So I've been back about 2 weeks now and let's say it's been eventful as always!
I couldn't do anything at all for a few nights cos of my illness but I bagged myself a work for accomodation job but quit after a week (I thought I was just making beds and general spring cleaning, turns out i was scrubbing walls and showers for 3 hours a day solid) Had a few messy nights which were fun but caused more bad than good but I'll come back to that!
Saw Dave and Biff for a couple of days and had a few quiet drinks before they left for home. A few days later Jack, Adam, Cassie and Luke turned up so met up with them for a little bit but they were only passing through. Then out of the blue Jack from the mental 2 nights in Hong Kong showed up out of the blue before going to Queeny! Now as suspected we had a crazy night with my kiwi mate Dave which neither of us can really remember except the end where me and Jack ended up hooking up with the same girl resulting in some great banter the past few days!
Also I finally got to see the movie 'Boy' with Adam and Marc. It's a kiwi comedy film and it was excellent! some great lines in it and if anyone back home ever gets a chance to see it then i really recommened it!
Just for giggles one day me, marc and G (this irish girl we met who knows most of the Leinster team which was mad) went down to the harbour to drink all day and night resulting in neither of us remembering anything from that night but in our defence it was a gorgeous day and needed to be done.
This weekend was Jasons birthday so we went out celebrating on friday, saturday, sunday and monday. Which brings onto the 'more bad than good' thing.
So this weekend we've been quiet rowdy and drunken and its been pretty epic. We played Centurion(1 shot of beer or wine every minute for 100 minutes) on the Saturday and Monday. Monday we started at half 8 and we had no idea the consequences this would cause. We woke up thinking wow that was a good night, then we looked at our doors. There was a sign on my dorm room saying "Dear Guests of 208. Could Marc, Jason, Lewis and Richard please come down to the cafe at 9am in the morning to speak to the management about a few issues" (sam had one too), not good.
We thought this was just going to be a warning about our behaviour and a slap on the wrist. Well This morning I woke to Jason saying that they all got kicked and theres no way around it. They even tried to get the names of us others out of them so we've had a manic morning trying to find a hostel that would accomodate 15 beds and have us all on the same floor. We went to the fat camel but Fusion phoned just as we arrived saying we wernt allowed to stay so that was them crossed off. Luckily We found a hostel by the name of Frendz which is bad but just not as good as fusion.
After some thinking me, kirsten, sinead and adam are staying for a few more days to get our nights we've already payed for plus I feel kinda bad as Raks is staying and pretty much has to as he works for accomodation and cant afford to lose that job and would be on his own if we all left right away. Its been wierd but fuck it was a good weekend!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Queeny to Auckland
The next few days I didn't really do anything, Didn't have any money to go out and to be honest, didn't fancy it either. I wasnt waking up til mid day so i wasnt doing anything during the day. Its a great way to save money.
Me and Luke ended up picking up a cold and was really struggling with it so we literally just didnt leave our beds except to eat and when we went to the cinema again to watch the blindside. It was quality and we ended up being on the reclining leather seats on the balcony which made it even better.
Christchurch
I think we were quite thankfull to leave Queeny in the end as it was wierd not having anyone around. The sedburgh rugby boys were on our bus aswell and seemed to be struggling with the cold aswell which was good as we made a pact that we were just going to sleep. The driver had said that the journey was meant to be the worst one as it was the longest (which is true) but we slept the whole way and watched a couple of dvds so it was all good.
We got to Christchurch about 5pm after stopping off at a couple of lakes and granted they were pretty but I was finding it hard to appreciate beauty as i was so cold and ill!
The hostel in CC was a shit hole. I was so glad I was only stopping over for 1 night and leaving in the morning to get my flight to Auckland. That evening we just watched a couple of episodes of family guy and fell asleep.
I woke up in the morning still feeling shit and said my goodbyes before grabbing some breakfast and catching the shuttle bus to the airport. I felt kinda sorry for Luke as he still has 10 days on the bus feeling like crap!
It has to be said that airport security in NZ really is quite shite. I walked through with a bottle of Water the whole way and onto the flight without being questioned or told to put it in the bin... nice.
Christchurch had been blessed with a gorgeous day, unlike Auckland where there was a storm! lovely. Just what I wanted... rain, cold and wind.
Auckland
I landed about half 2 and got back to the hostel about 4 which was nice as I had time to get my stuff sorted before finding everyone. It felt really good to be back and I was put at ease when I saw Tristan and he told me to go down to reception at 9 the following morning to sort out work for accomodation.
I sat off in the boys room for a couple of hours and got caught up on all the gossip from the past few weeks and yeah, there was loads of good stuff! That evening i blagged myself a work for accomodation meal just like old times. I was treated to a suprise... As i was about to order my meal, guess who should walk in...
Dave and Biff! I had thought everyone was long gone from Auckland but their flight isnt til Saturday morning so they were staying up in Base. Aparantly Laura was knocking around Fusion aswell somewhere. Now a common theme that happens to me appears to have not died whilst I've been on my travels... Once I have a couple of drinks with my meal I end up going out. This was the case again. Yes im still ill aswell. It was an average night to be honest and only me sharon ryan the canadian and a couple of his friends went out. I bumped into Anna aswell which was nice.
This morning though- in fact all of today- has been a complete write off. Ive felt so bad.. worse than before so ive been in bed all day except for when i went to IEP to use the free internet and saw dave in the tv room in fusion.
Me and Luke ended up picking up a cold and was really struggling with it so we literally just didnt leave our beds except to eat and when we went to the cinema again to watch the blindside. It was quality and we ended up being on the reclining leather seats on the balcony which made it even better.
Christchurch
I think we were quite thankfull to leave Queeny in the end as it was wierd not having anyone around. The sedburgh rugby boys were on our bus aswell and seemed to be struggling with the cold aswell which was good as we made a pact that we were just going to sleep. The driver had said that the journey was meant to be the worst one as it was the longest (which is true) but we slept the whole way and watched a couple of dvds so it was all good.
We got to Christchurch about 5pm after stopping off at a couple of lakes and granted they were pretty but I was finding it hard to appreciate beauty as i was so cold and ill!
The hostel in CC was a shit hole. I was so glad I was only stopping over for 1 night and leaving in the morning to get my flight to Auckland. That evening we just watched a couple of episodes of family guy and fell asleep.
I woke up in the morning still feeling shit and said my goodbyes before grabbing some breakfast and catching the shuttle bus to the airport. I felt kinda sorry for Luke as he still has 10 days on the bus feeling like crap!
It has to be said that airport security in NZ really is quite shite. I walked through with a bottle of Water the whole way and onto the flight without being questioned or told to put it in the bin... nice.
Christchurch had been blessed with a gorgeous day, unlike Auckland where there was a storm! lovely. Just what I wanted... rain, cold and wind.
Auckland
I landed about half 2 and got back to the hostel about 4 which was nice as I had time to get my stuff sorted before finding everyone. It felt really good to be back and I was put at ease when I saw Tristan and he told me to go down to reception at 9 the following morning to sort out work for accomodation.
I sat off in the boys room for a couple of hours and got caught up on all the gossip from the past few weeks and yeah, there was loads of good stuff! That evening i blagged myself a work for accomodation meal just like old times. I was treated to a suprise... As i was about to order my meal, guess who should walk in...
Dave and Biff! I had thought everyone was long gone from Auckland but their flight isnt til Saturday morning so they were staying up in Base. Aparantly Laura was knocking around Fusion aswell somewhere. Now a common theme that happens to me appears to have not died whilst I've been on my travels... Once I have a couple of drinks with my meal I end up going out. This was the case again. Yes im still ill aswell. It was an average night to be honest and only me sharon ryan the canadian and a couple of his friends went out. I bumped into Anna aswell which was nice.
This morning though- in fact all of today- has been a complete write off. Ive felt so bad.. worse than before so ive been in bed all day except for when i went to IEP to use the free internet and saw dave in the tv room in fusion.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Queenstown
We rolled out of Lake Wanaka and headed towards Queenstown. As the crow flys the journey is around 30km but because of the mountains between us and Queeny, our journey was more than double that. We stopped off at Puzzle World which really brought out the little kid in us all. There was a big labrynth maze and a room of illusions which was pretty cool. The maze was abit of a mission to get round and very frustrating. The idea of it was to get to the top of the 4 towers located in each corner and cleverly there was a series of bridges in the middle so you couldnt cheat your way to winning. Me and Jack got pissed off after 2 towers and headed for the exit. We stopped a couple more times for the standard photo opportunites but this time round it was genuinely breathtaking with the mountains in the background. For lunch we stopped at a little town outside Queeny called Arrowtown. Me, jack and adam treated ourselves to a pint and some pub lunch which was gorgeous, especially in the afternoon sun. Next stop was at the first commercial bungy jump site for everyone to book their bungys. When we rolled into Queeny we could clearly see it had flooded, the streets more towards the waterfront were completely drowned but the flood doesnt come up too far. We all stopped at the lake for a big group photo
for the kiwi ex. website then rolled on to our hostels. Most of us are either in base or nomads. The nomads hostel is the best hostel ive been in so far and i'll tell you why in one sentance. As im typing this our im on a leather sofa next to a log fire with a pool table and a balcony in my peripheral vision. Last night was a big night again, just like wellington. Unfortunately I really can't remember anything except that we were all playing ring of fire til 10(aparantly), i bumped into the 2 austrian girls i met in auckland, tim the welsh guy and the 3 irish girls who were on the stray bus. oh and i kissed becky again which was a suprise to me when i woke up in the morning. Today has been another write off, i have literally just been walking round like a mong and its taken me 4 hours to actually do anything! Tonights the blindfolded bar crawl so that, as last night was, should be very interesting!
The blindfolded bar crawl was absolute carnage. Me and Jack shared a blindfold, as did Luke and Adam. In the first bar we had a pull ups competition to win a free sky dive which was pretty funny, especially when the girls had to do it. The bar crawl consisted of 6 bars with 6 free drinks and you had to lead your partner to the next bar blindfolded or to add abit of fun, you could lead them into a lamp post (sorry again Jack). After 3 bars it was my turn to throw on the blindfold.
The last leg of the crawl was at World Bar where we met up with the boys from the other bus. It was a pretty good night, with a fair bit of gossip floating around the next morning.
As with most days, I havn't done anuything as I've been just too hungover to move!
We had planned for another bar crawl the next night but most of us arrived just too late and couldn't be bothered to go in so as per usual it was just another drinking session in world bar and as per usual, i cant remember anything (especially as im writing this days after the event so everythings blurred into one!)
It took quite awile for me to get up for going but I had to as it was Stuart, Ian, Becky, Laura, Sophia and Liv's last night. We all aranged to start drinking in his room before heading out and as with most nights we ended up in World Bar. We got a good crowd together and it was just like old times going out with the old bus again! And I was back to my ways, not remembering anything from the night before except getting a massive round of jaegerbombs! I think it was that point me and Becky said our goodbyes and left.
The next day me and the boys decided that tonight was going to be a complete write off so we decided to go the cinema. The guys checked out times and everything and I just stayed in bed all day dying slowly! We went to see Iron Man 2 and fuck was it good! It was funny just seeing how excited Luke was to see it, he was like a little kid throughout the whole movie and especially at the end for the secret scene.
We got an early night that night but I still slept for about 15 hours, might have been a catch up on sleep from the previous nights! I finally sorted out my vodafone bill and actually was outside the hostel for more than 15 minutes this time!
Tonight was another night that was planning to be huge... The posh girls (lexy, jess, georgia and tash) last night aswell as emily, laura, lindsay and aimie's. I had got quite close to Tash and Georgia so really wasnt looking forward to saying goodbye to them. After a couple of hours drinking in the kitchen we left for world bar in 2 different groups, i had left with the posh girls and their friends but got bored after an hour or so in world bar so i left and told them i would see them off in the morning.
I got up bright and early (half 7) to go down to reception to see the girls off. I'll tell you one thing, goodbyes don't get easier so i went back to bed for a few more hours. Today me jack and luke just walked round for a couple of hours, booked jacks fiji pass then got some pizza and watched the first iron man. If your abit skint there really isnt too much to do in Queenstown as all the bungys, skydives, rafting, jet boating are expensive and as are the nights out!
As much as it is expensive, it is a really cool town to be in and I cant wait to get back here next year around ski season!
for the kiwi ex. website then rolled on to our hostels. Most of us are either in base or nomads. The nomads hostel is the best hostel ive been in so far and i'll tell you why in one sentance. As im typing this our im on a leather sofa next to a log fire with a pool table and a balcony in my peripheral vision. Last night was a big night again, just like wellington. Unfortunately I really can't remember anything except that we were all playing ring of fire til 10(aparantly), i bumped into the 2 austrian girls i met in auckland, tim the welsh guy and the 3 irish girls who were on the stray bus. oh and i kissed becky again which was a suprise to me when i woke up in the morning. Today has been another write off, i have literally just been walking round like a mong and its taken me 4 hours to actually do anything! Tonights the blindfolded bar crawl so that, as last night was, should be very interesting!
The blindfolded bar crawl was absolute carnage. Me and Jack shared a blindfold, as did Luke and Adam. In the first bar we had a pull ups competition to win a free sky dive which was pretty funny, especially when the girls had to do it. The bar crawl consisted of 6 bars with 6 free drinks and you had to lead your partner to the next bar blindfolded or to add abit of fun, you could lead them into a lamp post (sorry again Jack). After 3 bars it was my turn to throw on the blindfold.
The last leg of the crawl was at World Bar where we met up with the boys from the other bus. It was a pretty good night, with a fair bit of gossip floating around the next morning.
As with most days, I havn't done anuything as I've been just too hungover to move!
We had planned for another bar crawl the next night but most of us arrived just too late and couldn't be bothered to go in so as per usual it was just another drinking session in world bar and as per usual, i cant remember anything (especially as im writing this days after the event so everythings blurred into one!)
It took quite awile for me to get up for going but I had to as it was Stuart, Ian, Becky, Laura, Sophia and Liv's last night. We all aranged to start drinking in his room before heading out and as with most nights we ended up in World Bar. We got a good crowd together and it was just like old times going out with the old bus again! And I was back to my ways, not remembering anything from the night before except getting a massive round of jaegerbombs! I think it was that point me and Becky said our goodbyes and left.
The next day me and the boys decided that tonight was going to be a complete write off so we decided to go the cinema. The guys checked out times and everything and I just stayed in bed all day dying slowly! We went to see Iron Man 2 and fuck was it good! It was funny just seeing how excited Luke was to see it, he was like a little kid throughout the whole movie and especially at the end for the secret scene.
We got an early night that night but I still slept for about 15 hours, might have been a catch up on sleep from the previous nights! I finally sorted out my vodafone bill and actually was outside the hostel for more than 15 minutes this time!
Tonight was another night that was planning to be huge... The posh girls (lexy, jess, georgia and tash) last night aswell as emily, laura, lindsay and aimie's. I had got quite close to Tash and Georgia so really wasnt looking forward to saying goodbye to them. After a couple of hours drinking in the kitchen we left for world bar in 2 different groups, i had left with the posh girls and their friends but got bored after an hour or so in world bar so i left and told them i would see them off in the morning.
I got up bright and early (half 7) to go down to reception to see the girls off. I'll tell you one thing, goodbyes don't get easier so i went back to bed for a few more hours. Today me jack and luke just walked round for a couple of hours, booked jacks fiji pass then got some pizza and watched the first iron man. If your abit skint there really isnt too much to do in Queenstown as all the bungys, skydives, rafting, jet boating are expensive and as are the nights out!
As much as it is expensive, it is a really cool town to be in and I cant wait to get back here next year around ski season!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
The Calm Before The Storm That Will Be Queenstown
Westport
We left early in the morning stopping off at the Nelson Lakes to take a perfect postcard picture but unfortunately it was raining so badly we couldn't see the view of the mountains in the background.
The rain had meant we couldn't really stop off anywhere so we just cruised straight to Westport. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Westport so we just got some food from the supermarket and watched 2 Lord of the Rings back to back and retired to bed.
Poo Pub
We left fairly early in the morning for this small hostel in the middle of nowhere by Lake Mahinapua and every night they host a fancy dress for the kiwi experience bus. I really did feel like the bus had been split up as now we had only around half of the people we originally started off with and the bus behind us had filled in the spaces.
I pretty much slept the whole way except for when we stopped off to go see a seal colony and at Greymouth to go buy our fancy dress. The theme of the party was 'P', I really couldn't think of what to go as and didn't want to do the obvious pirate thing. After looking around I decided on going as a playboy bunny girl, and it was cheap. We got to the hostel and checked into our rooms.
They were extrememly basic but then again we wern't going to be in the rooms long. Me and some of the new guys on the bus went down the beach to play a game of touch. It was absolutely freezing and raining hard but it just felt so good to play some rugby again. I had time to jump in the shower and warm back up before our feed. Our meal was $12 and completely worth it...
a steak, venison stew, some roast potatoes, salad, pasta and some bread and butter. Afterwards we went to the bar for a drink before going back to the room to get ready for the evening. The phrase "go hard or go home" had been coming into it's own on the trip and tonight was one of them. I gave in and after some peer pressue, me luke and adam had the girls put some make up on us, which was outrageous but to be honest, we did look good! It was a pretty good night and everyone had good costumes on. No real gossip from the night as everyone I think had looked back on Wellington and decided it would be best to be on their best behaviour!
Franz Josef
Everyone woke up with sore heads and poorly stomachs, telling stories from the night before e.g Lexy's mission to bed early as she peaked too soon. The highlight being her faceplanting the floor and taking tash with her possibly breaking some bones in Tash's hand! Again the rain was pouring down so we only really got off the bus once at the Bushman's centre. Basically its just a cafe and a museum dedicated to deer farming and possums. It was quite wierd and pretty boring to be honest, except when we started playing with the eels.
We were stopping a couple of times for toilet breaks and odd 15minute walks to see some scenary but the majority of us just stayed on the bus and slept. I had real trouble getting my make up off in the morning so it was pretty much left on all day making me look like Russell Brand.
When we got to Franz Josef we went to book our Glacier trips for the day after. It was all quite exciting and scary at the same time. That night most of us just grabbed some kip knowing we were up early in the morning to check in for our hike. We were given our outer layers but told to wear 4 layers ourselves which seemed abit over the top.
The glacier is quite unique due to it's position and how near to sea level it is. The hike was a full day one and we wernt even going that far. It was a 2.6km walk before we got to the bottom of the glacier along the river and rocks. I jumped in the first group as I knew I was going to get impatient having to wait for others.
Half way up the climb we got a tunnel we were supposed to climb up through but because of the rain all, the steps were supposed to be taking were worn away so our guide had to spend an hour haking away at the ice to create a path for us. The pouring rain and cold was having an effect on us and really making us want to turn back even at half way. I couldn't think straight or clench my hand.
We manned up eventually made it up where we supposed to get to. The view from the top was amazing but all we could think was hot food! That night we had a few drinks and played some pool before the bar pulled out bar games. Me and jack entered in a game called bar rafting. You had to dress up in rafting gear then piggy back your way to the end of the bar then slalom back down to the bar have a shot then get unchanged. Me and jack fucked up on the first shot and got a 5 second penalty which ended up putting us in 2nd place.
Lake Wanaka
We left early in the morning again because we were told that at Lake Matheson we could take a picture of a perfect reflection of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. It was pretty impressive but we were so cold i called out the 2 picture policy and got back onto the bus asap. Again we all fell asleep along the way except for stopping off at thunder falls to take some pictures and the blue pools. The blue pools were absolute let down as we went the wrong way so spent the half hour we had just skimming stones in the river. We've arrived at Lake Wanaka and just been the supermarket to grab some food. The call for tonight is just chilling as we know we have Queenstown coming out and that is going to be 6 days of mega hard drinking! That is if it isn't completely flooded. The boys and girls from the bus ahead of us that only spent 1 night in Nelson have been keeping us informed and aparantly the flooding is going to get worse which should be interesting.
We left early in the morning stopping off at the Nelson Lakes to take a perfect postcard picture but unfortunately it was raining so badly we couldn't see the view of the mountains in the background.
The rain had meant we couldn't really stop off anywhere so we just cruised straight to Westport. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Westport so we just got some food from the supermarket and watched 2 Lord of the Rings back to back and retired to bed.
Poo Pub
We left fairly early in the morning for this small hostel in the middle of nowhere by Lake Mahinapua and every night they host a fancy dress for the kiwi experience bus. I really did feel like the bus had been split up as now we had only around half of the people we originally started off with and the bus behind us had filled in the spaces.
I pretty much slept the whole way except for when we stopped off to go see a seal colony and at Greymouth to go buy our fancy dress. The theme of the party was 'P', I really couldn't think of what to go as and didn't want to do the obvious pirate thing. After looking around I decided on going as a playboy bunny girl, and it was cheap. We got to the hostel and checked into our rooms.
They were extrememly basic but then again we wern't going to be in the rooms long. Me and some of the new guys on the bus went down the beach to play a game of touch. It was absolutely freezing and raining hard but it just felt so good to play some rugby again. I had time to jump in the shower and warm back up before our feed. Our meal was $12 and completely worth it...
a steak, venison stew, some roast potatoes, salad, pasta and some bread and butter. Afterwards we went to the bar for a drink before going back to the room to get ready for the evening. The phrase "go hard or go home" had been coming into it's own on the trip and tonight was one of them. I gave in and after some peer pressue, me luke and adam had the girls put some make up on us, which was outrageous but to be honest, we did look good! It was a pretty good night and everyone had good costumes on. No real gossip from the night as everyone I think had looked back on Wellington and decided it would be best to be on their best behaviour!
Franz Josef
Everyone woke up with sore heads and poorly stomachs, telling stories from the night before e.g Lexy's mission to bed early as she peaked too soon. The highlight being her faceplanting the floor and taking tash with her possibly breaking some bones in Tash's hand! Again the rain was pouring down so we only really got off the bus once at the Bushman's centre. Basically its just a cafe and a museum dedicated to deer farming and possums. It was quite wierd and pretty boring to be honest, except when we started playing with the eels.
We were stopping a couple of times for toilet breaks and odd 15minute walks to see some scenary but the majority of us just stayed on the bus and slept. I had real trouble getting my make up off in the morning so it was pretty much left on all day making me look like Russell Brand.
When we got to Franz Josef we went to book our Glacier trips for the day after. It was all quite exciting and scary at the same time. That night most of us just grabbed some kip knowing we were up early in the morning to check in for our hike. We were given our outer layers but told to wear 4 layers ourselves which seemed abit over the top.
The glacier is quite unique due to it's position and how near to sea level it is. The hike was a full day one and we wernt even going that far. It was a 2.6km walk before we got to the bottom of the glacier along the river and rocks. I jumped in the first group as I knew I was going to get impatient having to wait for others.
Half way up the climb we got a tunnel we were supposed to climb up through but because of the rain all, the steps were supposed to be taking were worn away so our guide had to spend an hour haking away at the ice to create a path for us. The pouring rain and cold was having an effect on us and really making us want to turn back even at half way. I couldn't think straight or clench my hand.
We manned up eventually made it up where we supposed to get to. The view from the top was amazing but all we could think was hot food! That night we had a few drinks and played some pool before the bar pulled out bar games. Me and jack entered in a game called bar rafting. You had to dress up in rafting gear then piggy back your way to the end of the bar then slalom back down to the bar have a shot then get unchanged. Me and jack fucked up on the first shot and got a 5 second penalty which ended up putting us in 2nd place.
Lake Wanaka
We left early in the morning again because we were told that at Lake Matheson we could take a picture of a perfect reflection of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman. It was pretty impressive but we were so cold i called out the 2 picture policy and got back onto the bus asap. Again we all fell asleep along the way except for stopping off at thunder falls to take some pictures and the blue pools. The blue pools were absolute let down as we went the wrong way so spent the half hour we had just skimming stones in the river. We've arrived at Lake Wanaka and just been the supermarket to grab some food. The call for tonight is just chilling as we know we have Queenstown coming out and that is going to be 6 days of mega hard drinking! That is if it isn't completely flooded. The boys and girls from the bus ahead of us that only spent 1 night in Nelson have been keeping us informed and aparantly the flooding is going to get worse which should be interesting.
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