Will be writing more soon, but the computer keeps losing my stuff!

Thursday, November 07, 2002
After breakfast and an early morning dip in the spa, the three of us explored some more of Rotorua. Damn this place is smelly! We checked out the city park with it's multitude of thermal ponds and overexcited pools of mud; there's one called the Lobster Pool which allegedly turns your skin a reddish colour if you're a whitey. Then we did our bit for the local wildlife and fed the extremely freindly black swans on the lake - I'm sure they only loved us for our bread.

Next stop Taupo, via the world's youngest volcanic valley - Waimangu Thermal Reserve - which boasts the largest hotpool ever. Lake Taupo is where most kiwis go on holiday and apparently the popluation quadruples during the summer. [Will add more detail when I have the time.]

Once in Taupo we located another backpacker with a spa (hey why break a godd habit!) and spent the evening relaxing until the boys got restless and dragged me to one of the Irish pubs in the centre. Gianluca was in his element on the dancefloor although the kiwi DJ had extremely debateable taste in music.

Today the three of us explored the Coromandel. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great and the tides were extraordinarily high so no curving golden beaches for us - still the mountains were fantastic. After taking a back road from Tuarunga we arrived in Roturua, and after a little momentary blondeness from me, we eventually checked into Cactus Jack's Packpackers. A very cool places to stay as it was all decked out to resemble a Mexcian Frontier town, complete with a Jail House and more importantly the Chief's Meeting Place, aka hot tub which is just what's needed after a long day in the car.

Tuesday, October 05, 2002
After an emotional goodbye with the rest of the family in Paihia, Paul Gianluca and I headed south - the start of our 'Gaytime 2002' [a reference to Paul's antics in the bar the other evening]. Our first destination was Thames, at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula, with two pit stops in Auckland and Maramarua to see Helen and Chelfyn. Thames itself is pretty quiet, but we had a cracking evening after meeting two other travellers in the hostel's kitchen. Alison, and her German companion, was a bit of a live wire and the covnersation ran from current affairs to Asian men and the worst chat-up lines a girl can get. Beat this one: "... I'm tired of shallow waters; I'm looking for deep oceans like you..." Eugh!!!

To round off the evening I spent the night sharing a room with two naked men - in different beds! Turns out both of them prefer to sleep in the buff which isn't good for a girl's system, especially when she's been a good girl and been keeping life uncomplicated since June.

Monday, October 04, 2002
As a farewell get-together Paul and I cooked up a 'Sunday Dinner' for a pretty mixed group: 2 Italians, an Israeli, a Dutch, 2 Brits and an Ozzie. It was the full works with 3 chickens, stuffing, roasties, roast onions and parsnips, vegies and gravy, topped off a while later with apple crumble and custard. Stuffed!

Ohh... lots to write about and not the time... will have to write it out on paper and make a mad typing dash to keep the internet cafe costs down! Today the boys were chosen to take the cruisers around the islands leaving me at a bit off a loose end for the day and my plans to push Paul and Ilan off the boat into the sea in some candid camera moment dead in the water - damn! Instead I went and found Gianluca at home, unsucessfully trying to make bread, and dragged him off to sample some wine in a local vineyard which Cristina had recommended. Hic!!! A gorgeous sunny afternoon spent sipping fine wine next to a picturesque lake. Two glasses later, and very giggly, we headed off to the Pippi Patch to meet the others for more booze; discovered the 'Pippi Bomb': white wine and Red Bull... ummm.

Paul gamely added to the night's frivolities by falling in the pool (ok he had a lot of help!) and taking Gianluca with him. After a quick hunt for glasses we all trapsed into another bar trying to act normal and dry! On the way home some of the gang couldn't resist the lure of getting naked and going for a swim - must have been the full moon. Was too shy to join in so mental note to me: must go skinny dipping before I'm 30!!!

Here's the events for the last couple of days.

Saturday, November 02, 2002
My last ever Rock cruise. The crowd was just amazing, lively, outrageous and they took over everything - the music, the atmosphere. Captain chaos didn't stand a chance!

Friday, November 01, 2002
Took Paul and Gianluca (Cristina's friend just over from Ireland) to explore the Northland - Cape Reinga, Spirits Bay and 90 Mile Beach. The scenery here in New Zealand really does just take your breath away and I've still to see the South Island which is apparently even more impressive.

That evening we all headed down to a local bar - the Pippi Patch - with Paul and Ilan providing the night's entertainment by pretending to be a gay couple to discourage the unwanted attentions of some scary lady.

Wednesday, October 30 - Thursday, October 31, 2002
Another cruise, another evening behind the bar. Excellent.

The next day it was just Richard, Cristina and I looking after our guests. Went mussel diving and even managed to get them looking for shells in non-existant colours, because "apparently the locals think the red and blue ones are really lucky". Lots of bums in the air on the beach - cruel but hilarious!

Tuesday, October 29, 2002
Today I went sailing with Rich and Cristina in their little boat 'Beluga'. Sailing her is fondly referred to as belugaring and had a brilliant day on the water playing in the bay.

Monday, October 28, 2002
Went out on the Vulcan with Richard and Ilan for my first ever fishing charter. Needless to say that poor old Ilan still didn't catch any fish. To console him we took him up to Ngawha Springs - a great place to relax but my bikini has only just stopped smelling since my last visit over a month ago... damn!

Just about to go to work - another 24 hour cruise with paying victims to tease. Will update this with the latest events soon...

So another Rock cruise. Being busy makes work on the boat more interesting otherwise the days seem to be disorganized and random - you never know when you have a day off so planning trips is hard. Pete the owner is nicknamed Captain Chaos for nothing!

We had a huge group - 30 odd people - who were a lot more fun and lively than the last couple. With Paul away I took his spot behind the bar which is not a bad place to be; you eventually meet everyone and most stop to chat. I did have the opportunity to score some points on the Dirty Deeds Chart with one of the punters who was flirting so much that it even registered on my radar! Anyway my heart just wasn't in it, decided to stick with the Comedy Chart instead - less complicated.

Didn't get to go round the islands the next day so I stayed on the Rock instead. Anchored in a secluded bay with no one else around and a sheltered front deck all to myself... nudie sunbathing! Other than that my day's highlight was driving the Rock back to it's mooring in Paihia. It's a beast of a boat with the response time of a slug so it took a while to get used to and going in straight lines wasn't all that easy. All good fun though, seriously thinking about trying to go sailing back in the UK and apparently my time here will count as commercial seatime which has to be good for something. Know anyone with a boat???

Spent the evening on the boat playing cards and sampling beers - very civilized, if you discount having to get up at 0200 in the middle of a howling storm to make sure the inflatable boat is still snugly on deck where it's supposed to be and hasn't decided to use the bad weather as an excuse to wander off on it's own.

Just back from another 'Rock' cruise. Very sleepy. Sharing a crew room with 3 guys, two of whom snore isn't condusive to a good nights sleep but I made it onto the Comedy Chart by falling out of my bunk in the middle of the night!

I've been on the 'Rock' as crew for couple of weeks now and it's definitely a lot of fun here. The rest of the gang are: Pete Honey (aka Captain Chaos) - owner, Richard - skipper, Christina (Italian), Paul, Ilan (aka Jonah; Israeli Cockney), Thomas (aka Monkey Boy; Dutch), and me.

Took the boys on a wee road trip to Kerikeri. Ilan was desperate to buy some fishing lures (he's called GPS for a couple of reasons, one of which is the fact that he can never find any fish to catch. After spending hours sitting at the back of the 'Rock', or trawling off the 'Vulcan' and not even getting a nibble he's gaining a legendary reputation of being a fishing jinx!) and Paul just wanted to get out of Paihia for a while.

On the way back we stopped off at Rainbow Falls again. This time we were more adventurous - negotiating stepping stones across the river to explore the cave behind the falls. Pretty nifty view from the other side but unfortunately no camera (didn't want to risk dropping it in the water).

Last night we all got together for a committee meeting to outline the rules for crew/punter inaction and organize a point system for humorous events and other silliness. Previous gags involve killer penguins and naked skippers so we have our work cut out to top last season... sure we're going to have fun trying!

It's not easy getting access to the Internet at the moment, but here's an update of recent events to fill in the gaps.

Monday, October 21 - Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Ilan and I headed south to Maramarua for a quick visit to Auckland. I had a meeting with Jack Yan about the 'Million People Web' and the 'EU Water Angels' stuff - it's nice to have a face to put to the email persona. Ilan just came to catch up with a feisty Irish chick - think she's a bit more of a handful for him to cope with!!!

Saturday, October 19, 2002
The 'Rock' changed from a backpacker's fun ship to a base for a local yacht club's sailing race held for Flying 15's. It looked like heaps of fun out there... can't wait to go sailing with Richard. (Thomas arrived.)

Helen and Chelfyn came onboard to chill out for a while; they're in the Bay of Islands checking out houses.

Tuesday, October 17 - Wednesday, October 18, 2002
My first trip out as crew on the 'Rock's' 24-h cruise. The atmosphere is totally different when you're not a punter especially when you realize how much work is involved. You also discover the larger number of tall tales and porkies get told by the crew to have a little fun at the passenger's expense, i.e. dolphins communicating via SMS! Ilan still didn't catch any fish, he's rapidly becoming a local legend among the locals as a fishing jinx; I got to do some target shooting with a .22 and drive the 'Vulcan'; and Richard got his first dunking of the season (high points to Christina for that caper).

Monday, October 14, 2002
Watched the 'Hurricane' on TV. It turns out he spent 4 days/3 nights R & R on the 'Rock' last summer. That's just 1° separation from Rubin Carter!

Tuesday, October 10, 2002
Opps! I shouldn't laugh, but poor old Ilan fell off Climax today as we were coming alongside the Rock. He just lent out a little bit too far reaching for the rope and SPLOSH, he in went backwards and head first! It would have been comical if he hadn't been carrying his mobile, magic brain and a camera in his bum bag.

Monday, October 09, 2002
Sleeping on the 'Rock' is lovely. We have the best views in Paihia and the sense of space with all the water around is amazing. This morning we had a rare treat as a pod of 5-6 dolphins came chasing the breakfast round the boat - two jumping in unison only 3 m from where Ilan and I we stood - wow!