Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 1182

Been a while since we've been in touch so we thought we'd take 5 out of our busy schedule, you know, on a beach, eating well etc. lol Well, from Taupo and the thermals we went down to Tongariro - an amazing place where NZ only desert exists (well, desert by NZ standards), plus three dormanant volcanoes. Unfortunatly weather was poor whilst we were there and put off most of walks and meant we didnt really see the volcano's. However, we did get to slush around in the snow - a good 3-4 inches worth. Like being a big kid again for matt, philpa wasnt so keen to play!!! From here we went back to the west coast, firstly stopping at Whanganui where we did the culture thing - art galleries etc. We had real luxury ... read more

Ahh, holidays! here we are in New Zealand for 7 weeks of intense relaxing and discovery...We started with Auckland where we landed on Wednesday 13th October. We stayed in a campsite by the beach for the first 2 days (Takapuna), in NorthShore, with Rangitoto island volcano greeting us every morning across the waters of the Hauraki gulf. The sunshine also made an appearance for our walks along the beach, nice part of Auckland! We then caught up with my friends Neville and Loretta who live in Northcote and they showed us around - Mount Eden and One Tree Hill in Auckland. We also headed to Murawai on the West Coast, dark volcanic sands, strong surf and green hills. We have now reached Paihia in the Bay of Islands in Northland (North of Auckland) from where we'll ... read more

Auckland, the city of sails. I arrived here at about 7am this morning. I have to say it's been a pretty tiring trip. I've got dark circles under my eyes. I arrived to a cloudy morning about 15c. I had a nice cab driver who took me into Auckland and we had a good conversation on the way. He told me to go down to the Bay of Plenty to look for some work. It was weird driving by all the school kids, because they all wear uniforms down here. I was dropped at my hostel, and the staff are sooo nice. They answer any questions you have and are very friendly which is nice and welcoming. There are 7 floors because the building is quite narrow. I'm on an all girls floor and in a ... read more

Wow, I can’t believe we have been gone for one month. We are really getting used to the NZ lifestyle and it will be hard to leave. There is that English influence here that makes everything seem so civilized, but the Kiwis are so casual. It makes for a wonderful life! We get up and get going so we can catch the bus to the Wellington Zoo. We want to spend some time there before Michael’s appointment at 10:45 am. We walk across the street to the train station, which also serves as a central bus station. We are taken through parts of Wellington that we have not seen yet. Courtenay Place is the trendy, restaurant area and we have not been there yet. The zoo is in Newtown, an older area with Victorian row houses ... read more

Since the trip to Bay of Islands, I’ve been concentrating on my research. Well, maybe not concentrating so much as occasionally working while spending more time playing. I have, however, visited my first marae and done my first interview, as well as become a regular in the Maori section of the University’s general library. I’m still trying to get some sense of how exactly to do ethnographic research, but it’s coming along. Today, after an interview at a house in the Mt. Eden suburb, I did some exploring. Mt. Eden is an old volcanic cone and the summit is the highest point on the Auckland isthmus. So, still dressed in my nice interview clothes, I hiked up to the top and took out the camera. In the company of 20-30 cows (they’re everywhere!), I enjoyed the ... read more