I was dreaming last night.
Weird in that half awake / half asleep stage somewhere at God knows o'clock I was laid on the foredeck of a yacht, looking up at the jib. It was a becalmed night, as dark as the heart of Satan and I was fearful that the sail was still up (I could feel it) and that I might lose my glasses overboard. Panic ensued with me fumbling around for my specks. Somewhere in that madness I realised I was awake in a pitch black motel room and the jib was the wall by my head. Was not nice in an unsettling way and maybe a foresight into the nights ahead, should I ever buy that yacht and set sail for distant lands.
At reception this morning I was asked ' did you have a good nights sleep Mr Tyssen' which whilst not that unusual might have been prompted because of reports of a fat dude stood out on the balcony of appartment number 11 at 3am stark naked shouting 'shiver my timbers!' A polite lot these New Zealanders...
For sure the Coromandel peninsula is the icing on the cake of this visit to New Zealand. The 'Wow Factor' is huge, thanks Randal for your predictions. Loved the roads, loved the scenery and the good news is, because I approached it from Thames today, that tomorrow I get to see the whole thing again in reverse. Not that the bike has a reverse gear but you know what I mean and as good as a different way home for sure. I am stacking up the gigs of video taken on this trip and for sure have overestimated my abilities / wifi access to get it processed and up on YouTube each day. Never mind. I have lots of the good stuff to play with over the coming days and I will keep this blog running with that and some additional personal reflection of the holiday until all is done. So that will be Christmas then...
The eggy smell also lingered today, not really noticeable until at the end of the day, in the shower, I thought poo! is that me? Hmmm, not a nice smell is it? I can normally place people by their looks, for example the Dutch have up turned noses and a sloping forehead, people from West Yorkshire have flat faces and googley eyes (hi Fiona). Neva thought I would place people by their smell but come to think of it the people of Scarborough.. Hmmm. Fishy. I wondered why everyone was keeping me at arms length and why flies seem to follow me everywhere that I went... Don't forget Rotorua's water is all geo thermal so impregnated with the sulphur I guess. I did not realise that I had so quickly grown used to it. Also now explains an interesting sign I recall that said: 'no mining or drilling' unless that is you want a really really nice hot bath!
Is this the end? All has been better than expected and would be a tad better with someone to enjoy it with. The people, the places, the roads, the weather, the shiny bits, all has been fabulous. I'm currently sat finishing off a bottle of The Beacon 2004 Reserve Merlot on the balcony at Kappeli's (no not the ice cream parlour at Scarborough our kid) listening to the waves breaking over the distant cold volcanic rocks waiting for the stars to come out....
Tomorrow is time to run back to Auckland and get to the airport for about 19:00 ish for the just before midnight fight home.
This is not the end Baby, we must do this again and sometime soon....
Speak soon
No comments:
Post a Comment