Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro was my last stop, right before I went back to Portugal. I arrived there on the 4th of April.
It is a very nice town, with a lot of energy, and pretty good weather (though I was a bit unlucky and got some rainy days). I stayed there for almost a month, since I have a very good friend there, in whose house I stayed.

The city of Rio de Janeiro

I had been to the city many times before, so even though I stayed for a month, I didn't do as many different things as other places. There were many days where I didn't do anything special, just being lazy,walking a bit around, going to the beach (Copacabana), etc...
Of course, I did do some stuff besides that. I went to different locations in the city itself, such as the Modern Art Museum, the Botanical Gardens, Palaces, the Central Business district, the City Theater, libraries, among others.

Exposition at the Modern Art Museum

The Botanical Gardens

I also went to some locations next to the city. One of these was the Paquetá island, a very beautiful island, with a lot of historical buildings, parks, beaches... Another one was Niterói, where I visited a fort and Niemeyer museum.

The Niemeyer Museum

Cannon at the fort

Some time was also spent hanging out with old and new friends, going to the cinema, to night clubs, samba events, among others.
I returned to Portugal on the 2nd of May.

USA-01 (San Francisco and Houston)

I arrived in San Francisco on the 24th of March, earlier than when I left (thanks to the International Date Line).
San Francisco is quite a big and interesting city, as you might imagine, with a lot of things to do. The hostel I stayed in also had a lot of different activities.
I did a lot of walking around, where I saw some interesting areas in the city, such as Pier 39, with lots of sea lions, Fisherman's Wharf, the crooked section of Lombard Street, the Golden Gate Bridge, many parks, etc...

Sea lions at Pier 39

Fisherman's Wharf

Golden Gate Bridge

The crooked section of Lombard Street

I also went to the California Academy of Sciences, in Golden Gate Park, a museum of natural history, with a lot of different expositions, including live animals and aquariums, a planetarium and a research area. Later I walked around in the park and saw the bisons in the bison paddock.

Dinosaur skeleton at the Academy

The aquarium

The bison paddock

Another popular place I got to visit is Alcatraz island, with its famous prison, where many problematic criminals, including Al Capone, were held.

Alcatraz Island

A cellblock

To visit some of the places outside of San Francisco, I took a tour to Yosemite National Park, and appreciated all its beautiful landscapes, including many waterfalls, and also found out some things about the native indians from the area.

Me at the national park

A waterfall

As I said before, the hostel had a lot of good activities too, the highlights being a movie night and a karaoke night.
On the 1st of April I flew to Houston, in Texas. My stay there was quite brief,  so the only special thing I did was visiting Space Center Houston. The visit included a guided tour to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, where I saw the Apollo Mission Control Center, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (with many vehicle models), an example of a Saturn V rocket (used by the Apollo Moon missions), among other things. Apart form this, there were also other exhibitions about space exploration, life in space, and other things.

The Space Vehicle Mockup Facility

Part of a Saturn V rocket

Space suits

On the 3rd of April I flew to Rio de Janeiro.

New Zealand-03 (Queenstown and Auckland)

Hi, welcome back. Today I will talk about the last two cities in New Zealand I visited.
I arrived in Queenstown by plane on the 16th of March. Queenstown is a small but very nice town in the South Island, surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers. It is also considered the adventure capital of the South Island.
One of the things I did was take a tour were I visited the area around, and saw a lot of beautiful and breathtaking landscapes, including more Lord of the Rings locations.

Some scenes were filmed in this forest

I also had some fun in the city itself, such as visiting a haunted house, eating the famous local Ferg Burger, and going on a bar crawl at night, which included an ice bar.

The Ferg Burger

Ice statue at the Ice Bar

Lastly, I tried flyboarding, which I had never done before. It was really cool and exhilarating.

On the 21st, I took a plane back to Auckland, where I stayed three nights. There I visited the zoo, where I finally got to see a kiwi (and other animals, of course).

Kiwi head (unfortunately, it was too dark in the exhibit for me to take a picture of a real one)

An australian emu

On the 24th, I left New Zealand, and flew to San Francisco.

New Zealand-02 (Rotorua and Wellington)

Hi, welcome back, and sorry for the long waiting time. Today I'll continue talking about New Zealand.
On the 6th of March I arrived in Rotorua. As soon as i arrived I smelled sulphur in the air, because Rotorua is a very geologically active area, with a lot of geothermal places. I visited two of these areas, Wai-o-Tapu and the Waimangu Volcanic Valley, and saw a lot of geysers, mud pools, hot water springs, etc...

A (very hot) mud pool

A geyser in eruption

Frying Pan lake, the largest hot spring in the world

Another interesting thing I did was go to a Maori village (the Maori are the native people of New Zealand), and experience some of their culture and costumes, inluding ceremonies, weapons, games, traditional cooking...

Dinner  being picked up. It was prepared by burying it in the ground with hot stones.

Show with traditional dancing, games, instruments and weapons

I also went on tours to other places such as the Hobbiton Movie Set, in Matamata (used for the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies), and Taupo, where I did skydiving for he first time in my life, jumping from an altitude of 15000 feet (4,572 km).

Me next to a Hobbit hole

Hobbiton

Me skydiving over lake Taupo

On the 11th a took a (long) bus tour from Rotorua to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. There I did another Lord of the Rings tour, where I visited some of the film locations, the studios, and the Weta Caves, home for the Weta Studios, a special effects studio that has made effects for a lot of movies, from The Lord of The Rings to Avatar.

Statue of Gollum at the Weta Caves

Reenactment of a scene from The Fellowship of the Ring

I also hired a mountainbike and went on a tour around the tracks in the city, visiting Mount Victoria and other places.

View of the city from Mt. Victoria

Lastly, I went to the Te Papa museum, with a lot of expositions, from giant squids to traditional Maori culture.

A Maori waka (canoe)

A giant squid

On the 16th I flew to Queenstown, in the South Island.

New Zealand-01 (Auckland, Hamilton and Waitomo)

Hi, welcome back. Today I'll talk about my first days in New Zealand.
I arrived on the 28th of February in Auckland, the biggest city in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the hostel I was gonna stay in cancelled my reservation, so I had to go look for another place to stay. But it turns out I was even more unlucky, as every hostel and hotel in the city was full, because of a Bruce Springsteen concert. In the end, I managed to find a very expensive apartment where I stayed for the night.
The next day I decided to get out of Auckland, and tried hitchhiking. After waiting approximately 40 minutes, I was picked up by a friendly couple, who took me to Hamilton, a smaller city where it was much easier to get accommodation.
Hamilton is a very nice and beautiful city. It is right by the shore of the Waikato river, and has some interesting attractions. I visited the Hamilton Gardens, where I found a lot of different garden varieties, and the Waikato Museum, with many expositions, from Roman Machines to Maori culture.

The Waikato River

Replica of a Roman machine

Roses at the Hamilton Gardens

On the 4th of March I took a bus to the Waitomo Caves. There I went for some walks, where I could appreciate the beautiful nature, visited the Discovery Center, and took a tour to the famous glowworm caves, filled with tiny little shining glowworms.

Landscape at Waitomo Caves

Moa skeleton at the Waitomo Caves Discovery Centre

Glowworms (no, this wasn't taken by me, it was too dark for my phone's camera, so I  am using a photo the tour company sent me. It's a bit exaggerated, but trust me, the sight of the worms is really amazing)

On the 6th I took a bus to Rotorua.

Australia-02 (Cairns and Sydney)

As mentioned before, I flew to Cairns on the 20th of February.
Cairns is a small and nice town in the Northern part of the Australian East Coast. The weather is very humid and hot, but fortunately the hostel had a nice swimming pool where we could cool down. The city itself has a big artificial lagoon with sand and everything. People use it a lot, because even though the city is by the coast, people are not allowed to swim in the ocean water, due to jellyfish/sharks/crocodiles/etc...

The Lagoon

Cairns is one of the best places to go diving in the Great Barrier Reef, and since I'm an Open Water Diver, I took a day tour there. The tour included the boat ride there, three dives, and some snorkelling. It really is a beautiful place, and I even got to see a turtle.
I also took a day trip to the rainforest nearby. The trip included a walking tour in the forest itself, a river tour where we saw some crocodiles, a stop where we could try some ice cream with exotic flavours, an aboriginal cultural experience, among others.

Crocodile in the river

Trees in the rainforest

Goji berry with honey and yoghurt ice cream

Paints used by the aboriginal people

Apart from that, I just relaxed in the hostel, walked around in the city, went out, and ate some kangaroo meat.

Kangaroo meat

 On the 27th I flew back to Sydney, and on the 28th I flew to Auckland.