Dan NZ
Daniel Keys Joined: November 27th 2004
Logged in: February 19th 2011
Logged in: February 19th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Sun waking up through the mountains over Lake McKerrow
Yo hows it? long time no see, its been a year since my last blog from Thailand which feels like so long ago now. Im now living in central Australia, based out of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory to be exact and have been for the last 2 weeks and will be until the end of september. I am working for a very cool company called World Expeditions guiding 3, 7 & 14 day treks on the Larapinta Trail throu the West MacDonnell Ranges. Its such an amazing place here, its winter time and the other day it was about 35C. We have quite a few river crossings which crack me up as unlike the Routeburn/Milford which can sometimes be impassable and raging torrents they are all sand and dirt, no water to be ... read more
Fantasea
So the last few days in Phuket were spent round the pool, bit more surfing and eating. The weather had really turned around by the end with sun shining and the beach packed with people. Keri had a dress made we have called 'The Sack' not happy with it. We had heard about this attraction called Fantasea from a few people so decided to check it out and it turned out to be one the the coolest things we did! Its a Los Vegas style show with 30 elephants, pyrotechics, music dancing dudes flying all over the theatre. Was all inside a pretty amazing theme park all based on this mythical world with tigers, snakes, resturants and bars. Checked out of Serene on the 20th and flew up to Bangkok and caught a taxi into the ... read more
The Rusta himself came to see us off! Big love bro
Kia ora, Sour de Kup from Thailand! Yaahoo a blog from outside NZ again! So today we have been here a week and have about 11 more days to go. Thailand is hot, humid hot its monsoon season and first 4 days were very windy with some extremly heavy rain sometimes. We flew in after long trip with 2 days back home in Waiuku then throu Singapore to Phuket which is little peninsula south west Thailand. Kinda close to Myanmar were the cyclone hit but everything fine over these ways. We are staying at the Serene Resort on Kata beach near the bottom of Phuket, the hotel is primo beautiful pools and very close to the ocean. We've met a few other kiwis and spent a night in Patong with a couple Leroy & Fi in ... read more
Forgot to publish at the time..will add the photos once we get back from Thailand... Yo yo fullas summers done, fresh snow up the hills and temps have chilled down big time. Guide season pretty full on this time round and ready was for a break by the end. Did a mish down Stewart Isl with Forest, Josh & Rusteye couple weeks back. Primo time spent kiwi watching, fishing, drinking constantly, eating almost as much, swiming, tramping, dolphins, penguins chilling. Anybody spending time down these ways cant go past the island, by far clearest water ever seen. Keri and I heading off this arvo to Auckland stay with whanau then Thailand friday! Sweet going for bout a month heading south Phuket then north Chaing Mai doing the touristy thing so finally some international blogs again. So ... read more
Keri & I on top of the world
Kia Ora, its been ages since my last blog pretty much due to laziness an ive finally sat down to blog out again, so im still in Queenstown and summer time is well underway. Im working for Ultimate Hikes again this summer season and its been awesome so far, nice comming back as a second year guide and having a clue as to whats going on. We have a sweet crew of bout 25 guides an some pretty interesting cats amongst us. Im working on the Greenstone and Routeburn Tracks but am in the middle of 3 weeks on the Milford Track due to Milford guides becomming injured and sick (they not quite as hard as Routy guides) The Milford Track experience is amazing, our lodges are quite literally hotels surrounded by the most amazing mounatins ... read more
Riverton rocks 2 days ago, when the swell gets big enough it peals around the point here and you can get rides of up to a minute all the way into Riverton Bay, its absolutely stunning
Hey once again from Queenstown, as i write I can see it has just started snowing on top of the remarkables again which is good as we need some more, when do you not?! Its warm today, bout 10' which is nice we had a couple of weeks in the negitives and it was pretty chilly with Qtown cut off from outside world, cars abandoned and sheet ice causing mayhem. Myself and the crew have been keeping indoors and warm mostly. Watching the warriors religiously as they cruz to the grand final and avoiding the mental night life in town that comes with the snow season. We've had some saweet days up both Coros and Remarks with quite a decent base providing unexpected stokedness. I however had a very unstokedful day 3 weeks ago were I ... read more
Mt Christina from Key Summit
Hey kia ora everyone, first sorry bout the lack of emails and blogs over summer-i hope you had a great one filled with beach, beers, good times and good mates. I had an epic summer working on the Routeburn and Greenstone tracks. Was hard to belive I was getting paid to walk amongst such amazing scenary, the mountains, rivers and lakes really are breathtaking-but of course pictures are always better than words so ill let the photos do the talking. Apart from being out on the track 80% of the time got a few waves around Catlins and Riverton ways, went back north for Nanas 80th and saw the whanau, few concerts, rugby games, dart river jet boat safari (wicked!) Moved in with Keri and all is swell, so now track has finished this season ... read more
Starting our training trip heading up the Greenstone Valley
A big howzit from down south, completed my first trip as a guide for ultimate hikes friday evening after walking the Grand Traverse with 24 clients. All I can say is sweet and this summer is gunna be wicked! Peace Dan... read more
Keri looking back down Lake Wakatipu with the Frankton arm and Queenstown on the right
Kia ora everyone, yes another blog from Queenstown, I find its hard to belive how quickly time is passing by and it has been more than 8 months since I moved down south. I am enjoying life down here more and more and can see myself sticking around for a while. I guess this is just another update so sorry if not to exciting but with winter drawing to a close and the days getting longer it feels like another era is comming to an end and an awesome summer is lined up. I finished work with NZ post last saturday with my final posty run. It was sad to leave and say goodbye, I have really enjoyed my time there and wouldnt mind being a posty next winter, the hours are sweet to work in ... read more
Sunsetting over the post office with the Remarkables in the backdrop
So three months on from my last blog and things have cooled down a bit here in Queenstown, we have had a couple of -12 nights which leaves all the windows in the house with a thick layer of ice on the inside, the toilet bowl froze and transforms our back yard into something out of Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. This has made the posty run a little sketch in some parts but no big falls yet. Currently doing the town run whilst Daveys away. Its really socialable and people are starting to reckonize me as Dan the postman. The house is always nice and toasty now as we never stop the fire cranking and we have friends and family staying pretty much everyweek. Winterfest was crazy down here with huge nights, packed montains and ... read more
