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Well, a wee while ago it was Christmas day, way back last year
(remember?)
and I flew out of Cape Town, South Africa. I was sort of looking
forward to the flight BUT the festive
spirit didn't really appear.
I thought Turkey and cranberry sauce was a long shot, but still
possible, but no. We
did at one point have a little raffle on board,
in which I won a bottle of wine, so that was pretty good, but other
than
that, not very much. Plus I had a 5 hour wait in Jo'burg.But
I still arrived in Perth in one piece so all is good.I spent
my
first three nights in Perth in a grotty little hostel. It wasn't
too bad, but I prefer my rooms to have windows!!
They told me it
used to be a Budist temple - Budist Prison more like!! I moved to
a bigger place which was much better
(apart from the drunk Scots
returning at 5am every morning!!)
I met up with ex-Ragdoller Natalie who had just returned
to Perth
after 4 years of travelling so she showed me, and another visiting
friend Martijn, around on a reaquaintence
mission! We wandered around
Perth city, spent a day on Scarborough beach, checked out all the
Swan Valley had to offer(winerys,
chocolate factory, cheese factory
and Bavarian Ale House - complete with dancing Bavarian robot musicians!)
We celebrated
the New year in fine style! Well, it was certainly
the most unusal way I've ever celebrated it! We set off laden with
food and good intentions to a little park next to the river - beautiful.
The park was also next to Gloucester Race
course, which was going
to be spewing out Fireworks at midnight, which we would be able
to see for free! All was going
well, the food was great, we were
playing cricket and we drank and made merry! But then, as it started
to get dark,
it happened. Slowly at first, but it grew and grew,
faster and faster.....people arriving at Gloucester Park had nowhere
to park their cars....other than our little park. They started at
the far end, but slowly they encroached. We struggled
valiently
to retain as much space as we could, but our little swingball pole
was no match for the onslaught! Finally
we were surrounded! But
it did not dampen our spirits, and come Midnight we fully enjoyed
the fireworks and happily
celebrated the arrival of the New Year
.... in a car park!!!
I spent a day
on Rottnest island. Ratsnest - according to the early
dutch mistaking the local marsupial, the quokka,(very similar to
the South African Dassi!) as a giant rat. One of which I passed
biting the finger off an Australian. Great place,
cycled around
the island in beautiful weather.
I missed meeting up with Contiki Kara, but managed to say hello on the
phone - next time Kara!
I flew to New Zealand and was picked up at the airport by Acacia
Steve and Heidi who drove
me to Gisbourne as the first stage of
their NZ tour. Cheers guys. Here I met up with me old mate Howser
(Ade), who
appeared in the fabled little brown beastie ("bronze"
Toyota Starlet).
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| Click on this to discover the effects of Surfing! |
| Fumerole on White Island |
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| ......and Howser - Stinky! |
I have since been living in Hows's House which
is 50 meters
from the beach were we have been surfing almost every
afternoon (At which Im still not very good). When the surf was bad
we went and played Golf instead (at which Im still not very good).
We spent a weekend driving round the East Cape
and visited the most
eastern point of NZ and its fantastic coastline. Generally I have
spent a month playing, ooh,
including Rere rockslide, a huge slab
of rock at an angle, that a river runs down. Sit on a body board
and you're
away - weeeee!!! Also had an 'interesting' trip to the
worlds most least visited Arboretum in the world, but the less
said
about that the better! Hughsie (Ade) left for old Blighty yesterday..
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