http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/weeg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from weeg en-us Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:19:16 +0000 Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:19:16 +0000 After the Kepler Track I hopped on the Stray bus to do the Milford Sound trip. It was absolutely pouring in the morning when we got picked up. The bus drive up to Milford Sound was not very scenic for us because it was raining so hard. Driving up to the tunnel that takes you through the mountains overlooking Milford Sound we saw amazing waterfalls. They were all over the place. These waterf http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/blog-260253.html After the Doubtful Sound cruise I met up with a couple more friends to do the Kepler Track. The Kepler Track is a 34 day hike near Te Anau. The Kepler Track is also one the New Zealand's Great Walks. New Zealand has classified 9 of its most popular trails as Great Walks. The trails are well maintained and people stay in group huts to minimize the overall impact to the environment. The huts http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-260252.html I had to head from Queenstown to Manapouri because that is where the Doubtful Sound cruise departs. I did not quite make it to Manapouri as planned since I missed the 630 AM bus out of Queenstown late night funny story. I had to find a public bus and make my way to Manapouri to meet up with a couple of friends because we had booked the Doubtful Sound cruise for the next morning. Both Doubtf http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/blog-259038.html So I am WAY behind in these updates but here is one that I was hoping would be worth the wait to have the text for...So Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of New Zealand. They are known for having the first commercial bungy jump in the world. Also the people company that set up the first bungy site have expanded and now jump from three different locations. I had already decided tha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-257558.html After enjoying the day on the mountain at Franz Joseph Glacier we drove south passing the Fox Glacier. The two glaciers are pretty close together and both are very touristy if that is a word. Near Fox Glacier is Lake Matheson. Lake Matheson is known for its reflections. The dark color causes very vivid reflections as you can see in the pictures.The drive down the coast continues to be beauti http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-251752.html There are loads of sights to see while heading down the west coast of the South Island from Abel Tasman National Park to the famous Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. One of the first stops that we made was at Lake Rotoroa. I hiked a very short hike near the scenic mountain lake. Here I had my first encounter with the dreaded sand flies. I have heard many stories about the sand flies that pester e http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-250848.html It rained again the day after the Tongariro Crossing but I was heading to Wellington. Wellington is not a bad place to run into rain I guess since we could still walk around town and enjoy the nightlife. I went to Te Papa New Zealand's big museum and the Parliament building. There was also some pretty good nightlife in town since we were there on the weekend. I crossed the ferry to the Sou http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/blog-248095.html This is the most famous and I'm guessing most popular oneday hike in New Zealand.I got up bright and early on the 12th to take the bus from Taupo to Tongariro National Park to do the famous Tongariro Crossing. However when I got on the bus we were told that the weather was lousy and that the company had cancelled the hike for the day. I decided to stay another day at the National Park and t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Tongariro-National-Park/blog-246114.html I got back on the Stray bus after spending a couple of days in Rotorua and went down to Taupo. The weather was pretty good when we got into town and there did not seem like there was much going on around town that afternoon. I decided to go and try an activity that Taupo is famous maybe infamous for. I decided to do a SKYDIVE Yep.Taupo has the cheapest skydiving in New Zealand although sk http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-246110.html I had heard a lot of good things about this trip and the region from a friend that I met in Fiji a few weeks ago. We had met up again a couple of times back in Auckland and I decided that if I had the time I would go see the East Cape. Basically the trip goes east from Rotorua to the East Cape furthest point east in NZ and then continues down through Gisborne before heading back to Rotorua.T http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-244678.html I headed south from Auckland on the Stray bus toward Hahei. Hahei is in the Coromandel Peninsula and one of the big attractions there is Cathedral Cove. I decided to go ahead and do some sea kayaking here since it was highly recommended by our driver. The kayaking was really nice and we got to kayak into a cave only accessable by water kayak thru a hole in a rock in a nearby island and spen http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-244621.html I spent a few days hanging around in Auckland to check out the town. I had not really heard anything good about Auckland so I was pleasantly surprised by the city. It has a nice harbour where there is a lot happening. I spent lots of time walking around town went up the Sky Tower to check out the city and I spent some time at Mission Bay which is a beach right outside of the city. I also http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-241614.html It was a long journey getting to Fiji as I had to fly thru Altanta and LA the way my flights were booked. I was not too worried about it since I was just excited to be going to Fiji finally after lots of anticipation for my travels.I spent the first night in Nadi Fiji before heading up into the Mamanuca Islands and the Yasawa Islands with something called a Bula Pass. Spent a couple of nights o http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/blog-239790.html Well I am pretty much wingin' things for my travels. I have decided to use a Circle the Pacific Itenerary and it is as followsJanuary 10th Flying to Nadi Fiji for a couple of weeks in the sunJanuary 25th Flying from Fiji to Auckland New Zealand.March 21st Flying from New Zealand to Sydney Australia.June 1st Flying from Australia to Singapore.August 24th Flying from SE Asia to Delhi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-232299.html