After 6 weeks, New Zealand is coming to an end.
We have traveled around, north to south, east to west, totaling up over 7 thousand Kilometers. Its been an adventure, its been inspiring, and its been expensive. But worth every penny!!
We have picked up 4 hitch hikers on route, stopped at too many vineyards to remember - tasting wines varying from petrol to passion fruit. We've camped at 3 petrol stations, been to 3 spas, eaten lamb only once but eaten chili con carne aver 20 times (never eating it again), become aces at making Tuna pasta (another, ' not eating that again' food stuff) and avid fans of 'luncheon meat' . We've embraced illegal freedom camping, but told to 'move on' only once. We bought snorkels and snorkeled in stormy waters seeing nothing, burnt feet on hot water beach, been shocked at the price on internet at every moment of the day, wallowed in natural thermal rivers getting too hot and slept in the van in freezing conditions only to wake up with frozen windows. We have seen New Zealand's stunning landscapes from both ground and air, jumped from suspended platforms and from planes. We've come to think of a hot shower to be a luxury, been initiated into the camper van club by giving the obligatory wave to every, and i mean every van we drive past, made countless U turns, visited every I-site and had no trouble with the language barrier for once! And to top it off on our last day we saw hundreds of baby fur seals messing around in a waterfall pool. Overall Its been incredible and memorable, and we now have no money left.
So what have we done in our last few poverty stricken days.. we have watched the world cup, drank copious amount of alcohol, eaten out at an indian where he did us a very 'hush- hush' deal, lunched at a thai restaurant with speakers big enough for a night club, and more recently lunched at a Harry Krishna vegetarian place, with harry him self serving us! Well, you gotta live properly hav'nt you!?!
Tonight its an all night sports fest, starting with NZv IRL rugby, then world cup footie with Argentina taking on someone( and being now a bit argentine, we will be wholly behind our second home nation) then its the england game. Thanks to time differences, we shall start this marathon at 7.30 pm, and get back to our room at around 8.30 am tomorrow. We will then catch (or not) a plane to sydney, where we shall sleep for days.
I hope you have enjoyed our traveling blogs. Sydney and the following months will be a little different, with us trying to get jobs to enable us to continue this trip until the real world catches up with us. While the blogs may involve less stuff about where we have been ( not that most of them have informed you of this, leaving it to a blog like this which tries to list all the highlights as the others have been far to full random stories, and hungover blatherings) we hope to continue them in some shape and form. The pics will also keep on coming and get close to up to date very soon, as if you were relying on them to see where we had been, you would think we stopped at the top of a Patagonian mountain for the last 2 months!
Its been amazing, and now i must go as i want to have a minute or two of sleep before our last night as backpackers.... for a while anyway!
jonny xx
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Friday, 11 June 2010
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Lemmings on Tour
Well we all survived. It was pretty scary getting a little cable car out to a pod in the middle of a canyon. Further still knowing that soon I would be jumping from that pod for no apparent reason. It didnt help that the pod in question had a glass floor and sweyed with every movement.
As one of the heaviest I was thrid to jump. A little nervous one might say I think I had the look of a rabbit in headlights. I edged over to the ledge and on the count of three leaped into nothingness. I managed to perform a scream reminicent of Barry White singing according to eye witnesses. Still the bungy didnt snap and we all made it safely. My foot release mechanism failed so I had to be winched back up upside-down.
Then onto a Sky Dive. Another tremendous Barry White voice for my concerningly depressed jump instructor but a much more beautiful and enjoyable experiance. Especially the glide down - very serene.
All in all its been an action packed few days. We're going to calm down now with a nice mountain walk. I cant help looking up at them though and wondering "I wonder if we could attach a bungy rope to that..."
Steve x x
As one of the heaviest I was thrid to jump. A little nervous one might say I think I had the look of a rabbit in headlights. I edged over to the ledge and on the count of three leaped into nothingness. I managed to perform a scream reminicent of Barry White singing according to eye witnesses. Still the bungy didnt snap and we all made it safely. My foot release mechanism failed so I had to be winched back up upside-down.
Then onto a Sky Dive. Another tremendous Barry White voice for my concerningly depressed jump instructor but a much more beautiful and enjoyable experiance. Especially the glide down - very serene.
All in all its been an action packed few days. We're going to calm down now with a nice mountain walk. I cant help looking up at them though and wondering "I wonder if we could attach a bungy rope to that..."
Steve x x
Friday, 28 May 2010
Just about to jump down a gorge!
A little daunting I must say. But I'm committed now. I've made my plan of how I'm going to so it. I'd like to think I can just run and jump off but who am I kidding, they're gonna have to wrestle me over the edge. Screaming probably. I just hope I don't humiliate myself in any way. I'm also concerned about my trousers splitting but its a long story.
Well, in a few hours I'll write my report on the event and let you know how I got on. Hopefully not from a hospital bed. Don't panic Mum.
Until later...
Steve x x
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
You can take the boys out of surrey...
...but you can't take surrey out of the boys! More on that later, as there is soooo much to tell!
Its seems like a life time since we got time to write some rubbish on here, if fact it was only a week and a half ago, but what a week and a half that has been. We have been all the way up to the most northern point of NZ, stopping of at the bay of islands, where there is nothing else to do that get on a boat or play golf on one of the most picturesque golf courses i have ever seen. Those you know me will realise that my knowledge of golf courses is a little limited if even, non existant, but it beats both Cranleigh golf and leasuire ( or whatever its now called) and Little Hamtons' world class crazy golf/pitch and put, despite the lack of the train through the middle of hole 4. We, as had become normal did neither of these must do activities. The weather was crap so it was pointless getting on the water tho i think it was the cost which put us off most, but we did get closer to the golfing part. We walked into the club house, asked about the price, and then walked out quicker than a sheep falling off a mountain ledge. ( don't ask)
We have also seen lots of other beautiful things, and that is what NZ is, BEAUTIFUL! My highlight, if you care, was wallowing in a thermal stream today. Hot stream met cold and you could choose to poach your self, be comfortable, or really cold. We did all. And best of all, it was FREE and very natural!
So, why cant you take surrey out of the boys.. i shall explain...
Our camper van is mental. Its a 4 berth, the type that retired folk use when they travel around holding up the M4 on a rainy British summers day. We have a shower, toilet, kitchen similar to most uni halls operations, and of course 2 front seats and an entertaining area/bed, and another bed.. Most backpackers squeeze into a tiny van, but we are not like most backpackers, cos we are from surrey darling.
In NZ you do a lot of driving, and that really is one of the things to 'do'. A plus side of this is that you drive past, or in our case drive into, a lot of vineyards. While in these we have taken it upon our selves to learn as much as we can about our beloved wine, as well as divulging, far to many times to remembers, how, while we are just 23, we love wine and port, and that we actually sometimes stay in and have wine and cheese nights. We have had some odd looks, but we dont care, most are free tastings, and actually have some pretty good wines on offer. People have said that travels takes longer than you think when they are such small distances in NZ but they don't know why. We know why...we call into far to many vineyards, and pop into so many roadside stalls looking for perfect avocados.
Talking of food, we also eat very well, not a 'thing' that backpackers do. We met a German girl the other night whilst preparing our dinner food who had trundled into town with, from what i can remember,a piece of ham and no money in her bank account. I was in the middle of preparing fresh mussels, or moule mariniere if you are, like me, fluent in french. I was also in the middle of pouring white wine into the mussles, which later we had to drink other wise it would have been a waste. Most backpackers, given a bottle of wine wine, would never 'waste it' in food. She said you can get mussels from the beach for free.. i nearly told her where to go, tho Im sure it was an innocent mistake , Im sure she did not know we were from surrey and would never scavenge for food- our parents taught us that!!
This was not our first taste of mussels, we had had some lovely smoked mussels as a starter the other day, followed by Lamb chops, and a fruit salad to finish it off.. im sure we also followed it by a wee bit of port we had recently purchased!
So that's it, that's why you can take the boys out of surrey but you , in no way, can take surrey out of the boys. James' dad gave him some advice, sleep rough, but eat well. We say... do nothing rough and eat very, very, very well! We ceratinly dont want to start following the first part of the mantra anytime soon.
I must go now, we have a 5 star holiday park to check into and those oysters need to be eaten.
much love
jonny xxx
Its seems like a life time since we got time to write some rubbish on here, if fact it was only a week and a half ago, but what a week and a half that has been. We have been all the way up to the most northern point of NZ, stopping of at the bay of islands, where there is nothing else to do that get on a boat or play golf on one of the most picturesque golf courses i have ever seen. Those you know me will realise that my knowledge of golf courses is a little limited if even, non existant, but it beats both Cranleigh golf and leasuire ( or whatever its now called) and Little Hamtons' world class crazy golf/pitch and put, despite the lack of the train through the middle of hole 4. We, as had become normal did neither of these must do activities. The weather was crap so it was pointless getting on the water tho i think it was the cost which put us off most, but we did get closer to the golfing part. We walked into the club house, asked about the price, and then walked out quicker than a sheep falling off a mountain ledge. ( don't ask)
We have also seen lots of other beautiful things, and that is what NZ is, BEAUTIFUL! My highlight, if you care, was wallowing in a thermal stream today. Hot stream met cold and you could choose to poach your self, be comfortable, or really cold. We did all. And best of all, it was FREE and very natural!
So, why cant you take surrey out of the boys.. i shall explain...
Our camper van is mental. Its a 4 berth, the type that retired folk use when they travel around holding up the M4 on a rainy British summers day. We have a shower, toilet, kitchen similar to most uni halls operations, and of course 2 front seats and an entertaining area/bed, and another bed.. Most backpackers squeeze into a tiny van, but we are not like most backpackers, cos we are from surrey darling.
In NZ you do a lot of driving, and that really is one of the things to 'do'. A plus side of this is that you drive past, or in our case drive into, a lot of vineyards. While in these we have taken it upon our selves to learn as much as we can about our beloved wine, as well as divulging, far to many times to remembers, how, while we are just 23, we love wine and port, and that we actually sometimes stay in and have wine and cheese nights. We have had some odd looks, but we dont care, most are free tastings, and actually have some pretty good wines on offer. People have said that travels takes longer than you think when they are such small distances in NZ but they don't know why. We know why...we call into far to many vineyards, and pop into so many roadside stalls looking for perfect avocados.
Talking of food, we also eat very well, not a 'thing' that backpackers do. We met a German girl the other night whilst preparing our dinner food who had trundled into town with, from what i can remember,a piece of ham and no money in her bank account. I was in the middle of preparing fresh mussels, or moule mariniere if you are, like me, fluent in french. I was also in the middle of pouring white wine into the mussles, which later we had to drink other wise it would have been a waste. Most backpackers, given a bottle of wine wine, would never 'waste it' in food. She said you can get mussels from the beach for free.. i nearly told her where to go, tho Im sure it was an innocent mistake , Im sure she did not know we were from surrey and would never scavenge for food- our parents taught us that!!
This was not our first taste of mussels, we had had some lovely smoked mussels as a starter the other day, followed by Lamb chops, and a fruit salad to finish it off.. im sure we also followed it by a wee bit of port we had recently purchased!
So that's it, that's why you can take the boys out of surrey but you , in no way, can take surrey out of the boys. James' dad gave him some advice, sleep rough, but eat well. We say... do nothing rough and eat very, very, very well! We ceratinly dont want to start following the first part of the mantra anytime soon.
I must go now, we have a 5 star holiday park to check into and those oysters need to be eaten.
much love
jonny xxx
Friday, 30 April 2010
New Zealand!
Hellooooo! We have arrived. Its Saturday morning in Aukland - We left Chile on Thursday night.
Well since we last spoke we have visited Lake Titicaka which was moderately impressive.
Following that we entered northern Chile and into La Serena where we went on a Pisco (a Chilean brandy) tour followed by a world class observatory. There we saw the moon blindingly bight through detailed telescopes, the Orion Nebula and Saturn complete with rings. The whole thing was incredible and very exciting.
Onwards to Santiago and we had a brilliant farewell to South America. There we went on a walking tour for free with a guide from our hostel. One of our highlights was a "Coffee Shop with Legs" - right in the heart of the finance district a coffee shop for office hours with some of the most stunning women in Santiago as your Barristas. Following this we went to a dingy underground bar where at 5 in the afternoon, everybody was hammered. We quickly found out why when we tried the local speciality which translated to "The Earthquake" Three of those and we were struggling to get to the airport. Got to chat to crazy locals before embarking towards our current location.
We will keep you updated as to our progress as usual - today we are going to find a campervan to hire for our 6 week road trip!
Loads of love
Steve x x
Well since we last spoke we have visited Lake Titicaka which was moderately impressive.
Following that we entered northern Chile and into La Serena where we went on a Pisco (a Chilean brandy) tour followed by a world class observatory. There we saw the moon blindingly bight through detailed telescopes, the Orion Nebula and Saturn complete with rings. The whole thing was incredible and very exciting.
Onwards to Santiago and we had a brilliant farewell to South America. There we went on a walking tour for free with a guide from our hostel. One of our highlights was a "Coffee Shop with Legs" - right in the heart of the finance district a coffee shop for office hours with some of the most stunning women in Santiago as your Barristas. Following this we went to a dingy underground bar where at 5 in the afternoon, everybody was hammered. We quickly found out why when we tried the local speciality which translated to "The Earthquake" Three of those and we were struggling to get to the airport. Got to chat to crazy locals before embarking towards our current location.
We will keep you updated as to our progress as usual - today we are going to find a campervan to hire for our 6 week road trip!
Loads of love
Steve x x
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