Old face in a new place

Headed South to Hamilton, Raglan and Waitomo the weekend just gone. An old colleague of Amanda's had recently followed in our footsteps and emigrated to New Zealand. Well, I say followed in our footsteps, but she had actually started the ball rolling before we did - but having a family to organise and applying for residency meant they had only just arrived.

Hamilton is their new home, a land-locked city and it must be said a much derided town 90 minutes of motorway south of Auckland. Rather than meet them there however, we met at the nearby-ish town of Raglan - famous for it's left handed point break (the surfers will know what I mean!) and to a lesser extent boutique arts shops.

It was great for Amanda to catch up with an old friend, meanwhile it was a pleasure to meet her fella, Steve, and the kids. They've only been here 4 weeks, but loving it already. We know that feeling!

After lunch and a couple of coffees Amanda & I headed to Raglan beach itself for a stroll and to watch the surfers. The surf, was, thankfully nothing special - my feet still preventing me from suiting up. Looked a great place to surf though, long, long beach so even on a day where the surf is stonking I can imagine you get plenty of room and quite sheltered too, due to the ridge of hills that abut the beach.

The beach itself, however was another example of a wild west coast beach, complete with the now familiar black sand. As you can see from the photos it's probably more like grey sand, until it's disturbed and then it's much darker.

Here are some photos of a sundail type thing overlooking Raglan beach.

Sunday

Started the day with a Kiwi take on bubble and squeak - chorizo and beetroot added to the potatoes and lardons. Yum! Coffee was none too shabby either and my favourite, roast 'All-Press'.

Perfect fuel for the hours drive further South to Waitomo. There's no motorway's here so all single lane carriageways. Excellent driving it was too. Dipping, winding roads, bereft of traffic and flanked on either side by yet more gorgeous scenery. Really is hard to describe what a pleasure driving can be out here so I will have to try and get a good video up one day - of course that would have been easier had I not sold my GoPro before emigrating.

The said scenery was rolling hills covered in green pasture for the most part - all sprinkled with a generous helping of cows. A lot like some of the scenes of Hobbiton from LOTR; but with less hobbits (yep, another LOTR reference folks...). And with Spring in the air some roads were further beautified by rows of Cherry Blossom trees. We were even treated to the sight of some unidentified birds of prey hovering over the road - waiting to tuck in to a tasty morsel of roadkill on presumes.

But I digress, why were we heading South to Waitomo? To hand over some hard earned dollars to follow somebody into a hole in the ground. No, not Bilbo Baggins, or even Frodo for that matter, but Susan a guide at Waitomo Caves.

Not just any old cave though, no these caves are world famous; and by that, I do mean world famous, not just NZ world famous. For, in addition to some impressive stalactites and stalagmites the caves are also home to thousands of glow worms.

OK, quick nature lesson. Glowworms are in fact the larvae of the a two winged insect, much like the mosquito. They hatch form eggs laid in the darkest most humid parts of the caves and then spend around 9 months eating. To catch their food they dangle around 20 lines of stickyness with which they trap wayward insects before sucking them up to eat. The insects are attracted to the bio luminescent light given off by the glowworms. However, do wonder why they bother. The adults that emerge from the short pupa stage have no mouths and so only live for a couple of days before starving to death. Obviously just enough time to reproduce however, as they have been wowing the tourists for over a hundred years.

Was it touristy? Yes
Was it overpriced? Maybe - but not for us as we got over 50% off :0)
Was it worth it? Definitely!

The first cave was one of the smaller ones, but home to a large open area they call the Cathedral. Possibly named after the high ceilings and cave formations that look like an organ; but also perhaps because of the acoustics which are said to be amazing. So good in fact that several bands have performed there- there are no echoes.

A short tour this one, but ended with a (very short) boat ride through another part of the cave. This part was pitch black which enabled you to see the glow worms on the ceiling above - they did a good impression of the milky way; clever little worms.

The second cave, the RuaKuri cave was a lot larger with over 7km of pathways apparently - we only did a couple however. The tour started with a descent of over 20 meters via a large spiral staircase. Various rock formations were then pointed out as we ventured further into the cave; including the wonderful stalactites appropriately named as 'curtains'. There were more glowworms, doing their thang, but the highlight of this cave was probably the room they call 'the pretties'. I'll not try and describe the view - check out the phots!

Factoid:
Stalactites take 100 years to grow just one cubic centimetre.
Kinda puts a spanner in the works of the creationists!

We finished the tour by retracing our steps back to the surface; but not before catching a glimpse of some people in the middle of a blackwater rafting trip. Basically a combination of either scrambling or floating through through an adjacent set of caves on inner tubes. Looked like fun, but with Amanda not keen I may have to organise a work trip there...

Almost forgot to write about lunch. A mundane item of news that many may not feel worthy of words; but it was truly awesome and almost missed. Originally planning to eat at the Waitomo caves visitor center out of convenience we decided to chance the nearby Waitomo township instead. We were rewarded with fantastic service and a magical, yes magical, slow roast lamb with dauphinoise potatos and beetroot pureé. Thanks HuHu!

Finally, here's a video giving an intro to the caves...

Coromandel Town

The great thing about living in Auckland is how much is on your door step, so to speak. It had been a while since we had done any exploring so we decided to pop over to the Coromandel for a night. Earlier this year we visited the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula when we kayaked around the blue waters of the Te Whanganui-A-Hei Marine Reserve on the way to Cathedral Cove. The west coast and Coromandel Town itself was our destination last weekend; just a short two and a half hour drive from Auckland - and what a drive it was!

View Larger Map

Jetty with a view of the Hauraki Gulf

Another view of the Hauraki Gulf

Hilltop View As the coast road leaves the shore edge it climbs up here. Great views as we stretched our legs.

The first hour was motorway, but even that offered fine views across the Hauraki Plains. However, after a quick lunch/coffee stop at Thames we set off on the north bound on the coastal road.

This road hugs the shoreline, never venturing more than about 10m from it and often so close you can look down into the Firth of Thames lapping a few feet from the car. The other side of the road alternating between long drawn out villages (eveybody wanting a sea view) or sheer cliff edges.

The road itself was typical of many NZ roads once you get of out of the city and off the motorways; narrow, very windy with lots of climbs and descents. In other words great fun and full of amazing views - a real joy to drive! We love this part of NZ, so beautiful and we have barely even started exploring it. Unfortunately words, and even photos just don't do it justice, so you will just have to come and see for yourself :0)

A pleasant little town, even if the style of the buildings on the main street bring to mind images of old frontier towns in the 'Wild West' of old.

Cormandel Town Main Street

Cormandel Town Buthcers

Home for the night was a cool little motel complete with spa and free bike hire. Both made us happy bunnies and we were soon off on a quick bike ride to nearby picturesque Long Bay. Took in the views, before setting off on a quick bush walk to spy some huge Kauri trees. Still winter and had no lights so headed back before the sun went down. Had a starlit hot tub session after dinner...

Amanda amazed by the Kauri

The canopy of a very large Kauri

Tyre Swing at Long Bay

Next day, rain was forecast but it just about held off long enough for us to do some sightseeing. Bit touristy, but we checked out a nearby narrow gauge 'mountain' railway. It was built by an artist cum potter over the course of the last 30 years. Originally built to haul clay from the quarry to his potting shed it's now over 3km long with the terminus 165m above sea level.

Driving Creek Railway

Driving Creek Railway

Driving Creek Railway

Amazing to think all the track was laid by one man; and great view of the Haruki gulf from the terminus at the top.

Next stop was a 'theme park' called Waterworks. Lots of contraptions made out of scrap metal etc and powered by water. Some of them were ingenious and pretty cool, with several of them capable of being used by visitors for water fights-which of course we did. :0)

The Waterworks Water powered sculpture

The Waterworks The faster you peddle the further the water goes. There were targets to aim for.

The Waterworks Flying Bikes inspire ET themed photoshoot.

The highlight however was probably the 'childrens' playground - the apparatus being far from the usual. Great amusement was had trying to run in the 'mouse wheel' - much harder than it looks. While the flying bikes were also pretty cool and let me make believe I was a BMX star; while also enabling some ET-esque photos...

The Waterworks A human mousetrap, actually very hard to stay upright!	The Waterworks A human mousetrap, actually very hard to stay upright!	The Waterworks A human mousetrap, actually very hard to stay upright!
The Waterworks Another ET Inspired photo on the Flying Bikes	The Waterworks Again, harder than it looks, made it though.	Your Author and his missus View of the Hauraki gulf behind.

The force is strong with this one

A couple of months ago Amanda & I went on a work (mine) social.

The comedy festival was in full swing and we had bagged tickets to see the award winning "Boy With Tape On His Face". Very popular at the Edinburgh Fringe, he is quite rare in comedic circles as he does not say a single word all show, hence the tape. I must admit many of us were sceptical - just how good could this be if he is mute?

Turns out we did not need to worry; despite a rather lame opening "gag" leaving some of us fearing the worst!

His act relies on audience participation, whether voluntary or not! Using mime and some very expressive eyebrows he instructs his volunteers / victims and in doing so acts out some often bizzare yet also hilarious constucts.

In fact my own scepticism was well and truly squashed as I almost got stitches from some of the skits. I even got to take part, being hauled on to stage for one of them.

Here's a few examples of the skits, words do not do the them justice though!

Wild West Shoot Out

​The Boy and the volunteer face off to the music from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - using staplers!

Lion Ballon Popping

​A man with a lion paws on his hands, has his head covered with a hood. Each audience then inflates a red balloon. 99 Red balloons then plays over the tannoy and as the hood is removed the audience throw their balloons on to the stage as glitter falls from the ceiling and the "lion" prances around trying to pop the balloons.

Star Wars LightSaber Fight

​The volunteer, myself, is dressed in a bin sack, beanie hat and a painters dust mask to play the role of Darth Vader and proceeds to reenact the famous scene from Star Wars with the Boy playing Obi Wan Kenobi. The light sabers however are retractable tape measures. After this tomfoolery they have a "mines bigger than yours" contest at the front of the stage - where unfortunately, my "member" could not quite remain erect...

Rich as Vader @ The Boy With Tape On His Face from Rich & Amanda on Vimeo.

Down Under (& NOT right a bit)

That's right folks, this post is not about NZ but rather Australia, well, Sydney.

With the winter temperature only hovering around 16C we decided we needed to be somewhere a little warmer! ;0)

Not really, of course, although it was a few degrees warmer and once again we got lucky with the weather; it only rained once during the week - but that did happen to be the day we went to the beach!

While I've been to Sydney before Amanda had not so we thought we take the opportunity to pop over since it was a relatively short 3 hours flight away. We also both have friends who have emigrated to Oz and live in Sydney and took the opportunity to catch up.

BTW, Did you know?

If you click on the photos on our blog you can view a larger version. :0)

And, if you press and hold Ctrl on the keyboard when you click it, it will open in a new window.

Arrival

In fact our very first night we met up with an old Uni friend of mine, Russell, who has since become a bona-fide Australian Citizen, but still lacks an Aussie accent even after 8 years - so maybe there is hope for us too :0)

Monday - Tourists for the Day

Sydney Tower

1500 steps to the top but you are not allowed to take them, much to Rich's frustration...

Started the trip proper with some touristy stuff, starting with the Sydney Tower. There is something like 1500 steps to the top, but I was a little disappointed to learn that they were not an option. The guides were adamant that we had to take the lift and refused to believe that I actually wanted to take the stairs. Looking back, perhaps they were doing me a favour though!

After taking in the views, (including our residence for the week - circled) back at ground level, we strolled through the historic QVB shopping mall and then met a friend of Amanda's for lunch at Circular Quay with a view of the Opera House. Very hot and sunny we even had to shelter from the sun! After that we strolled back to the BnB via the botanical gardens, taking plenty of photographs of of the Opera House.

Factoid: The coldest ever temperature recorded in Sydney is 2.1C!!!?

I can see the pub from here! (can't see any ale though!)	View of Potts Point & Woolloomooloo The red dot is where we stayed. The wharf to the left contains, amongst other things, Russell Crowes house and Thales Sydney.
Opera House The orange things are temporary poles as this area is under refurbishment.	Girls Amanda and Amie in front of the SOH.

Amanda @ SOH

Flags on Sydney Harbour Bridge

View of SOH & SHB Taken from near Mrs Macquarie's chair - popular place for photos of the above.

Tuesday - Blue Mountains

Thought we would make the most of the existing hot spell to visit the Blue Mountains a 2 hour train ride away. Good job we did as it was markedly colder up there, especially with the wind.

Named after the blue haze that hangs in the air we got some wonderful views of them from the train, a dense fog hanging in the valley, so thick it looked like a river. Sadly we got no photos of this, but plenty later in the day.

Started with a quick walk to the viewing platform over the valley and then a quick descent down some steep steps to the famous Three Sisters pinnacles. You could really feel the wind here as it whistled though a narrow gap between the cliff and the pinnacles. The bridge across to the Three Sisters was rather exposed and I can easily believe that people have been blown away. I wasn't, obviously, and Amanda did not risk it!

From this point a further track called the "The Giant Stairway" led down to the valley floor. The pathway is over 100 years old and built by convicts (hey this is Australia!). A lot of the steps are very worn and in many places replaced with steel. Very steep and in some places very exposed. Amanda gave it a go but had to turn back at one point as her legs were getting a bit wobbly. Good job she did as the very next stretch of steps, were the new steel ones, basically grates which you can see through - and there was nothing underneath - check out the video below!

While Amanda stopped to gather herself before heading back to the top I continued down; 20 minutes later I was still only about 2/3 of the way down and so headed back myself to check on Amanda.

Completed our day by walking several kilometres along the cliff edge to one of the waterfalls. I even took the chance to try a bit of proper barefoot walking and found it actually quite comfortable - if a little cold, especially on the rocks. It also made puddles and muddle a lot easier to navigate - just stride on through. Amanda even gave it a go and I think quite enjoyed it; but after a a few minutes the cold got the better of her and her feet were soon wrapped up again.

Blue Mountains	Pinnacles @ Blue Mountains	The Great Stairway One of the exposed sections of the stairway, nothing to the right and nothing underneath either...
Blue Mountains Amanda looks a little superimposed, but she was there!	Blue Mountains	Blue Mountains

Blue Mountains Taking in the view during my barefoot walk. Soon got tired of holding the Vibrams and stuffed them in the rucksack.

The Great Stairway

Blue Mountains The steps down to the Pinnacles.

Here's a video of the point just after Amanda turned back..

MOV03011 from Rich & Amanda on Vimeo.

Wednesday - Manly

You have to spend some time on the water in Sydney harbour and so we took the 30 minute ferry to Manly. Another gorgeous day and barely a ripple on the water so Amanda was not struck down with sea-sickness. Spent the afternoon chilling on the beach.

Manly beach

Manly beach

Caught the ferry back to the city just before sunset and saw was able to get some cool photos of the opera house (what else) as the light changed.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House Taken from the Manly to Circular Quay Ferry

In the evening we had dinner (or more precisely we were kindly taken to dinner by Malcom, Amanda's second cousin). Had a great evening enjoying Malcom's stories and the food and ale of the famous old Lord Nelson Hotel. I finally found some Ale, called Annihilation no less :0). Then after dinner, Malcom took us for a quick spin across the bridge and back to see Sydney at night and point our various landmarks. The perfect host and very proud of his adopted homeland.

Thursday - Bondi & Opera

Headed to Bondi beach, just 15 minutes by train and bus. The rain started literally as soon as we got off the bus which made our walk along the beach a little less pleasant. Our only day of poor weather and it cleared up within less than an hour anyway! I was hoping to get in some surfing at Bondi, but, deja vu, my back was playing up and decided it was best not to risk it. :0(

We did however check out some local surfers who were ripping it up; so maybe it was a good thing as I would probably have embarrassed myself! After being humbled by said locals we followed the coastal walk from Bondi to Bronte. Great views, fresh sea air and an impressive(?) cliffside cemetery at the end of the walk.

Get the impression the Aussies don't know what a cold spell is. As we took a coffee in Bronte, a (senior) local informed us that this was the coldest day he had seen in over 45 years. Think it was about 15C! I think his memory might be a little rusty, but still, you get the point.

Bondi Beach Miserable weather but pretty good waves, sadly I had to pass though. :0(

Bondi to Bronte Coastal Path View across Bronte Bay

Waverley Cemetery Cemetery near Bronte opened in 1877.

Waverley Cemetery Noted for its largely intact Victorian and Edwardian monuments.

Quick bite to eat then home to get ready for a spot of culture - we were attending an Opera at the Sydney Opera House (err, well, yeah). A first for both of us. We had a choice of two or three to see but plumped for the shortest! So Bizet's The Pearlfishers was our entertainment for the evening.

Had relatively cheap seats so we were up in the gods; as luck would have it there were several empty seats in front of us and so at the first interval we moved several rows and around a $100 closer. :0)

Impression? Well personally, I found the stagecraft pretty impressive - lots of complementary blue and orange lighting with depth added by layers of translucent curtains. Very clever and at times it was hard to tell if you were looking at performers or a projection.

Being inside the opera house we could appreciate another view of the architecture and were also rewarded with some excellent views of the harbour and the bridge. As for the Opera itself, meh, I can take it or leave it. Could not help but find two people conversing through song quite amusing. Must be a philistine!

As for Amanda - she enjoyed it, but would not rush to see another one - particularly if there are any women singing - she can't stand the warbling!

Inside the Opera House Our reflections in the glass, with the bridge out the window.

Interval @ Opera House

Dark when we got out so took some Opera House by Night photos (bored of them yet!?)

Opera House After the Opera...

Thinking of England

Friday - He rises!

Today was pretty much just about the pointy eared one. No not Legolas, The Dark Knight (aka Batman for the older amongst you). Another first for us as we saw it at an IMAX, and not just any IMAX as we found out when we arrived - the world's largest no less.

And boy was it large. Was a little worried that it might actually be too big- I mean it is 30m high and 36m wide! With seats near the back it turned out not to be a problem and the time whizzed by, all 166 minutes of it. Won't say another word good or bad in case you are off to see it yourselves!

Not much else to report Friday so here are some phots of Sydney...

View of the CBD Taken from the Botanical Gardens.

Darling Harbour by Night What is it about reflected lights and city lights that is so appealing?

Saturday - Food, Drum and Bass

Took the (soon to be shut down) Monorail to one of Sydney's oldest and largest markets, around 1800 stalls apparently (think some were hiding). Spent an hour so strolling around, but not much to see really. Headed to Chinatown afterwards for some yummy Yum Cha and came across this dude called Catfish The Bottleman. A Sydney busker who was not only very good but had a permanent smile on his face as he drummer away - reminded us of a friend back home. :0)

He even had some impromptu company as a lady from the audience, started break dancing in front of him, not much style but full of nonchalance; yeah what, what!?

Also saw this sign in Chinatown and just had to snappety-snap...

Catfish The Bottleman A regular busker outside Paddy's market adjacent to Chinatown. Super happy chappy who has his own Facebook page.

Next up was ice cream at the wonderful Messina. A huge range of flavours - including some salted(!?) - but probably most famous for the gelato creations such as the gelato burger!

The main event today however was Russell, Pete and Stretch's liquid funk, d n b and house night.

Russell was coming out of "retirement" after 8 years away from the decks; DJ Switchback was to be reborn at this event and supported by Pete and Stretch, the latter of whom was an old colleague of mine and so another chance to catch up.

Amanda was less than impressed by the music being played but spent the entire night chatting away with Amie so don't think it was too much of a chore. Meanwhile a foot injury sustained earlier in the week meant there was no rug cutting by Rich, perhaps it was for the best...

Sunday - Homeward bound

Just had time to check out the historic Sydney barracks on the way to the airport. Oh and marvel at how busy and crowded Sydney feels after spending 6 months in Auckland!