Advertisement
Published: January 22nd 2010
P1070145
Our new hire car with registration DYC 1 - which Nath reckons meant dicey driving as I did all the trips in it!!Hobbits, fush and chups and more bloody sun burn!
With the weekend over Ben and Heather had to return to work and with Nath helping Ben out for the first few days I didn’t do much other than start researching (as usual) what we could do over our week there. But after 2 days sitting around I was bored so by the middle of the week Nath and I decided to walk around Tauranga town etc. Now since our arrival in New Zealand the weather had been unpredictable and mainly cloudy and cool. We had also already been told about the lack of ozone here and that we should cover up; however with all this in mind and after 10 days in Fiji we stupidly figured we’d be fine so didn’t bother covering up, hey, we thought, there’s not been any sun yet, what are the chances!. ……Pretty dam high it would seem!! We took a scenic walk to town and after a few hours shopping (souvenirs for Christmas presents bought) we started walking back in the boiling weather, slowly turning a nice “medium rare” colour. About half way back we stopped to get on a bus but
not knowing the area or bus routes we were unsure if a bus was coming and if it would be going anywhere near the house. So we just ended up having a little argument (stupid really - but I guess the heat had a lot to do with it) and then continued our long walk back getting sunburnt and also taking a wrong turn which really didn’t help! To add insult to injury I also forgot to take the house key with me so when we got back we had to sit outside for an hour until Ben and Heather got home from work - god dam it!!
That week we hired a little car so we could do some sight seeing of our own, we were busy looking for campervans online but hadn’t had any luck and needed to get out of the house. On collecting the car at the hire office we saw a list of people due to collect a car that day on the wall which made us hurt inside from hiding our laughter!…why you ask….Well the night before we were online getting quotes for the car hire and we couldn’t seem to get a
total price without putting all our details in. So with Nath never being happy to give out his details he made up some false ones instead. Which is how it came to pass that “Bob the Builder” was planning to hire a car in New Zealand - I nearly wet my self laughing so hard (obviously Bob is not that well know over here) Needless to say we didn’t say anything, bad karma probably but hey we didn’t want to look mad!!!
On our first trip we went to Matamata so I could go on the Lord of the Rings Hobbiton tour (on my own - Nath’s not that sad) that had been recommended when we were in Fiji. It was as described, a nice site but of course it hadn’t been used in years so all the old wooden hobbit holes of the village were over grown, but with a little imagination you could picture parts of the film again. They are due to be filming again come next march for “The Hobbit”, never mind I thought there’s no Elijah Wood in that one anyway!!! I was the only person on my own on this trip though and
P1070156
New trees being protected by fencing ready for the next movie I think the old guy who was our guide must have felt sorry for me, as he helped me take photos of me pretending to be a hobbit (ha these will be funny I thought, bet no one does this pose - stupid girl!!). I picked up (by subtly tying my shoe laces!!) a large pine cone on the way out of the site (covered with only a little sheep poo) to send to Mark, my other LOTR buddy; I knew he’d appreciate it, assuming I could get it through the post.
Next day we headed for Rotorua (once described as the town of the perpetual fart!! anyone who’s been will know what I mean) again to do some of the more touristy places. Starting at the Waio to pau Thermal wonderland to inhale loads of sulphur and other smelly gases oozing from the boiling mud pools. It was immense to think that so close to the surface there was bubbling hot water and worse just wanting to explode through. We saw a map that showed how volcanic the whole of New Zealand was and decided we wouldn’t mention that to anyone back home!! (D’oh!) After we were fully
P1070157
Sorry got a bit acrried away with the landscape photos satisfied that we smelt enough of eggs we made our way out to the Maori village cultural evening show. It was great even though it had started pouring with rain - told you unpredictable. We were the first ones in the hall of tables but right over one end where the “last minute bookers” were obviously put. Our table had about as much life as an Egyptian tome, two of the people being rude Ozy’s….”so are you guys here on vacation” I said, “no why would we need to do that, we live somewhere where its always sunny, unlike you hahahahaha” yeah well all I can say is melanoma!!
Anyway bar them the evening was great; there was a traditional Maori dance; the village chief who at first didn’t seem to speak English then turned out to be quite the comedian, the worrier dancers were, as they were meant to be, quite intimidating but fascinating to watch. It was very reminiscent of being in Fiji and we even had picked a “tribal leader” to represent our tribe (all the visiting tourists) at the ceremony - someone that was strong, and scary and fitted the role perfectly - Frank from
the Rhondda valley - shiver! We ate traditional Maori food cooked underground in a Hangi and then went on a moonlit glow worm walk. Honestly you’d think it was Christmas when the torches were handed out - they became light sabres, police interrogation lamps and aided in many other stupid impressions - and that was just us!!
By the end of the week, we headed back into town towards the mount to do the walk up it; having only managing to walk around it after our breakfast meet with Ben and Heathers friends. I can see why too, it was a bloody hot day and I think if I’d tried to climb that after eating I’d have rolled down the hill into the ocean!! We took the easier but longer path - easier my arse!! I think I must be much less fit than I think as people were jogging past, running past and even driving their motorised scooters passed us!! Well maybe not the last one, but we did feel very old and unfit - will try and work on that ….ok, deep down I know I probably won’t but we did make it to the top eventually
and enjoyed the views in the hot sun. Needles to say we got the bus back, having learnt our lesson the week before when we walked the length of Tauranga in the sun.
That afternoon I was due to join Heather and her mate on a sailing evening, where they allow members of the public to go out and practice how to sail a boat in team competitions. They had only been once before having missed the boat the second time, so they were really looking forward to this trip. I’d notice how windy it was that morning in the mount but didn’t think anything of it…..but even though we were on time, it turned out the waves were too rough for us beginners so we weren’t allowed out. Heather and her friend were gutted, oh well fish and chips here we come.
Can’t believe I’m writing about fish and chips but it does need saying. We went to this fish and chip shop on the marina, where rather than queue up for a small greasy piece of cod or haddock if you’re lucky, you actually choose a huge piece of fresh fish from the counter which they
P1070162
Me stood under the party tree (Fans will now what I mean) then batter and cook for you. There were so many types to choose from and I’d only heard of salmon so we got the others to order for us. It took a while to come but it was well worth it.
With our time in Tauranga coming to an end we still hadn’t decided on weather to tour NZ in a car and tent or camper car with a bed in it or a fully fledged Campervan. The daily look on local websites was becoming a pain and was no longer fun. Marge (Ben and Heathers campervan) was for sale, but we weren’t sure if we wanted a full camper at this point and didn’t want to spend the money at the time (wish we had now - see Christmas blog!!). With a trip to Auckland booked to visit Natalie and explore the Northlands we had our last night with Ben and Heather. First celebrating at Ben’s gallery opening for Eikona at the Tauranga hysterical village, sorry historical village and then going for Japanese food.
Next stop Auckland………..
Advertisement
Tot: 0.244s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 17; qc: 71; dbt: 0.113s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Russ
non-member comment
No Zorbing??
I can't believe that you went to Rotorua and didn't go zorbing!!!!!!!! Or the cable cars and the luge. Great views from the top though. I remember Rotorua, it stank. Went in to a quaint little fake english pub called the pheasant plucker and had sunday roast, which was nice..........