Blogs from East Coast, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 12

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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Porangohan June 9th 2005

Past few days have been quiet, had a night barbeque - (Ostrich - a bit like steak!). Doing a bit of farm work, catching a few bubbles (gucuzzis) and generally milling. Gem did her first day working for her mum and is still here to tell the tale. I on the other hand am having problems with registration as my 70 pages of evidence is not 100% perfect as offcoarse it has to be to work here (now i know why there's a shortage of physios!). ... read more
Hard life!

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast June 8th 2005

Hi Gem here, Not much doing that last couple of days. Shown Dave the exciting sights of waipukarau, which took all of five minutes. its small but very friendly. Dave now has bank account and insured to drive, of which he is opting out of doing for the moment seen as though he has ferried me round for the past three years, only fair really. You will be all glad to know Dave has nearlly mastered all the chickens names and the controls to the hottub!! Slow day today, colder weather than usual and raining (oh the memories of home). Been to the hill that has the longest place name in the world, see title. Loosely translated without the long story behind it as 'the hill where tamatea, circumnavigator of the lands, played his flute for ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Porangohan June 2nd 2005

HI THERE! well the flight was very comfortable - 4 seats to myself, watched many films, played many games...and then watched more films and played more games ..... and so on! Up early this morning feeding chickens and sheep etc my usual routine at the crack of dawn??????? dont feel tired atall yet - my jetlag i think hasnt arrived yet unlike my luggage which was a shock. The farms huge - will send pics when i work out how too. just about to have a dip in the hottub, you know how it goes. seeya!... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier May 17th 2005

We've spent the past week in Hawke's Bay wine country staying at 'Gannet Lodge' in Clive. The name refers to the large colony of Australasian Gannets nearby at Cape Kidnappers who are here pretty much all year round except May and June - still, this gives us an excuse to come back one day. On tuesday, we climbed up and over the top of Te Mata peak (for fantastic views of the bay and surrounding region) and then down to a giant redwood forest, before turning round and climbing back over the peak to return to the car (a circular walk would have been nicer!). On the way home we treated our weary bodies to some honey-tasting at a honey farm and some wine-tasting at a vineyard. (We freely admit that we are not nearly as ... read more
Barbie at Clive

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier May 15th 2005

Hello again! Well this being on the road sure beats working... We've had the most glorious week weather-wise and driving around NZ has been a real pleasure. One of the nice things about NZ is that the scenery is gorgeous (and we know that it gets better on the South Island), and outside of Auckland the roads are reasonably quiet, so we are able to meander about the country looking at nice views, enjoying the weather and generally taking our time about getting places. We left the Coromandel on Thursday and had a long day's driving to Rotorua. This was just a stop-over as we were aiming for Napier but it was too far for a day's drive. The drive from the Coromandel was typically stunning, along the coast for most of the way and through ... read more
Baby kiwi fruit
The sea shell auditorium
Another art deco street

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier May 8th 2005

I'd wanted to come to Napier for three things - the Art Deco town itself, a Hawke's Bay Wine tour and to see the Gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers. In the end I only managed one of the three.... Mothers Day seemed to interfere with anyone wanting to run a wine tour and the Gannets have mostly all sensibly left for warmer climates over the winter!! Looks like I'll be back later in the year! Napier, a port on the east coast, is famed for its Art Deco buildings.... and there are lots of them. An earthquake in 1931 (measuring some 7.9 on the Richter Scale) flattened much of the city centre. The people of the town took this as an opportunity to rebuild in a new style and hence much was rebuilt in the Art ... read more
Napier
Napier
Napier

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier November 24th 2004

Hello again Left Wellington Sunday am and drove to Napier. Weather was good and had a BBQ with Joy Trevor Sarah Lisa and 2 friends Went into Napier Mon am and did the art deco walking tour - highly recommended. Back to Joy's and out for a tour of vineyards and lunch then on to Taupo. As we arrived we saw a house coming down the road a more literal meaning to someone moving home - see photo Tuesday did a tour around Taupo in the am and saw first of our geothermal sites Took a sailing boat trip on the lake after lunch to see ancient Maori carvings - actually carved in 1979 but in the ancient style. Enjoyed the sail though with full sails up. Joan not sure about sliding around as boat tilted ... read more
Art Deco in Napier
More art deco
Movin house NZ style

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier December 12th 2003

I can't help posting a few more pics. This is the crew and their tattoos!... read more
Jennie
Veronica
Jill

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier December 11th 2003

The past three weeks of sailing were incredible! Veronica and I left the Alvei today and watching it sail off without us was like watching our house and family drift away. But the money has run out and it's time to work. I'll miss everything about sailing, including getting up at 4:00am for watch, eating Fritjof's "kerosene pie" (this was a veggie pie gone very wrong), the dolphins that swim along side the boat (at night they are just glowing outlines because of the bioluminescence in the water), listening to Jared (the first mate) tell stories about his tattoos and his jail time, singalongs and jamming out in the saloon. I won't miss weighing anchor actually. That's just a pain in the butt. The achor is a ton and the chain probably more than that. And ... read more
Party with the Crew!
Singalong
Rachel and Alvei

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier December 9th 2002

Napier was destroyed in 1931 by a large earthquake, the town was quickly rebuilt in the style of the time, Art Deco. Napier is now renowned as one of the world’s best examples of Art Deco architecture. For $2 from the visitors centre a map of the town with descriptions of the best buildings can be bought. Following this leads you round the town in a couple of hours. I tried to take a photo of every building on the map, but can’t remember which building is which now. I stayed in Stable Lodge Backpackers, a really nice little place. With free Internet use, the first since San Francisco. I went to Cape Kidnappers with Sandra and Cheika from Germany and Japan. Cape Kidnappers is so named because when Captain Cook set anchor there and went ... read more
Art Deco Arch
Cape Kidnappers
Gannet Colony




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