Its so good to see Dani...and odd too.
Spot the Palamara
Hello Boo
Wednesday, 7 February 2007
Bangkok with Dani & Zak 18th December 04
Its so good to see Dani...and odd too.
Spot the Palamara
Hello Boo
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
Disaster. The whole world knew except for those of us on the lucky side of Thailand
Pete took these pictures when we got back to Bangkok
The lucky ones.
1st January 2005, Koh Tao, Thailand
It's New Year's Day. We are in Koh Tau in the Gulf of Thailand. Pete and Sally have been with us since Christmas Eve. They are here on a two week holiday. We met up with Dani and Zak as soon as we got to Bangkok. They have just started a three month trip of SE Asia. We all spent Christmas together which was really nice.
Right now Tim is in bed after taking our stash of emergency antibiotics and is feeling really bad. Pete and Sally have popped up to the town. Sally is a bit pre-menstrual and as a result Pete is driving the poor girl mad. Dani and Zak have gone to Malaysia. I have been up half the night wondering if I would ever be able to get off the toilet and get back into bed. I'm feeling a bit better now. Damned white Russian from last night. I think it might have been the ice.
Doesn't sound like a great start to the new year, but we are grateful. Very grateful.
Tore, the guy, who is staying in the bungalow next-door got back from Koh Phi Phi yesterday. He arrived with his best friend....a Norwegian girl called Celia and her boyfriend, Chris.
After spending a very chilled Christmas day on our secluded beach we were enjoying Boxing Day sunbathing on Hat Yao and looking forward to the full moon party on Ko Pha Ngan. Meanwhile Tore was waking up to shouting and screaming outside his bungalow. From where he was ...up a steep hill....he looked out to a scene of people running and screaming covered in blood. He had no idea where his friends were. He decided all he could do was wait for them.
Chris was wading through a meter of sea water, debris, dead bodies and screaming people while desperately trying to get back to his bungalow to find out whether his girlfriend, Celia, was still alive. On the way, glass that had smashed from windows had severed two tendons in his foot.
Celia was clinging to a ceiling fan. Her bungalow had filled almost to the top with water leaving her head space only to breathe and ponder whether it would keep rising leading to a certain, slow death. They both seemed amazingly calm when they arrived, but that has got to be a head fuck of the most violent kind. I am certain it has not hit them yet.
The earthquake was one of the worst in 90 years. It measured 9.0 on the Richter Scale. The epi-centre was in the Andaman Sea, just off Indonesia. According to news reports the Tsunami was 30 feet high and travelled at 500km an hour. It took two hours to hit and virtually wipe out Phuket, Koh Phi-Phi and Krabbi. Sri Lanka, The Maldives, western Malasia, Southern India and even Somalia in Africa were all badly hit. The last I heard the death toll stood at 120,000 with still thousands unaccounted for. Tore said he saw bodies lined up on the beach. Disease is adding to the casualties.
It's a disaster of an unimaginable scale and it makes me go cold thinking that if Tim had not insisted on us all meeting up in Ko Pha Ngan for the full moon party we would have been either on Ko Lanta or Ko Phi-Phi. It doesn't bear thinking about.
It rained the night of the full moon party and as much as I tried to remind myself that this drunken, spiritless, cash motivated mess had probably saved countless lives ....boatloads arrived on Christmas Eve for it from all over Thailand .... I did not have a very good time.
Yesterday I sent off the last of the 'we're ok' emails and finished them off with 'time to celebrate life'. I meant it at the time, but I found that very hard to do last night. While the fireworks were sounding and the Chinese lanterns were floating all over the sky Celia and Chris were in the tightest embrace ever. That made me smile at how relieved they must have felt to be seeing in the new year and I was happy for all of the survivors, but I couldn't stop thinking about the newly married couple whose 8 month old baby was swept out of the father's arms. Another Dad with two kids, one of three and one of five. He managed to keep hold of the five year old.
Dani and Zak are stuck in Kuala Lumpur. They were supposed to be going south but there are Monsoons on the coast. I am worried about them. Mum and Dad are up in arms. I got an email from Nella begging us to come home. I felt really bad, but I told her in no uncertain terms that we would not even consider it. I think I have managed to convince Mum that we are out of danger. Hopefully she has calmed down and is worrying less. Last night though, amid the New Year's celebrations I found myself checking that the tide was still lapping on the shore.
This was the exchange of some of the emails after the Tsunami. I'm copying and pasting this journal that was written while we were there long after the actual event. We had no idea how bad it was at first. Even though we were talking to survivors. Thai television were not showing the same pictures and volunteers were being turned away and told to go back to Bankok. I've only seen the worst of it since coming home.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk [mailto:danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk]
>Sent: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:37:26 +0700
>Subject: Not so merry Christmas
Hello all,
Thanks for all your texts and emails and sorry it has taken me so long to
get to an internet cafe. I can't believe that this is the second time during
this trip that I am writing to everyone seriously assuring them that we
are safe. I have tried to reply to as many of the texts as poss, but since
I lost my address book when my phone was stolen I do not know who most of
them are from - thanks for thinking of us. Pete and Sally brought me a new
phone and sim card over. It would be great if you could send texts to my
old number and let me know your names so that I can build
my contacts list up again. In the mean time I still have the Thai phone
number that I sent you last time and that’s the one I am using most of all
because it is dirt cheap..
We are on Koh Tao - an island off the Eastern coast of Thailand. We are
miles away from the disaster, safe and not moving anywhere for the time
being. We were on the beach in Koh Pha Ngan when we first started to hear
the rumours of an earthquake in Phuket. Dani and Zak were about to board
a ferry heading there. Tim had to drive miles in order to get a signal on
his phone to stop them getting on the ferry. We were due to join them the
next day. Obviously those plans are scrapped now.
I can't believe how lucky we have been. I keep seeing the pictures on the
news and it makes me feel sick knowing how many people have died and that
we all could have been there. Thankfully, we found out that there was going
to be a Full Moon party on Koh Pha Ngan on Boxing Day so we all decided
to meet there.
I didn't like the Full Moon party. There was no spiritual
vibe at all...just drunk people trashing the beach and islanders cashing
in on it by selling mushroomless tea and shakes at extortionate prices and
all sorts of nasty stuff passing for whisky or vodka. People were so paranoid
you couldn't even have a joint on the beach. I found myself thankful for
it though because every month, people, including loads of Thais, leave from
all over Thailand to come to them. On Christmas Eve, boatload after boatload
were arriving from Koh Tau, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket. It saved a lot of lives
in Thailand this time round.
We had a nice Christmas.The owner of the bungalows we were in made us a
huge fish and seafood BBQ on the beach and then lit us a fire. We had a
very chilled one. Once again...sorry I couldn't text anyone.. I hope you
all had a lovely day.
Koh Tau is lovely. A snorkelers Paradise where you can see the fish at
the waters edge before you even put your mask on. We are going to hire
a boat and sail round the islands tomorrow and hopefully go shark snorkeling.
(I am assured there are only whale sharks in these waters who are VEGETARIAN.)
We will probably spend new year here and then head towards Cambodia. I'll keep you all up to date when I can.
Wishing you all a fantastic new year.
Love and kisses,
Dana
XXXX
Original Message
From: "nella"
To:
Subject: Re: Not so Merry Christmas
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:35:36 -0000
Hi Dana Tim Danni and Zak
Ive have just read this email and we are all thanking God that you are
all ok. I know you dont want to hear this and I know that you are nowhere near
the disaster but please, please, please will you consider coming home ?
Nearly 100.000 people dead. The disease is rife and so many more thousands
might die from the disease. Please at least think about coming home.
God has blessed us all and you are all safe and well and I pray that you will
do the right thing and all come home.
We all love you very much and pray that you will all come home
All our love
Nella, Mum, Dad, Emilio and Lukey xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk Add to address book
To: "nella"
Cc:
Subject: Re: Not so Merry Christmas
Send: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:41:59 +0700
Hi Nella,
Thanks for your message. I know you guys are worried, and you have every
right to be, but please rest assured that we are away from danger. Earthquakes
happen in earth quake zones. We are not in one...miles away from any of the
plates......nor are we near one where water could affect us. That kind of
scale earthquake does not repeat itself very often. We are safe Nella, I
promise. If we weren't we would get the hell out. People are arriving here
from the disaster area to spend New Year. We are right the way over the other
side of the country in a completely different sea. The disease cannot get
to us. What they are talking about when the say disease is the villages in
Indonesia and India that have been flattened and have left people homeless.
The tourist sites that used to be there are now all closed or flattened.
Please trust me that I will not venture to unsafe places. That’s a promise.
Sorry, but I am not going to consider coming home. We are leaving Koh Tau
in a few days to go to the mainland and into Cambodia. No sea there. Please
explain to Mum how far we are. I know it sounds scary to you, but everything
is totally normal here ...people are carrying on as if nothing happened.
Have a fantastic new year. I will try to stay awake and call at 7am our time
which will be midnight your time.
Lots of love always,
Dxxx
-- Original Message --
From: "Zoey Ingarfield"
To: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:49:45 +0000
God, had forgotten that you were there already. Was imagining you still
in Australia. So glad that you are both ok, but what a hideous thing to have
happened. Can't believe it. Is there anything that you guys can do on
the ground there? The devastation must be just unimaginable... Anyway,
thinking of you and your fellow countrymen at present,
xxxx
From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk Add to address book
To: "Zoey Ingarfield"
Cc:
Subject: RE:
Send: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:47:53 +0700
Hi Zoey,
We are trying to find out if there is anything we can do over there, but
it seems they only want people with medical skills. Survivors have started
to arrive in Koh Tau from the West coast and we have resolved to get them
all as drunk as poss for new year. Sounds weird but that’s what they want.
They are shell shocked. I don't think it has hit them yet. They've seen
children swept out of parents’ arms and bodies on the beach. It's horrible.
One girl who arrived today shut her bungalow door on the oncoming wave and
within ten mins found herself alone in two meters of water holding on to
the ceiling fan to keep her head above water and having to wait for the water
to subside. I can even begin to image how scared she must have been.
I thank our lucky stars Tim forced everyone to go east.
Time to celebrate life.
Have a great new year my love. Love to Fred and love from Tim,
Dxxxxx
The lucky ones.
1st January 2005, Koh Tao, Thailand
It's New Year's Day. We are in Koh Tau in the Gulf of Thailand. Pete and Sally have been with us since Christmas Eve. They are here on a two week holiday. We met up with Dani and Zak as soon as we got to Bangkok. They have just started a three month trip of SE Asia. We all spent Christmas together which was really nice.
Right now Tim is in bed after taking our stash of emergency antibiotics and is feeling really bad. Pete and Sally have popped up to the town. Sally is a bit pre-menstrual and as a result Pete is driving the poor girl mad. Dani and Zak have gone to Malaysia. I have been up half the night wondering if I would ever be able to get off the toilet and get back into bed. I'm feeling a bit better now. Damned white Russian from last night. I think it might have been the ice.
Doesn't sound like a great start to the new year, but we are grateful. Very grateful.
Tore, the guy, who is staying in the bungalow next-door got back from Koh Phi Phi yesterday. He arrived with his best friend....a Norwegian girl called Celia and her boyfriend, Chris.
After spending a very chilled Christmas day on our secluded beach we were enjoying Boxing Day sunbathing on Hat Yao and looking forward to the full moon party on Ko Pha Ngan. Meanwhile Tore was waking up to shouting and screaming outside his bungalow. From where he was ...up a steep hill....he looked out to a scene of people running and screaming covered in blood. He had no idea where his friends were. He decided all he could do was wait for them.
Chris was wading through a meter of sea water, debris, dead bodies and screaming people while desperately trying to get back to his bungalow to find out whether his girlfriend, Celia, was still alive. On the way, glass that had smashed from windows had severed two tendons in his foot.
Celia was clinging to a ceiling fan. Her bungalow had filled almost to the top with water leaving her head space only to breathe and ponder whether it would keep rising leading to a certain, slow death. They both seemed amazingly calm when they arrived, but that has got to be a head fuck of the most violent kind. I am certain it has not hit them yet.
The earthquake was one of the worst in 90 years. It measured 9.0 on the Richter Scale. The epi-centre was in the Andaman Sea, just off Indonesia. According to news reports the Tsunami was 30 feet high and travelled at 500km an hour. It took two hours to hit and virtually wipe out Phuket, Koh Phi-Phi and Krabbi. Sri Lanka, The Maldives, western Malasia, Southern India and even Somalia in Africa were all badly hit. The last I heard the death toll stood at 120,000 with still thousands unaccounted for. Tore said he saw bodies lined up on the beach. Disease is adding to the casualties.
It's a disaster of an unimaginable scale and it makes me go cold thinking that if Tim had not insisted on us all meeting up in Ko Pha Ngan for the full moon party we would have been either on Ko Lanta or Ko Phi-Phi. It doesn't bear thinking about.
It rained the night of the full moon party and as much as I tried to remind myself that this drunken, spiritless, cash motivated mess had probably saved countless lives ....boatloads arrived on Christmas Eve for it from all over Thailand .... I did not have a very good time.
Yesterday I sent off the last of the 'we're ok' emails and finished them off with 'time to celebrate life'. I meant it at the time, but I found that very hard to do last night. While the fireworks were sounding and the Chinese lanterns were floating all over the sky Celia and Chris were in the tightest embrace ever. That made me smile at how relieved they must have felt to be seeing in the new year and I was happy for all of the survivors, but I couldn't stop thinking about the newly married couple whose 8 month old baby was swept out of the father's arms. Another Dad with two kids, one of three and one of five. He managed to keep hold of the five year old.
Dani and Zak are stuck in Kuala Lumpur. They were supposed to be going south but there are Monsoons on the coast. I am worried about them. Mum and Dad are up in arms. I got an email from Nella begging us to come home. I felt really bad, but I told her in no uncertain terms that we would not even consider it. I think I have managed to convince Mum that we are out of danger. Hopefully she has calmed down and is worrying less. Last night though, amid the New Year's celebrations I found myself checking that the tide was still lapping on the shore.
This was the exchange of some of the emails after the Tsunami. I'm copying and pasting this journal that was written while we were there long after the actual event. We had no idea how bad it was at first. Even though we were talking to survivors. Thai television were not showing the same pictures and volunteers were being turned away and told to go back to Bankok. I've only seen the worst of it since coming home.
>-----Original Message-----
>From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk [mailto:danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk]
>Sent: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:37:26 +0700
>Subject: Not so merry Christmas
Hello all,
Thanks for all your texts and emails and sorry it has taken me so long to
get to an internet cafe. I can't believe that this is the second time during
this trip that I am writing to everyone seriously assuring them that we
are safe. I have tried to reply to as many of the texts as poss, but since
I lost my address book when my phone was stolen I do not know who most of
them are from - thanks for thinking of us. Pete and Sally brought me a new
phone and sim card over. It would be great if you could send texts to my
old number and let me know your names so that I can build
my contacts list up again. In the mean time I still have the Thai phone
number that I sent you last time and that’s the one I am using most of all
because it is dirt cheap..
We are on Koh Tao - an island off the Eastern coast of Thailand. We are
miles away from the disaster, safe and not moving anywhere for the time
being. We were on the beach in Koh Pha Ngan when we first started to hear
the rumours of an earthquake in Phuket. Dani and Zak were about to board
a ferry heading there. Tim had to drive miles in order to get a signal on
his phone to stop them getting on the ferry. We were due to join them the
next day. Obviously those plans are scrapped now.
I can't believe how lucky we have been. I keep seeing the pictures on the
news and it makes me feel sick knowing how many people have died and that
we all could have been there. Thankfully, we found out that there was going
to be a Full Moon party on Koh Pha Ngan on Boxing Day so we all decided
to meet there.
I didn't like the Full Moon party. There was no spiritual
vibe at all...just drunk people trashing the beach and islanders cashing
in on it by selling mushroomless tea and shakes at extortionate prices and
all sorts of nasty stuff passing for whisky or vodka. People were so paranoid
you couldn't even have a joint on the beach. I found myself thankful for
it though because every month, people, including loads of Thais, leave from
all over Thailand to come to them. On Christmas Eve, boatload after boatload
were arriving from Koh Tau, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket. It saved a lot of lives
in Thailand this time round.
We had a nice Christmas.The owner of the bungalows we were in made us a
huge fish and seafood BBQ on the beach and then lit us a fire. We had a
very chilled one. Once again...sorry I couldn't text anyone.. I hope you
all had a lovely day.
Koh Tau is lovely. A snorkelers Paradise where you can see the fish at
the waters edge before you even put your mask on. We are going to hire
a boat and sail round the islands tomorrow and hopefully go shark snorkeling.
(I am assured there are only whale sharks in these waters who are VEGETARIAN.)
We will probably spend new year here and then head towards Cambodia. I'll keep you all up to date when I can.
Wishing you all a fantastic new year.
Love and kisses,
Dana
XXXX
Original Message
From: "nella"
To:
Subject: Re: Not so Merry Christmas
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:35:36 -0000
Hi Dana Tim Danni and Zak
Ive have just read this email and we are all thanking God that you are
all ok. I know you dont want to hear this and I know that you are nowhere near
the disaster but please, please, please will you consider coming home ?
Nearly 100.000 people dead. The disease is rife and so many more thousands
might die from the disease. Please at least think about coming home.
God has blessed us all and you are all safe and well and I pray that you will
do the right thing and all come home.
We all love you very much and pray that you will all come home
All our love
Nella, Mum, Dad, Emilio and Lukey xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk Add to address book
To: "nella"
Cc:
Subject: Re: Not so Merry Christmas
Send: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:41:59 +0700
Hi Nella,
Thanks for your message. I know you guys are worried, and you have every
right to be, but please rest assured that we are away from danger. Earthquakes
happen in earth quake zones. We are not in one...miles away from any of the
plates......nor are we near one where water could affect us. That kind of
scale earthquake does not repeat itself very often. We are safe Nella, I
promise. If we weren't we would get the hell out. People are arriving here
from the disaster area to spend New Year. We are right the way over the other
side of the country in a completely different sea. The disease cannot get
to us. What they are talking about when the say disease is the villages in
Indonesia and India that have been flattened and have left people homeless.
The tourist sites that used to be there are now all closed or flattened.
Please trust me that I will not venture to unsafe places. That’s a promise.
Sorry, but I am not going to consider coming home. We are leaving Koh Tau
in a few days to go to the mainland and into Cambodia. No sea there. Please
explain to Mum how far we are. I know it sounds scary to you, but everything
is totally normal here ...people are carrying on as if nothing happened.
Have a fantastic new year. I will try to stay awake and call at 7am our time
which will be midnight your time.
Lots of love always,
Dxxx
-- Original Message --
From: "Zoey Ingarfield"
To: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk
Date: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 18:49:45 +0000
God, had forgotten that you were there already. Was imagining you still
in Australia. So glad that you are both ok, but what a hideous thing to have
happened. Can't believe it. Is there anything that you guys can do on
the ground there? The devastation must be just unimaginable... Anyway,
thinking of you and your fellow countrymen at present,
xxxx
From: danapalamara@tiscali.co.uk Add to address book
To: "Zoey Ingarfield"
Cc:
Subject: RE:
Send: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 14:47:53 +0700
Hi Zoey,
We are trying to find out if there is anything we can do over there, but
it seems they only want people with medical skills. Survivors have started
to arrive in Koh Tau from the West coast and we have resolved to get them
all as drunk as poss for new year. Sounds weird but that’s what they want.
They are shell shocked. I don't think it has hit them yet. They've seen
children swept out of parents’ arms and bodies on the beach. It's horrible.
One girl who arrived today shut her bungalow door on the oncoming wave and
within ten mins found herself alone in two meters of water holding on to
the ceiling fan to keep her head above water and having to wait for the water
to subside. I can even begin to image how scared she must have been.
I thank our lucky stars Tim forced everyone to go east.
Time to celebrate life.
Have a great new year my love. Love to Fred and love from Tim,
Dxxxxx
Hurrah! Sunshine at last. Thank you Oz! Dec 05
Finally!!! A suntan!!! On Bondi with Ali and Damien
A sunny day in Sydney
We went to the club with the blue neon light. Everything that London has plus a beach and 'good weather'
Bondi Beach
Sydney by the sea
We met up with Ali and Damien and had a fantastic night out. Sydney really is a stylish city...some parts are a bit plastic fantastic, but it's got a good vibe. And you can get salad!! Oh salad!!! Juice bars too. After weeks of burgers, potatoes and Kiwi breakfasts in New Zealand I was virtually tripping over myself for vitamins. Bondi beach was cool to experience, but I'm glad we only decided to spend a short while there. I looked at my bank balance and thought that someone had duped my card and taken a good two grand out. Unfortunately I realised that in fact I had spent it. Damn. Hurried recalculations of our budget and we're leaving the 'West' for Thailand.
Monday, 29 January 2007
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
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)