Dear diary…

Heyoo! Its been a while, be ready for ultra long blog. I’ve decided to give up alcohol and stop eating meat… Nah! Im just yanking you, but these few weeks have certainly given me some new thoughts and I know what I want to do when I return to Finland. That’ll be exciting!

The host Graeme is awesome! If a person knows the bass player for the Doors, has travelled all over the world, has been living in India and is into meditation and mountain climbing you can’t miss. Ive learned so much from him and the stories are awesome. I hate to leave already on Thursday, but I made a commitment to the next place, and I dont want to let them down.

Chillin’

Its been an interesting week, there is lots of catching up to do, lets start from last Saturday when I wrote my last blog. Our third WWOOFer arrived on Saturday. There is me, Graeme, Linette and Chris at the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday evening a friend of Graeme’s visited. A guy called Dave, who also knew a lot about meditation and other stuff. I did some cooking with him and meanwhile had an awesome chat. Really nice guy! Dave praised the south island, I cant wait to get there.

On Sunday we started to plant trees and bushes into Graeme’s orchard. The weather is getting better every day it seems, and we have been able to have some lunch on the deck. After work we went to some beaches up north, collected some seaweed for the garden and just hung out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the beaches we drove a bit more to the north and climbed on top of a volcano called St. Paul. The hike was awesome and the views even more so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday was my birthday. Whopee! Didn’t feel different at all and since Chris had his birthday on Wednesday we decided to do a birthday dinner on Tuesday. Monday we worked hard and had a really productive day. We planted some more potatoes and some seeds, and of course did some crazy swinging with the machetes in the jungle.

There has been some wonderful sunrises and I thought I would share one with you:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That wasn’t necessarily on Tuesday, but still. On Tuesday, apart from the big dinner, we did some clearing in the jungle, made some stairs and some paths. Afternoon is usually for chilling, reading, making music and so forth. Its seems every one in the house has a similar taste in music. Chris introduced me to Estradasphere and Animal Collective (which I had heard before). Birthday dinner was a success, everybody was happy.

On Wednesday some sad news from Finland made their way to NZ. Again a school shooting, seems like we have em more thank they have in the States. Crazy!

On Thursday we finally got the potatoe clearing finished and all the potatoes planted for now! We had time to do a little jungle expedition before lunch, which was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday we did some more work in the jungle and mainly took it easy. There was a gentle rain in the afternoon and it was beautiful to sit on the deck and watch the birds. Breathtaking!

Yesterday me and Graeme woke up early and drove to Kerikeri for one garage sale and some shopping. When we came back the rest of the day was all about work. Did some weeding, mowed the lawn and planted stuff in the orchard. It was hard work, and clear sky + damn hot sun made it a bit much harder. We got lots of stuff done and were really happy. Graeme cooked some lovely Indian Dal as dinner and we finished a great day with some fruit salad.

All work and no fun makes Stewie a dull baby.

After a week full of work we are having our day off! We went to farmer’s market in the morning to buy some fresh bread and vegetables. From there we came to Graeme’s office to use the all powerful internet. And what was there waiting for me on my facebook inbox..! Madventures will start their 3rd season, spring 09!! Good news of the day. Other than that checking my mail, buying a bus ticket and all that. From here we’ll be starting our Tourists for a day -plan. We’ll be heading south to Paihia in Bay of Islands, which according to Lonely Planet has the sights that first got you to want to visit NZ. Looking forward to that.

Misc.

On to other random matters. Congratulations to Lauri and be sure to order me one of those shirts once they come out! And about the comic strip, there is a fly that is open to everything, but having your fly open might mean something else too. Oh, and Ill sure have some superb material for album covers, music videos and all that lunacy. So when Im back, we’ll lock ourselves in a dark room for a week and have a look at those. Those to unnamed people wouldn’t recognize pure gold if it would be fed to em. But to each their own.

Remember to send me mail, text messages and leave me some feedback on this blog. Take it easy and remember: Hajotkaa pakkaseen! To end this spectacular update, some more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happiness

Kerikeri

Ok, the fishing trip was cool, but I had no idea what was about to happen’. Wednesday morning I took a bus up to Kerikeri, 2,5h drive north from Mangawhai. I must say, this is why I left Finland in the first place. Graeme (the host) picked me, and the other WWOOFer (a girl from California) from the bus stop. Graeme’s place is about 20min drive north from Kerikeri. A house pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with no internet, no TV… just the nature and us. Its so calming. Turned out that Graeme himself has been travelling much, living in various parts of the world, and meditating in India for 4 years.

The Dalai Lama

So, through my fascination for meditation and all that Graeme borrowed me few books. At the moment Im reading a book about happiness according to Dalai Lama. The man has such wise thoughts put in such simple manner. Im completely in awe, and I think these few weeks will change my thinking a lot! Next in line are some books about Buddhism and Tibetan history, looking forward to those.

A new best friend

What is it we do here, you ask. Normal day begins at about 6.30 with some breakfast. Graeme is really into organics, and pretty much everything here is organic. After breakfast we have done some clearing in the jungle with my new best friend MACHETE. And overall from about 08.00 to 12.00 we work outside, planting stuff, digging stuff and so on. After working its usually time for some lunch, everyone here is a vegetarian so I thought I might try it for few weeks as well ( I still miss minced beef!). After lunch the day usually includes just chilling, reading and listening to some music. We also might work a bit during the afternoon.

The wonderful world of garage sales

Today we got up at about 06 and left the house at 07 to go to some garage sales. Graeme picked up shitloads of stuff from two of them, I really didn’t find anything. After garage sales we went to this local 2nd hand shop, from which I bought one pair of pants and two shirts for 4$… so thats about 2 euros.

Here I am now at Graeme’s working place, with the luxurity of interner answering some e-mails and writing this little piece for all of you. In a nutshell I dont remember being this happy for a while. You be happy too, and remeber to connect, and catch me through text messages.

When others, out of envy, treat me badly with abuse, slander and the like, may I suffer the defeat and offer the victory to others!

- Langri Thangpa

The young man and the sea

See, see what I did there with the topic. Another update. Why so soon, you ask. Simply because I had one of the best evenings of my life.

First of all, we woke up early as every day. We left Jeanette’s place and drove home to Mangawhai. Being the idiot that I am, I forgot my only jacket to Auckland. Hopefully I get it back before leaving to Kerikeri on Wednesday. Much to my luck, there was no need for a jacket today since it was absolutely beautiful day. Temperature around 25 and no wind at all.

And because of the fine day, we decided to ditch work and go fishing. I have to admit I was bit anxious because of our last fishing trip. Today, luckily, the sea was calm and it was a perfect evening for fishing. Me, Craig and Andrew (Craig’s pal) headed to the sea. On our way out I spotted some penguins on the shore, this time live ones. We stopped at two spots before absolutely hitting the jackpot. We happened to anchor our selves between two reefs, there were sh*tloads of fish, let me tell you.

The three of us pulled up 20-30 snappers which, according to Craig, is the one to catch here. And they weren’t little ones. Big ones just kept coming up ’till our container was full and we decided to call it a day. It was so awesome being out there on a calm night, on top of that with a full moon giving us light. 4 hours just flew by.

- Fisherman’s friend

Wish you were here…

… Well I don’t necessarily do, but you should, muahah! And as Im on a roll:

hahahahahahaha!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep, that’s what I do here all day, come up with hilarious stuff on my notebook. Now, wipe your tiers of joy and lets move forward. Few photos that I promised. Some of these are masterpieces in my opinion, mostly thanks of the views and landscapes, there are plenty more which you will see when I make my triumphant return to Finland. First of all from my walk in Auckland 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our beachwalk in Mangawhai during sunset:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a mystical night, lots of fog had risen from the sea.

From my walk near Craigs place during sunset:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wonderful sunset once again, and I think my camera made fine work capturing it.

Walk on the beach at 06am, during a wonderful sunrise:

To be honest, best photos I have ever taken. It was truly phenomenal morning!

And now, on to matters at hand. There is some catching up to do. First and foremost I answered to some comments made to the last post. Thanks to Jenna for a heartwarming comment. On the other hand, those are the ones that make you want to come home. And thanks to all those who are interested about how things are here, via facebook, via comments, via mail. Miss you too and lets have a beer when I come back.

That was kinda cheesy! Move on, nothing to see here. Okey! So, all the walks were amazing as you can see. On thursday morning we got up early as every morning and went on to do some concrete work at the tennis club. Job well done and the afternoon was devoted to chillin’. Another beautiful evening for tennis, but due to some stupid acrobatics I fell on my thumb, and haven’t been able to move it properly for three days now. It is obviously sprained and will be good because of my worderful MacGyver treatment! <insert cheesy 80′s guitar riff here>. Friday morning a guy, with his to sons (all of them missing at least 3 teeth) came to do some concrete cutting on Craig’s drive way. We had some breakfast with them, and all of ‘em turned out to be nice fellas. Still I now have officially had breakfast with a guy on probation and in anger management. Woohoo! After breakfast and my date with a concrete drill, we headed to Whangarei since Craig had some business there. A small town, bit similar to lovely Jarvenpaa, but nothing I haven’t seen before. After some business, we headed back to Mangawhai, packed our packs and once again headed to Jeanettes place. Friday evening we had dinner at this Thai restaurant with friends of Craig’s. It was fun and the food was delicious!

Saturday was all about work. Jeanette is cutting one of her walls down to make a sliding door in the room. In addition to that there was some fence making and gardening. I did some reading (yes, Im reading a book!) during the day. And Im completely hooked on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld! Saturday evening on the other hand was all about Rugby! Biggest game of the season All Blacks (NZ) met the Wallabies (Aussies) in Melbourne. We went to some friends of Craig’s, ate a wonderful dinner, drank some rhum and watched a nice game of rugby which on top of all the All Blacks won!

Today we continued to battle with the wall. After smashing the wall me and Craig headed to the Auckland home show. We spent a few hours there after which we headed to store for some shopping. Tonight was the big Finnish night! I cooked some traditional salmon soup and dessert and we drank some rhum… and SALMARI! Everyone loved the food and I cant be but contempt with my efford. Now scroll back up, check the awesomeness of my comic strip, laugh, laugh some more, put of some comments to me and stay tuned!

-teemu

Updateahhh!

Ok, it has already been, what, 4 days almost. Time for an update for all you eager buggers down there. Overall all is fine, weather is a bit unstable but we’ll live.

Auckland

Weekend trip to Auckland could be counted as a success. Saturday night Craig and Jeanette went to the wedding. I, instead, spent some time cooking lamb, chilling and watching some telly. Sunday morning Craig took me to the best breakfast in recent memory. Bacon, eggs, mushrooms etc. And this all happened at the same place the wedding took place, and with all the same people. Once again met some nice folks and even got some advice on travelling in South Island. After dinner I went for a walk along the beach, some superb views and a strong wind, you’ll get photos later on. Walked all the way back to Jeanette’s flat and was about to take a nap, since it was my day off afterall. Couldn’t just lay low as everyone around was working, so I joined in and time flew by. In the evening it was time for kiwi dinner! Cooked some chicken, lamb, rice and potatoes with a dip. Drank some rhum to seal off another great evening!

Back to Mangawhai

Monday morning we visited some usual mall (see Jumbo) and drove home. All monday was about taking it easy, since the weather was loysy. In the evening we went for a beach walk. Sunset and the scenery were of course excellent. Yesterday (Tuesday) was about chilling too. Evening though, as always, was full of action. Took a little walk during sunset, snapping some sweet photos. After the walk three sets of tennis, which was fun! Im getting there with my game again, need to play more once I get back to Finland.

Today we woke up early (5am!!) and went for a 2,5 hour trek during sunrise. Awesome! It went along the beach all the way up to the hills. Sunrise was beautiful and you could see the island offshore of Mangawhai. A small patch of paradise to be honest.

In a nutshell

The whole trip (even the shower in Hong Kong) has been worth every penny, cent or what ever. Ill be back with you within few days. Remember to dream the impossible, use your savings and let go! Stay tuned!

Blockbuster super update. Photos!

Hong Kong memories:

Yes, my hostel was luxorious. They were ripping people off, everyone I had talked about said they had booked a different hostel, but we’re set up to this one. I don’t really have any complaints, sure it was shitty, but it didn’t have any noise at night and there was an air conditioner(!) on the room. And yes, it was really really really hot in Hong Kong

Yep, you are correct. My first sidekicks, on the left Gerald and on the right Harry.

 A view from the peak overlooking Hong Kong

There you have it, enough of Hong Kong 

Ok, so now Ive made my way down under to New Zealand. The decision to leave Hong Kong 1 day earlier really paid off. Got on to Cathay Pacifics flight on Tuesday evening. Flight was all around comfortable, except the entertainment system was crap compared to Finnairs one. After many weird security checks on Auckland International (biosecurity check and crap) I took a bus to a small town called Kaiwaka, from where my host Craig picked me up. Craig’s house is freaking luxorious, I have my own bedroom, and even a toilet! So the day of arrival was just slacking of and eating. Slept like a little baby because of the jet lag, it sure was good since on the second day there was craploads of concrete, a wheelbarrow and beer waiting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Craig and our worksite.

We laid the concrete on the driveway, and at the end it was great. And after the contract was done we drank some beer and chatted a bit. In the evening we had some tennis planned, but before that we went to visit some friends of Craig’s relatives, and drank some whisky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A wonderful couple: Klaus and Mag

Tennis in the evening went fine, even though I was bit off my game. Everyone in NZ is so frienly and kind. The tennis club was no exception. Met many wonderful people there and even a woman who also takes WWOOFers to stay with her family. So, I will probably go stay with them after September 30th.

On to today. I was genuenly scared shitless. In the morning we went fishing to the sea with Klaus and Craig. The weather was bit lousy and there were some HUGE waves in front of us when heading out. The waves threw our ship high and a roll over was more than near. In about 30 minutes I got my heart rate back to normal and could concentrate on fishing. We had no luck today, since we had to head back to shore because the wind was getting even stronger and there were some rain clouds in the horizon. We got back safely, even though I got a little shower from a wave, which almost went over our boat. Fun experience afterwards.

                                                          

Now Im in Auckland visiting Craig’s “partner” Jeanette. More from that and everything else in few days. Stay tuned!

Giggity goo in Hong Kong

Warning: Following blog post will include strange humor and bad stolen jokes.

The Departure

Well the day of departure was full of sweat, but everything went fine and with slight adjustments I managed to fit everything I need in my backpack. Normally oh so difficult airport procedures went smoothly this time. My flight was late about an hour, so some guy sitting close to me immediately started heckling about it… big whoop, wanna fight about it?

Hong Kong is a nice place…

For me to poop on. Well atleast let me explain. Getting to the center from the airport couldn’t be easier. One bus ride and about 3 euros. Finding my hostel also went surprisingly well, though its a complete ghetto maze in here. People heckling and selling you everything from fine suits to air crafts. And as suspected I didn’t get my room from the hostel I had booked it from. Well that’s fine I thought, the location is superb and I got a 3 bed dorm instead of a 4 bed dorm I booked.

Let me introduce to you!

My first sidekicks on this trip. First I met this Korean guy, who was just about to leave, so I got he’s bed. There were only two of us left in the dorm, me and this German guy named Gerald, who has been in Australia, Thailand and Singapore for the last 4 months. From Hong Kong he will be heading home via Heathrow. Gerald is a nice chap and we spent the whole Monday exploring together. Shame there is not lots to see if you’re not into shopping. We went by ferry to Hong Kong Island which is south from the Kowloon part of town where our hostel is. On Hong Kong Island we took a tram to the peak overlooking the whole city. The view was amazing. We went there about 4pm. and waited for it to come dark. When darkness fell the skyline was something else. Incredible. There was also this lazer show at 8pm. but it was kind of a let down. Lame to say the least. So the peak equals Hong Kong, unless you want to shop or travel two hours to see the largest Buddha statue in the world. My third sidekick Harry joined us in our dorm late Monday evening. Harry is also a nice lad and we got along immediately. He has been on the road for a while now, and from Hong Kong he is heading to South-Africa.

Up up and away.

As you all know, my plan was to fly to Auckland on Wednesday. Well, that plan changed. I’m not going to stay in this dump if there is nothing in Hong Kong for me. So I’ll hopefully board a plane tonight and with a bit of luck I’ll be in Mangawhai with my host family tomorrow evening. Beam me down under, Cathay Pacific!