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Alberta Roadie – Lake Louise

June 19, 2013

It felt like it took forever to get there. Somewhere between waking up at 3am after going to bed at midnight and stopping all the time for poor Vanessa to vomit we finally made it.

Our hostel was very cute – a log cabin. We went straight to sleep on arrival. Actually first we went next door to the pub for a shitty meal. It’s better to be forgotten.

When revived again we drive to Lake Louise for a looksie. I’d heard it was beautiful but it was really breathtaking. The higher up you get the more turquoise the lake is. Simply stunning, my pictures don’t do it justice yet say more than I can.

A hilarious impromptu photo shoot ensued, Merica acting like a supermodel – multiple poses in each location. I think Vanessa thought we were crazy with all our photos we wanted!

We were even lucky enough to see a porcupine! It didn’t care we were around – happy as looking for food.

It’s light until about 11pm in Lake Louise so we stayed playing around at the lake until about 9, only to find upon arrival back in ‘town’ that nothing was open for dinner! 3 restaurants later we had almost given up. A fourth was recommended and thankfully we made their last serving. Or maybe not thankfully. Food was shit yet again. I ordered bruschetta, I just wanted something light and fresh but I ended up with pizza bread. It was just thick garlic bread with tomato pasta sauce on it and cheese. Yuck. So much for fresh. Feeling unsatisfied we retired to bed.

Lake Louise Roadie (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Alberta Roadie Day 2 (rachaelscrazyworld.com)

Hawaii Day One

May 29, 2013

Paradise. I can’t explain it better.

I love this place!

I arrived at 11pm last night. My hotel room is huge and has a nice view. I was straight to sleep, excited to see Hawaii in the light of day!

I had a huge, full on day. Woke up at 9.30, walked to the beach. First thing I wanted to see! I wanted to have breakfast on the waterfront but the first few I arrived at weren’t doing it so I found some takeaway fruit. Sat down and made friends with a local who works at the beach. Nice guy, told me all they do is work, smoke weed and listen to music. That’s typical island life evidently.

Went for a walk around the beach, found some markets to browse and had my first experience of someone yelling ‘Hey Kiwi’ at me. Turns out he was from New York – so no idea how he aced that one but now lives here. We chatted for a bit and he asked for my number so I gave him my USA one thinking I would top it up later.

Lunch was amazing. Cool locations, Jimmy Buffetts. Great service. I had a tuna ahi salad and a mai tai mmm

Visited Apple to get my phone fixed – no luck, just a reset required. Nearly bought everything in Bebe but resisted.

Strolled around, got talked into a pedi – I was gonna get one anyway. Hilarious Vietnamese lady telling me not to get in a relationship before 30.

Walked around some more and a guy chases me down the street – he said he just had to say hello. Haha. Sweet guy, working on a video clip here with his cousins, from Brooklyn. Gave him my USA number. Said maybe I’d meet him for a drink later..

Went back to hotel, I’d run out of money! Had a mini nap and applied the back up on my phone.

Realised I had no plans for next week so went and booked some tours to keep me busy. Went for another huge walk and watched the sunset on the beach before settling in to watch a traditional show.

Met another guy walking back, he said ‘I must say, you look phenomenal in those shorts’ and I was all – Hello accent. Nice guy, he added me on Facebook.

Just went to get my dinner, the ramen place I had picked out seems to be the most popular in Waikiki! Line went for miles. Screw that, I was hungry. Passed a taco place, Surf N Turf Waikiki, so I had fresh fish tacos with guacamole. Thank goodness I did – it was amazing!!!

So, funny story, gave my US number to those boys and turns out it was inactive! Oops.

Have not the slightest clue how, but all the locals seem to know in Kiwi. The amount of times I’ve heard ‘Hey Kiwi’ or ‘Aotearoa’ today is crazy… I look just like any other tourist here!

Back to the hotel for a drink at the bar before bed.

6.50am pick up in the morning!

Orakei Korako – thermal delight

May 22, 2013

Another item on my list was to see some thermal activity. Dad suggested Orakei Korako. Evidently I’ve been before however I had no recall.

A few minutes out of Taupo (or 45, if your Dad knows a ‘short cut.’ Ie totally wrong direction.) the thermal activity is rampant. You can see the steam rising all around the landscape.

For $36NZD an adult you are taken over the Waikato River in a cute boat and left to wander around the other side where all the geo-thermal activity is.

I won’t describe it much, rather load pics, mainly because I’m tired and my vocabulary is evading me this evening.

There are terraces, geysers, mud pools, hot pools, lookouts and an awesome cave.

We spent about 2 hours exploring (and working off all the food we’ve been eating) the area. It’s so, so beautiful. Lots of steps though so you’ve been warned.

The cave is awesome – huge and deep with a crystal clear pool at the bottom. Pics don’t do it justice.

After the ferry back we settled in for some coffee & sandwiches. There is the cutest dog that stays there. His name is Henry as he’s a Waimarana. He’s huge and the strangest colouring. I loved him.

Go for a visit of you get a chance!

Taupo Holidaying (rachaelscrazyworld.com)

Under the mountain

May 5, 2013

My good friend, Emma asked me to join her and some friends in Ohakune for the weekend as they were there doing a half marathon.

Lets be honest, I can’t run. So I skipped that bit and headed down sat arvo with a mutual friend.

Two hours later we arrived in Ohakune, right under Mt Ruapehu. Driving there reminded me how beautiful NZ is, I spent most of the time just gazing out the window at the landscape. Being away so long definitely had given me a newfound appreciation for our beautiful country.

The group had a hired a huge house that slept 12 people and we spent the afternoon on the deck sipping wine. At only $115 a night it was a great place. Snow tops the mountain already so it’s a little fresh out there but with 11 of us in the house it was toasty.

One of the guys cooked a delish dinner and the drinking continued as we attempted to play Jenga & Cranium then four kings.

Having polished off my 6pack of cider & 8% KGB’s I was well and truly ready for a nap in the bunk room! That was a bit of a joke as the four cops were in there telling stories from their training at Police College. Fast forward to 2am and I finally got to sleep.

Everyone was up (to my disgust) at 8.30am so we packed up and made for the road home. Arriving just in time for the Mayweather boxing fight which I couldn’t wait to see! Great fight and although there wasn’t a KO it was good entertainment.

We passed time during the undercards with target practice by the hay shed with the 22. I suck. I manage to hit the pumpkin once however the boys have had a fair bit more practice than I had and were blowing up lemons left, right and centre!

Only 3 weeks left in New Zealand, time is flying.

Tokyo: Day Five

April 22, 2013

I woke up early and finished packing my bags ready for Seiji to collect me with our rental car ready to go exploring for the day.

I headed to the supermarket to get some baked goods as I was too lazy to go the full distance to the bakery. I ended up with weird pancakes with goopy stuff in the middle and little sugared raisin toast squares. They were nice but very sweet.

Seiji was waiting for me when I got back and we hit the road. First stop Yokohama. Took a while to get on the motorway and I noticed all the trees looked a but weird – all stumpy. After the earthquake they cut off all the branches because they all fell down in the middle of the road and blocked it. And I thought they were just trying something interesting!

Once on the highway it was an easy path to Yokohama just a few toll stops. Yokohama is about an hour out of Tokyo and a really popular place to visit and live.

Seiji took me straight to Chinatown and his fave park. Chinatown stretches out about 5×5 blocks. It’s huge! Seiji couldn’t even understand anything as they were all speaking Chinese. We walked the streets trying different food and watching all the people. Eventually Seiji found somewhere he thought we should eat – a tiny place with 850¥ ($8.50aud) set meals. The plates just kept coming! Starting with some kind of weird thing that tasted like mustard, then Chinese Gyoza, fried rice, pork noodle soup and a coconut jelly & fruit dessert. I loved the soup, beautiful broth. So cheap!

With a full tummy we grabbed Starbucks to walk around the park. This is Seiji’s fave park and its a beautiful area. It was built from the rubble after a big earthquake they had in the 1950’s. We were so full we didn’t last long walking around so we went on a driving tour then back to Tokyo.

Shibuya was the next stop. After finding a park (they do valet parking for 300¥ an hour in the city!) we went for a walk to a shop Seiji knew was good for gifts then tried to walk to Harajuku. We went by a huge old park but decided to go around it to get to Harajuku with more time. We got lost. I really enjoy getting lost when I don’t need to be anywhere. It’s fun. You see things you wouldn’t usually.

Harajuku meant shopping so I had a look around while Seiji chilled outside. He doesn’t like stocking shopping that much for some reason? Lol.

Back to get the car to drop it off in Shibuya before a casual dinner and to take my bus to the airport.

This is about the time I realised I was about to miss my flight and I had the most intense and crazy taxi ride of my life!!! Read more HERE

Fast and the furious: Tokyo Taxi edition (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day Four (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day one (rachaelscrazyworld.com)
Tokyo: Day Five (rachaelscrazyworld.com)

Tokyo: Day One

January 22, 2018April 14, 2013

I arrived late last night and settled into my mate Seiji’s house. He lives in Suginami-ku which is only 15mins by train to Harajuku and Shinjuku. Lucky for me he has given me full use of his apartment while I’m here, saving me a fortune in accommodation! He is staying at his girlfriends house.

After checking my social networks (yes I’m addicted) I fell into a deep sleep and only awoke at 9am! Decent sleep in for me.

I got changed and headed for a walk to the local supermarket. My family owned a supermarket most of my life so I LOVE going to new ones, especially overseas and seeing how they run and what try stock. Add my love of random food and you’ll understand why I was on there 2hours!

You can find sushi, tempura snacks and a large assortment of I have no idea as I can’t read Japanese in their supermarkets! There’s a massive range of drinks as confectionary. Something I found interesting was that all beauty, health and pet products were stocked completely separately upstairs, you buy your produce and general groceries, pay for them, then head upstairs to the rest of it.

Anyway I came back home and Seiji had slept in and was late for our lunch so I cleaned up the tiny apartment until he arrived.

Seiji took me to his fave cafe for lunch. It’s a cute little place and all the furniture is imported from his home town Matsyuma. I had karagi chicken with salad and rice. Not sure what Seiji had but it was pork haha.

Seiji went to work and I made my way to Harajuku – one if my fave places ever. I bought some gifts and spent hours just floating around taking everything in.

Come 7pm I headed back to Seiji’s hood and tried Mos burger. Teriyaki chicken burger was my choice – yummy but could see the fat dripping off it.

Day two tomorrow, no plans but to meet Seiji for dinner – anyone have any tips for places to visit?

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