,m Sean´s Shenanigans: December 2005

Friday, December 30, 2005

Canyon Swing

Did a Canyon Swing today. It was great fun, better that a bungy jump. Did a second one for $40 more which wasn't bad value.
The platform is situated 109m above the Shotover river, you jump and the first 60m are free fall, you then begin to swing in an arc to about 10m over the river. After a few swings, you are winched back up the the platform. More pics.

posted by Sean at 8:24 am 0 comments

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Queenstown Drain

Have been here 5 days now and money is disappearing fast. I've done nothing except take a gondola to the top of the hill overlooking the town (great views) and drink alot. The rest of the lads did the Shotover Jet today - it cost them $99 each and they were not impressed.
Have booked a river boarding trip for tomorrow ($125) and a Canyon Swing for Friday ($125).

posted by Sean at 6:30 am 0 comments

Irish Bars

We've become sick of the fake Irish bars. Most of them don't even have any Irish working in them. You can get companies to come in and completely construct an Irish pub (down to the cob webs and dust). They use very generic old Irish pictures that we've seen repeated in other bars as we've come south.
That was the great thing about the Waterford Bar, all the stuff on the walls was genuine, with most of it relating to Waterford. There is even one in Palmerston North that was only built recently and they have a plaque outside claiming it was established in eighteen something!

posted by Sean at 6:22 am 0 comments

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Christmas Day

Christmas Day here and all the pubs are closed (like at home). we've booked into a bar for dinner which means we can drink I think. Thought the place would be buzzin alot more then it is.

posted by Sean at 1:13 am 0 comments

Friday, December 23, 2005

Ice Ice Baby

Here in Franz Josef at the moment. We did a hike on the Glacier today, it took about 3 hours and cost us $95. We had a really good guide who brought us a long way up. Did some Quad biking yesterday, 400cc bikes with plenty of grunt. We bargained the lady down to $70 from $95. I think the guy was releaved to get all his bikes back to base, I overturned mine in the river and there were a few other crashes and near misses during the hour and a half. We managed to get them up to about 65 kph on some of the runs, I don't think you could have done it at home.
Off to Queenstown tomorrow, hopefully our hostel booking is still good.

posted by Sean at 8:11 am 0 comments

Monday, December 19, 2005

Nelson

Here in Nelson, South Island now. Took the car across on the Ferry this morning and then drove over to here. Have a few hard days in Wellington, virtually 24hr drinking there. Off to Westport tomorrow with a planned stop at Mac's Brewery (home of Mac's Gold - our tipple of choice) before we leave here.

posted by Sean at 8:48 am 0 comments

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Deise Hospitality

Here in Wellington at the moment. Yesterday we left Taupo with North Palmerston our planned destination. A guy in Auckland told me about a bar owned by a Waterford guy near Palmerston North called the Waterford Bar. The seven of us rolled into the bar (the bar is out in the countryside about 20km from Palmerston). The owner was a guy called Greg Drohan from Waterford City and he has owned the bar for 8 years.
We had planned to have a drink and be on our way, but four hours and many free drinks later we were still there. I rang about 6 places for a bed but no luck. Greg then said we could stay at the bar. He got his partner to bring blankets and sleeping bags over before he went home to his own bed - leaving the seven of us alone in the bar! Then, the next morning he came back and made us breakfast - Sound Guy.

posted by Sean at 11:37 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Bungy

Here in Taupo. Did a Bungy jump here today, 47m and $99, was over a river. Five of us did one - TWO did not. Money is disappearing fast. My $100 a day budget is being spent by about 2pm every day.

posted by Sean at 8:54 am 0 comments

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Swoop

Went to the Agrodome in Rotorua today. First, we went zorbing, which involved putting 2 of us in an inflated ball and rolling us down a hill. It was good fun. After that, we all did "The Swoop", which was just like a big swing.

posted by Sean at 8:49 am 0 comments

Monday, December 12, 2005

Fuel

Arrived here in Rotorua tonight and met up with the lads.

Left Taranaki this morning. Mid way through the journey, one of the roads turned into a gravel track. I reckoned from the map that I had about 30km more to go before I got onto a highway. The fuel gauge was reading low and I reckoned that I could fill up at a station on the "highway". Also although I had a spare wheel, I had no jack, which was a worry on a gravel road (not all my tyres are road worthy). When I reached the highway, I got a bit of a shock to see that it too was a gravel road! Looking at a travel guide, it informed me that there were no petrol stations for over 70km in either direction. I decided to drive a bit more, after 20km more I pulled the plug (the fuel light had been on for 40km at this stage and fuel was still over 50km away). I got out with my can and started walking. Luckily after about half an hour I came upon some cockies fixing a fence, one of them drove my back to my car and gave me about 10L of petrol. After that it was all sysyems go. Lesson Learned! Incidentally, the highway was called the "Forgotten Highway".

posted by Sean at 9:32 am 0 comments

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Off Again

After finishing up here and am leaving tomorrow to meet the lads from home in Rotorua (town in central north island). Have managed to put a few pence away working down here and its all probably going to disappear over the next 5 weeks.
The cars seems to be going well (not that I have driven it much), so hopefully its up to the rigours of the trip

posted by Sean at 5:51 am 0 comments