New Zealand trip

New Zealand –
Two weeks in the Shaky Isles

Visiting home for most Kiwi’s based in the UK is a unique experience and reasons for the trip generally fall into one of the following catagories. 1) Visa run. 2) Wedding. 3) Funeral. 4) Home sickness. Having already ticked off point 1, this trip was primarily to see the marriage of my good friends Mel and Richie. Plus I also managed to see all the aunties and uncles, the grandparents and a couple of earthquake surviving cousins.
The trip started with an overnight train from Edinburgh to London. I was a wee bit anxious because they were predicting overnight snow for northern England, right where my train was passing through. With blissful ignorance I fell asleep in Edinburgh and awoke in London, to the train attendant knocking on my cabin door. After arriving at Euston I had an unexpected change in travel plans with weekend engineering works on the piccadilly line I had to take the hideously expensive heathrow express from Paddington (£18)!
We exited the UK from heathrow terminal 4. I was flying with Royal Brunei, the cheapest flight I could get! I was expecting two flights to NZ with one stop in Brunei, but I was ‘lucky’ enough to get an extra transit stop in Dubai. I had 12 hour stop over in Brunei, so I organised a tour of Brunei from the airport. Brunei was a huge contrast coming from Scotland namely the heat, humidity and price of petrol. What can I tell you about Brunei…
Well… A small oil rich nation, It has a population of about 400,000 and 5 times the land area of Singapore. The King of Brunei, reigns supreme and plays a big part in the workings of the country. He is the 29th ruler of Brunei and his proud of it. The number 29 features strongly in a Mosque built in his honour, with 29 domes, staircases with 29 steps, 29 fountains and so on and so on. The king also lives in an impressive palace and he owns 6,000 cars! To become a citizen of Brunei you have to have lived in Brunei for 15 years, pass an entrance exam and pronounce correctly the Kings full name (it’s a whopper and obviously I cant remember it). You are allowed to have a maximum of 4 wives in Brunei. School and Medical fees are minimal because the King pays for everything. There are 1.2 million cars in Brunei of which 40 are Taxi’s. Also when you get married in Brunei as part of the ceremonial process you have to sit as a couple on a large pillow for 3 days and be waited on hand and foot. Then a maid stays with you in the room and shows you the art of sex. Once you are married you also must have the tips of your fingers painted orange. So I really enjoyed learning about these cultural aspects of Brunei. As part of our 4 hour tour we also visited a couple of museums and the water village (the water village is more like a city with 30,000 people living on stilts above water), went for lunch at the local market and visited someone’s house for afternoon tea and Brunei biscuits.
Onwards to NZ...
Home, I only had 11 days in NZ so it was a bit of a whirlwind tour. The anti-clockwise tour of the North Island encompassed the following destinations... Auckland, Hamilton, Raglan, New Plymouth, Waipakurau, Napier, Gisborne, Ohope, Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland and away.
It felt quite relaxing coming back to little laid back New Zealand, the pace of life seemed a lot gentler and everyone seemed to be wearing a smile.
Auckland (1) Travel weary I was immediately struck by the warmth and humidity, I picked up my rental car after some problems with not having a visa card, but Aunty Ker came to the rescue. So with my little white super windy Toyota corolla I was away.
Hamilton (1) I met Rob and his friend at Rob and Ker’s place on Dunford Mews. Mum was also there so I collected her after a quick cup of tea.
Raglan Here Mum and I met Mark in his new house. Mark has set himself up a nice wee batchelor pad. At Raglan we went for a couple of swims, I went for a run with Mark on the bike and we had fish and chips for tea. I was sorely disappointed that at Raglan’s ‘finest’ fish and chip shop I couldn’t order crumbed fish, curry rolls or Kumara chips!
New Plymouth En-route to New Plymouth I stopped for a swim at Mokau, then we heard on the radio that there had been a large earthquake in Chch, Mum and I didn’t stop listening to the radio all the way to N.P. We watched the tragic aftermath of the earthquake unfold on the news for the next couple of days. In N.P. I briefly caught up with Gavin before he dashed back to Wellington. I also finally met his lovely girlfriend Sarah. I spent some good times with granddad hitting golf balls on the race course, playing billiards, snooker and pool. More swims at Fitzroy Beach and a couple of runs, one along the new walkway to Bellblock and back.
Waipakurau / Takapau Wedding time. I arrived Friday afternoon at the Waipuk golf course and we played a 10 holes ambrose tournament with some of the lads from the wedding party. We stayed at the Pukeroa estate which was once a sanatorium and then a home for the disabled, it was a unique venue. Had fun decorating cup cakes until 1 a.m. in the morning with Katie, Scott, Wackers, Lexi, Steph, Jared and Mace. Managed to knock out a run with Scott and Mace before the wedding. Wedding went off really well. It was classic when the Bride was walking down the ‘Outside aisle’ to Songs without words: No. 7 In E Flat major with sheep baa’ing in the background. So typical NZ! The ceremony was quite emotional but things loosened up in the aftermatch. I sat next to Conrad over dinner and caught up with lots of old school mates over the course of the day. Hitting the D-floor was quite fun later in the night and we had a number of reunion photographs including the LGC lads and 120 c Elizabeth Street. The Newlyweds looked really happy!
On Sunday I was understandably a bit under weather. Before I took off we had BBQ lunch at a flash country house with a lap pool, golf hole and awesome views of the land.
Napier Got a bit lost finding Auckland Road but made it eventually. Aunty Hel was there and Stu joined us later from the batch. Had a good catch up with the S-Ropers and Stu even had me helping him out sanding a floor in their rental property around the corner. Monday morning I went for a good 26km run and then cooled off in their pool.
Gisborne It was great to catch up with Nan and Pop. Nan cooked my favourite meals, roast lamb and bread and butter pudding. Went for a couple of early morning surfs and yarned with Pop about Rugby over a few home brews. It was a pity I was a couple of weeks early for Pop’s 80th birthday celebration. Caught up with Uncle Barry and Aunty Diane as well which was fun.
Ohope Just time for a quick stop off, which involved a swim, ice cream and visit to the old flat.
Rotorua The Prebbles were in good form as always. It was a bit of a bonus catching up with Carey and Lauren as well who were survivors of the Chch earthquake. We had a couple of games of quiddler of which Carey was an ‘unofficial’ winner of one of them. I went for run through the redwoods with Lauren accompanying me on the bike. We cooled off after lunch in the clean and clear waters of the Blue Lake.
Hamilton (2) I enjoyed an evening with Aunty Ker and Rob. We had a free-range roast chicken for dinner and yoghurt for dessert. Afterwards we talked Rugby and travelling.
Auckland (2) I Filled up with gas and dropped off the car at Auckland Airport. Then I had the big trip back to Dundee. 3 flights, 1 train trip. 30 hours of travelling with 10 hours transit time. A big trip and was shattered by the end of it luckily Kim was there to meet me at the train station!