Long Time No Post

It's been around 3 months since my last post, so it's time to get back into it. I've been pretty busy both with university and Mum's visit in March/April, but it's starting to calm down a bit now, and I have more time in the evenings. The good thing about leaving it so long between posts is that I now have loads of good stories to tell! I'll try and put them in chronological order, but there are no promises....

So, I'll start with February, and Chinese new year. Auckland has a huge Chinese population which means the Chinese new year celebrations are always fantastic - plenty of fireworks and good food. Every year the Auckland Lantern Festival is held in one of the parks (Albert Park) in the city centre, and signals the end of the Chinese new year. The festival features a number of lanterns hand made by the Chinese community, which are displayed for a total of four days. Thursday is the 'lantern-only' day, and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday also have entertainment such as dancing, martial arts displays and live music. Unfortunately I was only able to go on Thursday as I had Coastguard duties at the weekend, but at least I was lucky enough to go and view the lanterns. I think that each set of lanterns tells a story, but I'm not too sure what some of them were - you'll have to make your own minds up! Below is a selection of some of (what I deemed to be) the best lanterns. Enjoy!

As you can see, the lanterns were amazing. Very intricate, and some great designs. I'll definitely be attending the entertainment days next year to see some of the dancing and costumes, and hear the music.

Now to have a look through my collection of photos and decide what to write about next.

My New Wheels

Just before the Christmas break I decided to splash out and treat myself to something with four wheels and an engine. It's not that my two wheels are boring me, nor is my pedal power starting to wane, it just allows me to explore a bit more and get everywhere a little bit quicker (well, during non-rush hour traffic at least). I hadn't really got a particular make or model of car in mind, I just wanted something that was cheap to repair (any Japanese manufacturer) and big enough to fit my bike in without me having to take it to pieces. I decided that it didn't really need to be that cheap to run because I would continue to use my bike or the train to get into the city during the week, and would only use the car at weekends or on long journeys. I spent a while looking on various car websites and the NZ version of Ebay (Trademe), but couldn't find anything I thought was good value for money. Cars are quite expensive over here because the majority are imported, so finding a bargain is quite difficult. After complaining at Coastguard, the skipper for my crew said that he was looking to sell his wife's car as she had just bought a new one. I was welcome to take it for a few days for test driving, and to a mechanic to check it over. Needless to say I loved it!

So..... here it is - a 1996 Honda CRV in silver. Great for putting the bike in, and perfect for other large items, particularly since it has a roof rack. The mechanic I took it to said it was one of the best-looking cars he had ever seen underneath, and said it would definitely pass the WOF (warrant of fitness - like an MOT) and should last for many years to come.

I made sure that it was looking all clean and shiny before taking photographs, but as you can see it's in very good condition anyway. It has electric windows, mirrors and a sunroof, and also has very good air conditioning. Perfect in the current climate! The inside is bit dated in terms of seat cover design (but that doesn't really bother me), and there is a built in GPS, but it only works in Japan! There is one little surprise that I found when cleaning out the boot - there's a picnic table that comes with the car. Very useful for camping and BBQs! As I said previously, it's not the most economical of vehicles, but as I only use it at weekends it's not actually that expensive to run.

Fingers crossed it stays happy and healthy for many years to come!

Wellington Road Trip

After my Wellington birthday experience I managed to persuade my flatmate Victor to come along with me on another trip. We managed to book a cheap car relocation deal again so got a brand new Toyota Corolla for just $9 a day from Wellington to Auckland. If anyone is thinking of buying a new car I'd highly recommend a Corolla. It was lovely inside, great to drive and very economical. Much better than the Nissan Wingroad heap I got lumbered with last time!

We flew down from Auckland on Wednesday night, and spent the night in Wellington. We were trying to do things as cheaply as possible so planned to camp most of the time, but we did book a hotel in Wellington for the first night. It was basic, but clean, and the staff were friendly and helpful. We were also right in the city centre so we went out for food and for a bit of a walk round.

We had decided that we wanted to spend the next morning at Wellington Zoo so we got up early, had breakfast and drove up to the Zoo. As it was mid week, it was really quiet which was nice. There were plenty of animals to see, and most of them were out and about for photo opportunities.

There was one animal that gave a bit of a show - the baboon. The alpha male walked all the way from the back of the enclosure to come and see us. I thought he was just going to have a look at what we were doing and then wander off again. Instead, as he got within a few metres of us, he decided to run as fast as he could towards the glass, jump (while turning 180 degrees), bum-print the glass and slide back on to the floor. He then casually wandered off towards the rest of the group. It was pretty amazing, and left Victor and I laughing uncontrollably. 

After spending the morning in Wellington, we drove on up the coast to a place called Wanganui. Wanganui is famous for the river that runs through it - it's huge! By the time we arrived it was early evening so we decided to find a campsite, get set up and eat some dinner. We stopped at the supermarket in Wanganui and bought some sausages, lamb chops and sweetcorn, and had a big BBQ. Once we had eaten we took a walk down to the beach (about 2 minutes walk). Just by the beach there was a play area complete with flying fox. The flying fox went over one of the small streams leading to the sea so I sent Victor on it first before having a go myself! It was fine though, and neither one of us got soaked. 

We had a very comfortable night in Wanganui. The campsite was well maintained, the toilets were spotless and the showers were nice and warm. We got up quite early to go to the local information centre and find out what we could do in Wanganui. We found a leaflet that described a drive you could do alongside the river; it took a few hours, but was very scenic, and well worth it.

After our river drive, we carried on up the coast to New Plymouth. Again, we arrived early evening and quickly found a campsite. Although the toilets and shower blocks weren't quite as nice, the view from the tent was much better. Once we had the tent set up we popped into town and bought some sausages and bread rolls, and then some bacon, mushrooms and eggs for the morning. We then got out the trusty BBQ and had hot dogs while watching the sunset.

That night, just before we went to bed, we noticed some bright coloured lights coming from the other side of the campsite. We wandered down to have a look and found what can only be described as 'Santa's Grotto'. Obviously there are people that live permanently on the campsite and they decided to make it as festive as possible. I was quite impressed at the number of lights they had!

After all that excitement, we slept like logs! When we did eventually surface, we found that the weather was stunning. The local surf school were up and out on the waves, and we watched them while we made breakfast. We grilled some bacon, mushroom and tomato, and boiled some eggs. We also had some bread left over from the hot dogs. It was great - we sat on a picnic bench with a great view of the beach while basking in brilliant sunshine. 

After breakfast, we packed up the tent and headed back to Auckland. On the way back we stopped at a place called Pokeno for some ice cream. I can't remember how many flavours they had, but there was plenty to choose from. You could also have up to 8 scoops in a giant cone! Victor and I were very restrained and chose two flavours each. I would have taken some photos, but it was so hot they were melting VERY quickly. I highly recommend Pokeno though, the ice cream was phenomenal!

We had a fantastic time, and are currently looking out for another car relocation deal. I'm hoping for a good South Island adventure next time.