Kite surfing

Our reason for coming to Thailind on this trip was to learn to kitesurf. Our original plan to do this in the Phillipines had to be shelved when we discovered they don't have wind at this time of year, but true to the form books, we've been blessed with a week of near-perfect sea breezes here on Thailand's east coast. The breeze gently builds through the morning to reach kiting conditions by about lunchtime, often building a little more through the afternoon (and only then dying on one day so far when some dark clouds killed the breeze).
So to the kiting. Or in fact let's start with our instructor. Having travelled halfway across the world we found that we were going to be taught by Colin from Slough - who had a remarkedly similar sailing background to Alistair (mirror dinghys, university team racing, a little bit of big boats) before discovering kite surfing and never looking back. Clearly an experienced instructor, we rapidly got used to his soothing voice in our ears over the radio as we rapidly progressed through learning to fly the kite, body dragging (getting pulled through the water by the kite) to trying to stand up.
This may make it sound somewhat easier than it was. Regular face/nose/mouth-fuls of sea water, various cuts & bruises (Sam currently has a particularly colourful collection - I promise it was nothing to do with me - honest gov!) and the occasional headache from being catapulted by the kite as it spiralled out of control kept us both at varying points on the fear to excitement spectrum.
Having completed the 4 day beginners course, we were allowed to head out by ourselves, for lots of practice, taking it in turns to kite/get blown down the length of the beach before the long walk back up. Day by day we have been improving however, and are now both at a stage where we can confidently (?) kite in both directions - a thrilling feeling as you skip across the surface of the water.
There's still lots more to learn though...including turning round and kiting upwind...and of course then jumping (it's amazing how high the good people can go) and foiling (we saw a couple of guys on the beach yesterday with foiling boards - that lift fully out the water when they get going - insane!). We've got a couple of days left and are going to be heading out again shortly, so watch this space...

Variations on a theme

A long flight to Kuala Lumpur and a short hop to Bangkok left us in the arrivals hall looking for our taxi (pre-booked by the kite school and the only sensible means of getting from the airport to Pranburi, our first stop in Thailand). With no sign of the driver in any of the likely places, we eventually managed to get hold of Colin, from the kite school, to find out the driver was MIA.
Some hand waving, a bit of negotiating and a few phone calls to make sure our new taxi driver had the right directions, and we were on our way south to the coast and Pranburi (rather quicker than we'd have preferred - and flying between the lanes with what felt like reckless abandon!).
On the the way, we also found out that the accommodation we were supposed to be staying in (again arranged by Colin) was double-booked! However, he had booked us into another place just next door, which we ended up liking and deciding to stay in for a week.
The next morning, we woke early to find out we'd come to a place that was very hot (c.40C) and humid; had jelly fish in the sea, meaning swimming in the sea wasn't recommended (and it was about as hot as the average bath so wasn't going to help with the temperature); and there was very little to do in the immediate vicinity (except kite surfing). Why had we chosen here again?
However with some small tweaks to our plans, we slotted into a nice daily routine, including some/all of:
- An early morning run along the beach (it needed to be early - by 8am it was already sweltering)
- A trip out on our scooter (that we rented on the first day and gave us much needed freedom) to local villages / squid drying racks / pineapple plantations / temples / nature forest parks / fishing ports

- Some (indoor - by this time it really was too hot) yoga - not something we've mastered yet...

- Several hours kite surfing (more on that later)
- Followed by some cheap (our record was £5 for the two of us, incl. drinks), plentisome, often fiery (we've discovered that anything with chilli or spicy in the name - even if you ask for it not too spicy - blows your head off!) but delicious (lots of fresh fish & seafood) dinner

Happy days :)

Aotearoa, we're sad to go.

The time has come to leave New Zealand and head to Asia.
We've had two months of sun, fun, big hills, great biking and wine. So very much good wine.
The last few days in Auckland were:

• Stressful (trying to sell Gertrude out of tourist season)
• Testing (sitting on a railway platform late at night heavily laden with bags in a [insert appropriate adjective] suburb at 21.00 with some local Maori youth mouthing off to local police, dying for the loo and feeling washed out by the previous 4 hours dealing with some of the areas more colourful car 'dealers'
• Divine (eating a degustation menu at The French cafe, where the waiter was a super star making sure Sam's dietary requirements were catered for and the food was sublime)
• Full of contradictions (walking barefoot in the rain to the aforementioned expensive restaurant as the £12 posh outfit from the charity shop didn't include high heeled shoes comfortable enough to walk a mile in)
• Out of character (sitting in a 24 hour BBQ place at 23.30 eating burgers and drinking cider and dancing to the trance music playing loudy into the dining area)
• Surprisingly sunny (having rained for most of our time on the north island bar a couple of part days the last day was back to being hot and sticky as we sat in a park watching the Easter bunny drop cadburys eggs out of a helicopter onto small children)

The highlights from our time in NZ are definitely predominantly from the South Island.

• The scenery [lake Tekapo, on our drive back round after a good days running up to Mueller hut. Both the colours and the reflections made us stop the car to take what have become some of our favourite shots of the trip]

 

• The hills [the view from the pass on the Milford Track- the mist lifted just for the 20 or so minutes we were on the ridge. Despite the cold we could have sat and stared at this scene for hours, in fact this was the scene that proved to us that you can never get beauty fatigue and that you can never stop being awed by the wonder of the outdoors]

 

 

• The campsites [£6 per night, only accessible by boat and wonderfully deserted these sites in the Marlborough sounds were spectacular]

 

 

• The biking [the view here is from the top of the Queen Charlotte Track. We don't really have any shots of the biking taking place as the sorts of tracks we were on definitely required two hands! Both the tracks and the surroundings made for some of the best biking either of us have ever done and Sam's technical ability has come on leaps (through necessity rather than design:))]

 

• The wine [boutique and high end new world, New Zealand is dotted with wine regions with different characteristics and their cellar door tastings mean we got to appreciate a good number of them. Two months ago we wouldn't have bought a light red like the characteristic NZ Pinots, but we now have a much better appreciation of the subtleties of their flavours and the smokey nose]

 

• The tourist spots From watching Whales to visiting the Hobbiton, even the tourist spots are great fun:

 

• The running We've had some really fantastic runs from:

The short and steep (and surprisingly snowy) [3 hr return up to Mueller hut with over 2000 steps laid into the hillside - and that only takes you to half way!]:

 

To the undulating [40km along the Abel Tasman track]:

To the wet [Routeburn 1,2 and Tongariro 3,4]:

 

To those that were both epic and painful in equal measure [the Kepler]:

 

The weather was largely kind to us, as were the people we met along the way.

Whilst some thought we were crazy to want to live in a van, it gave us the freedom to travel, the cash we would have spent on accommodation to spend on other things and the opportunity to wake up surrounded by the stunning scenery that makes this country famous. Gerty we love you and we'll miss you!

 

Land of the long white cloud, we know we have to leave, but we're not sure we want to...

 

No flip flops allowed

We've been very restrained in our dinners and cooked most nights in Gerty (except for the fish and chips we've treated ourselves to after the big running /kayaking/biking days) so we've booked ourselves a restaurant in Auckland for a goodbye New Zealand meal.
We received a confirmation email noting they have a dress code (eek) and a quick audit of our belongings showed nothing appropriate, so armed with a budget of $25 NZD (~£12) we set off for the local charity shops....
The Salvation Army of New Zealand are now £25 better off and we are smart(ish):

PS: we had the most fantastic night in the French cafe, well worth the previous restraint. We would thoroughly recommend it to anyone in the area.

Didn't it rain...again

The title is apt for two reasons. 1 because it's been raining non stop for days. 2 because we're off to see Hugh Laurie perform (his album 'didn't it rain' is one of our favourite driving sing-alongs). Did I mention that already?! I'll elaborate:
1. Turns out camper van living is a little trickier in torrential rain. Everything gets a little damp and never dries out. The other day we decided to use the awning ( for the first time) so we could create a corridor between the door and the back (where the cooking facilities are). Putting up an awning for the first time in the rain was a little soggy, but once up was useful, if you avoided the drips coming through the holes.
Things to do in the rain :

• Hide in coffee shops
• Hide in Gerty doing the crossword
• Go for a run up Colonial Knob where it is so windy Alistair had to grab Sam after a big gust to get her back on the path
• Visit Te Papa, New Zealand's top Museum (free), where we got a guided tour from a lovely Maori lady who was fascinating. This museum is very interactive and seems to have lots of expensive looking video/ holographic exhibits. Apparently it costs $56mNZD per year to run, you can tell.
• Watch lord of the Rings in the film archives (free)
• Go to the observatory and see a super planitarium show (sounds ridiculous, but never really thought that they see different stars and constellations down here - who in the northern hemisphere has ever heard of the Magellanic Cloud before, go on, put your hands up?!
• The museum of city and sea - again free and again very good. A hologram lady walks over fixed objects and interacts with them whilst telling stories. We're starting to suspect that NZ spends more on its museums than the UK does, or perhaps with such a young country you don't have lots of old stuff to put in museums so you have to be more creative.....

2. Between starting this blog and now we have seen Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom Band in Auckland's civic centre. They were fabulous. Not much else to say so I'll try and attach the requisite grainy photos and tinny videos.....

 

Concerning Hobbits

Since arriving in New Zealand we have wanted to watch Lord of the Rings, but have struggled to find it playing anywhere (apparently the natives are bored of it). On a rainy day in Wellington whilst we continued to wait for our Chinese visas we stumbled upon the New Zealand film archives where you can watch locally made documentaries and things that have been donated. Having gone in with the facade of being arty and documentary types, when we got downstairs we cheekily asked the librarian if they had Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately for us the copies of the first two films had been stolen, but they had Return of the King and they invited us upstairs to their more comfy area to watch it. When we got back upstairs the manager asked what we'd found of interest in the collection (busted!) when we told her she burst out laughing, but settled us in the dark room all the same and they even brought us coffee! (LOVE this place). What a great way to while away a rainy afternoon. [sidebar: whilst archive 'documentary' viewings are free, they had a pay for evening showing of a documentary on living in Antarctica which we went back to watch the following night, really good viewing, we're tempted...]
The road map that we inherited with Gerty usefully marks out the LOTRs filming locations, so we have also seen a few of those (an experience enhanced by ensuring the soundtrack was playing through our super duper speaker system at the time). By chance the other day we found and stopped at Rivendell (minus the set), which had some useful info boards and the like, where we confirmed that Alistair is indeed taller than a hobbit (despite picture at the bottom....)
A half hour cycle round the bay from Wellington is the Weta workshop where the folk who created the special effects, props etc for the films are. Here you can take a tour of the workshop (no photos allowed sadly) and we were able to learn the secrets of the trade and to hold the weapons and armour from the film. It is pretty amazing the lengths they go to to create the films eg:

• Hand made plastic chain mail so it is light enough for the actors
• Plastic weapons that are painted so they genuinely (from a matter of inches away) look real wooden/steel etc
• Teeny tiny sets where each leaf is crafted onto trees

All of this however pales into insignificance in terms of excitement, as today we visited the Shire and Hobbiton. Unlike with Lord of the Rings, apparently Peter Jackson decided to make the set for The Hobbit out of more permanent material, hence it is still there and being tended by gardeners etc to keep it realistic. You take a tour from the Shires Rest cafe to Hobbiton on a bus, where a knowledgable and boundlessly enthusiastic guide walks you round to see hobbit holes aplenty crafted into the rolling hillside:

 

 

You even see Bilbo's house:

 

Samwise Gamgee's house:

 

And even get to stop for a pint in the Green Dragon! Here they serve you up specially brewed concoctions such as cider made from the Sackville-Baggins' orchard apples....apparently.

 

 

Today was the first time we've seen the sun in a week or so and it brought out the lush green of the hillside, the perfect day to potter round the Shire.
And yes, we did feel tall :)

Tourist sites of Rotorua & Taupo

Having spent a lot of our trip trying to avoid the worst of the tourist traps, we spent 24 hours around Taopo and Rotorua racking them up:

1. Mitai Village Maori Experience - our only real cultural experience to date had been the visit to Te Papa museum in Wellington - so we decided to learn more about Maori culture from one of the tribes just outside Rotorua. We booked knowing it would be a hugely commercial experience (they get through c.200 people each evening), so our expectations were pretty low, but we ended up pleasantly suprised. The 3 hours included the arrival of the Mitai tribe by waka (boat)...

...a fantastic cultural performance - including singing, music, dancing, fighting - and of course the Haka...

...a Hangi feast - where the meat and potatoes are steamed in an underground pit for 4 hours - accompanied by an impressive selection of veg and salad...

...and a nature walk to see glow worms and a natural spring
2. Volcanic Hills Winery - whilst this isn't a grape growing region, a couple of years ago a savvy chap set up a vineyard bringing in grapes from all of NZ's wine regions to make wine (lots of tourists + no competition = lots of money!). Despite the commerciality of the venture, it was probably one of our best wine tasting experiences - the owner was hugely passionate, knowledgeable and entertaining, we got to taste grapes and wines at various stages of the production process - and of course sample his full range of wines - all for free (Gerty's wine cellar is still very well stocked for the number of nights we have left in NZ so we didn't even buy a bottle)
3. Huka Falls - apparently NZ's most visited and photographed outdoor attraction - we're not really sure why (Sidebar: we later learned that 90% of tourists to NZ only visit the north island - a travesty! And the shortest tour is just 16 hours, flight lands in Auckland from Shanghai at 0700, tour bus visits Waitomo glow worm caves at 1000, gets to Rotorua for 1300, and back to Auckland for a flight back to Shanghai at 2200!):

4. Thermal springs - there are lots around here - but we had the bonus of finding a campsite where access to their hot springs was included in the price - and made the most of the 7 hot pools all at different temperatures to relax our aching muscles after running & biking
5. Bubbling mud - again lots around - we chose the free (and probably slightly less spectacular) option in a public park in Rotorua

5. Honey farm & shop - we got to taste a range of honeys, meads and mead liquors - the brandy liquor was particularly tasty!

6. Blueberry farm & shop - a bit of a flop - a tiny shop with some distinctly average blueberry chutneys and jams

Whilst we wouldn't classify any of these as "must do" (with the possible exception of the Maori experience), they kept us well entertained for a cloudy and often rainy 24 hours.

Redwoods - the best mountain biking in the world?

Rotorua is a city of geothermal activity identifiable from the sulphurous smell in the air.

Whilst there are many tourist sites, the highlight of this area for us was definitely the mountain biking in Redwoods forest. We scheduled an afternoon and a morning here, but loved it so much we added an early morning to make it three trips in three days. The forest has hundreds of graded single-track (narrow) mountain bike trails, so on our first visit we picked up a map and headed off.

True to their understated form, when we arrived at the start of the first intermediate track, the entry looked impossible to ride, but happily after an up hill push the remainder was rideable. Lots of steep tracks with big drop offs really tested Sam's nerve, but the surface was surprisingly good after so much rain.
A couple of favourites were Challenge, an exposed track essentially made up of fast, smooth, bumps and a few banked corners (a little like a BMX track), and Dragons Tail - a mostly downhill track through the forest - again mostly fast, hard-packed, lots of turns and a couple of good sized drop offs.
Alistair scared himself a little trying out Hot X Buns - a long, downhill, advanced track - but managed to make it down in one piece - and by the end of the three days Sam also conquered an advanced run.
So back to the title - we're probably not in a position to be able to award Redwoods this lofty status - but amongst the numerous places we've biked in the UK (incl Affan, Swinley, Aston Hill) and overseas (incl all over NZ and a little in the French Alps), it's our favourite so far...

Playmobil is true to life

We receive multi media communications from our nephew (Tim) and niece (Rachel) which always brings a smile to our faces.
The other day we received a picture of what Tim thought we were up to:

How did he know?!?!

Hugh Laurie

Just booked tickets to see Hugh Laurie and the Copper Bottom band in Auckland in a few weeks.....am very excited!

The Yin and Yang of camping

We have camped / car camped in some fantastic locations. A few highlights below:

Waihiti gorge -$6 per night

Marlborough sounds $30 per night

And now we're on the north Island and have come to Wellington to stay in:

 

Wellington $50 per night.
Yep that is concrete and yep that is the 4 Lane main road about a foot from the camping space. The joys of being back in the city!
Actually it is pretty hard to cater for campers in and around the capital city so this place is at least convenient. Just need to remember to get dressed properly before opening the curtains in the morning to the hundreds of commuters who come streaming past!