TravelStream™ news feed for member michelleab on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/michelleab en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:21:57 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1234576980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1234576980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1234576980/tpod.html Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:21:57 -0500 The Next Big Trip.

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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

So, I haven't posted on here in quite a while - it's not that I've been not travelling and enjoying myself (quite the opposite in fact), I've just been too busy enjoying life and working hard to provide the money to pay for it!Currently I'm living in Melbourne, Victoria. You've probably heard of Victoria by now for the worst possible reason - the terrible bushfires that have claimed so many lives, homes and communities.I live and work in Central Melbourne, and luckily so far the bushfires and at a distance - both physically and in terms of their impact on colleagues and friends. It only really hit me the other day when a few people contacted me to check I was OK. Like most travellers, I don't keep in contact enough sometimes. Yesterday, Friday, the fires felt closer as the sky was hazy with smoke and both sunset and sunrise were blood orange due to this. Today, the smoke is worse and you can definitely smell it in the air.As I'm working at a large newspaper at the moment, I spend most of my days hearing the latest bushfire news. I started to think of ways to help. My hostel is collecting clothes, but apparently the relief centres are overwhelmed. Unfortunately I'm unable to donate blood because of the risk of vCJD (aka Mad Cow Disease). Cash - great. You can donate here. Or buy the famous picture of Sam the koala (adorable!) here. Proceeds go to the bushfire victims.Traveller's live in a dreamworld a lot of the time - we leave home to stop listening to the news and escape everyday life in the main. As such, we're sometimes unaware of world events until too late. We can (hopefully) rely on our embassies and the kindness of locals to take care of us, but should probably assume more personal responsibility. Despite the warning ads I've seen on TV, I don't have a fire plan. New Zealand authorities warn people to have evacuation plans and provisions in place in case of a volcano eruption or earthquake. I had neither in the entire time I was there. NZ and Australia seem very safe countries. But the risk of natural disaster is there - the floods in Queensland, the bushfires, and NZ is on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Auckland is built on volcanoes - not all extinct. The likelihood of being caught up in a disaster is probably slim, but we should always, at the very least, keep our eyes and ears open.PS It's a great idea to donate blood in general, I do when I'm allowed - in the UK contact here.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1212389940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1212389940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1212389940/tpod.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:32:06 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, Australia

Having made the decision to leave Sydney and head to Brisbane for the winter, I looked for a ride. It wasn't too difficult, a couple of texts later and I had met Manuel, a German guy with a 4WD who was headed to Byron Bay and happy to share petrol costs.  A few days later, early on a Sunday morning, I checked out of Glebe and headed with all my (heavy) luggage to Central Station, our meeting point. Some confusion as I didn't know the station too well, before finally spotting Manuel and my ride. Another German guy, Freddie, had already arrived; we were waiting for one other. And waiting. And waiting.  It turned out Matthias had a big night the night before, and was running a little late and hungover. Finally hitting the road about an hour later than planned, we sped across the Harbour Bridge (my first time crossing it) and were soon crawling through the northern suburbs. Some dodgy U-turns and a petrol station stop later, and the view had flattened out into unending motorway with bush on either side. Luckily Manuel had cruise control, because this was a long, straight drive.  The smoothness of the drive and the uninteresting view combined to make good nap times. I felt bad for Manuel as I was sitting in the front seat and so should have fulfilled some entertainment duties, but he didn't seem to mind. The guys in the back were also sleeping off hangovers, so I didn't feel so bad. The atmosphere was not one of roadtrip fun for some reason, the guys all seemed quite reserved. It rained intermittently and time passed until mid-afternoon we all agreed on hunger and found a town to pull in to for some food.  The town was Taree. It reminded me somewhat of Timaru, NZ. To be fair it was a Sunday afternoon, but there was a paucity of options that led to me and Manuel getting Domino's pizza. Whilst the view by the river was quite nice, I would definitely hesitate to recommend a visit.  Hitting the road again, we eventually managed to find our way back to the highway and continued on our way to Coffs Harbour. The afternoon passed fairly uneventfully, daydreaming and listening to music, until, approximately 100k's from Coffs, I was woken by a minor commotion in the car. "What was that?" Freddie stuck his head out of the back window. "The tyre's blown." Oh no. It was a busy road and we just about managed to pull over on to the narrow shoulder. Manuel backed up a ways so we had more room to change the tyre. We all jumped out and stood looking at it for a while.  Me: "Hmmm. I have no idea how to change a tyre."Manuel: "Shit. I only got this car the other day." Soon the boys got to work though, jacking up the car and changing the massive wheel for the spare. I was glad to be in a car with all guys as nobody stopped to help and I wouldn't have had much of a clue how to change it myself! Within about half an hour I had supervised them putting the new tyre on and we hit the road again. Manuel drove carefully and we arrived in Coffs Harbour just after nightfall.  Checking in to the hostel, a little one storey place next to a handy petrol station, we headed straight back out to check out the beach and grab some food. Because it was dark, we didn't get too much of view from the pier, and after leaving Freddie to go for a run and head to bed early, the rest of us started the long walk into town to look for food. The hostel receptionist had told us it was about a 10 minute walk but had apparently lied. It seemed like it took forever, but eventually we hit the shops and started looking for something that was open. There was a pub which apparently our fellow guests were at... but the kitchen had just closed. A fish and chip place closed as we walked up to it. Another fast food place did the same. Fear of starvation drove us into a kebab place where we had massive wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce... mmm... It was the perfect preparation for a few beers, which we drank local-style, sitting at the bar. The free shuttle the hostel had told us about had already left, so after a couple of drinks we moseyed back home and had an early one. Another long day of driving tomorrow - we were only about halfway to Byron Bay.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211336880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211336880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211336880/tpod.html Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:13:30 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Australia, Australia. Or 'Stralia, as the Aussies say. Having not left New Zealand in over nineteen months, I was excited to finally be in a new country (well, not that new - I've been here before), albeit a close neighbour. I was excited to go to the airport, excited to fly, and excited to arrive, especially with the amazing views of the harbour and the sunset we had on the approach to the airport. Contrary to the hassle I'd got coming to Perth, immigration in Sydney was a breeze. I got the stamp, picked up a working holiday visa label and chucked my bags on a trolley all within the space of about half an hour. Impressive.Waiting for the shuttle to my hostel, I breathed in the new air and felt the surroundings. It was hard to believe I was somewhere completely new for a change. After a while everywhere in New Zealand starts to feel the same, no matter how beautiful. The drive to my hostel in Glebe was typically crazy Australasian driver style. I was pretty tired from getting up at the equivalent of 5.30am Aussie time, so after check in I pretty much crashed straight away. I had a busy few days ahead of new country errands....
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197700680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197700680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197700680/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:38:00 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Fox Glacier, New Zealand

I was up early for a Sunday, and me, Edward and Brid took to the road and headed half an hour further south to Fox Glacier.  On arrival we headed to the glacier itself and walked to the terminal face, an hour long return trip.  For much of the way you are not allowed to stop as rockslides are a danger at all times!  Looking up at one point we could see a huge boulder precariously dangled in the middle of a waterfall which seemed ready to fall at any second - needless to say we hastened past this point.   Getting close to the terminal face, I was surprised to find the glacier wasn't fitting my expectations - although to be fair my expectations of glaciers come from the mint - Fox's Glacier Mints (delicious!).   I thought it would be big and white and icy, but the face was actually all greys and blacks, rocky and moody.  There wasn't much of the bright blue and white ice you normally associate with glaciers.  It was pretty awesome though - really massive and advancing!  I felt like if we sat there long enough we would see something move.  And we did, kind of - some rocks falling! Back in the township, we checked out the guiding companies and decided to sign up for the 'Fox Trot' - a four hour walk, including an hour on the glacier with Fox Glacier Guiding.  We were going to be on the last trip of the day, leaving at 2.45pm, so I was hopeful that the beautiful day we were having would diminish somewhat so I wouldn't get too sweaty on the hike!  I was delighted to find the Fox Guides were selling Fox's Glacier Mints and bought some - it was for charity after all.  Apparently the walk required moderate fitness, of which I was doubtful that I possessed.   Showing up on time, we were equipped with some ridiculously heavy boots and ugly socks, which kind've ruined my outfit but I was assured they were essential.  Introduced to our guide, who I privately immediately nicknamed 'Hot Guide Luke' he mentioned something about heights, which made me wary.  Climbing a ladder, which also made me nervous.  "It's OK, you can stick with me", said Hot Guide Luke.  I felt better.  We hopped on the bus, a retro one with a name, and after a few false starts (the driver was new and apparently didn't know how to drive the bus properly) we were headed to the glacier car park.  In our group were a few Israeli's, a couple of randoms and a Kiwi family that included four kids.  All of which turned out fitter than me, and at times made me extremely nervous and homicidal due to pushing past me at dangerous spots and not holding on to the safety rails.   The hike up to the glacier was fairly hard going - we started off on the track which we had followed earlier to the terminal face, but soon branched off and started climbing.  We climbed consistently for an hour, stopping occasionally to catch our breath and receive instructions from Luke which sometimes included 'OK, this bit is dangerous, so move quickly and if I tell you to run, RUN!'.  Our first great view of the glacier was about halfway into the hike, where we stopped at a clearing with a panoramic view of the side of the glacier.  Viewing it from above, our vantage point on the side of a cliff meant we could see the texture of the glacier and all its colours - its kind've like a whipped meringue sprinkled in dirt.   Continuing on, we knew we were nearly at the ice when the temperature suddenly dropped and a cool breeze started.  This Luke described as 'natural air conditioning' and was very welcome after the sweatiness of the hike so far.  The final part of the hike was downhill, followed by some steep stairs, before we finally stepped on to the glacier itself.  It was pretty amazing stepping from hard earth onto ice, something like being in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  A kind of other-worldy experience.   After a slippery start we stopped to put on our crampons, adding to the glamour of our outfits.  I also had an alpenstock for that true hiking on ice feeling.  From there we headed off towards the centre of the glacier, occasionally climbing steps cut into the ice, sometimes descending steps cut into the ice, sometimes walking along narrow strips of ice surrounded by high walls of it.  Although most of my concentration was on where I was putting my feet - Luke had warned us of the dangers of walking on the ice, including the instruction to walk flat footed, with feet hip distance apart at all times - the chilliness of being in such close proximity to so much ice made me look up and appreciate the surroundings.  In contrast to my idea of the glacier being pristine clear white, it was multi-coloured: sometimes white like packed fresh snow, sometimes grey from the dirt, and sometimes a luminescent blue, a blue which I have never seen before.  Blue and white swirls and we were lost in the ice, it was such a different world.  It was incredible and the group spoke in hushed voices.  Although we didn't get into any ice caves (apparently you need to do the helicopter trip to further up the glacier for that), the ice was pretty amazing. It also tasted pretty good, despite the fact it's fifty years old!We stopped for a while on a flat patch in the middle of the glacier, which had a sweeping view all the way down the valley and up, to the neve.  Luke warned us not to step further than the boundaries of our little platform, as we could inadvertently fall down a crevasse!  The glacier is one of the few in the world to be advancing, and one of only 3 glaciers in the world to be in rainforest, along with one in Argentina.   I stepped back off the ice with sadness -  I could have spent hours on there, touching and being surrounded by this living glacier.  I was also sad that it would take another hour or so to get back to the bus and along the way there would be scary sections where I would have to try not to freak out about the head spinningly insane drops and the heights we were climbing.   It turned out to be OK though - I just didn't look.  Climbing down the ladder was fine, and Luke distracted me from the precarious drops by chatting to me.  I was actually surprised at how fine I felt, after all I can stand on a stepladder and experience vertigo.  I guess it was more like how I feel when I'm at the top of a tall building - I've stood at the top of the World Trade Centre, Space Needle, Skytower and felt all fine until I looked down that is.  Part way down we stopped at some mini-waterfalls as we had done on the way up and people filled up water bottles.  The water was refreshingly cold and I patted my sweaty face with it.  The walk back down seemed so much quicker and easier than the way up - mostly because it was going down I guess.  Also it had cooled down a lot. The day was rounded off nicely when the guide company gave us each a certificate of achievement - yay! At the end, I was glad to know that despite not really doing much exercise at all, I have moderate fitness, as graded by alpine experts!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1200662280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1200662280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1200662280/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:05:04 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand

I've lived in Christchurch a few months now, and my fair and reasoned assessment is it's a bit rubbish.  It's touted as very English, to which my comeback is always "the only city in England with a grid system is Milton Keynes, and everyone back home mocks Milton Keynes".  It has a cathedral, a river named Avon that you can go punting on, and a bunch of gardens, all of which apparently make it 'English'.  All of which features I'm sure you can find in many other cities around the world.  If you're looking for a 'British' experience in NZ (and I'm not sure why you would be), I think you'd be better off in Dunedin.   Despite this, I do have a couple of favourite places here.  One is New Brighton, a beachside suburb that I first went to on the recommendation of a friend who had told me about the great library and pier.  The library is indeed fantastic - glass and steel with a huge sea-facing front and big comfy chairs to read and check out the views.  The pier is also pretty cool, jutting out into the sea, from the end you have great views each way down the coast.   My other favourite place is a store I discovered by chance one day when I was looking around the Arts Centre.  Despite its ugly name, the jewellery Beadz Unlimited sell is absolutely beautiful.  They have some stunning pieces made from antique glass and sterling silver, as well as modern pieces and jewellery made from NZ materials like paua.  You can also buy beads individually to make your own jewellery.  Unfortunately I cannot afford any of the things they sell, but it is all amazing.   Mostly all I've done in Christchurch is work.  I managed to score my own house right in the city centre for very cheap (possibly because of the mice?) which made my commute to work very quick (currently just under 10 minutes walk).  I first temped at Christchurch City Council - an assignment which was supposed to last 3 weeks and ended up being 8.  I was hired to help out with the local body elections, which sounds a lot more interesting than it was.  Mostly I just typed up documents (including the official results for the announcement in the paper).  The people I worked with were very nice though, giving me a couple of movie tickets for my "hard work" as well as taking me out for morning tea on my last day.   My next assignment was at The Press, the big South Island newspaper.  Filling in for variously the editorial manager, a features assistant and in the newsroom, I've got to see how the paper works from the inside, and its much less interesting than you'd think!  I was in the newsroom when the news of Sir Edmund Hillary's death came through though, which was quite exciting.   To fill up my spare time, I got completely addicted to genius of The West Wing, as well as taking some classes: in Te Reo Maori (the Maori language), swing dancing, and pilates. Swing dancing I learned with Hepcat Swing, a local dance company.  I wanted to learn one of the individual dances but this clashed with the Maori class, so I took up Lindyhop instead.  This turned out to be a lot of fun, with classes starting with a freestyle dance warm-up where we did random moves we made up for each other.  By the end of the five weeks I had learned how to Charleston, do the mess around, and be led by my partner (very difficult since I'm used to doing my own thing!).  The great thing about the class was we switched partners all the time so people who weren't in couples always had someone to dance with.   The Maori class was also a lot of fun.  I originally signed up to do a class that was more about Maori culture (tikanga) than language, but that didn't run as there were too few participants, so bugged our teacher for cultural information instead.  In the eight weeks of the course, we learned basic sentences, waiata (songs, including one about Tangaroa, god of the sea, to the tune of the kids nursery rhyme 'Old McDonald'), and about the structure of the language - for example, literally translated 'ko Michelle toku ingoa' is more like 'Michelle my name is' than 'my name is Michelle'.  Hence Aotearoa (NZ's Maori name) is 'cloud white long' rather than 'long white cloud'.  In addition, each of us constructed a mihi, a short speech about ourselves that would be useful if ever invited on to a marae.  From this it was interesting to see the hierarchy of importance in Maori tikanga - their mountain, iwi (tribe), parents, grandparents, etc. all come before themselves.  Maori would also have lines for their waka (canoe), rangatira (chief) and marae which obviously I don't have. So my mihi looks something like this: Ko Maungawhau te maunga (Maungawhau (Mount Eden) is my mountain)Ko Thames te awa (Thames is my river)Ko Ingarihi te iwi (The English are my people)Ko Jim Bond toku matua (Jim is my father)Ko Teresa Buse toku whenua (Teresa is my mother)Ko Michelle toku ingoa (My name is Michelle)Ko Emma toku (Emma is my older sister)Ko Andrew toku tangane (Andrew is my brother)Ko Laura toku tane (Laura is my sister)No Ingarangi au (I am English) A mihi is a way of making connections at an event on a marae, so for example, someone with English heritage might chat to me later about where in England I'm from, etc.   During my Christchurch stay I also discovered I have become one of the many, many drivers who are completely intolerant of public transport.  For a couple of weeks before getting my Kiwi drivers licence, I wasn't allowed to drive and so took the bus everywhere.  It was intensely frustrating.  From having to wait 20 minutes for a bus to get home from the supermarket (my ice cream melted!) to the nearest bus to my pilates class at QEII (a major leisure centre in Christchurch) dropping me off half a mile away, I wasn't impressed in the slightest.  It did feel good that I was being more eco-friendly, but damn was it inconvenient.  I am, however, still one up on Kiwi drivers, as I always let out buses from stops if they are indicating, which other people never seem to do.  Kiwis are incredibly impatient drivers and this is reflected in the number of deaths of the roads.  Not only do they allow 15 year olds to drive, there's danger from tourists who are unused to driving on the left, cyclists who ride two or three abreast (is there anything more frustrating?) and the confusing 'give way to the right' rule which has caught me out a few times at intersections.  I am pleased to announce that I got 35/36 questions correct on my theory test however, proving that in road knowledge at least, I am a competent driver.   So, in all, I'm not sad to leave Christchurch.  Sure, working for a newspaper has been a nice change of pace from the usual deathly dull temping assignments, and it'll be good to have 'Editorial Assistant' on my cv, but any longer working and living in Christchurch and I would be completely dulled. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197614580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197614580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1197614580/tpod.html Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:18:53 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Back to work
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250060/tpod.html Tue, 27 May 2008 21:49:19 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Hamilton, North Island, New Zealand

Rising early from my super comfy bed in New Plymouth, I hit the road by 8am, heading down the coast a little to check out the 'famous' Surf Highway 45. Stopping in a little town by the beach, there were no surfers out. Gutted. Instead, I headed inland, round the mighty Mount Taranaki, to the little town of Stratford.Detouring, I headed into Egmont National Park to get a closer view of Taranaki. Egmont is the English name for Taranaki by the way, somewhat confusing! Driving crazily round some steep and curvy roads as I wanted to be in Stratford for ten, I eventually got to a decent viewpoint and had my pic taken with Taranaki. The Maori legend is as follows: "....Mt Taranaki once lived with the other mountains of the central North Island - Mt Tongariro, Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe. Unfortunately, Taranaki fell in love with a pretty hill called Pihanga - who happened to be the wife of Tongariro.After a fiery battle with Tongariro which he lost, the tall and handsome Taranaki, like many a young man, headed west. His falling tears at being banished are said to have created the Wanganui River as he gouged a path to the western coast of the North Island.Here he stopped, and his falling tears as he looks back at Tongariro and his lost love Pihanga, are said to create the myriad of streams and rivers that flow from his near symmetrical slopes."(Source)Maori have some beautiful legends for how natural wonders were created - I'll have to put up my Fox Glacier entry soon as that is probably my favourite legend.Heading in to Stratford, I was a bit gutted to just miss the glockenspiel clock, what sounded like an awesomely kitsch attraction - at certain times the town clock had wooden figures come out and perform Romeo and Juliet. Genius in theory, sadly missed it. Refilling Manfred, I headed out of town to the Forgotten World Highway, route north and passing through Whangamomona, a micro-nation who declared independence from New Zealand in 1989. I was intruiged to see this little town, and was somewhat disappointed to find it was really small and pretty much deserted. I did stop and have a drink at the Whangamomona Hotel though, and bought myself a passport, thus becoming an official citizen of the Republic of Whangamoma. Could well come in useful in the future methinks!Driving on, the Forgotten World Highway was truly beautiful and very forgotten. They'd even forgotten to seal a 12km section of it. Some of the road passed through jungle-esque land by rivers, other times it was rolling countryside and sheep. At one point at the top of a hill, I stopped and could see all the way to Ruapehu and Tongariro, still many kilometres distant. Trying to pack as much in as possible, when the highway finished I headed to National Park, quickly followed by Whakapapa Village, inside the Tongariro National Park. It's something of a ritual for travellers to do the Tongariro Crossing, and I know many people who have done it, but eight hours of hiking doesn't really appeal to me, so this was the closest I was going to get. It was pretty impressive, with some snow on the mountains already, but sadly despite being at 'Alert Level 1' constantly, Ruapehu didn't have a minor eruption to cap off my New Zealand trip. I was pretty pleased to have got there though, and heading back round Lake Taupo to stop in the Tron for my last night, I was happy to know that I had pretty much covered New Zealand from top to bottom, east to west, in my time there. There's very few things I didn't see or do - perhaps I should write an encyclopaedia!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250360/tpod.html Wed, 21 May 2008 22:27:32 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Whakapapa Village, North Island, New Zealand

Ruapehu, Ngaruhoe
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250240/tpod.html Wed, 21 May 2008 22:25:15 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Whangamomona, New Zealand

New citizenship!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/michelleab/newzealand-2006/1211250180/tpod.html Wed, 21 May 2008 22:24:27 -0400 The Next Big Trip.

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Stratford, North Island, New Zealand

Glockenspiel Romeo and Juliet clock
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