Downtown Backpackers Wellington

So after a VERY fun and exciting night at the Jack Johson concert, we left Stratford and headed on a bus to Wellington after dropping off our rental car. (Which was still in one piece, YES!) The ride to Wellington took about 7 hours when it was only supposed to take about 6. We got stuck in some traffic outside of a VERY small town... all because there was "holiday" traffic all trying to get around a roundabout. Weird... yes, I know. But, that's New Zealand for ya... chock full of roundabouts...

I knew I would be sore the next day after my monster tramp, but OMG... I haven't been this sore in a LONG time! By this point in my trip, I was getting realllly tired of being on a bus almost all day long, eating junk food, and having to sleep in the same room as several strangers. It was somewhat bittersweet that it was coming to an end, because although I could not wait to sleep in m own (very small and short) bed again, I had met some really cool people along the way. I was the first one t...

The bus journey from Taupo to Wellington took about 4 hours. We only made one stop along the way at the Rangipo Desert aka Lord of the Rings country to take photos of the mountain ranges used in the films (one mountain being Mount Doom itself!) We arrived into Wellington in the early afternoon and our driver took us up a mountain where we could look out over the city and the bay. The view was spectacular. After this we were dropped to our hostel where we spent most of the afternoon planning f...

Thursday 23rd March, Day 118: Today we headed back to the capital. Wayne gave us a lift to the station and after the fond farewells we were back on the road. It gave us a little time to reflect on our time in the Wiararapa, which on the whole was very fruitful and had given Anna the opportunity to really get to know members of her family that had previously just been names in Christmas cards. Also, working and remaining in one place for an extended period had been important for us. It allowed...

10 April Caught the 10 a.m. bus to Picton, arriving there at 12:30. Sat at the ferry terminal there for a couple of hours eating my lunch sandwiches (made back at the hostel in Nelson this morning) before boarding the ferry at about 2 p.m. Departed at 2:30 and snoozed, read and listened to music on the three hour ride over to New Zealand's capital, Wellington. Arrived at 5:30 in the evening, hopped on the free shuttle bus from the ferry to the train station. My hostel was the "Downtown Backpa...

Ok, so the first week has been brutal with jet-lag, but I'm more or less over it now. Things have been moving at warp-speed since I've arrived. I'm all squared away with Magic Backpacker Bus tours and I've seen some incredible things in the short time I've been in the Ring of Fire. Tomorrow I'm hopping on the ferry to cross the Cook Strait, headed for the south island where supposedly most of the jaw-dropping sights are. Some highlights of the past couple of days on the North Island : 1. Auc...

Saa kom vi til Wellington! Vi boede paa Downtown Backpackers som er et stort hostel. Det var super fedt, der var alt hvad man havde brug for, og det kan til enhver tid anbefales. Anyway.. Da vi ankom var det meget blaesende og det pissede ned. Faktisk var vejret daarligt alle dagene undtagen den sidste. Vi lavede lidt af hvert, fik set centrum (main shopping street), Te Papa som er et stort og meget imponerende museum. Derudover tog jeg (Helle) paa en heldags Ringenes Herre location tur! Mart...

We spent just 2 nights in Auckland. hired a car an headed for the hills. We travelled up to the Bay of Islands, ran out of petrol on our way to Cape Reinga and had to turn back. The Coramandel penisula is beautiful and so is the East Cape. We spent a night at Hicks bay, really remote up there. Sarah a german girl travelled with us all the way down the east coast and on to Wellington. Along the way, a stone chipped the windscreen and over the course of a few days it developed into a massive se...

We'v e made it..... to the North Island. The ferry ride was actually not that bad. It was clearing when we left Picton this afternoon. How exciting to go on the ferry with the car. It was huge, wich movie theater and everything on it. The trip was quite stormy though. Well, Ipod on shuffle mode and no worries! I stayed on the sun deck all the time, sitting down on the floor it wasn' t that windy and the sun was quite strong! Standing up, you' d got blwon away! Luckily we didn' t get seasick! ...