Interrail 2006

Two dudes.
Six countries.
Two short weeks...

The stage is set for Interrail Spectaculaire, the awesome adventures of Dru und Nacho, the comedy duo that brough to you such great hits as "Tossered Tuesday" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Bexley'eath", the next couple of weeks should be, to say the least, interesting.


In fact the actual reason for this trip is pretty random. Originally we were going to drive down to Spain from England for the purpose of lugging all my crap, built up to considerate porportions after five years in the U.K.. to madrid.
In the end tho, it looks as though I'll stick around enlgland a wee bit longer, so there was no need for the road trip... apart from the fact that it seemed pretty good fun.

So we're doing it anyways, by train.

Why?

... well, why not?

Lo bueno, si breve

...dos veces bueno

Good ol' Garcian, a reknown spanish poet, must have just come back from Auckland when he mused over the effect of brevity on good times. Indeed, what is good, when brief, is twice as good. And that pretty much sums it all.

I am now safely back in London, no terrorist threats, despite what the politicians would have us beleive. Just had my final exam yesterday and it actually went well, which is surprinsing considering that I arrived only the day before.


In a way, it is good to be back home, got me a jamon sandwhich curtesy of Dani, and been catching up with my old friends, in a way Auckland seems like a dream. And like a really good dream, it leaves one with the bittersweet feeling that you get the moment you wake up, because it was good, yet you know that it is over and you've got a great new day ahead of you.

So now I find myself picking up the threads of my life in the old continent, planning my next steps and definately my future travels!

...but at the same time, it seems inevitable to have a look back.

I mean, it's been four months. When you look back at your life four months often seem a pretty insignificant length of time. Either they fly by when you're an adult working away at your desk or they drag like when you were six and four months stood between now and Christmas.

Only seldom I have found that four months can actually change a person. And I do believe that that's actually what just happened to me. The New Zealand experience was defiately something else. So rarely do you get a combination of being in an awesome place and surrounded a an even more spectacular group of people.

From the first person I have met to the last, it seems like everyone's made an impression. I guess anyone willing to travel to the other side of the world must have a pretty cool personality. And if you alredy live at the other side of the world... well, you're already someone else

I won't go through the good times (I believe I've accounted for most of them throughout these posts) or the good people, to whom it would be impossible to do justice. The only thing I can say really is thanks. Never has a final year project been so great.

You all truly made work feel like a holiday.

Piha Beach

Now, the overseas people may not know this, but Piha beach is practically a pilgrimage that all visitors to New Zealand must find their way to.



So we went there after our marlborough trip, thanks to the fact that the car hire was ridiculously cheap :)

and thank goodness too, cos otherwise id have missed it! it was pretty awesome, some wicked views and decent waves (and these were small for piha, its pretty much the surfing cathedral of the auckland neibourhood!)




And i think this will actually be my final trip! Boooo! But since i am actually leaving tomorrow... itll be hard to fit anything else in... speacking of which, i better get packing!



haka-licious!!

Marlborough Country

Whilst all good things must come to an end, it’s always better to go out with a bang.


With this philosophy in mind we headed over to the Marlborough Sounds for some kayaking action as a final trip that was to be the mother of the lot. And so it was.



A team of five hardcore kayakers headed over to the north of the south island for a four day kayaking expedition around the sounds. We covered a total of one squillion kilometres and fought against wild marine life, perilous tides and gipsy witches.


Now, ill admit that this may be a slight embellishment of our actual trip, it isn’t as far from reality as you may be tempted to think. Lisa, Frankie, Halli, Math and I did actually cover a fair distance, the actual number of ks unknown (for now) and we did kayak amongst seals, dolphins, penguin skeletons and other forms of marine life! We did join a tarot reader for dinner and fire in one of our campsites and she did educate us into the world of the occult.


We also played a fair amount of Kayak ball, built up a strong smell of sausage (except Lisa, who only smelt like roses) and generally were extremely hardcore in everything that we did.


The weather was beautiful, and the sea was easy. All in all an excellent trip, so much that I’ve properly caught the kayaking bug, definitely going to take it up more seriously and try to sort out some expeditions!