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New Zealand must do’s!!

A visit to Lake Taupo!!

I spent Easter at New Zealands largest lake!! My Holiday started early Good Friday with a lift to Palmaston North from a very kind teacher. I then finally got to meet the girls from Marton to go the rest of the way to Taupo! The drive to Taupo had some of the most amazing views especially of Mount Roupahu and so the 4 hour trip went quite quickly while looking out and singing along to the radio! Instead of staying in a hostel we rented a batch (which i would recommend doing in NZ!). It was right by the lake and for the extremely cheap price we paid it was awesome :D . The batch had everything you could need including a Canadian canoe and a trampoline! It was great to spend most evening chilling in the batch with a few ciders and walking down to the lake to watch the sun set :D

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Lake Taupo is massive, I knew it was going to be big but it just never seamed to end!! The area is a lot more touristy than other places I have visited in NZ but that also meant there was a big range of things we could see and do. All along just one stretch of road we visited; Huka falls, NZ honey tasting shop, craters of the moon and the opening of the Aratiatia dam. We even enjoyed a walk along part of the lake and got some great views! Its defiantly a must to visit a mineral water hot pools while in NZ and so we took the opportunity at DeBretts in Taupo and even had a few goes of the slide :p Easter is the perfect excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner and even better being handed free chocolate. I must say it was very different going out for an indian meal for easter when i am used to a roast dinner but it was a nice change.

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Tramping in the NZ bush!!

Masterson is surrounded by mountain ranges and it was great to actually get to walk thought some of what I see everyday! The Tararua forest was quiet a steep walk up to the tutuwai Hut but luckily it only started to rain just before we arrived! Staying in a hut was quiet different to a usual tent, felt like luxury having a mattress, running water oh and the pet mouse. Even had a super fast dip in the river! I think I will remember most about my NZ tramping experience is that I got lost at the very end and although I was only missing for around an hour search and rescue were called! I defiantly found out the hard way how easy it can be to lose your way, and I think this is what I will be remembered for at my placement! (The gappie that got lost :p)

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The capital!!

Wellington is defiantly one of my favourite cities, it might be small and very windy but has a lot to offer :D . The trains are so slow in NZ but they are reasonably more comfortable than home and so the just under 2 hour ride to Wellington isn’t so bad from Masterton. I have stayed in 2 different hostels now, the YHA is great and very clean but so big that you don’t get the backpackers atmosphere that you get at the smaller hostels like worldwide. I have just fallen in love with the Cuba street area, in the day it has awesome coffee shops and vintage shops but also in the evening the street has the best restaurants, bars and on a Friday night the food market has food from all around the world including awesome burritos, churos and very strange Mexican hot chocolate!!

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Being the nerd I am I visited zealandia which is an amazing bird sanctuary for the native birds of NZ! defiantly worth a visit and even better on a good day to have a walk around the reserve!! Also got to visit the Wellington zoo for just $2 on gold coin day. Even if we had to que for 30mis it was still worth going to see the kiwis as you can see them without any glass in the way like most other places. The TePapa is such an awesome museum, great to learn about New Zealand history and culture and also a highlight to see the colossal squid. The famous cable car up to the observatory was great to go up in the evening and see all the city lights! Was also really interesting visiting the planetarium and learning about the stars visible from the Southern Hemisphere!

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Wellington has some awesome places to eat and drink . (Although not always the cheapest) I would certainly recommend all the places I have been including; TJs Japanese restaurant, cafes along the water front and Cuba street, food at the market and wood fire pizza on Cuba! Although expensive Wellington does have a good night life but it was quite difficult to find cheap drinks and good music all in one! I have said over and over how kind people here are but would you believe I even got a free hair cut and colour worth over $200 by a professional hair stylist just because I am a backpacker in the right place at the right time, just another reason for loving New Zealand!!! :D

Amazing Wairarapa!!

The Wairarapa is a great area with lots to see and do and it’s such a nice area to take pictures!!! Solway college is directly next to the solway show grounds which seams to have a few events happening on it and so far I have been long to the A&P show which was a bit like the Stocksley show i usually go in Yorkshire with lots of cute animals! It was a fun afternoon watching lots of different events and even seeing someone stood on 2 houses while jumping, but Mostly I really did want to steal a piglet or a duck!! Although it is quite difficult to get around without my own transport people are so friendly and offer to take you with them when they go anywhere! There was a centenary celebration on at Castle point beach and we managed to grab a lift of a very kind teacher from solway. We even got coffee and scones when we arrived at the beach. Was a particularly windy day but had a great time, running up The Sand dunes, watching some live music, walking up to the lighthouse and even ended up meeting up with another teacher and getting a full picnic :D . After a great day at the beach we set off back to Masterton but not before stopping off for a cup of tea on the way back in someone’s house!!

Solway college is a great pace to be and I have been able to do lots of different and great things :D . Solway had there Founders day which was a swimming sports day, (basically a day sitting enjoying the sun and writing down a few swimming times) and another few similar days since watching athletics too! The food here is great and I have been told I arrived at a perfect time as the caterers just changed and the old food was bad!! Most of the food in NZ is the same as we have back in the UK with only a few differences. Masterton is small but nice, not been for a proper shop yet but managed to get s bargain already and buy jandles for $2 (flip flops).

I enjoyed castlepoint beach so much that when there was another event on (house races on the beach) we went along when a friend came to visit from Marton! The weather was fab and so after enjoying our little picnic and even a win on the house races we went for a walk up to the light house and to castle rock and took some interesting pictures! Back at school It was nice to actually cook and although very odd after hours in the school food tech room, it was fun cooking and we even found some candles to go with our meal before finishing the day off with wine and card games. We managed to fit a lot into the Sunday having access to a car does make thing a lot easier!! we first went along to the Martinbourgh farmers market which was at a wine yard and may have tasted some gin and wine (even enjoyed some red wine). Back in the car we headed to New Zealand’s Stonehenge Aotearoa, was quiet and so being the only people there got to take some fun photos, and even found that our star signs are wrong :s. just over the road is a very interesting old house creatively named the ghost house and you an walk up to it for a look (don’t think i would in the dark).

It is amazing how much there is to do in the Wairarapa, and considering this is my home for 6 months I want to see as much as possible in my local area!! On a Monday off school one of the teachers took us to Cape palliser, to see the panicles, the lighthouse and the smelly but very cute seals. The pinnacles were fascinating to see and its amazing how they have formed. The walk up was quite steep but really nice and didn’t take too long. 240 steps i think i counted up to the lighthouse (but I may have miss counted :s!), and it was a great view from the top out to sea. We had a picnic by the sea and then climbed the rocks to get really close up to the seals for some good photo opportunities!! The weekend after we were able to go along to Mount Bruce to see lots of amazing native NZ birds! Although $20 to get in, they do have a great selection of birds to see both cadged and out in the wild! Getting to see my first kiwi bird was great and they even have a very rear white kiwi which we saw having a nice time rolling around in the dirt :D . They do have kiwis in the bush at mount Bruce but on out walk up which takes about an hour we dint see any. We did see lots of kaka birds out and about though and when we went along to a kaka feeding they just came right up to you and one even jumped on my arm to grab some food!!

After not being able to play golf yet since arriving in NZ I went up to the driving range and discovered even with some random clubs I could still just about strike a ball at the Solway driving range. Although public transport is rubbish here there are a few buses on a Saturday to be able to visit the near by towns! And so have been able to visit Grey town which is very popular with Wellington people as it has some really lovely cafes and shops. I especially enjoyed the cobble stones museum and the amazing chocolate factory shop which is most famous for its chilli and lime chocolate. although $10 to buy I did ave to get some after tasting every other flavour available including curry and popadom (which was surprisingly nice).

I think one of my favourite event in the Wairarapa has been the Balloons festival. And i must do if you find yourself in these parts in march time!! The events lasted over a few days and I was able to go along to the very early start at Henley lake to see the splash and dash event. The ballots looked quite cool over the lake and it was a great photo opportunity with the sun rising in the background! I was also able to go along the night glow event which was basically the hot air balloons performing a light show to music and was just amazing to watch!! :D

Camp!!

Camping with twenty four year 10′s was surprisingly very relaxing :D . After setting up tents and having a coffee we set of to an area that seamed like the middle of nowhere (little like a lord of the rings landscape). Sun shining and tramping boots on, set out down towards some caves!! The first cave we went in although no small gaps was dark and very uneven under foot, and yes I managed to be the only one to fall over and in order to save my camera fell straight onto my legs! The next cave you almost had to do the worm to wriggle into and got very wet but was so much fun!! Back at camp I discovered the game called Bananagrams like an easy version of scrabble (quite dyslexia friendly). A few hours passed playing bananagrams and after becoming quite obsessed with the game set out to bed, but got distracted standing in the middle of the field for over an hour just gazing into the night sky. With so little light pollution around and an extremely clear sky it was more amazing than I can describe and I had never seen anything like it!!!!!
Camp day 2 was great :D Never mind the girls who did also have a great time, I got to try an indoor swing thing ( not exactly sure what to call it), indoor abseiling, climbing, jumping into a pile of foam bits, high ropes and a flying fox!! I must say doing the high ropes has made me want to do it again, it’s a very strange feeling while up in the trees (although a little scary at first it starts to feel kind of normal and like you should always be up in the trees ha ha). So after a very full day it was back to camp for yet more bananagrams and staring into the night sky!!
Camp day 3 started off rather fun as I got to drive an automatic camper van back to school!!! First ever time driving an automatic and it was weird as I kept going to change gear then realising :s. After my fun driving experience we then left for Rafting and abseiling. Rafting was great, because the weather has been so hot and no rain water levels were quite low, so it wasn’t overly fast water but it was great to just be paddling down the river taking in all the scenery (wishing I could of had my camera). Half way round we stopped by some high rocks and us gappies had to be the first jump off into the extremely fresh water (it was so fun we sneaked in for a second jump while the girls weren’t allowed ha ha), after drying of very quickly in the sun we set out to abseil down a 30m high!!!

 

Going it alone!!!! :D

I must say it was very strange getting on the plane from Auckland to Wellington alone as I had spent a long time with everyone else being around me! I was very shocked how little security there was on internal flights but it was so much quicker and less hassle than normal!! Such a short flight, by the time I had eaten my cookie and drank my coffee we had arrived and so very different from the long flights previous!! As I had no clue who I was looking for at the airport it was very useful that they were holding a sign with my name on it (just like in the movies!!) It took around an hour and a half to drive on to Masterton from wellington but I hardly noticed as we were driving through such beautiful scenery!! I then arrived at solway college and found out there would shortly be a BBQ which was nice for my first evening. My room is actually bigger than I thought it would be and so after attempting to organise my things my new flat mate Rike gave me a short tour of solway and Masterton. Masterton is small but has some great photo opportunities and so am often spotted by the teachers wondering around with my camera.
Solway is very unique, with less than 150 girls is very different to what I am used to back home! Everyone at school is really nice and friendly and I have been doing lots of very different jobs but am mainly here to help the girls who need some extra support in lessons! Well I wouldn’t be me if in my first week I hadn’t found were all the ducks were! There is a great nature reserve about 5mins walk from solway which is full of ducks (I do sound like a crazy duck lady). I mostly get the weekends off work which was very nice to hear as I am only a short train ride from Wellington!! There is lots to do in the area though and good to go along with the girls at the weekend if they are up to something nice. My first Saturday here I went along to the Martinbourgh fair, where I could have easily spent a lot of money but resisted mostly!! I then topped my first weekend off with some time out in the very hot weather and a relax in the pool, ( if anyone back home saw me they would think I had a nice tan but compared to everyone here I am still very pale).
I enjoyed having an extra long birthday this year as I could still claim it was my birthday for an extra 13 hours in the UK compared to here, and so was very nice getting birthday messages for well over a day!! I had a great 19th birthday spending the evening in the flat with Rike drinking wine & cider and eating chocolate!!! 2 days after my birthday we got a day off for Waitangi Day!! We decided to go along to Henley lake with the girls where there was a small event on with some Maori bands, but as the weather was not so good we didn’t stay to long. It was a beautiful place and I would love to go back at a quieter time with my camera though! (yes more ducks).

Aukland!!!

After being greater by the amazing Lattitude NZ team we set out to drop bags at the hotel before going to have a maori welcome!! Had great fun learning a few maori Words and even had a few throws of a rugby ball!!!
In Auckland we got the ferry to Davenport and found it quiet funny that you could get a ferry to Birkenhead in NZ!!! After dipping our feet in the water and having a walk we had our second NZ fish & chips of the day and feed the birds with the left overs. We had defiantly powering through the day and so had a well deserved glass of wine at the hotel before finally bed!!!!!!!!
Day two didn’t start so well as our alarm failed to go off meaning we got a wake up call just before we were supposed to be in orientation (oops!!!) so after a quick few hours of the boring stuff we escaped to get out into the hot weather. Eat our lunch on a volcano and then Walking through Auckland we end up doing the cancan across the road before arriving at the sky tower. The views of Auckland were amazing and with clear skys too!! We then headed for some live music, cider and sun!! :D

Adventure begins!!! (My extremely cheesy title to start things off)

After the emotional goodbyes on the platform of Runcorn train station we set out heading for our hotel at Heathrow!! Train ride was very smooth and fast and we even got a sorry from the driver as the train arrived at euston 2 minuets early!!!!!!!! ( would you believe that could happen even in the snow) after enjoying our free chicken at nandos we headed for our taxi to the hotel!! Mush have had the nicest taxi driver in London as when we stopped for petrol he bought us chocolate :D . Arriving at the hotel we expect a long checkin but after typing my surname in fast checkin we are in the room within minuets!! Premier inn was clean and comfortable but as we were both anxious and excited we only slept a little!!! We then were able to time it perfectly, waiting outside the hotel for under 5 minuets the bus arrives to take us to our terminal!! Super fast checkin at the terminal desk and after meeting up with the other girls we went on to have some breakfast in pret and then on through security. After everyone being padded down (except me!!!) we headed for our first 11 hour flight to Hong Kong. First flight was not to bad and got some interesting Asian plane food (not plain food!!) and surprisingly some good tv and films!!! We then arrive in Hong Kong airport for our 8 hour wait! it was so big and after a long wonder around we found some seats and with free wifi kept occupied and managed to stay awake!! Headed for some food and finally the terminal was announced after about 6 hours . Seeing arrows down to something called an automatic people mover. We set off wondering were we would end up only to realise it was a 10 second train taking us only to the other side of the station which may have been easier to walk!! ( but I really did want another go) So the next flight was long and hard and I managed to fall asleep 4 times trying to watch the same program. Eventually we arrived in Auckland after hardly any sleep we had a day of orientation ahead of us!!!!