Sir Ed, 'knocked the bugger off'
As any tour guide will tell you, before long they find themselves becoming a repository of dates, places, names and myriad facts that are, outside the confines of their day-job, largely useless. True, knowing the name of the only living New Zealander to appear on a banknote (Sir Edmund Hillary) or the English-translation of the place name Remuera (burnt buttocks) or even the identity of the infamously-moustached cricket umpire who died during a bondage session and whose body was found floating in Huka Falls (Peter Plumley-Walker) can prove a round-winning boon at a school-fundraising quiz; but aside from this it is, sadly, quite useless.
However, woven seamlessly and professionally in to a narrative on a tour these titbits can serve to illustrate, illuminate and, hopefully, amuse; well that’s the plan. But what if there’s a budding tour guide in you, demanding more? What if you want to build up your own fund of odds and ends to impress your friends and, dare to dream, win year-7’s most brainy parent prize? Well now, dear reader, you can.
Starting soon we’ll be adding a new category to this blog under the category The Inside Track, which is shorthand for ‘stuff you might be mildly interested in knowing before your tour.’ Every couple of weeks we’ll be adding a new article to this blog covering something, somewhere or someone that features in our tours. This will allow you to a) bone up before your tour with us, b) catch us out when we don’t mention something you’ve read and c) astonish your fellow tour guests* with your knowledge. We’ll be starting the series with The Inside Track on a wonderful spot featured in our Matakana Escape tour.
If you’ve already booked to join one of our tours, or are thinking about booking, and have a yearning to find out about somewhere you’ll be visiting drop us an email (to blog@milestonetours.co.nz) and we’ll see if we can feature it before your tour.
Keep an eye out for The Inside Track, coming to a pc near you soon.
* Many of whom will have shelled out a fair whack o n a weighty travel guide to New Zealand but so far got no further than finding it a helpful press for wild flowers or a handy step useful for exploring the back the baking cupboard (unless used immediately the candied fruit with a 1997 sell-by date will probably not hold out for inclusion in next year’s Christmas cake).
