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We finally decided to go to New Zealand and having received the travel itinerary from my travel agent I started to search for things to see, take, buy and to eat. There was so much information on net that my head started spinning.
We finally decided to go to New Zealand and having received the travel itinerary from my travel agent I started to search for things to see, take, buy and to eat. There was so much information on net that my head started spinning.
New Zealand is known in Maori as Aorearoa meaning “long white cloud “it geographically
comprises of North and South Islands with around 600 smaller islands. It
is 1,500 kms east of Australia across
Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kms south of Pacific Island interestingly and fortunately due to its
remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.
During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a
distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal and plant life. The country's
varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps,
owe much to the tectonic uplifts of land and volcanic eruptions.
Between 1250 and 1300
CE, Polynesians were the first to come to New Zealand and they developed a
distinctive Maori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel
Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840,
representatives of Britain and Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of
Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New
Zealand became a colony within
the British Empire and in 1907 it became a dominion
Majority of New Zealander’s population of 4.7 million is
of European descent, indigenous Maori are the largest minority, followed
by Asians and Pacific Islanders.New Zealand ‘s culture is mainly
derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from
increased immigration. The official languages are English, Maori and New
Zealand sign language,
New Zealand is a developed country and ranks
highly in health, education, economic freedom and quality of life.
Nationally, legislative authority is vested in an
elected,unicameral parliament, while executive political power is
exercised by Cabinet, led by
Prime Minister, who is Jacinda Ardern. Queen Elizabeth II is
the country’s head of state and is represented by a governor general,
currently Dame Patsy Reddy,the term Reddy set me wondering as it is
commonly used in South India and I looked up, her mother is Ms Kay Reddy.
New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its
most populous city is Auckland.
We
had decided to cover the entire country in one go as, my friend Dr Shashi in
Auckland had suggested,the economical side of mine kept cautioning me,that I
will not be able to go again and again to same country so
finish it off in one trip, saves money and trouble of flying long hours.
Now I had the job of looking up how much money to
take, to start with, oh God! the country’s currency NZ dollar was 48 Rs, almost
50 Rs, now middle class brains act funny at the very mention of money, at least
mine started multiplying everything of New Zealand into 50 Rs. I calculated the cost of lunches we had to buy,luckily
the breakfasts and dinners were included in the tour expenses, prepared an
excel sheet with my new found knowledge of online course.
My husband wanted us to take as less luggage as
possible,though we were allowed 30 kgs each as check in luggage and 7 kg
maximum as hand luggage,
I somehow hate lugging around any luggage,love to go
travelling around with only a dainty hand bag and a good book to read, which
for me has been a distant dream till now because during travels my poor hand
bag stretches and stretches and becomes a repository for all our items till its
seams bulge and the bag squeals out at me saying it is going to burst.
Next on my list was the weather clothes as we fondly
call them,whenever we note that weather in places we are visiting is going to
be cold as per the weather cautious prediction, we tend to fill our suitcases
with all our woollens which we never seem to wear during the trip except
carrying them on the shoulders or arms and once I conveniently managed to
forget my newly purchased Pashmina shawl in a restaurant abroad.
Before the trip to Europe we were told that it was
the hottest summer as it truly proved itself throughout the trip but when we
landed up in Switzerland it turned very cold and in Lucerne it started raining
and poor me, my teeth chattering with cold went up the mount Titlis armed with
only one umbrella and my husband’s smouldering temper as I had ignored all his
advices to include woollen wear in the luggage.I tried to remind him that rest
of the Europe was so hot that half the people were dressed or un dressed as per
their heat resistance but he refused to listen to reason.
So now I decided to officially include very few
dresses and managed to smuggle in some more whenever my husband was not looking
because I could not imagine repeating dresses to specialty dinners mentioned
in the itinerary, no way! cosmetics and medicines made the rest of the luggage
along with some of my books. I have the habit of reading and leaving them back
for any more book worms like me ,except sometimes few people who fall in love
with the beautiful Indian damsels on the covers ask me whether they should be reading the book from back page to first one
Next on the list was the hotels where we were going
to stay, I did a lot of reading of all hotel reviews and descriptions of places
we were going to and prepared a folder and put it into a pen drive along with a
copy of print outs. My material started to enormously increase, when we travel abroad
due to the weight restrictions, every gram counts so, I finally decided to take
only the pen drive.
స్మగుల్ అని రాయడం సూపర్.
ReplyDeleteహెరిటేజ్ ప్యాలస్ హోటల్స్ లో బస కొంచెం ఖరిదైనప్పటికి, బావుంటుంది మేడం.
ఒబేసిటీ లగేజీ కి కూడా వర్తిస్తుంది అని చక్కగా చెప్పారు.
thanks suresh
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