Taupo & Rotorua 17/12/11 - 23/12/11

Hi everyone, Jenna here!

So Taupo was a bit of a nightmare to be honest, it rained from the moment we got there to the moment we left! This was a bit disappointing as it's supposed to be a stunning place, but we didn't see any of it. The only thing we did do was a visit to the Huka Falls which was quite amazing to look at. We were lucky enough to see a kayaker come down it (grade 6 which is the most dangerous).

After seeing the falls we walked back to the centre of Taupo (about an hour walk). I have never been so wet in my whole entire life. I also found out that my mac is not waterproof.  I brought a pink one so I would look more feminine when on my travels but it turns out I should have just bought a standard one that actually kept me dry! On the way back we stopped off at some natural hot pools which was awesome, although getting out in the rain and cold was not good. We started the remainder of the walk home and I was practically in tears, I was so cold and wet. Thanfully a car pulled up outside the bungy jump centre and 2 guys offered us a lift back. James was being polite and saying no as we were so wet from the rain and the pools, but I'd already jumped in the back of the car! These 2 men literally saved my life!

We then travelled to Rotorua which was about 1.5 hours on the coach. The weather cleared up a little and we were able to do some trips so we were able to make the most of our time in the sunshine! We visited Rotorua museum which was an old medical spa baths but has now been changed into a museum about Mauri history. This museum was well worth a visit - look how beautiful the building is.

We also went white water rafting on the Kaituna River which included a 7m waterfall drop! We have photos but they're on another disc so we'll upload them another time. As part of our rafting deal we also had a visit to the Polynesian Spas. They're basically 7 pools of either alkaline or sulphuric water of varying temperatures and you just relax in whichever one you feel like. Although the sulphur smell is pretty overpowering, as was much of Rotorua which stinks of it! Even to the point where I'd gag sometimes.

The next thing we did was to go on a morning trip to Wai-o-tapu thermal park. All of the pools and rock formations were entirely natural - including a geyser which projects water out of it into the air every 24 hours.

The only down side to the day was the guide was a Southampton fan and took great pride in informing the group that the bloke who actually invented football was from Southampton, therefore in effect, Southampton had given football to the world - yeh right'o!

That's a few examples of some of the thermal activity we saw - pretty cool. We also visited a Maori village which we were free to have a wander around. But what was quite disturbing was the fact that they had thermal activity in their back gardens which you could walk right up to!

We did a 12000 feet sky dive which I guess you've already seen the photos of on facebook. This was probably the best thing I've ever done and I would recommend anyone to do one. It's actually nowhere near as scary as I thought it would be and you just get a massive adrenaline rush from it.

Possibly one of the highlights of Rotorua, and significantly cheaper than the skydive, was sitting in a park watching Asian tourists feeding Seagulls and patting the heads of black swans. Bus load after bus load turned up and proceeded with the same ritual of throwing bread into the air whilst shouting 'ahorhor' whilst being photographed by fellow tourists from all possible angles - I would also recommend this form of entertainment to anyone!

Note the last photo how close they all decided to sit next to us despite having the entire park to choose from! This backs up my previous claim they they have no concept of peronal space! We finished off our time in Rotorua by bumping into some friends we'd met earlier on in the trip before we got our bus up to Tauranga for xmas. x

Wellington 14/12/11-16/12/11

Wellington - our 1st taster of the North island! The ferry ride which takes you between the islands should have been 3 hours of amazing scenery but instead the rain and dark clouds had other ideas... Sad to leave the South island as it really was an amazing place, with Queenstown probably being the pick of the places.

The ferry docked at 2pm right by one of NZ's rugby world cup stadiums and we were off straight into town to find our hostel. Turned out to be a good choice as we had dinner thrown in for free both nights! We spent our 1st night in a few bars with the couple we'd travelled up with from Queenstown.

The next day the rain was still coming down but we decided to brave a day trip out somewhere rather than just moping around the hostel. We went for the Adrenaline Forest in Porirua. It involved a 20 minute train journey out of town and then a 20 minute walk into the forest - all of your own back with hardly any signs directing you. It was tipping it down - Jenna did not looked amused. The site is based in the middle of a forest and is basically a series of tracks up in the trees which you work your way around, at all times harnessed up. Supposedly it's similar to the ones we have at home but geared up more for adults, the 30 meter high wires did make my legs wobble a bit to be fair!

Jenna being Jenna is typically more concerned with waving at the camera on one of the zip wires to notice that she is coming in a little too fast. It ends with her suddenly noticing her left hand should be on top of the wire acting as a brake and crashing into the crash mat a little too hard! We do have a video but are having a few issues uploading it so hopefully we will be able to at a later date, very glad I chose to video that moment though!!

Back at the hostel we bumped into the Manchester girls from Queenstown and had a few drinks in the hostel bar with the same couple from the previous night as well. Then the karaoke started up which I guess it what Jennas was leading onto with her last post. Now I don't normally bow to peer pressure..... but I was 'encouraged' to sing a song. Not my cup of tea as you can probably guess, but as one friend back home told me before I left, 'come back with no regrets'... and so I stepped up to the mic. I went for 'Pulp - Common People'.... Jarvis Cocker is my type of singer - he sort of manages to talk his way through the song with only the very occasional high and low notes - perfect. Supposedly it wasn't too bad and the whole place (well all 15 people or so) joined in with the grand finale which that song has!

And so that was Wellington.... wet, windy but still well worth a visit!

A round up of the first two weeks including Franz Joseph, Nelson and Picton

Hello everyone, its Jenna!

So I have now been doing this travelling thing for just over two weeks and I have to say I am enjoying every minute of it. I am just about getting the hang of NOT looking at the bedsheets when we arrive at a new hostel and just in general feeling a little dirty all the time! I also like to wear rubber gloves when I am doing the washing up at home so that my hands stay clean, but here no-one uses gloves and I don't want to be the English girl with the pink rubber gloves on so I have decided against slipping them on every time I wash up a glass or plate! Probably not the best way to fit in with the travelling crowd! I do however like to use a lot of anti-bacterial hand gel, I would shower in it if I could, it is a god send and helps to keep my mind at ease that I am not going to get some hideous form of salmonella from some dirty, greasy, smelly 18 year old boy who doesn't know the difference between cooked chicken and uncooked chicken.

One thing I have noticed however that is a Little unnerving is that EVERYONE seems to have no idea about personal space. Someone is constantly breathing down your neck or is right in your face when they talk to you! It is lovely to talk to you- but I don't really want to feel your breath on my face thanks!! Especially since you haven't cleaned your teeth since last July! I was slightly apprehensive about the cleanliness of the hostels but if you don't look too close most of them are okay, it is just the people you need to be weary of. Some people have NO personal hygiene at all. What is wrong with people, did your mother not tell you to put the toilet seat up when you are going for a wee? URRRGGGHHHHH!!
Another thing that travelling alerts you to is how rough you look without any make up on, I am beginning to overcome this though and I am sure at some point in the six months away, I won't care??? Well I hope so....

Anyway, enough of me rambling on about nonsense let's get back to the South Island. So, after Queenstown we travelled up the West coast of the South Island to visit the Franz Joseph glacier. We had an 8 hour coach journey from Queenstown to Franz and met a couple (although they are not together) who we ended up spending quite a lot of time with! We were staying in the same hostel as them so we ended up just chilling the first evening watching Lord of the Rings with our free soup from the hostel- although personally I can't stand the film!

Franz Joseph itself was a little on the quiet side and the actual town reminded me of a small Russian settling about 20 years ago, although I haven't actually visited Russia so my theory could be and probably is wrong.

The second day we did a half day hike over the glacier and got some great photos while we were up there! It was quite a hard core hike actually that lasted for 4 hours. I had to get our guide to help me over some crevasses as well as I had the shortest legs in the group! A tad embarrassing but hey ho. We had a really good day though and afterwards we went into the hot pools at the bottom of the glacier which were so relaxing. Here is a little treat for you of me in the ice cave that we had to climb through! Yes I know I am looking good!

Here are a couple of pictures of most of the glacier, although it is so big it is hard to see the scale of it and to be honest they don't really do it justice.

Afterwards, we all went for a pizza and a pint for $12 and then went to a little shindig at one of the other hostels! All in all a good day. The next trip was another long one; all the way to Nelson and it took around 10 hours on the coach. We were with the other couple though so that made it a bit more tolerable. We stopped at a little town and they were having their Christmas parade so naturally I got my photo with Prince Harry, Kate and Will!

The next evening we went for an Indian in a cute little restaurant called The Indian Cafe with our new 'friends' and then headed back to the hostel to drink on the green bus in the middle of the hostel grounds next to the swimming pool- even if it was the colour of pond water. 

The next day we went for a walk in Abel Tasman National park and it was absolutely beautiful. When we got there though we realised that everyone else had trekking boots on, walking poles, a jacket, trousers etc... James and I rocked on up in flipflops with shorts and t-shirt! It turned out that we were okay though as there was path for most of it. We did get some odd looks though!

After Nelson, we headed on to Picton which is where you get the ferry to the North Island. Picton itself was nice but it was kind of spoilt by the weather. We stayed at a 5 star hostel just outside of Picton for the first night and it was lovely. We practically had the whole hostel to ourselves so we cooked a nice meal of noodles and veg and then just chilled out. They had a spa but it was temporarily out of order- typical! Would only be when we were staying there! The next night we spent back in Picton ready to get the ferry across to Wellington. All in all the South island was incredible. Everywhere you look there is something different to see and do. I think so far Queenstown has been my favourite but I did have a great time at the glacier oh and everywhere else we went. I can't choose.

So we are off to the North Island now ready for Christmas but we have a lot to do and see in the North Island, as well as meeting up with various people so I think it is going to be a busy couple of weeks. I can't wait.......

Speak soon xxx

Oh and something incredible happened last night but I will have to wait until we blog about the North Island for that bit of brilliance to be revealed... watch this space.

Queenstown 5/12/11-8/12/11

We've just finished an amazing three night stay in Queenstown. It only has a population of 20,000 but seemed to have just about everything. 1st morning we rented bikes and cycled 20 miles around one of the lakes - well not exactly around it, more like a tiny section, but the scenery was spectacular.

That afternoon we travelled up the gondola and did the luge. You probably only travel 30mph but we treated it like Silverstone.

The following day we went on one of the Jet boat trips. The speedboat takes you along one of the rivers at ridiculous speeds swerving really  close to the rocks. After this Jenna thought it would be a great idea to throw ourselves off the world's tallest swing. Not quite as terrifying as a bungey jump - but not far from it - check out the photo Jenna put up yesterday! This was just the walkway to the platform:

Then to chill the nerves afterwards we got involved with the tea pot cocktails and Ferg burgers back in town (well recommended Mark and Boiler!) with a group of girls from Manchester.

Today we've travelled from Queenstown to Franz Josef, home of one of NZ's two galciers. The coach journey was incredible - never seen a landscape like it. Tomorrow we're going for a walk on the glacier. Jenna manages to fall over just getting out of bed so not sure how she'll survive on moving ice!

Nevis Swing

Hello again people!

So, we are getting into this travelling lark now and have had our first couple of nights in a dorm room. Although we did have the worlds loudest snorer in our room for both nights, we still managed to get some sleep with the help of earplugs and an ipod, although I was just about ready to flick him in the nose!!

I am getting slightly more used to looking like a scruff bag everyday and you will be pleased to know that I am probably going to come back about three stone heavier due to the amount of crap we are eating!! I look so pale as well that I keep trying to avoid photographs but I think James is liking the fact that I feel disgusting all the time and keeps taking photos of me at every opportunity! Don't you worry, when I get to SE Asia I will be tanned and toned!! Yer right!!! ;)

It is our last night in Queenstown tonight so we are going to have a few drinks and celebrate doing the Nevis Swing today. It is the worlds biggest swing at about 134m (a forty storey building)!! We did a tandem swing which was amazing although you should see us in the video, we look like such idiots!! We also went jet boating but James will tell you more about that!

This is us, i promise..... We did try to upload the video but it did not work, we will have another go later!!!

Christchurch to Queenstown 3/12/11-5/12/11

We've decided to write this 1st blog together and we'll probably then add to it individually over the next 6 months. It won't be difficult to work out who's posted what!
So after sitting on Heathrow runway for 3 hours, we ended up missing our connection in Dubai but somehow managed to still arrive into Christchurch, NZ, as scheduled. 28 hours in all and 4 plane meals later!
Christchurch was a bit of a strange place due to the earthquake in February. We weren't aware that the city was still in the aftermath and it was only when a soldier stopped us from walking down the next road that we realised that there are still large no-go areas in the centre. The soldier was friendly enough and asked us where we were from. 'Bournemouth in England' we replied. 'I know that town' he said, 'They're a shitty second division team on Fifa'!
So we spent 2 nights in Christchurch which was enough for us. It was a good place to visit though as it's very similar to back home and a good place to chill out after all the travelling. A very American-like town, as is much of NZ from what we've seen so far.
Today we had a 8 hour coach journey through some amazing scenery to Queenstown. It's very similar to a French ski resort with views across lakes and mountains. We're in a 3 bed dorm in this hostel and waiting to meet our new roomie for the night! Something we haven't experienced yet and will need to get used to after the luxury of having our own room for the 1st 2 nights to help ease ourselves in gently!
We're going to be here for the next 3 days. Queenstown is known for being NZ's most action packed town for adreniline junkies, so the next few days should be a bit more lively!
We'll update again soon with some photos so watch this space!!
p.s We will definitely be blogging individually from now on as we cannot agree on what to write!!
Jenna & James x