I've recently finished up with the East Cape circuit, which was, in a lot of ways, even better than the Coromandel Peninsula. The Cape, as its name would imply, is the Easternmost jut out of the North Island of New Zealand. Because, I suppose, it isn't that close to any cities, it's pretty sparsely populated, despite being gorgeous. I rode around the perimeter, from Opotiki to Gisborne by way of Hicks Bay, mouth agape much of the time. The riding was pretty hilly, up and around the coastal range, but the roads were better than in the Coromandel, and there was much less traffic.
I stayed in campsites overlooking remote bays, ate ice cream that was homemade at Macadamia Orchards (I'm used to orchard meaning apples, but I've seen macadamia and kiwi orchards around here, so I'll have to expand my definition, I guess.) The countryside was totally stunning, even when the road turned inland and I was in the rolling hills of the mountain range rather than hugging the coast.
The East Cape is also where a lot of Maori people live, both traditionally and currently. The route I took is dotted with marae, the the Maori meeting houses/community centers. They aren't tourist centers, though, so I didn't have the opportunity to look in one to see the flax weaving and wood carvings. I did get to see the Anglican Maori church in Tikitiki, which I'm told is similar, and was certainly stunning. I have some pictures I'll get up when I'm able, but imagine a good-sized wooden church wherein every square inch was covered either with a flax weaving or carved wooden decoration. It was certainly stunning, and I can only imagine the marae are even moreso.
In general, I found myself fascinated with the current state of Maori people and the social politics of race in New Zealand, though frustratingly without any effective vectors to investigate. (As a man in transit on a bike, it's hard to really dig in...) An argument with a Czech woman at my hostel (totally civil, but we certainly disagreed) about responsibility vis-a-vis alcoholism and poverty and economic opportunity really got me considering them as an analog to both Native Americans in the US, about whom I know shockingly little, I guess because I'm an Easterner, and also African Americans. (There are a lot of signs up in stores/restaurants about no one in gang colors being allowed in and a lot of graffiti around.) Hopefully I'll figure out a way to learn a bit more.
In any event I can't recommend the East Cape enough. A beautiful rural coastline, some lovely nature domains (I saw a 2000 year-old tree that was sacred to the local Maori tribe.) and wonderful people. If I'd stayed longer, I hope I would have gotten a better understanding of the dynamics of the area, but, regardless, it's about the prettiest countryside I've yet seen.
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We had a woman in for a job talk a few weeks ago who was doing comparative ethnographies of tourist culture among Maoris interpreting their culture in New Zealand and Alutiiqs in Alaska. She said only about one interesting thing, which was that Maoris at every level of their and New Zealand society tend to be conversant in post-colonial discourse, in an everyday kind of way, which is not at all true in Alaska. I wish she'd explained why that was true.
ReplyDeleteProbably doesn't correspond to white New Zealanders being fluent in it, though?
Anyway: peach orchards and cherry orchards we could add to "regular" orchards, but MACADAMIA! That's just thrilling.