During my time in the UK I had a fantastic visit to the West Country, catching up with my mates and travelling backwards and forwards between London and Bath. Although brief, my reunion with friends Sarah, Abi, Jen and Lucy in Bristol was awesome and certainly very memorable, so worth a mention! I was fortunate enough to catch up some other good friends, Liz, Kat and Judith and the gang at Bath Aqua, and my very special friends Amy and Simon in Batheaston were incredibly hospitable, as ever, so it was lovely to see them too. I loved being able to [View Full Entry]

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When I planned my working-holiday to New Zealand I imagined that I would be spending a year backpacking around the country and therefore bought a return flight from the UK valid for just a year. My plans have altered, so now I want to take full advantage of my visa, to spend longer living and working in NZ, but have decided to use the return part of the ticket to visit my family and friends in the UK for a few weeks. Here are some photos from my short visit to my home-town of Hitchin and some from when I visited [View Full Entry]

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A few weeks ago I decided to pursue my long-term passion for teaching and contacted as many primary schools, including the Rudolf Steiner in Motueka, to try and establish a paid position. I started working at St. Joseph's School in Nelson and have had a brief insight into what it means to be a teacher, confirming in my mind that it is definately what I want to do and I'm eager to learn more about life in the classroom. The Catholic school has some quaint traditional values with a modern approach, and, by working as a teacher-aide, I am learning more [View Full Entry]

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It was interesting to work with Anthony and Berry at flamedaisy in Nelson as it had been precisely a year since believing I would probably not be working with glass for some time. I felt happy and comfortable to be working in a familiar environment again, although would often sense the stress and strain, generated by the pressure of running a business, directly from Anthony. Seven weeks of working with him caused a degree of unease, yet we created some stunning artwork, and visitors to the studio commented on our compatibility to make glass together. For the next couple of weeks [View Full Entry]

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My travelblog has been quite neglected recently as I have been concentrating on enjoying the comforts of settling in to a new home and focusing my energy on building up a busy social life. I knew instantly that Nelson would be somewhere to call 'home' for a while and I have even surprised myself at my achievements. Within twenty-four hours of living here I had secured a job in a glassblowing studio called flamedaisy and found a fantastic flat in Harper Street sharing with Marcia and Brendyn and their german wire-hair pointer, Texas. I was over-the-moon that things quickly started to [View Full Entry]

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There has been somewhat of a delay in publishing this entry, purely because I have been unable to think of anything to write and, the longer I wait, the more hazy the details of my travels become! I have therefore decided that it would be better to display the photographs that I took on my journey now, without much of a written blog, and catch up with what I have been doing in Nelson for my next instalment! [View Full Entry]

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Described as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, Milford Sound is an area of magnificent natural beauty. I planned my trip there perfectly to stay the night in the backpackers on shore and join one of the cruises early the following morning to explore the full 22km of Milford Sound by boat. At a relatively quiet time of year for visitors there was only myself, a traveller from Ireland, who’d been staying in the same hostel, the tour guide and the captain making the excursion! With waterfalls plunging hundreds of metres into the fiord it was all pretty spectacular, compl [View Full Entry]

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Passing along the Crown Range Road, through the Cardrona Valley I detoured slightly to the small settlement of Arrowtown to soak up some of the local history at the Lakes District Museum, and later continued on to Queenstown. Surrounded by majestic mountains on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown is no doubt New Zealand's most popular and commercialised year-round resort. The town (population 10,000) boasts adventure in all forms, from the extreme to relaxed. I opted for the latter and headed out to the quiet and supremely picturesque hamlet of Glenorchy, named after Glen of Orchy, Scot [View Full Entry]

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Just like anywhere else in New Zealand I find it very hard to travel very long without having to stop and capture the scenery on camera! From Fox my first photographic opportunity came at a beautiful bay called Bruce Bay, a driftwood-strewn beach which is perfect for a stroll, gazing across the Tasman Sea. I had already visited Lake Paringa just 7km south so I could justify passing through, and followed the Haast Pass through the rainforests of the West Coast, stopping briefly at Thunder Creek Falls and Cameron Flat. I remembered Lake Hawea to be particularly lovely and, already missing [View Full Entry]

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Along with Fox Glacier, Franz Josef Glacier has a small population of just 321, yet its 300,000 annual visitors make it the busiest tourist stop on the West Coast. I was fortunate enough and very grateful of the opportunity to walk up to Sentinel Rock for one of the best view-points of the glacier on the day of Scenic Circle's end-of-season party. Fifteen of us had already spent an adrenalin-pumped afternoon scaring each other silly on powerful 400cc quad-bikes in the town. The whole adventure had been kept a secret, other than being put in pairs, asked to be ready to [View Full Entry]

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