In addition to tourism, New Zealand's economy is largely reliant upon the export of food products. Outside of national parks, the place is blanketed in rolling green pasture, rows of fruit and nut orchards, and hills zig-zagged with grapevine. Very few food products are imported here and about 85% of food products produced in New Zealand are exported.
Sheep are the most abundant livestock, and the sight of a flock of the fluffy white, innocent looking creatures being mustered across a highway from one paddock to another is iconic in New Zealand. It is common to see huge, two trailered trucks barreling down the highway, their sides puffed out with white wool of sheep being taken for shearing. Most of the wool is so-called 'strong wool', which is used to make carpet and other heavy duty textiles, although there is also a significant amount of merino wool produced for clothing.
Despite the favorite image of the beloved sheep, dairy is king, economically speaking. Fonterra, a dairy farming conglomerate, is New Zealand's largest company. Kiwis end up shipping milk powder and finished dairy products to Australia, China and Japan by the megaton. Of course, dairy farming in particular produces outrageous amounts of waste, which makes the growth of the dairy industry here controversial. Runoff from dairy farms is blamed for a number of environmental woes, especially dirtying of ground and river water.
Ironically, it seems that the prosperity of the dairy industry may be damaging another of New Zealand's traditionally booming industries - seafood. As you might imagine, dairy farming requires quite a lot of water, some of which goes directly to cattle, but most of which is used for irrigation of pasture. There is a significant amount of fresh water diverted for this purpose. Apparently, the fresh water carries minerals from limestone that are vital for the health of some marine life - oysters in particular. The population of the world renowned Bluff Oyster was drastically reduced between 1980 and 2000 because of the outbreak of a parasite. It is believed that the oysters are more susceptible to this parasite because of the reduced amount of minerals available to them from fresh water.
Luckily, oyster fisherman in and around Bluff have voluntarily limited their catches, and growth rates of oysters have been improving over the past few years. Lucky, of course, because oysters are the highlight of the annual Bluff Seafood and Oyster Festival, which we attended last Saturday.
I have eaten plenty of oysters before, and I enjoy them in moderation. They're great to shuck, douse with hot sauce, and slurp down at a barbeque. I must say, however, that Bluff oysters are another level compared to what I've had back home. They're smooth, mild, buttery, and have a clean, marine aftertaste. I would be happy to eat many.
The unusual thing about eating oysters in New Zealand is that they are almost always pre-shucked. If you order them 'natural', they come out on a plate with some malt vinegar on the side, but no shells. I guess this is nice if you're in a hurry, but to me, part of the fun is in shucking your own oysters and trying not to mutilate your thumbs in the process. Also, the majority of Kiwis seem to prefer them deep fried. They taste good that way, but I'm a purist.
It was a rarity to even see the shells, although the oyster was really just sitting in a half shell for effect. They had already been shucked. On top of 'natural' oysters, I enjoyed a paua (abalone) sausage, seafood chowder, and an oyster pie. Fortunately, for Ellen, there were roasted lamb sandwiches and chips.
Paua sausage. The appearance, turdlike. The taste, not quite turdlike.
The tents kept everyone dry on this typically misty, coastal day. Local beer and wine were served. An oyster shucking competition, and a celebrity oyster eating competition kept everyone entertained, as did live music. There was a particular three man act, who we enjoyed immensely. Two played ukeleles and one played a mini banjo, or banjalele, and they all sang. They called themselves 'The Nukes'.
As we stood in the rain and listened to their light-hearted songs about life on the beach, woman trouble, and murder in the backwoods of West Auckland, a young boy was dancing up a solitary storm. This little guy shook, twisted, jumped an gyrated to the music, while the crowd made room and stood in awe, thinking 'Somebody get that kid some ritalin'.
Needless to say, fun was had by all. We stopped at the local museum in Invercargill on the way home. They had an interesting collection of some local art, as well as a habitat for the tuatara, which is a reptile unique to New Zealand. Apparently the species are as old as dinosaurs, and despite looking like lizards, are not technically lizards. The adults are about two feet long and they take about 30 years or so to mature to begin breeding. Pretty cool creatures, but they move very little.
We took Sunday to mostly relax, although we took a short walk in the hills outside of Alexandra, to the ruins of the old gold mining towns of Logantown and Welshtown. Apparently a rich deposit of gold was found there initially, but business dried up after a decade or so. There were a great deal of remains of old huts and various buildings used in the settlement. The hillside had been swiss cheesed with mineshafts. Most of the old, vertical shafts were covered with steel grate, but were came across several which were not. It would have been easy to lose a child or dog out there.
It's been a fairly busy time in Ranfurly this week. It rained a ton early in the week and we had our first snow today. Nothing is sticking in the valley, but the mountains are looking white. We're off to Dunedin for some city life tomorrow evening if the weather holds up. We'll just go for the night and head back to Alex on Saturday. 'Til then...
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