Blogs from Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 41

On the 23rd of Feb we left Auckland for the 83rd and final time (although its immense gravitational pull is getting larger and larger as it sucks in more and more galaxies). As the van reached the necessary escape velocity (80kph, Southeasterly direction, State Highway 1) we felt a strange sense of sensation as over 35% of the entire country's population were now behind us - we were heading into Real New Zealand. As we headed towards our target destination, Rotorua, we contemplated visiting "Hobbiton" on the way. It was not to be, partly because of the extortionate cost ($50pp) of visiting the little Hobbitty Lord of the Rings set and partly because we had a tightly planned itinerary which was not able to accomodate the sidetrip. No worries, we were to see much better LOR ... read more

Tauranga Central Backpacker!!!!!! We were supposed to stay in that city a few days only but we've met so many great people! Thank you Tony and Aline for everything! We've met one of the funniest guy i've ever met.........Ben from Canada! Merci à Aline et Tony pour tout ce qu'ils ont fait pour nous! Tauranga, c'est un peu notre deuxième maison! C'est aussi ici qu'on a rencontré Ben, notre compagnon de voyage... enfin plus qu'un compagnon pour une certaine personne!!!!!!... read more

So, firstly we have what can only be described as a rather interestingly named shop, not sure what to say really... Secondly we have the Spice Girls reunited, in New Zealand only!:o) Third pic is of Mike's femine side coming through, doing a bit of Maori(native New Zealanders) flax weaving. Flax grows widely around NZ, and the Maori's use it to weave all sorts of things from baskets to dress's! 4th pic is Moa the hostel cat, she has many personalities due to meeting so many people, friendly, but can be a vicious little thing if she's doesn't want to be stroked! 5th pic is of Sky Tower in Auckland, it is an amazing piece of engineering and looks pretty kool on the skyline, apparently it can with stand an earthquake of up to 6 ... read more

So here firstly we have Christina doing some kiwi fruit pruning, lovely work that it is, it can be neck, back and shoulder breaking, until you've done it for a few weeks and then you get used to it, kind of! Then secondly here we have Mike doing some Mandarine thinning, which again was lovely work in 26 degree sun, trying to avoid wasp nests and large nest of baby spider(none poisoness thankfully!:o), but all made the better for the nutty backpacker we work with! Thirdly here we have a rather thoughtfully named drink, after what has happened recently with this you would've thought they would have renamed the drink, but hey, this is New Zealand for you! The 4th picture is of Shu a Japanese backpacker, doing his fire dancing on a warm spring ... read more

Well, it's that time of year again, but this time we're somewhere hot! Man it feels soooo strange here in NZ, the sun is out, everyone is in short's 'n' t-shirt's and talking about having barbies on the beach for x-mas dinner ... it's sooo kool!:o) The kiwi's seem to have the same feeling about Christmas that most people do, except without the hampering for snow ... most of them complain if it isn't going to be over the 20's for the big day! However there are some of them that we have met that have the the same feelings about it that we do ... that it is an overhyped load of bull! ... some people argue until there blue in the face that it's a traditional thing, or religious blah blah blah, infact we ... read more