2010 Comes To A Close..

Thursday we were lucky enough to be invited by a neighbor on his speedboat, here it's legal to be in the boat when you're driving so me and my sisters had a great time! We got a 'Tekki Tour' of the local coastline doing a couple of short walks and learning a bit of history as we went, plus we saw seals and I got to sit on the front of the boat going at high speed... s'all good! Wanting to contact home I decided to try out hitch-hiking (in New Zealand everywhere but the cities you have Hitch-Hiker stops, not bus stops) and I have to say it went quite well, didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes and I met this random Australian couple who were very interesting to talk to for my 15km journey. So I caught up with people at home making me miss people even more (and I do miss you all a flippin lot) which I soon cured with a read through the Quotes Book, cheered me up nicely! We then spent the evening on the beach making a bonfire, barbequing sausages, toasting marshmallows and singing songs to acoustic guitar... good timmeeeesss!



Friday (New Years Eve) we got up very early to go kiyaking round the coast! Which was great fun (if a bit tiring) and lounged on beaches for several hours enjoying the sunshine. When we got back packing began as on New Year's Day (which we get 13 hours before you.. mwahahaha) we start life living in our campervan travelling south! In the afternoon all the girls (being lightweights) fell asleep whilst the lads headed off on an epic adventure to Wharariki Beach, the most famous on the island and for good reason! Winds whip across the beach forming wild patterns, standing on the spot for more than 10 seconds had a pile of sand forming around your foot! There were seals basking in the sunshine but we made sure we steered well clear... they ARE kinda big.. Then we attempted to cross the island to the Western side by following this endless gravel road.. we drove for like 40 minutes and didn't even get close, but the sights were spectaular so we didn't mind particularly and we had to get to The Mussell Inn before 9pm to get food.

So yeh we had New Year at this hippie place with a band called Black Sand Diva playing... they were okay, but nothing particularly special. No one seemed to have an accurate clock so the entire place had already been through one countdown before the band decided to do one of their own leading to much confusion as to whether it really was 2011 yet... all good fun! Oh and this couple were dancing salsa (if only you had been there Toni we coulda shown em how it's done!) It was a good night although it was the most mellow and sober (we had a few but not many) New Years Eve I have had in a few years

First Few Days In Paradise..

This week has been hectic to say the least. We've packed so much in I forgot lots of it and couldn't remember what order things happened in... I have since had my memory refreshed! Monday was a VERY rainy day (the worst flooding in New Zealand's recorded history... just our luck!!) So we explored the local town, not very interesting.

Tuesday morning thanks to the storms we found a MASSIVE dead cow on the beach (no swimming for us!) but it cleared up in the afternoon so we went to see this massive waterfall which thanks to all the rain was twice the size it usually is! We also had to cross this ropebridge on the way there... when you're in the middle of a jungle (it quite literally felt like a jungle) this is pretty good fun.

Wednesday the heat really picked up, so we lounged around for most of the day before then going horse riding near the Farewell Spit (famous landmark apparently?) for like 3 hours which was just incredible, you feel very bruised the next morning but with my dad being unable to control his horse and mine farting at anyone unlucky enough to be riding behind it was bloody hilarious to say the least. On our way home we checked out the place we're going to for New Years Eve called 'The Mussell Inn', it's possibly the most hippie place I have ever walked into, tyre swing, raging fire, dreads whereever you look... you get the idea.

Heading to the South Island

Very early on boxing day we caught a plane from Auckland to Nelson, where we collected our campervan! (Yes we are now officially Gypsy's, but modernised ones..) It was wonderful weather and whilst my parents got the tour of the van us kids succeeded in pissing them off by getting soaked and muddy in a nearby river. Whilst we were waiting for Maia and Rhiannon to arrive we went and visited the "World of Wearable Art" museum, which i can only describe as being 'very Lady Gaga'. The outfits were stunning, (you'd have loved them Ashleigh =P) unfortunately photos were stricly prohibited. However, the attached vintage car museum  we were allowed to take pictures and even get into some of the cars! Good times.

                                                                                                             http://www.worldofwearableart.com/

When we finally collected the girls from the airport we had to cross the dreaded 'Hill' to get to Golden Bay, lots of winding roads above sheer cliffs with no side rail. All fun stuff, but it did have some absolutely EPIC views, so I finally got to see the New Zealand everyone has been raving about! Finally we arrived at Maia's holiday home, and my word I was speechless, it's an enormous bungalow with some stunning grounds, with a ropeswing and a rare spider cave (about 4 of them in NZ apparently!), it is 30 seconds from the beach and has absolutely stunning views of the bay! (Plus it's a penguin zone!) It really is paradise so I'll be uploading as many photos as possible! Right now 'm sitting on the concrete outside a shut library stealing wireless, appreciate the effort people! ;)

Christmas In The Sun

Well this was weiiiiiird, and didn't entirely feel like Christmas at all! Woke up bright nd the and early, opened makeshift stockings, presents round the tree. It was quite peculiar spending Christmas with a family we didn't really know that well, even though actually we knew them when we were much younger it's been so damn long! We went for a swim in the sea whilst lunch was being prepared which was lovely, and swimming round the coast I met a Maori fisherman! Christmas dinner was spectacular (My compliments to the chef... Rhiannon) and was opened with musical Christmas Crackers containing whistles of different pitches, so dad conducted us through We Wish You A Merry Christmas and other such classics. (Classic Griffiths style) This was followed by all manner of card games, we introduced 'Pit' to New Zealand, probably annoying a few neighbors in the process. Overall, a lovely day!

Auckland in a day..

Right I thought today wasn't going to be worthy of comment, ordinary shopping/sightseeing day. Dull. I was wrong, at least I think so personally anyway. Went into central Auckland on the train wandered around shopping, met Santa which is surreal in hot weather! Then my dad got us to meet up with his work friend Gillian (If that isn't how it's spelt I apologise!) who seems to know just about everyone and anyone, including people working on The Hobbit, apparently even Peter Jackson himself (connections win!). She took us to this very old fashioned shopping district (vintage clothes shops, antiques... you know the sort) where the shop owners were throwing a Christmas Party for regular customers. So we ended up lounging in armchairs, drinking free locally made cider, beer and wine!! (With bread and cheese on the side of course) whilst a DJ played old records in the background. If that wasn't enough we got to meet the top fashion designers in New Zealand (if that's much of a claim to fame...) who do stuff for fashion week or something. Overall, great afternoon!

Then we went all touristy and went to the top of Sky City tower for the fantastic views over the city harbour. And it turns out my dad is scared of heights, so of course sympathetic as we are we forced him onto the glass panels and jumped up and down all around him... funtimes!!

The Adventures Begin..

As understandably knackered as we were the Griffiths pressed on, determined to have a holiday. Me and my dad went phone shopping and I NOW HAVE A NEW PHONE!! Some of you may not understand the need for making that stand out, but most will. Yep brand new touch screen phone loaded with $150 NZD credit. Snazzy. I'd tell you all the number, but it'd be fairly pointless cos it'd cost a bomb to text me. Anyway, meanwhile the girls went to the beach at the bottom of the hill and got sunburnt after about 45 minutes, sucks to be them.

We then on our way to Rotorura we went via the airport to pick up our baggage which had FINALLY arrived! Thank goodness, just as we were beginning to smell.When we arrived at our hotel we glimpsed a Maouri Dance show and ate a gooooorgeous three course meal then went straight to bed. I can honestly say I haven't felt exhaustion like that in a loooong time. And you know what I'm like with sleep.

Okay now we finally catch up with today. Today was immense. Bit of shopping (postcard hunt begins) and then we headed for the Polyponnesian Spa. Basically we went in these natural hot pools overlooking an amazing steaming lake. The hottest pool was 42 degrees centigrade. You couldn't stay in there for too long but maaaaan did you feel good after spending a couple of hours there. I haven't felt so smooth and clean in.... ever.

Now I thought that was good, but then we moved on to Hobbiton. After enduring watching a sheep shearing and the girls cooing over baby lambs we had a guided tour around the set that is currently being updated for the new Lord of the Rings film- The Hobbit. It was truly incredible, the attention to detail is astounding and brand new Hobbit holes lead to some interesting discussions as to what they might be for. The Tour Guide quite literally knew everything, and we really tried to catch her out! There's only so much I can say thanks to the confidentiality agreement we signed unfortunatelty so I'll tell you all about it later. I do have photo's but again, no posting online! The measures they've taken to ensure privacy is quite astounding! No one's even allowed to fly over the site!

The Most Stressful Journey EVER.

After travelling all the way to my Aunt's we ended up staying there for two days as we called our airline several times a day (taking 2 hours on hold each time) to try and get some news. When we finally arrived at the airport at 8am on Monday morning with high hopes we waited till check in opened and joined the queue. But this would have been faaaar too easy! Turns out the lady on the phone had lied to us and we weren't booked onto this flight so we went into a standby queue. Fortunately mum being 'loose with the truth' got us into a priority list and we got a 2:30pm flight which eventually left at 4pm. At this stage we foolishly relaxed, but not for long as when we arrived in Hong Kong we were pulled to one side be to told our luggage was only going as far as Hong Kong and would have to come on a seperate plane later on.
So when we eventually arrived in Auckland two days late we were all exhausted, ill and more in need of a holiday than when we had left. Luckily there to greet us very quickly were Maia and Rhiannon who after however many years it was wonderful to see again.

Leaving

The day finally arrived, for the Griffiths to decamp to New Zealand! I spent most of the morning packing (I started at 4am) and trying to track down my phone, wallet and coat which I had lost in a drunken state two nights before. I do have the best timing sometimes.. Making a desperate rush to leave we finally pull away from the house! Only to stop literally 10 metres down the road for my dad to 'just quickly check something', he never fails to disappoint! Our journey went from bad to worse as we found ourselves driving into a blizzard avoiding the M25 like the plague! So in true British style the weather ruined all our plans and our flight has been postponed to 4pm Sunday meaning we will now be in Hong Kong for about 2 hours. Sucks to be us!

Preparations

First blog entry in the New Zealand travel blog! This is basically going to be used for me to let everyone know what I've been getting up to. Which hopefully means I don't have to repeat stories over and over! I think the preparations leading up to going away deserve comment simply because there are stupid numbers of things to do. Honestly the list is endless, and sometime soon I might even start working on it. Maybe. Less than two weeks before I leave and excited just isn't the word anymore!