Andrea is driving towards Rotorua, so I had all the time. Not such a talker during driving. I think taking part in traffic is a serious matter, so someone should keep their attention on the road. Thinking about when I was 21 yrs. old when I was looking at the possibilities to migrate to NZ. Asking what if. Now that I am traveling through NZ, and also thinking about how I can focus my future, I try to record whether this country can mean something to me. A question that remains unanswered.

We stopped at wia o tapu. A strange new environment revealed itself. We already knew that especially the North Island was volcanic area. The landscape which we passed was showing it. Here and there steam and the vegetation is different. It seemed drier, I would say more strong plants, shrubs. At this place I pictured a film set, unnatural colors, Yellow, red, white, gray, steam, mud, pimple, warm and spiny plants and especially pine trees. It is science a fiction movie.

With wia o tapu behind us I was aware that we didn’t made any reservations for camping. I didn’t kept in mind that it was eastern and Anzac day was coming. So it’s a holiday week voor NZ. But we found a place to stay.

The next evening we went to the Mitai tribe! Yes a tourist attraction. It shows us how Maori maintain their own identity. Whether it is culture? I’m in doubt with answering that question.

Our host told us “we have facebook, kfc and burger king. And there is a highway between our village and the lake we live by. It’s called progress” I wrote earlier that this country is breathing Maori. We just have to look at the haka. The Haka is something that is done throughout all the pacific Islands up to Hawaii. It is named differently but the intentions are the same.

I am amazed at the spacious layout of this place, actually every place we have been. Wide streets, spacious shops and houses with plenty of land. It does not really have anything cozy, as I know from my home town Alphen aan den Rijn.Seeing this in NZ I am starting to appreciate that in the Netherlands we live close to each other. I am curious how the social life is in NZ. Within the Mitai community you see that there is a close one, but what about the immigrant population.

We will move on tomorrow. We get back to east coast, for a final day with woody our loyal companion. I notice that the sun is showing its face more often now.