south island

hello everyone!
been a while but not too much was happening in auckland! worked and saved and now have a month to explore the south island of new zealand!

flew to christchurch and headed for the beach once we were settled, this pic below is brighton beach east of christchurch! we had great weather in christchurch!!!

whilst getting used to our hire car we did a bit more exploring and managed to stumble across some great views!!
had a walk around christchurch and took some pics of stuff (new camera so gotta try it out!!)








another mini road trip took us towards akaroa, 1st french settlement in nz SE of christchurch i think?

'ragon the wagon' our hire car which hopefully will get us around!
stopped in akaroa for a well deserved pint!

alex and mary flew in tio christchurch to join me and kat, we headed off the next day after a night out in christchurch to lake takepo, arriving in evening we found a nice place to stay by the lake and i got up early to get this shot.
kat mary and alex, having breakfast by the lake
really great little church by the lake, amazing location!
leaving lake takepo towards queenstown we drove through some mountains, really cool backdrop, makes driving so much more interesting!!
another stop on the way, roaring meg was a waterfall near this shot!
we arrived in queenstown and settled into our own pad, we each have a room to ourselves, well i have moved a bed into the living room, but our place is close to town and a supermarket! great choice by alex who booked in advance! (queenstown is busy!)

so we got ourself onto a trip to milford sound, bus and cruise!
this shot below is of mirror lakes along the way. unfortunately the weather was not that sunny and bit choppy, this sign is supposed to read mirror lakes from its reflection! oh well
kermit came along too!




next day we headed to coronet peak, visibility was not great but i had fun and improved my boarding once id got used to snowboarding on real snow! had been twice to indoor slopes in auckland
next day was amazing weather, headed for remarkables which had 22cm of snow overnight, and the sun was out! awesome
spent some time on beginner slope before going up to intermediate! step to far as shear drops put me off a bit but managed to race across my 1st powder snow on way down! great experience and awesome day boarding!!

me and alex at top ready to make our way down
survived to tell the tale!

more to follow hopefully!

tongerero crossing and random

Ok thought id add some pics i took of the tongerero crossing in the middle of the north island, we were based at taupo and drove two cars to the site one to the end and one to the start (forward planning as big dist from start point and finish point!





well it took us 5 hrs 45 on a recommended 6-7 hour walk so we didnt do too bad!





it was an awesome walk, highly recommended as it was so varied, up the mountain along a crater down the mountain and through the forrest at the end! hard work but really good!
















kermit made it too, he is still alive! but i keep forgetting to take him with me!! poor kermy!

below my poor attempt at a pavlova!

below me all blinged out for adam's chav party!
check me out on facebook if you have an account ive got loads of pics on there now too, im tending to use facebook alot right now!

well speak to you all later!

various new zealand

Well its been a while since doing my blog! thought id put some pics on with brief descriptions!
but to sum up nz has been awesome!

me below with my big hair, beard and 1st jumper/hoody since travelling (1 year) not bad as ive not been too cold without until now!


pics below are of a place called craters of the moon, in taupo, this place was quite surreal with loads of steam and bubbling mud coming out the ground ( this part of nz has loads of places like this, the near town of rotarua smells of eggs due to the gas/steam! pleasant!




below are pics of the river and huka falls in taupo (all part of my 6 hour return walk!)

at least as part of my long walk i got to stop off in some hot springs and rest my feet!



my flatmate kelly in her room which is often messy! (sorry kelly) but tidy aswell some times!

lake taupo (hopefully will skydive over it soon!!!!!!!)

Easter weekend we went to raglan, awesome surf town where i caught my 1st waves!!!! it was an awesome long wkend!!!

me in my tight wetsuit! 9ft learner boards near by! maybe one day ill be able to surf on a smaller board!

below view from our bach (beachouse)





piha, surf beach west coast across from auckland! never actually surfed there as they have big rips!

me showing off my new nz football top to add to te collection ( thailand, cambodia, vietnam, laos, australia) will get an england top when i get back to uk!