Ok, enough now!!!

Sydney 14th December 2005

Three out of five days of torrential rain!!! So much so the airport was closed for a day and cars were hit with hail stones. Hail stones??? I have the moodiest shots ever of Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I mean seriously, hail stones??!!! When will it stop? This is just silly now. We're in Oz and it's summer isn't it? New Zealand had one of the wettest Decembers on record and now this. I've decided that Tim is way too smug when he sends group emails home, so all our friends have been doing rain dances around little dolls of us. *unts.

Sydney here we come

After driving for hours in the pouring rain (again) we finally reached Christchurch, dropped the car off and made our way, sopping wet to the airport. Hurrah! We are off to Sydney! Bondi Beach here we come! No more rain coats, no more long sleeves or jeans. From here on its bikini and sarong right the way until we head back to London……

Another Chapter Over - Email from New Zealand

-----Original Message-----
From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk [mailto:danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk]
Sent: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 20:04:49 +1300
Subject: Fush and Chups



Hello again,

Hope the weather isn't too bad at home!

It's our last day in Middle Earth today before we move on to Sydney. We've only had just over three weeks here and it's gone in a flash but we've packed loads in.

For those that have never been here before, it's a little odd coming from South America to Auckland. When you get to the airport you could be forgiven for thinking someone had dropped you off at Heathrow by mistake. It's all so much like home. You can use your bank card anywhere, you are surrounded by familiar logos ...Midland Bank, Boots and there are fish and chip shops all over the place. However the moment you go no more than 2km out of a
town you remember that you are on the other side of the planet.

The countryside is truly spectacular. I never realised there could be so many different shades of green. The birds are the same as in the rest of Polynesia – weird and multi coloured. Even the weeds on the side of the road here are lovely we'd probably pay a fortune for them at home. Just driving around in a car is a treat - a bit dangerous though cause it's hard to keep your eye on the road.

We've been following the Danni (Smith) Wright guide to New Zealand (Thanks Dan - all your suggestions have been fab). Here 's a round up.

(Totally Awesome) Things we haven't done before:
-Raced down 90 mile beach in a huge bus.
-Went sand boarding - if anyone ever tries to tell you this is for boys only, or hard they are lying.
-Went black water rafting in a cave full of glow worms. Cool apart from having to jump backwards in the dark into a racing river and finding out that glow worms are actually maggots and the bit that glows is their pooh. Mouths closed now.
-Warmed our toes over a huge pool of smelly, bubbling mud in Rotorua
-Had a massive Maori feast
-Got a tattoo done by a Maori specialist! (don't tell my mum)
-Managed to get into an album launch in Wellington
-Swam in the ocean over the Kaikoura Canyon with literally hundreds of Dusky dolphins. Wow, cool, awesome as they say here. Amazing - they were inches away from your face.
-Said hello at very close range to three 20 foot sperm whales
-Managed to get Tim to go horse riding in Coromandel - he is still complaining about his nuts
-Had a private spa in the thermal Springs at Hamner Springs and ruined all my silver jewellery
-Went jet-boating in a river canyon. Do this. Do this now. It's amazing.

Things we perhaps shouldn't have done:
-Spent an absolute bloody fortune.
-Ate countless portions of fish and chips
-Ate even more Kiwi breakfasts
-Gave in and weighed myself in one of the hotel bathrooms (ouch)
-Scored some very strong Kiwi weed
-Allowed Tim to get too close to the sheep - he really is starting to worry me- ever since Peru he's had a growing fascination for alpaca and now sheep. If you don't believe me check his photos when we get back.
-Thought it was going to be hot and sunny - Boy does it rain some here!


Being in New Zealand has reminded us that Christmas is around the corner. I Hope that none of you are having to work and that you all have a good one. In case I don't get to email before then Merry Christmas to you all. It's going to be weird not seeing you.

Love and kisses

Dana
xxxx

Cows - treat them mean or they'll literally shit all over you.

Kaikoura dusky dolphin



It was one of those roads that we took to Hamner Springs – our last stop before the airport in Christchurch. The journey down was breath taking. A million different shades of green lined the roads and those fantastic white flowers in all the trees that shimmer like fairy lights in the sun. The roads are quite scary for me because they are all mountainous and really bendy. As most of you know my family and I went off the edge of roads just like this in a car accident, so I’ve always been a bit nervy of them. But the reward for braving them is worth it. Every now and again we’d come across a little waterfall or a view over the sea that we just had to stop the car to gawk at.

The road from Kaikoura to Hamner was a lot more flat, but no less gorgeous. We had a hysterically funny moment where we got stuck behind a herd of cows. The farmer was telling me to drive forward and I dare not for fear of hurting one of the animals. We were stuck there for about half an hour. At one point a huge cow actually sat on the bonnet and started shitting all over the car. It was soooo gross. Tim and I were wiping back tears we were laughing so much. I think the farmer just thought we were a pair of stupid Pom city twats. I laughed so hard that I forgot to pull the camera out, which is a real shame. That would have made a gross, but great picture.

Hamner Springs was a nice little place, although once again I think we were still in South America mode when we were thinking ‘springs’. They are natural springs but when you go there it looks like an outdoor swimming pool. I guess I was thinking rock pools or something similar to Colca Canyon I don’t know. Anyway we had a laugh. We hired a private spa which had a window looking out to about a meter of garden before it hit a wall and a front door that had one way glass that faced the rest of the spa complex. Tim, of course decided he wanted to get frisky. I have to say it was a pretty uncomfortable half hour. I just couldn’t help looking at that door, convinced that every single man, woman and child on the other side could see straight through. Maybe they could and the woman was lying to us. Who knows.

I didn't think it would get any colder than Bolivia until I thought it a good idea to go swimming in the Pacific Ocean one country up from Antartica.

Sperm whales are in the canyon all year round. They also get killer whales sometimes.


A tish u


Nice pad whales






Here is a very moody miserable cold person who doesn't realise she's about to have the experience of a lifetime. I was bloody terrified of the waves and very cold.


The pod is about 200 strong.


These guys were all over the beach in Kaikoura







We're not supposed to be meeting Pete until Thailand.


It was pissing down when we arrived (surprise surprise)


I think this was our warmest day. There's me thinking it was summer time over here. Sure enough we were being told that the weather was unusually cool.



The beach at Kaikoura


Tim says these are cormorants


18th December 2005, Bangkok, Thailand.
I haven’t written in here for ages, so I’ve got a bit of back tracking to do. Back to New Zealand:
It was good to see Paddy and Rhiannan. We had a great night out which involved dissolving most of our budget on alcohol and getting completely wasted. We went to see Ryann Sheenan's album launch for ‘Music for Nature Documentaries.’ They were great. So much so, we’ve bought the album. There’s some fantastic music knocking around this country. We’ve picked up a couple of albums of various people we’d never heard of before including a reggae band called Conscious Roots who are quite good.

We stayed in Paddy and Rhy's fabulous, enormous flat right in the centre of the madness that is Wellington. I can’t remember how much they are paying for it, but it’s nothing compared to London prices. The flat is gigantic. It has a huge reception area with brand new fully fitted kitchen, two huge bedrooms, each with en-suite bathrooms, a balcony and private parking. It just makes you wonder why the hell we are all shedding out so much money on poxy box flats in London with no garden and not even a parking space on the street never mind in a garage. I’m really pleased for them. They’ve got a year to work in NZ – I hope it works out for them. It will be nice to catch up with them once they are home.

We went on to the South Island after that. We didn't get to see as much as we would have liked, but the highlight had to be spotting sperm whales at Kaikoura and snorkelling (in the absolute freezing bloody cold) with literally hundreds of dusky dolphins.

The Kaikoura Canyon is one of the natural wonders of the world. About a km out into sea from the east coast of the island, the seabed suddenly drops by about 1000m leading to a massive canyon which is said to be home to the giant squid.

Spotting the whales was cool but truly unforgettable was swimming in the canyon with a huge pod of dolphins. I have never been so cold in all my life. When I first jumped into the water I decided very quickly that I was going to have to get back out again – I really didn’t think I was going to be able to bare it. It was so cold it was stopping me from breathing - and that was wearing a full wet suit too.

However the minute I saw my first dolphin I completely forgot about the cold. They are amazing. There are so many of them. At one point I had two over my head, one beneath me and one more swimming round in a circle. Tim and I worked out a double act. Apparently they like you to play with them by singing and ducking and diving – otherwise they get bored with you and swim off.

The rule is that we are there to entertain them – not vice versa. So Tim did all the ducking and diving while I swam in a circle and sang as best I could through my snorkel. Most of the time I was just laughing. Just being around them was making me laugh and I couldn’t stop. We soon realised that my laughter was attracting them even more.

I know it sounds cheesy, but it really was one of the best things I have done so far in all my life. Yes, it was organised, but this was no marine park. We were in the middle of the ocean over the 1000m deep canyon. This is home to huge whales and giant squid. It’s bloody freezing and really hard to snorkel in – the waves are pretty big and scary. The weather had been so bad leading up to that day that we’d had to wait around a few days in order to be able to go. It cut into our time on the South Island, but I’m really glad we did. Some things are just worth the wait.

We ended up spending 5 days in Kaikoura, which left us precious little time to do much else. Although I’m really glad we hired a car to travel the country, because just driving around was a treat. The countryside is so beautiful. Full marks to the Maori people. The richer ones have bought up loads of land and refuse point blank to allow ANYTHING to be built on it. Ninety Mile Beach is 87km (not sure why it ended up being called 90 miles) of really wide, wind swept beach. There is not a single cabin on it. It’s lush. New Zealand is lush. It could just do with some decent designers in the towns (and less bloody English folk). I really hope future generations never ever give in to greed and allow development. Motorways don’t really exist apart from when you are approaching Wellington and Auckland. The rest of the roads are fabulously maintained ‘A’ roads which allow you to see all the fantastic scenery that this country has to offer.

New Zealand adventures ...cont

Waitomo caves.
Sexy eh? I'll never forget having to jump backwards off a cliff into the dark



Rotorua entertainment


Hello Handsome!


Rotorua mudbath


Tim attempts suicide at the top of the windiest peak ever


(Jan 2007: Tim took this picture in NZ well before the events of 26th Dec. It makes me shiver now).


We also went caving in Waitomo to see the glow worms which was cool - It was fabulous floating around in the dark on rubber rings, just a little unsettling when you find out that the glow worms you are staying up at open mouthed with wonder are actually maggots and the bit that glows is their pooh. Yum.

The hot springs at Rotorua were good too. We remained less impressed than in Bolivia though, because, quite rightly, the Kiwi authorities have built walkways that you have to stick to, so it all looks very touristy and controlled. The pools were cool – there is one that you can walk across and you can feel the steam warming your toes. But it just wasn't the same as finding geysers bubbling at 900 degrees in the middle of the desert with no entrance fee, or barriers - just your Spanish only speaking driver saying it might not be too good an idea to go too close. You could have walked right into one without anybody knowing. Really dangerous, I know, but amazing all the same.

We are leaving Castle Point for Wellington tomorrow which I am really looking forward to. We are going to stay with some friends we met on the plane to Easter Island, Paddy and Rhiannan. They have done pretty much the same trip as us - we spent our whole time in Tahiti with them - and now they are working for a year in New Zealand. I'm also looking forward to getting the first lot of our photos developed. Thankfully it will be the last time. We’ve finally bought a decent digital camera HURRAHH.

We are also both gagging for a good night out. We haven't really been out since Tim's birthday night in La Paz. I was hoping to get a bit of clubbing in when we were in Auckland, but we were staying with Dara's sister, Kirsty and her boyfriend Chris. They were both really nice, but just not clubby people, so we decided to give it a miss.

Welcome to Middle Earth

Lush beach. Shame the water was ABSOLUTELY BLOODY FREEZING!!!


Sandboarding


Tim went so fast he just missed falling in the water at the bottom



Shame I had the camera. It was wonderful seeing Tim's whinging face


How can he whinge riding through this lushness? We didn't spot any hobbits.


Coromandel. A fantastic sunset, just before it pissed down so hard we couldn't leave the house


The local shop, Coromandel


Farmstay, Coromandel

Dec 04

The traveller scene is quite young and loaded with adventure stuff to do and we’ve had some good laughs. We went to 90mile beach and went sand boarding on the dunes. It was great fun and really easy. I found myself really annoyed that I had chickened out of going in Nazca where they have the highest sand dune in the world. The chap there kept saying that it was only for ‘strong men’. Shame, I'll know to ignore them next time.

We also loved Coromandel. We took Danni's advice and stayed at a farm stay. It was lush. A wooden hut completely out in the middle of nowhere with one gas ring and a wood fired oven. Unfortunately it rained so hard we were barely able to leave it a lot of the time. I finally managed to convince Tim to try horse riding. I think he enjoyed it, but he complained constantly about his balls hurting. I found myself wickedly content and thought back to all the times I had got to the end of my tether because of the pain the bloody mountain bike was causing me. It paid off for him though, because he managed to score from the instructor.

F**K!! Did someone drop us off back home or what? New Zealand

Back in the 'West'. The Aukland Skyline


Welcome to Castle Point. A highlight according to The Rough Guide.



Trailer Trash Tim decides to integrate


The flowers growing wild are amazing







I love these ferns. They are the Maori symbol for life - you can see why.




This is the kind of thing you are treated to just driving along





Some of the trees are thousands of years old.







2nd December, 2004 Castle Point, New Zealand.
We are in a trailer park. Honestly. Tim keeps on speaking in a stupid Deep South, American accent and what with his hair looking as bad as it does, those ridiculous side burns and his belly having quadrupled since Venezuela he's fitting in quite nicely. We are so bored that I am finally catching up on my journal and Tim is amusing himself by scaring the gulls and then purposely coaxing them back so that he can scare them away again.

We are not actually in a trailer, thank God, although I do feel like Eminem's sister before he got famous. We are in a cabin that has a kitchen and dining area and a separate bedroom with three bunks in it and no bathroom. Outside my window there are loads of caravans and other cabins. They are horrible and run down. They proudly terrace the coast of the beach here. It would be a lovely coastline if it wasn't for this bloody trailer park. Unbelievably, this place is down as a highlight in the Rough Guide. Someone is either having a laugh at the readers expense or they haven’t been back to check this place out since the fucking 60’s. Lonely Planet, I take back every complaint I have ever made about you.

I don't know what I thought New Zealand would be like, but to be honest in some respects I'm a little disappointed. It's way too British for my liking so far. We haven't been to the South Island yet, which is supposed to be better than the North. The countryside is beautiful, but the architecture in many of the towns is horrible. The houses in all the towns we’ve been to so far all look exactly the same - bar Auckland, which looks like the South Bank in London. The Sky Tower is very cool though and the skyline of the city at night looks really nice. In every town we have been in, the houses are all one storey boxes made out of panelled, white wood with tin roofs. The look like post war pre-fabs.

The moment you get two km out of the towns, though, the countryside is lovely. It's so green and lush and everywhere you look there are volcanic hills bursting with amazing trees and plant life. We’ve just found it so bloody dull though. Everything shuts at five and the pubs are full of British backpackers on their gap year. No joke, we are the oldest travellers we have seen. The worst thing is THEY ARE ALL ENGLISH - even the bar staff! All the Kiwi's aged between 20 and 30 are backpacking themselves - probably back at home.

I think we would be appreciating this place a lot more if we hadn't seen South America first, and if we hadn't been to Polynesia proper. It's very easy to forget that this is still Polynesia. There are often signs that remind you though. The conical black mountains are very similar to those in Tahiti. The Maori language is similar and of course the Maori people look similar. When we were driving back from the Coromandel Peninsula we saw a parrot, wild, sitting on the roadside. The weeds that grow wild here are gorgeous flowers - people in London would pay a fortune for them. It's just the British that have made it all so English. Even the images that you don't normally take in consciously at home, Lloyds Bank signs, McDonalds, cash points everywhere, Christmas decorations, the Guardian Weekly and birthday cards, the ability to put even three dollars on your card, fish and chip shops all over the place and, of course everyone speaking English.

I’ve just read back over this and it looks like I’m painting a really bleak picture. I don’t mean to. We’ve been enjoying our time here. I just think after the complete bizarreness of South America I'm suffering a bit of a reverse culture shock. Apart from the horrific architecture (sorry all my Kiwi friends), it’s a lovely place. The people are really welcoming and friendly. The kind of people that go out of their way to help you, even if they just overhear that you might be lost or need help they offer themselves without being asked. They are rightly, really proud of their country and openly grateful for the tourism we bring in. That's another thing I like about the Kiwi's - they are all really down to earth, honest and straight forward. They fit their stereotype, but that stereotype is a nice one.

Their TV is hysterical. They have a late night music show which is appalling. The presenters are dire and the links are so badly written it's funny. Some of the local news is even worse - the stuff we did at Falmouth was more professional. They show a film every night though which is good and some of the adverts really have me in fits of laughter. My favourite is the car windscreen ad whose catch phrase is 'show us your crack'. I haven't had a chance to check out Breakfast TV yet. I guess I should.

Oh no...here we go. Argument number 1

19th November 2004, approaching the International Date Line
We’ve been on such a high since the start of this trip that I hadn’t even thought about arguing with Tim. It was one of the many things on my list that I feared about before I came out here. But so far things have been amazing. Up till now that is. I have to say that he is slowly driving me mad. Why can’t he just mind his own fucking business, read a magazine, tend to himself and leave me the fuck alone?? He keeps having a go at me because I’m chewing my nail. Flying is something that I put up with consciously, constantly reminding myself that statistically it’s safer than driving or the train. Sub consciously my brain can’t wait to get off. Tim can’t seem to accept that. He’ll pretend to start reading or watching a film, but no, the sad twat is actually checking on me with one eye to make sure I’m behaving. I feel like some school kid. Maybe if he left me alone and stopped slapping my hand every two minutes I wouldn’t feel the need to bite my nails. He’s now gone into a rant because we are arguing as we are going over the International Date Line. Well fucking let me breathe then Tim and perhaps we won’t argue at all!!