Blogs from New Zealand, Oceania - page 2431

We get up and do research on what we will be doing for the next few weeks. We decide we will leave Christchurch on Thursday and go to Akaroa. It is a little French town a few hours away and the start of the Banks Peninsula Track. This is a private track with huts that have hot showers (what a luxury on the track!) every day. We will start this track on Friday and be out until Tuesday of next week. Then we will spend another night in Akaroa before returning to Christchurch for a few nights. While we are in the computer room doing research Michael finds a card for the Mexican Café restaurant in Christchurch, so we decide to go there for lunch. The restaurant is about a thirty-minute walk and the weather is ... read more

Well, we completed the hike, and rounded it off with a knackering day of kayaking in any out of the coves and caves, back to Kaiteriteri. It's good to be back at Palace Backpackers though, it's really homely and full of a wide range of travelling freaks - I'm sure that the guy sitting outside strumming a guitar is either Simon or Garfunkle - he's got a old green cord jacket, beret and curly hair and not a bad voice! Lucikly Walter was waiting for us where we'd left him and our stuff was still in the boot. I suppose I should stop judging NZ by England's standards, it does seem much safer here.... read more

Hi all, I am so strapped for time b/c I spent all of it uploading pictures. You should definately check out my older entries and check out the pictures. The words don't do justice. Caitlin and I are in Rotorua where we are constantly fighting off the stench of hard boiled eggs. It lies on a geothermally active plateau so there is a constant smell of sulphur. BUT, it also makes for some great mineral pools heated from geothermal activity as well as geysers and boiling mud baths. Even the cheapo little hostel we stayed at had a hot tub! This came in handy after we decided to do our first adventure activity... SLEDGING! You have all heard of white water rafting. Imagine a similar river, but instead of a nice comfy raft and paddles, you ... read more

i didn't have time to record the last part of our day in rotorua. we finished sledging and decided to hop on a white water rafting trip. spontaneous huh. heh. we rafted the tallest commercially raftable waterfall in the world!! it was 7 meters tall. the rest of the river wasn't much to speak of, but woah that drop was in-tense. the guides stopped the raft just before we took it and told us all to stand up. eep. the horizon was sharp and the drop was long into some big water. the falls were narrow as was the whole river with tall walls covered in trees and moss. so, we approached the drop and heard, 'hold on!!' our entire raft submerged....that's pretty hard to do for those of you who haven't rafted before. i was ... read more

Today we will explore Christchurch after all the laundry from Arthur’s Pass is done. That is the one chore we can’t retire from. There are a little less than 4 million people in all of New Zealand, two-thirds of which live on the North Island. Although Christchurch is the largest city on the South Island, the population is still less than 1 million. It is called the garden city and there are many park areas, but it is still early Spring so the flowers are just starting to bloom. The weather is beautiful, sunny with a high temperature expected to be around 17 C (F = C*1.8 + 32) or about 63 F. There is also a mild breeze that keeps you cool. After walking around town a little and having lunch at a nice Italian ... read more