Moby the White Whale

After a day in Auckland we picked up the van (Warwick named it Moby, after the white whale) and headed towards the Bay of Plenty to our first stop, Whakatane.


The drive was pretty uneventful and the scenery was pretty unexciting so we were glad to finally make it to Whakatane although the caravan park wasn’t much better (just grassy area with little to no shade).

Whakatane

Our first meal in Moby

Moby at night
Hair update - 5 days no washing (you will see lots of photos with hair in ponytail) and Warwick has decided to join me on my quest for naturally beautiful hair.

Auckland

Auckland - the largest city in New Zealand (not much else to say about it, just another city)

NZ Challenge

Warwick and I driving around NZ in a campervan for 3 weeks, sounds like fun? We'll see. We've got a challenging journey ahead, approx 2,500 km across both islands from Auckland in the North to Queenstown in the South. Warwicks only requirements, Rotorua, Fox glacier and bungy jumping; me, everything! I've set myself an additional challenge, not to wash my hair for the trip as apparently if you don't shampoo for 4-6 weeks it will magically return to its natural beauty. I first read about this in a magazine at a hair salon and thought it would be great to never have to wash your hair again. Further research confirmed that it is possible (source - Internet and Wokka) although there are reports that it dosen't work well for fine hair, which is of course is what I have. Warwick's not too keen on this idea though and will be carrying emergency supplies of shampoo and conditioner, just in case. But I am determined to reach my full potential in the natural beauty stakes, you've got to make the most of whatever little you have, right?

Balloons

With the weather fining up the hot air balloon rides over the city have started up again. They often travel over our place and most Saturday mornings I can hear them as they release more helium gas. This morning they were pretty low but still no one waved to me.

Foo and the egg carton

Nice day for a ride

Bonnie and I decided to take a ride down Beach Road to our Mum's place in Chelsea. We weren't the only ones who thought it was a good idea as we were overtaken by loads of other, very professional looking riders along the way. I picked up a few of the peleton hand signals which I'll have to try out during our rides to work. The 70 km round trip was great though and the beaches around Chelsea were beautiful even if the water is still a little cold at this time of the year.

How many PhDs does it take to hang a carpet?

Finally managed to drag Warwick out to his favourite place (not), Bunnings, to get the stuff to hang the Turkish carpet. Warwick was in charge of the power tools while I was responsible for making sure it was hung straight in line with the ceiling. However these things never go as planned as there was one thing neither of us had thought about.

After marking where the hooks should go according to my expert eye, drilling in the rubber wall hook thingys, screwing the hooks into the rubber thingys and threading the carpet on we both took a step back to take in our handywork. Initially I copped the blame "I thought you said it was straight!" but it turned out one side was longer the other which of course was still my fault as I'd bought the carpet in the first place. After some skillful use of safety pins and strategic placement of the upper fringe we managed to get it looking a little better.