http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania , New Zealand en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:21:36 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:21:36 UTC Nu koere det med det billeder http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-351363.html photo http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-351357.html In the centre of new zealand there is a little area known as whangamomona that claimed independance 20 years ago. We got our passports stamped when we entered at the local hotel. very bizarre. We also saw mount doom from the lord of the rings films and we jumped out of a plane at 12000ft. http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-351323.html New Zealand has really turned Elizabeth and I into quite the active little hikers...After spending a relaxing few days in Taupo we hopped back on the bus to head to River Valley...On the way we stopped at Tongariro National Park to go on a hike...It was through a forest to the base of a huge waterfall...Although the water was freezing we threw on our suits and trudged through the falls...I fell an http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-351174.html Pupu Springs Farewell Spit HavelockDecember 4 2008There are many differences between staying in a hotel and in a caravan park. Now thatrsquos and understatement. I want to make note of the socalled ldquowakeup call.rdquo In a hotel the phone rings at your preferred time and a pleasant voice or recording informs you that itrsquos time for you get moving. In the Marahau Beach Camp http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-351146.html We are still in Queenstown and as it is suppossed to be the adventure capital of the world we thought we would throw ourselves into itOn Tuesday evening we went to the Ice Bar in Queenstown we loved this as this was somewhere we went on our first holiday in Stockholm.We got into the adventure stuff on Wednesday when we went white water rafting we went on the Shotover river which has the bigges http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-351087.html Thank you everyone for all the emails it is great to hear from home and we will reply to them all.We left Wanaka early in the morning in glorious warm sunshine and after a fairly short and scenic journey we stopped at Arrowtown where we sat outside for breakfast. Arrowtown is one of the old goldmining towns we keep coming across with the western filmset feel of straight road single storey shops http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-351077.html Motorhome News from New Zealand 7 30th November 2008Wellington Wanganui Taupo Taumarunui Stratford New Plymouth Hamilton AucklandReturning to North Island for more mountains volcanoes and old friends. The clock is ticking ever faster now. The rhythm rising a notch each day as we approach the end of our journey through New Zealand. That's how it is with holidays isn't it. As sprin http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/blog-350995.html Well here I amI left Wales on the 9th December 2007 but only now do I get the chance to really get the travelling boots on and 'get amongst it' as we'd say back in Swansea.After a brief wet and sticky stopover in Singapore I and the family spent the best part of DecJan in Australia based mainly in Sydney with a brief but memorable trip up to Fraser Island and some time spent in the Blue Mou http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Central/blog-350850.html Der heisse Monat ist da Sommer Linus Geburtstag Weihnachten und Silvester Dann lass mal krachen... http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Plenty/Tauranga/blog-350838.html MarahauAbel Tasman NPDecember 3 2008Itrsquos an efficient operation theyrsquove got going here. We pulled into the Marahau Beach Camp near Abel Tasman NP late yesterday afternoon and within ten minutes we had a place to park the van water taxis scheduled to drop us off and pick us up and a lunch ordered for the hike today. One of the ldquomust dosrdquo for us on this trip was to hike http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/Marahau/blog-350828.html About the videos full screen versions available at the end of the blog text use the small icons Sobre los videos versin de pantalla completa al final del blog1. The Gee BeesNZ's no. 1 Bee Gees Tribute Band. They're so bad they're brilliant. Doing a Haka Maori war dance version of Tragedy. A tragedy indeed Poor Maurice must be turning in his grave Los Gee Bees la banda tribu http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Orewa/blog-350826.html Hello all for the last time from beautiful New Zealand. We are once again in Auckland city where for the thrid time last night we crashed and landed in transit. We have been here for a day of laundry and chores in order to organise ourselves to leave for Fiji tomorrow at ridiculous o clock otherwise known as 5 am.The week that has been since I last wrote has been one of the best if not the http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Central/blog-350825.html We decided on this lovely sunny day to go to Paihia. had our morning tea at the beach. Walked to the shops and bought our lunch. mind you it was our brunchThan walked to Waitangi and went in FREE with showing our ID.as a New Zealander. Here some photos sitting under the most beautiful POHUTUKAWA http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Whangarei/blog-350823.html We tore ourselves away from Kaikoura today...we highly recommend that town Traveling north we entered the Marlborough Wine region and spent an hour at a small winery for some tasting and lunch curried sweet potato soup and Mediterranean salad. The wines here were excellent and we walked out with a bottle.We know now why Nelson Lakes NP isn't on the list of Must See Places. It's pretty much http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/blog-350555.html KaikouraDecember 1 2008A new month means the high tourist season has begun in NZ and the same caravan spot we had last night in Kaikoura is 6 higher tonight. All of the whale tours and other activities prices have also increased greatly overnight. Our day was excellent. We spent most of it tramping the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway which takes one over sea cliffs with views of craggy shores cle http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-350553.html Once off the ferry in Picton we were a little undecided on where to go so we ended up driving around aimlessly for a while. Picton is a picturesque little fishing village and we drove up a hill which looked down over the harbour and the boats which were bobbing in the water . Our plan was to head down the West coast but we weren't sure whether to go to the wine producing town of Blenheim first or http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-350513.html The day started as the last one ended i.e. pouring with rain. This continued for half of the morning drive to Wanaka but then the sun came out not in line with the forecast and we enjoyed a spectacular drive. This took us into and through the Southern Alps and other ranges through the Haas pass Sylvia driving this one between lakes Wanaka and Haweri and finally to Wanaka village. We to http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Wanaka/blog-350493.html We are now in Queenstown which is nearly at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand. We really enjoyed Christchurch it was a really laid back city and everyone was so friendly. We did a trip away from Christchurch to a place called Hanmer Springs there are about 10 different Thermal hot pools there which we chilled out in for a couple of hours. Once we got back to Christchurch we went o http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-350483.html The people we spoke to on the South Island were unanimous in their view that the North Island was there but it wasnrsquot really up to much. One lady told us that really the best plan was to get off the ferry in Wellington and go straight to the Bay of Islands probably trying to ignore Auckland as you go through I suspect. Even then so we were told the Bay of Islands is really just full of A http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Bay-of-Islands/Paihia/blog-350439.html I've just decided to post this random blog as I haven't put anything on for quite a while.I have entitled it Ross in dedication of the name given to my younger brother. After travelling around Australia for a few months I suddenly began to notice that my brother's name was appearing all over the place. As you can imagine I found this absolutely hilarious. I mean what are the chances of seeing a http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-350227.html After 4 months in South America we had become accostomed to speaking bad Spanish everyday in Brazil we had hidden our valuables in secret money belts in Peru and Bolivia we had got used to carrying toilet paper around with us everywhere we went being stared at worrying about being scammed or mugged and being called 'gringo' had become normal. So when Luke left his bag with all his valuables http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Auckland/Central/blog-350211.html Well to improve fitness and enjoy a challenge it was an idea to do a bit of biking. The scenario approached was Bike the race around Lake Taupo. That's all just do itOn dad's B'day was the day of the race so as a bunch of companions Madeleine Dad Kerin gym trainer Kent myself and a total of around 10'000 others to race with I was for the first time doing this event on a roadbik http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-350160.html Remarkable Rotorua Saturday 29th November 2008Yesterday we arrived in Rotorua. It is true what the guide books say and that is that you can smell Rotorua long before you reach it. The strong sulphuric gasses give the air a potent smell like rotten eggs but one quickly adapts and after several hours cease to notice it. Our campsite was right near Te Puia geothermal park and the Pohutu geyser s http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-350138.html Not a long drive today but very scenic coming into the serious mountains of the southern alps. We are sharing the driving with Sylvia trying to engineer things so that her shifts are on the straight bits and Tom's on the steep twisty bits and narrow bridges where the road and rail share the same track. Arrived at Franz Josef village in pouring rain. Apparently they have 200 inches a year here ba http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-350135.html I would like to take this time to tell you how much i hate sand flies. They seem to like me they seem to like me a lot. Especially my right foot though the amount on unbiten space is quickly vanishing so they are moving on to my other foot arms legs etc. Insect repellent is useless. Joe i was told that citronella does nothing either by a girl in our dorm who had already tried that Anyw http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-350115.html Day 151 Thursday 27th November Starting the Milford TrackFirst tramping no I haven't decided to become a scruffy homeless person although some may argue that I'm getting close No tramping to the Kiwi's is what trekking or hiking is to you or me or what bushwalking is to the Aussie's. That cleared up lets get on to the tramp. The Milford Track is considered one of the world's great hikes and http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/Milford-Sound/blog-350084.html Ake ja ake ja...Saa er vi naaet til Wellington mine damer og herrer...hold fast paa hatte og skoerterWellington er en rigtig dejlig by og solen skinede fra en klar blaa himmel...Her fik vi styr paa nogle forskellige formaliasom f.eks. at aendre afrejseflybilletterne til d. 21 dec i stedet for d. 25 dec...saaledes kan vi holde julen i venners selskab i San Francisco. Ellers fik vi bare gaaet li http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-350083.html Day 148 Monday 24th November In a rush to get to the Otago PenninsulaI have a few hours to kill to catch up on things in the morning ahead of my flight to Dunedin at 11.45am. Its a 45 minute transfer to the airport where upon I encounter probably the slickest checkin routine I've ever seen. No wonder checkin is only half an hour before domestic flights with Air New Zealand. I'm flying via Ch http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Dunedin/blog-350080.html Saa for pokker...hvor skal man begynde paa dette eventyr Teddy har vaeret alt for doven saa nu prover jeg at faa nogle af de mange oplevelser skrevet ned.Kaere Dagbog...Det hele begyndte da vi landede i Auckland lufthavnHvilket chok Sa uendeligt anderledes fra det hektiske asien hvor kaosteorien hersker...alting gik roligt og afslappet ingen fremmedartede lyde og lugte ingen gennede os afste http://www.travelblog.org//Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-350078.html