There and back again...
What Dan did on his holiday to New Zealand: the 30 second snapshot:
- Tried and failed (twice!) to swim with dolphins. They obviously saw me coming.
- Had a boat tour of the Bay of islands and saw penguins instead. From afar.
- Sailed on Errol Flynn's boat the Barbary on Lake Taupo (which is the size of Singapore, pub quiz fans)
- Drove to 'Mordor' (AKA Tongario National Park) but gave up when we were in a snow cloud half way up the mountain road. Took us 1.5 hours to get there from Taupo so I don't know what those hobbits were moaning about really.
- Stood 2 foot away from a kiwi (bird). Surprisingly they are the size of a chicken and quite grumpy, dashing my belief that they were small and cute
- Enjoyed a boat ride through a glow worm cave. Discovered that glow worms are in fact glow maggots and that the glowing part is their poo. They have had a seriously good PR job considering!
- Had a thermal mud bath, languished in a Polynesian Spa and experienced a traditional massage usually reserved for Maori warriors. I am such a ponce.
- Attended a traditional Maori hangi meal where they cooked the food in the ground and witnessed a 'proper' haka
- Had dinner in a revolving restaurant on top of Auckland's Sky Tower, the tallest man made structure in the Southern hemisphere
- Took far too many pictures of waterfalls, mountains, coast lines and thermal mud formations
- Visited Hell's Gate (in Roturua)
- Drove on twisting roads through rainforests so high that they were actually in the clouds
- Chatted to a professional wood turner and checked out his collection of 45k year old kauri tree carvings
- Saw more penguins and rays and sharks (but still no god damned dolphins!) at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater and Antarctic Experience
- Ate far too much lamb
- Had a pizza with venison topping that was the size of a dustbin lid
- Discovered that motor home toilets roof heights are not designed with me in mind and that when the 'grey water' tank is full, waste water comes up through the shower plug hole. nice.
It was very, very cool and my bank account has had a hernia
- Tried and failed (twice!) to swim with dolphins. They obviously saw me coming.
- Had a boat tour of the Bay of islands and saw penguins instead. From afar.
- Sailed on Errol Flynn's boat the Barbary on Lake Taupo (which is the size of Singapore, pub quiz fans)
- Drove to 'Mordor' (AKA Tongario National Park) but gave up when we were in a snow cloud half way up the mountain road. Took us 1.5 hours to get there from Taupo so I don't know what those hobbits were moaning about really.
- Stood 2 foot away from a kiwi (bird). Surprisingly they are the size of a chicken and quite grumpy, dashing my belief that they were small and cute
- Enjoyed a boat ride through a glow worm cave. Discovered that glow worms are in fact glow maggots and that the glowing part is their poo. They have had a seriously good PR job considering!
- Had a thermal mud bath, languished in a Polynesian Spa and experienced a traditional massage usually reserved for Maori warriors. I am such a ponce.
- Attended a traditional Maori hangi meal where they cooked the food in the ground and witnessed a 'proper' haka
- Had dinner in a revolving restaurant on top of Auckland's Sky Tower, the tallest man made structure in the Southern hemisphere
- Took far too many pictures of waterfalls, mountains, coast lines and thermal mud formations
- Visited Hell's Gate (in Roturua)
- Drove on twisting roads through rainforests so high that they were actually in the clouds
- Chatted to a professional wood turner and checked out his collection of 45k year old kauri tree carvings
- Saw more penguins and rays and sharks (but still no god damned dolphins!) at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater and Antarctic Experience
- Ate far too much lamb
- Had a pizza with venison topping that was the size of a dustbin lid
- Discovered that motor home toilets roof heights are not designed with me in mind and that when the 'grey water' tank is full, waste water comes up through the shower plug hole. nice.
It was very, very cool and my bank account has had a hernia