Hong Kong highlights

Tai Chi with fans. Very graceful, and not quite as scary as the lady who was doing it with a sword.

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Flamingos also doing Tai Chi

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The world's tallest outdoor seated Buddha

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OK, this wasn't exactly a highlight. One giant and forlorn looking Orangutang in a cage in the Zoological gardens
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Where else would you find glitter balls on trees?

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And many many pigs trotters?
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It may well have been tripe

Yeah, good job I'm not a strict vego. Dim Sum is yum, but you never can quite tell whether, when ordering black mushroom and ginger, it will contain some added extras or not, like something that resembles tripe (or how I imagine tripe to be seeing as I've never had it before and didn't really plan to, but I think today was possibly the day to stray from the plan, even if it was inadvertently).


But wowza. Flying into Hong Kong this morning was really amazing. It is strikingly different to Aukland: where Aukland is, apart from the 1kmsq CBD, mainly 2 story semi-detached buildings spread along leafy streets, Hong Kong seems to be built with nothing less than 15 story buildings that dwarf the surrounging tree clad hillsides. Wondering amongst the giants of glass marvelling at light is one thing, but you don't really get Hong Kong until you venture into one of said giants. I went in one today, and it was full to the brim with bustling computer gadgetry stalls from basement to the top. Madness!

It is hot. The temperature hovers around 30 degrees, and doesn't seem to relent after dark. The streets are sultry and sweaty and smokey. The scent of incence, sweet and sour stir fry and coconut milk break through the incessant heavy diesel fumes and sewagey smell. There are brilliant parks in which to escape the rush. Under shady trees I can quite happily watch people practicing Tai Chi and be mellow.

Poroaki

A final week filled with adventure... The highlights of which (in no particular order...)

Falling in love with pig and its tap dance maniacs

Taking Mary out for a spin

A boat trip to Rototiki - the youngest volcano in Aukland district..

Aukland!!! Cool city
Maori carvings.

The oldest tree in NZ (only 4,000 years old) - really awesome and majestic

The beautiful and calming Hokianga harbour

And crossing it on a misty morning to go to The Real Far North Listening to a choir at cape Reinga And wandering amongst the giant sanddunes. There were no giants, but I did feel very small

And now it is time for farewell to NZ. It has been a really brilliant country to be spending time in, properly relaxing. And so many people that are quietly proud of where they come from and wonderfully welcoming to strangers. A smile and a sparkle and then you're launched into doing allsorts of adventurous things. I feel very contented to have discovered so many things both about myself, NZ, and life. I leave a little of my heart in NZ, and carry a little of NZ in my heart forever.

Salad and Storms

This week I have mainly been munching on salad and surviving storms. It's been a blast. I've been wwoofing with Anne who grows organic salad stuff for the Farmers' Market here in Whangerei. We've been picking and sowing rocket, mesculin, kale, baby spinach and beet and other things that grow green and taste bity. And then getting up at the crack of dawn - no earlier, 5am - to sell sell sell and chat to all the friendly people at the market. Social event of the weekend.

In the mean time I have been ambling along listening to Tui's warble and croak as they munch the many persimmons ripening in Anne's orchard. And wandering along pretty beaches and around crags and coves.

And then surviving the storm which hit yesterday. On the weather radar it looked like a big curry fart coming out of Australia, and sure enough it was foul when it arrived here. It's caused havock round and about, with most roads north of Whangerei cut off (which has meant adaptations to my travel plans) 4,000 people without electricity

(including us, which meant going to town for Nachos and Shrek 3, damnn!), Give Way signs giving way to the wind, and Whangerei Falls turning from a pleasant wee tinkle

to a roaring torrent spewing spray in all directions...

It's all drama and candlelight. I'm going to the beach to watch the waves...

My near drowning and other aquatic adventures

A gulp of air for a very quick blog (not long left in NZ... must make most of it!). And how nice it is to gulp air. After a near drowning on the East Cape at Tokomaru Bay, I am happy to be alive! And have a new found respect and love for a roaring ocean. So many adventures by the sea and with water have been had over the last couple of weeks...

watching the waves on the way to the East Cape

kayaking into caves

Jackson's Bay looking toward Great Barrier Island

Mangroves at Colville

Hahei Beach

Cathedral Cove and a man with a big chin looking out to sea

Cook's Beach

"Intelligent Fun for Everyone" at Waiau Waterworks - all sorts of inventions involving inertia and water. My head still spins.
A good distance above sea level on the Pinacle in the Coromandal Forests...

But there's been many more aquatic adventures down the River at Loiuse and Ian's where I wwoofed for a week. They have a lovely piece of land, upon which they're building a straw bale house and setting up an environmental education camp for kids. Th land goes down to this lovely river where me and Louise threw caution and clothes to the wind and took a dip one rainy day.

And on a nocturnal visit to the river, I fished for an eel by the light of glowworms. Then me and Ian battled with the eel to skin it (not as easy as Hugh FW makes out I can tell you), and finally enjoyed it battered and fried. Yum.

Here's Lou and Ian's Earth oven which was fired up for pizzas on my last night.

And their straw bale house on the build -

All washed up

Little marvels on the way to a ghost gannet colony -

Urban babble

Half listening to NZ National Radio here the other day I suddenly thought I was suddenly transported back to the UK by the voice of James Knockerty of Radio 4. Big fuss, it seems, is being made here over a recent little piece on Radio 4 about Palmerston North being the most boring town in the world, as rated by John Cleese. So boring in fact that people have thrown themselves off the clock tower and died of boredom before they even hit the ground. Which isn't a pleasant aligation. NZ National has upped the defensive with many listeners phoning in saying that, in fact, it is a brilliant place. I was intrigued enough to pay a visit...

A typical Palmy panorama -

Verdict - John Cleese is not only funny, but also a man of truth.

Napier, on the other hand, is a much more interesting little town. It was devastated in 1931 by an earthquake that hit over 7 on the richter scale.

And then rebuilt in jazzy bold Art Deco style. Some of the colour schemes are a bit iffy, but overall its pretty funky. Even in the grey whether (first proper rain in nearly a year here - good for the vineyards and splashing in puddles) it feels pretty bright here.