As Ady said we're now in New Zealand - the 3rd leg of our trip! We're travelling with the Kiwi Experience which is kind of like a cross between Trek America and National Express from home. The company basically takes you from one location to another in a big group of travellers - but rather than staying with the same gang from start to finish you can hop off one if you want to stay somewhere longer and just catch the next bus that comes (pretty much 7 days a week depending on location). So far everything seems pretty good with informative (and funny) drivers and a nice bunch of people. If you wait a while to book they always seems to be having some sort of offers as well so don't rush - we managed 20% off ours!
Everything in New Zealand is kind of like home with an American twist. Its green, hilly and forest-y; best of all the temperature is like home. Getting off the plane was incredible; for around 7 weeks I've been uncomfortably hot in America and Fiji so it was pure relief stepping in to temperatures of below 20C - and finally time to make use of those 2 jumpers I've been carrying around for no reason what so ever!
Our first couple of days were spent in Auckland - the biggest city in the whole of the country. I'll be honest, its a bit shit. Apparently it is close to the top of the top 55 'best quality of life' cities in the World but I don't see it myself. It has everything you need (if what you need is Internet cafes, pharmacies and Chinese takeaways) for a short stay but we just made use of the cinema and a few shops to get stocked up for the rest of the New Zealand trip. The best thing about the city was possibly the ACB hostel where we stayed. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have what is called 'the big eat' where you pay $10 for a beer and as much pizza as you can eat - Ady and myself both managed 2 whole ones before we couldn't eat anymore - they then brought out about another 30 pizzas; for the cost you can't go wrong!
After 2 nights there we took our first Kiwi experience bus up to the Bay of Islands at the northern tip of the Island. Stunning scenery and loads of activities on offer; but rather than the usual speed boat trips around the islands etc we decided to do some sea fishing - It was amazing!! We went out with Spot-X fishing; they use high speed boats so that you get to the fishing spots quicker so the ride out was pretty cool in itself. Once out there I managed to catch 2 Snappers and 1 HUGE Barracuda!
Barracudas are unfortunately full of worms which makes them crap for eating so we had to make do with 2 Snappers for dinner... but they were bloody lovely! So some advice for the Bay of Islands... if you're going to do a cruise around the islands do something on that cruise as we've heard from quite a few people it can be a bit dull - so go sailing, fishing or kayaking then you get to see the islands and be entertained... perfect!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment