My boss has taken a month off

My boss, my wife Xiaoli, has taken a month to go travelling with a very good friend, her ex English teacher here, travelling in China. I call it an old China trip. Visiting things/places hundreds if not thousands of years old.

Now me, well yesterday I had to make 5 beds in two of our units yesterday and clean them ready for guests last night. Today I took the 5 guests on a full day tour up Ninety Mile Beach. Now add to that our animals I need look after

1. 4 small pomaranian dogs who yes, I dote on. One even came on tour with me today
2. 5 geese. Now they didn’t come home last night. Didn’t let my boss over in China know or I might get slaughtered even if we are oceans apart. She loves her geese. Fortunately tonight they have reappeared. My life is saved.
3. About 50 hens, plus numerous roosters. In Xiaoli’s absence I am training them to be locked up at night when they get their evening feed. Some fly over the top again but most stay put. Leave them shut up to 11am and I am hoping most will lay their eggs in the coup and nest boxes. Not making me go on an egg hunt as Xiaoli does each day. One has gone clucky so I found her a private secure little area and gave her 18 eggs to sit on. So in 21 days time I hopefully have 18 chickens to add to our livestock.
4. About 60 Muscovy ducks. Some should be laying eggs now but its difficult to keep them penned up. But suspect by the time Xiaoli arrives back I will have some mother ducks wander out with their ducklings from where ever they may have built their nests.
5. 5 Guinea Foul. I believe they have started laying eggs as normally they stay together as a group. I know they have a reputation for hiding eggs, so like the ducks I think by the time Xiaoli arrives back numbers will have increased
6. I know we now have about 150 pigeons and I watch the area they are in and see many sitting. Numbers are going to double
7. The Golden Pheasants are on my list to do tomorrow of giving them nesting material. And the same goes for the budgies, cockatiels and doves

 

Add to that our guests exit the units tomorrow so 5 beds to strip. Wash sheets etc. Several were smokers so that means duvet covers, you name it, needs be cleaned. We ask guests not to smoke inside but regardless the smell of a smoker clings to everything.

And yes Saturday next week I fly to China. 36 hours with family who are all gathering for a family reunion to mark Xiaoli and I being there, then 4 days of business meetings various province.

And yes today Xiaoli and her friend send me these beautiful photographs on them on holiday. When do I get one I wonder?

 

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

A tour with a difference today

The boss is away, that being the wife Xiaoli so right now I need do a bit of everything. The multi day tours are quiet right now as far as actually doing them, but route planning and submitting quotes full on.

The accommodation beach front Ninety Mile Beach Xiaoli normally runs but she is away in China for a month holidaying with a friend. Traditionally its quiet now but that phone went yesterday afternoon and although I offered to book the 5 men elsewhere they had seen our accommodation on the website and they were insistent that was where they want to stay. So drop everything and over to the beach. Clean 2 units and make 5 beds. Not a job I can say I love. But did it.

For today the 5 wanted to go on the beach bus so I book it. It turns out they were to be the only 5 on the bus and being from Guangzhou almost no English. So I volunteer since I have a little understanding of Cantonese and Mandarin, plus my mate was driving. So I go as interpreter and guide. A change to sit high in a purpose built 4wd bus versus my own 4wd I also do beach tours in.

Its fortunate I live with a Chinese wife plus most guests are from China so over the years I have learnt to understand maybe more than a little. We had a great day. Weather was okay given it is still winter and any rain squalls seem to wait until we were inside the bus each time. I took my dog Li Li with us. She is one of the most travelled dogs in the north of New Zealand joining on most tours I do.

Today we were to travel up the beach. Tide was outgoing but still well up the beach when we first drove on to it. 77 km up the beach to the exit at Te Paki Stream. We stopped a few times for the customary photographs. No need for sand boards today so no risk of injuries occurring. A very relaxed trip to Cape Reinga.

Since it was only my group on board and I knew it was low tide 1pm I gave them the option of the beach or road for the return trip. They chose the beach. No objection from us as it is the shorter and straight route versus road.

My mate Robin tells me in all the years he has been driving the beach buses he has never driven the beach both ways. The reason being he has a set route plus normally a mix of groups aboard. Only my 5 people so they and I could decide. Robin came back saying that was his easiest day ever. He never had to talk as tour guides do. I did it for him but slowly to the one with some English and then he in turn translated.

The group were laid back but I explained to Robin when you are doing what we do, personal tours, you get more one on one with your people. Its different. He loved it. My next aim is to convince him to join us doing tours down country. Like me, he knows it well. But I don’t think he is going to buy into that idea.

Want a Ninety Mile Beach tour, Harrisons are great but still even better is our own 4 wd tours. A bus with today being an exception, you are just one of many. With us it is just you and anybody with you.

Our tours are on our website. But talk to us about the whole of New Zealand.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

What happened to feet up rest time

The boss, Xiaoli has gone off to China for a month touring with a friend plus visiting family. Me, well I was meant to have time out. She said rest. Go fishing. Yeah right!!!!

She left 3 loads of clothes washing yet just a day prior I had the washing up to date.

She said the 5 beds in our beach accommodation would be made and all units cleaned just in case I had customers. Yeah right!!! None are made. Bugger.

Poor me. If the phone goes I have 5 beds to make. Clean thoroughly. August normally quiet and weather forecast lousy so maybe I get off lucky.

Hens and ducks in multiple numbers going clucky so I need arrange nests they can sit on their eggs undisturbed.

Her birds in the aviary all need breeding boxes plus pheasants straw as yes they to believe it’s the season to mate.

And then blow me down another travel consultant in China decides they want to talk to us.  Could I please plan in the interim some tour routes as a discussion point. 24 hours later that’s completed. The map software played up so needed to install a better software package or don’t supply maps.

The 4 dogs without Xiaoli here all believe they should sit on me at the same time. They may be small but my legs are not that big. And added to it all 4 want to sleep on the bed.

When does this man get peace and quiet?

My visa for China completed and being couriered back. Still got some more small gifts for family to sort out but its 5 years since I have seen them and my mind is blank.

The 26^th I am away on the big bird heading for Shanghai. An 8 hour stop over. Lucky me. Then off to Nanning. 36 hours family time and rest then 4 days full on business different areas. Then hop on that big bird and come home.

By then chickens and ducklings will be due to hatch. The geese I have no idea if they are building their nests yet. I just don’t think I want to know as a further week or so on my own fending for the menagerie.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

A young friend of mine showed me up!

I make simple videos in Picasa using still photographs set to music. Now its no secret, I am not very technically orientated. I can push buttons but I am a self taught person and the old memory bank up top in my head is becoming full. And you know what a computer is like when it gets full, it slows down.

With a computer you can just delete files to create more memory. The human brain doesn’t work like that unfortunately. It just keeps storing more and more. And the older we get the harder it gets to process things. By that I mean learn new things.

Technology I try hard to learn. I think I do a pretty good job with conquering what I have. But along comes my friend Yi today, and says, Peter send me those photos you put in the video you made yesterday. So I did. 30 minutes later on her cell phone she produced this lovely video. Its not perfect but from my perspective, it took her 30 minutes just to show me how much better it could be.

I am not sure where Yi is now. Either Beijing or Washington as she has met an American man she has been travelling different countries with. But not sure she has permanent residence in the States sorted.

Yi I met 2013 when she toured New Zealand with a group of 8 from Liuzhou in Guangxi China. She was young and naïve then. Still being sent to university by her doting mum to keep learning. 4 years later I believe she may have escaped mums clutches and seems to have matured. Or maybe it was my mentoring as ever since that meeting we have kept in touch and she keeps turning to me for advice. Well now its her teaching the teacher. Roles have been reversed.

I still don’t understand how she converted my pics into that video so quickly. Yes it needs an edit which I don’t want to hurt her feelings by asking her to do. But its also great just the way it is.

A photo story featuring some of the many photographs on our tours around New Zealand.
Contemplating publishing a photo book of our top pics as souvenir giveaways to clients that tour with Peter and Xiaoli Tours

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

Our beautiful 4 dogs. All loved equally. But all very different.

Dou Dou. Our one and only boy, neutered because we do not want to breed any. Dou Dou in Chinese meaning green been. Ok. Not my choice of names, he came with it.

Dou is our guard dog. He hears every noise. Sometimes barks a little to often. Is hyper to say the least so banned from sleeping in the bedroom. Lucky to last 10 minutes anywhere without being on the move again. Take him out in the car and he must sit front seat. Whoever sits passenger seats has no choice, Dou Dou will go there. And he rarely sleeps in the car. Must watch everything out the window.

Xiao Xiao, the first of the 4 to come live with us. Guess she must be 9 now. Definitely Xiaoli’s dog although if Xiaoli not interested in her company, rapidly sitting by me. Xiao means small. She is small, but also rotund. Needs regular exercise or becomes fat. But she is a wider build in the rib cage anyway. Would sleep all day if you give her the opportunity. Sleeps on our bed. Cold nights gets under the blankets between Xiaoli and I. No please may I come under, barges her way in. Snores badly.

Tara. I guess about 10. She would be our noisiest expect prior us she was debarked. She is te second ring leader with Dou Dou for barking at anything going on out side. And no, Tara is not a Chinese name.

If there is thunder then Tara will jump anything just to be with us. Hates with a vengeance, thunder. A beautiful soft personality. Nicknamed by me, feet. She comes up to you then its her feet that come up. Don’t pat her the foot will grab the hand or arm to pull it over to her. A character. Like Xiao Xiao, happy to sleep all day. In the lounge. She never been interested in sleeping on our bed.

Then there is Li Li. I am hers. That’s right, I am hers, she is not mine. She claimed me and is very possessive of me. She wont let the others come close at times. The same goes for Xiaoli. If you hear ‘grrr’ then you know Li Li says get away. Her name in Chinese means beautiful. She is the smallest of 4 but the most courageous. Nothing really scares her. Unfortunately she is the one we cannot trust if we have young ducklings or chickens around. She would kill them given half a chance. Hence a photo in the trolley. They all know they ride in that past the chook and duck area. Where does Li Li sleep. By my shoulder under the blanket. Will not move from there or get up until I do.

Time for the next project

 

40 page document for presentations in China is completed. Been translated so just hope the translation replicates my English version or it could be embarrassing. A company profile for ‘Peter and Xiaoli Tours’ but also listing our key tours.

6 day tour now planned and loaded to the website incorporating much of the route I did last week but with the addition of a boat trip plus hike to the White Island volcano. Plus several nights Rotorua. It will be an amazing tour for my tour parties and affordable. Expect to take record numbers of photographs.

If you have not seen a live volcano up close then this is your chance. For me some of it reminds me of Rotorua but with a much stronger sulphur smell for which you have masks you can put on. But what got me and I thought frightening to a degree was the roar coming up through the vent holes. But so glad I have experienced it and I guess I will with even more tour guests.

The East Cape is amazing with its many bays and beaches. Then there is the Maori heritage factor. The beautiful  interior of the Maori church at Tiki Tiki.

Gisborne, much to see. Start on the drive into Gisborne, tide permitting the walking out on to the reef and feeding the stingray. Magic. And you must remember this whole area is steeped in heritage with the landing of Captain Cook back in the 1600’s.  The first European to step foot on New Zealand soil and meet the local Maori. What that must have been for both races on the day.

From Gisborne we head down to Wairoa and the over the awe inspiring very scenic Lake Waikaremoana road. Many bush walks that can be done. An area you just have to see to believe. The road is not the best but I have travelled many a time.

Then 2 nights Rotorua. Visit Te Puia thermal park. Geysers, boiling mud pools. A visit to Agrodome for the farm show. Leisure time when if you wish you can go soak in the world famous Polynesian mineral pools. Or go souvenir shopping, maybe

The last day a visit to Waitomo Caves before returning Auckland. What a tour and its affordable.

Today with the business trip to China getting closer it was time to check costings for all tours we do. We will not compete with a packaged bus tour but then we do a lot more than bus tours do. We stop often for photography on route. Or maybe just to walk on a particular beach. We never rush unless we have a deadline to meet such as a cruise boat.

Our costs are very competitive like with like. If interesting in touring New Zealand talk to us. Our specialty is small groups 11 or less but we are licensed to drive everything.

Tomorrow I would love to go do a bit of fishing but the weather forecast is not favourable. But it is winter I guess.

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

 

 

 

 

How beautiful is that view

 

I am sitting here at our beach property waiting on people to collect some furniture I advertised as free to anyone requiring said items. Hopefully the furniture is going to a genuine home and not someone who is going to try to on sell.

But look at the photograph taken out the front window of our beach front accommodation. The beautiful Ninety Mile Beach almost calm. Just a very thin layer of cloud cover. I have no idea what the temperature is but given I have stripped the sweatshirt off, it is pleasantly warm.

I have recovered from my 6 day trip around the East Cape on the North Island of New Zealand. Some of my blogs were up there against my best ever blog for readers of about 2500 readers. I am either getting better or just maybe more and more people are becoming aware I write regular blogs.

Now the East Cape is complete I have finished writing my 39 page document I will use in presentations in China. I have had it translated into Chinese. Juggling photographs around after that was a mission to make sure I didn’t change the translation done. My brother in law back in China is now proof reading for me. Handy having a Chinese brother in law who is a Deputy Principal, so therefore the perfect proof reader.

I have added a 6 day tour to the report. Unique to us I hope. Certainly not a route the main players promote. Auckland down to Whakatane. A boat trip to White Island. Then on around the East Cape and Gisborne area. Down to Wairoa and back across to Rotorua via Lake Waikaremoana.

I believe once we take a few tour groups that route then word of mouth should help it take off.

Next to be added is a fishing tour which East Cape could be a component of.

I look forward to the business challenge in China. My first serious attempt at getting business out of China. 60% of our tours are Chinese but through word of mouth. This will be our first real attempt to gain travel consultant business. Other times we tried we could not get past 2 emails. This time meetings secured. Next is to win business.

In fairness in earlier years we did not have the credentials to put up to get us past the first contact stage.

Tomorrow this weather keeps up, its very tempting to take the boat out.

 

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com

http://www.peterandxiaoli.com