tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39888972010-02-05T02:15:17.681ZNew Zealand and South AmericaOur Big TripMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-9548151328602698002008-11-28T11:57:00.001Z2008-11-28T11:57:39.246ZarchiveMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074955092872791382004-01-24T14:38:00.000Z2004-01-24T14:40:16.043ZWe are leaving in 3 hours. See you all soon. We had a lovely time. Hope you enjoyed reading this. Later........Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074814768112704982004-01-22T23:39:00.000Z2004-01-22T23:54:36.293ZJet lagged is what we is. We is jet lagged and in Buenos Aires. We arrived here a few hours ago and by midnight local time, Thursday 22nd January will have been around 40 hours long - which is just too long if you ask me. So to carry on where I left off, the rain did stop and Naomi and I went down the beach and met Sean the kitesurf instructor. The wind was too gusty for water action but Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074571013235654372004-01-20T03:47:00.000Z2004-01-20T03:58:50.106ZDone nothing today. Well, ate TV, watched breakfast, drank Yahtzee and Scrabble and played tea. That's about it. The Kite Surfing never came about because it has been raining very hard all day. Even if I could upload pics there wouldn't be much to see, tho I have to admit that the one with Moose and no antlers is pretty sad. I can however update the map. As you can see we are nearly back where weMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074475853895313332004-01-19T01:24:00.000Z2004-01-19T01:33:49.200ZMorning. We are still in Raglan (on the west rather than the east coast as I incorrectly said the other day) We have just spent a lovely couple of days with Pete and Gemma. We have been hoping to catch up with them all trip and as we sat here reading our email saying they were on their way, in they walked. They stayed with us at our very cool little cottage and we ate dinner and chatted. Gemma Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074228360404202962004-01-16T04:35:00.000Z2004-01-16T04:56:40.700ZHi All, Much happier now. I discovered that I had, by mistake, backed up half of the lost images so in the end I only lost 3.5 days worth. Hey it was only sea and sand. The camera is working fine now but I'm not on a machine that can cope with them. In fact, I think you'll have to wait for a while as Naomi and I have decided to stop. Not blogging but moving. We are having a holiday. We have Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1074057565931176262004-01-14T05:19:00.000Z2004-01-14T05:23:27.000ZHi All, Was pretty happy but now I'm not. Just popped into a web cafe to tell you of all our adventures. Used their card reader to see the pics and it wiped the lot. Nothing left. Luckily I made a CD about a week and a half ago but all the pics from the Abel Tasman, the Glaciers and Milford Sound have gone. I am a little sad. The card also appears to be knackered so I cant take any more. I Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1073787240496954912004-01-11T02:14:00.000Z2004-01-11T02:24:38.310ZWell that wasn't so bad. We though we'd have an eight hour drive today but turned out to be five and a half. We are now just on the edge of the Abel Tasmin National park in the north of the South Island. The trip was enhanced as we stopped at a second hand shop and bought "The Pet Shop Boys - Introspective" in honour of Adrian and Sarah's great news of their engagement. "You are always on my mindMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1073596982289010002004-01-08T21:23:00.000Z2004-01-08T21:31:24.780ZOK So tech probs overcome and elbow feeling better so here are the pics. For descriptions read the earlier blog. And on another note its a small world - just bumped into Kim again. Here is the view from the campsite at Lake Gunn..... and here is Milford Sound from the kayaks.....click here for a movie..... and something I forgot to mention..... they released moose into the Fjordlands backMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1073542790025787412004-01-08T06:19:00.000Z2004-01-08T06:26:09.436ZGooday. No photos today as the technology has let me down and my elbow hurts. The latter is not really relevant but I thought I'd mention it anway. Its a shame about the pics as yesterday was without doubt the most photogenic day yet. We went kayaking in Milford Sound - A fiord carved out in the last ice age. It rains almost all the time there but yesterday the sun shone and we paddled aroundMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1073347935345445492004-01-06T00:12:00.000Z2004-01-06T00:32:53.293ZThe Jet Boat was cool. To recreate this at home drive down a narrow ally at 85kmh, stick your head out the window and get a friend to chuck a bucket of cold water over you. I'm the one on the left hand side three back. After, we met a very nice GP called Kim and we drank a little too much wine. She currently has a friend on the channel 4 show Shattered. He is called Jonathan. So is it any goodMartinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1073256695748844762004-01-04T22:51:00.000Z2004-01-04T22:58:15.840ZSo the new year gets into full swing. We managed to sandwich the festivities with Dolphins on one side and Penguins on the other. We had to go to this grandstand at dusk to watch rafts of Blue Penguins hop out of the water. It was magical. We couldn't take any pictures as the flashes hurt their eyes and would stop them coming back to this colony. We took this instead..... After camping in the Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072836765860579532003-12-31T02:12:00.000Z2003-12-31T02:14:16.920ZA quick..... the route so far.... Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072835742528830692003-12-31T01:55:00.000Z2003-12-31T02:07:58.263ZIt's new years eve and I think we saved the best till last so to speak. The swim with the dolphins was amazing. They were all around us, under, over, between. We are still buzzing as we sit it Christchurch Arts Centre waiting to start the evening's festivities. I really can't explain the sensation and so I'll just show these pics. And let Nomes do the talking..... HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL. We are Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072756409880325792003-12-30T03:53:00.000Z2003-12-30T04:00:00.483ZEllo. We have arrived in South Island having completely crashed in Wellington the night before. Just exhausted.. I think we are suffering from "we cant do everything-itis" We have decided we have to stop and take stock. Look at this picture of Kiaikora where we are writing this. The scenery is gorgeous. We are spending approximately 45 minutes here. My new years resloution will be take it Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072664369168245672003-12-28T15:06:00.000Z2003-12-29T02:24:12.110ZHey Bootsey! We're in Wellington. Got here at 9 this am after getting up at 7. We camped last night in a nice little site on the SW coast of the North Island. We spent the evening chatting to Debbie, Kevin, Gill and eeeer can't remember the other guys name or any of the kids. Nice Kiwis who were, like so many of their country(wo)men, incredibly hospitable and friendly and with difficult to Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072397166174337312003-12-26T00:06:00.000Z2003-12-26T00:09:43.090ZHappy Boxing day! We had a wonderful day yesterday, the best bit of which was taking to all our family on the phone. I had a little bit more luck with the phone card than Naomi but is was still so nice to talk to you all and we miss you loads. Hope you had a brilliant time. So after looking at the geezers and the thermal pools around Rotorua, Nomes and I went to have a steam in the thermal Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1072232279835454322003-12-24T02:17:00.000Z2003-12-24T02:38:33.310ZMerry Christmas, I still haven't heard Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End) by the Darkness. So is it great or not? Please let me know. Needless to say it's not snowing here tho it has rained pretty much non stop since we got here. The clouds have just broken and I've just come off the beach where I went "BloKarting".........yeah thats what I said. Last night we camped in Cromandel which Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071965509009017542003-12-20T23:58:00.000Z2003-12-21T00:14:13.326ZGooday. The best reception so far. After a smooth 13 hour flight we found in Aukland Airpoirt, that there are volunteers who get up at 6 am to make free coffee for people arriving. Amazing. Car is sorted - didn't get upgraded to a 4x4 but our little green Ford Ka is lovely. Having found a Hostel at 8am this morning we hit Aukland centre to go shopping. Its about as like Oxford Street 4 days Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071872851173255532003-12-19T22:27:00.000Z2003-12-19T22:30:43.466ZBest meal of the trip so far last night. A place called Christophes. We then met up with Michelle (pictured) and her bloke William (not pictured) and his mate Alex (also not pictured) for a few drinks. Well we got home at about 5 this morning and the cleaner chucked us out of our room early. So we had no option, really none. We went to MacDonalds. Did the trick. We then went to see Kill Bill Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071769143992076122003-12-18T17:39:00.000Z2003-12-18T17:40:19.250ZHola, Mooch Mooch Mooch, Not much up today except xmas shopping. Online for people at home and in Spanish for Naomi and I. This afternoon we are splitting up to go and buy each other some pressies. We have to keep it small. So Nomes bought herself and nice little handbag which I have to fill and I bought a Boca Juniors lunchbox which she can fill.....sort of alternative stockings. We had a Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071666423525792832003-12-17T13:07:00.000Z2003-12-17T13:08:16.826ZWe had Vietnamese food last night in Palermo. Nice to have something spicy. Earlier we had gone to visit the museum Belles Artes and saw some interesting exhibitions including a pyramid of rubber dolls which were occasionally inflated by hair dryers. I had had a bit of a shock earlier in the day when I went online and discovered my phone bill. I was swearing at whatever git had stolen my phone Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071592428873357912003-12-16T16:33:00.000Z2003-12-16T20:04:52.733ZHola Chicos! We´re back in Buenos Aires after much fun and excitement in the South of Argentina. So we were in Puerto Natalis in Chile. We got a bus across the border to a town called El Califate. It´s a bit of a tourist trap as it´s 70km for the Pierto Moreno Glacier. It is the star attraction of the Park Nacional de los Glaciers. So as soon as we arrived we decided to get out of town. We Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-1071098506728012142003-12-10T23:21:00.000Z2003-12-10T23:22:51.170ZOK So my phone has gone walk about but before I try to tell Vodafone from Chile I´m gonna do some nice stuff and show you some pics. There are many typos as I´m in a rush and Naomi is waiting for me to buy her a steak..... Well, as I failed to tell you on earlier we got on the plane to Punto Arenas and from there a bus to Puerto Natalis which is the strating point for treks into the national Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3988897.post-107109390430906472003-12-10T22:05:00.000Z2003-12-10T22:07:37.403ZWere backfrom our trek..... but I think somone has half inched my phone so until I have made sure plus managed to find somewhere to get the pics uploaded I´m gonna keep it to saying hi we had an AMAZING time.Martinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01284494282218442142noreply@blogger.com0