So my time here is pretty much over. I'm getting a bus to the airport in about an hour. It feels like only a couple of days ago I was telling people that I was coming here, now it's all over and I'm nearly on my way home.
I was up by 9am this morning. I made sure that I had packed everything that I'd arrived with, put my bag in storage, then headed out for breakfast. I had time for a final walk around town, an hour in the sun doing Sudoku in the park (I'm actually not that bad at it anymore) and a yummy, cheese and spinach pizza twisted thing for lunch.
Here comes another 30 hours of travelling. Woo. At least the food and movies on Emirates are good.
xx
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Friday, 9 April 2010
I ate ice cream on the beach
After breakfast this morning I walked over to one of the bays on the outskirts of the city centre called Mission Bay. It was actually a bit further than I thought, but I guess the walk will have done me good. On the way I had a quick detour round a local farmers market, where I got to try some fresh chilli humous with fresh pitta bread and some local beef sausages, and an aquarium. The aquarium was small but had a nice sections on Antartic explorers, penquins, sting rays and sharks.
Mission Bay is small but very nice. It has lots of restaurants and ice cream shops on the beach front. I met one of my friends from the Kiwi bus, Rob, who is staying with family who live near the bay. I had freshly caught fish and chips for lunch and then we sat on the beach and ate ice cream. It was great. The weather has stayed beautiful, I'm getting very freckly.
After a walk up a little hill nearby to over look the bay I headed back into the city. The walk to the bay was along the waters edge and was very nice but took about an hour and a half.
I'm back at the hostel now, I have to pack to leave tomorrow and I don't want to. I intensely dislike packing. I'm kind of hoping that if I ignore it then my stuff will just pack itself. I think I'll go for dinner and then contemplate packing then.
xx
Mission Bay is small but very nice. It has lots of restaurants and ice cream shops on the beach front. I met one of my friends from the Kiwi bus, Rob, who is staying with family who live near the bay. I had freshly caught fish and chips for lunch and then we sat on the beach and ate ice cream. It was great. The weather has stayed beautiful, I'm getting very freckly.
After a walk up a little hill nearby to over look the bay I headed back into the city. The walk to the bay was along the waters edge and was very nice but took about an hour and a half.
I'm back at the hostel now, I have to pack to leave tomorrow and I don't want to. I intensely dislike packing. I'm kind of hoping that if I ignore it then my stuff will just pack itself. I think I'll go for dinner and then contemplate packing then.
xx
Thursday, 8 April 2010
I ate one of the biggest pieces of chocolate cake I've ever seen
I was up bright and early again to another beautiful sunny day. I ate breakfast in one of the lovely parks and rang home (Dad's birthday). It's kind of weird in the mornings here when I'm speaking to people at home as it is still yesterday there. Odd.
I headed up to the Auckland museum for a few hours looking round. It had a big exhibit on how civilisation developed in the Pacific and another large Maori exhibit. They were really interesting and there was so many really stunning carvings. There was a massive kayak (waka) actually inside the museum that was one of the largest built, it can fit 100 men into it. There were also natural history exhibits with dinosaur skeletons and information about volcanoes. One of my favourite things in the museum is the skeletons and recreations of the giant Moa birds. They are like really big emu's and were hunted to extinction a long time ago. I wish there were still some alive here.
On the top floor of the museum was a few rooms dedicated to the wars New Zealand have been involved in since the 1800s. The civil wars between the European settlers and the Maori, the Boer war, the first World War, the second World War and the South East Asian conflicts. It was interesting to see these wars depicted from a New Zealand perspective. Half way around the world from us.
Once I was done in the museum I headed back into the city centre to meet a friend from the Kiwi bus who had just arrived back in Auckland. We went for coffee and chocolate cake. I'd been eyeing up the cake for the past few days and decided that it was neccessary for it to be in my life. It was well worth it. After that I went for a long walk to one of the nice suburbs just out of the centre of Auckland. It had lots of lovely looking art and trinket shops as well as actual art galleries. There were more cafes and I just about managed to persuade myself I did not need another chocolate overload in the wonderful chocolate shop and cafe. It took a surprising amount of restraint. I walked a big loop around the edge of the city centre and ended up back on the main strip.
I suppose I should have something healthy for dinner tonight. xx
I headed up to the Auckland museum for a few hours looking round. It had a big exhibit on how civilisation developed in the Pacific and another large Maori exhibit. They were really interesting and there was so many really stunning carvings. There was a massive kayak (waka) actually inside the museum that was one of the largest built, it can fit 100 men into it. There were also natural history exhibits with dinosaur skeletons and information about volcanoes. One of my favourite things in the museum is the skeletons and recreations of the giant Moa birds. They are like really big emu's and were hunted to extinction a long time ago. I wish there were still some alive here.
On the top floor of the museum was a few rooms dedicated to the wars New Zealand have been involved in since the 1800s. The civil wars between the European settlers and the Maori, the Boer war, the first World War, the second World War and the South East Asian conflicts. It was interesting to see these wars depicted from a New Zealand perspective. Half way around the world from us.
Once I was done in the museum I headed back into the city centre to meet a friend from the Kiwi bus who had just arrived back in Auckland. We went for coffee and chocolate cake. I'd been eyeing up the cake for the past few days and decided that it was neccessary for it to be in my life. It was well worth it. After that I went for a long walk to one of the nice suburbs just out of the centre of Auckland. It had lots of lovely looking art and trinket shops as well as actual art galleries. There were more cafes and I just about managed to persuade myself I did not need another chocolate overload in the wonderful chocolate shop and cafe. It took a surprising amount of restraint. I walked a big loop around the edge of the city centre and ended up back on the main strip.
I suppose I should have something healthy for dinner tonight. xx
Wednesday, 7 April 2010
I loved the weather
The weather today has been perfect. Clear blue skies, sunny and hot. I sat and had my breakfast by the harbour sitting on a bench in the sun. Perfect start to the day.
I did all my souvenir and present shopping this morning. Not sure if I have enough room in my bag for presents. It will just have to be squashed down. After grabbing an interesting sounding sandwich, chicken, peach (which was actually apricot) and avocado, I headed to a massive park to chill out for the afternoon. I had to walk through the university, which looks very nice. It has some super modern glass buildings and lots of little houses for it's offices. The park was busy because it is the easter holidays so there are kids everywhere, but I found a nice sunny hill to sit on. I simply chilled out and read my book for a few hours and ate my sandwich, which turned out to be very nice. I've noticed that in New Zealand they tend to put whatever they can get their hands on into their sandwiches. Oddly they generally seem to be very nice.
My flip flops have given me blisters so I limped back down into town, stopping in a really nice little boutiquey shopping square for a smoothie. Once back at the hostel I came across a few people from the Kiwi bus I was on. It's really cool to randomly come across people you know when you don't expect it. They all have to be up super early tomorrow so we're just going to chill out tonight. I don't have to be up early, but I know I'll wake up early anyway, weeks of getting up between 6.30 and 8am have meant that I now wake up before 9am every day. This will be remedied when I get home.
xx
I did all my souvenir and present shopping this morning. Not sure if I have enough room in my bag for presents. It will just have to be squashed down. After grabbing an interesting sounding sandwich, chicken, peach (which was actually apricot) and avocado, I headed to a massive park to chill out for the afternoon. I had to walk through the university, which looks very nice. It has some super modern glass buildings and lots of little houses for it's offices. The park was busy because it is the easter holidays so there are kids everywhere, but I found a nice sunny hill to sit on. I simply chilled out and read my book for a few hours and ate my sandwich, which turned out to be very nice. I've noticed that in New Zealand they tend to put whatever they can get their hands on into their sandwiches. Oddly they generally seem to be very nice.
My flip flops have given me blisters so I limped back down into town, stopping in a really nice little boutiquey shopping square for a smoothie. Once back at the hostel I came across a few people from the Kiwi bus I was on. It's really cool to randomly come across people you know when you don't expect it. They all have to be up super early tomorrow so we're just going to chill out tonight. I don't have to be up early, but I know I'll wake up early anyway, weeks of getting up between 6.30 and 8am have meant that I now wake up before 9am every day. This will be remedied when I get home.
xx
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
I got on the most security lax plane, ever
Apparently there isn't much security on domestic New Zealand flights. They don't need your passport and they don't check your ID. You can take on food and bottles of water. I suppose there's not really that much here to interest terrorists.
The flight from Christchurch to New Zealand took about an hour and ten minutes so it felt like we were barely in the air. I have adopted a girl (Lisa) who was on my shuttle bus to the airport from the hostel and sat next to me on the plane. We are staying in the same hostel in Auckland. Once we were checked in we went for some lunch and a wander round the city. I have already done all that but Lisa hadn't so I thought I would tag along, I have loads of time over the next few days to do things that I've missed out on. I spent the afternoon very irritatingly having to do some washing even though I leave in 3 days. I had run out of clean pants and apparently there are no shops that sell cheap pants. Where do Kiwi's buy underwear?? So although washing is expensive and annoying, it's cheaper than buying new pants. Tonight Lisa and I are going for dinner in the food court underneath the hostel. Yay Thai food :)
So now I'm back in Auckland. It's warmer here than in the South which is really nice. I have three full days here. I'm going to go shopping, to the aquarium and to the museum.
xx
The flight from Christchurch to New Zealand took about an hour and ten minutes so it felt like we were barely in the air. I have adopted a girl (Lisa) who was on my shuttle bus to the airport from the hostel and sat next to me on the plane. We are staying in the same hostel in Auckland. Once we were checked in we went for some lunch and a wander round the city. I have already done all that but Lisa hadn't so I thought I would tag along, I have loads of time over the next few days to do things that I've missed out on. I spent the afternoon very irritatingly having to do some washing even though I leave in 3 days. I had run out of clean pants and apparently there are no shops that sell cheap pants. Where do Kiwi's buy underwear?? So although washing is expensive and annoying, it's cheaper than buying new pants. Tonight Lisa and I are going for dinner in the food court underneath the hostel. Yay Thai food :)
So now I'm back in Auckland. It's warmer here than in the South which is really nice. I have three full days here. I'm going to go shopping, to the aquarium and to the museum.
xx
Monday, 5 April 2010
I explored Christchurch
A lot of people I've spoken to about this city have said that it's boring and there is nothing to do. Maybe I'm just easily amused, but I quite like it here. Despite the weather being drab, deary and a little bit wet this morning, I headed out to explore. After breakfast in a nice little cafe in the tram station I went to take shelter from the weather in the Art Gallery. It was free and there were several exhibitions on. I pretended to be arty and took my time wandering round considering paintings and photographs. I think I prefer photography.
After that I continued to be a bit cultural and as the weather had cleared up a bit went for a long walk round the botanical gardens. It was lovely and had tranquil little ponds and a rose garden. After this I continued walking and went round the park. It's called Hagley Park and is the thrid largest urban park in the world. It is pretty big, there are several football and rugby pitches, a 12 hole small golf course and a trim trail for the runners round the edge. As usual, I wished I was running.
Once done with the park I headed back into the city. The architecture of some of the buildings is so lovely. It reminds me a little of Stratford and of films I've seen set in Oxford (I've never actually been there). Apparently people say that Christchurch is very much like England (the weather certainly made it seem like that this morning). I can see what they mean with the buildings and the large catherdal in the centre. After a quick lunch, I've discovered the wonder of freshly baked steak and cheese pies, I continued around the city centre. I brought myself a very pretty (and a little expensive) bracelet. It's a New Zealand version of the Pandora bracelets and you buy little New Zealand style charms to go on it. I love it.
When I arrived back at the hostel the Kiwi bus from Queenstown had arrived and there were a couple of people I knew. It's been very weird being without my Kiwi bus adoptive family so it will be nice to go out with them tonight.
xx
After that I continued to be a bit cultural and as the weather had cleared up a bit went for a long walk round the botanical gardens. It was lovely and had tranquil little ponds and a rose garden. After this I continued walking and went round the park. It's called Hagley Park and is the thrid largest urban park in the world. It is pretty big, there are several football and rugby pitches, a 12 hole small golf course and a trim trail for the runners round the edge. As usual, I wished I was running.
Once done with the park I headed back into the city. The architecture of some of the buildings is so lovely. It reminds me a little of Stratford and of films I've seen set in Oxford (I've never actually been there). Apparently people say that Christchurch is very much like England (the weather certainly made it seem like that this morning). I can see what they mean with the buildings and the large catherdal in the centre. After a quick lunch, I've discovered the wonder of freshly baked steak and cheese pies, I continued around the city centre. I brought myself a very pretty (and a little expensive) bracelet. It's a New Zealand version of the Pandora bracelets and you buy little New Zealand style charms to go on it. I love it.
When I arrived back at the hostel the Kiwi bus from Queenstown had arrived and there were a couple of people I knew. It's been very weird being without my Kiwi bus adoptive family so it will be nice to go out with them tonight.
xx
I went to Rohan
Today I went on a geeky Lord of the Rings tour to the filming locations of several of the scenes from Rohan and the city of Edoras. The guide actually working on the Lord of the Rings films as a sound mixer and was nominated for 3 oscars for the Lord of the Rings films and won one for the third film! He also worked on the King Kong movie and won an oscar for that!
We drove out to the sites in a big six wheeled Toyota Land Crusier. It took about 2.5 hours to get there as we had to drive back to the mountains. The scenery in the mountains was stunning. There were huge mountains and in the distance was some snow covered peaks. To get to the actual mountain, Mt. Summer, where the set for Edoras was built we had to drive off road on bumpy tracks and ford a few rivers. Getting there was pretty exciting. We walked to the top of the mountain, (it wasn't very big, I'm not sure why it's called a mountain, it just looks like a big hill to me) and got to play with some replica swords and axes that Hammond (the guide) had in the back of the car. It was great having him as a guide as he had seen where all the sets actually were and had actually met all the actors. The swords and the axe were pretty heavy. The sword Aragon uses is massive. From the hill you can also see another filming location of the entrance to the Helms Deep valley. It's pretty cool being able to see places that you recognise from the films. After that we had lunch in a little station they use out there. It's pretty isolated, the only things out there are two farming stations. We got really good sandwiches, chocolate cake and champagne :) happy days.
I fell asleep on the way back. When we stopped for a quick toilet break Hammond realised that we had a flat tyre so all the guys on the trip had to change it. I'm not having much luck this week with vehicles breaking down. We arrived back into Christchurch about 6pm. I think I'm going to meet some of the guys from the Kiwi bus who arrived today for a drink and go for some food. Tomorrow I'm going to explore the city. Apparently there's not much here, but it looks like there are lots of shops, a big park and a nice looking art gallery so I'm sure there will be plenty to entertain me for one day.
xx
We drove out to the sites in a big six wheeled Toyota Land Crusier. It took about 2.5 hours to get there as we had to drive back to the mountains. The scenery in the mountains was stunning. There were huge mountains and in the distance was some snow covered peaks. To get to the actual mountain, Mt. Summer, where the set for Edoras was built we had to drive off road on bumpy tracks and ford a few rivers. Getting there was pretty exciting. We walked to the top of the mountain, (it wasn't very big, I'm not sure why it's called a mountain, it just looks like a big hill to me) and got to play with some replica swords and axes that Hammond (the guide) had in the back of the car. It was great having him as a guide as he had seen where all the sets actually were and had actually met all the actors. The swords and the axe were pretty heavy. The sword Aragon uses is massive. From the hill you can also see another filming location of the entrance to the Helms Deep valley. It's pretty cool being able to see places that you recognise from the films. After that we had lunch in a little station they use out there. It's pretty isolated, the only things out there are two farming stations. We got really good sandwiches, chocolate cake and champagne :) happy days.
I fell asleep on the way back. When we stopped for a quick toilet break Hammond realised that we had a flat tyre so all the guys on the trip had to change it. I'm not having much luck this week with vehicles breaking down. We arrived back into Christchurch about 6pm. I think I'm going to meet some of the guys from the Kiwi bus who arrived today for a drink and go for some food. Tomorrow I'm going to explore the city. Apparently there's not much here, but it looks like there are lots of shops, a big park and a nice looking art gallery so I'm sure there will be plenty to entertain me for one day.
xx
Saturday, 3 April 2010
I went to a Sound which is actually a Fiord
Haven't updated in a few days becasue I've been pretty busy. On friday I went to Milford Sound. This is a really, really long day trip. It takes about 4.5 hours to drive to Milford. On the way I found out that it's actually a Fiord, rather than a Sound. Something to do with the way it was formed from the glaciers. It looks like a river estuary surrounded by massive mountains with a lot of waterfalls.
The drive there was almost as stunning as the ferry ride around the sound. We had to travel up over mountains then down into deep valleys. There was only one road and it was just trees and rocks and mountains everywhere else. It was very wet and raining most of the time so sometimes the views were not especially fantastic, but apparently wet weather makes the trip better because it makes the waterfalls bigger. They were pretty impressive. We stopped for a photo op just before a massive tunnel and the waterfalls were huge. They weren't huge gushing waterfalls, but were several rivers of water pouring down towering cliffs. There was even a mini glacier at the bottom. The tunnel that we had to drive through was kind of weird. It was 1.2km long and the signals at either end only changed once every 15 minutes. The tunnel was literally a big hole in the rock that was barely tall enough for the coach. The valley on the other side looked like something from a movie set. It was all shrouded in fog and cloud with really dense jungle everywhere. There were more waterfalls pouring off the mountains and I kind of expected to see some dinosaurs wandering round.
The trip on the ferry was lovely. They provided a buffet and we travelled up and down the sound in about 2 hours. There were more, bigger, waterfalls, seals and seriously huge mountains on either side. When we got out a bit closer to the open ocean the ferry was swaying around quite a lot and I demonstrated my inability as a seaman once again by having no balance and nearly falling over a lot. On the way back to the ferry port we stopped at an underwater observatory. This was not exactly life shatteringly brilliant. You went down several flights of stairs and could look out into the depths of the Sound. There were some fish and some corals. It was pretty.
The journey back to Queenstown was long. It was made longer by the fact that about an hour in something in the engine 'blew' and we had to pull over and the driver told us to get our stuff together because we may have had to get off the bus very quickly. This was slightly more worrying than normal as he had told us a story earlier about a bus which had started smoking and then just as the driver had got everyone off it burst into flames and rolled down a hill... Thankfully this didn't happen and he managed to patch it up with ducktape and then get it fixed in the next town. We arrived back in Queenstown about 9pm. That night was a quiet one, we just sat around chatting in the room and had an early night.
I had a lie in yesterday! Didn't get up until 10.30. I then went for museli and a hot chocolate in my favourite chocolate/coffee shop. I also had time for a quick walk round a really lovely little market in the square by the lake before heading to hostel for my pick up for my wine tour.
The wine tour was really good. We got taken to 4 wineries. The first one was the Gibbston Valley winery. We tried 3 wines here and also had lunch and a couple of free glasses of wine. I was going to save money and not have lunch but I'm so glad I did because the selection platter thing I had was amazing. Fresh tomato soup, fresh bread, local cheese, fresh houmous and grapes. Amazing. There was also a little cheese factory next door as well that we went into to try some cheese. It was really, really good. The second winery was the Waitiri Creek winery. The tasting took place in their little restaurant in a small church that they had resuced from being demolished and transported to the valley. Kind of random, but quite pretty. We tried 5 wines here. The third winery was the Peregrine winery. This was in a very bizarre shaped building that is very hard to describe. It was a very new age art style with a sticking up sloping roof. It looked like it should be an art gallery. We tried another 5 wines here. The final winery was the Amisfield winery. There was a really posh restaurant there that I would have loved to go to. You have to make reservations sereval days in advance but the food wasn't actually that expensive. We had our final 4 wine here. I could still tell the difference. Just. Over the day we tried 4 main types of wine. The Pinot Noir, which is the main wine in the region and I wasn't a big fan of, the Pinot Gris, which was pretty good, some Roses which are made from the Pinot Noir grape and are also pretty good and some dry Rieslings, which were my favourite, especially the last one from the Amisfield winery. I wasn't sobre when I got back to hostel, but not completely smashed.
Everyone ate dinner in the hostel bar which was nice as it was the last night together for several of us. After that we got ready for a night out. It was a UV party in the bar downstairs. Some of the girls had some paints left from the full moon party so there was a lot of decorating going on. It was an ok night, not amazing, for several reasons. Firstly, New Zealand has stupid laws over easter where most bars aren't allowed to be open in Easter Sunday so they close at 12am. For the hostel this meant that people staying could drink at the bar but people who weren't had to leave. So at 11.30pm they kicked us all out and an then let us back in at 12. It was very annoying. Also, the bar decided to show the Man U v. Chelsea game on all of the tv's so every was just sitting round watching that. So, an alright night, but not one of the best. I guess it's probably a good thing as I had to get up at 7.30 this morning to get my bus.
The bus ride from Queenstown to Christchurch takes 8 hours. It was a long day travelling. We got here just after 4pm and checked into my hostel. It's strange not being with a massive group of friends. We had been together for nearly 3 weeks. It's hard to get the measure of Christchurch as a city because it's Easter Sunday and everything is shut. I'm assuming that everything will be tomorrow as well because it's Easter Monday so I've booked onto a Lord of the Rings tour :)
Time to go and find some dinner
xx
The drive there was almost as stunning as the ferry ride around the sound. We had to travel up over mountains then down into deep valleys. There was only one road and it was just trees and rocks and mountains everywhere else. It was very wet and raining most of the time so sometimes the views were not especially fantastic, but apparently wet weather makes the trip better because it makes the waterfalls bigger. They were pretty impressive. We stopped for a photo op just before a massive tunnel and the waterfalls were huge. They weren't huge gushing waterfalls, but were several rivers of water pouring down towering cliffs. There was even a mini glacier at the bottom. The tunnel that we had to drive through was kind of weird. It was 1.2km long and the signals at either end only changed once every 15 minutes. The tunnel was literally a big hole in the rock that was barely tall enough for the coach. The valley on the other side looked like something from a movie set. It was all shrouded in fog and cloud with really dense jungle everywhere. There were more waterfalls pouring off the mountains and I kind of expected to see some dinosaurs wandering round.
The trip on the ferry was lovely. They provided a buffet and we travelled up and down the sound in about 2 hours. There were more, bigger, waterfalls, seals and seriously huge mountains on either side. When we got out a bit closer to the open ocean the ferry was swaying around quite a lot and I demonstrated my inability as a seaman once again by having no balance and nearly falling over a lot. On the way back to the ferry port we stopped at an underwater observatory. This was not exactly life shatteringly brilliant. You went down several flights of stairs and could look out into the depths of the Sound. There were some fish and some corals. It was pretty.
The journey back to Queenstown was long. It was made longer by the fact that about an hour in something in the engine 'blew' and we had to pull over and the driver told us to get our stuff together because we may have had to get off the bus very quickly. This was slightly more worrying than normal as he had told us a story earlier about a bus which had started smoking and then just as the driver had got everyone off it burst into flames and rolled down a hill... Thankfully this didn't happen and he managed to patch it up with ducktape and then get it fixed in the next town. We arrived back in Queenstown about 9pm. That night was a quiet one, we just sat around chatting in the room and had an early night.
I had a lie in yesterday! Didn't get up until 10.30. I then went for museli and a hot chocolate in my favourite chocolate/coffee shop. I also had time for a quick walk round a really lovely little market in the square by the lake before heading to hostel for my pick up for my wine tour.
The wine tour was really good. We got taken to 4 wineries. The first one was the Gibbston Valley winery. We tried 3 wines here and also had lunch and a couple of free glasses of wine. I was going to save money and not have lunch but I'm so glad I did because the selection platter thing I had was amazing. Fresh tomato soup, fresh bread, local cheese, fresh houmous and grapes. Amazing. There was also a little cheese factory next door as well that we went into to try some cheese. It was really, really good. The second winery was the Waitiri Creek winery. The tasting took place in their little restaurant in a small church that they had resuced from being demolished and transported to the valley. Kind of random, but quite pretty. We tried 5 wines here. The third winery was the Peregrine winery. This was in a very bizarre shaped building that is very hard to describe. It was a very new age art style with a sticking up sloping roof. It looked like it should be an art gallery. We tried another 5 wines here. The final winery was the Amisfield winery. There was a really posh restaurant there that I would have loved to go to. You have to make reservations sereval days in advance but the food wasn't actually that expensive. We had our final 4 wine here. I could still tell the difference. Just. Over the day we tried 4 main types of wine. The Pinot Noir, which is the main wine in the region and I wasn't a big fan of, the Pinot Gris, which was pretty good, some Roses which are made from the Pinot Noir grape and are also pretty good and some dry Rieslings, which were my favourite, especially the last one from the Amisfield winery. I wasn't sobre when I got back to hostel, but not completely smashed.
Everyone ate dinner in the hostel bar which was nice as it was the last night together for several of us. After that we got ready for a night out. It was a UV party in the bar downstairs. Some of the girls had some paints left from the full moon party so there was a lot of decorating going on. It was an ok night, not amazing, for several reasons. Firstly, New Zealand has stupid laws over easter where most bars aren't allowed to be open in Easter Sunday so they close at 12am. For the hostel this meant that people staying could drink at the bar but people who weren't had to leave. So at 11.30pm they kicked us all out and an then let us back in at 12. It was very annoying. Also, the bar decided to show the Man U v. Chelsea game on all of the tv's so every was just sitting round watching that. So, an alright night, but not one of the best. I guess it's probably a good thing as I had to get up at 7.30 this morning to get my bus.
The bus ride from Queenstown to Christchurch takes 8 hours. It was a long day travelling. We got here just after 4pm and checked into my hostel. It's strange not being with a massive group of friends. We had been together for nearly 3 weeks. It's hard to get the measure of Christchurch as a city because it's Easter Sunday and everything is shut. I'm assuming that everything will be tomorrow as well because it's Easter Monday so I've booked onto a Lord of the Rings tour :)
Time to go and find some dinner
xx
Thursday, 1 April 2010
I had a Fergburger and drank cocktails from teapots
Compulsory things you have to do in Queenstown that don't involve extreme sports:
1. Drink cocktails at World bar from teapots
2. Have at least one Fergburger
In Thailand they have buckets. In New Zealand they have teapots. Last night was a big night out. We all got very drunk. We started out at the hostel bar and then moved on to the World bar where the main drinks people have are various varieties of cocktails served in teapots. I just about managed to climb into my bunk at about 4am this morning.
Despite my late/early night I was up at 10.30. Thankfully I only had a mild hangover and this was soon cured by a quick wander round town, a spinach and feta roll and then a trek up to one of the big hills over looking the town. At times the walk seemed like I'd stepped into a Brother's Grimm fairy tale. The pine woods were so thick that it was dark and they were creaking and groaning. I was almost expecting a big bad wolf to jump out and eat me. A secondary reason for my walk was that I have found my perfect cafe. It is a cafe/chocolate shop. They make all of their own hot chocolate and chocolates. After my walk which took a couple of hours I had a nice big hot chocolate with ginger in and a caramel chocolate coated in dark chocolate. It was amazing.
When I got back to the hostel I ended up going straight out again. I went luging again with the guys. It was ace, exactly like mario kart again. For dinner I had a Fergburger. This is an institution in Queenstown and has a well deserved reputation. It was the nicest burger I have ever had. New Zealand beef with melted blue cheese. They have a massive menu and I want to try them all! I'd better go for more long walks.
I think tonight is going to be a fairly quiet one. I'm pretty knackered and I think most other people are as well. I have to be up early tomorrow to go on a trip to Milford Sound as well so I could do with an early (ish) night.
xx
1. Drink cocktails at World bar from teapots
2. Have at least one Fergburger
In Thailand they have buckets. In New Zealand they have teapots. Last night was a big night out. We all got very drunk. We started out at the hostel bar and then moved on to the World bar where the main drinks people have are various varieties of cocktails served in teapots. I just about managed to climb into my bunk at about 4am this morning.
Despite my late/early night I was up at 10.30. Thankfully I only had a mild hangover and this was soon cured by a quick wander round town, a spinach and feta roll and then a trek up to one of the big hills over looking the town. At times the walk seemed like I'd stepped into a Brother's Grimm fairy tale. The pine woods were so thick that it was dark and they were creaking and groaning. I was almost expecting a big bad wolf to jump out and eat me. A secondary reason for my walk was that I have found my perfect cafe. It is a cafe/chocolate shop. They make all of their own hot chocolate and chocolates. After my walk which took a couple of hours I had a nice big hot chocolate with ginger in and a caramel chocolate coated in dark chocolate. It was amazing.
When I got back to the hostel I ended up going straight out again. I went luging again with the guys. It was ace, exactly like mario kart again. For dinner I had a Fergburger. This is an institution in Queenstown and has a well deserved reputation. It was the nicest burger I have ever had. New Zealand beef with melted blue cheese. They have a massive menu and I want to try them all! I'd better go for more long walks.
I think tonight is going to be a fairly quiet one. I'm pretty knackered and I think most other people are as well. I have to be up early tomorrow to go on a trip to Milford Sound as well so I could do with an early (ish) night.
xx
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
I went to a bar dressed in a sheet
Last night we had a toga party. Toga's might seem like very simple things to put on, but in actual fact they are very difficult. Thankfully one of the girls, Vicky, had a hidden talent of dressing people in sheets and she ended up dressing everyone whilst looking a little bit like a Greek goddess herself. It was a very funny, very bizarre night. Being in a bar, dressed in a sheet, and also playing twister. I was still detoxing after the poo pub and preparing myself for tonight so I didn't drink anything.
This morning we stopped at a bizarre place called Puzzling World. It has a building full of optical illusions (I got really freaked out by a room where there were lots of portraits that looked like they were followng you as you moved) and big maze. Apparently it was the first commercial maze in the world. The novelty of being lost in a maze at 10am wore off pretty quickly.
We have arrived in Queenstown. It is a party town. It's going to be awesome. The town itself seems very nice. It's very much in the style of a ski resort (it is a ski resort in the winter) and has lots of shops and bars and restaurants. There is also a fudge shop! Which is amazing, I've already brought myself a block of triple chocolate fudge. It's ok though because me and one of the guys went for a walk which we thought wouldn't be too hard but ended up being up a very twisty, steep path to the top of a mountain and took about an hour! There was really nice views of the lake by the town though, so it was worth it.
Tonight there is a big night planned for the whole bus. It will be the first night out I've had somewhere where there will be more people than the people on the kiwi bus! Hopefully should be a good night :)
xx
This morning we stopped at a bizarre place called Puzzling World. It has a building full of optical illusions (I got really freaked out by a room where there were lots of portraits that looked like they were followng you as you moved) and big maze. Apparently it was the first commercial maze in the world. The novelty of being lost in a maze at 10am wore off pretty quickly.
We have arrived in Queenstown. It is a party town. It's going to be awesome. The town itself seems very nice. It's very much in the style of a ski resort (it is a ski resort in the winter) and has lots of shops and bars and restaurants. There is also a fudge shop! Which is amazing, I've already brought myself a block of triple chocolate fudge. It's ok though because me and one of the guys went for a walk which we thought wouldn't be too hard but ended up being up a very twisty, steep path to the top of a mountain and took about an hour! There was really nice views of the lake by the town though, so it was worth it.
Tonight there is a big night planned for the whole bus. It will be the first night out I've had somewhere where there will be more people than the people on the kiwi bus! Hopefully should be a good night :)
xx
Monday, 29 March 2010
I went walking on a glacier
Yesterday was a very active day. Nearly everyone on the kiwi bus was doing a full day trek on the Franz Joseph glacier, myself included. We went to get kitted up about 9am. They gave us big black walking boots, waterproof trousers, raincoats, hats and mittens and crampons (metal spikes to grip on the ice).
The glacier was a short drive and walk away. Being on the ice was a very strange experience. Every part of my body was expecting me to slip when I put my feet down but the crampons give you some serious grip. It still took an hour or so of walking and climbing to get used to them though. We had a full day walking and clambering around the glacier. At one point we went a little way down an ice cave. It was like the walls were glass. The ice in most places was blue. Apparently it's something to do with light relecting off the ice. It looks incredible. The ice was dirtier than I thought though. There was quite a lot of dirt that had fallen off the mountains around and been carried down the glacier as it moves. I think the film Ice Age has warped my opinion of what glaciers look like! Even though some of the glacier actually looked like that. One of the slightly unexpected activities of the day was sliding and clambering through crevasses. The easiest way to get through these really tiny paces (sometimes less than half a foot wide!) was to slide down them and use your elbows and forearms to wedge yourself along. Sometimes to had to climb up big steps and it was very easy to fall over or get stuck. It sounds horrible but was actually very fun. The guides were all very overly excited as we got to go along a new pathway that they had just finished cutting in the ice. Because it was new and I was in the first group this meant there was a lot of waiting around whilst they made sure that the steps that had been cut were safe and they had to put in ropes by some walls so we could climb up. I actually had to climb up sheer walls of ice at a few points. Sometimes I had to have one foot on either wall and basically walk up!
Most of the time it wasn't as cold as I expected. When we were moving it was fine. But when we were stuck in the crevasses waiting for the guide to clear the path and there was water pouring down the walls on to my head it was very, very cold. I warmed up as soon as we started moving though. Thankfully it didn't rain whilst we were on the glacier but it started as we were walking back, it would have been so miserable if it had rained when we were cold.
When we got back we all went to some Hot Pools and relaxed in pools of about 36, 38 and 40 degrees. It was so so nice. Afterwards a load of us went out for a curry. This was also very, very nice. Not many people managed to stay up to go to the bar. I went for a quick chat and to watch one of the guys from the bus win a rafting trip by playing a variation of rock, paper, scissors called Ninja, cowboy, bear. The players had to do whole actions for each thing and it was quite funny.
This morning we were up really early, 6.40am! We all stumbled to the bus in the rain and mostly fell asleep. Because the weather was so bad today we didn't really stop to see anything. We arrived into Lake Wanaka at about 2.30. It's a nice little town which seems busier than most of the other places we have been. It has loads of shops full of skate, ski and snowboarding clothes and equipment as this is a ski resort in the winter ski season. It seems quite nice, I wish I had more time to spend here and do some walking and explore round the lake.
Tomorrow we leave for Queenstown. I'm still debating whether I should do a canyon swing.
xx
The glacier was a short drive and walk away. Being on the ice was a very strange experience. Every part of my body was expecting me to slip when I put my feet down but the crampons give you some serious grip. It still took an hour or so of walking and climbing to get used to them though. We had a full day walking and clambering around the glacier. At one point we went a little way down an ice cave. It was like the walls were glass. The ice in most places was blue. Apparently it's something to do with light relecting off the ice. It looks incredible. The ice was dirtier than I thought though. There was quite a lot of dirt that had fallen off the mountains around and been carried down the glacier as it moves. I think the film Ice Age has warped my opinion of what glaciers look like! Even though some of the glacier actually looked like that. One of the slightly unexpected activities of the day was sliding and clambering through crevasses. The easiest way to get through these really tiny paces (sometimes less than half a foot wide!) was to slide down them and use your elbows and forearms to wedge yourself along. Sometimes to had to climb up big steps and it was very easy to fall over or get stuck. It sounds horrible but was actually very fun. The guides were all very overly excited as we got to go along a new pathway that they had just finished cutting in the ice. Because it was new and I was in the first group this meant there was a lot of waiting around whilst they made sure that the steps that had been cut were safe and they had to put in ropes by some walls so we could climb up. I actually had to climb up sheer walls of ice at a few points. Sometimes I had to have one foot on either wall and basically walk up!
Most of the time it wasn't as cold as I expected. When we were moving it was fine. But when we were stuck in the crevasses waiting for the guide to clear the path and there was water pouring down the walls on to my head it was very, very cold. I warmed up as soon as we started moving though. Thankfully it didn't rain whilst we were on the glacier but it started as we were walking back, it would have been so miserable if it had rained when we were cold.
When we got back we all went to some Hot Pools and relaxed in pools of about 36, 38 and 40 degrees. It was so so nice. Afterwards a load of us went out for a curry. This was also very, very nice. Not many people managed to stay up to go to the bar. I went for a quick chat and to watch one of the guys from the bus win a rafting trip by playing a variation of rock, paper, scissors called Ninja, cowboy, bear. The players had to do whole actions for each thing and it was quite funny.
This morning we were up really early, 6.40am! We all stumbled to the bus in the rain and mostly fell asleep. Because the weather was so bad today we didn't really stop to see anything. We arrived into Lake Wanaka at about 2.30. It's a nice little town which seems busier than most of the other places we have been. It has loads of shops full of skate, ski and snowboarding clothes and equipment as this is a ski resort in the winter ski season. It seems quite nice, I wish I had more time to spend here and do some walking and explore round the lake.
Tomorrow we leave for Queenstown. I'm still debating whether I should do a canyon swing.
xx
Sunday, 28 March 2010
I got embarrassingly drunk, lost a flip flop, and jumped out of a plane
The internet access in for the past few days has been a bit patchy. There hasn't been many computers and it's been expensive. We have arrived at Franz Joseph today and this hostel is the first place to have lots of computers with internet since Wellington.
So, to catch up on the last few days.
On the full day I had in Wellington I went to the museum for a few hours. It was really interesting. They had a massive preserved giant squid and a huge whale skeleton. There was also stuff on earthquakes and volcanoes and large exhibits about Maori history. After I'd looked around everywhere I went for a wander around the city and to look at the shops. I brought a bag :) I ended up having lunch in a really quirky little cafe. It was really small and the walls had been painted very randomly. And there was a pinball machine. Spinach and feta muffins are my new favourite thing. It absolutely threw it down with rain so I had to shelter there for a while. Once to the rain eased off I headed back to the hostel. The weather cleared up quite nicely so I managed to make it up the mountain for a look over the city. It was a nice walk, but very very steep. The roads leading up to the path wouldn't have looked out of place in San Fransico. During the walk I got to go through a lord of the rings film site. It's the bit from the first film where the hobbits are hiding from the black riders and Frodo says 'get off the road'. It wasn't that exciting but the woods were a bit eerie. They have twisty pine trees everywhere and the pine cones looked like odd growths on the branches.
That evening we made a massive meal for everyone in the group who hadn't left. Cooking spaghetti bolognaise for 17 people is quite an undertaking! It was really nice to have a meal with everyone. About 11 of us went to the cinema after dinner to see Alice in Wonderland.
We left Wellington bright and early the next day to get the ferry to the South Island. Pretty much everyone just slept on the ferry. We joined a new bus when we landed with a new driver. Although we had lost quite a few of our little group in Wellington there was still quite a lot of us. On the way to Nelson we stopped off at river where some people swam and there was a little walk up to a suspended bridge. Once we arrived in Nelson I went for a walk with a couple of people to what is called the centre of New Zealand. It's at the top of a really big hill, of course. Apparently it's not actually the centre of New Zealand but I guess it's close enough, and the views over the bay were lovely.
That evening was quite chilled out. A lot of us ate at at the pub attached to the hostel and then we had a few drinks and got to know some of the new guys from the bus. There are two guys who went to Leeds Uni and graduated last year as well! I don't think we have any mutual friends though.
The next day we were up nice and early again and on the road to Westport. On the way there we stopped at a massive lake and most of us jumped in off the jetty. It was very, very cold and I only did it once. In Westport I went for a walk round the town, this consisted of one main street, and then to the beach and along the beach for a while. Westport is a very sleepy town. We went out for a few drinks at one of the local bars but there wasn't much happening so we had a fairly early night.
Yesterday we travelled to Lake Mahinapua and to whats called the poo pub. On the way we stopped for a quick walk to see a seal colony. The weather was horrible in the monrning, it was drizzling and foggy. The walk would have been fantastic in the sun but the rocks and beaches were still pretty amazing in the rain. We also stopped at whats called the pancake rocks. This is because the way they have eroded looks like there are lots of flat rocks piled up on each other. We also had a quick stop in a town called Greymouth to buy fancy dress outfits for the evening.
Ok, the poo pub. This was a very bizarre place. Everyday a Kiwi bus goes there for a fancy dress party. It is owned and run by an 85 year old man called Les and everyone gets very, very drunk. Our fancy dress theme involved picking a letter out of a hat and going as something beinging with that letter. I got D, so I went as a Dalmation. I brough a white top and some long white socks and drew spots on with a marker pen. I also drew black spots all over me with an eyeliner pencil. We had a massive bbq for dinner, with big steaks, potaotes, pasta salad, coleslaw, venison stew and veg. It was awesome. It was good that there was so much food because I drank a lot of wine. A lot. I was very, very drunk. It was ok though because everyone was. It was hilarious. Apparently I struggled quite a lot getting into my bunk. I also lost one of my flip flops, which is very annoying as I now have to buy another pair when I get to Queenstown.
This morning pretty much everyone felt very rough. I felt a bit more human after we stopped at this totally random place called the Bushman's cafe and had a couple of little bacon, mushroom and cheese pies. It had a little museum thing which had the history of deer hunting in New Zealand and also had live possums. Very weird.
Anyway. Toady we arrived in Franz Jospeh. Home of the Franz Jospeh glacier. I'm going hiking on the glacier tomorrow. But today I did a sky dive! It was fantastically terrifying! The weather was fantastic, there wasn't much cloud and you could see for miles. I did it over the fox glacier which is about 20 minutes drive from here. I wasn't scared until it was my turn to get out of the plane. It was a tiny little plane which only two of us could go up in at a time so there was 5 of us crammed into the tiny cockpit (me, Libby, the two guys we were firmly strapped to and the pilot). It was so scary to be hanging out of the plane at 12,000 feet and the first few seconds of the free fall were pretty terrifying. But it was amazing, like the best roller coaster in the world. I spent the whole time either screaming, laughing or giggling. I loved it!!
This evening is going to be pretty chilled out for me. The hostel we are in is very nice and I had a massive bowl of spinach and mushroom pasta for dinner. Perfect hangover cure.
So, to catch up on the last few days.
On the full day I had in Wellington I went to the museum for a few hours. It was really interesting. They had a massive preserved giant squid and a huge whale skeleton. There was also stuff on earthquakes and volcanoes and large exhibits about Maori history. After I'd looked around everywhere I went for a wander around the city and to look at the shops. I brought a bag :) I ended up having lunch in a really quirky little cafe. It was really small and the walls had been painted very randomly. And there was a pinball machine. Spinach and feta muffins are my new favourite thing. It absolutely threw it down with rain so I had to shelter there for a while. Once to the rain eased off I headed back to the hostel. The weather cleared up quite nicely so I managed to make it up the mountain for a look over the city. It was a nice walk, but very very steep. The roads leading up to the path wouldn't have looked out of place in San Fransico. During the walk I got to go through a lord of the rings film site. It's the bit from the first film where the hobbits are hiding from the black riders and Frodo says 'get off the road'. It wasn't that exciting but the woods were a bit eerie. They have twisty pine trees everywhere and the pine cones looked like odd growths on the branches.
That evening we made a massive meal for everyone in the group who hadn't left. Cooking spaghetti bolognaise for 17 people is quite an undertaking! It was really nice to have a meal with everyone. About 11 of us went to the cinema after dinner to see Alice in Wonderland.
We left Wellington bright and early the next day to get the ferry to the South Island. Pretty much everyone just slept on the ferry. We joined a new bus when we landed with a new driver. Although we had lost quite a few of our little group in Wellington there was still quite a lot of us. On the way to Nelson we stopped off at river where some people swam and there was a little walk up to a suspended bridge. Once we arrived in Nelson I went for a walk with a couple of people to what is called the centre of New Zealand. It's at the top of a really big hill, of course. Apparently it's not actually the centre of New Zealand but I guess it's close enough, and the views over the bay were lovely.
That evening was quite chilled out. A lot of us ate at at the pub attached to the hostel and then we had a few drinks and got to know some of the new guys from the bus. There are two guys who went to Leeds Uni and graduated last year as well! I don't think we have any mutual friends though.
The next day we were up nice and early again and on the road to Westport. On the way there we stopped at a massive lake and most of us jumped in off the jetty. It was very, very cold and I only did it once. In Westport I went for a walk round the town, this consisted of one main street, and then to the beach and along the beach for a while. Westport is a very sleepy town. We went out for a few drinks at one of the local bars but there wasn't much happening so we had a fairly early night.
Yesterday we travelled to Lake Mahinapua and to whats called the poo pub. On the way we stopped for a quick walk to see a seal colony. The weather was horrible in the monrning, it was drizzling and foggy. The walk would have been fantastic in the sun but the rocks and beaches were still pretty amazing in the rain. We also stopped at whats called the pancake rocks. This is because the way they have eroded looks like there are lots of flat rocks piled up on each other. We also had a quick stop in a town called Greymouth to buy fancy dress outfits for the evening.
Ok, the poo pub. This was a very bizarre place. Everyday a Kiwi bus goes there for a fancy dress party. It is owned and run by an 85 year old man called Les and everyone gets very, very drunk. Our fancy dress theme involved picking a letter out of a hat and going as something beinging with that letter. I got D, so I went as a Dalmation. I brough a white top and some long white socks and drew spots on with a marker pen. I also drew black spots all over me with an eyeliner pencil. We had a massive bbq for dinner, with big steaks, potaotes, pasta salad, coleslaw, venison stew and veg. It was awesome. It was good that there was so much food because I drank a lot of wine. A lot. I was very, very drunk. It was ok though because everyone was. It was hilarious. Apparently I struggled quite a lot getting into my bunk. I also lost one of my flip flops, which is very annoying as I now have to buy another pair when I get to Queenstown.
This morning pretty much everyone felt very rough. I felt a bit more human after we stopped at this totally random place called the Bushman's cafe and had a couple of little bacon, mushroom and cheese pies. It had a little museum thing which had the history of deer hunting in New Zealand and also had live possums. Very weird.
Anyway. Toady we arrived in Franz Jospeh. Home of the Franz Jospeh glacier. I'm going hiking on the glacier tomorrow. But today I did a sky dive! It was fantastically terrifying! The weather was fantastic, there wasn't much cloud and you could see for miles. I did it over the fox glacier which is about 20 minutes drive from here. I wasn't scared until it was my turn to get out of the plane. It was a tiny little plane which only two of us could go up in at a time so there was 5 of us crammed into the tiny cockpit (me, Libby, the two guys we were firmly strapped to and the pilot). It was so scary to be hanging out of the plane at 12,000 feet and the first few seconds of the free fall were pretty terrifying. But it was amazing, like the best roller coaster in the world. I spent the whole time either screaming, laughing or giggling. I loved it!!
This evening is going to be pretty chilled out for me. The hostel we are in is very nice and I had a massive bowl of spinach and mushroom pasta for dinner. Perfect hangover cure.
Monday, 22 March 2010
I arrived in Wellington
I didn't do much yesterday. We travelled from Taupo to River Valley and it rained a lot of the way so although we had an option to go and see a waterfall, only a few crazy guys and the driver decided to go and jump off it in the cold and wet. I was pretty knackered from the walk and staying out the night before.
When we got to River Valley, which is just a rafting lodge in the middle of no-where, we just chilled out. I fell asleep on the couch. After dinner, everything descended into drinking games. It was hilarious. We had everyone playing, about 30 of us, and some of the games included rules about not using names, swapping clothes and flicking the person next to you on the head if you wanted to have a drink. I didn't manage to stay up too late as I was so exhausted.
Our beds were massive dorms with giant bunk beds. Enough for 10 on the bottom 10 on the top I think. It was like a massive sleep over. It took quite a while to fall asleep with everyone all together but I slept fairly well once I'd actually faleen asleep.
Yesterday the river was too low for rafting so we left the lodge early for our long trip down to Wellington (New Zealand's capital city). It took 5 hours. We stopped for lunch is a rather bizarre place called Bulls.
I really like Wellington (well not so much not because it's raining) but when we arrived yesterday it was sunny and looked lovely. There are loads of bars and restaurants and cafes. There are also some amazing looking shops. It seems really quirky and there are buildings painted random colours.
Last night quite a few of us went out for a curry, there are several people leaving the bus today, either to get the next bus down to the south island or to go to other places. After dinner we went to the hostel bar and played Bingo, which was ace. We ended up in a kareoke bar for some reason, there was only our group, but as there was about 25 of us that wasn't too bad.
Today I am going to look round the National Museum and then go to look round the shops and for coffee (there are lots of speciality coffee shops here). If there weather gets better then I'll walk up this massive hill to look out over the city but at the moment it's throwing it down with rain and incredibly windy. Lovely.
xx
When we got to River Valley, which is just a rafting lodge in the middle of no-where, we just chilled out. I fell asleep on the couch. After dinner, everything descended into drinking games. It was hilarious. We had everyone playing, about 30 of us, and some of the games included rules about not using names, swapping clothes and flicking the person next to you on the head if you wanted to have a drink. I didn't manage to stay up too late as I was so exhausted.
Our beds were massive dorms with giant bunk beds. Enough for 10 on the bottom 10 on the top I think. It was like a massive sleep over. It took quite a while to fall asleep with everyone all together but I slept fairly well once I'd actually faleen asleep.
Yesterday the river was too low for rafting so we left the lodge early for our long trip down to Wellington (New Zealand's capital city). It took 5 hours. We stopped for lunch is a rather bizarre place called Bulls.
I really like Wellington (well not so much not because it's raining) but when we arrived yesterday it was sunny and looked lovely. There are loads of bars and restaurants and cafes. There are also some amazing looking shops. It seems really quirky and there are buildings painted random colours.
Last night quite a few of us went out for a curry, there are several people leaving the bus today, either to get the next bus down to the south island or to go to other places. After dinner we went to the hostel bar and played Bingo, which was ace. We ended up in a kareoke bar for some reason, there was only our group, but as there was about 25 of us that wasn't too bad.
Today I am going to look round the National Museum and then go to look round the shops and for coffee (there are lots of speciality coffee shops here). If there weather gets better then I'll walk up this massive hill to look out over the city but at the moment it's throwing it down with rain and incredibly windy. Lovely.
xx
Saturday, 20 March 2010
I walked through Mordor and across Mt. Doom!
Today was far too amazing for me to run out of time to tell you about it. We didn't really do a whole lot yesterday so it's no big ddeal if I leave it until later.
This morning I got up at 5.30am and then about 20 people from the group went to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a 18km hike (the one I did was 3km more though because we walked up to the summit of Mt. Tongariro) that crosses the plains that were used as Mordor in Lord of the Rings and partly up the Mt. Ngauruhoe (the mountain used for Mt. Doom). I made sure I had time to grab a coffee before we left just to make sure I was awake enough, although I've not had trouble getting up early at all this holiday. We were picked up by a bus and taken to the start of the walk. Although we all started out walking kind of together we ended up all splitting up because we all have different fitness levels. I pretty much stayed in the lead group until we split off to go up to the summit which was an optional extra. We had no guide but everything was very clearly marked.
The weather couldn't have been more perfect today. We had clear blue skies all day, only a few banks of clouds on the horizon. I had to make sure I was covered in sun cream. I've still burnt a little I think, but not much. The landscape was simply increadible. It actually looks as barren as it does in the film. There is next to no vegetation, and no wildlife. It's all just rock and more rock. I think there isn't much vegetation as the volcaneos are still active and there is a lot of sulphur. There is even smoke coming out of the rocks in places! It is possible to follow a horrendously steep looking track up to the summit of Mt. Doom and walk around the crater, but it takes an extra 2 hours and is quite dangerous because the rocks are quite sharp, I don't think I would do it unless I had proper walking boots (something to do on my next trip here). The views from the summit of Mt. Tongariro were still amazing. You could see for miles. On a clear day you can see from coast to coast. We caught up the rest of teh group just as they were finishing lunch. As they walked off (slowly) we had lunch next to 3 lakes called the emerald pools. They were a dazzling bluey green and just looked incredible. After ham and cheese sandwiches and a bit of a break we were off again, trying to catch up to the group ahead. This was on the way down so the incline wasn't a problem. On the way up it was very steep in places but not too hard, the wind was the only issue, it was so fierce!
We caught the group up again at a water and toilet station on the other of the mountain. One of the guys in the group I was walking in (there was me, Tom (an American), Simon (Belgian), Stephan (German) and Anil (he's from Glasgow!!!)) was a bit sick when we stopped so we fell behind a bit. As of then it all got a bit competitive. There was 6km to go, all down hill, and we walked and jogged down. I think we made it in about 45 minutes. When we caught up to the group we ended up pretty much sprinting, it was hilarious. We made it back just ahead of most people so we were very pleased with ourselves. The whole walk, with a trip to the summit, and 2 half an hour breaks took 6 and a half hours. We were all really glad of the jog at the end because I think we are all a little bit mental. I loved every second of it!
Tonight we are going out for dinner and then for a big night out although everyones feet hurt alot so there might not be that much dancing!
Just quickly, yesterday was a very chilled out day. I had a lie in because I did the tubing the afternoon before and then we got the bus and drove to Taupo. We stopped off at Huka Falls which is this awesome stretch of rapids and a waterfall. The water was so blue!
At Taupo, we went down to the big lake here and sunbathed for a bit. After that I went to the supermarket for supplies for today. In the evening I went for dinner with quite a few of the group and then we went to the pub. We were all up for a big night but were (mostly) very well behaved and didn't drink. We just danced a lot and then got to bed for midnight.
Eek, times about to run out!!!!
xx
This morning I got up at 5.30am and then about 20 people from the group went to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a 18km hike (the one I did was 3km more though because we walked up to the summit of Mt. Tongariro) that crosses the plains that were used as Mordor in Lord of the Rings and partly up the Mt. Ngauruhoe (the mountain used for Mt. Doom). I made sure I had time to grab a coffee before we left just to make sure I was awake enough, although I've not had trouble getting up early at all this holiday. We were picked up by a bus and taken to the start of the walk. Although we all started out walking kind of together we ended up all splitting up because we all have different fitness levels. I pretty much stayed in the lead group until we split off to go up to the summit which was an optional extra. We had no guide but everything was very clearly marked.
The weather couldn't have been more perfect today. We had clear blue skies all day, only a few banks of clouds on the horizon. I had to make sure I was covered in sun cream. I've still burnt a little I think, but not much. The landscape was simply increadible. It actually looks as barren as it does in the film. There is next to no vegetation, and no wildlife. It's all just rock and more rock. I think there isn't much vegetation as the volcaneos are still active and there is a lot of sulphur. There is even smoke coming out of the rocks in places! It is possible to follow a horrendously steep looking track up to the summit of Mt. Doom and walk around the crater, but it takes an extra 2 hours and is quite dangerous because the rocks are quite sharp, I don't think I would do it unless I had proper walking boots (something to do on my next trip here). The views from the summit of Mt. Tongariro were still amazing. You could see for miles. On a clear day you can see from coast to coast. We caught up the rest of teh group just as they were finishing lunch. As they walked off (slowly) we had lunch next to 3 lakes called the emerald pools. They were a dazzling bluey green and just looked incredible. After ham and cheese sandwiches and a bit of a break we were off again, trying to catch up to the group ahead. This was on the way down so the incline wasn't a problem. On the way up it was very steep in places but not too hard, the wind was the only issue, it was so fierce!
We caught the group up again at a water and toilet station on the other of the mountain. One of the guys in the group I was walking in (there was me, Tom (an American), Simon (Belgian), Stephan (German) and Anil (he's from Glasgow!!!)) was a bit sick when we stopped so we fell behind a bit. As of then it all got a bit competitive. There was 6km to go, all down hill, and we walked and jogged down. I think we made it in about 45 minutes. When we caught up to the group we ended up pretty much sprinting, it was hilarious. We made it back just ahead of most people so we were very pleased with ourselves. The whole walk, with a trip to the summit, and 2 half an hour breaks took 6 and a half hours. We were all really glad of the jog at the end because I think we are all a little bit mental. I loved every second of it!
Tonight we are going out for dinner and then for a big night out although everyones feet hurt alot so there might not be that much dancing!
Just quickly, yesterday was a very chilled out day. I had a lie in because I did the tubing the afternoon before and then we got the bus and drove to Taupo. We stopped off at Huka Falls which is this awesome stretch of rapids and a waterfall. The water was so blue!
At Taupo, we went down to the big lake here and sunbathed for a bit. After that I went to the supermarket for supplies for today. In the evening I went for dinner with quite a few of the group and then we went to the pub. We were all up for a big night but were (mostly) very well behaved and didn't drink. We just danced a lot and then got to bed for midnight.
Eek, times about to run out!!!!
xx
Friday, 19 March 2010
I floated through the pitch black to look at maggots that glow out of their bum
Ok, so to finish off and get up to speed (we do so much it's so hard to catch up).
The evening in the traditional Maori village was pretty interesting. When we were picked up someone on the bus was chosen to be the 'chief' of our 'waka' (canoe, actually our bus). It turned out to be one of the guys of the kiwi bus, Elliot. When we arrived, he had to stand in the centre of the welcoming area with the other 'chiefs' whilst the tribe warriors did an aggressive challenge with sticks and sticking out their tongues and shouting to intimidate them. It was pretty intimidating. Once we were allowed in the village we watched several demonstrations of how the warriors would have been trained in fitness and agility and also a complex stick throwing game. After this we watched a concert which involved traditional songs, and dances with poi and sticks. There was also a demonstration of the haka (the dance that the New Zealnd rugby players do). I'd never seen it before, it was pretty scary. After the concert we had dinner. This was a feast cooked in a traditional way, in a hangi, which is like an oven in the ground. The food baked with hot rocks. The food was really really nice and I had two helpings. There was chicken, lamb and fish with carrots, potatoes and a New Zealand sweet potato thing. Dessert was pavlova and steamed chocolate pudding, obviously I was really impressed with this.
On the way back to the hostel there was a lot of singing on the bus. The driver made someone from every country that was on the come up to the front and sing a song. We had a German singing 99 red balloons, some Swedish singing Abba, and english singing whatever we could remember, I think the Spice Girls came up at one point.
Once back at the hostel we headed to the bar. As drinking is quite expensive I've been very well behaved. I only had one drink but just hung out with everyone else. I ended up staying out fairly late dancing with one of the girls, we even managed to get the guys up dancing (although this was mainly so we could stop the creepy locals hitting on us).
The next day wehad a bit of a lie in, until 8am! Then we headed off on the bus. We stopped at a sheep show park, whilst quite a few people went to watch, most of us headed to the cafe. I figured that if I wanted to see sheep shows I could just go to the Three Counties show in Worcester. Our second stop was at a mini adventure park. I didn't do anything but a couple of the guys went on a big swing thing and several people went on this super fast speed boat thing round a water track. The driver kept trying to splash the spectators.
Our lunch stop was fairly exciting. We stopped in this little town and me Em and one of the guys Anil, went to find a cafe for lunch. We found this tiny little cheese shop and factory and went in to see if they did sandwiches. We ended up tating a load of cheese! Their goats cheese and buffalo soft cheese was amazing! Apparently it's award winning. We had toasted sandwiches and coffees in a little cafe. I love how there are always little independant coffee shops everywhere that do great coffee and food. It's not even just tourists that go to thier either, they always have lots of locals in as well.
In the afternoon 4 of us went black water rafting (the rest went this morning). This isn't actually rafting. It's walking, wading and floating down underground rivers in a cave system. You have to get kitted up in a full wet suit and jacket. This was a fairly hilarious exercise as the one they gave me didn't fit and they tried to force me into it by lifting me up by the middle and shaking me. They gave me a bigger suit. During the rafting trip we had to jump off waterfalls, backwards so that we landed in our rings. The water was very, very cold but I didn't get quite as cold as I thought I would. There were eels in the caves!! I saw one really big one and one baby one. I wanted to ask if there was a goozy, but I don't think they would understand! The main bit of the trip was floating in a line, holding each others feet in the pitch black so that we could see glow worms. They were incredible, it was like being outside in pitch black looking up at the sky and seeing blue/green stars. Amazing. At the end we had to turn off our lights and find our way out in the dark! It was a bit weird and scary but lots of fun. Once we were out of the caves we had ridiculously hot showers and a toasted bagel and hot soup. The actual highlight was the 7 week old golden labrador puppy called Sunny. I wanted to steal it.
I have to go again! We're going for dinner!
xx
Once we were out of
The evening in the traditional Maori village was pretty interesting. When we were picked up someone on the bus was chosen to be the 'chief' of our 'waka' (canoe, actually our bus). It turned out to be one of the guys of the kiwi bus, Elliot. When we arrived, he had to stand in the centre of the welcoming area with the other 'chiefs' whilst the tribe warriors did an aggressive challenge with sticks and sticking out their tongues and shouting to intimidate them. It was pretty intimidating. Once we were allowed in the village we watched several demonstrations of how the warriors would have been trained in fitness and agility and also a complex stick throwing game. After this we watched a concert which involved traditional songs, and dances with poi and sticks. There was also a demonstration of the haka (the dance that the New Zealnd rugby players do). I'd never seen it before, it was pretty scary. After the concert we had dinner. This was a feast cooked in a traditional way, in a hangi, which is like an oven in the ground. The food baked with hot rocks. The food was really really nice and I had two helpings. There was chicken, lamb and fish with carrots, potatoes and a New Zealand sweet potato thing. Dessert was pavlova and steamed chocolate pudding, obviously I was really impressed with this.
On the way back to the hostel there was a lot of singing on the bus. The driver made someone from every country that was on the come up to the front and sing a song. We had a German singing 99 red balloons, some Swedish singing Abba, and english singing whatever we could remember, I think the Spice Girls came up at one point.
Once back at the hostel we headed to the bar. As drinking is quite expensive I've been very well behaved. I only had one drink but just hung out with everyone else. I ended up staying out fairly late dancing with one of the girls, we even managed to get the guys up dancing (although this was mainly so we could stop the creepy locals hitting on us).
The next day wehad a bit of a lie in, until 8am! Then we headed off on the bus. We stopped at a sheep show park, whilst quite a few people went to watch, most of us headed to the cafe. I figured that if I wanted to see sheep shows I could just go to the Three Counties show in Worcester. Our second stop was at a mini adventure park. I didn't do anything but a couple of the guys went on a big swing thing and several people went on this super fast speed boat thing round a water track. The driver kept trying to splash the spectators.
Our lunch stop was fairly exciting. We stopped in this little town and me Em and one of the guys Anil, went to find a cafe for lunch. We found this tiny little cheese shop and factory and went in to see if they did sandwiches. We ended up tating a load of cheese! Their goats cheese and buffalo soft cheese was amazing! Apparently it's award winning. We had toasted sandwiches and coffees in a little cafe. I love how there are always little independant coffee shops everywhere that do great coffee and food. It's not even just tourists that go to thier either, they always have lots of locals in as well.
In the afternoon 4 of us went black water rafting (the rest went this morning). This isn't actually rafting. It's walking, wading and floating down underground rivers in a cave system. You have to get kitted up in a full wet suit and jacket. This was a fairly hilarious exercise as the one they gave me didn't fit and they tried to force me into it by lifting me up by the middle and shaking me. They gave me a bigger suit. During the rafting trip we had to jump off waterfalls, backwards so that we landed in our rings. The water was very, very cold but I didn't get quite as cold as I thought I would. There were eels in the caves!! I saw one really big one and one baby one. I wanted to ask if there was a goozy, but I don't think they would understand! The main bit of the trip was floating in a line, holding each others feet in the pitch black so that we could see glow worms. They were incredible, it was like being outside in pitch black looking up at the sky and seeing blue/green stars. Amazing. At the end we had to turn off our lights and find our way out in the dark! It was a bit weird and scary but lots of fun. Once we were out of the caves we had ridiculously hot showers and a toasted bagel and hot soup. The actual highlight was the 7 week old golden labrador puppy called Sunny. I wanted to steal it.
I have to go again! We're going for dinner!
xx
Once we were out of
Thursday, 18 March 2010
I got made to do kareoke, and there was lots of singing on the bus
So I've left Auckland again. I'm with a new group of people on the bus and will probably be with them until Wellington. There are still a few people from the bus up to the north but I'm making lots of new friends. There's a good mix of people on the bus, mainly English, a few Americans, Dutch and Belgians and a couple of Malaysians. Ages range from 19 (gap year travellers) to a very rowdy 30 year old.
On Wednesday morning, (it just took me and one of the guys from the trip a long time to figure out when exactly it was we left, yesterday feels like such a long time ago) we headed out of Auckland, stopping at Mt. Eden (a volcano crater in the city) for some scenic pictures and then heading on to Mercury Bay. On the way we stopped at a beach where you could supposedly dig hot pools in the sand. Some people dug, but couldn't find any hot pools. I just sunbathed on the beach. Some of the guys who went swimming got caught in the rip tide and had to be resuced by surfers. It was actually quite dangerous, but quite funny. When it got cloudy and a bit cold we left the beach and headed out to the town where we were staying. When we arrived we found out that there had been a big storm and there was no power in any of the buildings. They still had gas so they cooked us dinner and we ate by candle light. Once it got properly dark we made our way out to the only place in town still with power, the pub.
We had a few drinks to celebrate St.Patricks Day and then participated in the kareoke night which the locals got very, very in to. They took it very seriously. I was forced into contributing to the whole group doing a Grease medley. We also discovered that a lot of the locals were very good at salsa. Kind of weird. The power came back on at about 8.30pm so everything was fine.
We didn't make it back to the hostel too late so it wasn't too awful getting up at 7am this morning to get the bus. The New Zealand countryside and hills were so beautiful as the sun came up whilst we were driving. We stopped at an old gold mining gorge for a a quick walk. It involved walks across several suspended bridges and through some old abandoned caves and rain tracks. Very, very stunning with the river running through the gorge.
The lunch stop was at a town called Matamata where they filmed the Hobbition section of Lord of the Rings, we didn't to see the actual set but we all had photos by the Hobbition sign and there was a statue of Gollum.
This afternoon, after checking into our hostel in Rotorua we went lugeing. This is kind of like downhill go-karting on a concrete track through forests. It looks a lot like a mario cart game. We had 5 go's, and it was so much fun! Several times we all (about 25 of us) all raced down the simpler track and were overtaking and bumping each other the whole way down. It was awesome.
We actually got stranded there as the Kiwi experience bus broke down! We ended up getting on another bus back to the hostel and being late for this evenings activity. This was a evening in a traditional Maori village. I have to go because I'm going to run out of credit. I'll try and update again tomorrow, but it might be the day after before I get a chance.
xx
On Wednesday morning, (it just took me and one of the guys from the trip a long time to figure out when exactly it was we left, yesterday feels like such a long time ago) we headed out of Auckland, stopping at Mt. Eden (a volcano crater in the city) for some scenic pictures and then heading on to Mercury Bay. On the way we stopped at a beach where you could supposedly dig hot pools in the sand. Some people dug, but couldn't find any hot pools. I just sunbathed on the beach. Some of the guys who went swimming got caught in the rip tide and had to be resuced by surfers. It was actually quite dangerous, but quite funny. When it got cloudy and a bit cold we left the beach and headed out to the town where we were staying. When we arrived we found out that there had been a big storm and there was no power in any of the buildings. They still had gas so they cooked us dinner and we ate by candle light. Once it got properly dark we made our way out to the only place in town still with power, the pub.
We had a few drinks to celebrate St.Patricks Day and then participated in the kareoke night which the locals got very, very in to. They took it very seriously. I was forced into contributing to the whole group doing a Grease medley. We also discovered that a lot of the locals were very good at salsa. Kind of weird. The power came back on at about 8.30pm so everything was fine.
We didn't make it back to the hostel too late so it wasn't too awful getting up at 7am this morning to get the bus. The New Zealand countryside and hills were so beautiful as the sun came up whilst we were driving. We stopped at an old gold mining gorge for a a quick walk. It involved walks across several suspended bridges and through some old abandoned caves and rain tracks. Very, very stunning with the river running through the gorge.
The lunch stop was at a town called Matamata where they filmed the Hobbition section of Lord of the Rings, we didn't to see the actual set but we all had photos by the Hobbition sign and there was a statue of Gollum.
This afternoon, after checking into our hostel in Rotorua we went lugeing. This is kind of like downhill go-karting on a concrete track through forests. It looks a lot like a mario cart game. We had 5 go's, and it was so much fun! Several times we all (about 25 of us) all raced down the simpler track and were overtaking and bumping each other the whole way down. It was awesome.
We actually got stranded there as the Kiwi experience bus broke down! We ended up getting on another bus back to the hostel and being late for this evenings activity. This was a evening in a traditional Maori village. I have to go because I'm going to run out of credit. I'll try and update again tomorrow, but it might be the day after before I get a chance.
xx
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
I caught, gutted and cooked my own fish!!!
After a very restless night in my dorm, some of the bunks were very creaky and woke me up every time the person sleeping in them rolled over, I was up to go kayaking with my new friend Emily. We were taken out onto the Bay of Islands in a 'waka', thats a Maori (native New Zealanders) canoe. Ours could have sat 6, but there was just me, Emily and our guide, called Mick, or Nick. It was a fantastic morning, totally not what we were expecting, but still brilliant.
We got soaked as soon as we got in as there is a drop off on the beach that he didn't tell us about and we ended up, up to our necks in water. It was pretty hilarious, probably mainly for anyone who was watching. Firstly, we headed over to find a pipi patch. A 'pipi' is kind of like a clam. Mick (or Nick) made us jump out of the waka and dive down to the sea bed to collect them. We were completely not prepared for this as it hadn't said anything about it on the flyer. But we did it anyway and it was totally hilarious. Unfortunately, Em and I were not very good at collecting pipi's, we kept finding empty or dead ones. After climbing, very ungracefully, back into the boat, Mick (or Nick) sang a Maori song to make the sun come out. It did, but I'm not sure whether that was due to the song or whether the clouds had been moving in that direction anyway. Once we were back paddling we put a fishing line out and tried to catch some fish. After following some birds around for a while (birds hunt for the smaller fish near the surface of the water and the bigger fish swim around underneath to eat the small fish, so you have to follow the birds) we ended up catching 3 fish! They were actually pretty big, I caught two and they were a bit tricky to reel in as there was no turny thing on the line like on a fishing rod. We gave one of our fish to some other kayakers who were having less luck than us fishing and named our two dead fish Harry and George.
We pulled our waka up on a little island beach and Mick (or Nick) had Em and I gut the two fish we had kept. This, was very weird, and kind of gross. We ate the smaller fish (Harry) sashimi style with soy sauce and wasabi. We didn't have a knife so we had to improvise with sharp mussel shells. Em and I can now survive on desert islands as long as we can catch fish! I can't remember the name of the fish but they were very meaty white fish, kind of like the Groupa we had in Dubai or Monkfish I think. We saved George for when we got back to the hostel. The kayaking was awesome, I definitely want to do more later on in the trip, it was so much fun. The bay we were in was huge but although it was salt water it was very calm and easy for us the paddle around.
When we got back to the hostel we had just enough time to fillet George (yes, I filleted a fish by myself) and bake him in the oven in some garlic and olive oil. The fish was very nice, very meaty and very filling. Then we were back on the bus to travel down to Auckland. We arrived in Auckland abotu 6.15 the evening. I really like the hostel we are staying at, it's much more social than the one I was staying at before. It has a lot more character because it's kind of all over the place and on lots of different levels and there are big open common areas. Em and I have ended up having a 6 person dorm to ourselves, well we did before we went out for dinner, it might have more people in now.
We went for dinner in the food court below the hostel. The food was amazing. There was a Thai food shop! So I got my favourite Massaman curry and some spring rolls. It was so nice but I couldn't finish it all! After working out a rough itiniery for out trip south Em and I headed to the bar below our hostel. We have been very restrained and limited ourselves to having the one free cocktail that was given out a 9pm. It was quite hilarious, apparently it's ladies night which means all the women get a free drink, and if the guys wanted a free drink they had to give the bar staff their shirt. It was great. But as we are both pretty knackered, have to be up at 7.30am, and want to save money for partying in some of the other towns, we have dragged ourselves away from the bar. I'm going to be heading to bed pretty soon.
xx
We got soaked as soon as we got in as there is a drop off on the beach that he didn't tell us about and we ended up, up to our necks in water. It was pretty hilarious, probably mainly for anyone who was watching. Firstly, we headed over to find a pipi patch. A 'pipi' is kind of like a clam. Mick (or Nick) made us jump out of the waka and dive down to the sea bed to collect them. We were completely not prepared for this as it hadn't said anything about it on the flyer. But we did it anyway and it was totally hilarious. Unfortunately, Em and I were not very good at collecting pipi's, we kept finding empty or dead ones. After climbing, very ungracefully, back into the boat, Mick (or Nick) sang a Maori song to make the sun come out. It did, but I'm not sure whether that was due to the song or whether the clouds had been moving in that direction anyway. Once we were back paddling we put a fishing line out and tried to catch some fish. After following some birds around for a while (birds hunt for the smaller fish near the surface of the water and the bigger fish swim around underneath to eat the small fish, so you have to follow the birds) we ended up catching 3 fish! They were actually pretty big, I caught two and they were a bit tricky to reel in as there was no turny thing on the line like on a fishing rod. We gave one of our fish to some other kayakers who were having less luck than us fishing and named our two dead fish Harry and George.
We pulled our waka up on a little island beach and Mick (or Nick) had Em and I gut the two fish we had kept. This, was very weird, and kind of gross. We ate the smaller fish (Harry) sashimi style with soy sauce and wasabi. We didn't have a knife so we had to improvise with sharp mussel shells. Em and I can now survive on desert islands as long as we can catch fish! I can't remember the name of the fish but they were very meaty white fish, kind of like the Groupa we had in Dubai or Monkfish I think. We saved George for when we got back to the hostel. The kayaking was awesome, I definitely want to do more later on in the trip, it was so much fun. The bay we were in was huge but although it was salt water it was very calm and easy for us the paddle around.
When we got back to the hostel we had just enough time to fillet George (yes, I filleted a fish by myself) and bake him in the oven in some garlic and olive oil. The fish was very nice, very meaty and very filling. Then we were back on the bus to travel down to Auckland. We arrived in Auckland abotu 6.15 the evening. I really like the hostel we are staying at, it's much more social than the one I was staying at before. It has a lot more character because it's kind of all over the place and on lots of different levels and there are big open common areas. Em and I have ended up having a 6 person dorm to ourselves, well we did before we went out for dinner, it might have more people in now.
We went for dinner in the food court below the hostel. The food was amazing. There was a Thai food shop! So I got my favourite Massaman curry and some spring rolls. It was so nice but I couldn't finish it all! After working out a rough itiniery for out trip south Em and I headed to the bar below our hostel. We have been very restrained and limited ourselves to having the one free cocktail that was given out a 9pm. It was quite hilarious, apparently it's ladies night which means all the women get a free drink, and if the guys wanted a free drink they had to give the bar staff their shirt. It was great. But as we are both pretty knackered, have to be up at 7.30am, and want to save money for partying in some of the other towns, we have dragged ourselves away from the bar. I'm going to be heading to bed pretty soon.
xx
Sunday, 14 March 2010
I had forgotten how much horse riding hurts
This morning at the bright and early time of 7.15, I had been awake since 6am anyway, I joined the Kiwi Experience bus. It's a large green bus which took us to Paihia, in the north of New Zealand. The driver arranges your accommadation for the night and gives you lots of options of things to do for the next day or so. They also stop for either morning or afternoon tea :) I am very much in favour of this.
We arrived in Paihia at about midday and booked our activities for today and tomorrow. Me and the girl I was sitting next to on the bus, Emily, decided to do the same things. This afternoon we went on a 2 hour horse trek. It was very laid back. They were just trekking ponies that follow each other. My horse made it more interesting for me by clearly being disliked by all of the other horses and it kept either trying to bite the other horses or having the other horses try and kick it. Because I was an 'experienced rider' at one point I was allowed to hang back with one of the guides (my horse was not happy about this) and then got to gallop to catch the others up.
The scenery was quite stunning, we were riding through quite dense forests at one point. Although, the forests are quite odd. They have fir trees that would belong in any English forest, and then every now and then there will be a palm tree or a plant that looks tropical. It's like the vegetation can't decide what it's doing. At one point in the ride we were at the top of a big crater (another inactive volcano) and the views out over the bay of islands was amazing. It really is a lovely place.
So now I'm back at the hostel, aching, and struggling to sit on anything that doesn't have a cushion. Tonight there is a bbq at the hostel, steak and sausages and baked potato, I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow I'm going kayaking around the bay for 4 hours, hopefully the weather will be good. We get to catch and cook some fresh mussels for lunch and get free wine. Yay! Emily and I are getting a bus back to Auckland tomorrow afternoon so we can head south the day after.
(There are a lot of people who are so good and buy food and cook it at the hostel rather than going out for food. I've brought some cereal for breakfast but I think that will be the extent to my attempts at saving money)
xx
We arrived in Paihia at about midday and booked our activities for today and tomorrow. Me and the girl I was sitting next to on the bus, Emily, decided to do the same things. This afternoon we went on a 2 hour horse trek. It was very laid back. They were just trekking ponies that follow each other. My horse made it more interesting for me by clearly being disliked by all of the other horses and it kept either trying to bite the other horses or having the other horses try and kick it. Because I was an 'experienced rider' at one point I was allowed to hang back with one of the guides (my horse was not happy about this) and then got to gallop to catch the others up.
The scenery was quite stunning, we were riding through quite dense forests at one point. Although, the forests are quite odd. They have fir trees that would belong in any English forest, and then every now and then there will be a palm tree or a plant that looks tropical. It's like the vegetation can't decide what it's doing. At one point in the ride we were at the top of a big crater (another inactive volcano) and the views out over the bay of islands was amazing. It really is a lovely place.
So now I'm back at the hostel, aching, and struggling to sit on anything that doesn't have a cushion. Tonight there is a bbq at the hostel, steak and sausages and baked potato, I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow I'm going kayaking around the bay for 4 hours, hopefully the weather will be good. We get to catch and cook some fresh mussels for lunch and get free wine. Yay! Emily and I are getting a bus back to Auckland tomorrow afternoon so we can head south the day after.
(There are a lot of people who are so good and buy food and cook it at the hostel rather than going out for food. I've brought some cereal for breakfast but I think that will be the extent to my attempts at saving money)
xx
Saturday, 13 March 2010
I walked up a volcano
I don't think I've quite cracked the whole jet lag thing yet. I woke up at 5am, kind of dozed until 7.30 and was out by 8.30 again. There was a really big fun run through Auckland on this morning. Apparently it is one of the biggest fun runs in the world, about 70,000 people did it today or something. It's 8.4km (bit of an odd distance) round several of the bays in the city. I really wish I'd known about at and brought my running stuff, it would have been brilliant to do.
Instead I found a cafe to have a smoothie and some toast for breakfast. Marmite here is quite nice but it's a little sweeter than marmite at home so it's just not the same. After that I headed over to the pier and brought a ticket to go to Rangitoto Island. It's about 20 minutes by boat away from the main city. Rangitoto was formed about 600 years ago by an erupting volcano, it's dormant now but apparently new volcanoes could appear around Auckland some time in future. Not a particularly comforting thought. Pretty much the whole island is crumbling lava rocks but there are still lots of trees and vegetation growing. It's amazing to see all the green growing out of black rocks. I cut off the main path on to one that wasn't used as much and there were some really lovely flowers as well. It took me about an hour and a half to get to the summit because of my little detour, I ate my lunch whilst looking out to Auckland and all the little islands dotted around the harbour. Although, at one point I had to get up and move fairly quickly as a swarm of wasps decided they liked the look of my sandwich. After lunch I had a walk round the crater edge, the crater is almost a perfect cone and is also covered in trees, it's kind of weird. Then I started to make my way back down. I went via a section called the lava caves. I was able to walk through a long, quite dark, and at one point very low cave that had been formed by the lava flow. It was pretty cool, although a bit dangerous as I couldn't see the floor at a couple of points. My last bit of walking was right on the coastline where there a some little huts called baches. I found them kind of eerie. They used to be holiday homes between the 30's and 70's but none of them are used now. It looks like the set for a bad horror movie, probably involving lost backpackers.
I got the boat back to the mainland and have just been chilling out at the hostel and putting off re-packing. I'm leaving at 7.15 tomorrow morning. Normally this time in the morning would make me feel horrible but I know that I will probably fall asleep stupidly early tonight again and be awake at 6am so it's not so much of a problem.
I've discovered that cadbury's dark chocolate bars are called 'energy' rather than Bournville here. I think this is probably an excuse for me to eat more of it as it's branded as being good for you :)
xx
Instead I found a cafe to have a smoothie and some toast for breakfast. Marmite here is quite nice but it's a little sweeter than marmite at home so it's just not the same. After that I headed over to the pier and brought a ticket to go to Rangitoto Island. It's about 20 minutes by boat away from the main city. Rangitoto was formed about 600 years ago by an erupting volcano, it's dormant now but apparently new volcanoes could appear around Auckland some time in future. Not a particularly comforting thought. Pretty much the whole island is crumbling lava rocks but there are still lots of trees and vegetation growing. It's amazing to see all the green growing out of black rocks. I cut off the main path on to one that wasn't used as much and there were some really lovely flowers as well. It took me about an hour and a half to get to the summit because of my little detour, I ate my lunch whilst looking out to Auckland and all the little islands dotted around the harbour. Although, at one point I had to get up and move fairly quickly as a swarm of wasps decided they liked the look of my sandwich. After lunch I had a walk round the crater edge, the crater is almost a perfect cone and is also covered in trees, it's kind of weird. Then I started to make my way back down. I went via a section called the lava caves. I was able to walk through a long, quite dark, and at one point very low cave that had been formed by the lava flow. It was pretty cool, although a bit dangerous as I couldn't see the floor at a couple of points. My last bit of walking was right on the coastline where there a some little huts called baches. I found them kind of eerie. They used to be holiday homes between the 30's and 70's but none of them are used now. It looks like the set for a bad horror movie, probably involving lost backpackers.
I got the boat back to the mainland and have just been chilling out at the hostel and putting off re-packing. I'm leaving at 7.15 tomorrow morning. Normally this time in the morning would make me feel horrible but I know that I will probably fall asleep stupidly early tonight again and be awake at 6am so it's not so much of a problem.
I've discovered that cadbury's dark chocolate bars are called 'energy' rather than Bournville here. I think this is probably an excuse for me to eat more of it as it's branded as being good for you :)
xx
Friday, 12 March 2010
I walked and walked and walked...
I didn't make it until 7.30 for dinner last night, I think I was asleep by 7pm. Today I've been exploring Auckland. I was awake and out by about 8.30 this morning. It seems that shops are fairly flexible with opening times in the morning but I found a coffee shop to have a coffee and some breakfast. It's been sunny most of the day but it's trying to rain at the moment which I'm quite unimpressed with.
I've walked miles and miles, all round the city. I started off at the harbour, there is some kind of big boat race on today, it's called the Louis Vuitton trophy so there's lots of people around, and then went to see the sky tower. You can pay to go up to the top but the views are supposed to be as good from one of the islands that I think I'm going to go over to tomorrow so I didn't bother going up. Then I went over to a park where there is a little market. There were lots of arty trinkety shops and I wanted to spend lots of money. I managed to refrain though as I don't want to have to carry loads of stuff for 4 weeks. I can go back :) I had a bit of a break and sunbathed in the park for an hour and read my book. After that was more walking and lunch in a little Japanese restaurant, there are Japanese restaurants everywhere. Then I walked up to another park and through some of the quirky little shopping arcades.
It's only 4pm but I'm starting to feel tired already, don't think I'll manage a late night tonight but I might at least manage dinner.
There are lots of people wearing green, being drunk and pretending to be Irish wandering around as it's St. Patrick's day next week and there is a parade or something. It's kind of weird.
xx
Thursday, 11 March 2010
I spent a long, long time on planes
I've arrived in Auckland safe, sound and slightly delirious from sleep deprivation. I did sleep a little on one of my three flights but it probably only amounted to 2/3 hours. I've been awake about 46 hours. I think, my concept of time and date has gone completely out the window, NZ is 13 hours ahead.
Not having done a majorly long flight (most have been under 9 hours) for several years, I'd forgotten just how long they actually are. The flight from Dubai to Melbourne was nearly 13 hours, after a 7 hour flight from Birmingham and followed by another 3 hours afterwards to get to Auckland. I packed in watching 5 full movies, watching parts of 3 others and eating lots and lots of food.
I'll give a more detailed description of Auckland tomorrow when I'm in more of a state to take it in. At the moment my eyes hurt when I take my sunglasses off and I'm exercising a lot of restraint to not wear them inside. First impressions of the city are of a mixture of seemingly old fashionedness and very modern. There are some clearly very new high rise buildings and transport stations but some of the streets and architecture seem very dated. The weather is warm, but a bit cloudy.
My hostel lacks character but will certainly do a more than adequate job. I have my own room and bathroom for the next 3 nights and they provide a free meal every night. Dinner isn't served until 7.30 so I have to try and stay awake for another hour and a half. It might happen as long as I remember to open my eyes when I blink.
xx
Not having done a majorly long flight (most have been under 9 hours) for several years, I'd forgotten just how long they actually are. The flight from Dubai to Melbourne was nearly 13 hours, after a 7 hour flight from Birmingham and followed by another 3 hours afterwards to get to Auckland. I packed in watching 5 full movies, watching parts of 3 others and eating lots and lots of food.
I'll give a more detailed description of Auckland tomorrow when I'm in more of a state to take it in. At the moment my eyes hurt when I take my sunglasses off and I'm exercising a lot of restraint to not wear them inside. First impressions of the city are of a mixture of seemingly old fashionedness and very modern. There are some clearly very new high rise buildings and transport stations but some of the streets and architecture seem very dated. The weather is warm, but a bit cloudy.
My hostel lacks character but will certainly do a more than adequate job. I have my own room and bathroom for the next 3 nights and they provide a free meal every night. Dinner isn't served until 7.30 so I have to try and stay awake for another hour and a half. It might happen as long as I remember to open my eyes when I blink.
xx
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