TravelStream™ news feed for member jz2009 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jz2009 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:27:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1246767793/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1246767793/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1246767793/tpod.html Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:27:36 -0400 Josh and Zoe's Big Adventure 2009

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Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand

Josh did a 43m bungy jump on the way to Queenstown (crazy boy!) I had to watch while he stood on the edge of a platform suspended from a bridge and jumped arms outstretched to the creek below. I felt like i was jumping with him and he was on cloud nine when he met him at the bottom. He loved it!

Queenstown is so beautiful, with good shops, a huge lake and more snow capped mountains. We had left our group of friends but managed to meet up with them as we stepped off the bus!

Queenstown is not only famous for the skiing, but it's food in the form of Ferge Burger, a burger restaurant that serves the largest home-made burgers that are just delicious, the 8 days we were there some of the guys had eaten more than one a day!! They also have Hells Pizza, who make the more delicious pizza ever, the chicken, Camembert, onion was just amazing! While we were there we all had hoodies designed, all with varying New Zealand motifs printed on them.

Queenstown is the place to go out, there are lots of bars and clubs, in one they served cocktails in china tea pots! Very sophisticated!

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Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand

Wanaka is a beautiful town, with a huge lake that makes for impressive photographs. The town was quite good, with a number of surf/ski shops that kept us busy for a while.

We were staying in a lovely YHA hostel and for our first night were their only residents. It was so good, luckily they had a cosy lounge area with a wood burner, so for most of our stay we warmed ourselves by the fire and felt really at home.

We walked for hours around the lake and had fun playing in the kids playground, they had an 'egg cup' type thing which i sat in - and it span me around 360 degrees, and kept spinning and spinning!! I was in hysterics and couldn't stop. Josh stood there laughing and filming it! haha until i got him to sit in it!!

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Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand

Franz Josef has some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen so far, a small town surrounded by huge snow capped mountains. We are still constantly amazed at how unpopulated New Zealand is and how unspoiled the countryside is.

We spent our first afternoon in Franz relaxing in the 20 person hot tub! It was so hot that i had to keep on getting out to cool off to avoid overheating!

Whilst in Franz we completed a full day hike of the Franz Josef glacier. We arrived in the early morning to get kitted out in waterproofs, warm hats and crampons which we carried in large bum bags (very fetching!) The glacier was a 15 minute drive from the town centre. I have to admit i was a little disappointed by the size of it at first, that was until our guide pointed out that the tiny specks about half way up were people! From then on we were all in complete ore of its magnitude. It was a 45 minute walk along the base of the glacier, which was covered in small pieces of rock which had fallen from the huge mountains either side. By the time we reached the ice everyone was extremely hot and in need of emergency chocolate already!

We put on our crampons and began our journey up and through the glacier. Initially walking on the ice was a weird experience; for the first 10 minutes i didn't trust my feet and expected to to slide and fall over. But amazingly the crampons did their job and we managed to stay on our feet even on the steepest or slippiest patches of ice. We all carefully followed our guide Bruce in single file through carved areas of the glacier. We walked up and down steep sheer side of it using carved steps and careful footsteps! It was amazing, the colour of the ice was incredible, turquoise and white with the sun shining brilliantly through it. The ice had a lovely texture to it, covered in waves and pitted holes and beautiful natural shapes carved into it by the weather.

We climbed to 900m above sea level, before eating our lunch; which had to be the most surreal pick-nick we've ever had!! The final 2.5 hours on the ice were spent squeezing through tiny crevasses, where we had to pull ourselves through and we had to crawl through caves in the ice. It was such an amazing experience that we will never forget.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242792000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242792000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242792000/tpod.html Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:12:41 -0400 Josh and Zoe's Big Adventure 2009

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Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

We travelled to Nelson and the South Island via the 3 hour ferry crossing from Wellington. Initally the ferry was cancelled due to a storm in the Cook Strait, but after a short delay they allowed us to sail, however warning us that if we suffered from sea-sickness, maybe this wouldn't be the trip for us! and by god they meant it! The waves reached 9 metres, and crashed over the top of the ferry at points! it was a lot of fun. The front of the boat was the most affect part, so naturally Josh and the rest of the boys went and sat at the front, to watch the massive waves and feel the full affect. After an hour or so everyone was feeling a little rough, so retired to the back for a snooze and an ice cube (they help apparently!)

Once we had landed in Picton it was a short journey to our home for the next 3 nights, Nelson. On our first evening in Nelson we took a walk to the centre on New Zealand. It is at the top of a hill and provides awesome views, we even saw our first snow capped mountains.Nelson was a gorgeous town, with amazing scenery and lovely houses. It looked very much like an old English town. But with good shops!

On our last day in Nelson we took a bus to the Abel Tasman national park with 3 of our friends and did a 12 km walk. We first got a boat to a place called Anchorage, then walked back down to the bus stop. It was such a beautiful place with deserted beaches and forest walks. It got really warm as well as we hiked up the mountains!

On our last night, the day before my birthday, 9 of us went out for a pre-birthday curry. It was really cheap and amazing, we finished the night off at Shark pool bar with a few pints!
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Ruatapu, New Zealand

The Kiwi Bus stops in Mahinapua, a place in the middle of no where, to stay in a pub owned by the oldest publican in NZ, an 83 year old called Les. The bus has the whole place to our selves, and each night there is a fancy dress party with a different theme. Our theme was bin bags. After eating a beautiful feast of venison stew and steak, cooked by the legendary Les himself, we got to work on making our costumes. I went as a robber with a black and white top, a mask and a swag bag, and Zoe went as a black fairy, with wings and a wand! I made her dress myself!

We had such a brilliant evening, there were nearly 50 people and every one had made an effort, there were some brilliant costumes, considering everyone was made out of bin bags. Our friend Dave went as batman, it was hilarious helping him make his costume. Especially his efforts of drawing the bat symbol.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242182148/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242182148/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jz2009/1/1242182148/tpod.html Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:00:50 -0400 Josh and Zoe's Big Adventure 2009

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Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Our next destiantion was Taupo. The home of the Tongarro crossing, which is voted one of the top one day walks in the world. We were really unlucky with the weather though, and it was unfortunately closed whilst we were there.

We spent two days relaxing. The town didn't really have a lot to offer. We went to the cinema whilst we were here and watched Angels and Demons. The best part of it was the Flouro party we went to on the last night. Every one dressed up in flourescent clothing, and consumed a little too much alcohol. Great evening. The birthday boy didn't even make it to midnight to see in his birthday!

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Taihape, North Island, New Zealand

For one night we stayed in a beautiful lodge, situated in the middle of nowhere, aptly called river valley. There was a lovely open fire in the middle of the bar/lounge which was very much welcome. During the day we walked along the river, exploring the local area. At one point we had to abseil down a steep muddy bank! In the evening we cooked a group curry for Mark's birthday.

The next morning we went horse trekking through the owners 3000 acre farm. IT was such an amazing experience, the scenery was absolutely stunning. We rode through fields full of deer which was awesome. Zoe's horse, Pedro, was more of a donkey really, he was rather lazy. We did manage to get some cantering in though, which was good fun. Zoe was holding on for dear life.

We were meant to leave River valley around 1, but unfortunately the battery on the bus died and we had to wait until the next kiwi bus came so we could steal their bus. The bus didn't arrive until 5, which meant that we were very late getting in to out next destination, Wellington.

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Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

We arrived in the capital of New Zealand late at night, so didn't get to do anything on our first day, other than check out the nearest bar.

Wellington is known as the windy capital, and by god they got the name right. It was bloody freezing! We spent two days exploring the city. To be honest there really wasn't much to see. It was just another city, without many shops (We think we were looking in the wrong part!)

They do however, have an awesome 'hands on' museum, which was great fun. We spent about 3 hours pressing buttons and watching 3D colossal squid movies!

On our last evening we went bowling. Zoe and I came joint last the first go! but improved (slightly) the next game. Bowling is definitely not our forte though!



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Westport, South Island, New Zealand

We got up early and Zoe made me breakfast in bed, and gave me my pressies! I was sad to not be at home for my birthday but Zoe still spoiled me. We were on the bus all day and were heading for an industrial town called Westport. Our driver described it as a place with 5000 inhabitants and only 3 surnames!

Along the way we stopped at a lake called lake Rotiti, a freezing called glacier lake at the foot of a snow capped mountain. It is a famous photo op in New Zealand and in the summer, most people take a dip and jump off the jetty. The boys decided, stupidly, that we wouldnt let the freezing cold water and the strong winds put us off, so we changed in to our boardies, ran to the end of the jetty, had a quick photo, then took the plunge and swam back to shore as quick as possible! It was bloody freezing! But brilliant fun nonetheless.

On the evening of my birthday we treated ourselves to spaghetti on toast and a bottle of wine! Life really doesn't get any better!
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Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

Our next stop was Rotorua, the geothermal capital of New Zealand. It is a lovely place but smells so bad! It is a volcanic area and this causes hot water pools to bubble out of the ground releasing a stinky sulphur smell. Our hostel had it's own hot pools, one of which stank so bad - it was rotten and made m,e feel ill :( There was a beautiful park nearby which looked quite eerie with autumnal trees and steam rising from the ground. We walked around the park and saw the water and mud bubbling, it was lovely and warm!

Our first evening in Rotorua we went to a traditional Maori (pronounced 'Mauldy') evening of entertainment and food. We were greeted byt he Maori tribe who were dressed in traditionally made clothes and had various parts of their body tattooed with patterns. They performed a Haka (like the All Blacks do before evry rugby match) which was quite intense and fascinating to watch. We then walked aorund the village they had built to demonstrate how they used to live. We had a huge traditionally cooked feast afterwards of meats and fish cooked in the ground. It was so delicious!!

We went Luging, where you zoom down a winding track in a small (and very simple) go kart type thing (see photo's!) it was great fun although you had to get a gondala back up the mountain to the top and we froze as it took about 10 mintues to get there!!
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