Right really going to keep this brief...
We were both excited and apprehensive about meeting Melbourne as it's where we're planning to live and work for 2+ months and wanted to love it. The good news is, we do.
A lot of people have raved on about how great it is, really cultural, young and trendy so we had high hopes but it really is as good as the recommendations. A cross between London and Brighton, street art adorning every brick wall and tiny cafes, bars and clubs poking out of holes in back alleys. We're very excited to be heading back there, defo my favourite Australian city.
On day 1 we caught a tram into the CBD and followed the Lonely Planet's recommended walking guide to get to know the streets fast, it was a cool tour and took us past everything we needed to see to get a feel for the place. We'd only just got started when we promptly stopped again and enjoyed and very cosmopolitan lunch of risotto and wine while sitting at a little cafe table under the shade of a big canvas umbrella.
After our walk we made time for a quick fondue from Max Brenner and then got comfy in our Imax seats for Avatar 3D which was absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly amazing. A life changing experience really, just astounding. Especially as Melbourne has the 3rd biggest screen in the world :)
We ended up walking over 7 miles on day 2 because we wanted to check out St Kilda and all the funky suburbs we might want to live in. St Kilda had a fun beachy vibe to it and the huge palms reminded me of America which made me a bit travel sick for LA.
It was really windy so I got a great unexpected surprise when I spotted a kite hovering in the air a mile or so away.
I sat bolt upright staring at the horizon and then noticed a whole sky full of kite colour WOOHOO! I walked down to the harbour and went straight up to a guy to ask him about the wind seasons and kite community which is apparently thriving so have made the decision to get my stuff sent down to Melbourne for when i'm there, don't know how yet but can't wait!
On our last day we walked another 7 miles into a different district (also uber-cool) to check that out and ended up treating ourselves to another cosmo lunch, oops! We loved our 3 days in Melbourne and packed our bags happy in the knowledge we are heading back in a month or two.
The last 3 days we've been travelling from Melbourne over to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road on the Groovy Grape
tour bus lol! It's been really fun, Tina and I are the only English on the mini bus which seems quite rare but it's taken
us past some awesome views including my highlight, sunset at the 12 Apostles. The Apostles are a coastal rock formation formed by sea and wind erosion but they don't sound so mystical like that so we'll leave it as The Apostles.
The day before yesterday we drove up into the Grampian mountains and saw koalas just chilling in their natural habitat which was so cool and nice to see, i'm not sure i'd fancy going to a zoo again after that. In the evening we stayed at little cabins surrounded by bush so as dusk fell loads of kangaroos started appearing out from the trees and coming right up to us where we were having a bbq! It was one of those 'wow, i'm really in Australia moments'.
Our final day took us on a hike up into Hollow Mountain which sounds a bit like a Disneyland ride but was actually some dramatic sandstone mountains we got to scramble up to reach the summit, amazing views and worth the effort for sure.
Then we had a quick pit stop for a picnic lunch and hit the road for the remaining 5 hour drive to Adelaide. We arrived quite late, too late to do anything yet had that agitated 'been stuck on a bus' feeling so I managed to persuade Tina to go on a jog around the town before bed, not sure how that happened!
So now we're in Adelaide and we're off to explore the town, we've chosen a good time to come as the Fringe Festival is currently on and the area seems to be buzzing more than usual.
Next stop is Alice Springs and the desert, hope I don't get bitten by a scorpian...or snake...or spider....or...........
Wednesday 24 February 2010
A Home Away From Home
Right really going to keep this brief...
We were both excited and apprehensive about meeting Melbourne as it's where we're planning to live and work for 2+ months and wanted to love it. The good news is, we do.
A lot of people have raved on about how great it is, really cultural, young and trendy so we had high hopes but it really is as good as the recommendations. A cross between London and Brighton, street art adorning every brick wall and tiny cafes, bars and clubs poking out of holes in back alleys. We're very excited to be heading back there, defo my favourite Australian city.
On day 1 we caught a tram into the CBD and followed the Lonely Planet's recommended walking guide to get to know the streets fast, it was a cool tour and took us past everything we needed to see to get a feel for the place. We'd only just got started when we promptly stopped again and enjoyed and very cosmopolitan lunch of risotto and wine while sitting at a little cafe table under the shade of a big canvas umbrella.
After our walk we made time for a quick fondue from Max Brenner and then got comfy in our Imax seats for Avatar 3D which was absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly amazing. A life changing experience really, just astounding. Especially as Melbourne has the 3rd biggest screen in the world :)
We ended up walking over 7 miles on day 2 because we wanted to check out St Kilda and all the funky suburbs we might want to live in. St Kilda had a fun beachy vibe to it and the huge palms reminded me of America which made me a bit travel sick for LA.
It was really windy so I got a great unexpected surprise when I spotted a kite hovering in the air a mile or so away.
I sat bolt upright staring at the horizon and then noticed a whole sky full of kite colour WOOHOO! I walked down to the harbour and went straight up to a guy to ask him about the wind seasons and kite community which is apparently thriving so have made the decision to get my stuff sent down to Melbourne for when i'm there, don't know how yet but can't wait!
On our last day we walked another 7 miles into a different district (also uber-cool) to check that out and ended up treating ourselves to another cosmo lunch, oops! We loved our 3 days in Melbourne and packed our bags happy in the knowledge we are heading back in a month or two.
The last 3 days we've been travelling from Melbourne over to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road on the Groovy Grape
tour bus lol! It's been really fun, Tina and I are the only English on the mini bus which seems quite rare but it's taken
us past some awesome views including my highlight, sunset at the 12 Apostles. The Apostles are a coastal rock formation formed by sea and wind erosion but they don't sound so mystical like that so we'll leave it as The Apostles.
The day before yesterday we drove up into the Grampian mountains and saw koalas just chilling in their natural habitat which was so cool and nice to see, i'm not sure i'd fancy going to a zoo again after that. In the evening we stayed at little cabins surrounded by bush so as dusk fell loads of kangaroos started appearing out from the trees and coming right up to us where we were having a bbq! It was one of those 'wow, i'm really in Australia moments'.
Our final day took us on a hike up into Hollow Mountain which sounds a bit like a Disneyland ride but was actually some dramatic sandstone mountains we got to scramble up to reach the summit, amazing views and worth the effort for sure.
Then we had a quick pit stop for a picnic lunch and hit the road for the remaining 5 hour drive to Adelaide. We arrived quite late, too late to do anything yet had that agitated 'been stuck on a bus' feeling so I managed to persuade Tina to go on a jog around the town before bed, not sure how that happened!
So now we're in Adelaide and we're off to explore the town, we've chosen a good time to come as the Fringe Festival is currently on and the area seems to be buzzing more than usual.
Next stop is Alice Springs and the desert, hope I don't get bitten by a scorpian...or snake...or spider....or...........
We were both excited and apprehensive about meeting Melbourne as it's where we're planning to live and work for 2+ months and wanted to love it. The good news is, we do.
A lot of people have raved on about how great it is, really cultural, young and trendy so we had high hopes but it really is as good as the recommendations. A cross between London and Brighton, street art adorning every brick wall and tiny cafes, bars and clubs poking out of holes in back alleys. We're very excited to be heading back there, defo my favourite Australian city.
On day 1 we caught a tram into the CBD and followed the Lonely Planet's recommended walking guide to get to know the streets fast, it was a cool tour and took us past everything we needed to see to get a feel for the place. We'd only just got started when we promptly stopped again and enjoyed and very cosmopolitan lunch of risotto and wine while sitting at a little cafe table under the shade of a big canvas umbrella.
After our walk we made time for a quick fondue from Max Brenner and then got comfy in our Imax seats for Avatar 3D which was absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly amazing. A life changing experience really, just astounding. Especially as Melbourne has the 3rd biggest screen in the world :)
We ended up walking over 7 miles on day 2 because we wanted to check out St Kilda and all the funky suburbs we might want to live in. St Kilda had a fun beachy vibe to it and the huge palms reminded me of America which made me a bit travel sick for LA.
It was really windy so I got a great unexpected surprise when I spotted a kite hovering in the air a mile or so away.
I sat bolt upright staring at the horizon and then noticed a whole sky full of kite colour WOOHOO! I walked down to the harbour and went straight up to a guy to ask him about the wind seasons and kite community which is apparently thriving so have made the decision to get my stuff sent down to Melbourne for when i'm there, don't know how yet but can't wait!
On our last day we walked another 7 miles into a different district (also uber-cool) to check that out and ended up treating ourselves to another cosmo lunch, oops! We loved our 3 days in Melbourne and packed our bags happy in the knowledge we are heading back in a month or two.
The last 3 days we've been travelling from Melbourne over to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road on the Groovy Grape
tour bus lol! It's been really fun, Tina and I are the only English on the mini bus which seems quite rare but it's taken
us past some awesome views including my highlight, sunset at the 12 Apostles. The Apostles are a coastal rock formation formed by sea and wind erosion but they don't sound so mystical like that so we'll leave it as The Apostles.
The day before yesterday we drove up into the Grampian mountains and saw koalas just chilling in their natural habitat which was so cool and nice to see, i'm not sure i'd fancy going to a zoo again after that. In the evening we stayed at little cabins surrounded by bush so as dusk fell loads of kangaroos started appearing out from the trees and coming right up to us where we were having a bbq! It was one of those 'wow, i'm really in Australia moments'.
Our final day took us on a hike up into Hollow Mountain which sounds a bit like a Disneyland ride but was actually some dramatic sandstone mountains we got to scramble up to reach the summit, amazing views and worth the effort for sure.
Then we had a quick pit stop for a picnic lunch and hit the road for the remaining 5 hour drive to Adelaide. We arrived quite late, too late to do anything yet had that agitated 'been stuck on a bus' feeling so I managed to persuade Tina to go on a jog around the town before bed, not sure how that happened!
So now we're in Adelaide and we're off to explore the town, we've chosen a good time to come as the Fringe Festival is currently on and the area seems to be buzzing more than usual.
Next stop is Alice Springs and the desert, hope I don't get bitten by a scorpian...or snake...or spider....or...........
Until Next Time New Zealand...
Helloooooooooooo,
How's it going? All ok in the uk? Any more snow at all? I'm sort of pining for some cold weather myself actually, I can't remember the last time I was cold and sleeping, eating and walking in the heat 24hrs a day is getting slightly unpleasant at times. Then again I bet if i was cold i'd wish for the opposite.
I've got wayyyy behind with the blog again so am trying at every moment to get it up to date but then we end up doing something else and it's a horrible never ending cycle of news stretching ahead of me!
We're now back in Australia and have been for a week, first to Melbourne and then onto the 'Groovy Grape' bus to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road. It was weird flying back into Oz, almost like returning home in way which was nice, but again, odd. The last 6 weeks seem to have come and gone slightly too quickly, a time warp of memories trapped back over in New Zealand. It's unbelievable to think that I had no plans to visit there when I left the UK...although I think perhaps the intention was always there.
So back to Queenstown, NZ...during our 5 days there (which we loved!) we spent a lot of time chilling out and treating ourselves to ice-creams and other goodies. For some reason Tina and I have a habit of turning the most simple task, one i'm sure many would accomplish in an hour by referring to the Lonely Planet, into an all day marathon which sucks all energy and brain power from us. The example here being our search for a hostel that had reasonable priced twin rooms that we could book out for our return to Queenstown on the 10th. We wanted to get away from the dorms for a couple of nights seeing as it was my birthday on the 11th and thought the upgrade would be justified.
Anyway, after 3 to 4 hours of traipsing around every single hostel in town and exhausting all possible options we decided on The Black Sheep (one of the first ones we saw) and booked ourselves in.
We tried to go out a couple of times during our first visit to Queenstown but it didn't really work out as there were really only two bars that got busy and they were catering solely for the backpacker crowd. I know that technically we are backpackers but there's only so many 18-22yr olds dancing around to chart music in togas I can take and i'd like to think I left them back at Bournemouth Uni!
There were a couple of cute wine bars (for us old biddies) but they were dead, we think they were the type that
would fill up with good looking kiwi snowboarder types in the winter season so made a note to go back to those next time we're over.
It was great to really chill out there and feel like we were holidaying, on one afternoon the gods answered our prayers by putting a dj from one of the bars down on the promenade. He played a mixture of house and reggae music as the sun moved across the sky and behind the mountains. Generally it stayed really hot right until the last dregs of sunlight were gone so one night after a particularly nice spaghetti bolognaise Tina and I went down to sit by the lake and watch an amazing sunset, I even went in for a solo swim which turned out to be a bit of an emotional experience! The water was cold and refreshing but out in the middle of nowhere with only the sound of silence around me and flecks of gold and orange reflecting onto my face it felt pretty close to perfection.
On our last night we met up with a friend we'd made called Davie who turned out to be the nicest guy in New Zealand, we sat by the lake and he told us stories of the crazy things he and his mates get up to and then preceded to give us a big chunk of green stone (jade). He said it was a gift and being obviously touched by the gesture, said we would do our best to get a bit carved off to keep.
Tina and I left Queenstown on the 4th of Feb and joined onto the 'Bottom Bus' which takes us round the bottom on New Zealand starting in Dunedin. We then travelled through the Catlins wildlife area for an overnight stay in Invercargill and then up to Te Anau which is the gateway to Milford Sound and all the Fiord land areas.
Our first stop was Dunedin, a fairly small historic town with a student based population (this is where one of the 6 uni's in NZ is based). It wasn't very busy there as most of the students were still away on holidays but after being on the empty west coast for the last couple of weeks even this small increase in people seemed a bit intimidating and quickened the blood pressure...i'm not quite sure how i'll ever deal with London again!
There wasn't loads to do there but we were staying in the nicest hostel yet called Hogwartz which had a loose Harry Potter theme floating throughout the rooms. It was an old bishops house that had been converted and had a big black door to the broom cupboard with Gringotts painted on the front as well as 'Dobbys room' which was the laundry lol. There was also a cool mezzanine level for reading with beanbags and couches which felt a bit like being up in a hidden tree house...I like mezzanine levels because I like tree houses..I think i'm going to build one into my future house.
I met a guy in the hostel kitchen who told me there were Bikram yoga classes in town for only $10 and seeing as my body feels so unexercised and polluted with bakery goods at the moment I jumped at the chance to join him and get a work out in. Bikram yoga is conducted in a sauna type room in 38 degree heat, you run through a series of 30 different stretches and it's pretty challenging but i've done it before in London. The thing is...i don't think he knew what he was in for and when we got there the teacher said 'once you start the class you are NOT allowed to leave, the door is sealed' (you know these yoga types!).
So there we are in class with legs and arms contorted in weird positions and all water leaving my body when he goes white and has to lie down. The teacher wouldn't let him leave so the poor guy had to suffer on his back for the full 90 mins without trying to be sick lol, i told him it would be hard!
I also went to the local art gallery and really enjoyed an exhibition by an American photographer as well as spending another day on the beach in the strong NZ sun which burnt Tina and I pretty badly :(!
After 3 days we were ready to leave Dunedin and headed south through the beautiful Catlins area which is not only another stunningly beautiful piece of NZ but is home to a whole bunch of Antarctic type wildlife such as yellow eyed penguins, fur seals, sea lions and hector dolphins.
The bottom bus (which is only mini bus sized not the usual 50 seater monster bus) stopped at 'nugget point', a coastal point with a scenic lighthouse that Abel Tasman named after seeing the rocks underneath the cliff face glinting in the sun like gold nuggets. After a brief walk and yet more photos we parked up by the beach and got to walk right up to a sea lion who was just marinating on the beach. He looked kinda sleepy but as usual there was some cocky geek who wanted a close up photo and pissed the sea lion off by sticking a lens in his face so he reared up and starting grunting in a scary way, I think the guy nearly wet himself it was so funny.
Throughout the day we saw all the above wildlife in their natural habitat which was much more satisfying than any zoo and made me want to plan a trip to the arctic to start a seal rescue expedition or something!
Our driver Mike was hilarious, really, really dry humour, totally deadpan in tone and had a likeable geekness just like Alan Partridge. He made the journey pretty funny and informed us that our next stop was Invercargill, and I quote, 'the arsehole of the world'.
After our nights stay there we joined onto the southern scenic route to Te Anau stopping off at a green stone factory along the way. We managed to get the carver to examine Davie's 'green stone' to be told it wasn't green stone but the good intention was there so we bought a tiny piece of real jade and agreed we'd make it into a necklace when back in Queenstown for my birthday.
Te Anau was quaint but really only exists as a stopover for tourists heading to Milford Sound which we were indeed doing. We sat on the shingle beach for a bit, climbed a tree, all the usual things really. The next day we piled onto yet another coach and headed to Milford for a cruise around the area. There had been a lot of build up about it, everyone saying it's the 8th wonder of the world etc and yes, it was very beautiful...but...I feel i've seen other views that i've personally found more breathtaking in NZ. The drive there was spectacular in itself, defo worth doing but they need to lay off the hype a bit.
That evening we finished our loop on the bottom bus and headed back to Queenstown as that was where we were spending the 11th, my birthday!
It was so nice to return to a familiar place, there's so much change going on that some familiarity is comforting in a strange way. We had decided to push the boat out and upgrade for my birthday nights into a twin room, ooooooo exciting lol.
Our plans immediately began to unravel when reception told us they'd made a cock up with the bookings and that we might need to stay in a 'sealed off' dorm. What they didn't realise is that this was Tina and Doxie they were talking to and we wern't going to put up with that, not when we'd been looking forward to having this private room for weeks!
They palmed us off with a free beer for a while and then the manager not only upgraded us into a 'deluxe double' for the 2 nights, we got it at a reduced rate, BONUS!
You'd have thought we'd one the lottery or something but when Tina and I opened the door and saw a posh big king sized bed with thick squishy mattress and comfy bedding we thought we'd died and gone to heaven and started dancing around the room.
The good times kept rolling that evening as when walking along the beach we spotted a crazy little device motoring across the harbour towards us. It looked like a home made barge, a large floating square of wood, welded metal and oil barrels.
On the barge were people sitting on 3 old sofas and beanbags, a wood burner, bbq, sound system blaring out reggae and lots of little fairy lights wound round posts. It was the coolest thing i'd ever seen in my life and I wanted to be on it. As it happened we were on our way to meet Davie, our extremely cool new kiwi buddy and when we got talking he asked us whether we wanted to go hang on, you guessed it, his mate's home made barge!!!
All the plans we'd made for my birthday fell into place too and on the morning of the 11th we woke up in our amazing deluxe room and then headed out to town to buy the picnic lunch. It was the perfect weather to accompany our quiches and avocado salads which we washed down with a cold beer and then in the afternoon we headed up to the bead shop to put together our NZ necklaces, complete with the real green stone!
That evening we met up with Davie who bought us some cocktail teapots to celebrate and then took us to a tiny hidden gem of a club called Tardis which was playing reggae music to all the locals. The best bit of the night was when Davie jumped on the mic and started mc-ing, he was SO amazing and it was just an unbeatable spontaneous night.
We only got to bed at 5am and had to be up at 7am so it was fair to say we were shattered on the bus up to Christchurch the next day. It was a scenic drive but we only arrived into the city at 6am so didn't really have any time to explore it although it was better than what I was expecting. We bought the most amazing curry and went to bed early as had another horrible 6am start the next day.
The next and second to last stop was Kaikoura which was a fairly cute little seaside strip of shops, it's main tourist attraction being the dolphin and whale watching you can do in the area. We went on a really nice afternoon walk there but didn't have the nicest experience with our room mate which was a horrible old witch of a woman from Canada, really snooty and bloody weird to be honest. She insisted on having all the windows open so the room was freezing and then INSISTED on keeping the curtains open all night or I shall quote, "it'll feel like i'm in a prison".
After an emergency discussion meeting between Tina and I in the toilets we decided to stand our ground, she might have been 70 years old but we didn't care, there's always room for manners! When we returned to the room we closed our windows and curtains and ignored her tutting and protests from the corner.
At 6am, and no, i'm not joking Tina was woken up by the old bag hovering over her bed and drawing back the curtains with an almighty swish. What a freak!
So anyway, that was pretty much it for NZ, we had a 3am start (!) and flew out of Wellington and into Melbourne (via Sydney which was not fun in our sleep deprived state) on Monday the 15th.
I'm going to do a separate entry for the next bit otherwise it all gets a bit much. I try to keep it all quite minimal but
somehow they all end up like essays, sorry!...
How's it going? All ok in the uk? Any more snow at all? I'm sort of pining for some cold weather myself actually, I can't remember the last time I was cold and sleeping, eating and walking in the heat 24hrs a day is getting slightly unpleasant at times. Then again I bet if i was cold i'd wish for the opposite.
I've got wayyyy behind with the blog again so am trying at every moment to get it up to date but then we end up doing something else and it's a horrible never ending cycle of news stretching ahead of me!
We're now back in Australia and have been for a week, first to Melbourne and then onto the 'Groovy Grape' bus to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road. It was weird flying back into Oz, almost like returning home in way which was nice, but again, odd. The last 6 weeks seem to have come and gone slightly too quickly, a time warp of memories trapped back over in New Zealand. It's unbelievable to think that I had no plans to visit there when I left the UK...although I think perhaps the intention was always there.
So back to Queenstown, NZ...during our 5 days there (which we loved!) we spent a lot of time chilling out and treating ourselves to ice-creams and other goodies. For some reason Tina and I have a habit of turning the most simple task, one i'm sure many would accomplish in an hour by referring to the Lonely Planet, into an all day marathon which sucks all energy and brain power from us. The example here being our search for a hostel that had reasonable priced twin rooms that we could book out for our return to Queenstown on the 10th. We wanted to get away from the dorms for a couple of nights seeing as it was my birthday on the 11th and thought the upgrade would be justified.
Anyway, after 3 to 4 hours of traipsing around every single hostel in town and exhausting all possible options we decided on The Black Sheep (one of the first ones we saw) and booked ourselves in.
We tried to go out a couple of times during our first visit to Queenstown but it didn't really work out as there were really only two bars that got busy and they were catering solely for the backpacker crowd. I know that technically we are backpackers but there's only so many 18-22yr olds dancing around to chart music in togas I can take and i'd like to think I left them back at Bournemouth Uni!
There were a couple of cute wine bars (for us old biddies) but they were dead, we think they were the type that
would fill up with good looking kiwi snowboarder types in the winter season so made a note to go back to those next time we're over.
It was great to really chill out there and feel like we were holidaying, on one afternoon the gods answered our prayers by putting a dj from one of the bars down on the promenade. He played a mixture of house and reggae music as the sun moved across the sky and behind the mountains. Generally it stayed really hot right until the last dregs of sunlight were gone so one night after a particularly nice spaghetti bolognaise Tina and I went down to sit by the lake and watch an amazing sunset, I even went in for a solo swim which turned out to be a bit of an emotional experience! The water was cold and refreshing but out in the middle of nowhere with only the sound of silence around me and flecks of gold and orange reflecting onto my face it felt pretty close to perfection.
On our last night we met up with a friend we'd made called Davie who turned out to be the nicest guy in New Zealand, we sat by the lake and he told us stories of the crazy things he and his mates get up to and then preceded to give us a big chunk of green stone (jade). He said it was a gift and being obviously touched by the gesture, said we would do our best to get a bit carved off to keep.
Tina and I left Queenstown on the 4th of Feb and joined onto the 'Bottom Bus' which takes us round the bottom on New Zealand starting in Dunedin. We then travelled through the Catlins wildlife area for an overnight stay in Invercargill and then up to Te Anau which is the gateway to Milford Sound and all the Fiord land areas.
Our first stop was Dunedin, a fairly small historic town with a student based population (this is where one of the 6 uni's in NZ is based). It wasn't very busy there as most of the students were still away on holidays but after being on the empty west coast for the last couple of weeks even this small increase in people seemed a bit intimidating and quickened the blood pressure...i'm not quite sure how i'll ever deal with London again!
There wasn't loads to do there but we were staying in the nicest hostel yet called Hogwartz which had a loose Harry Potter theme floating throughout the rooms. It was an old bishops house that had been converted and had a big black door to the broom cupboard with Gringotts painted on the front as well as 'Dobbys room' which was the laundry lol. There was also a cool mezzanine level for reading with beanbags and couches which felt a bit like being up in a hidden tree house...I like mezzanine levels because I like tree houses..I think i'm going to build one into my future house.
I met a guy in the hostel kitchen who told me there were Bikram yoga classes in town for only $10 and seeing as my body feels so unexercised and polluted with bakery goods at the moment I jumped at the chance to join him and get a work out in. Bikram yoga is conducted in a sauna type room in 38 degree heat, you run through a series of 30 different stretches and it's pretty challenging but i've done it before in London. The thing is...i don't think he knew what he was in for and when we got there the teacher said 'once you start the class you are NOT allowed to leave, the door is sealed' (you know these yoga types!).
So there we are in class with legs and arms contorted in weird positions and all water leaving my body when he goes white and has to lie down. The teacher wouldn't let him leave so the poor guy had to suffer on his back for the full 90 mins without trying to be sick lol, i told him it would be hard!
I also went to the local art gallery and really enjoyed an exhibition by an American photographer as well as spending another day on the beach in the strong NZ sun which burnt Tina and I pretty badly :(!
After 3 days we were ready to leave Dunedin and headed south through the beautiful Catlins area which is not only another stunningly beautiful piece of NZ but is home to a whole bunch of Antarctic type wildlife such as yellow eyed penguins, fur seals, sea lions and hector dolphins.
The bottom bus (which is only mini bus sized not the usual 50 seater monster bus) stopped at 'nugget point', a coastal point with a scenic lighthouse that Abel Tasman named after seeing the rocks underneath the cliff face glinting in the sun like gold nuggets. After a brief walk and yet more photos we parked up by the beach and got to walk right up to a sea lion who was just marinating on the beach. He looked kinda sleepy but as usual there was some cocky geek who wanted a close up photo and pissed the sea lion off by sticking a lens in his face so he reared up and starting grunting in a scary way, I think the guy nearly wet himself it was so funny.
Throughout the day we saw all the above wildlife in their natural habitat which was much more satisfying than any zoo and made me want to plan a trip to the arctic to start a seal rescue expedition or something!
Our driver Mike was hilarious, really, really dry humour, totally deadpan in tone and had a likeable geekness just like Alan Partridge. He made the journey pretty funny and informed us that our next stop was Invercargill, and I quote, 'the arsehole of the world'.
After our nights stay there we joined onto the southern scenic route to Te Anau stopping off at a green stone factory along the way. We managed to get the carver to examine Davie's 'green stone' to be told it wasn't green stone but the good intention was there so we bought a tiny piece of real jade and agreed we'd make it into a necklace when back in Queenstown for my birthday.
Te Anau was quaint but really only exists as a stopover for tourists heading to Milford Sound which we were indeed doing. We sat on the shingle beach for a bit, climbed a tree, all the usual things really. The next day we piled onto yet another coach and headed to Milford for a cruise around the area. There had been a lot of build up about it, everyone saying it's the 8th wonder of the world etc and yes, it was very beautiful...but...I feel i've seen other views that i've personally found more breathtaking in NZ. The drive there was spectacular in itself, defo worth doing but they need to lay off the hype a bit.
That evening we finished our loop on the bottom bus and headed back to Queenstown as that was where we were spending the 11th, my birthday!
It was so nice to return to a familiar place, there's so much change going on that some familiarity is comforting in a strange way. We had decided to push the boat out and upgrade for my birthday nights into a twin room, ooooooo exciting lol.
Our plans immediately began to unravel when reception told us they'd made a cock up with the bookings and that we might need to stay in a 'sealed off' dorm. What they didn't realise is that this was Tina and Doxie they were talking to and we wern't going to put up with that, not when we'd been looking forward to having this private room for weeks!
They palmed us off with a free beer for a while and then the manager not only upgraded us into a 'deluxe double' for the 2 nights, we got it at a reduced rate, BONUS!
You'd have thought we'd one the lottery or something but when Tina and I opened the door and saw a posh big king sized bed with thick squishy mattress and comfy bedding we thought we'd died and gone to heaven and started dancing around the room.
The good times kept rolling that evening as when walking along the beach we spotted a crazy little device motoring across the harbour towards us. It looked like a home made barge, a large floating square of wood, welded metal and oil barrels.
On the barge were people sitting on 3 old sofas and beanbags, a wood burner, bbq, sound system blaring out reggae and lots of little fairy lights wound round posts. It was the coolest thing i'd ever seen in my life and I wanted to be on it. As it happened we were on our way to meet Davie, our extremely cool new kiwi buddy and when we got talking he asked us whether we wanted to go hang on, you guessed it, his mate's home made barge!!!
All the plans we'd made for my birthday fell into place too and on the morning of the 11th we woke up in our amazing deluxe room and then headed out to town to buy the picnic lunch. It was the perfect weather to accompany our quiches and avocado salads which we washed down with a cold beer and then in the afternoon we headed up to the bead shop to put together our NZ necklaces, complete with the real green stone!
That evening we met up with Davie who bought us some cocktail teapots to celebrate and then took us to a tiny hidden gem of a club called Tardis which was playing reggae music to all the locals. The best bit of the night was when Davie jumped on the mic and started mc-ing, he was SO amazing and it was just an unbeatable spontaneous night.
We only got to bed at 5am and had to be up at 7am so it was fair to say we were shattered on the bus up to Christchurch the next day. It was a scenic drive but we only arrived into the city at 6am so didn't really have any time to explore it although it was better than what I was expecting. We bought the most amazing curry and went to bed early as had another horrible 6am start the next day.
The next and second to last stop was Kaikoura which was a fairly cute little seaside strip of shops, it's main tourist attraction being the dolphin and whale watching you can do in the area. We went on a really nice afternoon walk there but didn't have the nicest experience with our room mate which was a horrible old witch of a woman from Canada, really snooty and bloody weird to be honest. She insisted on having all the windows open so the room was freezing and then INSISTED on keeping the curtains open all night or I shall quote, "it'll feel like i'm in a prison".
After an emergency discussion meeting between Tina and I in the toilets we decided to stand our ground, she might have been 70 years old but we didn't care, there's always room for manners! When we returned to the room we closed our windows and curtains and ignored her tutting and protests from the corner.
At 6am, and no, i'm not joking Tina was woken up by the old bag hovering over her bed and drawing back the curtains with an almighty swish. What a freak!
So anyway, that was pretty much it for NZ, we had a 3am start (!) and flew out of Wellington and into Melbourne (via Sydney which was not fun in our sleep deprived state) on Monday the 15th.
I'm going to do a separate entry for the next bit otherwise it all gets a bit much. I try to keep it all quite minimal but
somehow they all end up like essays, sorry!...
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Return the way you came
The last week or so has been my favourite so far for sure, everything's been great from the weather to all the little things that have popped up in between. We've come down from Nelson at the top of the south island to the unnesscery but plesant Westport, through the beautiful and down right wierd Lake Manipua, into cute and gorgeous Franz Josef, onto stunning Wanaka and ending up in the vibrant 'place to be' Queenstown.
This is our 4th day in Queenstown and i'm really enjoying it, it's not the pumping mini ibiza it's been made out to be but there are some good bars and extraordinary scenery. It's a really quaint little place with a wharf, jetty, steamer boat, little beach and village green which are all surrounded by a backdrop of skyscaper mountains and lush forest.
I really, realllllly like New Zealand, the way of life is so different here, it's very refreshing. Everyone appreciates and
respects the environment in which they live, infact they're genuinely proud of it. They're helpful and kind and i've not
seen one single chav or scary looking person on the streets anywhere, only a couple of chilled out hippies.
New Zealand is a spiritual place full of mythology, history and scenery unlike anything i've ever seen. People just sit and stare at the mountains, sea and rolling hills soaking up the beauty and then spend their time using the country as a playground. I love being in a place that feels safe and revolves around an active lifestyle, it's a hidden gem that needs to be revisted!
Anyway, back in Nelson our kayak day started off on a bad note as we rose at 6am to monsoon style rain sheeting down outside the hostel. It was a tough 5.45am wake up call so we spent the 1 1/2 hour bus journey to the national park in silence hoping it would clear up...which it didn't!
We managed to change our trip to the following day though so take two and we were up at 5.45am again for a second try. This time the weather was really nice and we got to get out on the water even though Tina was very nervous about being out at sea and capsizing.
It was a slightly stressful ride at times as everyone else had a guy in their double kayaks so more bicep power compared to me and Tina who were paddling as hard as we could but still flagging behind with aching muscles. Tina was in charge of the rudder despite having never been in a kayak and not wanting to steer so we did our usual thing of complaining about the aches, pains, speed of the group, getting wet etc and then saying 'how amazing it was' at the end. That seems to be a common theme on the trip so far, everything's 'the best ever' when looking through those rose tinted specs!
After the kayak we realised we had 4 hours to complete a 5 hour hike so power walked up the coast in the hot sun and somehow made it to our water taxi in time.
After Nelson we drove down to Westport which was a bit like an American ghost town, lots of long straight grid like roads and creepy inbred types peeking out from behind the net curtains. We only had one evening there (thank god!) but it was a warm sunny afternoon so strolled down to the beach and watched the waves roll in while sitting on some washed up driftwood.
The following day was also a weird one as we made our way down to Lake Manipua, there is litrally nothing there except the lake (which is both slightly eerie and gorgeous) and an old rusty shed owned by local man Les which was our accommodation for the night. Although the scenery was incredible the over night stop was gross and had it's fair share of squashed mosqitoes on the wall and dead cockroaches with legs spread eagled in the air on the floor. We avoiding cooking and washing as much as possible and happily jumped back on the bus in the morning!
Our next stop was Franz Josef, we were particulary excited about the trip from this point onwards because we were slowing the pace right down and staying for more than a day at the next few stops. Again it was bright blue skies when we arrived at the quaint little high street (we've been really lucky with the weather) and our first stop was the glacier centre where we booked ourselves onto a full day glacier walk.
That evening we bumped into some friends who we'd separated from earlier up the coast and caught up around a big fire pit drinking liquor coffees and mulled wine which was really nice. The following day was 'supposed' to be our chill out day before the big ice hike but in typical over productive style Tina and I decided to go on the Roberts Point walk as recommended by the hostel owner.
The walk was supposed to be a stroll type thing with packed lunch at the top but to say it turned out to be challenging would be the understatement of the year! The trail head was 4kms from Franz so to even get to the start we hedged our bets and began walking on the hard shoulder with our thumbs in the air, it was only 10 mins or so until we were picked up by a couple who were also going up to the glacier and believed picking hitchers up was good karma so that worked out well.
After around 45 minutes of walking the stoney path petered out into little more than some orange arrows pointing us in the direction of the summit and we passed an onimous sign saying 'DANGER - do not pass this sign unless you are an experienced tramper with equipment or with a guide'. Oops.
2 litres of sweat, some nasty falls, abseils down muddy slopes clinging onto tree roots, scrambling over waterfalls and 6 hours later we returned to the start and begged a mini bus driver to take us home. We spent the evening relaxing in the local hot pools and splashing out on a curry as a reward!
Even after the Roberts Point debacle we made it up the glacier the following day and really enjoyed it, probably the best thing to be done here in NZ. I had a bit of a panic at the beginning when I realised we'd be going 8 hours without access to a loo and had just drunk a cup of tea but our guide was obviously used to these touristy demands and rather embarrasingly I had to make do with a secret spot in the ice, I wasn't the only one though!
Rather typically when it was my turn to sneak off and be discreet a bloody helicopter full of hikers flew overhead and
obviously had a giggle at my expense!!
Also a quick note, if you ever find yourself looking for accommodation in Franz Josef, go to the Glow worm hostel, it was defo the best in town, very authentic with black and white photos of the victorians on the ice and lots of historical artifacts scattered throughout the rooms.
After Franz we went down to Wanaka, a small town with a big view. The town looks out across another huge lake and onto a snow capped mountain range behind. We just chilled there for 2 days soaking it up. Ooo I also got my broken
tooth fixed by a nice dentist there so I have a whole tooth again which is nice.
...and now we're in Queentown, heart of the adrenalin activites. We're not doing any though to save on cash so i feel a bit bad that i'm here and not doing anything but i'm sure i'll be back and can do all 134m of the Nevis bungy jump then! I hadn't considered doing it at all but am tempted after getting here and hearing about it. The thing is, I think a bungy jump, especially one where you spend the day being driven out to the site is an experience that is more fun when shared with someone and seeing as Tina's never been up for it i'll pass this time too.
Right, i'm off outside now, it's sunny! laters! :)
This is our 4th day in Queenstown and i'm really enjoying it, it's not the pumping mini ibiza it's been made out to be but there are some good bars and extraordinary scenery. It's a really quaint little place with a wharf, jetty, steamer boat, little beach and village green which are all surrounded by a backdrop of skyscaper mountains and lush forest.
I really, realllllly like New Zealand, the way of life is so different here, it's very refreshing. Everyone appreciates and
respects the environment in which they live, infact they're genuinely proud of it. They're helpful and kind and i've not
seen one single chav or scary looking person on the streets anywhere, only a couple of chilled out hippies.
New Zealand is a spiritual place full of mythology, history and scenery unlike anything i've ever seen. People just sit and stare at the mountains, sea and rolling hills soaking up the beauty and then spend their time using the country as a playground. I love being in a place that feels safe and revolves around an active lifestyle, it's a hidden gem that needs to be revisted!
Anyway, back in Nelson our kayak day started off on a bad note as we rose at 6am to monsoon style rain sheeting down outside the hostel. It was a tough 5.45am wake up call so we spent the 1 1/2 hour bus journey to the national park in silence hoping it would clear up...which it didn't!
We managed to change our trip to the following day though so take two and we were up at 5.45am again for a second try. This time the weather was really nice and we got to get out on the water even though Tina was very nervous about being out at sea and capsizing.
It was a slightly stressful ride at times as everyone else had a guy in their double kayaks so more bicep power compared to me and Tina who were paddling as hard as we could but still flagging behind with aching muscles. Tina was in charge of the rudder despite having never been in a kayak and not wanting to steer so we did our usual thing of complaining about the aches, pains, speed of the group, getting wet etc and then saying 'how amazing it was' at the end. That seems to be a common theme on the trip so far, everything's 'the best ever' when looking through those rose tinted specs!
After the kayak we realised we had 4 hours to complete a 5 hour hike so power walked up the coast in the hot sun and somehow made it to our water taxi in time.
After Nelson we drove down to Westport which was a bit like an American ghost town, lots of long straight grid like roads and creepy inbred types peeking out from behind the net curtains. We only had one evening there (thank god!) but it was a warm sunny afternoon so strolled down to the beach and watched the waves roll in while sitting on some washed up driftwood.
The following day was also a weird one as we made our way down to Lake Manipua, there is litrally nothing there except the lake (which is both slightly eerie and gorgeous) and an old rusty shed owned by local man Les which was our accommodation for the night. Although the scenery was incredible the over night stop was gross and had it's fair share of squashed mosqitoes on the wall and dead cockroaches with legs spread eagled in the air on the floor. We avoiding cooking and washing as much as possible and happily jumped back on the bus in the morning!
Our next stop was Franz Josef, we were particulary excited about the trip from this point onwards because we were slowing the pace right down and staying for more than a day at the next few stops. Again it was bright blue skies when we arrived at the quaint little high street (we've been really lucky with the weather) and our first stop was the glacier centre where we booked ourselves onto a full day glacier walk.
That evening we bumped into some friends who we'd separated from earlier up the coast and caught up around a big fire pit drinking liquor coffees and mulled wine which was really nice. The following day was 'supposed' to be our chill out day before the big ice hike but in typical over productive style Tina and I decided to go on the Roberts Point walk as recommended by the hostel owner.
The walk was supposed to be a stroll type thing with packed lunch at the top but to say it turned out to be challenging would be the understatement of the year! The trail head was 4kms from Franz so to even get to the start we hedged our bets and began walking on the hard shoulder with our thumbs in the air, it was only 10 mins or so until we were picked up by a couple who were also going up to the glacier and believed picking hitchers up was good karma so that worked out well.
After around 45 minutes of walking the stoney path petered out into little more than some orange arrows pointing us in the direction of the summit and we passed an onimous sign saying 'DANGER - do not pass this sign unless you are an experienced tramper with equipment or with a guide'. Oops.
2 litres of sweat, some nasty falls, abseils down muddy slopes clinging onto tree roots, scrambling over waterfalls and 6 hours later we returned to the start and begged a mini bus driver to take us home. We spent the evening relaxing in the local hot pools and splashing out on a curry as a reward!
Even after the Roberts Point debacle we made it up the glacier the following day and really enjoyed it, probably the best thing to be done here in NZ. I had a bit of a panic at the beginning when I realised we'd be going 8 hours without access to a loo and had just drunk a cup of tea but our guide was obviously used to these touristy demands and rather embarrasingly I had to make do with a secret spot in the ice, I wasn't the only one though!
Rather typically when it was my turn to sneak off and be discreet a bloody helicopter full of hikers flew overhead and
obviously had a giggle at my expense!!
Also a quick note, if you ever find yourself looking for accommodation in Franz Josef, go to the Glow worm hostel, it was defo the best in town, very authentic with black and white photos of the victorians on the ice and lots of historical artifacts scattered throughout the rooms.
After Franz we went down to Wanaka, a small town with a big view. The town looks out across another huge lake and onto a snow capped mountain range behind. We just chilled there for 2 days soaking it up. Ooo I also got my broken
tooth fixed by a nice dentist there so I have a whole tooth again which is nice.
...and now we're in Queentown, heart of the adrenalin activites. We're not doing any though to save on cash so i feel a bit bad that i'm here and not doing anything but i'm sure i'll be back and can do all 134m of the Nevis bungy jump then! I hadn't considered doing it at all but am tempted after getting here and hearing about it. The thing is, I think a bungy jump, especially one where you spend the day being driven out to the site is an experience that is more fun when shared with someone and seeing as Tina's never been up for it i'll pass this time too.
Right, i'm off outside now, it's sunny! laters! :)
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