well we're in Singapore at the moment. However I must recap the past week in Cairns. I haven't anything for a while due to the complete lack of stuff to do in Cairns. Our days consisted os us getting up eating, exercising and then drinking copious quantities of glorious goon before going out into Cairns. This would be a very boring post so I'm going to summarise some of the more interesting times we've had in Cairns.
Firstly was our trip to the Cable Ski lake just North of Cairns, we got the bus there around 12.30 arriving by one. We spent a few hours just going round in circles along the cable. It was very fun but also very tiring, we fell over a few times but it was suprisingly easy to get up on the water, the only hard parts were the sudden turns the cable would make. While there we also watched some of the other wakeboarders performing some amazing tricks. They' just be going along the water, crouch down and pop up and boom they be 2 metres in the air doing flips. These guys were insane. There were also some kids going over the jumps and rails, ten times better than us by the age of ten, they were awesome.
The next big thing that we did was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We had to be up around 7.30 in the morning anyway, true to form it didnt stop us from drinking the night before though. There was an hour and a half boat trip which was a bad time for me and my stomach. And then we were sat above the reef. 10 minutes later and we were jumping into the water, kitted out in half wetsuits, i opted to wear a jelly suit, i looked incredible, think power ranger blue in a good way. jumped in the water and went for a little gander under the water. Saw some lovely coral and even lovelier fish. After a half hour we got out and suited up for our introductory dive. Fell/toppled into the water with a very havy oxyegn tank on our back. We were swimming with two instructors and an indian couple. The couple got two metres below the water before they freaked and couldnt go any further, they spent ten minutes there before they went back up to the surface leaving us free to go lower. Saw some more lovely fish, i found out why everyone likes clown fish, they truly are the cutest fish out there. We stroked a sea cucumber and after a half hour under the water we were forced to return back to the surface. All very beautiful. We then had a lovely lunch of various meats all in one big sandwich. We then disobeyed the age old law of no swimming straight after lunch. Luckily we lived to tell the tale. We spent the next hour swimming over the reefs searchinf for sharks and turtles. Still no sightings. Disappointment. over all it was a very nice way to break the monotony of drinking that had evolved during our time in Cairns. And that is the extent of our day time activities for Cairns. And so onto our night time activities of which there were many more.
The night after the last post we took the 'world renowned party bus' basically we got a barbecue at Gilligans, which consists of sausages and bread, then we jump on the party bus for a drive round the block to the first place called Shenanigans, this place was basically the highlight of the night with and ABBA tribute band called ABBAration playing. Bunch of Aussies putting on fake accents singing songs, it was still pretty good entertainment. The next bar was calle Mad Cow Tavern, this was where we left the party bus as we got very bored and thought we could have more fun in our room with people we know. When we got back to the room we started a casual game of ring of fire, me and Liv curled in balls in the corner, could not stop laughing, the source of the hilarity? Some German friends of one of the guys in our room. Classic Fawlty Tower quotes ensued, all outside their hearing obviously. Lots of fun, eventually cross dressing was incurred. I looked particularly good in a thigh high black dress.....until someone said we had to take off one item of clothing.......I was not going to be the only person in pants so I only took off the top half. If anything i looked even more fetching. This was also the night of the Manchester Derby, so off we trotted to the woolshed to view the enfolding last minutes. Got there in time to see the amazing last minute goal, the whole bar went wild. that was fun. Talked all night long till i had a chocolate craving so off i went to Night Owl convenience store. Bought up two crunchies half of which was given as a bribe to a chocolate loving bouncer. Met Rebecca Vickers from Leeds Festival talked to her for a while but got bored and went to bed. The next day I had a competition with Liv to see who could stay in bed longest. I won.
A few nights later we met a group of English guys and girls, started up a casual game of ring of fire. Someone introduced the gecko rule, where you basically have to run to a wall and get three limbs attached to it as fast as possible when the card comes up. I hit my knee. a lot. I played wingman for one of the girls called Beccy for a while, 'how much does a polar bear weigh' I ask, 'enough to break the ice' she says as she swooms in on her target. Hilarious joke that actually works. When she tried it though she asked how much does an elephant weigh? Bail bail. that was bad. Started jousting on the balcony outside using pillows and longboards. That was good. After a while we go down to Gilligans and thats where the vaguely interesting part of the night ends. The next day was wakeboarding day.
That night was the first night anyone has ever started on me. It started with lots of Goon in the room. I left for a while to walk around, found the New York girls from the night before. Get a text from Adam saying come to Woolshed so off I go, meet up with them in the queue. After a while its just me and Henry in Woolshed and we're wandering around and this guy who i'd seen before in the hostel walks up to me and starts accusing me of punching him in the stomach. I vehemently deny said accusation. He challenges me to a game of fisticuffs, not in such gentlemanly words though. Offering me the first shot on his jaw. I refuse the offer, and he stills accuses me off hitting him, he hits his hand against the wall (threateningly). After few tense minutes of him postulating and me backing away a girl steps between us and i make a quick getaway. Later on the other side of the bar we steal a left behind jug of beer and meet some girls from Sale. They basically snub us for the rest of the trip so we'll ignore them.
Can't really remember much of the other nights, I remember we spent one of them with the people from England and drank considerable quantities of Goon (standard). They were very fun, we had a meal with Adam and Liv as it was their last night. And we tried to play Centurion with goon unsuccessfully because we couldnt be arsed after the third shot. The next night we played poker in our room, I did particularly well but had to leave to meet Dom Tom and Jamie from New Zealand in the bar downstairs. After a while we went back to their hostel mulled for a while got bored and went back into Cairns, we had an uneventful night drinking away the last of our free drinks coupons. Got up early the next morning and got the shuttle to the airport, slept in the airport for a while. And now we're in Singapore which Henry would like to givew his input on soooooo i shall pass him over.....
Ermmmm..... well it's a lovely city.
Very contemporary, lots of friendly people. Nice trams. hmmmmmmm.
We arived at about 7.00 and got the tram to little india where we were saying. Finally were in a different culture. It was kind of like being in India but smaller. We'd called ahead to a place called the Inn crowd but on arrival the door was locked and no one was answering our frequent bell rings and door knocks so we just crossed the road to the opposite hostel which looked much nicer. Also the men sitting on the street drinking and staring made us feel somewhat uncomfortable. We watched part of a tragically bad american film and then went to find a place to eat. There were plenty of cramped dodgy looking places but we decided to treat ourselves and went for a relatively posher meal. The man even pulled my chair out for me and called me sir.
The next day we'd intended to go to the Veitnamese embassy but woke up quite late and discovered it would be closed by 12; we tried our best but were unsuccessful and resolved to return the next day. Instead we headed into the centre. Passed a few mosques with people lighting incense and placing them in metal stands but decided not to enter incase we offended anyone. The main shopping centre is Orchard road which was a beautiful tree lined avenue bordered by fantastic looking grand skyscrapers and shopping centres. We went up one with resturaunts and roof gardens at the top. (the most expensive meal was $148. golly!) The street must have had the highest density of expensive clothing shops in the world. 3 armani emporiums, 2 d&g's, dior 2 Louis v's..... etc. We ended up heading over to the Botanic Gardens which were lovely. The pond had terrapins in it and the sky was a shade of yellow you don't see in England, although this could have been due to polution. In the evening we went to the night zoo which was a good lark. Animals aren't all that lively at night though we did see a flying squirrel fly. There were also what i think should be a contender for the most ridiculous animal ever. The mouse deer, god knows how it survived natural selection. It has a head like a mouse, a big oval body and spindly little deer legs that shouldnt be able to support it. We took a safari train to look round most of the park. The guide had clearly learnt her english from american tv shows and spoke very irritatingly like a sat nav as if someones decided to insert a load of random commars into her sentences. Then we went back to the hostel and slept.
We met up with Tom, Dom and jamie the next day and their new friend Ross. We booked a bus to leave with them to KL which has massaging chairs air conditioning and entertainment screens for everyone. If you want to know what we did for the rest of the day read above but imagine us with them aswell and without the night zoo. Ta-ra.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
So then now we're in cairns, the most humid place in the entire world....or so we think. When i left off it was the night before we left. So from there i will carry on. The last day was very uneventful, woke up had breakfast, went for a walk in the park to the hot pools. Went back to the hostel mad some sandiches for the airport and waited until we had to leave for the coach. Coach took a good few hours and then we had to change for the bus to the airport. Got to the airport around 7.15 ready or the mammoth 12 hour wait. While in the airport we wrote, ate sandwhiches walked round looking at the shops, dranks three pints of subway coke all for the low low price of 2$, gotta love free refills. By 6.30 i had got absolutely zero sleep. Piece of advice, copious quantities of coke does not go hand in hand with sleeping. coca cola that is. However eventually i fell asleep...30 minutes before we were supposed to board the flight. Rudely awokn thirty minutes later so I could board the flight. Boarded flight, lovely personal tv screens showing movies ranging from Avatar to Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moon. Fell asleep for 5 hours woke up and watched the start of Avatar for the rest of the flight. At passport control they sniffer dog came round, those dogs just ake you feel guilty. anyway nothing came of it apart from the 35yr old guy behind us was taken away and never seen of again. Got to the hostel in good time but we had a few hours before we could go into our rooms so we went for a little stroll. Cairns is the most humid place i have ever been. You can smell ther moisture in the air. Smells wet. Walked round for a while went to the supermarket and stocked up on foodstuffs. Ten pack of noodles for 5$....dream. Went in the pool when we got back. This is one nice hostel. More like a hotel but a bare cheap hotel. Fell asleep after tea that night, was woken up by German people in our ro0om, stumbled out of bed to socialise. Henry went out with the Germans later that night however i fell into bed and drifted to sleep. Woke up in the morning all refreshed and ready to do something awesome. Shame Cairns is kinda dead then isnt it. We spent the day walking round, lazing, talked to the travel desk turns out it'd cost around 1200$ to go to Fraser island for 6 days.....guess thats kinda out the window then. Went to the pool for a while, phoned up Gordy and arranged to meet at midday the next day. We spent that night drunkenly stumbling between bars looking for people we know whilst swiping free beers from where people have left them (Henry not me, yet another tactic of his to get punched)
Woke up the next morning and jumped on the bus at 11, I annoyed the bus driver by pushing the stop button accidentally but apart from that the trip was uneventful. Jumped off the bus wondering how we would find him. Turns out it wouldnt be that hard as his restauraunt is 10 steps away from the bus stp. convenient? Had a lovely lunch with gordy, I offered to pay but he was ahving none of it. No complaint from me there, Went for a walk along trinity beach which was very pretty however the sign declaring that there may be crocodillios in the water kind of put us off. Went back to the hostel after and met our new roomies, a lovely little couple going by the names of Adam and Liv. lovely. They met some of their friends and they moved into our room and all of a sudden its a party room.... Played drinking games that night, it always comes back to drinking games, went down to the bar, that was tres boring so around 12 i trundled back to the room to talk to the sober people. Told them a long story about the wonders of New Zealand. I could talk for hours, Henry eventually interrupted the story when he came in, he wondered where i was, i told him. They all went to sleep cause theyre boring so it was only me, so i sat down and wrote my journal, went for a little walk around the hostel, called Hannah. Then went to bed. Woke up this morning very late. we've spent the day swimming sleeping and eating. Perfect day. Anyway must dash. Byeeeeee x
Woke up the next morning and jumped on the bus at 11, I annoyed the bus driver by pushing the stop button accidentally but apart from that the trip was uneventful. Jumped off the bus wondering how we would find him. Turns out it wouldnt be that hard as his restauraunt is 10 steps away from the bus stp. convenient? Had a lovely lunch with gordy, I offered to pay but he was ahving none of it. No complaint from me there, Went for a walk along trinity beach which was very pretty however the sign declaring that there may be crocodillios in the water kind of put us off. Went back to the hostel after and met our new roomies, a lovely little couple going by the names of Adam and Liv. lovely. They met some of their friends and they moved into our room and all of a sudden its a party room.... Played drinking games that night, it always comes back to drinking games, went down to the bar, that was tres boring so around 12 i trundled back to the room to talk to the sober people. Told them a long story about the wonders of New Zealand. I could talk for hours, Henry eventually interrupted the story when he came in, he wondered where i was, i told him. They all went to sleep cause theyre boring so it was only me, so i sat down and wrote my journal, went for a little walk around the hostel, called Hannah. Then went to bed. Woke up this morning very late. we've spent the day swimming sleeping and eating. Perfect day. Anyway must dash. Byeeeeee x
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Soooooo we're in rotorua now, officially the smelliest place in the world, on top of hot pools the whole town smells of eggy fart. Anyway now i must recap the past few days.
Woke up on the 7th absolutely nervously excited for the skydive I'd planned to do. Wrote some of my diary and ate a little bit of food. Got picked up by the skydive centre around 10.45, they called for people who are with skydive taupo. I assume that means me so i jump up go outside to find that mine and the other divers lift is actually a white limo. lovely. jump in, sign some disclaimers. Psyche myself up for it. Get out at the place, watch a video, sign some more forms hear my name called. Turns out i was at the wrong skydiving centre and the place i was supposed to be was just across the car park. Hey i got a free limo ride so i think it was worth it. So across the car park i go in to freefall taupo. Here i sign some more forms watch another video and then get told that we may have to wait twenty minutes for the wind to slow down. And another 20 minutes and another and another. Until around 1 when they get us to suit up and put the harnesses on....here we go.....or not. The group in front of us go up in the plane fall out come back down land and then get swept back ten metres by the wind. They tell us to wait another 20 minutes for the wind to coold down. half hour later and we're going up jump in the plane smile for the camera, get half way up to the 12,000 feet only to be tolod the winds too strong and we have to come down bummer. We take oure suits off and are told to call the place at 3.30 to see if they're gonna carry on diving today....nope they dont. Ahhhh well have to do it tomorrow, oh wait we're supposed to be climbing mount doom tomorrow and thats a 17km 8 hour walk. Cant be doing with that. Turns out Henry didn't really want to do the walk anyway so I organized to skydive the next day. After that debacle we decided to go for a little walk along spa road to the hot pools. They should really be called hot puddles as they are wayyyyy too small to be called hot pools, but all the same they were definitely very very hot. Spent about an hour in the hot puddles before we embark on the cold journey back to the hostel. Contemplated drinking that night however sleeping seemed like a much more attractive option, still didn't get very much sleep in, stayed up pretty late Henry made a valiant effort to get drunk but his heart wasn't in it, he's saving the boxed wine for another time.
Woke up on the 8th absolutely nervously excited for the skydive, this time i'd booked it for 12 woke up at ten called the people they said it was on, got picked up at 12 whizzed down the the skydive centre, i'd already filled in all the forms son they rushed me through. Suited up, got the harness on all sorted. Met my jump guy some french guy, waved at the camera, went for a nervous wee. waved at the camera again watched some people landing all good so far apart from one girl chucking her guts all over the landing area. nice. Go up in the plane, wave at the camera again, get buckled into the french guy. Thats when it finally hit me that i was gonna trust myself to a flimsy sheet of plastic and some buckles. The only things stopping gravity from reuniting me with the ground. In a bad way. First girl jumps......oh shit the guy lines me up at the door feet outside the plane. Bloody hell my feet are hanging outside the plane. Head back be the banana. Camera girls hangs out nthe side of the plane...3....2....1....GO! Waaaaaahhhhhhh EAGLE!!! This is a completely different feeling to Bungy jumping theres no sense of falling towards the ground any more. Just a feeling of euphoria as I plummeted into oblivion. Wave at the camera. Bloomin heck. still falling at 200kmph. Falling falling...... New Zealand is stunning from the air. Falling falling. Then the camera girl is suddenly falling a lot faster than us. Look up, ohhhh hes opened the parachute,I shouldn't be disappointed should I? its probably a good thing he opened the parachute. Alll the same i want to fall more.....Another few amazing minutes and I'm back on solid ground dumped on my ass. Least graceful parachute landing ever. Anyway at least I'm not throwing up. Wave to the camera, jump in the air take off the suit, and my Skydiving experience is over, all thats left is to pay, hmmm i wonder why they make you pay at the end??? hmmmm.
Had a celebratory mcdonalds for lunch when i got back. Thats when we met Katie, Victoria and Jennie again. You may remember them from such places as Fiji and queenstown well now they're in Taupo as well. Stalkers. Went for a little skate at the little skatepark. Went back read for a while. Went downstairs drank a considerable amount of beer, turns out it was just me and Henry drinking. The others went to bed early so into Taupo we go. Went to the base bar in Taupo to find a poker game in the bar which was odd. Also the bar was like a ghost town......well not really but it definitely wasn't a fun place to be. After a half hour of boredom I started off back to the hostel only to be waylaid by the glorious golden arches of Mcdonalds. A big mac later and i was very happy. The two stumbling drunks also provided some entertainment after ordering 40$ of Mcdonalds between the two of them. Found Henry walking back to the hostel, he was very jealous of my lovely meal. Mine all mine. Woke up the next morning and jumped on the bus to Rotorua..... the smelliest place on earth.... makes my botty burps seem like walking through a meadow in the middle of spring when all the daisies are poking their little heads out the earth and no cows or sheep or deer or rhinos have sullied the smell. It smelt bad. This was due to the geothermal activity (or so i've heard) causing lots of foul smelling hot pools which release a lot of sulphur, hence the smell. We were in Rotorua for two days as the bus for Raglan doesnt leave on Saturdays so we had to wait for sunday. Turns out this wasn't so bad. But anyway on with the story. When we first got there we had a few hours to burn before the white water rafting so we went for a stroll round the town. Walked down the high street down some more roads until we found ourselves outside the cinema attempting to find out the showtimes for kick ass. 6.30 it is then. Went back to the hostel to get ready for the rafting trip. Cant wait. Met Ross who's either very metrosexual or a closet gay. We went down to the bar with him later. around 12.30 the bus arrived to take us to the rafting centre. Got there, got weitsuit and 'booties' then life jacket, got on the bus to take us to the river and had a hilarios safety briefing off one of the rafting guides. Got off the bus carried the boat down to the water. The guides insisted on giving a Maori prayer to the river thanking it for stuff. After splitting into groups we jumped off the ledge into the boats. In our boat it was us and 3 30 yr old portuguese peeps. And two rafting guides. Turns out we're the safety boat and would go over all the rapids and waterfalls first. Me and Henry were also at the front of the boat. oh no. The first few minutes were pretty relaxed until we reached the first waterfall only a small 2 metre drop to the water below, then 10 seconds later another 3 metre drop. That was a little scary but we came through that pretty well. Watched everyone else come down, so far no capsized boats. Carry on going down a few more rapids until we hit the big daddy of the waterfalls. The highest commercial waterfall in the world a seven metre drop into a washing machine. We had to wait a while before we left for the other boats to catch up but when they all got there it was go time. A few short stokes and we're plummeting into oblivion. Our faces were absolute mirror images, both of us screaming profanities until we hit the water or the water hit us, either way you look at it, still a lot of water went up our noses. The drop didn't last very long and i remember almost none of it. At one point the whole raft was underwater that was until we were rocketed back out into fresh air. All the other rafts made it down apart from the last which flipped when it popped back up. The faces of the people on that raft were hilarious when they resurfaced. Anyway by this time we were nearing the end of our trip with only a few rapids left. On the second last rapid we went down sideways with me going down first, I didn't have my foot in properly so one second i was in the boat the next second we'd hit the water and i was flung over the side of the raft according to Henry he turned round just in time to see my legs disappearing into the water. Safe to say I'm alright. As the final thing the guides took us surfing on the rapids where we stay in the same part of the rapids for a while as the boat steadily takes on more water. All in all the rafting trip was very fun and very worth it. The photos from it are also very funny. That night we went to see Kick ass at 6.30, we set off 10 minutes before it started and got there 10 minutes after it started. Henry was sure he knew the way to the cinema....turns out he didn't know it too well, we found it eventually and only missed the first few sentences. The film was very food and particularly gory, in a good way. When we got back Henry and Ross started playing lots of drinking games with two random girls from the room next to ours. I bowed out of those to relax for a while. Around 11 we went to the bar where we drank a lot of beer and played a lot of free pool. Tried to go to soe other bars but they were all either empty or you had to pay to get in. Went to bed around 1 very tired. The next morning was a very lazy morning it took us till eleven before we had showered and had breakfast then we went to the supermarket and by the time we got back it was time for lunch. After lunch we went back up to the room to meet our new roommates. 3 very good looking 18/19 yr old girls from somewhere near stoke. An exact quote from us later on would be 'jackpot'. We went for a little walk to the park to the sinky hot pools, some of them were amazxing and some of them just stunk. I swear one of them looks almost exactly like the dead marshes from lord of the rings, it was crystal clear but with this noxios steam coming off it, it was amazing. Didn't really do anything for the rest of the day. That was until the night came. Around 9 after the girls had got back from the drinks run we sat down to enjoy a leisurely game of ring of fire. This would turn out to be an intense heated game, Henry was on wine I was on vodka and coke until the coke ran out and the girls were drinking mojitos. All very innocent fun. Liv was in Henrys words 'repulsive' but in a good way. she didn't hold back, beching and spitting everywhere. This was all very amusing and unexpected. Also turns out she had modelled for the boots swimwear range, who knew Boots had a swimwear range? The other two were a lot more sensible but still very fun. One of them stood on my back for a while as i was in a lot of pain......my back cricked seven times and the last time i felt it move a sizeable distance. Ths was turing out to be a very fun evening. After a while we left for the bar where we drank even more and talked even more. Danced even more and such like until around 1 where someone had the inspirational idea to walk to Mcdonalds. Lilly went to bed at this point as she didn't want to spend money on food. It was a short ten minute walk and when we got there the warmth combined with the fantastic food overwhelmed us. I asked for one of the Mcdonalds coats they had on but they didn't let me have one instead they gave me a job application form which i still have now. After Mcdonalds we went to bed, on the way home though we were verbally harassed by some hillbillies shouting at us to use a pedestrian crossing and following us round in their pickup truch, luckily for us there were three girls and one guy so there was no need to pick up a brisk jog. Got back to bed wrote the rest of my diary talked to Lilly for a while when she got ff skype and went to sleep. (This night has been edited down to pg13)(for more details do not hesitate to ask us in person). Woke up the next morning ready to set off for Raglan. The surf capital of New Zealand. Got picked up at 7.15 and we were in Raglan by 1. Walked round for a bit, had lunch then at 4 we piled in a car to go down to the little beach for a sunset surf. When we first got there looking from the cliffs down onto the beach then the water the waves looked like little ripples. Unluckily for us even when we were out there they only looked a little bigger than they did from the cliffs. However the waves picked up an hour before sunset so we still had a lot of fun when we were surfing and we were able to see the most amazing sunset ever as it lazily dipped below the horizon, we watched it as it winked out of existence. This led to it becoming particularly cold out on the water but still pretty fun. However the waves definitely took a turn for the worse and became as small as they were when we first got there. This wasn't too bad though as we were supposed to be leaving around then anyway. Back up the hill we went to the waiting car. Waited for the others for a while and then we set off back to the hostel. When we got back we spent a cold few minutes hosing down wetsuits and boards until I jumped in the hot tub and Henry jumped in the shower. After tea I went for a rest which turned out to be a lovely sleep. Henry watched a film called Rent for a while before coming in 2 hours adfter i went to sleep. For some reason we were in a double room with a double bed. Still cost the same as a dorm room so I wasn't complaining. Woke up in the morning ate breakfast went for a little stroll along the little river and waited for the bus to take us back to Rotorua. Turns out there was a little issue and we had to be dropped in Hamilton and get the intercity bus to Rotorua as they had double booked the kiwi bus. Bad times, it wasn't too bad and the intercity bus was faster than the kiwi bus anyway. However when we were waiting in Hamilton I called up the kiwi experience office to book us on the north bound bus out of Rotorua. Problem. No northbound bus out of rotorua leaving till two days away which would've been too late for our plane. So we've had to book another intercity bus from Rotorua to Auckland. Its leaving Rotorua at 3 and arriving in Auckland at 7, when we get there we're hopefully gonna get a shuttle straight to the airport and spend a night in the airport to save some moneys. Our flights at 6.50 in the morning anyways. So we got back into Rotorua a few hours ago, and went immediately to a cash machine and guess what neither of us have any much moneyu in the bank......gonna be an interesting few days. Anyway this might be my last blog from New Zealand, so I have to say this has been one of the most amazing month of my life, it has been incredible from beginning to end and i think i speak for henry when i say that we'd do it all again in a heartbeat if i was given the chance. Anyway must go. The next time i say anything we'll be in the land down under, where we drink Goon and chunder.......(see it rhymes) byeeeeeee x
Woke up on the 7th absolutely nervously excited for the skydive I'd planned to do. Wrote some of my diary and ate a little bit of food. Got picked up by the skydive centre around 10.45, they called for people who are with skydive taupo. I assume that means me so i jump up go outside to find that mine and the other divers lift is actually a white limo. lovely. jump in, sign some disclaimers. Psyche myself up for it. Get out at the place, watch a video, sign some more forms hear my name called. Turns out i was at the wrong skydiving centre and the place i was supposed to be was just across the car park. Hey i got a free limo ride so i think it was worth it. So across the car park i go in to freefall taupo. Here i sign some more forms watch another video and then get told that we may have to wait twenty minutes for the wind to slow down. And another 20 minutes and another and another. Until around 1 when they get us to suit up and put the harnesses on....here we go.....or not. The group in front of us go up in the plane fall out come back down land and then get swept back ten metres by the wind. They tell us to wait another 20 minutes for the wind to coold down. half hour later and we're going up jump in the plane smile for the camera, get half way up to the 12,000 feet only to be tolod the winds too strong and we have to come down bummer. We take oure suits off and are told to call the place at 3.30 to see if they're gonna carry on diving today....nope they dont. Ahhhh well have to do it tomorrow, oh wait we're supposed to be climbing mount doom tomorrow and thats a 17km 8 hour walk. Cant be doing with that. Turns out Henry didn't really want to do the walk anyway so I organized to skydive the next day. After that debacle we decided to go for a little walk along spa road to the hot pools. They should really be called hot puddles as they are wayyyyy too small to be called hot pools, but all the same they were definitely very very hot. Spent about an hour in the hot puddles before we embark on the cold journey back to the hostel. Contemplated drinking that night however sleeping seemed like a much more attractive option, still didn't get very much sleep in, stayed up pretty late Henry made a valiant effort to get drunk but his heart wasn't in it, he's saving the boxed wine for another time.
Woke up on the 8th absolutely nervously excited for the skydive, this time i'd booked it for 12 woke up at ten called the people they said it was on, got picked up at 12 whizzed down the the skydive centre, i'd already filled in all the forms son they rushed me through. Suited up, got the harness on all sorted. Met my jump guy some french guy, waved at the camera, went for a nervous wee. waved at the camera again watched some people landing all good so far apart from one girl chucking her guts all over the landing area. nice. Go up in the plane, wave at the camera again, get buckled into the french guy. Thats when it finally hit me that i was gonna trust myself to a flimsy sheet of plastic and some buckles. The only things stopping gravity from reuniting me with the ground. In a bad way. First girl jumps......oh shit the guy lines me up at the door feet outside the plane. Bloody hell my feet are hanging outside the plane. Head back be the banana. Camera girls hangs out nthe side of the plane...3....2....1....GO! Waaaaaahhhhhhh EAGLE!!! This is a completely different feeling to Bungy jumping theres no sense of falling towards the ground any more. Just a feeling of euphoria as I plummeted into oblivion. Wave at the camera. Bloomin heck. still falling at 200kmph. Falling falling...... New Zealand is stunning from the air. Falling falling. Then the camera girl is suddenly falling a lot faster than us. Look up, ohhhh hes opened the parachute,I shouldn't be disappointed should I? its probably a good thing he opened the parachute. Alll the same i want to fall more.....Another few amazing minutes and I'm back on solid ground dumped on my ass. Least graceful parachute landing ever. Anyway at least I'm not throwing up. Wave to the camera, jump in the air take off the suit, and my Skydiving experience is over, all thats left is to pay, hmmm i wonder why they make you pay at the end??? hmmmm.
Had a celebratory mcdonalds for lunch when i got back. Thats when we met Katie, Victoria and Jennie again. You may remember them from such places as Fiji and queenstown well now they're in Taupo as well. Stalkers. Went for a little skate at the little skatepark. Went back read for a while. Went downstairs drank a considerable amount of beer, turns out it was just me and Henry drinking. The others went to bed early so into Taupo we go. Went to the base bar in Taupo to find a poker game in the bar which was odd. Also the bar was like a ghost town......well not really but it definitely wasn't a fun place to be. After a half hour of boredom I started off back to the hostel only to be waylaid by the glorious golden arches of Mcdonalds. A big mac later and i was very happy. The two stumbling drunks also provided some entertainment after ordering 40$ of Mcdonalds between the two of them. Found Henry walking back to the hostel, he was very jealous of my lovely meal. Mine all mine. Woke up the next morning and jumped on the bus to Rotorua..... the smelliest place on earth.... makes my botty burps seem like walking through a meadow in the middle of spring when all the daisies are poking their little heads out the earth and no cows or sheep or deer or rhinos have sullied the smell. It smelt bad. This was due to the geothermal activity (or so i've heard) causing lots of foul smelling hot pools which release a lot of sulphur, hence the smell. We were in Rotorua for two days as the bus for Raglan doesnt leave on Saturdays so we had to wait for sunday. Turns out this wasn't so bad. But anyway on with the story. When we first got there we had a few hours to burn before the white water rafting so we went for a stroll round the town. Walked down the high street down some more roads until we found ourselves outside the cinema attempting to find out the showtimes for kick ass. 6.30 it is then. Went back to the hostel to get ready for the rafting trip. Cant wait. Met Ross who's either very metrosexual or a closet gay. We went down to the bar with him later. around 12.30 the bus arrived to take us to the rafting centre. Got there, got weitsuit and 'booties' then life jacket, got on the bus to take us to the river and had a hilarios safety briefing off one of the rafting guides. Got off the bus carried the boat down to the water. The guides insisted on giving a Maori prayer to the river thanking it for stuff. After splitting into groups we jumped off the ledge into the boats. In our boat it was us and 3 30 yr old portuguese peeps. And two rafting guides. Turns out we're the safety boat and would go over all the rapids and waterfalls first. Me and Henry were also at the front of the boat. oh no. The first few minutes were pretty relaxed until we reached the first waterfall only a small 2 metre drop to the water below, then 10 seconds later another 3 metre drop. That was a little scary but we came through that pretty well. Watched everyone else come down, so far no capsized boats. Carry on going down a few more rapids until we hit the big daddy of the waterfalls. The highest commercial waterfall in the world a seven metre drop into a washing machine. We had to wait a while before we left for the other boats to catch up but when they all got there it was go time. A few short stokes and we're plummeting into oblivion. Our faces were absolute mirror images, both of us screaming profanities until we hit the water or the water hit us, either way you look at it, still a lot of water went up our noses. The drop didn't last very long and i remember almost none of it. At one point the whole raft was underwater that was until we were rocketed back out into fresh air. All the other rafts made it down apart from the last which flipped when it popped back up. The faces of the people on that raft were hilarious when they resurfaced. Anyway by this time we were nearing the end of our trip with only a few rapids left. On the second last rapid we went down sideways with me going down first, I didn't have my foot in properly so one second i was in the boat the next second we'd hit the water and i was flung over the side of the raft according to Henry he turned round just in time to see my legs disappearing into the water. Safe to say I'm alright. As the final thing the guides took us surfing on the rapids where we stay in the same part of the rapids for a while as the boat steadily takes on more water. All in all the rafting trip was very fun and very worth it. The photos from it are also very funny. That night we went to see Kick ass at 6.30, we set off 10 minutes before it started and got there 10 minutes after it started. Henry was sure he knew the way to the cinema....turns out he didn't know it too well, we found it eventually and only missed the first few sentences. The film was very food and particularly gory, in a good way. When we got back Henry and Ross started playing lots of drinking games with two random girls from the room next to ours. I bowed out of those to relax for a while. Around 11 we went to the bar where we drank a lot of beer and played a lot of free pool. Tried to go to soe other bars but they were all either empty or you had to pay to get in. Went to bed around 1 very tired. The next morning was a very lazy morning it took us till eleven before we had showered and had breakfast then we went to the supermarket and by the time we got back it was time for lunch. After lunch we went back up to the room to meet our new roommates. 3 very good looking 18/19 yr old girls from somewhere near stoke. An exact quote from us later on would be 'jackpot'. We went for a little walk to the park to the sinky hot pools, some of them were amazxing and some of them just stunk. I swear one of them looks almost exactly like the dead marshes from lord of the rings, it was crystal clear but with this noxios steam coming off it, it was amazing. Didn't really do anything for the rest of the day. That was until the night came. Around 9 after the girls had got back from the drinks run we sat down to enjoy a leisurely game of ring of fire. This would turn out to be an intense heated game, Henry was on wine I was on vodka and coke until the coke ran out and the girls were drinking mojitos. All very innocent fun. Liv was in Henrys words 'repulsive' but in a good way. she didn't hold back, beching and spitting everywhere. This was all very amusing and unexpected. Also turns out she had modelled for the boots swimwear range, who knew Boots had a swimwear range? The other two were a lot more sensible but still very fun. One of them stood on my back for a while as i was in a lot of pain......my back cricked seven times and the last time i felt it move a sizeable distance. Ths was turing out to be a very fun evening. After a while we left for the bar where we drank even more and talked even more. Danced even more and such like until around 1 where someone had the inspirational idea to walk to Mcdonalds. Lilly went to bed at this point as she didn't want to spend money on food. It was a short ten minute walk and when we got there the warmth combined with the fantastic food overwhelmed us. I asked for one of the Mcdonalds coats they had on but they didn't let me have one instead they gave me a job application form which i still have now. After Mcdonalds we went to bed, on the way home though we were verbally harassed by some hillbillies shouting at us to use a pedestrian crossing and following us round in their pickup truch, luckily for us there were three girls and one guy so there was no need to pick up a brisk jog. Got back to bed wrote the rest of my diary talked to Lilly for a while when she got ff skype and went to sleep. (This night has been edited down to pg13)(for more details do not hesitate to ask us in person). Woke up the next morning ready to set off for Raglan. The surf capital of New Zealand. Got picked up at 7.15 and we were in Raglan by 1. Walked round for a bit, had lunch then at 4 we piled in a car to go down to the little beach for a sunset surf. When we first got there looking from the cliffs down onto the beach then the water the waves looked like little ripples. Unluckily for us even when we were out there they only looked a little bigger than they did from the cliffs. However the waves picked up an hour before sunset so we still had a lot of fun when we were surfing and we were able to see the most amazing sunset ever as it lazily dipped below the horizon, we watched it as it winked out of existence. This led to it becoming particularly cold out on the water but still pretty fun. However the waves definitely took a turn for the worse and became as small as they were when we first got there. This wasn't too bad though as we were supposed to be leaving around then anyway. Back up the hill we went to the waiting car. Waited for the others for a while and then we set off back to the hostel. When we got back we spent a cold few minutes hosing down wetsuits and boards until I jumped in the hot tub and Henry jumped in the shower. After tea I went for a rest which turned out to be a lovely sleep. Henry watched a film called Rent for a while before coming in 2 hours adfter i went to sleep. For some reason we were in a double room with a double bed. Still cost the same as a dorm room so I wasn't complaining. Woke up in the morning ate breakfast went for a little stroll along the little river and waited for the bus to take us back to Rotorua. Turns out there was a little issue and we had to be dropped in Hamilton and get the intercity bus to Rotorua as they had double booked the kiwi bus. Bad times, it wasn't too bad and the intercity bus was faster than the kiwi bus anyway. However when we were waiting in Hamilton I called up the kiwi experience office to book us on the north bound bus out of Rotorua. Problem. No northbound bus out of rotorua leaving till two days away which would've been too late for our plane. So we've had to book another intercity bus from Rotorua to Auckland. Its leaving Rotorua at 3 and arriving in Auckland at 7, when we get there we're hopefully gonna get a shuttle straight to the airport and spend a night in the airport to save some moneys. Our flights at 6.50 in the morning anyways. So we got back into Rotorua a few hours ago, and went immediately to a cash machine and guess what neither of us have any much moneyu in the bank......gonna be an interesting few days. Anyway this might be my last blog from New Zealand, so I have to say this has been one of the most amazing month of my life, it has been incredible from beginning to end and i think i speak for henry when i say that we'd do it all again in a heartbeat if i was given the chance. Anyway must go. The next time i say anything we'll be in the land down under, where we drink Goon and chunder.......(see it rhymes) byeeeeeee x
Monday, 5 April 2010
Well i'm not sure i really liked wellington very much, the second day we were there we spent the morning strolling round the New Zealand Museum, which was actually pretty good as museums go. the giant squid although not as giant as i thought it would be was still pretty giant. You also got a pretty good idea how screwed the Maoris were when we came over. Which was nice. A few hours in a museum can make anyone hungry so we went back to the hostel to cook up some food (probably noodles). After that we used the voucher coupons from the previous nights dominos to go to the cinema and get in pretty cheap. We saw Green Zone, which was alright but Private Miller's no Jason Bourne. Went back to the hostel found my bed had been pilfered by some random girl. Top bunk it is then. Next morning we woke up lay in bed till everyone had left, got up and set off for the Vietnamese embassy. Guess what after 30 minutes walk it was closed. I mean come on who closes on a public holiday really? stupid vietnamese embassy. No visa for us yet. Went back to the hostel and drowned our sorrows in another bowl of noodles. ummmmm noodles. After lovely noodles we were at a loss as to what to do, for a capital city there is very little to do. Have no fear, tourism brochures will point the way. So off to Weta Cave we go. Slightly geeky thong to do really. Weta cave is where a lot of the lord of the rings, avatar, king kong etc. props and designs were done, and theyve set out a little shop museum thing at the front. Got there and there was this guy doing a talk on computer 3d modelling which was interesting for the first five minutes but boring for the rest of the hour so we went for a look round the shop and watched the little movie thing they'd done for people. All in all a pretty good way to waste a few hours. Jumped on bus back to the centre. Went to the skate park and the supermarket Got back. we walked into the room to find the danish girls, one of whom was the one that nicked my bed. grrr. got talking got drinking got drunk. went down to the bar which was pretty fun, went in searc of another bar, couldnt find one so we went back to the kitchen instead. Went to bed around 1. got bus this morning at 8. Now after a pretty long drive we are in Taupo and i'm getting ready to once again test the laws of gravity. Hopefully i will prevail. Then the next day we're gonna climb mount doom. pretty fun eh? Au revoir then byeeeeeeee xx
Saturday, 3 April 2010
I missed out something massive that i did whilst in Queenstown. The day before we were supposed to leave after a particularly drunken night, i got on a bus outside of base for a five hour journey to Milford Sound. Check it out on the internet that place is amazing. After an amazing incredible hungover 5 hour bus journey stopping off at some of the most amazing sights i jumped off the bus and got on the boat that would give us a tour round Milford Sound, it wasnt a very nice day with a lot of cloud and rain. The free buffet on the boat was lovely aswell, for three hours i braved the elements on the top deck and admired the stunning surroundings that were passing us by. Milford sound is literally filled with the most amazing waterfalls, all falling down the most epic rock faces i have ever seen, 500 metre falls from nothing on some of them the water didnt reach the bottom and was whipped off the rock face by the wind. Went to the underwater observatory which was so bad im not gonna say any more about it. After three hours of waterfalls and stunning scenery we docked back in at the dock (obviously). And got back on the bus for the long drive back to Queenstown, Had a ferguburger and another drunken night.
Soooo carrying on from christchurch,
we are currently in recovery mode, doing all we can to recoup lost sleeping hours. but anyway from christchurch we make for kaikoura, we've been in kaikoura before so we now what its like there. The driver mentions dolphim swimming and as ive already mentioned it to parents and the girls, i basically have to do it. So i do it! Dolphin swimming eek. I'm in full on girly excitement mode. Put on the wetsuit, go go go, no wait got to watch the 3 hour safety briefing first. then we can go go go, get on the bus go go go, get on the boat go go go, find a pod of 50 dolphins, over the side ahhhhhh, jump in head down. thought i couldnt breath for bout 2 minutes that water is sooo cold, eventually warm up, ahhh dolphins everywhere, imagine not being able to see two metres in front of you and then suddenly pow three little dusky dolphins whip past at full speed about a foot away from your face. Bloody hell, after fivee minutes of this the dolphins leave we get on the boat and go to the location where a lot of dolphins have been found i mean a pod of about three hundred dolphins swimming round and jumping out the water. crazy. jump back in the water swim over to the dolphins, try and make dolphin noises i eventually start humming the star wars theme, try to make dolphin movements swimming in circles and diving, cant swim in circles very fast, on;y dive once, wayyy too nervous about insane dolphin swimming, all in all i look pretty stupid, pretty good way of attracting dolphins though as they all seem to love swimming round us, still doesnt mean i no longer almost poo myself as one speeds out the murk straight at my head! eventually they call us in, we geet out the wetsuitsa into warmer clothes, and i go out and sit on the fron of the boat, we now have a half hour for just watching the dolphins, these dolphins were so fun we always had a few swimming just in front of the boat and then there'd always be a few popping in and out the water around us doing flips and jumps, there were also a few common dolphins which were slightly bigger. We also saw a few wandering albatrosses which were massive. hmmm what else we a seal as well althpough wed seen so many at the seal colony before just sitting around lazing in the sun then getting angry at people and growling at them that we dont really think seals are that amazing anymore. Anyway after dolphin swimming i went and got henry to come skating at the little skate park in town, then we went and bought some rice and korma sauce, worst meal ive ever had, first of all we had set the oil in the oan on fire, quite a good fire as well then we didnt have anything but rice and kormja sauce, so no milk, no chicken no onions, just rice and korma. horrible. watched american psycho then went to bed. In the morning we got on the bus to set off for wellington. got on the ferry to wellington all very boring, got to wellington went for a little stroll around the place, kinda grimy really, got a dominos, large dominos for 7$ which is around 3.50 in english money, fantastic. Went to bed pretty early, still recovering from queenstown, anyway now im here typing this in the morning, not sure what we're doing today, hopefully something fun. Anywayyy gotta go now, au revoir. On a side note can my family stop challenging me to a race it will only ever lead to embarrasment for all the challengers involved. I havent been away for that long that you've forgotten how physically supreme i am i hope? ;) byeeeeeee
Soooo carrying on from christchurch,
we are currently in recovery mode, doing all we can to recoup lost sleeping hours. but anyway from christchurch we make for kaikoura, we've been in kaikoura before so we now what its like there. The driver mentions dolphim swimming and as ive already mentioned it to parents and the girls, i basically have to do it. So i do it! Dolphin swimming eek. I'm in full on girly excitement mode. Put on the wetsuit, go go go, no wait got to watch the 3 hour safety briefing first. then we can go go go, get on the bus go go go, get on the boat go go go, find a pod of 50 dolphins, over the side ahhhhhh, jump in head down. thought i couldnt breath for bout 2 minutes that water is sooo cold, eventually warm up, ahhh dolphins everywhere, imagine not being able to see two metres in front of you and then suddenly pow three little dusky dolphins whip past at full speed about a foot away from your face. Bloody hell, after fivee minutes of this the dolphins leave we get on the boat and go to the location where a lot of dolphins have been found i mean a pod of about three hundred dolphins swimming round and jumping out the water. crazy. jump back in the water swim over to the dolphins, try and make dolphin noises i eventually start humming the star wars theme, try to make dolphin movements swimming in circles and diving, cant swim in circles very fast, on;y dive once, wayyy too nervous about insane dolphin swimming, all in all i look pretty stupid, pretty good way of attracting dolphins though as they all seem to love swimming round us, still doesnt mean i no longer almost poo myself as one speeds out the murk straight at my head! eventually they call us in, we geet out the wetsuitsa into warmer clothes, and i go out and sit on the fron of the boat, we now have a half hour for just watching the dolphins, these dolphins were so fun we always had a few swimming just in front of the boat and then there'd always be a few popping in and out the water around us doing flips and jumps, there were also a few common dolphins which were slightly bigger. We also saw a few wandering albatrosses which were massive. hmmm what else we a seal as well althpough wed seen so many at the seal colony before just sitting around lazing in the sun then getting angry at people and growling at them that we dont really think seals are that amazing anymore. Anyway after dolphin swimming i went and got henry to come skating at the little skate park in town, then we went and bought some rice and korma sauce, worst meal ive ever had, first of all we had set the oil in the oan on fire, quite a good fire as well then we didnt have anything but rice and kormja sauce, so no milk, no chicken no onions, just rice and korma. horrible. watched american psycho then went to bed. In the morning we got on the bus to set off for wellington. got on the ferry to wellington all very boring, got to wellington went for a little stroll around the place, kinda grimy really, got a dominos, large dominos for 7$ which is around 3.50 in english money, fantastic. Went to bed pretty early, still recovering from queenstown, anyway now im here typing this in the morning, not sure what we're doing today, hopefully something fun. Anywayyy gotta go now, au revoir. On a side note can my family stop challenging me to a race it will only ever lead to embarrasment for all the challengers involved. I havent been away for that long that you've forgotten how physically supreme i am i hope? ;) byeeeeeee
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