Archive for January, 2009

(Nicked from the Dominian Post) From Iain O’Brien’s Blog on the news that he has been picked for the New Zealand one day squad.

‘ I put some Bon Jovi on, loud, opened a beer, stood on my balcony and enjoyed the world around me; little precious moments where you can feel completely happy for the work you’ve done.’

Whoaaaoooo Livin’ on a prayer!!

Hello,

I am working on a slideshow of all the pictures we have taken to put on here. In the meantime here are some pictures of the house we move into tomorrow.

The Sun Deck

From the front

The Kitchen

It’s been a few days since my last blog entry, but we have now arrived in Wellington and everything is a bit of a mad rush at the moment. Trying to find somewhere to live is proving a lot more tricky than I had first thought, but more of that later.

The drive from Togariro to Wellington started with a quick trip up one of the Mountains in Mordor. I say a quick trip because we drove it, we passed lots of others walking up it (idiots!!!) but we didn’t have enough time for that so we strained the Corolla as much as possible and eventually we made it as far as we could go. To our right peeking out of the top of the clouds was the mountain used as Mount Doom in the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings trilogy. From where we stood you could see why they chose this particular spot, it oozed eeriness.

We now had about a four hour drive ahead of us to Wellington, much of it through the hills where there is not much to see in so much as there are very few people, very few cars but surprisingly lots of schools? Where the children come from that attend these schools I don’t know. (I assume there must be a lot of farms off of the beaten track). At one point we drove for approximately an hour and a half between towns, through some stunning countryside.

And now we are in Wellington. We arrived on Saturday and after checking into our apartment we went for a good look round. I lost count of the times we said to each other “cor, its windy isn’t it”. Fingers crossed, so far that is the only really windy day we have had. Everyone I have met in Wellington has warned me in hush tones, “You do know about the wind, don’t you”.

In the evening we took a walk down to the harbour. Wellington (like everywhere in New Zealand) is built on hills, some surprisingly steep hills as it turns out. Shona is not a fan of the hills. Despite this we had a fun walk round the harbour taking in a few of the local watering holes. One highlight during the walk was seeing some albatrosses (they may have been sea gulls, I don’t know) trying to open clam shells. They would fly about 2 metres in the air and drop the shell on the pavement hoping the shell would crack, if not they would repeat the process until it did.

On Sunday we went to see the local Football/Soccer team, Wellington Phoenix play in the A-League. The league that consists of whole bunch of Australian teams and one from New Zealand. Now I am not criticising or patronising the players in this league, but attending this game made me realise how spoilt we are in England with the talent on show in the Premier League. This week the visitors were Adelaide, last year’s winners of the A-league, and it wasn’t long before they took the lead by scoring a breakaway goal through a non-existent Phoenix defence. The Phoenix needed to win, or at very least get a point out of the game to realistically keep their chances of reaching the league play offs alive (play offs, don’t you hate it already?). Adelaide’s goal seemed to spark the Phoenix into action and just before half time they drew level with a good cross from the left wing nodded in at the far post to make it 1-1 going into the break.

The second half was dominated by The Phoenix who clearly wanted it more the Adelaide who have already secured their place in the play offs. Adelaide always looked like the more classy side, but The Phoenix pressed the ball harder, and won more of the 50-50 challenges. Unfortunately, the referee made a poor decision and sent off the Phoenix’s captain for 2 bookable offences and they had to play out the last 30 minutes of the game with 10 men. Despite this they still created the most chances and were unlucky not to win the game. I enjoyed it and will definitely attend next year, when the league starts up again. The best thing by far is that you can have a beer in your seat while you are watching the game. The weirdest thing is that there were 8241 people attending, of which approx. 8230 were home fans. We were all squashed in one side of the stadium for TV purposes, whilst the other half was empty. Plus there was no one to shout “you only sing when you’re winning” to.

On Monday we went for a drive down to Cape Palliser. Another area of stunning beauty this country has to offer. To get there you drive across some hilly terrain and down long narrow ocean roads, then dirt tracks until you finally arrive at a dead end with a Lighthouse and a colony of fur seals. When we arrived we set about climbing the steep 250 steps to get to the top of the cliff face where the lighthouse is situated. About 75 steps up we turned around and went back down again, I am not good with heights but luckily it was Shona who got scared first, so to everyone else it looked like the only honourable thing I could do was to walk her back down. I would have bottled it myself about another 10 steps up, but I wasn’t going tell her that.

When we got to the bottom of the steps, we headed for the seal colony. Definitely the highlight of the day. The seals weren’t that bothered by sharing the beach with you so we took the opportunity to take plenty of photos. One thing though, seal crap smells disgusting and it was everywhere, this is definitely not a picnic site. On the way back we stopped in Martinborough, which is one of the many wine producing regions in New Zealand. We stopped at a local cafe for a glass of the Pinot Gris and a salad, and took in the sun shine. This looks like a good place to visit and we will definitely be returning here, to sample some more of the local wines.

The last couple of days have been filled with trying to find somewhere to live. We have sent off an application form for a small cottage in one of the hilly suburbs called Mornington. There is decking in the garden from which you can see out for miles, just the spot on a sunny day for a bottle of the best Vino and a barbie. Fingers crossed.

I went to a car auction today. I have never been to one of these before, what an experience! The place was so filled with testosterone you could smell it. I stayed for the whole auction and didn’t purchase a thing. I had my eye on 2 lots but it was only by the time the last lot went through that I had worked out what was going on. The auctioneer was great and had some excellent banter with the crowd, playing husbands and wives off each other so that they would bid more for something than they had originally intended. He also had the ability to put about 5 words together ‘illtakeonehundreddollarsinfrontandnolower’. Will you? That’s great – I have no idea what you just said but I am smiling because I am very scared of you!

First cricket match I can attend is on the 6th of Feb Wellington vs Otago in the state 20-20 tournament. Shame all of the international players will be in Australia.

The New Zealand Herald’s front page is carrying the story today of how a lightning storm in Auckland had prompted some locals to think that the country was under attack. ‘Staff at the police northern communications centre said they were inundated with calls from people who thought the silver-lit sky signalled the beginning of World War III.’ ???

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10552125 

So day 2 of our journey south starts in Hamilton with a buffet breakfast (oh yes) and ends in Tongariro National Park with another bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, taking in Tirau, Rotorua and Taupo on the way.  

After filling up on the all you can eat breakfast our first stop was in Tirau, which is in the guide book as a point of interest because of its love of giant corrugated iron sculptures. There is a giant grass hopper (which sadly we didn’t see) a giant dog and a giant sheep (a merino).  As it turns out inside the sheep is a gift shop, selling all the items you could possibly want from sunglasses (a pair of which I purchased), your usual New Zealand hats and gloves to the more peculiar items like Kiwi Willy Wash and my personal favourite, a T-shirt printed with the slogan ‘What happens in a sheep pen, stays in a sheep pen’!!!! If you’re interested, inside the dog was a tourist information centre where Shona stocked up on every free map and accommodation guide going; one is never enough I was informed.

Our next stop was to be Rotorua home to some of New Zealand’s geo thermal activity. As you approach Rotorua you are hit by the smell of sulphur (a bit like rotten eggs) in the air, which is mildly displeasing at first, but you soon get used to it. We decided to visit Te Puia which is a Mauri cultural centre. From the outside this looks like one of the UKs generic theme parks, high wooden fences around the perimeter and entrances next to glass booths. But on the inside this was nothing like a theme park. This was superb. Our tickets allowed us to join a guided tour of the area. After our guide spent several minutes making us repeat after him the areas full name ‘Te Whakarewarewarewatanga’ we set about the tour. The tour was educational and a lot of fun, our guide was very charismatic and never let you get bored. Highlights were seeing the bubbling mud pools and the Prince of Wales geyser. The tour ended with a cultural show inside a Maori hut, including the Hakka and lots of singing. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and although, as with most of tourist attractions, the only exit was through a gift shop, even this couldn’t spoil what was the most enjoyable experience so far.

Next on to Taupo. The tour guide says it is where a lot of Kiwis spend their summer holidays, and you can see why. But this isn’t Yarmouth or Skegness. The landscape here is dominated by the magnificent Lake Taupo with its crystal clear waters and in the distance you could see the mountains, which would be where we would spend the evening.  We arrived on a particularly hot day (there it is again) so we headed straight for some light refreshment and sat looking out the lake before hitting the road again. On the way back to the car I had a go on a hole in one game. The hole is on a jetty, about 150 yards out in the lake and the idea is that if you get a hole in one you win $5000 dollars. 19 balls and I hit the jetty only once; however I was all over the guy in a wet suit lurking in the water to collect the balls.

The last stop was Tongariro National Park, and the Bayview Chateau Hotel which was our accommodation for the evening. A nice place, a particular place of interest to us because from our bedroom windows we could see the mountain used in the ‘Lord of the Ring’ trilogy of films as Mordor. A trip down the local boozer and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc later the jet lag kicked in and I was asleep by 8.30 that night.

Tomorrow it is off to Wellington and for now the holiday is over. It will be time to look for a place to live for the next two years and maybe, just maybe find a job.

P.S. I am hoping to get pictures up as soon as I find somewhere with a bit more bandwidth.

Today we will be heading for Hamilton, the largest inland city in New Zealand about 127 kilometres from  Auckland.  Usually this would only take about 2 and a bit hours to travel, but we had planned to a bit of driving around the North before hand.

We went for an early stroll around Auckland as we had an appointment with the bank to confirm our identities for the accounts that had been set up whilst we were still in the UK.  On the way we managed to see some random bloke running around Auckland in his dressing gown, none of the other people walking down the street seemed to think this was strange, so I am guessing that this is a regular occurrence here. I might try it!

After confirming our identities at the bank we went on to pick up our chariot for this journey – a white 4 door Toyota Corolla (it’s no Kia Ceed but hey).  Now there is nothing unusual about this car except for the fact that the indicator is on the right hand side of the steering block and the windscreen wipers are on the left; so far in my life all cars I have driven have been the other way around. Still jet lagged I set off to drive to the hotel we had been staying to pick up our bags, and sure enough at every junction and every time I need to change lanes, on came the windscreen wipers and on came the driver behinds car horn. Excellent.

We checked out of our hotel, Sky City (Grand Harbour) and started our journey south.  The weather was set fair (an absolute bloody scorcher, if truth be told) so I knew this was going to be a pleasant drive from the outset.  We headed for Waihi Beach in the Bay of Plenty; on the way we took in Papakura, Te Aroha, Morrinsville and Paeroa.  Of all these places my favourite was Te Aroha – the shops on the High Street all had speakers attached to them which looked like they had been put there in the 1950’s, playing music which sounded like it was from the 1950’s. I loved it.

When we arrived in Waihi Beach we had a walk down the beach, found a small cafe and sat watching the ocean for about half an hour before deciding we should be on our way to Hamilton in an attempt to get there before tea time. The drive back took us through Tauranga (the fastest growing city in New Zealand, according to something we read) and Cambridge. The drive was very hilly and very green but you could say that about all the drives we have taken so far.

Exhausted we arrived in Hamilton. We checked in to our hotel and headed out into Hamilton for some dinner. We found a place called Lonestar Cafe. Now I thought this was going to be a cafe, but it turned out to be a kind of themed restaurant, a bit like Chillis and TGI Fridays in the UK. Given that, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. What made me laugh most though were the names of the cocktails. You could start with a ‘Dean Martini’, follow that up with an ‘All Shook Up’ and if that isn’t enough finish it with a ‘Return to Blender’ which if you are interested consists of Malibu, Baileys, Creme de Cacao (no idea!) blended with Cream & Milk and served with a dash of Chocolate Milk. The non-alcoholic cocktail was called ‘The Juice, The Whole Juice, And Nothing But The Juice’ and you guessed it…..consisted of Juice.

I liked Hamilton a lot, it probably has the edge over Auckland for me.

Tomorrow, onward to Mordor!

Paul in Auckland Harbour. Jet Lag setting in.

 It is now 0345 local time in Auckland and it looks like the jetlag is going to take a while to pass because I am buzzing. Luckily all three Sky Sports channels are showing cricket which is keeping me amused and ensuring Shona stays asleep.

We arrived at Heathrow on the 12^th of January at about 1730 which meant we managed to avoid the peaceful protestors. After ditching the rental car we headed straight for the check in desk.  We got through to departures quite quickly, but it was apparent from observing others in the queue that we would be sharing the plane with a large number of Saga holiday travellers.  Not that I mind sharing the plane with old[er] people, queuing with them amused me.

Once in departures I made the usual b-line for the bar, the idea was, as it always is when I fly, to sink enough alcohol that it takes the edge of the thought of getting in a tin can travelling at speeds of 400-500 miles an hour with only half of a car seatbelt to strap on as protection. Needless to say I succeeded in drinking the desired amount and at about 2030 London time I stepped onto Air New Zealand flight NZ38 to Auckland travelling via Hong Kong .

The first 10 hour journey to Hong Kong passed remarkably quickly. We were lucky enough to sit next to a guy who a couple of years ago had made a similar decision to ours to move to the other side of the world.  He explained how he had been nervous at the start, but now that he has settled into a routine involving a daily ferry journey to work across a bay where Orcas live he is over the worst of it. He happily passed on all of the local knowledge he had gathered; from which is the best lager to drink to what to do if you are invited round to a Kiwi household for a barbecue (apparently you take your own food and drink and then they cook their own food, you cook yours and at the end of the event you wrap up everything you haven’t eaten/drunk and take it home with you).  I asked him about the driving laws in New Zealand because I had heard of a few differences. He explained that the most worrying thing is that everyone is entitled to drive at the age of 14 (14!!!!) and that the most difficult law to get your head around is the ‘Give way to the right law’. He was right because he explained it three or four times to me and I still haven’t got my head around it.

We arrive in Hong Kong about 1630 local time. There wasn’t much to see, not just because we were stuck in the airport but because thick smog covered the area around the airport and you couldn’t see much of the surrounding area. The highlight for me was finding a fast food restaurant where each of the individual table booths had their own television (a couch potatoes’ dream, you don’t even have to get up for food because you have your own waiter).     

 

My kinda joint

 So onward with the journey.  Just another 10 hours 45 minutes to Auckland. The second flight was a real slog, boredom really set. I managed about half an hours sleep the entire flight. This sleep did prove one thing though and it is this, my snoring is not as loud as a Boeing 747-400 engine (well 4 of them put together if we are being pedantic). I know this because I apologised to the chap sitting next to us about the sound of my snoring and he said he couldn’t hear it [NB from Shona: She could].  

Not much to report on the second leg of the flight. There was a little bit more turbulence than the first leg, but nothing too stressful. Most of the second leg was night time so the window blinds were down and there was nothing to see. However, once we passed the north easterly part of Australia we were in daylight and we could see the Pacific Ocean below us. I have seen the Pacific Ocean before of course when we visited Australia in 2006. It certainly has a beauty all of its own, the colour seems more vivid with almost a glow to it. For the three hours between Australia and New Zealand I was almost transfixed to the sight of it, but that may have just been the fatigue kicking in.

 

Things I have noticed so far.  

1)      The scale of life endangerment in the taxi from the airport fell somewhere between the ones I have experienced in Paris and Malta.

2)      I haven’t seen a flat piece of land yet. Everything is on a hill.

3)      Auckland is hot, hot, hot at the moment (only put that in to make you jealous).

4)      The word I would use most to sum up Auckland (maybe New Zealand) is Green.