Short stories from our vacation to New Zealand date : 12th April 2017 - 29th April 2017
Aoraki the guardian
Maori legend believed that Aoraki was a young boy
who, along with his three brothers, were the sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father. And papatuanuku ,the earth mother They once
planned a voyage on sea to visit their
earth mother and disaster struck them .Their boat got stranded on the ocean .To
save themselves they climbed upon the boat and the cold south winds froze them turning them to stone ..
the great land was born. Brothers became
the mountains and peaks …thus mt cook
was born with the other peaks .. Aoraki, the tallest, became the highest peak Mt Cook , and his
brothers, the southern alps.
(The Ngāi Tahu, the main tribe of New Zealand's southern region,
consider Aoraki as the most sacred of the ancestors that they had descended
from. Aoraki brings the kiwi with its sense of community and purpose, and
remains the physical form of Aoraki and the link between the worlds of the
supernatural and nature) Courtesy –Wikipedia
Chocolate
story
The word chocolate is derived from the mayan word
XCOLATL. The Mexican indian word comes from the combination of choco meaning
foam and atl meaning water
For nearly 300 years in Europe chocolate was known
solely as a drink .It was a thick beverage taken in with a spoon than in a cup.
Because of the rich taste people would sip a cup of water in-between the mouthful
of chocolate .The English are credited for improving the drink by adding milk .
Moeraki Boulders
We saw 8- 10 spherical boulders in north Otago .They
are a part of the vanished world trail
.They started to form 55 million years ago …when mud, pebbles and shells were
gradually buried under the earth .lime was deposited slowly around the shell to
form a hard cemented spherical concentration .In the geological times the sea
eroded the near by cliffs to free the boulders .
It is believed that the a enormous canoe of the God
travelled across the pacific ocean .Since the journey was long it got
waterlogged and foundered .The prominent rock is believed to be the body of Hip
,the navigator of the canoe .
Hang gliding fun
Gargi and I proved to be as adventurous as Gautham
after we finished hang gliding .After that we met one of the instructors by
name Tara Shankar .I was surprised by his name ‘Tara Shankar’ as he was a
German .We struck a conversation with him and got to know that he changed his
name in India christened as Tara Shankar by one of the Varanasi Babas .He was there in India for 6 months and saw
most of India .He also mentioned that he loves masala dosa with coconut chutney
!!!!
We came back rejuvenated with lot of stories to share
with Gautham.
Waitamo caves is believed to be guarded by Mahutha the
God of the forest .The huge pillar also depicts their inhabitants below.
In the Auckland zoo we met Ramesh –The red panda
Ramesh was born in Auckland zoo to mum Bo and father
Sagar .Ramesh is named after a Red panda network forest guardian in Nepal!!!
His name also means one who saves from danger. After we were back we ate fijua a
native fruit of New Zealand which tasted like guava and kiwi combination and had the texture and look of kiwi fruit .
They pair for life .They take care of the young ones in turns . The young albatross after they leave the nest will never return to the land for the next 3-5 years making their incredible journey through the pacific ,Atlantic and Indian oceans .Their wing span is so large that they find it very difficult to walk on land once they are back .They cover 1800 kms in a single day that is more than the length of New Zealand !!!!
Comments