Archive for December, 2009

Milford Sound, in the Fjordland part of southern New Zealand, is said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world and my trip today didn’t disappoint. Milford Sound is actually a fjord (an area where the land has been carved down to the sea by glacial activity). In this case an inlet has been carved through the mountains resulting in the Tasman Sea flowing about thirty miles …

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Just a short update to let you know that I’m still in Queenstown. I was supposed to leave this morning and head north, but I’ve decided to spend a few extra days here (and consequently a few extra days in New Zealand). I’ve been having a great time the past few days hanging out with people I met on the bus, exploring Queenstown, and getting some down time.

Unfortunately I …

I arrived this morning in Queenstown. Everything is slowing down here for the holidays, but they offered us a chance to go bungy jumping before everything completely shuts down and I figured I’m in New Zealand- why not go for it. Bungy jumping was invented in Queenstown about twenty years ago and remains immensely popular here.

I don’t think I realized exactly what I had signed myself up for until …

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I told myself it had to be safer than climbing in Laos or dirt-biking in Cambodia and as the plane climbed higher I reminded myself that it was undoubtedly safer than the buses in India and more than likely safer than Lao Airlines.

The thing is at a certain point none of these things matter. The small Cessna plane reaches 12,000 feet, the door opens, the wind rushes in, and …

Apologies for the lack of New Zealand updates. I’ve been spending the past few days touring the West Coast of New Zealand via a Kiwi Experience bus. Besides cheap rental cars and campers, limited public trains and buses, and the occasional hitchhiker, one of the main ways for backpackers to get around are independent hop-on, hop-off buses; the buses have stops they go to, but you are free to do …

I’ve been spending several days in Auckland before I head off to Christchurch tomorrow morning. For the most part I’ve just been walking around central Auckland seeing the sights, and yes seeing some sheep (sheep out number people many times over here).

Yesterday I went up to the top of the Sky Tower, which is the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. I was seriously tempted to jump off (it’s …

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I met up with my dad and sister (who is studying abroad in China) for a long weekend in Tokyo. It was hardly enough to more than get a feel for Tokyo, but we managed to cram a lot in our time here.

After months of having to constantly worry about drinking water, late buses, getting run over by cars and trucks, and all the other things that come with …