These boots were made for walking

Waikiki

andrea — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:23:00 GMT

I really like Waikiki. I wouldn't suggest spending an entire Hawaiian vacation on this island but for a few days it's really nice. Yesterday I went to Pearl Harbour with a guy that was sharing the same dorm. Pearl Harbour is one of those things that you have to see although I'm sure it has much more significance for the Americans.

Afterwards we went to Chinatown where we found a nice little chinese restaurant. He bought me lunch how nice is that? Next we walked down to Ioani Palace before heading back to Waikiki for some Christmas shopping. All in all it was a good day. He left for a flight at 4 am this morning and when I woke up I found a christmas postcard and a small gift on my night stand. Such a sweet guy!

Today I just walked around and finished up some Christmas shopping. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute. I have a flight in a couple hours so I'll leave off here. This will be my last entry since I will be home tomorrow. I hope that anyone who actually followed this enjoyed it. Merry Christmas!

Big Island, Hawaii

andrea — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 04:23:00 GMT

As some of you know I've been fighting a cold for almost a week now. Yesterday, determined not to leave Big Island without seeing anything I forced myself to get up and take a lava hike. I'm glad I did it. It turned out to be a great experience. We walked for miles over fields of volcanic rock until we found the new breakouts. Here we could see the red lava ouzing out of the ground. It was pretty cool to walk along lava rocks and see bright red in between the cracks where we were walking. It was really really hot though. When I got back to the hostel a shower never felt so good. Being low on gorceries I went out for dinner last night with someone I met from the hike. I leave for Oahu in 2 hours. I'll be home in Canada in 3 days which is really hard to believe. I'm having a hard time getting my head around that.

Maui Part 2

andrea — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 08:38:00 GMT

Again just been taking in more beaches and ocean. Met lots of great people here at the hostel. Unfortunately a cold has been going around and I woke up this morning with it. I had planned on going on this 12 mile hike to the peak of this volcano where you can witness the sunset from above cloud level. Unfortunately I just didn't feel up to it. I guess I'll have to come back to Maui sometime. I wish I had longer here; It's been so nice and relaxing. I leave tomorrow for Hilo on the big island. I have three nights booked at a hostel there.

I'll add another entry soon. It's hard to make a good story from laying on the beach all day though.

Maui Part 2

andrea — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 05:50:00 GMT

The tour on Wednesday took in a couple beaches and I was able to get in some snorkeling. I didn't get to see any sea turtles on Wednesday but I did while snorkeling on Thursday. They were amazing. I got to swim pretty close to them. The last few days have just been beach lounging, beach volleyball, and snorkeling. I'm going on a short hike today and to another beach. Sorry that's all I have to add.

Maui

andrea — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 05:40:00 GMT

Hey Everyone

Sorry I haven't added an article in a while. I've done so much lately that I will have to try my best to keep this brief.

My last day in Auckland was amazing. I started out with a walk along the wharf and then headed to skytower. Since hearing about it I had been debating whether I wanted to do the wire base jump that they offer off the tower. After debating for a few days and finally finding a coupon that offered 25% off I decided I had to do it or I would regret it later. The jump was great. Basically, you are attached to a couple wires and then you jump off the tower (think a smaller CN tower for you Canadians) and fall 192 m. It's really quite controlled and very safe (don't worry mom). It's absolutely amazing the views you can see from up there. Since they actually had a down period where they had no other jumpers, they let me jump again for free. Lots of fun.

After that I went to see the new Narnia movie. Lots of it was filmed in New Zealand so it was nice to be able to see it just after touring the country.

I finished the day by going to the free Christmas in the Park concert with a girl from my dorm. The concert was pretty good, not really my kind of music but a good atmosphere. The fireworks at the end were fantastic.

My flights to Hawaii were good. Actually managed to get some sleep.

Once I got to Hawaii I found out that my flight to Maui had been delayed so my planned 7 hour layover became 9 hours. When I finally got my flight I the plane turned out to be this tiny commuter plane. I was the only passenger!! The pilot was really nice though and flew low so that I could get a view of the mountains on the way. Absolutely beautiful!

My first day I joined a tour offered by the hostel. We spent some time on the beach and did a hike of the Iao Valley which was great.

Yesterday the tour drove to the other side of Maui to Hana. We saw some amazing beached and swam in a cave (lots of fun even if it was the coldest water) .

Today I will be going snorkeling so I'll let you know how that goes.

Auckland Part 2

andrea — Fri, 9 Dec 2005 14:35:00 GMT

Internet is much cheaper here in Auckland this entry is sooner than expected. Last night, I decided to go to bed early around 10ish. Around 11:30 I woke up because of a noise. I turned over in bed just in time to see the girl on the bunk next to mine (who must have come in while I was sleeping) lean over the railing of the top bunk and begin vomiting into the middle of the room. From the top bunk it got some pretty good splatter too. I'm so so so thankful none of it got on my stuff. It got to within about 4-6 inches but none of it actually got onto my things from what I could tell. So anyway, I changed rooms and that was the end of it but I thought I would share.

This morning I took the ferry to Devonport, which is a nice suburb not too far from downtown Auckland. There are two extinct volcanos there. I walked up once called the North head from which there are fantastic views of Downtown Auckland. I also walked around the battlements located around the summit. I then took a nice walk around downtown and bought some strawberries and a vegetarian pie for lunch which I ate along the esplanade beside the beach.

I'll write another entry again soon.

Auckland

andrea — Thu, 8 Dec 2005 12:08:00 GMT

I've been in Auckland a couple days now. I've been having a great time. First night here I met a nice Welsh girl, Clara. We went out for dinner and found this great sushi joint. I love sushi and I think I've been in withdrawl for the last year since I haven't been eating any at all. It was really cheap too so that was an added bonus. Afterwards we headed to a local pub type bar for a drink.

Yesterday I was pretty tired and didn't feel like getting into seeing the sights yet so I spent most of my day hanging around the hostel although I did go out to buy some essentials that I needed like toothpaste. I finished the book I was reading about the Boston Strangler and took a nice long afternoon nap. In the late afternoon I went out to check out the shops along Queen St. which I think is the main downtown shopping street. I went to an Asian foodcourt for dinner where I met a girl Jayde who is staying at the same hostel I am. We made plans to go to the 'ladies night' on at the backpackers bar on the first floor of the hostel. The bar wasn't very busy and for ladies night there certainly weren't many of us. I definately liked the guy/girl split. I think there had to be two to three guys for every girl. Anyway, met some cool people but overall had an early night and was in bed by 1:30.

This morning I got up pretty early and set out for the Auckland museum. I ended up coming across this historic cemetery on the way. It may sound a little weird but I spent about and hour this morning walking around just reading the tombstones. Most of the burials took place around the 1840's-60's. I found it really interesting. I finally made it to the Auckland museum which is located in the middle of Auckland Domain. The museum was quite good and they especially had a great exhibit on pacific cultures which I have been pretty interested in since my trip to Fiji last April.

So that's about it. I'll try to update again in a couple days.

Waitomo Caves

andrea — Tue, 6 Dec 2005 09:58:00 GMT

Yesterday was one probably the best day of my trip so far. I went caving in the Waitomo caves. We started with a small 75 foot abseil down to the cave entrance. We then walked through an underground river and sat down in our inner tubes. Looking up in the darkness the roof the the cave is lit by the glow worms. It appears as though you are stargazing except the stars are blue. You are able to see the contours of the cave due to the glow worms covering the surface. After a nice float with the inner tubes we left them in order to go caving. It's absolutely incredible down there. Your underground but you can find yourself looking 30 metres into up. Although this was just an introduction to caving I will definately do it again sometime. I'm off to Auckland in an half hour. Next entry should be in a couple days. Take care.

Rotorua

andrea — Sun, 4 Dec 2005 15:45:00 GMT

Ok, I had written a long detailed entry a couple days ago but it looks like something went wrong with it so I will just quickly qrite up the recent events since I don't wish to spend all that time writing it again.

The trip to Rotorua was uneventful although I did meet a nice older woman who I got an invite to come stay with when I go to England. She lives in the Shropshire area, I'll keep her information in case I am in the area. I was quite impressed with her since she was nearly 80 and travelling solo around New Zealand, enjoying many of the walks and planning white water rafting.

My first day in Rotorua I went zorbing which is basically two plastic balls held together with cords. You climb into the inner ball and then are rolled down a hill. It was fun, although perhaps not something best done right after breakfast. It's pretty funny to watch other people go down and heard these screams as they roll down.

I spent the afternoon walking through some of the geothermal areas around the edge of the city centre. All of Rotorua has a unique smell, caused by the geothermal activity. How to describe it? Well, it smells like a mixture of rotten eggs and passed gas. Sometimes you can't really smell it and then the breeze blows... You can definately smell it when walking through the geothermal areas though.

Yesterday I took a shuttle out to the buried village. If any of you have ever heard of pompeii, it's a similar sort of thing. About a hundred years ago a volcano errupted and the village was covered in mud. You can now walk around the excavated buildings and see many of the artifacts that they found. It was pretty interesting.

On the way home I had the shuttle driver drop me off at the California Redwood Forest. I was told it was a nice 45 minute walk back to town. I'm sure it is if you don't get lost. I swear I spent 3 hours walking. I finally realized that the map I was using was a mirror image of what it should be. Once I pretended that I had the map face down and was seeing through the paper I was able to find my way back.

Last night I booked myself into a Maori concert and dinner. I hadn't done anything to get acquainted with Maori culture yet so I was really looking forward to it. The concert was great, I just wish that it wasn't so dark since I was unable to get too many decent pictures. For dinner I sat with a group of fellow backpackers, all great people. I always find myself inspired to travel more when I talk to other travellers. Dinner was great, spring rolls, samosas, the first leafy greens I've seen in a while and a great dessert.

This afternoon I went white water rafting. It was something I've always wanted to do but just never had the chance before. Apparently the 7m waterfall that we went over is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. Going over the falls was pretty cool. I met some fellow Canadians, one was from milton so he now has the award for person I've met on my travels that lives closest to home.

Tomorrow I've booked to take a shuttle to the Waitomo Caves. I'm booked to do this abseiling, tubing, caving, etc. trip. I'm really looking forward to it. That will be the last adventure activity of New Zealand. That's good since they are so expensive (although worth it).

After splurging on fast food for several days I'm back to self catering so at least I'll save some money there. That said, in Wellington I had one of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. And some I've had some other great meals as well.

Wellington

andrea — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 18:35:00 GMT

Well, this isn't the most interesting update so I'll keep it short.

The ferry from Picton was good but they have to work on the quality of the films they show. A Hillary Duff feature (A Cinderella Story) followed by a Lindsay Lohan feature (Freaky Friday) is not exactly top class entertainment. I'm glad it was only a 3 1/2 hours ride.

Monday I went to the Te Papa museum which I followed up by a nice nap on a park bench before heading to a movie.

Today I took the historic cable car to the Botanic Gardens where I took a nice nap before heading to a movie.

Do we see a pattern here? At least it's pretty cheap to see movies with the exchange rate. I'm going to have a lot of catching up when I get back to Canada as the movies down here are usually released after North America.

I think I've just totally exhausted myself out with walking everyday that I just want to sit on my ass for a while. I have an 8 hour bus ride to look forward to tomorrow so I guess my wish is granted.

I'm going to Rotorua tomorrow. Check back and I'll let you know how it feels to be in a human hamster ball, one of the interesting activites on offer there.

Picton

andrea — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 12:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated in a while. I tried to but the computer at the last place didn;t like me. Bungy Jumping was amazing. So much better than the one in Australia and so much HIGHER. It was great though. I was actually pretty nervous when I first saw it but I had to wait about an hour for my turn and by that time I was just excited and my nervousness had passed. I would definately suggest this jump to anyone who is going to Queenstown. The secret is to look out and not down when you jump. There is plenty of time to see rock rushing at your face after you jump. Jumping itself is really the hardest part for most it seems. After you jump it's all good and just a really fun ride. After Queenstown I headed to Franz Josef to see the Glaciers. I stayed at the YHA in Franz Josef and it was so much nicer than the dingy place I was staying in Queenstown where there were stains everywhere...the carpet, the walls, even the sheets! Gross. I was happy to get into a clean place and there was a free sauna which was great after the glacier hike. The glacier hike itself was amazing. I'm glad I did the half day hike. I think I was just too tired to be able to manage the full-day hike and I still got to see all that I wanted to see. Some great photos too! I'm in Picton now after a LONG 11 hour drive yesterday. I've booked myself onto the 7pm ferry to Wellington tonight. I should get into Wellington tonight around 11:30ish. I'm not sure how long I will stay in Wellington. I think I'm going to change my original travel plan to include the Waitomo caves so I might shorten my stay in Wellington and/or cut out Taupo. I'll try to update again in a few days. Thanks for reading.

Milford Sound

andrea — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 19:25:00 GMT

First of all, thanks to everyone who made comments and sent me e-mails to see how everything is going. I'm sorry to everyone who I was unable to respond to but internet ain't cheap.
Well, looks like my luck is getting better. Yesterday I took the bus from Christchurch to Queenstown. This country is so beautiful. I spent the entire 7 hour bus ride just staring out the window. There is seriously a picture perfect postcard view everywhere you look. Unfortunately, despite taking lots of photos none of them even come close to doing the real thing justice.
Today I took the bus from Queenstown to Milford Sound through Fiordland National Park. The scenery was great. The sky was cloudy but I think Milford Sound only gets something like 19 days of sunshine a year so that was to be expected. It was amazing anyway. I got back too late tonight to book bungee jumping for tomorrow but I plan to head down first thing in the morning and get myself booked in. I plan to do the Nevis Highwire bungee. I did the AJ Hackett bungee in Cairns, Australia but judging by the photos this is going to be a lot scarier. I'm looking forward to it. Check back and I'll let you know how it goes.
Take care.

Christchurch, NZ

andrea — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:13:00 GMT

Well, I've finally left Australia and have made my way to Christchurch, NZ. It was really hard saying goodbye to everyone on my last day in Canberra but overall I think the anticipation of New Zealand helped me to deal a lot. This is my second day in Christchurch and I'm looking forward to Queenstown. I'm especially looking forward to bungee jumping and Milford Sound.

I think I must have put some bad Karma out recently because the universe seems to have been doing its best to get even the last three days. It started on Friday when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my ID to my last exam. I had to rush through to the exam so that I would have time to run home and get it before the exam time finished. I was leaving the next day so I definately didn't have time to make it to the examinations office before I left. The rest of Friday went well. Went out to celebrate at Southpac, my favourite Australian dive. But the mishaps began again the next day. Turns out the one time I had wanted to go the the Airport I had accidently booked myself on to the express bus with no airport stops. So I had to get a cab to the airport, and it turns out that I'm the first passenger of the day so the only way a the cabbie can give me change for my 50 is in change. So now without any bills, I am forced to use a credit card to get money at the exchange booth and guess what huge extra fee to use a credit card. Then when I finally got to Christchurch one of the sniffer dogs at the airport jumped on me so I had to have my bags searched, that wasn't a big deal but just another thing to add to the day. When I finally got to the hostel I realized that something had spilled all over inside my cosmetics bag. Everyone has a bad day sometimes so I went to bed looking forward to the next day. That didn't work out much better as I 1. lost my keycard for the room incurring a charge of $10- and 2. lost my passport.

I now have recovered my passport after getting a message that it had been given to the airport police so I'm now hoping that everything will be better from now on. Something always goes wrong on every trip so hopefully that is it.

Other than the above, I've really had a great time in New Zealand so far. Yesterday after noticing everyone was starting to line the streets I decided to wait around and see what was happening. Turns out yesterday was the annual Christmas parade. I think that was the first time i've even gotten a bit of a burn waiting for Santa. The parade was pretty good though. After that I headed to the botanical gardens for a walk (and nap) before going to the Canterbury Museum which had some good exhibits.

Today, after heading to the airport for my passport I decided to take in the International Antartic Centre seeing as I was already in the area. That was pretty good. They had this antarctic storm simulation. Basically you bundle up in coats and they put you in this room with snow and drop the temperature and create fake wind. I've lived through far worse, was not impressed. Makes me thankful that I'm here enjoying beautiful weather instead of back home in the cold.

That's all for now.