Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 1149

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » King Country » Waitomo January 18th 2006

We have been black water rafting today and it was fantastic, if not a little scary! It is not really rafting at all, more a cross between caving and tubing. You get kitted out in wetsuits, helmets with lights on the front and these very tasteful white boots. You then get given a big rubber ring to sit on and you are ready to go. We started off by walking in the caves which are between ankle deep and waist deep in water. The first bit of tubing involved getting on our rings and lying right back so we could float through a section of cave with a very low roof. You had to lie horizontal or else you would not fit. I found this bit a scary! After that it was sections of walking and ... read more

Forberedelse

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland January 18th 2006

Mads og Andreas

Så nærmer dagen sig for afrejse til den sydlige halvkugle, nærmere bestemt New Zealand - første stop på rejsen. Forberedelserne har været i gang længe, men de lader ikke til at have en ende. Man kommer hele tiden på noget man skal have med. Så gælder det bare om at få skrevet det ned så man ikke glemmer hvad det var. Hvis der sidder nogen derude med gode råd til turen eller forslag til hvad man skal medbringe er de meget velkomne til at skrive en "comment".... read more

The other Cambridge!

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » King Country » Waitomo January 17th 2006

The other Cambridge!

We left Hahei today to drive to Waitomo – we are going black water rafting tomorrow. The only highlight of the journey was that we went to Cambridge! It is not as nice as the ‘real’ Cambridge. It is MUCH newer for a start and it is a fraction of the size. There was also no university as far as we could see. Lots of people said “It is like the one in the UK”! I can only assume they have not been there. It is a nice enough small town and it gave us a chance to take the obligatory photo and buy a post card.... read more

Beginning the NZ adventure

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland January 17th 2006

Auckland 004

Maggish

So we made it! It took a lot of traveling hours but Shaheen and I finally arrived in Auckland Saturday afternoon. I still think it's really weird that we completely missed Friday the 13th. Since then we've been staying at the YHA City hostel. It's actually quite nice. The only downside is that it sits right at the top of one of the steepest hills I've ever seen in a city, so that makes coming and going a bit of a chore (especially with luggage). For the past few days we've basically just been walking around the city a lot and exploring it on our own. We've also been eating a lot of cheap Asian food, which is really good and easy to find here. Sunday afternoon we visited the Auckland Museum. They had some really ... read more

Here at last ....

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland January 17th 2006

VIEW OVER AUCKLAND

davyg

WELL WE GOT HERE TIED AND WEIRY BUT VERY HOT 26C TODAY ..LOOKED AROUND AUCKLAND TODAY AND GOT SUNBURNT ..... read more

Napier to Taupo

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island January 17th 2006

Leftwich

Our bus leaves for Taupo at 11:30 am so we take our time getting ready this morning while enjoying the view from our room to the sea. We drive through the beautiful Ahimanawa Mountain Range out of Napier. We then drive through miles of pine forests in various stages of timber management. We arrive in Taupo and are picked up by the owners of the Acapulco Motor Lodge. We stayed there in October and they remember us. We walk into town to have lunch and pick up some items at the grocery store. We go to the Information Center to see about transport to the Tongariro Crossing. The weather looks like it might be better to hike the crossing on Thursday but we decide we will think about it. When we get back to our motel ... read more

Addenda... Queenstown dream

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington January 17th 2006

Queenstown

bernardo

3, 4 years ago... thereabouts, I had a dream in which Queenstown was the setting. And I did not think i knew anything of QT, presumably details from a travel article - that i do not recall - took hold in my memory. There was the lake, the mountains and some 'English' style architecture... so, I thought a trip to QT should happen one day, maybe, maybe something intriguing or meaningful may occur there, or through the trip... did it? well, it at least motivated and moved me to take a holiday. And if for nothing else the dream served this purpose and i am so glad I went. The trip was great, certainly a good cleansing of my tired mind. possibly there was a more significant happening. This was the Barcelona moment, which i spoke ... read more

Land of the Kiwis

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland January 16th 2006

Keith contemplating the Auckland skyline

KeithLisa

We arrived in Auckland on the 5th January and were fetched by Natalie (a family friend of the Marshall's from Zim) from the airport and whisked off to her home in Ellerslie, just on the edge of the city. Peter had prepared us a great meal, and we spent hours talking about our trip and catching up. Lisa strained all the muscles in her back the day before so spent most of the evening and the next few days lying horizontal whenever possible! We woke up late on our first day in the city. All the early mornings and late nights finally caught up to us and we decided a few extra hours shut eye would be a good idea. We drove into the city and walked along the Prince's Wharf and enjoyed the views of ... read more

Napier

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island January 16th 2006

Leftwich

Yesterday we decided that we would walk to the other side of the bay, Port Ahuriri, to view the National Company Tobacco building, a wonderful example of Art Deco architecture. From town we hike over Napier Hill for a distance of about 3 kilometers. We decide to return via the bay, which is about a 5 kilometer walk. We arrive back at our motel around 1:00 pm and rest about one hour before going back to walk through town. We look into shops that were closed yesterday since it was Sunday. Marie told me she wanted something from New Zealand to display in her living room for her Christmas present. I found a lovely piece done by a local artist at a cooperative shop. We then had to go to the Post Shop to package and ... read more

The Coromandel

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Coromandel January 16th 2006

A giant kiwi fruit!

We left the East Cape yesterday and headed for the Coromandel Peninsula. It was not the most interesting drive but we did pass a giant kiwi fruit! The Coromandel peninsula is lovely. We are staying in Hahei, which is a really nice beach town. It takes us about a minute to walk to the beach! We went for a quick swim yesterday. The beach gets huge waves so we had fun splashing about in the surf. Today we walked along the coast to Cathedral cove, which is this gorgeous cove, which has a huge natural arch. You can walk though the arch to another beach. In the afternoon we went to Hot Water Beach, which is a beach that has hot springs under the sand. This mean you can build yourself a hot tub! In some ... read more

Brief history of New Zealand

The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year...more history

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