Blogs from Oceania - page 7323

So James finished in A+E on 18 Feb and was picked up by Anne who has basically had a 6 week holiday already. We drove up to Mount Rupehu 2774m - the highest mountain in North Island and camped in a DOC site. The following day was perfectly clear so we decided to climb the mountain - after some hard scrambling and some interesting snow crossing with long run outs we climbed onto the top into perfect sun - the mountain is actually a volcano and we had brilliant views down into the crater lake. Following this we drove up to Auckland to pick Annes parents up - they came armed with masses of suitcases which with some luggage juggling we were able to squash into the car. We creeked and groaned our way to Thames ... read more

mentiin tänään kattoon tahdistimen laatikon vaihtoa. Siellä oli sellanen ylikiva anestesialääkäri Fergus, joka anto meidän tehdä vaikka ja mitä! Minna sai ventiloida ja kanyloida!!! Siis se lääkäri anto luvan ja samoin potilas, niin kyllähän me sit yhteistuumin päätettiin, että minna saa sen tehdä. Suomessahan se ois ihan ok, mut ilmeisesti sairaalaan säännöt kieltää sen meiltä. No se lääkärihän oli koko ajan siinä kattelemassa vieressä, niin so what! mitään ei tapahtunu! ja mä sain sekotella lääkkeitä! :D jee! ja Fergus kyllä meille sano, että hän ottaa täyden vastuun kaikesta (niinku pitääki), mut siitä ois kivaa, että saadaan tehdäki jotain, ettei tarvi vaan seisoskella. Ja jos meitä stressaa jonkin asian tekeminen, niin ei tarvi tehdä. ja sit mä oon tosi pahis. väitin kirurgille vastaan.. :P se tiedusteli, että onkos meillä suomessa mitään kuuluisia olutmerkkejä. ja mainosti, että t ... read more

Ok..... so we've made our way through Taupo. Had an amazing time. After famill ourselves with the area we went and watched Amy and Asha (new and old friends) do their first skydive!! And all reports were that it was amazing! Didnt tempt us this time though as we're saving that for when my big bro gets here (pauls - that is!!). After a couple of crazy nights out at the Holy Cow (much to Natalie's delight) - dancing on tables and the like. We, somehow, managed to convince ourselves that a bungy jump - the least favoured thing to do by all of us - was the best idea. So off we went... to throw ourselves off a cliff, into water, upsidedown, 50m below, stupidly! I think Natalie will agree with me when i say ... read more

Arrived at Sunrise Lodge backpackers in the late afternoon and booked a whale watch tour for a 7.15am start. Ouch! The trip was almost cancelled due to high winds, but they got us out luckily, and it was great. We saw 3 enormous Sperm Whales - the boat got really close. We watched them logging (doing a convincing impression of a log floating on the water), spouting water into the air and finally diving back down with a magnificant tail flip. Was really unreal to think we were so close to such vast and fabulous creatures. Despite all the whaling that has taken place (more the end of the last century up to 1950s in NZ) they are remarkably trusting of the boats coming along side them - esp since they could flick us out of ... read more

So we crossed the Cook Straits to the South Island with Paula and Jane, and headed straight for the Nelson area at the top of the island. From there we had day sea kayaking, pulling into little bays every so often to snorkel. The guy who took us out collected a load of sea urchin type things, which he and Paula set about - splitting open and eating the dubious looking yellow coloured roe. Anything that has that much pink goo come out of it shouldn't be eaten in my view... Anyway, it reinforced our desire to kayak, and P&J provided numerous entertaining incidents (particularly Paula nearly throwing herself out of the kayak after a spider climbed on her head in a cave)! From there we said farewell and Scott and I headed for the Abel ... read more