World Update #4

Well I've just read my last update and a lot has happened since then and it wasonly a short time ago.I managed to get to Stockholm with Sandra, Kristy and Chanel. We stayed at ahotel near the city and had a great time. I caught up with some ultimateplayers and played some indoors. They were recovering from a hangover the nightbefore so instead of playing straight away we started off playing some indoor soccer.

Well not being terribly co-ordinated with my feet I didn't contribute ahell of a lot. It got a sweat up though so we were well warmed up by the timewe started to play ultimate.I managed to be too smart for my own good and caught the disc with my mouth atone point. My lip started to gush blood about so I ran up to the changing roomsand left a nice colour in the white hand basin by the time I was cleaned up.I've never had a fat lip before and it didn't help the alcohol consumptionlater that night! I did manage to get on the court and play some more though. At the gym therewas a couple who were just watching. They came out with us that night and Ireally had a blast with them. Bjorn and Jenne were soo cool I arranged to meetthem the following day with Bjorn's two nephews. We went to Junibacken which isa kids museum of all the Swedish childrens stories. That was fun for me too asI know a couple of stories. One you might know of is Pippi Longstocking.Anyway the trip was great and I got a chance to catch up with Annika (my cousinof the same age) and Arvid (her man) and their mates. Also my little cherub -Ebba. She is Annika's daughter. A difficult one to win-over but I think I mightbe creeping into her good books.Since then I've had my contract at Cable Corp extended. They are going thru amajor restructure and some redundancies were announced that means that by Maynext year I'm going to be looking for work. That ties in fairly well with mytravel plans anyway so I'm not worried.There are some changes afoot in the flat. Three people are soon to be leavingus and some new ones to come in. Our place seems like Grand Central Station attimes but this is the first time so many of the actual flatmates (ie. notdossers = people staying with us) are leaving. It seems strange to have theflatmates go as we have been together for a long time now. I unfortunatelyhaven't made the best of it and still do not really know them that well. I'msad to see them go.Sue and I have just come back from Murcia in the south of Spain. One day brightblue skies with puffy white clouds to dim grey sky (if you are lucky enough tosee it!) and white ground - it was snowing when we came back. The temperaturechange was a should to my body. From 18 degrees C to sub-zero in England.Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (sorry for the repeat there for those that have already heardthat one!).The trip was great and just what we both needed. We stayed at Las Lomos whichis a Hyatt resort mainly for UK golfers. This didn't stop us enjoying playingtennis and riding mountain bikes around the local area. Most of the time wasspent "chilliing". Someone got merrily drunk one night and the other got zappeddrunk on his birthday. Ooops I wasn't supposed to let on which story related towhich person. Too late now. For those of who don't know I turned 30 on the15th.Before you start bombarding me with the old-timer rubbish I am in the bestshape of my life and doing more than I ever have done. And no I didn't need tosay that just to reassure myself that I can still hack-it. So there.Speaking of being drunk. A young 29yr old got himself into quite a state acouple of weeks back. That was just before the first test between NZ andEngland in the netball series (of course we won). Without going into the gorydetails it is enought to say that I have never felt worse in my entire life.Thanks to the lovely ladies who took care of me that night. I would name thembut I am only certain of two of them and wouldn't want to stick my foot in itby mentioning or not mentioning someone!Later that week I farwelled Susie who is returning to the States. She playedultimate with our team over here and has been studying english, just like me!Well her studies are a little higher up the ladder than my GCSE. Whichincidentally is going well. I've managed to bash out three assignments now.I've almost finished reading Jane Eyre which is a cool book. Have a read if youget a chance. I'm slowing down with the reading now though as when I finishJane Eyre I'll have to start Macbeth or poetry by Thomas Hardy. Neither ofwhich I particularly care for. To be honest I haven't read any of TH's poemsbut I've never been into poetry and I'm not expecting that to change anytimesoon.Things are afoot with our ultimate team in the UK too. We are trying to decidehow to tackle 1998. There is the opportunity to do really well next year andchallenge the top teams. Our problem at the moment (as with any amateur/socialsport) is that some players do not want to be competitive and some do. It willbe interesting to see what happens.I'm going to spend Xmas in the north of Sweden with relatives on my mums side.I'm a tad nervous about the whole thing as I won't know anyone except forJohan-Peter who I met in London just before he left to go home. It will begreat though meeting up with a whole bunch of my relies and I am really lookingforward to it. This, after all, was my main reason for coming over to this sideof the world - to meet my relatives. Well actually it was my ONLY reason forcoming over here. I seem to have got side-tracked along the way and taken mytime in getting to Sweden. I still plan to spend summer there but that is inJuly/August.Thinking about my relies makes me think about how I felt coming back intoGatwick from Spain. I am beginning to feel like this is where I should havebeen all my life. I am starting to feel "at home" on this side of the world.Don't panic mum. I will come and visit you (if you are nice to me and stoptelling me what a prat I am at times!). Well, what haven't I mentioned?? Oh yeah. Since I last emailed two of my Kiwi cousins have come on-line. Hi Dan and Em and Howe's. Good to be in contact!Also I have started to email the Swedish relies more frequently. Wait till theystart to see my jokes! They won't ever invite me over to Sweden again!Hope this finds you well and I guess it's a great time to say have a sloshinglygood Christmas. Try to remember what you did on New Years Eve and don't maketoo many of those nasty New Years resolutions that you are going to feel guiltyabout later.Lots of love to you all,Peace and humptiness

World Update #3

My email has been down the past week so anything you sent has been lost & my

outgoing messages appear to have disappeared too. Please resend any messages to

me.

Just had a brilliant weekend in Stockholm. It snowed on Sunday which was really

neat. Boring for you UK lot but for someone from NZ it's a buzz. It was my

first decent snowfall.

Caught up with my cousin Annika and also met some new ultimate players over

there thanks to John Falck. Via them I met up with a crazy couple - Bjorn &

Jenne. Has heaps of fun with them and also Bjorn's two nephews Johan & Kevin (6

& 2). We went to Astrid Lindgren's museum (Pippi Longstocking author).

Rest of the time was spent ticky-touring with Sandra, Kristy and Chanel (prob

spelt that wrong!).

I even sang a swedish drinking song with a taxi/tour driver!

Had a great time!

Peace to you all

A Jaunt Around Kiwi Land

After picking Jen up from the airport we caught the midnight view from Mt Victoria and then went to a hotel care of my mother.

Then we shot off to Castlepoint with Warren. He went bush to shoot wild goats whilst Jen & I did very little. We slept mainly but it was nice to be out in the bush.

We then took the ferry to commence the “South Island trip”.

First activity was walking the Abel Tasman. Described as a beach walk by some it follows the coastline along the national park.

It’s a 3-day trek with the option of using huts or camping. We camped which meant carrying the tent and also cooking equipment.

A good bit of exercise to get us started.

Then we headed off down the west coast. Not a lot to mention but we did stop at Hokitika and investigated some greenstone shops. There is a big difference between touristy and quality – in price as well of course.

Also along the coast, which was very hard to see due to the bad weather, was the Pancake Rocks of Punakiki. There is a blowhole here which if you are lucky and it’s high tide blows up somewhat like a geyser. Unfortunately for us it wasn’t high tide but it was impressive none-the-less.

We stopped at both the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers to walk to the terminal points. One of our big regrets was not walking onto the glacier. My cousin Dan and his girlfriend Jen toured the South Island also (at a different time) and said it was excellent.

Then Haast Pass beckoned. There are loads of DOC (Dept. of Conservation) walks along the way and we stopped off at many of them to walk the forests and investigate waterfalls.

Wanaka brought us closer to adrenaline city – Queenstown – and got us in the mood for spending some money on the great outdoors.

Firstly we went white water sledging, which involved putting on wetsuits and “sledging” down grade 3 / 4 rapids. This was lots of fun. Jen was much better at it than I was.

At the end of the trip we were allowed to hold onto a jet ski and be pulled up and down the river at great speed.

In addition we were given the option to jump off a 10-foot natural ledge in the rocks into the river.

Jen, who was either braver or hadn’t done it before and hence know the risks, was one of the first to jump. Having stood at the top of swimming platforms and also done some nasty belly flops I knew it could be quite painful if done wrong.

It took be 4 goes to summon up the courage to jump. It was fine in the end and a great buzz to know I’d done it after being so scared.

In Wanaka we walked along the “2000 years” footpath that showed historic events across the millennia. There was a heavy amount of Scottish history which pleased Jen of course, being Scottish.

There was a great local walk called Diamond Lake on a private farm which ended in 360-degree views over Lake Wanaka and the surrounds.

We stayed a night in Glenorchy which is about an hour north from Queenstown. Around there a couple of walks were taken in before the big drive to Christchurch.

There we met up with some kiwi friends of mine ex-Scotland. We also checked into the Orana Wildlife Park, Antarctic Museum and the Cathedral. Well Jen saw the cathedral anyway. No wizards to be seen.

Whilst there we swam with hector dolphins in Akaroa. Not quite the swimming with dolphins you see in the brochures as it was in the cold sea and it was raining. Plus these dolphins, which can only be seen around the New Zealand coastline, are very small. Still it was worth seeing them.

Then Kaikoura for some Maori culture. We went on a tour which taught us the basics of Maori protocol and was a great tour.

While I zoomed around a farm on a quad bike Jen went for a kayak in the sea.

Hanmer Springs was a welcome break and the first time we really slowed down to relax. Just as well there are great thermal hot pools there then eh?

I had a great massage and we also took in a cool crazy golf / maze park. The maze was well thought out and surprisingly exciting.

Oh and then there’s the wee bungy jump. Expecting it in Queenstown weren’t you?!

After quit a long and luxurious rest in Wellington with mum and Warren we took off for the North Island.

Conscious of time and the lack of it we didn’t see as much and spent more time in the same places to relax more.

First stop was a visit to a Swedish family friend in the retirement town of Waikanae.

After having missed doing the Routeburn track or some similar NZ Great Walk we were trying to do a walk around Mt Taranaki. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t assisting us and after kicking around in New Plymouth for 2 days we decided time was running out and we should move on. 

So we missed out on the mountain but did take in the New Zealand stock car champs in Stratford, the Pukeiti Rhododendron Trust, some Scottish piping and dancing in the local park and the park light up at night.

Then our first stop at Waitomo (yes we did it twice). We did a great bush walk at night and by day to see glowworms. Unless you are fussed about seeing them in a cave it’s a great no cost alternative to the caves. You see plenty of glowworms too.

We took the caving alternative as well, which was one of the trip highlights. It was a well organizing trip with lots of variety and the thing we remember is well-timed food breaks.

At the holiday camp I spent lots of time on the trampoline with the kids. A mixed bunch from France, Africa and New Zealand.

Then across to Rotorua and our longest stay of the trip. We had decided to avoid the very touristy Whakarewarewa and take in Waimanga and Wai-O-Tapu in stead.

Although they are both thermal parks the scenery was very different and hence both were good to visit. We also took in the impressive Lady Knox geyser.

Then one of the most amusing things of our trip was a Maori concert. It was done by a local family and the cost was very cheap. The group comprised of only 6 people on stage and crossed 3 generations. You got the general idea but the quality was lacking severely.

After much persuasion I managed to get Jen to take the gondola to the luge park. This was great fun. Five rides later we considered ourselves experts.

A lunch side-trip took us to Hamilton for a few hours to meet an old friend of mine.

Then back to Waitomo to do the bush walk yet again. We actually missed part of it at night the first time and it was well worth it to visit a second time.

Then back across the country (we zigzagged a fair bit) to the Huka Falls which would be better named the Huka Flow in terms of what you see. Still another good thing to see and like so much of New Zealand’s treasures it’s free.

We also took in the Aratiatia rapids which involved waiting for the water to be released from the dam to burst down the valley. It didn’t exactly burst but was fun to watch.

And our last stop was perhaps the best.

Although we’d missed Mt Taranaki we were thinking we might be lucky with the weather and catch the Tongariro National Park on a good day.

We weren’t terribly hopeful as the weather had been iffy the entire trip but low and behold the day we were to tackle the Tongariro Crossing it was perfect.

Being the nutters we are we decided to take in the summit of Ngarahoe as well which added 3 hours to a walk that was quoted to take 7 to 8 hours.

In actual fact the main walk took us five and a half but we were almost running the last 3 hours to catch our ride back to the accommodation (start and end points differed).

Then back to mums for great food, warm beds and time to relax.

I now feel a whole lot better saying I come from New Zealand as I’ve now seen a lot of the place. Having said that I have mentally planned all the things I didn’t see and would do on another trip of the country.

Plus I’ll have to make sure Jen has her license as I ended up driving 3,500 kilometres in the month.

Whew!