Treacle and Ems in NZ

Carnal Christchurch

2006-08-21T06:59:00.000-07:00

Monday: The sign that greeted us as we got off the bus in Christchurch was ‘Blondies’ Nude Sensual Massage’, then we realised we really should believe the bus driver when he said we were in the red light district. We wandered down the road past a couple of more massage parlours to our hostel. Realising that our room had no heating we purloined as many duvets from the other beds as we could find. Then we headed to our favourite food shop ‘Pac’N’Save, and went wild in the chocolate isle.

Tuesday: The next day we shopped till we dropped, well, at least until our money ran out and we got heartily sick of the tourist shops. We also made the unnerving discovery that all of Christchurch appears to be a red light district, we could not find the end of it!

Wednesday: Last minute fudge buying and then we headed for the airport. Spent the next half an hour listening to a bewildering and unclear list of requirements of what poor Joy was/was not allowed to take on the plane as hand luggage. We narrowed it down to no toothpaste and bottled water for definite and electrical goods and rucksacks remained undecided. Anyway, we dashed off to catch our internal flight to Auckland with a few minutes to spare. We spent the flight consuming huge quantities of food (not unusual for us!). In Auckland we spent another hour or two trying to find out what we were allowed to take or not. Then Em and I had to say goodbye to the dear Joy-bird. Sniff. Time flies by . . .

Thursday: Ok, ok, so I have doubled the weight of my backpack (8 to 16kilos), but at least I did it at the end and not at the beginning of the holiday.

Thursday/Friday: who knows, I don't, what day, what time, what country . . . hello UK. And all our lovely friends, looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible as soon as possible.

Naturally, Free Flowing

2006-08-21T03:50:00.000-07:00

Location:Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook 10th-13th August

We left a freezing (-7c) Queenstown early in the morning. Saw some beautiful snowy scenery and lakes on the way to Lake Tekapo. We were also amused by an australian guy on the coach who said "Let's go already, i am so over this bus" and then later put girls perfume on because he didn't have anything else and thought that he smelt. We left the strangeness of the bus and headed through the SNOW!!!! to our hostel. Wow, so much snow. We headed off to The Church of the Good Shepherd but didn't quite make it that far because we spent over an hour building a bridge of rocks to a big rock in the lake. We are just so mature....but at least we have fun.

Was lying in bed thinking "I really enjoyed the pasta we had for tea. Mmmmm it was so good i can almost smell it now...hang on i can smell it now. I have bought the bag in here instead of putting it in the fridge." Next scene...i am running through the snow barefoot in my pjamas to go and put it in the fridge.

Explanation of the title. We were running through the forest naked with our hair flowing. (Like nymphs according to Joy)...Just kidding it was just the back of a shampoo bottle which really amused us because it was so over the top. So we decided to name a blog after it.

Spent my 21st birthday playing in the snow on Mount John for 5 hours. It was so much fun. Snowball fights, sledging, snow angels....

The view was amazing. Snow covered mountains as far as the eye could see and the lake was a beautiful turquoise and blue colour.

We finally made it into the Church of the Good Shepherd on Saturday morning. Small and simple church with an absoloutely stunning view of the lake and the mountains. So wonderful to look out at God's beautiful creation. In the afternoon we headed to Mount Cook and spent the afternoon wandering through Narnia style landscape until we reached the glacier. We could actually hear the ice cracking-so loud. Nature is so powerful.

Spent Sunday morning walking again and to the great excitement of Elisa we found a spring. You could actually stop it coming out if you put your hand on it. So sad to think that that was our last walk in New Zealand as we are going home soon. Off to Christchurch this afternoon.

E, E & J

Hurtling towards the ground at 130km/h!!!

2006-08-14T00:36:00.000-07:00

LOCATION: Queenstown
DATE: 8-9th Aug

We've arrived in Queenstown - Adventure Capital of the World, so Joy immediately headed off to the Nevis Highwire Bungee (highest bungee in New Zealand at 134m!) Treacle and Ems said a rather apprehensive goodbye to a very excited Joy as she departed on the bus to the bungee site. After the bus had wound its way up to the top of the gorge, everyone got out and they harnessed us all up. Then we had our first look at the gorge...and the 134m drop, looked amazing! They took us across to the bungee pod in a cable car and then one by one we jumped off the pod. Then it came to my turn, I was so excited by this point! First you had to sit in a seat while they attached you to the rope, then you shuffled to a tiny ledge...and looked down, down, down to the little river flowing at the bottom of the gorge. It was only at this point on the tip of the ledge did the butterflies kick in, but even then anticipation outweighed nerves, as logically it's far safer than crossing the road! 3,2,1 and I jumped...

It's at this point that the English language fails to explain the feeling of hurtling towards the ground at 134km/h, it's absolutely incredible the adrenaline rush you get, you really feel like you're flying, was so so so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only downside is it happens so quickly that before you know it they're hauling you back up again. But I would definately recommend it to anyone!!

Meanwhile back at the ranch treacle and ems were enjoying a visit to the underwater observatory where they saw...

Yeah, ok, so we didn't risk our lives this morning, but we did have a cool time looking a Scua (Black Teal) NZ's only native diving duck. They looked like little arrows of platinum as they propelled their bodies beneath the water. Also say long finned eel and salmon. Never realised how amusing ducks looks from underneath, with their little orange feet paddling away.
We also did some shopping - or rather, we wandered around the two or so streets and then wondered where the rest of the town was before we realised that was it!
Then we went to pick up Joy, who attempted to put her experience into words . . . no chance!

Possums, Puddles and Patience

2006-08-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Travelled from Queenstown to Milford Sound at the absurd time of 7.20am. It is like being at the end of the world here. The only place this road actually leads to is Milford Sound. We are surrounded by mountains and have yet to see any houses or shops, probably because there aren't any. On the first day we had a de ja vous experience as we ended up walking the only short walk in Milford Sound twice in the hope of taking a short cut on the way back. We had further walking difficulties in the evening when we tried to find the "glow worm cavern". We spent 15 minutes tramping through the undergrowth with really naf, weak torches, only to discover that we had actually walked straight past them. Joy experienced a few problems getting to bed because the lights turn out at 11.00pm and for the first time since we met up she was actually up past 8.00pm!

We spent yesterday on a beautiful cruise across the Fjord. We saw some amazing waterfalls. The boat actually took us right up to them. Also saw two seals-1 was actually swimming. Another lazy evening in-major excitement-we saw a possum sitting above the walkway to our room. Elisa spent a long time talking to it and waving good night. When she finally returned to the room she told us that she wanted to take a picture of but was worried that she might shock it. Joy shouted out "Don't do that" in what we considered an Over The Top reaction until we realised that she thought Elisa had said "I want to feed it chocolate". (Joy is moaning because we never say good things about her-so we love Joy very much. She is a lovely, sometimes nutty but generally sane person who we really enjoy having around.)

Today we went for what should have been a 2 1/2 walk but 3 hours of crashing and falling through the undergrowth we decided we should turn back as we were nowhere near the end or the beginning (lots of falling in mud and bushes. Joy managed to fall down some holes and straight off the path on one occasion. Elisa also managed a dramatic leg clapping together, face down in the mud manoeuvre.) Joy and I had some difficulty following Elisa through the bush until we discovered that you could actually go around things rather than scaling every single rock, tree trunk etc. Joy and I required hourly muscle rub gel application for various strains. Our evenings rest was rudely interrupted at 1.30am by a load of screaming girls who then proceeded to talk loudly for the next hour. Eventually Joy and I went round, kicked down the door and shone a flashlight in their startled faces, demanding silence! (Just kidding-we politely asked them to be quiet, exercising 1 Corinthians 13 style love.) The next morning Joy tripped lightly out of the room muttering "Love is patient, love is kind and now I am going for a shower".

Queenstown here we come again...

'Here fishy fishy fishy'

2006-08-10T02:37:00.000-07:00

Location: Franz Josef Glacier
Date: 1st - 3rd August

Joy and I have been squeaking excitedly ever since our arrival at Franz Josef township. Imagine . . . our backdrop is the Southern Alps of NZ. Soaring snow covered peaks and blue skies. NZ really does need its own dictionary for adjectives - breathtaking, stunning, beautiful, they all seem so jaded when you look around you.

Wednesday, 10:30am: Collecting hats, boots and waterproofs to equip us for the three-quarter day hike up Franz Josef Glacier. The Glacier is remarkable beacuse it combines sea level and rainforest and of course, huge amounts of ice! We spent a reasonable amount of hours gently clambering around on the most amazing ice sculpture of them all. We were in Group 2 - the group for people who were on holiday and wanted to stay there - no need to exert ourselves, eh?
On our way down we were rewarded by the sight of a Kea. He's a dowdy green parrot with the intelligence of a four year old and the proverbial curiosity of a cat. When he can get his beak on it, he will happily take apart your rucksack (and eat your lunch) or your car if you are careles enough to leave either in his environment.

Thursday: Spent the morning walking through the sun-kissed rainforest to Callery Gorge. We passed a spectacular waterfall, tumbling down hundreds of small rocks. The Gorge itself was steep with a bright turquoise river running over a pebble bed at the bottom of it.

In the afternoon we went kayaking on a cup of tea. Or rather a lake that looked like a cup of tea because of all the rotting vegetation, which had the effect of making the lake like a mirror. Joy desperately wanted to see a fish and her idea to attract them was to sit in her kayak, rocking gently and calling 'here fishy fishy fishy'. Needless to say we saw no fish! Em and I caused general amusement at one point by very sensibly protecting ourselves agains the rain by putting our coats on. Unfortunately we were already wearing buoyancy aids, so we looked somewhat like a cross between and elephant and a brick wall - very stylish.

8 hour slog to Queenstown tomorrow . . .

INHIBITIONS LOST

2006-08-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

Location: Wellington 29th July 2006

On our last day in Taupo we went for a lovely relaxing kayak down the river but fortunately we managed to avoid the Huka falls. It was BEAUTIFUL, we just let the river carry us down gently while we took in the scenery and then we stopped for a bathe in the natural hot waterfall. Can you believe that things this cool actually exist?? We spent quite a long time in the lovely water before realising that we were in danger of missing our bus. It is also from this trip that we have derived the title. In way of explanation, it was the day of losing inhibitions (just like it says!). We began our kayaking trip by trying to get changed into swimwear and fleeces in a bus with many, many windows while the guys guiding stood behind the bus, looking the other way. Very dignified. Following this we arrived back at the back packers, smelling of the delights of the river and discovered that we had about 10 mintues to shower in just one shower as we had checked out of our room. So we decided that we knew each other well enough after 3 years, lost inhibitions and made it in time for the bus.

We are now in Wellington. We are staying with friends of Elisa's papa whom he stayed with years ago when he was out here. They are lovely. They have fed us some amazing meals, sat us in front of their warm fire and generally showed us amazing hospitality. Thankyou so much for your kindness. Yesterday we were guided along the coastline by our own personal guide in the form of Greg. Soooo Sunny!! Then we headed off to the museum-it's huge! So much to see. We then went for a lovely meal in a place called Chow's (Asian food) and on to a cafe for dessert. We were blessed with the company of Greg and his sister Johannah. Very enjoyable evening. We have spent today trying to see more of the museum. Now we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Joy...

Joy has entered our lives!

2006-08-01T01:06:00.000-07:00

LOCATION: Wellington-Punakaiki, 30th July

Joy has arrived, she joined the fellowship late last night! We headed to catch the ferry over to South Island early on Sunday morning. The ferry crossing was thankfully (!) nice and calm, with the added bonus of seeing a pod of dophins swim by. We landed at Picton and then travelled down to Nelson where we spent the night. Then onto Punakaiki, after another early morning start (groan!) We were advised not to stop at Punakaiki because there was nothing to do...except walk and enjoy the beautiful scenery...which is exactly what we want to do! So we walked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery in the afternoon.

However, when planning our expedition we consulted the local guide book and found what was described as a 3 and a half hour walk, lovely, just what we wanted. The first hour was great, and we enjoyed the rainforests and exploring a dry river bed. By the second hour we were soaked, as it had begun to pour with rain. It was then that we found the sign post that directed us...to the start of the walk, which would take another 3 and a half hours from there!! By this point we were all absolutely soaked, and the hazard signs of fast rising water when it rained were proving to be true, as on our way back the river bed was no longer dry but turning into a stream! A few minutes into our journey back a car passed us and offered us a lift back, we were completely drenched by this point and gratefully accepted the lift. On talking to the guys in the car we found out they were in the film industry and were location scouting. They wouldn't tell us much else, so we like to think they were famous Hollywood producers!

We spent the next morning exploring the pancake rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki. The pancake rocks were so cool, they actually looked like pancakes due to the different layers eroding away at different rates. The incoming tide created a geyserlike effect in the blowholes, which looked impressive. (Apologies for the lateness of this entry, we're just having too much fun!)

3 pairs of trousers, 8 tops

2006-07-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Location: Taupo
Date: 24th-26th

Yep, I did actually wear 3 pairs of trousers and 8 tops to do the Tongariro Crossing (a 17km hike that is known in all the brochures as NZ's favourite one day hike). The actual walk up to the summit of Mount Tongariro (1858m) was gruelling. I did think at one point that I had gone too far and actually killed Emma. She only told me afterwards that she thought they drove us to the top of the mountain and then we had a nice walk along thte top . . .
The views were, immense, spectactular (run out of adjectives). I also want you to appreciate the effort that went in to taking the photos - the pain of taking my hands out of my gloves in -3 degrees and all that!

In the evening we went to the cinema because that does not involve walking. Ended up watching a film called 'Lake House' - any of you guys seen it?

Had a lie in this morning and then trampted along the Waikato River and admired the Huka falls which provde 15% of all NZ's energy. The amount of water is stunning, photos do not do it justice, the sound alone is deafening!

Now we are off to have a romantic dinner for two with a view over Lake Taupo (Australasia's largest fresh water lake) . . .which also does not involve walking.

Tourism is a dangerous business

2006-07-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Location:Whakatane-23rd July 2006

Well we travelled up to Whakatane a couple of days ago. On the evening of the 21st we went to see the very very lovely Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. It was really good, very funny-go and see it! Elisa's favourite line was "You should either wear a dress or nothing. I happen to have no dress in my wardrobe."

Absoloutely amazing day on Saturday. We went on a helicopter ride to White Island (an active volcano-very exciting). The aerial views were amazing. Volcano was immense, hot steam and gas everywhere(we even had gas masks for when it got bad.) Actually got to put our hands in a 53c stream-hot!! Afternoon was a bit tamer with a gentle bike ride along the river. On the evening we attempted to go and watch the All Blacks play in the pub (well, in a stadium on a telly in the pub rather than literally in the pub). Anyway we failed because the only place with a big screen was exclusively male and they all turned and stared at us so we decided to go home. (we sound so wussy!)

Today we went to the little presbytarian church down the road this morning. They had a travelling youth group doing drama, singing and dance about running the race. It was very good. Apart from the performing group we were the only young people in the service.

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the coastline. Stunning views as usual. Elisa almost killed me on the walk-so many little hills.

Off to lake Taupo tommorow to attempt the Tongariro Crossing

E & E x x

Evil Eggy Smell - FREE

2006-07-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

Location: Rotorua
Date: 18th - 21st July

On the first evening we met a nice man from Sydney, Australia. He took us to Wai-O-Tapu the next morning. Wai-O-Tapu is this amazing thermal and geyser area where the colours blow your mind. Or at least they would if the rain was not coming down in buckets of water . . .

Once we were thoroughly wet we came back to Rotorua and sought the safety (and dry!) of the museum. Saw some really old baths which made Emma never want to get into a bath again - they were pretty yukky. Apparently Rotorua is the 'cradle of tourism' in NZ. It all started here and boy can you tell. The place is just one big motel/hotel/backpacker conglomerate.

The next day (Thursday) we went to wander around the biggish lake and look at the pretty Maori church on its shores. It is funny to see a western Jesus dressed in Maori clothes! Saw some evil looking ducks too - they had bright orange eyes. In the afternoon we trudged all the way to Te Puia, another amazing geyser/thermal/hot springs/mud pool area. The weather was better (and we had huge stripy umbrellas to ward of most of the rain) and it was beautiful and warm. I think we spent about 3/4 of an hours just sitting on some hot rocks.

Thursday evening was one of men, wine and song. Well, we went to a very interactive Maori evening which involved the haka (ha - breath, ka - fire), water and Maori singing. Also a delicious hangi (cooked in a hole in the ground).

LIFE ON THE EDGE!

2006-07-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

Location: Waitomo 16th-17th July 2006

Another fantastic couple of days. Yesterday we went caving which involves abseiling down waterfalls, climbing up rock faces and crawling through tunnels full of water. It was immense. We recommend it, if you have never done it before. Some bits were a bit scary but it was really cool and the rock formations and glow worms were amazing. Also got to experience the pitch black-it was so dark, you literally couldn't see your hand in front of your face. We emerged unharmed, with just a couple of sliding and falling incidents.

Elisa was still full of energy so we went for a walk through the countryside-beautiful as always.

Today we have been horse riding through the lovely countryside. Lots of fun and i didn't fall when we were cantering-yey! My horse was called Emma and Elisa's was called Cuba but they weren't so keen on each other so we had to keep them apart so that no serious kicking went on.

Have just got back from another (somewhat tamer) trip through the caves. Saw millions and millions of glow worms as we travelled through the dark on a boat. We are now back at the lodge, smelling of horse but otherwise happy and healthy.

E & E xx

Err, what day is it?

2006-07-14T22:17:00.000-07:00

Date: 15th July (Saturday, I think, losing track of the whole what day it is thing which is fun when we're phoning to book anything!)

Location: Waitomo

Tiritiri Right then, catch up. On Thursday we took a cute little ferry to the island of Tiritiri Matungi (40km off the coast from Auckland). It's essentially a bird sanctuary. It was actually stunning. We saw Stitchbirds, Saddlebacks, parrots, tuis, takahes, pukekos and many more. It might not mean much to most people, but when you realise that a lot of these birds do not exist outside of this island, it makes seeing them a lot more awesome. We also saw little blue penguins-they were amazing. We went out by torch light and they are soooo cute. They come really close to you, waddling along (We really loved the penguins, can you tell?). We also got to give them a little stroke because there were researchers there tagging, weighing them etc. On the way back fromthe penguins we saw - KIWIS - like real live ones, in the wild. They skittered accross our path and were gone in a flash. I think I (Treacle) squeaked all the way home. We haven't got any pictures of either the penguins or kiwis because they are both nocturnal. Sorry.

The next day we crawled out of bed for what we thought was in time for the dawn chorus, got that one a bit wrong, sun was already quite a way over the horizon, but it was still lovely to be out at the time. Being one of ten people on an island is a nice feeling, just makes you think of endless space . . . could not do it for long though, not enough people in the long run.

Auckland (again) stayed in cosy hostel and met nice Germans guys. Had to get up early once again and caught 8.15am bus to Waitomo.

Waitomo arrived, had lunch (which was a long affair as it ususally is) and went for a walk. It was not until an hour in that we realised that the map was sending us around in circles . . .maps in this country are not great!

Maybe a Machete would have been useful!

2006-07-11T01:36:00.000-07:00

Location: Kaitaia

When people in NZ say there is a bush track, they mean that once upon a time one person walked through the jungle and put little orange markers on the trees (or maybe just bits of Tesco bag if that runs out). It does not mean that there is a path that you can comfortably travel along. We crossed innumerable streams and clambered over many trees. We also waded through a stream - very very cold. Very painful. All in all we must have travelled 10km and now we are officially tired . . .moving on back to Auckland tomorrow and then hopefully to an island whose main inhabitants are birds, but only if the sea is not so rough that they have to cancel the crossing!

The Es in NZ

A la touristique

2006-07-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

Location:Kaitaia
Monday 10th July

Well, we have fallen behind in our updates but we have given you some beautiful pictures to look at so we don't feel that guilty.

We spent a few more days in Whagarei. We saw a real live kiwi bird-it was fat but very cute. We also visited Whangarei museum and the bird rescue centre where we saw a talking Tui which whistled "Pop goes the Weasle" and generally jabbered to itself. We also visited the market which had an amazing supply of fruit and plants. We bought a kilo of kiwi's (fruit, not birds) and then headed on to a craft market where we saw some beautiful things, but we managed to limit ourselves to a few items. It is such a good job we are backpacking otherwise we would have purchased half of New Zealand by now. We spent our last evening between the hot tub and the pool (which was very cold. Elisa swam about happily whereas i leapt in and then shot straight back out and into the hot tub).

Yesterday we travelled up to Kaitaia. We saw the bay of islands briefly on the way. There is not very much in the town so we were reduced to watching a video in the evening. But today we succumbed to tourism in order to see 90 miles beach and Cape Reinga. It was stunning. Words cannot describe it, you will have to wait for the pictures. Firstly we saw the Kauri tree museum where we got to walk up a staircase inside a tree (yes, we are excited by small things). We saw an abundance of sea birds and a seal-so exciting. We love it here. We also tried out sand sledging which was immense. Elisa performed the most amazing flip when she fell off hers but fortunately she landed on the beautifully soft sand. We ended up getting soaked on the beach because we went for what we thought was a gentle paddle up to our ankles, but the sea had other ideas and sent a big wave soaking us up to our waists. We spent the rest of the journey sitting on our raincoats. Very amusing

Emma and Elisa x x

Tamarillos and Stripping in the Launderette

2006-07-06T00:32:00.000-07:00

Location: Whangarei
Date: 5-6th July

Yesterday, having seen the most photographed waterfall in NZ (Whangarei Falls) and spent several hours wandering through luscious rainforesty type greenery, I think we were a bit punch drunk with all the beauty around us.

We also walked amongst Tauri trees, very cool, due to height, age, use etc. Also the fact that we were in the canopy, ie level with the tops of them and looking down about 20m!

Today, we got wet. Yeah, think that was the overriding feeling. Wetness. You know, when you're soaking. Wet. Oh yeah, we got WET in the process of exploring some caves. Once we found them, which took us a while. They don't believe in excess signposting around here. As well as getting wet, we also almost got charged by a whole field of bulls. Guess they were just nosy as to what these two humans were doing crashing through the undergrowth in an attempt to avoid their field. Guess they had never seen anything like us, we had so many layers on that we looked about 15stone, very sexy!

Oh, to explain the title . . .tamarillos are a new fruit we have discovered and stripping is what we did in the launderette after our WET hike.

Jamie?

2006-07-04T02:42:00.000-07:00

Do you live on our blog?

You didn't tell me we were in the Artic Circle up here!

2006-07-04T02:17:00.000-07:00

Location: Whangarei
Date: 4th July

Ferry and bus (almost missed due to need for fresh fruit overriding ability to be on time) and we hit Whangarei, Northland.

The accommodation here is luuuuuuuuvverly - like pool and spa and everything luxurious. The slight snag is that it is a scorching 12 degrees. And the nights are like ice, we've just told our room mate (Timo from Finnland) that we will chip him out in the morning. Yeah, we get to do our first lot of washing! We will smell no longer.

With love from the two Es xx
(apparently I look sweet, with big eyes - please guess which E is writing, no prizes, by the way)

Treacle has a 2:1 . . .

2006-07-04T02:16:00.000-07:00

. . .and now she expects everyone to visit her in Banbury!!!!

Four Days and Still No Sheep

2006-07-04T01:20:00.000-07:00

Waiheke Island: 2-4th July 2006

We have just spent two glorious days on Waiheke Island. We were in the middle of a jungle of tropical plants (as in our lodge was actually in the middle of them). We didn't have the tropical weather to go with them though (we were absolutely freezing). The cold was not helped by the fact that one of our windows was made from netting rather than glass (bring lots of warm clothes Joy because it's even colder in the South). We soon forgot the cold though because we were surrounded by such stunning scenery.

We also met some lovely lovely Americans. When we first met them they were engaged upon the momentous task of returning a mobile phone which they had found on the side of the road. By the time that we entered into the saga they had already spent 2 hours trying to trace the owner by texting people in the phonebook. They had failed to get a girl called Jessica to understand that they were not the owner despite sending in excess of 10 texts. They then took to calling the local numbers in the phonebook including one called J-Pad only to find that there was a John, Jay and various other people with names beginning with Jay at that number. In a further attempt Shaun began listing the other names in the phonebook to see if they knew any of them but stopped once he hit the name "half-slut" (probably a wise move). The saga was eventually resolved the following morning when the owner called his mobile.

This and That and err, half a Concert (Treacle and Ems)

2006-07-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

Location: Auckland
Date: 1 July 2006

Beautiful sunny day - it's a strange sensation to feel the need for gloves because it is so cold, but also feel your skin burning with the sun.

We bussed into the town centre and were headed for Aotea Market when we got distracted by culture in the form of The Edge where we booked tickets for the NZ Symphony Orchestra that evening. These guys really believe in educating students - you can sit anywhere for $12.50 (5ish pounds)!

Bearing in mind this is Saturday, the streets were empty, not kidding, they were quieter than Cardiff on a Tuesday morning! Nice not to have to elbow your way through a crowd.

Market was amazing. So much really cool stuff that we wished we were travelling with lorries rather than just backpacks. We eventually managed to limit ourselves to a few items. They also had lots of amazing little food stalls that even I (Ems) can eat at-yey! This doggy was the ultimate form of advertising . . .

After lunch we headed off to the domain where we sat in a tree while Elisa wrote in her ever expanding journal. Then we sauntered around the duckpond where we saw a really cool black and blue bird, as yet unidentified (well, by us anyway, i'm sure someone somewhere who knows about birds has managed to identify it.)

Eventually we reached the museum of Auckland and conducted a very speedy tour of the first two floors as we were beginning to run out of time. Museum was very interesting-we learnt lots about Maori history. Elisa was particularly amused by a Maori man who was taking a picture of a wig that looked exactly like his own hair!

We went for...wait for it...fish and chips!, but we are talking seriously nice fish and chips. Amazing fishcakes! Then we went off to the theatre which we couldn't find but managed to ask one of the violinists and his friend for directions. Nice music but we had to abandon ship half way through because the jet lag hit us and we were appearing a bit too much like nodding dogs for our liking.

Were in bed by 10pm again. We are such party animals!

I Don't Believe in Beauty Sleep (Treacle)

2006-06-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, having issues with the whole picture uploading . . .and am now too tired to struggle agains the might that is technology any longer . . .and I want lunch, but more than that I want a shower!

28th June 2006
Location: Heathrow, London, UK
Classic Emma moment #1: Emma walks through the metal detector and shouts "I made it! Usually I don't get through". Treacle looks on aghast that anyone has said such a thing at paranoid Heathrow of all places, thankfully friendly security guard smirks and lets us pass . . .
Classic Emma moment #2: Treacle hands Emma a spoon (bright red). Emma starts crawling around the floor of the departure lounge murmuring "How can I lose a spoon, I haven't even moved?" To date Emma has lost the said spoon, a toothbrush and . . .

Location: Skyhigh, UK
On a plane that has two floors, which I took the advantage to explore when everyone else was asleep and I was roaming the plane in an insomniac state. Got about half an hour sleep. (I'm with Jamie on that one - how can anyone sleep on a plane? Seriously, there were people who slept the whole 11 hours.)

Location: Bangkok International Airport
No Bahti so we can purchase no water . . . longing for our next flight and liquid. 33 degrees, humid and we're in jeans and carrying coats and jumpers. Hmm, feeling a little silly. By the way Joey, we waved at you as we passed and looked out for the golfcourse int he middle of the airport, but couldn't find it.

Location: 11,228m, Queensland Australia
Erm, it is night again . . . sleep still eludes me . . . watch almost all inflight entertainment. Right, according to me it is 6pm (so I'n naturally hungry), but according to everyone else it is 5am NZ time and they're all asleep, so I'm sat here in the dark eating, by myself.

Location: don't care, closer to NZ than last time
Panic - camera shutters malfunctioning - the thought of going around NZ without a camera reduces Treacle to desperate measures over breakfast. They involve a toothbrush and a glasses cleaning cloth - the resourcefulness of a seasoned packbacker I would like to think!

Location: Auckland, NZ!!!!!!
Found hostel, brain switches off. Need shower.

Light reading . . .? (Treacle)

2006-06-23T06:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I got seduced by a book in the Christian bookshop today called 'Tales of Two Cities: Christianity and Politics' - that was possibly not what Emma meant when she said we should take some light reading!

Preparing for NZ

2006-06-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

I think Ems and I have slightly different ideas about how much anyone wants to carry around on their back for six weeks . . .