so since i last posted something i was in Motueka. Well a lot has happened since!
I left golden bay, and managed to spend the whole day getting to westport, which is usually a 3 hour drive. I went for nice walks and the whole day was pretty much a driving day, even though i really didnt get any where. I picked up my dear beloved kayak in murchison and left the town for the last time, this time around in NZ. I got to westport late at night and parked out on the beach.
Westport turned out to be quite an interesting time really. I realized the day after, when i was ready to leave the beach, that my car was stuck in the sand dunes. luckily to older gentlemen helped me out and we spent a good hour digging around the car, jacking up the wheels and pulling my car out. When i finally got it out, i managed to get it stuck again, yes i know, driving skills are not the very best in sand.. the story however does not end there, cause i got it stuck a third time, in which one of the older guys just gave up and drove the car out of the beach for me. good start! then i managed to get lost in the little town of westport and spent a good hour trying to find my way out, which i eventually did!
good thing it was a lovely sunny and warm day!
i drove out to cape Foulwind (yes, thats its name!) and had a walk along the cape towards a protected seal colony. It was absolutely beautifull and all the seals had just gotten pups, so it was a perticularly nice sight.
My next stop turned out to be in charleston, where i picked up two hitchikers. Driving in the car by myself got a little bit lonely and i was starting to get tired of talking to myself. Poor guys, i probably talked them silly.. We went to the Pancake rocks again before going straight to Hokitika. Hoki is one of the largest Jade-manufacturers in NZ and is extremely good for kayaking. Its a lovely little town (one of the biggest on the coast actually) right next to the beach and the southern alps, so in other words it has it all!!
I met up with Regan the raft guide and we went to have dinner at Emmersons house (another raft guide)while waiting for all the other raftguides from murchison to show up. I can safely say it was very good talking to people again!
Then yesterday, (this is the exciting bit) we woke up at 6.30 am (early, i know) and jumped in our vans and headed out to the whitcomb gorge for a helirafting trip! the Whitcomb is one of NZ finest rivers and is absolutely beautiful, full of boulders and the water is just glacier melt. its freezing cold, and grade 5 water. We met up with about 23 other raftguides and kayakers from all over NZ and got helicoptered up to the top of the river ( the only other access is walking in), which is about a ten min flight. i got to sit in front! hehehe
After pumping up the rafts and getting all our equipment ready, we were off! we spent 6 hours on the river, which was beyond my wildest dreams! it was absolutely beautiful and man would i like to kayak it!! the river itself runs through spectacular mountain ranges, it was just indescribable.
After the trip we went back to emmersons house, and had a bonfire on the beach. you just have to love it!!!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
roadtrippin
sadly, my adventures in murchison have come to an end and i am now starting a new adventure, by myself. Right, you say, what is she doing now?
well let me tell you! I have rented a car in Nelson (which was cheaper then taking the bus) since i have sold my car (mary) for a ridiculous cheap price, and am currently roadtripping round the south island. I have made no plans what so ever, except for a few people i'm meeting on the way and i am loving it!
saying goodbye to Murch was sad, and as i hate goodbyes, i am pretending i'll see them all again. and you never know, i might see them all again!! The world is not as big as it might seem. yes i know, wise words of the day..
so your probably itching in your seat, wondering what i have done so far, to you i say: WAIT YOUR PATIENCE!
My journey started to nelson at 6.30 tuesday morning where i picked up my lovely white nissan rental car. She is a beauty, and i must say, i would never rent such a flash car to someone like me! it even has manual gearing (which i love), so i am glad to announce that the car and i get along very happily together. We drove off to the wonderful town of Takaka, which is over a very big hill that takes about 30 min to drive to the top of. At the top of these hills there is lots of caves, and i got a guided tour through one of the oldest caves. Its about 3km long and a constant 11 degrees year round and pitch black. They have found lots of bones from the Moa (a very big bird that almost looks like "big bird" on sesame street, and now is extinct) and let me tell you something interesting about the Moa, it had first of all no wings at all and second it ate stones (called gizzard stones) to crush its food in its stomach do to the lack of teeth.
after this interesting tour i kept going to Takaka, which is an awesome hippy-town. Full of organic stores and cafes and lots of atristian clothing stores. There is lots going on in this town at all times, most of it has something to do with art, as a lot of people that live in this area are artists. I stayed here for a while, had some lunch, before leaving towards Collingwood. Collingwood is even smaller than murch, and has nothing but a postshop and a foodstore/ bakery. It does however have a chocolate store, where they only make home made chocolates and everything is like it was back in the 1800's, even the person behind the counter is dressed in old clothes. And oh lordy, they had good chocolate!!!
After eating my chocolate, there wasn't a hole lot to do in collingwood, and so i got back in the car and drove to farewell spit. It is the most northern point of the south island and plays a very big part in the migration of birds and so has a very big wildlife, it is also very common to have whales strand there because of the 27 km long beachline. I went for a two hour walk along the beach, watching the tide go out and the sun set. It is an absolutely beautiful place!
By the time i got back it was dark and so i camped up my car for the night. I must admit the back seat is not that spacious.But it was still a good sleep.
Wednesday morning i woke up to sunshine and the beach. Went for a quick run on the beach before driving back up to the farewell spit lookout for a spectacular view in the early morning. The ocean is a clear blue as far as the eye can see.
I decided to say goodbye to the northern part of the south island and start making my way down. I went to Waikorupupu springs, which is the worlds clearest natural freshwater spring. The only water that is clearer in the world is under the antarctic glaciers. You can see straight to the bottom of the springs everywhere and it looks like blue lagoons, just really pretty.
I also decided to go salmon fishing, yes i miss real fish too much and the urge got the best of me. There is a salmon farm a little ways after Takaka, and they put their "home-grown salmon" in a "home-made-river" for people to fish. You don't pay anything for the fishing, only the fish you catch. I know its quite the scam and wont taste as good as fresh salmon at home, but honestly where in the world does fish taste that good??? i just need fish in my belly!!!
I fished for an hour in the sun, and ended up catching myself a nice 1.1 kg salmon. They filleted it for me for free as well, nice! By the late afternoon i had arrived in Motueka and spent a lot of time finding a good place for the night that was next to the beach. I finally found the place, and spent most of the evening reading and cooking myself a lovely piece of salmon for dinner. It was not as good as the wild salmon, but man it was delicious!!!
I fell asleep with a smile on my face and a full belly. And yes I have figured out my sleeping arrangements, the front seat of the car is much more comfy!!
what will happen next? i don't know! exciting!
well let me tell you! I have rented a car in Nelson (which was cheaper then taking the bus) since i have sold my car (mary) for a ridiculous cheap price, and am currently roadtripping round the south island. I have made no plans what so ever, except for a few people i'm meeting on the way and i am loving it!
saying goodbye to Murch was sad, and as i hate goodbyes, i am pretending i'll see them all again. and you never know, i might see them all again!! The world is not as big as it might seem. yes i know, wise words of the day..
so your probably itching in your seat, wondering what i have done so far, to you i say: WAIT YOUR PATIENCE!
My journey started to nelson at 6.30 tuesday morning where i picked up my lovely white nissan rental car. She is a beauty, and i must say, i would never rent such a flash car to someone like me! it even has manual gearing (which i love), so i am glad to announce that the car and i get along very happily together. We drove off to the wonderful town of Takaka, which is over a very big hill that takes about 30 min to drive to the top of. At the top of these hills there is lots of caves, and i got a guided tour through one of the oldest caves. Its about 3km long and a constant 11 degrees year round and pitch black. They have found lots of bones from the Moa (a very big bird that almost looks like "big bird" on sesame street, and now is extinct) and let me tell you something interesting about the Moa, it had first of all no wings at all and second it ate stones (called gizzard stones) to crush its food in its stomach do to the lack of teeth.
after this interesting tour i kept going to Takaka, which is an awesome hippy-town. Full of organic stores and cafes and lots of atristian clothing stores. There is lots going on in this town at all times, most of it has something to do with art, as a lot of people that live in this area are artists. I stayed here for a while, had some lunch, before leaving towards Collingwood. Collingwood is even smaller than murch, and has nothing but a postshop and a foodstore/ bakery. It does however have a chocolate store, where they only make home made chocolates and everything is like it was back in the 1800's, even the person behind the counter is dressed in old clothes. And oh lordy, they had good chocolate!!!
After eating my chocolate, there wasn't a hole lot to do in collingwood, and so i got back in the car and drove to farewell spit. It is the most northern point of the south island and plays a very big part in the migration of birds and so has a very big wildlife, it is also very common to have whales strand there because of the 27 km long beachline. I went for a two hour walk along the beach, watching the tide go out and the sun set. It is an absolutely beautiful place!
By the time i got back it was dark and so i camped up my car for the night. I must admit the back seat is not that spacious.But it was still a good sleep.
Wednesday morning i woke up to sunshine and the beach. Went for a quick run on the beach before driving back up to the farewell spit lookout for a spectacular view in the early morning. The ocean is a clear blue as far as the eye can see.
I decided to say goodbye to the northern part of the south island and start making my way down. I went to Waikorupupu springs, which is the worlds clearest natural freshwater spring. The only water that is clearer in the world is under the antarctic glaciers. You can see straight to the bottom of the springs everywhere and it looks like blue lagoons, just really pretty.
I also decided to go salmon fishing, yes i miss real fish too much and the urge got the best of me. There is a salmon farm a little ways after Takaka, and they put their "home-grown salmon" in a "home-made-river" for people to fish. You don't pay anything for the fishing, only the fish you catch. I know its quite the scam and wont taste as good as fresh salmon at home, but honestly where in the world does fish taste that good??? i just need fish in my belly!!!
I fished for an hour in the sun, and ended up catching myself a nice 1.1 kg salmon. They filleted it for me for free as well, nice! By the late afternoon i had arrived in Motueka and spent a lot of time finding a good place for the night that was next to the beach. I finally found the place, and spent most of the evening reading and cooking myself a lovely piece of salmon for dinner. It was not as good as the wild salmon, but man it was delicious!!!
I fell asleep with a smile on my face and a full belly. And yes I have figured out my sleeping arrangements, the front seat of the car is much more comfy!!
what will happen next? i don't know! exciting!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Buller Fest!!
Every year there is a kayak/ river festival in Murchison called Buller Fest. It is one of the more known festivals on the south island and people come from all over New Zealand to be a part of it. For those of you who don’t know what a river/ kayak festival is, let me explain it to you. It’s a festival for people who love being in the river or watching others in the river. There are lots of races and competitions, some in rafts others in kayaks and its up to you if you want to compete or not. What’s special about Buller Fest is that the winners of the competitions don’t get prizes, as they just want people to compete for the fun of it and the glory of course.
So the Buller Fest started on Friday morning with the extreme race, which yours truly competed in. It took all day, as there were 147 kayakers (that’s quite a lot for a kayak race). The extreme race is a race down a tricky rapid in heats of four, where the two fastest go on to the next race until there is only one heat left. I got through three races out of 5, so I am quite happy about that! I must admit at my first race I was shitting bricks I was so nervous! But it’s such a welcoming crowd (not unlike the hippies) where everyone is cheering you on and no one cares what mistakes you make. The race took about 5 hours, so it was done just in time for the world premier of the kayaking movie “Realm”. A lot of it is filmed in Norway actually! Funny that! It was jam packed with people and so good! It was pretty much kayaking talk for the rest of the night that night and it didn’t turn out to be a very early night either! Kayakers are very chatty people, haha.
On Saturday they had the kayak slalom and raft slalom, which means that you maneuver your kayak or raft through gates hanging from a thread, while going through a rapid. Very much like slalom on skis, just a different element. I was in a raft to support a friend from UD. It was really fun, people were pushing and shoving and everyone was crashing into each other, I laughed my head off and had a hard time concentrating on paddling. Ah well. We got through two races before loosing and ended up in the blistering sun watching everyone else. It was so incredibly hot, I wanted nothing more than to jump in the river. We stayed out there for most of the day, and by the time it was finished I had some time to go home and relax before the night arrived.
The big thing on Saturday night at The Buller fest is the “Buller party”, its at the back of the café I work and inside the rafting company. Last year the theme was Fleurol, and this year it was “Rubik cube”. That ment that you had to enter the party wearing all the 7 different colors of the rubiks cube, then during the night you had to swap clothes or items with people until you ended up in one solid color! It was quite fun, It’s a good way of getting rid of old clothes and finding new cool stuff. I just concentrated on getting cool stuff, so now I have a pair of sunnies that make me look like a robot from the 70’s. NICE!
On Sunday, after a hearty breakfast, there was the big air competition. They had built a 10m high ramp next to the river, and the competition was to do the nicest trick in a playboat (a small kayak), and landing the trick perfectly. It was awesome to watch, I would have liked to try, but sadly had no playboat. In other words the Sunday was pretty much spent watching other people hurl themselves off a massive jump and saying “oooh” and “aaah” and “ouch”. It was pretty good. Straight after they had the prize ceremony, where all the winning competitors got their glory and the rest of us got randomly drawn spot prizes. They had the most awesome prizes, brand new life jackets, a paddle and Blisstick had made a kayak especially for the festival that they were giving out, to name a few. I didn’t win anything and was extremely jealous for the people that did win. But all in all it was one of the best weekends I have ever had and it was so inspirational and fun!
What a life!
So the Buller Fest started on Friday morning with the extreme race, which yours truly competed in. It took all day, as there were 147 kayakers (that’s quite a lot for a kayak race). The extreme race is a race down a tricky rapid in heats of four, where the two fastest go on to the next race until there is only one heat left. I got through three races out of 5, so I am quite happy about that! I must admit at my first race I was shitting bricks I was so nervous! But it’s such a welcoming crowd (not unlike the hippies) where everyone is cheering you on and no one cares what mistakes you make. The race took about 5 hours, so it was done just in time for the world premier of the kayaking movie “Realm”. A lot of it is filmed in Norway actually! Funny that! It was jam packed with people and so good! It was pretty much kayaking talk for the rest of the night that night and it didn’t turn out to be a very early night either! Kayakers are very chatty people, haha.
On Saturday they had the kayak slalom and raft slalom, which means that you maneuver your kayak or raft through gates hanging from a thread, while going through a rapid. Very much like slalom on skis, just a different element. I was in a raft to support a friend from UD. It was really fun, people were pushing and shoving and everyone was crashing into each other, I laughed my head off and had a hard time concentrating on paddling. Ah well. We got through two races before loosing and ended up in the blistering sun watching everyone else. It was so incredibly hot, I wanted nothing more than to jump in the river. We stayed out there for most of the day, and by the time it was finished I had some time to go home and relax before the night arrived.
The big thing on Saturday night at The Buller fest is the “Buller party”, its at the back of the café I work and inside the rafting company. Last year the theme was Fleurol, and this year it was “Rubik cube”. That ment that you had to enter the party wearing all the 7 different colors of the rubiks cube, then during the night you had to swap clothes or items with people until you ended up in one solid color! It was quite fun, It’s a good way of getting rid of old clothes and finding new cool stuff. I just concentrated on getting cool stuff, so now I have a pair of sunnies that make me look like a robot from the 70’s. NICE!
On Sunday, after a hearty breakfast, there was the big air competition. They had built a 10m high ramp next to the river, and the competition was to do the nicest trick in a playboat (a small kayak), and landing the trick perfectly. It was awesome to watch, I would have liked to try, but sadly had no playboat. In other words the Sunday was pretty much spent watching other people hurl themselves off a massive jump and saying “oooh” and “aaah” and “ouch”. It was pretty good. Straight after they had the prize ceremony, where all the winning competitors got their glory and the rest of us got randomly drawn spot prizes. They had the most awesome prizes, brand new life jackets, a paddle and Blisstick had made a kayak especially for the festival that they were giving out, to name a few. I didn’t win anything and was extremely jealous for the people that did win. But all in all it was one of the best weekends I have ever had and it was so inspirational and fun!
What a life!
Queen Victoria
A few weeks ago, Danny the traveler and I were so lucky as to be able to step aboard a cruise ship worthy of her royal highness the queen. Oh yes, I know you are all very jealous now, because I have the secrets of the rich mans life and got to live it for a whole five hours!
Welcome aboard all ye who are wondering!
The ship first of all had to be at the very end of the pier because of its size, and we had to go through multiple security checks before being allowed to park our car. When we got to the entrance of the ship we had to show our ID’s, get our picture taken, wear a visitors pass and go through a metal detector. But we were finally inside and the first people we saw were exactly as I imagined. Old ladies wrapped in expensive jewelry and perfume with a face packed with make up and clothes from some high fashion place. Oh yes, I thought I was dressed quite nicely until I got on board and realized I looked like a hobo compared to everyone else.
When we got on board we were met by Danny’s family friend Jackie, who is the hotel manager on these ships and is the third most important person on the ship. She is the boss of 800-900 people!!
Over a cup of tea and a freshly baked muffin in the café, she told us that there’s a little bit less than 2000 passengers on the boat and around 1000 employees, so around 3000 people all together. The muffins were delicious by the way.
We had a quick tour around the boat, which included a casino, a pub, a shopping area built after one of the luxurious malls in London, a candy store with only home-made candy, an art exhibit, a library, a bank, a hospital, a travel agency, a spa and gym, 3 pools and one thermal pool, a hairdresser and a teeth bleacher, a computer café and a conference room and a book shop. We also went in to see the theatre where they had two shows every night, a dance and song crew and a band. The theatre is the only one of its kind in the world, as it is the only theatre in a boat that has boxed seats, 16 of them to be exact. For 20 $ extra you could buy a boxed seat for the night, in which you would get canopies before the show in a little lounge, then half a bottle of champagne and the finest chocolates and treats during the show, in which a bellhop would be standing outside your box incase you need anything else.
As you probably can guess my mouth was gaping so wide I was almost drooling. We went up to Jackie’s living space, which is nothing compared to what the guests have, but it was amazing! She had two TV’s, one which only played movies all day, 3 phones, a massive lounge and big bedroom, a balcony and a bathtub! We both used the bathtub and the froth towels, which were the softest towels I have ever felt in my life!
After our bath we went down to the main eating area, where there is served food 24 hours every single day. On board they have150 chefs!
We got to eat whatever we wanted, we could choose between two things, either a pizzeria where they made a pizza to your wish or the buffet. We went to the buffet. Here they had the most flash food I have seen, they had one counter with just salad stuff, one with just different types of cheese and crackers, a fruit bar, and a warm pastry bar with every type of roll you could possibly want. For hot food they had chicken wrapped in mozzarella, fresh fish, stake, lamb, different types of quiches, three different types of potato, rice and soup, just to mention a few. We ate like pigs to say the least, and that was before we saw the dessert counter! In that area they had ice cream, about 10 different types of cakes and muffins and a few cookies. Oh golly-gosh, we ate so incredibly much!
We had to walk the food off before our next meal, so we saw the rest of the ship. One of the rooms was the Britannia restaurant where there was dinner served every night. Underneath the rotating world globe, which was made by some famous artist, was the captain’s table where all the VIP’s sat every night eating their three-course meal. The restaurant (only) seated 800 people, so they have two dinners every night. OF COURSE you say! Oh, and the photographer on board takes pictures of the dining guests every other night, just like they do for proms and balls.
By this time we had walked away the hurtful full feeling just to realize it was yet again time to be fed. This time it was afternoon tea they were serving in the Queens room (I’m not kidding about the names of these rooms). The Queens room is lit with a massive chandelier and has a real ballroom dance floor that’s in use every night for those that have itchy dance feet. During our tea however there was only a woman on the dance floor with a massive golden harp playing music for all us “hungry” people who have the acquired taste and can appreciate such music. The host of course seated us as it was too difficult to use our eyes and find ourselves a table, and straight away we were bombarded with three waiters pouring tea in our cups, serving small sandwiches, freshly baked scones and little treats such as home made fudge. There was absolutely no time to call a waiter over, or to even empty your plate before it was refilled; a waiter was already waiting for your next command. I thought it was a bit stressful.
After our tea it was time to go, and so we had to say goodbye to the rich life and Jackie, get our pictures taken again to prove we left the ship and go through the metal detector to make sure we didn’t steal anything. Strangely enough we didn’t have to show any ID or go through any security checks on our way back to the real world. I guess we weren’t very important people any more.
I must say, even though it was a jolly good time for 5 hours, I couldn’t last even a week on the cruise without going mad. This might very well be the reason so many rich people are out of their minds; maybe they all went mad in pure boredom! To be honest I was quite happy getting off the ship, and feeling like a beached whale, I was very ready to get back to my job of clearing tables, getting paid minimum wage and not having to call my boss ma’am after every sentence. Oh’ the life of the rich and famous!
If Queen Victoria is your dream, it can come true for the minimum price of 15 000 NZ $, which is only 36 000 NOK. Cheap ey?
Welcome aboard all ye who are wondering!
The ship first of all had to be at the very end of the pier because of its size, and we had to go through multiple security checks before being allowed to park our car. When we got to the entrance of the ship we had to show our ID’s, get our picture taken, wear a visitors pass and go through a metal detector. But we were finally inside and the first people we saw were exactly as I imagined. Old ladies wrapped in expensive jewelry and perfume with a face packed with make up and clothes from some high fashion place. Oh yes, I thought I was dressed quite nicely until I got on board and realized I looked like a hobo compared to everyone else.
When we got on board we were met by Danny’s family friend Jackie, who is the hotel manager on these ships and is the third most important person on the ship. She is the boss of 800-900 people!!
Over a cup of tea and a freshly baked muffin in the café, she told us that there’s a little bit less than 2000 passengers on the boat and around 1000 employees, so around 3000 people all together. The muffins were delicious by the way.
We had a quick tour around the boat, which included a casino, a pub, a shopping area built after one of the luxurious malls in London, a candy store with only home-made candy, an art exhibit, a library, a bank, a hospital, a travel agency, a spa and gym, 3 pools and one thermal pool, a hairdresser and a teeth bleacher, a computer café and a conference room and a book shop. We also went in to see the theatre where they had two shows every night, a dance and song crew and a band. The theatre is the only one of its kind in the world, as it is the only theatre in a boat that has boxed seats, 16 of them to be exact. For 20 $ extra you could buy a boxed seat for the night, in which you would get canopies before the show in a little lounge, then half a bottle of champagne and the finest chocolates and treats during the show, in which a bellhop would be standing outside your box incase you need anything else.
As you probably can guess my mouth was gaping so wide I was almost drooling. We went up to Jackie’s living space, which is nothing compared to what the guests have, but it was amazing! She had two TV’s, one which only played movies all day, 3 phones, a massive lounge and big bedroom, a balcony and a bathtub! We both used the bathtub and the froth towels, which were the softest towels I have ever felt in my life!
After our bath we went down to the main eating area, where there is served food 24 hours every single day. On board they have150 chefs!
We got to eat whatever we wanted, we could choose between two things, either a pizzeria where they made a pizza to your wish or the buffet. We went to the buffet. Here they had the most flash food I have seen, they had one counter with just salad stuff, one with just different types of cheese and crackers, a fruit bar, and a warm pastry bar with every type of roll you could possibly want. For hot food they had chicken wrapped in mozzarella, fresh fish, stake, lamb, different types of quiches, three different types of potato, rice and soup, just to mention a few. We ate like pigs to say the least, and that was before we saw the dessert counter! In that area they had ice cream, about 10 different types of cakes and muffins and a few cookies. Oh golly-gosh, we ate so incredibly much!
We had to walk the food off before our next meal, so we saw the rest of the ship. One of the rooms was the Britannia restaurant where there was dinner served every night. Underneath the rotating world globe, which was made by some famous artist, was the captain’s table where all the VIP’s sat every night eating their three-course meal. The restaurant (only) seated 800 people, so they have two dinners every night. OF COURSE you say! Oh, and the photographer on board takes pictures of the dining guests every other night, just like they do for proms and balls.
By this time we had walked away the hurtful full feeling just to realize it was yet again time to be fed. This time it was afternoon tea they were serving in the Queens room (I’m not kidding about the names of these rooms). The Queens room is lit with a massive chandelier and has a real ballroom dance floor that’s in use every night for those that have itchy dance feet. During our tea however there was only a woman on the dance floor with a massive golden harp playing music for all us “hungry” people who have the acquired taste and can appreciate such music. The host of course seated us as it was too difficult to use our eyes and find ourselves a table, and straight away we were bombarded with three waiters pouring tea in our cups, serving small sandwiches, freshly baked scones and little treats such as home made fudge. There was absolutely no time to call a waiter over, or to even empty your plate before it was refilled; a waiter was already waiting for your next command. I thought it was a bit stressful.
After our tea it was time to go, and so we had to say goodbye to the rich life and Jackie, get our pictures taken again to prove we left the ship and go through the metal detector to make sure we didn’t steal anything. Strangely enough we didn’t have to show any ID or go through any security checks on our way back to the real world. I guess we weren’t very important people any more.
I must say, even though it was a jolly good time for 5 hours, I couldn’t last even a week on the cruise without going mad. This might very well be the reason so many rich people are out of their minds; maybe they all went mad in pure boredom! To be honest I was quite happy getting off the ship, and feeling like a beached whale, I was very ready to get back to my job of clearing tables, getting paid minimum wage and not having to call my boss ma’am after every sentence. Oh’ the life of the rich and famous!
If Queen Victoria is your dream, it can come true for the minimum price of 15 000 NZ $, which is only 36 000 NOK. Cheap ey?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Life
So, this is a warning, this is one of those more serious blogs about life and death. If you do not feel up to thinking about this for whatever reason, i suggest you divert your eyes.. now.
So this weekend has been of a thought awakener you could say. Let me tell you the story.
It all happened on saturday night, we went to Philippa (the nice receptionist at UD) and her boyfriend George's house to be apart of the celebration of Philippas 25th birthday. To our surprise and utter delight it was not just her birthday, but George had proposed that morning as well, so it was an engagement party and birthday party in one! We stayed there for a while, but it was a bit too mature crowd for us, so we went off to the pub to check if there was any sign of life, and there was!! The Hampten was going off and so we joined in the fun, and while we were there we got to know two very awesome guys that were just out to have a good time. In a very misunderstood situation one of the guys was thrown out of the pub in which his good friend followed. They got in their car, and it didnt take long before the cop started chasing them and so they reached speeds up to 150 km an hour, in which it of course had to end badly. They crashed in a tree and the car was split in two, 50 meters apart from each-other. The passenger died instantly and the driver was sent to Nelson in critical condition.
half an hour before we were all dancing and chatting along having a good time, and when I now think back on yesterday, it is so strange to think that we were pretty much the last people to see them alive.
its just a smack in the face really how quickly your life can be taken from one, and the reality of how fragile life is, hits home.
Everyday is a gift.
So this weekend has been of a thought awakener you could say. Let me tell you the story.
It all happened on saturday night, we went to Philippa (the nice receptionist at UD) and her boyfriend George's house to be apart of the celebration of Philippas 25th birthday. To our surprise and utter delight it was not just her birthday, but George had proposed that morning as well, so it was an engagement party and birthday party in one! We stayed there for a while, but it was a bit too mature crowd for us, so we went off to the pub to check if there was any sign of life, and there was!! The Hampten was going off and so we joined in the fun, and while we were there we got to know two very awesome guys that were just out to have a good time. In a very misunderstood situation one of the guys was thrown out of the pub in which his good friend followed. They got in their car, and it didnt take long before the cop started chasing them and so they reached speeds up to 150 km an hour, in which it of course had to end badly. They crashed in a tree and the car was split in two, 50 meters apart from each-other. The passenger died instantly and the driver was sent to Nelson in critical condition.
half an hour before we were all dancing and chatting along having a good time, and when I now think back on yesterday, it is so strange to think that we were pretty much the last people to see them alive.
its just a smack in the face really how quickly your life can be taken from one, and the reality of how fragile life is, hits home.
Everyday is a gift.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
New Zealands Masterchef's
Since Leone is leaving very soon to go to her Outward Bound, we had a leaving dinner for the couple she has been living with to say thanks. It was quite a dinner, as both Leone and I are masterchefs! We had a three course meal, and the menu was as follows:
starters:
A platter with cheese, brie, crackers of different sorts, peaches, chutneys, olives, onions, dried fruit and cashews. And to go with, ice cold white wine.
Main meal:
Sweet and sour chicken in a white sauce wrapped in filo-pastry, carefully cooked in the oven to a perfect golden temperature. Served with a side salad filled with everything imaginable and fresh from a delicious garden.
Dessert:
Dessert consited of a family tradition from home. A delicious fruit salad with whipped cream, yoghurt and dark chocolate.
Served with home made Sangria.
So if anyone would like to have a masterchef come over and bake for you, let us know! we are on call!
Oh, all in all the night was very splendid and I think our 4 guests rather enjoyed the dinner party.
starters:
A platter with cheese, brie, crackers of different sorts, peaches, chutneys, olives, onions, dried fruit and cashews. And to go with, ice cold white wine.
Main meal:
Sweet and sour chicken in a white sauce wrapped in filo-pastry, carefully cooked in the oven to a perfect golden temperature. Served with a side salad filled with everything imaginable and fresh from a delicious garden.
Dessert:
Dessert consited of a family tradition from home. A delicious fruit salad with whipped cream, yoghurt and dark chocolate.
Served with home made Sangria.
So if anyone would like to have a masterchef come over and bake for you, let us know! we are on call!
Oh, all in all the night was very splendid and I think our 4 guests rather enjoyed the dinner party.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
AC/DC Review
AC/DC
Black Ice Tour 2010
Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington NZ
When: Thursday January 28th 2010
How many: sold out
The AC/DC concert was the first concert of that size that Wellington hosted. Westpac Stadium, which is a fairly new outdoor arena, was used for the first time for something of this caliber. AC/DC were playing two nights in Wellington, Thursday the 28th and Saturday the 30th. I witnessed the Thursday show, thinking to my self that the very first concert of their tour would be the very best. I must admit that going to the concert I had my doubts about their performance, I knew it would be good no matter what, but the words “washed up rock band” came to my mind more than once. I mean, they are starting to reach middle age, and was wondering to myself if these older gods of rock could still pull off singing about “American thighs” and girls that “shook them all night long” with as much conviction. Would I still be able to listen to them in the same way, or would this concert fade my love for the band a little bit? I was very excited to find out, and would soon have all my answers.
The lines into the stadium were not bad, and Westpac had made a very good system. People started filling up from the minute the doors opened at 5.40 pm to AC/DC started playing at 9 pm. The first warm up band was ok, but not a hit. They were a local band from Wellington. The vocalist was trying a bit too hard to be Mick Jagger and they just didn’t get the crowd excited with their soft rock. About an hour later the kiwi band Shihad came on stage, they were a bit more hard rock and managed to get the crowd going and excited, but for me the songs were too similar to each other and after half an hour I wanted them to get off stage and let the gods take over. At 9 pm, when all was dark, the three TV screens lit up and a short movie appeared (one of the nights many amazing graphics). Rock and roll train was driving on the tracks, faster and faster towards town. Two girls tried to stop Brian Johnson (the vocalist) who was the conductor, but didn’t manage to. The train crashed as the stage exploded into smoke and the TV screen in the middle of the stage parted in two and showed a full size train crashed on real train tracks. It was then, out of the smoke, that AC/DC entered the stage and started playing ‘Rock and Roll Train’ from their new album for a crowd of screaming fans. As you probably guessed, I was one of them. After the song, the vocalist Brian said in his unreal raspy voice: “We’re here to play rock n roll tonight!!”, and the crowd went mad.
From then on the show just kept getting better, there was not one single moment during the concert that I thought to myself: “next song” or “that wasn’t too good”. They played all the classics, but in-between they played the new songs off their new album “Black Ice”, and still managed to keep the crowd going. The props they had were unreal as well. When they played “Whole Lotta Rosie” they had a humongous blow-up doll that they positioned so that she was straddling the train and blowing air under her foot so that it looked like she was keeping the beat. At the start of “Hells Bells”, a massive bell came down and the Brian Johnson ran onto it and swinging on the cord started the song. The hits just kept on coming throughout the night, with ‘Thunderstruck’, ‘TNT’, “Shook me all night long’, ‘The Jack’, ‘Highway to hell’, ‘For those about to rock’, ‘Shoot to thrill’, ‘Dirty deeds done dirt cheap’, ‘Who made who’, ‘Back in Black’ and so many more.
They kept it going through out, but maybe the most enthusiastic was Angus Young, the lead guitarist, he was jumping around on stage the entire concert from start to finish. During “The Jack” he stripped off his famous schoolboy uniform, piece by piece to the roar of the crowd, to reveal his boxers that read AC/DC all over them. He also had an absolutely amazing guitar solo that lasted for the good part of 15-20 min. He was everywhere, lying on the stage, feet kicking in the air, running back stage while playing and doing one part to each side of the stage and crowd. The man has still got it, that’s for sure! He ended his solo coming through the bottom of the stage with just one beam of light transfixed on him, ran down the stage, jumped in front of the drums and they started playing right back into the song just as they left off. The drummer Phil Rudd was sitting playing his advanced stuff while smoking a cigarette, making it look like a breeze. Malcom Young and Cliff Williams were more in the background, but very much there!
The band itself seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot during the entire show, Brian Johnson making some joke or comment in between each song.
Everything was so tight and to the key, and so well done that the hour and 50 min they played felt like 10 min. They left the stage the first time in a rain of confetti. They then came back for an encore and played one more song in which the entire stage, bit by bit, shot out fireballs. The show ended with a massive fireworks show and the stage yet again shooting off fireballs. I was then left there in awe and just begging for them to re-enter the stage and do it all again.
All my wonderings and questions were answered. No they are absolutely not a washed up rock band, they can definitely pull off singing about women without sounding gross, Brian still has an unbelievable voice and YES they are still very much still the gods of rock. On Thursday the 28th of January I witnessed true rock in its very purest form, and I would gladly have paid three times the amount to see them again. For all of you that didn’t get to witness them, I’m sorry, because to be honest, you really missed out! All I have to do, is close my eyes and Angus Young lying on stage playing the guitar with his feet kicking in the air, will still be a vivid picture in my mind.
Stand up and be counted, for what you are about to receive. We are the dealers, we’ll give you everything that you need. Hail hail to the good times, cause rock has got the right of way, we ain’t no legend, ain’t no cause. We’re just living for today. For those about to rock we salute you!
Black Ice Tour 2010
Where: Westpac Stadium, Wellington NZ
When: Thursday January 28th 2010
How many: sold out
The AC/DC concert was the first concert of that size that Wellington hosted. Westpac Stadium, which is a fairly new outdoor arena, was used for the first time for something of this caliber. AC/DC were playing two nights in Wellington, Thursday the 28th and Saturday the 30th. I witnessed the Thursday show, thinking to my self that the very first concert of their tour would be the very best. I must admit that going to the concert I had my doubts about their performance, I knew it would be good no matter what, but the words “washed up rock band” came to my mind more than once. I mean, they are starting to reach middle age, and was wondering to myself if these older gods of rock could still pull off singing about “American thighs” and girls that “shook them all night long” with as much conviction. Would I still be able to listen to them in the same way, or would this concert fade my love for the band a little bit? I was very excited to find out, and would soon have all my answers.
The lines into the stadium were not bad, and Westpac had made a very good system. People started filling up from the minute the doors opened at 5.40 pm to AC/DC started playing at 9 pm. The first warm up band was ok, but not a hit. They were a local band from Wellington. The vocalist was trying a bit too hard to be Mick Jagger and they just didn’t get the crowd excited with their soft rock. About an hour later the kiwi band Shihad came on stage, they were a bit more hard rock and managed to get the crowd going and excited, but for me the songs were too similar to each other and after half an hour I wanted them to get off stage and let the gods take over. At 9 pm, when all was dark, the three TV screens lit up and a short movie appeared (one of the nights many amazing graphics). Rock and roll train was driving on the tracks, faster and faster towards town. Two girls tried to stop Brian Johnson (the vocalist) who was the conductor, but didn’t manage to. The train crashed as the stage exploded into smoke and the TV screen in the middle of the stage parted in two and showed a full size train crashed on real train tracks. It was then, out of the smoke, that AC/DC entered the stage and started playing ‘Rock and Roll Train’ from their new album for a crowd of screaming fans. As you probably guessed, I was one of them. After the song, the vocalist Brian said in his unreal raspy voice: “We’re here to play rock n roll tonight!!”, and the crowd went mad.
From then on the show just kept getting better, there was not one single moment during the concert that I thought to myself: “next song” or “that wasn’t too good”. They played all the classics, but in-between they played the new songs off their new album “Black Ice”, and still managed to keep the crowd going. The props they had were unreal as well. When they played “Whole Lotta Rosie” they had a humongous blow-up doll that they positioned so that she was straddling the train and blowing air under her foot so that it looked like she was keeping the beat. At the start of “Hells Bells”, a massive bell came down and the Brian Johnson ran onto it and swinging on the cord started the song. The hits just kept on coming throughout the night, with ‘Thunderstruck’, ‘TNT’, “Shook me all night long’, ‘The Jack’, ‘Highway to hell’, ‘For those about to rock’, ‘Shoot to thrill’, ‘Dirty deeds done dirt cheap’, ‘Who made who’, ‘Back in Black’ and so many more.
They kept it going through out, but maybe the most enthusiastic was Angus Young, the lead guitarist, he was jumping around on stage the entire concert from start to finish. During “The Jack” he stripped off his famous schoolboy uniform, piece by piece to the roar of the crowd, to reveal his boxers that read AC/DC all over them. He also had an absolutely amazing guitar solo that lasted for the good part of 15-20 min. He was everywhere, lying on the stage, feet kicking in the air, running back stage while playing and doing one part to each side of the stage and crowd. The man has still got it, that’s for sure! He ended his solo coming through the bottom of the stage with just one beam of light transfixed on him, ran down the stage, jumped in front of the drums and they started playing right back into the song just as they left off. The drummer Phil Rudd was sitting playing his advanced stuff while smoking a cigarette, making it look like a breeze. Malcom Young and Cliff Williams were more in the background, but very much there!
The band itself seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot during the entire show, Brian Johnson making some joke or comment in between each song.
Everything was so tight and to the key, and so well done that the hour and 50 min they played felt like 10 min. They left the stage the first time in a rain of confetti. They then came back for an encore and played one more song in which the entire stage, bit by bit, shot out fireballs. The show ended with a massive fireworks show and the stage yet again shooting off fireballs. I was then left there in awe and just begging for them to re-enter the stage and do it all again.
All my wonderings and questions were answered. No they are absolutely not a washed up rock band, they can definitely pull off singing about women without sounding gross, Brian still has an unbelievable voice and YES they are still very much still the gods of rock. On Thursday the 28th of January I witnessed true rock in its very purest form, and I would gladly have paid three times the amount to see them again. For all of you that didn’t get to witness them, I’m sorry, because to be honest, you really missed out! All I have to do, is close my eyes and Angus Young lying on stage playing the guitar with his feet kicking in the air, will still be a vivid picture in my mind.
Stand up and be counted, for what you are about to receive. We are the dealers, we’ll give you everything that you need. Hail hail to the good times, cause rock has got the right of way, we ain’t no legend, ain’t no cause. We’re just living for today. For those about to rock we salute you!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Roadtrip!!
On Tuesday we finished early at work and ran home to pack the stuff we needed. We were on a mission! For those of you not entirely clear of what our mission was, let me tell you, AC/DC was playing in Wellington (on the north island) and we (leone and I) were going to the concert and Regan and Annabelle were coming along for the trip and some fun.
Anyway, we packed in a hurry and got in the car, it was an amazing hot day and just perfect for a good drive with the windows down, wind in our hair and loud music. The drive up to Picton (where the ferry terminal is) usually takes 2 hours, our drive took 4 and a half. We stopped at lake Rotaiti, which is a beautiful lake full of eels at the bottom of a tiny mountain chain. Regan bet me 20 $ that I didn’t dare swim with the eels, so I proved him wrong and also found out that eels aren’t that interested in biting people. Did you know that eels aren’t matured (adults) until they reach the age of 90 years old?! How’s that for a fact!!
Sorry, back to the story.. Our next stop was in Blenheim, but only to get some food at the grocery store. Blenheim is about the same size as Bodo, maybe a little bit bigger. We finally arrived in Picton at about 10.30 pm and John met us at the ferry terminal and showed us back to his home about three km out of town. John is one of our regulars at the café, he is about 55-60 years old and comes into the café about 5 times a day. He used to come only 4 times a day, but after reading a research that said that all men that drink over 5 cups of coffee a day reduce their chances of prostate cancer, he started coming 5 times a day. He always buys a trim chocolate cappuccino, and in the mornings he gets a muffin as well, but without butter because he’s trying to watch his weight. John is a boatbuilder and therefore has a house and a boatyard in Picton, but is slowly moving in to his newly built house in Murchison, so he spends half his week in Picton, half in Murch. Being the nice guy that John is, he let us put our car outside his house while we were in Wellington, so that we didn’t have to bring it on the ferry, let us sleep in his sleepout behind his house and drove us to the ferry in the morning and picked us up when we came back! What a host! He even took us out for a coffee and showed us around town when we arrived late Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning at 5.30 we were back at the ferry terminal waiting for the ferry to leave. It was a beautiful ride over, the ocean was completely calm and we watched the sun come up and felt the temperature rise. When we got to Wellington it was pretty hot already. Annabelle and Leone’s aunt and cousin met us there and their cousin took us out to Paraparamu, about an hour out of town where they live. Its right next to the beach. We were pretty tired and hungry after only sleeping 4 hours and no breakfast so when we got “home” we pretty much left straight away and had lunch at a nice café and visited Lindale Farm, where they have NZ’s best ice cream, which is true! Leone and I went to the pool and swam around for a few hours, before gong back home to an amazingly good barbie. We finished the night with a stroll along the beach watching the sun set.
THE GRAND DAY: I woke up early in the morning with a smile on my face, knowing that today was AC/DC. We got a ride in with the aunt and headed straight for the Te Papa museum, which is an awesome museum that’s free and you can touch everything. We spent hours there just playing around. The rest of the day was spent walking around town, sitting on top of Mount Victoria in the middle of town and trying one of those paddle boats. It was quite funny because It just didn’t go forward and so we were stuck in the ocean bay for quite some time. After that little adventure it was finally time for the concert, so Leone and I walked/ran to the outdoor Westpac Arena and started standing in line. The concert wasn’t anything short of amazing, please read concert review.
After the concert Leone and I went out for a few drinks, as we were both blown away and not knowing what to do with ourselves and not in the mood to go home. At 1 am we decided to check what time the trains went home and to our surprise realized there was no trains going home, we were shocked to find that no buses went either and just laughed when we realized the taxi was 160 $ and all the hotels and hostels were fully booked for the night because of the concert! We sat down to have a think, we could either sit at an all night Burger King or go from pub to pub until the train left in the morning. Interesting!
As we were having a think Mr. Popsicle walked by and turned out he was in the same pickle as us. All he had managed to do was buy two popsicles while thinking of the situation, and now found himself thinking over the situation with us. He was going the same way as us, so we decided to hail down a cab to ask how much it would be for each of us. As we were hailing down a cab, a postal truck stopped and asked if we needed a lift! If we paid him gas money he would take us to our door, so we jumped in without hesitating. I got stuck in the back with Popsicle, but he was alright, working in the commercial industry. An hour later we were outside our door, had got home cheaper than the train would have been and had a grand ol’ laugh before falling soundly asleep as the two happiest girls in the world.
Our last day in Wellie, started off quite an early one again, it was too hot to sleep and I was too excited to tell everyone about the concert and try on my t-shirts to sleep. So was Leone and after reliving the concert we went for a run on the beach and a swim in the ocean, which was about 28 degrees. It was a beautiful start to the day! We went back to the house and had a little barbecue and fruit salad for lunch, before packing all our stuff and heading back into wellie. As a finish to our little holiday we went to the Lonestar restaurant for dinner. It’s a very cool NZ restaurant chain with a western cowboy interior and style. We met the aunt here, and she is so lovely, I had two very good strawberry margaritas and a massive plate of nachos. Mmmm.. The aunt was so kind, she paid for the entire meal and drove us to the ferry after!
The ferry ride again was perfect and John met us yet again at the ferry terminal and drove us to his place to pick up our car.
The car ride home started off quite rowdy, but died down quickly and by the time we reached home at 2.30 in the morning we were completely exhausted but very very happy and content.
Oh’ ye ol’ wellie!
Anyway, we packed in a hurry and got in the car, it was an amazing hot day and just perfect for a good drive with the windows down, wind in our hair and loud music. The drive up to Picton (where the ferry terminal is) usually takes 2 hours, our drive took 4 and a half. We stopped at lake Rotaiti, which is a beautiful lake full of eels at the bottom of a tiny mountain chain. Regan bet me 20 $ that I didn’t dare swim with the eels, so I proved him wrong and also found out that eels aren’t that interested in biting people. Did you know that eels aren’t matured (adults) until they reach the age of 90 years old?! How’s that for a fact!!
Sorry, back to the story.. Our next stop was in Blenheim, but only to get some food at the grocery store. Blenheim is about the same size as Bodo, maybe a little bit bigger. We finally arrived in Picton at about 10.30 pm and John met us at the ferry terminal and showed us back to his home about three km out of town. John is one of our regulars at the café, he is about 55-60 years old and comes into the café about 5 times a day. He used to come only 4 times a day, but after reading a research that said that all men that drink over 5 cups of coffee a day reduce their chances of prostate cancer, he started coming 5 times a day. He always buys a trim chocolate cappuccino, and in the mornings he gets a muffin as well, but without butter because he’s trying to watch his weight. John is a boatbuilder and therefore has a house and a boatyard in Picton, but is slowly moving in to his newly built house in Murchison, so he spends half his week in Picton, half in Murch. Being the nice guy that John is, he let us put our car outside his house while we were in Wellington, so that we didn’t have to bring it on the ferry, let us sleep in his sleepout behind his house and drove us to the ferry in the morning and picked us up when we came back! What a host! He even took us out for a coffee and showed us around town when we arrived late Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning at 5.30 we were back at the ferry terminal waiting for the ferry to leave. It was a beautiful ride over, the ocean was completely calm and we watched the sun come up and felt the temperature rise. When we got to Wellington it was pretty hot already. Annabelle and Leone’s aunt and cousin met us there and their cousin took us out to Paraparamu, about an hour out of town where they live. Its right next to the beach. We were pretty tired and hungry after only sleeping 4 hours and no breakfast so when we got “home” we pretty much left straight away and had lunch at a nice café and visited Lindale Farm, where they have NZ’s best ice cream, which is true! Leone and I went to the pool and swam around for a few hours, before gong back home to an amazingly good barbie. We finished the night with a stroll along the beach watching the sun set.
THE GRAND DAY: I woke up early in the morning with a smile on my face, knowing that today was AC/DC. We got a ride in with the aunt and headed straight for the Te Papa museum, which is an awesome museum that’s free and you can touch everything. We spent hours there just playing around. The rest of the day was spent walking around town, sitting on top of Mount Victoria in the middle of town and trying one of those paddle boats. It was quite funny because It just didn’t go forward and so we were stuck in the ocean bay for quite some time. After that little adventure it was finally time for the concert, so Leone and I walked/ran to the outdoor Westpac Arena and started standing in line. The concert wasn’t anything short of amazing, please read concert review.
After the concert Leone and I went out for a few drinks, as we were both blown away and not knowing what to do with ourselves and not in the mood to go home. At 1 am we decided to check what time the trains went home and to our surprise realized there was no trains going home, we were shocked to find that no buses went either and just laughed when we realized the taxi was 160 $ and all the hotels and hostels were fully booked for the night because of the concert! We sat down to have a think, we could either sit at an all night Burger King or go from pub to pub until the train left in the morning. Interesting!
As we were having a think Mr. Popsicle walked by and turned out he was in the same pickle as us. All he had managed to do was buy two popsicles while thinking of the situation, and now found himself thinking over the situation with us. He was going the same way as us, so we decided to hail down a cab to ask how much it would be for each of us. As we were hailing down a cab, a postal truck stopped and asked if we needed a lift! If we paid him gas money he would take us to our door, so we jumped in without hesitating. I got stuck in the back with Popsicle, but he was alright, working in the commercial industry. An hour later we were outside our door, had got home cheaper than the train would have been and had a grand ol’ laugh before falling soundly asleep as the two happiest girls in the world.
Our last day in Wellie, started off quite an early one again, it was too hot to sleep and I was too excited to tell everyone about the concert and try on my t-shirts to sleep. So was Leone and after reliving the concert we went for a run on the beach and a swim in the ocean, which was about 28 degrees. It was a beautiful start to the day! We went back to the house and had a little barbecue and fruit salad for lunch, before packing all our stuff and heading back into wellie. As a finish to our little holiday we went to the Lonestar restaurant for dinner. It’s a very cool NZ restaurant chain with a western cowboy interior and style. We met the aunt here, and she is so lovely, I had two very good strawberry margaritas and a massive plate of nachos. Mmmm.. The aunt was so kind, she paid for the entire meal and drove us to the ferry after!
The ferry ride again was perfect and John met us yet again at the ferry terminal and drove us to his place to pick up our car.
The car ride home started off quite rowdy, but died down quickly and by the time we reached home at 2.30 in the morning we were completely exhausted but very very happy and content.
Oh’ ye ol’ wellie!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Invasion of the hippies!
For the last month there has been a hippiefestival going on a little bit outside Springs Junction, about an hour away from here. The festval itself is an hours walk into the forest, next to the river, and as they say themselves and people I know who have gone for a bit, it's been full of love, peace and a lot of nudity. They have been coming to Murchison in big groups for the last month and have definetly spiced up our average days! You can usually tell the hippies from everyone else, they're the ones with the very colorful clothing, the long hair and pretty much everyone of them carries around an instrument of somekind and a flask or bottle that they got real cheap at a garage sale. In other words they look like they come straight from the 60's. Its been quite funny having them around the cafe, they have caused a bit of a ruckus at the pub because they smell so bad its apparantly hard to serve them. (they dont have showers at the camp, and they havent been too eager to take a shower either strangely enough. guess its festival/ hippie life). Another thing that comes with being a hippie is drugs, some of them I have no idea what were on, but I have never seen so many people be so fascinated over a cookie and eat it with such fufillment and determination!
Saturday was the last day of the festival and as an ending they had asked the Commercial pub if they could play there live for the night, in which the pub said yes! The poster only said "live band" and so us girlies and Regen thought it was some local countryband coming through and thought it would be a fun night at the 'ol commercial. Mutch to our surprise it was not, instead of the guitar and drums and cowboy hats there was long gowns, beards to the chest, a mandolin, a banjo and a flute and dreads everywhere. And about 30 hippies jumping around singing to their hearts content and dancing to a rythm i found hard to find. It was awesome! The commercial was pretty full after a while and The Hamptin found itself shutting early as most people decided to come over to "the darkside". It didn't take long before one of the hippies came over and asked if we wanted to dance, naturally I said yes and away we went! Apart from the bit sweaty smell, it was a very fun night. Dancing with the hippies most of the night and watching them sing along to songs I have never heard before, mostly about love and happiness (which is a nice break from the partying and prostitue- songs on the radio). After a while they all got together in three massive rings and stood humming the word "ah" together for a looong time before going "brrrr" shaking their hands and then oing a massive group hug piling on top of eachother on the floor. It was ofcourse all fun and games until the flying mokeys come out, and one flying monkey nocked into one of the senior hippies and hurt one of her many piercings, in which she had to spend the next hour in the bathroom with the aid of three other hippies. Too much love i guess.
I had a chat to a few of the hippies, one who was from Australia and was here with alle her girl-friends, and to be honest they are pretty cool people i think. Too much hairgrowth in my opinion, but very good people i'd say!
In the end, we got invited to the next rainbow festival (i know, very appropriate name!) next year and wished peace and love on our bodies.
The day after, they decided to come to Rivers Cafe to have a public concert outside for all our guests. It was all good until they decided to dance on the tables, in which other poeple were supposed to eat off of. Thats when Jude the boss saw red, marched out there and told (yelled) them: "HAVE SOME RESPECT!!". They were very sorry and got off the tables, but they spent the rest of the day, from 11 am to 4 pm outside the cafe singing and dancing to our amusment and Jude ended up giving them all a free meal. Some rednecks appeared and wanted us to tell the hippies to leave, so we told therednecks to leave instead. It was good and so much peace and love!
its like what they say, if you cant beat them, join them! Long live the hippie culture!
Saturday was the last day of the festival and as an ending they had asked the Commercial pub if they could play there live for the night, in which the pub said yes! The poster only said "live band" and so us girlies and Regen thought it was some local countryband coming through and thought it would be a fun night at the 'ol commercial. Mutch to our surprise it was not, instead of the guitar and drums and cowboy hats there was long gowns, beards to the chest, a mandolin, a banjo and a flute and dreads everywhere. And about 30 hippies jumping around singing to their hearts content and dancing to a rythm i found hard to find. It was awesome! The commercial was pretty full after a while and The Hamptin found itself shutting early as most people decided to come over to "the darkside". It didn't take long before one of the hippies came over and asked if we wanted to dance, naturally I said yes and away we went! Apart from the bit sweaty smell, it was a very fun night. Dancing with the hippies most of the night and watching them sing along to songs I have never heard before, mostly about love and happiness (which is a nice break from the partying and prostitue- songs on the radio). After a while they all got together in three massive rings and stood humming the word "ah" together for a looong time before going "brrrr" shaking their hands and then oing a massive group hug piling on top of eachother on the floor. It was ofcourse all fun and games until the flying mokeys come out, and one flying monkey nocked into one of the senior hippies and hurt one of her many piercings, in which she had to spend the next hour in the bathroom with the aid of three other hippies. Too much love i guess.
I had a chat to a few of the hippies, one who was from Australia and was here with alle her girl-friends, and to be honest they are pretty cool people i think. Too much hairgrowth in my opinion, but very good people i'd say!
In the end, we got invited to the next rainbow festival (i know, very appropriate name!) next year and wished peace and love on our bodies.
The day after, they decided to come to Rivers Cafe to have a public concert outside for all our guests. It was all good until they decided to dance on the tables, in which other poeple were supposed to eat off of. Thats when Jude the boss saw red, marched out there and told (yelled) them: "HAVE SOME RESPECT!!". They were very sorry and got off the tables, but they spent the rest of the day, from 11 am to 4 pm outside the cafe singing and dancing to our amusment and Jude ended up giving them all a free meal. Some rednecks appeared and wanted us to tell the hippies to leave, so we told therednecks to leave instead. It was good and so much peace and love!
its like what they say, if you cant beat them, join them! Long live the hippie culture!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Summersix
SO this weekend has been quite an eventful one, and i therefore feel we have to start at the beginning.. That is on Friday morning.
I woke up early on Friday morning to go for a morning paddle with Jason the fantastic paddler and Joe the wicked paddler. I met up with them at the campground early in the morning, they had met up with some other guys in the campground that also wanted to go paddling, among them Frank the Frenchman. (i know, strange name for a frenchman). I feel like Frank the Frenchman needs an introduction. He is first of all french, hardly speaks any english and will start speaking french if he can't make himself clear, (as if we all know french). He still makes himself understood by his body language and is a very likable guy, does not have any plans and has been traveling for the last years, and changes his mind very often!
Anyway, back to the story, so me, Cam, Sam, Vaughn, Frank the Frenchman and Jason went paddling (yes thats right Joe is not mentioned because he didn't go reason being a bad elbow) down the mangles. Which is a nice easy run with lots of play waves.It was here that Frank the frenchman decided it would be a good spot to go skinny dipping (he didn't though) and decided to make a new sport of naked-kayaking. Right.. It was a good start to the day and turning out to be a really nice day.
After our paddle we went and picked up the birthday girl (Danny) and her brother Tristan. We packed all our stuff in a hurry to make most of the day and as we were driving out i managed to drive in to Donna the wonderful tenant's porch stairs! They fell a part and did not look very good.. our car was fine though. We drove back into town and i went and talked to Donna, she just laughed and thought it was hilarious and told us to have a fun weekend in Nelson and to deal with it when we came back. You gotta love her!
So off we were to Nelson for the big weekend. We dropped Jason off at a friends house so he could get the ferry back north. Then we headed straight for the beach where we spent most of the afternoon. it was a bit windy and so by the time we were done at the beach I could blend in very well with the sand and i'm surprised people even saw me on the beach.
Byt that time it was around 7 pm and our little stomachs were growling so we went out to eat at a nice thai restaurant. We got such a good feed for very cheap and so it was the perfect birthday dinner (or tea as they call it here). Had a nice Gin and Tonic to cool me off after the hot day. Yummy.
We found a nice parking space for our car for the night and got dressed a little bit nicer before meeting up with Regen, Annabelle and Leone at the coolest club in Nelson, The Phat club. Its a known fact among all kiwis. The DJ Optimus Gryme was playing and it was an awesome night. Just drum and bass music, but real good! We danced the early night away before heading back to the car for a "good" nights sleep.
We woke up early on Saturday morning ready for a new day! Today was the day of the festival Summersix. On the band-list was Optimus Gryme, Nathan Hanes Live band, P-Money, The Black Seeds, Katchafire and Concord Dawn. It is defiantly worth catching up on the last 4 artist, cause they are very good! Especially The black seeds and Katchafire.
We did some window shopping in Nelson city before going to summersix. the festival opened at 12 pm and was at a sports field. We sat on our blanket in the middle of the field, close to the stage and watched Optimus Gryme and Nathan Hanes Live band do their thing. It was incredibly hot and sunny and such a beautiful day! 5800 people came, so it was quite full. For the rest of the time I was standing next to the stage. Leone and I danced to our little hearts content! It was an awesome day, on of the best days I've had in a while.
The day was over around 8 pm and after I drove home, seeing as I had to be at work at 7.30 in the morning. But summersix is from my rating getting a 5 out of 6. Such a goood day!!
I woke up early on Friday morning to go for a morning paddle with Jason the fantastic paddler and Joe the wicked paddler. I met up with them at the campground early in the morning, they had met up with some other guys in the campground that also wanted to go paddling, among them Frank the Frenchman. (i know, strange name for a frenchman). I feel like Frank the Frenchman needs an introduction. He is first of all french, hardly speaks any english and will start speaking french if he can't make himself clear, (as if we all know french). He still makes himself understood by his body language and is a very likable guy, does not have any plans and has been traveling for the last years, and changes his mind very often!
Anyway, back to the story, so me, Cam, Sam, Vaughn, Frank the Frenchman and Jason went paddling (yes thats right Joe is not mentioned because he didn't go reason being a bad elbow) down the mangles. Which is a nice easy run with lots of play waves.It was here that Frank the frenchman decided it would be a good spot to go skinny dipping (he didn't though) and decided to make a new sport of naked-kayaking. Right.. It was a good start to the day and turning out to be a really nice day.
After our paddle we went and picked up the birthday girl (Danny) and her brother Tristan. We packed all our stuff in a hurry to make most of the day and as we were driving out i managed to drive in to Donna the wonderful tenant's porch stairs! They fell a part and did not look very good.. our car was fine though. We drove back into town and i went and talked to Donna, she just laughed and thought it was hilarious and told us to have a fun weekend in Nelson and to deal with it when we came back. You gotta love her!
So off we were to Nelson for the big weekend. We dropped Jason off at a friends house so he could get the ferry back north. Then we headed straight for the beach where we spent most of the afternoon. it was a bit windy and so by the time we were done at the beach I could blend in very well with the sand and i'm surprised people even saw me on the beach.
Byt that time it was around 7 pm and our little stomachs were growling so we went out to eat at a nice thai restaurant. We got such a good feed for very cheap and so it was the perfect birthday dinner (or tea as they call it here). Had a nice Gin and Tonic to cool me off after the hot day. Yummy.
We found a nice parking space for our car for the night and got dressed a little bit nicer before meeting up with Regen, Annabelle and Leone at the coolest club in Nelson, The Phat club. Its a known fact among all kiwis. The DJ Optimus Gryme was playing and it was an awesome night. Just drum and bass music, but real good! We danced the early night away before heading back to the car for a "good" nights sleep.
We woke up early on Saturday morning ready for a new day! Today was the day of the festival Summersix. On the band-list was Optimus Gryme, Nathan Hanes Live band, P-Money, The Black Seeds, Katchafire and Concord Dawn. It is defiantly worth catching up on the last 4 artist, cause they are very good! Especially The black seeds and Katchafire.
We did some window shopping in Nelson city before going to summersix. the festival opened at 12 pm and was at a sports field. We sat on our blanket in the middle of the field, close to the stage and watched Optimus Gryme and Nathan Hanes Live band do their thing. It was incredibly hot and sunny and such a beautiful day! 5800 people came, so it was quite full. For the rest of the time I was standing next to the stage. Leone and I danced to our little hearts content! It was an awesome day, on of the best days I've had in a while.
The day was over around 8 pm and after I drove home, seeing as I had to be at work at 7.30 in the morning. But summersix is from my rating getting a 5 out of 6. Such a goood day!!
Christmas comes to Murch (again?)
After a very tiring week of very hard work and little sleep I finally had the day off! Leone and I headed straight to the beach in Abel Tasman National Park, Kaiteriteri. It was a gorgeous sunny day with a nice breeze. We stopped along the way to buy freshly picked apricots and cherrys from local farmers. It was delicious to say the least! We spent most of the afternoon on the beach, just relaxing and swimming in the ocean. It was on the way home that I found my christmas present had arrived from home, I was very excited! It was only when I got back to the cafe to pick up the present, that I realized I really never had the day off and was supposed to be working.. It wasn't a big problem and in my excitement I didn't really care, so Leone and I rushed back to her place to open the pressie.
I must say it is a very strange thing opening a christmas present while eating freshly picked corn on the cob and drinking red wine after spending the entire day on the beach enjoying the sun and ocean. Back to the point.. this girl did NOT wait in vain, for it was the most wonderful thought through christmas present ever! It was absolutely lovely, thank you so much!
The rest of the night was spent eating norwegian chocolate with ice cream and freshly picked raspberries from the garden. YUM
Seeing as half the stuff I got was christmas stuff it was only right to have a christmas evening! So after work the next day we went to Annabelle and Regens place, where after eating some more corn on the cob, we watched a christmas movie and baked gingerbread cookies. They were absolutely delicious! Like a little taste of home, even though Dad's cookie dough is much better. We sadly did not have anything to decorate them with, but oo they were delicious!
For the rest of the week I've been swapping between listening to Kraakesolv and the christmas cd I got.
christmas may have come late, but it came to Murch at last!
I must say it is a very strange thing opening a christmas present while eating freshly picked corn on the cob and drinking red wine after spending the entire day on the beach enjoying the sun and ocean. Back to the point.. this girl did NOT wait in vain, for it was the most wonderful thought through christmas present ever! It was absolutely lovely, thank you so much!
The rest of the night was spent eating norwegian chocolate with ice cream and freshly picked raspberries from the garden. YUM
Seeing as half the stuff I got was christmas stuff it was only right to have a christmas evening! So after work the next day we went to Annabelle and Regens place, where after eating some more corn on the cob, we watched a christmas movie and baked gingerbread cookies. They were absolutely delicious! Like a little taste of home, even though Dad's cookie dough is much better. We sadly did not have anything to decorate them with, but oo they were delicious!
For the rest of the week I've been swapping between listening to Kraakesolv and the christmas cd I got.
christmas may have come late, but it came to Murch at last!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
best of 2009
ok guys, it had to be done!! Am thinking ofa top ten decade list, but i think it will have to be top 50.. anyway, here is my top ten best artist of the year list, in random order:
1. Moby - wait for me
2. Lighting Dust - Infinite light
3. Flaming Lips - Embryonic
4. PJ Harvey and John Parish - A woman a man walked by
5. Why? - Alopecia
6. Yeah yeah yeah's - Its Blitz
7. Fat Freddys Drop - Based on a true story
8. Antony and the Johnsons - the crying light
9. Paulo Nutini - Sunny side up
10. Kråkesølv - trådnøsting
1. Moby - wait for me
2. Lighting Dust - Infinite light
3. Flaming Lips - Embryonic
4. PJ Harvey and John Parish - A woman a man walked by
5. Why? - Alopecia
6. Yeah yeah yeah's - Its Blitz
7. Fat Freddys Drop - Based on a true story
8. Antony and the Johnsons - the crying light
9. Paulo Nutini - Sunny side up
10. Kråkesølv - trådnøsting
new years
Happy new years!
The new year in Murchison i must sadly announce is not much to brag about. Being such a small town, most people head off to the neighbor town of nelson to celebrate new years instead of staying here. But, needless to say, we had an awesome night!
so here the story goes:
It was a nice day, kind of rainy clouds coming in, but not too bad for murch. I was biking in to town, when all of a sudden I got a text on my phone saying: hey, do you want to paddle the glenroy with us? i was shocked, and thought to myself, "this is amazing" and replied: yes, of course!
Half an hour later we were driving up to the take out of the river (where we get out in the end). It was me and my to friends Joe and Jason who i'd met in norway and whose here to paddle. Jason is originally from the NZ and came back to paddle and get married, while Joe is from the UK and both are very very good paddlers!
Anywho, we did two runs of the river, which is an absolutely beautiful gorge and quite a technical run. The weather was with us, with sunlight and warmth. The first run went really well, the second run not so well, but its all good. It took us the whole afternoon and by the time we were done it was 5 o clock and just in time to have drinks at work. Jude was offering and buying i might add! We sat there and chattet for quite some time before we realized it was time to go. Annabelle, Leone and I rushed off to ANnabelle's and Regen's place to get everything ready for the night. we were throwing a cocktail party/ flourel party. Yes you heard me right! pictures will come!
It was so much fun! we had glow-sticks, brightly colored clothes, glow in the dark nailpolish, the whole works!! The reason for this was that the local pub was having a glow-in-the dark party. We made lots of cocktails (margarita included!), had an awesome barbecue (bring your own, and then share) and such a good time on the dancefloor. We danced the whole night pretty much, had a conga line and how-low- can-you-go competition.
When the clock struck 11.30 we went down to the pub to meet up with the rest of the town., which wasn't a whole lot to be honest. The pub was around half full (it's not a big pub). The glow-in-the dark party was a little room on one side of the pub with flourel lights and eggcartons painted with flourel paint. It was quite cool, the only downside was that you couldn't hear the music in there and so being in the room was kind of pointless. We still spent a lot of time in there, glowing from top to bottom silent-dancing to no music. It was very funny and must have looked absolutely ridiculous!
The only bad thing about the night was that there were absolutely no fireworks! I was quite shocked and it was a big let down. New years is nothing without the fireworks!
When it was time to go home i couldn't find my bike.. someone had taken it from outside Annabelles house! Luckily things have a habit of turning up very fast in murchison, and so it was found the next day 700 meters up the road. *phew*.
We later found out that since everyone goes somewhere else for new years, most people celebrate it again when they come back! so on the 1st the pub was absolutely packed with people!! oh, little old murch!
new year resolutions:
1. become a grade 4 kayaker this season, and be able to paddle the second grade 4 rapid on the glenroy.
2. see most of the south island before i leave
3. visit most of my friends during the year
4. stay fit
6. do what makes me happy
The new year in Murchison i must sadly announce is not much to brag about. Being such a small town, most people head off to the neighbor town of nelson to celebrate new years instead of staying here. But, needless to say, we had an awesome night!
so here the story goes:
It was a nice day, kind of rainy clouds coming in, but not too bad for murch. I was biking in to town, when all of a sudden I got a text on my phone saying: hey, do you want to paddle the glenroy with us? i was shocked, and thought to myself, "this is amazing" and replied: yes, of course!
Half an hour later we were driving up to the take out of the river (where we get out in the end). It was me and my to friends Joe and Jason who i'd met in norway and whose here to paddle. Jason is originally from the NZ and came back to paddle and get married, while Joe is from the UK and both are very very good paddlers!
Anywho, we did two runs of the river, which is an absolutely beautiful gorge and quite a technical run. The weather was with us, with sunlight and warmth. The first run went really well, the second run not so well, but its all good. It took us the whole afternoon and by the time we were done it was 5 o clock and just in time to have drinks at work. Jude was offering and buying i might add! We sat there and chattet for quite some time before we realized it was time to go. Annabelle, Leone and I rushed off to ANnabelle's and Regen's place to get everything ready for the night. we were throwing a cocktail party/ flourel party. Yes you heard me right! pictures will come!
It was so much fun! we had glow-sticks, brightly colored clothes, glow in the dark nailpolish, the whole works!! The reason for this was that the local pub was having a glow-in-the dark party. We made lots of cocktails (margarita included!), had an awesome barbecue (bring your own, and then share) and such a good time on the dancefloor. We danced the whole night pretty much, had a conga line and how-low- can-you-go competition.
When the clock struck 11.30 we went down to the pub to meet up with the rest of the town., which wasn't a whole lot to be honest. The pub was around half full (it's not a big pub). The glow-in-the dark party was a little room on one side of the pub with flourel lights and eggcartons painted with flourel paint. It was quite cool, the only downside was that you couldn't hear the music in there and so being in the room was kind of pointless. We still spent a lot of time in there, glowing from top to bottom silent-dancing to no music. It was very funny and must have looked absolutely ridiculous!
The only bad thing about the night was that there were absolutely no fireworks! I was quite shocked and it was a big let down. New years is nothing without the fireworks!
When it was time to go home i couldn't find my bike.. someone had taken it from outside Annabelles house! Luckily things have a habit of turning up very fast in murchison, and so it was found the next day 700 meters up the road. *phew*.
We later found out that since everyone goes somewhere else for new years, most people celebrate it again when they come back! so on the 1st the pub was absolutely packed with people!! oh, little old murch!
new year resolutions:
1. become a grade 4 kayaker this season, and be able to paddle the second grade 4 rapid on the glenroy.
2. see most of the south island before i leave
3. visit most of my friends during the year
4. stay fit
6. do what makes me happy
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