TravelStream™ news feed for member smiffy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/smiffy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:52:49 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205248740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205248740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205248740/tpod.html Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:52:49 -0400 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Tokyo, Japan

Well guys this is it. The last entry!! I know it's weird writing it now I'm home (and have been for a few weeks now) but I had to get it all sorted just to do justice to all the time it's taken whilst I was out there. To leave it unfinished would just be wrong.

So Tokyo!!

Day 1
For starters the temperature when we landed was -1 which really made us happy - not! But it was 6am I suppose. After an average temp of 24-6 deg the last few weeks it was a massive shock to the system. The flight was uneventful although I did get one of those lots of leg room seats which was nice. When we landed I was nervous and excited all rolled into one. We stepped off the plane into the ice cold tunnel connected to the plane, so wearing shorts had not been my best idea! We went through immigration and got our passports stamped plus we had to have our photo and finger prints taken which was strange! We picked up our bags very quickly as they were already going around the luggage carousel when we got there. Very efficient.

We had heard that the Tokyo subway and train system was very complicated and we were planning on getting a taxi - that is until we found out it would cost us over £100 (25,000 yen)!! We ended up waiting at the airport for the tourist info place to open at 8am. We spent the wait putting on more clothes and phoning home before going over to the desk when it opened to find out our route to Asakusa, where our hostel was. It was so funny, the 2 girls behind the desk obviously didn't want to serve us so they had what they thought was a discreet game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who would deal with us! The girl who lost told us we should get the train to Aoto on the Keisei line then switch to the Asakusa train there. Simple enough we thought but when faced with japanese signs and names on ticket machines a little trickier than first imagined. However we sorted it and managed to find the right platform and got on the train, switching at Aoto without a hitch much to all our surprise.

Then we had to find our hostel. I had the address written down and the subway exit we had to use which was supposedly a minutes walk from the station. Easier said than done when you walk out the exit and have about 5 different directions to choose from. After a bit of wandering down the wrong streets, we asked in the post office and he pointed out the back window of the building lol! Great stuff. We couldn't check in till 3pm but we left our bags and, armed with a map and a basic plan on what we were gonna do, we set off to explore Asakusa. The area is described as traditional Tokyo and is centered around a Buddhist temple called Senso-ji temple. After a quick look around the shopping centre and a japanese mcdonalds (teriyaki mcburger lol), we headed down a pedestrianised street lined with shops that all looked a little like market stalls. The street begins at the Kaminarimon (Thunder) gate, the 1st gate leading to the temple, and is called Nakamise. This street leads straight to the temple where you pass through the 2nd gate or Hozoman gate which is the gate to the temple grounds. Legend states that the temple was built as a shrine to Kannon, goddess of mercy, when 2 local fishermen pulled a statue of her from the Sumida river that runs through Asakusa in 628. Even though they put the statue back it always kept returning to them. It was completed in 645 making it Tokyo's oldest temple. Beyond the hozoman gate is the main temple building and a 5 story pagoda. The Asakusa Shrine, found close to the temple, was completed in 1649.

We entered the temple grounds to see people standing around a well with incense burning in it. They were wafting the incense towards themselves. People were also queueing up to rub a big golden buddha statue and then rub the corresponding part of themselves. The people doing this were mainly elderly japanese women with walking sticks who were only able to shuffle along slowly. The idea behind the wafting and rubbbing is that it can cure any ailment you may have. It was funny to watch the little old women rub the buddha's bum and then their own! We looked in the main temple building and saw monks praying inside. Where we stood watching was a massive money box and the idea was you would throw a coin in and say a quiet prayer to yourself, which me and jenna did. I even had a go at wafting the incense towards my ankle - anything that might help after going over on it as we checked out of the hostel just before we left New Zealand! The temple and it's surroundings were very beautiful with lots of red, black and gold decoration and some amazing wooden carvings.

After looking round for a while we started to feel cold so we headed back in the direction of our hostel with a short detour across the Sumida River to the Asahi brewery. The building consists of the brewery headquarters and the Asahi beer super dry hall, complete with the 'Flamme D'or' on top. The golden structure is affectionately known to the japanese as 'the golden poo' which is fair enough because that is what it looks like!

We got back to the hostel and relaxed. I did some Tokyo research and the girls slept. At about half 6 we ventured out in search of food - planning on japanese - but the extreme cold forced us into an early retreat into KFC unfortunately. We did find that you get a little pasta dish with your KFC in Japan. It was very nice too. We went back and changed into our pj's and crashed out in front of a lord of the rings dvd which we didn't get to the end of because we were so tired!

Day 2
We woke up to grey skies which meant it was even colder than yesterday's sunny coldness - hooray! We wrapped up in loads of layers and ventured out and had a starbucks breakfast (yep we really embraced japanese food as u can tell lol) then the plan was to catch the metro to Ginza district. Ginza is one of the most upmarket shopping areas in Tokyo so god knows why we chose there lol! We couldn't afford anything. Ginza means 'mint' as in money/coins. The area was the original site of Japan's first mint hence the name of the district. After deciding nearly everything was out of our budget, we stopped for food - again planning on japanese - but ended up in a chinese restuarant by mistake! It's easily done! But the food was yummy anyway.

After lunch we went in search of the Sony building and had a little play with some digital and video cameras and other techno stuff. When I think of Tokyo, I think of technology, so it was quite nice to see that side of things. After a while it got a bit same old, same old so we moved on in search of the right subway train that would take us to Odaiba. This area is nicknamed 'Futuristic Tokyo, due to it's weird architecture and technological developments. The weird looking Fuji building is here as is the Telecoms centre and a big Sega playground. As well as this they also have more shops - come to tokyo if you have loads of money - so we had a browse and went in this weird pet store that we think was just for cats. Everything you could ever need for your pet cat was in there, even fancy dress outfits. One of the ladies working there brought out this black cat with a frog hat on. It looked so pissed off and we absolutely wet ourselves laughing. I can't do it justice in words but the picture says it all!

We crossed the river and went towards Palette Town which consists of a big ferris wheel that would rival the london eye, Venus Fort Shopping Mall and Sun Mall. It's also right next door to the Toyota Megaweb showroom. This place was pretty cool with lots of cars on display that you could sit in and a big display on F1! Loved that! We even went in this simulator cinema ride thing that was supposed to make you feel like you were taking part in a fuji speedway race, but in reality feels like your sat in a vibrating juddery seat. Very strange!

We wandered into Venus Fort - this mall is based on an 18th century style European mall, very Venetian - for some food. It was very confusing because the skies were lit ambiently and we walked through into this place through a shop from the outside. So I got a little confused when I walked out of said shop and I could see sky. In my defence it was only a split second doubt and it was very realistic. We attempted to eat japanese food again but they don't make it very easy for you. The problem is most of the menus are in japanese, they just have plastic food displays that your not always entirely sure what the ingredients are, so it could be anything. I did end up with some japanese rice (hooray) but got this weird beef stew thing which I think might have been russian lol! We were out all day so after our food we caught the subway straight back to Asakusa and our warm beds.

Day 3
We woke up bright and early again for our last day in Tokyo and our last day travelling. The plan was to go to Shibuya, Imperial Palace, Harajuku and then back to Shibuya to see it at night. A very busy day yet again!

We started out by another coffee shop breakfast (not starbucks though) and then caught the Ginza line to Shibuya. We were really proud of ourselves as we had started getting used to the subway system by that point. We found our way out of the very confusing station which had lots of exits, to be faced with a mass of skyrise buildings, neon signs and advertisements. Plus possibly the busiest road crossing I've ever seen! This was the Hachiko Square Intersection which is basically the Tokyo you know from TV. The zebra crossings went in every direction. Crazy!

We decided to follow the masses across the road which was a little scary as so many people are going in so many directions. We found the Hachiko dog statue outside the station which is a big meeting point in Shibuya. The dog is there as legend states it used to wait for it's owner outside the station all day every day and even carried on doing so when his owner died. So that's why the statue is there. We followed the little streets around and had a look in some of the crazy shops before going back to the station to catch the train to Central Station so we could walk and see the Imperial Palace. We found somewhere for lunch near the station which, surprisingly, was really quiet. I expected it to be really busy as it's central Tokyo. After filling our tummies, we followed the map and founf the Imperial Palace, home of Japan's Imperial family. The place was really heavily guarded and you couldn't actually see much at all, only a little corner of it, but I'm glad we went.

We walked back to the subway and got on the train that would take us to Harajuku. You probably know the word from association with Gwen Stefani as much as Japan now, as this is the area where all the cool kids hang out - it's the site of Tokyo's Topshop. People tend to hang around wearing crazy costumes and dressing up like their favourite anime character. It was amazingly busy and every shop like Snoopy Town (o yes a whole shop dedicated to snoopy and peanuts) and Kiddyland (every child's dream) were absolutely packed. We were feeling very tired and cold by this point so after a quick look around a ridiculously small (very disappointing) Topshop we went to a cafe and warmed up with a hot chocolate.

We left Harajuku and went back to Shibuya to check out what it looked like in the dark. Well all I can say is pretty cool, just how I imagined Tokyo to be! All bright lights and neon signs. Very awesome. That night we FINALLY ended up eating in a japanese restaurant back in Asakusa where we sampled a few delights like tuna sushi and boiled pork pancake rolls, plus the bowl of chips for melly. Was nice stuff even if we did make one faux pas. We ordered what we thought was meat and veg in soup but it came and it was like tripe or boiled chicken fat. Euw!! Had a nice last travelling evening with my girls and after our meal we headed back to the hostel to finalise our packing and shower ready for the early trip to the airport the next day.

Hometime
We got up stupdily early to be at the airport in time to check in for our flight and had a last look round the shops buying those last few gifts. By this point I was so excited about going home I just couldn't wait. In fact I didn't sleep at all on the plane, I just watched films and tv programmes and to be honest the time went quite quickly. We piled off the plane at Heathrow and prepared to see our families again. I was so happy and called Jack to let him know I had landed. He wasn't there as he was working but I would be seeing him in a few days. We waited ages for our baggage - at least an hour. British airports aren't a patch on the ones we've been to whilst away. The plus side was that as we were waiting, the England rugby team came through to the baggage hall so I was able to get a good look at Matt Stevens, Paul Sackey and Ben Kay to name a few. At last our bags came through and then we passed through the doors (with 2 rugby players lol) to massive cheering from our families and a sign saying 'Smiffy'! My mum and sister just ran at me and nearly knocked my glasses off lol! Then I went and hugged my dad! Was so great to see them. We all hung around a bit not wanting to say goodbye but then we had to and we all went our separate ways. Apparently I talked non stop for about an hour and then crashed out till we got home (or, actually, the pub lol)! Was very good to be home.

So I suppose this is the part now where I'm supposed to sum up all that I've learnt about myself and be all profound isn't it?!?! Well to be quite honest there's only one word that springs to mind when I think of my time away and that is AWESOME!!!! I've had a great time with the girls, I've made some friends from around England and around the world too that I hope I will stay in touch with and I've seen and done some bloody amazing things. Highlights have to be my skydive, bungy, maori experience and the glacier walk but that's just New Zealand. In Oz we had a great time too and I really enjoyed my new year in Sydney, seeign Pete in Melbourne was lovely plus the trips to Fraser Island and Whitsunday Islands were special too. Tokyo was a great place to see once in a lifetime but don't think I have much inclination to go back. It was a bit frenetic after the chilled out kiwi life. Overall I think my favourite place has to be the whole of New Zealand - yes I know that's cheating but I seriously couldn't choose. It was all a mental, fantastic, social experience and I've laughed, cried and damn near shit myself with fear a few times!! It all mixes together to make a three month portion of my life I will never forget!

Thanks to everyone who has read this blog and I'm sorry I made you wait a month for the last bit! Thanks espeically goes to those people that supported me throughout the experience, particularly my family and boyfriend! I love all of you and I'm so glad to be home with you now.

Ok so the next chapter in the life of Smiffy.....BE A GROWN UP!!!!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205178600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205178600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1205178600/tpod.html Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:20:03 -0400 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Queenstown, New Zealand

Well it's been a while everyone lol! Anyway I thought it was about time that I finished this blog off with the last few entries it deserves!

In my last entry it was my birthday eve and we'd just got to Queenstown for the second time to celebrate my birthday in that amazing place. It was at that point that Lilly, our Finnish friend we met on our stray tour, rocked up to the internet place we were in. She had been in touch with melly and had arranged to see us all which was great! There was muchos screaming and hugging from us which earned us a few funny looks from the other internet users but what the hell. It was really nice to see her as I didn't say goodbye properly when we left Queenstown before.

She told us that Nick and Andy, 2 more of our stray friends, were staying in a hostel just up the road so we wasted no time in going to surprise them! I invited them all out to my birthday meal that night and in turn they managed to convince us to stay in Queenstown an extra night and not drive to Tekapo/Mount Cook the next day. Meaning a mammoth drive to Christchurch on the 6th but we thought it would be worth it to spend some time with the guys. We made plans for them to come to our campsite that evening for pre dinner drinks and then we headed back to our camper to get ready.

We all got a bit dressed up for the occasion - I had bought a new dress in Dunedin - and waited for our lovely friends to come round. We had a great time catching up with them and finding out all about the southern loop they had just done with Stray. After a few drinks we wandered into town and went to Fatz Cat, a lovely little Italian and I had a very nice stone baked pizza. I even got a free ice cream with a candle in for my birthday which meant a bit of happy birthday singing lol! We decided to head back to the camper and drink there and then have a good night of drinking the following night - on my actual birthday, which suited me fine! The girls had got me a gorgeous chocolate cake from a bakery and so we had more candles and singing before waiting till it was official at midnight to have a little toast. We know how to celebrate hehe!

The next day I was officially 23! Yay! We woke up to a gorgeously sunny day and the girls gave me my presents:
Some billabong pants
A wooden calendar for when I'm a proper teacher
Some special chocolate
I had a lovely lazy morning and then we called the paragliding place to come and pick us up! Forgot to mention we sorted that out when we got to Queenstown because I still had my free voucher. Melly and Jolly were gonna do it too so we all went off at 12 and left Jen sunbathing. The drive up to our take off point on coronet peak was a little scary, a bit like the Nevis drive! Coronet Peak is one of the main skiing areas in Queenstown is 13km out of town and about 2 and a half thousand feet up. The views were fantastic! We met our para pilots - mine was Jean from France - and got harnessed up with a big backpack. I was briefed and what I would have to do and then I watched Jolly take off. It's so funny because you have to run to make the parachute that is laid out behind you inflate. This then stops you from running and pulls you back and your arms and legs keep going but you don't go anywhere. All this makes for quite a hilarious take off and me and mel nearly wet ourselves laughing at catherine! Obviously the same thing happened to me too but I was slightly prepared after seeing catherine jump off. Jean clipped me to him and we began our jog towards the edge which was a little unnerving. The instructions are keep running till he says sit down. The backpack he attached to me basically is my seat and it was very comfy!

It was a weird feeling running off the edge and the ground disappearing from under you. You end up running in the air cartoon style! But we took off and I enjoyed a lovely, gentle and very chilled out and scenic ride down to our landing point. I love the feeling of flying!! We landed safely after taking some photos and even a short video of us spinning around which was fun! After waiting for melly to land we thanked our guys, paid for our videos and photos and were then driven back to our campsite to get ready for my birthday night out.

The plan was to go to the minus 5 degrees Ice bar which is a bar that is totally made out of ice. It has sculptures and the glasses are made out of ice and everything. We even get big coats, ugg boots and even snuggly hats to wear because it's so cold in there. I got a free shot pass as it was my birthday and we went into the bar. It was so cold, obviously, but an amazing place. Smaller than I thought, but the sculptures and the bar plus all the lighting totally made up for that. Included in the entry price was a free vodka cocktail and I got loads of free shots including one really nasty one called absolut peppar! It was gross! I also had the peach and pear flavours plus some others too. The cocktail was gorgeous, called a polar blair and it had fresh passion fruit in it! Yum! We spent lots of time in there and they even sang me happy birthday too. We stayed in for an hour (tickets only for half an hour) and we had another cocktail which was equally yummy called a flu remedy made with vanilla vodka. We met two guys who started to chat melly up - she wanted a kiwi and they were from Christchurch - and basically stayed in until we got chucked out. Good job though as I couldn't really feel my fingers and my nose anymore. Well it was -7.3 degrees in there!

We got untogged and went to the bar across the way from the minus 5 bar to warm up with some wine and wait for lilly, nick and andy to come and meet us. We were told that because we had been so cold, the reason we didn't feel drunk in the ice bar was because your blood thickens in those temperatures. So when you come out and start warming up again, the alcohol starts to be absorbed into your bloodstream and you feel pretty drunk! Which we all did. We all ended up in World Bar where I drank a million more shots from teapots that everyone kept buying and we had a good old dance. I love birthdays cos everyone gets you free drinks lol! I had an awesome time except for when 2 local lads decided to start banging into us and broke our circle and jumped around like idiots. I have never been so close to hitting someone!! Luckily they moved away when they didn't get a reaction from us and we carried on having a great night. At the end of the night it was time to say goodbye to lilly, nick and andy for the last time (after a figurer - amazingly nice burger place). It was really hard cos we've had some great times with them but hopefully will see them in the future. We left melly with her kiwi and wandered back to the camper and crashed out.

Needless to say we woke up with extremely bad hangovers the next day and had to do the mammoth 7-8 hour drive back to Christchurch - Oooops! Melly had had no sleep after getting back at 6am, but she managed to drive out of queenstown before catherine took over and drove for quite a while. I sat in the front and kept her company whilst the girls napped in the back. We stopped off for food and jen took over the driving, at which point it was my turn for a nap. Melly then did the last leg of the driving and drove us into C'church. We made it all the way there and then managed to make a wrong turning on the way into the city and did a massive detour to the camper rental place lol! We were doing so well! We dropped Jim off - very upset to lose him as he served us well - and got the free shuttle bus to the airport where we could get a taxi back into the city and to our hostel, which is what we did.

After a slight hiccup in terms of the booking by Base/Hostel Bookers, (only had a booking down for one person not 4, when it had in fact been booked for 4), we checked into our room and then went for some fast food. We spent the evening sorting out our bags and throwing things away. It was good to have a clear out! Then we got an early night and spent our final day in New Zealand checking out of Base, calling Jack and trying to sort out my mobile, which after 3 months decided to block itself! Typical! After sitting at the airport for a few hours we flew to Sydney to wait for our connecting flight to Tokyo which I was really looking forward to although by this point it was so close to going home time I was really excited about that!!

Ok next blog TOKYO!!!!

xxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1202088900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1202088900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1202088900/tpod.html Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:52:27 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Queenstown, New Zealand

Hey guys!! I'm really sorry I haven't got the time to do a proper blog today but thought I'd at least do a mini one. What I'm gonna do is do a massive update either in Christchurch before we leave or maybe in Japan. I might even leave it till when I get home and I don't have to pay for the bloody internet!

We're currently travelling around the southern part of the south island in our campervan JIM!! It's very cool and I even had a go at driving today - it's taken me 4 days to pluck up the courage to drive the beast!

Here's what our itinerary has been like so far:

Day 1 - Thursday 31st Jan - picked up the van in christchurch. Travelled north from Christchurch and had a brief stop in the small alpine village of Hanmer Springs before driving onto towards the east coast and Kairkoura where we stopped for the night. Lovely little place with a very scenic beach and coastal drive.

Day 2 - Fri 1st Feb - left Kaikoura and planned to drive the bazillion kilometres down the coast to Dunedin. We decided to stop for the night in a town about an hour and a half north of Dunedin called Oamaru as we had been driving all day.

Day 3 - Sat 2nd Feb - carried on for the rest of the short journey to Dunedin. Stopped on the way to see the Moeraki Boulders and have a picture taken with the signpost at Shag Point (lol). Saw loads of seals there too. Spent the afternoon (freezing) in Dunedin, shopping and then visited the worlds steepest street, Baldwin Street and walked up it. Crazy idea that was! 19 degree angle! Stayed the night at a campiste in Dunedin.

Day 4 - Sun 3rd Feb - got up early for the drive to Te Anau, gateway to the Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound. Basically we were going from the east to the west coast in one day but it didn't take as long as we thought to get to Te Anau. Quick toilet stop off and then we drove the Milford Road to Milford Sound. It was, quite possibly, the most gorgeously scenic drive I have ever been on! So much to look and and we jumped out a million times on the way for photos. Weather got bad on the other side of this massive tunnel, carved through the mountains, so when we got to Milford we decided to head back through the tunnel and stay in one of the cheap campsites for the night.

Day 5 - TODAY! Mon 4th Feb (My bday eve) - Got up at a leisurely time for the 3 hour drive to Queenstown. I had my first go at driving and loved it but the accelerator pedal kills your right ankle joint so swapped back to melly after about an hour and a half. Now in Queenstown, off out tonight for a bday meal (gonna be in a quieter place tomorrow so celebrating tonight) and gonna check out the minus 5 degrees ice bar. Everything is made of ice!!

Potential day 6 - Tues 5th Feb MY BIRTHDAY wooop! - Start the drive back to Christchurch, staying the night in either Twizel (to see Mt Cook again) or Tekapo (to see the lake again). A few drinks in the van!

Potential day 7 - Wed 6th Feb - back to Christchurch to drop Jim off at the camper place then a night in a hostel before flying to Tokyo on the 7th!

Only a week today till I come home and I'm really excited but sad too. I've had such an amazing time, paritcularly in New Zealand, this place is awesome and I'm gonna make the most of my last few days!

Lots of love to everyone, see u soon!

Love Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201726140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201726140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201726140/tpod.html Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:22:46 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Christchurch, New Zealand

Hey guys!!

Just to let you know I'm still having a great time but it's so close to coming home time now that I'm really looking forward to it. Only 11 days left! I'm trying to cut these blogs down a bit cos theyre so long! Takes me ages to write them!!

Saturday - On saturday we left Franz Josef and headed for a place called Makarora in the middle of nowhere about a few hours outside of Queenstown. We stopped off at Lake Matheson for a hour and a hlaf walk around it because on a really calm day like it was, the reflection of mount cook and tasman in the lake makes for some great upside down scenery viewing and photos. It wasn't as great as I imagined but the views were beautiful and it was a lovely walk in the sunshine. We had a coffee in the sun before getting back on the bus and travelling on again. We made a few more stops:
* Thunder Creek falls, a tributary of the Haast river, making a 28m waterfall into the valley below.
*Gates of Haast - massive boulders in the white water of the Haast river.
* The Blue Pools - gorgeous blue pools off the Makarora river that look like blue lagoons. Had to cross this very swinging bridge to get to them though which was a little scary as it was so wobbly.

We got to Makarora and checked into our little triangle dorm rooms which were very cute. It was just the campsite and a few other little buildings and apart from that not a lot else. We booked to have a meal that night and I had lamb, chips and veg which was lovely. Then we showered as we had heard rumours of a kareoke competition after happy hour in the bar. We had such a good night, we weren't drunk and there was only 14 of us but we all took part! I sang with the girls and did a few duets with the boys. I even got the guts to sing on my own and we did some massive grop songs at the end like wonderwall which were so funny! At the end we had to decide who won. The plan was to put all our names in a glass and pull one out. Ben thought we should write the name of the person we think deserved to win and then jen said why don't we just decide now. It was at that point everyone looked at me and then Ben said all those who think Leanne should win put your hands up, and everyone did! I was so chuffed, embarassed and quite speechless by how nice they all were! So awesome! I won a paraglide to do in Queenstown. Wooop!

Sunday - We got up to go to Queenstown, the extreme sport capital of New Zealand. We stopped off on the way to take photos of Lake Wanaka, New Zealand's 3rd largest lake and then stopped in the township for lunch. We also stopped off at the legendary Kawarau bridge bungy site, home of the first AJ Hackett bungy since the 80's. We watched a DVD about the secrets of bungy that was supposed to convince us brave and stupid ones that we were gonna be safe lol! Then we watched a few people throw themselves off the bridge. It's 43m high and the one that Jack did. I booked into to do the NEVIS highwire jump for the following day with Nick and Andy. Crazy we might be as Nevis is triple the height of the bridge jump at 134m!! We got into Queenstown pretty early so went for a wander around and me and mel ended up having a pimms (well i did) in the sunshine at a bar by the lake. It was lovely. I spent the evening chilling, watching a dvd and chatting to everyone sat in our dorm.

Monday - was D Day. I woke up with a stomach so full of butterflies it was so scary! I was even more scared than I was for my skydive cos this time it was all about me and conquering my fear. We were supposed to check into the nungy shop on town before 10am then we would be driven out to the site about 40 minutes out of Queenstown. The drive into the site was scary enough up this big ass mountain with steep drops to each side of the dirt track our bus was going up. When we got to the top I had one last toilet trip (pretty essential as onc your in your harness its a bit tricky) and then got harnessed up. Nevis is suspended on wires across the canyon above the nevis river, it looked so bloody high I nearly keeled over! We had to get on a cable car over to the 'pod' where we would jump from. We arrived there to the sound of monkey wrench by the foo fighters which instantly relaxed me and I was smiling when it came to the time to put on my ankle straps and enter the seat of no going back. I was sat in this chair by the ledge I was about to launch myself off whilst J strapped me to the bungy cord and showed me how to work the foot release that would put me into a sitting position after the jump so I could be winched back up to the pod. All of a sudden I was shuffling to the edge of the little metal square and I was looking down!! Ooops! J told me to look straight ahead, then it was 3,2,1 BUNGY! The most terrifying, exciting and nauseating feeling in the world is the one you get as you're about to jump off. Every bone in my body was screaming don't do it but then I was flying down with my arms out, head down and the ground rushing towards me! There is no feeling like it it's awesome! I bounced and swung around wooping and screaming! It was so cool. Then I had to do the foot strap which unfortunately had got stuck around my right foot so I spent a while dangling on the end of a rope in a canyon, doubled up upside down trying to release my feet which I finally did! I was winched back up and when I got it the pod I found out I couldn't walk cos my legs had turned to jelly and I was shaking. The only word I can use to describe how I felt is euphoric!! I saw nick and andy jump and then we got free t-shirts, hot dogs and a drink and then we were bussed back. To top off an amazing day we had a wicked night out, I got drunk and called it a day at 1am when I could hardly walk anymore lol!!

Tuesday - we had to get up early to leave for christchurch, which, with a hangover like I had, isn't one of the best feeling in the world. There had to be a few emotional goodbyes as we were going our separate ways. some of our new friends to the south of the island and the aussie girls we had met were coming with us. We stopped off on the way at Lake Punaki to get a really good view of Mt. cook again and then again at lake Tekapo before getting into Christchurch, picking up supplies from the supermarket and cooking a joint curry. Yum! Lazy evening again!

Wednesday (today) - had to get up to say bye to the aussie girls which was really sad! Amy made me cry when she started bless her but we've promised to visit them in perth and hopefully that will happen in the next few years! Or they can come see us in england yay! Me and jolly had a very lazy morning, showered and dressed then went shopping and that's all I've done! Mel and jen are rafting again so will be back later and we go to pick up the campervan tomorrow woo hoo!!

So that's me updated, I dunno when I'll update again because we're just gonna be in the van so might not be for a while! Not long now till I see everyone! Can't wait for a pub night, a rock city night and especially family and boyfriend nights!!

Lots of love Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201287720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201287720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1201287720/tpod.html Thu, 24 Jan 2008 20:34:23 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Franz Josef, New Zealand

Hey guys!

Well just to let you know that I'm still having an awesome time, but I am looking forward to coming home now that it's so close! And to have signal on my phone would be nice too!!

Just a quick update cos I've been spending so much money writing these really long blogs and I'm doing it in my journal anyway lol!

Ok so on Monday we caught the ferry over to the south island from wellington to Picton in the south island. The crossing was very smooth and I had some lovely scrambled eggs on board. Took about 3 and a half hours to cross and we saw some gorgeous scenery in the Marlborough Sounds on the way into the Picton terminal. We headed for a place called Marahau in the Abel Tasman National Park. The south island has 9 of new zealand's 15 national parks so it's a very scenic place - and I thought I'd seen a lot of great stuff in the north! We had changed drivers again to a guy called Wozza. He's a nice guy and very laid back, almost horizontal. On the way he gave us a weather update. Apparently the following day a cyclone would be hitting the south island just off the Tasman sea and we would be having torrential rain and 100km/h winds. Nice! It started raining on the way to Marahau and we arrived at Old McDonalds Farm (lol great name ay?) in the nasty weather. The night was spent with me cooking pasta for about 8 people and chilling with a glass of vino rouge.

Tuesday - RAIN RAIN RAIN! It was so bad and had been since aboout midnight. We planned a pajama day and just chilled out in bed. It was ncie to be lazy and not have to work to an itinerary. About 2pm the weather totally cleared and it was like a totally different day. So we headed out for a walk along the coast and to check out some of what makes the abel tasman so famous. The bush coming down to the beach edge was so gorgeous. I took a lot of photos and we spent soemtime on the beach. Tuesday night I cooked for a slightly smaller number of 4 and then we sat round a fire singing songs courtesy of chris and andy who both have guitars with them.

Wednesday - we got up to leave abel tasman and head for a little place called Barrytown. Barrytown is in the middle of nowhere on the wild west coast. On the way we stopped in westport and went to see the seal colony there. It's breeding season so there were alot of babies for us to awww over. We also stopped off at Punakaiki for the pancake rocks and blowholes. The pancake rocks were pretty impressive structures, being names after stacks of pancakes. No blowholes though as the tide wasn't far enough in. We arrived at this little pub where we would be staying for the night and we booked in for the kiwi roast dinner. I really miss roast dinner!! Barrytown has a population of around 20 people and so it was a quiet place but what always happens there is a fancy dress party to get the mood going. The boys had to dress as women and the girls had to dress in fancy dress they could find. After the roast which was yummy, I prepared myself by wrapping a sheet around me and making a wreath of leaves for my head - yep that's right I wore a toga wooop! As it would be amy's birthday (girl we've met from perth) we had a few bevvies and a bit of a dance to the jukebox. Andy embraced his outfit a little too much as did harp who really enjoyed his breasts apparently! Andy looked very at home in high heels lol! After a few drinks, I felt so tired and we stayed up till midnight to wish amy happy birthday and the pub gave her a cake which was nice. After the singing we went to bed.

Thursday - we got up to do some bone carving in barrytown before we left at 12:30. I chose a template and a was given a piece of bone to draw it on. Then it was cut out and I got to work sanding it down and shaping it until it became the shape that is now around my neck. Its a maori symbol for friendship and I'm really proud of it. We drove to the little township of Franz Josef, stopping on the way at the supermarket for supplies as I was cooking for 11 people last night! Yep I'm mad! We drove into the town and got our first glimpse of why Franz is so famous, the glacier. It's a massive structure in the valley between two mountains, so surreal to look at. We went and checked ourselves onto our activities for the following day and then went and checked into our hostel which is really nice. Has a big spa pool. I spent the evening cooking and and then went to happy hour in the bar and had a few wines. We had to wait till 10pm to eat as half the people I was feeding were out skydiving (and that included melly - yay she was brave). I made sausage casserole which, luckily, I could just leave on the hob simmering. We all ate together when they got back and then went back to our room for a few drinks to celebrate amy's birthday but we were all a bit knackered so it wasn't much of a party. That will happen in Queenstown in a few days!

Friday (today) - Today we got up to do our activity we had booked the day before. Me, mel, lilly (from finland), jen and jolly were off on a heli-hike up the franz josef glacier. This involved togging up in boots and waterproofs and getting a scenic ride in a helicopter over the glacier before being dropped off onto the glacier itself. I have had, once again, an awesome day! We walked around the arctic wonderland and went all around the ice formations taking photos and enjoying the view for about 2 and a hlaf hours. It was awesome and so blue!! Really cool and definitely the 2nd best thing I've done on this trip (one being the skydive). We had crampons (spikes) on our boots so we didn't slip and a number of times I wobbled but didn't fall over. We heard the ice moving on the ice fall and a few times pieces broke away and fell down but not near us. The glacier can move up to 5 metres per day as it has water flowing underneath it and is not fixed to the rock underneath. It's one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world! Awesome time! We got picked back up by the helicopter which was a treat in itself. Now sat back at the hostel and ready for a nap.

Sorry I haven't been in touch much lately mum, dad and jack!! Signal out here is so dodgy at the moment but I will speak to you in queenstown! The days are so knackering I just want to sleep lots - we get up really early to move to new places and spend a lot of the day outside and I'm always really tired! Yay naptime!

Lots of love and so close to coming home time now wooop! Can't wait to see everyone!Have a drink ready for me guys!!

Love Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200838200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200838200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200838200/tpod.html Sun, 20 Jan 2008 04:12:48 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Wellington, New Zealand

Why hello everyone!

Well I am still having the most awesome time and have been very extreme of late - some of you may already know! So to carry on where I left off:

DAY 4
Staying in Rotorua for the night which is the geothermal hotspot of New Zealand. The smell of the place hit us before we even arrived, it's yummy lol! Smells like reall rotten eggs which is pleasant. We arrives at our hostel and were too early to check in so we headed across the road to the free thermal reserve to see some steaming water and bubbling mud. Why we decided to go to the source of the smells I have no idea! The bubbling mud was pretty cool, some of it looked like melted chocolate and it was made a groovy 'bloop, bloop' noise. I couldn't believe how violently some of the stuff was bubbling, it's crazy. The smell soon overtook the coolness though and we went back to the hostel. We went out for a sandwich in the town and then I basically spent the rest of the day on the computer catching up with my blog and photos (pretty much like now).

That evening we went to our hostel bar and ended up having our first night out of new zealand there. It was a good night, we had a few drinks - I only had three on account of the next day's activity - and a boogie as they were playing some cheesey tunes. Ended up having a really fun night.

DAY 5
On thursday it was time for me to be a very brave girl once again. I was going to throw myself out of a plane 15,000ft in the air (on my mum's birthday too - hope you had a good one mum)!! We left for Lake Taupo. the largest lake in new zealand as this was where I was going to be jumping out. We left Rotorua around 12:30pm with our new driver Dodgy (don't ask lol) and headed off to Taupo. We stopped off at the thermal pools at Wai-o-tapu and then did a bridge jump - I didn't - into the Waikoto river before finally getting to Taupo at half 3. I know some of you will already be aware of this but this is what we got told on the way to Taupo. A british backpacker called Karen Aims had been killed the night before we got to Taupo, about 5 minutes walk from our hostel. She was due to start work at the hostel on the day we arrived (thurs) and was friendly with alot of the staff there. Consequently all the staff were pretty shaken and many of them were crying when we got there. It was business as usual for us though and they checked us all in. I can't believe it had happened there the night before, I was a little freaked out. And so sorry for everyone in Taupo. I know it's been on the news at home cos mum's told me but I don't know what you know about it. She died from massive head injuries, there were no bodily injuries at all. When the police found her she was barely conscious but managed to tell them her name before dying on the way to hospital. A guy from the hostel that knew her had to go and indentify her, which is terrible. Such a shitty thing to happen as Taupo is such a cute little place and doesn't look like somewhere that would happen. Anyway that's what happened and it can't be changed unfortunately. It just brought it to home that it could have been anyone.

After all this drama it was time to be extreme! We got picked up by the free limo from the hostel and taken to the 'drop zone'. I couldn't stop talking as I was so nervous! We were shown a dvd of someone who had just done his 15,000ft skydive a few minutes ago. It hyped me up so much I was wired! We were taken through the pricing options and then fitted with our kit. The harness was a little uncomfortable as it was very tight but I didn't care as long as it did it's job! I got introduced to Dale, my tandem master, who was a great guy and made me feel at ease and, most importantly, safe. As I was flming a dvd I had to do a mini interview before we went up to the plane which was so funny! Then we headed out the hanger and into the little tiny pink plane. It was onyl when I was in the plane that it hit what I was about to do! I would be throwing myself into a load of nothing with just a bloke and a bit of material strapped to me! Crazy! I can't really remember much of the ride up to be honest. I was running through the falling out of the door procedure in my head loads. The adrenaline had already kicked in I think. Nick jumped first and then we were shuffling towards the edge and my feet were over the edge. Before I could even think about screaming I was off, tumbling into the air and with the air rushing past my ears. I could hardly breathe we were falling so fast it was mental. I was in freefall for about 60 seconds and then dale opened the parachute and we began to take a look around at the scenery. It was the most beautiful ride I've ever taken in my life. So gorgeous all around the lake and towards the national park. All too soon the landing spot came rushing towards me and I landed, none too gracefully on my bum and skidded to a stop. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life and definitely one I would do again. Maybe with the boyfriend in tow next time!? ;o)

We watched our dvds which are so funny - if you see it when I get back you've got a treat in store lol! And then I got my free t-shirt and we were taken back to the hostel. I was so exhilerated and couldn't stop grinning. We went out for a meal with Dodgy, our driver, to celebrate at which point my adrenaline disappeared and I slumped and nearly fell asleep at the table. I went back after my meal, rang mum to wish her happy birthday and had about a 2 hour sleep and woke up at 11pm when my alarm went off to call Jack and tell him about my jump. So good to speak to him and I'm seeing him so soon! Wooooop! Went back off to sleep at midnight.

DAY 6
We left early the next day for Tongariro National Park, home to 3 live volcanoes; Mt Tongariro, Mt. Ruapehu (the biggest and snow capped) and Mt. Ngaurauhoe, otherwise known as Mt.Doom from LOTR trilogy. Some people were going to do a 16km, 7-8 hr walk over Mt Tongariro but that wasn't for me. I opted to do a shorter 6km walk through the park to the Taranaki falls. The drive towards the 3 mountains was nothing short of spectacular. Mt Doom looked the most sinister and I don't know if this is because I'm relating it to the films being the evil home of Sauron or because it's the one that looks most like a volcano being a typical conical shape. These are all live and Ruapehu actually erupted about 20 months ago, taking out 2 ski seasons in a row and crippling the local economy.

We dropped off the crazy walkers (jen and mel included) and turned and went to the start of our walk further in the park. We stopped off at Mahui falls for some photo taking. They seen to call any fast flowing stretch of water that goes slightly downhill 'falls' here. They were really just like white water rapids, but cool nonethless. After clambering down o so gracefully and back up again we went to the start of our walk. I changed into my trainers as I wasn;t attempting 6km in thongs! The first part of our walk was all out in the open and pretty flat and it was only when we got to the trees that it began to climb pretty steeply. Being a hot day the sun and the climb combined to make me one hot girly! It was a welcome paddle when we finally reached the waterfall as the pool it fell into was ice cold. Nice on the feet and particularly on my ankle. On the way back, which was nicer and downhill, we filled our water bottles with the best tasting water I've ever had from the mountain stream that fed the waterfall. We got back to the bus and set off to our hostel in the national park. We stopped off for another photo at a kiwi sign hehehe and then arrived at our hostel and got checked in.

The nicest hostel by far of the whole trip. The views did help though but the rooms were far superior to anything so far. Plus they had a lovely husky doggy to play with. I spent the afternoon having a 3 hour nap and then waiting for the weary walkers to arrive, eating with them and then jumping in the hot tub. Great day and I had lots of sleep.!

DAY 7
Saturday and it was time to head for the capital of wellington for a few nights. The drive was pretty much an express route through to the city with no stop offs for anything other than the loo lol. The drive in was pretty impressive and we passed Kaptiti Island, very important to bird conservation. We got put in a girls only 'sanctuary' room at a Base backpackers hostel which is nice as it means we get free champagne at happy hour. wooop! The plan was to go to the supermarket and buy food for nick to cook us for our tea - spag bol and it was yum - and then meet everyone in our hostel bar for happy hour and a night out. We ended up having a great night in our hostel bar getting cheap drinks then ending up dancing the night away at a bar in town that played the cheesiest tunes ever (think barbie girl and c'est la vie lol)! I love this group they'r esuch a fab bunch of people!

DAY 8
Today I've had a very cultural day. We spent the morning chilling in bed as we didn't have to get up at stupid o clock! Hooray! Then we got ready and went to the National Museum of New Zealand or Te Papa (Our Place) and checked out some wicked exhibits. Lots of stuff about how new zealand was formed and about the fault lines it sits on. Very environmental and lots of stuff about the maoris too which was cool. After this we had heard there was a little concert going on in the Frank Kitts park and we wanted to check it out! It was supposed to be african and reggae music lol but it sounded good to us to just chill in the park with some tuneage. It was a lovely few hours spent doing nothing. The music was african, very reggae, but so cool and the weather was awesome! I bopped a little bit to the beats. We bought curry from a stand after and came back to the hostel and now just chillin out.

Tomorrow we're leaving the north island and going to the south on the ferry. Looking forward to less city and more gorgeous scenery. Plus the possibility of the NEVIS bungy jump in Queenstown (look it up on google lol)!

Lots of love! 3 weeks and counting baby, I love you!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200520380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200520380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200520380/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:17:25 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Rotorua, New Zealand

Kia Ora everyone!

I hope you're all well! I'm gonna start by saying this could be a long entry so hope you're in for a good read!

DAY 1
Ok so after having our one nght in Auckland we got up for our pick up by the Stray bus at 7:45am. Harsh but it was worth it for the fun packed day we had. After our pick up there were a few others in Auckland city before we set off on our adventure. We went up Mt. Eden, an extinct volcano in Auckland which gave us amazing views over the city. It was really steep and people were running up it! Crazy! After a talk from our driver, Ricky, about how the Stray thing works and the outline of the day we set off properly out of Auckland and into the country.

We were heading for the Coromandel peninsula and a place called Hahei which is on the other side of the Coromandel range in the north of the island. The drive was breathtaking, we went through forests, mountains and saw stunning scenery as well as gorgeous beaches and fanstastic views. When we finally got to Hahei it was a massive ruch to get ready as we had chosen to do the day's paid activity which was sea kayaking - yep I know pretty active for me to do but it's waht New Zealand is all about! We dumped our stuff at the backpacker lodge on the campsite and then we were picked up by the kayak team and driven down to the beach where we learnt how to steer the kayaks, how to paddle and what we should wear - a very attractive life jacket and a ;skirt; that attaches itself round the hole where u sit. We were in double kayaks so me and mel went together and jen and jolly went in another. I sat in the back which meant I steered the thing with the pedals in my bit of the boat. After all this info we were given a push intot he sea and we were off!

It was a bit scary, very wet and cold and quite knackering lol, but such great fun. The plan was to head out of the beach we started from, around past another bay and to the third one called Cathedral Cove to stop, have coffee and a little exploration! We set off in our twos and o my god was it hard to paddle and steer whilst not crashing and getting stupidly wet by every possible wave!?!? There was a lot of shouting 'left, right, left, right...' et., but we still kept losing our timing. It was hilarious and we had a great time. We paddled on until our guide told us to raft up (hold our boats together) and then we went into a cave one by one where he then turned us around and sent us back out again because it was so small. It had a tiny little underground beach in it and the water was like powder blue. Very cool! When the last pair had gone in and out he told us the next bay along was Cathedral cove and we would be going straight there. So we set off again around the headland and then went into the beach one by one. We got rid of our skirts and life jackets and chilled out on the beach whilst our guide made us the best cup of coffee ever! He even foamed up the milk!!

After our coffee we got back in our kayaks and headed back to where we started. It was easier on the way back because we had a tail wind but that didn't stop two boats from capsizing at the same time about 2 minutes before we got back!! Ricky came to meet us on the beach because we were going straight to Hot Water Beach, about 5 minutes away on the bus. We were tired and soggy but really proud of ourselves. We got on the bus but didn't sit down cos we were so wet and sandy. Hot Water Beach is called that because if you dig holes in the sand, they fill up with water and it's so hot. In fact some of it was too hot and we had to keep moving around. We hired a few spades and got digging our holes. When we got it right it was like sitting in a hot bath!

So now we were the 4 S's: Sandy, soggy, sweaty and salty! After an hour we were ready to leave and it was time to shower and change before the big BBQ with everyone. It was a fab BBQ with so much stuff! Even mash potato! We all sta round chatting and having a good time getting to know each other. Us lot who had kayaked had bonded pretty well so we had some good banter going on. Bedtime came not long after as we were so tired after our busy day.

DAY 2
The next day we were up and out of Hahei by 8am and we were heading for Raglan, famous for surfing and particularly it's 10 minute wave. We got there after about 2 hours, and stopped in the town for supplies for tea - I was cooking a veg curry - ahnd a look around. Raglan is pretty much like the Byron Bay of New Zealand, really chilled out and laid back with no commercialisation. McDonalds and KFC have tried to open there but over 90% of the town's population said no way! It was a really cute little place. We were going to stay on the mountain overlooking raglan, Mt. Karioi, in a lodge in the bush. People who were planning to surf (melly) went down about 3 to learn and we all headed for the same beach but just to shill out and sunbathe which was lovely. Although the sand was the type that stuck to everything! The best bit of the whole afternoon was that a seagull decided to use my bum as target practice and made a nice pattern on my shorts!

After the beach it was time for a much needed shower before I got on with the cooking and being sociable with everyone. The group are really cool and I am so glad we decided to do this tour! Taking my mind off the fact that it's nearly time to come home cos I'm missing certain people a lot at the moment. After tea we wandered up to a lookout point over 'whale bay', a good surfing bay apparently. We had fantastic panoramic views of the sunset from there and I got some great pictures. We sat chatting until it got a bit chilly and we walked back through to the lodge in the pitch black. It's at this point when we're in the bush, it's so dark you can;t see your feet and we're on a stoney steep path that Nick decides to try out his jumpin over a wall skill....it failed!

We found our way back and then carried on up the hill a little to find the glowworms in the rocks. Very eerie seeing these tiny little pinpricks of light twinkling at you out of the darkness. Little bit like fairy lights in the woods, it was like a grotto. I love this country sooo much! Then it was time for bed again after another busy day.

DAY 3
We got up early at our lodge in the mountain ready to leave and go to Waitomo. Waitomo is famous for it's caves which are packed with glowworms and also for the actvities you can do in those caves. It's situated on the fault line of 2 tectonic plates which means the landscape is really rocky and there are laods of caves. The caves are formed when rain water which is slightly acidic falls on the earth and in particualr onto the limestone rocks which it then erodes. The limestone was formed from ancient shells and sea creatures when the country was on the bottom of the ocean. They formed millions of layers to form the 120m deep layer in waitomo. When the water drops onto the stone it froms cracks an finally Tumus or pothole which eventually form caves as the water continues to go down the holes. The topsil in this area is also a bit special. When Lake Taupo was a volcano there was a massive eruption 1800 years ago that belew dust, rocks and lava over 100 km in every direction. The sky all over the world was apparently red for 10 days and now the Taupo crater lake is now the biggest lake in new zeland. And I shall be vsiting it in a few days time. Anyway that is where the topsoil in Waitomo is from.

Me, jolly and mel were booked to do the Spellbound tour or the dry option, whcih waould take us into 2 caves, one in a boat and one on foot. In those caves we would see the glowworms. We were taken in a minibus by our guide, Annette, who told us a lot about the area. We entered the first cave on foot forst with very sexy helmets with torches attached, before getting into our big dinghy and turning off our lights. You literally vould not see your hand in front of your face is was so weird, but what you could see were millions of tiny little light on the ceiling and walls. Loads of glowworms! They were like the night sky, beautiful! The boat was really relaxing and we saw so many glowworms it was quite unbelievable. When we had seen them for long enough we walked back to the entrance of the cave elephant style (holding each other shoulders) in the pitch black. It was very disorientating but we made it. After a quick stop for toilets and a hot drink at a cutom built shack, we went to our second cave.

We walked around the next cave, it was named 'cave of spirits' by the maori's as it was so cold they thought spirits breath was coming out of the earth. Annette pointed out the bones of animals that had got lost in the darkness, a goat and a possum. We also saw the remains of a moa, an emu type bird that had been extinct for 500 years. There was also a skeleton of a cow that had fallen down a tumu (hole) ad obviously dies in the fall. All a bit strange but the kids on our tour loved the gruesome details. The cave was like a grotto, full of stalactites and stalagmites. After looking around we headed back to the surface and to the minibus for the drive back into Waitomo village to get back onto our Stray bus. The caves were cool, I really enjoyed our tour!

We drove on towards Rotorua but went past it to go to our cultural stop for the night at a traditional Maori Marae, or community house, at Uncle Boy's place. We were greeted by Uncle Boy himself and he introduced us to his Marae that he had built in memory of his parents. The big room or 'Tukotahi' is named after his father and houses his father's spirit and the kitchen and dining room area attached, 'Te Aorere' is named after his mother. You could tell he was really passionate about the place and he made us feel really welcome. We were shown how a visiting maori tribe would be greeted onto the marae by uncle boy and then we took part in thri traditional greeting or 'hongi' which is a hand shake combined with a brief nose rub. It was quite scary as you keep your eyes open and maoris can be quite intimidating. We then enetered the hall with all our stuff and were sat down fro dinner which was a typical maori feast of mutton and gravy, chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin plus salad, then the new zealand favourite of pavlova with jelly and fruit too. It was all very yummy.

After dinner we got seaed in the hall for our cultural perfromance by uncle boy's relations. We were treated to some traditional maori dances, songs, poi and chanting plus some great hakas by the men. There were a lot of tongues sticking out and the women were doing some very scary faces. They were amazing and they showed us just what being in a maori tribe was all about. They appear to have an intense belief in their creator, culture and knowledge and they obviously love to share this with others. It was fantastic and I loved every minute. Sfter that it was our turn. The boys wre going to go outside and learn a haka and the girls were going to learn poi and a traditional dance - we were the first group ever to learn a dance with them so we were very privileged. It was quite tricky but once you had the moves down it was loads of fun and I laughed so hard. Especially doing the scary intimidating eyes (women aren't allowed to do the tongue thing).

Then it was time to show the boys what we had learnt and vice versa. The boys went first and did a fantastic job. They even managed to get soem agression in there and it was so funny because they were all topless, there were some great t-shirt tans going on! Then it was our turn. The poi went fine and I did good until I got to the dance when some of the little male warriors - the 7 year old - decided it would be funny to totally put me off my dance moves and do haka moves at me. Of course I collapsed into giggles as did the other girls around me. But if was great fun. They then treated us to one last hymn and chant and then it was photo op time and we got a great group shot.

All in all an AWESOME night and it ended with some chatting and sitting outside and looking at the stars which are amazing out here (even if orion is upside down)!

I'm now in Rotorua - thermal capital of the north island and possibly the whole country! It stinks of bad eggs (sulphur) and has some really cool thermal hotspots to explore. Will update later cos my fingers hurt lol!

3 and a half weeks people - enjoy your freedom while you can cos I'm coming home soon!

Lots of love Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200176880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200176880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1200176880/tpod.html Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:18:01 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Paihia, New Zealand

Well hello everybody!

Thought I'd update you all on my lovely visit to Paihia in the Bay of Islands which is north of Auckland by about 4 hours.

On thursday morning we picked up our car from the rental place and set off up highway one to the Bay of Islands. It took us about 3 and a half hoursand we had a short stop at subway. Well sometimes you just have to! We arrived in Paihia at our hostel and got checked into our 8 bed dorm. The weather was a bit overcast but it was still shorts temperature. After heading to the supermarket and getting the stuff to cook sausgae and mash for tea we went to reception and booked ourselves onto a day trip. We were going on a dolphin hunt around the bay of islands for the day and we got a BBQ on board too! Sweet as! After that me, jen and mel went for a walk round the little town and looked around the shops before heading back cooking our tea and spending the evening lazing around and playing monopoly - party animals that we are!

We got up on froday morning quite excited about our day trip. Although we had seen a few dolphins in the Whitsunday Islands, it was going to be totally different as round the Bay there are a lot of dolphins pods or groups and the Bay is an important area for them. They feed, give birth and nurture their young and play in the Bay. We had breakfast, called in at the shop for some liquid and then walked down to the wharf where we would be picked up for the trip. The boat was a little catamaran, a lot smaller than Avatar but still a nice littel vessel. Our skipper introduced herself as Vanessa and she introduced the other crew member called Scott who was from York. Whilst vanessa drove the boat over to Russell to pick up more passengers. Scott told us a little bit about our plan for the day and the route we would be taking. As we headed over to Urupekapeka, the largest island in the Bay of Islands, we would be looking out for the dolphins but not actively searching for them. How it works is that all the boats who are out in the Bay that day keep in radio contact with each other and if dolphins are sighted, they let each other know.

As we were cruising along we went past Robertson Island, the island Capt. James Cook had stayed on when he had to make repairs to The Endeavour. He actually got to the area and named it the Bay of Islands because that is what he saw; a Bay with lots of little islands in it. Very straightforward! We had been at sea for about 2 hours and it was a little choppy because of the weather. Felt like we were on some sort of rollercoaster ride. As we hedead towards an island, all of a sudden, there were the dolphins in front of us! There were about 10 altogether with 2 little ones, one of which Scott said lookes as though it was only about a day old. They were just swimming ahead of us and feeding, making massive splashes in the water and jumping out every now and again. It was amazing and one of the best sights of my trip so far! At one point there was a massive dolphin just underneath the bow of the boat just swimming along just below the surface. So cool! We followed them for about half an hour round the bay and then we had to leave them as there are laws prtecting them and how much time you can spend with them. If they ahve young, are feeding or resting you can't swim with them and there is onyl a litmited period where you can follow them too. Just so they stay as wild and natural as possible.

We went to Urupekapeka island which is where we could get off the boat for an hour, go snorkelling, swimming and walking as the voew from the top of the hills on the island were supposed to be amazing. After being ferried over in the dinghy, I sunbathed for a white as the sun was out them we headed up the steep path to the top of the hill to look out over the cove. It was an outstanding view and definitely worth the climb up the steep, slippery slope. Then after the hour was up we were picked back up and takenm back to the boat for our BBQ, before the main sail was pulled up, we even helped with the Jib sail, and we pointed ourselves in the direction of the mainland. With the sail up it was even choppier than before but lots of fun. In fact once we got back onto dry land I was still rocking around for quite a while! Our evening was spent eating roast chicken (god bless supermarkets) and fried mash and onions mixed together (it was like poor mans bubble and squeak lol). The we had an early night because the sea air had totally wiped us out.

Today we got up and ready to leave Paihia to return to Auckland. I went to the shops and picked up a few souvenirs and then we started the drive back which, with the sun out, was even more scenic and picturesque than the drive up there. Now back at our hostel and contemplating the free meal - could be iffy it's a ridiculously small plate again lol! Then we're off on our Stray tour of the north island tomorrow morning which I'm lookin forward to.

Lots of love to everyone - I'm on the countdown now till I come home (4 weeks on monday) and particularly on a seeing Jack again countdown! Miss him so much I can't quite describe it.

Love n hugs Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PHOTO UPDATE - sorry it's been so long!

Rest of sydney (inc. New Years)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16905&l=9ab82&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17269&l=7dca4&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16904&l=fcfd5&id=510031269

Melbourne
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17271&l=20055&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17822&l=470ad&id=510031269

New Zealand
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17823&l=a85ec&id=510031269

ENJOY!!!!!!! XXX
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199925960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199925960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199925960/tpod.html Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:29:12 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Auckland, New Zealand

Kia Ora everyone!

Well as you've probably guessed from the title of this entry I am now in New Zealand but more about that later.

After I last posted on saturday morning we have travelled a fair few miles. On saturday afternoon I spent my time roasting and trying to sit on the beach and write in my journal. Think I lasted about 15 minutes lol, it was so ridiculously hot on saturday. Oh one thing I do need to mention about Melbourne is the flies. They chase your relentlessly. Me and mel have both agreed we could prbably spend a lot of time in that city of it wasn't for the flies and the way they insist on landing on your face! Euw! On saturday night we had planned a night oout with Pete with a few drinking games in our hostel first. A couple of the girls we had met in Byron Bay, Nina and Andrea who we had met by chance in the city and swapped numbers with, arranged to come over to our hostel too and the crew from facebook were meeting us out in St.Kilda so we had quite a crew. Pete managed to get himself a bit drunk on the bottle of red wine he'd brought round with him and we got stuck into the goon. By the time we left the hostel we all felt nicely merry and we headed for a place on The Esplanade called The espey funnily (esplanade hotel). This place promised us a live music of the rock/indie variety and so we were looking forward to some good tunes. What they failed to tell us about was their lack of air con in the place. It was packed in there and very sweaty, for those of you that know Nottingham, think Ocean on a wednesday night but worse lol!

After lasting till about 1am and dancing to songs I didn't really know, we decided to wander down to the beach for a paddle to cool off. For some of us i.e. Pete and Jenna this turned into a fully fledged swim, Pete stripped down to his boxers but jen kept her clothes on lol! It was very funny and I got some great pics which I'll put on facebook at a later date (i.e. when I can be arsed!!) Watching pete walk home with sand in wrong places John Wayne stylee was highly amusing too!

We got up on sunday intending to meet the people from facebook for the last time at the St.Kilda art and craft market which happens every sunday on the Esplanade. The place was a bit like Peter Kay's joke about wedding buffets (chicken legs, vol-au-vents, cheesecake, you know the one) as the same stuff seemed to be repeated over and over. But it was nice to look round and to see the guys again - in the daytime for a change. After taking them down the pier which was a tad windy, we said our goodbyes as they haven't got plans to be in new zealand anytime soon. They're a great bunch of people and we got on straight away but I'm sure we'll meet up sometime on the future for a reunion. After all this I walked to Coles Supermarket to buy stuff for tea as we were treating Pete to lasagne and garlic bread for tea. We cooked in our hostel oven - hooray an oven - and then watched the DVD of his skydive over mission beach in queensland. It looks amazing and made me want to do one even more (sorry mum). We chatted till bedtime and Pete took himself off home.

On monday we got up to go to the Melbourne museum which was a bit of a trek just out of the main city shopping district. But first we stopped off at a food court and I had a lovely roast pork and gravy sandwich! Mmmmm! Hehehe. I needed some comfort food. The museum was good, we went in the Science and Life exhibit which was full of dead stuffed animals, lots of insects and an underwater experience which was all very interesting. Then we went and looked at the little dinosaur exhibit they had which wasn't a patch on the Natural History Museum before heading upstairs to the Body and Mind area. The body part was fascinating and reminded me why I chose Biology for my A-levels. All that stuff your body does is crazy and lots of facts about DNA and nerves came rushing back. By far the most interesting part was the stuff about the mind which explored concepts of dreams, depression and moods, memory and how it can be affected by different factors and psychosis and other mental disorders. I got very sucked into it all. The last exhibit was all about the aboriginals and how they had been affected when white people started dictating to them where they should live and how they should live their lives. I learnt a lot from this exhibit too and some of the things that happened were pretty shocking. The film Rabbit Proof Fence is based on this and I'd suggest to anyone to watch it. I did at Uni a few years ago now and seeing the exhibit consolidated what the film had told me.

After all this learning and being intelligent and insightful, we went back to St.Kilda on the tram to eat and then we had decided to go and see the little penguins that come in to roost on the rocks down the pier at sunset. Pete came too and we went down and saw the sweetest little birds hiding in the rocks. They were looking at the humans crowding round them in a very weird way. After waiting for what seemed like ages, 2 more appeared by the edge of the sea and quickly waddled their way up the small beach to the rocks. Very cute. Then as we were leaving, 3 more were sat on the rocks near to the sea, flapping their flippers and squawking their little heads off. It was quite a sight and very sweet. We wlaked back to the hostel and said goodnight to Pete. He was going to come round in the morning and wave us off. The it was time to pack, shower and sleep as we had to get up to go to the airport.

On tuesday morning we got up early and had the free pancakes our hostel offered before 9am (we had never been up in time before). Pete came round and walked with us to the bus stop where we said our goodbyes. It wasn't too sad as hopefully he will be coming home in a few months or so! But it was still weird to say bye all the same as it felt like we'd only been with him for a day or something. It was lovely to see him! Then we waited for our bus which picked us up and took us to melbourne airport where we checked in, went through security with no beeping and sat and waited for our plane. It was only a 3 and a half hour flight so by the time I had watched a film (Stardust - great film) and eaten my lunch (thai chicken and rice which was yummy) it was almost time to land in rainy Auckland.

So my first view of New Zealand was wet - just like Cairns but not quite as hot! We're 2 hours ahead of Oz and that makes me 13 hours ahead of you guys back at home. We got off and got our bags without any dramas but then mel had to declare that she had a wooden didgeridoo in her backpack which meant a search by customs. Luckily her bag only bot everyone's, but it did mean more queues! Fab! The customs lady was really nice though and we got through quite quickly and headed outside to get the Airbus into the City that would take us straight to our hostel, The Fat Camel. It took us about an hour to get there and we got checked into our 8 person dorm. The way the hostel is arranged is pretty cool, our dorm is one of 4 in a apartment type arrangement around a small communal kitchen and sitting area with a bathroom just off this. It's quite cute and feels like halls at uni. We dropped our stuff in our rooms and went to get a few supplies, i.e. bread and beans lol, before chilling out and talking about where we were planning on going and how we were going to do it. We went to bed with the idea that we'd get up and talk to the travel guy in our hostel about the best prices for transport around the north island.

So when we finally arose this morning we got dressed and we have booked a car that we're hiring for 3 days to do the Bay of Islands, staying in Paihia for 2 nights. The it's back to Auckland for a night in this hostel before leaving on saturday morning on the Stray bus on a tour of the best bits of the north island. Apparently stray are really good and we'll see loads of stuff. Sweet as!

After sorting all this out me, jen and mel went into the center of Auckland and checked out a few shops on the main shopping street, Queen St, including a few rugby shops! Then we walked up to the sky tower and watched people throwing themselves off the top and zooming down on a harness. Crazyness. Then we walked down towards the water and wandered around the harbour. The water here is sooo green, it's weird. Auckland is fairly small with not a lot to do so I'm glad we're leaving tomorrow really! Can't wait to get this show on the road. Speaking of which I need to go and pack my stuff for my little trip up to the Bay of Islands! Woooop!

Lots of love to everyone, those of you who are off to center parcs this weekedn have fun you lucky devils! Look after my mummy on her birthday for me! Love u lots mum!!

Smiffy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199551500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199551500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smiffy/oz_and_nz_07-08/1199551500/tpod.html Fri, 04 Jan 2008 20:38:26 -0500 A tale of 4 girls, a couple of countries and lots of adventure!

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Melbourne, Australia

G'day people!

Hope you've all recovered after your new year celebrations and that the year has started well for you. Ok so to get you up to speed I'm not in Melbourne, or St.Kilda to be exact which is on the outskirts of the city and is the beach area! It's tres cool!

When I last posted it was new years day, I felt a little weird and we were off for a BBQ in Manly that night. Turns out my feeling weird was just because I was so dehydrated from the heat and being out all day on new years, even though I was drinking pop all day! I just drank lots of dilute and took some pain killers and I felt realtively normal by tuesday evening. We caught the ferry from Circular Quay over to Manly for the BBQ. The apartment was overlooking Manly beach which had been closed for 2 days because the surf was too rough. Something to do with the cyclone that was over the west coast. We had a really nice evening and a friend of Jen's dad also came with his wife and little girl. He lives in Oz now but was originally from Ipswich and even went to Nottingham Trent (well Poly) and so we chatted to him about what he remembered of nottingham. He even has an aussie accent now, sounds like he was born here! We left to go back on the ferry after some yummy food and crawled into bed around midnight exhausted once again.

On wednesday we had to get up and check out of our rooms for 9am, so I took all my stuff and dumped it out on the balcony to pack later lol! We had all day before the 8pm overnighter to Melbourne. I did nothing all day excpet go on the internet and then we went to the $5 a meal pub for our tea and met jenna and her sister christina there as she was planning on coming down for a few days and experiencing a bit of the travelling life. We headed down to the station for our 8pm bus and it was a right shambles! The driver didn't have a list of people who were supposed to be going on bus 1 or 2 and we didn't know which one we were on either. Thankfully a bloke from greyhound came and rescued the situation with the list from the office and we were on bus 1. We settled in for a long night, I managed to get myself a double seat - bonus - but I didn't sleep until after our truck stop at 3am where I had the stodgiest pie in the world! Managed to get a couple of hours sleep after that then when I woke up we were nearly there. Thank goodness cos those seats are not made for comfort.

We pulled into the station and found that there was soemone there to drive us to St.Kilda which meant we didn't need to get the tram with our bags! Yay! This guy was really cool and pointed out some places in melbourne that we might want to see. We got to our hostel and got checked in after a bit of a wait because it wasn't quite 10am. I had a much needed shower and then I called Pete! His hostel is just up the road from ours so he said he would see me outside in 2 minutes. I was sooo excited to see him, it's been ages! I went and waited outside and then he appeared walking down the street so I started walking up to meet him. Atr which point he started running with his arms out so I started running too (although I was screaming a little bit aswell)! He picked me up and swung me round then gave me a big hug and kiss lol! It's so lovely to see him again!!

I took Pete in to see the girls in our room and we had a big catch up session before he took us out and showed us around St.Kilda. We ended up on the pier, which is lovely and has great views and then onto this little boardwalk where we could step off onto this tiny little bit of sand and have a paddle. At night time there are these little penguins that come to this place and I plan on going to see them one night. It was a boiling hot day (just like today actually) so it was nice to cool down in the sea. We had a few photos and then wandered back to this little cafe where I had a gorgeous melon fruit salad. We went back to the hostel via coles and arranged to see Pete later for a meal and a night out.

After a lovely, and quite long, nap I called Pete and told him to meet us as the thai place we were going to at 7pm. We got down there and waited for the stragglers (jen, jolly and christina) to catch up and had some yummy thai curry. Possibly the nicest since I've been in thailand. We then caught a tram into town and went to a bar Pete knew called 'Cookie' which was lovely if a little expensive. It was a bit like Brown's in Nottingham inside but much bigger. After the expensive drinks we wanted some cheap ones, so we caught the tram back to St.Kilda and went to a place called Traffik, just a few doors down from our hostel. They did $2 champagne till 1am so we made the most of it lol! It was great to be able to have a drink and a dance with Pete again. And it was a Thursday! About time too!! The music was a bit dance-y but the campers was flowing so I didn't care hehe! Had a great night and ended up rolling home about 2ish.

Yesterday (Friday) we had a lie in and then Pete took us into Melbourne before he went to work. We walked round the main areas of the city, taking in the sites and trying to stick to the shade because it is ridiculously hot in melbourne at the moment. Think it's 30 odd degrees today. We went down some cute littl backstreets and I had a lovely chocolate milkshake in this tiny little cafe called 'the little cupcake'. Had a lovely time wandering around the shops and bought a few things to send home. Pete had to be at work for 5pm so he left us to make our own way home which we did on the tram. We had planned to have the hostel's BBQ for tea so we bought tickets for it when we got back and went up to the roof. It was the best hostel BBQ I've had out here because it wasn't just burgers and sausages, they had massive marinated chicken breasts and drumsticks too. Plus a big salad and onions! It was yummy. After that I had a shower and got ready for bed as I was shattered. The extreme heat totally wipes you out over here.

Today jen, jolly and christina have gone to the neighbours set so me and mel had a lie in then we're just pleasing ourselves. Planning on a night out again tonight with Pete but gonna do some cheap drinking first! Goon here I come! Then we're gonna go to a place called 'the espey hotel' in st.kilda as it's rock and indie night with live bands! Can't wait for some proper music!!

Anyway I'm gonna go cos my tan is in dange of fading if I stay inside for much longer hehehe! Lots of love everyone and hope it's not too cold at home! Just think of me sweating it out over here and I'm sure you'll feel better!! ;o)

Love and hugs, Smiffy xxxxxx
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