The sun is setting and my time is nearly up as the road before me is coming to an end. But I'm still alive and one last thing to say.
So, this is my last blog of Aotearoa from my final destination - New Zealand's second largest city, which has been world publicised for its taints of tragedy and infectious spirit of recovery .......Christchurch ** I'd recorded this video before the major earthquake in Italy struck
Kia Ora! And now, the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.....but not yet...
Greetings from my rather bumper animal themed blog post from the 'Land of the Long White Cloud' - Aotearoa, my time is nearly up for my travels across the far away land of New Zealand. But I have some last experiences to share with you.....first, in this blog post....from a Calf Nursery on a NZ Dairy Farm.
Being a curious person, I wanted to experience working on a Dairy Farm and see how the industry is run.
**At the time recording this video, I was naively unaware of the fate of these calves. At first, we are led to believe they are abandoned by their mothers but in fact are taken from them a couple of days after birth to be sent to be slaughtered and grieving mothers are impregnated again to lactate milk which isn't intended for human consumption. I struggle to find the moral well being of this and after seeing the true nature of dairy industries, I have personally chosen to not contribute to the industry by consuming beef/veal or cows milk for both ethical and environmental reasons...
Kia Ora! You know that saying 'Its the choices we make, and chances we take, determine our destiny'? Well its none other true when you experience the serendipity surprises of life on the road.... Greetings from Te Waka a Maui (The canoe of Maui) or in English - New Zealand's South Island! which Maori believe was the waka canoe that demi god Maui was sailing in when he pulled up the North Island or the Fish of Maui. Well, after 8 adventurous months (really its been 8 months!) of my explorations of the North Island and with NZ winter rolling in, I had come to the end of the road or....end of the fish head....and jumped on board the Interislander ferry Kaitaki at Port Nicholson (Wellington) to cross the Cook Strait and the passageway to the new world of the South Island....thank god I picked a beautiful morning....
Kia Ora! Greetings again from Aotearoa with my latest blog post. Last time I left you I had returned to Rotorua after spending a period of time staying on the East Cape where in my opinion I found the 'real, raw New Zealand' living in the Maori community of Tokomaru Bay. But here's a good evening message from the heart of the North Island of New Zealand..at the great Lake Taupo.
Well...this is what I would have seen if I could have got out of bed but unfortunately I was suffering from a bad flu I caught whilst sailing out at sea on an overnight Waka trip earlier that week...more on that later....
Ahoy from Auckland, I seemed to have fallen into life as a water baby and was lucky enough to get a new day job working as an Engineers Assistant on board my now even BIGGER office in Auckland's boat yards - behold the big and beautiful ATHOS....minus the sails..
Kia-Ora! Been rainy days of late here in Auckland, so I got busy sharing my latest travel news from down under from cool little New Zealand.....but first let's say Kia-Ora from the summit of Rangitoto Volcano which Maori natives used as a lookout for any unwanted trespassers onto their island just off the coast line of Auckland.
But more on that later....this blog is pretty much a sailing special so hold tight.....
Greetings from New Zealand! now a month on the North Island!
Ahoy! I have recently been working on a 135ft Boat under the name 'Destination' in Auckland City's North Wharf Boat Yards, as what I call a 'Boatie'.... pretty much as a day worker doing all the odd jobs the maintenance crew need help with in one of the boat yards, but first, before life on board, let me tell you about my Dolphin research trip out in the Hauraki Gulf....
That's 'Hello!' in Maoritanga (Maori Culture), the indigenous race and language of Aotearoa'The Land of the Long White Cloud' or as the white man 'Pakeha' calls it 'New Zealand'....
I will try and keep a blog of my explorations as much as I can, however long I'm here for...so here goes with some early days of my first two weeks of travel in this land far, far away....
