Raiders Of The Lost Kiwi

Were not dead . . . . . yet

mattnpete — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:39:00 GMT

Ok people just thought I wold give you all a heads up on the latest events.

Basically we have been in Fiji swimming with sharks, snorkelling with fishies and coral, going on mad mountain walks (seriously death defying), lying on beachs, playing volleyball, playing rugby, getting drunk, lying in hammocks, having an amazing crack with the locals, meeting great people . . . . . you know . . . . the stuff you do when you are on islands in the pacific.

sadly we have had the worst luck with internet access in the world since we got to the botom of New Zealand. When we could find internet access it would be to slow or not allow the uploading of pictures or the software was out-of-date.

However I hope that soon we will be able to give you an idea of what we have been doing since then because I can assure you we have been having an amazing time and fiji has been simply amazing.

Hope you are all well

Pete and Matt

Journal Update!!!

mattnpete — Sat, 24 May 2008 15:13:00 GMT

Hello everyone

Unfortunatly due to the internet being slower than a 3 legged turtle on the West coast we are struggling to update photos etc on the journal. We should be able to do it properly in the next week or so when we get back to the north island.

The pics added to the Kaikoura gallery and onwards are only a small example as we can't get any more on at the moment.

Hope everyone is well and we look forward to reading more of your comments.

Matt and Pete

Gallery: Queenstown

mattnpete — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:43:00 GMT

Gallery: Milford Sound

mattnpete — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:31:00 GMT

Gallery: Dunedin

mattnpete — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:27:00 GMT

Gallery: Christchurch

mattnpete — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:54:00 GMT

Dunedin and Otago Peninsula - Ever been chased by a Sea Lion?

mattnpete — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:11:00 GMT

We arrived in Dunedin after the massive drive straight from Christchurch, it took about 6 hours in total after being stuck behind the odd lorry.

We got there in the late afternoon and the place looked really cool. It had the whole cafe culture thing going on like most NZ cities/towns so we decided to head stright for a cafe for the evening.

The next day we woke up to some stunning weather again and so decided to go for a drive arround to the Otago Peninsula just around the harbour. After taking some random directions and driving for around 30 minutes up some crazily steep roads we stumbled upon sand fly bay (which we had read about) It was believed that Sea Lions and believe it or not, Penguins actually come onto the beach in the late afternoon after a day at sea. Feeling slightly sceptical we chilled in the van above the beach for a while and then made the 40 min walk to the look out at the other end of the beach. We could not believe it when we saw a Penguin standing mid way up the beach, encouraged we continued. After doing a stake-out for a while, more and more Penguins left the sea and strolled up the beach and rocks, it was unreal.

After a good hour of watching from the hide we started to stroll back as it was getting dark. As we were walking we came across a huge Sea Lion lying on the beach, we took a few photos and got chased up the beach by it, quite scarey actually.

It was an amazing experience to see Penguins in the wild, especially as we never expected too, also we found out it was the most endangered species on the planet, the Yellow Eyed Penguin.

A truely unique day.

Christchurch

mattnpete — Thu, 8 May 2008 15:03:00 GMT

Seeing as time was pressing on we decided to head down to Christchurch. The vibrant city is a funky cosmopolitan place and big compared to many of NZ's city's. However it was just a city and seeing as we had a time restriction on our stay we thought we would only stay a couple of nights, see a bit of the city and move on to other areas.

On our adventures in the evening we discovered this very funky alley (a massive alley compared to ours at home). It was privately owned so it had bouncers on all entrances. It had around 8 bars and was really chilled out, however the drink pricing was not so much to our taste.

In the day time we went to New Brighton - alot nicer than our one, and had a stroll on the pier.

For a city it was awesome however we wanted to crack on to the more unique parts of NZ.

Kaikoura - Whale of a time

mattnpete — Tue, 6 May 2008 14:57:00 GMT

We knew we were not going to be here long so as soon as we woke up we booked ourselves onto a whale watching trip. We were hoping to see some Sperm Whales but at the begining of the trip all we thought we were going to see were waves untill things started kicking off. We ended up seeing 4 whale sightings, one of which had two whales together which is not a common sight. As well as this we seen a massive pod of Dusky Dolphins, there were hundreds of the little buggers jumping about all over the place it was very impressive.

Over all it was a really good time unless you got sea sick. The boat was full of people chucking up chunks, half of which did not even leave the seating area to see the whales. And yes Pete was one of the fortunate people that got to see his breakfast again (he blames the breakfast).

Gallery: Kaikoura

mattnpete — Mon, 5 May 2008 08:38:00 GMT

Whales And Mountains

Gallery: Picton - Marlborough Sounds

mattnpete — Sun, 4 May 2008 15:39:00 GMT

Picton - Good place to wake up

mattnpete — Sun, 4 May 2008 14:44:00 GMT

Once we got off the Ferry we parked the Van and slept, we woke up in the Marlborough Sounds and it is stunning.

We went straight to a Kayak Rental store and booked a sea kayak for the following day and went for a 25k hike for the rest of the day along the Queen Charlotte Trail - the drive to the start of this walk was gorgeous. The walk took all day and we were knackered. Not the best idea when we had some serious paddling to do the following day.

The next day was one of the highlights of travelling so far. We set off in our two man Kayak and ventured out of the harbour deep into the sounds. Within half an hour we seen a couple of Jelly Fish and were equally unkeen to go into the water but soon a few turned into many and then into thousands, the water was white with jelly fish. After paddling for god know's how long we found an awesome little Restaurant only accessible by boat and it served awesome food. After regaining some sensation in our arms we headed off again. As we came out of the bay we saw some fins in the distance and immediatly picked up the pace. We had stumbled on a feeding frenzy with dolphins, seals and dive bombing birds and we were smack bang in the middle of it all, it was simply amazing and a very rare experience. After that we thought everything had gone away but we were lucky enough to find 3 seals swimming in one of the bays and were happy for us to swim with them as they relaxed and cleaned themselves. One of them was a bit of a show-off and would go under the boat and pop up at random places.

Truly amazing time in the Marlborough Sounds.

Gallery: Wellington

mattnpete — Sat, 3 May 2008 15:33:00 GMT

Wellington - By accident

mattnpete — Sat, 3 May 2008 14:36:00 GMT

We arrived in Wellington on Monday evening and were attempting to miss it out and check it out on the way back up but this was before we missed our Ferry - yes, we know what your thinking mum and dad.

So instead of getting the ferry we went to a bar and had a couple of pints, played some killer pool (we swear it was rigged) and then had some more pints.......and some whiskey and somehow did not get back till the early hours of the morning but with the comforting knowledge we met some interesting people that night.

As we wanted to travel at night the next day was spent chilling along the coast in Oriental Bay, somewhere we are thinking of living because it is immense.

After checking out our favourite properties we eventually caught the Ferry and made our way to Picton.

Gallery: Fielding

mattnpete — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Deb's and Trev's + Brooklyn

Feilding - and that is how it is spelt!

mattnpete — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:19:00 GMT

We were going to Fielding to stay with some of my (Matt) Family.

On arrival into feilding (Voted NZ's prettiest town 13 times) we were aiming for a relaxing couple of days so we could get back alot of the energy we had expelled in the past weeks.

We ended up doing very little, apart from a scenic drive (compliments of Trevor) and an evening bowling and dining in Palmerston North which was just down the road, oh and a small amount of wood gathering for the fire. Although Trev wanted us to re-build the whole house ;-)

The worst part of the trip was the Sunday night when we watched Leicesterv Stoke on the net and as a result watched City get relegated:-( Needless to say i wasn't much fun for the next few days.

Apart from that downer it was a good week of chilling, being fed and actually sleeping in a house and not a van, and also winding Brooklyn up all week (he loved it)

Cheers to Trev and Deb and of course the little man Brooklyn for making us feel very welcome, also not forgetting the most timid cat in the world Holly.

Gallery: Tongariro Crossing

mattnpete — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:12:00 GMT

The Stupidest Walk Ever

Gallery: Taupo

mattnpete — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:50:00 GMT

Sky Diving

I'm bored . . . . Let's jump out of a plane!

mattnpete — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:21:00 GMT

The first thing we noticed on arrival into Taupo was the abundance of watering holes, already we had a good feeling about this place. The second thing we noticed was a lake that could of been the ocean, it was simply massive and stunning.

Here we knew that we were going to jump out of a plane as it is one of the largest drop zones in NZ - and the cheapest hence why we did it here. The first day we decided to dive in and see what the town's night life had to offer - cant really remember what exactly it offered but it made our heads hurt in the morning.

The beauty about Taupo was the Super Loo (that is it's name) you paid 20 sents to get in and they had showers and very clean facilities so for once we had no excuse for smelling. The second day we picked up our balls and booked the Sky Dive - quite a surreal experience because to many this is like signing your life away. Due to fearing for our lives we decided to go for a fancy italian meal to take our minds off things - it worked, the wine was great!

Judgement day - as we approached the meeting point for the mini bus to take us away we noticed some familiar faces, Tom and Dave were waiting to do the exact same thing as us - small world. After having some booking troubles where Pete had become an Irish ginger dreadlock guy called Derrick (dont ask), we got to the air field where we waited . . . . and waited . . . slept (pete) . . . and waited. As we got kitted up we met the two girls we were jumping with and the team, everyone was really cool. when we were loaded onto the plane, which was really small and bright pink, the experience still felt really surreal and i dont think it registered what we were doing untill that little green light came on. We had flown loads and were used to the views but now we were sitting on some blokes lap as he strapped us to him and nudged us to an opening door one by one. As we sat on the edge with our legs dangling out of the plane at 12,000 feet things still did not register untill "ok can you tilt your head to the side for the exit photo" and then it it finally clicked that we were going outside for a little stroll. The guy asked us to put our head back as he nudged towards the door and then "go"! Our heads flew forward as we were suddenly hurtling towards the ground reaching speeds of 200KMH +, how the hell are we expected to keep our head back when you cant see where you are falling. As we spun round watching the plane leaving us all we could think about was the fact that were falling and thats it but once our intestines got back in the right place and out speed stabilised the views are simply breath taking and the free falling sensation was amazing. We were free falling for roughly 45 seconds which although is not that long it felt like it was ages and then suddenly you get your second sign the parachute is coming out. You go from horizontal to vertical in seconds and a sensation I can only describe as being lifted by your nuts - lovely. After being spun around (like extreme tea cups) we landed and the experience was over and even though we felt violated due to the price of the pictures and DVD we thought it was worth every penny and we would recommend it to all of you.

Seen as we were very glad to be alive we decided to get royally trashed. We met up with Dave and Tom and went to their campsite to join them and a couple of others for a game of Uno and alcohol. One thing lead to another and we ended up in the middle of Taupo city centre at 4 in the morining getting a lift of some woman. We thought we were just going to climb into her car and get dropped off but there were two other girls (Shrek look-a-likes) in there and the lady had decided we were hungry so after driving around randomly and being taken to McDonalds we eventually got home. Something was not right about the woman especially seeing as she had a Chiwowa in the front seat.

The following morning started interestingly. Dave was just standing outside of our van in his swimming shorts, he did not say a thing and did not need to. We were parked opposite a fast flowing river and Dave wanted to get rid of the hangover, so we followed. It was freezing. See photos.

After a day of doing nothing we decided the next day we were going to do the tongorio crossing (Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings) however the weather was awful as we got further up the mountain. We were climbing through cloud and so it was freezing and very wet, plus you could not see a thing which was defeating the purpose of the walk as we were'nt doing it for our health. We got about 3/4 of the way up and then turned around as the weather was starting to get worse - sad times.

Straight after we said goodbye to Tom and Dave and went on to Fielding.

Rotorua - Normal people at last

mattnpete — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:55:00 GMT

We arrived into Rotorua and were thankful to see a decent sized city with locals who obviously knew what a dentist was.

We did what we normally did which was park up somewhere in the centre close to food and pubs and then went for a walk. Rotorua is a nice place but seen as we arrived at the start of the week there was not much alive at night.

The next day we decided to go get some stuff booked so we we paid for some white water rafting on a grade 5 river (the most extreme). Following that we thought we would make the most out of the day and went for a drive, we ended up on a mountain in little luge karts hurtling it down the mountain side. It was awesome fun, they had different level tracks but all of them had little kids on them - we were not sure if you got points for hitting them so we went round them just to be safe. After a good few laps we decided to go mountain biking. Normally mountain biking in the UK is an easy trail through the woods with a couple of bumps and your odd steep climb but that felt like riding on a flat road compared to what we had infront of us. These tracks were mental trails for serious bikers and the forest was massive, so big that we nearlly got lost and after riding for several hours we arrived 2 minutes before the bike hire place was about to shut. Whilst nursing sore arses (from the mountain biking) we decided to go for a Pizza Hut for some dirty pizza, but the woman never charged us straight away. Normally we would pay but seen as we are now backpackers we thought lets see what we can get away with so as the girl that served us walked to the kitchen we calmy stood up, thanked the manager and walked out. Were thinking of robbing a bank next.

The following day was white water rafting day and we were ready to go. As we were picking everyone up on the bus a big group of Irish people got on - the mood on the bus livened up. As we got kitted up and then drove to the river we had a crash coarse in what was about to happen and emergency procedures. Our guide was a fella called Stevie - top guy! He was the only one which made the group (there was 3) jump in the river and then climb into the raft. As we set of down the rapids we were having a great time, it was simply awesome. As we got to a quiet bit Stevie said we could get out and have a swim if we wanted but we had to do it quickly so we jumped in before he could even finish his sentence. However after we all got in and came around the corner we realised that there was not enough time for us to get back into the raft - but Stevie knew that - the bastard. He made out as if we had to scramble to the boat (these are fast flowing waters bear in mind)and cling on the our legs underneath. After we went crashing down some rapids he revealed his little joke before me and matt rearranged his face, but he got serious about getting us in as the 7 meter waterfall approached. As we waited above it we realised how high it was and wondering what the hell we were doing, then all we heard was "PADDLE" - we were reluctant and comfortable. As we dropped vertically you could see the other groups - not that we were paying attention to that as there was crashing white water below us about to devour our raft - which it did. As we hit the water we got pulled under by the current completly submerging our raft and pushing it into the shape of a taco under water. We were the only raft to do this and stevie commented that we were lucky not to flip and come up so soon - we told him to keep his comments to himself. further on stevie allowed me (pete) to jump into the front as he pushed the raft into a rapid - an interesting experience.

Once this was all over we met Tom and Dave - two guys who were doing the same trip as us but on a shorter time frame - we crossed paths again later in our journey.

Following the adventures we went for a curry and some deserved beer as the next day we were off to Taupo.