Barbara E Koziatek

Barbie Koziatek

Barbara E Koziatek

Having fun traveling.



Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Queenstown April 7th 2011

Last day, biked 60K, had an extremely windy 7K, whew. Weather is turning cold, guess it is good last day here. In Queenstown, did purchase some Merino Wool products for myself, that is a main type of sheep they have here and the products are also made here, wonderful stuff. Heading to dinner soon, then flying out early in the morning. Been a great trip, so glad I did it. Will load photos when I get home! Overall the biking here was wonderful, but much more technical than my other two trips. When they say rolling hills, they mean rolling mountians. Learned lots about gear shifting the last two weeks. Cheerio!... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Haast Pass April 5th 2011

A great day hiking through a different type of rain forest than the one at Arthurs pass. Hiked to a river, went kayaking out to the sea. Hung out at the beach - wonderful view, great big waves and breaks. Weather was crystal clear, cool and nice. Headed out for a 75K bike today, weather looking like blue skies. Trivia - on the hike we saw a 1,000 year old tree that has 101 separate species of plants growing on it. It was documented by a college recently. The most any tree known to have. ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef April 4th 2011

Ended up being too foggy for us to do the Helicopter ride, so instead we hiked the Glacier - going up. Stunning views, ice caves, holes that go all the way through, chunks of it falling off while we were there. A great tour. After that headed to the hot pools, glacier water filled pools that are heated. Stayed in those for over an hour, they are outside and it was misting out, great way to finish after the hike on the glacier. Ate a simple dinner outside in town, still misting, but covered patio with heaters, a few glasses of wine later and back to the hotel. Another great day. Today we biked 90K, it was raining the first 45K. But like the locals say, don't visit a rainforest if you don't expect it to ... read more

Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Franz Josef April 2nd 2011

Two more days of biking. First day 60 KM - great weather, destination was Hokitika. Hotel was on the Beach - view of the Tasman Sea. Lovely view as the New Zealanders would say. Second day, headed to Franz Josef - glacier park. 76 KM this day - included an optional ride which a few of us did. This included a Mount Hercules, 3 KM up, 4 KM down, tough but spectacular. This day was a ride through a rain forest, one wonderful sight after another. Today headed out to do a Helicopter ride to the top of the Glacier with a hike on it. Then on to a dip in outdoor hot pools. Hope to have some good pictures from that. It has been hard to get logged on my own computer, just not enough ... read more


Great hike today, weather perfect. Went through the Mountains of Arthur's Pass National Park - 9 to 10 miles. Quite technical up and down, beautiful scenary. Got to see Magic Mushrooms, will try to download the picture here - they are the hallucingentic type of mushrooms. The story of Santa Claus comes from these mushrooms and the administering of them in the Norwegian area of the world. They create visions of red and white (Santa Claus colors) and think you have super human strength (able to have reindeer fly). They have what they call a braid river, the path changes on a plateau in the valley and looks like a braid. Try to upload some of that also. Trivia - outhouses are called LONG DROP. :). Getting ready to have a recovery a beer before dinner... ... read more
Magic Mushrooms
Braided River


Made it to Christchurch - barely. The shuttle driver got us to the airport late and the flight was already closed. Luckily Qantas did an override and got us on the plane, the ticket agent was wonderful - called the gate told them to wait and walked us through security to meet it. Whew. Beautiful day, since Christchurch was earthquake damaged the trip was modified to have us stay at a Wilderness lodge, a wonderful place. Went on a short hike, took a short drive at night to see the Milky Way, the Southern Cross and the millions of stars. Oh my, it was unbelievable. I have never seen that many stars away from the City. According to the owner, there are many more stars in the Southern Hemisphere than the Northern. The food was wonderful, ... read more

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Manly March 29th 2011

Getting ready to head to the airport to fly to New Zealand. Had a great day yesterday, ran along the Sydney Harbour (hot/humid - but beautiful scenary), walked Botanical Gardens, then took the Sydney Opera House Tour - have some great pictures of that, maybe get to post later :). Then headed out on the ferry to Manly Beach, hung out on the beach and then had dinner and drinks at a restaurant outside by the beach. Long day - but very fun. If I am lucky enough to get internet in New Zealand, will post some pictures. Good day Mate!... read more

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Sydney Harbour March 28th 2011

Made it to Sydney with ease, Qantas is a wonderful Airline. Hardly believed I was on the plane for 15 hours. When we got here, headed out to be a tourist, walked all over town, ate and drank our way through. Had a great day. Too tired to even try and log on that day. Yesterday headed out on a tour of the Blue Mountains, that was wonderful. Rode the tram, the train, took a harbour cruise, hiked in the park, and ended the day sitting at a side walk cafe drining wine (a little too much). Again, just too tired to try and log on...Great day. Just getting ready to take a run and then decide what we are doing on our last day in Sydney. Fly out tomorrow to New Zealand and to begin ... read more




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