Kiora!

Which is not the drink but a Maori greeting, the Maoris being a culture/peoples that got here about 100 years before the Westerners.
Well as you know I'm now in New Zealand and man its soo nice to know whats going on around you.
I'm travelling on the 'magic bus' and no its not me taking illegal substances it a backpackers tour bus which is taking me around the two Islands, so whats been going on? Read on my friends...

Auckland.
Its the biggest city in the country with a whopping 1.5m inhabitants (only around 4.5m in the whole country, yeah I know) and it rains a hell of a lot, being sandwiched in between the Tasmanian Sea and the Pacific Ocean I dont know why I didnt expect it but there you are. Also having to pay normal prices for things as its way more expensive than SA is not a good thing :(
While I was getting my bearings here I've managed to get in Harry Potter 5 at the flicks (also read through the book while busing it, I know what happens in the end!!), seen the city from 220m from the viewing platform of Sky Tower (total height 328m, they seem obsessed with that fact so I'll put it in), nice views but glad I got the discount (backpackers card I love it!!) as its pretty much just a nice view, although watching people dive past on bungee type strings while you're drinking coffee is quite amusing.
Have got in many trips the bookstores enjoying the fact that every book I pick up is in English, and they have a wicked (and free) art gallery that gave me my 1st insight into Maori culture. One thing to note of this city is its very hyped up for East Asians, loads of good sushi places and multi lingual signs, I will say though never trust anyone to shape your eyebrows who has less hair on their whole body than you do on one limb....
Right so after purchasing my discounted bus ticket I'm off into the rest the of the country.

Rotorua
After a quick stop in Waitoma which is a tiny (and I mean tiny) little town down that has caves that have glow worms and bugs inside, you can also do many cave and water related things including tubing and rafting, I however deiced to give it a miss having no desire to spend two hours in the dark after learing about all the spiders that live in them, some of the others in the group did and said it was great fun tho.
So into Rotorua for a few nights of fun with some very cool people....
I sampled the delights of a Maori Village for the evening, I am now officially a tribe member and I think if I rock up there in need food and shelter they will give it to me for nothing which is always a good thing to know.
The evening started with a coach trip up to the village where we choise an adult male to act as our tribe leader, if you think that this is a good thing for him think again, the poor sod had to stand in the cold entrance to the village with a somber face while 4 dudes set the challenge and officially excepted the rest of us into the village, the challenge (or WERO as it is called) has much dancing, grunting noises and spear waving (similar to the thing that the all blacks do before a game), the deal is you cant laugh, smile or anything as its seen as an insult, I take my hat off to the guys that stood there while men where sticking out their tongues and grunting at them. After than we saw the village, were treated to a show and got dinner from the Hangi (earth oven), then back to the hostel for an hour of so in the Spa.
The region where Rotorua is located has geothermal activity meaning that there are lots of natural hot springs everywhere that are heated from the earth and smell of sulphur, I'm not doing it justice in my poor description but spas are good things people!
Having met a chick that was from the hostel in Auckland doing a free trip was a great thing, apart from the fact she was a cool kid to hang around with I also got loads of freebies, including two free hydro Zorb rides (lots of fun) discounted Swoop ride (being put in a sleeping bag type harness and dropped from some 40m above the ground to go back and forth 100m at 130 kmp, glad Kat had to pull the cord or I would still be sitting up there!!).
Also caught the cable car up a mountain to go on carts down the bottom, which wasnt a bad way to spend the afternoon.
In the evening we went into town to watch the rugby (Oz v's NZ) which in my current location I am pleased to say NZ won, which meant many happy people and me getting lots of free drinks and shots from the bar staff!

Taupo.
This is a little town that is slap bang in the middle of the North Island and is absolutely gorgeous, it has one huge lake in the centre and mountains around it and some of the nicest locals I have met in my life, a very nice lady that gave me and a friend a lift back from outside of town when we went off in search to craters.
Its also home to the cheapest and best views to skydrive from, so when in Rome eh? Attempt one for didnt go as planed, after being jump suited and harnessed up the weather got the better of us and we didnt get to jump, which was quite a relief to be honest as I wasnt mentally there that day and wouldnt stop shaking.
Day two and the weather was behind us and off I went 12,000 feet up in the smallest (and pinkest) plane I have ever seen in my life, again was pretty much bricking it but that day at least I could manage to talk. Was the 1st out of our little plane and was free falling for less than a minute before the shoot opened I got to enjoy the views while gliding above the lake, felt much safer than hand gliding despite the fact I know there is more chance of dying if it all went wrong maybe its because I was strapped to the chest of the guy and knew he liked living despite that fact he (I hope in jest) told me he was on anti depressants while we where on our way up.
I have pictures and a DVD, once I figure out how to share the DVD on line I will sort it out so you can all lip read the 1st words that came out of my mouth after being out of the plane, bet you can guess before you've even see it mind ;)
After all that excitement a group of us headed out into town to NOT come last in the put quiz, to be fair the prize was 50 bucks worth of booze but we managed with the extra credit competitions to win around 40 bucks worth of freebies although we left what little self respect we had behind, as a backpacker I have even less shame than I did before.

Wellington.
This is my current location and I'm only doing a quick stop over before catching the ferry over to the South Island tomorrow.
Which in essence means I've looked around the town, seen the museum that they seem to heavily promote where ever you go (I dont know why) and will be up and out before the birds tomorrow so cant really tell you much, other than I've heard its a great city to go out in as it has many bars which I will not be sampling before getting on ferry boat.

Next stop the delights of the South...
Keep well

Photos

Hay there,
Just to let you know photos have now been published on facebook.
If you need an invite email to 'be my friend' send me a mail and if I like you I might sent you an invite :)
For those of you that have not got into the facebook thing yet do not blame me when you realise you can loose whole days on the thing! But, on the plus side you can forgot to eat, sleep and drink so you might loose a few pounds and save some cash by not leaving the house..
TTFN

The little skinny one on the left.

That was Jims very apt way of explaining to me where Chile was when I got my Itinerary through and realised that I had to flight out of Santiago and didnt actually know where Chile was. I now not only know where it is on a map I have a very pretty stamp in my passport to prove that I actually managed to find its physical being to :)
So after all the trouble trying to get across the boarder I made it with 4 days to spare, I say 'spare' two days where spent on hold on the phone and visiting airline offices tying to get my backpack, it finally arrived, 3 days after I did.
So what did I get up to while there (other than smoke many cigarettes and curse airlines)?
Not a lot, time was short and weather was sh*te, I sampled Chile's tipple of choice, pisco, which is the most vile spirit around, think of the stuff that lurks at the back of a drinks cabinet and only gets brought out in very desperate times or when someone has lost a bet and its probably this stuff. Also some sort of national food which is like a thick stew and was made with fish, also wasted on my taste buds but hay at least I tried it.
Walked around town seeing the normal tourist stuff, if you are ever in the town, check out the pre Colombian museum, cool stuff and stories from the natives including 8 foot high very scary looking stone men.
Saw the city from high, and the layer of pollution that gets trapped due to the mountains, kind of takes something away from the mountainous back drop.
And on my final night in town I checked into a hotel, which had a private bathroom, TV and ohh such a nice double bed and ordered room service! After 6 weeks in dorm rooms and bunk beds it was heaven and I never wanted to leave.
But alas I had to, as the next day I was in yet another airport for my flight to New Zealand, which was made very comfortable by the nice bar staff in the 'American dinner' who wore little school girl outfits and actually had Jack Daniels , my 1st JD and Coke of SA was serviced as follows, can of coke with glass, glass of ice and then glass of JD, I am surprised I could walk to the aircraft. Am now enjoying the sweet sounds of my mother tongue full throttle again, including those lovely words that begin with F, S, and C.... God bless NZ!
Laters

Much madness in Mendoza

hola chicos + chicas

After much fun and games involving two buses, 5 hours waiting in snow and a 20 something hour bus ride I made it to Mendoza, this is solely because of a very nice Mexican that translated all that was going on got me on the right bus, we love him very much... even though we do not know his name.
You may wonder why I am here, well because I need to get across the boarder to Chile, problem with land boarders around these parts is they can close when it snows lots.... it snowed lots!
Mendoza, its another Ski town and also produces 70% of Argentinean wine so what fun things to do when stuck in this town? Skiing, wine tasting, yes you can, there are also many adventure type tours involving trekking, bike riding and the like.
But that would be a sensible thing to do, I ended up white water rafting in sub zero temperatures amongst the snowy mountains, it was soo cold that when the water hit my face it turned to ice on my eye lashes and yet it was such a giggle, our group was the only lot doing it and I`m not in the least bit surprised, if any of us would have ended up in the drink we wouldn't have lasted long ( see and you all were all worried that I`d get killed by street crime).
After messing about in the river and once feeling had returned to my hands and feet I then went over it.
Canopying for those like myself that didn't know is a wire rope suspended between two points (one being higher than the other) and someone hooking themselves to it by a waist harness and shooting across.
So I spent the afternoon climbing up the mountains, having snowball fights then canopying across valleys and rivers sometimes upside down, even having to be rescued by one of the guys after getting stuck on one of the slower runs, much fun was had.
After all the fun I then spent the next two days tyring to arrange any means possible of getting myself over to Chile, much thanks to Natasha who from the UK was able to do what I was not, pay for a flight to Santiago, after my flight being very delayed and my connection taking off before I had left the 1st airport, I was put on standby with another airline and thankfully after 12 hours at the airport I was on my way.... my backpack however ended up on my original flight and in BA and as I post this still has not been delivered :(
Importain lessons have been learnt, never leave photo disks in your backpack, when your flight is changed after you check in always make sure they hand you back your stuff (I did actually ask and believed them when they said they would arrange for the transfer - they were called many bad names after this) and nothing in South America goes to plan, the only people going ape sh*t about this kind of thing were the gringos, as one guy said when I had my 1st frustrating experience with no information on a delayed flight in Rio `Welcome to South America!`

You guys take care of yourselves especially considering all the trouble with terrorists.
Love to you all

On the piste...

I`ve headed down south for a few days in a cute little town called Bariloche, full of log cabins (my hostel isn't one of them, but I have a bar with a pool table and free dinner so who am I to complain?), chocolate shops (Thortans has got to do some serious work if it wants my custom back) oh and Catedral Ski resort, I may be colder than a snow mans bits but I have snow!!!
1st day in after an overnight bus meant I was good for nothing that day other than looking around the town and venturing out as far as the bar -which was a few floors below my room- turns out a good few people from my last hostel are staying here also, managed to get some tips on the dos and donts of snow sports, really wish I would have listened to the oh so good advise I got and done some stretches and that I would have not put things in my ski jacket pocket and expected them to stay dry and unharmed, live and learn eh?
I booked up for two days playing in the white stuff, this being my 1st ski resort didnt know what to expect and I wasnt disappointed.
Day 1 and I was hitting the mountain in skis after the fun of trying to explain to the ski rental place that they needed to stop bringing me boots from the adults section, finally when the guy looked down at my feet he understood, laughed and got some from the kiddies bit.
Had a two hour lesson where I was more snow plow than french fries, not the worst but by no means the best either, my tutor did tell me `Cecil you have found your sport!`, she had called me Cecil in the beginning, didnt correct her the 1st time so I was called Cecil by everyone for the morning, which was surprising easy to get used to. In the afternoon I tried to go a bit further up the mountain, comical is the only word that can describe it, there were 4 year olds zooming everywhere intimidating me, but I did manage to get my own back when I lost control and went straight into a group, whipping an 8 year out!
Day 2 was me trying out boarding, boots are easier to walk in and well, its a cooler thing to say you can do... I still cant say I can do it yet mind.
I had a group lesson in the morning and I was shocking, balance and coordination not being great strenghts of mine I couldnt even get up off my bum unaided with both feet in the board, even when I was helped up I wasnt up for long, while the rest of the group got to go up and leaf down I was at the bottom, sitting on my bum lots and about ready to cry.
But do not despair board lovers, I did not give up, I marched right into the lessons centre and booked up for the afternoon, and I am so glad I did, had a really nice tutor, I explained the mornings accomplishments (or lack there of) to him and he took me though the basics again (turns out the English of my 1st tutor wasnt that good and I was actually being told to do the wrong things with my feet) and the guy had the virtues of a true laid back snow bum and was funny as hell, literally threw me right into it, once you figure out you dont have to worry about rolling around in snow its all good, I can now kind of stand up on my own, turn (sometimes in the direction I want to go in!!) and I managed to get to the bottom once and stop naturally without hitting to deck to make myself stop before hitting the fence.
I left there, wet thought (jeans under ski pants not a good idea people), shivering and aching head to toe, and even worse the next day, every single mussel hurts like hell, but the pleasure out ways the pain by far.
Where am I off to next? Up North to Mendoza.
Adios for now

Steak, wine and Tango...

That's it, Argentina in a nut shell and not necessarily in that order.
At the end of my week long stay in the Argentinian capital and its been a whole lot of fun.
Stayed in a really good hostel, thumb print entrance (never going back to keys, nothing to loose to lock you out) and it has a #### Theater next door which made for interesting noises to humm to while in the shower... think I´ve also learnt some interesting phrases in Spanish too.
BA is a huge city which is one of the most beautiful ones I´ve seen, buildings are stunning and there is loads of trees, sculptures and fountains everywhere. There seems to be a large number of homeless people which are sleeping literally slap bang in the middle of the street, they arent the nasty begging type either, you get paid to recycle here so when the business put out their bins at night they are raided for anything that can be sold.
I´ve been out and about during the days doing the tourist stuff, lots of museums, Evita one too, I can understand why the ego that is Madonna wanted to play this lady, oh and I´ve been getting lost... lots!
At one point an extremely nice local guy walked with me ten blocks out of his way to make sure I got the right bus, nice guy, he was in tax, but was quick to point out that he fights the IRS for the good guys, my hero!
Where´s my satnav guy when I need him huh?!
Made it to the Cementerio Pelo Recoleta - yep its a cemetery that has been turned into a tourist attraction with tours and everything (very much keeping up with the Jones, my tombs bigger than yours kinda thing), was really creepy, you could see some of the coffins and there were loads of stray cats just sitting there on the tombs starring at you.
My Spanish is not improving much, when I do attempt anything but hello, thank you etc. I get sniggered at, seems you can take the girl out of Dagenham but the Dagenhamese accent is still there. Remember what it was like trying to get rid of it in French Class Kel?!
Dirt cheap here, buses are about 10p, cigs 80p and 1litre bottles of beer less than a quid.
And Mark you do not even want to know about petrol prices.
They do however have a smoking ban already in the city, so I feel your pain guys, but just not your incentive to quit as they are so cheap!
Its even more hard core than Brazil for the night life, dinner at about 10pm, bar after (they don't open any earlier) but if you want clubs no one goes out till 2am and your sweet behind is crawling to bed when the respectable types are going to work, I have only managed that a few times as I cant keep up with the youngens.
I´ve also had a Tango lesson - for those of you that where in Adana for Mrs. K´s nuptials... well you know the skills this girls got on the dance floor - My poor partner had mastered his moves, then mine in an attempt to show me what I´m supposed to be doing, we then all had dinner (Steak, wine and Tango in one night, I´m practically a local now) and watched the professions strut their stuff, not a patch on me naturally ;)
I am also not to worse dancer in the world, two Aussie fellas I met at the Tango actually got given a free drink by the bar staff later during the evening as their moves where the worst ever seen, I did not get one even tho I was dancing with them, so in short I have new lows to aim for.
Its about 10 deg. C in this part of the world, so if I´m going be cold for much longer there had dam well better be snow for me to play with - Next stop Bariloche.
TTFN