The week after my last blog entry was a week of small, clean waves where Anna & I got some good surf in. The new (to us) longboard is really good fun, very light & very flattering to the surfer of average ability. I managed to 'hang5' on it a few times but never got back from the nose so I'm not sure it actually counts. Next time! The wetsuit dryer's been earning its keep, delivering a dry warm suit each morning. Luxury.
The same week as this good surf I got some kit for the workshop including a Black & Decker Workmate (Its inventor, Ron Hickman died recently. He was also an Engineer at Lotus, working on the original Elan). Its funny that a workshop tool can bring emotions out but this one seems to. 'Bunnings' (where I bought it, similar to B&Q) is staffed by many semi-retired folk & several of them made comments like, 'I haven't seen a new one of those for years but my old one's still going strong, good on ya!'. For me it reminds me of my Dad's: The times I'd sat on it, keeping it still while he made/sawed/painted something; the yellow paint that's still on it from spraying my first bike; using it to build things of my own. With all of these thoughts come feelings of distance-all of those memories are a long way away now & I'm setting out on my own path with my own Workmate! Perhaps its a 'coming of age' thing & at 34 I've finally grown up? Seems unlikely.
Moving on from Workmates & on to Piha & the surrounding West Auckland coast. Beautiful, uncompromising & not far from us so a couple of days up there in a PiwiWiwi van was rather good.
The next test for our vans was Lisa! Our guinea pig stayed with us for a couple of nights before heading off into the (unexpectedly) snowy unknown. Before she disappeared we went caving in Waitomo. Impressive place but very commercialised, very much an 'experience' for 'gap yah' kids & not an introduction to caving. Rudy & Simon at 'Rap Raft & Rock' were very friendly & helpful - I'd recommend them to folks wanting to see the Waitomo thing.
Simon also happens to have a rotational moulding machine in his workshop which could prove useful seeing as I haven't found any off-the-shelf tanks suitable for 'Self Containing' our vans. There's a lot of Toyota Hi-Ace campers like ours & with the new rules making self containment much more necessary to travellers there should be a market for someone (me?) to tap.
Anyway, back to the narrative. After waving Lisa & our first van goodbye we motored on up to Auckland's suburbs for the RVA's AGM & some conference sessions held at a winery in a crater. It was a useful event & we met some very friendly & helpful folk in our new industry that we hope to work with in the future.
Getting home we found our 'Transport Service License' waiting for us in our mailbox (fourtunately it hadn't rained much during the day..). This means that we are an officially licensed rental firm-awesome!
The last couple of weeks have been a bit thin on the surf front so last Saturday's small waves were welcomed by me & I spent a few hours in on both long & shortboards before going home to an afternoon's work.
We wanted Lisa to travel in a properly branded van & after getting a few quotes in we settled on a Raglan firm, 'D-signs'. Dan (from Coromandel but he loved Raglan so moved here several years ago) did a great job getting samples made almost immediately & then getting all six vans stickered up. We now have a house surrounded by four 'PiwiWiwi' branded vans & although the novelty's wearing off its still awesome to see our name on them - we're real! Thanks Rob for designing the logo over a year ago & thanks Frank for fixing a couple of paint issues when we took the old stripes off. The less said about that the better for all concerned..
This morning I've had Paul, a local (well from Bournemouth but he's been here a year & a half) carpenter helping with a couple of bits in the vans & its been great. In a morning we've made & tried a couple of designs, settled on one, got templates & one van's worth of parts made.
This afternoon another local (well, I'm not sure how long he's been in Raglan but he's a genuine Kiwi), Jim, came over to help with some upholstery on the vans. He works in Hamilton making bits for Spaceships (the rental 'vans', not actual spaceships) so having him across the road is a boon!
I think that may be the story of this entry. We've met an awful lot of friendly, helpful, positive & seemingly competent people. Its been a great but tiring couple of weeks. So off to an early bed, happy.
Random Little Stylised Logos
Hard at work
Logo Samples
Workmate's First use
Vans with Logos
Piha Including 'Lion Rock'
Boards Safely In
Raglan's Beach at Sunset
Interesting Rock at The Beach
Sunrise Over Three Trees
