Day 164 : No Room At The Inn

28 December 2010

JUST PLAIN SILLY : Why go down river rapids on a raft, that would be far too straight forward. Grab a piece of plastic and chuck yourself down there, that makes makes far more sense. For 2 hours this morning we smashed our way down the Kaituna river, one by one taking it in turns to enter washing machine after washing machine. Exhausting stuff but proper comedy. Not sure if Kate and Amy had much fun for the latter sections as each of the rapid bashings took their toll. Battered and bruised but a great way to start any day …

Leaving stinking Rotorula behind, we heading up the coast towards Whangamata. Jamie has done a world class job as the Route Master General for stage 6. It has been flawless especially during the busiest period in New Zealand, the Christmas holidays. It has been showcase of just how incredible and exciting this superb country is. World class mountains, glaciers, beaches and lakes. With this back drop a ridiculous number of activities to thrill yourself silly. With all this in mind, the big man really let himself down today …. and so did NZ. Jamie and wifey Kate were both overly excited about the Giant Kiwi. Their description of this “attraction”was met with much mocking from me as I have been burnt before with the “big banana” in Australia. To keep Jamie and Kate happy we decided to stop off at the epic Giant Kiwi. From the road it was obvious that yet again, the giant pointless stuff in Australia and New Zealand was a bit silly.Dear Jamie Abela,

Though the country you have moved to is insanely beautiful and wonderful, the Giant Kiwi is just plain silly and please stop taking people there. I must point you to three key points:

1 – it doesn’t look like a kiwi fruit

2 – it has not got furry skin

3 – it’s the wrong colour

Please send a written apology to the rest of the crew for wasting at least 25 minutes (including a trip to the souvenir shop).

Lots of Love

Stephen

…..

BINGO : We rolled into Whangamata to first find an AWESOME beach town and second to find that every campsite and accommodation was FULL! But why worry, something always pops up on this trip, and bingo it happened again. Parking up by the beach we were talking to some very nice locals when a lady called Margaret kindly offered the use of her back yard for our camping. This was much to the amusement and giggles of Margaret’s daughter and friends who were all preparing for a big new years eve party. A first for FTFE, driving round the block with 3 teenagers screaming and giggling far too loud!! Thank you guys for your kind hospitality.

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