Well...what to say about this month? That the weather has not been as good as expectable (or, at least, as I expected)? Better to tell the good ones!!! :P
I managed to make one more trip over this wonderful country, this time with my friend Shaleen: went to the North of New Zealand, flew from Wellington to Auckland went to
Whitianga (read Fitianga or Phitianga), which is a village situated in Coromandel, a peninsula east of Auckland, where I have tried quad bike: amazing adventure - I was driving like a crazy over the mountains around the
Buffalo Beach, when some unexpected bump made me fly...fortunately, my hands were kind of embedded to the quad bike, and I managed to stop it before it went down the hill by itself! Obviously, everyone was laughing at me (jealous of me having so much excitement :P)!!! :D
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| Quad bike I - amazing view |
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| Quad bike II - the quad bike riders |
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| Quad bike III - the cows are already familiar with it (seemed a bit shy at the begining, though) |
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| Quad bike IV - again, amazing views from the top of the mount |
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| Quad bike V - who's the man? :P |
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| After getting dirty on the Quad bike, a dive on the beach |
I went also to the famous Bay of Islands, more specifically to
Paihia, which is a small village by the sea. There are several activities available: helicopter/light airplane trips for a couple of hours, sky diving (beach landing), whales and dolphin watching, snorkeling, scuba diving, jet sky...well...all these kind of activities (and more) that one can find in a touristic village, by the coast. I went whale/dolphin watching...no whales...some friendly dolphins...I have had similar experience in Azores...always a great experience, though the weather was still not as warm as desirable for these kind of activities! Actually, this time, it was predictable the chance of swimming with the dolphins...but there are quite a lot of restrictions about that - depends on the dolphins age (cannot disturb if there is, at least, one young one), on whether they are in a migration duty (we cannot disturb them if the "family" in moving towards some other place)...anyway, it wasn't possible to make it!!! :(
Ah...back to Auckland, in the
Takapuna Beach, North Shore, I have tried Jet Ski...also a good experience...was great to try, but, in my point of view, enough just to try once in a lifetime! :P A lot of adrenaline, though...
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| Paihia I - the New Zealand former sugar supplier ship |
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| Paihia II - Maori art (yes, the guy over me has a big dick :D) |
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| Paihia III |
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| Paihia III - dolphins 1 |
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| Paihia IV - dolphins 2 |
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| Paihia V - dolphins 3 |
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| Paihia VI - dolphins 4 |
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| Paihia VII - around Paihia 1 |
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| Paihia VIII - around Paihia 2 |
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| Paihia IX - around Paihia 3 |
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| Paihia X - around Paihia 4 |
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| Jet skiing in Aucland |
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| Auckland airport |
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| New Zealand sun set, from the plane |
Whatelse? Well...as I guess you are aware of that (as I mentioned in the previous chapter of the current blog), one of the most popular sport events in the World has been held in New Zealand in September/October (Rugby World Cup 2011)...well, I went to watch the Rugby match Wales-Ireland with my friends (and colleagues), in Wellintgon (Westpac stadium) ...thanks to Andrew! ;) So, as Matt has some irish roots, we all were supporting Ireland...it was an exciting match but, unfortunately, the winner was not the team that we were supporting!!!
In the end, France went to the final against All Blacks and, obviously, I have watched it in town, celebrating the All Black's victory...this moment has been expected for 24 years (last&only time when All Blacks have won a Rugby World Cup in the past)!!! France (unexpectedly, as they didn't have such a good performance in the previous matches) had an awesome match and made the final very exciting!!! Congrats, All Blacks!!! :)
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| IrelandVSWales I - in the way to the stadium, Matt (kiwi, with irish roots) shows off the irish flag |
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| IrelandVSWales II - Interesting to compare the real image with the one in the screen |
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| IrelandVSWales III |
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| IrelandVSWales IV |
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| AB's victory celebration I - Andrew and Geoff |
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| AB's victory celebration II - After so many "family requests" (as the typical "entao e gajas, pah?") about New Zealand's chicks, I have decided to post this random picture for you to get delighted (though I don't know her, have no idea whether she is new zealander and don't remember to take have her on the picture :D) |
Also, I have started attending some english classes...I do really want to improve my english as much as possible and as fast as possible...so, I had the chance of attending some english classes for free here in IRL and in some institute in Wellington (mainly sponsored by the government). Jhonny Antonio (my colombian friend) is also joining me in this classes.
Still, during this month, I have joined an 5 aside outdoor tournament, in Wellington - I guess we have a pretty good team!!!
Meanwhile our indoor team have qualified for the final of the indoor tournament (for the 3rd time in a row) - meaning one more trophy guaranteed!!!
I have also bought a second hand
surf board (mini mal or malibu 7'3''), pink and light blue, with flowers and named
Wahine - interesting meaning for you to check :P) and started surfing in the beautiful
Lyan bay with Sudhir!!!
