Meet Megan, a great journalist and travel blogger. She is Australian and she travels around the world with her American husband. Needless to say that for last 7 years they had many adventures and they willingly share it on their blog. Exclusively for Null&Full blog Megan shared her favorite high adrenalin activities in Ireland. I love Ireland and I enjoyed my stay there a lot but looking at these activities by Megan I feel like I missed something. Instead of going as far as New Zealand I probably should focus on Ireland! Because services offered there are breathtaking. Finding adventure in Ireland Ireland could easily be considered to be the adventure capitol of the world. Stunning landscapes and dramatic scenery lend themselves to high adrenalin activities such as zip lining, abseiling and water sports, and the country offers ample opportunities for extreme sports like skydiving and white water rafting.  Think soaring through brooding forests with views of magical castles or spectacular coastlines. I guarantee you it’s a thrill. Think stepping over the edge of a vertical rock face and looking down when all you can see is the Atlantic Ocean – treacherous waves which crash against the rugged cliffs with spectacular force. It’s terrifying but terrific! And even though these experiences in Ireland were phenomenal, and some of the more adventurous fetes I’ve completed in my life, nothing will get your adrenalin racing more than traveling to the country in the first place. That’s right – the biggest adventure of all, is traveling to Ireland itself. Your adrenalin will pump from just being there. You’ll shake with excitement from the views. You’ll get lost in Irish music & traditional dance. You’ll get drunk from traditional Irish brew. Our adventure started with an Irish tour guide (Patty) who had us in stitches with his insane sense of humor. As with the majority of the Irish population, he was truly blessed with the gift of the gab, and all I remember from our tour of the country is laughing until my sides burst.  We arrived in Ireland with an action packed itinerary which included zip lining, abseiling, rafting and time on water skis, though these proved to be merely an appetizer to a much larger experience. More exciting than the water skis, I can assure you your adrenalin starts pumping as you make the walk across the mind blowing Cliffs of Moher. At 750 ft high the cliffs are both strikingly beautiful and incredibly intimidating, plunging dramatically straight down into the sea with crazy views of the Aran Islands. Would you walk this? Another highlight was a visit to the nearby Burren area. which was a 200 million year old botanical and geological wonderland – and was truly as though we could have been walking on the moon! If you were to tell me I would enjoy karaoke more than zip lining, I would tell you that you were mad. Though in Ireland, Karaoke is a sport. And sharing a beer with colorful Irish characters in one of the country’s many famous pubs is an adventure within itself.  While we would spend our days devouring the country’s many spectacular sights, we would spend the nights partying until we saw leprechauns. There was live music, Irish dancing and absolutely unforgettable memories.  So yes, travel to Ireland for the adventurous activities. Travel to Ireland for the spectacular views. Travel to Ireland for the mountains, the lakes, castles and national parks. But in doing so, realize that the true adventure is in traveling to Ireland itself.   You can’t land here without being swept up in an almost crazy culture which will instantly capture your heart. This is the true adventure.  About Megan Megan is an Australian Journalist who has been traveling and blogging around the world for the last 7 years to inspire others to embark on their own worldwide adventure. Her husband Mike is an American travel photographer, and together they have made the world their home. Meg authors “Mapping Megan”, an adventure travel blog which aims to give you the best tips and advice on traveling, volunteering, living, working and holidaying abroad. You can follow her journey on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram also. Picture credits: courtesy of Megan. Cliffs of Moher photo CC Martin Abegglen http://tinyurl.com/prd2tm4    

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Whales are one of my favorite animals. Yes, it is true you can’t keep it at home nor hug them when you feel down. They are not fluffy and you can’t walk them out. However, I still consider them marvels of nature. And my favorite animals. Watching whales The first time I saw a whale was a memorable moment. I can easily remember the excitement of this amazing journey to Nova Scotia in Canada and turbulent ride on a Zodiak boat. I wrote about whale watching before so if you’re interested where the idea did come from click here. From the moment I saw a humpback whale I started dreaming about seeing it again. And other whales too. Lots of them, preferably! I thought about swimming with whales but need to wait until this dream come true: it’s best to do it in Hawaii because of the water temperature. Flying over whales seamed to me a luxury I can never afford. And I also considered the flights as research purpose only. On the contrary! One visit in Kaikoura – a small town near Christchurch – has changed this view completely. A local company called Wings over Whales provide excellent services of whale watching. It was a gloomy day, one of my last in New Zealand and my intention was swimming with dolphins. I even went to a company that provides such service and checked the weather forecast and their timetable. It was not only about the bizarre time of the tour (5 a.m.) but mainly about the rain and the temperature of +7 degrees. I just thought it might not be the best idea of spending my last morning in Kaikoura: swimming in a rough ocean. This was a very good intuition: just as my blogger fellow Ari confirmed. Read her story about the dolphins that were not there here. So, heading to a campsite I saw a wooden house next to the road. It was a company that provided flights over whales. I couldn’t believe in my luck! Next thing I remember was getting into a small plane with 6 other people (Chinese, mainly). The rush was due to the message received about one sperm whale spotted nearby. We almost run to the plane! I wanted to watch it so badly! The flight I was sitting next to a pilot! Can you imagine something more thrilling? Not only I had a first row view but also watched the pilot and all plane devices. It was a mind blowing experience! Josh who was our pilot on this flight took off with unbelievable ease and a second after we were in the air heading towards the bay. If you have ever flew such small plane (Cessna) you know the pressure during curves pushes you to your seat like nowhere else. Awesome! To have a good look at the sperm whale (18 m long male) we were making circles over it! And this was really spectacular. Why there? It’s all about location! After the flight an interesting lecture about whales was provided. A short movie about habits of these marvelous animals was displayed and we could ask questions afterwards. It was explained the near Kaikoura the deep trench is located which results in plenty of food. The whales that are swimming from the south to the north and vice versa are coming to Kaikoura to hunt and eat a lot. During my short stay in this lovely little town four sperm whales were spotted. The site is so attractive to them that they sometimes fight to get the best spot. Josh told me how fascinating it is to watch the whale’s fights from the air. And I can easily believe it! Humpbacks, blue whales and sperm whales come to Kaikoura and if you are lucky you can watch them from the air. Disclosure: Wings over whales provided a generous discount for this flight for which I am grateful for.  

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New Zealand in general and Queenstown in particular are famous for its focus on high adrenaline sports. Many tourists come to New Zealand just for fun, amusement and entertainment. Having a spectacular landscape New Zealand quite naturally become world capital of extreme sports. It all started 25 years ago with the first bungy jumping company by A.J. Hackett. People gone crazy about the new activity and today Queenstown is a world leader in number of extreme activities on meter square! Therefore, the choice is not easy here: shops, offices and stands at every corner encourage you to buy their services. Not to mention you can spend thousands (literally thousands) of dollars in 15 minutes without blinking an eye. Long before coming to New Zealand I knew I wish to try few of them and eventually decided to try two: Canyon Swing and White Rafting. Bungy jumping has made a long way: although word traditional sounds weird here 25 years ago it was limited to the jump with your head down. Today it is a highly developed (and profitable!) business so there are less and less limits. I picked up a company named Canyon Swing for four reasons: spectacular location over the Shotover River, the actual swing (not a classic bungy), their attachment system (waist, legs and shoulders which seamed more comfortable than legs only!), and finally THIS IS THE HIGHEST jump in the world (60m of free fall and 200m of swing). Well, I simply thought that IF I wish to try it let’s do the best one. Canyon Swing People usually ask me if I was scared so let me clearly state it: no, I was not. And I think this is a sort of activity that is dedicated to people like me. I don’t see any point in doing it when you’re scared. I was having fun every minute of it. I’m not scared with high attitude nor open space. So I basically jumped without a second thought. I did it backwards as it is considered even more scary than forward jump. And, no, I didn’t screamed. Perhaps it is better to see for yourself: courtesy of Canyon Swing I embed here a short clip from my jump (the only word I shouted when I was down there was AWESOME but nobody heard it up there). I was impressed with professional behavior of the crew. Maybe because I was doing it for the first time but they seamed very involved in well being of the participants. Their psychological training is amazing so I can recommend them if you ever wish to try. One regret: this is really quick. You can’t say that you were enjoying it. You simply enjoyed it. The end. It finishes faster than you can imagine. I appreciate the effort of the whole Canyon Swing team to create a bit longer event out of a jump which lasts few seconds. You meet in the city center and you’re taken by car with other participants to the canyon. This small group staying together for a while is amazing. I mean, the mix of people who actually decides to do it is bizarre. Europeans, Americans and Australians between 17 and 40 are the typical customers I would say. One guy in my group was really scared. His hands and voice were shaking. He eventually jumped as the last one and he did it twice. Looked quite happy afterwards. All in all, if you’re looking for a high adrenaline activity the Canyon Swing is the right thing! Obviously, this is not the only high adrenaline activity in New Zealand. If you are interested with more thrilling stories you could have a look here. This is a travel blog of my blogger fellow Ari. She did something really scare: she flew a small stunt plane! I wish I did it! And hopefully one day I will. Just after skydiving ;-) White Rafting This was one of my dreams so I was thrilled from the moment I booked it! Queenstown Rafting provide excellent services and Shotover River is absolutely spectacular! (the one used as filming location of The Fellowship Of The Ring). In terms of value for money rafting beats the jump pretty badly: for the similar price you spend half a day in water instead of few seconds in the air. The whole rafting is nicely organized and it starts the same place it ends. You leave all you belongings and dress in a wetsuit which keeps you warm (don’t count on being dry!). When everybody is ready two buses with 5 boats on a trailer drive through an unbelievably tiny mountain road. Some people said this was worse than rafting itself and if you don’t like high attitudes or slopes it might be true. The worst moment is when this tiny little road appears to be two directions. Some people were strangely greenish on their faces but just when we got to the starting point they were OK again. This was a very warm day. The wetsuit was black and the bus ride took us about 40 min. It means we all wanter to jump into the water at once! But – as we all know – security first! So, one of the instructors showed us how to behave when you fell out of the boat, when the boat is upside down, etc. This was quite interesting. I didn’t know that to put somebody in a lifejacket out of water you need to push him into the water first: he should be displaced by his own weight. The rafting was awesome for many reasons but I think the team that provides it was one of the most important factors I was so happy about it. Shotover River is stunning! What I really loved about it was a variety: some parts of this river are wide and lazy which gave us an opportunity to enjoy the views. But there were also small cascades (grade 3 – 5) and white...

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You know that story of my twisted travel plans and so, instead of the round the world journey I’m going to New Zealand. It’s the furthest I can go, really. It’s on step over the date line. In 36h I’ll be walking around Christchurch in South Island and will bring you the news live. All you need to do is to visit regularly the timeline. It is quite simple: it collects all updates from Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare. So, if you visit the timeline you’ll browse through all pictures and messages in one place. So, join me and be the first who sees the sunrise: Here is the first post about my New Zealand trip. Quick Look At NZ  

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