Helen: Wow, believe it or not, we've been gone exactly a year today. Not sure if it feels like a year or longer or shorter. Home doesn't feel so far away today as it's been raining and grey all day - just like a November should be. Don't know what all this talk of Summer is all about.
We left Yamana this morning which was kinda strange as we've been with them so long (nearly 3 months). But, it was good to leave - NZ was the end of the road for them and they were busy trying to sort out cars and schools and houses and all that normal stuff. Strangely there wasn't a lot of crying and wailing and shouting and getting very drunk when we arrived a couple of days ago. We all thought there would be...but it was a bit of an anticlimax - everyone felt a bit deflated as it had been our goal to get to NZ for so long...and then we were here...
C and I are having all sorts of discussions at the moment about what to do from now - ranging from the short term (which hostel do we stay in in Auckland tomorrow?) to the long term (do we want to go home on motorbikes or bite the bullet and buy a boat?) to the real biggies (maybe we should go home and have kids and a dog and a garden). Yup, decision time. Like I said the other day, yikes. Will be sure to keep you all posted.
At the moment I don't have any great cultural insights to offer about NZ - we are in the Bay of Islands just now, where the thing to do is whale watching/swimming with dolphins/sailing in the bay/beaches/hiking, all of which we are totally maxed out on just now. We have absolutely no inclination to do any of that at all at the moment. In fact, today we were just regular normal people in town - we got a mobile phone card, went to the supermarket and watched TV (we were delighted to find that they had the rest of the new series of Spooks on DVD at our hostel - we got hooked on Rahula in the Caribbean and have wanted to see how it all ended for months)
You won't be surprised to learn that on our first day of 'Helen and Charlie' time in weeks and weeks Mr P has spent most of the day in a humpf. We have done all manner of travelling to tin pot places in the back of beyond in our time, and have always turned up with nothing more than our plastic cards to get money out of the wall. No worries. Now we are in NZ - the most civilised place we've been in ages, and our debit cards don't work! C is incensed about this and has already written a stroppy email or three to our bank. He's also grumpy that NZ customs appear to have impounded all our bike gear that was sent from the UK a couple of months ago and that they are being pretty unhelpful in getting it back (you know the routine - you get passed from one numpty to another and have to explain yourself anew each time and no one has the authority to access the right records....Oh well, we'll be there in person by tomorrow so can harass them face to face instead)
Anything else to tell you? We both have cold feet. C has even taken to wearing socks with his sandals he's so cold! I try not to look like I know him when he does this. We must look like such wierdos though - dressed in our ramshackle boat clothes that are not in the slightest suited to this climate and topped off with huge fluourescent waterproof sailing jackets. You might like to know about our experience with NZ quarantine when we arrived? Everyone was a bit worried about exactly what they'd take - in the end they took all our beans/popcorn/garlic/onions etc... basically anything that had the potential to grow (they didn't mind our split peas though as they were already damaged and therefore couldn't germinate). Apparently this is to protect NZ from GM crops - they are GM free at the moment. They also took all our meat, dairy and honey products and asked about our insect infestations. According to the quarantine officers they don't have any fruit flies here so the fruit growers don't have to use many pesticides which gives them a distinct advantage over other countries.
OK, think that's all for now - off to the big smoke tomorrow
Lots of love
H&Cxx
PS we got a guide book today - first time ever we didn't get the Lonely Planet - nearly did, then decided that everyone in the world uses LP and we fancied trying something a wee bit different so we went for the Rough Guide - really enjoying it so far and have a stack of galleries and museums lined up for Mr P (although I think I'll have a job dragging him away from car/bike auctions and computer shops!)
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