Flying through the Philippines

The dessert of my travels comes in the form of kite-surfing. I dragged my kite equipment all over the globe and so far I have not used it once.

But now the time is right to finally strap on my harness and surf away. I did quite a bit of research into where to go, and came up with a spot in a country of which I have never inhaled the air yet.
The place is Bagasbas, a tiny fisherman’s village in the Philippines. It is a kite spot in development, and  is not known by the big kite-surf masses yet. It is somewhat difficult to reach, as from Manila I need a domestic flight to Naga, from where it is a 2 hour drive to Daet and Bagasbas.

CEBU Philippine’s budget airlines… Ah well, after NZ fear is not present in my dictionary

Mike from Mikes-kites.com picks me up from the airport to introduce me to my 3 weeks of action. It feels fantastic not to go anywhere, just to dump my stuff in a room, my new home, and stay there for weeks. Enough of this travel nonsense, enough!

Back into gorgeous chaos. Daet streets full of Tricycle taxis.

To be honest there is F.A. to blog about during my time here. All I do is kite-surf, be bored, socialize and drink beer.

And boy is there wind! I do so much kiting that some days I hope there is no wind just to give me an excuse to rest my aching body. Two days there was even too much wind to kite (40+kn, around 8-9 Beaufort). I never had that before. Although a few are going out (on a 3 meter kite!), there is no way I am going into the swirling ocean during some sort of hurricane.

Poor palms enduring 35 knot winds

But most of the time the wind is fine for me to fly my kite

I must admit that to surf straight into the shorebreak is a new experience for me and I spend a lot of time gasping for air when Poseidon is tossing me around. But the cool thing about this location is that there are several lagoons with flat water nearby, and I definitely am progressing by the day.

We kite in the rain...

...but luckily also in clear blue skies

A fisherman is selling his proud catch Sashimi for 5 Euros (the whole fish that is). We ate the sushi building material at Mike’s house.

In the many hours of spare time I sit in the bar and chat with my new friends to pass time.

New temporary friends

More new friends: Mat and GF

And let’s not forget perfect-picture-Nicole

And then…. After a few weeks of action and boredom in a country I will visit again, the big moment has come. The moment of truth, the inevitable moment of catching the bus back home.

Philippine public bus

My travels have come to an end, I fly back in high spirits.
Can I come to any wise conclusions at the end?

Around 13 years ago was the last time I traveled for a longer period. I then wanted it to last forever and concluded that traveling, being introduced to new cultures and new people was probably the best and the highest thing available that life has to offer.
This time round, however, I can’t wait to go home and see Immy, friends, family and go to sleep in a home that stays where it is, with me in it. Don’t get me wrong, last few months were fantastic and will be nostalgically remembered for many years to come. But it is a very different euphoria this time. It was not a wonderful escape away from cold boring home; it was a wonderful holiday away from cold but precious home. I guess I’ve grown older and that feels damned good!

Anyhow, not sure if any of that made sense. Here is some other news for whoever didn’t know yet:
I have decided that upon my return I am moving back to Amsterdam.
And to answer an immediate question: Immy will join me in due course, her Dutch is… well, let’s say improving.

Coming period will be all about returning to the real world: moving back into my Amsterdam flat, re-immigration bureaucracy, and most important: finding a job!

But as the ancient Chinese saying goes:
‘He who conquers the tiger, will conquer the world’ (it might be so ancient you won’t be able to trace it back).

Ready to conquer the world!

NZ: Is it a bird? Is it...

Hello again. Apologies to the loyal blog followers it’s been a while since the last update, I have been suffering with a severe writer’s block. But things have cleared up, so Allez hop!

Out of nowhere we drive into a snowy mountain environment. Lake Tekapo is our end point for the day when dusk falls.

Lake Tekapo’s turquoise waters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well prepared as we are we find out the whole town’s accommodation is completely booked out. This is one of those moments that I know from experience will take much effort, moments of despair, stress, and then relief will come as eventually I will find something unexpected, and somehow have a bed.
But as we keep on ringing every B&B and hotel in town, I slowly come to terms that it might be a car-sleep-in for tonight. Ward, however, rather drives 100km further to try our luck in the next town; ‘No way!’ this world traveler is sleeping in a car (sigh…).
But phew! An angel intervenes and a clash between the egos is avoided, somebody knows somebody who knows somebody else who has a room that they are willing to rent out. Hurrah! We’re saved and sleep in a fantastic house at a lovely elderly couple including extraordinary mountain views (for a sheer 150$ I might add, besides being lovely they also excelled in commercial dealings grrmbl).

No it’s not a painting; it’s the view from my unexpected bedroom window

My intentions are for this area to take a scenic flight over the highest mountain tops NZ has to offer. Unluckily the next day is too windy for all the flight operators, instead we climb Mount John and meet a few of NZ’s famous inhabitants.
*Sweet as, bro* thinks the sheep

Lets move on, lets drive to Mount Cook's base, the highest mountain in NZ of approximately 3500m.
 
Mt. Cook and his buddies seen after a 2 hour climb.

At mt Cook the weather is better and I get my desired helicopter flight. The views are exhilarating.

Helicopter view over Mt Cook and Franz Jozeph glacier.

A glacier landing at 2500m, and its freakin’ cold in shorts I can assure you

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
But it’s not only flying around and utter luxury, even the rich and the famous hike around. We go on a 4 hour track along Hooker River towards Hooker’s glacier (guess whose choice that is).
Ward looking out for Hooker’s glacier.

Enough of these mountains, we are living at 31 December that means we have some serious drinking to do tonight in Queenstown, a 4 hour drive away.

And what a drive it is.

Road shot 1

Road shot 2

After a long drive it’s a long….. long night.

Happy New Year!

And after a long long night, a long long... long hangover follows. Is it just me or does it get worse the older you get? It feels like a sponge has been thrown in my bowl of happy juice, I’m drained of all my appetite to do anything really.
It takes a while before the evil sponge is squeezed out again and the happy juice is back above sea level. We have learned that we both seem to enjoy the mountain bike adventures and we seem even above average good at it. So we join a guided bike trip through Skipper Canyon. Wow! A must for all of you visiting Queenstown, this is great biking at fantastic speed. Brought by jeep to the mountain top, and off you go. Jeehaaa!

Part of Skipper Canyon biking trail seen from above

Going steady

Gaaaaaf man

Who visits NZ may not leave without seeing the Milford or Doubtful Sounds. We choose for the latter in a over crowded touristy cruise, nuf said.

Rainbow over the Doubtful Sounds

Time flies and before you know time’s up. We end the last day in style. An hour before check in time of our flight back to Auckland, we are standing on a bridge strapped with elastic cords around our ankles. Indeed, we nearly chickened out but here we are ready for our much feared bungy jump.
I find this of all adrenaline things we have done the hardest one to do. It goes against all instincts to jump off that bridge. But what has to be done, has to be done.

The 50m Kawarau bridge over a river gorge.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s me falling like a stone.

And that jump finishes the NZ chapter. Ward is heading back to winter in Amsterdam and the main character of this blog is moving on to the Philippines for the last episode of this trip.

NZ: cruising along

The road through New Zealand continues. The NZ we are experiencing is all about its amazing landscape. And it IS amazing. We grow a habit of acting like American tourists and scream ‘Oh my god’ and ‘Wow’, on various occasions when the car passes through various examples of NZ natural wonders.

Lunch spot by the road

In Wellington Ward and I take a day holiday of each other’s company. I enjoy the peace of my own thoughts in an I-pod walk ‘n climb along one of the bays.

Ocean bay in Wellington

‘Last Christmas, I gave you my heart’ lalala. It’s X-mas time and honestly I don’t really care. X-mas in summer is a bit surreal, and we spend it on a boat from the North island to the South island to enter Chapter 2 of our NZ trip.
On the boat we pick up hitchhiker what-was-her-name who texts to her father she met ‘nice folks’ referring to us. There I am: independent, original, standing out, world traveler, on top of the lot…. in a sudden moment simply demoted to ‘Nice folk’… well I have never….

What-was-her-name and Ward on the ferry

In Nelson we visit the Abel Tasman National park by sea canoe. Again Mother Nature has been kind to the area.
Discovering deserted islands along Abel Tasman’s coast

We are told there are male seals around the islands, and if we come across one on land we should stay a few meters clear as they might get aggressive. I explore the island's coastline and nearly trip over a sleeping bull. Good for the blog, bad for my heart. Luckily the stinking monster (my god they smell!) is not interested in a fight and turns over annoyed to continue his sleep *just like Ward anywhere before 10am :-)*

Sleeping seal: ‘Wha-evah’

Continuing the tour in a crystal clear sea.

X-mas is over and we hit the road on our way to Christchurch. I’m not sure if these scenery pictures are boring you, but to us it feels like driving on a different planet, a wild rough planet of natural ecstacy.
Road to Christchurch

In Christchurch we are back to City life again, so that means social expert Ward arranges new drinking company in no time for evening entertainment.

Us and two Ozzie girls half way through the evening

Time to move on with a slight hangover I might add. We drive towards Banks Peninsula, a beautiful area created long long time ago by the lava of a local volcano (hmmm perhaps you figured already the lava came from a local volcano, but still... just making sure).
A near crash at a perfect picture spot. But driver Ward assures it’s all under control, good for the blog bad for my heart again :-)

Viewing over Banks Peninsula

A quiet river walk follows from the beach, AND I’M HAPPY TO BE ALIVE, as demonstrated on this picture.
*it only took 351 tries on my camera's self-timer*

When we continue away from the coast within a few hours time the landscape changes from garden green and sunny beaches to high rising mountains, glaciers and snow. The ‘Oh my Gods’ and ‘Wows’ are being heard miles away.
Peaceful sunset along the way

This is the last of flatness we will see, as from now on mountains will be in our sight wherever we look. In the coming few days I will learn that it is possible to land by helicopter on a mountain top glacier and that if you jump from a 50m high bridge you don’t necessarily get hurt... Next post I’ll tell you all about it.