jd's blogspot

get up and wander downtown to find a doctor. My throat is on fire and has two massive golf balls as tonsells, which are covered in yucky pus!  find a doctor and have a really bad dose of tonsellitis, first time ever. so she recommends a course of penicillan. so to kick start teh process, she gives me an injection. so to my absolute delight, when I stick out my arm she just laughs and says bend over and jabs me in hte bum!! excellent, now I have a sore throst and a tender bottom!! Head off to teh Medicaid office next to register for free medical care. so trek down to the shopping centre and find the office. go in, and all along we had been told that the Irish are entitled to medicaid in Oz, only to be rejected and told if we wernt british we wernt entitled. Now, even our insurance says to register once you arrive in Oz, but it wasnt that expensive so not the end of the world. Just cant get sick again for the next 10 weeks here!!! wnader around the shopping centre for a while . go wild and buy a dress! go back to the hostel and sort out our greyhound tickets and a few other bits that need to be paid for. chill out by the pool and then go for free dinner in teh "Wool Shed". Not bad for free food, just small portions. Cairns is a very small city, more like a big town, but very nice. head back to the hostel and just go teh sleep.

29th March 2007

Check out as free bus to Port Douglas is collecting us this morning. once we leave Cairns the scenery is fantastic. Great ocean views and some beautiful trees. See a crocodile as well. he is just sitting on a river bank off the side of the road. stop on route to get a photo of teh beach view - really stunning. its absolutely boiling hot so once we arrive in Port Douglas we head straight for the beach. port Douglas is very nice, pretty little town and the beach is fab. the water is actually warm. spend about 5hrs at the beach just reading and swimming - this is the life!! walk back to the hostel, except manage to get lost - dont know how, the place is quite small!! so teh ten minute walk ends up taking about 45!! Cook dinner and chill out in front of the tele for the night.

30th March 2007

get up and wander into town on a hunt for coffee. head off to the beach for the day. its just so nice. the beach is really clean and so tranquil. teh water is a welcome cooling off mechanism away from teh heat. spend all day at teh beach. just cook dinner and watch tele for teh night.

31st March 2007

Up early, get the free bus back to Cairns. Wander downtown and sort out a few bits.  go back to the hostel and book our fraser island trip. teh woman at reception is completely eccentric! very nice, but all over the shop!. she does about 6 different things all at once. she is very funny and has a wild hair - I dont think its seen a hairbrush in a few weeks!! decide to go on a snorkelling trip tom out to the barrier reef national park. Chill out by the pool and then back to teh Woll Shed for free dinner.  haed back to teh hostel , and as we got a free nights accommodation we dont have any air conditioning!!! Sweaty night ahead!!

1st April 2007

Up early, as we have to be at teh reef terminal at 7.30am. its a realxing day of sailing and snorkelling in the great barrier reef. Check in and jump aboard. boat is very nice - decent sized catamaran. Tea/coffee and muffins served for breakfast and then we head out in to open waters. lie out on the netting at teh front of the boat. soooo relaxing out here. Except of course, when a wave comes in over the side and absolutely soaks you!!! Waves just seem to be able to hunt me down and soak!! Oh well, its so hot out here I will be dry in a few mins@!  sail for about 2hrs until we drop anchor off a small island, which is also a bird sanctuary. its really beautiful out here. teh water is so clear and a great blue/aquamarine colour. go snorkeling around teh coral reef. wow, its something else. the colours of teh coral are so bright. there is one enormous clam shaped piece which is a papal purple, but has a sort a mouth thing that is luminous orange on the inside. its just incredible. there are other pieces that look like massive brains. some other ones are like noodles and just sway with the motions of the water. teh fish are so beautiful as well. you just want to put your hand out and pet them!! the colours are dazzling - bright yellows, greens, lurid reds, blues, radioactive oranges. blacks, pinks, whites. oh, just too hard to describe teh brightness and the beauty of it all. its no wonder its a world heritage site. back on board for lunch. well, we were expecting a chees roll or something equally as delicious!!  but we get a full buffet with loads of salads, prawns, chicken, breads - its delicious. then a hugh platter with pineapple, watermelon, melon, kiwis for desert - yummy. sail on again for about 1hr to another site on the outer reef where we go snorkeling again. teh water is a bit rougher and the coral is a bit deeper, so visibility isnt as good. its still fantasticc though. back on board and ther is more fruit and crackers and cheese. relax and sail back to Cairsn for about 2hrs. Absolutely brilliant day. Back to the hostel to sort out our stuff - getting the bus to Airlie beach at 12.25 tonight.

UP early, heading to Dunedin today. We follow the former "Gold Trail" through the central Otago to Dunedin, the beer and chocolate capital of NZ. Dunedin was founded by the scottish and means Edinburgh of the south. its home to some unique archetecture and is home to NZ's only castle. Cadburys and Speights Brewery have factories here and you can go on tours of both. get to Denudin about 1ish, so decide to check out the cadburys factory!! Tour starts in a little museum type section, with really child christmassy music playing in the background. its like being in Willy Wonka!! First samples are handed out as I to watch a filma bout the history of teh cadbury family. they have more variety of chocolate bars here than we have at home - whats that about!!  tour continues on into the factory - we a re not allowed to wear any jewellery, handbags etc , even earrings have to come out! everyone has to wear hair nets and if you have facial hair, you get another thing for your face!! we all look fabulous!! the smell of th chocolate is just delicoious - shockingly enough, its mostly women on the tour!! Get more samples as we move through the factory - its the best part!! get to see them making buttons, how they wrap them and package things and also the hugh blocks of chocolate that go out to catering facilities - I want one!!  at the end of teh tour, we go into a massive silo which has a chocolate waterfall. its basically in total darkness and when the lights go on, 1 ton of chocolate gets dropped from the ceiling down through the silo. it splashes, so if you stand too close you get chocolated - not bad if you ask me!! there is a shop at teh end and the chocolate is dirt cheap and also available in enormous sizes. so I feel obliged to purchase some!!  Dunedin is very nice. small city but quite pretty. head back to the hostel and go for a drink with some of the group. then we all want to go back to watch Greys Anatomy!! its quite funny, there a re about 15 women all piled around a tiny tv in th ehostel kitchen!!!

23rd March 2007

Bus collects me about 8ish and on the way out of Dunedin, we stop at teh worlds steepest street. its really steep and increases its gradient so quickly. you can feel the pull on the back of your calf muscles as you climb.  back on th ebus and the next stop is the Moeraki Boulders. the stones are renowned for their unique shape - they are pretty mush perfectly smooth circular/egg shapes. the beach they are on is beautiful, relatively isolated as well.  we pitstop along the way at a supermarket and we all chip in NZ$10 to get food and beer fora BBQ at teh hostel tonight.  Continue on in to Mackenzie country, passing teh Benmore dam, the largest earth dam in teh southern hemisphere. the scenery is amazing, the views of Mt Cook, NZs highest mountain, and the lakes are just beautiful. Actualy get a clear day where you can see the view!  Have a game of battle of the sexes on the bus - the loosers have to do teh cooking. The girls loose!! Shockingly, the boys gave us all sports questions!! Get to Tekapo. teh hostel is overlooking teh lake - its beautiful, so clear and quiet.  BBQ is great fun and we play a few drinking games, which adds to the laughter!!

24th March 2007

Heading for Christchurch today. there is a rugby game on tonight, so everywhere is booked up, so have to stay in a different hostel than the one I wanted. Christchurch is a nice city, very pretty and clean. wander around town for a bit. later on, head off to the rugby with the guys from the bus. hoping to get tickets at teh stadium. walk to the stadium and join the queues to get tickets. the cheap ones are only NZ$16. miss the begining of the game, cos the queue is so long. teh Crusaders are playing teh Stormers. good game and a very nice stadium. the cheerleaders are hilarious - we get great entertainment out of them for teh 80 mins!!   after teh gaem we haed downtown to Base, where we all have a few drinks and some shots with the crew off the bus.  eventually get home at 7am - goo d night.

25th March 2007

Back on th ebus at 8am , am knackered after the night out. heading up teh coast to Kaikura. drive up there is pretty short, get there about 11ish.  hostel is nice, has a very nice pool and a thai restaurant out teh back! weather is gorgeous, so chill out by the pool most of the day.  pacific coast is so beautiful, so head down the pier for lunch.  go for a f ew drinks in the evening and then just hit the sack.

26th March 2007

bus back to Christchurch - get back about 1ish and just nap fo rthe afternoon. Meet up with a friend later for food and a few drinks and relax for the night.

27th March 2007

Check out of hostel and airport pick up is at 11.30. Get to airport and just kill time for about 2hrs. Arrive in sydney and the views out teh window are amazing. the whole harbour, the bridge, teh opera house - just fantastic. I cant wait until we actually get to sydney. Eventually, a few hours later, we get to board our connecting flight to cairns. Hopefully there wont be any old couples on this flight who are members of the mile high club!! Seriously, on teh sydney flight, a couple that were at leaast 50 went into the loo together!! decided to turn the volume up on my TV!!  Arrive in Cairns about 11pm. the humidity is dreadful, even at this time of the night. check in and go to sleep straight away.

UP early, heading to Dunedin today. We follow the former "Gold Trail" through the central Otago to Dunedin, the beer and chocolate capital of NZ. Dunedin was founded by the scottish and means Edinburgh of the south. its home to some unique archetecture and is home to NZ's only castle. Cadburys and Speights Brewery have factories here and you can go on tours of both. get to Denudin about 1ish, so decide to check out the cadburys factory!! Tour starts in a little museum type section, with really child christmassy music playing in the background. its like being in Willy Wonka!! First samples are handed out as I to watch a filma bout the history of teh cadbury family. they have more variety of chocolate bars here than we have at home - whats that about!!  tour continues on into the factory - we a re not allowed to wear any jewellery, handbags etc , even earrings have to come out! everyone has to wear hair nets and if you have facial hair, you get another thing for your face!! we all look fabulous!! the smell of th chocolate is just delicoious - shockingly enough, its mostly women on the tour!! Get more samples as we move through the factory - its the best part!! get to see them making buttons, how they wrap them and package things and also the hugh blocks of chocolate that go out to catering facilities - I want one!!  at the end of teh tour, we go into a massive silo which has a chocolate waterfall. its basically in total darkness and when the lights go on, 1 ton of chocolate gets dropped from the ceiling down through the silo. it splashes, so if you stand too close you get chocolated - not bad if you ask me!! there is a shop at teh end and the chocolate is dirt cheap and also available in enormous sizes. so I feel obliged to purchase some!!  Dunedin is very nice. small city but quite pretty. head back to the hostel and go for a drink with some of the group. then we all want to go back to watch Greys Anatomy!! its quite funny, there a re about 15 women all piled around a tiny tv in th ehostel kitchen!!!

23rd March 2007

Bus collects me about 8ish and on the way out of Dunedin, we stop at teh worlds steepest street. its really steep and increases its gradient so quickly. you can feel the pull on the back of your calf muscles as you climb.  back on th ebus and the next stop is the Moeraki Boulders. the stones are renowned for their unique shape - they are pretty mush perfectly smooth circular/egg shapes. the beach they are on is beautiful, relatively isolated as well.  we pitstop along the way at a supermarket and we all chip in NZ$10 to get food and beer fora BBQ at teh hostel tonight.  Continue on in to Mackenzie country, passing teh Benmore dam, the largest earth dam in teh southern hemisphere. the scenery is amazing, the views of Mt Cook, NZs highest mountain, and the lakes are just beautiful. Actualy get a clear day where you can see the view!  Have a game of battle of the sexes on the bus - the loosers have to do teh cooking. The girls loose!! Shockingly, the boys gave us all sports questions!! Get to Tekapo. teh hostel is overlooking teh lake - its beautiful, so clear and quiet.  BBQ is great fun and we play a few drinking games, which adds to the laughter!!

24th March 2007

Heading for Christchurch today. there is a rugby game on tonight, so everywhere is booked up, so have to stay in a different hostel than the one I wanted. Christchurch is a nice city, very pretty and clean. wander around town for a bit. later on, head off to the rugby with the guys from the bus. hoping to get tickets at teh stadium. walk to the stadium and join the queues to get tickets. the cheap ones are only NZ$16. miss the begining of the game, cos the queue is so long. teh Crusaders are playing teh Stormers. good game and a very nice stadium. the cheerleaders are hilarious - we get great entertainment out of them for teh 80 mins!!   after teh gaem we haed downtown to Base, where we all have a few drinks and some shots with the crew off the bus.  eventually get home at 7am - goo d night.

25th March 2007

Back on th ebus at 8am , am knackered after the night out. heading up teh coast to Kaikura. drive up there is pretty short, get there about 11ish.  hostel is nice, has a very nice pool and a thai restaurant out teh back! weather is gorgeous, so chill out by the pool most of the day.  pacific coast is so beautiful, so head down the pier for lunch.  go for a f ew drinks in the evening and then just hit the sack.

26th March 2007

bus back to Christchurch - get back about 1ish and just nap fo rthe afternoon. Meet up with a friend later for food and a few drinks and relax for the night.

27th March 2007

Check out of hostel and airport pick up is at 11.30. Get to airport and just kill time for about 2hrs. Arrive in sydney and the views out teh window are amazing. the whole harbour, the bridge, teh opera house - just fantastic. I cant wait until we actually get to sydney. Eventually, a few hours later, we get to board our connecting flight to cairns. Hopefully there wont be any old couples on this flight who are members of the mile high club!! Seriously, on teh sydney flight, a couple that were at leaast 50 went into the loo together!! decided to turn the volume up on my TV!!  Arrive in Cairns about 11pm. the humidity is dreadful, even at this time of the night. check in and go to sleep straight away.

Paddys day and we are off to Queenstown. head off down through Fox. Stop off at Lake Matheson, often called the Mirror Lake due to its clear reflection of the southern alps and mount cook, which supposedly dominate the skyline. However, as hte weather is absolutely awful, lashing rain and windy, you cant see anything, plus no one wants to get off the bus to find out either! as we go further down the west coast, the scenery changes from dense forest to vast plateaus as we enter the Central Otago Region. there are loads of fruit orchards and vineyards all around the area. about 20 miles form Queenstown, we come to the worlds first commercial bungy site. watch a short DVD about it and only 1 girl on the bus decides to go for it. so we all go and watch her and cheer her on. she is not nervous at all, she literally just walks over the edge! then head into Queestown, we are all in the same hostel and have arranged to go out tonight.  amnt feeling too good, and after a Mexican my stomach takes control and I have ot go home to bed for the night. 

18th March 2007

Wander downtown and get breakie. spend nearly 4hrs on the internet. head back to the hostel and watch Lord of the Rings for the afternoon. just relax for the evening. 

19th March 2007

Up early, day trip to Milford Sound today. travel along lakes Wakatipu & Te Anu through Fjordland National Park . Scenery is absolutely amazing, mountians and lakes are really stunning. as we get closer to Milford Sound, the weather gets wetter and more miserable. get to the point where you cant really see too far in front of you - excellent!! apparently the weather is miserable here about 80% of the time - well worth NZ$155!!  after about 4hrs on the bus, get to the ferry terminal where we take a cruise through the fjords where apparently you can see glacial valleys, river valleys and thunderous waterfalls. I have to admit, that because of the rain, the waterfalls are pretty amazing, but you cant really see much else. the mountains are absolutely enormous, some have vegetation growing on them and some are just sheer rock. sail up close to a few seals on a rock - they arent really doing much, so move on!! the highlight of the day is when a few dolphins jump and swim around the boat. they are pretty cool and brighten everyones day. ferry is about 2hrs, so afterwards head back onto the bus for 4hrs, back to Queenstown. It was a long journey and the weather certainly didnt help, but had a good day with the others. 

20th March 2007 

 Lie in - Finally. watch a film over breakfast and then just head downtown to go jet boating. the trip is for 1hr, so head down to the pier and get kitted out with lifejacket and splash poncho.  Boat takes about 20 people. Im squished in the middle of the back seat with 5 others. get going - the lake is actually  quite  choppy, which makes it quite bumpy - excellent. head out and the boats have flat bottoms so they can rush through a min of 8 inches of water. they can also do 360 degree spins. the spins are just brilliant, really good fun. he does loads of them, as  everyone is loving it. he gets faster as we progress further down the river. he heads straight for hte rocks and trees and then, just at teh last second he turns away sharply. the spins gets faster and more frequent as we go. I have to say, I enjoyed it, but was expecting a bit more from it.  head back to hostel and relax for the evening.

21st March 2007 

 Get up and head downtown to the Kiwi & Birdlife Park. I cant leave NZ without having seen an actual kiwi bird. the park is nice. takes about 1hr to go around it alland listen to all teh commentry.  the kiwi house is what I am really interested in. as they are naucternal birds, they are kept in a dark house so takes a few mins for my eyes to adjust. they are strange birds, about the size of a football with a little ball for a head with a very long bright yellow beak. its about 3 inches long. pretty cool to see. there are other native birds throughout the park, as one of their main purposes is as a conservation area. as i head back into the main building, there is a Maori show. they don some of the traditional dences and songs. of course they do the Haka as well. head back for lunch and go for a wander around town. Its a small world, and I run into a friend of mine form home. so spend the rest of the day in the pub catching up. 

Off to Graymouth today - largest town on the west coast. it was originally founded by hte Moari's as a trading post for greenstone and later as a result of the gold rush of the 1800's. As you leave Nelson, the scenery is amazing, pure rugged coastline and mountains. Drive through a few national park and see the reainforest and coastline up close. Weather is a bit wet, grey and miserable.  Go to see blowholes along the coast. its where the limestone rocks have been eroded by the sea and when the water is rough, as it is today, it crashes up against the rocks and spouts up through the cracks and holes. the rocks are amazing, really rugged. Stop at another place where there is a seal colony, but cos its a 30min walk and is miserable outside, no one wants to go! so keep moving and get to graymouth at about 5.30. Check in and head off to the Brewery tour. Its Monteiths Brewery, a small independent NZ brewery. tour is about 1hr and its pretty interesting. get to taste 7 different beers - the best part of the tour!!! go to the pub afterwards for a BBQ. Dear god, Graymouth is the worst place on the planet. Have decided that it should be where the world should send their prisioners!! No wonder there is a suicide problem here!! The food, all you can eat sausage, is not surprisingly not the best and the waitress is a complete bitch. she is so scowley and cross. Wiggert takes the piss and says she has taken the all you can eat bit too literally - bless, she is a big girl!! Head back to the hostel and just in time for Greys Anatomy!!

16th March 2007

UP early and head for Franz Josef. Everyone is glad to leave Graymouth - seriously one of the dullest places I have ever beem. on a par with Memphis!! Heda further south towards Hokitika, which is famous for its greenstone, stop at a tiny village called Ross, which boomed during the gold rush in the 1800's. you can go gold panning if you wnat, but cant be bothered really! village has a few houses, a tiny church and it still has the old prison, which only has two cells. move further south and pitstop at a place where we watch a DVD about the NZ Deer industry. its actually really interesting how they used to catch the deer with helicopters and nets. the place also has a few possoms and a massive wild boar. the possoms are leathal to the native NZ wildlife and forests, especially to the kiwi bird itself. so to help preserve the kiwi bird, the dept of conservation actively encourages people to drive over possoms!! Seriously, our driver tells us that you can always spot a local driver as opposed to a tourist driver. the locals swerve to hit the possoms where as the tourists swerve to miss them!! you can get possom pie here and htere is an item on the menu called "guess that mess". I love the kiwi sense of humour!  move onto Franz Josef. its a small town set in  beautiful scenery with the franz josef and fox glaciers about 5kms away.  weather is a bit cloudy and showery, so you cant see them from the town. I cant really be bothered to go and see the glacier. have seen glaciers before - think I am getting a bit fatigued after 5 months, but cant be bothered to trek up there to look at a lump of ice!   Go quad biking. there ar e about 10 in the group. we all get kitted out in heavy rain gear from head to foot and a helmet and wellies. the throttle mechanism is easy enough to operate. so off we go. im the last in the group and also the only female driver. so within thefirst 5 mins I successfully manage to crash and come off the track!! End up hitting a massive rock and get thrown into the steering and really wind myself. at this stage, the rest of the group are all gons off ahead and have vanished out of sight. thankfully the last guy has noticed me missing and comes back to see whats wrong. so finally get it reversed back onto the track. the guide has now appeared to see whats happened. the problem is the steering, its extremely heavy so I am having issues turing it quick enough. Guide tells me if I stand up its easier to control and it is. so off we go - have finally got the hang of this!! we go through river beds and through massive pools of water and mud. then we go through a rainforest. thats really cool , as hte track is exceptionally narrow. all the turns have trees on either side, so absolutely no room for error here!  we stop mid rainforest and have a coffee and cookies. a welcome break. continue on and get to a section which is really muddy. so we all put the foot down and spray up as much mud as we possibly can. the couple behind the guide get completely covered in mud - hilarious!  head back to base after about 2 hrs. absolutley brilliant. Head back to hte hostel and just have dinner and watch tele. watch Brotown - its a kiwi mix of the simpsons and south park, but its a kiwi/moari cartoon. its filthy, but really funny.   

up early as we are heading for Wellington. Long drive today.  Its all Lord of the Rings country side all hte way down. Weather is pretty rubbish so the view all the way along the Dessert Road is not great. Too cloudy to appreciate hte mountains. Apparently, there are large numbers of wild horses around here, but dont see any. Pitstop at a place that makes real fresh fruit icecream - delicious. Long stuffy day on hte bus. get to Wellington about 4ish. Wander aroud downtown. Check out the "Beehive", hte parliament building - its pretty funky. Pass by teh "Cake Tin", hte rugby stadium. Shockingly, it looks exactly like a cake tin!!!  Chill out for the rest fo the evening in hte bar wiht some of the others.

13th March 2007 

Crossing over to the South Island today. So up early for the ferry. head over to the train station to get the shuttle bus to hte ferry terminal. Check in at teh dock and thankfully they take our luggage, as in an airport, so we dont have to drag it around all morning. the weather is a bit miserable, so you cant see the view as we move out of the Wellington Harbour. the ferry is very big, so its quite a smooth crossing, despite the rough conditions outside. Crossing is about 3hrs. Miss the scenery going through the Cook Straights. But decide to go out for a look anyway. the wind and rain are in full swing and I have stupidly worn a floaty skirt, which I need to hold onto to avoid exposing myself in public!!  Weather begins to clear up and gets better as we dock in Picton. the scenery is amazing as you enter the harbour - beautiful fjords and mountains. Colect our baggage and head out to the bus, which is waiting outside for us. jump aboard, and to my delight the painfully chatty irish bloke (Joe) gets on as well - fan bloddy tastic!! thankfully, he hasnt noticed us yet!! make our way through Marlborough, an area famous for its orchards, vineyards and world class wine.  stop for lunch and joe spots us - excellent!! he is begining to get very repeatitive and irritating. head onto Nelson, the "subshine capitalof NZ". its a nice town, known for its local artists and relaxed atmosphere. get to hostel, has an ensuite, so Im a very happy bunny!  Get Thai food delivered to the hostel for dinner and relax for the evening. 

14th March 2004

Up bright and early - bus is collecting us at 7.30 to go the Abel Tasman National Park for a trek. The bus driver, who is exceptionally cranky, comes into the kitchen and starts shouting at Emer, Jason, Wiggert and I to get a move on and get on the bus. we are holding him up!! Get moving and head north, passing some vineyards, orchards and hops plantations to Kaiteriteri, the gateway to the national park. bus takes about 2hrs. its absoluteyl lashing out of the heavens, with no sign that it is going to clear up anytime soon - super!! get to the dock where we board a bot which takes us further into the park. its jam packed with old people - seriously, there must be at least 60 OAPs on board. so we end up standing for the entire boat trip, about 1hr. get to where we are supposed to be getting off and go ashore. its absolutely lashing rain and the crew have told us to remove our shoes and socks and roll up our trousers!! the water is too low, so we have to climb off the side of the boat and get into hte water and walk ashore!! the rain is seriously heavy, so full rain gear goes on.  hopefullt, it will hold up to the weather! Abel Tasman is renowed for its golden beaches, sculptured granite cliffs and world famous coastal track. we walk across the bay and get to the track, where you have 2 optiosn. 1 - to go the coastal route which takes 1.5hrs OR 2 at low tide, cut across Torrent Bay, which only takes 30mins. so because the weather is so awful, we pick the shorter 30 mins option. Well, how wrong were we to do that !!!  In sections of teh bay, ther is no way around the water and we ar e too far in to go back, so we are left with no choice but to wade into the water in order to get across!! Excellent, its lashing out of the heavens and we are all knee deep in water! So much for my waterproof gortex shoes!! anyway, finally make it across the bay. I go on ahead as hte others are too slow. Dont really appreciate the rainforrest or the stunning views, as its too miserable, i just want to keep going and get to the end. make a pitstop at a beach for lunch. it has stopped raining for a bit, so take advantage and have a break for a few mins. keep moving and get to the end of the trail after about 3hrs. im sure it would have been amazing if the weather was good, but when your raingear doesnt hold up and you are soaked to the skin and cold you tend to loose interest exceptionally quickly! the other sturn up a bit later and Joe is still spouting a load of rubbish. he is really begining to do everyones heads in. bus eventually turns up and head back to Nelson. have a shower to warm up and chuck all of our clothes inot the washing machine while we go for food. eventually find a pizza place in hte cinema!! get back to hostel and get a slap on hte wrists cos we used the staff washing machines by mistake - oops!! I  was wondering why it was for free!!   

Get collected at to go white water rafting. Get a bit of a tour of Rotorua as we are collected first and have to pick up a few others. Get out to the Kaitiaki rafting place. get kitted out with jackets, life jackets and water boots. Again another high fashion moment!! get into another bus and head down to the river. Grade 3 rapids. get to the river and get divided up into groups of 5 to each raft. so the guide nominates me to sit up the front - excellent!! go through all the safety stuff and then get into the water. the guides are really funny and the one beside me is called Righty. Apparently he only has his right testicle!! he lost the other one on a rafting accident down the river. their boat flipped over and he went into the float position, but his paddle was floating ahead of him. However, his paddle stopped when it hit rocks and he floated right into it between his legs. the impact was so hard it popped his testicle out - ouch!! so that created a good laugh for the rest of us!! after a few rapids we get to the first of 3 waterfalls. its 2.5m high and it backs onto the second one, which is 1m high. so drop down the first one and straight down the second one, in quick succession. and we didnt flip over. its absolutely brillient. Continue on for a few more rapieds until we get to the big one - its the largest commercial waterfall in NZ. its 7m high. so we are the first raft to go down  - here goes nothing!! drop and go completely under the water, but we dont flip over. but we do get "washing machined". the back of the raft gets sucked back into the waterfall and the water is just thundering down and is circling about at a great rate. I manage to loose my grip with one hand and loose my paddle. So Im thinking, i need to find a rope to hold onto otherwise I am going to get thrown out!! find a rope, not the correct one, but grab on anyway.  eventually we get out of the waterfall. it is absolutely brilliant. we al want to do it again.  get my paddle back - it has floated a bit ahead of the raft. watch the other rafts come down - none of them flip over, so disappointing!! move a bit further down the river and jump out for a swim. then all of a sudden there is a rapid, so the guides are have to pull us all back in really quickly. Have rope burn on my thigh where I was draged over the side of the raft. then go over the last rapid standing up and manage to stay standing through it. then we go back into the rapid going forwards, as if we wanted to go up it this time. its so much fun. the water totally engulfs the front - so cool. make a few attempts at it and dont flip. so much fun, well worth it. get to the end and three of us help the guides to carry the raft back. so In at the back, just in front of one fo the guides who kindly announces that my bikini is having a bit of a wedgey issue!! So I ask him why he is staring at my bum, to which he says I cant help it! So am rahter embarrassed, as I cant do anythign about it, as I have a raft on my head!  get back to the changing rooms and get a look at teh photos. they are brilliant. Some of the best activity photos yet. so end up buying the disk. head back into town and then go up to the Agrodome to check out the Zorbing. Basically, you get into an enormous inflatable ball and they roll you down a hill. Seriously, it looks mental! Actually, the place looks like Teletubby land!! there is water in hte inner circle so you cant grip anything. you get flipped around the ball. you get flipped upside down, which meant that I couldnt do it.  head back into town and just chill out for the evening. 

10th March 2006 

Leave for Taupo this morning. get a brief sightseeing tour of Rotorua on hte bus. Check out some of the government buildings and the lake front. there are some thermal baths and beautiful gardens. Head to Wai-O-Tapu thermal reserve for 10.15. Check out the mud pools. they are insane, just bubbling away and makes kind of ploppy noises. Move over the see the Lady Knox Geyser. it erupts on a cycle of 24 - 36 hrs, but to help it along, every morning at 10.15 they add carbolic soap powder which makes it bubble and eventually erupt. its pretty insane to watch. you can see the bubbles getting bigger and then it spouts up to about 5m high. really cool. then go over to the thermal wonderland. Its just nuts. ther are boiling mud pools, thermal pools, craters and massive mud flats. the colours are mental. the sulphur and other minerals create a rainbow of colours from greens and yellows, to burnt orange and red rusts. its beautfiul, so different. the smell of rotten eggs are a bit much in some sections!! move on and stop at a place for lunch. its in a park thats called Rock and Ropes, where you can go on a massive swing and trapeze.unfortunately, no one does, so dont get to see how it works. they recommend you dont each lunch before doing it!!! further on we come to the Huka Falls, which throw over 200,000l of water every second. they are not steep like you would expect, more like massive rapids. hte thundering sound of the water is incredible. its just so powerful. the sheer strength of it is amazing. Half od the bus go off to do a skydive. hte rest of us stay on hte bus and go and watch one fo the girls do a bungy jump. the bungy place is beautiful. ther is a platform stretching out over a gorge. the river below is so clear, beautiful green water. platform is wobbling in hte wind, which Im sure, isnt good for your nerves.  get some cool photos of the jumping. finally arrive in Taupo and 3 of us go down for a swim in hte lake. its really hot and the lake is gorgeous.  back to the hostel and relax for the evening.

11th March 2007.

up at 5.15am - doing the Tongariro Crossing today. its described as being the best one day trek in NZ. its Mount Dune in Lord of the Rings - so you can get a picture of what Im talking about. its a perfect day for an 18km trek - not too hot or cold and thankfully no rain. from the start at Mangatepopo, its a gentle easy walk for about 1hr. then you get to the "Devils Staircase", which the gradient increases very quickly. its a bit hellish, so can see where it got its name from !! once you reach the summit you arrive in between the volcanoes of Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe. then move along to the south crater, finally climbing to hte red crater. the scenery is mindblowing.  the crateers are enormous. when you are moving along them, you can smell the ash. moving downhill, you come to hte blue and emerald lakes, simply named because of their colours. teh sulphur creates more rotten egg smells!! pitstop here for a quick lunch break. from here on in, its relatively easy going. the last section is gorgeous. you spend about 40 mins trekking through native forrest. its really peaceful. very proud of myself , did it in just under 6hrs.  get first bus back to Taupo. jump straight in to the hot tub at the hostel. Actually makes a nice difference to my aching muscles. a few of us head down to "Mulligans" for dinner as we a re all too tired and sore to cook for ourselves. Normally like to avoid Irish pubs, but the meal deal was dinner and 3 pints for NZ$20 - an offer no backpacker can refuse!!