Exploring the Land of the Long White Cloud

Fresh off our last full weekend in New Plymouth where one of us doesn't have to work. We made it action packed. Friday we watched that documentary The Cove about the dolphin slaughter that still occurs in Japan. It was pretty brutal and shocking what goes on but the film was very interesting. Highly recommend it and even though I'm squeamish it wasn't too graphic for me. We slept in a bit on Saturday and then drove up to Egmont National Park to try to summit Mt Taranaki. Dustin didn't have luck getting set with a guide earlier because most of them don't do the guiding full time so it's really tough to schedule in and you really want a clear day to make the most of it. The summit trail wasn't completely clear of snow yet but the woman at the visitor centre reckoned you could get up about 4 hours before hitting the snow rather than the 5 hours to the very top. We started out trekking up steep roadways after we got through the trail in the rain forest secti...

The steps before it was just scree It was a little hazy but you can kind of see Paritutu Rock in the left centre of the photo We were just up there!

In no particular order... Scored two Jack Johnson tickets for $100 total! Regularly $92 each. Sunday night baby! And the weather forecast is fine! I don't want to speak too soon and jinx it but I haven't seen or heard our noisy neighbours around for a few days and earlier this week there was a pile of rubbish bags in front of their place. I am tempted to press my face up to the glass to see if its empty but haven't had the guts. There's Coconut Chocolate Ripple Ice Cream in the freezer and it's amazing.

Hmm am I excited to get on the road? Yes. I was going to write yesterday but realized I was just a walking timebomb. I was dealing with the car warrant and the previous night our neighbours decided to stay up late playing music loudly. I called the council to complain and about half an hour later they were quiet. However, I realized at 3:30am when they came crashing home it was only quiet because they probably went out. So I wasn't able to get back to sleep after that. They were still playing music and then of course drama erupted and I hear them outside yelling at each other... who knows. But the whole day I was just so tired and full of frustration. The car is finally finally finally sorted. A $200 lesson later. After the shop didn't have the part on Monday I had rebooked for Thursday. Then at work the guys told Dustin to just take it for a new test at the guy they take theirs to. So I dropped in to ask if he saw an issue with the doors and he said he didn't. So I booked ...

I think we are now only 3 hours time difference from you folks in the Pacific time zone! (Well of course plus a day but really, it makes it easier to try to get in touch via phone being only a few hours off in the time of day.) The rain came in this weekend so we scrapped the camping trip. We went for a day trip down to Opunake and Dustin got out for a surf but the conditions weren't that great. The swell is still tiny and the winds aren't really co-operating. The town is cute. It's about an hour south but it was hard to gauge because this weekend was a big race event so most of the roads were on a temporary 50 kms/hr limit. The race was 160 kms long and called "Race Around the Mountain" or something to that effect. I think most people ran in teams but 15 people were taking it on themselves! I read about 1700 people were entered. But the beach in front of the Opunake holiday park would be lovely in better weather! The holiday park is pretty much on the beach so ...

Over the weekend I worked but we still fit in a few events after my shifts. We checked out the art gallery which has a neat video exhibit on now. The artist taped things like surfing, motorcycling, flying and more so it was kind of neat to see. On Saturday night we took a picnic and met up with a couple friends from couchsurfing to go see the fireworks the city puts on for Guy Fawkes. One of Dustin's workmates played in one of the bands that opened the evening. It was lovely if not a little cold due to a southeasterly coming in! But we kept warm enough and the 15 minute firework display was really cool! Lots of neat ones! Then on Sunday when Dustin picked me up from work we went up to the Whitecliffs Walkway and wandered along the beach there. It's got all these massive cliffs so the scenery was quite stunning. I've been running around this morning trying to find someone to fix the doors on the car. It was in the shop all Thursday and then the mechanic was trying to get...

About 15,000 people attended the fireworks Early in the evening Our walk at Whitecliffs Walkwa Strongest man competition contender We climbed up this rock

Nov 2 8pm The plans for camping last weekend were quashed when I came down with a cold after my shift on Wednesday. So I had to give up my shifts on Thursday and Friday to stay on the couch and drink juice and watch terrible movies. (ie. Wedding Daze - a wholly unfunny romp starring Jason Biggs and Isla Fisher - I think? - and Carrie. I was trying to get into the Halloween mood but couldn't stand more than 15 minutes of this movie it was so bad.) Since we weren't heading out of town Dustin worked on Saturday while I still felt worse than I had the day before. When Dustin got home he wanted to go for a surf so I dragged myself outside to get some sunshine. The swell was the smallest it had been since we've been here I reckon. We had to head to the spot that is always bigger than all the others just to get a 2 foot high wave. I sat on the beach and Dustin got out in the water! The last couple weeks have been warm here and when there is no shade the sun is intense. I took...