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Apr 18th 2007�Kia Ora!� Back in Melbourne now in good ol oz!� Found a house to live in, yay, and signed up for agencies for that work thing after 6months holidaying!!� But before I get to all that here?s what I got up to in my 5wk adventure trip woth Stef around NZ .....�
First stop was Christchurchwhere I met Stef at the airport and got ourselves settled for a few days.� Christchurch is known as the most 'english' city in nz and it really is!� The centre is marked by the cathedral with a big open square where there?s always entertainment on, trams run through the whole city or you can always go river punting!� We were so lucky with the weather the whole time we were there really.� The botanical gardens are lovely, especially the rose garden and anyone going should also check out the Canterbury museum, art gallery and sunday markets at the Arts Centre for loadsa cheap stuff.� We were lucky enough to be in Christchurch for St Paddys Day where the celebrations at the pub next to our hostel started at 9.30am!!� Had really good time, may have suffered for it the next day tho and managed to get an irish flag painted on us too!
Our first journey on the 'magic bus' was up to Kaikoura, a beautiful seaside town where you can go whale watching or swimming with dolphins.� We walked along to the seal colony (trying to save money!) they're bloomin huge and were right next to us too!� The sea looked gorgeous and we were surrounded by mountains.� Our hostel was so cute, a pine lodge that opened out right into the mountains, not bad for backpacker accommodation!�
To cross over the Cook Strait onto the North island we had to take a 3hr ferry from Picton across to Wellington, the windiest place ive ever been too and capital of nz.� Ive never been on a ferry before, really big with cinema inside and loadsa food places!� We sat sunbathing on deck til we were right out into the sea, passing through lush green rolling mountains on our way out.� Wellington City is on the southbanks of the north island and a lot of the houses and buildings are built right into the mountains, really cool to see!� We took the cable car up to the botanical gardens where we got amazing views of the whole city and sea (the cable car was actually a tram running up the side of the mountain!)� Next stop was a visit to the famous Te Papa museum, we spent about 5 hrs there, its huge!! 5 floors of everything u can imagine and so much info on the native maori people.� One thing I noticed was how diff the NZ approach to the maori people is, full of respect and dedicated to teaching about their culture, not like the aussies are towards the aboriginals for sure!� In the museum got my first taste of the maori huts and all their symbolic cool carvings too.� I also learnt that the kiwi fruit actually comes from China, shock horror gasp!!�
From Wellington we headed up to Napier, the 'Art Deco Capital of NZ'.� On our way there we stopped at a wildlife centre to see the nocturnal kiwi in real life, i always thought they were really small animals but they?re like oversized chickens with huge long and pointy beaks!� Also saw a Tuatara, one of the world?s oldest reptiles and native to NZ.� Next stop was a Tui brewery where for $2 we got 3 proper pints, sweet as!� The museum there was pretty cool, covered in all their silly and sarcastic ads!� Then into Napier; this town was completely destroyed in 1931 by a massive earthquake and when they rebuilt it the whole style was art deco.� Set on the coastline it?s a really nice pretty town and it was cool to wander round the shops and look at all the buildings too.� Our accommodation for the night was not so pretty - a prison, yes an actual prison!� Pretty eerie place, the rooms were fine but other parts had been left just as they were when the prison was operational, complete with cells and some even had figures in ooerr!� The shower block was what freaked me out the most, one open room with little tiny shower compartments in shielded by half doors, ive never showered so fast in my life, felt like being on Most Haunted!!� Got a surprisingly good nights sleep tho and it was experience!�
As we left we went to the Huka Falls, a waterfall which, although looks pretty small, actually throws over 200,000l of water over each second, it really roars as it goes over!� Some crazy kiwis actually try and kayak down it, they're madder than the ozzies!� Then into Rotorua, famous for its maori culture and geothermal activity.� In the parks they have large areas of natural boiling mud pools and geysers, the whole place is filled with steam, it even comes out of the gutters in the street, and man does it smell!!� The sulphur just lingers in the air, some parts smelt like smokey bacon crisps tho which wasn?t so bad compared to the rotten eggs smell!� Despite the smell tho I really like it there, set on a huge beautiful lake with grassy banks, was looking forward to going back there on our way back down to the south island.�
Our stop for the night was Mt Maunganui, a large strip of land with the mountain at the end, on either side of the strip are beaches, one side a surfers dream and the other much calmer.� I sat on the beach chilling and got to watch the most perfect sunset, ah what a life ay!�
Then up through Thames to Auckland City.� I didnt really like it here much, very busy and bustly, hilly and lots of high rise buildings and steep streets, felt squished, got used to my big open spaces now!� The main attraction here is the Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, so the kiwis decided to let u jump off it!!� Its pretty mad standing under it and just seeing someone come flying towards to u ha ha!! If u look at my pic that little black dot to the left of the tower is someone jumpin!� The harbourside is nice with its own bridge which again u can bungy off and y not ay!� But when they first started this they noticed sharks circling underneath ready for the next person taking the plunge so now they have nets around the bottom!� So yeah u can climb the bridge and then err jump off, cant see them letting you do that from the Sydney Harbour bridge!� The harbour is filled with yachts and boats, which is y the city is also known as the 'City of Sails'.� We also got a chance to visit a guy who lives there that me & Stef were with in Sydney so that was really cool visiting his apartment and catching up. �
After a couple of nights we started our 2day trip to the Bay of Islands, driving through the Waipoua forest with the oldest Kauri tree in the world, Tane Mahuta, meaning ?God of the Forest?, I reckon I saw bigger trees in oz but still pretty impressive!� Then we made a random stop at Opononi and watched a video about a dolphin that made the area so famous, better explain, in 1950?s a lone dolphin followed fishermen and started visiting the harbour doing tricks for the locals.� Human contact with a dolphin had never been made before so it became a massive tourist trap, sadly ?Opo? died a year later, some say it was killed by fishermen who were tired of the tourists tho it was never proven.� They still have a statue and memorial plaque for Opo now, sniff sniff.� Waitangi is where the famous Waitangi treaty was signed between the government and the maori chiefs, this is a mega important document outlining the laws and rights of the maori people, although it is still under heavy dispute even today.� Then finally we arrived at Paihia in the heart of the bay of islands.� This northland area is known as the ?birthplace of the nation? as its where Europeans first settled and where the treaty was first signed.� The bay holds over 100 islands in it that you can do boat tours round, kayaking and loads of other activities.� We spent the night at a local bar where u got a raffle ticket every time you got a drink, between us we won 2-for1 kayaking, 2-for-1 sailing and 1hr free internet, not bad ay!?� The next day I went by ferry across to Russel, one of the oldest settlements in NZ and where NZ?s oldest church ?Christs Church? built in 1836 still runs.� Some of the graves are from the people that died defending the land during the land wars between Europeans and Maori that lasted over 100yrs.� I climbed the steep flagstaff hill and got amazing views of all the islands, if it was a clearer day would have seen lots more.� On one side of the hill there was a huge sundial mounted on a mosaic map of the islands and on the other side was a flagstaff from one of the war ships mounted as a memorial.�
Back into Auckland we did a free day tour that took you to all different places and landmarks in and around Auckland, well worth doing.� We visited so many places including a current Maori settlement, one of the most highly regarded in nz.� Next was mission bay where we sat on the beach with our hokey pokey ice cream, this ice cream is soooooo gooood, vanilla ice cream with pieces of hokey pokey (or honeycomb to u guys back home) mixed in it, mmmmm, try it!!� Next was Mt Eden an old volcano, Auckland is filled with 48 active and non active volcanoes!� The crater at Mt Eden is huge, you can walk around it but not into it as its considered sacred by the maori, a maori chief got stabbed and killed there once.� However one day that didn?t stop a group of Uni students filling the crater with tyres and setting them alight before notifying the police that Mt Eden was about to erupt!!� The town beneath was evacuated as the smoke piled out and even the forces were too scared to go up and investigate, it wasn?t until later that they discovered they?d been part of a great April Fools day prank, doh!�
Next time to leave Auckland for the last time (yay!) and head to the east to the Coromandel.� Unfortunately the weather had turned really bad, there was a cyclone going on in the Bay of Isles and so we caught the edge of it, meant that our trip to the Coromandel was kina ruined.� At Hot Water Beach, due to the underlying geothermal current you should be able to dig into the sand and literally have your own hot spa pool, we couldn?t try this cos the weather was so bad although some of the group still got their spades out to try!� We visited Cathedral Cove, a cathedral shaped rock formation set down on the beachfront, on the postcards this place looked great but again the weather took the splendour away from it.� So in all the bad weather what else could we do but go wine tasting with a Lou Carpenter lookalike, seriously, check out my pics, he couldn?t look more like Lou if he tried!� At night we hit the pubs and a few of the group joined in the karaoke night, not me tho, its for the best trust me!�
Next day we travelled down to Waitomo with only 3 of us on the bus, sweet as!� After a lot of peer pressure I got talked into going black water rafting in the caves, in the pitch black!!� I was dead scared but it was actually awesome! We got kitted up in our wetsuits, wellies and headlight, see the pics to c how cool we looked!� Then with our rubber rings in hand we hot the caves.� Some parts were really cramped and closed in and then we hit the water and went cruising through the cave system, lights out!� The whole cave was lit up with tiny blue lights, gloworms, so cool!� Our guides told us all about them and moved us forwards and backwards through the caves.� At one point we had to fall straight back down a ledge into the water and got to go down a slide too!� Showers and soup were well received at the end, got soaked!� In the evening we hit Rotorua again (that smelly place!) and spent the evening at the Tamaki Maori village.� This is a maori village where true maori decendents dress up and act jut like they did so long ago.� The welcoming ceremony was pretty scary at first, they acted like they do at the beginning of rubgy matches in the Haka with their war dance, pulling intimidating faces, making their eyes and tongues pop out and jumping around stamping their feet and shouting a lot!� But they let us in anyway and then gave us a concert with singing and dancing, was really awesome and they all looked great, but then the backpackers dream, an all you could eat buffet cooked in the traditional Hangi (underground for hrs)!!� It was so so good I will remember that food for the rest of my life!!� The lamb melted in ur mouth, we had king size mussles and so so so much food!� When we thought we couldn?t eat any more they bought out a selection of puddings inc custard and cream!� When ur backpacking u really value ur food, we were all so excited ha!� I don?t think my stomach has ever expanded so much, if u go to Rotorua, u have to do this!!�
Next day still with full stomachs we went to Taupo famous for having the cheapest skydive in NZ.� Taupo is set alongside a huge lake, bigger in size than Singapore!� The lake is actually a water filled volcano crater!� At the far side of the lake is an active volcano which scientists say is 500yrs overdue and eruption, hmm great!� Really nice town and so picturesque with the mountains round it.� Stef did her 1st ever skydive at 12,000ft, well done u!� I really wanted to do the Tongariro crossing but the weather wasn?t good enough for it.� This is a famous crossing through the Tongarito national park, where some of Lord of the Rings was filled, supposed to be a 6-8hr walk through some of the most amazing scenery in nz!�As we left Taupo to go down to Wellington our driver stopped along the desert road (most dangerous road in nz for crashes) and told us to look around.� On one side of the road was just flat desert, on the other a small mountain range and then a huge volcano just standing out in the desert, Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings!!� Looked pretty scary too and we were well far away and it was a sunny day too, huge tho, didn?t spot any hobbits!�
After a night in Wellington we said bye to the north island and headed back to the south and down to Nelson.� A group of spent the day at the Abel Tasman National Park which was just so amazing!� A scenic ferry ride take you over to Torrent Bay and then the coastal walk high up on the tracks commences.� I never knew places like this existed in nz!� Lush green rainforest, changing for the autumn, bright blue sea and golden sandy bay beaches, and the weather was perfect.� The whole walk took us about 5hrs but was so worth it for such stunning scenery.� And I amazingly met up with Lisa, a girl me and Penny spent some days with back in Sydney in Dec, random!�
Next stop was Greymouth ranked by some as the most boring place in nz, I wouldn?t go that far but one night was enough, nothing there really just a small, very small, town and hmm yeah that?s it!� Leaving Greymouth we did a couple of coastal walks and visited Punakaiki famous for its pancake rock formations in the sea ? huge rocks with lots of tiny pancake like layers.�
Franz Josef is one of the rainiest places in nz with rain approx 200 days of the year, they even measure the rain in metres and not mm!� Franz Josef is a glacier and is right next to Fox Glacier and the Southern Alps, and Mount Cook (highest mt in nz) and Mt Tasman.� Such stunning and spectacular scenery how could I possible see the best of it all, on such a clear day I just had to go jumpin outta plane again!� Some poor guy had been waiting there a whole week for the weather to clear to do it, its ranked as the best scenic skydive in the world and it truly was! I was absolutely petrified doing it, I dunno why cos I did the one in oz no worries, maybe it was the sheer size of the glaciers and mountains, I dunno!� The 20min scenic flight up to 12,000 ft was amazing anyway, we were so close to the mountain and glaciers and the crazy kiwis let you take ur own camera up wen u junp outta the plane, sounded like a crazy thing to do but hey I did it anyway and got some wicked shots of the scenery and me with my parachute!� At one point we just in a cloud and you couldn?t see anything, was amazing but freaky as well, glad wen I could c� the cloud.� If u get the chance to skydive here do it!� Next afternoon I did a half day glacier hike which was one of the best things Ive done!� The glacier was huge and we were all suited up in the proper gear, including mittens ha ha!� The hike was for a couple of hours onto the face of the glacier, some bits were bit scary but so amazing.� Franz Josef glacier is the fastest moving in the world with new caves and crevasses forming all the time, the guides always have to carry pick axes to hack new paths in the ice as it changes so quick.� We went through a tiny cave and very very narrow crevasse that wasn?t there a week ago!�
Queenstown is the adventure capital of nz where u can do everything from river boarding, bungy jumping and paragliding to canyon swinging and a whole heap more!� I was good and saved my money to enjoy a day at Milford Sound, on Easter Sunday actually and what an amazing day!� The drive to Milford Sound is around 5 hrs but you stop the whole time and the scenery is just spectacular it really is!� Ive never seen mountain so big, I felt like a tiny dot and just cannot put into words how amazing it was!� We did a ferry cruise along Milford Sound right out into the Tasman Sea where we passed the most incredible mountains and natural waterfalls, seeing seals along the day, it was just amazing, got u all choked up!� At one point in the ferry we went right under a huge waterfall, ive never been so close to a waterfall especially one coming from so high it was awesome! The whole day was perfect and money well spent, theres no way you can come to nz and do this, the most amzing scenery Ive ever seen!� Queenstown itself is set against a lake and in the middle of the Remarkables mountain range.� Such a nice place I really liked it there.� We rode the Gondola high up the mountain to get views of the City and watched all the paragliders.� It was mad even from our hostel we could see them coming down and they landed so near us!� Def one of my fav places in nz!� Our last night there we visited a bar where they serve cocktails by the teapot, yes the teapot, ohh a dangerous game!�
Dunedin is where I got to visit the Cadburys chocolate factory.� The chocolate in oz is really terrible cos they put an anti-freezing agent in it so it was good to be in nz where the choc is so much better, still not as good as at home tho!� Got loadsa freebies yay, no oompa lumpas tho! At night we went to the cinema to see kiwi film, ?Black Sheep? we thought it was a funny kids film but I will never look at sheep the same way again!!!!� Killer sheep getting revenge on humans by turning them into sheep, its funny gruesome and gory, just sick!� Visited the highlights of Dunedin, art gallery and museum and then so bored. Was glad to leave!� As we left Dunedin we visited the world?s steepest street!� We were bent over almost at right angles trying to get up it, I was well out of breath!� Funny seeing the house against the street too at such an angle!� I thought Stanley street was steep but no ways compared to this!� How can people live on a street like that!� On the way down one guy started running, looked like he had a rocket up his bum and I bet he couldn?t stopped if u offered him a million bucks!!�
Lake Tekapo is a lovely place, with beautiful bluey green lake and surrounded by mountains with the southern alps in the distance, a really great place.� Famous for the tiny ?Church of the Good Shepherd? which is so picturesque cos of the surroundings people delay their wedding here if the weather is bad just so they get good pics!� At night we had a group BBQ, my last night on the magic bus and helped someone celebrate their 21st, sweet as!�
My last day on the magic bus and back into Christchurch, time flew by so so quickly!� Visited the Antarctic Centre, the City is closest significant one to Antarctica and is visited loads by explorers.� In the centre they have a wind chill room complete with proper ice where they recreate an ice storm.� Suited in our big coats and boots we waited for the storm and then the normal -5 temp began to drop!� The wind chill at 25kmph dropped the temp to -18 and then for a split second it went to 45kmph and -45, I thought my lil nose was gunna drop pff!!� For real its much colder, coldest recorded temp in antarctica is -78, yikes!� So cold you would die within 1min!� The whole centre was so well set out with loadsa vids, pics and info boards really cool place!� They even had tiny blue penguins there and we got to watch feeding time, so funny seeing them slipping and sliding around!� So then that was it, last day in Christchurch spent souvenir shopping and hanging around.� Then at night farewell drinks with Stef and someone from Rothwell!!� Almost forgot, stef met a guy from Rothwell called Simon, he?s heading back there next week so pop in the Charter and see if u can find him!� I never recognised him but he did me and said he even saw me in Sydney so many months ago, small world ay!�
So, nz was great, loved the scenery, the pies ? oh they do such such good pies, the ice cream, the chocolate mmmm.� Would def love to go back to the south island and get a car to explore it more!�
Now back in Melbourne where the sun is still shining and Im back to being 9hrs ahead of u all back in UK!� Ive accepted a room in a house in Richmond, 10mins from the city centre and am moving on in on Sunday so we?ll see how that goes!� Signed up to agencies too so now just waiting for all the offers to come rolling in ha ha!� Gunna b a real reality shock getting back to work but guess Ive had the most amazing 6 months since I left home and sure the funs not gunna stop just yet!�
So if u or anyone u know is heading to Melbourne between now and August 21st, let me know!�
Ang xx�
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