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Matt Ward's Travel-Log!
 


There is an amazing 310 travel-log entries on 16 page(s) and your are on page number 5


Travel-log entry by Matt on 04 April 2006 at 08:40
Day 280 (4th April 2006)
I left Paihia today and decided to drive over to the western coast of northland to go and look at some massive trees. They were massive too! 2000 year old Kauri trees, one of which has a girth of over 16m around it's trunk, these things are enormous! In fact I saw today the largest and second largest trees in NZ. I then drove back along the coast and back across to Whangarei, I maybe heading towards Auckland tomorrow.
Matt is currently in Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 04 April 2006 at 08:38
Day 279 (3rd April 2006)
Today I did the "Day in the bay" which was a cruise around all the islands in the bay of islands and also a chance to swim with dolphins. Although very brief it was pretty cool being so close to them. I got a little sunburnt and my face was glowing red in the evening - oops!
Matt is currently in Paihia, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 02 April 2006 at 06:06
Day 278 (2nd April 2006)
I left to go to Paihia today. Paihia is the launching point for the Bay of Islands. I have booked myself onto an all day cruise tomorrow that cruises around all the islands and also gives the option of swimming with dolphins, should be fun..
Matt is currently in Paihia, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 02 April 2006 at 06:04
Day 277 (1st April 2006)
Today I drove from Whangarei all the way up to the very top of NZ to a place called Cape Reinga. The drive is long but at the very end is a lighthouse and it is the most northern point you can access in NZ. At this very point it is where the Tasmin sea meets the Pacific ocean and where the two seas meet there can be big waves of up to 10m. You can see the waves from where the two seas meet from the lighthouse, it's kind of strange. I also checked out the big sand dunes that are close by and they are pretty big. I looked at 90 mile beach and was thinking of driving along it but I was not sure of the tides so I decided against it. If you time it wrong and the tide comes in your ended. I stayed the night in a small little place just outside Kaitaia.
Matt is currently in Cape Reinga, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 31 March 2006 at 23:08
Day 276 (31st March 2006)
I drove for a long time today, first it was to Coromandel where I has a quick look around and then onto Thames where I had some lunch. It was then a long drive heading up past Auckland on SH1 and continuing up until Whangarei which is basically the biggest town in the Northland district. I got there quite late so I had to put up the tent quickly before it got dark. I am moving on up to the Bay of Islands tomorrow.
Matt is currently in Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 31 March 2006 at 23:05
Day 275 (30th March 2006)
I was up nice and early, first mission today was to climb Mt Maunganui. It took me around 40 mins to get to the summit which is 242m ASL. From the top there are amazing views across the town and beaches. When I got back down I packed up the tent and stuff and headed out. First of all to do some Blokarting. A Blokart is basically a go-kart with a big sail attached to it and you can race around a track using the wind to make you go faster. It was really good fun, more wind = more speed! Then I drove for quite a while before arriving at Hot Water Beach at Hehei. At this beach you can dig a hole in the sand and the water that fills up in the hole is very hot, that is because it is actually located on an active thermal area. Next I went to check out Cathedral cove which involved a 45 min walk. I spent the night at Whitianga, this place is a really quiet town and there is not much happening here.
Matt is currently in Whitianga, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 31 March 2006 at 22:59
Day 274 (29th March 2006) - THE 9TH MONTH MARK
Left Rotorua today, my first stop was Matamata where I got on the 12pm guided tour to the Hobbiton film set from Lord of the Rings. The tour was really good, we got to see where it was all filmed. However most of the original set was destroyed after they finished filming as they wanted to keep the location a secret but the farmers that own the land asked for rights to start tours and it was eventually granted. After that I drove to Mount Maunganui were I got a camping spot right by the beach. Mt Maunganui is the holiday spot for many kiwis, many of them flock here for there 2 week holidays in the summer as the beaches are really nice and the weather is really good. It is also home to NZ's surfing population and there were guys out surfing when I arrived here....
Matt is currently in Matamata/Mt Maunganui, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 28 March 2006 at 07:00
Day 273 (28th March 2006)
Today I went to check out the thermal and cultural area of Te Puia in Rotorua. There are a few geysers shooting out water to heights of around 20m. There are also a few mud pools to explore. I took the guided tour and the tour guide explained a bit about the maori culture, the houses, weapons, hangi food and there was also a free concert at 1pm where there were maori performances of songs and dance and the infamous Haka or war dance. Tomorrow I leave to go to a place called Matamata for a lord of the rings tour of the Hobbiton film set.
Matt is currently in Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 27 March 2006 at 04:57
Day 272 (27th March 2006)
Today I did some white-water rafting with a company called Raftabout on the Kaituna river, which is a grade V river. The trip lasted around an hour (on the water) and we got to go over around 14 rapids and 2 waterfalls. The first one was 3m and the other was 7m! On the 7m one we flipped the raft and I ended up hanging on (for my life) to the upside-down raft, it was crazy but all good fun. I think I would like to do that again some time. In the afternoon I drove down to Zorb (www.zorb.co.nz) to do some zorbing. Zorbing was invented in NZ and it involves rolling down a hill in a big plastic bubble called "the zorb". I did the hydro-zig-zag zorb which involved rolling down a zig-zag hill with a bucket full of warm water chucked inside the zorb to add to the fun, it was a pretty good laugh. The zorbs are made in Rotorua and now exported to other countries around the world. The cost to make one is $12,000 NZ Dollars. I managed to do both activities today as part of a combo, so I saved a bit of money too. It's been a good day and lots of fun!!
Matt is currently in Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 27 March 2006 at 04:48
Day 271 (26th March 2006)
When I woke this morning and looked at the sky I was gutted, grey clouds again looking much like they were not jumping. When I phoned them though they said "yes we are jumping at the moment" so it looked on! I got down to Skydive Taupo at 1.30 exactly. I got kitted up again and it was on, the plane took us up to 12,000ft and we jumped! It was a really amazing experience and I have got a DVD and photos to prove it!! The adrenaline rush was unreal. In the plane on the way up I was a little nervous! It's great though as I have actually completed a skydive now, which was one of the things that to be honest scared the crap out of me. It actually turned out to be less scary than I expected, I think the Canyon Swing in Queenstown was actually a more scary experience, maybe it was the fact that I had to jump by myself. Anyway the skydive's now complete woo-hoo. I could now get out of Taupo at last, I drove the 1 hour trip from Taupo straight to Rotorua and got hooked up in the top 10 holiday park! Tomorrow some more fun activities!
Matt is currently in Taupo / Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 27 March 2006 at 04:43
Day 270 (25th March 2006)
Well I drove back to Taupo again to try and get this skydive done. I arrived back at about 2.30pm and I was booked in to do the jump at 4pm. When I phoned at 3.30pm to check if it was still on they said they were not jumping at all today because of strong winds - gutted. Again I am waiting around Taupo with nothing to do, I am re-booked in again for 1.30pm tomorrow, if I can't do it then I am gonna have to move on as my time is running out...
Matt is currently in Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 25 March 2006 at 02:34
Day 269 (24th March 2006)
Today I did the caving trip and it was absolutely brilliant. The trip was $99 and included a 30m abseil, some caving, black water rafting (floating along a sub-terrainian river on inner-tube) and also a rock climb back up to the surface. It lasted for 5 hours and there was only a small group of 6 of us. I really enjoyed the experience and we got to see loads of glow-worms inside the cave, they are really amazing it's like looking at the stars but inside a cave!!! At some points in the cave we got the chance to climb through really small gaps in the rock, at one of them I got a little stuck and it took me a while to get out but it's all good!! Back to Taupo tomorrow to try and get this bleedin' skydive done so I can move on!
Matt is currently in Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 25 March 2006 at 02:30
Day 268 (23rd March 2006)
I left Taupo today to drive to Waitomo. I figured that I would be able to do some caving regardless of what was happening with the weather. It took around 2 1/2 hours to get to Waitomo and when I arrived I booked myself in to do a caving trip tomorrow.
Matt is currently in Waitomo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 25 March 2006 at 02:28
Day 267 (22nd March 2006)
Today I played a waiting game, I was booked in for my tandem skydive at 1.30pm but when I got there the weather wasn't too good, it was pretty overcast and then it started raining so I was unable to do my skydive! Not good. I looked at the weather forecast for the next few days and they all said basically the same thing, that the weather was going to stay pretty much the same for the next 3 days. I have decided that tomorrow I am going to move on to somewhere else for a while and then come back here later!
Matt is currently in Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 21 March 2006 at 23:01
Day 266 (21st March 2006)
Today I headed up to regions around Taupo, the first I checked out were the Aratitia falls. There is a big dam there and they open the flood gates a few times a day and the water flows through. I then drove a little further to the Huka falls, I've seen more impressive things though. It was just like a channel in the rock with fast flowing water. The highlight of the day was probably "Craters of the Moon". This is a thermal area run by the department of conservation (DOC) and it's free entry! Inside there are many geysers which look like craters with steam blowing out of them. Some of them are small others are really big. It looks really impressive when you first walk into the area, there is steam being blown out from all over the place! There was also a big mud-pool with bubbling mud and steam. In the afternoon I decided to go and try out a geothermal mineral pool, this is like a spa with mineral water that is pumped directly out of the ground, nothing is added or taken out. The water itself contains many different minerals and it is believed by many to have "healing properties". After 45 mins in the pool though, I didn't really feel any different, in fact I felt worse! I came out with a headache which was probably caused by the sulphur smell of the water, anyway it was worth a go, you gotta try out these things....
Matt is currently in Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 20 March 2006 at 03:43
Day 265 (20th March 2006)
I drove the shortish drive (2 1/2 hours) from Napier to Taupo today. There is not a lot of things to see along the way apart from one lookout onto a waterfall type feature. I'm staying in Taupo for the next 3 days and I plan to visit a few things. There are a lot of thermal areas around the place and I want to check out some geysers (Oi geezer!), hot springs etc. so I am thinking of doing that tomorrow and then on Wednesday I am going to do my Skydive from 15,000ft, which I am really looking forward to! For the rest of today I am chilling out. Good to hear that Pompey FC have been winning a few games lately, hopefully we can stay up in the premiership if it continues like that.
Matt is currently in Taupo, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 20 March 2006 at 03:36
Day 264 (19th March 2006)
Today I went to visit the National Aquarium of New Zealand. It was actually quite a cool place, there were piranhas, giant turtles, sea-horses, sharks and loads of other interesting stuff. One of which was the kiwi-house. They have an artificially dark kiwi-house which houses two kiwis. I had to go and see them seeing as the kiwi is the national emblem of NZ. They are strange flightless birds with their nostrils at the end of their beaks. They probe around in the ground looking for food like worms etc. strange creatures. There is not much else to do in Napier apart from looking at the art-deco buildings but that's not really my thing, so I went down to the beach and read a book for a while. I'm leaving tomorrow for Taupo, glad I've seen some kiwis so it was worth coming to Napier just for that I guess!
Matt is currently in Napier, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 18 March 2006 at 07:20
Day 263 (18th March 2006)
Was up and at em' at 9 this morning, grabbed some brekky and jumped in the car. Had to fill up first and then it was back on the road. I drove for just over 2 hours before arriving in Palmerston North where I had a brief drive around and then it was another 2 hours drive to get to Napier. I arrived here quite late so I decided not to do anything for the rest of the day apart from do some mundane laundry. Tomorrow I am going to check out the town and probably go to the aquarium.
Matt is currently in Napier, North Island, New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 18 March 2006 at 07:17
Day 262 (17th March 2006)
Today I went to check out the Mount Victoria lookout where you can get great views across the city. In the evening I went up on the cable car again to the botanical gardens and did some stargazing at the Carter Observatory. I saw saturn, the moon, the orion nebula and a few other stars through the telescopes, it was pretty cool. Tomorrow I am leaving to head north to Napier.
Matt is currently in Wellington, Nortth Island,New Zealand

Travel-log entry by Matt on 17 March 2006 at 03:13
Day 261 (16th March 2006)
I was up really early this morning so that I could catch the ferry across the Cook Straight from Picton (South Island) to Wellington (North Island). I had to check in at the ferry terminal at 7am for departure at 8. The trip across the sea takes a total of 3 1/2 hours and you are actually travelling from west to east and not from south to north as you would imagone! I rolled off the ferry at around 11.45am and went to get some lunch. I then went to check out the national museum called Te Papa. It's a really big place and you could spend a few days just in there if you wanted to read everything and see everything on display. I spent a couple of hours trying to learn a bit about the Maori culture and the history of NZ. I then went for a walk around the city, it's a pretty nice place but have to say that for me it's just another big city. I've seen enough of these big cities now so I don't think I will be staying too long here, maybe just 1 more day. I also rode the cable car up to the top of a hill where the botanical gardens and observatory are located. I wanted to do some stargazing but they were fully booked so I put my name down for tomorrow night. Next place I am going to be heading is Napier, I'm not sure if there is much to do there but it is on-route to Taupo.
Matt is currently in Wellington, Nortth Island, New Zealand

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