Henwood House New Plymouth

... simply buying lift tickets and having a great day of spring skiing! We have to thank the NZ weather network for the good information because the next morning we woke to snow and high winds. Very happy not to be on an exposed trail 3000 feet higher than where we sat warmly in our van drinking hot coffee and eating cookies. <br><br>Forecasts called for another week of similar storms moving through the area and in fact most of the North Island. So ...

... the scarey pictures of some women in hong kong with bandages on their face..turns out some bloke threw acid over 11 people and burned them, right outside where we stayed 3 weeks ago in mongkok, pretty scarey! Anyway, sorry if you facebook me and i cant reply, the damn hospital has blocked it and this stupid computer is too slow to let me type anything on there, but i can read it! so maybe better off emailing me at wednesburywench@hotmail.com xxx

... a book!) and crawled to the closest backpackers, the Sunflower Lodge and lucked out with great people and a psycho cat, Patches, the host. We quickly geared up in New Plymouth and tried not to step on Patches while we cooked dinner in the kitchen. On the third of April we hit the trails again in perfect weather. We headed to Egmont National Park and hike around Mt. Taranaki (also known as Mt. Egmont) for 5 days. Mt. Taranaki is a dormant volcano ...

For the first few days Michelle and I have been very messed up with the time difference! We ended up going to bed at around 5 PM on our first night (it was still light out!) We woke up at around 4 AM, and we decided to go to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium. We checked some maps before we left and thought it wouldn't be too far and we could walk it. It ended up being a 12km walk return-trip! Add that to the jetlag and we ...

It's about two weeks til the end of my trip and the third portion has just begun. I left the rarebreed farm this morning and returned to New Plymouth where I will spend the night and head to Oakura (Jason's hometown) tomorrow. Planning to stay at a place called Wave Haven where the surfers stay. Nice. From there I will come back here to catch a bus to Auckland to meet up with Tiff and head to the South Island ...

... Gott sei Dank haben wir unser Schlafsaecke, deshalb war die Nacht ganz gemuetlich und erholsam, sodass wir heute eine wunderschoene Wanderung Richtung Taranaki Gipfel machen konnten. Leider konnten wir den Gipfel nicht erklimmen, weil es total windig und kalt war und weil mir (Anja) die noetige Kondition fehlt. Der Berg ist wirklich verdammt steil!!!!!!!!! bis zum naechsten Mal Anja &amp; Christian PS: Fotos kommen das naechste Mal.

... Plymouth for many reasons. Admittedly we were spoiled rotten with hospitality but more importantly it was the first time Andrew had spent significant time with his extended family since his last visit to the island at age 12. The family life we had come to experience while we were there, the story telling with Nana and the cozy evenings spent chatting around the dinner table were our most memorable of the trip.

... Jesse said t* me was " Dude! Are y*u armed?" "Hell n* - this is ****ing New Zealand man." I th*ught ab*ut it as I was turning the car ar*und and t*ld him " if **** g*es wr*ng - we'll just run like hell." S* we f*ll*wed them back t* this turn *f the century building a ways *ff the highway at s*me cr*ss r*ads. Right when we get th**e he asks us "Y*u tw* sm*ke? Want s*mething c*ld t* drink?" Inside th**e w**e babies and d*gs and cats and really *ld ph*t*graphs ...

... like let two dirt balls from America just move in for while and cook them food, ask their friends to take them fishing. Their friend Jeff took me fishing yesterday and we caught a mess of them. I wish I could spell the names correctly but...something like: Trevally, snapper, gurnard, coweye, and others that I cant' begin to guess.

... around the world and even has a River Avon. Strange! Stratford is perhaps best known for having New Zealand's only glockenspiel clock, which I was fortunate enough to catch in action whilst I was passing through. Just past Stratford I turned up the road to East Egmont - another route up Taranaki. The road was about 23km to the car park and the further along it I got, the cloudier and more murky it became. I could see the sun behind me so it was ...