Breakout 2005

2005-12-02T22:22:00.000-08:00

Not bitter, just a little disappointed….

I don’t like Christchurch. It’s not even fair to say that, I really haven’t given it a chance. In the three or four days that I’ve been here, I’ve literally done nothing. And I can’t really blame that on the city, can I? It’s all my doing. I mean, I just felt so deflated when I arrived here. It looks like some non-descript British industrial town and the journey through the city to our hostel really did it no favours in my eyes. I had no motivation to go out and explore and there was nothing that I really wanted to see. It’s just so difficult to explain the feelings that I’m having about this place. In all honesty, New Zealand has just been so amazing and beautiful that to end our stay in this country here, in Christchurch, seems like a bit of a letdown. I don’t feel that Christchurch is a good example of what New Zealand has to offer and in that respect, I find it to be a bit of a disappointment.

Before our arrival her on Tuesday, I had not heard good things about this city. Alex, our German friend, had described it, and I quote, as “a shithole with nothing to do”, while many of our other travelling friends left Christchurch out of their itineraries altogether. But we needed to be here. Firstly, we had to return our hire car to the Christchurch rental branch and secondly, our onward flight leaves from here. So we were stuck with it; there was no avoiding Christchurch.

So we left Mount Cook fairly early on Tuesday morning after a very sleepless night in an 8-bed dorm. We made a couple of stops on the way to Christchurch, firstly in Lake Tekapo, simply because it looked beautiful, and secondly in a place called Geraldine, simply because we were hungry (however, we also managed to make time to see the largest jersey in the world, how cool!!!). We made it to Christchurch by mid-afternoon and got checked into our hostel and my lack of motivation was already evident, given that I didn’t venture outside of the hostel until the following day.

On Wednesday, our first proper day in Christchurch, we simply went for a wander around the town. There were a few good shops and stuff to keep us occupied but other than a few blocks within the city centre, Christchurch seems to be dominated by large warehouse style stores and industrial areas. I don’t know, I just really didn’t get a good vibe when I was walking around and I can’t explain why. I guess it wasn’t vibrant and lively like Wellington and it didn’t have the impressive skyline of Auckland. What I’m trying to say is that, quite simply, nothing stood out. There was nothing distinctive or special to distinguish it from any other city in the world. And despite walking round in circles for a couple of hours, desperately looking for something to catch my eye, nothing did. What a comedown!

And the rest of my stay in Christchurch has pretty much been a write-off. To be honest, I haven’t been feeling too great and maybe that’s part of the reason for being on such a downer about this place. I’ve spent the past couple of days lazing around the hostel, maybe drinking a few beers, reading a book or two and listening to some music but nothing of any real consequence. Sure, the guys have gone out and done a whole host of stuff but I opted not to tag along, partly due to feeling like crap but mostly because I don’t want the disappointment of Christchurch to be my last memory of New Zealand.

It’s strange because, in the beginning, I had such reservations about coming to this country and in my first few days, I was really unsure how it would all turn out. But the past two months have changed all of that. New Zealand is such an incredible place and I have had the most amazing time here. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t want to leave and I’m taking out my frustration on poor old Christchurch. Maybe I should have put more effort into exploring this place, maybe it’s not as bad my head keeps telling me it is.

Or maybe it’s just time to move on again.

Now listening to: Everclear – Learning How To Smile

2005-11-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

Eight o’clock, Monday night and I’m waiting….

….to go to the pub for a well-deserved beer. I think Reece is on his way over to the pub with some woman from our dorm and Simon and I won’t be far behind him. And trust me, that beer is going to taste so sweet. Let me explain why….

For the past couple of days, we’ve been staying in Aoraki Mount Cook Village. We drove up here from Dunedin on Saturday. On route, I spotted a sign which said “Frews Road” though I sadly wasn’t quick enough to get a picture. We also stopped off briefly on the way to see the Moeraki Boulders which are apparently one of the things you must see in New Zealand. I don’t know, maybe I was missing something but they just looked like a big bunch of rocks to me. Still, I took time to jump on top of one of them and have a stupid photo taken…

The scenery on the latter part of the drive was just spectacular, with a series of rivers, dams and lakes just at the edge of the road. The water was the most beautiful aqua blue colour I’ve ever seen, just so vibrant. And with the mountains in the background, every picture we took just looked like a postcard. It was really out of this world.

Aoraki Mount Cook Village is a very small township encircled by a range of enormous, imposing mountains and, of course, Mount Cook itself. The village is nothing to write home about; there are some houses, a school, a café/bar, a visitor centre, a couple of hotels and a youth hostel (our home for three nights). But what a backdrop! The snowcapped mountains just look so impressive and you just feel so constantly dwarfed by them.

But to be honest, despite taking in the amazing scenery, I wasn’t too sure how I was going to spend my time here. Reece was the real reason we came here and no sooner had we arrived and checked into our dorm than he was off out on one of the area’s many walks. And so, a bit bemused, I sat in the hostel reading a couple of magazines, watching some films, waiting for inspiration. Nothing happened. So I ate some food and drank some wine and waited once more. Again, nothing came to me. To bed, I thought, I’ll figure it out in the morning.

And I was awoken pretty early on Sunday morning. Our roommate, Claude, got up at about 7am and though he tried his best to be quiet, I still heard him rummaging around. He was gone before long but I just couldn’t get back to sleep. So I lay there thinking for a bit, wondering what to do that day and before I knew it Reece was up and about and going off on another walk. Well, I thought, if everyone else is doing it, maybe I should too. So, once Simon was awake and after a lovely scrambled eggs breakfast, we decided to head out for a walk to Kea Point.

Our map said the walk would take no more than two hours but before even reaching the visitor centre, I was exhausted! It was a very hot day and typically, as Simon and I always tend to do, we had left just as the sun was at its highest point in the sky. There was no shelter and, being the idiots we are, we left our water bottle back at the hostel. It was not a good start.

Still, we plodded on in the heat and were extremely surprised to make it to Kea Point in about 35 minutes. And the view was beautiful. We could see Mount Cook in all its glory and all of the surrounding mountains too. It was pretty breathtaking…or at least it would have been had I not been out of breath already!

And so, I was quietly pleased with myself that I had gone on one of these walks and not found it too tortuous. And better still, when we made our return journey, we stopped at the café in the village and sat on the outdoor balcony drinking some nice cold beers. It was heavenly. The thought of walking several kilometres doesn’t sound quite so bad when there is the promise of beer at the end of it!

Back at the hostel that evening, things were much the same as the previous night. There was some reading, some watching TV and I called my parents and my brother too. A fairly early night was had in anticipation of doing more of this walking thing the next morning.

But it was a bit of a rude awakening this morning. Not only did Claude get up stupidly early, we also got a knock on our door to tell us that we were being moved to another dorm! So we all had to get up out of bed and shift all of our stuff into another much bigger dorm. Then, we I tried to go take a shower, the bathrooms were closed! Not a good start to the day! So Simon and I waited around for what seemed like ages before we finally got out of the hostel this morning. But our walk was definitely worth the wait….

Today, we opted to go to Hooker Valley. To cut an hour or so from the walking time, we took the car up to a campsite a few kilometres away and started our walk from there. This time, we were better prepared with plenty of water to keep us going. And boy, did we need it! It was incredibly hot again and sweat was pouring out of us the whole way but it was a whole lot of fun!

The Hooker Valley walk takes you through the grasslands around the Mueller Lake, crosses you over a couple of wicked little swingbridges before the track then winds its way along the river to the glorious Hooker Lake. The views along the way were just outstanding, the swingbridges were incredible fun and the sight of Hooker Lake with Mount Cook in the background was worth every drop of sweat. The water in the lake just looked so beautiful, I just wanted to dive right into it! Simon and I sat there for quite a while, taking it all in and taking some pictures for posterity too! But somehow, I think looking at photos will pale in comparison to the feeling of actually being there.

After half an hour or so at the lake, we started making our way back to the village. The walk back seemed much more easy going than the walk to the lake, although my feet were really starting to ache. We just arrived at the hostel ahead of a very exhausted looking Reece, who had tried to do quite an intense walk but had run out of water half way through. The poor guy just looked worn out. It was time for a well-earned rest for all of us (and I had a much needed shower too!). So I put my feet up in the TV lounge and watched Lord Of The Rings for about the thirtieth time in three days. I haven’t watched those films since I’ve been in New Zealand and I had a really strong urge to see them and spot some places that I recognise. So I jumped at the chance to watch it when I arrived in Mount Cook. Unfortunately, it seems that everyone else is in exactly the same boat as me and consequently, Lord Of The Rings seems to be on constant rotation on the hostel TV. Thankfully, someone sensible eventually took control of the TV and video and we got to watch America’s Sweethearts, with John Cusack. I have no doubt that as soon as that film was finished, Lord Of The Rings was back on once again….

And so, our stay at Mount Cook is almost over. Tomorrow morning, we will move on to Christchurch which will be our final port of call in New Zealand. But for now, there is a beer waiting patiently for me at the pub and, after all my walking today, I think I thoroughly deserve it

Cheers everybody!

Now listening to: Mr Big – Green-Tinted Sixties Mind

2005-11-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

Everything’s cool….

Quite literally. I swear that since we arrived in Dunedin on Wednesday, I just haven’t been able to heat up. I’ve just felt absolutely freezing. Kind of appropriate I guess, given that Dunedin is New Zealand’s Scottish city (the Edinburgh of the south apparently!) and it’s always bloody cold back home in Scotland!! But no, seriously, I think it’s the hostel that’s giving me the chills and it’s been getting progressively worse over the couple of days that we’ve been here.

On Wednesday morning (which was the 23rd I believe, happy birthday Niall!!!!), we set off from Te Anau for Dunedin. The drive was a fairly long and boring one; four of us (me, Si, Reece and Ibon ) and all our gear crammed into our little car on a cold and dull day. We passed through a drab looking place which was apparently the brown trout fishing capital of the world. I have absolutely no recollection of what it was called, I’m afraid. We then stopped at an equally drab looking town called Balclutha, not too far from Dunedin, to get some lunch and the Scottish connections were very clear. Obviously, the town’s name is Scottish but so were all the street names. There was an Argyle Street, a Clyde Street; hell, I was just waiting to walk round the corner and see Sauchiehall Street!! But the street names were the most remarkable thing about Balclutha, although the people did seem very friendly. Nevertheless, we didn’t hang around for long, just grabbed a bite to eat, had a look around a bookstore and then went on our way.

As we drove into Dunedin, I was quite surprised by the size of it. You have to understand that everywhere we’ve been over the last few weeks has been pretty much in the back of beyond. I think Queenstown is the largest place we’ve seen on the South Island but it’s probably on a par size-wise to a large village back home! So to be back in a fairly big town again felt quite weird…but kinda cool too. Plus Dunedin is a student town, being home to the University of Otago, and student town are always fun and tend to be full of good (and cheap!) bars and shops.

With very little trouble, we located our hostel in Dunedin. Simon had picked this place, purely because of the name, I think! It’s called Hogwartz and given that Simon is a Harry Potter fanatic, there was no way he was missing out on staying at this place. And on first inspection, it seemed like a lovely hostel. The building is basically an old mansion house, with incredibly high ceilings and lots of little nooks and crannies. There is a large kitchen, a reasonable size dining area, a mezzanine lounge and a TV Room. All in all, the building just seemed that bit too posh to be a hostel but hey, we weren’t complaining. Anyway, Simon and I had booked our own room while Reece had booked a bed on a dorm. Ibon, however, had not booked and all the dorm beds were sold out. The only option was for him to pay for a double room on his own or share with us. To cut a long story short (because it all got very complicated and confusing), the four of us all ended up sharing a room on the first night in Dunedin, Ibon would then leave the following morning and head for Christchurch, Reece would move to his dorm and Simon and I would have our own room. Sorted. Or maybe not….

So we all got settled into our very spacious room, explored the hostel for a bit and then decided to go have a wander around Dunedin (all except Simon who promptly crashed out for several hours). Off Reece, Ibon and I set, bound for nowhere in particular and no sooner had we left the hostel then the rain came lashing down. It was quite literally chucking it down and we were all soaked through after only a few minutes. We stood in a little sheltered area debating what to do and decided that going to the pub would be the best course of action. So we walked up Princes Street (told you this place was the Edinburgh of the south!!), and headed towards the Octagon, which is basically the town centre and home to several pubs and bars. When we arrived at the Octagon, the place felt strangely familiar, like I had seen it somewhere before. And for some reason, I kept picturing a man on a motorbike. It took a while for it all to click into place but I soon realised that the man was Billy Connelly. You might remember that Billy did a TV show touring New Zealand on his motorbike (a huge Harley, if I remember correctly!), and during one show, he went to Dunedin. I vividly recall Billy being quite bemused by the place; standing in the Octagon, staring up at a statue of Rabbie Burns, trying to find some sort of Scottish connection and get past how grey and drab he thought Dunedin was. And I felt exactly the same. This is not the first place we’ve been to in New Zealand which has a rich Scottish heritage but the only real example of that heritage seemed to be a statue of a dead Scottish poet. I mean, they’ve got a statue of Rabbie Burns (and of Sir Walter Scott too!) in Central Park in New York; does that make New York the Edinburgh of the Americas?? Maybe I’m just being cynical, I don’t know, but there don’t even seem to be any Scottish style pubs. Sure, there’s an Irish bar around every corner but that’s as Gaelic as it gets! And Billy was right about it being drab and grey too. Perhaps it was just the weather, the heavy skies and the pouring rain, that made Dunedin seem more miserable than it actually was. And it probably didn’t help to have come here from Fiordland, one of the most visually stunning places in the world. Maybe Dunedin wasn’t so bad, maybe it was all just in my head, courtesy of Mr Connelly and my comedown from Milford Sound. Perhaps I’d feel different in a couple of days….

We couldn’t decide on which pub to frequent at the Octagon so we quickly popped into the Visitor Centre then ran into a shopping mall to escape the rain for a few more minutes. In the shopping mall, we were greeted by a Jolly Green Giant, our friend Alex from the overnight cruise in Milford Sound. Alex is currently living in Wellington and has taken a month or so off work to travel around the country on his motorbike (he also planned to take his bike to Stewart Island even though they have no roads there!! Crazy German!!). Due to the adverse weather, he had found himself in Dunedin, desperate to get warm and dry after the drenching he had received that day (despite the best efforts of his lovely green waterproofs!!). When he enquired what we were up to and we advised him we were going to the pub, he was only too happy to join us. What followed was about three hours of sheer stupidity in some fine establishment in Dunedin! What a laugh we had! I really can’t remember what we talked about but trust me, it was a really entertaining afternoon!

After several beers, we all made a drunken trip to the supermarket to get some supplies. We tried to get Alex to come back to the hostel to have dinner with us but he had to meet a friend back at the motor lodge he was staying in. So we said our goodbyes to our crazy German friend and shouted some random abuse at him across the Octagon before we drunkenly made our way back to the Hogwartz. Ibon drunkenly made the decision to stay in Dunedin for an extra night but once again, no dorm beds were available so he would be sharing with me and Simon for a second night. As compensation, Ibon decided that he would cook a meal for us, which sounded like a pretty good deal to me! So we left him in the kitchen for a couple of hours and eventually, he emerged with an incredibly tasty Spanish omelette. Delicious (thank you, Ibon!!!). After dinner, I sat in the dining room reading my book and that’s probably when I first noticed how cold it was at Hogwartz. The high ceilings that had looked so stunning when we arrived were now the reason for the hostel not being as warm and cosy as we would have liked it to be. Sure, they had a big log fire in the dining room but that did nothing to heat up the rest of the hostel. So as Simon and Ibon played chess that evening, I opted to get an early night and wrapped myself up in my duvet, trying desperately to stay warm.

On Thursday morning, Ibon had some bits and pieces that he had to sort out; booking bus tickets and accommodation, that sort of thing. So we all headed into town, stopping at the visitor centre and the bus station for Ibon, before exploring Dunedin a bit more. It was a much nicer day then the one previous, perfect for doing a bit of walking. We ended up wandering around the shops, thinking about buying stuff that none of us could afford to buy. We ended up in a couple of book shops in the university area but our budget forced us to walk away empty handed. Not fair! We strolled along George Street, which is lined with coffee shops and a variety of ethnic cafes and restaurants, and deliberated over where we should go for food. Typically, no-one wanted to make the decision of Thai or Chinese or Mexican or Turkish or Greek or whatever so we took the easy option and went to a food court.

Food courts are incredible things, or at least the ones outside of the UK are! While back home, any food court generally has a McDonalds, a KFC, a Burger King and maybe a pizza place, anywhere else in the world you get a wide range of international foods. Not only is the selection vast, with everything from salads to curries on offer, but it’s very cheap too! And, if you play your cards right, you don’t actually have to pay for any food, AT ALL!! If you walk around a food court at just the right time (maybe around 12.30pm, just before lunch time gets really busy), the staff will try to entice you to their stall by giving away small samples of their dishes. Seriously, if you get a couple of samples from every stall, you would not need to spend a penny on food. It’s ingenious! And trust me, we have done this several times!!

So after filling our stomachs at the food court, we went back to the hostel to pick up the car and go for a drive to some viewpoints around Dunedin. Our first port of call was….well, I’m not actually sure where it was cos we got a bit lost! What I do know is that we found a Pilkington Street, which Simon was very excited about and insisted on taking a picture of the sign. After driving around aimlessly for quite some time, we decided to make a beeline for Baldwin Street, apparently the steepest street in the world. And yes, I would have to agree that it is pretty steep, so much so that I refused to climb up it. Of course, when the others all went dashing out of the car and running up the street, I followed straight after them, not wanting to be left behind. Simon and Reece ran about half way up then walked the rest of the way while Ibon and I took it easy and walked up at a slow and steady pace. Thankfully, there is a bench about half way up the street and another right at the top so that you can have a much needed rest. It really is incredibly steep, they’re not just making it up, you know! I mean, Baldwin Street makes the hills in San Francisco look like mere bumps in the road! They actually have a race up Baldwin Street every year, with people running up and back down again in less than two minutes! Crazy fools!!! But anyway, I did it, I walked up the steepest street in the world, just another one of my amazing achievements on this trip and undoubtedly something I will boast about for the rest of my life.

Back at the foot of the hill, Simon and Ibon went into the nearby gift shop to get certificates to prove their accomplishment. I wanted to get one too but we only had two vouchers for free certificates so they wanted to charge me $2 for mine. No thank you!! I’m not paying $2 for a crappy little piece of paper when the others just got one for free!! So, certificate-less, I got back in the car sulked for a bit while Reece drove us up to Signal Hill, a lookout point over Dunedin. And what a wonderful view it was from us there. You could see right out over the town and all the way across the water to the Otago Peninsula. Dunedin looked really great from up there, with the sun shining down over it. And thinking back, we had had a pretty good day exploring the city. I had seen some parts of Dunedin that I really liked, especially the university area, and my opinion of the place was definitely beginning to change. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge the town, especially on a miserable day like yesterday had been. It’s all Billy Connelly’s fault….

Back at the hostel that evening, there was nothing much happening. Simon went off to see Harry Potter at the cinema while the rest of us just chilled out. Yes, we might as well have been sitting in the fridge cos the hostel was incredibly cold once again. Enormous mansion houses may well look the part but they just cannot retain any heat. And a quick look at the hostel comment book showed us that we weren’t the only ones to experience this problem. Pretty much every entry mentioned the low temperatures at Hogwartz and the fact that a better heating system was needed. I mean, the kitchen was just ridiculously cold, to the point where you couldn’t even stand in there to cook you dinner cos it was just freezing. And that’s definitely not a plus point for any hostel.

That evening was also the last evening that Ibon would be spending with us. The following morning, he would leave us and be heading off to Christchurch and I was kinda sad about that. It’s weird when you meet people while travelling. You live in each others pockets for a couple of days and you become so close so quickly. Then, in the blink of an eye, they’re gone and the likelihood of ever seeing them again is fairly slim. It’s a very strange feeling and something that’s not easy to get used to. So yeah, I was kinda down in the dumps when it came to saying goodbye to Ibon that night. We had all had a really amazing time over the few days that we spent together and it was a real shame that we couldn’t hang out together for a bit longer but that’s just the way it goes. And so, with addresses, phone numbers and e-mails exchanged (and a promise of a guided tour of Madrid whenever I want), I gave Ibon a hug and wished him safe travels. And while Ibon packed up his stuff, ready for his early morning departure, I quickly drifted off to sleep.

And when I woke up this morning, Ibon was gone. His bed was empty and it was just me and Simon in the room. So, with yet another hint of sadness, I got up, got showered and got myself into gear for the day ahead. We planned to take a drive out onto the Otago Peninsula as it had been recommended to us by several people and, after a short journey in the car, we arrived at the first spot of interest, Larnach Castle.

Apparently, Larnach is New Zealand’s only castle but, in all honesty, it looks more like a manor house. That’s not to say that it’s not a lovely building because it is very beautiful, it’s just not a castle. Anyhow, the “castle” was originally built in the 19th century at the command of William Larnach, an Australian-born banker and politician. He had fallen in love with the view from the hilltop location on the Otago Peninsula and had decided that his home should be built there. And this was no ordinary build; wood, tiles, marble and glass from all corners of the world were brought to this remote area to be used during construction, while master craftsmen from many foreign shores were hired to work on the castle. From the outside, the building looks stunning but on the inside, it’s the little details like the intricately carved ceilings which display just how much effort went into this creation, for example, certain sections of the wooden ceiling in the hallway took over 6 years to complete. Despite the extent that Larnach went to in order to build his dream home, he never actually spent a great deal of time there. Business and family concerns constantly saw him out of the country and back in Australia or the UK, and he seldom got to enjoy the amazing views from the tower of his wonderful abode.

After his death, and the young deaths of the majority of his family members, Larnach Castle was relatively abandoned and forgotten for many years. Then, in the late 1960s, the Barker family bought the building and began restoring it to its original glory. The Barkers have lived at the castle since the 60s and still live there today. What we saw during our visit there is attributed as much to the Barker’s hard work and dedication to the task as it is to William Larnach’s visions and dream of 200 years ago. Without them, the castle would now be nothing more than a ruin. But instead, Larnach Castle is a glorious and graceful reminder of the opulence and grandeur within 19th century high society.

And so, after the grand tour of the wonderful building, with it’s amazing staircase and it’s immaculately decorated rooms, we climbed up the narrow tower staircase to take a look at the view that William Larnach had fallen so madly in love with. Within a second, it’s easy to see why he decided to build his home on this spot. The sweeping panorama which confronts you atop the tower is quite simply incredible, with the ocean on one side, the town of Dunedin on the other and, right beneath you, the beautiful gardens of the castle itself. Truly spectacular. If I was going to build myself a castle, I’d definitely build it there.

Tour of the castle complete, we took a brief wander around the lush gardens. Simon and I both remarked on how much our respective mothers would love the gardens! I could easily see my mum spending hours walking around there (and probably stealing a few cuttings from some of the flowers, I would imagine!!). And then we took a quick look at the ballroom before bidding Larnach Castle goodbye heading off on our merry way.

We drove a few kilometres further along the peninsula and stopped in the small town of Portobello for some lunch. We chose the 1908 Café, very cleverly contained within a house dating back to 1908, and were served by probably the friendliest and chattiest man in the world. And a little bit of advice, people; if you are a Scot in New Zealand, try your best to hide your accent because the minute a Kiwi finds out where you’re from, they’ll just want to talk to you all day and you’ll never get away!! Just kidding, the Kiwis are lovely and they just seem to adore Scottish people, which is always nice!! And so, predictably, our friend in the café was of Scottish ancestry. His family came from Greenock and he had been to Scotland to trace his roots about 20 years ago. Cue lengthy discussion of where he went and what he did and how much he adores Scotland. What a lovely guy he was….oh, and the food he provided us with was pretty damn tasty too!

After lunch, we drove further out on the peninsula towards Penguin Place. Now, it’s not just a clever name, this is a protected area for penguins where they can nest in safety. So, always keen to see penguins, we turned up there hoping to spot some. But first we spotted was our friend Anya from Germany! How bizarre bumping into her again! We chatted with Anya for a while, catching up on travelling stories and such before heading off towards the penguins. And how disappointing to find out that there is no area where you can simply go to view these creatures from afar; instead you have to participate in a tour which costs over $30. And that was simply outwith our budget so we had to give it a miss. How disappointing!

From Penguin Place, we drove further still up the peninsula to Taiaroa Head where, for free, we could spot some albatrosses and some spotted shags. My bird watching skills aren’t brilliant and I’m afraid that I mistook the albatrosses for seagulls, oops! Still, there were lots of birds to see and it was all good, I guess, though not nearly as good as seeing the penguins would have been….but I’m not bitter, honest!

Following our spot of bird watching, our time on the Otago Peninsula was up. We drove back towards Dunedin and stopped at the supermarket on the way to pick up some supplies. You see, tomorrow we will go back to the middle of nowhere again as we are going to Aoraki Mount Cook. You pretty much have to take everything you need with you as there are no shops or anything. It’ll be just like in Milford Sound although hopefully we don’t have to go through a horrible big tunnel through a mountain to get there. There’s no tunnel on the way to Mount Cook, is there?? Simon?? Reece?? Somebody answer me….

Anyway, I’m back at the hostel now, back in freezing old Hogwartz, trying desperately to stay warm. And I’m a bit glum that we’re leaving in the morning as I’m just starting to like it here. Contrary to my initial first impression, Dunedin has not remained the drab and dull place that it started out in my mind as. The past couple of days have been really good and Dunedin has turned out better (though much colder) than I thought it would. Still, it’s the story of my life at the moment that just as you’re feeling comfortable in a place, it’s time to move on.

But who needs to be comfortable anyway? Right now, I’d just settle for being warm!

Someone stoke that bloody fire please!!!

Now listening to: American Hi-Fi – Another Perfect Day

2005-11-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

I’m just consistently inconsistent….

Consistency is a good thing, even if it’s consistency in terms of being inconsistent. Does that make sense?? I think so….

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that, once again, I have fallen far behind with this here online diary thing. Consequently, and not for the first time, there’s a whole lot of reading for you to do beneath this little disclaimer. Your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to scroll down to the posting from the 16th of November, read that and then work your way backwards. And enjoy it because due to my “consistently inconsistent” approach, there probably won’t be another update for another week or so!

Go on then!! What are you waiting for???

Now listening to: Queens Of The Stone Age – God Is In The Radio

2005-11-22T23:45:00.000-08:00

The world is on our side….

On Sunday morning, we left Queenstown bound for Fiordland. This was the single place in the whole of New Zealand that I really wanted to visit. I was incredibly excited about it and we had booked, at my insistence, an overnight cruise in Milford Sound which I had been looking forward to since we had arrived in this country. With the sun shining down on our little car and our destination only a few hours ahead of us, all seemed well with the world. But then the rain started….

The journey from Queenstown to Milford Sound is quite a strange one. On the map, the two places don’t seem enormously far apart but you have to go quite far south, then quite far west and then almost all the way north again. On the route south, we came across the Kingston Flyer, a very impressive steam train. While grabbing a few quick photos, we bumped into Santa Claus, a guy we had met at Hot Water Beach on the North Island. He’s taking a break at the moment, just before the Christmas rush, and he seems like a lovely guy. Still, I didn’t realise that Santa was German….

Anyway, back on the road when we started going west, the weather started to deteriorate. At first, just the wind seemed to pick up but soon after, the rain started lashing down on us. As we arrived in Te Anau, the last town before Milford Sound, the rain was coming down by the bucketload and, as we ran to the grab some food at the supermarket, we literally got soaked within a couple of seconds. It was quite unbelievable. And according to the check-out lady, the weather wasn’t going to get any better.

After a spot of lunch and a complete drenching in Te Anau, we filled up with petrol and started driving up to Fiordland. The stretch of road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is apparently contains some of the most amazing scenery in New Zealand. But with a sky full of cloud, we couldn’t see any of it. I was so gutted, my heart was just sinking. The only upside was that, due to the heavy rain, some incredible waterfalls were created on the mountain sides which just looked spectacular. You can’t comprehend the height from which the water was gushing down these mountains, it was just unbelievable. We braved the weather a few times to try and get a couple of photos. We succeeded, though got soaked in the process. We then drove further and further up into the mountains. There was loads of snow around us which was pretty crazy. But what was even crazier was the tunnel that lay just ahead of us.

Right, you’ve got a mountain and it’s really high. You’ve got to get to the other side of it but it’s too enormous to drive around and it’s too high to drive over. What should you do?? Well, why not dig out a great big tunnel through this monster of a mountain? Wow, what a good idea, but how about we take 20 years to dig it out with a couple of pick axes and then not make it wide enough for two vehicles to pass through it at the same time. And let’s not put any lights in it. Oh, and make sure that it leaks and floods regularly! What a swell idea!!

Seriously, I was terrified going through this tunnel! It’s about 3km long, it’s pitch dark in there and there are practically waterfalls flowing down the sides of the tunnel. It was scary as hell, and the thought of a couple of gigantic mountains on top of me didn’t do anything to make me feel any safer. I was pleased to see light as we approached the end!

The road through the Homer Tunnel is the only land route to Milford Sound. As you can imagine, it’s a pretty remote place. There is a café, a visitor centre, a very small airport and that’s it. There are only two places to stay here; one being a hotel, reserved entirely for tour group guests, and the other being Milford Sound Lodge. The Lodge itself can’t exactly be described as luxury and I’d definitely say that it’s the worst hostel I’ve stayed in during my time in New Zealand. The rooms only have heat between 6.30pm and 11pm. Right now, it’s Spring in New Zealand and let me put it this way, I’d hate to stay in the lodge during Winter cos you’d probably freeze to death. The lodge kitchen was dreadful, with next to no utensils, cutlery, crockery or pots. The stove was gas powered and there never seemed to be any matched around to light it. The showers and toilets were in a cavernous room which was freezing, while the running water had a constant lukewarm temperature. Oh, and did I mention that there is no power between 11pm and 6.30am because the lodge is run on a generator? No, the Milford Sound Lodge is not somewhere I would chose to stay again.

Still, we tried to make the best of it. We had come armed with loads of food and some booze so we cooked up a big meal and had a few beverages before playing cards for a while. Morale was boosted when we bumped into our mate Austin from Austin. We had given him a lift from Napier to Wellington a few weeks back so it was cool to see him again. We had a chat with him and it turned out he was working in the café in Milford Sound for a few days as the job his other job in Christchurch hadn’t worked out. Anyway, a few more card games later, I went off to phone my parents just to check in and make sure everything was alright back home. While I was on the phone, one of the natives birds, a kea, waddled up next to me and seemed to want to have a conversation with my mum. Seriously, this bird would not shut up! He kept squawking and squeaking through my whole conversation! Anyway, it was getting late so I said my goodbyes to my parents and headed back to our room before the lights went out.

I went to bed that night feeling incredibly disappointed. This was the one thing I had wanted to do in New Zealand; to come to Milford Sound and see the fiords in all their magnificent glory. But it seemed like that dream was going to fall to bits. And that was all I could think about as I lay awake that night. I kept my fingers crossed that tomorrow would bring a better day….and some better weather.

But it wasn’t to be. When I woke up on Monday morning, I could hear the rain pouring down outside. I was devastated. I got up and got moving nonetheless as we had to be out of our room by 10am. So I took an extremely cold shower in an extremely cold bathroom, the only upside being that it made our room seem so much warmer! We packed up our gear and loaded it all into the car, then settled down in the lounge of the lodge to pass a bit of time. Our overnight cruise would not leave until 4.30pm that night and, besides meeting our crazy Spanish friend, Ibon (who had decided to come on the same overnight cruise as us), at 3.30pm, we pretty much had a whole day to kill. Our plan went no further than sitting in the lounge for five or six hours.

But would you believe it? It stopped raining!!! Yes, the overcast sky cleared up almost as quickly as it had appeared the previous day so we grabbed the opportunity to go for a drive and take in some of the scenery. We headed towards the ferry terminal, at the edge of the fiord, and I was immediately blown away by how stunning it looked. The mountains just looked immense and the water looked so calm and blue. I can’t really describe it, I don’t have the words because I was just in complete awe of everything around me. We walked for a while around the edge of the fiord, just taking it all in, before heading back to the car to have a look at some of the spots on the drive to Milford which we had missed the previous day.

We went almost as far as the tunnel but I really didn’t want to go through it again so we about-turned there. We visited a waterfall called The Chasm which would have been stunning had it not been for the busload of tourists getting in our way. We had a look at a few other points of interest but unfortunately, the weather was closing in on us again so we made our way back to the lodge to avoid the rain. A few hours were spent there, just relaxing and reading, and the time passed fairly quickly. The weather was looking brighter took as the rain had stopped and the sun seemed to be creeping out. At about 2pm, we piled into the car and went to the café to get some lunch. After some very expensive food and a few games of pool, we needed to make our way to the ferry terminal to meet Ibon. And just as we were getting our bags out of the car, who walked past but Simon and Rachel! They really must be following us!! Anyway, we chatted to them for a bit before they wandered off to get some food. Then we spotted our crazy Spanish friend making his way towards us. Looking tired after his four day hike on the Milford Track, he was very pleased to see us! We were quite disturbed, however, to discover that he had carried 22 apples on his hiking journey!! We don’t call him crazy for nothing, you know!!
Anyway, Ibon was hungry so we went back to the café where, once more, we saw Simon and Rachel! We all sat around and chatted for half an hour or so while Ibon grabbed some food. And who else should appear but Austin from Austin! Bloody hell, it was like some sort of traveller’s reunion!! What a laugh!

At about 4.15pm, it was time to head to the ferry terminal to catch our boat. Simon and Rachel were going on a cruise too but not an overnight one so they accompanied us to the terminal (where we tried to convince them to pay a bit extra and come on the overnight trip with us! I think we were very close to convincing them!!). It wasn’t long before we said goodbye to Simon and Rachel and then got on board our boat, the Friendship. We had chosen this boat as it could only hold 12 people and we liked the idea of only being with a small group of people. Shortly after boarding, we got introducing to the crew of two and we were served some delicious tomato soup. The boat seemed really cool, with all the bunks downstairs, plenty of room upstairs (and a well stocked beer fridge!!), and a deck on top that we could enjoy the views from. And with the sun gracing us with its presence, everything was coming together for a fab day in Milford Sound.

I really can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the first hour or so aboard the Friendship. It really was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I’ve never felt so small, so completely overwhelmed by everything around me. You have no idea how colossal the mountains are, how huge the waterfalls are and just how incredible it all looks. Seriously, there are waterfalls which are over fifty storeys tall and there it’s just impossible to comprehend their height. We even sailed the stern of the boat right under one of the waterfalls to get a better idea of its size but it was still not possible to grasp what was in front of us. I just sat on the top deck, looking out in complete awe at all the amazing sights which surrounded me, occasionally running from one side of the boat to the other to spot something our captain was pointing out. We spotted loads of fur seals, all sat out on the rocks in the fiord, and we also had the privilege of seeing a very rare penguin. It was incredible, I just can’t put it all into words.

A couple of hours into our trip, we were getting to know all of our fellow passengers; a lovely young couple from Austin, Texas, another couple originally from London but now living in Manila, and a crazy German currently residing in Wellington. There was also another German couple on board but they didn’t take their tongues out of each other’s mouths long enough to speak to anyone. Still, it seemed like we had a really good bunch of people, we were all having a great time and it looked like it was going to turn into a wonderful evening. But just as everything seemed so perfect, something went wrong….

Our skipper gathered us all together and informed us there was a problem with the boat. They were having problems with the generator, which meant that our electrical power was cutting out intermittently. That would mean no power to cook, no lights, no heating and not hot running water. The skipper said that we could stick it out on board the Friendship but it might be quite a comfortable night. Our other alternative was to be put onto another boat, one that was much bigger and with a lot more people. Everyone looked a bit disheartened at the thought of this but then the skipper explained things a bit further.

The boat we would be transferred to would be the Milford Mariner. While our boat trip cost $160 each, an overnight cruise on this vessel would set you back anything up to $560!! On board, we would receive our own private cabins with en suite. We would also receive a three course meal instead of the barbeque we would get on the Friendship. Basically, we were promised luxury and for some reason, we were all coming around to the idea. So we took a democratic vote and all decided to abandon ship. For the inconvenience, we were awarded three bottles of wine between the 11 of us, which wasn’t too bad at all. And before we knew it, we all had our life jackets on and were boarding the tender craft which would take us over to the Mariner.

To say the boat was a bit different from the Friendship would be a bit of an understatement. It really was very luxurious and so large that you could quite easily get lost in it. But I think the main difference was the passengers. While we were quite a young, lively bunch, everyone on the Mariner (with the exception of a Swedish couple) was over the age of 60. And we got some really funny looks when we got on board. We all looked like scruffs while everyone else on board seemed all dressed up for dinner. Yes, we were scum and we knew it so we quickly got the beers in and made our presence felt.

And what a great time we had all night. There were beers galore and several bottles of wine. We had an amazing meal and a whole lot of laughs. Everyone went out kayaking just after dinner and just before dark, well, everyone except me and Alex, the crazy German, as we chose to stay on the boat and do some more drinking. And when the kayakers came in, we had more drinks and more laughs and this went on until the early hours of the morning. And then I went to bed in my luxury cabin with a very content feeling! This whole Milford Sound thing hadn’t turned out so bad after all. Someone up there must be looking out for us….

And so, I woke up this morning aboard the Milford Mariner. Yesterday had just turned out too good to be true. The weather had been amazing, the sights had been spectacular and we had ended up on a wonderful, wonderful boat with an amazing group of people. So it’s fair to say that I expected today to be a bit of a letdown…

But then the captain made an announcement over the PA system, informing us that we should all wake up because it was another beautiful day in Milford Sound. And sure enough, it was! As I looked out of our cabin window, I could see the sun shining high above the cove that we had anchored in overnight. I felt an amazing rush of excitement and couldn’t get dressed quick enough. I dashed upstairs, grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed out onto the deck to take in more of the sights. Although it was incredibly chilly out there (and very windy), it was amazing to see the fiord in the morning. It just looked beautiful and all the feeling of awe and wonder and astonishment were back again. It’s just such an incredible place.

The Mariner took us right out to the Tasman Sea and all the way back again. We had the pleasure of seeing more fur seals and more penguins, and several more waterfalls gushing down the mountain sides. I could have stayed on that boat all day because there was something new to see in every direction you looked. We spotted a couple of planes going over the fiord and they looked so tiny against the enormous mountains. And that was the only way you could get any perspective on the sheer size of the cliffs and rock faces; by comparing them to the planes gliding over them or the boats cruising under them. Everything looks so small and dwarfed by these mountains. It’s so amazing.

But before long, our cruise was over and we found ourselves back at the ferry terminal. We said goodbye to all of our new friends and disembarked, feeling that life just couldn’t get any better. And so, Simon, Reece, Ibon and I made our way to the car and started our journey out of Fiordland and down to Te Anau. And despite having to go back through the Homer Tunnel, the journey was fairly enjoyable, with a few stops made at some of the points of interest that we missed on the rain-sodden drive up to Milford.

A couple of hours later, we arrived in Te Anau. We checked into a hostel called Barnyard Backpackers where we will be staying for one night only. It seems like a really nice hostel, where you have your own cabin with bedroom and bathroom. You also have a wonderful view as the hostel is situated right on top of a hill. It’s a wonderful location about 9km south of Te Anau. After a few hours of chilling out, we headed into town to grab some food and run a few errands but we only stayed out for an hour or so before going back to the hostel.

And the rest of the day has been fairly relaxing. Reading, watching TV, sleeping and also being chased around by a big black pig have pretty much been the order of this evening. Yes, I kid you not, there is a huge black pig here and it seems to have taken a liking to me. It keeps following me and licking my feet, how very odd! Seriously, this pig will not leave my feet alone. And it’s so tickly!! Anyway, I got rid of the pig at some stage then I watched the sun set over the mountains. It was a really beautiful sight and I thought it would be a perfect end to the day. But no! Just as I was about to crash out, Simon, Reece, Ibon and a German girl, Michela, appeared at our cabin door with beers in hand. So we all sat and drank and chatted and had a laugh. But tiredness got the better of us all so we didn’t keep the party going for very long.

And now, I can hardly keep my eyes open. But what an amazing couple of days it has been! I don’t think I will ever forget them, nor will I ever figure out what I’ve done to deserve all of this!

All is right with the world. And now I must sleep.

Now listening to: Muse – Falling Away With You

2005-11-19T23:41:00.000-08:00

God save the Queen….

Apparently, Queenstown got its name when it was proclaimed good enough to receive a visit by Queen Victoria. The powers-that-be deemed this beautiful place to be fit for a Queen and, despite my anti-monarchist stance, I wholeheartedly agree with them. Queenstown just looks stunning, surrounded by mountains and placed right on the edge of a gloriously clear lake. I completely fell in love with the place the second I got here.

We arrived in Queenstown on Wednesday after a fairly long journey down from Franz Josef. And it was a fairly eventful journey. First of all, we pulled in at a petrol station just outside of town called Haast. There was nothing else for miles around, just this petrol station and a single, solitary car at one of the pumps. So we drive up to the other pump and someone in the other car starts waving at us frantically. It’s Rachel and Simon, who have been following us around (or maybe we’ve been following them around) for a couple of weeks now. Turns out they’re on route to Wanaka, so we chat with them for a while before they speed off into the distance. So, of course, we decide to catch up with them! A few minutes later and we’re driving right up their arse. Now, our car is completely gutless and has next to no acceleration but it seems like a speed demon next to Simon and Rachel’s vehicle. After a brief spell of tail-gating, they pull over and let us pass them. Windows are down, we’re screaming and waving out the window and the horn is being hooted more then our poor little car has ever known before. Such fun!

An hour or so later, we arrived in Wanaka and decided to stop to have a spot of lunch (surprisingly, we didn’t bump into Simon and Rachel while we were there!!). Wanaka is another very beautiful place which, in the winter season, is home to hordes of skiers due to it’s proximity to the alpine ranges. Wanaka too is surrounded by mountains and the main street overlooks a huge beach and lake; it’s such a pretty spot! So we found a little café, had some delicious food before starting on the final 60km or so which would take us into Queenstown.

Not too far outside of Wanaka, we spotted something rather unusual at the roadside. There was a fence with hundreds upon hundreds of bras tied to it. Yes, I said bras! Upon consultation of my guide book, I discovered that one day, several bras magically appeared attached to this fence. Since that day, the collection has grown steadily and this fence was very cleverly declared “The Bra Fence”. How bizarre!!

Anyway, while we were trying to get over the shock of seeing such an absurb collection of underwear, we saw some flashing lights behind us. Yes, it was our good old friends, the rozzers!! This was to be our second run-in with the cops since the beginning of our trip, though this time our crime was not speeding. Reece had apparently overtaken a vehicle on a broken yellow line and with less than 100m visibility. Sorry if my language offends but that is bullshit! It was an entirely straight road and surely it would be solid lines as opposed to broken ones that you’re not allowed to overtake on?? Anyway, the cop was an asshole and there was no arguing with him so a $150 ticket was issued for dangerous driving! What a bastard!

Anyway, spirits were high (with lots of police-related gags!) but our speed was low for the rest of the journey into Queenstown and the last 20 or 30km of the trip was amazing. We drove right up through the mountains and then came down a tiny little windy road on the other side, with stunning views from every angle. It really was a lovely drive and it was no anti-climax when we arrived in Queenstown cos it really is gorgeous!

We had booked into a hostel called Bunji Backpackers which seemed pretty cool. Unfortunately, there had been a slight mix-up with our booking and Reece was bedless for the first night. But we managed to get a fold-out bed for him to sleep on and the problem was solved. So off we went to explore the new town we were in. And I know I’ve already said it about ten times before, but I really just can’t emphasise how pretty Queenstown is and how perfect the setting is. It just looks beautiful, I was really stunned by it. I knew that this place was home for all the extreme sports like bungy jumping, white water rafting and skydiving so I certainly didn’t expect it to be as tranquil and breathtaking as it was.

After a quick wander around, Simon found the casino so disappeared for a while. Reece and I, in the meantime, found a pub and enjoyed a lovely pint! Very tasty! The food in the pub smelt so good and I was starving but I resisted! Instead, we opted to eat at Lone Star, a steak house (great for vegetarians!!) which Reece had already been to in Auckland. So, after an hour or so back to the hostel, we went out that evening to the restaurant. There wasn’t an enormous amount on the menu that I could eat (surprise, surprise!!) but I found something and enjoyed a few beers too. After dinner, we were gonna go for a few beers but for some reason (probably insanity) we decided against it and just went back to the hostel to crash out.

Next morning, which was Thursday I think, we had another wander around town and then headed to the Skyline Gondola. If you’ve been reading this regularly, you will know that a few weeks back while we were in Rotorua, we also took a ride on the Skyline Gondola. But more importantly, we took a ride on the luge at the top of the mountain, which was a whole lot of fun! So Queenstown is a similar set-up to Rotorua, with a cable car taking you to the top of the mountain where you will find some stunning views and a couple of luge tracks. Unfortunately, there are only two tracks in Queenstown as compared to three in Rotorua. Still, it was a whole lot of fun to speed down the side of a mountain in a little go-kart thing! I had a few scary moments though; I took a corner a bit sharply and nearly toppled my go-kart right over, plus I went speeding over a hill and nearly crashed into a wall, oops! But I survived the luge and went on to enjoy a lovely buffet lunch in the restaurant at the top of the mountain. Lovely view, lovely food; what more could you ask for??

Back down the mountain, we went in search of a second-hand bookshop as both Simon and I were almost bookless. It’s impossible to go travelling and have nothing to read. YOU MUST HAVE A BOOK WHEN TRAVELLING!!! Anyway, we spent ages browsing in this tiny bookshop and we walked away with a few real bargains, two for Simon and two for me! Yay! By this point, I was in the shopping mood but I don’t hink the guys were quite so keen! So they buggered off to play golf while I went for a wander round the shops. I got bored kinda quickly though when I realised that I didn’t have any money to spend so I went for a walk instead.

Off I went along the front of the lake towards Queenstown Gardens, a small peninsula with various gardens, water features, forests and a couple of tennis courts too. In the Gardens, you can do a “lake loop” walk, which basically takes you around the peninsula on the edge of the lake. It’s a lovely walk and it gives you some beautiful views of Queenstown. And I must admit, it was so nice and peaceful to be there by myself. It was one of those moments when I had to pinch myself to remember where I was.

From the gardens, I made a brief stop at the shop to grab some supplies before heading back to the hostel to meet the guys. While hovering around in the kitchen, I spotted a guy that I was sure I recognised. I thought I saw the crazy Spanish guy we had met in Franz Josef. When I mentioned it to Reece, he assured me that I wasn’t seeing things, that Ibon (the crazy Spanish guy) was indeed in the vicinity and that we were going to the pub with him that evening! Sounded good to me!!

So, around 9pm, we all headed out. We quickly lost Simon as he disappeared off to the casino but we all made our way to The World Bar nonetheless. And no sooner were we in the building than we had bumped into Simon and Rachel! As you can imagine, chaos ensued! Beers were flowing, as were ridiculous cocktails served in teapots. Ibon was dancing with random women and insisting on having his picture taken with several other poor, unsuspecting girls. He was then also doing chicken impressions, following our explanation of what a hen party is!! It was all just going a bit mad and somewhere along the line, my sensible head kicked in and told me to go home! Hey, happy hour was over, there was no more cheap booze to be had so it was time to call it a night….

Back at the hostel, I was shocked to find that Simon was not back from the casino yet (and also slightly angry that I had made the effort to come home at a reasonable hour when he hadn’t!!). So I settled down on the couch to watch a movie and got chatting to Neil from Edinburgh, who seemed like a really cool guy. Not much later, Simon appeared and fairly close behind him were Reece and Ibon. And then it all got a bit mad again…

You see, after Queenstown, we were planning on heading to Milford Sound in Fiordland for a couple of days, and also planning to do an overnight cruise. Ibon, meanwhile, was going off in a matter of hours to walk the Milford Track, a four day hike through Fiordland. He was leaving his stuff in Queenstown and was having to go all the way back there to pick it up after finishing his hike. Don’t be daft, we said, we’ll be in Milford Sound at the same time as you so we’ll bring your rucksack to you to save you from going back to Queenstown. It was a nice gesture…but a very complicated one. We then had to arrange (while drunk) where to meet Ibon in four days time and get written permission from him for us to get his rucksack out of the hostel’s storage room. It was all very complex but we got it sorted, I think! Or maybe I just gave up and went to bed!!

Next morning, a long lie was needed. When we finally got up, Ibon was nowhere to be seen so we assumed his hangover hadn’t prevented him from getting up at 6am to get the bus to Te Anau to start his walk. And we even managed to get his rucksack from the storage room, though we were a little unsure that we picked up the right one…

Anyhow, like I said, we had booked an overnight cruise in Milford Sound, which would be our next port of call. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to inform the tour operator that I was vegetarian so we had to wander into town to find the booking office and sort it out. First though, we paid a visit to Westpac bank to pay Reece’s “dangerous driving” fine, what fun!! With all our necessary chores done, we headed to the pub for a nice cold beer! Very tasty it was too! The guys then went off for a game of golf while I went back to the hostel and read for hours and hours and hours….

On Friday evening, we had arranged to meet Simon and Rachel back in The World Bar. A couple of beers and a couple of games of pool later, there was no sign of Simon and Rachel. And then Simon bailed out and went to the casino. So it was just me and Reece. And The World Bar was no quite so lively as it had been the previous evening so we left in search of any drinking establishment. We found the Buffalo Bar and it just happened to be Happy Hour!! Wahey!! And what a surprise, we bumped into Simon and Rachel, who were literally just finishing their pints to come and meet us!! So, the serious drinking commenced! Many beers were consumed and a couple of pubs were visited. I believe there may also have been Jagermeister involved at one point, oh dear!! And there were kebabs afterwards, how much better can it get???

Yes, it was a top night and Reece was somewhat inebriated when we got back to the hostel ( I believe he may have fallen asleep on the couch!). I, on the other hand, felt alright and felt even better when Simon told me all about his evening. It turns out that he had come back from the casino fairly early and had tried to get some sleep. He was then awoken by some loud “noises” from the room next door. These “noises” became so unbearable that Simon got up out of bed and ran to find solace in the lounge. Later, when everything was quiet, he decided to go back to the room but discovered he had locked himself out. So he spent an hour or so in the lounge, praying that I would come back early. Eventually, a member of staff appeared and luckily had a spare key so Simon finally got to bed. It was sod’s law that I walked in the door about ten minutes later!!!

So that was last night and today, which is Saturday, is our last day in Queenstown. We, however, decided not to spend the day there and drove to Wanaka instead. We passed The Bra Fence and the scene of Reece’s driving misdemeanour before we got back to the beautiful lakeside town. But we didn’t even stop to take it all in, we just drove straight on past and made our way to Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World. Puzzling World is billed as a “world unique” attraction, home to a giant two-level maze, illusion rooms and amazing, if baffling, photos. And we had a whole lot of fun there.

When we arrived, they had just had a powercut so the main part was temporarily closed. That meant we had to do the maze first. The challenge was to find all four towers in the maze in the correct order and then find our way to the exit. I’m very pleased to say that I was first to complete the challenge. Yes, I was victorious!! Reece did attempt to cheat but later admitted that he hadn’t visited one of the towers so was forced to go back and consequently came in last place. But I won, so that’s the most important thing.

By this time, the power was back on so we went inside to grab some lunch. All the tables are covered with all sorts of puzzles and games to keep you entertained while you eat so lunch took slightly longer than it should have! We then headed for the illusion rooms which were really cool. There were loads of holograms and then a room full of faces which followed you wherever you went, quite weird! Next was a sloping room which created the illusion of a snooker ball travelling up the table rather then rolling down it. There was also a tap running into some troughs which made it appear that the water was flowing in the wrong direction, all very bizarre. Oh, and there was a chair you could sit in, kinda like a chair lift you would have on a staircase, and when the chair moved, you felt like you were going uphill instead of down. It was so cleverly done! Finally, there was a perspective room which had two doorways at one end and two windows at the other. If you look through the window and one person stands in each corner next to the door ways, one person appears huge and the other appears tiny. Such a good trick and very entertaining too! Back out in the café, we played with the puzzles for a bit longer and then got lured into buying a couple of puzzle books cos we’re completely hooked on them. And, let’s face it, our brains haven’t exactly been very active over the past five months so a little exercise wouldn’t hurt them!!

From Puzzling World, we drove back through Wanaka, stopping at the lakefront for a while to take some pictures and watch a crazy dog dive in and out of the water, chasing some ducks. Honestly, it was more entertaining than it sounds!! We then drove back to Queenstown and went back to the hostel. Since then, I’ve spent the evening chatting to a few people at the hostel, doing some washing and just generally chilling out. An American guy had a game of volleyball going and I almost got involved before I realised that I can’t play volleyball. I swiftly declined the invitation but it was very close to being an extremely embarrassing situation. And now, I’m just about to crash out. Simon has gone out for a couple of beers with Neil and a couple of others from the hostel but I need to get an early night cos tomorrow will be a long day with another long drive.

OK, lights out, time for bed.

Goodnight.

Now listening to: Faith No More - Evidence

2005-11-16T10:38:00.000-08:00

What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold….

Ice is truly cool stuff, not only in a literal sense but in a figurative one too. And in New Zealand, it’s big business! In this country, there are glaciers galore and the most popular, without a doubt would be Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast of the South Island. And so, your favourite intrepid travellers decided to head on over to Franz Josef for a couple of days to witness the coolness of this chunk of ice first hand.

Our journey down to Franz Josef from Punakaiki was a bit of a mixed bag. When we set off on Sunday morning, we did so in torrential rain. An hour or so further down the coast and we were greeted by some glorious sunshine. We stopped in a town called Hokitika for a bit of lunch and had a bit of a wander round, soaking up the lovely weather. It didn’t last though; the rain was back before long and followed us all the way down to Franz Josef. Still, at least the sun stayed out long enough for us to get some amazing pictures of the quite simply stunning West Coast.

The township at Franz Josef is fairly small, dominated by tour operators, offering different glacial packages, and littered with hostels, hotels, bars and restaurants. Other than that, there is a small supermarket, a petrol station and a couple of internet cafes. That’s your lot. It was still much larger than Punakaiki though….but that really wouldn’t be hard!! Our accommodation of choice was Glow Worm Cottages, a reasonable size hostel which is set out in a similar style to an American motel. The manager seemed lovely and all the usual facilities were present and accounted for so everything was cool

After getting settled in at the hostel, we had a bit of a wander round town to chat with some of the tour operators to find out about going up onto the glacier. But there was very little chat as money talks around these parts, with glacier hikes starting at about $80 for a half day hike. According to several people we spoke to, the half day hikes are not worth the money. The majority of your time is spent walking toward the glacier and when you finally get onto the ice, it’s time to turn around and head back to base. The full day hikes, while allowing more time on the glacier are not only highly expensive but also very exhausting. Plus with the current terrible weather, 8 hours of hiking in the pissing rain did not sound too appealing (one girl told us that there were about three people in her group who did the full day hike and spent most of the day in tears due to fatigue and the adverse weather conditions). So we decided that going on to the glacier was not the option for us. Instead, we would drive to the nearby carpark and walk to the glacier face, a popular (and cheap!) choice for many visitors to Franz Josef. We planned to do that the next day, weather permitting!

Back at the hostel, we were greeted by a couple of friendly faces, Anya and Birgid, the German ladies we had stayed with in Motueka and Punakaiki. It’s always nice to see a familiar face so we caught up with them for a while, grabbed some free soup, courtesy of the hostel, and then headed over to the pub for a few beers. And would you believe it, as soon as we walked in the door, we bumped into some more people we knew, Rachel and Simon. We had originally met this couple in Nelson and then bumped into them in Punakaiki and now, here we all were in Franz Josef! How cool! Rachel is from Cardiff and her bloke, Simon, is from Salisbury; really cool people and a lot of fun to hang out with! So we played pool with them and had a couple of beers and it was all good. I also got chatting to a couple of the barmen who seemed convinced that the Glaswegian accent is the best in the world. While they bombarded me with requests to say certain words (mostly swear words, sorry mum!!), they informed me that their favourite proponent of the Glaswegian accent was Sean Connery! I just didn’t have the heart to tell them old Sean was from Edinburgh!! Anyway, several beers later, I headed back to the hostel, gave my parents and my brother a quick call to catch up on all the news and crashed out for the night. A few small beverages always help you to have a good night’s sleep and I truly did sleep like a log.

On Monday morning, the weather still looked a bit grim. Although the rain had stopped, the sky still looked very grey and heavy so we didn’t have high hopes for our day at the glacier. But, determined to get as close to the ice as we could, we piled into the car that morning and made our way out to the carpark near the glacier. By the time we arrived, the weather was beginning to clear up a little. Soon the sun was out and after only a few minutes of walking through dense rainforest, Franz Josef Glacier was in our sight. It looked pretty amazing though I have absolutely no idea how to describe it. It really was just stunning to see such an enormous piece of ice nestled between the rocks and the hills. And of course the view of the alpine ranges in the background did everything to add even more impact to this wonderful sight.

From the edge of the rainforest, we then walked for around half an hour or so towards the face of the glacier. The open area that we walked across was obviously once covered by the glacier itself. Now, it is a vast rocky expanse with numerous streams and rivers flowing through it. We had to cross water at several points as we made our way to the glacier and the temperature drop as we approached the ice was very noticeable. The warmth of the sun gave way to biting winds but the stunning sight of the glacier face soon made us forget about the cold.

To be so close to the glacier was pretty incredible. You could literally hear the ice cracking and see small parts of the glacier breaking off. And it was just so enormous that we were completely dwarfed by it. From a distance, you really can’t get a sense of its sheer size but being right next to it was a whole other story. It was very impressive. Not to get all hippy about it but it really does give you an idea of the power of nature. To think that this giant block of ice has been working its way down from the mountains and through the valley for millions of years is pretty amazing. Crazy stuff! I was blown away by it all.

After taking all of the necessary photos, we made our way back from the glacier to the car park. And just as we arrived back at the car, the heavens opened. I don’t think the rain stopped for the rest of the day! So it was back to the hostel, where we spent the rest of the day going online, eating free soup and chatting with a crazy Dutch guy and a crazy Spanish guy we met at the hostel. All in all, not a very exciting end to what started out as an awe-inspiring day…but I guess everything pales in comparison to what we witnessed in the morning.

On Tuesday, we took a trip out to another glacier in the area. Fox Glacier is literally 20km from Franz Josef and while it is a less popular tourist destination, the glacier itself is considered by many to be far superior to its neighbour. So we decided to take a look and make up our own minds. And I have to admit that while I was incredibly impressed by what I saw in Franz Josef, words will not do justice to how I felt about Fox Glacier.

The approach from the carpark to the glacier is very different to that at Franz Josef. It is much more up and down, a much more energetic hike…which may be the reason that this place isles tourist-friendly! But the half-hour or so walk is more than worth it as the terminal face of Fox Glacier is just amazing. You can see colours in the ice which you would not be able to see unless you hiked high up on to Franz Josef Glacier. The shades of blue reflecting in the ice are just spectacular and it just looks stunning with the green hills in the background. And although this glacier is highly unstable, you seem to be able to get that bit closer to it, to the point where you can see the ice melting and dripping. Its so extraordinary, definitely a sight not to be missed.

From Fox Glacier, we then drove a few kilometres to Lake Matheson on the recommendation of our friend, Vanessa. She had advised us that you can see Mount Cook and Mount Tasman reflected in the lake and that it looks really beautiful. So we walked for about 40 minutes round the lake and were a little disappointed. Firstly, one of the main viewpoints was closed. It was named “The View of Views” and it goes without saying that this was something not to be missed so we were a bit crushed by that. Secondly, when we reached Reflection Island at the lake, the mountains were all covered in cloud so there was no reflection to be seen. Still, it was a beautiful spot and it was nice to spend a bit of time just having a walk around there. And afterwards, we stopped at the nearby café for some much needed food and drink, and also some much needed recuperation after our walk (honest, it was a whole lot more exerting than it sounds!).

And once again, we had quite a boring afternoon. There was more going online, more eating free soup and I think we watched a couple of movies at the hostel too. I got an early night, knowing that we had to get up early this morning to check out of the hostel and get on the road.

So that’s what we’ve just done. We’ve left Franz Josef behind and we’re now headed for Queenstown, where we will stay for four nights.

I wonder how long the journey is….

Now listening to: The Ramones – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

2005-11-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

I will be your camera, check it out....

OK people, photos are GO!!!

After spending way too much time (and money) going online, I've finally got photos uploaded for all my posts dating back to the middle of October.

So go click that October archive link and see all the pictures from Whitianga, Rotorua and Taupo! And from this month, I've added pictures from our stay in Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Motueka and Punakaiki.

This is all purely for your visual entertainment! I hope you appreciate it!!

Enjoy!

Now listening to: Some truly dreadful "music" in some random internet cafe

2005-11-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

We got a long way to go and a short time to get there….

We’ve had almost a week on the South Island now and we’ve hardly made any progress at all in terms of distance travelled. There’s only three weeks left before we fly out of Christchurch and we’ve got such a lot of ground to cover before we get there. It’s crazy because, in comparison to the likes of the USA, New Zealand is a pretty small country so you would think that it wouldn’t take long to get from place to place. But, in complete contrast to the States, there are no four or five lane highways, there are no long, straight roads. Instead, you have a daily battle with twisty and windy mountain passages, bridges where you have to stop and give way to trains and highways which seldom have more than one lane in each direction. As you can imagine, this can make getting around a bit of a long process.

Friday was a bit of an example of that. Simon and I made the journey from Motueka to Punakaiki, on the West Coast. The journey took us about 4 hours; a similar journey stateside would likely have taken half that time!! But still, it was a beautiful journey with some amazing scenery to take in. We made a brief stop in a place called Westport for a bit of lunch before driving the final 50 or so kilometres to Punakaiki.

Punakaiki itself is absolutely tiny. Situated right in the middle of Paparoa National Park, it is a beachside community which is literally home to a handful of people. There is no school here and there is no shop here. The nearest petrol station is 50 kilometres away!

The beach at Punakaiki

But it is a beautiful setting, with spectacular cliffs framing the town and miles of beach laid out before it. After witnessing the serene beauty of Abel Tasman only a few days beforehand, it was pretty awe-inspiring to see the other side of the coin here, with waves crashing against the extremely rugged coastline.

Looking down on Punakaiki from the headlands

Our hostel in Punakaiki was the Beach hostel and very appropriately named it was too!!! Most of the hostel rooms had views of the beach and the ocean but if not, then you literally only had to walk about 100 metres until you found your way onto the sand and the rocks. The hostel was run by an English girl and a German guy who both seemed lovely and, like most of the other places we’ve stayed in New Zealand, the place had absolutely everything you could need. Pretty perfect really.

On our first afternoon there, Simon and I took a walk to Punakaiki’s number one attraction; the Pancake Rocks. These are rock formations which are said to look like a stack of pancakes and they are very impressive.

Me on a pancake rock chair! Yay!

There is a whole lot of information about how these rocks were created and the effects of erosion on them. You can see where the rocks have been worn away, at some points to the extent that bridges have been created as the base of the rocks has completely disintegrated. The sea is very unforgiving around this part of the coast which, fortunately for us, makes the Pancake Rocks even more impressive. There are also four blowholes among the rocks which will spout water if it’s high tide and the sea is rough enough. We were lucky to see a couple of them go off!

One of the blowholes

Me at the Pancake Rocks

Back down from the Pancake Rocks, Simon and I went to the local pub for a quick pint and a bowl of chips before going back to the hostel. Although it had been a beautiful sunny day, the clouds were now coming over thick and fast and before long, it was pouring down with rain. So our evening was spent relaxing at the hostel and hoping that the weather would improve the following day.

No such luck!! When we woke up on Saturday morning, it was still chucking it down outside! We had been hoping to go into Paparoa National Park for the day but decided that it would be a waste of time if the weather didn’t improve. So we waited around for a while and everytime it seemed to brighten up, the rain would be back on five minutes later. Typical!! It was just like being back in Scotland!! Anyway, we soon got bored of waiting around so went to a café just up the road to get a bit of lunch. On arrival there, we were shocked to discover that Punakaiki does indeed have a shop!!! It’s in one of the back rooms at the café, is no bigger than a cupboard and sells hugely over-priced baked beans!!! Thank god we were stocked up with supplies before we arrived in Punakaiki, otherwise we may have had to pay $4 for a tin of beans!!!

After lunch, with no real improvement in the weather, Simon decided to venture out to do a walk called the Truman Track. I opted not to go along and instead stayed in the comfort of the hostel. Simon was back before long and by this point, a couple of our other friends had turned up two. Anya and Birgid, the Germans we met in Motueka, had checked into our hostel so we sat around chatting with them for a while. It’s always nice to bump into people you know!!

That evening, we drove up to the bus stop to pick up Reece who had spent the day travelling to Punakaiki to meet us after his 3 day hike in Abel Tasman National Park. Me and Simon sat up at the top of the hill waiting for him while Reece’s friendly bus driver had dropped him off right at the door of the hostel!! Typical!!! Anyway, we eventually all met up and, after siiting on the beach watching the sunset, we quickly went to the pub to hear all about Reece’s travels over a few beers. Sounded like he had a fabulous time!!! After beers, it was back to the hostel where we bumped into a couple of people we had met in Nelson (an English guy and a Welsh girl who had given me lots of red wine!! Very cool people). We chatted to them for a while before crashing out for the night.

Sunset in Punakaiki

And now it’s morning. It’s still pissing down with rain outside so I’m kinda glad that all we’ve got to do today is drive from one place to another. And it’s another long journey today, probably another 4 hours, our final destination being Franz Josef a few hundred kilometres further down the West Coast.

Time to load up the car….always fun when it’s pouring with rain!!

Now listening to: The Clash – Revolution Rock

2005-11-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

This is a small demand….

OK, this blog hasn’t been updated in quite a while so here are some simple instructions on how to go about getting through all of entries that you’ll find below.

Right, scroll down until you find the diary entry from the 3rd of November. It will have something to do with wine in the title. This is where the new updates start from, OK?? Read that entry and then work your way back up the page reading all the entries until you get back to this one, then you’re done! I know it’s confusing to do things in reverse but I’m afraid that just how it’s gonna have to be, otherwise nothing will make sense. Am I making sense?? I’m not sure….but I think you know what I mean!!

Anyway, should you wish to stop for a cup of tea or a beer half way through then I guess that’s alright. After all, there is quite a lot of reading to be done but I assure you, it’s all good stuff. And apologies that there are still no photos but we just can’t get them uploaded on the net connection that we have here.

So enjoy….and try not to fall asleep while I’m rambling on!!

Now listening to: Monster Magnet - Spacelord

2005-11-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

And I would walk five hundred miles….

Walk five hundred miles??? How is that even possible??? There’s no way I could, or would, even attempt that! I mean, yesterday I walked 13 kilometres and that was more than enough for me!

Reece and Dennis had decided to do a 3 day hike through Abel Tasman National Park and while I really wanted to see what the park had to offer, I just knew that 3 days of walking was just not for me. So after we dropped them off at the head of the trail in Marahau on Wednesday, Simon and I had headed to Motueka where we stayed overnight before then going to explore the park ourselves on Thursday.

So, early on Thursday morning, Simon and I drove up to Marahau, right on the edge of Abel Tasman National Park. We opted to take a water taxi from here up to a point in the park called Torrent Bay. We would then walk back from there, a distance of approximately 13 kilometres which should take roughly 4 hours. Along with us were Anya and Brigid, the German women who were staying with us at the hostel in Motueka.

Our water taxi

And off we all went in a little boat, speeding out across the water, and our first stop was actually in the wrong direction as we had to go to Kaiteriteri to pick up a couple of people. Still, it was nice to just be driven around and take in all the wonderful scenery. And it truly was wonderful! The water was clearer than any I’ve ever seen and was just such a beautiful, tempting colour of blue! The little bays and coves that we passed just looked amazing, it really was a terrific journey.

One of the views from the water taxi

Split Apple Rock

With everyone on board at Kaiteriteri, we sped up the coast, firstly to Anchorage and then to Torrent Bay, which was where we disembarked. And a short paddle through the sea later, Simon, Anya, Brigid and I found ourselves on what felt like a deserted island. It was pretty spectacular! Ours were the only footprints through the sand and there wasn’t another person in sight!

Torrent Bay

Me and Simon on Torrent Bay

Anya and Birgid, our German companions

After taking a few photos, we started making our way from the beach over to the walking trail. We got cleaned up, stuck on some sun cream and started our journey at about 12pm. We decided to split up from our German companions so that we could all go at our own pace which, in retrospect, was a very wise move! So off Simon and I went, taking the high-tide route from Torrent Bay towards Anchorage.

Our first stop along the way was Cleopatra’s Pool, beautiful shallow bathing pool surrounded by rocks and with a few small waterfalls around it. When we arrived, a few people were swimming in the crystal clear water and Simon was so tempted to jump in! Instead, he just took a few photos and we opted to get back on our way.

Cleopatra's Pool

And we walked and we walked and we walked some more. Occasionally, we stopped briefly to take a few pictures of the stunning scenery but mostly we just kept walking. Hell, we didn’t even stop to eat lunch! Yes, that’s right, Simon didn’t stop for food! Unbelievable, isn’t it?? Actually, I tell a lie! We did have to stop once so that Simon could use the toilet facilities at one of the campsites, but other than that, we just kept walking for the whole day!

To make it 13 kilometres back to the trail head at Marahau, it took us just over 4 hours and despite my blisters, it had been a really enjoyable day! The views from the headlands had just been outstanding and walking through the bush had been really interesting too!

I’m so glad that we made the decision to spend the day in Abel Tasman, it was most definitely worth it!

Almost at the end of the trail

From the end of the trail, we still had another kilometre or so to walk to get to our car and, by this point, my feet were really starting to hurt. I still had quite a bit of energy and probably could have walked quite a bit further if someone had supplied me with some new feet but I guess it just wasn’t to be! 13 kilometres was my limit and it’s always good to know your limits!!

Our journey was over

And my feet were so grateful when I got back to the car and gave them a rest. I was tempted to take my boots off but know that I would never get them back on again so decided against it! On our way out of Marahau, we picked up a hitchhiker who looked even more exhausted than we did. He had an enormous rucksack with him and had walked all the way from Bark Bay to Marahau that day, which would have taken him well over 7 hours! Crazy fool! Seemed like a nice guy though, he was from Colorado and was spending a couple of months just travelling around New Zealand before he goes back to the States to return to his job as a ski instructor. So we dropped him off at his hostel in Motueka before heading back to where we were staying. And don’t worry, hitchhiking in New Zealand is not dangerous at all, this is an incredibly safe place and horror stories involving hitchhikers are extremely few and far between!

Back at our hostel, the Swiss guys we were sharing with arrived home soon after we did. They had spent four or five hours kayaking along the coast and they looked exhausted! They said it was a great day though and that they stopped at a couple of deserted beaches on the way, sounds fab! And a couple of hours later, Anya and Birgid arrived home looking equally worn out though thoroughly pleased with the tremendous day they had had.

And with everyone so tired after such a long day, nothing of interest really happened last night. I chatted to some people from California and Texas who had checked into the hostel, who seemed really cool. They were most amused by the fact that we went to Cleveland and Detroit while we were in the US (“Why??? Why did you go there???” they asked!!). They were also slightly worried about the chances of some natural disaster occurring in New Zealand due to our run of bad luck with hurricanes, floods, tornados and forest fires while in America! They seem to think that wherever we go, disaster follows us! I wonder what gave them that impression???

And so, dead beat after our day at Abel Tasman, I got an early night, though didn’t get much sleep due to Simon’s snoring! So I’m up and about pretty early this morning, still exhausted and with two very sore feet! This morning, Simon and I will drive over to Punakaiki on the West Coast where we will stay for a couple of nights. I’m just so thankful that we have a car and that I don’t have to walk there!!!

Now listening to: The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Armed Love

2005-11-09T23:37:00.000-08:00

Just good times….

The past couple of days have just been a blast. A mixture of good people, a fab hostel and a plentiful supply of booze has led to a whole lot of fun being had by all. Remember when I said that I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy myself in New Zealand??? God, how wrong can a person be???

We have spent the last three nights in the town of Nelson, in the north of the South Island, staying at the Paradiso hostel. And, if you had a look at my previous post, you will know that our first night there, on Sunday, was enjoyable to say the least! There was a crazy German, a crazy American and a girl who looked like a lobster; definitely the recipe for a fun filled evening. It was all good! And so, with Monday being our first proper day in Nelson, I chose to stay in bed all morning, not only to recover from the night before but also catch up on all the sleep I had missed over the previous few nights.

When I eventually did get up out of bed, Simon and I went to find Nelson’s number one landmark, the Centre of New Zealand. A short walk through a park and a long, steep walk up a big hill takes you to the point which is apparently the central point of the entire country. So off we went in the scorching heat to climb up a hill, what fun!! And not only did we find some wonderful views when we reached the top, we also found Reece and Dennis! Unfortunately, they gave us some bad news as they informed us that we had not actually made it to the Centre of New Zealand. In fact, this whole Centre of New Zealand thing was a complete sham and the actual centre point was about 50 kilometres away from where we were!! Why go to all the bother of marking out the Centre of New Zealand if it’s not actually the Centre of New Zealand??? Stupid!! Still, at least it was a beautiful day and the views really were quite amazing.

The Centre of New Zealand....NOT!!!

Me at the "Centre of New Zealand"....nice view though!!!

From the top of the hill, the four of us proceeded in a different direction to the way we had climbed up. And it was a lovely walk, taking in some more gorgeous views and having a few laughs along the way. At the bottom of the hill, we found ourselves on the other side of town, next to a place called Founder’s Park. The park contains replicas of colonial style buildings like churches and schoolhouses. It all looked a bit cheesy but there was one thing in there which appealed to us; Founder’s Brewery.

Founders Organic Brewery

An entirely organic brewery, Founder’s is very small with only a handful of staff but for $5, they will give you a brief tour of their site and a sample of each of their four beers. In all honesty, it’s not much of a tour as there really isn’t much to see but it was still incredibly interesting and our host was more than willing to answer any questions we had. Of course, sampling the beer was our favourite part and I was very pleased to find out that all their beers are entirely vegan with no animal products used in the brewing process. If only more businesses followed their lead….

From Founder’s Brewery, we wandered a little further up the road to Miyazu Gardens, a beautiful and serene Japanese style gardens. It was so peaceful in there, the sort of place you could just fall asleep in.

Me in Miyazu Japanese Gardens

A duck in the Japanese Gardens

The guys all lay down on the grass, reading or having a bit of a nap while I wandered out into a big open space just outside of the gardens and sat there all alone, just staring out at the ocean. I could have stayed there all day.

After an hour or so, we made our way back to the hostel and chilled out for a while. Then, we met up with Craig the Kiwi and all headed off to the supermarket. The plan was to buy loads of food and booze and have a barbeque back at the hostel. And that’s exactly what we did! Loaded up with steaks and burgers (and a couple of veggie sausages for me), we fired up the grill at the hostel, cracked open the beers and the wine and got the barbeque started. DJ Greasy Spoon (the artist formerly known as Dennis) became master of the grill and served us all up with some very tasty food while I sampled my $25 birthday wine from Moana Park, which was equally tasty!

DJ Greasy Spoon hard at work

After food, a couple of the guys took advantage of the sauna and the pool at the hostel while the rest of us just sat around drinking. Sadly, we didn’t make it onto the party bus that evening but instead, we sat around in the kitchen chatting, listening to Dennis’ life story and doing some more drinking. It was a really good laugh, a top night!

Next morning, we were all up and about fairly early. Reece and Dennis had disappeared to do some preparations for a trip they were planning to do over the course of the next few days. They had decided to spend a couple of days sea kayaking and the hiking up the coast of Abel Tasman National Park so they had to go off to make some bookings, get some supplies, that sort of thing. So while they were running around town, I was sat with Craig by the pool, reading my book in the glorious sunshine. It really was a beautiful day!

Around lunchtime, we all met up by the pool and decided to take a trip out to the beach. There was a place called Rabbit Island, apparently one of Nelson’s most popular beaches, only a few kilometres up the highway so we thought we’d head there. So me, Si, Reece, Dennis and German Simon all bundled into the car and went to the beach…although it was quite a bit further away than we thought! When we got there, we were greeted by miles upon miles of sand which was practically deserted…except for a few dead fish that had been washed up on the shore, lovely! So we spent a few hours relaxing in the sun and having a bit of a paddle in the sea. The guys braved the cold water and has a proper splash around while I opted to stay warm and dry!

Simon on the beach

Then there was a Frisbee game and then some sandcastle building. The first creation was nothing more than a hole in the sand which Simon named “The Fish Bowl”, perhaps due to the three dead fish that he put inside it.

The Fish Bowl

Simon, Dennis and a dead fish

The second creation was much superior though; an impressive structure named “Nipple Castle”. No prizes for guessing what it looked like! Funnily enough, the guys seemed to really be enjoying themselves while they were building it….

Dennis and Nipple Castle

After a couple of hours at Rabbit Island, we made our way back to Nelson, stopping at the supermarket on the way to pick up some goodies for dinner. Tonight’s meal would be a massive curry, accompanied of course by ample quantities of beer and wine. German Simon, despite having a broken collarbone and having one arm in a sling, was a complete maestro when it came to chopping up the veg! The boy did good!! And despite his protestations that his cooking skills were limited to the barbeque grill, DJ Greasy Spoon took over the kitchen and served us all up with a very tasty meal. Nice one!!

Dinner over, Si and Dennis went off for a stint in the sauna and a soak in the hot tub while the rest of us, now joined by Craig, entered board game heaven. The Connect 4 challenge was on!! I beat Reece then got thrashed by Craig before the silent but violent German Simon thoroughly destroyed everyone!! It’s the quiet ones that you’ve got to watch!!

Reece and Craig the Kiwi during the Connect 4 Challenge!

The very lovely German Simon

After Connect 4, it was card game time. German Simon tried to teach us how to play “Shithead” but by this time, my brain had been taken over by wine and I just couldn’t get the hang of it. At least I didn’t lose though; Reece did and was proclaimed Shithead, ha!!! And so, other a brief stint on the magic bus and being fed even more red wine by a Welsh girl and an English guy, it was time to call it a night.

And despite the fact that it wasn’t an incredibly late night, I was still exhausted when I got up this morning. We had to make a move slightly earlier than normal this morning so that we could drop Reece and Dennis off for their trip through Abel Tasman National Park. Loading the car up proved to be difficult and at one point, I was pretty certain that everything wasn’t going to fit in. Anyway, we eventually sorted it all out, said our goodbyes to German Simon and the Paradiso hostel and started heading up to Abel Tasman. The guys were supposed to go to a place called Kaiteriteri to pick up their kayaks. They would then kayak up the coast for two days, then hike up the coastal track for a day or so, staying at campsites along the way. Reece would then get the bus back to a place called Punakaiki to meet us while Dennis would go elsewhere, probably back to whichever far-off planet he came from (sorry Dennis!!). But there was a slight problem. When we arrived at Kaiteriteri, absolutely stunning little bay, Reece and Dennis were informed that they needed to be there at 8.30 that morning in order to have a lesson with a kayaking instructor. At 11am, it was now too late for them to have a lesson so they would not be able to get out on a kayak today. Tomorrow would be the earliest opportunity to get out on the sea. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t have been a problem but campsites and bus tickets had been booked so delaying the trip for a day was just not possible. So, not daunted by the absurd attitude of the people at the kayaking place, Reece and Dennis decided they would walk the whole of the Abel Tasman coastal track instead of doing a combination of kayaking and walking. Sorted.

So, from Kaiteriteri, we drove a little further up the coast to Marahau where the guys got themselves sorted out and prepared themselves for the long journey ahead.

The Beach at Marahau

The beach at Marahau

After a few obligatory photos and the necessary goodbyes, Reece and Dennis headed off on their 3 day hike. We will meet up with Reece in a few days but we won’t see Dennis again, which is kinda weird but I guess that’s just the way this whole travelling thing goes. Friendships are fleeting and you never tend to spend more than a few days with someone before you all go off on your separate ways. Hopefully, we’ll keep in touch though and maybe, one day, I’ll get to hear DJ Greasy Spoon singing the blues again…

Dennis and Reece shortly before setting off on their hike

Me and Dennis

So, with a slight hint of sadness, Simon and I headed back down the coast from Marahau to the town of Motueka which is to be our home for the next two nights. Our hostel here, The Laughing Kiwi, is absolutely lovely. The owners, Wendy and Mark, seem really nice and the hostel’s just got a really homely atmosphere. When we arrived here early this afternoon, we were the only people in the building but a couple more people have turned up now. There are a couple of German ladies, Anya and Brigid, who both seem really nice and three Swiss guys got here a little while ago, and they seem pretty cool too. So we’ve all sat around, chatted, had some food and some wine and I guess it’s just about time to crash out. Something tells me I better get a good night’s sleep cos we’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow….

Now listening to: Bad Religion – Los Angeles Is Burning

2005-11-07T01:29:00.000-08:00

We are sailing….

If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you’ll know that I’m not incredibly keen on boats. You will also know that I’ve been on more boats in the past few months than an average human goes on in a lifetime. And yesterday was no exception, I was back on the open seas once again!! Yesterday, we said goodbye to the North Island and sailed to the South in a three and a half hour crossing from Wellington to Picton.

After checking out of our hostel yesterday morning, we all met up downstairs, “we” being, me, Si, Reece, Dennis and Vanessa (Vanessa very kindly came along to wave us off). Simon went off to find our car and bring it round to the hostel so that we could get loaded up. And what fun that was! Yes, it was a bit of a squeeze but we managed to cram everything into the Silver Surfer and the four of us managed to fit in too, which was handy!
So we said our goodbyes to Vanessa, who is a truly lovely girl, and made our way to the ferry terminal. Checking in was entirely uncomplicated, an absolute breeze, plus they gave us some green plastic sticks to play with (technically, they were boarding passes!). And all of a sudden there were green plastic stick sword fights going on all across the ferry terminal! Anyway, we left our car in one of the loading bays and went off in search of food. The girl at the ferry terminal had told us to go and eat at Sweet Fanny Annie’s and personally, that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. Fortunately, it was a pretty high priority for the rest of the guys too so off we went to Sweet Fanny Annie’s. When we did eventually find the place, we were devastated to find out that it was closed. It was a traumatic time for all of us but we got through it and managed to make our way to choice number two, The Pie Kart. It didn’t have the grandeur of Sweet Fanny Annie’s but it would just have to do….

Now, I do have to bring the culinary skills at The Pie Kart into question. I ordered a veggie delight burger and received a bun with some lettuce, a hash brown, some beetroot and a slice of pineapple in it. I’ve never seen a veggie burger quite like it in my life. And my complaint is minor in comparison to other members of our group who were presented with what was claimed to be a “breakfast combo” but looked more like a heart attack in a box. Yes, we were let down badly by The Pie Kart. We shall not be eating there again.

Back at the ferry terminal, we sat around for about half an hour before they let us on board the boat. And it was pretty massive though it didn’t have quite the same range of facilities that many of the ferries across the English channel have. Still, there was a bar so I guess that’s all that matters! Anyway, we found ourselves some comfy seats and settled down for what was a slightly choppy but mostly uneventful crossing.

We arrived at the port of Picton about three and a half hours later, at about 4.30pm, and from there we had to drive a couple of hours to reach the town of Nelson. And the journey was a bit up and down to say the least; the upside being the most excellent tunes, courtesy of Dennis, the downside being the hideously windy road which caused me to vomit twice. With my stomach sincerely emptied, we arrived in Nelson at around 6.30pm and couldn’t get checked into our hostel cos there was no-one around. It did look like a cool place though, with its own swimming pool, sauna and spa!

Eventually, a member of staff turned up and we all got our given our rooms. So off we trundled to unload the car and then carry all our crap upstairs. And just as I was on my way up to the second floor, I heard that laugh! Yes, there was a crazy German in the building!!! Good old Hans!! He didn’t even say hello to us, he just handed us a beer, what a wicked guy!! So we all stood around chatting and also got introduced to the lovely German Simon who was sharing a room with Hans. Poor German Simon had a car accident a couple of weeks ago and is now sporting a broken collar bone, I felt really bad for him. Anyway, it wasn’t long before we ran out of beer so Hans very kindly offered to go get some supplies, what a guy! Me, Si and Reece were in need of food so walked into town with Hans and German Simon in search of somewhere to eat (Dennis did not join us as he had sustained himself with a peanut butter sandwich which, only moments earlier, he had tried to poison Reece with).

Everything was dead in Nelson town centre, there was no-one around and nowhere seemed to be open. Not a good start to our stay there! Eventually, we found a restaurant and had some reasonably tasty but slightly over-priced food before making our way back to the Paradiso hostel. And the beers were flowing once again when we got back there. There was a new face there too, a Kiwi called Craig, another one of Hans and German Simon’s roommates. So we all sat around the pool chatting and drinking and then we all got on board the party bus. You see, after 10pm you’ve got to keep the noise down at the hostel so that the guests and the hostel’s neighbours are not disturbed. So, anyone who wants to party after 10pm goes on the party bus, a big old bus decked out with cushions and stuff which is hidden at the bottom of the garden. And yes, we had a whole lot of fun on the party bus!!

Hans amused us with absolutely everything he said but particularly all of the stories he told about his “friend”. The one about the policeman’s uniform was extremely entertaining!!! Then some Flemish guys got on board and all of a sudden, a whole bunch of guitars appeared from out of nowhere. Songs were sung, more beers were sunk and I heard some of the most dreadful guitar-playing ever!! Even so, it was a great laugh, especially when Dennis decided to sing the blues. It was all a bit impromptu but highly amusing. Can’t remember the last time I laughed that much! Anyway, I left the party at somepoint to go give my mum a call and by the time I got back, the activity of the day was no longer making music but making fun of some girl with really bad sunburn. Seriously, this girl looked like a lobster and was none too pleased when Reece informed her of this!! Ha!!!

Anyway, we ran out of beer at somepoint and it’s always time to call it a night when you run out of beer! So it's now Monday and it's some ridiculous hour in the morning. I've just said goodnight to everyone but goodbye to Hans who is sadly moving on in the morning; hopefully we’ll run into him elsewhere though! And now, I’m going to bed cos I am truly exhausted.

I will be having a long lie in the morning.

Now listening to: Violent Femmes – Blister In The Sun

2005-11-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

Back to the city….

Who am I trying to kid?? I’ve spent the last couple of weeks staying in a series of small villages and towns, convincing myself that I could get used to the slow pace of life out in the sticks. But as we drove down Highway 1 into Wellington, there was no denying how great it felt to be back in the city. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy the countryside and all that goes along with it. Hell, I spent the majority of my 26 years living in a village, surrounded by all that countryside stuff. But the city just does it for me, I love it there and I had such a rush of energy as we were driving into New Zealand’s capital.

Wellington

First impressions were good…although it’s difficult to make judgements about a place based on what you can see out of the back window of a car! We headed straight for our hostel, a YHA right in the centre of the city, and got checked in. YHA hostels in New Zealand can seem a little cold and impersonal in comparison to the smaller hostels. Although the facilities are normally excellent and no valid complaints could really be made about the services they offer, they just don’t seem as homely or comfortable as some of the independent or family-run hostels we’ve stayed in. But hey ho, we had a bed to sleep in and I guess that’s all that matters!

Anyhow, after a reasonably long journey from Napier (and very cramped one too, thanks to Austin from Austin)!), I tried to get a bit of sleep. But just as I drifted off, Simon informed me that I had to go out. Why oh why was he making me get out of bed?? Well, Simon used to work with a girl called Vanessa back in the UK. Just before we had left, she had told him that she would be off on some travels too as she had applied for a work permit in New Zealand. And as luck would have it, she ended up finding work in Wellington! So Simon had arranged for Vanessa to meet us at our hostel at precisely the same time that I was about to fall asleep! Oh well, nevermind, sleep is overrated anyway!!

So Vanessa took us in the direction of the nearest pub with the cheapest beer! Excellent! And bloody hell, Wellington was pretty lively for 6pm on a Thursday night! All the pubs were literally overflowing and there were just loads of people around. There was a pretty good vibe to the place and it certainly seemed like a city full of folks out to have a good time. At the pub, we settled down to a few beers and chatted about things back home for a couple of hours before then heading out to find someplace to eat. We walked along Courtenay Place, the main sort of dining/entertainment area in Wellington, and then we made a beeline for Cuba Street.

The Bucket Foutain on Cuba Street

Pretty much every major city has a street like Cuba Street; you know the deal, the “alternative” street where all the people with bizarrely coloured hair hang out and where there is an abundance of bars, cafes and cool stores. And it’s a wicked place! I spotted a few record shops that would require further investigation during our stay in Wellington and we also stumbled across a lovely Indian restaurant which would be our choice of restaurant for the evening. And what a good choice it was! Not only was the food top notch, but you also had a series of buttons on your table which you could press to request a drink, order food or ask for your bill!! Soooooo much fun and such a good idea!!! Anyhow, after dinner, we arranged to meet Vanessa the next day before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the hostel for some sleep. While on the way to our room, we spotted a crazy German in our hostel. It was Hans who we had met in Taupo! We ran around to chat to him cos he’s a crazy German and he’s a really funny guy with the most infectious laugh ever! And while laughing along with him, we all got told off by some grumpy woman for making too much noise, oops! Anyway, safe in the knowledge that we had another friend in town, we crashed out while Hans undoubtedly stumbled into some poor, unsuspecting pub….

The next morning, Simon and I decided to visit Te Papa which is basically the Museum of New Zealand. It’s an enormous building right on Wellington’s waterfront and cost a ridiculous amount of money to construct. Personally, I wasn’t too keen on the building itself but the majority of the exhibits inside were very good, plus it was entirely free! Yay!

Te Papa

Me on the waterfront in Wellington, just outside Te Papa

Like the museum we visited in Auckland, they had quite a large display on Maori history but the lay-out seemed so much better in Te Papa. There were also sections, again in a similar vein to Auckland, on animals and sea creatures native to New Zealand. The effort that had gone into some of the display was incredibly impressive and made for a far more interesting visit than the Auckland Museum. At Te Papa, they have an outdoors section called Bush City, a small-scale example of the various environments to be found in New Zealand with many native plants on display and mock-ups of some of the caves to be found in the country. It’s a very popular part of the museum, especially with the kids because wandering around Bush City feels akin to getting lost in a miniature rainforest. But my favourite part of Te Papa was definitely the exhibit on the natural disasters that affect New Zealand. There is such a vast amount of information here about why earthquakes and volcanoes occur and what steps can be taken to prepare for them. There are several interactive displays and also a replica house which you can step into and feel what it’s like to experience an earthquake. Also, the video footage they have of Mount Ruapehu erupting is quite terrifying…considering I was at the top of that very mountain a week beforehand! All in all, Te Papa is definitely worth a visit as there seems to be something to interest everyone in there. And don’t forget that it’s free, cos that’s always a bonus!!

A cow on display in Te Papa

After a few hours at Te Papa, we ventured further out into the city. We walked along the waterfront for a while before heading across to civic square where we found lots of sculptures and also a big metal ball which appeared to be floating in the air. Pretty cool. The square is home to the likes of the Central Library and the City Gallery and is also a popular location for city workers to relax and eat lunch. From the square, we headed down Willis Street towards Lambton Quay where we found a food court to grab some lunch. We then headed back towards Courtenay Place and onto Cuba Street to do some more exploring. I got lost in a couple of shops where I could have spent every penny that I have…but I didn’t! Then I found a record shop where I could have spent an absolute fortune….but I resisted! And I could probably have made my wallet a bit lighter in the bookstore too….but no!! This shopping-without-buying thing is not easy, I tell you!!! To escape this retail nightmare, we decided to go to the cinema and see Elizabethtown. Yes, I’m well aware that it’s a total chick flick but I don’t care!! I really enjoyed it and staring at the lovely Orlando Bloom for a couple of hours was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!

After a quick trip back to the hostel to meet Reece and Vanessa, we headed out for the evening. Simon and I had bumped into Hans, the crazy German, earlier in the day and he had said he would meet us in a backpacker bar during happy hour that night. So we arrived at the pub and the crazy German was nowhere to be seen. Nevermind, we thought, we’ll just have a few beers!

Simon and Vanessa in the pub

A couple of beverages later and Simon and Reece have been roped into taking part in a pool competition, the prize being $50 behind the bar. Wicked! The boys get through to the final, the beer is flowing and everything looks good! Then the crazy German turns up with his even crazier (if such a thing is possible) American roommate, Dennis, and another lovely German named Jonas. It was all good, we were all having a blast and having plenty of beers (on a seriously empty stomach, I might add) and the boys just had the black to pot to win the $50. Simon lines up the shot, down goes the black……and down goes the white straight behind it….bollocks! Oh well, a round of drinks to commiserate then??? Or maybe not! By this point, it was definitely time to get some food before everything went horribly wrong. So we left Hans and his cohorts in the bar while we went on the hunt for food. Reece quickly grabbed a burger and disappeared back to the pub while we grabbed some grub and beers and headed up to Vanessa’s abode. While drunk, Simon and Vanessa thought it would be fun to call their old place of employment (11.30pm our time was 10.30am on Friday back in the UK). And what fun it was!!! I could hear people screaming and allsorts on the other end of the phone, crazy!! Unfortunately, a couple of the people they wanted to chat to weren’t around but it was a good laugh anyway. After the phonecalls, Simon and I left Vanessa to get some sleep while we headed back to the pub to find that everyone had buggered off so we decided just to call it a night. Early to bed, early to rise….or something like that!

Next morning, we met Vanessa at about 11.30 (OK, I guess we didn’t get up that early!!) and we got a bit of a guided tour of Wellington. We walked the whole length of Lambton Quay, right through the business district and over to New Zealand’s Parliament buildings. And what a strange collection of buildings it is! At one end is a beautiful building which looks almost gothic in style and it’s a wonderful colour too. Next to that is a classical style stone building with columns around the outside and finally, at the end of the row, is a modern monstrosity known as the beehive. It looks hideous; an enormous concrete creation which looks dreadful in comparison to its neighbours. My New Zealand guide book remarks on how good the differing buildings look positioned next to one another….er, sorry but I just don’t agree!!

The Beehive

Next, we visited a couple of cathedrals which were vastly different; one being almost art deco in style and the other a beautiful, quaint little wooden structure. Both look quite out of place in a district now inhabited by grey government buildings. I guess the cathedrals give the area a bit that much needed character that the stuffy politicians just aren’t capable of contributing!

A walk back across the wharf areas took us out to the gorgeous Oriental Parade. As I’m sure you can imagine, this waterfront street is a popular location in Wellington, with lots of beautiful homes, cafes and restaurants. In fact, our car had been living on this very street since we arrived and it certainly seemed to enjoy its scenic stay on Oriental Parade.

Me on Oriental Parade

One of the signs on Oriental Parade!!

So the three of us bundled into the car (which I have now named “The Silver Surfer”, by the way!) and went out for a drive around some of Wellington’s more suburban areas. We drove right along Oriental Parade out towards Kilbirnie on the edge of Evans Bay and then headed out towards the Miramar Peninsula. We were aiming to find a place called the Chocolate Fish Café which was apparently very popular with the cast and crew of Lord Of The Rings while they were in New Zealand. And despite getting a little lost, we eventually reached our destination and understood why this place was such a hit with the Hollywood crowd.

The Chocolate Fish Cafe

The Chocolate Fish Cafe

The café sits right on the edge of Scorching Bay, a lovely little white sand beach on the peninsula. It’s out in the middle of nowhere and the views out over the water are just amazing.

Me overlooking Scorching Bay

And the food at the café is something else too (if a little pricey!). And after we all indulged in some tasty delights, we made our way out on to the beach to go fly a kite! Yes, it’s all a bit Mary Poppins but I love Mary Poppins! I’ve never forgiven my dad for recording over my Mary Poppins video when I was about 8 years old (sorry dad but I will always hold that grudge!!).

Vanessa flying a kite

Kite-flying over, we got back in the car and headed for Mount Victoria. On the drive to the summit, I was really glad that we hadn’t opted to climb up as Reece had. The road up there is incredibly steep and I felt knackered just thinking about it. Hell, we had to climb up a tiny hill from the car park to the summit and I was exhausted after that!! But it was definitely worth it for the view from the top. Wellington looks pretty amazing from above. You can see all across the city and right out to the suburbs and the hills beyond. Terrific stuff.

Me at the top of Mount Victoria

The view over Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria

Back down the hill, we dropped Vanessa off and went back to the hostel to chill out before the evening’s festivities. You see, it was the Guy Fawkes Night and $100,000 of fireworks were going to be set off over the bay. Kickoff was at 9pm so after a few hours of relaxing, we met up with Reece and Vanessa at about 7pm, grabbed a bite to eat then headed back to the hostel to meet up with a few others before the show began. Unfortunately, our crazy German friend was no longer with us as he had moved on to the South Island earlier that day. What would we do without Hans to make us laugh?? Well, we would rely on our crazy American friend, Dennis, to keep us entertained! So off we all went, along with an Irish guy called Viv and a Japanese dude (no idea what his name was), to find a spot to watch the fireworks. As we walked along the waterfront trying to find a vantage point, we were witness to our first example of violence in New Zealand. Yes, two girls, one extremely large and the other extremely small, were trying to tear each others heads off in the middle of the street. And just as we were starting to take bets on who would win, a couple of guys broke it up, not fair!!! My money was on the big girl, I would not have argued with her in a million years!

Down on the waterfront, there was a row of boat sheds which seemed like an ideal place to watch the fireworks so up we all climbed. Vanessa had come well prepared and had sparklers for us all! I haven’t had sparklers for years, I had forgotten how much fun they were!!! So we all waved our sparkly sticks around for a while and we even got a Dutch girl to join in with us. She only wanted a light for her cigarette and she got roped into our antics, the poor thing!

A crazy Dutch girl

Me and Simon with our sparklers

Yup, the sparklers were great but in all honesty, the fireworks were quite a bit better! The display was pretty amazing and the enormous crowd seemed to “ooh” and “aah” in all the right places. And there were intermittent shouts of “HELL YEAH!!” from the roof of the boat sheds. Yes indeedy, we sure did enjoy those fireworks.

The back of Viv's head, Vanessa, Simon, Reece, Dennis and Japanese dude at the fireworks....

Everyone was up for beer afterwards so we all wandered up Cuba Street looking for a bar. We ended up in some Irish place with overpriced beer and depressing Irish music so after one drink, we decided to make a trip to the booze shop and have beers back at the hostel. We seemed to lose a couple of people on the way. Reece disappeared, as did Viv and the Japanese dude had vanished after the fireworks. So it was just me, Si, Vanessa and Dennis back at the hostel. Beers were drunk, the countries of Europe and South America were listed (not quite sure why) and beans and toast was eaten. We were joined later in the evening by Jonas, the lovely German (not the crazy one) and Thomas the cat who seems to be under the impression that he lives in the hostel.

Thomas the cat

And it goes without saying that sleep was not an option until all the beer was gone! So the challenge was set and we all gave it our best attempt…except Thomas the cat! Anyway, it was an entertaining evening, a really good laugh and we finally ran out of beer at about 3am. By that point, it was definitely time for bed!

And this morning, I’m really beginning to wish we hadn’t stayed up quite so late. I can’t say I got the best night’s sleep cos I kept waking up and looking at the clock, worried that I’d sleep in. And now, I’ve got to get all my stuff packed up and ready to check out before 10am. Then we’ve got a couple of hours to kill before we need to catch the ferry to the South Island, a journey that will take about 3 and a half hours. Once on the South Island, we then have a two-hour drive on to Nelson and it will be another cramped one as Dennis is catching a lift with us.

I’ve got a feeling it’s gonna be a long day!! But I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be damn good fun!

Now listening to: The Transplants – D.J.D.J.

2005-11-03T10:32:00.000-08:00

Little old wine drinker me….

It’s official, drinking wine is the new rock’n’roll!! Long gone are the days of seeing rock stars swigging from their bottles of Jack (Motley Crue being the exception to this rule!); nowadays you’re far more likely to spot your heroes on stage gulping straight from a bottle of red wine. And personally, I can’t get enough of the stuff!!

I can vaguely recall a time when I used to hate wine, back in my underage days! Then, when I was 16, I went to Strasbourg with a big bunch of people and somehow (perhaps through the cheapness or sheer availability of wine in France), I developed a taste for it. On our return from Strasbourg, we used to get together every couple of months and these get togethers eventually became cheese and wine parties! Can you imagine it? A bunch of 16 and 17 year olds sitting around pontificating about life, love and the universe over a couple of blocks of Red Leicester and two bottles of Blue Nun. No, seriously, it was a bit more classy than that….in fact, sometimes certain people (no names mentioned) used to “borrow” a posh bottle from their parents’ drinks cabinet and I guess that when I really started to enjoy a good bottle of wine. And that certainly hasn’t changed….

New Zealand is not necessarily a country that any ordinary Joe would associate with wine-making but there is whole lot of it going on here. They make some damn good wines down here in the Southern Hemisphere which unfortunately do not always get exported to other parts of the world. And that’s a real shame cos the world really don’t know what they’re missing out on! There are several different wine-making regions in New Zealand but the first one we happened upon on our trip was Hawke’s Bay, on the East Coast of the North Island.

We arrived in Hawke’s Bay on Halloween after spending the previous four or five days chilling out in Taupo. Besides spending one day up a snow-capped mountain, we didn’t really do too much else there. Our time had been fairly relaxing, just hanging around the hostel, chatting to our fellow travellers, drinking beers and having a laugh. And we met some amazing characters there; a lovely French guy named Xavier, a crazy German called Hans, a couple of Scots and several others, not forgetting the very sweetly insane Susan from Belfast. It was a great bunch there and we had some real good times with them all. And the situation in Hawke’s Bay was very similar.

We had opted to stay in the beautiful town of Napier, right on the coast and a place that we had heard many good things about. The town itself was virtually flattened in an earthquake in 1931 and when the rebuilding took place, art-deco was the chosen style. The result is the highest concentration of art-deco architecture to be found in the world. It looks stunning; a real gem that the rest of the world has probably never even heard of.

One of the Art Deco buildings in Napier

Our hostel wasn’t too far from the centre of the town and it was a really wonderful place to stay, definitely the sort of place where I felt very comfortable very quickly. The rooms were quite spacious, there was a large courtyard with lots of picnic benches and although the kitchen was neither spotless nor massive, it was adequate. But in all honesty, that’s not the stuff that matters cos the atmosphere was this hostel’s major selling point. It’s incredibly laidback and could very easily be the sort of place you could end up staying in forever. That is made very apparent by the volume of long-term residents there. And the girl who runs the place, Hayley, is just a star! You really could not ask to meet a nicer person. She makes you feel like you’ve been her best friend for years and she just adds to the hostel’s homely feel. Yes, the Stables Backpackers in Napier gets a definite thumbs up from me!

On our first afternoon in Hawke’s Bay, we took a stroll through town, marvelling at the architecture. We happened upon a fine little establishment where we partook of some light refreshments (choosing beer over wine, surely sinful in this area!). The sun was out, it was a gloriously hot day and all was well with the world.

Emerson Street

Clive Square

Back at the hostel, I spotted a guy who I was convinced had been stalking me for the past week or so. He had turned up at the Funky Green Voyager in Rotorua and Tom, one of the people who worked there, had mentioned that that guy had just arrived from Whitianga, exactly where we had come from. A few days later, I spotted him at our hostel in Taupo and now here he was in Napier too. You could forgive me for thinking that he was following me (or us!). Anyhow, while sat minding my own business on the sofa, the stalker approached me and spoke to me for the first time. “I think you must be following me or something” was his opening line! We had a good old laugh about it all!! Lovely guy, from Southampton if I remember correctly, doing the whole travelling thing for exactly the same reasons that have found me living out of a rucksack for the past 5 months. It’s great to meet people who are in the same situation that you are, makes you feel like you’re not so crazy for giving everything up and fucking off round the world. Anyway, I left him to make his dinner in peace while me and the guys went out to find more food and beer. Would you believe it, we ended up in an Irish bar! God, those Irish get everywhere! So we had the food and we had the beers and then we had a slightly heated discussion about music. The guys really should know better than to mess with me on this subject. I get intensely passionate about it and it truly does not matter how long they try to proclaim that Kelly Clarkson is not a talentless goon, I simply will not believe it. End of story. End of night.

So the next morning was the 1st of November, happy birthday me (incidentally, when is your birthday?? If you haven’t already done it, go to http://www.bornonthesameday.co.uk/ and fill in your details! Do it now, I insist!!). So, another year older but still no wiser! But hey, it was a beautiful day and I was wearing shorts on my birthday, IN NOVEMBER GODAMMIT!! And among the first people to wish me a happy birthday was a character named Bradley. On-off boyfriend of Hayley and full-time crazy fool, Bradley is an immensely likeable guy. He’s out in the courtyard at 10am with a beer in hand. He’s supposed to start a new job in Taupo that day but can’t really be arsed so gets his brother to go along instead!! Yup, Bradley is a top bloke. So after chatting with him for an hour or so, Simon, Reece and I head into town. Simon doesn’t last long as a painful stomach gets the better of him and he heads back to the hostel. So it was just me and Reece for the majority of the day. We walked along the waterfront at the beach, which was yet another new birthday experience for me!

Me at the beach on my birthday!!!

We then found a nice little bar where we had some birthday beer and birthday food. We went shopping with the implicit intention of spending some money but we failed miserably (we did nearly get Reece a tattoo but the dude in the shop just didn’t have enough time to spare). And so it was back to the hostel to find a fully recuperated Simon. Apparently, if you’re not well and then you feel better, it gives you the urge to play golf. Personally, I’ve never experienced that but I did witness it first hand with Simon so I believe it to be true! And off he and Reece went to find a golf course while I did nothing but relax! Birthday bliss, I assure you!!!

That evening, the intention was to go out for tapas. There was a tapas restaurant just down the road which we had heard good things about (we also had some drinks vouchers for there!!) so off we went to see what they had to offer. And the menu looked quite impressive….for meat-eaters! One vegetarian dish, can you believe it?? We stayed for a couple of drinks so that we could benefit from our vouchers but we soon headed off to find somewhere more suitable to eat. We ended up in an Indian, the only people in the whole restaurant but a spectacular birthday meal nonetheless. From there, we enjoyed a swift pint in a lovely brewpub before making our way back to the Stables. So, two nights in Napier and still no wine?? We would have to get that sorted ASAP!!!

The beautiful sunset on my birthday

W is for Wednesday. And W is also for wine. Wednesday would therefore be wine day!! Wicked! Hayley at the hostel had informed us that the best wine tour of the area was done by a guy called Gareth. Acting on her advice, Simon gave Gareth a call and as it turns out, he was more than happy for us to join him on a wine tour that day. He swung by the hostel in his minivan just before 1pm and off we went. There was only one other lady on the tour, a lovely lass named Claire from Birmingham and the small group certainly made the tour seem incredibly personal. We had so much fun and a whole lot of laughs!

The tour itself consisted of visiting four wineries in the Hawke’s Bay area. Gareth, was the perfect host, deconstructing the pretences of the wine-tasting process and making us feel right at home. He advised us that there is no right or wrong when it comes to wine, you just like what you like. Simple. He gave us an informed demonstration of how we should go about tasting the wine, for example how we should hold the glass and what we should be looking for in terms of taste, colour and clarity. And it was all very interesting.

The first cellar door we visited went by the name of Church Road. A lovely elderly guy named Rod was taking care of us here. He poured us all a sample of Sauvignon Blanc, then of Chardonnay, then another Chardonnay and then…well, need I go on?? Suffice to say we tried many different wines and heads were feeling a little lighter than they had done previously!

Second stop was a winery by the name of Mission. It was a wonderful building on top of a hill and took its name from its original purpose. From the gardens at the back of the building, you can look out over the vineyards. It’s a lovely sight and it’s no surprise that this is a popular venue choice for summer weddings.

Mission winery

One of the vineyards

Inside, we sampled several more tasty vintages, though not quite as tasty as the wines at Church Road, before saying our goodbyes and moving on to stop number three. And number three was by far the best of the bunch for every possible reason.

Moana Park is, comparatively, minute to Mission, Church Road or most of the other winemakers in the area. It’s a family run business which has only been up and running for a matter of years. They are a relatively young winery, producing delicious and somewhat unique wine. You see, with my newfound knowledge on the subject, I am aware that most wines are a combination of different types of grape, a blend if you will! But not at Moana Park. Their wines are not blended, they use 100% of whichever type of grape and do not blend it with anything else. They also use no animal products in the refining of their wine which has led to them being approved by the vegetarian society. It’s a pretty cool set-up and we were lucky enough to have Dean, the manager, give us a brief tour of the winery and a sample of wine straight from one of the massive tanks (I was also lucky enough to get Dean’s phone number). Another bonus at Moana Park was that Gareth had sorted out some food for us; cheese, bread, olive oil and such top compliment the wine we tasted. And as we sat outside enjoying our samples, it really was just heavenly. I just fell so in love with the place that I quickly got Simon to purchase me a lovely bottle of Malbec. At $25, it could be called an indulgence but instead, I called it a birthday present.

Me and Simon at Moana Park

Our final winery was Trinity Hill (I think!!) and probably my least favourite of the day. We arrived just ahead of another wine tour and got next to no attention from the winery’s host. But hey, the alcohol was in full effect by now and we just grabbed as much free booze as we could before getting the hell out of there. It had been such a fab day, incredibly enjoyable and far less pretentious than I thought a wine tour would be. And that was all probably down to Gareth. If you ever find yourself in Napier and want to do a wine tour, then go with Gareth and his Odyssey tour. Hayley was so right when she recommended him!

Back at the Stables, in the mood for wine, we opened a nice bottle of red and settled down for a quiet yet slightly tipsy evening at the hostel. Hayley, knowing my love of dogs, got two of her friends to come round and bring their puppies with them. They were beautiful but looked way too big to be described as puppies!! Also that evening, we got chatting to a guy called Austin who, quite unfortunately for him, came from Austin. Oh how I laughed!! He was looking for a lift from Napier to Wellington and despite being severely short of room in our car, we told him he was more than welcome to come along if he could squeeze himself and his stuff into the vehicle.

And lo and behold, this morning, our Texan friend awoke himself from sleeping in the back of a random German guy’s car, threw his rucksack in our backseat and got on board for the ride to Wellington. Austin from Austin seems like a pretty cool guy. He studied French at university, he’s very much the political activist and he’s vegetarian too. Also, he spent the last few weeks working on a farm castrating cows, which is nice. He needed to get to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island to then travel to Christchurch for his next job. God only knows what he’ll be doing next, slaughtering lambs maybe? Nice work for a vegetarian!

Anyhow, we’re headed to Wellington right now, all crammed into the car and leaving the vineyards behind. And Wellington will be our last North Island stop. Just like Austin from Austin, we’ll be on our way to the South Island in a matter of days (where, I’m reliably informed, we will find even more vineyards, yippee!!!).

Our time here is just flying past. I’m beginning to think that 2 months isn’t quite long enough to explore New Zealand.

Now listening to: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Roadtrippin’

2005-10-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

Check the exposure, something’s wrong with this picture….

We have some really amazing pictures from the past few places we’ve been to in New Zealand. Unfortunately, I am currently unable to get them uploaded to my blog so you’re just going to have to make do with text in the meantime. I know that it’s not quite the same without the pictures but try to use your imagination or something! The pictures will be up as soon as is humanly possible.

Also, once again I have to apologise to anyone who has sent e-mails or such to me. Time online is extremely limited at the moment and I just haven’t had the chance to reply to everyone. Sorry guys but I will be in touch as soon as I can!!

Now listening to: Zebrahead – I’m Money

2005-10-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

Hate to say I told you so….

Don’t you just hate it when people ignore your advice?? You try to help them out, they pay no attention to you and then you inevitably have to say “I told you so” when it all goes horribly wrong. An example of this might be when your someone you know spends a day snowboarding on a snow-covered mountain and despite your protestations, neglects to put on any sun block. As a result, this certain someone’s head now looks like a giant tomato and I just have to say those four little words….

Our stay in Taupo started off so well. Our hostel was pretty cool and a few of the people we had met in Rotorua were also staying there, which was cool. Our first proper day there on Thursday was just spent chilling out and exploring the town. We went out to Cherry Island and to Acacia Bay, two really lovely spots in Taupo.

Me at Cherry Island

Acacia Bay

Something strange happened on the way to Acacia Bay, however, as we thought we saw an elephant in a field. We doubled-back on ourselves to find that we were not seeing things and that there was indeed an elephant in a field. And several Shetland ponies and a donkey too.

An elephant in Taupo

There was clearly a circus in town and they had all of these animals on display in a field with no shade, no food and no water; the poor animals must have been dying of dehydration, especially the elephant. They all looked so unhappy and the donkey had such a sad looking face, though it seemed to like me as it kept following me around. I secretly wanted to kidnap it and keep it as a pet!

Me and my friend, the donkey....

Anyway, after our visit to Acacia Bay we went to the pub and had a beer and a few games of pool before having a few beers back at the hostel that night and making some new friends among our fellow guests. But we got an early night as we had plans for the next day.

Simon really wanted to go skiing while in New Zealand and really hoped to make it to the ski resorts in New Zealand before the season ended. Lo and behold, the ski village of Whakapapa, about an hour or so from Taupo, was still open and covered in snow so Simon suggested that we spend Friday on the slopes. So up we got at the crack of dawn on Friday morning to make our way down to Tongariro National Park where Whakapapa Village is to be found. Along with us was a very cool Irish girl named Susan whom Reece and Simon had been chatting to the previous night. While slightly intoxicated, she had agreed to come skiing too and I think maybe she was kind of regretting that!! Nevertheless, we all piled into the car and headed around Lake Taupo and then south towards the ski area.

The view as we drove towards the mountains

Now let’s just get one thing clear; I do not ski, nor snowboard, nor anything else which involves sliding down a huge mountain at great speed. My chosen activity for the day would be to take photographs of everyone falling on their arses while drinking beer in the warmth and comfort of the mountain top café. That sounds like enough strenuous activity for me!!

Anyway, the guys opted to snowboard instead of ski and decided to get a beginner’s lesson. Simon has snowboarded before but wasn’t sure if he could remember how so decided that a lesson might be a good idea. So, at the bottom of the mountain, the guys rented all their gear and got suited up before we all got on board the chair lift. And it was a lovely journey up. The scenery was just stunning. Right in front of us was a snow-capped mountain while we could see the lake and its beautiful beaches off in the distance. New Zealand is apparently one of very few places that you can ski in the morning then lie on the beach in the afternoon!! And what a location to do that it, it’s pretty amazing.

The view from the mountain out over the hills and lakes below

The mountain itself was Mount Ruapehu, which quite unsurprisingly is another volcano. Again, it’s last eruption was in the not so distant past and it does have quite an active and destructive history. The mountain stands at just short of 2,800 metres tall although I have absolutely no idea what altitude we were at!

Me on Mount Ruapehu

At the top of the mountain, we all settled in the café and had a hot drink before the guys all went out to start their lesson. Beforehand, Reece and Susan put on there sun cream, heeding warnings about the strength of the sun when it reflects on the snow. Simon, on the other hand, who is well aware of the damage the sun can do at the top of a mountain assured us that he didn’t need any sun cream. And despite my further protestations, he refused to put any of our ample supply of sun cream on. Silly boy!!

Simon, Reece and Susan before their snowboarding lesson

And off they all went, out into the snow while I sat on the sheltered balcony taking some shots of them on their boards. They all certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves, although Simon’s previous experience was quite apparent. He disappeared off down the slope in no time and seemed to be having a brilliant time. And all the while, his face, bar the section his sunglasses were covering, was frying in the sun.

Simon and his snowboard

After a couple of hours, everyone retreated back to the café, sweaty and exhausted after their time on the snow. There were no broken bones and everyone seemed to have had fun with their snowboarding experience. After a little recuperation, the guys all headed back out onto the slopes for the final half hour before they called last run.

Simon snowboarding

Once again, they returned sweaty and exhausted while I was merely cold and tipsy!! So it was back aboard the chair lift for a very chilly return trip to the base of the mountain and then back to the car for the hour long journey back to Taupo.

On arrival, the full extent of Simon’s sunburn was revealed; one of the girls at the hostel soon started referring to him as “The Beacon”. He really was exceptionally red in the face! But sunburn aside, it had been a wicked day. Meeting Susan had been very cool as she was a truly lovely and funny person. E-mail addresses and such were exchanged as she was sadly moving on that very day. So we said our goodbyes and stuff before cracking open some beers and a bottle of wine to top off the fab day that we had all had.

Me and Susan

It was all good, even if Simon does now bear a resemblance to a giant tomato. Can’t say I didn’t warn him….

Now listening to: Joyrider – Rush Hour

2005-10-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

It’s no big thing…..

I only have one complaint to make about Rotorua. Relatively speaking, it’s pretty minor. In fact, I’ve heard that if you stay there long enough, you don’t even notice it anymore. In our four days there, it wasn’t a huge problem but still, it was none too pleasant.

So what was wrong with the place, I hear you ask…..

Well, Rotorua stinks. It smells really, really bad. You might not believe me but it does. As soon as you arrive there, you notice it; the distinct whiff of eggy farts. It’s the sort of smell that hits the back of your throat and almost makes you gag. You could be forgiven for thinking that the locals just have bizarre flatulence problems but no, the air just smells that way! I guess it has its positive sides, I mean you can fart there and no-one would even notice. In which case, my mate Tottie and my dad would get along really well there (sorry guys!!). But there’s just no escaping the stench. The whole of Rotorua and its surrounding area smells like that. It’s apparently due to all the geo-thermal activity there. Still, I wasn’t aware that geo-thermal activity smelt quite so bad!

We first encountered the smell when we arrived in Rotorua on Saturday. We had a fairly non-eventful trip down from Whitianga and stopped at a non-descript little place just outside of Rotorua for a bite to eat. Our hostel for the next four nights was to be a place called Funky Green Voyager which turned out to be my favourite hostel of our whole trip. It really was wicked. It is a very environmentally friendly place, with an emphasis on recycling. The people who run the place were extremely welcoming, the hostel itself was really small so felt very cosy and homely, everyone we met there was exceptionally friendly, they had a wonderful conservatory which was an absolute suntrap, the bathrooms were spotlessly clean and the facilities were just top-notch. Plus they had a beer fridge that you just had to stick two dollars in and you could help yourself to a bottle. You really could not ask for a better place to stay than Funky Green, I could not recommend it highly enough!

When we arrived there, we chilled out for a few hours, getting used to our new surroundings, and then decided to head into town to find a pub. Some rugby final was on TV so we thought it might be a good idea to join the locals watching it and soak up the atmosphere. So we ended up in an Irish bar on one of the main streets where we enjoyed a few beverages and some good grub….although I’m really glad I didn’t order the veggie burger cos the lady at the next table did and didn’t quite get what she wanted!! Anyway, the rugby was pretty good and boy, do those Kiwis love that sport!! The place was going crazy!! Auckland beat Otago, I believe. Don’t ask me the score though cos I have no idea…

Sunday was our first full day in Rotorua and we were all up fairly early. We decided to head across town to a small mountain where you apparently get a lovely view of Rotorua. There is a gondola which takes you up the mountain and it was a fairly enjoyable ride giving lovely vistas over the lake and the town itself. The view from the top of the mountain was pretty cool too but we got a bit distracted up there….

In the gondola on the way up the mountain

The view from the top of the mountain

They have a luge track going down the side of the mountain. It’s not a luge in the technical sense; it’s a bit more like a go-kart run. But, either way, it’s a whole lot of fun. There are three different runs down the mountain; a scenic track, an intermediate track and an advanced track. With our ticket, we got five rides and went on all the different tracks.

Me on my luge/go-kart thing!!

And bloody hell, those things go seriously fast! Simon and Reece were racing one another the whole way and I was lagging behind, trying to take the corners at a reasonable speed! I’m sure you got a wonderful view from the track but I was too busy concentrating on driving to look at it! It was all good fun though, definitely a cool way to waste a few hours.

A couple of the luge tracks

Me and Si on the chairlift back up to the top of the luge track

After coming back down the mountain in the gondola, we took a wrong turn on the way back to the hostel and ended up in Kuirau Park.

Kuirau Park

This is where I started to really get perspective on quite how much geo-thermal activity was going on in Rotorua. As you drive past the park, all you can see is steam. On closer inspection, the park is full of bubbling mud pools and hot springs with an abundance of steam rising from them. At some points, you can’t even see a couple of feet ahead of you! It’s pretty insane and unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Apparently, what is found within this park is a result of volcanic activity dating only a few years back. All this stuff just appeared one day, that’s really bizarre!! Rotorua itself is right in the centre of a volcanic valley but it’s very weird to think that the area is still active. A number of the surrounding mountains are volcanoes and were known to have erupted as little as a few years ago. It was so extraordinary to be right in the heart of it all.

Me at Kuirau Park

That evening, we went to the nearby supermarket and got a whole load of food. Then it was back to the hostel to cook up a nice big curry and enjoy a few beers. Later on, I called home and had a chat with my parents and my brother. All seems well back home, which is good, and Mama Frew seems to steadily be getting back on her feet, which is jolly good news. Also, my niece sang AC/DC down the phone to me and once again told me how much she loves Jack Black! Wicked! Back in the hostel and a few beers later, I crashed out and left Simon to play chess with a Yugoslavian guy named Adam (I do believe Si lost most atrociously!!).

Next morning, we had a nice long lie and a leisurely brunch in the garden of the hostel. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day so we just took some time to chill out. In the afternoon, we went out for a drive to Lake Tarawera and had a wander along one of the beautiful little beaches there.

Me with Lake Tarawera in the background

The lake is pretty stunning and is flanked by the enormous Mount Tarawera, one of the many volcanoes in the Rotorua region. This volcano erupted in 1886 and was responsible for destroying much of the area, including the Pink and White Terraces, a sight which was at the time touted as the eighth wonder of the world.

Lake Tarawera

Me on Lake Tarawera

From here, we then visited the Green and Blue Lakes, conveniently situated right next to each other and very cleverly named. The Blue Lake is the centre for watersports activities in Rotorua and was certainly very popular on the day that we visited. Next stop was a brief visit to a redwood forest though laziness got the better of us as we just didn’t have the energy to follow any of the trails through the woods. And so it was back to the hostel to do some more relaxing. We cooked, we chatted and we just generally chilled out and Funky Green Voyager is a perfect place to all of these things. Plus, being indoors helps you escape that awful stench though!

Tuesday was our final day in Rotorua. Unfortunately, our morning was wasted surfing the internet and visiting travel agents, trying desperately to find somewhere to stay when we get to Hawaii in December. Our visit coincides with the Honolulu Marathon, an extremely popular event, and all hotels, hostels and such are all fully booked….unless you want to pay $1000 a night!!! We e-mailed a few places so hopefully we’ll get some good news!!

Anyway, after all that boring stuff, we headed into town, grabbed a very tasty kebab (vegetarian, of course) and then went on one of the self-guided walks around the city. This took us back to Kuirau Park and then across to the area on the lakefront.

One of the parks we visited on our walk

We passed several houses which actually had some bubbling mud pools with their gardens! How weird! I honestly don’t know how people could live there and deal with the smell!! Anyhow, a little further along the lakefront, we saw a beautiful Maori church and some other Maori buildings, all of which looked quite remarkable.

Maori Church on Lake Rotorua

Maori House in Rotorua

Me at Lake Rotorua

We sat for a while at the lakefront before walking a little further to the Government Gardens. I’m not sure what the original purpose of these gardens was but nowadays, they play host to several croquet lawns and bowling greens.

The Government Gardens

Me in the Government Gardens

On two of the sides, some very beautiful buildings are to be found, one being the Rotorua Museum of Art and History, and the other being the Blue Baths, a swimming poll and spa complex dating back to the 1930s.

The Rotorua Museum of Art and History

In the Government Gardens, we also stumbled across a golf course and a driving range. Simon was very keen to have a game of golf but instead the guys opted for a hundred or so shots on the driving range. It was quite a pathetic effort, to be perfectly honest, though they both did improve the more practice they had. Still, I don’t think I could have done any better!!

Simon at the driving range

After a less then exerting day, we spent another relaxing night in our wonderful hostel. I made myself some food and chatted to a really nice American guy over dinner. Then I relaxed in the conservatory with a few beers and had a natter with an English girl and a couple of very cool Germans. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, full of lots of laughs and even more beers! I really loved it at Funky Green Voyager and I was really sad that it was our last night there.

And so we left Rotorua this morning, the only positive side of that being that we no longer have to endure that foul smell. Actually, that’s a lie as after we left, we headed straight to a place called Wai-O-Tapu, a place advertised as a geo-thermal wonderland which smelt completely disgusting!! It really was vile, but still, I’m really glad we went cos it was incredibly interesting.

Wai-O-Tapu is touted as the best thermal area to visit in the Rotorua area and that could very well be true. The park itself is pretty massive and there are three different walks taking you around all of the points of interest.

Me at Wai-O-Tapu

There are enormous craters full of boiling water and bubbling mud. In some parts, you could have put a helmet and a spacesuit on me and I could’ve sworn that I was on the moon!! There are sulphur caves, enormous lakes and just an array of colours on the rocks, trees and in the water that you would just not believe. It really was breathtaking.

A lake inside Wai-O-Tapu

Just outside of the park, there are a couple of other attractions which are considered part of Wai-O-Tapu, the first being the Lady Knox Geyser.

The Lady Knox Geyser

This geyser very conveniently erupts everyday at 10.15am. Now before you jump to conclusions, this is a natural geyser which, if left to its own devices, would probably erupt every few days or so. However, the staff at Wai-O-Tapu help it along a little with a soap-like substance which triggers an eruption when required. It’s a spectacular sight and not something that I ever thought you could see on demand.

The geyser, just before it erupted

The second attraction outwith the park are some enormous mud pools. These pools really are like something out of a film; they bubbled ferociously and there was mud splattering everywhere. I kept expecting some crazy creature to come rising out of the mud and grab us and drown us in the pool….I think my imagination may have been working overtime!!

Bubbling mud pools....lovely!!

After a well-spent couple of hours at Wai-O-Tapu, we got back on the road and headed south towards Taupo. We stopped briefly at the immense Huka Falls, where water from the Waikato River is forced into a 10 metre wide channel. The falls are really more like rapids and they are a key energy-provider in New Zealand. The water in the Waikato River is incredibly clear and looks almost turquoise in colour, it’s an amazing sight!.

The rapids at Huka Falls

Me at Huka Falls

Taupo is a lovely town in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island overlooking a lake of the same name. We arrived here a couple of hours ago and we’ve just been out to get a bite to eat and familiarise ourselves with the place. We’re staying in a YHA hostel which, despite being a lot larger than Funky Green, still seems pretty cool. This will be our home for the next five nights.

I’m just so thankful that we don’t have to put up with THAT smell anymore. And hopefully, this’ll be the end of all the fart jokes too!

Now listening to: AC/DC – Back In Black

P.S. Happy birthday to my big bruv, Scott, who is 35 today!! Hope you got your card and that you have a fab day!!!

2005-10-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

I’m only happy when it rains….

Oh, if only that were the case!! It’s not that I don’t like the rain, it’s just that when you only have 2 days to explore a place, it helps if it’s not chucking it down for the entire duration. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it did during our stay in Whitianga.

We arrived in Whitianga on Wednesday after a journey of 6 hours or so from Paihia. The journey itself was fairly uneventful; we made a brief stop in Kawakawa to look at some fancy toilets, we had lunch in a café in a place called Wellsford and we picked up a new hire car as we passed through Auckland (the new car is slightly better than the old one but I have yet to come up with an appropriate name for it). We drove up the Coromandel Peninsula and got to Whitianga at about 5pm.

Whitianga is a lovely town right in the heart of Mercury Bay, the bay area having been named by Captain Cook back in the 18th century We found our hostel, a place called On The Beach which, funnily enough, was right on Whitianga’s Buffalo Beach. Unfortunately, the beach had been closed earlier that day because of the bad weather. Yup, it was pouring with rain, the wind was howling through the trees and the waves were crashing down heavily on the beach. The weather was none too pleasant.

The beach in Whitianga

But our hostel was really cool. We basically had a little apartment, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining area all shared by the occupants of the three adjoining bedrooms. The only other people staying in the apartment were a girl and a guy from Berlin who were really cool and seemed very friendly. So after a quick trip to the supermarket to grab supplies and booze, we all settled down to food and drinks and a few laughs. Spirits were high despite the miserable weather.

The following morning, after a very good night’s sleep, we got up hoping that the weather would have improved. But no such luck, the sky was still grey and there was no escaping the rain. After a few hours kicking around our apartment, Simon and I started to get cabin fever so decided to go out for a drive. So we made our way across the Peninsula to its namesake town, hoping for better weather there. Again, no such luck, it was raining heavily in Coromandel too! Still, we had a bit of a wander around and it seemed like a nice little place. We found a café and grabbed some food and some hot chocolate to heat us up before making the drive back to Whitianga. And so, that evening, it was beers and munchies again with our German flatmates while we tried to ignore the horrible weather outside.

On Friday morning, our German flatmates were moving on, which was quite sad. However, on a more positive note, it wasn’t raining outside! Hooray! So we quickly got organised to head out for the day. But, in typical fashion, we literally stepped out of the door and the heavens opened. To hell with it, we thought, let’s just go for it! And we did! It was our last day in Whitianga and there was some stuff that we just had to do.

We drove for about 45 minutes to a place called Hahei, where we followed a little windy road up to a hilltop carpark. From here, we picked up a walking trail which would take us down to Cathedral Cove.

Me, shortly before the walk down to Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove is a white, sandy beach sheltered by imposing, rugged cliffs. Its name comes from the archway through one of these cliffs which looks similar to the ceiling of a cathedral. The cove is about 45 minutes walk from the car park and despite the rain, it was fairly enjoyable and definitely worth it when you arrive at the beach. It is a beautiful beach, with a waterfall coming down the cliffs at one end and the huge archway at the other.

Me at Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove

Obviously, on a sunny day this place would be immensely busy but with such miserable weather, there were only a handful of us on the beach. Having the place to ourselves felt really cool and, with the waves crashing off the rocks so violently, it all looked pretty epic.

Cathedral Cove

From the beach, we made our way back up to the car. We found a friendly lady in a snack van who sold us some hot chocolate to warm us up before we drove off to our next destination, a place called Hot Water Beach.

Hot Water Beach

OK, so no prizes for working out that we were off to the beach! But why would you go to the beach when it’s pouring down with rain, I hear you ask?? Well, I shall explain….There’s basically a whole lot of volcanic and thermal activity going on in New Zealand, I don’t know the story behind it all but it’s all a bit mad and creates all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Hot Water Beach is one of those things. If you turn up here a couple of hours either side of low tide and dig a hole at a certain spot on the beach, you will find natural hot springs in the sand. Hence the name Hot Water Beach.

So we arrived on the beach at about 2pm trying to find these hot springs. We knew that they were near some rocks but that didn’t really help our search. Eventually, a couple of guys helped us out and pointed us in the right direction. However, they did warn us that low tide wouldn’t be until about 5pm and that even then, with the bad weather, we might not get very lucky. But still, we crossed the beach optimistically and started clambering over the rocks trying to find some hot water.

Unsurprisingly, we found nothing. We though we could stick it out for a couple of hours so we sat on some rocks watching a handful of surfers while getting steadily colder and wetter. Eventually, our sensible genes took over and told us to get inside before we died of hypothermia. We headed for a little café where we got some food and hot drinks to warm us up a bit before braving the elements and heading back onto the beach.

This time, there were a few more idiots like us hovering around so we figured that the timing must be right. Simon and Reece grabbed their spades and we all crossed over a freezing cold river to get to the beach. We found a few people already digging but their efforts were being quashed by the strong waves that were still occasionally crashing onto the beach. So Simon being Simon took charge of the whole operation. He got everyone working together to build a sand wall to protect us from the waves and even had a couple of surfers prop there boards up against it for extra strength!

Building the sand wall

Once the wall was built, everyone started digging down into the sand to get to the hot water. When people started to squeal at the temperature of the water, we knew that our sand hot tub was ready!!

Simon and Reece digging our hot tub

It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever done; sat in a natural hot spring in the middle of the beach while the rain pours down on top of you and the freezing cold waves come crashing over you. Truly weird but very cool, especially when you’re sitting there in a bikini and everyone around you is wrapped up in waterproofs and warm clothes!!

Me and Simon on Hot Water Beach

And the water in that hot spring was so hot! You could sit in some parts of the hot tub and in the areas around the outside of it, you couldn’t even walk on the sand cos it would burn your feet. It was a pretty international hot tub too, with several different countries represented in there. Hell, even Santa Claus made an appearance….

Everyone in the hot tub

But once you are out of the water, the cold really hits you and by this point, the rain was getting really heavy too. While it would’ve been nice to hang out as more and more people turned up to experience this weird sensation, we needed to make a move before we all froze to death.

Me, freezing to death on Hot Water Beach

So it was back across the beach and through the freezing river to the car. The heating was on full blast the whole way back to the hostel and I went straight into the shower as soon as I got there. A few glasses of wine later and I was starting to feel normal again!

Sampling some red wine....

Cold, wet, pissed and happy!

That evening was pretty uneventful. We had a couple of new German flatmates, who seemed pleasant enough. We chatted to them for a while, did some washing, played a few games of cards and had a few drinks. It was all good….except when the German guy put Phil Collins on the stereo….I hate that guy!!!!!

And so, regardless of the horrible weather, we still managed to have a good time in Whitianga. In fact, I think we probably had more fun because of the rain and the wind and the cold. I mean, where’s the fun in sitting in a hot spring if the weather’s nice and hot anyway??? Anyway, we’re leaving Mercury Bay this morning and heading down past the Bay of Plenty, a place I’m sure my mate Tottie would like (p-p-p-plenty, ken like??? Sorry Spud!!!), and then on down to Rotorua.

Time to get packed up and get moving then, I guess.

Now listening to: The White Stripes – My Doorbell

2005-10-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

You say it's your birthday, it's my birthday too....

I was just chatting on-line with my friend, Kate, who informed me of a very Dave Gorman-esque scheme that's going on at the moment. Two guys, Pete and Geoff, are on the hunt for people who share their respective birthdays. The bet is to see who can find 50 people first, although there are various conditions attached. They are for real, they are not doing this for profit and they need as many people to get in touch as possible!

So please go to the following web address and fill in your birthday details! And while you're at it, pass this info on to anyone and everyone you know!! Help these guys out!

http://www.bornonthesameday.co.uk/

Thank you!!

Now listening to: Marvelous 3 - Valium

2005-10-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I like driving in my car, it’s not quite a jaguar….

We picked up our hire car on Saturday. I wanted to name it “The Death Mobile” but Simon wouldn’t let me. So I quickly renamed it “Satan’s Tractor”, an appropriate name, I think!

There is only one word to describe this car and that would be shitheap. It’s about a hundred years old and would fall to pieces if you gave it a swift kick. And it looks like a boy racer’s mobile. Nice.

So with all our gear loaded into aforementioned shitheap, we left Auckland to head north to the Bay of Islands, on the east coast of Northland. Along the way, we made a few stops, some of interest and some a complete waste of time. See if you can guess which was which.

Simon, navigator for our journey, saw a point of interest on the map, just beside the village of Puhoi. Apparently, there’s a really big boulder there, 187 metres big in fact. However, despite its enormity, we were unable to locate it and left Puhoi somewhat unfulfilled.

Next stop was Goat Island Marine Reserve, a beautiful bay area around Goat Island where all types of marine life can be found. It’s a very popular area with tourists and rightly so. The water in the bay is wonderfully clear and the cliff top views are stunning.

Me in front of Goat Island

The view over the bay at Goat Island

We spent a while there, clambering over the rocks and trying to catch a glimpse of some of the bays inhabitants. It was a lovely day, the sun was out and I could quite happily have sat on the beach for a few hours while the guys went snorkelling or something but alas, we just didn’t have the time to do it. So it was back to the car and back on the road.

The bay at Goat Island

After following a few gravel tracks up the coast, we ended up in a place called Mangawhai Heads. It’s a lovely little coastal town which seems like a popular spot for surfers judging by the shops we found there. We decided to stop for a quick bite to eat at a chip shop, very tasty! We sat in the sun, enjoying our chips and me and Si indulged in an ice-cream too!! Sweet!

Back in the car and a bit further up the coast, we made it to Waipu which, according to our guidebook, was a Scottish Highland Settlement. Being Scottish, I was pretty keen to go and see it and witness a bit of my heritage….or something like that…

I wish I hadn’t bothered.

There’s a sign, a very small museum and a statue with a lion rampant on top of it. That’s it. Oh, and a few of the streets have Scottish names. Well worth a visit….not!!

A sign in Waipu...how exciting!!!

A statue in Waipu with a lion rampant at the top

Once more, we were back on the road and heading towards Whangarei, a fairly large town an hour or so south of the Bay of Islands. It’s quite a popular place with backpackers as it’s probably the largest place north of Auckland. We drove through the town, not incredibly interested in seeing anything other than the Whangarei Falls. And they were very impressive.

Whangarei Falls

It’s only a five minute walk down to the base of the falls and the view is pretty amazing. The falls are about 25 metres high and although there is not a vast amount of water spilling over them, it’s definitely worth a trip to go and see them.

Me at Whangarei Falls

Whangarei was our last stop before reaching our destination, a coastal town by the name of Paihia. It’s settled right in the centre of the Bay of Islands and is invariably used as a base for anyone looking to explore the bay area. It’s a beautiful little town and I felt really upbeat as we arrived there. And that feeling continued throughout our stay.

We stayed at a hostel called Peppertree Lodge which was absolutely outstanding. Before arriving in New Zealand, we had heard that the hostels here were amazing and if this place is anything to go by, we should be living in the lap of luxury for the next few weeks. I really don’t have enough good things to say about Peppertree Lodge. On arrival there, we met the manager, Simon, a incredibly friendly guy who went out of his way to advise us and make our stay as enjoyable as possible. He gave us tips about which tours of the area were best, told us which bars had happy hours and let us know about all of the free facilities we could use at the hostel.

The hostel was spotlessly clean. Simon and I had an enormous, airy room with an en suite bathroom. There were three different communal areas and a massive, well-stocked kitchen. There was a DVD and video library we could help ourselves to and also a stack of books and magazines to keep us entertained. The hostel was also part of the Budget Backpacker Hostels chain (BBH), a group of over 350 hostels in New Zealand which offer various discounts for membership holders. It was $40 to join but with that payment, you receive a free $20 phone card. It seems like a really good system and with a wide range of hostels throughout the whole country, it seemed more than worthwhile to sign up for membership.

After settling into our lovely new home in Paihia, we went out for a wander. We didn’t get very far along Kings Road before we stumbled on a few bars. And lo and behold, it was happy hour!!! So we popped into a place called The Salty where we enjoyed a few pints before heading down into the town centre to find food. The town centre was really nice with lots of little shops and restaurants and a lovely wharf. It was a bit weird though cos it was Saturday night and it didn’t seem to be incredibly busy. At 9pm, it seemed like everything was ready to shut down for the evening so we quickly found a restaurant and grabbed a pizza before everything closed. Things were still lively back on Kings Road though and we were almost lured back to the pub. But it had been a long day so we decided to get an early night instead. And I slept like a baby!!

On Sunday morning, I’m told that Reece was up and out at 6.30am, making use of the free mountain bikes on offer at the hostel, but there was no way I was getting up at that ridiculous hour! I had a lovely long lie and it was sheer bliss. When I did finally get out of bed, we made a trip to the supermarket to get some supplies, having decided that cooking instead of eating out would save us some money. Right after making that decision, we stopped at a café for lunch! Oh, the irony!!!

After lunch, as we piled back into Satan’s Tractor, it refused to start. We sat for a few minutes and then tried to start it up again. Still no luck. This went on for a while and eventually, after about 20 minutes, the engine kicked in. We were not impressed. After only 24 hours, the shitheap had let us down. And so, it was back to the hostel to call the car hire place and the AA and have a bit of a moan. The AA turned up an hour or so later and apparently Satan’s Tractor has some sort of intermittent problem, I think that’s a technical way of saying it’s a shitheap! So we are to return it to Auckland on our way back down south and exchange it for another car. Oh dear, what a shame!!!

That afternoon, I was practically forced to take part in a sporting activity. Now, it’s not that I don’t like sports. And to be honest, I’m not particularly bad at them. So I really have no idea why I find it all so tortuous. Maybe I’m just weird. Anyhow, I did it, I played tennis and I think I actually surprised the guys by not being too terrible. I think I actually won a game or two, go me!!!

After tennis, it was time for beer. Happy hour rules!!! This time, we went to the pool hall just across the road. Good tunes, cheap beer and Simon getting thrashed at pool, what more could a girl ask for??? A few beers later, we went back to the hostel and cooked up a lovely big stir-fry for dinner. We opened a bottle of wine and got chatting to a couple from Guernsey, who were lovely. It turns out they had a bit of a penchant for card games and so Simon was gone for the rest of the evening!!! I think they were playing crib or something, I don’t know! All I know is that I spent an hour or so on the phone chatting to my parents (hi mum and dad!!) and the game continued throughout the call and long after it. I eventually crashed out and left Simon and the Guernsey couple to their game of crib.

We had an early start on Monday morning as we had booked a trip for the day. We had to be at Paihia wharf at 9.15am to meet the crew of the catamaran that we would be sailing around the Bay of Islands on that day. There are numerous boat trips that you can join to see the bay but Simon at the hostel had advised us that this catamaran trip was the best. And he wasn’t wrong.

Our catamaran

While all the other boats were huge and packed full of people, we had a crew of 2 and a total of 5 passengers. Vanessa and Phil, the crew, were lovely and more than welcoming and the other two passengers, Anne and Fred were very nice too. I’m not immensely keen on being on the water but the catamaran made me feel very safe for some reason. It was very comfortable and it just glided across the water. It really was an amazing trip and has turned out to be one of my favourite days of our whole trip.

Me on the catamaran

One of the islands in the bay

We left Paihia and sailed just across the bay to the port of Russell to pick up Anne and Fred. From there, Simon and I camped out on the trampolines at the front of the boat as we began our journey. The sun was out, it was a beautiful day and the water was incredibly calm. Nevertheless, there was enough wind to turn the engine off and get the sails unfurled. So it was all hands on deck to pull out the sails and that was a lot of fun. I felt like I was part of the crew!!

Si and Reece hoisting the sails

And just as we were having a whole tonne of fun, it got even better. Up ahead of us, a couple of the other tour boats were anchored and there were a number of people in the water with snorkels and flippers on. Vanessa shouted out that there were dolphins in the water so the sails were pulled down, the engine went back on and over we went to where the action was. And sure enough, there was a pod of 6 or 7 dolphins in the water. I’ve never seen them in the wild before and it was pretty incredible.

A dolphin!!!

Vanessa and Phil advised us that there were wetsuits and snorkels on board should anyone want to go swimming with the dolphins. I’m not a strong swimmer so unfortunately had to decline but Simon and Reece jumped at the chance. Into the water they went, along with Fred too, and splashed their way alongside the dolphins. They seemed to be struggling against the strong sea currents but they were clearly having a whale of a time (sorry, terrible pun!!).

Simon and Reece in the water with the dolphins

Swimming with the dolphins

With the guys back on the boat, we stuck around for a while to watch the dolphins some more before then getting back on track for our journey around the bay. After another hour or so of sailing through some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen, we arrived at the largest island in the bay, Urupukapuka. The catamaran was anchored just offshore while we all piled into a little dinghy to be taken over to the island. We had an hour or so to relax on the beach or take a walk up to the hills while Vanessa and Phil cooked a barbeque lunch for us. Sounds like a good deal!

On the island, we climbed up to the top of the hills (not easy to do in a pair of flip-flops!!) and took in the stunning panorama. On one side, we could see the whole of the bay and on the other was the Pacific Ocean. The view was just outstanding, undoubtedly helped by the fact that it was a lovely sunny day!

The view from the top of Urupukapuka Island

Me on top of Urupukapuka Island

Back down from the hills, we went for a bit of a paddle then lay on the pebble beach for a while before Phil came back to get us in the dinghy.

Me and Reece relaxing on the beach

And then it was time for lunch. Of course, it wouldn’t be a proper barbeque without a couple of beers! So the cans were cracked open while we sat in the sun and I enjoyed every second of it. In fact, the crew were enjoying it so much that they didn’t want to leave so we all sat around chatting for ages instead of sailing off! To be honest, the weather back in the Paihia direction looked quite grim so we all wanted to avoid it for as long as possible.

Me and Si enjoying our liquid lunch on the boat

Eventually though, we had to make our return journey and the weather did stay good for most of it. We were lucky enough to see another pod of dolphins and also some seals splashing around. On most trips, you’re incredibly lucky if you spot any living creatures in the water so we were unbelievably fortunate.

Another dolphin !!!

For the last hour or so of the trip, I sat out at the back of the boat, just taking it all in. What a glorious day it had been! A trip that I hadn’t been incredibly keen to go on had been tremendously enjoyable. I couldn’t have felt more happy or relaxed if I had tried! I mean, how many people get to spend their time doing stuff like that?? Only a lucky few, and I was one of those lucky ones! I think that whole day really re-installed my faith in New Zealand and let me know for sure that I was going to enjoy my time here, despite any reservations I may have had.

The town of Russell

We said goodbye to Anne and Fred at Russell and then made the short trip back across the bay to Paihia, where we thanked Vanessa and Phil for a wonderful day. Then it was the short walk back to our hostel to crash out for a bit and stare into space thinking about the incredible day we had just had.

That evening was spent watching TV, drinking happy hour drinks (oh what a surprise!), watching Simon getting thrashed at pool (even bigger surprise) and eating Heinz beans on toast (you have no idea how much I miss Heinz beans!!! Sometimes I even dream about them….) Anyway, not a very exciting evening but it was never really going to match up to the events of the day!

Tuesday was our final day in Paihia and I didn’t really do much. The guys went out for a bike ride so I got to have some time to myself, which is always nice. So I fired up the laptop, got iTunes running and turned up the volume. It was great! I had some music, some chocolate and a couple of trashy mags to keep me amused for a few hours. When the guys got back, we went to a café across the street for some food and a beer. Then it was back to the hostel for more music, chocolate and magazines. And that was pretty much how the whole day went down. Simon went out and grabbed us some takeaway pizzas, we watched a film or two and just generally relaxed. Nothing interesting really happened but it was still a good day.

Now it’s Wednesday. We are leaving Peppertree Lodge shortly to head south, then east, then north. We reckon the drive will take about 6 hours or so. Our final destination is a place called Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula but we will pass through Auckland en route to pick up a new hire car.

And so it’s goodbye to Paihia and goodbye to Satan’s Tractor. Paihia was amazing; Satan’s Tractor, on the other hand, was not.

Now listening to: CKY - Escape From Hellview

2005-10-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don’t care about the sunny weather….

…which is probably just as well cos I’m not sure what the weather is gonna be like in New Zealand. To say the weather here is changeable would be a massive understatement. It’s been chucking it down with rain, then it’s been overcast then the sun has popped out for an hour or so before retreating behind a cluster of clouds again. God, it’s like being back in the UK!!

It’s no secret that I had some initial reservations about whether or not I was gonna like it here. New Zealand was never a place that I had any great desire to visit and it was a country that I knew very little about. Everyone I had spoken to about this place bombarded me with stories of all the activities that they had taken part in, like kayaking, white water rafting, snorkelling and all that malarkey. Now I’m not exactly the sporty type and doing that whole “joining-in” things makes me wanna vomit. I hate people who feel the need to make everyone get involved with their activity. If I wanna get involved I will, if not – leave me the hell alone! What can I say, I’m a solitary fool and I need my own space. So I was a bit dubious about coming here and having to “take part” in stuff with stupid 19 year old idiots on their gap year, trip paid for by mummy and daddy, of course (not only am I a solitary fool, but a judgemental one too!!). But so far, we’ve done our best to avoid that. Let’s just hope it stays that way.

For our stay in Auckland, we opted for a little budget hotel which catered primarily to travellers. We stayed clear of several of the enormous “party” hostels in the city as, quite frankly, they looked like my idea of hell and would undoubtedly be full of pissed-up Brits. No thank you. Our hotel turned out to be in an excellent central yet quiet location, a perfect base to explore the city. We only experienced two problems during our stay here; firstly, housekeeping came round at 9am sharp and made no effort to be quiet so no long lies, and secondly, my wallet appeared $NZ50 lighter one day (though there was no proof, the cleaner was our No1 suspect). That aside, the place was fine and a whole lot better than many of the places we’ve stayed in.

On our first day in Auckland, we didn’t do too much as we were all completely knackered after our early arrival that morning. We headed out onto Queen Street, which is pretty much the main drag in Auckland, had a wander round the shops and tried to get our bearings. The city itself seems strikingly familiar to many UK cities so there was a fairly immediate feeling of ease. We strolled up Queen Street towards the Town Hall and the square that surrounds it (sorry, it’s name escapes me and I can’t be arsed to go looking for the map to jog my memory!!). And I was getting a pretty good feel for the place; it wasn’t too big and there seemed to be an array of cool shops and bars and stuff. Sorted.

Auckland Town Hall

Some artwork in the centre of Auckland

We promptly found ourselves a table in one of these bars, a little pub called Shakespeare’s Tavern where Simon and Reece indulged in a few games of pool while I enjoyed beers and some Thai veggie spring rolls, tasty!! After a few hours in the pub, we headed back to the hotel and before long, the guys buggered off and left me on my own for the evening. It was bliss! And I think I even managed to watch a film before sleep got the better of me!

The next morning, we were all awake stupidly early. I guess the jetlag was catching up with us! So after spending some time planning our route around New Zealand, we headed out to do some more exploring in Auckland. We walked 10 minutes or so from our hotel to an area called Parnell, where there is an abundance of pavement cafes and designer boutiques.

Me in beautiful Parnell

It’s a lovely place if slightly upmarket. Plus the sun made an appearance while we were there which added to the area’s appeal! We managed to find an affordable café in Parnell where we stopped for a bite to eat (and a beer) before continuing on towards Auckland Domain, apparently the city's first park.

A bandstand in Auckland Domain

The view from the top of the hill in Auckland Domain

Auckland Domain contains the obligatory sports facilities, some wonderful gardens and the colossal Auckland Museum. The building looks very imposing, standing alone atop the highest point in the park, and appears Greek in style, with many columns surrounding the exterior.

Auckland Museum

Me outside Auckland Museum

There are various exhibits within the museum, ranging from Maori history to exploration of New Zealand coastlines. Some parts were certainly better than others, in particular the exhibits aimed at younger visitors. For example, there was a Weird And Wondeful area where they had some insects on display and all sorts of interactive bits and pieces. There was another area charting youth culture in New Zealand, showing what toys or bands or sports were popular during particular decades. The section on New Zealand’s role during wartime was also very interesting but all in all, I didn’t think the museum was brilliant. It was just a bit too staid in parts for my liking.

A Maori exhibit in Auckland Museum

After the museum, we got a bit lost in the rest of the park. We ended up following a little track and I honestly felt like I had been transported to some sort of tropical rainforest, except for the fact that we were being followed by a chicken. I’ve never been followed by a chicken before, very weird! Anyway, we soon lost the chicken and found our way back to the road. And after a few minutes walk, we ended up on campus at the University of Auckland. It kinda reminded me of my own uni, bang smack in the middle of the city with floods of students constantly getting in the way of the traffic. Auckland seems like it would be a cool city to go to uni in…maybe I should think about doing another degree??

The Clock Tower, one of the beautiful buildings at the University of Auckland

Next to the university is Albert Park, a beautiful plush space which, as you may have guessed, is just full of students. And with the sun still shining above us, the park was a perfect place to spend a bit of time! There were some fountains, some sculptures and some wonderful shady trees to relax under. And despite how busy it was, it still felt very relaxed and quiet there. It never ceases to amaze me when you find a park that takes you a millions miles away from the bustling city that you’re in. Heavenly.

The glorious Albert Park

Down some steps from Albert Park and we were right back into the heart of Auckland. And as the sun had decided to come out, we thought we’d take full advantage of the clear skies by going up the Sky Tower. Yes, another tall building, I just can’t get enough of them. But seriously, the Sky Tower is the tallest structure in New Zealand so you’ve gotta do it. Plus, we got a massive discount with our youth hostel membership, bonus!!

The Sky Tower

And to be honest, the view from the top is pretty spectacular. Auckland is not a particularly high rise city so you have no massive structures blocking your line of sight. You really can see for miles, right out to the suburbs and beyond. And if looking at the view isn’t enough for you, you can always opt to jump off of the tower in a weird bungee jump type thing. Er, no thanks! Pay over $100 to plummet almost 300metres to the ground, do I look that stupid??? Don’t answer that….

The view from the Sky Tower

Me at the top of the Sky Tower

Back on the ground (courtesy of the lift), Simon wanted to go to the casino. However, the powers that be would not let me enter said casino because I had holes in my jeans. It would appear that in Auckland if you want to chuck all you money down the drain by gambling, you have to do so dressed in a conservative manner. You gotta love it! So off I went to spend my money elsewhere! Another visit to the Shakespeare Tavern was in order…

That evening, we took a taxi out to Mission Bay, probably the city’s most popular beach. Our trip there was not to enjoy the sun, sand and surf but instead to rescue Reece’s camera from the restaurant he had left it in the previous night. It was an Indian restaurant so we thought we might as well enjoy some grub there before taking another taxi back to the hotel.

We were up pretty early again the following morning so we decided to go to Victoria Park Market for a while. The market isn’t enormous but there are a few cool stores and stalls there so we spent an hour or so having a wander around before stopping at a café for a lovely breakfast.

Victoria Park Market

After food, we walked through Victoria Park and headed up towards Viaduct Harbour. This waterfront area is full of fancy offices and extortionate apartments. It’s very nice….if you can afford it! There were several pretty stunning yachts docked there too, very nice indeed!

Me on the waterfront

The waerfront area with the Sky Tower in the background

We walked all the way along the waterfront, through Market Square and past all of the cafes and bars where the working people were enjoying their working lunches. We ended up on Princes Wharf, the home of several more bars and restaurants and also a very unique Hilton hotel. The hotel, from a distance, looks like a cruise ship docked at the harbour. It’s quite impressive!

The Hilton hotel...honest, it looks like a ship!!!

From the end of Princes Wharf, looking back towards the city, you have a stunning view of Auckland’s skyline. Amongst all of the shiny new glass-fronted buildings is the Ferry Building and it’s early 20th century style stands out beautifully against the modern backdrop. The building was constructed in 1912 and today it is still the centre of activity on the Auckland waterfront.

The Ferry Building in front of the Auckland skyline

After taking in the waterfront, we went back to the hostel to chill out for a while. Well, it was intended to be a while but I think it ended up being hours (methinks the jetlag was still getting the better of us). Simon and I went out that evening for a lovely meal at Wagamama before crashing out once again. Sooooooo tired….

And yesterday was our last day in Auckland and it was a bit of a washout, firstly because of the rain and secondly because it was just one of those days where nothing of any consequence seemed to happen. In all honesty, I don’t think there was enough in Auckland to keep us occupied for the time we were here. So we just wasted the day by wandering around, doing washing and that sort of stuff. You need to have days like that, I guess, days where you don’t actually have to do anything and you can just relax. But as much as I like lazy days, it always leaves me less motivated to do things, less enthusiastic about going out and exploring. And so this morning, as we prepare to leave Auckland to journey northwards, I’m feeling kinda uncertain about this place again. Despite the fun I’ve already had here, yesterday left me feeling a bit down and my initial negative feelings about being here seem to be making a comeback. Don’t get me wrong, Auckland is a great city and I enjoyed the time I spent here but I just don’t feel that I have the same drive in New Zealand as I did in North America. I don’t feel as excited about being here as I should.

The sky is grey and that’s pretty much how I feel. I really hope that changes.

Now listening to: HIM – Vampire Heart

2005-10-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

I’m half awake and half a world away….

I have absolutely no idea what time of day it is. In fact, I have absolutely no idea what day it is. These are just some of the hazards of flying to New Zealand over the International Date Line.

We left Vancouver on the 9th of October and flew for just over 2 hours to Los Angeles. After a terminal change and a layover of a couple of hours at LAX, we got on another plane at about 10pm that same day to fly to Auckland. We landed in Auckland at 6.10am on the 11th of October.

Very confusing. Very, very confusing.

But, in all honesty, I don’t feel quite as horrible and jetlagged as I perhaps should. The flights in themselves were pretty painless, as was getting through customs, security and immigration at the three different airports (incidentally, I spotted Joshua Jackson, another Dawson’s Creek star at Vancouver airport, which was nice). The flight to Auckland was about 12 hours long and we had a few good movies and a spot of turbulence to keep us entertained. And we were also kept entertained on the shuttle bus from the airport to our hotel with a fellow passenger’s tale of being fined $NZ200 for apple smuggling (you’re not allowed to bring any foodstuffs into the country and this particular lady forgot she had an apple in her bag). When we got to the hotel at about 8am, we were informed, much to our delight, that our room was ready for us, as was breakfast. So after some Rice Krispies and toast, I crashed out in my comfortable Auckland bed for a few hours.

And I’m just about awake now, I think. And I’m in New Zealand, I think.

Maybe I should get a few more hours sleep….

Now listening to: Foo Fighters – What If I Do

P.S. Big apologies to anyone who has e-mailed me or been in touch through myspace but I can’t get online for any substantial period of time here – far too expensive!!! Anyway, I promise that replies will be forthcoming to everyone ASAP!

2005-10-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

Here we are, right back where we began….

So I woke up in Vancouver this morning. I first arrived here four months ago to this day and now I find myself here again. And to say it’s weird to be back would be a massive understatement. In fact, I can’t even seem to get to grips with the fact that we’re back in Canada!! We drove up from Seattle yesterday and after our previous experience at border control, we expected getting into Canada to be a nightmare. But no, they just waved us right through. Canadians are nice like that.

Anyway, today is our 123rd day on the road and so much has happened in such a short space of time. I can’t even begin to comprehend it. We’ve travelled roughly 15,000 miles around Canada and the USA. We’ve passed through 7 Canadian provinces and 28 of the American states. We’ve witnessed every weather condition known to man and narrowly avoided a couple of natural disasters. There have been uncountable highs and a small cluster of lows. And it’s just been one of the most amazing times of my life!

I’ve been trying to come up with a top 5 list of my top places from the past four months but the competition is really tough. New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Fran, San Antonio, Toronto and San Diego are all favourites but which to choose??? Should New York or Chicago get the number one spot?? Was Lake Tahoe more beautiful than Lake Louise? Who would win in the battle of San Antonio and San Diego?? Would Texas or Tennessee come out on top of the battle of Southern hospitality?? Was the natural wonder of Death Valley more stunning than the man-made beauty of Quebec? Would Queen Street in Toronto hold out against Haight Ashbury in San Fran?? Or would the infinite cool of Seattle make it come out on top of everything?? It’s just too tough to decide!

And what about my favourite moments?? Meeting Butch Walker – definitely! Visiting the Jack Daniel’s Distillery – without a doubt! Not to mention attending a film premiere full of stars in LA, going to Graceland, watching the sunset and sunrise at the Grand Canyon, running up the Rocky Steps Stallone-style in Philly, being attacked by pirates in Vancouver, hanging out with friends in New York and Chicago, making new friends in Boston and Washington, experiencing the world-famous Southern hospitality, sailing on the Mississippi and visiting the Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame. There were just so many good times!!

North America has truly been amazing, so much more than I ever believed it would be. It is a place of such variety that there is something for everyone here. Not a day has passed that I would rather have spent elsewhere and even those places that were slightly disappointing were still worthy of out time (except maybe the few hours we wasted in Baltimore!!). And to be honest, some of my most enjoyable time was spent sitting in the back of the car, listening to my music and taking it all in, all 15,000 miles of it!

And now it’s time to leave. This afternoon, we will get on a plane bound for New Zealand and our experience here will be over. And I’m really sad about that.

I can only hope that New Zealand brings the same wealth of good times that the USA and Canada did.

Now listening to: Turbonegro - Babylon Forever

2005-10-07T23:23:00.000-07:00

Our time is running out….

As I write this, the clock is ticking. I can hear it loud and clear.

We have less than 48 hours left in North America. In less then 48 hours, we have to get on a plane and fly to New Zealand. I guess time flies when you're having fun!

A week ago, we had just left Tahoe and we were starting to make our way up the west coast of the country. Tahoe was amazing, more beautiful than I could have imagined. I knew that the next few days would be focused on driving and clocking up some mileage so my expectations were low. And yes, we had a few tremendously dull days, sitting in the car all day and staying in a non-descript motel at night. Redding, California, and Eugene, Oregon: mere pit-stops and nothing more.

Shasta Dam, near Redding

The State Capitol Building in Salem, Oregon

My head was thinking “it’s time to move on”. Even the weather had changed to suit my mood. The warm California sun had given way to the dark rain clouds of the Pacific Northwest. More than 20 miles outside of Oregon, those clouds started closing in and it made me want to get on that plane so badly.

I was done with the USA, I wanted another country to conquer.

And then we arrived in Portland on Sunday; somewhere we got to a day ahead of schedule. So we stayed there for two nights and I would have been quite happy to not set foot outside throughout our stay there. But something in my head changed during that time, something told me to go and make the best of it. And as I wandered around Portland on Monday, despite the rain and the wind and the grey skies, I found myself liking it. It reminded me of home. All the energy that had drained out of me on the previous driving days was back with an all new vigour. I was in a student town which, even on a dull and dreary Monday afternoon, was buzzing with an energy that I can’t describe.

Me in Portland

A very cool signpost in Portland

There were some great brew pubs lining the streets, there was row upon row of second-hand clothing stores, there were some fabulous restaurants and there was also the most amazing bookstore I’ve ever been in. Powell’s is one of the largest bookstores in the US and it’s like something out of a film. The books are stacked storeys high, the floorboards creak as make your way from one shelf to another and it’s like a maze in there, with an endless chain of rooms stocking every book under the sun. They’re all at Powell’s, new and used books alike, as are a dozen or so studenty pseudo-intellectual types, sitting around drinking their body weight in coffee while they digest books by the chapter. I could have spent in day in their. I could have spent a fortune in there.

Portland

One of the bridges over the river in Portland

And so, what I thought would be another couple of days of boredom turned out to be a good time in a cool city; a place that, on arrival, I really couldn’t be bothered exploring and discovering. My time in Portland was brief but it reinstalled the belief that your expectations can always be exceeded.

So, as we drove from Oregon to Washington on Tuesday, I was ready for it. I had a good feeling about Seattle, a real good feeling and the city did not prove me wrong.

As we drove into Seattle, it all felt so familiar. I’ve never been there before but I felt like I had. Like Portland, it reminded me of home, of Glasgow. Visually, Seattle has very few similarities to Glasgow but it feels like it, it feels so like it. And I was incredibly comfortable straight away. I felt like I knew my way around without even having to consult the map. Seattle just seemed to fit me straight away.

Downtown Seattle

Once again, we fell on our feet with a superb, if slightly expensive, hostel. Part of the Hostelling International chain, our Seattle home is spotlessly clean, comfortable in terms of beds, blankets and such, and plentiful in regard to common areas. It’s an impressive hostel which sets a standard that so many others need to aim for.

Smith Tower, once the tallest building in Seattle

On our first night in Seattle, Simon stayed in while Reece and I went out. I had heard about a playback party for two albums; one being the (eventual) US release of The (International) Noise Conspiracy’s Armed Love, the other being the new Franz Ferdinand record. Now T(I)NC are one of my favourite bands and the new FF single is incredibly catchy so I convinced Reece that this party would be fun. So off we went up towards the Capitol Hill area and, despite getting the address a bit muddled and taking us to entirely the wrong venue on the wrong night, we eventually found our way to the War Room. Unfortunately, everyone else had clearly had the same directional malfunction that we had experienced as there was nobody else there; just me, Reece, a couple of DJs, a couple of barmen and a very lonely looking security guard. But hey, it was happy hour and the beer was incredibly cheap so we decided to stay!

Before long, clearly in an effort to get her only patrons to stick around, one of the DJs came over armed with all sorts of goodies for us. We got free magazines, free CDs, even a free water pistol!! Plus, we got our photo taken for Filter magazine (I guess they needed photographic proof that someone showed up to this event). However, on closer inspection, it seemed that all the promos were for Franz Ferdinand. All the posters and flyers were for Franz Ferdinand too. What about T(I)NC??? Luckily, some girl had shown up and was happy to answer my question.

As a friend of the DJ, she enquired about the lack of T(I)NC goodies. Apparently, the record company didn’t send any goodies. The record company also didn’t send a copy of the T(I)NC album so the playback party for the album would have to take place minus a copy of the album itself. I’m not quite sure how that was supposed to work. Nevermind, at least I’d get a listen to Franz Ferdinand…or so I thought! It appeared that our new friend was intent on chatting to us for the rest of the evening. She talked her way over the whole album, babbling some inane garbage about how wonderful Oasis are and about how much she loved Britpop. She even invented some new genres of music and informed us that her friend is the best electro-clash DJ in town. Whatever! She was incredibly keen to invite us out to a gig a few nights later. Through sheer fear of never getting rid of this girl, we downed our pints and quickly made our exit while she wasn’t looking. By this point, the beer was in full effect and we rolled down the hill all the way back to the hostel.

Next morning, I stayed in bed. I felt dreadful (again, not due to alcohol), I hadn’t been sleeping well but sleep was all I could think about doing. After a few hours of recuperation, I joined the guys and we went out for a walk along the waterfront in Seattle towards Seattle Centre. We headed for Seattle’s most famous landmark, the Space Needle. I mean, we haven’t been up nearly enough tall buildings on this trip so up the Needle we must go.

The Space Needle

And it was a lovely view of the city. Seattle is surrounded by several mountain ranges which are snow-capped for the majority of the year and, although it wasn’t an incredibly clear day, you could still see the mountains off in the distance. We also got to see the houseboat which Tom Hanks’ character lived on in Sleepless In Seattle, how interesting!!

Seattle from the top of the Space Needle

Me at the top of the Space Needle

Back down on the ground, we got to walk past the most bizarre building I’ve ever seen; a highly controversial structure which houses the Experience Music Project. I don’t know where to begin to describe this building, but I guess it’s somewhere between bold artistic statement and eyesore. Oh, and it cost $350 million to construct. Money well spent.......maybe not!

EMP itself is part shrine, part futuristic experiment. Here, you can look at artefacts from various artists or pick up some instruments yourself and play to a virtual audience. It all sounds quite entertaining and although we did intend to spend a day messing around at EMP, things didn’t quite work out that way. In all honesty, I think the outside of the building kinda scared me off!!

From Seattle Centre, we took the monorail back to the downtown area and after a bite to eat and a wander round the shops, we headed back to the hostel to chill out. That evening, we headed back up to Capitol Hill and found a brew pub for drinks and food. For the second night in a row, we rolled back down the hill….

On Thursday, we took part in an underground tour of Seattle, which was incredibly entertaining. The tour takes place around Pioneer Square, the oldest part of Seattle.

Pioneer Square

I don’t even know where to begin in telling the story of the several blocks of Seattle which are actually underground as it is a truly bizarre and quite frankly ludicrous tale. Basically, after a fire in the late 19th century, the city decided to raise it’s street levels. However, only the street levels were raised; the sidewalks and the storefronts were not. To cross the street, you had to climb up a ladder at one end of the sidewalk and back down another ladder at the other. People walking along the sidewalk had to dodge shit being excreted by the horses pulling carriages on the streets above them. It sounds ridiculous but it is entirely true, I assure you. After 3 years of this stupid way of life, the sidewalks were eventually covered over, the second floors became the storefronts while the original storefronts became the underground area. It’s pretty crazy walking around down there and it’s definitely one of the strangest discoveries of this trip.

After the tour, the rain came bucketing down so it was back to the hostel to relax before the evenings events. And oh what a evening it was to be!!!

Back in August, when we were in St Louis, I was happily surfing the net when I received an e-mail from a little venue in LA called the Hotel Café. The people behind the Hotel Café had decided to put together a tour featuring some of the musicians who regularly do shows their. The tour would cover the whole of the US with a varying batch of musicians on each date of the tour. Sounds good. Still, it sounded even better when I discovered that Butch Walker was playing….

Mr Butch Walker

Everyone who knows me knows how much I love Butch Walker. I first saw him live about 3 and a half years ago and I have worshipped him since then. The guy is quite frankly amazing. He is probably one of the most talented musicians on the face of the planet, and at the same time he has produced and written for an extensive list of artists. His credentials are incredibly impressive. The guy is just a genius, no question.

So as it turns out, the Hotel Café tour was arriving in Seattle on October 6th with Mr Walker in tow. Unfortunately, HIM (another of my favourites) were also in town that night but having seen HIM many times before and having previously had the pleasure (I think!!) of Ville Valo’s company, the Butch gig was the one for me!

And what a gig it was!! Absolutely amazing!! There were five different artists playing, including a couple of really cool guys called Jim Bianco and Cary Brothers, and also the very weird but strangely cool Imogen Heap.

Butch on geetar for Jim Bianco

Each artist played 3 songs, one artist after the other, and then another set of three songs. Imogen and Butch got to play a whole lot more though and at several points during the evening, everyone was onstage for a free-for-all jam! It was sooooooo good, especially when they did a particularly cool cover of Kiss by Prince.

Altogether now!!!

And what can be said about Butch?? Well, he was just outstanding. He sang his heart out, played a few new tracks and a few of my favourites, and just left me speechless. Of course I was right at the front right in front of the man himself and I got several big grins from him throughout the set. He got several enormous grins in return. It was an unbelievable show and Butch was just so entertaining.

Butch on piano during "Joan"

Butch in the backing band

I had the pleasure of meeting him after the gig, which was just amazing (I also had the pleasure of getting a look at the tattoos on his chest as he tried to prove a point to me!!! Stop drooling, Jill!!!). Sometimes when you meet your heroes it’s a big letdown, I know that it has been that way for me in the past. But Butch was just amazing. He seemed genuinely pleased all of the fans that he was talking to. He chatted for a while, was as sweet and kind as you could ever hope anyone to be, and was also nice enough to have his photo taken with me. All in all, it was just an amazing evening and I swear I haven’t stopped grinning yet! Thank you so much, Butch!!! You have absolutely no idea how much that meant to me!!

Me and Mr Walker...just in case you missed it on my previous post!!!

Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep on last night as I was a little too hyper! I was awake most of the night and being told off by Simon for bouncing around at about 6am this morning. Oops!! I guess it’s just as well that we had a bit of a lazy day today cos I wouldn’t have been able to function properly with the miniscule amount of shut-eye that I did get!! Basically, we spent today just having a wander around the city centre, taking in Pike Place Market and the main shopping areas. And again, just from walking around, I felt really at ease here. I wasn’t rushing around trying to see as much of the place as I could, I was just relaxing and strolling through the city without a care in the world. I felt so at home, mingling through the market and wandering around the shops. Such a cool city, without a doubt one of my particular favourites on this whole trip.

Pike Place Market

Oh, and just in case you didn’t know, Seattle is the coffee capital of the world. The first ever Starbucks is here. And if you missed it don’t worry cos there will be another Starbucks on the next block and another 100 yards down the road. And there’ll be a Tully’s Coffee and a Seattle’s Best Coffee and maybe a little privately owned coffee shop too. There certainly is not a shortage of caffeinated beverage outlets. At one point today, I swear I could count about 6 or 7 coffee shops from my vantage point on the street. Seattle really does love coffee.

The world's first Starbucks!!!

After a visit to Starbucks this afternoon (though not for me because, ironically enough, I don’t drink coffee), we went to the cinema to see Two For The Money. Very cool film, Al Pacino is excellent in it. And then it was back to the hostel to get organised and packed and sorted as we leave Seattle first thing tomorrow morning. Hell, we leave the USA first thing tomorrow morning and head back to Vancouver, our starting point and now our finishing point for the North American leg of our trip.

I will be sad to leave Seattle behind, I’ve had such a good time here. Yet another place that I would love to visit again cos being here just feels really like being back in Glasgow, except with a whole lot more coffee shops.

Now listening to: Butch Walker – A Song Without A Chorus

2005-10-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

My sugarbuzz is growing higher and higher....

OK, I don't care if I haven't updated my blog for days....

Quite frankly, this is all I care about....

I just met Butch Walker. He was quite possibly the nicest person I've ever met. In fact, I don't think it's possible to smile more than I'm doing right now.

Butch Walker is God!!!!

Now listening to: Butch Walker - Diary of a San Fernando Sex Star

2005-09-29T23:46:00.000-07:00

Found the Tahoe lakes, just about the perfect place….

Tahoe is absolutely gorgeous. Picture the most spectacular lake you’ve ever seen, multiply its beauty by ten and you’re not even close. It is the lake with the highest elevation in the USA, at about 7000ft above sea level. The water is so clean and clear and is surrounded by sandy beaches, dense forest and striking mountains. From every angle, it’s surely the most picturesque place I’ve ever been to.

The view of Tahoe fromthe mountains above

We arrived in Lake Tahoe after a few hours driving from San Fran and a brief stop in Sacramento. The lake itself is actually in two different states; California and Nevada. Due to Simon’s gambling addiction, we stayed in South Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side where there were several casinos to keep Si happy. And our hotel was nice enough, we even had a beautiful view of the lake from our window. On our first night there, I stayed awake just long enough to see the sunset and order some room service before passing out from sheer exhaustion. I blame those hills in San Francisco.

The sunset over Lake Tahoe

Wednesday was our first day proper at Lake Tahoe and we decided to have a drive all the way around it. From our hotel just on the Stateline, we went in an anticlockwise direction, passing through Zephyr Cove, Incline Village, Tahoe City and also stopping at several vista points along the way. Just check out some of the scenery…

That's me sitting on a rock....you can just about see me if you look close enough!!

Past Tahoe City, we headed up to Squaw Valley, a winter ski resort and home of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It looked pretty similar to Whistler in Canada, only with a smaller village. Obviously there was no snow around hence no skiing so Squaw Valley was pretty dead. Still, it was nice to go have a look around.

Squaw Valley

Me in Squaw Valley

The village at Squaw Valley

Back on the road, we went the rest of the way around the lake, going through Tahoe Pines, Emerald Bay and passing the Heavenly gondola which takes you up to the top of the mountains for a wonderful view or a spot of skiing if you like that sort of thing. Me, I have never skied and probably never will. The thought of speeding down the side of a mountain does absolutely nothing for me. Although the après-ski does sound quite enjoyable….

Later that evening, we went across the street to a casino called Bill’s to enjoy some very cheap beer. $1 for a pint of Rolling Rock, not bad!! After a few small beverages, we ended up in another casino called Harveys, where we stumbled on a little Mexican restaurant that I insisted we eat at. The restaurant was Cabo Wabo, owned by Sammy Hagar of Montrose/Van Halen. The original restaurant is in Mexico and this is the first American based version. The food was brilliant, as were the cocktails!! Oh, and the music was pretty rockin’ too!!!

I felt like crap the next morning (not due to the alcohol, I might add!!). I did not want to get out of bed but eventually talked myself into it. Once up and about, Simon and I jumped in the car and headed out of town. First stop was Carson City, where Simon visited a few casinos while I sat in the car and felt lousy. Next stop was Reno, where Simon visited a few casinos while I followed behind him and felt lousy. We stopped to grab some food at a little brewery and, after a pizza and a beer, I felt even worse. So we cut our visit to Reno short and headed back to Tahoe after a few hours. Unfortunately, we got stuck in traffic on the freeway so had to take a bit of a detour. Consequently, our journey was somewhat extended, taking almost 2 hours to get back to our hotel, instead of 45 minutes. Not good.

So it was straight to bed in anticipation of the journey to somewhere or other that lay ahead the next day. Somewhere north, I think.

Now listening to: Tommy Lee – Good Times (Has anyone else noticed that Butch Walker actually sings more on this track than Tommy does??? Hmmmmm…)

2005-09-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Looks like they were right….

San Francisco is another city that so many of my friends have raved about. My friend, Angela, was here about a year and a half ago and immediately had the urge to move to the Bay Area. And my parents just loved it here! Of course, they all told me that I’d love it here too and they’re so right! San Fran is an incredible place. I’d even go as far as get all ‘High Fidelity’ and put it in my top 5 cities on this trip. It really is that good….except for the hills….

San Fran

They’re not making it up in the films, you know. This place really is full of hills and it’s impossible to get around them. You go up a hill then down a hill then up another hill then down another hill and then maybe up another hill. It’s insane and it’s exhausting. San Francisco is not an enormous place and looking at the streetmap, it seems like it will be very easy to get around on foot. No. It’s not. Be prepared for those hills!!

San Fran

We arrived in San Fran on Friday afternoon. We spent the previous two days driving up Route 1 from LA. If you’ve got time to do it, the journey up the coast on Route 1 is pretty amazing.

The scenery on Route 1

On our first day we went from Santa Monica to Malibu then up to Santa Barbara, to San Luis Obispo to Big Sur. We planned to stay in Big Sur, a tiny village in the middle of a State Park, but it was far too expensive. $200 for a motel room?? I don’t think so!! Instead, we drove a further half hour or so up the coast to Monterey, a lovely town with much cheaper accommodation. I think the man from Del Monte might come from Monterey too, which is nice. On the second day, we only had to drive for a couple of hours to get to San Fran, passing through the gorgeous Santa Cruz on the way. It was a beautiful day and a great build-up to arriving in the city.

And I must give massive thanks to my friend, Angela, for recommending the hostel to us. It really is the most luxurious hostel we’ve been to so far. Our room is bigger than a lot of the hotel rooms we’ve stayed in, we have a four poster bed, plus we have our own bathroom complete with Jacuzzi bath. In fact, even the dorm rooms have the own bathroom here, a rarity in most hostels. The staff here are friendly, there are plenty of common areas and you also get a free pancake breakfast (although I haven’t managed to get up early enough to enjoy it!!). It really is a fab hostel providing you with absolutely everything you need. Try USA hostels if you come to the States, you won’t regret it!

After checking in and all that jazz, we went out for a walk around San Francisco. I say walk but I actually mean hike. My god, those hills!!! We walked up the hill from the hostel, down the hill towards Union Square then up the hill through Chinatown. And although my legs were aching already, I was really enjoying myself. San Fran has a really good vibe and you can feel it when you’re walking around. It seems kinda like New York in an ‘anything goes’ sort of way. I liked it, I liked it a lot.

Union Square

The gates of Chinatown

From Chinatown, we headed along Broadway (past a stunning array of strip joints) to the waterfront where we walked along the piers. All the way from Pier 19 to Pier 39, and that’s further than you think! And it was cold! I was wearing a jacket for the first time in ages (apart from that one morning when I got up at 5am and it was a bit chilly). But still I was enjoying myself. The piers were very lively, especially Pier 39 which is the tourist trap in San Fran. It’s full of restaurants, shops, novelty stalls and all the usual touristy stuff. The view from the end of the pier is outstanding. You can see right across the bay and Alcatraz Island is right there staring at you. Pretty amazing.

Me on Pier 39 with Alcatraz in the background

Alcatraz Island

And the pier also has some very noisy neighbours in the form of several dozen sea lions. One of the dock areas in the marina had to be cleared out when the sea lions started to take over. They’re incredibly entertaining, I could have stood there all day watching them. In fact, I could have stood there all day wondering how many stupid people, myself included, stand there doing sea lions impressions. I don’t know quite how to spell the noise they make but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.

The sea lions beside Pier 39

We grabbed some dinner on Pier 39 before going to buy some tickets for Alcatraz. At almost any time of year, you need to buy these tickets in advance. Don’t expect to just turn up on the day, chances are tickets will be sold out and stand-by tickets are few and far between. So we got some tickets for Sunday and at $16 each, it wasn’t too expensive!

Fisherman's Wharf

From there, we walked down the waterfront, past Fisherman’s Wharf and the Cannery, to find ourselves on Hyde Street, where you catch the infamous San Fran cable cars.

One of San Fran's infamous cable cars

Unfortunately, the queue was enormous and it was $5 one way. So we boldly (or stupidly) decided that we would walk back to our hostel instead of taking the cable car. I’m not sure about the guys but I regretted that decision approximately 2 minutes later half way up a hill on Hyde Street.

I guess it was worth it though, because at the top of the hill on Hyde, we could see Lombard Street before us. It’s the world’s crookedest street, a block which crams in numerous sharp twists and turns on an extremely steep gradient. So after walking up the hill to enjoy this sight, we then walked down the steps of Lombard Street to then have to walk up another hill. And after coming down the other side, there was another hill. I was exhausted, I don’t think my legs will ever recover.

After resting for the remainder of Friday, we headed out to do some more exploring on Saturday. This time, however, we made a conscious effort to avoid hills by sticking to the Market Street area. Another benefit of this strategy was the fact that there was going to be a huge parade on Market Street that afternoon. The parade was the Love Parade, San Francisco’s a equivalent of the German original; a line of lorries and floats all blasting out dance music and accompanied by some of the most outrageously dressed people you are ever likely to see.

And the atmosphere was just electric; the streets were packed, people were dancing, everyone was having a good time. And the parade clearly showed the diversity of San Francisco with people of different race, sexuality, gender and age all enjoying the festivities together.

OK, so the music wasn’t my thing but it was impossible not to have a good time. Plus, in San Francisco tradition, there were plenty of protestors around, one of whom had this slogan on his placard; BUSH IS THE SYMPTOM, CAPITALISM IS THE DISEASE, REVOLUTION IS THE CURE. Brilliant!!

While Simon chilled out back at the hostel for a bit, Reece and I walked back along Market Street to City Hall, where a massive parade after party was taking place. I don’t know many cities that would allow a massive party to take place at its administrative headquarters. Pretty impressive! And this was no ordinary party! Again, in San Francisco tradition, there were clearly some mind-altering substances at work and everyone looked like they were having an amazing time. We didn’t stick around though, my mind needs no further altering, it’s messed up enough as it is!

City Hall

That night, we visited a bar a few blocks away from our hostel. The beer was fairly cheap, as was the food, plus there was a piano bar with live entertainment…although entertainment may be the wrong word. I really can’t think of the word which accurately describes the guy who spoke in a fake Irish accent, told rotten jokes, spoke rather than sang along to a backing tape and didn’t actually play the piano in the piano bar. Crap, that’s probably the best word for him…

Sunday was our day for going to Alcatraz but there was quite a lot we wanted to see before that so we made an early start. So we headed up Stockton Street right through Chinatown and for a while there, I could have sworn that I was back in Hong Kong. Chinatown in San Fran is enormous, the second largest in the country I believe, and when you’re there, you really do feel like you’re a world away from California. However, at the corner of each block, you are sharply reminded of where you are when you look at the streets spilling out beneath you. The views down the city blocks really are stunning.

Chinatown

Chinatown

A few blocks north of Chinatown, we ended up in Washington Square. There is a beautiful church there so we took a few photos before settling down to watch a big dog chase a little dog around the garden. Oh, what fun!!

The church in Washington Square

Next, we made the climb up yet another hill to Coit Tower to get a wonderful view of the city and of the surrounding bay. We could see the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz Island and the Golden Gate Bridge; just take a look at the photos….

Coit Tower

Me in front of the Bay Bridge

San Fran and the Golden Gate Bridge

And then it was back down the hill and back up another one to get back to the crookedest street in the world. This time we viewed it from the bottom up and we stood for a while watching several cars slowly winding their way down the road.

Me (bottom right) on Lombard Street

Some cars making their way down Lombard Street

Next, we made our way back downhill to Ghiradelli Square. This area used to be home to the Ghiradelli chocolate factory and is now an outdoor shopping and dining location.

Ghiradelli Square

It’s a very pretty place and Ghiradelli’s presence is still felt here in the form of a shop and a café. And trust me, Ghiradelli chocolate is damn delicious! So we stopped here for a quick bite to eat before heading along the waterfront to Pier 41 for our trip to Alcatraz.

Alcatraz

Alcatraz is the stuff of legend, another sight that I was convinced didn’t actually exist. From its frequent appearances in many blockbuster movies, you could be forgiven for thinking that this place was nothing but a Hollywood creation. But it’s not. It’s very, very real and personally, I found it a very haunting and intimidating place to be.

The boat trip across the bay is fairly short and fairly enjoyable. It’s from the boat that you get probably the best views of the city and of the bridges which span the bay. But as you drift toward Alcatraz and see the United States Penitentiary signs, it’s a really weird and intense feeling. The view from the bay doesn’t give away quite how large the island is, and the buildings on the island itself look so imposing, which I guess is how it was intended to look….

Alcatraz Island was initially a fortress which defended the bay area. While wandering around the island, you can see where all the cannons originally were. It was then used as a military prison before becoming a federal penitentiary in 1934. It was eventually shut down in 1963 though was inhabited during the late 60s/early 70s by a number of Native Americans battling for their civil rights. The island certainly has a chequered history and its all there for you to discover as you step off the boat.

The Lighthouse on Alcatraz

A couple of films are shown on the history of the island and there are also various exhibits worth looking at. However, not to be missed is the cell-house itself. And do yourself a favour, don’t miss out on the audio tour because it’s brilliant.

One of the cell blocks

Al Capone's cell

The audio tour takes you right through the cell-house, giving information on the prison’s many inmates, escape attempts, living conditions and so much more. There are also audio exerts from convicts who called Alcatraz home and from the wardens who worked there. It truly is a stunning tour, with cell doors banging and wardens shouting in the background of the audio. It really gives you the feeling of incarceration. And if that isn’t enough for you, then you can feel free to step into one of the cells or one of the claustrophobic solitary confinement ‘holes’. It’s damn frightening.

Me in one of the cells

One of the solitary confinement cells

The cell-house tour also takes you into the dining hall, the barber’s shop and the prison library and, once the tour is finished, you can step outside into the Recreation Yard. This was where the inmates could exercise and it was as close as they would get to the outside world. And it’s freezing out there. You’re right on top of a hill in the middle of the bay. The Recreation Yard walls do nothing to protect you from the weather. God only knows what it must be like out there in the middle of winter!

The Recreation Yard

Wandering around the rest of the island, you get some wonderful views of San Francisco. It must have been hell to be stuck out there and be taunted by that beautiful city everyday. But it wasn’t just the inmates who lived there, many of the prison guards and their families also lived on the island in specially built homes. I really can’t imagine anything more bizarre than calling Alcatraz Island your home. What a harsh and unusual life that must have been!

Me on Alcatraz, overlooking the bay

After a couple of hours on the island, we made our escape and sailed back into San Francisco. We walked along the waterfront to the Cannery where we stopped to indulge in a chocolate crepe and a beer. We then started queuing for the cable car on Hyde Street. An hour later, we were onboard though I’m not sure if it was worth the wait. OK, so riding the cable car is something that you’ve got to do while in San Fran but I swear that our driver was on some sort of suicide mission. On every hill and every corner, he was truly trying to kill us! Very scary! Still, we made it through in one piece then headed back to our hostel to recover from the harrowing experience.

Monday was the final day of our stay in San Fran and we decided to get out of the city for a while. So we grabbed the car, and made our way north towards the fabulous Golden Gate Bridge. This is another San Fran must; a trip over the Golden Gate. It’s a stunning piece of engineering and crossing the bridge just gives you an incredible feeling. It was a very enjoyable start to the day.

From there, we headed to the town of Sausalito, a truly beautiful coastal town which my mum and day had told me about.

Me in Sausalito

It looks very Mediterranean, with its scenic Marina area and it’s wealth of attractive cafes, restaurants and boutiques. Apparently, it’s quite often compared to the French Riviera.

Sausalito

Me at the marina in Sausalito

We had a wander around the shops there and also got a bit to eat before heading to Muir Woods.

Me at Muir Woods

Muir Woods is an enormous forest full of redwoods. Several trails guide you through the forest, past the array of incredibly tall and wide trees. It’s an incredible place, definitely worth a visit, even if you’re not a nature buff.

Muir Woods

After a hour or so in the forest, we got on the road back towards San Fran. We stopped for a while at the Golden Gate Bridge to grab a few photos (we actually had to cross the underside of the bridge to get to the viewing area, not fun!!). Unfortunately, the top of the bridge was under cloud so the photos didn’t turn out incredibly well.

Me at the Golden Gate Bridge

To get a better photo, we crossed the bridge and managed to get follow the road down beneath it. This view was so much better and gave a much better impression of it’s sheer size and majesty.

The Golden Gate Bridge

We then headed down to a part of town called Alamo Square, where lies Postcard Row. Apparently, this row of beautiful Victorian style houses is the most photographed spot in San Francisco. The houses look picture perfect and the city backdrop behind them is amazing. You may recognise this spot from the many, many films it is used in, Mike Myer’s ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer’ being one of them.

Postcard Row

A few blocks south and a few blocks west, we ended up in former hippie-haven of Haight Ashbury. Think Camden in London, Greenwich Village in New York or Melrose in LA, the Haight is a bit like all of these places. It was the home of counterculture in the 60s and 70s and thanks to its history, it’s still a very eclectic and diverse place today, with a multitude of shops, restaurants and bars. The buildings are very colourful, as are many of the area’s residents. In fact, previous residents include Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and even Charles Manson.

Haight Ashbury

It would be a great place to spend a lot of time wandering around and taking it all in but unfortunately, we didn’t have a whole lot of time to spare. So we quickly popped into Amoeba (a fantastic record store – if you’re in either LA or San Fran, be sure to check it out) then grabbed a quick pint in a little brewery before making our way back to the hostel.

And so, other than getting some much needed sleep, our time in San Francisco was sadly over. It really is a wonderful city and definitely a place that I would love to visit again. In fact, I totally agree with Angela and could quite happily see myself living in this amazing place.

The only downside is the upside of the hills!

Now listening to: Ginger – T.W.A.T.

2005-09-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

All apologies....

There is an update pending but for some reason, this website won't let me upload any photos at the moment. Not fair.

Not only that but I'm having to pay by the minute for net access right now so this is not good!!

I promise to update this ASAP....or at least at soon as this bloody website starts working properly....

Now listening to: Van Halen - Hot For Teacher

2005-09-22T10:40:00.000-07:00

Some people say….

….that Disney land is the happiest place on earth. I wasn’t feeling so convinced about it on Wednesday morning

Simon and I had decided to spend the day at Disneyland as his friend Janice had very kindly given us some free tickets. I’ve been to Disneyworld in Orlando and also Tokyo Disney in Japan previously and I just wasn’t feeling excited about going to another Disney park. And after the half hour drive to Anaheim through the lovely LA traffic, I must admit that I really wasn’t looking forward to the Disney magic. At that point, the happiest place in the world for me would have been laying on my bed, watching telly with a beer in hand! But hey, free tickets are free tickets and I would have been a fool not to take advantage.

And it turned out to be a really enjoyable day. There are two parks in Anaheim; Mickey’s California Adventure and Disneyland itself. We visited both parks and went on as many rides as we could.

The entrance to Disneyland

Paradise Pier at Mickey's California Adventure

Most of the rides also appear at some of the other Disney parks, like the Hollywood Tower of Terror, MuppetVision and Star Tours. Si and I have been on all of these rides before but that doesn’t make them any less fun.

The Hollywood Tower of Terror

The parks did have some unique rides though, like Soarin’ Over California. You basically sit in a weird sort of flying machine thing and you are raised up so that you are surrounded by a screen. Swooping shots of the California landscape are shown on the screen and you really do feel like you’re flying over it all. It was incredibly impressive.

Me in front of Tom Sawyer Island in Magic Kingdom

And regardless of how contrived and uncool it might seem to go to Disneyland, you still feel like such a kid when you walk through the gates. I know the sole purpose of this place is to make money (either through charging extortionate rates for food, or through having enough Disney merchandise on sale that kids will cry if their parents don’t buy them everything in the shop) but it’s still fun. Nothing there seems real; it’s like Vegas without the gambling, strippers and booze. And I don’t know about you but I quite like turning around the corner and being greeted by Buzz Lightyear or the Incredibles.

Buzz Lightyear...to infinity and beyond!!!

Mr Incredible, with Mrs Incredible hiding behind him

Well, regardless of what you might think of the place, I had a fab day. It might not be the happiest place on earth, but it’ll at least put a smile on your face for a few hours. Plus I got to meet another star….some guy named Goofy (he’s the one in the middle of the photo!).

Now listening to: Motley Crue – Kickstart My Heart

2005-09-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

This is my Hollywood….

A lot of places that I’ve visited on this trip have surprised me. They’ve turned out nothing like I expected them to be, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. Los Angeles is not one of those places.

LA is exactly the way I pictured it. I don’t even know how to explain what I imagined it to look like but the picture I had in my head is what I found when I got here.

The Hollywood sign

The city of Los Angeles itself is not incredibly big but the surrounding LA area is just enormous. And don’t even think about coming here if you don’t have a car cos there’s pretty much no other way of getting around. Everyone in LA drives and it’s easy to see why. Everything is very spread out, there is next to no public transport and you just wouldn’t want to walk through certain areas. This city has no centre, it just has a lot of different parts and those parts don’t necessarily fit together. It is truly one of the most contradictory cities I’ve ever visited, where hideous wealth sits right next door to abject poverty.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t like it here. It’s just a weird place.

We arrived in LA on Sunday afternoon, after a gorgeous drive up the coast from San Diego. We drove through La Jolla, a beautiful and affluent suburb to the north of San Diego, and then through Del Mar, Encinitas and Carlsbad. And we had the Pacific Ocean alongside us the whole way. It was stunning.

After experiencing the nightmare that is LA traffic, we pulled off onto Hollywood Boulevard to try to find the hotel/motel we had booked. Now, we had wanted to stay in a hostel but it had been fully booked and so they had recommended a place called the Vibe. It looked alright on the internet but what a surprise to find that it didn’t quite look like we expected it to. Judging by the number of mailboxes outside, it seemed more like an apartment block than a motel. In fact, there wasn’t even a sign outside indicating that this place was open to guests. Yes, it looked a little dodgy.

But like many places on this trip, it wasn’t quite as bad as it initially seemed. Yes, we were basically in an apartment building but that meant that we had an enormous room, complete with our own fully functional kitchen. And it was clean and airy and the people who ran the place were very friendly and accommodating. That was all we needed, just somewhere safe to put our head down for the next few nights.

To save a bit of money, we decided to make use of our kitchen so we paid a visit to the supermarket just a few blocks down Hollywood Boulevard to get some supplies. Oh, and we bought some wine and some beer too, nice!! On the way back from the store, we took a rather long detour as Simon decided he would give us a brief tour of some of the sights. We drove west along Hollywood Boulevard as far as Highland, then whizzed up past the Hollywood Bowl up on to Mulholland Drive.

The Hollywood Bowl

The view from Mulholland was pretty spectacular, looking over the whole of LA on one side and taking in the San Fernando Valley on the other. Plus, we got a good view of that old Hollywood sign….

Me with the Hollywood sign in the distance

Me on Mulholland Drive, overlooking Los Angeles

The San Fernando Valley

After a drive back down Laurel Canyon and Sunset Boulevard, we ended up back at our lodgings. We had some chilli and rice and some wine and beers before some evening entertainment. Yes, there was no need for us to leave our hotel room for entertainment cos there was enough going on to keep us amused! Following some bouts of shouting and screaming, we heard some sirens. A look out the window let us know that the cops were outside. There was some more shouting and some raised voices and then the cops start banging on the door of the room next to us. More raised voices followed. I don’t know what the hell was going on but we were trying to look inconspicuous while blatantly staring out the window. Then there was a bang at our door and some woman who was almost in tears told us to move our car. Again, I don’t know what was going on and it turned out that our car was fine. But it all went a bit mad for a while and the rozzers hung around for a bit. But we got bored of staring out the window so we went back to drinking our beer….

Our first full day in LA was Monday and we didn’t do too much. After a long lie in my incredibly comfy bed, we took a drive back along Sunset Boulevard. We passed all the famous Sunset Strip spots; the Viper Room, The Whisky A Go-Go, the Roxy, the Rainbow, the Chateau Marmont and the Hyatt (where many a debauched rock band have called home while in LA).

The Viper Room

The Whisky A Go-Go

And it was quite weird seeing all these places close up; these are places that I’ve read so much about and seen so many times on TV that maybe I just thought they were fictional, maybe I didn’t think they were actually real. As we continued along Sunset, we entered Beverley Hills and even if I hadn’t seen the sign, it was blindingly obvious that we were in one of the poshest parts of town. The change is just so noticeable; the grass is so green and perfectly cut, the trees are pruned immaculately and even the road surface becomes much smoother. And the houses….sweet lord, the houses are just incredible! Yup, Beverly Hills, that’s definitely where I want to be!!

Me in Beverley Hills

So we got a bit lost after Beverley Hills, but we did get to pass the Regent Beverley Wiltshire, where Richard Gere took Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, bonus!! Anyway, we eventually found our way onto the right road and headed out to Santa Monica, right on the coast.

Santa Monica Beach

And it’s a very fine looking place. The beach is spotless and the sand looks perfect.
There is also a Muscle Beach there, which was unfortunately full of 50-year old guys in Speedos, strutting their stuff. Nice.

Simon on Muscle Beach

We had a wander along Santa Monica Pier and then headed into the centre to stroll around the vast shopping area. It’s obviously an area of high wealth as the shops are not really your ordinary shops; this place is a designer haven. And that affluence is echoed in the property in Santa Monica too. It must cost a fortune to live there and, just like in LA, the houses and apartments really are something else.

Me in Santa Monica

We called it a day after tackling the traffic on the way back from the coast. LA traffic truly is hell and you do not want to be in the middle of that in rush hour, trust me! We spent the rest of the night watching crap TV but secretly hoping for a rerun of the previous night’s live version of Cops right outside our room….

Tuesday started off just like any other day, except it was raining. It had been thundering all night long (no sleep for me) and it didn’t ease up in the morning. It was about 2pm before the rain finally went off so we went out for a drive back down Sunset to take some piccies and back through Beverley Hills for the same reason. While in Beverley Hills, we thought it would be rude not to try to find the Playboy Mansion. And we did find it!! We pulled up at the gates (which I recognised from an episode of Viva La Bam) and snapped a picture.

The gates of the Playboy Mansion

The guys seemed a little disappointed that this was as close as we could get to it but this was probably a lot closer than most people get!! So we pulled away from the gates and drove up the road a bit. Just as we did, a limo pulled past us with the licence plate “1 HEF”. Yes, Hugh Hefner had just gone past us in his limo, how cool!!! And just think, if he had come by a few seconds earlier, we would have been blocking his driveway!! Maybe he would have invited us in for a cup of tea!!

As we drove off ecstatically, we passed the John Paul Getty Centre, which is truly enormous then headed up to Sherman Oaks for no apparent reason. Actually, I think we may have been lost. Seemed like a really nice place though! Eventually, we found our way onto Mulholland for another look at some of the amazing houses up there. Back down from the Holywood Hills, we parked at the Hollywood and Highland Mall so that we could go and check out the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann’s Chinese Theatre. Anyone who is anyone in the movie business has their own star on the Walk of Fame but only a select number have their handprints displayed outside the Chinese Theatre. Johnny Depp left his prints only a couple of days beforehand, it’s a shame we missed him!

Tom Cruise's Star on the Walk of Fame

Mel Gibson's hand and footprints outside the Chinese Theatre

Mann's Chinese Theatre

The Theatre itself is pretty cool building but everything that surrounds it is just a bit cheesy. There are people dressed up as characters from various films charging people to have their photos taken with them. Plus there are all the usual tacky souvenir shops. And to be honest, Hollywood Boulevard isn’t an incredibly nice street. The whole area actually seems very rundown and shabby besides this block which contains the Theatre and the Mall. Anyhow, I did get to speak to a nice young man who let me hear his band’s CD, and very good they were too!!

We grabbed some photos of Mann’s Chinese Theatre and also some of the Kodak Theatre, an auditorium built specifically to host the Academy Awards. It looks all shiny inside but appears pretty ordinary from the exterior.

The Kodak Theatre

The Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre and the Hollywood and Highland Mall are all interlinked so we wandered through to the adjoining restaurant area to grab a couple of slices of pizza and a drink.

Me at the Hollywood and Highland Mall

After a brief look around some of the shops on the mall, we were just about to leave when I noticed that something was going on. An area around the cinema at the Chinese Theatre was roped off, there were several photographers hanging around and there was also an abundance of security. Then I noticed this poster….

Daltry Calhoun

Johnny Knoxville’s new film, Daltry Calhoun, was being premiered that night and clearly, this was going to be a red carpet event!!! Now, if Johnny Knoxville was going to be stopping by, then there was no way I was going to miss catching a glimpse of him (I’m an enormous Jackass fan). So I talked the guys into hanging around for a while. More and more people started to turn up, including some really dodgy guys who get famous people to sign pictures so that they can then sell them on Ebay, then after about an hour, the stars started to arrive.

First was David Koechner. He played Cooter in the new Dukes of Hazard film, he was in Anchorman with Will Ferrell and he was also in the Tenacious D TV show. He was a very nice guy and happily posed for a photo. Unfortunately, I messed the photo up, it didn’t turn out and Simon shouted at me. Oh dear! And it got worse! We all got moved on by security from our position on the edge of the red carpet. We had to go and stand at the other end of the mall behind a huge crowd of people, we could hardly see anything! But then it got better….

Next on the red carpet was none other than Mr Quentin Tarantino. OK, so we couldn’t see him too well but holy shit, it’s Quentin Tarantino.

Quentin Tarantino's head!

We didn’t recognise some of the next people on the red carpet but by this point, Simon had made friends with the Ebay guys so they kept him up to speed. There was a girl who was in Blade 2 and also a guy called Ethan Suplee, who was in Dogma, Chasing Amy and American History X.

Next, I spotted Meredith Monroe, who played Andie in Dawson’s Creek (I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved that show, it was so bad it was good!!).

And then he appeared; Johnny Knoxville in the flesh. He looked really suave in his shades and black velvet suit; he’s just every bit the movie star now.

Johnny Knoxville

Johnny Knoxville

And following closely behind Knoxville were his Jackass cohorts, Wee Man and Chris Pontius aka Party Boy. Simon shook some hands and took some photos while I just stood there in amazement. And then it got even better….

Free tickets were being given away to members of the crowd so that they could attend the premiere and Simon managed to grab some for us. Before we had time to take in what was happening, we were making our way into the cinema and finding our seats. Unbelievable!! And on closer inspection, there were a few more famous faces there too. Juliette Lewis, another star of Daltry Calhoun, was there somewhere but most importantly, I spotted Jack Black right up there say next to Knoxville. If Knoxville is a hero, then Jack Black is a god!!! I simply couldn’t believe that Jack Black was in the room. Oh, and Quentin Tarantino too. Holy shit!!

The ticket for the Daltry Calhoun Premiere!

Yes, it was a truly weird experience. How bizarre to watch Johnny Knoxville up on the big screen while you could clearly hear his inimitable laugh coming from behind you. It was even more bizarre to have to applaud at the end of the movie and again at the end of the credits. OK, so the film wasn’t incredible but who the hell cares??? I got to go to the cinema with a bunch of Hollywood people. How Hollyweird!!!

After the film finished, we hung around in the foyer of the cinema for a while, trying to catch a glimpse of some more celebs. We started off trying to be subtle but that didn’t last; before long Simon had rushed over and was having his photo taken with Meredith Monroe.

Simon and Meredith Monroe

Next, he grabbed David Koechner to recreate the photo that I had messed up earlier. Again, he was more than willing to have his photo taken and seemed like a bloody nice guy (he was brilliant in the film too!).

Simon and David Koechner

But there was really only one person I was interested in having my photo taken with; Mr Jack Black. You see, my niece loves this man and watches School of Rock as many times a day as she can. If you ask her, she will tell you that Jack Black is “the cat’s pyjamas”. And she’s not even 2 years old!! So Simon fought his way through the other fanboys and fangirls and asked Jack if he would pose for a photo. And he was kind enough to oblige, although seemed a little shocked to find out that my very young niece is his number one fan!!!

Me and Mr Jack Black

After Jack, I figured I was on a roll so I went and asked Chris Pontius for a photo too. He was very sweet and really friendly and he even commented on my accent! Si got a photo with Pontius too and then got one with Wee Man too. The Jackass boys were very cool! Cheers guys!!

Me and Chris Pontius

Simon and Wee Man

By this point, the security were getting pretty annoyed with us cos you’re not supposed to have cameras in the building. So we didn’t manage to do much more schmoozing before we got the hell out of there. We missed out on speaking to Quentin Tarantino and to Juliette Lewis but we did get to exchange pleasantries with Johnny Knoxville, which was very cool!

All in all, it was an amazing evening; something entirely unplanned and unexpected and I enjoyed every second of it. In fact, I still can’t believe that it actually happened! Thank god I’ve got the photos to prove it!!

And did I mention that I got to meet Jack Black?? That man is a god!!

Now listening to: Alice Cooper – Under My Wheels

2005-09-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

In the warm California sun….

When we arrived in San Diego on Thursday afternoon, it was grey and overcast. Isn’t it supposed to be sunny in So-Cal??? What was going on??? Where was all the glorious weather??? Well, it turned out that the sun had just popped out briefly to grab a cup of tea and came back with a blast. Trust me, I have the sunburn to prove it! I look ridiculous (no change there!) and it hurts like hell. Do not underestimate the power of the sun.

Sunburn aside, San Diego is pretty incredible. It’s a very beautiful city, very lively and I just got a really good feeling about it from the moment we arrived there. We were staying at a hostel in the Gaslamp District, which is apparently the historic heart of San Diego. It’s a really vibrant area, with lots of theatres, music venues, bars and restaurants, plus the buildings are all very old style too. It’s incredibly pretty and our hostel was just in an absolutely ideal location, right on 5th, in the middle of Gaslamp. Perfect!

The Gaslamp District

On our first night of three in San Diego, we took the advice of one of the flyers in the hostel and headed to the Rock Bottom Brewery, located conveniently around the corner from us. And it was a rather nice pub with excellent beer, great food and a couple of pool tables too. I spent the evening enjoying some fine beverages while Reece absolutely destroyed Simon at pool. Much fun was had by all until chucking out time!

Simon stuffing his face at the Rock Bottom Brewery

Friday was our first full day in San Diego and to being with, we were quite unsure of what we were going to do. Somehow though, it all seemed to fall into place. We began by walking through the Gaslamp District towards the enormous Convention Centre (Reece got a bit excited cos there seemed to be some sort of nursing convention taking place!!), then we walked along the marina to Seaport Village. I would guess that Seaport Village was constructed purely for touristy reasons, to create a pretty place on the waterfront where visitors to San Diego can eat, drink and shop. And there’s no denying that it is a lovely area although it is a touch contrived. Nevertheless, we spent a bit of time there taking in the bay area and grabbing some food too!!

Me at Seaport Village with San Diego Bay in the background

Seaport Village

From the Seaport Village, we continued to walk north along the bay and, after finding the Museum of Contemporary Art closed, we decided to take a boat tour of the bay. We managed to get a 2-hour tour for the bargain price of $10 each, excellent!! The tour itself was reasonably good, although our tour guide was pretty poor. The only things he seemed to point out were military locations and he gave us an unnecessary amount of information on the many aircraft carriers anchored in the bay. I mean, did you know that some big boat has 400 and something crew and over 120 of them are female….or something like that….I wasn’t really paying attention. However, I did also learn that the tour guide had a 12 year old niece who liked fishing. Great!!!

Anyhow, we did get to see some wonderful sights like Coronado Island and the Coronado Bay Bridge. I would have loved to visit the island itself (which isn’t actually an island, but a peninsula!) but we just didn’t have time. We also saw some seals, which was incredibly cool. Apparently, only a few weeks ago, there were a couple of whales in the bay area. God, I wish I could have seen that!!

The Coronado Bay Bridge

Some seals lying around in the bay....

I guess the best thing about the boat tour was the wonderful view of the San Diego skyline. It really is a very aesthetically pleasing place. They won’t let you build anything here if they feel that it doesn’t fit in. The city seems quite protective over it’s appearance and quite rightly so. It just looked amazing from our vantage point on the boat.

The San Diego skyline

Unfortunately, it was during this boat trip that the horrific sunburn occurred. While up on the deck of the boat, being frozen to death by the wind, the sun was beating down on us and taking great pleasure in seeing us fry. And we were entirely oblivious to it all. It wasn’t until we disembarked that we realised that we all looked like giant tomatoes!! Oh dear!!

Despite our sunburn, we took the San Diego trolley north to an area called Old Town. This was an area previously lined with various missions and forts, the remnants of which are the foundation of Old Town. This place is actually designated as a State Historical Park and again, whilst it is very tourist oriented, it is nonetheless a worthwhile place to visit.

Me in Old Town

Old Town

Old Town Market

There are lots of unique shops, a large market, a theatre and also various restaurants, naturally specialising in Mexican food. Plus, visiting Old Town also allows you the opportunity to gaze up at some of the extravagant homes and hotels on the hills above San Diego. And some of these places are just out of this world!!

The fabulous luxury in the hills above Old Town

That evening, after an incredibly tasty if slightly expensive Indian meal, we grabbed some beers at a bar just down the road from the hostel. It was Friday night in San Diego, the baseball game had just finished at the stadium around the corner and, as you can imagine, things were pretty lively. As we enjoyed our beers, we watched some guys doing some truly awful dancing and we were also witness to a rather spectacular drag queen strutting his/her stuff. I also came to the conclusion that I was the only girl in the whole bar who had spent less than half an hour doing her hair that evening. Hell, I don’t think I had even brushed my hair that night….

On Saturday, Simon wanted to go to the zoo. Now, I don’t really agree with the whole idea of zoos, unless they serve some sort of conservation purpose, so I decided to give it a miss. I did, however, accompany Simon to Balboa Park, where the zoo is located. And I’m so glad that I did cos the park is just a wonderful place.

Balboa Park

The Botanical Building in Balboa Park

I wouldn’t really call it a park in the traditional sense as there are probably more buildings than there are plush, grassy areas, but it is still an area that is enjoyed by many of the residents of the city. There are a dozen or so museums within the park and the exteriors of the buildings are just incredible. In fact, the building containing the Museum of Man is apparently the most photographed building in the whole of California….although Simon told me that so it may not be strictly true….

The Museum of Man in Balboa Park

Casa del Prado Theatre

An example of the Spanish colonial architecture

After taking in the wonderful colonial Spanish architecture of Balboa Park (and watching a couple of weddings too), it was back downtown for a bit more exploring of the Gaslamp District and a spot of shopping at Horton Plaza. I purchased the Rough Guide to New Zealand to do a bit of research for the next part of our trip….and it’s quite frightening that our flight to Auckland is only a few weeks away!!! I honestly didn’t believe that we’d ever get that far on this trip!! Looks like I’ve proved myself wrong!!

The Gaslamp District

Downtown San Diego, at Horton Plaza

Anyhow, I had enjoyed another great day in San Diego and it was time to enjoy a good night out to. We made our way to a bar called Henry’s, where we had some pretty tasty food, then enjoyed beer after beer after beer after beer. Simon bailed out fairly early and left me and Reece to it. We were entertained by an impeccably drunk and unattractive bunch of girls on a hen party and we also spent quite a bit of time laughing at the tall Danny Devito who was strutting his stuff on the dancefloor!! He seemed to be a real hit with the ladies although I have absolutely no idea why!?!

So it’s now Sunday morning and we’re just about to leave San Diego, which I have to say, is pretty high up on my list of favourite places that we’ve visited. We’re leaving to go to LA in a little while and I think that Reece has a bit of a hangover. He hasn’t said too much and he has turned down coffee and doughnuts. Now, I hate coffee but surely no human can resist the lure of the doughnut?? Yup, he must have a hangover!! And me, well, I have no hangover but I do have a headache….induced through sheer worry and panic….

When you call home and you ask if everything is OK, you don’t expect to hear the word ‘no’. And that’s the minute that your stomach just sinks to the floor. I can’t remember the last time I felt that sick; my tequila hangover in Truth or Consequences isn’t even a contender. And the reason for this horrible feeling?? My poor little mum had a really bad fall during the week. When she said that she fell, I thought that maybe she tripped over or something, but no, it was way worse than that!! While exploring the building site that is my brother’s new house, a ladder gave way underneath her and she fell about 8ft onto an uneven floor. She is very much battered and bruised and is so lucky to not have broken any bones. And it’s pretty frightening to hear news like that when you’re not around. She’s a tough cookie and I know that she’ll be up and about again in no time but still….it’d be nice to be able to see her and make sure she’s alright….

Get well soon, mum!! Love ya!!

Now listening to: Avenged Sevenfold – Bat Country

2005-09-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

California dreamin’….

When we first started out on this trip, California seemed like a distant dream. When we left Vancouver and the Pacific behind back in June, we knew it’d be another three months before we were back on the west coast. And I guess there was always an element of doubt that even make it that far. Hell, when we got to the Canadian/American border, we were unsure if they would even let us into the United States. But we did make it. On the 98th day of the adventure, we headed up the highway from Las Vegas and saw California before us. That was a pretty amazing feeling.

At the entrance to Death Valley National Park

Our first port of call in California was the inferno that is Death Valley. And I can quite honestly say that I’ve never been so inspired and terrified at the same time as I was when we were driving through that vast valley. I’ve said it so many times before that this is starting to sound like a cliché but I truly do not have the words to describe this place. Never before have I seen such nothingness. I mean, the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona don’t even compare. This is just sheer emptiness surrounded by mountains. It’s an incredible sight but also a very frightening one as you very quickly realise just how exposed you are to the powers of nature….

In the middle of the desert

Death Valley is, on an average day, the hottest place in the world. Temperatures here are routinely above 100°F and out in the middle of that baron desert, there is no escaping the sun. It would appear that this place does not just have a clever name: it is not difficult to meet your fate here and you are warned about it on every piece of literature distributed at this National Park. If you are not prepared for your trip across the desert and you do not take the necessary precautions, you will die. It’s as simple as that.

And I was more than aware of that as we drove the hour or so across the valley. Although there are other people and other vehicles around, Death Valley is just so enormous that it’s impossible not to feel intimidated by it. Little things like running out of petrol or breaking down can turn into life or death situations in this place and that is no joke. At several points, you are instructed to turn off the air conditioning in your car as otherwise, your car will overheat and you can’t just call the AA to come out and help you. There are several points throughout the valley to refill your car radiator with water as it will evaporate so quickly in the intense heat. And it is insanely hot. We walked for a mile or so to see some various lookout points and the sweat was just pouring out of us. You are dehydrated almost instantly and that’s frightening.

The mountains surrounding Death Valley

But there are quite a few facilities in the park. There are a couple of campsites, a hotel, a store and a restaurant or two. They all seem to be contained in a couple of villages which are scattered sporadically through the valley. These facilities are necessary and do not have a derogatory effect on the area. I was just incredibly glad not to see a McDonald’s sign popping up on top of one of the mountains.

We took a detour from the ordinary route through the valley. We passed most of the normal sights like Salt Creek, the Sand Dunes and the Devil’s Cornfield (apparently the devil owns a lot of real estate in Death Valley, he’s even got a golf course there!!), but we then chose to go down a section of rough, unpaved road. To say I was petrified would be an understatement. Not only were we in the middle of an enormous desert, but we were also choosing to take the road less travelled…much less travelled. If we only passed a handful of cars on the main roads, how many were we likely to see on this route?? What if something happened to us on this narrow, winding route through the canyons and the mountains. Without a doubt, the scenery was stunning but would it be worth it if we all died on this journey???

The Sand Dunes

Needless to say, we made it along the road in one piece. As usual, I was just being a total coward and letting my mind work overtime. And at the end of the day, I was glad that we took that route because it just looked spectacular….or rather it looked spectacular when I glimpsed away from watching the petrol gauge intently, convinced that half a tank of petrol wouldn’t be enough to travel 30 miles….

Actually, the petrol we had lasted all the way out of Death Valley National Park and we still had plenty left when we arrived in the town of Ridgecrest, where we decided to stay for the night. We checked into a motel there and got a ridiculously cheap yet ridiculously stuffy and hot room. Having no air conditioning in the desert is not good!!

And so, after very little sleep last night, we are about to get on the road to San Diego. Let’s see what the rest of California has in store for us….

Now Listening to: Butch Walker – Don’t Move

2005-09-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Gone gamblin’….

Vegas is not a real place, it’s a mirage in the middle of the desert and nothing that happens there is real. The money you spend there might as well be monopoly money and, more importantly, the money that you lose by gambling seems just as fake. It’s a crazy place that can very easily get out of control….

Me looking out over Las Vegas

For me, the past week has just been a total blur. I can’t distinguish one day from another and I swear the Vegas powers-that-be want it that way. There are no clocks inside the hotels so you never know what time it is. There are no windows so you never know if it’s daylight outside. The casinos are massive and maze-like so once you’re in, it can take you a good few hours to find your way back out. Plus pretty much everything is open around the clock so there is no need to keep normal hours. I mean, if you decide that you wanna start partying at 5am, then you can. So it amounted to seven days full of gambling and drinking and general misbehaving. And there’s not a whole lot more I can say about it. It’s impossible to describe this place to someone who hasn’t been there. In all honesty, you’ve really got to see it to believe it so take a look at the photos and maybe you’ll get an idea….

The Vegas Strip

Paris Las Vegas

The Eiffel Tower (not the real one!!)

The MGM Grand

Aladdin Hotel and Casino

Excalibur Hotel and Casino

Bally's Hotel and Casino

The Bellagio

Caesar's Palace

The grandiose lobby at Caesar's Palace

Inside Caesar's Palace

The Luxor Hotel and Casino

Inside the Luxor

Fremont Street

Glitter Gulch, Downtown

In short, during the past week, I’ve been to pretty much every hotel on the Strip and most of the ones off it too (the Hard Rock Hotel being my particular favourite!!), I’ve been to the casinos downtown and I’ve been witness to the Fremont Street Experience (a covered street where they show specially made films on an LED roof), I’ve eaten in some fine restaurants and some not so fine ones, I’ve been to the top of a really tall tower to watch the sunset, I’ve checked out Carey Hart’s tattoo shop at the Palms, I’ve ridden on a couple of monorails, I’ve seen the world’s largest chocolate fountain and a huge winerack too! I’ve probably done a whole lot more besides and here is some of the photographic evidence….

Me on the Strip

A very impressive chocolate fountain

A VERY big winerack in Mandalay Bay

Me and Reece having beers downtown

The Fremont Street Experience

Me with the Mirage in the background

Me outside the Monte Carlo Hotel

The Froooooooo

Me on top of the Stratosphere before sunset

Me and Si

Vegas from the top of the Stratosphere

Vegas by night

But alas, I simply can’t remember anymore of the details!! I know it was a whole lot of fun though!! I just hope that it’s not too long before I’m back here again….

Now listening to: HIM – Wings of a Butterfly

2005-09-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

I was checked in by four, put the sign on the door, looked out the window of the seventeenth floor….

We drove down the Vegas strip mid-afternoon on Wednesday. It’s the first time in 3 visits that I’ve arrived here minus jetlag but I swear I was more exhausted than I had been on the previous two occasions. We pulled into the parking lot of our hotel, got checked in and took the lift up to the 17th floor. Somehow, Simon had a new lease of life and ran out the door almost as soon as he had put his bags down. But I was just worn out. I put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door, stood on our balcony for a while, staring out at the chaos that is Las Vegas, then collapsed on my immensely comfortable bed. By 4pm, it had already been a long day….

The view from the 17th floor of our hotel

We had gotten up at stupid o’clock that morning to watch the sunrise at the Grand Canyon. Getting up at 5am had been easier than imagined but it started to hit me on the long drive to Vegas. Any ordinary person could get some shut-eye in the car but not me. I have this annoying problem of not being able to sleep while I’m moving. It doesn’t matter if I’m on a bus, a train, a plane or in a car, I just can’t sleep. Plus I’m a terrible traveller so I feel queasy if I’m stuck in the car for too long. Not good at all. Luckily, we made a couple of stops on route to Vegas to get petrol and munchies and stuff. We also made a stop at the incredible structure that is the Hoover Dam.

The Hoover Dam was built back in the 1930s, on the edge of the very beautiful Lake Mead. It would be an amazing accomplishment today, let alone 70 years ago. The purpose of the dam is to create electricity, and without this dam, there would be no twinkling lights in Las Vegas, and probably none in California either for that matter. The dam also lies on the border of Arizona and Nevada so when you cross the dam, you’re crossing a state line and a time zone (not at this time of year though, cos Arizona doesn’t change it’s clocks for daylight savings or something like that….I’m not sure, go look it up on the internet or something!!).

Me at the Hoover Dam

I’ve been to the Hoover dam before during the winter and I was shocked to see how low the water level was in the lake at this time of year. You could see the normal watermark clearly on the surrounding rocks but on this day, the water was a good 20 or 30ft lower. The lake almost looked like it was empty.

The low water level in Lake Mead

We stopped at the dam for about an hour, opting not to take the guided tour (I’ve done the tour before and since 9/11, you don’t really get to see a great deal of the workings of the dam so the tour isn’t really worth the money). We just did the usual picture taking and also grabbed a bite to eat before getting back on the road to Vegas.

Me, halfway over the dam

While in Vegas, we are staying at the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino, which is right in the centre of the strip. Accommodation can be really cheap in Vegas, though they do bump the prices up at the weekends. But if you shop around, you can usually find a good deal. Circus Circus is always a bargain and although you’re quite far away from the major hotels, there is a monorail and a shuttle bus which will take you pretty much anywhere you need to go.

Las Vegas is a crazy place and a place that I never thought I would enjoy. I truly did not expect to like it here. I didn’t expect to be fooled by all the lights and the neon and the castles and the pirate ships and the erupting volcanos. I mean, this is a place for Americans to go so that they don’t have to leave their own country but can still claim to have seen the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids. But that's not all that this place is. They say that Vegas is a grown-up’s Disneyland, the so-called happiest place on earth, and quite honestly, I love Disneyland so I guess it’s only right that I’d love it here. And so, everytime I come to Vegas, you’ll find me oohing and aahing at the dancing fountains outside the Bellagio, or running from the rainstorm in the shopping mall at Aladdin, or spinning in circles in the Horse-A-Round bar at Circus Circus (and that’s not just cos of the booze, the bar is actually a carousel which turns round!!!). Yes, it’s tacky as hell but in a strange sort of classy way that’s really hard to explain. And yes, the only purpose of this place is to deprive people of their money. But so what!! It’s fun and the booze is free and that’s all that matters at the end of the day….

Treasure Island

So on our first evening in Vegas, Simon and I headed a few blocks up the Strip to Treasure Island, a hotel that we stayed in the last time we were here. As you might have guessed, the hotel has a pirate theme. Given that I have a bit of a pirate obsession, I really loved this hotel!! Plus they have a fab tropical restaurant and bar called Kahunaville so Si and I decided to grab some food and cocktails there. The food was great and the cocktails were larger than any I’ve ever seen. In fact, Simon’s cocktail had its own smoke machine built into the glass!! Only in Vegas!!!

In Kahunaville, with the biggest cocktails I've ever seen!!

After dinner, we headed across the street to the newest of the hotels on the Strip, the Wynn. This place was just being built the last time we were here so it was cool to see it all finished. It's incredibly impressive inside, with row upon row of designer shops and exclusive restaurants. Oh, and they’ve got a really cool waterfall too!!

Me at the waterfall at the Wynn hotel and casino

We had a bit of a wander round the hotel then had a go on a few slot machines. Didn’t do very well though!! Oops!!! I think we lost about $30 but we did get 2 or 3 free drinks in the process so it’s not all bad!! Back at our hotel, we had a few beers before calling it a night, although I think Simon probably went out and played some Blackjack or something. Who knows?? I was asleep so he could have gone to the moon for all I know!!

Thursday was our first full day in Vegas so we headed out to check out a few of the casinos. Our first stop was Caesar’s Palace, which I think is the oldest casino on the Strip. It’s enormous, though not the biggest, and it also has the unfortunate role of playing host to Celine Dion every single day. Every single day!!! How horrific!!! Anyway, we avoided Celine as best we could and headed to the Forum Shops to have a look around. There used to be a huge Virgin Megastore in there but, much to my dismay, it’s disappeared!! Without a record shop to spend any money in, we swiftly moved on.

We crossed the street to Harrah’s and went to their buffet for lunch before playing a couple of slot machines. A few beers and a few dollars of profit later, we continued on down the Strip. We passed through Bally’s and into Paris Las Vegas and then ended up in Aladdin. Simon played some Blackjack while Reece and I went around the shops in the Desert Passage, Aladdin’s shopping mall. We also tried out a couple of massage chairs which would be more accurately described as torture devices!!

Me outside Paris Las Vegas, complete with replica Eiffel Tower!

We rejoined Simon, had a few beers, signed up for some players cards and got some other free goodies before moving on to our next casino. We walked down to the MGM Grand, home of the Rainforest Café, home to some of the finest cocktails on the planet!! Very tasty!!! I can’t remember what mine was called or what the hell was in it but boy, was it good!!! After a quick wander round the casino and a look at the lions habitat they have there, we crossed the street to New York New York.

The outside of NYNY is a replica of the NY skyline, complete with it’s own Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Building. Oh, and it has a rollercoaster weaving its way over and around all of the buildings. Once again, only in Vegas!!! Although we didn’t intend to stay in NYNY for too long, I think we were in there for a good few hours. We won money on some slots, had some beers and then the guys settled down at a blackjack table for a few hours. I think we must have got out of there at about 9pm or something. We walked the mile or so back up to our hotel and stopped briefly outside the Bellagio to watch the aforementioned dancing fountains. If you’ve seen Ocean’s Eleven (not the Rat Pack original but the version with George Clooney) then you’ll know the fountains I’m talking about. They really are quite magnificent and the Bellagio itself is just a beautiful backdrop.

The fountains at the Bellagio (sorry, it's not a very good photo!!)

Back at the Imperial Palace, we got some room service cos we were too knackered to go out for food. After some pizza, I crashed out, thoroughly exhausted, and didn’t wake up until about 10am this morning. That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long time.

And today has been pretty good so far. We headed out around midday and went for a look around the Venetian.

The Venetian

Just in case you’re a bit slow, this is a Venice themed hotel. It has a replica of the Rialto Bridge, complete with authentic escalators so you don’t have to expel any energy by walking, and you can also take a gondola ride in the river that runs through the whole hotel. Weird!! We had a wander through some of the shops at the hotel. To my complete joy, they have an enormous David and Goliath store there; methinks I will be going back there at somepoint to spend lots of money!!!

Me in the replica St Mark's Square in the Venetian

Next stop was the Fashion Show Mall, where we grabbed a bite to eat and then prepared to do some shopping. Simon, not feeling the urge to indulge in retail therapy, headed to the Wynn to do some gambling and left me and Reece to it. And despite the millions of shops in the mall and the millions of things I wanted to buy, I walked away with nothing. I promise to try harder next time!!!

The Wynn Hotel and Casino

After our unsuccessful shopping trip, we went over to the Wynn to find Simon. We couldn’t see him anywhere but Mark McGrath from Sugar Ray did walk past me, which was nice. We later found Simon outside and decided to come back to the hotel to chill out for a bit.

So that’s what I’m supposed to be doing now, only I’m not, I’m typing frantically and praying that I don’t lose my internet connection. Yes, you don’t have to pay for your drinks in here but they’ll charge you $10 a day for wireless internet!! Only in Vegas!!!

Now listening to: Thin Lizzy – Whiskey In The Jar

P.S. I’m not actually paying $10 a day for wireless internet as I’ve managed to steal it from some other hotel!! Bonus!!!

2005-09-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the sun….

It’s arguably one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen. The sun rises and the sun sets every single day but it’s never more stunning than when it’s doing so over the Grand Canyon.

Waiting for the sun to come up....

Nothing will prepare you for the Grand Canyon. It’s impossible to comprehend the size of it until you’re actually there. And it’s not something that can easily be put into words. On my first visit to the Grand Canyon almost two years ago, we joked that it was just a big hole. And it is. Except it’s a really, really, really big hole that leaves you completely awestruck. And trust me, it’s no less spectacular second time around. Going there is truly an amazing experience that should not be missed because you won’t know what I’m talking about until you’ve been there and done that.

To tell you the truth, I was blown away by the whole journey up to the Grand Canyon. We drove there on Tuesday from Tucson and despite being stuck in the backseat of the car, I really enjoyed the whole day. The scenery, as has come to be expected on this trip, was just breathtaking. And again it was so diverse, going from the desert into the mountains and then into dense forest. There was just so much to look at; it’s an ever-changing landscape and it kept me entertained through the whole 5 hour drive. Plus, we stopped for doughnuts on the way and that’s enough to make anyone smile.

Eating doughnuts in the desert....sweet!!!

When we arrived at the Canyon, we decided to try and get a room for the night at one of the lodges in the village. We were promptly told that all the rooms were sold out. However, an hour later, there seemed to be no shortage of empty rooms so we got one at Yavapai Lodge. It wasn’t ridiculously expensive either, which is always good!!

Things seemed quite different from my previous visit. I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say, given that it’s a big canyon and there’s not really any room for alterations, but it was different. On my previous visit, I had come here in the middle of winter and much of the area was snow-covered. This time around, the trees and plants all looked so colourful and beautiful and the canyon just seemed to be a whole different colour to how I remember it. In all honesty, despite being amazed by this sight the first time, I think I was even more impressed by its sheer splendour on this occasion.

Me at the Grand Canyon

We went to a few different viewing points around the rim of the canyon before then talking a walk a few hundred feet into the canyon. It was really cool looking at it from a different perspective but the walk back up to the top was pretty exhausting!!

The Froooooooo

Me in a cave within the canyon

We then took a shuttle bus up to Hopi Point, allegedly the best position to watch the sunset. We found ourselves a little spot on the rocks and settled down to watch the night come down on top of us. Cue lots and lots of pictures….

Me at the canyon just before sunset

Before sunset

Me and Reece

Right next to where we were sitting was a little tree that was just dying to have its picture taken, silhouetted against the night sky. These pictures were my vision and Simon took the shots. Hope you like them!

After sunset, we headed back to Yavapai Lodge for food and beers before getting another early night. Our intention was to get up at 5am the next morning to get the shuttle bus to Powell Point for a 6am sunrise. It’s the first time we’ve all crashed out before 11pm on this whole trip!!

Me and Si after sunset

And believe it or not, we were all up and ready by 5am this morning. And by 5.30am, we were sat on a rock at Powell Point waiting for the sun to come up. It was beautiful. I’ll let the pictures do the talking….

Me at sunrise

After sunrise, we walked about 2 miles back along the edge of the canyon to the village. It was a really enjoyable walk, especially at that time in the morning. Walking along the trail, you see a lot of that canyon that you don’t necessarily see from the various viewpoints. It was quite stunning.

Me walking round the canyon trail

Back at the village, we had breakfast then got packed up to get back on the road. Our Grand Canyon adventure was over.

And now, on to Las Vegas!!

Now listening to: Aerosmith – Big Ten Inch Record

2005-09-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Goin’ back to Tucson, back down the old I-10….

Tucson wasn’t originally on our list of places to go. After New Mexico, our next stop was supposed to be Phoenix, Arizona, but we decided to make a change for three reasons. Firstly, Reece’s friend had just moved to Tucson so he wanted to go and visit her. Secondly, several people told us that Phoenix wasn’t a very nice place. And thirdly, I had the above opening line ready and waiting if we went to Tucson. So that’s where we went and I think we made the right choice.

We drove to Tucson on Sunday, the day of the enormous hangover. The journey was equally wonderful and horrific. We were on a tiny little mountain road and the views were amazing but unfortunately, my stomach and my head kept reminding me of my indulgences the previous night. I started to feel a little better just as we were crossing from New Mexico into Arizona but by that point we were right in the middle of the desert and there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Bugger!

The view from the top of the mountain road

The scenery on the drive to Tucson

Anyway, we arrived in Tucson around 5pm and tried to find somewhere to stay. The Congress Hostel had been recommended by a few people so we checked it out. IT was right in the centre of the city and looked pretty cool but they wanted over $100 for a room. No thank you!! So we ended up in a motel on the west of the city which cost half as much, bonus!!

When you’ve been on the road for a while, you develop some sort of weird sixth sense about places. Generally, you can tell within a short period whether you’re gonna like it or not. You just seem to get certain vibes when you arrive somewhere new and, as they say, first impressions are usually right. And first impressions of Tucson were really good. The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides so you’ve got something amazing to see at every turn. It also didn’t seem like an enormous city and there were very few high-rise buildings. It just seemed cool; I don’t know why but it did and I was already glad that we had gone there.

That being said, I didn’t actually venture out on our first night there. Reece went out to meet his friend while Simon made a beeline for the casino so I just chilled out and tried to sleep of the remains of my hangover.

The next day, Simon and I headed into the city for a look around. We went to 4th Avenue, which was an incredibly colourful street full of strange boutiques, record shops, second-hand stores and fabulous restaurant. There were murals painted on most of the walls on the street and the whole area had a very alternative feel to it. I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, we had turned up in Tucson on Labour Day, which is a national holiday, so very little was open. Still, it was a cool place to hang out for a couple of hours. We also grabbed lunch in a lovely little coffee shop called The Chocolate Elephant, very tasty!

A very quiet yet very cool 4th Avenue

One of the murals on 4th Avenue

Afterwards, we took a drive up to the university district, which again seemed really cool, with lots of shops and bars and the usual studenty attractions. And the University (of Arizona) itself seemed really impressive; a very beautiful and plush campus. I seriously wish that I could have looked out the window during my uni lectures to see a row of palm trees!!!

Of course, the reason that there are so many palm trees in Tucson is the heat. It’s ridiculously hot there! So, once again, we tried to escape from it by heading to a shopping mall a few miles out of town. We wandered round the shops for a few hours before going to the cinema. This time, we saw The 40 Year Old Virgin and I honestly can’t remember the last time I laughed so much!! It was hilariously funny, go see it!!!

So we grabbed some take-put food on the way back to the motel and now, we’re about to get an early night cos we will be on the road for most of tomorrow.

Sleep tight and all that stuff.

Now listening to: The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Armed Love

2005-09-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

Tequila, it makes me happy….

No. It doesn’t. Tequila is bad stuff. Truly evil. I’ve had some real bad experiences with that stuff. Ask any of my Little Sistas and they’ll be sure to tell you that me and tequila don’t mix and I always make a point of making any of my drinking partners aware of this. Why then did no-one pay a blind bit of attention to my warnings last night?? Why did they let me drink that evil liquor??

I’ll get back to the tequila story in a bit but let’s play catch up first. We left our little motel in Roswell on Thursday morning and headed further west across New Mexico. We had a long drive surrounded by some stunningly diverse scenery, there were rolling green hills one second then the next we were in a desolate, baron desert landscape. Visually amazing but a bit of a headfuck at the same time. I tried to take a picture to illustrate the complete nothingness but I don’t really think it comes across very well. Judge for yourself, I guess…

Nothingness in New Mexico

We even passed through the Valley of Fires, an area covered in what appeared to be volcanic rock. I’ve never seen anything like that before, it was truly bizarre and again, I don’t think the pictures will do it justice….

The Valley of Fires

We passed through a couple of tiny places on our way, including the town of Lincoln, the former stomping ground of Billy the Kid. That place looked like it hadn’t changed since back in his day. We didn’t stop there because we still had a long way to go to our destination but I really wish we had. We had a brief stop for munchies in a place called Capitan and a few hours later, we passed the White Sands Missile Range and the site where the world’s first atomic bomb was set off. Interesting!

Anyway, we were headed for a little place called Truth or Consequences, right in the heart of the New Mexico desert and on the banks of the Rio Grande. Had tequila not gotten involved somewhere along the line with this story then I would’ve used a Duran Duran lyric as the title of this blog! But I digress….

So it was my idea to go to Truth or Consequences. Back when we were planning this trip, I had been looking at hostels on the Lonely Planet website and had come across this oddly named little place. It was originally called Hot Springs and was founded by a bunch of hippies. It was given it’s current name in the 50s and was named after a TV game show though I’m not sure why! The hostel there seemed like a good place with several hot tubs and minerals bath for guests to use. It looked pretty cool online so we thought we’d give it a try. Before we got there, I was kinda having second thoughts about the pace, worrying that we’d be bored and thinking that spending 3 nights there would be too much. And when we arrived, I really thought we had made a mistake!

Riverbend Hot Springs

The place looked pretty dead. There didn’t seem to be anyone around and it looked like we’d be spending the next few nights sleeping in a caravan. And the guy in the office who checked us in was a bit on the crazy side. In retrospect, I was being entirely judgemental…well, accept about the guy in the office (his name was Joe, an ex-marine, and he was certifiable!!). Simon and I basically had a whole caravan to ourselves, with two bedrooms, a bathroom, plus a fridge and microwave thrown in for good measure. Not only that but our bed was so wide that I didn’t have Simon snoring right in my ear!!! Life is full of simple pleasures!!

Catching some zzzzzzzzs

We had a look around the hostel site and it actually seemed really cool. The accommodation, while certainly not being five star, was more than comfortable.

The hostel courtyard

The hostel (with Albert floating around in the background)

The hostel courtyard...again

And the hot tubs looked pretty cool as they basically were right on the bank of the Rio Grande. The place had a really good vibe too, really relaxed, so that’s what I proceeded to take advantage of…

Me chilling out by the Rio Grande

Some of the hot tubs

After a trip to the supermarket to get food and beers, I lay down on my bed with a chilled beer and read my book. And I read my book some more and had a few more beers. And that was pretty much all I did for the next couple of days! Bliss!! While Simon and Reece took full advantage of the hot tubs on offer, I spent some quality time on my own and just chilled out. And it was great!

On the pier over the river

I did go out a couple of times though. On Friday, we took a drive up to the nearby town of Elephant Butte, where there is an enormous lake.

Elephant Butte Lake

Apparently, it’s the biggest lake in New Mexico! So there! More importantly, the place had a funny name. Cue lots of butt jokes and taking stupid pictures of the word Butte. Juveniles!

On Saturday, after a fab lunch at a little vegetarian restaurant called the White Coyote Café, we took a drive out into the middle of nowhere. If you don’t believe me then just check out the name of a bar we passed.

An appropriate name....

We passed through a place called Hillsboro, where they were holding an apple fair. I’m not sure what an apple fair is but it was clearly very popular. We also, passed through a place called Hatch which is the chilli capital of the world. I’m not kidding, this place was covered in chillies. Houses literally had roofs covered in chillies. It was insane!!!

Just a small sample of the chillies in Hatch

And finally, out in the middle of nowhere, there was a ghost town. That’s the first one of those I’ve ever seen. There were only about 5 or 6 buildings so it was a bit crazy to think that 4,000 people used to live there.

Lake Valley ghost town

And that was it really, that was all I did the whole time I was in Truth or Consequences….apart from the tequila story! I shall try to recall it to the best of my abilities but don’t blame me if any of it is incorrect!!

Shortly before tequila took hold of me...

It all started out innocently enough. Simon, Reece and I sat on the patio beside the hot tubs enjoying a few beers and we were joined by Albert. Albert is a guy from Florida who just wanted to escape the heat for a few days. He was a cool guy and we chatted about my favourite subject, the idiot that is George Dubya!! Next came crazy Joe, the ex-marine, who probably broke several codes of conduct by telling us about his days working for Uncle Sam. Then, along came Ben, a guy who works in Utah taking rich people out on 14-day hikes into the wilderness. By this point, all the beers had magically disappeared and some whiskey and tequila had appeared. Then some other people turned up, including a girl who was really nice but I just can’t remember what the hell her name was! There was also a big bunch of guys who were on a hunting trip or something, and a couple of guys playing guitars and banjos ( I think I may have shouted at them to play Bomber at some stage but I can’t confirm that!!). And then it all gets a bit foggy, as it always does when I’m allowed near a bottle of tequila. I remember deciding to go in the hot tub at about 2am but what happened before and after that is a bit blurry. All I know is that I woke up in the clothes that I had been wearing the previous day and I had probably the biggest headache in human history.

Now I can deal with hangovers cos I’ve had plenty of them. All you need to do is stay in bed on sleep it off. What you should do under no circumstances is get out of bed and sit in a car for a 6 hour drive on windy twisty mountain roads.

Don’t drink tequila, kids. It’s not big and it’s not clever. Consider yourself warned.

Now listening to: A – Coming Around

2005-08-31T22:59:00.000-07:00

It’s little more than science fiction, the government replied….

So today we ended up in Roswell, the town where, in 1947, an alien spacecraft apparently plummeted to earth. Despite sending out a press release saying that parts of a flying saucer had been recovered, the American government were quick to retract that statement. The world was told that the wreckage discovered was part of an innocent weather balloon. Sound suspicious??? Maybe….but apparently the truth is out there….

An alien in Roswell

Anyway, last night, we stayed in a place called Lubbock, fairly close to the Texas/New Mexico border. The most entertaining thing that happened while we were there was courtesy of Simon. He’s got a few audiobooks on his iPod and he was listening to one of them before he went to bed. He couldn’t quite understand why the story wasn’t making sense. He then realised that he still had his iPod on shuffle so all the chapters were in the wrong order. Oh how I laughed!!!

Anyway, before we left there this morning, we went and had a quick look at the Buddy Holly monument in the town centre. He is the town’s most famous son and they seem mighty proud of him.

The Buddy Holly Statue in Lubbock

We also took time to go to Lubbock cemetary to visit Buddy Holly’s grave. It was a beautiful cemetary and a very modest gravesite.

Buddy Holly's grave in Lubbock cemetary

We then got on the highway and headed for Roswell and I swear that we were the only car on the road for the majority of the 2 or 3 hour journey. It was just baron out there. On a journey of about 160 miles, we only passed through about 3 towns. And it was like Hicksville, USA. Seriously, all of the roads were just dust tracks and everyone seemed to live in a trailer. It just looked like those stereotypical images you see of Southwest USA on TV and in the movies. Very weird. And as we left one town, we were informed that we had just passed the last bar for the next 80 miles. God, we really were saying goodbye to civilisation!

We arrived in Roswell at about 1.30pm, having gained another hour across a time zone on our way there. And I must admit that it’s bigger than I thought it was gonna be. We drove up Main Street and found a cheap little motel before making our way to the International UFO Museum and Research Centre.

The International UFO Museum and Research Centre

So obviously, Roswell is famous for it’s alleged UFO crash landing and hence, a museum was founded here to try to investigate the whole phenomenon. But I have to say that they’ve really made an arse of it. Quite honestly, I thought the museum was pretty terrible. It was basically just a collection of newspaper clippings and handwritten descriptions of alien encounters. The entire museum had nothing to say that was actually fact, it only surmised that maybe an alien spacecraft landed or maybe it didn’t. Maybe there was a government cover-up or maybe there wasn’t. Maybe what people saw on July 4th 1947 was actually a weather balloon, or maybe it was some sort of nuclear weapon test. There is nothing concrete in this museum. I swear that the only research they must do in this place is into how many different flavours of frappucino they can buy from the coffee shop across the street.

An alien and a UFO...apparently!

OK, so you may have already guessed that I’m not a science buff and close encounters of the third kind really don’t interest me. Still, I did go into the museum hoping to learn something. But if I went in there a sceptic, then I came out a complete non-believer. A museum should not be filled with information that has been printed out from the internet. Nor should it have a concrete horse in the centre, which bears absolutely no significance to the whole world of UFO investigation. The only saving grace was the section of information on Area 51, which was very interesting. However, even this literature was littered with the word “probably”, which suggest to me that the whole thing might just as well have been made up!!

It’s fair to say that I was not impressed. If you want a different review, go and read Simon’s blog at http://777days.blogspot.com cos he thought the place was great. But he likes the X-Files, enough said!!

Main Street, Roswell

After the museum, it was back to the motel then out for food and beers. And now, once again, it’s time for sleep as we have another early start in the morning.

Goodnight y’all!

Now listening to: Handsome Devil – Makin’ Money

2005-08-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

Back to the middle of nowhere….

So we left cosmopolitan city life behind today and for the foreseeable future, we’re gonna be out in the back of beyond. I’m still not quite sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. The last time we were really in the middle of nowhere was back at the beginning of the trip in Canada, when we drove along the highway and didn’t see a town for hours. I remember how relieved I was to see a city again!! Maybe I’ll have that feeling again soon….

Anyway, we’ve been in Dallas for the past couple of nights after driving there on Sunday from Austin. We stopped at a petrol station to fill up the car and I took the opportunity to sneak off and give my parents a call to make sure that things are cool at home. And everything seems to be fine except my niece apparently got chocolate all over my sister-in-law’s top. It seems that at 21 months old, she’s already adept at making a mess, I’m so proud!!!

My crazy rock'n'roll niece, Rebecca...

We made another stop halfway to Dallas in Waco (yes, THAT Waco!!) and went to Denny’s for some grub. Our waitress was incredibly friendly, just another example of Texan hospitality, and she was also incredibly hoarse. Turns out that she had been to Ozzfest that weekend and had been going crazy for Black Sabbath. It seems like the whole world loves to rock out!! That’s just what I like to see!!

We got to Dallas at about 5pm and checked into a hotel in a suburb called Garland. The hotel was absolutely packed; loads of people who were evacuated from the hurricane area were staying there. Anyhow, after chilling out for a few hours, we went out to Chili’s, a chain restaurant, for some food. Again, we had an incredibly friendly waitress who asked all the usual questions about where we were from and where we were going. Within five minutes, all the staff knew about us and one of the managers actually sat down and chatted with us for a while. I just can’t get over how friendly the people are here. So after chatting, food and cocktails (the cocktails were just for me!!), we headed back to the hotel and crashed out.

We made an early start the next day and headed for downtown Dallas. Our destination was the Sixth Floor Museum, located in the old Texas School Book Depository. Have you guessed what the museum was about yet???

Me outside the Texas School Book Depository

JFK. When in Dallas, you’ve got to go and see the infamous spot where JFK was assassinated and the museum dedicated to deconstructing the whole event. As I said, the museum is within the Book Depository, the building where the fatal shots were allegedly fired from. And the museum is in fact on the sixth floor and centred around the very window where Lee Harvey Oswald took aim at the President. It’s all very interesting and goes into incredible detail; it’s definitely worth a visit.

The open window at the right hand side is the one the shots were allegedly fired from...

On the ground floor, as you enter the building, they have an exhibit on Dealey Plaza, the area the President’s motorcade was passing through as JFK was shot. It is an interesting exhibit, though more in a historical sense than in it’s relevance to the assassination. However, they also have an exhibit on Jack Ruby, which was really fabulous as I knew very little about it. Ruby was a club owner in Dallas and was the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald. Ruby had very little motive for doing so, which prompted all sorts of questions about conspiracies. Ruby was tried and sentenced to death. His trial was then appealed but his health, both mental and physical, deteriorated and he died before the appeal. There was an incredible amount of information about Ruby and his life; a really great exhibit.

Following that, we took the elevator up to the sixth floor and started learning about JFK’s life, from birth to death. There was an impressive array of photographs, films and artefacts and it all fascinating stuff. My only complaint would be that JFK was painted as a saint; there was next to no mention of any dubious connections or any corruption in the Kennedy administration. It’s only a small complaint but an important one, I think, especially when considering the question of his assassination being a conspiracy.

Me outside the JFK Memorial in Dallas

The information about the investigation into his shooting was incredibly thorough. They went into detail about acoustical tests they did in Dealey Plaza to try to determine where the bullets came from and they actually did reconstruct the scene to aid the investigation. There was also extensive information about the various Commissions set up to examine the case and their respective findings. Lee Harvey Oswald, the man arrested on the day of the assassination, did not live to stand trial, nor to even give a statement. But yet all the Commissions still found him guilty of this crime. Conspiracy theories still abound that Oswald was set up for a crime he did not commit and more importantly, the final Commission believed that the shots fired did not all come from the Book Depository. Hence, even if Oswald did shoot from that sixth floor window, he was not acting alone as someone else fired a shot from the Grassy Knoll to the side of the Book Depository. The investigation into JFK’s death was closed in 1988 and despite 25 years of examining evidence, it seems that there are still very few concrete facts. But this museum does its level best to lay those facts out for you. And regardless of how many times you’ve seen the footage of the assassination itself, you will still find it incredibly chilling watching it from the spot that the fatal shots were fired.

Me on the Grassy Knoll

From the museum, we walked down to Dealey Plaza and saw the spot on the road where the President’s car was when he was shot. A big red cross marks the spot. We also looked at the Grassy Knoll and I must admit, it felt a bit eerie to be there. It’s a place that I’ve seen so many times on TV, it was just really strange to be at the actual spot where it all happened.

Look carefully and you can see the red cross on the road

When we were done with all the JFK stuff, we went for a wander round downtown Dallas. Like in Houston, we didn’t spend an awful lot of time in the city, just an hour or so having a wander. And again, like Houston, it seemed like a nice enough place. The nicest part was certainly the West End, the historic part of town. There was a large marketplace with some great little shops and an enormous antique store. There were loads of restaurants and bars and stuff too; it seemed like quite a lively place.

The historic West End in Dallas

From there, we took a drive around some of the suburbs. We headed up to Highland Park, which is the posh part of town and had a look at the village there. We did intend to go to the shops but they all looked unspeakably posh so we decided to give it a miss. We also had a bit of drive around the University district and went into one of the bookstores there. We spent a fortune in there before heading back to the hotel. The rest of the day consisted of lots of rain and strong winds (perhaps the tail end of Katrina hitting us) going out for food and beers (actually, Simon had a chocolate martini!!!) and then crashing out through sheer exhaustion.

So this morning, we got up fairly early as we had a long drive ahead of us right into the middle of nowhere. We decided to stop at Fort Worth, just west of Dallas, as it had been recommended to us by several people. Just north of the downtown Fort Worth area, they have the historic stockyards and it basically looks like walking straight into a cowboy movie. It’s so wild west it’s unbelievable!! They have a rodeo there and a livestock exchange, and you can buy cowboy gear in all of the stores. It’s like nowhere that we’ve been so far on this trip and I guess it’s what I really expected the whole of Texas and its neighbouring states to look like. It really was like a film set but the whole thing was real.

Fort Worth Stockyards

Fort Worth Stockyards Station

The rodeo in Fort Worth

After Fort Worth, we got on the road and drove for hours, then a few more hours and then maybe a few more. And we’ve ended up in a place called Lubbock in the north west of Texas. It actually seems like quite a large place but we were pretty much the only car on the road for much of the way here. I think the only thing this place is famous for is Buddy Holly cos he lived here and went to school here. Anyway, we’re just staying here as a stop off for one night as we’re heading into New Mexico tomorrow.

But for now, I need sleep. Driving is exhausting, even when you’re not actually driving….

Now listening to: Supersuckers – Hey Ya

2005-08-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

The old folks are losers, they can't work computers....

Apparently, my very good friend, Jason Perry from 'A', was wrong. The old folks can indeed work computers, or at least my folks can!

Yes, my parents are getting used to this internet thing and have even sussed out how to post comments on this here blog. However, it appears that some anonymous people (EVIL SPAMMERS!!!) have also started to leave messages here. Not good. In order to combat this, I've had to turn on word verification, which basically means that any time you want to post a comment, you'll be asked to type the word you see in the box on the screen. This determines that you actually are a real person and not some automated machine programmed to leave stupid comments about stupid and irrelevant websites.

Anyway, just wanted to give everyone advance warning about this, especially my mum cos she gets worried that she's broken the computer if anything unfamiliar pops up on the screen. Don't worry, mum, just type in the word like it asks you to do and then you'll be good to go!!

Now listening to: Hot Hot Heat - Middle of Nowhere

2005-08-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Come back to Texas….

With pleasure. OK, so I’ve only been in Texas for about 5 or 6 days and I already love this place. It is not what I expected at all. As a state previously governed by George Dubya, I expected it to be full of gun-toting Christian fundamentalist rednecks. But not so. The people have been incredibly friendly, although it has to be said that I haven’t dared to talk about politics to anyone, just in case!! Anyhow, our first port of call in Texas was on the lakes and it was just beautiful, an absolutely gorgeous place. Apparently, it gets even more astounding the further down the Gulf Coast you go but unfortunately, time just doesn’t allow us to do that. Boo hiss! Then there was Houston, which seemed like a cool city, followed by the amazing and wonderful San Antonio. And now Austin, the live music capital of the world. I’ve not even been here for 48 hours but it’s easy to see that it’s a wicked place. Texas is exceeding my expectations by far.

So on Friday morning, we left San Antonio and headed for Austin. We made a couple of stops on the way, the first one being at a shopping mall just north of the city. We had a bit of lunch there, looked around the shops and also saw an extremely large pair of cowboy boots! I’m not sure if they were the largest pair of cowboy boots in the world but I certainly don’t feel the need to see a pair any larger.

Some really big cowboy boots!!!

Our second stop was at the Natural Bridge Caverns, a few miles outside of San Antonio. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this place was a whole host of caves about 200ft underground. Actually, the deepest point we went down to was 180ft and that was quite far enough for me, thank you very much! But the caverns were quite stunning really; I wasn’t expecting to be as impressed as I was.

Inside the caverns

There’s very little lighting down there it doesn’t seem that they’ve had to make many massive alterations to make them accessible. The tour guide was very good, very informative, although she was drowned out the majority of the time by a bunch of ten or so Japanese tourists who insisted on talking over her.

Me inside the Natural Bridge Caverns

My only complaint, and it’s not really a complaint, was the humidity down there. I expected the caves to be pretty chilly but not so. It was about 21°C but with a humidity level of 99%, it felt about 30°C or 40°C. I was sweating buckets!!!

Another view inside the caverns

After the caverns, we got back on the road and drove the hour or so to Austin. We checked into a motel just on the edge of the city centre, a really handy location, and we spent the next few hours chilling out and stuff. That evening, we drove a few blocks into the city (which we could quite easily have walked) and wandered down Red River Road looking for somewhere to have some food and some beers. And I don’t know why but I immediately liked the place. From the bars and stuff on Red River Road, there was music playing and loads of live bands on. There were loads of people around and everywhere you looked, there was another band loading or unloading their stuff at a venue. Pretty cool.

We walked down to 6th Street and were immediately faced by a street full of bars and venues. The atmosphere was great, just my sort of place!! I was totally up for a big night out…but it didn’t happen. Simon wasn’t feeling too well so we found a little bar, had some food (I enjoyed an amazing veggie burger, one of the best I’ve ever tasted) and then went back to the motel. I was promised that the following night would be my big night out.

On Saturday morning, we got up fairly early and drove into the city centre again. We opted to take the car cos street parking is free at the weekend in Austin, plus we figured that at in such high temperatures, we probably wouldn’t get to far on foot!

Our first stop was the State Capitol. Now, we’ve seen a number of State Capitols on this trip but I think this one was the most impressive. Apparently, it’s 7ft taller than Capitol Hill in Washington, I guess they did that just to make Washington jealous or something!

The State Capitol Building

Anyway, we had a look around inside and wandered into the Senate Chamber and the House of Representatives. We also spotted George Dubya’s picture on the wall. Simon wanted me to have my picture taken in front of it but I declined! George Dubya portraits aside, it was a very impressive building and entirely free to look around and when you’re on a budget like we are, you have no idea how important that is!!

The Senate Chamber

The House of Representatives

Next stop was the University of Texas. This university is the largest public university in the United States, with over 50,000 students. And with this many students, there are obviously some good student hangouts. These are all located in an area called the Drag which is at the north end of Guadalupe Street. It seems like a really cool place, although we didn’t really get a chance to have a proper look around. We did, however, stop at a little Vegan restaurant called Veggie Heaven for some food. And it was delicious!! I also had some Bubble Tea which was the most bizarre thing I’ve ever drunk in my life!!!

From there, we headed south of the Colorado River to find a bicycle shop that Reece wanted to go to. Reece is a massive Lance Armstrong fan, and Lance is from Austin so it’s fair to say that quite a lot of his brand of t-shirts and stuff are on sale here. Reece was in heaven wandering about in that store. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him with such a big smile on his face.

To get out of the afternoon sun, we thought we’d head to the cinema again so we drove to a movie theatre nearby. Unfortunately, they weren’t showing the film we wanted to see, but we hung out there for a little while anyway and checked out some of the vintage clothing shops next door. Then we went back to the motel to look on the net for any other nearby cinemas. The guy in the office at the motel was also very helpful in giving us some directions. And off we went! We still got lost though, but made it in time for the film. We saw the Dukes of Hazzard, which was really good, though not brilliant. Johnny Knoxville was great in it, as was Willie Nelson. But Jessica Simpson is just the most stupid female on the planet. I hate that girl.

Nearly out of Jack...boo hoo!!

Incidentally, on the way back from the cinema, there was asofa in the middle of the highway. That was pretty weird.

Yes, it was 95 degrees at 8.28pm!!

That evening, we walked into the city centre for our big night out. We started in a place called The Vibe, where they had beer for $1.50, bargain!!! We enjoyed a few beverages and some live music there before heading on to a pirate bar!!!! This place was really cool but kinda dead so we didn’t stay too long. We did stay long enough to enjoy a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale though and toasted it in honour of our friend Kate, who loves that stuff more than life itself!!!

This one's for Kate...me and Si and the broon!!!

We then ended up in some place called Buffalo Billiards, a big bar with about a million pool tables and a band playing upstairs. We grabbed some food there and some more beers then Simon decided to call it a night. But the night was young and me and Reece headed onto a few more pubs, watched a few more bands, had several more beers and also drank something that tasted very similar to mouthwash. We ended up in a tattoo parlour at about 2am trying to choose a big tribal design for Reece’s leg! It was a good night!

And now it’s Sunday. We’re just about to leave Austin and head up to Dallas for a couple of nights. And I’m pretty relieved that we’re in Texas, right out of the way of Hurricane Katrina. If that hurricane had come a week earlier, we would have been right in the centre of it! Yup, Texas is a pretty cool place to be, hurricane or no hurricane.

Now listening to: Jimmy Eat World - Work