Night-time rumblings

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Remember I mentioned about the wobbly bunk bed? Well, the guy on ground level struck lucky at a club last night, I think.

Suffice to say the usual force 2 turned into a force 4 sometime overnight when he returned with whoever he’d pulled. I don’t know if the earth moved for them but it flipping well did for me. I almost felt seasick. Again.

Quite a few people moved on this morning. As I mentioned, the girl I was chatting to headed for Cambridge, the Indian girl in the bunk under hers snuck off as well, and the other top-bunking female is packing her washing up as I type.

Not being one to miss an opportunity, I’ve shifted to the now-free bottom bunk. No more jumping off the top level onto a luggage-covered floor in pitch darkness. Instead I can now step gingerly out of bed and trip over the stuff. It did get me thinking about my bed situation back home and how lack luster it is. I browsed all night on sites like https://www.daringabroad.com/best-bunk-beds-with-stairs-loft-bed-with-desk to find what I need. In the end I think I will have to endure my situation a little longer.

The hostel does a lot of things in the evenings and Thursdays are quiz nights. I got roped into a team with an English girl and two American lads – one was a stereotypical loud Texan. He reminded me of Phil Anselmo crossed with Andy from Rios – apologies to those of you who don’t know these people!

Amazingly, we won. Partly as the people on my team seemed to know the staff very well. The worst bit was the third bonus round for which I was volunteered. I stepped up to find out that our task was… to neck a half-pint of Tui really fast. Oh, what a shame.

I came second, behind an enormous guy from the Midlands who didn’t seem to swallow so much as just pour the beer down his neck. No shame in that. And it was free!

Unfortunately, I headed off into town before the scores were racked up so I didn’t know we’d won till the next day. By which time, the rest of the team had drunk our $50 bar tab. Nice of them. First time I have ever won a pub quiz and I didn’t even get a share of the prize!

Back to the dorms

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Not a massively eventful day today. Early doors, Lou was packed off into a taxi – destination Qatar. I loafed in the common room at the hostel, reading and tapping rubbish like this into my laptop and then moved to my new home for the next 6 nights – Nomad’s Fat Camel on Fort Street.

Another hostel without wireless (although a quick snoop shows they do have a secure one – grr) but with way more atmosphere than the place I just left. Also, free dinner every night! OK, the portions turn out to be tiny but it’s better than nowt. To upgrade to a full (Kiwi-style) serving is only NZ$4, so either way it’s great value.

The rooms are typically hostelly, that is rather scruffy but fully functional. 4 bunk beds to a dorm, secure lockers available and the showers are nice and hot. Each floor has its own kitchen area, reception is 24 hours and it takes three uses of the keycard to get into the rooms (front door, fire door out of the lift and the room itself).

They also run a lot of activites in the bar from quizzes to gameshows and killer pool. I don’t think there’s a night where they’re not doing something. All free entry and all for prizes such as bungy jumps, coach tickets, bar tabs and the like.

I ended up with a top bunk on the shakiest bed in the world ever. Every time I moved, it felt like a force 2 on the Richter scale. Still, it was comfy and the bedding was clean.

There was a really nice girl in the bunk opposite who I got talking to – I never did get her name, though! On her gap year before university and doing what more people should do. She worked for the first 6 months, saved like mad and is spending the second 6 months travelling to the envy of all her friends. She departed the following morning with the aim of heading for Cambridge and other spots on the northern island until her friend flies over from Oz so they can go have snowy fun down south.

Aside from moving accomodation, I popped up and saw the new mom and pop again. Lisa’s looking better already, but I believe they’re taking her off her painkillers in the next 24 hours so that might change! Megan is still looking gorgeous, but wants fed every 60 minutes or so. As a result, sleep is at a premium. Indy managed to press the right sympathy buttons with the matron again and managed to spend a second night sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

On the way back to the hostel, I managed to find the Central Library. I only intended to pop in to see if they had wireless (not that I could spot), but ended up sat on my backside reading comics for almost 2 hours. Great stuff!

Other than that, just dinner and nattering with Mystery Girl before bed.

Auckland, NZ – population one more than it was 48 hours ago

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 Our incredibly kind hosts dropped us off at Christchurch airport shortly after 8:00 for our hastily arranged flight to Auckland. Thank you so much for putting up with us for the last few days. Pam & Rob were superb hosts for our stay in Peter Jackson country, and I’d like to say I’d return the favour but I don’t see any reason why they’d want to head back to the UK given where they are now! It’s always great to catch up with friends you’ve not seen for a while. Even better when they take such good care of you. Thanks again, people!

The airport was about as dead as I’ve ever seen such a facility, so I tapped up my blog while Louise wandered round the shops. My typing outlasted her window shopping.

 Just before boarding, we gave Indy a call to arrange a decent time to pop to the hospital to see the new arrival. Megan wanted to join in the phone conversation (or was annoyed that the phone was getting more attention than she was) and Indy sounded close to tears, bless him. Big softie.

The flight itself was uneventful, and we got the airbus into Auckland centre (another YHA card discount) where I’d booked us into the BK Hostel on K-Road. Close to the centre without being too close, tons of shops nearby, sparkly clean and very friendly staff. It’s a huge building, too – about 4 floors I think. Bargain at less than £10 per person per night for a double room.

 We popped some washing on and grabbed some lunch from the handy Subway underneath, then wandered into a great second hand/rare bookshop round the corner. We emerged, blinking, into the warm sunshine an hour later to head for the hospital.

Sparing the hyperbole, Megan’s beautiful. Indy’s a complete gushing new dad and Lisa’s looking great despite hardly sleeping for 2 days. I think we spent about 2 hours there watching Indy gurgle pathetically and wipe foul-smelling stuff off one day old bottoms. While smiling. Parenthood really messes with the brain.

He then kindly drove us to his house so we could swap our luggage round for lighter loads before dropping us back off at the hostel and zooming hospital-wards where he hoped to be allowed to crash on a mattress on the floor again as he’d done the previous night.

 Lou and I had a healthy dinner at Wendys then popped by the Queen’s head for some cider, wine and pool. I even got a free pint as the first glass I was given had a small chip in it. I wasn’t complaining!

We started to watch a film on my laptop, but the jetting about caught up with us and we zonked out. Lou’s off to Qatar tomorrow and I’ve got to shift hostels (there’s one down the road that’s cheaper for dorm rooms). And I want to pop in and annoy the new parents again! Posted by Picasa

Snowboarding on Mount Dobson… and a new arrival

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 Rob comandeered the car keys from me (some excuse about “knowing the way” or something) and we loaded it up. Rucksacks. Chocolate. Coats. Shirts. Jumpers. More jumpers. Helmets. Snowboards.

Mount Dobson had opened its skifields a week earlier than normal as there’d been some snowfall and we decided to make the most of it. The fun thing was, I was the only one of the four of us ever to have been snowboarding before. Pam & Rob had invested in all the kit, but got to New Zealand in September so hadn’t actually seen useable snow as yet. Instead they’d been wasting their time surfing in the sunshine.

Pah.

The drive wasn’t a short one – around 2 1/2 hours – but we did end up finding the people we were to be boarding with somewhere on the highway. Not difficult given that it’s almost all single carriageway and even on a journey that size there’s only one route to take. The skifield itself is up some very windy roads once the highway ends (no crash barriers, naturally) and the car park was icy to say the least. Despite setting off at 7am, the overflow car park was in use by the time we go there.

 Giles, one of Rob’s colleagues, very kindly loaned me waterproof trousers, gloves and a jacket. Everyone else unpacked their kit as Lou and I headed to the hire shop. Two pairs of boots, two boards, one pair of trousers and a pair of wristguards later we plodged up the short slope to the nursery slope. (Note: the person on your right there is Pam, not Lou. I was asked to clear that up!)

Now I know I said I’d been before. But please bear in mind that the last time was January last year. And the first (and only other) time was 2 Januaries before that. So this was only my third time on a board.

Excuses out of the way, I was very pleased how quickly it all came back. Giles zoomed off up the tall slopes, giggling like a schoolchild who’s been waiting 9 months for this (which in truth he had), while his wife, Mel, pushed their two daughters around on their boards. The two little girls were used as an excuse by Pam, Rob and Lou to take quick breaks from landing on their backsides as well. OK, I admit it. Me too! As with Andorra the first time, though, I rapidly found myself boarding in a t-shirt as it was far too warm to wear a jacket.

 Rob seemed to pick things up fairly quickly, Pam mastered the art of falling over face first and Louise managed to… erm… stand up a few times.

The important thing is that everyone had fun, including the two little girls who didn’t even sulk all that much when told that it was time to go home. In fact, I think I sulked more than anyone else. One last zoom down the slightly larger slope (probably only a blue), zipping past rocks poking out of the snow and we went to hand all the kit in.

Needless to say, we were somewhat thirsty and hungry by the time we left, so we stopped at a small café not far from the foot of the mountain. Hot chocolate all round except for muggins here who e-numbered himself up to the eyeballs with three huge lumps of ice cream (lime swirl, orange choc chip and boysenberry if you’re asking). And I manage to drip exactly none on the car seats.

 By the time we reached Christchurch it was dinner time. So we went to Hell. That’s a pizza chain – I believe they’re opening a branch in London soon. As well as letting you design your own (bland) pizzas, they do two utterly gorgeous dessert ones. Rob and I shared an apple/cinammon/berry crumble type one and I can vouch for their deliciousness. They also make a cracking breakfast.

Shortly after we got back, Lou checked her phone and we had one message. Megan Silva, born at 17:31 in Auckland to proud parents Indaka and Lisa. Congratulations to them both! Megan was one week and 5 days past her drop-by date and apparently well worth the wait!

Again, though, an early night was needed as Rob was driving us to the airport on the way to work in the morning. Cue mass panic as we realised that packing the night before was a good idea. Posted by Picasa

Christchurch centre

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 The weather today was awful. So awful I felt homesick.

OK, that’s a lie. It was just awful. I really don’t miss home at all. Especially when, despite the rain, you get to see mountain ranges over the bay while you’re drinking your morning cuppa.

Pam and Rob fancied a chill out day and it seemed I’d passed some kind of test yesterday – Rob gave me the car keys and just told me to have fun.

Bwahahaa.

Only it was raining and Lou wouldn’t let me do any handbrake turns on the hill roads. Spoilsport.

We headed back to Lyttelton so that Lou could get a few more pictures and then drove into Christchurch town centre. Eventually. It seems that the UK rule of having a bloody-minded one-way system in all major built-up areas has spread down here as well.

 Finally, we parked up and wandered to Cathedral Square. We popped into the building for which it is named, and Lou bought a greetings card with a photograph on it taken in France around the turn of the century. There’s a man pictured in it who is uncannily like her brother. Spooky.

Our bellies were indicating that now was a good time to get some food and I spotted a pub that Rob had mentioned – the Holy Grail. Impressive place as well. It’s a sports bar/pub with several floors and a restaurant. And a games room. And a betting shop. It has a map on a plinth when you enter like the ones you get in shopping precincts.

It also sells very good food at very reasonable prices. And has a screen the size of my house showing sporting events. Plus a gazillion other smaller screens showing other live sport. Superb.

I enquired and they’re open 24/7, showing every World Cup game. We will be in the area for England’s second game (against Trinidad & Tobago), so I’ve made tentative arrangements with Rob to see him there.

 Stomachs sated, we walked around the corner to the tourist information centre and discovered that it had an attached aquarium and kiwi sanctuary. They also offered a discount to people with YHA cards (mine’s made its money back already), so we popped in just in time to see the fish in the main tank being fed.

The aquarium’s pleasant enough but nowhere near the size of the one I visited in Bangkok. However, it’s also cheaper and focuses mainly on species indigenous to the south island. The cinema shows constantly rotating short films about many birds, mammals and sea creatures – we sat and watched all of them.

Then it was kiwi time. The sanctuary only has two at present and they’re kept in a darkened room with a natural habitat for them to scratch around in. Both were close to the glass and very easy to examine up close once our eyes had adjusted.

They really are the most bizarre creatures… but also utterly gorgeous and cuddly. Kiwi do have wings, though they’re so small that you can’t make them out amongst all the fluff. A sleeping kiwi tucks its beak under the little nub of wing that it has. They’re unique in having nostrils at the end of their long beaks – all other birds have them on the top or near where the beak joins the head.

Watching a kiwi walk rang little bells in my head until I remembered where I’d seen something similar. The two-legged walker vehicles from Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. They don’t so much walk as fall over and just catch their balance on the other food.

 On the balance of things, I’m surprised to find myself happier having seen these little beasts than I did seeing whales. I’d have thought I’d have been the other way around.

Teatime approached and we had one more stopoff to make. Louise has a cousin just north of Christchurch who she’d stayed with recently and owed them some booze (as her and her other cousin had necked it all). Richard and his wife Helen run a guest house and we drove up to deliver said alcohol and to pinch a cup of tea in return.

A lovely couple, but as these visits have a tendency of doing, we stayed longer than anticipated and were a little late getting back to Pam & Rob’s. Instead of dinner out, we opted for a nice simple meal of sausage rolls and chips. Scrummy!

Early to bed though – tomorrow would see us rising before the sun. Again. Posted by Picasa