Disaster(s)!

20Apr09

First and foremost, sorry for the wait of nearly a week, we are going from youth hostel to youth hostel, moving north (I’ll explain later). There isn’t always time and internet wherever we go.

Since I last updated, whale watching in Kaikoura was cancelled due to bad weather, my dad was in a car crash (he’s ok, but the car isn’t), and, as a result, he was ripped off to the tune of over $3,000. It will hopefully come back though. ‘Cos if it doesn’t we might sue them.

But, no worries, eh?

Onto the other news. First on the agenda is that nobody seems to know where we are. So here’s overview of our South Island expedition:

Sorry about the bad drawing. We stayed (and will stay) nights in:

Queenstown (4)
Te Anau
Clinton Hut (Milford Track)
Mintaro Hut (Milford Track)
Dumpling Hut (Milford Track)
Te Anau
Dunedin (2)
Christchurch (2)
Hanmer
Kaikoura
Picton
Wellington (2)
New Plymouth

Then back to Auckland. As I speak (type) we are in Wellington, about to stay our first night.

The whole trip folows a series of conferences in which my dad is taking part. The last night (New Plymouth) is the town in which he was born, quite a long time ago (just kidding, it was practically yesterday). It’s a bit of a return home, but I hope he doesn’t cry or do anything embarrasing.

Anyway.

We’ve done loads of stuff in this time, including seeing dolphin, albatross, penguin, and shark in the wild, and plenty of stuff in the aquarium earlier today. This was in fact quie fun. Here is the link: http://ecoworldnz.co.nz/index.php. Groovy. This is the building plan:

The best bit was the touch tank. Here you could pick up all sorts of starfish and stuff. I have found a slightly strange video, but it seems more professional than the others so far:

Yeah.

Anyway.

We have also played razy golf, and seen penguins in a colony at Dunedin, go to http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/index.html for more.

Here is the yellow eyed penguin:

They are the third-largest penguin in the world, but only live in New Zealand with an endangered population of 4000-5000.

The penguin reserve and another few are some of the only plaes in the world to see this dwindling species.

I could go on, but I can’t be bothered so go to the Wikipedia Page if you require any more information.

Another of the many things we have done is gone to Hanmer Springs. Here, you can elax in the hot pools, which is pretty much just what you want after  a week travelling.

Awesome.

Anyway, my time is coming to an end, so I must tell you when I will next be likely to blog: it’s in 5 or 6 day’s time, back in Auckland again.

See you l8r (see, I’m cool).

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