Rockin' the Pakeha

Despite my best intentions, it would seem that the blog isn’t living up to the (quite frankly unrealistic) demands of my many followers. The following e-mail gives a typical example of the feedback I have been receiving. To conceal the identity of the sender, we shall simply refer to him as Mr A Karr:

I've still been following your blog but there's not very much to follow most days (or weeks, months etc.)!

I truly I feel that I have let you, my loyal readers, down. Needless to say I’m going to buck up act (although previous experience would suggest this is likely to come to fruition). Anyway……

I have been busy enjoying my last chunk of time in the land of the long white cloud. I’m still based in Auckland, but I have managed to squeeze a few cheeky wee adventures here and there. I finally made it out to the Bay of Plenty (BOP), which was all very enjoyable. To be honest though, the true highlight of the trip was a visit to Kiwi 360. Now I do like a kiwi fruit from time to time, but to see the vast investment the BOP have put into this facility was truly jaw dropping. Kiwi 360 is a museum/working farm/unique insight into New Zealand’s great Kiwi Fruit industry. The best bit is the giant Kiwi Fruit that sits outside. You can even climb up inside it! I did…it was very exciting.

New Zealand has a bit of a thing about giving towns a ‘theme’ of sorts. Huntly has a very ugly power station - the theme for Huntly is therefore ‘Switch on to Huntly’. There is a town where all the shops are fashioned out of corrugated steel. This doesn’t sound very interesting, but have a look at the website

http://www.corrugatedcreations.co.nz/

Not content with a giant Kiwi Fruit and novelty steel themed towns, I decided to push the envelope and go to Paeroa. L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) is NZ’s national soft drink. The beverage was created in the lovely town of Paeroa….I say lovely, it is quite the shithole. That said, they do have another giant object worth a visit – the big L&P bottle. It is truly enormous and one of the highlights of my tour so far (sorry the sarcasm checker wasn’t working in Word). Check out my Flikr pics but clicking on the gallery above for more giant soft drink action.

One particular lowlight of the past couple of weeks has been the change in weather. I seem to have lost all perspective on what ‘cold’ really means. It is about 13 degrees in the evening and my teeth are chattering. Yes, winter is coming and so there is only one course of action available….go to the south island for a few weeks to experience even colder weather! I will be leaving Auckland on the 17th of May and heading off on a 6 week road trip taking me round all the bits I haven’t seen yet, and some I have, finishing off in Christchurch ready for my flight to Cairns (where it will be substantially warmer) on the 30th of June. After that….who knows!

Can I say a special thanks to Lorna T and Gillian for coming to visit me this week. It was so good to see you….and watch in great amusement as my Kiwi flatmate tried to decipher what you were saying. I’ve had more visitors here than when I lived in Inverness (totally understandable). Anyways, I’m off the purchase a warm jacket….chow for now xx

Bit wet out

Howdy chaps. I’m sitting inside on a NZ summers day to update you on all my exciting adventures. That said, this is no ordinary summers day. No, today I’m getting my first experience of a proper tropical storm (warm and wet would be how I’d describe it). So, let us make the most of the down time and find out what has been happening in my world….

All is well in Auckland, where I still am. I haven’t been doing too much travelling around but I have managed to squeeze in a few cheeky voyages. A couple of weeks ago I took a trip up to Paihia and did a bit of exploring in the northland (i.e. the north of the north island). Day 1 was spent in Paihia. We went out to the hole in the rock which is basically a big rock with a hole in it that, if the captain of your chosen sea going vessel is feeling brave, you can go through. We decided the safest method of transportation would be a high powered jet boat. The seas were choppy and I nearly lost my lunch and/or my testicles during various parts of the trip, but I have to admit it was muchos soggy fun. I also saw a penguin, which is always a winner for me. We also squeezed in a quick visit to historic Russell. The treaty of Waitangi, the document which allowed the UK to basically steal all the Maori land, was signed in nearby Waitangi and Russell is historic for all sorts of reasons surrounding that. They have a flag pole which keeps getting cut down…..excellent. The treaty is a political hot potato in NZ, but I have my own views on it which I’ll keep to myself.

On day 2 we took a bus tour up to Cape Reinga (the most northerly point on the NZ mainland) which was amazing. We then drove down 90 mile beach. Yes, drove. You see, 90 mile beach is, as the name would suggest, a bloody big beach (although not 90 miles, more like 100k). However, it also doubles as a state highway. So, you can take you car a drive down it at the allocated speed limit of 100 km/h. There is plenty of evidence around to suggest why this isn’t a good idea. As you drive down you see plenty of car roofs poking out the sand, abandoned by their owners after a poorly timed attempt to drive the route. We also went to a Kauri forest where there were many big trees. I like the big trees.

Probably the biggest news is that my NZ adventure now has a definite end point. I will be in Auckland until mid-May, at which point I will embark on 6 week road trip round the country. I’m going to spend a good amount of time in the south of the South Island, one of the few areas I haven’t been to yet. I will be flying out of this fine nation on 30th June. My next destination is Cairns where it will be nice and sunny (it will be far from nice and sunny at that point in NZ). My plans of Ozzy are pretty fluid at the moment, but as ever I’ll see where the wind takes me….

On a final closing note, have you ever wondered what happened to Coronation Street favourite, pop pinup and Tory candidate Adam Rickett? Wonder no more:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UKKmVV9pPk

Chow dudes

Tambo x

Junk in the trunk

Sometimes I regret starting this bloody thing. I appreciate that it serves a vital function – keeping all my loyal blog followers up to date with my latest adventures. However, I am clearly quite pish at keeping it up to date. Anyways, let’s back track a couple of months and update you on my action packed schedule since the last entry.

In November I took a wee weekend trip over to the Coromandel. More specifically I spent the weekend going round Hahei and surrounding areas. The highlights included Cathedral Cove, which is definitely worth the 45 minute walk through bush required to access it. It is basically a big beach whose main feature is a large cathedral (surprisingly enough) like arch which has been worn away by the sea. If you want to know what it looks like have a butchers at the latest Narnia film. The big white cave on the beach the munchkins walk through in the opening sequence is the cove. We also went to hot water beach. The whole concept of hot water beach is that you can dig a hole in the sand 1 hour either side of low tide and it will magically be filled with hot water created by the fault line that runs through the beach. My experience would indicate that it should be named tepid water beach, but I wasn’t doing a very good job with my shovel. We stayed in a lovely converted wooden church with a nice restaurant attached. As with most accommodation in NZ, great quality and very cheap. All in all, a great trip.

Next up was my birthday adventure to Waiheke Island. Waiheke is about 45 minutes off the coast of Auckland. Originally it was where people/hippies went to eek out a very cheap existence. However, the rich and famous of Auckland now use it as their holiday retreat, pushing up the prices somewhat. It is still a fairly cheap place for a break though. We were staying in a hostel which was accessed via a 10 minute bush trek. Nice big deck with a DJ playing every night, pool and hot tub. Waiheke’s main claim to fame is its wine. Needless to say we took a full day wine tour and indulged in lunch at the Mudbrick winery. However, our greatest indulgence was reserved for the day after when we booked dinner on the Flying Carpet. The Flying Carpet is a big catamaran that takes you on an evening cruise, complete with 5 course meal, all for a rather reasonable $120 (about £50). Turns out we were the only people who had booked it for that night, so we had a crew of 3 people looking after us as we sailed into the sunset on our own private vessel. Tough old life really. Again, a great weekend and a great way to celebrate my first birthday in NZ.

I was very fortunate to be invited down to New Plymouth for Christmas with the family Wansbrough. It was really great to enjoy a proper family Christmas and generally chill out over the festive season. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the republic of Whangamomona (which I won’t go into here, but google it – it is a typically Kiwi story).

Now, I should point out that I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in a campervan with my dear friend Mr Alan Cameron. We covered 5000km over 2 weeks and I would be doing the trip a great injustice to try and summarise it here, but I’ll be nice and give you a quick list of the destinations and highlights:

28th Dec – Al arrives from the UK. We go to the pub. Al is asleep by 7pm.
29th and 30th Dec – We drive to Rotorua, geothermal capital of NZ. We see lots of geysers, steaming mud pools etc. I dip my foot in one and lose some skin.
31st Dec – We drive to Gisborne, the first place in the world to see the sun rise on the new year. We arrive, I realise I’ve left my wallet in a petrol station 3 hours away, I get distressed. We go to a very poorly organised music festival. Alan gets sore feet.
1st Jan – We drive back to the petrol station and retrieve wallet. We then drive on to Napier, Art Deco capital of the world (due to a rather nasty earthquake in the 1930s).
2nd Jan – We drive to Wellington, capital of NZ. We go to the pub and amazingly beat the chicks at pool. Alan’s feet are still sore.
3rd Jan – Ferry over to the South Island. We then drive on to Nelson. I would go back there in a shot, lovely sunny place.
4th Jan – We drive to Fox Glacier (biiiiiig drive). It is cold (something to do with the glacier apparently).
5th Jan – Alan goes on a helicopter to explore the glacier. I am cheap, so opt for a 4 hour guided hike up the monster. Amazing and spectacular are 2 words which come to mind. We then drive on to Queenstown.
6th Jan – Lots of fun in Queenstown, including the gondola, a steamboat, a luge (weeee) and a very scary jetboat!
7th Jan – Drive on to Te Anau, gateway to Milford Sound.
8th Jan – Visit to Milford Sound. Just look at the pictures, bloody hell!
9th Jan – Drive through to Christhchurch
10th Jan – After a bit of exploring round Christchurch it was time to drop off big gay al at the airport. A very sad time. I only got through the pain by getting my picture taken with a man in a penguin costume. I then drive on to Kaikoura.
11th Jan – Went whale watching in Kaikoura. Saw 4 sperm whales and about 200 dusky dolphins. An amazing experience.
12th Jan – Back in Picton. Had a pint of tennents at the flying haggis. Have discussion with barmaid about the logistics of importing tennents.
13th Jan – Ferry back to Wellington. Drive on to Taupo, the biggest lake in New Zealand. Had some r&r time in the hot mineral spa. Aaaaaah!
14th Jan – Back in Auckland after an amazing but bloody exhausting trip.

The trip was amazing, but it did put a significant dent in my finances. So, I’m planning to hang around Auckland for a while and see how things pan out. There are still lots of adventures to be had before my visa runs out in August, but there is plenty of time for all that.

Missing you all xx

Going underground...

Its been a while since I got off my arse and updated this thing. So, as its a Sunday and I'm (yet again) hungover, I thought I may as well sit down and give you a run down on my latest adventures.

Right, probably best if I go back a bit...I've never been Kayaking before, and to be fair this is probably something that I should have told the nice lady who stuck me in a Kayak and sent me sailing off down the Puhoi River. Apparently it is generally seen as bad form to wear jeans whilst participating in water sports. The reasoning behind this became clear after I fell out of my Kayak after about 15 minutes on the water, much to the amusement of my chums. Top tip for when you fall out a Kayak, don't try and turn it back over in the water. The bloody thing just fills up with water, making the rescue operation even more cumbersome. Despite my rather haphazard approach to the day, it was pretty good fun.

Have a look at my pics, I've actually updated them for once. You'll see that I've been doing a bit more beach combing. Bethells has been added to my growing list of top NZ beaches (but Karekare is still in the top spot). We took a day trip up to Goat Island, which was NZs first marine reserve. The water was pretty choppy, but you could still see the little blue fish (insert correct fish name here) swimming about. I was very brave and dipped my feet in. Luckily they'd obviously had their dinner and decided not to attack.

You'll also probably notice from the pics that the weather is starting to get really good as well. This weekend has been particularly nice. So, there was only one thing for it...I went down a cave. More specifically I took my first blackwater rafting adventure down a cave. Blackwater rafting is bugger all like whitewater rafting really (there are no boats involved, just a big rubber ring). I've obviously developed some bravery somewhere along the line as during my 5 hours underground I abeiled into a black hole, jumped off a bloody great ledge about 20 ft into the water (not that you could see the water - it is, unsurprisingly, pitch black down there), jumped off a waterfall, climed up the same waterfall and did a flying fox in total darkness. Well, I say total darkness, but the big attraction of the Waitomo caves is that there are inhabited by millions of glow worms. I have to admit it was a pretty incredible experience to be floating through a cave with the roof lit up like a pretty green starry night sky. The caves themselves are spectacular, but you really wouldn't want to have a sudden attack of claustrophobia down there. God knows how they would get you out. I got very drunk after and started a chorus of 'blame canada' in the pub. Needless to say the Canadian travellers didn't appreciate it, humourless bunch.

In other news, I've got a contract extension so I'll be working at AUT until Christmas. Good job really as I've got a fairly hectic list of exciting adventures to pay for:

Next weekend - Grey Lynn festival
Weekend after - Going on an adventure to the very north tip of the north island
Weekend after - Flat warming/welcome to summer/pre-birthday party at the flat
Weekend after - Waiheke Island
And so on.....

I love it here. I really don't want to leave. I might not...we'll see :)

Miss you all muchos - come visit me!

Tambo x

Welcome to paradise

Hello blog fans!

Where to start. Have you looked at my photos? Okay, lets start with the boring job stuff first. I have now 'downsized' from 3 jobs to 1. You may remember that I mentioned in the last blog that there were some interesting job developments on the horizon. Thankfully I was a flooky b*stard once again and I am now an employee of AUT University. Yes, I've travelled to the other side of the world and I'm still working for a bloody university! I'm working on a nice wee project creating online handbooks for the faculty of design and creative technology. The contract is full time through to the end of November....perfect timing for me to check out the job market for a while and use the last few weeks of the year to explore the North Island before my good chum Alan arrives and we embark on our South Island tour. Sweet as!

You will notice from my photos that I've been spending a lot of time at the beach. If you haven't had a look at the photos from Karekare yet, go and have a swatch now. Looks good eh? Trust me, those photos do it absolutely no justice whatsoever. It is the beach where the piano was filmed and is possibly the most stunning place I've ever seen. If you had told me a few months back that I'd get a bit emotional over the sight of a baby seal sunbathing on the rocks I'd have laughed in your face. I did though. That said, I had been drinking for 15 hours straight the night before and I was a bit 'tired and emotional'. Seriously though, this country can be quite overwhelming at times....in an entirely good way.

I've just returned from a weekend at the bach. A bach is an NZ family holiday home, generally near the beach. My very generous flat mate kindly invited me up to her family bach for the weekend. The trip was fantastic, although my watch met a sad demise when my flatmate unleashed a high impact 80s power ballad interpretive dance move. Photos from that adventure will be up shortly. The flatmates have been very good to me and contintue to put up with my drunken antics. Bizzarely one flatmate is my birthday twin, so we are celebrating with a visit to Waiheke Island (vinyard tour and dinner on a boat - woohoo). She has also kindly invited me down to New Plymouth for Christmas. I hope she knows what she's letting herself in for!

How are things going? Bloody great thanks!

Adventure in bro town

Kia ora

It's been a wee while since my last update due to ongoing broadband issues at my new place. Everything moves a bit slow in NZ. Switching over the broadband account has been an epic task taking about 2 weeks. Aaaah, it wouldn't be like that in bonny Scotland (aye right).

It has been a very busy couple of weeks since the last update. I'm settling in well to my new place in Ponsonby and my flatmates have been very accomodating of my drunken behaviour, especially the high impact Salsa I unleashed in some random pub down at the viaduct last weekend. The Kiwis really have embraced the 24hr drinking culture with clubs staying open all the way through the night until 12 noon the next day. Needless to say I've been taking advantage. New flatmate moves in at the weekend...I hope she is equally tollerant.

I've also been getting stuck into NZ working life. The Oxfam job is proving particularly interesting. My uniform consists of Khaki shorts, big green socks, hiking boots, green t-shirt and....wait for it.....a nice sweat band for my napper. Photos to follow at some point if you don't believe me. Got an interview for an interesting job tomorrow...more on that if I get it.

In a rather random addition to my trip, I've also been attending a Samba into course. My mate Jane plays with AK Samba and I've been banging various instruments for the past couple of weeks. All very enjoyable (and theraputic after a day in the call centre).

For all of those expecting a postcard I promise I'll get round to it at some point, but don't hold your breath as I'm a bit rubbish at that malarkey.

Missing you all

Tamster x

Sweet as bro'

That's me survived my first week in NZ. Here is a list of things that have happened in the order they occurred:

1. I got a new job! I'm officially a call centre monkey. Did my training today and I have a contract for a minimum of 20 hrs as a Market Research Interviewer. The money isn't amazing but the shifts are really flexible. I'm hoping to pick up other bits and pieces of work, but this should be enough to keep me in beer money

2. I bought a car. I am now the proud owner of a 1989 Toyota Corolla. Everyone drives realy old japanese cars here...so I went with the 'when in rome' option. Lets hope it keeps moving.

3. I got a flat. As of Sunday I will living in a great flat in Ponsonby, a sort of Auckland equivalent of Glasgow's west end. I'll be sharing with 2 lawyers and the star of a NZ beer commercial. Free beer and legal advice. Hurrah!

I'll be going for a little adventure up North at the weekend. I say 'up north' as I haven't quite mastered the spelling of the place names here. They all start with W and then seem to feature a sequence of random letters. I'm sure I will have worked out where I am buy Sunday. I'm also going to see the Black Seeds (a big band in NZ) on the 19th of Sept. Sweet as bro'!

E-mail me all you goss troops. Missing you all x