Singapore

Singapore

To say I have been slacking in the blogging department would be an understatement. Since we arrived in Singapore and later Bali, I got swept up in everything around me and decided to leave the blogging for another day. That one day got pushed to two and three and finally almost a week. We have been in Bali for two days now and so I figure its time I try and log what we have done in the last week. Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for their comments on the blog and on Facebook! I love hearing what you all have to say and really makes writing this blog more fun knowing that people are actually reading it! Also, on another note, unfortunately I am unable to add pictures to the blog. For some reason the blogger site will not allow me to use pictures from my iPad. So any pictures that we do take (on the iPad) will be uploaded to Facebook as previously done. I know that pictures make a blog all that much more interesting but hopefully you can match the pictures on Facebook to the post on my blog!

So to begin, when we arrived in Singapore after a 10 hour flight plus two hours on the Tarmac at the beginning in Auckland, we had to take the MTR (train) to our "Green Kiwi Hostel".  The MTR is extremely cheap to get around and only cost us roughly $2 each to get to our hostel. After picking up our luggage (it's so nice to travel so lightly in comparison with what we came to Australia with!), we arrived at our hostel around 8pm which was 2 am Auckland time. We were tired but also were so excited to be in Singapore that we checked in and then immediately went for some dinner and Tiger beer at the local food stalls. This is where all the locals eat and holy crap was it busy! I would say there were 20+ stalls in this "food market" and we settled on a rice, chicken and veggie dinner for $2.50 plus $5 for a large tiger (two pints). After dinner we headed back across the street to our room which slept 10 people. Initially I was not too fond of sleeping with 8 others in the room but it was actually a really nice hostel and the beds and comforter were extra comfy so it was a great sleep. One of the chicks in our room however decided she was cold (even though the ac was set to 24 degrees and it was 32 degrees outside at 10 pm at night). So she turned the ac to 26 and needless to say, it was stinking hot!!  That next night I made sure the ac was set at a more comfortable 23 degrees (still quite warm obviously but much better!). That morning we woke up at 6 am (a little jet lagged) and decided to enjoy the sunrise on the rooftop patio. Even at 6 am it was already 28-29 degrees and so we were already sweating like mad. Breakfast opened at 730 and was included in our room rate of $40 a night for both of us. Breakfast consisted of gourmet coffee, two pieces of toast and fruit (oranges, watermelon and dragonfruit)... Delicious!

We had a shower and set off to tour the city at around 9 am (everything was still closed!). We thought we set off in the direction of Little India but instead we ended up heading in the complete opposite direction towards Marina Bay Sands (the building that looks like a ship is on the top and has the infamous infinity pool). So we decided to check out the hotel and holy cow was it ever insane. It was situated right on top of an insane mall equipped with a boat moat and a skating rank along with every expensive brand name store you can think of. We walked by a display case of jewelry where they had a diamond for $500, 000 and a vase for $800, 000!!! Clearly you needed money to stay at this hotel. We ended up paying $40 to take the 12 second elevator up 57 floors to the observation deck which over looks Singapore and also a view of the infinity pool (only guests can use and enter the pool area). 

After Marina Bay Sands we walked to Chinatown in the blistering heat where we roamed the stalls and ended up eating at another food court that was filled with locals (and lots of Singaporean business men/woman). I was surprised to not see more foreigners like ourselves but it seemed that the majority stuck to westernized food...boring! I ended up with a noodle soup which was delicious and Jordan ate breaded chicken and rice. Surpassingly the soup didn't make me all that much more hot because I was already the hottest I have ever been (at that point...wait until Bali!). 

 

After wondering around Chinatown for a couple of hours, we decided to start making our way back home. It was just after four when we got home and we were exhausted and so sticky!! It was a great long day and all we wanted to do was relax a little! :) That night we headed back to the market where both Jordan and I got more noodle soup..mine with shrimp and dumplings and Jordan's with beef. Of course we washed that all down with some more Tiger beer. The old woman who had served us beer the night before remembered us and brought us our beer right away. It was nice to be recognized but then I realized we were in fact the only white people in the joint on both nights! 

The next morning we woke up and had our usual breakfast on the rooftop and were out again headed to the city by 930 am. Our first stop was little India where we walked for what seemed like hours. We went to a mall where we picked up some shampoo and before we knew it, it was lunch. We ended up eating in an Indian restaurant (surprise surprise) and both ordered curry and naan bread. We noticed that the Indians around us were all eating with their hands (literally scooping the sauce onto their rice and shovelling it into their mouth). Was that ever an experience to witness...I had no idea they did that! While it wasn't entirely appetizing to watch, it is their culture and it was great to experience (in a weird way haha). 

After Little India, we headed to Singapore's technology hub-Sim Lim Tower and Market. The market is a 7 floor tower filled with stores ALL selling technology (computers, electrical gadgets, printers, iPads/pods/phones, cameras, etc.). Literally everything you can think of was in this mall...ridiculous! We went in wanting to look for a SD card for our camera so that we don't run out of room for pictures. We ended up bargaining a price of $27 bucks for 32 GB...after going into 10 plus stores. Not too shabby!

Now that we had made a purchase and gotten a rather good deal we decided to hop on the train and head to Orchard road. Regarded as one of the greatest shopping centres in Singapore if not SEA. It's insane the number of stores in a 2 mile stretch and the number of duplicate if not triples of each store. Most of the stores were too rich for our taste, or rather or budget, such as Louis Vuitton or Prada so we settled for a bench and chilled out until we decided to head home. On the way home we found a Wendy's and had some frosty's and walked home in the rain. 

That night we went to the Singapore night zoo, on the way there i kept looking over at the bus driver and was wondering if he just had really squinty eyes or if he was falling asleep...turns out he was taking a freaking nap! I started talking to jordan more loudly in hopes that it would keep the driver asleep. He would wake up and doze off for a second or two but still kept on the road thank god! I We watched an animal show and did a tour around the zoo on a "train" -basically a massive golf cart. The guide on the tour put on a fake accent to try and set the mood. It ruined the mood completely. There were lots of cool animals though...tigers, lions,elephants etc. 

The next day we walked around Singapore a bit more and headed to the airport in the afternoon to make our way to Bali! 

This has been a rather large blog so next post will be all about Bali! We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Xx

South and West Coast of NZ

Last you heard from us we were in Dunedin and had just enjoyed a wonderful sleep (with the bathroom just across the hall...with an actual toilet!!) at Hogwartz. That am we went to the Dunedin train station as we heard it was beautiful. It was nice but it was a train station. So on we went. We then went to the free museum were Jordan got his nerd on and checked out some exhibits including the famous NZ extinct Moa (massive bird that is twice the height of me) and a real mummy, that was about half the size of me! After the museum we headed to the mall to use their free Internet and check some emails. While we were on the net we got a FaceTime call from my great friend Jenn who I met in my program and is actually from Dundas, Ontario! Small world eh? We were able to chat a bit but bc both of our Internet connections were crap (she's in Cambodia at that moment) we didn't get to chat for too long! Either way, it was great to hear from my Jennybear again!! 

After our little chat Jordan and I headed out to the Otago peninsula where we heard there were albatross (in my mind, essentIially just giant seagulls). We went to the centre where they were asking $80 a person to go view these damn glorified seagulls...we said hells no to that and continued trekking on. We then decided to spend the night just outside of a town called Oamaru. We found a picnic area on the beach and hid the van away behind some bushes. The wind was insane though so we ended up cooking in our van. On the drive up the coast the next am we noticed that all the trees and bushes looked like they were frozen in place when a big gust of wind came along. We later found out that its bc this side of the coast is in, what they call, the 'Roaring 40's', the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south which are renowned for their gale-force winds....the trees actually are permanently wind blown! 

We then drove to Akaroa which is a couple hours drive east of Christchurch-located on a beauty peninsula. We ended up at a camper van site and did some much needed laundry! The next day we walked around the little town and had some coffee at a little shop right near the water. It was a cute French town with a relaxed feel.

That morning we continued up through to Waimate where I had read that at some point every December there was a strawberry festival that the town was 'famous for'. We decided to try our luck because it was a Saturday and whaddya know, it was on! We roamed around for a couple of hours looking at all the crafty stalls and decided on getting a couple of ice cream sundays with fresh strawberries. Surprisingly there were only maybe three stalls out of one hundred that were actually selling strawberries and the prices were outrageous (most fruit is here). We decided against purchasing any as a small box of strawberries was$9.00...for maybe 9 strawberries....crazy! I bought a little owl necklace and Jordan and I both bought a string bracelet (we are buying one from every country). 

After Waimate we continued north to Kaikoura. When we first got to Kaikoura we did a little window shopping where I actually found these beautiful winter knitted mitts and a headband.  (Note: Jordan and i ended up sending a package home with all our warm gear including jeans and sweaters...not going to need them in Asia...so that means that these are not to be worn....ok ma, char and Rah's???). Then we had a little coffee and decided to go check out the seals at the point. We hiked up the little mountain for a better view of the ocean and seals...man were there a lot of them, just baking in the sun! We stopped at a little seafood hut on the side of the road and tried some green-shelled mussels (delish but they're no pei mussels that's for sure!) and some scallops. Jordan enjoyed both which put a smile on my face-he originally didn't like seafood at all but having been in my family for 8+ years (mega seafood lovers) he's acquiring more of a taste for it! 

We had originally planned to spend the night in Kaikora at a free campsite (aka the side of the road hidden by bushes) but decided that we enjoyed enough time in this town. We stopped at Oahu waterfall where we encountered an adorable seal pup just basking in the sun. We were able to get within two feet of him-very cool! On the ocean side (across from the parking lot we saw tonnes of adult seals...massive they were!) I took 50 plus pictures and we were back on the road. 

As Jordan was driving I opened the map and noticed we were only 250 Km's or so from Nelson (aka the river bath campsite that we absolutely LOVED at the beginning of our tour of the South Island). We decided to drive up to Blenheim and stay for the night and do the remaining 150kms in the morning. Well we got to Blenheim and said scratch that, and decided we wanted to spend the night at the 'River Bath'..we arrived just before 9pm when the sun was still up! We had forgotten about the insane bugs and immediately started getting bit again. We were still recovering from our last bites here and so Jordan took a quick dip in the river and then we retreated to the van. 

We ended up staying at "the river bath campsite" for 3 nights and 3 days....totally relaxing and lots of fun! We did a little laundry in the river and swam and read during the days. There was even a rock ledge that you could jump off into the water. At one point Jordan pointed out an eel and I had a little freak out and made him jump in and scare it away. I ended up seeing it right under my feet a few minutes later when I was snorkelling (we brought our snorkelling gear) and was out of that water in a freaking jiffy.

That afternoon we decided to hunt down a DOC (department of conservation) campsite- this one only cost us $10! From the campsite there were hikes you could do. One of them led you to a beautiful gorge with the bluest water! If you know me, you know I love water and so I headed down to feel the temperature. It was pretty cold. But, I was determined to take the 100 foot ride down the rushing current to the 'beach'. Jordan thought I was completely out of my mind but after a little ( a lot) of persuasion, I got him to jump in with me. Let me tell you...it was fa-reezing!!! I felt like we were doing the polar bear dip! At the same time though, our adrenaline was just pumping because we are rushing down the gorge with the current, so while my brain and body recognized it was frigid, I was not (as) focused on that. What a rush...amazing, and best part....free! We roasted some "processed meat" (hawt dawgs) over the fire, played some cards and headed to bed. 

The next day we took off south to Hanmer Springs-a little town that's only a couple hundred Km's north west of Christchurch. We went to the outdoor springs which consisted of 10+ pools all ranging from 28-42 degrees. They also had three water slides which we made great use of! I tried to convince Jordan to keep going down them with me but he had hot thermal sulphur water on the brain! That night we spent our LAST night in the campervan at a little free campsite called Balmoral.  That morning we packed up all our gear and cleaned out the van and drove into Christchurch. 

Driving into Christchurch was not what we had expected at all! As I'm sure most of you know, shortly after Christmas (I believe February) of 2010,  the city got hit with a 7.2 earthquake that completely destroyed the town and killed 158 people. The number of after shocks that have occurred since was over 17,000!  (Keep in mind these are very little...most of which you can't actually feel). We had heard there was still destruction in the city but when we drove into the town, it looked like it had happened the day before! The destruction was incredible and we both felt this feeling as though we were in some war zone. The CBD was completely ruined with abandoned and demolished (purely from the earthquake) buildings and roads. There were fences up everywhere and so many streets completely shut off to the public as there was so much rubble. It was absolutely devastating to see...people lives, homes, business and their beloved city completely torn out from underneath them.  Needless to say, we walked around christchurch taking pictures of some of the destruction. We ended up booking a room at one of the few hostels that are left in the city. We ended up getting our own room as this hostel didn't have any mixed or woman's dorms (just men's and private rooms). That afternoon I face timed char for three hours while Jordan returned the van (yes, it took him three hours because he got lost....multiple times. It takes a woman to deal with directions evidently. :) 

That night we watched The Hobbit in theatres (we had to watch it while we were in NZ!). It was actually really cool to watch it and recognize parts of NZ that were in the film...good movie-recommended if you are a LOTR's fan. The next day we walked around Christchurch (not all that much to see anymore...and by that much I mean basically nothing). I had researched the town a little and lonely planet had revised their chapter on the city after the earthquake (because most businesses,restaurants, hotels they had written about weren't there anymore). They wrote about an old fridge that was on the corner of Kilmore and Barbadoes Street that was filled with used books! We headed there and exchanged some of our books for new (old) ones! Great idea! We then went out to lunch had a couple of beers, and headed back to the hostel for the night. 

The next am we had to be at the airport for 9 as we were flying to Auckland at 1030. It was a quick 1 hour flight and once we arrived we went back to the first hostel we stayed in when we first arrived a month ago, Queen Street Backpackers. Massive hostel. I'm not entirely sure how many people it could sleep but I'm willing to bet it was around 300+... The building almost took up an entire block! We slept that night with 6 others in the room and needless to say, didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I ended waking up just after 5 am because the girl above me was hopping around on her squeaky bed getting changed and fiddling with her bags since she had an early flight. Restless and unable to sleep anymore, I had a shower and spent the am watching a Christmas movie in the lobby. As I'm writing this I'm actually on the plane to Singapore and surprisingly not that tired (although I just took my second round of gravol so ill be out like a light in about 30 min). We are flying with Jet Star, the cheapest airline around with the squishiest seats and nothing complimentary...even though its an 11 hour flight. Once we boarded the plane they told us that the baggage count was wrong and it had to be fixed before we left. We ended up sitting on the Tarmac for TWO hours. As we speak, we've been flying for six hours but have been on the plane for over 8. Only five more to go! Jordan and i have already purchased and watched two movies and have had a $15 dinner (per meal) consisting of lamb and potatoes for me and chicken and rice for Jordan. We land in Singapore around 6:30pm (their time) and will be heading to our hostel where we will spend the next 4 days.

Well, I'm feeling the gravol start to kick in so i'll sign off here before I start writing stuff that makes no sense at all!

Till next time xx

Wanaka, Queenstown, Milford Sounds, Invercargill and Dunedin

Well, it's been a few days and I've been slacking on the blogging front so I'm going to write about the past week or so to fill you in! After we left Fox Glacier we drove straight through to Wanaka, a beautiful town in the heart of ski country. The town had such a great feel to it, reminded me a lot of Collingwood (Blue Mountain) where my aunt and Dad have a beautiful condo. Lots of little shops and overall a great town! When we first got there we hit up Puzzling World where we spent a couple of hours going through the illusion room and this insane maze that takes people on average anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour to complete. The harder version takes over 1.5 hours. At the beginning we were excited about the maze and thought we were getting the hang of it but then, not surprisingly, I started getting frustrated. However, happy to report back that we didn't give up and solved it in just over 30 minutes (it felt like hours). 

After Puzzling World we walked around the city checking out the shops and then headed to Paradiso, and old church converted into one movie theatre. This theatre is not your typical theatre! It is decked out with old, comfy, clean donated couches and even an old car that you can sit in if you so choose. Let me tell you, best movie theatre ever!! So comfortable! Not only that but we had a pizza there before the movie and then had some dessert, while watching the movie...delicious homemade ice cream! Think we're done? Oh no! Then came the intermission where we were able to purchase HOT fresh out of the OVEN cookies and beverages! I chose a hot chocolate and Jordan had (according to him) the best beer he's ever had that was made in Wanaka. Did I mention that you got to eat/drink this during the rest of the movie? Like I said, best.theatre.ever!!

We ended up staying at a DOC (department of conservation) campsite for $14 and woke up to some beautiful mountains! We then carried on to Queenstown. The drive to Queenstown was one of the prettiest of all NZ...endless snow topped mountains and beautiful yellow bushes (not sure what they are called but the sign said NZ's Golden Forest). The whole West Coast was absolutely gorgeous and we found ourselves going for little drives (taking the seniors scenic route like my parents always used to do when we were kids...I hated it!! But Jordan and I had some good laughs now that we are doing it and looking at real estate while we are at it...old foggies now!). Anyways, Queenstown, we both think, is the prettiest town in NZ...surrounded by snow covered mountains and beautiful lakes...absolutely stunning! When we got to Queenstown we headed straight for the luge (same thing we did back in Rotorua if you remember). We had such a blast last time that we just had to go again...we were the first people of the day (eager little beavers we were!) and raced the luge 5 times. Of course I won 3/5 times...Jordan only won those two times because I told him my winning move...if any of you end up going to NZ, you absolutely to have to do the luge, and then I will tell you my winning move! :) 

After the luge we hit up Makkas for some Internet and charging. While cruising Facebook my Dad told me that the fam would like to buy us a ride on a jet boat. We've heard lots about how fantastic these boats are and took him up on his offer immediately! Thank you Dad and Jen!!! We had such a great time on this boat. We went with ShotOver Jets and these boats cruise up and down the river going, at points, 85km an hour and hucking mad 360's. It was freezing out and we were getting drenched but it was so so worth it!! Little tidbit: some fellow riders (unfortunately at an earlier time) included Ryan Reynolds, Allanis Morsiette, Kenny Rogers, many actors from LOTR including Sir Ian McClellan (?) and even Sir Peter Jackson.  After the jet boat ride, for at least a day after, when we were driving our van it felt like we were drifting the corners..the strangest feeling ever...slightly nauseating actually haha but we got a kick out of it!)

After the Shotover Jet we headed back to town where we cruised the downtown area and had a few beers at this cool little bar called Red Stone where this band was playing some great Reggae music, even a little Marley! We then headed up to our campground (it had been a few days...we needed showers!!) and cooked some din. We had heard about these awesome private hot pools (a massive wooden tub). The tub is in its own room and with a touch of a button the sliding door goes up and you are looking at a beautiful view of the mountains and river! Totally gorgeous and so peaceful! We had tried to go the night before but unfortunately they were booked out so we made a booking for the next night and spent the day wondering around Queenstown again. In the afternoon we drove up the coast to Glenorchy, a small town with pretty much nothing. However, the drive to this town and when you got there was totally stunning! At this point though, we were both exhausted and ended up having a 2.5 hour nap in the van (the van isn't as comfortable as our last one when we went up to Cairns in Oz so we haven't had the best sleeps...also our damn bug bites still keep us up at night!). Anywho, that night we drove back to Onsen Hot Pools (totally recommended them). We didn't want to pay for accommodation again (we have a kitchen and bed in our van...we shouldn't have to pay!) and went south until we found a little picnic area with no signs saying we weren't allowed to camp there...we took full advantage. This little spot was right on the lake and was surrounded with mountains! If the water wasn't so damn cold we would have had a little dip and probably did a little laundry...however it was painful enough just washing our dishes!). 

The next am we took off to Te Anau, which is south of Queenstown. We did a little grocery shopping and then continued on to Milford Sounds. Unfortunately we didn't really research this area before we got there and realized after 2 + hours of driving that the only thing to do there was take a cruise that would cost us $180. We have already spent over what we had thought we were going to spend and decided against it. However, the drive up was really beautiful and I was even able to touch snow for the first time in a year!! (Of course I whacked Jordan with a good snowball as soon as I got my hands on it!). 

We ended up staying at another DOC campsite for $10 and ended up spending the whole night and next am in the van as it was pouring rain!! I have never held off going to the bathroom for so long-such an ordeal!!!

That afternoon we drove to Invercargill, the biggest most southern city in NZ. At this point it had been a couple of days since we had showered (nothing new) so we hit up the local swimming pool! Haha we were playing around in the water and on the indoor slide for hours and then headed on out of town to find a free spot to camp. We randomly saw a sign for a scenic reserve 7 km off of the main road and took a chance. Essentially just in the middle of a field with a circle of trees around and a picnic table and long drop (porta potty) toilet.  We were the only ones there (you don't say right?). That night once we had shut the lights off in the van, some kids (we think) came into our little circle of grass and started racing around in their car....with no lights on. Scared the absolute shit outta me because at that point we didn't know what the hell was going on because we couldn't see anything! The next am though we noticed doughnut tracks in the field and decided that it was just a bunch of punk kids coming in to have a bit of fun. 

We then drove (lots of driving eh?) to Dunedin, a town just 2.5 hours north on the east coast. Right away you could see a massive difference from the west to east coast in terms of scenery. Whereas the west coast is very mountainous and snowy, the east coast has more rolling green hills and flat land for farming...farming what you ask? Farming sheep...thousands and thousands of sheep! Both islands are covered in sheep but this particular area seemed to have quite a few more. Once we got into Dunedin we noticed quite the European influence. I was desperate for something Christmassy (it just doesn't feel like Xmas here!) so we headed to the mall for some Christmas tunes and decorations...they didn't really deliver all that much so we headed to the local Starbucks where we sat by the fire drinking some hot Christmas drinks (Jordan stuck with his flat white...he's now a coffee connoisseur). The kiwis and Aussies are very particular about their coffee. I remember on one of our first days in Australia, I asked for a double double and they looked at me like I was speaking Swahili. They do coffee the fancy way here with flat whites, short/long blacks, mochas, lattes etc etc...took us forever to figure out which coffee was the same as what we like at home...conclusion-there is only one Tim Hortons coffee and you can not replicate it or the price (you'd be screaming for joy if you found a coffee under $3.50- for a small that is). 

After our trip to Starbucks I researched a little bit about the town and what to do. We had heard from Isaac and Mia that you could do a brewery tour of Speights, NZ's biggest brewery. Sounds fun? Sure....now include unlimited beer in that baby! We obviously wanted to take advantage of the unlimited beer drinking so I looked up some hostels (there weren't any close campervan spots within walking distance) and I ended up finding a nifty place called....wait for it....Hogwartz!! I checked out the pics and we headed over ASAP. Best hostel we have ever been too! So unique and the owners were super nice. They even had herbs and spices that you could get from their garden if you wanted too. They also had an awesome loft that could be reached via ladder where we spent a couple of hours just lounging around while the heat from the wood fire (more comforts from home!) heated us up. We splurged on a private room which essentially came with a private bathroom...took full advantage of having a shower at our disposal and had not one but twoooo showers! Haha. Let me tell you, was I ever stoked to sleep in a REAL bed that isn't made up of six different sized cushions that you slip between the cracks in. Not only that but when I woke up in the early am, I didn't have to put on any shoes or a jacket and make the trek to the bathroom...oh nooooo, I could just walk across the hall and blam!! There was the bathroom! LUXURY!!!! The things we take for granted, oh buddyyyy. On this special night I was also, for the first time, able to wear the Pyjamas I brought with me instead of every piece of clothing I own (it's freezing every night in that damn van!). 

On an absolutely embarrassing note (maybe more info then needed but I got a kick out of it)...we've been so lax lately and hadn't really gone out in public for a couple of days (before we got to Dunedin). So we are wondering around Dunedin (super populated city...for NZ) and we finally get back to the van and i realizeeeee......that I didn't have a bra on!!! Oh man, talk about hippies to the max right? Told you I just had to share!

Sorry about this extensively long post but hopefully you are enjoying it! Anyways, that night we did the Speights brewery tour....fantastic! They make six different beers including their famous Speights Gold Medal (delish!!) , a pale ale, an old dark, a pilsner, an amber and finally an apple cider that they only started making two years ago which I helped myself to generously along with the gold medal beer. Get this, the tour guides get to drink with us butttt back in the olden days, Mr. James Speight,  would allow for each pair that worked together to drink....not 1 or 2 litres of beer but 23 litres of beer a day!!!! They had their own personal keg and they would flip a coin to see who would get to take home leftovers (if there were any, that is!). Best boss in the world...it's amazing they were able to make such a strong business that is still thriving 130+ years later! After the tour we headed to Speights Ale House Restaurant where I had the best meal of the trip....a lamb shank, mashed potatoes, peas, corn and broccoli....all for only $18 (which in NZ and Oz is an pretty decent price!). See Grampy, they do have lamb here! :) 

Once we left the restaurant it was raining cats and dogs so we decided to head on back to Hogwartz! Overall, we have loved Dunedin and we are looking forward to checking out more of the town and its surroundings. 

On another note, it has been absolutely freezing and incredibly windy down in the south. We found out yesterday that this is probably due to e fact that Auckland got hit with a tornado killing 3 (as of yesterday). Thankfully we weren't in the city (or close to it) but we will be flying back into Auckland on the 17th. Fingers crossed the tornadoes stay away!

I know it was a long post but I hadn't written in over a week so it was time to catch up! Hopefully you didn't get too bored reading it and maybe even had some laughs.

Love to all xx

Abel Tasman, Franz Josef & Fox Glacier

Alrighty, well we've had a couple of great days since our last blog. After we left the "river bath" campsite we headed north west to Abel Tasman National Park. This is a beautiful park most popular for their 3-4day hikes Up the mountains and along the coast.  We decided to just spend the afternoon there and walk along the beach. As soon as we stepped on the beach I noticed the little holes in the sand and right away knew, from my summers in PEI when I was a kid, that there were clams. And ohhh buddy were there clams. Jordan had never clam dug before so I was excited to show him how. Right away he loved it and it was a game to see who could catch the biggest one. It started off as such finding some clams here and there but then we hit the jackpot and collected more and more. I think we probably ended up with over a hundred and so that night we steamed up so delicious clams with some carrots and garlic butter and had ourselves a delicious little/big appetizer.  The black flies were going crazy over the garlic butter so we gobbled them up pretty quickly! 

 Buller River was where we spent the night at a free spot right by the river. After paying for accommodation so much we decided to start being really sneaky and try and find spots that were hidden from the road so we wouldn't get a ticket. This spot was great however this time we didn't end up swimming because a) there was a huge current b) there were tonnes of black flies and c) the water was frigid!! Did I mention there were blacks flies? These little buggers have quite the bite to them and then the bite itches like crazyyyyy for days after. We both got lit up so bad that we would wake up in the middle of the night and just itch for 10 minutes straight..not fun. We woke up the next morning and decided to hold off on breakfast and just get the hell outta there...we did NOT want anymore bites.

After we left Buller River we carried on to Franz Josef Glacier. We had heard all about this place and wanted to book a trip up to actually walk on the glacier and check it out. However because hunks of the ice were starting to fall off at the end of it, it was unsafe to walk on it, even with a guide. The only way to get on the glacier was to take a helicopter which would cost anywhere from $299 per person and up. We vetoed against that and decided just walk to the edge which was about 150 metres from the actual glacier. This thing was a monstrosity and was just beautiful! It was an hour and a half round trip to see the glacier and the numerous waterfalls that surrounded. It's the craziest setting because there is this huge ice block that just sits in the middle of a rainforest. Who knows why it doesn't just melt but it was a pretty cool experience. That night we went out to a cool restaurant called the Landing, had a delicious dinner and treated ourselves to dinner...date cake with caramel topping...reminded me of my Aunt Gina's...yum!! We stayed at a "free" (really we just didn't pay) campsite with the worst smelling port-a-potty I've ever smelt....gagggg!

Due to the fact that we couldn't walk on the Franz Josef Glacier we drove thirty minutes down the road to Fox Glacier which is actually 2km longer at 13km! This glacier we were able to take a guided tour onto the ice that was a half day trip. It was really cool to be able to walk on it and through crevasses. By the end we had enjoyed it so much that we wished we did the full day hike! There is also a tour that is a two night trip in which you get flown up by a heli, the guide makes all your meals, you stay in a cabin and you hike during the day. The price tag: $1400 buckaroonies. Maybe when we are retired and are (obviously) rolling in the dough we'll come back and do that trip! Hehe. We ended up "splurging" on a campsite so we could have a much needed shower! Today we are off further south to a town called Wanaka we our Isaac and Mia also lived for a while. 

On a side note, because we only have an iPad with us and there is no USB port, we are unable to add photos to our blog until we get the little add on we ordered....fingers crossed we get it before 2 weeks is up and we are off to Singapore! So apologies for the lack of pictures but we are trying to take pictures on our iPad and iPhone and upload those to Facebook! Ahhh technology!

That's all for now folks!

Ps. Thanks for commenting on our blogs!!  We are really loving reading all of them and get so excited to here a new one and all that's happening at home! Miss everyone!

Love Kikki and JoJo

Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Wellington and Picton

I  hope you enjoyed the last blog. It's somewhat of a different style, combining sentence and short form together, but hopefully it gives you a taste for what we have been up to! Again, my apologies for spelling and grammatical errors. It's tricky to self edit on the iPad so this'll have to do!

Our next stop was Waitomo Caves (more specifically a company called Blackwater Rafting) where we repelled 27 metres into a cave and we were able to float down the pitch black water on inner tubes! We had little head lamps on our helmets buT at this point turned them off so that we could see the millions of little glow worms...the coolest thing! The whole adventure was 5 hrs (including driving to the caves and suiting up in full on wet suit gear) so towards the end we were getting a little chilly. Our guide Amy handed out cups of hot juice (surprisingly delicious) and three pieces of chocolate to give us a bit of energy to get out of the cave. The only way out was to climb what we had just repelled down. Jordan of course was up in a jiffy while I took just a wee bit longer, but still made it up in under 5 minutes. The caves were well worth the money we spent and we would definitely recommended it to everyone! We were one of two other couples that did this little adventure. One of the couples, who was on their honeymoon from Ireland, were on a six week adventure stopping in  Fiji, Australia, NZ, LA, and Dallas...all in six weeks!! It was unbelievable...they had flown into NZ for only four days and were planning on seeing the North and the South Islands...not entirely sure how they were planning on doing that as Jordan and I are finding that one month is not nearly enough time to be ale to spend in NZ.  (I think if it weren't for family and friends back at home....I can see my mom tearing as I'm writing this...we would probably live here for a while since we love it so much! But don't worry Ma, we are coming home...eventually!). 

After Waitomo Caves, we drove two hours south to Rotorua (Roto meaning lake in the native Maori language and rua meaning two). Going a little off topic here, the majority of town names and lakes all have Maori names which is very similar, I found, to Hawaii and how their towns are all named in the Native Hawaiian language...too cool!  Anyways, Rotorua is the adventure spot on the North Island and has all sorts of activities including Zorbing (which was first invented in NZ) and luging. Rotorua also has a whack of thermal activity where you can actually see mud bubbling in the middle of the city!  They have thermal pools all over the town which absolutely wreak of sulphur...so much so that we kept on driving when we pulled into one of the places you could have a thermal bath! Isaac and Mia, who I will be referring to a lot in these blogs re NZ , recommended use to do the luge in Rotoruaa. Essentially you are on a little toboggan with bicycle handle bars and you zoom down a windy ski hill...let me tell you, we had an absolute blast!!! I've never had so much fun on a little toboggan than on this luge track....we were definitely going the fastest out of anyone on the track and we would race each other down the hill! Jordan won twice (because I let him..didn't want to damage his self esteem) I won once. Apparently there is another luge track on the South Island, so we are hoping to hit that up before we leave...so much fun!!

We also had Wendy's for the first time in a year!!!! NZ has so many things from home that Australia doesn't have so we are feeling a but closer to home (even though we are further than ever!). Here's a list of things that NZ has that Australia didn't for home:

Queen Anne's lace

Wendy's

Burger King

Fruit loops/Cheerios

Dodge and Ford trucks

Nature valley bars

Bagels 

Starbucks (had a gingerbread latte yesterday....yum!)

Trivial to everyone at home but having these things around us make us feel a little bit closer to home, which during the holiday season is nice! Haha

Anywho, after Rotorua we drove on to Taupo were we ended up finding this incredibly hot thermal river where we bathed in...well sort of. It was so hot that you could only stay in for a couple of minutes but nevertheless, it was really cool to be swimming in a hot river! We spent the night at a free campground called Reid's something rather and ended up driving straight to Wellington (the southern tip of the north island). While driving into the city we spotted a caravan park (of sorts) in the middle of the downtown...right on the water!! We ended up staying there that night and enjoyed a (much needed) hot shower. I ended up falling asleep at 7:45 for the night! I think it might by endless days of fresh air but I never have a problem falling asleep! The next day we wandered around Welli enjoying the free Te PaPa museum and their free Internet! We were able to catch up on all that we had missed and even write a few emails to back home! (It's crazy how so much happens in such a short amount of time...but at that same time, it's nice to be completely disconnected from the digital world!). 

After the museum we wandered the Sunday markets and even checked out the Hobbit exhibition they had going on. As some of you know I'm sure, I loveee The Lord of the Rings trilogy (yes, a little bit of a geek in me) and the prequel to these movies, The Hobbit, was made in NZ recently. Anyways, they were  hosting the world premier of the movie only a couple of days after we left Wellington (sad face) but on this day, they were showing how they did the make up of the Orcs (scary creatures in the movie)...Dad, I'm sure you'll appreciate this! The whole make up process takes three hours for each person (sometimes they had over 300 to do in one day!) and at least an hour or two to take the make up off. We watched this process for a bit while one of actors answered questions about the movie and about Peter Jackson (the director) who he referred to as PJ. It was so interesting! (Jordan was a good sport about this as he is not nearly the fanatic that I am!). 

That night at 8 we caught the three hour ferry to the South Island that dropped us off in Picton. We slept in a parking lot that night...surprisingly there were no "no camping" signs, so we took full advantage...even cooked our breaky there in the am!). Random sidetracking here but this town had the craziestttt toilets! Everything was electronic to the sliding door, the lock and unlock, the toilet paper, the soap dispenser, the water (which when turned on would flush the toilet) and the hand dryer. Oh, and did I mention that jazz music was turned on once you entered and you were thanked by the toilet gods when you exited for using "Ezeeloo"?....like I said, crazy! Jordan was in love. 

We then carried on to the Marlborough Sounds, reached by a beautiful road with some fantastic views of the islands. We found a beautiful little private beach were we went for dip in the freezing ocean! After, we drove west to a town called Nelson where we enjoyed free internet from Makkas (McDonalds). We were able to FaceTime my family for a little bit but then I think the employees switched off the Internet bc we were using up their bandwidth...or it could have been because we didn't buy anything... But hey, it's expensive here! Like I was telling my family, a Big Mac meal here is $12.80!)

Thanks to Mia and Isaac, again, we had NZ's best fish and chips (they were delicious) and found a beautiful campsite by the river where they stayed on and off for three months! One spot in the river is even deep enough to dive I ( I'd say at least 8-10 ft deep), so we busted out the shampoo and had a much needed river bath! We loved this campsite so much we decided to stay two nights. The days were filled with jumping in the river and reading our books on the cushions from our van...hippies to the max, but it was by far the most relaxing day we've had yet!  Now that we are on the South Island and we've got three weeks, we are taking it a bit slower and soaking it all up!

Well, that's it for now..hope you enjoyed!

North Island, New Zealand

Ok, we are back! Now that we have started travelling again, I'd like to keep on top of the blog as much as possible. The following post is an accumulation of the past week. Since our Internet access is few and far between, they won't be regular and unfortunately until I can figure out how to upload photos, there won't be any photos either. However, this gives you a bit of a taste of what we are doing! Enjoy! (Ps. Please ignore and spelling/grammar mistakes as I am writing this on the iPad).

We got up at 5:40am after only 3 hours of sleep after my Gde ball...amazing!

We said goodbye to 41-43 Bourne st and took a quick last look around, it was somewhat sad to leave the gong....we loved it there!

We then headed to the train station for 6:18 but then realized that it didn't actually come until 6:45! Damn, could have got a few more minutes of sleep. Jordan slept on the train ride there (2 hrs) and then we dropped off our one jammed suitcase at the storage lockup where a friend of ours, Ashley, would pick it up on the Monday and bring it back to Canada with  her...we owe you ash!!

Waited at the airport for 3 hours..my need to be early had evidently rubbed off on Jordan who planned this leg. We then flew to Auckland with Air New Zealand...highly recommended! The safety video was all LOTR and we both actually watched the entire thing...so cool and very smart!

When we landed in Auckland it was freezing and raining. Since we landed after the campervan rental placed closed (such a pain) we had to pay $32 bucks to get into Auckland, $22/each to stay in a hostel and another $30+ bucks to get back to the airport area to pick up our home for the next 29 days. After picking up the van, we drove around getting breaks and groceries/supplies for the next week or so. We then drove up north to the town of Puhia, in the Bay of Islands district, where we spent the night at a campground for $20. When we first arrived in Puhia we immediately went to book an overnight boat trip on "The Rock"- which came highly recommended by our good friends from home Isaac and Mia who lived in NZ for a year or so. After looking our trip we went back to our campsite had some din (chewiest steak we've ever had) and headed over to the local pub called Shippey's-an actual ship...very cool! 

Turned in for an early night...still exhausted from the Gde ball I think...we partied hard!

Well, woke up this am on a boat called The Rock. Surprisingly I slept like a baby and was not motion sick at all..yay! The night prior we jetted off on this overnight tour boat and got to fish off the back and ended up having a late dinner with the crew and fellow passengers. We also went night kayaking and saw the phosphorescence in the water (algae that glow when you touch the water...think Disney water! Very cool!) However, I was freezing this entire time and despite the on board fired, I couldn't shake the cold feeling. The next am we woke up and had NZ traditional porridge (same as home) and went snorkelling for some sea urchins. I, however, already feeling a bit under the weather, decided not to venture into the freezing water. The air temperature was probably only 17 degrees as well and pouring rain. Jordan did go in but was back in a jiffy after collecting eight spikey sea urchins that we later ate (their eggs which tasted like slimy salt and looked like an over saturated crouton). After that , we ventured up a mountain in the pouring rain...very cool but again, freezing.

 We then were back on land by 3pm and driving north to the Coromandel Peninsula. That night we stayed at a beautiful campsite that was at the bottom of a huge mountain. Going off track a bit, NZ is such a beautiful country. I can't even begin to describe what it lookalike by it encompasses so many features from, other countries into one. First of all, if you hAve seen LOTR, those little (and massive) green rolling hills with little "stairs" going up them actually do exist...duh, the film was shot here! On top of the rolling arm hills/mountains, there are rivers and beautiful ocean drives everywhere. I have never been in such a green country. Completely and utterly green everywhere you look.

Anyways, after spending the night in Thames, we drove to the Peninsula and man was it beautiful! Our main goal however was to go t the Cathedral Cove, apparently stunning. But since we had been driving forever and we so caught up in the scenery, we drove way, wayyyy passed it. Unfortunately we drove too far to turn around and ended up continuing on to Raglan for the night. Raglan, well, it's a pretty town ill give ya that but not a whole lot to do. However, since the whole boat trip the day prior, I was getting pretty sick and having (and still) the worst allergies ever. Not sure how I got the short end of the stick and Jordan went swimming n the freezing cold and is fine but that's the way the cookie crumbles haha. 

We ended up spending the night at the local, and only campsite. In NZ there are very few places where you can damp for free. They have no camping signs everywhere and if you do and get caught, which you will, it's a $200 fine. So, each night we've had to pay for 'accommodation' even though we sleep and cook from our van. This, in turn, has added on a whole other cost that we were not accounting for. Not entirely pleased about this but what can ya do?

Anyways, the next am we went to Kawhia (pronounced kaf-ee-a) to check out the hot water beach!  There is a very popular and famous beach called Hot Water Beach, however, we heard through Our friends Isaac and Mia that this one in Kawhia was much better and we might find ourselves the only ones there...which we were! In short, there are old volcanic remnants that lay under the sand and heat up the water like a hot tub. When the tide goes out, you can literally see the water boiling up through the sand! We just dug a little tub for us to sit in and voila, our own personal hot tub with a view of the ocean and mountains. The water was so hot that we actually got a little bit burnt! The beach also has black sand so walking on it was somewhat painful. We had to wear flip flops and even then it was incredibly hot. Jordan decided to try and test his limits and ran..literally sprinted...down the dune in bare feet and burnt his feet so badly that he had blisters! 

Later on the afternoon we drove to Waitomo Caves to book our black water rafting trip. More about that tomorrow! We carried on to Te Kuiti where we found a beautiful spot to park the van for the night...alongside a river on a reserve. Best part- it is free and there are no signs saying we can't camp here! If we had more time, we definitely would have stayed longer....beauty spot!

Well, that caught you up to the last few days...more to come about Waitomo Caves and Rotorua soon! 

Day Trips to Sydney & Nan Tien Temple

               Well, since our last blog we have managed to go on a couple of outings! We decided to finally venture back to Sydney and check out the sites since we had only spent one night in Sydney when we first flew in. After a fairly quick hour and thirty-five minute train ride from Wollongong into Sydney, we hopped off and marched right into Chinatown. This particular weekend was when the Chinese New Year celebrations were going on and so we had anticipated lots of hussle and bussle but to our surprise, we found neither hussle nor bussle! :P It was fairly quiet and the only real proof we saw that it was in fact the Chinese NY was the flags waving on the street lamps. Regardless, we decided to take a little tour through Chinatown and ended up finding a Chinese flee market (very reminiscent of the 400 Flee market). As a little girl, I can remember countless trips to the 400 Flee Market with my Oma and Opa, heading there to buy German salami…my favourite! After looking around at all the little trinkets, and trying to draw Jordan away from checking out all the didgeridoos (an Australian wind instrument), we kept on trekking.

After picking up a map of central Sydney at the train station, we decided to make our way to the harbour to check out the bridge and the opera house. It was actually a blistering hot day and so after walking for a few hours and checking out the waterfront, we decided to have a pint and ended up scoring fantastic seats on the patio right on the water!

 Our view was a massive cruise ship and the Sydney bridge…if I stuck my head out a little bit over the side I could see the famous Sydney opera house too! On our way to the bridge and opera house we walked on the waterfront boardwalk which had all sorts of restaurants and little souvenir shops. There was one section of the boardwalk that had beautiful apartments and right in front of these apartments were slips for the owner’s million dollar yachts. Despite the fact that neither of us have been to Italy we both thought that the old part of Sydney (where the bridge and opera house are- called The Rocks) had a large Italian feel to it. The city itself was nothing like I expected…very European-like. The part of Sydney that we saw was absolutely beautiful and of course seeing the famous bridge and opera house up close was an experience in itself! We ate the lunch we brought with us sitting across the harbour looking at the opera house and just took in the magnificent views around us! 

A little smooch for my love

At the end of the day- you can tell by our glazed-over look!

 After checking out the opera house, it started to rain and so we made our way to Castlereigh Street which is the Fifth Ave of New York. Since we weren’t dressed overly fancy and had a backpack equipped with two soaking umbrellas, we (I) didn’t think it would be appropriate to go into the stores (Chanel, Tiffany’s, Miu Miu, etc). However, we found a “Bay-like” store called David Jones that had 6 floors and wasted some time in there.

Jordan’s Insert:

 Allow me to set the scene haha. It’s a beautiful sunny day (one of our few as it has been super rainy here) so of course Kirsten and I waste no time getting to the beach. As we round the corner and get our first glimpse of the surf our jaws drop. To our astonishment we see some of the biggest waves we have seen yet. No joke pushing 10-12 feet and people are getting crushed! So we set up our beach tent and lay around for all of 5 minutes when we say let’s try our luck in these waves. As we walk into the water I instantly feel the power of the rip that day as it is pulling my out to deep water. I look at Kirsten and say “there is no way you are going to get me past my waist in this rip” she agrees. As we start to catch a few of the smaller waves and bodysurf around we both begin to get a little more confident and go out into the deeper water. I catch a real beauty and end up almost on shore, as I turn around I see Kirsten eyeing up a massive wave which I later nicknamed “The Widow maker”...an example is seen below haha.

She looks at me with a huge grin on her face like “watch this”, I am shaking my head and yelling No go under! Knowing Kirsten she goes for it. As the wave begins to break Kirsten is riding it perfectly, then she disappears. I see her legs come flying out of the top of the wave and then she disappears a second time. I get smashed by the white wash of the wave and end up about 15 feet away. As I gather myself I instantly begin to run back towards her thinking she must be seriously hurt. Thankfully she finally surfaces and catches her breath and instantly bursts into a fit of laughter saying “did you see how big that wave was!” I laugh and call her crazy. A little later on we are in closer to shore and are both seriously fighting the rip to stay standing. We turn around and see a small girl being swept away and without skipping a beat Kirsten runs over and grabs the girl. The little girl tells Kirsten that she needs to find her friend. We look over and here is a small girl also being pulled out by the rip. Kirsten runs over and grabs her too. Kirsten is seriously struggling at this point to stand with both of these little girls under her arms. She digs her feet into the sand and holds her ground. They get smashed by multiple massive waves. I look at her and ask if she needs a hand which seemed obvious. I grab one of the little girls and help her to shore and like kids they thank us and run back into the waves. I look at Kirsten and say “that’s enough; we are getting out of the water it is getting way to unsafe”. Not 30 minutes goes by and I look out into the waves and spot a guy way outside of the safe swimming area. I point him out to Kirsten and we both agree he is in serious trouble. Seconds later the lifeguards go running into the water to save him and they are struggling against the waves. Eventually both lifeguards get out to him with the surfboard and begin to bring him in. Twenty minutes goes by and they are still battling the waves to get to shore. Eventually they safely get in and minutes later the flags are taken down and the beach is shut down and no longer safe to swim. For the next two days the beach was closed due to unsafe rips and MASSIVE waves.

 When the beach finally did open up, although it was raining we decided to go for a body board. When we get to the beach we are literally the only people there other than two lifeguards and a few surfers down the coast at the reef. As eerie as it was it the waves were awesome and we were able to ride a ton without the interruption of other swimmers.  

Our second outing was suggested to us by Sarah (Kirsten’s sister) to visit the Buddhist temple in Unanderra. We really had no idea what to expect but it was a beautiful day and we were in the mood for a little adventure. So we hoped on the train and were on our way to Unanderra. When we arrived we started walking to the temple which is oddly located on the outskirts of the industrial sector, about 20 minutes by foot from the train station. As we rounded the hill the temple and pagoda were finally in sight.

 We were both expecting the temple to be a very quiet peaceful place. It was indeed peaceful but nowhere near quiet. It was packed. There were hundreds of worshipers going in and out of the temple paying their respects. We were both shocked and intrigued to say the least. Not speaking the language of the majority of the people at the temple we really didn’t know what the procedure was upon entering the temple. We climbed the never ending stairs into the pagoda and removed our shoes to enter the first room of worship. It is strictly forbidden to talk in this room, and as neither of us are Buddhist we sat back and observed respectfully as many people came and went.

We then hiked up a massive hill to a gazebo like structure where there was a huge bell. When you ring the bell you are said to be sending good wishes to your family. We both rang the bell and made a wish as instructed. The view from the top of the hill was beautiful, looking over the entire grounds of the temple.

 We then hiked down the hill and wandered through the forest of blue trees and checked out all of the Buddha shrines scattered throughout the grounds. Majority of these shrines where not your typical fat guy sitting cross legged that comes to mind when you think of the Buddha, they were everything but. From an old man with ankle length eyebrows to a guy riding a lion.

 We finally make our way into the temple which houses the two main shrines and a beautiful courtyard. We go into the first shrine and remove our shoes as usual and have a look around and observe the worshipers. When we enter the second shrine we decide to break the rules a little and snap a few photos secretly of the shrines. Not being able to look through the view finder we had no clue if the pictures worked out or not but when we left we had managed to get one good picture.

At this point we had been exploring the temple for about 3 hours now and we are both super tired. We decide to call it a day and hike back to the train and head home.

Another blog should be up shortly about our trip to Manly Beach to see the Australian Open Surfing and Skating Competition in Sydney.

Lot's of love,
Jordan & Kirsten