New Zealand countryside, forests, mushrooms,

[Keenter]

Hi all,

I just went to New Zealand with the wife for 10 days. I drove from Wellington to Auckland, North Island.

Very nice Country NZ. Beautiful mountainous type of country side. Farms, Pinus Radiata plantations,

Grape Vine Vineyards, small country towns, volcanic type of landscape as well. Lots of steam vents,

water sprout geysers, boiling hot water pools, boiling mud ponds, colourful pools of mineralised water,

craters, caves. These are mostly in the middle and north of the island. South of Lake Taupo, and up

to Rotorua. I highly recommend a trip to NZ, as the prices are low for airfares, and motels and studio

apartments are $90 to $130 minimum price for overnight stays. Such a nice place to travel. Speed

limits are 100km per hr on open roads. Although they drive 110km to 120km normally. Speed limits

in small towns are 50km to 70km. Patient drivers in towns and cities too. I saw many Aminita Muscaria

mushrooms growing around oak, pinus radiata, and other trees. Lots of other mushrooms especially

Stopharia Aurantiaca(Leratiomyces ceres) in botanical gardens in different cities and towns.

I couldn't see any Psilocybe Subs or Weraroa. I didn't look hard enough. Not much birds in NZ.

Very little animal activity as well. Didn't even see any lizards or snakes. A unique environment that

consists of mostly plains and forests. Reminds me of Tasmania, except Tasmania is full of wild life.

Conservation has everthing to do with that. In total I drove 1188km. That was driving back and forth

to different locations for 7 days. Yeh, just to give a thumbs up to NZ as a great place to visit.

[gtarman]

Not much birds in NZ.

It's the stoats. Since New Zealand didn't have any natural predators, a great majority of the birds evolved to be flightless as I understand it...then when the stoat was introduced (a ferret-like thing) for god knows what reason, it was pretty much the apocalypse for the native birds.

[Jox]

The stoats,cats & rats have contributed to the loss of native wildlife BUT the Hangi wiped out a lot of the wildlife long before white fellas turned up. You would be very lucky (some would say unlucky ) to see a snake in NZ as it would be an escaped pet or a visiting sea snake, there are no native land snake found there.

Sounds like you had a good time there, I have heard despite the lack of wildlife it is one of the most beautiful places that you can see. I will get there one day.

Cheers

jox

[∂an]

Totally agree, new zealand is an amazing place! Especially the mountains in the south island around arthur's pass; idyllic valleys of beech trees leading up into snowy alpine mountain tops. An animal that stood out to me on my visit was the Kea. Three of them followed me up the mountain, and then slowly approached on the ground when I stopped on the summit. They were very curious, and one of them even tried to tear into my backpack! Turns out they have learnt that when hikers take breaks on mountains, there is food around! Really cool birds.

Edited May 3, 2013 by ∂an