Trading up to Karekare/Piha
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2007
1
27
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Karekare,
North Island,
New Zealand
Thursday, May 22, 2008
After a long week spent beckoning on the weekend to escape the asylum we eventually got to move into our new pad which could only be described as paradise with an arctic backdrop. We have loads of space, sky tv, wireless internet, a spa that's finally functional & a token foozball table. Gas was due to be installed in the house shortly after arrival but ended up being delayed by a month although following the previous experience it was way down the wish list when compared to maintaining sanity.
There are 11 of us in the combined house & bedsit comprising of 4 kiwis (Andrew, Dion, Natalie & Vanessa), a French couple (Amelie & Renaud), a Canadian couple (Jill & Kix), a Chilean (Hans) & our good selves. There's little chance of the house being empty so you're always guaranteed a beer buddy & with our locals (The Crib & The Dogs Bollix) being a stones throw away they also get a fair share of business from us mainly due to the regular live music. With there being students, chefs, accountants, designers, managers & engineers present, atmosphere is never dull. I shouldn't tempt fate by saying everyone is good craic but they are & it's been all pluses so far.
Naturally the house had to be christened & although we didn't match the feat of 500 people in the house excluding the band that the last tenants set, we let the alcohol do the ice breaking & got to know everyone.
Groupy
It has since been followed by a halfway to Christmas party, a spa party not forgetting the 'any reason to have a party' party. Fortunately aswell some of my friends travelling round the world have been in the area & have taken the time to stop in for a few sociable bevvies. Ed, Ray, Clive & Grainne all made it safely through the doors before heading on their own paths. Although it wasn't exactly seasonal we took the time to check out the surfer havens that are Piha beach & Karekare beach on the west coast of Auckland with our French roomies. It took 2 trips to see both beaches even though they neighbour each other but we arrived late afternoon each day. Situated in the Waitakere region, both are noted beaches for their black sands. With Piha, the road leading there is about as straight as Elton John. When you look at a map, as the crow flies it appears much closer but the last 15 minutes were spent rolling from one side of the car to the other. My passengers wobbled out of the car pale faced when we found a viewpoint much to my amusement! The central rock known as the lionhead splits the beach in 2 which doesn't stop surfers lingering dangerously close. The waves are pretty daunting making Inchydoney look like a paddling pool. It's possible to climb the rock to the halfway mark since the upper part was closed off but Renaud & I took a 'detour' to the top to catch a spectacular sundown. Getting up there was easier than coming down but the photos were worth the risk.
As for Karekare, the road that veered off towards Piha was made seem dreamlike in comparison.
The groupy w/Chris & Matt
It was a nightmare with unguarded egdes & a width of one lane in many places so we were haunted no cars were coming against us at any time. Conversely the scenic drop down to our side was a mimic of the Amazonian rainforest. It's intensely green & provided the setting for the movie 'The Piano'. For a second I was thinking the frenchies may have reverted to right hand driving but we made it unscathed to our destination. It was a cold windy damp day but it still lured many surfers. It is a bigger beach than Piha but what makes it stand out is the rock standing in the water much further out. With the wind chill kicking in we didn't linger too long. A gang of us joined forces to go to the England-All Blacks game in Eden Park mid June about 10 mins down the road from home. I have been a long term kiwi rugby fan so I was really looking forward to it. We naturally supported our neighbours dressing from head to toe in wh...black! The atmosphere was great until it was clear the English were about to be mauled so to maintain crowd participation a mexican wave started. It barely made it round the stadium once but the scene of carnage over the terrace area propelled it to another 10 rounds. Each time it went through the terrace there was a cloud of bottles & rubbish flung in the air above themselves. Everybody purely moved it along in anitcipation of the terrace mayhem each lap (See video!). The cops moved in shortly after, hauling a couple of guys out as they went, causing it to come to an abrupt end...spoilsports!
Since arriving I've become accustomed to kiwi mannerisms/peculiarities worthy of sharing.
to throw or not to throw...
Through work I'm fortunate enough to travel, frequently into the rural areas & when you hit the sticks you hit unsealed roads i.e. gravel tracks. In these areas they rely on the water run off from their rooves to act as their house mains supply so if there's no rain, they are forced to call on tankers. Water is an expensive commodity here. People are forced to be conservative with its use. Many toilets have a dual flush system using 2 buttons i.e one for the small jobs & you can gather the rest. When relaxing in your urination station you may note the Coriolis effect whereby water runs down your cistern the opposite direction because you are in the other hemisphere. Being an Eco friendly nation they have to dispose of their wastewater diligently by planning it before they can even build their house in accordance with the relevant council. That's enough toilet talk.Hungary has Goulash, Italy has pasta & Nz have pie for breakfast, lunch & dinner. Kumara is the kiwi sweet potato. Their local Centra/Spar is called a dairy. Prostitution has been legalised here since 2003. The ozone layer above Nz has been obliterated so everyone wears shades hail, rain or snow. Houses have single glazed windows in most cases. Nz has its own Bloods & Crips youth gangs. Coinage here is rounded to the nearest 10c so when a Mars bar costs you $2.04 a $2 coin will suffice. The letter 'E' is pronounced 'I' here so if you're early to sleep, you go to bId at tIn! If you removed 'bro' & 'mate' from their vocabulary you would probably halve it. You can freely buy bottles of premixed classic spirit combinations in liquor stores like JD & coke much the same as Fat Frog but with more variety. Road surface markings are utilised on many roads & most motorways so when your car drifts over the lane borders you hear a piercing noise designed to wake you up in case you have nodded off.
Otherwise we are hoping for good weather as it's getting all too Irishlike.
