My travel buddy (Anshu) and I sent of at 8am in the morning to Rotorua, the drive there took us about 4hrs.....but we were ire =)) Listening to some good music all the way. The sun was blazing hot and we were starting to get sweaty. The queue to get in was so long it took us an hour to get in!!! We did a little hop, skip and scream for joy was in!!! Yippee!!! The vibes were cool and we were jamming. Watched House of Shem and enjoyed....give a little love. Dino tried calling us but we wouoldnt hear him, [View Full Entry]

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Anshu and I are tired of doing chores on the wekend and the weather in Auckland has been so hot and beautiful....so we decided to go and find a beach that we have not been to and spend a few hours relaxing and soakin up some sunshine (with some slip slop and wrap of course=)) Longbay beach was like gorgeous and the water warm, perfect for swimming. Lovely day. [View Full Entry]

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Today I am off on the "Great Ocean Road" tour - I have heard a lot about it and am told I will not be disappointed also that I must sit on the left side of the bus as the ocean is to the left and so are the best views. The tour bus collects me from the hostel and I am the second person on the bus so good seats are still available. After collecting everyone - we stop at the tour head quarters to register and quick up the last person. Tour guide offers the front passenger seat (which [View Full Entry]

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Yes!!! Finally time to go back home. Caught a cab to the airport. Flight to Buenos Aires was delayed by two hours. Found out that we didnt need to pay departure tax as it was already included in our ticket so went crazy shopping duty free =)) Finally get on the the plane - arrive at Buenos Aries for a 6 hr transit and flight is delayed again by an 1hr or 2. Arrive in Auckland safe and sound and glad to back. Then I get stuck with Customs being enterogated by NZ Customs for 2 - 3 hrs for trying [View Full Entry]

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Today is our last day in Rio de Janeiro and it is good bye South America as well - tomorrow we head back home. We spend the entire day on the beach, soaking in the sun the culture and the sights and smells of the place. What a lovely way it was to spend the last day. We tanned our already cery brown skins but had so much fun. Even went for a bit of a swim, the current was pretty strong and my bikini kept coming off - I suppose the Brazilian bikini's are made from stronger stuff - maybe [View Full Entry]

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So after a lovely sleep we are feeling refreshed and have a good breakfast. Today we want to see Christ Redeemer/Cristo Redentor. After looking at the map we need to find a train station on Rua Cosmo Velho that will take us to the Christ Remeemer statue. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Christ the Redeemer (Portuguese: Cristo Redentor), is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue stands 39.6 metres (130 feet) tall, weighs 700 tons, and is located at the peak of the 700m Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest Nationa [View Full Entry]

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So today we manage to get a refund on the remaining days and decide to find better accomodation or one that is at least not so noisy. We search through or handy books and find one in Copacabana and there is a room available for us. We pack our backs and catch a cab there - what a lovely hostel this was, so beautiful and clean and quite. We are pleased as its in Copacabana, two minutes from the beach.....this is the life. Carry are bags to our room and think of enjoying a lovely shower only to find we have [View Full Entry]

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Today we decide we have had quite an adventure and wonder if we can change our tickets to fly out a few days earlier than originally planned. We find the offices for Aerolinas Argentinas are in Cenro and decide to head there. After some lenghty discussion we discover that is not a possility without extra costs being incurred and decide to stay and enjoy the last few days in Rio. As we are already in Centro, we decide to explore it and soon find ourselves in Praca 15 de Novembro - awesome imposing large colonial buildings all around. Centro (or Downtown) [View Full Entry]

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Day starts of with the usual - breakfast (the best so far - so many fruits to choose from), shower, pack. Say goodbye to the falls and catch a plane for Rio de Janeiro (TAM airline). Our plane departs at 10:40am and arrives at 12:40 in Rio (roughly 2hr). We find a cab that is so much cheaper than the ones at the arrivals door. The cab take us to Tupiniquim Hostel in Botafogo. We leave after dropping of our bags in search of lunch. Find a lovely little place where we have some soup of the day. Tempers start going [View Full Entry]

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Today the plan is to catch a cab and cross the border. After a leisurely breakfast, shower and change of clothes, we pack up and ask the front desk to organise a cab for us. 30mins later no cab had arrived!! The lady at the front desk tells us that her husband is crossing the border for business and will drop us off at our hostel. We finally get into the car and cross the last border to brazil, we are dropped off at our hostel, there is some dispute over the price of the ride, we negitiate and pay him [View Full Entry]

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