Monarch Motel Invercargill

... three lanes each way, parallel parking each side and angle parking in the middle, if only the forefathers of Sydney had such a vision parking in Pitt St and George St would be a breeze and the sun would reach pedestrians. Later inquiries suggests the streets were designed to allow a team of 8 bullocks and two wagons to do an easy U-Turn.<br>The Kelvin Hotel is a 7 floor hotel that even the queen has stayed at. It, as with most bars, is owned by a Licensing Trust which ...

... kind of became our team verse for the rest of the week. Anyway, it was beginning to get dark, but we felt like that verse was confirmation to continue traveling even thought the sun was setting. Just as the sun went down, a man (I forgot his name) and his little son Jackson picked us up and dropped us off at a backpacker's hostel in Invercargill. We asked if we could work with them for a night's stay since we didn't have enough money, and ...

... but Becky had just got out of the shower when i flung her a life jacket and sent her off to the lake. There was no time for her to get nervous. Fran on the other hand is one of those whose first reaction is of caution, before relaxing into the idea and suggesting much more adventurous activities such as white water rafting. I spend alot of time convincing the girls that somethings a good idea, and sometimes i succeed, but the rest of the time Becky makes her well rehearsed ...

... foot, which was no problem for Suzanna and I, we have trekked in the Andes you know. First stop for us was at Nugget Point, which is famous for it's Light House and wildlife. We didn't see much of the wildlife as we were 100 metres or so up on a cliff and the animals were at sea level. We did make out a few sea lions, but it was hard work as they look a lot like rocks from 100 metres up. It was a great view though and made for a good picture. From Nugget Point we drove onto ...

Alright, here is my first go at travel blogging! It's hard to believe, but I've already been in New Zealand for almost two weeks! I left the States on December 31 along with the twenty one other students from Lewis and Clark College and arrived on January 2nd in Christchurch, New Zealand. It's sounds like a longer flight than it is though, because we completely lost January 1st due to the international dateline (but they did serve us champagne at midnight as a ...

... Hector dolphins and other sea life). The waves were great on the 23rd and the kids enjoyed boogie boarding until a rather large seal chased them out of the water and onto the beach. The seal was a bit aggressive but eventually waddled up the sand to sit beside us to warm in the sun for awhile. A little later Bill spotted a group of Hector dolphins in the bay and the kids suited up and enjoyed boogie boarding with the friendly ...

... d fallen in love with. Twizel itself is a bit of a sterile town that was initially meant to be a temporary construction workers village for a nearby hydro plant built in 1966. Once completed, some of the workers decided to stay and the town has since grown, mainly due to it's close location to one of NZ's main tourist attractions - Mount Cook (Aoraki). It's good for fuel and shops, but I'd thankfully stumbled upon a fabulous rural backpackers a few km out of town called Omahau Downs. Omahau ...

... visitor, aforementioned Nathan, a globetrotting pharmacist whom we used to play touch rugby with in Exeter, and his girlfriend Nicola. In that regard life here does differ markedly from the enormous social life the Thomases are having in Australia. <br><br>Kathryn and I have also just bought an old ramshackle car called "Ray", I'm hoping to rename it "piece of ****", though, 'cos that's what it is. We will both be travelling NZ in August and September before we leave. <br><br>Work's ...