From working with Electric 6 to working at Fat face.
from jumping out of planes to striding around Birmingham 2005 will remain one of my all time greatest years EVER.
Have a fantastic New Year and keep in touch.
Here are those podcasts I promised for you. H
ave a listen! http://www.ourmedia.org/user/42545 Toodles
Well my last trip out of Auckland before I return was a well earned trip to Orewa with Chris and Becs to visit there charming friend Marty.
A lovely time was had by all as we consumed a delicious curry and went down the pub... The day before I had the opportunity to take part in a backpackers darts competition alongside 15 other highly trained individuals.... for those of you who have had the pleasure of playing darts against me you will realise that this is not where my talents reside.... but putting my lack of skills aside I was more than happy to come 5th overall and to win a 2 litre jug of export gold... it's quite sad - but for the last half hour I have been trying to sort out some work for when I get home to sort out the credit card issue so I expect I'll catch up with most of you at the weekend if all goes to plan. Looking forward to another few days on a plane - let's see if I can complete F Zero this time!!!
Thanks for reading this journal.
This is Ashley signing out from New Zealand for 2005.
Today I shall mainly be contemplating whether to spend the last of my money getting my photos developed over here where it's cheap(ish) - I'm looking at $160 to develop my films.... 65 squid in sterling.
Other than that I have been teaching guitar to a very nice bloke from Chicago (hopefully in exchange for a pint later on - fingers crossed) and I've eaten the last of my vegemite.... so a trip to the supermarket looks enevitable. The problem is I walk in the shop of dreams with just a short list of essentials and tend to emerge carrying far more than I need.... that I then try to tie to the back of my rucksack (tip - do not tie eggs to the back of your rucksack and proceed to squeeze into a crowded elevator). see you all soon.... glastonbury awaits....
Head out on the highway!
Hello, Just got back to Auckland after a few legendary days. Since leaving Piahia and the lovely Beach (where they filmed Endless Summer - did I mention that?!?) Nick and I drove on Ninety-mile beach (yes actually on the beach) it was great fun sitting in this little VW Golf zooming up the beach - the highlight of that adventure came when we realised after about 60Km that the only way off the beach was to drive up this little river/creek and then through the sand dunes.... we made it utilising a constant optimism in the face of 2 foot drops and deep river bits.... Then we headed on to one of the forrest national parks where (after arriving late and in total darkness) we managed to find the log cabin I had booked and get some well earned sleep!!! The cabin was another highlight being, and I quote, 'spacious but very spartan' now that I have fully come to realise how spartan a cabin can be I am grateful for my seemingly luxurious dorm room back in Auckland. Last night Chris and Becs, Nick and I all went out to the harbour bars in Auckland and had a great time strutting our moves to the sounds of the Vengaboys and Ricky Martin - It felt like we had gone back in time to school discos in '97! Anyway have to go for a shop to get my supplies to last me the next two weeks on a silly amount of cash!!! Watch this space for the 'Support Ashley' charity campaign.
See you all soon.... Bye!
Hello
Sorry I've been a bit lazy with e-mails, texts and this journal over the last few weeks everyone!
I'm in Paihia at the moment, got here 2 days ago from Auckland where I stayed for a day from Taupo where I.... yes.... JUMPED OUT OF A PLANE... avec a parachute... fun fun fun (there we are... now you're all up-to-date). Paihia is gorgeous, staying right on the beach and they don't call this 'the winterless north' for nothing!! finally might be able to regain some of the tan I've lost over the last month!!! Have met a thoroughly nice chap called Nick who is letting me tag along to ninety-mile beach tonight and then on to Cape Reinga (the most north tip of NZ) tomorrow or possibly friday (I've lost track) anyways that'll be great fun fun fun! Planning on hitting the west coast at the weekend and splashing around in the (rather chilly) water with a newly aquired (5$) bodyboard... just hope I bump into some more friendly dolphins. Now I've started to realise that I've missed out lots of things in this journal through the last few months and as such would like a re-cap of the important events.... Am currently 4 times mini-golf champion, fell in the sea in Napier, massive road trip with Blair to taupo, rotorua, whakatane... um... lots of walks and waterfalls, paddled around in the sea, and have had a few more BBQs.... that's about it for the last 2 weeks but it's not a bad amount! I'm pretty sure I'm starting to babble now so I think it's time for me to go and sunbath -
I hope the Uk is hot enough so you are all catching a tan too. Take care!!
Hello,
I'm in Napier... arrived here from Taupo a few days ago with Chris and Becs. We hired a car and split the costs three ways. Napier is a really nice place with a quiet little high street and lots of nice places to eat and chill. The most impressive hting is the sea... as we are on the east coast the waves have been the most impressive i've ever seen and they have reached such a strength that the beaches are currently closed. As such you might think that trying to get as close to the sea as it well let you, in between waves to try and comprehend their size, would be a very foolish idea.... and as such an hour later I strolled back to the hostel in soaking wet clothes head to toe!! Three games of mini-golf in a week and I have yet to lose the title with a personal best of 43 on the Napier 18 hole mini golf course... skillo!!
Take care. toodles
Hello to those who read this,
I'm back in Taupo - over the last 4 days I've come from Taupo stayed two nights in Whakatane then to Rotorua yesterday and back to Taupo this afternoon - it's been a great few days in the car, thankfully not in another bus. Blaire is heading back to Welly tomorrow and i'm catching up with Chris and Becky to hire a car and head to Napier and Hastings for 5 days. Then I guess it'll be back to plan A and heading back up to Auckland slowly slowly.
I'm at the counting dollars and cents carefully stage but it's all good. By the time i get back to AKL I'll have pretty much visited every town and city on the north island...
Having sampled the delights I can only conclude that all of you should definately come and visit this lovely country.... it's great!
slight change of plans... my friend Baz bought a car yesterday - so hitched a life - Am in Taupo today - Whakatane tomorrow - Rotorua? - Napier?.... who knows - after 2 weeks in Wellington it seems i'm ready to be back on the road every day again!
i'll keep you posted from wherever I land.
toodlepip
Hello,
Well I guess it's just about time for me to update this lovely site. I am still in Wellington and plan not to leave until Monday (ridiculously early in the morning!) when I will head to Taupo before starting road trip 2 (with Chris and Beccy) to the East Coast(ish). There's been plenty happening in and around Wellington over the last week and it's been fantastic... possibly due to the 2 high pressures that have floated over the north island bringing a week (and hopefully more) of beautiful sunshine. [bviously there have been no hurricanes other than the Wellington Super 12 Rugby team.] There have been a few epic nights out (much of which will go down as legend), there have been a few beach moments and long walks, there was the soccer match on saturday in which the team (Wellington obviously) that I was supporting fell to an embarrasing 5-0 defeat. Had a BBQ last night - then headed inside for a few hours of card games.... it has been great fun over the last week or so but unfortunately nothing crazy has happened to tell you guys.
I'm sure there will be soon....
Take care.
Hello,
Andrew - (neen's friend) - and his flat mates
Maura and Basil
Andrew (Dome) and Mariana
David and Tina
Jaime
Blaire (Baz)
For the last 5 days I've been in Wellington and have spent time with all these people. I've stayed at Maura and Basil's beautiful house in Whitby and had delicious home-cooked food... I stayed at Andrew's (neen's friend) house and went out for the night with his flat mates (my pool skills seriously need working on).... Jaime I spent two days with and have never had so much fun.... Blaire (Baz) is the laziest, funniest scot in the world. Today I went to the beach and to a car museum with Basil. Tomorrow I'm going to Te Papa museum and to David's for some food. That's as far as I have planned...
Wellington rocks!!
Hello.... I'm in Wellington, or Welly as it is affectionately known.
The ferry trip back was so much more fun than before... I was feeling top of the world it was gloriously sunny and my mp3 player had more battery power... so I sat outside in the coffee shop bit and listened to the Mull Historical Society, ate sandwiches and drank cans of coke (with a straw). Then when we got into Wellington I checked in at the YHA and a guy in my room, Blaine, had his lap top so we had a good old DVD session.... This is Spinal Tap, Shaun of the Dead, Redemption (guess which 2 I chose). Then just when I thought it wouldn't get any better one of the girls in the dorm, Anna, brought out her flute and we attempted to improvise our way through a collection of rocking guitar and flute tracks... lets see we attempted most red hot chillis tracks and some jeff buckley and some disney songs..... 'under the sea, under the sea...' This morning I went down to Mr Bun's Cafe and had scrambled egg on toast with a carton of orange juice before sauntering into this delightful internet cafe.
that's the story of the last two days... night night.
Hello!
I'm in Kaikoura (check spelling) basking in the glorious sunshine and taking a day out purely to wash the contents of my increasingly heavy backpack. I arrived yesterday on the bus and went.... Whale watching... I was incredibly excited and could hardly sit still. We motored out of harbour at a very fast speed (30 knots from recollection)... soon enough we found two lovely sperm whales resting on the surface. The guide with the microphone was hilariously funny and very informative.
My sightings -
4 whales
1 blue shark
3 wandering albatrosses
and apparently between 200 - 250 dolphins
the dolpins would have made even the grumpiest person smile with their crazy antics jumping alongside the boat and doing flips in the air (show-offs!) then in the evening most of the bus crew from that day went to have a delicious roast in a converted beach house... ended up back in the hostel playing connect 4 (i am the current unbeaten champion) and debating on whether or not The Evil Dead 2 was actually a good film. Am heading to Wellington either tomorrow or sometime next week... slight dilema about whether or not to wait around for the group of lovely people I travelled with in the north island who are slowly catching up (can currently be found in Christchurch).
will write again soon with, no doubt, more antics...
Heathrow Airport.....
April fools! No I'm (somewhat predictably) still in Christchurch taking in the mounting excitement for the annual bike race tomorrow... a kind of 'mountain stage - tour de france' apparently. Was thinking of taking part but forgot my bicycle.... again. Anyway Glastonbury tickets released on Sunday... hope you're all excited and ready to spend 6 hours on the phone... Yesterday.... yesterday I went to an Art gallery... look at me Mr Culture... and peered (rather sceptically) at a German modern art exhibition linking live performance with something or other... it was very amusing to (me) those of us that don't quite latch on to whats going on - some melted furniture.... a tv screen showing a mans face whilst he slept (on an hour loop).... a bucket of sand (one of my personal faves).... a giant size vegetable strainer.... oh the wonders of modern art. went out last night for a leaving drink with Rachel and Charlie who will very soon be flying to Melbourne for the second leg of their adventure... Beccy and Chris have arrived in Christchurch and so i might catch up with them later... kittie is around and about somewhere or other... the danes are cruising into town today, i think, if they can find a dorm room (the towns pretty busy due to the cycling fun)... so it should be a lively few days here!! am heading further north on monday - hurrah so look forward to less wittering and the chance of me having had more exciting adventures...
until next time...
cheerio.
Still in Christchurch....
went to a pub quiz last night with Rachel and Charlie - the prizes were awarded to 1st,2nd and 2nd to last - we strategically (spelling?!?) planned to get the $25 bar tab for 2nd to last and do you know what???? last place got 15/30 - 3rd to last place got 17/30 and YES we scored a huge 16/30 - hurrah! As the quiz anouncer so carefully put it - 'yes failure can pay dividends' Anyway it's another slightly overcast day and everyone's moved on again but I met a lovely lass called Kittie who is currently at a job interview so i think i'll go and get the champagne or the tissues and meet her for a coffee in one of the 3.6 billion starbucks in this city. (that was a long sentence)
have fun!
Hello everyone!!
Sounds like the weather is getting nicer back home (it's a bit chilly here today) - I'm in Queenstown which is most definately the largest drain on funding in the world - everything is more expensive from dorms to food... but on the other hand it is renowned as Party Capital' of NZ and lives up to its reputation very well!! I've been here for 4 days although yesterday was a road trip but i'll come back to that in a sec. First things first (no really). I left Franz Josef and went to Wanaka which is a lovely little town further south than Franz which doesn't have a huge amount to do but is very pictoresque.... we stayed in a really cool hotel which had 4 bed dorms (a novelty form the usual 8 or 12) with en suites..... and get this..... the en suites had baths - hurrah!! - after a month of showers it was amazing how much more revitalising an hour in the bath was.... Anyway moving away from my washing regime - we then headed even further south to Queenstown stopping at 'puzzle world' on the way - http://www.puzzlingworld.co.nz/ - one of the coolest places we've stopped at (second to Bushman Pete's Centre).... after finishing the maze in... yes... 20 minutes (thanks to Mo on that one for training me up at hampshire mega maze and Chris for turning it into a race).... we carried on to Queenie and had a lovely dip in the lake (now I know the meaning of freezing). That night and every night has run as follows (occasionally there have been variations on the theme): Red Rock Bar - Altitude bar - Buffalo's - World Bar.... and due to this I woke up today at around 2ish... More Exciting News!!! - sorry this is a long entry (and probably not very coherent). Yesterday - after a few days in Queenie my friend Neen and I decided to hire a car and have ourselves a road trip to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is recognised as having the most spectacular sights in New Zealand and I would agree (even to sceptical Ashley who was starting to lose interest in yet another mountain) the drive was great fun an early start with long winding routes accompanied by my mp3 player running through the radio (a minor detail you may think, but there's something to be said for listening to rock music whilst cruising down a seemingly endless road!!) When we arrived we hopped (almost literally) on to a cruise boat for a 2 hour cruise through the fjord... we saw waterfalls and snow and seals and more waterfalls - I loved it.
Anyway I'll tear myself away from this journal for now.
Take care
Hello Everyone,
I'm in Franz Josef - a lovely little town which lies, pretty much, at the foot of some big fat mountains with a huge glacier running (well crawling really slowly) between them - the franz josef glacier is one of three that run down into rain forrest areas in the world. Now you can walk to the foot of the glacier (the half day walk) walk up to the first flat bit (the full day walk) or, like me, jump in a helicopter (a-team style) and fly to about 2/3 up before hiking around these crazy ravines and caves... it's super fun and you get to wear clip on spikes on your boots and use an ice pick - simple things really amused me yesterday (i.e. it's not cold up there in all this ice - mad!!!) anyway by the time we flew back down the whole gang was pretty knackered and as such myself, chris and beccy decided to jump in the hot spa at our lodge... ah memories... well it's not that hard to remember being in the spa as i just got back out again 15mins ago - you can never have too much of a good thing....
st patricks day today so I'm planning to put my last sentence to the test....
take care everyone!
Hey hey!!
I'm feeling better - not 100% - but nearly there... Have just arrived in Franz Josef, home to one of the three glaciers that descend into rain forrests in the world. It's a very cool (well very hot currently) place. Today has been amusing - the bus driver took it upon himself to play practical jokes on yours truly - I was 'lucky' enough to be chosen to face off and feed a ridiculously large pig at a deer farm today - then get pushed to the edge of a pond full of 'friendly' fish followed by managing to fall for the 'being interested in the weta insect' trick - which involved looking into a little tank for bugs being told to push the light switch to see them and, of course, activating a high speed jet of water onto my, by now, nervous wreck of a frame. oh you kiwis!!! ho ho ho anyways - walked up to some rocks and saw the glacier from a distance - pretty spectacular - hve splashed out for a heli-hike tomorrow - (not a walk in the park apparently.... lucky it's not called the heli-park-walk then) i have to wear those funny spikey shoes (how technnical) etc... so should be fun fun fun.. also failed to mention earlier that last night we stayed at Mahinapua and had the ''kiwi experience fancy dress party!!" accompanied with a lovely roast meal!! the theme was 'P' and i went as a 'punk' as I enjoy destroying my clothes and generally ruining my otherwise sophisticated appearance.
speak soon - take care
lost track of all time....
Hello all, I'm in the South Island and I'm ill...
I have a fever, sore throat and a headache in fact all of me aches - not fun... anyway just spent 25 hours in bed - super fun - and now i think i'll return to my wonderful bed as I'm on the bus again tomorrow at 7am!!! *addition* so that message was sent from westport - where i went to watch the sunset the next day but had difficulty in finding the beach..... before that i had taken the ferry from wellington to nelson - that's where i collapsed for several days - just in case you were wondering what had happened!!!
09/03/05 - (yes - I actually know the date today!!!)
Getting to be dull as dishwater here - which, to be perfectly honest, is all I see at the moment - Had to get in the kitchen for 7:30 this morning to politely serve people lovely breakfasts (it shows i can be a morning person - just not everyday... 'GET IT YOURSELF') Anyway I'm heading on to Wellington now and the straight through to Nelson on the boat so I can catch up with the guys I was with before working at the Valley.... should be good to find them again - planning to go canoing in a couple of days with a danish guy called Jeppe - hurrah!! Anyway I've got a thumping headache at the moment so I need to go in search of cold water not dishwater.....
HeyHey
I've got myself some delightful work in the wonderful River Valley home to rafting, horse treks and de de de de de de golf. I'm afraid there's no reception for my phone in this valley (shock) so no texts for me for a bit!!! will be working here (cleaning and chopping up wood etc..) for a week or so. will write again soon -
lunch shift now d'oh!!!
sweet as!
hello everyone!
i've got a mobile so you can text me and i can send lil pics out - my number is 0064211497367 am in taupo, heading to river valley tomorrow - lots of scenic walks and hikes and climbs and the likes.... cooked a meal for the bus yesterday (i amaze myself sometimes) created a delicious (even if i do say so myself) mexican with sweet chilli chicken fillets, stir-fryed vegetables, wraps, pasta with a tomato, salsa and tobasco sauce.... it's all good!! my thanks go to bruv adam (the mexican king) on that one. not a great deal to fill you in on - went to the beach last night, had a swim and a few beers with the kiwi bus crew... got up late today and went shopping.... got myself a lovely leather cowboy hat which is doing wonders at preventing my neck from getting burn further. will write more later,
take care
I think it could be the 1st of march/2005 Kia Ora! The title really says it all - from Whitianga to Rotorua to Waitomo (which is where I am now sitting) in Rotorua I did all the Mauri stuff - evening meals with crazy dances and wandering around geysers in the day before learning the hakka... it's all been good fun! Last night was THE NIGHT even if i am biased - i arranged a bbq and cooked a lovely tuna (tobasco) pasta salad... i even made up a salad dressing (all thanks to the wonderful minty and smash!) must have cooked about 40 sausages for pretty much everyone i've gotten to know through the bus - i'm hanging on here now so they're leaving me behind... tus it became a 'last supper' of sorts - i dragged the stereo out of the kitchen and ran the old mp3 through it and got the frisbee and the guitar and.... and.... so much fun! At about 4am the group of 25 (or so) had dwindled to around 5 so after many crowd pleasing sing-alongs it was time to retire. It's going to be weird without mark and emma (two chiefs that have been great to spend time with) but we'll keep in touch so no worries mate. ooh the pub quiz - another of my brilliant ideas (*look at the size of his head) - 10 of us entered a pub quiz in rotorua and came third!!!! with winnings of $20 BUT the guy with our cash left immediately presuming that as we were tourists we would not come back the next week to chase him down (oh but I will, it's a matter of principal!!) well i'll have to finish this later - the old money's running out fast...
toodles
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