So we had previously booked a remote 6 hour bike ride with a jet boat crossing half way through the gorge. Needless to say...plans had to change. The biking company gave us the tandem bike and a mostly easy downhill coast along the countryside. After learning how to start off on the bike without looking like the two stooges, things went along very well. We started out in the rain but it cleared up after about 20 minutes and the weather was just cloudy and cool. I was pretty anxious for the first two hours because I was frightened of falling and breaking my other arm. That would just look silly.
We took it slowly and enjoyed the day. We biked 19 miles over 3.5 hours. We passed through two pitch black tunnels and several bridges and a lot of sheep. Central NZ has the big sheep and dairy farms that is their primary industry (inc tourism).
This is a weird story of the local festival reported from the bike transfer driver. Rabbits are not native to NZ and have no predators. Europeans colonized NZ and thought it was a great idea to release rabbits into the forest many years ago. Now there is an overpopulation of rabbits and they are eating all the crops. She said you can go to a hillside and clap your hands and the hillside will move with hundreds+ of rabbits jumping. So on Easter Sunday the locals have the annual "Easter Bunny Shoot" where they kill rabbits over a 24 hours period. The hunter with the most rabbits killed wins a cash prize. Last year's winner killed 1200 rabbits. She said people get very creative. When I asked 'why do you do this on Easter?!" She flatly said in a totally matter of fact tone, " because it's an Easter bunny shoot". I don't think NZ has the 'Real Easter Bunny' sitting in their malls and happily passing out candy to children or maybe they would be hunting him, too! Never mind the other symbols of new life of Easter. Ironic, huh?
Anyway, that's my observation of the day.
Good day good day!
No comments:
Post a Comment