Through and out Aotearoa, July 22nd 2015
In case you haven't been with me from the start, may I share with you that,
Aotearoa is the Maori name for the country of New Zealand. The literal translation of
Aotearoa is "land of the long white cloud".
Before I arrived in New Zealand, I thought Aotearoa was merely an expression. When I saw the photos on a travel blog, I thought it was merely a coincidence. Or maybe, something like the animal kiwi. It does exist, it's New Zealand's icon. However, you need luck to encounter a wild kiwi (not in captivity). I can assure you now, your chances to encounter a looong, very long, white cloud in New Zealand is ten times higher than to encounter a wild kiwi. I have examined friends' photo albums of New Zealand, and found that Aotearoa was in at least one of the photos, either the friend captured it intentionally or unintentionally. You even can witness it before landing.
I did, a friend of mine did, too.
Nevertheless, riding on
TranzAlpine from Christchurch to Arthur's Pass brought me goosebumps. I never dreamed I would be that close with Aotearoa. My train rolled into that looong, very long, white cloud.
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| Approaching Aotearoa, the (land of) long white cloud. |
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| View from the viewing carriage. The white cloud is longer than my train :D |
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| That line on the ride is a road, for vehicles. |
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| Winding into Aotearoa. |
My note: I didn't set my camera into black-and-white mode. Nor did I edit this into monochrome. Probably, the bright sun through the white cloud have caused this Aotearoa effect. Aha.
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| It has been said: Wonderland. |
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| Do you see that reddish brown on the stones on bottom left? That was my next wonder -- after so many -- about NZ. |
Arriving in Arthur's Pass soon. I'll tell you
about the stones there! No, no, it's not gold. Errr... you'd better subscribe :D
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