27th October 2010
Right so I have had a couple of days here in Melbourne and its a pretty nice place it has to be said, on our first day we were given a tour of the house by my uncle Dilip and shown the local area where they live. We then motored onto the surgery where my aunt Mala works. They own the kids surgery and its immaculate – so nice and so up to date. I wish my dentists was this fun to go to when I was a kid, there are PS3’s Xbox’s its a real child friendly place to help make going to the dentists less intimidating for kids...it was really impressive.
After we went into downtown Melbourne and didnt really know what to do, Dilip uncle gave us a brief of what the good things were but to be honest I had forgotten most of it. We decided to grab some food and then headed for the city tram – this is a great way of getting around the Melbourne City Circle, its a tour tram and its free and provides information about each stop, its great! You can get off where you like and go explore and then jump on the next tram with no issues.
We first stopped on the Wharf and did some shopping, this was unintentional and I wasn’t interested until I saw a 50% off levi’s sale – I then preceded to go crazy and bought some jeans and shirts for dirt cheap – I was pretty stoked with my purchases. After we grabbed another free method of transport tourism offered by the kind city of Melbourne, the tour bus. We decided to jump off and walk along the South Bank before then walking through the lovely gardens toward the big Rod Laver stadium and the Cricket Grounds. We made our way back toward the city and walked around town grabbing some food and drink before getting a tram back.
The city itself was huge sooo vast and soo busy, big buildings corporate everywhere and amazing places to eat. Its a grid system and there is some awesome little alleyways where you can get some amazing street art and some tasty places to eat for sure!! I really enjoyed just roaming around soaking in the city again. It was scary being back in a big city busy etc...it really reminded me of work, which is never a nice thought!
We took the 109 tram back to Mala Auntie’s fathers house and had dinner and caught up with the family which was really good. The kids are awesome fun for sure. I met Anne Marie Jayesh uncles wife, Jayesh is Mala Auntie brother, he wasn’t there but his 2 kids Raveen and Mya were there and they were incredible. So much energy so much fun! It was great.
The next day we took a long long drive up the Great Ocean Road. My mum, dad, Dilip and I all got in the car in the morning all prepared with a packed lunch to feed 10 kings and our cameras at the ready. Our first stop was in lovely Lorne, it seemed every little town we stopped at was tailored for holiday makers looking to spend a couple of days on the coast, fully stocked with lovely quaint restaurants and things to do as well as awesome Surf shops. We had some lunch in Lorne and went for a walk in the town and got some amazing hot chips!! The beach was immaculate and Dilip uncle was saying in the summer there is a 4k swim that a few thousand people do here, the beach is about 12ks long and its full of people swimming from shore to a buoy 2ks out and then back...he says the buzz is incredible when that event on, and in general in the summer over the weekends! We carried on our drive to Apollo bay where we had a quick pit stop and looked at the stunning views of the ocean crashing against the cliff line...we walked down Gibson Steps which are a set of stairs taking you from great Ocean road, to the beach at Apollo bay and you could see one of the 12 apostles. The 12 apostles are reminants of the eroded cliff line. The Ocean crashes against the cliff line so hard it causes erosion and results in the deterioration of cliff lines leaving small Island like cliffs that remain from the erosion in the middle of the sea, with the cliff line falling further and further back. It was a spectacular sight and this is what we enjoyed a lot. Most of our travels in NZ involved staying in small towns viewing spectacular sights and this was akin to what we did then that we enjoyed so much!
We drove on to get a better view of all the apostles – again incredible, breathtaking views. The weather was on and off, its incredible how in the Southern Hemisphere the weather can change at the drop of dime! One minute sun the next rain. We carried on to Dilip uncles favourite stop, it was a beautiful little beach caved inbetween the cliff, it was like something from the movie the beach, everything about it was soo tranquil serene and nice. If we were there in the heat of summer it would have been amazing – there were little caves and at the back of the beach there was a section where Shakespearian plays would run in the summer. Ugh! So nice.
We carried on the drive to Port Campbell for a little pit stop, then the loongg drive home started. As we got back to Melbourne city we stopped for dinner at dads friends place and Dilip and I left my mum and dad to stay there and we carried on home.
Yesterday I hooked up with Jane McGoldrick a friend from Rossland Canada who I am pretty close with despite the distance. She is great to talk to and so much fun. I met her at her place of work and we discussed life, she is going through some dramas with her application for residency here in Australia, she has actually fallen in love with the place and listening to her rant about how amazing this place is, as well as looking at the empirical evidence that Alex Simpson also loved this place, I am starting to think Melbourne is pretty amazing. Gets me thinking its definitely worth checking out more in detail at some point in the future. We will see what life has in store. Jane lives 20 mins from town in a place called St Kilda, the beach is right next to her place. How often do cities have beaches? It was such a nice day so we walked around the esplanade and had a lazy lunch and a few drinks before I headed home. It was great to see Jane and catch up.
This morning I just wanted to chill so I am cruising about updating the blog and just being lazy. I am thinking of heading into town and making it back at 6.30pm in time to spend some time with the kids. My parents are still out and about with friends and visiting other family.
I will leave it there – peace and love people!
Koo
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Sunday, 24 October 2010
Bye bye NZ - Hello Australia
19th October
I haven’t been able to provide an update for the last couple of days as its been tricky. After our nights stay in Paiha, we woke up the next morning pretty casually and started getting our gear together. We booked the Rock the Boat trip, which was an overnight stay in a boat, with a tour of the bay of islands. It looked like it was going to be fun for sure! There were lots of activities planned, but I will go into that a little later. The boat trip started @ 5pm, so I thought we wouldn’t waste the day and head to the Kauri forest, however as I was walking to the bank in the morning to pick up some cash first, I was thinking to myself how it was pointless to drive there and back, when we are going to drive past the forest on our way out of Paiha. So the plan formulated over breakfast to being going to the Harura falls, then I would go to Waitangi Treaty Grounds whilst the rents chilled in Paiha then we’d meet for some food, pack for the trip and find somewhere to leave the car for the night.
The Harura falls were good, another example of fine NZ natural beauty however as far as falls go, we’ve all been to Niagra and that pretty much craps all over whatever NZ has to offer in terms of falls. That being said we shouldn’t compare as it will always lead to disappointment, however it definitely led to pleasant viewing. The cool thing about the falls, here is you can pretty much hop from rock to rock, ending up almost in the middle of the falls...definitely makes for an incredible picture or 2 for sure. After looking at the falls, there was a 4k Waitangi trail taking us around the river and to a golf course, we took the trailing thinking it was simply a waterfall river loop however it was a 2 way trail you had to go back to get back to the beginning, after 1k we decided to head back. It was a fun trail with cool walking features some awesome greenery and good exercise.
We decided to part ways after the trail and I headed to Waitangi treaty grounds. I managed to get a ½ price entry with my working holiday visa which made the $25 to $13 entrance fee a little more bearable. The treaty grounds were absolutely beautiful. Initially I walked through to an exhibition of a few pictures of Mauri’s and Europeans who signed the Treaty of Waitangi. I then walked through the grounds to where the big Mauri War Boat was...it was built in honour of the treaty of Waitangi and its pretty epic. I got some good snaps. I then moved onto the European and Mauri Houses on the grounds, built to represent unity between the European settlers and the Maori natives in New Zealand. The houses and the grounds were just incredible and the story behind them is incredible. I would tell it but I don’t remember a huge amount of detail J!
After I met up with the rentals and we had some lunch and go our stuff together for the trip. We boarded at 5pm and met the crew and the rest of our guests. The atmosphere was real pleasant and it was nice to meet new and different people. The crew were nice guys...I have fond memories of Tom a 19 year old Aussie, and Risa a 22 year old Mauri NZ chick working on board, they were both cool. That evening we hung out whilst the boat was cruising around the islands. It was incredible, like paradise, there are around 144 islands in the bay of islands and I am not sure how many we say but each one was as good looking as the nexted. We fished , our rods were baited for us by the crew and we were taught how to fish and how to cast our bait. I managed to catch a fish and it was a good feeling! We threw it back in the water, not before Ben asked me to kiss it goodbye, I said no so he kissed it for me! It was pretty cool. We then had an evening meal which was pretty crap considering the amount we paid for the trip. After dinner we went night kayaking and Ben one of the crew said it was his favourite part of the cruise. I could see why, kayaking out into the middle of the bay of islands where the water is so still and the night sky was so clear was incredible. It was like something out of a dream. The stars were beautiful, we paddled out far enough away from the boat not to hear the generator and then just sat back and chilled in our kayaks gazing into the night sky. I remember at that moment thinking life couldn’t get much better.
I forgot to mention that the trip started with a duck shooting game, where we had a paintball gun and we had to shoot a fake duck that was attached by rope to the boat that was just bobbing in the water. Karsten won and got a free beer! It was a tough shot.
I remember the views being incredible and taking far too many pictures.
Today we woke up to breakfast and then sailed to one of the islands and parked up. I kayaked to shore with some of the guests and it was paradise. It was something out of the movie the beach! It was insanely beautiful I didnt believe I was there. We hiked to the top of the Island we parked up on and had some incredible views of the rest of the islands. We then snorkelled and had some fun on the beach including snorkelling for sea urchants and playing rugby on the beach.
We boarded the boat and made way for land, en route we cracked into the sea urchants eggs, I didnt go near it and toward the end we caught a huge fish which was killed on deck and served up as Sushimi.
The cruise was epic, so much fun. After we had some food and drove and drove to Dragaville 200kms! En route we stopped at some natural hot pools which were relaxing though we didnt think they were too clean. But I suppose that part of it. The place stank of sulphur due to the geothermal heat produced underneath the waters but it was pretty mean!! We then stopped at the biggest living Karui tree in Waipu Forest! It was HUGE!!!
We were pretty stoked to pull into Dragaville after a long journey. We got ourselves checked into a decent motel and had a nice Indian meal ...now its time for bed.
21st Oct 2010
Not much to report from our travels really, we spent a long time driving from Dragaville to Thames stopping en route to see the Kauri Museum. It was real interesting, all about the Kauri logging industry and how it evolved over time in New Zealand. I cant really think of much else we did apart from Plough onto Thames, when we arrived we found a hotel and ate some Thai food.
Today we drove from Thames to Coromandel, not before doing some shopping in Thames shopping centre. We drove to Corrie and stopped at the iSite and the kind lady helped us with our plan, we started by finding some lovely accommodation and then went for a railway tour in the forest. The tour was pretty good, the lines were made by a potter who build the railway to get clay for his potting. Overtime the railway grew and grew and to pay the debts created as a result of building the railway had to be paid by opening the railway to the public. Its an interesting little tour of a once burnt down forest which is now going through reforestation process.
After we went back to our accom for lunch and went for a looong scenic drive. We are back at home about to tuck into some homecooked food and dvds.
Peace
22nd October
Today we woke up and started to make tracks toward Whitianga...before that we drove through road 309 in Coromandel, there were a few nice stops on the road, one of which was Stuart and his wild pigs. This was literally a man who has dedicated his life to his pets – a group of wild pigs. I assume he doesn’t nothing for work and accepts donations but is a nice humble fellow who discussed the history of the pigs and how he takes care of them...incredibly nice man.
After we drove on to a nice waterfall with some great photo opportunities as you could walk right out onto the falls. I got some funny pictures for sure. It was incredibly beautiful, the Coromandel is stunning and what helped is we actually had some nice weather.
We drove over to New Chums Beach! It was an incredible beautiful beach and we walked along it for a while. It was like paradise! So nice!!
We made out way to Whitianga, and had some lunch on the beach, after we took a passenger ferry over to cooks beach and walked for an hour or so before then driving to our final destination Waihi beach...I don’t know why but after cooks beach I was just over it...so tired I remember just passing out in the car...
We hunted around for accommodation and this time we found a gem...$100 to stay in a converted basement, it has two huge rooms, its out on the beach front, it has a POOL table, sky tv and a hot tub...we just watched the Orphan and I am sat here typing whiles watching the watchmen. Tomorrow looks like we will spend some time in Waihi and then either drive to Auckland straight or go to Mount Manganui before heading to Auckland.
Peace and love!
25th October
I am writing this from Sunny Melbourne Australia having just left New Zealand – I was quite emo but this trip promises to be great – I have already met all my cousins for the second time ever! They are all smart young boys...I’ll go into them in a second.
After our incredible night in Waihi beach the next morning we got ready to hear out, not before a morning walk on the beach and an early morning Jacuzzi, it would have been rude not to use the facilities and take advantage of the incredible position. The owners Calvin and his wife were lovely warm welcoming people. What we have found on our travels around NZ is the people are always friendly and generally happy. Its been incredible!
We made our move not before stopping in Waihi town to visit the quarry, the old pumphouse and the museum where we learnt more about the gold mining town that is Waihi! It was a pretty historic town and the Pumphouse was a building that was moved a few hundred meters which was an engineering feat! We then trundled along to Mount Manganui, not before stopping in Tauranga to buy some stuff, I bought a few new cheap shirts and my folks bought 2 suitcases – we repacked and got on our way...the mount was awesome, it looked like there was loads to do its such a shame we were only there for a couple of hours. We were short on time as we had to make a 3hr drive to Auckland that evening. We had some lunch on the shore and I wanted to walk up the mount, it took me about 40 mins to walk up there and the views from the top of the mount were incredible...writing about it looking back makes me sad I didnt spend more time in the mount. My parents cruised around town before picking me up and then we made the massive drive to Auckland. When we arrived, I picked up my snowboard bag from Anna’s house and hung out with her for an hour, it was good to see her she is a funny girl for sure.
We repacked all the bags that evening had some dinner then the next morning we got ourselves in shape to leave NZ...we had the day in Auckland so we went shopping in New Market and I bought some billabong jeans and a hat...both were pretty mean! I met up with Chloe and Stu for a drink to catch up and talk about Japan and then had an amazing Wagamamas lunch. We rocked up to the airport and jumped on our flight. Emirates flight was epic – I watched The last of the airbenders and the Twightlight Eclipse....The latter movie was a waste of my life, but I wanted to complete watching the trilogy...airbenders was sooo good. And the food was sooo nice too Lamb Tagine!! So good!
We landed in Melbourne and got our bags pretty quick – It was strange leaving new Zealand but its ok i’ll return one day! If I could do my travels with my parents diff I would have picked 4 quality places and spent a couple of days in each – probably Pahia, Coromandel and the Mount but oh well! We had a great time.
It was great seeing my uncle and I met my cousins for the second time ever. The one I had never met before was in bed. Ishaan and Rashay were up waiting and we caught up for a little. They are both good kids and really chatty I enjoyed meeting them again! I feel like one of those oldiest you meet when you were a kid who always used to say I remember meeting you when you were a little baby and I was thinking “who are you!” thats probably what they think of me but its all good! We went to but and now im up doing this – but I better get ready
Peace and love!
I haven’t been able to provide an update for the last couple of days as its been tricky. After our nights stay in Paiha, we woke up the next morning pretty casually and started getting our gear together. We booked the Rock the Boat trip, which was an overnight stay in a boat, with a tour of the bay of islands. It looked like it was going to be fun for sure! There were lots of activities planned, but I will go into that a little later. The boat trip started @ 5pm, so I thought we wouldn’t waste the day and head to the Kauri forest, however as I was walking to the bank in the morning to pick up some cash first, I was thinking to myself how it was pointless to drive there and back, when we are going to drive past the forest on our way out of Paiha. So the plan formulated over breakfast to being going to the Harura falls, then I would go to Waitangi Treaty Grounds whilst the rents chilled in Paiha then we’d meet for some food, pack for the trip and find somewhere to leave the car for the night.
The Harura falls were good, another example of fine NZ natural beauty however as far as falls go, we’ve all been to Niagra and that pretty much craps all over whatever NZ has to offer in terms of falls. That being said we shouldn’t compare as it will always lead to disappointment, however it definitely led to pleasant viewing. The cool thing about the falls, here is you can pretty much hop from rock to rock, ending up almost in the middle of the falls...definitely makes for an incredible picture or 2 for sure. After looking at the falls, there was a 4k Waitangi trail taking us around the river and to a golf course, we took the trailing thinking it was simply a waterfall river loop however it was a 2 way trail you had to go back to get back to the beginning, after 1k we decided to head back. It was a fun trail with cool walking features some awesome greenery and good exercise.
We decided to part ways after the trail and I headed to Waitangi treaty grounds. I managed to get a ½ price entry with my working holiday visa which made the $25 to $13 entrance fee a little more bearable. The treaty grounds were absolutely beautiful. Initially I walked through to an exhibition of a few pictures of Mauri’s and Europeans who signed the Treaty of Waitangi. I then walked through the grounds to where the big Mauri War Boat was...it was built in honour of the treaty of Waitangi and its pretty epic. I got some good snaps. I then moved onto the European and Mauri Houses on the grounds, built to represent unity between the European settlers and the Maori natives in New Zealand. The houses and the grounds were just incredible and the story behind them is incredible. I would tell it but I don’t remember a huge amount of detail J!
After I met up with the rentals and we had some lunch and go our stuff together for the trip. We boarded at 5pm and met the crew and the rest of our guests. The atmosphere was real pleasant and it was nice to meet new and different people. The crew were nice guys...I have fond memories of Tom a 19 year old Aussie, and Risa a 22 year old Mauri NZ chick working on board, they were both cool. That evening we hung out whilst the boat was cruising around the islands. It was incredible, like paradise, there are around 144 islands in the bay of islands and I am not sure how many we say but each one was as good looking as the nexted. We fished , our rods were baited for us by the crew and we were taught how to fish and how to cast our bait. I managed to catch a fish and it was a good feeling! We threw it back in the water, not before Ben asked me to kiss it goodbye, I said no so he kissed it for me! It was pretty cool. We then had an evening meal which was pretty crap considering the amount we paid for the trip. After dinner we went night kayaking and Ben one of the crew said it was his favourite part of the cruise. I could see why, kayaking out into the middle of the bay of islands where the water is so still and the night sky was so clear was incredible. It was like something out of a dream. The stars were beautiful, we paddled out far enough away from the boat not to hear the generator and then just sat back and chilled in our kayaks gazing into the night sky. I remember at that moment thinking life couldn’t get much better.
I forgot to mention that the trip started with a duck shooting game, where we had a paintball gun and we had to shoot a fake duck that was attached by rope to the boat that was just bobbing in the water. Karsten won and got a free beer! It was a tough shot.
I remember the views being incredible and taking far too many pictures.
Today we woke up to breakfast and then sailed to one of the islands and parked up. I kayaked to shore with some of the guests and it was paradise. It was something out of the movie the beach! It was insanely beautiful I didnt believe I was there. We hiked to the top of the Island we parked up on and had some incredible views of the rest of the islands. We then snorkelled and had some fun on the beach including snorkelling for sea urchants and playing rugby on the beach.
We boarded the boat and made way for land, en route we cracked into the sea urchants eggs, I didnt go near it and toward the end we caught a huge fish which was killed on deck and served up as Sushimi.
The cruise was epic, so much fun. After we had some food and drove and drove to Dragaville 200kms! En route we stopped at some natural hot pools which were relaxing though we didnt think they were too clean. But I suppose that part of it. The place stank of sulphur due to the geothermal heat produced underneath the waters but it was pretty mean!! We then stopped at the biggest living Karui tree in Waipu Forest! It was HUGE!!!
We were pretty stoked to pull into Dragaville after a long journey. We got ourselves checked into a decent motel and had a nice Indian meal ...now its time for bed.
21st Oct 2010
Not much to report from our travels really, we spent a long time driving from Dragaville to Thames stopping en route to see the Kauri Museum. It was real interesting, all about the Kauri logging industry and how it evolved over time in New Zealand. I cant really think of much else we did apart from Plough onto Thames, when we arrived we found a hotel and ate some Thai food.
Today we drove from Thames to Coromandel, not before doing some shopping in Thames shopping centre. We drove to Corrie and stopped at the iSite and the kind lady helped us with our plan, we started by finding some lovely accommodation and then went for a railway tour in the forest. The tour was pretty good, the lines were made by a potter who build the railway to get clay for his potting. Overtime the railway grew and grew and to pay the debts created as a result of building the railway had to be paid by opening the railway to the public. Its an interesting little tour of a once burnt down forest which is now going through reforestation process.
After we went back to our accom for lunch and went for a looong scenic drive. We are back at home about to tuck into some homecooked food and dvds.
Peace
22nd October
Today we woke up and started to make tracks toward Whitianga...before that we drove through road 309 in Coromandel, there were a few nice stops on the road, one of which was Stuart and his wild pigs. This was literally a man who has dedicated his life to his pets – a group of wild pigs. I assume he doesn’t nothing for work and accepts donations but is a nice humble fellow who discussed the history of the pigs and how he takes care of them...incredibly nice man.
After we drove on to a nice waterfall with some great photo opportunities as you could walk right out onto the falls. I got some funny pictures for sure. It was incredibly beautiful, the Coromandel is stunning and what helped is we actually had some nice weather.
We drove over to New Chums Beach! It was an incredible beautiful beach and we walked along it for a while. It was like paradise! So nice!!
We made out way to Whitianga, and had some lunch on the beach, after we took a passenger ferry over to cooks beach and walked for an hour or so before then driving to our final destination Waihi beach...I don’t know why but after cooks beach I was just over it...so tired I remember just passing out in the car...
We hunted around for accommodation and this time we found a gem...$100 to stay in a converted basement, it has two huge rooms, its out on the beach front, it has a POOL table, sky tv and a hot tub...we just watched the Orphan and I am sat here typing whiles watching the watchmen. Tomorrow looks like we will spend some time in Waihi and then either drive to Auckland straight or go to Mount Manganui before heading to Auckland.
Peace and love!
25th October
I am writing this from Sunny Melbourne Australia having just left New Zealand – I was quite emo but this trip promises to be great – I have already met all my cousins for the second time ever! They are all smart young boys...I’ll go into them in a second.
After our incredible night in Waihi beach the next morning we got ready to hear out, not before a morning walk on the beach and an early morning Jacuzzi, it would have been rude not to use the facilities and take advantage of the incredible position. The owners Calvin and his wife were lovely warm welcoming people. What we have found on our travels around NZ is the people are always friendly and generally happy. Its been incredible!
We made our move not before stopping in Waihi town to visit the quarry, the old pumphouse and the museum where we learnt more about the gold mining town that is Waihi! It was a pretty historic town and the Pumphouse was a building that was moved a few hundred meters which was an engineering feat! We then trundled along to Mount Manganui, not before stopping in Tauranga to buy some stuff, I bought a few new cheap shirts and my folks bought 2 suitcases – we repacked and got on our way...the mount was awesome, it looked like there was loads to do its such a shame we were only there for a couple of hours. We were short on time as we had to make a 3hr drive to Auckland that evening. We had some lunch on the shore and I wanted to walk up the mount, it took me about 40 mins to walk up there and the views from the top of the mount were incredible...writing about it looking back makes me sad I didnt spend more time in the mount. My parents cruised around town before picking me up and then we made the massive drive to Auckland. When we arrived, I picked up my snowboard bag from Anna’s house and hung out with her for an hour, it was good to see her she is a funny girl for sure.
We repacked all the bags that evening had some dinner then the next morning we got ourselves in shape to leave NZ...we had the day in Auckland so we went shopping in New Market and I bought some billabong jeans and a hat...both were pretty mean! I met up with Chloe and Stu for a drink to catch up and talk about Japan and then had an amazing Wagamamas lunch. We rocked up to the airport and jumped on our flight. Emirates flight was epic – I watched The last of the airbenders and the Twightlight Eclipse....The latter movie was a waste of my life, but I wanted to complete watching the trilogy...airbenders was sooo good. And the food was sooo nice too Lamb Tagine!! So good!
We landed in Melbourne and got our bags pretty quick – It was strange leaving new Zealand but its ok i’ll return one day! If I could do my travels with my parents diff I would have picked 4 quality places and spent a couple of days in each – probably Pahia, Coromandel and the Mount but oh well! We had a great time.
It was great seeing my uncle and I met my cousins for the second time ever. The one I had never met before was in bed. Ishaan and Rashay were up waiting and we caught up for a little. They are both good kids and really chatty I enjoyed meeting them again! I feel like one of those oldiest you meet when you were a kid who always used to say I remember meeting you when you were a little baby and I was thinking “who are you!” thats probably what they think of me but its all good! We went to but and now im up doing this – but I better get ready
Peace and love!
Sunday, 17 October 2010
NZ Travels - Out on the beaten track
15th October 2010
So I am writing from a Motel room in Auckland having left Ohakune. I wanted to write a blog on the way from Ohakune to Auckland as it was a 6 hr bus journey and I was feeling quite reflective. The whole journey went really quickly – I was really away with my thoughts thinking about life, people and the times I had in Ohakune. In between dozing and thinking the 6 hrs flew bye and before I knew it I was back in the big city of Auckland.
After my last blog the last couple of days in Ohakune weren’t that eventful. A lot of people were in exams and the mountain the majority of the time was closed. I got a couple of runs in before the wind took over on one of those days but it wasn’t that epic. I managed to sell my Ride DH2 15108/09 to Adam for the bargain basement price of $80. It was his birthday on the 13th which coincided with my last evening so I didnt get to spend much with him. I was busy sorting through my itinerary for our travels and getting stuff together for my trip. I had a wonderful last meal with Sarah, Doug, Nicole and Casper at Miro St – Nicole made a lasagne and apple crumble and it went down a treat...I was so full...it was so nice to spend my last evening with the people I first met and started the trip with. I look back to how scared I was about being in a new place and how easy it was to settle in afterward. The whole luggage situation rocked the boat a lot but it all worked out. It always does and I need to learn to not stress myself out too much in those situations. I am going to have to go through that a little in Japan, at least I will know Ollie, Larissa and Ocean and Andy out there and my shared accommodation is sorted which means I will have an instant friend base.
On my last day I did some more last minute planning at Miro St and then had an incredible leaving breakfast at the Utopia Cafe, Rob, Chloe, Stu, Jonny, Tony, Ollie, Larissa, Adam, Toby, Shannan, Chris H, Stu (Tash’s Stu), Lindsay, Chris Halpin were all there mowing down reminiscing and just enjoying good times. I got to say bye to everyone and that was awesome. What I wasn’t expecting is when the bus arrived everyone and more people were back there to wave me off. It was pretty special/emo...I didnt really shred a tear but the bus journey back was pretty sad and reflectful. I did nothing bus think and doze on the bus. As I was on the bus back I knew it was the last day of the snowboard level 2 exams and was keen to find out how the rookies and tony got on and amazingly they all passed which was awesome news. As it stands Tony will not be coming to Japan with me, but will be there working at Bandai mountain...pretty sick just slightly concerned about the quality of the snow school given he didnt even need a level 2 or an interview to work there. I am sure it will work out...cant say I am not pissed off, I hussled my manager pretty hard for him to get work and was looking forward to his company...but I think it makes sense now he has his level 2 to actually get some practical experience instructing. I think there was more to his decision than just that but I cant really say much. Lets just say I know situations a little better than people actually think I do.
On the other hand I am hoping and praying Chloe gets the job at Evergreen, I havent heard from her but I am hoping for the best for sure.
So I arrived in Auckland and the instant busyness of the city overwhealmed me. I needed Anna to pick me up quickly. Amazingly she was pretty rapid and it was amazing to see her! She is a genuinely funny good girl. She wasn’t doing so good, completely messed up her right hand falling down some stairs loosing feeling and having a massive scar...meant she had to drop out of school, though I am pretty sure she wanted to anyway. I got to her amazing town house in central Auckland and settled in. Met her lovely mother Kathy and brother Adam and later on that evening her father Mark (god i hope thats right) we had a lovely falafel dinner and I got to connect with the whole family especially her parents. We discussed the UK and NZ economy and how things are going, and generally discussed what I had been upto in Ohakune. I think they wanted to sus out what Anna was getting herself into, as a result of dropping out of Uni she has now decided to do the Snowboard Rookies program at Ruapehu next winter! I am happy for her but she needs to make sure she gets the position. We watched some outrageous fortune (torture) and talked and had a relatively early night.
Today we got up, I did some more replanning not really sure what we were going to do, and then repacked leaving a lot of stuff at Annas house...we had some breakfast, chatted a little more and then Anna the little star took me to the mall first to get some playing cards and headphones, and then dropped me to the airport. She did me so proud and I was so grateful. I cant wait to pick up my baggage from her house and see her again one last time before I leave.
Got the airport and hung around arrivals for about 20 mins before my parents walked through the arrivals area! It was awesome seeing them. I told them about my lack of planning and it was a little stressy...but we will figure it all out. My uncle called and told us to go South, but we have no time...so my plans around to head up the Northlands and then across to the Coromandel Peninsular then over to Mount Manganui/Tauranga – we will decide from there whether to head straight back to Auckland for our flight to Oz or head back via Rotoroua for some geothermal activity action!!
We picked up the “El Cheapo” rental car and my dad was pleased with the car and the price, but not so pleased with my driving licence expiring meaning I cant do any driving – It sucks because after my 10 hr drive across USA to Canada I felt pretty confident I would nail the driving here too but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. We got the car and hunted for a Motel. Found one settled in its about 5 ks from town so we drove to town after settling in. We walked around the shops and then over the Quay/Viaduct. We had an incredible dinner and then did a little more walking before heading back to the motel.
1000 + words into this post I better wrap it up brief plan tomo is to check out of Auckland drive up north starting at the gateway to the Northlands – Warkworth heading the Leigh/Matakana/Snells/Omaha beaches. Then off to Matakana to do a pottery tour and check out the town. We will the drive to Whangarei and stop there. Hopefully it will be scenic, chilled and eventful I am hoping cards on the beach will be a winner with the folks but we shall see.
16th October 2010
WASSSUUPP! So I am sat here 11pm at night after a long day listening to some shapeshifting wanting to write all about the day we just had. Soooo where to begin, at the end of last night we went for a little walk to help digest the mega dinner we had I got a double lamb shank so the walk was definitely needed.
The next morning we faffed around for a while but managed to get ourselves in gear and packed up the car checked out and yammed down on some breakfast. We headed on highway 1 north of Auckland, our first stop was to Warkworth to then figure out a plan for the rest of the day J. We had 2 options getting to Warkie, either a toll road motorway or a more scenic route, at the last minute we chose the scenic route which worked out to be a mean decision! We stopped at Orewa beach and had a little walk, it was a nice clean beach only we were a little early so it was a little cold, we didnt stay to long as we had to get to Warkie! After a little shop at Orewa we pushed on arriving to Warkie not too long after.
Warkworth seemed like a small pleasant little town with quaint little cafes and shops. We went to the iSite to figure out our plan and the very kind lady in the info centre got us a detailed map of the area and we had a mini itinerary sorted. We started our trip in Matakana about 20 mins east of Warkworth were there was a farmers market on at the time which was nothing short of awesome. Matakana is lovely! So nice and on a Saturday from 8am to 1pm people come from the North and South to attend the farmers market and go for a little wander down the river. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and bought an epic pie!
From Matakana we then drove onto Omaha beach and the weather became awesome – real sunny and perfect. Omaha beach was incredible – so clean and so beautiful – it was a surfers paradise. I recognised a few people from the Market at the beach a lot with their surfboards just out riding waves. Made me think how incredible a summer on the beach learning how to surf would be. I just seem to want to keep travelling and living the dream. I can quite clearly see from the rentals their distaste in my thoughts about living the dream but oh well. We are having fun! Some of the houses in Omaha were incredible, beautiful beach houses. The place stank of city money, where the yuppies purchase their holiday homes on the beach...they were soo nice! We had some lunch in Omie and then continued the adventure to Tawaranui Regional park...mum and I went for a little walk, then we all drove to Anchor Bay at the peak of the park and just hung out a little on the beach there. We were getting beached az but were chilling. After we went to Goat Island, we wanted to get a boat tour of the island but we missed the last ferry @ 5pm which was annoying. We admired the incredible scenery and took some photos of the island before heading to Whangerei. We found some decent accommodation had a lovely Indian meal. I am now in my room reminiscing on the day and the highlights were definitely the weather, the sun set, Matakana Villiage, the amazing scenery and my parents actually looking like they were enjoying themselves from time to time. I can see why lord of the rings was filmed here the natural beauty is far beyond belief. Not going to lie I am a little beached az so am keen to actually do some attractions tomo. We will go to see some waterfalls and caves and the bay of islands, but then after i am keen for going to the kauri forest and the kauri museum....we shall see how it goes.
Peace out
17th October 2010
Sooooo we had a lovely lie in this morning, the lovely landlady said we could pretty much check out whenever we want, and the rentals were keen to get a lie in and a bit of a rest so we definitely did that this morning. We didn’t get going on our travels today until about 12pm, we decided to have breakfast in the motel going to Pak n Save and buying loads of breakkie items. It was a good idea saving us a little bit of cash.
We started off in Whangerei going to the falls, they were soo nice, natural beauty in abundance. Our final destination was to be Paiha on the northern coast next to the bay of islands. En route we made a few stops to fill up the day, as well as the falls we stopped off at yet another beach I have forgotten the name of, mum wasn’t massively interested I think we were pretty beached out so didnt stick around too long. Continued the scenic coastal drive up through and then stopped at a small Kauri Wood carving shop, it was more a hut in a mans drive but it was nice, we had a good old chat about his life and how he initially grew up carving kauri wood in mass selling onto wholesalers and distributers, and these days cannot do that because he cannot get the price he wants. With the emergence of machines there are much cheaper ways of making wooden carvings and when made by hand the cost is just too great for everyone, so its made it harder for him to make a living out of. We didnt buy anything and travelled on. We then stopped 5 ks short of KawKawa to Kawiti Glow Worm Cave, and it was pretty spectacular. The tour was fun, we learnt about cave formations, limestone, stalactites and stalagmites and more facisnating was the glo worms. The brighter they glow the more hungry they are as they are trying to attract prey like flies etc... to eat! It was awesome!
We continued on to KawaKawa and stopped for lunch, not before seeing the Hunterwasser toilets, I don’t know the story behind them, but they were pretty unique ceramic public toilets! People went in and came out with a smile so there must be something good going on with them. Post toilets we went to Paiha near the bay of islands to our final destination and now have a rough plan for tomo.
We managed to find a lovely room for the night @ $99 and its huge! We are all pretty happy right now. We saved some more $$ and cooked some spaghetti and watched a couple of movies to chillax!!
Massively enjoying the trip and am looking forward to what each day will bring. Think the folks are too which is pretty dope!
Right I better roll out – peace and love people!
So I am writing from a Motel room in Auckland having left Ohakune. I wanted to write a blog on the way from Ohakune to Auckland as it was a 6 hr bus journey and I was feeling quite reflective. The whole journey went really quickly – I was really away with my thoughts thinking about life, people and the times I had in Ohakune. In between dozing and thinking the 6 hrs flew bye and before I knew it I was back in the big city of Auckland.
After my last blog the last couple of days in Ohakune weren’t that eventful. A lot of people were in exams and the mountain the majority of the time was closed. I got a couple of runs in before the wind took over on one of those days but it wasn’t that epic. I managed to sell my Ride DH2 15108/09 to Adam for the bargain basement price of $80. It was his birthday on the 13th which coincided with my last evening so I didnt get to spend much with him. I was busy sorting through my itinerary for our travels and getting stuff together for my trip. I had a wonderful last meal with Sarah, Doug, Nicole and Casper at Miro St – Nicole made a lasagne and apple crumble and it went down a treat...I was so full...it was so nice to spend my last evening with the people I first met and started the trip with. I look back to how scared I was about being in a new place and how easy it was to settle in afterward. The whole luggage situation rocked the boat a lot but it all worked out. It always does and I need to learn to not stress myself out too much in those situations. I am going to have to go through that a little in Japan, at least I will know Ollie, Larissa and Ocean and Andy out there and my shared accommodation is sorted which means I will have an instant friend base.
On my last day I did some more last minute planning at Miro St and then had an incredible leaving breakfast at the Utopia Cafe, Rob, Chloe, Stu, Jonny, Tony, Ollie, Larissa, Adam, Toby, Shannan, Chris H, Stu (Tash’s Stu), Lindsay, Chris Halpin were all there mowing down reminiscing and just enjoying good times. I got to say bye to everyone and that was awesome. What I wasn’t expecting is when the bus arrived everyone and more people were back there to wave me off. It was pretty special/emo...I didnt really shred a tear but the bus journey back was pretty sad and reflectful. I did nothing bus think and doze on the bus. As I was on the bus back I knew it was the last day of the snowboard level 2 exams and was keen to find out how the rookies and tony got on and amazingly they all passed which was awesome news. As it stands Tony will not be coming to Japan with me, but will be there working at Bandai mountain...pretty sick just slightly concerned about the quality of the snow school given he didnt even need a level 2 or an interview to work there. I am sure it will work out...cant say I am not pissed off, I hussled my manager pretty hard for him to get work and was looking forward to his company...but I think it makes sense now he has his level 2 to actually get some practical experience instructing. I think there was more to his decision than just that but I cant really say much. Lets just say I know situations a little better than people actually think I do.
On the other hand I am hoping and praying Chloe gets the job at Evergreen, I havent heard from her but I am hoping for the best for sure.
So I arrived in Auckland and the instant busyness of the city overwhealmed me. I needed Anna to pick me up quickly. Amazingly she was pretty rapid and it was amazing to see her! She is a genuinely funny good girl. She wasn’t doing so good, completely messed up her right hand falling down some stairs loosing feeling and having a massive scar...meant she had to drop out of school, though I am pretty sure she wanted to anyway. I got to her amazing town house in central Auckland and settled in. Met her lovely mother Kathy and brother Adam and later on that evening her father Mark (god i hope thats right) we had a lovely falafel dinner and I got to connect with the whole family especially her parents. We discussed the UK and NZ economy and how things are going, and generally discussed what I had been upto in Ohakune. I think they wanted to sus out what Anna was getting herself into, as a result of dropping out of Uni she has now decided to do the Snowboard Rookies program at Ruapehu next winter! I am happy for her but she needs to make sure she gets the position. We watched some outrageous fortune (torture) and talked and had a relatively early night.
Today we got up, I did some more replanning not really sure what we were going to do, and then repacked leaving a lot of stuff at Annas house...we had some breakfast, chatted a little more and then Anna the little star took me to the mall first to get some playing cards and headphones, and then dropped me to the airport. She did me so proud and I was so grateful. I cant wait to pick up my baggage from her house and see her again one last time before I leave.
Got the airport and hung around arrivals for about 20 mins before my parents walked through the arrivals area! It was awesome seeing them. I told them about my lack of planning and it was a little stressy...but we will figure it all out. My uncle called and told us to go South, but we have no time...so my plans around to head up the Northlands and then across to the Coromandel Peninsular then over to Mount Manganui/Tauranga – we will decide from there whether to head straight back to Auckland for our flight to Oz or head back via Rotoroua for some geothermal activity action!!
We picked up the “El Cheapo” rental car and my dad was pleased with the car and the price, but not so pleased with my driving licence expiring meaning I cant do any driving – It sucks because after my 10 hr drive across USA to Canada I felt pretty confident I would nail the driving here too but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. We got the car and hunted for a Motel. Found one settled in its about 5 ks from town so we drove to town after settling in. We walked around the shops and then over the Quay/Viaduct. We had an incredible dinner and then did a little more walking before heading back to the motel.
1000 + words into this post I better wrap it up brief plan tomo is to check out of Auckland drive up north starting at the gateway to the Northlands – Warkworth heading the Leigh/Matakana/Snells/Omaha beaches. Then off to Matakana to do a pottery tour and check out the town. We will the drive to Whangarei and stop there. Hopefully it will be scenic, chilled and eventful I am hoping cards on the beach will be a winner with the folks but we shall see.
16th October 2010
WASSSUUPP! So I am sat here 11pm at night after a long day listening to some shapeshifting wanting to write all about the day we just had. Soooo where to begin, at the end of last night we went for a little walk to help digest the mega dinner we had I got a double lamb shank so the walk was definitely needed.
The next morning we faffed around for a while but managed to get ourselves in gear and packed up the car checked out and yammed down on some breakfast. We headed on highway 1 north of Auckland, our first stop was to Warkworth to then figure out a plan for the rest of the day J. We had 2 options getting to Warkie, either a toll road motorway or a more scenic route, at the last minute we chose the scenic route which worked out to be a mean decision! We stopped at Orewa beach and had a little walk, it was a nice clean beach only we were a little early so it was a little cold, we didnt stay to long as we had to get to Warkie! After a little shop at Orewa we pushed on arriving to Warkie not too long after.
Warkworth seemed like a small pleasant little town with quaint little cafes and shops. We went to the iSite to figure out our plan and the very kind lady in the info centre got us a detailed map of the area and we had a mini itinerary sorted. We started our trip in Matakana about 20 mins east of Warkworth were there was a farmers market on at the time which was nothing short of awesome. Matakana is lovely! So nice and on a Saturday from 8am to 1pm people come from the North and South to attend the farmers market and go for a little wander down the river. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and bought an epic pie!
From Matakana we then drove onto Omaha beach and the weather became awesome – real sunny and perfect. Omaha beach was incredible – so clean and so beautiful – it was a surfers paradise. I recognised a few people from the Market at the beach a lot with their surfboards just out riding waves. Made me think how incredible a summer on the beach learning how to surf would be. I just seem to want to keep travelling and living the dream. I can quite clearly see from the rentals their distaste in my thoughts about living the dream but oh well. We are having fun! Some of the houses in Omaha were incredible, beautiful beach houses. The place stank of city money, where the yuppies purchase their holiday homes on the beach...they were soo nice! We had some lunch in Omie and then continued the adventure to Tawaranui Regional park...mum and I went for a little walk, then we all drove to Anchor Bay at the peak of the park and just hung out a little on the beach there. We were getting beached az but were chilling. After we went to Goat Island, we wanted to get a boat tour of the island but we missed the last ferry @ 5pm which was annoying. We admired the incredible scenery and took some photos of the island before heading to Whangerei. We found some decent accommodation had a lovely Indian meal. I am now in my room reminiscing on the day and the highlights were definitely the weather, the sun set, Matakana Villiage, the amazing scenery and my parents actually looking like they were enjoying themselves from time to time. I can see why lord of the rings was filmed here the natural beauty is far beyond belief. Not going to lie I am a little beached az so am keen to actually do some attractions tomo. We will go to see some waterfalls and caves and the bay of islands, but then after i am keen for going to the kauri forest and the kauri museum....we shall see how it goes.
Peace out
17th October 2010
Sooooo we had a lovely lie in this morning, the lovely landlady said we could pretty much check out whenever we want, and the rentals were keen to get a lie in and a bit of a rest so we definitely did that this morning. We didn’t get going on our travels today until about 12pm, we decided to have breakfast in the motel going to Pak n Save and buying loads of breakkie items. It was a good idea saving us a little bit of cash.
We started off in Whangerei going to the falls, they were soo nice, natural beauty in abundance. Our final destination was to be Paiha on the northern coast next to the bay of islands. En route we made a few stops to fill up the day, as well as the falls we stopped off at yet another beach I have forgotten the name of, mum wasn’t massively interested I think we were pretty beached out so didnt stick around too long. Continued the scenic coastal drive up through and then stopped at a small Kauri Wood carving shop, it was more a hut in a mans drive but it was nice, we had a good old chat about his life and how he initially grew up carving kauri wood in mass selling onto wholesalers and distributers, and these days cannot do that because he cannot get the price he wants. With the emergence of machines there are much cheaper ways of making wooden carvings and when made by hand the cost is just too great for everyone, so its made it harder for him to make a living out of. We didnt buy anything and travelled on. We then stopped 5 ks short of KawKawa to Kawiti Glow Worm Cave, and it was pretty spectacular. The tour was fun, we learnt about cave formations, limestone, stalactites and stalagmites and more facisnating was the glo worms. The brighter they glow the more hungry they are as they are trying to attract prey like flies etc... to eat! It was awesome!
We continued on to KawaKawa and stopped for lunch, not before seeing the Hunterwasser toilets, I don’t know the story behind them, but they were pretty unique ceramic public toilets! People went in and came out with a smile so there must be something good going on with them. Post toilets we went to Paiha near the bay of islands to our final destination and now have a rough plan for tomo.
We managed to find a lovely room for the night @ $99 and its huge! We are all pretty happy right now. We saved some more $$ and cooked some spaghetti and watched a couple of movies to chillax!!
Massively enjoying the trip and am looking forward to what each day will bring. Think the folks are too which is pretty dope!
Right I better roll out – peace and love people!
Sunday, 10 October 2010
BYE BYE OHAKUNE!!
11/10/2010
Wow! I Think this is going to be my last blog from Ohakune! Its gone by so fast, the season is so short but looking back there have been some sucky times, but there have also been some incredibly fun good memories. I am massively looking forward to driving around New Zealand with my family. The only real issue with that is I havent figured out an itinerary! So I need to do that before they arrive this week! The plan is for them to arrive on the 15th – I pick them up and we start the trip. As I have been so busy with my Ski Level 1 and work and training I havent had a chance to speak to them so really need to do that too!
It has been a fair while since I last blogged and a little bit has been going on! The highlight has been me be able to ski my heart out to get to the standard. My Level one started on the 5/10/2010 and ended on the 8/10/2010, up until those days I was spending every minute with ski instructors and skiing on my own to get more time and experience on the ski’s. The actual course itself was quite fun, but I don’t really like the exam situations – they stress me out and during that period I think of nothing else, so I am never at ease. Day 1 was spent going through the skier beginner progression as well as some skiing and wedge turn practise. Day 2 was going through more of the progression, more wedge turns and skiing, Day 3 was wedge turn demo evaluation day, skiing evaluation and practise teach. Day 4 was the teaching exam and I was assigned one of the harder technical lessons to deliver. I managed to JUST pass, but it was pretty stressful on the last day. I spent the night before preparing for my exam teach and then had to wait until mid day to deliver it. Hanging around waiting whilst others were getting their lessons done was painful. Then once I had done it I had to wait 6 hrs to get the results. In those 6 hours I was soo nervous to the point where I convinced myself I failed even though my lesson content was all in. The delivery wasn’t great! But that evening I received the results passed and got drunk for the first time in ages. It was mad fun!
This weekend has been one of the benderish nature, given my last day of work was yesterday! Its been fun working for the snow school and really like the idea of coming back and working in a full time role. The staff and management team are really dedicated and focused on making sure we deliver good customer service and develop us into better instructors. The snow school barbeque was a lot of fun and during the awards I got a shout out for being a GC. I am not going to say what it means but its good! It was fun getting a shout out and the whole event was awesome. Its a shame it was during my ski exam otherwise I could have gotten pretty loose!
There was an overall barbeque for the entire workforce of Mt Ruapehu and the feed was incredible. It was good to catch up and say bye to everyone.
I am definitely looking forward to travelling around New Zealand Ill be happier when I have a plan, which is what Ill be working on my last few days in Kune. We are then off to Oz for a week which should be awesome too! Then off home!! Need to start getting my mind focused on NZ and back to studying for my CASI 3 and looking into doing the CSIA Level 2.
Other things I have been upto have mainly been helping people get work. Tony is 90% coming with me and working for the same company as me in Japan. He is currently doing his NZSIA Snowboard Level 2 exams so he is pretty busy! I have also helped Chloe get an interview with a Japanese snow school in Hakuba called evergreen outdoor centre. Hopefully she will get that and come travel around Tokyo with me!
Overall Ohkaune and Mt Ruapehu has been an incredible unique experience. Working at a snow school initially was tricky and I found it quite difficult, but once I got to know a lot of people it worked out to be a great place to work for sure. Training for my Level 3 has been tough and at time I havent enjoyed it at all – a lot of fun was taken out of snowboarding for me then and felt a little bit gutted about missing a couple of days of training and not getting as much outdoor practise I would have liked. I definitely don’t feel ready and thats what the point if the course was...but who knows maybe I am and am just being harsh on myself. I still have my CASI Level 3 training bible to finish – currently ½ way through all the notes I wrote for my training and written 10,000 words. Its getting pretty rididuclous but hope it helps me pass.
Thats about it...ill post up some more fun from my travels with my folks – peace and love people
God bless Mt Ruapehu and Ohakune!
Wow! I Think this is going to be my last blog from Ohakune! Its gone by so fast, the season is so short but looking back there have been some sucky times, but there have also been some incredibly fun good memories. I am massively looking forward to driving around New Zealand with my family. The only real issue with that is I havent figured out an itinerary! So I need to do that before they arrive this week! The plan is for them to arrive on the 15th – I pick them up and we start the trip. As I have been so busy with my Ski Level 1 and work and training I havent had a chance to speak to them so really need to do that too!
It has been a fair while since I last blogged and a little bit has been going on! The highlight has been me be able to ski my heart out to get to the standard. My Level one started on the 5/10/2010 and ended on the 8/10/2010, up until those days I was spending every minute with ski instructors and skiing on my own to get more time and experience on the ski’s. The actual course itself was quite fun, but I don’t really like the exam situations – they stress me out and during that period I think of nothing else, so I am never at ease. Day 1 was spent going through the skier beginner progression as well as some skiing and wedge turn practise. Day 2 was going through more of the progression, more wedge turns and skiing, Day 3 was wedge turn demo evaluation day, skiing evaluation and practise teach. Day 4 was the teaching exam and I was assigned one of the harder technical lessons to deliver. I managed to JUST pass, but it was pretty stressful on the last day. I spent the night before preparing for my exam teach and then had to wait until mid day to deliver it. Hanging around waiting whilst others were getting their lessons done was painful. Then once I had done it I had to wait 6 hrs to get the results. In those 6 hours I was soo nervous to the point where I convinced myself I failed even though my lesson content was all in. The delivery wasn’t great! But that evening I received the results passed and got drunk for the first time in ages. It was mad fun!
This weekend has been one of the benderish nature, given my last day of work was yesterday! Its been fun working for the snow school and really like the idea of coming back and working in a full time role. The staff and management team are really dedicated and focused on making sure we deliver good customer service and develop us into better instructors. The snow school barbeque was a lot of fun and during the awards I got a shout out for being a GC. I am not going to say what it means but its good! It was fun getting a shout out and the whole event was awesome. Its a shame it was during my ski exam otherwise I could have gotten pretty loose!
There was an overall barbeque for the entire workforce of Mt Ruapehu and the feed was incredible. It was good to catch up and say bye to everyone.
I am definitely looking forward to travelling around New Zealand Ill be happier when I have a plan, which is what Ill be working on my last few days in Kune. We are then off to Oz for a week which should be awesome too! Then off home!! Need to start getting my mind focused on NZ and back to studying for my CASI 3 and looking into doing the CSIA Level 2.
Other things I have been upto have mainly been helping people get work. Tony is 90% coming with me and working for the same company as me in Japan. He is currently doing his NZSIA Snowboard Level 2 exams so he is pretty busy! I have also helped Chloe get an interview with a Japanese snow school in Hakuba called evergreen outdoor centre. Hopefully she will get that and come travel around Tokyo with me!
Overall Ohkaune and Mt Ruapehu has been an incredible unique experience. Working at a snow school initially was tricky and I found it quite difficult, but once I got to know a lot of people it worked out to be a great place to work for sure. Training for my Level 3 has been tough and at time I havent enjoyed it at all – a lot of fun was taken out of snowboarding for me then and felt a little bit gutted about missing a couple of days of training and not getting as much outdoor practise I would have liked. I definitely don’t feel ready and thats what the point if the course was...but who knows maybe I am and am just being harsh on myself. I still have my CASI Level 3 training bible to finish – currently ½ way through all the notes I wrote for my training and written 10,000 words. Its getting pretty rididuclous but hope it helps me pass.
Thats about it...ill post up some more fun from my travels with my folks – peace and love people
God bless Mt Ruapehu and Ohakune!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
