TravelStream 10 most recent entries on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com en-us Copyright (c) 2007, TravelPod Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/seebaluck/shaftontour2006/1169681880.html http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl?tweb_entryID=1169681880&tweb_tripID=shaftontour2006&tweb_UID=seebaluck#LASTPOST Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/seebaluck/shaftontour2006/1169681880.html Tue, 20 Mar 2007 21:50:46 -0400 Shaft on Tour 2006

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New Plymouth, New Zealand

Another day of traveling and another beer sampled.
This time its Speights Beer.  This has actually re-affirmed my faith in New Zealand beers after what happened in Wellington (I'll not dwell on that).  Speights is a nice red beer in the 70 shilling style. Not too great, not too fussy, just nice. The kinda beer you don't mind having if there is nothing on tap you'd have.  Its not a last resort beer by any means its just nice.

New Plymouth is a surf town with another town called Raglan nearby which I'm told has the best left had surf in the country.  Since I don't surf (yet) and have no real knowledge of the subject I just smile and say Aye to the guy telling me.

New Plymouth is apparently the most optimistic town in NZ.  Everyone is even more friendly here than has been else where in NZ.  Some people are positively brimming with enthusiasm.  I'm not sure why as apart from being a nice wee town the size of Hamilton (10,000 ish populace). I can't see what everyone is excited about.  Maybe I am turning into some sort of ol' has been who constantly moans about everything Mmmmnnn.

The reason the Cruise Meister gets a mention in the title of this little update is that "Dances with wolves" sorry "The Last Samurai " same film different country.  was filmed here.  The mountain (whose name escapes me is the spitting image of Mount Fiji so there was filming here for 6 months.  Apparently Tom was treated as one of the locals and loved it.  New Plymouth seems to mention it a lot.

There is a great ocean walk here which is great in two ways.  its nice and short coming in at just under 10k and has pretty stunning views.  There is also the wind wand.  This basically is a very tall pole on the promenade which bends in the wind so you know which way the wind is blowing. Currently it was blowing in from the sea.  On asking a couple of folk no-one seems to remembe the wind blowing from any other direction than the sea but I suppose its nice to be reassured by a 30m giant pole.

Tomorrow its off to Auckland and Waiheke Island where we'll shack up and my friend Emma's place for a while.

Cheers

Shaun 
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Wellington, New Zealand

Right I've been in the country for a few weeks now and there has been no review of any kind from me whatsoever.  I first of all appologise in my lapse and I will endevour to correct this fault.  I had the idea of trying everything first then writing up but I've tasted such a gastly range of beers from one brewery that I could not longer hold my silence.

The offender is Macs Beers. They have great names for there beers like Macs dark, Macs light, Macs Gold, Macs Pilsner etc. and on discovering a nice bar on the harbour front where you can watch ladies jog by and have a beer I though sweet, the sun is shining and view particularly stunning.  I was then to taste several of the worst beer I have had the misfortune to wet my lips with.  We're talking Tennents larger served at 40'C would taste better than any of the beers I drank. That was just the Mac's Gold!  The Red and Dark beers (I'm thinking looks like a nice 70 shilling or a pint of IPA type colours) may have well been stewed cabbage and with the sock of some young man and rotted parsnip dipped in for flavour, only begins to describe the horror I experienced.  I may have well just fed myself shite from the arse of a constapated Hippo washed down with piss from a lemming to experience a better taste sensation.

Anyway the price of beer over here is about $6.50 for a pint (large handle) roughly two pounds and a bit so is kinda like back home which makes tasting awful beer taste even worst as I'm paying almost full price if I compared it to back home.  The percentages are all around the usual 4-5% mark.   

Right on to ma journey down.

After a great drive down highway 2. (only marred by passing the Tui brewery and discovering that it was 1.20pm and the last tour left at 1pm. Didn't help I also watched the end of the tour disappear into the brewery pub for their complimentary pint. Gutted I was) Up and over a mountain range (can;t remember the name of it) then down into the city of Wellington.  Wellington itself is hard to describe geographically.  it kinda sits on the side if several large hills which sorta are arranged in a hook formation.  The harbour faces north and you have to sail north and east then south to get out.  Hope that makes sence.

A friend (Pat from Aberdeen) has described Wellington as Edinburgh and Auckland as Glasgow.  This would naturally lead me to assume that tonnes of folk from south of the Scottish border (the english) live there and not a lot happens.  But I would be wrong.

Although compact, (you can walk from one end of the city to the other in about 30mins) the city has a nice feel about it.  The general NZ populace are a friendly bunch with which I have yet to find anything particularly wrong.  I visited the national museum which was pretty interesting and shed some light on the current Maori bitterness at land sales. I'll not go into this in too much detail.  Basically when New Zealand was formed the Maori signed a treaty saying that the British are welcome to stay and in return the Maori became British citizens.  There is a dispute about the translation of the treaty as basically the treaty was in English.  The Maori didn't read that so one was hastily translated and the translated version was wrongly worded or they misunderstood. Which basically meant both parties sighned up to two kinda different agreements.  Hence there is a wee stramash about rights and land etc.  If you look at what other countries did with their indigenous folk.  Aussies tried to wipe the Aboriginies out amd the South Africans were racist fucks then NZ comes out not too badly.  

This is a nice wee place and just has a homely feel to it.  Most of the government buildings are here so its odds on I'll be back down to work at some point.

Right off to New Plymouth on the east coast of the North Island before finishing up in Auckland!

Shaun    
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Napier, New Zealand

Napier, not a bad wee place.
We are staying with our mate Emma's parents who have been great and very hospitable.
Napier is a nice wee place. In a region called Hawks Bay, which has lots of wineries.  Hence our booking ourselves on a wine tour.
The town was basically levelled during an earthquake. So they rebuilt the town and restored the buildings to what they were i.e. 1950s art deco.  It makes for a nice wee picturesque village where old people go to have tea.  Families bring their kids to the pebble beach and buy their kids ice-cream and generally everyone is nice.  I can't really find anything wrong with this it just doesn't feel right to me!  I'm probably just being an old crabbit and will probably appreciate this when I'm 60 and partially deaf!

On the plus side there are great wines and wineries to visit and crazy golf on the beach!!! Aye I have my priorities right!!!  I won our round of the Napier course of the 'Shaft on Tour open' which levels the open at 1 round a piece. Jeanette having one the inagural Cape Town tie.

Right from here its down to Wellington the heart and Capital of this far away land.

Happy Travels everyone

Shaun
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Roturua, New Zealand

This place stinks!!

Roturua is located on sulphur pits and near lots of geothermal activity. Probably due to the volcanos that litter the area.  This place is a wee funky hub of activity.  There is also a lot of maori cultural stuff here.  We headed to a Maori village which is located next to the thermal pools and had a look at village life and they put on a wee show which included the haka.  Spot On.  After having some corn on the cob, boiled in a thermal pool.  (Doesn't actually make it taste better just the novelty manner a cob being cooked at 100+ degrees)

There was a place called Hell's Gate which we had to go visit. (That means me) Aparently some famous guy said it looked like Dante's description of Hell and called it Hell's Gate.  Place was great, we indulged in a thermal mud bath and a dip in the sulphur pool.

They have a go-kart track with a difference here.  Its called a Luge.  Basically you start at the top of a hill and let gravity pull you down. Pretty hair raising but good clean family fun. They have zorbs (big plastic balls you go inside and roll yourself down a hill). but I'll save that for my next visit!!

I had my first curry in Rotarua for months (utterly fantastic, chicken tika Jalfreizi, garlic nan and some rice, cannae beat it!!)  Plus some beer called Taj Mahal. Goes well with Indian food in a pilsner sort of way (Probably cause it is).  You may have noticed that I've not had a wee beer review for a while. I'm leaving that for a later update to truly try as many of then as I can fine.  So far I've found a favourite and discovered some real pish water.

Anyway I'm off to Napier and some Wineries and a gawk at the coast.

Sweet As Bro

Shaun 
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West of the north Island, New Zealand

Just visited an area that has giant trees.  These bad boys were about 4-5 m thick.  Coming in about 400-800 years old.  Good to look at but the novelty does wear off a bit once you've seen about 4 of them.  Still mighty impressive though.

The only real downside to visiting them is that they are in the middle of bloody nowhere.
About 50 clicks north there is a wee town and 30 clicks south there is a shop.

Once I get a decent connection (remember ma camera) I'll get some photos up!!!

Shaun
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Cape Rianga, New Zealand

This place is juat great.  it is the furthest point of the north island and just looking into the sea you get a real feeling of being at the worlds edge.  Ther point has a lighthouse and that about it. Its so narrow up hear that you can see both sides without  needing to turn your heed.  The clouds generally drift over the point as its pretty windy so it also has that fog feeling. (think of rthe film/book the fog.
 
There is a Maori enterance to the underworld under a tree to the right of the light house on a rocky outlet. Legend has it that the spirits of the deceased travel up here and pass to the otherside through the gateway.

The road that leads here is basically 20 kms of dirt track.  Good in a hire car. Bad in your own car!!

anyway off to the west coast.

Shaun
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Auckland, New Zealand

Just arrived nothing to say  :   )

Changed my mind.
We were picked up from the airport by our friend Emma (nice las who we met on the Africa leg of the trip) Its nice to be met by someone at the airport since we either shuttle bussed it or taxi'd it from the others.  Spent a few nights at her home in Gulf Harbour (North of Auckland) basically sorting ourselves out and doing washing etc.

We then planned the nexgt two weeks of travelling.  After this it was hire a car and away we go!!!
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Albany, Australia

Albany Albany Albany.
The kinda nice wee hick town you arrive in at the start of the film.  Then you realise that it is really full of demented folk and you in some sort of hell hole!
Before I launch my wee tirade the place had a nice mirco brewery.  Can't remember its name but its the only one in the town so you can't miss it!!!
They did a few beers which were palatable. Nothing to write home about so I'll not bother ma arse to mention them  As all micro breweries over here they tend to call their beers either blonde, pilsner, black, white etc.  No real imagination with names, like travelling up north of Scotland and getting a pint of Lumberjack from some remote tuchteur village or a Scapa Flow best from Orkney. (no offence to the highlanders).  The micro brewery had a decent atmosphere, it appeared to be the only pub also open after 10pm so that was also a bonus.
It was in here we met some locals.  A couple of young guys 18ish.  Who proceded to tell us they didn't like the big bad city (Perth) and liked it out here in the country farming sheep.  One guy did say that he didn't want to travel and see the world as he was happy where he was.  The only place that he was considering going was New Zealand as it had lots of sheep.  let me remind you that these guys were 18.  They also said they liked the town because you knew everyone and got to know their business. (i.e. a bunch of in-bred sheep shaggers)  so when new people came into the town (us) they liked to come over and talk all big city etc.  Freaks.
Albany itself isn't too bad a place to pass through.  There is an old whaling station here which has been converted in to a museum that was pretty interesting.  Seeing a full size whale skeleton is pretty incredible.  35ish m long and about 3 wide.
They also had a 3D cinema (ohhh I hear you say) but it actually did look 3D. (Although I think the technology has moved on from Nightmare on Elm Street 3D or wat ever it was called)
Anyway to sum up Albanty is a great place to pass through.
 
 
 
 
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Perth, Australia

Back in sunny Perth.  I've had a great Christmas (thanks to Kevin and Margaret for letting us share it with their family) and a funky new year.  Yes I was back in my 70s gear getting down with John Lennon, one of the other beatles (can't remember which one) and Roy Orbison.
Back to the amber necter. (Not fosters as I didn't even bother to try the pish. If aussies didn't drink it I sure as hell wasn't) Its exported for a reason!!
On ma travels I tries a few beers I was already familiar with and it was good to see that they tasted better over here.
Crown lager : still expensive still good.
Something called Pure Blonde. (This is a low carb beer at 5% which actually tasted good) It had a floury taste that many low carb beers have but served cold like the aussies do made it taste pretty good.
Carlton Black was not a bad beer if I was craving a 80 hit.  It was a refreshing change to all the beer I'd been having.  Although Carlton Cold was a great little beer.  A little bit on the bitter side but tasted just right. Mmmn Mmnn.
Lastly there is Cascade Beers, I can't remember the actual types I had but definitely all good. Cascade is a Tasmanian beer, which I discovered on my last trip to OZ to visit my gorgeous mate Imogen : )

As some of you might have noticed I've midssed VB (Victoria Bitter) it doesn't deserve a mention. Except to say give it to people you don't like as a present.  Then they should get the hint. I believe Labrador piss tastes better. 
All in all I'd say the best beer out here was the pint of Belhaven Best I stumbled across in a new pub.  A nice wee piece of home.
The next best would be a tie between Carlton Mid and Pure Blonde if I fancied pretending I was bothered about calories and the like : )

We've been out and about in Perth. Perth is still growing and everything is brand new clean and tidy.  Since it is so new it has still to develop a bit of character.  The gardens in Perth are definitely worth a visit( Kings Park) where there are great views of the port and skyline.  There is also a funky walk which has a glass bridge.   There were a couple of places we visited just outside Perth which were great. 
Fremantle: a nice wee holiday town with some good pubs and places to eat. A good vibe to it and a market which sells all manner of tourist crap as well as local delicacies etc it was here I had a tatoo of a dragon put on ma arm.  Well a temporary one anyway.  A bit childish (there was a 10 year old in front of me in the queue) but fun none the less. I of course immediately looked hard and intimidating with set tatoo.  Women were also flocking to me.  Back on planet earth the tatoo basically washed off in a couple of days as I forgot about it in the shower one morning and rubbed it. : (
Scarbourgh: was also a great wee town.  This is where ma friend Dawny lives with her man Mike.  It was good to see another friendly face.  We unfortunetely bored them with photos from Africa and the dvd of my skydive and gorge swing. ( a wee warning to any of you who are coming over its mandatory viewing)
Perth is a pretty decent place but until I see more of the city I can't really comment.  My gut feeling is that it would be a great place to retire to as there probably isn't enough to keep me occupied.  The weather is superb though the temp didn't get below the 20s when I was there.  A 34 degree christmas day and 36ish on New Years eve was the business.
Its now off to NZ G'Day to you all and keep well.
 
 
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Perth, Australia

The land of Oz its big hot and people speak english (well sort of!)
The Aussies do pride themselves on their beer before I get started I'd say one great thing about drinking in Oz.  They know how to serve a beer.  Its always in a frosted glass out of the fridge and the beer is always cold.
I've tried a few beers in my first few days in Perth before we head for a wee trip of the south.
Something called Beez Neez (Australians don't really spell well, kinda like the Americans but not as thick. Just racist) A honey based beer.  Nice but wrong. Honey has no place in a beer. Unless it gets served at the bottom of the garden to Fairies! Decent price at about $5.
Aye its back to paying normal prices after Japan's excess. Ohh how I'd like to be back in Africa or Thailand where things are nice and cheap. Anyway.
Tooheys is another brand I had a go of. I'm not too sure how to describe this one. Basically I'd probably drink McEwans export before I drink this.  Bland tasteless water that has the cheek to be $6.
Carlton Mid (mid strength beer 4%) tasty nice and very affordable at $4.5 a thumbs up. This is also what our host Kevin drank so I got to sample a lot of it.  As an aside we were staying at Jeanette's friends (Kevin and Margaret) place so a big thanks to them for putting up with us as well as putting us up. (see what I did there) Aye born comedian, or at least born full of something!!!
There is a micro brewery called Indian Ocean (which is also the local) and it had a few beers named imaginatively Pilsner,white and red. Pilsner was awful and white was palatable (its amazing that the colder a beer is the more it fakes being nice) and the red tasted like a pint of 80 had been put in a bucket someone threw in a litre of cold tea and then poured the pint.

Perth is a pretty city.  Two or three decent suburbs to head out in.  The one kinda bad thing about Perth is that it was full of pommes (people of the mother land).  I've not heard so many English accents since leaving Edinbirgh.  it was a bit weird.  Walking along the street and hearing folk form Liverpool (nothing wrong with Liverpuddlians) and Geordies etc babbling away in their foreign tongue.  The influx of pommes kinda made meeting actual Australians a novelty.
My overall initial impression is that this is not a bad city maybe on the quiet side. Its also fecking miles away from anything else.  After a few days of travelling south we'll put out feet up for christmas and New Year and see what I think of it then.
A merry christmas and a happy new year to you all.
Safe travels
Shaun
 
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