D45 -- Off to the South Island

During breakfast we met an older woman from Scotland who holds a lot of strong opinions and isn’t afraid to share them. We were surprised to learn that all public schools in Scotland are religious in nature, either Protestant or Catholic. A recent wave of Muslim immigrants has created tensions in the region because the growing minority is demanding that Muslim public schools be created. Her story made us realize how thankful we are that US public schools don’t teach religion (not yet, at least). We also got an earful on the many other social problems that are plaguing Scotland, most of which are apparently caused by inept government leadership. It’s funny that no matter what country you are from, you can always list all the problems you have with your government.

We noticed that Susan, our B&B host, was wearing a Greenpeace t-shirt, so we asked her a little bit about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, something we were ignorant of until we arrived in New Zealand. For those of you who don’t know the story, in 1985 the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior was set to sail from Auckland to the South Pacific where it would campaign against nuclear testing by France. Before the ship left Auckland French secret service agents bombed it, and one person drowned. You can learn more about the sinking here or here. When we asked about the incident, Susan’s first comment was that she will never drink Champagne again. She and her partner John both gave the impression that New Zealand’s attempts to seek justice against those involved backfired as the nuclear powers (including the US) closed ranks in defense of nuclear testing. From looking at the above links, however, it does seem that there was some significant political fallout for France.

After breakfast we jumped on a flight to Christchurch and then drove five hours to our next stop – the town of Motueka, which is just outside the Abel Tasman National Park. We saw a LOT more sheep on this drive. We only went through a few towns, and all of them were very tiny – they wouldn’t even be big enough for a DQ if they were in Texas, so you know they must be small!

-Thomas