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Happy Birthday Jen

Yeah so it's Saturday! I have spent the entire morning in bed...so few opportunities to have a sleep-in when you're travelling, in fact, when someone tried to tell me to get up cos it was 11am I said...yeah I know I'm not getting out of bed till it's at least pm. Then proceeded to worry that I didn't know what am and pm stood for. I have now found out so my day's going ok now! We spent a few nights in Te Aroha, which is one of the world's smallest places! We saw most of what Te Aroha has to offer in a day...saw the world's only hot soda water geyser (less impressive than it sounds) and went for a walk around what used to be a booming gold mining town, Waiorongomai (which I don't think I can even pronounce)....till they discovered there wasn't actually any gold to speak of there. There's a poem, part of which goes "we are all sold, there is no gold, the claim's not worth a cuss". Funny how I can remember these things and not where I put my keys just now! We also visited Te Aroha's pub, the Grand Tavern, with a girl called Doodle. It was rather grand...it had a very large dead snapper on the wall and the results of last months hunting competitions....deer, boar and fish!!! They like their shooting animals around these parts. Jack and Keith Robinson were doing very well and came 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Doesn't make up for not coming first though does it!!!!? We met the 3 occupants of the pub, one of whom was yet another incomprehensible old man who looked a bit like Santa. Had a bit of a chat about the Isle of Man (TT time now...so wish I could morph home for a week and then come back and carry on meeting randoms and killing roaches, more on that in 3 seconds) then the landlord had a call from a pub in the next town to say the out of town coppers were on their way. This put them all into a panic on whether their car registrations and WOFs were up to date and whether they were too pissed to drive home. The front door got locked, the lights went out, but all to no avail. Everyone we saw on the roads on the way home got breathalysed...even Doodle who was driving us, and actually forgot her real name when asked by a very nice lady police officer for her name and address. Random breath testing??? They got EVERYone I think. Then....to end a perfect evening, me and Liz found a cockroach on our wall!! We made the Japanese boys get rid of it (even though Itchyshin was was very scared of roaches, I'm not lying, that was his name). Anyway, here's the worst bit....I thought, hmm better go out to the car and find my packet of coffee, best put my trainers on, or my flip flops, no trainers. Put my foot in, not quite all the way, felt something in there with me and screamed the house down. Roach in my shoe. I can almost still feel the tickle of its dirty legs on my poor little toe. Left the bug spray out as a hint to the owner. In all the years I have been going camping, travelling round random countries and diligently shaking out my shoes every morning, nothing has ever been shaken out. Played some more trivial pursuit as no telly, just a 1950s radio and record player which we tried desperately to make work as there were some cool 78s in the cupboard. And one of the aforementioned dirty creatures leaped at my head. Some kind of ill conceived revenge for my massacre of his compatriots. We arrived in Tauranga yesterday via Karangahake Gorge and Waihi, (am keeping note of all the places I have to stop and put air in one of Jezza's tyres) and went out last night after having a lovely dinner of squash and silverbeet curry. Our food concepts are getting more and more random, but making efforts to eat lots of veges. Apparently tonight is Freddy Mercury tribute night..this place has more bars than is good for it :) alright with me. Is Queen's birthday weekend. They get Monday off work. So doesn't really affect me at all, except that some of those shops I can't go in won't be open. xxx
PS spellchecker has come up with some amazing alternative suggestions....Itchyshin =hitchhiking. Of course. Duh.

posted by Katie @ 6/05/2004 04:17:00 am