Blogs from East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 11

Hello from Napier, NZ. We are currently visiting the east coast of the North Island for a day. Napier is considered the Art Deco capital of the world (rivalling Miami). The town was destroyed by an earthquake and completely rebuilt in the early 1930s, the heyday of art deco architecture. Yesterday we visited Rotorua, kind of the Disney Land of New Zealand. The tourist draw is the geothermal/volcanic activity, that creates lots of geysers, sulphur vents and pools of hot boiling mud (downside: entire town smells like rotten eggs). Woo! We visited a spa and had mud baths, a sulphur bath and an hour long massage. The massage was worth the trip by itself! Earlier in the day, while staying in the coastal town of Whakatane ("wh" is pronounced like "f", so it sounds like faka-tah-nay, ... read more

Well the year is nearly over but I still remember the first day of this year vividly. Not only did I have a great night before, but stayed up partying till the sun came up 6am!! And what is even more special is that I was in Gisborne NewZealand, which is "officially" the first place in the world to see the sun. That is because the GMT timeline starts in there, so it is a special place to greet the New Year. Very funny moment when we were at the lookout with about 40 other people (kiwis and tourists alike), and I said to my cousin Anna "Wow-look at that beautiful skyline" And she replied "where'? as she looked around the carpark!! She has been in the city too long, because the word Skyline to her ... read more

Worked in the kitchens and waiting last night at Takapau town hall for a Lions function with 92 people. It was a 70's fancy dress theme with a buffet and plenty of booze. When the do finished there was an after dinner party which included drinking most of the empties / 70's Stage dancing and flower arranging. A bizzare but strangley cool experience having the town hall all to ourselves playing dancing queen to the max volume while sipping bottles of bubbly! (Many thanks to Rae (Cook) for the opportunity and accommodation). ps hope all had great time in Belgium at Joes do! ... read more

Hi all, Well pruning is easing off now as we're on the Sauvingnon Blanc Vines which tend to be younger and easier to cut than the Pinot Noirs, - also much higher up which is kinder on the old back! Played in a badminton tournament (or yankee as they call them over here?) in Waipukarau and managed to win a glue gun - an obvious prize , which will come in handy for gluing my 7 pound racket (thats the weight and the price) back together. Went to Wimbledon, the nearest town/village/house to where we are, only to find that the Wimbledon Finals were on so we stopped to have a Tui or two (the joys of not driving!). logging off ps - no wombles but one of the locals looked similar to Uncle Bulgaria, well ... read more

Hi all, Thanks for all the endearing comments - keep them coming! Last night we went to a big birthday party at the local firestation (small community) and would you believe it there was a scottish piper on the door squeezing his bag. Drinks were 5 dollars for the whole night which is more like 2 pounds and you just poured your own- a good night! Chatting to the piper, he allowed us to have a blow which was much harder than id ever expected?!- managing to get a whimperish fart out eventually - although im not so sure that was the bagpipes with all the straining? After a good ten minutes of getting comments such as dont give up your day job as your no good at your blow job, and cmon all it takes ... read more