North Island

Journey to the North Island

9th June We had quite a rough ferry crossing to the North island- Wellington (NZs capital) which lasted 3hrs, I am surprised I was'nt sick. we are still under debate as to whether we sawa whale or not but we definately saw a dolphin which was cool. We decided to check out the bars but it was surprisngly really quiet and quite disappointing after a night out in Queenstown. 10th June A few of us went to the free museum which was actually quite interesting, we then took a tram up to the viewpoint which reminded me so much of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, a lot of memories came flooding back!! 11th June We left the capital to go to Taupo. We stopped off at a river called Huka Falls, where loads of water rushes out of Taupo lake which is massive! It looked really scary, i dont think I have ever seen water flow that fast before! As we have already done a lot of activities there wasnt a huge amount extra to do in Taupo. Though we did find something funny and cheap to do and I have a really embarassing video. We basically had to try and hit a golf ball onto this island in the sea and laura and i were the amusement as we were sooooo bad at it! 12th June We stopped off at a mud bath on our way to Rotorua which absolutely stank of rotten eggs, though despite the smell it was fascinating as I have never seen bubbling mud before. That afternoon despite the stomach churning smell we though we would try out the Polynesian Spa pools. The first pool was acidic and apparently it was meant to be good for our bones and muscles. The others were of different temperatures. that evening we went to a Mauori village to see how the locals used to live. they did a welcoming dance and then told us a story about a Mauori couple. After the singing and dancing we sat down for a traditional meal that had been cooked in the ground. It was really yummy, especially the fruit salad, pavlova and chocolate cake with hot custard! As it was all you can eat, you could tell who were the travellers as we all went up for seconds/thirds to make the most of the good food. 13th June We had a chilled out day, a sit was good weather Laura and I went for a wlk down to lake Rotorua. We then went to pak 'n' save (cheap supermarket) but it decided to absolutely chuck it down and we were at least 20mins from the hostel. Neither of us had our umbrellas so we had to try and run in flip-flops to the shopes that were covered. Then the rain turned into hail, so not only were we wet we were freezing! 14th June Laura, Dan and I said our sad goodbyes to the boys that we had got to klnow really well after 3 1/2 weeks of travelling together. On the way to Auckland we stopped at Hobbiton for lunch, feeling slightly hung over we bought steak pies which was probably the cheapest and yummiest pie I have ever eaten. We then got pictures with Gollum. the journey was actually really quick to auckland as we all fell asleep on the bus. To make the most of the day we headed down to the harbour. We t6hen treated ourselves to 20p icecreams from Maccy d's which has to be the smartest Macdonalds i have ever seen.

Christchurch/ Mount Hutt

6th June

We had to say goodbye to sunny Queenstown, which was actually quite a sad moment and we headed back to Christchurch. Though luckily despite saying goodbye to quite a few people we still have quite a big group travelling together. Arrived in Christchurch and met some familiar faces- the welshies. We also all went together and had a cheap but very yummy chicken tikka, much better then the pasta I have for the next few nights.

7th June

We got up very very early 6.30am!! To go skiing in Mount Hutt, the weather was really rubbish in Christchurch but at Mt Hutt (1hr 30mins away) was really sunny with perfectly blue sky, yet again very lucky with the weather. I dont have any skiing clothes with me but I managed to make do by layering up and being the only one in the group to not fall over!! Though admittedly I took it more easily than the boys. We split into groups, 3 beginners who got a lesson (Dan, Laura and Neil) and then the pros (Me of course, Jack, James, Dom and the piste wrecker-george who was on a snowboard). The skiing was amazing, very different to europe as all the runs interlink and theres no trees. At the end of it i felt very jealous of George who is doing a ski season in Queenstown :(

More of Queenstown

2nd June

Sinead and I took our last stroll down to the lake and sawe soo many houses that we would like to buy! Saw the sunset on the lake.

3rd June

Sinead departs to meet Seb in Hastings while I stay in Queenstown.

We went out and in one of the bars there was a competition to win a free horse trek woth 180dollars. i thought I would give it a go as it was a simple game of heads and tails. I dont know how as I never win things managed to win and get the free horseride.

4th June

Yet another fairly lazy day, but i did manage to make a bracelet from the bead SHOP to add to my collection. A group of us also rented some kyacks and went out on the lake. I wanted to take pictures so i went in a double kyack with Dom as the man power. The others just got singles. though it was a race back to the shore so I put the camera away and we won the race so ddint have to make everyone a cup of tea!
Yummy sausage and mash for dinner!!

5th June

I went on my horse trek and on the way to the stables passed places that were filmed in the lord of the rings film. We all got allocated horses according to our ability, me a beginner got a really friendly horse called Riley. The scenery was amazing with snowy mountains and the river which in parts we had to cross. This was actually quite challenging as the water nearly touched our feet and we had to keep the horse follwing the correct track. As the leader thought we were all doing really well we went on a gallop and then a canter which was really really fun, though my legs and bum are feeling it now!

I am feeling the travelling anger now as all my food was chucked out of the fridge becuase the label must have fallen off! However it was still clearly marked with my name in marker pen. grrrrrrrr my sausages and mash that I made the previous day has all gone!!! :'( Though to make myself feel better I bought my last ferg burger with the guys.