New Zealand - tomrendell
My trip to Auckland Feb 4th..to embark on a hiking and moutain biking adventure around both the North and South islands...kicking off Feb 10th

Auckland Avenue
Auckland, New Zealand
First day in Auckland was totally knackered from the jet lag; 4 hours time shift, plus a 6.5 hr night flight with little or no sleep! Screaming kids and Finding Nemo on the TV!
Anyway get in to Auckland and go straight into town, I didn’t want to fall asleep like I did in Hong Kong and mess up my sleep pattern for a week.
Spent the day I a walking around …really tired, bought some hiking boots for the trip and basically just wandered about in a daze…no change there then!
Me at one tree hill !
Mt Eden
The next day went out for a walk with Will a guy from the hostel I met the night before, did part of the coast to coast walk from Mt Eden to One Tree Hill then caught the bus back! Got great views from the top of these ancient Mauri sites and inactive volcano’s, weird to see them in the middle of a suburban area! But a pretty good day out!
One tree hill
Auckland
Tower at night
Reflections at night
Sky tower at night
at the waterfront...if only
Mauri carving....sky tower in background !
Harbour
Did a free bus tour laid on for the backpackers, got to climb the Harbor bridge for free which was ace, got some amazing views of the city, then it took us over the water to a part of Auckland called Davenport…had fish and chips…all good!
Went to go out for a beer with a guy from the tour but he reckoned he was too tired! What a feeble effort! So just wandered about on my own got some good night shots, then went back to the hostel with a couple of cans!
View from the harbour bridge
Windswept on the bridge
City of Sails
Sky Tower
The Harbour at night
The City at Night
Met up with James from My Coral Bay days earlier on my trip, went up the Sky tower got some more pictures, and chilled out got some great Vietnamese food in the market
The Auckland Harbour Bridge (that I climbed)
Me at the Sky tower
Auckland seems to rely on the Sky Tower for its source of identity; and without it its Skyline would be unrecognisable from a 1000 other cities.
Its really expensive to do anything in the city, alienating its self from the backpackers even though it’s the gateway to many of the tours the backpackers will embark on!
Food, drink and activates are unbelievably highly priced, bottled water more expensive than petrol, and food…pasta that cost 69c in Oz is $4 over here…I’m glad my trip has food included!
Auckland is nice, but that’s all it is, plus it lacks the cutting edge other major places either the style of London, the romance of Paris, or the magic of New York, I was left slightly disappointed with my first taste of New Zealand…close but no cigar!
Me & James at the top of the Sky Tower
Reflection of the sky tower
....Give me Huddersfield anyday !!
written by  tomrendell on February 4, 2007 from Auckland, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Bay of islands
Paihia, New Zealand
First day out of Auckland set off on the Flying Kiwi bus...We set of to the Bay of Islands in the north region know as North Land !
as we get on the bus I see to be the only bloke, the driver laughs and says "its you and the ladies this trip mate" Immediately I think cool ! but actually no that might be pretty annoying ! turns out we picked up two other guys round the corner who have girls names ! and confused the staff ! so it turns out to be 3 guys and about 10 girls ! that's more like it...some one to play beach football with !!
Bay of Islands Hills
Bay of islands...from a moving bike
Head up into Northland, and first bit of riding kicks in, dropped off a few Km from the campsite, three of us ride in to the campsite via a waterfall, round it not through it !
Just 8k today, to ease into it !!
Get to the campsite...pitch up...cook up some food ! and have a beer or two !
More of the bay of islands
Near our campsite !
The next day most of the gang had opted for a sailing trip, costing $125 I gave that a miss and took my bike out and did a massive ride, from our site down to the coast, took ht ebike on a ferry over to russell, rode down through the island, back on another ferry and back up to camp, about a 30k round trip...but very hilly, non stop up and down hills ! a lot of hard work ! but worth it for the downhill runs!
thats me driving !
Russell
Start to really see some of NZ's great scenery from the ride, shame it was a bit over cast, wont make for the greatest of pictures, very green and great looking down atythe water from up the top of the hills !
Beach at Russell...first capital of NZ
bay of islands harbour
Its a great start, really enjoying the trip !! great people too !
written by  tomrendell on February 10, 2007 from Paihia, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Sandboarding !
Opononi, New Zealand
The next day we set off to Opononi, and get there early about 10am, we shoot over the water on a speed boat, and go sand boarding which was awesome ! so cool to be bombing down the huge dunes on a body board and then flying into the water !
Quite a hike to the top but worth it for the ride down...this is becoming a trend in this place!!
Climb up....flydown
sandboarding...hitting the water !
Saw Tane Mahuta the largest tree in NZ...pretty cool forest, so green ! full of Kauri trees the same type as in Walpole in Oz.
Tene Mahuta - biggest tree in NZ !
Kauri Forrest
Camped at the beach in the afternoon, and went to a Thermal Pool water park, with some cool slides ! and a Hot tub with a movie screen !! stayed there all night swimming and messing about.
Us boys couldnt get enough of the Black hole water slide, and kept going back for more action ! shame I couldnt get any pictures of the place..
Awesome view the following morning over the sea
Good morning !
Sand boarding dunes
written by  tomrendell on February 12, 2007 from Opononi, New Zealand
from the travel blog: New Zealand

Hot Water Beach !
Coromandel, New Zealand
Drove back down into Auckland momentarily, to pick up some new people, 2 guys & 3 girls...
I was dropped off with some others and we rode a grand total of about 30Ks to camp, not before taking a couple of stop offs at Hot water beach and cathedral cove, before eventually free wheeling 2K down a hill almost directly into our campsite...again right by the beach !
The ride was excellent, great weather, blue skies and 25C warm sunshine !! started off on a hard uphill, but got some awesome views of what was to come further along the trip.
View from the bike ride
Hotwater beach was a great way to cool off, and I was right into the sea for a swim, and then flaked out for 20 mins before setting off again on the ride,
River at Hot Water beach
Hot Water beach
Cathedral cove...our last stop was amazing, probably the most stunning scenery I've seen on my trip so far, Its just a shame the pictures don't seem to do it justice, I just had to stand and soak it up for about an hour, as did the others I was with, Paddy and Chris!
Cathedral cove
the "cathedral "
sting ray bay
A great night at the camp, a curry and we sat around with some music on wityh a few beers looking up at the stars, and had a great time, although one too many tequilas made me feel pretty ropey when I woke up!
JP & John our guides
the gang at dinner
written by  tomrendell on February 13, 2007 from Coromandel, New Zealand

Rotorua
Rotorua, New Zealand
Morning view
Give us a wave JP !
Drive down to an cool beach, forget its name ! I'll look it up...
at the beach with Annis !
ganbg on the beach
Half way through the journey my hang over kicks in, last nights tequila kicks in and I feel shocking, feel like staying on the bus, but a bottle of powerade sorts me out and Im playing beach Football with Annis in minutes, he's an Morrocan ex professional footballer, so he's damn good! its ages since I kicked a ball, so glad we have one now !
Swam in the sea, best beach for swimming so far in NZ, went for a run with Aniss, Paddy, and Chris, did a mile down to the caves and back !
Had lunch then shot off to Rotorua, which stinks...no not like Grimsby...but because its a thermal area that has an volcano in the town, don't think its active, not sure my tent would withstand boiling lava !!
Whiratoa
Does it get any better than this ?
Everyone was lapping up the beach!
Olie
About to shoot off and ride the remaining distance about 20k to the campsite...tonight its a bush camp so no facilities at all !!
bye for now
written by  tomrendell on February 14, 2007 from Rotorua, New Zealand

Dive Dive Dive
Taupo, New Zealand
Today another busy day on the FK express...we were up early and off to see the Geothermal features at the Taupo volcanic zone, saw a bubbling mud pit, a geezer erupt 30 ft into the air...and all sorts...it stunk though...a bit like Rory’s room in the flat!
Bubbleing mud pits
what a Gezzer !
Later on we shot over to the River Rapids, saw the Hukafalls the water flowing through is around 220,000 litres per second. Its grade 6, so its incredibly dangerous, apparently some crazy white water kayakers tried to paddle it, and died in the process!
Me over the Rapids
Grade 6 Rapids
a few of us walked down the river to meet the bus, and shot over to the airfield for the SkyDiving!!
The River from Lake Taupo
Me, Lisa, Gus, Paddy, John, Aniss, Gina, Nina.
Which in short was the best thing ive ever done, everyone was bricking it as we were waiting, apart from me obviously, that is until they open the door at 12,000ft up thats over 4 km in the air!
Sky team Alpha
Sky Team Bravo
The view over the lake and the feeling was phenomenal, I can’t put it into words, so I wont even try!
Better check that !
Getting on board
The free fall from 12000ft to 5000 lasts 45 seconds then the canopy opens and your slow right down and cruise to the ground, my instructor was chatting to me the whole way down, I thought my eyes were going to pop out as my goggles began to slip off!!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
On the way down
That night we spent the night in cabins as we were up at the crack of dawn to head of on a epic hike...the Tongariro Crossing...one of National Geographics “top 10 one day walks” in the world!
written by  tomrendell on February 15, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Mt Doom
Taupo, New Zealand
The Tongariro Crossing is an 8 hr Hike taking you across and past Mt Ngauruhoe, Mt Ruapehu and Mt Tongariro known to the Lord of the Rings fans as Mt Doom and Mordoor, spectacular scenery! A real climb.
Me at the start !!
8 hours to go !
First thing ! 8 am !
Lisa and Julia on the way up
Was with the girls at the start, but they were far too slow, so I caught up to the lads and did most of the walk with Aniss and Paddy
"No your too close to the edge"
Just before I pushed Julia over the edge
Finished the trip in less than 6 hours!
Boys at the top
water feature !
The weather changes dramatically, nice & warm by mid morning, but by the time your at the top its Freezing!
Just keep on walking !
Mt Ngauruhoe...or Mt Doom to you LOTR geeks
Totally excellent day, and we had a great time doing the hike, or Tramp as they call it over here!
Got some great photos too !
Lake Taupo
Emerald Lakes
Paddy, Myself and Aniss...Mt "Doom"
Aniss and I, knackered !
is it going to blow ?
The view from Mt Ngauruhoe
written by  tomrendell on February 16, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Bushfire Fairytales
Kaikoura, New Zealand
Shot down to Wellington for the crossing over to the South Island spent the day here, chilled out, during the day then crossed over on the ferry !
Great views at sunset !
Top Deck
Sunset crossing
Spent the morning driving down to Kaikora, went to the beach, not as nice as the North Island beaches as beach was stoney, and the water was extremely cold, a shock from the warmer North Island...still warm sunshine and great views of the Alps if you spun around so not all bad!
The Beach !!
The Alps
Cycled the afternoon into the beachside campsite, did some Irish Gallic Football training with Paddy...that finished me off after our biking!
Football by the camp
Fire starters
Spent the evening on the beach with a campfire...!
Bushfire fairytales
Campfire
written by  tomrendell on February 18, 2007 from Kaikoura, New Zealand

Little Britain
Christchurch, New Zealand
Next day spun through to Chrichchurch which is the regional capital of Canterbury, New Zealand. It is the largest city in the South Island,
Nice little City, has a look of York, and is the most English of all the cities in NZ so far ! has a real student vibe too as the University had just kicked off for Fresher's week !!
Christchurch
the River
had a great afternoon after we left Christchurch I biked along with Paddy Aniss and a couple of others the 30k to our camp by the Rangitata river, with stunning views over the Alps !
Rangitata
while Biking tot he camp, we must have spooked some deer, as a heard of deer galloped over a small hill out of view then back into view as they came up the other side, amazing thing to see...think Jurassic Park... but we were the ones doing the chasing !
written by  tomrendell on February 19, 2007 from Christchurch, New Zealand

Pancakes & Rapids
Rangitata, New Zealand
To say this was a great day would be an understatement...it was amazing..one of the very best!
I woke up early doors, because of the white water rafting trip, around 6:45 and this was the view that I saw as I poked my sleepy head out of my tent !
Rangitata sunrise
Early Doors
Had breakfast, packed up my tent, and went up to the hut with the others to go Rafting !
They explained it was a two hour trip coasting down the river at first going through, grades 1-4 then climaxing with two grade 5 rapids, the highest grade rapids you can take people down on commercial trips !
Full speed!!
the trip was awesome, and we managed to stay afloat the entire trip, at one point we were seconds from being sucked into a grade 6 which would have meant certain "flippidge" and everyone going overboard !!
Riding the grade 5 rapids
Survived !!
We had seen grade 6 rapids at the Hukka falls the other day, and I love ferice water but I wouldn't have wanted to go though that on a boat !
after the trip down the river we went for a short hike around part of the Tekapo Lake, with amazing views of the Alps and the first look from long distance of Mt Cook...
All the gang hiking in Tekapo
Lake Tekapo
after the Hike, a few of us biked the rest of the way in to camp, as this was a bush camp and had no showers, so we dived into the lake when we got there to cool down!
Swimming in lake Pukaki !
The Alps (mt cook)
totally knackered, Rafting, Hiking, Biking and Swimming all in one day !
JP and his pancake !
pancakes!
we topped the day off with Pancakes, a cold beer and the best sunset I have ever seen.
The Southern Alps at sunset
Sunset at lake Pukaki
written by  tomrendell on February 20, 2007 from Rangitata, New Zealand

Mt Cook
Fairlie, New Zealand
This is the closest my map would go to My Cook, its a bit inland from here...
On the road
one of the Indiana Jones swing bridges
Anyway...We drove out to Mt Cook Nt Park which is basically the highest Mountain in NZ and is the centre piece of the Southern Alps,
Me and Paddy on the bridge
We didn't climb it ! we just did a walk through a pass across a few rope bridges across the icy streams that flow through the gorges, and then down the valley to the lakes, which have small ice bergs floating in them, the water looks warm, as it was bright sunshine and a warm day, but the water was as fresh as it comes !!
Hannah, Emma, Me, Jenna and Jolanda in the icy lake !
Happy feet !!
We had our lunch by the lake and all tried to stand in the lake for the longest before the water almost froze them off !!
A frezzing Paddy
Me, Paddy and Aniss
written by  tomrendell on February 21, 2007 from Fairlie, New Zealand

Fiordland
Te Anau, New Zealand
Arrived in the most stunning part of Nz so far, we arrive in the Fiordland Nt park famous for the Milford Sound, we saw the amazing Fiordlands in the late afternoon after a long drive to get there.
Fiordland National Park
Camped up in the area but they had had rain the night before so the infamous sand flies were out in force and our feeble insect repellent was about as much use as a chocolate teapot !
the Backseat gang !
River runing through Murchison Mountains.
Murchison Mountains.
Anyway the nest day we did "the best bike ride in the world" the 12 km downhill ride from the Homer Tunnel down to the Milford Sound, it didn't take long as we flew down the hill, slowing up only to see the amazing scenery along the way !!
The Bikers !
on the Homer tunnel down hill ride !
We biked down to the Sound, and took a boat cruise on the water, the only way to fully see the scenery, really amazing and totally un-photographable, brilliant weather too, considering this is the wettest place in NZ, We had great sunshine !
Me Aniss and Paddy After the 12k downhill !
Mitre Peak - Muilford Sound
Sounds good !
Milford Sound
One of the most amazing places in the world, if you visit NZ you have to get down to this neck of the woods!
Carol, Cat and Jenna
On the Milford Sound !
Jp and Paddy...Arch enemies !
Waterfall
written by  tomrendell on February 23, 2007 from Te Anau, New Zealand

The Routeburn track
Te Anau, New Zealand
Set off on the Routeburn track...
The Start !
Hollyford Valley
A three day hike from the Divide through to Queenstown,
we stayed in these huts that were just concrete tents ! we had to carry everything, sleeping bags, gas cookers, food you name it we carried it !!
the best waterfall yet !
Me at the Darran Mountains
JP even managed to sneak a rock into Paddy's back which he then carried the whole first day and only found in the evening !! ha-ha everyone including Paddy was laughing at that one !!
Everyone looked the part, apart from Paddy who looked like he was running away from home rather than going hiking for three days !
Amazing view of the Darran Mountains
Lake Mackenzie Hut
Had a great time, & good weather, the first day was really warm and sunny, I was in a different hut to most of the party so I walked on my own for a couple of hours to reach it, really amazing walking through the rainforest alone ! total silence, a strange thing when your with 20 people every minute of the day!
got some guy who I passed at this 80 meter waterfall to take my photo !
Reached my hut chilled out !
In the morning it was lashing it down with rain, I just waited around for the others to catch me up who stayed in the previous hut, they were pretty wet, but we set off...loads of mist and humidity but no more rain for now...So hiring that Gore-tex jacket was a waste of time !!
Jenna on the track
Me @ the waterfall
Had a good hike, probably good it was a cold day as it was a long trek, over 8 hours most of it uphill !!
Crossing the waterfall
We reached the hut !!
Spent the night in another hut, with only a 2 hour walk the following morning to finish off !
had a really good laugh in the hut all huddled round the fire ! trying to burn all our rubbish as we had to carry everything out of the route, so our bags were starting to stink !
Clear Skies
Morning glory
Final day greeted us with awesome sunshine from daybreak, although it was still a bit cool until mid-morning !
Bridal Veil Stream
The sun rises over Routeburn Gorge
Reached the End ..Tired..and Hungry for something other than Porrige or Dried Pasta !
The Final Morning
The Finishing Post
written by  tomrendell on February 26, 2007 from Te Anau, New Zealand

Ice Age
Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
Our Trip to the Glacier region on the west coast of the South island, the blog wont recognise the Fox Glacier we visited, so its mapped to the Franz Josef Glacier, only 30 mins away....
The Day before we got frosty with the Ice Glacier, we visited a small place called Hasst, a the town was a right dive, I biked into to town with Paddy and Aniss, cycling over 50 miles to get there....before that we visited the blue pools, an idyllic spot off the beaten track and had a stone skimming contest....
A bridge too far
En route to the Glacier
The we left the town as quick as possible and went to the beach, the weirdest beach ever, so strewn with an unbelievable amount drift wood it looked like some sort of mahogany apocalypse, enough tree trunks and logs to build 20 houses...Paddys bright idea was to take it all back to Ireland and sell it...
Rolled on into the town of Fox, to visit the Glacier, we walked 2 hours through some of the temperate rain forest to get to a spot where the Glacier is assessable, its one of only 2 places on earth where there is a Glacier accessible to the public like this, and the only place it is surrounded by rain forest !
The Fox Glacier
Ice cold !
Stuck our Crampons on and then jumped onto the ice...walked halfway up...didn't get the chance to see the Ice Caves, as they are too far, you need the helicopter ride for that...maybe next time...
The Boys... on the rocks !
Flying Kiwi on ice
Had a great time ice climbing/hiking, and got some great photos...
the dirt you can see on the ice, is Stone and rock that is ground into a fine dust by the ice as it moves slowly but unstoppably through the valley...
Top of the Glacier
written by  tomrendell on March 1, 2007 from Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand

Passing through
Hokitika, New Zealand
Rolled through Hokitika on our way to Punakaki, on the way through we saw the valley full of mist and low lying cloud, with the sun shining through...
11am
Village in the Mist
Mirror Lake
written by  tomrendell on March 3, 2007 from Hokitika, New Zealand

Pancake Rocks
Punakaiki, New Zealand
Stayed in Punakaiki for 2 nights, had 2 great nights in the pub playing pool and having a few beers...
saw the Pancake rocks...and did a mountain bike trail with Dagmar...we rode up through a track in the forest to a place called Cave Canyon...one of the most unbelievable sights I've seen this trip...
The canyon was deep down beneath two sides of the valley, and only fills up during a flood, so it was a dry river bed, that had become overgrown with some of the stunning flora and fauna from the surrounding forest. it was cold as it was shaded from the sun, so even on a red hot day we could see our breath in the air..the place was errie and very mysterious..could easily have been used in a film...there was a plaque warning that 10 people drowned here 12 years before from the flood water raging through the caves then into the canyon...so we didn't hang around too long...
written by  tomrendell on March 4, 2007 from Punakaiki, New Zealand

Abel Tasmen Nt Park
Port Motueka, New Zealand
Appletree bay
Close up
Arrived at a camp site just outside of Abel Tasmen Nt park, ideal place...called Old MacDonald's farm...cycled the 40k into the camp with my biking buddies for the last time...we arrived hot and sweaty and jumped right into the river to cool down !
played volley ball in the evening until the sun went down! Oliver had my in stitches with his usual French laugh and stupid jokes while we were playing !!! the fact that Keith was hit in the face twice by his own team mates made it all the more amusing...
Anchorage bay
The swim around the island
Went out in the morning with Paddy and Birgeet !and got a water Taxi up to Bark bay, the most amazing beach I've seen on my travels, we dived right into the water on landing at the beach !
then started our 6 hour walk back to the camp...stopping a couple of times for a swim to cool off !
all got wet feet crossing the "low tide" short cut, Paddy got blisters soon after & carried on in bare feet...I mean who goes on a six hour walk with no socks...
Bark Bay - Paradise at last !
Diving around - Bark Bay
Got back to camp and went for a meal and drinks for the last time as a group !
The following morning we drove up to Picton where several of the gang got of the bus and went their separate ways...we'd had 4 quality weeks the best bits of my trip so far, shame to break it all up, but all good things have to come to an end!
Have been offered a job on the next tour though, as one of the guides, which I've accepted should be a great way of earning a few dollars...and beats sitting in an Office temping...
I've had to sacrifice something else in Australia for that and have had to let someone down big-time...but the lure of a job was to great when Im pretty much skint after over 4 months without working...& its not every day you get offered a job without applying for it, so I couldn't walk awayfrom this opportunity! plus its a pretty cool job touring NZ hiking, camping, swimming in the sea etc...and the occasional sky dive for free wont go a miss...
written by  tomrendell on March 5, 2007 from Port Motueka, New Zealand

Paraparaumu & Wellington
Wellington, New Zealand
Rolled on into Paraparaumu, the lonely Planet made it sounds like an idyllic location and the flyer made the beach sounds awesome...
I thought a few days R&R by the beach would do the trick , before I started work...
The beach was awful, grey sand, full of drift wood, and the sea looked less than inviting, suddenly 2 days here seemed too long...
until I met these 3 girls from England ! Liz, Lisa and Naomi who I got on really well with and had some beers and played cards with that night, had a good time,
saw them in the morning at breakfast, and as it was tipping with rain of biblical proportions, I thought a crap town is bad enough, a crap town in the rain is even worse !
So they offered my a lift into Wellington, jumped at the chance, and rolled onto Welly with them, even though it was grim there there's heaps more to do...
Wellington
Welly with the girls, went to the Museum, sat drinking tea while the rained poured down, but had a good laugh with the girls, went to the movies, went swimming with them, great crap weather mates !
Had a good time for a couple of days, cheered me up before worked started !!
The next day work started for the first time in 4 months !
Started by picking up the guys and driving onward and upwards through the North Island towards Auckland and then North towards the Bay of Islands and Pahia !
Had a brake down to cope with, but my first few days of work were going just fine!!
written by  tomrendell on March 14, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand

Hard Graft !
Taupo, New Zealand
Bay of Islands & Taupo
First few days were getting better, had had a few freebies too a ride on a jet Boat, a Maori concert ,the morning sand boarding...this jobs a doddle...
A flash of work and loads of freebies...fair enough the hours are long, Sunrise till well after sunset, but I'm loving it !
Spent a day or so heading down from the Bay of islands to get to Taupo, went via Coromandal and Cathedral cove, got to see them again this time drenched in amazing early morning sunshine !
Swam out to a rock just off the shoreline at hot water beach and collected a few mussels, sparked a trend as this group of girls spotted me, 5 minutes later they were, then 5 minutes after that everyone on the beach was gathering them, we cooked them in the evening, really fresh had them the next night too ! new fave food !
spent the next day at my one of my favourite spots, the kick ass beach Whiratoa, the amazing place where there was no one on the beach, I just ran down from the board walk...pulled of my t-shirt, and just jumped right into the sea, instantly deep enough to swim in, and clear enough to see with your eyes open...a true slice of paradise ! looking back as I float on my back all I can see are rolling green hills, and amazing cliffs covered in temperate rain forest...and a Golden beach with no one apart from the advancing members of our bus party !
Whiratoa
Does it get any better than this ?
Rolled in Taupo another sun-dreched day, took one of our passengers up to bungy jump, a young japansee girl, dont think she knew what she was doing, she seemed to brick it as they strpped her in, and I could hear her scream right down the vally as she plummed towards the lake from the platform 50 meters above !
Spent the afternoon Skydiving ! the ultimate perk...any future job must live up to this...this time I did 15,000 ft and it was even better than before as I could take it in from the second I left the plane, and had a longer free fall ! awsome !!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
2nd time around
Just before the skydive I went for a dip in the river fed by a thermal water fall, so freezing river water mixed with steaming water from a hot spring, makes a nice bath water style temp !!
Dolphins - Kaikoura
Through onto the South island, the job is still going really well, spent some time in Kaikoura and went Dolphin spotting, ment getting up at 4.20 am...
but got to see over 150 Dusky Dolphins all playing in the water just off the shore, many jumping doing all sorts of back flips etc...
really cool to see them, in full flow at top speed !
Dusky Dolphons
Kaikoura - 'Dolphin Friendly'
...and Hannah...there is no back seat gang this time, they aviod that part of the bus, must be sacred ground now...I'm up at front with JP now...
written by  tomrendell on March 22, 2007 from Taupo, New Zealand

Amazing Queenstown
Queensbury, New Zealand
This time around in Queenstown, I had far more energy than the last time, as i hadn't come right off the 3 day Routeburn track...
So got to get out and see so much more of the place, Did 3 amazing activities, The Shotover Jet, a Jet boat ride at 85kph through canyons along the Shotover river ! the boat pulls off amazing 360 spins at breakneck speed ! really cool !
Shotover Jet !
85 KPH !!
Also got to go Bungy Jumping, AJ Hackett Kawarau Bridge, really differnt feeling falling off the bridge compared to Skydiving ! id say scarier as you can see the river so close, My upper body even hit the water before the cord pulled me back up almost just as quick !
BUNGIEEEEE
Bungy Jumping, Kawarau Bridge
Queenstown gave us the chance for a massive night out, us boys had planned to go out dressed up as the rock band 'Kiss' but as ever the planned descended into chaos as we were all off bungee jumping, jet boating or river boarding or some other crazy activity right up until we needed to head out, so we just donned the wigs which made us look more like the 80% of the Jackson Five than anything else...
Afro night out !
Steve with some Hen party granny
We had a great time, got lashed and caused a lot of commotion which ever bar we ended up in next !
I requested Run DMC "Its Tricky" remembering a old night out from Uni a few years back and within seconds we were doing the "road trip dance" and had all the girls & a hen party up on the dance floor...talk of the town if only for a few minutes !
Some guy even bought us a round of drinks as we reminded him of his "crazy days" before he got married, not quite sure what he was on about, but we accepted the drinks never the less...Great effort !
View from above
Lake Wakatipu
On our final day we went luging which involves a cabel car up to the top of the moutain then several luging runs later we were tired and crashed out ! and went down into town for a burger !
...Just another tough few days at the office...
Pre Race Photo
...and its Rendell through the corner first
written by  tomrendell on April 2, 2007 from Queensbury, New Zealand

Wild Stallions
Punakaiki, New Zealand
Rocked up the west coast for a couple of day passing through Fox the town where last time I climbed on the Glacier, this time just chilld out in the town with JP while the others did the climb...
Arrived in Punakaiki for 2 nights, started feeling a bit rough, must have been coming down with something ! not surprising its been non stop for so long !
Did a Horse trek into the rain forest then down onto the beach with some of the group, they guy at the stables got me a spare Horse out as I was a late entry, he said it used to be wild but they had trained it up a bit...I could tell as mine was a bit frisky while all the other horses where half asleep !
Rawhide !
River crossing
anyway went treking for a bout 3 hours, had a great time, I could tell my horse 'Billy' was a wild one, as he kept running off and charging through the river crossings, such a good time really hope I get the chance to do it again!
Punakaiki Rainforest valley
Me & Billy at lunch
Riding off into the sunset !
Punakaiki Sunset
Finished the night off with a campfire a few beers and the News that Liverpool had won...Brilliant !
camp fire
Our two day stop in Abel Tasman Nt Park, was my last 2 nights camping on the tour !
The amazing backdrop of one of the best looking coastlines you will ever see !!
in addition to that I got to fly the Pitt Special a stunt plane that can do acrobatic stunts like loops, barrel rolls, and flying straight up until it stalls then free falling !!
Totally awesome ! even beats skydiving for pure adrenalin !
I did a 15 minute flight and it was just unbelievable as the pilot takes off and hands control over to you...he just says loop it, spin it, fly upright etc...
He said afterwards all you could hear on the radio frequency was me laughing as we did loops at 180mph
Anchorage bay
Close up
ACTION
Ready for take off
....Lift off
written by  tomrendell on April 6, 2007 from Punakaiki, New Zealand

Auckland

Reflections at night

Sky tower at night

at the waterfront...if only

Mauri carving....sky tower in background !

Harbour

View from the harbour bridge

Windswept on the bridge

City of Sails

The City from Davenport

Sky Tower

The Harbour at night

Me at the Sky tower

Me & James at the top of the Sky Tower

Reflection of the sky tower

Top Deck

Sunset crossing

The Alps

The Beach !!

Football by the camp

Fire starters

Campfire

Bushfire fairytales

the River

Christchurch

Rangitata sunrise

Early Doors

Moeraki Boulders

Dunedin

Lunch

steepest street int he world

Full speed!!

Riding the grade 5 rapids

Survived !!

Fiordland National Park

the Backseat gang !

River runing through Murchison Mountains.

Murchison Mountains.

The Bikers !

on the Homer tunnel down hill ride !

Me Aniss and Paddy After the 12k downhill !

Mitre Peak - Muilford Sound

Sounds good !

Milford Sound

Carol, Cat and Jenna

On the Milford Sound !

Jp and Paddy...Arch enemies !

Waterfall

Keep on trucking

Hollyford Valley

Rocky doorway

Crossing the waterfall

We reached the hut !!

A wet Routeburn Gorge

Clear Skies

Morning glory

Bridal Veil Stream

The sun rises over Routeburn Gorge

The Final Morning

The Finishing Post

Queenstown

En route to the Glacier

The Fox Glacier

Edge of the Glacier..getting cooler !!

Ice cold !

The Boys... on the rocks !

Take your pick

Our Ice climbing guide

Flying Kiwi on ice

Top of the Glacier

Hokitika sunset

Mirror Lake

Camping in the rain forrest

view from my tent

Early morning Punakaiki...Pancake Rocks

Village in the Mist

Paddy on the high seas !

Split Apple Rock

In the Abel Tasmen water taxi

Abel Tasmen Coast Line

Awsome !

Flying High !

Bark Bay - Abel Tazmen Nt Park

Diving around - Bark Bay

Bark Bay - Paradise at last !

Frenchmans bay

The swim around the island

Anchorage bay

Close up

Appletree bay

Dusky Dolphons

Kaikoura - 'Dolphin Friendly'

Queenstown...Lake Wakatipu

on the way into QT

Lake Wakatipu

View from above

Pre Race Photo

...and its Rendell through the corner first

Luging in Queenstown

Rawhide !

River crossing

Punakaiki Rainforest valley

Me & Billy at lunch

Riding off into the sunset !

Punakaiki Sunset

camp fire

....Lift off

ACTION

Ready for take off

BUNGIEEEEE