Tuesday 17 December 2019

I found the sign

At the very end of March, 2014 GB and I went for a tiki tour around the north.  GB always calls our trips away together our safaris but I still think of them as Tiki Tours.  In other places you might call it the roundabout way or the scenic route.  I've been living in New Zealand long enough to adopt the Kiwi term.  

In my most recent post about a visit to Pataua South, GB commented on having visited there with me and a rude sign in a camp grounds.  I've been hunting for a photo of that sign.  This old brain is really slowing down.  It took me ages to remember Labels.  Thank heavens for Labels, I really must remember to use them more.

We had taken a side road not far from the river and came to Treasure Island holiday camping ground.  It was deserted, the little store all locked up and there were Keep Out signs which I chose not to see because I wanted to see what the grounds were like.  But a large sign attached to a tree right beside the entrance stopped me.  I think we would have fallen into the mildly curious, slack and idle category, which really isn't all that serious, is it?  Or maybe we could have pleaded to be vague and lost.  I fall under that heading often enough.

Having taken a photo out the car window, I could hardly declare I hadn't noticed the sign if Camp Mother had suddenly appeared.  The reference to Camp Mother is a bit hard to explain, even a lot of younger Kiwis would not understand.  The Topp Twins are folk singers and comedians.  Camp Leader and Camp Mother are two of their comedy personalities.  They have been entertaining Kiwis for over 30 years and I've always found them very funny.  

I've seen them live twice.  The first time, around 1992/3 is still clear in my mind.  It's the only time I can remember where I've stood on a chair to get a better view and hollered and yeehaaed (you have to imagine that word) along with everyone else in the hall.  I'm always a bit more restrained than that.  But those two sure can yodel.

Oops.  Got a bit off the track there.  Ah well.

This is another photo taken a couple of days later when I missed a turn to the Flagstaff at Russell and ended up at a little beach on the other side of the hill.  We got out of the car for a look around and after a short walk were startled to see this huge ship on the other side of the rocks.  Tiki touring at its finest.

16 comments:

  1. I would have wandered in just to satisfy my curiosity.

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    1. Those camping grounds are crawling with noisy, happy campers right now, anyone could come and go without being noticed but by the end of March they will be deserted again so I could go back and give it another try.

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  2. I do hate those big ships even though they are very impressive against mother nature.

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    1. I like the photo because the ship just looks so wrong, so out of place.

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  3. Not a friendly or welcoming sign. Doubt it would discourage the truly criminal element.

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    1. Yes, true crims would have a laugh and carry on, wouldn't they? If they have a sense of humour which I doubt.

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  4. More campsites around NZ need signs like this, sometimes it's the only way to be truly clear with idiots who need to read it.

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    1. Hi Amy, It must be hard for camping grounds operators to keep the rubberneckers out.

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  5. That is a fabulous sign, i would heed it. Signs, like locks, are there to help honest people stay honest.

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    1. I hadn't heard that expression before, Messymimi. But it is worth remembering.

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  6. I have to admit it is quite unique! And any sign that does the job and gives me a smile at the same time is good by me.

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  7. You beat me to it. I made a note to re-post my New Zealand Blog post about it but hospital got in the way. Glad you found it though. I remember seeing that boat too. It was so incongruous. There was a lot going on in that area. I have no idea why I always called them safaris. I used the term 'tiki tour' quite naturally because it is so common in New Zealand. However I was writing my blog for non-Kiwis so I presume I decided to make life easy. Now I'd simply have sought to educate my readers. Oddly I'm sometimes told that I still use Kiwi terms without thinking. And I still quite often say 'Yis'. It amuses my friends no end because I'm completely unaware of it.

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  8. I like that you called our trips Safaris, I didn't or don't do Safaris with anyone else. I still come out with Aussie slang after all these years living here. Yis, sir.

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  9. I'd forgotten about the Topp Twins. It's a long time since I've heard anything about them!

    Love the sign! lol

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    1. They are still entertaining, Lee, although not as much as they used to. And I think they are as funny as ever.

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