09/10/11
Upon waking we resolved to see more of Wellington than the Irish bar and the motel bedroom. With this in mind we set off to the cable car that would take us to the botanical gardens complete with a look out over Wellington. After some two hours we had seen lots of pretty plants, been the dial of a sun dial (that said the time was wrong when we stood there) seen and observatory and generally pottered about.
Retuning to Bruce we set off to the other side of Wellington. As you know from our previous blogs such an activity in New Zealand does not normally present us with any serious traffic. Despite there being an international rugby match scheduled we had no problem driving just finding a parking space. Some 30 minutes later a nifty U-turn and some parking without regard to the junction nearby and we were ready to explore. One small problem… Bruce was a fair clip away from where we wanted to be.
Not to be deterred the three of walked along the prom and within no time were in the museum. We saw lots of things chronicling the innumerate seismic activity of New Zealand, learned how to earthquake our house and reviewed the immigration status of a number of people. Then came the interactive Hakka learning session. Well what a kafuffle. Alice could not get the computer to recognise her as a woman so did the man’s version and the three of us were less than convincing. The recording showed an overlay camp James, an uncoordinated luck and an overstretched Alice. Unsurprisingly we did not purchase the clip as a memento.
The evening well rugby of course. That said we decided to save some cash and reconvened to our motel for dinner and some sky TV rugby classics. Come on New Zealand!
10/10/11 Road trip part 2 and a strange strange local...
What a luxury it is to have a car. No more packing rucksacks and trudging to the bus station. Instead we though it all in Bruce and set off on our road trip part two. First up was gray town where the café, food and locality was far nicer then the name suggests. Soon after we were in Dannyberg which was co9led, smelly and damp. It did however herald the beginning of our adventure as here we turned right and headed off road. Alice best described the foray as “this is not just pissing pretending to be rural this is proper bloody rural.” Indeed she was correct as soon the road became a track, the only inhabitants were sheep and there was no one to meet… apart from some crazy local in his ute. We first met this gentleman complete with dirty trousers, cowboy hat and 5 days stubble, I a car park. He seemed odd but harmless enough. Sometime later we stopped to buy some duck eggs and he was there again. A little later we stopped at a pub for a drink but it was closed. As sure as day follows night he was there again. He ambled over put his arm on the door where the window was rolled down and began to talk. Soon after in a creepy manno9r he asked whether we were ‘looking for accommodation.’ At this point we were somewhat freaked out and James almost stamped on the accelerator to get away.
So why were we in the rural area? Well in true Alice, James and Luke style we were in search of the lesser visited waterfall. After following some rather sketchy directions we eventually arrived. There was not a sole about but there was a bin within which James found an old pair of flip flops that he thought he could use to protect his feet in the water! Well anyway we got down to the waterfall and it was beautiful if not a little cold. The sun had gone in on cue and it was rather windy. Not to be deterred I striped off and elicited a promise from James that he would join me in the water if I went in first.
After some counting down I took the plunge and jumped in. Out came an involuntary scream and much flailing about as it was so cold it took my breath away. For a few seconds I feared I would not be able to get out as I was freezing and it was slippy. With some effort and a few scrapes I was out. James and Alice decided that they would wait until summer to swim and I shivered away. It was there we realised that we had no photos of my heroic stupidity. The only sensible course of action… to jump back in and do it all over again!
11/10/11- 12/10/11 Alice last days
Our time with Alice was drawing to a close. How had two weeks gone by so fast. Why was one of our best friends due to get on a plane and fly 12,000 mile? Well because we had so much fun the time had flown by. Not to waste the last few days we embarked on a wine tour and a trip to the local pub for the quiz. One small problem on the quiz front we had zero kiwi knowledge. Despite this we did not loose coming a respectable 8th out of 12. This was due to James and Alice’s combined efforts as I am crap and read the newspaper throughout!
The last day and James had to go back to work. Alice and I hit the mean streets of Napier, enjoyed a breakfast and then headed off on an impromptu wine tour (without the tasting) with Ross. Originally he had asked us to lend him some muscle to help set up a table for his new wine tour venture. In the end the path was too muddy so instead we had a tour round, saw vineyards and visited an orange and lemon farm. This was very exciting for us somewhat common a garden for Kiwi’s as they all have them growing in their own gardens.
But no matter what we did to distract ourselves the time came for Alice to head to the airport and fly back to blighty….
13/10/11- 19/10/11 The week that was.
With Alice gone it was back to work and time to recuperate from the hectic pace we had maintained during her visit. The weekend was spent sitting in the garden and doing nothing save watch the rugby. Oh and the rugby what a poor decision to send of the Welsh man. How crap were French if they could not beet the Welsh by more than one point and without the sending off could we have seen a welsh victory. We will never know.
With the all blacks victory the collective mental health of the Kiwi’s is good. They have invested so much mental and physically they really need to win. A match against France should probably facilitate this.
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