East of Christchurch lies the Banks Peninsula and the bay of Lyttelton. I was a guest there on a farm run by a Swiss family who emigrated many decades ago, and I was given an introduction to the secrets of sheep shearing. Agriculture is still the backbone of the New Zealand economy. There are 20 times more sheep than inhabitants in the country. That’s why sheep shearing is such an important activity.
Rugby is New Zealand’s national sport, led by the national team, the ‘All Blacks’. In a tradition spanning over 80 years in the sport, there is an annual match between the teams from Christchurch Boys High School and St. Martin’s College, both from Christchurch. On the sidelines, students—whose affiliation is clearly recognisable by their school uniforms—loudly cheer on their teams. On one stand, an entire group even performs the Haka, a Maori ritual dance that found its way into sports and is also performed by the All Blacks to intimidate their opponents before a match.
As the operator of Manapouri Motors, he knows everyone living around Lake Manapouri, a spot in the southernmost tip of New Zealand, in Fiordland. He’s an expert in both cars and boats and runs a garage too. This petrol station is also where you need to hire boats for the short river crossing to the start of the Circuit Track hiking trail.
This typical ‘Kiwi’, as New Zealanders are also called, offers fishing trips on his boat in Hahei, Coromandel. Like many other New Zealanders, he spends a lot of time at sea. Enjoy a tour on his boat, watch him gutting the catch, and listen to the stories he tells you over a cup of coffee.
Dreams of white powder snow for perfect turns or fascinating jumps at Treble Cone above the Matukituki Valley. In winter, young people like Tery meet in Wanaka or Queenstown to live the fascination of snowboarding!
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