Boot Throwographer

 

16.3.2010

 

 

Early in the morning the Finnish-German expedition jumped on the Overlander train and started their journey to Taihape which is located 230 km north of the capital city, Wellington. The terrain in New Zealand is largely hilly.

 

 

However, some tens of kilometers to the north of Wellington there are quite large, flat agricultural areas with fields and farm houses, like in Ostrobothnia (only thing that is missing are the birches). Animal husbandry and breeding in New Zealand is largely based on grazing, and you can see sheep and cattle even on quite steep slopes. I wonder whether the hills are beautiful just because the sheep and cattle barber them clean.

  

 

When approaching Taihape the terrain gets hilly again and it is possible to see marks of tectonic movements.

  

 

Taihape welcomed us with sun and sunny smiles on faces of our hostess Elizabeth and her two friends, who took us to our accommodation place – Safari Motel.

  

 

On the way to the motel Terry showed us the old, permanent Gumboot throwing lane which is not in use in this year’s Gumboot Day.

 

 

 

After signing in to the motel we walked to the town centre for a lunch and for shopping food from the local supermarket. On the way we saw the monumental gumboot statue, the symbol of Taihape – the Gumboot Capital of the World. Obviously, we had to take some pictures…

 

 

 

The time and getting used to it is interesting in New Zealand. The current date and time in New Zealand come to Finland after eleven hours from this time on. For example, when I wake up in the morning here in NZ, in Finland my wife and three children are going to sleep for my previous night. I come mad when I think about it. There are challenges in getting used to the change of the sleep pattern: you wake up at 4 at night, and then you are tired in the afternoon, so you have to take a nap.

 

 

 

17.3.2010

 

Gumboot

 

In the morning of 17 March we had a chance to test brand new New Zealand gumboots, Skellerup Perth (sizes Men 7 & Women and Youth 5); they were very nice and soft to take a grip with a bare hand. Eeva made huge throws, but I threw Siili a bit longer than the Perth gumboot.