Woody’s Corner

Here I am!!

So Tuesday night I grabbed some food with a fellow backpacker, had a few pitchers of beer and played some pool. At 8pm I had to call it a night, after having only a few hours sleep in a 30 hour stretch I was more than tired.

Got to bed but only a few hours later and my room buddies started coming in and getting themselves sorted. Had a bit of a chat and just as we were about to turn in at 10pm the fire alarm goes off but strangely only on one part of our floor. The hostel staff said not to worry about it, probably set off by someone’s deodorant, and although I wasn’t “worried” it was pretty annoying. An hour and a half later, someone finally reset the damn thing and we could get some sleep.

Woke up this morning around 9am and set off to explore Auckland. Shamefully had a Burger King for breakfast but felt less bad after doing a few laps of Queen Street which seems to be the main commercial road here. Around lunchtime I did a harbour cruise which was actually pretty good and I got some nice photos of the city as we cruised around on the emerald green sea.

It’s difficult to describe but the sun does feel different over this side of the world. Even though it’s winter time and we had some rain this morning, when the sun does come out it feels hot and lights up this beautiful country with such vibrancy and warmth. I look forward to hopefully experiencing at least a few clear days while I’m here but I’m more likely to get rusty than a tan at the moment.

Had some Sushi for lunch and then did some more shopping before heading back for a blog and a rest. I’m starting to settle in here athough the jetlag will take a while to shakeoff. Tomorrow has an early start and will be beginning of my Kiwi Experience Tour (full itinerary here and map below).

With my nerves mainly gone and excitement cranked up to 11 I’m very much looking forward to starting my trip as we head north up to Paihia (Bay of Islands).

Thanks for all your comments, it’s lovely to hear from you all and stay in contact.

Justin

xxx (Kisses for the ladies only, sorry chaps!)

Sunday was a mixed day of emotions and activities mainly involving calls, emails, texts, visits from friends and packing. One of my calls was to Pete (friend, colleage and principle NZ advisor) and I learnt that he too was flying out that night for work at almost the same time, terminal and first leg of our respective trips so we agreed to meet at Heathrow for a pint before we left. How funny!

Mark came to pick me up at 5pm and my journey had begun. We parked up and had some dinner at the terminal before eventually saying our goodbyes. I met up with Pete an hour later for a pint and agreed to meet up in Bangkok. I must admit it was really nice to see a familiar face and to catch up and I was wondering if starting to see people you know in the most remotest of places would become a re-occuring theme throughout my travels.

Standing outside the gate I made a few calls to the folks, the nervousness subsided and the excitement kicked in big time.

11 hours later, I step off the plane in Bangkok and meet up with Pete for a few beverages before boarding the plane again for a 10 hour trip to Sydney. My trip was not yet over however as I then needed to catch a smaller domestic flight into Auckland a further 3 hours away.

I pretty much spent the entire journey oscillating between a form of surreal tiredness and utter excitement as the realisation that I was now some 11,000 miles from home, my planning had become a reality and I was actually in Australia and New Zealand for the first time in my life.

I checked into the Auckland Central Backpackers for a much needed shower and my accomodation for the next two nights before I start my trip around New Zealand.

Right, I’m going to go and relax for the rest of my Tuesday (it’s now 4pm), speak with you tomorrow!

I’m leaving tonight on what should hopefully be the trip of a lifetime. Pretty nervous, very excited and should really go and finish my packing. Thanks to all of you for your messages and I’ll speak with you soon from Auckland!

• Power steering whining like mad?
• Gearbox sounding like a mix between a loud siren, a back of nails spiced up with some rhythmic tapping?
• Almost no engine power at all and too noisy/scared to take it above 30?
• 90 miles from home on the south coast in rain and strong winds?

Best call the AA out then!

Just a quick post to let you know I’ve moved the hosting of Woody’s Corner to something a lot quicker.

The move is partly in preperation for my blog while I’m travelling and partly because it was about time I moved away from hosting my main site on the end of a slow ADSL connection.

An absolutely massive thanks to Mark for letting me steal some of his bandwidth.

Hopefully the transition should be seemless but if you do notice any issues I’d be most grateful if you could let me know in the comments. Thanks!

<edit> Just realised some of my blog images didn’t make it across, will sort that out after a mini trip to the southcoast :)</edit>

So, the GPS arrived yesterday and I’m really excited as it’s going to be great to use when I go hiking but should be really fun when I take it travelling with me and get to upload the routes to my blog so you can see where I’ve been!

Below is a sample track from one that I did with Mark earlier this year while we were up in Snowdonia, Wales.

Last week I left Dell after being at the company for the past 5 years. Although I lost my position due to “reductions” and could have searched for other internal roles within the company I decided to take the opportunity to leave amicably with a decent package and start the next stage of my career and I guess my life.

On Sunday 17th August I’ll be off travelling to New Zealand for 5 weeks and then Australia for 4 weeks. During my time I’m hoping to see a lot of the amazing places New Zealand has to offer in both the North and South islands and then on to Australia to do the East coast from Cairns down to Melbourne in what I’m hoping will be an incredible journey.

I’ll update my blog here as frequently as I can so those of you that wish can track me round as I explore. I’m even taking a GPS with me so I’ll see if I can post a few co-ordinates for you to see where I am (just because I can!).

Nervous?, a little. Excited? definitely and it’s strange having so few plans while I’m out there and even less when I come back.

I will, quite literally, keep you posted

I’d heard of Greg Pattillo back sometime last year when he came out with his beatbox flute rendition of Inspector Gadget on youtube.

Check him out here alongside Cello player Eric Stephenson in a subway in NYC, absolutely incredible.

Bit novel having a photograph of yourself taken out when kayaking mainly because electronics and water don’t usually mix well. However Chris’s new waterproof digital camera is the business so I couldn’t resist putting this photo up. I’m particularly chuffed as yesterday was the end of my 4th Kayaking course and both Chris and I are relatively competent on the water and quite comfortable now doing rescues and Eskimo Rolls.

Sunday sees us going down to North Devon to kayak on the sea and with the waterproof camera coming down too I see an opportunity for some extreme lego in a kayak.

Not posted in a while, no excuses, just haven’t but there are a few reasons for this post.

Firstly to congratulate my Brother who has now graduated from Exeter University with a Masters degree in Physics. Because that in itself is worth a mention, awesome job Bro, well played!

The second reason is I’ve added a new post in the gallery taken during the graduation ceremony. Photo description can be found over in the gallery, C&C always appreciated.