We’ve retreated indoors a bit with our Trip preparation on account of it being winter and all. But over the last couple of weeks, things have really kicked into action in an odd sort of way. I made a vague comment to the Husband about a new app that I’d been using to make my […]
I got a bit preoccupied with organising my electric bike creation last weekend so I put off writing up the Queens Birthday Coromandel trip until now – pretty slack, I know! The trip started off quite unpromisingly as we decided to go the scenic route and got snarled up in the most horrendous traffic jam. […]
I’m back! It’s been a very hectic few weeks but I am now fully qualified with a CELTA in English language teaching and I have started my new job. The brain is still a little dazed by the rapid influx of new information but the fog is starting to clear … The work move to […]
I have learnt many thing on my course this week. For instance, I now know that using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) ‘bicycle’ is spelt like this: /ˈbaɪsɪkəl/ That’s so cool! It looks a bit Russian to me. /oʊld grin ˈbaɪsɪkəl/ Any ideas what these means? (The picture should give you a clue)
I’ve not really had much time to think about the Trip this week because a few ducks that have been swimming about just out of reach have recently formed a nice neat row and taken flight. This makes it sound like the ducks organised themselves but of course this was not the case and the […]
A friend alerted me to this video the other day. It is about some people touring in the Netherlands at Easter, and interestingly one of them has the same Brompton/Radical trailer set up we are intending to use. The accompanying post also mentions the freezing weather with days hovering around 0C and the nights at -5C. It’s […]
Hamilton is excellent! …. which was quite a surprise because the general response to our travel plans was “why?”, or “oh dear” closely followed by “why?”. To answer this question I have been explaining about the gear shake down and the availability of a train plus hotel plus campground. However, I can now also add […]
A few weeks ago when we were camping at Goat island I discovered that what I’ve been calling ‘testing’ is also known as a ‘shake down’. An interesting man with a curious accent (Irish blended with kiwi and American, I think) was pitched next to us and we struck up a conversation about this and […]
This week circumstances have encouraged me to turn my attention to cerebral preparation for the trip. I am now officially ‘unemployed’. Having made the symbolic and real move of resigning from my permanent employment back in July last year when the Trip idea crystallised into a plan, I was then fortunate to have steady contract […]
Last weekend we went to Leigh for three days to break in the new stove and cooking pots. We hired a car to get there and to battle Auckland’s nasty 16 lane highway monstrosities that lie between us and the countryside. This was a rare and fraught mission as our usual stomping ground is the relatively simple 6 […]
