Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Fush and chups
Well, it was nice not to be singled out by the sniffer dog (my bag smelt of bananas when we arrived in Australia - I assume that's what the hound was interested in anyway) or the Wood Police when we got to Auckland. Michelle (who has defected to live in Auckland and join the Kiwis in saying 'Ah yeeah') kindly picked us up from the airport - I did wonder if there was an ulterior motive for coming out in the middle of the night, she did seem a little distracted by a certain group of men coming through the arrivals gate ahead of us...
Michelle - thanks for putting us up / putting up with us... It was great to relax in homely surroundings, abuse the washing machine and be fed 'knockout' lasagne (I'm still being asked why I have not yet made lasagne for the bottomless pit which is William Etchell and 'Can't Michelle send us some?'). Shellfish, what have you done?
We went to Rotorua in convoy once we'd picked up the camper van, then that evening Michelle and I got onto the important task of checking out some New Zealand wine, playing backgammon and taking just a slight interest in the rugby on the t.v. (because we had sort of met them) while Will fell asleep in Michelle's motel bed. So the first night we had the van we slept indoors - it made sense at the time, we were being plagued by small biting insects outside. After breakfast we went to the thermal pools (Will was suitably unimpressed but we enjoyed ourselves). Then it was time to say goodbye to Michelle for another few years and set off for the South Island.
The NZ wine theme continued with us hiring bikes and cycling the vineyard route. It was all going so well, I was just sitting down to a delectable pinot noir (which incidently I don't recall seeing again -Will?) when William spots a tractor hurtling out of control and crashing into a ditch. It was time to don my nurse hat once again to see to the driver - who was incoherent - but it eventually transpired this was due to an epileptic fit rather than too much of the local produce. The firemen were nice. (We only managed a free coffee this time).
We bought some wine to take with us on our travels (it lasted 2 nights) and stopped off to buy some raspberries at a farm from a man of 103 who originally hailed from Scunthorpe. (you can take the ooh out of typhoo....And talking of which, can't wait for our trip there next season.) The other chap purchasing raspberries was originally from Milton Keynes (another delight awaiting us) and proceeded to tell us -in detail- how great the next bit of coastline was and why we shouldn't miss it, as it got duskier and duskier. So we drove down to Kaikora in the dark knowing how nice that part of the coast was...
Kaikora - took an expensive boat ride, felt seasick, but did get to see some whale tails disappearing into the depths. Then parked up next to a train line for the night....
Next stop was Christchurch where we met up with Nicola and Ihsan, tried some more of the local wines and attempted a barbeque without an actual barbeque. I think Ihsan wished he'd brought his trusty lighter fluid with him as it took about 3 hours to get it going.
We made our way down to The Rendevous at the Tonkins' house in Oamuru, to meet up with John and Sarah at her parents', for a proper BBQ, fine wine and home brew, as well as some home produce which Ihsan was impressed with as you can see. A lovely evening. And little blue penguins to see too (another over-priced attraction). Thank you to the Tonkins for such warm hospitality - again.
Then we made plans for our next adventure - to Doubtful Sounds with IHC and Nic.
Michelle - thanks for putting us up / putting up with us... It was great to relax in homely surroundings, abuse the washing machine and be fed 'knockout' lasagne (I'm still being asked why I have not yet made lasagne for the bottomless pit which is William Etchell and 'Can't Michelle send us some?'). Shellfish, what have you done?
We went to Rotorua in convoy once we'd picked up the camper van, then that evening Michelle and I got onto the important task of checking out some New Zealand wine, playing backgammon and taking just a slight interest in the rugby on the t.v. (because we had sort of met them) while Will fell asleep in Michelle's motel bed. So the first night we had the van we slept indoors - it made sense at the time, we were being plagued by small biting insects outside. After breakfast we went to the thermal pools (Will was suitably unimpressed but we enjoyed ourselves). Then it was time to say goodbye to Michelle for another few years and set off for the South Island.
The NZ wine theme continued with us hiring bikes and cycling the vineyard route. It was all going so well, I was just sitting down to a delectable pinot noir (which incidently I don't recall seeing again -Will?) when William spots a tractor hurtling out of control and crashing into a ditch. It was time to don my nurse hat once again to see to the driver - who was incoherent - but it eventually transpired this was due to an epileptic fit rather than too much of the local produce. The firemen were nice. (We only managed a free coffee this time).
We bought some wine to take with us on our travels (it lasted 2 nights) and stopped off to buy some raspberries at a farm from a man of 103 who originally hailed from Scunthorpe. (you can take the ooh out of typhoo....And talking of which, can't wait for our trip there next season.) The other chap purchasing raspberries was originally from Milton Keynes (another delight awaiting us) and proceeded to tell us -in detail- how great the next bit of coastline was and why we shouldn't miss it, as it got duskier and duskier. So we drove down to Kaikora in the dark knowing how nice that part of the coast was...
Kaikora - took an expensive boat ride, felt seasick, but did get to see some whale tails disappearing into the depths. Then parked up next to a train line for the night....
Next stop was Christchurch where we met up with Nicola and Ihsan, tried some more of the local wines and attempted a barbeque without an actual barbeque. I think Ihsan wished he'd brought his trusty lighter fluid with him as it took about 3 hours to get it going.
We made our way down to The Rendevous at the Tonkins' house in Oamuru, to meet up with John and Sarah at her parents', for a proper BBQ, fine wine and home brew, as well as some home produce which Ihsan was impressed with as you can see. A lovely evening. And little blue penguins to see too (another over-priced attraction). Thank you to the Tonkins for such warm hospitality - again.
Then we made plans for our next adventure - to Doubtful Sounds with IHC and Nic.
# posted by William and Lucinda @ 6:02 am 
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Sounds to me like the only attraction not overpriced is the alcoholic grape juice.
Alternatively that's the only attraction that Will can get hold of without having to leave his seat / campervan / rug / stool etc..
Bear
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Alternatively that's the only attraction that Will can get hold of without having to leave his seat / campervan / rug / stool etc..
Bear
# posted by 
: 1:01 pm
: 1:01 pm << Home
