Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 2387

Just two nights in Wellington, to draw up our attack plan for North Island and of course to celebrate Sara's birthday. We wandered around the city a bit before going and watching Kink Knog ( kind of like that typo ). It wasn't very celebratory though as Sara spent most of the morning saying "I hope they don't still kill the monkey", then blubbed her eyes out for the whole second half and spent the rest of the evening miserably saying "They shouldn't have killed the monkey should they?". Unfortunately Sara's birthday is a high profile event and no photographs were permitted.... read more

Spent the days between Christmas and New Year checking for surf and hiking up the hills around Dunedin. Smails beach and Tunnel beach - pictured here are both city beaches - ie less than 20 mins drive from downtown.... read more

Legs strapped to the chord. Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the jumping ledge. Stand up Straight... Deep Breath... Don't look Down... 3, 2, 1, CYA! 134 meters… 8 seconds of freefall… Everything about the Nevis Highwire Bungy Jumping experience is intended to maximize the fear stirring inside you. After the bus ride, you are immediately strapped into a harness before ever seeing the Ravine or Jump Platform. Once suited up, you are allowed to walk out to the viewing deck where you can see the 380m cables stretching across the valley suspending the world's first Bungy Gondola. This viewing platform does not however give you a view of the river below the platform; you are allowed to let your mind wander. In order to get out to the launch pad, you have to ride in an open ... read more

I know that this story may be familiar to those of you i emailed the first time it happend but sometimes you just have to be versatlie and do what you have to do. This time the location was the waitomo caves on the north island in new zealand. My situation at this time was that i had been living in a car for 4 weeks, obviously for those of you that drive you will know that cars dont come equipped with kitchens and bathrooms. Well at least this one didnt, this was just a standard car, 2 front seats, and small back seats and a large boot.......which incidently we had been using to sleep in. A few towels on the windows and a sleeping bag or 3 and it wasnt too bad......quite homely actually, or ... read more

Boxing Day at Katie & Mark Falcous' farm was awesome. That's not a made up name, nor is the letter "L" silent. Headed across to their farm (former home of the lamb that was now at peace in my stomach) and onto the race track to gamble away a few more bucks. Made it back to Chez Falcous for a BBQ before the rains came, before the Cranium and Charades came out. I was voted the best player by everyone. Fortunately, I can't post video clips here, as my charade entitled "Giving birth" was probably a little more realistic than anyone would want, especially as our host Katie is only a few months away from such pleasures.... read more