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!

Grantown on Spey

With a three day weekend lined up Kim and I planned a weekend in the Highlands. Fortunately the snow stopped and the road was cleared so the trip was all go. We left around 4 pm and the trip took 2 and ¼ hours. We just made it up the snow covered drive to Justin’s house and after minor troubles with the front gate we had arrived. Justin’s place was a nice getaway pad. Two bedrooms, nice interior and great views over the snow capped highlands. Unpacked, put a pizza in the oven and made chocolate chip biscuits, then settled in and watched the opening game of the six nations Wales V England. Game was a bit boring with England prevailing.
Saturday the day was clear and the sunshine even had some warmth. We set-off on a walk through some Larch forest next to the swollen river Spey. It was very quiet, apart from the odd dog walker and a pair of circling screeching hawks. Somehow we went off track and ended up on the wrong side of the golf course. I blamed Kim for her shocking navigation skills! We nipped back in to the Metropolis that is Grantown and went for Lunch at a cafe. Then we did the obligatory walk up and down the main street, which took about 10 mins. We ducked into a couple of boutiquey shops as well. Took a slow drive out to Kims Grandparents place which is the setting for the infamous stone-wigg “fishing week”, taking place EVERY August. I got quite excited when I saw a white weasel carrying a black mouse in the grandparents front Garden. As is tradition we then walked up the hill behind the house. The heather was thick and quite marshy in parts and I had to Piggy Back Kim for some stretches. We made to the Rocky out-crop and took some good photo’s. Back at the car we carried on further up the road. We drove over a bridge and some locals even stopped as and asked us if we were lost! Back at Justin’s house we caught the exciting end of the Italy Ireland game where Italy snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We then watched and excellent game of Rugby, France v Scotland. France were victors, but Scotland were definitely not disgraced. Chicken Korma for Dinner with Chocolate chippy biscuits for dessert. We then watched a good movie about writing and basketball with Sean Connery.
Sunday, we had a great sleep in. Then we both went for a run, although not together. Kim refused to run with me. I ran for an hour up the main road it was quite icy and snowy in parts. We cleaned up after Breakfast and decided to make a slow departure back to Dundee. We stopped in at the Craggowen Adventure centre to get info for our next trip to Grantown. We took the ‘B’ roads through to Aviemore stopping at Loch Morlich. Then we cruised on more ‘B’ roads passed Loch Inch stopping several times to take a few snapshots. It was at this point that I discovered the heat shield had come away from around my exhaust pipe. It was making a bit of a noise when we were driving, so I just turned the radio up a little louder. It was a tad after 2 pm and our stomachs were both rumbling. We tried to get food at a hotel in Newtonmore, but the Kitchen had closed. We were starting to get dizzy with hunger so we burst into a local book store come cafe. A sweet old lady ran it, and she served up food to keep our wolves at the door. We carried on along the A9 to Bruar. A bit of a tourist hotspot, but because it was off-season it wasn’t so bad. We enjoyed Aero Hot chocolates before walking up the valley and checking out the impressive Bruar falls. Kim slept as we made our way back to Dundee. The end of a relaxing weekend, great to get away and get some fresh highland air into the old lungs!

Chirstmas - New Year 2010-11 Switzerland

Day 1: UK --> Switz
With recent heavy snow in Scotland I was understandably nervous about making it over to Switzerland for Christmas with Mum and Dad. And even though the weather was clear I did have some flight dramas and spent a ‘fun filled’ eight hours at Edinburgh airport. The gist of it was we missed our slot into Geneva because our plane was late and had to re-fuel, then the plane crew ran out of workable hours, so we had to find another crew. We eventually took off around 16:00. It was snowing in Geneva/Lausanne when I arrived, but the plane landed ok. Mum and Dad were at the airport arrival gate, so It was nice to see them when I walked through. Drove back to Lausanne, and I got hit with a barrage of questions. A lot of them were about Kim! Sat down to a light meal and had an early night.
Day 2: Christmas day!
No stockings this year :( I think I might be a bit old for those now. Talked to the family on phone / skype back in NZ and Aus. We normally go to church before we open presents but we didn't this year for some reason. I did quite well with presents this year... From Mum and Dad I got a Cashmere Green jersey / Snowboarding gloves / tripod for camera. Megan - A nice slim brown wallet and Gav - NZ T-shirt. In the afternoon we caught a bus up to the top of Lausanne and went for a walk through a park, we took photos and threw snowballs. Dad and I climbed an amazing 35 metre wooden tower (Sauvabelin) That was based on drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. We walked back down the hill through the main part of town, past the cathedral and home. I was confused by the signs on all the buses because they were all going to Joyeaux Noel! Then I realised, that that was Merry Chistmas in French. Late Christmas day I really started to feel crap "severe man flu", I lost my appetite (only had two mouthfuls of Mum's delightful Christmas dinner) and I went to bed at 19:30 with 5 layers on and I was shivering.
Day 3: Boxing day
Was still feeling hot and cold but we decided there was no point sitting around feeling sorry for myself, so we went for a drive to Gruyere. A place famous for its cheese! It was beautiful clear crisp day (-5°C) and we visited the quaint village and its castle. The place looked amazing with the large snowy peaks in the background.
Next we went to the Cailler chocolate factory, we sat down for 'the best!' hot chocolate I have ever tasted. Magnific! Then we took a walk through / guided tour of the history of Cailler chocolates. There was also a real production process of Cailler chocolates, which I found especially interesting. And at the end was the best part of tour, the taste testing of all the different types chocolate. One interesting fact I learnt about chocolate is that the taste is also influenced by the shape of the chocolate.
Day 4:
Slow start to the day... Had a big sleep in. Originally I was going to head up the mountains today, but decided it would be best if I had another day's recovery. From my severe man flu! ;-). We were going to drive to Geneva and have a look around but the day slipped away so we decided to have a quiet day, playing cards and just chilling out. We did manage to go for a stroll along the Lausanne lake foreshore. By this stage Dad was starting to get sick! Mum believed the best medicine for flu was extended ‘happy hour’ which usually entailed imbibing copious quantities of mulled wine and or Winter Pims. The alcohol went hand in hand with the flu tablets, which probably heightened the effect of the alcohol.
Day 5:
Mountains here we come, we left about 8 a.m. it was snowing again! We went via Annecy and Albertville. Then we started heading up and up and up the Valley to Val Thorens. The trip took around 3 and a bit hours and we arrived just before midday. Met up with my friend Jon, and after a coffee with Mum and Dad said goodbye. I hired a board and boots for 3 days. The guy I hired the gear off thought he was some kind of French comedian! For the first day I just got a half day ski pass for the Val Thorens area. The conditions were pretty poor, with low visibility. It was snowing off and on. Regardless I spent 3 hours on the runs and had a good time. Afterwards I met up with everyone. (Becks / Amy / Dave Sutton / Steve / Mel and co.) Mostly engineers! Such Fun! The chalet accommodated 12 people. It had a large living / dining area as well as 6 rooms plus bathrooms. There was also a swimming pool. I slept on a fold out double couch. For the package which included flights, transfers, accommodation, food and catering and ski passes. They paid 900 pounds for a week. So I rolled up and crashed on the couch for a couple days. I didn't want to out stay my welcome ;) We all played Balderdash on the first night, the game where you make up the definitions of the words, great fun!
Day 6:
It was a picture perfect day and I bought a ski pass for the wider '3 valleys'. Cost about 90 Euros for 2 days. We set out and I immediately lost everyone. It was quite hard, because there were skiers and boarders everywhere. I eventually managed to track them down with the aid of a map and cell phone. The chairlifts and Gondola's were amazing, it sure beats the crappy ones in Scotland. However it was very very busy and there were often queues for the lifts. I had a few near misses with other skiers :-o ! Had lunch up the top of one of the highest peaks, lasagne and a couple of drinks cost me 21 euros! The afternoon was brilliant, super runs and the crowds thinned out!
End of the day we went for a quiet beer at this alpine pub, which played some good music. It was a weird concept getting there by snow board! That night we all went out for dinner at a French restaurant. We had Raclete and hot plate beef. Very French! We were so full of meat and cheese by the end of the night.
Home and bed, I was shattered after a big day.
Day 7:
Another great day weather wise. Last night I organised my bus down the mountain for 3 pm. So I got everyone cracking early and we went 3 valleys over to Corchevel. At midday I had to say goodbye to everyone and try and negotiate a route back to Val Thorens. I had quite a spectacular spill early on this day and I wacked my head (lucky I was wearing my helmet) But my confidence took a bit of a battering, and I boarded like a muppet for the rest of the day. Oh well. So I made it back by 2 pm. Changed. Ate. Dropped my hire gear off and headed to the bus station. The bus was 30 minutes late and I was afraid I wasn't going to make my connecting train at 16:42 at Moutier. I made my train with 4 minutes to spare, phew. The train which was actually a bus took me to Albertville where I met up with M+D and went the rest of the way home with them. Dad got confused with some of the french signs, but we made it home eventually. I then read all of Kim’s’ emails! Over about a gallon of tea!
Day 8: New Years Eve
Now Mum was sick! So we were all coughing and spluttering. Apparently flu season is in full swing in the UK. Maybe I had Swine flu?! New Years Eve was very low key. More Quiddler a bit of travel planning and some movies leading up to the ‘big’ count down. The highlight of the day was definitely the Haggis which Mum and Dad experienced for the first time at dinner. It went down well!
We tried to see the fireworks from the deck but couldn’t spot any. So we had made it to 2011
Day 9: New Years Day!
An early start considering it was about 1 a.m. I went to bed. After a minor mishap of almost forgetting my phone I made it to the train and to the airport on time.

Overall it was a great trip albiet slightly tainted by ‘the sickness’. I got in some good boarding time and it was great catching up with the parentals and seeing a little bit of Switzerland!