Green Green Grass of Home

So here we go. Another farewell blog. It is my last night in New Zealand, however due to the internet connection that has the speed of a snail crawling over broken glass I will probably not be uploading this untill I reach Oz. I am writing it on my last night and thats what counts!

Very mixed feelings about leaving New Zealand if I am being honest. I experainced probably my lowest time yet on my travels over here but I have also seen some amazing sights that I know I will never see again (well until I look through my photos - but you get the Idea).

I am back in the city that I started my NZ adventure in - Auckland. I am flying out of here in the morning and I arrived from Christchurch this afternoon. I am staying in a hotel for the night as there isn't much point making the 50km round trip into the city center for just one night. Anyway, the city center wasn't anything special at all!

The middle of the North Island is pretty much no-descript. Its okay, bit hilly and a lot like Wales in a certain aspect. Another thing that I have to mention is that the people here are so SO friendly. Not met anyone yet who wasn't - still one more night to go though, so who knows.

Wellington was immense fun, was amazing to hang out with my cousin as 'grow-ups'. She moved over here when I was just 16 and as such I have never been for a drink with her. It was really good to stay with a 'native' in Welly a I am so greatful to her for letting me into her life for the week that I was there.

The south Island is definatly the best part of New Zealand and the west coast part of the Island is nothing less than amazing. I know I keep banging on about the sights, but its true, sorry! I defintaly chose the best tactic to rent the 'Spaceship' for the travels as it ment that I could just pull over at the side of the road at anytime and snap away. I also got some 'sick' footage with my video camera, I became a dab hand at holding the camera and driving at the same time. Oh the joys of automatic gearboxes!

I will make a special mention to Christchurch. On my last day in the 'South' I decided to pop into the city center and have a walk around. I couldn't believe the devestation that the Earthquakes caused (yes I didnt realise there were two either). It was really sad to see, and really just turned the whole day kinda sombre. I couldn't believe that the WHOLE of the city center was still a no-go zone. Just for a second imagine if the center of your town/city where you lived was just fucked up over night. For many of us, we don't appreiciate where we live enough. Now I am not preaching for you to go out and hug your local post office, but just take a moment to think. All credit to the residents of Christchurch however. They have just got on with it, as most Kiwi's tend to do. They have built a new center to the city - out of shipping containers, just remarkable.

So, New Zealand, some bad - most good! It is a shame to say goodbye to this beautiful little nation often overshadowed by its noisey neighbours (Wales again!), but I think that I have spent just enough time here.

I head to Australia with mixed feeling as what to expect. Quite a few people here say that NZ is better - they would. I am looking forward to hotter weather and my track record so far has been 'promising' with Aussie women!

Bring on the MCG, Ramsey Street, Kangaroos and Chlyamidia Infected Koala Bears!

T
x

Mulder & Scully

Okay, this is not going to be a emotional post, neither is it going to describe in detail what I have been up to so it could be a little tricky.

Basically I realised that it has been a ruddy long time since I actually posted what I have been up to. However like I have said in a previous post I don't really want the whole world (yes that is true now, I have a reader from Moldova!) and is dog finding out what I have been up to since being in the south island. This isn't because I am ashamed/embarrassed/fearful of arrest or anything. it is because I want this time to be special and have some memories that only I have. It also gives me something to talk about with people when I get back without the comments 'I read that on your blog' popping up every 5 min.

So what I am going to do it just list 10 points that I have learnt over the past week and a half.

1) My driving skills rock.

2) The south island of New Zealand is quite possibly the most beautiful place on planet earth (well at least that I have visited).

3) Snow is not my friend.

4) Neither are the 2 birds that are now departed from this earth because of point 1 - animal type of bird, not  woman. Calm down!

5) I seem to attract Aussie women in pairs.

6) I have seen a blow-hole and it was wet and slippery.

7) The Killers - Hot Fuss & Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones are both excellent soundtracks whilst navigating mountain ranges.

8) I sleep with thermal pants on.

9) My camper-van topps out at 125kmph (obviously on a de-restricted road!)

10) The Star Wars films are a good way of keeping me busy at night in the camper-van - so are point 5 actually.

There we go. Thats all you are going to get out of me. The post title is because my camper-van is called Scully. Just a shame I wasn't riding in Gillian Anderson around New Zealand. No pictures, don't want to spoil the fun too much. Although I do have to say that I have taken the best picture that I have ever taken whilst being here, if your lucky, I will show you - one day!

Live long and prosper.

T
x

Interlude.

Okay, I know that the title isn't a song title. There is a reason for this that I will come onto in a moment.

Yes I am still alive. That is all you will ever hear from me about my trip throughout the South Island. The reason for that is that I have been doing a lot of thinking whilst driving around and I have decided that I would like one part of my travels to be just for me. Now don't get me wrong, I love blogging and I love you little bleeders too, but I want something that is just for me, and my trip in Scully the Spaceship is just that. Now maybe when I get back home I will share some tales with my friends and family, but sorry bleeders, not on here.

The reason that I have not put a song title in this post is because it isn't going to be a usual post. As mentioned above, it won't be describing my tales and adventures. Its just a few of my thoughts that I have had along the way that I want to put down.

So, reflection time. I am pretty much at the halfway point. I came from the U.K. having had no job and at a crossroads in my life. I thought that travelling would let me get a little perspective on my life and the direction that I want it to go in. Well it has kinda done the job, but it has also asked a lot more questions. I think that I have found out more about myself as a person than what I actually want.

When I get back home I have a lot of choices as to what job I want to go back to. I could go back into retail and try to work my way up in the management side of the industry, I could go back down to the holiday parks and re-ignite my career as a sound/light technician or I could do something else entirely, like emigrate!

I suppose that I would prefer it if I didn't have the choice. It is great to be able to pick and chose what you want to do in life however I am going to be 27 (nearly) when these battered feet tread on British soil again and it really is time to start looking towards the future. I suppose I know what I don't want to become, that is a sad lonely man who has nothing to show for his life, and if I don't get a career or a plan sorted sharpish then that is what I will become.

The thought of going back to the holiday parks really does excite me. I think that I am looking at my 3 years that I spent on them with rose tinted glasses. I don't really remember any bad times (and I know there was loads). It isn't the sensible thing to do though. There really isn't a career in it and see above paragraph as to what the probable outcome will be if i venture down that road.

Emigrating, WOW. There is a prospect. I suppose the obvious option would be to move over here, to New Zealand. I have a contact (in the form of my cousin), they are nice people and it is fairly simple to get a working visa for here. BUT - (and that is a big but), I don't really want to move away from the U.K. Its crazy I know, because those who know me know that I have no loyalty to the U.K., Britain, England, Wales or wherever. I do miss home. Not my family (I miss them, but considering half of my family live outside the U.K. they are not the factor in question here) I do miss the U.K. itself. I miss the street signs, I miss the traffic lights, I miss the decent beer, I miss the supermarkets. It has made me realise more about me as a person. There are some people who like to experience new things, see new sights and go on adventures. Then there are people like me, I am up for new sights, adventures and the rest of that malarky but when it comes down to it, I like my home. I NEVER EVER thought I would be that sort of person. And in someways I am a little pissed off that I am.

Which brings us to retail. I love working in retail, I love managing people and I (not blowing my own trumpet) think I am pretty good at it. It came to me on a walk that I did today (yes, I have been walking, I will share that with you guys). I suppose what I really want to get out of my life (that sound crap, but its the best I can do at the moment) is what most people already have and what a lot of them didn't have a choice over. I want a stable job, a nice house and a family. I am a very lucky man because I have had a experience that has allowed me to make the decision and know that is what I really want. Hardly anyone gets that. Most people who go travelling (I have discovered) are the first type of people I talked about. You don't get many travellers in group B.

Reading it all back it probably looks as if I am depressed and not having a good time. I am not going to lie, at first when I went on this voyage of discovery, yes I was depressed. But now I just feel like it is all part of the experience. Just for me the experience has bee a whole other kettle of fish as to what most people have. I have discovered so much about myself in the past 3 months it is unreal, and I will not be sharing with you all of my discovery's. Also I have just noticed that it seems that I will definitely be going into retail when I get back. I wont, nothing in this life is gaurenteed. Its what I want to do, but what we want and what is on offer are two TOTALLY different things.

It is in my mindset to think too much about things, it is something that many ex's of mine have picked up on. All this time alone doesn't exactly help the situation either. So sorry for my little ramble, but you know, if you don't like it. . . . . . . . . you see that little 'x' in the top corner of your screen, click that!

I am having fun and the travelling and adventures will continue, after all I paid enough for it and the book isn't going to write itself!

I may end up in Oz, Cambodia &/or Vietnam, meet the woman of my dreams and this post will mean as much as the Queens Jubliee did to me!

Would be good to hear you thoughts on this - tom@tomswayround.com is where you will find me. We have had our first view from Moldova! WooHoo!

Rant over, I promise.

Next post, normal service will be resumed, promise.

T
x

Starman

Its a Tomo!

Bleeders,

Sorry that I have not been writing on here lately but I have been having a total blast here in Wellington.

First up though you may have noticed that there are no stupid adverts here. About 5 days ago I received a email from Google ADsense (the people who sort out the adverts and pay me) saying that there had been a rise and suspicious activity and as such they weren't going to pay me ANY of the money that I had already earnt. Now I did break the rules and ask on facebook for people to click on the links, but I justified this because I had to earn £60 in advertising before they were going to pay me any. I therefore asked people to click on the links and once I had taken out my costs then I was going to give the rest to charity - Amnesty International, great charity. What I am saying is that there are no advert, I didn't get a single penny from any of the adverts that were on here previously and the kind people at Google ADsense are closely resembled to a bunch of clucking bankers.

The 'Beehive' - Or NZ parliament.

Rant over. Now what have I been up to in 'Welly'. I went for a walk around 2 museum's, very good - very free (I do like free museums!). I went to a excellent Mexican Restarunt called La Boca Loco and discovered that I actually quite like Guacamole. I purchased some fivefingered shoes to replace my sandals because I hate having sand in them and quite frankly they suck. I went to a house party with the most amazing view and got very drunk and I have just been chilling out at my cousins house reading books. Its been excellent.

I really do like Wellington. The whole city has a really cool, chilled out vibe about the place. Parts of it do remind me a lot of 1950's america, but that is not nessacary a bad thing. Its just really cool place, I suppose that this is the first place that I have visited on my travels that I can actually picture myself living here. It is that good.

The view that I have when I have my coffee and ciggy
every morning.

I know that I haven't really written that much about Wellington but the reason for that is that I haven't done too much. Sorry bleeders. I did have a excellent final night here. Unlike most of my 'final' nights in places I didn't go out and get totally wasted. The main reason behind this is that I woke up at 13:00 with a masssivve hang over from the house party we went to on Sat night. So a walk was undertaken with my cousin and one of her mates. After this I had myself a little nap. Then we headed into the city for a really nice meal followed by a film. This, however wasn't a normal trip to the cinema. My cousin works for Weta here, and so we went to see a screening of Promethus (I hope I spelt that right, if not, sorry Tommy P) in the sound screening room that Mr. P Jackson uses for all his films. It was AMAZING. Such a ultimate cinema experience. The film was really good, so that helped. There were no adverts or previews, just straight into the film. The cinema was so beautiful. It was free (I like free stuff). Everyone there respected the film by not talking (they work for a film company so its expected). The picture quality was immense (best 3d yet). But the sound, WOW. Un-be-live-able Jeff! And everyone stayed until the end to watch the credits, which I always like doing at the cinema.

Wellington in all its glory.

So as of tomorrow I am flying to the south Island and I have hired a spaceship. Its basically a people carrier with a bed in the back. I am there for just over 2 weeks with no internet. So unfortunally we are going to have to go on a break readers. Now, I don't mind if you want to read other blogs, that's fine. I wont like it but I understand, we all have our needs. But you better be waiting for me when I return, just promise me that!

Adiós Amigos for 2 weeks.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER for Monday, you really don't look a day over 30 (which is a bloody miracle considering this is the big 60!).

I am so dead when I get home.

T

A very atmospheric picture I took! Love this one!

Land Down Under

Me at the top of the Skytower in Auckland.
As you can tell, I was a little worse for
wear.

Hello Bleeders!

Firstly I know that the title is in reference to Australia, but there really isn't many songs about New Zealand that I could have used as the title for this post. I am still technically 'down under' so to speak.

So, how have you all been? I has been a while since I graced the world wide web with another blog. Let me explain what I have been up to.

I managed to escaped Auckland on the Intercity coach. It was pretty good actually. Nice coach and a really cool driver. I headed to Rotorua.

This was 'proper' New Zealand. It is so pretty here, its kinda like Wales with the hills and the rolling greenery all about, but its like Wales on Acid. The hills are mountains, everything is just greener and bigger than Wales. The comparison doesn't stop there, everyone over here is just so friendly. In fact the only people that have kinda spoilt New Zealand so far are the fellow backpackers. Specifically the French, British and South Koreans. The French are totally arrogant, the British have lived up to their god-given right to drink lots and be obnoxious and the South Koreans snore, LOUDLY! I hate stereotyping but almost everyone I have met from those respective nations have been that way.

The lake at Rotorua, like Ben Thornton, it too smells!

Anyway, I arrived in Rotorua and the first day that I was there I went for a walk along the lake. This was cool. Rotorua was built near sulphur pits and as a consequence the whole place stinks. It can vary from smelling like rotten eggs to smelling like used fireworks and anything in-between. The walk was cool and I got to see some natural hot springs. I didnt go for a 'dip' as the water was like acid, would have put a downer on my day.

The following day I went 'luging'. Basically you sit on a tea-tray with three wheels and go down a pretty steep hill. There were 3 different tracks; Scenic, Intermediate and Advanced. I brought some extra rides and went down all three twice. I had been working my way up and so on my first go on the advanced track I was feeling pretty confident about my skills. I was flying down the hill (this track was definatley advanced) and I came across a slower driver. Being the considerate chap that I am I cut her up in a move that Mr Schumacher would have been proud of - she shouldn't have been going so slow really! In the evening I decided to hit the bars of Rotorua and stumbled across this Belgian bar. It was really cool, the barmaid was from Whitchurch in Bristol and got chatting to this guy all about music and things. At 21:00 the bar had a jam session to celebrate the start of a blues music festival in Rotorua and so I spent the evening in good company, drinking Fullers ESB, listening to some chilled out tunes. Bliss.

The view from the luging track. Rotorua in all its glory.

I then went on to Taupo. It was a small town, not much really going on there. I only had one day here so spent it walking around another lake - lots of lakes in New Zealand. This was where I met the South Korean  snoring monster. All night long. I didnt get a wink of sleep, so I planned to wake up at 08:00 (I had a coach to catch to Wellington) and wake him up early, that would show him. 07:00 came around and he woke up first. My plan was not too be. As long as he got a good nights sleep eh!

Off to Wellington I trotted (via a 6 hour coach journey, but after the states, thats just a shrt hop for me now). I was met at the station by my cousin who has been a resident here for 10 odd years. (that is not 10 odd yeas but 10 years-ish. Oh, you know what I mean!) We went back to her house, which has some awesome views of the bay from the deck and the lounge. However, in order to get to the house you have to hike up a shed load of stairs. I will count them later in the week and report just how many there are. In the evening we went out for a rather nice steak meal with two of her friends. My cousin has just recently seen the light and converted from Vegitarinism to normality and so is discovering the delights of good steak! After the steaks more friends joined us for cocktails (dry, vodka martini. Not dirty for me!) and then we went dancing. I failed to impress with my dancing skills but was a cool night. Sunday was your typical lazy Sunday - coffee with bacon butties followed by a drive up the coast to visit a few of her freinds for lunch. In the evening we just chilled out and watched 'men who stare at goats'. It was pretty funny.

Caerphilly mountain? Thats not a mountain,
THIS is a mountain. Lake Taupo in the foreground.

So yea, thats Wellington so far. We are hopefully going to watch Prometheus at some point in the cinema where the world premier for LOTR was and I have been recommended by a few people that the museum on the water front is worth a pop.

Thanks once again for reading.




T