More New Zealand

Monday, November 20, 2006

Arieh here. We are now in Rotorua, N.I. and have had a good week in weather and activities. In addition to driving the winding roads of the eastern side of the N.I., we had a wonderful tour of Napier, got pretty wet (finally, some rain) in Wellington, finally went to shul outside of N.A. and have moved back northward on the way back to Auckland.

Napier is a small city on the East coast of the N.I. on Hawkes Bay. It is the centre of one of the wine producing areas of NZ, similar to Napa Valley in California and has great weather. Napier is also famous as the Art Deco city of the world. It was destroyed by an earthquake in 1931, over 100 people lost their lives and it was completely rebuilt in TWO years. Four architectural firms oversaw the construction and thousands of people were working at the "height" of the Great Depression. It is something to see (pictures to come). While we were in L.A., we walked around Westwood and they still have some Art Deco buildings (mostly theatres), but this is a whole downtown preserved. The buildings are also built to last as Napier is still in an earthquake zone. Napier was also the first time we bit the bullet and stayed in a Youth Hostel. Quite different from the last time I used them in Europe in 1972. People our age are allowed in, not just "yutes"; one can stay inside all day and not have to leave and come back to the YH; no more breakfast included; double and family rooms available with or without ensuite bath; recognition of driving and coupons for parking offered; laundry facilities offered; cooking facilities and food storage available. Quite pleasant really.

From Napier we drove down to Wellington and was it windy or what? However, the crazy Wellingtonians were walking around without coats thinking that because it is late spring it must be warm. They were wrong. Later that evening we also saw that there were many people sitting outside restaurants or bars in the blowing wind. We quickly figured out that they are doing that because they are smoking and not allowed to do so inside. But no one was wearing coats--the women were in sleeveless dresses and the men were wearing shirts only (with pants). Wellington has the Te Papau museum which is built on "raised on earthquake land". NZers have invented a new way to stablize and protect buildings during earthquakes. As its premier museum, the Te Papau museum is built on these contraptions. Essentially, the building sits on rubber blocks (big ones) reinforced with lead. All you scientists will know that lead is flexible, etc. and is good for this sort of thing. The parliament buildings, which were damaged in a fire in 1992, were renovated and also put on these rubber blocks. The other highpoint of Wellington was going to shul. Two different ones--Orthodox on Friday night and Progressive (Reform) on Shabbat morning. Quite interesting. The Orthodox shul was mostly men, a multitude of siddurim and the requisite mumbling for the Mincha service. However, for the Kabbalat Shabbat service, there was surprisingly a lot of singing and much of it similar to what we do at HBT. (The Rabbi later mentioned something about a Karlebach service). The service was also led by two of the regulars, but certainly not "staff". The attendees for the most part were veteran NZers and quite a few visiting Israelis--there were about 35 men and women all told. While it was obvious we were visiting (and there were others), I was kind of surprised that no one really spoke to us except one older NZer who was there early with us. And no one asked what our dinner plans were. In the end, we had dinner with an Israeli and German woman who had just moved to Wellington to live and work one week before and they were clearly in the same boat as us. We had a lovely Indian dinner. The next day we went to the Progressive shul (which broke away from the Orthodox in the mid-1950s). The siddur was a photocopied experimental version--first time being used--and the Rabbi happened to be at a regional convention in Australia. The leader was a lay leader and I think the Chazzanit was pretty new. LOTS of singing and many identical niggunim as at HBT. One interesting additon to their "siddur" was the inclusion and reading of the 10 Commandments. Nice touch. The Torah was read, not chanted, and the reader clearly didn't understand what she was reading. Haftorah was read in English. Haggbah was pretty good, but he didn't extend the scroll--no 7 columns to see! Fortunately, no one asked me to do anything and I didn't goof up.

Time to post this without pictures. The demands of the readers are overwhelming us.