FIRE!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the living room of our flat diligently updating this very website when I looked over and out the window to see flames. Big farking flames! I thought to myself hmmm... There is a fire ban on, so why is Bruce (our flatmate) burning off the brush? Well during that millisecond of pondering the flames got about as twice as big. So I put down the laptop and went outside to inquire about the particular situation with my flatmate. Bruce is nowhere to be found. In fact there is nobody to be found, surprising really as 5 minutes ago there where 4 other people swirling within the house.



I ran to the front of the house and then downstairs to search for Bruce. He was still M.I.A.. From here I went back to the back yard in the meantime I scooped my phone up to call 111 (NZ 911). Just as I was about to hit send I noticed Bruce just outside the window on the patio crouched down beside the water tap. He looked up with eyes the size of America's financial problems and said "Get a bucket...NOW!" as he was hooking up the hose. "In the laundry room!" he yelped, and turn off the washing machine!!!" We both split for our intended jobs; killing the fire before it burns down half the neighborhood. The fire was already hot enough that the first bit of water to hit the base was instantly turned to steam. I followed quickly with buckets to douse the area as much as possible in order to stop potential flare ups. Once under control I asked Bruce why he was burning off the brush. He then told me about the faulty hedge trimmer he was using to clean up the garden. He went onto explain about how a cattail like piece of vegetation had gotten wedged between the extension cord plug and pluggin for the trimmer, resulting in a small non-threatening ember. It was discarded and not thought of again. Well obviously it had a bit more punch to it. Then the fire department showed up, blaming us for a illegal backyard burn off. I said to him, it was not on purpose and told him go save the neighbors fence which was still on fire.



After all was said and done and we were drinking beer reminiscing about the day Bruce let out a light "Hmmmfff."

I responded with "wha?"

Bruce replied, "You know that fire this afternoon, the one with the fire trucks and scorched fence."

"Yes," I said.

"I think it could have been a cigarette, ya know, I was smoking and just discarded it. Might not have been the pluggins after all. Oh well, we'll never know."



Some good drama here at 26A Seapoint Rd.



Bruce on dousing duty.



The amount of smoke and steam from the fire.

Explanation to the fire brigade.

More explanation... "Yes sir, I was over there when it happened."

Red fire truck parked out front, the other one was down the street.

I didn't have time to take a photo of the actual flames being in panic mode and all but here is a reasonable facsimile of the size. Note - this is not a real photo!

We even made the popular column in the local newspaper, Hawkes Bay Today!

Surf 'n stuff

Napier, New Zealand is definitely not the surf capital of this island nation. We tried to find work in the surf capital of this island nation (Gisborne) but that just led to depression and hatred for a small coastal city. That said even the sun shines on the darkest places some days. Last week a very large storm in the Pacific sent waves our direction for 10 solid days. I tried my best to get as much surf in as I could, but it still wasn't spectacular. Tony this entry is for you mostly, this is all I got, the surf hasn't been A class but it is still better than trying to cut out a frozen soil sample!

First off, this is once again the view from our patio. This photo was taken the day before the swell hit, note the general lake like features of the water...



Then the next morning the surf had arrived and the right hand point started working. It really is a small weak wave. In fact the Port of Napier is just to the right of this photo. I guess back in the day before the port was built this entire area used to be an A class wave, with a sandy bottom and endless Malibu style surf. There are stories of guys using cars to shuttle the surfers back up to the take off point. Now that the port has moved in, the natural flow of sand (by way of longshore drift) has stopped and now the bottom is craggy limestone rocks. Think ouch like when trying to walk on it - note injury report at bottom of this post.

The area noted in the photos above faces northwest, the swell is coming from the east. So what that means is this: The swell hits the land and wraps around the point, resulting in the waves seen above, small and fickle. If we were to go around the point to the East facing land you will see the brunt of the full swell as noted below. These photos are of Huamoana. I like the photo of all the cars in the car park! This break is a river mouth just on the left of the jetty. I never did go out here as it is "Heavily localized!" Plus there is a lot of water moving and I am just getting my arms back now (physically fit enough to be in places like this).

The next place is further south along the coast in a even smaller town of Te Awanga.

This is where I went out. There is not a lot of push to this wave. It was a very gentle Malibu style right hand point, lots of dudes, lots of waves. I even saw a bikini clad girl tuck her boob back in when it fell out, that was a bonus! These are not the best shots, but they are all I got.

This is me on one of the very weak waves.

Napier has a very steep beach in front of the town. The beach is composed of shingle (small pebbles, like flat river rocks). Because of the steep beach the surf is very dangerous when it get over 4 or 5 feet. There are heaps of drownings here when tourists or kids get to close to the water and are hit by waves and sucked out. Some idiots even go swimming. Here is the shore break in Napier.

Here is me for scale. DO NOT SWIM HERE!

So after a week of surf here is my injury list

• Super burnt face - I mean really burnt
• One lost fin
• Two small scratches on my hand
• Four small scratches on my feet
• Two embedded shells on my left foot
• One embedded rock on my right heal
• One deep puncture on my right foot - see below
  

Napier surf is not the best, looking forward to exploring more of the coastline here to see what I can find next month. We also have hooked Andi up with a body board and wetsuit. She is keen to get in the water...we just need waves now!

Here is a photo album for you...

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

Ocean Spa

FALL DOWN REPORT

It was late evening on a long December night. The sun had just set and we set forth towards the popular hang out on Marine Parade, Ocean Spa. Our intention was to relax some sore muscles acquired during tough work lifting tiles and other assorted heavy stuff. Under the evening stars we sat in the pools soaking in the 38 C water laughing about various things. One of the subjects of topic and much laughter was the then recent fall down Andi had while at Splash Planet. I stated that I would giggle uncontrollably if Andi fell on deck that night. Well approximately four minutes later she did. Rounding a corner to head into the change room Andi underestimated the viscosity of the floor and placed a confident right foot down while making a right turn. Rookie mistake on a slippery floor. Her legs slipped and she ended up bikini clad, red faced huddled up to some small decorative ferns. Once I knew it was just her ego bruised, I laughed. I am a horrible but highly entertained person.

Aquarium

One would guess that when we conducted the last poll we would eventually do the other activities listed. As it turned out I ended up far to sun burnt after a full day spent surfing, the winds turned onshore and buggered the surf for the day, so we decided to be tourists and went to the aquarium... The National Aquarium of NZ.

Upon entering the museum we were greeted with 2 floors, the arrows on the ground prompted us to go upstairs and poke around. We did and were minorly entertained. The first room was filled with a slim display of dinosaur bones. I've been to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto which has a great display of dino bones and my reaction there was it's "ok". That's because I have been to the Royal Terrell Museum in Drumheller. Once you have been spoiled with such a rich collection of artifacts a small room "dedicated" to the self taught paleontologist from Taradale complete with an exact replica of her garden shed (used to store her finds) does not quite cut it. Sorry, you did great work Linda but I've seen better. That said, to everybody in Alberta go to Drumheller and visit the museum, it really is that good.

Moving on... next room, a koi pond. I've seen better waiting in line for a Vietnamese sub.

Next room... This room had a Tsunami interactive screen and a 2 Metre crocodile. But as most of you know I will not post a photo of a crocodile unless it is at least 2.2 Metres in length. Sorry, rules are rules.

From here we went downstairs into the Kiwi bird house. It was dark and hard to see them. I still think that the Kiwi bird is a completely made up tourist grab formed by the NZ government. They say that they are nocturnal, I think they say that just so any photos taken of the "Kiwis" (released chickens with straws taped to there beaks) are blurry and not as easy to decipher.

Moving onto the real stuff, the Aquarium part...


First up was the sea turtle. It took a long time to pry Andi away from this display. I had to admit it was a cute creature, but it was a cute creature in a small habitat. I guess that is common theme at any zoo or zoo like facility.

There was more cool stuff in the Sea Room, like this a Colossal Squid in formaldehyde.

Note - Dion used for scale. The Squid is not as Colossal as one would think but when compared to other, normal sized squid, it is in fact quite large.

From here it was onto the Big Tank. The tank was filled with several types of fish, sharks, rays and crayfish. There were probably more types of marine life, but that is all I am going to report on. The Big Tank had a moving sidewalk through it, similar to the ones you find at the Dallas airport (for some reason I think the ones in Dallas get more use**). Essentially the sidewalk takes you on a trip to through the tank were you get witness a small snippet of the seas moving around you. Really interesting.

That was our adventure through the aquarium.






Oh...and then I fought a shark

He won.

** - So clearly a fat joke.

One Day in Taupo

So yes we are on Vacation. We have been in Napier, a small city in the province of Hawkes Bay for a while now, in fact almost 2 months. We are slowly running out of things to do, so when we both get a day off together it's tourist time. When we get a couple of days off together we leave town, a vacation within a vacation. This trip was inland to a place called Taupo. Taupo is situated smack in the middle of New Zealands geological wonderland. The area is ripe with Volcanoes and lakes. The town was settled on the edge of a caldera. A caldera is a lake that forms when a volcano erupts and leave a massive crater in the ground. This is a major tourist stop, and the other day we discovered why.

The drive over to Taupo from Napier was 2 hours, we stop at a scenic lookout and were greated with this giant waterfall. We took pictures to prove we were there...

This is our proof.

Next up on the agenda was a area called Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is basically a large geologically active crater. There was heaps of steaming ground, bubbling mud pools, tourists, scientists, craters within craters, multi-coloured soils and unique vegetation. There was a small kiosk at the front entrance, while we were talking to the volounteers who run the park, one man stated that he had just felt a minor earthquake. I asked if it was an earthquake or the beans he had for breakfast. He was unimpressed and we were quickly on our way. Here is an assortment of photos and a video.

Bubbling mud. (you might be able to see it if you click the photo and scan the enlarged version, I am pointing in the direction of the mud)

Crater within a crater...

Steaming ground and tourists, maybe some scientists.

Multi-coloured soils and vegetation.

Steaming ground. The hissing in the clip is the actual noise of the steam leaving the earth.

The area has been tapped for geothermal energy, one of the first in the world to harness this natural resource.

The next stop was the Honey Hive. Honey products were both produced and sold here. It was a solid place of commerce. Here was the most exciting part, a bee hive made out of plexi-glass. you could see the bees. My world will never bee the same.

The next stop was the Huka Prawn Park. We heard that this place featured Shawn the Prawn. I was hoping that there would be a Giant Prawn similar to the one in Ballina, Aus. I was sadly disappointed when I found out that there was no giant prawn. But you could pay 20 bucks to fish for prawns or fire golf balls into the prawn pools and try and win money... Take a guess what we did.

Next up was Huka Falls. It is a water fall that is very easily accessable. There were lots of tourists, lots of water and two boats full of suckers who spent 95NZD each to ride the jet boat. They got 60 feet closer to the falls than we did. We still have 190NZD.

This is our proof.

After that we went home and had a nap, lots of things to do makes for tired hobbits. When we woke up we ate and filled up our packs with towels, swim trucks and beer and headed off to a natural hot springs. Located in the middle of town a small creek enters the Waikato River at approxamtely 40 C. The idea is simple, show up, strip down and soak as needed. This was the high light of Taupo. Much better that almost hitting the prawn feeder at the Prawn Park.

We left the next day to drive back to Napier where we both had to work. On the way out of town we stopped on the lack front to get a photo of us and the Volcanos in the back ground. Andy then whispered in my ear that maybe before this trip is out, perhaps she may even bungy jump. Things may just get extreme!

amazing MAZE 'n maize

Well you voted and now you get it! With the voting results a favorable 4 for the amazing MAZE 'n maize over the 1 vote for the National Aquarium of New Zealand (and 0 votes for the Napier Museum) we were off to get lost amongst the corn. So off we went to get burnt under the 33C sun!

The Maze entrance...

It took approximately 35 minutes to completely navigate the maze. Our strategy was to keep left. It didn't work, always we were wrong with the left turn!

After we found the bridge which gave us an elevated view of the field we decided to switch up our strategy and try rights only for the second half of the maze.

Nope wrong again, more dead ends...

Throughout the maze there were many several information markers to tell you about the theme, which was lost at sea. These "Kernals of Knowledge" lined the pathway to help you navigate and to throw you off the track...

Did you know that seaweeds are protected by there vast numbers? The upper layers of seaweed shelter the lower layers so that only a few plants are sacrificed to protect the entire group. Hmm...Who knew?

Needless to say the amazing MAZE 'n maize was nothing short of....Tremendous!!

Pimpin' my PY

What to do when you got a day off and there is no surf, again, for the 13th day in a row? You Pimp Your Ride!!!

For 20 bucks at the warehouse I made our car a little more flash...

First up a sweet clear plastic cup holder that fastens directly to the air vent. This Chinease import comes equipped with an expanding base that will accommodate anything from a freshly chilled Red Bull to that super sized Coca-Cola needed for that long drive home at night to see my honey. With this new cup holder, my take-away flat white won't spill all over me, Andrea or our illustrious grey tweed interior.

Next up, the wheels. Is there a better way to make a statement on the pavement than hooking your rubber up with a little LED love? The answer is a resounding NO-WAY, JOSE! Four minutes for the tire valve switch over equates to months of head turning awesomeness. Now, when we're crusing Marine Parade a little shine is gonna light up our rims.

It is not uncommon for us to hear -as we go whizzing by poor suckers on the street who don't have an awesome ride - "Whoa, did you see that sweet Corrolla?" I shout back..."Meet PY, it's red and it's awesome!"