8-4 to Volcano Lascar

Went to watch a local football game this morning. We sat in a wooden grandstand, in the ´Audience´ as Sam refered to it :) San Pedro were playing a team from the Lascar Volcano, which I bet is a wierd place. They play on a dust pitch, in about 30 degree heat at 2500m above sea level!! I wouldn´t be able to run one length of the pitch at this height.

A Pitch the Hawthorns would be proud of !

Feliz Cumpleaños Mama

Happy birthday to my mum who will be 21 on the 4th of August. Hope you have a brilliant day and I´ll be thinking of you.

Hasta pronto guapa xxxxx

Valle de la Luna

This is the best way I can try and describe this landscape without photos, bare with me. If you have been here you will know what I mean.
I´ve seen mountains, rivers, valleys, gorges, rainforests, beaches, reefs and the sea in all kind of different ways, i.e. huge snow capped mountains with waterfalls pouring off them into the ocean below at Milford Sound, desereted beaches with amazing seas, bubbling mountain rivers and massive rivers cutting through gigantic gorges etc. BUT its not often at the grand old age of 27 that you get to see a totally new landscape. Hundreds of kilometers of red desert with 6500+ meter active volcanos standing pefrectly formed in the distance, add to that crazy formations carved by the wind, gigantic sand dunes, and all covered in a white layer of salt which stops the growth of ANY vegetation, then smack in the middle add the 3rd largest salt lake, the clearest skies in the world and sunsets that produce colours unimaginable. I never expected to get the feeling of seeing something as amazing as this for the first time again.
I wish I had listened harder in English class so that I had better words to describe it to you, but unfortunately, put simply, you will all have to come here to believe it.
Right enough corny rubbish, you get the drift, so I´m off for a beer.
Chris
P.S Looks like I just managed to upload one photo, but I can`t be bothered to rewrite the message, so look at it then imagine its not there.

El Tatio Geyser

One of the highlights of Chile is meant to be El Tatio Geyser field, so we woke up at 3.30am to start our very tired and FREEZING cold ascent to 4300 meters. We were excited and I´m sure everyone else on the minibus was too but the 2 and a half journey up was deathly silent as everyone else tried to sleep. Except Chris and I who star gazed at the sky in the middle of the desert which was gorgeous.
Starting to feel that tired sicky stomach achie feeling you get when you get up at such a riddiculous time, we finally arrive to a stunning sight and all the tiredness goes away. As the sun rises over the volcanos surrounding us we start to see impressive steam eruptions all over the place. The thin clouds are a pink hue and the sky bright blue with white steam thick in the air all around us.
It was very alien and one of the most impressive landscapes I´ve seen. Some of the guides boiled eggs and warmed up cartons of milk for their groups breakfast (our guide was lazy and slept whilst we walked around, then gave us stale bread when he woke up - quality choice!).
Chris then started to annoy me by shouting "Geeeeezerrrr" really loudly and repeatedly, he thought it was hilarious.
Soooooo, there I was enjoying myself when something happenned. Of course if there was going to be some drama or ailment I could have, I would be the one to get it!
Altitude sickness can randomly happen to people when you go that high, the air is thin and so you have to walk very slowly and even then you feel about 100 years old. What happens is that you feel sick, dizzy and randomly start throwing up all over the place. So whilst Chris is whizzing around the place and I´m being ultra sensible I suddenly feel like a punch in the face wooooosh,´my legs are about to let me down, I feel sick and I am about to pass out - OH JOY!!!
So I sat down on the floor for a rest and thank God a geyser didn´t erupt under my bum and propell me back to Maidenhead early!!!!!!
5 minutes later I was ok and overjoyed that I wasnt the only one it happenned to.
On the way back to San Pedro an italian traveller gave me some coca leafs to chew which aparently stop you feeling sick. It tasted disgusting but I persevered, my mouth went numb but I stopped feeling dizzy. Chris on the other hand looked like a bulldog chewind a wasp and spat it out.
We got back to San Pedro and collapsed in a heap, but it was worth it, El Tatio was explosive.

P.S. Next stop Bolivia and the biggest salt lake in the World

High And Dry in Attacama Desert

Rivaling our mouths for the driest place on earth is the Attacama desert in Northern Chile. It is also the highest desert in the world.
After beating our personal best by spending 24 hours on a bus to get here, we arrived slap bang in the middle of the Attacama desert in a tiny Llama village called San Pedro which sits at 2500 meters above sea level. 338 days a year are clear skies. Its wicked, full of dust, the houses are made of mud, and there is barely any water. There are random dust tornadoes down the street, and stray dogs bask in the shade all day long. It has a wicked atmosphere, some great bars, and resturants, and of course some of the most stunning backdrops in the world. You could spend weeks here doing all the things the locals have invented for you to pass the time, we chose the Valley of the Moon, and the El Tatio volcano geysers.

P.S As you can imagine uploading photos here is impossible, so I´ll have to add them later, for the mean time imagine what the moon with lamas running over it.

Arrived in Santiago

Staying in a wicked rambling old mansion, called Residencial Londres. Beds are horrifc though. Everyone works out instantly that Sam is Spanish, but thinks I`m Chilean, perhaps it's because I look like a bandit.
Tomorrow we get on a bus for 24 hours to the deserts of San Pedro de Attacama.

Dia Cuatro

Dave and I are up at the crack of dawn for a surf session. Its raining and windy but we dag ourselves down to the bay to find a sweet little right hand wave breaking in front of a row of Moai statues, but rather shallowly over sharp volcanic rock. The only boards availabe are 2 duck tapped short boards or two beginner boards with no leashes. We take the beginners and padle out alone. The waves turn out not to be too powerful but I have one amazing ride and possibly the funniest surf laughing at each other trying to ride proper waves on boards made for white water.
We have a moment of cheesyness when we realise we are probably the most remote surfers in the World at this time, and we are surfing such a cool break.

The afternoon is tough work climbing to the crater of the biggest volcano on the island. To anyone coming here, this is what Easter Island should be famous for, and the statues second. It`s jaw dropping, I can`t think of a natural sight to beat it - Yet :)
This photo does nothing for the crater, you`ll have to trust us.

Dia Tres

The 5 of us squeeze into our hired 4x4 and lkeave the dangers of town to explore the barren, rocky volcanic island that is Rapa Nui. It is most famous for its massive rock carved Maoi statues scattered around. They were carved and erected by two tribes which lived on the island. The tribes had a war and went about it sensibly by knocking over each others statues. A few years back the Japanese came and stood them all back up. It`s great to imagine how long it took them to carve all 600 and move them around, but to be honest I thought they would be bigger and once you`ve seen one, you`ve seen them all. I am much more into the gigantic volcanoe craters and driving up them in my new toy - a cheap Japanese 4x4.
Back to the cookoo nest and out for dinner. Bed by 2.

Dia Dos

2pm out of bed. We all meet to cruise the town, drink coffee and cry from laughter at last night. This is the day we realise what a crazy lawless place we are in. Men ride bare back on horses racing down the street while a gang of locals scream up the street pulling wheelies on dirtbikes narrowly missing a pack of 12 dogs sniffing each other, growling and hissing. Look the other way and a pair of dogs stand stuck together by the groin with shame on their faces. This island is mad, but we are loving it. You could easily become intimitated by the locals shouting at tourists but when you still have pisco trickling through your blood it`s easier to laugh and shout back. Its easy to believe that the oldest people on this island remember knowing that last of the cannibals. It`s another late one. Bed by one.

Dia Uno

The LAN pilot slammed our plane onto one of the worldslongest runways (built as an emergency landing for the US space shuttle) in one of the worst landings ever felt. Some screamed. It was 10am, I had slept for two economy class hours and the bags under my eyes should have been checked in at the airport. Our new best buddies Angela & Dave found a bright orange damp `residencial`ran by Sandra & Janet. We dumped the bags that weren`t attatched to our faces, met another friend Mike, and took him to drink tea in town.
Town is a cobbled road with dirt track pavements, the occasional shack selling pisco brandy, milk and bread. Groups of disenchanted locals hang out on the floor wearing pants on their heads randomly shouting at tourists and kicking dogs. It turns 6pm and the five of us are still awake but starving. We hit the local resturant and order tacos & cristal (very drinkable local beer, not champagne), 8 each later and some fool mentions trying the ledgendary pisco sours. Awesome drink. Order some more! It`s now 1am, had 2 hours sleep in 40, but the atmosphere in the tiny South American resturant is pumping. There`s no stopping us now and we get directions to the local night club. No one can remember getting to the club but we enter a large shack packed with locals aren`t kicking dogs anymore, but still have pants on their heads. A nine man polynesian band is belting out tunes to a hedonistic crowd who make a double take when 5 tourists storm in. Initially we are loving the attention and lay into some more pisco sours. It hits 2:30am and the electricity on the whole island cuts, and everyones night is plunged into darkness, including the previously good local hospitality. The attention is now too much as we defend our bags, wallets, and my wife. After our search party returns successfull with Dave, the Irish representative, we pretty much run from the club into a street illuminated by the most stars anyone has seen. It`s stunning, after repeating how lucky we are to have a power cut (no light pollution) whilst being further away from anyone on the entire planet, Dave gets up out of the gutter and we go home happy. It`s 4:30am. Epic night, one that could never be planned or replicated.

Cuatro Dias En Rapa Nui

We spent 4 nights on the remotest inhabited island on the planet. 1900km east of nearest island Pitcairn, and 3700km west of the South American coast.
The island is tiny, lawless, and wicked fun.

Excess Baggage

Chris on Floor (right)
Heathrow 12th of November 2005
15.2 was the fluorescent green number displayed at the check-in counter 8 months ago when I put my rucksack on the scales.
A manageable amount I thought, great for me to lift; walk with; and even sprint with like a spring lamb on a trampoline.

But, with the passage of time the bag has got bigger, and bigger, and MASSIVE!!!!
Nowdays there`s not a pocket or cranny that isn`t stuffed with some essential item, even the outside has the following items attached to it:
A rolled up bath towel
Sleeping bag
Wetsuit
Crash helmet
Snorkel

Auckland Airport 8 months later
This time it was a chubby 23 kilos that shrieked up at my disbelieving eyes, and I have NO IDEA how I`ve gathered enogh cxxp to bump it up by 8 kilos!
I had thought something was up when I had stopped being able to put my rucksack on unassisted. These days I walk stooped forwards towards the menacing floor so I can distribute the weight across my scrawny brown back!!!

Conclusion
Something has to give but after a mayor sort out I know one thing for sure...the gold stilletoes are coming to Machu Pichu!

My Inbox

Since learning how to open a coconut, my work inbox is getting fuller...

Boat

I had dreams of hoofing around the lagoon at break neck speeds in a cool white speed boat, but instead when we turned up, we got this hunk of scrap:

It had a 6 hp engine which barely moved us, but still we had a wicked day cruising around the islands, stopping to snorkel, then mooring by a deserted beach and swimming around for a while, chasing sting rays etc.

Hope you are all insanely jealous and that's why nobody writes comments on the blog anymore. Its not like any of you have important jobs to do or anything. This blog is a two way thing you know! This excludes Harry, and Viv. Mom, dad, i know you are moving house this week but thats no excuse! Ruth, John being on holiday in France is also no excuse, I hope you are ashamed of yourselves.

Flower Boy

The men in Tahiti wear flowers in their hair, Chris was either none too pleased about wearing one in his boofhead...or hasn't even noticed it!

Finally Touched One!

As you know (if you've been following the blog) I've had a fascination with dolphins for ages. In Australia I risked shark infested waters to paddle out to get as close as possible to bottle nose dolphins on my foam boggie board. In Port Maquarie I saw lots of dolphins from a boat but never quite got to touch them.
Finally today Chris made my dream come true and as an early anniversary present bought me the Anupa experience...which meant I get not only to touch and play with a bottle nose but I also got to ride it! I got to hold on to the dolphins dorsal fin and he took me for a spin to about 4 meters deep and swam along the bottom of the ocean for as long as I could hold my breath, it was INCREADIBLE!!!! I can't describe to you what an amazing feeling it was, it was one, no no THE best thing ever. It lasted about 30 minutes all in all, we got to play with it and watching it do spins underwater and above, we touched its teeth and got to kiss it and pretend to hold it (weighs 130 kilos!!!). When it finished I could have done it all again 100 times over.

Very happy Sam x

P.S Chris writing "The best thing ever!" - I thought marrying me was the best thing ever. I began to get very jealous of this long nose bottle fat face dolphin. Last night Sam even exfoliated, shaved her legs, and this morning she put make-up on !

Rehab Island

I lost 10 kilos & Sam lost 7 in Asia. The surfing and lack of night life in Australia kept the weight off. In Fiji we just ate fruit and fish.
New Zealand turned out to be a different matter. We ate out most night and apres skied, even if we didn't ski.
By the time I bungee jumped in Queenstown I was back to my original weight of 85kg, but this time it wasn't 10 kilos gained in the gym, it was gained in the pub.
We had enough and checked ourselves into French Polynesia rehab, where we drink 6 litres of evian per day, sleep, walk, swim, play uno whilst I shake as the effect of New Zealand wears off. We are doing well on day five, but images of bus sized Argentinian steaks, and gallons of Chillean Pisco brandy pour through my mind. In fact, I fully intend to put more than 10 kilos back on when we are in South America!
BRING ON THE MEAT!

Chris

Happy Birthday James

Shocked to hear that you are 16 ! Are you old enough to play for Wolves yet and sort out their performance next season? Have a wicked day, and Sam says to enjoy all the new things you can now do legally at 16.
Chris & Sam

1 Star Is Better Than 5 !

Yesterday we walked to the 5 star Intercontinental hotel/resort to see about diving. Its a perfectly maniqured, luxiourious restort with $400 per night overwater bungalows. At first glance we both dreamt of staying here amoungst the lillys in the 'restrooms', and the shining marble staircases.
At 2nd glance you see through it all, it seems a little fake. Its full of overfed men with overstretched women demanding the world from the waiters who wear permanent dead smiles etched onto their faces. There is a fake Polynesian throne which you can sit on to have your photo taken, and an over-rehersed Polynesian show which has all the authenticity of a gondalier on the canals of Birmingham.
We realised all of this sat in our budget 'Fare' listening to the Polynesian family camping next to us playing guitars, and singing local songs together on thier long weekend off.
We thought we would never say it, and will probably eat our words once we get back, but give us 1 star over 5 any day.
P.S the fact we cant afford to eat is another matter.

Decover e des raies avec Serge

On Moorea directions are easy. It's always either left or right (there's only one road).The day before yesterday we turned left, and a sign saying "Decover e des raies" caught our attention. We parted with 6000 pacific francs and made a date to meet our guide Serge the next day.
Serge hasn't worn shoes on in 10 years and he only puts on a t-shirt for breakfast, he is an overly brown french man who smokes far too much but lives a happy life in paradise (and you can tell by his manner). He spends his days taking visitors to see the lagoons sting rays.
Chris jumps out of the speedboat onto a shallow part of the lagoon and I follow narrowly missing a gigantic ray glidding beneath me. Sting rays are like cats, they brush past your legs a few times, then slide right up your chest and poke their faces at your chin. Their wide eyes say "hey where's my fish!!".
It's increadible how friendly they are, how soft they feel and how they like to be patted like a domestic pet.
Sometimes they nudge you with their nose to get your attention, and one accidentally sucked my finger! (It was gummy, kind of like putting your finger in an old persons mouth).
Some local kids swam near us and started to make too much noise, so Serge got rid of them by pouring a bucket of blood into the water to attract the sharks - it worked!
We also had a hilarious lesson in sea cucumber defense mechanism. When removed from the water they eject a stringy white goooo which sticks to you like superglue. After ten minutes of trying to remove it, Serge (who's been wetting himself watching us) told us to grab a handful of sand to rub it off.
It was one of the coolest wildlife things we've done and will stick in our minds for years.

A Balanced View, The Dark Side Of Paradise

Tropical Storms:

Disease:

Man Or Monkey?

I decided I needed to prove my worth to my wife, by opening a coconut with only my bare hands and rocks.
:
Here is the sequence of events:

Monkey?

Man?

Monkey?

Waters Break

Man!!

Moorea

This is the island we are on. The place we are staying on is at the bottom of the island (as you look at the picture)

No Bora Bora

Having woken up on Sunday thinking it was Monday, then realising it was Sunday when the boat we tried to get on didn't leave until Monday, we were a bit confused. International date lines fault!
We spent the day in Papeete celebrating with the French that the Italians had won the World Cup. Still confused. We enjoyed a few beer Hinanos and checked back into the hotel that we'd checked out of this morning.
Waking up on Monday (again), we checked out of the hotel (again), and walked past the bloated dead dog on our way to the cargo harbour. The first bad news of the day was that the cargo ship couldn't take any more passengers to Bora Bora. Our dream night sleeping under the stars on the deck of a cargo ship sailing across the south pacific was blown. There was also no other way to get to Bora Boara, except a 400 pound flight. We decided to go and spend 10 days in Moorea. We bought tickets on a more conventional passenger ferry, and began to ring up for accomodation. Nothing. We board the ferry knowing that we only have the beach to sleep on. Arriving at Moorea we decided that we may have to blow the budget and flashpack for the night.
2 hours later we have checked into our own private villa looking out across the lagoon. It was huge!
We spent the rest of the day lounging around thinking we were Kings, and had the best night sleep in months.
24 hours later and we have found a budget place to stay for the next 8 nights.
The beach is OK though!!

World Cup Final

Waking up in our spring ridden bed this morning I started to try and work out what day it was and what time the final was on. Realising it was finally at a decent hour (9am) and I was going to watch my 1st world cup game, it only occurred to me that being in French Polynesia, I was possibly in the coolest country to be watching a Italy v France final.
We found the fuzziest TV and sat down to watch with a few other Tahitians and French. We soon realised that all is not as it should be in the Tahitian camp. They all HATE the french and are supporting Italy!
I thought it was a cracking game with possibly the funniest ending imagined. Zidane did the most hilarious thing imaginable. I hope the pubs in England burst into such laughter as I did. Sam, I and the other English guys giggled uncontrollably for the rest of the game, much to the Tahitians amusement and the Frenchs hatred :) What the hell was he playing at, head butting him in the chest. Comic genious!
Possibly the only thing that can beat Zidane for entertainment is being sat at a bar watching hundreds of Tahitians drive round in trucks, and cars waving Italian flags, beeping horns, and cheering.
Classic start to what I reckon is going to be a wicked next 10 days!

Papeete

We got on the plane slightly worse for wear after a hevy night out in Auckland, but we were soon back on form once we had sampled the Tahitian beer Hinano.
On arriving at FAAA Airport a tahitian band played tropical mucis and we all (incl. the men) got given flowers to stick behind our ears, Chris looked delightful.
Once through customs we found ourselves with nowhere to stay and thrown right back into it as we'd hoped. The information desk gave us a list of pensions and then it was a case of eyes closed and pointing at the list to choose a home for the night.
It was sweltering but also throwing it down with rain outside, and after a lot of circles we found a taxi. The driver was about 80, tahitian, with a gold tooth and smoked a strong cigar which he had no issue with holding whilst he drove us one-handed in his bashed up old Ford. The drive was once again hairy and he drove us to a really dodgy neighbourhood, that's were our motel was.
The place actually turnned out to be really clean (the main thing) but when we said to the lady that we were going out for diner she said "whatever you do DON"T turn left out of here, DO NOT go down that street it's dangerous"...oh joy!
Luckerly criminals don't like the rain and we turned left which was dark but fine.
A gigantic burrito in a random mexican restaurant and a beer Hinano later and we felt right at home.
Today we were meant to be catching a cargo ship to bora bora but as we crossed the international date-line we got confused and thought today was Monday but it's Sunday so we'll stay in our dodgy neighbourhood another night.
It's great to back having an adventure!!!

White Men Can't Jump

Well well then...we spent 3 days in Taupo waiting to sky dive but unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side this time. It was quite frustrating because I was feeling mega adventurous and Angelina-like so we kept making appointments all throught the day but if it wasn't the cloud it was the wind stopping us from jumping out of a plane.
The lady at the hostel quite wrightly pointed out that the rain could collapse the parachute and that's why they don't go out - that shut me up!!!
Sooooo off we went to Auckland feeling dissapointed that the 2 things I wanted to do the most haven't happenned (couldn;t dive the barrier reef or sky dive because of the weather!!!!).
When we got to Auckland I discovered an amazing adrenaline alternative, a base jump 192meters high off a building and it REALLY appealed to me. You're not tied by the feet like a bungy, instead you are in a harness that's on your chest and you go down at a controlled (but still terrifying) speed of 80 kph, enough to see people, cars and concrete as you plummet. And high enough to go one better than Chris (Heeheee).
But...unfortunately...I had too many wines with my brazilian diner the night before and was too hangover to get up at 6.30am and squeeze it in before our flight to Tahiti.
So now I feel pumped and ready to do something stupid but with no safe options. But we loved NZ sooooo much that this just gives us a few excuses to go back, so sooner or later...white men WILL jump!!!!

Sam

Still No Sky Dive Action

It's still too cloudy and windy. Tomorrow is our last day in Taupo, and our last chance to dive is at 8:10am tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed.

Huka Jet And Killer Prawn Golf

When you can't skydive in New Zealand, you just do something else whacky. We booked ourselves onto the Huka Jet, which is a tiny jetboat which hurtles down the waitomo river missing trees, and rocks by centimeters. The driver also sends it into a 360 degree spin every now and again. Unfortunatly it was throwning it down with rain so it cut into your face like daggers, we only managed to make it half way up the river before having to turn back. No worries though as we got a full refund and still had a wicked time on the boat.
After that we crossed the road to New Zealands only prawn farm. It would usually be too cold for the prawns but they use the geothermal pools to grow them. We had 2 options.. go fishing for prawns, or hire an 8 iron and whollop 10 golf balls into the prawn farm to try and kill them that way. Naturally I decided on a spot of golf. Some of you will of seen me at the driving range, and will know I'm not that consistent, but add some prawns into the equation and I hit 10 balls perfectly. No idea how many I killed.

Later we watched Pirates Of the Caribbean at the cinema, and went out for beers with some guys fom the hostel.
Classic Day
Chris & Sam

No Lara Croft Today

After spending most of yesterday and early this morning imagining myself as a bit of a Lara Croft type and thoroughly looking forward to sky-diving I was dissappointed. Once when I looked out of the windown to see thick heavy clouds, and twice when I looked in the mirror and saw someone that doesn't look a bit like Angelina Jolie!!!!
My plan B was to go snowboarding but that's not possible today either. But it's not all bad news, we've been put on the 8.30am jump for tomorrow morning (keep fingers and toes crossed for good weather) and we've got the rest of the day to relax and go for nice walks around the Lake. It really doesn't get much better than this, I think I'll need counselling when I get back to Maidenhead and turn 30!!!!

A Very Happy Sam x

After 3 Days on A Bus..

We have finally arrived in Lake Taupo. We have been sat on a bus for 3 days straight, only getting off to eat and sleep in Christchurch & Wellington.
We crossed the cook stait on one of the roughest days of the year. They cancelled the crossing on the way back because of huge waves.
The ferry you cross on is huge, 10 decks high. We were stood looking over the bow from the windows of the 8th deck and waves were crashing over the bow and breaking onto the window. At one point the ship rocked so far to the left that all the chairs and tables slid to the wall. People were vomiting everywhere. It was absolute carnage. Sam lost her mind and had a panic attack which was entertaining. She kept repeating that she needed to know where she could get off the boat. I explained how that wasn't a good idea and she arrived safely without commiting suicide.
Its bucketing it down outside so the chances of us skydiving tomorrow are pretty slim.
Laters
Chris

In Desperation For Something To Tell...

I was going to keep this quiet but as my parents in law have just flown out to Boston for 2 weeks I may get away with it....

We hired a car on saturday, it was a pretty crappy purple automatic Mazda Familia. We started out the journey to Milford cruising around the lake down endless windy roads. Sooner or later the road straightened out across the flat countryside heading towards Te Anu. The sun was shining, the roads dry, and we hadn't seen another car for at least 30 minutes. The speed limit (yes you can probably guess where this is going) was 100 kmph (60mph). My foot rested slightly harder on the pedal and we were doing about 120 kmph down a straight road. Sam being uber responsible asks me what the speed limit is, immediatley after I replied "120", (as if she knew) I spy a guy stood in the middle of the road about 1km ahead stood next to a blue and read flashing car. ****.
I stop, wind the window down as smile my most dumb touristy smile. Hello. Police man asks what the speed limit is. 120 I reply. He points out the gigantic 100kmph sign and tells me he has clocked me at 121. I look to Sam expected her to seductivly lean across and wink at the copper, but she is looking discraced at me.
I apologise and try a vauge attempt at playing ignorant. He isn't having any of it though, this is the most exiting thing that has happened to him since he arrested a sheep for looking at another sheep 2 months ago.
He slaps me with a $170 fine and sends me on my way.

I'd just like to point out some pointless figures here.

100kmph = 60mph
120kmph = 72mph

They allow 10% leaway for poor speedometers, which gives me up to 66mph. That put me 6mph over!!!!! On a empty road on a clear day! I know that is no excuse but blarr...

Chris

P.S Is it really bad that a tiny tiny part of me considered hand brake turning as soon as I saw him in the road and doing a runner? There is no way he would of seen the license plate!

P.P.S Any donations towards the fine will be accepted.

New Zealand A Bit Dull For The Blog

We have been worried that the blog has been abit tame lately. Its far too easy to travel around NZ. You just buy a 50 hour bus ticket and jump on & off these luxery buses when and where you want. You book your first night in YHA accomodation, then you just book ahead each night to each next YHA. If you want to do something - you just tell the person at the YHA reception, pay them some cash and ten minutes later somebody picks you up and you go and do it. Nobody complains, everybody is really nice, and nothing ever seems to go wrong.
I have probably spoken too soon and something catastrophic is going to happen, but at least it will give us something to write about.
Anyway, on a bore boring note, we have just arrived back in Christchurch, we will probably pop out for a few pints & a curry. Then tomorrow we get another bus & boat to Wellington (yes we booked the bus, boat, and YHA already). On Tuesday we get another bus to Lake Taupo to go sky diving.

Do not dispair with our boring stories just yet as we are leaving NZ for Tahiti on Sunday where we can't afford accomodation, food or drinks, and plan to travel between the islands illegally on a cargo boat. BRING IT ON !

Chris

Caption Competition..

Euro 2006

So its 9:00pm here, which means its 10am on a Sunday morning as I write this, and you lot are all waking up to a stinking hangover and the bitter taste of dissappointment in your mouths. You lot obviously didn't shout load enough at your televisions.
Knowing we were going to loose ;) I decided to drive to the middle of nowhere (Milford Sound) and stay in a hutt that turned its electricity off at 11pm. I woke up this morning to check the internet and was gutted.
I haven't seen the game yet, and probably never will, but from what I read on the internet the whole of England should be hating Wayne Rooney right now. Is this true or is he a scape goat?

Just to cheer you all up, the Aussies are still pretending to be interested in football and come out with some seriously daft comments like....
"Brazil have GONESKI, no WAY MAN, you serious Brazil have GONESKI! HOW DID FRANCE DO THAT!"


LATERSKI
Chriski

Milford Sound

We very nearly didn't come here and that would have been a big mistake, WHAT A TREAT!! Possibly the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life, I actually almost cried at one point because it was so beautiful.
Better tell you it's fiordland, the trees alone are 30 million years old, and when we cruised down it early this morning it had a mysterious wise air as the atmosphere was thick with mist at points. It was dramatic to say the least. If you come to New Zealand you HAVE to come here, I'll definitively come back...didn't want to leave.

Oh and to top it off there is gold in the walls and you can see the start of what turns into the San Andreas fault-line (goes all the way to California!). Oh and fur seals played in the water, oh and it was just great!!!!
Unforgettable sight, increadible sound.

Sam

Milford Road

We hired a purple car, and drove to Milford Sound. To get there we had to drive down Milford Road. It beats the Great Ocean Road hands down.

We saw waterfalls, huge mountains, mirror lakes, roaring streams, and icicles hanging from plants. The roads were empty and a 3 hour drive took 6. It was epic.

I think I'm getting old.
Chris

Kiwi and Kea

When we were in Australia we did a fair bit of commenting about their wildlife, so here's a bit on New Zealands.
New Zealand is great in many ways, one is that unlike Oz it doesn't have any deadly spiders, snakes or other leathal critters. It only has nice things generally, and Chris and I both wanted to see their national pride, the Kiwi.
It's a flightless bird that has pathetic tiny wings the size of peas, it's ground duelling and nocturnal, and in recent years has been in decline.
We went to a bird sanctuary to check one out, and they are hilarious. They have huge round butts and really long beaks that have an amazing sense of smell (unusual for birds) to sniff out worms which they dig out with their beaks. They have marrow in their bones like us and they have whiskers like cats, to tell if they will fit in holes. Oh and they had a stuffed one that we touched and it's feathers feel like hair (would make a nice coat).
The main reason they are being killed off is the introduction of animals from other countries. Rats came over on ships and eat their eggs, and then it also comes back to rabbits once again - rabbits where introduced to NZ but as always they got out of control, so they introduced stoats (ugly ferret type thing) to kill the rabbits. But the stoat found a much slower and jucier prey...yeeees the kiwi!
The other cool thing we saw was a Kea, a big fat bird (parrot family) which is extreemely clever and cheeky. It's the only bird to live above the snowline, and probably also the only one with a fetish for rubber...they rip all the rubber bits off your car to shreads for fun. They also steal things from you and hide them. On our way to Milford sound one came and sat on the wing mirror and stared at me, when I got the camera out he cocked his head and tapped at the window. At this point Chris thought it was hilarious to open my window a bit! I screamed as the Kea looked at me and the camera with hungry eyes. Luckily the expletives stopped Chris from going too far and we escaped unscathed.

Lastly, we met a lizard that nobody is quite sure how long they live because they outlive their keepers, but probably about 300 years! They were around when the dinosaurs were here, they can hold their breath for and hour and slow their heartbeat down to 10 beats per minute. Are they the key to eternal youth?