What a chilled out few days!

We're at the end of our 4 days in Wanaka, and it's been one of the best times in New Zealand. The weather has been awesome everyday bar one, where it actually pissed down.

The highlights of Wanaka have been:

- 'Cinema Paradiso'. Now this is what cinemas should be like at home. Comfy sofa's, home made ice cream/cookies/meals to eat during the film, vintage posters up everywhere and generally a unique experience:

- 'Puzzling World'. This place is great fun - there is a Great Maze where you have to find the four coloured corners, took us longer than it suggested on the sheet.. who would have thought? The main highlight were the illusion rooms. You'll have to watch the short movie on flickr too see what I mean!

- The views:

We're spending tomorrow in Queenstown for a one night stopover. We're hoping for some cool events seeing as it's Labour weekend in NZ (like our bank holiday weekend). I'll update you with the latest soon!

Right, after all of you’ve had a good ol’ laugh at the skydive video, back to the boring stuff :)

We left Nelson only a few days ago, and we’re already quite far down the West coast (which, may I say, lives up to its expectations of being untouched and ridiculously beautiful).

A very small town called Punakaiki was our 2nd stop in South island, after Nelson - and what an unexpectedly serene place it was. The pristine coastline on our right and mountains on our left, this town was the ultimate retreat. We stayed in an amazing hostel called Te Nikau, which was literally a home away from home. Our room was amazing and the cottage-like feel to this ‘hostel’ gave it the edge (and so was the owner Hamish, who baked us fresh bread in the morning). We met a Dutch couple there, Ruurd & Froukje, who we are currently travelling with for a while.

The main (and only) attraction that Punakaiki is known for is the Pancake Rocks and blowholes. It was a one hour walk there and back – ah, the mission of not having a car. Was worth it though, the rock formations were interesting and we caught quite a cool effect from the blowhole.

The following morning we jumped on the coach to the much acclaimed Franz Josef glacier. Again, we missed out a couple of towns on the way which may seem silly seeing as we have so much time here, but we heard the in-betweeny towns were nothing special. The drive from Punakaiki via Haast and then onto Franz Josef was sensational. I’ve never seen such untouched beauty before. Blue skies, snow-capped mountains, rugged green mountains and gorgeous coastline were upon us for the 5 hour journey. That evening we went to see some glow-worms in the forest in PITCH dark. Luckily, Ruurd had a flashlight but for 4 people it wasn’t that effective.. Still, we got to see some glow-worms so that was cool.

The next morning we were to ice-climb the Franz Josef glacier, which is basically the main reason travellers stop in this area. I was quite possibly more nervous about climbing this than the Tongariro Crossing because it seemed a bit more intense and nerve-wracking. We were in a group of about 15 with a guide, and as you can see in the photos, we were fully equipped with boots, crampons, jacket etc. Ice-walking is fun and unusually relaxing.. possibly because the concept of having crampons to help you walk relaxes you. The sun was beaming down, and the glacier was on show in its full glory. Seeing as ice-hiking wasn’t half as scary as we expected, we regret not opting for the full-day hike, as we only did the half day (which was still 4.5 hours). After a productive day it was back down to Franz Josef village, where we were based, to the swanky bar round the corner where we treated ourselves to a few après-glacier cocktails – yummy.

We are now in a town called Wanaka, which honestly is THE best town we've been to so far in NZ. It has an après-ski town feel to it, and the weather has been awesome for the past 2 days here. Oh, and another great pick for accommodation - Wanaka Bakpaka.

Enjoy the photos :)

Hey all,

I sent a copy of the skydive vid to my brother and he's kindly done all the technical stuff with putting it up.. You may have to fiddle around with it to make it play (i.e I have to keep it pressed where the time shows at the bottom line - but this may be because the net connection is very poor here) Enjoy! Let me know if there's any probs with watching it and we'll try to sort it out :)

Kejal's Skydive, Taupo from Kejal Ashra on Vimeo.

..OK, so only about 10 photos, but even that took me an hour.

There are a couple of Nelson carnival where my tripod came to use, and the rest are Abel Tasman National Park as promised. There are oBviously loads more but a backpacker can't spend all her dosh on buying net time.. :)

Start of South island is going well so far!

We are in a small-ish town called Nelson, staying at a another YHA which is spot on.

On the first day we got here there was coincidently the Arts festival on in town (only held once a year), which included a masked parade and carnival afterwards. The masked parade was full of young kids, but the carnival was OK because there was lots of people around, street food stalls, some small rides etc. We ate at a great restaurant called Cafe Affair, which had basil pesto pita & coriander hummus to die for :) The mains were cool too - we had to basically cook our kebabs to our liking on a stone sizzling plate. We didn't read the menu properly so weren't really expecting to cook our food but definitely a unique experience..

We went to Abel Tasman National Park today; It's known as a one of the most scenic National Parks with its golden beaches, native bush walks and alike. The weather was OK, but a bit cloudy. From a place from Kaiteriteri (the base of the park), we took a boat up a certain part of the coast and then walked from Torrent Bay to Bark Bay (2hrs), which is known as the most beautiful part of the track according to locals. It was comfortable walking, no Tongariro Crossing.. ;-) There is an option to do the full 3-5 day track of the whole of Abel Tasman which would be So amazing in the summer, but considering the weather is just 'OK' we decided it wouldn't be worth it in this season.

So after a short but sweet stay in Nelson, it's time to head off again tomorrow morning. Have to wake up at 6:30am - Ugh. We're going to Punaikaki, which is about 5hrs west of here. It may seem like a big jump, but we checked out other places closer to Nelson but they sounded shit to be honest! Let's hope we've made the right move :)

I have tried to upload the Abel Tasman photos in the past hour, but no suprises it doesn't work. You'd think somewhere like NZ would be good for fast connections.. I promise it's not just me being lazy!

We're currently in Wellington, staying at YHA Wellington City, which so far has exceeded itself. Bar the room being on the small side, it's a good base, and better yet - NO BED BUGS (sigh of relief). It has been tough trying to decide how to work our way around the South island.

These were our options:
- continue using Flexi-pass & doing hostels (same as North island)
- Buy a Motorhome
- Rent a motorhome
- Rent a car

Seeing as the bed bug issue has been very trying, we were eager to rent/buy a Motorhome and in turn not have to worry about bed-bug ridden hostels. This would be an extremely efficient option as we could drive, sleep and eat in it. A lot of travellers recommend this too, but once we'd done our research into prices/pick-up locations, it just wasn't working out.

Renting a car was working out way too expensive, especially as we're coming into Summer season now, so that didn't make any sense especially as it wouldn't accommodate us either.

After racking our brains and trying to figure out how to work around the problems - we came back to square one. But it's a good square one, I think. We're going to continue to use Flexi-pass, which is a coach ticket to use at your leisure around the whole island and carry on hostelling but be extra careful where we stay.

After booking our ferry and accommodation in the South island, we're set to leave the North island.

So, back to Wellington. It's way better than Auckland. Much more of a vibrant city with the usual cafe cultures, restaurants and plentiful bars. We went to Wellington Zoo today which was fun! Saw a lion, tigers, cheetahs etc, all for the first time in my life. (well, of what I remember anyway).

There are also some ace places to eat around here. We've been pigging out on desserts, pizza's, sandwiches etc.. Ketan has a sweet tooth, and in turn I guess I do too now. Dammit! Tonight we're going for a curry... I'm a little sceptical of curries around the world because 95% of the time they aren't a patch on the favourite curry houses back at home - but I could be proven wrong.

The highlights of North island, by far, have been the skydive and the Tongariro Crossing. I *really* want to put the videos of our skydives up but it's proving difficult finding a internet cafe with a fast enough connection. They are just TOO funny!

Another hugely action packed day - we did the Tongariro Crossing. For those who don't know, this is an 18km ( full day hike in the Tongariro National Park, which is full of beautifully scenic snow-capped mountains and a really tough challenge. It's recommended as one of New Zealand's greatest walks.

There were times when were walking on a steep slant across snowed-in mountains with no barriers, no walkway, nothing. So literally at death's doorstep for the majority of it. We finished it in 6hr 30mins which is not too bad.. they say it normally takes between 7-9 hours. At one point I was just doodling along and then *woosh* - my foot went knee-high into the snow. Wasn't expecting that! Even though you try to follow in other people's footsteps (quite literally) it's still hard to judge the snow. It was SO bright that your eyes play wierd tricks on you. The views were *out of this world*, and the challenge of it was even more satisfying.

Although now both Ketan and I are limping and complaining a lot :)

And we photos again - I'm getting good at this photo malarkey!

(A quick backtrack as I forgot to blog about it - before Taupo we went to Waitomo, which is famous for the Glow-worm underground caves. It was spectacular sight, like thousands of little stars lit up just above your head in pitch black - unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos there but I thought I'd tell you all about it none-the-less).

Yes.... We skydived! It was AWESOME.

We got picked up in a limo at 11am this morning but strangely enough I was more excited than nervous - very rare! Getting to the place after a short journey was when the nerves kicked in...

My instructor, Alex, had done 4000 jumps in his lifetime and was totally cool (or 'rad', should I say) so that was reassuring. Ketan had a big Brazilian dude called Mac, who was a random beaver but again, very cool.

Taupo is known to be the skydiving capital of the world, so what better place to do it? We went up in a tiny pink plane (as you'll see in the photos) and rose 12,000ft. Spectacular views and amazing weather was upon us. I was sitting opposite Ketan and his face was a picture! haha. (But he was going first so it was understandable).

It was so cool watching Ketan fall out of the plane! I was SO excited, nerves had vanished. My turn came - head back, legs dangling, cold wind, big smile - we were out! The first 3 seconds was by far the most intense, overwhelming and surreal 3 seconds of my life. The feeling was incredible. On a 12000ft dive, the freefall part lasts 45secs + but it honestly felt like 10 seconds, if that. I could see Ketan beneath me once my parachute had gone up. After seeing the beautiful Taupo from that distance, it was sadly time to descend but the fun didn't stop there. For the handycam, which Alex was holding in his hand the whole way down, we did loads of spins and turns, that was the queasiest part of the whole ride!

(The video is SO good, you even got to choose your own music for it from an extensive playlist! Alas, I can't upload the video on here because they don't have the right software to change the format to something which Flickr accepts - I will try elsewhere!)

Enjoy the photos, we certainly did :)

P.S I've managed to put up FeeJee experience photos up too - more to come later.

Hey all,

So we've done a fair bit since I've last blogged. It's nice to read all your comments!

As most of you know, I like to plan. I like to know what's going on, where and I'm going and when I'll be there. I knew travelling would inevitably change this, and it has - but all in a good way as you're about to read..

We got to Hamilton (a 6hr journey from Bay of Islands) and got the hostel after a painful 15walk with our heavy backpacks. It resembled an old people's home - gulp. It was OK, but Hamilton was another city which should just be used as a base (if that). We decided there and then (after paying the hosts, and then having to get our money back again) to hop on a bus to Raglan, which is the tiny coastal town about 45mins drive away. It was by now 6pm and we were tired from travelling. Good news, the hostel (Raglan Backpackers) was amazing. It is the 'authors choice' in Lonely Planet and fellow travellers had raved on about it - so we expected as much. The people there were the highlight, a lot of people told us that you'll fall in love with Raglan, as had they, and one night will end up being two nights.. they were right. I mean it's no place I would live because the whole town is made up of two roads (a strange experience coming from London), but none-the-less a great stop-over. We met some more hilarious travellers and went out to a reggae night in one of the local places. After a sweet couple of days, it was on the coach again to Tauranga & Mt Manganui.

Tauranga is a town on the east coast with Mount Manganui as the main tourist attraction, which is a 230m high mountain to climb (small in comparison to some Mama mountains we're going to see throughout NZ). Things got a little bleak once we arrived at the hostel here, although conveniently located on the harbourside, it had us agreeably worrying about bed bugs - and no, it wasn't paranoia! The guy in charge, Paul, was a lovely guy but was itching when he was talking to us and to my surprise I looked down at his arms and they were COVERED in bed bug bites! (Uh-oh.) I asked him what they were (knowing exactly what they were) and he shrugged us off saying 'oh, probably, like sand-flies, mosquitos, you know..' and I said again, 'erm, are you sure? What are they?' Very naughty, he didn't tell us. So obviously we decided not to sleep in our beds, instead we slept on the couches in the kitchen because by now it was too late to search around for another hostel. (Sigh) More on that later..

After obviously wanting to cut our nights short in Tauranga, we had to do the Mountain climb the following morning so we could leave that afternoon. After a very dodgy, broken 5 hr sleep, we were on the bus to Mount Manganui. It was only a 2hr trek, but the views from the top in the summit were worth it. On our way back to the coach, we stopped in at the hostel to pick our things up and complain - we got our money back.

Once this was over, onto the coach to Rotorua.. Or as it's known here, Sulphur City. It STINKS here! This city is world famous for the smell, thermal pools/spa's everywhere and some extreme sports.

So in Rotorua, a hostel called 'Funky Green Voyager' was highly recommended on paper and by word of mouth and quite rightly so! (We both bought a BBH card, for $45 which gives you minimum $3 pppn off at BBH hostels. Within this $45 we also get $20 phone cards - very useful.) We have a massive double en-suite room with great facilities at hand. It makes the experience so much better when you know you are staying at a kick-ass hostel :)

Yesterday we went Zorbing - our first extreme sport of the trip, Oh yeah! Zorbing is simple enough: climb into plastic sphere full of warm water and then roll downhill for 150m. Ketan and I went together in one bubble, but there was the option of going individually. You feel a bit like a foetus in a womb rolling downwards? It was great fun, and we got a lift back to the centre by a nice couple who owned a car.

The owner at our hostel recommended the popular Polynesian Spa and mentioned it's better to go in the dark because it's quite chilled out. So around 9pm we got there and it was so relaxing. (I would go as far as to say I felt 'posh' ;-) There were 5 pools in total, all with Sulphur in them, of course. Some good for aches and pains, some good for your skin.

Today is our 2nd and last day in Rotorua. This morning we did the typically tourist attraction, which is Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. There was bubbling mud baths, steaming pools and many things alike - a definete must-see here. We went for a huge & authentic burger meal at the Fat Dog Cafe, yum.

Tonight we go to Rainbow Springs Nature park, where we also get to see some Kiwi's (The native bird of NZ). We have an early morning start to the Waitomo, to the world famous Waitomo Glow-worm caves - looking forward to that.

Keep reading! Love to all from the both of us x

What a week!

Our first stop, as I've mentioned, was Auckland. Unfortunately we didn't get off to the best of starts.. Firstly, I was This close to getting a $200 fine in the Airport for not having declared my dirty hiking boots.. I never declare anything (maybe I shouldn't be posting that) and have never got caught doing so. I got called over in the corner, and he said instead he is going to give me a warning letter which is basically an indefinite blackmark against my passport, but only in New Zealand so it's not all bad.

Anyway, to the hostel. Home, right? Wrong. Don't ever stay at Surf N Snow in Auckland. Cut a long story short, we were put in a 6-bed dorm in the Basement - ugh. Ketan got top bunk, I got bottom. The next morning Ketan woke up to having Massive bites all over his body - GULP - We had bed bugs. I'm not sure if many of you are aware of the severity of bed bugs. The bites were enormous and very itchy and they lay in your clothes, as well as beds. The worst was to come though. We immediately headed to reception to get our money back, which we did. They were not sympathetic at all, but let us use their tumble dryer (because apparently the 175 degree heat kills them). Ketan had found an adult bug crawling on my bag.. Eek! We were sitting on the roof of Surf N Snow, pulling in and out loads of washing, which was literally our whole backpack and everything in it. We left the place as soon as possible (5 hours later), and checked into a 3* hotel down the road - phew. That night Ketan got bitten again during the night, and we found one crawling under the pillow. Then I got a trail of bites. So the following morning it was all hands on deck, it was like we were contaminated. ALL day, for two days, we were washing, drying, washing, drying etc. It was emotionally distressing because I actually lost hope thinking we were never going to get rid of them. 6-7 hour days went on this, and I just wanted to get out of Auckland. So after a short delay, we wanted to actually start the travels so we bought our Flexi-Pass which is a coach pass taking you round the whole island as you please, depending on the number of hours you have bought for travel (we bought 20hrs for North Island).

4 hours North of Auckland is the Bay of Islands. It is known to be a scenic area in the North Island, consisting of different towns/islands scattered close to eachother. Currently we are in Paihia, a cute town, and the accomodation is GREAT. It's called Peppertree Lodge and it's so homely, clean and very welcoming by the hosts - Jan, Brian and their son Matt. Upon arrival we took a boat accross to Russell island, which has a lot of history behind it but seeing as I loathe historical sights (and to an extent so does Ketan), we headed for the high-up scenic lookout point. Took some great snaps and then headed back to Paihia.

We've started to finally cook our own food and it feels good. Eating out all the time gets boring and makes you put on weight.

The next place on the itinerary was Kerikeri. A lot of people had recommended this place and it was only 40mins on the coach so we headed up. There was a walkway/hike to do which incorporated some waterfalls and fairy pools but apart from that I thought Kerikeri was quite average. There were no coaches going back to Paihia so Matt offered to pick us up and take us back to the Lodge (for $20 - about 7 pounds). Once we got into the car though, we asked if we can be dropped to Haruru Falls which he was fine about. It was a really nice waterfall. We headed back to the main road after, which turned out to be a State highway.. no one there, hardly any cars going past and certainly no cab services. Then I got a random thought - Hitchhike! After a bit of hesitancy, my thumb was out. (first time I've hitchhiked) The second car swerved over - Result! And we were in luck, he was a good guy and I was pretty sure he wasn't a paedo/rapist/murderer or anything of the sort. We were chatting and he told us he used to hitch-hike from Paihia to Auckland - that's 4hrs journey! Too funny. We felt a bit silly going only half an hour down the road. Back at the lodge, Jan (the owner) told asked Ketan how we got home and once he told her she was like, "Oh yeah, that's Dan, he's a great guy!". Random?!

It 8pm now, and we're about to make some Chicken Fajita's - yummy. So everything is going well, and touch wood we haven't been bitten by bed bugs again so we think the tumble drying did the trick - Well it should do with 10 loads of washing! (Sigh). We're off to Hamilton tomorrow, a 6 hour drive down South where I will try to find a high-speed internet cafe to upload photos - fingers crossed :)