Green with NZ: Wewenttothelongestplacename (February 9)

At the request of our second most prolific blog commenter, Shanna, we have visited the site of the world’s longest place name. They have recently upgraded the sign so it is now captured completely on one long signpost (before it had to be broken down into four lines to fit on to a much smaller sign). See, there’s a good reason we ask for comments!

The hill of Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaki is very small and located conveniently in the middle of nowhere, also known as the Wairarapa region. It means something frightfully long and convoluted, so if you like, look it up. We mostly went for the novelty of seeing such a long word, but there’s an interesting Maori story behind the name.

To expedite the visit, we spent the night at a lovely farmstay in Wanstead called Lochlea Farmstay. The room was private, comfortable, and very cozy. It’s impressive the quality of accommodation that you receive here for very little money (approximately NZ$40, or US$28) – as long as you are willing to share kitchen and bathroom facilities. The farm hosts and guests were all very friendly, which made for an enjoyable stay. I (Becky) have really been enjoying the country living since we’ve arrived in New Zealand and am continually blown away by the beauty of the landscape (something the locals seem to take almost for granted). We only stayed at Lochlea for one night, but I could have stayed for days.

The view from Lochlea Farmstay

From Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaki (thank you, cut and paste!) we headed to Tui’s Brewery. The drive was fairly entertaining, as we passed hardly a single car (you could describe the route as “The Sticks”) but did have to avoid a cow in the middle of the road, several lambs, and a hawk feasting on a roadkill opossum. Tui’s is a pretty lame beer (Andrew describes it as inoffensive) in the grand scheme of things, but he still required some much-needed beer swag from the Tui’s store. Despite his efforts, dragging me into innumerable souvenir stores all over the North Island, he has found almost no suitable souvenirs (he has a discerning eye for these things) to date. Happily, he emerged victorious today with a t-shirt and beer cozy (although unwilling to buy the pack of 6 Tui’s mugs). We also had a long conversation with a gentleman from Erie, PA at the brewery. He’s been traveling the country with his father and was eager to hear about our travels.

We did spend a lot of time driving today, which might have been a bad choice as it was a really hot and sunny day, or translated into Kiwi: “A real scorcha, mate!” We traveled to the southern most point of the North Island, which seemed only fitting after our trip to Cape Reinga, to visit Cape Palliser and its lighthouse. Two hundred fifty stairs up to the top was worth the brilliant view and the cooling ocean breezes. It was too hazy today to see to the South Island, but we will be seeing it for ourselves on Tuesday anyway. We also went in search of a seals at a nearby seal colony, but they must have also been on holiday as they were nowhere to be found. A short hike to the Punagirua Pinnacles (made up fact: they were Sigmund Freud’s favorite NZ attraction) through a dry stream bed provided views of some interesting rock formations but also more time in the heat of the day. We found the pool at the hotel to be clearly the best way to end a day like this.