Sunday, October 26, 2008
So far
Well, we have been here 26 days and time is rushing past us. We have really only skimmed the surface of New Zealand. Although saying we are away for 5 months seems such a long time it reallyisn't. We have been driven so fast to get to the various places I do feel like I am missing out on so much and so many people. Being in the camper-car means we don't always speak with people so we have made a rule to get a new friend everyday. Lucky New Zealand!!!!!!!!
Mauritius in pictures
This was our 2nd day in Mauritius. We were knackered and took the local bus to Grand Baie, which is a nice beach but really only 5/10.
The Last Week
The last week, since Napier, has been a bit of a whirlwind. So much I'm starting to forget when we have done things and what we have seen. I guess this is what life on the road is like.
From Napier we headed south for Wellington stopping on the way as and when we wished. We found a little campsite near Dannevirke, near a coppermine and miles away from any form of civilisation. No street lighting, no cars, people, shops....nothing. The host was a Liverpudlian named George who lived in a caravan on the site and had lived there for 23 years in pretty much solitary conditions! The isolation slightly freaked me out. All sorts of spooky movies were going through my head as darkness approached but we made it through the very, very dark night, under glorious stars, alive! From there we headed to Wellington and got on a very late ferry with a bunch of truckers to the South Island.
The weather on the South Island during the first few days was absolutely appalling. Apparently they experience some of the wettest weather in the world. Much to our dismay....it was like being back at home. However, we soldiered on and headed for the Abel Tasman National Park for a spot of kayaking. Abel Tasman has been listed as having one of the top 10 beaches in the world.
The kayaking ended up being an expedition into pouring rain, although the coastline was beautiful all the same. Can't help feeling we missed it in it's glory though. After shooting our arms and shoulders to pieces from kayaking around 12km we checked into a backpackers place called The Barn.....amazing little place.
From there we headed down the west coast for the glaciers stopping at Tauranga Bay and the Pancake Rocks. Taurango Bay has some of the best surf I've ever seen and hosts a colony of seals, who I could've watched for hours lolling about on the sun soaked rocks.
The Pancake Rocks are rock formations that have formed over thousands of years and look like layer upon layer of rocks....hence the name. There are also supposed to be some pretty fantastic blowholes but because we are in a new moon the tide isn't as high as it should be so it was more a case of poofholes that blowholes. Either way, the west coast has some stunning, wild coastlines and a very angry sea. Amazing.
From Napier we headed south for Wellington stopping on the way as and when we wished. We found a little campsite near Dannevirke, near a coppermine and miles away from any form of civilisation. No street lighting, no cars, people, shops....nothing. The host was a Liverpudlian named George who lived in a caravan on the site and had lived there for 23 years in pretty much solitary conditions! The isolation slightly freaked me out. All sorts of spooky movies were going through my head as darkness approached but we made it through the very, very dark night, under glorious stars, alive! From there we headed to Wellington and got on a very late ferry with a bunch of truckers to the South Island.
The weather on the South Island during the first few days was absolutely appalling. Apparently they experience some of the wettest weather in the world. Much to our dismay....it was like being back at home. However, we soldiered on and headed for the Abel Tasman National Park for a spot of kayaking. Abel Tasman has been listed as having one of the top 10 beaches in the world.
The kayaking ended up being an expedition into pouring rain, although the coastline was beautiful all the same. Can't help feeling we missed it in it's glory though. After shooting our arms and shoulders to pieces from kayaking around 12km we checked into a backpackers place called The Barn.....amazing little place.
From there we headed down the west coast for the glaciers stopping at Tauranga Bay and the Pancake Rocks. Taurango Bay has some of the best surf I've ever seen and hosts a colony of seals, who I could've watched for hours lolling about on the sun soaked rocks.
The Pancake Rocks are rock formations that have formed over thousands of years and look like layer upon layer of rocks....hence the name. There are also supposed to be some pretty fantastic blowholes but because we are in a new moon the tide isn't as high as it should be so it was more a case of poofholes that blowholes. Either way, the west coast has some stunning, wild coastlines and a very angry sea. Amazing.
Family!!!!
Here is me and my dad at Sweetie's 30th birthday at a hotel in Port Louis.
Here is me and my grandfather at his place.
Sweetie and Shawn
Sweetie and Parveen
Family get together at Ragan's place.
Here is me and my aunty Betia.
Here is me with uncle Ragan.
We had loads of other pictures of auntys, uncles, cousins, dogs and cats but they are on the other camera.
Scary people!!!!!
Here is me and my grandfather at his place.
Sweetie and ShawnSweetie and Parveen
Family get together at Ragan's place.
Here is me and my aunty Betia.
Here is me with uncle Ragan.We had loads of other pictures of auntys, uncles, cousins, dogs and cats but they are on the other camera.
Scary people!!!!!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Auckland and onwards
After spending a few days in New Zealand absolutely shattered, experiencing the Skytower (not for those with vertiginous issues), we picked up a campervan and headed to Waitomo on the west of the North Island.
Waitomo is the place to go caving. A suitably placed campsite was found and so we picked the type of caving we wanted to do.
The Lost World
We arranged a caving trip with a local company that takes you to the Lost World. The Lost World is an underground hole and a series of caves discovered by a group of men undertaking a railway survey back in the early 1900's. They named it the Lost World because that's exactly what it looks like. It's sort of a cross between Jurassic Park and The Descent.
We abseiled into the 100m deep hole, incredibly difficult to do for someone like me who suffers from vertigo but once the abseil began I was fine. In fact, it was great. I loved every second of it.
Once we got to the bottom of the hole we embarked on our expedition into the caves. This involved climbing through tight squeezes created by fallen rocks, navigating up a very fast flowing stream, swimming through large, deep pools, grabbing onto sharp rocks to pull you against the current, dodging spiders (admittedly they were small but vile all the same), clambering from one side of the cave to the other using whatever means possible to avoid dropping into the water, sitting under waterfalls and climbing ladders to get you to higher levels of the caves. All of this was done wearing a wetsuit and a pair of white gum boots that filled with water. The entire outfit, after 4 hours of such activity, was incredibly heavy.
We saw amazing rock formations and glowworms, which are beautiful but when I learnt more about them made my skin crawl. I'm not great with insects.
As you can imagine we were physically exhausted by the end of it. It took 5 hours to go 1.8km through the caves. My imagination had gone into overdrive by this point and in my head I was referencing the film The Descent. I decided that should I ever get caught in a series of caves where I was trying to outrun a bone crunching monster I would, in the end, give in. It would be too tiring to fight against such a thing. 4 hours of fight is about all I could muster.
Anyway, we left Waitomo and we are now in Napier.....wine tasting country!
We hired a tandem, yes a tandem, today and cycled around a few vineyards, a chocolate factory and a beer and cider makers sampling the local offerings. By the end of it we were a bit squiffy and had acquired 4 good bottles of wine and a few chocolates to keep us going on the rest of our adventure around New Zealand.
Tomorrow......on to Wellington.
Waitomo is the place to go caving. A suitably placed campsite was found and so we picked the type of caving we wanted to do.
The Lost World
We arranged a caving trip with a local company that takes you to the Lost World. The Lost World is an underground hole and a series of caves discovered by a group of men undertaking a railway survey back in the early 1900's. They named it the Lost World because that's exactly what it looks like. It's sort of a cross between Jurassic Park and The Descent.
We abseiled into the 100m deep hole, incredibly difficult to do for someone like me who suffers from vertigo but once the abseil began I was fine. In fact, it was great. I loved every second of it.
Once we got to the bottom of the hole we embarked on our expedition into the caves. This involved climbing through tight squeezes created by fallen rocks, navigating up a very fast flowing stream, swimming through large, deep pools, grabbing onto sharp rocks to pull you against the current, dodging spiders (admittedly they were small but vile all the same), clambering from one side of the cave to the other using whatever means possible to avoid dropping into the water, sitting under waterfalls and climbing ladders to get you to higher levels of the caves. All of this was done wearing a wetsuit and a pair of white gum boots that filled with water. The entire outfit, after 4 hours of such activity, was incredibly heavy.
We saw amazing rock formations and glowworms, which are beautiful but when I learnt more about them made my skin crawl. I'm not great with insects.
As you can imagine we were physically exhausted by the end of it. It took 5 hours to go 1.8km through the caves. My imagination had gone into overdrive by this point and in my head I was referencing the film The Descent. I decided that should I ever get caught in a series of caves where I was trying to outrun a bone crunching monster I would, in the end, give in. It would be too tiring to fight against such a thing. 4 hours of fight is about all I could muster.
Anyway, we left Waitomo and we are now in Napier.....wine tasting country!
We hired a tandem, yes a tandem, today and cycled around a few vineyards, a chocolate factory and a beer and cider makers sampling the local offerings. By the end of it we were a bit squiffy and had acquired 4 good bottles of wine and a few chocolates to keep us going on the rest of our adventure around New Zealand.
Tomorrow......on to Wellington.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Leaving Mauritius
My last day of Mauritius was a tearful one, saying goodbye to my grandfather always ends up difficult. For a man whom I have only met 3 times in my life I have an amazingly strong bond with him. I have promised to head back in 2010 and I am also planning to do the Mauritius 100K bike race. The family have agreed to be my roadside support and the support vehicle.
We both got presents and a lot of love from all the family on the last day. Everyone was very kind to us both.
Andrew
We both got presents and a lot of love from all the family on the last day. Everyone was very kind to us both.
Andrew
Arrived twice
We are bloody pooped. We are now in Auckland after only a 23 hour stay in Jo'Burg. We stayed in amazing guest house in Melville, a cool district that reminded me of San Francisco. The weather was really hot and we went to a great contemporary and traditional designer market at Rosebank, well worth a visit. From what we briefly saw South Africa and Jo'burg are amazing places and we definitely want to head back.
The flight from SA was a long one, 10.5 hours to Sydney, a 2 hour wait then a 2.5 hour flight to Auckland. We landed at midnight and fell into bed at the guest house.
Yesterday we were very dazed and confused, slowly wandered around the restaurants, galleries and cafe bars of Parnell, a slightly poncy area of Auckland. After a rubbish nights sleep we are in Auckland today to do what you do in these type of places - up the Sky Tower to do a walk or jump very high up.
Last night we planned the trip around the North Island, summed up by the following 'wine, caving, canoeing and Lord of the Rings sight seeing' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We pick the campervan up tomorrow and although we have it 15 days it will be a real reduced visit because there is too much to see and do here. I am looking forward to it.
Andrew
The flight from SA was a long one, 10.5 hours to Sydney, a 2 hour wait then a 2.5 hour flight to Auckland. We landed at midnight and fell into bed at the guest house.
Yesterday we were very dazed and confused, slowly wandered around the restaurants, galleries and cafe bars of Parnell, a slightly poncy area of Auckland. After a rubbish nights sleep we are in Auckland today to do what you do in these type of places - up the Sky Tower to do a walk or jump very high up.
Last night we planned the trip around the North Island, summed up by the following 'wine, caving, canoeing and Lord of the Rings sight seeing' !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We pick the campervan up tomorrow and although we have it 15 days it will be a real reduced visit because there is too much to see and do here. I am looking forward to it.
Andrew
Friday, October 10, 2008
time spent
Apart from eating and drinking with family, we have been para-sailing around a small coastal island and splashing around at various beaches in the north of the island - Grand Baie, Perybere, Choisy. We went to Port Louis on Wednesday, amazing old port capital and ended up celebrating a cousin's birthday in a nice hotel overlooking lots of yatchs! We were meant to be snorkelling today but the weather is a bit wet although still around 25C! We are off to a Sega night tonight at a hotel in Grand Baie to dance to Mauritian music [god help everyone!!!].
We can't get photos off the camera at the moment but once we have they will be up here.
I am looking forward to New Zealand and not eating so much although its likely to be half the temperature.
Andrew
We can't get photos off the camera at the moment but once we have they will be up here.
I am looking forward to New Zealand and not eating so much although its likely to be half the temperature.
Andrew
Meal times in Mauritius
Meal times in Mauritius is a hefty affair. They may be more of an occassion for us as this is Andrew's first visit in 5 years but boy do Andrew's family lay on a spread!
We have been in Mauritius during a Hindu festival so many of Andrew's relatives have been fasting and eating only vegetables but that hasn't stopped them preparing tasty fare for us.
Evening meals start with the local brew, Phoenix beer, usually two. Then the Mauritian rum comes out (Green Island is my favourite) and it never stops flowing. Drinks are served with many, many deep fried snacks. Once you've polished off one serving, more snacks are served and drinks are topped up.
Then dinner.................veg biriyani, fish stews, tomato stews, delicious salads, home made roti's, veg curries. I am fit to burst as I type this. I don't think I have ever eaten so much in such a short space of time.
We will roll out of Mauritius.
Last day today, we are off to South Africa tomorrow for a whistle stop tour and then we fly to Auckland on Sunday night.
We have been in Mauritius during a Hindu festival so many of Andrew's relatives have been fasting and eating only vegetables but that hasn't stopped them preparing tasty fare for us.
Evening meals start with the local brew, Phoenix beer, usually two. Then the Mauritian rum comes out (Green Island is my favourite) and it never stops flowing. Drinks are served with many, many deep fried snacks. Once you've polished off one serving, more snacks are served and drinks are topped up.
Then dinner.................veg biriyani, fish stews, tomato stews, delicious salads, home made roti's, veg curries. I am fit to burst as I type this. I don't think I have ever eaten so much in such a short space of time.
We will roll out of Mauritius.
Last day today, we are off to South Africa tomorrow for a whistle stop tour and then we fly to Auckland on Sunday night.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Arrived in Mauritius
Well we arrived yesterday and Mauritius is hot, compared to the UK.
The flight was full and I didn't get a wink of sleep because I needed my seat to stretch out in!!!! Suprisingly BA's food was OK and T5 was seamless experience.
We arrived on the island at 7am and we were picked up from the airport by my uncle & cousin. We spent the day meeting family and sleeping. My dad's over here at the moment and we are staying in his flat. He is happy that we are here, particularly Emma, and staying with him. In the evening we had an amazing meal cooked by my Aunty and cousin. We also were forced to drink loads of rum. Start as you mean to go on.
This morning it was bloody hot, easily 26, so of course I decided to try and work off some of the food we have been eating over the last 4 days and went for a run in the morning heat. As I was slowly running on I was watching life around me and fell down a small hole in path!
Beach this afternoon. If I get the PC's to read our camera I will post some pics.
Andrew
The flight was full and I didn't get a wink of sleep because I needed my seat to stretch out in!!!! Suprisingly BA's food was OK and T5 was seamless experience.
We arrived on the island at 7am and we were picked up from the airport by my uncle & cousin. We spent the day meeting family and sleeping. My dad's over here at the moment and we are staying in his flat. He is happy that we are here, particularly Emma, and staying with him. In the evening we had an amazing meal cooked by my Aunty and cousin. We also were forced to drink loads of rum. Start as you mean to go on.
This morning it was bloody hot, easily 26, so of course I decided to try and work off some of the food we have been eating over the last 4 days and went for a run in the morning heat. As I was slowly running on I was watching life around me and fell down a small hole in path!
Beach this afternoon. If I get the PC's to read our camera I will post some pics.
Andrew
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