NYE 07-08

Aight guys, in Gisi now, and it's hot as!

The weather is great, and I'm feeling pretty good. Not as psyched as X-Mas, but still feeling the vibe, sort of. Don't know why, but yeah, odd feeling. Nothing to worry about though.

I drove from Tuts yesterday, and that took me a good two hours. I had to take a power nap....wait, yeah, I met some people on my boat, and I told them that I would be sleeping in my car for the night, because i was going to pack my tent down while it was dry, and then they invited me to stay at their motel room with them. So I snuck in late at night, pretending to be a visitor, and then ending up crashing there. We all woke up at 05 in the morning, and then left at 05.30, and so I was pretty tired, but I got to see the sun rise along the coast and mountains which was amazing! Around 8-9 hours into the drive, I was just way too tired, and decided to stop at rest stop under a tree and take a power nap, and wow did it feel great. Popped in my ear plugs, dropped the drivers seat back, rolled down my window, and fell asleep. It was nice. Kind of worried that somebody would try reaching in and knicking something, but I set my legs and body up so it would make things a bit harder. It's all good. But yeah, 12 hours later, and some of the best scenery ever, I was in Gisbourne, looking for a place to crash. I found one, a bit dear, but well worth it. Got to hang out with some Kiwis and a Swede, which was entertaining.

Aight guys, this place is pretty expensive, and doesn't support USB ports, so I'll have to update my photos a bit later,ok? Choice!

Happy New Year Guys!!!

Best yet..

This Christmas was probably the best one I've had ever! Seriously! I'll tell you guys why.



On the 23rd I was getting kind of worried about how to fill up my time on the 24th considering the circumstances (by myself and my day off), and so I got a great idea, go on a fun dive! I called the shop and checked out if I could take go out on a fun dive the next day and they gave me the all go. Sweet as! I wake up the next day, nice and early, and the weather is amazing! A bit cloudy, but nothing too dramatic. Get down to the shop and find out that I would be able to dive with one of the staff that day who was also going out for a fun dive, which was perfect, because that gave me my buddy for the day. Get on the boat, and the customers on board a happy bunch, and the ride out proved to be pretty calm compared to the other days where it's been an average of 1-2m swells. During this time the weather is still holding, and I do two dives that day which were both really great! Saw a bunch of stuff, and I got a good deep dive in there as well (27.6m). And the boat ride home was even better since we were surfing the waves back, it made the ride even smoother.



So far, so awesome!



I get back on land and get my new schedule sorted from the dive shop, and head back to camp to prepare for the evening to come (the temperature now is about 25 degrees and full on sun!) I go to the communal room and find Rob sitting there with someone else. So I join them and watch some TV after a "hard days" dive for about 30 minutes and felt I needed a small lie down. Go back to my tent, lie down, read a book, remembered I need some desert, so I went and bought some ice cream at the dairy, and finally have a small nap. Like I said, the temperature was just amazing, and the sun is on my tent full blast (read: hot as hell or sauna) and after waking up in a pool or my own sweat, I figure it best that I go and take a shower, and clean up for my big meal.



After trimming my goat tee, shaving, and taking a nice 7 minute shower (yup, that's all I get for 2.50 SEK) I head back over to my tent and put on my nice clothes which consists of my khaki cargos, black shirt, and shoes (decided against wearing jandels this evening). And finish it all off with some deo and some wax in my hair. I felt like I was on top of the world, and I was super excited about the feed waiting for me.



The night before I did a small food run down in Whangarei and bought me 3 steaks, some spuds (potatoes) and some delicious chili/walnut dip for the meat. And when I got back to camp, I put the meat in a marinade consisting of ground chili, salt, pepper, garlic, and olive oil. That got to marinade over night and while I was out diving the following day. So, I got out all of the ingredients and started to make my dinner and while I was cooking, a Canadian girl invited me to her table for some drinks when I was done cooking. Before she approached me, I was really happy, and after the invite, I was super stoked! The night seemed to be getting better and better as the minutes ticked by.



Once I was done cooking, I make my way over to the Canadian girls (she was with a friend) table just outside of the kitchen. After making the quick small talk, I dig into my meal, and wow guys! It was...orgasmic? No, I probably wouldn't go that far, but it was probably one of my best meals I've made so far! And when I was done eating the steak, I quickly ditch my plates and dig into my little ice cream that I had bought my self (cookies and cream in a cone). It was a perfect ending to my dinner!



Once all the food was dispensed, the liquids were brought into the picture. Now, do you remember me talking about how I got a present from the German couple a while back, yeah, well I opened it, and it was German Xmas drink. Yeah, well, we didn't really touch that, it was too much like Jagermeister, which just brings shivers down my spine. But it's a funny bottle (damn, I didn't take a photo of it, next time) either which way, and a very kind gesture of them. Anyway, we started talking and drinking, talking about how I was celebrating Xmas on the 24th and not 25th, how different cultures celebrate Xmas differently. It was great. After a while, the girls tell me that they have some fireworks to get rid of, so I recommended that we go to the local beach and fire them off, and they thought it to be an excellent idea! I grab each of us a beer for the walk down, and we make our way to the beach like the Froddo was heading off to Mt. Doom.



When we get the beach, the girls regret that they didn't bring their swim gear, and I innocently suggest that clothes aren't required. And boo yah, we go for a good ole night swim with the full moon lighting the ocean (and three more moons in the water, think about that one). We're swimming around for a good 15 minutes and decided it was time for some fireworks.



Get out of the water, pop on our clothes and start preparing for the big beach finale. Which proved to be not so spectacular after all, but fun either way.



We head back to the camp, and half way there, we have a massive group hug in the middle of the road because we were in NZ, it was my Xmas, and it was Jessie's Birthday in Canada (oops, yeah, the girls names were Jessie and Kristin). We plopp ourselves back on the bench and continue drinking (champange was opened for Jessie's bday) and start playing some cards, and talk even more about God knows what. This goes on until about 04.30 in the morning when we were just finally all way tired after everything.



Head back to my tent, with a huge smile on my face and fall into a beautiful sleep (followed with a small hang over in the morning).



So let's round all of this up, eh?

• Great weather


• Great dives


• Great food


• Great company


• Skinny dipping under a full moon


• Fireworks

Seriously guys, how can you beat that? Oh, and I got my Christmas came true too! I wished for company during the evening, and I got it, and then some!

Now you know why this Christmas so great this year! I have now proven that you can still celebrate Christmas by yourself and have an awesome time!____________________________________

The next day wasn't as great weather wise mind you, it was raining all day, and just all around grey. So I felt kind of sorry for the rest of people celebrating on the 25th. And I was invited to the home of the camp manager, and had a couple beers with him and his wife, which was really nice. And they treated me to some nice ham, home made chou chou, and hot mustard. Yum is the only way I can describe it :D

So as you can tell, I'm still having a blast, and today I'm going on a small road trip along the coast by myself just to get out and about and try to get some good photos too.

Here are some photos guys, enjoy!

Photo update...

Been sitting infront of this computer for too long writing a report on nudibranchs, so I'm just going to post up some photos for you guys. Sowwy!!!!


MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

What a delay...

Sorry guys, it's been a busy times the past couple of days. I had to study up for some pretty important exams for my DM course, which I finally finished today, and passed! Excellent, eh?! So, now I'm more than halfway there to completeing this course, which just feels great! I can't believe I've taken myself here, and done what I've done, pretty surreal, but feels absolutely amazing.

For the past couple of days, I've been hanging out with some Canadians and been having a blast with them, playing some hacky sack, frisbee, and volleyball. And yesterday we were going to go and hunt ourselves some muscles, but upon arriving to the beach and scoping out the waves, we all decided to do a tactical retreat (read: chickened out). Mainly because the waves were breaking exactly over the point of where the muscles were, and we didn't feel that the food in exchange for our lives just wasn't worth it. So instead, we went back to the campsite, got some cash, and went to the local pub/restaurant to have ourselves a good feed (kiwi for meal) and drank some beers with some of the other backpackers at the camp. Ended up being a good night, a bit expensive, but well worth it. :D

Also, Rob, my meat contact here in Tuts took me for a ride into the local bays just to show me around, and wow! The houses that are there are just amazing! They're the most beautiful houses ever! Right by the beach side, over looking the ocean, modern designs, and even old school ones that I prefer even more. I'm going to make it a mission to go out there one day with my camera and take some good snap shots, eh? Try and take some HDR photos for you guys, and then you'll really shit a brick!

Speaking of which, I was part of a lamb slaughter that happened around the campsite. Okay, let me rephrase that, I personally didn't take part in any actual slaughtering, I was just there documenting the whole event. Rob was the one who told me about it, and said that it would be okay if I came by and watched. It was a pretty weird feeling mind you, standing there, taking snap shots of an old farmer gutting and skinning the sheep. Not exactly the most touristy thing to do, but interesting either which way.

And on that note! Talk about doing random, non-touristy activities, I went up to Paihia to hang out with Cam due to all the dives being cancelled on account of 3-4m swells out at sea. So I went up north and got setup into a caravan at Cam's parents campsite and while I wasn't studying, I was given a job opportunity which can earn me some big bucks later on in the summer and even in Sweden. It was to scrub the hull of boats sitting in the marina. Yup, you read that right, I was scrubbing the bottom of boats for the better part of a half a day (until Cam hurt himself), I was snorkelling, and Cam was under the boat in his scuba gear. The visibility was about...10cm, so that was an experience all in itself. But yeah, upon surfacing after our 2nd boat, Cam wanted to show me the inside of an oyster that you could pick up in the marina (not edible though, because they filter too many chemicals and toxins) and borrowed my knife to open it up. You can see where this is going, I bet. Anyway, ends up with the knife piecing through the shell of the oyster and cutting Cams pinky finger - bad. We start packing our gear together, throw it in the car, and start hauling ass to his parents place. And on route, we started to joke about how we would diplomatically explain to the other customers that we had to end the work because of stupidity. The best we could think of was something along the lines of: Due to unlikely events, the following planned dives had to be aborted because a diver was injured in the line of duty. We never got to say that though, which was a real bummer. When we got to his house, and showed his dad the cut, the first thing his dad said was "Holyshit Cam!" with a look of "You bloody idiot". He went off the hospital to get it checked out, because it was pretty deep cut apparently, and I had to go back to the marina, and talk to the final customer that we would have to return later on when we had fully capable divers. I then went back and took one of the best showers I've taken in a long time, then did some studying while I was waiting for Cam to return. After about an hour or so, Cam finally got back, and had too big bandages on his left hand. The knife had cut more than his pinky, it had cut the ring finger too (it was double bladed knife as you might of guessed already), and the doctors reckoned he was only a few milimeters from severing his nerve and big blood vessel too. So all he got was some butterfly bandaids, which really bummed him out, because he wanted to get stitches for the first time in his life. All is well now with him though, we went out that following night, and got to meet some of his friends, and then met some Swedes outside of the bar too. And two of them gave me one of the weirdest compliments ever (so far), they both thought I had really nice teeth compared to other people from Stockholm. Yeah, didn't really know what to say to that, so I just smiled, and said thank you. Cam felt I should of asked them if they wanted to lick them (wink wink), but yeah, no go on that comment.

Hmm...yeah, a lot of fun down here guys, I really recommend it.

Also, finally slept in my tent for the first time last night, it was pretty nice, a lot cooler than sleeping in the cabin which is just rediculously hot at night. I slept on a Therm-a-rest matress for the first time in my life, which was...yeah. I slept a bit, but I'm going to need to get accustomed to it. And there's more space in my tent that what I anticipated, which is great, because I can sleep with all my belongins in there at the same time which is really practical for later on in my trip. Going to send some stuff home soon though, like my diving books, and stuff like that, and some clothes too, I have way too many, now that I bought clothes and what not.

Phew guys, I'm running news to tell - NO! I remembered something really important! I'm going to be celebrating Xmas with Dalal and will be heading down to Gisborne for New Year. And it's a pretty good chance I'll be meeting the Canadians down there too, which would be pretty sweet. My goal with that spot is to try to be on the most Eastern part, and be one of the first people in the whole world to see the first sunrise for the new year. I think it'll be awesome! It's okay, don't be jealous...trying think of a reason...nevermind, be jealous :P Just kidding guys! Wish you were here so we could do this together, would be pretty sweet.

Aight guys, catch you later, take it easy, cause you know I am!


View Larger Map

Photo Post

Sorry guys, don't have any time to write anything too lengthy, but I recommend you guys check out my map, and photo album...but here are some photos for you guys!

Bloody expensive!!!

Hey guys! So this is going to have to be short post, cause they want 30SEK an hour, which is just crazy!

I'm currently not in Tutukaka, but on a mini road trip (in Paihia at the moment) with some people who I met from a course that I was assisting with. It's raining pretty hard to tell you the truth, but it's bearable. The dives were cancelled for the whole weekend, and I don't know when it's going to let up, however, I will return to Tuts on Sunday though and continue my course.

Wow, not a whole lot to tell you guys, no sharks have been spotted yet, but I have seen a couple of rays and a bunch of eels. Bigger buggers too!

But I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut this short too. Running out of time!

I promise I'll write a bit more when I get back to Tuts!

Ciao guys!

News Bulletin

Hiya!
This is going to be a quick post, don't have any new photos for you guys, sadly :( but I'm doing really good! I'm currently an assistant to the instructors, so I'm helping them with their courses, and helping/meeting some new people, so that's really cool!

I partied last night, which was pretty nice, but not as spectacular as I thought it would of've been. And I finally got to see a Haka, performed by the local champions. I thought it was semi impressive, but pretty short. And that's pretty much what the locals thought of it as well. Their main griff about it was that there weren't enough men in it, and that it was too short as well. However! They did some traditional singing which was absolutely beautiful (you guys notice how I've been using that word a lot lately?).

Man, it's great down here with out a doubt. Sure it goes a bit slow, but when something is happening, it's all good, and everybody is happy. No frowns down here (unless their beer out).

Aight guys, that's going to have to be that for now, so I'll talk to you guys later!

Oh, the local fisherman hooked me up (no pun intended) with some fresh snapper fillets, and DAMN that was a good feed (more local lingo)!

But sweet as (even more lingo) guys, gonna bounce now! See'ya!