Hi All! I left you on christmas eve so apologies for being so slow with my new blog!
Bunch of fatties after christmas dinner!
Christmas Day was fantastic. It was one of the hottest days yet and we started it off by visiting the hot water stream for a nice morning dip! After that we headed back to the hostel for a HUGE christmas dinner with all the trimmings, glass of champagne, free keg of beer. And for dessert we had pavlova, ice cream, cream, gingerbread cookies and fruit salad. After all that we couldn’t move, although sitting on the sofa outside in the shade coz it was too hot in the sun, beats watching Eastenders at home, it has to be said! (although if anyone knows what happened in Eastenders this christmas let me know… ha ha!)
Frisbee in Lake Taupo
When we finally managed to peel ourselves off of the sofa we went for a swim in the Lake and hung out on the beach for a while. All in all an amazing christmas day and one to remember for a long time.
Mount Doom!
Boxing Day I left Taupo for Tongariro National Park, which is made up of three active volcanoes, one of which is Mount Ngauruhoe, otherwise known as Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings. The National Park is where they filmed the scenes for Mordor. (I don’t really care about Lord of the Rings either but that was for the benefit of those who do… you know who you are!)
I stayed in National Park Village so that I could do a hike called the Tangariro Alpine Crossing, walking across the craters and through the valleys made by the volcanoes. This was amazing. The photos below are from the walk but can’t even begin to show you how amazing it was. It took us 6.5 hours to complete and some stages were insane. Climbing up tracks that weren’t even solid ground so we were slipping and sliding, dealing with gale force winds at times. It was pretty crazy and sometimes incredibly hard work, but it was so worth it for seeing the crater lakes and some of the views.
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Leaving National Park Village we headed to a place called River Valley Lodge, which is out in the middle of nowhere! Here I did some class 5 white water rafting… amazing and so much fun! I have never been before so it was a real thrill and we were out on the water for like 3 hours paddling down the river! I don’t have any photos as it was really expensive, but I’m sure you can imagine how sexy I looked in my life jacket and my crash hat!
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- Mount Ruapehu – part of the National Park along with Mt. Ngauruhoe and Mt. Tongariro
At the top of Mount Victoria looking over Wellington
So after River Valley we arrived in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s was random and fun! We spent a lot of time in the hostel bar becasue drinks are really cheap! We went over to Civic Square for a while where there was a free concert going on, and generally had a good time!
I am definitely looking forward to an amazing 2010 and loving my time in New Zealand.
Wellington is a pretty interesting place with a great vibe, so I have decided to stay here for a while and find some work. The only bad thing about Wellington is that it is RIDICULOUSLY windy! Everyone warned me that it was windy here but you just have no idea. It’s relentless!
Anyway, I move into a new place tomorrow and will hopefully get some more Office temp work like I was doing in the UK. I have done a bit of sight seeing here but will put more about Wellington in my next blog.
I hope poeple are still reading and please feel free to comment, I can reply to your comments if you want to write something. Oh and if anyone wants to hang out in Wellington with me give me a shout!
Hope you’re all well and for all of you in the UK I am so not missing the snow… but feel free to send me some snow pics!
Bye for now, love Jo. xoxox
         
         
         
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January 12, 2010 | 6:03 am
Top documentation dude
Had a class time hangin out in welli and rotorua with you and the rest of the crew. Im really jellous that your stayin its definately a cool place, especially your pad… when u get it sorted! im sure youll have many good times on the ‘deck’ with a beer lookin out over fantastic that view.
Dont miss me 2 much and maybe ill look you up on my next journey of wisdom.
enjoy