Auckland...thinking about our next journey

...3rd Nov 2007-now back to Auckland -we've been thinking about next leg of our travel and are very excieted and looking forward to South America and Chile first...
NZ-spent 28 days travelling the whole length and breath of this magical land-driven 5200km in total-started in Auckalnd(South Island) to Bay Of Islands to Rotorua to Taupo to Wellinngton then ferry across to North Island to Picton to Kaikoura to Christchurch to Dunedon to Milford Sound to Queenstown to Glaciers to Murchinson to Buller to Picton then ferry across to Wellingon back on South Island to Rotorua to Taupo to Waotomo Caves to Auckland and many other places along the way.
We think when the sunshines on this magical land there is no better place on earth or atleast we would be hard pushed to find one!...its that good!
So its goodbye All Blacks and Black Cats,Sir Edmund Hillary and Kerri De Tawana(or something),Oram Brothers(who?),Helen Clarke(PM),Mr Ormond(Health Minister-his wife found him and his girlfriend in his own bedroom-you f...... cheating rat! the PM fired him from his job! good on you PM!)Peter Jackson,Gandalf The Grey(but he is not real!),Frodo and Sam (they are real!),Aaragon and Legolas and Gimley,The Mordor Land(now thats real),Misty Mountains and Mount Doom(real! cause we've seen both),Taupo bungy,Taupo Tandemdive ,WE'VE DONE THAT,BEEN THERE, SEEN THAT AND NOW WE'VE EVEN GOT THE T-SHIRT!
...Lord Of The Pátel´s...The Patel´s Fellowship Moves On To South America....

ODD BITS

...Tamaki Maori Village near Rotorua...saw Maori traditional village and all singing and dancing show...it was fun got to learn their history and culture...Haka was performed brilliantly...V and I have been doing our version of Haka on P whenever V have been told to finish her dinner and I have been refused another cold one!...
...trying for hole in one...can't imagine a more beautiful place to hit a golf ball-across Taupu Lake and snow capped mountain in far distant are no other than MOUNT DOOM in Lord Of The Ring...tried 20 balls(dollar a piece) but am rusty as not played since West Indies! ah! Barbados and Cricket World Cup! Baileys(one chap drank 8 bottles!),Sean Paul,Shaggy and Ruby and a crate of cold Banks beers- and a fantastic bunch of lads for company ...what a perfect combinations! I think of our WI trip quite often when I am having a cold one! just magic it was!

...pancake rocks at Punakaiki,West coast...
...pancake rocks......weird cloud formation as sun rises over South Isaland...near Murchison ...the drive between Fox Glacier and Murchinson is the most amazing drive ever...its about 400km of weird rough coast with so many hairpin bends and many through clouds and real scary at times---in NZ the roads do not have any safety barriers on the roadside and that makes it worse when we are use to safety barriers,so one wrong turn and you are a gonner either in the sea or down the mountain---they even have run-away speed ramps in the mountain side incase your brakes fails,so you slam over the ramp rather than go over in to the sea or the mountain,really weird! Also you have to deal with a really wild river called Buller and its deep gorges-I have never been so scared of driving in my life- around and over this Buller gorge -and it was some 100km long or so, and by roadside at one place there is a wide fault with a marker which was the epicenter of the 1963 earthquake here and your mind start thinking lets get the f... out of here...but its not wise to drive here more than 30km/hour...or the Buller gorge waits for you! ...after spending 12 days on South Island we depart by ferry-3 hours crossing to North Island- snow capped Mount Cook can be seen-highest in Southern Hemisphere-its one awesome scenic crossing between the two islands... North is much more populated than South,95% of Maoris live on North,North has Wellington and Auckland and South has Queenstown and Christchurch. South is more mountainous,wilder,icy,wetter than North.On NI-the Tasman side of the island recieves 12 meters of rain a year while South Pacific side recieves only 2 meters! NZ has the most weird weather in the world and its a national pastime talking about weather-apart from All Blacks ofcourse-talking about Rugby-we were in Australia when the Aussi lost in the World Cup and we were in NZ when All Blacks lost and it was like a major national disaster here but then Rugby is the religion in both these countries -did you know NZ is the hotbed of Liberal politics and its here where liberal ideas are tried out before they are spread around the globe eg NZ was the first nation in the world to give women a vote in 1893,it was also first to introduced old-age pensions in 1898 and welfare system in 1928.NZ may seem a far-away peaceful country but has spent much of its history at war,in 19th century it fought at home and in 20th century overseas on behalf of the Brits and Uncle Sam!-Sir Edmund Hillary is the most famous Kiwi for Everest Conquest-Kiwi inventions includes-disposable syringe,child proof top for medicines bottles and tear-back Velcro strip and all the adrenaline charged outdoor activities including bungy , tandem-skydive,jet-boating,caving!-Kiwis do lots of reading,more books are sold in NZ per head than anywhere else in the world-Kiwi's are known for "yes it can be done"-US bully Australia-OZ then bully Kiwi's -Kiwi's then bully Fiji and so on and on...24th richest nation in the world(with Spain)-there are 500 golf courses in NZ for only 4 millions,so they have more golf cousres per head then .......the first referee ever to use a whistle was a Kiwi-All Blacks are the GODS here-Maori culture is all about mythology and using natural resources wisely -Maori form 15% of the population-NZ has on of the most varied and spectacular series of landscapes in the world,ranging from snow-dusted mountains and glacial valleys to rainforests ,dunelands and awesome volcanic plteau .Stupid little-half blind ugly flightless bird is the national bird and now they are trying to save it from being extinct...why?..let the f.....go extinct!

...but the most important KIWI that ever lived was Morton Coutts who revolutionised BEER BREWING in 1950 with the invention of "continous fermentation process",which cut the BEER fermentation process from 15 weeks to less than a day...can you imagine having to wait 15 days for a TOOHEY! well done mate and CHEERS!

...we also went to see Waotamo GLOWWORMS CAVES near Auckland but you can't take pictures as it affects glowworms-one cave had thousands upon thousands of glowworms in the roof of the cave and it looked like watching bright shining stars in the sky at night...caves are really huge and deep underground and there are many rivers and waterfalls too-to see the gloworms we had to go deep underground to a river and then get in to a boat and as boat starts gliding on the water and you look up and there you see them.. in total darkness-one awesome place!

glowworms are little larvae of an insect which burrows in to the roof of the totally dark moist damp caves and then they dangle a little sticky string like obeject with a glow at the bottom and insects are attracted by the glow and are then caught as food-clever little buggers you may think! but not so! cause the little w......s dangle there for up to nine months then they mature as flies but they have no mouth so can't eat and so they all die after2 to 3 days after f.....g each other and laying thousands of eggs but most of the mature flies and eggs are eaten by their cousins larvaes...this behaviour reminds me of a bastard of a nation I know west of Gujarat!

More SKYDIVE PICTURES!!!!!

...finally we did it! 28th Oct 2007-Limo picked us up from our camper site at 2:45 ,arrived airport 3:00,tiny 8 seater aeroplane took off with us at 3:30, and we jumped out of the plane in to icy thin air at 15,000 feet ---f.....g mad or what! ...8 seater plane-no seats just flat pole like structure and sitting behind one another with your skydive master sitting behind you... ...my skydive master's name was Rio and believe me I've never met anyone like him-he was one crazy life/ fun loving son of a bitch-I told him I want to take what ever he is on!...were P and I scared? bet your life we were -P seemed more concerned than myself because Rio kept my mind off the dive with his antiques......P and V with skydive master Phillip before getting on the plane-trying The Tiger look!
...Rio and I before getting on the plane-at this time we were having such fun that I forgot I was going on a plane to skydive from 15,000 feet! nuts! I mean proper bloody Hazel nuts! although What If! was not far from my mind

...we were told followings before our dive...
...it takes a certain kind of person to step out of an aircraft at 15,000 feet into thin air.It takes courage.The fact that you are harnessed by space age materials to an experience qualified jumpmaster makes little difference.

...YOU STEP OUT OF THAT AIRCRAFT DOOR IN TO VERY COLD THIN AIR AND FOR SOME SIXTY SECONDS YOU PLUMMET/FREEFALL TOWARDS THE GROUND AT 200KM/HOUR-TERMINAL VELOCITY-BEFORE THE PARACHUTE OPENS...
The first skydive is a very scary thing-your mind/body/soul has sensory overload and you fight against every natural self-preservatory urge.The personal challenge is IMMENSE,because the only thing preventing you from enjoying this one of the most primal life shaping experiences ,is your own mind and you must choose.
...To go through life able to say "yes,I did it", or to go through life knowing that you had the oppertunity,but you turned it down and walked away from becoming the complete person you could have been.
...I mean why jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane?...
...deep within our consciousness something persuade us to do somethings that we cannot explain -it is one step beyond logic...
...WE JUST DO THESE THINGS...
...it is something within us very deep may be,the need to feed our voracious appetite for danger and glory...
...IT IS THE SPIRIT OF MAN...

...this just before we jumped off! I mean do I at all look worried? no ! at this time I knew I am going to enjoy this ride...Rio at the same time was filming my whole dive experience for a DVD-and the DVD is just fantastic-6 minute long has the whole dive plus MY INTERVIEW with RIO before and after the dive! ...

...EMBRACE THE FEAR...

...I know what you are thinking,WHAT IF?...

...BE BRAVE---EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT---PRETEND TO BE---cause no one can tell the difference.

...THE ULTIMATE JUMP...

...p in the plane just before her dive-looks a bit nervous-Phillip I mean!
...D on his way down....
...D perfect landing...

...P on her way down...
...P with perfect landing...
...after we landed...picture tells the story of our achivement...
...P and I were so proud of each other for what we have just done...

....this is tandem skydive where you are attached with hooks and things to your dive master and he has all the controls of the parachute...you are in the front and he behind you ...so you come out of the plane first looking at some 15,000 feet down below you but you have no control....once you are out of the plane-for the first full minute you are just free falling with parachute closed---then it opens at around 8000 feet...the FREEFALL for a minute is the most amazing experience you can have in your life.I can´t explain the feelings I had for that one minute,have no words to describe it.

Jumbo jets fly at some 36,000 feet ,so you can imagine 15,000 feet is long way up!

...its freezing cold at 15,000 feet and with the freefall your cheeks roll back in to your ears almost with force of gravity and high wind...its just awsome feeling!

...well you may ask what's next for this all conquering duo!...I think I have an idea...hey P! how about doing.............................

....watch this space...

NZ-North Island-Fox Glacier

...4km long...nowwhere else on earth glaciers are seen at such low altitude and so near the coast-this one is a frozen juggernaut at its awsome best-galcier melts at its lower end as it slides down the valley and again builds up at its higher end ,the rate of descent of this mamoth is mind-blowing:a wreckage of a plane that crashed in to Fox Glacier in 1943 at the top end made it down to the bottom end some 7 years later,speed of 1.5meter a day!
...there are hundreds of glaciers in the world-these are remains of the last ice-age-and they hold some 70% of all the fresh water-if everything fozen now on earth melted today then most the land would be under water-
...Mount Cook Lookout point-we could just see the snow covered top of Cook-3700 meters and it's majestic-could also see Fox Glacier from here-it was wonderful day to view all this huge ice...
...middle left is Fox Glacier-left of Fox is Mount Tasman(3400 meters) and further left is Mount Cook...

...should have brought bottle of JD as plenty of ice nearby-idea was to trek on the ice with a guide for a day but as I had a head cold we decided we will trek glaciers in Chilean Patagonia at the tip of South America-not a bad substitue!

NZ-North Island-Skydive Taupo from 15,000ft !!!!!!

...finally we did it! 28th Oct 2007 Sunday,Limo picked us up at 2:45pm and aeroplane took off at 3:30pm then at 3:55pm we skydived from 15,000ft on a most beautiful day in a most gorgeous place on earth!....MORE PIX AND DETAILS SOON!...this pix after we both floated back to earth safely! I am so proud of P ...she was just so brave and amazingly graceful under some real unknown...what if?...but she did it ...Vedu was so proud of us too...she said she was praying to the gods as we went up in an aeroplane to bring back my mum and dad back safely...she's a real cutie that girl!
...my tandem skydive partner...he's got to be the most craziest full of life son of a bitch I've ever met! I want to take what ever he is taking!...8 of us packed in to a tiny aeroplane like sardine... Tom Cruise eat your heart out my son! this is THE real Top Gun!!!!!!
...P's skydive partner...not so crazy!

NZ...South Island... Lord Of The Ring Locations

...Lord Of The Ring -Trilogy was filmed in NZ at over 100 different locations and if you have seen all 3 movies then as you travel around you can see the land just as it appears in the movies-its like walking the Middle Earth and you expect Frodo ,Sam and Gollum to jump in front of you anytime as they walk the last mile to Mount Doom! The one above is where Gandalf The Grey was filmed riding his white horse with Pippins & Co and was also used for Orcs battling with the Dwarfs...we saw quite a few films location places as we travelled around the both islands of NZ...all locations here are around Queenstown.......at this exact place is where Legolas fired his first arrow at the Wargs as they came over the hill in their thousands...V and I are doing what Legolas did except substitue Wargs for Sheep!as director Pritti Jackson watched!

...here is where Legolas did his amazing jump onto his horse before battle...also here Wargs and Riders Of Rohan clashed...
...this exact place is where the Rohirrim Refugees were led on a perfectly clear and prstine day as this .... the background mountain are called The Remarkable and are used in all 3 films...
...around this little pond is where Aaragon was dragged over the cliff face...also the pond was used for Gollum hunting for fish...
....Quennstown below and Lake Wakatipu-both used in films throughout...this town is the world capial of Adrenaline acvtivities...from bungy to sky-diving to sledging...Bungy was invented here by a fellow name A J Hackett...
...here Gimli was thrown from his runaway horse to the amusement of Eowyn...I am the horse and V plays Gimli the dwarf...oh ! and as Pritti Jackson directs...she kept on saying "well that was really good by lets do it again!" we had 3000 takes before she got on the horse!

...known as Tongariro National Park...the icy Volcano is called Ruapehu and was used as Mount Doom in the film---the area here is where they filmed the barren waste land of Mordor ,this is desolate and much tortured land from which Sauron planned all his wars to win domination over Middle-Earth... and quiet a large part the movies were filmed here...you half expect Wargs and Orcs to attack you anytime and hoping that Gandalf and The Fellowship to come to your rescue...

...three mountain across used in the films and one is a live volcano...middle one was used as Mount Doom...both pictures taken within 2 hours...across Lake Taupo and town called Taupo...beautiful place...
...as above...


...lots of filming here...this scene was used as Misty Mountain far away...across Lake Wakatipu
...as we approched Queenstown via Lake Wakatipu...driving from Milford Sound...Queenstown and the surroundings are just so gorgeous-just can't put it in to words...it has everything...

...LOTR-Return Of The King won 11 Oscars-made NZ loads of money through tourism-Peter Jackson the Director lost 7 stones in weight and his beard-from 19 stones...in NZ everyone knows someone who worked in the LOTR-trilogy...

NZ...South Island...Milford Sound

...Milford Sound is the Fiordland of NZ...fiords are massive waterways carved by old glaciers in the iceage ...fantastic place but it rained on us non-stop-but then we saw hundreds of waterfalls!..it was amazing scenery!
...this the nearest Kiwi land to OZ land which is 800km away...
...waterfalls everywhere....

...having lunch as heaven really opened on us...
...getting to fiordland was a massive task in its own right as we had to cross few mountains and some icy too! and one huge tunnel carved through mountain...
...the mountains tops were covered in snow all around us and the waters contains many marine creatures...so we were told...we also found out from other travellers couple of days after our visit that the day before and the one after our visit here was all glorious sunshine blue sky with fluffy clouds...we just picked a wrong day...but then we have been very lucky with weather in NZ beacause as we have arrived at a place its been fantastic sunshine but as we prepare to depart its been cloudy with drizzle...
...even with all the rain it was still an awe inspiring place...
...covered for all weather conditions...

NZ...South Island...Kaikoura,Dunedin,Otago Peninsula

...1st time we saw the snow topped mountains... this is a country of just 4 millions and is the size of UK...the roads are just empty and you are never far away from a coast,river or a mountain...it has the best coastal scenic drives in the world and its like you are always driving either by the coast hugging roads , hairpin bends in the mountain or crossing many many bridges over pristine rivers...
...blue/green sea-snow topped mountain living near by each other in total harmony... I said to P here...I think I saw Gandalf The Grey Wizard from Ring Trilogy...she batted it straight back and said...yaa! I've got one Gando sitting next to me!
...Kaikoura...magical place where swimming in the ocean and skiing the powder are done on the same day!...while whales,dolphins etc play in the bay...really!...this is the whale watching and swimming with dolphins capital of NZ...very very impressive...
...Yellow Eyed Penguine...we spotted quite a few on and around the beach...this one is sitting on a egg while the other partner is at sea playing...this is worlds rarest penguine and endangered... ...Seals and Sea Lions are seen all around the coast of NZ...
...these two are at it again molesting the local wildlife...harassing the Seals ...

Otago Peninsula(OP) near Dunedin...one of the natural wonder of the world...it has everything including the mother of all bird ...THE ROYAL ALBATROSS,the only mainland breeding colony in the world and this birds are huge ...
OP is majestic...some 30km of wonderfully scenic drive via the purely prestine bays,lush green pastures,many inlets,pure powdery sandy beaches,rugged hills and volcanic landforms ,snow covered mountains... this is one of the most beatiful place on earth and if you look at the picture carefully you can even spot an Albatross soaring over the lighthouse...Vedu is becoming a real good photographer under my supervision ofcourse...we wanted to see Alby real close so we hired a boat and went sailing and we spotted loads real upclose...majestic
...scenic drive to OP...this place has penguins too! NZ has no native land mamals apart from few species of bats...
...this picture was taken just up the coast on same afternoon from wher you see the picture of P and I on the pebble beach under a beautiful blue sky...this shows that in NZ they have what they call a Maritime weather,that means it can change within matter of minutes and it does too...NZ is paradise but with violent weather moods and you have to be prapared for that ...


...one of the majestic Albatross as it takes off from near our boat...this one a juvenile...fully grown one has wingspan of over 3.5 meters!...mighty bird!...
...From Kaikoura to OP ,there are deep ocean canyon systems which are responsible for providing rich food source and hence the abundant wildlife...whales and other marine mammals are based here throughout the year...