Nothing is too much in NZ! Hooker shelter? Why not?

I’ve seen a lot in my life and another couple of funny signs will appear on this blog shortly, but this one is seriously funny. A 1 hour walk to the hooker shelter, can hiking get any more rewarding than that?

Only a half hour hike further there is some private stuff going on… lets not read into that!

Misty mount Teranaki Wilkies pool

I had no idea that the Mount Fuji as seen in the movie the Last Samurai is actually mount Teranaki as many claim. Well it isn’t!!!

Although the movie was shot in the Teranaki area the Mount Fuji in the movie is the real deal superimposed using CGI of Mount Fuji as seen from Yokohama. So, we learned something today! (follow this wiki link if you don’t buy it)

Nevertheless, it was fantastic hiking up to the Wilkies pools on mount Teranaki during fog and rain. The view was stunning and could be straight out of a movie… including the Last Samurai.

Bangkok suburbs seen from the sky

Whilst sorting through the 1000s of Thailand images taken last October I came across these news worthy pictures of the October flooding of Bangkok.

Taken from the plane we can see the devastating effects of the floods. It would be only days before the flooding reached the city centre of Bangkok.

Whilst in Bangkok a couple of days before the major inner city flooding it was interesting to see how people were actively building walls around their property to save it from flooding.

Hundreds of thousands sandbags used in Bangkok to stop the water

Sandbags were used all over the city in an attempt to keep the water out.

However, reading the reports of the extend of the flooding only days after we left and seeing images of the flooding at a friend’s house, the sandbags in the picture would have been totally insufficient keeping the water out.

I learned from all this and when looking for an apartment in Auckland I decided it should be on a hill and at least on the 2nd floor.

Wilfried and I on the Whanganui river (click to enlarge)

How a day of fun could have turned into a funeral. Drowning is a scary business, but very realistic when jumping into a kayak without any experience and capsizing.

Last Wednesday (04-01-2012) Wilfried (see in the picture), Iwona (taking the picture hence not in it) and myself went kayaking on the Whanganui river.

I quickly discovered that these vessels are not made for tall people. I had trouble getting in, but that would be nothing compared to getting out.

All geared up, including a spray skirt (the rubber thing covering the canopy as seen in the picture) I felt ready to go. In super high spirits and without fear (this is a total lie) I went down the river.

The potentially deadly Whanganui river as seen from the camp site (click to enlarge)

The first rapid was scary, but I stayed inside the kayak. The next rapid, the most violent I’d encounter, made me capsize. The waves banging into the kayak from the side kept on pushing me under water.

Having had trouble getting into the kayak getting out proved extremely difficult. In a wild panic, after having tried if the river water was indeed drinkable, I managed to push myself out of the kayak.

With great sadness I noticed that I lost my glasses which are never to be found again, but on the positive side I was still alive.

What I learned from this? Get into a boat you can actually get out off when it flips over!

Amazing panorama at the tongariro crossing

Tongariro crossing. A walk starting at 8.15 in the morning till 16.00.

This is a hike with the most amazing views. From a place that looks like the desert, to amazing volcanic mountains, sulphur filled lakes, a wonderful blue lake, terraces and jungle with streams and raging water.

It wasn’t always easy, but we all made it. Our new found Swedish friend Christian (31) had most trouble whilst our German friend Wilfried (74 years old) was running well ahead of us!

There you go, age doesn’t say anything.

Two days of kayaking tomorrow!

Scary guard dog demonstrating with a stick how he will handle any burglar

Puss in boots protecting the house

Having evaded this enormous guard dog and the vicious puss in boots I scaled the wall, crawled over the roof and broke into the house ninja style.

Alright, alright, the dog looks huge but doesn’t hurt a fly, the cat was as sweet as pie and misplaced its boots and I used a ladder the get on the roof.

The roof however was darn steep and I had to crawl up. Afraid I’d slip or the roof tiles would give way I slowly moved towards the balcony, climbed the balustrade. How I got in from there I’ll keep a secret

In the end, after crawling around on the roof like an idiot, I decided not to switch careers after all.

Tequila for all – a real boys night out in Auckland

My first night out with the boys in Auckland. Not knowing what to expect I left the office with my colleagues for a ‘boys night out’.

However, we had a great night out with a good many drinks and I’ll better leave it at that

The giant in Thailand

Mentioning the paradise of Thailand in my last post I figured it’s time to revisit my Thailand trip of October 2011

Cornwall park in Auckland by rain

The water coming down the hill like a small tsunami taking buildings and cars along on its way down.

Here in Auckland small streams were rushing down the road sides yesterday. No wonder as this city is build on many a small, but steep, hill.

One of those hills is one-tree-hill in Cornwall park. With good weather you can actually see the monument on top of the hill, but the rain made that quite impossible.

I’ll be house sitting right next to the park sometime soon. A huge, trust me, HUGE dog will be my company for the week together with two cats and a dozen fish.

Hopefully, being right next to one of the more beautiful parks of Auckland the weather will be more like today, nice and sunny.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

Click to enlarge. A hyper modern Korean toilet with buttons for everything

As it is still poring down with non existing rain here in Auckland – blame the Aussies for sending it over – it seemed like a great idea to revisit a water related feature in Korea.

When I encountered this toilet like thing in my hotel during my trip to Korea in October I had absolutely no idea how it works and what it does.

The best way to discover it to stand well clear whilst carefully pressing a button.

When a scary little tube come out of nowhere you’re just happy not to be sitting on that toilet. Don’t even want to know where that goes….

It worked out to spray water, with considerable force, straight up and nothing more. Thank goodness for that. For a moment there I got a very weird feeling about the Koreans.

Click the image for the full sized image on which the different toilet options are visible.