hey guys,
You'll be glad to hear my last day snowboarding bought with it my biggest crash of the week. Nice big blow to the head. but still as pumped about snowboarding as ever.
After leaving Queenstown, i headed up to Christchurch. its a beautiful city. Very English in design. i was there for 3 days spending loads of time in the gardens situated in the heart of the city. my flight to Rarotonga went smoothly until arrival where me and 2 dutch guys also staying at Vara's beach House were told to jump into a mini van that took us to the other side of the island. luckily we managed to get a taxi and 3.30am around the island.
The backpackers hostel im staying in is stunning, with it decking overlooking Muri beach. It is paradise. Yesterday bought with it the chance to go spear fishing. was such good fun. A group of 8 guys with spear guns hunting trumpet fish. i only had mild success catching the smallest fish of the day. but i was 1 of only 2 who caught anything, thank god our guide caught loads. Nice fish and chip dinner after!
Tonight i fly out of the Cook islands to Auckland for the first leg of my return journey. a nice 16 hour stop over in Auckland is followed by a 26 hour flight via Hong Kong to home!!!!
see everyone on Thursday!!!
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Thursday, 11 June 2009
how long has this been,
been doing some amazing things in New Zealand. today for example i went snowboarding for the first time, and was surprisingly good at it! tomorrow brings the black slopes.
yesterday i achieved one of the greatest things i will ever do. i jumped off the highest bungy in NZ. the Nevis. 134m in 6.5 secs. what a great feeling.
The past few days i've been caving, jumping into ice covered water, climbed the Franz Josef glacier, been to a Maori village for dinner, done another bungy jump in Queenstown, grade 5 Whitewater rafting, kayaking in a subtropical jungle which lead onto the Glacier!! and so much more that ive forgotten.
tomorrow bring more snowboarding. which is the best thing i've ever done i feel. Then Saturday brings me to Dunedin for the All Blacks VS France. first game since the world cup defeat. should be a cracker.
hope all is well.
been doing some amazing things in New Zealand. today for example i went snowboarding for the first time, and was surprisingly good at it! tomorrow brings the black slopes.
yesterday i achieved one of the greatest things i will ever do. i jumped off the highest bungy in NZ. the Nevis. 134m in 6.5 secs. what a great feeling.
The past few days i've been caving, jumping into ice covered water, climbed the Franz Josef glacier, been to a Maori village for dinner, done another bungy jump in Queenstown, grade 5 Whitewater rafting, kayaking in a subtropical jungle which lead onto the Glacier!! and so much more that ive forgotten.
tomorrow bring more snowboarding. which is the best thing i've ever done i feel. Then Saturday brings me to Dunedin for the All Blacks VS France. first game since the world cup defeat. should be a cracker.
hope all is well.
Monday, 25 May 2009
bungy #1, Done!
hey guys,
See i have been able to keep this thing update more regularly recently. everything is now in place for me to leave on Wednesday morning. The route I'll be taking you can check out by clicking the link at the bottom.
Today i was dropped off in the big bad city to fend for myself for a night. needless to say i am safe and well 8 hours into my ordeal. After getting lunch and the normal sights of the city i made my way down to the harbour for my big bungy jump!!(photos available soon). the jump itself came surprisingly easy to me. although nerves did kick in as i was standing on the edge. i think the idea of hitting the water below made it easier then jumping towards solid ground. i now cant wait to jump the Nevis 440ft, 8.5 seconds of free-fall. sounds like fun to me.
On Friday night i went to see the Chiefs vs the hurricanes. Good news. Chiefs won and are through to the final. Unfortunately they have to play the Bulls in South Africa. which means they wont win but they gave this season a good go anyways. lol.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=auckland&daddr=Tauranga+to:rotorua+to:taupo+to:Palmerston+North+to:wellington+to:blenheim+to:nelson+to:reefton+to:hokitika+to:queenstown+to:milford+sound+to:queenstown+to:christchurch&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3B%3B%3BFV44mP0dHqF3CilHI0L_J7NBbTEPqwXAxnpdLA%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B&mra=pe&mrcr=3,4&vps=4&jsv=159e&sll=-31.728167,-163.476562&sspn=44.362979,92.8125&num=10
See i have been able to keep this thing update more regularly recently. everything is now in place for me to leave on Wednesday morning. The route I'll be taking you can check out by clicking the link at the bottom.
Today i was dropped off in the big bad city to fend for myself for a night. needless to say i am safe and well 8 hours into my ordeal. After getting lunch and the normal sights of the city i made my way down to the harbour for my big bungy jump!!(photos available soon). the jump itself came surprisingly easy to me. although nerves did kick in as i was standing on the edge. i think the idea of hitting the water below made it easier then jumping towards solid ground. i now cant wait to jump the Nevis 440ft, 8.5 seconds of free-fall. sounds like fun to me.
On Friday night i went to see the Chiefs vs the hurricanes. Good news. Chiefs won and are through to the final. Unfortunately they have to play the Bulls in South Africa. which means they wont win but they gave this season a good go anyways. lol.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=auckland&daddr=Tauranga+to:rotorua+to:taupo+to:Palmerston+North+to:wellington+to:blenheim+to:nelson+to:reefton+to:hokitika+to:queenstown+to:milford+sound+to:queenstown+to:christchurch&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3B%3B%3BFV44mP0dHqF3CilHI0L_J7NBbTEPqwXAxnpdLA%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B%3B&mra=pe&mrcr=3,4&vps=4&jsv=159e&sll=-31.728167,-163.476562&sspn=44.362979,92.8125&num=10
Friday, 22 May 2009
hey,
Again my plan to update this every day has failed. but i have much news.
Firstly, im now traveling by myself. i unfortunately left my dear friend Chris in Brisbane. i moved up the coast to cairns! first activity there, diving on the Great Barrier reef. Was good fun. Though to be honest i was expecting better. i believe we were treated to some of the best diving in the world in Thailand. but to say Ive dived the great barrier reef is pretty cool.
After 2 days in the north of Australia i took a flight over "the ditch" as they say to New Zealand, Auckland to be precise. Where im staying for a few night at my aunt pips house about 50km south of the city. Pips been a great help getting the rest of my Kiwi Adventure sorted and letting me stay. After the initial greetings to the new members of the family (Kyle and Baby Reilly) we settled down chatting away about our lives to date.
Tonight promises to be a really good night. Got a ticket to Chiefs Vs Hurricanes in the Semi-final of the Super 14 down in Hamilton! and im really looking forward to it. I've also booked myself a little bungy jump from the Auckland harbour bridge on Monday.
My Travels continue on Wednesday where i join the Kiwi Experience bus that takes me everywhere i wanted to go. namely the north island and down to Queenstown in the south and back up to Christchurch.
Again my plan to update this every day has failed. but i have much news.
Firstly, im now traveling by myself. i unfortunately left my dear friend Chris in Brisbane. i moved up the coast to cairns! first activity there, diving on the Great Barrier reef. Was good fun. Though to be honest i was expecting better. i believe we were treated to some of the best diving in the world in Thailand. but to say Ive dived the great barrier reef is pretty cool.
After 2 days in the north of Australia i took a flight over "the ditch" as they say to New Zealand, Auckland to be precise. Where im staying for a few night at my aunt pips house about 50km south of the city. Pips been a great help getting the rest of my Kiwi Adventure sorted and letting me stay. After the initial greetings to the new members of the family (Kyle and Baby Reilly) we settled down chatting away about our lives to date.
Tonight promises to be a really good night. Got a ticket to Chiefs Vs Hurricanes in the Semi-final of the Super 14 down in Hamilton! and im really looking forward to it. I've also booked myself a little bungy jump from the Auckland harbour bridge on Monday.
My Travels continue on Wednesday where i join the Kiwi Experience bus that takes me everywhere i wanted to go. namely the north island and down to Queenstown in the south and back up to Christchurch.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Hey, I'm getting really bad at keeping this updated. so from now on I'm just going to do little bits each day. probably better and more informative then me every so often remembering i haven't done a blog for a while and cramming everything in.
Over all we spend just under a week in Byron bay. the place is great fun and defiantly worth a stay, but I'm afraid we needed to move on. i bought myself a $20 greyhound bus ticket from the receptionist who I'd be pestering all week about loads of little things (think she was quite happy to see me leave). After arriving in Surfers Paradise on the gold coast, i waited for what seemed like hours for Chris and the yanks we'd met to find my hostel.
Surfers Paradise turned out to be awesome fun. we spent 2 days completely chilling out on the beach opposite our hostel. One of the night there was Erin(one of the yanks) birthdays so as you do when went out to celebrate. At this point i was introduced to something worse the tequila shooters. The "Irish Car-bomb". Pint of Guinness with a shot of Jameson's and Baileys dropped in it. The idea is to down it before the baileys curdles! Sweet Jesus I've never had a head rush quite like that.
After Saying our goodbyes for the last time we set of to the greyhound stop once again moving further up the coast, this time to Brisbane. unfortunately i was only there for about 24hours but got to see quite a lot of the city in this time. nice enough but I'm glad I'm not staying here any longer then that. My flight to Cairns was hard to wake up for. 5am this morning i was, 5!!! so far this place seems really nice and laid back. not like the other cities we've been to up till now. i think I'm going to enjoy my 3 days here. I've now left Chris to his own devises in Brisbane whilst i move on with my trip, by going to New Zealand on Tuesday morning.
Over all we spend just under a week in Byron bay. the place is great fun and defiantly worth a stay, but I'm afraid we needed to move on. i bought myself a $20 greyhound bus ticket from the receptionist who I'd be pestering all week about loads of little things (think she was quite happy to see me leave). After arriving in Surfers Paradise on the gold coast, i waited for what seemed like hours for Chris and the yanks we'd met to find my hostel.
Surfers Paradise turned out to be awesome fun. we spent 2 days completely chilling out on the beach opposite our hostel. One of the night there was Erin(one of the yanks) birthdays so as you do when went out to celebrate. At this point i was introduced to something worse the tequila shooters. The "Irish Car-bomb". Pint of Guinness with a shot of Jameson's and Baileys dropped in it. The idea is to down it before the baileys curdles! Sweet Jesus I've never had a head rush quite like that.
After Saying our goodbyes for the last time we set of to the greyhound stop once again moving further up the coast, this time to Brisbane. unfortunately i was only there for about 24hours but got to see quite a lot of the city in this time. nice enough but I'm glad I'm not staying here any longer then that. My flight to Cairns was hard to wake up for. 5am this morning i was, 5!!! so far this place seems really nice and laid back. not like the other cities we've been to up till now. i think I'm going to enjoy my 3 days here. I've now left Chris to his own devises in Brisbane whilst i move on with my trip, by going to New Zealand on Tuesday morning.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Sun, Sydney and Surfing
its been a bit too long since i updated this, sorry guys.
After our Melbourne experience came to an end last week. Our flight up to Sydney took roughly an hour. on arrival checked into the hostel which would be our pick up point for our previously arranged Rip Curl Surf Camp. The hostel was a beaut. as well as being modern and well managed the top floor pool over-looking Sydney was also a pleasant surprise. After photos of the bridge and the opera house, we walked back to our hostel. On route we stopped to marvel at the street performers. One in particular caught my eye. An English bloke riding a bike for no more then 4 meters. He was offering $50 to anyone who could also do it. After jumping on and having a go i realised if you turned left you went right and right you went left. I failed miserably at it. He also went on to say that he'd ridden this bike for so long he could no longer ride a normal bike. typical sounding English lad.
Monday morning around 6am i begrudgingly got out of bed to catch the bus to the surf camp about 120km south of Sydney. Conditions were perfect. Nice swell and perfect crumbling waves. the instructors were all really laid back, living the surfers life style. Getting paid to surf 2 times a day cant be bad. They were seen more as mates then instructors by the end of the 4 days. One particular instructor Shaneo was the typical "surfer dude" long Blondie hair, using the words "brother","dude","sick" and finishing every sentence with "ah", not to mention was pretty much the voice of Dori the turtle in finding Nemo.
After 4 days of surf lessons we were taken back to Sydney where most departed, me and Chris however took the overnight 12 hour bus from Sydney to Byron bay to have one last day of surfing. Today I'm pretty tired after my long ordeal on that bus. We both went out for a qucik surf when we arrived but conditions were great and the swell was only minimal. im just about to shoot off to bed and get some sleep.
hope all is well, good luck to greg evens in his trans america cycle BTW.
After our Melbourne experience came to an end last week. Our flight up to Sydney took roughly an hour. on arrival checked into the hostel which would be our pick up point for our previously arranged Rip Curl Surf Camp. The hostel was a beaut. as well as being modern and well managed the top floor pool over-looking Sydney was also a pleasant surprise. After photos of the bridge and the opera house, we walked back to our hostel. On route we stopped to marvel at the street performers. One in particular caught my eye. An English bloke riding a bike for no more then 4 meters. He was offering $50 to anyone who could also do it. After jumping on and having a go i realised if you turned left you went right and right you went left. I failed miserably at it. He also went on to say that he'd ridden this bike for so long he could no longer ride a normal bike. typical sounding English lad.
Monday morning around 6am i begrudgingly got out of bed to catch the bus to the surf camp about 120km south of Sydney. Conditions were perfect. Nice swell and perfect crumbling waves. the instructors were all really laid back, living the surfers life style. Getting paid to surf 2 times a day cant be bad. They were seen more as mates then instructors by the end of the 4 days. One particular instructor Shaneo was the typical "surfer dude" long Blondie hair, using the words "brother","dude","sick" and finishing every sentence with "ah", not to mention was pretty much the voice of Dori the turtle in finding Nemo.
After 4 days of surf lessons we were taken back to Sydney where most departed, me and Chris however took the overnight 12 hour bus from Sydney to Byron bay to have one last day of surfing. Today I'm pretty tired after my long ordeal on that bus. We both went out for a qucik surf when we arrived but conditions were great and the swell was only minimal. im just about to shoot off to bed and get some sleep.
hope all is well, good luck to greg evens in his trans america cycle BTW.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
birthday and MCG
hey,
thursday bought with it the chance to go diving. unfortuantley that was not the case due to the tempurature being lower then 26 degs. So instead we did the next best thing. Tour of the MCG. was fantastic. Taken to all the parts that people dont normally get to see. Even got to play being Ricky Ponting, by sitting in the team dressing rooms. (im such a little child, but still).
Yesterday was my birthday. Waking up was very difficult after the night out. But we managed to get up for 1pm to see Fast and Furious and also a quick game or 2 of bowling. in the evening we went out for a meal with lucy and her friends, followed by a quick drink at one of their local haunts. whilst there i learnt the rules of auzzi football. and also learnt that Collingwood are the tottenham of the AFL, (hated by all) .
Today we try again at going diving. tomorrow is very exciting. were being taken by charlie, (the eldest son of the family were staying with) to the old telstra dome now Etihad stadium to see our first AFL game between Essendon and the Kangaroos. On pain of death we've been told by the entire family we have to support Essendon.
thursday bought with it the chance to go diving. unfortuantley that was not the case due to the tempurature being lower then 26 degs. So instead we did the next best thing. Tour of the MCG. was fantastic. Taken to all the parts that people dont normally get to see. Even got to play being Ricky Ponting, by sitting in the team dressing rooms. (im such a little child, but still).
Yesterday was my birthday. Waking up was very difficult after the night out. But we managed to get up for 1pm to see Fast and Furious and also a quick game or 2 of bowling. in the evening we went out for a meal with lucy and her friends, followed by a quick drink at one of their local haunts. whilst there i learnt the rules of auzzi football. and also learnt that Collingwood are the tottenham of the AFL, (hated by all) .
Today we try again at going diving. tomorrow is very exciting. were being taken by charlie, (the eldest son of the family were staying with) to the old telstra dome now Etihad stadium to see our first AFL game between Essendon and the Kangaroos. On pain of death we've been told by the entire family we have to support Essendon.
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