Okay, so a lot has happened since I've last blogged and I've started to get confused. I may have to skip over the rest of NZ otherwise I'm just going to get bored (and, let's face it, so will you... cos if I think I'm boring goodness knows everyone else probably got bored about 10 paragraphs earlier).
SO! Went around the rest of NZ. Major highlights include staying at Lan's family member (2nd cousin or something equally distant)'s house on a vineyard and having a tour of the vineyard, as well as lots of free wine and a luxurious hot-tub. I'm sure we also saw lots of cool and impressive things but I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, apologies. We got the ferry back over to the South Island again and then off I went to Christchurch airport (after a bit of an emotional goodbye after the realisation that I may not see Lan again until my weddings - or her's but she claims she doesn't want one - and who knows if I will ever get married?!?!) and flew on over to Melbourne. Bit of disappointing PF (plane food duh) as advertised as chicken pie but was really just chicken in breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs do not = pastry. Silly air NZ peeps. Bit of excitement on the plane as was sat across the aisle from a sick person who was lying on a stretcher and had to have their blood pressure checked every hour. Obviously I didn't tell them I thought this was exciting but was instead suitably sympathetic. Watched The Soloist (very good) and The Invention of Lying (also very good).
Aaaanyways, got to Melbourne, got bus from airport, checked into hostel which was nice. Chatted to a girl who sounds JUST like Alannah (Lanny are you from Devon cos she is) who was very nice for a while until Claire arrived (after getting a bit lost, silly...) She had to go to work tomorrow so we just had a quick drink and then I got the train back with her just to keep her company, which also meant I could see Zan (who has grown a ridiculous moustache for all of those who know him and want to laugh) when he came to pick her up from the station so that was all very lovely.
Today I did the walking tour of Melbourne from my lonely planet, which passed FAR too many shops and thus forced me to buy rather too much (forced me!). Am loving Melbourne, is very different from NZ's beautiful scenic-ness but very cool. Lots of graffiti-type street art things which are fun, excellent cafes (I hope you visited lots when you were here Chrissy) and as I said, awesome shops with lots of pretty dresses (and shoes, and bags, and sunglasses...) Am still trying to find yellow face / body paint for my bananas-in-pyjamas outfit for Claire's friend's party.
Oh just remembered another NZ thing. Bought some 50c (c 25p!) amazing corn-on-the-cob and bbqed it, as recommended by these crazy tattooed biker guys who we met at a campsite (and proceeded to chat to all night - very random but cool) and it was delicious. So have now bought more corn (3 for 2$, not as cheap boo) which I will have to make do with microwaving tonight.
Just about to go phone the stand-by-cars people to hopefully get Claire & me a campervan or something to head to Sydney in - exciting times. I'll keep you all posted of course.
Hope everyone is doing very well. Will probably blog again once I get to Claire's at the weekend. Miss you all lots xxx
PS I heard there was more snow in London?! It's 30 degrees here teehee.
Thursday 25 February 2010
Friday 19 February 2010
Another quick one just to fill you in on today because had a super fun day!
Yesterday we drove North from Auckland and camped some more. I'm feeling much less ill now by the way, just lots of nose blowing. Amusingly the lady said it was "perfect weather for camping, it's not rained here in weeks" and then of course it started howling a gale around 2am so we had to get up and shut all the windows of the tent and then of course I had to wee twice and our tent was miles away from the toilets and I got soaked. Anyways, that wasn't the point...
Today we went on a coach tour which involved driving up the beach which was very cool but main highlight was sand dune toboganing (sp?!) which was awesome fun. Obviously I fell off when no one else did. Silly Jules. We also went to some gum tree thingy which was good and generally it was a fun day. I also finished another book, which is obviously always a highlight of my day. OH! And the sandwiches on the trip were ace - triple decker ham / v tasty pickle / cucumber / tomato. I had seconds of course.
Yum yum yum. xxx
Yesterday we drove North from Auckland and camped some more. I'm feeling much less ill now by the way, just lots of nose blowing. Amusingly the lady said it was "perfect weather for camping, it's not rained here in weeks" and then of course it started howling a gale around 2am so we had to get up and shut all the windows of the tent and then of course I had to wee twice and our tent was miles away from the toilets and I got soaked. Anyways, that wasn't the point...
Today we went on a coach tour which involved driving up the beach which was very cool but main highlight was sand dune toboganing (sp?!) which was awesome fun. Obviously I fell off when no one else did. Silly Jules. We also went to some gum tree thingy which was good and generally it was a fun day. I also finished another book, which is obviously always a highlight of my day. OH! And the sandwiches on the trip were ace - triple decker ham / v tasty pickle / cucumber / tomato. I had seconds of course.
Yum yum yum. xxx
Wednesday 17 February 2010
"You bring the body and I'll bring the steam" (slighty saucy but relevant old-school song quote there)
Okay, so as I said we were planning, we've had a volcanic / hot stuff etc extravaganza in the past few days. I have completely lost track of days of the week so use your imagination / bonus points for people who can work out what days I'm talking about.
Went to Huka falls which was indeed a big and impressive waterfall. Also the
'craters of the moon' which did look like craters but big steaming ones like they were about to explode. Also saw some rapids which have a massive dam in them which is opened 4 times a day (largely for the tourists). A 2 minute warning goes off, hilarious numbers of tourists rush towards the bridge in a frantic panic, and then suddenly huge huge amounts of water come crashing through what was previously dry rocks. Pretty cool. By far the coolest thing around Taupo though was Orakei Korake (sp?!) or Hidden Valley as it is in non-Maori. It's difficult to explain (check out the photos) but was like being in another world of awesome colours and steaming things and bubbling mud.
After 3 nights in that camp site in Taupo we moved onto another campsite by the beach, which would've been awesome in theory except it chucked it down the whole time we were there so we saw no beach, just inside of tent. We also went via Mount Teranaki but didn't see much of that due to cloud (see photos again). Er I am getting really bad at remembering stuff. Maybe I need to start making notes?
Anyways, am currently in Auckland. It's weirdly huge and spread out cos all kiwis expect to have a house to themselves and a garden so even in the biggest city no one will live in flats. So even though there are only about a million or so here it's way bigger than London. But nothing old or pretty! We're staying with Lan's lovely friend (who is a chef, mmmm yummy food for Jules) and her hot rugby-playing boyfriend (who won't let me come watch him train, shame on him). Yesterday I went into Auckland on the train which was good. Lots of sitting around in cafes eating cake, drinking tea and reading my book ie ideal Julia holiday material. I was going to go up the sky tower which is Auckland's most famous monument (although I thought just a bit of a crappy version of the one in Seattle?!) but it was too cloudy so I didn't think it was worth the $30. Went to an art gallery instead which had lots of cool Maori and Maori-inspired art (as well as a cafe with nice cake!) so that was good too. Also did a spot of shopping, including some souvenirs for you lovely folks. Obviously the highlight was finding upwords in a whsmith-type shop, sadly not for 5pounds like the McKinley bargain upwords and I decided it was really too bulky to carry around the rest of NZ / Aus / US so that was distressing of course.
Woke up today with a nasty cold / tonsilitis-type thing so have spent the day watching the olympics, on facebook and reading my book. As well as eating far too many delicious home-made brownies. So again, excellent Julia holiday stuff.
Okay, I have been told that I need to ask more questions on my blog so here goes. Oh, and answer to glacier one was The Devil Wears Prada.
1) What is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere?
2) Why is the water in some super cool NZ lakes so blue?
3) Who sings the song of this blog title?
4) What is the acronym of Especially Super Terrific Umbrellas Are Really Yummy?!
Tune in next time for the answers...
One more week in NZ then off to Aus and Clairey! May not get on again before then so enjoy, savour the photos, and keep texting. Text thanks go to Fruity, Dave, Chrissy, Jim, Trots AND E-war this time. Well done people! xxx
Went to Huka falls which was indeed a big and impressive waterfall. Also the
'craters of the moon' which did look like craters but big steaming ones like they were about to explode. Also saw some rapids which have a massive dam in them which is opened 4 times a day (largely for the tourists). A 2 minute warning goes off, hilarious numbers of tourists rush towards the bridge in a frantic panic, and then suddenly huge huge amounts of water come crashing through what was previously dry rocks. Pretty cool. By far the coolest thing around Taupo though was Orakei Korake (sp?!) or Hidden Valley as it is in non-Maori. It's difficult to explain (check out the photos) but was like being in another world of awesome colours and steaming things and bubbling mud.
After 3 nights in that camp site in Taupo we moved onto another campsite by the beach, which would've been awesome in theory except it chucked it down the whole time we were there so we saw no beach, just inside of tent. We also went via Mount Teranaki but didn't see much of that due to cloud (see photos again). Er I am getting really bad at remembering stuff. Maybe I need to start making notes?
Anyways, am currently in Auckland. It's weirdly huge and spread out cos all kiwis expect to have a house to themselves and a garden so even in the biggest city no one will live in flats. So even though there are only about a million or so here it's way bigger than London. But nothing old or pretty! We're staying with Lan's lovely friend (who is a chef, mmmm yummy food for Jules) and her hot rugby-playing boyfriend (who won't let me come watch him train, shame on him). Yesterday I went into Auckland on the train which was good. Lots of sitting around in cafes eating cake, drinking tea and reading my book ie ideal Julia holiday material. I was going to go up the sky tower which is Auckland's most famous monument (although I thought just a bit of a crappy version of the one in Seattle?!) but it was too cloudy so I didn't think it was worth the $30. Went to an art gallery instead which had lots of cool Maori and Maori-inspired art (as well as a cafe with nice cake!) so that was good too. Also did a spot of shopping, including some souvenirs for you lovely folks. Obviously the highlight was finding upwords in a whsmith-type shop, sadly not for 5pounds like the McKinley bargain upwords and I decided it was really too bulky to carry around the rest of NZ / Aus / US so that was distressing of course.
Woke up today with a nasty cold / tonsilitis-type thing so have spent the day watching the olympics, on facebook and reading my book. As well as eating far too many delicious home-made brownies. So again, excellent Julia holiday stuff.
Okay, I have been told that I need to ask more questions on my blog so here goes. Oh, and answer to glacier one was The Devil Wears Prada.
1) What is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere?
2) Why is the water in some super cool NZ lakes so blue?
3) Who sings the song of this blog title?
4) What is the acronym of Especially Super Terrific Umbrellas Are Really Yummy?!
Tune in next time for the answers...
One more week in NZ then off to Aus and Clairey! May not get on again before then so enjoy, savour the photos, and keep texting. Text thanks go to Fruity, Dave, Chrissy, Jim, Trots AND E-war this time. Well done people! xxx
Friday 12 February 2010
North Island
Hi de hi kids, hope all are well.
Another quickie-ish one as am once again paying for internet.
Had very fun boat trip from South to North islands - the superbowl was on and we found some (hot) yanks to explain the rules and keep us entertained. Was cool.
Then we got into Wellington and the hostel was very nice. I got chatting to some dude in our room so we invited him out with us. We went to Jim's brother's pub in town and although he was working we got some free drinks and chatted with the very very drunk kitchen hand and another girl and it was good times. Lan and I then went to see Precious which was very distressing but made me think how I definitely do want to do my new future career so that's cool.
Next day (er, Tuesday?) we went to the NZ museum which was good and then I went shopping. Had to buy a new camera because I am a retard who takes my camera to the beach and gets sand stuck in it, the new one is very ugly (as waterproof) but has a special mode for taking pictures of food! How useful for me!
Then in the evening we met up with Jim's brother again (hotter, taller, less sillily facial pierced version of Jim, good times) and he got us way too much free wine. Went off dancing, met up with some of his work colleagues, happy days.
Next day Lan and I were suffering somewhat so in the confusion forgot to go to all the places we were supposed to go that day, but made it in one piece anyway. Camped that day, next day went to rugby musuem, town called bulls with loads of awesome puns (bank is called bank-a-bull, beauticians called beauty-fy-a-bull etc) and a few other places.
Now in nice new campsite, off to see hot springs etc today, weather is back to being sunny again yay. No money left so will say bye bye. Lots of love xxx
Another quickie-ish one as am once again paying for internet.
Had very fun boat trip from South to North islands - the superbowl was on and we found some (hot) yanks to explain the rules and keep us entertained. Was cool.
Then we got into Wellington and the hostel was very nice. I got chatting to some dude in our room so we invited him out with us. We went to Jim's brother's pub in town and although he was working we got some free drinks and chatted with the very very drunk kitchen hand and another girl and it was good times. Lan and I then went to see Precious which was very distressing but made me think how I definitely do want to do my new future career so that's cool.
Next day (er, Tuesday?) we went to the NZ museum which was good and then I went shopping. Had to buy a new camera because I am a retard who takes my camera to the beach and gets sand stuck in it, the new one is very ugly (as waterproof) but has a special mode for taking pictures of food! How useful for me!
Then in the evening we met up with Jim's brother again (hotter, taller, less sillily facial pierced version of Jim, good times) and he got us way too much free wine. Went off dancing, met up with some of his work colleagues, happy days.
Next day Lan and I were suffering somewhat so in the confusion forgot to go to all the places we were supposed to go that day, but made it in one piece anyway. Camped that day, next day went to rugby musuem, town called bulls with loads of awesome puns (bank is called bank-a-bull, beauticians called beauty-fy-a-bull etc) and a few other places.
Now in nice new campsite, off to see hot springs etc today, weather is back to being sunny again yay. No money left so will say bye bye. Lots of love xxx
Sunday 7 February 2010
'By all means, move at a glacial pace'
Haven't really been up to much since the last blog to be honest. Saw the glaciers as planned, they were impressive but not like I thought they'd be. Do I recall correctly, McKinley family members, that we saw a glacier somewhere and actually stood on it? Perhaps the Jung Frau Joch (sp?!)?? Or in Canada? It was very big and cool though nonetheless, and learned lots of interesting glacier-y type facts, such as that it takes 5 years for snow fall at the top to reach the bottom that's how slow they are.
More camping in a random little town with lots of churches that night, ate some kumara (sweet potato) chips which were delicious and a venison sausage which was less so. Beat Alana at spiderman uno, for which she threatened to drive off in the morning while I was still sleeping and leave me on my todd. Silly.
Then the next day involved huge amounts of driving in the heat again, once again I managed to get heatstroke / carsickness combo which resulted in my wandering around like a lost sheep feeling very rough. But then we arrived at Alana's lovely friend Renee's house where I have been fed like a King. Many many home-made puddings and sheep killed by the man of the house and veggies grown in the garden. As was suggested by a certain Mr West, like the 1950s in the nicest possible way... Yesterday I mainly worked on my tan (which is getting better all the time) but today it is cloudy (despicable!) so I have been reading up on Aus and preparing myself for AAAA (awesome around australia adventure). Looking into super-cheap campervan-hiring options - loving the image of me behind the wheel of one. The roads in Aus are easy, right...?! Am debating not doing the surfing tour to allow myself more time to get around, the lonely planet seems to think I should be staying about 3 times longer than I am. Hmm... Definitely will do at least a lesson though, who knows, surfing may be my secret sporting talent! (Somehow I doubt this, but you never know...)
Tonight I believe I am eating BBQ, perhaps with fresh fish caught by Renee's partner on his fishing trip. Oh I am spoilt. Hopefully the sun will come out later too. If not I am also enjoying my newest book (from a second hand book shop, not seen any book swaps lately sadly) about London in the plague. Am also reading the Kite Runner aloud to Alana (reminds me of happy teacher-ing times) which is good too. Also been watching some rugby 7s and deciding on my future husband - there's a very toothy one that I think I would have excellent smiley babies with - although sadly we are arriving in Wellington tomorrow and it's all over already. Silly timing Julia. So yes, ferry to Wellington (on North island) tomorrow then we're there in a hostel for a couple of nights. Then we're having a camping fest (hopefully will be less painful as have borrowed air beds from Renee - this has been officially approved as acceptable since i am working up to proper camping for all you doubters of my hardcore-ness out there) around the middle of the island before heading to another friend of Alana's in Auckland around Tuesday week. So probably won't be online much before then, but keep your emails /texts / facebooks coming, I'm having odd bursts of homesickness so it's very lovely to hear from people. Text thanks this time go out to Lanny and E-war.
Oh, and correct answer to the 'which is the most photographed building in the southern hemisphere question' was indeed Sydney Opera house. Well done to Lanny, Chris and daddy Mc for getting it right. Today's task is to name the film from which this blog's title quote comes from (Clakes, if you don't get it i'll be appalled!)
Bye for now, speak to you all again from the North Island... xx
More camping in a random little town with lots of churches that night, ate some kumara (sweet potato) chips which were delicious and a venison sausage which was less so. Beat Alana at spiderman uno, for which she threatened to drive off in the morning while I was still sleeping and leave me on my todd. Silly.
Then the next day involved huge amounts of driving in the heat again, once again I managed to get heatstroke / carsickness combo which resulted in my wandering around like a lost sheep feeling very rough. But then we arrived at Alana's lovely friend Renee's house where I have been fed like a King. Many many home-made puddings and sheep killed by the man of the house and veggies grown in the garden. As was suggested by a certain Mr West, like the 1950s in the nicest possible way... Yesterday I mainly worked on my tan (which is getting better all the time) but today it is cloudy (despicable!) so I have been reading up on Aus and preparing myself for AAAA (awesome around australia adventure). Looking into super-cheap campervan-hiring options - loving the image of me behind the wheel of one. The roads in Aus are easy, right...?! Am debating not doing the surfing tour to allow myself more time to get around, the lonely planet seems to think I should be staying about 3 times longer than I am. Hmm... Definitely will do at least a lesson though, who knows, surfing may be my secret sporting talent! (Somehow I doubt this, but you never know...)
Tonight I believe I am eating BBQ, perhaps with fresh fish caught by Renee's partner on his fishing trip. Oh I am spoilt. Hopefully the sun will come out later too. If not I am also enjoying my newest book (from a second hand book shop, not seen any book swaps lately sadly) about London in the plague. Am also reading the Kite Runner aloud to Alana (reminds me of happy teacher-ing times) which is good too. Also been watching some rugby 7s and deciding on my future husband - there's a very toothy one that I think I would have excellent smiley babies with - although sadly we are arriving in Wellington tomorrow and it's all over already. Silly timing Julia. So yes, ferry to Wellington (on North island) tomorrow then we're there in a hostel for a couple of nights. Then we're having a camping fest (hopefully will be less painful as have borrowed air beds from Renee - this has been officially approved as acceptable since i am working up to proper camping for all you doubters of my hardcore-ness out there) around the middle of the island before heading to another friend of Alana's in Auckland around Tuesday week. So probably won't be online much before then, but keep your emails /texts / facebooks coming, I'm having odd bursts of homesickness so it's very lovely to hear from people. Text thanks this time go out to Lanny and E-war.
Oh, and correct answer to the 'which is the most photographed building in the southern hemisphere question' was indeed Sydney Opera house. Well done to Lanny, Chris and daddy Mc for getting it right. Today's task is to name the film from which this blog's title quote comes from (Clakes, if you don't get it i'll be appalled!)
Bye for now, speak to you all again from the North Island... xx
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Camperific
Howdy ho, just a quickie cos I'm paying for internet, pah.
Have survived camping so far! We are hardly slumming it though as this place has internet, showers etc. Although showers are broken (so half price for the site) so cold ones = sort of hardcore.
Yesterday was crazy busy and involved getting up at six, a boat trip to a sound (which is apparently where the sea unexpectedly goes into a sort of lake type thing - who knew?!) and far, far too much driving, so today we have been super lazy. It's c. 32 degrees and I think I had a touch of heat stroke yesterday, couldn't form sentences properly when talking to guy in a hostel (although possibly was because he was exceedingly attractive?!!) so today I have been wearing my hat religiously and drinking lots of water. New hat actually - 3 dollar cowboy hat! Happy bargain days. Swam in the lake yesterday which was lovely. It's super pretty and mountainy and lakey and cool.
Tomorrow we're going to the glaciers which will be nice as hopefully it'll be a bit cooler. Hot weather is a bit of a shocker in February, but the tan is coming along nicely. Alana has got a rash from the suncream, teehee. Avacadoes have gone up to 2dollars in this touristy town, very distressing compared to the bargain 75c ones in Dunedin.
Only 48 seconds left so just time to say ta to Fruity, Dave and Trots for their texts. Keep 'em coming... xxx
Have survived camping so far! We are hardly slumming it though as this place has internet, showers etc. Although showers are broken (so half price for the site) so cold ones = sort of hardcore.
Yesterday was crazy busy and involved getting up at six, a boat trip to a sound (which is apparently where the sea unexpectedly goes into a sort of lake type thing - who knew?!) and far, far too much driving, so today we have been super lazy. It's c. 32 degrees and I think I had a touch of heat stroke yesterday, couldn't form sentences properly when talking to guy in a hostel (although possibly was because he was exceedingly attractive?!!) so today I have been wearing my hat religiously and drinking lots of water. New hat actually - 3 dollar cowboy hat! Happy bargain days. Swam in the lake yesterday which was lovely. It's super pretty and mountainy and lakey and cool.
Tomorrow we're going to the glaciers which will be nice as hopefully it'll be a bit cooler. Hot weather is a bit of a shocker in February, but the tan is coming along nicely. Alana has got a rash from the suncream, teehee. Avacadoes have gone up to 2dollars in this touristy town, very distressing compared to the bargain 75c ones in Dunedin.
Only 48 seconds left so just time to say ta to Fruity, Dave and Trots for their texts. Keep 'em coming... xxx
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