Little about - A Beautiful Country

As I had promised here's little more of the place I am visiting.
I am visiting a country where people greet each other with "Kiaora".
It's a country where its difficult to find the empty land.
It's always either green or blue (water) or colorful with volcanic rocks (Stalagmites or Stalactites).
One of the countries that have natural hot water pools.
It's place where people have glass doors every where no grills and they trust each other ( I don't see any security guards anywhere).
It's country where people grow trees for fences and where fences are for animals not for humans.
It's a country where you are never far from water (sea, rivers, huge lakes) or mountain hills .
Place where people own Deer farms.
Place where you can see White or Black dots scattered every where on green pastures where white are Sheep and Black/Brown are Cows.
Country of fun and adventurous activities.
Country of scenic beauty that is often captured in various Hollywood movies.
These are Islands where Maoris had reached before anyone else.
The country where I think the letter "W" is used the maximum.
There are no pests, no snakes no lions or any such animal that can be threat for any human going around.
Country where days are longer in summer (till 9.00 pm) and still  they close shops at 5.00 pm.
Where a sunny day is celebrated like a festival each day. :)
Country that housed a huge ancient bird called "Moa".
A beautiful country proud of All Blacks and their natural heritage of flora and fauna.
Country where they have Kiwi fruit as well as a nocturnal Kiwi bird and people proudly call themselves Kiwis.
It's a country where you can find Glaciers to sandy hills to green hills and pastures huge lakes that size as much as Singapore and sea, volcanoes, all in one country.
It's a beautiful, green and clean country of Kiwis' called New Zealand.

Well don't worry its just a short introduction rest is on its way till then have fun. :)

Extended World

Yes, as the heading suggests it all I am extending my experiences further, I am going out of my country.

So far my thoughts and things revolved around the Movies I watched sitting in my drawing Room or the Books I read or the travel between office in public transportation or last but not least thoughts about my friends and colleagues. Technically speaking this was my complete world till now. Now I am extending it further and am quite excited about it.

Now that I am going to visit a very exciting place for all who are young at heart and have courage to live a different life I am kind of wondering what's going to happen to me after next 24 hours.

No I am not traveling after 24 hours but after 24 hours my count down begins for the time I will be traveling.

It's first time that I am going out of my country (well technically second as I had been to Nepal looong ago, but it doesn't need visa or passport, so it doesn't count does it?).

In coming days I will write about my first international flight, first trip outside country the air I breathe, places I visit, various type of people I see and meet.

Past one month varied every day in form of different emotions of excitement, disappointment and worries of finance, yelling and shouting at each other for deadlines and booking and fretting about what to cover in the stipulated time etc etc, but at the end what matters is that I get to see a different land, breath in different air and meet different people. Also there would be travelers from other countries and that makes it all the more colorful. Let's see where and how I fit myself in there or should I say out there?

You can keep guessing where I am going till I actually come back (to blogger) and write more about it.
Some times I wish I could travel more and write about people, places and culture of different places but its kind of difficult till you stay amongst them for long period to understand them, make friends with them and understand their culture. I know I need lot of money for that which, well kind of seems out of bound after the preparations I made for this one. But I will try to make the best of this one for sure. And I promise that next blogs would be fun-filled for you all too.

I am prone to fall sick after all this excitement and all so please pray God that I dont fall sick and enjoy my trip to the best and bring in more interesting stories for you all to read.

Till then keep guessing and I promise to come back with some nice blogs and some nice pictures too (hopefully). :)

Till then:
See-ya!

Nature in its pure form

New Zealand. Yup I visited New Zealand. It has 2 main islands North and South. It is also called the country of long white clouds. And its so true. You can actually see white clouds hanging low above the land.

Probably it's one of the most clean countries in today's era of population and pollution.( or at-least I think like that. I dont know if I would add Switzerland, Ireland and Netherlands in this list too, once I visit them. :) But till then please bear my notion as I mentioned above.)

You can breath fresh air and see greens every where. Their water bodies like seas, oceans, rivers and lakes are so clean, clear and blue that it makes us wish if only we had not interfered with the nature in other parts of world and left it in its own beautiful, pure and natural glory. Their rivers are relatively shallow but you can see the clean blue water and the pebbles underneath as if there is nothing between them.

The first people to habitat these islands were Maori people. Their culture is very rich and they were more entwined with nature, they learned from nature and lived within nature. Their little colonies were influenced by birds and often named after birds. Maori people often had tattoos on their faces that resembled the birds their colony represented.

New Zealand was mainly the land of flight less birds like Kiwis and Penguins and ancient and extinct Moa.
Later when British and Scottish people reached there, they introduced various birds, animals, flora and fauna that they brought from their respective countries. New Zealand's native trees take very long to grow and have very long lives, it can range up to 5000 years. Manuka and Kauri are the common native trees that grow there. As the native trees took very long to grow other trees and plants were introduced in this land and it nurtured them too as it's own.

Tane Mahuta is a giant Kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest in North Island of New Zealand. The name of the tree means "Father of the Forest". It is the largest and oldest Kauri tree standing today in New Zealand and is estimated to be 2000 years old.  New Zealanders take pride in their greens and "All Blacks" and do all that is possible to flourish and support them. :) (Be tuned to know more about "All Blacks" in my next blogs to come). :)

New Zealand has 60,000 black swans and believe me it's very beautiful scene to see them swimming in crystal clear blue water. No not all of them swim in same lake together but of-course it would be a great spectacle to see them all swimming together. But even if you get a chance to see one or two or a small group of them it makes a beautiful scene worth capturing in your memories for lifetime. Black Swans are not the native birds of New Zealand they were introduced by Australians long time ago and then these birds flourished in this land successfully.

New Zealand is also the only country where Albatross have nests on main land where you can drive to reach and see their nests. Good thing is New Zealand government is preserving their nests and also promoting the place as one of the many tourist attractions without disturbing them. (More about Albatross in my coming blogs).

I think New Zealand is really and truly the place where nature and humans live in harmony. One of very good reason is the birds are not afraid of humans I have never seen birds like sparrows and sea gulls etc in such a close proximity of humans in the cities I have visited so far. It might be possible in country sides but these birds are not even afraid of the passing truck.

New Zealand is truly one of the countries which nourish itself and nurture the Nature, while striking a perfect balance.

Khoodos to all those who are participating in keeping this country green and clean.

Kia-Ora

Kia-ora
New -Zealanders welcome people with Kia-Ora. Kia-Ora means "Welcome","Greetings","Hello", "Hi" and so on.
In general it's how they greet each other. Trust me it's not just words.

When I was about to start my journey from Auckland to Wellington (North Island) I went to catch the bus. The driver (Buzz) said Kia-Ora. And I was starring at him baffled having no clue what he was saying. Well he understood that I have no clue of what Kia-Ora is.

Then he said okay Kia-Ora is how we greet each other  we hold hands (traditionally they used to hold shoulders) and we touch nose to nose and forehead to forehead and he came forward saying Kia-Ora. Being an Indian and never being in such close proximity of any male before, I was kind of hesitant but was ready to explore new ways and knew he is saying the truth so I held his hand and touched my nose to his nose  (very carefully--did not want to miss the spot by any chance  ;)) he said good we do that three times and I started laughing and did so. He said great "Kia-Ora" again welcome aboard. Probably he was the first friend I made in NZ. :)

Seriously I couldn't believe I did it being so conservative Indian, well not that I thought something different but it was definitely something I had never done before and my journey to things that I had never seen or done before started onwards.

Traditionally Maori people used to greet each other with Kia-Ora and they used to hold each other at shoulder and touch each others nose three times. Kia-Ora means "be well/healthy" and is considered as a greeting as in "Hi","Welcome", "Good Morning" ... and all that I mentioned above and more.

So KIA-ORA folks.

Have fun. :)

Things to do in Newzealand

Newzealand caters to all types of travelers, ranging from those who like to go for site seeing to those who like adrenalin rush.
It provides umpteen  opportunities for adventures irrespective of the season you choose to travel.

For adventure lovers New Zealand offers plethora of activities like:

• Sky Diving
•  Bungy Jumping
• Swimming with Dolphins
• Canyon Swing
• 360 Jet Boat Riding
• Quad biking
• Paragliding
• Volcano Trails
• Glacier Walks
• U Fly
• Sailing
• Zorb also known as Ogo 

•  Mountain Biking
• Luge rides
• Sand surfing
• Horse riding
• Black water rafting called "Tube It"
• Various winter sports like Skiing, Snowboarding and others are available in winter

For people who like sight seeing, there is no other place like New Zealand.

Auckland, Rotorua, Pahia, Bay of Islands, Lake Taupo, Lake Tekapo, Wanaka, Waitomo National Park, Wellington, Greymouth, Dunedin, Queens town, Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, Christchurch, Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and other places have a lot to offer. It has natural beauty every where.

One would think he has entered the picturesque photo frame that you have been seeing all your life.
Such is the beauty of New Zealand, truly natural, truly picturesque. :)

I feel one must visit New Zealand at least once in a lifetime.
Kia Ora! That's the place to travel. :)

Dubare Elephant Camp

This long weekend we thought of going to Dubare Elephant Camp and stay in Dubare Inn which is just opposite to the elephant camp on the other side of the river.

It looks quite promising place when you visit the website but there are things that you need to know before you go there.

The first thing is that though you may get to see Elephants there but you may not get a chance to ride them if its a festival day like "Ugadi" (Kannada New Year) or some national holiday so plan accordingly.

If you are interested in white water rafting the best time to go would be after July, i.e. after the rains.

If you go during summer when the water levels are low and you can not do rafting they charge you Rs.100 per head for going in a raft and after July which is the peak season for white water rafting they may charge you Rs.600 per head to Rs. 800 per head depending on the rush and time of your visit. rafting can be done anytime between 9.00 Am until 5.00 Pm in the evening. Last raft goes in the river at 4.30Pm.

Here you can see lot of elephants bathing and you can actually help the mahouts to bathe them and feed them at the minimal charges of Rs.100 + food (which can be bought at the site) for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 + food (which can be bought at the site) for foreign nationals.

These Elephants are tamed and trained. These Elephants are released in the forest at the end of the day after the days washing and riding the tourists. These are the same Elephants that are decorated and used for riding by the king of Mysore on the occasion of Dussera which is one of the biggest festivals of Mysore full of monarchical celebrations.

Elephants are washed or bathed every day starting from 10.00 Am, it is advised to reach there by 9.00 or 9.30 Am and cross the river to the place where Elephants are washed and bathed. Then you may get a chance to ride them again at the charge of Rs. 100 Per person for Indian citizens and Rs. 200 for foreign nationals.

Often these mahouts ask elephants to put their trunk on your head as a blessing for an extra tip (trust me it doesn't hurt at all, so no need to be scared). Elephants are considered to be a symbol of Lord Ganesh an Indian Deity worshiped for any new beginning. Watching the mischief and play of baby elephants is fun and worth the visit.

Dubare Inn is a good place if you compare it to a tent in a forest, it has private cottages and bathrooms but if you compare it with a resort with all urban comforts and ambiance probably you will be disappointed.
It still needs to work on hygiene and interiors. You may not like to visit their kitchen if you are planning to have food there. These cottages are old style house with older times flooring and all, but their service is good, people are courteous and nice. For a forest it provides all that one can need so it's good. They are expanding and probably coming up with new urban style rooms soon. Probably then it would be a more comfortable place to stay on your holidays.

One can see the open sky at night from the big open grounds in front of the cottages and spend night under the sky if you wish, it's the best experience of staying close to forest with all the basic facilities and safety.

Also as it is small place near the forest, be prepared with your gear to protect yourself from insects and other such stuff.

The Idli (steamed pan cakes made of rice) you get there for breakfast is very good and hot Idli should be preferred over anything else.

Dubare Inn has their own rafts but you can very well go ahead and take the other vendors who have booking offices just outside the Dubare Inn. on the bank of the river.

If you are staying in Dubare Inn then often you can see some Elephants in the evening who come to drink water or an untimely shower on the other side of the river, if you are adventurous and have swimming skills probably you can swim in the river but make sure you do not go to the part of the river where crocodiles dwell.

We spent a night there and it was fun to see all the starts in clear night sky during the summer and hear stories of insects, snakes and elephants from the locals. We also played games at night in the open grounds in front of the cottages and it was like being at one with the nature and it's galore.

Please note that it is not necessary to stay in Dubare Inn to see Elephants, you can stay in any good place of your comfort near Kushalnagar, Medikeri or any good hotel or resort near by and travel to Dubare Elephant camp to see Elephants in the morning. It's just that you need to be in time to have all the fun.

Enjoy! :)