The Weird and The Wonderful Food (part 1): Paihia, New Zealand

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New countries means new cultures which means new food.

As this is one of my favourite parts of travelling, I thought I should start this series where I shall share different foods I’ve come across. Although this is probably one of the less adventurous dishes, it was the first to come to my mind!

It was in Paihia, New Zealand that I made this first new (food) friend.

Swimming with dolphins in the wild at the Bay of Islands is pretty cool. Unfortunately that coolness gets a bit diminished when the water is freezing cold and you haven’t actually been given a wetsuit that fits… that more put my mind to where I would get my next hot drink!

So the search was on in Paihia for somewhere to satisfy this need!

I can never highlight enough how important it is to speak to the locals when you’re in new places, because they are the ones who know best where to eat! In this case it was a friendly man who pointed us in the direction of this cafe/restaurant place that I am gutted to have forgotten the name of! If anyone can tell me I will be forever in your debt!

On being handed the menu, we got our hot drinks ordered and then did the standard thing and read it! And this is where my waffling ends and I actually reveal the food!

There it was: Banoffee Pizza.

Being something I had never heard of before I couldn’t resist getting it! I love pizza and I love banoffee pie… I would never have thought of combining them though… but this sweet pizza, it really worked!

The lovely woman who had served us saw us enjoying it and even gave us the recipe!

Verdict: Wonderful

My Travel Bucket List: Version 1!

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With the new year upon us, a lot of blogs have posted reflective posts on the past year. I have chosen not to do this because of how new my blog is, and because unfortunately my travel this year has been limited. 2011 however, has a lot to offer and I look forward to posting all about it! Aswel as my world trip which will include Hong Kong, New Zealand, Fiji, Australia and Thailand, I will be visiting another two countries – more about that to come at a later date! Come September, I will also be moving to a new city in England so expect posts about that too!

Instead, for the new year I am sharing my bucket list so far! I started writing this a while ago, hence that I have already done some of the things on it! I thought it was the right time to put it up because I hope to be able to cross off a lot more items this year!

1. Buy a RTW ticket
2. Volunteer in a third world country
3. Volunteer in my country
4. Visit every continent
5. Travel solo
6. Climb the Great Wall of China
7. Get involved with the 2012 London Olympics
8. Ride an elephant
9. Ride a camel
10. See penguins in Antarctica
11. Go on a safari in Africa
12. Swim with dolphins in the wild
13. Hold a koala
14. Go whale watching
15. See something at Syndey Opera House
16. Climb Sydney Harbour Bridge
17. Have a ride on a gondala in Venice
18. Visit Pompeii
19. Climb Vesuvius
20. Visit the Colosseum
21. Go to Rio de Janeiro carnival
22. Climb the Eiffel Tower
23. Go to a full moon party
24. Visit Auschwitz
25. Visit Ayers Rock and see the sunset and sunrise over it
26. Visit Death Valley
27. See the Grand Canyon
28. Go surfing
29. Go skiing
30. Go sailing
31. Go scuba diving
32. Go skydiving
33. Go paragliding
34. Go caving
35. Go waterskiing
36. Learn to snowboard
37. Go windsurfing
38. Horseride on the beach
39. Go up in a helicopter
40. Go to New York
41. See a show on Broadway
42. Climb a glacier
43. Start a blog
44. Live in a different country for at least 6 months
45. Go to an English Music Festival
46. Go to a Music Festival abroad
47. Visit a Greek Island
48. Learn another foreign language to conversation level
49. Ride in a Tuk Tuk
50. Go Interrailing in Europe

These are all things I want to do before die… or kick the bucket.

As you can see… I’m currently only on 50 things… and there is definitely more I want to do! Would love to hear some suggestions to expand it!

What’s on your bucket list? Leave comments below or share with me on facebook!

Featured Video: The Art of Falling

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As I mentioned before in tips for full time work, music is a great way to relax, and I also use it a lot to inspire me.

I’m getting around to doing a post on all the music that inspires me to travel or just makes me think of it, but currently my computer doesn’t like spotify (or me!) so that playlist might have to wait!

But right now, this song is really inspiring me… and place it with this video it is amazing, so thought I would post it!

The video is of Bridge Day in West Virginia which looks so cool! All credits for this video go to skaoakeboarder on youtube, and of course Greg Holden for the music!

“It’s better to make your mistakes than to live without knowing”

It just makes me want to take this chance whilst I have it and reminds me that you really are more likely to regret the things that you don’t do!

What do you think? Do you have a certain song that’s really inspiring you at the moment? Please leave comments below!

The Three Colours of Uluru

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The Three Colours of Uluru

These three photos were taken at Ayers Rock at different times during the day! What I found amazing was how the rock changes colour with the sunlight! I’m no photographer, but I was really pleased with how these came out! Unfortunately, I can’t claim that it was my photography skills that led to this, just the sheer dramatic size and view!

Should you visit paradise twice?

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As I mentioned in yesterdays post and my interview with ytravel blog, my favourite place that I’ve been so far is Raratonga, Cook Islands. I could have easily added this into my next world trip but I chose not to and I don’t know if this was the right decision!

If I’m going to be philosophical, my reasoning was:
If you visit paradise twice will it still be paradise?

Then comes a lot of what ifs?:

Because I had such an amazing time there before, I would be going with such high expectations, what if I was disappointed by it this time even if I had a good time!

And what if this ruined the memories I have at the moment!

But then again, I know it would be a different experience and what if I went back and it was even better… That would be one phenomanel trip!

Although I decided to leave it for now, who knows what the future will bring! I would love to go back to the Cook Islands but maybe to a different island just so I don’t spoil the memories I have!

Have you visited the same place twice or did you decide not to? What was your thought process and how has it been? Please leave comments below, I’d love to hear!

Rarotonga, Cook Islands: Paradise on Earth Photo Essay

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Visiting Rarotonga, the main island of the Cook Islands, is the closest I’ve come to seeing paradise!

If I were to go all guidebook on you, I could tell you of the striking lagoon that encompasses Rarotonga or how you can get around the island in just one day on a bike, but I hope these photos (poor quality as some are) will show how beautiful it really is!

After taking a trip to Avarua’s Saturday open air market (the brightest I have ever seen!), this photo was taken walking back to our accomodation, palm trees were everywhere!


























As I just mentioned, palm trees are abundant in Rarotonga, so unsurprisingly people make a living from them! We mett a lovely old guy who showed us how he climbed the palm trees to get the coconuts, and then all the different ways cocunuts were used! Cocunut oil is apparently really good for dry scalps – he showed us this by rubbing it into someones hair!

On the Sunday, went on to meet more of the local people – everyone we saw was so friendly! An experience that I would consider umissable if you want to see how people live is go to one of their churches Sunday service! Where we went, everyone was so welcoming and the atmosphere was incredible when they were all singing! (Tip: dress smartly for church because they all do!). They then laid on a lunch for everyone outside with local food which was lovely because we all got an opportunity to talk!

I don’t know about you, but I’d always wanted to ride a horse across the beach and in Raratonga I got my wish! I think it was a childhood dream after seeing it in films! Although this could have just ended up being really cheesy it wasn’t because we rode on our horses into the jungle part to see waterfalls and completely different views to the beach outside – I found it hard to believe that it was the same tiny island!

We also got off the horses to climb to the top of this waterfall:

Then it was back to the beach to relax some more!

There’s no better way to describe these cocktails than as sundowners! Sitting in this beachside restaurant, we had a perfect view of a captivating sunset between the palm trees.

Have you ever been to the Cook Islands? What did you enjoy? Or any questions you want to ask me? Just leave a comment below!

Featured Video: Walking El Caminito del Ray

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I had this video sent to me and just thought WOW

This is El Caminito del Ray, described as the “most dangerous walkway” and is located near Malaga, Spain!

I’d love to do this! Okay maybe I should rephrase this… I’d love to have the courage to do this! Maybe one day!

Ever done this? Or any other scary walks? Share experiences below!

Tobogganing in New Zealand… no not on snow… on SAND!

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With all the snow in England at the moment, I keep seeing people tobogganing on the hill by my house and, generally, I have no desire to join them, tobogganing isn’t really my thing… give me skiing anyday!

However, it does remind me of one particular day where I did go tobogganing!

I’m all for new experiences, I think they are one of the main things which make travel so exciting so when I was given the chance to go sand tobogganing (yes you did read that right!) I wasn’t going to say no!

This was in the sand dunes of the 90 mile beach found on New Zealand’s North Island. I have to point out that this beach isn’t actually 90 miles long… Ironic.

I actually went on a coach tour which provided the toboggans and an overall tour of the beach which was a laugh! I would definitely recommend it.