Today, we touched down in Oz. The heat hits you like a wall of molten lava smacking into your body and incinerating you. It is that hot. However, I am getting ahead of myself.
So, yesterday after returning the tent to Jodi and checking our post (nothing, doh), as well as sorting our return flights with Quantas (eeep!) we had a tasty 'Farewell Auckland' dinner involving noodles and sweet potato, pickled ginger and salads, green tea and deep-fried bananas. Then, we retired early so as to have three hours sleep under our belts before we had to drag ourselves from the comforting pillows of the Mercure to find and board the AirBus to the airport.
At 3am then, we awoke and checked-out, wandering the deserted streets of Auckland, the Japanese-influence neons glowing and the street cleaners the only presence. We arrived at the airport, checked in, waited around for a while, got progressively hungrier. We spent some enjoyable time trying to spend our NZ dollar change, which totalled 9 dollars which equals practically nothing in real life, let alone airport prices.
Eventually, five hours after we woke up, we boarded the plane and set off. This plane was in a whole different class to the one we travelled out on - a vast, vast selection of movies, tv shows, radio, music videos, games - there was so much to do we were having serious decision issues trying to best fill the suddenly measly-looking four hour flight. We were served breakfast (thankfully, or my stomach may have eaten me in its protests) and occupied ourselves with the entertainment system.
Upon landing, checking-in, going through customs, being singled out and scanned AGAIN (just me, Alex is apparently not as suspicious looking as I am) and picking up the bags, we were in Oz! Officially! We wheeled the trolley out the doors and that brings me to the start of the blog, with the incinerating heat and all that.
It was amazing. NZ was by no means cold, but Oz has taken the idea of heat to an entirely different level. It reached 37 degrees today. The wind is no cooling breeze, but a baking hot swish of air that literally causes you to gasp for hydration.
We checked into the hotel (after issues with getting there as the driver got lost, and then, issues with checking in as their database was blanking us...) and then headed out. We walked to the Docks and admired the bizarre modern art sculptures (square cow stuck in a tree, anyone? Silver pipecleaners? Maybe some giant plastic white mushroomy things called 'Silence'?) then chose a cafe to provide lunch. We had half a generously loaded pizza each in the ingenious portion where they put a different topping on each quarter of the pizza. Then, stuffed once again, we returned to the hotel for water, naps and showers.
This evening, we headed out to the Suzuki Night Market, a phenomenon I discovered while trawling through Melbourne websites and so awesome it was definately worth the visit.
Imagine, a 2 or 3 acre space, most covered by a gigantic arching red warehouse, chairs spilling out and filling a makeshift square in front of a stage. Live music pumps out as thousands of people mill about, clutching cold juices and ice creams to keep cool in the insane heat, plates balanced in the crook of an elbow as people chose dinner from the myriad different international food stalls - Thai, Szechuan, Vietnamese, Indian, Malaysian, Spanish, French, English, American, Mexican, African - every country in existence appeared to be represented and the smells and sounds and colours were intoxicating. Along the other side of the warehouse, stalls upon stalls on bright clothes, jewellery, art, carvings stood arrayed. The smoke from the cooking hung in the rafters, the evening sun (still hot enough to feel like it is burning you instantly) shining through it...such as awesome market! We bought a giant carton of freshly squeezed cold mandarin juice and drank it as we perused the stalls. I bought an earring, Alex a cap and we both had a go at the lucky dip stall, each earning a bracelet.
Having enjoyed the sights and sounds, we sat in the park for a while and decided that we like Melbourne. We have planned (loosely) our itinery for tomorrow, so now we are just off to bed - we've been up almost 23 hours after all!
Wednesday 30 December 2009
Tuesday 29 December 2009
Last
Crikey! Today is the end of our NZ adventure! Sometime during the night tonight, we are to up and quit the hotel and trug along to the airport to catch our flight to Ozland. Wow, its so crazy!
The last few days have been relaxed, we took in the sales on Boxing Day (there is a reason NZ has no large presence on the international fashion scene) and enjoyed the sunshine on our balcony. We continued to stuff ourselves with leftovers and then made all the rest of the leftovers into sandwiches, so as to carry them easily when we checked-out of the Suites to go and check-in at the Mercure down the road. The Mercure has the biggest bed ever, rivalling King Henry VIII's mega-bed. A definate update in luxury from the tent! We went out of Auckland yesterday on the bus to Onehunga, and while there we visited the outlet stores and Alex found a new t-shirt and board shorts at uber cheap prices to replace the old battered ones that have accompanied him on this trip. Its amazing we navigated our way their and back, as the bus drivers for some odd reason refused point blank to actually talk to us when we asked if this was the right bus/correct stop/time to return. Luckily however, they did respond to the other couple on the bus, who had the same destination in mind, so we were able to listen in on their (detailed and friendly) directions and follow them when we got lost and confused.
Today, we plan to wind up any loose threads here in Auckland. We have to go and check our postbox and give them a forwarding address. We need to give notice on our internet plan with Vodafone. We need to sort and pack our stuff. We definately will be needing snackage for later. Other than that, we'll just give Auckland a last wander round, check out some of our favourite places and get ready to move on to the next big adventure awaiting us across the Tasman!
P.S. Hope you like the new Oz-stylee layout! Also, check out the new pics on Flickr from our Christmas fun.
The last few days have been relaxed, we took in the sales on Boxing Day (there is a reason NZ has no large presence on the international fashion scene) and enjoyed the sunshine on our balcony. We continued to stuff ourselves with leftovers and then made all the rest of the leftovers into sandwiches, so as to carry them easily when we checked-out of the Suites to go and check-in at the Mercure down the road. The Mercure has the biggest bed ever, rivalling King Henry VIII's mega-bed. A definate update in luxury from the tent! We went out of Auckland yesterday on the bus to Onehunga, and while there we visited the outlet stores and Alex found a new t-shirt and board shorts at uber cheap prices to replace the old battered ones that have accompanied him on this trip. Its amazing we navigated our way their and back, as the bus drivers for some odd reason refused point blank to actually talk to us when we asked if this was the right bus/correct stop/time to return. Luckily however, they did respond to the other couple on the bus, who had the same destination in mind, so we were able to listen in on their (detailed and friendly) directions and follow them when we got lost and confused.
Today, we plan to wind up any loose threads here in Auckland. We have to go and check our postbox and give them a forwarding address. We need to give notice on our internet plan with Vodafone. We need to sort and pack our stuff. We definately will be needing snackage for later. Other than that, we'll just give Auckland a last wander round, check out some of our favourite places and get ready to move on to the next big adventure awaiting us across the Tasman!
P.S. Hope you like the new Oz-stylee layout! Also, check out the new pics on Flickr from our Christmas fun.
Saturday 26 December 2009
Christmas
At 6am sharp on Christmas Eve, we awoke to the dulcet tones of the mobile alarm and the goose outside the tent and packed away our sleeping bags, tent and air mattress - never to see them again, with any luck!
We trumped into town with our packs, located our bus and boarded with no issue. We were on the way to our luxury Christmas delight!
The bus was busy, the driver repetitive with his rules and regs, but we made it through to Auckland and actually arrived 16 minutes early, at 3.30pm. The drive had three short stops for food/loo usage, although they were so fast they prevented me from re-tasting the Best Veggie Burger in the World, at Dino's Diner. Doh.
We checked into the Suites and had a moment to enjoy the space, the walls, the actual flat ceiling...as well as the immense view down to the sea and of the Sky Tower because we are on the 16th floor! It is so insanely high above the city!
After admiring our apartment, we headed to the supermarket to join the rush of people doing last minute grocery shopping and bought enough food to equip a Roman General with a private dinner party's worth of feasting food. Soo good! Once back, we decorated the apartment and got the Christmas music going. We bought ourselves pizza from Dominoes as our Christmas Eve feast - not for lack of food, but because we had been deprived of pizza for a month or more. Oh, it was good. We both ate our entire pizza and spent the rest of the evening laying about watching carols on tv and holding our stomachs.
Christmas morning dawned hot, sunshine and deep blue sky. We had pannettone, actual butter and Alex a bacon butty for breakfast, along with delicious chai lattes. Then, we ripped into our stockings. I had a giant bubble set, a silver tiara and bangles with tinkling bells. Alex had dominoes and a foam shooter and coloured airspray pens. We continued to open presents throughout the day and had an awesome time playing about. We had a shotting competition with the gun set Alex gave me as kids toys go, this thing is practially a lethal weapon, shooting darts well accross the room and aiming at targets. I got a collapsible hula hoop and Alex was entranced by his rubix cube. We snacked on mince pies and then took a lunch break, enjoying antipasto and crudites platters, with oven-fresh bread, dips and iced tea. Yum. We used the airspray pens to tattoo ourselves (these have now faded to large, bruise coloured blotches...) and I built many different cars using my new click-together building blocks. We had a pavlova for tea and then watched the Madegascar Xmas Special and Happy Feet on tv.
We finished off the day (and our ability to walk without waddling) by having Christmas Dinner, baked gammon, roast kumara and potatoes, cranbarry sauce, veggies, vege chipolatas and stuffing - the works. So good. So stuffed afterwards. Settling ourselves in comfy chairs, we called home as the clock moved to Boxing Day.
Boxing Day, a cool 28 degrees after yesterdays heights above 30, has seen a continued trend in the 'Eat, eat and eat' theme. We are taking it easy before heading into town for a stroll among the crowds thronging the sales. We might even get to eat Christmas pudding tonight, as we just couldn't manage it yesterday!
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!
We trumped into town with our packs, located our bus and boarded with no issue. We were on the way to our luxury Christmas delight!
The bus was busy, the driver repetitive with his rules and regs, but we made it through to Auckland and actually arrived 16 minutes early, at 3.30pm. The drive had three short stops for food/loo usage, although they were so fast they prevented me from re-tasting the Best Veggie Burger in the World, at Dino's Diner. Doh.
We checked into the Suites and had a moment to enjoy the space, the walls, the actual flat ceiling...as well as the immense view down to the sea and of the Sky Tower because we are on the 16th floor! It is so insanely high above the city!
After admiring our apartment, we headed to the supermarket to join the rush of people doing last minute grocery shopping and bought enough food to equip a Roman General with a private dinner party's worth of feasting food. Soo good! Once back, we decorated the apartment and got the Christmas music going. We bought ourselves pizza from Dominoes as our Christmas Eve feast - not for lack of food, but because we had been deprived of pizza for a month or more. Oh, it was good. We both ate our entire pizza and spent the rest of the evening laying about watching carols on tv and holding our stomachs.
Christmas morning dawned hot, sunshine and deep blue sky. We had pannettone, actual butter and Alex a bacon butty for breakfast, along with delicious chai lattes. Then, we ripped into our stockings. I had a giant bubble set, a silver tiara and bangles with tinkling bells. Alex had dominoes and a foam shooter and coloured airspray pens. We continued to open presents throughout the day and had an awesome time playing about. We had a shotting competition with the gun set Alex gave me as kids toys go, this thing is practially a lethal weapon, shooting darts well accross the room and aiming at targets. I got a collapsible hula hoop and Alex was entranced by his rubix cube. We snacked on mince pies and then took a lunch break, enjoying antipasto and crudites platters, with oven-fresh bread, dips and iced tea. Yum. We used the airspray pens to tattoo ourselves (these have now faded to large, bruise coloured blotches...) and I built many different cars using my new click-together building blocks. We had a pavlova for tea and then watched the Madegascar Xmas Special and Happy Feet on tv.
We finished off the day (and our ability to walk without waddling) by having Christmas Dinner, baked gammon, roast kumara and potatoes, cranbarry sauce, veggies, vege chipolatas and stuffing - the works. So good. So stuffed afterwards. Settling ourselves in comfy chairs, we called home as the clock moved to Boxing Day.
Boxing Day, a cool 28 degrees after yesterdays heights above 30, has seen a continued trend in the 'Eat, eat and eat' theme. We are taking it easy before heading into town for a stroll among the crowds thronging the sales. We might even get to eat Christmas pudding tonight, as we just couldn't manage it yesterday!
We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!
Wednesday 23 December 2009
Icecream
The last few days have been a bliss of warmth, sunshine and ice cream. The ducklings have grown bigger, but retain their yellow fuzz and come to visit us several times a day. In fact, today they managed to all seperate and get lost from their mother, so we and another gap yearer spent a while carting them about the get them back into a concerted group, to the suspected (but unconfirmed obviously) relief of their questing mother duck.
Yesterday, we headed into town, admiring the blooming roses that adorn the pathways. Our goal was exciting - to purchase presents for Christmas day! We went into the $2 Store we have long had our eye on for this purpose and seperated, each to fill their basket with no more or less than 10 presents for the other. As an acitivity, this was awesome fun and really boosted the whole Christmas mood, which is oddly hard to come by despite the glittering decorations in the campsite. Probably something to do with the 30 degree heat...
Anyways, after buying our gifts and both faithfully promising not to look at the other's bag, we got a subway sandwich each and had a mini picnic, before going to New World to buy the storable/non-fresh stuff we needed for our Christmas meals. Once we had picked all that up, which insures we'll have something to eat if we can't get to the supermarket in Auckland before it closes due to bus lateness or some horrible thing like that, we started on back to the campsite.
We were waylaid however, by the drawing of the competition. Let me explain. Over the last year, Hastings New World has been displaying a very shiny BMW in the foyer. This BMW was the prize in a draw that would occur on the 22nd Decemeber, and which you could enter every time you spent money in store. Given that we have been here a month, and bought all our food supplies from New World, we had collected quite a few of these prize draw entry slips. We had faithfully designated each and every one with our names and numbers, hoping for the Christmas miracle which would see this car (and its £22,000 retail value) land in our laps. (Well, not literally, that would probably result in us being squashed). The giant cement mixer that had been hired to spin the slips was standing in the carpark, the crowds had gathered and the policeman reached in to grab the winning slip...with bated breath we waited! Alas, we did not win, instead the car went to a serendipitous local, but nonetheless it was an entertaining moment.
Today, we have been sorting out all the stuff in the tent and repacking our bags, so that tomorrow morning we can be up, pack away the tent and sleeping bags, and gone on the trek into town in time to catch our very early bus at 7.30am. This bus will whisk us back up the motorway, to Auckland, where we can check into our hotel (a hotel! After a month in a tent! Sublime!) and then hot foot it to the supermarket to buy the rest of the fresh ingrediants needed for Xmas. Once we have lugged those back to the hotel (!), we shall settle in for the Christmas Eve movies, possibly garnished with a pizza.
In the last post, I believe I promised some tales of New Zealand that we had gathered for a time when news was low. Thus, let me tell you about the animals. When driving along, the last thing you expect to see on the side of the road, is a turkey. However, a turkey we did indeed see. Now, you know all this, I put it down in the blog when it occurred. However, since that moment, we also came accross a goat, a sheep, several chickens and even a horse, standing at the side of the road. No tethers, no concern for the cars, just calmly standing on the green between the road and the fence of their apparently unsecure fenced environment. We found it amusing that, having gone to such lengths to escape the fettering hands of their owners, they then turned about face and remained convieniently positioned nearby, awaiting recapture and, no doubt, dinnertime. Oddities.
Today, the 23rd, we would like to wish my Dad a very Happy Birthday! Have a great day in the snow! xxx
Yesterday, we headed into town, admiring the blooming roses that adorn the pathways. Our goal was exciting - to purchase presents for Christmas day! We went into the $2 Store we have long had our eye on for this purpose and seperated, each to fill their basket with no more or less than 10 presents for the other. As an acitivity, this was awesome fun and really boosted the whole Christmas mood, which is oddly hard to come by despite the glittering decorations in the campsite. Probably something to do with the 30 degree heat...
Anyways, after buying our gifts and both faithfully promising not to look at the other's bag, we got a subway sandwich each and had a mini picnic, before going to New World to buy the storable/non-fresh stuff we needed for our Christmas meals. Once we had picked all that up, which insures we'll have something to eat if we can't get to the supermarket in Auckland before it closes due to bus lateness or some horrible thing like that, we started on back to the campsite.
We were waylaid however, by the drawing of the competition. Let me explain. Over the last year, Hastings New World has been displaying a very shiny BMW in the foyer. This BMW was the prize in a draw that would occur on the 22nd Decemeber, and which you could enter every time you spent money in store. Given that we have been here a month, and bought all our food supplies from New World, we had collected quite a few of these prize draw entry slips. We had faithfully designated each and every one with our names and numbers, hoping for the Christmas miracle which would see this car (and its £22,000 retail value) land in our laps. (Well, not literally, that would probably result in us being squashed). The giant cement mixer that had been hired to spin the slips was standing in the carpark, the crowds had gathered and the policeman reached in to grab the winning slip...with bated breath we waited! Alas, we did not win, instead the car went to a serendipitous local, but nonetheless it was an entertaining moment.
Today, we have been sorting out all the stuff in the tent and repacking our bags, so that tomorrow morning we can be up, pack away the tent and sleeping bags, and gone on the trek into town in time to catch our very early bus at 7.30am. This bus will whisk us back up the motorway, to Auckland, where we can check into our hotel (a hotel! After a month in a tent! Sublime!) and then hot foot it to the supermarket to buy the rest of the fresh ingrediants needed for Xmas. Once we have lugged those back to the hotel (!), we shall settle in for the Christmas Eve movies, possibly garnished with a pizza.
In the last post, I believe I promised some tales of New Zealand that we had gathered for a time when news was low. Thus, let me tell you about the animals. When driving along, the last thing you expect to see on the side of the road, is a turkey. However, a turkey we did indeed see. Now, you know all this, I put it down in the blog when it occurred. However, since that moment, we also came accross a goat, a sheep, several chickens and even a horse, standing at the side of the road. No tethers, no concern for the cars, just calmly standing on the green between the road and the fence of their apparently unsecure fenced environment. We found it amusing that, having gone to such lengths to escape the fettering hands of their owners, they then turned about face and remained convieniently positioned nearby, awaiting recapture and, no doubt, dinnertime. Oddities.
Today, the 23rd, we would like to wish my Dad a very Happy Birthday! Have a great day in the snow! xxx
Sunday 20 December 2009
Wind
The tent was practically flat-topped early this morning, when the howling wind outside woke us both up. The wind has been whooshing about all day, battering the tent into weird and wonderful shapes. It is holding up beautifully considering the insane weather conditions it has been through.
We had our uninspiring bran flakes with sultanas for breakfast (cereal just tastes like cardboard here. English cereal must have additives. Tasty additives) then sunbathed for a while, despite the wind which is rather cooling.
I've been reading the Three Musketeers, which has absolutely fabulous language and phrasing. Very amusing.
After lunch, we played with the ducklings, sketched, worked on the pc...we are settling in to watch Stardust now, with the addition of cookies from the Cookie Monster. Now there is a NZ brand I am going to miss.
Now, I'm aware the last few posts have been less than enthralling, but we located a list we made while we were driving about the country of interesting things to put in the blog in the future. So, I shall aim to write about some of these in the next few days - I'd do it now, but Stardust is about to start and my cookie needs microwaving fro that freshly-baked goodness.
We had our uninspiring bran flakes with sultanas for breakfast (cereal just tastes like cardboard here. English cereal must have additives. Tasty additives) then sunbathed for a while, despite the wind which is rather cooling.
I've been reading the Three Musketeers, which has absolutely fabulous language and phrasing. Very amusing.
After lunch, we played with the ducklings, sketched, worked on the pc...we are settling in to watch Stardust now, with the addition of cookies from the Cookie Monster. Now there is a NZ brand I am going to miss.
Now, I'm aware the last few posts have been less than enthralling, but we located a list we made while we were driving about the country of interesting things to put in the blog in the future. So, I shall aim to write about some of these in the next few days - I'd do it now, but Stardust is about to start and my cookie needs microwaving fro that freshly-baked goodness.
Saturday 19 December 2009
Sunbathing
The last two days have been hot hot heat and laser-like sun rays, fading green grass, ice cream and cake. We have spent the time lolling about the thirsty grass on the riverbank, reading magazines scavenged from other people and baking. Alex has gained a caramel tan, I have managed a faint tan as well, despite being smothered in factor 70, in the shade, complete with hat and sunglasses.
There are a good range of movies in the run up to Christmas, so we always have an evening activity. Tonight is Men in Black 2, which should be fun. Nearly all the Czech people have given up and left, only a few jobseekers remain - an Ozzie, some Americans and Germans.
Thus, from social study, I can tell you the only thing that makes a German man laugh these days is the point in Family Guy where a rooster appears and has a bar fight for a good five minutes. Possibly linked in to the bird/violence thing, is that German women all appeared to be terrified by ducklings, because they scream and run shouting German swear words everytime a hopeful duckling approaches them.
There are a good range of movies in the run up to Christmas, so we always have an evening activity. Tonight is Men in Black 2, which should be fun. Nearly all the Czech people have given up and left, only a few jobseekers remain - an Ozzie, some Americans and Germans.
Thus, from social study, I can tell you the only thing that makes a German man laugh these days is the point in Family Guy where a rooster appears and has a bar fight for a good five minutes. Possibly linked in to the bird/violence thing, is that German women all appeared to be terrified by ducklings, because they scream and run shouting German swear words everytime a hopeful duckling approaches them.
Thursday 17 December 2009
Cinema
Something very surreal just occurred. Santa, his sleigh and half a dozen fibre-glass, aerodynamic reindeer just zoomed past me. I was standing near our tent at the time. In the very warm evening sunshine. Holding a box of cake. Bizarre has a new picture in the dictionary.
Anyways, prior to this experience, we had awoken, decided that the day seemed warm, but had the potential to go very cold and very wet and set off into town regardless. We didn't even take raincoats. Thats how reckless we are.
We paced into the town, along the concrete pavements that glare the sunlight back up and probably work to tan the underside of your throat...we grabbed a subway and then headed to the cinema, to watch Avatar, out today!
After seeing five trailers (and wanting to watch every single film they advertised but now, remembering none of them) we saw Avatar. It was awesome. Even Alex could not complain about the graphics and the creativity behind the world of Pandora was amazing, the story grabbed your interest and its going onto my top ten list, a rare and mystical place for a movie to nest. However, there were four teenage girls behind us who did nothing but kick the chairs, talk (loudly) and snicker at everything. They don't know how close they came to total anhiliation. Luckily, Alex and I are very tolerant people.
We went to New World and at the urging of all parents, who seem to think that the first thing we would abandon in a monetary crisis would be food (so wrong, we both love the food), splashed out on some yummy goodness to keep us alive and well until we abandon Hastings for Auckland. We got the shopping home while having a debate about the merits of warfare vs. native populations and how Avatar was a possible metaphor for the current war in the Middle East. After our spout of intelligence, we were exhausted and lay out in the sunshine by the river, having dinner and cake, to the immense interest of the ducks, which circled us.
This is how I came to be sytanding by the tent, holding the box of cake to be returned to the tent, when Santa whipped on past to the accompaniment of Christmas jingles.
Anyways, prior to this experience, we had awoken, decided that the day seemed warm, but had the potential to go very cold and very wet and set off into town regardless. We didn't even take raincoats. Thats how reckless we are.
We paced into the town, along the concrete pavements that glare the sunlight back up and probably work to tan the underside of your throat...we grabbed a subway and then headed to the cinema, to watch Avatar, out today!
After seeing five trailers (and wanting to watch every single film they advertised but now, remembering none of them) we saw Avatar. It was awesome. Even Alex could not complain about the graphics and the creativity behind the world of Pandora was amazing, the story grabbed your interest and its going onto my top ten list, a rare and mystical place for a movie to nest. However, there were four teenage girls behind us who did nothing but kick the chairs, talk (loudly) and snicker at everything. They don't know how close they came to total anhiliation. Luckily, Alex and I are very tolerant people.
We went to New World and at the urging of all parents, who seem to think that the first thing we would abandon in a monetary crisis would be food (so wrong, we both love the food), splashed out on some yummy goodness to keep us alive and well until we abandon Hastings for Auckland. We got the shopping home while having a debate about the merits of warfare vs. native populations and how Avatar was a possible metaphor for the current war in the Middle East. After our spout of intelligence, we were exhausted and lay out in the sunshine by the river, having dinner and cake, to the immense interest of the ducks, which circled us.
This is how I came to be sytanding by the tent, holding the box of cake to be returned to the tent, when Santa whipped on past to the accompaniment of Christmas jingles.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
Cold
Obviously the teasing about the heat has gained some sort of negative karma - the temperature has dropped, last night was very cold! It has not got better throughout the day either, its still chilly and there was a sudden and unexpected thunderstorm after lunch. The sky darkened, thunder rolled and the rain came down, heavy as small rodents flung out of the sky and just as noisy.
We were concerned our tent would have been flattened, but it seems to have miraculously withstood the onslaught. I have spent the day reading a sci-fi book (the second of the three I found in the lounge) and Alex Mayaed away the day with some helpful online tutorials.
We have no nice foods at all left, just endless grim fish fillets and kumara to fill the hunger. We have one cookie left between us (who sells cookies in packets of nine? It is cruel and unneccessary) and nothing else but the tempting smells of the other campers cuisines, all who have for some reason started making Thai curries full of fresh ingrediants, no doubt with their paychecks...Czechs are obviously more employable than we are.
Anyway. 8 days to go and we can go back to Auckland, our hotel and the rest of our holiday!
We were concerned our tent would have been flattened, but it seems to have miraculously withstood the onslaught. I have spent the day reading a sci-fi book (the second of the three I found in the lounge) and Alex Mayaed away the day with some helpful online tutorials.
We have no nice foods at all left, just endless grim fish fillets and kumara to fill the hunger. We have one cookie left between us (who sells cookies in packets of nine? It is cruel and unneccessary) and nothing else but the tempting smells of the other campers cuisines, all who have for some reason started making Thai curries full of fresh ingrediants, no doubt with their paychecks...Czechs are obviously more employable than we are.
Anyway. 8 days to go and we can go back to Auckland, our hotel and the rest of our holiday!
Monday 14 December 2009
Ketchup
Okay, so this post has nothing whatsoever to do with ketchup, but it sounds almost like 'Catch Up' which would have been my title today if it were not for the fact that it involves two words where I like to have just one.
So, after the excitement of Splash Planet, things have been a little quiet round here. We have, however had beautiful sunny hot weather nearly every day though, which definately gets the thumbs up from me!
We have, somehow, managed to occupy ourselves wiht very little issue the last few days. We spent Thursday reading and watching movies. We also had to say goodbye to Dion, who after returning from work with a roast chicken and a six-pack of beer was having a merry 'ole chat with Alex before being escorted off-site by the campsite owner due to his involvement with the police the other day. So we lost his company and now there are only Czech people, everywhere. I have no idea why every other person hanging about here waiting for a job offer is Czech, but so the matter stands. As we can't speak Czech (dang the English idea that their language will get them anywhere!) we all just mutter 'Hello' at each other and then get to ignoring.
Friday, I have asked Alex and searched my mind and I have no idea what we did. So that was obviously thrilling.
Saturday, we took a trip into town to do a very concentrated and highly-thought out shopping list of food to last us as long as possible over the next two weeks. We also meandered down to the 40% off sale at the Warehouse and purchased cookies, a Christmas tree and some tinsel. So cheap, it was unbelievable. We were very pleased however, especially as our four pound tree includes fibre optics!
Sunday, I awoke from a dream in which we were scrambling up a hill to get away from the tsunami about to destroy the campsite. During the day, Alex was building a Roman soldier in 3D while I practiced drawing. I also made lots of exciting lists and we both calculated how much we need to earn once we are back in England and touched up our CVs and wrote various cover letters, yada yada. Tres fun. Then, in the evening we watched the tv film premiere of 'Ratatouille' which was awesome, if weird and returned to our tinsel-bedecked tent and watched our tree change colour for a while before passing out to sleep.
Today, Monday, the sky is grey, the air is full of water and we are sitting inside. I have done some more sketching, Alex some more 3D work. I found some sci-fi books and 'The Three Musketeers' behind the bookshelf in the lounge and I have kidnapped them to read. All is good. We have fruitbread.
So, after the excitement of Splash Planet, things have been a little quiet round here. We have, however had beautiful sunny hot weather nearly every day though, which definately gets the thumbs up from me!
We have, somehow, managed to occupy ourselves wiht very little issue the last few days. We spent Thursday reading and watching movies. We also had to say goodbye to Dion, who after returning from work with a roast chicken and a six-pack of beer was having a merry 'ole chat with Alex before being escorted off-site by the campsite owner due to his involvement with the police the other day. So we lost his company and now there are only Czech people, everywhere. I have no idea why every other person hanging about here waiting for a job offer is Czech, but so the matter stands. As we can't speak Czech (dang the English idea that their language will get them anywhere!) we all just mutter 'Hello' at each other and then get to ignoring.
Friday, I have asked Alex and searched my mind and I have no idea what we did. So that was obviously thrilling.
Saturday, we took a trip into town to do a very concentrated and highly-thought out shopping list of food to last us as long as possible over the next two weeks. We also meandered down to the 40% off sale at the Warehouse and purchased cookies, a Christmas tree and some tinsel. So cheap, it was unbelievable. We were very pleased however, especially as our four pound tree includes fibre optics!
Sunday, I awoke from a dream in which we were scrambling up a hill to get away from the tsunami about to destroy the campsite. During the day, Alex was building a Roman soldier in 3D while I practiced drawing. I also made lots of exciting lists and we both calculated how much we need to earn once we are back in England and touched up our CVs and wrote various cover letters, yada yada. Tres fun. Then, in the evening we watched the tv film premiere of 'Ratatouille' which was awesome, if weird and returned to our tinsel-bedecked tent and watched our tree change colour for a while before passing out to sleep.
Today, Monday, the sky is grey, the air is full of water and we are sitting inside. I have done some more sketching, Alex some more 3D work. I found some sci-fi books and 'The Three Musketeers' behind the bookshelf in the lounge and I have kidnapped them to read. All is good. We have fruitbread.
Wednesday 9 December 2009
Wednesday
Ah, but the sleeping was good last night! The difference a block of velour-coated air makes to your back and head! In fact, it was so good that despite the early morning heat that smothered the tent, Alex did not wake up for two hours after I had woken up and I practically starved waiting for him to unfurl from his sleeping bag cocoon. I have, logically, analysed his sleeping style as being not unlike that of a duckling, thus his affiniation with the feathered natives.
After a beautiful breakfast of apple porridge, hot chocolate and nutella filled rolls (you can eat well on a budget!), we decided on a visit to SplashPlanet. Now, part of this campsites attraction is that it offers massive discounts on pre-bought tickets to SplashPlanet. It was a hot, sunny day, we thought, why not go to a swimming pool?
This was more than a swimming pool! There was a never-ending river, about five different slides and rides involving floats and tubes and loads of dry activities too. It was a water-theme park! So we arrived, full of excitement, changed into swimming gear and queued up for our first activity 'Formula Fun'. Obviously, this involved karting around a track in full on racing regalia. It was great, I had an electric blue vehicle, Alex was in a red one (ferrari, don't you know). We zoomed around the track, vying with the other four drivers on corners and skidding tyres on the straight. Alex overtook me on a hill, the sneaky boy and took the lead away from me!
After our dry car adventure, we decided to brace ourselves for the cool water of the pool, the sudden and unstoppable way - on a giant, double loop tube down a large twisty waterslide! We lugged our tube up the steps and boarded, then pushed off, into the unknown! Surfice to say, it was chilly at the other end, but a brilliant ride! We practically fell off the tube after one vertical turn.
We took the daylight skyride (an open tube high above the park) and then the dark skyride (literally pitch black. I almost did an unexpected loop the loop when I took a corner I couldn't see on the uber-slippery mat I was riding). Then, we swooshed into the Never-Ending River, grabbed a couple of thick foam floats and then did magic carpet impressions as we floated around the park's circumference on the fast-flowing water.
We did many repeats of the slides, exhausting ourselves with the steps up. Then we took a break to go and sit in the hot pools, although these were not nearly as hot as we were expecting (having been in the real thing) and rather noisy due to all the small kids. We vacated the hot pools in favour of the indoor slide, the 'Master Blaster' which was vertiginously twisting and all in the dark as well! I almost scooted over the edge when it opened out and the corner turned too vigerously.
We gathered our stuff from the lockers and dried off in the sunshine (about five minutes, done and dried) and then headed back to the campsite to rustle up some dinner. Just as we finished eating, Dion, the guy from the kitchen the other day, turned up and we had a lengthy conversation about New Zealand and so on. He is a native, from up in the Northland and so generous! He has given me a book on Maori language and offered Alex a bag of mince from the freezer so he doesn't starve on vege rations.
By the end of the convo, we were pretty hungry again, so we made some soup and toast and are just relaxing in the lounge now, trying to get some work done and do the research that we love so much. Hmm.
Maybe the beautiful cats will show up again, as they did last night. They are very vocal. Two are black with white whiskers, one plush with a plume for his tail, the other skinny with a chunk out of her ear. The other is giant, poofy, white and grey and aloof.
Lets hope the weather sticks - the forecast is for rain tomorrow (Doh) but the West coast has had (and I quote from the weather lady) 1119 lightning strikes today! Eeep! Also a note about the TV - has anyone at home seen the new Heinekin advert, with the walk-in wardrobes? Hilarious!!!
After a beautiful breakfast of apple porridge, hot chocolate and nutella filled rolls (you can eat well on a budget!), we decided on a visit to SplashPlanet. Now, part of this campsites attraction is that it offers massive discounts on pre-bought tickets to SplashPlanet. It was a hot, sunny day, we thought, why not go to a swimming pool?
This was more than a swimming pool! There was a never-ending river, about five different slides and rides involving floats and tubes and loads of dry activities too. It was a water-theme park! So we arrived, full of excitement, changed into swimming gear and queued up for our first activity 'Formula Fun'. Obviously, this involved karting around a track in full on racing regalia. It was great, I had an electric blue vehicle, Alex was in a red one (ferrari, don't you know). We zoomed around the track, vying with the other four drivers on corners and skidding tyres on the straight. Alex overtook me on a hill, the sneaky boy and took the lead away from me!
After our dry car adventure, we decided to brace ourselves for the cool water of the pool, the sudden and unstoppable way - on a giant, double loop tube down a large twisty waterslide! We lugged our tube up the steps and boarded, then pushed off, into the unknown! Surfice to say, it was chilly at the other end, but a brilliant ride! We practically fell off the tube after one vertical turn.
We took the daylight skyride (an open tube high above the park) and then the dark skyride (literally pitch black. I almost did an unexpected loop the loop when I took a corner I couldn't see on the uber-slippery mat I was riding). Then, we swooshed into the Never-Ending River, grabbed a couple of thick foam floats and then did magic carpet impressions as we floated around the park's circumference on the fast-flowing water.
We did many repeats of the slides, exhausting ourselves with the steps up. Then we took a break to go and sit in the hot pools, although these were not nearly as hot as we were expecting (having been in the real thing) and rather noisy due to all the small kids. We vacated the hot pools in favour of the indoor slide, the 'Master Blaster' which was vertiginously twisting and all in the dark as well! I almost scooted over the edge when it opened out and the corner turned too vigerously.
We gathered our stuff from the lockers and dried off in the sunshine (about five minutes, done and dried) and then headed back to the campsite to rustle up some dinner. Just as we finished eating, Dion, the guy from the kitchen the other day, turned up and we had a lengthy conversation about New Zealand and so on. He is a native, from up in the Northland and so generous! He has given me a book on Maori language and offered Alex a bag of mince from the freezer so he doesn't starve on vege rations.
By the end of the convo, we were pretty hungry again, so we made some soup and toast and are just relaxing in the lounge now, trying to get some work done and do the research that we love so much. Hmm.
Maybe the beautiful cats will show up again, as they did last night. They are very vocal. Two are black with white whiskers, one plush with a plume for his tail, the other skinny with a chunk out of her ear. The other is giant, poofy, white and grey and aloof.
Lets hope the weather sticks - the forecast is for rain tomorrow (Doh) but the West coast has had (and I quote from the weather lady) 1119 lightning strikes today! Eeep! Also a note about the TV - has anyone at home seen the new Heinekin advert, with the walk-in wardrobes? Hilarious!!!
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Tuesday
We were in shock when we awoke this morning. It was actually sunny and hot, for the second day in a row! That is two out of nine!
We embraced this gorgeous cloud-free weather by scrambling out of the tent and towards the kitchens for our hearty winter breakfast of porridge, which we may have added too much 'milk' (e.g. water and powdered milk) to and turned out more the consistency and colour of flu-induced mucus. Yum.
After such a grim fuelling, we headed out of the campsite and braved the world beyond, determined to go to town and explore. We wandered the streets of Hastings, which, despite its general lack of actual activities/anything at all to do is very pretty. Possibly the prettiest habitation in New Zealand. Many of the towns and cities are based along the main road in a long line, bungalows with lots of corrugated iron laying about. Hastings however is awash with sculptural fountains, ponds, green swathes of grass and many flower baskets rioting in colour.
We went intho the Warehouse and caved to the cheapness. We bought, after much price comparision and searching, the cheapest air bed in the store. Now, it works out at 40 pence a night for pure, squishy air-filled comfort. Bliss.
We also bought (on an amazing price) 50 multicoloured fairy lights and two red felt stockings with green felt trim and printed holly. They are amazing and cost us no more than, wait for it...three whole pounds! Bargainous! Ah, so happy with the stockings to decorate our Christmas hotel. We have a plan to raid the two-dollar shop for stocking fillers. It is going to be awesome!
Then, we had a subway sandwich (so many vege, meat for Alex, yet cheap!) Yes, we are obsessed with cheap. Still no jobs.
We went to New World, the supermarket of true brilliance in the Southern Hemisphere, and got some more food to keep us going. Then (long, arduous, hot walk), back at the campsite we cleared out the tent, blew up the airbed and stuffed it inside while feeling light headed from the air loss. Ah, so comfy. So worth it. I am actually looking forward to going to bed tonight.
We made dinner and sat outside to eat it, enjoying the heat and the sparrows. We're going to scope out the movie channel to see if anything good is on tonight.
In the meantime, plans continue for the future. We cannot continue the mega-trip we had planned without cash. So, we are thinking that breaking the trip down is the way to go. This obviously requires working in the inbetween times, so we have pretty much decided to embark on the next obvious stage availible to us - return home and work! Once there is money in the bank...onwards and upwards!
We embraced this gorgeous cloud-free weather by scrambling out of the tent and towards the kitchens for our hearty winter breakfast of porridge, which we may have added too much 'milk' (e.g. water and powdered milk) to and turned out more the consistency and colour of flu-induced mucus. Yum.
After such a grim fuelling, we headed out of the campsite and braved the world beyond, determined to go to town and explore. We wandered the streets of Hastings, which, despite its general lack of actual activities/anything at all to do is very pretty. Possibly the prettiest habitation in New Zealand. Many of the towns and cities are based along the main road in a long line, bungalows with lots of corrugated iron laying about. Hastings however is awash with sculptural fountains, ponds, green swathes of grass and many flower baskets rioting in colour.
We went intho the Warehouse and caved to the cheapness. We bought, after much price comparision and searching, the cheapest air bed in the store. Now, it works out at 40 pence a night for pure, squishy air-filled comfort. Bliss.
We also bought (on an amazing price) 50 multicoloured fairy lights and two red felt stockings with green felt trim and printed holly. They are amazing and cost us no more than, wait for it...three whole pounds! Bargainous! Ah, so happy with the stockings to decorate our Christmas hotel. We have a plan to raid the two-dollar shop for stocking fillers. It is going to be awesome!
Then, we had a subway sandwich (so many vege, meat for Alex, yet cheap!) Yes, we are obsessed with cheap. Still no jobs.
We went to New World, the supermarket of true brilliance in the Southern Hemisphere, and got some more food to keep us going. Then (long, arduous, hot walk), back at the campsite we cleared out the tent, blew up the airbed and stuffed it inside while feeling light headed from the air loss. Ah, so comfy. So worth it. I am actually looking forward to going to bed tonight.
We made dinner and sat outside to eat it, enjoying the heat and the sparrows. We're going to scope out the movie channel to see if anything good is on tonight.
In the meantime, plans continue for the future. We cannot continue the mega-trip we had planned without cash. So, we are thinking that breaking the trip down is the way to go. This obviously requires working in the inbetween times, so we have pretty much decided to embark on the next obvious stage availible to us - return home and work! Once there is money in the bank...onwards and upwards!
Monday 7 December 2009
Monday
Today, it was sunny again, yay for us! We started out with our 'Very Berry' porridge and marvelled about the heat of the sun in December and the ability to eat porridge outside and not get pneumonia.
Then we settled in for some hardocre work, Alex on his maya project for his portfolio and I on reading my book, slowly.
We had olives and pasta and cheese for lunch which was highly enjoyable. I finished the second of the books in my omnibus selection which was galling. I just can't refrain! I attempted, by making tasty nutella toast for snackage and thawing the nutella out with hot water as we'd left it in the fridge. This was time consuming, thus not book reading time, thus good. It didn't make a blind bit of difference however, I finished the third and last book of the omnibus just before dinnertime, despite trying to distract myself. Doh. Now I have nothing to do. We made a tasty concoction for dinner and then headed back to the tent, one for a change of scene from the lounge and two, to enjoy the less laser-like rays of the evening sunshine.
We have spent a lot of time thinking about our options. Obviously, we have run aground as far as money goes. The jobs are not forthcoming. We are spending time researching and thinking of variously crazy slash practical ideas for the future. Who knows what will happen? Watch this space, I daresay the decision will have to be made shortly!
Then we settled in for some hardocre work, Alex on his maya project for his portfolio and I on reading my book, slowly.
We had olives and pasta and cheese for lunch which was highly enjoyable. I finished the second of the books in my omnibus selection which was galling. I just can't refrain! I attempted, by making tasty nutella toast for snackage and thawing the nutella out with hot water as we'd left it in the fridge. This was time consuming, thus not book reading time, thus good. It didn't make a blind bit of difference however, I finished the third and last book of the omnibus just before dinnertime, despite trying to distract myself. Doh. Now I have nothing to do. We made a tasty concoction for dinner and then headed back to the tent, one for a change of scene from the lounge and two, to enjoy the less laser-like rays of the evening sunshine.
We have spent a lot of time thinking about our options. Obviously, we have run aground as far as money goes. The jobs are not forthcoming. We are spending time researching and thinking of variously crazy slash practical ideas for the future. Who knows what will happen? Watch this space, I daresay the decision will have to be made shortly!
Sunday 6 December 2009
SUN
The sun came out! Today was warm! Sunny! We had to apply our brand new, super amazing factor 70 sunscreen! Yes, there is such a thing as factor 70! There is even 85, but the shop didn't stock it...
Ah Sun. How we have missed thee.
Ah Sun. How we have missed thee.
Saturday 5 December 2009
Sofa
I have so many aches from sleeping repeatedly on the ground. It is unbelieveably solid, despite the fact that there must be an underground river flowing through it by now.
We woke at 5am, to see the rain actually causing dents to appear in the top of the tent. Dragging ourselves through the rain to the kitchen, we made our porridge breakfast (we bought exciting flavoured satchets of porridge oats to enliven the monotonous regime of porridge) and chatted to the guy also in the kitchen cooking. Guess what he was making? He was cooking up a whole pan (read=20) of giant green-lipped mussels. For breakfast. Having been up since 2am at Cape Kidnappers, diving for them.
This guy eats more food than I can even comprehend eating in a week, let alone one sitting. The other day, he was making dinner. This involved five fried eggs, six lamb cutlets, three garlic breads and ten sausages. I am not even kidding. This morning, for breakfast, other than the mussels he had four sausage sandwiches and a french baguette filled with a whole cow. Okay, maybe that last was a little exageratted, but otherwise, yup, those are his eating habits. I do not know how 1) He has the time to cook and eat all this stuff, 2) How he has time in between cooking and eating this stuff to work enough to afford it all and 3) How anyone's stomuch can take that amount of food on a constant basis! He is also unfailingly generous and friendly, offering anyone around a share. This morning, Alex tried a fresh cooked, caught two hours previously mussel. I demurred, as it was a copped coloured squidge complete with rusty black breathing tubes and squelchy white stretchy bits attached to the shell. I like the shells, not the inhabitants! Apparently, it was really chewy and tasted of salt. Not surprising, really, but defiately not my preferred breakfast of choice!
Anyways, we hung out in the lounge again and Alex started up something new on the laptop for his portfolio. I read a magazine full of shiny pictures. We had some beans on toast for lunch and I bemoaned the Kiwi need to make everything sweet and their seeming hatred of hot foods.
We moved to the sofas and I started in on my book. We had music videos in the background. All the other backpackers were hanging about too, all reading and moping about the weather.
Then, amazingly, the sun came out and the rain stopped. Blue sky began to appear. We all gathered at the windows in sheer amazement. Then, fast as it had appeared, as if to give us false hope, it disappeared again. Its not raining (yet) but it is definately grey. Doh.
We had some exciting distraction in the form of the police showing up wanting to talk to the guy who cooks all the massive amounts of food - turns out he'd bashed osmeone attempting to rob his car on the head and the robber had complained to the police. But he was offskies anyways - he drove past and waved at me as I was returning to the lounge after a pasta-fetching mission form the tent!
A car race came on and absorbed Alex into its distracting circuits and crashes. I decided to do some mindless things on the laptop for a while, instead of consuming my book within one day. We had dinner, chocolate (amazing stuff with cherry flavoured jelly beans and bits of biscuit included in the chocolate) and watched Legally Blonde 2 on the tv with another couple. Now it is dark and it is time to re-greet to solid mattress of doom known to others as the ground. Joy.
We woke at 5am, to see the rain actually causing dents to appear in the top of the tent. Dragging ourselves through the rain to the kitchen, we made our porridge breakfast (we bought exciting flavoured satchets of porridge oats to enliven the monotonous regime of porridge) and chatted to the guy also in the kitchen cooking. Guess what he was making? He was cooking up a whole pan (read=20) of giant green-lipped mussels. For breakfast. Having been up since 2am at Cape Kidnappers, diving for them.
This guy eats more food than I can even comprehend eating in a week, let alone one sitting. The other day, he was making dinner. This involved five fried eggs, six lamb cutlets, three garlic breads and ten sausages. I am not even kidding. This morning, for breakfast, other than the mussels he had four sausage sandwiches and a french baguette filled with a whole cow. Okay, maybe that last was a little exageratted, but otherwise, yup, those are his eating habits. I do not know how 1) He has the time to cook and eat all this stuff, 2) How he has time in between cooking and eating this stuff to work enough to afford it all and 3) How anyone's stomuch can take that amount of food on a constant basis! He is also unfailingly generous and friendly, offering anyone around a share. This morning, Alex tried a fresh cooked, caught two hours previously mussel. I demurred, as it was a copped coloured squidge complete with rusty black breathing tubes and squelchy white stretchy bits attached to the shell. I like the shells, not the inhabitants! Apparently, it was really chewy and tasted of salt. Not surprising, really, but defiately not my preferred breakfast of choice!
Anyways, we hung out in the lounge again and Alex started up something new on the laptop for his portfolio. I read a magazine full of shiny pictures. We had some beans on toast for lunch and I bemoaned the Kiwi need to make everything sweet and their seeming hatred of hot foods.
We moved to the sofas and I started in on my book. We had music videos in the background. All the other backpackers were hanging about too, all reading and moping about the weather.
Then, amazingly, the sun came out and the rain stopped. Blue sky began to appear. We all gathered at the windows in sheer amazement. Then, fast as it had appeared, as if to give us false hope, it disappeared again. Its not raining (yet) but it is definately grey. Doh.
We had some exciting distraction in the form of the police showing up wanting to talk to the guy who cooks all the massive amounts of food - turns out he'd bashed osmeone attempting to rob his car on the head and the robber had complained to the police. But he was offskies anyways - he drove past and waved at me as I was returning to the lounge after a pasta-fetching mission form the tent!
A car race came on and absorbed Alex into its distracting circuits and crashes. I decided to do some mindless things on the laptop for a while, instead of consuming my book within one day. We had dinner, chocolate (amazing stuff with cherry flavoured jelly beans and bits of biscuit included in the chocolate) and watched Legally Blonde 2 on the tv with another couple. Now it is dark and it is time to re-greet to solid mattress of doom known to others as the ground. Joy.
Friday 4 December 2009
Torchlight
Well, we survived yesterday. The rain eventually ceased, around 5 in the evening so we were able to dry out our tent and possessions and get to sleep without the fear of potential drowning.
Of course, such surcease could not last and it was flippin' well raining again when we woke up this morning. Grr. Also, for some unknown reason, the birds decided that our sixth morning in the tent was the morning for splattering the tent in guano. Yay.
Anyways, we awaited the rain to stop, in hope of a dry run to the kitchen for breakfast and miraculously, it did! So we gobbled our cereal bars and emailed a few more random contractors. Then we decided to take a walk to the PickNZ office in Hastings City and see if us showing ourselves to be real and not virtual abnmormalities might secure us a job.
Well. We trumped, for miles upon miles, upon the hard concrete pavements of the urban sprawl. We went through an industiral estate, down a main road and round about a flowery residential area. We finally located the office (usefully hidden from hopeful jobseekers behind a fence and car park) and sat down to wait our turn. There were six teenagers, who did not appear to speak English, being put on file by the very loud, very harrassed-looking women on the desk. Finally, she looked up and around the office, noticed that about five more people ahd come in and announced 'If any of you are here looking for vacancies, there are none.'
Doh. We trudged all that way for nada.
We went round the circuit route and back in the main city where we salvaged our lost operation with subway for our late lunch (the whole debacle took three hours!!!) and I purchased a magazine and a book (honestly the heaviest book I have ever hefted. So did not think that one through before buying). Hopefully, these can keep me occupied long enough to let Alex work on his portfolio pieces successfully on the laptop. So, we forge ahead, using the spare time wisely...
Of course, we got back to the campsite and it appears the weather had decided to take a turn away from wet and more towards freezing. We made dinner and huddled with everyone else in the lounge, watching Glee, the awesome musical drama they have here and then AotearoHA!, a comedy sketch show. Somewhere, in the middle of all this hilarity, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Again.
We made a run for the tent, which does not appear to be leaking (!) and now we have to settle down for the night, with bucketloads of water bouncing off the top of our tent. I guess at least it will clean off the bird droppings.
Of course, such surcease could not last and it was flippin' well raining again when we woke up this morning. Grr. Also, for some unknown reason, the birds decided that our sixth morning in the tent was the morning for splattering the tent in guano. Yay.
Anyways, we awaited the rain to stop, in hope of a dry run to the kitchen for breakfast and miraculously, it did! So we gobbled our cereal bars and emailed a few more random contractors. Then we decided to take a walk to the PickNZ office in Hastings City and see if us showing ourselves to be real and not virtual abnmormalities might secure us a job.
Well. We trumped, for miles upon miles, upon the hard concrete pavements of the urban sprawl. We went through an industiral estate, down a main road and round about a flowery residential area. We finally located the office (usefully hidden from hopeful jobseekers behind a fence and car park) and sat down to wait our turn. There were six teenagers, who did not appear to speak English, being put on file by the very loud, very harrassed-looking women on the desk. Finally, she looked up and around the office, noticed that about five more people ahd come in and announced 'If any of you are here looking for vacancies, there are none.'
Doh. We trudged all that way for nada.
We went round the circuit route and back in the main city where we salvaged our lost operation with subway for our late lunch (the whole debacle took three hours!!!) and I purchased a magazine and a book (honestly the heaviest book I have ever hefted. So did not think that one through before buying). Hopefully, these can keep me occupied long enough to let Alex work on his portfolio pieces successfully on the laptop. So, we forge ahead, using the spare time wisely...
Of course, we got back to the campsite and it appears the weather had decided to take a turn away from wet and more towards freezing. We made dinner and huddled with everyone else in the lounge, watching Glee, the awesome musical drama they have here and then AotearoHA!, a comedy sketch show. Somewhere, in the middle of all this hilarity, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Again.
We made a run for the tent, which does not appear to be leaking (!) and now we have to settle down for the night, with bucketloads of water bouncing off the top of our tent. I guess at least it will clean off the bird droppings.
Thursday 3 December 2009
Torrential
Okay. It is 8 in the morning. It has rained solidly for 15 hours, no pause. What is more, it has POURED. This is no drizzly, mizzly half-hearted rain. This is full on torrential monsoon type water descending from the sky.
Our tent just cannot take it anymore, the seams are so full of water that they have started leaking. We have wrapped all our possessions (gladly, not much as Val agreed to take some of the bulkier items back to the UK for us) in black plastic bags and retreated to the lounge again, to make serious friends with the sofas.
Our tent just cannot take it anymore, the seams are so full of water that they have started leaking. We have wrapped all our possessions (gladly, not much as Val agreed to take some of the bulkier items back to the UK for us) in black plastic bags and retreated to the lounge again, to make serious friends with the sofas.
Wednesday 2 December 2009
Time
We were lounging about on our second full day here in Hawkes Bay, watching the phone and obsessively checking our emails, while watching a bizarre film from reception that another bored camper couple had rented out and put on in the movie room. It was called Lonely Hearts and starred John Travolta and Salma Hayuk being a psychopath.
Anyways, it was during this odd film that we got a phone call from Val and Bren. They had successfully visisted the gardens in Hamilton, glow wormed it up in the caves in Waitomo and trekked round the volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park. Now they were in Napier and ready to rendevous once again. They arrived in the campsite and located our tent, where we introduced them to the 15 golden ducklings that like to hang around our tent. We had a brief lecture from a randomer about sadistic children attacking the ducklings, and to stay on our guard (!) and then off we went, to explore!
We directed them to the New World supermarket in Hastings, the best supermarket I have so far seen in NZ. It is so pretty, they really put effort into the displays. All the vegetables are in hessian sacks or baskets, there is a salad bar, a deli, a chocolatier, a bakery, everything, in fact that one could want from a supermarket. There is also the top notch cafe they have out the back where Alex and I ate the day before.
Alex and I offered to concoct dinner and so swept around the aisles picking up ingrediants for our special - ricotta and spinach stuffed baked cannelloni! Once we had procured these vitalities, we set off for Val and Bren's motel room and kitchen facilities where we mixed and stuffed and prepped and baked until dinner was served, all on matching plates (not plastic!) and round an actual table! Novelties all.
We were driven back to our little tent in the rain and retired to bed. The weather did not imporve, it was still raining the next morning. Val and Bren picked us up again and kindly offered to take us on a tour of the orchards in the hope that showing our faces to would-be employers may sway them into offering us jobs. Alas, no such luck. After visiting over seven different places and being point blank refused at all of them, we couldn't take the rejection any longer. We headed to Mission Bay Winery, the oldest in NZ, and very pretty and grand. There, we headed to the fancy restaurant and had some lovely lunch, surrounded by gilt mirrors and ruched red silk blinds. We took a stroll out onto the terrace, looking out over the vineyard and towards the sea and the sun actually started to peep out from behind the rainclouds!
Once back in Napier city, we wandered along the Marine Parade, dodging cyclists and admiring the view. We looked over some beautiful gardens and innovative water features, remembering the story of Pania of the Reef and generally enjoying the return of the sunshine. Then, it was decided that we go and play mini-golf, although whose idea this was I do not know!
I have never played before and the first hole was a perfect example of this. No beginner's luck for me, 6+ 'gentle taps' and the ball was obstinately refusing to go into the hole. However, things picked up, my ball getting closer and closer to the hole with each successive green, until I actually scored a hole-in-one! Round a corner as well! Skills! Alex scored his hole-in-one on the first green, showing off his golfing prowess and Val got one round a random boulder stuck in the centre of the green. Some of them are deceptively innocent looking, when really they are filled with slopes and tricky corner bits. Grr.
Back at the motel, we had a tasty tasty supper of cheese (proper cheese! Not pre-sliced!), olives, bread, anzac biscuits, caramel slice, wafers, ooh it was yummy. I ate too much.
Back at the campsite, Alex and I sat by the river for a while to see the sun go down. By morning, it had turned from a breathtakingly beautiful golden sky to a black rainy one. Doh.
I was mobbed by the ducklings as I got out of the tent this morning to brush my teeth. They have got to know us now and were jumping on my feet and squeaking at me. Alex brought the camera out and they charged him too, just as Val and Bren pulled up. Once ready, we set out to do an educational tour of the Art Deco buildings Napier is famous for. We admired the rather lovely gardens and the bizarre trees lining the streets which appeared to be decked out with little bells or dirigible plums.
Then, we dropped Bren off in town so she could attend a more detailed Art Deco tour around Napier and said our goodbyes until Oz, then the rest of us headed back to the campsite for lunch. We made some tasty packet macaroni (helped along by generous quantities of real cheese) and had some carrot cake, then set of for Te Mata peak, despite the lingering rainfall. However, by the time we got to the peak and whats more, had heaved ourselves up the vertical sides to the top, the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the view was incredible. We looked over craggy mountainous sides, smooth organised vineyards, beautiful manor houses, right down to the curved Bay, the golden sands and the blue waters of the sea. In the opposite direction, there were hundreds of hills, roughly popping out of the countryside and covered in an almost furry-looking grass.
We returned to the campsite and said our goodbyes, as this would be the last time we see Val in NZ. Sad times.
Alex and I tidied the tent and sat outside for a bit in the sunshine. Then, the sky went dark, the clouds turned purple and everything went very quiet. We decided to move to the tv lounge and 5 minutes after we had esconced ourselves on the sofas, the downpour came. The rain is so heavy, so relentless and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The wind picked up. We are concerned our tent will not be there when we go back, which we shall have to at 10pm tonight, when the tv lounge is locked up. Oh dear, and now the contingent of kids that arrived earlier are flooding (ahhh, flood possibility!) into the lounge too. This is not good!
Anyways, it was during this odd film that we got a phone call from Val and Bren. They had successfully visisted the gardens in Hamilton, glow wormed it up in the caves in Waitomo and trekked round the volcanoes in the Tongariro National Park. Now they were in Napier and ready to rendevous once again. They arrived in the campsite and located our tent, where we introduced them to the 15 golden ducklings that like to hang around our tent. We had a brief lecture from a randomer about sadistic children attacking the ducklings, and to stay on our guard (!) and then off we went, to explore!
We directed them to the New World supermarket in Hastings, the best supermarket I have so far seen in NZ. It is so pretty, they really put effort into the displays. All the vegetables are in hessian sacks or baskets, there is a salad bar, a deli, a chocolatier, a bakery, everything, in fact that one could want from a supermarket. There is also the top notch cafe they have out the back where Alex and I ate the day before.
Alex and I offered to concoct dinner and so swept around the aisles picking up ingrediants for our special - ricotta and spinach stuffed baked cannelloni! Once we had procured these vitalities, we set off for Val and Bren's motel room and kitchen facilities where we mixed and stuffed and prepped and baked until dinner was served, all on matching plates (not plastic!) and round an actual table! Novelties all.
We were driven back to our little tent in the rain and retired to bed. The weather did not imporve, it was still raining the next morning. Val and Bren picked us up again and kindly offered to take us on a tour of the orchards in the hope that showing our faces to would-be employers may sway them into offering us jobs. Alas, no such luck. After visiting over seven different places and being point blank refused at all of them, we couldn't take the rejection any longer. We headed to Mission Bay Winery, the oldest in NZ, and very pretty and grand. There, we headed to the fancy restaurant and had some lovely lunch, surrounded by gilt mirrors and ruched red silk blinds. We took a stroll out onto the terrace, looking out over the vineyard and towards the sea and the sun actually started to peep out from behind the rainclouds!
Once back in Napier city, we wandered along the Marine Parade, dodging cyclists and admiring the view. We looked over some beautiful gardens and innovative water features, remembering the story of Pania of the Reef and generally enjoying the return of the sunshine. Then, it was decided that we go and play mini-golf, although whose idea this was I do not know!
I have never played before and the first hole was a perfect example of this. No beginner's luck for me, 6+ 'gentle taps' and the ball was obstinately refusing to go into the hole. However, things picked up, my ball getting closer and closer to the hole with each successive green, until I actually scored a hole-in-one! Round a corner as well! Skills! Alex scored his hole-in-one on the first green, showing off his golfing prowess and Val got one round a random boulder stuck in the centre of the green. Some of them are deceptively innocent looking, when really they are filled with slopes and tricky corner bits. Grr.
Back at the motel, we had a tasty tasty supper of cheese (proper cheese! Not pre-sliced!), olives, bread, anzac biscuits, caramel slice, wafers, ooh it was yummy. I ate too much.
Back at the campsite, Alex and I sat by the river for a while to see the sun go down. By morning, it had turned from a breathtakingly beautiful golden sky to a black rainy one. Doh.
I was mobbed by the ducklings as I got out of the tent this morning to brush my teeth. They have got to know us now and were jumping on my feet and squeaking at me. Alex brought the camera out and they charged him too, just as Val and Bren pulled up. Once ready, we set out to do an educational tour of the Art Deco buildings Napier is famous for. We admired the rather lovely gardens and the bizarre trees lining the streets which appeared to be decked out with little bells or dirigible plums.
Then, we dropped Bren off in town so she could attend a more detailed Art Deco tour around Napier and said our goodbyes until Oz, then the rest of us headed back to the campsite for lunch. We made some tasty packet macaroni (helped along by generous quantities of real cheese) and had some carrot cake, then set of for Te Mata peak, despite the lingering rainfall. However, by the time we got to the peak and whats more, had heaved ourselves up the vertical sides to the top, the sky had cleared, the sun was out and the view was incredible. We looked over craggy mountainous sides, smooth organised vineyards, beautiful manor houses, right down to the curved Bay, the golden sands and the blue waters of the sea. In the opposite direction, there were hundreds of hills, roughly popping out of the countryside and covered in an almost furry-looking grass.
We returned to the campsite and said our goodbyes, as this would be the last time we see Val in NZ. Sad times.
Alex and I tidied the tent and sat outside for a bit in the sunshine. Then, the sky went dark, the clouds turned purple and everything went very quiet. We decided to move to the tv lounge and 5 minutes after we had esconced ourselves on the sofas, the downpour came. The rain is so heavy, so relentless and it is just getting heavier and heavier. The wind picked up. We are concerned our tent will not be there when we go back, which we shall have to at 10pm tonight, when the tv lounge is locked up. Oh dear, and now the contingent of kids that arrived earlier are flooding (ahhh, flood possibility!) into the lounge too. This is not good!
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