Luge-nessy

On the 30th we went to the church in the morning, then into town to go Lugein, down hill gravity karts. Taking the gondola to the top we eventual arrived at the start line. On our first run we had to go down the basic track, probably a good idea to learn the controls and get the feel of the kart. However after a few corners i got a bit bored of going slow so started to zoom past fat middle aged people and smalls India children but i came up a com-up-ance getting stuck behind a middle track driver. But i saw my chance; at various point there were slow lanes that wiggle away from the main track then back further along. Tubs didn't take this so i did and after a bit of smooth driving i burst out in front of him over taking another kart in the progress. The 2nd run was a good one down the medium track then it was onto the hard, a mean course with bend after bend, banked corners and a few places to get a bit of air a bruise your bum. After flying down this course literally in some places, I waited for Davey to appear. After a while a was thinking "sanka, ya dead man" and after a while more of thinking maybe he is dead he popped round the corner. It turned out he'd had quite a spectacular crash on one corner his steering locked up and he went straight into the crash barrier, being flung out of the kart and one to the bank in front, while the kart itself continued to spiral though the air landing a few meters further down the track. So we went back to the medium course, towards the end of the course i slowed down to let Davey catch and shorted the waiting time, but id forgotten about the split in the track and he was already waiting for me. Seeing this i sped up...a bit too much and went crashing into the kart park; where they were transported onto a conveyor belt then attached to a chair left to get them back to the top. However due to my speed i had been unable to stop and now found my foot stuck between the ball and the kart and was being dragged along the belt. this hurt. after a while i was freed by the nice man got a bit of ice for my foot then went down the luge for the last time. we had got to bus into town but they didn't do return tickets and as a result we were out of cash so walked back into town. where we were picked up and met the 3rd german.

The Invasion

Its been quite a while since iv managed to get to a computer and we've been rather busy chaps; but first i forgot to mention our target shooting session in the back garden of the farm. Being a farm they have a supply of air rifles and natural want to shoot them at cans, chestnuts and sticks; so we spent a morning aimlessly shooting things (aim as into aim to achieve not as in aim at the target). On the 26th after our hard days work yesterday we were granted the day off and dropped in town around 7.30, a tad early for any shops to be open so we did a nice walking tour of the town/city through a thermal park, along the lake front and through the government gardens, finally arriving at the I-sight at the hand time of 9.30. Now the previous day we had walked out to the Okere falls which turns out the be the highest commercially raftable fall in the world, so this had to be done. After booking a combo deal including a white water raft ride and a spa trip we were on our way. Going down the rapid with us was a couple from the UK! To start with the course was fun enough with a few good rapids and a smaller waterfall then it got a bit more exhilarating until finally we lined up for the fall, around a 6 to 7 meter drop. At first every felt like it was going fine, by fine i mean precariously balanced in a rubber boat going down a waterfall in roughly the right direction, and it wasn't until the nose of the boat found the water below that it started to go wrong; instead of bouncing up the current sucked the nose in and tipped the boat. After a few seconds of seeing nothing but white water we were released from the falls and sheltering for air in hull of the overturned craft waiting for our instructors to put it back the right way up. After that excitement the water calmed for a bit so we went for a swim down the rapid before clambering into the boat just before another rapid. eventually our fun was over and it was time to relax at the polonisen spas an array of heated pools looking out over the lake, so this was quite the contrast to the morning but a well earned relaxation session. On the 27th though it was back to furniture moving which was pretty good fun and Steve's the guy who's always got a few joke lined up so we had a good laugh as well. in the evening however the invasion started, a German arrived to WWOOF at the farm. The 28th and 29th were another two days of rather uneventful furniture moving, apart from moving some people in to the house from hell. Well it was a lovely house with a sort of alpine layout but this was the hellish part; trying to mover furniture in and around the house was not the easiest of task. In the evening of the 29th yet another German arrived. On the 30th yet another German arrived, we really had been invaded.

Sweet Home Roturo

On the 21st after being bombarded with request for moisturiser, do i look like a guy who moisturises we left national park and head to Rotorua for our first WWOOFing placement. after a painfully slow bus ride with 2hr delays and petrol stops on the way we finally arrived and met Caleb at the bus stop and made our way to our home for home. It was a converted barn with beautiful vegetable gardens with wonderful views of the rolling green hills. (when we arrived it was dark but it was quite a sight to wake up to). The following day we started work doing general maintenance jobs around the farm, strimming grass, replanting trees etc. As well as the family of 5 they have, cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, donkeys, pigs, fish and a horse so i don't think there is going to be a shortage of work. Sunday we went to the family's church service, all of them, they have an hr 'sunday school' before the main service where we were just spoken to for an hr, not really the most engaging way to spend an hr, then we had the service, which was nice enough few songs passionate sermon then half a song. After this we went round the town which wasn't a dump as the Germans (course it was) had told us, and quite enjoyed the garden and a nice internet cafe. Then we were picked up went to the evening service, same as the morning with a few testimonies added in then off home for the all important rugby. The following day we went out with Steve in the van to be furniture removal men. but were just so good we got the job done within hours which gave us the rest of the day off. so what better way to spent it than going out on kayaks. after a bit of a bumpy ride in the back of the van we reached the lake and when exploring, we found a stream mildly obstructed with shallow waters, brambles and a few trees and decided to see how far up it we could get, after ramming our way through a few bushes we finally met out match when a blooming great tree had fallen in the middle of the stream making it rather tricky to get round, so they put an end to our adventure but not to the fun. when we got back we decided to go for a swim. even though the water wasn't that warm it just wouldn't been the Womacks if we didn't go in, eventually after deciding it was a bit cold to enjoy the swim we spotted a prime bridge to jump off. so we made our way round the shoreline and after plucking up the courage cannonballed into the water a good few meters below, to my delight and surprise it was pleasantly warm here so one jump just wouldn't do and we spent a while jumping of the bridge in various manners. after the excitement of the previous days we spent the 25th gardening and being removal men, but we did fit in time for a waterfall but there's more to come about that later.

To Middle Earth And Back

After refreshing ourselves with pancakes topped with everything you can imagine; including sausages on Sunday, we said goodbye to Parbs and took the bus the following day to middle earth, which is quite a drive away. Ok we didn't really go to middle earth but we did go to the filming sight of the Lord Of the Rings trilogy in National Park. While there we embarked on the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 19.4km walk which goes up to 1900m above sea level. We started rather early to do this crossing boarding the bus at 7 with our fellow walkers (mainly Germans again; seriously is it a right of passage to go to NZ in Germany, there seems to be more Germans than kiwis here). The start of the crossing was simple enough just a track winding its way along the river until it met devils staircase, a rather long steep uphill section of the track which we found appropriate to sing stairway to heaven on. We eventually made it to the saddle of two peaks where rather thick snow still lay on the track, covering the marker polls in places, but onwards we march feeling like we were on a Antarctic adventure, not in the middle of New Zealand. after a while we made it to the most challenging part of the walk, the foot of red crater. To get to the top we had to walk around 1km on a fairly steep gradient, but to make matters worse the track was either really loos gravel so for every step forward you slipped back half a step or really heavy snow which just sapped your energy to walk in, so it was a bit tricky to get to the top, but we made it and at the top were the Germans along with a few frogs (the french kind) demanded red wine to celebrate...but we didn't have any so down the other side we went. Going down was much more fun, in places you could slide across the snow and on the loos gravel you just let gravity do the work. Also while going down the weather started to clear and reveal the beautiful view below, but unfortunately my camera ran out of battery so there is no amazing photo to show you the view, guess you'll just have to walk up there yourself if you want to see it. From here we crossed another saddle until we made it to the decent point were we bumped into the DOC (department of conservation) guys who were appalled that we didn't have alpine gear and assured us of our certain death as well would have to go round an ice ledge with a shear drop of a few hundred feet onto the jagged rocks below. So i though that was it, this is how i go, up a mountain surround by Germans. But as your reading this now you can see that wasn't the case. To our delight the ledge wasn't a ledge and the shear drop was more of a steep slide and we made it around with ease where we followed the path back to the car park to be picked up 2hrs ahead of schedule. So all in all a rather good walk but we didn't see any orcs i guess they have seconds homes and leave the area in winter conditions. The following day we went for a  climb on the climbing wall at the hostel which was good fun then the following day we followed a mud path to the middle of now where to see a waterfall drop 50ft into a pool below. It was a rather beautiful stop in the middle of the jungle, all alone with a wonderful panoramic view of the surroundings with only the sounds of the fall and the birds for company, oh and Davey of course.

Lazy Days

Well you cant be busy all the time, sometimes one needs to kick back and chillaxe and recently that exactly what I’ve been doing.  Wednesday we ventured down to the fan zone and inside the giant rugby ball which had a visual display about New Zealand and the rugby world cup. It was quite a good watch but the venue had originally been designed as a rather snazzy bar so view of the display wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences but even worse than that THE BAR WAS CLOSED. The rest of the day was spent mainly in front of the T.V, we did venture out to retrieve some vital supplies of popcorn, chocolate, and dirt cheap fizzy, oh and also to the unforgettable name of ‘Video EZY’ to get some movies. The movies of choice were (not all chosen by me); Boy, a Kiwi cult classic that everyone’s been telling us to watch; I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry, Adam Sandler been surprisingly funny; Zack and Miri make a porn, also surprisingly funny, but not one to watch with a meal; waking up in Reno, typical 80s comedy drama and the crème de le crème, Bring it on, fight to the finish, staring Christina Milan and some other spotty teenagers.  We only had time for the first two films as we were being a bit sloth like and time was progressing quicker than us. The following day we ventured across the port to Devonport a rather quaint part of Auckland that maintained a village like feel. While there we took in all the sights, first it was up Mount Victoria to take in the surrounding views. Then over to the museum which was only open at weekends between 2 and 4 so that was a miss but onwards to the beach, which had a rather nice view, with a sandy beach and a sheltered shoreline and with the sun shining it was a perfect day for a swim, so why did I leave my trunks at home!!! After getting over the disappointment we ventured round North Point an ex-navel base that was filled with underground passages to explore, guns to look at and lookout points to hide in, so we had a jolly good time being boys before we ventured back into the town. Once there we went to the chocolate factory which was just a shop with a plastic screen into the factory, but we got some excellent chocolate so it was worth the walk, picked up a fabulous ice-cream with homemade cone and fought of the sea gulls before getting the ferry back home. And on the 15^th they slobbed out in front of the T.V and scoffed themselves with ice-cream and chocolate while watching movies; and it was good. In the evening we went over to once of Charlottes friends to watch the game, and after Wales valiant effort we hit the town to forget all our troubles and eventually after walking back home to get my passport and in again the partying finally begun.

cheltenham beach

north point view

auckland

one for the background

Such A Beach

Seems this is turning into quite a bit of a walking holiday first to the Whangarei fall then off to the Haruru falls and now the coast to coast walk. Although it didn’t involve a waterfall it’s a pretty nice walk across Auckland. After a bit of a leisurely morning we decided to get our act in gear a set off for the walk, we started at the Queens wharf where one such English player has been told he’s a naughty boy for jumping off a ferry into the sea. From here we walked up through the central business district and then through Auckland university campus, where we momentarily misplaced ourselves. I think it must just be a design feature of universities that they need to be hard to navigate. But never mind we soon found ourselves on the right track and head through the Domain, Auckland’s version of Hyde Park I guess. A large green area filled with gardens, playing fields and pretty walks through some pink tree that the Japanese seem to have an obsession with. From here we made our way up to mount Eden, the highest point in the city with some great views from the very peak, as well as a sacred Mario sight. From here we ran like a river runs into the sea, (not really we just walked) to Cromwell park and One Tree Hill. Once a sacred sight but now the tree had been replaced with a monument to some white guy who though he was all that. So that was a bit of a letdown but the surrounding park was very nice so it wasn’t all bad. From here the route went through some more minor park until 16km from the start found its way to the Tasman Sea. We decide to take the train back which was fine apart from not knowing where the station was and a lack of sign post, but after some ‘marvellous’ wondering we found the station got our cheap tickets and made our way home. The following day Ms Parbery-Clark had the day off so we had decided to hire a car. For all you car fans we got ourselves a classic, the 2004, automatic, 1. Something or other, Nissan S……unny, in white, oh yer it doesn’t get much better than that (well at least not on my budget). Anyway I digress; we had chosen to drive to Coromandel and the Hot Water Beach. On the way the weather was bliss. However 5km from the beach fog descended and the rain started to fall, but we’d come this far so onwards we went. When we arrived we found a packed beach full of Spaniard and Germans and not very hot water. The idea was to dig a hole and let if fill with hot water form the volcano below. What we didn’t know was that there was only 2 exit points that by the time we arrived had already been surrounded by. So after digging a few unsuccessful holes we managed to steal one. It was kind of hot but the Germans in the one over had proper hot water. So doing my best trench war impersonation I sneakily dug a connecting trench between the two and retrieved some of that all important hot water. After a while though we met a bigger force know as the sea, high tide was approaching and the beach was being reclaimed so we decide to make good our escape and head for Coromandel. Due to the unexpected rain my shirt had become slightly wet so I was with out a top, but determined not to be beaten I fashioned a toga out of my towel and proceeded to walk round the car park shouting ‘TOGA ,TOAG’ not to the amusement of the car park.  To get to the township we decide it would be more interesting to take the back roads, so we did. It was more interesting but they were more gravel tracks than roads and not too well maintained in parts, but we made it through the pass and arrived safely on the other side. Once there it turned out there wasn’t really much to do there so after a little stole, game of poo sticks and a cuppa chia we headed for home, for which I had the honour of driving. Once back in Auckland we had been invited out to a pub quiz at the local Irish bar, so how could you say no? It was a pretty good quiz with Davey getting 10 out of 10 on the 27club round, and a good amount of heckling in the direction of the quiz master and even better we came 3^rd which resulted in $20 to be spent at the bar. So a rather good end to a rather good day.

mt eden

jap trap

TOGA TOGA

one tree hill

Birthday Boy

After spending most of the 6^th on a bus getting back to Auckland we spent the morning of the 7^th stretching our legs and getting a few of the necessaries before getting all dressed up to go visit the sky tower. You see it happened to be someone’s birthday and they though it would be a good idea to go up the sky tower for sun set and then head to the bar. So that’s what we did. Well nearly. After setting off a bit late and getting stuck in a bit of a queue due to a lack of staff at the sky tower, silly people only put one person on at a peak time, we just missed the sun set. But we still managed to get some day light to take in the view, but before long all the day light hours and had gone and the vast view had been replaced by that of the mesmerising city lights, which I managed to get some rather groovy photos (well I think they are see what you think). After fulfilling my photo taking need it was off to the bar, but this wasn’t an ordinary bar, oh no. we sat at 182 meters sipping cocktails and various spirits watching the city life go by in our rather posh rather comfy chairs, it’s a hard life. Eventually we couldn’t justify spending any more money on drinks so we header for home to find the other party people (there were a few other celebrating birthdays at the hostel) fast asleep, bunch of light weights, though Germans could handle their drink, so far there not doing to well this trip. The following day we had to be up and down town by 11 as we had decided to jump off a perfectly good bridge for no apparent reason, but don’t worry we’d be attached by our ankles to a long piece of rubber. I think this is supposed to be their idea of fun around here and is know as bungee jumping!!! So after turning up fashionably late our driver took us to base camp where we got kitted up and walked the longest mile. To get to the jump we had to walk about 10min under the Auckland harbour bridge on this very windy walkway from which you could see the rough waters of the sea below waiting to swallow you up. When we eventually reached the pod and got ready to jump I was feeling up for this, but after watching the first person plummet off the top I suddenly became a lot less confident. The order was done in height, heaviest first, so Davey went before me. After taking a practice jump he managed to through himself off the bridge and to the waters bellow. When he got back up he told me how ‘fricking awesome’ it was so momentarily I was ready to follow suite. But when I was standing over the edge I suddenly became less ready. But after psyching myself up I did it, I went for a proper dive off, well in my head I did. In reality I bricked it half way through so ended up ungracefully falling off the edge to the waters below, but I was off and Davey was right; it was frinking awesome! Once I got myself the right way up and back to the top I was shacking from the adrenalin rush and wanted to jump off again forgetting I was no longer attached at the ankles. But luckily for everyone I stayed on the bridge and walked back to land. In the afternoon we went down to the fan zone to watch the games. We had decided to support Wales for the first game, I love the Welsh, and England for the second, I hate the French. So to start with we were rather happy. A few thousand had turned out to watch the first game and most were supporting Ireland, so it was a good feeling to be cheering for the winning side and to se the underdog win. However for the second game the crowed increased in size and most were supporting la frogs, so this time it was a rather embarrassing feeling to be cheering for a team playing so badly and been surrounded by jubilant French people, but I guess it’s a good life experience to put on the C.V somewhere.

Tour de la Paihia

After a morning of perusing the gift shops and finding me a nice towel to replace the one I lost (may have forgot to mention that earlier) we tried to go for a swim. But the weather had other ideas, although the sun was shining the wind was more than blowing which made it a bit cold and a bit choppy to go swimming, especially with the rocky shores. So that was the end of that idea. Back at the hostel we met Stephan, a German and decide to go explore the coast by bike. After cycling up a steep enough hill we then followed what we though had been the suggested route. However it turned out to be a very long very steep down hill which was great fun to go down but the fun soon wore off when we came straight to a massive’ privet property, no entry’ sign. So instead of going back up the hill we tried o go round it. There was a track to take, it may have been designed for mountain bikes and not road bikes but that didn’t stop us. After cycling along on a bit we found our chosen road off to the left, at first it appeared to be a good choice, ok a bit steep to start with but then the path seemed to go round the massive hill not up it. Well we were wrong, once we got round the corner it shot up off the hill again, the same happened with the next corner and the next and the next until finally we could go no higher as we had found ourselves at the highest point for miles. But luckily this also happened to be the point we had aimed for originally so hay alls well that ends well. The point is self was a look out across Waitangi and Paihia and was a pretty nice spot, if not for the sunned sprinkling of rain, but it soon passed and we headed back to the hostel. On the way back we decided a race would be good fun about a 1km track down the hill round a few bends and with a bit of an up hill to end. So we waited for the bulk of the traffic to clear then we were off. It was neck and neck at the start between all 3 of us but a 3^rd of the way down I managed to open up a bit of a gap, but as I geared up to gained more speed the chain started to jump so I was loosing power and it wasn’t long before Stephan came shooting past me just before the end of the hill. Into the bends he held a good 10 meter lead and I was struggling to make ground, but going into the up hill he had to higher a gear and lost all power closing the gap right up but would it be enough? I peddled my hardest and was slowly catching him and just 5meaters from the line I took the lead and took the win. Take that Germany go find so French to beat. After catching our breath and taking a sneaky visit to the supermarket to avoid the rather serious downpour we got back to the hostel and rested are rather tired legs.



taking in the view



the view

the start line

RUSSELL!

On the 3^rd we said good by to Wangarei and head north to Paihia, the tourist of tourist towns. When we arrived the shear number of hotels, motels, hostels, souvenir shops and eateries hit us. It really it’s the tourist of tourist towns. After getting a bit of information on the overpriced cruses and sail trips we made our way to our hostel. The intriguingly named pickled parrot, it look a bit run down but had a nice homely feel and we have begun to warm to it and with free breakfast and WIFI I’m not complaining, oh no sir. In the afternoon we decide to visit the Waitangi treaty grounds, just a short walk from here. They are a pretty important place in the history of New Zealand, were the Maori and British first landed and where modern day NZ was born. The place its self gave a sort of national trust vibe, somewhere you would go for the day take a nice picnic and play a bit of cricket (rugby round here) on the lawn. But on a drizzly Monday afternoon it didn’t really give that wow factor but still was nice to visit. Afterwards we diced to take a ‘stroll’ to another waterfall. It turned out to be a 2hr walk through the bush and along a rather cool bored walk through the mangroves in the pouring rain. But the Haruru falls were the real deal so worth the very wet walk. On the way back we took the road route, which took us half the time so although a bit scarier (we survived) worth it in my books. The following day the sun had finally found his hat, he’s not on to be rushed and it was a glorious day. So we took the ferry across the bay to New Zealand’s first capital, Russell. Now-a-days it’s a rather pictures tourist town. When we arrived we took the low tied path round the coast, the fact that the tide was is in irrelevant, it just made it a bit more interesting. Eventually we made it to the bottom of the assent to flag-hill the appropriately name hill that had had its flag poll shopped down 4 times, with one such shopping resulting in a wee war. The view from the top was rather spectacular looking out across the hole of the bay of island and made me wonder why you would pay so much for a cruise as you could see it all from there and the only thing you’d gain from being out on the water would be a view of more water, but hay each to their own. From hear we strolled back into the town and went to visit NZ oldest church ‘Christ Church’ a rather dainty little building with your standard church set out inside but with a rather cool half circle communion rail round the alter and some of the nicest benches iv ever had the pleasure to sit in in the garden. For lunch it was going to be sarneys but we forgot them so had pizza, chips and crabstick on the beach with a couple of bruskies.  After lunch we went via zigzag street to long beach a very nice horse shoe shaped beach which stretched for a fairly long way, but we managed to walk it within an hr so cant have been that long. In the evening we explored the rocks on the cost line and found a few cool coves before watching the not-as-impressive-as-we’d-hoped sun set before getting the ferry back to the hostel for dinner and bed.

The Photo Update

Auckland gallery

mirror

mirror

meh.

Whangarie falls

Welcome To The Land Down Under

After a more than eventful flight than usual with deportees throwing up a fuss at Heathrow and mega turbulence over the pacific resulting in a broken leg for the crazy Chinese lady taking a photo of the turbulence, well I guess that what she was trying to do, we landed in Auckland. From here we got the shuttle bus to the hostel and found our home for 3 days. We took a nice stroll to Albert pack, very British in more than just the name where we tried sort us some WWOOFing but it soon became apparent that one needs to book this in advance and cant just sort it like that. Oh well will survive. The following day we spent the day abusing free internet in Auckland library and took in a bit of culture at the Auckland art gallery which was FREE!!! On our way back to the hostel we met the first nutter, (a possessed midget in the eyes of some) having a full blow argument with a statue. WHAT ARE YOU DOING he kept shouting, I was sure if the statue said the wrong thing it was going to get messy. In the evening we went down to the fan zone for the rugby and watched the South Africans beat a determined Samoa much to the disappointment of the large Samoan crowd. The next day it was off to the land of Whangerie where we found the Framingham of cities. Population of around 48,000 but the place was incredibly quiet even on Saturday night when we went to an Irish pub for the England game. On the 2^nd we look a rather long but good walk to the Whangerie falls which weren’t really that impressive to be honest but in good weather it would be a nice picnic spot, shame it was tipping it down then. In the evening it was back to the pub for the Ireland game which had a very disappointing turn out but I guess that what we should have expected from this ‘city’.