Howdy blog fans
Whilst I had the best intentions to keep the blog up to date during my final NZ tour, I have failed somewhat. Give me a break...I've just been having too much fun.
The last 6 weeks have been immense and it has been a fantastic experience to see NZ in all its winter glory. Yes, summer is awesome, but I reckon NZ really shines in winter.
I think we last spoke when I was in Nelson, my first stop in the South Island. I won't bore you with all my exciting adventures since then, but here are some of the highlights:
Queenstown - A lot of people hate Queenstown, but I bloody love it. I have never lost my phone in a drunken stupor in my life...but I did in Queenstown. Basically, Q-town is great for a visit but you really couldn't live here long term. You would be sucked dry of cash and liver cells in a couple of weeks. I spent a week there, so I left with half a liver. I got drunk, I jetboated, I went skiing for the first time in my life. It was muchos fun.
Dunedin - Dunedin is suposedly the most Scottish place in NZ. Baws! The only haggis for sale was in a tin and it was bloody $13. However, I liked this little slice of tartan quite a bit. This may have been something to do with the drunken tour of the Speights Brewery (no really, I got pished) and the Cadburys factory (I ate muchos free chocotlate). I also enjoyed a little jaunt on the Taieri Gorge railway, which was stunning - see www.taieri.co.nz
Oamaru - Do you like penguins? Do you like mad people racing Penny Farthings down the street on a Saturday? I have just the place for you. Saw some penguins, but missed out on 'penguin cam' in the pub.
Doubtful Sound - You have probably heard of Millford Sound, this is the larger (13 times larger to be precise) and much less accessable sound to the south of its more famous cousin. It isn't a sound, it is actually a Fijord. It was stunning, need I say more.
Wanaka - Like a quiter, more chilled out version of Queenstown. Shame it was so bloody foggy (not so good for stunning lake/mountain views)
Mt Cook / Lake Tekapo - this was a last minute diversion, which turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the trip. The biggest mountains in NZ, covered in snow on a crisp blue day. Amazing....but again, very cold.
So, I now find myself back in smelly Christchurch (regular readers will know I despise Christchurch). Tomorrow morning I will get up a 4am and go to the aiport, by 6pm NZ time I will be basking in the 27 degree heat of Cairns, Australia. It has been bloody cold here (I think people understimate how cold it gets here....-3 during the day is not unusual), so I'm looking forward to getting the jandals out again.
Despite my excitement about heading to Oz, today has been somewhat tinged with sadness. The Beast, my trusty 1989 Toyota Corolla, the best car I have ever driven, was today taken away to th big scrapheap in the sky. It ran with absolute reliability during my entire voyage (7,500 Km) and during the preceeding 10 months. However, sensing that my time in NZ was coming to and end, the beast 'died' as I rolled into my final NZ hostel in Christchurch. I could tell it had died as the temparature gague actually went above zero (worryingly, the very rarely happened). The nice man gave me $300 and I said goodbye to a faithful friend. RIP Beast, you will always be in my heart.
As a final farewell to NZ, enjoy moutache gate, a great example of why the NZ media is a bit retarded (but regularly hilarious):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTlpH28QTw
See you in Oz!
Love and kisses
Tambo x
Monday, 29 June 2009
Monday, 1 June 2009
What the Whakapapa?
Howdy chums
Time for a wee update on my travels. When I last spoke to you all, my loyal blog followers, I was in Gisborne. Progress has been swift since then. Here is a quick summary:
Gisborne - 2 days - lovely in summer, less exciting in winter. A fun visit nonetheless
Napier - 2 days - I love this place. Destroyed in a massive earthquake in the 1930s and entirely reconstructed in an art deco style. The place has an amazing history and a lovely atmosphere. If I was going to live in NZ longer term, this place would be pretty high up the list.
Taupo - 1 day - Nice spot. I actually didn't like it much when I first visited in the Summer. However, I take it all back. It is a wee bit touristy, bit then I am a tourist. This visit gave me one of the biggest highlights of my NZ tour - I did a skydive from 15,000ft. I know it sounds scary (and it was), but if you ever get the chance you have to do it. Amazing!
Taurangi - 1 day - This is the closest settlement of any size to the Tongariro National Park (the national park which includes lots of big scary mountains, including the 2 used for Mt Doom in the LOR films). My plan was to do the Tongariro crossing, an 8 hour trek which is recognised as the best 1 day trek in the world. This seemed like a bit too much effort, so I just drove my 20 year old Toyota up the mountain. I got some amazing photos and played in the snow...I was happy!
Wellington (via Cape Palliser) - The Cape Palliser bit was quite the diversion. I ended up driving for 9 hours that day. Was worth it though. Cape Palliser is NZ biggest seal breeding colony, and I was feeling like a seal burger. Only kidding, I didn't eat any, but I did get some nice photos of the little slippery freaks. Then it was onwards to Wellington. What an awesome city! Wish I had spent a bit more time here during my trip, but it was good to finally have a proper visit. For anyone visiting these shores, don't bother with Auckland. It's okay, but Wellington is where it's at.
So, I have now arrived in Nelson, my first stop in the South Island. I only have 4 weeks left! The ferry crossing took 5 hours yesterday due to adverse weather (usually takes about 3). However, the South Island is definately worth it.
Take care out there chaps
Txx
Time for a wee update on my travels. When I last spoke to you all, my loyal blog followers, I was in Gisborne. Progress has been swift since then. Here is a quick summary:
Gisborne - 2 days - lovely in summer, less exciting in winter. A fun visit nonetheless
Napier - 2 days - I love this place. Destroyed in a massive earthquake in the 1930s and entirely reconstructed in an art deco style. The place has an amazing history and a lovely atmosphere. If I was going to live in NZ longer term, this place would be pretty high up the list.
Taupo - 1 day - Nice spot. I actually didn't like it much when I first visited in the Summer. However, I take it all back. It is a wee bit touristy, bit then I am a tourist. This visit gave me one of the biggest highlights of my NZ tour - I did a skydive from 15,000ft. I know it sounds scary (and it was), but if you ever get the chance you have to do it. Amazing!
Taurangi - 1 day - This is the closest settlement of any size to the Tongariro National Park (the national park which includes lots of big scary mountains, including the 2 used for Mt Doom in the LOR films). My plan was to do the Tongariro crossing, an 8 hour trek which is recognised as the best 1 day trek in the world. This seemed like a bit too much effort, so I just drove my 20 year old Toyota up the mountain. I got some amazing photos and played in the snow...I was happy!
Wellington (via Cape Palliser) - The Cape Palliser bit was quite the diversion. I ended up driving for 9 hours that day. Was worth it though. Cape Palliser is NZ biggest seal breeding colony, and I was feeling like a seal burger. Only kidding, I didn't eat any, but I did get some nice photos of the little slippery freaks. Then it was onwards to Wellington. What an awesome city! Wish I had spent a bit more time here during my trip, but it was good to finally have a proper visit. For anyone visiting these shores, don't bother with Auckland. It's okay, but Wellington is where it's at.
So, I have now arrived in Nelson, my first stop in the South Island. I only have 4 weeks left! The ferry crossing took 5 hours yesterday due to adverse weather (usually takes about 3). However, the South Island is definately worth it.
Take care out there chaps
Txx
Friday, 22 May 2009
East is East
Howdy blog fans
The first leg of my grand finale tour of NZ is complete. I have successfully navigated my way around the East Cape. I only have a limited amount of time for this update, so I will summarise my thoughts in bullet point form:
1. East Cape is stunning
2. Nice lighthouse
3. How the hell do people survive out there - it is beyond rural
4. I know how, they grow lots of weed
5. If Carlsberg made hostels, they would be like this - http://www.maraehako.co.nz/
6. Bit chilly out
7. No penguins yet
I have made it to lovely sunny Gisborne and next stop is Napier. Will I get to experience an earthquake before I leave? I'm certainly heading the right way for one!
Hope you are not overwhelmed by the regularity of my blog updates. Chow for now!
Tambo x
The first leg of my grand finale tour of NZ is complete. I have successfully navigated my way around the East Cape. I only have a limited amount of time for this update, so I will summarise my thoughts in bullet point form:
1. East Cape is stunning
2. Nice lighthouse
3. How the hell do people survive out there - it is beyond rural
4. I know how, they grow lots of weed
5. If Carlsberg made hostels, they would be like this - http://www.maraehako.co.nz/
6. Bit chilly out
7. No penguins yet
I have made it to lovely sunny Gisborne and next stop is Napier. Will I get to experience an earthquake before I leave? I'm certainly heading the right way for one!
Hope you are not overwhelmed by the regularity of my blog updates. Chow for now!
Tambo x
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Move along..
This will probably be my last update for a while as I'm currently packing up my backpack and preparing to hit the road one last time. I'm leaving Auckland, the city I have called home for the last 8 months, for the last time tomorrow morning. I finally got up the skytower, opting to spend my final night dining in NZ's only rotating restaurant. All very civilised.
From tomorrow, I shall once again be free to explore the random themed towns of NZ (although a repeat visit of 'switch on to Huntly' is unlikely' as I embark on a 6 week road trip. First stop is Opotiki, then on to the East Cape, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Picton, Nelson, Farewell Spit, Hammner Springs Christchurch.....and so on. Look out for the last exciting installment of my NZ adventures in about 6 weeks.
Chow for now
Txx
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Rockin' the Pakeha
Despite my best intentions, it would seem that the blog isn’t living up to the (quite frankly unrealistic) demands of my many followers. The following e-mail gives a typical example of the feedback I have been receiving. To conceal the identity of the sender, we shall simply refer to him as Mr A Karr:
I've still been following your blog but there's not very much to follow most days (or weeks, months etc.)!
I truly I feel that I have let you, my loyal readers, down. Needless to say I’m going to buck up act (although previous experience would suggest this is likely to come to fruition). Anyway……
I have been busy enjoying my last chunk of time in the land of the long white cloud. I’m still based in Auckland, but I have managed to squeeze a few cheeky wee adventures here and there. I finally made it out to the Bay of Plenty (BOP), which was all very enjoyable. To be honest though, the true highlight of the trip was a visit to Kiwi 360. Now I do like a kiwi fruit from time to time, but to see the vast investment the BOP have put into this facility was truly jaw dropping. Kiwi 360 is a museum/working farm/unique insight into New Zealand’s great Kiwi Fruit industry. The best bit is the giant Kiwi Fruit that sits outside. You can even climb up inside it! I did…it was very exciting.
New Zealand has a bit of a thing about giving towns a ‘theme’ of sorts. Huntly has a very ugly power station - the theme for Huntly is therefore ‘Switch on to Huntly’. There is a town where all the shops are fashioned out of corrugated steel. This doesn’t sound very interesting, but have a look at the website
http://www.corrugatedcreations.co.nz/
Not content with a giant Kiwi Fruit and novelty steel themed towns, I decided to push the envelope and go to Paeroa. L&P (Lemon and Paeroa) is NZ’s national soft drink. The beverage was created in the lovely town of Paeroa….I say lovely, it is quite the shithole. That said, they do have another giant object worth a visit – the big L&P bottle. It is truly enormous and one of the highlights of my tour so far (sorry the sarcasm checker wasn’t working in Word). Check out my Flikr pics but clicking on the gallery above for more giant soft drink action.
One particular lowlight of the past couple of weeks has been the change in weather. I seem to have lost all perspective on what ‘cold’ really means. It is about 13 degrees in the evening and my teeth are chattering. Yes, winter is coming and so there is only one course of action available….go to the south island for a few weeks to experience even colder weather! I will be leaving Auckland on the 17th of May and heading off on a 6 week road trip taking me round all the bits I haven’t seen yet, and some I have, finishing off in Christchurch ready for my flight to Cairns (where it will be substantially warmer) on the 30th of June. After that….who knows!
Can I say a special thanks to Lorna T and Gillian for coming to visit me this week. It was so good to see you….and watch in great amusement as my Kiwi flatmate tried to decipher what you were saying. I’ve had more visitors here than when I lived in Inverness (totally understandable). Anyways, I’m off the purchase a warm jacket….chow for now xx
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Bit wet out
Howdy chaps. I’m sitting inside on a NZ summers day to update you on all my exciting adventures. That said, this is no ordinary summers day. No, today I’m getting my first experience of a proper tropical storm (warm and wet would be how I’d describe it). So, let us make the most of the down time and find out what has been happening in my world….
All is well in Auckland, where I still am. I haven’t been doing too much travelling around but I have managed to squeeze in a few cheeky voyages. A couple of weeks ago I took a trip up to Paihia and did a bit of exploring in the northland (i.e. the north of the north island). Day 1 was spent in Paihia. We went out to the hole in the rock which is basically a big rock with a hole in it that, if the captain of your chosen sea going vessel is feeling brave, you can go through. We decided the safest method of transportation would be a high powered jet boat. The seas were choppy and I nearly lost my lunch and/or my testicles during various parts of the trip, but I have to admit it was muchos soggy fun. I also saw a penguin, which is always a winner for me. We also squeezed in a quick visit to historic Russell. The treaty of Waitangi, the document which allowed the UK to basically steal all the Maori land, was signed in nearby Waitangi and Russell is historic for all sorts of reasons surrounding that. They have a flag pole which keeps getting cut down…..excellent. The treaty is a political hot potato in NZ, but I have my own views on it which I’ll keep to myself.
On day 2 we took a bus tour up to Cape Reinga (the most northerly point on the NZ mainland) which was amazing. We then drove down 90 mile beach. Yes, drove. You see, 90 mile beach is, as the name would suggest, a bloody big beach (although not 90 miles, more like 100k). However, it also doubles as a state highway. So, you can take you car a drive down it at the allocated speed limit of 100 km/h. There is plenty of evidence around to suggest why this isn’t a good idea. As you drive down you see plenty of car roofs poking out the sand, abandoned by their owners after a poorly timed attempt to drive the route. We also went to a Kauri forest where there were many big trees. I like the big trees.
Probably the biggest news is that my NZ adventure now has a definite end point. I will be in Auckland until mid-May, at which point I will embark on 6 week road trip round the country. I’m going to spend a good amount of time in the south of the South Island, one of the few areas I haven’t been to yet. I will be flying out of this fine nation on 30th June. My next destination is Cairns where it will be nice and sunny (it will be far from nice and sunny at that point in NZ). My plans of Ozzy are pretty fluid at the moment, but as ever I’ll see where the wind takes me….
On a final closing note, have you ever wondered what happened to Coronation Street favourite, pop pinup and Tory candidate Adam Rickett? Wonder no more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UKKmVV9pPk
Chow dudes
Tambo x
All is well in Auckland, where I still am. I haven’t been doing too much travelling around but I have managed to squeeze in a few cheeky voyages. A couple of weeks ago I took a trip up to Paihia and did a bit of exploring in the northland (i.e. the north of the north island). Day 1 was spent in Paihia. We went out to the hole in the rock which is basically a big rock with a hole in it that, if the captain of your chosen sea going vessel is feeling brave, you can go through. We decided the safest method of transportation would be a high powered jet boat. The seas were choppy and I nearly lost my lunch and/or my testicles during various parts of the trip, but I have to admit it was muchos soggy fun. I also saw a penguin, which is always a winner for me. We also squeezed in a quick visit to historic Russell. The treaty of Waitangi, the document which allowed the UK to basically steal all the Maori land, was signed in nearby Waitangi and Russell is historic for all sorts of reasons surrounding that. They have a flag pole which keeps getting cut down…..excellent. The treaty is a political hot potato in NZ, but I have my own views on it which I’ll keep to myself.
On day 2 we took a bus tour up to Cape Reinga (the most northerly point on the NZ mainland) which was amazing. We then drove down 90 mile beach. Yes, drove. You see, 90 mile beach is, as the name would suggest, a bloody big beach (although not 90 miles, more like 100k). However, it also doubles as a state highway. So, you can take you car a drive down it at the allocated speed limit of 100 km/h. There is plenty of evidence around to suggest why this isn’t a good idea. As you drive down you see plenty of car roofs poking out the sand, abandoned by their owners after a poorly timed attempt to drive the route. We also went to a Kauri forest where there were many big trees. I like the big trees.
Probably the biggest news is that my NZ adventure now has a definite end point. I will be in Auckland until mid-May, at which point I will embark on 6 week road trip round the country. I’m going to spend a good amount of time in the south of the South Island, one of the few areas I haven’t been to yet. I will be flying out of this fine nation on 30th June. My next destination is Cairns where it will be nice and sunny (it will be far from nice and sunny at that point in NZ). My plans of Ozzy are pretty fluid at the moment, but as ever I’ll see where the wind takes me….
On a final closing note, have you ever wondered what happened to Coronation Street favourite, pop pinup and Tory candidate Adam Rickett? Wonder no more:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UKKmVV9pPk
Chow dudes
Tambo x
Monday, 19 January 2009
Junk in the trunk
Sometimes I regret starting this bloody thing. I appreciate that it serves a vital function – keeping all my loyal blog followers up to date with my latest adventures. However, I am clearly quite pish at keeping it up to date. Anyways, let’s back track a couple of months and update you on my action packed schedule since the last entry.
In November I took a wee weekend trip over to the Coromandel. More specifically I spent the weekend going round Hahei and surrounding areas. The highlights included Cathedral Cove, which is definitely worth the 45 minute walk through bush required to access it. It is basically a big beach whose main feature is a large cathedral (surprisingly enough) like arch which has been worn away by the sea. If you want to know what it looks like have a butchers at the latest Narnia film. The big white cave on the beach the munchkins walk through in the opening sequence is the cove. We also went to hot water beach. The whole concept of hot water beach is that you can dig a hole in the sand 1 hour either side of low tide and it will magically be filled with hot water created by the fault line that runs through the beach. My experience would indicate that it should be named tepid water beach, but I wasn’t doing a very good job with my shovel. We stayed in a lovely converted wooden church with a nice restaurant attached. As with most accommodation in NZ, great quality and very cheap. All in all, a great trip.
Next up was my birthday adventure to Waiheke Island. Waiheke is about 45 minutes off the coast of Auckland. Originally it was where people/hippies went to eek out a very cheap existence. However, the rich and famous of Auckland now use it as their holiday retreat, pushing up the prices somewhat. It is still a fairly cheap place for a break though. We were staying in a hostel which was accessed via a 10 minute bush trek. Nice big deck with a DJ playing every night, pool and hot tub. Waiheke’s main claim to fame is its wine. Needless to say we took a full day wine tour and indulged in lunch at the Mudbrick winery. However, our greatest indulgence was reserved for the day after when we booked dinner on the Flying Carpet. The Flying Carpet is a big catamaran that takes you on an evening cruise, complete with 5 course meal, all for a rather reasonable $120 (about £50). Turns out we were the only people who had booked it for that night, so we had a crew of 3 people looking after us as we sailed into the sunset on our own private vessel. Tough old life really. Again, a great weekend and a great way to celebrate my first birthday in NZ.
I was very fortunate to be invited down to New Plymouth for Christmas with the family Wansbrough. It was really great to enjoy a proper family Christmas and generally chill out over the festive season. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the republic of Whangamomona (which I won’t go into here, but google it – it is a typically Kiwi story).
Now, I should point out that I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in a campervan with my dear friend Mr Alan Cameron. We covered 5000km over 2 weeks and I would be doing the trip a great injustice to try and summarise it here, but I’ll be nice and give you a quick list of the destinations and highlights:
28th Dec – Al arrives from the UK. We go to the pub. Al is asleep by 7pm.
29th and 30th Dec – We drive to Rotorua, geothermal capital of NZ. We see lots of geysers, steaming mud pools etc. I dip my foot in one and lose some skin.
31st Dec – We drive to Gisborne, the first place in the world to see the sun rise on the new year. We arrive, I realise I’ve left my wallet in a petrol station 3 hours away, I get distressed. We go to a very poorly organised music festival. Alan gets sore feet.
1st Jan – We drive back to the petrol station and retrieve wallet. We then drive on to Napier, Art Deco capital of the world (due to a rather nasty earthquake in the 1930s).
2nd Jan – We drive to Wellington, capital of NZ. We go to the pub and amazingly beat the chicks at pool. Alan’s feet are still sore.
3rd Jan – Ferry over to the South Island. We then drive on to Nelson. I would go back there in a shot, lovely sunny place.
4th Jan – We drive to Fox Glacier (biiiiiig drive). It is cold (something to do with the glacier apparently).
5th Jan – Alan goes on a helicopter to explore the glacier. I am cheap, so opt for a 4 hour guided hike up the monster. Amazing and spectacular are 2 words which come to mind. We then drive on to Queenstown.
6th Jan – Lots of fun in Queenstown, including the gondola, a steamboat, a luge (weeee) and a very scary jetboat!
7th Jan – Drive on to Te Anau, gateway to Milford Sound.
8th Jan – Visit to Milford Sound. Just look at the pictures, bloody hell!
9th Jan – Drive through to Christhchurch
10th Jan – After a bit of exploring round Christchurch it was time to drop off big gay al at the airport. A very sad time. I only got through the pain by getting my picture taken with a man in a penguin costume. I then drive on to Kaikoura.
11th Jan – Went whale watching in Kaikoura. Saw 4 sperm whales and about 200 dusky dolphins. An amazing experience.
12th Jan – Back in Picton. Had a pint of tennents at the flying haggis. Have discussion with barmaid about the logistics of importing tennents.
13th Jan – Ferry back to Wellington. Drive on to Taupo, the biggest lake in New Zealand. Had some r&r time in the hot mineral spa. Aaaaaah!
14th Jan – Back in Auckland after an amazing but bloody exhausting trip.
The trip was amazing, but it did put a significant dent in my finances. So, I’m planning to hang around Auckland for a while and see how things pan out. There are still lots of adventures to be had before my visa runs out in August, but there is plenty of time for all that.
Missing you all xx
In November I took a wee weekend trip over to the Coromandel. More specifically I spent the weekend going round Hahei and surrounding areas. The highlights included Cathedral Cove, which is definitely worth the 45 minute walk through bush required to access it. It is basically a big beach whose main feature is a large cathedral (surprisingly enough) like arch which has been worn away by the sea. If you want to know what it looks like have a butchers at the latest Narnia film. The big white cave on the beach the munchkins walk through in the opening sequence is the cove. We also went to hot water beach. The whole concept of hot water beach is that you can dig a hole in the sand 1 hour either side of low tide and it will magically be filled with hot water created by the fault line that runs through the beach. My experience would indicate that it should be named tepid water beach, but I wasn’t doing a very good job with my shovel. We stayed in a lovely converted wooden church with a nice restaurant attached. As with most accommodation in NZ, great quality and very cheap. All in all, a great trip.
Next up was my birthday adventure to Waiheke Island. Waiheke is about 45 minutes off the coast of Auckland. Originally it was where people/hippies went to eek out a very cheap existence. However, the rich and famous of Auckland now use it as their holiday retreat, pushing up the prices somewhat. It is still a fairly cheap place for a break though. We were staying in a hostel which was accessed via a 10 minute bush trek. Nice big deck with a DJ playing every night, pool and hot tub. Waiheke’s main claim to fame is its wine. Needless to say we took a full day wine tour and indulged in lunch at the Mudbrick winery. However, our greatest indulgence was reserved for the day after when we booked dinner on the Flying Carpet. The Flying Carpet is a big catamaran that takes you on an evening cruise, complete with 5 course meal, all for a rather reasonable $120 (about £50). Turns out we were the only people who had booked it for that night, so we had a crew of 3 people looking after us as we sailed into the sunset on our own private vessel. Tough old life really. Again, a great weekend and a great way to celebrate my first birthday in NZ.
I was very fortunate to be invited down to New Plymouth for Christmas with the family Wansbrough. It was really great to enjoy a proper family Christmas and generally chill out over the festive season. We even managed to squeeze in a trip to the republic of Whangamomona (which I won’t go into here, but google it – it is a typically Kiwi story).
Now, I should point out that I’ve just returned from 2 weeks in a campervan with my dear friend Mr Alan Cameron. We covered 5000km over 2 weeks and I would be doing the trip a great injustice to try and summarise it here, but I’ll be nice and give you a quick list of the destinations and highlights:
28th Dec – Al arrives from the UK. We go to the pub. Al is asleep by 7pm.
29th and 30th Dec – We drive to Rotorua, geothermal capital of NZ. We see lots of geysers, steaming mud pools etc. I dip my foot in one and lose some skin.
31st Dec – We drive to Gisborne, the first place in the world to see the sun rise on the new year. We arrive, I realise I’ve left my wallet in a petrol station 3 hours away, I get distressed. We go to a very poorly organised music festival. Alan gets sore feet.
1st Jan – We drive back to the petrol station and retrieve wallet. We then drive on to Napier, Art Deco capital of the world (due to a rather nasty earthquake in the 1930s).
2nd Jan – We drive to Wellington, capital of NZ. We go to the pub and amazingly beat the chicks at pool. Alan’s feet are still sore.
3rd Jan – Ferry over to the South Island. We then drive on to Nelson. I would go back there in a shot, lovely sunny place.
4th Jan – We drive to Fox Glacier (biiiiiig drive). It is cold (something to do with the glacier apparently).
5th Jan – Alan goes on a helicopter to explore the glacier. I am cheap, so opt for a 4 hour guided hike up the monster. Amazing and spectacular are 2 words which come to mind. We then drive on to Queenstown.
6th Jan – Lots of fun in Queenstown, including the gondola, a steamboat, a luge (weeee) and a very scary jetboat!
7th Jan – Drive on to Te Anau, gateway to Milford Sound.
8th Jan – Visit to Milford Sound. Just look at the pictures, bloody hell!
9th Jan – Drive through to Christhchurch
10th Jan – After a bit of exploring round Christchurch it was time to drop off big gay al at the airport. A very sad time. I only got through the pain by getting my picture taken with a man in a penguin costume. I then drive on to Kaikoura.
11th Jan – Went whale watching in Kaikoura. Saw 4 sperm whales and about 200 dusky dolphins. An amazing experience.
12th Jan – Back in Picton. Had a pint of tennents at the flying haggis. Have discussion with barmaid about the logistics of importing tennents.
13th Jan – Ferry back to Wellington. Drive on to Taupo, the biggest lake in New Zealand. Had some r&r time in the hot mineral spa. Aaaaaah!
14th Jan – Back in Auckland after an amazing but bloody exhausting trip.
The trip was amazing, but it did put a significant dent in my finances. So, I’m planning to hang around Auckland for a while and see how things pan out. There are still lots of adventures to be had before my visa runs out in August, but there is plenty of time for all that.
Missing you all xx
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