http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Burns/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Burns en-us Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:03:46 +0000 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:03:46 +0000 I was settling into life in New Plymouth. I was working at the motel I had just started a new job at Lonestar not the same chain as in the US waiting tables surfing heaps and just found a place to do jiu jitsu. About 3 weeks ago I got an email from my sister informing me that my dad had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had spread to his stomach. The doctor has given him less than a year to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Delaware/blog-101763.html I know its been a while since my last entry but I haven't had any good adventures lately. No good stories and to quote Yvon Chouinard Patagonia Founder Adventure doesn't start until something goes wrong. By that definition my adventure has definitely started but lately its been a little lackluster. The day after I got back to Taranaki Barney and I had a good surf at Kumera Patch. After Barn http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/New-Plymouth/blog-89463.html After getting my van running again and possibly starting a job soon I was itching to get back on the road again and go on a mini surf trip. I drove all day to get to Ahipara. By the time I was less than a hour out of Auckland it was dark so I wasn't able to enjoy the scenery. I arrived in Ahipara late Thursday night. Since it was around 12 I didn't want to pay to stay somewhere so I just parked http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Northland/Ahipara/blog-83634.html From Raglan I made the journey to Taranaki. Driving in New Zealand can be so fun. It's totally not stressful and at times you can go for miles before even seeing another car. Also there might be 2 major 46 line highways on the whole island so 95 of the roads are 2 lane mountainous country roads. Again on my way to Taranaki I got to drive through more magnificently scenic reserves. This time http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taranaki/Oakura/blog-79110.html Mike and I have a beautiful drive back to Raglan through the National Reserves. Mike's not much for taking pictures so no pics. The reserves are huge and it takes hours to drive through them. A third of the drive back to Raglan was through the reserves. Good on ya New Zealand for protecting their native land and vegetation and not selling out to developing every inch of it. The reserves have thick http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Raglan/blog-78879.html New Zealand is a very beautiful place. I've heard that the South Island is even more beautiful because it has more dramatic scenery but the North Island is very beautiful too. Both islands have very drastically different environments within a very short distance which makes it so beautiful. Its colder than I was expecting. I was expecting a San Diego type winter but I think it's more like Central http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/blog-75550.html Before I left the States I contacted a person selling a van online. I arranged to meet Pip at the airport when I arrived. I met Pip and checked out the van. It looked like it was exactly what I wanted so I took it for a test drive. That was an experience. Within 10 minutes of being in New Zealand I was driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car. When there is traffic on http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Raglan/blog-75289.html