Wellington Like TO

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I have decided to use this travel blog less as a documentation of all the places I have been and more as a journal which I will write in when I ahve the time and inclination. Yes, as you can tell from the title I am currently in New Zealands capital city of Wellington, which bares an uncanny resemblance to Toronto, minus the fact that it is like 10 times smaller, and does not contain an abundance of cool ppl. But, before I go into details about Wellington, I must talk about what I have been upto after leaving Roturua, over 2 weeks ago.

I managed to convince Phillipa ( the English girl who I meet in Roturua) to come with me to teh Waitomo Caves. The Waitomo caves are some of the biggest in teh word, so of couse I had to see them. Phillipa and I went on a caving trip, 5 hours in the cave, absailing 30 meters down, tubing through tunnels filled with gloworms, squeezing through small places in rocks and then climbing back out up teh same 30 m wall. I loved it, but my light went out near the end so I spent alot of time in the water, Phillipa enjoyes it after the origional absail where she requested being thrown down into the cave as a better alternative. That night we stayed in a backpackers owned by the people who ran the expidition. It was kind of surreal as it was on thier farm in the middle of nowhere.

After that we headed up to Pihia, near the top of the North Island. Pihia does not have much going for it except for beautiful weather and scenery...it was enough! The first day Philipa attempted to teach me how to tan and I got rather sunburnt, but the second day I was back on the bus, this time on a day trip up to the most Northan point of NZ, Cape Raglan. The views in this area are beautiful to say the least, huge rolling hills, 90-mile beach, which the bus actually drives on, which shows the ocean at its more fierce, and finally the sign. The sign is a small sign right in front of the lighthouse which marks the very tip, teh sign points to major cities around the world and indicates how far away they are. They did not have Toronto so I had to be content with Vancouver. Oh yes and I went sandboarding flipping over once and landing in a shallow stream the second time, it was fun but sore!

From here I said goodbye to Phillipa (she is going to meet up with me in Tauranga at Christmas) and went to Tauranga again. There I said hello to everyone and finally went surfing. The waves were really small, perfect for beginers. Th rush when you are on a boared being carried away by waves is indescrbable.

After bidding another tearful goodbye to Tauranga I headed off to Taupo. In Taupo the only thik I was really interested in doing was the Torongo crossing (deffinetly not spelt right) which I did. It is basically a 8 hour hike through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. This is where they filmed Mordore in the Lord of the Rings, and well watch the movie ad u will get the idea.

On from Taupo I headed South to Wellington, where I spent a whole day wandering blissfully through the Te Papa museum, which I would have loved as a kid, it is a bit harder explaining to rent-a-cops why u are runing around the big fake trees when u are 6 ft. tall 😞. But I still managed to enjoy myself. There are more cafes and eateries in Wellington per capita than New York, which I was very happy about, I miss good cheap ethic food, ad Cuba street had some very interesting shops although I do wish it was a bit longer. Anywaise headig off for the South Island next, till next time! Alison

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Photos

Pihia
Me and Phillipa tanning (with SPF 45 on of course!)

90 Mile Beach
Me sandboarding on 90 mile beach!

Taupo
Me doing the Tongereo Crossing, 7 hours of amazing hiking.

Wellington
I took this picture in teh Te Papa museum, it is a virtual sheariing sheep!

Comments

[brownie]

jealoussss
YOU WENT TO SEE MORDORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WITH OUT ME?!!?!?!?!??!!??!?!! :'( it's ok ... don't feel bad ... i saw where they filmed "Big" in NYC.... you should've been in that movie... your big too!! jkjk