Christchurch

26 February 2011

There are no words to express our sorrow for all those in Christchurch who are suffering through this dreadful time. It is a relief to know all those dear to us are safe, but there are so many people affected that it is impossible to image what they are going through.

Being without our bus has been frustrating, as we just want to be able to go south and help. Hopefully we can do this when the rebuilding begins.

In the meantime, we continue to watch the news reports in horror, and do what little we can to help.

It does make our hearts sing to see the extraordinary lengths people are going to so they can help each other.

He aha te mea nui o te ao?
He tangata! He tangata! He tangata!
What is the most important thing in the world?
It is people! It is people! It is people!

Paint job

21 February 2011

We've just given up our bus for the next week or so. It's gone to Marty's Panel and Paint to get the paint job done.

What a great company to deal with - friendly and helpful, not to mention patient. I guess they're used to dealing with people who are struggling to decide what they want.

We'd only been there half an hour and the staff were already pulling the bus to pieces. The front bumper was off, skylights removed and windows were being masked.

A few hours later we popped in to take some photos and they were cutting pieces off.

Hopefully it will look better next time we see it.



Cutting off the gutters to put on nice new (rust-free) ones.



One end to the other

14 February 2011

In the last week we have driven from Pataua South to Wellington. Along the way we have stayed at: the beach reserve at Onerahi, the Silverdale RSA, the BP station at Wairakei (bad move, very noisy) and a friend's farm near Palmerston North.

Onerahi beach reserve - what a lovely place to stay.

Why pay cafe prices when there are places like this on
the side of Lake Taupo where you can stop and make
your own coffee?

In Wellington we've stayed on the Petone foreshore, Ngatitoa Domain (so we could go to a 50th at the Mana Cruising Club) and on the street outside one of the kid's houses.

I think it's fair to say we're pretty comfortable with sleeping pretty much anywhere now. So long as it's reasonably level and there's not too much traffic, it will work for us. At least for just a night or two - we'd prefer a bit more privacy for a long stay.

We're enjoying being back in Wellington and catching up with family and friends. It does feel rather odd to be here and not in our house - today I automatically turned towards 'home' when leaving the supermarket; the bus was parked in the opposite direction.

Not sure where to next. We're waiting to hear about a couple of jobs, but are also considering having the bus painted in Levin over the next couple of weeks.

The view where we parked on Petone foreshore - this is
about 1km along the beach from our house.

The continuing saga...

9 February 2011

This week we were due to take our bus back to the builders so the last of the work could be finished. However, last Friday they informed us by email they have closed their business and would not complete our build.

We were more disappointed than angry about this - after all, we still have our dream and they have lost theirs. Craig can do much of the work himself and once we buy everything we need we shouldn't be more than a few thousand dollars out of pocket.

Over the last few days, we have discovered not only have they left subcontractors unpaid, in at least one case they told them we had withheld the final payment, which isn't true. We feel sorry for the subcontractors, who put in a lot of effort to get our bus on the road (the plastic welding guy was still working at 8pm on Christmas Eve to fix a leak in the tank), and now seem unlikely to get the money we have paid the BBC for this work.

On the positive front, we now have wiring (for which of course we had to pay $500+, despite this being the BBC's oversight) so we can tow our little car behind the bus.

Yesterday we travelled together in the bus for the first time, which makes it feel like our adventure has taken another step forward.

Breathtaking

The skipper demonstrating use of the sea sick bags.



3 February 2011



They promised a perfect day, and they certainly delivered. Beautiful weather, calm seas, clear water and stunning scenery.

As we headed out to the Poor Knights Islands (about a 50 minute boat trip), we circled and played with a pod of dolphins. The closer we got to the islands, the more wildlife we saw; the islands are a full nature reserve - no-one is allowed to land at all, there is no fishing within 800m and the commercial fishermen have to stay even further away.






Fun to watch but always hard to photograph.

  We anchored in South Harbour, right by Blue Maumau Arch. This was our playground for the next few hours. There was snorkelling equipment, kayaks and paddle boards on board. The crew were incredibly friendly and helpful - one even went into the water with a client who was nervous about swimming. She took her right through the arch on a flotation noodle.


Approaching Blue Maumau Arch. You can see scuba
divers' bubbles behind the other boat.



Dropping the anchor from a dinghy causes less damage.

The snorkelling was magical. Lots of sealife, from sponges and kina, through hundreds of two-spot demoiselles and wrasse, to the eponymous blue maumau, trevally and plenty of great big snapper. The water was superbly clear and we rated the underwater scenery as better than Tahiti. The other highly rated scenery was the boatload of professional rugby players (Auckland Blues) which anchored next to us.



I can safely say I have now tried paddle boarding and got it out of my system. I think I'll stick to kayaks from now on. I was okay kneeling on the board, but very wobbly once I got to my feet.

This makes me look much better co-ordinated than
I actually was.



After all our fun in the water and some lunch, it was time to move on.  Because the sea was so calm, we were able to go through a couple of arches in the boat, and nose into a sea cave which is well-lit by an air shaft. We then went right round one of the islands.

Beautiful colours at an arch entrance.

The vertical shaft at the rear of this cave lets in
lots of natural light.

There was a waterfall off one of the cliffs. This is unusual as there is no natural water source, so it was the remnants of the storm a few days before. When a Maori tribe lived on the islands, they had to dam the runoff to get water. The islands have been uninhabited (and tapu) since the 1820s, when the local Maori were massacred by a raiding tribe.

The valley where the Maori lived and had their dams.
The bodies of those killed in the raid were laid to rest in
caves in the cliffs behind.

Then it was off to the largest sea cave, by volume, in the world. Our 25m boat fit easily inside. With the motors off we could really appreciate the eerie feeling of being in a cave - and the echoes from a long blast on the airhorns. After that, because it was such a beautiful day, we were also treated by a trip around the nearby Pinnacles, which is a gannet nesting site. 




Looking out from the largest sea cave in the world.

   We returned to Tutukaka (and a couple of well-earned beers), before driving back to Pataua South, where there were still toilets waiting to be cleaned.

The trip was a real treat, run by very friendly, informed and professional folk - highly recommended to all.

What a day!