Hotel Ibis Tainui Hamilton

... suspiciously like snow! Yes, it was snowing, and fairly heavily too. It wasn't settling though and cars coming the other way were snow-free so I know we weren't heading into trouble.<br><br>Before long the eponymous town of National Park showed up. I had had it in mind to stop there for a cuppa, but frankly it looked dead and deserted (and closed) plus the sleet/snow was falling heavily, so we pressed on. Somewhere over to our right, lost in the cloud, was Mount Ngauruhoe ...

... Then he describes switzerland for me, how you can ski down a mountain and have a view of a giant lake the whole time, the small community, how he got annoyed with his mother because she started locking the door to the house. We talked for a long time and then got quieter and quieter and then sleeeep. Next morning I took a kayak out into the inlet, after much banter with my favorite/most hated person at this hostel, Iain. He was born to live in Raglan, long ...

... askew, mouth slightly open. When we go to sleep (grampa has dissapeared) there is a messy attempt to hide the beer cans, or at least make them look neater... Ha ha.. if you can imagine a group of people in their early twenties trying to sneak into their room without giving away that they've been drinking, even when we know its stupid, even when we know after twenty one years of life we have earned the right to shamelessly have a beer... mustn't wake grampa!... ha ha..

... arrived. They were just starting to get busy with some building projects and just getting more formalized with the WOOFing. So, for our first week there, we worked 2 hrs a day in exchange for free accomodation. Renee and I (along with other WOOFers) stayed in the cabooses (see attached photos), which were great. Week 2 we worked 4 hrs a day in exchange for accomodation and meals. Renee and I asked to work earlier in the day (typical start time was 10am) and ...

... where they were fighting off a rather large snake with a thong! Other things that are different include post boxes on wheels, so they're taken indoors overnight so no over-exuberant New Zealand youngsters decide to play hide and seek with them. Petrol is down 5c to $157.9. And here at Waikato University confidential waste is put into a padlocked wheelie bin with a lid cunningly fastened so that it only opens about 2 in. max. xx

hallo alle zusammen! 22/04/2008 "Lemon&amp;Paeroa" (L&amp;P) Die ganze Stadt Paeroa steht unter diesem Markenzeichen. L&amp;P ist eine Limonade und weltbekannt in Neuseeland und wurde hier erfunden und schmeckt eigendlich ganz gut! :) In Matamata dreht sich hingegen alles um die "Herr der Ringe" Filme da sich der Drehort von Hobbingen hier befindet. Hobbingen selbst haben wir leider nicht besucht (zu ...

... let go of her board as a huge wave passed underneath us and it slammed me in the back. Big bruise. Nasty. All too soon the lesson was over - we'd spent the best part of two hours in the water, and although I was tired and hungry, I couldn't stop thinking about getting back in the water and practicing some more. One of the girls in the group lived in Auckland so we promised to meet up and go surfing one weekend when I was back there.

We decided to start to make our way up to Cape Reinga, the most northernly Point, so we hopped on the main state highway 1 and we stopped overnight at Huntly, where we parked up by a small stream, and where we stayed with the ducks as our friends!!!! Huntly is Okay to stop off and get re stocked but nothing much else to do there, so we moved on the next day!!