A little bit of R & R

Having already conquered a mountain this year, on 29th October it was time for my next challenge - the Auckland Marathon!!......Oh alright then Half Marathon!!??
I can't believe I'm about to say this but I really enjoyed it. I must confess we were all majorly nervous before hand (not sure why as it was only a little stroll...??), it was quite surreal though as the race started at 6.30am so we were up at about 4am to get to the start on time - surely there must be better things to do on a Sunday morning and hence why I'm looking so rough in the pre-race photo?? It was exciting though as you got to run over the Harbour Bridge which normally has no foot access so it was pretty cool. Coming off the bridge though and passing the 16km mark was where I hit the wall - the last 5km were so hard but I kept on running (all be it slowly) and finished in 2hours 20mins. As my good old mum once said "there are race horses and cart horses in this world, and you my girl are a cart horse" - that may be true but I'm still chuffed with my effort, although I was sooooo glad to be turning right to the finish as the marathoners were turning left to do another 21km!! - Stuart total respect to you! Maybe the full one next year........
Also finally made it to Eden Park to see a rugby game - some semi-cup final thing, Auckland V Wellington. Auckland lost but got to see some All Blacks, although if I'm honest without the black shirts on I didn't really have a clue who they were.......such a girl sometimes!

Hawkes Bay Holiday

For Heather's birthday the girls headed down to Napier for the weeked, stopping to see the Huka falls along the way. We'd planned a very civilised evening wine tour for the Friday night, in which we'd get picked up and taken to 3 different wineries and have a separate meal course at each. The evening started well and we were being on our best behaviour. Cheap bubbles in the bus on the way to number 2 kind of scuppered things though......within what seemed to be seconds we were all battered, singing karaoke and cackling like the group of old hags we are. To our shame we were not the only ones on the tour......poor Gary and Sue, a rather quiet English couple, out to celebrate Gary's birthday, well at least it was a memorable celebration??? Great night though, fantastic food and wine and guide all for about 50 quid.
Napier is a really fascinating place. The city was destroyed in 1931 by an earthquake and so was rebuilt during the heart of the Art Deco period and so it now has the title of the Art Deco capital of the world! (If you ignore Miami.......) The architecture is beautiful and it does feel as if you have stepped back in time. As a result of the earthquake the land in the surrounding area rose by several feet as well which transformed the area, enabling the vineyards to be planted which now dominate the area - see what I'm learning, now I know the history of the copious amounts of wine I've been pouring down my neck?!?

Bubbling Mud!!

Well no visit to New Zealand would be complete without a trip to see the bubbling mud in the thermal reserves at Hells Gate in Rotorua. This was back in August so despite the blue skies it was freezing - hence the layers and attractive hat! It was very cool though, like a landscape from a different planet, steam coming out of the earth, boiling sulpurus pools everywhere - bizarre.
A few weekends later I tried my luck at snowboarding......sadly there is no photographic evidence :o) apart from a distant spec of Mount Ruapehu in the background to the right of me and Linzi.
It was good fun but it's safe to say I sucked! And I have come to the conclusion that I actually like ski-ing! Not completed converted but seeing how bad I was at the other I'll stay with sticks and planks in the future.
The biggest adventure was actually on the journey down there when we had blow out - pretty scarey stuff. Fortunately the other girls I was with had a bit more savvy than me and actually know how to change a tyre so there wasn't complete panic and thankfully after about 45mins the lovely local pig hunters Tom and Josh stopped to help us, unlike the numerous other kind souls who would slow down, beep horns, wave and then drive off before we could beg for assistance.......not sure how impressed Tom and Josh were when the pom got her camera out but I'm a tourist - I need no invitation!

Rotorua Road Trip

The first of my North Island explorations was to Rotorua. We were there the same weekend of the World Mountian bike champs which was pretty cool - saw a bit of the action, can safely say I'll stick to being a spectator!
Tried my first extreme (well by my standards) activity on the Sky Swing - metal ball, winched high into the sky and then released so you swing through two big uprights. Given that I was terrified I think it's safe to say I'll be passing on bungee jumps or anything else.......
On the way we briefly stopped in Tirau - the corrugated iron capital of the world! Yes that is Heather and I next to a corrugated dog - you can also find a Shepherd, a mouse, a pukeko, an icecream, some flowers, the list goes on.......oh nearly forgot naturally there was a sheep as well! Don't ask me why as I have no idea!?

Awesome Auckland

Finally my blog is back in business!!!
So anyway I arrived in NZ back on 2nd August after a long journey from Singapore (including a brief stopover in Sydney - saw the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the plane, very exciting!).
After 3 months of glorious sunshine and permanently "glowing" it was a bit of a shock to the system to arrive to rain but at least I was welcomed by my lovely friend Heather who was there to pick me up from the airport.
First impressions of Auckland are all a bit of a blur due to a lack of sleep but I do recall finding it all slightly surreal.....it all seems very familiar (stage coach buses, Lloyds bank, rain etc) and yet at the same time very different.
Heather tried her best to show me a few of the sights on the first day.....did you know that Auckland is built on a volcanic field, approximately 50, not sure what a wise move that was but nobody seems too concerned!? She's pictured at the top of Mount Eden - great views of the city she assured me.....and on a clear day she might be right.
I've been living in Torbay for the last few months with Heather (plus cat - that peed on my bed!!!!!) and her friend Linzi - who is also lovely. I can't describe how nice it is to have a bed (minus cat pee) that feels like your own after 3 months of dorms and dodgy hotel rooms......the prospect of packing it all up again is slightly daunting but I'm sure once I start seeing all the new sights again I'll get back into it.......I hope!!
I've pretty much invaded Heather's life since I got here - her job has been to entertain me and so far she's done a grand job. We've had some great weekends away and she's been happy to drive me around and let me invite myself to any of her social outings.
She also led me indirectly to my job. After suggesting I check out their website on day 2 in the country, and being interviewed and offered on day3, I've been working at ASB Bank (great location - the tall building next to the SkyTower) pretty much from as soon as I got here. Sad as it may sound but on the whole I've really been enjoying it, the company is really nice and my managers think I'm doing a great job - well there's a novelty!! 4 more weeks to go so still time to stuff it up though........

Farewell to Asia

After my Borneo tour finished I stuck around for another week so that I could do some diving and headed out to a resort on Mabul near Sipidan - one of the best dive sites in the world apparently. Having now done a couple of dives off Sipidan I can concur that it is awesome. I saw sharks for the first time, reef and a leopard shark - very cool, loads of turtles, baracuda and allsorts of other fishies. THe diving and the resort were great (as you can see from me sampling the hospitality) but the dive company were well dodgy - loads of the equipment was faulty and having been told not to touch anything underwater it was kind of strange to see our dive leader holding onto coral and poking fish and turtles out of holes with his stick?? Not good - anyone interested don't go with Borneo Divers.
After Borneo I headed to Singapore for the finale of my Asian adventure. I had a brilliant time. I met up with Charmaine, another English girl, and we basically did the sights together. We arrived Saturday night and a few quiet drinks ended up been a night clubbing at Ministry of Sound. Over the next few days we did the tourist things of shopping, going to the zoo (really good - white bengal tigers and plastic kangaroos a particular favourite) and going to Raffles for the obligatory yummy Singapore Sling and then more cocktails at the Swiss Hotel - well you have to end in style don't you!

Bits of Borneo

You are all probably getting bored now.....but I shall continue. This is a brief insight into some of my other Borneo activities. The group shot was taken on our last night of the tour in Shenanigans - Borneo's premier nightspot! Although it would appear that we are the only people there the place was rammed. Much to my shame I somehow managed to be persuaded by Anna (on the left) to partake in a Shakira dancing competition with her......needless to say no amount of vodka could help me - we were officially hopeless but thankfully I don't believe there is any photographic evidence of it!!
The homestay provided a taster of authentic Bornean life, Grandma Teah was lovely and very hospitable and dinner (eaten with fingers, whilst sat on the floor) was delicious if slightly messy.
The night in the jungle was a lot of fun too, and the hammock was surprisingly comfy and probably more surprising seeing as I actually had tied it up - didn't fall down in the middle of the night!

Monkey Business

As you can see there was lots of monkey madness in Borneo. I did see some Proboscis and Macaques in the wild when we did our jungle stay but all my pictures were taken in sanctuarys where they live semi-wild. It's a protected environment where those animals that aren't as well adapted to life in the wild can come back to feeding platforms at certain times although aout 75% of them don't actually return, prefering instead to go back to living independently. The Orangutans have to have been my favourite, absolutely gorgeous and the main reason I wanted to go to Borneo in the first place. Sadly you aren't able to get any closer than this though which is probably just as well as I may have tried to steal one.
As mentioned the proboscis were weird ugly bugs but kind of cool - those who have received postcards will know that this picture is a censored version.....
Finally a little Silverleaf monkey and baby, which was really funny, he hadn't quite got his co-ordination sussed yet so spent most of the time falling over - amused me anyway.

Malaysia Flava

Here's a little taste of Malaysia, where I headed after forcing myself to leave Koh Tao. First up was the multi-cultural city of Penang, ,where I had to stay at the Olive Spring Hotel......along with it's infestation of bed bugs - nice! After there I headed to the Cameron Highlands for a spot of trekking and a "nice cup of tea".
I wish I'd allowed myself more time for Penisular Malaysia. Having viewed it really as just a route I had to take to get to Borneo and Singapore I was really pleasantly surprised and was impressed by every place I visited (.....all 3 of them!?).
Kuala Lumpur was the last stop and having seen how bad my wardrobe is when I look back at these pictures I now feel less guilty about the spending spree I had inside the Petronas Towers shopping centre - it was an absolute necessity!!

Koh Tao

Here we are at the laziest stage of my trip - weeks rest and relaxation on the beautiful island of Koh Tao. Lizzie (who I met on my Cambodia tour) and I met up again in Bangkok - here she is on the infamous Khoa San Road before we headed by bus and boat to Koh Tao. On arrival we were met by crystal clear warm water, pure white sand beaches and really cheap cool accomodation - can't beat a hammock now can you!.
Having got a taste for diving last year we both decided to do a few more courses - it's so much nicer when you can see further than the end of your arms and actually have something other than weeds and rubbish to look at! This is me with my instrutor Shauna (anyone who thought diving is glamourous can see from what a dork I look that it isn't!?). Shauna was lovely and I can thank for practically saving my life when I decided to experiment with breathing through your nose whilst not wearing a mask - It's not to be recommended and not a particularly pleasant experience!! Once I'd got over my near drowning episode the diving was excellent, with huge amounts of fish and other aquatic life to see......did I mention the whale shark to anyone - that is still up there as one of the best things the whole trip??
After a week or so of diving everyday Lizzie and I finally got to unwind and have a well deserved few drinkies and some nights out.