29/03/2007

in paihia. sue showed me an interesting dessert last night; icecream
with jelly beans. nice. we headed off to 90 mile beach today, about 90
mins away. dee went on a 2 hour horse trek along the beach and me &
sue went on a 2 hour guided quad tour on the beach, rocks and sand
dunes. we all really enjoyed it. the quads rocked - those things can
really move! they seem to be able to tackle any terrain. we went from
tarmac roads, to slippy rocks, to deep soft sand, and it sped through
it all. 2 hours later, we arrived back much sandier and wetter. the
weather has not been great over the last few days.

we're heading to auckland tomorrow for 2 nights before we go, but we
have not booked a place to stay yet. fingers crossed, we'll get one in
the morning before we leave!

25/03/2007

ok, so i haven't been updating my blog with any text entries for a while. i've been busy, okay? keep your socks on. sheeeeesh. sue is here now and we're having the craic.

here's a round up of the recent stops we made:

auckland
went up sky tower on paddy's day. caught the end of the parade in the city. met saint patrick - he's from new zealand. met up with mick's friend, claire. had food and pints. went to bed. got up @3am to go watch the ireland VS italy rugby game. went back to bed happy. woken up by phone call from mick calling the french b4stards. back to sleep. tired.

rotorua
walked around thermal wonderland to see what the earth's core is farting out, and the crazy colours it produces. took a dip in a local spa pool river thingy in kerosene creek, hot water and all! went on the luje again, but this one was waaay better than the one in queenstown. fell off my luje by going too fast around a corner. hit the barrier, rolled 3 times, hopped back on and assed my damage when i got to the bottom. lots of grass stains, few scrapes, but no bones broken. wend down again twice more, and slowed a bit for the killer corner. went on a brilliant jeep safari with dee and sue. we got to drive a suzuki jimny jeepy thing for an hour over all sorts of obstacles, we all really enjoyed it. went to MATAI maori evening. cost a bit, but well worth it. loads of maori singing (if you could call it that) and dancing and even a traditional war dance on kayaks, then a slap up meal, then some history and a look at the glow-worms. sweet.

coromandel peninsula
cathedral cove walk to a secluded beach with amazing sea arches and sea stacks. a geographer's veritable erroding wet dream. went to hot beach and dug a hole in the sand in line with the hot springs. mix of boiling hot water from the springs and cold water from the sea fill up the hole for a natural jaccuzzi. actually, we got there a bit late and all spaces to dig were gone, so we robbed an old couples abandoned hole - score!

orewa
went to cinema to see hot fuzz. my god, was i wrong about this film. the trailer made it look slapstick and crap. best film i've seen in quite a while. very fresh style.

paihia
just got here! give me a chance! 5 nights left in NZ.

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14/03/2007

drove from blenheim to picton (only 30 mins) to get the ferry to the north island (to wellington). drove about 5 or 6 hours up from wellington to napier in torrential, monsoon-like rain. was a really sh1t drive which included us getting drenched mid journey when we had to escape the dry confinds of the car to get lunch. to top-off the fabulous day, i crashed bertha. yes, i know, i know, she was a beaut. anyway in napier city at a busy intersection with blind corners and rain and wet roads, the car on front decided it was best to jam on hard (the right of way at junctions is messed up here), so we hit the back corner of it. nothing too bad to the car we hit, but bertha got a smashed headlight (mandatory for any crash), dented bonnet and wing. we're heading to taupo in the morning and will either get it fixed there or in auckland. luckily we got the extra excess reduction on our insurance with scotties, so it should only cost us $200 - which is €100. ho hum.

11/03/2007

in blenheim - wine region. all of the vineyards are really close together, so we drove around a few of them for free taste tests! there must be about 30 vineyards here at least, so i've got a lot of work to do. all the blagging is tiring, pretending you care about what wood the barrell is made from that the carbernet is fermented in. fun none the less. it's really a white wine region, so the reds aint great coz they are only young - mainly all pinot noirs, but i'm trying the whites (only coz they are free). we also went to a place that makes shnaappss (or however you spell it). we tried loads of shots, it was like a free bar! butterscotch, sour apple, lemon, chocolate, mint... was weird.

no plans as yet for tomorrow, either going on a scenic drive up near picton, or going to do more wine tasting. might do some tasting in the north island as i heard the reds are better - up in napier, etc...

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11/03/2007

went on a whale watching cruise this morning in kaikoura. saw the same sperm whale twice [they dive for food and do not re-surface for 45 mins]. was good, but we were both starting to feel a bit sea-sick by the time we got back. a big filthy fry-up soon fixed that! we've done 3 cruises in the last week or 2, so we're taking a break from the rocky waters for a while me thinks.

10/03/2007

we went on a wildlife cruise early in the morning in akaroa to see hector dolphins, fur seals, and a blue penguin! drove to kaikora. met an irish couple in the hostel and asked them a million questions about the PADI diving course, as we might do it in fiji. if it's available and affordable i might do a paragliding course in fiji while dee does the diving course...

09/03/2007

akaroa - the peninsula off christchurch. a town inhabited by frenchies years ago, and they built the whole town in french style with loveley wooden buildings and french named streets. got a killer fish and chips on the first evening, and the best chowder i've ever had the following morning. damn good restaurants with fresh produce.

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08/03/2007

went to denedin peninsula today to see penguins and seals. we checked our budget for NZ last night to find out that we had already gone over our 5 week budget in just 12 days! so feeling cheapy, we decided not to go on the $75 wildlife tour, but to wander around the peninsula unguided and go to the $30 penguin reserve. worked out fine.

07/03/2007

in denedin. went on a tour of the cadbury's factory in the city centre. dee was a bit excited to say the least. the quantities of the stuff they make here is mind boggling. the kiwi's obviously love their chocolate as much as dee! went to HOYTs cinema to see blood diamond. pretty good. going to see wildlife on the peninsula tomorrow.

06/03/2007

in te anau. went on a day trip to milford sound. basically this area of NZ (south west) is a geansai-load of fjords, and it pisses rain all the time. we went on a cruise on the sound and the rain means that there is loads of waterfalls and it is really beautiful. was quite cold and wet after he cruise though; the captain of the ship thought it was a good idea to get everyone out on the ships deck and float us right under a giant waterfall!

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04/03/2007

in queenstown now. hopped on the cable car to head up to the summit, where the LUJE leaves from. it's this cool yolk that you sit on (like a skateboard with handlebars) and gravity powers you down the windy hill track. there was a scenic and advanced course, with free ski-lifts to the top (you get 3 tries). the advanced one was sooo fast and we both really enjoyed it.

i've temporarily moved from beer to buying boxes of wine. they rock. cheap as chips and don't taste too bad at all!

since we've got to NZ, we have not eaten out once for lunch or dinner; it's so much more expensive here compared to south america (still cheaper than ireland though). we're gonna treat ourselves tomorrow evening to a nice meal. if you had a larger budget, you could seriously enjoy the NZ cuisine - there are loads of great looking restaurants. i'm thinking indian, maybe thai... hmmmm.....

03/03/2007

in wanaka. went to a place called puzzling world. cool little place full of optical illusions. mr. gleeson would have a field day, come to think of it, paul would have enjoyed it more. we went into the maze but got bored after 10 mins, so used the emergency exit to get out. it's meant to take about an hour to complete.

pretty much relaxed here for 2 days. the roads in NZ are very twisty and windy and up and down hills, so you are kinda tired when you get to your destination. i'd fecking love to have my CRX here - the roads are like an F1 track! i'd say they make a lot of car ads here coz the roads are perfect.

01/03/2007

we did the trek on franz josef glacier today, it was amazing. it does exactly what it says on the tin - feels like walking on a giant icecube! the hiking company give you proper hiking boots and spiky yolks for your boots (crampons) . The textures you feel through your feet while climbing up the glacier are great; it goes from rock hard solid ice, to slushy melted stuff, to brittle chunks that crush under your spikes. i really enjoyed the half day hike. the guides carve out steps every morning to walk and climb along, and the routes change gradually as the ice melts every day. we walked through a cave that had only been accessible for the last 4 days and would soon collapse and the guides would have to find another route to the top.

the glacier is advancing down the valley 1m and 5m upwards every day - put that in your pipe and smoke it mr. gore... i'm totally serial!

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