Joff
Joff Joined: October 11th 2006
Logged in: September 26th 2011
Logged in: September 26th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Hi folks - I promised a part 2 to my blog about Tonga and, finally, here it is. Let me give you a couple of Tonga facts. Tonga is an absolute monarchy and the royal family rules all out here, as well as owning all the country's power and telecoms companies. The country is the only one in this part of the world that was never colonised. The kingdom of Tonga is actually made up of several islands spread across hundreds of miles of the South Pacific. As I had been spending most of my time on the largest island of Tongatapu, I decided that it was time to visit another island. I bought a ticket on a local airline to head a couple of hundred miles north to the Vava'u group of islands. If I ... read more
Hello bloggos. Sorry I haven’t posted for a while but I am a very busy man these days. I have no idea how I am going to manage to hold down a job when the trip is over although I am gaining good experience in my new role as a Kiwi “house husband”, as appointed by my brother’s housemates. It looks from the news reports as though I am missing a ripper of a summer over in England. Hope no-one has been caught up in the floods and you are staying dry. I have many stories to finish off from the rest of my tour around New Zealand but I will come back to them at a later date. I cannot comment on everything that happened for “legal reasons”. Nick is still being investigated by the ... read more
Hi there bloggos If you read my most recent blog, you'll know that I left the story in a true cliffhanger situation. I was in a raft with my English pal Nick and a bunch of Danes about to drop down a 20 foot waterfall. There was no guarantee that the raft wouldn't flip over when we got to the bottom. Further up the river, we had practised the drill. When the guide shouted , we had to leap into our "waterfall" positions. This invovled clinging hold of various ropes and trying not to let go of your oar. We passed the final point where people who were really freaking out and couldn't face it could take the final exit path. This path is known as the Aussie Run. The guide instructed us to row with ... read more
Hiya folks. 1 June today and I can't quite believe how quickly the year is going. The travel funds are rapidly decreasing but I reckon I can still squeeze out a few more weeks of travel before I return to the old country and prepare for my eventual release back into the community. Anyway, on with the story. We informed the man behind the desk at our Napier hotel of our desire to take the bus to Palmerston North. He looked a little bemused. He gave us that "why on earth do you want to go to Palmerston North look?". Think somewhere like Reading or Milton Keynes in England if you're not sure what look I'm describing. The man asked us why we wanted to go to "Palmy". All became clear when we explained we wanted ... read more
Good afternoon all. So, Tony Blair is on his way after ten years in charge, there's a new President of France, Man United have won the Premiership and Yorkshire are top of the county championship. But more importantly than all that - what have I been up to recently on my travels around New Zealand? Let's find out. Firstly, a little more about Nick, my old drinking and rugby watching pal from England who has joined me for a few weeks down here. He wanted to see New Zealand before starting his new job as a scientist back home in London. Worrying things have happened to Nick since I last saw him back home. He's started drinking Diet Coke, he now eats sandwiches on focaccia bread and he's been enquiring where the after-shave balm is in ... read more
Hello to all blog readers. It's been a while. I hope you've all missed my deranged ramblings. I've certainly missed you guys. Last time I wrote, I was sitting in a steaming hot internet cafe in the heart of Santiago. Shortly after that message, I made the brief 12 hour hop across to New Zealand or "Aotearoa" to use the proper Maori name. It means Land of the Long White Cloud. Thankfully for me, that name hasn't really been appropriate as the weather has been lovely. I've had the chance to top up the tan a little bit before winter kicks in down here. Thankfully, my unfeasibly blonde eyebrows are now returning to their natural colour. I read you've also been having great weather up there in England. So everybody's happy. Ain't that nice? So, why ... read more
Howdy all. I've been getting reports that you´re enjoying fine sunny days back home in England. Perhaps this is the point in the trip where my good weather ends and you all head off into the summer. Boo hoo for me. I packed Phil off onto a plane last night so no deputies today - just me. Deputy blogger Phil did a thoroughly comprehensive job in telling you about our time in Patagonia so there's not much more for me to say. I do, however, feel the need to tell you more about our time in the Torres del Paine National Park. To start with, it´s hard to emphasise just how remote southern Patagonia is. Being a bit of a geography dumbo, I had no clue that I was at a more southerly latitude than New ... read more
Hi all. Happy Friday or, if you´re reading this another day, Happy whatever day it is. Back when I was planning this trip, a few people expressed an interest in joining me for various parts of the trip. As several of these conversations took place late at night in pubs after adult beverages had been consumed, I disregarded most of them. One or two people, however, have followed up their interest and actually booked a flight to join me on my mad adventure. So it was that I found myself at Santiago airport one Thursday morning waiting for an old work pal, Philip, to join me for a couple of weeks in Chile. I don´t think Philip will mind me saying that he´s had a tough few months recently so he was heading out here for ... read more
Hiya bloggos (as I´ve decided to call you blog reader folk). Sorry it´s been a while since the last blog but I am a very busy man these days, as I´m sure you can imagine. After the Galapagos trip, I had another day in Quito, Ecuador before a crazily scheduled overnight 3-plane trip to Buenos Aires via Lima and Santiago. Don´t asky why. My carbon footprint will be bigger than a yeti´s by the time I have finished the year. As I may have said before on this blog, you sometimes get the feeling that you are going to like a place the minute you arrive. I got that feeling with Buenos Aires. I was greeted by warm, spring-like weather in Argentina´s capital. The avenues were wide and tree lined. I walked around and marvelled at ... read more
Hi everyone at home or wherever you may be reading. A special hello to anyone reading this who was on board the Aneglique last week. Don´t forget to leave a message to say hi. My original plan for this part of the trip had been to turn up in Ecuador and see if I could get a last minute deal to travel around the Galapagos Islands. Then I started reading Charles Darwin´s account of the voyage of the Beagle around South America in the 1830s. I felt suitably inspired and knew I would be gutted if there were no last minute deals so, after a few dodgy money transfers and phone calls from central America to Ecuador, I had booked a 7 day epic voyage around the islands. The Galapagos Islands are located around 600 miles ... read more
