... and my last post from New Zealand too... kind of sad... But then again, I'm super happy to go home too!! It's been great times for the past 3 and a half months in here, I really do love this country and I'm so happy to have met so many great people on the way!!! You can never have too many friends and I've made loads of them during this trip :))) I'm really hoping to see them again some day, somewhere :))
I've already packed my bags, gave a lot of clothes to the salvation army (most of them old and crappy ones, but hey, they'll take anything, it's not like I'm going to use them anymore) and few pairs of shoes as well. I arrived here with 3 pairs of shoes, bought 2 pairs here, leaving with just the ones on my foot. Ones were ruined by mud and ones were getting a bit worn out anyway so... You can always buy more, am I right? :D Not that I'll be having much money to spend when I get back home :D It's amazing how much money I've spend in this country!! Well at least back home I don't have to pay for the food anymore, I'm hoping my mom has missed me enough to cook for me <3 hihih
So yeah, this is it for my blog as well. It was all about NZ and now that I'm going back home I'm done with the writing as well. I have loads of pictures and fond memories of this country and all the people I've met, so I'm not going to ever forget it!!! I'm so happy that I came here, so SO happy! Even though I didn't find a job and had to borrow money from my dad, it was still worth it!! It's not like I get to travel on the other side on the world every day. And it was more than just a holiday too, it was an adventure!! I'm super happy that I bought that bus pass for the Kiwi Experience, it was really good way to see this country and meet new people <3
That's it for me now, I better go now, might even go for one last drink at the bar tonight before going to bed. One last night at the hostel, thank God that's over!! :D I hope the flights tomorrow will go smoothly and maybe I'll get some sleep on the way too. It's gonna be one loooooong loooong way home. First to Hong Kong, then to Amsterdam and then finally home, sweet home <3 Thanks to all my loved ones, thanks for reading my blog and I'll see you soon!!!!!!!! Love ya!!! Loads of hugs and kisses are on the way!!! 'I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home'!! :)))) <3
Saturday, 16 July 2011
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Day trip to Matamata, also know as The Hobbiton :)
Yesterday, Wednesday 13th July, I hopped on a intercity bus at 8am and went to a little town called Matamata, also know as The Hobbiton as the Shire scenes in Lord Of The Rings were filmed a bit outside this town. I got there after 11, got a little lunch and took a Hobbiton film and farm tour at noon. We drove with this little bus on to a farm where they've build the Shire filmset, but now here comes a tricky part. I can't tell you anything about it. We had to sign this confidential agreenment that we can't tell anyone what we've seen or hear while we were there, as they're filming the new Hobbit movie there at the moment. No, not on the day I was there, but anyway, they'll be using that set. So I got lots of pictures from there, but I just can't show them to anyone :D Kind of funny... but then again not, as I'd love to share it with you guys!
But I think it's ok to describe it in a way that I thought it was pretty cool. I'm a huge LOTR -fan, so for me it was pretty awesome to be there in person. I'd recommend doing it, if you're ever gonna visit NZ :)) The bad thing was that it was raining on that day and it had been raining for few days before, so I totally ruined my shoes getting them all muddy :( I got a perfect reason to buy new ones now ;)
So I guess that's all for now... I've been told to enjoy my last few days in NZ, so I'm trying to do just that :) Today I found this great place where I got manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows tinted all for just about 30eur! Wish we'd have places like that back home!! I might even go for a massage later on... :) And to the movies! Kind of sad to leave this place, but then again, really REALLY happy to go home too :)) No more living in hostels, no more being alone if you don't want to (I know, hostels are full of people, so I'm not really alone, but I miss my best friends and family :)). So only 3 whole days more and then I'm off! It's gonna be a loooooong loooooooooooong trip back home, but it will be worth it :) Please try to understand if I'm a bit 'out of it' for the first few days, I'll be travelling more than 24hours in a row, so might take me few days to get back to the rhythm of normal life :D Better go then, off to shoe shopping and lunch, see ya!! <3
But I think it's ok to describe it in a way that I thought it was pretty cool. I'm a huge LOTR -fan, so for me it was pretty awesome to be there in person. I'd recommend doing it, if you're ever gonna visit NZ :)) The bad thing was that it was raining on that day and it had been raining for few days before, so I totally ruined my shoes getting them all muddy :( I got a perfect reason to buy new ones now ;)
So I guess that's all for now... I've been told to enjoy my last few days in NZ, so I'm trying to do just that :) Today I found this great place where I got manicure, pedicure and my eyebrows tinted all for just about 30eur! Wish we'd have places like that back home!! I might even go for a massage later on... :) And to the movies! Kind of sad to leave this place, but then again, really REALLY happy to go home too :)) No more living in hostels, no more being alone if you don't want to (I know, hostels are full of people, so I'm not really alone, but I miss my best friends and family :)). So only 3 whole days more and then I'm off! It's gonna be a loooooong loooooooooooong trip back home, but it will be worth it :) Please try to understand if I'm a bit 'out of it' for the first few days, I'll be travelling more than 24hours in a row, so might take me few days to get back to the rhythm of normal life :D Better go then, off to shoe shopping and lunch, see ya!! <3
Sunday, 10 July 2011
One of THE best NZ nights EVER!!
I've met this Danish girl in my hostel few days ago and I've been hanging out with her since then as she's great fun. So as we've done every night, last night we went down to the bar as well. We wanted to go and play the bar quiz and have a pint or two. Which turned out to be more than that and I loved it :D We had so much fun!!! There was this group of guys (32 of them to be exact) and they were police man from Australia (Aussies or Ozzies as I like to call them) and they were with these Kiwi cops just having a fun night out.
We got to know them as one of the Kiwi girls came to chat with us (she was the only girl in the group of 30+ guys as their bigger group was split up by two bars) and they were introducing us to the Ozzies as well.
Ozzies had the coolest drinking game going on, whenever their captain took their shirt off, they all had to do it too. And only when the captain put his shirt back on, then the rest of them could put their shirts back on too. They did had their singlets on, but it was still very entertaining for us girls as you got to see their very well trained upper bodies and oh those very muscular arms... mmmmh, so good. Oh and the idea of the game was that who ever was the last one to get their shirt off, had to down their drink in one go. Later on when they got a bit more drunk, few of the lads took their singlets off as well and one of them got on the bar to do some pushups...uuuh lalaa!!
They were really nice lads, it was cool to hang out with them on a Sunday night :) I got few of them on the dance floor as well which was good fun :D I heard only today that most of the lads were single too and few of them were apparently also asking about me, which feels really nice, but no phonenumbers were exchainged, so... but I still had a great time!! Oh and the locals, they were also cops and as it was a guy and a girl, I just assumed that they were a couple as the girl kept referring to him as a partner, but apparently they are partners at work and not in private life. I was kicking my self a bit today after my Danish friend told me that they were not a couple as that was the only reason I didn't flirt with that dude as he was h.o.t. And a police!! Those of you who know me, know I'm nuts about cops... :D Hahahahah!
One the best nights I've ever had, so glad we went out :)) I had to share this with you guys, sorry I didn't take pictures though, I thought that would have been a bit too much maybe :)) I also got to experience a bit of a hangover today, which I haven't had in months and today reminded me why. I hate hangovers, they're the worst... So that's all for now, see ya later alligators!! :)))
ps. Bad news on my laptop, it's beyond repair so I'm afraid no more pictures coming up until I get back home... :(
We got to know them as one of the Kiwi girls came to chat with us (she was the only girl in the group of 30+ guys as their bigger group was split up by two bars) and they were introducing us to the Ozzies as well.
Ozzies had the coolest drinking game going on, whenever their captain took their shirt off, they all had to do it too. And only when the captain put his shirt back on, then the rest of them could put their shirts back on too. They did had their singlets on, but it was still very entertaining for us girls as you got to see their very well trained upper bodies and oh those very muscular arms... mmmmh, so good. Oh and the idea of the game was that who ever was the last one to get their shirt off, had to down their drink in one go. Later on when they got a bit more drunk, few of the lads took their singlets off as well and one of them got on the bar to do some pushups...uuuh lalaa!!
They were really nice lads, it was cool to hang out with them on a Sunday night :) I got few of them on the dance floor as well which was good fun :D I heard only today that most of the lads were single too and few of them were apparently also asking about me, which feels really nice, but no phonenumbers were exchainged, so... but I still had a great time!! Oh and the locals, they were also cops and as it was a guy and a girl, I just assumed that they were a couple as the girl kept referring to him as a partner, but apparently they are partners at work and not in private life. I was kicking my self a bit today after my Danish friend told me that they were not a couple as that was the only reason I didn't flirt with that dude as he was h.o.t. And a police!! Those of you who know me, know I'm nuts about cops... :D Hahahahah!
One the best nights I've ever had, so glad we went out :)) I had to share this with you guys, sorry I didn't take pictures though, I thought that would have been a bit too much maybe :)) I also got to experience a bit of a hangover today, which I haven't had in months and today reminded me why. I hate hangovers, they're the worst... So that's all for now, see ya later alligators!! :)))
ps. Bad news on my laptop, it's beyond repair so I'm afraid no more pictures coming up until I get back home... :(
Friday, 8 July 2011
9 days left in NZ...
9 more days, then I'm heading back home!! As much as I love this country and I've loved my time here and seeing lots of places and doing lots of new stuff, I'm also really looking forward to going back home. I miss everyone back home and I love the fact that it's summer back home and I'll get to enjoy it!!! I'm also pretty tired living in hostels so the fact that I got my own room waiting for me sounds great :)) And I'm super happy to hear that my friends and family have missed me too, so it's good to go back to a place where people love me :))) I miss talking to someone who really knows me if you know what I mean. I've made a lot of friends here too, but they've also left already, everyone is going their own way while travelling..
Hmmm, I think that was it for now. I know I wanted to write about something, but I kind of don't remember what it was now. At the moment I don't have anything exiting planned for the rest of my stay in Auckland, I think I'll just try to enjoy it and relax. I'm frankly really tired after all that travelling, so I don't feel like doing much. And I'm also trying not to spend that much money anymore. I have to buy an new laptop when I get home as my old Dell is starting to get ready for retirenment home. I took it to this computer repair shop and they'll try to reinstall windows on it. I just need it to work one more week, hopefully it will be fine. That's why I haven't been able to post any new pictures on facebook now, hopefully I can do that next week.
I think that was all for now, nothing special to write about at the moment so... see you again soon my dear readers ;D
Hmmm, I think that was it for now. I know I wanted to write about something, but I kind of don't remember what it was now. At the moment I don't have anything exiting planned for the rest of my stay in Auckland, I think I'll just try to enjoy it and relax. I'm frankly really tired after all that travelling, so I don't feel like doing much. And I'm also trying not to spend that much money anymore. I have to buy an new laptop when I get home as my old Dell is starting to get ready for retirenment home. I took it to this computer repair shop and they'll try to reinstall windows on it. I just need it to work one more week, hopefully it will be fine. That's why I haven't been able to post any new pictures on facebook now, hopefully I can do that next week.
I think that was all for now, nothing special to write about at the moment so... see you again soon my dear readers ;D
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Kaikoura, part 2, the baby seals and the seal colony :)
Hello there :) I wanted to tell you a bit more about the trip in Kaikoura. So last Saturday we did the dolphin swimming trip and on Sunday me and my 'roommate' Hannah went for a walk as it was such a gorgeous day. We walked to the seal colony at the end of Kaikoura peninsula and it was pretty cool out there. Took us more than an hour to walk there as we had to stop for my morning coffee on the way, but it was worth it. The seals were laying on the sun and really, I mean really close to us. There was this wooden boardwalk and one of the seals was laying right on top of it, so we had to jump off in order to avoid too close contact with that scary creature :) There were other turists there as well and one of the ladies offered to take our picture while we were standing behind the seal, came out pretty cool picture. Hannah went a bit too close to it and it was 'roaring' at us and showing it's teeth. Pretty scary coming from a big animal like that...
After that we walked up the hill to this beautiful lookout place, where I hopefully got some pretty pictures from. I haven't looked at them yet as my laptop is busted... We continued walking back the same route we came from and stopped for a quick lunch, as there was this bbq fish food cart on the way :) Then we walked to this other lookout place where you can see the town and the beaches from a top of a mountain and that was gorgeous spot as well. All and all this walk took us pretty close to 4hours and we were pretty tired after it, but it was definately worth it. I'm happy I decided to stay in Kaikoura for 3 nights, it's really pretty out there and I could even live in that town :)
Next morning (monday 4.7.) we hopped on the bus again and the driver took us to this waterfall nearby that had cute baby seal swimming in it!! I guess it's like their hang out place or something, there was loads of them! They were swimming and jumping and playing around in the water and they were sooooo cute!! I didn't get good pictures as it was so darn dark in there... :( Should have grabbed my external flashlight, that might have worked. I'll put few pictures anyway up in facebook so you'll get the idea of how close we were to the seals again and how cute they were :)))
So yeah, that was all I wanted to tell you this time, our little seal incounters :D After Kaikoura I spend one night in Wellington and another night in Taupo before arriving to Auckland, but there's nothing to report from those places as I didn't do anything there. It was my 3rd time in both of those cities so I didn't feel like I had to do any of the tourist stuff in there. I got back to Auckland on Wednesday and I'm so happy to be back here. I get to see some familiar faces around the hostel again and it kind of feels like home to me. I was thinking of going for some day trips or something as I still have 10 days left here, but as they are all pretty expensive and I'm pretty tired now, I don't know if I'll do anything. I might just chillax and enjoy the rest of the days I got in this beautiful country :) I'll probably do little something during the days, but nothing major and nothing too expensive. Travelling around has been pretty exhausting on some days and you can't really get a good night sleep in hostels, so I just feel like relaxing now. I even got a massage yesterday (hadn't have one in a looooong looooong time) and it felt really good after carrying that heavy rucksack on my bag for months... I've bought so much stuff, so I have no idea how to get everything back home, but I'll try not to worry about it yet. I may have to just through some of my clotes out and that's it. You can always buy new ones, right? ;)
Oukkidoukki, but see you later alligaters!! I'll probably write at least one more post before I leave NZ :) Love ya!! <3
After that we walked up the hill to this beautiful lookout place, where I hopefully got some pretty pictures from. I haven't looked at them yet as my laptop is busted... We continued walking back the same route we came from and stopped for a quick lunch, as there was this bbq fish food cart on the way :) Then we walked to this other lookout place where you can see the town and the beaches from a top of a mountain and that was gorgeous spot as well. All and all this walk took us pretty close to 4hours and we were pretty tired after it, but it was definately worth it. I'm happy I decided to stay in Kaikoura for 3 nights, it's really pretty out there and I could even live in that town :)
Next morning (monday 4.7.) we hopped on the bus again and the driver took us to this waterfall nearby that had cute baby seal swimming in it!! I guess it's like their hang out place or something, there was loads of them! They were swimming and jumping and playing around in the water and they were sooooo cute!! I didn't get good pictures as it was so darn dark in there... :( Should have grabbed my external flashlight, that might have worked. I'll put few pictures anyway up in facebook so you'll get the idea of how close we were to the seals again and how cute they were :)))
So yeah, that was all I wanted to tell you this time, our little seal incounters :D After Kaikoura I spend one night in Wellington and another night in Taupo before arriving to Auckland, but there's nothing to report from those places as I didn't do anything there. It was my 3rd time in both of those cities so I didn't feel like I had to do any of the tourist stuff in there. I got back to Auckland on Wednesday and I'm so happy to be back here. I get to see some familiar faces around the hostel again and it kind of feels like home to me. I was thinking of going for some day trips or something as I still have 10 days left here, but as they are all pretty expensive and I'm pretty tired now, I don't know if I'll do anything. I might just chillax and enjoy the rest of the days I got in this beautiful country :) I'll probably do little something during the days, but nothing major and nothing too expensive. Travelling around has been pretty exhausting on some days and you can't really get a good night sleep in hostels, so I just feel like relaxing now. I even got a massage yesterday (hadn't have one in a looooong looooong time) and it felt really good after carrying that heavy rucksack on my bag for months... I've bought so much stuff, so I have no idea how to get everything back home, but I'll try not to worry about it yet. I may have to just through some of my clotes out and that's it. You can always buy new ones, right? ;)
Oukkidoukki, but see you later alligaters!! I'll probably write at least one more post before I leave NZ :) Love ya!! <3
Friday, 1 July 2011
Kaikoura; Swimming with the wild Dusky Dolphins in the Pacific Ocean!!!
Hi ya!! I arrived yesterday, Friday 1st July to Kaikoura and so far I love it!! It's really beautiful out here, small place, but very nice indeed :) We arrived late yesterday in the evening after spending pretty much the whole day travelling in the bus from Queenstown to Kaikoura. Kiwi Experience bus doesn't go to Christchurch at the moment (due to th earthquakes they have there...), so we just dropped some people off at the airport, but didn't get a chance to see the city. Normally there would be one night stop in Christchurch. So I only went to the supermarket in the evening and that was it.
Today, in the morning, we head out to the sea to look for some dolphins!! The sea was really rough and they warned us before hand that there might be some seasickness due to the large waves and wind. I was really worried. But when we got going I was actually fine, think that travelsickness pill I took helped a bit. I was sitting outside the boat and the waves were really big, but it was kind of like being on a roller coaster :) Then after a while, the captain got a call from an whale watching boat that they spotted the dolphins and gave us the direction to get there. Finally, we found them!! I was a bit worried as we wouldn't have gotten a full refund if we couldn't find the dolphins. It's not even guanranteed that you'll get to swim with them, it depends on their behaviour. If they are friendly, it's fine. And we were lucky as we got to go in!!
We were pretty much covered in wetsuits, from head to toe: hoodies, wetsuit, jacket, gloves, socks and flippers. Oh yeah, and snorkels and goggles. But the water was still cold. You can imagine, it's winter time and it's the Pacific Ocean... :D It wasn't actually that bad once you got in to the water, the wetsuit definately helped. I can tell you that Pacific Ocean tastes bad, very salty.. yagh! There was around 50 dolphins around us and they were coming from all directions. It was AWESOME!!! So surreal though, they were swimming only like 1 metre away from you!!! It was so cool!! And when you put your face down, you could see them swimming right under you, it was like being in one HUGE aquarium, looking at them through the glass (except you weren't, they were actually there with you!!). It was probably one of the coolest experiences in my whole life. I absolutely love dolphins, always have, so it was a bid deal for me to actually swim with them <3 They were really cute too :))) And wild, not trained, not fed by people or anything.
But here's when the trouble started for me. Floating in the water holding your face in the water watching down while huge waves where rocking you was not good. I got really, really seasick out there... Got a bit of a panic attact there too as the waves were just taking you anywhere and I started coughing and got some of that nasty salty water in my mouth. With the goggles you couldn't breath through your nose which was really distracting as well. But I got over it. Then it was just the nausea I had to deal with. I think we were in the water for about 30min or so and then we got on the boat again. We started following the dolphins, so that people can take pictures, but I was really feeling bad at this moment, so I didn't even get my camera out. I was just holding my little bucket in my hands like my life was depending on it. Once one other guy started puking, that was it for me, had to empty my stomach too in that little bucket I now call George. I had George the second as well. Felt sooooo soooo bad all the way back... We were suppose to change our clothes in the boat, but I couldn't go in to get my clothes so I was freezing in that wetsuit all the way back to shore. When we got back I felt a lot better and got to take a hot shower at the dolphin incounter centre.
So all an' all, awesome experience, I higly recommend doing it if it's something you've always wanted to do :) I'm still a bit nauseas and my bed will be probably rocking for the next few nights, but it was worth it.
That's all for now, I still have tomorrow to spend in Kaikoura, then I'm off again on Monday morning with the Kiwi bus. Going to Wellington for one night, then Taupo and finally back to Auckland!! It will be nice to see some familiar faces again in Auckland :) Oh speaking of familiar faces, I have to tell you one more thing:
Even though New Zealand is quite big country, like the distances are quite long from the top part of the country till the bottom (on both islands) and there are lots of places to visit, I still manage to run in to familiar faces all along the way! Today I met this women in Kaikoura that I met in Dunedin, we went to the Wildlife tour together. Then in Wanaka, I met this lady I first met in Auckland somewhere back in April. We were staying in same hostel then and again in Wanaka :D There's one girl I've seen in 3 different cities, Auckland, Wanaka and again in Dunedin :))) Funny coincidence :)) And I also run in to a German girl in Franz Josef that I met like a month before that in Waitomo! There are so many places and people travel in their own pace so I find it really odd to run in to these people over and over again :))
Ok, now I really need to go. I'm running out of time on the internet... as my laptop is still broken. Couldn't get it fixed my self... need to find a repairman, probably in Auckland once I get there. So no pictures for now because of that.
See ya later alligators!! You'll hear from me again once I have something to report about :))) <3
Today, in the morning, we head out to the sea to look for some dolphins!! The sea was really rough and they warned us before hand that there might be some seasickness due to the large waves and wind. I was really worried. But when we got going I was actually fine, think that travelsickness pill I took helped a bit. I was sitting outside the boat and the waves were really big, but it was kind of like being on a roller coaster :) Then after a while, the captain got a call from an whale watching boat that they spotted the dolphins and gave us the direction to get there. Finally, we found them!! I was a bit worried as we wouldn't have gotten a full refund if we couldn't find the dolphins. It's not even guanranteed that you'll get to swim with them, it depends on their behaviour. If they are friendly, it's fine. And we were lucky as we got to go in!!
We were pretty much covered in wetsuits, from head to toe: hoodies, wetsuit, jacket, gloves, socks and flippers. Oh yeah, and snorkels and goggles. But the water was still cold. You can imagine, it's winter time and it's the Pacific Ocean... :D It wasn't actually that bad once you got in to the water, the wetsuit definately helped. I can tell you that Pacific Ocean tastes bad, very salty.. yagh! There was around 50 dolphins around us and they were coming from all directions. It was AWESOME!!! So surreal though, they were swimming only like 1 metre away from you!!! It was so cool!! And when you put your face down, you could see them swimming right under you, it was like being in one HUGE aquarium, looking at them through the glass (except you weren't, they were actually there with you!!). It was probably one of the coolest experiences in my whole life. I absolutely love dolphins, always have, so it was a bid deal for me to actually swim with them <3 They were really cute too :))) And wild, not trained, not fed by people or anything.
But here's when the trouble started for me. Floating in the water holding your face in the water watching down while huge waves where rocking you was not good. I got really, really seasick out there... Got a bit of a panic attact there too as the waves were just taking you anywhere and I started coughing and got some of that nasty salty water in my mouth. With the goggles you couldn't breath through your nose which was really distracting as well. But I got over it. Then it was just the nausea I had to deal with. I think we were in the water for about 30min or so and then we got on the boat again. We started following the dolphins, so that people can take pictures, but I was really feeling bad at this moment, so I didn't even get my camera out. I was just holding my little bucket in my hands like my life was depending on it. Once one other guy started puking, that was it for me, had to empty my stomach too in that little bucket I now call George. I had George the second as well. Felt sooooo soooo bad all the way back... We were suppose to change our clothes in the boat, but I couldn't go in to get my clothes so I was freezing in that wetsuit all the way back to shore. When we got back I felt a lot better and got to take a hot shower at the dolphin incounter centre.
So all an' all, awesome experience, I higly recommend doing it if it's something you've always wanted to do :) I'm still a bit nauseas and my bed will be probably rocking for the next few nights, but it was worth it.
That's all for now, I still have tomorrow to spend in Kaikoura, then I'm off again on Monday morning with the Kiwi bus. Going to Wellington for one night, then Taupo and finally back to Auckland!! It will be nice to see some familiar faces again in Auckland :) Oh speaking of familiar faces, I have to tell you one more thing:
Even though New Zealand is quite big country, like the distances are quite long from the top part of the country till the bottom (on both islands) and there are lots of places to visit, I still manage to run in to familiar faces all along the way! Today I met this women in Kaikoura that I met in Dunedin, we went to the Wildlife tour together. Then in Wanaka, I met this lady I first met in Auckland somewhere back in April. We were staying in same hostel then and again in Wanaka :D There's one girl I've seen in 3 different cities, Auckland, Wanaka and again in Dunedin :))) Funny coincidence :)) And I also run in to a German girl in Franz Josef that I met like a month before that in Waitomo! There are so many places and people travel in their own pace so I find it really odd to run in to these people over and over again :))
Ok, now I really need to go. I'm running out of time on the internet... as my laptop is still broken. Couldn't get it fixed my self... need to find a repairman, probably in Auckland once I get there. So no pictures for now because of that.
See ya later alligators!! You'll hear from me again once I have something to report about :))) <3
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