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Published: February 5th 2006
My travels with my aunt Janet have begun! I know I've been a bit lax on the blog writing, but fear not, I will try to write more frequently while I am traveling.
I left Base on the 22nd of January and spent a week staying at my friend Allison's in Riccarton (a suburb of Christchurch). We spent the week making smoothies and watching Scrubs 😊 It felt so good to leave Base and spend a week not having to make beds and clean bathrooms, but I missed my fellow roommates. I have no desire to ever enter a Base Backpackers ever again . . . ever. My last day at Element was supposed to be on Friday, but it ended up being on Thursday because I was sick on Friday, vomity sick and alcohol wasn't involved in any way. Luckily it was just a 24 hour thing because I felt better on Saturday, though still a bit weak.
On the evening of the 29th I left Christchurch for Auckland fully recovered from my sickness and ready to start traveling. I was shocked when I stepped out the front doors of the Auckland airport to extreme humidity. I left Christchurch wearing a fleece jacket and jeans, way too many pieces of clothing. The next morning I returned to the airport to meet Janet much more appropriately dressed in shorts and a t-shirt. We picked up our rental car (who we have dubbed Bill) and headed north into the humidity. Pahia in the Bay of Islands was our first stop. We stayed there Monday and Tuesday night. Monday upon our arrival we visited the town of Russell across the bay from Pahia. On Tuesday we took a bus tour to Cape Reinga, the very north tip of NZ. Wednesday we left the Bay of Islands for the Coromandel Pennisula. The drive up the Pennisula was amazing. That night we stayed in the town of Coromandel, a quaint town and very, very small. Thursday we set off to the east enjoying the scenery along the way. We stayed the night in the town of Opotiki to prepare ourselves for the drive along the east cape. Friday we headed east on 35 to do the east cape trip--said to be one of the best drives in NZ. It was beautiful, though clouds covered parts of the scenery. We even drove out on a dodgy dirt road out to NZ's most easterly point and a lighthouse. After a very long day we arrived in Gisborne and treated ourselves to a nice dinner. We were off again the next morning and headed to Hastings taking a wonderful detour to some national park stopping for a couple of waterfall viewing hikes. Today we are on our way to Wellington. Right now we are in Palmerston North to see the Rugby Museum--does this surprise anyone? We will be in Wellington till Wednesday (most likely) after which we head south.
Everything is going well. Bill is good little car and Janet is very excited to be on vacation. Janet's comments about the sheep and the views always make me smile. It's nice to share the country with someone from home. Hope everyone is well, I will try and write again soon so my blogs aren't as long.
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NANA
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GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU
LISA......SOUNDS LIKE YOU AND JANET ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME AND ENJOYING MORE BEAUTIFUL-SCENIC SIGHTS....I HEAR YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOME HIKING...SOUNDS GREAT ...ALL IS WELL HERE...SUPER BOWL TIME TOMORROW! PAPA'S EYES WILL BE GLUED TO THE TV ALONG WITH MILLIONS OF OTHER SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS! SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AND PITTSBURG STEALERS ARE PLAYING....BY FOR NOW...LOVE YOU, NANA