Live.Love.Travel.

Cairns - The tropical North Queensland

2012-02-03T06:04:00.000-08:00

Lookout over Cairns

Day 19
We woke up at 4:30 to catch the plane to Cairns. I think I barely got 3 hours of sleep because of our rowdy roommates but that's the beauty of hostel living! We arrived in Cairns at 9am but it was too early to check in at the recommended party hostel, Gilligans, so we walked around the Esplanade and to the lagoon. The lagoon is a massive pool beside the ocean. Most of the beaches are closed this time of year because of jelly fish so the lagoon is always busy. Since we were so exhausted we had a nap in the park beside the lagoon. Best nap ever! The rest of the day was spent doing things that needed to be done like laundry, grocery shopping, booking our reef trip and the most important, signing up for a pub crawl the next night. We ended up doing nothing for the night except hanging out in our room with our always entertaining new British friends.

The lagoon at night

Day 20
Robyn, Charlotte and I were up at 7 to be at the marina for 8. After checking in with Reef Quest we made our way to the reef, which took about 1.5 hours. We spent that time on the top deck relaxing and searching for dolphins. Charlotte went diving and Robyn and I went snorkeling at our first reef location. I was in the Great Barrier Reef! It was so awesome and one of the coolest things I've ever done. I found Nemo the clownfish, Crush the sea turtle, Bruce the reef shark (terrifying even though they are harmless) and so many other amazing fish and coral. So bright and vivid! We went snorkeling in 2 locations for 2 hours each time but time flew by! It was such a good day on the water and we were so lucky to have a perfect blue sky day.
After getting back we got ready for a crazy night out. Somehow we were late again for another pub-crawl so we had to call the promoter to find them. It was alright though because he bought us drinks to make up for it. We made it to Vibe, where Charlotte "participated" in the bar games and then we went to the Woolshed (or Wolfpack as Harrison called it). At Woolshed it was Ladies Night which meant free champagne offered by shirtless men and a striptease from Hot Chocolate. We met up with our roommates here and had a wild time! Needless to say we didn't make it to the rest of the pub-crawl but had one of the best nights out! Good family outting!

Robyn and I in our trendy stinger suits

Cairns family photo!

Day 21
In the morning we had lots of laughs about the night before, champagne showers and trying on Ash's clothes. Before Robyn and my hangovers set in we left Charlotte in the fetal position to go for a swim at the lagoon and nap in the park. In the room, we continued to be entertained by the Brit boys. Later that night Robyn and I went to see the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was a very graphic but good movie!

Day 22
On my to do list I had rent scooters in Cairns so that's what we did on Robyn's last day in Cairns. We met two girls from Melbourne that seemed as nervous as we were to ride the scooters so we invited them to come along with us. We figured there would be safety in numbers. The scooter guy told us to go to Crystal Cascades and after some practicing and Robyn running into a wall, we were off! Off and going at 55km/ hour woooo! The ride there was beautiful going through the rainforest. At Cascade Creek we swam around, went down the rock slide, admired the scenery and watched people dive from the cliff called No Fear. This was also the first time seeing a big Austalian spider... with his family of 3! Ewwww! Some local guys that the Melbourne girls knew showed us around and helped us back to Cairns. On the way home one of their friends fell off the scooter. She had severe asphalt burn and was taken to the hospital. I think we all drove a little more cautiously after that!
For Robyn's last night we splurged on a nice Italian restaurant on the Esplanade. We enjoyed yummy mussels, wine and pasta! And of course we couldn't call it a night until we had a jug of beer, at PJ O'Briens!

"Put your hands up if you feel stupid!"

Waterfall at Crystal Cascades

The swimming whole at Crystal Cascades

Robyn and I on her last night in Cairns

Day 23-25
Boo hoo Robyn leaves! I'll miss her and I hope she still lives in London when I come back!
The next couple of days we felt less than motivated to look for jobs especially after almost 4 months of holiday. We did print out resumes and go out in the extreme heat to hand some out. We also went to the daily Happy Travels job presentation but it wasn't that helpful unless you were willing to go the Outback. The job market was not looking promising because in Cairns it was the off season so no one was hiring! Charlotte and I got down feeling unwanted and poor :( I hate looking for jobs!

Day 26
Today was a new day and we were feeling more motivated! We woke up early to apply at the Reef boats and spent the rest of the day 'pounding the pavement'. We went to all the hotels and walking all around Cairns looking for someone to hire us. So what if it was the dead season?!
After dinner we went to Happy Travels for their Wednesday night of free Goon (wine) and pizza. We had heard about this party at the job presentation the day before. Charlotte and I went with our new Dutch roommate, Simone. Surprisingly quite a few people showed up to play drinking games in the back room of the travel agency. It turned out to be pretty fun and Simone even won a reef trip. The party moved on to the Woolshed, where we befriended 3 Canadian guys from Vernon, BC. They were good friends to make, as they then provided us with drinks and too many shots for the rest of the night! Just another crazy night at the Woolshed!!!! Woolshed-2, Katie-0

Happy Travels party people

Simone and I with the Canadian guys

Day 27
The usual...hangover, lagoon and nap.
I had a work trial at a restaurant called Winks on the Esplanade. The job was a hostess position trying to get people to come into the restaurant. I felt myself getting more stupid repeating myself for 2 hours! It was a good thing the trial wasn't that long because I was exhausted! It was early to bed for me!

Day 28
Basically we are just playing the waiting game and hoping to hear about a job soon. As we wait though we wade in the lagoon since it's 37 degrees outside. Life could be worse ;)
Charlotte, Simone and I went out to the Woolshed to party with the Canandians boys again. We just can't resist the free drinks haha! Another fun night out! I'm beginning to like this Cairns place !

Day 29
Blah blah blah the usual stuff. Internet, skype, applying for jobs etc.

Day 30
We check out of Gilligans...so bittersweet! But onto better things like Charlotte's family friend, Graeme and his wife have offered to take us in and take us on some adventures. Our first adventure was to the nearby Atherton tablelands. It was another day with a lot of stops.
Lake Barrine is a crater lake and we saw green long-finned eels and turtles.
When we stopped at Lake Eachram we went for a swim in the deep water. We also threw bread into the water and that attracted turtles, sea dragons and hungry fish.

Lake Eachram

Platypus Bend is private property that was once a Japenese tourist spot to look for platypus. Graeme and Esther know the caretaker and that is why we were able to visit. We had a nice lunch in the covered picnic area while it rained. The rain did stop and we were able to go for another swim. There was no sight of any platypus but that was probably because they are most commonly found at dawn or dusk.
The next two stops were at my new favourite trees, the Curtain and Cathedral Fig Tree. They are unbelieveably massive trees reaching more than 500 years old. They are older than the country of Australia!
That night we went with Graeme and Esther to watch them rock n roll dance where one of their favourite bands were playing. They were really good but they couldn't convince us to get in the dancefloor...for once!

Curtain Fig Tree

Day 31
Redlynch is a suburb of Cairns and that is where our temporary home at Graeme and Esther's was. When we had arrived the night before I couldn't see what was around but when I woke up it was so pretty. We were surrounded by hills of lush green rainforest. It was also ridiculously hot out but I just kept telling myself 'you could be at home where it's winter time!" . Charlotte and I went swimming in the nearby creek (no crocs!) to cool off but either than that it was quite the chill out day.

Day 32 & 33
It rained off and on. Nothing too exciting except some delicious homecooked dinners cooked by Esther.

Day 34
Happy Australia Day!!!
Graeme had it planned with his friend to take us all out sailing for our Australia Day! It was my first time in a sail boat and I was very excited. We went to the marina at about 10am and packed up the boat but we couldn't find anyone in the office to tell we were taking it so basically we stole it. About an hour later someone came out to the boat and told us we needed to come back to sort things out. It was like we brought bananas on the boat...which I found out that day, is unlucky! Anyways, once we got the details figured out we were off sailing again. We were pulling ropes and there was lots about jibbing, winching and ducking out of the way for the boom. We also,entered a race or cruised the companions since for insurance purposes can't call it a race. We had no idea what we were doing at that point haha. We did a couple loops around the bay and made it back right before it started storming. It's was fun to learn something new like that and it made it a memorable Australia Day!

Our sail boat for the day

Day 35
We had a day of decision making...well researching our choices. Would it be Melbourne, Gold Coast or stick it out it Cairns? Everybodies advice was running through our heads and we didn't know what to do.
Later in the day we went into town to the Salt House because it was Esther's leaving party for her job. It was a really nice place on the pier with amazing $15 cocktails, which we made her loser ex-boss buy us.

Day 36
Our Saturday plans changed a bit because Graeme's friends new business was in desperate need of a bus driver. Although something potentially good came out of it because his friend said he might have work for us doing promotion and administration. On our way to the airport to meet up with the business owner a tire rolled down a hill onto the road and smashed into us. A teenage boy was changing the tire on his trailer and it got away from him resulting in a big dent in Esther's car. I was thankful it hadn't been Charlotte or I driving. To continue with our eventful morning we also found a friendly rainbow lorikeet in the backyard. It sat on Esther's shoulder and hand so we concluded it must be someone's pet but we wanted to keep it for ourselves. It was really cool to see one of these birds so up close even if I was freaked out.

Rainbow lorikeet

For late lunch we all drove up to Lake Morris for a BBQ. It is a beautiful lake were Cairns gets all their water from. After the BBQ we took a short and very hot walk around part of the lake to take in the views and see parts of the water process.

Lake Morris

That night Charlotte and I went out for Japanese. We ordered the Oz BBQ taster, which included lamb, crocodile and kangaroo. The red meat of Kangaroo was surprisingly the best one and crocodile was just like tougher chicken. I'm so proud that we tried it! After dinner we went for a drink and dance at the Gilligans bar. We just couldn't stay away! It was an early night though because that is when our ride was leaving.

Kangaroo, crocodile and lamb! YUM!

Day 37
From eating crocodile to watching them eat...On our way to Port Douglas, the 5th most scenic drive in Australia, we visited Hartley's Crocodile Adventures. Hartley's was the 1st place in Australia to conduct feeding demonstrations and are now known for how daring they are. We made it just in time for feeding time for both the 'salties' and 'freshies'. The salt water crocs are massive (Big Ted is 5.2 meters!) and the fresh water ones have the memorable loud snap with their mouth. I hope I never encounter that in the wild ekkk! We then took a boat trip through the lagoon. Our tour guide, Duncan is a little nuts but how could you not be if your career choice is feeding crocodiles. But anyways, he puts chicken heads on the end of a stick and lures the crocodile to jump out of the water to get them. Terrifying! Next, Duncan takes us on the farm tour when he says this is where you get your "boots, belts, burgers and bags!". It was another scary vision, of several pits of crocodiles. Did you know the chromosomes don't determine the sex of a crocodile but rather it's the temperature it is when it's laid? The farm tries to make as many males as possible because they grow bigger and faster which equals more money ($1000-2000). Lastly was the death roll demo by Haggart the crocodile. Snap..roll..drown...your dead!

Jumping for chicken heads

Crocodile farm

At 3:30 we continued on to Port Douglas and had a late lunch on the pier. On the way back we stopped at the once swanky (in the 80s) Sheraton to check out their Vegas-like pool and then a few lookouts like Flagstaff Hill.

Flagstaff Hill

That night we watched almost 6 hours of the mens Australian Open Final! Ridicuously long but ridiculously good tennis. Congrats Djokovic!

More Cairns to come!xx

Brisbane, Gold Coast and Fraser Island

2012-02-02T05:21:00.000-08:00

Day 10
Time for some classic Aussie experiences! We went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, the first and largest of its kind in the world. It was a fun day of holding koalas, feeding kangaroos,spying crocodiles, spotting Barry the platypus and admiring the tropical coloured birds at feeding time.
That night we went to the hostel's trivia and our team WON! We are so smart and for that we won the big $75, which we responsibly decided would go towards our car rental. Robyn and Charlotte hit the hay while the party animals continued to The Down Under Bar. It was good for a Monday night!

Violet the Koala

Just hopping around

Sleepy koala

Pretty bird

Day 11
So we should have booked hostels ahead of time. We not knowingly found out it was the busy period so Byron Bay was booked up for at least the next 10 days and Surfers Paradise wasn't much better. We also needed to organize a rental car and so long story short it took awhile to figure this all out. Finally, we got our sexy, red car and were ready for our roadtrip. It was a quick arrival to Surfers Paradise, where all 5 of us piled into 1 hotel room with 1 king size bed. We did a quick peruse of the main street and laid on our towels at the beach. We went back to the hotel room and played drinking games. The highlight of the night was Gerrit pulling the last king and having to drink the 'shit mix' (vodka, gin, rum, coke, ketchup and milk) from a bedside table drawer while in the closet. Somehow, Jen and I were the only ones who went to the bar that night.

Robyn, Jen and I at Main Beach

Q1 Building - tallest in Australia

Gerrit drinking from the drawer

Day 12
We checked out of the hotel and went straight to the beach and spent the majority of the day in the hot Aussie sun! Of course there was wave playing :) On the way to going to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch we bought tickets for the Wicked Pub Crawl. This was the most expensive pub crawl I've ever paid for and the earliest start at 6!! Anyways, we had our lunch and now Robyn could cross that off her list of Hard Rocks visited around the world. Then, we checked into our hostel, The Islander and got ready for our night out. We were late for the first bar but made it to the other 4. The clubs in Surfers are a little risqué with all female bartenders just wearing lingerie. It had a very Montreal feel to it. Why would you do that if you arn't working for tips? The night didn't get too crazy as you might expect with a bar crawl but we still had fun with lots of over the top dancing and making fun of other people haha!

Day 13
In the morning we had Mad Travel at the hostel book our Fraser Island 2 day trip with Fraser Explorer Tours. The first step was to roadtrip down to Hervey Bay, where the tour left from. In our hot red car it took us 4 hours to get from Surfers Paradise to Hervey Bay. Once we got there we roamed the beach and town that seemed like a cool beach town only 10 years ago. After our free sausage sizzle held by the local church and our massive plate of spaghetti we went back down to the beach. Again, we missed sunset but we sat on the beach anyways on the lookout for shooting stars.

Hanging out on the beach in Hervey Bay

FRASER ISLAND

Day 14
We were up early to catch the bus for our tour. A full day of sight seeing! There was a 15 minute bus ride and a 30 minute ferry ride to Fraser Island. Since the island is made completely out of sand only cars with 4 wheel drive are allowed. Making our way through the sand roads, we first arrived at Lake Mackenzie, the islands most photographed location. The lake has an impermeable layer of leaves on the bottom therefore anything put in there will be there for thousands of years. Despite the initial thought of disgust you find it's rich in minerials and has a 2.0 pH level making for soft hair and anti-aging properties. We were also warned to watch our bags because dingos were known to come and take them. None were spotted and we spent our hour here playing in the water :)

Lake Mackenzie

Next, we discovered the islands ancient rainforest and giant King Ferns (living fossil) at Wanggoolba Creek and Central Station.

Oldest living fossil

Our lunch stop was at Eurong Beach Resort, our base during our visit to the island.
After lunch we hiked the Hammerstone Sandblow. It was a tough walk through the hot sand and we thought the bus driver must have left us there to die because the 'mirage' lake, Lake Wabby was no where in sight. We did eventually find it and had a much needed refreshing swim.

Lake Wabby

Robyn, Charlotte and I had drinks before going down for the Mexican buffet dinner. We went back to the room for a bit before going to the bar to then go to the beach but then getting too scared of dingos. Ahhh! Too many things to be afraid of in this country!

Day 15
The day started of slightly amusing when Jen and Gerrit slept in so I had to bang on their door while the whole bus had to wait for them.
We drove down 75-Mile Beach ocean highway along the shark and jellyfish infested ocean. Jen and Gerrit took the optional flight overlooking the island and landing on the beach. They took some beautiful pictures! The beach is also where we had our first dingo sighting! They really deceive you with their cute dog appearance.

Looking down 75 Mile Beach

Fraser Island beaches from above

We continued down the beach to Red Canyon, which as the name mentions is coloured sand and rocks.

The girls at Red Canyon

Next, we went to the Champagne Pools. They are sandy/rocky pools overflowing with ocean water and that creates the bubbly effect with the crashing waves.

Champagne Pools

Then, we checked out the Maheno ShipWreck. It was a passenger liner in 1935 that was being towed to a scrap yard in Japan but got caught in a cyclone that brought it to Fraser Island.

Jen and I at the shipwreck

We climbed up Indian Head to get a view of the beaches and water below. We spotted groups of stingrays but unfortunately didn't see any sharks.

Views from Indian Head

Our last stop of the day was at Eli Creek. Robyn, Charlotte and I did as the tour guide suggested and floated on our backs all the way down the stream. Its a hard life! Eli Creek seemed like the spot to be as people had music playing from their trucks, tents set up and coolers full of beer. We saw another dingo here but much closer this time and this could have something to do with stupid people chasing it out of the bush. If only I could bring it home! So cute!

That concluded our Fraser Island Adventure and we took the ferry back to the main land. Fraser Island is so beautitul and unique! We had previously planned to go to Rainbow Beach for the night so we drove for 2 hours to get down there. As Charlotte drove, all the Canadians drank beer in the car because it's legal in Australia!

Day 16
We checked out of our hostel and started making our way back to Brisbane. To break up the long drive we stopped in a few beach towns along the Sunshine Coast, Noosa and Mooloolaba. Noosa is mostly known for the big houses and flashy things. We hung out at the windy beach and swam in the super wavy water. Mooloolaba I had been told was where all the Canadians went and I can understand why. It was a cute and busy spot and possibly a place to go back to to look for a job. Our reason to come back to Brisbane was to drop Gerrit off at the airport to go back to where he lives in Perth. Jen was sad that her boy was leaving :( and after their goodbye we went to our hostel. The night was a the usual dinner and a jug of beer before bed.

Day 17
Since Byron Bay accommodation was completely booked up we planned to go just for the day. While we were doing our usual playing in the waves Jen landed wrong and really hurt her knee. She managed to make it back to shore and we had the lifeguard come and take a look at it. He couldn't do much about it but the accident left Jen somewhat immobile. Boo! After doing some stressful beach laying and patio drinking we headed back to Brissie. I hope to come back to the hippie town of Bryon Bay. Again, the night was the new routine of dinner and a jug of beer before bed.

Day 18
It was a lazy day while Jen went to the doctor and Charlotte, Robyn and I laid around and did some packing. Jen decided she would go to Perth instead of coming to Cairns with us because of her injury. Despite her reasons of trying not to slow us down it was hard not to be disappointed that she wasn't coming.

Cairns here we come!

G'day mate! - Sydney

2012-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Day 1: Christmas Eve
After a 3.5 hour flight from Auckland to Sydney we made it to Australia! We took a taxi to Bondi Junction, where we were staying at a friends of a friends for a few days while they were in NZ. The only thing we managed to squeeze in was grocery shopping for Christmas day breakfast.

Day 2
Merry Christmas! There was no snow, no rain not even a cloud in the sky! It was the perfect hot Christmas day!! We made breakfast of French toast with strawberries and syrup, grapefruit and a bottle of bubbly to start the day off right!

Our Christmas breakfast

We put on our bikinis and I put on my antlers and Charlotte her elf hat to go to Bondi beach. This seemed like the place or home for all the orphaned travelers. For most, swimsuits and Santa hats was the dresscode! Not being home for Christmas could have been lonely but not with these hundreds of other people loving the sun and surf! After spending the day at one the worlds most famous beaches we had chicken sandwiches, watched the tv series Vampire diaries and freaked out about a giant cockroach.

Bondi Beach on Christmas Day

Christmas spirit on the beach

Day 3
We tempted ourselves and went Boxing Day shopping at the Westfield mall down the street. It is a giant mall that seemed twice the size of the Eatons centre. The mall was busy, chaotic and overwhelming and nothing was bought. We had been doing a lot of walking the past 2 days so my foot was a little sore so that gave us an excuse to watch tv all evening.

Day 4
You would have thought we were at home not Sydney, Australia by how much we were lazying around. We moved locations to Charlotte's friends, Harriet and Mark's apartment while they too were in New Zealand for the holidays. Also in Bondi Junction, this place is referred to as the palace. It was a very nice apartment that even had a roof top pool and garden area.

Day 5
Finally, we got our tourist hats on and took in the sights of Sydney. We took the bus to Sydney Harbour and saw the icons of Australia, the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. The opera house has been said to be designed as segments of a whole sphere if put all together. But sadly, the designer was fired from the job before completion and then never made the trip to see it in person before he died. The bridge and Opera House were bigger than I thought but closer together than I imagined. We laid in the sun while in the Botanical Gardens and had a $9 AUD drink under the Opera house overlooking the bridge. Next, we walked to the Rocks, the first European settlement in Sydney. We went to the Rocks Discovery Musuem, which was boring even for a museum. Then we walked back to Sydney harbour to take a ferry to Darling Harbour. I think taking the ferry is the cheapest way to get great views of the famous harbours and city skyline. This was a day full of pinch me moments!
I was really looking forward to seeing Jen and Robyn the next day!

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge

Charlotte and I at the Opera House

Sydney Harbour from the ferry

Day 6
I got up early to be ready for when the girls arrived at their hotel. When they did call, Charlotte and I took the train to central Sydney to reunite with Robyn and Jen. I also got to meet Jens new boyfriend, Gerrit who was joining us for 9 days of our Australia adventure. It was tourist day on repeat but in reverse. We started with a walk through Darling Harbour, took the ferry to Sydney Harbour and went to The Rocks for drinks at the Orient Hotel. We took the train back to their hotel and planned to go to the beach for sunset. Hours went by while the 5 of us drank in the room and we completely missed sunset. Gerrit, Jen and I kept the party going and went to 'The Cross' (Kings Cross). We even got a picture with the giant Coca Cola sign, which I found out is as much a Sydney icon as LA's Hollywood sign. Kings Cross is the place to go on a night out even with the occasional drag queen and strip club. Never a boring moment in THE CROSS!

Art in motion with the Harbour Bridge

Gerrit, Jen, Robyn and I with the Opera House

Jen and I at the Cross

Day 7
We did have a slow start because of hangovers and jet lag. Once we did get going it was off to Bondi Beach, again but it was something I thought the girls couldn't miss! After staying for a couple hours lounging and playing in the waves we planned to meet one of my old Whistler co workers, Bec. Charlotte, Robyn and I left the couple to go to the Clovelly Hotel for dinner. It was good to see Bec and we talked about boys, Whistler and our New Years Eve plans for the next night. Bec was actually the person that told us to come to Shore Thing monthssss ago! We didn't stay out late reminiscing though, in order to save ourselves for big NYE night.

Day 8
The last day of 2011!
Robyn, Jen and Gerrit went to the Botanical Gardens to see the fireworks over Sydney harbor. They had to leave early afternoon to get a spot in the gardens so it was cya next year for them!
Charlotte and I spent some time by the pool and then slowly started getting ready. You can't rush someone on vacation ;) ! We went to a pre drink in Surrey Hills with Bec and her friends. Then, onto the big event - Shore Thing at Bondi Beach! There was big lines for drinks but Snoop Dogg was a good distraction at least. He even played one of my favourite songs at the moment. Living youngggg and willldddd and freeeee!! Calvin Harris brought us in to 2012! Happy New Year!!!!! Fireworks YAY! Unfortunately no hunk to kiss this year at midnight, only Charlotte! The night was then just like being at a really cool concert and listening to Calvin Harris and Pendullum.

Bec and I at Shore Thing

Shore Thing at Bondi Beach

Happy New Year!

Day 9
In our last few hours in Sydney we all laid by the rooftop pool. Nothing too strenuous due to the previous nights activities. We took the train to the airport and then we were off to Brisbane!

Goodbye to Sydney...for now! xo

New Zealand Wrap Up

2012-02-01T19:38:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone? Time to update my blog! So much has happened but I'll start with the last 2 weeks in Auckland! (Day 74-92)

The first few days back from up north were low key and trying to be out in any sun that decided to come out.

Day 75
Amanda took us to a beach in the city we hadnt been to yet, called Takapuna. It's a big beach in a nice part of town that wasn't busy at all for a hot day!

Day 76
We went to Newmarket because Amanda had an appointment so Charlotte and I were dropped off at the shops to look around.

Sometime around here my foot seemed to be getting worse. I must not have rested it enough but I was determined with time it would just get better by itself.

Day 78
Charlotte, Amanda and I spent some time in the morning checking out the Christmas markets on Posonby road. There was carrolers, choirs and sidewalk sales.
It was the day of Coca Cola's Christmas in the Park at Auckland's Domain. We had picked up picnic supplies and enjoyed a night with Amanda and her friends. We put out blankets and all shared a smorgasbord of snacks and drinks. There was TV star presenters, free coke giveaways, Christmas songs and fireworks to finish it off. If only it wasn't cold at home so we could have something like this!

Coca Cola Christmas in the Park

Amanda and I with our festive antlers

Day 80-83: Mom and Dad's to Auckland
Rain! Rain! Rain! It rained the entire time mom and dad were in Auckland! Unfortunate for them but now they had a taste of my NZ experience.

Day 80
Mom and Dad disembarked from their cruise that went around NZ and Australia. We met at the hotel and did a lot of catching up.

Day 81
My mom saw that I was still limping after 2 weeks of hurting myself so she forced me to go to the doctor. I found out that I did indeed have a fractured bone in my foot and after almost getting put into a cast, I was only wrapped up and given crutches! I guess mothering is what I needed but...it sucked! Haha. After the doctor we went to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium and saw sharks, stingrays and king penguins!

Day 82
Charlotte joined the Dodge trio to go to Waiheke Island for a winery tour. This was a day trip Charlotte and I had been meaning to do but we saved for my parents because we thought they would like it. We went to 3 wineries (Stoneyridge, Wild on Waiheke and Mudbrick Vineyard) and an olive grove. It is a quaint island and there was good company and yummy wine. In the pouring rain that night, we went out to see the lights of Franklin Road in our raincoats and umbrellas. Quite the different experience instead of shivering in a car, driving the streets to look at Christmas lights.

Stoneyridge

The 'singing' house on Franklin Rd

Day 84
Mom and Dad left for cold Canada and I took a taxi back to 41 Wood street. Charlotte and I had been invited to Jen Penman's bach (the word they use instead of cottage) in the Coramandel for the weekend. Simon, Jen, Charlotte and I drove to Whangamata to Simons familys very 60s cottage. When Simons friends arrived we played drinking games till the early hours of the morning. We all went to bed after Charlottes excellent presentation after losing the game and having to drink a horrible mix standing on top of the picnic table in the garden.

Day 85
We had a big breakfast and then the girls went into town to look at the stores. In the afternoon, we all went to the beach where there was a surfing competition going on. Later on the boys had a massive BBQ and we all pigged out on wings, sausages and steaks.

Whangamata beach

Day 86
We left the cottage and were back early to Auckland.

Day 87
I had a doctors appointment and gave back my crutches but still had to continue being careful.
It was Monday so of course it's Monday night dinner! Becca made ham steaks with pineapple and the most delicious thing of all was baked kumara (sweet potato) wrapped in bacon! Mmmmmm bacon :)

Day 88
Charlotte and I laid in the sun at Aotera square, beside Occupy Auckland, before going to see New Years Eve the movie.

Day 91
Last day in New Zealand!!
Mike, Charlotte and I spent the day lounging on the front lawn in the sun. We said our goodbyes or see ya laters to Amanda because she was leaving for Hamilton to spend Christmas with her family. When Becca got home she used her endless energy to bring us to Mission Beach for our last NZ swim and then had organized to go to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. Becca, Mike, Jo, Charlotte and I had yummy sashimi, hot saki and 2 bottles of wine. Off to a good night! We then partied at the Posonby Social Club for a bit but ending the night before 1.

Becca, Michael and I at Mission Beach

Our last swim in NZ with Becca

Micheal, Jo and I at the restaurant

Day 92
While Charlotte was MIA, the rest of us spent the morning at the French markets. I had the best almond croissant ever! We had to get back in time for me to pack and get ready for Australia! Charlotte and I said our goodbyes and waved out the airport shuttle window to Becca and Michael. Bye 41 Wood St! Bye Auckland!! Bye New Zealand!!! As much as I knew I would probably be sad about leaving New Zealand, I was so excited and looking forward to Australia!!!

New Zealand has been such an awesome experience! I'll miss the awesome landscape with sheep and grass and sheep and grass and sheep and....volcanoes, quiet beaches, Frujus, Squiggles and of course the people. Thank you so much to Amanda, Darren, Becca, Michael, Jojo, Emma, Mike, Ayla, and Jen for putting up with us and letting us stay with you!

Paihia and Whangarei

2011-12-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

Day 66
So the beginning of this trip started very eventful. On the walk down to the bus I had a dramatic, clumsy fall and sprained my ankle. OUCH! Even though it hurt it wasn't the most thing we were worried about. I couldn't really walk so we needed to find a cab and get downtown asap. Race against the clock! After making the bus wait for us for 15 min we barely made it. Now, we were on a 4 hour bus ride north of Auckland. Maybe we could avoid bad weather by going to the winterless north (weird south is cold and north is warm by the way). The rest of the day was pretty boring since I could only hop around on one foot and I refused to pay to go see a doctor unless it got worse. All we did was nap and go to the hostel bar to drink beer and ice my foot.

My swollen and bruised foot

Day 67
I could put some weight on my foot but it was still pretty swollen and bruising. I was determined not to let this injury get in the way of things we would have done if I wasnt so uncoordinated. All I could manage was to hobble to the beach. It felt like the hottest day we have had in New Zealand so it was a good beach day! We treated ourselves to a lunch at Cafe above the Bay and then headed back to the beach to soak up the sun some more!

Paihia beach

Day 68
Today we had booked a day bus trip to take us to around the surrounding points of interest.

90 Mile Beach

First, we drove along the sand and surf of 90 mile beach. It is [the only] registered highway along the beach. Also, it is not actually 90 miles but rather 76 km? it was estimated to be this long because when a man walked a bull, that walks approx. 30 miles per day,down the beach it took him 3 days. He forgot to take into consideration that this heavy bull would be sinking into the sand and therefore not walking as far.

Te Paki sand dunes

Next stop was New Zealand's largest sand dunes to do some sandboarding. We all grabbed a board and climbed up a giant dune in what felt like a sandstorm. Can't beat an exfoliation like that! Once getting to the top, one by one we went head first down the hill. Some people were a little more extreme and did a running start but I kept it safe and slow. I wish it wasn't so windy and I didn't have a gimp ankle so I could have done more than one run!

Tapotupoto Bay

Tapotupoto Bay was our lunch stop and also the most northern beach in New Zealand. Only the brave ones went for a swim!

Cape Reinga

Pohutukaura tree

Cape Reinga is the top of New Zealand. The famous lighthouse is at the tip overlooking where the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet. There is Maori legends surrounding this place because it is believed that after a Maori person dies their spirit passes through to the other world here through a sacred Pohutukaura tree growing impossiblily from the cliff side.

Kauri Forest

The last stop of the day was at the Puketi Kauri forest that has trees up to 2000 years old. We did some tree hugging while we were there.

Day 69
We booked another day cruise to take us around the Bay of Islands highlights. The Bay of Islands is a pretty area consisting of 144 islands. It was a another windy day in the region so the open water was choppy. Unfortunately we got on the boat with a field trip of at least 30 kids so it wasn't going to be a quiet day. Hardly 15 minutes into the trip we found a small pod of 6 bottlenose dolphins. They were very playful jumping in the wake of the boat and doing tricks like they were at Sea World. It was the best part of the trip for sure. The rest of the day was spent visiting the various islands and their caretakers, and venturing out to the iconic Hole in the Rock. We were on whale watch too because the trip the day before saw a humpback whale. No luck though! Before the day was over charlotte and i got dropped off in Russel, the hell hole of the Pacific. It was named this because ships used to stop here for all the brothels and rowdy bars. It's been a few years since then and Russel is now a quiet town. Not as good of a time anymore and not what I was expecting!

Trying to capture the dolphins jumping

Hole in the Rock

Day 70
For a place that was supposed to be in a drought it sure rained a lot. The rain must have followed us! It did get sunny and we managed to go for a walk before catching the bus down to Whangarei. The bus driver had us worried because as he dropped us off he told us we would need to know how to fight if we went out. Not to get too worried though because we had a local to keep us safe. We stayed with yet another Whistler friend, Ayla.

Charlotte, Steve, Ayla and I in the rain

Day 71-73

On these few days we hung out around Whangarei with Ayla, her boyfriend, coworkers and family. We went to Whangarei Falls, one of the few attractions to see in the area. We also crashed her Christmas party predrink where I met a contestant from NZ's Master Chef. Cool guy who wants to become a travel food writer! I want that job! We also went to Sandy Bay to go to Ayla's moms 60th birthday party. Haha nothing is awkward when free food is involved! But it really was another good day with someone else's family! On Monday afternoon we caught the bus back to Auckland and said our goodbyes to Ayla, another great hostess!

Whangarei Falls

"Take only memories. Leave only footprints." - Chief Seattle

City Life

2011-12-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

Day 56
Back to the Big Smoke! Auckland! We took the train to Meadowbank where Jen, another Whistler friend lives. She runs a daycare during the week so visiting during the weekend was perfect. While trying to figure out our night Jen remembered the deal of the day was 50% off going to the Ice Bar. So we bought some tickets! Before going downtown we went to Newmarket to a Mac's bar for a cider with her boyfriend. Then Freddy's Ice Bar was cool! I had never been to one even though they looked so interesting. Everything was made out of ice -- the walls, the bar, the glasses and fun sculptures! We took loads of pictures! We went to a couple more bars and Danny Doulaw's being the most fun with loud live music! An old man at the bar came and asked me if I purposefully tried to look like Princess Laia because my hair was twisted back! HA! Must have been awhile since he watched the movie because there was no gold bikini or buns on the side of my head.

Day 57
Jen had found Charlotte a babysitting job so she was gone most of the day doing that. Jen was also busy with an anniversary party and BBQ. I just relaxed for the day in a hammock with a book and watched movies later on.

Day 58
Jen drove us back to Posonby to Amanda's house. We all had a short catch up before walking down to the triathlon with everyone (Amanda, Darren, Jo, Becca, Michael and Charlotte). We watched the men swim and jump on their bikes. Some of these men we would be seeing at London 2012 because they were qualifying for Olympic spots. We stopped at the supermarket and created a feast of snacks that we had on the front lawn. Spontaneous picnic of deliciousness haha!

Triatholon

Day 59
It's been 2 months since I've really talked to anyone so it was awesome to skype Jenny and Tyler. I felt like I was sitting on the couch right beside them having the regular Sunday talks! I miss living with them!
Anyways, since it was Monday that meant Monday night dinner party. Charlotte an I offered to take a turn while we were there again since we had a couple dinners made for us. The theme was BBQ so we spent the afternoon preparing kebobs, sweet potato wedges, salad and for dessert, chocolate covered strawberries with chocolate molten lava cake! Everyone loved it!

Day 60
It was a sunny and hot day in the city so we packed a lunch and headed to a beach. Sentinel Beach is a small city beach just a half hour walk from Ponsonby overlooking the harbor bridge. Such a hard life relaxing all day in the sun! The day got even better when Darren got back from fishing with tons of red snapper to fry up. Becca whipped up a meal and we stuffed our faces with lots of super fresh fish. Yum! I could get used to this NZ menu.

Day 61-63
We caught the bus for only $10 to take us to Hamilton to visit Jojo. We had visited her at her parents place in Waikou but we wanted to spend a couple days having quality time with her and her baby, Mason. Unfortunately we weren't going to be able to meet Jo's man, Bryce because he was out of town for work. We spent the next couple days shopping around town looking for a birthday dress and hanging around the house. Jo is such a happy and grateful Mom <3 She makes me believe that things happen for a reason and they happen when it's the right time! And 10 minutes before having to leave to catch the bus back to Auckland Bruce arrived home early. Now our Hamilton trip was complete!

Mason likes beer just like his mom ;)

Day 64
It's my birthday!!!!! At least on this side of the world! It doesn't feel like my birthday at all because it's warm outside. Cool! I always wished I could have a summer birthday. This way I can have at least one. Becca and Mike made me breakfast of pancakes, fruit, bacon and fresh juice. Very thoughtful of them! Then I got to skype Dave, Ange and the kids! I missed seeing their faces! After getting ready Becca, Jo, Mike, Charlotte and I piled into the car to go on an adventure. We went north of Auckland to a town called Leigh to go to a bar called the Sawmill Brewery for some pizza and beer. Next, we stopped in Mantakana to the Rusty Tavern for drink #2. Before getting back home we stopped at the grocery store to stock up on munchies. We discovered we didn't need the food because after we were done getting ready it didn't leave us much time to pre drink before our dinner reso. The girls went to Kens Japanese restaurant and I had sashimi (raw fish) and warm saki (alcohol) for the first time. After dinner we stayed in the Britomart area and went to a bar called the Country Club. It's a really cool outside bar that looks like what you would think a country club would look like with grass, gardens and a place to play croquet. That bar closed at midnight so we went to the club next door, 1885 where we danced the night away! Good birthday!!!!

Birthday breakfast!

Charlotte, Becca, Jo and I at 1885

Day 65

No time for hangovers today! Becca woke us up to ask us if we wanted to go to some markets. She is always so good at planning and enthusiastic about them! Good person to have around! So off Becca, Jo, Charlotte and I were off for another day of adventures! Charlotte was feeling more rough than the rest of us so the car ride was not kind to her. The Clevdon Market had lots of yummy samples! Then we went to Maratei beach to enjoy a lunch on the sand. NZ is definitely not short of pretty beaches! Once we got back to town there was no time for sitting and we went for a walk under the Harbor Bridge and around to look at the big boats. 1 in 4 Aucklanders own a boat of some sort so therefore there is lots of boats to look at. When I got back I skyped into Saturday night festivities in Canada to talk to Evie, Jen and Robyn! Only 4 weeks until I get to see them in Sydney! woooo!

"What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do, especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you.
No yesterdays on the road." - William Least Heat-Moon

On the road back to Auckland

2011-11-25T03:25:00.000-08:00

Day 48
On the road again! It's amazing how blue sky's can really change your day and the scenery! When we stopped at Lake Tekapo we got awesome views of Mt Cook, New Zealand's highest peak at 3 754m. In 1991 this mountain lost 10m off the top! The southern alps are continuously growing and if they were made from something stronger than limestone they would rival the Himalayas in height! It's an ever changing landscape!
We arrived in Christchurch, the south islands biggest city, in the late afternoon. In February 2011, the city had a 6.3 earthquake and the city, especially the downtown, is still in a bad way. Because of this disaster Kiwi experience no longer stays over night in Christchurch but they did drop us off here. We were staying with another of Charlotte's Whistler acquaintances, Mike, for the night. He was a good host and made us a meal of fish & chips! That night we just hung out at this house while a few friends came around for some cider and beer.

Mt Cook

Day 49
Mike took us on the "earthquake tour" around Chirstchurch. I was surprised by the damage and the lack of rebuilding. We were told that most insurance companies require a minimum of 60 days of no earthquakes over 4.0 before rebuilding and the aftershocks have all been above this! Brick buildings and church's seemed to have taken the hardest hit. We also saw where entire cliffs just fell down and left houses ripped in half. He also showed us where a giant boulder crushed 2 construction workers. So scary! It is quite devasting and the downtown is still a fenced off redzone. It looks like the end of the world or the movie I am Legend. Beside the redzone they have constructed a shopping area out of shipping containers. It is a very bright and creative attraction to get people back into the city centre!
We are back on the bus too soon to leave Christchurch and go to Kaikoura, the "south islands best kept secret". It is truly beautiful
here with snow capped mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean crashing on the other. We went for a walk down the beach and through the park as the sun set ...how romantic! Charlotte booked wild dolphin swimming for the next morning and I really had to contemplate not to go so I hope I don't regret that decision!

Christchurch earthquake damage

Kaikoura

Day 50
When leaving Kaikoura we drive the coastline for most of the way to Picton. Our only stop was to take a closer look at the seal colony on the Kaikoura peninsula. Once in Picton we caught the ferry for the 3 hour ride back to Wellington. I was super lame for a Saturday night and accidentally fell asleep at 7pm. Haha oh well!

Day 51
We got up and going this morning to the farmers market to pick up fruit and supplies for dinner. Why don't I do this at home? It's a good way to spend a Sunday morning! We later walked to a city beach called Oriental Bay and watched some beach volleyball. It was turning out to be quite a warm day outside so this called for ice cream, right? When eating icecream there seemed to be something going on close by so we followed the people to find a Christmas celebration in the town square! Christmas carols in 25 degree weather is odd but at the same time amazing!
Our night consisted of watching jello wrestling at the hostel bar. Highly entertaining...especially the male wrestling because they had to wear bikinis!

Oriental Bay

Day 52
We went to Cuba street, which is Wellingtons trendy street that has lots of shops and cafés. Wellington has more cafés and restaurants than New York City apparently! We went back to Oriental Bay to bask in the sun to read and write in our journals. Sun sun sun!!! Did you know that it only takes 7 minutes to burn in New Zealand? Gotta love the hole in the ozone!

Day 53
We had a long drive from Wellington to Taupo. We passed through Bulls again and leave River Valley behind. We then traveled along the desert road where we actually got views of Mt Ruapehu and the volcano used as Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings. It was Much better weather than last time we passed through Tongariro National Park hence why we could see it this time. Mt Ruapehu is the north islands popular ski field despite it being New Zealand's most recent volcano to erupt in 1995!
When we got to Taupo, Emma took us in again! She was back from School in Dunedin for summer holidays. She picked us up from the bus stop and showed us around again. We went to Huka Falls, the Prawn Farm, the lake and her work at Plateau restaurant. We had a drink before she started work for the night but only for us to return a couple hours later to get drunk at her bar. I forgot how much it helps to know the bartender! Deal!

Mt Doom

Emma, Charlotte and I at Huka Falls

Day 54
After a good sleep in a real bed, we got ready to take Emma's boat out on Lake Taupo. It was rough waters because it was windy but Emma found a bay for us to anchor in. It was one of my favourite days in New Zealand! We ate lunch, sunned ourselves, went swimming in the freezing water and I went tubing for the first time ever! SO fun! I couldn't stop laughing :) Good weather, good people, good time! The good day continued with ice cream from our fav spot, kaffee eis, which we thought we left in Wellington. Later on, Emma's mom made us a home cooked meal! It feels good to be mothered when your so far from home.

Tubing in Lake Taupo

Day 55
That morning we left Taupo and basically went down the highway a bit to Rotorua. Charlotte and I went for a walk around to see if we missed anything last time in the rain haha but mostly to find a movie theatre to buy tickets for Breaking Dawn! TwiHards! Afterwards we took a city bus out to go Zorbing. This randomly was one of the few things I knew I wanted to do before I came to NZ. Zorbing is rolling down a hill in a large inflatable ball. I did 1 dry run on the straight track and 1 wet run on the zig zag track. This was just another activity that I just couldn't stop laughing while I rolled down the hill. Something tired us out when we got back because we had a 3 hour nap but it really just prepared us for Twilight! We were nerds and started the line up for the theatre haha And it was the best movie in the saga yet. Team Edward! I don't think I can wait a year until part 2...it will be so good!

Zorbing!

Now..back to Auckland!!!

"Twenty years from now you will be more dissapointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in you sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Queenstown part II

2011-11-16T02:28:00.000-08:00

Day 45-46
We are staying at Flaming Kiwi instead of Nomads this time around mostly because of the free internet. Over these couple days we just did laundry, chill out in the sun at the park and go to Brazz for $2.50 beers! Nice and relaxing days with great weather and beautiful scenery!

Day 47
Isabelle Grace Dodge was born today! (on Nov 8 at home) She was 8lbs and 2oz and mommy and baby seem to be doing very well :) Congrats Devin & Jen and Madeleine on being a big sister! I wish I could have been there and I can't wait to meet her in a few months!

Our last day in Queenstown was grey but we did go for a walk to the water and skip some rocks. We did a few of our favorite Queenstown things like happy hour at Brazz, FergBurger and going to World Bar.

I miss it all already! Goodbye Whistler...I mean Queenstown :) !

Roadtrip

2011-11-16T02:19:00.000-08:00

Day 41
We checked out of Queenstown to get a shuttle to the airport to get our rented car for our roadtrip! Everyone could now know how cheap we were as the car had El Cheapo splashed across the side. Haha! Dunedin, a university town, was our destination of the day. Charlotte had a friend from Whistler named Emma that was letting us stay with her. She goes to school in Dunedin but she is from Taupo. When we arrived all of us plus her roommate jumped into Emma's car to show us around. We went up a couple hills to lookouts where we saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time since getting to New Zealand! We also went to the steepest street in the world, drove through the campus and shown where 'scarfies' live (student ghetto).
Doing as true students do we started drinking games with Emma and her 3 roommates early on in the night and continued till going to the bar at 12. They seemed to think the bars were dead because of exams but we still had fun out till 4 in the morning! Belated birthday celebrations for Charlotte! (she made me say that because she didn't want people thinking she was actually getting old haha!)

World's Steepest Street

Dunedin

Charlotte, Emma and I

Day 42
Once our day got going we said our goodbyes to our Dunedin friends and went on the Cadbury World tour! Mmmmmm chocolate! I felt like I was in the Willy Wonka movie...no umpa lumpas but there was a chocolate waterfall!! After we jumped back into the car we drove north of Dunedin to the Moeraki boulders. It's a mystery how the 60 million year old boulders came to be these large smooth spheres scattered along this pretty beach but it's cool tourist attraction none the less! CHECK!
This is where this day takes a cold turn. On our way back through Dunedin to get to Invercargill, the most southern city in the world, it started snowing! Almost the whole way was like a blizzard! Didn't I leave Canada to avoid this weather?! We arrived late into Invercargill therefore all the hostel receptions were closed meaning we were going to sleep in the car on our coldest night of the trip. We parked in a McDonalds parking lot and embarrassingly enough got a knock on the window at 2am asking us to leave. Kicked out of a McDonalds! We got very little sleep as it hailed all night while we shivered in our little car on a side street.


The 2nd most photographed building in the Southern Hemisphere - Dunedin Rail Station

Moeraki boulders

Day 43
It's hard to tell where the previous day ended and this day began. In the early hours of the day we decided to drive to Bluff for the sunrise. Bluff is known as the end of New Zealand. The saying goes to Cape Reinga to Bluff. The only other reason to go to Bluff is Sterling Point to get a picture of the landmark sign. CHECK! After the sunrise that didn't really happen because it was cloudy of course we went back to Invercargill to check it out in the daylight. There is nothing much to see here except the water tower, as we were told. We then started our drive to Milford Sound. There was lots of snow on the ground and sanded roads. This was a scene I would expect to see in November in Canada not New Zealand. When we got to Milford Sound I was overly excited about a nice warm bed to finally sleep in.

Day 44
We went on the Milford Sound cruise at 9:15 this morning. The weather was not as bad as the day before but since we were on the west coast it was raining. An advantage of the rain is that there was several pretty waterfalls, like the 4 sisters, that wouldn't be there if it had been sunny. The landscape reminded me of Jurassic Park or Avatar with the floating mountains in Pandora ! Also, our search for penguins is over since we saw 2 pairs of Fiordland Crested penguins, one of the rarest penguins in the world! CHECK! Milford Sound is spectacular how massive mountains come straight out of the water and although some peaks took imagination to see because of clouds it was still beautiful and worth the trip!! CHECK! On our way back via the Milford Hwy we stopped a couple times for a few short hikes and lookouts since we couldn't appreciate the trip the day before because of snow. We had lunch in Te Anau, which is about a halfway point between Milford and Queenstown. With a total of about 4 hours we were back in good ol' Queenstown late afternoon!

The 4 Sisters Waterfalls

Milford Sound

Roadtrip over! :( We were back in Queenstown a couple days before getting back on the Kiwi Experience bus!

The road back to Queenstown

Queenstown

2011-11-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

Day 34
Queenstown today!!!
Before leaving Wanaka the bus went to Puzzling World. This could have provided us with hours of entertainment but in our hour and a half stop we looked around all the optical illusion rooms where balls looked like they were rolling uphill and people looked like giants or midgets. There was also a maze that we ended up having to go through an emergency exit because we ran out of time. It is the only 3D maze in the world! On to Queenstown! Upon arrival we went to the AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge to book our Nevis bungy and watch our bus mates bungy off the bridge! It was hard to believe what I was going to jump from was 3 times as big! Ahhhh! Next we were taken to the lakefront to take a group picture of our bus! How sweet! Great group of people! After checking into Nomads hostel we went to a budget shop to get costumes for another dress up party we were going to with some Irish girls from our bus that had lived in Queenstown for the season! I settled on being a bunny, Charlotte was a cat, Kaioei a ladybug, AnneMarie a devil and best for last Jill was a bindiver aka a garbage picker. Once picking our costumes we went down the street to the world famous Fergburger!! Not as good as the Works but the burger is definitely bigger! I thought I was going to be sick by the end. That night we partied it up at the house party and later went to The World Bar for our last night with our bus! We had a few too many teapots (shooters in a mini teapot) that night!

Day 35
Hungover!
Charlotte woke up in pain and her eye swollen. We went to the walk-in clinic to find out she scratched her cornea. I could really sympathize with this discomfort! Ouch! This meant she was out of commission for awhile-lots of sleep and no drinking!

Day 36
I walked around the stores dreaming about all the clothes I would want to buy if I had money. Sigh! In the afternoon a bunch of us sat on a grassy area in the market with live music and ice cream. It's nice to be surrounded by mountains again! Charlotte and I hardly had to be convinced when Lauren asked if we wanted to go to Fergburger again. Yummmmmy! We went out again to World bar and Cowboys for some people's last night in Queenstown! Not a big night considering Charlotte couldn't drink. Sad to see people go though!

Day 37
Since Charlotte still wasn't feeling her best we kept it low key while walking the town and Queenstown gardens. We checked out the frisbee golf course and sat on a bench watching the baby chicks. After traveling for 3 plus weeks we were beginning to get frustrated paying ridiculous prices for Internet so we went on a mission to find free internet. We did eventually find a spot but not without the cost of us looking homeless sitting on the sidewalk outside a store. We spent a long time here catching up with emails, facebook and banking. Nothing else exciting for the rest of the day, just free BBQ and watching movies at the hostel.

Day 38
Queenstown is claimed to be the adventure capital of the world and we were ready to finally take that on. Charlotte and I went on the Shot Over jet boat today. It was on the Shot Over River...who would have guessed?! It was good fun swerving through the narrow canyons where you feel like your going to hit the sides and holding on tight during the 360* spins! Once getting back we borrowed frisbees from the nearby arena and played 18 holes of frisbee golf in the Queenstown garden. The best part is that it's free!! I think we need to play with a handicap since +22 and +27 are not scores to brag about haha! After dinner we got ready for halloween night. We struggled trying to come up with different costumes with our own clothes but just ended up swapping outfits from a couple nights before. We had a good night out on our hostel Halloween barcrawl ! 5 bars 5 shots and cheap drinks!

Shotover Jet

Halloween Pub Crawl

Day 39
We woke up and decided to climb up Bobs peak via the Tiki Trail. I should have taken the gondola! It was a not enjoyable hour and a half of going all uphill. For those of you who have done it are thinking what is she complaining about but it just goes to show how unfit I am. Especially since my knee is still screwed up. I guess it was somewhat rewarding to get to the top and take in the view of the town, lake and the Remarkables. When we got down from the hill we treated ourselves to lemon meringue icecream and Ferg Burger again...oops!

Day 40
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLOTTE!!!!
That also meant it was BUNGY DAY!! I had been looking forward to this day for awhile but now that it was here I was a little nervous. We were driven to the jump location with songs like Vertigo, Jump!, and Dont worry be happy to calm the nerves. We arrived and got harnessed up before our first proper look at the Nevis jump and believe me it is high!!!! The highest in New Zealand at 134m!!! Char and I were in the first cable car across. Charlotte went before me and had mini panic attack but was told she wasn't allowed to cry on her birthday! Lol! I'm 7th to jump and shuffling to the edge was so hard and looking down made my weak knees a whole lot worse. Good thing your only on there for a few seconds because they countdown.. 3..2..1..BUNGY!!! Ahhh 8 seconds of free fall! Im pretty sure i was in a catatonic state just screaming the whole way down! Scariest but most fun thing ever! I want to do it again!!
After that adrenaline pumping we kept it normal for the rest of the day. We walked around while Charlotte looked at menus to see where she wanted to go for dinner. Finally a restaurant called Brazz was picked and it was a good thing because wine was only $3.50. We will order 3 please! We shared calamari, Charlotte had steak and I had half rack of ribs. Nomnomnom! Happy birthday Charlotte! Charlotte didn't want to party on her birthday (she must be getting old ;) ) especially since we had to wake up early for our roadtrip of the southern south island! Woo hoo!

South island

2011-11-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Day 24
Monday was the day we left for the south island. We had to wake up early to take the 3 hour ferry ride from Wellington to Picton. We had decided to be dropped off in Nelson even though it wasn't a designated overnight stop. This was our first time at a non chain hostel and it was worth it because there was free breakfast and soup for dinner. And we all know its always about the food ;) Nelson is the sunshine capital of New Zealand so we were looking forward to that, until we arrived and it was raining! We had an early night after watching a couple movies.

Day 25
Sunshine in the sunshine capital! We explored the town and tried walking to a beach but ended up just eating our packed lunch on a bench by the water because it was too far. We were told by one of the girls on the kiwi bus that Nelson was having an arts festival and that she recommended we go to the urban art show. The "New Zealand's Biggest Urban Artshow" was near our hostel so we walked down to the park mid afternoon. It was very cool with art ranging from school kids to Banksey pieces! I was really happy Kayleigh told us about it! Did my cultural thing of the day :) !

Day 26
Started off as a nice,sunny morning so we sat by the pool in shorts! Only like the 3rd time since getting to New Zealand surprisingly! We had booked a winery tour with Bay Tours that started at 12. We went to four wineries: Te Mania , Waimea, Brightwater and Milcrest. Our lunch stop was at Waimea, where Charlotte and I shared a platter filled with meats, cheeses and olives. Mmm..went well with the wine tastings! I definitely feel more educated about wine or at least New Zealand wine. For example, I actually don't hate all reds I just hadn't tried the right ones or that 2009 and 2010 were really good years for the grapes so you can notice how much better they are compared to 2011. I ended up buying a 2010 Pinot Gris from Brightwater that is still in my backpack waiting for a special occasion. Also did you know that our tastes change every 7 years...then it was the joke about thats why its called the 7 year itch haha. Anyways, after the wineries we had extra time so our tour guide also took us to a brewery called McCashins. We got to try beer, cider and vodka. They had very original kinda of vodka like fig, chili pepper and Mars bar. They also inspired us to put a package of Skittles in our vodka mmmm! Awesome day! We went back to the hostel and played cards and darts later on.

Day 27
Nelson is the site of the centre(north, south, east and west) of New Zealand. The centre is of course a 30 min hike up a big hill on a trail called ZigZag. Once we got up to the top we enjoyed views of Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park in the distance. The centre of New Zealand was the most exciting part of the day because the rest was spent laying in hammocks and watching movies.

Day 28
Friday was our last morning in Nelson. We sat by the pool because it was another gorgeous sunny day. We had to carry our backpacks far to get to the kiwi experience pick up point so we stopped for lunch for a break at the locally famous Sprig and Fern. Once we got to the pick up point we waited for over an hour since the bus was late! From Nelson we went straight to Kaiteriteri about 45 minutes down the road. The beaches are beautiful here and I was very excited for the kayak trip we booked to explore the Abel Tasman.

Day 29
We woke up to a grey and rainy morning in Kaiteriteri. I thought we would have our kayak trip canceled because the whole point of the trip is to appreciate the views. After asking around we found out the kayak company wouldn't refund our money if we canceled. Not cool! So I called into the company and managed to get half our money back! I'm turning into my mother!
The bus left Kaiteriteri to head to the west coast of New Zealand. The entire west coast is home to only 40 000 people but also includes some if the best variety of views of the country. Our overnight stop was a small town called Westport. The bus driver organized for our group to meet at Cricheron Bar for drinks, killer pool and dancing. It was a pretty random night with a bag pipe band coming into the bar and then I got involved in my first girl fight haha not to worry though I just pulled off the girls hand who was pulling Jill's hair. Hilarious! It was a good night getting to know our new bus that we would be spending until Queenstown with!

Day 30
A short drive from Westport the bus took us to Cape Foulwind and Tauranga Bay where we went on a 45 minute walk to a seal colony! It is here that we are at New Zealand's closest point to Australia too. The coast is very pretty here! A little farther up the road we stopped at Punakaiki Pancake rocks. Charlotte and I walked the 25 minute trail around these rocks that have eroded to look like piles of pancakes. Next, the bus stopped in the biggest city on the coast, Greymouth. We were meant to get supplies for our themed party that night, which our driver decided to be tight and bright! Finally, we made it to our final destination for the day which is Lake Mahinapua at the Pu Pub to meet Les Lisle. Les is a crazy old man that has led an interesting life and has even been on 60 minutes! We were told the story that awhile back he started telling people he had a Moa in his shed. Moa is an extinct giant bird, kind of like an ostrich. Apprarently tv stations and journalist came out to witness this moa. When he went to reveal the moa he opened his shed door and all was there was a rusty old mower! As I said he is crazy! Anyways...the Pu Pub is in the middle of nowhere so most of us just walked to the lake and then to the Tasman sea. If you look out from the beach there is nothing between there and South America! Once getting back Les and our driver, Rich made us steak, venison stew and salads! After dinner it was time to get ready for our tight and bright party. Charlotte and I attempted and semi succeeded at making Post-it and cling wrap dresses hahah! Can't say that's not tight and bright! And just when you thought we couldn't fit anything more into one day...it was the rugby world cup finals!!! We all crowded around the one and only tv in our outfits to watch the All Blacks beat France 8-7. Woooo! Almost as good as Canada winning the gold medal but I just wish we were in Auckland for it! Also, I won the pool for guessing closest to the final score! $50 richer!

Cape Foulwind

Pancake Rocks

Tight and Bright/Bad Taste Party at Pu Pub

Day 31
This morning starts with a drive to Pukekura to visit the Bushman's Centre. The centre is a museum about hunting and trapping in New Zealand. The cafe here sells possum pies too...yuck!! This place was random with not only possom pies but had funny quotes and articles posted all over the cafe.
Going south we get to Franz Josef glacier village. The glacier walks have been on every New Zealand to do list I've seen so in order to check that off we booked a full day hike for the next day!

Day 32
RAIN RAIN RAIN! Franz Josef was meant to get one third of England's annual rainfall in one day. This isn't unusual for the area since it is surrounded by rainforests where it rains for two thirds of the year! All 4 layers we were meant to wear all got soaking wet! But about the glacier walk...it was a 6 hour hike in cramp-ons (spikes on the bottom of your feet) going through caves, icefalls and small crevices. There is tons of blue ice which we learned is condensed ice.Cool! The glacier is 12 km long and it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300m above sea level. Franz Josef is one of only three in the entire world to do so. CHECK! After a day of being wet and cold we all went straight to the glacier hot pools across from our hostel. Warmth and sitting amidst the rainforest was pretty fun! That night we went to Monsoon bar while I'm almost certain there was a monsoon happening outside! Highlight of the night was the Rock, Paper, Scissor competition! Didn't win the prize though :(

Day 33
Wednesday we started out early to stop at Lake Mathison. The lake is known for it's perfect reflective surface. Unfortunately we didn't get the full effect since some clouds were mostly blocking New Zealand's highest peak, Mt Cook. Charlotte and I were determined it was going to clear but after a half hour wait we had to get back to the bus. We still got a few good pictures! This was the last we would see of the coast as we now headed through the scenic Haast Pass. The bus stopped a couple times for picturesque moments and a stop at Thundercreek Falls. We stayed in Wanaka, a small quiet version of Queenstown. There was a thing on our list to do in Wanaka and that was to go to Pardiso cinema. This is a famous movie theatre for having couches and a car to sit on and having an intermission when they serve warm chocolate chip cookies. It didn't even matter what movie we saw because it was more about the experience. But we did see a British film called The Trip.

Lake Mathison...what its supposed to look like

Driving the Haast Pass

Queenstown is the next update! We spent 6 days there and did some fun things like jet boating and bungy jumping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.
Anais Nin

Wellington

2011-10-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

Day 22
Wellington is at the bottom of the north island and has a population of about 350 000.

Our first full day in the city we went to the famous TePapa Musuem. Most of the museum was about New Zealand culture from giant squid to Vogue to earthquakes. It was a good free place to especially on another rainy morning. Since Wellington in the capital city of the country Charlotte and I then went to the Beehive and parliament buildings. We got a free tour and educated ourselves on New Zealand political history! CHECK! Saturday night we..you guessed it! Watched rugby! Wales vs France semi final at an Irish bar called Molly Malones. After the game we went dancing at the hostel var! Iwas definitely channeling Jenny with my dance skills that night! haha

Bee Hive

Day 23
Sunny Sunday!! We went on a 30 min hike up Mt Victoria. CHECK! There is a good views of the city and you are able to watch the ferries leave and planes land. At the lookout is where we met Malika and friends. Malika is an Aussie living in NZ that is a host mom to exchange students. She offered to take us with her and 3 students into her small car around some sites around the city. Such a generous lady! She took us to some wind turbines because Wellington is known as Windy Welly so these turbines have become landmarks of the city. She also took us down the coastline which gaves us pretty views of the water and a glimpse of the south island in the distance. After she dropped us off in town Char and I took a cable car up to Botanic Gardens! CHECK! We couldn't waste any of this sunny day so we got gelato at the waterfront and sat in the sun. Springtime in the city :) There was an Indian festival going on that day on Queens Wharf so we decided to go for some dinner-samosas and pumpkin curry! Delish! There were a lot of other things goingon the festival which we saw a small bit of but we had to get to the Wellinton FanZone for yup...more rubgy! All Blacks vs Australia semi finals. All Blacks are going to the finals! Yippee! Good day in the city!

Wellington was my favourite city so far! Despite it being small there seemed like there was always something going on unlike London of a similar size ahaha!

Next...the south island!! I'm heading down the west coast at the moment so stay tuned!!!

Sweet As Bro

2011-10-24T01:27:00.000-07:00

Day 14

We got on the Kiwi Experience bus! Yay! Finally our adventures through the rest of the New Zealand could start! Before leaving Auckland we went to Mt Eden, another dormant volcano that overlooks the city. There is a story that a couple of years ago some college grads put burning tires in the crater late one night so when the city awoke to see smoke coming from the mountain they all assumed the volcano was erupting!!

Anyways, now we are out of Auckland and driving the Coromandel Peninsula which is known for there vcation homes and beachs. We stopped a few hours to check out Cathedral Cove. It's called Cathedral Cove because of the archway that has been eroded into the rocks. Beautiful blue skies and water here! Amanda had been giving us a hard time that we hadn't had a swim yet in New Zealand so we cooled off in the freezing water here. We are thinking about coming back here near the end of out New Zealand times because that way we can appreciate the beaches here and visit Charlotte's friends cottage. Back on the bus we headed to Hot Water Beach for the night. Hot Water Beach has this unique thing where at low tide you can dig holes in the sand to find boiling hot water so hot that you actually need to mix sea water with it to avoid buring yourself. Low tide for us wasn't until 10pm so off we went to the beach with flashlights and shovels to dig ourselves some holes to sit in. Our own private hottubs! Pretty cool!

Day 15

En route to Waitomo we visited Karangahake Scenic Reserve for a 30 min hike over swing bridges, through gorges and in old railway tunnels. Next we passed through a town called Paeroa. Lemon and Paeroa or L&P is a soft drink that was originally made here to cure hangeovers but now is "World Famous in New Zealand." And of course we got a pictures with the giant L&P bottle like a true tourist. CHECK! Although it was orginally made to cure hangovers it is good to cause them too...yummy to mix with vodka :)

When we got to Waitomo we had booked the legendary black water rafting trip called the Abyss. Right before going on the trip our guide reminds us of the movie Sanctum where for those of you who havn't seen it basically all the people die in a cave. Awesome! First, we started off abseiling down into a cave about 11 storeys. Scariest part of the whole tour! Then we ziplined into the darkness further into the caves. Next, we jumped into the water with tubes where we floated around looking up at the glowworms. the glowworms were pretty interesting but not as much when we were told they are actually maggots glowing to attract other insects to eat! Yuck! We wandered through more caves, squeezing through small spaces and swimming in cold water with our only light coming from our headlamp. To finish of the trip we had to climb up waterfalls to the surface! So great! Well worth the money!!!! That night we just more rugby at the only bar in town called Curleys.

Day 16

Sunday we are back on the bus to make our way to Rotorua (or Sulphur City or Rotten-ua). Part of this city really smells because of the geothermal activity. There is bubbling pools of mud and water everywhere. Mid-day we took a gondola ride up Mt Ngongataha to go luging. This wasn't typical luging but just taking a cart down a steep hill. We bought 5 runs on 3 different tracks and despite the rain I wish I could have gone all day! Around dinner time we were picked up to go to a Maori (New Zealand natives) village called Tamaki. We wanted to go because Kiwis seeem to really embrace this culture into their own so we wanted to learn more about it. When we got there they had a cermony when they do their famous eye bulging and sicking out of their tongue. We then walked around the village where we were shown poi twiling, weapons and the haka (made famous by the All Blacks). And finally the best part was that they cooked us a feast using the traditional hangi (earth oven-hot rocks, baskets for food and buried with dirt). It was a good substitute thanksgiving dinner! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!
Oh...and more rugby! Quarter-finals with the All Blacks vs Argentina. All Blacks won!

Day 17
Charlotte and I decided to stay an extra night in Rotorua so it was the first time we left our original bus. It was raining all day but we still mangaged to walk around to look at the goverment gardens and the bubbling surphur pools around. It was quiz night at the hostel bar and our team got 2nd to winning a $100 bar tab. So close but probably too dangerous anyways! Good team name too- Quiz-team-a Aguilera. I definitely want to use this when i get back for Morissey House quiz!

Day 18
On our way to Taupo we stopped at a few places before like a bee farm and Huka Falls. The falls are on the Waikato River formed by an earthquake splitting the land. Once getting Taupo we walked around the town. We bumpted into a fun hole-in-one competition where the hole is out on an island dock in the lake. The winners get $10 000! I wish I was good at golf! Lake Taupo is the biggest lake in New Zealand. The country of Singapore could fit into the lake but it still has nothing on the Great Lakes! Since it was still raining outside the only thing to do was play drinking games in the hostel room. Later on most of the bus went down to the bar to go dancing. Good times!

Day 19
Still raining!! We were all feeling a little hungover anyways! I had my first pie of beef, bacon and cheese. Now I know what everyone is always raving about! YUM!

Day 20
To start off the day our bus driver took us to Tawhai Falls on our way out of Taupo. These falls are also known as Gollums pool from Lord of the Rings! I'll have to go back and take notice in the movie. Next we went to Tongariro National Park and we went on a 2 hour hike. There was falls over lava fields and more scerny from LOTRs like Mt Doom. After our hike we took an hour drive twisting and turning through the sheep filled Ruahine ranges to get to the extremely remote River Valley. This was a really cute lodge! We might go back and be slaves to get free accommaodation and whitewater rafting. All there was to do here at night was drink, play giant jenga and go to bed early!

Gollum's Pool

Day 21
On our way to Wellington we took a short visit to a town called Bulls. Bulls jokes about their town name by naming places and things with BULL in it. For example, the police station is called Const-A-BULL. We arrived in Wellington late afternoon.

Week Two in Auckland

2011-10-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

So where I left off...

Day 7
Pretty boring day. Lazy all day even though it was warm and sunny out but at this point we are starting to get bored of the city and excited to start the rest of our journey. Highlight of the day was Rebecca and her friend Jo made everyone mussels. Only $12 for 3 big pots of them! I've only ate mussels from restaurants before but apparently from the grocery store you have to check for crabs which was so unappealing after finding several! Ugh!

Day 8
Char and I woke up early to walk to a car fair across town to look for a van. There wasn't much selection and most of them were out of our price range. At that point we decided we had to book a tour and we realized the Kiwi Experience office was down the street. We booked the tour called the Funky Chicken! Added bonus was it was 50% off!! Highlight of the day was Charlotte took me to the England vs Scotland rugby game at Eden Park stadium. We painted our faces and dressed in red and white! Despite the rain we walked the FanTrail, which is a walk to the stadium that had entertainment and food along the way. Once we got there we realized the ticket were 3 rows up from the field!! Best seats I've ever had for anything haha!! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and thankfully England won in the last 5 min after trailing the entire game!

Day 9
Another day full of rugby! Rebecca, Jo, Charlotte and I went to a pub called the Cavalier for the All Blacks vs Canada game. I went with the Canada flag although that didn't help the All Blacks from beating Canada badly! Later on there was another rubgy game on but a different league with different rules. Confusing! The Australia team won against the New Zealand Warriors! Before heading home we all headed to the Chapel again for a dance or two!

Day 10
Monday was another lazy day but our excuse was that it was cold and rainy. Also since it's Monday that means dinner party night. R for Rebecca! She made rabbit stew with kumura, rustic bread and rhubarb crumble. I was alittle hesitant with trying rabbit but after I got my mind around it, it tasted yum!

Day 11
Amanda had a day off work so she offered to take us to Piha beach west of the city. Piha is another black sand beach but it has a crazy surf and in the summer the Piha town is apparently super busy with people from Auckland. Our Lonely Planet book told us there was a penguin nest on the beach so we went on a penguin hunt but no luck :( We spent a couple hours here with our picnic lunch, our walk and a FruJu popsicle from the general store. For dinner Michael, Rebecca, Char and I went to Bolliwood for $10 curry night! I feel like I'm always talking about food haha!

Day 12
Wednesday started off on a bad note because even though we were on a waiting list to get on the Kiwi Experience bus we were told there was a good chance we would get on if we showed up. We didn't get on and we were quite frustrated that we had to spend 2 more days in Auckland. To cheer ourselves up we went to see Crazy Stupid Love. Funny with alot of shirtless Ryan Gosling!! Since we didn't leave we all headed to Rebecca's family home in Kawakawa Bay about an hour drive east of the city. We had a big meal and tried new things like whitebait fritters, which is whitebait and egg. We were told it was one of those things you had to try in New Zealand. I wouldn't have those again but at least it can be checked off the to do list!

Day 13
It turned out to be the warmest day in New Zealand so far! Great for our last day in the city! Charlotte and I just walked around and had lunch by the waterfront. We watched one of the most crazy and graphic show I have ever seen called Embarassing Fat Bodies! It is this British show that I have never seen and I'm pretty sure it would NOT be allowed in primetime TV at home. YouTube it.

Amanda, Rebecca and Michael were really good hosts and I appreciate all that they did for us and I feel like I really got to truly experience Auckland and not just completely like a tourist.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Hello Auckland!

2011-09-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

So it's been a week since I left Canada! A lot to catch up on!!
I made it to New Zealand, obviously! After 3 flights I finally made it to Auckland at 4:45 am on Saturday morning. The LA to Auckland flight wasn't as bad as I thought because I ended up sleeping for 6 hours and there was lots of movies and food :) I had a little heart attack at the LA airport because the airline desk told me I wouldn't be allowed into New Zealand without having a visa for Australia, which still doesn't make any sense to me! But it ended up taking like 2 min to apply online but still!!!! AH! Anyways, I arrived really early and had to wait for Charlotte to arrive at 7am! Amanda came and got us at the airport which was awesome of her since it was so early!! It was good to see Charlotte and Amanda since it had been like a year and half since seeing them in Whistler!

Day 1
Amanada lives with her boyfriends sister Rebecca and her boyfriend Michael, both of which lived in Whistler too so after the airport we headed to their house. Rebecca's mom is a teacher and her school was having "Ag[riculture] Day" so my first introduction to New Zealand was a public school fair with sheep and calf compeititions haha. After that we came home and had nap to get ready for drinks. We woke up and some people had already showed up to have drinks before going down to Party Central at the FanZone to watch the All Blacks rugby game. Party Central is down by the water and has big screens and bars to watch all the rugby games. All Blacks fans are crazy fun!!!! Good first day in NEW ZEALAND!!

Day 2
We woke up and it was raining! boooooo! Amanda took us to a mall called Sylvia Park and we shopped around. All the stores are different so we scoped out whats good. Later on Sunday, Charlotte, Amanda and I drank a few bottles of wine and headed to a bar called The Chapel! Things got silly that night!!!

Day 3
Typical spring weather today-sunny and about 17degrees. Amanda takes us walking around the city which doesn't take long to get to since we can see the Sky Tower from the house. We walked around Queen St, which is the main street in Auckland and we got sushi for lunch! This place had lots of fun rolls like bacon and egg YUMMMM! Then we walked around the harbour and saw lots of big boats and super yachts that we later looked up and were in the top 100 in the world! SO BIG!! Amanda and a group of friends have dinner parties every Monday and sometimes they have themes. This time it was make food that started with the first letter of your name so she made American hotdogs for an app, Apricot Chicken for a main, and Afgans for dessert. I think this is a really cool idea and def want to start doing dinner parties when I come home :)

Day 4
Another good, sunny spring day! Everyone had work today so it was the first day Charlotte and I were left to ourselves to explore the city! We shouldn't have left the house though because we ended up setting off the house alarm which was hilarous. Good thing we remembered the wrong alarm code haha! Once we figured that out we borrowed a couple bikes and headed off to Mission Bay which was a beach about an hour bike ride along the water. Charlotte and I then headed to a fish and chips place called Fish Pot Cafe. It was delicious and definitely worth the recommendation! CHECK! The bike ride home was a lot more painful than the ride there! My butt still hurts hahaha! On the way back we stopped in a few places like back to the FanZone to go into the giant rugby ball that showed a NZ tourist video and got our picture with a few of the All Blacks at the Backing Black building.

Day 5
The area that we are staying is called Ponsonby and on the Lonely Planet checklist of things to do in Auckland it says to walk down Ponsonby Rd. So that's what we did! The road is just filled with unique stores and lots of little bars and restaurants! There was also a few hostels along this road that we stopped in at to look at the message boards for vans! Once we got back Charlotte, Amanda and I drove to visit Jojo in Waiuku, which is a small town about an hour away. A lot has changed in Jo's life since seeing her 2 years ago...she has a 3 month old baby boy named Mason! We had a good visit with her and her baby. She took us out to the local pub (The Kentish) for lunch and to our first black sand beach. Pretty cool! I hope to see Jo again before we leave NZ! This busy day continues on once we got home and Rebecca and Michael took us to a few mountains/volcanos (Mt.North Head and Mt. Victoria) over the harbour bridge to the North Shore. North Head has tunnels that were created during WWI and II so we wandered through those for a while and just took pictures at the top. Good views of the city! We then headed for a drink at Takapuna which is just another fun area of the city on the North Shore! Busy day but lots checked off the list! CHECK CHECK CHECK!

Day 6
Today we decided to go on the Lonely Planet walking tour of Auckland so we saw things like town hall, Albert Park, Auckland University and Aotea Square. Just more things checked off the list! We then headed to get sushi at the same place again...we just couldn't resist! So cheap and delicious! Next, Charlotte and I headed up the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere and Auckland's signature building so we figured we had to go up! We had a glass of wine at the top and watched people bungy jump off. The whole time we had no idea until after but we were sitting beside the Scotland rugby team. We thought they looked too big and good looking to be normal people but we didn't realize until watching the news with them on it later that night!! Rebecca took Charlotte and I out on Pontsoby Rd for dinner at a place called SPQR, a really nice Italian restaurant! More wine, more eating! Yumyum!

Ok thats my reallllllllllllly long but summarized update! Bet you were thinking it would never end!!
It still hasn't really sunk it that I'm so far away from home. New Zealand is like Canada but with accents!!
We are going to a car fair tomorrow morning to look for a cheap van and if not we have been looking to go on the Kiwi Experience bus! Decisions to be made in the next couple days! I've been really enjoying Auckland but I'm hoping to be off expoloring the rest of the country SOON!!
Love and Sunshine xxoo

Bye Canada!

2011-09-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

So I've never blogged before but I wanted to start this travel blog so I could keep in touch during my travels down under!
I'm just about to cross the border so only 23 more hours and I'll be in Auckland!
Just wanted to say I have the best friends and family in the entire world and I love and miss you already! I'll hopefully update and let you know I finally made it by the weekend!!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine