Blogs from Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 87

Once you look a bit closer Auckland has many pleasent surprises, which make the souless CBD bearable. There are beautiful islands with fantastic views over the bay with its many (possibly) extinct volcanoes and in the other direction over the centre of Auckland with its many skyscrapers and Sky Tower, the tallest building in the southern hemisphere, to cosmopolitan suburbs with art galleries and coffee shops. The museum shows you a scary reproduction of the effects of a volcanic eruption in the vicinity of the city, which is certainly a possiblity. It's really quite scary how new and active New Zealand is. So i spent a few days in Auckland, getting cultural, walking and chilling out in the docks, being entertained by the huge number of modified cars ('riced up') around the city, some pogoing down the ... read more

This is only going to be a short blog because i cant really be bothered to write much and also because i didnt do that much in rotorua it started off with me and Lucy getting there on a sunday. we did nothing.......... the next day we book two things to do, one was white water rafting and the other was to go to this maori experiance night. we did the white water rafting the next day (monday incase you werent paying attention) we got picked up for this at around 12:30 pm and drove to their base. from here we got changed into our dashing wetsuits. then we got into the van and drove to the river. along the way we found out we would be rafting down three water falls and the grades of ... read more

It was the summer of 2003 and I had acquired, through a method of bartering and manipulation the use of a boat to sail down the Amazon. I had a crew of 4 but 2 of them were struck down with malaria whilst the other one went crazy and scooped his own brains out with a spatula. I shouldnt have let him anywhere near the kitchen utensils. I was on my own trying to traverse the harsh conditions that the Amazon was throwing at me. It was a lonely time. One night, a huge deluge started rocking my boat from side to side. I tried to cling on but was pushed overboard. I woke up to find myself on a bed of leaves being looked after by members of the Yuhup Tribe. They took good care ... read more

Update from Zoe The All Blacks game was brilliant (even though Ireland lost), the public transport here is really good and they laid shuttles on to Eden Park, which is out of the city centre. It was absolutely peeing it down and we were in the uncovered part, so we blagged a bin liner from the bar and both sat in it - it all added to the experience! The next day we had a mooch about Auckland, which is nice our hostel is right in the centre so it makes getting around really easy. Just before dusk we went up the sky tower, it was a great time to go, as we go to enjoy the amazing views in the daytime and night (although not so sure dan was enjoying the views at the very ... read more

The sunshine was out this morning which is great, its sooo not cool when it rains. Last night was really good fun at the Maori experience, we started off by arriving at the village and walking through the forrest where a war boat passed us with loads of barely clad men in it, and there were some running around the forrest around us with flaming torches! then they did a dance of the opposite side of the river, whcih was cool! Then we went to the village where we had a welcoming ceremony with loads of songs and chnats, and scary dancing and stick throwing! Then they introduced us to various weapons and musical things which they encorporated into the dancing and singing, it was really good. Then they had us doing some stuff, and taught ... read more