Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Surf’s up! Or is it?
Gidday again!
We’re sitting in the bus right now on our way to the Waitomo-caves for some blackwater rafting. The perfect time to write a little update about yesterday! We haven’t had time to jump on the internet, so you’ll have to do a bit of extra reading to catch up. Yesterday we left Hahei early o’clock to cross the country from the east coast to the west coast. We stopped a few times on the way for some food. Highlight for me was a stop in Paeroa. Paeroa is famous because it is the hometown of L&P, New Zealand’s best soda. Back in the 1880s they found a mineral spring there and added some lemon to the mix (and obviously some secret ingredients) to make a great flavor. We tried some L&P ice-cream, which tasted really good. We also took some pictures with a giant L&P-bottle standing outside.
Halfway through our drive we ‘lost’ Nat, who was replaced by Nana, our new driver. Since Nat had been driving nonstop for the past week she had earned a break. With Nana now leading us astray we soon made it to Raglan: New Zealand’s surf-capital. Obviously, we could take some surfing-lessons or grab a boogie board. However, we decided not to, since the weather was not that fantastic and we were both pretty tired (now Francesca’s claiming she was not tired! She really wasn’t tired! She wasn’t. She doesn’t get tired; ever.) we skipped surfing altogether.
Instead, we went up to the flying fox. I jumped on once to show Francesca how it was done. She got pretty scared though, so when it was time for her to try we started halfway. We gradually went higher up until she jumped off the platform herself! Go girl! After the flying fox we tried the rope course to show our balancing skills. We got some great pictures, and unfortunately also mud on our clothes.
We thought we deserved a little break after this so we did the five minute walk to the ‘Sunset Boulevard’. The owners of the hostel had made a little platform overlooking the rainforest and the sea. Again, great shots and a great place to sit around for a while to talk and soak up a tiny bit of sun.
Finally, we went over to the sports-barn to play some table-tennis. Francesca did not really know how to play so I set out on my mission to make her a better player. I taught her about serving, smashing and using effect. She got a lot better!
The rest of the evening was pretty relaxed. We listened to music together and fell asleep. We’re having breakfast right now on our way to the caves, so I have to start preparing myself mentally for things to come.
See ya!
P.S. YOU CAN COMMENT AGAIN! WE FOUND OUT WHY IT DIDN'T WORK! GO US!
P.S.2 I CAN BE REACHED @ FRAN'S CELL @ +1 407 284 0933 (ALSO ON MY B'DAY!)
We’re sitting in the bus right now on our way to the Waitomo-caves for some blackwater rafting. The perfect time to write a little update about yesterday! We haven’t had time to jump on the internet, so you’ll have to do a bit of extra reading to catch up. Yesterday we left Hahei early o’clock to cross the country from the east coast to the west coast. We stopped a few times on the way for some food. Highlight for me was a stop in Paeroa. Paeroa is famous because it is the hometown of L&P, New Zealand’s best soda. Back in the 1880s they found a mineral spring there and added some lemon to the mix (and obviously some secret ingredients) to make a great flavor. We tried some L&P ice-cream, which tasted really good. We also took some pictures with a giant L&P-bottle standing outside.
Halfway through our drive we ‘lost’ Nat, who was replaced by Nana, our new driver. Since Nat had been driving nonstop for the past week she had earned a break. With Nana now leading us astray we soon made it to Raglan: New Zealand’s surf-capital. Obviously, we could take some surfing-lessons or grab a boogie board. However, we decided not to, since the weather was not that fantastic and we were both pretty tired (now Francesca’s claiming she was not tired! She really wasn’t tired! She wasn’t. She doesn’t get tired; ever.) we skipped surfing altogether.
Instead, we went up to the flying fox. I jumped on once to show Francesca how it was done. She got pretty scared though, so when it was time for her to try we started halfway. We gradually went higher up until she jumped off the platform herself! Go girl! After the flying fox we tried the rope course to show our balancing skills. We got some great pictures, and unfortunately also mud on our clothes.
We thought we deserved a little break after this so we did the five minute walk to the ‘Sunset Boulevard’. The owners of the hostel had made a little platform overlooking the rainforest and the sea. Again, great shots and a great place to sit around for a while to talk and soak up a tiny bit of sun.
Finally, we went over to the sports-barn to play some table-tennis. Francesca did not really know how to play so I set out on my mission to make her a better player. I taught her about serving, smashing and using effect. She got a lot better!
The rest of the evening was pretty relaxed. We listened to music together and fell asleep. We’re having breakfast right now on our way to the caves, so I have to start preparing myself mentally for things to come.
See ya!
P.S. YOU CAN COMMENT AGAIN! WE FOUND OUT WHY IT DIDN'T WORK! GO US!
P.S.2 I CAN BE REACHED @ FRAN'S CELL @ +1 407 284 0933 (ALSO ON MY B'DAY!)
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