I was driving back from the port yesterday after having been to Surigao and I saw some Caribou/water buffalo really enjoying themselves.  They were in a muddy water hold which is shaded under a tree.  I has obviously been dug out by their kind owner, to give the animals maximum pleasure.

I had to go to Surigao on the mainland a couple of days ago in order to visit the immigration office and extend my visa.  There are 3 boats a day each way between Siargao and Surigao and I happened to get the small and very crowded one .. LOL

It was an incredibly hot day and there wasn’t w wisp of wind and the boat was jam packed full.  With the number of people, hard wooden bench seats and heat, it was how I imagine a refugee boat to be.  I was fortunate in that the journey was only 3 hours and I stepped off at the other end and headed to an air conditioned hotel …. I feel sorry for this who aren’t as fortunate.

I have been lazy and busy for over 2 months since I left NZ and haven’t updated the blog.  I spent a couple of weeks in Bali when I left NZ and then came to the Philippines where I am now.  I had a few days in Manila and have also had a week in Cebu and a week in Palawan, but apart from that, I’ve been in Siargao.

It’s an island off the northern tip of Mindanao in the Philippines.  It is pretty remote and quite hard to get to but it has a lot of great surf spots and tourism is really expanding here.  The islanders and the Filipinos in general are really happy and friendly people.  They are way happier as a nation than any people in any country I have ever been to.  They all speak English and their English is like us or the Americans.  They use and understand the language in a  way that a French or German person who speaks English doesn’t.  Filipinos live in a developing country but have the same outlook and culture as we do in the UK.  They are unique in Asia as they are 95% catholic and their education system and culture is based on the same things as the west.  They have a growing middle class that has the same values as ours and aspire to the same things as in the UK.

I have a 1 bedroom house which is pretty chilled out with a hammock on the veranda and nice living room.  I am 40 metres from the beach and have coconut trees in the garden.  When I want a coconut, I ask someone to climb the tree and get one for me and pay them a little money.   I hire a motorbike with a surfboard rack on the side and get around on that.  There are just enough places to go out and eat at and just enough things to do and the amount of places opening is increasing fast at the moment.   I have verbally agreed to buy a small plot of land by the road and want to start a laundry, as there isn’t one. Everyone here gets their clothes hand washed by locals and they don’t always come up clean and because they rub the clothes together, they wear out.   I am also negotiating another plot for a coffee shop/bakery as there isn’t a proper one of these either.  Things are in the early stages, but hopefully they’ll proceed.  I was in the 2nd city of Cebu a couple of weeks ago and made contact with some coffee machine and coffee suppliers, so I am lining things up.

I’ve also been looking at land for my sister Louise, as she says she wants to build a house here and we might do it together.  We’ve been in touch a lot and she was arriving with m brother in law Ian today, but she’s been delayed in Manila because of business and will now arrived the the end of next week.  I’ll show her around the island and she can work out if she likes it.  I think it might be a bit too quiet for her full time, but the house would be an investment and somewhere she can come to.

The fern is the national emblem of New Zealand and I now know why … they are everywhere.  The ferns here are trees that can grow up to 20 metres high, unlike the waist high version that grows in the UK.  They look like palm trees and grown in clusters and are quite striking.

A kiwi fern

I went up the East Coast from Auckland to Northland and I decided to drive back down the West Coast.  I am glad I did as it is an amazing drive.  You travel through so many different kinds of scenery, it is like being in different countries, as the landscape is so different.  I found this throughout the North and South Islands.

I set off alongside the 90 mile beach again in the dry desert like climate.

90 mile beach.

I then passed through countryside that was tropical forest, just like jungle.  There was a National Park that I went for a walk in.  It was proper Tarzan country.

Tropical forest

View of the forest canopy

I drove on from the tropical forest and within 15 minutes, I was again in rolling English countryside. …… Weird!

Pastureland

Everywhere I looked was beautiful scenery and views.  I can to get used to this wherever I was in New Zealand.

At about 6pm, I passed through a really beautiful little village with a pub and village green, alongside a lake.

Art gallery

Beautiful view along the lake.

I thought about stopping for the night, but decided to drive on to the next town.  I drove about 3km further and the road came to an end!  It wasn’t marked on the map, but the road ends and a car ferry is needed to take you across the lake to continue the journey.  This is the main west coast highway and there was nobody around!

I had 45 minutes until the last ferry turned up and went to the end of the jetty, took in the view and meditated.

The road just ended and there was a ramp into the water and a sign on hooks that said ferry in operation, so I assumed I hadn’t missed the last one.  I sat and looked out over the lake as the sun set went down.  There was absolutely no one else around and it was magical.  I meditated at the end of the jetty in the photo.

The ferry arriving for me.

I arrived on the other side of the lake as the sun went down and it was another stunning village.  They had a small quayside and I parked up for the night.  Here are some of the views I had from the village of Rawene.

Sunset from the middle of town.

Sunset from the quayside.

My van is top left of the photo and I made dinner on a picnic table on the quayside. It was a hot and still evening and all I could here were fish jumping in the lake and birds wading in the water. 

It was one of the most magical days and nights I have ever had. The weather was hot and balmy and there was no wind.  I had seen all of the different kinds of scenery above in the 1 day and I ended up in a really beautiful little place, which was still and quiet.  It was a full moon and I lay in bed with the doors and windows open, looking out over the lake, watching and hearing the splashes of fish jumping. There were picnic tables for dinner and a toilet and a fresh water tap right by the van, so it was perfect.

I woke to another beautiful day.  I was right next to a cafe on stilts and a beautiful bed and breakfast building.

Great spot for a cafe. On the quayside, next to where I camped for the night.

Bed and breakfast.

So, having had a proper go at the guys in the camper office, I set off.  I had absolutely no plan of where I was going.  One of the guys in the office said that the Bay of islands was about 3 hours away and a nice beach resort, so that is where I set off towards.

Nice spot for breakfast. Can you see the dolphin in the water?

Pastureland like in the UK

 

 

 

 

 

Wild flowers on the side of the roads

Heathland like in Scotland

 

90 Mile beach

The bay where the campsite was situated, just before Cape Reina.

Me about to eat on the camp site. It was an amazing setting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They even have better looking sea gulls in New Zealand that in the UK.

Giant sand dunes that people were sad surfing down

Me just before the lighthouse at the very northern tip of New Zealand.

The currents of 2 Oceans actually visibly colliding. The Tazmin Sea of the left and the Pacific Ocean on the right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful view of a beach on the Tazmin coast from Cape Reina

I got my dates completely mixed up and was sitting on the beach in Bali, when someone I know over there, sent me a text and asked if I was leaving the next day.  It was a Tuesday and I sent a text back to say, no I wasn’t leaving until Thursday morning.  However, this got me thinking. ….. I rode back to the hotel on my motorbike thinking that I must check my ticket and hoping that I wasn’t leaving the next morning as I needed a lie in.  When I arrived I was shocked for see that my flight left that night, in only 3 hours time.  I quickly packed, went to get money to pay the bill and organised transport to the airport. In the end, I just made it to my flight.

Unfortunately, I flew with Virgin Australia, who aren’t the best.  I also had a stopover in Melbourne for 4 hours.  I arrived in Auckland at 4pm knackered. I had searched every camper van company and tried to book lots and lots, only to be continually told that they were fully booked.  Eventually I found a company with a van and booked one for a month.  I expected the van to be crap as it was the only one still available in New Zealand, but when I arrived at the camper company (Wicked Campers), it was worse than I had expected.

The company don’t supply bedding, so I needed to buy it. They spray the outside of the vans with really crap stuff … I have seen one with Popeye’s forearm and ‘wanking champion’ written on the side of the van.  Mine just had the Hulk on one side and something else I can’t remember on the other.  They also encourage people to write stuff all over the inside.  The vans a really badly equipped, but I wasn’t prepared for how shit it would be.

They don’t insure you to drive the vehicle, they state that you need to check the oil and water every time you fill up with fuel and they state that you can’t drive between dusk and dawn because you might hit an animal on the road.

The hulk had done 240,000km

This is described as a rear kitchen on the web site.

High tech water pump

Nice interior curtains

Full set of kitchen utensils

Interior decoration

I collected the van at and left their office at about 8pm in the middle of a dodgy Aukland suburb and had to go and buy bedding.  I found a shopping centre with some shop selling bedding and bought what I needed.  I had no idea of where I was and it was 10pm, the equivalent of  4am in Bali and I was jet lagged.  As well as being jet lagged, I was wound up by the experience of the crap vehicle and had trouble getting to sleep, so I took a valium and parked in the shopping centre car park.  I fell into a deep sleep and was woken 45 minutes later by a loud knocking on the van.  I opened the door to see an enormous Maori security guard who said I had to move in spite of me pleading to stay.  I had no idea where I was going, so I just drove until I saw some flat ground by the side of the road.  I parked up and got a few hours sleep.

When I woke I was so pissed off, I drove to the van rental site and demanded that I had another van.  They explained that they didn’t have one and that I’d forfeit $3,000 for the whole month as there was no refund on cancellation. After discussions, they agreed that they were short of a van in 1 week, so I took the van for a week and was refunded for the remainder of the time.

Ultimately, I had a great week in the north of the North Island and I got used to the van.  I got really weird stares from everyone, but I actually found the van OK.  The stunning scenery  took my mind off anything else I think … A happy ending :).

My bike was 2 away from this tree which randomly fell over during the day .. no insurance, so relief

There are lots of small independent shops and cafe/restaurants in Ubud, that sell homemade and organic food.  It’s a good place for vegetarians … and also dairy free people like me :).

I found 3 places that had home made dairy free ice cream of 1 type or another … It was superb.

Oh yes!

It’s 20k Rupiah to the £