Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is really good!
On Saturday we went to Otara market in the morning which is a maori market in Otara (weirdly lol). It was really nice! I managed to get some new earrings, which are really cute and some really really cheap DVDs! Frank and Marg took us and they seemed to really enjoy it too! We watched a Polynesian dance performance too which was really really good! It had a live band and a girls group and a boys group, Frank, Marg and Rob tried to nominate me to go and dance - luckily they didn't succeed! lol!
After that we headed off to the Waikatere Ranges. We stopped off for lunch first at the Titirangi (we think thats how its spelt!), I had a croissant with ham and cheese - it was sooooo good! The Titirangi music festival had just started and a swedish brass band dressed as fish and sharks were playing along the high street, we couldn't work out why they were dressed as fish but the outfits were very impressive. I took some photos because I wasn't sure people would believe me! lol!
We drove out to the waikatere ranges information center and had a look around, the ranges are really really stunning! Frank goes treking there on wednesdays! We drove a bit further down the road to a walk called the auckland city walk to see kauri trees! Frank, Rob and I walked through for about 20mins. The Kauri trees were immense! They were really impressive! The walk was really nice!
After that we headed back to Auckland and Richard, Cindy and Baby Alan had dinner with us. Marg made Egg and Bacon pie which I had never heard of before but was really nice! I think I made friends with Baby Alan, he kept coming around to sit next to me! He is sooooo cute! lol!
After that we watched Midsumer murders and then Rob and I watched Bridget Jones the Edge of Reason.
On sunday we had lunch of homemade pizza and sandwiches and packed up and headed to the airport. It was really really sad saying goodbye to Frank and Marg, it was really lovely to see and stay with them! After we had checked in AND PAID AUCKLAND AIRPORT $25 (about 10 pounds) TAX TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY!!! I was outraged! lol! We boarded (after a short delay) our 12 and half hour flight to LA. The flight went much faster than our 12 hours flight to Sydney and on the whole wasn't too bad. I watched Juno (WHICH IS AN AWESOME FILM), the heartbreak kid (not sooo good but didn't expect it to be, but a good flight movie), Atonement (good - very sad!), an episode of what not to wear that I have already seen, wife swap, a bit of the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford and bits and bobs of other stuff. I got about two hours sleep cause my body kept waking itself up! We crossed the date line on the way sooooo we had the longest 30 March EVER!!! We landed (we were actually in San Francisco) before we took off - go figure! After that flight we got off and ran around LAX for a while trying to find our next flight. We then got a flight from LAX to San Francisco airport - this flight was not scary at all, I think mainly cause I was sooooooooo knackered (I nearly fell asleep before we had even taken off - and I didn't even close my eyes as we were taking off! I watched out the window and everything)! The pilot was really cool and kept telling us where we were flying over - Santa Barbera, San Jose etc.
We arrived in San Francisco around 4pm (we left Auckland at 7.30pm the same day - as in 30 March). We got a door to door shuttle to the Green Tortoise hostel where we are staying, which is well nice! We asked the receptionist where a diner was nearby and after a quick wash and ditching our bags we headed to Moe's! This place was sooooo cute! I had a belly buster (burger with cheese, caramalized onions and mushrooms), it really does what it says on the tin! lol! Rob had a Tex-Mex Burger (Cheese, jalapenos and onions). We shared some chilli cheese fries (I wasn't a massive fan of these - I got them cause of Gilmore Girls! lol). After that we headed back and were in bed by 8pm! Hardcore night that was! lol!
Rob went out earlier than me this morning and headed off to try and find some shoes (but didn't get any), I got the bart train and met him at La Taquerua. This had been recommended by my sister and was AMAZING!!! Its a mexican taco place! Rob had a burritos with chips and salsa, I had tacos, one with chicken, cheese, and guacomole, one the same but with beef. They were really really good!!! Jen - GOOD CHOICE!!!! After that we headed to the piers cause we really wanted to see the golden gate bridge. We went a really weird way (cause we got on the wrong bus) but did get to go on a cable car - which was well cool! We ended up at Fisherman's Wharf which according to the rough guide you should avoid - I see why! lol! Its really tacky! But I did go into Steve and Barry's and get some trousers for 4 pounds (there from the Sarah Jessica Parker collection!). We went to a park next to the maritime museum and saw the bridge!!!
After that we walked up to Union street to go to a bar called Perry's which is featured in a book called 'Tales from the City' by Armistad Maupin (my sister got me this for christmas), we didn't end up getting a drink here cause it was really busy but it was cool to see it! We instead went to a place down the street called Bar Zero. It was a quintisentially American bar, we watched Forrest Gump and I read US weekly while drinking beer, the bar tender was really nice. He was asking us questions about England and recommended a pizza place around the corner. He also said 'Cherrios' when we left... we didn't tell him it was cherrio! lol! They played a weird game with ping pong balls which we couldn't work out, I think you fill glasses with beer and if you get the ping pong ball (after bouncing it) in the glass you win that persons beer.
After that we headed to the pizza place called 'Pizza Orgasmica' on Fillmore. We had a slice and coke, this was good but not as good as Ray's in New York. After that we got the bus down Union to Columbus and walked up Columbus to our hostel.
Tomorrow we plan to walk across the golden gate bridge and spend the day in Berkerley! I've written down where my sister stayed so we're gonna go and find that. We might take one of the free tours run by students! I don't know if that means you get to see more but I hope so! lol!
CONGRATULATIONS TO JOE AND ALICE FOR GETTING MARRIED ON SATURDAY!!! I HOPE YOU GUYS HAD AN AMAZING DAY AND LIFE TOGETHER!!! :-)!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Monday, March 31, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Rangitoto Island...
Hi Everyone,
Dinner last night was lovely. We went down to Viaduct Harbour and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Portofino's. I had chicken and mushroom pasta and rob had a vege pasta. At one point a huge cockroach flew straight in front of my head and landed on the wall. We had to get a staff member to remove it from the restaurant! Arg! Was sooooo ewwwweeeeeee!
Today we got up early and came into Auckland CBD and got a ferry to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto Island is about 600 years old and came into fruition when it erupted out of the sea just off the coast of Auckland, the volcano that erupted is reported to have turned the sky yellow in China.
The Island is now a natural park (although unlike all other DOC parks people still live on Batches on the Island - they are being phased out), the Island is mostly uninhabited.
The Island has never been developed so you literally walk through fields of just piles of black lava rock. The island also has the largest forest of pohutukawa trees in the world. The island is mostly inhabited by insects and bugs mainly due to the lack of water on the island, all the trees rely on rainwater for moisture.
We walked up to the summit which has a boardwalk at the top, the view was AMAZING. You could look out over the sea and the city. After that we came back down and went via the Kidney fern track to see some kidney ferns (weirdly enough! lol). The island was really weird but very interesting!
We headed back on the 3.30pm ferry and are now going to head back to Frank and Marg's for dinner!
I really can't believe tomorrow is our last full day in New Zealand!!! Not looking forward to the 12 and a half hour journey to America on sunday! Boo Hiss Boo! Arg! Soooooo not fun!
I hope everyone is good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Dinner last night was lovely. We went down to Viaduct Harbour and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Portofino's. I had chicken and mushroom pasta and rob had a vege pasta. At one point a huge cockroach flew straight in front of my head and landed on the wall. We had to get a staff member to remove it from the restaurant! Arg! Was sooooo ewwwweeeeeee!
Today we got up early and came into Auckland CBD and got a ferry to Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto Island is about 600 years old and came into fruition when it erupted out of the sea just off the coast of Auckland, the volcano that erupted is reported to have turned the sky yellow in China.
The Island is now a natural park (although unlike all other DOC parks people still live on Batches on the Island - they are being phased out), the Island is mostly uninhabited.
The Island has never been developed so you literally walk through fields of just piles of black lava rock. The island also has the largest forest of pohutukawa trees in the world. The island is mostly inhabited by insects and bugs mainly due to the lack of water on the island, all the trees rely on rainwater for moisture.
We walked up to the summit which has a boardwalk at the top, the view was AMAZING. You could look out over the sea and the city. After that we came back down and went via the Kidney fern track to see some kidney ferns (weirdly enough! lol). The island was really weird but very interesting!
We headed back on the 3.30pm ferry and are now going to head back to Frank and Marg's for dinner!
I really can't believe tomorrow is our last full day in New Zealand!!! Not looking forward to the 12 and a half hour journey to America on sunday! Boo Hiss Boo! Arg! Soooooo not fun!
I hope everyone is good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Auckland CBD, Tom and Tracy's, Sky Tower, Auckland Museum, Tin Tin and Waiheke Island...
Hi Everyone,
We're both feeling alot lot better!!! I think officially 2008 will go down
in History as the year my easter chocolate has lasted the longest! lol!
We've had a business packed few days! On Tuesday we got the ferry from
Birkenhead over to Auckland CBD and had a wander down Queen Street. We
finally found Lisa's birthday present and then went to Aotea Square and
sat down for a while to watch the cricket! After that we headed back with
a bit of tooing and frowing because Rob had remembered the ferry time
wrong so we missed a ferry and considered getting the bus but couldn't
find where they left from. Really been having trouble mastering Auckland's
public transport! lol!
After that we met Frank at Birkenhead and went back to the house to get
Margaret and head to Tom and Tracy's in Whangaparoa. We dropped Rob off at
his old Art teachers house just down the road. Frank, Margaret and I
headed over to Tom and Tracy's. We met Brodie, Sam and Tracy (and Sam's
friend Hamish) and had some tea that afternoon while watching the Cricket.
Later on in the evening Tom got home and we all had a roast for dinner
(which was lovely!). It was a lovely evening and after looking at some
photos and a long natter we headed back to Auckland. I was really nice to
finally meet them!
On Wednesday Rob and I headed into Auckland CBD again and went up the Sky
Tower! The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere
standing at 323m tall(The Eureka tower in Melbourne has a higher viewing
platform however!). Before going up the tower we watched people jumping
off the tower, you can do a SkyJump where you are attached to two wires
and you just fall and then get slowed down right before you land! I was
actually quite tempted, if it wasn't for the price and the fact I wasn't
feeling very well I might have done it! The Sky tower had AMAZING VIEWS
across the city! On a clear day you are reported to be able to see 51
miles out.
After the sky tower we went to see how the cricket was getting on, we had
lunch in a pub (not a very good lunch mind!) and watched until they called
lunch for the cricket. Then WAIT FOR IT EVERYONE... Rob got his hair
cut!!!!!!!!!!! Whhhooooooo! lol! Its alot shorter and looks very very
nice, hes got the Tin Tin haircut back! lol! All he needs now is a small
white dog (Dom is Rinky free?)! lol! After the epic haircut we headed to
see the end of the cricket, which was a corker!!! Southee got 9 6's,
fastest half century for a NZ player ever! Was very impressive to watch!
Have to say though that it was EVEN nicer to see Ryan Sidebottom finish it
all off!
After that we got the link bus through Newmarket (which is a very nice
area) up to the Auckland Museum. Which is also the Auckland War Memorial.
Its in Domain Park up above the CBD and its a really really fantastic
museum. I have to say it blows Te Papa out of the water. Its in a purpose
build building which also looks like a very large mansion the exhibits
that stood out for me were the Maori exhibit, the ages of childhood
exhibit (special touch in the modern day kids room - A DAWSON'S CREEK
POSTER - THAT SEALED IT FOR ME! lol!), the volcano exhibit (theirs a room
which is like a living room inside a mock house and it shows you what
would happen if a volcano went off in Auckland - Auckland is still an
active volcanic area!), was really really good and obviously the war
memorial on the top floor was very interesting as well! Had a really good
time there! After that we headed back for tea and earlier in the day I had
brought HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL which neither of us have seen so we sat down
and watched that... It WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Was amazing! lol! Rob and I
have decided that we should quote HSM everyday for the rest of the
holiday! lol! Love it!
Today we went to Waiheke Island which is an Island 40mins from Auckland by
boat! We got there about 10.40am and got the bus to Onetangi beach. We had
lunch at the cafe and read the newspaper while looking out over the beach.
After that we just hung out on the beach for ages. It was soooooooooooo
lovely. The water was crystal clear and sooooo nice. The beach had loads
of shells on it, it was boootiful! After that we got the bus back to
Oneroa and had a wander around the shops, I found a plate for Margaret to
add to her collection and some small things for Sho and Lis. Then we went
down to Oneroa beach and I read my new NZ gossip magazines (I'm a bit
addicted!!!), Rob went for a swim. Then we just sat and read for a while,
watched a man parasurfing, and I had ago on the swings! lol!
After that we headed back to Auckland CBD by fast Jetcat. We're now going
to go and grab some dinner! Its been such a lovely day today, sooooooo
relaxing!!!
I hope everyone is good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
We're both feeling alot lot better!!! I think officially 2008 will go down
in History as the year my easter chocolate has lasted the longest! lol!
We've had a business packed few days! On Tuesday we got the ferry from
Birkenhead over to Auckland CBD and had a wander down Queen Street. We
finally found Lisa's birthday present and then went to Aotea Square and
sat down for a while to watch the cricket! After that we headed back with
a bit of tooing and frowing because Rob had remembered the ferry time
wrong so we missed a ferry and considered getting the bus but couldn't
find where they left from. Really been having trouble mastering Auckland's
public transport! lol!
After that we met Frank at Birkenhead and went back to the house to get
Margaret and head to Tom and Tracy's in Whangaparoa. We dropped Rob off at
his old Art teachers house just down the road. Frank, Margaret and I
headed over to Tom and Tracy's. We met Brodie, Sam and Tracy (and Sam's
friend Hamish) and had some tea that afternoon while watching the Cricket.
Later on in the evening Tom got home and we all had a roast for dinner
(which was lovely!). It was a lovely evening and after looking at some
photos and a long natter we headed back to Auckland. I was really nice to
finally meet them!
On Wednesday Rob and I headed into Auckland CBD again and went up the Sky
Tower! The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere
standing at 323m tall(The Eureka tower in Melbourne has a higher viewing
platform however!). Before going up the tower we watched people jumping
off the tower, you can do a SkyJump where you are attached to two wires
and you just fall and then get slowed down right before you land! I was
actually quite tempted, if it wasn't for the price and the fact I wasn't
feeling very well I might have done it! The Sky tower had AMAZING VIEWS
across the city! On a clear day you are reported to be able to see 51
miles out.
After the sky tower we went to see how the cricket was getting on, we had
lunch in a pub (not a very good lunch mind!) and watched until they called
lunch for the cricket. Then WAIT FOR IT EVERYONE... Rob got his hair
cut!!!!!!!!!!! Whhhooooooo! lol! Its alot shorter and looks very very
nice, hes got the Tin Tin haircut back! lol! All he needs now is a small
white dog (Dom is Rinky free?)! lol! After the epic haircut we headed to
see the end of the cricket, which was a corker!!! Southee got 9 6's,
fastest half century for a NZ player ever! Was very impressive to watch!
Have to say though that it was EVEN nicer to see Ryan Sidebottom finish it
all off!
After that we got the link bus through Newmarket (which is a very nice
area) up to the Auckland Museum. Which is also the Auckland War Memorial.
Its in Domain Park up above the CBD and its a really really fantastic
museum. I have to say it blows Te Papa out of the water. Its in a purpose
build building which also looks like a very large mansion the exhibits
that stood out for me were the Maori exhibit, the ages of childhood
exhibit (special touch in the modern day kids room - A DAWSON'S CREEK
POSTER - THAT SEALED IT FOR ME! lol!), the volcano exhibit (theirs a room
which is like a living room inside a mock house and it shows you what
would happen if a volcano went off in Auckland - Auckland is still an
active volcanic area!), was really really good and obviously the war
memorial on the top floor was very interesting as well! Had a really good
time there! After that we headed back for tea and earlier in the day I had
brought HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL which neither of us have seen so we sat down
and watched that... It WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Was amazing! lol! Rob and I
have decided that we should quote HSM everyday for the rest of the
holiday! lol! Love it!
Today we went to Waiheke Island which is an Island 40mins from Auckland by
boat! We got there about 10.40am and got the bus to Onetangi beach. We had
lunch at the cafe and read the newspaper while looking out over the beach.
After that we just hung out on the beach for ages. It was soooooooooooo
lovely. The water was crystal clear and sooooo nice. The beach had loads
of shells on it, it was boootiful! After that we got the bus back to
Oneroa and had a wander around the shops, I found a plate for Margaret to
add to her collection and some small things for Sho and Lis. Then we went
down to Oneroa beach and I read my new NZ gossip magazines (I'm a bit
addicted!!!), Rob went for a swim. Then we just sat and read for a while,
watched a man parasurfing, and I had ago on the swings! lol!
After that we headed back to Auckland CBD by fast Jetcat. We're now going
to go and grab some dinner! Its been such a lovely day today, sooooooo
relaxing!!!
I hope everyone is good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Te Kuiti and Auckland...
Hi Everyone,Happy Easter to everyone!!!The last few days have been really really good!On friday Glen drove us out to Waitomo so we could go to the Waitomo Glowworm caves, these were AMAZING! You walk into the caves and have a look atthe cathdral (the highest point in the cave - people actually can getmarried there), you see the glow worm strands falling from the ceiling.Then you go to the river underneath and go on a boat that takes youthrough and out to see the glow worms, they looked so amazingly pretty,there were hundreds of them! It was sooooooooo cool! Then when we came outwe saw a trout! We then had a wander into the village and had a lookaround. After that Kim, Chris and Jimmy came and met us and we went downto the Aranui walk and had a bush walk to see the caves! It was reallyreally pretty, you walk through cave channels and across rivers! Wasreally cool! After that we headed back to watch Charlie and the chocolatefactory!We woke up early on saturday to go fishing! We left around 7am and headedfor the beach. The beach was just outside Awakino. It had black sand,which is from iron! Unfortunately we didn't catch any fish (but noonemanaged to that day on the beach!). We headed back around 10.30am via themouth of the awakino river - THE VIEW WAS AMAZING!!! On a clear day youcan see mount taranaki (arg not sure about the spelling!). We had somelunch and then headed to the Kiwi House - WHERE WE SAW OUR FIRST KIWI!!!The Kiwi house was in Otorohanga (the kiwiana town of New Zealand), thekiwi was soooooo cute!!! We also saw lots of native birds and we finallysaw a New Zealand silver fern!After that we headed back for dinner of fish (snapper fish), which wassoooooooooo good! I found out that the sharpened knife/global knifeobsession runs in the Bailey family! After dinner we all went for a walkto Brook Park up to the Ben Lomond summit! The view from the top wasSTUNNING! The sun was just setting!Easter sunday I woke up feeling really ill so I got up and then went backto bed, it appears that I had caught the bug (Marg thinks its the norovirus). Rob, Glen, Sarah and Chris went out to see a waterfall and to popin on a birthday party at a farm. Unfortunately the car broke down andFrank had to go and get them. Marg and Frank came to take us back toAuckland, I was very quiet all day and didn't say that much at all! We hada lovely time in Te Kuiti, it was really really nice to meet the family!!!We headed back to Frank and Margaret's and saw the sky tower and went overthe harbour bridge as we were coming into Auckland.I just went to bed when we got back (around 7pm) and got up this morning,feeling alot better! Today we went to the summit of Mount Eden to see theview over Auckland, Rob however began feeling sick on the way back andwent to bed when we got home! Frank and I went to the Glenfield shoppingcentre to get something for Daddy and then we went to Devonport! Devonportis another of the Auckland extinct volcanos but its got a rich historybecause it was an army base for years during the two world wars! It stillhas a retracting gun. We had a wander around and saw all the many sailboats coming back into Auckland harbour and saw people paragliding, fromthe other side you can see Auckland CBD. Its a really pretty spot!After that we came back here and Richard, Cindy and Baby Alan came around!Baby Alan is like Chris he never stops running around, hes sooooo cute!!!Rob emerged after that and we had left had dinner (I finally eat somethingmore than crackers!).FYI Frank sounds exactly like Grandpa, and they drive the same as well!!!Lots of Love,Sarah xxx
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Leaving Rotorua and Arriving in Te Kuiti...
Hi Everyone,
We've finally arrived in Te Kuiti!
We left our backpackers at 10.30 this morning, although that should have been 10! Whoops! We decided to go to the 'Fat Dog' for brunch, which was really nice! Rob had scrambled eggs with toast and hash browns. I had eggs benedict with Bacon! It was really nice but I still have not beaten my park slope eggs benedict!
After that I left Rob at the i centre and I headed off to the florist to get Kim some flowers and also to the supermarkets for wine and some bits and bobs.
Then I headed back and we went to get the bus! As per usual the intercity buses were really disorganised, the journey was really pretty though, we changed at Hamilton.
We arrived in Te Kuiti to meet Kim, Chris and Sarah (ow I forgot to tell everyone that theres ANOTHER Sarah Bailey out here in NZ!). We headed back to the house to meet Glen and James. The house is beautiful, its right at the top of a hill with the most BEAUTIFUL views across a valley. They have lots of herbs and a vegetable patch that would make Mummy and Daddy very envious! They had really really nice rosemary!
We had some drinks and chats, then Sarah and Chris introduced us to the guinea pigs! We had a wander around the garden and played rugby catch with Chris. After that we had bbq dinner of sausages, steak, meat patties, rice salad, courgettes and green salad! It WAS SOOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!! So nice to finally have a proper meal!
After dinner we headed over to Mangaukwa Viaduct, which is a river surrounded by hills, with Glen and Chris. We had a walk around, it was really lovely. The family haven't been very well with a bug for a few days so Chris seemed to have endless energy!
I hope everyone is pleased to be breaking up for Easter! Congratulations to Lisa for getting a job!!! Well done Chick!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
We've finally arrived in Te Kuiti!
We left our backpackers at 10.30 this morning, although that should have been 10! Whoops! We decided to go to the 'Fat Dog' for brunch, which was really nice! Rob had scrambled eggs with toast and hash browns. I had eggs benedict with Bacon! It was really nice but I still have not beaten my park slope eggs benedict!
After that I left Rob at the i centre and I headed off to the florist to get Kim some flowers and also to the supermarkets for wine and some bits and bobs.
Then I headed back and we went to get the bus! As per usual the intercity buses were really disorganised, the journey was really pretty though, we changed at Hamilton.
We arrived in Te Kuiti to meet Kim, Chris and Sarah (ow I forgot to tell everyone that theres ANOTHER Sarah Bailey out here in NZ!). We headed back to the house to meet Glen and James. The house is beautiful, its right at the top of a hill with the most BEAUTIFUL views across a valley. They have lots of herbs and a vegetable patch that would make Mummy and Daddy very envious! They had really really nice rosemary!
We had some drinks and chats, then Sarah and Chris introduced us to the guinea pigs! We had a wander around the garden and played rugby catch with Chris. After that we had bbq dinner of sausages, steak, meat patties, rice salad, courgettes and green salad! It WAS SOOOOOOO YUMMY!!!!! So nice to finally have a proper meal!
After dinner we headed over to Mangaukwa Viaduct, which is a river surrounded by hills, with Glen and Chris. We had a walk around, it was really lovely. The family haven't been very well with a bug for a few days so Chris seemed to have endless energy!
I hope everyone is pleased to be breaking up for Easter! Congratulations to Lisa for getting a job!!! Well done Chick!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Leaving Wellington (Boo!), Leaving Crapmere backpackers (Yey), Rotorua and Spa...
Hi Everyone,
We're finally in Rotorua, which smells! I have to say is, they say is wears off but it does actually just smell of Rotten eggs everywhere!
We left Wellington on the 8am bus yesterday! Was sad to not go and watch more cricket but happy to be leaving Rosemere (which has aptly been nicknames Crapmere!).
We arrived in Rotorua at 3pm after a change of bus at Taupo. Taupo looked really nice, especially the HUGE lake! The journey was awesome, we went past 3 active volcanos!!! The NZ landscape looks like its been painted its really stunning! When we stopped off we saw three tanks drive into the cafe car park, was really weird - I'm not entirely sure when NZ are ever going to need them (good thing)!
You can smell Rotorua before you see it! Its because Rotorua is in the middle of a geothermal area so lots of Sulphuric Acid rises up out of the ground and out of volcanic craters. Sulphuric Acid smells of Rotten eggs! Nice! lol!
We got to our hostel, 'Hot Rocks Rotorua' which is awesome! We have an ensuite private twin, with its own kitchen! Its awesome, soooooo nice after Wellington! The hostel also has its own geothermal pool AND geothermically heated swimming pool! All of the power in the hostel is geothermic! Its sooooo cool!
Last night we went to the Lava bar next door for drinks and food then went to the cinema. We wanted to see Juno but it wasn't on so we saw Jumpers, which was ummmmmmmmmmm not great - it would have been fine if it actually ended properly!
This morning we got up early to go to Wai-o-tapu - a volcanic thermal wonderland, on the way we stopped at the largest mud pool in the southern hemisphere! Then we saw the Lady Knox crater explode! The thermal park was beautiful, my favourite part was the Champayne pool, it was sooooooo stunning! http://www.geyserland.co.nz/vtour.php?vr=champagne_pool&h=256&w=400
After that we came back here for a nap and then headed to HELLS GATE! lol! The hells gate thermal park was not as impressive but we went in the Spa there, it was sooooo nice! We had a mud bath!!! It was soooo cool, then we soaked in the natural sulphuric acid pool! It was sooo good, except now I really smell of sulphur... its not hot! We had to take all metal jewellery off because it turns it black!
Tonight we are going out for dinner (don't know where yet!). Tomorrow we're heading for Te Kuiti!!! To see my dad's cousin Glen and his family! I'm very excited about that!!!
I forgot to tell you my perspective on the south island of NZ, I'm a little confused why they bother with all the different world heritage parks, you literally just drive in and out of them! You might as well label the whole Island a world heritage site... something along the lines of 'South Island of New Zealand - A world heritage site (exc Greymouth!)'. lol!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
We're finally in Rotorua, which smells! I have to say is, they say is wears off but it does actually just smell of Rotten eggs everywhere!
We left Wellington on the 8am bus yesterday! Was sad to not go and watch more cricket but happy to be leaving Rosemere (which has aptly been nicknames Crapmere!).
We arrived in Rotorua at 3pm after a change of bus at Taupo. Taupo looked really nice, especially the HUGE lake! The journey was awesome, we went past 3 active volcanos!!! The NZ landscape looks like its been painted its really stunning! When we stopped off we saw three tanks drive into the cafe car park, was really weird - I'm not entirely sure when NZ are ever going to need them (good thing)!
You can smell Rotorua before you see it! Its because Rotorua is in the middle of a geothermal area so lots of Sulphuric Acid rises up out of the ground and out of volcanic craters. Sulphuric Acid smells of Rotten eggs! Nice! lol!
We got to our hostel, 'Hot Rocks Rotorua' which is awesome! We have an ensuite private twin, with its own kitchen! Its awesome, soooooo nice after Wellington! The hostel also has its own geothermal pool AND geothermically heated swimming pool! All of the power in the hostel is geothermic! Its sooooo cool!
Last night we went to the Lava bar next door for drinks and food then went to the cinema. We wanted to see Juno but it wasn't on so we saw Jumpers, which was ummmmmmmmmmm not great - it would have been fine if it actually ended properly!
This morning we got up early to go to Wai-o-tapu - a volcanic thermal wonderland, on the way we stopped at the largest mud pool in the southern hemisphere! Then we saw the Lady Knox crater explode! The thermal park was beautiful, my favourite part was the Champayne pool, it was sooooooo stunning! http://www.geyserland.co.nz/vtour.php?vr=champagne_pool&h=256&w=400
After that we came back here for a nap and then headed to HELLS GATE! lol! The hells gate thermal park was not as impressive but we went in the Spa there, it was sooooo nice! We had a mud bath!!! It was soooo cool, then we soaked in the natural sulphuric acid pool! It was sooo good, except now I really smell of sulphur... its not hot! We had to take all metal jewellery off because it turns it black!
Tonight we are going out for dinner (don't know where yet!). Tomorrow we're heading for Te Kuiti!!! To see my dad's cousin Glen and his family! I'm very excited about that!!!
I forgot to tell you my perspective on the south island of NZ, I'm a little confused why they bother with all the different world heritage parks, you literally just drive in and out of them! You might as well label the whole Island a world heritage site... something along the lines of 'South Island of New Zealand - A world heritage site (exc Greymouth!)'. lol!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Monday, March 17, 2008
Cricket, Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan...
Hi Everyone,
WE'VE HAD THE MOST AWESOME COUPLE OF DAYS!!!
Yesterday's cricket was really relaxing, except when all the crowd in our area though a ball was going to land on their heads, turns out it wasn't even a six! I predicted well, I think I'm a natural! lol! Thought it would be good to get 6 wickets by the end of the day! And thanks to Ryan Sidebottom we did!
Was a bit enraging yesterday when the umpires offered Oram and McCollum bad light - SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OFFERED!!! They were back on the pitch within 5mins!
After the cricket we went to have dinner, we went to a place called Zico's on Courtney Place! I had Veal and Rob had Fish cannelloni. Which was all good, BUT the most exciting thing was that Andrew Strauss walked in and sat at the table next to ours with his wife and REALLY REALLY CUTE CHILD!!! He sounded very nice, and his kid was soooooo cute! Strauss was explaining that he would have to go home on a plane but that 'daddy would follow later'. Was adorable! He s very well dressed as well, nice shoes!
After the awesome excitement of that we decided to go and see Run Fat Boy Run at the cinema, weirdly its only just come out here! I really really enjoyed it! I was actually in tears in one scene, not as much about the scene but at Rob's reaction to it! Basically Dylan Moran's character bursts a huge blister on Simon Peggs foot and Rob literally convulsed and jumped out of his seat when this happened! Was absolutely hilarious!!!! lol!
Today we got up and went down to the cricket! I brought a cap, I'm trying to prevent the sunglass tan marks I'm developing! I also brought a series programme! The end of the match was fantastic, they finally brought Jimmy back into bowl (I think hes a bit injured from the football), plus I finally saw Panesar play well (he has dropped 5 balls this test!) by finishing it off and getting McCollum out!!!
Afterwards we had to wait behind a rope while they were doing the interviews, Rob and I were right at the front and I ask Michael Vaughan for his autograph on my programme (I was the only on on that side that got an autograph!!!), he smiled sooooooo nicely at me! He seems like such a nice man, very nice eyes!
I OFFICIALLY LOVE CRICKET! I feel like this could be expensive, its not cheap to be a cricket fan in England!!!
After meeting Michael Vaughan (I'll just slip that in again there! lol!), we went to the pub! The cricket ended perfectly because we got to actually see a bit of Wellington! We went to Te Papa, The museum of NZ after that! It was really interesting, the exhibits were really good, I think the building was really lovely! After that we wandered through Civic Square which was designed by Ian Athfield. It was really nice, the whole dock area I think is done really well.
After that we went shopping to get me some new flip flops (or thongs as they say here!) cause mine were literally on the brink of completely falling apart!
We then ended up at the pub again, owwww Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!
Finally we headed back to the hostel for Pasta! We're all packed up now, our bus leaves for Rotorua at 8am (arg!) tomorrow morning!!! I'm really excited about Rotorua, although I could very very happily just sit through more cricket! lol! I think Rob might have converted me!
I'll write tomorrow with exciting news of the coach trip! lol!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
WE'VE HAD THE MOST AWESOME COUPLE OF DAYS!!!
Yesterday's cricket was really relaxing, except when all the crowd in our area though a ball was going to land on their heads, turns out it wasn't even a six! I predicted well, I think I'm a natural! lol! Thought it would be good to get 6 wickets by the end of the day! And thanks to Ryan Sidebottom we did!
Was a bit enraging yesterday when the umpires offered Oram and McCollum bad light - SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN OFFERED!!! They were back on the pitch within 5mins!
After the cricket we went to have dinner, we went to a place called Zico's on Courtney Place! I had Veal and Rob had Fish cannelloni. Which was all good, BUT the most exciting thing was that Andrew Strauss walked in and sat at the table next to ours with his wife and REALLY REALLY CUTE CHILD!!! He sounded very nice, and his kid was soooooo cute! Strauss was explaining that he would have to go home on a plane but that 'daddy would follow later'. Was adorable! He s very well dressed as well, nice shoes!
After the awesome excitement of that we decided to go and see Run Fat Boy Run at the cinema, weirdly its only just come out here! I really really enjoyed it! I was actually in tears in one scene, not as much about the scene but at Rob's reaction to it! Basically Dylan Moran's character bursts a huge blister on Simon Peggs foot and Rob literally convulsed and jumped out of his seat when this happened! Was absolutely hilarious!!!! lol!
Today we got up and went down to the cricket! I brought a cap, I'm trying to prevent the sunglass tan marks I'm developing! I also brought a series programme! The end of the match was fantastic, they finally brought Jimmy back into bowl (I think hes a bit injured from the football), plus I finally saw Panesar play well (he has dropped 5 balls this test!) by finishing it off and getting McCollum out!!!
Afterwards we had to wait behind a rope while they were doing the interviews, Rob and I were right at the front and I ask Michael Vaughan for his autograph on my programme (I was the only on on that side that got an autograph!!!), he smiled sooooooo nicely at me! He seems like such a nice man, very nice eyes!
I OFFICIALLY LOVE CRICKET! I feel like this could be expensive, its not cheap to be a cricket fan in England!!!
After meeting Michael Vaughan (I'll just slip that in again there! lol!), we went to the pub! The cricket ended perfectly because we got to actually see a bit of Wellington! We went to Te Papa, The museum of NZ after that! It was really interesting, the exhibits were really good, I think the building was really lovely! After that we wandered through Civic Square which was designed by Ian Athfield. It was really nice, the whole dock area I think is done really well.
After that we went shopping to get me some new flip flops (or thongs as they say here!) cause mine were literally on the brink of completely falling apart!
We then ended up at the pub again, owwww Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!
Finally we headed back to the hostel for Pasta! We're all packed up now, our bus leaves for Rotorua at 8am (arg!) tomorrow morning!!! I'm really excited about Rotorua, although I could very very happily just sit through more cricket! lol! I think Rob might have converted me!
I'll write tomorrow with exciting news of the coach trip! lol!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Cricket and Jimmy...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is really good! Happy Birthday Lise!!!!!!
We had an awesome day! Got up this morning and headed to the cricket via the post office! Finally finished the application people! Sooooooooo releaved... I'm going to make Rob a wrist band now!
We got to the cricket at around 11.15am, sat in the stands today rather than the bank! Rob managed to knock my coffee over! We are really bad at the moment with knocking things over! Its soooooo weird! I ran down the road to post my application and get a newspaper!
We watched up until the end of play today! Not a great day of cricket but as Rob put it "they did what they had to". It was sooooo lovely though, just relaxed! I now have sunglass tan lines of my face which is not hot though! We think we must have been on TV today cause England gots some 4's in our direction!
Rob got really annoyed at KP (Kevin Pieterson) cause he ignored some kids and wouldn't sign autographs for them! Not very nice really, although he did have a really unlucky dismissal!
At the end we watched the team warm down for a while while playing football! Was soooo cool they kept running right close to us! I've decided I was wrong about the hotness factor yesterday, the team does have two hotties... Jimmy Anderson (OF COURSE) and Stuart Broad! We've just seen on the news that in that game Jimmy turned his ankle SO HOPEFULLY HE WILL BE OK, cause tomorrow morning hes batting (i presume they'll declare if hes not!).
After the cricket we headed down into the centre of town to go to the supermarket cause we ran out of sandwich bread for lunch, we had a quick walk down by the marina and recorded a little Happy Birthday Message for Lise!!! As we were walking down to the supermarket we saw Andy Flowers walking into the Museum Hotel, it looks like thats were the England team are staying! We contemplated going to there bar but thought that was a little toooo stalkerish! lol!
We're heading back to the hostel now to make Spag Bog and have some wine! We watched Hot Fuzz last night which was really fun! Might watch another DVD tonight!
I'm really excited about tomorrows cricket!!! I hope Jimmy is ok though!!!
Any UK news?
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is really good! Happy Birthday Lise!!!!!!
We had an awesome day! Got up this morning and headed to the cricket via the post office! Finally finished the application people! Sooooooooo releaved... I'm going to make Rob a wrist band now!
We got to the cricket at around 11.15am, sat in the stands today rather than the bank! Rob managed to knock my coffee over! We are really bad at the moment with knocking things over! Its soooooo weird! I ran down the road to post my application and get a newspaper!
We watched up until the end of play today! Not a great day of cricket but as Rob put it "they did what they had to". It was sooooo lovely though, just relaxed! I now have sunglass tan lines of my face which is not hot though! We think we must have been on TV today cause England gots some 4's in our direction!
Rob got really annoyed at KP (Kevin Pieterson) cause he ignored some kids and wouldn't sign autographs for them! Not very nice really, although he did have a really unlucky dismissal!
At the end we watched the team warm down for a while while playing football! Was soooo cool they kept running right close to us! I've decided I was wrong about the hotness factor yesterday, the team does have two hotties... Jimmy Anderson (OF COURSE) and Stuart Broad! We've just seen on the news that in that game Jimmy turned his ankle SO HOPEFULLY HE WILL BE OK, cause tomorrow morning hes batting (i presume they'll declare if hes not!).
After the cricket we headed down into the centre of town to go to the supermarket cause we ran out of sandwich bread for lunch, we had a quick walk down by the marina and recorded a little Happy Birthday Message for Lise!!! As we were walking down to the supermarket we saw Andy Flowers walking into the Museum Hotel, it looks like thats were the England team are staying! We contemplated going to there bar but thought that was a little toooo stalkerish! lol!
We're heading back to the hostel now to make Spag Bog and have some wine! We watched Hot Fuzz last night which was really fun! Might watch another DVD tonight!
I'm really excited about tomorrows cricket!!! I hope Jimmy is ok though!!!
Any UK news?
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Cricket...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is good!
I officially like cricket! lol! But before we get to that I thought I should tell you that last night I literally managed to wack my pint of guiness off the bar straight at me and Rob! It was alll over my face and Rob looked like he'd had an 'accident'! lol! I'm literally soooooo clumsy! I think its the first time that I've agreed with Pat about me drinking Guiness in 2 halfs rather than the pint (although not with the same reasoning!), it probably would have been alot less messy that way! lol!
Cricket today was sooooo cool! We got there about 10am watched them warm up a bit. The whole day looked like it was going to rain but it didn't! I played Sudoku and read gossip magazines, sunbathed, drank a lot of beer and watched some reasonably good looking me (except for Jimmy Anderson who is a VERY good looking man) run around a field! It was really really good! We had sarnies for lunch! Sooooo nice!
England did really well, 342-9 against the Kiwi's 198-9 (I think thats how you say it). Unless tomorrow goes really really badly we should win! Hopefully! Rob says I'm really lucky cause we are doing really well! I like being lucky... really am not when it comes to football!
We're gonna make fajitas for dinner which will be yummy! More cricket tomorrow!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is good!
I officially like cricket! lol! But before we get to that I thought I should tell you that last night I literally managed to wack my pint of guiness off the bar straight at me and Rob! It was alll over my face and Rob looked like he'd had an 'accident'! lol! I'm literally soooooo clumsy! I think its the first time that I've agreed with Pat about me drinking Guiness in 2 halfs rather than the pint (although not with the same reasoning!), it probably would have been alot less messy that way! lol!
Cricket today was sooooo cool! We got there about 10am watched them warm up a bit. The whole day looked like it was going to rain but it didn't! I played Sudoku and read gossip magazines, sunbathed, drank a lot of beer and watched some reasonably good looking me (except for Jimmy Anderson who is a VERY good looking man) run around a field! It was really really good! We had sarnies for lunch! Sooooo nice!
England did really well, 342-9 against the Kiwi's 198-9 (I think thats how you say it). Unless tomorrow goes really really badly we should win! Hopefully! Rob says I'm really lucky cause we are doing really well! I like being lucky... really am not when it comes to football!
We're gonna make fajitas for dinner which will be yummy! More cricket tomorrow!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Nelson, Interlander Ferry and Wellington...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is good!
Everytime I've been at a computer recently I've been doing my application so haven't wanted to sit any longer!
Anyways, We left Franz Josef and did the 10hr bus ride to Nelson. It went surprisingly quickly although we had to go back through Greymouth (BOO!!!), we stopped off ALOT on the journey was kinda annoying. Although we did stop off at the Pancake rocks which was really cool! They are huge rock formations that are called the pancake rocks because they look like lots of stacks of pancakes! Should really be called Stacks of Pancakes rocks but there you go. The sea was fierce that day, was really cool, it was slamming up against all the rocks!
We finally arrived in Nelson and checked into our YHA, some weird thing about the online booking system meant we were in separate rooms for the first night but we moved for the second. I was in a female only dorm, I just don't really get female only dorms. Why do the girls not feel safe in a mixed dorm? Especially in New Zealand in a YHA?
Anyways, I spent most of the next day doing my application, then we headed to the beach. It was SUCH a nice beach, I think its the nicest so far! Rob went swimming and I read then we went and had dinner in the pub cause it was our midway point that day! After that we went back to the beach to see the sun go down, missed the start of it though! But it was sooooo pretty, I took sooooooo many photos! lol! Then we wandered back to the hostel via a bar to have another drink.
Today we got up earlish and got the 10.15am coach to Picton. We boarded the interlander ferry to Wellington from there. It was a really pretty (but cold) journey, we spent the part through the sound outside on the top deck and then went inside when it got to open ocean. We both managed to fall asleep for a bit as well. It was a really lovely ferry ride, although I don't think we saw it at its best because it was a bit of a grey day.
When we arrived in Wellington we headed over to our hostel. Which is interesting, lol! The hostel is really nice but the people in our dorm obviously live there all the time so it felt like we were walking into someones room. Was a bit horrible to start with but getting used to it, as long as there nice it'll be fine. The hostel itself has a really nice atmosphere and is really clean so all good. We're not actually gonna be spending much time there anyway with the cricket.
Wellington looks really cool, I wanna go to the sanctuary wildlife place and to the Te Papa museum. We headed to the supermarket to stock up but tonight we're heading out to grab a bite to eat and a few drinks!
Really looking forward to the cricket tomorrow! My first match (I just had to check it was actually called a match!). I'll report tomorrow!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is good!
Everytime I've been at a computer recently I've been doing my application so haven't wanted to sit any longer!
Anyways, We left Franz Josef and did the 10hr bus ride to Nelson. It went surprisingly quickly although we had to go back through Greymouth (BOO!!!), we stopped off ALOT on the journey was kinda annoying. Although we did stop off at the Pancake rocks which was really cool! They are huge rock formations that are called the pancake rocks because they look like lots of stacks of pancakes! Should really be called Stacks of Pancakes rocks but there you go. The sea was fierce that day, was really cool, it was slamming up against all the rocks!
We finally arrived in Nelson and checked into our YHA, some weird thing about the online booking system meant we were in separate rooms for the first night but we moved for the second. I was in a female only dorm, I just don't really get female only dorms. Why do the girls not feel safe in a mixed dorm? Especially in New Zealand in a YHA?
Anyways, I spent most of the next day doing my application, then we headed to the beach. It was SUCH a nice beach, I think its the nicest so far! Rob went swimming and I read then we went and had dinner in the pub cause it was our midway point that day! After that we went back to the beach to see the sun go down, missed the start of it though! But it was sooooo pretty, I took sooooooo many photos! lol! Then we wandered back to the hostel via a bar to have another drink.
Today we got up earlish and got the 10.15am coach to Picton. We boarded the interlander ferry to Wellington from there. It was a really pretty (but cold) journey, we spent the part through the sound outside on the top deck and then went inside when it got to open ocean. We both managed to fall asleep for a bit as well. It was a really lovely ferry ride, although I don't think we saw it at its best because it was a bit of a grey day.
When we arrived in Wellington we headed over to our hostel. Which is interesting, lol! The hostel is really nice but the people in our dorm obviously live there all the time so it felt like we were walking into someones room. Was a bit horrible to start with but getting used to it, as long as there nice it'll be fine. The hostel itself has a really nice atmosphere and is really clean so all good. We're not actually gonna be spending much time there anyway with the cricket.
Wellington looks really cool, I wanna go to the sanctuary wildlife place and to the Te Papa museum. We headed to the supermarket to stock up but tonight we're heading out to grab a bite to eat and a few drinks!
Really looking forward to the cricket tomorrow! My first match (I just had to check it was actually called a match!). I'll report tomorrow!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Franz Josef and Glacier Hiking...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is good!
We're in Franz Josef! We arrived yesterday late afternoon and settled into our very nice hostel 'Chateau Franz'. We headed over to the Blue Ice Bar around the corner for our dinner! Ow before that we had a bit of a problem, basically I was recording a video message to sent to Imogen for her 21st! Happy Birthday!!! lol! I ran out of memory space so I headed to the hostel computers to use the internet, but my external hard drive WITH ALL OUR PHOTOS FROM THE WHOLE TRIP started beeping (which it has never done before) and generally acting really weird. Anyways we headed down to the red bus internet cafe, LITERALLY A RED BUS its sooooo cool! And I plugged it in here, it worked ok, but we copied all the photos onto a re-writable dvd just in case! Don't want to have to worry about it, its good that they're all backed up now!
Anyways, Franz Josef seems really lovely! We're very impressed, it's a lot better than Greymouth! We do think we got the best out of Greymouth but it was very grey and not very interesting!
Today I had a lay in, Rob went and checked his e-mails, then we we headed to the Post Office to send LOADS of my stuff home!!! Which has made my bag A LOT LIGHTER!!! Yey! But was really expensive, so I'm not very happy about that part!
Anyways, after that we head to Franz Josef Glacier Guides where we were booked in to do a half day hike! We were given boots raincoats and crampons (to hold not wear yet), which were all very fetching! lol! We then got in a bus that took us 10mins down the road to the glacier river car park.
We walked for about 3km over rocks, up and down ladders etc before arriving at the bottom of the glacier where our helpful guide Bruce instructed us on how to walk on the glacier, basically legs shoulder length apart, always walk down facing forward etc. We put our crampons on the bottom of our boots and started walking up! As we went Bruce had a massive axe and he carved the steps out for us!
IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Daddy you would really really have loved it! It was easier than our great wall hike, about the same distance though! Although I still think I'm going to be sore tomorrow morning! lol! We walked up past the black ice, which is basically just rumble from the hills surrounding the glacier, onto the white and blue ice! Its soooo weird that the ice is actually blue! We walked through cave things and everything! It was absolutely AMAZING! I loved it soooooo much, it was sooooo fun! You really need the crampons through because you would just fall over sooooo easily if you didn't!
At really steep bits they had ropes that they screwed into the ice so that we could hold on, cause some of the steeps were really high up!
All in all it was FANTASTIC! So cool to be hiking over a glacier, I'm knackered now through!
We're gonna go and make dinner now! We head to Nelson tomorrow which everyone we have talked to has said is really nice! Only 3 nights left on the South Island!!!
Any news from the UK?
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is good!
We're in Franz Josef! We arrived yesterday late afternoon and settled into our very nice hostel 'Chateau Franz'. We headed over to the Blue Ice Bar around the corner for our dinner! Ow before that we had a bit of a problem, basically I was recording a video message to sent to Imogen for her 21st! Happy Birthday!!! lol! I ran out of memory space so I headed to the hostel computers to use the internet, but my external hard drive WITH ALL OUR PHOTOS FROM THE WHOLE TRIP started beeping (which it has never done before) and generally acting really weird. Anyways we headed down to the red bus internet cafe, LITERALLY A RED BUS its sooooo cool! And I plugged it in here, it worked ok, but we copied all the photos onto a re-writable dvd just in case! Don't want to have to worry about it, its good that they're all backed up now!
Anyways, Franz Josef seems really lovely! We're very impressed, it's a lot better than Greymouth! We do think we got the best out of Greymouth but it was very grey and not very interesting!
Today I had a lay in, Rob went and checked his e-mails, then we we headed to the Post Office to send LOADS of my stuff home!!! Which has made my bag A LOT LIGHTER!!! Yey! But was really expensive, so I'm not very happy about that part!
Anyways, after that we head to Franz Josef Glacier Guides where we were booked in to do a half day hike! We were given boots raincoats and crampons (to hold not wear yet), which were all very fetching! lol! We then got in a bus that took us 10mins down the road to the glacier river car park.
We walked for about 3km over rocks, up and down ladders etc before arriving at the bottom of the glacier where our helpful guide Bruce instructed us on how to walk on the glacier, basically legs shoulder length apart, always walk down facing forward etc. We put our crampons on the bottom of our boots and started walking up! As we went Bruce had a massive axe and he carved the steps out for us!
IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! Daddy you would really really have loved it! It was easier than our great wall hike, about the same distance though! Although I still think I'm going to be sore tomorrow morning! lol! We walked up past the black ice, which is basically just rumble from the hills surrounding the glacier, onto the white and blue ice! Its soooo weird that the ice is actually blue! We walked through cave things and everything! It was absolutely AMAZING! I loved it soooooo much, it was sooooo fun! You really need the crampons through because you would just fall over sooooo easily if you didn't!
At really steep bits they had ropes that they screwed into the ice so that we could hold on, cause some of the steeps were really high up!
All in all it was FANTASTIC! So cool to be hiking over a glacier, I'm knackered now through!
We're gonna go and make dinner now! We head to Nelson tomorrow which everyone we have talked to has said is really nice! Only 3 nights left on the South Island!!!
Any news from the UK?
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Whale watching, TransAlpine Train and Greymouth...
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday was knackered, am still knackered so may elaborate further in next e-mail, as may not do it justice today!!!
Yesterday we got up early... Arg and got the 7am bus to Kaikoura! Kaikoura is a very small town but is really beautiful. It has a really nice beach which is all rocks!
We arrived at 9.45am and had a coffee and a stroll down the beach, rob had a paddle 2!
At 11.45 we got our whale watching tickets and had our sandwiches before we got on the bus to take us to the boat! Its only a quick 10min bus ride to the marina! We got on the boat and had to sit while we were getting out to the area where we were going to go and find a whale! The boat was soooo cool, I love boats! We had a lesson about the area. Basically the whales get so close to the shore (about 4-5miles the day we were there) because about half a mile off shore there is a HUGE underwater canyon! This is about 1000meters deep and can fit about 6 Auckland sky towers in it!
When we arrived at the sight we could then go out on the deck! They spotted a whale on the surface, you can see them because of the water jut thing when they breath, this can be seen about 3miles away! We drove up to one and IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME! It was soooooo huge! It was up for about 5 minutes then it dived! I love watching them dive they're soooo big! It so awesome!
When that one dived we raced to see another one, this then stayed up for about 10mins then it dived! Then after that one dived we headed back towards shore and to see dolphins! We saw about 200 dolphins altogether! It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! They were all jumping and some were properly showing off by splashing around. They were just all around the boat it was awesome!
After that we went and looked at albertrosses! They were so big, they just floated around up in the water! Was soooooo cool!!! After that one of the whales that had dived earlier had resurfaced so we went to see that one again! I managed to film the end of it diving back into the water!!!
After that we went to see some seals just hanging around on rocks! Was such a good trip! They had such cool computer graphics on the ship when we were heading back they showed the canyon draining of water so you could see what it was like underneath!
Was really really cool, such a good thing to do! I was sooooooo excited to see the whales, they were sooooo ridiculously big and you only see a bit of them! AWESOME!
After that we headed back to the hostel and sorted out our accommodation for the next few places we're going! Then had dinner and went to bed!
We got up really early this morning and got a taxi to the train station to board the TransAlpine Train to Greymouth. This train goes through the mountains to Arther's Pass then further through eventually arriving in Greymouth. It was really comfortable and was really cool to go through the mountains. It was a bit underwhelming but I think thats cause we've just left Milford Sound! Which you can't beat! lol! We played the dinner party game on the train, 5 ppl that you would invite to a dinner party who can be alive or not.... I managed to think of 4. Currently they would be Barack Obama, Robin Cook, David Tennant and now I can't remember the fourth... hmmmm! I'll have to remember and get back to you on that one! lol!
Greymouth is Grey and rainy currently! We headed to the hostel which is really nice! Really friendly, met some nice people! We headed out to the post office to sent some stuff home then found out it was closed so went to the pub! The women was like you have to try all the beers before you choose which one to drink cause Monteith brewery is here! So we did, then she was like you should go on the tour, so we did!
At 4pm we headed off to go on the brewery tour, which was well good really interesting, got to try lots of beers and I pulled a pint! lol! Some guys from the parent company DB from Auckland were there so they were talking, it was really interesting!
We then headed back had dinner and have watched a film.
Now I'm gonna head off to bed, cause I'm really knackered! Tomorrow we're going to Franz Josef!
I hope everyone is really good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday was knackered, am still knackered so may elaborate further in next e-mail, as may not do it justice today!!!
Yesterday we got up early... Arg and got the 7am bus to Kaikoura! Kaikoura is a very small town but is really beautiful. It has a really nice beach which is all rocks!
We arrived at 9.45am and had a coffee and a stroll down the beach, rob had a paddle 2!
At 11.45 we got our whale watching tickets and had our sandwiches before we got on the bus to take us to the boat! Its only a quick 10min bus ride to the marina! We got on the boat and had to sit while we were getting out to the area where we were going to go and find a whale! The boat was soooo cool, I love boats! We had a lesson about the area. Basically the whales get so close to the shore (about 4-5miles the day we were there) because about half a mile off shore there is a HUGE underwater canyon! This is about 1000meters deep and can fit about 6 Auckland sky towers in it!
When we arrived at the sight we could then go out on the deck! They spotted a whale on the surface, you can see them because of the water jut thing when they breath, this can be seen about 3miles away! We drove up to one and IT WAS SOOOOOOOOOOOOO AWESOME! It was soooooo huge! It was up for about 5 minutes then it dived! I love watching them dive they're soooo big! It so awesome!
When that one dived we raced to see another one, this then stayed up for about 10mins then it dived! Then after that one dived we headed back towards shore and to see dolphins! We saw about 200 dolphins altogether! It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! They were all jumping and some were properly showing off by splashing around. They were just all around the boat it was awesome!
After that we went and looked at albertrosses! They were so big, they just floated around up in the water! Was soooooo cool!!! After that one of the whales that had dived earlier had resurfaced so we went to see that one again! I managed to film the end of it diving back into the water!!!
After that we went to see some seals just hanging around on rocks! Was such a good trip! They had such cool computer graphics on the ship when we were heading back they showed the canyon draining of water so you could see what it was like underneath!
Was really really cool, such a good thing to do! I was sooooooo excited to see the whales, they were sooooo ridiculously big and you only see a bit of them! AWESOME!
After that we headed back to the hostel and sorted out our accommodation for the next few places we're going! Then had dinner and went to bed!
We got up really early this morning and got a taxi to the train station to board the TransAlpine Train to Greymouth. This train goes through the mountains to Arther's Pass then further through eventually arriving in Greymouth. It was really comfortable and was really cool to go through the mountains. It was a bit underwhelming but I think thats cause we've just left Milford Sound! Which you can't beat! lol! We played the dinner party game on the train, 5 ppl that you would invite to a dinner party who can be alive or not.... I managed to think of 4. Currently they would be Barack Obama, Robin Cook, David Tennant and now I can't remember the fourth... hmmmm! I'll have to remember and get back to you on that one! lol!
Greymouth is Grey and rainy currently! We headed to the hostel which is really nice! Really friendly, met some nice people! We headed out to the post office to sent some stuff home then found out it was closed so went to the pub! The women was like you have to try all the beers before you choose which one to drink cause Monteith brewery is here! So we did, then she was like you should go on the tour, so we did!
At 4pm we headed off to go on the brewery tour, which was well good really interesting, got to try lots of beers and I pulled a pint! lol! Some guys from the parent company DB from Auckland were there so they were talking, it was really interesting!
We then headed back had dinner and have watched a film.
Now I'm gonna head off to bed, cause I'm really knackered! Tomorrow we're going to Franz Josef!
I hope everyone is really good!!!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The inside of an internet cafe...
Hi Everyone,
Well today has not been an amazingly exciting one! lol!
I got up about 10.30am and headed to an internet cafe to spend THE ENTIRE DAY working on my application - Arg!
Rob had a much more exciting day, he went to the Botanical gardens and the Christchurch Art Gallery, then he met me for lunch around 2pm. We sat in the Cathedral square and had our sandwiches that we had made ourselves! lol! Got swarmed by sea gulls!
Then we went into Starbucks and had drinks while he looked over my application. We ended up getting into a really drawn out debate about ethical business because of one sentence in my application that might cause the interviewer to ask me a question about ethical business! lol! Was fun! lol!
Then we went and booked our whale watching for tomorrow! Yey! Soooooo excited! After that Rob sat and booked the rest of our coaches around New Zealand while I worked more on my application! At about 6ish I continued to write stuff while Rob headed back and had a shower and got the hostel to print our bus info for us! Then he arrived back and I worked for about another 1/2 hr! Finally sent it to my Dad for proof reading!
We wandered down to a restaurant called Dux Lux and saw the outside of Christchurch Art Gallery which is BEAUTIFUL! Its a really stunning building! When we found the restaurant they had stopped serving most of the stuff on there menu so we headed for a place called the Honey Pot that is literally across the road from our hostel (and in the Rough Guide - Yey!). It was really nice, Rob had potato and bacon chowder and I had a gourmet open sandwich with Bacon, Chicken, Brie, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato in it!It was soooooo nice! Although I can't write anymore about it cause I'm really stuffed so it's making me feel sick! lol!
After that we came back to the hostel although we were stopped by a very strange man who started telling us to accept Jesus into our lives, we were like "ummmm thank you, we're gonna go to bed now". He had just come out of the bar next door so I think he was a bit drunk!
We're getting up really early - again! To get the 7am bus to Kaikoura where we are going whale watching! I hope its all ok, on occasion the boat can't go out! Which will really really suck! Although they have a 95% chance of seeing a Whale! Soooooo cool! I'm well excited!!!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Well today has not been an amazingly exciting one! lol!
I got up about 10.30am and headed to an internet cafe to spend THE ENTIRE DAY working on my application - Arg!
Rob had a much more exciting day, he went to the Botanical gardens and the Christchurch Art Gallery, then he met me for lunch around 2pm. We sat in the Cathedral square and had our sandwiches that we had made ourselves! lol! Got swarmed by sea gulls!
Then we went into Starbucks and had drinks while he looked over my application. We ended up getting into a really drawn out debate about ethical business because of one sentence in my application that might cause the interviewer to ask me a question about ethical business! lol! Was fun! lol!
Then we went and booked our whale watching for tomorrow! Yey! Soooooo excited! After that Rob sat and booked the rest of our coaches around New Zealand while I worked more on my application! At about 6ish I continued to write stuff while Rob headed back and had a shower and got the hostel to print our bus info for us! Then he arrived back and I worked for about another 1/2 hr! Finally sent it to my Dad for proof reading!
We wandered down to a restaurant called Dux Lux and saw the outside of Christchurch Art Gallery which is BEAUTIFUL! Its a really stunning building! When we found the restaurant they had stopped serving most of the stuff on there menu so we headed for a place called the Honey Pot that is literally across the road from our hostel (and in the Rough Guide - Yey!). It was really nice, Rob had potato and bacon chowder and I had a gourmet open sandwich with Bacon, Chicken, Brie, Lettuce, Avocado and Tomato in it!It was soooooo nice! Although I can't write anymore about it cause I'm really stuffed so it's making me feel sick! lol!
After that we came back to the hostel although we were stopped by a very strange man who started telling us to accept Jesus into our lives, we were like "ummmm thank you, we're gonna go to bed now". He had just come out of the bar next door so I think he was a bit drunk!
We're getting up really early - again! To get the 7am bus to Kaikoura where we are going whale watching! I hope its all ok, on occasion the boat can't go out! Which will really really suck! Although they have a 95% chance of seeing a Whale! Soooooo cool! I'm well excited!!!
I hope everyone is really good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Bus...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is doing well! I'm afraid there is not much to report for today! Unless like last time you want to know the inside of the coach that we were on! lol!
We got up ridulously early... AGAIN! At 5.45am, got dressed, had a shower etc and called a taxi to take us the bus! I managed to smack my head really hard when getting into the taxi... then again when getting out of it! lol! So stupid!
We got on the bus and headed for Christchurch. There was a massive mix up at Tepoka (I think thats where it was) where we heard the otherwise very jolly bus driver screaming down the phone at the bus office staff because they hadn't told him that he needed to take all the passengers off his bus and swap them with the people on the bus going in the complete other direction! This caused a huge problem and they had to swap all the bags and everyone was annoyed! Arg! The only thing that annoyed me was that the new bus didn't have seat belts on it... a company requirement! hmmmmm!
Anyways, due to that we arrived about half an hour late in Christchurch. We got off the bus and headed to our hostel! The New Excelsior in Christchurch! Its very very nice! It has a sun deck and roof terrace with BBQ facilities and a big kitchen and lounge! Not as interesting as the jail but right in the centre of town!
We put our stuff in our room, had a wash and then headed to the nearest supermarket... PAK 'N' SAVE haha! It reminded me a bit of IKEA actually! We got some supplies for the few days we're in Christchurch. Then headed back and made dinner! I had steak... it was very nice! lol!
Tomorrow I'm spending the day in an internet cafe tweeking my mountbatten application, Rob's going to have a wander around town! On friday we plan to go whale watching so we need to book that up tomorrow! Then Saturday we're off to Greymouth on the TransAlpine Railway... http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/tranzalpine.aspx
Anyways, I'm going to go and finish my gossip mag! lol!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is doing well! I'm afraid there is not much to report for today! Unless like last time you want to know the inside of the coach that we were on! lol!
We got up ridulously early... AGAIN! At 5.45am, got dressed, had a shower etc and called a taxi to take us the bus! I managed to smack my head really hard when getting into the taxi... then again when getting out of it! lol! So stupid!
We got on the bus and headed for Christchurch. There was a massive mix up at Tepoka (I think thats where it was) where we heard the otherwise very jolly bus driver screaming down the phone at the bus office staff because they hadn't told him that he needed to take all the passengers off his bus and swap them with the people on the bus going in the complete other direction! This caused a huge problem and they had to swap all the bags and everyone was annoyed! Arg! The only thing that annoyed me was that the new bus didn't have seat belts on it... a company requirement! hmmmmm!
Anyways, due to that we arrived about half an hour late in Christchurch. We got off the bus and headed to our hostel! The New Excelsior in Christchurch! Its very very nice! It has a sun deck and roof terrace with BBQ facilities and a big kitchen and lounge! Not as interesting as the jail but right in the centre of town!
We put our stuff in our room, had a wash and then headed to the nearest supermarket... PAK 'N' SAVE haha! It reminded me a bit of IKEA actually! We got some supplies for the few days we're in Christchurch. Then headed back and made dinner! I had steak... it was very nice! lol!
Tomorrow I'm spending the day in an internet cafe tweeking my mountbatten application, Rob's going to have a wander around town! On friday we plan to go whale watching so we need to book that up tomorrow! Then Saturday we're off to Greymouth on the TransAlpine Railway... http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/tranzalpine.aspx
Anyways, I'm going to go and finish my gossip mag! lol!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Glow worms, Stars and back to Queenstown...
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone is good!
We are finally back in Queenstown! After I e-mailed yesterday we went down the pub, which was very nice and watched some sport (including the Arses vs Villa)! Just chilled out a bit! The weather was stunning it had drastically changed from the day before!
Then we headed back to the hostel and waited for the glow worms to show! On our first walk we couldn't find anything (because it was still too light!), however my head torch (thank you cat!) did come very much in handy (again! lol). Finally we went back to the hostel to talk to the cute hostel guy (in fact, very cute hostel guy - up there with Daniel the Koala Ranger!) and he told us that he had just checked and that they weren't out yet and to wait about an hour!
So we just went and put our washing on and hung around a bit! We then went to see if they were out and it was soooooooo awesome! They're sooooo cool, just little green glowing lights! We both loved it! We agreed that Pixar should make a film about glow worms, although we then argued about the name for the main characters, I went for luminessa whereas Rob wanted Zorb! I mean really Zorb the glow worm???? Plus I'm sure Zorb is buzz lightyears sworn enemy in Toy Story 2!
Anyway after that we went and lay on a bench by the river because the night sky was completely and utterly clear! It was AMAZING! Rob thinks nothing on earth can compare to the stars! Thats big considering we were in Milford Sound (and near cute hostel guy! lol!)
After that we went and finished our washing then headed to bed. This morning we got up bright and early (9am) and packed. We checked out and put our bags in the store room. Then we had Bagels with scrambled eggs on them! They were yummy! We planned for more of the trip and just hung around until 1.30pm when we headed in to the main area (hard to say area when its one pub and a wharf! lol). We had a drink and shared some pasta for lunch then went and found our bus!
The bus ride back was absolutely beautiful! I saw sooooo many sheep! lol! We arrived back in Christchurch at 7.30pm and have just had dinner in an Ale house! I finally had New Zealand lamb! It was soooooooo good! lol!
Right well the internet cafe is closing so I'm going to head off! We're heading off on the epic 10hr trip to Christchurch tomorrow! Leaving at 7.30am Boo hiss boo!!!! ;-(
Hope everyone is good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
I hope everyone is good!
We are finally back in Queenstown! After I e-mailed yesterday we went down the pub, which was very nice and watched some sport (including the Arses vs Villa)! Just chilled out a bit! The weather was stunning it had drastically changed from the day before!
Then we headed back to the hostel and waited for the glow worms to show! On our first walk we couldn't find anything (because it was still too light!), however my head torch (thank you cat!) did come very much in handy (again! lol). Finally we went back to the hostel to talk to the cute hostel guy (in fact, very cute hostel guy - up there with Daniel the Koala Ranger!) and he told us that he had just checked and that they weren't out yet and to wait about an hour!
So we just went and put our washing on and hung around a bit! We then went to see if they were out and it was soooooooo awesome! They're sooooo cool, just little green glowing lights! We both loved it! We agreed that Pixar should make a film about glow worms, although we then argued about the name for the main characters, I went for luminessa whereas Rob wanted Zorb! I mean really Zorb the glow worm???? Plus I'm sure Zorb is buzz lightyears sworn enemy in Toy Story 2!
Anyway after that we went and lay on a bench by the river because the night sky was completely and utterly clear! It was AMAZING! Rob thinks nothing on earth can compare to the stars! Thats big considering we were in Milford Sound (and near cute hostel guy! lol!)
After that we went and finished our washing then headed to bed. This morning we got up bright and early (9am) and packed. We checked out and put our bags in the store room. Then we had Bagels with scrambled eggs on them! They were yummy! We planned for more of the trip and just hung around until 1.30pm when we headed in to the main area (hard to say area when its one pub and a wharf! lol). We had a drink and shared some pasta for lunch then went and found our bus!
The bus ride back was absolutely beautiful! I saw sooooo many sheep! lol! We arrived back in Christchurch at 7.30pm and have just had dinner in an Ale house! I finally had New Zealand lamb! It was soooooooo good! lol!
Right well the internet cafe is closing so I'm going to head off! We're heading off on the epic 10hr trip to Christchurch tomorrow! Leaving at 7.30am Boo hiss boo!!!! ;-(
Hope everyone is good!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Milford Sound...
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday the internet in Milford Sound was broken!
We got up really early yesterday and started walking to the bus stop for 6.45am, however very helpfully a taxi drove past and we asked them to get us a taxi! It was cold and our bags were well heavy!
We got on the bus with our trusty bus driver Peter! We thought the bus journey was going to be just a boring trip but it turned out to be a bit more like a tour bus so we got to learn lots of stuff on the way!!! :-) Peter the bus driver literally did not stop telling us stuff for like the whole 5 hours that he was driving! It was sooooo funny! I however fell asleep for most of the way! lol!
We stopped in Te Anua which is the nearest town (95miles) from Milford Sound, it was very very cold and because I thought we were going to be on a bus for 5 hours I was just wearing a sundress and flip flops! I got a lot of weird looks! But it was really warm in Queenstown, I didn't know it was going to be cold and rainy! lol! We headed into the world heritage site, it was ABSOULTELY STUNNING! We went through Homers tunnel which is this really weird one way tunnel and is the only reason Milford Sound is now assessable by car!
We then stopped at 'The Caseum', where we took a quick walk through the forest to get to this amazing waterfall! When we arrived in Milford Sound Peter dropped us off at the drive to our Lodge, the only accommodation in Milford Sound, 'Milford Sound Lodge'. Its amazing its a very nice lodge and our 4 dorm room is really nice, all very clean but its completely surrounded by stunning mountains! We're in the middle of nowhere, I have no phone reception!!! Plus the internet was down, AND the pay phone is broken! We saw this women jogging and were like 'Where has she jogged from???' considering the nearest town is 95miles away!!!
After settling into the hostel we got the bus (2km) into Milford Sound. Milford Sound has one pub/cafe, a wharf, the tinnest airport I've seen and one accommodation place! Theres nothing here apart from water and scenery! We had some drinks in the pub and I worked on my application, then we had dinner! We wandered back after that and played battleships and guess who! lol! Was so funny!
This morning we got up bright and early and headed down to the marina to go on a cruise into the sound! It was amazing. Milford Sound is not actually a sound it is a fiord, which means that the mountains shapes were created by glacier erosion. They were created under the water and as tectonic plates move and earthquakes happen they have risen up from under the water! There are still glaciers on top of some of the mountains like Mount Pembroke for example. There are waterfalls everywhere! Its just stunning!
In addition it is one of the only places in the world that deep water emergence happens! Which is where because of the mountains working as tea bags a fresh water layer is created and a sea water layer is underneath - this means that you get marine life living at 10meters that normally lives at 60meters+ in open sea! We cruised all the way out to the opening to the tasman sea and also saw fur seals, who were soooo cute! Rob however said I should have been a seal cause you get to sleep all day and laze about on Rocks... RUDE! lol! We got driven into waterfalls, and got very wet!
Also Rob and I went to Milford deep which is this sea observatory, you walk down 9meters in to a chamber with acrylic viewing windows and view marine life (really good because of the emergence effect), it is one of the only places in the world where you can view black coral... which is actually white (the roots are black and another plant thats white grips on to it). We saw loads of fishes and coral and sea cucumber etc. It was AWESOME!!! Had such a fantastic day! We wandered back to the hostel after and made ourselves some lunch!
Theres not much to do here unless you do day walks (which we don't have time to do), but it really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life! If you come to New Zealand you cannot miss it! Tonight we're going to go and find some glow worms which are right next to our hostel! Owww the river runs right outside our dorm room so you can hear it in the night! Sooooo nice! When I get to a decent computer I'll upload some photos.... until then have a look on wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_sound
I hope everyone is ok!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday the internet in Milford Sound was broken!
We got up really early yesterday and started walking to the bus stop for 6.45am, however very helpfully a taxi drove past and we asked them to get us a taxi! It was cold and our bags were well heavy!
We got on the bus with our trusty bus driver Peter! We thought the bus journey was going to be just a boring trip but it turned out to be a bit more like a tour bus so we got to learn lots of stuff on the way!!! :-) Peter the bus driver literally did not stop telling us stuff for like the whole 5 hours that he was driving! It was sooooo funny! I however fell asleep for most of the way! lol!
We stopped in Te Anua which is the nearest town (95miles) from Milford Sound, it was very very cold and because I thought we were going to be on a bus for 5 hours I was just wearing a sundress and flip flops! I got a lot of weird looks! But it was really warm in Queenstown, I didn't know it was going to be cold and rainy! lol! We headed into the world heritage site, it was ABSOULTELY STUNNING! We went through Homers tunnel which is this really weird one way tunnel and is the only reason Milford Sound is now assessable by car!
We then stopped at 'The Caseum', where we took a quick walk through the forest to get to this amazing waterfall! When we arrived in Milford Sound Peter dropped us off at the drive to our Lodge, the only accommodation in Milford Sound, 'Milford Sound Lodge'. Its amazing its a very nice lodge and our 4 dorm room is really nice, all very clean but its completely surrounded by stunning mountains! We're in the middle of nowhere, I have no phone reception!!! Plus the internet was down, AND the pay phone is broken! We saw this women jogging and were like 'Where has she jogged from???' considering the nearest town is 95miles away!!!
After settling into the hostel we got the bus (2km) into Milford Sound. Milford Sound has one pub/cafe, a wharf, the tinnest airport I've seen and one accommodation place! Theres nothing here apart from water and scenery! We had some drinks in the pub and I worked on my application, then we had dinner! We wandered back after that and played battleships and guess who! lol! Was so funny!
This morning we got up bright and early and headed down to the marina to go on a cruise into the sound! It was amazing. Milford Sound is not actually a sound it is a fiord, which means that the mountains shapes were created by glacier erosion. They were created under the water and as tectonic plates move and earthquakes happen they have risen up from under the water! There are still glaciers on top of some of the mountains like Mount Pembroke for example. There are waterfalls everywhere! Its just stunning!
In addition it is one of the only places in the world that deep water emergence happens! Which is where because of the mountains working as tea bags a fresh water layer is created and a sea water layer is underneath - this means that you get marine life living at 10meters that normally lives at 60meters+ in open sea! We cruised all the way out to the opening to the tasman sea and also saw fur seals, who were soooo cute! Rob however said I should have been a seal cause you get to sleep all day and laze about on Rocks... RUDE! lol! We got driven into waterfalls, and got very wet!
Also Rob and I went to Milford deep which is this sea observatory, you walk down 9meters in to a chamber with acrylic viewing windows and view marine life (really good because of the emergence effect), it is one of the only places in the world where you can view black coral... which is actually white (the roots are black and another plant thats white grips on to it). We saw loads of fishes and coral and sea cucumber etc. It was AWESOME!!! Had such a fantastic day! We wandered back to the hostel after and made ourselves some lunch!
Theres not much to do here unless you do day walks (which we don't have time to do), but it really is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life! If you come to New Zealand you cannot miss it! Tonight we're going to go and find some glow worms which are right next to our hostel! Owww the river runs right outside our dorm room so you can hear it in the night! Sooooo nice! When I get to a decent computer I'll upload some photos.... until then have a look on wikipedia... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_sound
I hope everyone is ok!
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Leaving Christchurch and Queenstown...
Hi Everyone,
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday was knackered by the end of the night!
Yesterday we got up really early again! Arg! We headed into the centre ofChristchurch to find our bus at around 7.15am! We got completely lost butfinally found it and hopped on! I don't think it helped that I asked people where to go and kept pronouncing Worcester phonetically! Whoops!!! lol! We were sitting right at the front on the top of the bus so had a fantastic view of the ONE COMPLETELY STRAIGHT ROAD we went down to get to Dunedin! lol!
The country side was COMPLETELY beautiful though! Filled with sooooooo many sheep! How can you not like a country that has 4 MILLION sheep???? lol! We also saw lots of alpackers! I fell asleep for most of the way which was completely uncomfortable!!! lol!
We stopped on the way in the most random places, they were just these deserted towns with nothing in them but one street! We changed buses in Dunedin (which has NZ cadbury's factory... I suppose that means that its the Birmingham of NZ????!) We got on a nearly deserted bus that took us through to Queenstown!!! The scenery was just absolutely STUNNING! Unfortunately though I can't say much more than that unless you want a very detailed description of the inside of the two coaches we were on for 10hrs! lol!
When we arrived in Queenstown it started raining! Boo hiss Boo!!! Although the place is soooooo amazing. We both were a little sceptical about it because it is meant to be a little overrated mainly cause its the centre for extreme sports and thats pretty much all you can do here!
However the town itself is very attractive, lovely to walk around, smaller than the size of Ware BUT its surrounded by the most stunning peaks and mountains! On one side its flanked by 'the remarkables' and the other by Bob's Peak and more hills! In the centre runs a beautiful lake through it!
We headed over to our hostel although I got really annoyed with my bag and dropped it and kicked it on the way cause it wasn't behaving when I was trying to walk up a hill! lol! Stupid bag! lol!
The hostel we are in is really really lovely, its called Pinewood lodge and is very much like a little campsite to itself about 10mins walk from the centre of town! It has the most stunning views!
After we settled in we headed back into town for dinner, which we had in a lovely Italian place! It was really nice although I'm not wholly impressed by NZ pizzas! After that we walked to the marina and I talked to a few ducks, Rob then got really embarrassed and pretended he wasn't with me! I stuck my feet in the water as well, IT WAS REALLY COLD! lol! The water was crystal clear though!!! After that we headed to a tacky gift shop where I wanted to buy every sheep cuddly toy in the shop! Rob just mocked me, hes not as impressed with cheap tat as I am! lol!
We then headed back to the hostel and had some wine and watched some tv! Then went to bed cause sitting down on a coach for 10hrs makes you surprisingly tired! lol!
This morning I had a lie in and went down to an internet cafe to talk to my parents on webcam (which was lovely)!!! Rob went for a walk! We met at 2pm and had a burger from Fergburger! It was really nice! I then got my fringe cut.. finally!!! Which is really nice cause I can see! lol!
We then headed up to the skyline gondalas! We took a gondola up to the top of Bob's Peak... it was really fun!!! The view from the top was AWESOME!!! I took lots of photos!
We were planning to walk down from the Peak but it was bucketing it down with rain so we headed down in a gondola and went back to the internet cafe! Where I uploaded more photos!!!!!!
After that we went and had dinner in a place called Chico's, it was quite nice actually then headed back to the hostel for drinks!
We're getting up at 6am tomorrow to catch a bus to Milford Sound at 7am... fun fun fun! That will be really cool! We are staying at the only accommodation in Milford Sound - Milford Sound lodge, apparently it has internet access but the connection is really slow because all the power is self generated (it is not connected to the national grid), hopefully I will still be able to e-mail!
I hope everyone is good!
The photos are on flickr so click on the new photo on our blog to see them!
www.rswt2008.blogspot.com
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday was knackered by the end of the night!
Yesterday we got up really early again! Arg! We headed into the centre ofChristchurch to find our bus at around 7.15am! We got completely lost butfinally found it and hopped on! I don't think it helped that I asked people where to go and kept pronouncing Worcester phonetically! Whoops!!! lol! We were sitting right at the front on the top of the bus so had a fantastic view of the ONE COMPLETELY STRAIGHT ROAD we went down to get to Dunedin! lol!
The country side was COMPLETELY beautiful though! Filled with sooooooo many sheep! How can you not like a country that has 4 MILLION sheep???? lol! We also saw lots of alpackers! I fell asleep for most of the way which was completely uncomfortable!!! lol!
We stopped on the way in the most random places, they were just these deserted towns with nothing in them but one street! We changed buses in Dunedin (which has NZ cadbury's factory... I suppose that means that its the Birmingham of NZ????!) We got on a nearly deserted bus that took us through to Queenstown!!! The scenery was just absolutely STUNNING! Unfortunately though I can't say much more than that unless you want a very detailed description of the inside of the two coaches we were on for 10hrs! lol!
When we arrived in Queenstown it started raining! Boo hiss Boo!!! Although the place is soooooo amazing. We both were a little sceptical about it because it is meant to be a little overrated mainly cause its the centre for extreme sports and thats pretty much all you can do here!
However the town itself is very attractive, lovely to walk around, smaller than the size of Ware BUT its surrounded by the most stunning peaks and mountains! On one side its flanked by 'the remarkables' and the other by Bob's Peak and more hills! In the centre runs a beautiful lake through it!
We headed over to our hostel although I got really annoyed with my bag and dropped it and kicked it on the way cause it wasn't behaving when I was trying to walk up a hill! lol! Stupid bag! lol!
The hostel we are in is really really lovely, its called Pinewood lodge and is very much like a little campsite to itself about 10mins walk from the centre of town! It has the most stunning views!
After we settled in we headed back into town for dinner, which we had in a lovely Italian place! It was really nice although I'm not wholly impressed by NZ pizzas! After that we walked to the marina and I talked to a few ducks, Rob then got really embarrassed and pretended he wasn't with me! I stuck my feet in the water as well, IT WAS REALLY COLD! lol! The water was crystal clear though!!! After that we headed to a tacky gift shop where I wanted to buy every sheep cuddly toy in the shop! Rob just mocked me, hes not as impressed with cheap tat as I am! lol!
We then headed back to the hostel and had some wine and watched some tv! Then went to bed cause sitting down on a coach for 10hrs makes you surprisingly tired! lol!
This morning I had a lie in and went down to an internet cafe to talk to my parents on webcam (which was lovely)!!! Rob went for a walk! We met at 2pm and had a burger from Fergburger! It was really nice! I then got my fringe cut.. finally!!! Which is really nice cause I can see! lol!
We then headed up to the skyline gondalas! We took a gondola up to the top of Bob's Peak... it was really fun!!! The view from the top was AWESOME!!! I took lots of photos!
We were planning to walk down from the Peak but it was bucketing it down with rain so we headed down in a gondola and went back to the internet cafe! Where I uploaded more photos!!!!!!
After that we went and had dinner in a place called Chico's, it was quite nice actually then headed back to the hostel for drinks!
We're getting up at 6am tomorrow to catch a bus to Milford Sound at 7am... fun fun fun! That will be really cool! We are staying at the only accommodation in Milford Sound - Milford Sound lodge, apparently it has internet access but the connection is really slow because all the power is self generated (it is not connected to the national grid), hopefully I will still be able to e-mail!
I hope everyone is good!
The photos are on flickr so click on the new photo on our blog to see them!
www.rswt2008.blogspot.com
Lots of Love,
Sarah xxx
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
