Christmas Time in Kaitoke Forest

25 March 2007

The superfly is back and trying his best to catch up on some history... To be totally honest I'm like 3 months behind on this blog! :o(

Anyhow, this is a bit of a postmortem of Christmas 2006... Enjoy!

28 December 2006

It's happy season again! Before we knew it the year was on it's back and 2007 is upon us. I look back on the year past and find my mind awash with emotion. What a year it's been! This time last year (2005) I was enjoying the Christmas time with my family on my parent's farm. This year however I'm celebrating in a rainforest. There's only one thing missing in this picture, the family! John, Annelize and I were sharing this predicament and decided not too spend the day with other expats who are missing their family and friends. Instead, we decided we were going to have a HAPPY Christmas and do something fun.

We got together on Christmas eve, gave each other a few cool presents and went out for a lovely steak dinner. On Christmas day Wellington was clothed in a cloudy blanket and it was one of those days where the city really did need a blanket! Only problem was it needed a raincoat too. The day's forecast seemed a bit grim but this wasn't going to get us down! And so, at precisely half past sparrow fart (very early), the three happy expats (musketeers, stooges, not so blind mice pick one... hehe) set off for a joyride. We knew we were going to have a monster picnic but we had no Idea where. John set us on a general northerly course, all systems go! We passed the Northern suburbs of Petone, Lower Hutt and as we were passing through Upper hutt something really odd happened. It was like God himself pulled that leaky grey cloak away and let the sun shine... It was the weirdest thing, one moment wet and cold, the next pure blue sunny skies! Whoa, game on! We still had no idea where we were going though but North we went! The weather was finally playing along, it was destined to be a great day.

After driving down a few trails John made an impulsive turn in the direction of Kaitoke forest, which none of us had heard of before but I have to tell you, this little hidden piece of forest is a real gem! Apart from being absolutely breathtaking with massive trees, crystal clean rivers and streams, it was also the film location for "Rivendell", the Elf city in Lord of the Rings. We practically stormed the riverside and were dumbfounded by the cleanness of the water and surroundings. This is a popular picnic and camping site with the locals, yet there was no rubbish spoiling the scene, and what a scene it was. We stood on a white stony riverbed with azure skies covering the massive trees towering overhead. I felt small, really really small. The best thing was that the whole forest was alive with the song of sun-beetles (Cicadas) and birds. Paradise. The picture before us was a patchwork quilt of memories from our lovely South Africa. The sun-beetles reminded me of the African bush, as did the sweet smell of the forest... The trees and landscape seemed transported from Sabie, the stream was a baby version of the Tugela river in the Southern Drakensberg... The only thing that blows by mind is all of this was a mere 30 minute drive from my bed.

At this point it the day had heated up to about 27 degrees, enough to literally start melting our parking lot's tar - no jokes! I remembered seeing this same thing happen as a child when we lived in Skukuza. The tar in Skukuza only started melting at 40 degrees though... Anyhow, what was even more amusing is how unbearably hot this 27 degrees felt! (Ons het soos 'n spul softies gevoel hoor!) We had a little look around and settled down in a shady spot to have our picnic, and in good South African fashion ate till we were to full to speak! hehe But speak we did! We shared good memories, times with friends and family, and even though we missed them greatly, these memories were a great source of joy. As daylight started to retreat we returned to Wellington and found the heavens still leaking gently over her. The harbour seemed even more pretty than usual, the misty hills surrounding the city were strangely welcoming. We were home.

Please click on the photo's below to see the full version. The blog site seems to cut off the right side 1/3rd of pictures is shown here in full size, so I had to resize them a little!

This is the view that greets you as you leave the car park...

On the swing bridge...

Good friends, good food, awesome location - Now this is a picnic!

Looks like a movie scene doesn't it!?

This is the gateway the world of faeries hehe

And we cooled off a little...

Still to come... Our January road trip to the infamous coromandel, Levin River Festival, Dragon boat races and whatever else we get up to in meantime... Just a hint, Peter and I are doing another roadtrip from Auckland to Wellington next weekend!

That's all for now (The wind is blowing and I have a windsurfing itch to go scratch, check back soon for more!

Superfly

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Windsurfing - FINALLY!!! First day out...

24 December 2006

The Superfly has landed!

It's been a few months in the making, but I've finally gotten a basic windsurfing rig together! I have to tell you all that there's a bit of history here. When I arrived in New Zealand just over 7 months ago I was invited to a product launch at a prospective employer. One of the attendees, a aging fellow, enquired as to why I would ever want to live in Wellington.

(A little later I came to understand that there is a "friendly" animosity between Auckland and Wellington. Auckland being the financial hub and largest city in New Zealand but Wellington being the prettier of the two sisters, and the govermental capital at that!) Anyway, this Aucklander seemed close to being offended that I, a fresh immigrant dared to pick Wellington over Auckland. For lack of a response I told him as tactfully as humanly possible... "Well sir, I'm quite an adventurous person and love windsufing... It would make sense to live in a windy city if I was planning on doing lots of windsurfing, doesn't it?"

From the articles I've posted on this site you'll know that there were a million other reasons I could have given as to why I would like to live in Wellington, but none of those came to mind as I haven't even seen the city at the time of this conversation! The old man wasn't tactfull in his response at all. He just threw it out there, "Well that is no reason to move to Wellington" I guess he hasn't clung to a sail for dear life yet. Only a windsurfer would know the feeling!

And so here I am, I've been in Wellington for 6 of the last 7 months and all that time I spent my savings on residency applications, a vacation in South Africa and loads of other entertainment, but for a few months the windsurfing kit wasn't in the runnings. A little over 5 months ago I realised that I worked with a fellow windsurfer. While I am still in my baby shoes with the sport he has spent many hours in the water and is quite an expert at wave sailing. After a few conversations with him I was as motivated to save for gear as ever, and that is exactly what I did. Painstakingly, bit by bit, I bought every little piece as I tracked them down in the limited second had market. I was surprised at how difficult it was to find cheap secondhand gear in a place as windy as Wellington. One would have thought that there would be thousands of windsurfing fanatics just dying to get rid of old gear but this is unfortunately not the case. Maybe the windsurfing revival that has hit Europe will spill over to New Zealand soon!

So over the last 2 months I've collected the pieces of equipment like clues to a puzzle and yesterday, I finally got to put it all together for the first time. After weeks of looking at a rigless board, missing the old days at Bronkies in South Africa and praying hopefully for many windy days to come, the day finally came! I ended up with a Hifly 145l free-ride board, easy planing, fast and maneuverable it promised much but all that is yet to see. I have only one size sail which will prove a bit limiting in Wellinton's normal wind range of 25-40 knots but will be fine in anything from 14-25... I hope! It's a Tushingham 6.5 sq slalom sail and complements the board beautifully! Yet again the windsurfing community has proven itself to be more hospitable and generous than any other! My windsurfing buddy at work gave me his old boom and mast extention, saving me $600!!! I bought my sail from antoher sailor who promptly invited me along to the next day out, which in Wellington translates to tomorrow! hehe

In South Africa I would have to wait weeks and sometimes months before getting a chance to go sailing in proper wind. In Wellington I can go sailaing literally every second day after work (sun only sets at 9:30 pm) with plenty of lagoons, inlets and beaches to choose from. This place really is awesome if you can appreciate wind. And you wouldn't believe it but om my first day out it just happened to be the ONLY NON WINDY day in the last 2 weeks!!! NOOOOooooooooooooo!!! Hehehe. It did give me a good chance to set the gear up properly without getting thrown around too much but with the wind hardly reaching 12 knots it was a pretty boring ride. Just watch this space, tomorrow is another windy day in Wellington!

Just a week ago I went out to Evans bay, aka "The Ditch" and watched 7 or so windsurfers play around in 35 knot winds on 3.7 sq sails and threatening to break the sound barrier!!! Was totally awesome, but not as awesome as seeing those guys play around in Lyall bay (wave surfing spot) with nice swells and a 30 knot southerly. All I can say is freaking awesome... And soooo here are the much anticipated pics...

Oh yes, just to put my old windsurfing buddies in South Africa at ease. I've gotten a propper wetsuit and solemnly swear to leave my booties-and-speedo fashion statements in the past... where it belongs! hehe I suppose I have to clarify that a little. A year or so ago, I went sailing at our beloved bronkies and it was one of those precious (and scarce) days of goood wind. Constant 20 odd knots and we were all out there. Pieter (the coach!) , Malcolm the Speed freak, Gabbi the Master of hungarian pop, Phillip the great, Colin the Savage and I were out sailing for the day. Somewhere along the line the wind really picked up and I got stuck with way too big a sail and battled to get back to shore. After a hour of muscle tearing work I managed to get back but had quite a walk back to our lauch area and so did the hike of shame. The guys weren't too hard on me as I'm sure they know the pain of being out on the wrong size sail and not getting to use the wind while it is there! Then came the critical mistake! I rigged a smaller sail and got out of my wetsuit (was way too warm out of the water) and was too lazy to get back into the wet thing when I had finished... Soooo I went out for the next session wearing a speedo, gloves, booties and a harness... Yes, in retrospect I hang my head in shame. :o) hehe luckily that is all in the past. To the guys credit they made me promise to never ever go sailing like that while in New Zealand... South African sailors still have their pride! Anyhow, you guys best save up and come visit me for some good sailing hey! I miss you all! What is a day of sailing without some beer, choclates, hungarian music and laughs with you guys anyway? Well then, here's some pics. In a few months time I post some as I near the speed of light on a 80liter board in 35 knot winds :o)

John was my partner in crime for the day, it was a good one! Thx Jo!

New board - she's a beauty!

Look - proper wetsuit hehe

Using what little wind I had... Watch this space... (Good form hey!)

Oh yea, you'll notice that I was the only idiot out there... The locals don't even bother to go out if it ain't blowing over 20 knots. Most of them use 4.7 sq as a stock sail... Scary hey! That's all for now then, will be back soon!

Superfly out... :o)

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What a place!

12 September 2006

This post contains more photo's so it might take longer than usual to download. :o)

I truly wish you all could se this city through my eyes. No really! Wellington is a full-on city, well, a first world city... Skyscrapers, hundreds of coffee shops and restaurants, open air malls, harbour waterfront, suburbs... aaannnddd Rivers, forest covered hills, beaches, natural bays, did I mention beaches? Oh yea... If a city needed lots of violent crime to be called a city, Wellington would be a town... or anything else.

The type of crime South Africans take in stride as normal parts of life does not exist here and the locals are absolutely horrified at news reports coming from South Africa. It makes you think, doesn't it?

Anyways... As a wise man once said, life goes on... Last weekend John rented a car so we can do some grocery shopping and sightseeing. I've tried to equate Wellington to towns in South Africa and the closest I came is a combination of Cape Town crossed with Stellenbosh... We have found some remarkable resemblances to Balito, Scarborough and Simonstad too... In short I am left with a distinct lack of graceful words when trying to describe what an awesome city this is.

We started our mini-tour by driving up Mount Victoria. It is quite like the suburb Clifton in Cape-Town being extremely hilly but it is situated in the middle of town and gives you awesome 360 degree views of the city. A bullish North Wester started blowing in early morning so visibility wasn't too good. I'm sure you'll be able to get some of the detail from the photo's though! So we stood on Mt Victoria and tried our best not to gape in amasement at the picture playing itself out infront of us. (Gotta tell you that wind was strong!)

We headed down the hill and started in the direction of Lyall bay, the notorious surfing beach with regular swells in excess off 2 ft. No really not 2 meters, 2 foot swells... I'm sure a longboard will do just fine! (Ok so it's not J-Bay, actually it's not even close) For better surfing action I'd suggest Plimmerton, Raglan and Phia. We followed the coastal road through gorgious little suburbs nestled between hills and the sea, quite like Simonstad in the Cape, just smaller. The seawater, however, is crystal clear, providing awesome spaces for freediving, snorkeling, scuba and spearfishing. Later the day John and I had a walk next to the Hutt River. I have to be completely honest, when summer arrives I'll be swimming that river like it was a backyard pool!

Let me take you on a little virtual tour. We start off at our flat in the CBD. As we climb into the car you're amazed at how many cars are parked safely on the roadside. Imagine that, your car is exactly where you left it and the radio is still there, windows intact! We start off down Boulcott Street, then turn right onto Willis st. A few lighthearted students pass cross the street at the intersection... Young ladies walking around in the inner city wearing jewelry, no fear, no worries. Think about that for a second, it actually is worth mentioning. As we turn right into Willis st your eyes catch the silhouette of St Mary's cathedral against the bluest sky you've ever seen. You inhale deeply and strangely, you don't smell the usual stench that is the normal baggage carried by city atmosphere... Eventually we're heading down the Parade. As if from nowhere, the glimmer of a million crystals grab your attention. Lyall Bay... You expect the onshore breeze to carry a strong warning of saltwater but it doesn't. Could this be the sea? When we reach the Esplanade you can hear the soft breath of a tide and a gentle salty scent confirms your suspicion - the sea it is! The breeze is just salty enough to invite you to a barefoot walk on the beach. Could seawater be so clean... It's unreal. The alps of the south island are just visible to the south, to the west are some more bays and to the east unnamed hills. We turn left toward worser bay. Every turn in the road reveals more peacefull hills and pristine bays. We pass some divers in Worser bay. They chat lightheartedly about the mysteries they've uncovered... Someone's gonna have crayfish for dinner! All the time you keep asking yourself: "am I really living here?" What a place!

A Map of the pics! Areas marked in big red squares were photo spots.

As requested, wellington harbour on a windy day... The pond grew waves overnight!

JUST A REMINDER - THIS IS WINTER...

Oriental Bay Parade... Fancy a walk?

Is it just me or is it slightly gusty!?

From mt Victoria - The CBD

From mt Victoria - Central Suburbs

From mt Victoria - Looking toward South Island

Worser Bay from above... As I said, CLEAN water!

Worser Bay - Ground level, peacefull ain't it?

Almal wil 'n huisie by die see he...

One of the smaller bays immitating a tiny pond... land of the long white cloud, Aotearoa.

Here we go, South Island's alps as seen from a Wellington beach...

This ship ring a bell? It was the original ship used in the movie King Kong! Currently moored in Wellington

I hope these pics shares a part of our every-day with you!

Be back soon,

Superfly.

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It's my Birthday! It's my Birthday!

12 September 2006

And so I hit a healthy 26... When my 21st birthday came around I was in the Netherlands and never ever thought I would even visit New Zealand and here I am... Enjoying my 26th in Wellington!

A few friends and I spent the weekend at the snowfields of mt Ruapehu. I'll write a bit more about that later. On monday evening some friends came over to our place to share the joyous day. Everyone brought some desert and I must say it was quite an exotic selection! We got to bed at 1AM tuesday morning after an awesome social and way to much sweet stuff!

So now I can introduce you guys to some friends! All of them made sure that I have loads of sugar in my diet hehe. Emily got me a great set of cooking tools, I have no excuse now! :)

John and Annelize decorated my room with some baloons and stuff. It was a excellent surprise waiting for me when I came back from the mountain, sore muscles and all! They really spared no effort to make my bday special. Dinner, balloons, movies... Thanks guys, love you both!

Does this look festive or what!?

Here we have "kameelperd" he's a gift from my niece... awesome hey!?

The fooood

Ma buddy Kelvin from Malaysia

In the foreground Mario from Uitenhage (Nood Kaap!) He's one of the best fast bowlers in New Zealand! John and Liza at the back with Emily from Dunedin.

From left to right Jeff, Ben, Rachelle, Leona, Shinead and Joy

Some flowers my sister sent me... awesome! I did however receive it at work! Try explaining that one to the ladies! hehe

Well then... soon I'll give you the run-down of how I lost my b-u-t while snowboarding...

Cheerio!

Superfly - out!

Ps. Thanks for all the emails, calls and text messages. You all really made this bday special! Love ya!

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First Flyfishing attempt in New Zealand!

25 July 2005

The official score

Trout 1 - Louis 0 :)

Hi everybody!

I just came from work and decided to stop over at my favourite Starbucks, get caffeinated to my eyebals and share a little about fly-fishing in New Zealand.

My good friend Bertus came to New Zealand for the Underwater Hockey world championships a few years ago and he couldn’t stop talking about how awesome New-Zealand’s trout streams were. He told tales 'bout mountains and hills of green, rivers that were ever clean… there’s that rhyming thing again, doh!

It might just become a habit! Anyways, I’ve been craving to try out some flies ever since Bertus sparked my imagination about monstrous trout swimming in crystalline streams. So I did…

Like a few other stories in this blog it all starts with renting a car… hehe… I organised a fresh water fishing license from a local sports store in Wellington (thanks to the guys at Sterling sports on Willis st. The service is always great!). With the paperwork done and my kit packed I set out on a meticulously planned mission. (whatever! I read in a brochure about this stream with name I still can’t pronounce and decided it would be a good place to start hehe) Luckily the plan worked out great, and grew considerably as the day progressed.

My rented Nissan Sentra found it’s path through Wellington CBD like an old rental, hey wait, it is an old rental! Hehehe One minute you’re in a 1^st world city, the next you’re driving along a motorway (elsewhere known as highways, freeways etc) with a pristine harbour to your right and hills covered in lush bush to your left. This literally starts 5 km from the heart of Wellington CBD. This road took me through the suburbs of lower and upper Hutt at which point I took moonshine rd. into the hilly country. In a few short minutes this deserted road changed it’s colour and became incredibly twisty as it writhed it’s way around hills. Some turns were more than hairpins, hugging the hillside for dear life. The pace got so slow in these parts that I might as well have gotten out of the car and pushed it around the bend! (Lekker vertaal ek daai ene ne! giggel my “a dubbel s” af)

This tiny onelane, 2 way path meandered it’s way through the moonshine hills, drenched in a cloak of sirene rainforest… Taking in all of this while consentrating on driving got me into a few hairy close encounters of the vehicular kind! In good keeping with my track record I didn’t drive straight to the access point of this mountain stream but took the scenic route… NO, I did NOT get lost hehe, focus people, scenic route hehehe

After a momentary detour and photo moments with the local Lama population I found the dead end that provided access to the stream I was looking for. A few tips for fly-fishing in New Zealand… Small streams are invariably crystal clean, fish will see you before you see them. You don’t fish blind, you hunt what you see. Kiwi trout, quite like any other fish live in water, if you find this water in mountainous regions it is bound to be really, really cold so make sure you have a wader or you will loose something to the liquid form of frost-byte – no jokes! Hehe I learnt these little pearls of wisdom the hard way and almost lost use of my lower limbs hehe. I waded through this stream for a few hours and drank in my surroundings. (note to self – wading barefoot through a mountain stream in winter can and will freeze any adrenaline you have…) around lunch time I made my way upstream and mounted my Nissan Sentra steed to head to friendlier, more crowded waters. Even though this little sport deserves a place on some “most beautiful place” ranking it will not be known for it’s trout population… yet… a change of season might be all it needs…

Soon I wound my way back down the moonshine hills and out onto the motorway, over the Rimutaka hills (some more mountain passes) and toward the Ruamahanga river… This river is slightly broader than mountain streams and apparently holds good trout and salmon year round… I probably picked the most picturesque part for the river to wet the lines… There is also a big chance that I chose the perfect lure and cast in precisely the right locations… I didn’t catch anything though. Maybe I just suck at fishing but it’s great fun anyway…

Eventually I got back to my ride, dried myself off and set off for home. After a day surrounded by a thousand hills, misty cliffs and rain-forest ravines I returned home with empty arms but a full heart!

If anyone reading this post loves the art of fly-fishing or would like to try their hand at it, come to New Zealand. The fish really are plentiful, especially in the Taupo region (which is where my next fly-fishing trip will be headed). What a day, what a place!

Till next time!

Superfly… or not so superfly… hehe

Here’s a few pics to help your imagination on the path of the silver fern...

The only remotely straight section on Moonlight rd

The Lama's looked on in amusement ... silly human, trying to fish in the middle of winter...

At the unpronouncable stream... Told you the water was clear as air...

I didn't catch anything but I made it look gooood.... (and the crowd goes... YEA RIGHT!!!)

These little feathery friends mate for life... no really!

The Rimutaka range (somewhere out there a few trout are laughing it up...)

The Ruamahanga

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Wellington - an overview of our new home!

23 July 2006

Hiya!

So after a short absence I’m back and ready to do some more story telling! At this point in time we’ve seen most of
Wellington’s inner city, a few beaches, and had a few glimpses of the upper and lower Hutt, Karori and Johnsonville suburbs. For our first 10 days in
Wellington we stayed on the Terrace. (No, not terrace as in huge lawn, Terrace as in THE Terrace… Where all the ministers used to stay… but you knew that of course!

John’s new employers were kind enough to set John and Annelize up with a self catering appartment for the first 2 weeks of their stay. John and Annelize on their part were kind enough to allow me to stay there as well (thanks guys!) So our time in the colourful town of Wellington started in luxury!
Wellington is best known as the windy city… One wellington-dweller remarked jokingly that “Welli” has a hill or two and it’s known to be a little breezy now and then… This was the euphemism of the century though! The problem with describing a place like
Wellington is choosing a place to start… Well then, let’s begin… at the beginning! Our short stay on the terrace started off in brilliant weather! Even though the most of the
South Island was gripped by the claws of winter during that period “Welli” was really quite moderate. On sunny days (and contrary to popular opinion there are many of those) it seemed like the entire populace would spill onto the streets. Some sitting outside coffee shops, reading or hanging out with friends, others jogging along the harbor beachfront or enjoying a day of sailing in the harbour itself. Even on the dreariest of days Welli is a beehive of activity. The city’s energy really is intoxicating, in a good way hehe. Everywhere in public areas and all along the huge harbour waterfront you’ll find huge blocks of concrete inscribed with poetry and prose laying praise on Welli’s hills and people. There are more theatre’s, coffeshops, restaurants and pubs in the Wellington CBD than can be explored in a year. And should one embark on a silly mission like experienceing all of these puddles of entertainment you’d end up grossly overweight and develop some yet unkown entertainment overload disorder! A boring day in Wellington – Unheard of! One of the concrete inscriptions that describeWellington the best is found in the town square opposite the library. It states: “It’s true you can’t live here by chance, you have to do and be, not simply watch or even describe, this is the city of action. The world headquarters of the verb.” Another found at the harbour reads: “I love this city, the hills, the harbour, the wind that blasts through it. I love the life and pulse and activity and the warm decrepitude. There is always an edge here that one must walk that is sharp and precarious, that requires vigilance…” We had the most intense views from our Terrace appartment. On clear days we could see far across the harbour all the way to snow capped peaks of the Rimutaka range. A pretty and inspiring sight for sure. Some mornings the harbour would be whipped into a raging torrent by winds gusting across the Cook Straight and on others it would be the most serene pond you’ve ever seen. A city of extremities. One day you’ll find comfort in a coffee shop’s embrace – the abundance of java sheltering you from the cold and wet. The very next day, however, you could find youself in paradise. Skies the blue of an enchantress’ eyes and a bay so calm you’ll attempt to walk it’s waters. I might just have fallen in love with this place. We soon moved to our own rented appartment, this time a wee bit closer to the cbd. Words fail to express the pleasure of WALKING to work! I leave home at 8:25 and reach the office at 8:30, exactly on time for work… To make things even more rediculous - I’m home before 6 pm every night. Crazy hey!? Gym’s around the corner, works’ just there… lovely! Here are some pics to back my words up with some substance…

A tribute to some Maori chieftains. This, ladies and gentleman, is what blue skies should look like!

A stormy day on the bay (Windsufers ahoy)

Town Square at night - enchanting isn’t it!

Allow me to state the obvious, yet again… The picture above was taken at 9 pm on a sunday evening. It is in the city centre. People were still out and about, jogging for fun. No sirens, no gunshots, no hijackings… Now that that has been said, I’ll leave it at that.

Our first place on the Terrace

At the doorway to our new place on Boulcott st

Rainbow’s the order of the day

City and Harbour longshot

City view, a mix of old and new… hey, that rhymes!

Till later, Superfly!

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Road Trip # 2 Part 2 - Mt Ruapehu, Palmerston Nth, Wellington!

5 July 2006

Whoa, I’ve been absent from the site for quite a while, sorry guys and gals… Today I’ll continue with the tale of our trip from Auckland to Wellington and hopefully get around to showing you some pics of Wellington and my flyfishing trip soon… hang in there, they’re on the way… promise! We set off from Waitomo’s rolling hills and small mountains and immediately found ourselves on another set of winding roads set in steep hills covered in sheep with crazy mountain climbing skills.

Our destination today was the National Park Village at the foot of Mt Ruapehu, the ski hub for New Zealand’s north island. The closer we got to the ACTIVE volcano the colder and cloudier it got. Unfortunately our timing for good weather was off by a few days… Weather forecast predicted heavy rain and gale force mountain winds for the area L We checked into our backpackers hostel and got the low-down on local attractions. Imagine my surprise when we found that the hostel had its own indoor climbing wall with 42 different courses… awesome…

I’m sure that you’ve seen by this time that we don’t like to waste too much time on a trip like this. We set off as soon as possible to explore the accessible slopes of Mt Ruapehu. Fist we had a look around the museum and learned some interesting facts of the seismic monitoring grid that covers the area and constantly monitors for earthquakes and seismic activity. Hereafter we headed up the mountain and stood mesmerized as scenes from the film “Lord of the Rings” unfolded right before us! Fist we visited the highest point accessible by car. (Ski season only started a week after we were there boohoo) We spent some time here to muck around in the snow on the only accesible slope and prove our prowess as snowboarders… only problem being that we did not have snowboards… None the less, looking like absolute idiots has never before been more fun! Liza enjoyed her first snow experience and hey lets face it… given a sled and the opportunity to slide down a snow covered hill, anyone would hop on and start yelling. We were all 6 years old and eventually found ourselves spent of energy and trudging back to the car park diner for a hamburger and the best coffee ever! Snow? COLD... Blue Snow Sled king and queen... :) We headed back down the mountain and passed the museum without stopping. Apparently there were many mesmerizing waterfalls in the area so we I meticulously researched the area and found the most popular trails. Ok, we didn’t plan it exactly that well… (sheepish grin) I saw the hiking trail on a map in the museum and wondered if it was any good (duhhh, one would think that by now I knew the answer to that question.) so when we passed the trails’ name board on our way down the mountain I casually stopped as if I’d been planning it all along. (another sheepish grin) Waterfalls rarely fail to inspire me and this one was no exception at all. It seemed vaguely familiar, as does most of the surrounding landscape. Then again, so many movies have been made in New Zealand that we’re bound to have seen it sometime or another. I’ll have to tell you though, any scene on the big screen, no matter how large, cinematic or impressive is totally obliterated by reality! Anyway’s I gave my camera some work and nearly fell of a rock into the FREEZING river while doing so… hehe all I got for it was a cold left foot and many excellent foto’s. While we were scouting around the mountain, playing in the snow and looking at waterfalls there was an excellent indoor climbing wall awaiting us at National Park Backpackers… and climb we did! (Over and over again until my hands were too tired to lift a glass) Tawai Falls

Liza "DAREDEVIL" Davidson

John "ARM OF STEEL" Davidson

Louis "SUPERFLY" van Zyl

I bought a book by Wilbur Smith (Warlock, the sequel to the Seventh Scroll) while waiting for the rental car at
Auckland airport and got caught in it’s intricate egyptian tale before leaving for this trip. On this night at the foot of mount
Ruapehu I listened to the wind howl and read… and read… and read… until 3AM… Mr Smith really is an excellent story teller. Anywhays, about the trip yea… We departed from National Park Village with rain in our faces, wind at our backs, and the mountain still shrouded in a mantle of grey… Our route stayed as picturesque as it had been so far. After many mountain passes, hairpin turns, bridges, rivers and awesome valleys dressed in autumn colors, we reached Palmerston Noth. We only stayed over for the night so didn’t see too much. Most of the area is known for Rugby, Sheep farming (Mostly wool) and well, sheep! The town is beautifull and feels strangely like home. To be honest, the further South we traveled the more “right” everything felt. We stayed at another BBH network affilliated backpackers lodge (discounts baby yea!) “Grandma’s place” is a former old age home restored for backpackers. It really feels like my grandma’s house. To tell you the truth I became very nostalgic when seeing the old wooden Sony television set like the one my Gran had and the furniture, carpets, everything really… I missed my Granma that night, and enjoyed fond memories of her kindess, untireable smile, love for God and her warmth. She was legendary for her good food (tamatiebredie uit die hemel uit, al julle plaasjapies wat dit kan wardeer!) and for the way she could tease my dad. Hehe, I believe I’ll see Granma Babsie again, but not yet, not yet. We had coffee in a Starbucks (Lekker koffie ouens, glo my vry! En chocolate muffins J ) and walked through a memorial square looking at statues of Maori chieftains that played pivotal roles in the healthy relationship with England and the crown. Like in many first world countries there was a huge momorial for the various wars that involved New Zealand. In all of those, New Zealand was lending a helping hand to some or other alliance. (It is so small and out of the way that having NZ involved in a war of it’s own volition is practically inconceivable, except of course if their rugby rivalry with Australia got out of hand hehe) I’ve seen similar memorials in many other places (Holland, UK, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, USA) and all of them testify to generations of hurt families, heroes fallen in defence of the innocent and freedom. For the record, war, however necessary due to circumstances, stinks. We shared Grandma’s place with 2 girls from Wales traveling through NZ on holiday and a Indian dude who was in Palmerston to visit his university for a correpondence course thing. We left them behind to travel onwards towards Wellington. Our room at "Grandma's Place" - no school like the old school! In this leg of the trip we made a beeline for the west coast. Yet again I passed an interresting looking sign board promising lakes in the forest… BAH! Think again tourist freaks hehe. We did take the turnoff and found a “pond amongst the trees”! Imagine my surprise… So I tried to make a u turn with a few horses staring on, anxiously awaiting the inevitable. I carefully reversed, making sure to keep the front wheels on the tarmac (surely the purple beast was front wheel drive) while the rear wheels went onto the slippery stuff. (This mud seriously resembles baby dog poop) And so it happened… The car was REAR wheel drive!!! Hahahahaha And so I managed to get myself covered in mud for the second time this trip, ahh bliss. Result of a stuck in the mud... The horses are still laughing at me... Eventually we managed to get our car free of the slimy clutches of immobility and shot down the coast yet again. After a quick look around the beaches close to Kapiti Island (Beautiful surf, awesome surroundings and massive beach) we headed on towards Wellington. The closer we got to our destination the more the surroundings became reminiscent of the southern parts of South Africa’s Cape peninsula. Not only was our car buffeted my the wind but the scrubs, hills and coastline reminded me of the road from Somerset west to Koegel bay. Beach and Sea! Kapiti Island in the background Finally we reached wellington. A breathtakingly beautifull city. It is large and yet feels remarkably small. Soon I’ll write about it’s people, malls, theatres and restaurants. Wellington is like a mixture between Capetown’s city and harbour, and Stellenbosch’s vibe surrounded by mountains, hills, awesome bays etc… Here are some pics of Wellington to give you a warm-up for the next post. These pics were all taken from our first appartment's living room window. We've moved to another appartment in meantime but sure enjoyed the view in the old one! :) Wellington Harbour on a windy day... When in blows... it BLOWS Another Rainbow! Weve seen more rainbows in the last week than in ten normal SA lifetimes Wellinton Harbour has this huge fountain that works when it's not blowing... In other words, if the fountain doesn't work - go windsurfing! Part of Wellington City Skyline... Checks the harbour and mountains in the background... (Yes you astute observer you... I am in fact trying to make you jealous... hehe)

Until next time then… Cheers,

The Superfly


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