A quick summary of stuff:
Flat whites
Sandflies
Shit drivers
Idiotic "give way to the right" rules
Getting IDd for booze
Harriers hovering over fields by the roadside
Maori legends
Maori bullshit
Watties is not equal to Heinz (ketchup or beans)
Soaring petrol prices
Outrageous Fortune
"Yeah yeah no, sweet as, choice bro!"
Dangerous DOC, the possum killers
Pam!
EDIT: Good God, how could I forget? This song!
(It's the Mint Chicks, BTW - Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!)
Ben
P.S. We meant to do one of these posts for Mexico too, but didn't get round to it for so long that it didn't seem worth it after a while.
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Duck attack!
We're finding that we get bored of a country the closer we get to leaving, which is a shame, but maybe a natural reaction to a place when you've been there a while and you're looking forward to the next adventure. We're at that stage now with NZ. We're in Christchurch now - the last location in NZ - getting ready to fly to Melbourne tomorrow morning. We arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and haven't really done anything except for a bit of repacking and sorting out our stuff ready for the transition from car-owners to car-less travelers.
The highlight (for Ben)/ lowlight (for me) of Christchurch is the duck attack that occurred in the Top 10 Holiday Park. We were feeding a mother duck and her 8 ducklings, when a horrible male duck came along and started being aggressive, pulling at the mother duck's tail feathers. Being the animal lover I am, I intervened but inadvertently got between the mother duck and her ducklings, causing the mother duck to attack - flapping and quacking up my back. Really scary, but thankfully didn't result in any injuries. The next morning, the mother duck was back - with only 1 duckling. Justice?
Ben feeding the ducks before the mother attacked and the ducklings disappeared:
Another lowlight is that Ben has a bio-mechanical foot problem. It first started hurting in Wanaka when we were walking the Rob Roy Glacier, and has been causing him problems ever since, so we got it checked out and x-rayed and now he has to go for some physio in Oz. At least we know it isn't serious , and is probably fixable with a support bandage - should be nice to wear when it's 40 degrees outside...
Next stop - Melbourne, Australia. Wooh!
Debs
The highlight (for Ben)/ lowlight (for me) of Christchurch is the duck attack that occurred in the Top 10 Holiday Park. We were feeding a mother duck and her 8 ducklings, when a horrible male duck came along and started being aggressive, pulling at the mother duck's tail feathers. Being the animal lover I am, I intervened but inadvertently got between the mother duck and her ducklings, causing the mother duck to attack - flapping and quacking up my back. Really scary, but thankfully didn't result in any injuries. The next morning, the mother duck was back - with only 1 duckling. Justice?
Ben feeding the ducks before the mother attacked and the ducklings disappeared:
Another lowlight is that Ben has a bio-mechanical foot problem. It first started hurting in Wanaka when we were walking the Rob Roy Glacier, and has been causing him problems ever since, so we got it checked out and x-rayed and now he has to go for some physio in Oz. At least we know it isn't serious , and is probably fixable with a support bandage - should be nice to wear when it's 40 degrees outside...Next stop - Melbourne, Australia. Wooh!
Debs
Dunedin
Between Milford Sound and Dunedin we traveled via the Southern "Scenic" Route through Invercargill. The less said about that, the better.
Dunedin's lovely, though - all cool old buildings and a nice feel to the place. We also met our new friends off the internets! Mel and Phil contacted us via this very blog right here (which they found via Brenda and Sandy's blog). First of all it was "let's meet up for drinks" but before we knew what was happening, they'd invited us to stay at their house. Awesome!
Being prudent and safety-conscious people, we notified a friend before we went, in a kinda "Call the cops if you haven't heard back from us in a few days" way - but everything was fine. Better than fine, in fact. Mel and Phil treated us to a killer pizza, stacks of wine and local beer, and a tidal wave of chat and nonsense. And they didn't turn out to be sex pests, or axe-murderers. Bonus! They also had a cute little cat called Bella, who was awesome.
Even more amazingly, we're staying at Mel's parents' house tonight, before flying off to Melbourne tomorrow morning.
The culinary highlight of our short stay in Dunedin was undoubtedly the cheese roll. We had seen these available in a packet in a town centre supermarket, and were both all "huh?" about them... but Mel and Phil swore by their powers, insisted we sample some, and now we are converts.
They're like cheese in toast, or - if you prefer - "sandwiches for retards". A single slice of white bread rolled up with cheese goo in the middle. Bang em under the grill then add butter and munch away, like this:
And this:
Sorry the pictures are so shit, but we were completely hammered by this stage of the evening.
And that's all the stuff about Dunedin. Except for the bit about the side door on the car breaking and our having to get it fixed, but that's really rather boring. It broke again anyway.
Ben
Dunedin's lovely, though - all cool old buildings and a nice feel to the place. We also met our new friends off the internets! Mel and Phil contacted us via this very blog right here (which they found via Brenda and Sandy's blog). First of all it was "let's meet up for drinks" but before we knew what was happening, they'd invited us to stay at their house. Awesome!
Being prudent and safety-conscious people, we notified a friend before we went, in a kinda "Call the cops if you haven't heard back from us in a few days" way - but everything was fine. Better than fine, in fact. Mel and Phil treated us to a killer pizza, stacks of wine and local beer, and a tidal wave of chat and nonsense. And they didn't turn out to be sex pests, or axe-murderers. Bonus! They also had a cute little cat called Bella, who was awesome.
Even more amazingly, we're staying at Mel's parents' house tonight, before flying off to Melbourne tomorrow morning.
The culinary highlight of our short stay in Dunedin was undoubtedly the cheese roll. We had seen these available in a packet in a town centre supermarket, and were both all "huh?" about them... but Mel and Phil swore by their powers, insisted we sample some, and now we are converts.
They're like cheese in toast, or - if you prefer - "sandwiches for retards". A single slice of white bread rolled up with cheese goo in the middle. Bang em under the grill then add butter and munch away, like this:
And this:
Sorry the pictures are so shit, but we were completely hammered by this stage of the evening.And that's all the stuff about Dunedin. Except for the bit about the side door on the car breaking and our having to get it fixed, but that's really rather boring. It broke again anyway.
Ben
Sunday, 25 November 2007
New Zealand's Best Kept Secret
Considering the extremely high annoyance factor of these little pests, I can't quite believe no-one's ever mentioned the sandfly to us - New Zealand's best kept secret.
They seem to prefer the West Coast of the South Island - especially Haast, and the Milford Sound area, and primarily hang around in really beautiful areas, ruining everything with their presence.
First dozens of them swarm around you, driving you mad, then they give you a nasty little bite, which hurts whilst they're biting, and for about 2 weeks afterwards, especially at night when you're trying to sleep. They even sting you on the face. Ow!
Stupid little bastards are easy to catch though 'cause they're so black, and the sting of their bite gives their location away.
I didn't think anything could be more annoying than the mosquito, but sandflies are actually worse.
I HATE SANDFLIES!
Debs
They seem to prefer the West Coast of the South Island - especially Haast, and the Milford Sound area, and primarily hang around in really beautiful areas, ruining everything with their presence.First dozens of them swarm around you, driving you mad, then they give you a nasty little bite, which hurts whilst they're biting, and for about 2 weeks afterwards, especially at night when you're trying to sleep. They even sting you on the face. Ow!
Stupid little bastards are easy to catch though 'cause they're so black, and the sting of their bite gives their location away.
I didn't think anything could be more annoying than the mosquito, but sandflies are actually worse.
I HATE SANDFLIES!
Debs
Barbershops of the world, part 8
Selection criteria: how - in a town stuffed with barbershops - do I pick the one I want to go to?
First of all, it's got to have some form of red and white stripy sign or pole outside. Then it should preferably look cool on the inside, with old school furniture and accoutrements, and finally, it should have a good name.
This one was a simple beard trim last Monday in Queenstown... the barber's name was Dave.
I should add that I didn't notice the name of this one until after the cut :-)
Cost 5 NZ dollars (about EUR2.75)
Cut quality 6.5/10
Fear factor 0/10, rising to 1.5/10 when he mentioned his hometown was Te Rapa, home of the evil witch barber from earlier...
The next cut will be in Melbourne, I think.
Ben
First of all, it's got to have some form of red and white stripy sign or pole outside. Then it should preferably look cool on the inside, with old school furniture and accoutrements, and finally, it should have a good name.
This one was a simple beard trim last Monday in Queenstown... the barber's name was Dave.
I should add that I didn't notice the name of this one until after the cut :-)
Cost 5 NZ dollars (about EUR2.75)
Cut quality 6.5/10
Fear factor 0/10, rising to 1.5/10 when he mentioned his hometown was Te Rapa, home of the evil witch barber from earlier...
The next cut will be in Melbourne, I think.
Ben
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
It's my birthday!
Hey hey, I'm 34 today!
Debs worked very hard to prepare an extremely special series of surprises for me, including decorating the Spaceship, and commissioning the owner of Gunn's Holiday Camp to make a cake for me.
She even whipped out 3 birthday badges that she'd made in Wanaka last week, all sneaky like:
We've had a wonderful day together: we drove through to Milford Sound, then treated ourselves to poached eggs on toast and a flat white (really good coffee, NZ style) each for breakfast, then we hopped on a cruise boat for 2 hours of nature encounter fun around the fjord.
The boat's captain was called Fjord, curiously enough. Even curiouser - he's the son of the people who run Gunn's Camp, where we stayed last night. Lovely place, shame about the sandflies :-( More on NZ's best-kept secret later from Debs.
Prompted by a mischievous nudge from cheeky Debs, Fjord and the crew arranged all sorts of birthday fun for me, including a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday from all the passengers, swiftly followed by a soaking under Fairy Falls. Then we rode upfront on the bridge, drinking tea and trying to spot penguins... there was one! Cooler was the seal we saw earlier totally savaging an octopus. We tried to get a picture, but he was pretty hard to capture.
Now we're back in Te Anau, and tonight we get pizza for supper. Wahoo!
I couldn't be happier!
Ben
P.S. Thanks Debs, I love you!
Debs worked very hard to prepare an extremely special series of surprises for me, including decorating the Spaceship, and commissioning the owner of Gunn's Holiday Camp to make a cake for me.
She even whipped out 3 birthday badges that she'd made in Wanaka last week, all sneaky like:
We've had a wonderful day together: we drove through to Milford Sound, then treated ourselves to poached eggs on toast and a flat white (really good coffee, NZ style) each for breakfast, then we hopped on a cruise boat for 2 hours of nature encounter fun around the fjord.The boat's captain was called Fjord, curiously enough. Even curiouser - he's the son of the people who run Gunn's Camp, where we stayed last night. Lovely place, shame about the sandflies :-( More on NZ's best-kept secret later from Debs.
Prompted by a mischievous nudge from cheeky Debs, Fjord and the crew arranged all sorts of birthday fun for me, including a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday from all the passengers, swiftly followed by a soaking under Fairy Falls. Then we rode upfront on the bridge, drinking tea and trying to spot penguins... there was one! Cooler was the seal we saw earlier totally savaging an octopus. We tried to get a picture, but he was pretty hard to capture.
Now we're back in Te Anau, and tonight we get pizza for supper. Wahoo!
I couldn't be happier!
Ben
P.S. Thanks Debs, I love you!
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Wanaka
A word of advice if you're ever in New Zealand and headed down the West Coast of the south island - don't stop in Haast. One week later and we've still got itching sandfly bites all over our ankles. If you must visit Haast (and I don't really recommend it) you can apparently repel the vicious little bloodsuckers by drinking meths.
Driving away from Haast towards Wanaka was made even more enjoyable by some spectacular scenery: wide, shallow meltwater rivers, smooth as glass and clear as a newborn baby's eyes; giant rocks just sitting there all like "what are you looking at?"; and enormous lakes with huge mountains rising up out of the shallows. Awesome stuff.
Wanaka itself is treating us very nicely indeed, thank you very much, due in large part to the generous hospitality of my old friend from Leeds, Simon. We're staying with him and the Four Four Three boys, Julz and Jamie, along with their nutty cat, Nitro (short for Nitrous Oxide). Debs is now a cat lover(!), and I have discovered that I'm not allergic to all cats, so when we go home, we're getting a cat and we're going to call it Animal.
We've been spending our time drinking in the stunning Wanaka scenery, including a good 4 hour walk up to the Rob Roy glacier and back. We have also been drinking in the beer. Oh ja!
Tuesday we spent volunteering at Wanaka Wastebusters, where Si works. We designed 8 badges in 2 hours, then spent another hour in the afternoon cutting and pressing them into shape - see here now!
Apparently the visiting recycling bigwigs from Australia and Wales were delighted with the results, ooh la la!
And there's more! Puzzling World entertained us for a couple of hours - a bit longer for Debs and Simon who couldn't compete with my speedy maze-solving skills, hem hem - and on Thursday we drove over to Alexandra for a 2 hour workshop on the Art of Storytelling with Katy Mills, President (no less) of the NZ Guild of Storytellers.
An entertaining and educational evening - one of those nice things that just pops up randomly in your path when you're freewheeling around the world. We're looking for more experiences like this as we continue our travels, and Debs pursues her quest for a new career. The evening was topped off nicely when Si was pulled for speeding by the cops, literally minutes after he had said, "you've got to watch out for the speed traps along this road"... LOLz0rz!
And that's all the Wanaka-related news. We're off for a final party tonight (Jamie's birthday) then setting off tomorrow for Milford Sound and the south coast next week, on our way up to Christchurch.
Avanti!
Driving away from Haast towards Wanaka was made even more enjoyable by some spectacular scenery: wide, shallow meltwater rivers, smooth as glass and clear as a newborn baby's eyes; giant rocks just sitting there all like "what are you looking at?"; and enormous lakes with huge mountains rising up out of the shallows. Awesome stuff.
Wanaka itself is treating us very nicely indeed, thank you very much, due in large part to the generous hospitality of my old friend from Leeds, Simon. We're staying with him and the Four Four Three boys, Julz and Jamie, along with their nutty cat, Nitro (short for Nitrous Oxide). Debs is now a cat lover(!), and I have discovered that I'm not allergic to all cats, so when we go home, we're getting a cat and we're going to call it Animal.
We've been spending our time drinking in the stunning Wanaka scenery, including a good 4 hour walk up to the Rob Roy glacier and back. We have also been drinking in the beer. Oh ja!
Tuesday we spent volunteering at Wanaka Wastebusters, where Si works. We designed 8 badges in 2 hours, then spent another hour in the afternoon cutting and pressing them into shape - see here now!Apparently the visiting recycling bigwigs from Australia and Wales were delighted with the results, ooh la la!
And there's more! Puzzling World entertained us for a couple of hours - a bit longer for Debs and Simon who couldn't compete with my speedy maze-solving skills, hem hem - and on Thursday we drove over to Alexandra for a 2 hour workshop on the Art of Storytelling with Katy Mills, President (no less) of the NZ Guild of Storytellers.
An entertaining and educational evening - one of those nice things that just pops up randomly in your path when you're freewheeling around the world. We're looking for more experiences like this as we continue our travels, and Debs pursues her quest for a new career. The evening was topped off nicely when Si was pulled for speeding by the cops, literally minutes after he had said, "you've got to watch out for the speed traps along this road"... LOLz0rz!
And that's all the Wanaka-related news. We're off for a final party tonight (Jamie's birthday) then setting off tomorrow for Milford Sound and the south coast next week, on our way up to Christchurch.
Avanti!
Ben
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
Secret Penguin Beach
So, after an exhausting day on the galcier, it was time (after a well deserved lie-in) to head down the west coast towards Wanika, where Simon lives.
First stop, Knights Point, where we took in some great views, then we went onto a very exciting secret beach where Fjordland Crested Penguins were nesting. It was very difficult to find (a local secret), and a good 20 minute walk through the woods over a few streams, but it was very exciting and totally worth it.
When we arrived, we mistook some bits of burnt logs for penguins, but soon realized our error (!) and sat tight and waited until were rewarded with a whole load of little ones plodding around us. Very cute!
We hung around for about an hour and a half, absolutely enchanted, feeling privileged to be in this beautiful country.
First stop, Knights Point, where we took in some great views, then we went onto a very exciting secret beach where Fjordland Crested Penguins were nesting. It was very difficult to find (a local secret), and a good 20 minute walk through the woods over a few streams, but it was very exciting and totally worth it.
When we arrived, we mistook some bits of burnt logs for penguins, but soon realized our error (!) and sat tight and waited until were rewarded with a whole load of little ones plodding around us. Very cute!
We hung around for about an hour and a half, absolutely enchanted, feeling privileged to be in this beautiful country.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
Walking on a mint
Everyone was telling us that the West Coast was going to be rainy. It wasn't! Most days were bright and sunny, and we started getting our Fiji tans back a bit :-) Perfect conditions for a brisk walk up a glacier, don't you think?
We did, and stopped off in Fox Glacier for a guided full day walk in the safe hands of Fox Alpine Guides. Or perhaps not so safe if your guide has a stinking hangover... seems to be a bit of a common habit amongst Kiwis, that.
So we rock up at 09.00 and immediately bump into Shell and Pete, who we had previously briefly met in Blenheim. Now we have English pals to do the walk with - excellent! Otherwise we would have had to hang around with Germans, Americans, and - even worse - some Dutch guys ;-)
I don't know what you think a glacier looks like, but you'd think it would be kinda like ice and snow and stuff, right? These things are dirty! As they treacle down the valley they pull rocks off the walls then they fall into crevasses and get crushed into dust and mud and glacier flour, so you end up with crazy marbling and big grey bits and chunks of rock all over it. Kinda cool to see.
This is at the terminal end of it - the higher you go up towards the snowy bit at the top, the more it cleans up, and you can see, and get into some amazing blue ice caves and touch glass smooth ice walls.
We were walking for about 6 hours in total, of which about 4 were on the ice. The best bits were the gnarly crevasse area towards the end where we had to follow exactly in our guide's footsteps or face a certain slow death by crushing/suffocation in a crevasse (you breathe out, slip down, then your chest can't expand to let you breathe in again) - obviously we survived that bit; and then Debs had a go at leading the group back down the glacier, ice axe in hand, swinging away in a comedy manner at the ice, but generally doing a pretty solid job. Maybe this is an alternative career for her? Only time will tell.
Nicely weary at the end of the day we had a celebratory beer in the pub in town then cooked up a huge spaghetti putanesca for supper. Then bed to sleep the sleep of the righteous.
BTW, we had a hard time choosing between Fox and the other local glacier, Franz Josef. All the tourist information centres seem to push people towards Franz Josef, and it's by far the more commercial of the two, with a limit of 1000 visitors a day, while Fox only has 400. Also, trips onto Fox are cheaper, and the glacier is larger. You do the math.
Ben
We did, and stopped off in Fox Glacier for a guided full day walk in the safe hands of Fox Alpine Guides. Or perhaps not so safe if your guide has a stinking hangover... seems to be a bit of a common habit amongst Kiwis, that.
So we rock up at 09.00 and immediately bump into Shell and Pete, who we had previously briefly met in Blenheim. Now we have English pals to do the walk with - excellent! Otherwise we would have had to hang around with Germans, Americans, and - even worse - some Dutch guys ;-)
I don't know what you think a glacier looks like, but you'd think it would be kinda like ice and snow and stuff, right? These things are dirty! As they treacle down the valley they pull rocks off the walls then they fall into crevasses and get crushed into dust and mud and glacier flour, so you end up with crazy marbling and big grey bits and chunks of rock all over it. Kinda cool to see.
This is at the terminal end of it - the higher you go up towards the snowy bit at the top, the more it cleans up, and you can see, and get into some amazing blue ice caves and touch glass smooth ice walls.
We were walking for about 6 hours in total, of which about 4 were on the ice. The best bits were the gnarly crevasse area towards the end where we had to follow exactly in our guide's footsteps or face a certain slow death by crushing/suffocation in a crevasse (you breathe out, slip down, then your chest can't expand to let you breathe in again) - obviously we survived that bit; and then Debs had a go at leading the group back down the glacier, ice axe in hand, swinging away in a comedy manner at the ice, but generally doing a pretty solid job. Maybe this is an alternative career for her? Only time will tell.Nicely weary at the end of the day we had a celebratory beer in the pub in town then cooked up a huge spaghetti putanesca for supper. Then bed to sleep the sleep of the righteous.
BTW, we had a hard time choosing between Fox and the other local glacier, Franz Josef. All the tourist information centres seem to push people towards Franz Josef, and it's by far the more commercial of the two, with a limit of 1000 visitors a day, while Fox only has 400. Also, trips onto Fox are cheaper, and the glacier is larger. You do the math.
Ben
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
Barbershops of the world, part 7
Having some time to kill in Greymouth following Debs' automotive mishap, we were directed to Murray Glen's Barber Shop.
Cost 12 NZ dollars (6.50 EUR) + a $1 tip!
Cut quality 8.5/10
Fear factor 0/10
Comments: An excellent experience all round. Murray's been cutting hair since he was 12, and really knew his stuff. He was even happy to give Debs a few tips on shaping the hair at the back of the head - although he wisely held back on the more advanced 'fade' techniques to avoid future mistakes. I would also like to add that Murray's clippers smelled nice and clean. Good job!
We arrived during Murray's lunch hour, and were lucky enough to see him pull up in his car (registration SIZORZ), and be first in line for a cut.
Cost 12 NZ dollars (6.50 EUR) + a $1 tip!
Cut quality 8.5/10
Fear factor 0/10
Comments: An excellent experience all round. Murray's been cutting hair since he was 12, and really knew his stuff. He was even happy to give Debs a few tips on shaping the hair at the back of the head - although he wisely held back on the more advanced 'fade' techniques to avoid future mistakes. I would also like to add that Murray's clippers smelled nice and clean. Good job!
Note: A full 10/10 will only be awarded to barbers who go the whole hog: hot towels, cut throat razors and aftershave. Just so you know...
BenPrang!
I pranged the hire car. Shit!
The incident occurred during a 'short stop-over' in Greymouth. Whilst parking outside a cafe for breakfast, I reversed the car into a lamppost. A sickening crunch, and a look of horror on Ben's face told me it was bad, and we'd all but kissed goodbye to our NZ$1000 excess, but it didn't turn out to be so bad in the end.
We called Spaceships and decided to try the local panel beaters for an estimate, and were happy (as happy as you can be after reversing into a stationary object and messing up a hire car) to be told that the bill will only be NZ$350 (Euros 200).
So, now we have an unexpected bill, and overnight stay in Greymouth, but at least we didn't have to get a new panel, or fork out NZ$1000. OK, but still very annoying, and I feel very silly.
Debs
The incident occurred during a 'short stop-over' in Greymouth. Whilst parking outside a cafe for breakfast, I reversed the car into a lamppost. A sickening crunch, and a look of horror on Ben's face told me it was bad, and we'd all but kissed goodbye to our NZ$1000 excess, but it didn't turn out to be so bad in the end.We called Spaceships and decided to try the local panel beaters for an estimate, and were happy (as happy as you can be after reversing into a stationary object and messing up a hire car) to be told that the bill will only be NZ$350 (Euros 200).
So, now we have an unexpected bill, and overnight stay in Greymouth, but at least we didn't have to get a new panel, or fork out NZ$1000. OK, but still very annoying, and I feel very silly.
Debs
Rocks
We decided to make the most of the weather by avoiding the notoriously wet and windy west coast, and staying up north in Golden Bay for a day or two.
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Takaka, having being buzzed by motorbikes pretending SH60 was a racetrack and checking out some pretty spectacular scenery, the weather was pretty duff.
And there isn't much to do in Golden Bay if the weather's not delivering.
We had a pretty dull day, enlivened only by a short visit to the Golden Bay Museum. Here we read about Abel Tasman's "discovery" of New Zealand in 1642. This intrepid dutchman dropped anchor in Golden Bay for a couple of days, quickly got into a fight with the locals, came off the worse, and slung his hook pretty damn quick. For some reason, his naming the country "New Zealand" has stuck. Debs and I both find the Maori name "Aotearoa" - Land of the Long White Cloud - both more apt, poetic and just damn right. Sorry about that, Abel.
The other attraction in Takaka was Dave Whittaker's little labour of love, the Labyrinth Rocks Park. Dave, an affable old buffer from Eat Yorkshire, fought the bureaucrats to set up a great little walkway full of gnomes and plastic dinosaurs, through an amazing rock formation in his back garden. After spending a fun filled hour in the labyrinth (a bargain at NZ$7 each), we had a great chat with him about his love of Golden Bay and pending retirement. If anyone's interested after seeing the pics, it's up for sale - a snip at NZ$500k.
After deciding to ditch Golden Bay, we headed West via Buller Gorge, where we walked the Buller Gorge swingbridge, onwards to the Punakaiki pancake rocks and blow holes via some awesome scenery.
Ben and Debs
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived in Takaka, having being buzzed by motorbikes pretending SH60 was a racetrack and checking out some pretty spectacular scenery, the weather was pretty duff.
And there isn't much to do in Golden Bay if the weather's not delivering.We had a pretty dull day, enlivened only by a short visit to the Golden Bay Museum. Here we read about Abel Tasman's "discovery" of New Zealand in 1642. This intrepid dutchman dropped anchor in Golden Bay for a couple of days, quickly got into a fight with the locals, came off the worse, and slung his hook pretty damn quick. For some reason, his naming the country "New Zealand" has stuck. Debs and I both find the Maori name "Aotearoa" - Land of the Long White Cloud - both more apt, poetic and just damn right. Sorry about that, Abel.
The other attraction in Takaka was Dave Whittaker's little labour of love, the Labyrinth Rocks Park. Dave, an affable old buffer from Eat Yorkshire, fought the bureaucrats to set up a great little walkway full of gnomes and plastic dinosaurs, through an amazing rock formation in his back garden. After spending a fun filled hour in the labyrinth (a bargain at NZ$7 each), we had a great chat with him about his love of Golden Bay and pending retirement. If anyone's interested after seeing the pics, it's up for sale - a snip at NZ$500k.
After deciding to ditch Golden Bay, we headed West via Buller Gorge, where we walked the Buller Gorge swingbridge, onwards to the Punakaiki pancake rocks and blow holes via some awesome scenery.Ben and Debs
Friday, 2 November 2007
Life's a bitch
Boy are we suffering... no, it's great here! We're still on the South Island of NZ, in the Tasman Bay region.
After Marlborough we headed for Nelson where we spent our time sitting around drinking beer, playing crazy golf, catching a peeping tom in our campsite (just a 'harmless' a lurker, who ran off when I rumbled him - giving us a Halloween night to remember), and generally wandering around feeling happy and warm.
Now we're in Motueka, a town close to the gorgeous Abel Tasman National Park, where we've been sea kayaking with The Sea Kayak Company (Brenda/ Sandy - the one you recommended has been bought out by another company and gone downhill apparently) . Our adventure started at 8am (!) where we were driven to Marahau Beach at low tide, put in a water taxi, pulled out to sea by a tractor, and taken to Onetahuti Beach. Then we got into our double kayak (I sat at the front navigating and saying "Roger that" a lot, and Ben at the back steering) and kayaked through the national park via Tonga Bay Marine Reserve, stopping at Bark Bay for lunch and ending in Anchorage Bay for a water taxi back to Marahau beach.
Highlights: A seal swimming around our kayak; seeing a little blue penguin; sailing into Anchorage bay (5 kayaks together, with a sail up).
Lowlights: I got sea sick..! and was sitting in 2 inches of water due to an ill fitting spray skirt.
But, wow, what a great way to see the park. We had an awesome time. Thanks to Brenda and Sandy for the recommendation. It was well worth spending money on this one.
Debs
After Marlborough we headed for Nelson where we spent our time sitting around drinking beer, playing crazy golf, catching a peeping tom in our campsite (just a 'harmless' a lurker, who ran off when I rumbled him - giving us a Halloween night to remember), and generally wandering around feeling happy and warm.
Now we're in Motueka, a town close to the gorgeous Abel Tasman National Park, where we've been sea kayaking with The Sea Kayak Company (Brenda/ Sandy - the one you recommended has been bought out by another company and gone downhill apparently) . Our adventure started at 8am (!) where we were driven to Marahau Beach at low tide, put in a water taxi, pulled out to sea by a tractor, and taken to Onetahuti Beach. Then we got into our double kayak (I sat at the front navigating and saying "Roger that" a lot, and Ben at the back steering) and kayaked through the national park via Tonga Bay Marine Reserve, stopping at Bark Bay for lunch and ending in Anchorage Bay for a water taxi back to Marahau beach.
Highlights: A seal swimming around our kayak; seeing a little blue penguin; sailing into Anchorage bay (5 kayaks together, with a sail up).Lowlights: I got sea sick..! and was sitting in 2 inches of water due to an ill fitting spray skirt.
But, wow, what a great way to see the park. We had an awesome time. Thanks to Brenda and Sandy for the recommendation. It was well worth spending money on this one.
Debs
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Marlborough Wine Tour
Boy would Tony Blench be jealous!
We spent Monday in Renwick, up at the north end of NZ's south island, biking around the vineyards of the Marlborough wine growing region on a "tasting" tour.
In other words, we put on our helmets and got pissed up on free booze, courtesy of Cloudy Bay, the Vines Village, Huia, and Nautilus. We took tasting notes as we went round, basically to convince the sellers that we were at least semi-serious/ potential buyers, but didn't buy anything cos the prices of the stuff we really liked were kinda out of our budget - and bizarrely, no cheaper at the cellar door than in the local supermarkets.
Our favourite wine by quite a long way was Cloudy Bay's Sauvignon Blanc - crisp, fruity and exciting in all the right ways. The local Pinot Noirs were also dry and spicy in a pleasing way - made a nice change from all the fat/ribena-style cheap Merlots we've been buying in supermarkets here. I was even pleasantly surprised to taste a couple of drinkable Chardonnays, which dispelled our general ABC (anything but chardonnay) attitude.
Unsurprisingly we got pretty tipsy over the course of the afternoon (your liver works more slowly then, dontchaknow?) - and all for the $20 bike fee we hired from Watson's Way backpackers place in Renwick (highly recommended).
Dad - any advance on that wine blog? Get writing, man!
Cheers!
Ben
Sunday, 28 October 2007
City special
Kia Ora!
We've been in Wellington since Monday, staying with Brenda and Sandy (also Jesse, as of Friday). They have a really great apartment right in the heart of things on Cuba Street, the ideal base for striking out into the metropolis in search of fun and games. Our guides took us for an evening quayside stroll, whisked us back to the 1930s for a cocktail at the Hawthorne Lounge, and generally overwhelmed us with their generous hospitality. In return, we ate all their carbohydrates.
Friday night we went to the Sora Shima gig at Valve we both suddenly had an "OMFG this is the best thing, I'm totally stoked that we did this, and Wellington is brilliant!" moment. Admittedly we had drunk one or two beers by this stage and were feeling pretty giddy, what with being in a rock club and all, but this is a good thing. We are 86 days into our adventure and it feels like we just turned the corner from "long holiday" into "global travel adventure".
Prior to this we were enjoying NZ but not loving it. Suddenly, we are relaxed, happy being where we are, not worrying about where to go next, is there room at the campsite, what are we going to eat tonight, etc. >>> we have become travelers!
Either that or we just realized how much we love cities, and are about to embark on a month of damp, cold landscapes down South. We have thermal underwear, and have been warned to watch out for hippies.
Tune in later to find out what happens...
Ben
We've been in Wellington since Monday, staying with Brenda and Sandy (also Jesse, as of Friday). They have a really great apartment right in the heart of things on Cuba Street, the ideal base for striking out into the metropolis in search of fun and games. Our guides took us for an evening quayside stroll, whisked us back to the 1930s for a cocktail at the Hawthorne Lounge, and generally overwhelmed us with their generous hospitality. In return, we ate all their carbohydrates.
We can report that Wellington has "choice" pubs and bars, and does a great line in chic little independent cafes and clothes shops. We love being back in the city, strolling around taking in the locals and all the sights and sounds. Eggs Florentine at Fidels was a particular culinary highlight, as was the Laksa from the Malaysian place just under the apartment. Oh yeah, and Debs says the sushi was top drawer as well.
So much niceness! We also hooked up with old friends Kate and Pep from Amsterdam with their cute kids Ana and Oscarsaurus (a wild and unpredictable animal, good at jumping). Seeing friends here makes us realize how much we miss our friends back home, and how sad it is when good friends move away from Amsterdam to the other side of the world... and then boom, here we are and hey how's it going, haven't seen you in ages, let's go out and muck about!
Friday night we went to the Sora Shima gig at Valve we both suddenly had an "OMFG this is the best thing, I'm totally stoked that we did this, and Wellington is brilliant!" moment. Admittedly we had drunk one or two beers by this stage and were feeling pretty giddy, what with being in a rock club and all, but this is a good thing. We are 86 days into our adventure and it feels like we just turned the corner from "long holiday" into "global travel adventure".
Prior to this we were enjoying NZ but not loving it. Suddenly, we are relaxed, happy being where we are, not worrying about where to go next, is there room at the campsite, what are we going to eat tonight, etc. >>> we have become travelers! Either that or we just realized how much we love cities, and are about to embark on a month of damp, cold landscapes down South. We have thermal underwear, and have been warned to watch out for hippies.Tune in later to find out what happens...
Ben
Saturday, 27 October 2007
We like walking
Who'd have thought it - we finally understand what walking (or tramping as they say in NZ) is all about, and we like it!
The other day we did the 2 hour Red Rocks/ Sinclair Heads coastal walk near Wellington to see the seal colony (although we only actually saw 4 seals...!), just for fun. Amazing. NZ is really making us appreciate the countryside, although we're still city kids at heart.
Debs
The other day we did the 2 hour Red Rocks/ Sinclair Heads coastal walk near Wellington to see the seal colony (although we only actually saw 4 seals...!), just for fun. Amazing. NZ is really making us appreciate the countryside, although we're still city kids at heart.
Debs
Friday, 26 October 2007
Barbershops of the world, part 6
Debs and I are delighted and amused by the enthusiastic feedback you lot are giving us about this, our regular feature on gentlemen's grooming establishments.
This time, I wanted to give you an insight into the reality of facial hair on the road. Below is what my face looks like after 2 weeks of growth - check out the bushiness!
And here's what I looked like after the attentions of a white haired old gent at Wellington's Custom Cutz (love that 'z'):
Cost 8 NZ dollars (4.50 EUR)
Cut quality 6/10
Fear factor 1/10
Comments: My barber would have lost a point for his slightly brusque manner "Whaddya mean by beard trim?"and his faint fishy whiff, but he made up for these shortcomings by giving us a free pen when we left. Bonus!
Let us know if you have any requests for future installments - hairstyle suggestions, photo tips, questions to ask the barber... anything!
Ben
This time, I wanted to give you an insight into the reality of facial hair on the road. Below is what my face looks like after 2 weeks of growth - check out the bushiness!
And here's what I looked like after the attentions of a white haired old gent at Wellington's Custom Cutz (love that 'z'):
Cost 8 NZ dollars (4.50 EUR)
Cut quality 6/10
Fear factor 1/10
Comments: My barber would have lost a point for his slightly brusque manner "Whaddya mean by beard trim?"and his faint fishy whiff, but he made up for these shortcomings by giving us a free pen when we left. Bonus!
Let us know if you have any requests for future installments - hairstyle suggestions, photo tips, questions to ask the barber... anything!
Ben
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Superloo stinky poo
Rotorua stinks! We just spent three days in the volcanic town of Rotorua, where the earth steams, hot mud bubbles in thick, boiling pools, and the air is thick with sulphur fumes. Very strange, and kinda wonderful:
Despite all the extreme sports advertised in Rotorua, (zorbing, bungee jumping, etc), we opted for an old people's holiday and spent most of our time in the Government Gardens where we took a walk around the lake, taking in some sulphur fields on the way; hit a few baseballs (OK, that wasn't very old people, but our planned game of croquet didn't look as much fun as hitting baseballs and there were way too many pros on the croquet lawn (with their own mallets!) for our liking); then went to the Blue Baths and checked out the faded glory of a once bustling thermal swimming pool.
From Rotorua, we drove to Taupo via Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland and Butchers Pool, then camped in the free Reids Farm camp site (free!) where we fed the ducks, and avoided the pissheads (plenty) by creating an emergency situation in the back of our spaceship that we had to attend to urgently... seeya later, boozers. We also met another Space traveler, "Cylon" who swapped his DVD of Van Wilder, Party Liaison for our unwatched Not Another Teen Movie; great.
In the morning we were excited and impressed by our visit to the public washrooms, magnificently dubbed the Superloo . $2.40 each for a good hot shower. Which we needed. This is the life.
We missed the chance to ski on Mt Ruhapeha - the resorts were all closed due to high winds, and it was the last day of the season anyway - so cut our stay short and drove south to Wellington to stay with Brenda and Sandy. More about Wellington in our next post.
All in all, we thought Rotorua and Taupo were pretty overrated, especially Rotorua. It's very "extreme sports" focussed, and the tourist industry there seems to be geared towards getting you processed through all the things on offer quick sharp - preferably all in one go.
The worst offender is the ludicrous Te Puia, which combines a thermal park, kiwi viewing, "authentic" Maori singing and dancing, and some sort of dumbass interactive exhibit. One person we asked was loudly astonished that we didn't want to experience all this great stuff in one go, scoffing at our objections that it all seemed way too commercial. The thermal park we went to was genuinely cool in its own right.
We enjoyed ourselves in our own (middle-aged) way. My highlight was the Superloo, Ben liked the big fat mud bubbles :-)
Debs
Despite all the extreme sports advertised in Rotorua, (zorbing, bungee jumping, etc), we opted for an old people's holiday and spent most of our time in the Government Gardens where we took a walk around the lake, taking in some sulphur fields on the way; hit a few baseballs (OK, that wasn't very old people, but our planned game of croquet didn't look as much fun as hitting baseballs and there were way too many pros on the croquet lawn (with their own mallets!) for our liking); then went to the Blue Baths and checked out the faded glory of a once bustling thermal swimming pool.
From Rotorua, we drove to Taupo via Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland and Butchers Pool, then camped in the free Reids Farm camp site (free!) where we fed the ducks, and avoided the pissheads (plenty) by creating an emergency situation in the back of our spaceship that we had to attend to urgently... seeya later, boozers. We also met another Space traveler, "Cylon" who swapped his DVD of Van Wilder, Party Liaison for our unwatched Not Another Teen Movie; great.In the morning we were excited and impressed by our visit to the public washrooms, magnificently dubbed the Superloo . $2.40 each for a good hot shower. Which we needed. This is the life.
We missed the chance to ski on Mt Ruhapeha - the resorts were all closed due to high winds, and it was the last day of the season anyway - so cut our stay short and drove south to Wellington to stay with Brenda and Sandy. More about Wellington in our next post.
All in all, we thought Rotorua and Taupo were pretty overrated, especially Rotorua. It's very "extreme sports" focussed, and the tourist industry there seems to be geared towards getting you processed through all the things on offer quick sharp - preferably all in one go.
The worst offender is the ludicrous Te Puia, which combines a thermal park, kiwi viewing, "authentic" Maori singing and dancing, and some sort of dumbass interactive exhibit. One person we asked was loudly astonished that we didn't want to experience all this great stuff in one go, scoffing at our objections that it all seemed way too commercial. The thermal park we went to was genuinely cool in its own right.
We enjoyed ourselves in our own (middle-aged) way. My highlight was the Superloo, Ben liked the big fat mud bubbles :-)
Debs
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Sky castle promote-ah!
OK you chews, listen up - there is music happening where we are and you should be there to hear it (if geographically feasible, that is).
Hamilton's finest instru-mentalists, Sora Shima, are playing 2 gigs in Wellington, NZ this weekend.
Friday 26th they're at Valve and Saturday 27th they play MVP. Click the pic to see their MySpack thingy and get all the relevant details.
Sora Shima recently supported NZ pop darlings the Mint Chicks, who last week won three Tui awards. This is therefore your one and only chance to see "the Shima" before they get massive, then you can tell all your mates that you saw them before they got famous.
It basically doesn't get much better than that.
Ben
Hamilton's finest instru-mentalists, Sora Shima, are playing 2 gigs in Wellington, NZ this weekend.
Friday 26th they're at Valve and Saturday 27th they play MVP. Click the pic to see their MySpack thingy and get all the relevant details.
Sora Shima recently supported NZ pop darlings the Mint Chicks, who last week won three Tui awards. This is therefore your one and only chance to see "the Shima" before they get massive, then you can tell all your mates that you saw them before they got famous.It basically doesn't get much better than that.
Ben
Thursday, 18 October 2007
In hot water
After our adventures in Northland, we went to stay at Warwick's and Clare's (Ness's parents) lovely beachhouse in Tairua - in the Coromandel. Lovely place, lovely views, and great to feel like proper adults in a proper house rather than bums, sleeping in a car. The views out the back were amazing, and on the second day we were treated to another beautiful rainbow - about the fifth we've seen in NZ.
Tairua was the perfect place for a few daytrips, so we took a short but brisk walk up Paku, an old volcano. Apparently this means we'll return again in 7 years - fine by us. Here's the views we saw. Pretty.
We also got ourselves into hot water, quite literally, on Hot Water Beach. For an hour or so either side of low tide, you can take advantage of the volcanic water bubbling under your feet, dig a hole in the sand, and make your own hot tub (how cool is that?!), so we hired ourselves a spade, dug a pool, and jumped on in.
It was tricky to find the right spot, as some were too cold, and others scalding hot, but we inherited a great little pool full of warm water (from some previous diggers) with a little stream of boiling water running into it, and a well of scalding water bubbling underneath. When it rained we just dug our bums in a bit deeper, tapped into the super hot bit, and re-heated our pool. Perfect!
We're leaving the comfort of the Shirlow/ Hutchinson bosom tomorrow morning (sob), for some extreme sport adventures in Rotorua. Thanks to Warwick and Clare for the use of their home and for their help planning our route around the Northland; Ness and Rob for being delightful and fattening us up with their amazing hospitality; Jacson for being completely nuts; and Carys for being lovely and smiling a lot. We'll truly miss you guys.
Debs
BTW, Ben just posted another blog post about 3 posts down, which he says people with an rss feed will see, but for those of us who aren't into that kind of thing, thought I'd give you the heads up to click here to read it.
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