In the Naki of Time (Part one)

So here at last shall I tell of my first weekend back in New Zealand, the weekend that saw myself and Karen take a long but pleasant drive up to Oakura in the region known as Taranaki. It began on Friday morning and the sun was shining on the adventurers as they drove out of Lower Hutt through the hills to join Highway one at Porirua. A little further up the Highway was stop number 1 at Paekakariki to view the Kapiti coast feat. Kapiti Island to the right and South Island to the left. Hereth follows a photo of the right hand side of the view.

After admiring the view we continued up Highway 1 until we reached the town of Otaki where we stopped for what some call a 'comfort break'. This was an exceptional choice for the first of these stops as the toilet gave instructions on how to go about your business (if you will). You were told after closing the door that you must firstly press the button to lock it and after doing so were then informed you had 10 minutes to complete your dealings. After this the toilet began to play 'What the World needs now is Love sweet Love' which was very jolly and quite unexpected. Whether they'd done research that concluded this was the perfect song to play in such establishments I know not, but it certainly added what the French call a certain I don't know what!

After this excitement we got on the road again and drove to the town of Bulls where we took another CB (as I shall refer to them henceforth). Here for your viewing pleasure is the sign informing the public that these are the toliets in the place of Bulls.

After this we made a stop in Whanganui to get some lunch which we ate in the carpark of New World and then proceeded on up Highway 3 in the direction of the Naki. I think our next stop was Patea for a further CB after which we plodded on once more until we turned off onto Surf Highway (No.45). It was a little further along here that we made a stop at a lovely beach and enjoyed a wee paddle in the Tasman Sea (that's a wee paddle not a wee and a paddle). And here am I bearing my white legs to the world (I got the rip taken out of me for these quite a few times - if anything cries out English it's white pasty legs!).

We eventually arrived in Oakura about 1hr and a half later than planned but rather that than rush and miss out on getting out in the sun and sea.

It was Karen's birthday that day so we ate tea at Matt's house (Karen's partner) joined by their friend Ange (who will appear in the Part 2) and ended up popping round to Al and Jan's house for some drinks later on. To be honest I was still adjusting to the time difference at this point so I wasn't up to much but Karen drank enough for both of us so it was all good : ). And there I shall leave it for this installment. I'm not actually sure anyone who isn't on Facebook is reading this (which could make it kind of pointless) so my posts may be few and far between if this is so.

Toodle pip for now. Kx

You get the picture

This post has been a friggin nightmare to publish but at last I've formed some semblance of something. Here are some pics from the last week of (in order of appearance) Island Bay, Rhys and Cat, mine and Sal's old abode and the toliets at the Embassy. The last one might seem rather random but you can't deny they are far from bog standard (groan.....)

 

I hope to do much more exciting posts from my new abode which I move into later today. I'm looking forward to a cuppa on the decking. Have a good weekend one and all. Kx

What's new

Good day! It’s Tuesday here now and I’m in the Central Library after an hour sat by the harbour reading in the sun. Suffice to say it’s another gorgeous day here and joggers and walkers were out aplenty. Also, much to my delight, the dancing pole was back on form : ). This morning was spent re-registering with Hudson so fingers crossed some work will be heading my way sometime soon – though I’m not averse to spending a few more days soaking up the rays by the water and rediscovering Welli.
In about an hour I’m heading off to the Embassy cinema to see Nowhere Boy and I’m very much looking forward to it. I may even treat myself to a slice of their excellent date cake if it’s still in existence.

I feel now the time has come to update those previous Wellingtonian explorers on what’s changed in our absence. So below please find a list of such things:

1. All Wellington buses are now yellow and have ‘Go Wellington’ written on the side. And why not I say!

2. There is now a cafe eis on Courtenay Place (I’m pretty sure this didn’t exist last time...though Fred will delight in correcting me if I am wrong)

3. The Dog and Bone is no more, which was a sore blow

4. There is no longer (fresh) spinach on the Hells menu

5. There are a few new buildings here and there, not all of which I approve of, and one of which must have drawn inspiration from the Scottish Parliament building

I’m sure there were more things but now it comes to listing them they’ve gone completely out of my mind. But it’s by no means all change, in fact, far from it. There are many parts that are still very much the same and I shall list these for you now to ease your minds.

1. Welli still looks very much as it last did (in fact scarily so)

2. There are still IRN BRU police cars

3. The slides are still as glorious as ever (though I haven’t yet been down them)

4. You can still get a fabulous Eggs Benedict at the Parade Cafe

5. Island Bay is still gorgeous and you can still see South Island!

6. The library still looks (and is) exactly the same

7. Hells still does Lemon Pepper Wedges and Kumara Fries

8. The Hummingbird is still going strong as is the Brewery

9. You still have to watch a hilarious Health and Safety video when you register with Hudson

10. TV is still REALLY bad

Really there are too many things to mention that are the same so I guess just take it that if I haven’t mentioned that it’s changed, it’s still the same.

What else can I tell you? I went to look at a few houses over the weekend, one of which I really liked but I have heard nothing back as yet. I also went to stay and Rhys and Cat’s in Island Bay which was gorgeous – they have a balcony and a view of the sea. Lucky devils. Oh yes, and one more to add to the 2nd list; there is still no mobile reception in Island Bay!

I have to say the only thing that has escaped me so far is the location of the post office around Manners Mall. I shall soon discover its whereabouts though as I have a card to post.

I wish I had more to tell you and actually now I think about it I haven’t yet put a post up about my weekend in Taranaki so I shall endeavour to do that next. Also it would be great to put a few videos on here for those who don’t have facebook but I’m not sure you can. Does anyone know a site where I could upload vids and then stick a link on here so people could view it?

Right I’d best sign off now as I have to head off soon and wouldn’t mind reading a bit more of my magazine.

Toodles. K x

Blogeyed

Hello peeps,

I keep meaning to write a post full of interesting stuff but I'm a bit all over the place at the moment. Just trying to find my feet really. I'm off to view a couple of flats this weekend in town so fingers crossed one of them is what I'm after. I've applied for a few jobs and will be going in to agencies next week so things are moving, albeit slowly (saying that I have only been here a week!). Other than that I'm attempting to get my head round what I've done! Hope you're all well. Thinking of you. K xx

A Wee Crafty One

This is a little shop I spotted up in Oakura and goes out to the Crafty lot at the Galleries. Not as good as our logo if you ask me...

Touchdown!

'Sup. I would have thought of a more inspired title for this first post from NZ but I'm running on the lowest mental capacity right now so it is not to be. So yes, I am indeed here. I arrived yesterday morning (Tuesday evening UK time) after 37.5 hours of travelling - oh my God I have just realised that's the equivalent of a full working week! Yuck! The journey was pretty rough - why I thought it was a good idea to do it in one go is beyond me. I was so tired when we touched down in LA I just wanted to turn round and go home rather than go on in the knowledge I would have to do twice this distance to get home again if I carried on. I don't mind long journeys but the atmosphere in a plane is horrible for such a long time. I didn't have any fresh air for 33 hours straight. Anyway, enough grumbling, that's over now and I am here.
Karen very kindly met me at the airport with a hug (which was very brave as I must have smelled pretty bad) and drove me in the sunshine around the harbour and back to her house in the Hutt Valley (about 15 mins outside Wellington). The house is lovely and I have my very own room with an extremely comfortable bed. I was planning to stay awake all day but failed pretty early on and went for a nap at about 12 for 3 hours. It was awesome but probably explains why I was wide awake at 3.30 this morning.
All in all Wellington is pretty much the same as it was (in apperance anyway) and I look forward to being more awake and exploring it next week. We did head out this morning for brunch at the Parade Cafe and a wander along Lambton Quay but I'd left my camera on the bed so unfortunately have no pictures to put up. I will rectify this shortly.
Anyhoo, I've completely run out of mental functioning now so I bid you farewell. I'm hopefully off up to Taranaki tomorrow so I don't know when I'll next be on the web. Waves to everyone. Sweet as. K xx