Finally someone employed me! Work equals cash which then equals spending on cool stuff, and boy have we been spending. Firstly we had to buy another car so we could both get to work. It is a rather sporty little number which would look right at home cruising along the sea front at Southend! Next came the Surfboard. 6’8 of pure pleasure. It is known as a super fish XL (a fish hybrid board for you wax heads) and handles like a dream at the bottom end. Unfortunately the amount of time that Dean has been able to spend with his new curvy companion has been limited due to the micro climate that Taranaki so uniquely possesses. We have never seen so much rain, and coming from the UK that is one serious statement. Thunder, lighting, gale force winds, torrential rain, bright hot sunshine, a bit cloudy and then back to the thunder all in one day. When the weather is good though...it is really good, and if the surf is pumping we only have to walk about 4 minutes from our house and then we are on the beach. It is so strange watching all the little kids (who are far too bloody good at surfing and make me sick) running down to the beach after school to catch some tubes in their wetsuits.
Great explorers both past and present have always had a method of letting others know that they had been at a place. Some, such as the great Scott of the Antarctic have employed measures such as the use of a flag, whilst others have simply carved their name into a tree stump, or rock. Then there are those who really leave their mark, they build Veggie patches! Yep, it seems that no matter where we go in the world, the need to create nature’s garden is overwhelming. We have dedicated one whole corner of our “back yard” to the cultivation of food. Within this area we are growing the following items; Silver beet (no idea what it is but the Kiwis love it), Broccoli, Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Tomatoes (3 varieties), Celery, Cucumber, Aubergines, Pak Choy, Parsley and Strawberries. With the current economic climate as it is we are hoping that the bleeding things produce some goods before we leave!
When we are not in the sea at the front of our house (or tending to the veg) we do an 180ᵒ turn and head to the Mountain and the Kaitake Ranges. A 5 minute drive and we are climbing through native bush and crossing rivers. In NZ this is called tramping (some folks in Essex do this although I think they are very different things!!) We did a tramp with the local Tramping club and the DoC (Department of Conservation). It was about a 5 hour hike along a track called Lucy’s Gully to a Trig point high up in the ranges. It was beautiful. We could see all along the coastline and our little Village. Through this we meet Mike at the DoC and a few weeks later we offered our services and helped plant some native trees up in the Kaitakes. Dean and I planted about 180 trees between us, however in total 1500 trees were planted that day. It felt so rewarding. In the UK the closest we got to tree planting was donating £10 to the Forestry Commission, and as nice as that is, hands on help is by far the most fun.
15 minutes down the road (or 7.5 minutes if we go in the sporty number) is the city of New Plymouth. This could only ever be a city by NZ standards as it has the same number of inhabitants as Cheshunt! It is however home to a small group of Islands known as the Sugarloafs. We took a boat ride out to them with a Captain called Chaddy. The sea was a bit rocky but we did manage to see the large colony of seals that inhabit the Islands. The height that these seals can climb to is astounding. I am sure that they must defy some law of physics. Dean helped pull in the crayfish pots, and was only shown up a little by the incredibly fit 82 year old 1st mate whom he was assisting!
A recent highlight for Dean and I was a trip to Rotorua. Craters, Arsenic, sulphur pools, geysers, mud pools, hot springs and a distinctive aroma make Rotorua feel like you are on another planet. It can be quite off-putting driving through town and seeing rising smoke everywhere. One wouldn’t say the smell is unpleasant, unless you find the smell of 5 day old decaying eggs offensive! Luckily after a few hours of breathing in the local olfactory offerings you don’t notice it anymore. We went to the Thermal Wonderland and managed to fit in a bit of kayaking (not the white water kind, but it was fun anyway). We also went to a Maori cultural evening. The night involved a concert; a huge feed cooked in a Hangi (underground cooker), and a twilight wander around some sacred springs hunting for glow worms (which since Dean has become obsessed with finding near our house). Dean did some hydro Zorbing which is where one gets in a big inflatable ball filled with water and rolls down a hill (awesome!), and we both sampled the Luge (go karting without the motor). These were brilliant. We felt a bit 'Louis Hamilton' when we had finished.
Although we stick out like a sore thumb (owing mostly to the rather distinctive accents Dean and I both have!) We have managed to mingle in a bit with NZ life. I have joined a book club at the local library and become quite obsessed by a NZ soap. Not saying the NZ TV is rubbish but there is absolutely nothing good at all to watch on TV except the stuff that has been made in the UK and USA. Outrageous Fortune is the exception. Think Shameless the first series but better (a controversial point but one I would argue none the less). Series 6 will start when we have gone home, so glad they invented the box set!
So, all in all things are good. The weather is starting to get better and with that comes the limitless options for playing outside.....woohoo!
Well that is all for now. Take care everyone, and please leave comments on our travel page. As always we miss you all.
