Getting Gone Hard to believe but I actually made it. For those of you who didn't hear I was stuck on the tarmack in Boston for 3 hours, which made me miss my connection to the Cooks, a flight which only goes once a week. After waiting in line for an hour I was finally able to get a flight the next evening to Auckland and then on to the Cooks. They wouldn't put me up in a hotel because it was a weather delay and since it was 2AM Pacific (felt like 5AM) I just got a discounted room at [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Rorotonga on Tuesday the 15th July after leaving Auckland on the Wednesday the 16th July. We travelled back in time because we crossed the international date line an hour or so into our short 3 hour flight. As we landed in Rorotonga we got to see the sea and Lagoon on one side and the mountain peaks on the other. There was no room for error on the landing as the island that encircles the island runs along the end of the runway and after the road, the lagoon and sea encroach. We did an Island tour which [View Full Entry]

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Hey guys, Thanks for your comments and messages, it's always nice to know people back home are thinkin of us!! Really appreciate it. Anywayy, two days ago we were in town and bumped into the lady who's been helping us at the New Zealand Commission...we said hi and she asked us if we'd picked up our brand spanking new passports as they'd arrived!! Yayy!!! WOOHOO!!!! So the worrying is all over!! The new passports look a bit odd, and my photo is absolutely hideous, i had to get it taken here after a night of little sleep and lots of worrying, [View Full Entry]

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Well, there has been some progress since I last wrote...basically due to an angry e-mail from my Dad which our landlord told me went to the primeminister?!, Nick and I going on tv, shouting in the police station and ranting to anybody who listened...the police ended up taking us seriously. We had to make a new report and a statement, as before they made a report our passports had been burned in the fire (easier for them) instead of saying they were actually STOLEN, the case has been in the papers most days and the crime was moved to different department [View Full Entry]

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I would be telling you about the fantastoc diving we did on Sunday, or the cool day we had just chilling out on the beach on Monday....but unfortunately all that has been overwhelmed by the events that occured on Sunday night.... Nick and I had cooked dinner and were chilling in our room reading at around 7pm. We heard really weird noises - glass crunchign and breaking, people running...it was really odd but Nick suggested it could be rubbish collecting...sounded plausible....five minutes later the noise grew too loud to ignore. Nick popped his head out the door and shouted at [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone!! Well we had a great last few days in NZ. Nick managed to get a days skiing in so he had funwith that. I was a bit terrified driving upto the ski resort though- the road was icy, windy and on the edge of a mountain. Arghh, looking over the edge was a steep drop. Not good!! We had to put snowchains on the camper but it was still sliding around a bit, eeek!!! I didn't ski, I was going to get a scenic lift pass but due to the winds that lift was closed so I just chilled [View Full Entry]

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Don’t you just love the South Pacific?! I think out of all the places that I’ve visited on my travels; the islands of the South Pacific are what have surpassed my expectations again and again. Flew on Monday to Rarotonga (in the Cook Islands, and yes I know that I’ve been here already!) and have to say that flying from NZ makes much more sense than when I flew from Sydney last time, but the crossing the date line thing still freaks me out a little bit! The plane journey was fine and I was very excited to be able to [View Full Entry]

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26/06/08 Days 1-30 So in a 4 hour flight from Auckland to Raratonga ive gone from being 11 hours ahead to 11 hours behind...the first time in my trip that you see the day frist. I landed at 3 in the morning to be greated by a old dude playing guitar and singing, he was so happy too. The aitport was one of the smallest and so relaxed, a 15 minute car jorney followed to the hostel,which is costing me $14 a night for the 30 days, its got a kitchen so its back to cooking your own food again but [View Full Entry]

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If these are the famous Trade Winds….I can do without the trade. Tearing ourselves away from the magic of Bora Bora in the Society Islands we set off for Rarotonga in the Cook Islands some 500 miles SW. The first day or so was really quiet we even had to drive for a while but then had Big Red up and hauling us along. Thursday came the front, wind blowing 20 - 25 knots and the seas just went berko. Sloppy, choppy big waves but no rhythm or rhyme, a violent washing machine action, not your smooth sloppy front-load this was [View Full Entry]

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hi everyone. Have had a really good few weeks. The end of new zealand was lots of fun, we got to explore some places that we only saw briefly on our way down the island and then we spent two evenings with some friends from Bristol who have moved out to Auckland for two nights, it was so nice to see familiar faces and be spoilt with real food and lovely company! We then went to the Cook Islands for a week, which was so so beautiful! I would reccomend any one who would like paradise for a week to go! [View Full Entry]

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