Green Ethics, Green Lips & Green Phlegm

There may be some repetition here. And some low-fever hallucinations. But fortunately, the fever never got past small chills accompanied by a cough. In the beginning the cough was mild - then it involved some pain in the ears and throat. I wondered whether it originated with that little boy in front of me on the pharmacy line in New York at Walgreens on 34th and Third Ave. His mother said "He has a strep throat." In any event, the cough finally passed the painful stage and produced a regular harvest of green phlegm, a thematic color for this post and a sign of recovery I think.  Now Emma has caught it from me.

The color green also represents the ecological emphasis found here and the food, represented by the green-lipped mussels.

So far, two of the places we have visited in New Zealand have very strict ecological rules to keep them free of intrusive plants, animals. These were Rangitoro Island (extinct volcano) near Auckland and Kapiti Island (bird sanctuary) near Wellington. Rangitoro is reached by a 20 minute ferry ride, during which you must take an antiseptic shower and floss your teeth. No toilets on the island, only one set of urinals at the landing point.

If you shit on the island you have to take it back to the mainland.  The island itself is famous for a rare form of lava called "lava kaka" for obvious reasons. 

The prohibition on toilets is a modern development instituted out of respect to the Maori belief that, if human kaka is added to the kaka of the gods it will hasten the end of the world.

There was a very nice view from the top but, holding it in, tends to diminish the beauty of panoramas.

No! This is the view from the botanical garden at the top of the cable car in Wellington. Much less strenuous than Rangitoro.

Here's the partial view from the top of Rangiroto.

We left Auckland after only 2 nights due to the twice-weekly scheduling of the vaunted (and ultimately horrendous) 11-hour Northern Explorer train trip to Wellington. That will be dealt with separately.

Wellington is a fine town well-positioned on the water with a long beachfront right in town. Our QT hotel was a good choice in all respects, comfort, location and quirky art.

Kapiti is only a 10-minute ferry ride on which they have special shoe cleaning devices and vacuum your hair. The birds have first rights on the island so if they approach for food you have to give them your lunch. That's why many visitors can be seen sitting inside potato sacks while they eat their sandwiches. This bird came close to me but luckily I had already finished eating. Notice the evil look.

 

Seriously, NZ is very environmentally conscious.
 Kapiti had nice walking trails. We encountered only one other homo sapiens. A highlight was the complete recently shed skin of a gecko found by one of the naturalists. Unfortunately, I can't manage to get that photo to show on the blog. I will continue trying. The skin must be a very rare find because after shedding it is probably consumed quickly by birds insects or possibly by the gecko itself.

Let us turn from the green which places the rights of nature above the rights of humanity to the green which represents food in New Zealand. At the moment, that means the great green-lipped mussels at the Crab Shack on the Auckland waterfront to a very good dinner at the Whitebait Restaurant on the waterfront in Wellington, five minutes from our hotel.

Here's the menu followed by pictures of the food. (some pix may be missing due to the vagaries of the transfer of photos from my phone to Google pictures.) (I ate the scallops before taking the photo.) All delightfully prepared and presented. First class in all respects. The crayfish on thin-sliced peaches were particularly good.