November in Northland

We don't really have much to report but figured we would give you something to chew on. This is a slide show of our month spent in the Northland region of the North Island. This slide show includes:

• Gumdigger Park (burried Kauri trees)
• Sandboarding
• Tane Mahuta
  
• Cape Reinga
• Ducks
• 90 Mile Beach
  
• Wairoua Forest (big Kauri trees)
• Surfing in Ahipara
• Buried Cars
  
• Beaches

Enjoy...

Billy Connelly

Oh My God... I just saw Billy Connelly in town. This Art Deco Weekend must be huge if it has the drawing power of D list celebrities!!!

Quick somebody get me the editor of E! News Weekly!!!!!

Napier, New Zealand

Before we leave this town we figured we would give you an idea of what ART DECO is. Please take a second to view the link provided, that way it doesn't sound so lame. For whatever reason people seem to flock to this town to view the historic buildings and get that late 30's feel. The town was rebuilt in the 1930's after an earthquake in 1931 leveled the town. I can appreciate the design and the work that goes into these buildings but personally it's not my style. Here is a slideshow of all the photos we took for our card making endeavor. All the photos are of the buildings in the central business district. There are lots of photos and some repeats.


There is a large fountain that I drive by every night once I am done work. It looks very cool as it shifts colors and water spout arrangements. Enjoy the sweet sweet slide show.



This weekend is Art Deco Weekend here. It is going to be busy and shitty. We are not stoked.

Tryin to Make Money

What we have done here is a small simple side business. We took a heap of photos from all around Napier, New Zealand. The town is decked out in the Art Deco theme,in fact it is one of the only places on Earth that has a large collection of Art Deco buldings in perfectly good order. Anway there are heaps of tourists here that come to town specifically to check out the buildings. We figured we could spend a 100 NZD and make some greeting cards to sell to the tourists. We we made 200 of them and on Sunday we set a table up at the local market. There were 3 cruise ships in on Sunday so it was the perfect chance to make a quick buck.

Bright and early we set off to the market and set up our table and proudly displayed our product. We waited and waited and waited some more. Throngs of ugly ugly people passed us by, never to descend on our lonely table to purchase the cheap and beautiful cards we made. For hours I sat and watched as mullet ridden toothless "average joes' walked by with nary a glance. I got sunburnt and humbled but I did sell 5 cards, resulting in a 10 NZD profit on the day.

The problem as it turned out was the lack of the cruisies making there way to the market leaving only the locals to look us over. That said we have managed to wrangle our way into a couple of shops in town, resulting in a complete reecoup of start up capital. Hopefully more of the cards will sell at the shops and we can laugh all the way to the bank, no sorry make that gas pump...

12 days left in Napier before we head towards the South Island.

Formal Apology

Due to an errant link in our last update I would like to apologize to everyone for the music that was provided in the last post.

Let me back peddle a bit. When I completed the last update I followed the link provided on the Moko web page and landed on the YouTube clip provided. However, I failed to realize that the clip was assembled to the musical non-talents that are creed (I will not even capitalize their name because they do not deserve it). For years creed has polluted the airwaves across the world and have now crept into the smallest corners of the Internet and left a slight stain on an otherwise flawless day.

Please allow me to make the following statements:

1. Please understand that I would never intentionally allow you to hear the "music" of creed. I apologize to you with all that I have. I am truly sorry for any pain caused to your intelligence.
2. I would like to formally shun Ian and Ralph Brownlie for their creation of "Mahia Magic". the clip itself is quite fantastic, however, one must question the artistic decisions made in the editing room that lead to a final copy being set to the melodic poison of "higher" by creed. It was a very bad and WRONG decision that has ruined the clip.
3. Lastly, please view this clip in lue of the former as it not only depicts Moko and his playful antics it also provides a much more suitable soundtrack. Please DO NOT view "Mahia Magic' unless forced to. If you do find yourself compelled to view the clip you simply must ensure your speakers are unplugged!

Moko

There are certain things that happen in your life that you will never forget. Two weeks ago we went camping to the Mahia Peninsula (you may need to zoom out on the map). Despite the gale force winds and leaking tent we had an experience that will never be forgotten. We swam with a wild bottle nose dolphin. Truly an amazing once in a lifetime event. This was not one of those pay to swim with the dolphins tours that you see, this was a remote beach with a rumored single wild dolphin that plays with tourists.

We arrived to see perfect clear glass water and Moko jumping, spinning and playing. We jumped on our boards and paddled out a good few hundred feet from the shore where Moko decided to come and check us out. We didn't even know that he was under us when he rose and bumped Andi from below, knocking her clear off her boogie board giving her one hell of a fright, this was the first we saw of him up close and he was big! He then fully leapt out of the water and jumped over me and my board, then he popped up beside me and lightly body checked me, like a cat would when it is hungry. He then stuck his tail up to let me pet it. He then dove down and came back (and parked himself) up and met Andi face to face on the front of her boogie board, if they were any closer they would have kissed. Andi got scared and closed her eyes, ha ha ha. Moko then suspended himself out of the water up to his flippers so Andi could reach out and rub its belly. As Moko sank back into the water I knew that I would never in my life have a similar moment with a wild animal. I have been close to a variety of large wild animals before but this was the first time that I didn't feel like I was going to die. It was intimidating to have a 165 kg dolphin body checking me but you knew that this was an intelligent being and it was simply curious about us and he wanted to play.

Memories like these are what you search for, you cannot make them, they find you. It was unreal.

We never got the chance to get any photos but here is a web site that catalogues others time with Moko. Enjoy, I know we did.

A small video clip.

Hastings Getaway - FAIL!

This is a news clip of a couple of guys who tried to escape from a court date in Hastings, NZ. Hastings is the "next town over from us." It's good for a laugh if anything. Look for this clip to be run on every dumbest criminals of 2009 review sometime in December.

Linky

More Craters of the Moon

FALL DOWN REPORT

During our recent vacation within a vacation I omitted one very important detail. There was a special moment between me and Andi. She fell and I laughed. Craters of the Moon as described in One Day in Taupo is a very geologically active area. In fact it is so active that in places you cannot walk on the ground in the event a misguided step finds you up to your arse in a boiling hot mud pool. Safety precautions have been brought in to advert such incidents in the form of a boardwalk. About half way through our informative stroll the boardwalk eased ever closer towards a crater. The fence at the edge of the crater saw a few tourist leaning over with video cameras trying to catch a glimpse of the bubbling mud below. As we approached the sound of the gurgling mud grew louder and perked Andi's interest. Following suit with the other tourists Andi B-lined it for the fence to gain a better perspective, unfortunately she failed to realize that the boardwalk curved slightly to the left leaving a small gap of free ground between the fence and boardwalk. The ground was roughly 2 feet lower than the boardwalk, which Andi realized while she was in free fall. With her head turned to the right, her eyes fixed on the crater she walked directly off the boardwalk. A small startled scream and flailing arms accompanied her to the ground. This time I was joined by the other tourist when I started to laugh.



Note - the picture above it is not the actual location of the fall down, it is just a reasonable facsimile. Andi for some reason would not let me run back and take a photo of the actual location.