In true Tina and Doxie form it turned out that cyclone Uluri hit the Queensland coast the very exact day we were booked to visit Fraser Island! For those who don't know, Fraser Island is one of only 10 world heritage sites and classified as a 'tropical paradise'. Along with the Whitsundays it is deemed THE thing to do while travelling the East Coast of Oz and the millions of travel centres, brochures and sales reps that promote doing a trip there boast of the endless blue skies, diamond white sand and turquoise sea.
You can imagine our frustration then (and that is putting it VERY mildly) when we learnt that Uluri was heading for the coast just north of Fraser Island and the weather pattern it was bringing with it resembled something like an angry washing machine.
I have to mention at this point that I feel we were rather mislead by the irritatingly chirpy and rather slimy tour guide at the 4x4 base in Hervey Bay who assured us that not only would we be able to continue with our pre-planned itinerary of the island but that the bad weather would probably 'swing' right past us.
Now skip forward 48 hours and picture 8 grumpy girls bumping along the beach in a 4x4 at 6am, still half asleep and wearing an odd selection of pyjamas while the wind whistled through the axels and horizontal rain lashed against the windows. I can assure you, that at that moment, the weather had not swung past us.
However, not all was disastrous, even though we'd been the only group to miss our ferry boat to the island the day before (not a good start) and the weather was seriously trying to dampen the sprits of our once in a lifetime paradise trip, I think we did a great job of making the best of the situation.
There were 8 girls in the group which consisted of Tina and I, Jen, a friendly chatterbox from Newcastle, Jenna and Emma, two mates from Scotland and the 3 Germans. Two of them were pretty harmless but the third was a rather rotund individual with a penchant for taking more than her fair share of food, most annoying.
On day 2 the plan was to drive along the flat sand of Eastern Beach and up to Indian Head at the north of the island for breathtaking views and to bath in the Champagne Pools (natural rock formations). But alas, the crazy sea was spilling it's salt watery guts up virtually the whole width of the beach and we'd been warned that if the vehicle touched salt water a hefty $5000 fine would apply to the group. Hence Jen who was driving the beast, and I who was perched up front navigating, voted to get inland pronto and re-route the day.
To cut a long story just a bit shorter it was a long, long day with almost 10 hours of continuous driving and many obstacles to get past (including a full sized tree that had been uprooted and fallen across the track blocking our path). The weather cleared up a bit and the driving was an adventure but it wasn't the relaxing day we'd all had in mind! Timing the tides right we managed to get back onto the beach and drive up to a sand dune we could unload and camp behind for the night. We managed to set up camp and cook a meal before dark but I was absolutely gutted when for the millionth time was denied any form of sunset, just a cloudy sky :(
Another issue for Tina on the trip were the Dingoes, very much alive, active and wild. They are a cross between foxes, wolves and dogs and scavengers by nature. Tina who it'd be fair to say hates most animals was absolutely bricking herself every time there was a rustle in the dark. Can you believe that out of a group of 30 people in total only 2 people had brought a torch camping with them....TWO PEOPLE?!?! And that was me and Tina! What's wrong with people!?
Anyway, back to the dingoes, I was doing my best to reassure her and act very blasé about the possibility they could attack us at any moment when to prove my point of being safe I shone my torch into the inky black next to us only to meet the glowing eyes of a tooth bearing dingo about 5 meters from where we were sitting.
It is at this point I’d like to say I calmly stood up and shooed the animal away in a responsible manner but instead I sort of yelled 'DINGOOOOOOOO' into the night and everyone scrambled to their feet and ran with the shock.
I don't think Tina ever quite recovered.
We also developed a system we named the '360 degree wee' when having to use the 'non-existent' bathrooms in the night. It would involve one of us preparing the site while the other rotated around them with two torches flailing light beams in all directions dramatically as so to pre-empt any dingo or snake like animals creeping up on us while doing our business. I always ended up in hysterics as to me the torch light of the operation reminded me of the high strength light beams used at award ceremonies on the red carpet. I tended to narrate at the same time announcing something like 'Welcome to to 82nd Oscar Ceremony held here in LA......' maybe you had to be there lol.
Much to my delight, when I awoke at 3.30am on our second night in order to do a loo stop with Tina I looked up and couldn't believe it, the sky was crystal clear of any cloud and every single star was out in force. It was absolutely beautiful and that one moment, seeing the stars like that was all I needed to make the trip amazing. I didn't want to go back to sleep so sat up for 15 minutes just staring at them before passing out on the rock hard floor again. When I woke up in the morning the cloud was back and I wondered if it had been a very good dream. We got a bit of a sunrise which was nice but it was a shame that in the 4 mornings I’ve been up before 5am there hasn't been a clear sky to enjoy.
There was also an amusing incident at a little remote cafe in which Tina and I spotted a urn of hot water and thought it would be ok to take a couple of cups worth to use with our own teabags that we carry everywhere with us. Apparently NOT as when we began walking out of the door a real bloody jobsworth of a woman came over asking us just 'who did we think we were helping ourselves to things that aren’t ours' etc etc....IT WAS ONLY SOME HOT WATER FOR GODS SAKE!!! I should mention that not only was it 7am but the bad weather beach incident had just happened and everyone was somewhat pissed off. I told her I thought her tone was unnecessary (hahaha!) which much to my amusement wound her up some more. Because Tina and I are stubborn we resorted to paying the $1 EACH for the hot water and sipped our fruit teas with smug looks on our faces.
On day 3, our last, we managed to cram in all the bits we'd missed out on the previous day. We saw the famous ship wreck, a gorgeous natural spring creek, the stunning Lake Mackenzie and I thoroughly enjoyed driving the 4x4. As I sped through the forests it felt worryingly like I was in Jurassic Park and kept expecting a t-rex to jump out and rip the truck apart with it's teeth. I would've liked to have driven a bit more like a maniac but something told me the 7 other girls in the back wouldn't have enjoyed that as much as me.
Really randomly we also bumped into Ross and Jon, our buddies from New Zealand at the Lake on Fraser Island so there was much hugging, whooping and exchanged chat before having to split again. It turns out that Ross has been offered a 2 year contract with a dive school in Cairns to become a dive instructor (full training and accommodation provided!) as is going to take it with open arms. Looks like his family won't be seeing him for another few years then!!!! His new employer is apparently a 30 something guy with a 42ft catamaran boat and enjoys entertaining on it so we're praying to the gods we get a few days out on that!
So anyway, after a long and tiring 3 days the group returned back to base on the mainland looking like a selection of
beaten up war soldiers with all sort of ailments but good memories and a memory card full of photos.
--------------------
Then it was onwards and upwards to the town of 1770, a fairly recent addition to the backpacker map as far as I’m aware but this is what excited me about it, finally somewhere a little different, not too commercial. I believe everything happens for a reason and that day we bumped into Ross and Jon they warned us not to stay at Cool Bananas (the hostel we were booked to go to) but instead to stay at Southern Cross, and how right they were!
Southern Cross is gorgeous, so so soooooooooooooooooooo nice :) Every time I arrive somewhere like this I profess my love for it and start engaging the brain into plan mode, how can I stay here? when can I come back? Could we work here? When? How? Now! What made my eyes extra wide about 1770 is that it's awesome for kite surfing and there are kiters floating around with their boards and backpacks, I was in love.
Jen who is also on her way up the coast had tagged along with Tina and I which was perfect as we got to stay in our very own 3 person room with no strangers yay! There were to two rooms to each little wooden house dotted around the grounds and a pool, hammocks, camp fire etc to keep the travelling feel of the place alive. The houses also had large verandas out front so you could sit out and enjoy a beer while watching the sun set, or in our case, watch the mosquitoes rip us to shreds.
We had three days to kill in 1770 but it's gone really fast which is a good sign and has been the best stop yet. On day one I got to realise the life long dream of cruising down the highway on my very own chopper motorbike complete with a custom paint job of the American stars and stripes all over the bodywork, this was a good day.
The tour was called ScooterRoo and you basically rock up at this large shed where at least 100 awesome looking motorbikes, all hand painted with cool designs sit waiting for you, the highly inexperienced and over keen punter to jump on the seat and open that throttle to it's max to feel the wind in your hair and bugs in your teeth.
This dude's set up must make his insurance company cringe because to me, the idea of 40 backpackers (plus a few random German tourists) skidding to a nasty halt on the gravely tarmac seems like quite a realistic possibility but luckily it didn't happen to us!
Instead Tina, Jen and I sped along the highway on our choppers and flame-lined helmets feeling like stars on a film set while the sun set in front of us. When we'd finished cruising I asked the owner what the bikes were, where I could get one and how much they cost, I now know the answers and will be purchasing one, complete with stars and stripes on my return.
On day 2 the sun stayed out for us and Jen and I did a 3 hour surf lesson for a measly $17!! It was perfect, 20 mins of basic tuition by a brown wrinkly skinned, bleached blond haired surf dude. We both managed to stand up and ride a wave which was good fun but the strong current meant it was hard work and really bad for my back :/ (I'm paying the price today believe me).
Day 3 (today) has been super chilled, Jen left last night and Tina and I have enjoyed eating the BEST muffins ever made in the history of man. I've eaten alotttt of muffins but these are something else, seriously good!!!!
Now we're waiting to board the Greyhound night bus which will be a 14 hour long journey argh! I don't think we'd really thought about how long this was until 10 mins ago when eating our jacket potato, beans and cheese. That's more than a flight from London to LA...and half of London to Australia!....but Tina makes a good point, at least we save on one nights accommodation, a poxy $30 (which we'd happily spend on 6 white chocolate magnums anyway)
In summary it’s been a great few weeks but if I ever hear just one more Australian mention that this is the most uncharacteristically wet summer they've ever had again, I think I will rip the tongue from their mouth and send it in a little parcel to the Sahara where i'm sure it'll be nice and Sunny! :)
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Whoops, didn't get a chance to send the blog until now and now it's 4 days later than it was so had better mention the last few days because they've been so fun and defo worth a decent mention.
So we survived the night bus, it wasn't the 14 hours of hell that we thought it might be, it actually went pretty quickly
and we both managed to get some hours of zzzzzz as we trundled through the more non-descript towns of the east coast. There's something about being cooped up on a bus and travelling for hours that makes you buy crap, crap you don't even want but suddenly find yourself drawn to. An example being 'My god, I desperately need that horribly greasy chicken burger even though it's 7am and I don't even like chicken burgers'. Or in my case, 'I must have that 5th pack of skittles AND the M&M's'. To be honest, it's amazing I haven't been sectioned into a fat camp with the treats i've been buying but you only live once eh.
We pulled up into Townsville around 11.30am and jumped in a cab to take us to our residence for the next 3 nights, Orchid Lodge. As Tina and I surveyed the landscape of desolate retro architecture and abandoned shop facades whizzing in front of our eyes we realised that the Lonely Planet travel writer reviewing Townsville had clearly been on acid while accessing the area to see it in such a positive light and hastily cut short our pre planned 3 nights to 1.
It was a useful stop over though and the hostel was more like staying at your granny's house then a hostel. It came complete with free laundry facilities and the old ladies running it were very cute.
However, cute old ladies were not enough to stop us venturing over to Magnetic Island on the ferry the next day and we made the 8k cruise out of Townsville to our new home in Nelly Bay. Here we have been staying at Base hostel, a VERY cool place which is more like a resort than a backpackers. The huge wooden decking pumps out music across picnic tables of people eating and drinking while the sea laps at the foot of the door. The whole place backs right onto the beach complete with palm trees and a full moon glowing onto the water.
In our three days here Tina and I have really chilled out and explored the island by hiring the craziest little car from
'tropical topless rentals'! It looks just like a larger version of a barbie car complete with pink and white plastic decor and was a convertible of course. It was wicked to zip around the empty roads feeling like I was in a computer game.
Another perk was the fact that one of my prizes from the Australian visa bureau that I won for my blog was 3 nights free accommodation here at Base so I've been staying here for free and that's $100 saved!
It was funny because today I was walking round taking pictures and who should call my name from reception but Jen, she'd caught up with us here on the island which was cool and we've just had a nice dinner together so that's all good. She's been telling us about her trip in the Whitsundays which we're doing on the 10th and getting excited about but also thinking about our sky dive which is happening on the 7th at Mission Beach. I can't believe i'm going to be throwing myself out of a plane in 7 days, hope the parachute opens :/
Going to post this now before it gets any longer now, hope whatever you're doing and where ever you're doing it in
the world you're doing it well and having fun, laters! :)
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
A Big Wash Out
I'm knackered!
We've been constantly on the move for what seems like an eternity, it's time for some rest and relaxation. New Zealand was hectic and the last 4 weeks back in Australia haven't been slow paced either.
Unfortunately our 4 days in the desert were, not ruined, but...well, kinda ruined by the weather. I have
to say I was really excited about going to the Red Centre, seeing Uluru at sunrise and sunset and especially camping under the stars. But just like everywhere else i've been on this journey there has been some crazy highly unusual weather pattern affecting the area which no-one has ever seen before and it sucks.
Alice Springs (where we were staying) saw more rain in one day than they usually have in a whole YEAR, and it's been raining 8 days flat. It was only the day we left that the sun began to shine and clouds part...if i think about it too much i'll cry!
So yeah, the tour was fun but we didn't get the experience I wanted, especially gutted about not seeing one star the
whole time. Maybe a millionaire will helicopter me back for a sunset dinner there in the future, that'd be good.
However, what we did do was fun and Tina and I were in hysterics most of the time, probably from the early starts and lack of sleep. On day 1 we were picked up at 6am and began a 5 hour drive out towards Kings Canyon, it was actually quite pleasant to have some cloud cover and cooler temperatures as the walk from one side to the other was 3 hours and would've been a struggle in 40 degree heat. I went to see the doctor in Adelaide and was diagnosed with inflammation of the knee cartilage (which is why it's been hurting to walk all the time) so bought one of those tubigrip supports and hoped that would help, instead it just made me look like the weakest link of the group as I hobbled over the rocks in a disabled fashion.
That evening we arrived at our camp site (a patch of dust with a dangerously unstable looking rain shelter) and set up camp. The rain held off long enough to have dinner round the camp fire which was fun but it promptly started up again as we rolled out our 'waterproof' swags and climbed inside. I probably shouldn't have looked but wanted to make sure I wasn't sharing my swag with any uninvited guests so got the torch out to dig around down in the bottom. To my delight I pulled out a dead cockroach and let out a piercing scream of joy that echoed around the desert.
Another issue was the 'bathroom' situation. Tina and I are a really, really bad influence on each other and if one of us goes, so does the other, and because we'd had a few beers before bed that night we ended up having a bit of a midnight adventure trip to the 'dunny', a wooden shack with a hole in the floor. We were flashing our little torches around looking for spiders and scared snakes would bite our behinds so it must have been a funny sight for anyone watching us from the camp!!
On day 2 we entered the Aires Rock national park and spent some time walking around the area (still bandaged up like a granny). We were supposed to witness the stunningly beautiful red rock at sunset but all we got was a gradual transition from light cloud to dark cloud and the memory of Tina and I yet again sneaking off behind the bushes with the loo roll.
Day 3 was a 4.30am start in order to see the stunningly beautiful rock sunrise but again all we got was a dark cloud to light cloud transition, whoop-de-doo.
After leaving Alice Springs we flew to Brisbane for 4 days which turned out (as we suspected) to be expensive and too long, it's an ok city but we were only hanging about to see what it was like at the weekend anyway. We spent our time just walking around the city, going to the cinema and craaaaving to be back on a beach!
Seeing as Brisbane is a river city and not a sea city the Brisbane council built a fake beach on the South Bank of the
river which was quite nice but no supplement. It was weird walking over the South Bank bridge, looking around I
noticed their white 'city eye' big wheel, the metal suspension bridges over the river, the gross brown river water, the ominous dark grey sky and heavy rain drops landing on my rain jacket...'hang on?!' I thought....am I back in London?!
Those last few days in Brisbane i'd been making the effort to talk to a French girl who had been staying in our room, she didn't speak much english which must have been fairly scary for her so seeing as i'm working on my French it was good practice to try and help out.
The gesture obviously paid off as when she saw me queuing up for the computers she offered me use of her unlimited free internet on her laptop! It took a few minutes to understand what she was talking about but we got there in the end lol.
From Brisbane we cruised down to Byron Bay via an over night stop in Surfers. It was so weird to be back when I wasn't sure i'd ever see it again and was bombarded by flash backs from my time there before Christmas. Amanda came to pick Tina and I up as which was awesome, so good to see her again and then we did the obvious...drove straight to Max Brenner for a chocolate brownie! We also squeezed in a drive down to Kirra where a Quiksilver surf competition was on, had dinner at one of my old favourite cafes and popped into build a bear to check out the new stock.
We arrived into Byron late into the evening but checked into the most amazing hostel ever, 100% the best so far and i'd put money on it being unbeatable. It was a guest house with a distinctly Caribbean feel to it, white washed wooden verandas overlooking tropical plants and palm trees swaying in the breeze. There were surfboards and paintings of tropical paradise's hanging from the tall ceilings and a general air of casual luxury about the place.
Staying at 'The Atlantic' made the 4 days we spent there pass fast in a blur of beach, beer and live music. The rooms were only 3 beds which was great, however it turned out we were sharing with a fairly elderly lady who fast became nicknamed witch number 2.
She wasn't as awful witch 1 from New Zealand but we had a few rounds of 'Fan Wars' during our time together. Tina has developed a bit of an obsession with the ceiling fans and if you don't want the fan on the same speed as her during the night then god help you.
Every night this lady would go to bed with the fan off...then we would creep in after hours and whack that bad boy up to 3 which was promptly followed by an awakening from The Witch, a stomping motion over to the button and an adjustment to speed 1.
It's at this point we had to tread really carefully as were feigning sleep but slowly and surely we'd reach over and twizzle (twizzle - surely a word that's not used enough?) the knob up to speed 2.
Sometimes we'd win and other times there would be vocal confrontation but there you have the essence of Fan Wars.
Other events cropping up include my frustrating and disastrous trip to the Chiropractor. To cut a very long story
short my body hates me at the moment and i'm in pain, a lot of it at the moment. Seeking immediate relief I booked in and paid $100 for 2 sessions with what I was told was a Chiropractor. It said Chiropractor on the door and I was happy with that. HOWEVER. After lying down on the table and being led through a series of breathing exercises it dawned on me that this was no normal click-you-into-place chiro but some f**king positive spine and wave force of life energy healer. THIS DID NOT MAKE ME HAPPY. So the outcome of that was that I may have well as burnt that $100 and i'm still in pain.
So now we're up in Noosa, when we were in Byron Bay we met a guy called Luke, a Californian surfer pilot who we starting hanging out with him for a while. A lot of people are in the 20-22 age bracket so it was cool to hang out with someone a bit older at 33. He even ended up driving us to Noosa from Byron so we could keep him company as he was travelling alone lol!
I hear there's a tropical cyclone on it's way too which is annoying, a grade 4 at the moment which'll bring more rain and storms. The problem with the East Coast is that your daily choices are go to the beach, or go to the beach and rain does not fit well into that equation :/...........
We've been constantly on the move for what seems like an eternity, it's time for some rest and relaxation. New Zealand was hectic and the last 4 weeks back in Australia haven't been slow paced either.
Unfortunately our 4 days in the desert were, not ruined, but...well, kinda ruined by the weather. I have
to say I was really excited about going to the Red Centre, seeing Uluru at sunrise and sunset and especially camping under the stars. But just like everywhere else i've been on this journey there has been some crazy highly unusual weather pattern affecting the area which no-one has ever seen before and it sucks.
Alice Springs (where we were staying) saw more rain in one day than they usually have in a whole YEAR, and it's been raining 8 days flat. It was only the day we left that the sun began to shine and clouds part...if i think about it too much i'll cry!
So yeah, the tour was fun but we didn't get the experience I wanted, especially gutted about not seeing one star the
whole time. Maybe a millionaire will helicopter me back for a sunset dinner there in the future, that'd be good.
However, what we did do was fun and Tina and I were in hysterics most of the time, probably from the early starts and lack of sleep. On day 1 we were picked up at 6am and began a 5 hour drive out towards Kings Canyon, it was actually quite pleasant to have some cloud cover and cooler temperatures as the walk from one side to the other was 3 hours and would've been a struggle in 40 degree heat. I went to see the doctor in Adelaide and was diagnosed with inflammation of the knee cartilage (which is why it's been hurting to walk all the time) so bought one of those tubigrip supports and hoped that would help, instead it just made me look like the weakest link of the group as I hobbled over the rocks in a disabled fashion.
That evening we arrived at our camp site (a patch of dust with a dangerously unstable looking rain shelter) and set up camp. The rain held off long enough to have dinner round the camp fire which was fun but it promptly started up again as we rolled out our 'waterproof' swags and climbed inside. I probably shouldn't have looked but wanted to make sure I wasn't sharing my swag with any uninvited guests so got the torch out to dig around down in the bottom. To my delight I pulled out a dead cockroach and let out a piercing scream of joy that echoed around the desert.
Another issue was the 'bathroom' situation. Tina and I are a really, really bad influence on each other and if one of us goes, so does the other, and because we'd had a few beers before bed that night we ended up having a bit of a midnight adventure trip to the 'dunny', a wooden shack with a hole in the floor. We were flashing our little torches around looking for spiders and scared snakes would bite our behinds so it must have been a funny sight for anyone watching us from the camp!!
On day 2 we entered the Aires Rock national park and spent some time walking around the area (still bandaged up like a granny). We were supposed to witness the stunningly beautiful red rock at sunset but all we got was a gradual transition from light cloud to dark cloud and the memory of Tina and I yet again sneaking off behind the bushes with the loo roll.
Day 3 was a 4.30am start in order to see the stunningly beautiful rock sunrise but again all we got was a dark cloud to light cloud transition, whoop-de-doo.
After leaving Alice Springs we flew to Brisbane for 4 days which turned out (as we suspected) to be expensive and too long, it's an ok city but we were only hanging about to see what it was like at the weekend anyway. We spent our time just walking around the city, going to the cinema and craaaaving to be back on a beach!
Seeing as Brisbane is a river city and not a sea city the Brisbane council built a fake beach on the South Bank of the
river which was quite nice but no supplement. It was weird walking over the South Bank bridge, looking around I
noticed their white 'city eye' big wheel, the metal suspension bridges over the river, the gross brown river water, the ominous dark grey sky and heavy rain drops landing on my rain jacket...'hang on?!' I thought....am I back in London?!
Those last few days in Brisbane i'd been making the effort to talk to a French girl who had been staying in our room, she didn't speak much english which must have been fairly scary for her so seeing as i'm working on my French it was good practice to try and help out.
The gesture obviously paid off as when she saw me queuing up for the computers she offered me use of her unlimited free internet on her laptop! It took a few minutes to understand what she was talking about but we got there in the end lol.
From Brisbane we cruised down to Byron Bay via an over night stop in Surfers. It was so weird to be back when I wasn't sure i'd ever see it again and was bombarded by flash backs from my time there before Christmas. Amanda came to pick Tina and I up as which was awesome, so good to see her again and then we did the obvious...drove straight to Max Brenner for a chocolate brownie! We also squeezed in a drive down to Kirra where a Quiksilver surf competition was on, had dinner at one of my old favourite cafes and popped into build a bear to check out the new stock.
We arrived into Byron late into the evening but checked into the most amazing hostel ever, 100% the best so far and i'd put money on it being unbeatable. It was a guest house with a distinctly Caribbean feel to it, white washed wooden verandas overlooking tropical plants and palm trees swaying in the breeze. There were surfboards and paintings of tropical paradise's hanging from the tall ceilings and a general air of casual luxury about the place.
Staying at 'The Atlantic' made the 4 days we spent there pass fast in a blur of beach, beer and live music. The rooms were only 3 beds which was great, however it turned out we were sharing with a fairly elderly lady who fast became nicknamed witch number 2.
She wasn't as awful witch 1 from New Zealand but we had a few rounds of 'Fan Wars' during our time together. Tina has developed a bit of an obsession with the ceiling fans and if you don't want the fan on the same speed as her during the night then god help you.
Every night this lady would go to bed with the fan off...then we would creep in after hours and whack that bad boy up to 3 which was promptly followed by an awakening from The Witch, a stomping motion over to the button and an adjustment to speed 1.
It's at this point we had to tread really carefully as were feigning sleep but slowly and surely we'd reach over and twizzle (twizzle - surely a word that's not used enough?) the knob up to speed 2.
Sometimes we'd win and other times there would be vocal confrontation but there you have the essence of Fan Wars.
Other events cropping up include my frustrating and disastrous trip to the Chiropractor. To cut a very long story
short my body hates me at the moment and i'm in pain, a lot of it at the moment. Seeking immediate relief I booked in and paid $100 for 2 sessions with what I was told was a Chiropractor. It said Chiropractor on the door and I was happy with that. HOWEVER. After lying down on the table and being led through a series of breathing exercises it dawned on me that this was no normal click-you-into-place chiro but some f**king positive spine and wave force of life energy healer. THIS DID NOT MAKE ME HAPPY. So the outcome of that was that I may have well as burnt that $100 and i'm still in pain.
So now we're up in Noosa, when we were in Byron Bay we met a guy called Luke, a Californian surfer pilot who we starting hanging out with him for a while. A lot of people are in the 20-22 age bracket so it was cool to hang out with someone a bit older at 33. He even ended up driving us to Noosa from Byron so we could keep him company as he was travelling alone lol!
I hear there's a tropical cyclone on it's way too which is annoying, a grade 4 at the moment which'll bring more rain and storms. The problem with the East Coast is that your daily choices are go to the beach, or go to the beach and rain does not fit well into that equation :/...........
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...........
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! :)
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
Squeeze and Marinate
Ok i've just posted my last blog and am determined to keep on top of this one so am starting the next one right now.
Today is our 3rd and last day in Lake Taupo and Tina and I are sooo glad we decided to marinate a bit here, we've not really done much today except mooch about and make future plans for the trip but I think that's all we needed, some time to do nothing.
Unfortnately for my waistline the kiwi's seem to love their bakery/pattiserie/pastry shops and my sweet tooth is litrally
screaming out in pain for gingerbread men, caramel slices, apple strudle, custard twists, cinnamon squares, chocolate brownies and iced buns. I'm going to be honest...i'm not showing much...well, any restraint and seem to be handing over my money and pocketing the sugary goodness before i even know what's going on.
The great carrot cake hunt is something that has developed out of nowhere over the last week, it started back in Sydney when we went to Taronga Zoo and saw a big fat nutty creamy sweet delicious looking wedge of cake behind a glass counter and caved in by buying a piece to share. No joke, that was the best piece of carrot cake i've ever had, everything from the buttercream icing to the walnut pieces sunk deep within the moist sponge was perfect and from that moment on everytime Tina and I see a piece of carrot cake we're compelled to buy it to see if another will ever compare to the Taronga orignal.
Our plans have been changing a fair bit today and we've got our organisational hats on overdrive. As our trip here develops we're looking more and more at our kiwi bus route and how we can make it better by tayloring it to us. Instead of going back up the country via Lake Taupo and finishing in Auckland (which we have paid to do) but will have already seen, we're now only going as far up as Wellington and then leaving the Kiwi bus to fly out of wellington to Melbourne. The only problem with this is that in our frantic rush at the airport on the way out of Oz we bought a flight from Auckland back to Melbourne...
Anyway I won't bore you with the details but we've spoken to Qantas and to cut a long story short we've had to pay an extra $210 fare to change our departure location and date but will gain an extra 5 days to play with in the South Island so it's totally worth it.
The other thing we've been busy planning is our upcoming trip to Nelson and the amazing Abel Tasman National Park. It's a gorgeous piece of coastline on the nothern coast of the south island which Tina and I are going to Kayak along for 3 hours, walk a second section for 3 hours and then finally take a water taxi back to the starting point. It's pretty pricey but these things have to be done...originally we were going to camp overnight and spend 2 days in the park but we're trying to cut costs a little.
Tina's been making me laugh recently, I thought I was bad bringing GHD straightners travelling but she's got straightners too and even managed to dye her hair in the hostel last night! It was hilarious seeing her run between the bathroom and bedroom with the dark dye and clips poking out all over her head haha!
--------
Now it's Jan 20th and i'm sitting in a hostel in Nelson called Accents on the Park. it was described as 'affordable luxury' by the Lonely Planet and like always we've booked it independantly from the Kiwi Exp so while the rest of the bus has been thrown into a bigger place i'm chilling in a very cute victorian type town house which has been converted really nicely, there's vintage radios and lamps suspended on shelves, a large table and benches carved from local wood and even a full size wulwitzer juke box standing proud in the corner opposite me.
Tomorrow is a 6am early start and we're set to board a coach that will take us an hour up the coast to the National Park where we'll do our kayak, hike and water cruise day.
After leaving Taupo last week we headed down to an amazing little place called River Valley lodge, this was one of the gems I doubt we'd have heard about if we'd not been with the Kiwi Exp as it was so hidden away. In an ideal world i'd have liked to stay another day there but with the itinery more structured than ever and the Kiwi buses booked up days in advance it wasn't possible.
The lodge offered grade 5 rafting which I really wanted to do (but chose to save the pennies) and is built on the very edge of a gorgeous river bank with a sheer grassy cliff face plunging dramatically into the river behind. It had a bit of an adventure vibe to it, there was even a rickety old pulley tray system that you could dangle above the water on and use to pull yourself over to the other side. It needed some good bicep power to work it though!
After 2 weeks i'm pretty used to the dorm situation now and sharing with people isn't half as wierd as i first found it but that night in River Valley I opted for the cheapest option and put myself down to stay in the 'orgy room'(!) for $22.
It's called that because it's basically 2 massive platforms which everyone puts a little matress on and shares like a huge sleepover, i'll never do it again though and can't believe how loud and inconsiderate people are when others are asleep. Mainly all the dutch grrrrr!!
I had planned to do some nice calming meditation by the river in the early morning but that plan went down the drain when I got up and realised i'd left a bag in the hostel at Lake Taupo containing ALL my underwear, socks and bikini's :( :( :(
After the initial panic I called Kiwi Exp and begged for the next driver passing through Taupo to pick it up and bring it
down to me in Nelson....after multiple phone calls I've been told a driver has agreed to get it and bring it down with him but it's fair to say he's less than impressed at having to carry a plastic carrier bag full of girls knickers with him across on the ferry from north to South Island, whoops. I'm just praying he rememebers to pick it up...
After River Valley we headed southbound to the capital city of Wellington, otherwise known as windy Wellington as on something like 174 days of the year it blows at more than 30 knots. This would be great for kite surfing but unfortunately brings bad weather to the city alot of the time, even in summer. Luckily for us it was bright blue sky when we arrived and checked into our YHA hostel for the night.
The next day we stayed in Wellington and walked up Mount Victoria to get some excellent views of the city, after that we went to their pride and joy, the Te Papa museum and saw a great short documentary on some of the more interesting people of New Zealand, their hobbies and what they love about the country.
It was an inspring film, really well made and made me realise how nice it is that the people here have a sense of pride about where they live. They're kind, respectful and take a genuine interest in the people visiting their country which just makes me think 'when shall I come back and use my working visa here???...
Today is our 3rd and last day in Lake Taupo and Tina and I are sooo glad we decided to marinate a bit here, we've not really done much today except mooch about and make future plans for the trip but I think that's all we needed, some time to do nothing.
Unfortnately for my waistline the kiwi's seem to love their bakery/pattiserie/pastry shops and my sweet tooth is litrally
screaming out in pain for gingerbread men, caramel slices, apple strudle, custard twists, cinnamon squares, chocolate brownies and iced buns. I'm going to be honest...i'm not showing much...well, any restraint and seem to be handing over my money and pocketing the sugary goodness before i even know what's going on.
The great carrot cake hunt is something that has developed out of nowhere over the last week, it started back in Sydney when we went to Taronga Zoo and saw a big fat nutty creamy sweet delicious looking wedge of cake behind a glass counter and caved in by buying a piece to share. No joke, that was the best piece of carrot cake i've ever had, everything from the buttercream icing to the walnut pieces sunk deep within the moist sponge was perfect and from that moment on everytime Tina and I see a piece of carrot cake we're compelled to buy it to see if another will ever compare to the Taronga orignal.
Our plans have been changing a fair bit today and we've got our organisational hats on overdrive. As our trip here develops we're looking more and more at our kiwi bus route and how we can make it better by tayloring it to us. Instead of going back up the country via Lake Taupo and finishing in Auckland (which we have paid to do) but will have already seen, we're now only going as far up as Wellington and then leaving the Kiwi bus to fly out of wellington to Melbourne. The only problem with this is that in our frantic rush at the airport on the way out of Oz we bought a flight from Auckland back to Melbourne...
Anyway I won't bore you with the details but we've spoken to Qantas and to cut a long story short we've had to pay an extra $210 fare to change our departure location and date but will gain an extra 5 days to play with in the South Island so it's totally worth it.
The other thing we've been busy planning is our upcoming trip to Nelson and the amazing Abel Tasman National Park. It's a gorgeous piece of coastline on the nothern coast of the south island which Tina and I are going to Kayak along for 3 hours, walk a second section for 3 hours and then finally take a water taxi back to the starting point. It's pretty pricey but these things have to be done...originally we were going to camp overnight and spend 2 days in the park but we're trying to cut costs a little.
Tina's been making me laugh recently, I thought I was bad bringing GHD straightners travelling but she's got straightners too and even managed to dye her hair in the hostel last night! It was hilarious seeing her run between the bathroom and bedroom with the dark dye and clips poking out all over her head haha!
--------
Now it's Jan 20th and i'm sitting in a hostel in Nelson called Accents on the Park. it was described as 'affordable luxury' by the Lonely Planet and like always we've booked it independantly from the Kiwi Exp so while the rest of the bus has been thrown into a bigger place i'm chilling in a very cute victorian type town house which has been converted really nicely, there's vintage radios and lamps suspended on shelves, a large table and benches carved from local wood and even a full size wulwitzer juke box standing proud in the corner opposite me.
Tomorrow is a 6am early start and we're set to board a coach that will take us an hour up the coast to the National Park where we'll do our kayak, hike and water cruise day.
After leaving Taupo last week we headed down to an amazing little place called River Valley lodge, this was one of the gems I doubt we'd have heard about if we'd not been with the Kiwi Exp as it was so hidden away. In an ideal world i'd have liked to stay another day there but with the itinery more structured than ever and the Kiwi buses booked up days in advance it wasn't possible.
The lodge offered grade 5 rafting which I really wanted to do (but chose to save the pennies) and is built on the very edge of a gorgeous river bank with a sheer grassy cliff face plunging dramatically into the river behind. It had a bit of an adventure vibe to it, there was even a rickety old pulley tray system that you could dangle above the water on and use to pull yourself over to the other side. It needed some good bicep power to work it though!
After 2 weeks i'm pretty used to the dorm situation now and sharing with people isn't half as wierd as i first found it but that night in River Valley I opted for the cheapest option and put myself down to stay in the 'orgy room'(!) for $22.
It's called that because it's basically 2 massive platforms which everyone puts a little matress on and shares like a huge sleepover, i'll never do it again though and can't believe how loud and inconsiderate people are when others are asleep. Mainly all the dutch grrrrr!!
I had planned to do some nice calming meditation by the river in the early morning but that plan went down the drain when I got up and realised i'd left a bag in the hostel at Lake Taupo containing ALL my underwear, socks and bikini's :( :( :(
After the initial panic I called Kiwi Exp and begged for the next driver passing through Taupo to pick it up and bring it
down to me in Nelson....after multiple phone calls I've been told a driver has agreed to get it and bring it down with him but it's fair to say he's less than impressed at having to carry a plastic carrier bag full of girls knickers with him across on the ferry from north to South Island, whoops. I'm just praying he rememebers to pick it up...
After River Valley we headed southbound to the capital city of Wellington, otherwise known as windy Wellington as on something like 174 days of the year it blows at more than 30 knots. This would be great for kite surfing but unfortunately brings bad weather to the city alot of the time, even in summer. Luckily for us it was bright blue sky when we arrived and checked into our YHA hostel for the night.
The next day we stayed in Wellington and walked up Mount Victoria to get some excellent views of the city, after that we went to their pride and joy, the Te Papa museum and saw a great short documentary on some of the more interesting people of New Zealand, their hobbies and what they love about the country.
It was an inspring film, really well made and made me realise how nice it is that the people here have a sense of pride about where they live. They're kind, respectful and take a genuine interest in the people visiting their country which just makes me think 'when shall I come back and use my working visa here???...
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