COLINS ROAD TRIP AROUND NZ

Out to prove why Paeroa has the biggest bottle in NZ and what makes it tick.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Raglan rulz!

So I spent the day at Raglan today (in case you’re reading this Maurice, Raglan is what the kids are calling Hamilton these days. Strange huh?). Anyways, I saw some people doing a bit of the old surfboarding. I also saw a seagull eat it’s own poo. That made me think of Paeroa. I’m having too much fun (that’s local slang for ‘handing out heaps of Paeroa flyers’) to be homesick yet, but reckon it’ll happen soon enough. You can take the Paeroa out of the boy, but you can’t take the Paeroa out of the boy. Anyway, next stop is Rotorua. Maurice went to a small business conference there once and came back to Paeroa with 5,000 lazy susans. Reckons he got the bargain of the century. He also reckons Rotorua pongs worse than the Paeroa septic tank incident of ’84.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Launch

Got the van going today. Gee they’ve done a good job on it. It’s hard to believe Mr Edgars was handing out snow freeze just last summer. I feel kinda bad for all the kids missing out on ice creams but Maurice says Paeroa must come first. I’ve been getting ready to leave Paeroa for the first time. Gee I’m nervous. Must remember to go through my checklist: Shorts, tee shirt, toothbrush, left jandal, right jandal. Might have a shave. Or maybe I’ll wait til I come home? It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to the cat. Last time I went away all his pants fell off. I feel bad coz they’ve just grown back. Anyway, the launch was amazing! We didn’t get quite the crowd we expected but it was Wednesday, and there was a knitting expo on at the town hall. Everything went without a hitch. Apart from Maurice smashing the headlight. And the kids egging the van. And me forgetting the crew. But apart from that it went like clockwork. Can’t wait till tomorrow when I actually get to leave. One more sleep!

Making filmz

Wow, what a day. Spent ages at Paeroa Filmz watching Stu make the Tourism Paeroa television commercial. The ad looks amazing! Stu runs a slick operation and boy can he can work those VHS decks. Maurice is a born actor too. Just another feather in his bow! Some people say the screen adds 10 pounds but I reckon it was more like nine and a half for him. I made my acting debut in it too but I’m worried I ruined it at the end – my thumbs-up could have been way better. Still, I was more worried about the fact the van wouldn’t start. But you can hardly notice the guys pushing anyway. I just hope I don’t freeze in front of the camera. I get nervous when people look at me. I think it came from the way Grandad used to stare at me all the time when I broke his best stuff. Anyway, I better go. I’ve got all seven wonders to remember, and I’m only up to number two!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Leaving Paeroa

Left Paeroa today. Saw Mum waving and felt like I was gonna have a bit of a cry but sucked it up. Gee it’s different once you leave Paeroa. The cows are definitely different and the roads are less straight.



There seems to be a lot of support for Paeroa out there as every car gave me a friendly constant toot. I learnt a new wave today - It’s more of a fist shake than a wave. Man this van handles good, apart from pulling violently to the left but that’s cool coz my right arm has always been stronger than my right.