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Showing posts from February, 2018

Feeling less than groovy

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I'm most pleasantly installed at Jeanette & Kevan's place in Maraetai, housesitting for a couple of days while they are away.  I woke up this morning unsure whether I was awake or not - I've been fighting a cold / sinus infection and today was the "I am an idiot" phase.  My original plan to catch the ferry to Waiheke went completely out the window as I simply couldn't get my arse into gear.  So having consumed my entire daily water requirement as hot tea, I finally hopped on a ferry to downtown Auckland.  I hate to say it but this erstwhile lovely city has become quite ugly - maybe it will be better once it's finished.  I do like the name of one of the takeaway places downtown, though.  Pausing downtown only long enough to buy a delicious but extortionate ice cream cone, I hopped on the next ferry back to sanity. But there was more insanity to come.  I had decided that the Franklin pub looked promising for dinner so I set it in the GPS in my phone...

Heading north

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Everyone remembers where they were when JFK died - I wonder if I will remember that I was sitting on the couch at Georgia's place when I heard that Billy Graham died.  I have the luxury today of having about 10 hours to do the two and a bit hour drive from Waihi to Auckland so I'll take the back roads and soak up some sights.  Until I suddenly realise that I am not going to Auckland, I am going to Hamilton to stay with my friends Hugh & Maureen.  So, with bags of time in hand, off I trotted by the back route (I don't think there is any other kind between Waihi and Hamilton).  Hugh, in true Hugh style, had sen me detailed instructions with which my GPS agreed so I was confident about getting there.  The high spot of my stay, other than Maureen's brilliant cooking, was the one day cricket international between the kiwis and the poms.  Our tickets had us sitting on a grassy bank for 8 hours but a quick appeal to the ticket office revealed that a large ...

Alas, poor Yorrick

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As you may recall, I seriously considered staying another night in Wellington but was beset with an excess of energy on Sunday and walked up Kaukau, visited our old house in Ngaio and went to Te Papa so, along with a load of other little odds and  sods, I had pretty much done all I wanted to do in Wellington.  Besides, there was the tail end of a cyclone on its way and I didn't fancy driving through that.  So I headed for New Plymouth. Please excuse the lack of photos.  My beloved Lumix camera has decided that several thousand photos is enough for one lifetime and has shuffled off.  So I am reduced to using the camera in my phone which, to be as nice about it as possible, is a piece of crap with a mind of its own. STOP PRESS!!!!!!!!!! My camera lives!  Holding down the power button for half a minute caused the lens suddenly to groinch into action and I am apparently becameraed again.  I promise to be nicer to it in future and not just shove it in ...

Wellington, here I is

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[My camera cable is in the car which is parked 100m up the road and I am too idle to go and get it.  Will do so tomorrow] This morning I woke up moderately bright and fairly early in Taupo (or Wairakei), almost ready to hit the road.  Georgia and I had one last stop to make - at the thermal valley near the Wairakei thermal power station.  Rather than go to the fancy manmade area at Wairakei, we went back to nature and trudged along the slightly crumbly bush tracks.  We were given a thermometer to take with us to measure the temperature of the ground which is a neat idea.  I think we topped out at 60C. Having fed the local ducks and chickens, Georgia and I parted ways, her to head north back to Waihi, me heading south to Wellington.  I could have chosen the fancy new road bypassing Taupo but I fancied a look at the lake and the mountains so I went through downtown.  Scenically this was a good choice but it added maybe an hour to my trip.  This ...

Go north, young man

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Woke up this morning feeling just a bit dopey.  Indeed, for the first time in ages, I rolled over and went back to sleep.  Odd considering I'm halfway though my chemo-free week.  Anyway, couldn't lounge around the house all day so, after a latte and an apricot pie with George in downtown Waihi, it was time to hit the road.  Plan A was to head for Whiritoa, then to Tairua and back to Waihi via the back roads.  As I knew my way to Tairua, I hadn't bothered to charge my phone much.  Besides, there was a Tomtom GPS in the car.  Sometimes belt and braces just ain't enough as the charger in the car wouldn't charge my phone and the TomTom had decided to turn the brightness up to unreadable level and mute the voice. On arriving in Whiritoa I was greeted with much arm waving by a gentleman who I took to be telling me that I was driving too fast (I was) so I slowed down and waved back.  It turned out that he was trying to tell me that his rental car was de...

To Quote Sir Edmund Hillary

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“Well George, we've knocked the  bastard  off.”  Somewhat appropriate today as Georgia gave me a ride to Tauranga, ( https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/100763642).  First task - some vigorous exercise so up Mount Maunganui I headed.  It's a mere 2100 metre gravel path to the summit at 250 metres and there's a choice of tracks.  I opted for the 4WD track, figuring that it would be fairly navigable and have no stairs (not fond of stairs). It was a nasty cruel track having virtually no level stretches to catch you breath on, just an unrelenting 7 degree slope (calculated that myself - it felt like more).  It didn't help that many of the local nut cases like to run up it.  It wasn't particularly hot today - 25 degrees max but the humidity was 100% and I was soaked in sweat when I go to the top. There was a school party of 120 kids arriving in small groups and some in the first group had neglected to bring water bottles with them so I offered m...

Did I mention exercise? Down in Waihi

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I did decamp from Red Beach more or less on schedule the day before yesterday and took the long route via Maraetai to visit Jeanette & Ben.  So I arrived in Waihi much later than expected even though I didn't stop at the Hunua Falls (will do so on the way back).  Yesterday wasn't much of a beach day as we were copping the tail end of yet another tropical cyclone (insert sarcastic comment about climate change being fake news here).  I did need some exercise, though, and as Georgia had the arborist coming to deal with some undesirable trees (a rotten willow, a leaning gum and an evil bloody bunyabunya (a kind of armoured monkey puzzle), that seemed like good exercise. The lady with the chain saw had the fun job of climbing the trees and chopping them into bits while Georgia and I carted the bits, by hand and with two ancient wheelbarrows, into a  number of sorted piles which got progressively less organised as the day went on.  Once that was done, we unleashe...

Little Old Lady Power (finally)

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This will be a short post as it is past my bedtime and my laptop is playing silly buggers, deciding that charging the battery when it's plugged in is a dumb idea.  This is my last night at Red Beach before I head to Waihi.  I have felt moderately brain dead the last few days as I get near the end of another chemo cycle.  It will be good to have a week off though I do wonder if the lab in Waihi will actually manage to send me my results this time. The sea has not been at all inviting at the bottom of Jacobs Ladder the last few days - much as I love a big surf on the beach, I am less enamoured in a rocky cove.  So, given my mental and physical condition, I gave away my daily swim in exchange for a daily extended dork listening to the waves.  This evening I took a long farewell walk into the teeth of a gale to say by for now to the local oyster catchers.  I nearly made it to the bridge into Orewa but the tide wasn't quite out far enough for me to be able t...