The Trek! 5 days! Naya Pul up to Garapani, sunrise on Poon Hill, Altitude of 3200m and then 3 days trekking back down through jungle, mountain terrain, nepalese villages and alongside a crystal clear river! Epic! And that introduction is basically describing a diamond as a piece of granite.... I don think there is any way of portraying the trek, the scenery or the experience for what it was, my 200 odd photos don even do it justice! But I shall attempt to describe to you how amazing the trek was! We started early on Monday by getting the bus to Naya Pul, on the outskirts of the AnnaPurna Mountain range.... we took our first steps come 9am after a rather bumpy bus ride with all the locals! Once our passes were stamped in Birethanti we ... read more

Sunday brought with it an early start as we caught the 'tourist bus' to Chitwan National Park, just south of the city of Kathmandu. Tourist buses are exactly that, you pay a little more for the luxury of a private bus, although they still squeeze as many people on as possible and with the heat it's still pretty unbearable... a gruelling 5/6 hours later we arrived on the outskirts of the park and were driven to our resort by the river. We were shown to our little two bed cabin and given the afternoon to rest from the bus journey... the heat made sleeping for a few hours very easy! At 4 we were then shown around the village, where we were told more about the national park and came face to face with our first ... read more

And so my time here has come to an end! I still can't decide if it feels a long long time ago that I was here in Auckland or whether it feels like only last week... either way the adventures in between have been fantastic and sweet memories that will last forever. So the last few weeks have gone as so.... Charlotte arrived in Taupo on the 3rd of September. I greeted her in the sunshine as she stepped off her teeny tiny aeroplane from Auckland, and set off to the lake for lunch and the long awaited catch up! We spent the day seeing a few Taupo sights and generally tried to entertain until her eyes wouldn't stay open any longer- around 7pm. After a healthy 13 hour sleep Charlotte seemed to of beaten the ... read more

We're back on the road again and we've started it in style I tell thee! We left Queenstown on a high Saturday morning after a few final nights! I had a delicious sushi evening with work folk where we made and consumed a great deal of the yummy little things. Thursday was my last day at work, and although very excited at leaving I was a little saddened to say goodbye to people at work who i'd become good friends with - I really couldn't of asked for a better, more suited job with nicer people! They sent me off with a giant box of chocolates... which I am ashamed to say hasn't even lasted the week, I would like to add I had two friends who happily helped me out Sunday evening! Jenn arrived in ... read more

So you know how I said it hardly ever rains here... that the sky is always bright blue, crisp and fresh... if for some 'once in a blue moon' reason it did rain, it was brief and welcomed by all snow enthusiasts. Oh how I spoke too soon... It has not stopped raining for the last two weeks I swear, and not just rain but heavy downfalls that pelt down on our little house threatening to flood it's cardboard-esque walls. On the few days it has stopped raining the snowboarders and skiers go crazy for the 'fresh powder' and the amazing 'off piste sessions' up on the hill. For the non-snow people like myself the dry days bring a rise in temperatures after the rain, temperature has risen to an almighty 10 degrees this past week. ... read more