Destination: New Zealand

Kayak Catastrophe!

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 | By dirosa | Views [537]

I've always had a fear of drowning, I like the idea of doing water sports but if it’s anything else than swimming I can’t help but panic. Everyone along our New Zealand travels have talked so much about Kayaking, I wasn’t really sure I would ... Read more >

First time in NZ - Auckland

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 | By kelly | Views [1218]

Up at 4.30am for 7.15am flight out from Tullamarine airport.... *yawn*... what are the chances that the flight was delayed?? Oh nvm. I flew Emirates - had a ball, watched 'Next' with movies on demand and had yummy omelette breakky... the 3.5 hr flight ... Read more >

Tags: Eating & sightseeing

Back to Auckland

Sat, 18 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [647]

Today was our last full day in New Zealand. We left Hamilton for Auckland from where we fly to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands tomorrow. En route we encountered a friendly yet festidious traffic cop who punished us for the minor indiscretion of fractionally ... Read more >

Tags: Shopping

Rotorua to Waikato

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [934] | Comments [1]

In the city of a thousand smells, Rotorua's most offensive olfactory insults are reserved for the only Maori owned park - the aptly named Hell's Gate . The name of this place - given by our very own GB Shaw - captures its essence. Shaw, upon seeing ... Read more >

Tags: Sightseeing

Maoris, Moustaches and Manuka

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 | By jonnygo | Views [1287]

We looked 50 feet into the volcanic crater, its grassy sides rippled like an ancient sunken souffle.  With 360 degree panoramas over Auckland, Mount Eden is the highest of 48 volcanoes in the city. I was just positioning Maria for the, ¨crawling from a ... Read more >

Tags: Culture

I HATE Skiing... but was born to Apres Ski!

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 | By dirosa | Views [547]

It was Friday the 13th and another bitterly cold day in Springfield, New Zealand.  With thick fluffy white snow covering the mountain tops and slippery icy roads, Jonny and I despite being considered crazy by the locals decided it was a perfect day ... Read more >

Taupo

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [794]

We took a fairly long drive this morning, retracing our steps from Monday - to visit some of the things we saw outside our car windows as we sped past on our cross-country trek at the start of the week. First off was the Volcanic Activity Centre in ... Read more >

Tags: Sightseeing

Rotorua

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [745]

Rotorua is New Zealand's main centre of geothermal activity - the underground volcanic rumblings resulting in a whole assortment of manifestations above the surface - from bubbling mudpools, to toasty rocks to bursting geysers. Today we visited Te ... Read more >

Tags: Sightseeing

New Zealand at last

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 | By edd_powell | Views [659]

Greetings from possible one of the furthest places I could be from the UK - Auckland. Let me start by back tracking to my last blog. Since then I made it out of Cambodia in a mini van full to the brim of rucksacks and people through rivers, roads ... Read more >

Tags: Airports

Pre-trip ramblings

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 | By torie | Views [328]

Hey everyone I thought that the easiest way to keep in touch with you all while I'm away is to create this journal thingy. So...for the month that I am away if you haven't had any emails from me, check this journal and there should be some updates on ... Read more >

Tags: Work

What do The Simpsons and haunted pubs have in common? A town called Springfield!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 | By dirosa | Views [627]

The weather in the South Island was unbearably freezing with snow and ice everywhere.   It was so cold I had to sleep in thermals, woolly socks and hat. After spending the first few days in Christchurch we hired a car and headed to a small town ... Read more >

Petrol Prices

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [805] | Comments [1]

Strange - every single station we passed charged 153.9 cents for a litre of petrol. You'd think that if they were fixing the price they'd bump it up a bit - anyhow, we filled our Toyoto Camry with as much of the stuff we could fit and then set out on ... Read more >

Tags: planes trains & automobiles

Lady Norwood

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [725]

Not knowing who Lady Norwood is, was, or will be, we nonetheless took the time to visit the rose garden named in her honour, because Ruth's family home shares a name with that lady. Unlike the garden at no. 76, the rose garden on the hill overlooking ... Read more >

Tags: Sightseeing

WOW to Windy Welly

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 | By ciaranandruth | Views [736]

Nelson is the largest urban centre on the north coast of New Zealand's South Island, and as such serves as a meeting point for everyone within a 30 mile radius - particularly at the weekend when the Nelson Market takes over Montgomery Square. Unfortunately, ... Read more >

Tags: Sightseeing

Witnessing Sodom

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 | By jonnygo | Views [1093]

Even from the small gravelly car park our souls were in peril. Whispy hands of white sulphorous gas ebbed at our feet like a scene from, "The Fog."   Ominous clouds of white rose around our bodies. The playwright James Bernard Shaw named ... Read more >

Tags: Adventures