Feb 26th, 2008
Quite possibly the most embarrassing thing I've experienced happened to me last night. I was very happily practicing my guitar and singing in the YHA, Wellington at 11:00 PM, sure that no other person could hear me when I heard a knock on the door of the dorm. Before I could open the door, a second more violent knock rapped. Two older English 'propers' immediately began nattering at me, " you're probably keeping half the hostel up," "it's a loud instrument," and "it's late!" as soon as I opened the door. I patiently waited for them to vent their anger and replied, " Now that I can say a word, I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was so loud. Thanks for telling me." The response sounded calm and collected when, in fact my heart was fluttering and I believe even my eyes went red from blushing. My hands even shook as I wrote this moments after closing the door behind me. I felt horrible.
Now that time has passed and I have had time to reflect, it was nice to finally piss someone off with my music. To my knowledge, it has never happened before. I guess I am coming out of my shell. When a person expresses themselves outside of their shell, they're sure to irritate others. I choose to accept the fact that the pair having not complained about my singing is a sign that I wasn't singing too far off key and nothing could make me happier!
Positive Learning Environment
January 28th - February 2nd, 2008
Next on the Northland itinerary was my week of diving with Dive! Tutukaka. I was set to get my open water diving license in one of the world's best dive spots, the Poor Knight's Islands. Last to arrive to the to the group of eight young classmates, I was welcomed by having a photo taken of me the second I sat down. The photo was for my diving license and was not very flattering as it was 7:30 in the morning. After the laughter resulting from the 'morning face' photos of all of the group subsided, we walked to the classroom for a cheesy PADI learn to dive video, the first of a series of too many. Cheesy but informative, the efficient class instruction helped get our class into the water on day two. Beside the point is the location of the water we were in, as breathing under water even in a swimming pool is a great experience. The novelty wears off soon, however, when one starts seeing what actually exists in the water of a public swimming pool. Six hours in a swimming pool over two days! I was tuckered already and had yet to really dive.
I've always wanted to experience weightlessness and scuba brings one very close to what I believe it would feel like. The first dive was magical of course. After only a few minutes under water, a juvenile Eagle Ray passed by right in front of us along with literally thousands of fish who were angry at us for invading their personal space, but were too small to act on their anger. I'd say there are three levels of object observation when under water. One would be the very visible scary category (i.e sharks, eels,), secondly, the comfortable (angel fish, plant life, anything under 10") , and finally, the minute (tiny fish, nudibranchs, the ones that hide in tiny cracks and pits in the rock). Viewing the minute is possibly the most enjoyable because one has to use breathing to really get close to a small object without disturbing the surroundings. Breath in deeply and float up, breath out and sink. That's how one controls body position accurately when diving. It's so much fun and I'd highly recommend diving to anyone who might be bored with land.
The dive charter boat our class had to ourselves. The first trip out, I rode on the top of the boat. The swell was pretty big and I got soaked even up there. It wasn't uncomfortable, though, because the water offshore was a nice 23° C.
The Poor Knight's Islands about 25 kilometers off shore.
See that little white spot by the hole in the rock? That's my head just after aborting an attempt to climb into the hole. I was yelled at by everyone in the bay to stop climbing. Unknown to me before my attempt to climb in the cave, one can be fined up to $50,000 NZD for landing on the Poor Knight's Islands. Apparently, the islands are 'Tapu' ( Maori for 'sacred, taboo') due to the Poor Knight's violent history and it's now also a nature reserve. Who knew? We had a good laugh about it back on the boat for a couple of reasons; one, while climbing up the rock, I received a cut on my wrist - it was as if the island bit me back, and two, because the instructors decided to let us jump into the water before telling us a little history about the islands which they never have done before. Of course the first time the instructors neglect to tell the group the law of the islands, some hot head has got to try climbing on them.
Next on the Northland itinerary was my week of diving with Dive! Tutukaka. I was set to get my open water diving license in one of the world's best dive spots, the Poor Knight's Islands. Last to arrive to the to the group of eight young classmates, I was welcomed by having a photo taken of me the second I sat down. The photo was for my diving license and was not very flattering as it was 7:30 in the morning. After the laughter resulting from the 'morning face' photos of all of the group subsided, we walked to the classroom for a cheesy PADI learn to dive video, the first of a series of too many. Cheesy but informative, the efficient class instruction helped get our class into the water on day two. Beside the point is the location of the water we were in, as breathing under water even in a swimming pool is a great experience. The novelty wears off soon, however, when one starts seeing what actually exists in the water of a public swimming pool. Six hours in a swimming pool over two days! I was tuckered already and had yet to really dive.
I've always wanted to experience weightlessness and scuba brings one very close to what I believe it would feel like. The first dive was magical of course. After only a few minutes under water, a juvenile Eagle Ray passed by right in front of us along with literally thousands of fish who were angry at us for invading their personal space, but were too small to act on their anger. I'd say there are three levels of object observation when under water. One would be the very visible scary category (i.e sharks, eels,), secondly, the comfortable (angel fish, plant life, anything under 10") , and finally, the minute (tiny fish, nudibranchs, the ones that hide in tiny cracks and pits in the rock). Viewing the minute is possibly the most enjoyable because one has to use breathing to really get close to a small object without disturbing the surroundings. Breath in deeply and float up, breath out and sink. That's how one controls body position accurately when diving. It's so much fun and I'd highly recommend diving to anyone who might be bored with land.
The dive charter boat our class had to ourselves. The first trip out, I rode on the top of the boat. The swell was pretty big and I got soaked even up there. It wasn't uncomfortable, though, because the water offshore was a nice 23° C.
The Poor Knight's Islands about 25 kilometers off shore.Our group's last diving location. To the right of the photo was a cave called the 'Boom Boom Cave' which we entered. When waves crashed into it, it made the most amazing 'boom' sound which could be felt through my body.
See that little white spot by the hole in the rock? That's my head just after aborting an attempt to climb into the hole. I was yelled at by everyone in the bay to stop climbing. Unknown to me before my attempt to climb in the cave, one can be fined up to $50,000 NZD for landing on the Poor Knight's Islands. Apparently, the islands are 'Tapu' ( Maori for 'sacred, taboo') due to the Poor Knight's violent history and it's now also a nature reserve. Who knew? We had a good laugh about it back on the boat for a couple of reasons; one, while climbing up the rock, I received a cut on my wrist - it was as if the island bit me back, and two, because the instructors decided to let us jump into the water before telling us a little history about the islands which they never have done before. Of course the first time the instructors neglect to tell the group the law of the islands, some hot head has got to try climbing on them.
Strong German.
January 21-27th, 2008
Adding to the strife of walking the six km sopping wet trail with all of my heavy gear, was the growingly consistent grey and very humid weather. However, while on the walk it was not hard to imagine, despite the rather horrible weather, the potential beauty of Opua and the Bay of Islands. I looked forward to sailing for the first time so much that when I rounded the last bend before Opua and the picturesque Great Escape Yacht Charters (pictured below on a nicer day than when I first arrived) was revealed to me, I could hardly contain my excitement.
When I first spoke to Great Escape about doing a five day learn to sail course, it was with one of the owners of the company who also happened to be Canadian. Before the conversation was over, the lady had mentioned that they may need some help with work on the dock. I had hoped that I might work on sailboats before I left for New Zealand, so the offer for work was somewhat of a dream come true. When I walked to the office on the dock and was greeted by an employee - a German named Tobias who enthusiastically greeted me and showed me to my unexpected new home, 'The Caravan... Of No Luxuries Aside From A Roof'. All amenities such as a shower and sink were located at the boathouse just down the driveway. Tobias has been living in the camper for months while working at Great Escape and was kind enough to let me stay with him for the week. Two people were required to do the five day learn to sail course, so I had to wait for someone else to show interest in order to go out for some lessons. Fortunately for Thursday and Friday, someone else was interested taking lessons with me. While I waited for lessons to begin, I hung out on the dock learning a little bit about placing boats on moorings, but mostly just reading. A six year old boy named Leo was on the docks on Wednesday and asked me to help him fish. I am not a fisherman but I thought I'd try help him with what limited knowledge I have, expecting not to catch anything. Fishing here in NZ is much different from Victoria, however, in that when one puts a line in, one usually catches a fish. I wasn't aware of the success rate while fishing here in NZ, so I casually dropped the line in water. Soon after got a bite and pulled out a 6" snapper. Of course, I was completely unprepared to catch anything, so I had nothing to remove the hook with. I felt horrible for the poor thing. I needed to put the fish out of its misery, so I asked Tobias to grab a bludgeoning tool. One violent strike with an old tiller on the fishes head ended its struggle. I only hope the 6 year old I was 'teaching' was less traumatized by the event than I.
When fine weather finally arrived in Opua, I walked up to a lookout tower to take some photos and felt inspired to make a new mini-vid with hopes of torturing those unwise enough to view it. My Momma wanted me in the video, so I had to block half of the beautiful view to appease her. I'm sorry for that. Feel free to forward your complaints to her.
Now that you have met Tobias, I'll share a quick anecdote. I thought while spending so much time with a German dude I might as well try learning to speak some of his language. At one point during one of our improvised lessons, he stopped me and said that I pronounce everything I say in German like Adolf Hitler. At first, I was offended but the I realised that much of my exposure to the German language previous to this trip has been video footage of Hitler. Tobias and I had a good laugh after the realisation. I've since learned to tone it down a little when trying to speak German.
The last two days spent at Great Escape before I headed of to scuba diving were spent on the water. It was an amazingly free feeling for me switching off the motor and moving under sail for the first time. I became immediately hooked on sailing. I now have grandiose ideas of sailing the world sometime in the future.
Adding to the strife of walking the six km sopping wet trail with all of my heavy gear, was the growingly consistent grey and very humid weather. However, while on the walk it was not hard to imagine, despite the rather horrible weather, the potential beauty of Opua and the Bay of Islands. I looked forward to sailing for the first time so much that when I rounded the last bend before Opua and the picturesque Great Escape Yacht Charters (pictured below on a nicer day than when I first arrived) was revealed to me, I could hardly contain my excitement.
Great Escape Yacht Charters' dock.
When I first spoke to Great Escape about doing a five day learn to sail course, it was with one of the owners of the company who also happened to be Canadian. Before the conversation was over, the lady had mentioned that they may need some help with work on the dock. I had hoped that I might work on sailboats before I left for New Zealand, so the offer for work was somewhat of a dream come true. When I walked to the office on the dock and was greeted by an employee - a German named Tobias who enthusiastically greeted me and showed me to my unexpected new home, 'The Caravan... Of No Luxuries Aside From A Roof'. All amenities such as a shower and sink were located at the boathouse just down the driveway. Tobias has been living in the camper for months while working at Great Escape and was kind enough to let me stay with him for the week. Two people were required to do the five day learn to sail course, so I had to wait for someone else to show interest in order to go out for some lessons. Fortunately for Thursday and Friday, someone else was interested taking lessons with me. While I waited for lessons to begin, I hung out on the dock learning a little bit about placing boats on moorings, but mostly just reading. A six year old boy named Leo was on the docks on Wednesday and asked me to help him fish. I am not a fisherman but I thought I'd try help him with what limited knowledge I have, expecting not to catch anything. Fishing here in NZ is much different from Victoria, however, in that when one puts a line in, one usually catches a fish. I wasn't aware of the success rate while fishing here in NZ, so I casually dropped the line in water. Soon after got a bite and pulled out a 6" snapper. Of course, I was completely unprepared to catch anything, so I had nothing to remove the hook with. I felt horrible for the poor thing. I needed to put the fish out of its misery, so I asked Tobias to grab a bludgeoning tool. One violent strike with an old tiller on the fishes head ended its struggle. I only hope the 6 year old I was 'teaching' was less traumatized by the event than I.
'The Caravan... Of No Luxuries Aside From A Roof'
When fine weather finally arrived in Opua, I walked up to a lookout tower to take some photos and felt inspired to make a new mini-vid with hopes of torturing those unwise enough to view it. My Momma wanted me in the video, so I had to block half of the beautiful view to appease her. I'm sorry for that. Feel free to forward your complaints to her.
Video #2
Looking towards Opua in the Bay of Islands.
Tobias Hartmann sitting with the first complete dinner I have ever prepared for another soul (aside from my dog) inside the caravan. Yes, I was so proud that I took a photo.
Now that you have met Tobias, I'll share a quick anecdote. I thought while spending so much time with a German dude I might as well try learning to speak some of his language. At one point during one of our improvised lessons, he stopped me and said that I pronounce everything I say in German like Adolf Hitler. At first, I was offended but the I realised that much of my exposure to the German language previous to this trip has been video footage of Hitler. Tobias and I had a good laugh after the realisation. I've since learned to tone it down a little when trying to speak German.
The last two days spent at Great Escape before I headed of to scuba diving were spent on the water. It was an amazingly free feeling for me switching off the motor and moving under sail for the first time. I became immediately hooked on sailing. I now have grandiose ideas of sailing the world sometime in the future.
One of the boats I sailed on during the learn to sail course.
If you look closely you can see the racing boats going in the opposite direction to our boat. We joked about racing in the regatta, but we didn't even make it to the start line before the race was over.
Tick one off the list.
January 19-21st, 2008
January 19, 2008 was a very special day as it was the day I saw my first New Zealand sheep. They looked so content. I now have crossed it off my top 10 list of things to do here in NZ. After fifteen kilometres of driving and in that space 4768 sheep viewed, I thought if New Zealand has a rugby farm team they are surely called the 'Lamb Kings'. My impression is that New Zealanders would be just as embarrassed by this identity as Victorians seem to be with the 'Salmon Kings'. I viewed these striking, graceful, and intelligent creatures from the bus which was heading to Northland - the subtropical land of plenty.
Aside from my now ritualistic guitar playing sessions on the beach, nothing of great significance occurred in the town of Paihia. The weather was grey and rainy for the three days I spent there. On the second day I took a bus tour up to view the Kauri Forest, Cape Reinga, and 90 Mile Beach (90 Mile Beach is actually 64 miles. There are conflicting stories as to how the beach got its name, so I won't bother with one of the stories for now). First stop was the Kauri Forest. Kauri are the largest NZ tree and second only to the Sequoia for timber yield. However, rainfall and poor light made it difficult to take a worthwhile picture, but they were impressive. The Kauri trunks are branchless up to the canopy of the forest about 30 meters in the air. Next, the bus rolled to the extremely windy Cape Reinga at the northernmost point of New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea in a fury. The collision is visible from the point and makes for a good show of two powerful forces coming together. Results of the two forces were our final destinations, the 90 mile beach and the sand dunes at the beach's north end. On these sand dunes, the tour company had everyone barrel down the 100 meter high dunes on a bodyboard at high speeds (people have been clocked at 80 km/h and I felt like I was near that). Two runs down the dune were enough for me. Sand covered and exhausted from the climb, I declined an offer for another run down the dune, and so did everybody else on the tour. We then began our drive down 90 Mile Beach which is also a state highway with a speed limit of 100 km/h. Even with the tour bus travelling at 100, I had enough time to nap and wake up before the beach ended. Normally I would refuse to nap when I'm driving in new territory, but the beach was the same the whole drive, aside from one bluff somewhere on it. It sounds like I may have been bored driving on the beach, having had a nap and all, but the experience was unique and well worth it.
Not much else happened in Paihia due to the poor weather. Of note, however, was the beer I shared with some good ol' British mates while we swam in the warm ocean during the rain. It was a fine way to spend an evening learning about the intricate culture of Britain's youth.
January 19, 2008 was a very special day as it was the day I saw my first New Zealand sheep. They looked so content. I now have crossed it off my top 10 list of things to do here in NZ. After fifteen kilometres of driving and in that space 4768 sheep viewed, I thought if New Zealand has a rugby farm team they are surely called the 'Lamb Kings'. My impression is that New Zealanders would be just as embarrassed by this identity as Victorians seem to be with the 'Salmon Kings'. I viewed these striking, graceful, and intelligent creatures from the bus which was heading to Northland - the subtropical land of plenty.
Aside from my now ritualistic guitar playing sessions on the beach, nothing of great significance occurred in the town of Paihia. The weather was grey and rainy for the three days I spent there. On the second day I took a bus tour up to view the Kauri Forest, Cape Reinga, and 90 Mile Beach (90 Mile Beach is actually 64 miles. There are conflicting stories as to how the beach got its name, so I won't bother with one of the stories for now). First stop was the Kauri Forest. Kauri are the largest NZ tree and second only to the Sequoia for timber yield. However, rainfall and poor light made it difficult to take a worthwhile picture, but they were impressive. The Kauri trunks are branchless up to the canopy of the forest about 30 meters in the air. Next, the bus rolled to the extremely windy Cape Reinga at the northernmost point of New Zealand where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea in a fury. The collision is visible from the point and makes for a good show of two powerful forces coming together. Results of the two forces were our final destinations, the 90 mile beach and the sand dunes at the beach's north end. On these sand dunes, the tour company had everyone barrel down the 100 meter high dunes on a bodyboard at high speeds (people have been clocked at 80 km/h and I felt like I was near that). Two runs down the dune were enough for me. Sand covered and exhausted from the climb, I declined an offer for another run down the dune, and so did everybody else on the tour. We then began our drive down 90 Mile Beach which is also a state highway with a speed limit of 100 km/h. Even with the tour bus travelling at 100, I had enough time to nap and wake up before the beach ended. Normally I would refuse to nap when I'm driving in new territory, but the beach was the same the whole drive, aside from one bluff somewhere on it. It sounds like I may have been bored driving on the beach, having had a nap and all, but the experience was unique and well worth it.
Not much else happened in Paihia due to the poor weather. Of note, however, was the beer I shared with some good ol' British mates while we swam in the warm ocean during the rain. It was a fine way to spend an evening learning about the intricate culture of Britain's youth.
The lighthouse at Cape Reinga.
Where the Pacific Ocean (right side) meets the Tasman Sea (left).
Sand dunes at 90 Mile Beach.
90 Mile Beach.
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