Blogs from North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 1194

I can't believe I've been in Welly for over two months now - time has flown by so fast! Here's the shortened version of what I've been up to since my last blog ;0) After a great month in Golden Bay and despite being very tempted to stay a while longer, I finally moved myself on. I had a great last few days there - Chris gave me the day off so I took the car and spent my time visiting new places, such as the Kaihoka Lakes, or places I wanted to go back to, like the beaches along by Pakawau. For once the bus that I had to get didn't leave at 6am in the morning.... infact it was 1.30 in the afternoon which was actually quite sociable! Just enough time to pack and ... read more

Prime Minister Helen Clark The perks of being in a small country about the size of CA with a population of 4 million- and being in the capital of this country..in the middle of the national elections: The Prime Minister comes to visit your campus during her lunch hour! Just crazy man. Can you imagine our president doing that? hell no. What an experience this was! FYI: new Zealand not only was the 1st country in the world to let women vote, but also it was the first country to have a female national leader such as the Prime minister! Way to Go KIWIS! The elections were coming to a close last week, so "Aunty helen" came for a visist to Vic. Now, ive heard that Victoria is a campus known for having a more open ... read more

Arrived in Rotorua early today, as was only a short trip up from Taupo. Having checked in to Base Backpackers (NOT Hotrocks this time), went off to see the Rainbow Springs which, incidentally were really really nice, got given a headset of information to listen to and got to see lots of native birds, and also the Turatara! After that I travelled up to agrodome with Courtney and we did a farm tour, got to see lots of sheep(!), and feed some alpaccas (have I spelt that right?). We also got to taste some kiwifruit wine (dry but sweet really bizarre but nice), and some honey which were both produced on site. Then to end our tour we saw some more sheep and....................ran over one! Total accident sheep had got itself between tractor and trailer while ... read more

Gem here, further to our guest blog from Elinor, Laura and Simon are now going to let you catch up on the goings on since we last blogged while in Whakapapa. Then hang onto your hats and Dave will finish off with some crazy antics. Hope everyone is well and enjoying yourselfs. Only a few weeks almost till I return to UK and Dave gets on with his travels. Will say a goodbye to Laura, Simon and Elinor now as they leave tomorrow morning and are not lookng forward to the flight back, not surprised really. Its been fabulous to have them here with us and has been interesting/ knackering at times to get in as much as possible into the dwindling days. Hope they have a good journey hand arrive safetly. Laura & Simon's Guest ... read more

So after visiting Auckland and buying our car, we travelled to Wellington. We drove straight through, car overpacked, on small winding roads, at night, driving on the "wrong side of the road" in a strange land, for 9 hours, give or take. Wouldn't recommend doing it that way, but we needed to find a place to live, get the kids in school and start setting up a place to call home. Fortunately Scott's company paid for a two week stay in a hotel that had a small kitchen, dining and living room as well as two bedrooms. By the end of that first week we found a rental home.The kids started school and Scott started work the beginning of the second week. By the end of that week we had beds, refrigerator, washing machine, dishes, the ... read more