Photos of Rarotonga are now up on Flickr and I got three of New Zealand before I lost my camera! :)
xxx
Thursday 31 May 2007
Wednesday 30 May 2007
Sydney
Arrived in Sydney safe and sound last night. Been walking around the city a little bit today. Weather is lovely - sunny and not too hot. New Zealand was freezing so it's nice to get a bit of warmth again. Liking the vibe in Sydney so far although I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think it has to do with the fact that I'm aware that I'm going to have to start working again - noooo! But maybe I'll get something that I really enjoy. Fingers crossed.
Had a great week in New Zealand. Got to do my sky dive in the end! Scariest thing I've ever done. Hands down. Also went horse riding, rafting (which is fantastic and I can't wait to do it again), wine tasting (yum, yum) and got to ride in a helicopter :)
Lost my camera while horse riding. They found it again but it had been sitting in mud and water for two days so it's likely that it's totally banjaxed. Don't know yet though because they didn't get it out to me in time so the lovely people in the hostel are going to send it to me here during the week. Which sadly means that I won't have any Sydney photos up for a while. However, I do have some photos of Rarotonga that I burned onto a disc so I'll try and get them up soon.
Lots of love
xxx
Had a great week in New Zealand. Got to do my sky dive in the end! Scariest thing I've ever done. Hands down. Also went horse riding, rafting (which is fantastic and I can't wait to do it again), wine tasting (yum, yum) and got to ride in a helicopter :)
Lost my camera while horse riding. They found it again but it had been sitting in mud and water for two days so it's likely that it's totally banjaxed. Don't know yet though because they didn't get it out to me in time so the lovely people in the hostel are going to send it to me here during the week. Which sadly means that I won't have any Sydney photos up for a while. However, I do have some photos of Rarotonga that I burned onto a disc so I'll try and get them up soon.
Lots of love
xxx
Wednesday 23 May 2007
Rainy rain rain
Yep, it's raining again and my sky dive was cancelled :( I'm booked in for tomorrow morning though and I'm still on for white water rafting this afternoon so I won't be bored. Actually, it's lucky that the sky dive was cancelled because it turns out that I've been an hour behind for the last two days and actually arrived an hour late for it haha :) I got to the desk this morning and the girl was all looking at me like "um, ok..."
If you want to see my photos, my flickr account is www.flickr.com/photos/jennybourke however I'm not sure if you have to have your own account to view them... if you do then let me know and I'll change it so it's public.
Mwah!
If you want to see my photos, my flickr account is www.flickr.com/photos/jennybourke however I'm not sure if you have to have your own account to view them... if you do then let me know and I'll change it so it's public.
Mwah!
New Zealand
Arrived in Queenstown, which is on the South Island of New Zealand, yesterday. Was up at 4 in the morning, took 3 flights to get here and lost a day in the process (the mystery that is the international date line).
New Zealand is very pretty. I didn't have much in the way of expectations about this country so I've been pleasantly surprised. Queenstown particularly is lovely. It's right on a big lake and is surrounded by hills and mountains. The weather is fine. A bit chilly but sunny today.
The hostel is nice and clean and I'm sharing a room with two friendly London guys and a girl who I've never seen because she's been out early and back late.
For those of you who are interested, I'm 11 hours ahead of you now.
Going to book my activity stuff today - sky diving, horse riding, white water rafting, jet boating, day tour to Milford Sound. yay!
New Zealand is very pretty. I didn't have much in the way of expectations about this country so I've been pleasantly surprised. Queenstown particularly is lovely. It's right on a big lake and is surrounded by hills and mountains. The weather is fine. A bit chilly but sunny today.
The hostel is nice and clean and I'm sharing a room with two friendly London guys and a girl who I've never seen because she's been out early and back late.
For those of you who are interested, I'm 11 hours ahead of you now.
Going to book my activity stuff today - sky diving, horse riding, white water rafting, jet boating, day tour to Milford Sound. yay!
Sunday 20 May 2007
Mosquitoes, Rainforest and Sea Slugs
THE MOSQUITOES ARE EVERYWHERE!
I'm getting eaten alive by damn mozzies. Boo :(
The beginning of the week was difficult trying to settle in to the slower pace of life here. I also found out very quickly how little there is to do here. Really there is nothing to do. Nothing. I'm getting a lot of reading done though. And sleeping. I also met some lovely backpackers here and they're keeping me amused as well.
Yesterday I went on a cross-island walk. I'm not sure of the distance but it took about 3 hours of climbing through the rainforest to get to the other side. It was beautiful and I'm really glad I did it. It was very strenuous and also quite treacherous. Some of the path (and I use that term in the loosest way possible) was no more than a 10 inch wide shelf of mud and if you lost your footing you would have been straight down a hundred foot or more sheer drop. A lot of the path also invoved grabbing onto vegitation and pulling yourself up an extremely steep incline by stepping from tree root to tree root. At one part, there were just little footholds in a rock face that was on the other side of a river so you had to jump from a tiny slippery rock onto an almost flat rock surface and climb up to the jungle path. Scary!
Needless to say my muscles are aching badly today. I was considering going for a swim in the ocean to loosen them out but yesterday I discovered Sea Slugs: gross, gross, G.R.O.S.S. They're the most hideous thing I've ever seen. They're exactly like slugs except they're about 15 times the size (cucumber-sized) and they can camoflage themselves so that you've just stepped on one before you realised it was there. (You can imagine the squeals and screams and shuddering that followed that lovely incident). And they're not just randomly about every once in a while. They're ALL over the ocean floor. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Bleugh :(
Will probably blog again from New Zealand - leaving for there on Monday.
Keep in touch everyone - email me with news and stuff!
Lots of love
xxxxx
I'm getting eaten alive by damn mozzies. Boo :(
The beginning of the week was difficult trying to settle in to the slower pace of life here. I also found out very quickly how little there is to do here. Really there is nothing to do. Nothing. I'm getting a lot of reading done though. And sleeping. I also met some lovely backpackers here and they're keeping me amused as well.
Yesterday I went on a cross-island walk. I'm not sure of the distance but it took about 3 hours of climbing through the rainforest to get to the other side. It was beautiful and I'm really glad I did it. It was very strenuous and also quite treacherous. Some of the path (and I use that term in the loosest way possible) was no more than a 10 inch wide shelf of mud and if you lost your footing you would have been straight down a hundred foot or more sheer drop. A lot of the path also invoved grabbing onto vegitation and pulling yourself up an extremely steep incline by stepping from tree root to tree root. At one part, there were just little footholds in a rock face that was on the other side of a river so you had to jump from a tiny slippery rock onto an almost flat rock surface and climb up to the jungle path. Scary!
Needless to say my muscles are aching badly today. I was considering going for a swim in the ocean to loosen them out but yesterday I discovered Sea Slugs: gross, gross, G.R.O.S.S. They're the most hideous thing I've ever seen. They're exactly like slugs except they're about 15 times the size (cucumber-sized) and they can camoflage themselves so that you've just stepped on one before you realised it was there. (You can imagine the squeals and screams and shuddering that followed that lovely incident). And they're not just randomly about every once in a while. They're ALL over the ocean floor. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Bleugh :(
Will probably blog again from New Zealand - leaving for there on Monday.
Keep in touch everyone - email me with news and stuff!
Lots of love
xxxxx
Monday 14 May 2007
Rarotonga
Just arrived in Rarotonga this morning. It's absolutely beautiful so I'll be taking lots of photos. Sadly, I'm not contactable by phone here. My US mobile is now officially defunct and my Irish one doesn't get coverage here so it will be email all the way for my time here.
I'm really sad to have left the US. I had such a fantastic time and it's a wonderful country. It's also just really disorientating to be in a completely new place. However, onwards and upwards.
My first impression of Raro is that it fits into the very stereotypical idea that I had of a tropical pacific Island: sleepy, laid back, not very urbanised, beautiful beaches, lush tropical forest inland, palm trees surrounding the hostel. I'm staying right on the beach - there are sliding doors in my room that lead straight onto a deck over the ocean :) I got here just at dawn and saw the sun rise over the lagoon. It was spectacular but unfortunately I was really spaced after the 9 and 1/2 hour flight and don't think I appreciated it enough!
I reckon I'm going to find it difficult to be on my own again after 3 and 1/2 weeks of company. But it will be good for me - toughen me up again! And I'm sure I'll meet some nice new people too.
Will keep you posted.
Lots of love
xxxxx
I'm really sad to have left the US. I had such a fantastic time and it's a wonderful country. It's also just really disorientating to be in a completely new place. However, onwards and upwards.
My first impression of Raro is that it fits into the very stereotypical idea that I had of a tropical pacific Island: sleepy, laid back, not very urbanised, beautiful beaches, lush tropical forest inland, palm trees surrounding the hostel. I'm staying right on the beach - there are sliding doors in my room that lead straight onto a deck over the ocean :) I got here just at dawn and saw the sun rise over the lagoon. It was spectacular but unfortunately I was really spaced after the 9 and 1/2 hour flight and don't think I appreciated it enough!
I reckon I'm going to find it difficult to be on my own again after 3 and 1/2 weeks of company. But it will be good for me - toughen me up again! And I'm sure I'll meet some nice new people too.
Will keep you posted.
Lots of love
xxxxx
Sunday 6 May 2007
Back in San Fran
See, now I've left it so long it's going to be really difficult to tell you all what's been happening.
I've become really lazy with the whole keeping in touch and up to date thing. Last couple of weeks in a few sentences:
Went to San Francisco. Loved it.
Went to LA. Loved it slightly less but still had a great time. Edwina was there with me so that made it good :)
The Coachella Music Fest was amazing. The heat nearly killed me but we got to see RAGE and KINGS OF LEON. WOO!
Extended my flights by a week so I could come back to San Francisco and am going to be really sad to leave. I'm having so much fun here. It's definitely the most beautiful city I've been to. But Rarotonga is next on the list and I know it will be great too.
Gotta go. Going to a street fair on Howard Street called the How Weird Street fair. It's going to be a good day :)
Love you all loads
xxxxxx
I've become really lazy with the whole keeping in touch and up to date thing. Last couple of weeks in a few sentences:
Went to San Francisco. Loved it.
Went to LA. Loved it slightly less but still had a great time. Edwina was there with me so that made it good :)
The Coachella Music Fest was amazing. The heat nearly killed me but we got to see RAGE and KINGS OF LEON. WOO!
Extended my flights by a week so I could come back to San Francisco and am going to be really sad to leave. I'm having so much fun here. It's definitely the most beautiful city I've been to. But Rarotonga is next on the list and I know it will be great too.
Gotta go. Going to a street fair on Howard Street called the How Weird Street fair. It's going to be a good day :)
Love you all loads
xxxxxx
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