JoelR

Had a great surprise today! My friends Jeff and Amy who got married this summer are in Auckland and they picked me up from the airport. Was great to see familiar faces again. Christchurch is the most depressing place I've ever been in my life. There are buildings still half destroyed, a crazy amount of construction going on, nobody in the whole city was smiling. I walked around for about 3 hours and had to go inside because I couldn't handle it anymore. Can't even imagine what it was like right after the earthquake. Not much positive to report. It's my last night abroad. I can't believe how fast this trip has gone by. It's mind blowing to think about all the things I've done, places I've seen and people I've met on my trip. I've ... read more

Made it to Queenstown! Known as the adventure and party capital of NZ. Such a beautiful place. Nestled in the mountains and surrounded by lakes it reminds me of Banff, but I'd say about twice the size of Banff. On Wednesday I was in Wanaka and met up with my cousin Heather. It was such a great time. Wanaka is really beautiful - a very small town, relaxed atmosphere, friendly people, beautiful scenery. Would have loved to spend more time there! Arrived in Queenstown yesterday at around mid day. Queenstown is where bungy jumping was invented, so I decided to do the Nevis Bungy jump. It's a 134m drop and you free fall for 8 seconds. Pretty wicked. Decided to do it with 2 friends, Harry and Lee. We all agreed we would jump when they ... read more

Had a couple much needed recovery days. Wellington is SO windy. Windier than I imagined. It was raining too and the rain was falling sideways. Perfect day to stay inside. Watched the hangover and I am legend. Yesterday was a travel day. Took the ferry across to the south island and arrived in Kaiteriteri last night. Pretty nice place with a nice beach. The water is freezing. Just having a nice Sunday morning breakfast now, then going to look into renting a kayak or going for a hike in the national park. Yup, nothing exciting to update you on. Just a couple recovery days. ... read more

Didn't win the $10,000 hole in one challenge. Was really windy, a swirling wind too, so I didn't even come close to be honest. Went on a sunset booze cruise on Lake Taupo. Really beautiful. There are a ton of really nice homes on the ridge overlooking the lake. Really clear lake too. Could see the bottom at places it was 20 feet deep. Today I did the hike. Was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life, but such an amazing view. The basic walk is a 19km hike which is supposed to take 6-8 hours. You have the option of also climbing the volcano, which is an additional 3 hours. So yeah, I climbed the volcano. It was incredibly steep and the rocks were really loose, so every step you took, you slid ... read more

Wow, hot water beach might have been the most unique thing I've seen so far. Basically it's a natural hot springs underneath a beach. You wait until the tide is low, then dig a hole in the sand and incredibly hot water comes pouring out through the hole. The water from the Pacific Ocean then comes in when a wave comes up and you literally get a natural hot tub. The water from the hot springs is really hot (58-63°C). When we first got there, it was painful walking along the beach because it was burning our feet. The water from the ocean is really cold, so you have to get a good mix of both. If your pool is too cold, you dig a little deeper into the sand to warm it up. Was a ... read more