A happy-go-lucky English rambler dude goes to New Zealand for a year. Here he interfaces with some of those he left behind and details his nefarious activities. Or summat.
Recently clicked on MP3s - 7th June 2005 The Lucksmiths - Warmer Corners
Jens Lekman - When i said i wanted to be your dog
The Trashcan Sinatras - Weightlifting
Teenage Fanclub - Man Made
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Eels - Blinking Lights
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
Hmmm. Feeling slightly odd in an Auckland internet caff, sitting next to an utter tosspot screaming tactical instructions at his mates playing some Half-Life bobbins.
I've been camping in some secluded bays up in the very far north of NZ for the last 4 days, so to suddenly arrive back in the human balti pot that is Auckland, is slightly disorientating, and not particularly condusive to writing posts for my website, anyway i'll try and concentrate on the good stuff that i've been up to since retiring from the Kiwi fruit game.
First of all stayed at Tauranga bay, after visiting the monument to the Rainbow Warrior in Matauri Bay. The monument is in a beautiful spot, up on a headland overlooking the bay and lots of islands. I happily whiled away an hour or so enjoying the views, pondering life and thinking what a bunch of arseholes the French secret service are. Tauranga bay was wonderful, but i left my towel there, so memories of it will always hold mixed emotions for me. It's a gorgeous spot, but hey, that was a real big, soft, snuggly towel. Met a pleasant Irish bloke called Jeff there, and we decided to meet up again the next night in Tapotupoto bay.
From Tapotupoto i set out the next day to visit Cape Reinga, NZ's equivalent of Lands End, and with an equivalent number of tourists present. I didn't fancy hanging around there all day, taking pictures for people while they stood in front of a sign saying how far it was to London etc, so i bogged off down the huge Te Warahi beach, heading for Cape Maria van Dieman, the most westerly spot in NZ, and happily not accessible by coach. For the rest of the day i only met two other people, an English couple doing the 3 day walk i had considered but wrote off as i didn't fancy the ambitious hitch hiking it would have involved. Cape Maria was an utterly isolated spot, with the Pacific and Tasman sea bashing into one another, visibly, in the distance. Cue more sitting around soaking in the views and pondering life - fear not, when i finally get this whole life thing sussed out you guys will be the first to know about it. I can't be far away from the answer, as i've been putting in plently of hours working on it lately :o)
Ooh! Almost forgot to mention the Te Paki Sand dunes / mountains, the fun-est sand on earth! I was never a big fan of sand up until now, it seems to get everywhere, and does it's best to break your camera whenever you take it near a beach. But i'd never encountered sand in these quantities before, massive sand dunes 100+ metres high. It was like a film set from Star Wars / Laurence of Arabia, and i spent a couple of happy hours scrambling up the dunes, and then running down almost vertical slopes, causing huge sand avalanches with every footstep, and taking pictures of two Germans who had progressed from simply running down the dunes, to an extremely modern looking, free form, dance / spasm descent of the dunes, as well as two irish guys who had the forethought to bring some boogie boards with them.
11:35 am
