It feels weird to be heading back to Australia, and even more weird to be heading back to WORK! Ugh!
But I'm looking forward to getting back to seeing friends again and enjoying life in that gorgeous city.
Goodbye NZ! See ya soon.
Thursday 24 March 2011
Back To Melbourne...
I'm sitting in Christchurch airport about to fly to Auckland, then on to Sydney before getting on an overnight train down to Melbourne.
It feels weird to be heading back to Australia, and even more weird to be heading back to WORK! Ugh!
But I'm looking forward to getting back to seeing friends again and enjoying life in that gorgeous city.
Goodbye NZ! See ya soon.
It feels weird to be heading back to Australia, and even more weird to be heading back to WORK! Ugh!
But I'm looking forward to getting back to seeing friends again and enjoying life in that gorgeous city.
Goodbye NZ! See ya soon.
Monday 21 March 2011
Heading for Melbourne....
I'm back in Christchurch today. Thanks to poor (or great) planning I have a few days to kill here before I fly back to Australia on Friday. I'll fly from here to Auckland then on to Sydney that afternoon- so lets hope my first flight isn't delayed! From Sydney I'll have to find a way to Melbourne and then it'll be back to teaching for the last four months of my trip.
New Zealand has been great, but there's just so much to see. I've met backpackers who are here for two weeks and others who are here for six months and everyone agrees that their trip is just too short. I guess I'll have to plan a return trip at some point, there are still lots of things on my to-do list that haven't been ticked off this time.
At the moment I'm frantically trying to sort out accommodation in Melbourne. I thought I had my first few weeks all sorted but that hasn't worked out so I'm in the process of e-mailing all the people I know in Melbourne to see if anyone has a spare room. Fingers crossed.
New Zealand has been great, but there's just so much to see. I've met backpackers who are here for two weeks and others who are here for six months and everyone agrees that their trip is just too short. I guess I'll have to plan a return trip at some point, there are still lots of things on my to-do list that haven't been ticked off this time.
At the moment I'm frantically trying to sort out accommodation in Melbourne. I thought I had my first few weeks all sorted but that hasn't worked out so I'm in the process of e-mailing all the people I know in Melbourne to see if anyone has a spare room. Fingers crossed.
Saturday 19 March 2011
It's Been A While...
Sorry for being so slack on this over the past few weeks. I've pretty much been in a different bed every night as I travel around New Zealand and haven't much time to update this blog.
Since arriving in the south island I've travelled well over 1,000km so will have to give you the shortened version.
Nelson:
I stayed for a few days with some family friends on the north coast of the south island.
I then drove their car down to Christchurch where I stayed for two nights with a beautiful old lady.
From there I started hitch-hiking. I was trying to make my way to Tekapo and then on to Queenstown. I had to wait a while...
Thankfully, I was picked up by the most AWESOME couple and ended up travelling with them (in their big lush campervan) for three days. Thank you Ming and Carly!
We drove the whole way south to Milford Sound and pretty much laughed the whole way!
We saw lots of beautiful sights along the way and had to stop frequently to jump out of the car with our cameras.
Since arriving in the south island I've travelled well over 1,000km so will have to give you the shortened version.
Nelson:
I stayed for a few days with some family friends on the north coast of the south island.
Today we started north again as they plan on going the whole way up the west coast. We finally said our goodbyes in Wanaka, where I am now.
Unfortunately the rains of the Milford Sound were too much for my camera which appears to have died, so I'm gutted that there will not be any more pics for the foreseeable future. For pics of the last few days, hit the photos tab above.
Unfortunately the rains of the Milford Sound were too much for my camera which appears to have died, so I'm gutted that there will not be any more pics for the foreseeable future. For pics of the last few days, hit the photos tab above.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Monday 7 March 2011
Whakatane...
It's 10pm and I'm about to go to bed to get three hours sleep before we get up to drive to Auckland. The guys I'm staying with are flying to Australia at 4am and so we've got to leave early. I've booked flights to Nelson on Wednesday so I'm going to go spend the night in Auckland.
Its been a great few days in Whakatane (Fak-a-tan-ee). The family here have been so good to me and we've had a great time seeing the sights. If you've seen my recent Facebook update then you'll know we had a close call yesterday. The boys took me up to a waterfall that they like to climb. The only problem was that there has been non-stop rainfall for the past few days so the waterfall was flowing a little more 'aggressively' than usual.
To cut a long story short, we were trying to cross a section of rapids when I got pushed over part of the falls head first. The guys have since told me all sorts of horror stories about how people get pinned under the water and drown when this happens. As you can imagine, it's also especially stupid to go over head first given that there are often rocks waiting to give you a kiss on the face.
The miraculous part of the story is that my mate Hayden (in a split second decision) realised that I wasn't going to make it across the rapids. He dived out to help me and actually went over the waterfall too. Thankfully he had the experience to pin himself against the right rock and grab me before I was pulled the rest of the way down the rapids (where I would likely have broken most of the bones in my body).
Needless to say it was one of the scariest experiences of my life and we have been talking about it ever since. I still don't think any of us quite believe how fortunate we were. I guess someone was watching out for us.
Now I'm just hoping my bashed leg will heal quickly enough for me to enjoy the rest of my time in NZ! Here is a picture of Hayden just as he dived out after me, just before we were washed over the drop at the bottom of the picture. You can see my bald head on the left near the rocks and his on the right. Talk about having a new appreciation for the power of water!
Its been a great few days in Whakatane (Fak-a-tan-ee). The family here have been so good to me and we've had a great time seeing the sights. If you've seen my recent Facebook update then you'll know we had a close call yesterday. The boys took me up to a waterfall that they like to climb. The only problem was that there has been non-stop rainfall for the past few days so the waterfall was flowing a little more 'aggressively' than usual.
To cut a long story short, we were trying to cross a section of rapids when I got pushed over part of the falls head first. The guys have since told me all sorts of horror stories about how people get pinned under the water and drown when this happens. As you can imagine, it's also especially stupid to go over head first given that there are often rocks waiting to give you a kiss on the face.
The miraculous part of the story is that my mate Hayden (in a split second decision) realised that I wasn't going to make it across the rapids. He dived out to help me and actually went over the waterfall too. Thankfully he had the experience to pin himself against the right rock and grab me before I was pulled the rest of the way down the rapids (where I would likely have broken most of the bones in my body).
Needless to say it was one of the scariest experiences of my life and we have been talking about it ever since. I still don't think any of us quite believe how fortunate we were. I guess someone was watching out for us.
Now I'm just hoping my bashed leg will heal quickly enough for me to enjoy the rest of my time in NZ! Here is a picture of Hayden just as he dived out after me, just before we were washed over the drop at the bottom of the picture. You can see my bald head on the left near the rocks and his on the right. Talk about having a new appreciation for the power of water!
Saturday 5 March 2011
A Thermal Wonderland....
My reason for going to this tiny place is that it is the home of the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland! Sounds promising, eh? Well it didn't disappoint.
Basically this whole region has the thinnest crust on the planet and so there are lots of thermal pools and volcanic activity. The Thermal Wonderland had all sorts of colours of pools and rocks formed by the volcanic atmosphere underground.
The whole place stank of rotten eggs, but it was amazing to see boiling water hissing and steaming as it came sputtering out of the ground.
Again, I had a great time snapping away with my camera. Hope you enjoy my pics!
A Glimpse Of New Zealand...
Yea, I have internet again!
It's been a pretty busy week, moving around lots and trying to cram in as much as I can. The good news is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was open the day after my last post. I came home sweaty and aching, but every blister (I think I had four) was worth it. The trek was 18.6 km over the volcanic landscape of a national park. There was the added option of climbing Mt Ngarahoe- this is the mountain they used as Mt Doom in The Lord Of The Rings. As you can see from the pic below, its pretty big. If you look at the bottom right of the picture you can see a little black dot. That is a person walking along the track beside the mountain! It was pretty grueling climb but hopefully the pics on the next page show that the views were worth the pain!
The rest of the walk was worth seeing too. I dont have time here to go into all the details, but I certainly did get a glimpse of this beautiful country.
It's been a pretty busy week, moving around lots and trying to cram in as much as I can. The good news is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was open the day after my last post. I came home sweaty and aching, but every blister (I think I had four) was worth it. The trek was 18.6 km over the volcanic landscape of a national park. There was the added option of climbing Mt Ngarahoe- this is the mountain they used as Mt Doom in The Lord Of The Rings. As you can see from the pic below, its pretty big. If you look at the bottom right of the picture you can see a little black dot. That is a person walking along the track beside the mountain! It was pretty grueling climb but hopefully the pics on the next page show that the views were worth the pain!
The rest of the walk was worth seeing too. I dont have time here to go into all the details, but I certainly did get a glimpse of this beautiful country.
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