GYPSY GIGOLO JOURNAL #54

It's your birthday punters !
Here's a Christmas bonus sub-titled "Magical Mystery Tour".
The plot so far is that my fellow explorer, Rowan 'Stanley' Forbes, went visiting friends in the Marlborough Sounds. I took delivery of him, complete with his latest dose of Asian avian influenza, in Picton.


We began the Magical Mystery Tour at Marfells Beach, south east of Blenheim near the saltworks at Lake Grassmere.
Here we harvested the sea and collected the mussels proudly displayed on the table.


The Tour quickly headed north and we jumped aboard the good ship Awatere headed for the capital..
A perfect day for sailing, and Stanley is pictured on the fore-deck absorbing the awesome Wellington vista as another ferry passes to port.


Camp was established on the sheltered shores of the Porirua Harbour at Paremata.


Over the Rimutakas and into the Wairarapa.
A compulsory stop at Mangatainoka at the Tui brewery to check on the girls.


We didn't spy too many beautiful Tui maidens in the brewery so we cunningly camped beside the Mangatainoka River in anticipation of the girls coming down for a frolick.
We are still waiting.


We grabbed a unique opportunity to explore St Leger, a friend's ram stud farm, just out of Gisborne.
The Yamaha Rhino 700cc 4x4 farm buggy was the transport for an exciting trip into the hills.


Stanley and farmer Rick are discussing the price of store lambs.
The 1,000 hectare farm extends to the first significant hill.

The educated amongst you will know, of course, that Young Nick first sighted New Zealand in 1769 and Lieutenant James Cook was the first European to set foot on NZ soil at Gisborne.This statue on Kaiti Hill in Gisborne is a memorial to that event.Much to the delight of photographers and the embarrassment of historians, the statue is NOT of James Cook. The uniform the subject is wearing is not of the British Navy and the facial features bear no resemblance to Jimmy.

Stanley did not stand up well to the rigours of touring the rugged East.This pose signals he is not warm and wanted to get off the historic Tolaga Bay wharf as quickly as possible.Stanley was always accompanied by his angler's hand fishing line, just in case a likely fishing spot presented itself.

We stumbled upon a gem at Tikitiki. This is St Mary's church with its amazing Maori carvings.

The Church was built in 1924 as a memorial to the soldiers of Ngati Porou who lost their lives in World War I.

I couldn't resist the temptation to have a chat from the pulpit.

Te Araroa's pohutukawa - reputed to be the world's largest.

The iconic Raukokore church near Waihau Bay.

Stanley, as is his wont, brought along his comprehensive cabin trunk to accommodate his extensive wardrobe. Each occasion an item needed to be located in the substantial portmanteau the result was a total evacuation of its entire contents!

The east coast experience ended with a beer at Opotiki.

Yet another classic tour of exploration and enlightenment for the natives.

Merry Christmas.

Thanks for watching.

Good luck to all your families.

GYPSY GIGOLO JOURNAL #53

You'll remember that I'm on a mission around the south island viewing the Rugby World Cup at the oldest and remotest pubs I can find.
I can't get Freddie Mercury and Queen's song out of my head........ We Are The Champions!!!!!!
We smashed 'em bro!
What a great finale to a great trip.

Here we are at lovely Lake Hawea at the rising of the sun.

Down the road a bit and it's sunset time at Lake Wanaka.

A few kilometres south of Cromwell in Central Otago is Bannockburn.

Most old pubs succumb to fire and the Bannockburn Hotel was no different.
Their last fire was 2 years ago.
Excellent BBQ pork ribs!

The Chatto Creek pub has a bit of character and is on the Otago Central Rail Trail.

A classic here in St Bathans is the Vulcan Hotel. It has stood the test of time, built in 1882. The shamrock which can just be made out between the words Vulcan and Hotel acknowledges the original Irish settlers of St Bathans.

Not much left in St Bathans these days, but here is their International Rugby Stadium.

One of the last original arched stone bridges in Otago at Dunback.

Chrystalls Beach is south of Dunedin - I enjoyed the warning to watch for Free Range Kids.
Places like the Railway Hotel in Nightcaps should have a bomb set off underneath them! Such a crap place I couldn't bring myself to watch the footy here.

This very keen local is sluicing for gold at Gemstone Beach in Southland.
Close of the oyster season was delayed in Bluff to allow Rugby World Cup visitors the chance to sample the delicacy.

The Eagle pub in Bluff provided the best viewing facilities in the south.Watched us smash the Aussies in the semi-final here.

Deciding where to watch the final was something of a conundrum.Common sense and logic finally prevailed and I headed for captain courageous Richie McCaw country - Kurow.
The publican of the local pub in Kurow promised free beer for every AB try scored.

Only one try, but true to his word the free piss flowed for hours.
The shot of the tournament - favourite son Richie (almost certain to become Sir Richard) McCaw lifting the Webb Ellis World Cup in the TV picture in the Waitaki Hotel!!!!

Industrious locals beavered away overnight and constructed a replica of the Webb Ellis Trophy and erected it on the hay bale display in the middle of town.

We Are The Champions!!!!!!!!!!

Good luck to all your families.

GYPSY GIGOLO JOURNAL #52

Nice to have you back for another dose of The Journal.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC) was about to kick off, so I decided to get far from the madding crowd and view the games at some lesser-known south island pubs.

The Cook Strait crossing was a bit lumpy, but calmed down once inside the Queen Charlotte Sound.
We are onboard the Interislander Kaitaki passing sister ship Arahura in the sound.
The Bus With No Name was up on the top deck this time, furthest from the camera.


RWC opening ceremony and first game, ABs v Tonga, was viewed in the Hampden Hotel in Murchison.


Next west coast pub was at Cobden, in Greymouth.
The natives here are friendly and I call in for a beer whenever I'm in Greymouth.


The west coast can get pretty wild and at Punakaiki the wind and waves were whipping the white caps from a big sea into a froth of foam.


Freedom camping on a remote and rugged west coast beach is a great experience.


Just had to stop and view a couple of games at the Charming Creek Tavern at Ngakawau.
This gem is on the coast north of Westport.
I won a free beer here for wearing my World Rugby hat!


Waiau is near Hanmer Springs and the pub is over 100 years old.
The observant amongst you will be able to make out two local kuia having their daily quart of DB outside in the sun.
They didn't give a shit who won the footy!


This bridge is over the Waimakariri River at its headwaters near Arthur's Pass.
The spring melt has not yet started much of a flow.


Always worth a stop at Lake Mahinapua.
This time to dry a load of laundry.


I was planning on watching a couple of games at the old Ross pub - the bloody thing was closed!


The sky and the mountains co-operated at Lake Matheson, but the famous reflection view from the water was wrecked by a constant wind.
Another good reason for a return visit.


Freedom camping is a joy on the west coast.
Looking over Clearwater Stream in the middle of the shot you can see the tongue of Fox Glacier creeping down to the meet the rain forest.


Watched the ABs deal to Canada here at the Fox pub.


Whenever you are on the west coast you're never far away from sandflies.
More than a hundred of them are trying to escape the insect killer aerosol through the roof vent.
They didn't make it - all the bastards perished!!


Another very west coast thing is whitebait.
The season runs from beginning of September to mid-November.
Tony Kerr (left) is the very hospitible owner of Curly Tree Whitebait Company at the Waita River, about 8 kms north of Haast.
Tony serves up a very mean pattie!!

More adventures to come as the RWC moves into the knockout phase.

Another update after the final.

Good luck to you and your families.

GYPSY GIGOLO JOURNAL #51

Faithful readers, here's a treat!!
I managed to persuade two of my illustrious adventuring partners to join me in an exploration of the far reaches of the North Island.


'Captain' Ian Steven and Rowan 'Stanley' Forbes joined myself, 'Livingstone', on an exceptionally challenging expedition funded by a Lotteries Commission grant for Geriatric Gaiety.
The local paparazzi ambushed us and took the above shot immediately after our final planning conference in Auckland.

Heading out of sight of the white man and away from civilisation we came upon a wonderful kauri museum in Matakohe.This magnificent kauri meeting table, weighing more than a tonne, used to grace the boardroom of Dominion Breweries.

Talking of things kauri, they don't get much bigger than the 2000-year-old 'Tane Mahuta' in the Waipoua Forest.

Any adventure on the Aupouri Peninsula takes travellers past the northern-most tavern in the land.

Here the lads stopped for vital refreshment.

It was a great surprise to find a set of white man's arrows inside the tavern instead of taiaha.

So we availed ourselves of them over a coldie, or three, and declared The Captain the sharpest shooter at 301.

Tracking in the Far North in the middle of winter is fraught with all sorts of weather-related dangers.

We were lucky to make it to Te Rerenga o Nga Wairua (Cape Reinga) in fine conditions.

A short side trip to the Parengarenga Harbour rewarded us with a view of the world's purest silica sands at Paua.

The intrepid adventurers stopped for sustenance of fish and chips at Mangonui.

Kemp House was on our itinerary, just to check everything was in order.

More great food, this time in Russell, with a piping hot seafood chowder served in a cob loaf at the renown Duke of Marlborough.

Relaxation was mandatory each evening in the Bus With No Name after a sapping day's exploration.

A special site revisited, previously discovered by Stanley & Livingstone, was the Whangarei Falls.

'Stanley' insists on travelling in the style of his nineteenth century namesake and brings to each expedition a full-sized sea-going cabin trunk and personal bedding.

A great deal of hilarity, and a hearty thankyou to all you Lotto ticket purchasers.

Good luck to all your families.