NZ adventures - (contd)

Hi everyone,

Well it's been an interesting few days since we last updated you all... we left the last, tough tramp ("hike" for non-kiwis) and travelled down to Napier on the East coast of the North Island so see what the area was like. Gorgeous rolling beaches (black sand though) and the Hawkes Bay area. Unbeknownst to me it was a decent wine-growing area so we stopped off and took a wine tour with one of the locals ferrying us around (reason to be explained) - they are not shy about giving you as much wine as you want at these places and each of the 5 vineyards we stopped at gave us about 8-9 samples each - adding it up the next day with a hangover I'm pretty sure that's why I/we got a bit drunk... and Erin actually succumbed to a curry afterwards. Classy!

Next we moved on to an inland town called Taupo - great adventure base for kayaking/hiking/trout fishing/prawn fishing/ mountain biking etc etc. We ended up doing a few of these like the prawn fishing (annoyingly difficult to catch) and we took a boat to see some Maori carvings in a sea wall - which we thought were really old until the captain of the boat informed us that they were made in the 1970s - very disappointing...

We had also heard about the Tongariro crossing - the worlds "best one day hike". It was spectacular (or rather would have been had it not been for the crap weather) and we would have been able to see for miles (instead we saw about 30 metres). What we did see on the walk was the Emerald lakes (great colours) and Mount Doom (if you have watched the Lord of the Rings you will know what I am talking about... weird volcanic area that was a hard 2 hour slog to get up at 9am...

We met Dad (who happened to be passing through at the same time as us) for a quick brunch before moving south to Welllington and had more great scenery (god NZ is pretty) - check out the photos on snapfish and then crossed over to the South Island by InterIslander ferry (3.5 hours long). More great views of the fiords coming into Picton on the South Island.

We then drove down to the Abel Tasmen area (NW national park area of the South Island) and tramped for a three days (two nights camping which Erin now positively adores) before the heavens opened and down came the rain... so we jumped on the sea taxi - great way to get around - (Note to Rick J. - the Lake District needs this service).

After bumbling around Westport and the area a bit further south of Abel Tasmen we headed across to Hanmer Springs to see what the thermal pools were like - as it turns out they were pretty warm 41C heated by a volcanic spring!

Then at 9am yesterday we got hit by an EARTHQUAKE! yes - you read it right - the epicentre was about 10kms away and whilst I was checking email at 9am we got hit by a 4.9er! haha having not experienced one before it was pretty interesting (now that we got through it) but it felt a bit like someone had just rammed a truck into our building - after a fashion it passed and someone explained that it was an earthquake - Dad heard about it on the news a few hours later (from the North Island) and phoned to check in so i guess it was newsworthy - I am still awaiting the BBCs phone call though... for "on the spot" coverage

Now we are down in Christchurch waiting for Dad to turn up this evening and Jo and Andy to pitch up tomorrow so we can start the Xmas festivities.

Will update again before we leave for Sydney on the 28th December.

A&E
(probably where we should be right now - or where I will end up if Erin doesn't sort out our Indonesian adventures soon) ;-)

Outta the Bush and back to civilisation

Hi everyone!


We are finally outta the Bush and thank goodness.. We were at Lake Waikeromoana and it was 4 days of camping and tramping and I finished it all - a surprise to some of you I'm sure!!

The first day was hell climbing this huge hill (1000m height gain but with spectacular views at the top) with our heavy backpacks (Erins- 15kgs; Als 25kgs). I looked like a crazy German tourist with my borrowed walking sticks..kinda funny to see me "NYC fashion girl" doing it... Al was even struggling with the huge hill. Al, of course, breezed through the rest of the tramp with no problems (Al - no he didn't) but me not showering for 4 days was well, let's say, a new experience!!! interesting eh!!!

We met some cute Mauri kids at one of the outback wilderness huts. They loved Al and I and were very cute. They taught us Mauri words and songs, Two tiny girls had pictures of themselves in the bush carrying around a huge, dead pig that was actually bigger than both of them put together that their dad had killed earlier...go figure. They were only 13 years old and tougher than I will ever be and maybe a little tougher then Al ;-) (Al: definitely tougher than me!)

We are now in a beautiful beach town called Napier and staying in a great B&B on the oceanfront. This afternoon we are going to swim with the dolphins and then go on a wine tasting tour. The weather is beautiful and life (now back to normal) is pretty good! We will be uploading pictures soon (as we have a lot of them) so please check back shortly. Miss you all!

E & A xxx
P.S. Amy if I had a picture of Lam believe me that would be up right next to the title. Lam is currently the official mascot :-)

Arrival in Auckland

Hi All,

Thanks for stopping by to check in on our trip! So we finally got to New Zealand today the 27th of Nov. (We are a day ahead in case some didn't know). The trip literally took 29 hours..WHY?? So we arrived this morning at 6 am it felt like 3 pm and our bodies are throughly confused. We drove into Auckland and saw a man waving traffic and he had an orange vest on and it looked to me like he didn't have any pants on...I know what you are all thinking where is the picture, well I was to slow to snap it :-(  Anywho we had a lovely time driving around and taking in some of the other sights which were not as great as the pantless man but few things are.  Al and I got New Zealand cell phones and now can call each other endlessly (JOY) with a little program they call "Best Mates" the name is the funniest thing and Amy P I know you will see the humor in that ;-) Ok well enough from me Happy Thanksgiving and we already miss everyone!

A & E  xx