philandfreya

[philandfreya]

Happy to be home after a long journey which included two surprise days in smoggy Beijing (thanks to our incompetent airline, Air China - never again!!).. lovely to come home from our honeymoon to find our garden crane-bombed! Thanks @lill_butta and @storbutta - it certainly was a fun welcome!! (at Nytorps Gärde)

[philandfreya]

Last day in Japan! Homeward bound tomorrow morning after what has been the trip of a lifetime. So many happy memories! #philandfreya (at Sensō-ji)

[philandfreya]

Making friends :) #philandfreya (at Robot Restaurant 　【ロボットレストラン】)

[philandfreya]

Our first day exploring Japan, in Kyoto! We had a brilliant time - first going West to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest and the adjacent Tenruyu-ji temple. After some vegetarian lunch and a fika stop (green tea / ginger and honey drink with puddings) we then took the bus North to the Golden Temple, which was every bit as awe inspiring as it's fame suggests. We finished up with a deep fried prawn curry thing for dinner, fab! Best of all, we managed to take busses everywhere without getting lost. Aragato Kyoto!

[philandfreya]

And on to Japan! After successfully catching another huge flight back to Beijing we got to enjoy a stopover in Berlin airport again (not our favourite place), complete with Pandas this time. We then went on to Osaka and managed to navigate our way to Kyoto via subway and get travel tickets for our time here. People are extremely helpful - strangers keep coming up to ask to tell us how to work ticket machines and things. Everything is very cute here too, including our tiny apartment! I don't think I really fit the Japanese norm, as I only just fit..

[philandfreya]

Our closing moments of New Zealand! Our little Pod Campervan was successfully dropped off and we had a day to explore Auckland. After some excellent pizza last night and our first sleep in a proper bed for quite a while, we visited the Auckland Art Gallery (open for free as it's a public holiday). They had an excellent exhibition of portrait paintings of Maori leaders and scenes. We were staying next to Auckland University (check the name of the lecturer in the photo - Ben Kenobi!!) and also walked to the base of the iconic Sky Tower. After enjoying our last rays of NZ summer at the airport doors we have now checked in and are waiting for our flight to the cold Northern hemisphere 🇯🇵

[philandfreya]

Thanks and goodbye New Zealand! #philandfreya (at Skytower Auckland)

[philandfreya]

We're back to civilization and no longer living in a camper van :) captions welcome on the photo! Holiday day 45 #philandfreya (at Queen Street, Auckland)

[philandfreya]

We spent the last two days at a beautiful spot called Hamilton's Gap, just south of Auckland. We were both fairly tired out so didn't do much - watched a load of The Crown on Netflix mostly, which felt like a crime in such a location but will hopefully be worth it when we both recover from our colds. We had two amazing sunset walks on the black beach though - mind blowing panoramas and quite alien landscapes. We met a couple of chaps running a 2km line for fish using a GPS propellor as they were pulling it back in. After 20 minutes (and only 1.4km this time), they had a huge bucket full of massive snapper and even a small shark! This they returned to the sea, and they told us how it all worked which was fascinating. On our last morning we emptied the camper, cleaned and packed everything up. We've now dropped it off and are spending our last day in Auckland before we fly tonight. What an incredible place New Zealand is, and what a trip!

[philandfreya]

What a hectic and amazing week we've had! It's been properly action packed in and around Taupo - a skydive, rafting (see last post), amazing sunsets with pizza, the Huka Falls and then parasailing! The result was probably predictable - we then have both fallen ill with colds and been pretty exhausted! So following our manic activity we've been chilling out a bit - reading books (overlooking a wake boarding competition!) and sleeping a lot..

[philandfreya]

Sunset paddling :) holiday day 44 #philandfreya (at Hamiltons Gap, Awhitu)

[philandfreya]

On our way to catch the sunset.. Holiday day 43 #philandfreya (at Hamiltons Gap, Awhitu)

[philandfreya]

Rafting! Here are a few photos from our trip white water rafting on the grade 5 Kaituna Rapids, just North of Rotorura. Our guide Toshi was brilliant and we had an amazing time! The big drop shows us going over a 7 metre falls, apparently the biggest done commercially in the world..

[philandfreya]

Parasailing - a nice way to start the morning! Holiday day 42 #philandfreya (at Lake Taupo Water Front)

[philandfreya]

Huka Falls! Enough water goes through in 11 seconds to fill an Olympic swimming pool! Holiday day 40 #philandfreya (at Huka Lodge)

[philandfreya]

So far today has been pretty adrenaline-filled! Holiday day 40 #philandfreya (at Skydive Taupo)

[philandfreya]

Tongariro Alpine Crossing Hike. Had amazing weather and the most amazing views of huge craters and crazy emerald lakes. Holiday day 39 #philandfreya #tongariroalpinecrossing (at Tongariro Alpine Crossing)