Beautiful Coramandel

I find myself in the beautiful stunning Coramandel Penisula staying at the batch of a friend of a friend - it has a 180degree sea view and we're camping in the garden in the little tent Janie and I picked up for cheap. We spent last night sleeping under the stars (so many of them without the light pollution, its even better than Dartmoor and of course we can see all theSouthern constallations too). Every morning Janie is teaching me Yoga and in only a week i am starting to feel better, stronger in my body. Our days here are spent reading, playing backgammon, cards, frisbee, snorkelling and swimming ont he beach. Very relaxing but there is some feeling gradually creeping up on me...i'd like to be working again, being useful. i went to the most amazing cafe in Coramandel town called Driving Creek Cafe - organic, vege, wholefood place, very arty, excellent food and atmosphere - i thought, this is the kind of place i want to work/.run/live in/own! But they didnt need staff so i think my job will come to me in its own good time.
We are all off to a festival next weekend called Splore - there we can be swimming int he ocean while listening to the live music! Great. Theres a big crew of us going - Laurie and Asha (whos place this is), Ricky and Goz (so nice to see friends from back home) Janie and I and a load of freinds of Lauri and Ricky who i imagine will be just as great as they are. So im excited.
Ricky is cooking local bangers and mash so its feed time in paradise xxx love to all you dedicated readers, hope you are still awake and enjoying my flaunting of the wonder that is New Zealand

Leaving Northland

I have just spent the best part of two months in the north of the northland and it was hard to leave. I've met some amazingly kind and genuine people and had too many cool unique experiences to even begin listing them. THe last 2 weeks have been fantasic in the HOkinga Habour and it was made that way by the group of people that JAnie and I met almost by chance.
WE left our wwoofing hosts last wednesday and have been camping up Cape Reinga (again) and riding horses and all sorts since then based at the lovely Cowboy CLIntons place who let us stay for a while and we were taken in by him and his wonderful freinds and family for the week.

We stayed at an amazingly remote and beautiful beach bach near HIHi on the east coast this weekend after a day horsetrekking followed by a barn dance which ended with the blokes swinging from the rafters to prove their strenght and manlyness we supposed... So sunday morning we saunter up the coast slowly to arrive in this coastal paradise with a storm brewing on the horizon. DOuglas the owner took us fishing in the choppy ocean but the fish were sensibly hiding from the storm. WE ate a warm scallop salad with chops done on the barbe (the amount of steak we have eaten here is incredible - lots of beef farmers around!) we rounded the evening off by touring around scotland the tasty way - DOUg is a massive Whisky coniseer so he took up for a Scoth journey to remember - yum! A very beautiful weekend, it feels like we crammed so much in - it really made a massive difference to meet local people and join them in their socialising and be part of that gorup for a time, i feel very lucky. CLInt was trying his best to tempt us (well mostly Janie!) back with tales of other adventures to be had.

THe other experience of note was a near death one where i had my first experience of almost crashing in a car (i was passenger and JAnie managed to steer us away from ditches, trees and other cars....thank you angels) SO that was very scary but i am more grateful to be alive than i was before so thats something.

SO a massive thank you to the Hokinga crew who looked after us with style, all brilliant interesting and fun people - CLinton, Andre and Lovey (we declare the Fife family the greatest dancers in the Hokianga) Brendan and Nina, Quentin and CHarlie xxxxx

Hokianga Habour in the Wild Wild West

Yeeeeee haaaaaa

I've spent the last 10 days of my life in the stunning Hokianga Habour in the far North of the North Island and it has been a BLAST in more ways than one.

Firstly - I've shot 3 guns! you wouldn't expect that of me now would you?!
I've been galloping along Opononi Beach on a beautiful stallion, I've been on a 5 hour trail ride up a mountain on a lovely horse called Spider, I've been touring around with our new wild west buddies, I've collected fresh oysters from the beach at the bottom of the garden and best of all I've found myself a lovely traveling partner for the time being - an american woman called Janie who arrived here the same day as me. We've been sharing the little caravan which is home until wednesday morning and then we're off exploring!

I'm at Dorothy and Mikes, a lovely couple who are hosting us. We've been doing a variety of tasks for them including monkeying around painting their roof. Its been fun but the best part of being here for me has been meeting the locals who are our age. We first met Davey Fife a contract tractor driver in his 60s who offered to show us his stallion!! Well we didn't visit his farm but we did get a visit from Brandon another local guy who took us to see the horse he has just broken in - She was Amazing! She lifts her feet when he clicks his fingers! We then met his partner Nina and Davey's son Clinton. CLinton is a massive gun and Wild West Rodeo man who showed us his tricks with a bull whip, crazy riding and guns. I shot the target right off the wall with his rifle! (i thought this might be the only time ill ever shoot a gun so why not...) The guys do loads of rodeos and shows up here, its REALLY big! Brandon rode a bull in the last one and lasted 3 seconds...

So when Clinton showed up in his black outfit with cowboy hat in tow we went off riding with them all. This seemed like a big deal to me as i've lacked confidence in the riding front since i stopped riding at 14 but i really enjoyed having a go and the massive ride we did up the mountain really was the best day in New Zealand so far! Brilliant stuff. They have been ever so generous to Janie and I so we took them out yesterday to the Maori hot pools (great natural hot spring with different minerals in them) and then to waterfalls and on a tour of local towns for food and beer. Very genuine sweet people, I haven't met a New Zealander I haven't liked so far.

Its great being so close to the sea, swimming everyday, collecting oysters....and Dorothy is an ace cook - my trousers are perhaps tighter...

Oh and we went to visit Tane Matuta - The god of the forest. A 2,000 year old Kauri tree who is breathtaking, literally. Massive, beautiful being. Wow.

Love to you all from many many miles away xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dolphins and local beer mix well i tell thee

Well Paihia has turned out to be alot of tourist driven fun! I've spent a proper good amount of money and acted like a proper tourist! It's something that i normally Hate to do but actually it's ok here! Kiwis LIKE tourists, they are freindly and thoughtful and don't look down on you because you are a tourist (something I feel like the British do). If you're hitching you're more likely to get a ride if you are foreign. So it's a pleasure to get the camera and snap away and any Kiwi bystanders look proudly on relishing in the fact that other people think their country is beautiful too.

So I've been on a couple of trips - Dophin watching on a catamaran to celebrate the first day of 2008. I had a Slight headache due to a few beers the night before...New years eve I had decided i was friendless and would be spending the first sober new year in 8 years alone so during hte day i went to Russel (used to be called the Hell Hole of the North! Now they call it Romantic! how things change). I had just decided it was coffee time when i heard some music which drew me to a) a pub b) a beer and c) the only free chair in the place on a table with a group of local loggers who turned out to be a great bunch - and so off i went that evening with my new local friends to local places and suddenly i was a local too, treated to cheaper beer and prime seats! So a good new year after all. The dolphin watching certainly blew the beery cobwebs out too. It was so special seeing them, there was even a 5 day old baby in the pod - check out the piccy.

Today i went to see the very northern tip of NZ - Cape Reinga, the most accessable of two places int he world where you can watch where two oceans, the tasman and the pacific, collide. Look to the left of the lighthouse in the photo and the white bits are the swirls of the two oceans coming together. Wowee.

We also drove up (yes right on the beach, its a public highway!) 90 mile beach in the bus and went Sand Boarding, lots of good fun all day.

I'm off to the West side tomorrow after a morning of kayaking with one of the locals.