Home again

Well, guess I should give this blog some sort of finality - am back in the UK now after nearly 6 months of travel. I have to say it was the best experience of my life, met some really wonderful people and saw some truly spectacular sights. Also had my share of boring work! Wee!

Hope everyone enjoyed the blog! Cya for the next one, perhaps?

Joe

Vancouver

Lovely trip to Canada to see family on the way back to Europe - spent some time getting to know a few younger cousins, Toby, Isaac, Elliot and Harper!

And a dog named Charlie. :o

East Cape....with pictures!

Ok, turned my camera back on after 3 days and....Huzzah!!! It's actually working, even after being completely drenched :D So have managed to snag the pictures I took before the fateful waterfall experiment.

Was an interesting trip out east, and one that has concluded my NZ travels. From now on it's back to Auckland to spend the last few days on VERY little money (hm I have 130 bucks to last me 5 days...eep), because on Friday I leave for Vancouver. Next blog update from Canada!

East Cape

Am enjoying a great trip out to the East Cape of the North Island at the moment, unfortunately I managed to take my camera with me into a waterfall, so, uh, no pictures at the moment ahaha. Pray it starts working tomorrow!

Doing lots of Maori culture type things, seems to be a big Maori population out here. All fun! Hopefully I can snag some photos off my friends to show you what's going on.

South Island farewell

Well after 2 months it was time to say goodbye to the South Island today. Had such a good time down there, seen some stunning scenery, met some amazing people, and did some hard work too!

A few photos to finish it off - finally a decent shot of Mt Cook, NZ's highest mountain (all other times I've been near it it's been covered in cloud), and a beautiful shot of The Remarkables one sunset in Queenstown. Good stuff!

Am in Wellington for a few days, then heading back to Auckland before exploring a few more sights on the North Island.

Ben Lomond Track

Well another day of terrible weather, but we went hiking anyway! Tramped up behind the Queenstown Gondola to Ben Lomond Saddle, was really good but really tiring! Nice views too!

Routeburn Track

After some perilous gravel roads, made it to the Routeburn track, one of NZ's most famous walks. Unfortunately we only had a few hours to spare, so bombed it up to the first hut and back (basically did 18km in 4 hours), grabbing quick photos along the way!

Weather wasn't great but was a nice walk nonetheless.

Lake Wakatipu

Well unfortunately the weather sucked, but yesterday we rented a car and drove up to Glenorchy from Queenstown...was still nice views but meh!

Was fun driving again after nearly 5 months without it though! Although car was so full of stuff it kinda struggled to get up hills :S

CANYON SWING!

Had to be done. Was absolutely terrifying, but I lived through it!! Wewt!

Rob Roy Track 2

Fantastic glaciers near the top of the track combined with 16 waterfalls. Stunning.

Also witnessed a mini-avalanche while we were up there :O Eeep!

Rob Roy Track 1

Absolutely stunning short hike about an hour and a half outside of Wanaka up to the Rob Roy Glacier. Beautiful!

The Road to Wanaka....again

Right, so, onto Wanaka again, except this time I opted to stay a few nights - totally worth it. Went to the Paradiso!
Fantastic little cinema, had some great homemade cookies and ice cream, wee!

Oh also found my all time favourite spread in the supermarket....oh yes...it's what God would put on his toast.

Pancake Rocks

Interesting little place on the West Coast, aptly named Pancake Rocks due to the layering of the limestone. Intriguing :o

At the moment I am spending a few days in Wanaka and then will be in Queenstown again to hopefully see a few more of the sights in that area. Sweet!

Travel time again!

Right, well, time for an update perhaps! After 2 weeks of mind numbingly tedious fruit thinning I have left Blenheim and hopped back on the Stray bus to redo the South Island - there's a few things I missed out on that need doing!

On that theme, may I present some rather lovely photos of Foulwind Point; so named because the discoverer thought it smelt pretty funky...didn't smell bad while we were there though, guess it cleaned up its act!

Swampys!

So have finally moved from Kaikoura onto Blenheim in order to do some work! Am currently at Swampys backpackers, which is pretty nice, and they provide work as part of the accommodation, which works out well!

Gonna spend 3 weeks here before heading back onto the North Island and retracing my route up to Auckland. And hopefully make some money during that time!

Happy 2009 by the way!