No More Staying in the Baying......

Well our time was over in the Bay of Islands and it was time to go, it was up at 6 on the Friday (not that I am really keeping track of the days very well lol). We had already packed so it was just a case of eating our free breakfast with FREE TEA!!! After 6 bits of toast, about 4 cups of tea (bad idea when you are going on a 6 hour coach journey lol) and a game of dominos we hastely grabbed everything and shot out the door. It was a short walk to the bus before the ride down to Aukland, it wasn't too bad as we managed to nab the back seats again and then just play tap tap revenge for about 5 hours strait......

(beat that JP!!)

When we arrived in Aukland it was just a case of pondering around and making sure that we had all the things we might need for the journey south. We then caught the bus back to my Auntie and Uncle's house where we did a load of washing, including our trainers (which smelt slightly less than fresh after getting covered in salt water.......).

After that it was a nice evening with my cousins before catching what seemed to be some always much needed sleep.

Again sorry for the lack of interesting events but I am going to put on some stuff about our time in taupo very soon as well so make sure you keep your eyes pealed....

Much love

Joe

PS JP and Lloyd are Legends.......nuf said.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The Stay in the Bay Part 3 - The Lazy Day!

Ok well as you can see Thursday was pretty relaxed and we didn't get up to much. It was free Breakfast, a movie and bored games for the morning again before we had a cheese toasty and went for a walk along the coast of Pahia (the area on the mainland by the bay i.e where we are staying).

It was Awesome and good to just soak up a bit of sunshine and the area around.

We skimmed a few stones and just generally chilled out, it was really quite cool especially as it had been on and off raining for most of our time there and we had a good break in the weather!Not much else to say really (the pictures sum it up) other than packing before we left and sleeping!

Much love

Joe x x x x x x x

The Stay in the Bay Part 2 - A Brilliant Way of Getting Fantastic Looking Muscles!

After a good nights sleep we awoke not to crappy porridge but to yummy tasty Free Tea and Breakfast! Several teas and 4 bits of toast latter we chilled out and played a serious of bored games, including battle ships and my introduction to the game of dominos, which was actually quite fun and it was nice to chillax after being so busy. Anyway we decided we couldn't sit around allll day and so we pack some lunch and over to Russel. 15 mins on the 'Happy Ferry' and we were on Russel and wondered round a bit, after a look at what turned out to be a very boring look at the first church in NZ we headed off to walk round the pinicula as the tide went out.

We Scambled over the rocks and Jak managed to find himself some mussels (of the shell fish variety of course lol). It was really good fun and we found some really big ones, as you can see below.

The walk was really nice and we only risked getting wet once or twice lol. A good day and the mussels where pretty tastey too so all in all a sucess!

All that was left was for me to nearly fall asleep on the couch at around 9 pm and decide I better hit the sack.

Another installment still awaits anytime soon......

Much love

Joe x x x x x x x x x

The Stay in the Bay Part 1 - Are All Dans Good at Fishing?

Ok well for those of you who don't know Dan Le Beck of ISG (you obviously haven't been reading your Carpe It Weekly...) he is one of my work buds and he likes fish.......Anyway that aside on with the days events which should clear up the title for you. I woke up to find Jak was not in the room, so I got up had a look around, went to the toilet and when I couldn't find him, I went back to bed. He returned a few moments later with a carrier bag with some potential breaky in it! My excitement was short lived to find some wierd (and disgusting) Porridge posser, I don't think I need to say much more breakfast was more like cement with a few brick like sugar cubes in.

With the complete failure that was breakfast we headed for the iSite (information centre), we asked about some campsites and rental places for potential things to do. It was 100 bucks each to go up to see cape reanger and 90 mile beach at the very peak of NZ so we gave that a miss and wondered down to a hut on the beach. The hut proved quite cheap but with the weather sailing was out and so we oppted for fishing. Dan the guy in the hut, took the day off and took to the water with us covering the boat and rod hire at a low $120 for the whole afternoon (see now?!?). Dan showed us the ropes and he seemed like a cool guy, Jak was the first one to get a bite, catching a 25 cm snapper (unfortunatly 3cm under the takeable limit). Shortly after that I got a bite with a 30cm one and we killed it ready to take back for tea. Another 4 hours on the water and all we had was a few nibbles with out any more fish :-(. But it was nice to chill out and have a beer whilst admiring the bay. We got back in around half 4 just as it chucked it down drenching us as we tried to get the boat in. It was a fun day on the whole and although the snapper I caught couldn't feed us it was definatly a tastey starter to our steak dinner!! We ended up staying in a hostel again due to the crapy weather, its not advisable to pitch on wet ground. But we were in this lovely place called the pickled parrot! A friend of Dan's Rose ran the place and she was a lovely lady with 3 dogs, a cat and A PARROT! AWESOME!

Anywho stayed tuned because part 2 is coming your way pronto...

Much Love

Joe x x x x x x x

Up North - NZ Style

So on Monday we had a bus to catch to go north to the Bay of Islands but our bus was not until 4:15 so we had time to kill, a little dos and time to update blogs etc. before packing our bags in the morning before we caught the local bus into Aukland central where we had to get our main coach. Although this takes an hour half for what would be a half hour drive the public transport is pretty good at being where it is supposed to be, the only problem is there is not enough of it to run such a quick service so we have to go round the houses. Once we go there we went to the BNZ to follow up our superb phone conversation which I had the other day, with our fingers crossed that we would get as good a service over the counter. We did it was pretty quick and painless and the people where pretty nice, we have the card for two years at which point a new one is sent unless we request otherwise, Brilliant! A quick bit of internet banking and we had our cash transfered across for a 20 POUNDS CHARGE FROM Lloyds!!!! Never mind worked out ok in the end.

There is not really a lot more excitement left in today other than us getting on the Coach and playing a ton of Tap Tap Revenge on my iphone before arriving in quite a bit of rain and running to our hostel "the mouse trap" to stay the night. It was ok in their but there was this very annoying english couple from essex and an American who where all vegetarians (not that there is anything wrong with that, it just describes there character well). They sort of followed the idea of Vegi by name, vegi by nature, kind of like there is nothing wrong with a gay person but the over acts can really get on your nerves. Anyway we scrambled out of there to go get some food, we went to this place called the beachhouse and had a beer and burger for $15 (about 6 quid) which filled a quite empty gap. There wasn't anything left to do but go to bed!

sorry this one wasn't of great intrest but the next post will cover our stay in the bay (poet didn't know it?).

Missing you all, make sure you catch me on facebook or just add a comment here it would be nice to here from you all!!

much love

Joe x x x x x x x x

I am starting to get TIREd of this......

Sunday started with a bit of a lie in to recoup a bit but after that it was back on the go, we headed off to the Luge where my cousin Mark works....If your wondering what a luge is the best way to describe it is you, a cart, a hill and gravity. It was a great laugh, we went down the intermeadiate first a couple of times before we all hit the fast run which I am going to give you a running commentry of this one.....

"it is definatly a tough one today, mild damp still covers the track and we will have to see how they are going to cope....The contenders hace taken to the circuits long climb to the top on the convaiabelt ramp already, upon reaching the top they will begin their decent....AND THERE OFF!! streaking down the run at break neck speed. Supreme driver Joe quickly snatches the lead from Jak but things are remaining tight between the two. It looks like one last desperate attempt for Jak here, storming around the last courner, OH he has caught a slight patch of damp there and....BAM! Straight into a pile of tires with water flying everywhere and the cart and Jak going spinning out of control! My goodness ladies and gentalmen what a display! Racers passing laughing as he struggles to sort himself out and Joe nearly crashes himself as tears of laughter filled his eyes (because "my eyes water when I cry" Sophie Vinall, lol oh I hope your reading). overall a superb spectical!..."

Anyway if "lugeing" (if that's a word) wasn't enough then we also managed to go, go carting (go go really....). It was a good laugh, sparing you most of the details after a few bumps here and there it culminated in a final race. Jak lead for the majority of the race but with me putting the pressure on his tail end he ended up in the tires again (I know twice in one day!). but to be fair we both put in a good performance and it ended up a tight finish with us both putting a 25.5 ish second laps edgeing closer to the course record of 25.2ish. It was really good fun a given the chance I would love to do them both again.
After an exciting day it was back to Sue and Petes and being that it was mothers day (hope you had a good one Sue :-)) we all headed over to Steph and Darells for what was a lovely sunday lunch and exactly what the doctor ordered for the required recoup.

Hope everyone is alright?

Much love

Joe x x x x x x

Boogie Nights! Ain't No Doubt, that Night was Awesome!

Ok lads and Ladies it's time to hear about Saterdays events and it looks like this could be a long one because I don't have many pics to show atm but when I get hold of them I will add them in, anyhow I will try and keep the wall of text to a minimum, saying that I have already started to ramble on in my first two lines!

First things first Saterday the 9th was Sarah's Birthday and I missed it so I have to say sorry for that :-( but I will make it up to her! I have to say I am starting to miss her a lot now a long with everyone else, I think the worst thing is knowing that I still have another 4 weeks before I got to see her and I only get to see her for a few days before I have to go off for another 4 weeks to Zambia. Anyway Happy Birthday Sarah, I love you very very much and I miss you loads and loads, your the best!!!!!


Back to life in NZ we had another early start up at around 7 and still feeling a bit jet lagged, the plan for the day was to witness the Saterday school sports which are monumental in this country and then possible go out later on. Anyway after ripping ourselves from the warm and cousyness of a bed rather than a plane seat this is what we did. First up was Bex's hockey, with girls of 12-13/14 I wasn't sure what to expect. Most of you know that I am into my hockey big time and it was great to see a good atmosphere at a game. Alot of the parents from both schools had turned up and with Jak's Italian half kicking in we set off cheering ridiculos amounts of encouragement. It was good to watch Bexs has a lot of potentail and a nice little Block Tackle on her even if some of the other girls weren't sure how to hold the stick lol, definatly my player of the day! After that we zipped off to witness Mark play football, they had been playing for a while when we got there but we got most of the game. It was a good match, mark had scored before we got there and he put in some blinding shots as well, the final score of 3-1 probably could have been even higher if they had capitalised on things a bit better, but a win is a win and 3-1 isn't bad. We then watched the schools 2nds Rugby team which was of a pretty high standard and really good to watch. Then it was another football match for Mark, a good game and another win for his club team even if it got a bit tight towards the end. Wow! I mean I love sports but that was a big hit in one day lol, good fun and a really great atmosphere at all the games getting a good gathering (especially the rugby).

And well if that wasn't enough for one day, which it was, I was nakerd, we also went out! Not with anyone either....With Amber (now horseman woot woot) and Chris (still horseman also woot woot!). It was mentally good fun! Once we had got through (got through is the best phrase to use as well) some of the musical performances at what was aparently a British bar, could have falled me there was no one being sick in the toilets lol (joking!). Ambers family was there because her brother was playing, and I have to say he was actually a good drummer, so props to him, just slaps to the singer for the rubbish screming (And I consider myself a metal fan so I am not really adverse to it he is just not good at it!). Anyway that aside Ambers parents and her sister are very cool and definatly a good laugh. After that we headed to the Bar next door for a pint only to find he had left his ID at home (and you can't get in anywhere without ID in NZ), so he wondered back up to the other bar for 15-20 mins where I am pretty sure he fell asleep lol. This bar had an awesome band playing! 3 guys, a snare drum and a guitar, they did some awesome tunes justice including Oasis and other such indie classics! After that it was off to find a club that we could get Jak into.....seemed like an impossible task. First up was a 70's club called Boogie Nights that Chris was dying to go to, we went to the bouncer told him we had lost Jak's wallet and ID and begged him to let us in! To all of our supprise this huge maori guy was actually just a puppy and let us in SWEET!!! It was so much fun endless amounts of quercy dancing was such a good laugh even if there were some wierdos (I genuinly felt worried Julia, Ambers sister (I think thats the right name) who encouraged them, it was really slightly worrying lol) so funny though! Come 2 O'clock Jak was nackered and we all deciced to make a move. The cab fare wasn't cheap but it was worth it seeing as it was pouring it down. Anyway thanks for a fantastic night! oh I forgot to mention about the johnny that Ambers husband found and blew up on his head in the middly of burger king........but she will appreciate me not saying anything about that I guess.

Overall really good fun and a great day, if a tyering one!

I will see if I can get chris to give me a few pics of the discoball covered ceilling and colour changing floor and add them in, but I will end the wall there now!

Much love and thanks

Joe x x x x x x x

A Banking Experience of Volcanic Proportions! PLUS soaking wet freezing your balls off FREEDOM!!!

Friday began like any other day.... We woke up around 8, looked out the window across the balcony and saw the amazing view that my cousins have from their house and a second or two to stare in amazment before being able to get on with the day. The plan was to go into town and then get the ferry over to Rangitoto island which happens to be a volcano, it's about a 300m climb and then you get an amazing view of this big ass crater it left in the ground and the whole of Aukland and the surrounding area!

We got into town and bought our tickets with about 20 mins before we had to get onto the boat. So being Britains in NZ we hopped over the road to a cafe and brought a tea (British) and a steak and cheese pie (NZ). The only bad thing about that experience was that were they didn't put the lid on properly I got a whole load of schaulding hot tea on my hand which hurt alot! But the upside of that is that the pie was delicious :-D, not that I could sue them even if I wanted to, it's actually against the law!

Anyway we jumped on the ferry over to Rangitoto ready for our first days rambling! We arrived just before 10 and set off away from the main section of people towards a causeway which lead to the adjacent island. It was mainly animal farming here, very different to the dense forest that surrounded the Volcano. we decided to head to a peak of the island and an hours walk later past a few cows and sheep though some slopeing hills we were there. The view was awesome and we actually sat down on the side of this cliff face for lunch. As usual my words won't do it justice so just take a look at some of the pictures! It was truely amazing and the water was so clear we could see the bottom from up here. It was very wierd to thing that 20 mins away was a city full of people! I must agree with Sarah at this point though, because I know she will be calling us idiots from 5000 miles away. That said it was worth it! Anyway my pure amazement aside we walked back, all in all the walk had taken us 2 and a half hours and it was past midday by the time we had strolled across the causeway back to rangitoto.

Now for the most part this shouldn't be a worry but the last ferry back was at half 3 and it was an hour and a half walk to the summit and an hour and a half back, which means if we actually wanted to see the view we had to hussel up! Which is exactly what we did we made it to the top in an hour with a quick pace. In this time however the sky blackend and the rain and wind started to fall upon us. This said it was still stunning up there and with a cup of hot chocolate from the thermos that my Auntie Sue (thank you!)had made it wasn't even too cold! However that was when I was wearing a jumper and waterproofs whilst standing in a shelter......Butt naked in the rain was a bit of a difference!

Not my best I'll admit, but if any of you have flashed an entire city in one hit with the awesome photo to prove it then I would like to see that!
Over all Rangitoto is an Awesome and if you ever get a chance to go there!

Oh right the Bank yeah, its not that there is a bank at the top of this volcano or something but on our way home we got some cash out from Jak's Lloyds account which charged us and we complained to ourselves about how crap they are, when we got home my auntie said that the banks here would give us an account no problem and then we wouldn't get charged! So I called them up and two minutes later I was on the phone to this lovely lady who told me as long as I had a passport and another ID then they would give me an account with a card strait away!! My own bank in the UK who I have been with for 10-15 years and where I was getting regular income wouldn't even give me a debit card! Plus she then just started having a chat with me about how I was, what I was doing in NZ etc etc. Amazing I know, I came off the phone in shock....I was like are you sure I just called a bank!

well I have rambled on for a while now, so I will give your eyes a break for a minute or two.

Much love

Joe

x x x x x x

oh BTW check out the pics I added to some of the other posts and also Jak's Picasa for even more photos. also his blog is probs worth a read although I fear he is more behind than me! jakmodena.blogspot. com.

Ants and Roundabouts....

Ok so I have left you in the dark for a few days so it is about time I let you know what I have been up to. Last you heard I had only just arrived on the Wednesday but since then I have done one or two awesome things...



I will start with Thursday. Still pretty tired and Jet lagged me and Jak got out of bed at around 8:30am had a shower (amazing I know) and got ready to get the bus in to town. The Bus was due at 10:01 but we had been warned that there is only about 1 every hour and they can be early. So we rushed out the door at quater too, started walking and as we neared the series of shops that idicated the bus stop was only round the corner a bus flew past us and we started running. Now I should explain, people don't do this in New Zealand, it is probably the most chilled out country in the world (except when it comes to seeds!). I mean don't quote me on this but I am pretty sure rushing anywhere is against the law. So once the bus cruised by the roundabout it then cruised by the bus stop..."Damn!" Was probably not the word that first came to mind but it serves its purpose in this case anyway, I thought we had pulled off our first jak and joe esque move of the journey so far and missed something at the very last second (even though we were 10 mins early!). Anyway with a glimour of hope left that this wasn't actually our bus we turned our run into a lazy walk and headed to the bus stop. We sat down and waited....10 minutes went by reasonably quickly.....AND.....The Bus showed up! Dead on time as well, it was clean, on time with plenty of room the only minor hitch was I wasn't too sure about how great the driver was. His habit of rolling the bus back everytime someone tried to get on was a little worrying although I am not sure wheather it was intentional or not after the 5th old lady had the fright of their life and the comedy value was pretty good I started to wonder if he could really be doing this by accident. Our first real look at Aukland was pretty cool, it's very different to London or Buenos Aires in that it doesn't hit you quite so hard with the hussel and bussel in the same way. We had a wander before we sat down in the cafe on the bottom floor of the sky tower had tea and wedges (best wedges ever btw) whilst making plans for the next week or so and writing the first of many post cards (if you haven't got yours in the next few days then it will either be in the post soon or I have just forgotten about you, kidding!).

We went up the sky tower a little bit later where we got an outstanding view of the city but before I dive into that I should probs give you an idea of what the sky tower actually is. It is basically one of your "pointless points" as I like to call them. It is the tallest tower in the southern hemeshere but it really has no purpose other than being a big flag pole like the eiffle tower etc. etc. The only very cool twist is that not only can you look off the top of it but you can jump off it! Looks pretty fun but it is also pretty pricey, gonna have to see if we have enough cash come the end of the trip. Once we got our heads out of the clouds (litteraly) we wondered around the rest of the city and picked up some thongs....


......oh yeah that's flip flops not underwear lol but they are a must have in this country if you want to fit in.

It is a cool place with some great sites, I will hit you with another update tomorrow with Friday and Saterdays events which will be worth the read (if I may say so myself lol).

Hope everyone is having as good a time back home as I am here!

Much love

Joe

x x x x x x

The pics will come trust me!

The Long way down....

Well after yesterdays miss haps we have had one very brilliant development, we arrived! It was a long and pretty painful journey here but now that we are here it's great! We have had a wonderful welcome from my cousins, Sue, Pete, Mark and Bexs(huge thanks to them). In fact everyone here seems really nice and all in all I am feeling pretty good about this trip now that we are out of the air even though it has only been a day.

I will update this more tomorrow to give you the details of the day but right now I am way too tired and Jet lagged and need to sleep! Hope everyone is ok!

Joe

x x x

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OK so I didn't get round to blogging what we did on our first day yesterday so I will give you a quick update before I get my arse in the shower. Which actually brings me to the first point, a warm shower and clean undies are the worlds best thing (save hugging Sarah!). Still I will leave it at that because otherwise you will get me started on taking things for granted and blah blah blah....



Once we got all our stuff sorted and took a little look at Sue and Petes' wonderful house, we went down to a beach on the west coast. It was awesome, the waves where HUGE! I mean I consider myself a strong swimmer being a life guard and all but I could't even stand in that let alone swim it was mental. There was this huge rock in the middle of the beach that the waves bashed up against, slowly eating it away. It was called lion rock and it was dedicated to some mauri people who died during the war, we climbed up near to the top and it was brilliant. The view was amazing and it gave us this real peaceful feeling, away from the beating wind and waves. After a while just sitting up there watching the waves which looked more like ripples from up there we walked back across the beach to the car. We then had these awesome wedges at this place called the elevation cafe, which had the most amazing view of Aukland and the surroundings. It is very different to the UK, everything including the city is wraped in this elabirate greenary of trees and bushes. Overall very much an awesome place just to look at, oh and real food again YAY!