The story:
Stephen and Anne, both in their late twenties, quit their jobs and left London. They took a year off. They first travelled to Australia, with a week in Tokyo on the way. After living and working in Sydney for three months they toured Australia for five months. They then spent two months exploring New Zealand using rental cars. They ended the year with two weeks of sun in Fiji, and a short jaunt in LA and San Fran. They then returned home, to a new life!
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
More photos
I've added 27 photos to Big Adventure Photos 7, and created a new folder, predictably titled Big Adventure Photos 8. Enjoy!
A bad day
We had a bad day driving up the coast to Paihia - the Bay of Islands. First, I found that I'd left my shower gel in the shower room at the hostel overnight and someone had nicked it. Grrr!
I wanted to be home. I hate sharing a hostel with a bunch of bloody theives. To be fair only a small minority of travellers are theives, but that's all you need. We're all on tight budgets here, so there's no excuse. We've not done too badly I suppose. Since leaving Sydney in May we've had the following items nicked from communal kitchens:
- one Tim Tam
- two lots of milk
- four Toffeepops
- some jam
The single Tim Tam is especially odd, since the thief left three others in the packet. Anne and I both suspect that I accidentally ate the Tim Tam myself and then forgot I'd done it.
Anyway, we drove for six hours, past Auckland and up to the Bay of Islands in holiday traffic, Anne with a bad back from the mattress in the hostel, and we were both in bad moods. Not with each other, just not happy. Grrr.
It didn't help when we arrived and didn't like the hostel we'd booked. We debated whether to go on a boat trip the following day. It's what you should do at the Bay of Islands, but we decided against it. We thought we'd do some history, then spend the day at the beach. However, it rained a lot that day so the beach was out.
Pay attention - History Bit
We did do our history bit though. New Zealand's only real history to speak of is the Treaty of Waitangi, and we went to Waitangi where the treaty was signed in 1840. This treaty was between the British Crown and the Maori tribes. It guaranteed their rights to their property, and gave them protection of the Crown. It's quite an amazing thing really, especially when you compare the Maoris' fate to that of the Australian Aborigines. The Maoris were actually recognised as the occupiers of the land - largely because they were warlike people and fought for it.
The treaty is now a controversial document. The Maori translation is said to be lacking, and it's said the Maoris didn't get what they thought they'd signed up to. In recent times a committee has been set up to deal with Maori grievances arising from the treaty in a practical way.
The Maori culture has a pretty big presence here in New Zealand (also called Aotearoa). Maori is an official language (hence the alternative name) and many signs are in Maori. The current (Labour) government are quite open minded, though this leads to many (white) citizens getting annoyed about Maoris (who, like Aussie Aborigines, are still an underclass) and writing in to newspapers. They also write a lot of angry things about Asian immigrants.
However, unlike in Australia, this Xenophobia is not encouraged and fueled by the bigoted government, so it's a bit nicer here.
(NB: Whilst the Kiwis get annoyed by all the Asians here, especially all the Chinese students around Auckland, they get a bit horrified when they hear that Chinese student numbers will be down in 2004 - meaning less money coming into the country!)
UK TV
Joy - we had another opportunity to see a bit of UK TV that night. This is good since all NZ TV is rubbish (at 4 million they don't have the population to warrant providing a decent TV service, it seems). Unfortunately the UK TV was World Idol. We dutifully sat through it and criticised the UK entrant Will Young's song. He sang a cover of The Doors song "Light My Fire". Brilliantly, whenever he sang the title line, fires lit up next to him. Very literal.
I bet he was thankful he wasn't singing a cover of Ian Dury's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick".
Movies!
The only films we've seen in the North Island have been the first two Lord of the Rings movies. However, we did get to see two on TV during the crap weather in Paihia. First was The Gift. This was an interesting supernatural thriller with Cate Blanchett as a fortune teller. I figured out who the killer was, because I am brilliant, and have seen too many movies. Three and a half stars.
Next up was an Aussie film starring Billy Connelly, The Man Who Sues God. The Scot stars as a fisherman who sues God when the insurance won't pay out after an event they deem an act of said deity. It has its moments but I found it a bit sloppy and disappointing. Two stars.
Books!
Anne recommended I read a book she'd just finished, Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's a very self-aware autobiographical work that is often very funny. The bizarre style, where characters criticise the author's treatment of them in his writing, for the most part works. However, I found the second half a bit tiring.
Next up, I read Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is. This is a history of the number zero. I thought it'd be very interesting, but I was disappointing. A few of the more mathematical chapters were very good, but when he goes into history I found myself bored by the author's writing.
More better was Pompeii by Robert Harris - a bit of a departure for him, not involving WWII history. It was a good read, a slightly low-brow airport book really but pretty good fun. What made it more interesting for me is that Anne and I were there in 2002.
I wanted to be home. I hate sharing a hostel with a bunch of bloody theives. To be fair only a small minority of travellers are theives, but that's all you need. We're all on tight budgets here, so there's no excuse. We've not done too badly I suppose. Since leaving Sydney in May we've had the following items nicked from communal kitchens:
- one Tim Tam
- two lots of milk
- four Toffeepops
- some jam
The single Tim Tam is especially odd, since the thief left three others in the packet. Anne and I both suspect that I accidentally ate the Tim Tam myself and then forgot I'd done it.
Anyway, we drove for six hours, past Auckland and up to the Bay of Islands in holiday traffic, Anne with a bad back from the mattress in the hostel, and we were both in bad moods. Not with each other, just not happy. Grrr.
It didn't help when we arrived and didn't like the hostel we'd booked. We debated whether to go on a boat trip the following day. It's what you should do at the Bay of Islands, but we decided against it. We thought we'd do some history, then spend the day at the beach. However, it rained a lot that day so the beach was out.
Pay attention - History Bit
We did do our history bit though. New Zealand's only real history to speak of is the Treaty of Waitangi, and we went to Waitangi where the treaty was signed in 1840. This treaty was between the British Crown and the Maori tribes. It guaranteed their rights to their property, and gave them protection of the Crown. It's quite an amazing thing really, especially when you compare the Maoris' fate to that of the Australian Aborigines. The Maoris were actually recognised as the occupiers of the land - largely because they were warlike people and fought for it.
The treaty is now a controversial document. The Maori translation is said to be lacking, and it's said the Maoris didn't get what they thought they'd signed up to. In recent times a committee has been set up to deal with Maori grievances arising from the treaty in a practical way.
The Maori culture has a pretty big presence here in New Zealand (also called Aotearoa). Maori is an official language (hence the alternative name) and many signs are in Maori. The current (Labour) government are quite open minded, though this leads to many (white) citizens getting annoyed about Maoris (who, like Aussie Aborigines, are still an underclass) and writing in to newspapers. They also write a lot of angry things about Asian immigrants.
However, unlike in Australia, this Xenophobia is not encouraged and fueled by the bigoted government, so it's a bit nicer here.
(NB: Whilst the Kiwis get annoyed by all the Asians here, especially all the Chinese students around Auckland, they get a bit horrified when they hear that Chinese student numbers will be down in 2004 - meaning less money coming into the country!)
UK TV
Joy - we had another opportunity to see a bit of UK TV that night. This is good since all NZ TV is rubbish (at 4 million they don't have the population to warrant providing a decent TV service, it seems). Unfortunately the UK TV was World Idol. We dutifully sat through it and criticised the UK entrant Will Young's song. He sang a cover of The Doors song "Light My Fire". Brilliantly, whenever he sang the title line, fires lit up next to him. Very literal.
I bet he was thankful he wasn't singing a cover of Ian Dury's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick".
Movies!
The only films we've seen in the North Island have been the first two Lord of the Rings movies. However, we did get to see two on TV during the crap weather in Paihia. First was The Gift. This was an interesting supernatural thriller with Cate Blanchett as a fortune teller. I figured out who the killer was, because I am brilliant, and have seen too many movies. Three and a half stars.
Next up was an Aussie film starring Billy Connelly, The Man Who Sues God. The Scot stars as a fisherman who sues God when the insurance won't pay out after an event they deem an act of said deity. It has its moments but I found it a bit sloppy and disappointing. Two stars.
Books!
Anne recommended I read a book she'd just finished, Dave Eggers's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. It's a very self-aware autobiographical work that is often very funny. The bizarre style, where characters criticise the author's treatment of them in his writing, for the most part works. However, I found the second half a bit tiring.
Next up, I read Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is. This is a history of the number zero. I thought it'd be very interesting, but I was disappointing. A few of the more mathematical chapters were very good, but when he goes into history I found myself bored by the author's writing.
More better was Pompeii by Robert Harris - a bit of a departure for him, not involving WWII history. It was a good read, a slightly low-brow airport book really but pretty good fun. What made it more interesting for me is that Anne and I were there in 2002.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Stephen's Cold Water Creche
On Boxing Day afternoon, the weather turned nice and sunny. We'd finally managed to get through to our families on the phone in the morning, and drove out to Cathedral Cove in the afternoon. Cathedral Cove is a pleasant, picturesque beach, with a large cathedral-like gap in a rock, through which you have to walk to reach the beach. It was a 20 minute walk from the car park, with good views, and we enjoyed a splash about in the cold cold sea.
Then it was off to Hot Water Beach, a big attraction of the area. This is a beach under which are thermal springs. If you dig a hole in the beach an hour either side of low tide you can get a nice hot bath! We'd borrowed a spade from the hostel and got there in good time.
It didn't start well when I was stung on the foot by a wasp as we arrived. I hopped around angrily for a bit, and paddled in the sea to ease the pain. People had already dug some holes, so we found a spot and got digging.
All the water we found was cold. Hmmm. We kept digging. A little girl came up to us and offered us advice. Eventually, she started digging with us (presumably frustrated by our efforts). Anne went off to see if other people's pools were hot. The little girl started telling me what to do and ordering me about. Then another little girl came into our hole and began discussing digging method with the first girl. "Is he your dad?" the second girl asked? "NO", I wanted to say. "Are you stupid? I'm 29. She's 8. For me to be her dad I'd have had to have fathered her at...er...21." Oh dear. It was quite a reasonable question (other than the fact that girl number one was Indian).
Anne arrived back to see the day care centre I'd started, and laughed and laughed.
Girl number two turned out to be a nasty piece of work, and began destroying the sides of our hole. Cow. Rather than discipline her, Anne and I ran away and started another hole. We soon gave up, realising all the places with hot water underneath them had been taken long before. Oh well.
That evening we watched some TV. New Zealand TV is shockingly bad, and it was no exception over Christmas. We were chuffed, however, to be able to watch the UK Christmas Top of the Pops. It was good to see. I was, however, horrified, to see that Shane Richie has been in the charts with a cover of Wham's "I'm Your Man". I think Britain needs Anne and me back!
The worst service ever!
We drove down to Tairua the next day and found the hostel we'd booked a room in - Tairua Beach Villa Backpackers. We were only staying one night, and when Anne booked (ages ago) the lady said they don't usually take bookings for just one night at Christmas, a busy time of the year. Usually? Did that mean it was negotiable? Did she want bribing?? In the end she took our booking all the same, after Anne did her tele-sales trick of "just keep talking".
When we checked in, the woman serving us took a piece of paper from the desk, screwed it up an threw it in the bin. "There goes plan B", she said, "We were hoping you wouldn't turn up." Charming! Unlike some hostels, this one hadn't taken a credit card number to hold the room, so I suppose we could easily have not turned up without charge, however we like to think our word is our bond, so if we'd wanted to cancel we'd have rung in advance. Apparently we were inconveniencing them. Anne later said she felt like leaving, but that would have been what they wanted, so we stayed. Ha!
We later saw the woman showing some Japanese girls around, and telling them sternly that they were to stir their rice and they mustn't burn her pots. The poor girls were baffled, wondering what they'd done wrong.
As it was, for the most part the hostel was very nice. Good grounds and view. We spent the day relaxing in the sun in the garden. The mattress in our room, however, was THE WORST MATTRESS IN THE WORLD, and Anne had a bad back for the whole of the next day.
Stephen on the telly
For Christmas, our friends Ian and Sarah sent us their wedding video (along with a biro for me!) This was the wedding I flew home for in August. The hostel in Tairua had a VCR, so we put it on. There were some technical problem at first, but by the time of the speeches the picture had settled down, so Anne was able to see Ian's groom speech, and Craig's and my best men speech. The video was understandably amateur affair, but the high quality of the speeches means it gets five stars!
Then it was off to Hot Water Beach, a big attraction of the area. This is a beach under which are thermal springs. If you dig a hole in the beach an hour either side of low tide you can get a nice hot bath! We'd borrowed a spade from the hostel and got there in good time.
It didn't start well when I was stung on the foot by a wasp as we arrived. I hopped around angrily for a bit, and paddled in the sea to ease the pain. People had already dug some holes, so we found a spot and got digging.
All the water we found was cold. Hmmm. We kept digging. A little girl came up to us and offered us advice. Eventually, she started digging with us (presumably frustrated by our efforts). Anne went off to see if other people's pools were hot. The little girl started telling me what to do and ordering me about. Then another little girl came into our hole and began discussing digging method with the first girl. "Is he your dad?" the second girl asked? "NO", I wanted to say. "Are you stupid? I'm 29. She's 8. For me to be her dad I'd have had to have fathered her at...er...21." Oh dear. It was quite a reasonable question (other than the fact that girl number one was Indian).
Anne arrived back to see the day care centre I'd started, and laughed and laughed.
Girl number two turned out to be a nasty piece of work, and began destroying the sides of our hole. Cow. Rather than discipline her, Anne and I ran away and started another hole. We soon gave up, realising all the places with hot water underneath them had been taken long before. Oh well.
That evening we watched some TV. New Zealand TV is shockingly bad, and it was no exception over Christmas. We were chuffed, however, to be able to watch the UK Christmas Top of the Pops. It was good to see. I was, however, horrified, to see that Shane Richie has been in the charts with a cover of Wham's "I'm Your Man". I think Britain needs Anne and me back!
The worst service ever!
We drove down to Tairua the next day and found the hostel we'd booked a room in - Tairua Beach Villa Backpackers. We were only staying one night, and when Anne booked (ages ago) the lady said they don't usually take bookings for just one night at Christmas, a busy time of the year. Usually? Did that mean it was negotiable? Did she want bribing?? In the end she took our booking all the same, after Anne did her tele-sales trick of "just keep talking".
When we checked in, the woman serving us took a piece of paper from the desk, screwed it up an threw it in the bin. "There goes plan B", she said, "We were hoping you wouldn't turn up." Charming! Unlike some hostels, this one hadn't taken a credit card number to hold the room, so I suppose we could easily have not turned up without charge, however we like to think our word is our bond, so if we'd wanted to cancel we'd have rung in advance. Apparently we were inconveniencing them. Anne later said she felt like leaving, but that would have been what they wanted, so we stayed. Ha!
We later saw the woman showing some Japanese girls around, and telling them sternly that they were to stir their rice and they mustn't burn her pots. The poor girls were baffled, wondering what they'd done wrong.
As it was, for the most part the hostel was very nice. Good grounds and view. We spent the day relaxing in the sun in the garden. The mattress in our room, however, was THE WORST MATTRESS IN THE WORLD, and Anne had a bad back for the whole of the next day.
Stephen on the telly
For Christmas, our friends Ian and Sarah sent us their wedding video (along with a biro for me!) This was the wedding I flew home for in August. The hostel in Tairua had a VCR, so we put it on. There were some technical problem at first, but by the time of the speeches the picture had settled down, so Anne was able to see Ian's groom speech, and Craig's and my best men speech. The video was understandably amateur affair, but the high quality of the speeches means it gets five stars!
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
On to Tauranga
We left Taupo and drove to Tauranga. On the way we stopped of at Wai-O-Tapu, the other geothermal area we'd missed (due to bad weather) on the way south. It was really good - the colours of the rocks were amazing. Looking at steaming ground loses its novelty after a while, but there was enough here to keep our interest up. (Expensive though!)
At 10.15am we were told we had to drive on to see a geyser. We dutifully did and found that we were to sit around it on benches with everyone else. It was like a Butlins event. At 10.15 on the dot a man came with a microphone to tell us about the geyser, and to put soap in the geyser hole. This does something to the surface tension and sets the geyser off. This intervention made the process seem not-very-natural. The geyser was a bit impressive, and after a minute or two, people started to rush back to their cars. (Minutes earlier these people had been desperate to secure the best place to park their bums.)
Tauranga was nothing special. We spent a lot of the time there at the doctors and the pharmacist. A few days ago a pharmacist sold me some anti-histamine for an allergic reaction, but it turned out I was even more allergic to the anti-histamine and came out in bright red hives all over my body - sexy! You'll all be pleased to hear that that's getting better now. If only the sun would come out I could show off my newly-not-red body to the ladies on the beach.
On Tuesday we drove up to Coramandel Town, a pleasant little place on the Coromandel Penninsula (near Auckland). We lazed around in a lovely homely hostel there. This morning I went to the orchard and picked oranges and lemons. We then used a squeezer to make fresh juice. Yum!
Hell is other people (or, Goodwill to all men)
Today, Christmas Eve, we arrived in Whitianga. We arrived laden with Xmas fare, which we'd bought at a supermarket on the way to Coramandel Town on Tuesday. Again, Yum.
We have a luxurious (for us) self-contained cabin. We intend to enjoy Christmas using our bellies. When we arrived, the friendly hosts loaded us with our Christmas mail! We were so excited, though Anne has said we have to wait until Christmas Day to open it all. One more sleep to go.
(Incidentally - Kerry, in New Zealand the custom of sending an empty envelope half-way around the world has yet to catch on, so I'm unsure what effect you were intending to go for. Thanks anyway. It is a nice envelope.)
Despite us being loaded up with food, we still needed a few more bits and bobs (not least salmon for our egg and salmon breakfast!) I went to the supermarket today, in the rain, whilst Anne did some bone-carving (arty Anne - she'll tell you about that later). It was Christmas Supermarket Hell. People were stressed, rushing around and a bit angry. I managed to stay calm and laugh at the angry monkeys.
When I got out of the supermarket the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to break through. Yay!
Merry Christmas everyone!
At 10.15am we were told we had to drive on to see a geyser. We dutifully did and found that we were to sit around it on benches with everyone else. It was like a Butlins event. At 10.15 on the dot a man came with a microphone to tell us about the geyser, and to put soap in the geyser hole. This does something to the surface tension and sets the geyser off. This intervention made the process seem not-very-natural. The geyser was a bit impressive, and after a minute or two, people started to rush back to their cars. (Minutes earlier these people had been desperate to secure the best place to park their bums.)
Tauranga was nothing special. We spent a lot of the time there at the doctors and the pharmacist. A few days ago a pharmacist sold me some anti-histamine for an allergic reaction, but it turned out I was even more allergic to the anti-histamine and came out in bright red hives all over my body - sexy! You'll all be pleased to hear that that's getting better now. If only the sun would come out I could show off my newly-not-red body to the ladies on the beach.
On Tuesday we drove up to Coramandel Town, a pleasant little place on the Coromandel Penninsula (near Auckland). We lazed around in a lovely homely hostel there. This morning I went to the orchard and picked oranges and lemons. We then used a squeezer to make fresh juice. Yum!
Hell is other people (or, Goodwill to all men)
Today, Christmas Eve, we arrived in Whitianga. We arrived laden with Xmas fare, which we'd bought at a supermarket on the way to Coramandel Town on Tuesday. Again, Yum.
We have a luxurious (for us) self-contained cabin. We intend to enjoy Christmas using our bellies. When we arrived, the friendly hosts loaded us with our Christmas mail! We were so excited, though Anne has said we have to wait until Christmas Day to open it all. One more sleep to go.
(Incidentally - Kerry, in New Zealand the custom of sending an empty envelope half-way around the world has yet to catch on, so I'm unsure what effect you were intending to go for. Thanks anyway. It is a nice envelope.)
Despite us being loaded up with food, we still needed a few more bits and bobs (not least salmon for our egg and salmon breakfast!) I went to the supermarket today, in the rain, whilst Anne did some bone-carving (arty Anne - she'll tell you about that later). It was Christmas Supermarket Hell. People were stressed, rushing around and a bit angry. I managed to stay calm and laugh at the angry monkeys.
When I got out of the supermarket the rain had stopped and the sun was beginning to break through. Yay!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Pushing thirty
I turned 29 on Tuesday. Crikey! I'll be 30 next year. 30's really really old!
(Apologies now to anyone reading this aged 30 or over. But it is old.)
The day started well, with Anne making me a cooked breakfast in the hostel in Wellington. Bacon, mushrooms, scrambled eggs, toast, tomatoes, juice and coffee. Yum!
We then began the five hour drive to Napier in a balloon-filled car. Weather, again, poor. Not long into the journey, Anne gave me my second present (breakfast was the first). It was a bag of Moro Chocettes - hurrah!
I'd told Anne that what I wanted for my birthday was a few songs, some dancing and perhaps a light show. I didn't get many songs, got no dancing, and the light show was a non-starter. However, she did spend the agreed $20 on small gifts. When we got to Napier she banished me from the room (an ensuite!) and set up a treasure hunt. I had to follow precise directions to find the rest of my gifts, which included a bottle of G&T (ready mixed!) and a box of Cadbury's chocolate-covered almonds. And a magnetic sheep (a toy, not a real one).
That night we went for a meal (paid for by my lovely mum!) We had steak. It was great. They kind of rushed us to order and I was a little worried that they'd try to get us out of the restaurant in no time. Given that we don't eat out much, we wanted to relax and take our time. As it was the main course took ages and ages to come. We started to wonder if something was wrong. Eventually the manager came to our table, apologised and said we could have the wine for free. If we'd have known that would have happened we'd have ordered an expensive one!
The meal was very very good, and we left there happy and full.
Born of earthquakes and fire
Napier is a pleasant little(ish) town. It was almost completely destroyed in 1931 by an earthquake, and the resulting fires. They rebuilt the whole place soon after in Art Deco styles. This makes the town quite distinctive, and Anne and I took a self-guided walking tour on Wednesday morning, looking at the various buildings and reading about their history. After an hour and a half of this Anne said she was a little "Art Deco'd out", so we had some lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing around town.
Today, the weather took a turn for the better. It's glorious and hot. This is what we wanted from the North Island - yay! We drove to the nearby town of Hastings, which is similarly Art Deco (for the same reason). Parking was a bit of a pain. I said it was a battle. A battle in Hastings. Do you see? (I mean like THE Battle of Hastings. In 1066.)
Hastings was nice enough, but it was the sun that made the day so good. We had a VERY good ice cream at Rush Munro's Ice Cream Parlour, sitting in the sun. We then used the local library to read up about LA, where we'll be in mid-January.
We then gave up our valuable parking space to drive up a big hill - Te Mata. From the summit we got an amazing view of the surrounding region, and could even see all the way to Tongariro National Park, where we went walking last Friday. (And where Anne fell over and bruised her bum.) We drove down to Havelock North, bought a loaf of crusty bread and some brie, and ate these sitting in a park. Honestly, it's so much easier to entertain yourself when the sun's out.
(Apologies now to anyone reading this aged 30 or over. But it is old.)
The day started well, with Anne making me a cooked breakfast in the hostel in Wellington. Bacon, mushrooms, scrambled eggs, toast, tomatoes, juice and coffee. Yum!
We then began the five hour drive to Napier in a balloon-filled car. Weather, again, poor. Not long into the journey, Anne gave me my second present (breakfast was the first). It was a bag of Moro Chocettes - hurrah!
I'd told Anne that what I wanted for my birthday was a few songs, some dancing and perhaps a light show. I didn't get many songs, got no dancing, and the light show was a non-starter. However, she did spend the agreed $20 on small gifts. When we got to Napier she banished me from the room (an ensuite!) and set up a treasure hunt. I had to follow precise directions to find the rest of my gifts, which included a bottle of G&T (ready mixed!) and a box of Cadbury's chocolate-covered almonds. And a magnetic sheep (a toy, not a real one).
That night we went for a meal (paid for by my lovely mum!) We had steak. It was great. They kind of rushed us to order and I was a little worried that they'd try to get us out of the restaurant in no time. Given that we don't eat out much, we wanted to relax and take our time. As it was the main course took ages and ages to come. We started to wonder if something was wrong. Eventually the manager came to our table, apologised and said we could have the wine for free. If we'd have known that would have happened we'd have ordered an expensive one!
The meal was very very good, and we left there happy and full.
Born of earthquakes and fire
Napier is a pleasant little(ish) town. It was almost completely destroyed in 1931 by an earthquake, and the resulting fires. They rebuilt the whole place soon after in Art Deco styles. This makes the town quite distinctive, and Anne and I took a self-guided walking tour on Wednesday morning, looking at the various buildings and reading about their history. After an hour and a half of this Anne said she was a little "Art Deco'd out", so we had some lunch and spent the rest of the day relaxing around town.
Today, the weather took a turn for the better. It's glorious and hot. This is what we wanted from the North Island - yay! We drove to the nearby town of Hastings, which is similarly Art Deco (for the same reason). Parking was a bit of a pain. I said it was a battle. A battle in Hastings. Do you see? (I mean like THE Battle of Hastings. In 1066.)
Hastings was nice enough, but it was the sun that made the day so good. We had a VERY good ice cream at Rush Munro's Ice Cream Parlour, sitting in the sun. We then used the local library to read up about LA, where we'll be in mid-January.
We then gave up our valuable parking space to drive up a big hill - Te Mata. From the summit we got an amazing view of the surrounding region, and could even see all the way to Tongariro National Park, where we went walking last Friday. (And where Anne fell over and bruised her bum.) We drove down to Havelock North, bought a loaf of crusty bread and some brie, and ate these sitting in a park. Honestly, it's so much easier to entertain yourself when the sun's out.
Monday, December 15, 2003
Christmas is a-coming
Being away from home at Christmas will be odd. I'm trying to help Anne keep in the spirit though. I've bought her a big plastic bowl. Each day of December, up until Christmas Eve, I get her to punch a hole in the botton of the bowl using a spike. Eventually, with 24 holes in the bowl it'll be suitable for draining boiled vegies and pasta.
Despite her initial scepticism, I think Anne likes her Advent Colander.
(In case you were wondering, we have free internet in our Wellington hostel.)
Despite her initial scepticism, I think Anne likes her Advent Colander.
(In case you were wondering, we have free internet in our Wellington hostel.)
Cinema treat
This afternoon, as I've said we would, we saw The Two Towers (Extended Version) at The Embassy (where the premiere was held). The cinema was lovely - an old one that's been restored - and we had luxury seats, leather ones with big arm rests. We splashed out on this as a birthday treat for me (29 tomorrow!) It was loads more expensive than the cinema usually is here, and costs us thirteen quid (I checked my credit card balance online)!
The film was really good. Really really long though. Glad I saw it at the cinema. If I'd watched it on DVD I'd have spread it over two nights. More so than the first film, the extended version added quite a bit of interest. I like this one more than the first film. There's less exposition (though still lots) and the Helms Deep battle is just great!
Five stars.
Looking forward to the last film now. We may wait until we're in Auckland at New Year to see it on the "Megascreen" there. That's the size of a million screens presumably.
The film was really good. Really really long though. Glad I saw it at the cinema. If I'd watched it on DVD I'd have spread it over two nights. More so than the first film, the extended version added quite a bit of interest. I like this one more than the first film. There's less exposition (though still lots) and the Helms Deep battle is just great!
Five stars.
Looking forward to the last film now. We may wait until we're in Auckland at New Year to see it on the "Megascreen" there. That's the size of a million screens presumably.
Sunday, December 14, 2003
The capital
We drove to Wellington on Saturday. It was quite a long drive south. Our next stop, Napier, is another long drive north again. Wellington really is quite far from everything. If it weren't the capital I think we wouldn't have bothered. I suppose it's down here so the South Island doesn't feel too left out.
On Sunday we went to the National Museum - Te Papa - and have a good butchers there. It's quite impressive, with lots of displays about Maori culture and NZ history (what there is of it). There were some interesting displays about earthquakes, of which there are many in NZ.
Our hostel gives us free wine at 7pm, so we made sure we were in the dining room then. It's really poor quality, I'm sure, but it is free.
Today, Monday (though the blog posting probably has Sunday over it - the blog's in GMT and we're 13 hours ahead), we were up and out in good time to go and do a tour of the Parliament. The tour lasted a bit over an hour, and was very good. First, we were taken into the basement and shown a line that had been cut throughout the building, separating it from the foundations. This is to minimise earthquake damage. The building is placed on special springy things (I think that was the technical term, but can't be sure) and can wobble rather than fall over during an earthquake. Anne and I are hoping for at least a tremor while we're here. (We'd probably make fools of ourselves by running around screaming if it happened.)
Today's the first nice sunny day we've had in the North Island. We were expecting bad weather in the South Island, but had generally good weather, especially on the West Coast where we're told it rains all the time. Now we're in the North, where people told us it'd be nice, and we've seen little sun. (It has been muggy and uncomfortable though.)
Typically, on this nice sunny day, we have tickets to see The Two Towers (Extended Version) at 2.15pm. Ho hum.
On Sunday we went to the National Museum - Te Papa - and have a good butchers there. It's quite impressive, with lots of displays about Maori culture and NZ history (what there is of it). There were some interesting displays about earthquakes, of which there are many in NZ.
Our hostel gives us free wine at 7pm, so we made sure we were in the dining room then. It's really poor quality, I'm sure, but it is free.
Today, Monday (though the blog posting probably has Sunday over it - the blog's in GMT and we're 13 hours ahead), we were up and out in good time to go and do a tour of the Parliament. The tour lasted a bit over an hour, and was very good. First, we were taken into the basement and shown a line that had been cut throughout the building, separating it from the foundations. This is to minimise earthquake damage. The building is placed on special springy things (I think that was the technical term, but can't be sure) and can wobble rather than fall over during an earthquake. Anne and I are hoping for at least a tremor while we're here. (We'd probably make fools of ourselves by running around screaming if it happened.)
Today's the first nice sunny day we've had in the North Island. We were expecting bad weather in the South Island, but had generally good weather, especially on the West Coast where we're told it rains all the time. Now we're in the North, where people told us it'd be nice, and we've seen little sun. (It has been muggy and uncomfortable though.)
Typically, on this nice sunny day, we have tickets to see The Two Towers (Extended Version) at 2.15pm. Ho hum.
Anne's bum
Following Anne's fall during our walk on Friday, she got two bruises on her hand, and two on her bum. It's very funny (though I must also show sympathy).
(Obviously I haven't seen the bruises on her bum - she told me about them. Anne says I can't see her bum until we're married.)
(Obviously I haven't seen the bruises on her bum - she told me about them. Anne says I can't see her bum until we're married.)
Saturday, December 13, 2003
Anne, the really-quite-healthy chef
Anne's a little obsessed with making good, healthy, varied meals. When we lived and worked in London we didn't have a lot of time to make meals from fresh ingredients, so often made pasta and curries using sauces from jars. We thought this was OK, until Anne's sister Kerry made us feel thoroughly ashamed of ourselves.
Just before we left for our year away, we visited Kerry and her boyfriend, Mark, in Norwich, and brought with us some food we'd not used. We thought they might like it. We were wrong. Kerry turned her nose up at most of what we'd brought. "Oh, we don't use that - we make it fresh", "Oh we don't have ketchup in our house, though I might keep it in case visitors want it". It went on like that. She did take the Lloyd Grossman pasta sauces though - they're good! Kerry didn't want our Oxo cubes either, so when she was out we hid them all over her flat. Thus we win.
So, anyway. We have more time to prepare and make food when we're travelling, and when we have a hire car we can carry lots of good, fresh ingredients. (There's the downside of having to use communal kitchens, but that's a whole other issue.) Anne's been making some great meals in NZ. We've been using pumpkins, asparagus, chick peas - the works. Kerry - even you'd be impressed!
(By the way, I do help, and sometimes even make the whole meal. However, busy communal kitchens do tend to stress me out a bit so Anne's in charge. I'm not a lazy slob of a boyfriend - I do the lunches. Usually. Anyway, the division of labour in this relationship is not the subject of this post. And anyway, I do all the driving.)
Anne's concerned though that when we get back to the UK and have jobs, we might settle back into our old ways, and that when Kerry comes to visit (and break our crockery) she won't approve. So, Anne's trying to come up with, say, ten good meals that can be made in rotation on a strict schedule. These meals mustn't take too much time, and must be reasonably healthy. And tasty. I generally let Anne talk to me about this aim without really taking it in, attempting to nod in what seems like an appropriate place. The other day when she was talking I tuned in for a bit. I found that Anne was listing the meals we'd had in the previous days in reverse order, and writing them down. To my utter astonishment, she managed to remember every evening meal we'd had for the last three weeks.
This girl really does have an amazing memory. Especially when it comes to food.
Just before we left for our year away, we visited Kerry and her boyfriend, Mark, in Norwich, and brought with us some food we'd not used. We thought they might like it. We were wrong. Kerry turned her nose up at most of what we'd brought. "Oh, we don't use that - we make it fresh", "Oh we don't have ketchup in our house, though I might keep it in case visitors want it". It went on like that. She did take the Lloyd Grossman pasta sauces though - they're good! Kerry didn't want our Oxo cubes either, so when she was out we hid them all over her flat. Thus we win.
So, anyway. We have more time to prepare and make food when we're travelling, and when we have a hire car we can carry lots of good, fresh ingredients. (There's the downside of having to use communal kitchens, but that's a whole other issue.) Anne's been making some great meals in NZ. We've been using pumpkins, asparagus, chick peas - the works. Kerry - even you'd be impressed!
(By the way, I do help, and sometimes even make the whole meal. However, busy communal kitchens do tend to stress me out a bit so Anne's in charge. I'm not a lazy slob of a boyfriend - I do the lunches. Usually. Anyway, the division of labour in this relationship is not the subject of this post. And anyway, I do all the driving.)
Anne's concerned though that when we get back to the UK and have jobs, we might settle back into our old ways, and that when Kerry comes to visit (and break our crockery) she won't approve. So, Anne's trying to come up with, say, ten good meals that can be made in rotation on a strict schedule. These meals mustn't take too much time, and must be reasonably healthy. And tasty. I generally let Anne talk to me about this aim without really taking it in, attempting to nod in what seems like an appropriate place. The other day when she was talking I tuned in for a bit. I found that Anne was listing the meals we'd had in the previous days in reverse order, and writing them down. To my utter astonishment, she managed to remember every evening meal we'd had for the last three weeks.
This girl really does have an amazing memory. Especially when it comes to food.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Hobbiton
After an afternoon at the cinema watching the first Lord of the Rings film on Sunday, we went to Middle Earth proper on Monday. We picked up our new rental car (a very old Nissan Bluebird) and drove to Matamata. This is where the Hobbiton scenes were filmed. You couldn't drive to the Hobbit holes yourself, but you could pay $50 each to go on a tour. We looked at the literature and deduced (although it wasn't explicitly stated) that the sets had all been removed and that the Hobbit holes that you'd see would be replicas. This would be pointless, so Anne and I contented ourselves with a meat pie in the car.
Smells Eggy
We drove on to Rotorua, and checked into a nice hostel. We paid for an en-suite room, so it was odd that there was no loo and shower attached. Instead we have a kitchenette, in which we're not allowed to use the oven. We can use the kettle, toaster, fridge and table though, so it's a nice change to be able to eat our dinner in private. The standard of hostels in NZ is pretty high, but we're getting to the point now where we're looking forward to not being in hostels any longer. (At least, I am.)
Rotorua is known for its geo-thermal activity and its Maori culture. We'd planned to see a little of each on Tuesday, but it rained ALL DAY - we spent the day around the town and hostel, and saw some bubbling mud pools in the local park. We're leaving here on Thursday, so we had to go to the Thermal Village today, despite the rain. It's called Te Whakarewarewa, and pronounced fa-ka-re-wa-re-wa. Got that? Good.
In the pouring rain we took a tour of the Maori village, and saw geysers and egg-smelling sulphur hot pools. The scenery was amazing, but would have been better without the rain. The most entertaining thing was a humourless, sour-faced, short woman in a green raincoat who kept pushing to the front the whole time. Rather uncharitably, Anne dubbed her "The Poison Dwarf". We had great fun getting in front of her in the group and then seeing how long it was before we were pushed aside. If only her coat had been red, she'd have been a dead-ringer for the murderer in Don't Look Now.
We watched a demonstration by a Maori woman on how to make a grass skirt, and later went to a Maori concert where they enthusiastically sung songs, played instruments, and did threatening dances. To my joy, I was picked out of the audience, with others, to perform a dance to the tune of The Hokey Cokey. Suffice to say I was lacking any rhythm or finesse normally required for these occasions, but I made up for it with my good humour and flailing limbs. Anne sat there giggling, taking photos.
Smells Eggy
We drove on to Rotorua, and checked into a nice hostel. We paid for an en-suite room, so it was odd that there was no loo and shower attached. Instead we have a kitchenette, in which we're not allowed to use the oven. We can use the kettle, toaster, fridge and table though, so it's a nice change to be able to eat our dinner in private. The standard of hostels in NZ is pretty high, but we're getting to the point now where we're looking forward to not being in hostels any longer. (At least, I am.)
Rotorua is known for its geo-thermal activity and its Maori culture. We'd planned to see a little of each on Tuesday, but it rained ALL DAY - we spent the day around the town and hostel, and saw some bubbling mud pools in the local park. We're leaving here on Thursday, so we had to go to the Thermal Village today, despite the rain. It's called Te Whakarewarewa, and pronounced fa-ka-re-wa-re-wa. Got that? Good.
In the pouring rain we took a tour of the Maori village, and saw geysers and egg-smelling sulphur hot pools. The scenery was amazing, but would have been better without the rain. The most entertaining thing was a humourless, sour-faced, short woman in a green raincoat who kept pushing to the front the whole time. Rather uncharitably, Anne dubbed her "The Poison Dwarf". We had great fun getting in front of her in the group and then seeing how long it was before we were pushed aside. If only her coat had been red, she'd have been a dead-ringer for the murderer in Don't Look Now.
We watched a demonstration by a Maori woman on how to make a grass skirt, and later went to a Maori concert where they enthusiastically sung songs, played instruments, and did threatening dances. To my joy, I was picked out of the audience, with others, to perform a dance to the tune of The Hokey Cokey. Suffice to say I was lacking any rhythm or finesse normally required for these occasions, but I made up for it with my good humour and flailing limbs. Anne sat there giggling, taking photos.
Books and films
I've read a few books lately. The first was Claire Tomalin's Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self. I'd got this a while back but had avoided it thinking it may be too highbrow and hard work. It wasn't at all, and was a very entertaining look at the life of the first Blogger.
Next up, the third volume of Spike Milligan's war memoirs, Monty: My Part in his Victory. At about 120 pages, including photos, it was little more than a pamphlet!
I've just finished Jung Chang's Wild Swans. It's an amazing book, especially since I knew next to nothing about China under Mao and the Cultural Revolution. I was continually shocked by what I read. Very interesting.
As for movies, at Mount Cook we saw The Cider House Rules on video. This got Oscar nominations and I wanted to see it. Whilst it had its moments, it turns out to be a pretty dry drama, and quite dull in places. Tobey Maguire is boring to watch, as he sometimes can be. It's this sort of "worthy" drama that gives Oscars a bad name. Two stars.
It's difficult to review The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Version) since these films are so unlike any other film I've seen lately. It's certainly very enjoyable, more so for me having recently read the books. The extended version seems overlong, but once all the films are out in their extended versions they'll make six very good films. Four stars. (The Two Towers (Extended Version) next Monday - yay!)
Next up, the third volume of Spike Milligan's war memoirs, Monty: My Part in his Victory. At about 120 pages, including photos, it was little more than a pamphlet!
I've just finished Jung Chang's Wild Swans. It's an amazing book, especially since I knew next to nothing about China under Mao and the Cultural Revolution. I was continually shocked by what I read. Very interesting.
As for movies, at Mount Cook we saw The Cider House Rules on video. This got Oscar nominations and I wanted to see it. Whilst it had its moments, it turns out to be a pretty dry drama, and quite dull in places. Tobey Maguire is boring to watch, as he sometimes can be. It's this sort of "worthy" drama that gives Oscars a bad name. Two stars.
It's difficult to review The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Version) since these films are so unlike any other film I've seen lately. It's certainly very enjoyable, more so for me having recently read the books. The extended version seems overlong, but once all the films are out in their extended versions they'll make six very good films. Four stars. (The Two Towers (Extended Version) next Monday - yay!)
Saturday, December 06, 2003
Beautiful South
Well, we're off the South Island now. It really is a beautiful place.
Our flight from Christchurch to Auckland was at 11.35am. Given it was only a domestic flight, we probably didn't need to check in until 10.30am. However, Anne and I are both nervous people so like to be there a bit early. The buses to the airport were only once an hour though, so we decided to get the 8.30am bus, which would get us to the airport at 9am. Very early, but at least we're there. Being us, we were at the bus stop at 8am. Sigh!
Then, a private shuttle bus pulled up and offered to take us there and then for the same price as the airport's bus. We jumped in and were at the airport before 8.30 - over three hours before our flight! Ho hum. We hung around for ages and got impatient.
There was no business class on our plane, so we had no chance of a free upgrade (like we got form Sydney to Christchurch). We had to sit in Economy with the plebs. Obviously this was a real hardship for us.
Often on a plane they'll shove a meal down you no matter what time you fly. As it is, we were flying at lunch time and all we got was a muffin. I didn't mind this, as I like muffins, but Anne was a bit annoyed and would have preferred something savory.
Grim up North?
I was impressed, however, that we walked off the plane at Auckland and our luggage was on the carousel within five minutes. We jumped on a bus and were at our central city hostel with fifty minutes of landing - smart!
Our good impression of Auckland didn't last long, since the girl at reception in the hostel tried to overcharge us. We made a fuss (we'd been quoted less) and she agreed to charge us that rate immediately. Since she was quite junior, and didn't speak to a manager to agree to charge us less, I suspect she was just chancing her arm. Cow. And the hostel's a bit run down.
The weather is hot, cloudy and muggy, so it's as well that we're just going to the cinema today (Sunday). We're going to see the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring. I've seen this before on DVD, but it'll be good to see it at the cinema. We're seeing the extended Two Towers on 15th - the day before my birthday! - at The Embassy cinema in Wellington. This is where they had the premiere for the third film last week. We've not seen that one, since the DVD came out last month and we've forgotten to bring one of those snazzy portable DVD players.
This will be a good lead-up to the third and final Lord of the Rings movie, which comes out here on the 18th!
We're looking forward to picking up our next hire car on Monday and getting out of the city. The next part of the adventure begins!
Our flight from Christchurch to Auckland was at 11.35am. Given it was only a domestic flight, we probably didn't need to check in until 10.30am. However, Anne and I are both nervous people so like to be there a bit early. The buses to the airport were only once an hour though, so we decided to get the 8.30am bus, which would get us to the airport at 9am. Very early, but at least we're there. Being us, we were at the bus stop at 8am. Sigh!
Then, a private shuttle bus pulled up and offered to take us there and then for the same price as the airport's bus. We jumped in and were at the airport before 8.30 - over three hours before our flight! Ho hum. We hung around for ages and got impatient.
There was no business class on our plane, so we had no chance of a free upgrade (like we got form Sydney to Christchurch). We had to sit in Economy with the plebs. Obviously this was a real hardship for us.
Often on a plane they'll shove a meal down you no matter what time you fly. As it is, we were flying at lunch time and all we got was a muffin. I didn't mind this, as I like muffins, but Anne was a bit annoyed and would have preferred something savory.
Grim up North?
I was impressed, however, that we walked off the plane at Auckland and our luggage was on the carousel within five minutes. We jumped on a bus and were at our central city hostel with fifty minutes of landing - smart!
Our good impression of Auckland didn't last long, since the girl at reception in the hostel tried to overcharge us. We made a fuss (we'd been quoted less) and she agreed to charge us that rate immediately. Since she was quite junior, and didn't speak to a manager to agree to charge us less, I suspect she was just chancing her arm. Cow. And the hostel's a bit run down.
The weather is hot, cloudy and muggy, so it's as well that we're just going to the cinema today (Sunday). We're going to see the extended version of The Fellowship of the Ring. I've seen this before on DVD, but it'll be good to see it at the cinema. We're seeing the extended Two Towers on 15th - the day before my birthday! - at The Embassy cinema in Wellington. This is where they had the premiere for the third film last week. We've not seen that one, since the DVD came out last month and we've forgotten to bring one of those snazzy portable DVD players.
This will be a good lead-up to the third and final Lord of the Rings movie, which comes out here on the 18th!
We're looking forward to picking up our next hire car on Monday and getting out of the city. The next part of the adventure begins!
Friday, December 05, 2003
A few photos
A few more photos added - Big Adventure Photos 7 (link on left). Some Bungy Swing ones, and a couple of my Cadbury "beard snood"!
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Don't p-p-p-pick up a penguin. You'll scare it.
Well, we saw some penguins in Oamaru, and they were great. We saw Yellow-Eyed Penguins, which live only in New Zealand. We drove to the coast and watched some penguins come out of the sea, then joined a tour. A guy who has been looking after the reserve for 22 years showed us two penguin nests and we got dead close to the mothers and babies. They were great. We saw them poo and everything!
We'd forgotten our cameras. On the one hand this is bad, as we missed some good photos. On the other hand though it was good, as we get annoyed by tourists who just take a zillion photos and never actually look at what they're photographing. The postcards they sell are much better photos than anything we could take. And video cameras - don't get me started on those. It baffles me who's going to watch these dull videos of scenery which is amazing to look at in person. For goodness sake, buy a souvenir book!
Mount Cook (so look as Cook doesn't mind)
On Monday we drove out to Mount Cook. This is back on the west side of the island, but the village is on the east side of the Southern Alps, so you reach it from the east coast. The South Island has a tectonic fault line running through it from Milford Sound to Kaikoura, and it's this that's given the island the spectacular mountain scenery. Anne was hoping for a small earthquake while we're here. I suggested she move to Birmingham.
Anne has a face that will stop traffic
The weather in Mount Cook was just marvelous, so we enjoyed a few walks there. At night it rained hard and the wind blew, but it cleared up during the day. The scenery was, as you'd imagine, mountains and lakes. We weren't actually climbing Mount Cook - that would be an ordeal. Sir Edmund Hilary practised on Mount Cook for his Everest ascent!
On Tuesday we did a long walk and the sun began to beat down hard soon after we left the hostel. At the end of the day we realised Anne had caught the sun and her face was bright red! It looks very funny. I said she should keep away from roads as cars may mistake her for a traffic light. They'd stop when they saw her, but then when she gets closer and they see her bright green eyes the drivers would get confused and probably stall the car or something.
I call her Dr Tomato-head. Anne thinks this is very funny and greatly appreciates the attention.
Welcome to Essex
We arrived in Timaru, on the east coast, this morning. The weather's changed and it's raining cats and dogs. Timaru looks like a British seaside town, especially in the rain. The boy-racers and scummy people make it look like Southend!
Anne and I don't mind though. To get out of the rain we went to a pub and had a $5 lunch and a beer. A really nice beer.
Our trip round the South Island seems to have gone so quickly - only three more sleeps until we fly to Auckland for our four weeks on the North Island. Yikes!
We'd forgotten our cameras. On the one hand this is bad, as we missed some good photos. On the other hand though it was good, as we get annoyed by tourists who just take a zillion photos and never actually look at what they're photographing. The postcards they sell are much better photos than anything we could take. And video cameras - don't get me started on those. It baffles me who's going to watch these dull videos of scenery which is amazing to look at in person. For goodness sake, buy a souvenir book!
Mount Cook (so look as Cook doesn't mind)
On Monday we drove out to Mount Cook. This is back on the west side of the island, but the village is on the east side of the Southern Alps, so you reach it from the east coast. The South Island has a tectonic fault line running through it from Milford Sound to Kaikoura, and it's this that's given the island the spectacular mountain scenery. Anne was hoping for a small earthquake while we're here. I suggested she move to Birmingham.
Anne has a face that will stop traffic
The weather in Mount Cook was just marvelous, so we enjoyed a few walks there. At night it rained hard and the wind blew, but it cleared up during the day. The scenery was, as you'd imagine, mountains and lakes. We weren't actually climbing Mount Cook - that would be an ordeal. Sir Edmund Hilary practised on Mount Cook for his Everest ascent!
On Tuesday we did a long walk and the sun began to beat down hard soon after we left the hostel. At the end of the day we realised Anne had caught the sun and her face was bright red! It looks very funny. I said she should keep away from roads as cars may mistake her for a traffic light. They'd stop when they saw her, but then when she gets closer and they see her bright green eyes the drivers would get confused and probably stall the car or something.
I call her Dr Tomato-head. Anne thinks this is very funny and greatly appreciates the attention.
Welcome to Essex
We arrived in Timaru, on the east coast, this morning. The weather's changed and it's raining cats and dogs. Timaru looks like a British seaside town, especially in the rain. The boy-racers and scummy people make it look like Southend!
Anne and I don't mind though. To get out of the rain we went to a pub and had a $5 lunch and a beer. A really nice beer.
Our trip round the South Island seems to have gone so quickly - only three more sleeps until we fly to Auckland for our four weeks on the North Island. Yikes!
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