Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 1229

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Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Tauranga March 14th 2004

So, firstly we have what can only be described as a rather interestingly named shop, not sure what to say really... Secondly we have the Spice Girls reunited, in New Zealand only!:o) Third pic is of Mike's femine side coming through, doing a bit of Maori(native New Zealanders) flax weaving. Flax grows widely around NZ, and the Maori's use it to weave all sorts of things from baskets to dress's! 4th pic is Moa the hostel cat, she has many personalities due to meeting so many people, friendly, but can be a vicious little thing if she's doesn't want to be stroked! 5th pic is of Sky Tower in Auckland, it is an amazing piece of engineering and looks pretty kool on the skyline, apparently it can with stand an earthquake of up to 6 ... read more
Spice Girls looking a bit sheepish!
Oooooh, Young maaan!
The beast of Tauranga...

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Tauranga March 14th 2004

So here we are back in Tauranga again. We finished Mandarine Thinning about 3 weeks ago and decided to come back to Just the Ducks Nuts in Tauranga again. We were intending to go Apple picking on the east coast in Hastings which is in Hawkes Bay, but after working in the sun in Pukenui all day we decided against it, it's supposed to be hotter in Hastings so if we just about managed in Pukenui, we'd hate to think how it would go there! So, since we've been back here we have done some Tomato picking and pruning, which was interesting to say the least, it was in a hot house, which is a green house with tempretures over 30c all day!! ... we started work at 7.30am and by 10am it would already ... read more
Mike and Christina
Relaxing in the rainforest
Main Fall @ Kaiate Falls

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Tauranga March 14th 2004

So here firstly we have Christina doing some kiwi fruit pruning, lovely work that it is, it can be neck, back and shoulder breaking, until you've done it for a few weeks and then you get used to it, kind of! Then secondly here we have Mike doing some Mandarine thinning, which again was lovely work in 26 degree sun, trying to avoid wasp nests and large nest of baby spider(none poisoness thankfully!:o), but all made the better for the nutty backpacker we work with! Thirdly here we have a rather thoughtfully named drink, after what has happened recently with this you would've thought they would have renamed the drink, but hey, this is New Zealand for you! The 4th picture is of Shu a Japanese backpacker, doing his fire dancing on a warm spring ... read more
Mike Mandarine Thinning
Hmmm, interesting....
I'm a fire starter, twisted fire starter...

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Tauranga February 17th 2004

in Tauranga again! ...sorry mumz, fooled u with that title didn't we, haha only joking!:o) We finished Mandarine Thinning about 3 weeks ago and decided to come back to Just the Ducks Nuts in Tauranga again! We were intending to go Apple picking on the east coast in Hastings which is in Hawkes Bay, but after working in the sun in Pukenui all day we decided against it, it's supposed to be hotter in Hastings so if we just about managed in Pukenui, we'd hate to think how it would go there! So, since we've been back here we have done some Tomato picking and pruning, which was interesting to say the least, it was in a hot house, which is a green house with tempretures over 30c all day!! ... we started work at 7.30am ... read more
Rainforest...
Mmmmmm, foooood...

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Auckland February 13th 2004

New Zealand is famous for its stunnign scenery and National Parks where there are great walks to hike through from Milford Sound's wliderness and lakes to Abel Tasman's coastline of turqouise-blue bays and beaches. These great walks cover anywhere from 40K to 150K and take several days to complete. I got the chance to see a bit of the Abel Tasman and Milford Sound area but no one told me about the Great Walks of the Lord of the Rings. My journey started in Wellington on a dreary day with winds 70 mph. There were guided tours that covered the LOR areas I visited but I figured it would be easy to access and walk to these locations myself...little did I know what I was getting myself into!? The city of Wellington is home to LOR ... read more
Harcourt Park
Hutt River
Franz Joseph Glacier

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Northland » Pukenui January 10th 2004

Hey peepz, how's the lovely English winter treating you all? Had any snow? ... if you have then just think of us in our shorts 'n' tshirts basking in 28+ sun walking across sun bleached white sand, kayaking(for free!) across cyan blue sea's, aaaaah, what a life!:o) Well, Christmas went by without much notice from most of us at the backpackers, me and dina had a few drinks and chatted most of the night, well I had a few too many and spent most of New Years day spewing into the twalette, i didn't get out of bed until 7pm that evening!:o) We decided to go up to pretty much the top of NZ, in the Northland, a place called Pukenui, to do some Mandarin thinning. Off we went on Jan 4th and spent the best ... read more
Our tent...
Look at me ma!

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Waitomo January 8th 2004

The first day in New Zealand, and by the end of it, I already feel like I belong here. Everyone in the group seems to mesh well, and this place is beautiful. The only sad moment was having to relinquish my Cirque juggling balls at customs because they may have had seeds in them, and the test for know for sure cost more than I paid for the balls themselves. Stepping out of the airport was like stepping into a dream. The air smelled sweet like Maine, only the temperature was perfect and the airport more remote. Our first trip took us to One Tree Hill, a monument where we spelled out “Pacific Challenge” in rocks, and I realized in climbing the hill, with some dread, just how out of shape I am. Then we went ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Coromandel January 5th 2004

Een gelukkig nieuwjaar voor allen! Bij ons thuis in Goor (voor insiders: “He, grappig dat je het zegt, daar heb ik 18 jaar gewoond.”) hadden we altijd een ritueel tijdens de overgang van het ene naar het andere jaar. Ik kan me er veel van herinneren en het brengt een glimlach op m’n gezicht. Soms vind ik het jammer, dat die tijden voorbij zijn. Dat is iets wat tijd doet, het brengt verandering met zich mee, nietwaar? En daar hoef je zelf niets voor te doen. Op zo’n 2.5 uur rijden van Auckland is de Coromandel Peninsula. Zo dicht bij de stad, maar oh zo anders. Heuvelrijk, veel bomen, prachtige stranden en slechts een paar wegen door dit grote gebied. Hier heb ik met 2 Nederlandse vrienden nieuwjaar doorgebracht. We konden overnachten bij een vriend van ... read more
Coromandel-1
Coromandel-2
Coromandel-3

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Bay of Plenty » Tauranga December 23rd 2003

Well, it's that time of year again, but this time we're somewhere hot! Man it feels soooo strange here in NZ, the sun is out, everyone is in short's 'n' t-shirt's and talking about having barbies on the beach for x-mas dinner ... it's sooo kool!:o) The kiwi's seem to have the same feeling about Christmas that most people do, except without the hampering for snow ... most of them complain if it isn't going to be over the 20's for the big day! However there are some of them that we have met that have the the same feelings about it that we do ... that it is an overhyped load of bull! ... some people argue until there blue in the face that it's a traditional thing, or religious blah blah blah, infact we ... read more
Do you find this offensive??
Do I look cold??

Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » East Coast » Napier December 12th 2003

I can't help posting a few more pics. This is the crew and their tattoos!... read more
Jennie
Veronica
Jill




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