Biddy and I looked at each other as he said this. We thought we were having a lovely conversation with this guy from Wellington as we cooked together at the Castlepoint campsite and then he comes out with this "Bloody Oaf". Had we inadvertently offended him?
Seeing our awkward glances he realised we were foreigners (there's a lot of them here in NZ. So much so that one of the normal greetings from anyone here seems to be "Which country are you from?"). Anyway, his wife translated for us. "Oh, bloody oaf just means, 'yep, sure, definitely'. It's obvious isn't it.
Actually we've been more struck by another totally foreign language the Kiwis speak. It's a little like American, though stronger. The best way of describing it is "positive". Everything is positive and the sun is shining (even when it isn't....and it definitely wasn't as we waded through a tidal estuary on the Abel Tasmin 'tramp' (i.e. walk...) at 6am this morning in the Abel Tasmin national park. Ass an example....Biddy was corrected at lunchtime today by the kayak instructor. "No, the weather's not bad....it's just raining". See what I mean. Let's hope I can take just a little bit of this new language , "positinglish" back to the UK when I return to counter the cycnicism and negativity that I realise is so prevalent.
So...what have we been doing, I hear some of you mutter. Well a bit of kayaking and walking in the Abel Tasmin nathional park in the north end of South Island. We drifted into a huge flock of shearwater (look that one up in Wikipedia if you've no idea what I am talking about) , paused in the two day kayak trip to watch New Zealand fur seals frolicking in the surf and marvelled at the Australasian gannet diving for fish yards from the kayak.
We stayed in lovely bunk house huts along the way, visited empty beaches with no road or track to them.
Oh....and to my great delight because it's on a 'list' of things I must see before I die, we spied sperm whales off Kiakoura earlier this week.
Am I enhoying myself? Is this good. Yep, or "sweet as" as they say in New Zealand.
No worries mate.
Friday 11 November 2011
Wednesday 2 November 2011
you must be French....
that's what the lady in the rzther rougn bar said as she came up to us. The place was full of tattoed and rather drunk mostly Maori jumping up and down cheering.
Usually I'd might take offence at being labelled as a member of that nation we Brits like to taunt but I could understand why the lady hzd made the remark. Seconds earlier the All Blacks had, just, beaten the French ag the World Cup final and tne fact that se were European and not dancing around meant we were surely crestfallen Gallic visitors. Seeing the final on a big screen amongstthe Kiwis was a specialevent. Needless to saythe overdue win has meant an AWFUL lot to the nation.
Thankfully I've not ceased cycling altogether. Biddy abd I did a 50km mountain bike ride through the remote bush in Tongoriro natiinal park - where those three volcanoes appear in Lord of the Rings. It really was remote. We saw no-one else in six hours of riding exceot a couple if hunters on quad bikes. we realised that it might be a little remote when the hirer gave us an emergency satelite beacin to use if we got into trouble. The best bit of tge 'ride' was having to wade waist deep across rivers with the bikes on our shoulders.
The Kiwi people really are lovely. There's a positiveness like I found in the US, but a warmth and deeper interest in you. It's vert attractive.
The notices pinned up tell a lot about the place, just as they did in the US. The Americans would put up signs saying 'do not litter - violators will be persecuted under state law 352 and summararily shot' - I made up that last bit. In New Zealand the notices szy 'please don't litter - thankyou'.
I know which notice I'm likely to take more notice if.
We managed the magnuficent Tongorira Crossing this week. Much of it was in snow as we wandered up over the volcanoes with great clefts in the crater belching sulpherous gases. "awesome" as they'd say in America.
Last night was rather wet. So much rain fell that we awoke to find tge tent sitting in about three centimetres of water and Biddy's crocks floating in the tent foyer. So....we treated ourself to a hostel this evening in Napier.....only to discover that there's kareoke going in in tge bar below our window. Tomorrow perhaps we'll head back to the quiet......and rain...of the mountains?
Usually I'd might take offence at being labelled as a member of that nation we Brits like to taunt but I could understand why the lady hzd made the remark. Seconds earlier the All Blacks had, just, beaten the French ag the World Cup final and tne fact that se were European and not dancing around meant we were surely crestfallen Gallic visitors. Seeing the final on a big screen amongstthe Kiwis was a specialevent. Needless to saythe overdue win has meant an AWFUL lot to the nation.
Thankfully I've not ceased cycling altogether. Biddy abd I did a 50km mountain bike ride through the remote bush in Tongoriro natiinal park - where those three volcanoes appear in Lord of the Rings. It really was remote. We saw no-one else in six hours of riding exceot a couple if hunters on quad bikes. we realised that it might be a little remote when the hirer gave us an emergency satelite beacin to use if we got into trouble. The best bit of tge 'ride' was having to wade waist deep across rivers with the bikes on our shoulders.
The Kiwi people really are lovely. There's a positiveness like I found in the US, but a warmth and deeper interest in you. It's vert attractive.
The notices pinned up tell a lot about the place, just as they did in the US. The Americans would put up signs saying 'do not litter - violators will be persecuted under state law 352 and summararily shot' - I made up that last bit. In New Zealand the notices szy 'please don't litter - thankyou'.
I know which notice I'm likely to take more notice if.
We managed the magnuficent Tongorira Crossing this week. Much of it was in snow as we wandered up over the volcanoes with great clefts in the crater belching sulpherous gases. "awesome" as they'd say in America.
Last night was rather wet. So much rain fell that we awoke to find tge tent sitting in about three centimetres of water and Biddy's crocks floating in the tent foyer. So....we treated ourself to a hostel this evening in Napier.....only to discover that there's kareoke going in in tge bar below our window. Tomorrow perhaps we'll head back to the quiet......and rain...of the mountains?
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