Frozen Grass Blog 1

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

New Zealand: Phase 11 - Rotorua to Raglan

If you ever visit Rotorua don't ever wake up, look at your wife accusingly and say 'holy crap, that stinks!'

It isn't a good way to start the day.

Thankfully I said something like "you are more beautiful than a million roses plucked by a million angels playing golden lutes and silver flutes".

Whilst cooking breakfast in the communal kitchen we met a nice chap from French Canada (the part of Canada that speaks French, as opposed to the other part of Canada that speaks Gibberish). He was most of the way through riding around New Zealand on a pushie. Something, I fear, that I possess too great an intellectual prowess to even consider doing. That sentence just proved how smart I ain't. Riding a pushie around NZ, with its undulating friggin mountains, steep winding curves, and indescribably brutal wind (read my previous post regarding the Minister for Road Fans) is ridiculous. I mean doing something like this must be more frustrating, and require more patience than waiting for Alexander Downer not to say something stupid, arrogant or slightly gay.
Either way, Frenchy Kanuk was a nice bloke and we wished him good luck as we departed on the next leg of our journey.

After visiting a few more interesting areas around Rotorua, a Maori/Anglo chapel and the park full of farty springs we drove on through a swathe of very annoying bike riders (I think they were secretly trying to compete for the 'Mr. Tight Pants New Zealand' award).

Out the back of Rotorua is a little place called Te Wairoa - it once was a hotel, and a place for Missionary whities to stop by and brainwash the locals. Now it is a museum, and a true credit to the people that manage the area. Again, New Zealand impressed me with its power, and its proximity to what feels like the centre of the earth. The village was destroyed by a volcano in 1886, however much of it was preserved like a modern day Pompei - suffocated under mud and ash. We had a lovely, ye freezing bloody cold, walk around the village and down a little waterfall walk.

In the shop I found the Tiki I had been looking for. He is so little and cute and like a little Aaron.
After this wonderful little detour we went on back past 'Titus Pantus Maximus' towards the glow worm caves at Waitomo. It was like night time inside, all serene and pretty. Kind of like if you covered your bedroom walls with those glow in the dark stickers and pretended you were drunk and the eye doctor had put that stuff in your eyes that makes everything really bright. Yeah, kinda like that. Except you were on a boat with other people that were generally quite annoying and stupid. Perhaps they would have been less annoying if I were drunk and in high contrast.

After our dotty experience in the dark caves we moved on to an unusual (well for Stacey anyway) point in our travels. Where were we going to go? We had driven up to Whatawhata, a little shit hole in the middle of nowhere. I left Stace in the LOCKED van and wandered into the local pub to buy some beer. Inside I was greeted by a reinforced wire cage with a small slot to pass the beer through, and some disconcertingly friendly locals. I said "g'day", they said "eh bro", I said "six Speights" the bar maid said "eh bro", I said "keep the change" the bar maid said "eh bro", the locals kept staring as I wandered out to the van (Stacey was laughing at some local farm produce, like a donkey or something) I started the van, turned it around, pointed at the map and said "were going here".

That's how we got to Raglan - kind of like the Byron Bay of New Zealand. Black sand (it kinda makes you feel dirty), weird pubs that won't let you pee unless you buy a beer, and apparently the best left hand break in New Zealand. Fortunately I didn't hurt myself, although this bloke who was about 40 years old, was drinking with his dickhead mate and two chicks in the van park, and he tried to do, like, this mono on his pushie to look cool in front of the chicks and he stuffed it and nearly broke his back. Ha, and his mate had to help him into the van park shower and they looked gay.

What a cock.

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