Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Well all good things must come to and end but every ending marks a new beginning. My new beginning is in Australia, you can follow me if you like or give up on me all together if you're sick of my mis-spelt ramblings. From now on I can be found at www.ozobel.blogspot.com
save it to your favourites, tell all your friends and there'll always be a little link at the side of the page for the South America story, New Zealand wanderings and those lovely photos in case you forget all about that stuff.
save it to your favourites, tell all your friends and there'll always be a little link at the side of the page for the South America story, New Zealand wanderings and those lovely photos in case you forget all about that stuff.
Sunday, September 21, 2003
After a wonderfull chilaxing week in the bay of Islands my time in New Zealand finally came to an end. I really didn't want to leave, it has been so much fun in New Zealand, the country that has everything. You can surf and ski in the same day, and every blink is a picture postcard image but the best thing about New Zealand are the people who are all so friendly and genuine. So I had one last night out in Auckland with Conor and Marnie and flew to Sydney with a dirty hangover.
Monday, September 15, 2003
Bay of Islands, Northland, New Zealand
The Journey north continued from Micks place in Otaki to Teranaki with Micks friends Claire and Rob. They told me all the stories about my brothers visit to New Zealand a couple of years back where he became a legend in local sculpture lore by getting his picture in the paper and selling a christening font at the sculpture symposium (my brother is an electronic engineer not a sculptor). We got a cabin by the sea in New Plymouth and met up with Colleen who has just returned from her adventures in South America. I spent the next few days with Colleen and her family and even managed to fit in a good tramp around mount Teranaki, unfortunately we got a real Valparaiso day for it. It rained relentlessly all day, even our industrial strenght rain jackets didn't keep us dry, a soft day thank God. It all seemed better when we arrived at the lovely DOC hut in the forest, lit the fire and ate our soggy sambos with cold sweet coffee. I headed up to Auckland and caught up with Conor and Marnie over a few beers before continuing further north to catch up with Darren again. I've been hanging out in the bay of Islands for the past few days and have been enjoying all the sunshine and madness. I went to a KopaHaka which is a Maori culture competition thing where all the kids compete with the Haka and trad songs etc. I was the only backpacker there which made me as much of a spectacle as the performances. It was great.
The Journey north continued from Micks place in Otaki to Teranaki with Micks friends Claire and Rob. They told me all the stories about my brothers visit to New Zealand a couple of years back where he became a legend in local sculpture lore by getting his picture in the paper and selling a christening font at the sculpture symposium (my brother is an electronic engineer not a sculptor). We got a cabin by the sea in New Plymouth and met up with Colleen who has just returned from her adventures in South America. I spent the next few days with Colleen and her family and even managed to fit in a good tramp around mount Teranaki, unfortunately we got a real Valparaiso day for it. It rained relentlessly all day, even our industrial strenght rain jackets didn't keep us dry, a soft day thank God. It all seemed better when we arrived at the lovely DOC hut in the forest, lit the fire and ate our soggy sambos with cold sweet coffee. I headed up to Auckland and caught up with Conor and Marnie over a few beers before continuing further north to catch up with Darren again. I've been hanging out in the bay of Islands for the past few days and have been enjoying all the sunshine and madness. I went to a KopaHaka which is a Maori culture competition thing where all the kids compete with the Haka and trad songs etc. I was the only backpacker there which made me as much of a spectacle as the performances. It was great.
Friday, September 05, 2003
Wellington, North Island, New Zealand. Cow shit, Pet Lambs, neglected blogs and more earthquakes
I think I can safely say that this has been the longest time I've left my blog without a word. It's simply because I've been so busy with the cows calving and milking and all the usual madness of springtime life on a farm that I never made it into town. I stayed on the farm in Waitaha Valley for 3 weeks and really got into the whole farming life. It was a busy time, when I arrived about 5 cows had calved and when I left over 80 had and we were milking twice a day. I had a pet lamb called Aran (as in the he'll make a lovely Aran jumper when he's big). Aran followed me around the farm all day like the proverbial little lamb and a couple of days before I left we painted a red and blue target on his back 'cause the calfs kept shitting on him. On my last day I calved a cow, it was the most amazing experience, I thought the calf was dead when I finally pulled him out but then he just shook his giant head and looked around for his poor exhausted mother.
While I was at Stu's farm I was in an earthquake, I slept through the whole thing 'cause we'd finished off a 3 ltr box of wine with dinner. It was the second biggest earthquake the world has seen this year at 7.1 on the r. scale, nobody was hurt 'cause the center was in the middle of nowhere a couple of miles south of the farm in Te anu. The biggest earthquake this year was in Mexico in January and at 7.6 i don't think there was any chance of me sleeping through that one. I should be listed as one of the great survivors of the two biggest earthquakes this year, for those of you wishing to avoid my trail of natural disasters you should know that my next stop is Sydney.
Darren came and picked me up from the farm on Sunday and we started heading north, after a few relaxing days in Plimmerton I traveled on to Otaki to stay with Mick and Amy for a few days, the trail north continues tomorrow.
Here's the last of my photos until I invest in a new camera
New Zealand Photos
From Auckland to Paihia
Buzza life
I think I can safely say that this has been the longest time I've left my blog without a word. It's simply because I've been so busy with the cows calving and milking and all the usual madness of springtime life on a farm that I never made it into town. I stayed on the farm in Waitaha Valley for 3 weeks and really got into the whole farming life. It was a busy time, when I arrived about 5 cows had calved and when I left over 80 had and we were milking twice a day. I had a pet lamb called Aran (as in the he'll make a lovely Aran jumper when he's big). Aran followed me around the farm all day like the proverbial little lamb and a couple of days before I left we painted a red and blue target on his back 'cause the calfs kept shitting on him. On my last day I calved a cow, it was the most amazing experience, I thought the calf was dead when I finally pulled him out but then he just shook his giant head and looked around for his poor exhausted mother.
While I was at Stu's farm I was in an earthquake, I slept through the whole thing 'cause we'd finished off a 3 ltr box of wine with dinner. It was the second biggest earthquake the world has seen this year at 7.1 on the r. scale, nobody was hurt 'cause the center was in the middle of nowhere a couple of miles south of the farm in Te anu. The biggest earthquake this year was in Mexico in January and at 7.6 i don't think there was any chance of me sleeping through that one. I should be listed as one of the great survivors of the two biggest earthquakes this year, for those of you wishing to avoid my trail of natural disasters you should know that my next stop is Sydney.
Darren came and picked me up from the farm on Sunday and we started heading north, after a few relaxing days in Plimmerton I traveled on to Otaki to stay with Mick and Amy for a few days, the trail north continues tomorrow.
Here's the last of my photos until I invest in a new camera
New Zealand Photos
From Auckland to Paihia
Buzza life
