Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 1189

Equipment all works perfectly and our first night as backpackers is a success. We get up and are not as sore as we thought we would be, but we have a five hour hike back to the ferry pier on Rangitoto. We break down camp and head back. We decide to take a different route and get a little off track at one point. It is a very steep climb and Michael tells me to go another way. As I am climbing, my foot slips on a loose rock and I go down face first, with the 40-pound pack pinning me down. My knee is in pain and I can hardly breathe. My first thought is of the little kid in the movie “A Christmas Story” that falls down in his snowsuit and can’t get up. ... read more

We like Auckland much better than the brief first visit we had a few years ago. It is a very vibrant city on a beautiful harbor. We have spent several days exploring the city and getting information. We took a ferry across the harbor for our first over night hike. We hiked to the summit of Rangitoto Island, which was formed by a volcano 600 years ago. Then across a causeway to Motutapu Island were we camped out overlooking Home Bay. There were only two other tents within site on the island. Hike to the summit was strenuous but rewarding with views back across the harbor to Auckland. We took the Coastal Track on the way back to the ferry. It is a misleading name. It was mostly a rough hike through lava fields and only ... read more

Well here is installment two of our much raved about travel dairy. We have been in New Zealand for two weeks now and the weather has improved slightly. We have hardly had any rain since our first day here, so we can't really complain. We have been pretty much non-stop since we got here (we'll need a holiday when we get back). We stayed in Auckland for only two nights, as we did not feel there was a great deal that could be done there that couldn't be done in any other major city. We drove to the top of One Tree Hill, a dorment volcano, that has more than one tree on it and went to the Kelly Tarlston Underwater World. Kelly Tarlston's was brilliant, there were giant Stingray and sharks just swimming over your ... read more

ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok keep your pants on everyone uncle Daves here to tell you about his exciting adventures with Rob the ravenous! Arrived in Taupo to constant rain - but this didnt stop us having a fantastic quad biking trip in the nearby forrest. Due to the weather there was just the two of us for a 3 hour bike! We had 2 guides and at times it got a bit hairy, but once you got in control of the bike you learnt quickly and that the bikes we were on could go up n down near vertical slopes AWESOME. Went through forrest / farmland and offroad terrain! Sore a calf been born along the way along with deer etc. There are no brakes on the bikes so all ... read more

Yaaa -how's it?, I be in New Zealand now and travelling around the two main islands (North and South) for another 20 days or so..... So just finishing my second month in Australia (well just the East coast of Australia) and I have been travelling via an organised "backpacker" tour bus called the Oz Experience. They organise little mini trips and activities between driving you from one place to another. On my first three days, there were four of us on the Oz Exp. mini bus and a surf school for this period. Fresh from surfing in South Africa, it was interesting to see how the lessons compared in Australia.... The surf was more challenging at the beaches we learnt at here than S.Africa but I seemed to stand up just as often (not very!) hehe- ... read more