I’ve now been a student in four different countries, as I’m now studying Spanish here in Uruguay. None of this was planned. It just kind of happened. It’s a very tough language to grasp and I’m not particularly strong with languages, I remember the words but my pronunciation is so shit I might as well…
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Picton makes Larne or Portavogie look like a big port. Picton is the gateway to the north island of New Zealand. For those who despise flying as much as me, this place is perfect for getting a boat from the south island to the north island, and vice versa. Plus it ain’t dear. The service,…
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After Palmerston North, it was time to check out the town of Taihape. Love the pronunciation of that one, it could be seen as “Die happy”, title of a Therapy? song back in 1998. Therapy? being a Northern Irish rock band. And so the bus pulled over next to The Gumboot Manor. The road out…
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Yet another tale of how life changes and fate changes due to reasons simply beyond your control, with this one a definite influence on the things I did, the people I met and perhaps this flight change was meant to happen for me, as without it I may not have decided to stay to study…
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I’ve been to a fair few capital cities and a fair few pubs in them as you’ll have gathered if you have followed DSL and in particular my Thirsty Thursday Feature. This one, New Zealand’s capital had to wait till I was aged thirty, and though it’s full of pubs, a pub crawl was not…
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OK I’m not just throwing old fashioned British names at you. But really I could be. No but these are two remote settlements on the south eastern part of New Zealand, both places which I thoroughly investigated all there was to see of (in my humble opinion) during another of those inspiring buses in New…
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“It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine” – Michael Stipe. It was all so surreal like a childhood dream or a Norman Whiteside World Cup goal. Back in 1986 I got the Norman Whiteside World Cup goal. A free kick in an impressive 1-1 draw with Algeria (which…
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It really felt like the end of the world on arrival in Ushuaia. I flew down from Buenos Aires. From the flight, the last 20 minutes the view out of the window was nothing short of sensational! Mountains, sparse countryside and forest, covered in snow. With the sun bating down. Welcome to the world’s…
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Seems weird to have a Palmerston North, with no obvious place called Palmerston South. I didn’t even question that, but I did wonder why. (Answer for you below anyway). And is this really a suicide capital?? John Cleese, once of hit BBC Sitcom Fawlty Towers seems to think so…Palmerston North was once described by Basil…
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A warm single coloured tear flowed down my heart broken cheek in late October 2010. And the reason was obvious. Emotion, as ever had risen above everything else on this planet. Here I was back again in Taupo, or as I always will call the town, “Lake Taupo.” “I left some dreams in Taupo.…
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