Backpack Geek

Rob Falls in Love

Yes, yes. It’s a little late again. We’re sorry. We are now in the awesome New Zealand, land of the long white cloud. I will, however, pick up where I left you - in the hostile depths of Australia! Wow, we’ve done a whole lot since then… Sydney and Melbourne We spent our second day in and around Sydney and their impressive Powerhouse museum which used to hold the generators for their metro network. We went around an awesome Starwars display, as well as a practical hands on science bit and a transport exhibit. Some pics of steam trains and red post boxes for Dad are in there! On the next day we had the worst day of our trip with a cold day at Bondi beach, an accidental trip down a toll road and a parking ticket for $135 (70GBP) for “parallel parking in the wrong direction” - bastards. Our chins did not drop and a few days later saw us arriving in Melbourne, and meeting up with Rob’s uni mates Tom and Sam, before heading into town for a good night out (plenty of drunken pics). The following day was spent in the melbourne museum which was featuring a dinosaur exhibit (it was easter Sunday too!), before we met up with an old school mate Ric! We spent three days with Ric which were really, really chilled out and fun. We played Mario Kart, went surfing on a Victoria beach and just slobbed about a lot which was a nice change from driving 3 hours every day and camping with one stove for 3 weeks. Thanks Ric!!! We cancelled Fiji, and gained about 300GBP for the priviledge, and headed to NZ last Thursday. New Zealand And oh my, am I glad we ended up with an extra week here. If Elee wasn’t intent on seeing Disneyworld and Vegas I’d be here for another six months. The people are incredibly friendly, the scenery is awe-inspiring, the accent is hilarious and the prices are down on Aus. Before I skip through the time so far, in three back to back days I will have:

• Been to a naturally heated spa / geyser pool powered by sub-surface geo-thermal activity
• Been zorbing (rolling down a hill in a ball filled with water)
• Been caving/tubing through 2kms of caves 25-75m underground with a rubber tube
• Been skydiving

Need I say more? Auckland to Taupo We arrive late Thursday and checked into the best hostel so far, the Brown Kiwi. Friday saw us exploring Auckland and going up the largest tower in the Southern Hemisphere (forgetting the camera…*sigh*). The next day we started our trip on the -amazing- Kiwi Experience!! We headed north to the bay of islands, where I plan to retire (I’ve been assured broadband is arriving there shortly). A bay of over a hundred islands, where we went dolphin spotting/swimming. The swimming involved overtaking a pod travelling at 30km/h and splashing with them as they swam past. We were then advised to “catch them up”… We were in the bay of islands for two nights at a fantastic hostel called the mousetrap. I would have gladly stayed for two weeks. We then headed back to Auckland for a night before leaving the Big Smoke for our first stop Mercury Bay. The Kiwi Experience has, so far, been an absolutely brilliant decision. Stopping off at free and interesting stuff, taking care of accommodation and activity booking, an interesting but not too persistent commentary have all led to the best week of my travels so far. We’ve weaved across the north island, meandering south, through Rotorua - an area of intense geo-thermal activity where the pavements are heated naturally, to Waitomo with enormous and beautiful caves. We’re currently in Taupo, home to the worlds largest volcanic lake. Tomorrow, we should be falling out of a plane at 15,000 feet to see all of it beneath us….wow!! So yes, Rob’s fallen for NZ hard. The good news is they’re after IT Professionals, so I should be able to move over pretty soon! I best go, been in this internet cafe for 2 hours uploading photos/videos/blogging/enjoying coca-cola and peace and quiet whilst Elee does the washing back at the hostel! Mwuuhahahahaaaa!