Wellington, NZ

I arrived in Wellington on Tuesday evening, and was looking forward to getting up the next morning to explore New Zealand's capital city. The morning started off wet and windy and so it was perfect conditions to head to the Te Papa museum (New Zealand's national museum) for a good look around. Museums are generally not my thing, I tend to lose concentration after a short period of time, but I was surprised to see that the Te Papa was a modern building with modern exhibtions - not at all as I expected it to be.

I spent a good 2-3 hours strolling around and mainly taking in information about New Zealands geographical history i.e. how New Zealand is located where it is, the reasons for its many volcanoes, earthquakes (did you know that 15,000 earthquakes are recorded in NZ a year! The last one was in the Bay of Plenty on the 6th Dec 06 measuring 5.8 on the richter scale!)tsunami and storms. I also explored the Maori section, and learnt about the Waitangi treaty.

After a morning of brain ache and self education, the clouds cleared away and the sun came out. I walked through the shopping district, again with the crowds of locals Christmas shopping my shopping bug came back, but instead I walked straight to the cable car stop.

Wellington has a harbour and coastal setting with green rolling hills behind, and so the cable car ride to the top where I could get a great view point was a must. Once I reached the top, the view was great, pretty little houses perched on the hills over looking the water. The cable car stop was at the Botanical Gardens and so a leisurely strolls through the gardens took me to the city again. I stopped off to look at the parliament buildings and cathedral before heading back through the shopping district.

Mount Victoria is situated to the East of the city and promises a look out which lays out the whole city in front of you. Not having had enough of walking and hikes over the last couple of months, the sun was shining so off I went. An hours walk up the Mount led to the Mount Victoria look out when the city and its surrounds could be seen. Because of its positioning, Wellington is known as the windy city, and it definitely was windy at the top of the look out, so as soon as I was happy with my photos back down I went back into town.

I've took a liking to Wellington, a really nice city with lots of character, especially with its arty ambience. A good capital city, and a good ending to my time in New Zealand before heading back to Auckland tonight and catching a flight to Australia on Saturday.

Taupo and the East Coast, NZ

Taupo, an area of thermal activity with the largest lake in New Zealand as its focal point. Similar to Rotorua, Taupo has a lot of volcanic activity with many hot water pools and geysers around the area. Taupo is also renowned for its adventure activities, skydiving, bungy jumping etc... however, having already accomplished both of those before I took off for the day in search for the Huka Falls and Craters of the Moon by foot.

An hour and a half walk took me along the scenic Waikato River with its clear blue water and numerous Pohutakawa trees (NZs Christmas tree with its bright red blossoms that bloom around this time of year) and other native trees. I reached the Huka Falls - a result of ever changing land formation caused by the strong volcanic activity over hundreds of years, where Lake Taupo itself was created from a volcano explosion in the 19th century. No comparison to the waterfalls that I saw in Igussu, SA however, they were pretty impressive in their own right with gallons of water gushing down.

The Craters of the Moon was a geothermal park with many hot steam craters and mud pools. It was interesting to see the result of what is happening underground the earths' crust and the result of New Zealand being situated along 2 tetonic plates.

The next 4 days I embarked on a Kiwi Experience tour called 'East As' which took us along the East Coast of the North Island and eventually took us to the MOST Easternly point of the North Island. We headed through the Lake District area and stopped of at Lake Rotoiti where some of the group had a quick dip. Our overnight stop was in Te Kaha (meaning 'The Strong' in Maori), a cute little homestay where their back garden was the Pacific Ocean. This tour was all about kicking back and relaxing, and so that's exactly what we did, by chilling on the beach and then admiring the sunset over the sea with a glass or 2 of wine - it doesn't get much better than that!

Day 2 took us further down the coast and onto the East Cape, the most Easternly point in NZ, and along with Gisborne is the first place in the world to see daylight each morning. We climbed 567 steps to the top of a small mountain where the Cape lighthouse sits to take in more amazing scenery. For our accommodation that night, we stayed on a farm in the remote area of Rangitukia, where we enjoyed a traditional Maori Hangi for our evening meal.

Napier was our next destination, an art deco town further south along the east coast also situated by the sea. We had various stops along the way, and took a lunch break in Gisborne.

We made our way back to Taupo on the 4th day, but not before travelling around the outskirts of Napier and heading into Hastings, taking in some wine tasting and cheese tasting along the way.

The East Coast is a beautiful area of New Zealand and rich in Maori culture. I always thought the South Island was the better island, but after spending my 1st week in the Coramandel Peninsula, the Bays of Plenty and the East Coast I think it definitely challenges the South Island.

As we are close to Christmas Day, it brings me to wish you all...
Meri Kiritimete me te tou hou
...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in Maori. I hope you have a good week of festive celebrations!

Auckland, Whitanga, Mt Maunganui, NZ

Kia Ora... After a 13 hour flight, and flying through a international date line, we arrived in Auckland on the 9th December having lost a day of our lives. The 8th December 2006 will be a day that will have never existed in my life... strange huh!

I spent the day in Auckland before heading off to the Coramandel Peninsula, mainly getting over my jetlag. I spent the afternoon walking along Queens Street where the streets were filled with Christmas shoppers. I had the itch to go shopping and join in the Christmas fun, but obviously burning a hole in my visa card was not the best option so I bought a magazine in hope that it would give me a shopping fix!

After walking around for a bit, Auckland was familiar to me again and lots of memories of Sarah, Sinead and I being in Auckland last year came flooding back. It was great to walk passed the Minus 5 bar, where we had a great laugh posing with the ice sculptures and Portinfino's, Sinead and I's favourite Italian restaurant.

The next day I headed straight to the Coramandel Peninsula, an area of the North Island which is proclaimed to be one of the most beautiful areas of NZ. It definitely did not disappoint! I stayed in Whitianga the main settlement of Mercury Bay, which was quite a quiet town but had many hidden treasures which were to be discovered the next day.

A tour of the Eastern beaches revealed multiple stunning beaches & bays with azure blue waters and soft, clean sparkling white sand - the sand under your feet was like walking on powder... The tour took me around Shakespeare Head, boasting spectacular views on the settlements in Whitianga, Lonely Bay and Cooks Beach, all of which were simply gorgeous.

Hot Water Beach was the next stop, known for the hot springs that rise to the top of the sand when the tide is out. Many people visit the beach at low tide and dig their own hot bath with spades, unfortunately low tide on that day wasn't until 7.30pm, so I missed out. Even so, the beach was once again stunning. The last stop of the tour was the delightful Cathedral Cove, an hour hike was well worth it once I turned the corner and saw the most beautiful coastal scenery.

As I walked along the track, every twist and turn had me snapping with my camera and admiring the views. Smaller bays along the way, Gemstone and Stringray bay were gorgeous, however, Cathedral Cove topped it off and was the highlight without a doubt. The colour of the water was like nothing I had seen before, and the bright blue skies shining down on the pure white sand was amazing. I walked back along the track with a huge smile on my face, trying to work out how I could come back to NZ and live on the Coramandel Peninsula! My walk back eventually took me to Hahei Beach, a bigger but equally beautiful beach.

I left Whitianga the next day not wanting to stay too long and spoil my memories of the day before. The Coramandel Peninsula, Mercury Bay is an area that is full of spectacular coastlines, flanked by islands - an area not to be missed by anyone visiting the North Island.

Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty was the next stop for a night. Another beach resort along the East coast just 2 hours south of Whitianga. Mount Maunganui has 2 beaches that sit either side of the Mount, the Main Beach stretches out and is popular with surfers. After lazing in the sun for a couple of hours, I took to the Mount and climbed 232 metres to reach the summit. A relatively easy walk with great look outs along the way. A relaxing few days and a great start to my time in NZ.

Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, Chile

Well, the last & final week of South America is upon us, and boy it´s be a tough week! Our biggest decision of each day has been... which beach shall we go to? It´s a hard life I tell you!

The coast is approximately 2 hours from Santiago and Valparaiso is a popular & charming town to spend a few days chilling out. It has a large port that sits along the shoreline, with rolling hills of big and small houses situated along cobbled streets. The hills can be reached by ancient hillside ascensores (elevators) which were built over 100 years ago between 1883-1916. To this day, they have never broken down...

We started our week, in a way that we intended to go on for the next 7 days.. on the beach! After the early wake ups and numerous hikes of the last 8 weeks, we were definitely looking forward to it. We caught the micro bus to Miramar, close to Vina del Mar, and just relaxed! The day was perfect, so we decided to finish it off by treating ourselves to a drink in the Sheraton. It was the most expensive beer of the entire trip - oops, not quite on the backpacker agenda! Still, the seats were comfy and we were happy to just sit back and look out over the Pacific Ocean.

The next couple of days were quite overcast, so we had to give the beaches a miss. However, we were being joined by Andy & Lynsey from our "Inca Trail Family", as they too were finishing their South America stint in Chile. It was good to be back with people we know (and love, ah bless), and so for these few days we made up our own entertainment and created the "AscensTOUR" (Can you see what we did there?). We picked out the 5 ascensors recommended by the guide books and took off with our guide (that was Andy) and cameras in tow. A fun day, and the beginnings of a business plan to get "AscensTOUR" off the ground were put into action. The tops of the hills provided great views on Valparaiso (of "Valpo" to the locals), and good hill top bars and little market stalls kept us busy for the afternoon.

We said goodbye to Andy and Lynsey on the Friday, and Nadia and I continued to hit the beaches, this time in Renaca (a little further along the coast) and Vina de Mar. It was so peaceful, with nothing but the ocean crashing against the shore and a little man walking around the beach shouting "Helados, bebidas, helados" ("Ice cream, drinks, ice cream") for noise throughout the day... pure bliss. The only time we had to move from our laying down positions was to reach for a drink or if I was feeling brave enough to deep my toes in the FREEZING cold Pacific Ocean.

We have spent these days constantly reflecting on the last 2 months, and commenting on our highlights. Unfortunately (or most definitely fortunately), we have realised that we have more or less commented on every single week of this trip, and struggled to pin point our most favourite moment.

Credit to South America, all the adventure, culture and fun, and also credit to the people we have travelled with along the way. It will be sad to say goodbye to this continent on Thursday when we fly to NZ, but I for one, definitely know I will be coming back here as there is still so much more to do and see. So, for now, that just leaves me to say:
Sur America esta increible, mucho gracias e hasta pronto.

More photos coming soon, and my next posting will be for NEW ZEALAND.