CONTINUING ADVENTURES ON THE COROMANDEL PENINSULA That evening we made another awesome meal (again mainly thanks to Richard). Roast potatoes, fried carrots, ridiculously good sauce and much more were all on the menu. We even knocked up a chocolate mousse dessert! The next morning (22nd Nov) we decided to head to Whitianga to the 'On the Beach Hostel' where you could hire kayaks for free. We set off hitch-hiking and had a bit of trouble getting out of HaHei. This was to be expected though as so few people live there! Eventually a couple of French-Candians pulled over and offered to [View Full Entry]

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SURFING IN GISBORNE I went to check out the beach (16th Nov) and it was indeed pretty flat. Probably just about surf-able though so I decided I'd play some guitar by the beach, then stock up on supplies in the supermarket and then head back down in the evening with a board and wetsuit. My first impressions of Gisborne hadn't been spectatular, it was a bit too full of kids driving in squares in souped up cars for my liking. However having moved to the YHA and walked to the beach I fell in love with the place. The YHA was [View Full Entry]

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On the 12th of November Rodrigo was originally only supposed to be working from 10-1pm but he called in to help with renovations in the pizza bar he works and ended up working all day (12 hours or something stupid in total). I spent most of the day hanging out with Jon in town which was cool, I also made a significant start on my new book, '7 years in Tibet' which Sarah (One of Alex's housemates in Wanaka) kindly gave me. It's a great book so far! Jon cooked me a nice lunch in the staff quarters of the hostel [View Full Entry]

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The surf that afternoon (8th November) was the best I've had yet, the sun was shining and Dave (the surf-guru) hired me a winter wetsuit so it was nice and warm! Dave had offered to take me out to the surf-spot and back and also hire me all the gear for $50 which was a good deal! Not only this but while I was in the water and he was doing his surf-lesson with 2 girls (surf-lessons cost $80) he kept coming over to me and giving me tips which was very kind of him. I learnt a lot and despite [View Full Entry]

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To tell the story of my first night (and some of the second day) in the Mt Aspiring Range I'm now going to turn to a journal that I felt the urge to write the night after my arrival. Here is word for word, the account I wrote while sitting in a massive valley with no other human in sight! Arrival Night (1st Nov) "I put my thumb up by the sign, 'road ends', civilisation ends perhaps. Only the odd hut and track is scattered through the otherwise wild countryside. Huts with only cold water, no electricity, no anger. 30 minutes [View Full Entry]

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I spent the rest of that day (27th) making the most of the fact that I've got a whole dorm to myself and just worked on a couple of songs, both which are now nearly finished, they're called 'folded' and 'emptying my pockets'. I felt pretty stuck in Dundedin, the more I've been here in NZ and seen all this great landscape the less I can stand cities now. I was just itching to see some nature but none seemed within walking distance and I felt rather caged, hence I just played guitar looking forward to getting out the next day! [View Full Entry]

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That Night (Oct 21st) I had a chat with a hyperactive Kiwi guy called Alasdair who offered me a lift as far as Haast tomorrow on my quest to get to Queenstown. He was a very kind guy who was very excited about some beautiful stones he'd found on a local beach. He told me how he'd tried the same chalet lookout walk that I had but had given up once he got to one of the river crossings and deemed it impossible to cross. He seemed pretty impressed when I told him I'd made it across (despite the fact it [View Full Entry]

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That night (Oct 17th) I met German guy called Fredrick who was delighted to be able to have a go on my guitar! He was really good and taught me a lot of stuff, particularly some great songs off 'Into The Wild'. I taught him a couple of songs too and the night seemed to fly by. There was unfortunately one of the tour bus groups in that night who were incredibly loud, they seemed to be touring NZ on some sort of huge piss-up, just getting drunk in every town in NZ seemed to be the plan! Each to their [View Full Entry]

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It continued to rain all day (14th Oct) and although I did manage a trip to town (to replace my broken headphones) which got me soaked I spent most of the day just relaxing with Rodrigo, Griselda and John. Later on my 2 French roommates and their Brazilian friend got involved in the conversation too and we spoke for hours about the countries we live in and how different they are! It was a really interesting and eye-opening conversation. The next morning was birthday time!! (15th Oct). As I entered the kitchen I got many birthday greetings and the sun was [View Full Entry]

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I woke up at 6 am (10th Oct) and made the 40 minute walk to the ferry in the freezing cold! After a bit of waiting around we boarded and the ferry left about 30 minutes late at 8:50. The ferry ride was interesting. About an hour into it an announcement was made that the sea was extremely rough and that everyone should sit down or hold onto hand rails. People were desperately grabbing sick bags and everywhere you turned someone was puking into one, this didn't help in terms of trying to contain your own sickness! Everywhere I moved someone [View Full Entry]

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