Back to the diving then, loads of really beautiful fish in and around the coral reef. Whilst we were just slowly mooching around watching Louise the Dive Master feed the fish by helping them get sea urchins free from the coral and patting a massive trigger fish, who they call Tommy, we then move around a little further to see a turtle. It was just minding his own business, eating the coral and really wasn’t too bothered that we were gawping and taking pictures. Ian had hired an under water digital camera so he has loads of shots of fish (and me). Louise got a couple of shots of the two of us together and the great one of Ian with the turtle.
All the time during our second dive we could hear the whales making noises and we were convinced they were closer than they actually were, I kept looking around to see if we one was going to come into view but they were quite a way away apparently.
What an amazing few days.
Monday 31 August 2009
26/8 Claire – Scuba
Ian is very excited (again) about being able to do a PADI open water scuba diving course for a lot less money than we could ever imagine at home – at this point I wonder if I have enough books to keep me entertained by the pool. I have done a dive before once in the Maldives but one where you don’t really have to be trained as they take you to about 6 meters to look at the fish and basically hold on to your collar for the 30mins you are down there. The full open water course is 3 or 4 days depending on how quick you get on. This is split into 2 parts, the first day and a half gets you a PADI Scuba qualification which allows you to go to 12m with a Dive Master but the Open water gets you to 18m and you can dive without a Dive Master.
I didn’t really fancy it but I thought that perhaps I could go along for the first day and a half. In this you get pool training and two sea dives so it seemed daft not to go and have a look at the fish. I could then lie back on the sun lounger whilst Ian finished the full thing. The full course is more theory, more pool training, and exam and a further two more sea dives.
During one of our final instructor dives Karen was showing me a roll collar anemone, I had no idea hat that was just that she was seemingly pointing to it and stroking it with her finger. It wasn’t doing much so I assumed it was furry or something. She signalled to me that it was OK that I did the same, I was like “ erm, who? Me?” in under water signals but she suggested I give it a stroke. It darted into the rocks so quickly that I gave out an audible scream with an outburst of bubbles from my regulator… she swam away chuckling.
The reason for my lack of communication over the last few days is for a number of reasons, firstly there is no mobile coverage on the island. Secondly, the internet access via two computers on the resorts both at crappy dial up speed it’s really painful. Thirdly, I did the Scuba course… stayed on for the full Open Water course… went back out again after getting qualified for another two more sea dives the very next day! Sorry, have been a little busy since we got here. Have seen more of the Cook Islands from below sea level than above!
So now fully qualified today’s dives were much more relaxed as there was no more tasks to do underwater. When you are a student you have to keep practicing things like taking you mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it at the bottom of the ocean, swimming tests, buoyancy exercises etc. Today we simply went for a tour of a wreck and to a place we have been before called Paradise reef. The trip started well when two Hump Backed Whales came within 10 meters of the boat. With the Dive Master who was taking us out we all popped on our masks and fins and popped in the sea to see if we could have a closer look but they’d already swam away from us. Apparently this happened a few weeks back with another group and Karen our Dive Instructor from the dive centre. They’d been swimming that close to them. Never mind, we got back in the boat and the two whales did a few tail flips for us and… I swear… popped up a side fin to wave before moving on. So that was pretty amazing!
I didn’t really fancy it but I thought that perhaps I could go along for the first day and a half. In this you get pool training and two sea dives so it seemed daft not to go and have a look at the fish. I could then lie back on the sun lounger whilst Ian finished the full thing. The full course is more theory, more pool training, and exam and a further two more sea dives.
During one of our final instructor dives Karen was showing me a roll collar anemone, I had no idea hat that was just that she was seemingly pointing to it and stroking it with her finger. It wasn’t doing much so I assumed it was furry or something. She signalled to me that it was OK that I did the same, I was like “ erm, who? Me?” in under water signals but she suggested I give it a stroke. It darted into the rocks so quickly that I gave out an audible scream with an outburst of bubbles from my regulator… she swam away chuckling.
The reason for my lack of communication over the last few days is for a number of reasons, firstly there is no mobile coverage on the island. Secondly, the internet access via two computers on the resorts both at crappy dial up speed it’s really painful. Thirdly, I did the Scuba course… stayed on for the full Open Water course… went back out again after getting qualified for another two more sea dives the very next day! Sorry, have been a little busy since we got here. Have seen more of the Cook Islands from below sea level than above!
So now fully qualified today’s dives were much more relaxed as there was no more tasks to do underwater. When you are a student you have to keep practicing things like taking you mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it at the bottom of the ocean, swimming tests, buoyancy exercises etc. Today we simply went for a tour of a wreck and to a place we have been before called Paradise reef. The trip started well when two Hump Backed Whales came within 10 meters of the boat. With the Dive Master who was taking us out we all popped on our masks and fins and popped in the sea to see if we could have a closer look but they’d already swam away from us. Apparently this happened a few weeks back with another group and Karen our Dive Instructor from the dive centre. They’d been swimming that close to them. Never mind, we got back in the boat and the two whales did a few tail flips for us and… I swear… popped up a side fin to wave before moving on. So that was pretty amazing!
25/8 Claire - Cook Islands day 1
You may not have noticed, but brownie points if you did, that 25th appeared twice. You could be forgiven for thinking that 6 weeks into a holiday I may become confused as to what date it is, and I have indeed forgotten the day on many occasion but this reference is correct. Flying out to the Cook Islands means that although we have gone forward by another 2 hrs (we have gone forward on every flight so far) we have now crossed to international date line. So… we left NZ at 8pm on 25th August, arrived in the Cook Islands at midnight NZ time but being 2 hours ahead we are now 2am (still with me?) but in fact this is now 2am on 25th not 26th. We have 25th to enjoy all over again!! But not in a ground hog day kinda way, you get to do something completely different!
On this particular 25th August we hired scooters. You have to take a test at the police station + have a current driving licence to get a Cook Islands driving licence.
On this particular 25th August we hired scooters. You have to take a test at the police station + have a current driving licence to get a Cook Islands driving licence.
23-25/8 Claire – Auckland
So this is quite exciting, the North Island. We haven’t spent any time here as we only had 2 and a half weeks in NZ so without risking spending every waking moment in the car we made a conscious decision to keep to a small schedule. We did however make some last min plans to bring forward our flight to Auckland (you can fly into Christchurch but to fly out to the Cook Islands you need to fly from Auckland creating a need for an internal flight from south to north islands) by a couple of days. The reason for this is that Ian’s “mate Andy from Hong Kong” now lives in Auckland and after losing touch after Uni they haven’t seen each other in about 15years. To be honest I thought “Andy from Hong Kong” was a made friend so thought it would be good to see if he was indeed real.
Andy who is in fact Andrew (apparently never used the name Andy other than when the guys in Uni started using this) and his wife Chris met us at the airport and we had two days of catching up planned with them. The next couple of days have been a whirlwind tour of Auckland with lots of fantastic food thrown in.
Now when Ian got excited about Frisbee golf, he’s told EVERYONE about it. Chris had to work today so Andrew drove us to a beautiful beach near Auckland called Puhe. It’s volcanic so black sand and as the boys took the Frisbees a made up course was created. Thankfully I had my camera so could leave them to it. Part of that however might have been that I didn’t want my double par Frisbee shot skills being aired in a public arena however.
Andy who is in fact Andrew (apparently never used the name Andy other than when the guys in Uni started using this) and his wife Chris met us at the airport and we had two days of catching up planned with them. The next couple of days have been a whirlwind tour of Auckland with lots of fantastic food thrown in.
Now when Ian got excited about Frisbee golf, he’s told EVERYONE about it. Chris had to work today so Andrew drove us to a beautiful beach near Auckland called Puhe. It’s volcanic so black sand and as the boys took the Frisbees a made up course was created. Thankfully I had my camera so could leave them to it. Part of that however might have been that I didn’t want my double par Frisbee shot skills being aired in a public arena however.
22/8 Claire – Travelling back
Basically spending Friday and Saturday getting back to Christchurch via the east coast. There isn’t that much to see up this way so other than a stop off at a couple of sea side areas and the Moeraki boulders we just drove. We are finishing our South Island experience this evening in Christchurch at a fancy restaurant that is apparently good for “lamb aficionados”, not sure I fall into this description yet but the amount of lamb consumed in the last two weeks might get me someway towards this label.
Tuesday 25 August 2009
25/8 Ian - Doubtful wildlife....
Quick post, as just got to share this. Video clip taken whilst on Doubtful Sound. Once in a lifetime experience, for sure. Astonishing. Enjoy.
Saturday 22 August 2009
20/8 Claire – Doubtful Sound (day 2)
Kayaking this morning was fantastic. There was no sound, no movement and a light that was close to being black and white around us. Very surreal! Ian has loads of great pictures of this which we’ll upload later.
Cereal for breakfast was a good idea as we were still full from last nights feast, but after I had eaten this I found out from Mandy that this was breakfast number one and number two of toast, scrambled eggs with lobster, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and sauce was on it’s way… I am so full it hurts but clearly not enough to stop eating!
As we travelled back up one of the sounds we came across some dolphins in the distance. Now Richard has told us previously that some academic had recently visited Doubtful and published research that stated the Dolphin population in this sound (I think he said there were 56) was being decreased by the stress the cruise boats were having in the area. Now Richard isn’t one for shy opinion and has already stated what a load of rubbish this is, his opinion also backed up by a recent whale and dolphin expert on his boat who said that if the Dolphins where at all stressed by boating activity they would high-tail it out of the area if a boat appeared, which they don’t. Next thing you know the Dolphins are making their way toward the boat, not just to play at a distance but to literally get a free ride in the water being pushed forward by boats bow, swimming on their sides to get a good look at us lot hanging over the bow with our cameras and they must have done this, about 5 of them, for over 5 mins. They looked as curious about us as we were about them. It was amazing, truly amazing. I’d go as far to say the highlight of my trip. Ian got amazing video footage which he can put up also.
Oh and I caught a fish!
Cereal for breakfast was a good idea as we were still full from last nights feast, but after I had eaten this I found out from Mandy that this was breakfast number one and number two of toast, scrambled eggs with lobster, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and sauce was on it’s way… I am so full it hurts but clearly not enough to stop eating!
As we travelled back up one of the sounds we came across some dolphins in the distance. Now Richard has told us previously that some academic had recently visited Doubtful and published research that stated the Dolphin population in this sound (I think he said there were 56) was being decreased by the stress the cruise boats were having in the area. Now Richard isn’t one for shy opinion and has already stated what a load of rubbish this is, his opinion also backed up by a recent whale and dolphin expert on his boat who said that if the Dolphins where at all stressed by boating activity they would high-tail it out of the area if a boat appeared, which they don’t. Next thing you know the Dolphins are making their way toward the boat, not just to play at a distance but to literally get a free ride in the water being pushed forward by boats bow, swimming on their sides to get a good look at us lot hanging over the bow with our cameras and they must have done this, about 5 of them, for over 5 mins. They looked as curious about us as we were about them. It was amazing, truly amazing. I’d go as far to say the highlight of my trip. Ian got amazing video footage which he can put up also.
Oh and I caught a fish!
19/8 Claire – Doubtful Sound (day one)
We were very excited to be able to book a two day, overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Phil and Sazzle had suggested we do this but when we tried to book from the UK with the guys that had ran their trip when they were here we found out they weren’t running over winter. It was only at the i-site (tourist info) place we found a different company called Fiordland Expeditions who did run a small boat with a max of 10 guests.
We had to drive to another town, take a ferry and a bus to get to the start of the cruise, Doubtful is the less accessible of the two. Whilst looking around it was apparent that we had the company of another young French couple and a family of four from the states. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive they Americans starting high fiving each other whilst shouting wooo-hoo, yee-haaa or similar (have tried to blank from my mind) at which point my reserved Britishness started to get agitated. Now these boats are only 17m long and sleeping arrangement or bunk style… you understand my concern I am sure.
So the boat I run by a married couple Mandy and Richard. Richard drives the boat, arranges your fishing and other masculine roles. Mandy makes the beds up and cooks endlessly feeding you til you have to roll yourself of the boat after 48hours. Richard has the driest sense of humour where the fine line between hilariously sarcastic, that has you doubled over with laughter, and the feeling of being chastised is very hard to distinguish. He also has a very good memory for very bad jokes that he rolled off one after another during the evening for the kids.
Richard took the boat up the main sound and off various other small sounds that are arms off the main one over time we were with him. First stop was to his lobster holding pot. He’d been diving for rock lobster (he called them crayfish because they were salt water) for our evening meal and basically pulled up the cage with 10 live lobster waiting for us.
He then took us out to sea to see a fur seal colony. At this point we were asked not to make any more drinks, and the fridge doors where tied up and you just have to hold on. Ian has an ace video of this so he can update you later.
Back into the calm of the Sound we got to fishing, or not as the case may be. 4 rods were set up that we could share one between two. There’s sonar on the boat so we travelled to where the fish where and were told we would eat what we caught and that it would be very easy if we didn’t catch anything we’d have to sell our fishing gear when we got home if we didn’t catch anything. Within minutes Richard had caught a massive blue cod which is exactly what he wanted for tea. Peter the American Dad caught another, Ian caught a red fish I forget the name of but it had to go back as it wasn’t the right type of fish he wanted, the French dude and Lucas the American younger son both caught dogfish which look exactly like baby sharks (perhaps they are related) which were huge but again had to go back in. Audrey the French girl caught a tiddler called a Jock Stuart which was kept for bait. I managed to catch two other peoples lines (and get a telling off for not keeping my line off the bottom of the bed) but nowt else. I can’t even catch a fish with a sonar telling me where they are, how rubbish is that?
So… after cheese and biscuits, pumpkin soup, half a fresh lobster, battered blue cod and roasted veg and a desert of dairy milk we rolled into our bunks.
We had to drive to another town, take a ferry and a bus to get to the start of the cruise, Doubtful is the less accessible of the two. Whilst looking around it was apparent that we had the company of another young French couple and a family of four from the states. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive they Americans starting high fiving each other whilst shouting wooo-hoo, yee-haaa or similar (have tried to blank from my mind) at which point my reserved Britishness started to get agitated. Now these boats are only 17m long and sleeping arrangement or bunk style… you understand my concern I am sure.
So the boat I run by a married couple Mandy and Richard. Richard drives the boat, arranges your fishing and other masculine roles. Mandy makes the beds up and cooks endlessly feeding you til you have to roll yourself of the boat after 48hours. Richard has the driest sense of humour where the fine line between hilariously sarcastic, that has you doubled over with laughter, and the feeling of being chastised is very hard to distinguish. He also has a very good memory for very bad jokes that he rolled off one after another during the evening for the kids.
Richard took the boat up the main sound and off various other small sounds that are arms off the main one over time we were with him. First stop was to his lobster holding pot. He’d been diving for rock lobster (he called them crayfish because they were salt water) for our evening meal and basically pulled up the cage with 10 live lobster waiting for us.
He then took us out to sea to see a fur seal colony. At this point we were asked not to make any more drinks, and the fridge doors where tied up and you just have to hold on. Ian has an ace video of this so he can update you later.
Back into the calm of the Sound we got to fishing, or not as the case may be. 4 rods were set up that we could share one between two. There’s sonar on the boat so we travelled to where the fish where and were told we would eat what we caught and that it would be very easy if we didn’t catch anything we’d have to sell our fishing gear when we got home if we didn’t catch anything. Within minutes Richard had caught a massive blue cod which is exactly what he wanted for tea. Peter the American Dad caught another, Ian caught a red fish I forget the name of but it had to go back as it wasn’t the right type of fish he wanted, the French dude and Lucas the American younger son both caught dogfish which look exactly like baby sharks (perhaps they are related) which were huge but again had to go back in. Audrey the French girl caught a tiddler called a Jock Stuart which was kept for bait. I managed to catch two other peoples lines (and get a telling off for not keeping my line off the bottom of the bed) but nowt else. I can’t even catch a fish with a sonar telling me where they are, how rubbish is that?
So… after cheese and biscuits, pumpkin soup, half a fresh lobster, battered blue cod and roasted veg and a desert of dairy milk we rolled into our bunks.
18/8 Claire – Milford Sound
For a little more sedate activity we took a day trip to Milford Sound. Milford and Doubtful Sound (Doubtful we are visiting tomorrow) are the top 2 things on the 100 best things to do in New Zealand. There are 14/15ish sounds on the south west coast of NZ but only these two are accessible without flying. Milford is the most beautiful and breathtaking places in this world, completely untouched by man (if you pretend the cruise boat and the other couple you see on the sound during the two hour boat trip don’t exist)
17/8 Claire – Glow worms
We’ve arrived in Te Anau today as this is the best place to stay for trips to Milford and Doubtful Sounds. It’s a ghost town. I swear, 3 out of 4 restaurants and shops look like they are open; they have outdoor tables and chairs out, and menus on display like someone just shut up shop for lunch but never came back… On closer inspection there are small signs on the doors that don’t say “back in 30mins” but “closed for winter”.
There was a trip to a Glow Worm cave on so we decided to try this. We needed to take a fast boat across the lake for about 30mins to get there (this is the picture attached). I have no photographic evidence of this as you can’t take pictures in the caves. You walk for about 10mins in the dark in a wet cave before stepping into a small wooden boat. Still in the dark at this stage and you can not make a sound the tour operator pulls the boat through the remainder of the cave via a rope pulley. Then when you get to the glow worms it’s like looking up at a star installation. Thousands of tiny lights that the boat pulls you up towards so you face is only inches away. It’s truly magical until after the trip back in the main building where they play you a video of the lifecycle of glow worm and you realise your face was within inches of the slimy, sticky, gooey little blighters.
There was a trip to a Glow Worm cave on so we decided to try this. We needed to take a fast boat across the lake for about 30mins to get there (this is the picture attached). I have no photographic evidence of this as you can’t take pictures in the caves. You walk for about 10mins in the dark in a wet cave before stepping into a small wooden boat. Still in the dark at this stage and you can not make a sound the tour operator pulls the boat through the remainder of the cave via a rope pulley. Then when you get to the glow worms it’s like looking up at a star installation. Thousands of tiny lights that the boat pulls you up towards so you face is only inches away. It’s truly magical until after the trip back in the main building where they play you a video of the lifecycle of glow worm and you realise your face was within inches of the slimy, sticky, gooey little blighters.
16/8 Claire – Jet Boating
Still on an adrenalin buzz from yesterdays sky dive we decided on a jet boat ride today. Since Whale Watching in Australia I have felt the need for further fast boating experiences and apparently Queenstown is the place to do this. There are many jet boating companies around but one is always mentioned when you are talking about extreme activities… the Shotover Jet! On the Shotover River these guys take about 10/12 people at a time through narrow canyons at about 60km per hour. They are the only jet boat firm (perhaps in this area I don’t know) to do 360 degree spins. Basically it’s a handbrake turn on the water and a little close to the canyon rocks to make it a relaxing experience – but it was a helluva ride. The boat drivers hobbies where base jumping and sky diving, say n’more!
Tuesday 18 August 2009
15/8 Ian – Renault Fuego
This is one for Dad, Rob and Jamie F, as I’m not sure anyone else will get this. But look – a real life Renault Fuego, right there, outside our Queenstown motel. How cool is that?! Dad had one of these when we lived in
15/8 Ian - Frisbee golf
Man, how excited can a Frisbee fan get?Queenstown is addicted to adrenalin, and you get sucked right in. Stay a few days and you’ll probably have skydived, jet-boated, luged, river-rafted, parascended, paraglided, bungeed, or heli-boarded all the way to a very empty wallet. I have never seen such impressively slick operations that give their punters bite sized fixes of adrenalin in such perfectly branded, incentivised, cross-marketed, photographed and filmed, certificated and merchandised packages, at such a speed. It’s like Derren Brown on speed. Blink once and you’ve missed it. The antidote? Frisbee golf, of course! A disc, a pen, some paper, and the 18 hole course in Queenstown Gardens. That’s all you need. Unless you’re serious about your Frisbee golf of course, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Now I heard about Frisbee golf years ago, but had never actually come across a course. Imagine my over-excited Christmas morning boyish glee when I discovered the course here! So we made some enquiries, hired us some discs and made our way across town for our first round yesterday morning. So we’re stood there at the tee of ‘hole’ one, reading the instruction board and thinking about some practice throws, when who should rock up for a round but James Smithells, the man responsible for the installation of this very course in 1996! And he had a disc bag, with different discs for different pitches – how cool is that?! You can guess what’s on my next birthday list, right…? You also need a disc towel so you can wipe your disc down before each shot, and you might want to tape your fingers up to avoid the dreaded ‘Frisbee finger’. So James seemed chuffed to bits that we (ok, mainly me, not Claz) were so excited about our virgin round on his course. After some technique tips for Claz we set off.
Long story short, this game is well harder than it looks, but brilliant fun, hilarious and frustrating in equal measures, and well addictive! This course was a par 56. We’ve had two rounds in the last two days and are both improving. First round: me, 23 over with 79; Claz, 71(!) over with 127. Second round: me, 13 over with 69; Claz, 53 over with 109. It’s harder for chicks – birds just can’t throw Frisbees. I reckon it’s an evolutionary thing….
I also got myself up early this morning to squeeze one last round in before we had to check out and move on. Claz stayed tucked up warm in bed, so with my iPod on I managed a 65 – 9 over. Well chuffed with that. Both my putting and driving was much improved! Still, it should have been a 61 (completely went to pieces on the 6th), but that’s the way golf goes I guess….
As soon as I get back to the UK I’ll be checking out the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) website, as apparently there are courses all over the world. James, there could be a new course in Croydon. I’m coming down for a game with you, geezer…! Perhaps we should try and get one set up in Yorkshire too?!
http://www.pdga.com/
15/8 Ian – Kiwi snow rant
I’ve been holding back on this post for a while, but it seems like our boarding is done for the trip now, as we’re heading out of the mountains tomorrow towards Fiordland in the deep south west. And also, well, frankly we’ve given up with the snow conditions, because they’re just a pile of pap.
It’s hilarious really. At least you’ve got to laugh, or you’d cry in frustration. I don’t think any Kiwi readers are going to like hearing this, but in our experience the generally available boarding, by which I mean the commercial snow fields that we’ve tried, have been consistently shite. Now there are some good things. A pie will cost you about £2 for lunch, instead of about £9 in France, but that doesn’t make up for the small, tracked-out resorts with tiny vertical from top to bottom and a maximum of three chairlifts, the £40ish per day lift costs, the wet, heavy snow/hard pack ice (take your pick, you can have an and/or option here, but little else), a fair chance that you’ll be boarding in rain and/or driving wind, and the snow chains required for the terrifying access tracks. We’ve tried Mount Hutt, Ohau, Treble Cone and Cardrona, and have kind of given up on The Remarkables and Coronet Peak.
Essentially, it’s like boarding in Scotland, when Scotland got snow. But that’s not the best bit - add a huge helping of Kiwi optimism and positivity (like wow, the conditions up there today were just awesome….) and now we’re really getting somewhere. Here’s an example. Reality: there are hundreds of people riding in a warm, tracked-out resort that hasn’t had any good quality fresh snow for at least two weeks, and it’s the weekend. Do we head up? Let’s check the Kiwi snow report before we make the decision: It’s another day of great conditions up here at the Peak. We’ve groomed all that powder into perfect, world class pistes for your riding pleasure. Off piste it will be crusty during the morning until the afternoon sun softens everything. We’re above the clouds in the valley. Come on up…!
I don’t know. Maybe I’m a snow snob after a run of great holidays in the French Alps. Maybe I’ve come to expect more than two minutes boarding from the top of a mountain to the snow line. Any resort in the world would be great with no crowds and cold, fresh powder I guess, and maybe we’re just passing through the mountains during a bad spell. I just want someone to be honest about it here though! It’s crappola at the moment! If you had the funds to heli-board, or the skills to operate the legendary nutcracker drag lifts on the empty club fields (dubbed ‘poor man’s heli-boarding’) then things might be different. But given that I’m very unlikely to ever experience either, our summer boarding here is done.
2/8 Ian - Sydney: foodie heaven!
- The best fish and chips ever tasted.
- The best thai fusion ever tasted.
- The best thai take-away ever tasted.
- Khao soi, a really specific regional noodle dish that Claz and I fell in love with on our honeymoon in
- Amazing coffee (although try ordering a big white ‘filter’ coffee – doesn’t seem to exist?!)
- Amazing ice cream
- Amazing fruit breads - like pear and raspberry for starters!
Get the picture....?!
1/8 Ian - Singapore: What if...?
As a consequence I’d been sulking about
So I have one thing to discuss. And what I want to consider is this: what if you’ve had the best, well, whatever, already, and you know that you’ll never beat it again? Do you stop searching? Do you struggle on optimistically, nurturing some tiny hope that you might? Do you accept that it’s just never going to be that good again? If you’ve been lucky enough to take curry in the Tiffin Room at
Raffles itself is big, airy and colonial. Crisp white elegance everywhere – walls, ceilings, marble floors, impeccably pressed tablecloths, waiter’s suits. Classic cocktails at the lounge bar with olives, with a pianist playing standards on the grand nearby, leaping into comedy interaction with the smartly dressed clientele given the slightest opportunity. I reckon he would have segued effortlessly into Professor Longhair’s Big Chief if I’d asked, but I didn’t have the courage. The bloke charging through a bottle of Krug all by himself next to us at the bar seemed happy with the standards in any case, and we had the poshest all you can eat curry buffet you have ever seen to get into.
Now one good thing I will say about
So take a look at these pictures. We’re talking soup, pops and pickles, cold starter, hot starter, mains and deserts. Plural in all cases. And everything was just absolutely delicious. The trick with buffets like this is to pace yourself. Pile your plate high in one go and you’ve blown it – your eyes have got the better of your belly. It might taste good for 20 minutes, but you’ll be too full to continue. Take it real steady – aim for at least two hours to work your way leisurely through everything. Perfect.
But what if you’ve then had the best curry you will ever have? Full stop? Done? It’s a bittersweet feeling, sure enough….
Saturday 15 August 2009
13/8 Claire – Boarding and the Burton 09 Open Competition
We were contemplating giving the boarding a miss today because the conditions are a bit harsh and it’s been either icy or raining or both. You can walk to the half pipe from the main resort area so a lift pass isn’t required and as there is a snowboarding competition on this week we thought it would be worth a look. It’s halfpipe qualifiers so we drove up there to watch the pro boarders. Turns out the resort was above the cloud line and the sun was shining!!
I have never seen boarding like this other than on DVD. We saw many of the pro boarders in the noodle bar restaurant at lunchtime and I swear to God they look about 12. This wasn’t helped by my overhearing a conversation between a couple of them at lunchtime “…yeah, I finished school this year”. I am so old :o(
I have never seen boarding like this other than on DVD. We saw many of the pro boarders in the noodle bar restaurant at lunchtime and I swear to God they look about 12. This wasn’t helped by my overhearing a conversation between a couple of them at lunchtime “…yeah, I finished school this year”. I am so old :o(
14/8 Claire - Arrrggghhhh
I am a little behind on my photo updates but I had to get this one on from yesterday.
Jumped out of a perfectly good plane at 15000ft. 60 seconds of freefall and about 5mins with the parachute.
Dunno who the guy is in the background ;o)
Jumped out of a perfectly good plane at 15000ft. 60 seconds of freefall and about 5mins with the parachute.
Dunno who the guy is in the background ;o)
Friday 14 August 2009
12/8 Claire - Puzzling World
It’s raining. Had a day of organising, planning and booking today but since it was raining we headed off to Puzzling World. Recommended by so many but I was sure this was going to be my own personal hell… but it was great (Sazzle you were right). Half of the place was based around optical illusions and the other half a maze that took us a good hour to get around and back out of ;o)
13/8 Claire - Merino
This is where your Icebreaker comes from. Every field over here is full of Merino sheep. They taste great too!
Wednesday 12 August 2009
11/8 Claire – Leaving Mount Cook
Had another days boarding today at Mount Ohau, I say a day but to be fair I cried off for coffee after 4 runs due to leg cramp. To make me feel better about the day we headed off to a hot spa. Now, this is NOTHING like we have back home. You walk in, pay your 60 bucks for the two of you and they lead you outside to a totally sectioned off area where there is a a shower/changing room on one side, a lake on the other side and in the middle a cedar wood hot tub heated by a log burning stove. They supply you with towels and a flask of drinking water so you don’t need anything. In fact the owner looked at us like we were crazy when we mentioned swimming costumes, “why would you?” she said. So you are basically left for an hour and a half to soak away aching muscles with instructions on how to stoke the fire.
11/8 Claire – Leaving Mount Cook
Today we are driving to an alternative mount for some snowboarding. We have driven away from Mount Cook this morning but I did get these shots of sunrise before we left. It is really this beautiful here.
10/8 Claire - Mount Cook
After breakfast at the lake front this morning we travelled to Mount Cook half expecting it to be exactly the same problems getting accommodation but at least this time we would be during the day and could make a decision to move on to a major town. The drive to Mount Cook is breathtaking, it’s past Lake Pukaki with snow peaked mountains on each side of the road. When you reach the Mount Cook village you literally just look up all around you and you are surrounded by these beautiful and absolutely enormous mountains. We easy got a room here and this is the view from our window! Nice eh!
Had a nice leisurely day walking today. We went to see the Tasman Glacier and took a very old walk to a Mount Cook viewing point. In NZ they create footpaths for hiking which they call tramping. We then went out for tea at the Old Mountaineers for a really good and really big roast dinner. Since I had a lamb dinner pizza last night I chose chicken this evening. It's all good.
Had a nice leisurely day walking today. We went to see the Tasman Glacier and took a very old walk to a Mount Cook viewing point. In NZ they create footpaths for hiking which they call tramping. We then went out for tea at the Old Mountaineers for a really good and really big roast dinner. Since I had a lamb dinner pizza last night I chose chicken this evening. It's all good.
8/8 Claire – Lake Takepo
The idea this evening though was to drive through to Lake Tekapo, stay over near the lake and get up early for sunrise for a photo opportunity. We got there about 8pm and drove around every B&B, motel and campsite but for some inexplicable reason Tekapo on this particular Saturday evening was heaving. By 9pm we had had to make a decision to use “Khan” to its full potential. But first we needed to fuel up ourselves in case it did become really cold. The local Italian restaurant looked full and lively so we headed that way. Let me tell you about the pizza I had. Stone baked, thin crust, cheese, peppers, onions, potatoes (?), LAMB (??) and MINT SAUCE (???). A lamb dinner… on a pizza.
Our tummies full of Pizza, a quiet spot and a cup of Ovaltine we settled down for the evening. It’s all an adventure ;o)
Our tummies full of Pizza, a quiet spot and a cup of Ovaltine we settled down for the evening. It’s all an adventure ;o)
8/8 Claire – Mount Hut
Loads of people we have spoken to have recommended Mount Hut as a good place to stop for a day on the slopes.
Once I got over the mountain road drive in, which is basically a few thousand cars, campers and buses driving 15k up a mountain track at 40kpm (don’t look down) we were ready for our first day boarding.
It was all against me today and those of you who have boarded with me in the past will understand this and where I am coming from…. So:
• I am on a mountain ski resort which has only 3 chair lifts so it’s really small
• It hasn’t snowed for 2 weeks so it’s really icy
• It’s Saturday and it’s the sort of spot that is mainly locals so all of the really good boarders are out which means they fly past you much closer than you are comfortable but cos its icy you here them coming before you see them
• I’m in my lightweight waterproof clothes than I bought for multipurpose use whilst we were away but as the trousers don’t fasten around my boarding boots I look a little (a lot) like a skier. Sorry to any skiers out there but any boarder reading this would understand.
• I have a hire board
• Worse than that I have ill fitting hire boots (and I always have problems with my own boots never mind boots that have been moulded to not fit a thousand other feet before mine)
• I have basic ratchet bindings
• I couldn’t stop for a vin chaud if it all got too much as it’s a drive in resort so we can’t have a drink
Like I say, it was all against me...
Surprisingly it was a really good day and I boarded for about 4hours which is 2hours more than I sometimes board in France when the bar is calling me at lunchtime ;o)
Once I got over the mountain road drive in, which is basically a few thousand cars, campers and buses driving 15k up a mountain track at 40kpm (don’t look down) we were ready for our first day boarding.
It was all against me today and those of you who have boarded with me in the past will understand this and where I am coming from…. So:
• I am on a mountain ski resort which has only 3 chair lifts so it’s really small
• It hasn’t snowed for 2 weeks so it’s really icy
• It’s Saturday and it’s the sort of spot that is mainly locals so all of the really good boarders are out which means they fly past you much closer than you are comfortable but cos its icy you here them coming before you see them
• I’m in my lightweight waterproof clothes than I bought for multipurpose use whilst we were away but as the trousers don’t fasten around my boarding boots I look a little (a lot) like a skier. Sorry to any skiers out there but any boarder reading this would understand.
• I have a hire board
• Worse than that I have ill fitting hire boots (and I always have problems with my own boots never mind boots that have been moulded to not fit a thousand other feet before mine)
• I have basic ratchet bindings
• I couldn’t stop for a vin chaud if it all got too much as it’s a drive in resort so we can’t have a drink
Like I say, it was all against me...
Surprisingly it was a really good day and I boarded for about 4hours which is 2hours more than I sometimes board in France when the bar is calling me at lunchtime ;o)
7/8 Claire – New Zealand
We arrived in NZ late last night and just took a taxi to the hotel. Hotel So is modern hotel and a really simple concept of being able to make it inexpensive through things like not offering room service, concierge or luggage services… and as it also turns out bedroom space. They have made these tiny bedrooms into everything that you need but with a very clever use of space. The bed was also a settee i.e. it had a back rest against one wall. The bed was attached to three of the bedroom walls and raised like a bunk bed, storage was underneath. The plasma TV was on one of the bed cubby walls. It was one step away from a Japanese capsule hotel!
Today has been a day of organising ourselves. We have picked up the camper. It’s not an easycamper as the branding might at first sight lead you to believe but a space ship. Now, luxury camper van this is not but to be fair this is reflected in the price we paid which was equivalent to car hire. So, when you pay for a car but ask for a camper you get a car with a bed in the back. It’s really cool actually. The back seats have been ripped out and a two seat left in that can be twizled around to make space. It has a bed area that also lifts to store all of your luggage underneath. It also has a stove and gas canister that can be pulled out of the sliding side door so you can make a brew. And… a DVD player. Not sure how cold it is going to be but it’s a smart back up plan in case we get to a really beautiful area that we want to stay in and don’t want to drive out again to a nearby town.
We’ve also sorted out our snowboard hire in Christchurch as it’s really cheap so rather than hire by the day and pay mountain prices we’ve got it all sorted here and hired for the full two weeks. Lastly, got our snow chains sorted and time to leave Christchurch which so far looks like one long industrial estate.
Today has been a day of organising ourselves. We have picked up the camper. It’s not an easycamper as the branding might at first sight lead you to believe but a space ship. Now, luxury camper van this is not but to be fair this is reflected in the price we paid which was equivalent to car hire. So, when you pay for a car but ask for a camper you get a car with a bed in the back. It’s really cool actually. The back seats have been ripped out and a two seat left in that can be twizled around to make space. It has a bed area that also lifts to store all of your luggage underneath. It also has a stove and gas canister that can be pulled out of the sliding side door so you can make a brew. And… a DVD player. Not sure how cold it is going to be but it’s a smart back up plan in case we get to a really beautiful area that we want to stay in and don’t want to drive out again to a nearby town.
We’ve also sorted out our snowboard hire in Christchurch as it’s really cheap so rather than hire by the day and pay mountain prices we’ve got it all sorted here and hired for the full two weeks. Lastly, got our snow chains sorted and time to leave Christchurch which so far looks like one long industrial estate.
Monday 10 August 2009
7/8 Claire - New Zealand
We're here fine and all has been a little quiet on the blogging front due to us having very little internet access on our roadtrip. I have added some pics to flickr but will update the blog again this evening
Thursday 6 August 2009
4/8 Claire – Cafe Sydney
We met Chris and Meera at Café Sydney this evening as a thank you for their hospitality and to celebrate their recent engagement. We ordered cocktails except Ian and I had to change when his arrived in a delicate champagne flute and it was very pink… why the pink mojito was a more manly choice I am not too sure but we swapped anyway !?! This place is on the 5th floor of the old Customs House and looks right over the harbour bridge so on the evening with the bridge lit up and the city lights on the view was amazing. I love the way you can go into a swanky restaurant over here yet the service in not at all pompous or snobby, the guys waiting the tables were relaxed and funny. It was a really, really nice place and I loved it.
4/8 Claire - Sydney aquarium
We went to the Sydney aquarium today which was huge. It’s hard to take good pictures through glass. I was going to leave a few pics up and let you think I had improved my underwater photography skills but figured you might have sussed me out ;o)
Will get the rest of the pics up on Flickr soon. We haave been so busy the last few days we've had no downtime to blog and get the pics ready to upload
Will get the rest of the pics up on Flickr soon. We haave been so busy the last few days we've had no downtime to blog and get the pics ready to upload
4/8 Claire – Sydney City
There is a ferry that runs from Manly to Syndey city harbour. It takes about half an hour and passes right past the Syndey Opera house on the way towards the harbour bridge and Circular Quay. The Opera house is every bit as impressive as you think it is going to be, at night even more so. We took the ferry to Circular Quay and hopped on another ferry to Darling Harbour. The ferries are link buses or trams in other cities and stop off at a few different places on their route, it was a great way to have a look around.
3/8 Claire - Manly scenic walk
Chris was at work today so Meera, Ian and I completed a 10k walk called the Manly Scenic Walk which takes in all of the gorgeous little beaches around this area. The whole place is really gorgeous. The walk takes you around loads of lovely small beaches so we walked for about 4 hours stopping for numerous breaks and lunches. The Australian magpies are kinda cheeky and this one tried to nick our sandwiches!
Wednesday 5 August 2009
2/8 Claire – Whale watching
Chris and Meera took us whale watching this afternoon. I was expecting a sedate boat trip out of the harbour for a couple of kilometres and we were told that there is no guarantee of seeing whales when we were out. This boat wasn’t the sedate and gentle ride that I was expecting. There are three rows of seats that you have to straddle with bar handles in front of each person to hold on. Chris pointed out a sign in front of the wheel which stated a warning “caution, this vessel is frequently airborne” or words to that effect. The boat started, we were told to hold tight and he sped up… not once, or twice but three times until we must have been doing about 60miles an hour and as soon as you hit a wave or wake from another boat then this is when you leave the water. The boat is designed to do this and although it didn’t happen to us much it was brilliant. I think I enjoyed this nearly as much as watching the whales. So much so I am going to hunt down some extreme jet boats in NZ when we get there.
It didn’t take long to spot the whales about 5 mins and they take you towards them, turn off the engine and wait for them to pop back up again. The boat rocking and the whales coming up for just a few seconds means it’s quite hard to get a steady or decent shot so I was a bit gutted a didn’t get a better photo but I’m quite pleased with ones I did get. We probably saw eight whales at different points throughout the trip of about 45mins so we did well. It was a really brilliant experience and the boat literally leaves from about 100metres away from Chris and Meera’s front door.
It didn’t take long to spot the whales about 5 mins and they take you towards them, turn off the engine and wait for them to pop back up again. The boat rocking and the whales coming up for just a few seconds means it’s quite hard to get a steady or decent shot so I was a bit gutted a didn’t get a better photo but I’m quite pleased with ones I did get. We probably saw eight whales at different points throughout the trip of about 45mins so we did well. It was a really brilliant experience and the boat literally leaves from about 100metres away from Chris and Meera’s front door.
2/8 Claire – Arriving in Sydney
We arrived in Sydney Sunday morning at some ungodly hour so we are very greatful to Chris for getting up at 5.30 on a Sunday morning to pick us up.
Manly is an area of Sydney that Chris and Meera live, I can’t tell how beautiful a place this is. The picture attached is the view from the spare bedroom at sunset, you get a equally lovely view from the loo or in the shower. In fact there is a view of the harbour from every room in their lovely flat.
It’s fab weather here too. Warm but not too hot, or humid, as it has been for the last few weeks… I never thought I would ever say it’s nice to be out of the hot weather. To be fair though Sydney winter is not at all like winter at home, it’s more like our summer or at least it has been that last few days. In fact it’s been so nice here that it’s prob better than the weather forecast for home looks like at the moment (sorry about that, had to get it in)
Manly is an area of Sydney that Chris and Meera live, I can’t tell how beautiful a place this is. The picture attached is the view from the spare bedroom at sunset, you get a equally lovely view from the loo or in the shower. In fact there is a view of the harbour from every room in their lovely flat.
It’s fab weather here too. Warm but not too hot, or humid, as it has been for the last few weeks… I never thought I would ever say it’s nice to be out of the hot weather. To be fair though Sydney winter is not at all like winter at home, it’s more like our summer or at least it has been that last few days. In fact it’s been so nice here that it’s prob better than the weather forecast for home looks like at the moment (sorry about that, had to get it in)
31/8 Claire - Raffles
Ian is supposed to add something in here about Raffles but he’s been a bit tardy. We went for a curry in the Tiffin Room – have decided that Singapore Slings are a little too sweet for me so we had to order champagne to accompany our meal (I am on holiday). It was brilliant. Ian can fill in the details when he starts blogging again!
Sunday 2 August 2009
30/8 Claire - Singapore
So we have just arrived in Singapore for a couple of days on route to Sydney. I have NEVER been on such as massive aeroplane. We were on the upper deck. I tell you… a double decker plane… on the upper deck!!
Straight out for tea in Little India… we seemed to wander through off the tourist track a little and ended up in a restaurant where the food was great and the beer was imported directly from India called Haywards 5000. The owner guy said that this was the best beer in India and although every gets excited about Cobra he thought Haywards was by far the best. After a very large bottle of 7% Haywards Ian thought so too.
Straight out for tea in Little India… we seemed to wander through off the tourist track a little and ended up in a restaurant where the food was great and the beer was imported directly from India called Haywards 5000. The owner guy said that this was the best beer in India and although every gets excited about Cobra he thought Haywards was by far the best. After a very large bottle of 7% Haywards Ian thought so too.
Saturday 1 August 2009
29/7 Claire - Back in Tokyo
We got the train back to Tokyo later the same day as climbing Fuji. We stayed in Shinjuku which is a brilliant part of the City, the rough guide describes this as Tokyo on steroids. Tokyo is certainly one of my favourite places in Japan, and definitely the best city we have been in. Getting back there was very energising... or maybe it was just because it was warm ;o)
29/9 Claire – Mount Fuji
So… Mount Fuji… Let me tell you about Mount Fuji. Ian can give you his take on this later. I have yet to see the famous view of Fuji that you see in the pictures, it eluded us right up to the point of being stood on it due to fog and mist, and then of course being stood on it means you can’t actually see it.
We took a bus to the 5th Station which is 2400ft and then walked to the low 7th station at 2770ft. It was dry, warmish and had stopped raining. It didn’t take long (just over an hour) and the plan was to stay in a mountain hut that evening and set off for the summit at 1am so that we were there for the sunrise which is amazing colours of purples and reds, a great photo opportunity. Sunrise is just after 4.30 so the 3.5hr hike up would need to start in the middle of the night.
These mountain huts, as you walk up to them, are huge buildings. Not huts in my eyes, not until they take you to your bed anyhow. We paid 6000yen each for a bed and dinner that evening. As you can see from the picture the description “hut” starts to become apparent. This accommodation was like nothing I have EVER stayed in before (or likely to again). They were like boxes with no front to them, only curtains, all about 6ft x 6ft x 6ft… made of wood… and all next to each other, two floors of them. I felt like I was going to be pushed in, the box sealed up and shipped back to the UK.
So after dinner of rice and curry sauce (!) at 6pm there was nothing to do but climb into our box, into the slightly cold, slightly damp duvet and get some sleep. If you can imagine something like a garden fence between you and the next group you can now imagine how much sleep we got when some one in another box started snoring like a pneumatic drill.
1am arrived and all I could hear was torrential rain on the roof. Of course it always sounds worse than it is… no that’s an inaccuracy, the sound could not have prepared me for the amount of water that was falling from the sky. I have never been so covered head to toe in waterproof gore-tex yet never been so cold and wet. I had water squelching through my toes. My waterproof gloves were so wet they poured out water when I clenched my fists. And… it was pitch black.
Half way up we met a crazy Chinese guy called Mai, he was climbing in fashion trainers, his normal clothes and clear plastic waterproof jacket and trousers, the sort you might buy at a theme park before getting on a log flume, and no gloves. His mate had given up but he clearly had summit fever and joined us for the rest of the climb.
When you get to the crater, which is 3740ft, the actual summit or highest point is around the other side of the crater so you have to walk another 20mins around the bloody thing to say you’ve actually reached the top. When we got to the top station where the crater is we were so cold we were starting to shiver. It was clear that we had not climbed above the cloud and rain (the thought of which had kept me going for the last 3 hours) therefore there’d be no bloody sunrise for us to see. It was so wet that we couldn’t have got the camera out to take a shot to prove we’d got there. Sunrise wouldn’t have been for another 30mins as we’d made good time but we did the sensible thing and decided to get down.
So… Mount Fuji… I can say I have climbed Mount Fuji, but I haven’t seen it… I did reach the crater but I didn’t see that…. We got up there before sunrise but didn’t see that either. I did, however, sleep in a box and nearly got hypothermia…
We took a bus to the 5th Station which is 2400ft and then walked to the low 7th station at 2770ft. It was dry, warmish and had stopped raining. It didn’t take long (just over an hour) and the plan was to stay in a mountain hut that evening and set off for the summit at 1am so that we were there for the sunrise which is amazing colours of purples and reds, a great photo opportunity. Sunrise is just after 4.30 so the 3.5hr hike up would need to start in the middle of the night.
These mountain huts, as you walk up to them, are huge buildings. Not huts in my eyes, not until they take you to your bed anyhow. We paid 6000yen each for a bed and dinner that evening. As you can see from the picture the description “hut” starts to become apparent. This accommodation was like nothing I have EVER stayed in before (or likely to again). They were like boxes with no front to them, only curtains, all about 6ft x 6ft x 6ft… made of wood… and all next to each other, two floors of them. I felt like I was going to be pushed in, the box sealed up and shipped back to the UK.
So after dinner of rice and curry sauce (!) at 6pm there was nothing to do but climb into our box, into the slightly cold, slightly damp duvet and get some sleep. If you can imagine something like a garden fence between you and the next group you can now imagine how much sleep we got when some one in another box started snoring like a pneumatic drill.
1am arrived and all I could hear was torrential rain on the roof. Of course it always sounds worse than it is… no that’s an inaccuracy, the sound could not have prepared me for the amount of water that was falling from the sky. I have never been so covered head to toe in waterproof gore-tex yet never been so cold and wet. I had water squelching through my toes. My waterproof gloves were so wet they poured out water when I clenched my fists. And… it was pitch black.
Half way up we met a crazy Chinese guy called Mai, he was climbing in fashion trainers, his normal clothes and clear plastic waterproof jacket and trousers, the sort you might buy at a theme park before getting on a log flume, and no gloves. His mate had given up but he clearly had summit fever and joined us for the rest of the climb.
When you get to the crater, which is 3740ft, the actual summit or highest point is around the other side of the crater so you have to walk another 20mins around the bloody thing to say you’ve actually reached the top. When we got to the top station where the crater is we were so cold we were starting to shiver. It was clear that we had not climbed above the cloud and rain (the thought of which had kept me going for the last 3 hours) therefore there’d be no bloody sunrise for us to see. It was so wet that we couldn’t have got the camera out to take a shot to prove we’d got there. Sunrise wouldn’t have been for another 30mins as we’d made good time but we did the sensible thing and decided to get down.
So… Mount Fuji… I can say I have climbed Mount Fuji, but I haven’t seen it… I did reach the crater but I didn’t see that…. We got up there before sunrise but didn’t see that either. I did, however, sleep in a box and nearly got hypothermia…
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