N E W Z E A L A N D - T H E B U C O L I C B E A U T
EXPLORING EATING CAMPING AND SO MUCH MORE
I’m not sure where to start with New Zealand. Most of these blogs begin with the food but on this occasion I find the country so far beyond beautiful I cant resist but to start with its ever changing bucolic beautiful landscapes. We fortunately had 10 weeks travelling around NZ in our purchased car. We named him Auberge and so our journey began exploring this country.
We started in the South island. New Zealand consists of both the North and South island, you will often here preference over one or the other. They are extremely different and we’ve loved both for different reasons. A few people we have met on this journey have asked us what’s been our favorite part and every time we find ourselves with the same answer. ‘How can we choose just one part’? It’s a small enough country to drive a few hours and be in a COMPLETELEY different landscape. On the South island you can travel from ice capped mountains to glorious beaches in just a couple of hours. You can travel to the bottom of the country, hop on a ferry for an hour or so and be on Stuart Island. From there taking a water taxi to Ulva island and then find yourself on a Jurassic feeling island full of ferns and secluded pretty beaches barely walked amongst and all surrounded by an array of birds… Birds! I’ve not yet travelled to a country where you hear so many songbirds having their little sing song, loving life. The locals tend not to notice this anymore as they are used to it but being from England it’s a rarity to hear such bird song.
I’m unsure this is doing New Zealand the justice it deserves so I’ll indulge in a little further. There are times when you can be looking out at rolling luscious green hills surrounded with bush, thick deep in different varieties of ferns, its as if life is bursting through the seams at times. There are glaciers amongst snow capped mountains stretching out into the distance with magnificent clean turquois lakes right at your feet. Sometimes you don’t see cars for hours, other times many tourists but even so we’ve had many experiences where it’s just us. Just us, walking around lake Tekapo below the Godley head trek or camping alone by the side of huge Pukakhi lake with Mount Cook in view. Even through vast thick green rainforests uninterrupted by nothing but bird song there are fjords, mirror lakes and an abundance of waterfalls. My favorite being rainbow waterfall with its deep green cave behind it you can actually walk inside. On one occasion driving in darkness, a sneaky turning off of the head lights and looking up at the vast stars. You can see the milky way with your naked eye at the right time, we were lucky enough to see this a few times.
Photo credit - Piers Fearick Photography
New Zealand has remained this beautiful thus far in my eyes as its not over populated (yet). To put this into comparison for you to understand. The UK has a population of around 65 million. New Zealand had a population of just over 4.5 million yet they are very similar in size. 65 million verses 4.5 million… Mmm hardly rocket science. I love the UK and I'm often thinking how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful country with its green belts, national trust, abundance of history, our cosy pubs and of course awesome London as a city but can you imagine how different it could be? Lets hope we keep those green belts and appreciate our fine land we have.
T H E K I W I ‘ S
OK, so that’s some general knowledge and the greatness of the country but before I talk about food I must first mention the Kiwi’s. Not the bird Kiwi (unfortunately we didn’t see one in 10 weeks) but the PEOPLE. Holy Manoli! Kiwis must be up there with some of the nicest people in the world. Their kindness and willingness to help, talk and generally just be decent people is a resounding feeling. There have been many occasions during our time here that we’ve questioned the sincerity in this kindness but its true. They generally are just happy people, thankful for what they have and seem to do as much as they can to help others. Even in cities the people are nice and they LIKE TO TALK. None of this sitting on a bus or a train staring at your mobile phone trend, nope its not yet reached NZ and it’s a breath of fresh air, maybe its their love of the outdoors. How could you not want to be outside most of the time?
A few examples – A chap on the beach lent Piers his personal kite surfing equipment the majority of the day for nothing! I’ve met climbers that have let me climb with them and use their gear on 2 occasions. Another chap at Paynesford climbing camp hire me climbing gear for next to nothing. Note, neither of the gear above is cheap by any means and I’m fairly sure this wouldn’t happen at home especially to a complete stranger from another country. We’ve stayed with friends in their homes, we’ve even stayed at friends parents homes for 6 days. The locals in a 4 square supermarket strike up conversation, go out of their way to recommend campsites and where to pick fresh herbs from friends gardens for cooking and even becoming friends with hostel owners and sharing ideas after leaving the place. There are so many more examples but I shall not bore you. You will simply have to visit New Zealand, buy or hire a car/camper and experience it for yourself.
F O O D F O O D F O O D
Lets get down to business. Now, unlike countries such as Burma or Nepal that have their own food culture filled with aromas and spices. New Zealand is more similar to the UK. NZ has its traditions from the Maori culture called Hangies. Hangies are a process where steam is used by cooking underground, digging down, layering the meat and potatoes and then covering with a cloth type layer and then again with the land. I’ve experienced this during a Maori experience in Rotorua and it was excellent, its nice to know this still takes place. NZ as a country is multicultural. Its been influenced from around the world so you find your self much like home with a Thai or Indian down the road. However there are a few dishes the Kiwis have.
THE TOP 4 FROM A TOURIST
A V O C A D O
Avocado on toast - avocado in salads - avocado in wraps - in burgers – avocados with poached eggs – on bagels. My favorite being avocado smash, no fancy stuff just nice ripe avocado on decent bread with salt, pepper and olive oil drizzled over the top. Avo ‘cuddle’ has become a saying of ours. We love them.
F I S H & C H I P S
Quite a few Kiwi’s recommended fish and chips. I must say that instantly I was a bit dubious, after all were English and this is one of those treat meals growing up, we’d hardly eat fish and chips from the chippy daily. So, the first few times I’d eaten fish and chips here I must admit I was, as predicted disappointed. There cant be wedges for chips! WAT! They need to be chubby chips fluffy and crispy with salt and vinegar draped all over them. Thankfully we came across the Kai Kart on Stuart Island. It luckily just opened for the season on our last day on the Island. Possibly some of the first customers to eat or rather devour it. Wowser’s! PROPER fish and chips served in newspaper, GOOD chips and fresh fish from that very morning. We’ve also been recommended Mount Vic Chippery in wellington on Courtney place but sadly we just didn’t make it as we already had a few foody places on the list for Welly (Wellington, being the food capital of NZ). One of these being Little Penang - DO visit here, excellent authentic curry’s with roti’s, an array of Asian food and all still the same price as 4 years ago even after quadrupling in size through success. Love a success story for little business’s and a Lovely lady too.
A F G A N B I S C U I T S
I know it seems a strange name. We were at first questioning why they are called this? No reason, there called Afgans. OK, these are something of a childhood seeming biscuit. Remember when we used to make chocolate cornflake cakes and then set them in the fridge. Well an Afgan biscuit is precisely that in biscuit form. A soft chocolate biscuit with broken cornflakes within its mix so as you bite through the soft biscuit (a little firmer than shortbread) you get this crunch of cornflakes. Unexpectedly pleasant in the mouth, there isn’t the initial crunch of cookies as you bite into these so it works well having the crunch throughout your bites. Maybe your wondering why I’m mentioning such a seemingly plain biscuit. Well, its just different and we quite enjoyed trying the different varieties across NZ. The best ones were on Stuart island. Sold on a bake sale! A bake sale… by a group of 4 ladies with their home made bakes propped up on a fold away table. When do you ever see this anymore? If not for a school, do you ever see bake sales for no apparent reason? Well, how positively charming J . We chose the home made Afgans of course. I’ll describe with pure honestly and try to make sense because as I bit into this biscuit it was as if it had just been removed from the oven 30 mins prior. It seemed FRESH… fresh with a warmth that mama had just baked. Not my mums of course but it had that love in it like you get from a recipe passed on. Basically it was damn good! Undoubtedly the best Afgan we had both eaten in 10weeks. I’m sorry I didn’t get your name but T H A N K Y O U.
L A M B
Lamb, lamb, lamby lamb! There are sheep all over NZ. Unlike someone once said to me “why are you going to NZ, isn’t it just full of sheep?” Well there may be thousands and thousands of sheep scattered across the wonderful landscapes but no. There’s far more than just sheep.
Photo credit - Piers Fearick Photography
So as you can imagine its in abundance, roast lamb, lamb rump, lamb shoulder. Any lamb is part of NZ food. My favorite lamb here was roast leg of lamb cooked for us by Cheryl. Our friend’s mum who lovingly made this fabulous roast. Lamb rubbed with a caper, lemon, anchovy parsley paste and roasted. Served with roast potatoes and roast kumara (sweet potato family) even crisp fresh salad from their huge array grown in their very own garden. TREAT! It may not sound elaborate but there is something about being cooked a home meal from someone who enjoys cooking. Especially when backpacking. It’s the small things that make up those moments and this was one of them. Sitting at a family table eating roast lamb, cooked by a kiwi with good red wine and stimulating conversation. Stories of Derek’s travelling days were just awesome. Travelling South America back in 1972, seeing his scanned photos of Machu Picchu and hearing the journey he took. Its so far from today tourism and I expect its extremely rare for anyone to experience ‘travelling’ in the way he did it anymore.
THE TOP 4 FROM A LOCAL KIWI
K I W I F R U I T
Yep, they are everywhere. E V E R Y W H E R E! Sadly I’m allergic to Kiwi so I can share no love with you here L I steer very clear of them.
R O A S T L A M B
Cheryl’s lamb and heavily it was
PA V L O V A
I didn’t realize there is a hidden food battle with Pavlova between the kiwis and Australians. Who made it first? Whoever made it, we love it. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t love Pavlova?
P I E S
Yes, there are pies about. Nothing like Cornish pasties although we did find one great guy selling Cornish pasties in Rotorua’s Thursday night food market and they were very good indeed. Pies were described to me as ‘Its not like we eat them all the time but if we didn’t have pies we’d miss them’. Fair enough, I’m sure English people would feel totally the same. Reminds me of cosy pubs when you fancy a hearty meal after a cold brisk walk.
C A M P I N G C O O K I N G - Something different
I brought up the concept of this blog to a few people in NZ and they recommended to do it as it’s not really a subject people take much thought into so here go’s.
After 10 weeks travelling around New Zealand sleeping in our converted car and now having cooked many meals whist at campsites or freedom camping I realize that camping for long durations of time can make food a tad repetitive. Our food shops became predictable buying the same vegetables, canned tuna and fresh meat on treat occasions. Remember you rarely have a fridge. I think campers and even backpackers can agree that diner consists mostly of pasta and rice dishes. This is for convenience obviously, super quick to make and fairly sure most people just buy the ready made sauces to go with it. We made fresh sauces but there is a point when it all gets a bit boring. So after a week or so I was saying we are not eating pasta and rice anymore. Not only from the boredom but the fact eating a bowl full of carbs is not the best idea if your just going to sleep on it with no working out. I could feel the new weight accumulating :(
So, I thought you might appreciate some innovative camping dishes or new ideas to liven things up. Simple and quick, anyone can make the dishes.
S O M E T H I N G D I F F E R E N T
Scrambled egg, avocado, tomato, cheddar cheese multi grain wrap
Herb sausages stuffed with strong cheddar cheese on a disposable BBQ
Vegetable spicy rice with honey
Ribeye steaks (cooked on disposable BBQ), home made chive crushed potatoes with grilled corns, asparagus & fresh rosemary
Pan seared asparagus with sliced soft boiled eggs
Chicken & BBQ bean wraps with sour cream and cheddar cheese
Mushroom and asparagus creamy pasta with shallots
Cherry tomato, avocado, fried sliced red onions with soft boiled eggs and dry pan cooked cut wraps (they end up like crisp tortillas, adding a crunchy texture to the salad)
Broccoli, chicken, rosemary, shallot creamy tri colour fusilli pasta
Grilled steaks with fried red onions & salad cooked on dispo BBQ
Toasted French stick with avocado, olive oil, salt and pepper with soft boiled eggs sliced on top
Tuna, chili flakes, cheddar cheese, avocado, red pepper wraps
Oyster fritters (Oysters picked from the beach near Paihia Bay of islands)– Just need olive oil, salt, flour and a frying pan to cook them in
Cous cous with chili flakes cherry tomatoes, avocado and shallots
Tomato and shallot sauce with bay leaf, fresh rosemary and honey with pasta or bread for dipping
Vegetable stir fry – mushrooms, peppers, shallots, broccoli, sweetcorn and carrot. So many sachet sauces to choose from if not home made honey chili sauce
O U R C A M P I N G E Q U I P T M E N T L I S T
1 Small gas cooker – Purchasing the gas canisters along the way
1 Frying pan
1 Small pot and lid
1 Wooden spoon
1 Good small 3 inch serrated knife (Victorianox) you can buy in most camping shops
4 Plastic plates
2 Bowls
2 Huge cups for tea and coffee
2 Forks, knives and spoons
Disposable BBQ’s bought from Warehouse for $5
TIP – Wet wipes are great for washing up, especially when freedom camping with no water or amenities. Kitchen roll to dry - Tea towels carry germs so you don’t want this spreading all over your dishes after a day or two.
PLEASE DO DISPOSE OF YOUR LITTER PROPERLY PEOPLE! DON’T RUIN THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE. RESPECT THE ENVIRONMENT.
R E C C O M E N D A T I O N S
Finally a few recommendations of places from all over New Zealand for you to try in no particular order… short and sweet
M A D A M W O O ‘ S
QUEENSTOWN - There’s also one in Auckland but I didn’t eat at that one.
Shredded duck salad with raw vegetable salad and one of the nicest fluffiest roti’s I’ve ever eaten. I would happily walk in Madam Woo’s just to buy their roti’s.
F E R G B U R G E R
QUEENSTOWN aka adventure town
Simple yet excellent. Nothing too fancy but just great fillings, faultless consistency. It runs like a conveyor belt, everyone knows what they are doing, everyone works together, service is friendly and the burgers and chips stand up to their reputation. I had the Southern Swine. A beef burger with crispy bacon, avocado salsa and an extra topping of cheese for me. I actually had 2 in a week. Naughty! The Fergs are taking over town. They have a bakery and 2 ice cream parlors additional to Fergburger.
T H E S A N D F L Y C A F E
TE ANAU - Town before Milford Sound (Do spend time here, it’s a cute town)
Fresh, fresh, fresh! Great café with all home made products. I had an avocado, brie roast vegetable salad sandwich on granary. Sounds so simple doesn’t it? It was spot on. Made with love, I must mention their cakes too. We shared their apple berry cake. Yum, when the top cracks open and the berries are bursting through screaming eat me!
K A I K A R T
STUART ISLAND – All the way down south, hop on a ferry a couple of hours and enter bird land for a little escapism.
Kai kart is a seasonal kart that opens just for the spring summer season. It’s a shipping container/ caravan type of premises. Like I mentioned earlier, great fish & chips.
F A B U L O U S E B A K I N G L A D Y
STUART ISLAND
Afgan biscuits. Yes, those incredible biscuits I mentioned earlier. All I can do is point you in the right direction for these. There is not much on Stuart island in means of food. There’s a 4 square minimarket, a hotel pub with a restaurant, a café and the Kai Kart, that’s about it. On the left next to 4 square is an information shelter and just there is where the ladies had their bake sale. Just hope there having one the days you visit the island. Maybe ask around as it’s a small community, a lot meet up in the hotel pub each night. Love that :)
C A R I B E L A T I N K I T C H E N - V E N E Z U E L A N
QUEENSTOWN - 2nd time passing the town
Chicken and avocado Arepas. To those of you that haven’t eaten an Arepa yet, DO. I’m fortunate enough to have a talented Venezuelan chef work for me so I’ve had a few of these and learnt how to make them. Easy peasy and super tasty. Their beef burrito was delicious too.
L I T T L E P E N A N G
WELLINGTON
This place is one of my favorites. I first ate here 4 years ago when it was around 4 meter squared. Big enough to seat 4 people in the window seat, now it’s around 4 times the size, a bustling restaurant and still the same cheap amazingly reasonable prices it was 4 years ago. I spoke to the owner and mentioned how I had visited before and it was so nice to see a small business doing so well. She was so chuffed to have someone come back from a different country. She spoiled us with deserts. Awe, now an award winner of Top 4 in NZ. Wonderful. Yellow curry and delicious roti being the dish I had 4 years ago and the very same on this occasion. They serve an array of dishes delivering authenticity without any pretense or big prices. Woop Woop for little Penang.
B U T L E R S C H O C O L A T E
WELLINGTON
Hot chocolate yumness. I first had one of these hot chocolate drinks in Dublin around 6 years ago. They have a process when they create your hot chocolate. Not just powder in a cup and add milk. Oh no, its melted chocolate ladled into your cup then mixed delicately with heated milk. From strageic observations that’s what I noticed however there may have been a few more elements to their creation. You also get a free chocolate truffle of your choice from their huge selection. As always I chose a praline chocolate my fave.
T H E F E D E R A L S T O R E
NEW PLYMOUTH
A personality filled diner restaurant with great food. Really did enjoy this menu. It seemed to fit a variety of people tastes, not just fitting into 1 genre. Piers enjoyed beef hash made with brisket of beef while I had home smoked salmon with a choice of 3 salads from the salad bar. My choices being broccoli cranberry carrot almond salad, raw veg salad and cous cous salad. All delicious and great service too. The counter had a framed picture of the owner’s sketch of their dream restaurant. Love this as I have the very same in my sketchpad.
R O T O R U A ‘S T H U R S D A Y E V E N I N G M A R K E T
ROTORUA
There are so many street food vendors here. The town comes alive, I was chuffed to have been there the right day to experience this. A lovely local Maori chap in the launderette mentioned it to us. There are a lot of Asian influenced food here. Try the meat skewers stand as they were a favorite. Also don’t forget the Cornish pasty guy is there. If you like cupcakes there’s a stand called ‘Baked with love’. Certainly the most decorated pretty little cupcakes I’ve seen with a large gluten free range as well.
T H E S H A C K
RAGLAN
Great menu with a healthy sort of vibe in a cute environment. We sat outside devouring bagels topped with Gouda cheese, avocado smash, pickled radishes and pumpkin pesto. Raglan itself is a very chilled town where everyone seems relaxed. Its filled with kite surfers, surfers, lots of family’s with a social hippy community feeling to it. I would quite like to live there one day.
I could recommend so many more food places but that would take away the fun of exploring yourself. I hope you enjoy the blog and I gave New Zealand the credit its due for its landscapes and good true honest people.