Notes from the Other Island

Not a lot happened in March from memory. The one thing that sticks out in my diary is Shrove Tuesday - pancake day. For that I went along to Holy Trinity and ate some pancakes - I made the mistake of having one pancake for every savoury filling, where I should've just had all the savoury stuff on on pancake, and saved more room for the sweet stuff. I think they also made them the old school way with fat instead of butter, so they were probably a bit heavier than usual.

Shrove Tuesday of course marks the beginning of Lent. Usually  I don't bother with giving up something for Lent as I think it is more "a religious practice" rather than being a relationship with God, however this year I decided I would challenge myself and give up cheese for Lent. I thought it would be a good idea for health reasons, but also because it would also test and extend my cooking repertoire, and to be fair, it is one of the few things I love with a passion, where a lot of things I can give or take.

I thought when I first started that I would get to a stage where I'd want to stab someone due to cheese cravings, but surprisingly that didn't last long and I didn't miss out too much. 

We had Stocktake at work at the end of March, notable mainly because we get pizzas or KFC for lunch.

I managed to go to a NZ Society of Genealogists meeting. What was most memorable was a story that was told. Apparently earlier this year they gave members names taken from the War Memorials around town. Someone had been given two brothers - the Burbush brothers. My ears pricked up, as there is a road on the western outskirts of Hamilton called Burbush road. I used to use it to go and visit my late Grandmother when she lived in the Brylyn retirement home in Te Kowhai. It is still a useful road to use to get from my parents house onto the new expressway. Anyhow, what really got my attention was when it was mentioned that one of the brothers married a Lily Foote. Some of my ancestors are Footes - you may have heard my story of meeting some fellow Kiwis at one of my local pubs in London, and one of them was a Foote, and turned out to be a third cousin.

Early in April we celebrated Dad's 60th birthday with a lunch at a clients café. The funny thing was, it was a surprise, and Dad had been there that week to install some dispensers, so Mum had to make sure they knew not to mention it to him.

That Monday night my old good mate from Tech days, Steve, stayed at my place. He was over from Sydney to also catch up with a mate over from San Diego. It was nice catching up again - he had been over in November, but prior to that we hadn't caught up physically since 2005. We watched an episode of The GC - a reality show akin to The Only Way Is Essex, about Kiwis living in the Gold Coast in Australia, before heading into town for dinner, and then doing a bit of nostalgia tour around houses where Steve had lived. 

The following week we had dinner with my Aunties, in celebration of my father's birthday, and then I helped out with Front of House at the Riverlea Theatre for The Seagull - by Anton Chekhov. The benefit was I got to see most of it, for a limited amount of helping. It was OK, but not the most interesting play.

On the Thurs (17th April) my grand journey began -

After work I went home and quickly cleaned up, did some washing, and headed to our family friends from farming days, the Van Houttes, at Mapiu.

Good Friday 

I Woke up had a good breakfast of eggs and catch up with Marilyn.

Once I got going I stopped at Taumarunui and pumped up my tyres (not something I do regularly, however I thought it was a good idea considering the amount of kilometres I was about to undertake - for the record, I calculated it to be approximately 2,500kms) and topped up the oil.

As it turns out I'm not the best for "just driving" and made numerous stops and slight detours along the way to check things out, such things included - 

- The last spike laid of the railway (main trunk line)

- The monument for the Tangiwai railway disaster. It was here that I also realised that Karioi was there, which happened to be where my ancestor Hermann Bartz died, (not in the Tangiwai disaster though)

- The Raurimu spiral.
- The Makatote viaduct (see below)

Eventually I got to Wellington, with 2 hours to spare - they tell you to be an hour early, but they didn't let us on until the time on the ticket anyway.

The Ferry ride across was OK, much better than the time I remember when I was a kid, where from memory I remember it rolling from side to side. Unfortunately it was already dark, so the scenery outside went to waste. So instead I just watched Seven Days and Jono and Ben at Ten on the TV.

What I didn't realise for the longest time is that the South Island isn't directly south of Wellington, and you don't even enter the Marlborough Sounds at the top. 

It appears taking your dog across the strait was a bit more common than I realised. They get you to turn the sound on your car alarm off, as the rocking will set it off, and the noise would distress the animals. 

Got off and set up tent in the dark at Picton, quite proud of myself, as New Years 2008/2009 was the last time I put it up.

Saturday 

I woke up, and soon after a train went across the track above - that viaduct pictured below going through the campground is the train track.  Once I got sorted I drove to Nelson via the inland road, as opposed to the Queen Charlotte Drive, as it was relatively wet. I got to Andy's around lunchtime. It was good catching up - last time we had caught out was briefly in early 2009 before I went to London. It was also nice to sleep in the nice Sleep out for a couple of nights after the night in a tent in Picton. We had a BBQ dinner with some of Kirstie and Andy's friends.

Sunday

We took a drive out to Golden bay, and ended up having lunch at interesting pub. It had a B and B in a shoe, some eels in a creek etc, interesting for kids as well.

For dinner we had meat Slow cooked with Marmite as the stock. When I was a kid I never liked Marmite, but this was good.

Monday

I Waited for Andy to get back from mountain biking then we had lunch before I left. I went and briefly caught up with Fiona, a family friend from way back before I headed to lake Pearson via Murchison etc - it was quite a drive as you almost have to go to Greymouth, then come back through Arthur's pass.

I eventually got there, broke the handle on my glove box trying to get it open, and then set up my tent in the dark and freezing cold.

Tuesday

I Got up, took some photos as you can see,  before heading off, although I didn't get far before stopping at the caves place down the road, and had a walk around. Looks like I need to come back, as you could go through the cave system, but you'd want to use a wet suit as it was a lot of trekking up a stream. And I'd imagine it would be a lot safer and enjoyable in summer compared to then.

I got to Springfield and had a breakfast of pies.

Stopped again briefly at Oxford, I hoped the museum was open but it wasn't so I just had a quick look at Jo Seagar's restaurant/cafe/cookery school. I filled up with Petrol at Rangiora or Amberley. How I got on petrol wise, was I bought along my petrol canister for my lawnmower and therefore wasn't victim to high petrol prices in remote locations, and combined with the capacity of my petrol tank I could go for 600km without needing to use a petrol station.

Got to Hanmer springs, and set up my tent - nice to do it in the light for a change. Cooked dinner, and then had about 2 hours at the pools.

Wednesday

Woke and packed up, went to the pools again, and headed off again at about lunchtime to Kaikoura.

It was around this time that I had a brainwave and wondered if I could change the icon on my SatNav from an arrow - what do you know - Yes I can! I believe this one is called "Family Car", but I like it as it does look like my car.

I had lunch at Waiau and shortly after the road joined back onto State Highway 1. The road to Kaikoura was beautiful, ocean on one side, and a train track going through numerous tunnels on the other. I got to Kaikoura reasonably early in the afternoon- once again it was nice to be all set up well before dark. Went across to the whale watch station and made sure it was all go for the next day. Did my washing etc, cooked and ate a bit while waiting. Later walked into town- pretty much dead. Concluded with a burger and hot chocolate at a fish and chip shop.

Thursday 

Woke up and got sorted for the whale watching. I delayed having breakfast as I wasn't sure whether it was wise eating beforehand or not, remembering of my time crossing Foveaux strait to Stewart island. It was nice not having to pack myself and my tent up again for a change.

Whale watch was good, not too rough - saw one whale on the surface and then it going under. Like my sister Suzanne said, it seems almost too well timed, as they know when it is going to dive. After the whale dove, we cruised around and found some dolphins and different birds- they did a good job talking about them. 

Kaikoura is a beautiful place, the ocean on one side of you, and mountains on the other side. On top of that is the train tracks and it's tunnels that run alongside the road along the coast both North and South.

After returning back I saw some stuff in the gift shop I was keen to buy, but decided to come back after the afternoon crowd had headed off, and grab some fish and chips for lunch when I did.

So I returned to the campground, literally just over the train tracks. I'd seen they had pedal cars and was keen to try, if they let me. They did, in fact gave me double the amount of time. Turns out it is quite a work out, especially as my legs weren't used to working at that angle. Unfortunately the pedal car wasn't as good at handbrake skids as I'd hoped. 

I returned to the whale watching gift shop, unfortunately the cafe had shut once the afternoon crowd had left for the cruise, I then had to wait until the gift shop finished doing the banking - which they do between the two cruisings. I accepted that, knowing from experience how trying it can be to get the banking done in-between customers. 

Once I bought some stuff I went down to the shops and finally had some lunch of fish and chips at Hine's Takeaways. Admittedly I underestimated how much they would give me- which would explain why they were voted best fish and chip shop in the South Island, and the second best in New Zealand (second only to the Mangonui Fish Shop - which I have been to once, as it is up near Kaitaia, where I used to live) Subsequently had a bit of driving explore - noted the Kiwi experience bus was in town, which I hoped translated into more nightlife than the night before (it did a little, but my lack of enthusiasm didn't help.)

After that, I had a spa, and walked back to town and had dinner at the Irish pub - lamb shanks.

Friday (Anzac Day) 

I got up relatively early, packed up and left. Got to Blenheim early enough for a BK breakfast. Burnt some of it off on the basketball hoop shooting game there. Carried on north, through Seddon etc, and got to Picton. Recently I read a book called The 1 Thing: A Small Epic Journey Down New Zealand's Mother Road, by Bob Moore - it was a narrative of his journey along the whole of State Highway One, and how he tried to do one thing at every place along the way. I had kept an eye on his list of things since I had re-joined State Highway One just after Waiau, south of Kaikoura, but hadn't really been able to make the most of it, until now - at Picton he had mentioned the Edwin Fox - a ship, or at least the remains of the hull- the museum which was closed, but I could see enough of it to satisfy my curiousity. A short walk further on was the ferry terminal, so I went and found out where to take my car, and subsequently did.

The Anzac Memorial at Picton - quite fitting as it was Anzac day when I was there.

The last bit of the South Island before entering the open waters of the Cook Strait.

The ferry trip was nice, not too rough, and in daylight, so I spent the majority of the trip on the top deck- was nice to see how the two islands sit together, and the landscape of the sounds and the lighthouses of the Wellington harbour.

I believe this is the island in the Wellington harbour where Naturalised Germans got interned to during World War One. As far as I know my German ancestors must've escaped that fate, as Hermann Bartz, my Great Great Grandfather died in 1915 (in Karioi - as mentioned above) and my Grandmother was born in 1915, which would suggest her father (born in New Zealand) wasn't interred

Once I got off the ferry I headed to Masterton via State Highway 2, which turned out to be the most treacherous road of the whole trip, as the road goes over the Rimutaka hill, and I was doing it after dark.

I stayed in the Chanel court motel- the one bit of luxury I allowed myself- a small but nice room- I actually fell asleep lying the wrong way around (ie head at the foot of the bed) while watching 7 days and Jono and Ben at Ten.

Next morning got up and went to BK for breakfast. From there I went to a farmers market, bought some cheese and fejoas and chatted to the fejoa guy about my Pak choy growing in my garden- checking it was actually that. From there I went to another market, picked up some spices for my spice rack.

Headed back to motel, showered and got ready for the wedding I was attending. There was a knock on the door, it turned out that people down a few units were also friends of James' and also going to the wedding, so I caught a ride with them, and again later to the reception.

The Wedding and reception was good, they had a bit of an activity sheet which was fun.

The next day I headed north, lunch at Taihape, and just outside of Te Awamutu I stopped to buy some mushrooms from a roadside stall, but had no cash. I was desperate for the toilet by the time I got to Ohaupo, but thankfully found a toilet. Came back to Hamilton - and went straight to Riverlea for my first rehearsal of Open All Hours - but being an hour late the door was locked, and considering I wasn't an integral part I didn't want to make a big scene to get let in so I just waited to half time to get let in.

All in all it was a great trip, for once I didn't get sick, the only casualty was my glove box, which I subsequently replaced for about $10 from the Pick-a-Part, and the cost wasn't too bad. The interesting thing was, because I didn't fly across, it didn't feel like I was on another island - even though I knew I'd been on a boat. By the way - the title is a play on the title of one of Bill Bryson's books - Notes from a Small Island - which was about his journey around Britain - the first of his books I had read.

The Fast Food Review

Somehow recently I came up with the idea of this blog entry.

Admittedly the research for this blog was quite fun, in fact, I'm so dedicated to my blog I had to research two of the following burgers for a second time, to do the review justice.

McDonalds burgers

For the Football World Cup, currently being held in Brazil at time of writing, McDonald's has released three country-themed burgers, as well as a Spanish breakfast item, and an English apple pie - I haven't gotten around to trying the latter two, but I have tried the three burgers - see my review below. It should be noted that at over $8 a burger, they don't help themselves to become more than a once-off purchase.

Brazil burger
A sour cream and a BBQ/bourbon type sauce with a slight spice kick at the end (no pun intended)

From memory it was nice, but not particularly memorable (hence why I had to have it twice before reviewing it.

The sour cream seems to make lots of burgers nice - I know several of the burgers I like at BurgerFuel (a Kiwi gourmet burger chain, taking the Middle East by storm - and I happen to have shares in it, purchased way back in 2007 when they had their IPO - my first foray into the stock market) seem to use sour cream. At the same time, I think the salad and lack of cheese makes it less greasy and makes it feel healthier, but I may just be being swayed by this picture.

Argentina burger
Like a glorified double cheese burger - imagine a double Quarter-Pounder with cheese, with some chilli thrown in for a slight kick.

This is a burger I would have again - the excess of meat and the cheese, grease and slight spice kick give it a place in my memory. I wouldn't say it is particularly different to McDonalds' burgers in general, but the spice kick seems to complement and add to what I already like about McDonald's cheeseburgers. This factor gives it the potential to be addictive.

The French burger
A chicken patty with lettuce and a mustard sauce. It reminds me of a KFC Mayo burger albeit with a mustardy kick, as mustard replaces the mayonnaise. Alright, but certainly not nice enough to be addictive.

 

 

"Cronuts"
Cronuts seem to be, or at least have been, somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon. I first became aware of them from a news story on Seven Sharp. Basically they are supposed to be a cross between a doughnut and a croissant (they are ring shaped like a doughnut, but are made from croissant dough. From my initial understanding, I thought they were then supposed to be impregnated with cream or custard into the airy pastry, however as you can see below in both cases the custard/cream is just sandwiched in the middle of two halves.

When I first got serious about locating a Cronut to try I Googled them and found a list of places. The first place was an Italian café/specialty supermarket, who as it turned out, had stopped doing them the week before as they seemed to have done their dash. The next place was doughnut shop (Momma's donuts on Kahikatea Drive) which only did them on Fridays and Saturdays, and seemed to sell out of them early in the day. After several weeks of trying, I was then informed they no longer did them anymore as well.
My first success was at Mavis and Co., which ironically is in the same carpark as my gym... They call them Dosants rather than Cronuts, and from memory I believe they seemed to be harder - I think they were probably egg-glazed and iced with icing. They were OK, but not addictive or particularly memorable. 

A "Dosant" from Mavis & Co., Hamilton East

 

It was quite by accident that I discovered my local bakery (Tommo's, at the Urlich shopping centre) does Cronuts. I saw the sign one day when I went in there, but they didn't have any that day, nor the next. However they did the following weekend. I would probably rate these much higher as they have a softer doughnut-like texture, and are filled with custard cream, which I am quite partial too. In saying that, they weren't enough to become an addiction, which is probably just as well considering they are available at my local bakery. On a positive, they are only $2.50 - cheap considering the novelty factor.

A "Cronut" from Tommo's Bakery, Urlich Shopping Centre.

Lastly, but not least -

KFC Double Downs

Picture borrowed from www.kfc.co.nz -check them out!

Double Downs originally made an appearance in 2011, and seem to reappear around about the same time yearly ever since. This years incarnations include the Original, as well as the Kentucky and Hash Double downs. The graphic above makes it pretty self-explanatory. My two cents-worth is that I'd stick to the Original, as that seems to have the most attraction to me - I think it is the Special Sauce (back in 2011 I got quite addicted to them, and I blame my current weight in part to them). The only difference between the Hash and the Kentucky is that the Hash has a Hash brown. I'm usually a fan of BBQ sauce, but it seems to be too cliché here, and simply isn't as nice or complimentary to the Double Down as the Special Sauce is. Again, due to the cheapest of these being $8+, there is a natural deterrent to developing an addiction for them again.

 

All in all, eat sensibly. I wrote this for a bit of fun, and also so my calorie consumption wasn't all in vain.

A WonderFoo Wedding

As mentioned in my last post, the following weekend was my brother-in-law's sister's wedding down in the Hawkes Bay. We'd saved up some time before hand, so on the Friday Mum, Dad, & I could leave not long after lunch time. It was a pleasent drive down, and we arrived in time to join Bevan's immediate family for dinner, which was a fantastic Chinese feast.

After dinner we returned to our accommodation - which was an apartment across the road from the port - quite a nice place, I'd happily live there.

The next day Dad and I had a look down the street, especially because it was Art Deco weekend there that weekend. I ended up buying a shirt and hat for the wedding - to look more Art Deco.

After our look at the shops, I had a quick swim across the road- which was well received as Hawkes Bay in February is rather hot, before showering and getting dressed for the wedding. The ceremony went well, and we had an hour or so before the reception, so we went and visited my cousin Sharon who didn't live too far away.

Back at the reception it was good, the meal was a buffet, with a good selection of meat. I sat at a table with Suzanne, Bevan, Thad- Bevan's potentially next brother-in-law, Bevan's parents, an aunt, the mother of the groom, and one of his cousins. I didn't know it at the time, but my sister was/(is) pregnant and I nearly blew her cover when someone jokingly asked when they were going to have kids and I jokingly pointed out that she was drinking what I thought was wine (it was actually grape juice). There was an awkward moment, but I didn't think too much of it until she broke the news to us more recently.

Anyhow it was a good night- I've resolved that weddings are not the place to meet women, I'm just grateful generally to have been invited.

The next day we had a lunch at a Napier Chinese restaurant, which was also a great feed. I decided to try and a) not sit with my parents, and b) sit with some randoms to have some interesting conversation, which worked well, especially as the table participants didn't try to talk in Cantonese.

From there we headed back up to Hamilton.

Beautiful Manhole Covers of the World

Sigatoka, Fiji

This post is inspired by the above picture I took in  Fiji of a manhole in Sigatoka, on the Fijian mainland. If you have been following my blogs, you may recall several examples of manhole covers in Japan, which always interested me when I saw them. In fact, back then I had a comment from a German gentleman named Gerde asking if I could send him any more photos of manholes so he could include them on his website/Tumblr. I enjoyed writing the blog about Apps, so I thought a light-hearted one about man-hole covers would be fun to write as well. I'll arrange them into a Logical Order, and then identify the location and comment about them in the caption.

Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Yokkaichi, Japan - probably the cover that started it all... this is where I lived in 2006.

Another Yokkaichi Manhole - probably taken on the same day I took the first - my first proper day off.
Yokkaichi is a "sister-port" to Sydney Port, and a "sister-city" to Tianjin in China, hence the Koala, Panda, and the Opera house etc. The spheres in the top left I think relate to the oil distillation that goes on there, and the dome on the right is the cultural centre - which was closed the day I went to have a look at it...

Yet another Yokkaichi manhole - I had to Google the Hiragana at the top to confirm that.

Yokkaichi again, you can see that this has the same picture as the above cover, albeit not in colour

I assume this is a fire hydrant cover. I only know it is in Yokkaichi due to the seal - the round symbol at 2 O'clock.

Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan

Nagoya, Japan. I have no idea how the insect ties in.

Nagoya again. The Nagoya castle features in the centre, the harbour below it,  and the tower at the top that looks like a cross between the Eiffel tower and a power pylon is the Nagoya tower at Sakae

Nagoya-jo (castle)

Kobe, Japan

Kobe, Japan. Starting at the bottom left, that is the Kobe tower, and the top right is a steeple of a house in what was the old foreigners area,- Kitano in fact it was called the Thomas house, hence why I remember it.

Kobe again, note the symbols on the hills on the background. I assume the anchor relates to it being a port, the other is the symbol for Kobe.

The Thomas house steeple in the centre here, the Kobe tower in the top left, and the port in the top right. The steeple is flanked by the Kobe symbol, and something resembling the logo of the Imperial Forces in Star Wars - however I wouldn't put it past George Lucas to be ripping that off too, as Darth Vader's suit is suspiciously similar to that of a samurai (as are the Jedi and their protocols), and the story of Anakin Skywalker and the Empire have pretty strong parallels to the Holocaust.



Universal Studios, Osaka, Japan

Not actually in the real Beverly Hills. This is actually in Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka. I don't think the real Beverly Hills would allow a paint strip to cover it's manhole.

I haven't actually been to New York City, so obviously this is the same story - Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka.

Himeji, Japan

Himeji, Japan. Again I had to confirm this by translating the hiragana. I wonder now what the original manhole looks like, as the anti-littering message seems to be stuck on top of the original design. Himeji is home to a really awesome Japanese castle - one of the few that has survived antiquity, and namely the war, and therefore is a Unesco Heritage site.

Himeji again, the White heron is the city's bird, and I believe there may've been heron "gargoyles" on the roof of the castle.

Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan

Kuwana was the neighbouring city to Yokkaichi, on the way to Nagoya.

Not sure how the origami birds relate to Kuwana.

Iga, Mie, Japan


This is a ninja - this manhole is in Iga, "the ninja town".

Seoul, South Korea

Seoul, Korea. It seemed at the time that they were in love with the fact that at one point in time they hosted the Olympic games. It may have seemed that way to me also because I was staying in what was the Olympic village.

Los Angeles, USA

This is legit - the real LA.

Bratislava, Slovakia

One of the must-see sights of Bratislava.

Hamilton, New Zealand

I saw this manhole at the Base shopping centre, and thought it warranted a photo and a mention, especially since it is in my hometown. Unfortunately it is not so clear - those square tiles are actually the symbol of Hamilton - basically an S-shaped river flowing through it.

Jandals, Sandals, Ketchup, Coromandels, Swanndris, Butterflies...

Once again I find myself writing a catch up blog, dating back to October...

I believe it was probably the weekend after I returned, that Mum, Dad, and I did a delivery up the Coromandel. It was a nice drive, and I went the furtherest I had been yet up there. We had a picnic lunch after we made the delivery, and had a quick look at the beach (hence the photos). On the way home we stopped for afternoon tea at Thames. At the bookshop there I picked up several books quite cheaply, including a Lonely Planet guide for Central Europe.

On a Wednesday following this, I went to an evening at the STA travel at the university. It was quite good, especially with the food on offer - the thing I remember the most was the Blue Cheese wantons... Delicious. I also answered a question and the prize was a Lonely Planet guide of my choice - I chose one for South East Asia - probably worth $40-60, and it was one I had debated getting in the weekend but held off, so naturally I was rather stoked.

Later in the month Centreplace reopened - Hamilton's central mall, in recent years, due to the creation of the base and it's plentiful parking, the CBD had suffered, so the council combined the two malls next to each other and gave them a face lift, changed the road layout, and viola! the new Centreplace. To be honest, it isn't particularly geared up with male-oriented shops, so I have only visited it that once.

At the end of the month was Labour day, despite great ambitions, I went for the tried and tested weekend at Papamoa, chilling out and doing pedestrian activities.

Mid-November I went down to Rotorua to catch up with my old mate from Tech, Steve, who was over from Sydney. Steve had rented a cottage for a week, so once I got down there on the Saturday, we went and got some dinner, and also tried several places to redeem the voucher I had got for a 12 pack of new Tui Lager at Big Boys Toys the weekend before (by spinning a wheel and then letting them wax a strip of my leg). Eventually we found somewhere that a) would honour it, and b) had it in stock. That night we just chatted away in the spa pool. The next morning we went to the park at Paradise Valley. We walked around it, checking out all the animals, once we had done that we had half an hour to wait before we could pat the lion cubs. I wasn't too bothered, but after doing it I'm glad we did wait. 

After that we went and had a good lunch at Valentines.

The following weekend Steve and I met up at Papamoa. We took in the Hot Pools, as well as the Drift carts on Parton Road.

The following weekend I went to the Christmas show at Riverlea theatre - Bring Back Burlesque, which was entertaining, but semi-awkward as I felt a little pervy.

 

On the 7th of December I moved into my new residence in Deanwell. Its nice being independent again, and I have enjoyed making a few changes, pulling out old stumps, changing cupboard handles etc. It was probably a good week before I really got to cook in the kitchen though, as it seemed to be a week of Christmas dinners etc

 

Christmas was over at Papamoa again, but at Suzanne and Bevan's new house. How the holidays fell this year, it meant five days there, two back in Hamilton, and then another five in Papamoa, which was nice.

 

January, to be fair seemed to be relatively quiet. Probably partially because I have had Sky installed at my house to make it attractive for flatmates (as well as giving it Wifi at the same time) so I have gone hard at recording a lot of documentaries, and subsequently having to watch them.

 

Again, a long weekend at the end of the month found me at Papamoa, and again the  weekend of the 7/8/9th. On the in-between weekend I checked out the Classic Car Museum, on the first weekend of every month they do an all-you-can-eat breakfast, and I finally got the timing right. For what it was, the museum was very well done, perhaps if I was more into that sort of thing I may've enjoyed it more. The following day was Mum's birthday, so we went out for lunch with Suzanne and Bevan.

And here we are, mid-February.

 

Next weekend is Bevan's sister's wedding in Hawkes Bay (as well as being Art Deco weekend). The Plan for April is to use Easter and the couple of days after it to visit a mate in Nelson, and knock off the few things I haven't seen on the North Eastern side of the South Island, such as Kaikoura, and Hanmer Springs.

Return to the South Sea, and onto Mango bay Resort

So from Barefoot it was back to the South Sea resort, which was an interesting combination of feelings - I had enjoyed my first foray there, but this time it would be with a new selection of fellow travellers, and as it turned out, most of the staff were different also.

Anyhow, the next evening I caught the boat back to the mainland, and then was transferred to my resort on the mainland - Mango Bay Resort, which was on the Coral coast, which is actually nowhere near Denerau as it turns out... however the silver lining was that I had an awesome conversation with the Indian driver. I tactfully broached the  topic of Indian history in Fiji. It was very interesting, especially comparing it to New Zealand history, and that of my ancestors. The driver's family would have come out to Fiji around the same time as my ancestors came to New Zealand, approximately in the 1870s. From what he said, combined with what I later learned at the museum in Suva, the British, when they colonised Fiji quickly realised that if they weren't careful, the native Fijians would become the underclass (to the British). The solution to this was to bring in Indian workers, India being somewhere else that the British was colonising at the time. Due to the caste system in India, a lot of Indians jumped at the chance to go to Fiji and leave their low position in the caste system behind. Unfortunately, it seems the good intentions of the British lead to the Indians becoming the underclass, essentially slaves.

 

On arrival to the resort, I happened to be checking in at the same time as an attractive German girl. Turns out we were also staying in the same dorm, so once we had dropped off our stuff, we went and had dinner together.

 

The next day Anna, (the German girl) was heading to another resort to attend a friend's wedding for the day, and I decided to head to the nearby town of Sigatoka, where the below photos were taken.

It's fair to say the Fijians like their rugby....

Sigatoka was alright, it was mainly shops and a market - it was a service town essentially for the resorts nearby, of which there were a few. 
 

The Sigatoka river. This photo is taken from near the top of the hill, where the fort was located.

I had read in my travel guide that there was an old Tongan fort nearby (apparently Fiji was settled first by the Tongans). I asked one of the shopkeepers and she helped me to not get ripped off by a taxi driver who would take me there and wait while I checked it out. The custodian of the site gave me a tour and told me all about the different things we came across.

From memory I think she said this tree was several centuries old.

After an enjoyable tour, I headed back to the town and continued having a look around. There wasn't much to see, so I found the bus heading past my resort and hopped on. It was kind of a surreal journey, as they were showing the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy so here was I, someone from the first world, holidaying in the second world, watching a movie based in the third world (in the 80's no less). I also had to keep an eye out for when we were close to my resort - not the easiest as I wasn't that familiar with the landscape, having arrived there the night before in the dark.


Once I arrived back, the resort staff informed me they had upgraded me to my own bure. It was nice, but I realised it was because recently I seem to have developed a snore - which I wasn't aware of prior to this trip, so I also felt stink about it.


That night there was a "pub quiz", my team took it out at the end when we got the tie-breaker question correct.


I decided the next day to visit Suva. In order to do that the staff dropped me off at the gate and I waited for one of the minibuses that operate as unofficial buses. I didn't have to wait long. It was actually quite a cool feeling, like I was an intrepid traveller, travelling with the locals on their way to work etc. Unfortunately my morning bladder started calling, so I had to ask the driver if I could use the toilet somewhere - so I ended up using a service station toilet somewhere, and the bus waited for me, so I said a hearty thank you to the driver and other passengers for their patience.


Once I got to Suva I had a walk around, had some breakfast at a local Scottish restaurant - mainly to see if there was a Fiji burger... no there isn't, the only difference between NZ and Fijian McDonalds seems to be the fact they don't put bacon in their burgers, I imagine because then the Muslims in Fiji don't have to think twice about eating there.


Once I got bored of the shops, and fighting off annoying shopkeepers etc I went to the National museum. I'm a little over museums, but I enjoyed the social history section, as you may have gathered from above.


Again I returned to the resort via the "intrepid minibus". Something I enjoyed about the resort was the choice of dinners. On the islands the meals were nice, but had a high salad to meat ratio. At the resort, there was a choice, and meat-centric choices. I was joined again at dinner time by Anna, which was nice, as I had been looking forward to catching up with her as I was feeling lonely. We decided to play a board game or something, but we attracted the attention of a hypoactive little American kid with some pretentious name  - he was like "my name is Jefferson Mansfield Something-Field junior." After interrupting our ping pong game, he proceeded to tip the monopoly set on the table, and totally didn't get the concept of Connect 4.


The next day Anna and I hung out. We had a quick snorkel after breakfast before doing a trip to the local school to have a look. We had some morning tea with the teachers - sandwiches and some tea made from some lemon-flavoured leaves. After that we sat in on a class for about 10 or 20 minutes, the kids sang us a couple of songs, we took a couple of photos and left. It was interesting, but it was more about tourist fund-raising for the school than it was about teaching the kids about other cultures, which I thought was a lost opportunity on the part of the school. The funny thing was, last Friday on Beauty and the Geek, the contestants visited the same school.


On returning to the resort we met a French girl that had just arrived. We'd chatted about checking out a dead whale that was apparently up the beach somewhere (I haven't included pictures because it wasn't that nice...) and invited her along. I'd be liar if I said I wouldn't have preferred all Anna's attention to myself but at the same time I was glad she would have company when I left.


It was a good 45 minute walk each way, and what was left of the whale was a little bit gross and smelly. Once we made it back we ate some lunch, and organised a snorkelling safari trip. The snorkelling to be fair wasn't as good as the islands, especially after all the snorkelling I had done this trip.


That night I got my stuff all sorted for an early departure - I was getting picked up at 3:30am.
I woke up early, and got up, better to be early than fall back asleep. Managed to catch some more sleep on the car journey back. Had some breakfast at the airport, but I suspect they mistook the dishwashing detergent for cooking oil when they cooked it, as it didn't stay down too long. Anyhow the flight home was otherwise uneventful, and in some ways I was glad to be home again.