What if?

Were off again

em-and-andy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 21:22:00 GMT

Well, as it says above; were off again.

Back down to New Zealand to do another six month tour, pick our van up on Monday and then the fun really starts.

If you get time, look in on the blog to see how it's going on the return trip.

Andy & Em

Sum up of our trip.

em-and-andy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:48:00 GMT

This was the first (but it will not be the last) long trip we have ever undertaken, and even with resigning from our jobs and spending 99% of our savings we are home now with absolutely no regrets. This trip has been a real ‘eye opener’ to the both of us, it’s lovely to watch films about the World on the screen; but to see, smell and hear that same image with your own senses is un-challenged. A couple of perfect examples of this has to be Milford Sound, you can look at the photo’s all you want; BUT you will not be able to hear the Waterfalls all around you, you will not be able to smell the freshness of the evening as the Sun sets and you will not have the Sandfly bits to prove you’ve been there. Another example has to be the Green Turtle swim, to see them so close is great; BUT to hear them snorting around you so closely that you have to swim backwards in case you touch them is truly breath taking.

You’ve heard this statement from many people, but listen to a couple of people who did it –

IF YOU ARE THINKING OF DOING IT, PLEASE DO IT NOW WHILE YOU CAN; DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE.

Oahu, our last ‘proper’ stop.

em-and-andy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:46:00 GMT

Well we started with the description of WOW at Fiji, and we are finishing with the same one for Oahu; WOW. We landed after a very long but excellent flight from Auckland via Fiji refuel stop, we had been put onto a smaller than expected plane due to the numbers flying but it was a lovely, comfortable and loads of space to spread out; so no hassles complaints about an hour delay from here.

We landed very late in the evening, Sun had set during our flight and Honolulu was light up for all to see its full length, width and height. We were staying in the Wyland Waikiki, no we suddenly find some money; we got a great deal and heard BAD things about the backpackers on Oahu so for the extra $200 NZD each we thought we would treat ourselves. The hotel was lovely, as a part of the deal we got we had been ‘upgraded’ to a city view room (its back from the Sea and in the middle of Waikiki, so no Sea or Mountain View available) nice city view but talk about load. After New Zealand and Fiji, Waikiki was the total opposite from what we had experienced so far; but in pleasant way. Waikiki is, dare I say it? Amazing! The beach is very narrow and VERY busy, forget a quite sun bath here; take a look but get out of town to look around if you want quieter sun bathing sessions. Waikiki is the centre of shopping, designer, common or cheap; there all here at really good prices compared to the UK anyway. An example, a Quicksilver 50 UV Rash vest UK price £40 - £50 ish’ Waikiki price $26.50 inc’ tax = £12.50 ish; I thought we had landed in the middle of sale season but no that’s the price. After a day of shopping, Em and I got caught up in the price ‘Buzz’ and spent way too much but hey; were on holiday. We had our 7 days planned but we weren’t expecting the buses, you can go any were on the island for $2 per trip; making sure you get your ‘transfer’ ticket which allows you to either change buses or return within a couple hours. Great value for money, a little crowded at times but clean, fast and worth the short wait at the stop and everyone is so friendly on the buses; so get chatting to the locals. Our second day was spent at Pearl Harbour, a very touching experience whatever your nationality. You feel moved as you walk around the museum and displays that are around the main theatre, you are given a ticket upon your entry which when called you enter and watch a film which explains the full events that happened on the morning of Dec’ 7^th. You are then taken out to the USS Arizona war memorial by a US Navy launch, as you move through Pearl Harbours waters you really start to get a lump in your throat about what it all meant to the world; not just to the USA. The memorial is placed over the hull of the sunken ship, which still allows a few drops of Oil out everyday since; a touching thing to see as they refuse to ‘clean’ the Oil up as they say it’s ‘The tears of the dead held within’ It’s a strange thing to see, Oil floating on the surface of the Sea and yet still Coral and Fish grow and live here; why are they able to grow and live amongst the Oil covered area? Maybe they are tears? Diamond Head overlooks Waikiki, so with a short bus ride you are within walking distance to the top; which allows you to have some great views over Waikiki and well worth the small effort. You can, on a lucky day; see Whales from the top but not today for us. BUT, we did see some Whales the next day when we went by bus to the North Shore. The North Shore, home of big wave surfing; even after the season has past the waves are SO impressive. On the ‘Pipeline’ the waves break so close to the shoreline that not only can you see the Surfing so close, you shiver with fear when they wipe out as they can fall onto the rocks and reef that they walk over to get in. On more than one occasion, Em & I watched as a Surfer wiped out so close to these rocks, we stood up to see if they were okay; and then with a shake of the head they would surface and paddle back out to start all over again. We stayed here for a good 2 – 3 hours, drinking the real fruit smoothie purchased from the street vendor while enjoying the sight of some Surfers who really knew what they were doing out there. To get back to Waikiki we decided to take the longer route back around the North Eastern shore, a very scenic bus ride for $2.00. The next day we decided to carry on with the Bus ride tour of Oahu, this time heading to Kailua beach to hire a mask & snorkel; and then a short walk onto Lanikai Beach reserve. To be honest, the snorkelling was a little disappointing but it is a great beach to just lounge around and take in the sight, Sun and bargains from the small shops at Kailua. Upon our return to the hotel, I managed to get through to the Helicopter tour company and book what we thought would be the ‘highlight’ of Oahu. We were picked up by the tour company from our hotel and within the hour we were being given the safety instructions and boarding the Helicopter. We had booked the full 1 hour tour of Oahu, and we were so glad we did; this was the indeed the ‘highlight’ of Oahu. We flew out past Waikiki, Diamond Head past Hanauma Bay and around the coast to Lanikai Beach reserve. We carried on up the coast before turning inland to the waterfalls and the ‘Jurassic’ valley park, where many films have been filmed including 50 First Dates, Karate Kid and of course Jurassic Park; and amazingly the valley has been owned by the same family since the 1880’s and refuse to sell off or build on the land. After the Valley we headed back out and up the coast around to North Shore and then back inland towards Pearl Harbour, this route was along the path that the Japanese took on Dec’ 7^th 1941; the way the memorial came into view as we flew in and over the Harbour only added to this ‘highlight’ experience and we highly recommend you take the time out to do it whilst on the fabulous Island. After this it was time to take a walk along Waikiki Beach, chatting and looking at all the pictures that were taken over a cold drink; it was here take we decided to take a morning Sail cruise on our last full day in Waikiki; so we booked a 2 ½ hr cruise for the next morning. We arrived at the Catamaran on time and eager to get sailing out into the bay for a swim and snorkel. The Cat’ moored up to it’s permanent point, and after a quick talk we were set loose into the Sea and onto what was the TRUE HIGHLIGHT of this final leg of our 7 month holiday; swimming with wild Green Turtles. We both jumped in and paddled to the advised area, about 50 mtr’s to the rear they were there; 4 Green Turtles in their wild environment. They are truly beautiful, the smallest 1 mtr’ up to the larger at 2 mtr’ We were instructed on the entire Do’s and Don’ts of swimming with the Turtles, advised that they were a protected species and they ‘tour company’ would not hesitate to inform the authorities on anyone who might disturb or try to touch them. We spent an hour in the water fascinated by these fabulous creatures, they would swim below us and at times rise to breath; at times surfacing so close to us that we could reach out and touch them if we were allowed too. Well we have finished our trip on a massive high, seeing a Turtle was top of the list; but swimming with them has been something that we will never forget.

All good things come to an end, and the end of this trip has come around so fast; we head to LA tomorrow for a single night stop over and then on to cold and damp UK.

Gallery: Oahu, our last ‘proper’ stop.

em-and-andy — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:45:00 GMT

Gallery: Our final month here.

em-and-andy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:20:00 GMT

Gallery: Port Waikato

em-and-andy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:19:00 GMT

Our final month here. (warning it's long read)

em-and-andy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:13:00 GMT

All good things come to an end, as we have been told whilst here “Do not cry because it’s now over, but rejoice that you have committed effort to something you’ll truly miss” That’s how we feel, we are making every effort to come back over here; we have arranged for the van to looked after including the Surfboard and Buggy so December we are heading back over. How long depends on how much we can earn in the next few months, were open to legal offers of high paid employment J Were heading to Endless Summer Lodge for a week, we spent Christmas here and think it’s a place to stay at again; and again and again.

We arrived at the Hostel to a glorious sunny day, no wind for Andy and very little Surf for me; so we borrowed a couple of body boards and along with a couple of others headed to the Sea for some fun. The other couple, Stacy the Canadian Snowboarder and Thomas the Swiss school teacher; this much fun should be canned and sold in the supermarket. All of us getting pounded by the waves and laughing and taking the p**s of each other for a full on 3 hours, one of the funniest memories we’ll go home with. The wind has picked up, so no prizes guessing where Andy is going; he has not telling me that he even managed to get ‘some air’ today. It’s like the Turtle’s on the EAC scene from the film ‘Finding Nemo’ Please try to picture this, Andy returns; Red faced shouting ‘Did you see me, did you see me? That was so cool’ To which I think ‘Yes I’ve seen you, now bu**er off and let me read my book you boring old git’ but to which I actually reply “Ye looked really cool, babe” For a man in 38 year old body, he has a teenager’s brain (shame he doesn’t have the body to match) mid life crises coming early I’m beginning to think? To all those that know us this will be a surprise, we’ve taken to reading books over here and a lot of them; for us at least that’s un-heard of before this trip. I’m reading about 1 – 11/2 a week and Andy’s about 1 a week, we used to think why read books! But to be honest we now find it relaxing, either on the beach, under a shaded area out of the late afternoon Sun or of an evening back at the Hostel; we are rarely without our book in hand or in the van waiting to be picked up. For the next couple of days it was the same old fun routine, grab a body board and head to the surf with the others; relax in the afternoon whilst Andy’s doing his Kite thing. Well we all have to move on, so after saying our goodbyes to our Body board buddies, Stacy from Canada and Thomas from Switzerland; we all went our separate ways. We were heading to Kahoe Farms again, Andy had some Kite surfing booked and I had some Surf time to catch up on.

It was only a very short 1 ½ hour drive to the next stop, so we dropped our stuff off and headed straight to Taupo Bay; the ‘secret’ Surf bay that the locals use. I was a little eager to get out on the Surf again here, last time it was ‘Sweet as’ as they would say here. Andy drove through the lanes to this the ‘Best & Safest Surf beach’ in NZ as the sign said on the turn off, today it was the safest as there was NO Surf again; I looked at Andy for moral support ‘Everything will be alright tomorrow’ he said looking at my sad expression.

Tomorrow arrived and everything was not alright, we arrived at Taupo Bay to find the tide going out and very little Surfable waves; it does pick up at mid to low tide so we decided to sit in the Sun and wait around. This day, 12^th February 2008 was going to be hard for us to forget; not that we ever want too we think. Andy sat up to just take a break from his book, something caught his eye 100 mtr’s to the right; looked like something feeding on the beach by the presence of the small amount of blood in the water. Andy grabbed the Camera and headed over, only to start shouting for me to take the Camera quickly; there in front of us was a ‘Dolphin’ beached and the blood was from its underside where it had been fighting against the sand to get back out. Andy was quickly joined by others that had seen what was happening, the group was quickly 9 men pushing and pulling this large ‘Dolphin’ out to sea; with tide going out the only thing to do was put towels under the poor thing and when a wave came in to ‘lift’ and pull out towards the sea. Andy has continually stated how amazing it was that as soon as he and another gent reached the beached ‘Dolphin’ it stopped trashing around, as if it knew they were there to help; during all the lifting and pulling of the group it at no time trashed out it just let them get on with it without a struggle. It knew that they were going to help, somehow it just knew. With the ‘Dolphin’ out into deeper water, it kept heading back in; everyone formed a chain and tried to guide the poor thing out. Then it stared to reach people that this was not the only one, one had beached and died a little further up the same bay; another had broken its snout on the rocks and was dying in the bay as they were keeping this one from the shore. Then another was spotted heading in, while a group worked on the first ‘Dolphin’ Andy joined a small group to work on this other problem. Here in NZ they have the D.O.C (Department of Conservation) who arrived 1 ½ hr’ after the call was placed with them, all the while the two groups were doing what they could in the growing surf conditions. For 3 hours the mixture of locals and holiday makers worked in the water to get them to turn around and head back out, as the smaller ‘Dolphin’ left the Bay the now small group of people just dispersed without even talking about what they had done; Andy said “Looking into the eye of a ‘Dolphin’ in that way, is something he wants to forget about” After a very sleepless night we headed to the main hostel to hear that and read an newspaper article, they were in fact NOT Dolphins but ‘Greys Beaked Whales’ Not only was it the first time they had beached on Taupo Bay, but they were a rare animal indeed; this caused our hostel host to make some strong comments against the D.O.C Both Andy and I had commented on how big they were, 4 – 5 mtr’s and very large bodies; and we were told by the D.O.C that they were ‘Dolphins’ The hostel host was really annoyed at the ‘expertise’ of the D.O.C, if they didn’t know the difference; how could anyone else. It appears that, while the D.O.C is doing the best they can with the limited resources they have; they are making some very simple errors that are causing some local concern. It was a local who informed us of the best way to handle the Whales, it was a local who advised us how to use the ‘beating bars’ that were handed out a full 1 HOUR after the D.O.C arrived; and it was a local who got in his Kayak to ‘chase’ the last Whale out of the Bay. Andy was in the water with the others for at least 3 hours, the D.O.C arrived after 1 ½ hr then they handed out beating bars after another 1 hr and the final Whale left within a short ½ hr of that. 2 died (newspaper stated 3 died, a young one further out of the Bay; but we didn’t see it so we like to believe it was only 2!) and 3 survived, ‘WHAT IF’ they had arrived within ½ hr? ‘WHAT IF’ they handed out the beating bars straight away with correct instructions? All ‘WHAT IF’ but maybe, just maybe they would’ve only been in the water for 1 hr’ and gone home with a better result? Sorry to ‘moan and bi*ch on’ but it’s something we feel so angry about how it was handled. It was the few in the water, and the few who stayed on the beach to spot the Whales and bring drinks for those in the water that made a difference; these ‘few’ did their best and still went home feeling awful that 2 had died right in front of everyone and maybe they feel the same as Andy?

“Looking into the eye of a ‘Dolphin’ in that way, is something he wants to forget about”

The next day we headed out to find the Surf, and headed back again disappointed. No Surf on the Northland coast and so we thought we would call into Taupo Bay just to check the Surf. And after a full 24 hr’s the 2 dead Whales were still on the beach, anchored with rope and stone to stop them from floating out; but still bleeding and turning the Sea that washed over them a shade of Pink for the other holiday makers to take their pictures of and wonder how it all happened.

Okay, that said and done with now; sadly for me the surf stayed low for the rest of our time at Kahoe Farms so no surfing to be had. We decided to take in one of the many walks that are on the Farms land, access given only to the quest of the hostel so a little less walked than elsewhere. We walked to the ‘Rock pools’ 1 ½ hr walk each way we were informed by the host, ye’ right if it wasn’t so over grown; less walked was right. Follow the ‘Markers’ he said, you can’t miss them he said! The markers consisted of strips of plastic bag hanging from some trees leading the way through a very narrow path towards the small river, plastic bag strips that the birds like to pull and rip to put in their nest. Anyway, we did find our way to the Rock pools after a very adventurous 2 hour walk through overgrown NZ bush; great fun. The hostel host offered us a deal if we went swimming in the Rock pools, a prize for swimming or a better one for as he put it “entering the pools without checking water first” This Andy did and won a full Pizza, he jumped in from the top rock into, what he hoped was a deep pool as we couldn’t see any sign of the bottom; even with throwing stones in to check (later found out they are over 5 mtr’s deep) Andy’s expression said it all when he surfaced, there was no way I was jumping in those pools; now we know why they offer you a prize for going in without checking the water. I shouted down to Andy asking how warm it was, the look he gave me! Stood at the bottom shivering like a ‘wet Dog stood in Snow’ covering his now ‘rather suddenly’ shrunken manhood, oh did I forget to say; he jumped in naked. He enjoyed his Pizza, and we all enjoyed the small video clip that I took; I showed everyone there was NO WAY he was going to ‘cover up’ this ‘little’ walk. Andy had 2 days of Kite surfing booked for the remainder of this stay, so beach bound we were again; he enjoys playing with big kites ‘dear thing’ Andy tells me, Doubtless Bay is a fantastic place for Kite Surfing and we need to return here for another session on our next trip; more sitting in the van for the whole day because it’s too windy outside? We’ll think about that one my dear?

On the road again, this time to see our Kiwi friends at Kamo Post and Book shop; a small BBQ to say ‘see ya later’ We headed to Kamo just outside of Whangarei for a few beers and burgers (their BBQ burgers they sell here are truly awful) We had a good send off for our last night in the Northland of NZ, and we are now heading back to Port Waikato to see our best mate Dixie the dog before we head out of NZ.

As soon as we pulled into the yard at the Surf Lodge at Port Waikato Dixie went mad, I think she remembered us from our last visit about 3 – 4 weeks ago; tail wagging and barking as we greeted each other she knew we would take her for more walks. More walks she had, so many of them she was spoilt; there was a Italian gent Maron who had based himself here for the Surf so he was taking her out whenever he went to check the Surf. Well the Surf was certainly up, way too much for me; at least 5 – 6 feet lovely and clean but too big for me. We love this place but on this visit the weather was not on our side, misty rain driven hard by the off shore wind; Surf too big for me and wind totally the wrong direction for Andy. Shame but it didn’t ruin our time here, we had a great time Flounder netting in the estuary and later line fishing from the beach. We also took this time to have some lovely walks on the beach, but the highlight of this visit was without doubt ‘Spookers’. Spookers is an old institute that has been converted into a horror spectacle that is a must to visit here in NZ, we only went on 2 of the 3 attractions; but it was well worth the $30 per person. You first enter The Haunted House, a multi roomed section of the main house which contains areas based on famous films such as Nightmare on

Elm Street

; all characters are played by local actors and they play them to great effect. The make up is truly realistic and you are given warnings about Heart conditions etc before you go in, and they don’t hold back in the pursuit of scaring the sh*t out of you; there is a rumour that they didn’t deny that if they can make someone pee themselves they get a bonus. Just the ‘Bellboy’ who greets you is so scary, he’s dressed in full Dinner suit complete with bowtie; but all the exposed skin is made up in such a way that it looks like all his skin has been removed to expose all the muscles, veins etc. You have to find your way around the house with the characters guiding you towards the next room, then you think you are going to get a rest from it all by going out onto a veranda that has lovely green bushes and plants; a couple of ‘solders’ wearing full camouflage jump out from the bushes firing blanks at you scaring us all so much you just scream as loud as the gun fire. When you finally do get out, head to Café and take a rest and head into the ‘Vortex 3D’ maze. Not really a maze, but a set course through a collection of rooms that are created with 3D paint that come alive when you wear the supplied 3D glasses; if that’s not enough there is another set of well made up actors in here. If you can get to Port Waikato, stay at the Surf Lodge and make sure you go to Spookers.

Almost time to leave NZ, one final stop at Karangahake Gorge readying the van and some gear for storage; and we have to pack everything up for our next flight out to Honolulu. We have 4 nights here so we might as well take a couple more days on the beach.

Port Waikato

em-and-andy — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:08:00 GMT

Well, what to say about Port Waikato? It’s small, no shops at all, almost every building is a ‘Bach’ (New Zealand holiday home) it has some of the most dangerous beach front there is in NZ, BUT and it’s a BIG BUT it’s a fantastic place! The Sand is a very dark Grey, not Black but is still very hot; also it’s very soft great for those lazy days on the beach. Lifeguards are on duty everyday here, rare indeed as far as we’ve seen; but only between 1000 - 1700 hr’s when a call goes out across the beach “The lifeguards are now off duty, we recommend that you do not swim; we repeat that we recommend you do not swim here” We some how got the feeling we shouldn’t swim here after they had gone. We stayed here for 6 nights and their workload was very visible, they were called out to 5 local fishermen who had been caught out by the out going tide and were swept away; all okay. They were having constant battles with parents to keep the children between the flags; they have 2 boats and a quad on the sand at all times; plus the small tower that they wheel out every day. On our final day we had the displeasure of seeing the aftermath of a 9 year old girl coming off of a full sized quad bike, she had survived and had been taken away by Helicopter on a backboard after a long hour of being looked after on the beach by 2 lifeguards; weather she would ever walk again we did not find out. This was truly a place that needed Lifeguards.

The sad bits out the way, this is a good place to be in the Sun; we intend to return here before we leave for another 6 nights. The host is a wonderful woman, who in between running the Hostel, looking after her son, and working full time she still found time to take Andy & I out at sunset to teach us Fishing. To be honest we merely feed the Fish rather than caught them, but it was great fun watching the Sun go down whilst up to our waist in the cool Sea. With the on shore wind that appeared for a couple of days, Andy was away with the Kite buggy; drawing the usual onlookers he was racing around the beach and smiling like a child in a sweet shop (I think that’s why we are returning?) The Surf was ‘sort of’ fun, it was hard and the strangest thing happens at low tide. Whilst paddling for a wave, I was ‘wiped out’ by the back wash wave coming out from the shore; it seems to be a freak of nature thing here so we decided that maybe we should listen to the Lifeguard warning. Back to the Hostel for a glass of Wine sat on our ‘private’ decking area, discussing what DVD to borrow from the office; if you ever get a chance you MUST watch ‘Black Sheep’ It’s so bad it has to be seen to be believed, a NZ film about Genetically modified Sheep who go on a killing rampage; terrible. We only have 4 weeks left in New Zealand, so we’ve decided that we will use this time to return to the Northland area; and in turn to some of our favourite hostels. Endless Summer Lodge and Kahoe Farm here we come, again.

Gallery: Turangi, our base for the A1 GP weekend.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:23:00 GMT

Gallery: New Plymouth.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:22:00 GMT

Gallery: Wanganui or is it Whanganui?

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:22:00 GMT

Gallery: We’ve changed our route!

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:21:00 GMT

Gallery: Rotorua or ‘stinkvilla’

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:20:00 GMT

Gallery: Relaxing at Kahoe

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:19:00 GMT

Karangahake Gorge.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:12:00 GMT

We had decided to return to the Northland area for our final 5 weeks in New Zealand, on the way we thought we would stop into the Golden Owl hostel again, at the old Gold mining town of Karangahake. On the way up to our hostel Em & I thought it would a good idea to seek advice on long term storage of our van, passing the garage that did our service why not pop in and ask him? We dropped in say hello and ask his advice, advice he gave without a second thought but even better he has offered to ‘look after’ not only the van but Kite buggy & Surfboard the whole works; when asked why his only answer was “I’ll get to service & W.O.F it for you, so why not” We are going to pay him for the storage, but this works out great for us and him; and if he uses it while were at home he’ll pay for the running cost incurred etc’ so we all win. Even if we don’t take him up on the offer, it’s just a show of how friendly the NZ ‘ers are. We arrived at the Hostel in high spirits; this could work out good for us! We had a good night at this hostel a few weeks ago, so thought a 4 night stay would allow us to think over Mike’s offer of storage and clear up the cost and stuff before we move on. Time to forget the van for now, we were planning a day of walking around the Gorge tomorrow so after getting some tips from our host we headed to bed; but forget the van talk? How could we, this could mean we could keep it all here until our next trip out in 9 months; yes Em & I have decided that some way we are coming out here again to holiday, work or live?????????? The following day was so hot, but we had planned a walk so a walk we were going to do; we set of earlier than planned to avoid the afternoon sun. BOY, we are so glad we did; hot wasn’t the word for it ‘scorching’ was. We both arrived back at the hostel after a 5 hour walk, broken and thankful that it was all over; even though we took fluids with us we polished of a 2.25 litre of Coke within 30 min’s of being back. NEVER AGAIN! Em had read that a Surf comp was being staged in the next bay over from us in Whangamata, so we decided to head over to see how it’s done by the pro’s; the waves are HOW BIG! That days comp’ was called off after the morning session; waves were so big; not in their height but in the depth and ‘heaviness’ of them. You get wiped out by one of them and you know it, the Lifeguards were desperately trying to stop people from even going in to the water; let alone stay between the flags. We enjoyed the mornings session, watching them paddle out was hard enough; but to see them take a wave so easily is something to be seen.

Rotorua.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:10:00 GMT

Despite the awful smell this place has, we had planned to return while in the area to book our hotel for the last part of our trip; Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. With that done on the afternoon we arrived it was time to book the other reason we came here again, White Water Sledging J We booked our 3 hour return trip for a lunchtime pick up from the hostel (they have the whole tourist thing sorted over here) this gave us a good lay in and still time to get everything sorted for the next couple days hostels we had to book. We were picked up on time, driven to their base to get changed and shown the safety stuff; we all piled into the van ‘suited & booted’ and ready to go. When we were looking at the White Water we realised why the Hard hats, Life jackets, booties and very strict safety briefing. You jump into the river just below a 4 mtr’ waterfall, so the water is swirling around and creates a ‘lively’ entry point; now we knew why we had 3 guides for 9 of us. Em was the first person in out of the group, she jumped in as told, and facing where told and held on like she was told too; but as soon as Em hit the water the full power was seen by us all. In the blink of an eye Em was taken by the river towards the rock face, Em had listened to the briefing and approached the rocks ‘butt’ first; the guide advised her what to do and Em reached the calmer waters on the other side safely if a little out of breath. Then it was my turn, watching Em prepared me for what I thought would happen; but the same happened to me but being prepared I didn’t go as far off line as Em. All 9 off us went off line, some more than others but it prepared us for what was to come a little later. After of guides had shown us how to roll, flip and steer the sledge we were on our way down river to the first set of rapids; a whole 10 seconds into our run. We were told where to position our heads on impact with the water, and we were told to kick out and get out of them straight away; the person in front of Em didn’t understand that bit so Em hit them HARD. The Rapids didn’t concern Em in the slightest, but the thought of hitting or being hit by another made us all wake up; this after hearing Em’ shoot above the noise of the rushing waters all around us. Em hit the other persons Sledge hard, at the time it felt ‘sore’ but later that day and the following day; the size of her bruise was to show how ‘sore’ it had been. We had a full 1 ½ rolling down the River and Rapids, and I must say that even after seeing how hard this sport actually is; at no point did Em & I fear for the other the guides where exactly what you wanted patient, sharp and knew where and what everyone was doing at all times. Highly recommended for a half day of fun. After we were changed and waiting for or drop off back to the hostel, I noticed a gent wearing a ‘Cooper Tyre A1 GP’ hat; asking if he went and did he enjoy the race his answer took my breath away. His answer “We go to all the races, were the tyre service crew” You LUCKY bu**ers what a job, we got talking and Em & I have been told to get into the pit lane walk at the British Grand Prix; pop our heads into the Tyre garage and say hello to see if he can get us back scenes. Hey, you never know? Em & I had a fun filled night just a bottle of Wine talking over what we had done in the last 3 days.

Turangi, our base for the A1 GP weekend.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:08:00 GMT

We were staying at Turangi and taking the 40 min’ drive to the Grand prix circuit due to the fact that Taupo was fully booked out all weekend, everything was taken; the locals were even letting out the houses for some extreme prices. We really didn’t mind at all, it was an easy drive up as most people that could not stay local were at Rotarua and coming down; that road was having real problems. We arrived on the Saturday to watch the practise session and then the race qualifying, we won’t load you with detail; but NZ did great while GBR didn’t do so great. The day had a full race program on and it was a fun filled day for Em & I, sat on the grass bank watching and listening to some of the loudest cars we have even seen or heard; glad we took the ear plugs along. When we first arrived we had purchased our program, but we also purchased a 40 min’ walk around the pit lane. Now for anyone who has been to the F1 look at these prices, Program @ $10 - £4 and pit lane walk access @ $20 - £8 each; now you wouldn’t get that at the British F1. The pit lane walk also allowed you access on both days to the paddock, where you could look around all the other race format cars; take pictures and even meet the drivers for autographs if you wished too. I’m sure if the A1 can do it for these prices, the F1 should be able too? Em & I purchased our GBR tee shirts to cheer the GBR team on; we had a few supporters but not many in the crowd; so we had to cheer the boys on. This was the only sad thing about the weekend, GBR replica tee shirt @ $20 - £8 but the locals NZ replica tee shirt $50 - £20, talk about cashing in you would think they would be at least the same or even cheaper (watch out at the British A1 GP in May, will the same happen to us?) The whole day was great, paddock and pit lane walk; close to the action even from ‘the cheap seats’ and we were looking forward to race day. We must say that the NZ’s had the traffic well and truly sorted, it was a full capacity crowd and yet hardly any delays at all. We found our spot on the grass hill to watch the race, proudly wearing our GBR team shirts; we stood along side the entire GBR support crowd so that made 5 of us in total. They have a short sprint race first, in which the USA car took out our GBR car with a side swipe from nowhere; we had to pit but the GBR car came out again to try and get the fastest lap time (they get points for the fastest lap in both races) Then the full race, GBR were off the a good start from their mid grid position and we lasted all of 3 laps; engine gave up on us! But that only slightly dampened our sprits as all the GBR fans threw their voices behind the NZ car that was having great race in front of their home fans. Well the day ended on an even higher note, almost everyone went after the feature race; which was a shame as they missed the V8 reverse grid race. The reverse grid is exactly what it say’s it is, the car race the final 22 lap race with the fastest at the back and the slower up front; needless to say there was a few ‘bumps and bangs’ V8’s everywhere, bonnets, boots and even doors dented and hanging off; everyone safe and sound so it was a fantastic finish to a great weekend. We headed back to the hostel without any traffic problems, settled down with a beer and thought about our next couple of days; we were heading back to ‘stinkvilla’

Wanganui or is it Whanganui?

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:06:00 GMT

Well the City is Wanganui and the River and district is Whanganui, as if the place names were not hard enough for us to pronounce and understand. We arrived at the large Victorian Hostel to find a lovely room over looking the River, which is affectionately known as ‘The Brown Snake’ due to it’s colour; it’s not dirty at all it’s due to the colouring that it picks up while on it’s way to the sea. The Hostel owner was one of the most friendly and informative people we have come across, he knew where everything was and all the history of the area; including that at one time Whanganui was home to over 20% of the Maori people due to it’s location to the sea and hills up river. We had a lovely day walking around this City, including the ‘Tower’ on the hill that we had been told to have a look-see at. The tower can be reached by either the steep walk up the path, or by our route up through the old steel lift shaft. The lift is reached via a short walk into the hill side and you pay $1 to travel up 65 mtr’s through the hill to the top point where you then walk up to the tower in order to gain free entry up the 275 steps inside. The views are certainly worth the small expense and effort needed to get there. We spent the rest of the day walking around this very nice City, relaxing, shopping and generally chilling out. We were heading out again up towards Turangi, our base for the A1 Grand Prix weekend. Our Hostel host advised us of a very little known road that not many travel on; the road runs along the river out of Wanganui, very picturesque if a little hard to drive. Hard to drive, too right; it had not rained here for over 4 weeks so you’ll have to imagine how dusty this gravel road was. After a 3 hour drive we reached the main highway heading north through the National Park, we were greeted by a very strange sight; a Gritting truck that was actually gritting the road? In summer on a massively hot day WHY grit the roads? As we pulled over to call the AA due to our brakes ‘screaming’ at us and waited for them to come out, Em & I could not figure out

a) Why were the brakes screaming?

b) Why were they ‘Gritting’ the road?

The local AA came out in no time, no time for us to panic about the possible cost of new brakes and stuff; what was wrong? The AA gent asked what was wrong and when I explained he just grinned and stated ‘Your not from around here, are you’ He explained that, the brakes were screaming due to a stone that had been through up; he didn’t have to do anything at all as it had fallen out when we pulled over. He then went on to explain the gritting, they grit the road when it starts to ‘melt’ due to the heat; it helps traction and also reduces the amount of road that runs due to this heat. As we carried on we became aware of what he had meant, we turned a corner and it felt like we had hit an on coming gust of wind; the van just died in speed. We had hit the ‘melting’ road and the tyres where sticking to the tarmac, never seen anything like it; the road in front was looking so smooth where it had melted and traffic had travelled over the soft areas. When we did get to the Hostel the van tyres where pure black and the tread had filled in some areas with the tarmac from the highway, all the underside of the wheel arches were full of splashes of tarmac and grit that had been thrown up while driving; we now knew way it was a ‘little known road that not many travel on’ But didn’t care, we were going to the Grand Prix tomorrow.

New Plymouth.

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:04:00 GMT

New Plymouth, almost the namesake of our home in the UK; Plymouth. A lovely city, on the Edge of the Tasman Sea and overlooked by Mt Taranaki; the Volcano we had seen from the South Island walk up Mt Stokes. We arrived around midday, and had a good look around the City centre; same as any other City really but along the Sea front were the most creative stone sculptures we had seen so far. It turned out that New Plymouth is really big into Art, Sculpture and entertainment; all free and on ever year in the summer. The City has live bands and singers on every night at the local park, some night bigger names than others, they also have a light display on at the same park to coincide with the live acts; this years opening act was Sir Elton John no less. Of course, while we were there I would like to say they had the best acts on BUT we all know that would be a fib; we had a Cliff Richard tribute artist followed by a ‘Yiddish’ folk music band not our sort of thing good timing hey? We opted for an evening at the Cinema with some more backpackers from the Hostel, it was budget night $7 for any film; that’s £2.10 to see the new Will Smith ‘I am Legend’ beats our UK prices. The next day we headed for the again free small Zoo in the park, with all sorts of small animals for the local children to come and see for a free day out; all by donation only so why can’t we do this sort of thing at home in the UK for our young ones (okay for Em & I also) We wandered back down to the Sea front to see how the stone sculptors were getting on, it’s great how in NZ you can have Artist grinding, chiselling and polishing stones for the public to see without all the ‘H&S’ stuff that comes with our ‘where there’s blame, there’s a claim’ culture; we are missing out on so much with that attitude un-like here in this forward thinking small country of New Zealand. As you can see from the photos, how they see the various forms inside the stone still beats me; could you have seen the perched Kiwi in the rock? The next day we thought we would head out of town to explore Mt’ Taranaki, our first stop was the Stratford Plateau which offered a lovely 1 ½ Km walk to the Manganui ski field; which of course is free of snow this time of year but still an eye opener to the views. Another eye opener was the fact that we were joined on our short walk over rock and dry streambed by a very chatty 81 year young lady, who by her own admission had worn the wrong shoes to climb mountains; but that didn’t stop her from walking over to lodge telling her son to go on ahead as she was fine. Oh how I hope we have that outlook on life at her age! We headed over to the Dawson Falls walk, a great selection of walks for all abilities here, we chose a good short walk to the pools; around 2 hour loop return and well worth the small amount of effort. We had to head back, cloud closing in and we wanted to keep an eye on the stone Sculptures to see if any were finished yet? We were heading down to Wananui the next morning.

We’ve changed our route!

em-and-andy — Mon, 4 Feb 2008 11:01:00 GMT

We’ve changed our route for the next few stops, when we were passing through Taupo we heard that the A1 Grand Prix is being staged there next weekend. Both Em and I really enjoy F1, so we thought we would treat ourselves to a weekend at the races; treat as we thought it would be a few $ to go and see a Grand Prix race weekend as it’s expensive back in the UK. We found a ticket outlet and were pleasantly stunned at the prices, for a 2 day pass to the ‘standing embankment’ it was only $90 about £38; puts the F1 prices to shame. So after the tickets were purchased we then decided to head to Waitomo to see the Caves and do some Black Water Rafting. Well it’s not actually ‘Rafting’ more of a large tyre inner tube, with a bit of guided caving to get to the river. After my ‘fear’ at Abbey Caves I needed to go and see them first and have a chat as to the how’s and where’s of the trip, they explained it all to me and so it was booked; no going back now! We arrived at the hostel after driving past a sign which we thought would deserve further looking at tomorrow after the Caving, the sign said ‘Angora Rabbits shorn daily’ We asked the hostel host what it was all about, she shrugged her shoulders and winked ‘go, have a look’ We met a lovely English gent here called Paul who had stayed here for the past 6 weeks, as he could ‘do what he wanted here’ he had no car and would just walk where and when he wanted too; he was so pleased to see an English couple at last and we had a fun filled evening just sat around watching the Sun go down while talking the usual load of rubbish ‘English rubbishing the rest of the world’ stuff. After our ‘rubbishing’ talk the final good nights were on a short sentence that summed all that we had spoken about and one on which we all agreed ‘If England is that good, why are we over here wishing we could stay forever?’ We didn’t only talk rubbish, Paul warned us to close our windows as there was a sort of flying Cockroach around here after dark and they fly into the glass; he called them ‘The Kamikaze roach squad’ He was not kidding, we shut the windows turned on the lights to have a read of our books and then in they came; they really were mad. We were just laid on the bed listening to these things hit the windows like someone was throwing stones at us, it was so strange and to the sound of ‘The Kamikaze roach squad’ we laughed ourselves to sleep. In the morning we set out for the Caves smiling at the sight of a couple of these things along the window sill, legs in the air; and bl**dy big bumps on their heads. We got kitted up, sorry no photo’s of that; but we looked more than a sad sight in a baggy wetsuit, hard hat with light and to top the outfit off; BIG White Wellington boots. It turned out that we were the only 2 booked on this trip so we had our own private tour, and what a tour; even I was too ‘dumbstruck’ to worry that we were heading a lot deeper than she had told us. We entered into the Caving system behind the guide, rubber rings in hand; sat down for a few minutes to allow our eyes to become adjusted to the pitch black darkness. We’ve seen Gloworms before, but nothing like this; above us while floating on our rubber rings the roof of the cave just a sea of shiny Green glowing ‘bug butts’ all eager to catch their next meal. The guide warned us that he was going to make a loud noise to cause the sound vibrations to wake the others up, a loud noise me made; and then the whole cave just started to glow. It’s estimated that a 1000 Gloworms will shine the equivalent of 1 Candle power, the roof of the cave was so alive with Gloworm shiny butts that you could actually make out the water run ahead of us due to their reflection; again there is only one word to sum it all up AMAZING. After a 1 ¼ floating around below in the caves it was time to come out, soaked through and boots full of what we hoped was water, sand or stones and not any of the creepy crawlers that were down there with us; we came through to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We headed back to change, cup of hot drink and laughing over every thing we had seen that morning we headed to ‘that sign’?

‘Angora Rabbits shorn daily’ it said, what on earth is that? Well as it said, there were Rabbits, big fluffy Angora White Rabbits; most in various states of ‘fluffiness’ some all fluffy, some half fluffy and some not fluffy anymore. They actual do shear the Rabbits for their fur, it’s the finest hair of a commercial animal available. It really felt like it, it was so light and fine to touch and never irritated our skins at any time; and is so fine that it has to have a ‘parent’ fibre blended in to help knitting which is usually Merino wool or Silk. It was explained that the Germans bred this breed of Rabbit so that they would not moult naturally, and therefore if they are not shorn every 12 weeks will die due to them overheating; another example of humans twisting mother nature for their own benefits. It was also explained how the Rabbits were ‘trained’ to understand what was happening to them from the first 12 weeks by slowly putting them into the simple racking set up in private, and in time introducing the shears. Before you all shout and scream ‘abuse’ we’ve seen a rabbit put into the rack you see in the photo and we can honestly say, it was NOT forced or handled hard in any way at all. The shearer gentle laid the Rabbit down and without even prompting at all, it laid out flat and allowed her to attach the ropes without even kicking out or resisting; the rack is used to gentle lay the Rabbit flat and flattening it’s skin under the fur. Due to the heat the fur retains the Rabbit has large veins to try and lose as much heat as possible, but due to this in bred defence; if it’s cut it can bleed to death in less than 20 min’s. You only had to see how lively the Rabbit was after the shearing to understand how ‘happy’ it felt and how it ‘enjoyed’ the cool air around it. The shearer was so playful with the Rabbit, and explained how they all get to roam around as much as possible after the shearing and she also explained that when they die; no Rabbit is ever skinned or sheared after death and they are buried in a ‘Rabbit cemetery’ near the farm. I should point out that the shearer claimed that NO Rabbit has ever bled to death or been put to sleep resulting from a shearing cut. We had great day at Waitomo, but New Plymouth was our next stop over.