April 2008 - Posts - OneWayTicket

April 2008 - Posts

Day 18: Where every room has a view

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
Just when I was beginning to tire of the fungus-ridden greenery (lovely grazing sheep to all you optimists), we hit Kaikoura. A seaside town that nestles against the testosterone fired South Pacific Ocean. The entry into town was past the Kaioura Winery (a good omen in my books), and our party of four promptly paused for some wine and cheese (and olives...

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Day 17: Singing and swimming with dolphins

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
I swum with wild dolphins today in the South Pacific ocean. I sang to them, I sang Yeh hai Bambai meri jaan -- hummed awkwardly actually, because my nose was blocked by an airtight face mask and my teeth were clamped around a snorkel. But I know they responded. At one point, four of the smallest dolphin species known to man -- relatively speaking since...

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Day 16: Strangers in the night of fire alarms

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
We were fast asleep in a cosy room in a tiny, tiny (50 people maybe) town called Reefton after a day of relentless driving, when a horrible honking sound jolted me awake. The noise was followed by a man's voice inside our room. "Please evacuate your room," he bellowed, followed again by that sound. "Baaaaaaoooooouuuuu," it went...

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Day 15: Bong blogs from 2,000 metres up

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
My friend Bong the banker boy (Rajiv Anand for those who know him otherwise), and my sis Gitu -- both far more energetic than us -- went paragliding today as we walked around Queenstown after a late, lazy morning. Here's Bong's post: With much hesitation the wife and I decided to paraglide. It looked like fun. It is obviously off season in Queensland...

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Day 14: Breakdown, but no worries mate

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
Today we completed 1,000 km on the road in New Zealand. It came up sometime duing the drive to Te Anau to an alpine fiord called Milford Sound (I think the wife is writing about what we actually did there). Everyone was napping, as everyone usually does in the warmed-up Pajero. After five days, we've grown used to the picture-postcard farms, smooth...

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Day 14: Aboard the Milford Mariner

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
Like good Indians we rush to the top deck ( http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/Mariner/) to grab the best seats. We needn't have worried--there are less than 30 people aboard the mother ship. That's probably because we have opted for the 10.30am cruise; by the time we get back at lunch time the hordes (by NZ standards, of course) have descended...

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Day 13: Jet boats and other thrills

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
It began like most New Zealand South Island autumn days that we have come to expect. A chaotic, cold morning (around 5-6 deg C), slowly warming up by noon to a sun-drenched 17-18 deg C). Chaotic because there is only one bathroom in the two-bed apartments we rent, and no one, save for yours truly, are morning people. Baths have to be had, breakfast...

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Day 12: Life on the road

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
The expenses are adding up. Car rental. Gas (same price as Mumbai, oil has hit $120 the banker in the group informed us). Meals. Homestays. So we've starting grocery shopping. Multigrain bread, ham, cheese, a sackload of apples, milk, flavoured yoghurt, salted peanuts, tuna...it's a good thing we're driving a hulking Pajero. Gitu was really...

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Day 11 New Zealand: How to keep your privates warm (updated)

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
Christchurch is pretty. Pretty boring that is. On our first night there we had an overpriced dinner at a wine bar that only served European beer. My neighbourhood restaurant in Bandra whips up better pasta. The bed and breakfast was lovely. The landlady Tina Reynolds (who knew that Kiwi Brendan McCllam had hit a record score in the IPL game) wanted...

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Day 9: Across the Tasman Sea

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
"That's the first time I've ever seen an entry stamp on the same page as the visa," I said, as the smiling woman in the blue uniform slammed down her seal at Christchurch Airport on New Zealand's South Island. "Ya loik that, do ya?" "It does appeal to my sense of order, yes". I grinned, as the wife raised her...

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Day 7: Philip Island, The Penguin Show

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
The stands were full. The floodlights were on. There were excited spectators trying to do the Mexican wave. The Aussies, Brits and Americans, families and young people with prams and babies, were filing quietly down the concrete terraces in orderly fashion. Much to their discomfort and chagrin, the Chinese, middle-aged men and women, were loudly pushing...

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The IPL, in Melbourne

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
And they're showing it live on the telly here too--it's near midnight but my host Roger (who has, incidentally, played against Anil Kumble when the latter represented RV College of Engineering in Bangalore) is up watching the game even though he doesn't know who Preity Zinta is. And Shane Warne believes this league is no gimmick or one-hit...

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Day 6: Australia, among the larrikins

Posted by Samar Halarnkar at 
There's a rougishness in the Aussie spirit that suits my old friend Roger Galway well. Last evening, on the drive back from the Mornington peninsula -- a spit of land with endless beaches and rolling hills dotted with wineries -- Rog told me how he hoodwinked the Aussies at their own game. "They can't play spin bobs," he guffawed,...

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Horny frogs on the wine trail

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
With a name like Pobblebonk, does it really matter how the wine tastes? Move over Yarra Valley. Peninsula Wine Country has a high density of boutique vineyards, many run by husband-wife teams, in an easy-to-conquer geographical area that is just one hour from Melbourne. There are zillions of daily tours, but it's more fun to hire a car (or tag along...

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Day 5 Melbourne: Wine country, part one

Posted by Priya Ramani at 
Melbourne is a just-right 15 degrees centigrade. We landed this morning and after lunch it's destination Mornington Peninsula. Australia's wine country is calling...why waste time? Victoria is Australia's favourite wine state. There are 22 wine REGIONS, four withen an hour's drive of the city. We're going to Rye, see if you can spot...

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