Quiet New Zealand

Except for rush hour in Auckland, New Zealand is a laid back place. It's quieter than Australia, which is quieter than the US...you get the idea. Here's the view from the Mangonui Motel, where I stayed for three nights in the town of the same name, in Northland, which is the far north of the North Island of NZ. It's a little fishing/tourist town with a moist, mild climate. Latitude is similar to San Luis Obispo. Everything grows here, where the temperature is almost always between 80 and 50. The locals call it subtropical, but that seems to me to be stretching it a little, though palms are common. I guess you could compare the climate to Maui's upcountry, or to the town of Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawaii. There are a few nice restaurants and shops, and things move at a slow pace. People are friendly, the fishing's good. It's a somewhat cloudy place; the sun shines only about half the time and 50-60 inches of rain fall each year.

This is Matauri Bay, in Northland. Beautiful beach, only a little developed; there's a caravan park at one end of the bay and a few houses about, though...more are a-building. The weather was starting to improve when I took this picture, but for most of the week I was in Northland the conditions were cool, windy, and wet. The locals advised me to return in February and March, when the weather tends to be more settled. In a couple years I'll take their advice.

At times on the rural roads, you run into cow (or sheep) delays. No worries! The bloke running these cows was on horseback; sometimes the cowboys use motorcycles. At any rate, you just drive slowly thru the herd and they'll let you by; and you get a chance to hang with the cows for awhile.