Geoff
& Chris in the UK Letters & Photos: Previous
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UK News March 2004
(and part 2 of our trip to NZ)
But all is well now, apart from a lot of pain, and impending boredom of 5 weeks off work It will give her a chance to catch up on emails and maybe pick up her paint brush again.
With our worrying about all
that, it's be great to have a laugh at this website we recently found. You'll
need to have the 'flash' system installed (which most computers do these days -
even if you don't realise it). Click on the horses' heads to hear them sing!http://svt.se/hogafflahage/hogafflaHage_site/Kor/hestekor.html
NZ trip diary part 2 -
WhakataneJevon and Nicky have recently moved to a farmhouse near Edgecumbe, to fulfil their dream of living closer to the sea. This has plenty of room for their dog 'Kaiser's big footsteps, lots of scratching space for their hens and a cosy house for them and the two cats. The house has a huge garage/workshop and is surrounded by paddocks of friendly cattle.
On the way to Jevon & Nicky's we stopped in at the Tervits at Papamoa, who turned on an instant feast and their customary hospitality. We're really looking forward to Robin & Helen coming to visit us in June 2004.
The southern summer did a disappearing trick, and we found it necessary to light the fire on our first morning! So much for coming to NZ in the hottest month…
One thing that we had forgotten was the wondrous sight of stars in the sky. Away from city lights and factory pollution, with no wind to stir up dust in the atmosphere, we could see literally millions of stars. The 'Milky Way' was a delicate blur, decorated with thousands of tiny points of light. It made me realise how few stars we see in Birmingham!
On our first day, we went to the geothermal hot pools at the back of the huge paper mill. Some kind person has built a concrete pool in the path of a small hot water stream, built a weir to control the mix of hot and cold water, and built a changing shed. There's something very primal and raw about sitting in water that has just minutes ago erupted from the ground - boiling hot - as a geyser. Chris was not so sure, grimacing at the green slime covered walls, and gritty bottom of the pool…
Much nicer were the Mount Maunganui hot salt water pools, which we went to the following night. It was great to meet Nicky's parents again, having only met them once before - very early in Nicky & Jevon's relationship, when we all went to see Slava's Snow Show at the Civic Theatre in Auckland. They're managing a luxury apartment complex at the Mount, and enjoying the seaside lifestyle.
For Christmas Jev bought
himself a brand new fishing boat, as yet un-named, 5 ½ metres of aluminium
aquatic toy. The sea has already provided a rich harvest for him. We were sad to
hear that the scallop season had just ended, but enjoyed devouring a huge
crayfish which recently met him whilst he was diving. We were obviously going to
enjoy a day's fishing with him, though this proved more challenging than
expected. For the first few days of our stay, there was wild weather - causing
massive flooding in other parts of NZ, and totally unsuitable for small craft to
take to the high seas. On Wednesday we thought the wind had settled enough for a
trip on the Pacific Ocean. Jev had forewarned us that the crossing of the bar
would be 'exciting', and it didn't disappoint. Bl**dy terrifying was a better
description - but we rode the waves and got through the bar without breaking
anything. However… the sea beyond the bar was just as terrifying, and us land
lubbers were soon exhausted with hanging on for dear life. His aluminium boat is
very light, so it bounces over the waves, and crashes hard into the troughs.
There was a 1 metre swell, and 20 knot wind, making for hard conditions. Chris
was not a happy camper, finding it very difficult to stay standing in a rigid
riding position, hanging onto the boat for dear life. We took it slow, and
eventually found some respite from the wind in the lee of Whale Island.
Having made the
effort to get out there, we then attempted fishing - with some great results.
Seasoned fishermen like Jevon are not impressed by Kawhai catches, but we were
delighted to catch six of them, a tiny schnapper, two tiny rock cod, and some
others. We threw most of them back, keeping just the four largest kawhai - each
about 22 inch long. We chuckled when we think of the elation of the Birmingham
Fishing Club when they catch 3 ounce tiddlers in the canal - these were REAL
fish! They were soon smoked and saved for eating at our Hamilton party on
Saturday night.
One
amusing hazard of their country lifestyle is that their chickens like coming
into the house. This wouldn't be so bad if they didn't leave their calling cards
everywhere?!
For our last night with Jevon & Nicky, we wanted to find a nice restaurant. After laboriously checking out just about every eating establishment on the main street, we settled on a new place near the harbour - Babinka Restaurant. We can highly recommend this. Very sparkling new, with an open plan kitchen cooking up wonderful Indian food.
On our last day in Whakatane, there was time for one last treat - Ice cream on the beach at Matata, Chris had her favourite Rum & Raisin, and I had my favourite Goodie Goodie Gumdrops. Quickly melting in the sun, a real kiwi delight…
HamiltonFor six lovely days, we stayed with our close friends Richard and Beverley in their wonderful home at Koromatua (west of Hamilton). Their 16 acres are filled with hundreds of olive trees, an avenue of chestnut trees down the drive, chickens, ducks and Dexter cattle. A couple of years ago we helped them harvest their crop of olives - into the exclusive 'Misty Grove' brand of extra virgin olive oil. Sadly the strong winds of cyclone Eve caused 7 of their olive trees to be blown over.
We knew that we couldn't catch up individually with everyone in Hamilton. Richard & Beverley very kindly offered to host held a party for us on Saturday night at their home. It was an excellent relaxed evening, thanks to our friend Diane (Gastronomique) for the platters of food (call her if you need catering, she's very clever!).
The
next day we checked out Peter & Brian's fantastic gardens near Koromatua.
They too had suffered wind damage, but their place looked absolutely splendid -
it's incredible how gardens only a few years old have grown so fast. Their
garden planning has resulted in a lush rural paradise, to be truly envious of.
I had lunch with my workmates at Hill Labs, and Chris caught up with her workmates at Health Waikato.
Auckland
The cyclone conditions continued when we spent our last few days in NZ, in Auckland.
We treated Mum & Dad to a dinner at the Killarney Street Brasserie. This started well with an offer to valet park our car. An impressive looking place, with a fancy glass enclosed wine 'cellar' in the middle of the dining room. The meal became a humorous farce though, with the food served on huge curved plates. They looked good but immediately proved impracticable, as any cutlery rested on the edge of the plate soon slipped down into the middle of the plate, resulting in the handles being covered in gravy. The first time this happened it was amusing, but by the fifth time it was infuriating! This was exacerbated by an inexperienced waitress who wasn't complimentary about the whole thing. It was an expensive, memorable (for the wrong reasons!) evening.
One task I had set myself while in NZ was to give father some more computer lessons, and to scan his memoirs into the word processor. This went well, and I hear that the memoirs are growing as quickly as his memory and imagination allow!
For one special evening, we stayed at Max's stately home 'Emerald Hill'.
He treated us to a most wonderful evening's entertainment...
Kiri
concert at the Aotea CentreDame Kiri Te Kanawa is probably the most famous New Zealander, world famous for her singing - a true diva. Peter Jackson is getting lots of publicity at the moment, but Kiri had been in the news for many years. Kiri has chosen to spend most of her life away from NZ, making her rare NZ performances extra special, 'homecoming'. This concert was with Dame Malvina Major, another world class opera singer born in NZ. They were both under the teaching of Dame Sister Mary Leo in their early days of singing.
This concert, on her 60th birthday, was the launch function for the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, a charitable body to encourage and develop young NZ singers. It is a fantastic asset for NZ to have - a role model with funds to boot! It was the most glittering evening we've ever been to, Auckland's rich and beautiful gathered to listed to a fantastic performance by the Diva's and their talented support musicians. Jonah Lomu made a surprise appearance, a sad spectacle to see him struggling to walk to the podium.
AGP on WaihekeOur final day in NZ coincided with the 12th 'Annual General Picnic' - a circle of our friends (from Waikato University days) hold a grand picnic every year, in great style. This year's picnic was held on Waiheke Island, a short boat trip from Auckland. We were feeling quite anxious about being on the boat, as the high winds had caused many crossings to be cancelled. But good luck shined on us, and cyclone Ivy settled down just in time. We had a good crossing of the harbour - about 45 minutes. Chatting away, then suddenly we were there! Last time on the island was when I was 7 years old. I had been expecting to see huge ostentatious houses closely built together (like Howick at sea), but fortunately this was not the case. The Mud Brick Vineyard and restaurant was our venue, for oodles of champagne, yummy canapés, smorgasbord of main and very tasty desserts. We met up with many of those who had travelled to the 10th AGP in San Francisco.
RarotongaWhen we noticed that our holiday was going encompass our 10th wedding anniversary, we thought that it would be nice to celebrate it in style. We spent a wonderful week's honeymoon on Rarotonga (Cook Islands) in 1994 and saw an opportunity to have a 2nd honeymoon there in 2004. Air New Zealand offer a round trip via the Cook Islands, so we took advantage of that deal. We compromised in order to maximise our time in NZ, and so planned for just fives days (four nights).
Ironically, my brother David announced that he & his with wife wanted to come with us, and then my Mum & Dad said they would come also! So our second honeymoon with spent in the company of family! It was great actually, probably been 30 years since I last went on holiday with them!!!
This was our third trip to Rarotonga, it is our favourite piece of paradise in the whole world. A small island with friendly people, good restaurants, great swimming & snorkelling. After our exhausting schedule in NZ it was wonderful to be able to relax on the beach, get bleary eyed at the sunsets, and sleep in late.
After much coaxing we managed to get my Mum into the swimming pool, and she shared her memories of riding her pony to school (and feeding it her sandwiches through the classroom window).
The favourite way of
travelling around Rarotonga is by motorbike. At every hotel, there's a row of
quite new motorbikes for rent. We hired one for four days, cost: NZ$75. Helmets
aren't worn, the speed limit is 60 km/h, the roads are good and the other road
users are friendly. All that's required is a Cook Islands Driver's Licence. The
front page article in the local newspaper was that the police are getting tough
on tourists, forcing them to undergo a practical driving test. I fronted up at
the police station at 3pm, to be told it was shut for the day, and to come back
tomorrow after 8am. Did so, only to be told that the driving tests didn't start
till 10am! So went back at 10am and prepared with 6 others to undertake the
test. The officer explained at we were to go along to the first intersection,
turn left, go to the next intersection, turn left, go to the end of the road,
turn left, go to the end of that road, turn left, and return to the police
station. That seemed easy enough… I set off first, with one other candidate
and the officer following on his bike. We went around the block easy enough, but
the other candidate was failed. The next two set off, only one returned, and
both were failed! The third set went off, and neither returned - they had become
lost as well! The last candidate made it back OK, and was duly passed. So - of
the 7 of us, only 2 passed, and all we had to achieve was going around the block
and not fall off/get lost/cause an accident!!!
Our favourite activity on Rarotonga has to be snorkelling. There are several marine sanctuaries ("Ra'ui") around the island, where sealife flourishes, and is amazingly tame. The best one is on the South side of the island at Titikaveka. The easiest way to find it is to park in the carpark opposite 'Fruits of Rarotonga' and walk west for 100 feet. We saw an incredible variety of fish, beautiful tropical colours, all shapes and sizes - including long thin flute fish. We also saw several clams, with have the most stunning irridescant purple colours. Important advice: bring 'reef shoes' or 'aqua socks', which can be bought for less than $10 from Warehouse.
We had great weather on the Cook Islands, and were quickly sunburnt. Silly us… One of the problems with snorkelling for two hours, is that you become sunburnt in odd places eg the backs of your knees. This sunshine made a great change from the most unseasonal weather we suffered in NZ.
We're now promoting the concept that a future AGP should be held there.
Next time we go to Rarotonga, we'll stay in one of the many private homes for rent, rather than a hotel. There's lots to choose from, definitely cheaper if there's several of you staying. http://www.ck/private.htm
Rarotonga to UK
The four weeks whizzed by at an amazing rate, and so we had to return to the UK. We'd maximised our time with family, leaving only 48 hours for the return trip. This meant no time for a stopover, instead flying direct to London. This had to be done in three hops. First a short flight to Tahiti, where annoyingly we had to get off the plane with all our hand luggage, wait an hour, and then get on again. Had a little zzz, then a longer flight to Los Angeles, another hours wait, then the long flight to London. 27 hours total flying in one go is a blimmin' hard journey, one that we'll try to avoid in the future - ok for the young at heart.
Our flight from LA to the UK was the nicest, flying over the rocky mountains and desert at dusk, snow on the hill tops, the lovely orange glow and long shadows of the setting sun, the lights of towns pinpointing the landscape. We flew directly over Las Vegas, but it was cloudy and we didn't see the famous lights.
This reminds me that on our journey to NZ, flying over Kabul, we saw balls of fire glowing spasmodically from the desert below (I think they were burning off surplus gas from oil fields rather than shooting missiles at us!)
Return to UK
After our extremely tedious journey from Birmingham to Heathrow, we weren't looking forward to the train journey. To our great delight, dear friends Angus & Anne offered to pick us up. It was wonderful to see them again, when we as very weary travellers emerged from our 27 hour flight from Rarotonga. Our suitcases were just as heavy as when we left four weeks earlier (we had optimistically thought that we would have one less suitcase on the return…). To our delight they had packed a hamper with essentials for our home warming - champagne, cheese, grapes etc, definitely the essentials. Plus a pre-cooked dinner for our first night. Thank you so much!!!
In little over an hour we were back at Loxley Square. We'd been hoping that
winter would have ended by the time we returned, but no. Spring had't yet
started, though there are blossoms on cherry trees and buds on other trees. No
sign of the squirrels we had been watching - they're tucked away somewhere
hibernating. In fact, we had one day of really heavy, soft, fluffy snow!
Our favourite niece Christina had been looking after our flat while we've been away, and it was looking great. She hadn't had any wild parties, just spent quiet time painting and contemplating. However, a savage squirrel had wrecked our bird feeder!
We sat and drank the champagne while watching Aidan & Racheal's wedding video, and slowly become overcome by jetlag! On the first night we slept well (sheer exhaustion) but suffered the effects of a confused body clock for the next few nights (waking at horribly early hours of the night). It took a week to come right.
Inevitably the first day back at work was a time of trying to cope with a huge backlog of messages and people wanting to see us. I had 382 emails on the first day back, while Chris was taken out to a pub lunch!
In Summary
The four weeks passed very quickly, the time in NZ was quite exhausting as we tried to see everyone (sorry to those we missed) and to do everything. But that was to be expected, and we knew that our time on the Cook Islands was going to be the relaxing bit of the holiday. It was!
Thank you so much for everyone's hospitality in NZ, especially Aidan & Racheal, Jevon & Nicky, Mum & Dad, Richard & Beverley and Max - for providing our accommodation. Your friendship and kindness are so very dear to us. We haven't really suffered homesickness for NZ, but have missed you so very much.
When will we be in NZ again? We hope to come back for Christmas 2005, but that all depends on Chris's Dad's health, Geoff's parents' health, our jobs, our long awaited grand children, etc.
Instead, NZ is coming to us - Aidan & Racheal have announced that they're coming to the UK in October 2004! While they're here, we hope to have a marriage reaffirmation ceremony in an old Church and to devour the tier of their wedding cake which we brought over.
In the meantime, we'll just have to remind ourselves of what Auckland looks
like, using the web camera on the Takapuna hotel, the Spencer On Byron.
http://www.manzana.co.nz/news/spenceronbyron.htm
and
by listening to Max's Saturday morning programme on Radio New Zealand
http://xtra.co.nz/broadband/0,,10980,00.html