Bored. Snapped a few pics in the airport. 3 hour layovers in terminal 1 are toooo looong. Happily the Red Rocket supplies us with beer. 2 pints of Rickards – an outlandish $19 after tax and hefty tip (hey, I’m on vacation and happy). Looking forward to $3 bottles of Argentine Red!! Next up, the hung for Chester Cheetah’s Cheese Corn! Rumour has it that Nacho Libre is slotted for the next flight. THe Notebook is also on tap, but luckily, it’s later on so I won’t have to stay up.
09/02/08
Hi gang! Tired Steve here, reporting from the shores of the beautiful Lake Wanaka. Boy, I think I need a day off from the bike. Today was a mere 64km, and only had about 860m of climbing, but I just felt tuckered out when I finally got here at the Purple Cow Backpackers. I was expecting a pretty easy ride today, so maybe that was part of the problem. I was greeted by a bunch of small, sometimes steep annoying climbs that seemed to sap all my energy out. Luckily, the views were pretty decent the entire way, so I was able to ignore the constant pain and sore muscles for most of the way. As usual, I’ve got my map put together, and some pictures for you to check out, so please do so, and read on for more about the day’s ride.
09/01/08
Howdy winter folks! ActiveSteve here, reporting from Tongariro National Park. Today’s bike ride was more or less a highway to heaven sort of thing. It was a steady all day climb, where we started at 380m, and ended up at 1140m, in a little place called Whakapapa Village, which is near one of the busiest ski areas in the North Island. Of course, it being summer over here, the town is a little more deserted. Basically, anyone who is up here is here for one reason alone. To do some hiking in the National Park area. Were there not so many clouds hanging out right now, I’d have a pretty splendid view of Mount Tongariro and Mount Ngauruhoe. Not to mention Mount Ruapehu, the tallest of the lot. So, what’s up now you ask? Well, read on and I’ll spin you a little yarn.
Hello all! It’s been quite some time since I took a trip out East to where I grew up, and I recently had the perfect excuse(s) to do so. Firstly, my dad was celebrating his 70th birthday this year, and my sister and I decided that we wanted to throw a little celebration in his honour and invite friends and family from around the world to attend. Secondly, Deanna has never been further east than Quebec City, and it was high time that she experience a little Maritime hospitality and meet some more of the family. As a result, we booked a week off work in July and made our plans for a whirlwind driving tour of the area. Over 4,000km of driving in about 9 days! Lots of time sitting in the car, but also some quality time with friends and family. Check out a whole pile of pictures then head on back for a taste of what we did and what the highlights of each day was for us! We definitely wished we’d had more time down there, but with another vacation already booked in October, we just couldn’t spare the time.
Howdy all again. I’m going to have to try to write briefly this time, as I just noticed I’m down to 40 minutes of battery life, and on the islands, there certainly isn’t really reliable power, so I’ll cap off the rest of my day’s stories with the past 18 hours excitement. Once again, the sun is killing me out here, and re-applying every few hours is the norm to avoid the super-extreme Canuck burn! The highlight for the day has to be my introductory scuba dive, which I splurged the 120 FJD to do, having to actually dust off my credit card to pay for. Had it been cash-only, as most of the events are, I couldn’t have done it. I was not disappointed, and have now decided that I should definitely get PADI certified at some point, as the feeling is phenomenal. Read on…
