Archive for July, 2009

Huka Falls. The most visited attraction in NZ

Last Thursday Shona and I returned home from an evening out at a local Mexican restaurant to find our bathroom and bedroom had both been converted into swimming pools. The pipe which leads to the cold tap in the basin had sheared off from the tap and was filling both rooms up nicely. After much kerfuffle we contacted a 24hr plumber and asked him to tell us where we would find the mains supply – ‘There will be one by your garden hose tap in the garden’. If there was one I couldn’t find it – ‘well if you can’t find it there, there will be one on the pavement, just before the start of your property’. Anyway, I ended up turning off my neighbours’ mains supply which meant our bedroom was still filling up but I now also had a concerned neighbour asking if our water supply was cut off as well.

As I write we still have an industrial heater and dehumidifier drying out our rooms. Hopefully things will be back to normal by the end of this week, and we will have a carpet back in our bedroom.

On Saturday we fancied  taking a drive out of Wellington. We entered our metallic pink vehicle at 11am for a quick trip out of town and ended up spending the night 371 Kilometres away in Taupo. I don’t know why, I just kept driving and we were both enjoying it. We left grey clouds in Wellington, and when we saw some blue sky and sunshine I guess we just wanted to stay with them. I enjoy driving in New Zealand – you are never bored with the scenery.

One factor that makes driving in New Zealand so enjoyable is when you stumble across one of the obscure radio stations that broadcast in this country. The first gem we struck upon was a station that was broadcasting a very prim and proper elderly lady who was just reading out listeners recipes. What was so funny was that she spent the whole time criticising their recipes. ‘No, No! That will not do. Not Vanilla essence, do not be so silly’……’Not frozen berries’…….’Don’t roll your sponge when you take it out of the oven. Roll it after it has been in the fridge’. She had male co-presenter but he couldn’t get a word in.

The other highlight was listening to a woman who was just reading out a copy of the Dominion Post (Wellington based national newspaper) very, very slowly. She must be providing a valuable service to someone.

Desert Road

Anyway, on our journey we passed snow topped mountains, small industrial towns, fast flowing streams and then eventually found ourselves at the magnificent Lake Taupo (which we last visited back in January on our third day in New Zealand). We found a hotel and, as we had no luggage, headed out to get a cheap change of clothes before heading to the local British Themed pub. Its slogan was ‘Where the Bacon meets the Butty’.

I Iooked up and down the bar to see what British beers they actually kept on tap. The only one I could find was Tennants lager – I thought I’d better have one while I was there. As I ordered a Kiwi chap who was sitting at the bar merrily quipped ‘That is a lovely drop that is’. I stopped myself from replying ‘Really, I have lived in Glasgow and when I had used to drink it there it pretty much tasted like piss’. I just nodded instead and thanked him for his advice. I needn’t say anymore about this guy other than his missus was drinking Kronenburg 1664 and he was drinking Tennants. Anyway, I took a sip of the Tennants and sure enough it tasted like piss.

After that we headed back to the hotel and sat in front of their roaring fire and toasted marshmallows on sticks … lovely end to an unexpected day.

We woke in the morning to find I had left the car lights on all night and the battery was flat. It wouldn’t be the same if I didn’t do something like this. Thankfully we have AA membership (with a car like ours it is a requirement) and they had us on the road within the hour.

After a quick trip to Huka Falls (the most visited tourist attraction in New Zealand apparently) and another go on the hole in one competition (as mentioned in a previous post) we headed back to Wellington. On the radio on the way home a radio announcer reading the sport headlines said ‘and the game kicks off in half an hour, New Zealand time’. In my book that’s half an hour in any time zone….

Paul should not have shown me how to use the blog….enjoy, Shona.