Caitlin Clunie OConnor

spent the last two weeks on paradise island and cant say much about it except it was amazing and teh snorkling was amazing and the tan is back with a vengance. back two weeks wednesday which is a highly scary prospect but there are several things i am lookign forward too: cheese wardrobe/drawers not having smelly dirty clothes not washing my knickers in the shower mums fish pie mums cooking in general wine cider showering in a nice bathroom my bed my pillows my house trifle chocolate cake several ice cream flavours nice clothes nice shoes cheese (again) samoa in two days where we leave here on the 23rd, arrive there on the 22nd then relive the 23rd in samoa! amazing xxx ... read more

right we have been in fiji nearly a week and havnt actually been on a beach yet which is a little disappointing but have been staying with extended family which has been great fun and here sia small run down of a few things that have happened (none too earthshatering but amusing to us all the same) a) i saw one of the worlds largest cockroaches on the pavement and decided to squash it with a rock, then it was still alive. then the neighbours cat ate its insides. and despite tha fact that all was left was the two wings and a leg, the leg still moved! but then it stopped. that one certainly wont be surviving any nuclear wars. b) me and tasha got taken to an indian wedding which was pretty exciting, although ... read more

Right in Rotorua at the moment, which is a very sulphurous area, therefore smells like stink bomb all the time which is pleasant. Met up with Will and Shane in Wellington which was nice, if a little odd as a) we were halfway across the world and b) they were both wearing togas but it was wicked to see them. Then we headed up to Taupo where the weather was shite so unfortunately we could not do the big impressive walk to see 'mount doom' from LOTR because it was closed, which is a real shame. We turned up and it was awful weather but luckily the next morning (after getting up at 6am) the weather was clear enough to so a SKYDIVE. Yay. It was bloody cold however even with 2 jumpers and a shell ... read more

i haven’t actually done much so i don’t know why i am writing a blog but the internet in this hostel is free and i feel i should make use of that. Plus i am trying to make this whole blog spelling error free in an attempt to stop disappointing my parents with my terrible grip of the English language. we are in wellington at the moment in a wicked hostel with free internet and a pool table in the kitchen that we shove tea towls down the holes so that you only have to pay once. what more could you ask for really? Wellington is a pretty good city i must say, and it actually a real city not a fake city that is actually a town trying to big itself up. nightlife is good ... read more

been quite a busy few days. did the ice climbing in franz joseph which was pretty spectacular. we to be honest i nearly died on the power walk over large slippy rocks and mountains and other hard terrain. the glacier was spectacular though (thats a big word for this blog) and we got to walk through a few ice tunnels and the like. the ice climing was bloody hard as u had to scale a vertical wall with a few spikes on your shoes and a couple of ice picks, but when you did get up there the views were amazing. was so so sore the next day. in queenstown now, pretty good place lots of nightlife and an excellent late night burger bar (ferg burger, the burgers are about the size of my head) so ... read more

ok so ice climbing didnt go to plan because it was pissing down with rain and thunder and lightning and the whole town was in a big cloud and there was no visibility and we probably would have died. so i suppose i accept that decision. however what i do not accept is: for some inexplicable reason all the girls on this bus find it nesassary to straighten their hair, put on a full face of make up and look like they are in vogue before doing an 8 hour hike in the rain. one girl decided to hold up the bus yesterday because she was 'getting ready'. getting ready to sit on a bus. all day. secondly the kiwi bus is absolutely rubbish. utter crap. they advertise themselves as being a 'hop on hop off' ... read more

rightttt, having quite a good laugh on the kiwi bus i must say. although it is still feelinga lot like a school trip still, a school trip where they encourage you to binge drink. went jet boating the other day which was good although my prodominant memory of it is being very cold. seen some beautiful scenery including the mountain bit used in the opening of the first jurassic park movie which was excellent. had a good time last night aT THE 'POO PUB' which is baisically a pub next to a lake where they give you a theme and you have to dress us. our theme was 'bad taste' which pretty much ment politically incorrect. we made tasha into a very convincing amy winehouse, and i was pregnant nicole richie in jail and we had ... read more

right, the ice bar was cold. even in a ridiculous number of layres and ugg boots. then we got an 11 hour train to sydney where we checked into the legend has it hostel. cheapest room being 21 dollars sharing with 27 other people. it was abit smelly in the mornings but madd fun. did many exciting things such as: take lots of photos of the opera house, see a man juggle a flaming torch an apple and a knife on a bike, see a play in the opera house (we felt very cultural) watch indiana jones, drink too much goon. we were going to go to the sydne4y museum until we found out we had to pay 5 dollars, so we went for a tour around the governers house which was free, and i got ... read more

riiight its beena billion years since i wrote this thinga nd i cant really remember much but il have a go! firstly, on the last night in the philippines there was an invasion of the 'hotel' by four-winged moths. as we were waiting around to get our bus there were literally 5 million zillion of them flapping about by all teh lights. and then they would fall on your head and your clothes and in your cup of tea and it was generally hideous. and then eric, our then tour guide, pointed out that they were not infact moths, but flying termites. i will take a moment here to point out (infact tasha pointed it out) that the entire hotel was made of wood(?) which i personally would find a little worrying. and then eric also ... read more

right in banaue at the moment, after a rather jokes trip on another ferry where the attendants appared to fall in love with us and didnt do much work just stood and talked to us for 19 hours. then we arrived in manilla and spend the WHOLE DAY in mall of asia ie filipino brent cross that even had an m&s. feels surreal going there though with all the extreme povery in manilla then u walk into an air conditioned wonderland with starbucks. oh capitalism. anyho then we got the auto bus up to banaue. we have had our fair share of cold air con while taking busses around SEA but ths bus was a joke, i had on two jumpers tracksuit bottoms and socks and still flet like i was contracting pneumonia. and now we ... read more