TravelStream™ news feed for member rodenandrew on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/rodenandrew en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:19:55 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207947120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207947120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207947120/tpod.html Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:19:55 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Auckland, New Zealand

Right well it's almost time to come home.  I've had an absolutely wicked time, and will definitely be coming back to Australia and New Zealand.  I've still been quite busy in the last few days doing a last bit of sightseeing round Auckland and meeting up with a couple of old faces.  On Wednesday I met up for lunch with Jenny Williams who I hadn't seen since school, she lives in Auckland now and has been over here for a few years, so it was pretty cool to catch up with her and I filled her in on what people are upto back at home.  Then later in the day I met back up with Jethro, my mate from uni and we've been hitting a few bars round Auckland on the last couple of nights.As I say, I've also fitted in a bit of sightseeing, on Wednesday I just had a bit of a general wonder around the city and got my bearings before meeting up with Jenny and Jethro, yesterday I got the ferry through the Hauraki Gulf to an island called Waiheke that was really cool.  The ferry took about 35 mins and similarly to the ferries across Sydney harbour, you get some pretty good views of the city from the harbour.  Once on the island I walked around a bit and found the nearest town and chilled on the beach for a bit trying to soak up a few of the last rays of sunshine I'll be seeing for a while!  Today I've been doing a bit of souvenir shopping and have been up to the observation and sky decks of the Auckland Sky Tower which I'm reliably informed is the tallest free-standing structure in the southern hemisphere.  It's about the same height as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the views of the city from up above are really good.  Obviously the fact that it's another clear day here helps.  The weather has been fantastic since I arrived in Auckland on Wednesday although you do get a bit cold in the evening as it is autumn here now.  But the daytime temperatures are still around 21 or 22c which is obviously a damn sight warmer than it is back in the UK.Anyway tonight me and Jethro are gonna splash the last of our New Zealand dollars in some of the bars down by the waterfront and then tomorrow I'll be packing and sleeping.  Tomorrow night we are planning on heading to Eden Park to watch some of the Super 14 Egg Chasing, which I have surprisingly got quite into since I've been over here.  The Egg Chasing here is a lot faster than at home and its a bit more of a running game as opposed to the defensive crap you get at home.  Then after the egg chasing I'll be hitting the sack for a couple of hours before I head to the airport for my flight to Sydney at about 2am.  I then get a few hours in Sydney on Sunday morning before I go back to the airport for my flight home on Sunday afternoon.  I land at Heathrow early on Monday morning and I can't wait!  Luckily my very generous sister is picking me up from the airport and I've asked her to bring my warmest coat with her so I don't get hypothermia on the trip back up the motorway.  Anyway its Emma's 21st on Saturday so happy birthday, I'm sure you will get well and truly smashed and have a wicked time.  I'll shout you a few drinks in the week when I get back.Anyway this is pretty much it for the blog now.  So thanks everyone for dropping by to check up on how I've been getting on and thanks to everyone who has kept in touch by email or on facebook etc.  Also thanks to those like Jim who don't know what a computer is let alone the internet who have sent me text messages and woke me up at ungodly hours in the morning!  I will see you all soon and look forward to catching up with whats been going on at home over a few beers.Until next time then.....THE END!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207687500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207687500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207687500/tpod.html Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:48:12 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Auckland, New Zealand

I've just arrived back in Auckland after a flight of just over an hour this afternoon from Christchurch.  In fact it actually took longer to get from the airport into the city here than it did to fly up from Christchurch.  It appears Auckland has a rush hour!  Anyway I'll try and keep you updated on what I get upto here over the next few days before I begin the long journey home in the early hours of Sunday morning.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207469220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207469220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207469220/tpod.html Sun, 06 Apr 2008 05:04:25 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Queenstown, New Zealand

OK so you're all gonna slag me off and call me whatever you will.  OK I didn't do a bungy jump!  Now there is a word beginning with a p that I'm sure I will be called when I get back into the pub at home but frankly I don't care.  Having watched some of these nutters throw themselves off on the bungy jumps and swings, frankly you could hand me a winning lottery ticket to do it and I still wouldn't.  End of story, no amount of people saying, "Oh you should do it, it's really good" or "Oh mate you can't come to Queenstown and not do a bungy", would ever make me do it.  And the fact that you have to pay them in excess of 100 quid for some of them to do it is frankly stupid.  Why in my right mind would I pay someone a ridiculously large sum of money to be scared shitless.  The only reason I could think of doing it would be to gain some stupid adventurous bragging rights in the pub when I get home but then I thought na, it still aint worth it.  And so I'll let Browny keep the title of the only one of my mates to do a bungy.  But as I told you mate, your pansy one off Blackpool pier aint a patch on the ones in Queenstown.  Anyway so what have I been upto.  Well very little to be brutally honest.  I'm a bit travel weary now and am well geared up for home to be honest - never thought I'd be saying that.  On Friday it was raining so I did a bit of indoor mini golf with a kid called Adam who I'd met in Christchurch earlier in the week.  I killed him, absolutely obliterated him by about 20 shots!  Dicky, be scared mate my puttings getting better just in time for a return to a golf course near you as soon as the stupid climate at home remembers that its supposed to be spring there.  Mind you putting aint no good when I'm likely to fluff every tee shot into the nearest batch of stinging nettles, but still I saw an improvement in my putting skill amongst the electric model windmills, ski lifts and roller coasters on the Queenstown Indoor course!  After that I celebrated my excellent performance by getting mind-numbingly drunk in a club and staggering home at 2am feeling rather ill.  Saturday therefore became a wash out, though not because of the weather this time, rather my upset stomach and throbbing headache.  I even went to the supermarket to try and find some of the hangover remedies that Browny brought to Magaluf a couple of years ago but couldn't remember what they were called and couldn't even find any paracetamol.  Although in the late afternoon I did summon enough strength to get on the cable car up the cliff face that overlooks Queenstown.  Now the Skyline complex at the top of the cliff face is home to the best view I've seen in New Zealand and that is no mean feat.  You can see Lake Wakatipu, the town and the mountain range called the Remarkables behind the lake.  And yes the mountains are pretty remarkable as you will see from the photos.  So I had a mill around at the top for a bit and watched the AJ Hackett bungy jump, this was where I definitely decided I wouldn't be jumping ever!  Today I got an extra hour in bed as the clocks went back 1 hour in New Zealand for the winter.  I'm now only 11 hours ahead of you back in the UK.  This afternoon I went back up the cliff, only this time I had sufficient energy to take the scenic track upto the top.  If only someone had told me how steep the track was, I was absolutely nackered by the time I reached the top an hour after leaving my hostel.  Today though rather than merely looking at the view I decided to actually do something.  So I had a go on the luge which is a kind of cross between go-karting and toboganing.  You go down one of two tracks on what I can only describe as a tobogan on wheels.  I mastered it fairly quickly and after 5 goes I am pretty sure I'm the fastest person ever to have gone down the advanced course.  Well maybe today anyway!  Or that hour!  Anyway I was bloody quick.  So quick in fact that at several times when I took corners, I was convinced I was gonna fall off as my mate Adam had done a few days before which resulted in him getting some pretty nasty cuts and grazes.  But I didn't fall off and to be honest the luge was pretty entertaining.So tonight I'm having an early one as due to the ineptitude of New Zealand's national coach services my bus to Christchurch leaves at 8am in the morning not to arrive until 5:45pm.  So I'm in for a good day tomorrow!!!  Well at least it aint snowing I suppose.  I'm just currently praying that the Andy McNabb book that I've been lent is interesting otherwise the journey could prove to be pretty unbearable.  Anyway so on Tuesday I am flying back upto Auckland where the weather is looking a damn sight warmer than it has been down here on the South Island.  I may even get a last opportunity to top up the already fading sun tan.  While In Auckland I'm hoping to meet up with a girl who I went to school with who emigrated out here a few years ago, so hopefully she'll be able to point me in the right direction of what there is to do in Auckland.  Other than that I'm planning a bit of sightseeing, souvenir shopping and a bit of relaxation before I commence the 35 hour trip home via Sydney in the early hours of next Sunday morning.Right well I'm now pissed off cos It's just taken absolutely ages for my photos to upload so I'm off to Fergburger, the finest burger joint in the southern hemisphere for dinner, then I'm gonna phone my mother, then I'm going to bed.Have fun making snowmen. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207169520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207169520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1207169520/tpod.html Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:45:34 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Dunedin, New Zealand

Well from a very English city to a quite Scottish city.  This morning I got up bright and early and got the coach for the 6 hour journey down to Dunedin.  Dunedin - I'm reliably informed by Lonely Planet - is Celtic for Edinburgh.  It is the second biggest "city" in the south island as was created by some Scottish presbyterian minister.  I hope you're enjoying the history lesson.  Anyway as I'm only here for this afternoon and tonight, I've had a good walk round and as I'm finding with quite a lot of places in New Zealand, I think I've seen everything in an hour's stroll round.  Sydney, these places aint!  But still its a nice enough place with some quaint old buildings and churches, check out the photos when I get a chance to put them on.  The weather has also improved a bit today but as can be expected the furher south I go the colder it gets.  I'd guess its about 17-18c this afternoon but this feels cold compared to what I've been used to over the last couple of months.  I hear your sympathy from the other side of the world!  Well maybe not.  Anyway it all fits in with this theme of preparing myself for home.  In fact last night in Christchurch it absolutely pissed it down for about an hour but conveniently stopped just as I'd decided to leave the pub and head to bed.  This was only about the third or fourth time I'd seen rain in my 4-5 weeks in New Zealand!  So Mum, you see I didn't need a raincoat and I still haven't got one!  Oh back to Dunedin, Dunedin is the home of Cadbury's for New Zealand and Australia and the smell as you walk past the factory is a bit of a toned down version of the stickly stench you get as you drive through Bournville.  Other than that Dunedin is also home to Speight's Brewery - a brewery fact just for my Dad!  Unfortunately though as my coach was delayed this morning I was too late to partake in a tour of the brewery which I'm told would have included free sampling!  Wounded!  Oh well I'm sure I will still enjoy several pints of Speights later on this evening.  Anyway tomorrow I am off to Queenstown where I will be spending 4 nights, checking out all the crazy stuff that goes on there.  Do not pester me about bungee jumps or sky dives because there is absolutely no chance of me ever doing anything as stupid as that.  And yes Browny you did do a Bungee Jump and we all saw it, but it was a piddly little crap thing off Blackpool pier not one that dangles you 100 metres into a great big massive canyon!  Although you would never have caught me doing the one off Blackpool pier either!  Anyway, on Monday I will be heading back to Christchurch, because on Tuesday I fly from Christchurch up to Auckland where I will be spending the last few days of the trip.  Then a week on Sunday morning, I fly to Sydney where I spend 9 hours and will try and head into the city for a bit, before I get my flight back to London at half 4 in the afternoon.  So I've still got lots of time of planes and buses left yet!And yes Dad I know I still haven't put the Picton ferry crossing pictures on yet, I'll try and do that when I get to Queenstown tomorrow.  Oh and Happy Birthday Dad for tomorrow - I put a card in the post at the weekend so hopefully it'll get there in time.Take care everyone, keep in touch and I will see you all in a couple of weeks.***UPDATE*** - I got on the brewery tour after all at 7pm last night, it was pretty good actually and I had a good half hour sampling session.  6 different beers to try, it was pretty good.  Pics to follow when I get to Queenstown.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206942060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206942060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206942060/tpod.html Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:58:27 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Christchurch, New Zealand

Well as I am heading back home a week on Sunday, It seems quite appropriate that I have found my way to Christchurch.  Christchurch is the most English of New Zealand's cities as the local tourist board likes to tell everyone.  As you'll see from the photos the buildings are very English in appearance, the street names are also all names of English towns or cities and they've even got an Avon River!  Anyway I got here yesterday afternoon from Kaikoura where I did the whale watching and met some pretty cool people in the hostel and headed out on the town.  I was glad to speak to Helen on the phone last night and I think I also spoke to Dec and Browny but you'll have to forgive me as I was slightly pissed at the time.  It was 1am here after all.  I was very disappointed to hear that the Ozzy Powered lads lost their big top of the table clash against Longbridge.  Anyway today I've been wandering around, checking out the sights.  I've been down to the botanical gardens - I'm becoming quite an aficionado of botanical gardens now, they seem to have them everywhere and I seem to have been to all of them, but it suddenly struck me today that we have some in Brum and I've never been.  Maybe I'll visit them when I get home, but then again, maybe I'll think about it and then just go to the pub.  Why change the habit of a lifetime?!  Anyway after the gardens I went to the Canterbury museum - yes another English reference, the state that Christchurch is in is called Canterbury.  This was quite interesting and it appears that Emma's new car may have made it into the museum, see if you can guess which photo I am referring to - answers on a postcard!  I then wondered up to Cathedral Square which actually reminded me a little bit of Brum in the fact that they had a big open space around the cathedral.  But then I remembered that Brum (and the rest of England for that matter) is full of granny-robbing, knife-wielding, hoodie-wearing nobheads who like to say "Breadbin" to each other a lot!!!  And the whole Colmore Row area is plagued by gothic looking 15 year olds who like to sniff glue in the graveyard, or something like that anyway.  Oh I'm looking forward to coming home, it's such a fantastic place!!!  In fact I'm looking forward to coming home so much that I'm trying to prepare myself by going out for a curry in a minute and then I'll be going to the pub for dessert.  The backpacker pub here sells anything at $4 (about 1 pound 70) so its wrong not to get pissed really!See you all very soon - in fact too soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206769920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206769920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206769920/tpod.html Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:03:56 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Kaikoura, New Zealand

Well today I went on a boat and watched sperm whales, dolphins and seals.  Sounds boring??  Well thats what I thought at first but some people I met at the cricket last week had convinced me that I should really pay the $130 (roughly 50 quid) and go on the boat.  OK, so I thought I'd give it a go as it wasn't the kind of thing you would normally catch me doing.  It was awesome from start to finish and I know the pictures will particularly make my sister Emma very jealous as she would have loved it!  But anyway you can't win em all Em as you are probably too busy cruising around the streets of the West Midlands in your swanky new car to care too much at the moment!Anyway I went to the whale watching centre at about midday, which wasn't too far away from the lovely little hostel that I was staying in.  The only trouble was the weather, which was looking quite gloomy for the first time in 3 weeks - so I guess I can't complain too much, after all it is autumn here now!  The only problem was that the sea conditions were apparently deteriorating and they may have to cancel the trip and if they didn't cancel the trip there was a risk that sick bags may have to be used!  Anyway it all turned out to be quite a lot of scare mongering as the sea wasn't too bad and in fact it was actually quite good fun as the catamaran rode some pretty heavy waves.  Now the whale watching centre is really well organised as they run about 10, 3-hour trips a day and they have a plane and a helicopter that help the boat crews spot whales and dolphins in the water.  The buzz of excitement in the crew when they heard from the plane was a bit cheesy though.  But when we got to the whales and dolphins I could understand why they got so excited.  Anyway we found 3 sperm whales, hundreds of dolphins and a colony of seals on the rocks, so it was a successful trip as they said that they cannot always guarantee that you will see anything.  As you can see from the pictures, I got some pretty good ones of the whales diving and of the dolphins jumping.  The dolphins were fantastic, they seem to play up to the fact that the boats are there and they swim right under the boat and jump really close to you.  It was really good to be honest and I was a bit surprised by how much I actually enjoyed the whole thing.  So all in all well worth the 50 quid.  Check out the videos I've attached as you can see my attempts at catching the dolphins jumping - not always successful as you will see!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206683160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206683160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206683160/tpod.html Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:49:33 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Picton, New Zealand

I've attached photos of my trip on the Interislander ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South Island.  Most of the pics are of Queen Charlotte Sound and as I think you'll agree there are some pretty good views.  Luckily the sea wasn't too choppy.  There are also a few pics of Picton where I had about an hour to kill before I got my bus down to Kaikoura to go whale watching.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206581820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206581820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206581820/tpod.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:59:41 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Wellington, New Zealand

Hi everyone.  Just a quick entry to say England obviously won the test series yesterday and therefore there was quite a lot of alcohol consumed last night back up in Napier.  I'm now in Wellington having got up stupidly early this morning to get the 5 hour coach ride back down.  I will be heading over to the South Island on the ferry tomorrow and am then going down to Kaikoura on the coach to hopefully see some whales, dolphins and seals.  I've heard good things about the place so hopefully it'll be good.  I'm then gonna head down to Christchurch for a couple of nights and then across to Queenstown, before I see the glaciers.  Then I'm probably going to fly back up to Auckland where I'll spend a few nights before I come home.  Anyway I've uploaded some pics of my last few days.  Unfortunately I do not have many photos of the aftermath of the cricket as my camera battery died during the presentation!!! :(Oh and just to set the record straight on Napier, so as not to paint a bad picture of the place.  The locals were fantastic yesterday.  Most of the England fans (a few hundred of us anyway) went to the RSA club (their version of the British Legion) after the end of play yesterday, and the locals put out food for us and the head of the club put out an announcement on the speaker thanking us all for our visit.  We even had a chat with the local vicar who said it'd been one of the best weeks he'd ever had in Napier.  The Barmy Army were even making a killing on selling their T-Shirts to the locals!!!  Quite a few of the fans headed off later in the night to celebrate with the players in a bar on the other side of town.  But unfortunately due to the fact that I'd been staying in a town miles away and because we were having too much fun playing Test Match Cricket on the dartboard (I'll teach it you all when I get home, its a great game!) and disco dancing to some pretty shocking tunes from a DJ whose most upbeat tune was Abba!Anyway the cricket tour has been absolutely fantastic and certainly will not be my last one.  I am already seriously considering heading over to the Caribbean next February for a couple of test matches.  The main reason why the tour has been so good really has been the people you meet along the way though.  So here's a mention for the mainstay of our crowd, some of whom are already back home in England.  Adam - hope you had a good time in the states mate, we nearly sold out yesterday but held firm just about in the end, you'll be pleased to know that Jimmy Saville missed the conclusion of play cos he had to catch a bus somewhere!!!  Dave - thank god I never saw your "friend" again in Napier, I hope you are having fun distributing your Istanbul business cards in time for Huddersfield's big game!!  Chris - Hull are doing pretty well still mate you must be well chuffed, I still have your camera memory card and will stick it in the post when I get back - some fine "Well Batteds" were seen in Napier mate you missed out.  Tom - your poor thing missing the rest of the test series to go to the Australian Grand Prix, and fancy having your photo taken with Michael Slater (shocking!!!).  Rupert - we've enjoyed your fleeting visits throughout the series, I bet you had a good time celebrating with the team last night over on the West Quay, photos on Facebook look good anyway.  I particularly liked the fact that when I found you round the other side of the ground on the 1st day in Napier you had strategically positioned yourself next to Pietersen's missus!  Frank - well what can I say, what an absolute legend, the mans been everywhere, seen everything and is a walking Lonely Planet guide.  Keith - I hope you didn't try and sneak a bottle of Pepsi onto the flight home!  Shep and Becks - great meeting you both even if Shep has been wearing a rather offensive shirt for most of the series.  I hope the wedding goes well and hope to catch up with you guys and Ted and Simon down in Stratford for a drink or two some time in the summer.  Ted and Simon - similarly to Keith, I hope you didn't try and sneak any of them Gin bottles onto the flight home today!  The Warwickshire Contingent, Martin and Veronica, Chris and Roy, I hope to see you all in the Ryder bar at Edgbaston over the summer - You Bears!!!!  And it was also great meeting Julian, Sharon, John and Bev over the last few days as we've been having fun betting on the score and sending Johnathon Agnew text messages to get a mention on the radio, which we achieved on several occasions.  And there were probably a few other people I've met along the way since Hamilton, sorry if anyone else reads this and I've forgotten you already!!!  And for everyone else at home, you can get the picture of how many great people and what a laugh you can have on tour.  There were times yesterday when I laughed so much I was crying.  In the words of Vinnie Jones once more, its been emotional!!!  Here's to Vaughany and the boys for sealing the victory for us - despite Tim Southee's effort to conserve consumption of Export Gold in the afternoon.Anyway back to being a backpacker not a cricket fan - and I'm off now to get an early night before I get on the ferry at 8 in the morning.Keep in touch, keep warm and have fun, the end of the winter is surely in sight now as I will be trying to pack as much of the superb Indian summer we are having in New Zealand into my rucksack for the flight home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206423720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206423720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1206423720/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:00:05 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Napier, New Zealand

Well Easter is fun in New Zealand because nearly everything is shut!!!!  And they still have some pretty ridiculous draconian drinking laws.  Anyway I can;t be bothered to type the story again so here is an exerpt from an email I sent to Gary the other day:  "Anyway day one was a nightmare here but I'd rather not talk aboutthat.  Oh,.....you'd love New Zealand's Easter licensing laws!!!  OnGood Friday and Easter Sunday you can only drink alcohol in a pub ifyou buy food!  The guy in the pub we were in yesterday (Good Friday)found a loophole in the law which says a pie constitutes a meal so wehad to buy a pie each every hour to carry on drinking!!!!  This soundsridiculous but stay with me...it gets worse!!!  The Police (or Pieliceas we have nicknamed them) actually enforce and came round issuingtickets to people drinking outside the pub who hadn't got a receiptproving that they had purchased a pie in the last hour.  It's the mostridiculous thing I've ever seen to be honest and has tainted my view ofNew Zealand a bit.  Put it this way there are several thousand slightlydisgruntled Englishmen here!!!  What didn't help my mood yesterday isthat I couldn't get anywhere to stay in Napier so I am actually staying20kms (12-13 miles) down the road in a town called Hastings.  Theydon't really do public transport here, particularly over Easter whereeverything closes (I mean everything!!!) but I've managed to get bookedon the mainline coach route everyday of the test match which isthankfully running over Easter.  But put it this way Napier is not theEnglish fans favourite place as the town is chocker block and there arequite a few people kipping on floors and beaches etc!!!  And then totop it off they have this stupid Stone Age law, which the Pielice asthey have nothing better to do actually enforce!!!!  Anyway its a storyto tell and the weathers still a damn sight better than at home so Iguess we can't complain too much!!!  So anyway think of me if you hitthe pub on Sunday!!!  Mind you we are OK at the cricket as they have aspecial licence, its afterwards that we are all buggered - so I'll behitting the sauce big time at the cricket tomorrow, me thinks!!!"Well you'll be pleased to know that we did actually find out that the local RSA (Returned services association - just like the Legion at home) had a special licence and could serve beer whenever they like, so we hit the RSA for a few handles of Tui (one of New Zealand's main beers which has been described by our mate Shep as "lager with food colouring in it" and by everyone else as "dishwater"!), so many in fact that I didn't bother going all the way back to Hastings last night and instead kipped on a mates floor here in Napier.  Anyway the cricket is going well and we should wrap it up tomorrow - unless it rains or something pretty shocking happens.  I'm off out for a meal in the steakhouse with all our crowd from this test match for an end of tour dinner in a minute, but I might just go and grab a sneaky pint first.  I can hear the Barmy Army trumpeter in the pub just down the road, so I might join them for a chorus of the Sidebottom chant and a handle of lager with food colouring in it!  My plan once the cricket ends is to head down to the South Island.  I'm looking to head down to Kaikoura and do a bit of whale watching towards the weekend and then head on to Christchurch, Queenstown, the glaciers on the west coast and then back up to Auckland before I begin the long journey back to Blighty, 2 weeks on Sunday!!!! :(((  At the moment I'm really looking forward to seeing you all, but I'd much rather stay here, the sun is shining and the weather is sweet again!!!  I'm also somewhat scared of what Browny is planning for my homecoming by the sounds of the rather strange message he left me on Facebook!Anyway stay warm, enjoy de-icing your cars and dodging blizzards and I will see you all soon.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1205989440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1205989440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rodenandrew/1/1205989440/tpod.html Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:21:40 -0400 Rod's Down Under 2008

Jump to the full
entry & travel map

Wellington, New Zealand

My god, 2 updates in 2 days!!!  Well as you can see from todays pictutres, the weather's been so bad that I've had to spend some time indoors on the internet!!!  Hahahaha!!!  Well today I got up early at about half 11 and wondered up Mt Victoria to take some pretty impressive photos of the city of Wellington and its surroundings.  There's even some shots of planes at the airport just for Dad!!!  I'm off to pack for my journey up to Napier for the 3rd test. Enjoy. 
]]>