Advertisement
Published: June 28th 2006
We've been in New Zealand over a week now and we're coming to the end of our travels and adventures in the North Island so thought it was time you had an update!
The first thing that comes to mind when trying to explain New Zealand is it's FREEZING at the moment! We've see lots of snow! It looks pretty though. Luckily we havent had any rain yet its just freezing! New Zealand really is beautiful, its so green and theres mountains and volcanos everywhere!
We decided against the idea of buying a car and travelling by ourselves - it can get quite lonely with just the 2 of us so we decided to book the Kiwi Experience. It's basically the same as what we did on the West Coast of Australia and that has been the highlight of our travels so far so we thought we would try it again.
Its been brilliant so far. We're having a fantastic time. We've got a really good crowd on our bus and we all get on really well - suprisingly they are all English! It really makes a difference when you have good company - theres never a boring
Tree Hugging!
Huge tree isnt it!?moment! We've had some really good nights out, its been a good laugh!
The highlights so far....(there are so many but here are a few!!)
* Sand Boarding at the Bay of Islands (I was too scared but Phil did it!)
* Rotorua - the geothermal and cultural centre of New Zealand. It was really good here. We saw lots of volcanic action and hot mud pools at the geothermal reserve, it was really interesting to see.
* Maori Hangi Concert - this was excellent. We got to see and learn all about the Maori culture. It was very interesting. The best bit was it included meal in the evening - a nice roast dinner that was cooked the maori way - underground! It was a nice change from beans and noodles!
* Luging - this was great fun! You sit in a go-cart thing and ride down the side of a volcano/mountain. There was a fantastic view at the top.
* Waitomo - this place is known for its caves and glow worms. We went on a short walk through the well known caves which was good. Glow worms are strange things aret they!? strange how they glow
so bright.
* Lord Of The Rings - we visited the little town - Hobbiton, saw sights where it was filmed and also went to an exhibition.
* Taupo - Here you can do the cheapest sky dive in the Western World so we had to do it! It was the best thing I have ever done. It was such a fab experience. We werent really nervous, more excited about doing it but when we were hanging out of the plane 12.000 feet in the air it finally hit me that I was actually going to jump out of a plane and I was so scared I couldnt breathe!! Excellent though!
* Also we've seen some lovely waterfalls, rock formations and been on some nice walks.
Well, thats it for now. We're are off to the South Island tomorrow where its going to be even colder than here! Theres lots of snow there so hopefully we'll get to do some snow boarding - on real snow! We're really looking forward to it.
Times going so quickly now - I cant believe its all coming to an end! 6 weeks left!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 9; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0629s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Mum and Da
non-member comment
New Zealand looks brilliant!
Hi Carly and Phil, It seems really strange to see you all dressed up for winter, that must of been a shock to the system!! The gang you are with seem to be up for a laugh! Really interesing places that you have visited. Dad and I cant believe you both did the sky dive, when you both hate heights!! Enjoy South Island , Love and Miss you both Mum and Dad xxxxxxxxxxx Everybody sends their love xxxxxxxxx