Hi!
After a couple of days relaxing after the sky dive at lake Taupo, it was time to attempt the Tongariro crossing....to quote the lonely planet guide 'this walk should not be taken on lightly'.......having done the 'walk' I would fully agree with them! I was almost beaten by this one! So we left lake Taupo bright and early at 6am to arrive at the National Park at 9am to give us the full day to venture across this alpine terrain. Before we could make our way to the start point of the crossing, we had to check in at the activity centre to ensure we suitably attired for the crossing and also register ourselves to do the hike, so that the police could be called if we did not make it to the other side by our finish time of 5.30pm. The good news is I was one of the few given the all clear as being suitably dressed for the occasion, saving myself several dollars in equipment hire......see Stew, I told you carrying that woolly hat and fleece top around in Asia would be of a benefit to me at some point! When everyone had the correct gear on, we hopped on the bus to be taken the start of the crossing. Before the bus set of, we were advised of any medical conditions we should make known now, and also had the key 'danger points' identified to us.......e,g here is where people faint.......the most common illness at this part of the crossing is heart attack.......when you cross this point you will be in alpine conditions and the weather will be very cold and poor visibility....people suffer from altitude sickness at this point.........if you loose the trail you will get lost etc etc.....With all the other activities I've filled in the 'helath/disclaimer' questionnaire without too much importance thinking it was the Kiwis being a bit over cautious, but this one was starting to worry me a bit......was I really fit enough for this?!
We got to the start of the crossing and headed off about 10.30am. I looked around at the other people from the group who looked quite fit and raced off at quite a pace, and I thought I'm going to have to do some work here to keep up! I don't want to get left in the cloud and be the one they call the police for! So I stepped up the pace and positioned myself about mid-way in the group. I kept loosing position though in order to stop to add/remove layers....this was hard work in the gusting wind! We had been given a timetable of where we should be at marker points to know if we were on schedule to make it for the lift back at the other end.....there was a $200 fine for being late (or the 20k walk back!), so that was motivation! I made it to marker 1 on 1 hour and 15 mins, and the schedule gave a target, hour and a half, so not too bad. I was already exhausted by this point though, the wind was so strong, the terrain was bare, rocky and steep and I wondered if I should turn back or keep going. I persuaded myself to keep going, and ended up chatting to a couple of other girls from the bus, one Canadian and one Swiss, and the 3 of us went at a similar pace, and completed the rest as a group. We made to the summit in about 3 hours, 1/2 ahead of schedule. I'd love to say the effort was worth the views, but all I can tell you was that I was in the middle of a cloud which made me wet and cold - pictures on Facebook. The climb down wasn't really any easier that the climb up, as the first part was very sandy, which was quite slippy, which was a wee bit scary at that point. After the initial steep decent, the terrain became more gentle and we stopped at a little hut for our packed lunch that we had taken with us. We had stepped up the pace and arrived here about 1.15 mins ahead of schedule. So we decided to have a good break here before carrying on to the bottom....after all we would only have to sit and wait for the bus to take us back at 5.30pm, and I'd rather sit with the brilliant views of lake Taupo than in the car park. We discovered there was actually a 'hut warden' who lives up on the mountain, 5 days on, 2 days off. He was a guy from LA and I spent some time quizzing him about how he keeps himself entertained on a mountain side for 5 days! Anyway, he was waiting for the chopper to land and bring him gas canisters and toilet roll. This was a bit like Christmas for him, so we stayed to hang out with him and join him for his Christmas celebration! After this excitement we headed down further down the mountain, about every 20 minutes the landscape, climate and terrain seemed to change, we saw lots of different eco-systems as we headed down the mountain. The accent was tough on the lungs, but the decent was tough on the knees! The last two km felt like they went on forever, and I was getting soooo tired, we had walked/climbed 19.5km in Alpine conditions. But we made it to the end and I felt so proud we had done it, given I was thinking about turning back at one point, and we made it with half and hour to spare, but this excitement was short lived though. There are only 2 events that have made me angry in the whole trip and this was one of them. When we got the the bottom the rest of the group had all completed it and where waiting......when we got to the bottom, they clapped us saying 'you finally made it' because we were last. We explained that we knew we were ahead of time so stopped at the hut for a while so we didn't have to wait at the car park. One of the girls from the group said, "yeah but we've been waiting for over and hour' we've already called the bus and it is on its way". This really pi$$ed me off, as I didn't think it was very team spirited for something that was quite a challenge for us all, and that everyone should be congratulated for completing. Calling the bus to come and collect the group when there were 3 people still walking, is not nice in my books, especially as at this point they didn't know if we had stopped or were struggling to get back. We had been told at the beginning, there is no point racing off if you have long legs, enjoy the crossing as you will only have to wait for in the car park at the other end. I was so mad, I decided to stay an extra night at the National Park hostel so I didn't have to get the bus with these people the next day, and joined a new group! We had actually deliberately taken our time and stopped, but if they had given that reaction to someone who had struggled with the walk, it would have been even worse. Anyway, rant over! For those who want to know the second thing that made me angry, it was a slightly less significant event involving a cup of tea and the bus driver telling me I couldn't take it on the bus. I understand why he doesn't food and drink on the bus, but there was a lead up to this event which I won't go into which made me question I don't know why I bother helping out other people and being considerate to others, when it does me no favours in return. I wanted to say to him 'stop telling me what to do'!!!! Anyway, I've calmed down now. Dinner and few beers in the hostel after the walk, (not with anyone from the group needless to say, but someone else I met at the hostel) helped calm me down and ease the aching muscles from this 20k hike!
OK, so having had an extra day at the National Park, where I didn't do anything as it bucketed down with rain all day) I got the express bus to windy welly....NZ's capital, Wellington. It rained for the whole journey and I have hear this is typical Welly weather, but as soon as we got here, the clouds cleared and the sun shone, it was a beautiful welcome to Welly, so I spent the afternoon walking around the quay, soaking up the sun. I also got another unexpected welcome in Welly, I headed out in the evening to find a coffee shop to while away the hours, and as I was walking along the high street at about 10pm I herd someone picking up pace behind me, I thought uh oh, maybe I should be walking in this part of town, and the next thing I know, some one has grabbed my arse, and said 'hey Karen, good to see you'! You can imagine the surprise on his face when I turned around and he saw it was Karen, I'm not sure who was more embarrassed.....it was funny though......maybe I should have even pretended to be Karen!
Today in Wellington I had planned to go the art museum and gallery, but it was such a lovely day again, I decided to do some outdoor activities and save the museum for a rainy day. I decided to wonder up Mt Victoria to get some 'awesome' views of the city as suggested to me by the hostel receptionist......I maybe should have told him I completed the Tongario crossing a couple of days ago, this 400m climb was not kind to my calves and I think they will hate me forever. I can verify the views were 'awesome' though, so it was a good recommendation, I'll put some pictures on FB. In the afternoon I took his second recommendation and took the cable car up to the Botanical Gardens, which again had some 'awesome' views. I found a nice sunny spot and sat down whilst taking in these awesome views. It was at this point I was almost unknowingly recruited to become a Mormon! I think maybe since travelling I have become less aware/observant as it took me almost 15 minutes to notice the 'Elder Nelson' and 'Elder Finnigan' name badges, with the slogan 'beleive in Christ' printed on the two guys that approached me. I thought they were just nice people wanting chat. I can see why they approached me though.....they were probably looking for someone who.....
1. Looks like they are lacking a bit of direction in life - tick
2. Someone sitting on their own with too much time of their hands - tick
3. Someone who has a confused look on their face caused by the epiphany they have just had which conflicts the last, and the one before that, and the one before that etc etc -tick
4. Someone who is sitting on a monday afternoon trying to come up with a 3 year plan on the back of a serviette - tick
Meeting all the criteria above, I can understand why they chose me as their prey. Once I realised their mission I explained that it was only me, and me alone, that can ensure the 3 year plan is achieved, I don't think God will fix it for me. They tried to tell that God could support me in this and offered me a copy of their bible. Eamonn, I wanted to say yes and bring it home as a souvenir for you, but I didn't think it was wise to encourage them further! So we agreed to disagree and I made my down another mountain side out of the botanical gardens. Random.
Anyway, I think that brings you all up to date with the random events of the week from the North Island of NZ. One more day in windy welly and then I head to the South Island....its time to wrap up, winters coming!
Love you all x x x x x
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Adrenalin Junkie??
Hi everyone!
My time in New Zealand has been action packed since I last posted. New Zealand is the home of adrenaline junkies, and I have to say I am getting quite a taste for it! The faster, the higher, the louder, all the better! Although it is quite an expensive habit to take up, so I think I may have to going start cold turkey soon.
From Auckland I headed north to the appropriately named North Land, and more specifically, the Bay of Islands. On route, I stopped at a marine reserve to view the under water world from a glass bottom boat which was really cool. The water was so clear. We didn't get to see the abundance of wildlife that are normally seen in the area as the tides and fish were behaving 'unusual' due to the tsunami causing surges. You might think what the hell is she doing getting on a boat when the tsunami is around, but you really couldn't notice these so called surges unless you were an expert. Anyone expecting to see a giant wave approaching would have been disappointed. By the way, thank you all for your concern, about my well being during the tsunami, but it had no affect here really and I knew nothing about it until I woke to a worried text from my Mum!
So the Bay of Islands is where the adventurous activities begin. I took a trip called 'dune rider' to the very far north of Northland to Cape Reinga. In order to reach this we travelled along '90 mile' beach on the big 'dune rider bus/lorry hybrid'. The beach is actually 64 miles to be specific, but named 90 miles as the best estimate by farmers who used to transport their sheep along this stretch of beach which took them about 3 days. In the bus/lorry hybrid, it only took us about 1.5 hours, but despite the rather overcast day, it really was an awesome drive, the beach was really wide and it just stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. At the end of 90 mile beach a set of massive sand dunes were waiting for us to 'board' them. This was so much fun, although I only managed to go 3 or 4 times as the climb to the top of the dune carrying the board made your legs and lungs burn, it was hard work! To dune board, you take a mini surf board, lay on it on your front and some gives you a push and off you go down the steep dune using your feet to steer and brake. My first run involved me getting rather wet as I had a bumpy landing into the stream at the bottom, but for the attempts after that I soon had the art of elegantly aquaplaning across the stream to see how far I get my board to go. I did pretty well I think, although the driver kindly informed me, some people have an advantage over others, and it may not have been my skill to do this, but more that I had a bit of weight behind me!
While in the Bay of Islands, I also hoped on a boat to swim with Dolphins. Finding the dolphins was pretty easy, but keeping up with them in the water was real hard work. When I filled in the usual disclaimer at the beginning of the trip to sign my life away with no responsibility on the organiser, I ticked 'yes I am a confident swimmer'.....I'm not great, and can't do front crawl, but I thought I'm sure its the just the usual over cautious questions and I'll be fine. Turns out they ask that for a reason, snorkeling out in the open sea with no life jacket, chasing dolphins and working against the waves the boat is making, wearing flippers is pretty hard work! Especially when my swimming style tends to be to kick with one leg and do frogs leg with the other....Jodie and Lucy, stop laughing.....I'm still scared from the mocking!!!
I finished my stay in the Bay of Islands with a 15k walk to see Haruka waterfalls which turned out to be not all that impressive as the river was quite low, but it was still a nice walk anyway. Then it was time to head back South to Auckland and begin my travelling around the North Island.
The first couple of stops around the North Island were to beach towns. The coastline here is absolutely beautiful and stunning to look at. I've only stayed one night at each of the beaches as these are more appealing to surfers. Whilst I'm up for doing all the adventure stuff, I'm sticking to things that require no skill and only need a pair of balls, so to speak. I don't think I'd stand much chance at being able to stand on a surf board. Especially seeings as I got taken out by a unexpected wave and saw my life flash in front of eyes whilst I was just paddling in the sea at Raglan!
On leaving Raglan, I headed to Waitomo caves where I signed up to the Tumi Tuni Toobing adventure. Seeing as EVERYONE goes toobing in Loas and I didn't, I was well up for this to make up for it, and I think was a much better toobing adventure! It was great fun! The hardest bit was probably getting into the wet suit, and once this was achieved, the adventure began, looking super stylish of course! We ventured down into the caves and spent about 2 hours navigating our way around with just the glow worms lighting the way. We walked through sections, swam though sections and laid on inner tubes through sections. The most fun/scary part was climbing up the cave wall and launching me and my inner tube into the water by jumping backwards from about 5ft up. The guide said I had a good technique but he was laughing as he said it, so I'm thinking it was more like a drowning blimp technique!
Yesterday I arrived in Lake Taupo and I decided to stay here a couple of days as I wanted to ensure I had a good weather day for the ultimate action adventure.......yep today I went up 15,000ft into a plane and launched myself out of it.....a sky dive. This was the most amazing thing I have ever done, it felt brilliant. Quite literally a 'I'm on top of the world feeling'. As soon as I had done it, I wanted to do it again and again. For those that are interested, I have posted the DVD of the dive on to Facebook. If you ever get the chance to do it, you really should, nothing else in the world feels like it.
I'm absolutely loving my time in New Zealand, the Kiwis are so friendly, there are so many activities to do and the landscape is spectacular. I'm also enjoying doing my own thing and not being part of a tour group anymore as it enables me to have so much more independence with how long I want to spend in a town, what hostel I stay at etc. I've posted several photos on facebook, but these, and my blurb above, really don't do NZ justice. It is a great place, and I have done and seen so much in the couple of weeks that I have been here, that I can't talk about it all! Its great!
So that's a little snippet of what I have been up to....hmmm what shall I do tomorrow....? Urm, I think some white water rafting tomorrow, and then time to do something more sedate on the next day....I think it will be the 17KM hike over the Tongariro crossing!
Take care everyone. Sending lots of love to you. Keep letting me know the gossip.
Love from
Katrina x x x x
My time in New Zealand has been action packed since I last posted. New Zealand is the home of adrenaline junkies, and I have to say I am getting quite a taste for it! The faster, the higher, the louder, all the better! Although it is quite an expensive habit to take up, so I think I may have to going start cold turkey soon.
From Auckland I headed north to the appropriately named North Land, and more specifically, the Bay of Islands. On route, I stopped at a marine reserve to view the under water world from a glass bottom boat which was really cool. The water was so clear. We didn't get to see the abundance of wildlife that are normally seen in the area as the tides and fish were behaving 'unusual' due to the tsunami causing surges. You might think what the hell is she doing getting on a boat when the tsunami is around, but you really couldn't notice these so called surges unless you were an expert. Anyone expecting to see a giant wave approaching would have been disappointed. By the way, thank you all for your concern, about my well being during the tsunami, but it had no affect here really and I knew nothing about it until I woke to a worried text from my Mum!
So the Bay of Islands is where the adventurous activities begin. I took a trip called 'dune rider' to the very far north of Northland to Cape Reinga. In order to reach this we travelled along '90 mile' beach on the big 'dune rider bus/lorry hybrid'. The beach is actually 64 miles to be specific, but named 90 miles as the best estimate by farmers who used to transport their sheep along this stretch of beach which took them about 3 days. In the bus/lorry hybrid, it only took us about 1.5 hours, but despite the rather overcast day, it really was an awesome drive, the beach was really wide and it just stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. At the end of 90 mile beach a set of massive sand dunes were waiting for us to 'board' them. This was so much fun, although I only managed to go 3 or 4 times as the climb to the top of the dune carrying the board made your legs and lungs burn, it was hard work! To dune board, you take a mini surf board, lay on it on your front and some gives you a push and off you go down the steep dune using your feet to steer and brake. My first run involved me getting rather wet as I had a bumpy landing into the stream at the bottom, but for the attempts after that I soon had the art of elegantly aquaplaning across the stream to see how far I get my board to go. I did pretty well I think, although the driver kindly informed me, some people have an advantage over others, and it may not have been my skill to do this, but more that I had a bit of weight behind me!
While in the Bay of Islands, I also hoped on a boat to swim with Dolphins. Finding the dolphins was pretty easy, but keeping up with them in the water was real hard work. When I filled in the usual disclaimer at the beginning of the trip to sign my life away with no responsibility on the organiser, I ticked 'yes I am a confident swimmer'.....I'm not great, and can't do front crawl, but I thought I'm sure its the just the usual over cautious questions and I'll be fine. Turns out they ask that for a reason, snorkeling out in the open sea with no life jacket, chasing dolphins and working against the waves the boat is making, wearing flippers is pretty hard work! Especially when my swimming style tends to be to kick with one leg and do frogs leg with the other....Jodie and Lucy, stop laughing.....I'm still scared from the mocking!!!
I finished my stay in the Bay of Islands with a 15k walk to see Haruka waterfalls which turned out to be not all that impressive as the river was quite low, but it was still a nice walk anyway. Then it was time to head back South to Auckland and begin my travelling around the North Island.
The first couple of stops around the North Island were to beach towns. The coastline here is absolutely beautiful and stunning to look at. I've only stayed one night at each of the beaches as these are more appealing to surfers. Whilst I'm up for doing all the adventure stuff, I'm sticking to things that require no skill and only need a pair of balls, so to speak. I don't think I'd stand much chance at being able to stand on a surf board. Especially seeings as I got taken out by a unexpected wave and saw my life flash in front of eyes whilst I was just paddling in the sea at Raglan!
On leaving Raglan, I headed to Waitomo caves where I signed up to the Tumi Tuni Toobing adventure. Seeing as EVERYONE goes toobing in Loas and I didn't, I was well up for this to make up for it, and I think was a much better toobing adventure! It was great fun! The hardest bit was probably getting into the wet suit, and once this was achieved, the adventure began, looking super stylish of course! We ventured down into the caves and spent about 2 hours navigating our way around with just the glow worms lighting the way. We walked through sections, swam though sections and laid on inner tubes through sections. The most fun/scary part was climbing up the cave wall and launching me and my inner tube into the water by jumping backwards from about 5ft up. The guide said I had a good technique but he was laughing as he said it, so I'm thinking it was more like a drowning blimp technique!
Yesterday I arrived in Lake Taupo and I decided to stay here a couple of days as I wanted to ensure I had a good weather day for the ultimate action adventure.......yep today I went up 15,000ft into a plane and launched myself out of it.....a sky dive. This was the most amazing thing I have ever done, it felt brilliant. Quite literally a 'I'm on top of the world feeling'. As soon as I had done it, I wanted to do it again and again. For those that are interested, I have posted the DVD of the dive on to Facebook. If you ever get the chance to do it, you really should, nothing else in the world feels like it.
I'm absolutely loving my time in New Zealand, the Kiwis are so friendly, there are so many activities to do and the landscape is spectacular. I'm also enjoying doing my own thing and not being part of a tour group anymore as it enables me to have so much more independence with how long I want to spend in a town, what hostel I stay at etc. I've posted several photos on facebook, but these, and my blurb above, really don't do NZ justice. It is a great place, and I have done and seen so much in the couple of weeks that I have been here, that I can't talk about it all! Its great!
So that's a little snippet of what I have been up to....hmmm what shall I do tomorrow....? Urm, I think some white water rafting tomorrow, and then time to do something more sedate on the next day....I think it will be the 17KM hike over the Tongariro crossing!
Take care everyone. Sending lots of love to you. Keep letting me know the gossip.
Love from
Katrina x x x x
Friday, March 11, 2011
Beanz Meanz Hienz
Hello again!
I realise it has only been a couple of days since the last post, but I am aware it wasn't my best work......so now I'm over the jet lag and found my bearings in New Zealand, this is my attempt to redeem myself! :o)
Since arriving in New Zealand I've had a pretty chilled/quiet time just to re-energise, do and bit of thinking and prepare myself for the next leg of the journey. During my hours of wandering around Auckland with little purpose or direction, I started thinking about what I will miss about South East Asia and what I am will not miss so much! So here they are *.....
*every country in South East Asia is very different from its neighbour, so these are a bit of a generalisation, but you'll get the idea.
Things I will miss about South East Asia:
1. About 2.5 weeks into SEA, I had the art of eating with chops sticks down! Wahoo!! By week 3, I had lost it again, it never came back. If anyone finds my ability to eat with chop sticks anywhere, please send it on to me, it wad last seen somewhere around Hanoi, Vietnam. I will miss being able to use chop sticks as an excuse for spilling food down my clothes....."its not me, its the chopsticks..." I would use in defence...." I can't use these plastic ones, they are too slippery, I need the wooden ones!".
2. Tinglish - This is the word our Thai Tour Guide, "Little Chicken" used to describe the language she speaks with.....English but with a flavour of Thai words and accent. I'm going to extend this term to cover the whole of SEA, as each country we visited had its own form of English, and learning how to speak 'Tinglish' in each country was a lot of fun. One of my favourites, was when I asked in a shop "how much"? to start the bartering process and the answer was '20 much". Other examples include, 'happy room' which is toilet and 'same same but differnet' is a particular favourite which has wide usage. After a while you start using 'Tinglish' as well to communicate easier with the local people....I now need to remember I'm back in the western world and need to stop using tinglish as it can come across a bit rude to English speakers!
3. Things will happen when they happen, and it generally works. When I first arrived in Asia, I thought it was chaos and that nothing would ever get completed. Nobody writes down your orders, you don't get receipts, you can't phone to reconfirm a booking etc.......but you know what, it actually works. I can't claim to understand it, but there is actually a lot of organisation and logic in restaurants, hotels, public transport and shops, that you can't really see, but all comes together in the end. Things might not always happen on time, but if you just trust that it will happen and the person providing you with a service won't let you down, it works out fine. I'll miss this culture of not worrying about the time, just waiting, be patient and it will come together in the end.
4. Family loyalty and respect - the family is a unit throughout life, one family can live with 4 generations in the same house. Businesses are run as a family. Social time is spent as a family. As a result, you don't really see any homeless people. Yes, you see a lot of poor people, but everyone is looked after and supported by their family throughout their life. We travelled by boat from Loas to Thailand for two days. The boat that took us there was run by a family, and although Granny didn't do any work on the boat, she sat in the corner and came with us on the whole boat trip, because everything was done as a family. She wasn't to be left at home on her own.
5. The challenge...because SEA is so culturally different, every day was a challenge and you have to have your whits about you, and you are doing something different every day. By comparison, New Zealand feels a bit tame......so I'll just have to do lots of adventurous activities to keep the challenge there!
6. Regulalry being told how beasutiful my white skin is........here in NZ, I just look like an Albino
Things I will not miss about Asia:
1. Brits/Europeans/Americans moaning about squat toilets, cleanliness of rooms, quality of transport, quality of food, not being understood by locals in english, refusing to speak 'tinglish' to help the communication process, moaning about food being brought out at different times, food too spicy, blah blah blah.......this is the way things are done here......embrace it, or do us all a favour and stay at home! If you want European standards, its best to stay in Europe.
2. Spending time picking out 'complementary meat' from my food and all my food having a 'meaty' taste due to the oil etc it has been cooked in. There isn't really an understanding of vegetarianism in this part of the world, which is fine, but it did mean I had to be quite cautious with what I tucking into at every meal.
3. Carrying litres of water absolutely everywhere, it makes you appreciate, just being able to get water out of the tap. Water wasn't expensive, but you just had to be organised in making sure you always had plenty available, dehydration is the last thing you want.
4. Lack of high fibre foods - nuff said
5. Being offended every time I want to buy some clothes. I've lost count of the number of times when I have been told I have to pay more because the garment needs more material for my big arse. The last item I bought ( 7-11 t-shirt!!! Loser-ville or what?! :o) ), I was browsing through the rack of clothes, picked it up to have a look and before I even said anything the stall holder said "it ok, it stretch for you".
Ok, so that's Asia wrapped up. So I had a brief visit to Melbourne. I was only there 3 days, so I can't tell you much about it, other than it seems like a pleasant place, very European and has nice beach. The only thing of interest I did while in Melbourne was to attend an event to celebrate 'world women's day'. This sort of thing is not normally my cup of tea, but the hostel lured myself and another girl, Sandra, into going with two free tickets and the promise of free champagne and nibbles, deal! We turned at the town hall in our 'smart evening wear', well as smart as you can get from the contents of a back pack. Looking very out of place, we dived into the free champers, and having not eaten all day the bubbles went straight to out head. As expected this evening was filled with speeches about the achievement of women, what we are proud of and how difficult it is for women to make it in certain careers blah, blah balh. The only notable point of this evening was when a lady mid 30's came and introduced herself, we had a nice chat, she was a lawyer, 2 children, on maternity leave, enjoying a night of etc.etc....she then proceeded to ask about us, we explained we were travelling, both 29 so it leads to some extra challenges when you are staying in hostels with younger people etc. Following our description of what we had been up to, her first questions was...."but when do you want to have children"?? So, at an event, where the message is be proud of who you are and what you have achieved, she only furthers my belief that it is still not yet socially acceptable to be a woman and not follow the route of 'get married, have kids, be a house wife" etc etc by the time you are 30. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a raving feminist, I actually think it is important to appreciate the differences between the genders, and I think family values are essential in society, but that route, doesn't work out for us all so we have to take other paths. So needless to say, I was a bit surprised by the first question I was asked at the celebration of international women's day! It is almost on a par with when I told one of the ladies at Tesco's about my travel plans, and the first question she asked me was "are you going to buy Ugg boots in Australia?" and then said nothing else. But I'm going to leave her in the category or 'sweet/cute'.
So then it is on to New Zealand. Having survived a rather severe grilling (in my opinion) at customs, with a free lecture about drugs smuggling from Cambodia, I made my way to my 'shabby chic' hostel in Auckland city centre. This is quite different to what I have been used to Asia, but I think I will have to get used to it! In Asia, the accommodation was actually ok, because everything is so much cheaper there, you can get a pretty decent room on a budget. But for the same money here, you have to drop a few classes in terms of the standard of what you get. So I had booked a 4 person all female dorm, but due to a booking error I'm in an 8 person mixed dorm, and the only mixed part of it is me! The rest are all men. But it is working out ok. As long as you don't mind walking through dirty water on the floor to get to one of the 2 bathrooms all the way down the corridor, the toilet seat falling off, some suspect marks on your sheets, windows that don't close and food all over the kitchen floor, bed springs and a mobile phone hitting you on the head from the person in the top bunk during the night, its all fine! What can you expect for $20 (10GBP) an night. In all seriousness, it is one of the grubbiest places I have stayed at, but probably the most enjoyable, it feels like a bit of a uni house, but it is quiet, everyone is friendly, most people are a bit older than the average back packer and it is in a good location. And although I got put in a mixed dorm in error, I might request this more now, as it seems more friendly. In the female rooms you tend to get groups of girls travelling together which can be a bit clique, but in mixed it seems you get more people travelling on their own.
You know you are a seasoned traveller when you can handle this kind of accommodation, there have been a few people that have arrived and left very quickly due to the standard while I have been there, but I'm just taking it as it is. Other things that make you know you a traveller rather than a tourist are:
1. You get excited about going to the airport or a shopping mall because you will be able to spray some perfume on from the sample section
2. You have to walk into the newsagents to look at the newspaper, to check what day it is ( I had to do this today, is it Saturday or Sunday. If it is Sunday I have missed my bus!)
3. You have too much time on hands because you stop to chat to the guy trying to sign people up for charity subscriptions in the high street, rather than my usual response of "no, I already give to two charities, I can't to any more! I have to get to work!' as I walk through Southampton high street with purpose of a lunch time.
So I don't have too much to tell you about Auckland itself, like I said, I have just been taking it easy. It seems to be a nice city, although quite similar to Southampton actually, even the Oriana was in the dock yesterday to make me feel at home!
So tomorrow I hop on the bus and head to the very top of New Zealand. Apparently not many people visit this part of the island, so I'm looking forward to being one of the ones that does. I've got plenty of time here now I have skipped Oz! I'm looking forward to doing some cool activities here, a guy I was chatting to in the hostel last night as sold practically every adrenaline activity to me...sky diving, glacier walking, zorbing etc etc, I want to do it all! Except bungee jumping. Don't worry Mum, I'll ensure I have ample insurance!
Right, if anyone is actually still reading this blog and I haven't bored you to tears, I have to go now and do laundry. Oh, this is the other sign you know you are a traveller. I was ambling along the harbour in Auckland yesterday and a guy turned around and stopped to talk to me. Tall, good looking, visiting Auckland on a business conference, spends half his time in Oz and half in Europe......oh 'ello, this is promising I think to myself as I gaze off planning my dual life in Oz and Europe until he asks where I am staying...I snap back into reality and tell him about my hostel...he doesn't look overly impressed, then he looks down at my top, and sees the baked bean juice I spilt at lunch time and decides he suddenly has to leave. Darn it! I wanted to say, 'come back, I'm not normally a skank!', well most of the time anyway. But instead I skulked off, head down in shame. It wouldn't have been so bad, if the beans I had so been looking forward to were any actually any good. I was quite disappointed to discover that baked beans in New Zealand taste a bit like sausage.
On that note, I'm off to do my laundry.
Love you all
Katrina x x x x
I realise it has only been a couple of days since the last post, but I am aware it wasn't my best work......so now I'm over the jet lag and found my bearings in New Zealand, this is my attempt to redeem myself! :o)
Since arriving in New Zealand I've had a pretty chilled/quiet time just to re-energise, do and bit of thinking and prepare myself for the next leg of the journey. During my hours of wandering around Auckland with little purpose or direction, I started thinking about what I will miss about South East Asia and what I am will not miss so much! So here they are *.....
*every country in South East Asia is very different from its neighbour, so these are a bit of a generalisation, but you'll get the idea.
Things I will miss about South East Asia:
1. About 2.5 weeks into SEA, I had the art of eating with chops sticks down! Wahoo!! By week 3, I had lost it again, it never came back. If anyone finds my ability to eat with chop sticks anywhere, please send it on to me, it wad last seen somewhere around Hanoi, Vietnam. I will miss being able to use chop sticks as an excuse for spilling food down my clothes....."its not me, its the chopsticks..." I would use in defence...." I can't use these plastic ones, they are too slippery, I need the wooden ones!".
2. Tinglish - This is the word our Thai Tour Guide, "Little Chicken" used to describe the language she speaks with.....English but with a flavour of Thai words and accent. I'm going to extend this term to cover the whole of SEA, as each country we visited had its own form of English, and learning how to speak 'Tinglish' in each country was a lot of fun. One of my favourites, was when I asked in a shop "how much"? to start the bartering process and the answer was '20 much". Other examples include, 'happy room' which is toilet and 'same same but differnet' is a particular favourite which has wide usage. After a while you start using 'Tinglish' as well to communicate easier with the local people....I now need to remember I'm back in the western world and need to stop using tinglish as it can come across a bit rude to English speakers!
3. Things will happen when they happen, and it generally works. When I first arrived in Asia, I thought it was chaos and that nothing would ever get completed. Nobody writes down your orders, you don't get receipts, you can't phone to reconfirm a booking etc.......but you know what, it actually works. I can't claim to understand it, but there is actually a lot of organisation and logic in restaurants, hotels, public transport and shops, that you can't really see, but all comes together in the end. Things might not always happen on time, but if you just trust that it will happen and the person providing you with a service won't let you down, it works out fine. I'll miss this culture of not worrying about the time, just waiting, be patient and it will come together in the end.
4. Family loyalty and respect - the family is a unit throughout life, one family can live with 4 generations in the same house. Businesses are run as a family. Social time is spent as a family. As a result, you don't really see any homeless people. Yes, you see a lot of poor people, but everyone is looked after and supported by their family throughout their life. We travelled by boat from Loas to Thailand for two days. The boat that took us there was run by a family, and although Granny didn't do any work on the boat, she sat in the corner and came with us on the whole boat trip, because everything was done as a family. She wasn't to be left at home on her own.
5. The challenge...because SEA is so culturally different, every day was a challenge and you have to have your whits about you, and you are doing something different every day. By comparison, New Zealand feels a bit tame......so I'll just have to do lots of adventurous activities to keep the challenge there!
6. Regulalry being told how beasutiful my white skin is........here in NZ, I just look like an Albino
Things I will not miss about Asia:
1. Brits/Europeans/Americans moaning about squat toilets, cleanliness of rooms, quality of transport, quality of food, not being understood by locals in english, refusing to speak 'tinglish' to help the communication process, moaning about food being brought out at different times, food too spicy, blah blah blah.......this is the way things are done here......embrace it, or do us all a favour and stay at home! If you want European standards, its best to stay in Europe.
2. Spending time picking out 'complementary meat' from my food and all my food having a 'meaty' taste due to the oil etc it has been cooked in. There isn't really an understanding of vegetarianism in this part of the world, which is fine, but it did mean I had to be quite cautious with what I tucking into at every meal.
3. Carrying litres of water absolutely everywhere, it makes you appreciate, just being able to get water out of the tap. Water wasn't expensive, but you just had to be organised in making sure you always had plenty available, dehydration is the last thing you want.
4. Lack of high fibre foods - nuff said
5. Being offended every time I want to buy some clothes. I've lost count of the number of times when I have been told I have to pay more because the garment needs more material for my big arse. The last item I bought ( 7-11 t-shirt!!! Loser-ville or what?! :o) ), I was browsing through the rack of clothes, picked it up to have a look and before I even said anything the stall holder said "it ok, it stretch for you".
Ok, so that's Asia wrapped up. So I had a brief visit to Melbourne. I was only there 3 days, so I can't tell you much about it, other than it seems like a pleasant place, very European and has nice beach. The only thing of interest I did while in Melbourne was to attend an event to celebrate 'world women's day'. This sort of thing is not normally my cup of tea, but the hostel lured myself and another girl, Sandra, into going with two free tickets and the promise of free champagne and nibbles, deal! We turned at the town hall in our 'smart evening wear', well as smart as you can get from the contents of a back pack. Looking very out of place, we dived into the free champers, and having not eaten all day the bubbles went straight to out head. As expected this evening was filled with speeches about the achievement of women, what we are proud of and how difficult it is for women to make it in certain careers blah, blah balh. The only notable point of this evening was when a lady mid 30's came and introduced herself, we had a nice chat, she was a lawyer, 2 children, on maternity leave, enjoying a night of etc.etc....she then proceeded to ask about us, we explained we were travelling, both 29 so it leads to some extra challenges when you are staying in hostels with younger people etc. Following our description of what we had been up to, her first questions was...."but when do you want to have children"?? So, at an event, where the message is be proud of who you are and what you have achieved, she only furthers my belief that it is still not yet socially acceptable to be a woman and not follow the route of 'get married, have kids, be a house wife" etc etc by the time you are 30. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a raving feminist, I actually think it is important to appreciate the differences between the genders, and I think family values are essential in society, but that route, doesn't work out for us all so we have to take other paths. So needless to say, I was a bit surprised by the first question I was asked at the celebration of international women's day! It is almost on a par with when I told one of the ladies at Tesco's about my travel plans, and the first question she asked me was "are you going to buy Ugg boots in Australia?" and then said nothing else. But I'm going to leave her in the category or 'sweet/cute'.
So then it is on to New Zealand. Having survived a rather severe grilling (in my opinion) at customs, with a free lecture about drugs smuggling from Cambodia, I made my way to my 'shabby chic' hostel in Auckland city centre. This is quite different to what I have been used to Asia, but I think I will have to get used to it! In Asia, the accommodation was actually ok, because everything is so much cheaper there, you can get a pretty decent room on a budget. But for the same money here, you have to drop a few classes in terms of the standard of what you get. So I had booked a 4 person all female dorm, but due to a booking error I'm in an 8 person mixed dorm, and the only mixed part of it is me! The rest are all men. But it is working out ok. As long as you don't mind walking through dirty water on the floor to get to one of the 2 bathrooms all the way down the corridor, the toilet seat falling off, some suspect marks on your sheets, windows that don't close and food all over the kitchen floor, bed springs and a mobile phone hitting you on the head from the person in the top bunk during the night, its all fine! What can you expect for $20 (10GBP) an night. In all seriousness, it is one of the grubbiest places I have stayed at, but probably the most enjoyable, it feels like a bit of a uni house, but it is quiet, everyone is friendly, most people are a bit older than the average back packer and it is in a good location. And although I got put in a mixed dorm in error, I might request this more now, as it seems more friendly. In the female rooms you tend to get groups of girls travelling together which can be a bit clique, but in mixed it seems you get more people travelling on their own.
You know you are a seasoned traveller when you can handle this kind of accommodation, there have been a few people that have arrived and left very quickly due to the standard while I have been there, but I'm just taking it as it is. Other things that make you know you a traveller rather than a tourist are:
1. You get excited about going to the airport or a shopping mall because you will be able to spray some perfume on from the sample section
2. You have to walk into the newsagents to look at the newspaper, to check what day it is ( I had to do this today, is it Saturday or Sunday. If it is Sunday I have missed my bus!)
3. You have too much time on hands because you stop to chat to the guy trying to sign people up for charity subscriptions in the high street, rather than my usual response of "no, I already give to two charities, I can't to any more! I have to get to work!' as I walk through Southampton high street with purpose of a lunch time.
So I don't have too much to tell you about Auckland itself, like I said, I have just been taking it easy. It seems to be a nice city, although quite similar to Southampton actually, even the Oriana was in the dock yesterday to make me feel at home!
So tomorrow I hop on the bus and head to the very top of New Zealand. Apparently not many people visit this part of the island, so I'm looking forward to being one of the ones that does. I've got plenty of time here now I have skipped Oz! I'm looking forward to doing some cool activities here, a guy I was chatting to in the hostel last night as sold practically every adrenaline activity to me...sky diving, glacier walking, zorbing etc etc, I want to do it all! Except bungee jumping. Don't worry Mum, I'll ensure I have ample insurance!
Right, if anyone is actually still reading this blog and I haven't bored you to tears, I have to go now and do laundry. Oh, this is the other sign you know you are a traveller. I was ambling along the harbour in Auckland yesterday and a guy turned around and stopped to talk to me. Tall, good looking, visiting Auckland on a business conference, spends half his time in Oz and half in Europe......oh 'ello, this is promising I think to myself as I gaze off planning my dual life in Oz and Europe until he asks where I am staying...I snap back into reality and tell him about my hostel...he doesn't look overly impressed, then he looks down at my top, and sees the baked bean juice I spilt at lunch time and decides he suddenly has to leave. Darn it! I wanted to say, 'come back, I'm not normally a skank!', well most of the time anyway. But instead I skulked off, head down in shame. It wouldn't have been so bad, if the beans I had so been looking forward to were any actually any good. I was quite disappointed to discover that baked beans in New Zealand taste a bit like sausage.
On that note, I'm off to do my laundry.
Love you all
Katrina x x x x
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Rules are made to be broken........?
Hello all!
I must apologise if this is not very succinct, but I will do my best. Pops, I have a small confession.....I haven't completed my journal for over a week! After the years of training you gave, it all started so well, but in the last week, I haven't written in at all,.....eeek! Given I usually use this as my prompt for the blog, we are just going to have to base this one on memory which could be a little sketchy!
So my final stop in the Asian tour was Singapore......it was awesome, I loved it! Singapore is packed with rules and regulations for all sorts of things from jay walking to not flushing a public toilet and there are heavy fines for breaking any of these rules. As a result, for some people this is a good stop over city where you can do a bit of shopping for a couple of days, but that is about it. Not for me! Singapore and I were meant to be together!! Rules, rules, rules, lead to the cleanest place I have ever been, thee most well organised place I have been to, the easiest place to navigate, everything is in perfect order! For some people this can mean the city lacks character, but to me, the rules and heavy fines, just make sense! :o) With fines of around $500 and armed police, rules are not made to be broken in Singapore, they are made to be followed! I like it! If I was primeminister, I would do the same in the UK :o)
So what did I do with my time in this orderly city? Ate a lot of food! The 'food courts' or 'hawker centres' are the cheapest place to eat, the food is really good and there is a variety of cuisines to suit everyone. At the Kopotiam centre where we dined for nearly every meal, there were lots and lots of Singaporeans eating there evening meals there, so you know it is good. To eat anywhere else in Singapore, would take my weekly budget. This is one very expensive place to live, eat and drink.
We did enjoy one evening on the town in Singapore, which started with a cocktail at the Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling originated from. Whilst this set us back a whopping $30 each, it just has to be done while you are in Singapore. And it tasted all the better knowing it was from the original venue! I also particularly enjoyed shelling the peanuts and woofing a few of those down, to then join the other patrons in just throwing all the shells on the floor. I didn't really expect the floor of the hotel, where a drink costs $30, to be littered with nut shells, but it kind of worked! Although not too good for my room mate Suzie who has a nut allergy!
I also went to the night safari, which was a little disappointing for me. I didn't think it was going to be like going on a real safari in Africa, but I did expect it to be more like the Longleat experience, but it was a bit of a zoo really. I think I need to stop going to animal based attractions as I am always disappointed, I need to just realise, I'm always going to think it is like a zoo and stop trying to enjoy them!
Although Singapore was awesome, it did mean I had to say a sad goodbye to Suzi, Andy and Charlie who were my buddies for this leg of the tour. Thank you guys for making it such a great two weeks, particularly to Chrlaie and Andy, who are just 19, let an 'oldie' tag around with them!
On leaving Singapore, next stop was the land down under. However as many of you know, I didn't spot for as long as planned, my 4 weeks was reduced to 3 nights! I'm running out of internet time, so I will update you more on this next time, but I've gone straight to New Zealand. I've only been here about 8 hours, but so far so good. I'm liking New Zealand.
Sorry, not much in this one, I promise to make the next one more interesting!
Take care
Miss you all lots!!!
X X X
I must apologise if this is not very succinct, but I will do my best. Pops, I have a small confession.....I haven't completed my journal for over a week! After the years of training you gave, it all started so well, but in the last week, I haven't written in at all,.....eeek! Given I usually use this as my prompt for the blog, we are just going to have to base this one on memory which could be a little sketchy!
So my final stop in the Asian tour was Singapore......it was awesome, I loved it! Singapore is packed with rules and regulations for all sorts of things from jay walking to not flushing a public toilet and there are heavy fines for breaking any of these rules. As a result, for some people this is a good stop over city where you can do a bit of shopping for a couple of days, but that is about it. Not for me! Singapore and I were meant to be together!! Rules, rules, rules, lead to the cleanest place I have ever been, thee most well organised place I have been to, the easiest place to navigate, everything is in perfect order! For some people this can mean the city lacks character, but to me, the rules and heavy fines, just make sense! :o) With fines of around $500 and armed police, rules are not made to be broken in Singapore, they are made to be followed! I like it! If I was primeminister, I would do the same in the UK :o)
So what did I do with my time in this orderly city? Ate a lot of food! The 'food courts' or 'hawker centres' are the cheapest place to eat, the food is really good and there is a variety of cuisines to suit everyone. At the Kopotiam centre where we dined for nearly every meal, there were lots and lots of Singaporeans eating there evening meals there, so you know it is good. To eat anywhere else in Singapore, would take my weekly budget. This is one very expensive place to live, eat and drink.
We did enjoy one evening on the town in Singapore, which started with a cocktail at the Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling originated from. Whilst this set us back a whopping $30 each, it just has to be done while you are in Singapore. And it tasted all the better knowing it was from the original venue! I also particularly enjoyed shelling the peanuts and woofing a few of those down, to then join the other patrons in just throwing all the shells on the floor. I didn't really expect the floor of the hotel, where a drink costs $30, to be littered with nut shells, but it kind of worked! Although not too good for my room mate Suzie who has a nut allergy!
I also went to the night safari, which was a little disappointing for me. I didn't think it was going to be like going on a real safari in Africa, but I did expect it to be more like the Longleat experience, but it was a bit of a zoo really. I think I need to stop going to animal based attractions as I am always disappointed, I need to just realise, I'm always going to think it is like a zoo and stop trying to enjoy them!
Although Singapore was awesome, it did mean I had to say a sad goodbye to Suzi, Andy and Charlie who were my buddies for this leg of the tour. Thank you guys for making it such a great two weeks, particularly to Chrlaie and Andy, who are just 19, let an 'oldie' tag around with them!
On leaving Singapore, next stop was the land down under. However as many of you know, I didn't spot for as long as planned, my 4 weeks was reduced to 3 nights! I'm running out of internet time, so I will update you more on this next time, but I've gone straight to New Zealand. I've only been here about 8 hours, but so far so good. I'm liking New Zealand.
Sorry, not much in this one, I promise to make the next one more interesting!
Take care
Miss you all lots!!!
X X X
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