Saturday, April 30, 2011

#1391 Mount Maunganui To Hot Water Beach: Farmers Market, Plants, Planes And Hot Springs



The latest version of this transcript has been moved here: 
http://www.thedailyenglishshow.com/show/1391-mount-maunganui-to-hot-water-beach-farmers-market-plants-planes-and-hot-springs/


























Day 30 was the second-to-last day of our summer tour.

In the morning we went to the Mount Maunganui Farmers Market.

We bought some avocados and a little plant. The guy who sold it to us said he’d been growing cacti and succulents for about ten years.

I was drawn to them mainly for their forms and colour. And the variety that’s available. In fact my daughter actually bought one, that was the very first plant I had. And I looked after it. It was only a little plant like this, about three inches tall or something. And ever since then I sort of got a bit hooked. So every time I went to a market and I saw someone selling these plants, I would just grab one and next week another one and then I just kept going until I just got such a huge collection. And now here I am having to sell them myself.
Phillip Pointon
Mount Maunganui Farmers Market

The plant we bought was called a Haworthia and I asked if it would flower.

Yes, the flowers are right here. Here’s one here flowering. You can see the it will come up on a big stem like that. And the flowers will open out. They’re cream in colour. And they open out, sort of leaves will open out sideways. And the flowers on the Hawarthias are all the same. So you might have all these different Hawarthias - twenty, thirty, forty different Haworthias - all exactly the same flower. Just slightly bigger on some of them, but the flowers are exactly the same.

We stopped for a coffee in Tauranga and then headed north towards the Coromandel Peninsula.

Espresso

We stopped in a town called Katikati which is famous for its murals.
We also saw some haiku and a guy reading the paper on a park bench.

We stopped to check out the beach in Whangamata.

A bit further up the road we saw some planes doing tricks in the sky. Lots of people had parked on the side of the road to watch, so we decided to join them.

That night we stayed at Hot Water Beach. I love this beach. It was the closest surf beach to my house when I was growing up and I used to come here a lot. These signs are new, but the beach looked just the same.

We made some sushi and drank Wrights Wine to celebrate the last night of our summer tour.

Making Sushi In Motorhome Holiday Park - Evening Drinks

At about 9:30 we walked down to the beach.

Hot Water Beach is famous for its hot springs. A couple of hours either side of low tide you can dig a hole in the sand and make your own hot pool.

We had to cross a little stream to get to the main part of the beach. Luckily the cameraperson didn’t slip over, the camera wouldn’t have liked that.

Lots of people were enjoying the hot springs and had bought their togs, spades, chilly bins and wine. We were happy with getting just our feet warm. It felt so nice.

Hot Water Beach At Night


licence
Credit to: studio tdes | www.thedailyenglishshow.com

links

Katikati haiku pathway
haiku by Cyril Childs


starting track
artist: Eric Elvendahl
track: sold break 8 bars
licence: CC BY 3.0

track 1
artist: Oleg O. Kachanko
track: Star Rain
album: Daydream
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: Moscow, Russia

track 2
artist: Oleg O. Kachanko
track: Snow In Desert
album: Daydream
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: Moscow, Russia

track 3
artist: david
track: Elle est ainsi
album: Soft Slow
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: vallauris, France

track 4
artist: david
track: Petit talibe
album: Folk & Acoustic
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: vallauris, France

track 5
artist: Jahzzar
track: Vanlig
album: Blinded by Dust
licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
from: Gijon, Spain

haworthia photos

photo 1 - Maja Dumat
licence: CC BY 2.0

photo 2 - Steve Frazier
licence: CC BY 2.0

photo 3 - Maja Dumat
licence: CC BY 2.0

photo 4 - The Ewan
licence: CC BY-SA 2.0


Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes. Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Friday, April 29, 2011

#1390 Thornton Beach To Mt Maunganui: Jumping Pillow, Floods, Giant Kiwifruit, Surf Festival



The latest version of this transcript has been moved here: 
http://www.thedailyenglishshow.com/show/1390-thornton-beach-to-mt-maunganui-jumping-pillow-floods-giant-kiwifruit-surf-festival/


























On the morning of day 29 we woke up to beautiful blue skies and lots of wind.
Before we left Thornton Beach Holiday Park, we did some jumping on their jumping pillow.
I’d never seen a jumping pillow before. It was awesome.

Jumping Pillow Sign

We left the holiday park and went to check out the beach. The sea was looking pretty wild.
This island is called Moutohorā. No Muggles live on this island, but it’s the home of a professional Quidditch team called the Moutohorā Macaws.

We drove from Thornton Beach to Mount Maunganui. Most of the fields we passed were flooded.
It was lucky we didn’t have far to drive that day because driving through the aftermath of Cyclone Wilma was pretty slow going in some places what with the wind and the slips and the flooded roads.

Hello!
Just stay out in the middle as you’re going through.
In the middle? OK.
In the middle, yeah.

Heeey! How ya going?
Good!
One for the camera! Safe journeys!

We stopped to buy some fruit at an orchard shop. There was a car parked outside that looked like an American police car. Highway patrol. Route 66.

Police Car Highway Patrol Route 66

We saw the local paper inside. Flooding Chaos.

Just up the road we saw a giant slice of kiwifruit. It was green on one side and gold on the other.
The place was called Kiwi 360. We did some souvenir shopping and had some coffee in the garden where we saw some kiwifruit and a kiwi.

Kiwi 360 Kiwi

When we got to Mount Maunganui, we went and found the place where we were staying: Golden Grove Holiday Park.

Then we headed out again to find a car wash.
Our motorhome got pretty dirty driving through some roadworks a few days earlier, so we decided to try out a self-service car wash.
I’d never tried this before and it was fun. The machines work on a timer and one dollar doesn’t last very long so I tried to clean as fast as possible.

After the car wash we checked out the shopping area and the beach.

This town is called Mount Maunganui or The Mount. And this mountain is called Mount Maunganui or Mauao.

There happened to be a festival on at the beach and the place was packed. Finding a park wasn’t easy, but we drove around in circles and found one eventually. It was the first day of the Festival of Surf Sport.

Festival of Surf Sport - Mt Maunganui Festival of Surf Sport

Festival of Surf Sport

We found a postbox and sent a postcard of the East Cape lighthouse to the United States.
And we had dinner back at the holiday park.

Motorhome cooking

The place where we were staying was only a couple of hundred metres from the beach, so after dinner we went for a bit of a walk.


licence
Credit to: studio tdes | www.thedailyenglishshow.com


thanks to:

Thornton Beach Holiday Park
Golden Grove Holiday Park
Kiwi Holiday Parks


music

starting track
artist: Eric Elvendahl


track 1
artist: david
track: La rupture
album: Folk & Acoustic
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: vallauris, France

track 2
artist: Jahzzar
track: Fastest Man on Earth
album: Blinded by Dust
licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
from: Gijon, Spain

track 3
artist: Jahzzar
track: Vanlig
album: Blinded by Dust
licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
from: Gijon, Spain

track 4
artist: Blik
track: Leaf
album: tinyTracks
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: Moscow, Russia



track 5
artist: Jahzzar
track: Driver
album: Blinded by Dust
licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
from: Gijon, Spain


track 6
artist: Blik
track: Guitar Mix (Rain)
album: 2004
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: Moscow, Russia


track 7
artist: Pirato Ketchup
track: Speed Surfer
album: Speed Surfer
licence: CC BY 2.0
from: Liège, Belgium



track 8
artist: Pirato Ketchup
track: Alaska
album: Speed Surfer
licence: CC BY 2.0
from: Liège, Belgium

track 9
artist: Pirato Ketchup
track: Escape From Tridion
album: Speed Surfer
licence: CC BY 2.0
from: Liège, Belgium

track 10
artist: Blik
track: She
album: tinyTracks
licence: CC BY 3.0
from: Moscow, Russia

track 11
artist: Jahzzar
track: Vladimir Estragon
album: Blinded by Dust
licence: CC BY-SA 3.0
from: Gijon, Spain

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes. Thank you.

Have you translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.