Dom109
Dominic Williams Joined: February 25th 2008
Logged in: March 5th 2011
Logged in: March 5th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
So this is it. My final blog of the trip. How weird it is to be typing that, where has 88days gone, not that I have been counting them!! I write this whilst waiting at Hong Kong aiport for my flight, and its a good job I have time to kill as this Blog needs to cover my final two days. Yesterday I went to Macau. Now todays title is "my actual four stamps" since the last blog was meant to cover macau as well but I ran out of time. The reason for this title is that for me to go to macau for the day, it required 4new stamps in my passport, out of hong kong, in and out of macau, and then into hong kong. It was a busy day for customs! I ... read more
Got up and was out at 9am. Decided that today I would hit the main business area, as well as the main parks and the peak. Hopped onto the MRT and headed to admiralty, the stop for Hong Kong park. What an amazing little park. Spent a bit of time in the tea museum, yes tea museum. Was actually quite interestingdespite the fact i cannot stand the stuff! From here I then walked through the greenhouses, more like big indoor gardens, particularly liked the cactus garden. The park has a very pretty man made lake and waterfall, which I had to walk around to get to the walk through aviary. Oh yes, not the regular run of the mill cages with a couple of random birds in. Oh no. This was a huge, walk through thing, ... read more
Hey there, apologies for the delay since the last blog but I have been without internet access, the hostels computers are lacking somewhat! Anyways, I am back so lets blog on! Firstly, the title of this blog, dont be scared, I havent found myself in some horrifying situation, its merely a point about how humid it is here. You look outside and it appears to be cloudy and miserable, but you step outside and it hits you straight away, rather unpleasant, but will leave it at that! Ok so Saturday was definitely not my favourite day of my trip since laving home. Having got very little sleep on my 5:50am flight to Sydney (having been up all night), i then had a 4hour wait before a 9hour flight to Hong Kong, which was delayed nearly an ... read more
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My last day in New Zealand started in darkness. But this was only because my room didnt have any windows, therefore no natural light. It was actually very light outside, since i had set my alarm to get up just before check out time of 10am. I had breakfast after checking out. Having left my big bag in storage, I hit the city of Auckland. I started the day by heading away from the city up Queens street to the town hall, before crossing over the main road and entereing the Auckland Domain. This is quite a large, traditional park, which looks quite English like at times. My first stop in the park was the winter gardens, two very impressive grass houses, full of, well I hate to say it, but some very cool plants. Leaving ... read more
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The long wait is finally over, but more to come on that later! Yesterday morning, I hopped on a bus at Sky City, and headed four hours up the road to Paihia, located in the gorgeous Bay of Islands. I arrived at lunch time, and booked into the hostel, as well as making a booking for a certain activity for the following morning. With one afternoon to use, I asked the receptionist what I should do. She recommended getting a jet boat out to the hole in the rock, before jumping off across the bay for a stroll around the town of Russell. Off I went to the Marina, where I booked my boat, but found I had an hour to wait. I decided to walk along and round to the next beach, since the weather ... read more
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Today I arrived in New Zealands biggest city, Auckland. I arrived at around 1pm, in gorgeous sunshine, and a clear sky. It was the usual drill, check-in, and then get out. Since i have a whole day here on friday, I decided to visit Devonport for the afternoon. To get there, I had to walk down to the ferry piers, and catch a ferry across the harbour to Devonport. The boat takes about ten minutes, and runs back and forth all day long. In Devonport, I decided to follow the walking tour from my guidebook. This took me first up the main street, which is a lot more traditional compared to bustling Auckland city centre. Lots of cool little independant shops and boutiques, with the odd art gallery for good measure. Also a nice selection of ... read more
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Today Dom was up at half past 6. Very much cold, and very much still dark. Ate a very quiet breakfast before going outside to wait for the bus. The bus was a bit late, but driven by a very nice english chap, so it was hard to be annoyed. This bus was to take me all the way to Waitomo caves, and then back in the evening, a drive of about 2hours each way. Occupied myself with podcasts on the way, since the scenery was not too much unlike England. On arrival at the caves, I had a bit of a wait before my tour, but it gave me a good chance to wake up properly. The tour began at 11am and was called the Black Abyss. Sounds nice doesnt it! The first stage of ... read more
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Ok, I dont actually mean my stink, but the stink of Rotorua. To be fair, it wasnt as bad today as it can be, but still quite odd. Used to it now though. Left Taupo at 9am, having got up at 7am for a skydive which didnt go ahead, argh, is it not meant to happen!? Picked up a few at another hostel, and who should get on but Charlie who I met in Oz. Had a bit of a catch up on the bus and am actually about to go and join him and some guys for some cards. The journey to Rotorua was only an hour, so not too bad a day for travelling! On arrival, we had an introduction to Maori culture, which actually turned out to be one big advert for their ... read more
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Lets get it out of the way straight away. I did not jump out of a plane today. It rained all day, literally. Bummer! So, what did I do with my day? well... I decided to hire a bike out from one of the hostels in town, a nice little mountain bike for the day and not bad for about 12quid. Began my day by making the ride to Acacia Bay, about 5km around the lake from Taupo. I decided to bike to here for the serene beaches boasted in lonely planet...guess you need good weather to fully appreciate them. Quite a nice little ride though, and also the driest one of the day so i enjoyed it the most! On returning to Taupo, i rode the other way round the lake along to 5-mile beach. ... read more
The Walk
The following takes place between 9am and 9pm. 9:30am - Alarm sounds. Dom crawls out of bed and into the shower, which is really good and helps wake him up. He moves to the kitchen to enjoy some Nutri-grain and apple juice whilst reading the paper. 10:00am - The phone rings, someone answers. Is sky diving on? The news comes, its off until later today, ring again then. 10:05am - Not to waste time, Dom sets off on a walk to the Huka Falls. The walk is not too bad, about a 3hour round trip from the hostel, with a stop for lunch at the falls. The first part of the actual path takes him through the spa park, which as a thermal stream running through it into the river. Really strange to see steam coming ... read more
