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Bahram's World Tour 2006
First of all I want to send out a huge congratulations to Noel and Vicki on their first-born child Harrison. Sorry I couldn't be there for the birth guys, glad to hear mother and child are doing well. Uncle Bahram will be home for Christmas though and I will see you all then.
Now, New Zealand and what a wicked country this is. Arriving in Auckland and setting up base for the knockout stages of the World cup although it was rather hard getting up for England v Ecuador which started at 3am NZ time, all good though as it gave everyone an excuse to stay up all night for a good drinking session. This was the case for England v Portugal as well but not many people wanted to hang around after we lost again, to big Phil, again, on penalties, again!
Anyway, enough of football, Auckland was a cool city, the biggest city in New Zealand with a million people, compare that to London and it's a small town. Went to a Maori culture show at the Auckland museum where I saw the Haka at first hand and witnessed how Maori people lived before the British settled here.
I caught a bus tour around the country, much like the Kiwi experience but Stray go a little bit more off the beaten track and are not full of 17-19 year olds that get pissed up after 3 beers. I wanted to have a good time as well as experiencing everything New Zealand has to offer.
Went up to the bay of islands for a few days where the first British settlement took place in Pahai and the treaty of Waitangi was singed, making New Zealand part of the British Empire. On the way to Pahai we stopped off at a bird sanctuary where we got to see and touch a Kiwi bird, the only Kiwi bird in the country, which the public can hold and see up close, as they are now a dying breed. This little fella had his leg caught in a possum trap hence why he only has one leg, poor little guy. We also got to see a Tui bird; these birds can talk to you like you are having a normal conversation with someone, amazing birds.
Went dolphin watching up in Pahai but we didn't get the chance to swim with them as the pods had children with them, which was a shame.
Onto a small village called Hahai and we cooked ourselves up a wicked bbq after which we sat in front of a campfire whilst drinking some beers. Australia was playing New Zealand in the rugby so we went down to a first station to watch it, yes a fire station. This town was so small that everyone congregated in the fire station to watch big sporting events, was good fun and got talking to some local kiwi's, they are mad people but good fun. Raglan was next, a small surfing town. That night getting pretty wasted whilst playing piggyback pool, don't ask! The next morning was the world cup final and the infamous Zidane head butt. We were planning to leave the hostel at 8:30am as we had caving booked at Waitomo for 10am. It goes to extra time and then it comes down to penalties, on which point Nance, our bus driver decides its time to leave, everyone thought she was joking being the joker that she is but she wasn't. Fair enough it is 8:30am and it is what we had arranged, but an extra 10 min to watch some penalties won't do any harm. The result, we missed the penalty shootout, as we had to leave, later finding out the score from a text message one of the guys got. Unbelievable, especially as the caving didn't start till half 10, AAAAARRRGGHH!!
Anyhoot, the caving was pretty cool, I went for the Max power of abseiling and rock climbing inside caves, I didn't really read much on the excursion which I probably should have done as I wasn't expecting such a tough physical challenge. Riding up in a wicked little pink Japanese bus and having my picture taken in front of it in my sexy wet suite was all worthwhile. The glowworms inside the caves were pretty cool, they were everywhere!
We went onto Rotorua, a great little place but does it smell or what. The geysers and volcanic activity in this place makes it smell of rotten eggs as a result of the sulphur. That night we went to a Maori culture night, where the ladies were taught the dance which involved a ball on a piece of string, (so not manly at all) and the guys were taught the Haka (very manly). I can still remember the Haka to this day, so if anyone tried to attack me I will perform the Haka on them and that should scare them off.
Antonio and I shared a Zorb together (that's not an ice lolly if you are wondering), a big rubber ball full of hot water and rolling down a hill. Sounds simple and stupid but so much fun. We tried to keep our balance and run all the way down the hill, but the moment the guy sprayed us with cold water making Antonio and I fall head over tit on each other and then rolling us down the hill, it gave us no chance.
Taupo and the unsuccessful attempt of a skydive. For some reason the yanks on the bus got dibs on going first, so by the time it came to our turn the weather had turned for the worst and we couldn't go up. Ben and Alex had even got all kitted up looking the part but were cruelly told they couldn't go up. Gave me even more reason to dislike the loud mouthed, obnoxious yanks on the bus.
Wellington the capital of New Zealand is a vibrant city, reminded me a bit of San Fran in it's jazz bars and good nightlife. Ended up in a Welsh bar one night, which was converted from public toilets, the things people think of.
Abel Tasman and this is where Ben, Alex and I got our skydiving opportunity. Glad we waited until here because the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and the scenery was amazing. I wasn't nervous at all going up in the plane until I saw Ben hang out the door and see him spiralling down from 13,000ft, that's the point where I pooped my pants. The first few seconds was sensory overload, spinning round and round I had no idea where I was, but then the feeling of hurtling towards the ground at 160mph was awesome. The parachute went and the guy was so cool he let me control the parachute, which he shouldn't have done really cause I was making us spin round and round, I enjoyed it but I think I was making him feel sick so he took control of the parachute.
Franz Joseph Glacier, only 4 glaciers of its kind in the world which has been formed on land between mountains, Fox Glacier also being in New Zealand which is just down the road from Franz Joseph, Patagonia in Argentina and another one in Chile. Taking a ¾ day hike up this glacier was awesome, this thing is huge. Once you get to the top, the glacier is the size of Auckland, which is a pretty big lump of ice. Climbing through ice tunnels and caves was good fun, was very tempted to lick the ice, but was scared of a dumb and dumber moment happening, and having to be chiselled out of the ice and being choppered down with a block of ice attached to my tongue.
Queenstown and party time, this place is so much fun. Spent 3 days skiing, which was good, and partied hard on our last night there.
Visiting a farm in Invercargill where we had the opportunity to shear some sheep. It's a kiwi superstition that they must have one black sheep in each flock, weirdo's. Stopped off at the best fish and chip shop in the world on our way to Dunedin and the biggest ice creams ever for 40p, sweeet as bro. Dunedin was where most of the Scots settled and is actually Celtic for Edinburgh. Visited Kaikoura for a few days, which was cool, a nice little town, and some amazing views, although had a bit of a scary moment when some bulls came charging at me whilst I was hiking through a treck on the side of a cliff, I legged it and jumped over the fence. The site of them jumping up and down and waiting right by the fence for my return to devour me was a bit freaky.
My final stop in New Zealand and Christchurch is very much an English city. Head to Sydney in a few days but not before I live it up a bit more in Kiwi land which I must say have a bigger drinking culture than England, which I thought was not possible, but there you go.
Gonna leave it there, nearly 6 months through my travels and it's flown by, only 4 and a bit months left, need to make the most of it. Adios amigos
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