Our last sunny day in New Zealand and we first spend time packing away our summer clothing and sorting out our winter woollies and thermals for Vancouver next stop. Lyall picked us up for a final drive round Auckland and along its suburban beaches looking out over the harbour.
First we went to the Michael Savage Memorial Park. Lyall told us he was the first and revered Labour Prime Minister of New Zealand. Judging by this large well kept park, he must have been highly revered and I feel I should learn more about him.
I've often felt, as I've talked to people and read the newspapers that there's a strong socialist spirit here. On the good side, when I talked to Simone about her business activities, she said she always gave shares to her people, so that they were all working together. On the other side, people seem to expect government to provide without considering who is going to pay - in the end, the people themselves! When I asked, no one was sure how much government expenditure exceeded income and didn't seem to have considered it. Another matter I must research.
We were reminded of Simone again when we stopped for an ice cream. Her latest venture has been to buy an ice cream company. She saw it was being badly run, re-staffed it and already good results are being produced. She and husband, Chris, are confident about their separate businesses but believe that New Zealand is not immune from the recession in most of the rest of the world. Prior to talking to them, I'd got the impression people were unaware of the crisis elsewhere, although, as we travelled around, I learned that tourism activity is probably down about one third. Nevertheless, a recent Grant Thornton survey is reported as finding that 73% of South Island businesses and 65% of North Island are expecting increased revenue in the coming year. Dairy products account for some of this and much depends on the rebuilding of Christchurch after the earthquake. Ironic that a disaster may help the economy! But overall New Zealand appears to be surviving pretty well.
North and South Islands are different not only geographically but in attitudes and often seem like two different countries. Auckland is the main factor. 40% of the total population live there and their big city views can easily dominate, which causes resentment further south. Matt told me they are known as JAFAs (Just Another F***ing Aucklander)!
Auckland also seems to be leading the way in house price inflation. As Lyall drove us around the suburbs, he gave numerous examples of how much more expensive property now is than a few years ago. Certainly the property agents gave every appearance of being busy.
This agent's window seems to suggest they are also busy arranging consolidation of debt into one's mortgage. We heard that personal borrowing is at a very high level. There are also concerns that 100% mortgages are on offer. What a pity if these nice friendly people in their lovely country don't learn from the same mistakes made by the rest of the Anglo-Saxon world and Europe. One real estate agent in Arrowtown told me that he saw no problem with 100% mortgages. The government shouldn't intervene, he said, and it was up to the individual to make his own decision. I sensed there was no point in trying to respond to such a view.
We continued our drive round Auckland and stopped at the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, with its beautiful stained glass windows. Religion has been a constant topic of conversation, as Denise and Lyall are both very committed Catholics. They are concerned that church attendance is ever lower, there are fewer priests and there is a shortage of money to keep all the churches going. More churches are having to be run by the lay people, as no priest is available. But when it's been suggested that one cathedral should be built in Christchurch to replace the Anglican and Catholic ones seriously damaged in the earthquake, there has been little support for the idea.
The exterior of the Cathedral looks somewhat like a Maori Meeting House - perhaps deliberately so. While every effort seems to be made at governmental levels to join the two communities into one, there is clearly still further to go. It is predominantly a problem of North Island where 90% of the Maori live. Many live in the north-west, which is very poor and Lyall told us there are equally poor suburbs of Auckland, although we only saw the nice leafy green ones. Arguments still continue in the courts over the Waitangi Agreement and there is clearly still 'work-in-progress'.
As we drove back to downtown Auckland we saw the dominating Sky Tower and I was reminded of an evening when we went there and looked around its casino. I was amazed to see what seemed acres of space occupied by gambling machines with hundreds of people sitting at them, unsmilingly and as if drugged by their gambling addiction. What a frightening sight it was!
Back to our hotel to pick up our bags and for Lyall to drive us to the airport. We have very much enjoyed his company as we have driven together round so much of the country. The picture shows him on an earlier occasion in convivial mood, as indeed he was throughout.
Thanks, Lyall.
We leave New Zealand after a great trip and many happy memories and fly off to Vancouver.
Robert Cole
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