New Zealand: North Island....
Hello to you again at long last!
It seems months ago since my last update but I've just had a look and it's only 19 days! Since then we've left Ecuador and flew back to Chile for our second spell in Santiago. That was weird, going back after 4 months to somewhere we've already been when for the last 6 months every new day brings with it a new place. Santiago was much more pleasant this time around too. The pollution that filled the air at the end of a hot summer had lessened so much that this time we could even see the beautiful mountains that surround the city. We didn't have to run from any rioting hooligans this time either which was nice. On one of our 3 days in Santiago we took the opportunity to go on a wine-tasting tour... atleast I think we did - I don't know, it's all a bit hazy.
On our last day in Santiago, and therefore our last day in South America too, we went shopping. My trainers were so knackered I really didn't think they'd last the flight to New Zealand. I found a lovely pair of Diesel trainers and as soon as I've purchased them I exit the shop, stop at the bench outside, put on my super-duper new footwear and chuck the rotten, old ones in the bin. Now there's just time for a quick haircut and then we'll have to head for the airport...
We left Santiago on September 6th and chased the setting sun across the Pacific ocean bound for New Zealand. September 7th warranted only a very brief entry in my travel journal since 2 hours into it we crossed the international dateline, shot forward 24 hours and suddenly it was September 8th instead!
September 8th, 2006. Time: 04:00 in the morning. Location: Auckland, New Zealand. A new day; a new country; a new continent; a new haircut and a snazzy new pair of Diesel trainers. If all goes to plan then I can add a new camera to that list before the day is out!
We are met at the airport by Mark, an old schoolfriend of Lynn's brother. We are staying with Mark and his family on the outskirts of Auckland for a few days before we head off again. Mark goes back to bed as soon as we arrive home. Lynn and I decide to stay awake in an effort to avoid jetlag. By 10:00 we're all up and Mark is phoning round all the camera stores in the city trying to find the camera I'm after. After numerous phone calls we're suddenly locking the door, climbing into the car and whizzing through the streets of Auckland, map in one hand, credit card in the other. An hour after this and I'm the proud new owner of a Canon EOS 30D - all singing, all dancing - digital SLR camera. It's the dog's danglies; the mutt's nuts... I feel like a child on Christmas day who's thought of nothing else but Christmas for 3 months and at last after counting down every second of every minute of every hour, day, week and month I finally, finally, have my very own camera again. Lynn's nearly as pleased as me!
We spend 4 more days in Auckland and the weather is horrendous. Well, Mark, in his shorts and t-shirt says it's not too bad, but to us, newly arrived from the equator, it's bloody freezing! It also rains non-stop. We wear atleast half our clothes at any one time in an effort to stay warm. What are we going to be like in Russia in 5 months time, I wonder? On one of our days in Auckland we go up in the Skytower. The Skytower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere at 328m high. We go up to the Skydeck viewing platform at 220m. There is a glass floor and Mark wants to take a photo of us sitting on it. With Lynn's fear of heights to contend with this is no easy task. However, by getting Lynn to sit on the floor infront of the glass then close her eyes whilst I drag her backwards into position we manage to get the photo we want.
"Hey Lynn, now you're here on this 4cm thick (thin?) piece of perspex you might as well look down and enjoy the view."
"Not a chance!" as she scuttles back to the solid floor again.
We finally leave Mark and his unbelievably hospitable family on Tuesday 12th September. We've got 23 days left until we fly out of NZ so we need to get our skates on if we want to see everything we plan to. Today is our first morning of sunshine and dry weather in 4 days so it's a good day to get moving. After much debating over the last 48 hours we finally opt for hiring a campervan. We can collect it here in Auckland and drop it off in Christchurch, at the airport, when we leave. Lynn goes off with Mark to collect it and I can't stop myself from chuckling as she returns and reverses it up on to the driveway. I keep reminding myself that of my own freewill I am about to embark on a 3 week campervan holiday. A campervan. A. Camper. Van. I'm 33, not 63! I shall soon be tootling round the lanes in a little caravette, clogging up the traffic, dishes and pans rattling away behind me as I go. Oh, please. If I had to spend a day in a campervan for every campervan driver I've swore at in my life then I'd be spending the rest of my life in this rattly, little contraption. We load up and head off and Peter Kay's comedy "Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere" pops into my head. Oh well, it's too late now. We're soon trundling nicely down the road at a steady 50kph, a queue of impatient drivers building up behind us...
Our first stop in the campervan is Rotorua, about 3 hours south(ish). I really need to stop calling it a "campervan". We're in New Zealand now so it's a "cemperven". "A ven with a bid in the beck" in my best Kiwi accent! Anyway, the first stop is Rotorua and we spend 2 days there. On the first day we head to 'The Agrodome' to see a sheep shearing show.
"A campervan?"
"A sheep shearing show?"
Well, look. Just stop it right there, ok? I admit, I don't have any excuse for undertaking a motorhome holiday before reaching retirement age, you've got me on that one but this sheep show was actually first-class entertainment so just cut me some slack and hear me out first, alright? Ok, I'll start again... On the first day we head to 'The Agrodome' to see a sheep shearing show. The shearer, I don't know his name so I shall call him Alan, takes to the stage and begins to tell the audience about different types of sheep. Apparently there are 19 breeds of sheep in NZ and as each breed is mentioned that particular sheep runs on stage and stands on it's allotted pedestal on the stage which has it's breed written on it. Once all 19 breeds are onstage Alan picks on a sheep to shear and then gives a very entertaining shearing demosnstration. Next he explains about the roles of sheepdogs before calling one onstage. The stage isn't really big enough to give a demonstration on rounding-up sheep so instead some ducks are brought on and the sheepdog (duckdog?) rounds them up instead whilst the sheep just watch. Then more sheepdogs appear which start running about like loonies. Then Alan gets them all running about from one end of the stage to the other across the backs of all the bemused sheep. It's quite bizarre but very funny and highly entertaining. There is also alot of audience participation as people are picked upon to bottle-feed baby lambs or try and milk a cow. So, do I sense a reprieve regarding going to see a sheep show now? Well, sod you then!
In the afternoon we went zorbing. 'Zorbing' for those who don't know involves clambering into a giant inflatable ball. A few buckets of water are thrown in after you and then it's rolled off the top of a hill whereupon you emerge again at the bottom, soaking wet and rather disorientated.
Don't forget you can left-click on an image to see a bigger version of it!
On the second day we went white-water rafting on the nearby Kaituna river. River's are graded from 1 to 5 depending on their roughness and this particular stretch of the Kaituna river is graded at 5. ie: Rough as @#!% !!!
It also contains the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, with a 7 metre vertical drop. We are told that about 1 in 5 rafts capsize going down this fall and before us 8 in a row had gone down without turning over. With these facts in mind it should come as no surprise to learn then that we were doomed from the start. Needless to say, our raft turned upside-down as we hit the bottom and ended the disappointed crew's run of successful descents.
No one was seriously hurt though and it was tremendous fun which is the main thing.
In the evening we went to a Maori festival which included native songs and dances and a performance of the famous "haka" wardance. Also on the menu was a meal cooked in a hangi. A "hangi" is a traditional Maori method of cooking whereby rocks are heated in a fire to about a million degrees before being placed in a freshly dug hole in the ground. Food is wrapped and placed on top of the rocks and then the whole lot is covered over again. After 4 hours the food is dug up, unwrapped and then served up. It is absolutely heavenly!
The next morning, Friday 15th September, we left Rotorua and headed 80km south(ish again) to Taupo to meet up with an old schoolfriend of mine, Andy Bourne, and his girlfriend, Viv. They are both travelling for a year too and as luck would have it we are both in NZ at the same time. We decide to meet up in style by going skydiving. Viv is a skydiving veteran with 4 jumps under her belt. Andy has jumped once before. Lynn and I are skydiving virgins. At 11:30 a limo arrives and we all clamber in. I am getting really excited now as we head to the little aerodrome. Lynn is getting really anxious and isn't sure she really wants to do it.
Once in the hanger we each specify the 'package' we want. Lynn and I each go for the '12,000ft works' package. For this we get to jump out of a plane at 12,000ft (4,000m); it's video'd, photos are taken and we get the "been there, done that" t-shirt. It costs NZ$405 (about 140 English squids) each. We watch a video of someone elses jump before we go and get ready. I start to grin. Lynn starts to cry.
We don our overalls and harnesses and get a silly wetsuit-type-material helmet and some goggles. Afterwards we're introduced to the bloke we're going to jump with. Rich, meet Mike - "Hi!". Lynn, meet Peter - "....".
Lynn and I are in a little, white, Cesna aeroplane - a different one to the others, and for the 4 of us to squeeze in the back it's a real squash. We sit backwards on the bare, metal floor and, wedged in, we head off into the sky.
At 6,000ft we are connected to our jump buddy and we put our helmets on. It seems to take forever to circle up and up to the desired height. At 11,000ft the goggles go on. Finally, at 12,000ft the door is swung open and we look out onto the glistening waters of Lake Taupo far, far below us. Lynn and Peter go first and they shuffle round into position before dropping out through the doorway and out of sight. I notice as they go that Lynn has her eyes tightly closed!
Next, Mike and I make our way to the door and I sit with my feet dangling over the edge.
"Ready?"
"Ready"
Suddenly Mike launches us out of the door and we drop end over end through the air towards to earth. The sensation as we freefall for the next 45 seconds from 12,000ft to 5,000ft is just incredible. The noise of the wind and the pressure you feel on your face as you hurtle towards the ground, spinning and spiralling at 120mph is just mind-blowing. And trying to breathe at this speed isn't easy either! At 5,000ft Mike pulls the cord and the parachute shoots out and inflates above us. My harness is yanked up (giving me the ultimate wedgie) as we slow from 120mph to 20mph in just a couple of seconds. After this it's a steady glide down to earth, goggles up, as we twist and turn and spiral to take in the magnificent view.
I look around for Lynn before realising that she's still circling about above us. They must have freefalled (freefell?) for less time which is why we landed before them. I watch them descend and Lynn lands in a not-so-graceful heap on her arse but she manages a smile. It doesn't take a genius to work out that she's mightily relieved to be back on solid ground!
The adrenalin is really flowing. I feel like I could run a couple of marathons right here and now! I rush over to Lynn and give her a big hug. I am so proud that she managed to control her fear of heights and actually do this.
Fifteen minutes later and we both sit down in the hanger with Andy and Viv to watch our videos. They are both superb and the facial expressions as we descend are highly amusing but Lynn's video, I have to say, is an absolute classic. It's one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life!
In the evening Andy, Viv, Lynn and I head out for a few beers and a chat. We've all got alot to talk about after 6 months away from home! We finally stagger back to the cemperven and at about 04:00 the following morning.
Over the next 2 days we visit a few other seemingly random attractions in or around Taupo including a honey farm, a prawn farm, the 'Craters of the Moon' national park, Huka falls (a very turbulent waterfall), a thermal spa and a glassblowing studio.
From Taupo we head to Napier on the east coast. The town of Napier was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and was subsequently rebuilt in the most popular architectual sytle of the time which unfortunately happened to be the ghastly Art-Deco style. Our guidebook describes Napier as "...a bright, dynamic city". I describe Napier in my travel journal that evening as "...a small, dull town of pastel-coloured railway terminals". After lunch on the (deserted) seafront we headed south to Hastings. Guidebook description: "Lively". Rich's journal description: "Unlively". Infact it's so unlively it's spooky. It feels like a ghost town as we slowly drive down the deserted highstreet. I expect to see a tumbleweed roll out into the road infront of us or a vulture pecking the eye out of a dead dog in the gutter whilst a rusty sign creeks in the wind as we drive past. In the end we don't even stop. I have a feeling that if we do we might NEVER leave!
We head on south through lots of places with far too many letters in their names but which, bizarrely, all seem to begin with the letter 'W' until eventually we reach a place called Palmerston North and decide to spend the night there. There's a rugby museum here and that's as good an excuse as any for stopping. It's late now so it's going to be closed but we'll have a look in the morning before we head off again.
The next day we turn up at the museum as it opens and take look inside. It's a private museum and houses a passionate collection of memorabilia but it's well laid out and there's some great stuff here. We chat to the owner for a while, mentioning the fact that the only reason we stopped here was because we wanted to visit his museum otherwise we'd have driven straight through and onto Wellington. He tells us that he did a survey a couple of years ago and 30% of the tourists surveyed only came to Palmerston North to visit the museum too. Lynn and I both bought All Blacks rugby shirts in the museum shop before we left. All the sizes are enormous but I eventually found one in my size. In the children's section!
So, next stop on from Palmerston North is Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and also the most southerly capital in the world. It's all we can do to keep the cemperven on the road as we endure hurricane winds and driving rain for most of the way there. Thankfully it's a calm, sunny day when we wake up the next morning. We are taking the ferry over to the South Island at midday and the thought of having to endure 4 hours on a boat during a storm like yesterday's was not an appealing one!
In the end the crossing was calm and uneventful and we arrived safe and sound at the port-town of Picton at the top of the South Island. We found a campsite just round the corner from the ferry terminal; or on the other side of the town if you like since both descriptions are equally as true. After a lovely curry from one of the many (ok, 'the') restaurant in Picton we headed back to the ven to go to bid....
And that's where I'm going to leave you for now. That was Wednesday 20th September so it's not quite everything up to today but I think it's a good place to stop for now because my fingers are getting tired. The next episode will tell the tale of our breakneck tour of New Zealand's South Island but you're going to have to wait a couple of weeks until we've finished it before you hear about that!
Ok, I'm off and that means it's time for you to GET BACK TO WORK!!!
Bye for now,
Rich
It seems months ago since my last update but I've just had a look and it's only 19 days! Since then we've left Ecuador and flew back to Chile for our second spell in Santiago. That was weird, going back after 4 months to somewhere we've already been when for the last 6 months every new day brings with it a new place. Santiago was much more pleasant this time around too. The pollution that filled the air at the end of a hot summer had lessened so much that this time we could even see the beautiful mountains that surround the city. We didn't have to run from any rioting hooligans this time either which was nice. On one of our 3 days in Santiago we took the opportunity to go on a wine-tasting tour... atleast I think we did - I don't know, it's all a bit hazy.
On our last day in Santiago, and therefore our last day in South America too, we went shopping. My trainers were so knackered I really didn't think they'd last the flight to New Zealand. I found a lovely pair of Diesel trainers and as soon as I've purchased them I exit the shop, stop at the bench outside, put on my super-duper new footwear and chuck the rotten, old ones in the bin. Now there's just time for a quick haircut and then we'll have to head for the airport...
We left Santiago on September 6th and chased the setting sun across the Pacific ocean bound for New Zealand. September 7th warranted only a very brief entry in my travel journal since 2 hours into it we crossed the international dateline, shot forward 24 hours and suddenly it was September 8th instead!
September 8th, 2006. Time: 04:00 in the morning. Location: Auckland, New Zealand. A new day; a new country; a new continent; a new haircut and a snazzy new pair of Diesel trainers. If all goes to plan then I can add a new camera to that list before the day is out!
We are met at the airport by Mark, an old schoolfriend of Lynn's brother. We are staying with Mark and his family on the outskirts of Auckland for a few days before we head off again. Mark goes back to bed as soon as we arrive home. Lynn and I decide to stay awake in an effort to avoid jetlag. By 10:00 we're all up and Mark is phoning round all the camera stores in the city trying to find the camera I'm after. After numerous phone calls we're suddenly locking the door, climbing into the car and whizzing through the streets of Auckland, map in one hand, credit card in the other. An hour after this and I'm the proud new owner of a Canon EOS 30D - all singing, all dancing - digital SLR camera. It's the dog's danglies; the mutt's nuts... I feel like a child on Christmas day who's thought of nothing else but Christmas for 3 months and at last after counting down every second of every minute of every hour, day, week and month I finally, finally, have my very own camera again. Lynn's nearly as pleased as me!
We spend 4 more days in Auckland and the weather is horrendous. Well, Mark, in his shorts and t-shirt says it's not too bad, but to us, newly arrived from the equator, it's bloody freezing! It also rains non-stop. We wear atleast half our clothes at any one time in an effort to stay warm. What are we going to be like in Russia in 5 months time, I wonder? On one of our days in Auckland we go up in the Skytower. The Skytower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere at 328m high. We go up to the Skydeck viewing platform at 220m. There is a glass floor and Mark wants to take a photo of us sitting on it. With Lynn's fear of heights to contend with this is no easy task. However, by getting Lynn to sit on the floor infront of the glass then close her eyes whilst I drag her backwards into position we manage to get the photo we want.
"Hey Lynn, now you're here on this 4cm thick (thin?) piece of perspex you might as well look down and enjoy the view."
"Not a chance!" as she scuttles back to the solid floor again.
We finally leave Mark and his unbelievably hospitable family on Tuesday 12th September. We've got 23 days left until we fly out of NZ so we need to get our skates on if we want to see everything we plan to. Today is our first morning of sunshine and dry weather in 4 days so it's a good day to get moving. After much debating over the last 48 hours we finally opt for hiring a campervan. We can collect it here in Auckland and drop it off in Christchurch, at the airport, when we leave. Lynn goes off with Mark to collect it and I can't stop myself from chuckling as she returns and reverses it up on to the driveway. I keep reminding myself that of my own freewill I am about to embark on a 3 week campervan holiday. A campervan. A. Camper. Van. I'm 33, not 63! I shall soon be tootling round the lanes in a little caravette, clogging up the traffic, dishes and pans rattling away behind me as I go. Oh, please. If I had to spend a day in a campervan for every campervan driver I've swore at in my life then I'd be spending the rest of my life in this rattly, little contraption. We load up and head off and Peter Kay's comedy "Max & Paddy's Road to Nowhere" pops into my head. Oh well, it's too late now. We're soon trundling nicely down the road at a steady 50kph, a queue of impatient drivers building up behind us...
Our first stop in the campervan is Rotorua, about 3 hours south(ish). I really need to stop calling it a "campervan". We're in New Zealand now so it's a "cemperven". "A ven with a bid in the beck" in my best Kiwi accent! Anyway, the first stop is Rotorua and we spend 2 days there. On the first day we head to 'The Agrodome' to see a sheep shearing show.
"A campervan?"
"A sheep shearing show?"
Well, look. Just stop it right there, ok? I admit, I don't have any excuse for undertaking a motorhome holiday before reaching retirement age, you've got me on that one but this sheep show was actually first-class entertainment so just cut me some slack and hear me out first, alright? Ok, I'll start again... On the first day we head to 'The Agrodome' to see a sheep shearing show. The shearer, I don't know his name so I shall call him Alan, takes to the stage and begins to tell the audience about different types of sheep. Apparently there are 19 breeds of sheep in NZ and as each breed is mentioned that particular sheep runs on stage and stands on it's allotted pedestal on the stage which has it's breed written on it. Once all 19 breeds are onstage Alan picks on a sheep to shear and then gives a very entertaining shearing demosnstration. Next he explains about the roles of sheepdogs before calling one onstage. The stage isn't really big enough to give a demonstration on rounding-up sheep so instead some ducks are brought on and the sheepdog (duckdog?) rounds them up instead whilst the sheep just watch. Then more sheepdogs appear which start running about like loonies. Then Alan gets them all running about from one end of the stage to the other across the backs of all the bemused sheep. It's quite bizarre but very funny and highly entertaining. There is also alot of audience participation as people are picked upon to bottle-feed baby lambs or try and milk a cow. So, do I sense a reprieve regarding going to see a sheep show now? Well, sod you then!
In the afternoon we went zorbing. 'Zorbing' for those who don't know involves clambering into a giant inflatable ball. A few buckets of water are thrown in after you and then it's rolled off the top of a hill whereupon you emerge again at the bottom, soaking wet and rather disorientated.
Don't forget you can left-click on an image to see a bigger version of it!
On the second day we went white-water rafting on the nearby Kaituna river. River's are graded from 1 to 5 depending on their roughness and this particular stretch of the Kaituna river is graded at 5. ie: Rough as @#!% !!!
It also contains the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world, with a 7 metre vertical drop. We are told that about 1 in 5 rafts capsize going down this fall and before us 8 in a row had gone down without turning over. With these facts in mind it should come as no surprise to learn then that we were doomed from the start. Needless to say, our raft turned upside-down as we hit the bottom and ended the disappointed crew's run of successful descents.
No one was seriously hurt though and it was tremendous fun which is the main thing.
In the evening we went to a Maori festival which included native songs and dances and a performance of the famous "haka" wardance. Also on the menu was a meal cooked in a hangi. A "hangi" is a traditional Maori method of cooking whereby rocks are heated in a fire to about a million degrees before being placed in a freshly dug hole in the ground. Food is wrapped and placed on top of the rocks and then the whole lot is covered over again. After 4 hours the food is dug up, unwrapped and then served up. It is absolutely heavenly!
The next morning, Friday 15th September, we left Rotorua and headed 80km south(ish again) to Taupo to meet up with an old schoolfriend of mine, Andy Bourne, and his girlfriend, Viv. They are both travelling for a year too and as luck would have it we are both in NZ at the same time. We decide to meet up in style by going skydiving. Viv is a skydiving veteran with 4 jumps under her belt. Andy has jumped once before. Lynn and I are skydiving virgins. At 11:30 a limo arrives and we all clamber in. I am getting really excited now as we head to the little aerodrome. Lynn is getting really anxious and isn't sure she really wants to do it.
Once in the hanger we each specify the 'package' we want. Lynn and I each go for the '12,000ft works' package. For this we get to jump out of a plane at 12,000ft (4,000m); it's video'd, photos are taken and we get the "been there, done that" t-shirt. It costs NZ$405 (about 140 English squids) each. We watch a video of someone elses jump before we go and get ready. I start to grin. Lynn starts to cry.
We don our overalls and harnesses and get a silly wetsuit-type-material helmet and some goggles. Afterwards we're introduced to the bloke we're going to jump with. Rich, meet Mike - "Hi!". Lynn, meet Peter - "....".
Lynn and I are in a little, white, Cesna aeroplane - a different one to the others, and for the 4 of us to squeeze in the back it's a real squash. We sit backwards on the bare, metal floor and, wedged in, we head off into the sky.
At 6,000ft we are connected to our jump buddy and we put our helmets on. It seems to take forever to circle up and up to the desired height. At 11,000ft the goggles go on. Finally, at 12,000ft the door is swung open and we look out onto the glistening waters of Lake Taupo far, far below us. Lynn and Peter go first and they shuffle round into position before dropping out through the doorway and out of sight. I notice as they go that Lynn has her eyes tightly closed!
Next, Mike and I make our way to the door and I sit with my feet dangling over the edge.
"Ready?"
"Ready"
Suddenly Mike launches us out of the door and we drop end over end through the air towards to earth. The sensation as we freefall for the next 45 seconds from 12,000ft to 5,000ft is just incredible. The noise of the wind and the pressure you feel on your face as you hurtle towards the ground, spinning and spiralling at 120mph is just mind-blowing. And trying to breathe at this speed isn't easy either! At 5,000ft Mike pulls the cord and the parachute shoots out and inflates above us. My harness is yanked up (giving me the ultimate wedgie) as we slow from 120mph to 20mph in just a couple of seconds. After this it's a steady glide down to earth, goggles up, as we twist and turn and spiral to take in the magnificent view.
I look around for Lynn before realising that she's still circling about above us. They must have freefalled (freefell?) for less time which is why we landed before them. I watch them descend and Lynn lands in a not-so-graceful heap on her arse but she manages a smile. It doesn't take a genius to work out that she's mightily relieved to be back on solid ground!
The adrenalin is really flowing. I feel like I could run a couple of marathons right here and now! I rush over to Lynn and give her a big hug. I am so proud that she managed to control her fear of heights and actually do this.
Fifteen minutes later and we both sit down in the hanger with Andy and Viv to watch our videos. They are both superb and the facial expressions as we descend are highly amusing but Lynn's video, I have to say, is an absolute classic. It's one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life!
In the evening Andy, Viv, Lynn and I head out for a few beers and a chat. We've all got alot to talk about after 6 months away from home! We finally stagger back to the cemperven and at about 04:00 the following morning.
Over the next 2 days we visit a few other seemingly random attractions in or around Taupo including a honey farm, a prawn farm, the 'Craters of the Moon' national park, Huka falls (a very turbulent waterfall), a thermal spa and a glassblowing studio.
From Taupo we head to Napier on the east coast. The town of Napier was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1931 and was subsequently rebuilt in the most popular architectual sytle of the time which unfortunately happened to be the ghastly Art-Deco style. Our guidebook describes Napier as "...a bright, dynamic city". I describe Napier in my travel journal that evening as "...a small, dull town of pastel-coloured railway terminals". After lunch on the (deserted) seafront we headed south to Hastings. Guidebook description: "Lively". Rich's journal description: "Unlively". Infact it's so unlively it's spooky. It feels like a ghost town as we slowly drive down the deserted highstreet. I expect to see a tumbleweed roll out into the road infront of us or a vulture pecking the eye out of a dead dog in the gutter whilst a rusty sign creeks in the wind as we drive past. In the end we don't even stop. I have a feeling that if we do we might NEVER leave!
We head on south through lots of places with far too many letters in their names but which, bizarrely, all seem to begin with the letter 'W' until eventually we reach a place called Palmerston North and decide to spend the night there. There's a rugby museum here and that's as good an excuse as any for stopping. It's late now so it's going to be closed but we'll have a look in the morning before we head off again.
The next day we turn up at the museum as it opens and take look inside. It's a private museum and houses a passionate collection of memorabilia but it's well laid out and there's some great stuff here. We chat to the owner for a while, mentioning the fact that the only reason we stopped here was because we wanted to visit his museum otherwise we'd have driven straight through and onto Wellington. He tells us that he did a survey a couple of years ago and 30% of the tourists surveyed only came to Palmerston North to visit the museum too. Lynn and I both bought All Blacks rugby shirts in the museum shop before we left. All the sizes are enormous but I eventually found one in my size. In the children's section!
So, next stop on from Palmerston North is Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and also the most southerly capital in the world. It's all we can do to keep the cemperven on the road as we endure hurricane winds and driving rain for most of the way there. Thankfully it's a calm, sunny day when we wake up the next morning. We are taking the ferry over to the South Island at midday and the thought of having to endure 4 hours on a boat during a storm like yesterday's was not an appealing one!
In the end the crossing was calm and uneventful and we arrived safe and sound at the port-town of Picton at the top of the South Island. We found a campsite just round the corner from the ferry terminal; or on the other side of the town if you like since both descriptions are equally as true. After a lovely curry from one of the many (ok, 'the') restaurant in Picton we headed back to the ven to go to bid....
And that's where I'm going to leave you for now. That was Wednesday 20th September so it's not quite everything up to today but I think it's a good place to stop for now because my fingers are getting tired. The next episode will tell the tale of our breakneck tour of New Zealand's South Island but you're going to have to wait a couple of weeks until we've finished it before you hear about that!
Ok, I'm off and that means it's time for you to GET BACK TO WORK!!!
Bye for now,
Rich
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