Feeling hot hot hot

I always forget how much I hate moving from temperate to roasting temperatures and I seem to have developed a knack for wearing cowboy boots whilst I’m about it. This just isn’t very pleasant. As an extra-special gift I left NZ with the germs for a cold which brewed on the flight and came out beautifully in Beijing. I made it out for a half day to the Temple of Heaven which felt mainly like shade-hopping and crowd-avoiding. Then spent a full day in bed feeling achey and snotty.

Once again food in China has proved excellent – inexpensive, tasty and fun to order (since you never really know what you’re getting until you taste it). Our last evening was animated by an impressive thunderstorm – we watched from our restaurant as the wind blew up, the lightning lit the streets and the rain fell in sheets. It soon became clear that it wasn’t going to let up and that crossing the street would involve wading through newly-formed puddles but at least the temperature had cooled slightly.

Whistlestop

Goodbye NZ, it's been fun..... en route for new adventures back in the northern hemisphere.

Watch this space for TRAVEL* updates: I will be flying out of Auckland to Beijing in 29hrs time and there I will meet up with my newly intrepid Mother. We'll spend a couple of short days exploring since she has never been there (no pressure on me to play the tourguide..... much) and then hop a train for Ulan Bator. Couple of days exploring Mongolia (yeah, yeah, not enough, I know) and onwards to Moscow. In principle, we should be back in the UK for August 16th.

*Note: this is specifically directed at BRAN, who apparently didn't twig the first time that a travel blog might actually contain info about TRAVELS.

View from window on Christchurch - Hamilton flight

Adieu la Nouvelle Zélande, ça a été chouette ..... en avant pour l'aventure de nouveau en hémisphère nord.

Gardez l’œil ici pour des reportages sur mon périple: j'ai un vol Auckland-Pékin d'ici 29heures et la je retrouve ma Mère l'exploratrice. Nous restâmes quelques jours brefs car elle n'y est jamais allé (pas (trop) de pression sur moi a faire le guide.....) et ensuite nous allons prendre un train pour Ulan Bator. 2/3 jours a explorer le Mongolie (oui, oui, je sais bien que c'en ai guerre assez) et nous reprenons le train vers le Moscou. En principe, nous sommes de retour en Angleterre le 16 aout.

Great Lake Taupo region

J'ai de la famille en NZ.....ce qui faisait d'ici le premier endroit à visiter une fois diplômé.... nan, mais vous savez qu'ils font du vin par ici? Et oui, parole! Même du pas mauvais, si on sait où chercher (et je précise que ca fait rarement le Marlborough. Sorry). Évidement c'est bien le seul raison. Rien à voir avec le fameux paysage.

Et bien, cette famille est basée autour de Rotorua dans l’ile du nord dans la région de Great Lake Taupo. Et ma foi c’est beau déjà. Je me risque du libelle en disant qu’Auckland est très moche. Je dirai même encore plus moche que Christchurch qui a au moins une petite excuse. Du coup peut être que mes sympathies viennent tout simplement du fait que j’étais dans la campagne encore (bien possible) mais vraiment je trouvais beau ce lieu.

Voici donc quelques images – du parc géothermique à Lake Taupo (faut dire qu’il y a mieux à venir quand on passe à Rotorua), et plus près de mes relations – un beau coucher du soleil à la ferme, Waikato et des pierres flottantes ! Volcanique sûrement mais plus que marrant quand on y tombe dessous je vous assure.

I have family in NZ .... which clearly made it the perfect place to come visit once I qualified ..... no, but they have wine here, did you realise? Yes, honestly! Obviously you have to know where to look (and that's rarely Marlborough, I'm afraid). That's the only reason, of course....the magnificent scenery did not have the remotest influence.

So, yes, the aforementioned family are around Tokoroa in the Great Lake Taupo region of the north island. Which turns out to be quite stunningly lovely. I shall risk being libellous in labelling Auckland as really quite ugly. I would go as far as to say even uglier than Christchurch which at least has a fairly credible excuse. On the other hand, it could be fair to say that my sympathies with the region may be closely linked to the fact that it's simply back out in the countryside (perfectly possible, given previous evidence) but honestly it's very pretty here.

See below a few pictures; the geothermal park in Taupo (although I would say there are better pix to follow from Rotorua) and, closer to home, a nice sunset at the farm, somewhere along the Waikato river and some floating stones! Ok, fine, they're probably just pumice but it's something excellent and confusing to stumble across. I'd put up the video but it simply doesn'd do them justice.

"Crater's of the Moon" geothermal park

 

View from Waikato river trail

Floating stones

mise a jour..... / updates....

Bon, les vendanges termines.... je me disais que je doive vous mettre a la page..... Ca fait bien trop longtemps que je sois arrive en NZ et je n'ai pas vraiment mis de fotos. Alors on va faire un petit tour, d'accord?

Alors,arrive en Auckland en fevrier c'etait au moment du nouvel an Chinois et on a profite de la festivale des lanternes. Ensuite mon pere est arrive et on a ete recupere par ma cousine pour rentrer dans la famille. 

So, since the harvest is over.... I feel like I really owe you some updates. In fact, its been over 4 months that I've been in NZ and I've barely put a foto on here. So, let's do a little tour....

We arrived in Auckland in early february in time for Chinese New Year and so we got to see the lantern festival. Then my dad arrived and we were picked up by my cousin and taken back to meet The Family.

pretty tree lotuses

monkeh!

lunes

Snooooooooooooooooow!

Spot the difference:

view NW through vines from the hill beind house (12/5/12)

view WNW across vines from hill (7/6/12)

It snoooooowwed!!!! Everywhere!