In the limited time we have spent in New Zealand I have
always thought of the country as being a fairly conservative place; where the
status quo is rarely troubled, and where traditional values are still seen as
important. But stick some hairy guy in
front of a microphone and all that changes, for it seems that practically `anything
goes` on the radio over here. I tuned in the other day and there was a phone-in
on pubic hair and the use of mirkins! I heard of another station that had sent
an undercover DJ to spend a night with a local hooker and then asked him to describe
his experiences live on air. This wouldn’t be so bad if they were broadcast
after the water shed, but this is on Breakfast Radio at 8.30am, for all to
hear! And yesterday afternoon as we were driving down from Rotorua, some adverts
came on the radio with a gentlemen pleading for `my poo`. I kid you not. I
guess he must run some sort of sewage disposal business emptying septic tanks
on the Kapiti coast. His tag line was `We are number one for your number twos!`
We had to laugh.
it’s been over three weeks since I last blogged but it
certainly doesn’t seem like it. The weeks seem to flash by and here we are with
Easter come and gone, four weeks into the kiwi autumn, though you’d never know
it. For here, in Wellington, and throughout much of the country, it’s still
very much T-shirt weather, though the sun is reluctant to put its hat on much
before mid-day. But as we get most of the sun in our garden in the afternoon
that’s fine by us. I suspect these 20+ temperatures can’t last any longer.
We’ve been here now over two months, but I still find myself
continually comparing prices and services with those in the UK. I know it’s
crazy. The UK has a population of around 64 million, while little old New
Zealand has less than five million. Things are bound to be more expensive here
and the choice a bit limited. But there is one area of the High Street where NZ
wins hands down and that is the DIY superstore. There are two major players:
the Aussie company Bunnings and the Kiwi equivalent Mitre 10 – and are they on
the ball.
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| Our local Mitre 10 |
Walk into a B&Q back home and you can easily spend 10
minutes playing `hunt the assistant`, and when you find one, and ask for a
particular product you are usually met by a glazed expression. Here, there
always seems to be someone with a smile on their face and a spring in their
step ready to advise or take you to that elusive zip bit you need. Their
assortment is extensive and varied and you don’t have to wait at the checkouts
for 10 minutes because the person in front has a pot of paint with a barcode
missing. Having now just finished the tree house I am on first-name terms with
`Dan` and `Jimmy` at our local Mitre 10 at Crofton Downs.
The tree house was a big hit at Livi’s fourth birthday party a couple of weeks
ago. A bigger hit though was the fairy and her helper who played games and
enchanted the children for two hours. The day was bright and sunny (that was a
first for her birthday) and the garden was the perfect setting for the event.
And Livi didn’t burst into tears, though the fact that I was banned from
singing `Happy Birthday` on my uke might have had something to do with it.
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| The fairy and her helper were a big hit Livi's birthday party |
Our little White Honda Fit (Jazz) is going well. We took it
for a long road trip over Easter and it never missed a beat. It’s a bit of a
pain for James to keep moving the child seats out of their car into ours, but
it is really handy to have a second car and all the family (who have driving
licences) are using it.
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| Even Ben wants to drive our new little car |
Last week we entertained Pat’s niece, Julie from Australia.
She was on her way to a conference in Auckland, with three of her pals, and
they decided to see a bit of the north island on the way.
It was great to see her again after several years, and her
friends, David, Glenda and Danii, were delightful and great company. David and
Glenda are boaters as well, but his craft on the Murray in Mildura, might be as
long as `The Cat’s Whiskers`, but it’s about five times as wide, complete with
all mod-cons. He has invited us over next Easter for a few days for a bit of a
cruise, and it is possible Pat’s sister Monica and her hubby Gary, might join
us as well from Vancouver Island, Canada. Should be an International hoot. The
Aussies are also keen to visit the UK in 2018 to try narrowboating, so we will
have some serious planning to do.
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| Danii, Pat, Julie, David and Glenda, when they came round for dinner last Wednesday |
We spent much of Easter in Rotorua. It’s very much the
centre of geo-thermal activity in New Zealand, about 400 miles north of
Wellington, and as you travel into the city, you encounter big plumes of steam
coming up through the ground on either side of you. We did Rotorua back in 2003,
and hit all the tourist spots then. It’s a bit smelly (the sulphur smells like
rotten eggs), though not nearly as bad as I remembered it being last time.
Julie and her pals were also in Rotorua on Saturday, en
route, for Hobbiton, from `The Lord Of The Rings`, which is down the road, and
we met up at their luxury B&B accommodation for a barbecue and several
drinks on Saturday night. The main reason we went though, was that my niece,
Lucy, her husband Mark, and their two children Imogen and Ben, were spending
the weekend there, driving down from Auckland. We hadn’t seen them this trip,
and we had a great time catching up and playing with the children. On Easter
Sunday morning we went to one of the most popular thermal parks to see one of
the geysers erupt. They tease it into action by pouring down a substance that
looked suspiciously like soap powder to us, and it responds accordingly
shooting water high up into the sky for several minute. Mark is MD of Unilever
in New Zealand. I told him he should consider sponsoring the event with `Persil`
as the detergent of choice at the Park. Non-bio, of course!
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| My niece Lucy, Mark, Ben and Immy with the erupting geyser in the background |
After lunch we caught the cable car up high above Rotorua,
where you get spectacular views of the town and lake, and then took the gravity
luge down, though we had to queue for nearly one and a half hours for our turn.
I think every tourist in town turned up at the same time. Good fun though. The
kids seemed to like it, though Pat has never been that keen on cable car or
chair lifts.
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| The Skyline Luge with Rotorua in the background |
This week its back to normal, looking after the kids and
after many weeks, Livi has started to want to come out with us, so we hit the
zoo last week and are planning some other days out, if the weather holds up.
Inbetween we getting the 101 documents together we need for our residency
application. We got the medicals sorted out today, so that is a big step
forward.
Toodaloo
