We left New Zealand on Thursday and the contrast between there and here couldn't be greater. Whereas for the last five weeks we have got used to the ultra-friendliness, laid-back attitudes and understatement which is New Zealand and its people, we now have the brash, rude hype of the USA which, with its blatant commercialism, has spoiled this beautiful Pacific island.
I last wrote to you when we had just bought our van. It was, quite clearly, on its last legs (wheels), an analysis which was only intensified when we pulled into a garage to get the oil topped up, to be told that the fan-belt was about to break, qualified later to, the whole fan is about to break and chew right through the engine.
Nevertheless, we did manage to do over 4000 miles in it (quite how we managed that in such a small country, I'm still not quite sure) without it failing us again, and, although it did get to the stage where we were filling up with oil almost as often as petrol, it did us proud. We soon got used to just parking on the side of a main road (= two cars passing per hour), set up a stove on the pavement and finally sleep quite peacefully in the back. Usually we'd have to make do with public toilets to brush our teeth and wash our plates but, apart from the couple of times in larger towns when we parked in the middle of inner-city car parks, we always had beautiful views from our little van. Or at least we would have done if the windscreen washers worked.
New Zealand seems to be the country in which the different ethnic groups mix better than anywhere else I have visited. While it would be foolish to suggest that the relationship between the whites and the Maori is anywhere
near perfect - I think that's probably impossible anyway - there does seem to be a mutual repect, a far cry from the racial disharmony we sometimes witnessed in Australia.
New Zealand is a beautiful country too, incomparable to Australia. It lacks its bigger neighbour's awesomely vast emptiness and long blue skies, but the turqoise waters of its spectacular coasts, it breathtaking fjords and magnificent mountain scenery are just as impressive.
In our little red van we trundled up and down some unfeasibly steep roads, many with just a gravel surface, often miles from anywhere, with just the sheep for company, peaceful and calm. And now Hawaii. America.
Bigger, louder, "better" than anywhere else. They call it "paradise" here and, true, it's beautiful and the sea is warm and inviting, but let's hope we're not all working towards this kind of hedonism. The palm-lined beaches are packed with ways to spend your money: glittering labels, stuff-your-face fast-food buffets, casinos, champagne breakfasts, strip clubs.
Well, to tell you the truth, we took part in some commercialism of our own. Back in New Zealand we flogged the ailing van for twice as much as we paid for it. Loadsa money!! Now where's that strip club...
Mexico tomorrow, keep in touch,
Ian
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