We're getting close to a new phase of the Fade team, January the 2nd will see Helen join us permanently. Anyway it gives me an excuse to reprise a few phases of the ever excellent Chills. Hopefully we've been as good and will continue to be in our many guises.
'Pink Frost' - The Chills 'I Love My Leather Jacket' - The Chills 'Heavenly Pop Hit' - The Chills
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Fade Team,
The Chills,
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Fetch Monst from work, she's had a shite night first night back at work. What are we greeted by, some scum has deposited anti-islamic and law and order leaflets from the BNP through the letter box. Luckily not while I was in or I'd have had to have had the two hour argument on the doorstep just to delay the racist scum in their distribution. At least it'd make a change from bush baptists and Jehovah's Witness'. The BNP are just intolerant racist scum. Their argument against Islam is that it is intolerant and fundamentalist, this from the fucking BNP. Apparently Britain is drifting towards being an Islamic republic. How? This sort of irrational stirring up of hatred really pisses me off, more so because the gullible believe in it.
Still I do like the subversive nature of this vid from the ever wonderful Decemberists and it redresses the balance somewhat having discovered it. Still struggling with the jetlag, up at three again, need to make efforts to stay awake later to try and combat it. Drag Cal to Jungle Fun the new'ish part of the Granny Takes a Trip Playbarn Empire. It's atop of Belle Vale Shopping Centre in what used to be a Tesco's. He enjoys it, and is so knackered afterwards that along with the jet lag falls asleep all afternoon. I promise to take him swimming tomorrow. It'll be fun. Make canneloni for the evening meal it keeps me out of mischief for awhile. Much fetching of Decemberists, The 1900's sorting of The Chills and Don McGlashan ensues.Post yesterday's post nip to Borders and fetch a copy of 'How to Speak Dragonese' and up to Real Groovy Records where a copy of 'Kaleidoscope World' and the 'Stand By' Ep by the Chills are procured on CD. Real Groovy is by the way! Leave Auckland at around 8.30'ish, chuffed to get a start that early in the day. Grab a McDead Thing brekkie as we travel down State Highway 1. Headed for the Black Water Rafting Co. down at the Waitomo Caves on a mission to see the Ruarki Cave and glow worms. Along the way we come across the Kiwi House at Otorhanga, it's too good an opportunity to miss, we have to see at least one Kiwi while we're here! So we grab a quick hour here before heading on to the Caves. At the caves we grab a quick beans on toast as lunch and then Angus our guide for the trip introduces himself. He is incredibly good with Callum and lets Cal turn on lights and stuff. Top man. We all enjoy the trip and grab photos. Drive off down the 30 to Rotorua, arrive there and some more top navigation from Monst gets us to the place the hotel is meant to be. Trouble is we can't see it. I nip into the gaff we do find to ask for directions. Turns out its changed its name. So we're curently at the Sudima Hotel if you want to know. If you don't well you know now anyway! Don't like their web charges mind, yesterday an hour for a couple of dollars today 15 minutes, corporate greed strikes. Mind you the walls are less orange here.
Given that the dolphin gig happened yesterday sans dolphins we dexide that today should involve a visit to Waitangi to the Treaty House. Of course this with us is never straightforward and with wet clothes from yesterday involves a trip for me to the hotel laundry to wash and dry clothes. I take the Notpod with me and a bunch of postcards. My postcard habit for the unlucky few is monumentally stoopid. Ashleigh, Margaret, Mattie and my folks will receive a card a day. Work will no doubt suffer a couple and then there is Annette etc. The problem is each card must be different. Anyway the cards see me through the wash and a bit of the dry. Music is sweet, all I need is a coffee and a seat and I'd be perfectly content. The good news is I don't fall asleep in the laundry today.
Back at the room and we dump pics on the Archos and clean the camera's discs. Cal is enjoying New Zealand kids TV. Clamber into the car head off for breakfast at 36 Degrees South, Monst has bacon and eggs, Cal bacon and toast, I opt for blueberry pancakes, grilled banana and bacon. By far the most poshly presented breakfast I've ever had. Pity to demolish it but it needs eating and good it was too!
Waitangi Treaty grounds is the next call, the venue where the relationship between the Maori and British crown was established. Interesting treaty you've gotta wonder how far it was carried out.
Seems to me that there is a eurocentric gloss to the interpretation. White man comes along and paternalistically stops infighting between Maori people by offering them Crown protection. Interestingly the protection is only offered when the French are sniffing about. However you do get the vibe the Maori took on the Empire on at least some of their own terms. Really though I don't have a shred of evidence for these assumptions. Anyway to celebrate the treaty they built a meeting house and large war canoe in 1940. The carvings are amazing.
We catch a live celebration of Maori culture before we go round, all poi, songs and haka, quite fun and obviously with loads of in jokes amongst the performers. Not certain where 'Stairway to Heaven' fits in though.
Grab lunch at the cafe at the Treaty grounds, great local fish chowder, Monst has mince and Cal nicks some of my chowder.
See a sign to Haruru Falls and head there. Monst and Cal decide to tramp back to Waitangi and send me to meet them with the car. Listen to the Chills and sure enough after about an hour or so they turn up. Good stuff. They are soaked though so we return to the hotel. Monst visits the laundrette and the we go to a Pizzeria. Given the quality of the food earlier in the day this is an adequate dining experience. Still it does explain the mystery of the tall black which turns out to be a couple of espresso. Coffee is good!
Back to the hotel, Monst irons, sleep.
Cal's Jam sandwiches pay off. On arrival in both Australia and New Zealand Monst being a decent, honest and trustworthy individual felt moved to declare there existence at the security checks. Probably the best policy but I'd've taken on the role of international jam sarnie smuggler myself. Still uneaten when we got here and with a flaked Cal in the bed they looked destined to be the furthest travelled uneaten sarnies in the business. Cal meanwhile has woken up, at 3.00 am, 4.00 am and 5.00 am and applied the Bagpuss principle. Last time it's only me who wakes and the result of Cal stating he's hungry is the consumption of the Sarnies in some desparate midnight feast situation.
Meanwhile I am now awake and psyching myself for today's bungee jump.
Monst and Cal are on a mission to source a car seat for Cal, he needs a booster to be able to see out the window. I wander off rediculously early for my bungee jump, mainly so I can find the offices of AJ Hackett in good time and have time to grab a coffee and chill. Grab a copy of the New Zealand Herald, it's like a large version of the Bolton Evening News and nip to one of the many Starbucks around. The sport naturally focus' on the Rugby but Netball gets a look in to along with racing and golf.
Wander round taking photies a plrnty on a misty morning. Get kinda lost looking for Westhaven Drive and resort to a bait shop for directions. They try flogging me a fishing rod in a jokey way suggesting I could give it a go while jumping. I mutter things about worm dangling. I enjoy the walk. Ask for further directions in the ominously titled Sitting Duck Cafe and find the Hackett Office. Wander round and find the gaff. Marginal complication, no jumps until the fog clears. They offer to run me back to Viaduct or suggest the Sitting Duck. I opt for the latter and try to contact Monst. The old girl I asked for directions asks if I decided not to jump. Explain it's useful to be able to see boats coming (this answers an earlier query of mine that I hadn't voiced - you jump when there aren't boats coming). Grab a coffee and am stunned by the aray of what look to me like the most amazing home made cakes. Resist the temptation. Nice buzz about the Sitting Duck, worth sitting in. I enjoy being able to just relax. Should have dragged Cal here an old girl has just received the largest stack of pancakes I've seen. Nice place they seem happy for you to hang around doing little in the way of using the facilities. I have little to read having been through the New Zealand Herald earlier (alarmingly find myself scanning for health articles!) Then I remember my encounter with a Hare Krishna rep yesterday. He caught me at a moment where I was knackered in the extreme and when he started on about the Bible's expunging of the concept of re-incarnation (was it ever there) and asked me my opinion of religion, I unfortunately told him. Dunno how many people he has to deal with that tell him '.... And don't get me on the subject of predestination'. Mind you I doubt he gets many punters that are that bothered by 17th century religous attitudes and beliefs. Anyway he gave me in return for a nominal donation a copy of 'Beyond Birth and Death', it's summat to read....
Message comes through from Monst and we arrange to meet at the Maratime Museum later. Think Cal will enjoy it, Monst certainly will. Good news is she's sourced a car seat and flask.
Bungee jumping, the most bizarre thing. Things I'm not expecting - the fear of not jumping is bigger than the fear of jumping. The full story begins with the bondage scene at Hacketts, climbing into the harness shows how my sense of balance is wrecked. The piss poor jokes show the tension. The weather is just lifting and there are questions about whether we jump or not. Then there is the walk along the underside of the bridge, you get clipped to a wire, you're about to jump off the bloody thing but safety dictates you clip on to climb it. Actually the whole thing is incredibly safety conscious, all carabiners and safety ropes. When we get to the pod (it looks like it's been nicked from a stray airship) there is a predetermined jump order. A geezer called Alan jumps first and makes an impressive job of it. I jump third. As my legs get strapped into the harness that'll connect to the Bungee I get some time to ponder will I/should I back out, do I really not believe in any deities. Jump first go with a smidge of hesitation and the sensation is nothing like I expect. I wxpect it to feel like the dreaded twitch in the night where you feel like you're falling in your sleep. This has no sensation of fall other than the water coming at you somewhat fast. I also expect the bounces to be jerky, they're smooth. Mind you I'm busy counting bounces because four in I need to release myself, so maybe that keeps my mind busy. Credit to Lynton who's wife didn't tell him she'd bought him a jump for his birthday and didn't tell him until they arrived at the airport. Nice, couple I liked 'em.
Post-bungee get the T-shirt and am instructed to meet the folks across the water at Devonport where they've visited a second world war battery, having spent the morning at the Maritime Museum. Inspired by this Cal asked to go on a boat. Subsequently they've gone to a play park. Cal has had a huge breakfast and didn't want any lunch. Monst is starving and we head to a chippy where Monst eats hoki and chips, I munch a cheese toastie, Cal nicks fish and chips. Good they were too. Nip to the local record shack and locate a fine NZ rack and come away with 'Submarine Bells' which Flying Nun have re-released. Looks like the indies are faves to stock NZ music, odd.
Home, all knackered, Monst does a wash, I fetch food and Cal does his scrapbook and kips. I want too post food but have a dryer to attend to.
