Well, this place is a little different!
Lotus Centre is run by an old boy called Eric and his wife Cathryn. They have 2/3 yoga classes a day (which are free to wwoofers) but which are of the army wavey, "relaaax" variety that is somewhat of a shock after bootcamp Paul's style. The couple have a precious 6-yr old named Ananda (which means 'bliss', poor kid is going to be tormented in high school) who, when he is not at school, is running around yelling "and you know what..." or "guess what..." and then launching into a 50 mile an hour dialogue that I inevitably get utterly lost in. Still, the place is neat and nice, and the town is pretty, so I don't think it will be hard to stay to the end of the week.
Rodney is due to have his new registration, so I have to nip down the post office afterward to get it sorted. I also have to buy him a new radio and get the key cut before I have any chance of selling him. What a palaver!
I must confess that after 7 months I am somewhat tired and wonderlusted out. Maybe when I am in Wellington I will put my flight forward a bit - I find the fact that I still have a few moths to go a tad daunting (not to mention expensive).
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Day 212 - Paraparaumu
Let's just say I decided not to treck alone across barren wasteland with gale-force winds. Instead I hopped in Rodney first thing in the morning and headed south for the bright lights of Wellington.
The sun came out about lunchtime, just as the road began to hug the coast, and slowly fried me to a boil through the window (literally - half my face went red). I survived by driving along holding the wwoofer book in my right hand to shield my face from the glare. It worked ok, but after an hour or so my arm ached like crazy, and I was getting some peculiar looks. Just when my arm was dropping with exhaustion, I spotted a huge icecream sign off to the right, so took an abrupt turn and ran in for a chocolate cookie icecream (yum). Whilst I sat in the car, dropping chocolate everywhere as I gorged myself, I thought over my plan (or lack of one) for Wellington: I hadn't booked a place to stay and besides I couldn't really afford to stay somewhere too many nights. Opening my wwoofer book at the Wellington region I found 'Lotus Yoga', located in Paraparaumu, the town I had just driven through. Gave them a ring, spoke to a rather absent sounding woman, and Bob's your uncle - here I am. I stayed in Paraparaumu's YHA hostel last night (protected by the ghost of a 25 yr old psycic whoman who died in the 20's), which is located right beside the sea and a pristine park.
So, it seems I am staying here about a week (or less, if the wwoofing doesn't work out well) and then heading into Wellington were I will maybe sell Rodders (adieu, dear Rodders) and then catch a boat to the south island.
The sun came out about lunchtime, just as the road began to hug the coast, and slowly fried me to a boil through the window (literally - half my face went red). I survived by driving along holding the wwoofer book in my right hand to shield my face from the glare. It worked ok, but after an hour or so my arm ached like crazy, and I was getting some peculiar looks. Just when my arm was dropping with exhaustion, I spotted a huge icecream sign off to the right, so took an abrupt turn and ran in for a chocolate cookie icecream (yum). Whilst I sat in the car, dropping chocolate everywhere as I gorged myself, I thought over my plan (or lack of one) for Wellington: I hadn't booked a place to stay and besides I couldn't really afford to stay somewhere too many nights. Opening my wwoofer book at the Wellington region I found 'Lotus Yoga', located in Paraparaumu, the town I had just driven through. Gave them a ring, spoke to a rather absent sounding woman, and Bob's your uncle - here I am. I stayed in Paraparaumu's YHA hostel last night (protected by the ghost of a 25 yr old psycic whoman who died in the 20's), which is located right beside the sea and a pristine park.
So, it seems I am staying here about a week (or less, if the wwoofing doesn't work out well) and then heading into Wellington were I will maybe sell Rodders (adieu, dear Rodders) and then catch a boat to the south island.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Day 211 - Ohakune
I'm the road again. I left yesterday at about lunchtime and headed south. The last few days at Paul's were cool, we didn't end up going to the cave in the end (crappy weather, too busy - this is possibly a good thing), and instead relaxed and did some work in the garden. I've been helping Paul with an advert for the paper, and we took some yoga pose pictures. Hmmm... below right is one of mine: a triangle with Paul adjusting (yanking me into the correct posture) and directing(comments on the pose: "use your muscles, charlie chaplin feet - where are your ugly feet? " - guess I have to work on that one!)
After leaving Rotorua I went south, heading through Taupo, around Taupo lake (the sun was beginning to set by this point and the lake looked amazing), around the Tongariro National Park (then the sun was really setting - woooow). I stopped off at Whatakane, hoping to stay at the campsite there before doing the Tongariro crossing walk today, but the campsite cost a fortune so I carried on south. It began to get dark, so I stopped off here in Ohakune, staying at a posh campsite that, may I add, is almost half the price of the one in Whatakane!
Ohakune is a town geared for the winter ski season, so is full of ski chalets and snowboarding shops. That, paired with the fact that the temperature has taken a nose dive (everyone is now pronouncing it winter), makes me feel like I've somehow skipped locations to France.
Today I'm going to toss up whether to brave the weather (cold, grey, threatening rain) to walk the Tongariro crossing through Mordor and past Mt Doom :-). Or whether to do it when I'm on the way up and instead carry on south to Wellington. Hmm, think I will be choosing the latter.
After leaving Rotorua I went south, heading through Taupo, around Taupo lake (the sun was beginning to set by this point and the lake looked amazing), around the Tongariro National Park (then the sun was really setting - woooow). I stopped off at Whatakane, hoping to stay at the campsite there before doing the Tongariro crossing walk today, but the campsite cost a fortune so I carried on south. It began to get dark, so I stopped off here in Ohakune, staying at a posh campsite that, may I add, is almost half the price of the one in Whatakane!
Ohakune is a town geared for the winter ski season, so is full of ski chalets and snowboarding shops. That, paired with the fact that the temperature has taken a nose dive (everyone is now pronouncing it winter), makes me feel like I've somehow skipped locations to France.
Today I'm going to toss up whether to brave the weather (cold, grey, threatening rain) to walk the Tongariro crossing through Mordor and past Mt Doom :-). Or whether to do it when I'm on the way up and instead carry on south to Wellington. Hmm, think I will be choosing the latter.
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