Ok, latest crack is that Will is still in bed, not packed and the taxi is waiting outside…
99.9% chance that Will will not be travelling with us. Very Sad. We tried our best. I dragged him out but he resisted. I did the serious friend approach but slept straight it. Will, if you reading this, I’m really sorry but you brought it on yourself….
OK, so you’re working on Friday and looking forward to the weekend when an email is sent to you about ski trips… £120 per person to Val D Half Board… not bad. I go and sent it to the B-Unit crew and the next thing that happens is bang!… You’re on a Snowboard Trip!
So we’re not going for the whole week. Instead we decided to take a couple of days off work and comeback early. Take a hit on supplying our own flight back and boom you have a mini break out in Bellecote (La Plagne). Amazing. I’m so excited! It’s 1.52am on the Saturday and we’ve book our Taxi to go out at 3am. Flight’s at 6.30am. We’ll be on the slopes in less that 12 hours! Unbelievable! Farewell to you all for a few days and will up date you all on how it all went and how my new kit panned out.
Peace…
For many reasons (including the hot enjoyable weather, being on holiday and not being bothered…) I haven’t been updating my blog. I promise more exciting things to come but in the mean time, here are some pictures from my 2 weeks away:
Enjoy!
It was Chris Tasker’s birthday and he invited a bunch of his old school and uni mates down to his local town of Barnstable for a weekend to remember! It all started when I booked the tickets earlier that week… No cheap tickets availble during a normal time so booked them for 9.30pm on a friday and not arriving in Taunton till 12.30am! Then on the Friday at 5am I got a text from Chris say “I am currently being sick, ring me when you leave!”. Fortunately, it was only a 24hr bug and he was rearing to go for the Saturday (we were staying round Jan’s the first night so that we wouldn’t catch his illness!). I ended up phoneless for the weekend as someone mistakely put up my phone on the train thinking it was theirs (ironically the person he took it worked for Orange!). So obviously didn’t do that much on the first night. Just did a lot of talking and after the wine on the train, Olly and I were slightly tipsy and ready for bed.
Saturday was wicked, we arrived at Chris’ Hospital accomodation (no we weren’t visiting him as a patient, he’s a doctor!) and headed out for some fish and chips and the drove around coast. The views were amazing. It’s such a contrast to busy London. I felt like I was back in New Zealand. It was also the first time I’ve seen Thatched Roof Cottage! They are very cool but understand they are a bit expernsive…
Saturday night came and we had some food a nice pub in Lynmouth (can’t remember what it was called Village Inn??? I’ll find out!) and then heading back to get changed before heading out drinks. I was suprised that Barnstaple is a pretty lively place considering where it is. It’s about the same as King’s Lynn but nicer (sorry King’s Lynn people). First we went to Claytons which is probably the classiest places in Barnstaple and then headed over to Shout (ex Chicago’s!) and had a really good night there! Lots of fun and the people there were nice and friendly! Got home about 3am and stayed up watching the Commonwealth Games and eating pizza. Fell asleep on Jan.
Sunday was a relaxing day going to the beach (pictures to be uploaded soon) and brunch at Saunton Sands Cafe Bar . Then when to Croyde for Cream Teas! We then headed back to Tiverton Parkway for the train and arrive back in London at about 9.
Originally uploaded by silmonli.
So what did I think of Chamonix? This is a hard one because i think it depends on what kind of mood you’re in when you arrive. If you’re one of those miltant guys that call holidays “trips”, then it’s probably not the best place to be because of the following:
- This is not a resort level area. You have to get massive gondolas up to the top of the mountain. The queues are really massive at the bottom (about 45min) wait if you don’t get there early
- The resort is spread out. There are three main areas and they are pretty spread out. So you either have to get a bus or drive to the area.
If you’re there for the riding, then this is a really good place to go. The slopes are excellently pisted and there is a good variety of challenging runs. Also the off-piste is absolutely fantastic. We went with a really experienced skiing down some powdered sections and I was amazed how it felt almost floating through the pow.
So this was my second trip this season and I am now definately hooked to the boarding. Goodbye to Skiing hello to a new board and bindings next week!
Day 1 - Christchurch
This is where we landed and was pretty dissapointed with the place as it was a Saturday and any place is meant to be buzzing during the weekend. We had a walk round the town and stayed in a really nice boutique bed and breakfast called Dorethy’s
Day 2 - Dunedin
The drive down was fanatastic and we stopped at a few places on the way (Omaru and Shag Point). We arrived in Dunedin pretty late on the Sunday so almost everything was closed so we made the most of the scenery and headed off to a place called Lovers Leap. We then had a seafood dinner at The Reef Seafood Restaurant and Bar.
Day 3 - Te Anau
This little place is a convenient stop over point before heading to Milford Sound. We visited the Glow Worm Caves at night and decided to cook at the Youth Hostel which was a nice change to eating out.
Day 4 - Milford Sound
Again, another unbelieveable drive. The day started badly because there was a lot of rain and our hopes weren’t looking good for the scenic trip in Milford Sound. When we got there though, the sun came out and the waterfalls were gushing from the mountain tops which was a spectacular sight. One of the main highlights of the trip was a massive rock (the size of a small car) had fallen on to the road and we had to carefully make our way round it in our car! Very Scary! On the way back, while the sun was still shining we managed to get some really nice pictures of the mountain ranges around Milford Sound.
Day 5 & 6 - Queenstown
Also known as the town for Adventurers. There are so mnay activities to do from Bungy Jumping to Skiing to Jet Boat Rides. We only manage to do the Shotover Jet which was pretty scary. The town is fantastic for ski/snowboard shopping and food is excellent. Some how we manage to have 2 Thai meals while we stayed there! We took a trip on the Cable Cart to get a good view of the town and also headed to Arrowtown where they filmed snippits of LoTRs.
Day 7 - Franz Josef Glacier
Probably the best bit of the holiday. We did a Heli-Hike here and it was magnificent. We took a helicopter and landed on the mid section of the glacier. We then had a guide who showed us around the place and found a lot of Ice Caves which was pretty cool (excuse the pung!)
Day 8 - Motueka
The long drive up north to Abel Tasman National Park was well worth it. We stopped off at the Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki but it meant that we almost lost our place at the Youth Hostel arriving a bit late but with my magnificent driving skills, we had 5 minutes spare!
Day 9 - Nelson
Sea Kayaking was the order of the day. We managed to kayak 18km!!! Our arms were pretty tired by the end of it but it was really worth doing. A lot of seals followed us and the beaches that we stopped at were very quiet and serene.
Day 10 - Wellington
We headed to the North Island for a few days to visit my Cousin, Emay. Wellington is a fantastic city. We arrived in the late afternoon so we did a quick recon of the place before heading out for the full day of tourist activities.
Day 11 - Wellington
First we absorbed some of New Zealand’s culture by visiting Te Papa. Then we did a little bit of shopping for souveniers and travel up the cable car to visit the botanic gardens. After a hard days touristing around Wellington we ended up in Kelburn for a nice cup of coffee!
Day 12 - Kaikoura
We went back to the South Island to do some Whale Watching action! We managed to see 6 Sperm Whales and a few Dusky Dolphins which was suprising. Alex and I didn’t feel our best during the trip due to the rocking motion of the boat… 
Day 13 - Hanmer Springs
After doing some intense driving and activities, we decided to take it easy and chill out at some hot springs! We deserved too! It was only $10 to get in and the baths were really hot!
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Here are some really useful New Zealand Websites:
Youth Hostel Association - http://www.yha.co.nz
Official New Zealand Website - http://www.newzealand.com
ISite Visitors Center - http://www.newzealand.com/travel/vins/vins.html
My Full Photo Album - http://www.silmonli.com/photos/nz_05
So it’s finally upon us… I’ll be heading off to New Zealand for my 2 week holiday with Alex 
I’ll be flying out tomorrow at 10pm and meet Alex in Singapore and then head to Christchurch together. We’ve booked the car for two weeks and accomodation for the first night, but from then on we’ll take it as it comes and see how it goes… I’m feeling a bit nervous about the whole uncertainty of what we’re going to do next but it should be a fun and an excellent experience. Hopefully if I can get an internet connection out there I’ll put some pics on the blog and try to update all of you but if I can’t, I’ll definately put them up when I get back.
Apologise for the lack of posting on my blog for the past few weeks. I have been keeping pretty busy now that I have been using my new mountain bike over past few weekends. Anyway, here are some brief highlights I’d like to mention that were in my head at the time of typing:
1. The new iPod is released, the iPod Nano, to replace the iPod Mini. It looks very cool and I’m very tempted to get it. One thing that is worrying me is that it look and feels so thin and fragile that it would be very easy break if I accidently sit on it. Can’t say much for the iTunes phone which was release at the same time. It’s called the Motorola ROKR. Rubbish as it only holds 100 songs! My phones better than that and I’ve had it for about 6 months now!
2. England win the Ashes! What a nail biting 7 weeks of cricket! I can’t believe how the England team managed to hold it together! They would set themselves up in a good position and then decide to crumble so that the Aussies have a tiny chance to steal it back! Anyway, the final test was a draw which meant England won 2-1 in the overall series. Well Done England and let’s hope you can do it again in 18 months time!
3. The other England lose! What a game… England vs N. Ireland in the World Cup Qualifier stages. How could they lose 1-0? There was a silver lining to the story though… I decided to make a bet on England losing (chances were 30-1) very early in the week. I know what you’re all going to say, “TRAITOR!”, but with those odds it was very hard to resist. I won’t tell you how much I put down but I do have to Thank Oz, my lucky charm for helping win! Cheers mate!
4. Just over 2 weeks till I go on holiday to New Zealand with Alex! It’s getting close now and I’ve arranged the car hire and now looking into accomodation for the first few days. We’re going to do a round trip of the South Island and visit my cousin in Wellington a couple of days too. I’m just counting the days!
As you can tell I haven’t been posting for the last 3 weeks. Thats because I’ve been away in the US. I don’t really want to get into the detail but I had a really good time. I met lots of new friends in Chicago and had a wicked time in New York City. Below are some of the pictures from my trip. For a more detailed view please go here
Got to Chicago fine and dandy… It’s a bit weird with the time difference… It’s only 23.13 here in Chicago but back in the UK it’s 05.15 and still awake! Not good.
