A big Kiwi hello to everyone that is still reading this blog and doesn't believe we have abandoned you all completely for drink, food, sunshine, wild days/nights, and general overindulgence in hedonistic pleasure (though we are well on our way...).  The last we parted, I believe Karla and I were on our way to do some back country ...

There is 4 weeks today until we depart and the countdown has begun. Everything is booked and now all we can do is wait in anticipation!

Well said the good-bye's and hoped on a plane to sunny Auckland. Settled in Rocklands Hostel which will be my base for 2/3 months. Own room sort of like college digs, t'is quite enough and the people are nice, a couple of backpackers around so should be a tame enough place. The dreaded work phrase comes back,ah...

went to the top of mt eden one of 70 dormant volcanoes in the region, and you get 360 deg views of auckland, then we made our way to the coromandel peninsula, a place renowned for its stunning beaches and alot of untouched native nz forest, we got on a walking trail that led us down to a secluded beach called cathedral cove, it was beautiful apa...

Written on and regarding Saturday, June 16, 2007; posted June 18, 2007 @ 5:06 PM We completely slept in this morning. We were in bed by 8:00 last night and asleep by about 8:30. Both of us woke up at about 4:00 in the morning. I stayed awake for quite a long time before falling back to sleep...until 11:30! I haven't slept that late in, like, eve...

Die Woche vom 23-29 April 2007 sollte auch wieder eine kurze werden.....ich weiß, es scheint langsam so, als gäbe es hier nur die 4 Tage Woche, aber nein, leider nicht.  Es stand aber der Anzac Day am 25. April an. Er gilt als Feiertag in Neuseeland und Australien. ANZAC ist die Abkürzung für Australian and New Zealand A...

I very nearly wrote HIROSAKI in the "city" question up there. Whoops. How does one really get back into the groove of living in their home country? There are so many familiar things, many things exactly the same as they were when I left a year ago, but I have changed so much... People keep saying I've lost weight! Now, I don't know if you read t...

Day 50: Once we got all stettled in to Auckland, we decided to take our car and explore. Auckland is filled with extinct volcanos, so we went to check out one of the largest and most centrally located, Mt. Eden. We found the base of the road up in the area called Mt. Eden Village (very similar to Multnomah Village in Portland) and headed up the ...

Well, I've been back in Auckland for a week now, just here visiting a mate and waiting for Anna-Marie and Paul to get over here. I left Wellington on Thursday; had been planning on leaving really early but Wednesday nights are too good to miss in Wellington, so thought I'd go out for a few bevvies, but told myself that I would stop drinking at a...

Finally in Auckland for some well earned rest and sun. Sorry to all those I didn't catch up with but it is surprising how quickly two weeks goes past! I spent most of the first week sleeping and relaxing and the first weekend at Blair's going away party. The second weekend I was lucky enough to have a long weekend in the Coromandel with Scott. W...