New Zealand

Hello again,

I hope you are all well. Don't read anything into our recent lack of posts, we are still alive and we still love all of you blogees, but its difficult to have time to blog on the move (NZ) and when there is no internet to blog with (Fiji). So to make up for a few weeks of neglect - I'm going to blog you up-to-date over the next couple of days!

Firstly can I say that we're safe and sound in San Francisco, and appear to be jet-lag free at the time of writing. Soon after writing this I'm going to have my second night's sleep so all should be well (same for Chris and Laura). For the first time in the trip you guys are ahead of us time-wise (8 hours whilst we are on the West coast) so enjoy your eight hour head start to the day.

So, back to NZ:

Tuesday 10th April - We leave Taupo earlyish and head to Rotorua as planned. At this point I have a full blown cold (my second in NZ) and so have no sense of smell - which is fortunate as Rotorua centre has a fairly pungent sulphur smell (eggy/fart smell for those of you unfamiliar with sulphur) due to our volcanic surroundings. After lunch we head out to a volcanic spring for a dip. We continue driving around Rotorua and head out to do Zorbing, a crazy activity where they stick you in a big plastic ball filled with warm water (which maintains your sitting position) and roll you down a hill (think of that Gladiators event with the cage balls but its clear rubber and downhill with water!). Laura, Chris and Andy do a triple wet ball and get soaked (but love it). I'm denied an attempt at a waterless solo run down the hill (there is a hall of fame for those who have done it without falling over at all!) so assume photographer duties. In the afternoon we drive to Hamilton which was a planned stopping point but no hostel space means we continue onto Auckland a day early (Hamilton does have a 'Cheesecake Shop' though - Ipswich locals should know of that - Laura threatens violence if we don't stop there so we do and all enjoy cheesecake!). Auckland reminds us of Sydney a bit but with added large hills in the city. For example, the drive up to the Auckland hostel has pretty much a 45 degree slope!. We arrive at night so have a budget $6 chinese buffet in a box for dinner - a mixed bag/box in terms of taste and texture (for me, cold still rife).

Wednesday 11th April - Me and Chris rise early to return our loyal hire car, only to find its been broken into. Nothing's missing but a small rear door window is smashed in and the steering column has suffered an unsuccessful hot wire attempt. Quick phone calls follow to the hire company who have been made aware of the break-in already by the police during the night and apparently all is well as long as we can drive it!! We return the car, where they sting us with a $90 tire damage extra (watch out for that one - check your tires when you pick up a hire car!). We explore Auckland (already a tad annoyed at the place) and find that theres one huge street through the middle where everything pretty much sits. Chris, Laura and I attempt to book our boat tour of Fiji with varying degrees of success. One failed booking later we go to STA Travel who sort out the long process for us. With very little activity in the city centre we go up the most obvious tourist attraction the Sky Tower (tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere and visible pretty much all over the city). Having watched someone jump off the tower from a great height (in a harness of course), Chris and I decide this would be fun so pay our money and prepare to wait. We all head up to look at the panoramas of Auckland, and down at the red target square where jumpers descend to (its far away). We head down again to jump and are put in our blue suits and harnesses and a whisked back up to jump down(!). After a short wait Chris goes first and then I follow. Each jump takes around 5 minutes to prepare for (checking your gear, hooking you onto two harnesses and a huge wheel of wire), a ten second leap off/wait of faith where they take your photo dangling off the tower and a further ten seconds to complete the jump down. A great rush and a good laugh (see the video in the previous blog for more detail). For those who have watched the video and are unsure of my jump attempt, my wild movements are not in fear, they in jest! In the evening we have a few drinks in some local bars.

Thursday 12th April - More exploring and walking around Auckland. We collect our Fiji tour tickets (having had to pay more because we were quoted last year's prices which changed on April 1st). In the afternoon Chris and Laura go to the Auckland Harbour Bridge which AJ Hackett allow people to bungy off in an attempt to find a I [Heart] NZ t-shirt. Unfortunately theres no shop like in AJ Hackett Queenstown so the trip is a disappointing one. They apparently get rained on too. Andy and I go to the big cinema to watch Danny Boyle's space thriller Sunshine (and as such avoid the bulk of the rain). Its very good. In the evening we say goodbye to Andy and New Zealand in traditional style...a Japanese meal (ok...not so traditional then!). We try sushi and tempura and its an all-round nice end to our time in NZ.

Friday 13th April (ooooh!) - Andy leaves us early in the morning for his 7am flight to Sydney, I wake up a few hours later and am sure I saw a random stranger doing a text on his phone sat in the dark of our room (Chris see's nothing). We leave for the airport mid-morning and with little fuss board our to Air Pacific plane to Fiji but discover that they run on Fiji time (where timings and deadlines are slightly streched to take into account the relaxed nature of the locals) so we leave a bit late. We arrive in Fiji three hours later where the skies are cloudy but its fairly warm and humid and go to our accomodation in Nadi (you don't fly into the capital Suva). We get a warm (literally - haha) welcome from everyone particularly at our hostel Smugglers Cove which is really nice (it has a piratey theme hence the name) which has fortunately got air conditioned dorms. We have a nice meal and enjoy some Fiji Gold Stubbies (ENG Translation: Fiji Lager bottled).

I think I'll leave that for now. I'm unsure whether to continue with the whole date thing, but it might work for Fiji. If anyone has a huge issue with my use of dates use the comments section to complain and we'll choose to ignore as appropriate!

So to bed for me shortly. It is strange to think that you lot are now enjoying the day before us (most of it while we sleep). We're also closer to home than ever before and there's an intangible sense of the denouement to our trip rushing up on us (hows that for some pyscho-analysis and use of big words!?) despite just over three weeks to go.

Anyway, on that reflective note take care all and speak soon!
Richard

Morning All, If you'd like to see a short video of the Auckland Sky Tower and what me and Rich did on it head over to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGhdNUth5_w and it's there for all to see.

Chris

Hey Everyone,

Can I first apologise that its taken so long to write up our New Zealand experiences, I don't know what our excuse is but its certainly not valid, so hopefully I'll make up for it now.

Secondly - a Happy Easter to one and all!

Right, to help keep this brief (theres lots to cram in) Chris has a suggested a day-by-day brief activity description so I'll give that a go!

This is the link for our Kiwi Experience South Island route, this will contain more info than this entry!
http://www.kiwiexperience.com/Default.aspx?DN=f4251fc8-be62-47e5-b9e8-f219a26fe600

Thu 22nd March - We arrive in Christchurch (Ch-Ch) at about 11:30pm, get a taxi and drive into the city to find our accomodation. We're struck by how much Ch-Ch looks like a British city/town on our way in, but then again it is dark. Its also cold!

Frid 23rd March - We get up early to join the Kiwi Experience bus tour. Our nights sleep wasn't the best and we generally have a poor view of our hostel at Base Backpackers because of this. We get on the Kiwi Experience minibus driven by a guy called Greg. We drive out of Ch-Ch and take a few walks in the southern Alps. We meet up with the big bus and our new driver Ginny (not that one!) and go to Westport where I (Rich) does Jetboating and Laura and Chris do Horse Trekking. In the evening we have a few drinks and a bonfire down on the beach where we can literally see millions of stars!

Sat 24th March - Our bus stops at various impressive natural stops, including Pancake Rocks (they look like a stack of pancakes) and we do several walks. In the afternoon we arrive in Mahinapua and do some shopping to get an outfit for our superhero themed pub night at the 'Poo Pub' in the middle of no-where, who's owner is 82 and who passes on his cold to half the bus. We rip off Captain Planet (for those of you who remember that) and go as Captain P!sshead and the P!ssheads with some mates on the bus, who have the power to give you a good time. Very lame but a good laugh and a good chance to get to know the other folks on the bus.

Sun 25th March - We go to the Bushman's Centre where we get a candid and amusing insight into deer hunting by helicopter and deer farming. We arrive in Franz Josef, home to the famous Franz Josef glacier.

Mon 26th March - We do a day Glacier Hike, we're all in the 2nd hardest team, so we have to straddle deep crevices of ice, swing around huge gaps on a rope and generally look like Sly Stallone in Cliffhanger (almost!). Very tiring but amazing views. By the end we're all pretty knackered and I have a cold off the old guy from that pub.

Tues 27th March - Mirror lakes in the morning, with views of the spectacular Mount Cook and Tasmin. We also drive past the Fox Glacier. In the afternoon we arrive in Wanaka, a picturesque township near a big lake surrounded by mountains. In the evening we go to the local cinema which has sofas and cushions instead of seats and you can order food for the intermission (which we do). We see Blood Diamond (My rating 3 and a half/5).

Wed 28th March - From Wanaka on to Queenstown (the action/adventure capital of NZ). We arrive at Kawarau Bridge for me to do my bungy jump on AJ Hackett's first bungy site (the others watch a video about bungy then observe other jumpers). Its a 43 metre jump and within five mins of arriving I'm leaping off the bridge. Amazing feeling and a great rush - showings of my bungy DVD will occur when I get home! We arrive in Queenstown and get a dorm room with all our mates from the bus, in order of name; Andy (from Kettering, knows of the A14 and Felixstowe!), Duncan (drunken Scot who falls asleep in bars!), Kirsten (American/Canadian, can do a British accent which is both good and bad at the same time), Mark and Peter (crazy drunk Irish guys who I quote Alan Partridge with). We have a Kiwi Exp night out in the evening where our driver Ginny buys us shots, we then go onto another bar which serves cocktails in teapots.

Thurs 29th March - Queenstown. Spent recovering. Chris has a breakfast burrito. I sleep a lot and then go for a walk in the afternoon. Despite its crazy activities, Queenstown has lovely scenery too. Laura discovers Ferg Burger, lovely giant burgers - yum!

Frid 30th March - Milford Sound day-trip with Andy and Kirsten. Long coach journey to see the Milford Sound river and giant gorges and cliffs - we're told it should be called Milford Fiord (because its created by glacier movement). Slightly ruined by poor weather, with cloud covering most of the high cliffs. We go to an Underwater Observatory which is good, a man-made coral reef which attracts lots of wildlife to a depth of 9 metres where they can observe stupid humans with cameras! Long day, particularly with 4/5 hour coach ride. Chris, Kirsten and me discover Ferg Burger too!

Sat 31st March - We get on the bus and head out of Queenstown, seeing Lake Pukaki which is fed by a glacier so is a gorgous blue. Good photo ops! We get dropped off in a place called Geraldine (with Kirsten and Andy who were stalking us by that point) to go White Water Rafting at Rangitata Rafting. We're left to our own devices in an amazing countryside lodge over night and with little to do, Andy introduces us to American tv show Heroes - we're hooked.

Sun 1st April - My attempt at April Fools fails as guy taking our payments for rafting forgets to tell Chris that his payment had gone through three times over and that theres nothing he can do! After lunch and some light hearted introductions into our kit we get on the bus looking fashionable in our gear and head out rafting. The river is fed by a glacier so is cold, and Chris decides to fall in on flat/calm water to our amusement. Our guides are Ben (shaggy man who bullies us!) and Chantelle (who had been on the job for four months and did a good job of ignoring Ben!). We go through the instructions (forward/back paddle, hang on!, get down and various steering instructions). We go through several grades of rapid, til we get to the big fat Grade 5 rapid (Grade 6 has a 95% chance of tipping boats so 5 is pretty hairy). We go first out of all the boats and manage to stay upright, although one doesn't and we pick up someone who lost her boat! We then swim down one small rapid, and Chris, Andy and I jump of a cliff into the glacier water below! We then paddle back and have a bbq. In the evening we head back to Ch-ch and have the worst KFC ever.

Mon 2nd April - With Andy now joining us on our driving trip of the North Island, Laura and him head up a gondola for scenic views, Chris and I do rental car window shopping. In the evening we go for a curry and then go for drinks with Mark and Peter who were a day behind us (having done the same rafting trip as us).

Tues 3rd April - After waiting for a shuttle bus which never came, we get dropped at our car rental place and pick up our white Nissan Pulsar which is an automatic. We race to Akaroa so Andy and Laura can swim with dolphins. Locky and me have fish and chips and walk around this lovely port town. We drive back to Ch-Ch, then onto Kaikoura and arrive about 9. We stay at the Albatross hostel which has pod bunk beds with curtains - I have my best nights sleep in NZ, possibly the whole trip!

Wed 4th April - Drive up to Blenheim and go on a wine tour (weather was rubbish so we had to do something indoors!). We go to the Montana Winery and do a tour of their buildings including free samples. We love their Sauvignon Blanc and buy a bottle. We then drive to Nelson as the weather steadily improves. Lovely town, and after chasing round trying to find a hostel we get to a nice one (name escapes me). We have a meal in their lovely bar and then try and sleep in a dorm with the loudest snorer in the world.

Thurs 5th April - Drive to Picton and board the InterIslander to the North Island and Wellington. Boat turns out to be an old P&O cruiser but that doesn't put us off. Takes about 3 hours. We arrive in Wellington and go hostel chasing again (it appears places get busy at Easter!). We end up in a YHA Hostel which is really nice, and we get a special offer curry for dinner (yum!).

Frid 6th April - Exploring Wellington, including nice harbour and dock areas, parliament and the Te Papa museum (all free!). Chris and I take the Wellington gondola up to more scenic views. Chris, Andy and I go and watch war movie 300 at the Embassy theatre (where the Lord of the Rings premier was held). A lovely cinema which used to be a theatre. Violence isn't Laura's thing, so she goes and watches Pan's Labyrinth. We have a drink and play some pool in the evening.

Sat 7th April - More Wellington in the morning (shopping in shops which were closed on Friday), then a supplies shop before we head out to the National Park at Tongariro (in the middle of nowhere). We arrive about 8.30pm having driven in the wrong direction for a bit.

Sun 8th April - Happy Easter! Whilst you're all relaxing getting fat eating chocolate, we do an arduous day walk across the volcanic peaks and crators. We scale Devil's Staircase, 40 minutes of climbing up and over rocks. We walk through giant crators, then up the other side for views of volcanic lakes and take in pungent sulphurous smells and steam clouds. A long day, with some amazing and changing scenery. We're all knackered and head out to Taupo where we go out for a celebratory meal and drink.

Mon 9th April - Its today! We're exploring Taupo which has a huge lake. The sun is shining and Andy is being mental and doing a sky dive. In the next few days we're heading onto Rotorua and then to Auckland. We fly out to Fiji on Friday.

If you have any questions about any of our activities leave us a comment and Laura and Chris can answer them (unless they're about bungy).

Hope everyone is well, we've certainly enjoyed New Zealand and would thoroughly recommend anyone with time and money to come out here.

Speak soon (dunno when, maybe Auckland if you're lucky!) - if not USA (we're going to remote Fijian Islands where theres no internet!).

Take care,
Rich