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Auckland Skyline
A view from a volcano...Fiji to Auckland
After spending a long sweaty night at Nadi Airport we took our 6am flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We were looking forward to: a cooler climate (Fiji adverage temp = 36degrees!!!), beautiful landscapes, adrenaline based activities...and finally..the best, five star, luxorious, Stamford Plaza hotel...oh yes, with an upgrade to the Executive Lounge - with free continental breakfast, free booze, and free internet!
http://www.stamford.com.au/spak/
So, needless the say we stayed for two nights, filled our bags with tons of booze, fruit, muffins, towels & toiletories. Steal from the rich, give to the poor! besides...everyone knows that hotel towels are free! ;o) Whilst there, we booked our transport of the South island of New Zealand - which apparently is the most beautiful part of NZ...We booked with a backpacker company called 'Kiwi Experience', this is basically a series of coaches that travel extensively through NZ. It works as a hop on/off system, but fundamentally the Ozz, Kiwi & Fiji Experience tourscater for the younger backpacker (17-19yr old) travelling for 3-6 months, want to stay in a group, get pissed every night, and don't have to worry about booking anything as it can be done for you!! ...which
Auckland Skytower
The tallest building in Australasia isn't what we are after, but as a means of travelling from A - B it's the cheapest option, plus the ticket is valid for up to six months!! our plan was to stop in each place for longer, take our time, using the bus as a taxi!
Click on the link to see our itinerary, called 'Southern Round-Up':
http://www.kiwiexperience.com/Default.aspx?DN=142,128,10,2,1,Documents
We took an over night coach to Wellington, where we board the Ferry to Picton! Here we meet the 'Green bus of fun' and our new temporary best mates! We drove to Nelson..which is a wicked little town with lots of cool pubs, cafes, art galleries, hippies and kiwis! We hiked to the centre of NZ, lovely views, etc.. Nelson is the first stop in our South Island adventure, it gets better as we make our way down the coast, ie, the Frans Joseph Glacier, blackwater rafting, whales EVERYWHERE, bunjy jumps, skydives, treks, swill.
We then headed down the 'rugged' west coast of NZ, it stretches 435kms along the Tasman shoreline - from Westport to Lake Mahipua (Where we had a CRAZY blackbin bag party, loves it!!) The road winds through diverse landscapes including fertile farm
land, thick bush, eroded cliff faces, empty beaches, prehistoric rock formations, goldfields, sub tropical rainforest* and beautiful snow capped mountains!! This was the closest point to Australia, and if you look really hard, you have absoutely no chance iof seeing it 😊
*One of the many natural wonders of NZ is there Sub Tropical Rainforest that are created by 'Micro Climates'. this is warm air channeled from Ozz, the warm air is contained within the Mountainous shorelines (thus) creating small rainforest with palm tress an' all that mind!! This is weird considering that it is still pretty bloody cold, and an hr drive takes you to frozen glaciers!
Lake Mahipua to Wanaka
We jumped on the kiwi bus to Wanaka..another beautiful drive through mountains, lakes and Goldfields. Alot of Chinese and Irish settled here when they found out you could pick up fairly chunky gold nuggets from the river banks!
Arrived in the trendy alpine town of Wanaka, we decided to stay for a week with our mates George and Tom..as we were fairly exhausted from our travels down the coast (ie, lates nights, early mornings, lots of hikes, swill, etc...) Wanaka had lots of trendy
cafes, bars and adventure travel shops. This is where the ski, snow board, etc..activities begin! Unfortunately we're a bit early though!
Didn't do alot in Wanaka, watched alot of films, stayed in hostel, cooked Fajitas, Chillie, thai Green Curry, Beans on toast, Carbanara, etc..mmn!! played piano in a hotel, had a beer or two, pub quiz (12/15)...and relaxed!! After a lazy week, the batteries were recharged for the much hyped Queenstown..................
Love to you ALL
Nick & Ally
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