New Zealand  

When Counting Sheep causes Sleep Loss


white sheep, black sheep
Sheep on a pasture on the Walter Peak Homestead.
on the shore of the lake
Visitors from Walter Peak Estate await the TSS Earnslaw boat back to Queenstown, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.
An Exemplary Example
Homeowner Walter Peak displays a ram stalk.
Merino
Merino sheep, one of the most popular types in New Zealand.
part of the landscape
Small herd grazes on a slope of the Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch.
Walter
Sheep from Queenstown's Walter Peak Homestead await shearing.
Pastor dog
Sheepdog Border-collie chases and herds sheep, its main contribution to the life of sheep farmers.
Sheep immensity
Hundreds of sheep completely occupy a verdant slope of the southern island of New Zealand.
Herd in a pasture between Wanaka and the base of Mount Aspiring.
ready
Foreman of the sheep farm of Walter Peak prepares to inaugurate a demonstrative shearing.
Falling wool
Homestead employee Walter Peak exemplifies a shearing.
eminent shearing
Homestead employee Walter Peak holds a sheep that he is going to shear.
A Smoothness of Shearing
Walter Peak farm worker holds one of the many sheep on the farm that removed the wool.
New Zealand queue
Line of sheep on a high bank of a river near Mount Aspiring.
Herd at the foot of a slope outside Arrowtown.
Back to the Homestead
Sheep leave a lost homestead in a deep cove of Banks Cove in an orderly manner
20 years ago, New Zealand had 18 sheep per inhabitant. For political and economic reasons, the average was halved. In the antipodes, many breeders are worried about their future.

the eccentric Banks Peninsula it seems like the result of a geological fun moment.

A high central massif filled with small undulating hills gives way, at the lower ends, to countless indentations in the landscape, inlets and bays that the Pacific Ocean has long taken over.

Two volcanoes Lyttelton and Akaroa reached 1500 m of altitude there, but a strong erosion, led by the same seismic activity that recently shook Christchurch and the surrounding region, broke and smoothed them over time.

But, strangely enough, there is little volcanic in the scene. There is almost no solidified lava or basaltic rock, covered by a perfect mat of grass that extends along the slopes and even invades the dusty sands.

The Fascinating Sheep Domain of Banks Peninsula

Rustic fences broken, here and there, by wooden gates, follow the narrow roads that introduce us to one of the truly bucolic environments on the face of the Earth. And, curve after curve, pasture after pasture, reveals more and more specimens of the New Zealand sheep fauna.

Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New ZealandSmall herd grazes on a slope of the Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch.

The estate maps of the province of Canterbury prove the predominance of the original sheep farms. If the spectrum is extended to the rainy kiwi nation, little changes.

James Cook pioneered bringing sheep to New Zealand lands during the maritime expeditions he led between 1773 and 1777. The species did not establish itself at that time, but history changed when four enterprising colonists imported 1600 specimens from the Australia to Wellington and distributed more than half across the south of the North Island.

It continued to correct itself after William and John Deans introduced the first merinos (original Aragon sheep) to the plains of Canterbury, long before the species gave way to lighter and more adaptable ones to soaked soils or simply more profitable, such as English Leicester, Lincoln, Romney Marsh, Cheviot and Border Leicester, later crossed.

And Johny Jones achieved, in Otago, in the south-east of the South Island, the first unmistakable success. This investor enriched his Waikouaiti whaling station with 2000 sheep installed on land leased to Maori tribes.

In this way, it ensured a more diversified diet for men of the sea and began to export wool that would heat up the local economy.

Shearing, Walter Peak, Queenstown, New ZealandHomestead employee Walter Peak exemplifies a shearing.

The Expansion of Sheep Breeding across New Zealand

The expansion of sheep farming in the North Island was initially held back by the fact that the Maori indigenous peoples own most of the land and because these are subsumed in a dense forest.

The south came forward, but as settlers managed to obtain more grass from the natives above the Cook Strait, the North Island aligned with the south and New Zealand entered the twentieth century in full prosperity.

From 1882 onwards, the frozen meat industry developed and provided homestead owners with new opportunities. In the recovery period of the 2nd World War, Britain absorbed all of New Zealand's wool and meat production.

And, before and during the Korean War, the US sought quantities of the product never imagined by kiwifruit growers. Until 1961, wool represented a third of the country's exports and its shipments combined with those of frozen meat made sheep farming the most important rural activity until 1987.

From then on, different alternatives enticed the owners of sheep farms that we are finding throughout the country.

In Queenstown, in the sublime region of the southern lakes, as in every corner of the nation, the advent of tourism helped to blur the rules of the game and, in certain privileged places, inspired less laborious but highly profitable solutions.

Lamb Shank, Walter Peak-Queenstown, New ZealandHomeowner Walter Peak displays a ram stalk.

Queenstown: the TSS Earnslaw, towards the Walter Peak Estate

For years on end, the TSS Earnslaw steamship was the only reliable and practical means of transport operating on vast Lake Wakatipu. At the time, it carried eight hundred passengers while clouds of smoke from its chimney painted the sky black.

The Walter Peak homestead, located on the edge of the lake opposite the Queenstown, depended in part on the vessel. Today, its livestock activities are just enough to attract tourists, but the relationship with the boat remains.

Walter Peak Estancia, Queenstown, New ZealandVisitors from Walter Peak Estate await the TSS Earnslaw boat back to Queenstown, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu.

Rain or shine, the “Lady of the Lake” (as it was also called) sets sail from Queenstown loaded with urban curious people who admire the lake and surrounding snowy mountains and tread the grounds of the property eager for rural discovery.

You are welcomed in an elegant central mansion and pampered with tea and scones. A resident humorist foreman then introduces them to Walter Peak Farm and the virtues of local sheepdogs. Finally, he demonstrates the secrets of shearing an unlucky sheep: "The lord with the metal hair back there wouldn't laugh at the creature I'm treating you next!"

Walter Peak, Queenstown, New Zealand

Foreman of the sheep farm of Walter Peak prepares to inaugurate a demonstrative shearing.

New Zealand's Constant Sheep Up and Down

But it was much more influential political and economic variables that made and oscillate the number of New Zealand sheep.

In 1973, Great Britain joined the EU and submitted to the protectionism of the Old World, starting to absorb less production from the antipodes. Also in the 70s, there was the first oil price shock that inflated the cost of transport.

Sheep, Walter Peak-Queenstown, New ZealandSheep from Queenstown's Walter Peak Homestead await shearing.

Meanwhile, a myriad of new natural and synthetic materials have replaced wool in the making of clothing and other props.

Forced government subsidies kept the industry afloat, and despite the market's difficulties, the number of animals peaked at 70.301.461 head in 1982. Three years later, the government inaugurated a free market policy and abruptly withdrew all animals. support for producers who began to mislead.

Merina sheep, Walter Peak-Queenstown, New ZealandMerino sheep, one of the most popular types in New Zealand.

Already in the 2000s, some wool that was still purchased by Australia, Europe and United States started to be sent raw to the China, to be wound into a ball at low cost. Even so, in two decades, New Zealand sheep have halved.

“It won't be long, buddy…” lies the modern kiwi cowboy from the top of his yellow quad. Like any native, we think it's normal to be stuck for fifteen minutes on a road waiting for the cattle to cross, but now, as it hardly happened, there are also herds of cows, not just herds, those responsible.

The response of the farms to the crisis implied a drastic shift to the production of dairy products (from cows) that quickly surpassed the sheep income, driven by the action of the country's largest company, Fonterra, which controls almost a third of the sector's international trade.

Flock of sheep, New ZealandHundreds of sheep completely occupy a verdant slope of the southern island of New Zealand.

New Zealand is still the largest exporter of sheepmeat and strong wool in the world. And only the eighth milk producer in the world. But the sheep count continues to fall.

Nelson to Wharariki, Abel Tasman NP, New Zealand

The Maori coastline on which Europeans landed

Abel Janszoon Tasman explored more of the newly mapped and mythical "Terra australis" when a mistake soured the contact with natives of an unknown island. The episode inaugurated the colonial history of the New Zealand. Today, both the divine coast on which the episode took place and the surrounding seas evoke the Dutch navigator.
Mykines, Faroe Islands

In the Faeroes FarWest

Mykines establishes the western threshold of the Faroe archipelago. It housed 179 people but the harshness of the retreat got the better of it. Today, only nine souls survive there. When we visit it, we find the island given over to its thousand sheep and the restless colonies of puffins.
El Calafate, Argentina

The New Gauchos of Patagonia

Around El Calafate, instead of the usual shepherds on horseback, we come across gauchos equestrian breeders and others who exhibit, to the delight of visitors, the traditional life of the golden pampas.
Wanaka, New Zealand

The Antipodes Great Outdoors

If New Zealand is known for its tranquility and intimacy with Nature, Wanaka exceeds any imagination. Located in an idyllic setting between the homonymous lake and the mystic Mount Aspiring, it became a place of worship. Many kiwis aspire to change their lives there.
North Island, New Zealand

Journey along the Path of Maority

New Zealand is one of the countries where the descendants of settlers and natives most respect each other. As we explored its northern island, we became aware of the interethnic maturation of this very old nation. Commonwealth , the Maori and Polynesia.
Colónia Pellegrini, Argentina

When the Meat is Weak

The unmistakable flavor of Argentine beef is well known. But this wealth is more vulnerable than you think. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, keeps authorities and growers afloat.
Banks Peninsula, New Zealand

The Divine Earth Shard of the Banks Peninsula

Seen from the air, the most obvious bulge on the South Island's east coast appears to have imploded again and again. Volcanic but verdant and bucolic, the Banks Peninsula confines in its almost cogwheel geomorphology the essence of the ever enviable New Zealand life.
Tokyo, Japan

Disposable Purrs

Tokyo is the largest of the metropolises but, in its tiny apartments, there is no place for pets. Japanese entrepreneurs detected the gap and launched "catteries" in which the feline affections are paid by the hour.
napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s - Calhambeque Tour

In a city rebuilt in Art Deco and with an atmosphere of the "crazy years" and beyond, the adequate means of transportation are the elegant classic automobiles of that era. In Napier, they are everywhere.
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
Mount cook, New Zealand

The Cloud Piercer Mountain

Aoraki/Mount Cook may fall far short of the world's roof but it is New Zealand's highest and most imposing mountain.
Napier, New Zealand

Back to the 30s

Devastated by an earthquake, Napier was rebuilt in an almost ground-floor Art Deco and lives pretending to stop in the Thirties. Its visitors surrender to the Great Gatsby atmosphere that the city enacts.
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
bay of islands, New Zealand

New Zealand's Civilization Core

Waitangi is the key place for independence and the long-standing coexistence of native Maori and British settlers. In the surrounding Bay of Islands, the idyllic marine beauty of the New Zealand antipodes is celebrated, but also the complex and fascinating kiwi nation.
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Skipper of one of the bangkas at Raymen Beach Resort during a break from sailing
Beach
Islands Guimaras  e  Ave Maria, Philippines

Towards Ave Maria Island, in a Philippines full of Grace

Discovering the Western Visayas archipelago, we set aside a day to travel from Iloilo along the northwest coast of Guimaras. The beach tour along one of the Philippines’ countless pristine coastlines ends on the stunning Ave Maria Island.
Amboseli National Park, Mount Kilimanjaro, Normatior Hill
safari
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Young people walk the main street in Chame, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 1th - Pokhara a ChameNepal

Finally, on the way

After several days of preparation in Pokhara, we left towards the Himalayas. The walking route only starts in Chame, at 2670 meters of altitude, with the snowy peaks of the Annapurna mountain range already in sight. Until then, we complete a painful but necessary road preamble to its subtropical base.
Luderitz, Namibia
Architecture & Design
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
lagoons and fumaroles, volcanoes, PN tongariro, new zealand
Aventura
Tongariro, New Zealand

The Volcanoes of All Discords

In the late XNUMXth century, an indigenous chief ceded the PN Tongariro volcanoes to the British crown. Today, a significant part of the Maori people claim their mountains of fire from European settlers.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Ceremonies and Festivities
Cape Coast, Ghana

The Divine Purification Festival

The story goes that, once, a plague devastated the population of Cape Coast of today Ghana. Only the prayers of the survivors and the cleansing of evil carried out by the gods will have put an end to the scourge. Since then, the natives have returned the blessing of the 77 deities of the traditional Oguaa region with the frenzied Fetu Afahye festival.
Accra, Ghana, Flagstaff House
Cities
Accra, Ghana

The Capital in the Cradle of the Gold Coast

Do From the landing of Portuguese navigators to the independence in 1957 several the powers dominated the Gulf of Guinea region. After the XNUMXth century, Accra, the present capital of Ghana, settled around three colonial forts built by Great Britain, Holland and Denmark. In that time, it grew from a mere suburb to one of the most vibrant megalopolises in Africa.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Lunch time
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
khinalik, Azerbaijan Caucasus village, Khinalig
Culture
Chinalig, Azerbaijan

The Village at the Top of Azerbaijan

Set in the rugged, icy 2300 meters of the Great Caucasus, the Khinalig people are just one of several minorities in the region. It has remained isolated for millennia. Until, in 2006, a road made it accessible to the old Soviet Ladas.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Aurora lights up the Pisang Valley, Nepal.
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 3rd- Upper Banana, Nepal

An Unexpected Snowy Aurora

At the first glimmers of light, the sight of the white mantle that had covered the village during the night dazzles us. With one of the toughest walks on the Annapurna Circuit ahead of us, we postponed the match as much as possible. Annoyed, we left Upper Pisang towards Escort when the last snow faded.
Passage, Tanna, Vanuatu to the West, Meet the Natives
Ethnic
Tanna, Vanuatu

From where Vanuatu Conquered the Western World

The TV show “Meet the Native” took Tanna's tribal representatives to visit Britain and the USA Visiting their island, we realized why nothing excited them more than returning home.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Celestyal Crystal Cruise, Santorini, Greece
History
Nea Kameni, Santorini, Greece

The Volcanic Core of Santorini

About three millennia had passed since the Minoan eruption that tore apart the largest volcano island in the Aegean. The cliff-top inhabitants watched land emerge from the center of the flooded caldera. Nea Kameni, the smoking heart of Santorini, was born.
Angra do Heroísmo, Terceira, Azores, from historic capital to World Heritage, urban art
Islands
Angra do Heroismo, Terceira , Azores

Heroina do Mar, from Noble People, Brave and Immortal City

Angra do Heroísmo is much more than the historic capital of the Azores, Terceira Island and, on two occasions, Portugal. 1500km from the mainland, it gained a leading role in Portuguese nationality and independence that few other cities can boast.
Geothermal, Iceland Heat, Ice Land, Geothermal, Blue Lagoon
Winter White
Iceland

The Geothermal Coziness of the Ice Island

Most visitors value Iceland's volcanic scenery for its beauty. Icelanders also draw from them heat and energy crucial to the life they lead to the Arctic gates.
silhouette and poem, Cora coralina, Goias Velho, Brazil
Literature
Goiás Velho, Brazil

The Life and Work of a Marginal Writer

Born in Goiás, Ana Lins Bretas spent most of her life far from her castrating family and the city. Returning to its origins, it continued to portray the prejudiced mentality of the Brazilian countryside
VIP lights
Nature
Moyo Island, Indonesia

Moyo: An Indonesian Island Just for a Few

Few people know or have had the privilege of exploring the Moyo nature reserve. One of them was Princess Diana who, in 1993, took refuge there from the media oppression that would later victimize her.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Viewpoint Viewpoint, Alexander Selkirk, on Skin Robinson Crusoe, Chile
Natural Parks
Robinson Crusoe Island, Chile

Alexander Selkirk: in the Skin of the True Robinson Crusoe

The main island of the Juan Fernández archipelago was home to pirates and treasures. His story was made up of adventures like that of Alexander Selkirk, the abandoned sailor who inspired Dafoe's novel
Bathers in the middle of the End of the World-Cenote de Cuzamá, Mérida, Mexico
UNESCO World Heritage
Yucatan, Mexico

The End of the End of the World

The announced day passed but the End of the World insisted on not arriving. In Central America, today's Mayans watched and put up with incredulity all the hysteria surrounding their calendar.
female and cub, grizzly footsteps, katmai national park, alaska
Characters
PN Katmai, Alaska

In the Footsteps of the Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell spent summers on end with the bears of Katmai. Traveling through Alaska, we followed some of its trails, but unlike the species' crazy protector, we never went too far.
View of Casa Iguana, Corn islands, pure caribbean, nicaragua
Beaches
Corn Islands - Islas del Maíz , Nicaragua

pure caribbean

Perfect tropical settings and genuine local life are the only luxuries available in the so-called Corn Islands or Corn Islands, an archipelago lost in the Central American confines of the Caribbean Sea.
Bride gets in car, traditional wedding, Meiji temple, Tokyo, Japan
Religion
Tokyo, Japan

A Matchmaking Sanctuary

Tokyo's Meiji Temple was erected to honor the deified spirits of one of the most influential couples in Japanese history. Over time, it specialized in celebrating traditional weddings.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Society
Markets

A Market Economy

The law of supply and demand dictates their proliferation. Generic or specific, covered or open air, these spaces dedicated to buying, selling and exchanging are expressions of life and financial health.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, streymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Hippopotamus moves in the flooded expanse of the Elephant Plain.
Wildlife
Maputo National Park, Mozambique

The Wild Mozambique between the Maputo River and the Indian Ocean

The abundance of animals, especially elephants, led to the creation of a Hunting Reserve in 1932. After the hardships of the Mozambican Civil War, the Maputo PN protects prodigious ecosystems in which fauna proliferates. With emphasis on the pachyderms that have recently become too many.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.