had pasta, nacho, rice, beef, chicken, venison, mussel. Wil is a great cook. She makes everything from fresh ingredients. I wish I could cook like her.

Dinner with myself, Wil, Gerrit, Julien and Rémi.

The place is beautiful. It is only 10 minutes walk to the beach. Due to the remote location, this beach is almost empty. It's like having a private beach to yourself.

The beach. Moutohora (Whale Island) visible in the background.

Whakatane

Whakatane (pronounced fa-ka-tah-ney), is a small town located at the Bay of Plenty region, about 300km from Auckland. Bay of Plenty is a region on the northern coast on New Zealand. When English captain James Cook landed here, he found an abundance of food supply, and hence called it Bay of Plenty. Today, there are many grape vineyards, kiwifruits and olives in this region.

Whakatane town. Population is about 19,000.

White Island is an active marine volcano, visible from the coast of Whakatane. It's one of the most active volcano in New Zealand. There are daily tours to it, however, they cost NZD200. I'd like to go, but still deciding whether that's worth it.

White Island. The plume of volcanic smoke is visible.

Another island visible from Whakatane is Whale Island, also known as Moutohora in Maori. This is a wildlife reserve, and public access is not allowed.

Whale Island and Whakatane River.

Whakatane is also home to many Maori people, and has significant history. Unfortunately, I didn't know most of the detail.

Maori Wharenui. It's like a Maori town hall.

Lady on the Rock statue. It tells of the legend of Lady Wairaka of the Maori people.

Buying a car in NZ

I need a car to get around, as public transport isn't very good in NZ, especially for the places I will be going.

The first place I looked was the noticeboard in the backpacker hostel. There was an ad for a 1997 Subaru Legacy with 276,000 km for only NZD2,000. Probably by another backpacker who was leaving NZ and wanted to sell his car. "Runs great", or so it claimed. This might be good deal for someone with a budget, and was willing to take a risk on an old clunker. I decided I can afford a slightly better one.

Next, I went to a public auction. The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't understand what the auctioneer was saying. I thought my understanding of English was pretty good, but the auctioneer made no sense. See if you can understand what the auctioneer is saying below:

Auctioneer chant

Give up?

"-this one. Can-I-get-ten-can-I-get-ten-thousand-ten-thousand-*mumbling*-for-this-one." (No bids) "Give me nine thousand. *incoherent mumbling* Give-me-eight-that'd-be-great-that's-a-deal *mumbling* (some one bid 8000), "Eighty two can-we-get-an-eighty-two-can-we-get-an-eighty-four-and-eighty-six" (Three people bid 8200, 8400 and 8600 in quick succession) "Eighty six hundred dollars. Now-we-got-an-eighty-six-now-we-got-an-eighty-six-now-we-got-an-eighty-six *mumbling*. Eight six hundred dollars, that's-gotta-be *incoherent* eighty-seven" (some one bid 8700). "Eighty-seven, now-we-got-an-eighty-seven-now-we-got-an-eighty-seven-now-we-got-an-eighty-seven-and-going *incoherent* Eighty seven hundred this-is-bargain-territory, eighty-seven-hundred. Eighty seven hundred that's-way-too-cheap, now-we-got-an-eighty-seven-now-we-got-an-eighty-seven-taking-one, and eighty-seven-hundred, we'll negotiate, *hits hammer* eighty-seven."

Note: the auctioneer said "we'll negotiate" instead of "sold" at the end, because 8700 did not meet the reserve price for the auction. In that event the auction house will try to negotiate a mutually acceptable price between the seller and the highest bidder.

In addition to being unable to understand the auctioneer, the prices for the good deals were bid up by everybody, which tends to make them not so good deals. I left the auction without a car.

Next, I looked up on TradeMe, the NZ version of eBay. I saw a 1999 Subaru Forester with 113,000km selling for NZD4,000. This is very low mileage for such an old car. I went to the dealer and took a test drive. Car seemed fine. To be safe, I decided to have an independent mechanic inspection.

Report came back with engine oil leak, worn CV joints and water in the spare tire wheel well. Either this car was not well maintained, or the odometer has been tampered with. Odometer tampering was a problem with second hand car in NZ, although it's rarer now because the government has cracked down on it. I decided to look elsewhere.

Went to another dealer, found a car for NZD6000. Mechanic inspection showed some problems, but nothing major (passenger side electric window not working). Bargained down to 5500, and bought the car. So what car did I buy for NZD5500?

A 1999 Nissan Cefiro station wagon with 184,000km on it. Was this a good deal, or did I get a piece of junk? I'm still not sure. We will know for sure when this car breaks down. :-P

Auckland public transport

In my previous post, I said that Auckland's public transport is not good. An example is the payment card, or more precisely cards, used.

You see, there are 2 cards: The HOP card and the AT HOP card. The former can only be used on buses, while the latter can only be used on trains. The HOP card cannot be used on trains, while the AT HOP card cannot be used on buses. If you want to travel on buses and trains, you have to carry both cards (or pay cash). Compared to London's Oyster card, Singapore's Ezylink or even Malaysia's Touch-n-Go, it's a mess.

To be sure, the HOP card will be phased out eventually, and AT HOP will take over as the all-in-one integrated public transport card in Auckland. Eventually. But how did this mess come about in the first place?

AT HOP and HOP

The story begins a long, long time ago... in the year 2008. That year, Auckland Transport Council decided to implement an integrated smart card payment system. That's right; the city that Mercer's Report named the 3rd best city in the world did not have an integrated public transport smart card in 2008.

So there was a tender to determine the company that will get this large project. The finalists were Snapper, a New Zealand company, and a French company called Thales. Thales won the contract. However, for reasons I'm not entirely sure, Snapper was invited to participate in this project despite losing the bid, making them a partner (or competitor) to Thales.

Fast forward to 2012: Snapper's HOP card is not compatible with Thales AT HOP card. Then Auckland Council terminated Snapper's contract, claiming that the company is unable to deliver the system as promised. Snapper of course denied that, and lots of finger pointing happened. Regardless, millions of dollars were wasted, and lawsuits may be filed. And we still don't have an integrated payment card in 2013, despite NZD98 million spent so far.

The there's the Auckland City Rail Link proposal. This proposal is based on a report commisioned by the Auckland City Council. The report states that the number of people working in Auckland is projected to double by 2040, and a new NZD2.8 billion rail link will reduce traffic congestion. But Transport Minister decided that this project is too expensive, and decided not to proceed with it. Basically the government decided to ignore the recommendation from a report commisioned by one of its own agencies. Sounds like Malaysia?

Auckland's Harbour Bridge (picture from http://www.nzherald.co.nz)

Why nobody taking the train?

Auckland Botanic Gardens

Last Sunday, I visited Auckland Botanic Gardens. This attraction is located about 25km south of Auckland CBD/downtown. The garden is about 156 acres, and is very beautiful.

Entrance to Auckland Botanical Gardens

Lake

The weather was sunny, around 20C. It was a nice day to spend outside, and this was evident by the people enjoying their Sunday afternoon here. It was autumn, some leaves were falling, but there were still many green trees.

People having a picnic

More people

Autumn

The types of plants here include native New Zealand plants, as well as plants from all over the world, even tropical plants. Perhaps it is because of the mild winter in Auckland that so many species of plants can survive here.

Rose

Bee collecting pollen

Unfortunately, the train ran only every hour on Sunday (while on weekdays, it's every 30 minutes). From the train station, I had to walk 30 minutes to the garden. There's a bus from the train station but, like the train, it also ran only every hour on Sunday. It's a shame that Auckland public transport is not very good (but that's a topic for another day).

In addition to being hard to reach by public transport, the Botanic Gardens is also not easy to find. The sign is difficult to spot from the main road. If you're in Auckland and want to visit, a car and GPS is recommended.

Can you see the Botanical Gardens sign?