New Zealand - Land of milk and honey? Holwellcourtfarm's tour 2017

[holwellcourtfarm]

A number of you are aware that I spent 24 days this June travelling around New Zealand with the aim of getting an overall impression of the country and, specifically, it's agriculture. We (@Mrs Holwell and I) are very interested in emmigrating to farm in New Zealand after June 2022 seeking a better quality of life than we have here. This trip (along with a future trip by Mrs Holwell) was designed to help us better understand the country and begin to narrow down where we could settle and what we could farm there.

This thread will take the form of a series of posts covering where I travelled and what I did, illustrated by photographs and web links, followed by my personal observations on various aspects of New Zealand.

I must begin by offering huge thanks to @JD-Kid , @devonshirekiwi , @FonterraFarmer , @stewart and @Kiwi Pete for hosting me magnificently in their various ways and sharing their insights into NZ. I'm sure that some of what I post will contain misunderstandings and errors of understanding and I urge them and other Kiwi's reading this to correct me or chip in with further insights.

I hope this thread proves interesting to a few TFF folk along the way.

 

[kiwi pom]

Good stuff looking forward to hearing how it went.
Hope you left it as you found it I'm going back next week.[emoji106][emoji41]

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

By way of introduction:

I'm sure you all know where New Zealand is (The other side of the world, silly ) but I'll start with a basic description.

New Zealand is a parliamentary democracy situated in the South Pacific Ocean, 6,500 kilometres (4,000 miles) south-southwest of Hawaii and 1,900 kilometres (1,200 miles) to the east of Australia. With a land area of 268,000 square kilometres (103,000 square miles), it is similar in size to Japan or Britain. It is comprised of two main adjacent islands, the North Island and South Island, and a number of small outlying islands. Because these islands are widely dispersed, New Zealand has a relatively large exclusive maritime economic zone of 4.1 million square kilometres (1.6 million square miles).


Over half of New Zealand's total land area is pasture and arable land and more than a quarter is under forest cover, including 1.8 million hectares (4.4 million acres) of planted production forest. It is predominantly mountainous and hilly, with 13% of the total area consisting of alpine terrain, including many peaks exceeding 3,000 metres (9,800 feet). Lakes and rivers cover 1% of the land. Most of the rivers are swift and seldom navigable, but many are valuable sources of hydro-electric power. The climate is temperate and relatively mild.


New Zealand's resident population at 30 June 2015 is estimated at 4,596,700. With an estimated population of 1,570,500 people, the Greater Auckland Region is home to 34 out of every 100 New Zealanders and is one of the fastest growing regions in the country.


New Zealand has a highly urbanised population with around 73% of the resident population living in urban entities with 30,000 or more people. As at June 2015, over half of all New Zealanders (53%) lived in the four main urban areas of Auckland (1,454,300), Hamilton (224,000), Wellington (398,300) and Christchurch (381,800).


The population is heavily concentrated in the northern half of the North Island (55%), with the remaining population fairly evenly spread between the southern half of the North Island (22%) and the South Island (23%). The least populated regions, given their size in terms of land area, are the West Coast (0.7%) and the southern half of the South Island (6.8%). (quote from New Zealand Treasury at http://www.treasury.govt.nz/economy/overview/2016/02.htm)

As we farm within 20 miles or so of Westminster our aim is to be away from people once we move. For that reason I did not include Auckland in my itinery but planned it around seeing as much of the New Zealand landscape as I reasonably could in the 24 days I was there. My final route was:

Originally I had intended to use SH1 North from Christchurch (marked in Blue) but the Kaikoura Earthquake last November stopped that with 140 landslides across the highway along that section and 3 metre plus steps appearing in the surface As a result I had to divert North across Lewis Pass via nelson to get to the ferry.

In all the trip involved flying around 12,000 miles each way and driving 5000 miles around new Zealand.​

 

[JP1]

Oooh, I've been looking forward to this. Bring it on

I do believe this is in the right thread and I'm sure the mods will overlook any of the content being more general in nature

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

In terms of climate and topography I can probably best describe it to Brits as "Scotland on steroids". It shares the same range of fertile plains, rolling green hills and rugged tree-covered mountainous terrain with an abundance of lakes and rivers. Except that they are all more extreme. Much more in some cases.

The weather is "uk on steroids" as well and a common joke is that NZ can have 4 seasons in a day! Some areas have a long summer windy season when winds of such strength blow for several months that huge tree windbreaks are a major feature of the NZ landscape.

A good summary of the NZ climate zones and ranges can be found on the NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) website here https://www.niwa.co.nz/education-and-training/schools/resources/climate/overview

For those unwilling to click the link the maps are:

 

[JP1]

I'm looking at those hills in the South with envy already

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I'm looking at those hills in the South with envy already

Ok, Just a tease.

My first sight of New Zealand - The Southern Alps as we crossed towards Christchurch

and typical "southern Hills" around the Catlins Park

 

[FonterraFarmer]

You didn't miss much by not going to Auckland, Also remember mean rainfall is just that, it the mean over the year, and the variablity from year to year and even month to month,can be quite significant.

 

[JD-Kid]

hahaha i can see your snail track to our place on the map
yer covered a lot of ground on you travels and to be fair seen more that i have and i have lived here most of my life

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Same here, @JD-Kid.
He's spent more time in the North Island than I have in all my years.

Nice to see I'm in the green on all the maps, always wanted to be average
(we're effectively near John O'Groats, or the corner nearest your mouse buttons)
but in shorts 340 days of the year.
-5.1°C at sunrise this morning.

@holwellcourtfarm, you were most welcome, stay for a month next time, and we'll learn you about sheeps

 

[JD-Kid]

Same here, @JD-Kid.
He's spent more time in the North Island than I have in all my years.

Nice to see I'm in the green on all the maps, always wanted to be average
(we're effectively near John O'Groats, or the corner nearest your mouse buttons)
but in shorts 340 days of the year.
-5.1°C at sunrise this morning.

@holwellcourtfarm, you were most welcome, stay for a month next time, and we'll learn you about sheeps

norf island where is that HAHAHAHA

 

[Kiwi Pete]

norf island where is that HAHAHAHA

Where a power cut makes the national news at 6

 

[FonterraFarmer]

norf island where is that HAHAHAHA

Where a power cut makes the national news at 6

Now, now no need for that, no need to stereotype us north of the Cooks Strait, were all south of the Bombay Hill
Come to think of it, I've been around the South Island, yet never been around the North Island!!!

 

[FonterraFarmer]

Where a power cut makes the national news at 6

You have to remember , its the end of the world in Auckland if you can't get a flat white without the lights on.

 

[multi power]

@holwellcourtfarm I like your description of NZ, someone asked me what it was like, land of milk and honey was my reply

 

[TelesnaAg]

@holwellcourtfarm ...may i throw the south west of Victoria into your mix...In the colony of course...

A few things we offer....

1. Cheap land
2. Hot Chicks
3. Cheap Liquor
4. 800-1000mm rainfall
5. Stunning beaches
6. We have an army to protect ourselves unlike NZ
7. Most of NZ are in OZ anyways...Most of OZ is not in NZ
8. A winning cricket team..
9. Domestic consumption for milk and meat
10. Cheap cars
11. AFL...real sport
12. Soccer
13. Cheap food
14. Cities
15. Cheap grain - (NZ price makes me scoff)..

The list is endless...

Tours available...

Ant....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

6. We have an army to protect ourselves unlike NZ

Mate, you forgot a few!
....funnel-webs....
redbacks....
and 'Joe Blakes'
crocodiles....
stingers...
more stingers....

Why do you need a defence force?

 

[FonterraFarmer]

6. We have an army to protect ourselves unlike NZ

Mate, you forgot a few!
....funnel-webs....
redbacks....
and 'Joe Blakes'
crocodiles....
stingers...
more stingers....

Why do you need a defence force?

Correct me if I'm wrong, are not eight of the ten most deadly snakes in Australia? And thats not including the ones in ACT!!!

 

[TelesnaAg]

6. We have an army to protect ourselves unlike NZ

Mate, you forgot a few!
....funnel-webs....
redbacks....
and 'Joe Blakes'
crocodiles....
stingers...
more stingers....

Why do you need a defence force?

haha - we need a defense force because we are worth protecting!!! The pests you're referring to are in nthn oz...yuck...

Ant...

 

[TelesnaAg]

Correct me if I'm wrong, are not eight of the ten most deadly snakes in Australia? And thats not including the ones in ACT!!!

More people die of in breeding and boredom in NZ every year per capita than snake bites in Australia...i can say things like this because we have an army to protect ourselves LOL!!!

Ant...