As the weekend slowly crept past we found ourselves waking up at 6:45 AM to get ready for our diving adventure. It took about 15-20 minutes before we could muster up the courage to creep out of our tent into the cold, wet day. We didn't have enough time left to eat proper breakfast so we threw a box of nut bars in our bag along with the other stuff we though we might need (Towel, swimming trunks, harpoon), brushed our teeth and raced off to the start of the campsite to wait for the bus, which came 1 minute later. The bus driver (it was actually more a van I guess) seemed like a nice guy and he told us loads of stuff about kiwifruit, the local strip of beach that they plan on putting 300 houses on (which the locals don't agree with), manuka honey and all sorts of stories about his sons. When we got to the dive center at Tutukaka (it was called Dive!Tutukaka surprisingly) we were quickly herded into a nearby building they used for class, along with another (German again) girl, who was around 27, called Julia. After a short introduction she said that the medical statements we needed for the course were planned for later that morning. We then got to the point of payment, and because we only knew an approximate price for the course and there weren't any ATMs in the neighbourhood I was slightly nervous about whether we brought enough money or not. It turned out the course was quite a bit more expensive than we thought and I in fact did not bring enough money with me and Jasper only had just enough.
After stressing out a bit we found that we had just enough money (with about 5 dollars to spare) in our grocery wallet (a wallet we used to keep money for groceries), so I just borrowed the money off that and everyone was happy again.
The first day of the course was all theory, mostly pretty basic stuff with regards to buoyancy and air compression and expansion. The first few hours were filled with watching a DVD, answering some question in our book, doing a test and then watching the next DVD etc. We both passed our medical exams fine, though Jasper was told to be careful with his ear, and headed back to our little classroom, where the DVDs and exams were already waiting for us.
By 4:30 PM we were released from our little cell, shipped into the van and back to our tent. Once we were back we hurried to the store to buy more food, cooked it in a hurry and then had to get to our studying, as we had to read and answer questions for two more chapters.
After 2 very tiring hours we headed to our tent and fell asleep.
The next day we woke up at 6:45 AM again, did our usual routine, threw in a whole bread, some jam and a knife. We had the same driver and, unfortunately he had the same stories.
This day we just had to finish up our exams for the last two chapters, drop off the girl for her medical and then head off to a pool for our first diving experience.
The pool was located in the back of a shop for diving gear somewhere in the neighbouring town of Ngunguru. It was bigger than you'd expect and had a shallow ridge where you could get used to all the diving equipment you had on, and beyond there was a deeper part which was about 3m deep. At first we just sat down on our knees in the shallow part and did some exercises like, removing our mask and filling it with air, regulator (the breathing device) recovery etc. Then we headed off to the deeper part, descending along a rope that led to bottom of the pool. Even though it was only a shallow pool, we still had to equalize our ears because the biggest volume change happens in the first 10 meters. Jasper was a bit nervous about this part but it all went fine and pretty soon we were all sitting at the bottom of the pool, ready to do more exercises. At first we just did the first few exercises again, and also did alternate air supply breathing where you had to pick the spare regulator off your buddy's gear and breathe through that. We also practiced perfecting our buoyancy and becoming neutral.
The 4 hours we spent in the pool raced by and before we knew it, it was time to go back to our campsite again.
The next day started the same as the days before, including the stories told by the bus driver, but this time we were going on a boat to the poor knights islands and do our first open water dive. Needless to say we were both pretty excited and a bit nervous as we walked onto the boat that was going to take us there. It was a big boat and there were plenty of other divers coming with us, so the boat ended up being quite full. During the 40 minutes it took to sail to the islands Debbie (our instructor) briefed us on our dives and on the exercises we were going to do there. These were mostly the same as the ones we did in the pool, only this time we'd be at 8m depth and in salt water. The wetsuit we wore was about twice as thick as the one we had on in the pool, we also had socks and a hood on, because the water was about 14 degrees. And because we had a thicker wetsuit we also had more weight on our belts (wetsuits are quite buoyant because of small air bubbles in the fabric). Feeling quite encumbered and a little ridiculous we followed Debbie to the edge of the boat and jumped into the water. The shock of the cold water trickling into my suit stunned me for a split second before I floated to the surface and gave my buddy an okay signal. It took a while before the water in my suit warmed up, but because from the surface I could already see tons of fish swimming below I didn't pay any attention to this. Once we were all in the water we started our descent to 8m, following a line down and equalizing our ears every other second. Once down, Debbie signaled me to sit on a patch of sand close by and it wasn't until I managed to get myself there and on the ground that I noticed all the fish around, circling us with what seemed like a mixture of curiosity and fear.
Once I looked back at the others I saw that Jasper had also successfully made his way down and was having no troubles with his ears, which was a relief. After we did a few of the exercises Debbie swam ahead of us as she showed us around the area a bit. But because I was struggling to get my buoyancy right, I kept falling towards the ground or floating towards the surface, I probably missed out on a few fish but I enjoyed it all the same.
We were the first ones back on the boat so we had plenty of room to clumsily get out of our wetsuits and dry up. After a nice cup of hot chocolate and when all the others were back on the boat we headed for our next dive site. Once we got down into the water I headed down first, as I sat down I saw that Jasper was having some problems with his ears and it took a few minutes before his ears felt good enough to get to the bottom. When he joined us at the bottom it was time to do some more exercises, including Mask Clearing. Unfortunately it seemed that Julia's mask didn't quite fit her anymore as she couldn't get it cleared, after trying for about 5 minutes Debbie took her to the surface and they went to get her a new one. All this time Jasper and me sat on the bottom, by this time getting a bit bored and cold, and we eventually decided to play charades. Though Jasper had some pretty weird clue as to what it was it wasn't hard to guess that the answer was Lord of the Rings when he pointed at his ring finger.
Unfortunately by the time Julia and Debbie were back we lost so much air that we couldn't swim around for all that long. After we got back on the boat we headed back to Tutukaka, wrote a little about the dives in our Diver's Log and hopped into the bus who was waiting to take us back.
That night it seemed that the guys who rented the cabin next to us were having a party and came back at around 3:30AM we noticed this because they were yelling a whole lot and one of them tripped over one of our tent lines. It seemed they also brought along some local girls as they were yelling even louder than the guys, needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night.
The next day we headed out to the same boat, which took us to a different dive site. On the first dive we did a few last exercises and then explored the area. There were extremely gorgeous creatures called nudibranchs (go ahead google 'em) and lots of fish and other aquatic creatures. The dive ended too fast for my liking, but unfortunately we didn't have enough air to continue. We reached a record depth (for us) with 16 meters for 40 minutes. The next dive-site was an archway that was apparently very famous and in the top 10 of Jacques Gusto's dive spots. It was beautiful alright, about halfway through there was a huge school of fish swimming so close together they blocked out most of the light. When we got out of the archway and into a part where the sun could reach again the transition was breathtaking, the view seemed a lot better than it was before and there were fish all over.
When we got out of the water, Debbie congratulated us on becoming open water divers and we all had some hot choco in celebration. Unfortunately we our ride was waiting for us as we came back into the harbour and we couldn't drink a beer with the others, so we said our good-byes and headed back to our tent, where we made celebratory pancakes and had cake for desert.
That night we slept for about 10 hours.
Pictures:
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/lingonlas/NZ%2023%20Oktober/
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Garden of Tranquility
Because the Little Earth Lodge was quite a walk from the nearest store, and there wasn't a bus stop in sight, there was a feeling of calmness in the small valley the building was in. The first night we cooked some eggs, the owners of the Hostel offered these to their guests for free as their chickens laid them, and warmed up some pasta the German guy staying in the same room as us offered us. Afterwards we watched Lord of the Rings, they didn't have cable television and offered a large selection of movies on DVDs instead.
After a good nights sleep (at last) we played around with the dog until Timo (the German guy) was done doing his chores, he worked there for free accommodation, when he was finished we put on our swimming trunks, a shirt, some watershoes and a helmet and headed off to the caves. After a short walk through some fields and over some stiles we got to first cave, but passed it by as it closed to public (apparently it collapsed some years earlier). The second cave was a little off the track and quite well hidden, its entrance consisting of a steep hole in the ground lined with big boulders. After a tricky climb we entered the cave and walked through water that came up to our ankles, the freezing cold took a few minutes to get used to but eventually we didn't feel it anymore (probably because of frostbite). Inside the cave it was pitch dark and when we turned off our headlights the ceiling was covered in glowworms, shining like stars quite closely resembling an evening sky. This cave wasn't too big and before long we reached the back of the cave and had to turn back. The second cave was quite a bit bigger and, unfortunately, there was a lot more water in there, coming up to our knees at the start and gradually getting deeper as we progressed into the cave. Looking around I noticed what seemed to be a side passage going slightly up from the main passage. Even though when I think about it I get claustrophobic even walking through a normal cave I climbed up there and sure enough it was another passage. I walked through it for a short while, being very careful not to bump my head, and not losing the others (Jasper decided to eventually come after me). After a few small turns there was a pretty big hole in the floor leading to a dark chamber filled with god knows how much water. Even though it was possible to walk past it, the prospect of falling in a pitch-black chamber filled with ice cold water didn't appeal to me very much and we headed back. As we walked onwards towards the end of the cave the water rose steadily reaching up to my chest as we got to the very end, it took quite a lot of willpower to force myself through that water but we all made it through. Despite being drenched to the bone in ice cold water the soft weather quickly warmed us up again as we walked back through the hostel.
Once we got back me and Jasper grabbed our cameras and headed back to take some pictures of the second cave, and sure enough as soon we got to the cave it started to rain. Despite the owners saying it wasn't a good idea to head into the caves during rain we decided a few minutes wouldn't hurt. Sadly when we got the part with the glowworms we found that they didn't give off enough light to be captured on camera. When we got out again the rain had increased exponentially and we decided to run back to the hostel before our cameras got wet. The grass and ground turned into a big muddy slip-and-slide before long and we slipped many times, but fortunately always managed to recover our balance just in time. When we reached the hostel Timo and the owners had a bit of a laugh at our misfortune, we laughed with them because we were accustomed to this kind of bad luck.
That night we made rice with baked beans and meatballs (8 small meatballs :( ), but either because we put too much rice in too small a pan, too little water or because they were electric stoves (or a combination of these) the rice didn't exactly turn out the way we hoped and soon we smelled the distinct aroma of burning food. Since this was the only food we had we ate it anyway, it tasted quite nasty and there weren't enough baked beans to cover all the rice but at least we had salt for flavouring this time.
The second day we headed up to the Whangarei falls. After about half an hour we got the entrance of the park they were in and soon after we got the waterfall. According to my Lonely Planet they are "Not the most impressive but certainly the most photographed of NZ", I had to agree with them on it not being very impressive, but couldn't understand why they were so popular. After we sat there in the sun for a while we decided to look for a Campsite that was apparently close to there. When we got out of the park near the falls we ended up at an entirely different place than we thought, and after walking back and forth a bit trying to find out how this happened we just decided to ask. It turned out that we were not even close the Whangarei falls, and the waterfall we'd seen was just a small one that happened to be in the same park, the actual falls were about 45 minutes walking from there.
Once we got to the falls they were a lot bigger than the one we'd seen earlier and I could understand why they were so popular. The campsite was easy to locate as well and it turned out to be deserted except for a few girls who were staying in the dorm (it was more a Holiday park than a campsite). The main reason for moving to this Holiday Park was that it was a pickup point for the van that drove people to the dive center. After asking the Hostel owner about this and some concerns we had with regards to Jasper's weak eardrums he promptly called up the dive center and put us on the line so we could ask them directly. After a short talk they ensured us that Jaspers ears probably wouldn't be a problem and that we could a refund if they were. So we booked our Dive course and headed back to the Little Earth Lodge.
That night we ate more tasteless rice with baked beans and watched another movie. Junko, one of the owners of the LEL, offered to take us to the Holiday Park next day because she had to go to the city anyway. It seems that every time we prepare ourselves to walk for 5km or more with full backpacks someone decides we need a lift and gives us one. So we arrived at the Hostel a lot sooner than planned, but fortunately the reception had opened just a few minutes before and we could book a place for our tent and drop off our bags while we went to the store to pick up food. Our diving course started on Monday (and would take 4 days), and that Saturday and Sunday we didn't do much. They had a trampoline (which we used a lot), a pool (which was 16 degrees but we swam in anyway), and a lounge with a TV (12 channels, but only 3 different ones which were programmed across 3 channels) and a library (which didn't have that many interesting books).
After a good nights sleep (at last) we played around with the dog until Timo (the German guy) was done doing his chores, he worked there for free accommodation, when he was finished we put on our swimming trunks, a shirt, some watershoes and a helmet and headed off to the caves. After a short walk through some fields and over some stiles we got to first cave, but passed it by as it closed to public (apparently it collapsed some years earlier). The second cave was a little off the track and quite well hidden, its entrance consisting of a steep hole in the ground lined with big boulders. After a tricky climb we entered the cave and walked through water that came up to our ankles, the freezing cold took a few minutes to get used to but eventually we didn't feel it anymore (probably because of frostbite). Inside the cave it was pitch dark and when we turned off our headlights the ceiling was covered in glowworms, shining like stars quite closely resembling an evening sky. This cave wasn't too big and before long we reached the back of the cave and had to turn back. The second cave was quite a bit bigger and, unfortunately, there was a lot more water in there, coming up to our knees at the start and gradually getting deeper as we progressed into the cave. Looking around I noticed what seemed to be a side passage going slightly up from the main passage. Even though when I think about it I get claustrophobic even walking through a normal cave I climbed up there and sure enough it was another passage. I walked through it for a short while, being very careful not to bump my head, and not losing the others (Jasper decided to eventually come after me). After a few small turns there was a pretty big hole in the floor leading to a dark chamber filled with god knows how much water. Even though it was possible to walk past it, the prospect of falling in a pitch-black chamber filled with ice cold water didn't appeal to me very much and we headed back. As we walked onwards towards the end of the cave the water rose steadily reaching up to my chest as we got to the very end, it took quite a lot of willpower to force myself through that water but we all made it through. Despite being drenched to the bone in ice cold water the soft weather quickly warmed us up again as we walked back through the hostel.
Once we got back me and Jasper grabbed our cameras and headed back to take some pictures of the second cave, and sure enough as soon we got to the cave it started to rain. Despite the owners saying it wasn't a good idea to head into the caves during rain we decided a few minutes wouldn't hurt. Sadly when we got the part with the glowworms we found that they didn't give off enough light to be captured on camera. When we got out again the rain had increased exponentially and we decided to run back to the hostel before our cameras got wet. The grass and ground turned into a big muddy slip-and-slide before long and we slipped many times, but fortunately always managed to recover our balance just in time. When we reached the hostel Timo and the owners had a bit of a laugh at our misfortune, we laughed with them because we were accustomed to this kind of bad luck.
That night we made rice with baked beans and meatballs (8 small meatballs :( ), but either because we put too much rice in too small a pan, too little water or because they were electric stoves (or a combination of these) the rice didn't exactly turn out the way we hoped and soon we smelled the distinct aroma of burning food. Since this was the only food we had we ate it anyway, it tasted quite nasty and there weren't enough baked beans to cover all the rice but at least we had salt for flavouring this time.
The second day we headed up to the Whangarei falls. After about half an hour we got the entrance of the park they were in and soon after we got the waterfall. According to my Lonely Planet they are "Not the most impressive but certainly the most photographed of NZ", I had to agree with them on it not being very impressive, but couldn't understand why they were so popular. After we sat there in the sun for a while we decided to look for a Campsite that was apparently close to there. When we got out of the park near the falls we ended up at an entirely different place than we thought, and after walking back and forth a bit trying to find out how this happened we just decided to ask. It turned out that we were not even close the Whangarei falls, and the waterfall we'd seen was just a small one that happened to be in the same park, the actual falls were about 45 minutes walking from there.
Once we got to the falls they were a lot bigger than the one we'd seen earlier and I could understand why they were so popular. The campsite was easy to locate as well and it turned out to be deserted except for a few girls who were staying in the dorm (it was more a Holiday park than a campsite). The main reason for moving to this Holiday Park was that it was a pickup point for the van that drove people to the dive center. After asking the Hostel owner about this and some concerns we had with regards to Jasper's weak eardrums he promptly called up the dive center and put us on the line so we could ask them directly. After a short talk they ensured us that Jaspers ears probably wouldn't be a problem and that we could a refund if they were. So we booked our Dive course and headed back to the Little Earth Lodge.
That night we ate more tasteless rice with baked beans and watched another movie. Junko, one of the owners of the LEL, offered to take us to the Holiday Park next day because she had to go to the city anyway. It seems that every time we prepare ourselves to walk for 5km or more with full backpacks someone decides we need a lift and gives us one. So we arrived at the Hostel a lot sooner than planned, but fortunately the reception had opened just a few minutes before and we could book a place for our tent and drop off our bags while we went to the store to pick up food. Our diving course started on Monday (and would take 4 days), and that Saturday and Sunday we didn't do much. They had a trampoline (which we used a lot), a pool (which was 16 degrees but we swam in anyway), and a lounge with a TV (12 channels, but only 3 different ones which were programmed across 3 channels) and a library (which didn't have that many interesting books).
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Still Alive!
And so the two left Auckland and it's big city people behind, and headed for the quieter Northland. They took their heavy packs and jumped on the bus to the small town of Waipu.
The trip was going to take them about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and despite the driver having parkinsons disease they were quite sure they were going to get there in one piece. The drive took them through the heavily populated outskirts of Auckland into a country riddled with hills and very dense forests. They realised that if this was going to keep up it would be very hard to camp in the wild indeed. But they didn't let such thoughts trouble them and just enjoyed the ride and the amazing views it offered.
After a few stops they made it to Waipu in one piece, the busdriver kicked them out in a small sleepy town and took off again. Standing there collecting their thoughts for a few moments the two looked around to see anything that might appear on their map, but couldn't find anything and eventually they just decided to take the road north. The heavy packs forced them to walk rather slowly and complain about the weight every few moments but soon they found a road name that was also listed on their map, and found they were headed in the right direction and only had 5 km left to walk. After about half an hour when they reached a fork in the road, they were going to take the smaller quieter road, an old farmer hollered at them. They said hi to the old man and waited the five minutes it took the man to walk towards them. The man asked if they were going to the campsite and if so that they still had quite a walk ahead of them, if they took the big road however they might get lucky and catch a ride. The two replied that they intended to walk as a training of sort. After some more small talk the old man said goodbye and bade them to be careful of their belongings (especially when around people who are not the same colour as us). After 10 more minutes jasper accidentally got the two their first ride, he waved at a man pulling out of a driveway and the man asked where the two were headed, he then said he was going past there and that he could give them a ride. Ofcourse the two would be fools to ignore such an offer and gladly took it.
They arrived at an almost deserted campsite with a jolly old site-keeper, they paid for 2 nights and went to find a nice place for their tent. Setting up the tent went remarkebly well (though it wasn't perfect) and they soon had a place to sleep. By then it had become dinner time and the two were hungry, so it was time to test their cooking equipment (3 pans and 1 gas stove). The menu for that night consisted of spaghetti and sauce from the day before. Miraculously they accidentally stumbled upon an old recipe for glue, namely spaghetti and water. Despite some of the spaghetti being glued to the pan, and the box that held their old sauce being slightly leaky, dinner tasted great.
Soon after, they went to bed and tried to sleep. I say tried because neither of them was really used to sleeping on thin foam matts. the following morning they got woken up by the sound of rain against their tent, not wanting to get wet the two stayed in bed a bit longer and dozed off every now and then. Eventually the rain cleared and the weather was great again. After eating their last bread the two headed back to waipu to buy some more. They tried hitchhiking for a few minutes but soon gave up and just walked, it was a lot easier without those heavy packs anyway.
By the time they got back to their tent, 3 hours later, some clouds had gather over them and it soon started to drizzle. After sitting in the tent for a while I decided to get out and explore the area a bit, jasper stayed in the tent. I ran into a couple of hares that lived just outside the campsite and I almost stepped on a pheasant, when I got back jasper was asleep so I walked around some more.
After a while the weather cleared up again and the sun was burning on their skin. Having no sunblock, aftersun or any other materials to fend off the sun, the two decided to sunbathe for a while. By the time the clouds starting getting in front of the sun again it was diner time, they were going to make potatoes, carrots and frankfurters. They boiled the potatoes and carrots in one pan to save some gas, and when they found out the frankfurters only needed to be heated in water it didn't require any second thought to chuck them in there as well. Despite their distinct lack of cooking talent the meal tasted fine.
Afterwards they went for a walk on the beach (it was a nudist beach, but we didn't see any nudists there). It was a moonless night and there was an amazing number of stars in the sky, they got back before it got too dark to see (they forgot to bring a torch).
The next day they packed their tent and stuffed their bags, and with their homemade sign saying "Whangarei" they set out to find a ride. After only 15 minutes a nice guy picked them up and drove them to Whangarei, 30 minutes further north. He dropped them off at the i-Centre at the south end of town, here they called the hostel they had their eyes on, to see if there was any room for that night. They had plenty of room, but they were on the other end of town. When the lady on the phone asked if they knew how to get there and if they came by car she couldn't help but laugh when they said they were on foot, saying "Well, I hope you can get here before dark".
When they went inside the i-Centre for more detailed directions they found that it was a 10-15km walk to there, which was quite a lot more thn the 7km they thought it was.
They decided to take a bus to the centre of town to save them some time and so they could buy some more supplies. Afterwards they set out on their walk, after about 30 minutes they stpped somewhere for a short rest as the bags were getting heavier and heavier by the minute. Soon after they continued they took a road up into the hills, Jasper suggested they hitched a ride (he wasn't too happy with all the walking at all) but because the sidewalke was on the wrong side of the road they had no other choice but to walk. After a while the sidewalk moved to the other side of the road and just as they crossed the road a car pulled out of a driveway, it stopped when it saw the two and asked where they were going. "Abbey caves? (our hostel was next to there) you have quite a walk ahead of you then. . . You know what, I can take you there if you want." It took a moment before the two realised what the man said, and when they did they threw their bags in the truck with joy. The man (and his 6 year old son in the backseat) actually need to go in the other direction, but since the man had done some backpacking himself he knew how heavy the bags were and was glad to help.
Jasper went a bit pale when he saw how much they would have had to walk if the man hadn't offered them a lift, exclaiming "I would have been quite cranky after walking all that!".
When they reached the caves they could offer nothing in return but a big "Thanks!" and a handshake, and they waved goodbye to the man and his son.
They then descended a small mountain road to a small valley which housed the Little Earth Lodge, their hostel, and a building had never looked that good before.
here are some new pictures:
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/lingonlas/NZ%2015%20Oktober/
Jasper will probably post some of his on his blog soon.
(sterrenjap.waarbenjij.nu)
(the keyboard here is annoying to type with, so ingore any missing letters)
The trip was going to take them about 2 hours and 15 minutes, and despite the driver having parkinsons disease they were quite sure they were going to get there in one piece. The drive took them through the heavily populated outskirts of Auckland into a country riddled with hills and very dense forests. They realised that if this was going to keep up it would be very hard to camp in the wild indeed. But they didn't let such thoughts trouble them and just enjoyed the ride and the amazing views it offered.
After a few stops they made it to Waipu in one piece, the busdriver kicked them out in a small sleepy town and took off again. Standing there collecting their thoughts for a few moments the two looked around to see anything that might appear on their map, but couldn't find anything and eventually they just decided to take the road north. The heavy packs forced them to walk rather slowly and complain about the weight every few moments but soon they found a road name that was also listed on their map, and found they were headed in the right direction and only had 5 km left to walk. After about half an hour when they reached a fork in the road, they were going to take the smaller quieter road, an old farmer hollered at them. They said hi to the old man and waited the five minutes it took the man to walk towards them. The man asked if they were going to the campsite and if so that they still had quite a walk ahead of them, if they took the big road however they might get lucky and catch a ride. The two replied that they intended to walk as a training of sort. After some more small talk the old man said goodbye and bade them to be careful of their belongings (especially when around people who are not the same colour as us). After 10 more minutes jasper accidentally got the two their first ride, he waved at a man pulling out of a driveway and the man asked where the two were headed, he then said he was going past there and that he could give them a ride. Ofcourse the two would be fools to ignore such an offer and gladly took it.
They arrived at an almost deserted campsite with a jolly old site-keeper, they paid for 2 nights and went to find a nice place for their tent. Setting up the tent went remarkebly well (though it wasn't perfect) and they soon had a place to sleep. By then it had become dinner time and the two were hungry, so it was time to test their cooking equipment (3 pans and 1 gas stove). The menu for that night consisted of spaghetti and sauce from the day before. Miraculously they accidentally stumbled upon an old recipe for glue, namely spaghetti and water. Despite some of the spaghetti being glued to the pan, and the box that held their old sauce being slightly leaky, dinner tasted great.
Soon after, they went to bed and tried to sleep. I say tried because neither of them was really used to sleeping on thin foam matts. the following morning they got woken up by the sound of rain against their tent, not wanting to get wet the two stayed in bed a bit longer and dozed off every now and then. Eventually the rain cleared and the weather was great again. After eating their last bread the two headed back to waipu to buy some more. They tried hitchhiking for a few minutes but soon gave up and just walked, it was a lot easier without those heavy packs anyway.
By the time they got back to their tent, 3 hours later, some clouds had gather over them and it soon started to drizzle. After sitting in the tent for a while I decided to get out and explore the area a bit, jasper stayed in the tent. I ran into a couple of hares that lived just outside the campsite and I almost stepped on a pheasant, when I got back jasper was asleep so I walked around some more.
After a while the weather cleared up again and the sun was burning on their skin. Having no sunblock, aftersun or any other materials to fend off the sun, the two decided to sunbathe for a while. By the time the clouds starting getting in front of the sun again it was diner time, they were going to make potatoes, carrots and frankfurters. They boiled the potatoes and carrots in one pan to save some gas, and when they found out the frankfurters only needed to be heated in water it didn't require any second thought to chuck them in there as well. Despite their distinct lack of cooking talent the meal tasted fine.
Afterwards they went for a walk on the beach (it was a nudist beach, but we didn't see any nudists there). It was a moonless night and there was an amazing number of stars in the sky, they got back before it got too dark to see (they forgot to bring a torch).
The next day they packed their tent and stuffed their bags, and with their homemade sign saying "Whangarei" they set out to find a ride. After only 15 minutes a nice guy picked them up and drove them to Whangarei, 30 minutes further north. He dropped them off at the i-Centre at the south end of town, here they called the hostel they had their eyes on, to see if there was any room for that night. They had plenty of room, but they were on the other end of town. When the lady on the phone asked if they knew how to get there and if they came by car she couldn't help but laugh when they said they were on foot, saying "Well, I hope you can get here before dark".
When they went inside the i-Centre for more detailed directions they found that it was a 10-15km walk to there, which was quite a lot more thn the 7km they thought it was.
They decided to take a bus to the centre of town to save them some time and so they could buy some more supplies. Afterwards they set out on their walk, after about 30 minutes they stpped somewhere for a short rest as the bags were getting heavier and heavier by the minute. Soon after they continued they took a road up into the hills, Jasper suggested they hitched a ride (he wasn't too happy with all the walking at all) but because the sidewalke was on the wrong side of the road they had no other choice but to walk. After a while the sidewalk moved to the other side of the road and just as they crossed the road a car pulled out of a driveway, it stopped when it saw the two and asked where they were going. "Abbey caves? (our hostel was next to there) you have quite a walk ahead of you then. . . You know what, I can take you there if you want." It took a moment before the two realised what the man said, and when they did they threw their bags in the truck with joy. The man (and his 6 year old son in the backseat) actually need to go in the other direction, but since the man had done some backpacking himself he knew how heavy the bags were and was glad to help.
Jasper went a bit pale when he saw how much they would have had to walk if the man hadn't offered them a lift, exclaiming "I would have been quite cranky after walking all that!".
When they reached the caves they could offer nothing in return but a big "Thanks!" and a handshake, and they waved goodbye to the man and his son.
They then descended a small mountain road to a small valley which housed the Little Earth Lodge, their hostel, and a building had never looked that good before.
here are some new pictures:
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/lingonlas/NZ%2015%20Oktober/
Jasper will probably post some of his on his blog soon.
(sterrenjap.waarbenjij.nu)
(the keyboard here is annoying to type with, so ingore any missing letters)
Sunday, 11 October 2009
We now walk. . .
Into the Wild.
After gathering their belongings the two check out of their Hostel. Their packs, heavier than they have ever been before, hanging on their backs, trying desperately to bring them to the ground. Shocked by the immense weight the two stumble through the city buying the last couple of supplies, eventually to crash in an internet cafe, exhausted from the short walk.
Their bus leaves in two hours, with a bit of luck it will bring them to waipu from where they will walk 3 miles to a campsite. Here they will rest and acclimatise, hopefully getting used to the weight of their packs and sleeping in a tent.
The plan is to hike from the campsite to either Whangarei, or beyond to the next campsite.
Chances are this will be the last message from me in quite a while.
After gathering their belongings the two check out of their Hostel. Their packs, heavier than they have ever been before, hanging on their backs, trying desperately to bring them to the ground. Shocked by the immense weight the two stumble through the city buying the last couple of supplies, eventually to crash in an internet cafe, exhausted from the short walk.
Their bus leaves in two hours, with a bit of luck it will bring them to waipu from where they will walk 3 miles to a campsite. Here they will rest and acclimatise, hopefully getting used to the weight of their packs and sleeping in a tent.
The plan is to hike from the campsite to either Whangarei, or beyond to the next campsite.
Chances are this will be the last message from me in quite a while.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Untamed Savages
In the drizzling rain two figures walk through the crowd. Foreig as they are, they always seem to walk on the wrong side of the pavement, straight through the crowd of people. Hordes of asian, maori and New Zealand people walk past them with an annoyed look on their face. On they walk, past harbours and past seas. On they walk, through stores and over roads. On they walk, finally to arrive at the local aquarium, where they had sharks and antarctic adventures. Where they have turtles and stingrays. Where they have tropical fish and seahorses. But most importantly, where they have children. Lots and lots of children, swarming around you like a school of fish. The urge to assume the role of shark and consume a few of them was overwhelming, but we already ate half an hour before so we contained it.
Being tired from all the walking and the children, we stopped at McDonalds on the way home to recharge our meat, fat and salt reservoirs.
Also on the way back we stopped by the supermarket and got food for the next two days, hamburgers, carrots and potato for the first and hamburgers (it was a pack of 6), green beans and potatoes for the second. We boiled the carrots and potatoes in one pan and then mashed them into a "mash pot". We didn't have any butter or oil for our hamburgers, but they still turned out decent, especially when you looked at what the rest was making. Compared to all the pasta and tortellini the others were making our meal didn't look too shabby, not too shabby at all.
(It was a bit dry though)
The second day we decided to rest up a bit and buy some camping equipment. We didn't rest much, but we certainly got some equipment.
Because I'd read some mixed opinions about wild camping in NZ, we decided to aks first if it was at all feasible to go hiking into the backcountry and sleep where we want. First we asked someone at the Outdoor supplies store. She said she hadn't really been outside of Auckland much and didn't know, but if we headed out to the other side of town we could ask at the Department of Conservation. Jasper needed a special belt for his walking pants as well though, and for that we had to go to some other store. We found a different Outdoor supplies store just a minute away, they sold a belt for Jasper here. Upon asking them about wildcamping they told us that there were plenty of opportunities to camp in the wild, but that it would be smart to check out the DOC anyway, because they had a map listing all the campings in the area, so that we could stay there should we need to.
After getting the map, we headed back to the first store to get a tent, sleeping mat, cooking supplies and some cutlery. Jasper wanted to test out the tent in the store before buying it, and after staring at the sticks and sails a bit we decided to ask if they maybe had a manual for this particular tent. They didn't, so one of the employees offered to help us set it up. After we tried to get it up a bit we figured it might be best if he went and got some sandbags as substitues for herrings, so we could get the tent upright. All in all I'd say it took us about 30-45 minutes to get that tent set up, but we didn't mind and the guy that helped us didn't seem to mind either. I also wanted to get some rope, but unfortunately they didn't sell it there. The guy that helped us directed us to an army dump store at the other side of town(why is it always on the other side of town?) where they would probably have rope. After walking for about 15 minutes we found the store, where we were promptly asked by a mumbling old man wearing an old navy captains hat if we needed anything (at least I think that's what he asked), we said no and looked around the store for a while. Eventually we got our rope and headed back.
We were pretty tired when we got back to our room and just crashed on our beds and stared at the ceiling for a good half hour. When we finally found the courage to get up we went and cooked our food. Because there weren't enough pans we cooked our potatoes and our green beans in one pan, unfortunately this meant that our potatoes tasted like beans and our beans tasted like potatoes. Fortunately the hamburger still tasted like slightly burned hamburger.
We decided to check out the movie room and watched two movies there. One was "miss pettygrew lives a day" or something like that. It was a moving picture, and that's about all I have to say about that movie. The other was "Bucket List" which was actually pretty good, despite people ramming open the door every 5 minutes to see what movie was playing.
When we headed to bed we found that there was some woman standing outside our window singing horrible old pop songs. Well, I say singing, but maybe screeching is a better word.
She didn't stop till 11:30 pm, according to Reese she was singing for 5 hours straight.
When she finally shut up I fell asleep, and didn't wake up till the next morning.
Despite a decent night's sleep we were both pretty tired and decided to take a rest day (again, but this time for real). We bought some supplies (Baked beans with meat balls in a can, score!) and our bus tickets up till Waipu, from where we will be walking a few miles to uretiti campsite. We're planning on staying there a few days and get used to our tent and sleeping outdoors.
As a final note someone told me that they couldn't figure out how to post a comment because it was in Dutch, hopefully I fixed that now.
Being tired from all the walking and the children, we stopped at McDonalds on the way home to recharge our meat, fat and salt reservoirs.
Also on the way back we stopped by the supermarket and got food for the next two days, hamburgers, carrots and potato for the first and hamburgers (it was a pack of 6), green beans and potatoes for the second. We boiled the carrots and potatoes in one pan and then mashed them into a "mash pot". We didn't have any butter or oil for our hamburgers, but they still turned out decent, especially when you looked at what the rest was making. Compared to all the pasta and tortellini the others were making our meal didn't look too shabby, not too shabby at all.
(It was a bit dry though)
The second day we decided to rest up a bit and buy some camping equipment. We didn't rest much, but we certainly got some equipment.
Because I'd read some mixed opinions about wild camping in NZ, we decided to aks first if it was at all feasible to go hiking into the backcountry and sleep where we want. First we asked someone at the Outdoor supplies store. She said she hadn't really been outside of Auckland much and didn't know, but if we headed out to the other side of town we could ask at the Department of Conservation. Jasper needed a special belt for his walking pants as well though, and for that we had to go to some other store. We found a different Outdoor supplies store just a minute away, they sold a belt for Jasper here. Upon asking them about wildcamping they told us that there were plenty of opportunities to camp in the wild, but that it would be smart to check out the DOC anyway, because they had a map listing all the campings in the area, so that we could stay there should we need to.
After getting the map, we headed back to the first store to get a tent, sleeping mat, cooking supplies and some cutlery. Jasper wanted to test out the tent in the store before buying it, and after staring at the sticks and sails a bit we decided to ask if they maybe had a manual for this particular tent. They didn't, so one of the employees offered to help us set it up. After we tried to get it up a bit we figured it might be best if he went and got some sandbags as substitues for herrings, so we could get the tent upright. All in all I'd say it took us about 30-45 minutes to get that tent set up, but we didn't mind and the guy that helped us didn't seem to mind either. I also wanted to get some rope, but unfortunately they didn't sell it there. The guy that helped us directed us to an army dump store at the other side of town(why is it always on the other side of town?) where they would probably have rope. After walking for about 15 minutes we found the store, where we were promptly asked by a mumbling old man wearing an old navy captains hat if we needed anything (at least I think that's what he asked), we said no and looked around the store for a while. Eventually we got our rope and headed back.
We were pretty tired when we got back to our room and just crashed on our beds and stared at the ceiling for a good half hour. When we finally found the courage to get up we went and cooked our food. Because there weren't enough pans we cooked our potatoes and our green beans in one pan, unfortunately this meant that our potatoes tasted like beans and our beans tasted like potatoes. Fortunately the hamburger still tasted like slightly burned hamburger.
We decided to check out the movie room and watched two movies there. One was "miss pettygrew lives a day" or something like that. It was a moving picture, and that's about all I have to say about that movie. The other was "Bucket List" which was actually pretty good, despite people ramming open the door every 5 minutes to see what movie was playing.
When we headed to bed we found that there was some woman standing outside our window singing horrible old pop songs. Well, I say singing, but maybe screeching is a better word.
She didn't stop till 11:30 pm, according to Reese she was singing for 5 hours straight.
When she finally shut up I fell asleep, and didn't wake up till the next morning.
Despite a decent night's sleep we were both pretty tired and decided to take a rest day (again, but this time for real). We bought some supplies (Baked beans with meat balls in a can, score!) and our bus tickets up till Waipu, from where we will be walking a few miles to uretiti campsite. We're planning on staying there a few days and get used to our tent and sleeping outdoors.
As a final note someone told me that they couldn't figure out how to post a comment because it was in Dutch, hopefully I fixed that now.
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
baby's day out.
Since we went to sleep at about 6:30 pm the night before, we woke up quite early (8:00 AM). Not many people were awake yet, and the other 4 people in our room were still fast asleep. We still had to get ourself something to eat for breakfast but were quite sure the store wasn't open yet, so we had to find some other way to pass the time. This quickly lead us back to our long-time love, the computer. After wandering the internet for a bit, jasper fired up Skype and wouldn't you know it, his brother was on. After saying hi, his mom and dad quickly logged on as well. We talked to them for a short while before our credit ran out.
By this time the stores had opened and we went and got ourselves some bread and nutella for breakfast. During breakfast Jasper had the bright idea to save up some bread and save it for lunch, we were both surprised either of us would actually think of something like.
We decided to head into town and visit some of the parks, as they were pretty close to the city center. The first park was quite small and nothing too special. Next to (and I think also inside) this park was Auckland University. It seems Auckland University is spread pretty much throughout the city as we ran into many buildings that seemed to be part of it.
The 2nd park (Auckland domain) was quite large and had various things to see in it, including: plants, grass and also people. Also inside was Auckland museum, with 3 different sections, Maori stuff, National history and one about the various wars NZ was in. Even though we went into a museum volountarily, we still seemed to be getting those tired legs we always get when visiting museums. We bravely marched on though and managed to see pretty much all there was to see. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to pick up jaspers camera (he forgot to bring it with him), and then to Sky Tower. Sky Tower is basically a big tower in the middle of the city, it had some shops and stuff on the ground floor but our main reason for visiting was the view. You could also do a sort of base jump, but we decided not to waste our money on that. The view was quite nice and we saw some places we could visit some other day (Mt. Eden, One tree hill among others).
Afterwards we went to the store to see if we could get ourselves some food for the night. However the store didn't seem to be selling any meat and hardly any vegetables, so we settled on microwave pasta (it was "The Healthy Choice" though, so it was alright). We decided we were going to find a bigger supermarket tomorrow so that we could actually cook some decent food.
I also tried uploading my pictures, and if I did everything correctly you should be able to see them if you click this link:
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/lingonlas/NZ%207%20Oktober/
By this time the stores had opened and we went and got ourselves some bread and nutella for breakfast. During breakfast Jasper had the bright idea to save up some bread and save it for lunch, we were both surprised either of us would actually think of something like.
We decided to head into town and visit some of the parks, as they were pretty close to the city center. The first park was quite small and nothing too special. Next to (and I think also inside) this park was Auckland University. It seems Auckland University is spread pretty much throughout the city as we ran into many buildings that seemed to be part of it.
The 2nd park (Auckland domain) was quite large and had various things to see in it, including: plants, grass and also people. Also inside was Auckland museum, with 3 different sections, Maori stuff, National history and one about the various wars NZ was in. Even though we went into a museum volountarily, we still seemed to be getting those tired legs we always get when visiting museums. We bravely marched on though and managed to see pretty much all there was to see. Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to pick up jaspers camera (he forgot to bring it with him), and then to Sky Tower. Sky Tower is basically a big tower in the middle of the city, it had some shops and stuff on the ground floor but our main reason for visiting was the view. You could also do a sort of base jump, but we decided not to waste our money on that. The view was quite nice and we saw some places we could visit some other day (Mt. Eden, One tree hill among others).
Afterwards we went to the store to see if we could get ourselves some food for the night. However the store didn't seem to be selling any meat and hardly any vegetables, so we settled on microwave pasta (it was "The Healthy Choice" though, so it was alright). We decided we were going to find a bigger supermarket tomorrow so that we could actually cook some decent food.
I also tried uploading my pictures, and if I did everything correctly you should be able to see them if you click this link:
http://s713.photobucket.com/albums/ww138/lingonlas/NZ%207%20Oktober/
Monday, 5 October 2009
A foul wind rises
As the cab drivers restlessly look out for potential customers, the few passengers left at the airport hurry their way to their next destination. Their palms sweaty and their hearts heavy with an unexplainable feeling of impending doom.
As the arrival gate for flight CX 107 from Hong Kong is announced the wind picks up speed and dark clouds block out the sun.
As the doors of flight CX 107 open, a mass of travellers hurry their way out all with a small hint of hysteria in their eyes. As the dust the mass left behind settles, two figures begin to take form. Their impressive forms accentuated by the impressive gear they wore. From their magnificent boots and (mostly) spotless jeans and vests, to their bags of superiour quality.
As one of the figures began to speak you could feel the atmosphere grow heavier.
And these words they spoke to the mortals close enough to hear them:
"I'm so tired, I bet I'll fall asleep in the buss" and "I want to brush my teeth first, I smell like monkey butt. I wish they didn't take my deodorant at Hong Kong airport, I could really use it right now. . ."
The custom officers were in fact so impressed by these two figures that they wanted to know everything about them and asked them every single question that sprang to their minds.
Feeling flattered by these signs of affection, one of the two decided to pretend he had lost his arrival card. And just as the customs officer wanted to send him back to his colleague, with a hint of glee in his eye, the card was mysteriously found once more and they had to leave the dissappointed oficer behind.
And so began the wondrous journey of Jasper "the giant" Visser and Tim "the bit shorter one" Scheffe.
Later that day they both fell asleep on the bus.
I'll pick off where I last stopped. After we found that internet cafe we decided to slowly head back to the train. Luck would have it that we ran into an arcade hall. For you people that don't know me and Jasper too well, we love to play video games and if we run into an arcade hall we just can't pass it by without playing a few games.
The acrade hall was in the basement of some building but still fairly large. What surprised us the most was the amount of people there, this was on monday at around 1 pm, and the great diversity of the people. There were school kids, older men, guys in black suits we even saw a girl or two (though one of em might have been a guy). At one point we tried some kind of guitar hero rip off, the guitars were pretty beat up and they only had 3 buttons. The game was harder than I expected and definately harder than your standard guitar hero (though this may have to do with the fact that you could only play J-rock songs). We both fumbled around a bit and ended up getting horrible scores. We decided the game was crap and went to the one next to it. A few minutes later some chinese boy picks up the guitar and plays a song at what must have been the hardest stage absolutely flawlessly. Our ego hurt by this humiliation we decided it was a good idea to head towards the station again.
Ofcourse we were completely disorientated and had no idea which way we had to go. We decided to do the smart thing and just head into a direction that seemed like it could be the right one and pray it ends up actually being the right one. After about 15 minutes we still didn't recognise anything and decide to just ask one of the store owners. It seems that if there is even a hint of an r in your question, they don't understand you. leave the word with the R out and they understand you fine i.e. Hong Kong station instead of Hong Kong Central Station.
By the time we got back onto the airport it was 3 pm and we still had 6 hours to kill. By this time we'd both been up for about 24 hours and were really starting to feel the strain. We decided to walk around the stores they had to keep ourselves busy and awake. The stores all sucked and had nothing fun for sale, just your typical airport nonsense. So we just sat at some benches and live in a state of half-sleep. Unfortunately when you're in this state when it seems like 10 minutes have passed in reality it's only been 30 seconds. This made the wait a grueling battle against exhaustion.
We bought some coke to re-hydrate ourselves and fill up on the caffeine a bit (I bought 2 bottles because I was particularly thirsty) 1 bottle and 5 trips to the bathroom later we decided to just go through customs and wait at the gate. Ofcourse we found out just a second too late that you couldn't take any drinks that weren't in bags beyond that point and we couldn't go back (there was some kind of pre-customs we had to go through). So I downed about half the bottle and left it there.
After what seemed like forever we were allowed on the plain, where I promptly fell into a coma, awakening only when there was a hint of food or drink.
the rest of the trip went fine and we ended up in our hostel without any problems. We share a room with 4 others, there are plenty of pcs with internet available and the beds all have blankets.
Nothing exciting will probably happen for the next few days.
As the arrival gate for flight CX 107 from Hong Kong is announced the wind picks up speed and dark clouds block out the sun.
As the doors of flight CX 107 open, a mass of travellers hurry their way out all with a small hint of hysteria in their eyes. As the dust the mass left behind settles, two figures begin to take form. Their impressive forms accentuated by the impressive gear they wore. From their magnificent boots and (mostly) spotless jeans and vests, to their bags of superiour quality.
As one of the figures began to speak you could feel the atmosphere grow heavier.
And these words they spoke to the mortals close enough to hear them:
"I'm so tired, I bet I'll fall asleep in the buss" and "I want to brush my teeth first, I smell like monkey butt. I wish they didn't take my deodorant at Hong Kong airport, I could really use it right now. . ."
The custom officers were in fact so impressed by these two figures that they wanted to know everything about them and asked them every single question that sprang to their minds.
Feeling flattered by these signs of affection, one of the two decided to pretend he had lost his arrival card. And just as the customs officer wanted to send him back to his colleague, with a hint of glee in his eye, the card was mysteriously found once more and they had to leave the dissappointed oficer behind.
And so began the wondrous journey of Jasper "the giant" Visser and Tim "the bit shorter one" Scheffe.
Later that day they both fell asleep on the bus.
I'll pick off where I last stopped. After we found that internet cafe we decided to slowly head back to the train. Luck would have it that we ran into an arcade hall. For you people that don't know me and Jasper too well, we love to play video games and if we run into an arcade hall we just can't pass it by without playing a few games.
The acrade hall was in the basement of some building but still fairly large. What surprised us the most was the amount of people there, this was on monday at around 1 pm, and the great diversity of the people. There were school kids, older men, guys in black suits we even saw a girl or two (though one of em might have been a guy). At one point we tried some kind of guitar hero rip off, the guitars were pretty beat up and they only had 3 buttons. The game was harder than I expected and definately harder than your standard guitar hero (though this may have to do with the fact that you could only play J-rock songs). We both fumbled around a bit and ended up getting horrible scores. We decided the game was crap and went to the one next to it. A few minutes later some chinese boy picks up the guitar and plays a song at what must have been the hardest stage absolutely flawlessly. Our ego hurt by this humiliation we decided it was a good idea to head towards the station again.
Ofcourse we were completely disorientated and had no idea which way we had to go. We decided to do the smart thing and just head into a direction that seemed like it could be the right one and pray it ends up actually being the right one. After about 15 minutes we still didn't recognise anything and decide to just ask one of the store owners. It seems that if there is even a hint of an r in your question, they don't understand you. leave the word with the R out and they understand you fine i.e. Hong Kong station instead of Hong Kong Central Station.
By the time we got back onto the airport it was 3 pm and we still had 6 hours to kill. By this time we'd both been up for about 24 hours and were really starting to feel the strain. We decided to walk around the stores they had to keep ourselves busy and awake. The stores all sucked and had nothing fun for sale, just your typical airport nonsense. So we just sat at some benches and live in a state of half-sleep. Unfortunately when you're in this state when it seems like 10 minutes have passed in reality it's only been 30 seconds. This made the wait a grueling battle against exhaustion.
We bought some coke to re-hydrate ourselves and fill up on the caffeine a bit (I bought 2 bottles because I was particularly thirsty) 1 bottle and 5 trips to the bathroom later we decided to just go through customs and wait at the gate. Ofcourse we found out just a second too late that you couldn't take any drinks that weren't in bags beyond that point and we couldn't go back (there was some kind of pre-customs we had to go through). So I downed about half the bottle and left it there.
After what seemed like forever we were allowed on the plain, where I promptly fell into a coma, awakening only when there was a hint of food or drink.
the rest of the trip went fine and we ended up in our hostel without any problems. We share a room with 4 others, there are plenty of pcs with internet available and the beds all have blankets.
Nothing exciting will probably happen for the next few days.
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Hong Kong!
Amazingly, me and Jasper managed to get into the plane on time, without setting off any alarms! They didn't even have to frisk me this time! We were sitting somwhere towards the back of this huge boeing 747. Jasper was sitting at the aisle (sp?) and I was sitting between him and some other guy. This being Jaspers first flight, he was somewhat disappointed by the small amount of legspace, especially with him being the giant he is. We quickly got over that when we noticed the remote/game pad that was fixed into the seat.
Unfortunately we had to wait until we were actually in the air before we could do anything with them. This, ofcourse, did not stop us from trying every single button on there to get em to work.
Jasper was a bit nervous for take-off, and was slightly worried about wether or not his ears would hurt much (he has quite sensitive ears), but he found the take-off to be enjoyable and his ears didn't hurt at all! Score!
As soon as our monitors sprang to life we went to the games screen to see if there was anything good on there. To our disappointment the only multiplayer game was mahjong, and though we tried it a few times and I read the instructions at least 5 times, we had no idea what was going and gave up. The other games were pretty standard ones, such as arkanoid, pong, tetris only then ripped and renamed.
The movie section was actually quite good, it had some new movies (Transformers 2, the new terminator, and some others I forgot). I ended up watching Moon (which was pretty good) and 2001:A Space odyssee, which I've been planning to see for quite a while and was quite thrilled to see on there. Unfortunately because the airconditioning made an ungodly noise and the sound quality of the movie was shaky at best, I gave up halfway through because I simply couldn't understand what people were saying.
The Tv section was quite well stocked, with some of my favourite shows on there (Simpsons, family guy, scrubs, big bang theory) though strangely no south park.
After about 8 hours I started to feel the strain, though technically it was only 10pm our time, I guess travelling is just a tiring thing to do, even if all you do is sit on your ass and watch movies.
When we arrived at Hong kong, 6 am local time, temperature: 27 degrees celsius, we wandered around the airport aimlessly a bit, before deciding to ask what way we were supposed to go to get into the city. After having to fill out a form about Swine flu and if we felt any of the symptons, we went through customs and got the first stamps on our passport (Yay!).
The train into town was easy to find and very swift. The town is a bit of a mess with highways going straight through the city.
We walked around for a while reversing the roles for a change and us acting like tourists with cameras at the ready to take pictures of anything that moves. All in all, I'd say we took some pretty horrible pictures.
Eventually we got really thirsty and decided to stop at some kind of local fast food chain (the McDonalds that was a few stores away was very tempting though). Since the menu was in chinese I ordered a nr. 3 with a coke purely on the picture that was next to it. I prayed for anything but fish. It was chicken (and quite nice!). We found out both of us were horrible at eating with chopsticks and were unsure if that big spoon we got was supposed to be used for eating the rice with or not. After looking at some of the other people we determined it was.
Afterwards we decided to stroll through town hoping to bump into an internet cafe (expecting them to be plentiful and easily spotted). After an hour walking through the heat we decided to ask some people if they knew were we could find an internet cafe. The woman working at the 7-11 didn't speak english, and the two cops we asked looked at us slightly puzzled. After we asked em again they said they didn' understand what we meant. "An internet cafe." "wha. . .?" "Internet *makes typing motion*" " Aaaah! Intelnet! Go straight and then 2nd on the left, a cafe called MX" After about 20 left turns later we decided to ask again at an english restaurant. This guy fortunately gave clear instructions and told us the cafe was called Mix. Not MX.
So that's where we are now. 10 hours till our plane leaves, we have already run out of stuff to do haha. Oh well, maybe we'll just walk through town a bit more.
Unfortunately we had to wait until we were actually in the air before we could do anything with them. This, ofcourse, did not stop us from trying every single button on there to get em to work.
Jasper was a bit nervous for take-off, and was slightly worried about wether or not his ears would hurt much (he has quite sensitive ears), but he found the take-off to be enjoyable and his ears didn't hurt at all! Score!
As soon as our monitors sprang to life we went to the games screen to see if there was anything good on there. To our disappointment the only multiplayer game was mahjong, and though we tried it a few times and I read the instructions at least 5 times, we had no idea what was going and gave up. The other games were pretty standard ones, such as arkanoid, pong, tetris only then ripped and renamed.
The movie section was actually quite good, it had some new movies (Transformers 2, the new terminator, and some others I forgot). I ended up watching Moon (which was pretty good) and 2001:A Space odyssee, which I've been planning to see for quite a while and was quite thrilled to see on there. Unfortunately because the airconditioning made an ungodly noise and the sound quality of the movie was shaky at best, I gave up halfway through because I simply couldn't understand what people were saying.
The Tv section was quite well stocked, with some of my favourite shows on there (Simpsons, family guy, scrubs, big bang theory) though strangely no south park.
After about 8 hours I started to feel the strain, though technically it was only 10pm our time, I guess travelling is just a tiring thing to do, even if all you do is sit on your ass and watch movies.
When we arrived at Hong kong, 6 am local time, temperature: 27 degrees celsius, we wandered around the airport aimlessly a bit, before deciding to ask what way we were supposed to go to get into the city. After having to fill out a form about Swine flu and if we felt any of the symptons, we went through customs and got the first stamps on our passport (Yay!).
The train into town was easy to find and very swift. The town is a bit of a mess with highways going straight through the city.
We walked around for a while reversing the roles for a change and us acting like tourists with cameras at the ready to take pictures of anything that moves. All in all, I'd say we took some pretty horrible pictures.
Eventually we got really thirsty and decided to stop at some kind of local fast food chain (the McDonalds that was a few stores away was very tempting though). Since the menu was in chinese I ordered a nr. 3 with a coke purely on the picture that was next to it. I prayed for anything but fish. It was chicken (and quite nice!). We found out both of us were horrible at eating with chopsticks and were unsure if that big spoon we got was supposed to be used for eating the rice with or not. After looking at some of the other people we determined it was.
Afterwards we decided to stroll through town hoping to bump into an internet cafe (expecting them to be plentiful and easily spotted). After an hour walking through the heat we decided to ask some people if they knew were we could find an internet cafe. The woman working at the 7-11 didn't speak english, and the two cops we asked looked at us slightly puzzled. After we asked em again they said they didn' understand what we meant. "An internet cafe." "wha. . .?" "Internet *makes typing motion*" " Aaaah! Intelnet! Go straight and then 2nd on the left, a cafe called MX" After about 20 left turns later we decided to ask again at an english restaurant. This guy fortunately gave clear instructions and told us the cafe was called Mix. Not MX.
So that's where we are now. 10 hours till our plane leaves, we have already run out of stuff to do haha. Oh well, maybe we'll just walk through town a bit more.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
It's time to steal away
They have worries, they're counting the miles, they're thinking about where to sleep tonight, how much money for gas, the weather, how they'll get there--and all the time they'll get there anyway, you see.
As I anxiously try to get my final things together and sort out the music I wish to take with me, I send out messages to a few people wishing them good luck and bidding them farewell.
Only 14 more hours until we get on that plane. If all goes to plan that is, because when me and Jasper are together, through no fault of us, strange and inconvenient things seem to happen.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Barring any natural and/or supernatural disasters we will be arriving in Hong Kong somewhere late sunday night Dutch time, where we will hopefully be able to acces some free internet and ease my mothers worries a bit.
We will have about 11 hours to kill in Hong Kong, so any suggestions on how to spend our time are very welcome. Please try not to get us arrested though, thank you.
The weblog by my partner in crime Jasper is: http://sterrenjap.waarbenjij.nu/
it's in Dutch so no foreigners allowed! (well okay, go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you!)
As I anxiously try to get my final things together and sort out the music I wish to take with me, I send out messages to a few people wishing them good luck and bidding them farewell.
Only 14 more hours until we get on that plane. If all goes to plan that is, because when me and Jasper are together, through no fault of us, strange and inconvenient things seem to happen.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Barring any natural and/or supernatural disasters we will be arriving in Hong Kong somewhere late sunday night Dutch time, where we will hopefully be able to acces some free internet and ease my mothers worries a bit.
We will have about 11 hours to kill in Hong Kong, so any suggestions on how to spend our time are very welcome. Please try not to get us arrested though, thank you.
The weblog by my partner in crime Jasper is: http://sterrenjap.waarbenjij.nu/
it's in Dutch so no foreigners allowed! (well okay, go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you!)
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