St Johns Motel Auckland

... not taken anywhere near Auckland, we hit the city and immediately got caught up in a massive protest. Reaching for camera, Graham reminded me I was not at work and I informed him I was documenting New Zealand life. Not having a particularly firm grasp of the country's politics, I am not entirely sure what the demo was in aid of but it had something to do with smacking children and the minimum wage. The pace of New ...

... have to pay a fine or something?"
BP: "we take this seriously and just have to report it"
MdeL: "look lady, I am sure you are very good at what you do. i have been travellign for 20+ hours on no sleep and I am trying to keep 2 kids entertained and stopping them from totally disrupting your airport. They were never out of sight - I have my passports in ...

Here is your to do list.

1) Can you chat to K-bear and get some low down on where to chill in Costa Rica? I will have a yarn to Tez I think he had some pretty sweet photos of it all.

- Talked to Tez he said any where in the islands is mean. He recons if you in Bali just get out of Kuta ASAP. Sounded pretty sweet to me.

Hey everyone,

We finally made it to NZ! After an uneventful flight to LA, a 4 hour layover, then a grueling 13 hour flight to Auckland, we are here in the beautiful city of sails. We arrived at 7:30am, Friday, September 4th, which was actually around 3:30pm on Thursday, the 3rd in Boston. Somehow, we time traveled. I'll have a confirmation if this is actually true later.

Despite being overwhelmingly exhausted from our ...

... so hot today managed an ice-cream while I was over there. Got lost in Borders for an afternoon yesterday as picked up the book 'The Reader' over a coffee and got too engrossed that I had to finish it! Couldn't afford to buy it as books over here are ridiculously expensive; 15 pounds for a paperback! Have also discovered the Belgium pub in Auckland this time round and cherry flavoured Belgian beer with my ...

... my age down a mountain road into Queenstown. Spent the day hanging around town there, and then relaxing in a café that night. I hiked around the area the next days and took in the views. Met up with a couple from Chicago, that were both very familiar with Reno, and had been there. Went out to the acclaimed Fergburger in Queenstown, and yes, it was amazing! It's own thing and flavor, but up there with In-N-Out and Awful Awful. Yum! Had a great ...

... which is a big trek but weather was bad and jess´ankle was still not great. Beautiful place with a picture perfect volcano right in the centre which has erupted twise in the last 100 yrs (basically NZ is one big volcano it seems to me.....).Then headed over to Waitomo caves where the following day i was going to do my birthday present from Angelina.... The Black Abyss! Once again we eventually found somewhere to stay (realising at this point you need to a lot more ...

... Gendarmerie, but that's about as french as it gets. We went on a walk above the town which gave a great view of the drowned volcanic crater. 25th March - Lake Tekapo Village We then pressed on down the flat eastern side of South island to Lake Tekapo via the pretty town of Geraldine. The roads were straight & had very few cars on them, so to pass the time we played "spot the car" but had to abandon it after 20 minutes as nobody had scored ...

... to be Christchurch and we drove there via Mount Cook which we saw in all its splendour! We stopped at Lake Tekapo again to admire the views and arrived in Christchurch at Kay and Tony's in late afternoon. We spent a fabulous 4 days with them - it was great to be part of a family again after so long on the road - and they showed us the very best of Christchurch and the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately the ...

... front of me got sick, one fainted and the other threw up. Very gross. Got in around 6 am and cant check into hostel until noon. Very tired and in dire need of a shower. Not that I smell just that I have been sweating ever since I got into NZ. Downtown Auckland seems a little dated but still very nice. The populace seems very nice. Walked to the ocean and remember why I ...