Things to do in New Zealand

So I have been writing a lot for journalism at the moment and I thought I might treat you to one because it's pretty relevant to my person, so here you go you luck beans 

Things To Do In New Zealand

North Island

1-Sail in Auckland

The City of Sails

Set sail from the beautiful harbour if Auckland, on a Pride of Auckland yacht, specially made for the purpose of passing on the local experience. From here you can view the sights of the city from the sheltered sea of “boating paradise.”

Prices start from $75NZD - £41.39 pp.

2-Visit Matamata

The Home of the Hobbits

Not far from Auckland sits the rural town of Matamata, just outside sits a large and beautiful farm, featuring rolling green hills and little holes under the ground, closed with multicoloured circular doors. Sounding familiar? Take a tour around Hobbiton and explore the set as seen in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.

Prices start from $75NZD - £41.39 pp.

3-The Redwoods Whakarewarewa Forest – Rotorua

One of nature’s greatest achievements

This is the perfect place to take part in an activity. Famous for its natural beauty Whakarewarewa forest is located just five minutes from the centre of Rotorua’s city. Here you can get go on a walk, have a picnic, hire a bike or go horse riding, the list goes on and all surrounded by the spectacular Californian Redwoods.

Entry to the forest is completely free.

4-Waitomo Cave - Waitomo

See Glowworms in their natural habitat

Explore metres of unbelievable cave structure where thousands of Glowworms radiate their magical backsides as you’re guided through the area by an expert who’ll convey the history of the caves and take you on a boat ride beneath the fairy-like-lights of ‘Glowworm Grotto’. Unparalleled in beauty it’ll blow you away.

Prices start from $48NZD - £26.39 pp.

5-Visit Taupo

Home of the ‘Great Lake’

Found in the centre of the North Island, Taupo offers a multitude of free activities that will help with keeping in budget. Here you can visit the thundering Huka Falls, relax in the Spa Park Hot Pools created by a naturally hot river that fills the many pools. Walk along the river and experience New Zealand’s beauty.

Entrance to the area? Free.

6-Visit Rotorua  

Experience a Zorb Tumble or visit a Maori Village

Visit Rotorua and experience its fantastic sights. Jump in a Zorb ball and feel the thrill of the ‘Zobit’ (dry) or the ‘Zydro’ (wet) depending on your preference. Alternatively visit the Maitai Maori village and experience multiple ceremonies and performances; be guided on a bush walk and experience a Glowworm tour. For a little extra you can also see the beauty of Rainbow Spring’s by night.

Zorb $45 (individual prices) - £24.74 pp.

Maori Village $106NZD - £58.29 pp. (inc. Beauty By Night tour $136NZD - £74.78)

7-The Museum of New Zealand - Wellington

Te Papa Tongarewa

Here is a little somewhere you can visit that would take up a few spare hours. The Te Papa museum located in the country’s capital – Wellington, has many fascinating exhibitions for you to explore, giving you the perfect opportunity to learn a little more about the country, it’s culture, history and greatest treasures.

Entry to the museum is free!

*Bonus*

While you’re in Wellington check out the Lord of the Rings movie tours, an essential for fans.

Prices start from $45 - £24.74 pp.

8-Te Mata Peak – Hawke’s Bay

The perfect place for a long hike

Yet another place to take in the breath-taking views this country offers, Te Mata Peak, in Napier, is the perfect place for you to hike, drive or cycle over. Here you can take a break from the cities and just relax in the tranquillity of quiet. It’s the ideal if you want to loose yourself in the magnificence of the mountains.

Free entry.

9-Tongariro Crossing – Tongariro National Park

Visit the sparkling emerald lakes

On this mountain you can discover a multitude of colour; from the red crater at the very peak to the glistening emerald lakes found on the mountainside. It’s a bit of a hike to the very top, not something you’ll want to attempt in jeans and Converses anyway (but even you could reach Soda Springs) but for the hikers among you, if you can, the awesome colours are just… wow.

Entrance to the park is free.

10-Te Puia – Rotorua

Maori Geothermal Reserve

Here you can visit a Maori geothermal reserve. Experience the hot springs and get a good look at the Maori weaving and carving schools. Guided by those that can track their families involvement in the area back decades, they’ll treat you to age old stories, as you encounter New Zealand’s natural spectacles, including boiling mud pools, geysers and a look at the country’s national bird – the Kiwi.

Prices start from $47.40 - £25.97pp.

South Island

1-Fox Glacier – West Coast

Fox Trot: Half-Day Walk

Fox Glacier is one of the most easily accessed glaciers in the world and one of the few you don’t have to fly in a helicopter to get to. This tour will allow you to spend at least an hour on the ice itself and the company will provide you with all the gear you’ll need to complete the trek. It’s a fantastic opportunity that will allow you to experience the magnitude of nature’s power.

Price for individual adult: $115.00NZD -  £63.09

2-Lake Wakatipu - Queenstown

Lightning bolt shaped lake

This lake is the third largest in the World and because of its unusual shape under goes a transformation every twenty-five minutes, rising and falling like a heartbeat, or so the legend goes, of a monster named Matau, sleeping under the surface. As expected a walk or cycle ride would give you spectacular views. Besides, how many people do you know that have taken a stroll beside a lightning bolt of clear water.

Entry free.

3-One of the ‘Great Walks’

The Milford Track

There are six of the nine ‘Great Walks’ in the South Island of New Zealand, including the Routeburn, Rakiura, Kelper and Milford tracks. The Milford is the most famous of the nine because the route surrounds the sound of the same name. Most of these walks you can do independently (or with a guide for a price) but you’ll have to organise somewhere to stay along the way as many of them require a few days.

Prices depend on route and season.

4-Ohau Waterfall Walk - Kaikoura

See the frolicking seal pups

The Ohau waterfall walk is a short one but is a place of fun and majesty. A place where you can watch the seal pups in their natural habitat having an absolute ball in the water. Not only can you get up as close as you want to the little ones but you can also enjoy the peace and beauty of the waterfall itself.

Entrance - not a dollar.

5-Whale Watching – Kaikoura

View the majesty of the largest mammals on Earth

Here is an absolute must. Can you imagine the magnitude of these creatures? Well imagine no more, here you can see it for your self. The trip includes a video about the animals themselves and their survival in the icy depths of the ocean as you wait, spending up to two and a half hours on the water, searching.

Individual Adult $145NZD - £79.43

6- Milford Sound – Fiordland

Rent a kayak and experience the sound close and personal

Said to be the best way to experience the famous sound, kayaking will allow you the freedom and ability to traverse the water with a certain intimacy you wouldn’t get on a cruiser. Have your skin kissed by waterfalls, move alongside resident dolphins, seals and/or penguins.

Prices start from $115NZD - £63.09

7-Rangitata River – Canterbury

White-water raft the Rangitata

White-water raft in the incredible landscape of the Southern Alps. Choose from either the gentle lower graded Fun Lower Rangitata or face the madness of Rangitata Gorge – grades 1-5! Pair the overwhelming scenery and the excitement of the rapids. If you want to skip the 5 you’re welcome to sit it out and rejoin as the water settles a little. Everyone wins.

The Fun Lower Rangitata - Grade 1-2 - $165NZD – 90.39

The Spectacular Rangitata Gorge – Grade 1-5 – fr. $208NZD -£113.95

8-Blue Penguin Colony – Oamaru

The World’s smallest penguins

Here you can watch the worlds smallest penguins go about their daily business. During the day there area is a little quieter but you are always welcome to join a guided tour to view the behind the scenes work that occurs to protect the species. Then again you can always visit at night and watch the penguins returning home after a hard day’s fishing.

Prices start from $12NZD - £6.57

9-Visit Queenstown

Welcome to Adrenaline Central.

If you fancy trying your hand at bungee jumping, skydiving, zip wiring, skiing, snowboarding or hiking over the Remarkables this is the place for you. And for all the Lord of the Ringers, you can also join a tour that will take you down the ‘Anduin River’ (Kawarau Gorge) and provide you with a tour of the beautiful country that made Middle-Earth.

Tours start at $95NZD - £52.04 (inc. Bungee $275NZD- £150)

Skydive – fr. $269 - £147.36

10- Hokitika Gorge Reserve

Scenic reserve and gorge

One of the most breathtaking sights you will ever come across comes in the form of this scenic reserve. You’ll be amazed at the colour of the water you find here, almost luminescent turquoise it seems almost fantastical. And the gorge itself is as breathtaking as the water below it. An easy walk and/or drive it’s the perfect place to spend a day; simple reiterating the renowned beauty of the country.

For More information and prices visit our website www.fmpdriftermag.co.uk

We Wants It Precious.

I've had this post lined up for a while now and originally I was going to give you a little background information as well as some pictures, but I have no thoughts in my head and I'm uber bogged down with work as it is coming up to the last days of my education, more on that in another post when I have more time. So for now here are the things inspiring me to keep going.

A blue triumph motorbike, I saw one with racing stripes once and ever since I have wanted one, possibly not the best thing for me, highly prone to accidents, to get into but doesn't stop the want. 

I want to go to New Zealand, and I am! In September, but I really want to have a good time and it won't be as easy to if I can save enough money to be comfortable there, at the moment I have zero chance of doing so and I really don't want to not be, I want to enjoy myself and not worry about how the hell I'm going to feed myself the next day.

A jaguar e-type. I don't know what it is about classic cars but something about them... I don't know its weird and probably only explainable in my head so I won't try, all the same... *sigh*

I know it's cliche, but I really want a typewriter, and one that works so that I can actually use it if I want to. I know I know, but I've wanted one for forever and a half. 

They are the big things anyway, I may come back again at some point and put a few of the littler things on her, but yeah, I have big asks, but I'm only asking myself for them so I suppose it isn't such a big deal is it? 

Been Busy.

So, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, life I must admit seems to have been a little hectic as of late and I have been blogging here for my journalism project. So I'm afraid I'm a little busy to talk about anything interesting but you can have the article I wrote the other day for my FMP (Final Major Project) it took a lot of research and a lot of pain on my part so enjoy. 

The Haunting Trip Around Britain

Summer is coming and for some, it is the last large amount of time you may spend with your friends, either because you (or they) are about to leave for university, or you are about to part from your uni friends for the summer. Either way, or the way of another, summer is the best time to spend with friends and what better way, especially if you don’t want to – or can’t afford to – go abroad, than to spend your summer with friends travelling across Britain in search of ghosts. Plunge yourselves into a hunt you’ll never forget.

The Red Lion – Avebury, Wiltshire

This Inn, situated within the Avebury Stone Circle, is renowned for its haunting. Almost as famous as Stonehenge, the Avebury Stone Circle has long been associated with paganism and witchcraft. It’s very fair to say that the wandering spirits in this area are not afraid to interact with the living and the Red Lion is the perfect place to witness the cold spots; the phantom woman whose body was left in the, now glass covered, well and the noise of clattering horses’ hooves in the courtyard late at night.

Glamis Castle – Angus, Scotland

This beautiful castle, situated in enchanting Scotland, was once home to the Queen Mother and is said to be haunted by many; one of which being the imaginatively named ‘Grey Lady’. The spirit of a once great Lady, burned as a witch many years ago, has been said to appear in many areas of the castle. Also been seen is a tongue-less woman that looks out from a barred window; a, poorly treated, little black servant boy, said to haunt the hallway outside of the Queen’s bedroom and other, more infamous ghosts of Earls that famously haunt the halls of their castle.

£9.50 (Concession) - £10.75 (Adult)

Kitty Jay’s Grave – Dartmoor, Devon

Years ago a young servant girl fell in love and fell pregnant out of wedlock. Suffering with the shame of her situation and rejection, the poor young girl hung herself to escape the humiliation of going to the poor house. Because of this, Kitty Jay’s soul was believed to be restless and so, because of her suicide, and as was tradition, was buried at a crossroads and there she remains. What is strange, however, is that every morning since fresh flowers are found laid atop the grave. And no one has ever managed to capture the culprit.

The Tower of London – London

Probably the most obvious place in which to search for ghosts, but where better than the very venue many spent the last few days of their lives, preparing themselves for their appointment with the hangman’s noose or the executioner’s axe. There is a never-ending list of spirits that have been seen drifting through the corridors and courtyard of the tower including – the second wife of Henry VIII – Anne Boleyn, Thomas Becket and Walter Raleigh.

£18.50 (Concession) - £21.45 (Adult)

Pendle Hill

Walk to the beautiful Pendle Hill and experience a haunting unimaginable, a place that even ‘Most Haunted’ physics have taken strong interest in. According to legend it is the site where ten supposed witches were hung by their necks until dead. Victimised by the cruelty of James 1^st obsession with witch-hunting, the women were killed and are said to still roam the earth, haunting the hill and town – where at least one is supposedly buried – in which they were so cruelly persecuted. No need to go on a tour to feel the presence here.

Hangman’s Hill Ghost Walk – Epping Forest, Essex

To this list the Hangman’s Hill ghost walk must be added. This brilliant hunt has left many a member feeling, uneasily, that they are not alone, with many having been touched or even pushed as they walk. With the accompanying mediums battling to communicate with the various spirits that are said to haunt every step, a young girl, a reckless runner that threatens every passing car and a headless horseman dwelling in the trees’ shadows. This walk is not to be missed, beautiful and almost undeniable.

£12.50

Culloden Moor – Inverness, Scotland

This moor is the tragic resting place of thousands of Jacobean Britons, having spent their last moments there, fighting for their lives in the bloody Battle of Culloden. Soldiers killed and prisoners brutally slaughtered, by order of the, then, Duke of Cumberland, are said to return every anniversary, 16 April, causing the moor to echo with the anguished screams of the spirits, forced to relive the horror of their torture. 

Llancaiach Fawr Manor – Caerphilly, Wales

This beautiful Tudor Manor house has long been described as the most haunted house in Wales. With the tour being conducted by (acting) citizens of the English Civil War continually convince you of the caught-in-time sense that the rooms convey, many of which are said to contain presence that have affected visitors, so much so that some have simply burst into tears. If you want to experience the perfect ghost hunt you can even attend a two-course meal and receive an introduction to paranormal research before walking the corridors hunting for the lost spirits.

Tour - £13.50 Meal - £23.50

Ghosts and Legends Red Coat Tour – Exeter, Devon

Tour the beautiful Roman City, acclaimed as one of the most haunted cities in the country, completely free! Visit the haunting gothic Cathedral, supposedly the home to a nun that haunts the yard, find apparitions from the English Civil War and victims of the infamous witch-hunts. More than enough to get that chill running down your spine and the hairs rising on the back of your necks.

Berry Pomeroy Castle – Totness, Devon

Home to yet another ‘White Lady’ this castle holds yet more tragedy. Believed to be Margret Pomeroy, the ‘White Lady’ was the victim of her jealous sister, for sharing her love for an unnamed man and imprisoned in the dungeons as punishment. Similarly, the ‘Blue Lady’, an unnamed female that haunts the grounds, beckons visitors away from the safety of the castle ruins, the result of which is unknown.

£3.80