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Chloe Underdown
After spending the last seven years at the same school and working through GCSEs and A Levels I felt it was time for a break. So I'm leaving in September to travel for a year much to the disappointment of mum, who would much rather I went straight to uni as it would save her a lot of worry! First up is three months voluntary work in Peru with Project's Abroad; it's basically an archeology placement working on Inca ruins. And then three months travelling around South America before going to New Zealand to replenish my funds!ChloeU
I want to thank everyone for supporting me, everyone who came to my curry night, Girlguiding Basildon District, 5th Basildon Brownies, Olave Baden Powell Fund and the Hanningfield Awards. And lastly to mum and dad without whom I'd be stuck in Essex and far less prepared.
Travel Blog Posts
August 7th 2009
Oamaru For a week we stayed in Chillawhile backpackers in Oamaru. It was really rather strange. The owner was away for almost the entire time we were there as she was visiting her father who was ill, so instead a German couple were in charge. It was really laidback, there wasn't any set jobs each day and we could choose when we got up and started work. Coupled with some extremely comfortable beds menat we slept in pretty late most days! Our work varied widely from the normal like cleaning and laundry to the more unusual like moving cactus' and painting the fence. We also made poi, essentially balls on the end of strings which are used in traditional Maori dancing although are more likely to be used for decoration around the hostel. The hostel was ... read more
All play and no work in Wanaka and Queenstown
Published: August 4th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown
July 7th 2009
From Fox Glacier we headed to Wanaka and Queenstown and a week of no cleaning, no beds, only fun. Getting to Wanaka, on my bus at least, involved many unnecessary stops. Out of several, only one actually allowed us to see something worthwhile; a waterfall that was actually pretty cool. Arriving in Wanaka I struggled to the hostel with all my stuff to meet Heleana. There were lots of people in Wanaka, especially Brits, to ski or snowboard. As we can do neither and don't have enough money, our main activity was Puzzling World. It conveniently started snowing just as we left, which was pretty but made the walk pretty cold. Puzzling World consists of a maze and illusion rooms. It also has a 'leaning tower of Wanaka' with backwards clock and after taking the compulsory ... read more
July 7th 2009
Fox glacier town exists purely because of the glacier down the road and the tourists that come to see it. As such, it's tiny! Literally only a few streets. We got a job at a hostel there. We had to make beds and clean for a few hours in the morning in exchange for our own room and also quite a bit of food. Our boss would buy us milk and bread and also gave us a lot of meat and veg that we wouldn't of been able to get otherwise. She was really nice to us, especially as the local shop was tiny and very expensive. We made a great couple of stews with dumplings which we were extremely proud of. One was made with goat meat!! For such a small town we found quite ... read more
June 12th 2009
After leaving Akaroa we were due to meet someone for a job only got stood up; which left us very annoyed and once again jobless. We ended up spending another frustrating week in Christchurch looking for a job. I won't go into details as more interestingly we went to the museum. It was actually brilliant. One of the best museums I've been to. There was an interactive body exhibition (which was mainly aimed at kids) which included a game where you climbed into the mouth and slid down the throat before playing your way along the intestines and ending up in the toilets! (We didn't actually do it) There was also a display of the Paua shell house, an old couples house where they covered their living room in paua shells. We also went int o ... read more
The Great Escape to a Land of Knitting and Scones
Published: July 11th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Akaroa
May 20th 2009
So following a longish bus journey on a different buses Heleana and I arrived in Christchurch. The job we were going to involved selling cosmetics and they wanted us to meet them at the shopping mall where they were working. Of course we were in the centre and it was out in the suburbs but a girl at the bus station offered us a lift which saved us having to navigate the local buses with all our stuff. We met the 'managers' and dumped our stuff in their car before killing a couple of hours in the shops until they finished, when we went back to the shared house. The house was provided by the company for all the workers to share and wasn't what we expected. We didn't have proper beds only matresses on the ... read more
Nelson and Abel Tasman
Published: June 10th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Nelson Region » Nelson
April 25th 2009
Despite spending a week in Nelson Jack, Heleana and I didn't really do a hell of a lot, which is a shame as it was great to be somewhere bigger then Picton! We stayed in accents on the park, a hostel but it was so nicely decorated it looked more like a hotel. And the staff were insanely friendly and chatty. One day we walked to the 'centre of New Zealand' or what was originally thought to of as the centre but isn't actually the geographical centre just somewhere they took measurements from - or something like that! Of course it couldn't be on a nice flat plain but was up a hill, with a very steep finish. Wasn't great to get to the top, panting, and see a little old lady calmly sitting there. We ... read more
April 17th 2009
My first stop on the South Island was Picton, where the ferry drops you from Wellington. Didn't get much further then there as I got a job in The Villa, a hostel and spent just over three weeks working there. The ferry ride itself was good for the views leaving Wellington harbour and then entering the Marlborough Sounds but otherwise I had to contend with a large school group running about, drunken Maori women singing or the smell of the sheep in the lorries drifting over. Although considering how much I dislike crossing the channel on a ferry it wasn't too bad! The job involved around 4 hours of cleaning in exchange for bed and board as well as (crappy) internet and laundry. So although I wasn't earning anything I wasn't spendnig much. The work involved ... read more
Visiting Friends - Hamilton, Taupo and Upper Hutt
Published: May 25th 2009Oceania » New Zealand » North Island
March 30th 2009
Having previously visited the north island of New Zealand I was looking to head down to the south island pretty quickly and find work there. So I only stopped off to visit friends.... Hamilton Hamilton is a place I probably would never have gone to if I didn't know anyone there. Instead I stopped there briefly to meet up with Paul, who I met in Chile and who ironically is also from Essex but has been living in NZ for a while now. As it was a Monday he was working so I spent the reading and walking alongside the river to Hamilton gardens. Took me a while to get there as it was actually quite a way from the hostel but the walk along the river was quite nice in itself. I didn't see much ... read more
March 7th 2009
I arrived in Auckland with the intention of sorting out job related stuff and moving on fairly quickly. In the end I spent over a week there, had a lot of fun, and sorted a few bits of job related stuff. I arrived at four in the morning after a very long flight and immediately realised I'd been in South America too long when I was searching for the bin to put my toilet paper in for a few minutes before remember I was back to civilisation and could flush it down the loo! (Dodgy plumbing in SA if I haven't mentioned it before.) It was a similar story when in the hostel later I was looking out of the window wondering why the banners where in English before remembering everyone spoke English, no biggy. I ... read more
Carnival!! Christ, Crowds and Craziness in Rio
Published: May 15th 2009South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro » Santa Teresa
February 28th 2009
Rio is a city everyone has heard about, good and bad. Known for its beautiful beaches and bodies, its slums and crime. Lots of people I had spoken to reported stories of muggings etc. so I was very much on my guard when I arrived. Especially after being pickpocketed in Buenos Aires. Even the taxi ride to the hostel made me a bit nervous. It really didn't help when the tyres lost traction on a steep cobblestone road and we start sliding backwards accompanied by the smell of burning rubber. I was beginning to worry for my life but we made it up on the next attempt and it was plain sailing from there. The hostel I was staying in was ridiculously expensive because of carnival and very crowded. I was in a room with 12 ... read more
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