New Zealand

MONTH
July 2009

COUNTRIES
New Zealand – North Island

SITES

Blehiem Vine Yard (including Allan Scott and Cloudy
Bay vineyards) Te Papa, MT Victoria, Te Manawa, New Dowse Art and Design
Museum, Pataka Musuem, MT Ruapehu, Lake Taupo, Huka Falls, Kerosene Creek, Te
Puia, Pohuta geyser, East Cape, Corrmandel Peninsula, Northlands and Auckland.

Wildlife: Seal, blind eel, weasel, wild cat, lots of
birds; wax eye, fan tail, emu, tui, kingfisher, kiwi (in an enclosure).

TOP MOMENTS1. Snowboarding the volcanic slopes of mordor – Mount Ruapehu - open slopes with deep snow and sunshine.2. Catching the biggest fish so far - a great fight with a New Zealand salmon type fish,
Kahawai.3. Hot Beach - At low tide digging a hole on the beach and lounging about roasting hot water pools all morning.4. Blokarting - Travelling at high speed along 90 mile beach propelled by the wind in a sand yacht. http://www.blokart.com/

LOWEST MOMENTS
1. Losing a Barracouta – after fighting with a large barracuda for sometime it soon dawned on Chris that he was 2 meters from the water on the end of a pier. With only medium thickness line and no net to haul it in, the line broke when the fish was half way out of the water.

2. Watch failure – another watch bites the dust, number 4 to break. An essential piece of equipment when travelling and we are not even mistreating them. This one a surf watch (Rip Curl) that broke because it got wet – what’s all that about?

SCARIEST MOMENTS
1. Hearing the heavy footsteps late at night – whilst isolated in a hut the middle of the East Cape bush after watching a horror movie we heard footsteps along the wooden veranda outside, expecting somebody to come through the door seconds after. Nobody did and there was nobody there.

2. Skydiving from a plane at 12,000 ft – Overlooking spectacular snow capped mountains and lake Taupo we launched ourselves out of a plane door, did a few back flips, did a 45 second freefall at over 200kph and parachuted the rest of the way down with our hearts still beating at 100 miles an hour – one of the best activities so far.

UNSUAL FOOD
Kumara – Maori sweet potato
Manuka Sauvignon Blanc
McKiwi Burger – fried egg and beetroot, it was grim.

Manuka Honey
Kiwi Pavalova – made by Liannah
Tamarillo – a plum like fruit

Boynesberry (a raspberry like fruit) and Apple pie

Fresh oysters and mussels – we got chatting to a couple of Maori’s on the beach and they gave us a bag load of green lipped mussels the size of your hand (Chris also collected some) and a raw oyster to try – very tasty.

Pippi’s ( a sort of white mussel) and cockles – collected by us and cooked with a garlic, lemon and white wine cream sauce and homemade bread – yum.

MOSTLY MISSING

Warm temperatures

MOSTLY HAD FILL OFF
Driving

QUOTES
‘That’s why the British won the war’

Nick, Kiwi impressed at my Chris’s marksmanship skills (head shot, first shot from 20 meters) whilst out shooting possums (a vermin in NZ that needs culling).

‘Push him in, he’s a kangaroo’

A Maori woman about her son in law, who was standing on the waters edge. There is no love lost between the 2 nations.

‘You bloody vanner’s find everything free’

Si, Gateway Backpackers owner commenting on that fact we have found the internet is free in NZ’s libraries. We have also found free laundry, camping, books, food, hot spas and DVD’s

FACTS
There are only 4 million people in NZ and 80 million sheep, which works out to 20 sheep per person, that’s a higher ratio than Wales.

Tamaki – Makau – Rau is the Maori name for Auckland. It means ‘ the maiden with 100 lovers’ as many tribes sought after the settlement.

FISH CAUGHT = 6
1 medium and 1 large kahawai (approx 8lb), 3 mullet and one small fish.

BITES
Chris – 3 x Sandfly
Lil – 8 x Sandfly

TAN
Only slight tan remains, back to rich tea biscuit.

NEXT ON AGENDA
South America – Chile, Argentina, Brasil….

2009-07-31