Oh God… What have I done… The alarm went off quietly under my pillow. As I woke I had the dawning realisation of what I had agreed to do today. It was 8am, early for backpackers. Particularly those who had been out the night before, drunk a bit too much and not had enough sleep. My foggy morning head wasn’t clearing as I dressed and wandered down to a cafe for a quick breakfast. I think my taste buds were also unenthusiastic about today’s prospective activity because the food didn’t taste of anything and didn’t help settle the growing nerves.
Parties, Passes and Petals
Heading for Queenstown today, about 350kms and 5 hours driving. I should have plenty of time to do a walk this morning right?
Not Quite Everest
Walking up a hill seems such a pointless task. Realistically, all modern comforts are available at the bottom of the hill these days. Our ancestors have done the hard labour, walking to fetch water and wood and precious stones from various parts of the mountain. Shouldn’t we just be content to luxuriate in our warm homes and look upon the mountains as the background to a time gone by? Why do we deliberately put ourselves in discomfort to walk up them for no purpose of advancement of our situation. Continue reading Not Quite Everest
West Coast Blast
Today I had quite a long bike journey ahead of me. Starting in Westport my destination was Franz Josef, the town that serves all the walkers and tours visiting the glacier. I had been told that this glacier was nothing on the ones in America, but as I’ve never seen a glacier before, I was looking forward to it.
Toddies And Toadstools
Today’s main event was the ferry ride over from Wellington to Picton. I was up at the crack of sparrows again to catch the ferry as the last check in was 8am on the other side of town. I had managed to find a place to tuck the bike away but it took some careful maneuvering between two cars to get it out again. Continue reading Toddies And Toadstools
Vivs Cream Horn
OK, strange title to this post so let’s clear that up right now…. The presumptions not the creamyness… Dirty minded… Continue reading Vivs Cream Horn
Tongariro Tramp
The mythical people of They weren’t wrong, this truly is the most spectacular one day hike I have ever done. The views you get are just the most incredible, wide eye, soul filling, indelibly memorable brain images I have ever had the fortune to capture. These are the sort of days I wish I was a professional photographer with a super amazing camera and skills to match so I could capture just a 10th of the scenery to share with you guys. Alas, my modest phone snaps are all I can provide to whet your imagination. Continue reading Tongariro Tramp
Surf n Scram
Want to go surfing tomorrow morning? (such a cool question…)
It’s only £10 to hire a wetsuit and surfboard, I definitely need the practice, so why not?
Tauranga Trek
Tauanga’s bay has been formed by a volcano pushing up out of the sea right at the end of a spit of land. This huge bay is perfect for giant container ships and cruise liners who dock there to load and unload their human and commercial wares. It took me a bit by surprise when I walked around the corner of the main high st and saw that someone had found some very convenient parking for their cruise ship. It also explained the deafening mooing that had pierced my hung over head that morning preventing any further sleep recovery.
Cold From Above, Hot From Below
OMG WHAT A LONG DAY! Literally did so much stuff today is hard to think it’s all happened in one 24hr period!
Woke at Sally’s in Auckland and finally, after 3 days of talking about it, the weather was good enough to go paddle boarding… Good enough, but not great as it started raining. But I was wet anyway from falling in often enough it didn’t matter. We probably were only out for 45 mins but it was long enough for my stomach. I’m definitely a land based mammal… Paddle boarding was good fun tho, if a little tricky to master. I was on the longest, largest, most stable board and I still looked like a kangaroo on an electric fence, not graceful like Sally and Asha.