http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk A blog detailing my travels around the Pacific and Indian Ocean in 2006 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:39:15 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Those that visited the site during my travels this year will remember I did a skydive in Rotorua, New Zealand. I had chance yesterday to rip the dvd of it and upload it to YouTube. And before you mention it, yes, I already know how sexy I look in that ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/08/12/watch-my-skydive/ Settling back into 'normal life' has been as difficult as I expected it to be. Towards the end of my trip I started to think about what returning to the UK would be like and, although there were some things I looked forward to, the thought was scary.For a start ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/07/06/time-to-reflect/ I woke at about 9.30am and got my things together. From Asakusa Station I caught a train to Tokyo Station where my day's itinerary began. I walked through the Wandenkura Fountain Park to the Imperial Palace, home to Japan's emporer and the Imperial family. You can only get into the ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/22/city-exploration-2/ And so I reach the final country on my travels. At 6pm New Zealand time on Monday I flew to Sydney where I was in transit for just over two hours before my connecting flight to Tokyo. As luck would have it I managed to blag three seats to myself ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/21/gaijin-in-tokyo/ Saturday 17th my bus left Rotorua on the final leg of my Kiwi pass to Auckland. The only stop we made en route was at a town called Matamata where filming of The Shire took place for Lord of the Rings. We didn't see any little hobbit houses built into ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/19/leaving-aotearoa/ The weather hasn't been very kind over the last few days, as I made my way from the South to the North Island. After all the adventure in Queenstown our bus to CHristchurch left on Sunday 11th. As I started my trip in Christchurch and already had a few days ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/16/the-north-island/ We scheduled five nights in Queenstown because there's an abundance of stuff to do here. The town sits alongside the snaking Lake Wakatipu amongst The Remarkables mountain range. 14,000 people live here and the town's relatively high population (there's only four million people in the whole of NZ) owes itself ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/10/on-throwing-oneself-into-a-canyon/ Yesterday was one of those rare days where everything goes well and things just fall into place. It was a text-book traveller's day. The weather the day before, on Saturday, was rainy and miserable. We spoke to the group that arrived in the township of Franz Josef the day before ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/05/hiking-a-glacier-and-winning-a-pool-comp-all-in-a-days-work/ It's been a busy few days. On Thursday we boarded the coach and drove off towards Westport on the west coast of the south island. It's a fantastically scenic drive through the southern alps; a mixture of rocky outcrops, rainforest and snow-capped mountains straight out of a movie scene. En ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/06/03/kiwi-experience-days-1-3/ Flight 415 touched down at Christchurch in New Zealand's south island a little ahead of schedule on Monday night. When I stepped off the plane I thought I'd gotten off at Heathrow. It's bloody freezing over here! For the first time in four months I can see my own breath ... http://www.stephenturvey.co.uk/2006/05/31/a-walk-around-christchurch/