Take a hat

3.10.12

NZ Holiday - Bay of Islands - Waiheke to Paihia

North to the Bay of Islands - 2nd October 2012

Leaving Waiheke -Approaching the City of Auckland

Our balcony view

Back on the Fullers Ferry for the 35 minute ride to Auckland. Picked up a hire car from Budget and headed North on Highway One for about 3.5 hrs to the Bay of Islands. Getting out of Auckland and across the bridge to the North Shore was pretty straightforward. There is a short toll section about 40 mins into the journey. You buy your toll vouchers at a machine in the BP filling station a few minutes to the South. They use number plate recognition so you input your registration and buy the required number of toll vouchers at $2.20 each. There is an old road you can take if you are a tight wad. Unusually, we opted for the Toll Road.

Is it a UFO, or a Mine?
Or maybe my Steak is cooked

Once the Motorway ran out we undulated and wound our way past Whangerei to our destination between Paihia and Ohua. Our little Apartment at The Retreat had excellent sea views from its hilltop location amongst the bush. It was a bit rustic and the owners Kevin and Jan were very friendly and we liked it there. Jan recommended we eat at the RSA, bit like the British Legion, in Paihia. There are not so many Returned Servicemen these days so they open their doors more widely. Because of the military connections we went on a reconnoitre and checked out the menu. The barman was a jolly sort, he wanted to know who had sent us and said they would be in trouble for causing him more work. When asked if we need to book he responded with 'Jeez we are not that bloody popular'. We took that as a 'no' and headed back in the evening for a nice Mixed Grill with salad bar and coffee for $22 each. Had my first Pint of DB (Dominion Bitter) of the trip. They keep staffing to a minimum so there is an element of self service. You choose your beer glass from a chiller and take it to the bar. Also the kitchen give you a mini UFO pager which you put on your table and it starts to buzz and flash when your meal is ready to collect. Cunning these military types! Nice evening anyway. Paihia is a tourist town so it was nice to go somewhere that was 'proper Kiwi'.

2.10.12

NZ Holiday - Oneroa, Waiheke Island

Walking on Waiheke

Coastal Walking near Oneroa

At the Port

Ducks crossing - sign of something?

Quite a bit of Waiheke is being returned to natural bush. Farming was pretty uneconomic here because of the added transport cost we were told. The grassland and introduced gorse is being replaced by Manuka and Flax etc. The gorse dies from lack of light as the other plants grow but does leave behind nitrogen and other nutrients so whoever brought it over should not feel too guilty. The effects of the re-bush are to reduce erosion, attract the birdies and, most importantly for us, provide some lovely walking areas. Quite a few tracks have been marked out and we tried a few in the spring sunshine. A lot of the hilltops are dominated by very expensive looking properties, imagine they are holiday homes for wealthy Aucklanders. Wine making appears to have flourished since my last visit. Bit of a wine tour tourist industry has built up on the back of it - hic! We stayed in a very nice Apartment in Oneroa, fully equipped for 100 NZ dollars a night.

1.10.12

NZ Holiday - Onetangi Beach, Waiheke Island

Spring Morning at Onetangi

Above the Bay

At the Beachfront Cafe

Took the bus across Waiheke Island from Oneroa to Onetangi Bay. Bit of a rattly old bus bounced along the less than smooth road, plenty to see along the way though. Nice lunch at the Beachfront Cafe, Steak and Chips, $20.
Lovely North facing beach, nearly 2km long, that will take some beating. We climbed up the cliff and ended up in someone's back garden. Sorry if we trespassed but it was a long way back down and we trod very lightly.

NZ Holiday - Flying the Pacific to Auckland on Air New Zealand

Just Landed - 29th September 2012

Take a Hat to New Zealand

Leaving Auckland in our wake.

It's a hop, skip and jump to Waiheke Island. A 10 hour hop to LA, a 12 hour skip to Auckland and then we jumped on a bus and ferry to Waiheke Island in the Gulf just off Auckland.

Flight NZ1 to Auckland set off on-time from LAX. We were in Economy but had booked Skycoach. Basically you get all 3 seats in the row and the 'foot rest' flips up to make a full width bed. Its a bit of a tight fit, particularly if you are over 6ft.
Not something you would want to share with a stranger. Mind you they would not stay a stranger for long. We both got some shut-eye anyway. Quite like the service on NZ, it's good but unfussy.
A couple in front of us were moaning, she had booked a seat with nobody in front which meant she had unlimited leg-room but no video screen. Well, not on the seat in front, it swung out from the side. Reckoned she was in the jump seat? Think they were angling for an upgrade but the flight was full and there was no way she was having our extra seat. Anyway, it was good flight with just a bit of turbulence.

If US Customs are a bit sensitive about food then NZ Customs could be described as obsessive. We were paranoid about bringing anything that would cause us to suffer a fine, or worse. If you bring in an Apple they put it on your head and get a drunk teenager to fire a cross-bow at it. Alternatively you pay a 400 dollar fine.
We got through unscathed and headed for Auckland City on the Airbus Transfer Bus.
Happy to see that the place had not changed too much since I was last here in 1976. We sped through the suburbs towards the Fullers Ferry Wharf. A beautiful bright morning as we rode the Hydrofoil to Matiatia. A friendly Kiwi pointed out all sights along the way and made sure we got on, and off, the correct bus once we had reached Waiheke Island and our Holiday Apartment.

Waiheke Island

We now have an 11 hour time difference to London and TW's watch. NZ changes to Summer Time tonight which on the downside means we have an extra hour of jet lag (bit like moving the finish line on the marathon mid-race). However, on the upside, it means we now have a 12 hour time difference so TW's watch is showing the correct time for once? Now, when does the UK go to Winter Time? Oh, I give up!

29.9.12

Los Angeles Stopover - 2 nights in Santa Monica

Reaching the Pacific - 25th to 27th September

TW heading for the Beach in Santa Monica

Farmers Market Santa Monica

Santa Monica Pier

LA Confusion
Not sure about the time. TW does not change her watch so she is eight hours ahead of me. So, when I am thinking about breakfast she is planning dinner. Heaven knows what will happen when we have to fly out of here! Getting in was enough of a challenge. They are a bit funny in the US about bringing in food. I had to fill out a form declaring we had none in our possession, which of course was true. After standing in the immigration queue for about an hour TW produced a packet of raisins and then panicked. She attempted to eat them surreptitiously and almost choked. She then said she would hand then in to a Lady guarding the queue who looked marginally less frightening than the Medusa. I suggested that she gave them to me and I put them in my pocket and headed for the loo where they went in the trash. Couldn't help noticing on the packet that they were best Californian! Ho-hum....
Anyway, Santa Monica is a great place to relax between flights. Took a stroll down to the pier for some Fish and Chips. Rented a tandem and pedalled along the beach-side path. Told TW to avert her eyes at muscle beach.

Meet the Fishers on the Pier

Amazing contrasts here though. The poshest of shops and the scruffiest of tramps. Beautifully manicured parks are not enhanced by hobos with all their possessions sprawled on them. One of the nicest street areas smelt like the back staircase of one of our multi-storey car parks. And this was just along from the smartest Apple store I have seen - am sure there is no connection. Had a play with some of the gadgets, feel a bit sad typing this into a battered old Linux pc with 7 inch screen.
We could not find an ordinary Supermarket so we went in to an Organic store on Wiltshire Boulevard to buy breakfast. Must say everyone looked very healthy, felt a bit naked without a yoga mat. Never seen so much variety of food-stuffs in so small a space. Bought some lovely porridge with cinnamon and apple.

A shady spot by the Pool at the Cal Mar

End of Route 66 on the Pier

Liked and enjoyed Santa Monica overall. Seems very orderly, easy to wander around as there are plenty of pedestrian crossings.
We stayed at the Cal Mar Hotel. It's about 3 blocks from the Ocean and one from Wiltshire Boulevard. Not cheap at 180 dollars a night but we had a nice big Apartment with a kitchen. It has an old-fashioned 'LA Confidential' feel about it. An ideal setting for a fifties or sixties movie. Could imagine Marilyn Monroe splashing in the pool outside our room.
Transfers - Our incoming flight from London had arrived pretty late so we had to take a shared shuttle from the LAX Airport, cost about 35 bucks (as they say). On the way back to LAX we took the Big Blue bus for a Dollar each. Nice and cheap and, as it was rush hour, we had plenty of companions.

9.8.12

The London Summer Olympics - London 2012

A walk in the Olympic Park

Nice flowers in the Olympic Park

Getting tickets to London 2012 has to be the most difficult challenge of the Olympics. Forget the Synchronised Drowning and the Orbit Climbing. Just spend your days in front of a computer pressing SEARCH on a site powered by Ticketmaster. The hours of personal sacrifice, frustration and unrewarded effort. There are no Silver Medals for coming second in this game! The tickets appear on the site, you press request and get a window, complete with a spinning Union flag inspired logo, that makes you wait 15 minutes. By the time it counts down the tickets are no longer available or, more irritatingly, the system just logs you off. We are now experts at deciphering those weird, out of focus, characters that have to be keyed in if you want to return to the challenge. I think they should make 'logging in' part of every Olympic event. How entertaining would it be if Usain had to do this before taking to the starting blocks. Just imagine the commentators going wild when the Team GB athlete gets an easy one. Its all Lower Case, he going to win! The Australian has forgotten his glasses! The Egyptian has input it backwards!

Lots of hugging on the Handball Court

Wills and Kate must be good at it, amazed they got so many tickets! Fair play - what a ticket tally! The future of the monarchy is in very good hands.
We eventually got tickets of course. To avoid accusations of drug-taking or cheating we can reveal that the secret is multiple sessions and continual and uninterrupted pressing of search. Look away for a second and you can miss the latest ticket release, 'you take over, I need the toilet'.
Oh, what a journey. Want to thank all the people who made this possible, all those carrots, all the early morning log-ins and of course we couldn't see anything now without our sponsors Specsavers!

In the net?

We had next-day tickets to ....... a Ladies Handball quarter final. We thought it would be like Netball but without the skirts. In reality its a much more aggressive game. The object of the game is to throw a ball in an angry manner at a tall Lady trapped in a fairly small net. The Brazilian team were very good, they kept hitting the poor unfortunate Norwegian keeper. High fives, hand slapping and lots of hugging appear integral to the game. Oh, and you can run off and sit down when the music starts like in party games, not sure how they decide who comes on instead though. This all goes on for about an hour. Norway won and progressed to the semi-final. Cue big celebrations and waving of flags from the Vikings. Our section of the crowd were all exhausted late-bookers so were more subdued and had taken the opportunity for a snooze. Our £35 tickets were for 10:00 to 12:30 but the game finished at 11:30 and we were released into the Olympic Park.

Mistress Trotty from the cheap seats

It was bit like being in a Theme Park without any rides but it was very cheerful and there were some very nice flowers. We found a big screen and watched the Triathlon, the Dancing Horses and later the Track Cycling. It should seem odd standing and singing the National Anthem in front of a big screen when Sir Chris was given his medal. However, in our defence, we were only a stones throw from the Velodrome and we almost got tickets!

Velodrome - outside favourite

The Orbit

We were fortunate to have tickets to the Athletics at the Paralympics. We only bought them as a back-up in case our efforts to get Olympic Tickets failed. It was a brilliant day out and a privilege to see the supposedly less able perform with great skill and endurance. The pleasure and reward they derived from achieving in front of a massive capacity crowd was obvious.