Angry locals and a two taxi town!

 

So, as we continued our trek following Scotland we had a few days “off” before heading up to Picton at the north of the south island (try keep up folks) and from there, we would catch the ferry to Wellington for the next stage of the road trip.

As ever, it was an early start on the Saturday morning, we had to be at the port for 1.30pm to catch the 2.15pm ferry. So packed and and ready to rock, we hit the road for a trek through the northern part of the south island (I did tell you to try and keep up).

To be honest, not much really happened on the first leg to our first stop, very nice mountains, forest and other such things, but nothing that I though would make a worthy addition to my memoirs (not that anything else I’ve mentioned so far is, but hey.) We stopped after a few hours drive at a nice little beach about half way to Picton, it may well have been nearer, but my lack of note keeping is making this considerably tougher than it should have been (damn it all to hell!)

Before we left I heard someone say that we need to stop and see the seals on the way up, I had (wrongly) assumed that there was some kind of wildlife park on our route and was being taken for a tour of it, I thought that this would be a waste of time as we were on a tight timeline and had to make the ferry, not for the first time on this trip, I was wrong.

At the beach there were seals, real (as opposed to stuffed ones I suppose) in the flesh seals! The camera was out in the a flash (see what it did there!) I started wandering about to find a good place to shoot from (not that kind of shooting, this is getting complicated) and a hopefully willing subject that would let me photograph them and not have to pay them anything for the pleasure, I was in luck!

My “willing” subject

Any closer and I would have been on first name terms!

Now this was great! here I was being David Bellamy! Here I was, in my element, this was the life! Then, for no apparent reason and nothing to do with being too close to it, the seal started to get up and shout at me! I beat a hasty retreat. After upsetting the locals, we headed for the ferry, another very lovely, but dull journey continued to the ferry port at Picton.

We arrived with time to spare and headed straight to the port to board, it was past lunchtime and we were all needing a refreshment and something to eat. (Refreshment, read beer).

Once boarded and refreshed (that just does not sound right) we settled down for the journey, I went up on deck just in time to see us sailing through the stunning Marlborough sounds. For reasons a will never fully understand I had decided that I would not need my camera on the upper decks, so had left it in the van, I hope you can all forgive this more terrible mistake, I’m still not sure if I can forgive my self.

Once we docked in Wellington, it was off the ferry and to our campsite that was about 30 or 40 minutes drive away, in a place called Upper Hut. The normal jokes were exchanged, mostly about pizza hut and Lower Hutt (this is also an actual place that we had to drive through, to get to Upper Hutt) and all of this is located in the southern part of the north island (I did warn you at the start). We get to the site, got sorted out and it was back to town and the fanzone for a few refreshments with people we had met down in Invercargill (south of the south island for those for are keeping track). A generally good time was had by all and we agreed that we must do it again the next day, before the rugby (which was the whole reason for being in New Zealand after all).

We started the next day by getting a train from Upper Hutt station to Wellington, a supposed ten minute journey or so our tour guide (Colin) had said, eh no. An hour after getting on the train we are in Wellington city centre and it is chucking it down, the decision to chuck away the ponchos we got at the Georgia game now suddenly seemed slightly premature.

We head into a taxi and then to the main museum in Wellington. We aim to get a little local culture before partaking in a little Scottish culture before the game! In the museum it is “Scottish” day, with various events on throughout the day, pipers, highland dancing and other equally stereotypically Scottish events. In light of this, we went to part of the museum that dealt with the history of the local Māori and found a live performance of various haka being performed. Now, for those of you who think that the haka is just an all blacks thing, you are sadly mistaken. “haka” simply means dance (or so I was informed).

The, well I suppose group is the right word, performed various haka and there was a gentleman on hand to explain what each one meant and he also informed us that after they had finished, the performers would be coming round the crowd for photos. Damn I’ve only got my phone on me, not my full kit. Oh well, it will just need to do I suppose.

Dad meeting and greeting as only he can!

Hello ladies!

After this dose of Māori culture it was time for some Scottish culture, also known as hitting the pub!

We went to a small bar and got a bit of lunch then hit mac’s brew bar on the waterfront and met up with people, drank some beers and it was all very pleasant. Something was missing however, I went for a walk to see if I could find what was missing, and boy did I find it!

Giant beer fists! This is what made the night!

After this it was off to the match we went, and we caught up with piped walk to the ground and followed on to the match, during which time we exchanged various songs with the los pumas fans also making their way to the match. I wont lie, I did jump in to a few pictures, and was pulled into a lot more! It was Brilliant. This is what makes rugby different from football, a fan camaraderie that cannot be matched. (More of which I will talk about when I get to the Auckland post).

As with previous posts, I wont talk about the rugby, the match reports are online if you wish to read them, suffice to say, “we was robbed”.

Walking up the steps to the exit of the stand I start to sing the proclaimers, “I’m on my way”. At which point Colin joins in, so there we are, beer fists on, soaked to the skin, beaten and we are singing the proclaimers. The mind boggles. This is what it is to be a Scotland fan.

We make the short walk to the train station and board the train bound for Upper Hutt, it is packed, me and Colin do the only right and proper thing, and burst into song again, but this time it is not the Proclaimers, but a song by the superb troop from Monty Python, “Always look on the bright side of life”. What more do I need to say, I sure you can envision the madness of it all. Bloody Brilliant.

We are the last stop, the end of the line. Around 20 or so people depart the train and make our way to the bus stops and taxi ranks at the front of the station, To quote Victor Meldrew “I do not believe it!”. The buses have finished for the night, and as it we soon discovered, there are only TWO taxis on tonight! TWO, I mean come on! Who had the bright idea of not having extra bus services on, then decided it was a good idea to have only two taxis on!! Again, the mind boggles. So, after an hour on the train, it was another hour at the station waiting. In the taxi we broke the news to the driver that there was still at least another 2 trains to come in! He was not pleased, but then he had not been standing for an hour the cold night, soaked to the skin after being mugged by the pumas I’m not too sure what his particular grievance was.

Right, that is enough for now. Stay tuned for more ramblings of a Scotsman in New Zealand! (though at this point he is technically home and is writing this from memoires, hazy ones at that!)

 

See ya!

Have a nice trip, see you next fall…

 

So, Tuesday morning rolls around and it is an early start, we are heading to “pancake rocks” via Arthurs pass and Greymouth.

We are on the road for 7.30am, this is not my idea of fun, but I was promised a pie from the world famous Sheffield pie shop, so that was enough of a reason to be awake at 06.30, but boy oh boy did I fall for the pie in a big way. We stopped at the shop after a bit of driving around, losing Colin, finding him again and having a good old giggle at him not understanding the universal “stop!” signals of flashing headlights and repeated horn bashing.

Now, as I attempted to disembark the camper van I managed to miss the step, stand on the edge of the mat, miss that as well and throw my self out the van on to the hard ground and in the process of doing this, nearly snap my ankle in to several bits. OUCH! (or words of that nature were uttered, as well as some other words of which I will not divulge to you, the sensitive reader). As I lay there (in extreme pain) I realised that no one was coming to my aid, so in a very feeble and child like tone, I said “little help please?” At once people were coming from all directions, From the car in front, the pie shop to the side, it was a sight to behold.

As my dad and mum helped me up onto the steps of the now, in my opinion, most evil campervan in the world, I noticed that I couldn’t put any weight on my ankle. Oh bloody brilliant!

After ten or fifteen minutes of sitting, and drinking water to help me as I as was now feeling dizzy, I tried to get up. By this point Anne had been and seen me, I could move my foot and toes, so in her opinion, it was not a break, just a sprain, and would be sore for a few days.

Some of the bruising a few days later.

After my fall, we carried on to pancake rocks via castle rocks (where fight scenes for a chronicles of Narnia film were shot.)

The aforementioned castle rocks. (note the slight bit of glass at the left hand side of the photo, Fear of falling out again stopped me getting out properly!)

After this stop we headed up towards Arthurs's pass, a road that takes you right up and through the southern alps, some majestic scenery here, but due to my injury, I missed many of the photo opportunities. Damn my bad luck.

Though I did manage to get this… (just imagine what I could have got if my foot hadn't been falling off!)

Lake Pearson on route to Arthur’s Pass

One place That I did manage to hobble out of the van and get some photos was the town of Arthur's pass. A small place that makes it money by offering skiers, hill walkers and other outdoorsy people a place to rest or a base camp to set off and explore the great outdoors and wilderness.

Kevin the one footed kea!

Kevin in the foreground with Mum and Dad looking on.

After this all to brief encounter with the local wildlife, it was onwards to Greymouth beyond that, pancake rocks! After another couple hours of driving (not me I hasten to add, my foot still felt like it was falling off at this point) we arrived at pancake rocks and luckily for me, the foot that felt like it was going to drop off, had not fallen off! (well it was strong enough that I could walk on it, and therefore get photos)

View from the car park where we had lunch.

Wild man coming out of the bush…

Who then made us all lunch!

Once lunch was dealt with, we wandered across the road and to the pancake rocks site. This is a footpath set among what can only be described at a lot of trees and plant life, gave it a very “jungle” feel.

The rocks themself are right on the coast, and through years of erosion by the sea, the wind and other forces have sculpted this amazing place.

The cavities in the rocks create blow holes. As the waves come in, the water is squeezed into a tight space at the bottom of the rocks then forced out the top of the rocks through the blow hole. Right, science lesson over. Here are some pictures!

The kids await another burst from a blow hole.

Dad making friends with the locals

A Blow hole in action

The kids pose for a photo on some of the pancake rocks.

So that as they say is that! Another day another blog entry, next instalment shall cover traveling to wellington, angering the locals and a two taxi town!

Speak to you soon!

Rugby stars and opening ceremonies.

 

So, it is a quiet Friday afternoon, and I’ve decided it’s is time to bring you all up to date on the latest goings on in New Zealand. Truth be told its been a fairly quiet week, bit of sight seeing, bit of shopping and bit of falling out of campervans, but I will get to that later on.

So, after a quiet Friday last week, on Saturday we headed into Christchurch and the RWC fanzone that had been set up. Sadly Christchurch has been robbed of RWC games at the city’s AMI stadium due to the earthquake in February. (I touched on this in an earlier post.) This has not stopped the event organizers setting up a fanzone in one of the parks in the city. A stage, mini rugby pitch, 2 stands and 2 big screens aim to bring a little bit of the RWC to a place that has been cruelly robbed of it.

Big screen and goal posts at Christchurch fanzone

The main reason for going to the fanzone was too see part of the Scotland team and watch them hand over a cheque for over $85,000 to the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

We arrived a little bit late and missed the start of proceedings, though I don’t think we had missed out on much. A stage had been erected at one end of the fanzone and various people were on it, Scotland team members, Andy Robinson (Scotland head coach) Gregor Townsend (Scotland attack coach) and Al Kellock (Scotland captain) were all in attendance as well as SRU president Ian McLauchlan who presented the cheque. After this Al Kellock was presented with a box of "Aftersocks". Once the pleasantries were done, it was time for the younger people in attendance to meet and greet their hero's! (please note, that may have possibly included a certain young(ish) Blogger who got rather start stuck while speaking to Gregor Townsend!)

Al Kellock with young fan, Eilidh Forsyth.

Al Kellock holding Rannoch, then (L-R) Bell, Eilidh and Lachie Forsyth

Gregor Townsend with Eilidh and Lachie Forsyth.

SRU president Ian McLauchlan with the Forsyth clan.

So after this I got what was being touted as the “earthquake” tour. Colin drove us around various sites in Christchurch and explained what happed and what in some cases were missing.

You can’t really comprehend the scale of the damage until you see it for your self, and this is seeing it 7 months after the event, what it must have looked like at the time, I shiver when I think about it. (by a strange twist of fate, I am writing this, the day after the 7 month anniversary of the quake)

After this rather sobering tour, we done a bit of shopping, picked up some presents and a book about the earthquake and the aftermath of it, proceeds of which go to the recovery fund. (as do funds from the Aftersocks site)

Sunday was another quiet day, brunch at friends house and wee trip for me with Sam up into the hills to check out paddock he will be doing some work on. Time for a wee pint with him on the way home, and that was that.

Monday morning, and that can only mean one thing. It is a school day in the house, and it is a very special day at the kids school, it is the opening of the new library! This is in the afternoon though, my plans for the morning consisted of, even by my own admission, being very lazy and having a morning of doing nothing other than relaxing (I am on holiday after all!)

That afternoon, we loaded into the car and headed for the school.  We arrived in plenty of time for the start, directed to our seats, given fudge and a programme of events by some of the older children and we took our seats.

There was a Traditional welcome in Māori and then the national anthem was sung by the kids, all very nice. It was interesting to be on the other side of this, having done it a few times as a kid in my own school.

The special guest to open the new library was a local author who’s name escapes me at this moment in time. (terrible sorry about this)

Mystery local author tells the kids a tall tale!

Mystery author cuts the ribbon to open the new library.

After this, we went in and had a wee look, was very nice, then got nibbles and coffee in one of the other classrooms and that was it, home time! (for us, not the kids)

And that as they say is that! Much more to bring you all up to date on, but that is for another post (mainly because this one is exceedingly long and yawn inducing)

Speak soon people!

The fastest Indian, steak challenges, bluff and beyond!

So Sunday was a pretty grey and wet day, a perfect summer’s day in Scotland! Only we are no in Scotland are we? At this point we are sitting in a campervan on a campsite just outside Invercargill, watching the hail (yes proper hail stones) coming down, we done the only logical thing we could, we hit the town!
We ended up in Hayes hardware of Invercargill, the home of the worlds fastest Indian! For those of you who don’t know. The worlds fastest Indian was a bike ridden by local man, H.J. (Burt) Munro.


The Munro Special.


The ideal place for any man to spend some quality time with other men!
After this we went for some dinner and watched some more rugby, good day all things considered.
The next day we had arranged to visit the local truck museum, seemingly this was by appointment only (we had to phone ahead and got told 1P.M. would be fine.)
This place was something else! It was MASSIVE! it kept on going, when ever you thought it was over and you had seen it all, there was another shed/warehouse! Each one had even more trucks than the last, if you like trucks, you are in heaven at this point.


A small selection of the trucks.


After this it was time for lunch, and by this point I had worked up one hell of an appetite! I was in the mood for something big…


Waxy o’ Shea's Big steak challenge.


Nearly 20 Oz of steak, served on a bed of roast potato's, with bacon, fried eggs and salad! This was just the ticket for me! 
I can honestly say, I gave this a damn good try, but I was defeated, not by the steak nor the bacon. Not the eggs or the potatoes, but the salad! Yes, my life time of avoiding my greens had cost me a free dessert! (not that I could have even looked at one after this!) So the moral of the tale is this. Kids, always eat your greens, it might just get you a free dessert one day!
The next day was a trip to Bluff and Stirling Point (I come halfway round the world and end up in place that sounds like it is ten minutes from home).
This is home to a big sign post with various places on it, the distance to them in KM. At this point I am nearer the Antarctic that London, that is when you know you have travelled a fair distance!


Colin and dad looking decidedly dodgy!



Some very odd people hang about sign posts!


As this was right by the sea, I decided to break out the camera and the big lens! here are some of the results



Waves keep on crashing.



One end of the chain that keeps Stewart Island attached to New Zealand!


Before we had left the site in the morning, we had spoke to Garry and Karen (wonderful owners of the site) and told them we would be having a wee Scottish doo in the old bar, if it was ok, which it was and they even said they would spread the word!

We returned from bluff, grabbed some pizza and headed back to the site to get ready and set up. When I went in to check the layout, I was greeted by this…


Someone (and I won’t name names,) had fell asleep here on the first night.


It was not fantastically busy that night, but enough people turned up to get a wee dance or two going!
The drink flowed, the jokes were told and stories shared, a proper Scottish night all in all. (despite the fact that there was at least 3 English, one Welshman and a Canadian!)


Colin is in there somewhere leading the charge!


The next day was our last full day at Invercargill, so we done the decent thing, and visited the Scottish hall, it was a wonderful wee place and the walls were covered in clan crests and tartan, how very homely!







My clan, Hamilton.


After spending some time chatting to the man who seemed to be in charge, we left for lunch, a quick change and then back into town for pre match drinks and more munchies of potato wedges and fries!
The less said about the match the better, Scotland won, that is all that matters!
So it was time to leave, we packed up and headed off early, but not before saying goodbye to Garry and Karen, if you are ever down that neck of the woods, Lorneville holiday park is THE place to stay! Wonderful site, fantastic people and a great location.

We stopped off in Oamaru for brunch and then a diver change in Timaru and that brings up nicely to now, we are back at Colin’s and enjoying a proper bed and proper food! Not sure how long this luxury shall last, best enjoy it while I can.

Speak soon!

Road Tripping!

 

Ok, so we are here and ready to rock! or something to that effect, we landed on Thursday afternoon and spent less than 24 hours there before starting our road trip.

The most Rag-tag road trippers you are ever likely to see!

1st stop, Dunedin!

it was about a 2.5 hour drive down to Dunedin, plenty of lovely scenery and scenic views to take it, but also, as I will be driving at some point, lots to learn about NZ roads.

Like i said, some stunning scenery.

So eventually we made it to our camp site for the night and once we were set up, we met up with Brett and Anna and hit the bars!

It was the first night of the tournament, so it was the all blacks vs. Tonga tonight. We had seen a bar as we drove through Dunedin, the Duke of Wellington. A more English pub you won’t find! pork pies and pints of bitter! So there we are 3 scots, 1 in a kilt, standing in this most English of bars, cheering the all blacks! It was Fantastic! We conversed with the locals, drank the drink and eat the pies! (that age old question was finally answered, we ate all the pies!)

We went back to our wee home away from home and slept off our excesses ready to hit the road in the morning.

At 7am an alarm breaks the silence of the camp site, it is mine, it’s time to get moving, got to get to Invercargill by 11am, a 2.5 hour drive away, we would get breakfast on the road.

We rolled in to Balclutha around 8.30am, partly due to needing to stop for fuel, but  mostly due to only realizing that in the middle of nowhere and spending 45 minutes driving around looking for a petrol station, like I said, rag-tag!

After monster sausage and egg foot long sub from the local subway, It was time to hit the road again, a mixture of Billy Connolly and Greatest American Anthems kept sprits up!

Once in the site, the owners were running shuttle buses to the town centre for the game, we accepted the offer and got dropped off at the ground, game time!

We had GA (general admission) tickets, which essentially meant terracing!

Not a bad view!

I would love to tell you that Scotland played some amazing rugby, but that would be a lie, to say that they played good rugby is still a bit of a stretch, but at the end of the day, we won the game, and got the bonus point for scoring 4 try's, good days work.

After the match we headed to Waxy O’Sheas Irish bar, the local pipe band would be playing and it seemed like the place to go, and oh, it was!

The place was Rocking to the pipes!

After this, we hit Devil’s Burger, for some very tasty dinner. Then off to another bar for A quick half before getting picked up and taken back to the site, where we would watch the England – Argentina game.

The venue for this was an old converted barn, it reminded me of a holiday park I went to when I was little, ah memories!

By the time the game kicked off there were about 15-20 of us sitting watching, what turned out to be a typical English performance, I.E. the stole the win, despite being the poorer team. Typical.

So with that it was back to “Bessy” (the van) and to bed.

That Brings us to now, it is 8.28am on Sunday 11th September] 2011. Today marks the Tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, A quiet moment will be had later.

Also today it is Colin’s Birthday! So a birthday day out is on the cards, Brett and Anna are coming to town today, so we will hook up with them and party like it’s 1999!

See you next time!

So, we are on our way!

 

Well, we are on our way! I’m writing this entry from somewhere in the sky, possibly over Europe, I'm not really sure.

As I type this I think I've been awake for about 20 hours or so, with another 20 or so to go at least, will I last the pace? No, I won’t I can feel my self dozing off as I type, and more to the point, it has taken me about 10 minutes to type this. My average is around 30 WPM, clearly I need to sleep, but cant. is it the excitement? is it the long haul flight? or is that I'm passed the stage of caring and just want to get to New Zealand? The smart money is on the latter!

The flight to London wasn't the best, but then with easy jet involved, is anyone surprised? No. Cramped, unorganized and being treated like cattle is the norm on the these domestic flights it seems, oh how I miss proper service.

in Stansted we grabbed a bit to eat and I took a few photos of the sun setting over the airport (one of which is on Facebook!) it was a wonderful send off and hopefully a sign of good things to come.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL) has, so far, restored my faith in air travel! excellent service, wonderful meals and the cabin crew are not to hard on the eyes! (well, the female one’s anyway!)

So far, we have been served out meal in a timely fashion, had cleared away as soon as we finished (restaurants take note!) and my mum has been escorted somewhere more comfortable for her (if she has been upgraded, there will be a row!)

This will Hopefully be posted from KL something in the afternoon UK time, not sure why I’m telling you this, by the time you read this paragraph, the smarter people among you will have noticed that it has been published, like I said, extreme lack of sleep.

I may well have another post ready by the time we land in Christchurch (around 2pm local time) and that being the case, I shall make sure to include some photos and maybe even a video! (ooooh)

Anyway, must go and try to get some sleep, Night night all!

Really should have packed by now. shouldn't I?

 

Well, it is less than three days until I leave these fair shores for New Zealand and I still have not packed, should i be panicking? or should that be packing. hmm.

To be honest the last couple weeks have flown by and now it is here! I’m finally going.

Not packed

 

Ten minutes later… PACKED!!

 

 

That was easy! Now, I can truly say “yes sir, I packed this my self”

Well, up to this stage it was packed by me, what it will be like by the time it gets on the plane in Edinburgh is anybody's guess!

Oh and for those of you wondering where my kilt is, it’s getting worn on the plane to London then packed away (saves weight)

Short and sweet blog for the moment, next time, it will be coming all the way from New Zealand the 2011 Rugby World Cup!

 

See you on the other side! (of the world!)