Sorry about that, i didnt want to loose my post from yesterday when my time ran out! So anyway, the cruise around Milford was really spectacular. We did this cruise http://www.redboats.co.nz/home/ there are so many to choose from but we got a healthy discout with our YHA cards (its like being a student again, its great!!) and did the encounter nature option! We didnt see any dolphins (again!!) but saw some seals and penguins and was generally a really good gentle cruise around the sound! We saw loads of waterfall and at one point a rainbow appeared from the bottom of one of the falls, it was beautiful and my pictures came out really well so will post them up when i can. The boat even went under one waterfall which is 15,000 years old and you could voluntarily get wet!! So why not!! The one thing i am always saying to myself is to make the most of every opportunity that comes my way - so why not get soaked!! It was sooo much and fresh!!
So it really felt that we were cut off from all life out there - the tourist info, cafe and pub are all one building!! But now we are in Dunedin and its the opposite end of the scale and i have had to escape to the coast today!! I had seen Dunedin on those trashy afternoon programmes when i had been off work and it looked beautiful, so i was really disappointed when i arrived here yesterday. Im a city girl at heart thats for sure, but i just dont like the NZ cities. There arent that many and they are not city size as we know, but they just seem to overtake the beautiful surrounding landscaped that could be explored. Apart from its history of being a Scottish settlement there really is nothing Scottish about it (apart from the children's school uniforms and the odd tartan shop here and there!) Hope that answers your question cousin Lou!!
So today, whilst Jen decided to take the tour around Cadbury World (I really couldnt betray Belgium Chocolate here!!) I got the bus out to the coast and visited a small port town named Port Chalmers and had a lovely walk along the coast, admiring the view and listening to the Beatles!! Life is good when you see more ducks in a day then people!! But this was how i expected this area to be, so im pleased i made the effort to go find it! It would have been very easy to spend all day in my pjs, as the hostel is sooo homely and had breakfast in the pjs for the first time in nearly 7 weeks!! heaven!! Plus free tea and coffee for Jen, so life really is all good!
We leave here tomorrow lunchtime (they give it to rain all day tomorrow so am pleased have made the most of the sun today) and head to Oamaru. Then its Christchurch for three nights. I have high reservations about Christchurch. Its meant to be the English settlement, like here is the Scottish. But can use my time to plan my neighbours tours (very exicted!!!) and actually how we are going to fit Australia and work into 5 months. I have a really bad feelings, its not going to happen!!
So I think that is about it for now! Really has been a busy week and wish we had longer in the south island, because have truly loved it here, and we havent even seen all of it!! But there is always next time and there is a long list of things to see on there already!!
Happy Halloween and White Rabbits for tomorrow!! I cant believe we have been away for 7 weeks this weekend and that its my birthday in 24 days!!! Woo Hoo!! Role on the summer!!!! :-)
xxxx
Friday, 31 October 2008
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Milford Part 1!
Hello!!
Well another busy few days, so thought i better write it all down before i forget!
So, its Thursday afternoon and we are now on the east coast of the south island in a town (although the kiwis call it a city!!) called Dunedin. It is meant to be the Edinburgh of NZ, although we havent got very far in exploring yet. We have just checked in and dived into the internet cafe next door, well it has been a few days now!! The hostel is lush! Its really small (only 40 beds) and is like a self contained flat. Newly decorated with all the mod cons, its really nice! not that anywhere we have stayed has been bad - most places are of a very high standard, the YHAs are always good, but its nice to get a change, otherwise you feel that you are staying in the same place with the same kind of people all the time.
We had a good couple of days earlier in the week enjoying Wanaka and Queenstown. It has to be my favourite area of NZ. Its beautiful and with the southern alps all round it really is spectacular whatever the weather!! On Monday, it was a bank holiday and the sun actually shone!! One place said it was 27 degrees!! it was lovely and really looking forward to summer now!! We visited a small gold mining settlement called Arrowtown just north of Queenstown. Quite a lot of river scenes from LOTR were filmed here, so we went for a walk along Arrow River and also explored the Chinese Settlement - as once gold was discovered in the Otago region a lot of Chinese men came over to mine.
We then left Queenstown and made our way to Milford Sound. It has been an amazing couple of days, really in the middle of nowhere - although the Fiordland (the region there) is situated on the south west coast and is mainly just dense rainforest. The nearest village is Te Anu, which is 120km south of Milford. We were in Te Anu last night just breaking up the journey from Milford to here really.
There are no petrol stations, no shops, nothing in this 120 km. We were the adventurous type and stayed over in the only accomodation in the area! It was good, although the most expensive we have paid yet. Most people visit the sound on a day trip from Queenstown, but its a 13hr all round trip and we decided we wanted to have fun and enjoy the experience, and im so pleased we stayed for the night! We didnt really explore the sounding area as it rained pretty much for the whole 24 hours we were there! They got 7 meters (!!!!) of rain a year in this region, which is the second highest in the world! And i think we must have seen a least 1/2 meter!! When the rain is at its peak, one of the many surrouding mountains can have 80 waterfalls cascading down at any one time!! Truly an amazing sight to see.
You can tell how remote Milford is, because not even the maori settled here. They did not like it because of the rain and also the vast quantities of sandflys. Even cook bypassed Milford Sound and he really got everywhere!! It was actually a welshman that was the first european to settle here and he named it after Milford in Wales, so there you go Julie!!
It was an amazing experience to cruise around Milford and im running out of internet time, so instead of rushing and forgetting something will finish this chapter off in the next couple of days. We are in Dunedin until Saturday and then spending Saturday night in Oamaru and then Christchurch and thats NZ done for us. So will finish off then.
Hope it hasnt snowed too much with you guys!! Although we got our fair share of it yesterday too!!!
E xxx
Well another busy few days, so thought i better write it all down before i forget!
So, its Thursday afternoon and we are now on the east coast of the south island in a town (although the kiwis call it a city!!) called Dunedin. It is meant to be the Edinburgh of NZ, although we havent got very far in exploring yet. We have just checked in and dived into the internet cafe next door, well it has been a few days now!! The hostel is lush! Its really small (only 40 beds) and is like a self contained flat. Newly decorated with all the mod cons, its really nice! not that anywhere we have stayed has been bad - most places are of a very high standard, the YHAs are always good, but its nice to get a change, otherwise you feel that you are staying in the same place with the same kind of people all the time.
We had a good couple of days earlier in the week enjoying Wanaka and Queenstown. It has to be my favourite area of NZ. Its beautiful and with the southern alps all round it really is spectacular whatever the weather!! On Monday, it was a bank holiday and the sun actually shone!! One place said it was 27 degrees!! it was lovely and really looking forward to summer now!! We visited a small gold mining settlement called Arrowtown just north of Queenstown. Quite a lot of river scenes from LOTR were filmed here, so we went for a walk along Arrow River and also explored the Chinese Settlement - as once gold was discovered in the Otago region a lot of Chinese men came over to mine.
We then left Queenstown and made our way to Milford Sound. It has been an amazing couple of days, really in the middle of nowhere - although the Fiordland (the region there) is situated on the south west coast and is mainly just dense rainforest. The nearest village is Te Anu, which is 120km south of Milford. We were in Te Anu last night just breaking up the journey from Milford to here really.
There are no petrol stations, no shops, nothing in this 120 km. We were the adventurous type and stayed over in the only accomodation in the area! It was good, although the most expensive we have paid yet. Most people visit the sound on a day trip from Queenstown, but its a 13hr all round trip and we decided we wanted to have fun and enjoy the experience, and im so pleased we stayed for the night! We didnt really explore the sounding area as it rained pretty much for the whole 24 hours we were there! They got 7 meters (!!!!) of rain a year in this region, which is the second highest in the world! And i think we must have seen a least 1/2 meter!! When the rain is at its peak, one of the many surrouding mountains can have 80 waterfalls cascading down at any one time!! Truly an amazing sight to see.
You can tell how remote Milford is, because not even the maori settled here. They did not like it because of the rain and also the vast quantities of sandflys. Even cook bypassed Milford Sound and he really got everywhere!! It was actually a welshman that was the first european to settle here and he named it after Milford in Wales, so there you go Julie!!
It was an amazing experience to cruise around Milford and im running out of internet time, so instead of rushing and forgetting something will finish this chapter off in the next couple of days. We are in Dunedin until Saturday and then spending Saturday night in Oamaru and then Christchurch and thats NZ done for us. So will finish off then.
Hope it hasnt snowed too much with you guys!! Although we got our fair share of it yesterday too!!!
E xxx
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Sun, Snow and Freefall!!!!
Happy Weekend everybody!!
I know i say it everytime, but this week has gone even quicker and its Saturday nite again and im completly beat! Its been an adrenaline buzzing week and we have seen so much!!
So now we are in the south island and i absolutly love it! We arrived in Queenstown (the backpacker capital) on Monday after a small delay with our flight - we ended up flying via Christchurch and being delayed for a couple of hours but we got a free lunch out of it, so wasnt going to complain!! The sun has shone everyday this week, there has not been a cloud in the sky and im now sporting some very good sunglasses marks and a rudolph nose that Ruth you would be proud of! Even with the factor 30 on - the o zone layer is so thin here - you dont really stand a chance!
Anyway, we decided to make the most of the fine weather and on Tuseday finally plucked up the courage again, ceased the moment and did our skydive over Lake Wanaka and it was AWESOME!! The guys said it was the best day they have had all year and there was not a cloud in the sky. We got some amazing views over the southern alps - could see all the way up to Mount Cook and it was just the best feeling in the world! I cant believe how much i enjoyed it and as soon as i was down i was like - can i go again!! Im really pleased with the photos (i left the cd in the room so will have to upload some more next time) but the DVD is quality and i will be having a showing once home! Bring your popcorn!
So we celebrated that nite with a rotasirey chicken!! i know, we really know how to have a good time! Wednesday we then spent the day in Queenstown, after 2 nights of being there but not seeing the town it was good to actually see it and wonder around! I really like it there, it has a good feel, not too small like some of the other places but hasnt got that city feeling either. We climbed to the top of the gondola (it meant saving $25 and we like a good tramp!) and we were greeted with spectacular views over the town. It took us an hour to climb up, but as you can see it was well worth it!
So on Thursday morning we left Queenstown nice and early and made the 8hr bus ride to Franz Josef. This is not like your average trip around the M25 it has to be one of the most spectacular bus rides ever up the south west coast. We were in Narnia and Lord of The Rings land all day, and i caught a bit of LOTR last nite in the TV lounge and all i can see now in New Zealand. I love travelling in NZ - there are no cars, so there are no traffic jams, there is spectacular scenery and you dont get motor way services (because there are no motorways) instead you get amazing road side cafes with the best muffins, hot chocolates and apple pies etc. I have taken not to entering these when we stop now, as the pull is too strong!! We have started using the national express equivalent of transport now, and its amazing!! We pretty much got 8 hours of commentary all the way about everything and anything! It was not too loud, so that some quality indulget i-pod time could also be had! And they even dropped us at our hostel, brilliant!
So yesterday we did the 1/2 day glacier hike up Franz Josef and it truly was sweet as, and apart from the skydive has to be my favourite thing so far! But oh my god, are my legs killing today! We have done a lot of walking since we have been here, but this was 5 hours of serious hard work, on crampons pulling yourself through ice crevises and up the other side - but it was super awesome. I learnt so much about glaciers too, which i wont bore you with, but they are always moving and you could actually see the movement - NZ is crazy for natural things like this!
So now we are back in Wanaka for the night, just above Queenstown. We are then back there for 2 nights and then we are on our final week here!! We are heading south to Milford Sound - then accross the east coast stopping off in Dunedin and Oamaru before we arrive in Christchurch next weekend!
Thats about it really, im sooo tierd tonight but as you can see all the walking has been worth it! Im looking forward to a lazy sunday in Wanaka and we have found the most amazing cafe for tea and scone so thats my sunday morning treat for breakfast!
will update again before we leave NZ - its going to be another quite remote week for internet - when they mean small settlements they really do mean about 3 buildings to the village!! But its brilliant and im having an amazing time!!
Love to everyone xxxxx
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Kia Ora (Hello/Welcome in Maori) !
Hello Everybody!!
Well what a busy week and a bit! We are now in Wellington having made our way down through the north island touching on nearly everything there is to see!! It really has been a busy few days.
We left Auckland and journied to the east coast to a small village (most places in NZ are exceptionally small and when they say a city they actually mean town!!) called Hahei. This village offers stunning views of and is home to many of the shots in Prince Caspian and numerous other films. It is also home to Cathederal Cove a very well known NZ landmark (a rock with a hole in it really on the beach) and we did the two hour walk to the cove and back. It was glorious and almost Fiji like with all the little islands dotted around. This was our first day on the bus and we had a group BBQ that nite and stayed in a holiday park. It was cold and because we are normally in bed these days by 10pm we didnt realise just how cold it can get here at nite!!
The next day we got back on the bus and went to the west coast, still fairly north and visited another small village named Raglan. This is THE place in NZ to surf!! It was really cool to watch, but no, this is one thing i did not attempt!! Apparently the longest wave ever ridden was done here (10mins!!!) We stayed in a hillside lodge just out of the town, so unfortuantly did not get to see too much, but i think the main attraction really is the surfing.
It really has been all go, because the next day we visited the Waitomo caves. My Maori is nearly as good as my Fijian now and Waitomo means 'water hole'. Here, we did this tour http://www.waitomospellbound.co.nz/aboutSpellbound.htm it was really amzing and the glow-worms were AMAZING!! Topped with tea and biscuits in between caves it could not have been better. Most people went for the black water rafting option through the caves but the swimming with eels put me off that and apparently they saw hardly any glow-worms so i think we made the rite choice. In the afternoon we then made our way back accross to the east coast for our Maori cultural night. We stayed in a Maori welcoming house and ate the traditional meal of hangi (steamed meats, fish and veg - normally potato and pumpkin) and learned the traditional maori dances - the girls learnt the poi and the guys the Hakka!! It was loads of fun and good to interact in another culture again. We should have some pretty cool dance moves to impressive you with by the time we are home!!
The next day we were a bit bussed out and decided to get off and have a break in the 'city' of Rotorua. This is the most active geothermal area pretty much in the world. There is sulphur rising from earth everywhere. Everynow and then you get a whiff of rotten eggs but it is meant to be good for colds etc. We had two nights here and i wowed Jen with my spaghetti bolognaise and shepards pie and it was good to laze around for a bit. Jen hit the Poloynesian Spa whilst i went out to another Maori village and learned the hockey kockey in Maori. It is home to the biggest geyser in NZ and they showed us how the cooked using the steam in the earth for microwaves and the natural hot pools to blanche their veg!! This was the sunniest we had so far and so it was typical the next day when we got on the bus again (same company, diff people) it rained all the way to Taupo and our skydive was cancelled. By this time we have met a really good group of people and we had all planned to jump together, so we were pretty gutted we could not go out and celebrate. They have since 'jumped' as they stayed in Taupo for an extra night but we could not wait for the next bus to Wellingotn. From what we saw of Lake Taupo it is pretty cool - it is the largest lake in the world to be formed by a volcano and you can fit Singapore into it!!!!!
On Wednesday we headed to the National Park. A lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed around here and we attempted a one day hike around Mount Dome actually named Mount Ruapehu. Unfortunatly, after 4 hours we had to turn back because the visibility was so bad, but we still got some really cool snow pictures, yes snow and was still a rewarding tramp (thats what they cool hikeing here!!). The lodge that nite was absolutly amazing!! It was like being in a day Spa and all for about 10 pounds - it even had a log fire - heavenly!!
After all that, we are now in Wellington until Monday. Thankfully, it is a lot better than Auckland. Still on the smallish side but walked up another volcanoe this morning to be greeted with great harbour views. We do a LOT of walking, especially up volcanoes but like i say to Jen everytime - just think of the pictures!! I am now spending the afternoon catching up on jobs and its actually a sunny day so will be strolling along the harbour later whilst Jen rides the cable car! We went to the cinema last night and saw Burn after Reading - the Pitt/Clooney film (NZ seem to be really behind here so you have prob had it out already). It was the first time since i have left that i have watched TV of any form - it is absolutly crazy but really enjoyed it!! We met a girl on our second bus who had stayed in the same place as us in Fiji!! Its totally crazy like that and even more crazier that she is now in our room at the YHA here so off out for drinks tonight with Laura.
We also visited the National Museum here yesterday http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/English/ It was really good fun and will be going back to finish it off over the next couple of days. Wellington is great because all the attractions are free!! woo hoo!!
We leave here on Monday and fly to Queenstown in the South island. Its going to be a busy first week - after a few days in Queenstown we are heading up to Franz Josef Glacier to do a walk and then coming back down to Milford Sound. I am sure if you googled it you could get some idea - but will post pics as and when I can.
Sorry it is such a long post but i never have time just to sit down and update you all and its always a bit of a rush.
Hope all is well with you and will be in touch again from the snowy south soon!!
Ellen xxxxx
Well what a busy week and a bit! We are now in Wellington having made our way down through the north island touching on nearly everything there is to see!! It really has been a busy few days.
We left Auckland and journied to the east coast to a small village (most places in NZ are exceptionally small and when they say a city they actually mean town!!) called Hahei. This village offers stunning views of and is home to many of the shots in Prince Caspian and numerous other films. It is also home to Cathederal Cove a very well known NZ landmark (a rock with a hole in it really on the beach) and we did the two hour walk to the cove and back. It was glorious and almost Fiji like with all the little islands dotted around. This was our first day on the bus and we had a group BBQ that nite and stayed in a holiday park. It was cold and because we are normally in bed these days by 10pm we didnt realise just how cold it can get here at nite!!
The next day we got back on the bus and went to the west coast, still fairly north and visited another small village named Raglan. This is THE place in NZ to surf!! It was really cool to watch, but no, this is one thing i did not attempt!! Apparently the longest wave ever ridden was done here (10mins!!!) We stayed in a hillside lodge just out of the town, so unfortuantly did not get to see too much, but i think the main attraction really is the surfing.
It really has been all go, because the next day we visited the Waitomo caves. My Maori is nearly as good as my Fijian now and Waitomo means 'water hole'. Here, we did this tour http://www.waitomospellbound.co.nz/aboutSpellbound.htm it was really amzing and the glow-worms were AMAZING!! Topped with tea and biscuits in between caves it could not have been better. Most people went for the black water rafting option through the caves but the swimming with eels put me off that and apparently they saw hardly any glow-worms so i think we made the rite choice. In the afternoon we then made our way back accross to the east coast for our Maori cultural night. We stayed in a Maori welcoming house and ate the traditional meal of hangi (steamed meats, fish and veg - normally potato and pumpkin) and learned the traditional maori dances - the girls learnt the poi and the guys the Hakka!! It was loads of fun and good to interact in another culture again. We should have some pretty cool dance moves to impressive you with by the time we are home!!
The next day we were a bit bussed out and decided to get off and have a break in the 'city' of Rotorua. This is the most active geothermal area pretty much in the world. There is sulphur rising from earth everywhere. Everynow and then you get a whiff of rotten eggs but it is meant to be good for colds etc. We had two nights here and i wowed Jen with my spaghetti bolognaise and shepards pie and it was good to laze around for a bit. Jen hit the Poloynesian Spa whilst i went out to another Maori village and learned the hockey kockey in Maori. It is home to the biggest geyser in NZ and they showed us how the cooked using the steam in the earth for microwaves and the natural hot pools to blanche their veg!! This was the sunniest we had so far and so it was typical the next day when we got on the bus again (same company, diff people) it rained all the way to Taupo and our skydive was cancelled. By this time we have met a really good group of people and we had all planned to jump together, so we were pretty gutted we could not go out and celebrate. They have since 'jumped' as they stayed in Taupo for an extra night but we could not wait for the next bus to Wellingotn. From what we saw of Lake Taupo it is pretty cool - it is the largest lake in the world to be formed by a volcano and you can fit Singapore into it!!!!!
On Wednesday we headed to the National Park. A lot of the Lord of the Rings was filmed around here and we attempted a one day hike around Mount Dome actually named Mount Ruapehu. Unfortunatly, after 4 hours we had to turn back because the visibility was so bad, but we still got some really cool snow pictures, yes snow and was still a rewarding tramp (thats what they cool hikeing here!!). The lodge that nite was absolutly amazing!! It was like being in a day Spa and all for about 10 pounds - it even had a log fire - heavenly!!
After all that, we are now in Wellington until Monday. Thankfully, it is a lot better than Auckland. Still on the smallish side but walked up another volcanoe this morning to be greeted with great harbour views. We do a LOT of walking, especially up volcanoes but like i say to Jen everytime - just think of the pictures!! I am now spending the afternoon catching up on jobs and its actually a sunny day so will be strolling along the harbour later whilst Jen rides the cable car! We went to the cinema last night and saw Burn after Reading - the Pitt/Clooney film (NZ seem to be really behind here so you have prob had it out already). It was the first time since i have left that i have watched TV of any form - it is absolutly crazy but really enjoyed it!! We met a girl on our second bus who had stayed in the same place as us in Fiji!! Its totally crazy like that and even more crazier that she is now in our room at the YHA here so off out for drinks tonight with Laura.
We also visited the National Museum here yesterday http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/English/ It was really good fun and will be going back to finish it off over the next couple of days. Wellington is great because all the attractions are free!! woo hoo!!
We leave here on Monday and fly to Queenstown in the South island. Its going to be a busy first week - after a few days in Queenstown we are heading up to Franz Josef Glacier to do a walk and then coming back down to Milford Sound. I am sure if you googled it you could get some idea - but will post pics as and when I can.
Sorry it is such a long post but i never have time just to sit down and update you all and its always a bit of a rush.
Hope all is well with you and will be in touch again from the snowy south soon!!
Ellen xxxxx
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
More photos for you!!
Here are some more NZ photos. Has been a busy couple of weeks but head to Wellington tomorrow for a few days so plan to update you all then!! This is us caving on tuseday. We did a 'wet' cave and a slightly more friendlier although still really cool 'dry' cave above.
This is me sandboarding in the Bay of Islands. Was so much fun and really fast, am turning into an adrealine junkie!!
This one is me in sunny auckland!! The shopping and sunshine was all about this place had going for it!!
Will update more soon over the next couple of days.
xx
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Photo Time
Here are some photos from the past few days....
This is our new friend we found today!! And this is me, obviously, in the Bay of Islands!!
New Zealand Part 1!
hello everybody!!
I cant believe we have been in New Zealand a week tomorrow and away for nearly a month! Time is going quickly now and will speed up even more im sure!
After a few days in Auckland, which i have decided is nothing that special we have been up in the Bay of Islands for the past few days. 4 hours north of Auckland and a popular tourist destination for the kiwis. It provides stunning scenery and has good village vibes.
We have been staying in a village called Paihia and yes it does have internet, woo hoo!! We went on a dolphin cruise on our first afternoon (im afraid i cant tell you what day it is or even the date now!!) but unfortunatly did not see any dolphins - even though we found out after there was a 90% chance of seeing them!! The boat ride also included a visit to the 'hole in the rocl' which is literally just that!! The boat ride has to be one of the scariest ever, it was sooo rough - there literally was holes in the ocean when the boat just smashed! Since being away i really have felt the force of mother nature - our resort pretty much got struck by lightening in Fiji - it was the loudest bang and crack i have ever heard and was also scary!! Thats twice now, i have felt very helpless against the powers of mother nature.
We had a chill out day yesterday and it rained all day, but the sun has shone today and we have walked up to the next willage of Waitangi where the treaty was signed between the english and maori chiefs. It has been very interesting and rite up my street, although it is still hard to believe it was only in 1834.
On Monday we went up to Cape Reigna which is the furthest north you can go in NZ. It was beautiful and where the Tasmin Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It was a really long day, we left at 6am and did not get back until 8.30pm. our bus broke down in the middle of the forest which was quite exciting!! We drove up 90 mile beach and went sand boarding, which was really good fun and the most extreme thing i have done so far!! The sand dunes were pretty massive. Have learnt loads about the maori culture over the past couple of days, everybody still speaks it up here and is very interesting to learn that it still has such a presence.
So we leave here this afternoon, about 4.30 to get back to Auckland hopefully by 8. We then leave first thing in the morning to pick up our bus tour. We have 12 days to get to Wellington and have decided to do the 'Peter pass' http://www.straytravel.com/north-island-travel.php see this link four route etc. we have decided to use this company 'Stray' to get around the northern island because hopefully we will see more off the beaten track and then when we go to the south island we are just going to use the national express buses to get around and try and save money that way!!
We have started cooking for ourselves now, so far the kitchens in the hostels have been brilliant so we are trying to remember all those classic uni recipes!!
Sorry if this is all a bit hit and miss. Trying to get everything done in an hour is proving to be quite difficult!!
Will try and upload some photos at some stage, have got them on disc but cant find a computer with a disc drive yet!!
Will post again soon. Miss you all
E xxxx
I cant believe we have been in New Zealand a week tomorrow and away for nearly a month! Time is going quickly now and will speed up even more im sure!
After a few days in Auckland, which i have decided is nothing that special we have been up in the Bay of Islands for the past few days. 4 hours north of Auckland and a popular tourist destination for the kiwis. It provides stunning scenery and has good village vibes.
We have been staying in a village called Paihia and yes it does have internet, woo hoo!! We went on a dolphin cruise on our first afternoon (im afraid i cant tell you what day it is or even the date now!!) but unfortunatly did not see any dolphins - even though we found out after there was a 90% chance of seeing them!! The boat ride also included a visit to the 'hole in the rocl' which is literally just that!! The boat ride has to be one of the scariest ever, it was sooo rough - there literally was holes in the ocean when the boat just smashed! Since being away i really have felt the force of mother nature - our resort pretty much got struck by lightening in Fiji - it was the loudest bang and crack i have ever heard and was also scary!! Thats twice now, i have felt very helpless against the powers of mother nature.
We had a chill out day yesterday and it rained all day, but the sun has shone today and we have walked up to the next willage of Waitangi where the treaty was signed between the english and maori chiefs. It has been very interesting and rite up my street, although it is still hard to believe it was only in 1834.
On Monday we went up to Cape Reigna which is the furthest north you can go in NZ. It was beautiful and where the Tasmin Sea meets the Pacific Ocean. It was a really long day, we left at 6am and did not get back until 8.30pm. our bus broke down in the middle of the forest which was quite exciting!! We drove up 90 mile beach and went sand boarding, which was really good fun and the most extreme thing i have done so far!! The sand dunes were pretty massive. Have learnt loads about the maori culture over the past couple of days, everybody still speaks it up here and is very interesting to learn that it still has such a presence.
So we leave here this afternoon, about 4.30 to get back to Auckland hopefully by 8. We then leave first thing in the morning to pick up our bus tour. We have 12 days to get to Wellington and have decided to do the 'Peter pass' http://www.straytravel.com/north-island-travel.php see this link four route etc. we have decided to use this company 'Stray' to get around the northern island because hopefully we will see more off the beaten track and then when we go to the south island we are just going to use the national express buses to get around and try and save money that way!!
We have started cooking for ourselves now, so far the kitchens in the hostels have been brilliant so we are trying to remember all those classic uni recipes!!
Sorry if this is all a bit hit and miss. Trying to get everything done in an hour is proving to be quite difficult!!
Will try and upload some photos at some stage, have got them on disc but cant find a computer with a disc drive yet!!
Will post again soon. Miss you all
E xxxx
Friday, 3 October 2008
BULA!!!
Bula everybody (hello in Fijian!!)
Wow what an amazing two weeks. We are now safely in Auckland and slowly getting used to 'real' life again. Two weeks without internet, phones or any form of communication really was great, no watch, no shoes, it really was paradise.
The flight from San Fran to Fiji was the longest we will have to do, but air new zealand were amazing!! I even ate all of the food, a constant supply of new zealand wine for dinner and bubbly for breakfast, why not hey!!
Nadi, on the main island of Fiji really is a dump! Everyone kept telling me there really is nothing there and they are sooo right! you feel like you are in a completly different country - mainly india - after two weeks on the Waya island that we visited.
We stayed at Octopus resort which was amazing! The sun shone for the majority of the time and im now sporting a nice tan! When it did rain, it was tropical, cleared the air and then was sunnier than ever!
The resort has close links with the local villahe - Nalawayki - the majority of staff at the resort live in the village. We ended up going to the village four times - church two sundays in a row!! once to visit the kindergarten and another time for a general tour, kava ceremony and a meke show from the villagers, and oh cant forget the craft market!
Church was amazing. Maybe my highlight, the signing from the tiny choir and the passion that they sing and preach with brought me to tears. they have nothing at this village, live in tin houses but yet want for nothing and you can feel the love and happiness in the air. On the second sunday we went there was a christening. It was such a special and personal moment for the family yet we were privileged enough to be involved.
The kindergarten was really great, the kids sang us nursey rhymes in enlgish! I really need to learn another language if these kids can speak two and yet have nothing - it was brilliant. the older children of the village board on another island - which is funded by the resort - the people are eternally grateful.
When we went over for the Meke show it was lots of singing, dancing and laughing. But this time we recognised a lot of the villagers from working at the resort and vice versa so they got us up doing the conga and 'shaking it' around the village!! It was great!
The rest of the time we spent chilling by the pool, reading and walking the amazing beach! The food was great too, 3 full meals a day we really are stuffed and its nice to feel a little hungry now! Everyone should visit Fiji in their life!
Now we are in Auckland, its Friday early evening and we arrived yesterday. We leave here on Sunday to do a tour to the tip of NZ where the two oceans meet and to go to the Bay of Islands which is North east of here. We are then coming back here for the nite to decide which company to use to get us down to Wellington. We will have 12 days left before we then fly to Queenstown so will be plenty of time! Its def going to be alot more active than Fiji time was!
Auckland is good - its safe, has everything we need and the hostel have been fab in helping us plan our trip but its not san fran!! everything is very spread out here so we are planning to venture a bit further afield tomorrow. We have been practical today, been and bought food so we can cook the next few nites, bought a really cool quicksliver hoody for 18 pounds and then tonite we are going to treat ourselves and yes you guessed it.....do our washing!!!!
I have managed to upload my pictures so far (all 281) onto disc but for some reason this computer does not like it! so will try again when im next online!
I think thats pretty much it for now...thanks for all your updates its great to hear what you are all up to...and i will reply eventually its just 30mins really does fly when your on here and no time for even face book faffing!!
Miss you all but really am having the exeperience of my life.
Lots of love xxxxxxxxx
Wow what an amazing two weeks. We are now safely in Auckland and slowly getting used to 'real' life again. Two weeks without internet, phones or any form of communication really was great, no watch, no shoes, it really was paradise.
The flight from San Fran to Fiji was the longest we will have to do, but air new zealand were amazing!! I even ate all of the food, a constant supply of new zealand wine for dinner and bubbly for breakfast, why not hey!!
Nadi, on the main island of Fiji really is a dump! Everyone kept telling me there really is nothing there and they are sooo right! you feel like you are in a completly different country - mainly india - after two weeks on the Waya island that we visited.
We stayed at Octopus resort which was amazing! The sun shone for the majority of the time and im now sporting a nice tan! When it did rain, it was tropical, cleared the air and then was sunnier than ever!
The resort has close links with the local villahe - Nalawayki - the majority of staff at the resort live in the village. We ended up going to the village four times - church two sundays in a row!! once to visit the kindergarten and another time for a general tour, kava ceremony and a meke show from the villagers, and oh cant forget the craft market!
Church was amazing. Maybe my highlight, the signing from the tiny choir and the passion that they sing and preach with brought me to tears. they have nothing at this village, live in tin houses but yet want for nothing and you can feel the love and happiness in the air. On the second sunday we went there was a christening. It was such a special and personal moment for the family yet we were privileged enough to be involved.
The kindergarten was really great, the kids sang us nursey rhymes in enlgish! I really need to learn another language if these kids can speak two and yet have nothing - it was brilliant. the older children of the village board on another island - which is funded by the resort - the people are eternally grateful.
When we went over for the Meke show it was lots of singing, dancing and laughing. But this time we recognised a lot of the villagers from working at the resort and vice versa so they got us up doing the conga and 'shaking it' around the village!! It was great!
The rest of the time we spent chilling by the pool, reading and walking the amazing beach! The food was great too, 3 full meals a day we really are stuffed and its nice to feel a little hungry now! Everyone should visit Fiji in their life!
Now we are in Auckland, its Friday early evening and we arrived yesterday. We leave here on Sunday to do a tour to the tip of NZ where the two oceans meet and to go to the Bay of Islands which is North east of here. We are then coming back here for the nite to decide which company to use to get us down to Wellington. We will have 12 days left before we then fly to Queenstown so will be plenty of time! Its def going to be alot more active than Fiji time was!
Auckland is good - its safe, has everything we need and the hostel have been fab in helping us plan our trip but its not san fran!! everything is very spread out here so we are planning to venture a bit further afield tomorrow. We have been practical today, been and bought food so we can cook the next few nites, bought a really cool quicksliver hoody for 18 pounds and then tonite we are going to treat ourselves and yes you guessed it.....do our washing!!!!
I have managed to upload my pictures so far (all 281) onto disc but for some reason this computer does not like it! so will try again when im next online!
I think thats pretty much it for now...thanks for all your updates its great to hear what you are all up to...and i will reply eventually its just 30mins really does fly when your on here and no time for even face book faffing!!
Miss you all but really am having the exeperience of my life.
Lots of love xxxxxxxxx
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