The Final Days of New Zealand...

Kia Ora my friends!!!


I would be remiss if I didn't tell you of the Maori culture in New Zealand. The phrase above means welcome in their native tongue and they are absolutely the most friendly people I have ever met. Being a fierce warrior culture, they were not assimilated as easily as the Aboriginals of Australia and fought so aggressively that England decided it was easier to make a truce with them...then to keep fighting. I believe it is for this reason that the Maori are such an integrated, iconic part of the New Zealand populace. It was a treat to befriend so many of them. I will certainly miss their friendly nature and fantastic smiles.


The final few days of my time in New Zealand found me back in the North Island heading towards Auckland airport. Along the way I stopped at Wellington (for the second time) Napier, Taupo (for the second time), Rotorua (for the second time), Mt Manganui and then back to Auckland.





Although stopping in places for the second time may sound a bit foolish, it afforded me the luxury of doing a few things I missed the first time around. The most important thing I was fortunate to accomplish during my second trip to Taupo was to experience the Tongariro Crossing. This is known as "the best one day trek in New Zealand"...and it certainly lived up to it's name.


Due to the dangerous nature of this crossing, weather during my first trip to Taupo didn't allow me to enjoy this 18kms of beauty. Almost all of the pictures in this posting come from the Tongariro Crossing. You better enjoy them as the "Devil's Staircase" almost killed me. The Devil's Staircase is the first real ascent up the mountains and being as out of shape as I am and in normal running shoes...the trek was tougher than I expected.

I have to admit when I'm defeated and Mt. Doom (the mountain from the Lord of the Rings)...see two pics above...won this round as I did not attempt to traverse the steep slope. Now you may call me a wimp...and maybe I am...but just think of this. I've been partying pretty hard for 5 months and had a really bad head cold and couldn't breathe through my nose that day. ( I can already hear the snide comments) Come on...it was also St. Paddy's day and I wanted to be in good drinking shape. I have a reputation to uphold!! However, in hindsight...I should have tried as I was almost 3.5 hours early for the bus on the other side of the crossing. During a 5.5 hour trek such as this...you get time to think...so I figured out how many "drinks" I've consumed on my travels thus far. I was going to show you the calculations I went through, but the result scared me...the results would petrify my parents...and the results would give my doctor a heart attack. I believe my liver is now an official medical miracle. Please read about it in the upcoming medical journals....entitled..."the liver that could!!"

But thanks to a pretty good metabolism and more hikes than I can count...I have only gained one Kilo or 2.2 pounds. They talk crazy metric over here. At the time I was supposed to sky dive in Taupo (it was called off due to high winds) I was weighed in at 88Kilos or approximately 190lbs. Unfortunately...it's all found around my waist :(

OK...enough bad visuals about me as I'm hoping you're enjoying these beautiful images from NZ. And just one warning from a dumb Canadian...don't get to close to the edge of a slippery mountain when wearing running shoes. For your viewing pleasure I wanted to get as close to the edge as possible...only to have my shoes start slipping on the pebbles...let's just say I saw the edge of the mountain much closer than expected. Enjoy the shots!!

By the time Gus and I were finishing our great Magic Bus adventure...we found ourselves surrounded by women in the group. We struggled through this hardship as best we could...OK...that's crap...the girls were hot! Love ya girls...and miss you already. Who's up for another whirlwind tour of NZ?

I'm struggling with this blog more than most...probably because I started it in New Zealand and sad to be leaving so many friends behind. I'm now trying to finish it in Bangkok, Thailand where there is just too much to see and do...also picture 99% humidity...but luckily I am sipping a beer as I type. Maybe if I have 10 more beers the words will come easier.

Bottom line...NZ is beautiful. I'm sure the pictures haven't done it justice, but once again...I recommend everyone getting your butts down here. The scenery is beyond belief...the people are so friendly...but I must admit...I still loved Australia more.

But with that said...the people I met on the Magic Bus were what made my trip. And it doesn't hurt that I now have places to stay in many European countries...I will be their worst nightmare. I hope they all have long couches!! See you soon gang!!

OK...it's time to end this boring posting. I would feel worse about the boring text if I hadn't risked my life in getting you these awesome pictures.

I say farewell to NZ and look forward to Thailand where it's time to work on my tan again. NZ was many things...but with the weather...it killed any tan I had. See you on the beaches! Once again I'll be the white Canadian whale...just thought I would leave you with another bad visual.

Almost six months travelling done...almost four more months to go. Gotta run!!

New Zealand - The South Island

It was sad to leave the North Island as we started to lose some founding members of the Magic Bus gang. We grabbed the ferry at Wellington (North Island) and after a 3 hour scenic ride on the ferry (more like a cruise ship) the few remaining gang members found themselves in Picton. It was then on to Nelson for our first night.

As you will see...the rolling green hills give way to the Southern Alps on the west coast of the South Island. Stunning!

Our first night on the South Island had Gus, Beth, Phoebe and myself somewhat sad and missing our new found friends so in memory of them...we decided to head for a bar to drown our sorrows. Nelson was a ghost town, but we managed to find an Irish bar with some music coming out of it so in we went. As I stood at the bar I noticed two hot girls apparently waving at me...trust me...this doesn't happen in Canada or anywhere else in the world. It turns out that the girls were Karen and Jane from the Magic Bus who had gone on before us. It also turns out to be Karen's birthday. This all led to our ritual Jager Bombs and my first experience with a lock in. For those of you (like myself) who don't know what a lock in is...basically the owner of the bar closes the bar, but allows you to party until the wee hours. We took over the music, the drinks became cheaper and morning was fast approaching. What a great night.

However, with all great nights...there is usually a VERY early morning involved. I learned a long time ago that if you want to play with the big boys at night...you have to face the music in the morning. I was on the road by 7:15am to spend two hours on a bus, one hour on a boat, FOUR PLUS hours hiking the Abel Tasman trail, followed by a two hour bus ride back home. And no...Gus didn't make the bus. Wimp!

The glacier pictures are from Franz Josef where I went on a half day glacier hike. I felt so comfortable on the ice with the crampons that I've decided to search for the YETI in the Himalayans when I'm finished this part of my travel....he can run, but he can't hide!!

I'll have you know that in my 5 months of travelling, the picture with me and the pick axe is the first picture of me taken with my own camera. I think the camera knows I hate it and somehow moved to a different setting (animate or some crap like that) and made me look even more stupid than usual. Damn camera!

The mirror creeks where the picture above was taken freaked me out. For some reason it was hard to see the reflection of the mountains with the naked eye, but when you looked through the camera...you could see it clearly. And honest...it was in the morning...I hadn't yet been drinking. Strange.

I had heard awesome things about Milford Sound (just west of Queenstown) and was excited to see it. The mountains and fiords were amazing, but I should have planned to stay a day or two as it was a long day on the bus to get there and the cruise seemed to drag on forever. So if you're in the neighbourhood...DO visit Milford Sound...but take your time and spend a few days to engulf yourself in the beauty.

Queenstown...I don't even know where to begin. It is definitely extreme adventure capital of NZ as well as party central. The four days I spent there are a blur and I don't know what else to say. The hike up the Queenstown Hill almost killed me, so I better get lots of comments on the picture to the left. I had convinced myself to take another bungy off the 3rd tallest platform in the world (Nevis), but I ran out of time and energy.

Lake Tekapo was the start of rebuilding the Magic Bus gang in it's former glory. The gang was expanded by several Canadians (Go Canucks Go); a couple Irish girls; some Germans; some Swiss; some Dutch; more English because they're everywhere and even some Americans.

The gang was back to record numbers and the Jager Bombs flowed. Gus and I continued to be the founding members. The scenery continued to be beyond belief and the couple pictures to the left and below are from Mt. Cook...the highest point in NZ. We were pretty fortunate as the day afforded us great views of the top of the mountain which had been cloud covered for many days before.

Christchurch was another awesome city where the fun was non-stop as the group became more comfortable with one another...but maybe that's not always a good thing. Two reasons why this isn't a good thing...first...we lost a lot of the gang as they left NZ from Christchurch airport and second...nobody should play strip jenga while drinking copious amounts of alcohol. For goodness sake...it's a kids game and we made it dirty. I certainly wasn't complaining as Miranda and Silvia started losing more and more clothes...but Gus was naked for almost two hours. I still have nightmares!!!

I decided to include this picture as a reference point to how far my travels have taken me from Canada. I certainly miss you guys back home, but the adventure must continue and I'm back to the North Island on my way back to Auckland before heading to SE Asia.

Green and Extreme...Welcome to New Zealand

I would like to welcome you to New Zealand... "Sweet As!!"

This phrase is not to be confused with "Sweet Ass" as I originally thought everyone was saying. I thought wow...these people think I'm hot, but they were really meaning "all is good". Too bad...it was nice for the ego while it lasted.



Even though I found myself in a new country, it was great to be greeted with a familiar face. My friend Angela, who I met at Mission Beach in Australia, welcomed me to the city of Auckland. After hanging out with Angela for a few days and seeing the sights of Auckland...it was time to begin my exploration of this beautiful country.

On advice from my good friend and world traveler, Mr. Szasz, I booked the Magic Tour Bus for getting around New Zealand. And Szasz...I owe you big time. The Magic Bus (and no Tim...they don't perform magic tricks while driving) has been an absolute wonderful experience and the perfect way to see New Zealand. I soon found out that friends would be made quickly while traveling the highways together. The first morning on the Magic Bus had me heading to the Bay of Islands in the North and hanging with a very cute Danish girl...Lena... and an average looking dude...Patrick from Switzerland. Patrick...you know I love you like a brother.

From the moment the bus left the city limits of Auckland, I was mesmerized by the absolute beauty of this country. As you can see from the first few pictures...the North Island is a postcard of green rolling hills, lush forests, farmland and gorgeous blue waters. I would soon learn that the country was filled with alcoholic backpackers as well. Honestly, I was hoping to slow down my drinking once I hit NZ. Alas...once again...I have failed. I blame the Magic Bus!!

Well...it's easy enough to understand the "green" of NZ, but what about the "extreme" part. New Zealanders (Kiwis) love the outdoors and take every opportunity to hike, bike, boat or walk in nature and it's very infectious. They also love to try any insane activity they can think of including jumping out of planes, jumping off cranes with only a rubber band attached to your feet, putting yourself in a plastic ball and rolling down a hill (zorbing), etc.


Another picture of me...I know...scary, but it shows another cool activity in NZ called "black water rafting". I'm not sure why they call it rafting since there is no raft in sight, but I did find myself in a small innertube floating through pitchblack caves (in Waitomo) looking at glow warms. Very cool! That is until they tell you that these millions of amazing specs of light (glow worms) are actually maggots emitting light. But really...you have to do it. It was wicked. And what was even more amazing...that day was the start of a special bond between a core group of travellers. The group started with Steve (Cdn), Susan (Irish lass living in San Fran), and Gus (a cool English guy who I would travel with for my entire stay in NZ). There were too many people that moved in and out of our group to name them all, but I want to thank each and everyone of you for making my NZ travels an experience I'll never forget. See you on Facebook!

My travels in NZ have been fast and furious and have me moving everyday or every other day. Hence the delay in my blog again. I found myself in Pihia, back to Auckland, then on to Rotorua, Taupo and Wellington with a multitude of smaller towns along the way. And that's just the North Island. To be realistic, I now expect to create a posting every couple of weeks (instead of weekly) since my travels are just going to get more hectic.


As I mentioned earlier...it's hard not to get caught up with the excitement NZ has to offer...especially when you're sharing it with such awesome people. So what does that mean? It means that even though I told myself and everyone else that I would never do a bungy jump...I DID one!!! It was exhilarating!!! I'm quite proud of myself. We also went for a luge down a hillside, white water rafting and more treks than I can count.


I expected to see sheep shearing while here in New Zealand, but shearing a rabbit??? These Kiwis will do anything. Enjoy your Angora sweaters!

See you on the South Island!

All good things must come to an end...

I find myself with mixed emotions with less than 8 days left in Australia. It has been an amazing experience, but I'm ready to start the next segment of my trip. And what better way to spend the last few days in Australia, but with a buddy from Canada. Darryl...thanks for being the only one to come to see me in Australia. For those of you who promised to come and didn't...phewy on you...but there's many more countries to come...don't be shy!!




It was great to be back in Sydney as you already know I fell in love with the place the first time around. The hardest part of the week was getting used to a faster pace of travel. Darryl only had a couple of weeks to see "everything"...whereas my travels to date had been at a much more leisurely pace. Darryl had done much more research than I had on Sydney and found some great ways to make the most of our time. One of my highlights of the week was definitely being in a hotel room. Only sharing the bathroom with one other person was bliss.

The first three pictures are of Bondi Beach and the path between Bondi Beach and Coogee Beach. The walk was longer than we expected, but even though we are both out of shape...we managed to finish it and find a bar not long after to quench our thirst. That bar was neither the first nor the last we would find ourselves in during the week. I blame Darryl for that!

I took a picture of the oldest bar in Sydney since it felt like the only bar I didn't set foot in. Maybe I should go back!

During Darryl's research, he found the "Sydney Pass" which I recommend everyone look into if you're coming to Sydney. This pass gave us free admission into about 60 different venues within the city. We paid for a two day pass and tried to cram as much as possible into it.

We found ourselves in the Opera House, on a buffet lunch cruise around the bays, at the zoo, at the aquarium, up the Sydney tower, the wildlife pavilion and the maritime museum (toured a destroyer and submarine). We would have had time for a jet boat cruise of the harbour as well, but sitting on the patio overlooking Darling Harbour having a few local beers won out.

As I mentioned the East Coast of Australia has had a lot of rain, but we managed to see quite a few sights anyway. We did get pretty drenched at the zoo, but it didn't stop us from "stalking" a pretty blond Aussie girl around the zoo. She didn't seem to mind and even chatted us up along the way. Honestly, we didn't see much of the zoo.

I was also fortunate enough to hang with Carla and Michelle for a few days in Sydney before I left. Sorry for the hangover Michelle! Darryl and I found a place that sold tasty $10 steaks and ate there most nights so even now I'm a little sick of steak. I guess the $3 happy hour pints didn't hurt either. I think Canada needs to bring back happy hour. Who's in agreement with me?

I'm sure most of you are getting pretty sick of the scenery shots, but I'm still a sucker for cool clouds so sorry about your luck. I'll give you a little foreshadowing and say that many more "people" shots may be coming your way. A few people I've been travelling with lately are pretty camera happy. I won't mention any names Susan, John and Beth!!

I put this fountain shot in primarily because it took me almost seven days to get a shot of it. I never seemed to have my camera with me or the homeless people were often taking a bath in it. It's found in the heart of King's Cross in Sydney. Check it out sometime!

Does anyone have any questions for me about my travels that I haven't already answered? And no Yabo...this doesn't include you.

I bid Australia adieu. I promise to be back!!

I hope I've enticed some of you readers into getting your butts down here. It's been everything I had hoped for and more.

Hello New Zealand...what do you have to offer besides sheep?

Canberra and the Blue Mountains

Alrighty...now I even have to admit I'm falling behind in my blog duties. I'm now about three weeks behind. Sorry to you all, but my travels in New Zealand have been fast and furious and tough to find the time to hit the Internet. But I guess many of you don't know that I'm already in NZ...good stories to come...sorry for wrecking the surprise. So...Surprise!!!!



The Canberra and Blue Mountain photos here are a bit out of order but they spanned over two camera memory cards. The first picture you see is of the "Three Sisters" in the Blue Mountains. I was only able to spend one day in the Blue Mountains (two or three would have been better), but our guide told us the views we were seeing were the best he had seen in almost a month. I'm not sure how many of you are aware, but the east coast of Australia has had a "terrible" summer. I put terrible in quotes, because they actually did need all the rain as they've been in drought for the last six years.

I was told my most backpackers to skip Canberra...Australia's capital...as there was nothing to do there. In hindsight, I wish I would have booked more than a day and a half in the capital. The war museum was absolutely an "experience". I was only able to spend two hours there, but I could have spent two days. I had no idea there had been so many wars fought around the world. I guess I should have paid more attention in history class.

My friend Mr. Hewitt would have loved this place as he is an airplane guru and the amount of airplanes in the joint were astounding. They even had a full size Lancaster Bomber under the roof. I would love to show you all the great pics, but once again my camera sucks. I know I say that a lot, but it's true and I'm hoping one of you blog readers will buy me a new camera and send it down here. Do I have any takers?

I also found myself at the Parliament buildings and another museum in Canberra. The culture I'm getting on this trip is a little overpowering and I've had to dumb myself down time and time again. As most of you know...I'm pretty good at it. I think I'm back to normal now. Whew...that was close.

By now it's been four months since I've been in Australia and the time has flown by with phenomenal adventures, sights and people along the way, but I am ready for a change of scenery. Bring on New Zealand!!! At the time of this blog I had one last week in Australia and it was great to spend it with a fellow Canuck. My friend Darryl flew to Sydney for a holiday and the next blog will detail some of our (mis)adventures.

I thought you might like to see another shot of the Blue Mountains. See you in Sydney!!