Dec 2006

I left Taupo on 27th in the morning and we went via the Tongariro National park on the way to River Valley. The national park would have been amazing had it not been raining, we did a 2 hour walk in the Lord of the Rings area in the pouring rain...but it was fun, I enjoyed the exercise. We then were back on the bus on our way to River Valley, River Valley was in the middle of nowehere, no phone reception and nothing for about 45mins around the area. Pretty, but also pretty boring! Although I did have the best meal that I've had in two months...a roast beef dinner with yorkshire puddings and we even got horseraddish. We spent the evening playing giant jenga and trivial persuit! It was pretty cold in River Valley, didn't really do too much as chose not to do the speciality of rafting in that area. I left for Wellington the following day.
I was dropped at the bottom of a steep hill in Wellington, on my own with my big rucksack and 2 smaller bags which included bottles of beer, so struggled to get to the top of the hill...I had to stop for a breather on the way up! I got to the hostel and went up the stairs to see a strange guy, straightening his waist length hair 'he said, one must straighten his their hair on a Thursday!' Oh no! I then went into the room and it was a complete tip...couldn't even walk through to get to my bed. I later found out that a few people in the room were staying in the tip long term! I had to get out! I went out for a wonder and then back for a shower, went to bed and escaped early in the morning to pick Ian up from the airport...i surprised him! I collected Ian and then we went to our hotel, very different from the night before (Thanks Di and Bri!)...it was lovely. Own space! I managed to drag Ian around the shops in the afternoon, thought it might get him over the jet lag! Bought a few tops and Ian treated me to a lovely pair of Oakleys for my Christmas/Birthday present, very nice. I then took Ian out in the evening to meet my crazy friends that I've spent the last week or so with. We only went for one drink and ended up staying out for a few too many! Saturday we did the tourist thing and went to Te Papa, the big museum in Wellington, had a look around the shops a bit more, had a late afternoon nap and then went for an Indian, which my stomach didn't take to kindly to!...as if you all wanted to know!
Sunday we got up and used the gym and pool in the hotel (try and keep fit!)during most of the time in Wellington it was raining. Rain jackets on and brolly up we went up on the cable car to the museum and botanical gardens, it would have been really beautiful up there had the weather been nice. We walked miles to get back to the hotel. We then got back and had to get changed to go out, Happy New Year! We went to the hostel to meet people and then to shooters bar, had a good night, but got fed up of people spilling drinks all over me (usual night in Northampton!)
Monday of course we had a lay in and then went to BASE hostel to pay for our ferry tickets. We scraped the money together for those as we couldn't get any money out of the cash machine. We then tried about 10 cash machines and none of them would give us any money. I figured it must have been something to do with the new year, so we waited until 1pm (1st Jan at home) and hey presto, loads of money!! So we went to the cinema to watch the Holiday in the afternoon...what a lovely film!

Well, just thought I'd pop online on Christmas day to say 'Merry Christmas'! I've had a good couple of nights out with the people I've met, a group of us from the bus and a few Irish lads who Emma and Lynsey met in South America...so they've been to pretty much the same places as me. Went out on Saturday, had a good night and then last night we had the office Christmas party. Obviously because none of us have jobs, a Christmas party was needed. Emma and Lynsey bought some props, so we went out with crazy minging teeth and glasses with noses, it was pretty funny. Lynsey's nose feel off her glasses during the night, so she attached it to her necklace, when she woke up this morning it was still there!
I woke up feeling rather rough, Cios the Brazilian boy in my room gave me a present...a princess crown! I then opened my present from Paul and Roseann, a cute little pot with lipgloss and sweets in it. I then went upstairs to the girls room and we had presents. Got a game of 'snap' a little fairy figure, magnet and some chocolate...so didn't do too badly. Emma and Lynsey had loads of presents as they had a parcel from home, it was cool watching them open them all. After I got showered and then sat outside, the sun was out and it was pretty warm. Then it was dinner, the hostel owner and his family made the dinner. Turkey, ham and salad...much rather have been eating my Mummy's lovely dinner, but I made do, and the pavelova kind of made up for it!! Just been chilling since, quite tired, played pool and there was a raffle, didn't win anything though surprise surprise. I never win!!! Think we're going to have a few drinks tonight, hostel is the only bar in town that's open though, so no going out, thank god cause I'm shattered! Have a good one folks!! Mwah xx

Boxing day I got up, went for a walk and sat by lake Taupo while I waited for everyone else to get up and sorted. We then went up to the bungy. Cathel went first, Stephen, Myself, Lynsey and then Damien. Oh my it was so so scary, I stood at the top making a complete fool out of myself. (PICTURE, ME HANGING AT BOTTOM OF MY JUMP)Everyone else just went up and threw themselves off, but I stood right on the edge deliberating! Anyway, soon decided that I'd paid the money so I really ought to jump!! So, off I went, in style over crystal blue waters...it was pretty awesome. Just kind of hung around for the rest of the day and then went to the fair in the evening which was quite fun!

Well folks, I returned to Auckland after my trip to the Bay of Islands. Stayed in and watched Firewall on Friday night, good film if you haven't seen it! Saturday I dragged Mike around a market, he loved it...and then we went to a beach party in Mission Bay. Would have been really good with a load of people and cool boxes full of booze like everyone else had, but Mike and I weren't quite prepared! We returned from there and we went out to the Viaduct, the harbour area in Auckland.Met Kiri out, a few of her friends and Mikes as well. One of Mike's mates was on a work do and dressed as Rambo, which was fairly amusing. Had a really good night, Kiri MADE me drink lots...Simon will vouch for me on that one!! Sunday we struggled, but managed to get up and head to Mike's friend Donna's house for a BBQ. It tipped it down, so we left the garage and headed back to Mikes. Just relaxed and watched another film!....not so good though!
From Auckland I headed up to Mercury Bay, a small town called Whitianga, stopping at Thames and Cathedral Cove on the way. We had a nice walk down to Cathedral Cove...but then we had to walk back up again!! We arrived in Whitianga, very little to do there, so we had tea and a drink and then got an early night ready for our 7:30am set off. We set off for Rotorua, stopping in a couple of small places on the way. When we arrived in Rotorua we had a free tour around the Maori village place, and learnt a bit about the Maori culture...before the New Zealanders. We then went to the hostel, the worst so far I reckon...a little bit seedy. I spent the afternoon with a couple of gilrs at the thermal baths, it was cool, pouring with rain sitting in hot pools of sulphur. I had a blonde moment and after being told to take off all silver left on my silver bracelet...it looked like an antique after going in the pools. But, I admitted to the guy that I was stupid and he dipped it for me...don't worry Helen, it's all good now! I then spent the evening at a Maori night where they show off their culture, put on a show and then you have a meal. It was really cool, and I managed to have vegetables and pavelova, which was awesome!! Yesterday I had a little lay in, much needed after a couple of 7am starts. I had a look around Rotorua and went to the Rotorua museum. I've been overloaded with information on the Maori culture and know everything there is to know now. I have even learnt about all the fault lines around here, as I've spent 2 days in a volcanicly active town. On the way out of Rotorua we visited the biggest thermal activity park, it was cool, loads of geysers and mud pools, I saw kiwi birds too...but they were asleep.
I arrived in Waitamo about 2pm and we went to the hostel and then went for a little wonder in the bush. Walked through a few caves. Only a short walk, but it was cool. Since, just been chiling in the hostel, having tea and drinking some beer..now I'm blogging! Tomorrow I'm going black water rafting...actually caving through dark caves in wetsuits and rubber rings, it should be cool....I'll let you know how it goes...
Well, I got up early and headed for the caves, another great experience. We put on wet suits and white welly boots, all freezing cold...and our hard hats with head torches. We went off to the caves, first they threw us backwards into a river outside to get us used to the water. We then went down into the caves, some tight squeezes lots of water. It was quite scary really. We had with us our black rubber rings so at times we could float, like a lazy river...but it was only a lazy river after jumping backwards down a waterfall in the dark, I was pretty scared...but it was also very exciting. On the top of the caves you could see all the glow worms, it was quite facinating. We laid down, switched our lights off and looked up and they led our way out of the caves. We got dunked by the guides if we put our light on! The guides were super though, really helpful. My hands and feet were freezing, but I got there! It was really cool, another experience that I've done. It's a real shame I have no photos, but it was pretty wet down there! But, you can see me in my wetsuit! Just hanging around Waitamo today and heading onto Taupo tomorrow for the weekend and for Christmas. i spent a couple of days chatting to a couple and they very kindly bought me a Christmas present as they didn't like the thought of me spending Christmas on my own with nothing to open, so that was really kind...thanks Roseann and Paul. Bye for now....Merry Christmas and a Happy new year everyone, going to really miss the pub on Christmas Eve and my Mum's superb Christmas dinner. Lots of love xxxx

So, I arrived in Auckland after a very uncomfortable plane journey, and Mike was there waiting for me...which was great! He'd got up at 4am especially for me! Anyway, went back to his house and then I had a shower while he went back to bed as he had to go to school. I went into the city, had a little look around and bought myself a lonely planet...time to go it alone now! I cooked for Mike and then we went out, I had 2 drinks and then realised that I couldn't actually keep my eyes open, the jet lag kicked in, so I had to leave and go to bed.
Saturday we slept in and then went into town, met Kiri Wilson (from home), had some lunch and I booked my kiwi experience. Saturday Mike was hungover and I was still tired so we stayed in with his flat mates and watched a film...well they did and I fell asleep! Sunday was a day at the beach, followed by ice cream, Mike and his mate surfed while I got caked in black sand!
Monday I went into town, tried hard not to buy any clothes and then got on a ferry to Devonport. I walked around for a few hours, up North Head and Mt Victoria, took some amazing photos of the Auckland sky line. The view of the beach is where I ate my lunch, it was so amazing. I then walked along the beautiful beach.I walked miles and was half dead when I got back to Mikes. We then got in the car and went to Snow Planet snowboarding. I was a bit apprehensive as haven't been since I hurt myself in Italy, but I did really well..so pleased. I didn't fall once, apart from on the way up on the button lift and I have a lovely token bruise from that! All weekend, Mike and I managed to work our way through fast food chains and fish n chips!
Tuesday I was up early to catch my bus to the Bay of Island. It left at 7am and I arrived up here by midday. I went for lunch and then managed to fall asleep for a couple of hours, I then went to the beach. To add to all the rubbish I've eaten from the weekend, I had BBQ at the hostel. The hostel I'm at is called the PipiPatch, it's pretty nice. Today i was up and I went on the exciter jet boat, but to be honest it really wasn't that exciting! We cruised around the islands and it was cold! Wind was blowing. The guy suggested I pay an extra $10 to get dropped off at an island...so that's what I did. The weather wasn't great and I was on this island, did the walk and had some food, read my book and got thoroughly bored! I had to stay for 4 hours as there wasn't many ferries...thankfully they allowed me onto the ferry an hour earlier, I was really glad to be back. I went to the supermarket and had to put some stuff back as I realised I didn't have enough money..can't believe it! Just going to chill tonight, going kayaking tomorrow, chill day on Friday before heading back to Auckland in the evening. Hopefully I'll have a night out at the weekend as I feel pretty sad as I haven't been out for ages....what's all that about!! I went kayaking, we rowed quite a long way around the islands and across to Russell where the first New Zealnad pub was born! I got back and spent the afternoon with really sore arms, they really hurt, I'd obviously worked hard! I spean the afternoon at the beach, the sun decided to come out. I then made my pasta and spent the evening in the bar, there's a girl in my room who it seems will be pretty much travelling along side me as she's just started too and is on the same tour as me, she seems really nice so that's good. Just hanging around now waiting for my bus back to Auckland.

After not feeling too well I am now feeling much better after I have had a few tablets. On Monday Jess and I trailed the city, walked miles, got beeped and whistled at no end of times, spoke the worst Spanish, we we found what we wanted!....a beautiful swimming pool on the top of a mountain in the middle of Santiago. We thought we`d just follow the hill...but the hill was about 2 miles wide! Anyway, we got a small mini bus to the top of the hill and spent the afternoon by the pool reading our books. It was wonderful! Yesterday I went with Laura around the national museum and to the cathedral where there was a service. People confessing, and we saw one of the priests open the gold safe...it was kind of weird and I wanted to get out pretty quick. We met Kat and Jess had some lunch and went to the museum of modern art. It was cool, I especially enjoyed the photography exhibition. It was photos of Kabul, Afganistan, really interesting....it`s made me want to be a photographer even more! Last night we went for a lovely meal, we managed to get Anthony the T total guy to have a drink....he`s so funny! I had a cocktail...but just the one this time.
Woke up this morning, had breakfast and sorted my stuff out. Put my stuff in the luggage room and said goodbye as all the people I met piled into mini buses. I felt really sad as I`ve become good friends with Jess in particular, so it was a tearful moment. I walked down the street quicker than their minibus! Went to the postoffice and then decided to go to the cinema. Was kind of strange going to the cinema in Santiago on my own, but it was in English and I have time to kill before my flight tonight....so here I am spending more money, killing more time telling you guys what I`ve been up to. Only a few hours now until I make my way to the airport for my flight to Auckland. Quite crazy as I fly at 11pm, takes 13 hours, but I don`t get there until Friday morning! So, enjoy 7th December as much as you can as I don`t have one this year! Stay well, I`ll be back again from New Zealand. Chow for now!

Well, on Friday morning I was up at 6am, we went to the tour office where we had a beautiful breakfast of dippy eggs...it was like being a child again, I told everyone that they should have soldiers. So, there we all were with earl grey tea, eggs, soldiers and fresh yoghurt, building up our bodies for the walk up the volcano. Only for the man to come back with the weather report and say it was too dangerous as it was hailing up at the top of the volcano. So, off we went back to bed. I didn´t do much with my day, stayed in bed for a while,it was cold and wet so just hung around and chilled out in the hostel. So, Saturday we woke up to beautiful sunshine, definitely the day to climb the volcano....so back to the tour office, dippy eggs again! This time we got fully equipt with snow boots, trousers, jackets, helmets and a nice pack up. We had special sunglasses, big mittens and an ice pic! So off we went, I was sitting in the van driving to the bottom of Villarica volcano wondering what the hell I was doing...but just thought, this has got to be done! So, we get to the bottom, heavy rucksacks with helmets, 2 litres of water, ice shoes the lot...realy quite heavy. We started our climb. The crater looked so close, but it was so far! There was 200 people climbing with lots of guides, 18 in our particular group with black and orange jackets! We started walking and I could barely breath, just wondering how I was going to make it. It was a steep gradient and really hard to walk on the snow, but we were taught how to use our pic axe should we fall. 5 hours later atfer several stops, realy sore ankles and a sore groin I reached the crater. It was so hot, I had walked all the way up in just my t-shirt as the sun was so strong. It was quite amazing to see all the sulpher coming out and small bits of lava creeping out....in all honesty though, not sure the 5 hours of agony was worth it! The way wack down was far easier, in our rucksacks we had a bum strap, we clipped it around our bum and away we went...it was pretty scary at first as it was a very steep slope, but we just as Aimee would say ´greased our arses and slid!´ It was a lot of fun, but there was walking in between when the slope wasn´t quite steep enough to slide...funny how I didn`t notice those bits on the way up!! My groin was killing me and I just wanted to get to the bottom so much, but it still took nearly 2 hours to get back down. Finally we made it, I could barely walk and my ankles were all red and swallen...but I am really proud that I did it.
The worst thing was having to spend the night on a most uncomfortable nightbus, I could hardly sleep, my body was in bits. We arrived in Santiago at 7:30am, my final South American destination. I had an hour rest and then went out to have a look around the city. The main square is lovely and has a great big Christmas tree, first time I`ve really thought about Christmas. We took a walk around, went to a museum, the museum of pre columbian art, it was pretty cool. I then had a bit of drama with a cash machine which decided not to give me any money, but then made myself feel better having a mint milkshake...lovely!
With all the changes in weather I´m realy not feeling well, we went out for a fantastic meal last night, but then I had to go to bed as I am suffering. Have bad chest and head cold, but I`ve been to the pharmacy this morning and have lots of things to make me better. Feeling better already! Today my tour has ended, but I am here until Wednesday and so are the other people who are continuing the tour so I will be spending some more time with them until it´s time to go. Just going to explore the city a little more today and tomorrow. I need to work out what I´m going to do when I get to New Zealand aswell. That´s all for now....