Further Adventures in New Zealand

We have spent 4 weeks in New Zealand and we have done a lot of cool things. My favourite was the luge track in Rotorua. Another thing we did was walk the costal tail in Able Tasman National Park; we walked about 35km over three days. Each day we took a sea shuttle to the beginning of our walk and to get back to where we were staying.

"Split Apple Rock" in Abel Tasman park:

On a suspension bridge in Abel Tasman park:

Getting on one of the sea shuttles in Abel Tasman.

The Luge track in Queenstown was a lot of fun! Luge is basically driving a little 3-wheeled plastic sled down a paved track. The sled gains speed by going down the hill like a bike; it has no engine, only a brake and handlebars. The tracks are at the top of a hill. You have to take a gondola up to the top of the hill, then a chairlift to the top of the luge track. There are usually 2-3 tracks to choose from, and they are typically 0.8 km-2km long.  

 In Dunedin we went on a tour through the Cadbury factory and saw, smelled and tasted all kinds of chocolate.

We took a 3 hour cruise through Doubtful Sound in Fiordland.  I was the only passenger who got to sit in the captain's seat!

Bubbling mud pools in Rotorua; these pools are created by thermal activity under a very thin layer of Earth's crust. They had a really nasty sulphur smell (like rotten eggs).

The old Rotorua Bath-House where you could bathe in water heated by the thermal activity. However this Bath-House was closed around 50 years ago: 

The Luge track in Rotorua; this one was way better than Queenstown, because the tracks were longer and more challenging.

   The kiwi is a flightless, endangered bird in New Zealand. It is also the national bird of New Zealand, but they are incredibly rare. We visited a conservation and saw baby kiwis being hand fed. (This one is stuffed.) 

Next time I'll tell you about Australia!

Jonathan

=P

Down under with the Kiwis

We are currently in New Zealand and we are going to go to Australia as well.........NO MORE SCHOOL!!!(except for one pesky blog) Its actually not that different from Canada here, except for the fact that it's summer here, not winter. The trees, plants, people (except for the accents), cars, atmosphere and all the other stuff like that are just like home. We are going to stay in New Zealand for 1 month. Here are some pictures of places I have seen in the last few days.

The Sky Tower in Auckland; the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere!
(I saw some people bungy jumping from it)

Me bungy jumping (but not from the Sky Tower!)

Some ships in Auckland harbour:

This sailing ship (behind me) came in second place in the America's Cup race in 1988.

A view of Auckland harbour from a ferry returning from a small island:


A beach on Weiheke Island.

Me next to a traditional dugout canoe built by the native New Zealanders (the Moari).

We will be travelling in the South Island over the next week, so look out for more photos.
Bye
Jonathan
=P

Tuen Mun

Tuen Mun is one of the 18 administrative districts in Hong Kong. It is the district we have lived in for the last 3 months. But the actual town of Tuen Mun is a 15 minute bus ride from where we live. We go to Tuen Mun because that is where I go for my violin lessons and weekly library visit. The Tuen Mun library is very nice:

   

Also there is a post office below it:

And just across the road is a nice park with a pond where you can see people racing their remote controlled boats:

 

Tuen Mun also has two railway systems and several bus routes making it easy to get to places all over Tuen Mun like this small beach:

 

You can get your fresh fish here:

This is a Buddhist Temple, where people come to pay respects to their dead ancestors:

 

Getting to Tuen Mun is very easy, as I already mentioned. We just have to take a 5 minute walk to the bus stop:

The bus is very nice (it's a double-decker like most buses in Hong Kong):

 Next week we will go to Australia and New Zealand for 6 weeks!

Bye 

Jonathan

=P