Music, sweet music

I went to my first choir rehearsal tonight. We sang most of the Haydn Imperial Mass (sometimes known as the Nelson Mass, apparently). It sounded okay, the tenor section right behind me were booming out their part very confidently. I managed quite well considering it's been so long since I've sung anything and I was sight-singing. Everyone seemed very pleasant. I shall go back next week.

Only I'll cycle home a different way. For some mad reason I thought it would be a good idea to go along The Terrace, and I ended up having to first cycle up a very steep hill and then freewheel down another very steep hill, brakes on and squeaking in the rain. That was fun. Next time, I turn left and take the longer-but-flatter route.

The Wairarapa

Before I started work three weeks ago I took a couple of days and drove north to the Wairarapa. It was a last chance for a bit of holiday, and also an opportunity to get back in a car after a year and a half. The last time I drove was in Wales in September 2005, and that was over three years after the previous time. It's safe to say I'm short of practice. Luckily I got an automatic so driving was really easy and the roads are, relatively, quiet.

I took State Highway 2 up through the Hutt Valley on a beautiful autumn day. First stop was Kaitoke Park, a smallish woodland reserve which happened to be the location for Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. I arrived just after a couple of tours groups doing the Middle-earth Tours thing that's a popular tourist option round here. Instead of following them straight to the Rivendell site I walked through the forest the long way. It was pretty and quiet and I was utterly happy in a peaceful sort of way - just me and my camera.





The Rivendell bit was actually fairly disappointing. You can't really visualise it as it was when they had lots of pretty Elvish buildings there. It's nice in a sylvan sort of way, I suppose, but nothing special compared to the rest of Kaitoke. I followd yet another tour group and eavesdropped on what the guide was saying: "Here's where Aragorn stood with the princess ... what was her name ..." Excellent quality stuff. Not.

Anyway I jumped back in my car and headed off again, over the very windy Rimutaka Hill. That caught me off-guard a bit - one minute I was gaily bowling along at 100kph on a nice straight bit of road, the next I was doing 30kph up this great big hill. And the radio reception went.

It didn't take long to get to the Wairarapa, where it was hot and sunny. I checked into the nice little campsite in Martinborough for the bargain price of $12.50 - I paid more for every one of the bottles of wine I later bought - and put up my tent for the first time. It turned out to be slightly trickier than R&E's tent, but I got it up eventually. Though next time I need more tension in the under-tent bit. And I need a groundsheet, which I'd forgotten to buy. Luckily despite rain the night before the ground was bone dry and remained that way.

I left the car and went for a walk, camera on my back with a handy bottle of water which I needed - it was sweltering.





I arrived at the first vineyard, Tirangi, rather parched. The people there were really welcoming and a rather sweet bloke with a bit of a stutter took me through the wine on offer and explained the region to me. The Wairarapa is a newish wine growing region, famous mostly for its Pinot Noir although actually everything is good. It tends to get very hot days and cold nights, which is good for the grapes. Most of the vineyards are boutique and few export outside NZ - in fact even the big New World supermarket here in Wellington doesn't sell any Wairarapa Pinot Noirs, which is insane. Consequently they're not the cheapest wines in the world, but they are very very good. I tasted a couple at Tirangi and on discovering that my clever plan to drive around the next day and buy lots of bottles was foiled by Good Friday licensing laws, bought a bottle of their rose.

Next stop was Ata Rangi, one of the better-known Wairarapa vineyards. A very friendly lady poured me wine and we discussed the weather. I got Pinot Gris from Ata Rangi but was wishing I hadn't got the Tirangi rose because the Ata Rangi stuff was delicious. Since then I found it in my local liquor store. Hurrah!

After that, feeling mellow and happy, I strolled along the road to Muirlea Rise, where my tasting was interrupted by an Irish couple complaining about the very small tasting fee in most of the vineyards. They didn't taste, but disappeared to try and find free wine. They wouldn't have had much luck. I departed with a 2004 Merlot that was being sold off as it was the last of the vintage.

My last vineyard was possibly the nicest. The owner was a cheerful bloke, casual and friendly, who explained that Murchison is a very small family-run affair which makes its wines the old-fashioned way - ie slowly. He was right, too, because his wines all tasted very French in a good way. Like proper Bordeaux. And I tried a delicious sort of liqueur/dessert wine they make from wine and French cognac, which tasted like Christmas pudding. I left there with an expensive bottle of Pinot Noir which went down very well with Easter lamb on the following Sunday!

I faffed the rest of the day. Dropped my wine off at the campsite because it was heavy, had a coffee and read the paper at the village cafe, panic-bought food for breakfast and lunch because everywhere was going to be closed for Good Friday. Then I went to the little arthouse cinema in Martinborough and saw Miss Potter - predictably schmaltzy, but good - and ate lovely pizza with Ata Rangi rose.

Slept well in my tent but it was soaking with condensation when I woke up. Very frustrating - I had to pack it damp. I was on the road before 9.30am heading for LOTR location of the weekend number 2, the Putangirua Pinnacles, or the Paths of the Dead.



The Pinnacles are really one of the coolest places I've been. The rock is very very soft, and crumbles to the touch. They're high, and they're like towers in strange shapes. Well worth the visit. I tried to find the Pinnacles lookout walking back from being among them, but after two aborted efforts to find the path gave up. Both efforts involved me scrambling up increasingly narrow gorges, under trees and over rocks, and I have no idea where the signposted path actually was.

I had a car, and I had time, so the last stop for the weekend was Cape Palliser. At the end of a long coastal road, and 5km of fun fun fun gravel track (ugh) there's a lighthouse and a seal colony.





I enjoyed looking at the seals, although I got growled at by one because I didn't see it lying under a rock and was a bit too close. Made me jump.

Then I drove back, with the radio on most of the way. A thoroughly enjoyable couple of days.

*Sigh*

Why is it that in whatever country you visit the vast majority of people in a gym do not know how to use a rowing machine properly? I do wish fitness instructors would actually coach ergos. I am sorely tempted to start a "row properly" campaign.

In other news, hopefully I'm joining a choir. I miss singing, so it should be fun. First rehearsal on Monday to see what it's like - I do have to audition to get in though. Hmm. Practice may be called for.

Anzac Day

A day off work today for Anzac Day. It was supposed to be a lovely day - actually it's mainly cloudy and not very nice. I was going to cycle around to Scorching Bay for coffee and cake at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, but frankly it's not really nice enough so instead I think I'll go to the cinema.

I went out to the city wreath-laying ceremony this morning at the Cenotaph on Lambton Quay. Actually that was a mistake and I muddled up the two ceremonies. There was the very small one at Lambton Quay I went to, and there was the big national one at the National War Memorial which I didn't go to and which was on TV One when I got back. Oops. Anyway most of the national one was inside, so I didn't miss much. And at least I got out and did an Anzac Day thing.

Aim: to start blogging regularly

I meant to add posts to this thing a lot more regularly than I have been. Now that I'm finally settling in properly to NZ, it's about time I made an effort to do that.

I've been at work two weeks now and it's going fine. Everyone's nice, the sector is interesting and all is good. Outside work I'm particularly enjoying swimming again - I've found a nice club with really friendly, sociable people, and there are also plenty of fast blokes to try and keep up with so I'm not just plodding along. Although I was plodding today, it just wasn't going right.

Anyway, I thought I'd start "regular blogging" with a list of what I like best so far about NZ. A nice positive post. :)

- The landscape. It seems like every corner you go round there's a new view. When I was driving around the Wairarapa the other week (I will blog this eventually) I really wanted to stop the car and jump out and take a picture about every 100m. I didn't, but I wished I had done. I've always loved mountains and sea so really NZ is perfect. And it's so green, and interesting, and the light is so good. Even Wellington is beautiful. I love cycling back from swimming on a Saturday morning around the bays. You can see right over towards the Wairarapa range of mountains, and there's the blue blue sea, and the hills encircling the city. Also on a clear night you can actually see stars - in the city centre. Wonderful.

- The people. It's a Kiwi stereotype that's true. Everyone is extremely friendly and relaxed.

- Wine. Good wine. Lots of it.

- The fact you can get a decent cup of coffee anywhere you go, even the smallest places. It's reassuring.

- A work ethic that postively encourages finishing work at 5pm. My boss came over the other day to check I was leaving. It means even after doing some exercise, or going to the library, or to the supermarket, I can still be home by 7pm. A nice change from mad London.

- Very few people smoke here, and it's nice.

Lazy Fish and rain in the mountains

I flew over to the South Island for the first time on a beautiful clear Friday morning. The Marlborough Sounds below the little plane I was in were stunningly beautiful, blue and green in the sunlight.



In Picton I was rejoined by the others, slightly happy from wine-tasting that morning, and we caught a boat out to the Lazy Fish guest house. The Lazy Fish is in its own little bay out in Queen Charlotte Sound, with four bungalows and a little apartment set in gardens by the beach. It's utterly peaceful, isolated though not really that far from Picton, and we had a wonderful couple of days there just doing not much at all! It was particularly nice after a week of running around Wellington trying to get stuff accomplished and living in a hostel. Mum and I played several games of scrabble; I went out kayaking with Mum and Dad; we had a swim and snorkel in the cool clear water of the sounds; and we walked around the bays at low tide as far as we could go, only to be stopped by a very large seal sitting on the rocks at the end of the walk. He sat up and showed us his teeth and we prudently stopped - but it was a great conclusion to the walk.





Back in Wellington the others helped me move into the flat, including a raid on the great place that is The Warehouse (for cheap furniture, etc.) Then R&E left, flying out of NZ home via Sydney, Thailand, China and South Korea. They're somewhere in China now as far as I know, hopefully having a good time and avoiding the hideous-sounding Chinese toilets.

Meanwhile Mum and Dad and I consulted the weather forecast, and came to the conclusion that it was worth making another attempt on the Tongariro Crossing. I knew I'd always have another chance, but they didn't have that luxury, so it seemed to make sense.

We arrived in Whakapapa again to discover that we could see the mountains, getting glorious clear views across to Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe as well as most of Ruapehu.





That afternoon we made the most of the fine weather and did a couple of short warm-up walks in preparation for the big one the next day. One took us down to the Tawhai Falls, used as a location in The Lord of the Rings. The falls were pretty and the spot peaceful, and we were rather glad we'd made the effort!



The next morning dawned a little cloudy, with a wreath around the summit of Ngauruhoe. Rather disappointing after the clarity of the previous day. Nevertheless we shouldered our bags, packed correctly with food, water, warm stuff, dry stuff and cameras, and set off.

The main problem with the Tongarir Crossing is that it's a very popular walk. Hundreds of people walk it each day in high season, and while we were just out of that we still set off amid a crowd of people including a large and inadequately-equipped school party (lots of kids in trainers). The crossing starts off fairly easy, with a gradual climb across the plains at the feet of the mountains. Then there is the "Devil's Staircase", a steep climb up a rocky path - but it's fairly short and eminently doable. At the top of the staircase we felt the first few drops of rain, which were fine even for me with my rowing splash top; showerproof rather than rainproof. However it kept on raining and by the time we were across the flat South Crater, a bowl between Ngauruhoe and Tongariro, we couldn't really see even Ngauruhoe and it was too wet to get the cameras out. We climbed up into the clouds, getting steadily wetter and wetter.

At the top the clouds parted just for a few seconds and allowed us to catch a glimpse of the famous Red Crater, which was indeed red and would be spectacular on a clear day! Then we had a steep descent along the crater's edge. I'd been worried that this would be like the Taranaki scree, but luckily Tongariro's soil is darker and finer and it was more like walking in sand - much less scary to come down. Through the clouds we saw the Emerald Lakes, which get their colour from the minerals in the area so were still distinctly green.

I was a bit chilly now, and soaked through despite my splash top. We kept up a good pace across the top, every now and then seeing a bit of slope or the weird, moonlike volcanic landscape around us.

And then we suddenly came out of the cloud and saw, spread out below, the land beyond. The view stretched to the vast Lake Taupo and was really worth the climb and the clouds. It also stopped raining and we began to dry off.



We had a pause to get out some food at the Ketahi Hut, which was a mass of wet people trying to dry off. We decided drying off was a bit pointless and we'd be better off carrying on the walk. The descent took a long time - if you're ever thinking of doing the crossing, go the standard way and not backwards. Backwards would mean a very very long climb upwards and a nasty steep bit on the way down.

Eventually we made it, rather dryer, quite tired, and happy we'd made the effort. A great walk despite the weather.

Mum and Dad dropped me off in Taupo the next day as the rain poured down so I could fly back to Wellington and they could carry on north, back to Auckland and home. Hopefully they'll be back here before I go home.

Travels with the parents

Mum and Dad have spent my entire life saying how much they'd like to come back to NZ after living here for a while before I was born. But for various reasons - most connected with time off work and carting two children halfway around the world - they didn't make it until both R and myself had got here on our own. They came out in time to overlap with R&E's last weeks, and we had our first family holiday for years.

I confess to being a bit less excited to see them both than perhaps I should have been; but then I did spend Christmas and the weeks after Christmas with them, so it had only been a month apart. A relatively short time these days! In fact it was a bit weird us all being in one place at the same time. They arrived off their flight a bit tired but awake enough to suffer being dragged around the Maritime Museum in Auckland by me. Good museum. Lots of pretty boats. I was happy, anyway. That evening we went to the Sky Tower for a highly-anticipated meal in the revolving restaurant. R&E had had a really good meal there back when they arrived in NZ, and we were all looking forward to a special experience. In the event it was a bit of a let-down. The food was good but not great, and the service was truly appalling. Our waitress kept forgetting what we'd ordered, dashing around trying to do ten things at once and failing to achieve anything. We confused her by using two-for-one vouchers for the wine, which ended up arriving after we had our main courses despite us asking anyone we saw for it. Nearby another waitress dropped a pudding on the floor. It was all somewhat shambolic. Much hilarity was caused when Mum realised she'd gaily put down her umbrella on the floor at the beginning of the meal - on the edge of the floor, that is, the part that wasn't revolving. She and Dad spent the rest of the evening intently watching out for the brolly in case it should materialise by our table again. In the end someone had picked it up and it was safe at the front desk.

In the morning we left Auckland madness behind us for Taupo. The drive took us through the town of Tirau, which is principally famous for having a giant corrugated iron dog, shepherd and sheep. R, a connoisseur of giant things, got out to take photos of the dog and returned with eyes alight in joy to report that there was the sheep as well. Mum, E and I merely rolled our eyes as the boys snapped away. Bless. We had lunch in Matamata, which rather like Tirau would not be at all famous if it didn't happen to have been the filming location for Hobbiton in the Lord of the Rings. I'm sure I'll go back at some point to do the set tour.

The weather was pretty dire as we drove south, but the rain eased off enough to make a visit to the Huka Falls near Taupo worthwhile. In fact the rain had helped to make them extra-spectacular.



The falls are part of the Waikato River's hydroelectric system, which includes a number of lakes and waterfalls. They were good to see. I like waterfalls, there's something so incredible about the power created by all that water thundering down. That evening we ate in a little Italian in Taupo, and probably had a better meal with better service than the vastly more expensive one at the Sky Tower!

We were lucky the next morning with the weather, as we'd booked a flight on a floatplane. "Just like in Indiana Jones," R wrote home in one of their emails to friends. It wasn't quite that glamorous, but we had fun. Just the five of us and the pilot crammed into this little thing, which seemed almost to have problems taking off. We rattled off over vast Lake Taupo before cutting inland to the thermal area of Orakei Korako. I'd never been to a thermal area before so the eggy sulphur smell and the steaming ground was all new, whereas the others were all comparing it with Rotorua (much bigger, and more famous).



We wandered around the place, missing out on geysers and nearly falling into the pool of crystal-clear water in the cave. In fact both Mum and Dad did manage to stumble and step into the pool without realising it was there. We made wishes in the pool - mine has since come true, though probably not because I wished.

The plan after Taupo was to drive on to the Tongariro National Park and do the Tongariro Crossing. It quickly became clear that the weather was just not good enough. We arrived in Whakapapa Village on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu unable to see any part of the mountains just nearby. Instead there was lashing wind, thick rain and low cloud. It was cold and frankly miserable. Luckily we had a nice hotel to snuggle down in, the famous Chateau Tongariro.

Despite the weather we did manage to get out for a walk the day after arriving in Whakapapa, heading out to the Taranaki Falls. Our bad luck changed enough for the sun to peer from behind a cloud just long enough for Dad to take some photos of the falls, and then the weather closed in again. We escaped back to the hotel and its minuscule, but wonderfully warm, basement swimming pool.

Mum and Dad's trip continued with a few days in Wellington, which I mostly spent in beginning job and flat searches and they mostly spent in Te Papa. Then the others all disappeared across the Cook Strait for wine, whales and Abel Tasman.

More of this tomorrow - it's time for dinner, I'm starving!