Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Travel Destination - New Zealand

At Media South, we love to travel. This past summer we went to several amazing places and we wanted to share them with you. Stay tuned for ideas of where to go for your next great adventure!

An Interview with Barbara Penland, Media South President and CEO

Where did you go?
On a roadtrip from Auckland on the North Island to Dunedin in Otago at the base of the South Island of New Zealand.

How long did it take to get there and were there any travel problems?
The plane ride to and from New Zealand is a 36-hour killer each way—made more challenging by first losing then regaining an entire day. We got up each morning for two weeks and drove to someplace new and exciting.

What was the biggest difference you found between your vacation spot and Knoxville, TN?
When we left New Zealand, it was snowing, and we came back to Knoxville’s 95-degree heat in June. Even in the summers, New Zealand’s temperatures are mild--similar to our spring and fall. The roads are almost all two lanes, and there are traffic lights that hold for 20 minutes at tunnels because they are all one lane—as are many of the bridges. Gas stations are few and far between. There are more sheep than people in New Zealand, so the landscape is like the best of East Tennessee’s mountains with snow caps.

What was the most beautiful (or most eccentric) place you went to on your vacation?
There were so many. Milford Sound in the South Island is called one of the most beautiful places in the world—peaceful, majestic (peaks 3 times the height of the Empire State building), and lush (9 meters of rainfall per year). The sulfur pools of the North Island boil and simmer and stink (think Mordor). The Maori tribal art and tattoos are beautiful and intricate. Who knew ferns could grow into 10-foot trees? And why are there California redwoods in New Zealand?

What was the favorite (or most expensive, odd, creative) item you purchased while there?
Kiwi birds (not to be confused with kiwi fruit or Kiwis—what New Zealanders call themselves) are strange little birds that are almost extinct, so we came back with kiwi replicas of different sizes, shapes, and materials. We also brought back greenstone (related to jade) carvings of the Maori’s mythological heitiki (first man) that look a lot like embryos.

Click on the photo montage for a larger view!