The Oceanic Auckland

... thermals, heavy fleeces and waterproofs, by the time we reached land, we were so cold that it took some time before we were able to prise our frozen hands from the paddles. As we hadn’t seen as much of the Sound as we had hoped (due to the fact that we had been blinded by hailstones) we decided to take an early morning scenic cruise the following day around the Sound and out to the Tasman Sea. We were surrounded by snow-dusted mountains, waterfalls ...

... to cut the rind off bacon using nail scissors! Once again I just stood there and laughed! I had to, otherwise I would have cried. I think the secret to get through the next six months is to try hard not to think about what we have left behind and concentrate on starting again. I came out of Briscoes (very much like Dunelm but without the fabric!) with a large slow cooker, baking trays, two pairs of scissors and chopping boards!

Yesterday we also ...

It's been ages since I've written anything on this thing, so figured my non-contact time at school was a great time to do it! Everything is going well this side of the world - have even enjoyed work this term, as well as all the travelling!

Our last trip was great fun, after a pretty disastrous flight. We turned up at the airport only to find we had the wrong flight time and the only flight to Queenstown that day had left hours ago! After much arguing ...

... 120 km speed limit to national roads that are taking years for resurfacing with essential supplies and money diverted (political) hence potholes that will shallow a small vehicle. This is compounded open with lengthy hold ups at borders of roading supplies.


Contrast of bird life – mainly species that I have never seen.


The challenge of taking animal night ...

... after two quick flights of 2 and 3 hours at midnight last night, and spent ages getting my pesky kangarooo-skin beer holder and Simon's requested bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask through customs, finally arriving at the hostel at about 1am. One thing you notice while travelling the world is how, in other countries, the airport is always NEAR the city you are trying to get to, at most a 20 min shuttle bus ride, unlike Heathrow Gatwick and Stansted which are always a pain to get to/from ...

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well that was an interesting night (heaps of photos to upload soon) my aunty and I got very drunk - great times chatting about memories...

in fact everynight since has been spent at the RSA lol!

the next couple of days were spent catching up with family and walking around the city of auckland, in the rain, cold, wet, lost, streets of auckland - oh well its an adventure!
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Auckland, North Island, New Zealand jarmies82

... I made the Ferry Crossing over to the North Island, Wellington. Which you'll have to wait for the next entry to hear about as I'm about to miss my next flight!!! Loads of love to you all x x x NORTH ISLAND My northern island adventure began in Windy Wellington early evening where I was greeted by a super-happy swedish girl very glad to have a room mate...minutes later we were joined by a dutch guy and another english girl and we all began our way out with plans to see ...

So I wound up back in Auckland after my failed surf trip to the East coast. I'll be honest, I was real down last night and the beginning of today. It's definitely hard to travel alone at times especially when you take a wrong turn... on the same tolken, it's amazing how things come together when you change your point of view. I checked into my Base Backpackers hostel and headed out to ...

... into the centre, it's grey (quite possibly because it was a cloudy day) and there's not a lot to do. We were also unfortunate to be there on an incredibly humid day which meant that the most adventurous thing we felt like doing was sitting in a cafe with a cold drink. The main highlights for us were probably going out for a curry to celebrate/commiserate the end of our travelling for a while. This was probably the best curry we've had on the trip (though we are ...

... dormlife anywhere in the Americas. The hostel is huge, there is no real social area but on the flipside, it is very clean and the amenities are all present. After 8 months of lugging my phone around I can now finally buy a simcard and use it. Yeey for me! Got my bank account sorted and applied for my IRD number so all I need now is millions of employers dying to employ fabulous little ol' me. Unfortunately the recession has hit New Zealand as well and it being the end of the year ...