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Around the World

апреля 2017 - января 2018
  • Simon and Blake
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  • Simon and Blake
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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Day 2 - Taupo

    29 июля 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Well that was one of our coldest nights yet! It was so bloomin cold we could see our breath! The gas bottle didn't want to play ball either because it too was also freezing! After a painstaking amount of time we managed to boil the kettle and knock up some porridge in an attempt to warm us up from the inside.

    New Zealand offers a lot of markets at the weekends so we headed to Taupo's Riverside Market for a mooch. It was small but pretty cute and worth the wander. I even managed to resist the most amazing looking cakes (mainly because they were $5 each). They did look good though! We then went for a mooch around the main town looking at the shops. There was a gorgeous home shop with all kinds of great tat that I could fill our house with!

    After some lunch we made our way down the side of Lake Taupo and along the edge of Tongariro National Park, or as you may also know it, Mordor. The drive gave us stunning views of the snow covered mountains. We did um and ah for a long time as to whether we should do the Tongariro crossing but have decided that the winter just isn't the time to do it. It has also been cancelled the last couple of days due to poor weather conditions, including 75kph winds. We are just going to have to come back to New Zealand again and do it in the summer.

    Our next stop is Napier on the East Coast so we have decided to camp up in Waiouru in the National Army Museum car park and head to Napier in the morning. As I'm writing this post it is only 5pm and I am already cold. The sweet lady in the museum also advised us to keep warm as it's going to be a cold one!    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Napier

    31 июля 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Yesterday we travelled from Taupo to Napier. It was a long drive and took a good few hours along some very long and winding country roads. It was however a lovely sunny day and the drive took us through lush green forests.

    The following morning we woke up to the sun shining so not wanting to miss out on a beautiful day we decided to hire some bikes. We visited Napier City Bike Hire and picked up Dorothy and Darwin, 2 lovely black mountain bikes. Napier is located within Hawkes Bay, which boasts around 200km of off road cycle trails and the majority of it is flat. We opted for the coastal route which took us from Napier to Clive and through Haumoana and Te Awanga and finishing up in Clifton. It was a lovely ride along the coast with some incredible views. We also cycled through farmland and got to see some baby lambies and calfs and alongside some wineries. It would be amazing to come back in the summer and visit all of the wineries. Before we headed back (and after a slight altercation with a giant rock which came out of nowhere) we stopped for a picnic on the beach which was lush.

    The ride was around 50km in total so we were absolutely pooped come the end. To reward ourselves for our hard work we headed to the fish and chip shop for some dinner. Unfortunately it was shut so we returned to the van with a very disgruntled Simon Thatcher for some tuna pasta instead.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Day 2 - Napier

    1 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We started the day with a trip to Napier Prison, built in 1906 and situated on top of a hill behind the town. It's a very small prison, housing around only 40 prisoners and was still a prison up until 1993. Despite the size, there was quite a lot to see and we were given audio sets which told us about each area of the prison (Simon is a huge fan of the audio guides as he doesn't have to stand there and read). We were the only people in there so it was a bit creepy in places, especially walking around the cells.

    After the prison we had a quick walk (and by quick I mean very quick as they are very small) around the Centennial Gardens which were built by the inmates of Napier Prison.

    Napier was completely destroyed after the 1931 earthquake. It was therefore completely rebuilt in the following 2 years in the popular architectural style of the time, Art Deco. The architecture is therefore absolutely gorgeous and reminds me of La La Land. It would therefore be rude not to do an Art Deco tour of the lovely seaside town which kept us busy for the afternoon.

    The tour started with a presentation on Art Deco which was really interesting. We then went for a walk around the town whilst our guide pointed out the zigzags, fountains, sunbursts and ziggurat aesthetics. All of the buildings are painted in lovely pastel colours so everything is so pretty. If you can't already tell, I have completely fallen in love with Napier. In February each year, they hold a Art Deco weekend and everyone dresses up in 1930's attire and you can find vintage cars, vintage games, 30's music and dancing. It sounds amazing! The tour finished up with a short film on the 1931 earthquake where we got to see what Napier looked like before and after.

    Sadly that concludes our time in Napier so we hopped back in the van and made our way to Hastings, a nearby town for the night. And Simon finally got his fish and chips!    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Hastings - Wellington (via Palmerston N)

    2 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We spent the night in a car park in the centre of Hastings which unbeknown when we parked up (as we arrived in the dark) was also next to a train line. We therefore woke up numerous times to the sound of the train passing and shaking the van, as well as the ring of the alarm to signal to the cars the train was passing. To top it all off it was pouring with rain, which hitting the roof of the van, added to the city centre orchestra that we had unsuspectingly fallen asleep in the middle of.

    We had to be out of the spot by 9am so we woke up early (not that we weren't already awake), had a quick breakfast and were on our way.

    Wellington was a 3+ hour drive at around 300km so we decided to break it up with a stop in Palmerston North, or Palmy to the locals. There we could take a warm shower for a dollar in the city library, do a little food shop and visit the NZ All Blacks Rugby Museum. The memorabilia and story of the beginnings of the game were great and they even had old Lions jerseys from years gone by as well as the real life whistle that they use to start the first game of every World Cup.

    After the museum we were back on the road. When we finally arrived in Wellington after fighting our way through rush hour traffic (it's been a while since we have been in an actual city with traffic) we picked a nice free marina for tonight's camp spot so fingers crossed for some blue skies and great views in the morning.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Wellington

    3 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    The weather forecast was pretty pants for the day so we decided to do some indoor activities. Wellington has the nickname 'Windy Welly' and we can certainly see why!

    After breakfast we headed to Weta Cave, the company that did all of the special effects for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies as well as a plethora of other movies including King Kong and District 9. They also have a digital department that worked on a lot of the digital effects for Avatar. They have a small museum there that you can look around for free as well as a short documentary on Weta and what they do. In addition to this there are a couple of tours that you can do. We decided to do the workshop tour which was around 45 minutes long. We are so glad we spent the extra money as the tour was really interesting. Our tour guides parents work for Weta in the special effects and make up department and he now also works there and I honestly don't think there is anything that he doesn't know. We got to see lots of props and costumes from a variety of the movies they work on, from futuristic guns to Elven swords. He also explained a little bit about how they make some of the props using CNC machines and 3D printers. We even got to catch a glimpse of a CNC machine in action which was in the process of making a full size horse.

    Unfortunately we were unable to take photos inside as everything is subject to copyright however outside they have 3 huge models of the trolls in Lord of the Rings so we didn't go away empty handed.

    With the weather still pants we went to the Te Papa museum in the afternoon. The museum is absolutely massive and spans over 6 floors. You could probably spend a week here and still not see everything. Best of all though it is completely free so we spent a good few hours there checking out a couple of exhibits. The best exhibit was a temporary one they had on Gallipoli, which many New Zealanders invaded alongside the British in the First World War. As part of the exhibit they had huge models of soldiers and then you learnt about their story. The soldiers had been made by Weta and they were absolutely amazing. We learnt on the tour that the hair on their head is real human hair and someone had to painstakingly insert every single hair. The other hair on their face and arms was yak hair. They were so realistic. The exhibit was very interactive and really interesting. A harrowing, yet incredible experience.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Day 2 - Wellington

    4 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Our day started with a tour of New Zealand's parliament building which was actually very interesting. We got to learn a little about New Zealand politics as well as learn about the building itself including how they have made the building earthquake proof (which is incredibly clever). Unsurprisingly we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside but the building was absolutely gorgeous. There is a mixture of architecture as it has burnt down a couple of times, but it has a very British feel about it.

    We got to go in the main chambers which has the same green carpet as the House of Commons as well as red in the upper house. New Zealand however doesn't actually use its upper house anymore (like our House of Lords) so it is now only used for events and for the Queen or her representative to welcome in the new party after an election.

    In the afternoon, we had a mooch around the town centre including the famous Cuba Street. Cuba Street is full of amazing quirky shops so we did some window shopping and fantasied about buying all the things we can't afford. We did however have a couple of things that we did need to buy. After wearing the same small selection of clothes for 4 months straight we are starting to look a little trampy. We are going with this however there are a couple of bits that we just couldn't cope with anymore. One of which is Simons jeans which had a HUGE hole in so we got him some new jeans. The second was some trainers for me as mine now have massive holes in each of them. After spending lots of money that we didn't really want to spend, we went back to the van and played some cards, before watching some more Netflix.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Day 3 - Wellington

    5 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    The forecast for today was set to be the best so far in Wellington with sun and blue skies all day and that's exactly what we woke up too.

    We headed to a central spot to park the van and walked in search of a cable car station Blake had seen in one of the leaflets. The Wellington Cable Car is a funicular railway between Lambton Quay, the main shopping street, and Kelburn, a suburb in the hills overlooking the central city, rising 120m over a length of 612m. The journey up was pretty cool as it went through two tunnels with neon style lights making you feel like you were in some weird teleportation machine or something. Once at the top the view was incredible.

    To get back down we opted for the scenic walk through the botanical gardens and a graveyard which had some historical people, including their longest standing PM Richard Seddon. There were also a family buried there where 5 young children died in the space of 11 days due to Diphtheria. The parents were subsequently buried in the same spot when they died many years later.

    Once back in the city we decided to head for the Mt Victoria look out. Another spot to see the city but this time required us to walk up... great! We also took a quick stop to get some huge ice creams and a mooch around a market which had lots of tat that Blake wished she could buy!

    It was pretty steep getting up Mt Victoria and not a great move for Blake wearing her brand new and sparkling trainers as parts were pretty muddy. The view at the top probably trumped that of the cable car as you got a 360 degree view of the whole city.

    We made our way down and headed back to the van. We then drove back to our trusty Evans Bay Marina overnight spot. Tonight would be our last night on the North island.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Wellington - Picton

    6 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ 🌧 10 °C

    Despite the sunshine, our morning didn't get off to a fresh start as half way through cooking our porridge and boiling the kettle for coffee we ran out of gas. Turns out that after closer inspection, we had left the boiler on all night which completely rinsed our pretty recently topped up gas bottle. There was a time when this would have defeated us but not today! Instead we decided to have a quick shower (making the most of the well used boiler) and then set off in search for somewhere to fill up our gas bottle. Luckily LPG refills are one of the cheaper things in New Zealand.

    Showering however didn't quite go to plan either as halfway through the first shower we realised that the waste tank was full so the water wasn't draining. We persevered trying not to use so much water that it overflowed and then made a quick trip to the dump station over the other side of the marina. We had time to some kill before getting our ferry to Picton so we decided to find a laundrette and be productive. By this point it had started raining anyway so we didn't fancy wandering around in the rain.

    We arrived to the ferry exceptionally early which in a car would have been incredibly borrow but being in the van, we turned on the gas and rustled up some lunch. Blake even managed to give the van a quick clean.

    Before long we were boarding the ferry which reminded me of childhood holidays to France. Once on the passenger deck we found a sofa and started some South Island planning, better late than never! Blakes stomach was not a massive fan of the boat rocking and she felt rather sea sick for most of the journey.

    3 and a bit hours later and we arrived into the port of Picton on the South Island. We found free campsite just a short drive down the road and stopped there for the night in a little car park with 12 camper spots.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Blenheim

    7 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Just down the road from Picton was Blenheim, a quaint little town with lots of walks. The sun was shining so we headed straight for the tourist information centre to get some recommendations. I'd read about Wither Hills in the Lonely Planet and seen it in a couple of leaflets so when the lady mentioned it too I knew it would be a good spot.

    We parked up at the start of the Rotary Lookout Track and started to make our way up the hill. Today turned out to be a nice day with blue skies and sunshine so after making it to the lookout quite quickly we decided to carry on along the Twin Tanks Track. About halfway round and at the highest point we would reach we sat ourselves on a bench and tucked into the picnic we brought with us. At least two people commented when they walked past 'great place for a picnic'! The walk back down took us along a stream which was nice and it wasn't long before we were back in the van. Like always, off came the walking shoes and on went the kettle.

    We found a nice sounding free spot in Blenheim but to get to is was a rather long bumpy road which was pretty uncomfortable in the van. What made it worse is the entrance to the area for parking had a van parked right in the middle. After throwing my toys out of the pram and cursing a wee bit we just parked on the side between two trees. When I asked Blake to get out and help me park I think she was a bit nervous I was going to run her over.    Читать далее

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  • Simon and BlakeSimon and BlakeAround the World

    Nelson

    8 августа 2017 г., Новая Зеландия ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    After an early start we were soon on our way to Nelson. We weren't exactly blessed with the same weather as yesterday so it was pretty grey and rainy.

    Once in Nelson we realised there wasn't many rainy day activities bar a peanut butter factory tour which was fully booked (a shame I know). We therefore grabbed a nice shower at the local super loo, headed to the tourist information for some Abel Tasman and Golden Bay ideas and went to the library of all places. Here we could use the wifi to download lots of Netflix and log into a proper computer to try and work out some New Year activities when we will be in Sydney. We also booked a deal for a boat and walking tour in Abel Tasman National Park tomorrow as it was looking like a good day on the forecast.

    As it was a little way to Abel Tasman we made our way to the next camping spot in Motueka which meant that we only had a 10 minute drive to the meeting point the next day.    Читать далее

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