(no subject)
So that's what they've been getting up to on the other side of the planet.
What a great four weeks that's been! And doesn't England seem really cold all of a sudden! We had overcast skies in NZ, but it was always warm enough with just a T-Shirt.
I spent this morning making a DVD compilation of our photos. It turned out pretty well, especially the videos I took with the camera which look much better than I expected. At least everyone will be able to sit on a sofa by a TV set to look at the photos now, rather than huddling round a PC or passing small pieces of glossy paper around.
Si's been doing a wonderful job documenting our holiday over on Planet Skaro, so I'll just stick my fave photo of the trip up on here. It shows Si and myself 'hugging' a Kauri tree, one of the enormous New Zealand trees that were almost completely wiped out last century. Yes, it is just a tree, but we're just people. The tree's been there for over 700 years!
Random Memories:
1 - The USA. We stopped off at Los Angeles airport on the way back and if it's any indicator of what the rest of the USA is like, the country is a boiling buearucratic dictatorship, a nightmare straight-line city layed out like an enormous filing cabinet where everyone is numbered and fed a daily diet of crappy cat-falling-down-the-stairs television. Every other international airport we went to had flatscreens, facilities and shops; LA had two CRT's, an hour-long queue, plus biometric and fingerprint screening. Next to the sign for the restrooms was another sign saying 'Buisness Class customers only past this point'. We all had some class of business, so we just went past it anyway.
2 - In NZ, they pronounce Thames to sound like 'Tims'. A whole town of Tims!
3 - We listened to the radio a lot. Highlights included Coromandel FM, with it's marvellous jingle - 'You've got to live it! (Live it!) Love it! (Love it!) Listen to it! (Listen to it!) Coromandel FM!' and the wonderful conversation about urinal ettiquette between the New Zealand DJ and his guest... who was Welsh. It was accent heaven.
4 - NZ national papers are like our local papers.
5 - The citizens of Taupo dub themselves 'Taupudlians'. Even though Lake Taupo is a puddle the size of greater London.
6 - Everything we did could be described in a way that makes it sound rubbish. So we climbed a glacier (walked on some stray ice), saw a brilliant glow-worm display down an ancient cave (watched some bugs excreting down a hole) and took a relaxing mud bath and spa (sat in a muddy puddle and inhaled sulphur dioxide).
7 - The Youth Hostel Association is wonderful and our holiday would have been a lot more expensive without them. We wouldn't have met so many nice people either.
8 - Quad Biking is brilliant. At least it is in NZ where litigation isn't so much of an issue. Some people who went Quad Biking in Australia said they were only allowed to drive in circles round a beach. We went through huge ruts, over streams and mud puddles and through a forest in a terrifying sequence very similar to the speed-bikers at the end of Return of the Jedi!
9 - We did what we wanted to on the holiday. We read books, did exciting things and went on walks in equal measure. It's the best way.
10 - We saw a real Kiwi in the Eco-centre at Hokitika. It was really weird. Kiwis are Earth-bound, overweight birds that only come out at night and are quite endangered. It was like seeing a Dodo, a bird that should be extinct. I'm amazed and delighted that we still have them.
What a great four weeks that's been! And doesn't England seem really cold all of a sudden! We had overcast skies in NZ, but it was always warm enough with just a T-Shirt.
I spent this morning making a DVD compilation of our photos. It turned out pretty well, especially the videos I took with the camera which look much better than I expected. At least everyone will be able to sit on a sofa by a TV set to look at the photos now, rather than huddling round a PC or passing small pieces of glossy paper around.
Si's been doing a wonderful job documenting our holiday over on Planet Skaro, so I'll just stick my fave photo of the trip up on here. It shows Si and myself 'hugging' a Kauri tree, one of the enormous New Zealand trees that were almost completely wiped out last century. Yes, it is just a tree, but we're just people. The tree's been there for over 700 years!
Random Memories:
1 - The USA. We stopped off at Los Angeles airport on the way back and if it's any indicator of what the rest of the USA is like, the country is a boiling buearucratic dictatorship, a nightmare straight-line city layed out like an enormous filing cabinet where everyone is numbered and fed a daily diet of crappy cat-falling-down-the-stairs television. Every other international airport we went to had flatscreens, facilities and shops; LA had two CRT's, an hour-long queue, plus biometric and fingerprint screening. Next to the sign for the restrooms was another sign saying 'Buisness Class customers only past this point'. We all had some class of business, so we just went past it anyway.
2 - In NZ, they pronounce Thames to sound like 'Tims'. A whole town of Tims!
3 - We listened to the radio a lot. Highlights included Coromandel FM, with it's marvellous jingle - 'You've got to live it! (Live it!) Love it! (Love it!) Listen to it! (Listen to it!) Coromandel FM!' and the wonderful conversation about urinal ettiquette between the New Zealand DJ and his guest... who was Welsh. It was accent heaven.
4 - NZ national papers are like our local papers.
5 - The citizens of Taupo dub themselves 'Taupudlians'. Even though Lake Taupo is a puddle the size of greater London.
6 - Everything we did could be described in a way that makes it sound rubbish. So we climbed a glacier (walked on some stray ice), saw a brilliant glow-worm display down an ancient cave (watched some bugs excreting down a hole) and took a relaxing mud bath and spa (sat in a muddy puddle and inhaled sulphur dioxide).
7 - The Youth Hostel Association is wonderful and our holiday would have been a lot more expensive without them. We wouldn't have met so many nice people either.
8 - Quad Biking is brilliant. At least it is in NZ where litigation isn't so much of an issue. Some people who went Quad Biking in Australia said they were only allowed to drive in circles round a beach. We went through huge ruts, over streams and mud puddles and through a forest in a terrifying sequence very similar to the speed-bikers at the end of Return of the Jedi!
9 - We did what we wanted to on the holiday. We read books, did exciting things and went on walks in equal measure. It's the best way.
10 - We saw a real Kiwi in the Eco-centre at Hokitika. It was really weird. Kiwis are Earth-bound, overweight birds that only come out at night and are quite endangered. It was like seeing a Dodo, a bird that should be extinct. I'm amazed and delighted that we still have them.