new zealand gossip

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hi all

we are in argentina at the moment, been here 2 weeks. ill fill you in on the new zealand antics!

we arrived in Aukland to be greated by rain and a temp of 10 degrees-bit of a change from fiji. 1st job was to get some warm clothes. Aukland is not the prettiest of cities especially in the rain. we had arranged to travel both the north and south island on the Magic Adventures tour bus. so after 2 days shopping we got picked up and headed for a place called Rotorua.

on the way we stopped at (30 million year old) Waitomo glow worm caves-self explanitory realy- the tour through the caves was good especially compared to the man made glow worm caves we had been to in Oz.
Rotorua is a big geo-thermal area, basically the town is in an old volcano crater and the there is steam rising from most puddles, lakes, drains etc. the place looks beautiful especialy in the foggy winter-kind of earie- but it stinks! its sulpher which is like eggy trumps!

the next day onto taupo via Rock and Ropes. this is like a big army assault course that you can harness your self to and throw yourself around. the 1st challenge was to climb a 13metre high log and stand on the the top. then jump off to try and grab a trapeze swing danggling infront of you, plumeting to the ground at high speed if you missed!guess who missed? luckily my life was saved by the lady at the bottom holding onto the rope attached to my harness. nick caught the trapeze swing and refused to let go for about 5 minutes as he had seen how fast i fell towards the ground.

the 2nd challenge was to again climb a big log with a platform at the top. you get to the top and attached to the front of your harness are 3 long ropes. its called the big swing so imagine me elegantly jumping side ways off the platform, free falling for a few seconds shouting obsenities until the rope tightens and swings you back toward the platform! you keep going until you lose momentum and have gone a white as a sheet!oh what fun and all this in minus 3 degree temp!

after this we stopped for a few people on our bus to do a bungy jump. I decided not to put my body through any more stress for the day and gave it a miss. still in the geo thermal area we visited bubbling mud pools and lady knox geyser which is like a mini volcano that erupts 15 metre high gushing water everyday at 10.15 am. it does it naturally occasionally when the pressure inside gets too high but it is helped along daily with chemicals for the benefit of us tourists. its quite un-nerving travelling through and area where steam is rising from the ground all around you.

back on the bus to Wellington where a lot of Lord of the rings was filmed. its a nice city with lots to do and a great museum. we visited the company who made all the models for the Rings and many other movies. there i fell in love with a lord of the rings actual ring. it was so precious! nick wouldnt let me get it. from welly you have to get a 3.5 hr ferry to the south island with beautiful views of inlets, rivers low lying cloud and snow capped moutains as you approach the other side.

we stayed in a place called nelson which is pretty boring and then onto greymouth. 2 things to report from her 1-we stayed in a hostel called Noahs arc and got the zebra room-everything zebra! and 2-nick went with another bloke to a brewery tour and came back sloshed! apparently "Monteiths" is a realy good beer.3 things actually-we visited a colonie of seals on the way to greymouth and some funny shaped rocks called pancake rocks-so named cos they look like a stack of pancakes.travelling through new zealand you see a lot of great country side and landscape, well i took nicks word for it as motion sickness hit me like a sack of s"*t and i had to keep focused on 1 spot.

Franz Joseph was our next port of call where we decided to embark on a full days glacier hike. we didnt arrive until lunch so had to do it the next day, so that afternoon we went to the base of the glacier and took some great pics as it was a gloriously sunny day. come the day of the walk we had rain, hail stone, thunder and lightning and gail force winds! you couldnt even see the top of it for fog.we set off all kitted out with waterproof everything, our boots with spiked clamp ons and a great attitude. we were having a ball shimmying through cracks in the amazingly blue ice and crawling through caves until we got 2 3rds of the way up and the bloody thing had flooded. so there we where soaked to the bone at the top of an icy peak being told "cant go that way we´ll get wet so we will have to go the hard way back" GREAT.

we made it intact after 5 hrs or so. it was an amazing experience but 1 i would only repeat on a sunny day. we thought we deserved a drink that night so we got legless-as you do- the bar had a pole! the least said about that the better.Hungover on the bus we headed for Queenstown via lake Matheson which is the mirror lake used in lord of the rings-i think when the funny little bald dude (golum?)talks to his own reflexion. and we stopped at another bungy this one 40 something metres high, again i passed thought id leave the others have a go! the highest in nZ is 3x that standing at 130something. bloody nutters!

Queenstown is amazing. its situated on a lake surrounded by snowy mountains. the restaurents and bars have fires and mulled wine. what more can you ask for? we went to do some snowboarding up some mountains called the Remarkables- and they are- and spent most of the time on our bums. well, i did. nick was good at it. we had 2 lessons and by the end of the day i managed to down the begginers slope only falling 3 times as appose to 20! i gaveup trying to go up to the top on the magic carpet (like a flat escalator)whilst still on my board, cos i kept falling off the end and holding evrybody up.

we met up with a friend in queenstown who lives there and we got upto all sorts of shinaningans! getting chased by alpacas,archery, jet boating for free( thanks rach!)getting friendly with an actual live bull who seemed2like his ears scratched, eating a massive cheese platter and going dizzy in puzzle world.
our friend even cooked us a proper roast dinner. we didnt want to leave but had to crack on to dunedin where it would have been a sin not to visit the Cadbury Factory
they told us how the chocolate is made and took us on a factory tour- all very interesting but just let me eat some!! they put wierd things in the choc bars here like marshmellow and caramel in the same bar! sounds nice but it isnt.

so on route back up the east coast of the south isalnd we stopped off at lake tekapo for the night. usually this place has lots of water activities but with it being winter they were al closed, so a stroll around the lake would have to do.Again amazing scenery- massive clear lake with snowy mounts as the back drop- calssic crimbo card kodak moment. in the next place, christchurch, we saw our 1st kiwi bird. they are about the size of a big cat, flightless and just about blind. they are noternal creatures and hardly anybody has actually seen them in the wild.

Kiakoura was the next stop where we went on a boat trip to whale watch. off we went out to where the sea turns very dark (and very deep about 3500m!) we ha dto look out for blow holes. after about 202minutes-nothing. the captain stuck his underwater listening device in and told we had to go out a bit further. off we went and bugger me - a blow hole. the whales need oxygen but can hold their breath for like and hour, so they dive, eat and then come up for air and digest their food and do their tiolet business.

so this bloody huge thing is just bimbling on the surface and we are hovering round in the boat taking pics. i cant begin to tell you how big it was. after they are finished pooing and digesting off they pop back down for another meal. this is when you get that great tail shot. it was great. with no more whales surfacing in the area wen to find the dolphins. about 300 of them were diving around the boat. ive never seen anything like it. pictures do not do it justice.

ive nearly finished i promise. after another ferry we were on our way back to Rotorua (the smelly place) we were staying a few days this time as we wanted to chill for a day and we had booked to do zorbing and swooping. ZORBING picture me and nick in a human sized hamster ball with a bucket full of warm water being pushed down a hill. SWOOPING picture me and nick side by side laying on our fronts in sleeping bag type contrapions, being attached to a rope and hoisted up 40 metres high by a crane then being released and swinging at high speed. why do we do this to ourselfs. both a big adrenaling rush!

we went back to Aukland to catch our flight to argentina and this time the weather was better. we arranged to meet some people we met in fiji and had a few drinks with them. we also met a gril who was on the same flight to buenos aires and we have been travelling with her for 2 weeks now. nick is loving all the girlie talk. the flight to argentina was delayed 6 hrs but we still landed the day before we set off due to the time difference!

so, thats all from me. i will update you on the south america stuff soon ,we have free internet in most the hostels here. send some messages and will see you all soon

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