A few notes about local customs...
- Milk in your room: The motels here leave milk in your room. We’ve only stayed in one such place on this trip (our first night in Christchurch before picking up the van), but we’ve heard it mentioned at the camps since they also typically have cabins and/or motel rooms. It’s a homey touch that some tea-drinking countries do and we like it.
- Opening doors: In Hokitika, Sam was exiting the campground Reception office just as a Kiwi guest was entering. She held the door open for him, but he had said he should be doing the door holding for a woman; Sam politely insisted and he came in. Later the same day she was in the guest laundry room getting our clothes out of the washer when the same man came over to her and said that Reception told him that he and his wife could get more coffee and sugar for their room here. Sam was confused but figured it out, smiled and said that she didn’t work at the place. He blushed and then burst forth with “Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you worked here. I’ve never had a lady hold the door open for me before!” Maybe the Time’s Up movement could make more inroads in NZ?
- Barefoot: A noticeable percentage of Kiwis don’t like to wear shoes. We’ve seen adults grocery shopping, filling their cars with gas, driving, and doing other daily activities without shoes. Children seem to be required to enter grocery stores sans shoes. At a restaurant in Manapouri, three guys took off their gumboots before they entered a fish and chips restaurant; quite contrary to the US mindset of shoes being required to enter a building. Maybe with all the rain they get, they grow tired of having wet socks and shoes? At the Warehouse (sort of like a K-Mart) in Greymouth, a woman came into the store and cheerily said “I’ve got my shoes on today,” to the greeter and it wasn’t entirely clear to me if she meant that she had new shoes on or if she was just commenting on actually having shoes on!
- Tourists—dollar signs or humans: Some cultures are curious about tourists (Greece is an example as is much of Southeast Asia) while others like tourist money more than the people. Many of the Kiwis in the tourist industry seem to be in this latter camp. We’ve met nice locals but there’s more disdain for travelers here than many other places we’ve been. They’ve nicknamed the tourists who hurriedly make the roundish circuit through the most famous South Island sites, the Great Unwashed. These are typically young backpackers doing the trip in a manner that would upset locals anywhere because of hygiene and drunkenness. They also call them Loopies. “It’s Loopie season again” they tell each other with dread. Our previous trip here 13 years ago lacked this vibe; but tourism here has skyrocketed since then, and, frankly, many of the tourists here also annoy us (e.g., the pushy people cutting in front of you to use the bathroom, use the sink, or burners at the campgrounds). I understand why the Kiwis have gotten annoyed; how is that other cultures aren’t yet jaded by tourists?
- Generosity: But on the flip side, we’ve had some nice people do generous things for us, most notably once we got to the south end of the south island (i.e., where it’s overall less touristed). In a touristy little placed called, Arrowtown, we ordered a coffee at little café. There’s an ‘extra’ on many drinks menus in NZ that is simply called fluffy and we wanted to know what it is. The café folks told us that it’s hot, frothed milk. Sounds good! Is it just extra froth for your coffee? No, it’s only for little kids. Sam asked why an adult wouldn’t get a fluffy and they looked flabbergasted at even the thought of such! Anyway, the barista eventually brings our coffee to the table and she has second drink even though we only ordered one. It’s in an espresso cup and has a pink marshmallow beside it and a pretty mocha powder on top of the drink. She said it was a fluffy for us and that she made it exactly how she would for a kid. Seems that it’s something a kid would get that mimics what the coffee-drinking adults would have? She seemed totally tickled that we were so happy with it. Another generous person was the gas station attendant who helped Sam figure out how to disconnect and add fuel to the propane tank in the camper. We’d not used much fuel—she said it was like a finger’s worth—and when Sam asked how much we owed, she said it was free. How often does the gas station give you free gas?
- Swimmin’ pools: Sam’s gotten to swim in pools in Hokitika, Arrowtown, Wanaka, and Te Anau and has already charted out swims in several other towns that we’ll hit. It’s nice that so many small communities here have pools, and even nicer that they let tourists use them for a small fee. These are all small towns—I think all of these places have under 10,000 people and several of them probably have only a few hundred population but they still have lap-swimming sized pools.
- No euphemism for toilets: How often do you hear someone in the States ask where the toilet is? We generally call it a bathroom or restroom to be more delicate. Other places have water closets, loos, etc. Not the Kiwis! They just cut right to the heart of the matter and say 'toilets.' At campgrounds and parks etc. you'll see signs that say 'Female Toilets' and 'Male Toilets.' And when we took the shuttle to Milford Sound, we had a couple stops 'at the toilets.' Somehow it feels somewhat indelicate to say that word!
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| Sunset at Monkey Island (which you can walk to when the tide is out) |
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| View of Fiordlands from Manapouri (cool clouds down here) |
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| Wetlands south of Manapouri |