By Gerard Ramos / Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor
MENTION “New Zealand” these days, and, almost invariably, hobbits, wizards, elves, dwarves and one very dark lord become part of the conversation.
Which can’t be helped, of course, given that the masterful trilogy, which director Peter Jackson fashioned out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1954 epic novel The Lord of the Rings, beginning with 2001’s installment, was shot entirely in New Zealand, before going on to not only become among the most wildly successful films of all time (nearly $4 billion for a global box-office haul) but also win widespread critical acclaim (a total of 17 Academy Awards, with the Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan writing that “the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal.” Various locations in this island-country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean stood in—magnificently, majestically—for their Middle Earth counterparts (most notably Matamata in the upper North Island made to look like Hobbiton in Tolkien’s novel; more on Hobbiton later).
Although it is doubtless that there are not a few avid fans of Jackson’s multiawarded trilogy, and of Tolkien’s enduringly popular high fantasy in this equatorial islands republic of ours, it was not the lucrative prospect of flying fans into Middle Earth no less that spurred Philippine Airlines (PAL) President and COO Jaime J. Bautista to launch four-times-weekly flights to Auckland in New Zealand via Cairns in Queensland, northern Australia. A 156-seater Airbus 320 with 156 seats—12 in business class and 144 in economy—services the destination.
As it is in every route and destination that PAL services, the Auckland service is primarily aimed at the Filipino community that has have made New Zealand their home but would like to maintain and nurture ties with their homeland. According to reports, there are more than 44,000 Filipinos living in Auckland.
“The Manila-Cairns-Auckland flight will enhance opportunities for three diverse peoples—the Filipinos, Australians and New Zealanders—to explore each other’s history and culture,” Bautista said. “It will stimulate passenger traffic along three travel streams—Manila-Cairns, Manila-Auckland, as well as Cairns-Auckland. The new service allows PAL to cater to the travel needs of business and leisure travelers, and showcase its distinct brand of service marked by Filipino warmth, charm and hospitality. Filipinos residing in New Zealand will find the new service as their convenient link to their home country.”
The flag carrier’s inaugural flight to New Zealand left Manila last December 3 and, following a one-hour stopover in Cairns, arrived in Auckland just in time for high tea on the same day. (It should be noted that New Zealand is a good five hours ahead of Manila time.) The day after, PAL hosted a gala dinner to mark the occasion at the Stamford Hotel, which was attended by trade partners and media representatives from the Philippines and New Zealand, and officials from the New Zealand government, led by Minister for Transport Simon Bridges
In his remarks at the gala dinner, Bautista added: “Today airlines have a noble role to play—that of catalysts for the exchange of ideas to promote peaceful coexistence. Amid conflict in various parts of the globe, we can build air bridges that will allow people of different beliefs to appreciate and understand each other. We hope this new service will promote not just economic and cultural exchanges, but also understanding and peace.”
It was not difficult to arrive at a sense of calm as we looked out the bus window, the verdant rolling landscape stretching seemingly without end, the lush postcard-pretty view marked every so often by herds of grazing cattle and sheep that said both a little and a lot of how New Zealand is “a high-income economy, and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life” (goo.gl/AyR45s). We were driven to destinations within and beyond the city limits that provided everyone satisfying previews of what New Zealand and its people—the Europeans, the Māoris, and those from Asia and the Pacific—have to offer visitors flying in to explore and experience Hobbiton and everything else.
While the schedule allowed no exploration of some of New Zealand’s magnificent wonders, such as the Milford Sound, the places that we did get to visit were never lacking in charm that was easy and almost magical, the weather— marvelously temperate even in what was already the summer season in this part of the world—deepening their charm.
There is the Matakana Village Farmers Market, which happens only Saturdays in Matakana Village, a lovely and proudly laid-back pocket that is just under an hour’s drive north of Auckland. Apart from the fresh produce and delicacies that are aplenty in the market—from feijoa wine, macadamia nuts and homemade cheese to chocolate, coffee and Manuka honey—there are a good number of stores selling intriguing artworks and sublime artisanal products. A quiet pond with mallards here and there lay nearby, and the exquisite fragrance from the dama de noche shrubs fronting some of the stores gently mix with the other olfactory sensations from the market.
There is Waiheke Island—accessible via a half-hour ferry ride from the Viaduct Harbor—and the many wineries that have been made the island their home. For our tour, it was the Stonyridge Vineyard, whose award-winning Chardonnays, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon blends, and Syrahs have helped put New Zealand on the winemaking map.
The estate spreads out in a North-facing valley, with sprawling tracts of land cradling olive trees and grape vines making for a picturesque vista straight out of Tuscany. It also makes a splendid location for a wedding, or even a day of downtime soaking in the sublime view, the peace and quiet with a glass or three of the Stonyridge red blend, a platter of cheese, and a hearty meal from the kitchen of the Stonyridge Veranda Café.
And then, of course, there is Matamata in the Waikato region of New Zealand, which was our last stop before flying back to Manila.
Needless to say, Matamata’s transformation from a farming community to a must-visit tourist destination, courtesy of The Lord of the Rings, has made it made it a ubiquitous presence in Instagram, with tourists routinely leveraging their smartphone cameras for selfies in the places that Bilbo and Frodo frequented.
While New Zealand’s economy continues to be driven primarily by agriculture, tourism has gained prominence as an economic engine with Jackson’s film series drawing millions of fans from the world over.
Presumably, not a few of those millions were Filipinos. As New Zealand Minister for Transport Simon Bridges said during the gala dinner, there is a steady increase in the number of arrivals from the Philippines, and he expressed the hope of seeing “a similar celebration marking the 10th anniversary of PAL’s inaugural flight.”
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Philippine Airlines flies every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday to Auckland via Cairns with an introductory rate of $880 roundtrip (economy) and $2,700 (business). Visit www.philippineairlines.com for details.