Mullet Bay, Southland

The street names are Scottish and it’s rained more today than the rest of the trip put together – it could almost be back home.

I’m in Invercargill, where I arrived at only 4pm, yet have managed to fit in a drink with a star of NZ telly and radio, a visit to the beautiful Mullet Bay, and some kindness from some lovely people.  And the kindness of strangers has really been a major theme of this awesome trip.

Mullet Bay was a very scenic spot, and thankfully the weather cleared.  I’ve got an early start on my trip back up the east coast tomorrow, though, so will write more about this – and the whole trip – another day.

Suffice to say that I’ve bagged all five of NZ’s mullets,  and I will aim for Christchurch or thereabouts tomorrow.  If like today I manage to pick up some hitch-hikers, it should be a fun journey.

Haasta la vista

Um Bongo Kia Ora from the village of Haast, on the west coast of New Zealand’s south island.

It’s a curious place.  I picked it for an overnight stop mainly because it looked on the map to be about nine hours’ drive or so from where I started out this morning.  Which (including breaks) it was.

However, it’s not somewhere I would instantly choose to come back to.  It’s a wee place, not much life to it, and the supermarket round the corner from where I am staying is long-closed down with newspaper in the window.  Even worse, there’s no evidence of a pub.

Haast is so far from anywhere (in any direction) that I am sure it’s the sort of place where everyone is their own uncle.

That said, the drive down was gorgeous – the scenery on the west coast is spectacular, reminding me of the north of Albania (albeit with better roads and less chance of encountering wolves).  The mountains are huge, the forests lush and green, and it’s been raining heavily.  It’s like Scottish scenery turned up to 11.

I continue my trek towards the south tomorrow.  Next stop probably Invercargill. 

Mullet Channel, Farewell Spit

Yesterday’s adventure to Mullet Channel (not Mullet Creek, as I understood it to be) was excellent.  More about it later.

This is just a quick blog before I head off on my two-day road trip to the south of the island, to bag Mullet Bay.

I’ve got a pile of CDs, half a tank of petrol, it’s scorchingly bright, and I’ve lost my sunglasses.

Hit it.

And now for some music

I went to see Jose Gonzalez last night with friends in Wellington.

Gonzalez, who believe it or not is Swedish, is a guitarist probably most famous for the song used in this Sony Bravia advert. His set was mostly energetic acoustic guitar stuff, with a couple of covers – one was a lovely version of Teardrop by Massive Attack, plus a bizarre revamp of “Hand on your heart” by Kylie Minogue.

Not the kind of stuff I’d normally listen to, and his two support bands were odd and awful respectively, but Gonzalez was clearly an exceptional talent and his music was good, and it’s nice to broaden one’s horizons now and then.

Other than that, the only music I’ve had on my trip so far has been my iPod.

Just after discovering “We’re All Going To Die“, Malcolm Middleton’s Christmas single, and shortly before heading off down under, I bought more of his stuff on iTunes.

Formerly one half of Arab Strap, the Falkirk-born musician (who’s middle name is sadly not “in the”) has come up with three solo albums, featuring a dour, melancholic but very beautiful – and very Scottish – sound. His songs are downbeat, but captivating and poetic. While his voice is not exactly beautiful, his lyrics definitely are, and as such there’s a bit of Bob Dylan about him.

My favourite song by far, which I have listened to far too often on this trip, is a haunting and strangely uplifting ballad called “Choir”, from his second and best album, Into the Woods. If you ever get a chance to listen to it, do.

No doubt I should tell you something about Wellington, now I’ve been here a massive twenty-four hours. But I’ll save that for another day, when I might also give my tuppence-worth on the “Auckland v Wellington” debate that New Zealanders seem to enjoy so much.

In the meantime, my manic end-to-end (or mullet-to-mullet) race round the South Island starts tomorrow.

Napier

A very quick hello from Napier, where Napier’s rods were invented.

It’s a nice town, but it’s currently raining so I am enjoying the excuse to stay indoors and take it easy.  And do a few media-related things…

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at around 7.50am NZ time, you can hear me on RadioLIVE.  After that I’ll be catching a bus to Wellington, and from there I’ll head to the South Island – where it looks like I’ll have TVNZ following me to one of the mullets over there.

Which will be interesting.

Mullet Bay, Motutapu Island

I have just had a quite amazing day on Motutapu Island, which is a short ferry ride from Auckland.

Not only was the island – and Mullet Bay particularly – a very, very special place, but it was made easier by the lovely people at the Motutapu Restoration Trust.

The Trust does volunteer work parties on conservation zones where they are trying to restore the forests to their natural state, and a trust member had written to me to invite me along in exchange for a tour of Mullet Bay.

Not really much of a deal in their favour – I am one of the least botanically-minded people with little clue of natural environment matters, and probably contributed little to the country’s ecological heritage in my morning’s labours; while I gained a huge amount in terms of finding out about the island’s fascinating history and of course seeing the stunning Mullet Bay.

If you ever happen to be in the area, I can well recommend giving up a day to support the trust’s work.  From reading up on New Zealand, it’s very clear that the country takes its natural environment very seriously and regards it as an integral part of its economy and even national identity, and it was great to witness the cameraderie, pride and enthusiasm of the people who help keep New Zealand beautiful.

(Cynics, of course, would point out that probably the only reason New Zealanders put so much focus on natural heritage is because as such a young country it’s the only sort of heritage they have.)

In other news, I have been sorting out more of my plans for the next few days.  They start with a couple of nights in Napier, a city in the east of North Island famous for its Art Deco architecture.

Whether it is also famous for Art Garfunkel architecture, I am not sure.

But with my first three days in NZ having been exhausting and exhilarating, I am looking forward to taking it easy.

Oh, and one last thing – here’ the photo and article in today’s Sunday Star-Times, reporting on my visit to Mullet Point the other day.

The best made plans…

I can’t really believe I have only been in New Zealand for 48 hours.  So much has happened.

For a start, I am now two Kiwi mullets down and another one thrown into the mix.

Since yesterday, after my Radio NZ interview, I’ve been north of Auckland, bagging a couple of mullets (including this one above).

On the back of that interview, however, I got an email from someone in Invercargill telling me about Mullet Bay just to the west of there on the south of South Island.

I knew about Mullet Road down there from several people.  Street names, however, don’t count.  Neither do pubs, shops, people or cats call Mullet (nice though they are to see if I am passing by).

But what my Invercargill correspondent told me, which I had not realised, is that Mullet Road finishes up at Mullet Bay – here, near the delightfully-named village of Cosy Nook.

So that makes a fifth mullet I’ll need to visit, and significantly alters my travel plans.  Much as it is great that I will be able to get to the bit of the country I have most (mullets aside) wanted to visit, it does mean that my itinerary will require some serious thought and logistical planning to pack the extra mullet in.

Ah well.  My own idle fault I suppose.

G’day from New Zealand

Except “G’day” is Australian, isn’t it?  “Kia Ora”, I suppose they’d say here.

Anyway.  I’m here, and I’ve already managed to pack heaps into my few hours so far in Auckland, seeing quite a bit of the bustling city centre and beautiful coastline.

It’s a compelling and beautiful place, and the weather is outstanding.

I’ve also spoken to two journalists since landing.  If you happen to be listening to Radio New Zealand at 8am local time tomorrow, you might just catch my dulcet tones – you can tune in online.  That will be 8pm Thursday night for those on GMT.

Then this weekend, make sure you ask your newsagent for the Sunday Star-Times.  I believe I will be in it.

I’m heading north of Auckland tomorrow after the radio interview to go mullet-hunting, and am looking forward to getting out and seeing a bit more of the country and meeting people in the next couple of weeks.

I will have to try very hard, however, not to take the puss out of the iccents.

Renaming stuff

It’s another unseasonal day here in Brisbane, with some heavy humid showers and warm breezes. Today’s been easy-going after a fun time at a party seeing in the new year with friends last night.

Then I will be spending tomorrow, my last day here, at Australia Zoo, which was founded by the late Steve Irwin (though he founded it while still alive).

The thing is, I’ve decided that “Australia Zoo” is something of a dull name for a zoo in Australia, especially one associated with one of the country’s most flamboyant personalities. So I’ve renamed it “Crikey!land”.

The exclamation mark in the middle is important.

I also feel that the dollar is a far too boring name for Australia’s currency, and makes it seem too similar to the USA. So I reckon it should be renamed too. One idea I had is the bruce, which could be made up of one hundred sheilas, but my personal favourite is the koala, consisting of one hundred streuths.

Unless you, dear reader, have any better suggestions.