 | First week and first impressions
2004-10-13, Auckland, New Zealand. By: melanie | | Kia Ora! No, not a call for fruit squash, but a Maori greeting to you all. So, here we are in the long anticipated New Zealand. We arrived at about 4am after an uneventful and dull 13 hour flight (... |
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 | Sleepless in Hamilton
2004-10-21, Hamilton, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Drove up to Hamilton, my last overnight stop before returning to Auckland. I stopped off on the way in Cambridge, a horse-breeding town, which I have to say was the nicest NZ town I've been to so far,... |
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 | Caves, caves and more caves
2004-10-20, Otorohanga, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Yesterday I drove to Otorohanga and saw my first Kiwi, [the bird not Oakley- wearing local!]. OK, it was in a Kiwi-House and not in the wild but the chances of actually seeing one in its natural habit... |
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 | You want food??? On a Monday night???
2004-10-18, Mount Taranaki, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Bad weather or not, I was determined to at least set foot on Mt Taranaki. So after a 3 hour uphill slog I eventually got above the snowline but couldn't go any further - it was deep! (I think I was on... |
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 | There is a mountain there .... somewhere
2004-10-17, Turangi, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Today's the day I get to do the Tongoriro Crossing (one of the must do's on my list)..... or not. Yes you've guessed it, bad weather stops play! Oh well, never mind, there's always MT Taranki later in... |
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| Water, water everywhere....
2004-10-16, Turangi, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Today, it rained... and rained. So I put my waterproofs to the test and had a walk to Taranaki Falls, which were very spectacular made moreso by the heavy rains (unfortunately NO photos of this due to... |
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| Radio One it ain't!
2004-10-15, Turangi, New Zealand. By: rossa | | After visiting yet another thermally active area yesterday (Wai-o-Tapou Thermal Wonderland) I have now reached hot, bubbling-pool overload so I've travelled further South to the edge of the Tongoriro ... |
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 | What IS that smell???
2004-10-13, Rotorua, New Zealand. By: rossa | | More geo-thermal activity today.
I drove about 3 hours further South to Rotorua. This place is built on a hotbed (no pun intended) of geo-thermal activity. The first thing you notice on entering the ... |
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 | Wot no castle???
2004-10-12, Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand. By: rossa | | First port of call today was Hot Water Beach...... any guesses? If you dig just a couple of inches into the sand there is ..... hot water! It's quite a weird sensation paddling in cold water and diggi... |
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 | The long and winding road....
2004-10-11, Tairua, New Zealand. By: rossa | | A very long drive today (about 8 hours) to Tairua on the East coast of the Coromandel Peninsular.
I stopped on the way in the Waipoua Kauri Forest to see the largest Kauri trees in NZ. Wow! What ca... |
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 | Wot? No gift shop????
2004-10-10, The Far North, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Drove 3 hours to the northern tip of New Zealand (the last 20km on a gravel track) to Cape Reinga, sort of the NZ equivalent of Lands End. Only here there were no cafes, gift shops or crazy golf - jus... |
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 | TLC Required.......
2004-10-09, Paihia, New Zealand. By: rossa | | A quick update of the missing days:
Thurs 7/10 - Ill! Stayed in bed all day!
Fri 8/10 - Picked up the hire car and drove 4 hours North to Paihia - still ill!
I'm staying at the "Pickled Parrot" h... |
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 | Another volcano?????
2004-10-06, Auckland, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Went out last night for my first New Zealand beer, and second, and third, and fourth. Got talking to some fellow travellers (sounds good that!).
Despite the intake of alcohol I was still awake very... |
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 | Umbrella required
2004-10-05, Auckland, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Today I took a walk up Mt Eden, one of the many extinct volcanoes that are scattered around Auckland. Arrived at the top puffing abit and very wet (yes it's still raining!) to be greeted by coachloads... |
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 | In the beginning...
2004-10-04, Auckland, New Zealand. By: rossa | | Kia-Ora! Welcome to the Land of the Long White Cloud! Or should that be Land of the Long Black Cloud? Yes, its raining. Hard.
I arrived yesterday afternoon after 23 hours in the air and about 14 ha... |
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 | An update and best wishes!
2004-08-01, Auckland, New Zealand. By: anjasolace | | Dearest Friends and Family,
I have been so pleased that so many of you have enjoyed this site!!! I check it often and will try to keep it updated, but I can hardly express all the feelings and exci... |
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 | Back home again - and it's chilly!
2004-07-15, Dunedin, New Zealand. By: Lisa | | Kia ora everyone!
Coming to you this time from an Otago Uni computer lab in the deep deep south while the rain patters outside in the near-freezing temperatures and I contemplate that not so long ago... |
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 | back home from india!
2004-07-04, Christchurch, New Zealand. By: frodo24 | | hey all,
well, we decided to cancel thailand too so we're home (well i'm home) 7 days earlier than expected!!!
india was so frantic and busy that i've only got enough energy and time to write a... |
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| Aotearoa Touchdown
2004-07-04, Wellington, New Zealand. By: Lisa | | Kia ora! Well, we just got home back to the house in Wellington an hour ago after 27 hours of flying over a 46 hour time period. Whew!!! It all went reasonably well though. All the flights except ... |
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 | Last day in New Zealand....
2004-04-25, Christchurch, New Zealand. By: marisaausi | | Today we had to wake up at 4am to catch our shuttle to the airport at 5am. We had to pack all of our stuff in the dark with 3 other people in the room sleeping. It was a little hard to do, but we got ... |
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 | Last Time on the Magic Bus...
2004-04-24, Dunedin, New Zealand. By: marisaausi | | Today we all rolled out of bed, bags already packed...and said our goodbyes. We went into Morgan and Annies room and woke their asses up to say goodbye. Morgan, who had passed out at 9pm was real chee... |
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 | Party it up!!
2004-04-23, Dunedin, New Zealand. By: marisaausi | | Today we finally had the chance to sleep in as long as we liked, did we…of course not!! We couldn’t sleep past 8am, I guess we have all developed a mental alarm that wakes us all up around 7am. We all... |
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 | One last road trip...
2004-04-22, Queenstown, New Zealand. By: marisaausi | | Today we woke up early and all went in different directions. We walked Sabrina to the bus station; she had decided that she wanted to go straight to Dunedin on the bus instead of driving. We dropped B... |
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 | Road trip!!!
2004-04-21, Milford Sound, New Zealand. By: MarisaAusi | | So this morning was the earliest morning that we have had yet. We had to wake up at 5:30am so that we could drop Kristen and Sabrina off for the kayaking trip that they were doing in Milford. Beth and... |
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 | We got a car!!!
2004-04-20, Queenstown, New Zealand. By: MarisaAusi | | We found it real easy to get up this morning since we hadnt drank the night before...as we got on the bus it was funny to watch the rest of the hungover group climb on!! I for sure would not be ok rid... |
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