Emma's Adventures

After receiving my suoerannuation pay out from the Australian governement! I booked my travel back to Europe!

The plan is something like this Auckland to Singapore and then overland through Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam. Fly out from Bangkok to Beijing and then join a tour group with Intrepid to travel trough China to Hong Kong. Flying from Hong Kong to Delhi and then join a tour group from Delhi towards Mumbai. Allowing 3 months of travel ahead which will be super! Trying desperately to save some money for the rest of my travels as this will not be a cheap adventure i am planning.

Will start looking at the work options in Auckland that i could possibly do to earn quick cash.

Christian is our newest addition to 464 Manchester Street a graduate from outside Zurich and what turns out to be a good cook and a good conversationalist. I am enjoying having someone else around the house and i am waiting anxiously to see who our new flatmate will be joining the team.

Received an e-mail from the Canadian guy i hooked up with a few months ago which was nice was not expecting much contact with him so a pleasent suprise.

Met up with a couple of couchsurfers for coffee this week which was awesome they were from Ohio and Spain had a great day with them at the International Buskers Festival here in Christchurch and we checked out the late night comedy acts which were awesome. The festival runs throughout the next two weeks and is definately worth a visit.

Spent 4 fabulous days travelling around Lake Tekapo and Mt Cook National Park and what a wonderful time i had! Enjoyed tramping around both areas, when the sun was out and the clouds moved away to reveal Mt Cook in all its glory it was magnifique!

Was lucky enough to get industry discounts on a jet boat ride around lake tasman amongst all the icebergs and to actually get a close look at the glacier face which i must say was AWESOME!  Went on an argo for the first time in my like, it has eight wheels and the kiwis imported them from Canada! Bascially these things move on any kind of terrain you but them on! Even got to drive it which was sooo much fun! 

Walks i did: Glencoe River, Governers Bush, Hooker Valley, Red Tarns (my favourite), Mt John, half was up Mt Sebastapol, tasman lake, views from all were fab!

Mt Cook - Aroaki (which means cloud piercer in Maori) measures 3754 in height and was phenomenal to view! To get any where near this mountain you have to be an experienced climber i had the pleasure of talking to a couple of guys from Canada who attempted the peak on the same day i was there but had to return due to heavy snow. They stayed in the mountain hut for 6 days waiting for the weather to improve! thats determination right there!!!

I spent a couple of nights at the YHA in Tekapo and Mt Cook and it was better than i expected with a free sauna, fully equipped facilities including a guitar and a piano!  A real mixed crowd at the hostel and got chatting to some swiss, german, canadian, english, korean, and brazilian peeps! A couple of which will come and stay with me in Christchurch when they pass through :) couchsurfing.

Was really impressed i got to see a Thar on the mountains which is a Himalayan Mountain Goat and also Alpine Lillies which are only found in a few places in NZ!!

I would highly recommend this trip to everyone! But make sure you check out the weather before you visit as this could make or break the trip.

New Zealands weather constantly suprises me. One day we have 27degrees and beautiful sunshine and the next terrible down pours of non stop rain!!!  But i do feel for my friends and family on  what i call the white island otherwise known as home. The worst snowfall in 50 years amazing to see the pics.

This week have been trying to plan to go to my friends wedding in Beirut  Rana and James will marry in July but i think it will be too expensive for me to go there at a cost of roughly $2k from NZ and about 1.5from China. Sorry guys another time and another place.:) gutted to miss you all there!

But anyways looking for more adventures on this side of the globe for the moment. Visiting Tekapo and Mt Cook next week. Exciting prospects of a glacier walk, helicopter ride, boat on the lake!! Fingers are crossed for the good sun to hold out for these four days for me :)

Plan: decided to move to the north island when my contract finishes at the George and will speak to Ben, agent for prospects of more work in Auckland or even peeps from the George, think i will prefer the South Island but want to check out the north. Plus cheaper to fly from the North island to Asia anyways for my return journey homewards. 

Next Trip planning to visit Milford Sound and Stewart Island for some Kiwi bird spotting!!

Happy new year to everyone! Was weird thinking about being one of the first people in the world to celebrate the new year coming in 2010, oh about 12 hours before the UK :). New Zealand is such a great place to celebrate as well, the weather is beaming :)

My Perfect Plan for 2010:

* Travel, Travel, Travel and more travel as many adventures as i can squeeze into the year!
* Find a companion who would like to travel too......

Well thats theperfect plan anyways, who knows what exciting adventures ccould be in store. All i know is that i want to enjoy 2010 as much as possible.