New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 358 (168)Flight to ChristchurchTuesday 1st March (2005) After a good two and a half months in Australia, we are now finally on our way to our next, new and wonderful destination. All in all, Australia has been very good to us. We’ve done a lot, seen […]
RTW3 – Kaikoura, New Zealand – Day 359 (169)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 359 (169)KaikouraWednesday 2nd March (2005) We were lucky enough yesterday afternoon to find a parking spot in the middle of Christchurch right next to the hostel building, a converted pub, but the free evening and night-time parking was only good until nine o’clock this morning so […]
RTW3 – Kaikoura, New Zealand – Day 360 (170)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 360 (170)KaikouraThursday 3rd March (2005) The weather yesterday was near enough perfect for whale watching but all through the night, I kept hearing spatters of rain on the roof and I was worried that we might have missed the boat, so to speak, on our whale […]
RTW3 – Hanmer Springs, New Zealand – Day 361 (171)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 361 (171)Hanmer SpringsFriday 4th March (2005) We had to be out by ten o’clock this morning, pretty much the norm with hostels, for we forced ourselves out of bed to pack up and load up the car. The weather was great with bright sunny skies and […]
RTW3 – Hanmer Springs, New Zealand – Day 362 (172)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 362 (172)Hanmer SpringsSaturday 5th March (2005) Hanmer Springs sits nestled between the ridges and peaks of mountains on all sides. The view outside our window is breathlessly stunning and the brilliantly clear and fresh skies reveal the peaks in glorious and crisp detail. They also look […]
RTW3 – Murchison, New Zealand – Day 363 (173)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 363 (173)MurchisonSunday 6th March (2005) Being the earlier riser of the two of us, Sandy was up and about this morning long before I was even awake. She thoughtfully sent me a text message to my phone to wake me up. I got up and packed […]
RTW3 – Murchison, New Zealand – Day 364 (174)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 364 (174)MurchisonMonday 7th March (2005) It doesn’t tend to happen very often but we found ourselves in the luxurious position this morning of not only not having to check out on time but with nothing pressing to do very early in the day. As typically happens […]
RTW3 – Hokitika, New Zealand – Day 365 (175)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 365 (175)HokitikaTuesday 8th March (2005) If we combine the total number of days travelled since we first set off to South Africa on the initial leg of this overall trip, today would mark exactly one year of travel. That’s quite a milestone I think.We bid everybody […]
RTW3 – Ross, New Zealand – Day 366 (176)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 366 (176)RossWednesday 9th March (2005) Our hostel in Hokitika was mostly populated with German guests. We tend to find that some hostels attract a majority of one specific nationality of travellers. This is usually because either the owner comes from, or that they do a lot […]
RTW3 – Fox Glacier, New Zealand – Day 367 (177)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 367 (177)Fox GlacierThursday 10th March (2005) We had a quick breakfast in the upstairs common room this morning and had the place all to ourselves. Packing and checkout was swift, putting us on the road by around nine-thirty. It had been raining through the night and […]
RTW3 – Fox Glacier, New Zealand – Day 368 (178)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 368 (178)Fox GlacierFriday 11th March (2005) Another one of those precious opportunities struck again this morning with the absence of the need to check out and nothing to do until this afternoon. Put these two things together and you end up with a long, lazy sleep […]
RTW3 – Queenstown, New Zealand – Day 369 (179)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 369 (179)QueenstownSaturday 12th March (2005) I skipped breakfast this morning in favour of making an early start. With a lot of driving ahead of us, I wanted to try to make sure that we at least made it as far as Queenstown. Although we don’t know […]
RTW3 – Queenstown, New Zealand – Day 370 (180)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 370 (180)QueenstownSunday 13th March (2005) We appear to be slipping into a routine now that we’ve been travelling for a while here in New Zealand. We are moving around methodically and staying in every place we visit for either one or two nights. When it’s two […]
RTW3 – Te Anau, New Zealand – Day 371 (181)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 371 (181)Te AnauMonday 14th March (2005) Before bidding farewell to the adrenaline capital of the world this morning, we drove back up to the bird sanctuary to see about visiting the resident kiwis. The cost of admission was NZ$20 (€11,60) each. This was more expensive that […]
RTW3 – Te Anau, New Zealand – Day 372 (182)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 372 (182)Te AnauTuesday 15th March (2005) The ongoing saga with the camper-van problem back home sent me running around this morning trying to make phone calls and exchanging e-mails. The lawyer that is handling the case for us is now really starting to irritate me. I […]
RTW3 – Milton, New Zealand – Day 373 (183)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 373 (183)MiltonWednesday 16th March (2005) I missed breakfast again this morning because I was once again running around trying to deal with the camper-van problem back in Holland. I’m still desperately trying to connect with Dinie, whom I know will do everything that she can to […]
RTW3 – Oamaru, New Zealand – Day 374 (184)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 374 (184)OamaruThursday 17th March (2005) We meet some strange people whilst on the road and the eccentric Swiss character that runs the hostel in Milton is certainly one of them. By the time I was up and about this morning, he was out in the back […]
RTW3 – Oamaru, New Zealand – Day 375 (185)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 375 (185)OamaruFriday 18th March (2005) Today is our rest day with nothing planned. We’ve maintained a relatively brisk rate of travel around the South Island so far and I’m now slowly starting to get the feeling that we’ve seen enough. I definitely feel like the finishing […]
RTW3 – Christchurch, New Zealand – Day 376 (186)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 376 (186)ChristchurchSaturday 19th March (2005) By all accounts, there is little by way of reason to stop between Oamaru and Christchurch so we made the conscious decision to push all the way through this morning. Michiel was going along for the ride and we will set […]
RTW3 – Christchurch, New Zealand – Day 377 (187)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 377 (187)ChristchurchSunday 20th March (2005) The clocks went back an hour here in New Zealand last night so that was another blissful extra hour in bed this morning. It should be quite evident by now that I’m not a morning person at all. Sandy, however, is […]
RTW3 – Christchurch, New Zealand – Day 378 (188)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 378 (188)ChristchurchMonday 21st March (2005) More relaxation was definitely on the menu today with no travelling around planned. Fitting, I thought, since today is my thirty-eighth birthday. Yes, that’s right, I’m slowly becoming an old fart. Since I’m half way around the world and still racking […]
RTW3 – Wellington, New Zealand – Day 379 (189)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 379 (189)WellingtonTuesday 22nd March (2005) The house that we have been occupying for the past three days has given us a lovely little bit of seclusion and provided us with a cosy and peaceful atmosphere but we had to bid it farewell today. We still had […]
RTW3 – Wellington, New Zealand – Day 380 (190)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 380 (190)WellingtonWednesday 23rd March (2005) We both slept relatively well in this soft bed last night, although a few new sand fly bites did seem like they were starting to form again, but an epiphany hit me as I was rousing from my slumber. When we […]
RTW3 – Wellington, New Zealand – Day 381 (191)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 381 (191)WellingtonThursday 24th March (2005) We both slept relatively well in this soft bed last night, although a few new sand fly bites did seem like they were starting to form again, but an epiphany hit me as I was rousing from my slumber. When we […]
RTW3 – Te Kuiti, New Zealand – Day 382 (192)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 382 (192)Te KuitiFriday 25th March (2005) We’ve stayed at a very wide range of accommodations over the course of the year or so that we’ve so far travelled and we’ve seen the whole gamut of both good and bad hostels alike. After due consideration, we’ve both […]
RTW3 – Rotorua, New Zealand – Day 383 (193)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 383 (193)RotoruaSaturday 26th March (2005) It was a shame that we only got to spend one night at this last hostel, as it was a particularly nice one with a fabulous setting on the hillside overlooking Te Kuiti. Still, all good things must come to an […]
RTW3 – Rotorua, New Zealand – Day 384 (194)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 384 (194)RotoruaSunday 27th March (2005) It was a shame that we only got to spend one night at this last hostel, as it was a particularly nice one with a fabulous setting on the hillside overlooking Te Kuiti. Still, all good things must come to an […]
RTW3 – Rotorua, New Zealand – Day 385 (195)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 385 (195)RotoruaMonday 28th March (2005) Having paid NZ$130 (€75,40) per night for this B&B, I was rather hoping for a cooked breakfast this morning but all that was laid out was bread with cheese and meats or cereals. I made do with a couple of slices […]
RTW3 – Auckland, New Zealand – Day 386 (196)
New Zealand- Round The World Tour 3 2004 Day 386 (196)AucklandTuesday 29th March (2005) We said goodbye to John and the very first B&B that we’ve ever stayed in this morning. It was a very positive experience all around even if it was a bit outside of our usual backpacking budget. We only made it […]