TravelStream™ news feed for member pashbee on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pashbee en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:30:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pashbee/2/1234995960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pashbee/2/1234995960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pashbee/2/1234995960/tpod.html Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:30:35 -0400 World traveller 2008

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Los Angeles, California, United States

Sara, Margaret and I make our way to the hostel in a taxi and end up getting drop off at the address, but not a the hostel. We walk around for a while and finally manage to find the hostel and get into our room. We are tired, but we head out for dinner and then back to the hostel and into bed! Early day tomorrow on the LA tour.
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Hawaii, United States

Landed early in the morning and decided to catch a cab to the hostel. Sara and Margaret arrive this afternoon, so i have the morning to myself. The taxi drops me in the wrong place, but luckily when asking for an internet cafe to get the hostel's details, i am directed to the hostel itself.
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Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

I wake up late today - i had the whole dorm to myself last night and it is great not to be woken by plastic bags rattling!
I walk around Rotorua for a while, looking at all the thermal activity. The town really smells and i am really not in the mood for sightseeing, so i head to the cinema instead and watch Bride Wars!

I am booked on a tour to a Maori village this evening, and the bus picks me up at 5.45. The ceremony starts with the warrors rowing up the stream and then running up to the meeting place. we are all seated in the meeting place and the warrors and wifes dance and sing a welcome song for us and we then sing a song back!!
The ceremony is great and mostly done in Maori, but then translated and explained. The hosts have a good sense of humour and soon everyone is laughing and trying out the hand gesures and face pulling!!

After the ceremony we have a buffet of the food we saw being cooked earlier under ground. The lamb and sweet potatos are amazing and i am glad i didn't have lunch so i could eat as much as i wanted!

After the buffet we are taken for a bush walk through the next door park called Rainbow Springs. They have lots of animals there including Kiwis. We get to see 2 Kiwi's, but couldn't take photos as it was too dark and we were not allowed to use our flashes! The walk was beautifully lit and magical!
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Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Landed into Melbourne this morning and had to catch a transfer bus and 3 trams before i get to the hostel!! The bed isn't ready when i get there so i watch TV for a while and then crawl into bed when i am allowed!! The others in the room are all still in bed so i am able to sleep easily.

when the others wake up i hear them talking about the neighbours night that night and i butt into the converstation. we all agree to go together, so i won't have to stand there on my own.
When i finally get out of bed and back down to the TV lounge, the guys (from my room) have decided to cook dinner and i am invited! Whoopee i don't have to cook!
We are having Chilli and as i sit down there are 2 other guys joining us, so there are the 3 guys from my room and the 2 steves!! We all walk down to the Neighbours night together, and i buy the official book so i can get it signed by the actors.
The night is great fun and i get to meet, Elle Robinson, Paul Robinson, Dan Fitzgerald and Steve Parker. We end up leaving the pub at kicking out time and Steve and I stay up talking at the hostel bar well into the early hours of the morning!

I go on the Neighbours tour the next day, feeling slightly worse for wear, but soon recovering as we see the street and meet Janelle!!
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

I fly into Sydney this morning, early and am met by the hostel's airport transfer bus. It takes about an hour to get to the hostel, but i get a good look at Sydney, it is beautifull!
When i wake up, i am once again covered with bites; Sandflies are in my bed again, i hate them!!!
I decide to do the hop-on hop-off bus today, stopping at Queens archade and the Chinese district for some Christmas Shopping!




The decorations here are terrible, just some flags on poles. no lights nothing! I am missing my normal Christmas preparations and earrings!
Towards the end of the day i hop off the bus to see the opera theatre and findout that Rolf Harris is on tour there tonight!! I have to go, it is Rolf Harris at the Sydney Opera House!! Got to be done! So i ask about tickets. They are sold out, but i am told that if i hang arround the box office an hour before start time i might get so returns! So i put on the gorgeous dress i have just bought, have dinner over looking the harbour bridge and wait for Rolf!


I am the first one through the doors when the box office opens and they promise i am first in line for tickets!
5mins before showtime and i am given a reduced cost ticket 4 rows from the front, right in the middle!!
The show is amazing, he does all the old classics and talks us through his career. I am so happy i hung around!

The next day i go to the blue mountains, it is extremely windy, so we can't spend too long at the lookouts, but the tour is good and the views are amazing!
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Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

We are back in Nelson, but staying at a new hostel, which is more personal than the YHA. Adi and I have a twin room, but it is a double with a single bed! I bagsy the double bed, and dump my stuff!!! We book a massage straight away and then take over the TV lounge! We are doing nothing tomorrow apart from the massage, and i sleep in til 11.30!! So happy! The massage is amazing and i can actually go up and down stairs afterwards, my calfs are still pulling slightly, but i am not in pain anymore!
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Franz Josef, South Island, New Zealand

We have booked onto a full day glacier trek today, that i really don't want to do. I feel like i am dying and i can't breath! Adi tells me that breathing is not as essential as i have been lead to believe and that i will be okay when i get there! She is right, as soon as we get on the ice i feel fine. I am in the front of the group and keep the guide talking the whole time!! It is beautifull up here and even though we are climbing up and down all the time, we have to stop so the guide can cut steps etc, so it is not tiring. It is raining and we all look like drown rats, but when we are walking you don't notice it so much.
Just after lunch Adi starts complaining about her crampon, and we try to tighten it, but it still looks a bit lose. About half an hour later, as we have stopped to cut more steps, Adi's crampon suddenly comes apart in her hands and she is left with only her shoe on the ice!! It is so funny when she trys to stand up and she slips forward!!! After i straighten up and finish laughing, i go and get the guide who luckly has a spare part for the campon and we are back in action!!! It is a long day with 6 hours on the ice, plus 2km's walk to the glacier and back, but it is really really worth it!! So amazing!
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Abel Tasman National Park, South Island, New Zealand

Oh my god, today we start the 1st day of a 3 day trek along the Abel Tasman trail. We are camping along the way and carrying all our stuff including the tent. My bag is so heavy, i have no idea how i am going to do this!

Today is the worse day as we have to walk 20 Km's in 6 hours and it is all up and down hill, but the views are amazing.
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Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand

As i get on the bus to Queenstown today i realise that i don't actually know how long the bus journey is!! I ask the driver and find out it is 6 hours, i didn't think New Zealand was that big!
Adi meets me off the bus with a can of Diet coke. I knew we would get on really well!

Adi has booked us into a hostel so we dump our stuff and sit on the floor talking for hours. There has been so much to catch up on!
We decide that we are going out that night, Adi loves the night life here, but before that we have to go and have a Ferg burger. These are the best burgers in New Zealand apparently. Am they are gorgeous - everyone should try them when in Queenstown!
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Nelson, South Island, New Zealand

We leave Wanaka and head towards Nelson, on the way we see a sign for The Buller Gorge Swingbridge and decide to stop and take a look.
This is the longest swingbridge in New Zealand so we decide to cross. On the otherside you can come back across the gorge on a foxline. Adi and i decide to do this tandem and are quickly strapped in. Adi is really scared, but i feel safe strapped into this sitting harness and am looking forward to it. The ride is pretty lame and i even take my hands off the harness and try to swing the seats faster, but hey it was worth doing. I hope that the bungy is going to be this non-scary, but i am sure it is going to terrify me!

We arrive into Nelson and find ourselves at the Nelson YHA for the night, why we try to decide what to do.
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