(no subject)
New Zealand was amazing. We covered in the car about 1800km + some via other modes of transport (ferry and overland trains). I had such a great holiday, the north island is spectacular! Sooooo pretty, I recommend everyone go travel the north island of NZ - I can't wait to go back and spend more time seeing the other half we missed out on.
This is me at Blue Lake just outside Rotorua - which was a definite highlight of the trip. I loved that town! We did the most activities there and had amazing weather, loved it.
I'm amazed at all the fresh water lakes in NZ. They are all so beauitful. Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown is about 99% pure - which means it's pretty much like bottled water!! It supplies the town with their drinking water and you could just drink it straight out of the lake... it also means all their lakes are SO clear... for two weeks I couldn't stop saying how amazing it was to look down into ponds and lakes and SEE THE BOTTOM. Wow, nothing like it.
We caught up with Pete's family for a few days in Feilding and Paraparaumu (north of Wellington), which I really loved. (PS his family LOVES me hehehe woo) It was great to have some down time, stay in a house rather than a pokey hostel, and eat some wonderful homecooked meals :) By the end of the holiday I was really getting over eating out every night - even though the selection available was often amazing - it was nice not to have to decide what to do every night.
Speaking of hostels, the first night we stayed in Auckland's casino under the Sky Tower... a bit of a splurge on my behalf! And when we arrived we were upgraded to a King Suite! Omg, so massive. The bed was HUGE, and we had two rooms and it was just very lux! Following that, it quickly declined... we stayed in a little hotel which was 22 floors high, and only 2 rooms wide. ie. the street front width was only about 5 metres. SO freaky. That also meant, our room was like a shoebox.
Heh.
Some of the main activities we completed over the trip were:
...especially since the Lake Cruise is much more enjoyable. YES i'm wearing a scarf and hoodie - but holy crap that wind is cold coming down the valley. Around the bay, I was down to a t-shirt...
You have to be careful though, NZ has a worse UV rating than Australia. We got sunburnt a few times over the trip... especially in Rotorua that day! You can feel the heat if you stand in the sun, even for a minute. But the difference there is that if you get into the shade, it's pretty cold pretty quick.
Rotorua is so stinky with all the Sulphur in the air, but it's SOOOO incredible. There is thermal activity everywhere... even in town! I was completely blown away by how hot the waters and ground is wherever you go. We went to Hell's Gate which is a Thermal Park with so much thermal activity going on, we were there for hours reading and looking and being blown away. It looks like Mars! With bubbling mud and steam.
Lucky for us, we got to go into the Spa area and swim in a Sulphur pool and then take a private mud bath together... ;P
Unfortunately everything you wear will forever stink like rotten eggs. And all your silver jewellery will turn black. Yup. Well I salvaged my jewellery with a bit of Silvo cleaner, but it's going to take a few washes to get the Sulphur out of everything! For 2 weeks already, there is a still a faint scent on most of my tees. Anyway, no regrets because it was awesome.
Oh! I nearly forgot! While we were visiting Feilding, Pete's cousin was on holidays from his job in the NZ Air Force. He flies in the back of helicopters and does alot of relief work. Anyway, we're sitting in the lounge room when he asks "Do you like Survivor - you know, the TV show?"
OMG. HELLO.
I perk right up... his crew were in Samoa during that the taping of the Samoan season, and the Heroes vs Villians season, doing work nearby - and you know how the crew on the show is almost all Aussie, he got along with them all.... Turns out he's the guy sitting in the Chopper in the opening credits of those two seasons in the first couple eps. OMG! He also got to be a part of The Dream Team for a day (they are the people who test out all the challenges, etc). OMG OMG!!! I. Nearly. Died.
Next day we get to go check out the Air Base... and low and behold, there is an OFFICIAL TORCH FROM SURVIVOR (albeit, the bottom was cut off - for transportation reasons - bahh! Travesty!!!) ... so this is a HUGE moment for me holding this torch. I shall remain unsnuffed!
So awesome.
Anyway, that's enough updating from me today. I can't seem to get Facebook to like me enough and upload all my pics (I culled it down to about 300-ish from over 1000 haha), but I'll get there eventually.
Really excellent holiday :)
This is me at Blue Lake just outside Rotorua - which was a definite highlight of the trip. I loved that town! We did the most activities there and had amazing weather, loved it.
I'm amazed at all the fresh water lakes in NZ. They are all so beauitful. Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown is about 99% pure - which means it's pretty much like bottled water!! It supplies the town with their drinking water and you could just drink it straight out of the lake... it also means all their lakes are SO clear... for two weeks I couldn't stop saying how amazing it was to look down into ponds and lakes and SEE THE BOTTOM. Wow, nothing like it.
We caught up with Pete's family for a few days in Feilding and Paraparaumu (north of Wellington), which I really loved. (PS his family LOVES me hehehe woo) It was great to have some down time, stay in a house rather than a pokey hostel, and eat some wonderful homecooked meals :) By the end of the holiday I was really getting over eating out every night - even though the selection available was often amazing - it was nice not to have to decide what to do every night.
Speaking of hostels, the first night we stayed in Auckland's casino under the Sky Tower... a bit of a splurge on my behalf! And when we arrived we were upgraded to a King Suite! Omg, so massive. The bed was HUGE, and we had two rooms and it was just very lux! Following that, it quickly declined... we stayed in a little hotel which was 22 floors high, and only 2 rooms wide. ie. the street front width was only about 5 metres. SO freaky. That also meant, our room was like a shoebox.
Heh.
Some of the main activities we completed over the trip were:
- Walking over the Auckland Bridge
- Zorbing in Rotorua (omg never again! We got strapped in, and it got a little scary at the end haha urghhhh dizzy)
- Mud Bathing in Rotorua
- TranzScenic Rail & Ferry from Wellington to Christchurch
- Staying in a converted Jail - now a hostel - in Christchurch. A novelty and very cool!
- Exploring Christchurch's damaged CBD after the recent devatating Earthquake and aftershocks (we were lucky, no rumbles while we were there)
- Canyon Swinging in Queenstown (jump 5 & 6 for me! And first for Pete - where we tandem jumped!)
- 2 Hour Lake Cruise on Lake Wakatipu
...especially since the Lake Cruise is much more enjoyable. YES i'm wearing a scarf and hoodie - but holy crap that wind is cold coming down the valley. Around the bay, I was down to a t-shirt...
You have to be careful though, NZ has a worse UV rating than Australia. We got sunburnt a few times over the trip... especially in Rotorua that day! You can feel the heat if you stand in the sun, even for a minute. But the difference there is that if you get into the shade, it's pretty cold pretty quick.
Rotorua is so stinky with all the Sulphur in the air, but it's SOOOO incredible. There is thermal activity everywhere... even in town! I was completely blown away by how hot the waters and ground is wherever you go. We went to Hell's Gate which is a Thermal Park with so much thermal activity going on, we were there for hours reading and looking and being blown away. It looks like Mars! With bubbling mud and steam.
Lucky for us, we got to go into the Spa area and swim in a Sulphur pool and then take a private mud bath together... ;P
Unfortunately everything you wear will forever stink like rotten eggs. And all your silver jewellery will turn black. Yup. Well I salvaged my jewellery with a bit of Silvo cleaner, but it's going to take a few washes to get the Sulphur out of everything! For 2 weeks already, there is a still a faint scent on most of my tees. Anyway, no regrets because it was awesome.
Oh! I nearly forgot! While we were visiting Feilding, Pete's cousin was on holidays from his job in the NZ Air Force. He flies in the back of helicopters and does alot of relief work. Anyway, we're sitting in the lounge room when he asks "Do you like Survivor - you know, the TV show?"
OMG. HELLO.
I perk right up... his crew were in Samoa during that the taping of the Samoan season, and the Heroes vs Villians season, doing work nearby - and you know how the crew on the show is almost all Aussie, he got along with them all.... Turns out he's the guy sitting in the Chopper in the opening credits of those two seasons in the first couple eps. OMG! He also got to be a part of The Dream Team for a day (they are the people who test out all the challenges, etc). OMG OMG!!! I. Nearly. Died.
Next day we get to go check out the Air Base... and low and behold, there is an OFFICIAL TORCH FROM SURVIVOR (albeit, the bottom was cut off - for transportation reasons - bahh! Travesty!!!) ... so this is a HUGE moment for me holding this torch. I shall remain unsnuffed!
So awesome.
Anyway, that's enough updating from me today. I can't seem to get Facebook to like me enough and upload all my pics (I culled it down to about 300-ish from over 1000 haha), but I'll get there eventually.
Really excellent holiday :)