Spent a couple of days in Christchurch and it was ok but it was never going to beat Wellington.We didn't go out,just lazed around,went on the internet and went to the Antartica Centre which was pretty cool and we experienced -25C weather and saw some penguins!It was great preparation for the carnage that was to follow on the Kiwi Experience!
So we got on the bus and we were massively disappointed as there were only 17 people on the bus and a distinct lack of women.Luckily however,this was only because we were meeting up with another bus creating 2 buses and 90 people and that was more like it!!!Our first night was in Westport and we got smashed in our room and met some girls and 3 Irish guys- Rachael, Lizzie,Tom,Dave and Ross.We ended up going to the drivers' house they had for the night and stayed there until the wee hours and stole lots of peoples' booze.It was a pretty good start but I felt soooo rough the next day and annoyingly it was a long day on the bus!We were spending our 2nd night in the Poo Pub near Greymouth and the theme was the letter P.I decided to go as Pete Sampras in some very tight white shorts and full tennis gear,Greg went as a pirate,Pete a pikey,Tom party boy,Dave a prostitute and Ross a paedohile!It was an absolutely amazing night with pretty much all 90 of the people there getting smashed and there were some great costumes,my favourite being a Scandanvian girl going as a period; dressing in red and having used tampons and sanitary towels attached to her!
Surprisingly didn't feel to bad the next morning but luckily we stopped for a terrible full breakfast and to see some mountain goats,boars and possoms.Arrived in Franz Josef for 2 nights and me Greg Pete and Tom got a 4 bed dorm with Ross,Rachael x 2 and Nina next to us.Me and Pete did the Heli-Hike as we were feeling pretty lazy but it was wicked to go in a heliopter and to see ice formations most people don't usually get to see!Had a big night that night,with everyone in our room to play drinking games before heading to the bar where we spoke to the newbies on our bus who were all from Oxford so gradully got close to them over the next few days.Made our way to Wanaka the next day,stopping to see the Fox glacier and the mirror lake.In Wanaka Tom and Pete got a double while me and Greg got thrown in seperate rooms with randoms so I ended up sleeping in Nina's bed after getting pretty hammered in the boys' room and eventually looking after our driver Mangee who was absolutely hammered and was throwing up a lot.....confidence filling for the drive the next day!
Went to Puzzling World in the morning and this did not help the hangover as it messed with my head.We got to Queenstown and we immediately booked in at the hostel for 6 nights so we could hit it hard!Here we got into the routine of boozing in our room at 8,going to Altitude Bar downstairs at 11 then ending up in World Bar for cocktails in teapots and then doing activities the next day, power napping fro 5-7 then starting again!We ate a Fergburger everyday as they lived up to the hype,they were soooooo good words cannot really describe them!Did a canyon swing the 2nd day there,this is where you free fall for 60m then swing in an arc for 200m!I was so nervous and jumped off backwards (which wasn't a good idea for the 1st time) eventually after they messed with me for 10minutes not letting me jump and pretending things weren't attached!!!!The day after we did the Nevis bungy jump,this is 134m and the 3rd largest in the world.I wasn't as nervous for this but it was still scary....you'r not meant to go feet 1st but dive like you would when swimming...well i tried but couldn't fell my legs so my arms went out but I just fell feet 1st but it was such a rush and the 1st bounce back up is a great feeling!
So those were the only adrenaline filled activites I did in Queenstown which meant the rest of the time was spent boozing very hard...there were a few days of not wanting to but our little group (party room 108) did a good job of getting up for it with Tom and Dave dancing and singing every day between 8-9 in our room and the sight of Tom's penis became a regular occurence!Spent a lot of time with the Oxford crew who are absolute legends and it was good drinking with them,especially one night when the last men standing from our room were me Greg and Tom.Queenstown was so mental,the best part of the trip as it was pure drinking and so much happened that I couldn't tell it all if I tried.....and some I don't want to tell!It was cool having 2 buses to get to know and there was a lot of chatting to ladies which we all loved!
Got back to Christchurch on the 26th and am now staying about 15minutes outside of the centre with my cousin Jen and huband Si to just chill out,recharge our battries and prepare for more partying in Australia!
Sunday, 27 May 2007
New Zealand - North Island
So we touched down in Auckland and it was cold!We went straight to EZY car hire and got a beautiful 1999 white Nissan Sunny for 2 weeks for £60 each so we could tour the North Island by ourselves.We used Pete's aunty and uncles (Mike and Janet) house just outside Taupo as our base which was perfect as everything we wanted to do was about 2 hours drive from there.We went to Rotoura for a couple of days where we did Zorbing and Luging.For Zorbing all 3 of us went in the ball and filled it with water....this was the funniest 30 seconds of my life as we couldn't stand up and were just bundling eachother with Pete on the bottom and me just throwing punches and kicking the whole way down!We did luging 5 times and on one run it got nasty and I flipped Greg in his little cart and he hit the barrier and skipped in his jeans for a few metres....it was very funny but he didn't think so for a while.We also went to the Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland which was amazing but very smelly and hot.Watched the semi-final 2nd leg in the morning (6am) when United got battered by Milan,but luckily I started drinking and don't remember much to be honest.One day we did a massive drive around the East Cape through the Bay of Plenty,Gibourne and Napier and covered about 1000km that day,it was really nice until it got dark and the wonderful scenery disappeared!
Taupo was a cool little place and the lake was stunning.Pete and Greg got addicted to playing the golf hole in one game where the raft was 108m into the lake...I don't think they even hit the raft but it was funny to watch them try and waste money.We also found the greatest pie shop in the world so we ate from there quite a few days.Me and Greg did a roadtrip minus Pete one Saturday to catch the final Super 14 rugby game at Wellington between the Hurricanes and the Waratahs.It was a rubbish game but we got smashed and it was wicked to see Tama Umaga's last game and how good rugby should be played!I spent most of my time in the stadium annoying Kiwis by shouting world champions 2003....it didn't go down well!We went out that night and we watched the Manchester derby with 2 City fans sat behind me so I got very roudy and the conversations got heated!
Did my sky dive over Taupo due to the scenery and the fact that it is the cheapest place to do it.I went for the 15000ft jump and was feeling very nervous all morning until I actually got the stuff on and then I was suddenly very relaxed.The jump was insane,over 60 seconds of freefall,of which very little I remember due to all the chemicals being released in my brain.I was on a huge high for the rest of day.Drove to Raglan the next day which is a popular little surf town in the summer.We played 9 holes of golf here...I was my usual rubbish self but I did get a par (3) on the 8th and then decided it couldn't get any better so just started Happy Gilmoring shots on the 9th trying to hit sheep (we all missed!).We then went to the Waietomo Caves where we did the glow-worm walk which was spectacular!
We left Janet and Mike's and headed down to Wellington for a few nights.1st night there we signed up for a pub crawl which started off slowly but we then picked up the pace and met a few English girls.Did a lot of boozing and ended up with me and Pete pulling 2 of the girls.Proceeded to spend the next 3 days with them and boozed even more and spent a lot of money on BRA (booze-related-activities) like going to the cinema twice in 2 days and eating a lot.Ended up in the same bar/club called Establishment for all our nights there because it was quality,cheap and short stumble home!The 2nd night I watched Pete get laid all night long in our room which was hilarious!That inspired me to hire a private room for the next night and it was all good,except for Greg walking in on me in an interesting situation!Oh,and I also got $160 stolen one night as well by some pikey sleeping our room.Apart from that,Wellington was absolutely crazy (very similar to San Diego) and it was definetly my favourite city in NZ.We then drove to Christchurch and eagerly anticipated the Kiwi Experience (or the big green fuck truck or the vagina fyler to name a couple of nicknames) around the West coast on the South Island.
Taupo was a cool little place and the lake was stunning.Pete and Greg got addicted to playing the golf hole in one game where the raft was 108m into the lake...I don't think they even hit the raft but it was funny to watch them try and waste money.We also found the greatest pie shop in the world so we ate from there quite a few days.Me and Greg did a roadtrip minus Pete one Saturday to catch the final Super 14 rugby game at Wellington between the Hurricanes and the Waratahs.It was a rubbish game but we got smashed and it was wicked to see Tama Umaga's last game and how good rugby should be played!I spent most of my time in the stadium annoying Kiwis by shouting world champions 2003....it didn't go down well!We went out that night and we watched the Manchester derby with 2 City fans sat behind me so I got very roudy and the conversations got heated!
Did my sky dive over Taupo due to the scenery and the fact that it is the cheapest place to do it.I went for the 15000ft jump and was feeling very nervous all morning until I actually got the stuff on and then I was suddenly very relaxed.The jump was insane,over 60 seconds of freefall,of which very little I remember due to all the chemicals being released in my brain.I was on a huge high for the rest of day.Drove to Raglan the next day which is a popular little surf town in the summer.We played 9 holes of golf here...I was my usual rubbish self but I did get a par (3) on the 8th and then decided it couldn't get any better so just started Happy Gilmoring shots on the 9th trying to hit sheep (we all missed!).We then went to the Waietomo Caves where we did the glow-worm walk which was spectacular!
We left Janet and Mike's and headed down to Wellington for a few nights.1st night there we signed up for a pub crawl which started off slowly but we then picked up the pace and met a few English girls.Did a lot of boozing and ended up with me and Pete pulling 2 of the girls.Proceeded to spend the next 3 days with them and boozed even more and spent a lot of money on BRA (booze-related-activities) like going to the cinema twice in 2 days and eating a lot.Ended up in the same bar/club called Establishment for all our nights there because it was quality,cheap and short stumble home!The 2nd night I watched Pete get laid all night long in our room which was hilarious!That inspired me to hire a private room for the next night and it was all good,except for Greg walking in on me in an interesting situation!Oh,and I also got $160 stolen one night as well by some pikey sleeping our room.Apart from that,Wellington was absolutely crazy (very similar to San Diego) and it was definetly my favourite city in NZ.We then drove to Christchurch and eagerly anticipated the Kiwi Experience (or the big green fuck truck or the vagina fyler to name a couple of nicknames) around the West coast on the South Island.
Friday, 4 May 2007
Wednesday, 2 May 2007
Fiji - the partying end
So we arrived on Beachcomber Island, the self proclaimed party island of Fiji, for 5 nights equipped with 4.25 litres of vodka.This place was packed with hot Scandanavians and was defintely the place to party.The dorm held 100 people which was quality as you always met or bumped into people and every night I watched someone shag!Every lunch was curry and combine this with a lot of vodka and it was not a pretty experience for my insides!The 1st night we played ring of fire with some gap year kids from England and they were a little intimidated by us as we took it up a notch!!!We hit the sand dance floor and I pulled a very dubious bird,while Greg-who was battered- managed to pull the only sober girl on the island who was very ugly!The first morning I set my routine for the next 5 days by getting up for breakfast (an omlette),then going back to bed until lunch.After lunch we went for swims and read before sleeping until dinner and then hit the vodka and Sprite.Played drinking games on the 2nd night with some English people and 3 hot American girls.We met Adam (aka Hughesy/Sandy) and Kylie (aka Cancer/leprosy),a gap year couple from Yorkshire who we stuck with for the next 4 nights and drank a lot of vodka with and had an absolutely wicked time and lots of laughs.
The next few days consisted of very much the same pattern although we chatted to more and more people and carved a bit of a reputation out for the guys who disappear after dinner,consume 4 litres of Sprite and then return to the bar at 11 absolutely smashed!Chatted to some really hot Norwegian girls and had some banter with them and on the 3rd night I hooked up with a German girl on the beach which was fun!Carried on drinking that night to erase that memory and thought it a good idea to do vodka,lemon vodka and currant vodka straight, which wasn't clever!The 4th night disaster struck,we finished our vodka a night early!It was another messy night and we ended going back to a group of New Zealand girls beach hut for a bit and ended up ripping the piss out of their accents!Our final night here was the best as the American girls, Kristen,Carly and Stella returned for Kristen's 21st so we naturally had to get on it!We had to hit the bar all night due to us being dry and racked up a $300 tab.Played a lot of drinking games,watched some fire eating and did some skinny dipping.Pete disappeared for ages with Carly and I pulled Kristen to give her the perfect birthday present(!?!).Got the boat back to the port the next day which was a perfect sunny one and we got to see a lot more of the exclusive island resorts.Went back to the same hostel as before on the mainland and met up with Scarlett,Eleanor and Grace again.We then spent 2 nights at the Beachouse which was where Celebrity Love Island 2006 was filmed.This was pretty nice and we got upgraded from the dorm to a bure,but the weather was rubbish! Eleanor tagged along with us and we did a bottle of vodka in the evening but nothing much happened while we were there apart from watching rugby,eating rubbish and putting weight back on!We stayed in the airport again as our flight to Auckland was at 835am.Actually managed to sleep this time but I sweated loads and got bitten a fair few times just to round off the trip beautifully!Fiji was absolutely mental,the weather was mostly gorgeous apart from a few days here and there,I got a mental tan,we met some wicked people and we got very,very drunk!
The next few days consisted of very much the same pattern although we chatted to more and more people and carved a bit of a reputation out for the guys who disappear after dinner,consume 4 litres of Sprite and then return to the bar at 11 absolutely smashed!Chatted to some really hot Norwegian girls and had some banter with them and on the 3rd night I hooked up with a German girl on the beach which was fun!Carried on drinking that night to erase that memory and thought it a good idea to do vodka,lemon vodka and currant vodka straight, which wasn't clever!The 4th night disaster struck,we finished our vodka a night early!It was another messy night and we ended going back to a group of New Zealand girls beach hut for a bit and ended up ripping the piss out of their accents!Our final night here was the best as the American girls, Kristen,Carly and Stella returned for Kristen's 21st so we naturally had to get on it!We had to hit the bar all night due to us being dry and racked up a $300 tab.Played a lot of drinking games,watched some fire eating and did some skinny dipping.Pete disappeared for ages with Carly and I pulled Kristen to give her the perfect birthday present(!?!).Got the boat back to the port the next day which was a perfect sunny one and we got to see a lot more of the exclusive island resorts.Went back to the same hostel as before on the mainland and met up with Scarlett,Eleanor and Grace again.We then spent 2 nights at the Beachouse which was where Celebrity Love Island 2006 was filmed.This was pretty nice and we got upgraded from the dorm to a bure,but the weather was rubbish! Eleanor tagged along with us and we did a bottle of vodka in the evening but nothing much happened while we were there apart from watching rugby,eating rubbish and putting weight back on!We stayed in the airport again as our flight to Auckland was at 835am.Actually managed to sleep this time but I sweated loads and got bitten a fair few times just to round off the trip beautifully!Fiji was absolutely mental,the weather was mostly gorgeous apart from a few days here and there,I got a mental tan,we met some wicked people and we got very,very drunk!
Fiji
We arrived at Nadi Airport at 5am and didnt have a clue what we were doing so got dragged into a travel agents office where we were told we had to book this and buy that.We were having none of it so just booked a 21 day pass for the Yasawa Flyer (the only boat that goes around all the Yasawa Islands) and 1 night in a lodge at the top of the islands so we could work our way down.We later realized that we should've done as told as you can't just walk to another resort and book in,although it did work out ok in the end!This resort,Nabua Lodge, was pretty basic but a lot of fun,cheap and it had a wicked beach.The first night we met 2 English girls and drank a lot of booze and I eventually had a bit of fun with one of them in the sea and in the showers....a good start to Fji I thought!!!
We stayed there for 3 nights and really got into the spirit of things,it was the perfect acclimatization period to Fjian life and Fiji time (basically laze around and don't worry)!We learnt the local dance,the Bula dance that we are now awesome at,we started losing a lot of weight because of the good but set meal times and lack of junk food,and we got bitten a stupid amount of times by the mozzies!It was here that I really got into my hammock time and sleeping for most of the day,as well as waiting for meal times and the beat of the Fijian drum.I went fishing for the first time ever on the Blue Lagoon and I caught 2 fish,one of which the locals were pretty impressed with!From here we moved around the island to a better resort with a better beach but we kept in the spirit of things and danced every night with the locals and they loved us!It was here I introduced the fashion of jeans tucked into socks to prevent bites which went down a treat!We met 2 American girls on our 3rd and final night there and we drank their vodka and rum while playing drinking games,it was fun and they're studying in Oz so we're going to hook up with them again.Played touch rugby with some Fijian's one day and that was not a happy time,me and Greg were on one team with Pete on the other.Played 7s to start and I got a couple of tries,then we went to 15 full pitch and that was so tough and tiring,they were so quick,strong,nimble and they always kept the ball alive.Some of them were under 21/18 internationals and a lot of them knew/grew up with the new Fijian player at Saracens.I also played volleyball with the locals and got quite good,although I'm rubbish compared to them!On the day we left this resort a couple were getting married and it had been awful weather for the last few days so everyone had their fingers crossed...although I think it did eventually rain!
We had one night of luxury on the Waya island at the Octopus resort which was a proper holiday place.We had a buffet BBQ,you could play rock paper scissors with the bar for free beer and I came 2nd (somehow) in a Limbo competition with my unusual action!Met a couple of groups of English gap yearers and taught them how to drink and play many drinking games and so it turned into quite a heavy night!Met a girl who used to work in Haddenham and knew where I lived which was wierd and she was the one who won the limbo!Was pretty sad to check out because we were going back to a cheap place for 4 nights to balance the books!It was pretty basic here and it was made worse by a horrible beach and by the fact that it was raining and it continued to do so for our entire stay!Luckily we met 3 English girls from London; Scarlett, Eleanor and Grace who were fun and were staying there for 3 nights.This place came to be known as Camp Depression because of the weather,the insect bites and the terrible food!We played a lot of cards,chatted about crap for hours,moaned a lot and lost a fair bit of weight!The locals were good fun though and the bloke who pretty much ran it called Dee was good fun and we went night snorkelling with him which was class and did some dancing with him in the evenings!The girls left before our last night which felt like the fellowship had been broken but we only had 1 more night to endure,and this was made easier by the arrival of a hot Norwegian! On our final day we went on a mountain trek to get a view of the whole Yasawa Island...this was pretty tough but worth it and we got to eat fresh Fijian bananas!We left here and went back to the main land for a night so we could get some cash (as there were no ATMs on the smaller islands and not everywhere accepted card which we didn't know),wash our clothes which stank and were all wet, and so we could stock up on vodka for 5 nights on the party island of Beachcomber!Prices on the mainland are so cheap and we got a taxi to drive us to Maccy D's and wait for us and take us to get vodka etc for $15,about 4 quid!So far Fiji had been mental but now we just wanted to party for a few nights and eat some proper food!
We stayed there for 3 nights and really got into the spirit of things,it was the perfect acclimatization period to Fjian life and Fiji time (basically laze around and don't worry)!We learnt the local dance,the Bula dance that we are now awesome at,we started losing a lot of weight because of the good but set meal times and lack of junk food,and we got bitten a stupid amount of times by the mozzies!It was here that I really got into my hammock time and sleeping for most of the day,as well as waiting for meal times and the beat of the Fijian drum.I went fishing for the first time ever on the Blue Lagoon and I caught 2 fish,one of which the locals were pretty impressed with!From here we moved around the island to a better resort with a better beach but we kept in the spirit of things and danced every night with the locals and they loved us!It was here I introduced the fashion of jeans tucked into socks to prevent bites which went down a treat!We met 2 American girls on our 3rd and final night there and we drank their vodka and rum while playing drinking games,it was fun and they're studying in Oz so we're going to hook up with them again.Played touch rugby with some Fijian's one day and that was not a happy time,me and Greg were on one team with Pete on the other.Played 7s to start and I got a couple of tries,then we went to 15 full pitch and that was so tough and tiring,they were so quick,strong,nimble and they always kept the ball alive.Some of them were under 21/18 internationals and a lot of them knew/grew up with the new Fijian player at Saracens.I also played volleyball with the locals and got quite good,although I'm rubbish compared to them!On the day we left this resort a couple were getting married and it had been awful weather for the last few days so everyone had their fingers crossed...although I think it did eventually rain!
We had one night of luxury on the Waya island at the Octopus resort which was a proper holiday place.We had a buffet BBQ,you could play rock paper scissors with the bar for free beer and I came 2nd (somehow) in a Limbo competition with my unusual action!Met a couple of groups of English gap yearers and taught them how to drink and play many drinking games and so it turned into quite a heavy night!Met a girl who used to work in Haddenham and knew where I lived which was wierd and she was the one who won the limbo!Was pretty sad to check out because we were going back to a cheap place for 4 nights to balance the books!It was pretty basic here and it was made worse by a horrible beach and by the fact that it was raining and it continued to do so for our entire stay!Luckily we met 3 English girls from London; Scarlett, Eleanor and Grace who were fun and were staying there for 3 nights.This place came to be known as Camp Depression because of the weather,the insect bites and the terrible food!We played a lot of cards,chatted about crap for hours,moaned a lot and lost a fair bit of weight!The locals were good fun though and the bloke who pretty much ran it called Dee was good fun and we went night snorkelling with him which was class and did some dancing with him in the evenings!The girls left before our last night which felt like the fellowship had been broken but we only had 1 more night to endure,and this was made easier by the arrival of a hot Norwegian! On our final day we went on a mountain trek to get a view of the whole Yasawa Island...this was pretty tough but worth it and we got to eat fresh Fijian bananas!We left here and went back to the main land for a night so we could get some cash (as there were no ATMs on the smaller islands and not everywhere accepted card which we didn't know),wash our clothes which stank and were all wet, and so we could stock up on vodka for 5 nights on the party island of Beachcomber!Prices on the mainland are so cheap and we got a taxi to drive us to Maccy D's and wait for us and take us to get vodka etc for $15,about 4 quid!So far Fiji had been mental but now we just wanted to party for a few nights and eat some proper food!
Hawaii
Spent the night at the International Terminal of LAX which was quite nice for an airport apart from I did not get any sleep and it was freezing...the only good point was watching someone wake up and realize he was about to miss his flight and rush to get to the gate.Check-in took forever but we got to see some fit high school cheerleaders which is always nice!When we touched down we went straight to Waikiki beach, about half an hour from the airport, which was a very nicer and hotter version of the Costa del Sol.Spent a night here before going to the North Shore where the big waves were; we stayed on an old plantation and chilled on the beach,played some American football and got destroyed by some 20 foot waves in which I swallowed about 3 litres of sea water!The next morning we headed back to Waikiki and went to a better hostel and headed to Pearl Harbour.This was interesting as I knew nothing much about it and we went to the USS Arizona which was a boat sunk in the attacks but sticks out of the water and now serves as a memorial.Had a pretty quiet night as we were flying out in the morning.Got to the airport at 7am and found out our flight had been moved back after originally being brought forward,so we had to kill 14 hours pretty much, but this did turn out to be a really good day of just eating,going on the internet and sitting on the beach!Our flight was at 1235am on April 7th and because of the date line we only existed for an hour of that date,which I still can't really get my head round.Hawaii was wicked for the time we were there and the weather was awesome but I do want to go back there and explore it more and go to the other islands as we only stayed on Oahu.
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