Today we saw off some more stray friends, Sophie, Zac and Ste who had hired a compervan to complete their travelling around New Zealand.
We spent the afternoon looking around the modern chirstchurch Art Gallery. Unfortunantly the exhibition on the Antarctic had already gone, but we looked around the rest of the gallery. There were a few exhibitions by local artists as well as token romantic European paintings.
On our last full day in New Zealand we spent the day preparing for Asia by getting a few last min bits and bobs from the warehouse and changing some of our money into Thai Baht. On the way back to the hotel we had a nice surprise as we bumped into 3 England Rugby Players, (they have a match against the All Blacks in Christchurch at the weekend.) Andrew said one of them was Andy Sheridan and another was Graham Roundtree! We spent the evening with a few stray people watching the Euro 2008 replays in a massive sports bar. We had any early night as our flight was very early in the morning and we had a full day of flying to get to Bangkok.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Christchurch - Day 2 & 3
We got up late today as Andrew had a bit too much to drink last night and was feeling a hungover It was a sunny afternoon so we headed to the Botanical Gardens, which were very picturesque and well kept with a nice setting of the River Avon. The indoor tropical plant house was really good, with special exhibitions on cactus and orchids. In the evening we got a take away curry as it was Adam and Kerrys last night in New Zealand, before they headed over Oz.
This morning we saw off Adam and Kerry in the morning and then headed into town to do some shopping. We popped into the Cathedral for a quick look around. The Cathedral was lovely, quite simple in its design and relatively small compared to Cathedrals at home but it was well worth the visit.
This morning we saw off Adam and Kerry in the morning and then headed into town to do some shopping. We popped into the Cathedral for a quick look around. The Cathedral was lovely, quite simple in its design and relatively small compared to Cathedrals at home but it was well worth the visit.
Christchurch - Day 1
We travelled from Dunedin to Christchurch on an automic bus which took about 5 and a half hours travelling up the east coast. These buses are similar to National Express but alot cheaper, it only cost us about $35 each for the journey. When we arrived in Christchurch we opted to stay in a cheap hostel where some of our friends from Stray were staying. The dorm rooms were only $15 each. The hotel Stonehurst was very big a quite dated but for the money we couldn't complain.
On our first full day in christchurch we headed to the Arts Centre with Sophie as at the weeekends there is a big outdoor craft market. Inside there was some interesting shops selling locally made produce including a honey and brandy spirit with gold leaf in which we tried and it was very yummy.
In a similar way to Dunedin, Christchurch has a very arty and alternative feel, with alot of second hand book shops and backstreet cafes and bars aswell as small cinemas and theatres. Christchurch is very similar to England and it really reminded us of being at home \. There was even a River Avon with punting on it! We went out to watch the All Blacks play England at a bar called Dux De Lux which had abig outdoor screen. The match was being played in Auckland and it was a shame we lost 37-20. After the rugby we headed out to some clubs in the town centre.
On our first full day in christchurch we headed to the Arts Centre with Sophie as at the weeekends there is a big outdoor craft market. Inside there was some interesting shops selling locally made produce including a honey and brandy spirit with gold leaf in which we tried and it was very yummy.
In a similar way to Dunedin, Christchurch has a very arty and alternative feel, with alot of second hand book shops and backstreet cafes and bars aswell as small cinemas and theatres. Christchurch is very similar to England and it really reminded us of being at home \. There was even a River Avon with punting on it! We went out to watch the All Blacks play England at a bar called Dux De Lux which had abig outdoor screen. The match was being played in Auckland and it was a shame we lost 37-20. After the rugby we headed out to some clubs in the town centre.
Monday, 23 June 2008
Dunedin Day 4 - Museum and Art Gallery
Our final day in Dunedin, the weather was a bit drab so we decided to do the cultural thing and visit the highly recommended Otago Museum and Dunedin Public Art gallery. We went into an interesting exhibition on Leonardo Da Vinci's machines in the museum and then wondered around the paintings in the art gallery - both were well presented and interesting. One thing we have noticed about most of the galleries in NZ is that they seem to disply very little in the way of art done by New Zealanders. We accept that NZ doesn't have a history as long and fruitful as the Europe, but they seem to fill most of their galleries with 17th century Italian and Dutch romantic paintings! Ah well, perhaps the NZ art just isn't up to scratch!
Dunedin Day 3 - Otago Peninsula Nature Tour
Another great day out around Dunedin, today we headed down to another Dunedin institution - The Cadbury Chocolate Factory! New Zealnad seems to have similar chocolate habits to England, and although the Cadbury's seems to taste slightly different here, it is nice to have a bit of Dairy Milk every once in a while! Our tour was fun and friendly and we got lots of free chocolate to gorge on! Cadbury's bought the main chocolate factory here about 60 years ago and their chocolate has been popular in NZ ever since. The factory is much more modern than the Speights Brewery, but not all that big even though they export choclate all over the world!
After a spot of lunch, we heading back into town to be pickd up for a trip out to the Otago Peninsula - renowned for someof the best wildlife in NZ. The peninsula is only a 20 min drive from the city, but again feels detatched from any civilisation. our first stop was the Royal Albatross Centre - home to the largest birds in the world. Unfortunately due to the time of year and prevailing weather conditions, we didn't spot any of the monsters in the sky (we were by no means guaranteesd to see any anyway) there are only a few living on this peninsula anyway! Next we headed round to a piece of farmland with private acces and headed down to the waterside to see some seals sunbathing on the rocks. From here we were also able to spot loads of other species of albatross circling the choppy waters out to sea. Next we headed over to another long secluded beach to the highlight of the trip... a chance to get up-close-and-personal with some sealions and yellow eyes penguins! The conditions were perfect, and just as the sun was setting we were surrounded by about 20 huge sealions playfighting on the beach. They were quite oblivious to our presence, but we had to make a dash for it when their 'playfighting' brought them over into our direction! As we carried on along the beach, we were able to spot half a dozen yellow eyed penguins (the second rarest species of penguin in the world) as they headed back from a full day at sea. These penguins only live in theis partof NZ and no where else in the world, so we were quite lucky to spot them. After a great day of nature spotting, we headed back towards Dunedin as the sun was setting.
After a spot of lunch, we heading back into town to be pickd up for a trip out to the Otago Peninsula - renowned for someof the best wildlife in NZ. The peninsula is only a 20 min drive from the city, but again feels detatched from any civilisation. our first stop was the Royal Albatross Centre - home to the largest birds in the world. Unfortunately due to the time of year and prevailing weather conditions, we didn't spot any of the monsters in the sky (we were by no means guaranteesd to see any anyway) there are only a few living on this peninsula anyway! Next we headed round to a piece of farmland with private acces and headed down to the waterside to see some seals sunbathing on the rocks. From here we were also able to spot loads of other species of albatross circling the choppy waters out to sea. Next we headed over to another long secluded beach to the highlight of the trip... a chance to get up-close-and-personal with some sealions and yellow eyes penguins! The conditions were perfect, and just as the sun was setting we were surrounded by about 20 huge sealions playfighting on the beach. They were quite oblivious to our presence, but we had to make a dash for it when their 'playfighting' brought them over into our direction! As we carried on along the beach, we were able to spot half a dozen yellow eyed penguins (the second rarest species of penguin in the world) as they headed back from a full day at sea. These penguins only live in theis partof NZ and no where else in the world, so we were quite lucky to spot them. After a great day of nature spotting, we headed back towards Dunedin as the sun was setting.
Tuesday 10th June - Dunedin
Today we met up with Dave in a small vegetarian cafe in town and spent an hour or so catching up - we explained everything that we had done since we last saw him. He was eager to get us out of the town and take us to see some nice spots in the countryside around his home town of Dunedin. Since we were booked on a nature tour along the Otago Peninsula the next day, he decided to take us for a drive in his 4x4 up the coast to North Dunedin, through the town of Port Chalmers to the village of Punakaike., where he is in the process of building a brand new house overlooking a tiny secluded bay. The scenery here is less dramatic than most of Otago, Westland and Fjordland but is equally beautiful. The rolling hills and secluded beaches are reminiscent of Cornwall only slightly colder! The beauty of this area is that despite being only 20mins from Dunedin city, it feels tranquil and a million miles from anywhere. The little fishing bays and coves are dotted all along the coast and are untouched by tourism and its discontents. Dave spent another couple of hours taking us to pretty little beaches with not a soul to be seen, it was a great day too (if a little windy), so all in all it was great to meet up with Dave and great to see some beautiful spots around Dunedin that we would never normally have been able to see.
We arrived back at the hostel in time to make some tea, and then headed across town to the Speights Brewery - a famous NZ beer, we thought we just could miss the opportunity to have a look round! For about 15NZ dollars each we were taken on a tour of the brewery, given information on the history of the company and told why it is one of Nz's favourite beers. They call it ale over here, but really its more like what we would call bitter back home- drinkable, nonetheless! We were suprised to learn that the brewery was really quite small and that they still use mainly all original barrels and storage units from the 19th century! The best part of course was the beer tasting at the end of the tour where we were basically given free reign to try the 7 different brands of beer they produce at Speights!
We arrived back at the hostel in time to make some tea, and then headed across town to the Speights Brewery - a famous NZ beer, we thought we just could miss the opportunity to have a look round! For about 15NZ dollars each we were taken on a tour of the brewery, given information on the history of the company and told why it is one of Nz's favourite beers. They call it ale over here, but really its more like what we would call bitter back home- drinkable, nonetheless! We were suprised to learn that the brewery was really quite small and that they still use mainly all original barrels and storage units from the 19th century! The best part of course was the beer tasting at the end of the tour where we were basically given free reign to try the 7 different brands of beer they produce at Speights!
Monday 9th June - Queenstown to Dunedin
Having spent quite a bit of time with the Stray bus, we decided to take a regular bus east across to the historic town of Dunedin where we were planning to meet up with Dave, one of our leaders from our time up in Auckland with CVNZ. The bus left early from Queenstown and we arrived in Dunedin at around lunchtime after a 4 hour trip across central Otago. Our hostel was slap bang in the middle of town, a stones through from the cathederal and lots of local shops an cafes. Dunedin has a nice feel to it as there is a large student population and people here are renowned for being a bit arty and alternative. The architecture is much older than almost anything we have seen in New Zealand and has a real Scottish feel to it. Infact we learned that 'Dunedin' is gaellic for Edinburgh - and was named when the first Scottish settlers arrived in the late 18th/ early 19th century.
Central Backpackers is probably the best hostel we have stayed in so far on our trip to date. There is only around 30 beds, with a modern kitchen and cosy living room complete with fire, sofas and throws and even Gizmo the cat. The rooms are stylish and comfortable too- somthing we have not also been used to so far!
Central Backpackers is probably the best hostel we have stayed in so far on our trip to date. There is only around 30 beds, with a modern kitchen and cosy living room complete with fire, sofas and throws and even Gizmo the cat. The rooms are stylish and comfortable too- somthing we have not also been used to so far!
Monday, 16 June 2008
Stray Bus Day 23 - Queenstown
Our final full day in Queenstown, we had a bit of a lie in and then decided to head over to the ice rink as the weather was pretty cold and dreary outside anyhow. We both quickly picked things up, despite not having ice skated since we were at school. Turns out one member of our Stray group is a competitive speed skater in Holland! Next day we were booked onto a bus heading down to Dunedin for a few days, and then from there we headed upto Christchurch. Some people on the bus were staying in Queenstown to try and catch some skiing, so we said our goodbyes with one final beer tonight.
Stray Bus Day 22 - Queenstown
Our 3 day trip taking in the southern part of the island came to end an end and today we took the 3 1/2 hour drive back from Invercargill to Queenstown to meet up with everybody who hadn't booked on to do the southern loop. We booked into a quiter hostel called Bumble Backpackers, which had a lovely view over lake Wakatipu to the Remarkables mountain range. The first ski slopes had just opened, so there was abuzz about the place as snow was also forecast! We spent the evening in the bars around Queenstown catching up with everybody from the Stray Bus once again.
Stray Bus Day 21 - Invercargill
Today we were meant to be dropping people off at a place called Bluff so that they could catch the ferry across to Stewart Island, however the weather was so bad all ferries had been canceled for the day. Stewart Island is the third largest NZ island and is home to only a few hundred people, but is famous for its wildlife and rugged scenery. We had opted not to take the 1 hour ferry journey across for a few nights stay simply because the crossing is notoriously bad and at this time of year when the weather is not so good, the chances of seeing wildlife such as kiwis, penguins and seals is reduced. However nobody went across on this day anyway, so we didn't really miss out.
Instead we had the pleasure of staying in NZ's most southerly city...Invercargill. We had heard lots of rumours on our travels that Invercargill is not the nicest place in NZ and this turned out to be true. There is a bit of a joke over here that people from Invercargill are generally a bit strange and removed from the rest of the country - a bit like the Cornish! Aparently Mick Jagger once called it '...the arsehole of the Earth...', which is harsh but utterly believable. Nonetheless we had a comfy hostel where we watched DVD's and ventured out into town in the evening to a local band night at the 'Gluepot' club which wasn't all to bad.
Instead we had the pleasure of staying in NZ's most southerly city...Invercargill. We had heard lots of rumours on our travels that Invercargill is not the nicest place in NZ and this turned out to be true. There is a bit of a joke over here that people from Invercargill are generally a bit strange and removed from the rest of the country - a bit like the Cornish! Aparently Mick Jagger once called it '...the arsehole of the Earth...', which is harsh but utterly believable. Nonetheless we had a comfy hostel where we watched DVD's and ventured out into town in the evening to a local band night at the 'Gluepot' club which wasn't all to bad.
Stray Bus Day 20 - Milford Sound
After a couple of nights in the party town of Queenstown, it was time to head off into the countryside once again. We booked ourselves on a bus to do the 'southern loop' heading towards Fjordland National Park and then back to Queenstown via Invercargill and Stewart Island. We set off at the crack of dawn on Thursday morning in order to get all the way down to Milford Sound for a cruise on the fjord at around 1pm. The drive down was spectacular. with numerous snowcapped mountains and crystal clear lakes along the way. We stoppped at a few scenic lookouts to take pictures and takes in the majestic views - some of which had been made famous by the Lord of the Rings films and also King Kong and Jurassic Park. We passed through the famous 'Homer Tunnel' only built during the 2nd world war, and opened up the area to vehicles. There is only 1 road into Milford and it is very windy and treacherous - and in winter there is a serious threat from avalanches! We arrived at Milford Sound at around 1pm and it was basking in glorious winter sunshine.
Our cruise took as all the way around the fjord and out to where it meets the sea. Fjords are a strange phenomenon - essentially a steep sided glacial trough is formed from the ice carving away the rock as it heads towards the coast, this then fills in with sea water forming a kind of lake that runs into the sea. Milford attracts an array of wildlife as freshwater from the mountain streams meets saltwater from the sea. The scenery on the cruise was breathtaking, although we seemed to be somewhat outnumbered by a coach load of Japanese tourists!
After the cruise we headed back down the Milford highway to Te Anau - the gateway to Fjordland National Park, and then onto the rural township of Tuatapere where we spent the night at a pleasant little lodge hostel in the middle of nowhere. We were taken down the road to visit one of the local farms where we were treated to a homemade meal of Tuatapere sausages, roast lamb and potatoes and then taken out onto the farm to experience some proper NZ farming. I got to drive a quad bike around the farm, and we watched some of the amazing sheep dogs in action and also some sheep shearers in action. There is a rich heritage of farming (particularly sheep) in this part of the world, but we quickly came to realise how much these people struggle to make a living nowadays and the art is sadly dying away because of the lack of money available.
Our cruise took as all the way around the fjord and out to where it meets the sea. Fjords are a strange phenomenon - essentially a steep sided glacial trough is formed from the ice carving away the rock as it heads towards the coast, this then fills in with sea water forming a kind of lake that runs into the sea. Milford attracts an array of wildlife as freshwater from the mountain streams meets saltwater from the sea. The scenery on the cruise was breathtaking, although we seemed to be somewhat outnumbered by a coach load of Japanese tourists!
After the cruise we headed back down the Milford highway to Te Anau - the gateway to Fjordland National Park, and then onto the rural township of Tuatapere where we spent the night at a pleasant little lodge hostel in the middle of nowhere. We were taken down the road to visit one of the local farms where we were treated to a homemade meal of Tuatapere sausages, roast lamb and potatoes and then taken out onto the farm to experience some proper NZ farming. I got to drive a quad bike around the farm, and we watched some of the amazing sheep dogs in action and also some sheep shearers in action. There is a rich heritage of farming (particularly sheep) in this part of the world, but we quickly came to realise how much these people struggle to make a living nowadays and the art is sadly dying away because of the lack of money available.
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Photos!
Finally!
We have been working like busy bees for the last view days in an attempt to get some much needed photos of our trip up for all to see.
If you head to www.snapfish.co.uk and type in the following details...
Email: andrew.j.parry@gmail.com
Password: travelphotos
Be prepared there are hundred to trawl through, so the best way is probably to view a slideshow! We will try and get some captions up soon so you can make sense of them all!
Happy viewing!
We have been working like busy bees for the last view days in an attempt to get some much needed photos of our trip up for all to see.
If you head to www.snapfish.co.uk and type in the following details...
Email: andrew.j.parry@gmail.com
Password: travelphotos
Be prepared there are hundred to trawl through, so the best way is probably to view a slideshow! We will try and get some captions up soon so you can make sense of them all!
Happy viewing!
Stray Bus Day 19 - Queenstown
After a heavy night in various bars around Queenstown with everybody from the Stray Bus, what better thing to do than head out for a spot of wine tasting!? We booked ourselves onto the 'Central Otago Wine Trail' a half day tour around some of the regions vinyards. The Central Otago region is famed for its Pinot Noir in particular as well as some white varieties such as Pinot Gris, Rieseling and Chardonnay. This is one of the world's most southernly wine growing regions, yet it still prospers due to its dry climate throughout the year. The cold winters are combatted by installing frost repelling covers and heaters to the vines in colder months of the year. We visited 4 wineries in the Gibbston Valley (about 20 mins drive from Queenstown). We visited Gibbston Valley Wines, Peregrene Wines, The Home & Kitchen Winery and finally Amisfield Wines, probably the most famous of the four. We tried numeruos varieties of the famous Pinot Noir - some good, some not so good. As I (Andy) had never been wine tasting before it was interesting to observe the winemaking process- from growing and harvesting to fermenting and storage. We aso were able to sample some Champagne at Amisfield and learn about how it is made. Each winery was different and had unique facets which made thier wine taste slightly different (apparently). It was fascinating to learn about the different types of grape and how this region compares to the world famous Marlborough region further north, famous for much more fruity and instant flavours.
Stray Bus Day 18 - Wanaka to Queenstown
Today at around midday we hopped on the next bus to come through with it's driver, a well travelled Kiwi called Bundy.
A Stray policy seems to be to give all their drivers an abstract nickname in order to provoke lots of questions by their passengers. Bagginz' story was something to do with him losing lugguge out the back of a bus becuase he forgot to shut the door properly; Lucky, I have no idea; and Bundy I assume had something to do with Bundaberg rum, although we never got the chance to ask him.
Anyhow, I digress. Our first stop on route was a quaint little fruit and veg shop just out of Wanaka called 'Mrs Jones'. She was famous not only for her vast array of fruit and veg, but also her homemade ice cream, which we all took advantage of. We continued on into Central Otago, past more mountains and through the wine region. We made another stop to watch some crazy people do a bungy jump at the original AJ Hackett bungy site at Kawarau Bridge, just outside Queenstown. There was an interesting centre dedicated to the history of bungy for those of us not crazy enough to do the jump itself. Late afternoon we drove on into the backpacking partying and ski hotspot of Queenstown, based at the Discovery Lodge bang slap in the middle of town for a couple of nights.
A Stray policy seems to be to give all their drivers an abstract nickname in order to provoke lots of questions by their passengers. Bagginz' story was something to do with him losing lugguge out the back of a bus becuase he forgot to shut the door properly; Lucky, I have no idea; and Bundy I assume had something to do with Bundaberg rum, although we never got the chance to ask him.
Anyhow, I digress. Our first stop on route was a quaint little fruit and veg shop just out of Wanaka called 'Mrs Jones'. She was famous not only for her vast array of fruit and veg, but also her homemade ice cream, which we all took advantage of. We continued on into Central Otago, past more mountains and through the wine region. We made another stop to watch some crazy people do a bungy jump at the original AJ Hackett bungy site at Kawarau Bridge, just outside Queenstown. There was an interesting centre dedicated to the history of bungy for those of us not crazy enough to do the jump itself. Late afternoon we drove on into the backpacking partying and ski hotspot of Queenstown, based at the Discovery Lodge bang slap in the middle of town for a couple of nights.
Stray Bus Day 17 - Wanaka
We awoke to a beautiful clear day in stunning Wanaka, so decided to make the most of the scenery and get out and about. We hired some Mountain bikes with Adam and Kerry (another couple we met on the Stray Bus) and planned ourselves a gentle route around Lake Wanaka, cutting inland back towards town. The scenery again was stunning, and the tracks were fun without ever being too strenuous. All along the route we bumped into Kiwi's enjoying their bank holiday day off work, and they were all to happy to tell us the best trails and tracks around the lake. We arrived back at the Purpule Cow hostel just in time to make a nice meal and enjoy a bottle of red by the big log fire.
Stray Bus Day 16 - Makorora to Wanaka
A day of scenic driving today, as we continued to head inland towards the small ski resort of Wanaka on the banks of Lake Wanaka. Just before we arrived in the twn we stopped an eccentic little musuem called 'Puzzling World'. This was one of the more unconventional places we had visited so far, but turned out to be a lot of fun! The museum contained the world's biggest purpose built outdoor maze (which we got lost in for about an hour) and lots of puzzles and brain teasers inside. Mid Afternoon we headed onto Wanaka, again a beautiful township set amongst snow capped mountains, beside a crystal clear lake. As we had been told this was a relaxing and pretty place to spend a few days, we decided to jump off the Stray bus and catch the one coming past a few days later.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Stray Bus day 15 - Franz Josef to Makorora
After an exhilarating few days amongst mountains and glaciers, today we made the scenic drive inland towards Otago and the Ski fields of Wanaka and Queenstown. Our first stop was at Lake Matheson, where we had opportunities to take photos against the stunning backdrop of Mt Cook/Aoraki (the tallest mountain in NZ at 3,754m) and Mt Tasman (2nd tallest at 3,497m). Next we drove upto the Fox Glacier, Franz Josef's slightly longer but shallower brother, and took the opportunity to photograph the snout of the glacier and observe the huge glacial valley that had been carved by centuries of ice movement. Although the scenery started to change as we drove away from Westland (from sub tropical wet vegetation to drier alpine varieties) it was just as breathtaking. We travelled the famous Haast Pass - a mountain road that was only built in the 1960 because of the shear remoteness of the landscape. We spent the night at an isolated mountain retreat in a place called Makorora, where we stayed in small permanent tipi style lodges set against the stunning backdrop of snow-capped mountains. That evening we watched the Canterbury Crusaders beat their Aussie rivals the NSW Waratahs in the Super 14's final... come on you Kiwi's!
Stray Bus Day 14 - Franz Josef
We had a great day today one of the best days so far. We went on our heli-hike on the Franz Josef glacier. We had a bit of a lie in and got to the glacier centre at about 10am to check in. After this they got us kitted out in all the kit we needed. We got given boots, socks, mittens, jackets and hats. Then came the exciting bit, we got taken up the glacier in a 5 seater helicopter. The flight only lasted about 15mins but was worth every second. The pilot took us round the top of the glacier and showed us some crevasses and some stunning mountain tops. The ice was really blue and clean with hardly any debris visable. We landed on the ice about 5km up the 11km glacier and got out for our hike on the ice. We had a great day for the glacier as it was sunny and clear blue skies which made it look even more impressive. When we got of the helicopter our guide handed out crampons for our boots. Crampons are basically metal spikes that you attach to your boots with a piece of string. The look a little bit like mini bear traps. Anyway they do their purpose and suddenly you can walk on super slippery ice and not fall on your bum! ndrew ofcourse had to see just how good they were so tried walking down close to vertical slopes, and they worked. We had about 2 hours on the ice, walking around with the guide and looking at all the ice formations, such as the arches, caves , moulins and crevasses. We squeezed ourselves through some pretty small spaces in the ice and even had the chance to jump into an ice pool. We both refused as there was ice ontop of the pool which you would of had to break through before hitting the water. We had an amazing time on the ice, the landscape was stunning and much of the ice was untouched and completly clean. It was very quiet on our part of the glacier with only one other tour of about 5 people up that high! We could hear ice avalanches every now and again. It was the most amazing experience. We flew back in the helicopter of the ice. The trip was fantastic, we only wish we could of had longer on the ice.
Afterwards we headed to the Hukawai Glacier centre to learn about the history of the glacier and what has happened to it in recent years. The Glacier was at its smallest in the 70's and has been growing ever since to its current length of 11km! The centre was really well done and really interesting.
Afterwards we headed to the Hukawai Glacier centre to learn about the history of the glacier and what has happened to it in recent years. The Glacier was at its smallest in the 70's and has been growing ever since to its current length of 11km! The centre was really well done and really interesting.
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Stray Bus Day 13 - Barry Town to Franz Josef
Today we headed all the way down the west coast of the south island towards the more mountainous parts of the country. The coastal drive was stunning as we travelled down through valleys and gorges. Around mid afternoon we stopped at a weird little place called 'the Bushaman Centre' where they had a collection of native animals including possums, dear, goats and a big wild pig. We watched a video about deer hunters in the area that used to catch wild dear on the mountains using a helicopter to jump out of and catch them with their bare hands!
We arrived at the small village of Franz Joseph at the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier in the dark, making sure we got an early night at the Rainforest Retreat before a busy day trekking up the glacier!
We arrived at the small village of Franz Joseph at the foot of the Franz Josef Glacier in the dark, making sure we got an early night at the Rainforest Retreat before a busy day trekking up the glacier!
Stray Bus Day 12 - Barrytown
Another day of long driving, we headed down the west coast to the tiny township (if you can call it that it is basically a Hamlet!) of Barrytown. We stopped a couple of time on route, once at a little beach to look for Greenstone and then to look at the Pancake Rocks. The pancake Rocks are basically layered cliffs. It was made even more pretty by the sun setting as we arrived. We arrived at the old miners pub in 'Baz Vegas' at about tea time.
We had a very fun evening in Barrytown, we invaded the pub and all the lads were dressed as women and all us girls were dressed as men. It was very funny as Andrew dressed up as a pregnant women in a lovely floral dress and I had big blue overalls and a beard and looked like a mechanic! It was a very random and very funny night though! The photos are great!
We had a very fun evening in Barrytown, we invaded the pub and all the lads were dressed as women and all us girls were dressed as men. It was very funny as Andrew dressed up as a pregnant women in a lovely floral dress and I had big blue overalls and a beard and looked like a mechanic! It was a very random and very funny night though! The photos are great!
Stray Bus Day 11 - Abel Tasmen National Park
Today was a day without travelling which was lovely, we were free to roam about the Abel Tasmen National Park. Which is beautiful. I went horse riding with 3 other people from the bus, whilst Andrew went for a walk with some of the guys. The horse riding was great, we got to ride accross the beach and even got to go in the sea on the horses. We saw Andrew and the others on the beach so Andrew managed to get some photos. He even patted my horse, who was Frank by the way. I loved the ride and even better i didn't get any allergic reactions from it!
Andrew enjoyed his walk, the national park was lovely. The alk was along the coast, there was little sandy beaches about every km or so. They stopped at one for some lunch and some of the lads even decided that it would be a good idea to go paddling in the sea, but it was very cold so they didn't last long. I met up with Andrew on the walk and we all walked back to the hostel together. In the evening we had some beers and chatted the night away round a fire, toasting marshmellows!
Andrew enjoyed his walk, the national park was lovely. The alk was along the coast, there was little sandy beaches about every km or so. They stopped at one for some lunch and some of the lads even decided that it would be a good idea to go paddling in the sea, but it was very cold so they didn't last long. I met up with Andrew on the walk and we all walked back to the hostel together. In the evening we had some beers and chatted the night away round a fire, toasting marshmellows!
Stray Bus Day 10 - South Island
Today we travelled to South Island, it was a long day with leaving the hostel at 7.30am to catch the ferry over to Picton on South Island. The ferry was a little rough at times, but they put a couple of films on so i watched them whilst Andrew slept most of the journey because he was still suffering from a bit of a cold he had picked up in Wellington. After a 3 hour crossing we arrived in Picton to be gretted by our new driver, Lucky. She drove us through the Marlborough wine region to Nelson for some lunch. then we went on to our night stop at the Abel Tasmen National Park. We stayed at Old Macdondalds Farm in a tiny place called Marahau. We had a chilly BBQ and some green lipped mussels for tea. I passed on the mussels as they were massive and didn't look that nice to me, but Andrew said they were lovely.
Stray Bus Day 7,8 and 9 - Wellington
We had bad weather in Wellington it pretty must rained for the whole three days that we were there, but this didn't matter much because there is alot to do indoors in Wellington. We took time relaxing and restocking on things we needed for south Island.
On Saturday we headed to Te Papa - the national museum. It was a great museum, it was interactive and really well done. It was absolutly massive aswell, it had exhibitions on everything from earthquakes and volcanoes to Maori tribes and the treaty of Waitangi and scots in New Zealand. We had to go to a record shop called Real Groovy that we had first found in Auckland as Andrew wanted to buy some of the New Zealand music that Bagginz had been playing on the bus. He got a Nathane Haynes album and some shapeshifter! On the way back from REal Groovy we had the most random experience ever! Andrew bumped into some he use to work with at East Northants. Clare was in Wellington for a wedding and just happened to be stood on the street having a fag as we walked past! Was very strange!
On the sunday we went to the National Cricket Museum of New Zealand, in Basin Reserve. The Museum was really creepy and the guy that ran it was a bit strange. For a start he had to turn everything on when we arrived because we were the first visitors of the day. However Andrew enjoyed it and said that they had some interesting things so it was all good.
Wellington is nicer than Auckland, much more friendly and smaller so much easier to get around. It reminded Andrew of Manchester because it had a good music scene, lots of cafes and pubs and ofcourse the rain and gloomy weather.
On Saturday we headed to Te Papa - the national museum. It was a great museum, it was interactive and really well done. It was absolutly massive aswell, it had exhibitions on everything from earthquakes and volcanoes to Maori tribes and the treaty of Waitangi and scots in New Zealand. We had to go to a record shop called Real Groovy that we had first found in Auckland as Andrew wanted to buy some of the New Zealand music that Bagginz had been playing on the bus. He got a Nathane Haynes album and some shapeshifter! On the way back from REal Groovy we had the most random experience ever! Andrew bumped into some he use to work with at East Northants. Clare was in Wellington for a wedding and just happened to be stood on the street having a fag as we walked past! Was very strange!
On the sunday we went to the National Cricket Museum of New Zealand, in Basin Reserve. The Museum was really creepy and the guy that ran it was a bit strange. For a start he had to turn everything on when we arrived because we were the first visitors of the day. However Andrew enjoyed it and said that they had some interesting things so it was all good.
Wellington is nicer than Auckland, much more friendly and smaller so much easier to get around. It reminded Andrew of Manchester because it had a good music scene, lots of cafes and pubs and ofcourse the rain and gloomy weather.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Stray Bus Day 6 - Wellington
Today we travelled from National Park to Wellington, basically today was just alot of driving! Andrew had a great journey becasue Bagginz our bus driver was playing alot of New Zealand music for the whole journey. We stopped in a very funny small town called Bulls. They had made puns for most of the shops in Bulls, for example the Bank - Bank-a-bull, the bins - Respons-a-bull and the police station - Const-a-bull! Very funny little town. We also took part in a welly throwing competition which was very funny, Andrew came close in the boys competition but ended up being about third I was not as good. We arrived in Wellington at around tea time, that night we headed out and sampled the night life!
Stray Bus Day 5 - Tongariro Crossing
Today was one of the best days of travelling so far. We had to get up very early, we were on the bus at 6.30 am! It was very early and very cold, but we made it! We headed towards the Tongariro National Park. We were going to do what is rated to be one of the best one day walks in the world. At this time of year the weather can be bad on the crossing and we were hoping that it would be open and we wouldn't need a guide, this would make it expensive. As it was we were very very lucky and had amazing weather, we were also the last day to be able to do the walk un-guided. We got a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies! The walk was spectacular from start to finish. It was unlike anything either of us had done before. We skirted round the perfect volcanic cone of Mt Ruhapehu, which is more commonly known as Mt Doom from Lord of the Rings. We then decended down to the volcanic Emerald Lakes. Every part of the walk was stunning and was made more impressive by the snow cover at the top. the walk was long and tough, it took about 7 hrs, but it was worth every second. Even the freezing wind at the top and the steep climb was all worth it for the amazing views and landscape that we saw.
That night we stayed in a beautiful lodge with a spa pool. It was nice to have a little bit of luxary after the walk. The hostel was the best one we had stayed in with a log fire and resturant! We made the most of the Jacuzzi and rested our weiry muscles in the hot outdoor tub! It was great fun!
That night we stayed in a beautiful lodge with a spa pool. It was nice to have a little bit of luxary after the walk. The hostel was the best one we had stayed in with a log fire and resturant! We made the most of the Jacuzzi and rested our weiry muscles in the hot outdoor tub! It was great fun!
Stray Bus Day 4 - Taupo
Today we went to the Maori heartland of the country. We travelled through to a town called Rotorua. You know when you are close to Rotorua because you can smell it before you can see it. There is alot of Geothermal activity here, hot springs and hot mud pools, however this also means that it smells like rotten eggs! We had a quick walk round the park with lots of bubbling mud pools and found a hot bath to paddle in. Other people from our bus went white water rafting over a 7m water fall! After Rotorua we drove to Taupo. Lake Taupo was stunning, the lake is the same size as Singapore! On the way we stopped at a Green Waterfall called the Huka Falls. We had a nice hostel and spent the evening in the hostel bar making the most of some cheap drinks!
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Stray Bus Day 3 - Raglan to Makhetu
Today we had a really hectic day, packed with activities! We left Raglan at 8am, headed for the rural settlement of Waitomo. Here are some huge underground networks - limestone caves have been carved out by the water underneath the ground. The best way to see these caves is to go caving, so we signed up for some black water rafting! We were given wetsuits and helmets with lights and taken deep underground for 4 hours. We travelled through tight gaps in the rocks, underwater for some sections (in eel infested water!) and we saw some interesting glow worms on the cave ceiling and some wonderful stalagtite and stalagmite formations. Half way round the network, we got to some deep under water lakes where we were given a huge black rubber inner tube to float down the river on! Although a bit dark and wet, this was an amazing activity which we both thoroughly enjoyed!
Next we carried on our journey back inland towards a Maori cultural experience stopover at Makhetu. We stayed at a puropose built Maori Marae (communal hut) which hold great significance for the Maori people. Our host was an interesting chap called 'Uncle Boy', who told us the history of the place and gave us a taste of Maori traditions and culture. We had a traditional Maori meal of mutton, potatoes, veg, chicken and fish and then were trreated to a show by Uncle Boy's family. They demonstrated dances, songs and the Haka - which we were then taught and performed to the group! I can now do a perfect Haka and Kate is not bad with the Puy! Around 20 of us spent the night in the main hall of the Marae - which was an expeience in itself!
Next we carried on our journey back inland towards a Maori cultural experience stopover at Makhetu. We stayed at a puropose built Maori Marae (communal hut) which hold great significance for the Maori people. Our host was an interesting chap called 'Uncle Boy', who told us the history of the place and gave us a taste of Maori traditions and culture. We had a traditional Maori meal of mutton, potatoes, veg, chicken and fish and then were trreated to a show by Uncle Boy's family. They demonstrated dances, songs and the Haka - which we were then taught and performed to the group! I can now do a perfect Haka and Kate is not bad with the Puy! Around 20 of us spent the night in the main hall of the Marae - which was an expeience in itself!
Stray Bus Day 2 - Hahei to Raglan
Today was mainly a travelling day, we drove back down the peninsula through Hamilton - NZ's biggest inland city. We made our way across to the West Coast to the small surfing town of Raglan. Our overnight base was the Kaiori Lodge - a wonderful rainforest retreat on the hill side overlooking the sea. This was by far the nicest hostel we had stayed in so far, with a ropes course, zip wire and games room (oh and the beds weren't bad either). We had local fish and chips for tea sat by the log fire, and they were good, but not quite as good as back home!
Raglan is famed as one of the best surfing locations in NZ with good waves coming in from the West. Unfortunately the water looked a little cold for us, and we settled for a nice bush walk to the top of the hill to watch the sun set over the sea.
Raglan is famed as one of the best surfing locations in NZ with good waves coming in from the West. Unfortunately the water looked a little cold for us, and we settled for a nice bush walk to the top of the hill to watch the sun set over the sea.
Stray Bus Day 1 - Auckland to Hahei
We didn't waste any time getting out of Auckland, as after spending 1 month in and around the city we felt we had so much to see still in New Zealand! We signed up to tour the country with a company called 'Stray' who take backpackers on a budget around all the main sites with fun and expert commentary. We chose this company mainly because they are advertised as taking people 'off the beaten track' and gave us the opportunity to see some sites that many other companies didn't offer.
On our first day we were picked up at 8am and driven upto the top of Mt Eden for one final glorious view of the city of Auckland. At this time in the morning the clouds were stunning and this provided a perfect backdrop to say goodbye to Auckland.
Today we drove east of Auckland round to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula, when many Aucklanders choose to come on holiday. We stopped in the small town of Thames for supplies and then arrived at the quiet little fishing village of Hahei early afternoon. From here we took a walk along the beach to the famous 'Cathederal Cove' a huge arched feature in the rock next to a white sandy beach. The beaches here were quiet and clean and the water is a lovely turqoiuse colour, and the views across the bay are stunning.
In the evening we had a big group BBq where everyone got to know each other and we got aquianted with or new bus driver, Bagginz.
On our first day we were picked up at 8am and driven upto the top of Mt Eden for one final glorious view of the city of Auckland. At this time in the morning the clouds were stunning and this provided a perfect backdrop to say goodbye to Auckland.
Today we drove east of Auckland round to the beautiful Coromandel Peninsula, when many Aucklanders choose to come on holiday. We stopped in the small town of Thames for supplies and then arrived at the quiet little fishing village of Hahei early afternoon. From here we took a walk along the beach to the famous 'Cathederal Cove' a huge arched feature in the rock next to a white sandy beach. The beaches here were quiet and clean and the water is a lovely turqoiuse colour, and the views across the bay are stunning.
In the evening we had a big group BBq where everyone got to know each other and we got aquianted with or new bus driver, Bagginz.
Super 14's Rugby - Auckland Blues 19 - 17 Wellington Hurricanes
We were fortunate enough to still be in Auckland for a huge local rugby union game between the Blues and the Hurricanes. It was one of the last games of the season in the competition which includes teams from Australia and South Africa aswell. Kiwis take there rugby very seriously and there was a noisy 40,000 crowd at Eden Park to see the game. As part of a deal with ACB hostel, we were given some free food and drinks at the bar as well as some crazy face paints and then bused over to the ground for kick off. There was a completely different atmosphere to the AFL in Sydney - much less family orientated and more beer involved! The game was tight, with Wellington taking an early lead - much to the disgruntlement of the home supporters. The Rugby here is fast and furious and much more athletic than the premier league stuff at home. Both sets of players are athletes right through the team, no big clumsy forwards in this game! As a result there is not much forward play, most plays are run right from the back which made for an entertaining and thrilling end to our time in Auckland. Despite winning this game, the Blues just missed out on a spot in the play-offs - with Wellington and Canterbury Crusaders going through to represent NZ in the end of season finale.
Sunday, 25 May 2008
CVNZ Week 4 - Monday 12th May - Friday 16th May - Waipoua Forest
We left the vol house for the last time early on Monday morning again, this time heading for Waipoua Forest (about 200km north-west of Auckland, near a small town called Dargeville) with Glenn, our leader for the week. We spent the week at a basic lodge called the McGregor Centre, complete with a freezer full of dead Possums! On arrival it appeared the water pump had been ripped out and stolen, so we had to stay at the park rangers house just down the road. This was our first opportunity to meet the somewhat of a local celebrity Ranger ecologist - Steven King. A real defender of the forest, Steven is quite a character - he patrols the forest wearing nothing on his feet, adding to his hobbit-like looks! He has spent most of his life converting farmland back into native Kauri Forest and eliminating pests such as Possums brought in from abroad.
On Tuesday, our first full day of work, we helped to clear a section of bush of Australian Privet, an annoying weed which takes over native Manuka forest.
On Wednesday we were given the opportunity to visit the famously huge Kauri trees - famous across New Zealand for their size and relationship with the Maori people. Some of these trees are around 15m in diamter and supported a huge logging trade throughout the last century.
Thursday morning was spent weeding a section of native bush again, but in the afternoon we were given a bit of a treat in that we were involved in a documenary on climate change for Maori Television (a station with a reasonable audience here in NZ). The crew were bascially at Waipoua to film Steven preeching about his plans to restore the forest and help the environment, and a few of us volunteers were filmed planting a new Kauri tree!!
Spending a week with the Kauri trees and Steven King made our month working for CVNZ seem thoroughly worthwhile as he was a very inspiring person to work with. To see the work he had carried out in the Waipoua area in the last 30 years made us realise that as individuals we can really make a difference to the environment.
On Tuesday, our first full day of work, we helped to clear a section of bush of Australian Privet, an annoying weed which takes over native Manuka forest.
On Wednesday we were given the opportunity to visit the famously huge Kauri trees - famous across New Zealand for their size and relationship with the Maori people. Some of these trees are around 15m in diamter and supported a huge logging trade throughout the last century.
Thursday morning was spent weeding a section of native bush again, but in the afternoon we were given a bit of a treat in that we were involved in a documenary on climate change for Maori Television (a station with a reasonable audience here in NZ). The crew were bascially at Waipoua to film Steven preeching about his plans to restore the forest and help the environment, and a few of us volunteers were filmed planting a new Kauri tree!!
Spending a week with the Kauri trees and Steven King made our month working for CVNZ seem thoroughly worthwhile as he was a very inspiring person to work with. To see the work he had carried out in the Waipoua area in the last 30 years made us realise that as individuals we can really make a difference to the environment.
Saturday 10th May & Sunday 11th May
Our last weekend in the volunteer house in Mt Albert - and we didn't get upto much. On the friday night, we went out for our seemingly customary CVNZ night out in Auckand city centre. On Friday we visited a cool little Mexican place and then on Saturday a few of the volunteers were leaving so we headed to the Belgian place and a fun Irish bar called Father Ted's. We spent Sunday watching films in the house, and then packed up for the last time ready for a week at Waipoua Forest.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
CVNZ Week 3 - Local Projects
This week we were not on a residential project, rather we would be based at the volunteer house and picked up each morning to work on various local project in the greater Auckland area.
Monday - Oakley Creek
A small creek just down the road from the volunteer house - quite close to the Auckland Blues trainig facility and Auckland Polytechnic University. We spent the day lopping willow and mulching (splitting it up into small section to rot away) and cleaning other areas of weeds ready for plantation. Not the most thrilling day so far, but we were onto somewhere else on Tuesday!
Tuesday - Puhinui Stream
We drove all the way across Auckland to the western side of the city. This section of Puhinui Stream is maintained and managed by an eccentric old gentleman called John Smith, who volunteers his own time to help manage, landscape and clean the river and its banks. He quickly got us weeding a section of the river bank and planting tens of new Nikkau palms, Kauri trees amongst others and adding mulch to the base of the plats to prevent weeds growing back.
Wednesday - Oratia Folk Museum
A real treat of a day, and something completely different - today we were involved in helping to restore an early 20th century tram carriage and steam engine at a tiny Folk Musuem in Henderson. CVNZ don't just operate with conservation groups - they are also involved in restoring heritage, and this was a welcome change for us. The work was fun ( I was helping restore an 80 year old engine) but also we had a wonderful homemade soup for lunch and tea and homemade scones in the afternoon. The house we were working at belonged to a lovely old couple with loads of stories to tell. They also had theier own vinyard, and we were taken to their cellar to sample some finest NZ cabernet shiraz!
Thursday - Puhinui Stream
Back to Puhinui with John Smith today - we continued to plant around a thousand new trees and plants on the banks of the stream. It was hard work digging lots of holes, but really rewarding to be planting so many new trees that will grow over the coming years. At the end of the day John treated us to a lovely cake rewarded us with some beers and wine for our efforts!
Friday - Work at the Volunteer House
Today the weather was awful and we re-arranged the tools in the garage and took a stock check for future CVNZ groups.
Monday - Oakley Creek
A small creek just down the road from the volunteer house - quite close to the Auckland Blues trainig facility and Auckland Polytechnic University. We spent the day lopping willow and mulching (splitting it up into small section to rot away) and cleaning other areas of weeds ready for plantation. Not the most thrilling day so far, but we were onto somewhere else on Tuesday!
Tuesday - Puhinui Stream
We drove all the way across Auckland to the western side of the city. This section of Puhinui Stream is maintained and managed by an eccentric old gentleman called John Smith, who volunteers his own time to help manage, landscape and clean the river and its banks. He quickly got us weeding a section of the river bank and planting tens of new Nikkau palms, Kauri trees amongst others and adding mulch to the base of the plats to prevent weeds growing back.
Wednesday - Oratia Folk Museum
A real treat of a day, and something completely different - today we were involved in helping to restore an early 20th century tram carriage and steam engine at a tiny Folk Musuem in Henderson. CVNZ don't just operate with conservation groups - they are also involved in restoring heritage, and this was a welcome change for us. The work was fun ( I was helping restore an 80 year old engine) but also we had a wonderful homemade soup for lunch and tea and homemade scones in the afternoon. The house we were working at belonged to a lovely old couple with loads of stories to tell. They also had theier own vinyard, and we were taken to their cellar to sample some finest NZ cabernet shiraz!
Thursday - Puhinui Stream
Back to Puhinui with John Smith today - we continued to plant around a thousand new trees and plants on the banks of the stream. It was hard work digging lots of holes, but really rewarding to be planting so many new trees that will grow over the coming years. At the end of the day John treated us to a lovely cake rewarded us with some beers and wine for our efforts!
Friday - Work at the Volunteer House
Today the weather was awful and we re-arranged the tools in the garage and took a stock check for future CVNZ groups.
Saturday 3rd May and Sunday 4th May - ACB Hostel
This weekend we were stationed back at the ACB hostel in central Auckland - in a dorm room with 4 of the other volunteers. Although the hostel isn't as comfortable as the volunteer house, it does have an ideal location for heading into town for a night out or doing shopping during the day.
Again on the Friday night we headed out for a few drinks in Auckland, this time heading to a Belgian bar selling expensive beer in pretentious glasses, and then over to a bar at one of the other hostels. On Saturday we took the ferry out to an island in Auckland bay called Rangitoto Island - a huge volcanoe that extrudes from the ocean forming an island and has been dormant for around 600 years. The landscape in and around Auckland is dominated by extinct volcanoes such as Mt Albert, Mt Eden, Mt Roskill and of course Rangitoto. Rangitoto offers one of the best examples of a volcanic dome as there has been no development on it and the crater is untouched by man. It is one of the newest volcanic craters in the Auckland area. We took the hour walk to the top of the cone which is quite shallow due to the runny nature of the lava when the eruption occured. From the top we had the oppotunity to walk all the way around the perfectly formed crater and sample the exeptional view of all of Auckland back across the bay.
On Sunday the weather was awful so we moped around the hostel for most of the day - in the evening the rain got so heavy that we were evacuated from the hostel as the rain set off the fire sensors!
Again on the Friday night we headed out for a few drinks in Auckland, this time heading to a Belgian bar selling expensive beer in pretentious glasses, and then over to a bar at one of the other hostels. On Saturday we took the ferry out to an island in Auckland bay called Rangitoto Island - a huge volcanoe that extrudes from the ocean forming an island and has been dormant for around 600 years. The landscape in and around Auckland is dominated by extinct volcanoes such as Mt Albert, Mt Eden, Mt Roskill and of course Rangitoto. Rangitoto offers one of the best examples of a volcanic dome as there has been no development on it and the crater is untouched by man. It is one of the newest volcanic craters in the Auckland area. We took the hour walk to the top of the cone which is quite shallow due to the runny nature of the lava when the eruption occured. From the top we had the oppotunity to walk all the way around the perfectly formed crater and sample the exeptional view of all of Auckland back across the bay.
On Sunday the weather was awful so we moped around the hostel for most of the day - in the evening the rain got so heavy that we were evacuated from the hostel as the rain set off the fire sensors!
CVNZ Week 2 - Hunua Forest Park
Forst thing monday morning we were picked up at the volunteer house by Dave, our group leader and taken to the volunteer office in Ponsonby to pick up the new starters. Dave turned out to be the best leader we had in our time with CVNZ, he was a kiwi aged around 50 and had lived in Australia working for CVA for about 25 years. He was a lot more laid back than Bruce, but led by example when we were working durin the day.
This week our group was really small and a bit quiter but we all got on really well. as a result we worked hard during the day and had a bit of fun playing cards and watching TV in the evenings. We were based at a cosy little rangers lodge in a small rural village. The Hunua ranges area vast expanse of coutryside encoperating forests, farmland, mountains, beaches and waterfalls. The landscae is similar to somewhere like the peak district back in the UK.
On arrival on Monday lunchtime we dumped our kit and headed up one of the bush tracks clearing out about a 5km stretch of drainage using forks and spades. This gave us a chance to get used to the landscape of the area we would be working in. Althought the work was quite tough, the native bush was beautiful and Dave taught us lots about the native flora and fauna. We also got the chance to see the stunning Hunua Falls - a waterfall of about 14m in height.
We spent most of Tuesday tramping through the wild bush trying to locate existing Possum traps or 'bait staions'. On thing we learned quite quickly is that in New Zealand the only native mammal is one species of Bat - all other mammals on the island are therefore considered to be pests as they endanger the bird population. Possums we brought over from Australia in the past and are now reaking havoc with the native bird and tree species. On Wednesday we continued to located possum traps and make sure they were secured and in the correct place to effectively kill possums by feeding them a type of poison.
In the evenings we took it in turn to cook - Katie and I made a chicken casserole followed by a apple and fijoa crumble which went down a treat. We also introduced the group to 'Pass the Pigs' and we played cards in front of a blisteringly hot log fire. It was really nice to come home to a warm cosy house rather than being at the cold and wet camp!
On Thursday we headed out to the coast to a place called Duder - a section of the park which was run by a scottish ranger called Maggs. The weather wasn't too great at the start of the day so she had us clearing out a woolshed used by farmer to shear sheep and store wool. This was a dirty but interesting job...Kate helped clear out the kitchen quarters which were full of rat droppings and cockroaches! In the afternoon we dug out a new section of footpath and helped retore a section of fencing that had been trampled down by some cattle.
On Friday we headed back to Auckland for the weekend after an enjoyable week with Dave and the rest of the group.
This week our group was really small and a bit quiter but we all got on really well. as a result we worked hard during the day and had a bit of fun playing cards and watching TV in the evenings. We were based at a cosy little rangers lodge in a small rural village. The Hunua ranges area vast expanse of coutryside encoperating forests, farmland, mountains, beaches and waterfalls. The landscae is similar to somewhere like the peak district back in the UK.
On arrival on Monday lunchtime we dumped our kit and headed up one of the bush tracks clearing out about a 5km stretch of drainage using forks and spades. This gave us a chance to get used to the landscape of the area we would be working in. Althought the work was quite tough, the native bush was beautiful and Dave taught us lots about the native flora and fauna. We also got the chance to see the stunning Hunua Falls - a waterfall of about 14m in height.
We spent most of Tuesday tramping through the wild bush trying to locate existing Possum traps or 'bait staions'. On thing we learned quite quickly is that in New Zealand the only native mammal is one species of Bat - all other mammals on the island are therefore considered to be pests as they endanger the bird population. Possums we brought over from Australia in the past and are now reaking havoc with the native bird and tree species. On Wednesday we continued to located possum traps and make sure they were secured and in the correct place to effectively kill possums by feeding them a type of poison.
In the evenings we took it in turn to cook - Katie and I made a chicken casserole followed by a apple and fijoa crumble which went down a treat. We also introduced the group to 'Pass the Pigs' and we played cards in front of a blisteringly hot log fire. It was really nice to come home to a warm cosy house rather than being at the cold and wet camp!
On Thursday we headed out to the coast to a place called Duder - a section of the park which was run by a scottish ranger called Maggs. The weather wasn't too great at the start of the day so she had us clearing out a woolshed used by farmer to shear sheep and store wool. This was a dirty but interesting job...Kate helped clear out the kitchen quarters which were full of rat droppings and cockroaches! In the afternoon we dug out a new section of footpath and helped retore a section of fencing that had been trampled down by some cattle.
On Friday we headed back to Auckland for the weekend after an enjoyable week with Dave and the rest of the group.
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th- Volunteer House - Mt Albert, Auckland
The CVNZ volunteer house is located in the largely chinese suburb of Mt Albert, west of Auckland city centre. Each weekend half of the volunteer group stays in the house and the other half stays in Auckland Central Backpackers Hostel. This week we were stationed at the house which was a perfect way to relax and unwind afetr a week at the camp! The house is basic but comfortable, with 2/3 beds per room - but it felt really nice to be in a proper house again and not have to share bathrooms and kitchen with hundreds of other backpackers. Another bonus is the fact that we get all our groceries for the week bought for us before we arrive back into the house every friday, so we are in for a relatively cheap 4 weeks. Mt Albert is located on the trainline that heads straight into Auckland centre and takes about 20mins so we were still able to get into town when needed.
On the Friday night we headed into the city centre for our first big night out in Auckland, with all of the other volunteers (about 12 in total). We went to a nice little bar on the harbour front called 'Provodore' and a few other places nearby.
Sunday was spent having a lazy day around the house and packing our bags ready for another week of volunteer work - this time in Hunua Forest, 2 hours south east of Auckland.
On the Friday night we headed into the city centre for our first big night out in Auckland, with all of the other volunteers (about 12 in total). We went to a nice little bar on the harbour front called 'Provodore' and a few other places nearby.
Sunday was spent having a lazy day around the house and packing our bags ready for another week of volunteer work - this time in Hunua Forest, 2 hours south east of Auckland.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Day 5 and 6 - Bay of Islands - Pahia
We decided to use our free voucher that entitled us to a free trip to the Bay of Islands. Its about a 4 hour drive each way so we thought it would be better to stay over night rather than rush the trip because we new we wouldn't be able to go back! We did the trip throught kiwi experience, we left Auckland at about 8am on saturday morning and drove north to Pahia. We stopped twice on the way once to stop for a bit of breakfast at a honey shop and the stopped again to look at some very interesting public toilets, which had been designed by an dutch artist. They were very strange and we have photos to show you all when we get home!
We arrived at Pahia at about lunch time. The whole system on the bus seems to work very well and we are guessing that it will be pretty similar when we do our Stray bus around South Island. They send round a list so you can choose your accommodation and another list for trips. It appears that the bus company's manage to get a discount on the trips so its better to book them through the driver rather than do them ourselves. We booked ourselves onto a gentle boat trip for the sunday that sailed around the bay and then to the hole in the rock!
The rest of the saturday we took a short walk up to an observation point where we could see a few of the islands and Russel, which is opposite Pahia and still on the Mainland. It was a short walk and we got a great view from the top. We spent the rest of the day looking around the tourist shops. They were alot niceer then any we had seen in Oz and had some really nice gifts! we had a BBQ at the hostel that night and a few drinks in the bar.
Sunday we had to get up early and go on our boat trip. When we got on the boat we realised that we seemed to be on the same boat as a massive bus tour of old American tourists, we seemed to be the youngest people on the boat by about 50 years and they were typical americans very loud and annoying! The water got a bit rough when we went out the the Hole in the Rock and one American lady even asked a memeber of the crew if they thought we were all going to die! The crew memeber replied camly and said no i think we will be alright.
We got of the boat on one of the bigger islands and had a walk up to a hill ( i think we were practically the only people from our boat to do this the tea and coffee seemed more appealing to everyone else!) The short walk was definatley worth it we got a fab view of the Bay of Islands even if it was a bit windy on the top! The water was amazing it was bright blue and green and not what i had expected in New Zealand at all!
After the trip we had to head back to our bus and return to Auckland. The NZ countryside seemed pretty similar to Wales. It is very rugged and hilly and ofcourse we saw quite alot of sheep! From the little bit of NZ that we saw it seems very beautiful and i cant wait till we get to see the rest of the Country!
We arrived at Pahia at about lunch time. The whole system on the bus seems to work very well and we are guessing that it will be pretty similar when we do our Stray bus around South Island. They send round a list so you can choose your accommodation and another list for trips. It appears that the bus company's manage to get a discount on the trips so its better to book them through the driver rather than do them ourselves. We booked ourselves onto a gentle boat trip for the sunday that sailed around the bay and then to the hole in the rock!
The rest of the saturday we took a short walk up to an observation point where we could see a few of the islands and Russel, which is opposite Pahia and still on the Mainland. It was a short walk and we got a great view from the top. We spent the rest of the day looking around the tourist shops. They were alot niceer then any we had seen in Oz and had some really nice gifts! we had a BBQ at the hostel that night and a few drinks in the bar.
Sunday we had to get up early and go on our boat trip. When we got on the boat we realised that we seemed to be on the same boat as a massive bus tour of old American tourists, we seemed to be the youngest people on the boat by about 50 years and they were typical americans very loud and annoying! The water got a bit rough when we went out the the Hole in the Rock and one American lady even asked a memeber of the crew if they thought we were all going to die! The crew memeber replied camly and said no i think we will be alright.
We got of the boat on one of the bigger islands and had a walk up to a hill ( i think we were practically the only people from our boat to do this the tea and coffee seemed more appealing to everyone else!) The short walk was definatley worth it we got a fab view of the Bay of Islands even if it was a bit windy on the top! The water was amazing it was bright blue and green and not what i had expected in New Zealand at all!
After the trip we had to head back to our bus and return to Auckland. The NZ countryside seemed pretty similar to Wales. It is very rugged and hilly and ofcourse we saw quite alot of sheep! From the little bit of NZ that we saw it seems very beautiful and i cant wait till we get to see the rest of the Country!
Auckland CVNZ - Week 1 - Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park
Our month of conservation volunteering with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand (CVNZ) started early on the morning of Monday 21st April. We were picked up from ACB hostel by our team leader for the week - a kiwi called Bruce, and driven to the CVNZ office in Parnell for our induction. An hour later we were on the road, heading 4 hours south to the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park, to work on a tramway restoration project for a week...
http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=34584
CVNZ operates solely on the North Island of New Zealand currently, with most projects within about a 4 hour radius of Auckland. They are relatively new venture as part of the main Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) organisation, and have a reasonably small team working in the Auckland office, with plans in the future to branch out to the South Island.
http://www.conservationvolunteers.co.nz/
Each week we are posted out on a residential trip to an area in need of conservation or heritage volunteers. Our brief for the first week at Kaimai was to help restore a section of 19th Century logging tramway that ran right through the forest bringing Kauri timber back to the townships to be used for buiding and fuel for the nearby goldmines, but also to maintain and restore footpaths and tracks in conjunction with the Department for Conservation (DOC).
Our accomodation was basic to say the least, as we were bush camping about an hours walk from the nearest road. Our campsite contained an old caravan brought in by helicopter and 4 2 man tents...no electricity or running water (apart from the nearby mountain stream). In our group of 7 people we had to work as a team for a week, cooking cleaning and undertaking the volunteer work throughout the day. We got on really well with everyone in the group straight away as most people are of a similar age - either having just finished Uni like us, or heading to Uni when they get home.
Our first day was spent getting orientated in the dense bushland and setting up camp. We had to transfer food and tools from the van and organise meals for 5 nights. On the Tuesday we started work levelling out a section of footpath and creating an area to display a huge felled Kauri tree for visitors to look at (these trees are some of the tallest in the world and are rare due to logging practices throughout the 20th century). The work we were undertaking was pretty much all manual, so it was a bit of a shock at first to be digging footpaths and moving large rocks and logs around, but everyone chips in and we have a good laugh whilst working. We also had to collect pebbles from the riverside and transfer them to spots along the track.
Evenings were interesting at the camp as we had very little to keep us entertained other than general chit chat and jokes and stories. We played a lot of cards and drank a lot of hot drinks as the temperature really plumited in the evenings. We even had our very own camp Possum called Kevin who regularly came to visit us and jump around our campsite. On Thursday we had to travel further up stream (crossing the rives 4 times in bare feet!) to work on a section of pathway towards the sleeping lodge at the top of the forest. This was fun, if a little cold!
Despite the lack of washing, having to eat basic food and put up with cold temperatures (oh and the home made toilet - a whole in the ground to rival Glastonbury) , the week was had work but really fun and we were bush camping in some amazing scenery. Our first week with CVNZ was hard but really rewarding - we met some great people and got the chance to spend some time in real NZ - somewhere we would never have been able to visit on our regular travels.
http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=34584
CVNZ operates solely on the North Island of New Zealand currently, with most projects within about a 4 hour radius of Auckland. They are relatively new venture as part of the main Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) organisation, and have a reasonably small team working in the Auckland office, with plans in the future to branch out to the South Island.
http://www.conservationvolunteers.co.nz/
Each week we are posted out on a residential trip to an area in need of conservation or heritage volunteers. Our brief for the first week at Kaimai was to help restore a section of 19th Century logging tramway that ran right through the forest bringing Kauri timber back to the townships to be used for buiding and fuel for the nearby goldmines, but also to maintain and restore footpaths and tracks in conjunction with the Department for Conservation (DOC).
Our accomodation was basic to say the least, as we were bush camping about an hours walk from the nearest road. Our campsite contained an old caravan brought in by helicopter and 4 2 man tents...no electricity or running water (apart from the nearby mountain stream). In our group of 7 people we had to work as a team for a week, cooking cleaning and undertaking the volunteer work throughout the day. We got on really well with everyone in the group straight away as most people are of a similar age - either having just finished Uni like us, or heading to Uni when they get home.
Our first day was spent getting orientated in the dense bushland and setting up camp. We had to transfer food and tools from the van and organise meals for 5 nights. On the Tuesday we started work levelling out a section of footpath and creating an area to display a huge felled Kauri tree for visitors to look at (these trees are some of the tallest in the world and are rare due to logging practices throughout the 20th century). The work we were undertaking was pretty much all manual, so it was a bit of a shock at first to be digging footpaths and moving large rocks and logs around, but everyone chips in and we have a good laugh whilst working. We also had to collect pebbles from the riverside and transfer them to spots along the track.
Evenings were interesting at the camp as we had very little to keep us entertained other than general chit chat and jokes and stories. We played a lot of cards and drank a lot of hot drinks as the temperature really plumited in the evenings. We even had our very own camp Possum called Kevin who regularly came to visit us and jump around our campsite. On Thursday we had to travel further up stream (crossing the rives 4 times in bare feet!) to work on a section of pathway towards the sleeping lodge at the top of the forest. This was fun, if a little cold!
Despite the lack of washing, having to eat basic food and put up with cold temperatures (oh and the home made toilet - a whole in the ground to rival Glastonbury) , the week was had work but really fun and we were bush camping in some amazing scenery. Our first week with CVNZ was hard but really rewarding - we met some great people and got the chance to spend some time in real NZ - somewhere we would never have been able to visit on our regular travels.
Sunday, 4 May 2008
Auckland Day 4 - Auckland Museum
Today we fancied a bit of culture, and decided to head upto the Auckland Museum in the suburb of Parnell. This gave us an opportunity to experience Auckland public transport for the first time proper - and we were impressed by the city link service that operated every 10 mins and cozt a mere $1.60 - (about 60p) for anywhere on the circuit.
The Museum is an impressive Georgian building overlooking the city in a park called 'The Domain'. Entry was free, although we paid an extra $15 each to see thetraditional Moari performance, which was well worth the money. We were treated to over half an hour of traditional dances, songs and battle techniques performed by half a dozen people dressed in traditional Maori costume. The Maori and Pacific Island display was really good and educated us to the history of the Maori people and how New Zealand as a country has come into force. The artefacts and displays were fascinated and Maori culture really seems to be celebrated here. The museum also has a great display of endemic flora and fauna, as well as an informative room dedicated to volcanoes and the countries origins as a land mass - which from a geography point of view was super! A great introduction to the city and New Zealand!
The Museum is an impressive Georgian building overlooking the city in a park called 'The Domain'. Entry was free, although we paid an extra $15 each to see thetraditional Moari performance, which was well worth the money. We were treated to over half an hour of traditional dances, songs and battle techniques performed by half a dozen people dressed in traditional Maori costume. The Maori and Pacific Island display was really good and educated us to the history of the Maori people and how New Zealand as a country has come into force. The artefacts and displays were fascinated and Maori culture really seems to be celebrated here. The museum also has a great display of endemic flora and fauna, as well as an informative room dedicated to volcanoes and the countries origins as a land mass - which from a geography point of view was super! A great introduction to the city and New Zealand!
Auckland Day 3 - City Orientation Tour
The ACB hostel has its own travel centre for booking trips and tours all over New Zealand - it is pretty much the biggest hostel in NZ. The hostel offers free orientation tours with KiwiExperience - a tour guide that operates all over New Zealand. We didn't really know what to expect as it cost us nothing at all, but we got a full day of activities and didn't get a bad day weather-wise. The day started with a trip to the Harbour Bridge, with a guided walk to the centre where there was a bungee jump station and some spectacular views back to the CBD. From here we headed over the bay to the North Shore, where a short up North Head provided some more spectacular views and a bit of history as this was once one of the city's main defence stations from outisde invaders. Next we took a ride down to the trendy suburb of Devenport for lunch and a coffee before heading back into the city mid afternoon. The trip was a really good introduction to the city and gave us a bit more of a sense of perspective and a chance to get of the main strip around Queen Street.
Saturday, 3 May 2008
Auckland Day 1 and 2
We arrived in Auckland just after lunchtime on Tuesday, after a relatively relaxing flight from Sydney. The weather was pretty drab as we hopped on the bus from the airport to the Auckland Cnetral Backpackers 'ACB' hostel in the city centre.
We decided to use Wednesday to explore the main shopping street in the city - Queen Street. We had a look for a new rucksack to replace mine which broke just as we left Sydney. On first impressions Auckland feels quite small compared to Sydney and not quite as glitzy - but the atmosphere is friendly and even a bit more laid back. New Zealand generally feels a lot more English than Oz too, with similar road signs and shops dotted all over the city. There is also a real cosmopolitan feel in Auckland too, with thousands of Chinese, Japanese and of course a large Maori population.
On the evening of our first day in the city we met up again with Katie and Nigel (Katie's Uni friends) for a beer before they headed off to Fiji for a week or so. They had just completed a 2 week your of New Zealand so it was interesting to find out what was worth seeing and doing over the next xouple of months for us.
So this is our base for the next month as we get ready to go and do some volunteering in the Auckland area. We are really looking forward to settling down somewhere for a while, as we feel like we haven't stopped for the past 5 weeks. We now have around 5 days to explore Auckland a bit before we get cracking with the volunteering!
We decided to use Wednesday to explore the main shopping street in the city - Queen Street. We had a look for a new rucksack to replace mine which broke just as we left Sydney. On first impressions Auckland feels quite small compared to Sydney and not quite as glitzy - but the atmosphere is friendly and even a bit more laid back. New Zealand generally feels a lot more English than Oz too, with similar road signs and shops dotted all over the city. There is also a real cosmopolitan feel in Auckland too, with thousands of Chinese, Japanese and of course a large Maori population.
On the evening of our first day in the city we met up again with Katie and Nigel (Katie's Uni friends) for a beer before they headed off to Fiji for a week or so. They had just completed a 2 week your of New Zealand so it was interesting to find out what was worth seeing and doing over the next xouple of months for us.
So this is our base for the next month as we get ready to go and do some volunteering in the Auckland area. We are really looking forward to settling down somewhere for a while, as we feel like we haven't stopped for the past 5 weeks. We now have around 5 days to explore Auckland a bit before we get cracking with the volunteering!
Sydney Day 6 and 7 - Manly and leaving Sydney
We chose to spend our last day in Sydney out of Sydney if that makes sense! The weather wasn't too bad when we woke up so we decided to make the most of the sunshine and head over to the beachy suburb of Manly, only a short ferry ride across the harbour fron Circular Quay. Unfortunately as the day progressed, the weather seemed to take a turn for the worst and we didn't really have the best day in Manly. Similar to Bondi - Manly had a British sea side feel with Ice cream and Fish and Chips and victorian beachfront properties. We didn't feel it was quite as trendy as Bondi, and it felt a bit more old worldy. We ducked in and out of the rain in shops along Manly High St and had a bite to eat in town. The most impressive part of the day was watching the surfers making the most of the inclement weather on the beach, some catching some humungus waves. We headed back to the CBD a little bit damp, but looking forward to a nice meal on the harbour front for our last night in the city.
We chose a lovely little Mediterannean/Adriatic cuisine place right on Darling Harbour, overlooking all the boats and the Maritime Museum. Luckily the rain had cleared by this time so it was a lovely evening. The food was Australian with a european twist - I had a lovely piece of Barramundi cooked to perfection and Kate a nice bit of beef - all for around $30AUD a head. A perfect meal capped of a really enjoyable few days in Sydney, we felt we had done most of the things the city had to offer, but would love to return at some point in the future as it really is a beautiful place.
And so at 7am the next morning tthe Australian leg of our journey came to an end. We enjoyed the vast majority of things we have seen in Oz, even though there were a few weird places along the way, but thats what makes the trip all the more interesting. Highlights we definitely Noosa, Brisbane, Sydney and Byron Bay, but we feel ready to move on and start exploring somwhere new...roll on New Zealand!
We chose a lovely little Mediterannean/Adriatic cuisine place right on Darling Harbour, overlooking all the boats and the Maritime Museum. Luckily the rain had cleared by this time so it was a lovely evening. The food was Australian with a european twist - I had a lovely piece of Barramundi cooked to perfection and Kate a nice bit of beef - all for around $30AUD a head. A perfect meal capped of a really enjoyable few days in Sydney, we felt we had done most of the things the city had to offer, but would love to return at some point in the future as it really is a beautiful place.
And so at 7am the next morning tthe Australian leg of our journey came to an end. We enjoyed the vast majority of things we have seen in Oz, even though there were a few weird places along the way, but thats what makes the trip all the more interesting. Highlights we definitely Noosa, Brisbane, Sydney and Byron Bay, but we feel ready to move on and start exploring somwhere new...roll on New Zealand!
Sydney Day 5 - Blue Mountains
We booked onto an Oz Experience blue mountains Day trip! This involved a very early start. We woke up at 6am which was hard when you are staying in a dorm room. You have to try and get ready with no lights on and without talking! We managed it and walked to the office where we got on the bus and drove out of Sydney towards the Blue Mountains. On the way we stopped at a National Park and saw some wild Red Kangaroos, which was really good. They were pretty tame and we managed to get pretty close to them. I managed to get a great pic of one of them, much better than the ones that Andrew took! Seeing the Kangaroos in the wild was completely different to seeing them in captivity.
After this we headed to the Mountains. Unfortunately when we arrived at our first stop, Wentworth Falls the weather had taken a turn for the worse and there was a huge thunderstorm. Our guide in his wisdom had not brought any wet weather gear with him. So needless to say he decided that the walk would be unsafe in the wet. So we all jumped back on the bus a little disappointed and went over the Furber stairs. From this walk down we could see Victoria Falls and the Three Sisters! This was a really good walk down hill all the way. Our guide was a bit crazy and decided we should do all the little side walks on the trail. We all started to walk down one until our guide came sprinting up behind us to make us stop, because he had just spoken to a couple of guys that had just walked the track and they informed him that it was a 4km track! so we all turned around and walked back! Once we reached the end of the stairs we went up the steepest Railway in the world to get back to the top! this was a much better option that walking up! The Railway was really steep though and in true Aussie style safety went out the window. You would think that on a railway that has a gradient of 52 degrees you might need something to hold you into the train, but no not in Australia. In Australia they make it more fun by giving you really slippy red plastic benches to sit on. I literally had to hold on to stop myself from ending up on the floor! Luckily the train ride only takes about a couple of mins.
After the excitement of the train we then had a lovely lunch and then went over to Echo Point where you get a great view of the Three Sisters.
We then returned to Sydney in torrential rain. the drive back took a lot longer then the drive there as the traffic was really busy! All in all a good day, glad we went to see it, i think we would of preferred it if we had been able to stay there few a day or two.
After this we headed to the Mountains. Unfortunately when we arrived at our first stop, Wentworth Falls the weather had taken a turn for the worse and there was a huge thunderstorm. Our guide in his wisdom had not brought any wet weather gear with him. So needless to say he decided that the walk would be unsafe in the wet. So we all jumped back on the bus a little disappointed and went over the Furber stairs. From this walk down we could see Victoria Falls and the Three Sisters! This was a really good walk down hill all the way. Our guide was a bit crazy and decided we should do all the little side walks on the trail. We all started to walk down one until our guide came sprinting up behind us to make us stop, because he had just spoken to a couple of guys that had just walked the track and they informed him that it was a 4km track! so we all turned around and walked back! Once we reached the end of the stairs we went up the steepest Railway in the world to get back to the top! this was a much better option that walking up! The Railway was really steep though and in true Aussie style safety went out the window. You would think that on a railway that has a gradient of 52 degrees you might need something to hold you into the train, but no not in Australia. In Australia they make it more fun by giving you really slippy red plastic benches to sit on. I literally had to hold on to stop myself from ending up on the floor! Luckily the train ride only takes about a couple of mins.
After the excitement of the train we then had a lovely lunch and then went over to Echo Point where you get a great view of the Three Sisters.
We then returned to Sydney in torrential rain. the drive back took a lot longer then the drive there as the traffic was really busy! All in all a good day, glad we went to see it, i think we would of preferred it if we had been able to stay there few a day or two.
Sydney Day 4 - Chinese Peace Garden and AFL
We had an exciting day ahead as we had booked to see the Sydney Swans take on the West Coast Eagles at the ANZ Arena (formerly the Telstra Stadium) in the evening. So we had a lazy day in the city beforehand, doing a bit of shopping in the Queen Victoria Arcade - a grand old Victorian shopping emporium in the heart of the city. We grabbed some lunch and headed down to the Chinese Garden just off Darling Harbour, to escape the hustle and bustle of the city for an hour or so. This was a magical little haven of tranquility with waterfalls, koi carp and beautiful mock chinese temples. It was really nice to escape away for an hour or so and take a walk around - other than the mass of mosquito bites I managed to attain!
We headed upto Olympic Park on the metro at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, hopng to have a walk round the site of the 2000 Olympics. The park is very impressive, with dozens of big stadiums and arenas dotted about. Everything was beautifully landscaped with huge boulevards and parks between the arenas. This must have been a really fantastic place to view a massive sporting event like the olympics. About 2 hours before the game the atmosphere really began to hot up, with live bands playing outside the stadium and plenty of food stalls selling everything you could possibly imagine. The Aussie's really seem to make an effort with their supporting - the stadium was a sea of red and white with everyone kitted out in the latest Swans merch - from vests to hats and scarves! The game kicked off at about 7.30, and the 44,000 fans made a fair bit of noise. The stadium is gigantic, holding around 80,000 when full, but even just over half full it was a mightily impressive sight. AFL is a frantic sport with lots of tough tackling and whistle blowing. Its really a cross between football, rugby and basketball, the aim is to kick the ball between a set of 4 upright posts -between the middle 2 is 6 points and the outer 2 is 1 point. The Swans crushed the Eagles 101 - 49, so we saw plenty of action - the highlight of which was Barry Hall, a 6ft bald Aussie bruiser forward landing a punch and flooring one of the Eagles guys in plain view of the whole stadium - and he didn't even get cautioned! This was all over the front pages of the news the next day! Justice was done however as later in the game he broke his wrist when he went crashig into the advertising boards at the side of the pitch!
We headed upto Olympic Park on the metro at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, hopng to have a walk round the site of the 2000 Olympics. The park is very impressive, with dozens of big stadiums and arenas dotted about. Everything was beautifully landscaped with huge boulevards and parks between the arenas. This must have been a really fantastic place to view a massive sporting event like the olympics. About 2 hours before the game the atmosphere really began to hot up, with live bands playing outside the stadium and plenty of food stalls selling everything you could possibly imagine. The Aussie's really seem to make an effort with their supporting - the stadium was a sea of red and white with everyone kitted out in the latest Swans merch - from vests to hats and scarves! The game kicked off at about 7.30, and the 44,000 fans made a fair bit of noise. The stadium is gigantic, holding around 80,000 when full, but even just over half full it was a mightily impressive sight. AFL is a frantic sport with lots of tough tackling and whistle blowing. Its really a cross between football, rugby and basketball, the aim is to kick the ball between a set of 4 upright posts -between the middle 2 is 6 points and the outer 2 is 1 point. The Swans crushed the Eagles 101 - 49, so we saw plenty of action - the highlight of which was Barry Hall, a 6ft bald Aussie bruiser forward landing a punch and flooring one of the Eagles guys in plain view of the whole stadium - and he didn't even get cautioned! This was all over the front pages of the news the next day! Justice was done however as later in the game he broke his wrist when he went crashig into the advertising boards at the side of the pitch!
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Sydney - Day 3- Bondi Beach
Well we had been away from a beach for atleast 5 days so we thought it was about time we got back there! We took the train from Town Hall Station (right outside our hostel) to Bondi Junction and then got the bus to the beach. Bondi Junction was really nice with lots of cool cafes and lots of trendy shops. The Beach was great and we had a really good day weather wise for it aswell. We had some lunch on the beach and then Andrew went and hired a body board! We spent the rest of the afternoon lying around on the beach watching people surfing. I didn't go into the water because the surf wasn't that good and it wasn't as warm it was olny about 26 degrees C. Bondi was lovely though we loved it and if we had more time we would of gone back!
We switched hostels aswell and our new one is lovely! Its about 2 mins walk from Darling Harbour and our room is lovely. It has proper beds and tidy clean rooms.
We switched hostels aswell and our new one is lovely! Its about 2 mins walk from Darling Harbour and our room is lovely. It has proper beds and tidy clean rooms.
Sydney - Day 2 - Opera House and Harbour Cruise
Again we were blessed with stunning weather when we woke up, so we decided today was the perfect opportunity to use our Matilda Harbour Cruise voucher kindly given to us as a present by Tim and Nicola Kirk. The cruises were on a large catamaran and took you all the way around the bay upto Rose Bay on the way to Manly, east of the city
Unfortunatley the company only ran 2 cruises per day and when we attempted to get onto the 11.30am cruise we were told that that particular trip was not running on that day so we had to change our plans and go on the 3.30pm trip instead.
Meanwhile we decided to make the most of the stunning surroundings and headed straight to the Sydney Opera House, dominating the landscape at Circular Quay. The building really is as stunning as all the photographs, although up-close it looks a lot different. We booked onto a tour which took us right inside the Opera House explaining how it was constructed and the history of the building. We were lucky enough to see both Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra and Austalian National Ballet warming up for their respective shows in the two main concert halls. The music venue was mightily impressive, the theatre less grand, but both equally sizeable. The building was designed by a Danish architect, the winner of an international competition in the 1950's. It took 16 years to build and around $107 million. Up close it really is a work of art as all the tiles change colour according to the light above. The structure is probably still way ahead of its time, and provides a stunning backdrop to the city.
Next we headed over to a region known as 'The Rocks', on the opposite side of Circular Quay to the Opera House. This is where some of the first European settlers landed in Australia, and is reflected in the architecture - old brick buildings connected by small cobbled streets housing quaint restaurants, cafes and gift shops. This one one of our favourite spots in the city, as it was a lot quieter and less touristy than places such as Darling Harbour.
Mid afternoon we headed back to the quay for our Matilda catamaran Cruise. As the sun was going down we sailed out of the harbour past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge with the CBD behind us. From out in the Harbour you begin to realise not only what a beautiful city Sydney is, but also it's vast extent. The suburbs of the city seem to stretch for miles round into hidden bays and coves. It is apparently one of the biggest cities in the world in terms of area covered. The cruise capped the day off perfectly, and rest assured we have got some super photos to show you all when we get back!
Unfortunatley the company only ran 2 cruises per day and when we attempted to get onto the 11.30am cruise we were told that that particular trip was not running on that day so we had to change our plans and go on the 3.30pm trip instead.
Meanwhile we decided to make the most of the stunning surroundings and headed straight to the Sydney Opera House, dominating the landscape at Circular Quay. The building really is as stunning as all the photographs, although up-close it looks a lot different. We booked onto a tour which took us right inside the Opera House explaining how it was constructed and the history of the building. We were lucky enough to see both Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra and Austalian National Ballet warming up for their respective shows in the two main concert halls. The music venue was mightily impressive, the theatre less grand, but both equally sizeable. The building was designed by a Danish architect, the winner of an international competition in the 1950's. It took 16 years to build and around $107 million. Up close it really is a work of art as all the tiles change colour according to the light above. The structure is probably still way ahead of its time, and provides a stunning backdrop to the city.
Next we headed over to a region known as 'The Rocks', on the opposite side of Circular Quay to the Opera House. This is where some of the first European settlers landed in Australia, and is reflected in the architecture - old brick buildings connected by small cobbled streets housing quaint restaurants, cafes and gift shops. This one one of our favourite spots in the city, as it was a lot quieter and less touristy than places such as Darling Harbour.
Mid afternoon we headed back to the quay for our Matilda catamaran Cruise. As the sun was going down we sailed out of the harbour past the Opera House and Harbour Bridge with the CBD behind us. From out in the Harbour you begin to realise not only what a beautiful city Sydney is, but also it's vast extent. The suburbs of the city seem to stretch for miles round into hidden bays and coves. It is apparently one of the biggest cities in the world in terms of area covered. The cruise capped the day off perfectly, and rest assured we have got some super photos to show you all when we get back!
Sydney - Day 1 - Aquarium
We got the Greyhound bus late and didn't arrive in Sydney until about 11.30 pm. The hostel we had booked into didn't have a 24hour reception, so they had given the key to the 24 hour shop next door. We collected our key and finally found our room. When we got into the room we diuscovered that we were in a 14 bed dorm and hardly anyone was back yet. The bed that had been reserved for us wasn't very safe as it shook very badly when we lent on it. so i moved to a different bed. The room was so messy we could hardly see the floor. There was clothes, dirty boxers and bits of food all over the floor. We stayed there one night and then moved to a 4 bed dorm and then spent the end of the week at a nicer hostel next to Darling Harbour.
On our first day in Sydney after switching rooms we went to the Sydney Aquarium. The aquarium was really good fun and had everything from river fish to big mean looking sharks! The aquarium had tunnels that you can walk through and the fish swim right over the top. There was some massive sting rays, which must of span atleast 1.5m. The looked so graceful as they went through the water. We even saw some super cute seals! The aquarium was really good and we both really enjoyed it.
We wanted to go to the Imax cinema but when we got there they weren't showing any films because they had a premier of U2 3D, so we couldn't go in !
On our first day in Sydney after switching rooms we went to the Sydney Aquarium. The aquarium was really good fun and had everything from river fish to big mean looking sharks! The aquarium had tunnels that you can walk through and the fish swim right over the top. There was some massive sting rays, which must of span atleast 1.5m. The looked so graceful as they went through the water. We even saw some super cute seals! The aquarium was really good and we both really enjoyed it.
We wanted to go to the Imax cinema but when we got there they weren't showing any films because they had a premier of U2 3D, so we couldn't go in !
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie
The journey from Bryon Bay to Sydney direct on the Greyhound bus takes around 13 hours, so we thought it would be wise to make a few stops on the way down to break up the journey a bit.
We spent tow nights at a nice hostel on the outskirts of the small tourist town of Coffs Harbour. The hostel was quite a walk from the town centre and harbour area, but not far from the beach and main shopping precinct. We used the time to catch up on some sleep, washing and bought a few bits at the shops. The town itself was pleasant with a big fishing community and picturesque harbour front. The weather wasn't brilliant on our second day so we relaxed at the hostel and planned our trip to Sydney!
Similarly the weather was awful at Port Macquarie, and we confined to the hostel for the one day we spent there. We didn't even manage to make it to the Koala Hospital across town as most of that was nt under cover!
Still, fingers cross the weather gets better for our trip to Sydney. We have planned just under a week there before we fly over to Auckland to start volunteering!
We spent tow nights at a nice hostel on the outskirts of the small tourist town of Coffs Harbour. The hostel was quite a walk from the town centre and harbour area, but not far from the beach and main shopping precinct. We used the time to catch up on some sleep, washing and bought a few bits at the shops. The town itself was pleasant with a big fishing community and picturesque harbour front. The weather wasn't brilliant on our second day so we relaxed at the hostel and planned our trip to Sydney!
Similarly the weather was awful at Port Macquarie, and we confined to the hostel for the one day we spent there. We didn't even manage to make it to the Koala Hospital across town as most of that was nt under cover!
Still, fingers cross the weather gets better for our trip to Sydney. We have planned just under a week there before we fly over to Auckland to start volunteering!
Byron Bay
A further 3 hours down the coast lies the small laid back surfer's resort of Byron Bay - our first experience of the state of New South Wales. This place was completely different to Surfer's, it was much more of a traditional surfer's haven with hippie's-a-plenty and loads of surf shops and vegetarian cafes. We both immediately thought it had the Glastonbury vibe about it, only with a massive golden beach and killer waves....winner! Incidentaly we spotted an organic healthy living food supermarket... the first in Oz so far, not big on healthy eating over here (although to be fair they do a hell of a lot of jogging)!
Again we were pretty lucky with the weather here on our 3 night stay so we made the most of the beach and the warm sea. This time we both hired Bodyboards and spent hours cathing wave after wave on the beach. Fortunatley none of the beachy resorts are overly busy here as its just turning into their winter (although it is still 26 degrees!) and all the school hols appear to have finished.
We stayed at a hostel called 'The Belongil Beach House', which really was a stereotypical beach retreat - 20 mins from the beach with a laid back attituide and even a spiritual massage and yoga service! The rooms were spacious with wooden floorboards and stained glass windows. It had a really friendly feel with lots of nationlities present...french, german, dutch, irish, american and english. We shared our room with a friendly couple from England who were driving up the coast in a van, we swapped experiences and tips about where to go and what to see as they had already been to SE Asia and NZ and we had done most of Oz they had left to do.
On our final day before heading down towards Sydney, the weather took a turn for the worse and we saw some clouds!! But the wind also changed and started to come from the north which brought the infamous 'Blue Bottle' Jellyfish down from the north, so we were advised to stay away from the water as they give you a nasty sting. so we decided this was the perfect opportunity to head upto the lighthouse on Cape Bryon, overlooking the whole of Byron Beach and beyond. It was a tough walk through some steep bush for about 5km, but finally we made it and enjoyed the view from the most easterly point of the Australian mainland.
Byron Bay is definitely worth a visit if you are in Oz, and has much more to offer compared to Surfer's Paradise. There is a really laid back attitude, the place seems to run at its own pace and is stuck in a bit of a time warp (in a good way!).
Again we were pretty lucky with the weather here on our 3 night stay so we made the most of the beach and the warm sea. This time we both hired Bodyboards and spent hours cathing wave after wave on the beach. Fortunatley none of the beachy resorts are overly busy here as its just turning into their winter (although it is still 26 degrees!) and all the school hols appear to have finished.
We stayed at a hostel called 'The Belongil Beach House', which really was a stereotypical beach retreat - 20 mins from the beach with a laid back attituide and even a spiritual massage and yoga service! The rooms were spacious with wooden floorboards and stained glass windows. It had a really friendly feel with lots of nationlities present...french, german, dutch, irish, american and english. We shared our room with a friendly couple from England who were driving up the coast in a van, we swapped experiences and tips about where to go and what to see as they had already been to SE Asia and NZ and we had done most of Oz they had left to do.
On our final day before heading down towards Sydney, the weather took a turn for the worse and we saw some clouds!! But the wind also changed and started to come from the north which brought the infamous 'Blue Bottle' Jellyfish down from the north, so we were advised to stay away from the water as they give you a nasty sting. so we decided this was the perfect opportunity to head upto the lighthouse on Cape Bryon, overlooking the whole of Byron Beach and beyond. It was a tough walk through some steep bush for about 5km, but finally we made it and enjoyed the view from the most easterly point of the Australian mainland.
Byron Bay is definitely worth a visit if you are in Oz, and has much more to offer compared to Surfer's Paradise. There is a really laid back attitude, the place seems to run at its own pace and is stuck in a bit of a time warp (in a good way!).
Surfer's Paradise
We took the Greyhound Bus from Brisbane for around 2 hours to the concrete surfing metropolis that is Surfers Paradise. We had heard mixed reports that it had a fantastic beach, but also that the place was full of huge skyscrapers...and this turned out to be pretty much spot on. Luckily we had fantastic sunshine for the 2 days we stayed there at 'Surf n' Sun' Hostel. There really wasn't much to do here other than sit on the beach or go surfing or bodyboarding, so thats exactly what we did! I (Andrew) had my first taste of the surf and hired a bodyboard from the hostel and had a wail of a time catching the massive (6-8ft waves).
Our hostel wasn't upto much really so we headed into town for some cheap eats, which seem pretty easy to come by all over Australia. You can get a pretty good steak here for about $15 - around 7.50 pounds. The trouble is trying to eat healthy - a lot of the cheap stuff comes loaded with chips!
Surfer's really has no character what so ever, but does exactly what it says on the tin by providing some of the best waves in Australia. It was easy to see why many people call this the 'Benidorm of Australia'- hotel after hotel with no natual features (other than a long golden beach) to speak of. After a couple of nights at Surfer's we craved something more stimulating and headed down to Byron Bay!
Our hostel wasn't upto much really so we headed into town for some cheap eats, which seem pretty easy to come by all over Australia. You can get a pretty good steak here for about $15 - around 7.50 pounds. The trouble is trying to eat healthy - a lot of the cheap stuff comes loaded with chips!
Surfer's really has no character what so ever, but does exactly what it says on the tin by providing some of the best waves in Australia. It was easy to see why many people call this the 'Benidorm of Australia'- hotel after hotel with no natual features (other than a long golden beach) to speak of. After a couple of nights at Surfer's we craved something more stimulating and headed down to Byron Bay!
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Australia Zoo
On Friday we decided to get some tickets to Australia Zoo - made world famous by Steve 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin. It was about a 2 hour trip from central Brisbane, and we decided to take the cheap option and go by train - our first experience of Aussie trains thus far!
The zoo was in a small town called Beerwah it was reasonably quiet in terms of visitors, but very commercialised and sometimes a little cheesy. In terms of animals however, we were very impressed with the huge collection of native species from snakes to koalas, kangaroos to possums. Of course there was a huge collection of feisty crocs and we visited the famous 'Crocoseum' to view the keepers feeding thew Crocs and other animals...'Crickey!' We were impressed by the layout of the zoo and the quality of the enclosures that had been made for them. At times it felt as thought you were actually walking through the real habitatat of some of the animals, rather than simply a caged enclosure. The zoo seemed keen to educate visitors in environmental conservation too - many of the exhibitions were aimed at educating both kids and adults as to how to live in harmony with the native animals, rather than fear and disturb them.
Our personal favourites of the day were the sleepy Koalas (we are still yet to see any in the wild), and the baby Asian Tiger demonstration in the swimming pool was breathtaking. There were plenty of Australia Zoo keepers milling about, many of them trained by Irwin himself and they all seemed very knowledgable and enthusiatic about the animals on show.
We were pleased to have visited a zoo containing the native animals of Australia rather than a generic zoo containing all the usual suspects from around the world. This gave us a real opportunity to see up close some of the animals that this vast country is famous for.
The zoo was in a small town called Beerwah it was reasonably quiet in terms of visitors, but very commercialised and sometimes a little cheesy. In terms of animals however, we were very impressed with the huge collection of native species from snakes to koalas, kangaroos to possums. Of course there was a huge collection of feisty crocs and we visited the famous 'Crocoseum' to view the keepers feeding thew Crocs and other animals...'Crickey!' We were impressed by the layout of the zoo and the quality of the enclosures that had been made for them. At times it felt as thought you were actually walking through the real habitatat of some of the animals, rather than simply a caged enclosure. The zoo seemed keen to educate visitors in environmental conservation too - many of the exhibitions were aimed at educating both kids and adults as to how to live in harmony with the native animals, rather than fear and disturb them.
Our personal favourites of the day were the sleepy Koalas (we are still yet to see any in the wild), and the baby Asian Tiger demonstration in the swimming pool was breathtaking. There were plenty of Australia Zoo keepers milling about, many of them trained by Irwin himself and they all seemed very knowledgable and enthusiatic about the animals on show.
We were pleased to have visited a zoo containing the native animals of Australia rather than a generic zoo containing all the usual suspects from around the world. This gave us a real opportunity to see up close some of the animals that this vast country is famous for.
Saturday, 5 April 2008
Brisbane
We arrived in Brisbane mid afternoon after a short trip from Noosa. Our hostel was right bang in the middle of the city so we could walk to almost everything Brisbane had to offer. The first few days we managed to meet up with Katie and Nigel, Katie's friends from Uni. They had already been to Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore so it was fascinating to swap stories and experiences we went out for a nice meal on the South Bank on their last night in Oz before they flew over to New Zealand.
Brisbane is a relatively small and compact city, everything of note is located no more than 15 mins walk from the river. The CBD is visually impressive lots of skyscrapers in a small place. Over the river the South Bank is the city's cultural center housing both Queensland and Griffith Universities. We visited the Queensland Museum and the Queensland art gallery on our day of culture. Both were free and really interesting, the former had a great collection of animals of Australia. We came face to face with some of the worlds most deadly creatures. The Modern Art Gallery hosted a huge David Hockney exhibition. This is by far the most 'on the pulse' place we have visited so far. Brisbane is the first place where cultural activities take precedent over natural landscape. There are plenty of hip and trendy shops and lost of outdoor music events and markets. We have been told Brisbane is lame compared to Sydney, so the best is still to come!
On our final day we took a trip to Queensland's Parliament House where state decisions are made. Visiting this place and the Museum was a good way of validating everything we had experienced on the way down from Cairns. We had a private tour of the Parliament building which operates in a similar way to Westminster, with representatives of all the major towns and districts in Queensland. Their equivalent of the House of Lords is no longer in use but the 'Commons' was still surprisingly formal and ceremonial. We took a walk through the City Botanical Gardens onto the Queensland Cricket Ground (The Gabba), south of the river. We didn't manage to get inside but a photo next to the sign was all we could manage. The Gabba is home to Queensland Bulls (Cricket) in the summer and the Brisbane Lions (Aussie Rules) in the winter. After 5 nights in Brisbane we were ready to move on we felt like we had seen everything the city had to offer.
Brisbane is a relatively small and compact city, everything of note is located no more than 15 mins walk from the river. The CBD is visually impressive lots of skyscrapers in a small place. Over the river the South Bank is the city's cultural center housing both Queensland and Griffith Universities. We visited the Queensland Museum and the Queensland art gallery on our day of culture. Both were free and really interesting, the former had a great collection of animals of Australia. We came face to face with some of the worlds most deadly creatures. The Modern Art Gallery hosted a huge David Hockney exhibition. This is by far the most 'on the pulse' place we have visited so far. Brisbane is the first place where cultural activities take precedent over natural landscape. There are plenty of hip and trendy shops and lost of outdoor music events and markets. We have been told Brisbane is lame compared to Sydney, so the best is still to come!
On our final day we took a trip to Queensland's Parliament House where state decisions are made. Visiting this place and the Museum was a good way of validating everything we had experienced on the way down from Cairns. We had a private tour of the Parliament building which operates in a similar way to Westminster, with representatives of all the major towns and districts in Queensland. Their equivalent of the House of Lords is no longer in use but the 'Commons' was still surprisingly formal and ceremonial. We took a walk through the City Botanical Gardens onto the Queensland Cricket Ground (The Gabba), south of the river. We didn't manage to get inside but a photo next to the sign was all we could manage. The Gabba is home to Queensland Bulls (Cricket) in the summer and the Brisbane Lions (Aussie Rules) in the winter. After 5 nights in Brisbane we were ready to move on we felt like we had seen everything the city had to offer.
Saturday, 29 March 2008
Friday, 28 March 2008
Noosa
We wanted to arrive at Noosa as early as possible as we were only able to stay one night before heading on down to Brisbane. We met a chap at the hostel in Airlie Beach who said Noosa was well worth a visit and had some lovely scenery- and he wasn't wrong. Turns out it was one of the best last minute decisions we have made! We dumped our bads at the 'Noosa Backpackers Hostel', and then hopped straight back onto the courtesy bus upto the main beach and centre. We took a walk through the stunning Noosa National Park - a 4km long peninsula stretching out into the Pacific, hiding beautiful coves and bays and offering some stunning viewpoints back towards the town. The forest walk was also a great opportunity to spot yet more wildlife...this time we spotted a kookaburra, lots of wild turkeys and exotic birds and a massive monitor lizard strolled across our path too!
Aside from the stunning scenery, Noosa is a world renowned for its Surf. This is probably the first place we have been where we have seen typical Aussie Surf 'dudes' strolling about with their boards trying to catch the next big wave. When they do, it is qute an impressive sight! The town is a really classy resort, with flashy apartments on the sea front and trendy designer shops on the high street - by far the most salubrious place we have visited so far. We sat on the georgeous white beach as the sun went down over the ocean. We both agreed if we come back to Australia, this would be somewhere we would return to and definitely for longer then we could afford this time around.
Somewhat regretfully, we left for Brisbane on Wednesday, but with plenty more to look forward to...
Aside from the stunning scenery, Noosa is a world renowned for its Surf. This is probably the first place we have been where we have seen typical Aussie Surf 'dudes' strolling about with their boards trying to catch the next big wave. When they do, it is qute an impressive sight! The town is a really classy resort, with flashy apartments on the sea front and trendy designer shops on the high street - by far the most salubrious place we have visited so far. We sat on the georgeous white beach as the sun went down over the ocean. We both agreed if we come back to Australia, this would be somewhere we would return to and definitely for longer then we could afford this time around.
Somewhat regretfully, we left for Brisbane on Wednesday, but with plenty more to look forward to...
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Hervey Bay via Rockhampton
We continued our journey - this time to the Fraser Coast and a smallish resort called Hervey Bay, famous for its links with Fraser Island. The drive from Airlie Beach would have taken about 13 hours straight, so we decided to do a flying overnight visit to the town of Rockhampton. 'Rocky' is not really part of the usual backpackers route on the east coast, so we thought it might be a good oppotunity to experience the 'real Australia'. The town is supposedly the beef capital of Oz, and this certainly seemed evident as we got closer - Kate saw plenty of cows (I didn't because I slept most of the way as usual!). We went to a great little steak house that was pretty cheap called The bush bar and grill! We both had the smallest steak on the menu but it was plenty, we certainly wouldn't of managed the 2.2lbs challenge steak that they had. We left
Rocky at 6.45 in the morning I literally had to drag Andrew out of bed!
Hervey Bay was a pleseant seaside resort if a little touristy. Most people use it as a base for Fraser Island, but we decided to save th pennies for later on. The tours seemed a bit over priced for what you got. The cheapest day tour of the island was $165. Every where we seem to go they are trying to get us to buy a tour to some island or other and we cant really do them all! We had a lovely few days on the beach and played a bit of frisbee! The hostel we stayed in was probably one of the best we have stayed in so far, called Next backpackers!
Heading down towards Brisbane and calling in on Noosa on the way on the reccomendation of a guy we met at Airlie Beach!
Rocky at 6.45 in the morning I literally had to drag Andrew out of bed!
Hervey Bay was a pleseant seaside resort if a little touristy. Most people use it as a base for Fraser Island, but we decided to save th pennies for later on. The tours seemed a bit over priced for what you got. The cheapest day tour of the island was $165. Every where we seem to go they are trying to get us to buy a tour to some island or other and we cant really do them all! We had a lovely few days on the beach and played a bit of frisbee! The hostel we stayed in was probably one of the best we have stayed in so far, called Next backpackers!
Heading down towards Brisbane and calling in on Noosa on the way on the reccomendation of a guy we met at Airlie Beach!
Saturday, 22 March 2008
Airlie Beach
Airlie Beach is a small beach resort of about 4000 inhabitants. It is most famous for its connection with the Whitsunday Coast and the Whitsunday Islands, a group of white sanded beaches with good snorkelling and diving facilities.
Unfortunately due to limtied time and money, we weren't able to organise a boat trip out, but we endeavoured to see as much of Airlie as possible. Our hostel was called Backpackers by the Bay,. a five minute walk from the main drag of shops, tour operators and bars and cafe's. It seemed like the whole of Queensland was there on hoiliday for the Easter weekend. as as the seafront lagoonwas really busy with Australians enjoying their days off.
The atmosphere here is pretty laid back and relaxing - nice for a couple of days but nothing more!
So being the hectic life seekers we are, we set off further down the coast - 6 hours this time to the cowboy town and 'beef capital of Australia'...Rockhampton!
Andy n Kate x
Unfortunately due to limtied time and money, we weren't able to organise a boat trip out, but we endeavoured to see as much of Airlie as possible. Our hostel was called Backpackers by the Bay,. a five minute walk from the main drag of shops, tour operators and bars and cafe's. It seemed like the whole of Queensland was there on hoiliday for the Easter weekend. as as the seafront lagoonwas really busy with Australians enjoying their days off.
The atmosphere here is pretty laid back and relaxing - nice for a couple of days but nothing more!
So being the hectic life seekers we are, we set off further down the coast - 6 hours this time to the cowboy town and 'beef capital of Australia'...Rockhampton!
Andy n Kate x
Townsville
A 3 hour coach journey South brought us to Townsville - the third largest town in the state of Queensland. One thing we are starting to notice the the sheer size of Queensland- it really is massive. The locals seem not to be bothered about a mere 6 hour journey along the coast, but for us that is like travelling to Scotland!
Townsville is probably the liveliest place we have been thus far. We are stayed at a really central hostel called Globetrotters, and experienced our first taste of dorm living. We shared a 4 bed room with a guy from York called Stephen and a Danish lad called Simon. The hostel is generally really friendly with lots of people out and about in silly hats for St Patricks day.
On our first day here we ventured into town and thought we should learn something abou the reef habitats we had been to explore whilst in Cairns. The Reef HQ in Aquarium in by the harbour was really informative and had some great demonstrations of reef life and shark feeding. We then hopped across to the Museum of Tropical Queensland - the main focus of which was a huge exhibition on the plight of HMS Pandora and the famous 'pandora's box' escapdes of the 1800's.
On our second day we took a ferry out to Magnetic Island - about a 25 minute trip. The Island is renowned for it's quiet secluded bays and beaches as well as beautiful views back to the mainland and fantastic opportunities to spot wildlife. We braved the heat and did some walking in the bush, but didn'tmanage to spot any wild koalas unfortunately! We did see some impressive birds however, and the views were well worth the walk in the heat.
We say good bye to North Queensland now as we head down to Airlie Beach next - a beach resort about 4 hours by Greyhound Bus down the Whitsunday Coast.
Rest assured we'll keep you posted!
Andy n Kate x
Townsville is probably the liveliest place we have been thus far. We are stayed at a really central hostel called Globetrotters, and experienced our first taste of dorm living. We shared a 4 bed room with a guy from York called Stephen and a Danish lad called Simon. The hostel is generally really friendly with lots of people out and about in silly hats for St Patricks day.
On our first day here we ventured into town and thought we should learn something abou the reef habitats we had been to explore whilst in Cairns. The Reef HQ in Aquarium in by the harbour was really informative and had some great demonstrations of reef life and shark feeding. We then hopped across to the Museum of Tropical Queensland - the main focus of which was a huge exhibition on the plight of HMS Pandora and the famous 'pandora's box' escapdes of the 1800's.
On our second day we took a ferry out to Magnetic Island - about a 25 minute trip. The Island is renowned for it's quiet secluded bays and beaches as well as beautiful views back to the mainland and fantastic opportunities to spot wildlife. We braved the heat and did some walking in the bush, but didn'tmanage to spot any wild koalas unfortunately! We did see some impressive birds however, and the views were well worth the walk in the heat.
We say good bye to North Queensland now as we head down to Airlie Beach next - a beach resort about 4 hours by Greyhound Bus down the Whitsunday Coast.
Rest assured we'll keep you posted!
Andy n Kate x
Saturday, 15 March 2008
Great Barrier Reef
Our trip to the reef was fantastic, despite some rather bad weather. Turned out it is better to go when it is raining as it is not as sweltering! All in all we did about 3 hours of snorkelling at the Norman and Saxon Reefs, about 90 min boat trip from Cairns. We managed to see numerous colourful fishes and corals as well as a Reef Shark, Sea Turtle and Sting Ray. The Turtle was amazing i think it was just like the ones in Finding Nemo but andrew keeps laughing at me for that!
We loved our time snokerlling and since we have been we have talked to some other travellers who went diving rather than snokerlling and they don't seem to have seen as much so we feel pretty lucky! Although there is not much in Cairns it is worth going to the Reef alone! We had a great time! Hopefully andrew will work out how to upload some photos on here and then you will be able to see some the fish that we saw!
We loved our time snokerlling and since we have been we have talked to some other travellers who went diving rather than snokerlling and they don't seem to have seen as much so we feel pretty lucky! Although there is not much in Cairns it is worth going to the Reef alone! We had a great time! Hopefully andrew will work out how to upload some photos on here and then you will be able to see some the fish that we saw!
Mission Beach - Wongaling
e took our first Greyhound Bus ride today from Cairns to Mission Beach. The journey was about 2hrs 30 mins and enabled us to see 'behind the scenes' tropical north Queensland on the way. Its pretty flooded in this part of the world at the moment as it is the rainy season - but as a result everything is really lush and green too. There is so much natural beauty here - in the space of 150km we saw cloud covered mountains, dense tropical rainforests and white sandy beaches lined with palm trees.
We are staying at Wongaling just down the road from Mission Beach (well in australian terms it is! I took us about an hour to walk to Mission Beach). The hostel is fantastic and our balcony overlooks the rainforest. Tonnes of creepy crawlies around, plus geckos and amazing birds and butterflies too.
We off to do the beachy thing tomorrow, and we're going to do some rainforest walks too if its not too humid. The Carrowary is a local bird (as tall as a man) and indigenous to this area, that we have been told to look out for...fingers crossed!
Well we went to Mission Beach on Sunday it was kind of strange. The place is very quiet and there is practically noone about! We walked along the beach and had to cross over Porters creek that runs through the beach into the sea. It was a bit deep but the hostel had told us we had to cross before lunch. When we got to Mission Beach the lady in the tourist information was horrified that we had done this and told us that there was crocodiles and jelly fish that could of killed us in the creek! but we were fine, however we didn't go back that way!
Whilst we were at Mission Beach we did a short walk through some rainforest and saw a massive orange, black and red spider, which Andrew nearly walked straight into! But other than that we didn't see much other than Lizards.
We are leaving Mission Beach for Townsville.
We are staying at Wongaling just down the road from Mission Beach (well in australian terms it is! I took us about an hour to walk to Mission Beach). The hostel is fantastic and our balcony overlooks the rainforest. Tonnes of creepy crawlies around, plus geckos and amazing birds and butterflies too.
We off to do the beachy thing tomorrow, and we're going to do some rainforest walks too if its not too humid. The Carrowary is a local bird (as tall as a man) and indigenous to this area, that we have been told to look out for...fingers crossed!
Well we went to Mission Beach on Sunday it was kind of strange. The place is very quiet and there is practically noone about! We walked along the beach and had to cross over Porters creek that runs through the beach into the sea. It was a bit deep but the hostel had told us we had to cross before lunch. When we got to Mission Beach the lady in the tourist information was horrified that we had done this and told us that there was crocodiles and jelly fish that could of killed us in the creek! but we were fine, however we didn't go back that way!
Whilst we were at Mission Beach we did a short walk through some rainforest and saw a massive orange, black and red spider, which Andrew nearly walked straight into! But other than that we didn't see much other than Lizards.
We are leaving Mission Beach for Townsville.
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Hello from Cairns!
We have settled now here in Cairns after a few days getting used to the heat, humidity and time difference.
We are staying at the Caravella Backpackers Hostel on the Esplanade overlooking the sea. Everyone is really friendly and facilities are excellent. Cairns is really trpoical with temperatures around 30c and really high humidity - it didn't stop raining all day yesterday. Its a really tropical place with loads of bright flora and fauna but the pace is slow, so we have just been chilling by the pool mainly.
We are booked onto a Great Barrier Reef tour tomorrow - heading 90mins off shore to Saxon, Hastings and Norman Reef. We are both really looking forward to snorkelling all day and keeping our fingers crossed the weather holds!
Next stop is Mission Beach on Saturday - we are aiming to get the greyhound bus in the morning, arriving by lunchtime.
We'll give you an update on the snorkelling and what its like in Mission when we get there!
Andy n Kate x
We are staying at the Caravella Backpackers Hostel on the Esplanade overlooking the sea. Everyone is really friendly and facilities are excellent. Cairns is really trpoical with temperatures around 30c and really high humidity - it didn't stop raining all day yesterday. Its a really tropical place with loads of bright flora and fauna but the pace is slow, so we have just been chilling by the pool mainly.
We are booked onto a Great Barrier Reef tour tomorrow - heading 90mins off shore to Saxon, Hastings and Norman Reef. We are both really looking forward to snorkelling all day and keeping our fingers crossed the weather holds!
Next stop is Mission Beach on Saturday - we are aiming to get the greyhound bus in the morning, arriving by lunchtime.
We'll give you an update on the snorkelling and what its like in Mission when we get there!
Andy n Kate x
Monday, 10 March 2008
Well everyone we have arrived! The Flight was a nightmare! was so long and made us both feel really tired! We flew to singapore, which was a lovely airport and we even got to sit outside in a cactus garden that was at the aiport. We then got on the next plane to cairns but the plane stopped at Darwin at about 4.30 in the morning and we all had to get off the plane and get back on again which was just a little bit annoying!
But anyway we finally arrived at Cairns and it is so hot a humid we are barely coping. Coming straight from an English winter to this is hard! We will be going to the reef soon to see all the fish! Hope everyone is well at home! we will update again soon once we have done some stuff!
Love Kate and Andy
But anyway we finally arrived at Cairns and it is so hot a humid we are barely coping. Coming straight from an English winter to this is hard! We will be going to the reef soon to see all the fish! Hope everyone is well at home! we will update again soon once we have done some stuff!
Love Kate and Andy
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Up and running!
We thought it would be a good idea for people we know to keep up to date with our progress down under, so we have created this blog! Hopefully over the coming months we will keep you posted with our movements and experiences, and keep in contact with everyone back home!
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