Top dog

Hi everyone! I can't believe I'm coming to the end of my New Zealand adventure.
I've had so much fun though:)
After drinking way too much in queenstown and doing some crazy adrenaline shizzaz including skydiving, bungee jumping and jumping off a canyon swing in the nuds I bought my ticket to the north island after much contemplation over hitch hiking.
Driving from queenstown to kaikora was amazing and there are some places like twizel which should not be missed.
I bumped into Scott again and heard about his sky gazing which i will surely come back to do when I come back to work in nz after my travels.
Wellington was so interesting and reminded me of Melbourne with it's culture.
I made really great friends with molly, abbe and tim who I travelled with for a week after Wellington and I'll definitely be visiting soon.
I did the tongariro crossing near taupo (mt doom) which was life changing because I almost died haha. I got the flu for a bit but still managed to go zorbing and appreciate the culture and sulphur pools in rotorua (rotovegas) which you can't match in any big towns in nz.

I recovered from my flu and parted with M,A and T and headed out to the east cape which was beautiful and the highlight of my whole new Zealand trip so far. We left rotorua on Friday night and headed to gisborne to stock up on cash and food before our trip into small towns with populations under 100 people. We arrived at this beautiful unique beachfront landing at whangara (fangara) which had hammocks, swings, kayaks and surfboards you could use at your leisure. That night we had a bonfire and met some interesting people and played some fun games. 
The next morning I woke up for sunrise and enjoyed being one of the first people in the world to see the sunrise on saturday(because of our positioning to the date line).
Later that morning we drove up to the town where whale rider was based around which was really beautiful. The Maori people have a beautiful lifestyle and understanding of how the earth should be treated.
We arrived at rangitukia in the afternoon and sara, gianmarco and I went horse riding amongst the most beautiful scenery anyone can ever ride through. The man who ran the stables had a beautiful soul and appreciated the land he knew so well. You could do as you pleased with your horse and they were gentle and very magnificent looking. My horse daisy was a nutty brown all over with a dark mane and had a foal named india who was light brown with a Blonde mane.
Our guide was hillarious and gently gave you tips to work better with your horse. We walked along a beach with black sand and light blue crashing waves and made our way up a stream to the countryside hills which we cantered up as a group to overlook the spectacular view before heading back to the ranch. 
Once we took the saddles off and reunited our horses with their young i went bone carving to make a traditional "sea people" charm for a necklace.
That night we waited until late to go possum shooting to help the farmers but rain poured down so we watched whale rider and went to sleep in our cabins instead.
The next morning a few of us woke up early and hiked up to see the sunrise with tux the farmyard dog.
Later on we continued to te kaha where we received traditional Maori welcomings into the wharae (home).
Then after playing with the kids and cuddling all of the cute dogs that lived at the homestead on the beach we followed tradition and wrote a song about our journey together which we performed that night to chay (our friend) who ran the household and then again to Rex our amazing driver the next morning. We had so many laughs that night (especially when James teabagged archimedies while he was drunkenly singing on his bed) and the next day so the trip to whakatane (fakatane) was the end of a great friendship. We stopped by at a stream on the way and Ed, Rex and I fished for peipei( they look like mussels but taste like oysters) and ate them raw like the Maoris. In whakatane we had a cheap lunch together and got back onto the bus for our rainy drive back to rotorua and taupo where Johnny and i kept entertained by playing "there was an old woman from botany bay" and 20 questions.

I'm booked to do blackwater rafting tomorrow and I will head back to rotorua for one night and then aukland for one night before heading up to the bay of islands. 

I'll upload some photos soon!

Ki Ora chays!

The dirty south

Hey guys i wish i could chat to you all - i miss home and everyone heaps (the weather too).
I landed in Christchurch on Sunday and went for a walk through the town. It was so upsetting seeing how much the city still has to do to get things back to normal. Its good to see that so many people are still donating their time and money around NZ though.
I met up with the girls in the afternoon and we all jumped on the Kiwi Experience bus. We started our tirp driving for a few hours up north to Kaikora (and had fush and chups for dinner) and then headed back down the west coast to Nelson and hiked up a seriously steep hill to the geographical centre of New Zealand.
In Nelson we paid an extortianate amount of money to go on a sea kayaking tour at the Abel Tasman National Park which was amazing but a lot of hard work for a group of 14 girls. Then we headed further south to what we all know as the poo-pub for an ABC dress up night which was a little bit too nuts as my stomach illustrated to the whole bus the next day.
All the way down the coast the scenery has been amazing! Big hills everywhere with lots of sheep and cows and amazing views (and sadly a bit of rain). We've been swimming in freezing cold water anyways trying to make the most of it!
We hiked up the Franz Josef glacier yesterday which was by far the most amazing thing i've done EVER (well... so far). Then we jumped into the hot tub back at the hostel to defrost!
We're in Wanaka at the moment on our way down to Queenstown. I'm slowly giving away things i'm not wearing or need anymore to try and lose some of the weight from my backpack. I'm really looking forward to spending some time down south but i'm going to be sad to see the girls go back home to Perth.
I hope that everyone has been great and I look forward to blogging again soon.
Stand by!

Auckland

Well here I am in nz bru. It's awesome but the nomads hostel is not what expected. I'm sleeping across from someone usingtheir side of the room as a rubbish tip! Anyways I'm sitting in a coffee shop getting hyped up on caffeine using their free wifi woohoo!!
Thinking of going to rotorua tomorrow to experience the sulphur stench:) and I have to figure out how I'm gettingto christchurchby sunday arvo.
Eitherway I'm loving aukland ey.
I need a phone card though!!

Sydney - Shell Harbour

So I almost missed my flight to Sydney on Sunday which was exciting!!
I stayed at the Wake Up on George Street as recommended by Dazz (kudos) which was awesome!! Not a real hostel though being known as one of the cleanest in the area and having its own nightclub dowstairs on Mondays local gigs and massive movie screenings, its own cafe, bar specials, daily tours anounced over a speaker, pub meals and 7 levels of different style dorms. After entering into a pool comp with a guy in my dorm (and getting our arses kicked a little) we met some really cool people who exchanged some great tips with me. It really got me excited for my travels!

I was so excited to come down and see nanna and pa and their new puppy on Monday afternoon (after checking out really late). The train ride past Wollongong was a bit long but as always i managed to pass out within minutes and it was all worth the long ride.

I've had so much fun in Shell Harbour living in home luxury with nan cooking dinner every night, telling me about her trip to Europe and showing me old photo slides (how cool!) and just hanging out with them. I'm going to miss everyone so much but i'm so glad i came here before i left.

Leaving for Aukland at 7pm tomorrow and i'm looking forward to sitting in the Qantas lounge with my complimentary pass drinking fancy wine and reading up-market magazines about fine things waiting for my budget flight to leave.

Melbourne!

So here I am in port melbourne at teys. After a bad start to a long journey i've swapped my backpack with tey (thanks Teymour!)
Looking forward to a bit of a loose weekend once Mary poppins finishes cleaning his house:)

The last supper

Just repacking my bag and getting the last of my things organised before dinner and then we're heading to the airport.
I can't believe it's today!