lisa & paul's grand adventure

Road trip part two

lisa-harber — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:10:00 GMT

So far we have covered so much ground and seen so much that I don't know where to start, we have made our way south down the south side of the South Island, we are now heading back up the west side of the South Island. We have slept in some amazing places and had some mini drama's (Dixie got herself stuck in some sand and had to be rescued)We have seen Hectors Dolphins while eating breakfast and seen Bottlenose Dolphins while on a boat trip around Milford Sound. We have seen so much amazing scenery and lakes that are 32 miles long and 10 miles wide, awesome! Next we are heading off to do some more camping 'in the wild', will keep you updated with more piccys!

New Zealand road trip

lisa-harber — Fri, 4 Jan 2008 17:12:00 GMT

Paul and I have now left our shared house in New Brighton, Christchurch, and we are out on the road. It felt sad to say goodbye to our flatmates as they were a cool bunch of people! But travel on we must, we now have a month to explore both the South and North Island of New Zealand before we head off for Oz! So far we have been on the road for two days and have seen loads, we have seen the Moraki Boulders, they are crazy rocks on the beach that look like a cross between massive eggs and turtle shells, a town called Twizel, Lake Tekapo. We are now in Dunedin a town on the South of the South Island, staying in a hostel, we have running water, yay, so we are able to start taking showers, which is good as we were starting to smell a little! Off to Invercargill next....

Gallery: New Zealand road trip

lisa-harber — Fri, 4 Jan 2008 16:34:00 GMT

Our road trip around New Zealand

Christmas day

lisa-harber — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:32:00 GMT

Thought I would show you a little of what we got up to on our surreal christmas day, we made sure that it was as traditional as possible by cooking a yummy christmas dinner! We also went for a very sunny bike ride, even managing to get a wee bit sunburned, it was a strange day indeed, not like christmas at home!

Happy Christmas and New Year lovely people!

lisa-harber — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:09:00 GMT

Hello everyone! Just incase I don't get a chance to say happy christmas to you all, HAPPY CHRISTMAS, and a great New Year. Paul and I will be heading off in our camper van on New Years day to explore New Zealand, before heading off on the 30th Jan to visit Australia.

Paul and I will be thinking of you all on christmas, and missing you a wee bit too!

Have lots of fun!

Lisa and Paulx

My 30th Birthday!

lisa-harber — Thu, 6 Dec 2007 14:09:00 GMT

I had a fantastic birthday weekend, Paul spoilt me rotten (as always), we went to see Muse, I had a lovely massage and facial, lots of lovely food and topped it all off with a trip to Akaroa where we went kayaking and got to hang out with some cheeky little Hectors dolphins. It was a great weekend, but strangely quiet as it was only Paul and I!....oh nearly forgot to add, that I also went surfing soon, I am such a cool 30 year old!

Renovating our van Dixie

lisa-harber — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:19:00 GMT

We decided to spend some time renovating Dixie, to make her a bit comfier and nicer to stay in. Paul made the best fold out bed in the world, and hinged everything, so that I can actually get into the under bed storage without it all falling on my head, yay Super Paul.

I made some very colourful curtains, which really finish her off, all there is left to do now is put some go faster stripes down the side! I am also currently trying to figure out how to attach my insulating roof cover, as it keeps falling down and flaping around when we drive....boo hoo! ....where there is a will there is a way..

Bonfire night

lisa-harber — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 19:31:00 GMT

So, it seems that bonfire night in New Brighton, New Zealand is a bit different to at home. They don't seem so hot on health and safety here to say the least! Paul and I arrived at the beach front to watch the fireworks to be slightly un-nerved to see that people were letting of fireworks on a beach full of people. People were just holding onto the things and letting them off, others were waving them around while letting them off, people were also shooting them into the crowds of people, sending them running for cover. There were lots of policemen present, so it seems that this was just the norm! Hmm, I can't imagine that they have the same 'don't mess with fireworks' adverts as we have at home!!

We escaped without injury, but don't imagine that everyone else there did!

We now have transport!

lisa-harber — Tue, 6 Nov 2007 19:25:00 GMT

After spending a couple of days looking to see what was about Paul and I bought a van. To start off with we wanted a campervan with a sink, stove, fridge and toilet. We soon realised that we couldn't get on for our budget, we tweeked what we were looking for and ended up buying a van that we have named Dixie, she runs really well! She is a bit rough around the edges, but we are making her our own, and are looking forwards to spending lots of weekends, and a month or so towards the end of our time in New Zealand living in her! Yay, it will be fun, just like camping, but without the tent!

Out on the road

lisa-harber — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:14:00 GMT

Paul and I hired a very funny little hire car, that won't go over 80 km per hour, we had such a massive queue of traffic behind us! We took it off roading, and it didn't seem to like the mountains we took it up, funny that! It has rewarded us by giving us static shocks every time we get out, naughty car. We visited a place called Hanmer Springs, and went for a dip in the thermal springs, we are now in Kaikoura. We were going to do some whale watching, but thought better of it as the sea is quite choppy. We went sea Kayaking today instead, the sea was still choppy inshore, and both Paul and I felt really ill, so not such a good journey, but we did see Fur Seals which was pretty cool. The trip didn't quite live up to our kayaking experience in Tofino, Canada, which was amazing. Today we spent three and a half hours paddling out in what felt like a huge swell, we were so glad to get back onto solid ground!

Going to travel back to Christchurch tomorrow and find ourselves somewhere to live.....

Have arrived in Christchurch New Zealand

lisa-harber — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:45:00 GMT

Paul and I are now in New Zealand, after a really long flight, (two days in total) we arrived to find that it was warm and sunny! Yay, since then we have hit a patch of rainy cold weather, but I have decided that this won't last too long!! Waiting for a nice sunny day so we can go an explore.

So far New Zealand has felt quite like home, it is lovely and green with lots of plants and trees. The roads are quiet and there are normal size cars, no more monster 4 x 4's like in America.

We are currently staying in a seaside town called New Brighton, this is a small town just outside Christchurch. Will spend the next couple of days exploring, we are then hoping to find somewhere to settle for the next month so we can find some work to bring in a couple of extra pennies!

Gallery: Christchurch New Zealand

lisa-harber — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:25:00 GMT

Exploring New Zealand

Huntingdon Beach

lisa-harber — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:46:00 GMT

We decided that we had experienced the hectic-ness of LA for long enough, and headed off to find a nice beach to relax on for our last couple of days in America. We found a chilled out place called Huntingdon Beach, about an hours drive South from Long Beach, LA.

It is a surfing town and has a lovely long beach to walk along, it makes such a change from being in LA. We still have to drive from our Motel to get to the beach, but at least we can walk when we get there!

Going to hire some surfboards and try to surf, and spend the rest of the time enjoying the beach for our last couple of days in America.

Los Angeles

lisa-harber — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 03:12:00 GMT

We are now in Los Angeles, it is such a massive city that it has motorway connecting up different parts of the city! Crazy!

The journey here wasn't quite as picturesque as the journey down the rest of the coast, hmm, that is a wee bit of an understatement as most of the way we were stuck in a traffic jam! We also don't have a map, so ended up driving around the city for ages before we found somewhere to stay, map, we don't need a map!?

We eventually found somewhere cheap to stay, but it was quite possibly the most horrible place in the world, the room was really dirty, smelt of wee and the couple in the next room were quite obviously not getting on too well (judging by all of the shouting and banging going on!) so we quickly booked ourselves out of there and are now staying in a really nice, clean motel, (doesn't even small of wee!) We had an amazing free breakfast, and both ate waffles until we were so full that we couldn't move, yum, yum!

Out to explore Los Angeles today, Hollywood here we come, and will then look to find somewhere out of the city for our last couple of days in America.

Can't believe that we will be in New Zealand in under a week, can't wait.

Now in Santa Barbara

lisa-harber — Tue, 9 Oct 2007 09:57:00 GMT

Paul and I have arrived in Santa Barbara, the weather is amazing! It is a beautiful place, but we have found it difficult to get around on foot, (as we handed our car back two days ago) seems that it is designed with car users in mind. We are looking to hire a car tomorrow and drive the last 100 miles to Los Angeles, how exciting!

American Road Trip

lisa-harber — Sun, 7 Oct 2007 05:34:00 GMT

Paul and I hired a car in San Francisco and are making our way down from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It has been amazing to see so much of the countryside, quite refreshing after spending a couple of days in the city, where we hardly even saw a tree! We are now in Santa Cruz, and have spent a night in at the budget inn, classy! We are now going to get a move on and travel down toward Santa Barbara.

There is a fairground on the beach with some mean looking roller coasters, hoping that they will be open today so I can have a go on the big dipper!

We have been to a couple of American style diners since arriving in America which has been cool, I was expecting that we would be served monster portions, that hasn't happened yet, but there is still time for that!

The weather is great here, the sun is out and there is a refreshing sea breeze, yay! Onwards to Santa Barbara.....

Arrived in San Francisco

lisa-harber — Wed, 3 Oct 2007 11:04:00 GMT

We have now arrived in San Francisco. The journey from Whistler took us about a day in the end, as our flight was delayed by quite a while, but now we are here, and it is hot, hot, hot!

Our hostel is okay, we have our own room and bathroom. We are pretty much smack bang in the centre of the city, so it is easy for us to get around. Will be visiting Alcatraz tomorrow, spooky!

Spent a day exploring San Francisco, which was cool. The centre is not quite as nice as the outskirts, so it was good to get to see some of the nicer parts of the city.

Will be leaving soon for our road trip down to Los Angeles.

Gallery: America

lisa-harber — Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:58:00 GMT

From San Francisco to Los Angeles

Time to move South

lisa-harber — Mon, 1 Oct 2007 05:55:00 GMT

It has now been foggy and rainy for the last fortnight here in Whistler, which is a shame as we never made it up in the Gondala to explore the mountain tops. Not much here to do when the weather is bad, and it is pretty cold without a jumper! We have changed our flights and are going to America a month earlier than scheduled, hoping for better weather in San Francisco. Looking forward to eating lots of yummy food and wearing flowers in our hair!!

Wilderness adventure to Tyak

lisa-harber — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:56:00 GMT

Paul and I accompanied 17 guests on a trip to a resort called Tyak, this is a really remote resort in the mountains. The journey took us about 4 hours, and isn't one to be forgotten! The views were amazing, but then the road got windyer and windyer (hmm,can't figure out if this is how I spell it, should it be windier? As long as you all know what I mean then that is all that matters!), and bumpier and bumpier! In the end the road disappeared and we were travelling up a dirt track. Luckily we were travelling in a monster truck called Big Red, the 4wd really helped out with some of the tracks when we arrived at the resort! It started to rain while we were on our way, making it an even more 'interesting journey' by the time we arrived Paul could only see out of a small strip on the windscreen! While at the resort the guests went out on their mountain bikes, and travelled around in a float plane, Paul and I took the time when they were out and about to enjoy the views and go out on the lake. We borrowed a pedallo, and then a canoe, the pedallo was just about the slowest way to get around I have ever experienced, so we quickly swapped this for a canoe. Once we were used to the way that it rocked around if we moved we had a great time, it was so peaceful on the lake, the jumping Salmon also made an appearence! We weren't in Tyak for long, we travelled out on Tuesday and then back on Wednesday, but it was well worth a visit!