|
 |
|
B-day UFO's
- Saturday, November 30, 2002 |
|
|
 |
What a wonderful birthday I had, full of pampering (suprise massage), amazing food, and a good night's rest in a hotel not in STELLA! After a wonderful meal out, we went for a walk along the shore of Lake Taupo (not unlike Lake Tahoe) and were just chatting away when a man stopped us and asked us, "What are those weird lights moving around in the sky?" We had absorbed in coversation, we hadn't noticed the UFO's in the sky!!! OK, maybe they weren't UFO's but everyone walking and driving on the shore that night seemed a bit curious... Hmmm. There were ~ 7 or 8 white lights, not the blinking kind on an aircraft, that seemed to move in random patterns through the skies over Taupo. They left pretty quickly after about 10 minutes. Pretty weird, eh??? We took some pics, but haven't developed the film yet. We aren't expecting much and havne't had an disturbing abduction dreams yet!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rotorua
- Thursday, November 28, 2002 |
|
|
|
We are now in Rotorua, a town dubbed "Rota-Vegas" by the locals because it is so touristy. It sits on the edge of a large lake, in the crater of an ancient volcano. The entire area is thermally active, and the smell of sulphur is never far. Yellowstone actually has a lot more geysers than Rotorua, but there are still plenty of hot springs and boiling mud pits.
We went to a traditional Maori hangi and concert tonight. The hangi is a feast in which a variety of meats, vegetables, and dressing are cooked in a covered pit over hot rocks, thus steam cooking the food. The result is very tasty and juicy meal. The Maori people used to cook this way. The evening began with an education about the Maori culture from our bus driver John. The Maori have a VERY strong culture, not unlike Native Americans and Australian Aboriginals. We arrived at the re-creation of an old Maori village and began the tour with the traditional greeting where warriors come out and challenge the guests with a war dance (a haka). After we were invited into the village, we attended a concert and explanation of Maori traditions, and concluded with a traditional hangi feast.
The concert was full of SO MUCH energy with the dancing and singing. The people were full of joy and pride. Most of the performers were adorned with fearsome facial tatoos which we've seen on Maori throughout the country. Maori make up ~ 20% of the NZ population and there is a resurgence in their traditional culture. We met a really cool German couple that we chatted with at dinner and hope to hook up with them when we visit Europe. The bus ride home with John the bus driver was hysterical! The man had one hell of a sense of humor and had the entire bus singing (even Dave) songs from their home countries. "Home, home on the range....". The Israelis sang Hava Negila. What fun! It was certainly a night to remember..
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why Stay in Campervan/Holiday Parks vs. Hotel or Hostel?
- Sunday, November 17, 2002 |
|
|
|
*Most Campervan parks/Holiday Parks also have motel, cabin, and dorm facilities, so we get the benefit of good location, sometimes a pool, internet, lounge room and kitchen.
*Why pay 2X as much when we have a queen size, very comfy bed and now have the room in our budget to enjoy modest meal out a few times a week!
*When we stay in a hostel, we have to share a bathroom... the bathrooms in the camperparks have been much newer and cleaner thus far.
*More apt to meet Kiwis on holiday at camperparks than hostels. :)
And finally, all of the campervan parks we've stayed at have GORGEOUS VIEWS!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We Could Do No Wrong Today....
- Friday, November 08, 2002 |
|
|
|
...well actually the good luck started late yesterday. We spent several hours giving the still unnamed Starwagon a thorough swamping out. It turns out that the owner must have used this van to cart around dirt. Since the initial vacuuming of the lovely brown carpet didn't seem to make a dent in the amount of dirt (dust) floating around the van, Dave made the executive decision to remove the carpet. Geepers, guess what we found? A virtual sanbox underneath the old carpet--GROSS!!!! After vacuuming and sweeping the Starwagon out, we decided that it probably deserved some basic seatcovers to go over the fabulous brown/stained fabric front seats.
While driving around looking for an auto parts store the luck started to kick in. After a few minutes we came upon "Ultimate Seat Covers"! A whole store dedicated to seat covers for cars, trucks, and boats (they also build/repair/upholster furniture). We went in with the intention of purchasing the cheapest covers we could find for the Mitsubishi. Ron, one of the owners, gave us some old sample Sheepskin seat covers. They don't fit perfectly, but who cares, right? He did spend a fair bit of time helping us get the set that fit the best. Also, he gave us a few other sample covers, including a lovely leopard print, for which we could make pillows.
After that he was inquiring about what we would do for a bed in the back of the van. So after tossing around some of the ideas that Dave came up with, Ron offered his tools and extra scrap wood for our use to build the mattress platform. So on Saturday mid-day we visted Ron, Barnard and Gavin at the shop. Instead of watching Dave build the platform, the guys decided that they would take Dave's idea and go to town. So an hour later, the custom built, very sturdy platform was ready and fit to perfection.
Back to Friday... After we visited the Seatcover folks, we moseyed over to a fabric store and purchased some cheap fabric that matched the gorgeous, grey seatcovers in order to make some privacy curtains for the van. We didn't exactly have a plan on how we were going to install the curtains since we don't have any tools, etc with us. Our favorite Kiwi's came to the rescue! Since the Seatcover shop also deals with furniture, they took charge of turning the fabric into curtains and helping install them in the van.
HELLO, can you say HOSPITALITY!!???? These folks were awesome. We really enjoyed chatting with them about their lives, the world, and especially NZ. We will for sure stop by for some coffee on our way back thru Auckland in a couple of weeks to say "hi". Also, we may hook up with Barnard and his family on the South Island. Fun!!
After taking Ron to lunch, we drove around town to try to finish outfitting the van and LUCKILY found a few more things....
...a queen size futon mattress for $25USD and an extra piece of carpet to replace the ugly brown stuff (free, free, free).
What a day. The van looks SO MUCH BETTER!!!! More later!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And The Winner Is....
- Thursday, November 07, 2002 |
|
|
|
A stylish, seafoam green STARWAGON is our new (very used van). Yes, it's too good to be true...we found a seafoam green car. What are the chances of finding such a lovely colored car?? The market, particularly at this time of year, is very cutthroat as sellers may have 3-6 people vying for their wheels at the same time! Easy to sell. A few weeks from now, there will be even fewer sellers and tons more buyers, so we came at a good time. Who knows, we may put some work into sprucing up our new van and sell it for a profit!
After a few days of canvassing all the backpacker hostels in downtown Auckland, scouring the local classified ads, and continuously checking out the NZ version of E-bay, we bought a 1985 Mitsubishi Starwagon from a very weird man. It is a 5 speed (on the steering wheel column-like the old American cars), has a sunroof, stereo that actually works, good tires, and came with dusty brown carpeting throughout. After a good clean up tomorrow, we'll spend the rest of the day outfitting our new Seafoam green van, which of course we will find an appropriate name for like all the other vans on the market here. All used vehicles must be sold with a current Warrant Of Fitness (WOF). This basically a roadworthy/safety inspection that is required for ALL NZ cars semi-annually. Ours passed with flying colors. Though we saw several nicer vans (most came completely outfitted for car camping), this car seemed to be in the best shape mechanically. Cross your fingers...we are!!
What our seafoam green chariot still needs:
-TLC (Windex & lots of elbow grease)
-Cooking equipment (some stuff came with it, just need a few more things)
-Mattress, pillow, and sheets/blanket
-Eskie (Kiwi for Igloo cooler)
-Stove
-Curtains for a little privacy
It turns out, that the price range for vans is actually $2500-over $5000. We purchased our van below the normal price range b/c he was a private party and not another backpacker. This is a good thing b/c the car is most likely better taken care of. We'll see. What we do have is time and no huge goals for the next couple of days, so no worries about getting our car up to snuff. It should be fun looking for a new discount mattress (~$50 here), pre-made curtains (they have lovely cow & tiger patters available), and actually doing some work (cleaning) since we don't have much going on until we leave Auckland.
Though Auckland is a beautiful city on the water, much like Vancouver, we are anxious to get out in the country and start hiking. We received our first round of travel shots today (Typhoid, Cholera, Hep A & B, etc..) and were shocked by how much it cost, but is still considerably cheaper than the US. AND....we're only half-way through our round of treatment!!! We were also given a sample of anti-Malaria medication that is known to give ~10% of users hallucinations and bad dreams. She told us to test it out to see if we were in the lucky 10%. This drug is considerably cheaper than another drug which has no known side-effects and has an easier dosage.
I hope we don't have bad dreams.....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
