Today feeling a little hungover we didn't really do to much even though I was up for taking a trip to Devonport (just a short ferry journey) by the time we sort of woke up and go ready it wasn't really worth going. We also ran into Gemima and made plans to go to the bar later that evening.
We decided that we must do something today so what was easy to do, doesn't cost too much, and involves little walking.......SKYTOWER!!!!
An interesting fact is that the Skytower is the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere and as it was just round the corner from our hostel and gave a decent offer to backpackers we decided that we would do that. It did give pretty decent views of Auckland but the best part about it was watching the people do a “Skyjump” which involves being connected to a bunch of cables and launching yourself off the Skytower to fall about 200 metres to a target at the bottom. It seemed to give a bit more resistance than either of us expected but still seemed like it would be good fun.
When we got back we ran into some more people we knew from the Kiwi bus our room mates from Franz Joseph and sat round talking to them for a while before making the our best curry to date. We then went to the bar and had drinks with some more people from the Kiwi bus Susan and Kerry.
Well that's all folks!!! Well for me and New Zealand for a little while at least. We caught a plane the following day getting to the airport around midday where we would be chilling out in Fiji for a week so Ollie has an easy time of the blog.
Friday, 15 May 2009
Thursday, 14 May 2009
I Don't Want You Out Of Eden Forever - Auckland, New Zealand
A walk up to Mount Eden was on the cards today. First of all we made some sandwiches so that we could have a feast whilst on the tallest volcano in Auckland. It was a fair distance from where we were staying and uphill most of the way to reach the “base” of Mount Eden then a short climb up to the summit. Here we celebrated with the lunch we had made earlier and there was much rejoicing. The hill gave us pretty good 360 views of Auckland including Eden park stadium where the Crusaders would be playing the Blues the day that we leave, we were unlucky not to be in a city whilst a rugby match was on. That is match in the Super 14 competition between the South (represented by the Christchurch Crusaders) and North (represented by the Auckland Blues) islands. On our way back we decided we would walk through the park and go to the museum which was free!!!
The museum was pretty large and had a wide range of Maori items as well a small dinosaur exhibition, information about volcanoes and other stuff stuff related with Auckland and New Zealand. The best thing about the museum was a room where you would get a feel for what it was like when the Volcano slight off Auckland erupted.
In the evening we were lured to the bar for free pizza and as it turned out Sam and Nick our room mates in Queenstown were in the same room as us again. The rest of the evening was spent in the bar where we entered a speed pool competition and Nick, Ollie and Myself were knocked out by the same guy, who lost in the final quite comically. Some of us had a bit too much to drink that night and we all didn't get back too early.
The title comes courtesy of Rachael Harlow and Transatlantic who's music always reminds me of good times and home so I must thank you guys for that.
The museum was pretty large and had a wide range of Maori items as well a small dinosaur exhibition, information about volcanoes and other stuff stuff related with Auckland and New Zealand. The best thing about the museum was a room where you would get a feel for what it was like when the Volcano slight off Auckland erupted.
In the evening we were lured to the bar for free pizza and as it turned out Sam and Nick our room mates in Queenstown were in the same room as us again. The rest of the evening was spent in the bar where we entered a speed pool competition and Nick, Ollie and Myself were knocked out by the same guy, who lost in the final quite comically. Some of us had a bit too much to drink that night and we all didn't get back too early.
The title comes courtesy of Rachael Harlow and Transatlantic who's music always reminds me of good times and home so I must thank you guys for that.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
A Hobbits Tale - Auckland, New Zealand
We were finally leaving Rotorua, Yay!!! and taking the Kiwi bus for the last time to complete our journey through New Zealand. We saw a few people from our South Island bus getting off in Rotorua before getting on the same bus through to Auckland, it turned out we would see them later in Auckland before we leave New Zealand.
The bus stopped off in Hobbiton, well Matamata the closest village to the place where the Shire was constructed for The Lord of The Rings films. We got a couple of photos of the sign and Gollum statue in the town and headed to the Subway via the Sushi bar to get some breakfast/lunch. The girl at Subway thought I was from New Zealand, I think it was because I mumbled a little bit but she also commented on how nice it was to serve the people from the bus as we were all so polite, which made me feel quite happy.
Back on the bus it was another couple of hours to Auckland so our driver put the film the Bucket List so we were entertained on our way to Auckland.
Auckland is most definitely the largest of all the cities in New Zealand. After a brief stop at the Kiwi Experience office we were at our hostel on Queen St where we saw a $10 pizza and beer deal that evening in the bar so we decided to do that as we felt lazy.
The bus stopped off in Hobbiton, well Matamata the closest village to the place where the Shire was constructed for The Lord of The Rings films. We got a couple of photos of the sign and Gollum statue in the town and headed to the Subway via the Sushi bar to get some breakfast/lunch. The girl at Subway thought I was from New Zealand, I think it was because I mumbled a little bit but she also commented on how nice it was to serve the people from the bus as we were all so polite, which made me feel quite happy.
Back on the bus it was another couple of hours to Auckland so our driver put the film the Bucket List so we were entertained on our way to Auckland.
Auckland is most definitely the largest of all the cities in New Zealand. After a brief stop at the Kiwi Experience office we were at our hostel on Queen St where we saw a $10 pizza and beer deal that evening in the bar so we decided to do that as we felt lazy.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
It Sinks... It Really Stinks - Rotorua, New Zealand
As we were stuck in Rotorua and there wasn't too much to do on the cheap we decided that we would have a lazy start to the day and so didn't get up too early. It was a pretty lame day weather wise but it was more that we had explored Rotorua the other day and didn't really know what to do with ourselves today. We decided that we should have a lazy day and go to watch Star Trek at the cinema as we had heard pretty good things about it. This turned out to be a really good move and we were very impressed and both could have watched the movie again straight away it will be hard in our opinion for anything to top the film this English summer.
Monday, 11 May 2009
I Do Love The Smell of Sulpher in the Morning - Rotorua, New Zealand
The town of Rotorua is pretty much in the middle of the geothermal activity zone, with number of geysers, lots of hot springs and mud pools in a park across the road from our hostel causing the whole town to smell like rotten eggs. In the morning we decided to check that we were booked on the bus to Auckland the following day but when we rang up we found out that there was no bus going to Auckland on the day that we wrote on the booking sheet before going to Waitomo meaning that we had to spend another day in Rotorua, not ideal.
Although the weather looked pretty ominous we decided that we would do a walking tour of the city which started at the Museum, where we both decided that we had seen enough museums for the time being and it also wasn't free. From the museum we doubled back on ourselves heading through Princes Gate, a Maori structure that was moved there a few years back, and heading down towards the lake. We then followed the lake all the way to an old Maori village which had a pretty impressive meeting hall and other Maori carved statues. We then got a little lost and ended up walking through the hospital which we figured out was just across the road from our hostel and as our next stop was to check out the springs which meant we didn't deviate too far from the tour. There were quite a few springs in the park, one of note was actually hidden away a little bit but was the main contributor of the gas so much so that it was hard to actually see the water in it. The walking tour finished at the information centre after which we went to subway to read a few leaflets that we picked up at the information centre, as well as seeing to the hunger problem.
The rest of the day we spent in the hostel and in the evening we went for a drink with Lee and Lindsey the couple that we went on the caving tour with.
Although the weather looked pretty ominous we decided that we would do a walking tour of the city which started at the Museum, where we both decided that we had seen enough museums for the time being and it also wasn't free. From the museum we doubled back on ourselves heading through Princes Gate, a Maori structure that was moved there a few years back, and heading down towards the lake. We then followed the lake all the way to an old Maori village which had a pretty impressive meeting hall and other Maori carved statues. We then got a little lost and ended up walking through the hospital which we figured out was just across the road from our hostel and as our next stop was to check out the springs which meant we didn't deviate too far from the tour. There were quite a few springs in the park, one of note was actually hidden away a little bit but was the main contributor of the gas so much so that it was hard to actually see the water in it. The walking tour finished at the information centre after which we went to subway to read a few leaflets that we picked up at the information centre, as well as seeing to the hunger problem.
The rest of the day we spent in the hostel and in the evening we went for a drink with Lee and Lindsey the couple that we went on the caving tour with.
Sunday, 10 May 2009
A Caving Advenure - Waitomo, New Zealand
A bacon sandwich to start the day as we set off to do a caving adventure tour in Waitomo meaning we had to be on the bus for 7:30am. There were a couple that we knew from our south island bus also doing the Abyss today so we waited for the bus together. A minibus arrived just after 7:30 and we were on our way to the caves. We got to the centre about an hour before the actual tour started and as I was struggling to open the lock on my large bag I just took it off the bus so the driver could leave. I continued to struggle with my poundland lock (I guess it is to be expected, it had been stiff for quite sometime) eventually I got the lock off and managed to get my towel and swim shorts as it turned out we needed them. I did actual struggle to even get the key out of the lock, I don't think I be using it again.
Snappy and Andy were going to be our guides for the day and we had about 10 people in our group for the Abyss. We started by getting all the gear that we would need which included: wet suit, waterproof soaks, a wet suit jacket, thermal top (Ollie got one of these), helmet with light, a couple of carabina, and a device I can't remember the name of which allowed us to abseil. We then had a short drive out to the hole we would be abseiling down and a quick lesson on how to abseil before taking it in turns to abseil the 30 metres into the cave. Me and Ollie had a bit of a wait at the top cause we decided to go in last but we would only have had to wait in the cave anyway. We both abseiled down with relative ease although a couple of points I decided that I was going to fast so stopped myself a little abruptly which hurt my back a little bit.
Once in the cave we could see a few glow-worms with our light turned off then we were off through the cave along a few narrow passage which took us to a zip-wire known as the flying fox. This would allowed us to get down to the next part of the cave otherwise it was a 20 metre drop into relatively shallow water. Once everyone was down the bottom we all sat over the edge about a 5 metre drop to the water to have a hot drink and a biscuit little did we know that we would be jumping off the rock onto our tubes (rubber rings) a few moments later. We were then told by Andy to jump off the rock and land on the tube, I was convinced that I was just going to fall out to the tube straight away but managed to stay in but oh my the water was pretty darn cold, bit of a shock to the system.
We then went tubing down the river feeling pretty cold to begin with when we stopped briefly to turn out our light and check out the glow worms, which Snappy told us were really just glowing fly lava that first of all fed off their brothers and sisters before forming their maggot stage on the walls and finally reaching their fly stage surviving for just enough days to mate where the male would die and the female would die after giving birth, so really we were in glow-maggot caves. We continued to tube down the river before briefly stopping and then going the other way back to where we originally jumped on the tubes. We then were told we were getting of the tube and wading for the rest of the trip this initial bust of water into the wetsuit made us very cold again.
We then explored parts of the cave wading through some deep water and some very shallow water always nearly falling over because of the constant change of depth of water under our feet and rocks. We waded down a couple of small waterfalls before getting to some very deep water where we swam/waded under a narrow gap in the rock.
The final part of the expedition would have us climb up two waterfalls and we were told that it was pretty tricky but we would be given guidance of where to put our feet and hand so we could climb up. The first waterfall was a good 5 metres high and wasn't too difficult to climb but really did look it when you saw other people doing it. The second wasn't quite so high and wasn't quite as hard to climb up but it had no pool of water at the bottom to fall back into if you did slip! We both made it over the two waterfalls with relative ease and then proceeded out of the tunnel to see daylight for the first time in a couple of hours.
We then caught the bus to Rotorua where we arrived at about 6pm.
Snappy and Andy were going to be our guides for the day and we had about 10 people in our group for the Abyss. We started by getting all the gear that we would need which included: wet suit, waterproof soaks, a wet suit jacket, thermal top (Ollie got one of these), helmet with light, a couple of carabina, and a device I can't remember the name of which allowed us to abseil. We then had a short drive out to the hole we would be abseiling down and a quick lesson on how to abseil before taking it in turns to abseil the 30 metres into the cave. Me and Ollie had a bit of a wait at the top cause we decided to go in last but we would only have had to wait in the cave anyway. We both abseiled down with relative ease although a couple of points I decided that I was going to fast so stopped myself a little abruptly which hurt my back a little bit.
Once in the cave we could see a few glow-worms with our light turned off then we were off through the cave along a few narrow passage which took us to a zip-wire known as the flying fox. This would allowed us to get down to the next part of the cave otherwise it was a 20 metre drop into relatively shallow water. Once everyone was down the bottom we all sat over the edge about a 5 metre drop to the water to have a hot drink and a biscuit little did we know that we would be jumping off the rock onto our tubes (rubber rings) a few moments later. We were then told by Andy to jump off the rock and land on the tube, I was convinced that I was just going to fall out to the tube straight away but managed to stay in but oh my the water was pretty darn cold, bit of a shock to the system.
We then went tubing down the river feeling pretty cold to begin with when we stopped briefly to turn out our light and check out the glow worms, which Snappy told us were really just glowing fly lava that first of all fed off their brothers and sisters before forming their maggot stage on the walls and finally reaching their fly stage surviving for just enough days to mate where the male would die and the female would die after giving birth, so really we were in glow-maggot caves. We continued to tube down the river before briefly stopping and then going the other way back to where we originally jumped on the tubes. We then were told we were getting of the tube and wading for the rest of the trip this initial bust of water into the wetsuit made us very cold again.
We then explored parts of the cave wading through some deep water and some very shallow water always nearly falling over because of the constant change of depth of water under our feet and rocks. We waded down a couple of small waterfalls before getting to some very deep water where we swam/waded under a narrow gap in the rock.
The final part of the expedition would have us climb up two waterfalls and we were told that it was pretty tricky but we would be given guidance of where to put our feet and hand so we could climb up. The first waterfall was a good 5 metres high and wasn't too difficult to climb but really did look it when you saw other people doing it. The second wasn't quite so high and wasn't quite as hard to climb up but it had no pool of water at the bottom to fall back into if you did slip! We both made it over the two waterfalls with relative ease and then proceeded out of the tunnel to see daylight for the first time in a couple of hours.
We then caught the bus to Rotorua where we arrived at about 6pm.
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Fly me to the moon... - Taupo, New Zealand
The weather today was good enough so that we could actually do something which was quite amazing as we thought it was still going to be raining quite hard today. We decided to make the most of the break in the wet weather by going for a walk to The Craters Of The Moon, no that isn't an exaggeration it was geothermal site a few kilometres outside of Taupo. The walk started with us going past the sight of the Taupo bungy which was on a ledge extended over the river Waikato and as we saw one person jump we were very tempted to have another go. The walk continued to an adventure playground where I just had to go on the zip wire, sometime you just have to do these things. Back to the walk again we followed the Waikato river to some hot springs and then continued on route to the Huka falls as we had to pass this way to get to the Craters of the Moon. We then saw a guy pass us followed by his white dog, this really meant nothing to us at the time but a couple of minutes later a women dog walker asks us if we had seen a white dog. It turned out that the white dog had bitten some poor guys foot further up the track *pulls shirt collar*. We walked passed the Huka falls to a picnic site a little further up. This is where Ollie started to sing song about raining which quite obviously was going to jinx the fact it had stayed dry and quite sunny up to this point.
The Craters of the Moon was still a good 30 minute walk up hill once we had found the right direction. The walk around the geothermal site took about 30 minutes and we saw a lot of steam coming from rocks and some quite impressive mud pools. We were sick of the smell of sulphur by the end though. Thanks to Ollie it started to rain whilst we were walking around although it was only a brief shower, so enough time to take our coats out put them then for the rain to stop. For the journey back we decided to walk along the road hoping that it would be quicker. It wasn't really any quicker and it also began to rain and didn't really stop until we reached a sign welcoming us to Taupo, still another 3km to the centre of town.
Once back at the hostel we were hoping to see some of our Kiwi Experience friends but the hostel was still really empty so we just sat around in our room for a bit having a rest from our walk. When the Kiwi bus did arrive nobody that we really knew was on it although we had heard that it had broken down for 2 hours.
The Craters of the Moon was still a good 30 minute walk up hill once we had found the right direction. The walk around the geothermal site took about 30 minutes and we saw a lot of steam coming from rocks and some quite impressive mud pools. We were sick of the smell of sulphur by the end though. Thanks to Ollie it started to rain whilst we were walking around although it was only a brief shower, so enough time to take our coats out put them then for the rain to stop. For the journey back we decided to walk along the road hoping that it would be quicker. It wasn't really any quicker and it also began to rain and didn't really stop until we reached a sign welcoming us to Taupo, still another 3km to the centre of town.
Once back at the hostel we were hoping to see some of our Kiwi Experience friends but the hostel was still really empty so we just sat around in our room for a bit having a rest from our walk. When the Kiwi bus did arrive nobody that we really knew was on it although we had heard that it had broken down for 2 hours.
Friday, 8 May 2009
Untitled 1 - Taupo, New Zealand
We set off for Taupo quite early, we can't remember if it was raining or not which means it probably wasn't. We arrived in Taupo by about 2pm after we had dropped people off to do the skydive as the weather was clear enough over the lake to do today but the Tongorio Crossing was definitely off until after Sunday meaning we wouldn't be able to do it in the time we had in Taupo, which made me a sad panda.
We then got a lift to the Huka falls an impressive waterfall on the Waikato river which was the main river flowing into Lake Taupo. The falls were pretty impressive with the aqua blue water flowing through the gorges before plummeting over the small but powerful falls.
We knew the weather for the next few day wasn't going to be too amazing and as our driver, Dave put it. It is going to be Poos and Wees, he really did like this phrase and it amused me every time he mentioned . We decided to have a few drinks as the jugs of Snakebite at our hostel were very cheap and we played a bit of pool were I managed to take the lead in the overall pool series 6-5 for the first time with the standard of pool definitely the highest so far.
We then got a lift to the Huka falls an impressive waterfall on the Waikato river which was the main river flowing into Lake Taupo. The falls were pretty impressive with the aqua blue water flowing through the gorges before plummeting over the small but powerful falls.
We knew the weather for the next few day wasn't going to be too amazing and as our driver, Dave put it. It is going to be Poos and Wees, he really did like this phrase and it amused me every time he mentioned . We decided to have a few drinks as the jugs of Snakebite at our hostel were very cheap and we played a bit of pool were I managed to take the lead in the overall pool series 6-5 for the first time with the standard of pool definitely the highest so far.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Poos and Wees - Taupo, New Zealand
We set off for Taupo quite early, we can't remember if it was raining or not which means it probably wasn't. We arrived in Taupo by about 2pm after we had dropped people off to do the skydive as the weather was clear enough over the lake to do today but the Tongorio Crossing was definitely off until after Sunday meaning we wouldn't be able to do it in the time we had in Taupo, which made me a sad panda.
We then got a lift to the Huka falls an impressive waterfall on the Waikaru river which was the main river flowing into Lake Taupo. The falls were pretty impressive with the aqua blue water flowing through the gorges before plummeting over the small but powerful falls.
We knew the weather for the next few day wasn't going to be too amazing and as our driver, Dave put it. It is going to be Poos and Wees, he really did like this phrase and it amused me every time he mentioned . We decided to have a few drinks as the jugs of Snakebite at our hostel were very cheap and we played a bit of pool were I managed to take the lead in the overall pool series 6-5 for the first time with the standard of pool definitely the highest so far.
We then got a lift to the Huka falls an impressive waterfall on the Waikaru river which was the main river flowing into Lake Taupo. The falls were pretty impressive with the aqua blue water flowing through the gorges before plummeting over the small but powerful falls.
We knew the weather for the next few day wasn't going to be too amazing and as our driver, Dave put it. It is going to be Poos and Wees, he really did like this phrase and it amused me every time he mentioned . We decided to have a few drinks as the jugs of Snakebite at our hostel were very cheap and we played a bit of pool were I managed to take the lead in the overall pool series 6-5 for the first time with the standard of pool definitely the highest so far.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
You might just need your Wellington's – Wellington, New Zealand
Finally the day where we would reach the North Island is here. We started out for the ferry in Picton at about 9am and arrived just gone mid-day and boarded the Ferry shortly afterwards. The ferry took about 4 hours in which time we sat in the on board bar watching a re-run of Sunderland Vs Everton whilst doing some puzzles in the Kiwi Experience guide book, Ollie managed to complete all the Sudoku and was very pleased with himself, me and Gemima really didn't care that much.
I forgot to mention that it was chucking it down with rain for most of the ferry journey and continued to do so in Wellington. In the evening as it was still raining we got a pizza and decided that we would take the opportunity to instead of walking round Wellington go to the cinema and watch Wolverine. In the end we didn't really see Wellington which is a little sad because there were a list of “100 free things to do in Wellington” on the YHA board. We were short on time but we probably should have stayed a little longer but we were hoping to do the Taurongio crossing from Taupo.
I apologise again this is pretty dull reading but seriously it wasn't the greatest of days as we arrived late and it was raining.
I forgot to mention that it was chucking it down with rain for most of the ferry journey and continued to do so in Wellington. In the evening as it was still raining we got a pizza and decided that we would take the opportunity to instead of walking round Wellington go to the cinema and watch Wolverine. In the end we didn't really see Wellington which is a little sad because there were a list of “100 free things to do in Wellington” on the YHA board. We were short on time but we probably should have stayed a little longer but we were hoping to do the Taurongio crossing from Taupo.
I apologise again this is pretty dull reading but seriously it wasn't the greatest of days as we arrived late and it was raining.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
There's Nothing to do in Kaikoura When It Rains, Except get S*** Faced - Kaikoura, New Zealand
Day 2 of our travel to the North Island another exciting day in Kaikoura, well it was meant to be more exciting as we decided we would go Whale watching based on what Tom said about it in Queenstown. As we got to Kaikoura though, the sea was very rough and our driver informed us that it probably wouldn't go ahead today but we remained hopeful.
We checked in and walked to the whale watching centre only to see the screen indicating that the tours were awaiting confirmation from the captain. A couple of seconds later our hopes were dashed as they told us the whales were outside the range that the boat is allowed to go. We now had no idea what we were going to do as we had already done the round walk last time and we didn't fancy walking all that way again. We decided to casually stroll through town to take a look at the seal colony again. We finally reached the seal colony we were pleasantly surprised that this time there were lots of the smelly fur seals which made us a little happier as it is quite a walk just to see a couple of seals.
That evening we hung around with our new room-mates Gemima, Ian and Tom. We all decided to go to the pub quiz which had a maximum team size of 4 so me and Ollie just entered as a two and did alright, well not last anyway. The guy then made a comment after the quiz about there being nothing to do in Kaikoura when it rains except s*** faced. We then played couple of Kiwis at pool and we won 2-1 which meant we spent $14 on 4 beers result! Victory for England WOOOO!!!
We checked in and walked to the whale watching centre only to see the screen indicating that the tours were awaiting confirmation from the captain. A couple of seconds later our hopes were dashed as they told us the whales were outside the range that the boat is allowed to go. We now had no idea what we were going to do as we had already done the round walk last time and we didn't fancy walking all that way again. We decided to casually stroll through town to take a look at the seal colony again. We finally reached the seal colony we were pleasantly surprised that this time there were lots of the smelly fur seals which made us a little happier as it is quite a walk just to see a couple of seals.
That evening we hung around with our new room-mates Gemima, Ian and Tom. We all decided to go to the pub quiz which had a maximum team size of 4 so me and Ollie just entered as a two and did alright, well not last anyway. The guy then made a comment after the quiz about there being nothing to do in Kaikoura when it rains except s*** faced. We then played couple of Kiwis at pool and we won 2-1 which meant we spent $14 on 4 beers result! Victory for England WOOOO!!!
Monday, 4 May 2009
Back to BASE
Nothing too exciting for you dedicated followers today I'm afraid we have begun our trip to the North Island with a long drive from Queenstown to Christchurch where we would be staying at the BASE hostel. The highlights of the day included a stop off at a glacier lake with a really good view over to Mount Cook and view surrounding mountain ranges. The glacier lakes are just an unbelievable aqua blue colour that is really hard to put into words and on a nice sunny day it is truly an amazing sight. The other highlight of our day was when we decided to go for a couple of drinks and Ollie managed to attract yet another crazy guy with his bearded look. We really struggled to understand what the intoxicated Kiwi was trying to say but he was obsessed with shaking Ollies hand. We eventually ran away when he was going to chat up some girls, unluckily for them but we were glad.
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Well I would walk 500 hundred miles.... - Te Anau, New Zealand
Today I decided that we should do a half day trek along the Keplar track, a 60km walk which should take about 4 days. Originally the plan was to walk a stretch that led down a river to a place known as Rainbow Reach. Unfortunately, we got up a little late to attempt this as we had to catch a bus at 17:15pm it would be pushing it a little. Instead we walked in the opposite direction to Brod Bay which was a little beach area on the lake which would have been a decent swimming spot if it wasn't so cold. The trek took us through a forest mainly full of beach trees and mushrooms it took us about 2 hours to reach from the information centre. Then I decided we should try to walk further in the track which would take us up hill in hope of getting a good view over Te Anau. It turned out that we just kept walking up and finding more trees so after about an hour we decided we best head back down this was a little demoralising as we were sure that it wasn't too far to a viewing point but we looked at the positives like it was good exercise and we walked above the cloud, although it turned out that the cloud had just burnt off. By the time we had finished the walk we had been walking for about 6 hours with only limited stops, our legs hurt quite a lot after this so we were very glad of the rest in the cafe whilst waiting for the bus.
On our way back Mangee put “It's All Gone Pete Tong” on and although I thought that this film was going to be a bit like “Kevin and Perry Go Large” it was nothing like it and was much better than we thought and quite deep in places.
On our way back Mangee put “It's All Gone Pete Tong” on and although I thought that this film was going to be a bit like “Kevin and Perry Go Large” it was nothing like it and was much better than we thought and quite deep in places.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Milford Fiord - Milford Sound, New Zealand
Our whole room was of to visit Milford Sound today so we had four different alarms set to ensure we got up and other than myself everyone got up on the last after several snoozes. It was another beautiful sunny day in Queenstown we might even get to see Milford in the sun quite a rare sight as it is rainy more days than it is sunny.
Our driver for the day was a guy called Mangee, pretty cool guy but 100% nuts. There was only about 10 of us on the trip which was great as it sped things up and more importantly meant more food for us at the buffet. As we were running ahead of schedule Mangee decided to take a quick stop off in a village just outside Queenstown so we could take pictures of the lake and an old steam train, which apparently was used to advertise Cabury's Crunchie back in I think the 1980s
After that stop we were on route to Te Anau (the place we would be stopping the night). It was very misty round Te Anau but we were told that would burn off pretty very rapidly by midday and Milford would be similar to Queenstown, nice and sunny. Sure enough the cloud burnt off on route to Milford and we got awesome views of the mountain ranges and their reflection in the Mirror Lakes. Mangee told us that he had seen it quite as good as today for quite some time and it was one of his favourite days for viewing the lakes although his personal favourite was when it chucked it down.
We stopped a few times on route to Milford Sound to view the lakes, waterfalls, and the tunnel which we had to go through close to Milford Sound. On Arrival at the docking bay at Milford Sound we were all pretty hungry and all glad to get on board and enjoy the buffet a good few times :D.
Once we were satisfied we crawled to the top deck to enjoy the views Milford Fiord had to offer (yes it is a fiord ad not a sound, it was incorrectly labelled a Sound). It was pretty cool and gave us some good views all the way out to the Tasman sea before we turned round and saw a seal and a pretty big waterfall up close. Then we visited the underwater observatory which to be honest was pretty lame. We were told that a shark had been spotted the other day and that dolphins are also spotted regularly but during our briefly visit we just saw a few fish. It then began to rain which was pretty good as it gave spectacular misty views of Mitre peak.
It was then time to leave Milford and we headed back to Te Anau where we crashed out pretty early due to the morning starts and partying in Queenstown.
Our driver for the day was a guy called Mangee, pretty cool guy but 100% nuts. There was only about 10 of us on the trip which was great as it sped things up and more importantly meant more food for us at the buffet. As we were running ahead of schedule Mangee decided to take a quick stop off in a village just outside Queenstown so we could take pictures of the lake and an old steam train, which apparently was used to advertise Cabury's Crunchie back in I think the 1980s
After that stop we were on route to Te Anau (the place we would be stopping the night). It was very misty round Te Anau but we were told that would burn off pretty very rapidly by midday and Milford would be similar to Queenstown, nice and sunny. Sure enough the cloud burnt off on route to Milford and we got awesome views of the mountain ranges and their reflection in the Mirror Lakes. Mangee told us that he had seen it quite as good as today for quite some time and it was one of his favourite days for viewing the lakes although his personal favourite was when it chucked it down.
We stopped a few times on route to Milford Sound to view the lakes, waterfalls, and the tunnel which we had to go through close to Milford Sound. On Arrival at the docking bay at Milford Sound we were all pretty hungry and all glad to get on board and enjoy the buffet a good few times :D.
Once we were satisfied we crawled to the top deck to enjoy the views Milford Fiord had to offer (yes it is a fiord ad not a sound, it was incorrectly labelled a Sound). It was pretty cool and gave us some good views all the way out to the Tasman sea before we turned round and saw a seal and a pretty big waterfall up close. Then we visited the underwater observatory which to be honest was pretty lame. We were told that a shark had been spotted the other day and that dolphins are also spotted regularly but during our briefly visit we just saw a few fish. It then began to rain which was pretty good as it gave spectacular misty views of Mitre peak.
It was then time to leave Milford and we headed back to Te Anau where we crashed out pretty early due to the morning starts and partying in Queenstown.
Friday, 1 May 2009
Go ahead and Jump - Queenstown, New Zealand
So it is here.... the day of the big jump, nervous rating currently quite low anticipation & excitement help give me the energy to wake up after the last night. We met the other jumpers on our bus Harry, Nick, Kate and Eviand (Harry still wasn't feeling too great after last night) and headed over to the bungy station. Once there we weighed in to determine the bungy rope we would use. We still had a 30 minute wait till be set off to the bungy site and me and Ollie were still pretty cool and were finally realising that we are about to go through the the jump. After chilling out on some bean bags we were on our way to the bungy site about a 45 minute drive to a canyon that we passed on our way into Queenstown. The tunes on the way helped get us in the right mood and included such tracks as Song 2 by Blur, Jump by Van Halen, Jump Around by House of Pain.
When we arrived to the site we got our harnesses and were reweighed, no backing out now. Before I know it Ollie, who got his harness on a little before me, was pointing me to the cable car I was a little confused but suddenly realised I was going out to the bungy platform to watch Ollie as he was jumping second. My nervousness went up a notch during the cable car trip but I regained composure pretty quickly on the bungy platform. It is pretty hard for me to write Ollie's exact emotions but he can't be bothered to write them himself so you'll have to make do with the little I gathered or ask him yourself. There is a pretty good photo that seems to show Ollie's pre-jump nerves. I myself wasn't sure when I was going to be jumping as I went out with the first four I thought I might jump after them but this was not to be and I would just have to wait until all the people heavier than me had jumped, nervous rating slightly up and anticipation went through the roof.
The first jumper was an Irish girl and she set a very high standard and really didn't seem to show any sign of nerves, I was beginning to get used to the fact we were now suspended over 134 metre above the base of the canyon and she definitely helped my confidence. Now it was Ollie's turn to get prepared for his jump and he was look very nervous at the point when they called his name, by this point Nick and Harry had arrived with Lucy (who was just watching). He was sat in the seat looking a little more nervous than I had seen him previously getting strapped up and I found myself getting pretty nervous just watching him but also wishing I could just straight after but I knew I had quite a few jumpers ahead of me. In just a few short seconds Ollie was standing over the edge of the platform, he told me afterwards that he “S*** himself” but to me it seemed like he was relatively in control, considering the situation of being over 134 metres above the canyon base. Then the count down 3........2........1 and he jumped, UNBELIEVEABLE GEOFF! This helped really pump me up shame I would have to wait so long. I watched as he tried to pull the leg cord that would right him so that he wouldn't have to come back up upside down but his cord was a little tight so he tried for a while before giving up and hanging upside down to be lifted back up... Not Ideal! Although he was ecstatic when I spoke to him post jump and absolutely loved the experience and now I just had to wait...
Harry said a few days later that “he looked at red as his t-shirt”
I watched as both Nick and Harry jumped also very composed and also gave similar reactions following their jumps, getting me really pumped and ready to do it for real. Although Harry let out a very girly shout. Kate and Eivan came over on the cable car then Ollie, Nick, Harry and Lucy all headed back that made me a little nervous but I still had a couple of people I knew there with me at least. It turned out that Eivan was jumping before me nervous, hells yeah! I then heard my name call and my heart skipped a beat momentarily and then I confidently strolled over to the chair to get hooked up, while this was going on Eivan had just got back on the platform and looked pretty happy. Then time moved very quickly and I getting up ready to jump, I thought I would be fine but I looked over the edge and now the nerves hit me big time I said out loud “I can't do this” even though I knew that I would. The bungy guy said I could do it and I believe all I said was “ok” and then he began the count down 3......oh s***.......2 I have to do this everyone else has and I'm way to tight to waste the money...1 and then I went for it and jumped, well I say jumped but it wasn't the best. I was pretty scared for the first couple of seconds then relaxed a little more before calming down a little more on the first sign that the rope was holding my weight and then I let out the tension my shouting something like “Oh my God.......Yeah!” when I finally puled the cord to sit up again I got to view the spectacular canyon and the great height I had jumped for a few seconds before I got pulled back up.
Meanwhile little to my knowledge Ollie was about to do the Nevis Arc, the world highest swing and it too was over the canyon. He did this cause our room mate Nick wanted to do it and they were offering it cheap if you do it as a pair. I might have seen their swing cause I was travelling back on the cable car and saw from a distance what it looked like two people on the swing, I was still really buzzing from my jump at this point. We then purchased our DVDs and got the free t-shirt and Ollie got a hat for doing the Arc and headed to the bus which would take us back to Queenstown.
We talked to a few people about our jumps and what it felt like before running into Tom who told us if we have time, to walk up the hill next to the gondola to the viewing area. He told us the walk would take about 1 hour 30 minutes and it was quite intense to begin with. Still buzzing from the jump we decided to go and boy was Tom right the initial path was very rocky, steep and had a lot of trees but luckily the path wasn't too long and reached the road which would take us the rest of the way, winding up the hill which seemed like forever. It was well worth the effort to climb, we were now 487 metres above sea level and had great views of Queenstown and its mountain ranges. We then walked a little loop around the luge track before heading back down the hill before it got dark.
In the evening we hung around with people from the Kiwi bus playing some pool and having a few drinks. I almost forgot we had our first Fergburger which everyone who visits Queenstown will know exactly what I mean, for anyone else it is a very famous burger restaurant. I can say we honestly weren't disappointed despite all of the hype.
When we arrived to the site we got our harnesses and were reweighed, no backing out now. Before I know it Ollie, who got his harness on a little before me, was pointing me to the cable car I was a little confused but suddenly realised I was going out to the bungy platform to watch Ollie as he was jumping second. My nervousness went up a notch during the cable car trip but I regained composure pretty quickly on the bungy platform. It is pretty hard for me to write Ollie's exact emotions but he can't be bothered to write them himself so you'll have to make do with the little I gathered or ask him yourself. There is a pretty good photo that seems to show Ollie's pre-jump nerves. I myself wasn't sure when I was going to be jumping as I went out with the first four I thought I might jump after them but this was not to be and I would just have to wait until all the people heavier than me had jumped, nervous rating slightly up and anticipation went through the roof.
The first jumper was an Irish girl and she set a very high standard and really didn't seem to show any sign of nerves, I was beginning to get used to the fact we were now suspended over 134 metre above the base of the canyon and she definitely helped my confidence. Now it was Ollie's turn to get prepared for his jump and he was look very nervous at the point when they called his name, by this point Nick and Harry had arrived with Lucy (who was just watching). He was sat in the seat looking a little more nervous than I had seen him previously getting strapped up and I found myself getting pretty nervous just watching him but also wishing I could just straight after but I knew I had quite a few jumpers ahead of me. In just a few short seconds Ollie was standing over the edge of the platform, he told me afterwards that he “S*** himself” but to me it seemed like he was relatively in control, considering the situation of being over 134 metres above the canyon base. Then the count down 3........2........1 and he jumped, UNBELIEVEABLE GEOFF! This helped really pump me up shame I would have to wait so long. I watched as he tried to pull the leg cord that would right him so that he wouldn't have to come back up upside down but his cord was a little tight so he tried for a while before giving up and hanging upside down to be lifted back up... Not Ideal! Although he was ecstatic when I spoke to him post jump and absolutely loved the experience and now I just had to wait...
Harry said a few days later that “he looked at red as his t-shirt”
I watched as both Nick and Harry jumped also very composed and also gave similar reactions following their jumps, getting me really pumped and ready to do it for real. Although Harry let out a very girly shout. Kate and Eivan came over on the cable car then Ollie, Nick, Harry and Lucy all headed back that made me a little nervous but I still had a couple of people I knew there with me at least. It turned out that Eivan was jumping before me nervous, hells yeah! I then heard my name call and my heart skipped a beat momentarily and then I confidently strolled over to the chair to get hooked up, while this was going on Eivan had just got back on the platform and looked pretty happy. Then time moved very quickly and I getting up ready to jump, I thought I would be fine but I looked over the edge and now the nerves hit me big time I said out loud “I can't do this” even though I knew that I would. The bungy guy said I could do it and I believe all I said was “ok” and then he began the count down 3......oh s***.......2 I have to do this everyone else has and I'm way to tight to waste the money...1 and then I went for it and jumped, well I say jumped but it wasn't the best. I was pretty scared for the first couple of seconds then relaxed a little more before calming down a little more on the first sign that the rope was holding my weight and then I let out the tension my shouting something like “Oh my God.......Yeah!” when I finally puled the cord to sit up again I got to view the spectacular canyon and the great height I had jumped for a few seconds before I got pulled back up.
Meanwhile little to my knowledge Ollie was about to do the Nevis Arc, the world highest swing and it too was over the canyon. He did this cause our room mate Nick wanted to do it and they were offering it cheap if you do it as a pair. I might have seen their swing cause I was travelling back on the cable car and saw from a distance what it looked like two people on the swing, I was still really buzzing from my jump at this point. We then purchased our DVDs and got the free t-shirt and Ollie got a hat for doing the Arc and headed to the bus which would take us back to Queenstown.
We talked to a few people about our jumps and what it felt like before running into Tom who told us if we have time, to walk up the hill next to the gondola to the viewing area. He told us the walk would take about 1 hour 30 minutes and it was quite intense to begin with. Still buzzing from the jump we decided to go and boy was Tom right the initial path was very rocky, steep and had a lot of trees but luckily the path wasn't too long and reached the road which would take us the rest of the way, winding up the hill which seemed like forever. It was well worth the effort to climb, we were now 487 metres above sea level and had great views of Queenstown and its mountain ranges. We then walked a little loop around the luge track before heading back down the hill before it got dark.
In the evening we hung around with people from the Kiwi bus playing some pool and having a few drinks. I almost forgot we had our first Fergburger which everyone who visits Queenstown will know exactly what I mean, for anyone else it is a very famous burger restaurant. I can say we honestly weren't disappointed despite all of the hype.
Thursday, 30 April 2009
AMazing - Queenstown, New Zealand
We were very excited this morning as we get to go to Puzzling World, we had high expectation of this place mainly down to Casey. It definitely lived up to expectations and with a bargain bacon butty meant we also didn't go hungry. Puzzling World has rooms inside full of illusions and holograms and outside was a giant maze. One of the rooms was full of faces which gave the illusion that they were following you around the room, it was a pretty neat trick which used three dimension concave faces. Another impressive room was tilted a 15° which really screwed with your mind as they had a pool table that was titled in such a way it seemed impossible that the balls could roll up the table and a chair that appeared to slide up rather than down. The final room worth a mention used perspective to create an illusion that one person was a giant and the other was tiny if they were viewed from the window outside the room.
I remember looking at my watch and I didn't have a lot of time for the maze, this was my favourite part of Puzzling World so I just had to complete it. I saw it as a challenge as only I seemed to and I did eventually managed to find all the towers of the maze but it would have been a lot easier had I not decided to start with a specific tower. I then joined Ollie and some of the others to quickly eat my bacon sandwich before rejoining the bus, and no I wasn't the last person out of the maze!!
Out next stop off was the Kawarau bridge where two girls on our bus where down the 41 metre bungy, it allowed us a glimpse of what we were letting ourselves in for and this was only 1/3 of the height of the Nevis. Before anyone jumped we watch a video called “The Secrets of Bungy” we got this for free but I would not pay for it! It showed clips of how AJ Hackett liked Bungy and want to take his friends to different location and jump off, mainly bridges and then how he wanted to make it 100% safe so that anyone could do it...etc etc etc. Although we got to see a lot of clips of people Bungying which started to get us pumped but we still had about a day till our jump.
We then went to the bridge to watch and cheer the two girls and although they were both pretty nervous and verbally so in both cases they did both in the end manage to summon up the courage to throw themselves of the bridge and they both seemed to really enjoy it.
We had a short journey to Queenstown where we would be having a Kiwi Experience party later . I decide I would go over to the YHA to use the internet as I bought a package with them back in Christchurch and was just updated my Facebook status to refer to the bungy I would be doing tomorrow when Tom Bonsall (he was Chris Allsopp's housemate) messages me asking where I was, I responded Queenstown and he asked which hostel..... it turned out we were staying the same Base hostel in Queenstown so I said I would go find him and have a drink later.
Later after getting a meal, we met up with Tom had a good chat about our travels so far over a few drinks. We ended up continuing drinking with the Kiwi Experience people before going over to the World Bar, where they served cocktails in teapots! Tom met us there a bit later and we had a few more teapots and got back pretty late and we would be throwing ourselves off a platform tomorrow.
I remember looking at my watch and I didn't have a lot of time for the maze, this was my favourite part of Puzzling World so I just had to complete it. I saw it as a challenge as only I seemed to and I did eventually managed to find all the towers of the maze but it would have been a lot easier had I not decided to start with a specific tower. I then joined Ollie and some of the others to quickly eat my bacon sandwich before rejoining the bus, and no I wasn't the last person out of the maze!!
Out next stop off was the Kawarau bridge where two girls on our bus where down the 41 metre bungy, it allowed us a glimpse of what we were letting ourselves in for and this was only 1/3 of the height of the Nevis. Before anyone jumped we watch a video called “The Secrets of Bungy” we got this for free but I would not pay for it! It showed clips of how AJ Hackett liked Bungy and want to take his friends to different location and jump off, mainly bridges and then how he wanted to make it 100% safe so that anyone could do it...etc etc etc. Although we got to see a lot of clips of people Bungying which started to get us pumped but we still had about a day till our jump.
We then went to the bridge to watch and cheer the two girls and although they were both pretty nervous and verbally so in both cases they did both in the end manage to summon up the courage to throw themselves of the bridge and they both seemed to really enjoy it.
We had a short journey to Queenstown where we would be having a Kiwi Experience party later . I decide I would go over to the YHA to use the internet as I bought a package with them back in Christchurch and was just updated my Facebook status to refer to the bungy I would be doing tomorrow when Tom Bonsall (he was Chris Allsopp's housemate) messages me asking where I was, I responded Queenstown and he asked which hostel..... it turned out we were staying the same Base hostel in Queenstown so I said I would go find him and have a drink later.
Later after getting a meal, we met up with Tom had a good chat about our travels so far over a few drinks. We ended up continuing drinking with the Kiwi Experience people before going over to the World Bar, where they served cocktails in teapots! Tom met us there a bit later and we had a few more teapots and got back pretty late and we would be throwing ourselves off a platform tomorrow.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Good old British... New Zealand Weather - Wanaka, New Zealand
Guess what folks... it's raining again, we are just glad for the half day hike we managed to do on Franz Joesph yesterday. Our schedule today had us stop of at “the most photographed area in New Zealand” Lake Matheson but because of the driving rain only one crazy Norwegian guy decided to jog there and back and all he said was he couldn't see very much.
The weather then began to improve as we started to move out of the west coast and we managed to stop off for a picnic lunch followed by a short walk to a river. We then continued on the bus to Haast, an Austrian who named a whole heap of things after himself including a pass, a bridge, a town, a beach, plus many others. After passing through the town of Haast we stopped off to view a couple of waterfalls which were a short walk from the bus and then walked over the Haast bridge.
On arrival in Wanaka we were told there was a BBQ that we could get for $6 so we just chilled out with the Norwegian guys until then and had a few beers with the rest of the guys who also decided to get the BBQ.
The weather then began to improve as we started to move out of the west coast and we managed to stop off for a picnic lunch followed by a short walk to a river. We then continued on the bus to Haast, an Austrian who named a whole heap of things after himself including a pass, a bridge, a town, a beach, plus many others. After passing through the town of Haast we stopped off to view a couple of waterfalls which were a short walk from the bus and then walked over the Haast bridge.
On arrival in Wanaka we were told there was a BBQ that we could get for $6 so we just chilled out with the Norwegian guys until then and had a few beers with the rest of the guys who also decided to get the BBQ.
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
New Zealand Is Just A Bigger Better Version Of Wales - Franz Joseph, New Zealand
A wake up call of The Saved By The Bell Theme Tune was a decent way to start the day, one of the girls in our room had this as one of her funky alarms along with a room tune that was created that night. The rain appeared to have stopped but we still weren't sure the glacier trip was going to go ahead because of the swollen river making crossing it difficult.
As soon as we were set to leave it chucked it down and we got soaked just walking to the Glacier Centre. After half an hour of continuous rain we were convinced we would have a lazy day but as yet we were told they were waiting to see if we could go on the trip. Then a little bit later we were told the trip was on, to our delight, we proceeded to get suited and booted before heading to the bus taking us the 6km to the base.
We walked down a path which had a few water hazards, surprisingly. It led us to a large stony area where the glacier used to be before it retreated over the years. It then took quite a while to walk to the base of the glacier over stony ground and wading through a couple of small but quite powerful rivers. The glacier was just stunning and so large right up close. We put our crampons on and were split up into three groups for different paces but in all honesty it was just to get smaller groups climbing up. Our leader/guide then came down from the point he was on the glacier, as some of the team were still working at cutting a route down because all the rain over the last few days had destroyed the old path. Climbing up the first part of the glacier was pretty steep and hard going but once this was over it wasn't too steep and the steps cut out were generally easy to climb given the crampons grip was amazing. The views of the glacier and surrounding waterfalls were stunning all the way up . We stopped of at a little ice cave on the way up to take photos, get a bit of lunch and allow the team to finish completion of our route down. We also saw quite a few of though pesky Kia, Chris Allsopp I'm sure can tell you all about them. My favourite part of the whole walk was a decent into an ice crevasse we pretty much climbed down a rope to get into it, this lead us down and was a new path that the team cut and even our guide seemed pretty happy with it.
After a dip in the hot tub straight after the walk we sat around playing a few card games with our roomates here and from “The Poo Pub” and had an earlier night.
As soon as we were set to leave it chucked it down and we got soaked just walking to the Glacier Centre. After half an hour of continuous rain we were convinced we would have a lazy day but as yet we were told they were waiting to see if we could go on the trip. Then a little bit later we were told the trip was on, to our delight, we proceeded to get suited and booted before heading to the bus taking us the 6km to the base.
We walked down a path which had a few water hazards, surprisingly. It led us to a large stony area where the glacier used to be before it retreated over the years. It then took quite a while to walk to the base of the glacier over stony ground and wading through a couple of small but quite powerful rivers. The glacier was just stunning and so large right up close. We put our crampons on and were split up into three groups for different paces but in all honesty it was just to get smaller groups climbing up. Our leader/guide then came down from the point he was on the glacier, as some of the team were still working at cutting a route down because all the rain over the last few days had destroyed the old path. Climbing up the first part of the glacier was pretty steep and hard going but once this was over it wasn't too steep and the steps cut out were generally easy to climb given the crampons grip was amazing. The views of the glacier and surrounding waterfalls were stunning all the way up . We stopped of at a little ice cave on the way up to take photos, get a bit of lunch and allow the team to finish completion of our route down. We also saw quite a few of though pesky Kia, Chris Allsopp I'm sure can tell you all about them. My favourite part of the whole walk was a decent into an ice crevasse we pretty much climbed down a rope to get into it, this lead us down and was a new path that the team cut and even our guide seemed pretty happy with it.
After a dip in the hot tub straight after the walk we sat around playing a few card games with our roomates here and from “The Poo Pub” and had an earlier night.
Monday, 27 April 2009
When it rains... we pour! Franz Joseph, New Zealand
As you can guess by the title the weather wasn't too kind to us today. We started on our journey down to Franz Joseph although our hopes of climbing the glacier were dashed as the full day trip was cancelled for the next day as there has been a lot of rainfall over the last few days but we still had a chance to possibly do a half day hike.
We were dropped at the Glacier Centre in the pouring rain for a brief talk about the half day hike we would possibly be on the next day. We were shown a video of the glacier on a nice sunny day, don't think that is going to happen. After that had finished a women told us there was a 90% chance that even the half day hike would be called off, we were very disappointed at these odds and as it is one of the best activities you can do in New Zealand, we need a lot of luck.
As it was raining we couldn't really do much but our driver told us to walk to the bridge as the river was meant to be at the highest level people had seen it. As the rain seemed to have stopped after we got sorted in the hostel we headed there immediately although it chucked it down after a couple of minutes. The river was very high and powerful, we learnt later that the bridge was only temporary and was just replacing the last one that got swept away.
In the evening we headed to the bar called Monsoon with a slogan “When it rains... we pour” close to our hostel as it was Kerry the kites' Birthday. I played a game of killer pool where I finished 4th just missing out on the prizes. We had a good night getting to know some more of the people on our bus.
We were dropped at the Glacier Centre in the pouring rain for a brief talk about the half day hike we would possibly be on the next day. We were shown a video of the glacier on a nice sunny day, don't think that is going to happen. After that had finished a women told us there was a 90% chance that even the half day hike would be called off, we were very disappointed at these odds and as it is one of the best activities you can do in New Zealand, we need a lot of luck.
As it was raining we couldn't really do much but our driver told us to walk to the bridge as the river was meant to be at the highest level people had seen it. As the rain seemed to have stopped after we got sorted in the hostel we headed there immediately although it chucked it down after a couple of minutes. The river was very high and powerful, we learnt later that the bridge was only temporary and was just replacing the last one that got swept away.
In the evening we headed to the bar called Monsoon with a slogan “When it rains... we pour” close to our hostel as it was Kerry the kites' Birthday. I played a game of killer pool where I finished 4th just missing out on the prizes. We had a good night getting to know some more of the people on our bus.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
The Poo Pub, Lake Mahinapua
Today we headed down to a place called Lake Mahinapua to a hostel/bar known as 'The Poo Pub' down to the fact not many people can't pronoun Mahinapua correctly. The oldest landlord in New Zealand , Les aged 84 would be our host and we heard he was a quite a character.
There were quite a few interesting stopping points on route the first, a walking track lead us to a seal colony (yes, there do seem to be quite a few seal colonies in New Zealand) it was a pretty easy going walk taking us along the cliffs where we would meet the coach at the other side. There were plenty of seals and we took this opportunity to take some more pictures as it wasn't raining yet. Our next stop off was to look at a cove which we were told not to swim in, not that we ever would cause it would be freezing cold. This was a short walk and we could see right away why you wouldn't want to swim here the tide was very strong and a guy got soaked by the tide due to his curious nature. Another stop off was at the Pancake Rocks so named because the rocks have been eroded away over the years to resemble stacked Pancakes. Watching the sea crashing against the rocks it looked pretty deadly.
Tonight was an organised fancy dress party that was arranged by KiwiExperience, giving us a good chance to make fools out of ourselves. We were informed the theme was based on the first letter of you first name which actually wasn't a bad idea I thought, Ollie thought differently as I listed all the options that initial came to mind and all he could think of was otter or ostrich. It would prove O isn't the best for figuring out what to dress as. We stopped off at a place called Greymouth to purchase items for our fancy dress with a cheap Poundland type store and a stored called Warehouse that was a little bit like Macro selling a wide range of products. I had a few different ideas but I really want to incorporate the hat I bought in Australia thus going as “Billy the Kid” was the option I finally chose although I was nearly tempted into buying a Buzz Lightyear mask and top for $20 in the end I decided that if I didn't win a prize it wasn't really worth it. Ollie struggled for ideas and we both had a think about what he could be and eventually he came to the decision of an Olympic champion, yes this is the best he could do with limited time.
When we reached the Poo pub it started to rain pretty hard and it seems like this might be set in for the rest of day so we didn't leave the hostel to go visit the lake which was about 1 km away.
The evening itself started with Les cooking us a steak, and venison stew which we had along with some pasta, salad, potato and a bread roll, it was a good feed. After we got into our costumes and headed over to the bar for the drinking to begin. The range and quality of costume were pretty good considering we had an hour and a half to find and buy the costume and no-one was going to spend a lot of money doing it, the notable ones were our room mates Dave and Brad who were a dog and a bat, Jimmy the jellyfish who won 1st prize, and Tucky who went as Tinkerbell. Everyone had a good night and we finally were kicked out at about 1am, probably wise given we had to be up at about 9am the next morning.
There were quite a few interesting stopping points on route the first, a walking track lead us to a seal colony (yes, there do seem to be quite a few seal colonies in New Zealand) it was a pretty easy going walk taking us along the cliffs where we would meet the coach at the other side. There were plenty of seals and we took this opportunity to take some more pictures as it wasn't raining yet. Our next stop off was to look at a cove which we were told not to swim in, not that we ever would cause it would be freezing cold. This was a short walk and we could see right away why you wouldn't want to swim here the tide was very strong and a guy got soaked by the tide due to his curious nature. Another stop off was at the Pancake Rocks so named because the rocks have been eroded away over the years to resemble stacked Pancakes. Watching the sea crashing against the rocks it looked pretty deadly.
Tonight was an organised fancy dress party that was arranged by KiwiExperience, giving us a good chance to make fools out of ourselves. We were informed the theme was based on the first letter of you first name which actually wasn't a bad idea I thought, Ollie thought differently as I listed all the options that initial came to mind and all he could think of was otter or ostrich. It would prove O isn't the best for figuring out what to dress as. We stopped off at a place called Greymouth to purchase items for our fancy dress with a cheap Poundland type store and a stored called Warehouse that was a little bit like Macro selling a wide range of products. I had a few different ideas but I really want to incorporate the hat I bought in Australia thus going as “Billy the Kid” was the option I finally chose although I was nearly tempted into buying a Buzz Lightyear mask and top for $20 in the end I decided that if I didn't win a prize it wasn't really worth it. Ollie struggled for ideas and we both had a think about what he could be and eventually he came to the decision of an Olympic champion, yes this is the best he could do with limited time.
When we reached the Poo pub it started to rain pretty hard and it seems like this might be set in for the rest of day so we didn't leave the hostel to go visit the lake which was about 1 km away.
The evening itself started with Les cooking us a steak, and venison stew which we had along with some pasta, salad, potato and a bread roll, it was a good feed. After we got into our costumes and headed over to the bar for the drinking to begin. The range and quality of costume were pretty good considering we had an hour and a half to find and buy the costume and no-one was going to spend a lot of money doing it, the notable ones were our room mates Dave and Brad who were a dog and a bat, Jimmy the jellyfish who won 1st prize, and Tucky who went as Tinkerbell. Everyone had a good night and we finally were kicked out at about 1am, probably wise given we had to be up at about 9am the next morning.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
There's Little Here To Tickle The Imagination - Westport, New Zealand
Another journey with Kiwi Experience. Beginning our trip down towards Queenstown along the east coast heading to a little known town of Westport. The lonely planet entry for Westport includes the sentence “there's little here to tickle the imagination” not great as we don't want to spend money on activities we can do anywhere, C'est la vie. On route we stopped off for an hour walk around a lake which was pretty cool and the forecast rain held off until later so we could enjoy the walk and stone skimming. After a couple more stops to pick a few people up and drop a few people off at the activities of horse riding, jet boating and quad biking we reached Westport. The lonely planet was unfortunately right and it really isn't the great of towns add to this that it was Anzac day thus most of the shops were closed didn't help. To further help it's case it began to rain so we headed back to the shelter of our hostel via the supermarket.
Friday, 24 April 2009
Journey to the centre of New Zealand - Nelson, New Zealand
I turn over after hearing Ollie make a move, still pretty tired and look at the clock 12:15!!! Oops didn't quite mean to sleep that long that is what you get when you haven't had a proper sleep for a while I suppose. As you can probably tell we didn't get out of the hostel till about 1.
We sorted out our travel got some lunch then headed to the Botanical gardens, yes we do like Botanical gardens you might have noticed by now! And no not because it is free, it is because we like the flowers and stuff. It wasn't so much of a Botanical garden to me it was more like a large park with a rose garden. After the warmer temperatures of Australia hiding that it was actually autumn the park was very autumnal, with its trees having orange,brown,golden leaves and seeing them scattered about the ground, it made me feel like I was in England. There were also many ducks which were slightly overweight probably due to the amount of tourists. It was funny watching them struggle to swim up the river Avon.
We followed the river Avon to the memorial bridge and to a shop where Ollie's dreams of the perfect Kit-Kat Chunky were dashed as the Caramel variety didn't live up to his high expectations, maybe one day he will find the perfect bar. We then walked around town for a little while before heading back to the hostel.
We sorted out our travel got some lunch then headed to the Botanical gardens, yes we do like Botanical gardens you might have noticed by now! And no not because it is free, it is because we like the flowers and stuff. It wasn't so much of a Botanical garden to me it was more like a large park with a rose garden. After the warmer temperatures of Australia hiding that it was actually autumn the park was very autumnal, with its trees having orange,brown,golden leaves and seeing them scattered about the ground, it made me feel like I was in England. There were also many ducks which were slightly overweight probably due to the amount of tourists. It was funny watching them struggle to swim up the river Avon.
We followed the river Avon to the memorial bridge and to a shop where Ollie's dreams of the perfect Kit-Kat Chunky were dashed as the Caramel variety didn't live up to his high expectations, maybe one day he will find the perfect bar. We then walked around town for a little while before heading back to the hostel.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Signed and Sealed!
What have we gotten ourselves into was the thought at about 6:30am having to get up early wasn't too fun. This was the start of our top-dog bus pass with Kiwi Experience. Our driver, Damo turned up roughly on time, it turned out we were the first pick up luckily before all the chaos at the next stop with several people getting turned away. I was a little concerned about the rest of our trip given that we are tight on time but Damo seemed to think it would be alright, not too convinced at yet!
Anyway a bit of information for all you guys is that Kaikoura in Maori means to eat crayfish. I'm sharing this with you all because I have either heard or read about it far too much. Kaikoura wasn't too far about 4 hours on the bus with a stop off. While on the bus we were told about whale watching and dolphin swimming were popular and we could book trips but we decided we would do a walk to a seal colony and loop back round over the cliffs as that was free! And we would also be coming back through Kaikoura.
On arrival we were taken to our hostel for the night “the lazy shag” (yes it's a bird). We dumped our packs and headed towards the seal colony and of course food. It was quite a walk along the coast further than we thought anyway. When we got there we saw one seal!!! I thought it was meant to be a colony. Oh well we got within 10 metres of it and got a few good photos. I then proceeded along some rocks leading around the shore and found another seal that seemed to be waving at me, well just before Ollie came over and then it just turned away and started cleaning itself. After we continued our walk which looped back round to the town over the cliffs which gave spectacular views of the mountain range, check the photos.... Yes I know what you are thinking they probably aren't uploaded yet but this takes time people be patient . It also gave great views of the Tasman sea and luckily quite a few seals out on a rock not too far from the shore but far enough to avoid people. The walk took a little while to complete but it gave us a great taste of what New Zealand has to offer and we both like it!!
Anyway a bit of information for all you guys is that Kaikoura in Maori means to eat crayfish. I'm sharing this with you all because I have either heard or read about it far too much. Kaikoura wasn't too far about 4 hours on the bus with a stop off. While on the bus we were told about whale watching and dolphin swimming were popular and we could book trips but we decided we would do a walk to a seal colony and loop back round over the cliffs as that was free! And we would also be coming back through Kaikoura.
On arrival we were taken to our hostel for the night “the lazy shag” (yes it's a bird). We dumped our packs and headed towards the seal colony and of course food. It was quite a walk along the coast further than we thought anyway. When we got there we saw one seal!!! I thought it was meant to be a colony. Oh well we got within 10 metres of it and got a few good photos. I then proceeded along some rocks leading around the shore and found another seal that seemed to be waving at me, well just before Ollie came over and then it just turned away and started cleaning itself. After we continued our walk which looped back round to the town over the cliffs which gave spectacular views of the mountain range, check the photos.... Yes I know what you are thinking they probably aren't uploaded yet but this takes time people be patient . It also gave great views of the Tasman sea and luckily quite a few seals out on a rock not too far from the shore but far enough to avoid people. The walk took a little while to complete but it gave us a great taste of what New Zealand has to offer and we both like it!!
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Happy Birthday to Me!!! (A self-centred title)
I will start blog entry by thanking people for their Birthday messages and anyone that didn't give me one is in for big trouble. I believe this is the first time I have spent my birthday outside the UK, I believe that I flew back to England on my birthday once. It was a pretty awesome day we couldn't have asked for much better weather another really sunny day which was pretty lucky cause we had decided the night before that we would go to the Christchurch Gondola (cable car) and mountain bike a route which would take us back to the bottom.
I woke up pretty early must have been the excitement of having to open all those presents. The real reason was we wanted a full day in Christchurch and after Ollie got up he gave me a present which was some AAA batteries which I've been meaning to get since I bought some small speakers for my ipod in Thailand. Now we can play some banging tunes!! After making some lunch to take with us we went to catch the bus which took us to the Gondola. We then took the Gondola to the top of the hill giving us awesome views over Christchurch and surrounding areas. After a few minutes to look around we followed the walking path towards the road where a guy who seemed pretty excited by a car that went over the edge of the cliff the other day met us with the bikes. After he left we were on our way winding down the roads cool as anything little did we know what was just round the corner, quite a large and long incline!! It wasn't too bad to start with but as it continued it got harder and a little steeper until we reached Castle Rock, I briefly stopped once on the way up to check Ollie was still behind me and on reaching the top both of us needed a moment to recover, our recovery was aided by the sight of the road going down hill again. We continued our ride after a quick exploration of Castle Rock to an off road track where a quick pit stop for a sandwich had to happen. Going down the track it rapidly occurred to me that the front brake didn't really work and the back wasn't in the best of conditions, it was going to be fun trying to stop! I let the bike free wheel for a couple of seconds and tried the brakes it took quite some time to slow down therefore most the way down hill I pressed the brakes as hard as possible. At the bottom of the track and now back on the road both of our hands hurt from braking this we decided definitely wasn't as bad as the cyclists we saw going up the hill, that is plain crazy! I then decided to extend our route slightly to do a bit more cycling on the flat which followed a stream (Ollie said as it was my birthday I had to make all of the decisions, he was just using this as an excuse to be indecisive). I believe the slight extension to our route was well worth it as we got to do some good cycling on the flat before getting to a long road which lead us straight back to the Gondola but not before another last incline which this time was too much for me as I knew the last stretch to the Gondola was very steep I took a short break before the final ascent.
In the evening we went out to a place called Dux du Lux for dinner. It specialised in seafood and had it own brewed beer. As the food and beer were good and we were lazy we ended up staying there to drink a few more beers instead of heading to town.
I woke up pretty early must have been the excitement of having to open all those presents. The real reason was we wanted a full day in Christchurch and after Ollie got up he gave me a present which was some AAA batteries which I've been meaning to get since I bought some small speakers for my ipod in Thailand. Now we can play some banging tunes!! After making some lunch to take with us we went to catch the bus which took us to the Gondola. We then took the Gondola to the top of the hill giving us awesome views over Christchurch and surrounding areas. After a few minutes to look around we followed the walking path towards the road where a guy who seemed pretty excited by a car that went over the edge of the cliff the other day met us with the bikes. After he left we were on our way winding down the roads cool as anything little did we know what was just round the corner, quite a large and long incline!! It wasn't too bad to start with but as it continued it got harder and a little steeper until we reached Castle Rock, I briefly stopped once on the way up to check Ollie was still behind me and on reaching the top both of us needed a moment to recover, our recovery was aided by the sight of the road going down hill again. We continued our ride after a quick exploration of Castle Rock to an off road track where a quick pit stop for a sandwich had to happen. Going down the track it rapidly occurred to me that the front brake didn't really work and the back wasn't in the best of conditions, it was going to be fun trying to stop! I let the bike free wheel for a couple of seconds and tried the brakes it took quite some time to slow down therefore most the way down hill I pressed the brakes as hard as possible. At the bottom of the track and now back on the road both of our hands hurt from braking this we decided definitely wasn't as bad as the cyclists we saw going up the hill, that is plain crazy! I then decided to extend our route slightly to do a bit more cycling on the flat which followed a stream (Ollie said as it was my birthday I had to make all of the decisions, he was just using this as an excuse to be indecisive). I believe the slight extension to our route was well worth it as we got to do some good cycling on the flat before getting to a long road which lead us straight back to the Gondola but not before another last incline which this time was too much for me as I knew the last stretch to the Gondola was very steep I took a short break before the final ascent.
In the evening we went out to a place called Dux du Lux for dinner. It specialised in seafood and had it own brewed beer. As the food and beer were good and we were lazy we ended up staying there to drink a few more beers instead of heading to town.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Untitled (can't think of anything too good at the moment)
Today we decided we would visit the art gallery and arts centre before lunch and the museum afterwards all of which were pretty close to our hostel (although everything in Christchurch is close to our hostel).
The art gallery had some funky multicoloured stairs with a seal balancing a unicycle on top of a chair. A spot Ollie chose for a beard update photo although photos don't even begin to do it justice now! The gallery was pretty cool a good mix of modern and old. My favourite exhibition was called White on White which was a modern art display, one particular piece was a model of a ghost which had a white sheet over a lever controlled by I believe a servo which gave it some jerky movements.
A slight change of plans meant we had an early lunch (we were both pretty hungry by that point) where we resorted to our favourite beans on toast. Afterwards we headed to the Arts Centre where we sat and watch part of the jazz festival on our first day. The Arts Centre was a bunch of craft/art boutiques but I probably made the best value for money purchase of the whole trip, a gob stopper. This was purchased from a fudge shop were Ollie was tempted in to parting with a little money for quite a bit of fudge, his response was “I like fudge”. He also bought a gob stopper but unlike me could actually fit it in his mouth comfortably and it didn't take him about 2 hours to finish (by the way the cost of the gob stopper was $1.20 making it 1 cent per minute). Before we went to the museum we sat outside the fudge shop and then the gardens. Still my gob stopper was so large I had to take it out occasionally as my jaw began to ache.
The museum another favourite attraction of our tour so far was pretty good and more importantly free. We learnt a little about the Maori, New Zealand and Christchurch. We had about an hour and a half to go round which we just about managed to do with me finishing my gob stopper only a little while before that.
The art gallery had some funky multicoloured stairs with a seal balancing a unicycle on top of a chair. A spot Ollie chose for a beard update photo although photos don't even begin to do it justice now! The gallery was pretty cool a good mix of modern and old. My favourite exhibition was called White on White which was a modern art display, one particular piece was a model of a ghost which had a white sheet over a lever controlled by I believe a servo which gave it some jerky movements.
A slight change of plans meant we had an early lunch (we were both pretty hungry by that point) where we resorted to our favourite beans on toast. Afterwards we headed to the Arts Centre where we sat and watch part of the jazz festival on our first day. The Arts Centre was a bunch of craft/art boutiques but I probably made the best value for money purchase of the whole trip, a gob stopper. This was purchased from a fudge shop were Ollie was tempted in to parting with a little money for quite a bit of fudge, his response was “I like fudge”. He also bought a gob stopper but unlike me could actually fit it in his mouth comfortably and it didn't take him about 2 hours to finish (by the way the cost of the gob stopper was $1.20 making it 1 cent per minute). Before we went to the museum we sat outside the fudge shop and then the gardens. Still my gob stopper was so large I had to take it out occasionally as my jaw began to ache.
The museum another favourite attraction of our tour so far was pretty good and more importantly free. We learnt a little about the Maori, New Zealand and Christchurch. We had about an hour and a half to go round which we just about managed to do with me finishing my gob stopper only a little while before that.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Lazy Day
I turn over after hearing Ollie make a move, still pretty tired and look at the clock 12:15!!! Oops didn't quite mean to sleep that long that is what you get when you haven't had a proper sleep for a while I suppose. As you can probably tell we didn't get out of the hostel till about 1.
We sorted out our travel got some lunch then headed to the Botanical gardens, yes we do like Botanical gardens you might have noticed by now! And no not because it is free, it is because we like the flowers and stuff. It wasn't so much of a Botanical garden to me it was more like a large park with a rose garden. After the warmer temperatures of Australia hiding that it was actually autumn the park was very autumnal, with its trees having orange,brown,golden leaves and seeing them scattered about the ground, it made me feel like I was in England. There were also many ducks which were slightly overweight probably due to the amount of tourists. It was funny watching them struggle to swim up the river Avon.
We followed the river Avon to the memorial bridge and to a shop where Ollie's dreams of the perfect Kit-Kat Chunky were dashed as the Caramel variety didn't live up to his high expectations, maybe one day he will find the perfect bar. We then walked around town for a little while before heading back to the hostel.
We sorted out our travel got some lunch then headed to the Botanical gardens, yes we do like Botanical gardens you might have noticed by now! And no not because it is free, it is because we like the flowers and stuff. It wasn't so much of a Botanical garden to me it was more like a large park with a rose garden. After the warmer temperatures of Australia hiding that it was actually autumn the park was very autumnal, with its trees having orange,brown,golden leaves and seeing them scattered about the ground, it made me feel like I was in England. There were also many ducks which were slightly overweight probably due to the amount of tourists. It was funny watching them struggle to swim up the river Avon.
We followed the river Avon to the memorial bridge and to a shop where Ollie's dreams of the perfect Kit-Kat Chunky were dashed as the Caramel variety didn't live up to his high expectations, maybe one day he will find the perfect bar. We then walked around town for a little while before heading back to the hostel.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Flight of the Kiwi
A very early start to our day means that we are up at 5am!!! Having only got to bed about midnight in combination with the limited sleep on the plane meant for a very tiring day. We have seen so many early mornings in Sydney but this one was surprisingly wet probably to get us used to the weather in New Zealand.
A few hours later we were flying over the Tasman Sea on our way to New Zealand... When we heard the captain announce that we had reached New Zealand it surprised us that we got to Christchurch so swiftly having previously flown great distances over land.
When we finally figured out where the bus stop was (it wasn't very obviously just a bit of paper stuck to a lamp post) we were on our way to the youth hostel which was on Worcester St. When we reached our hostel we were surprised by the architecture, it was very much like an English country town much like Worcester and Stratford in my opinion.
Oh yeah.. it was noticeable colder here more like England already.
After dumping our bags we looked out the window to see the Arts Centre opposite was housing the last day of the Jazz festival, we were both glad of this as it meant we didn't have to walk very far and could enjoy some time relaxing listening to music, which was pretty good. We also got a couple of local beers and some fancy cheese and bread.
After monging out on the grass watching the jazz we headed into town for a brief look around before getting something to eat at a place called Mum's (yer.. you can probably make a your mum's joke) which was a Japanese/Korean restaurant and we had a pretty good meal before heading back and trying to stay awake till a reasonable time so that we didn't wake up at a stupid time in the morning.
A few hours later we were flying over the Tasman Sea on our way to New Zealand... When we heard the captain announce that we had reached New Zealand it surprised us that we got to Christchurch so swiftly having previously flown great distances over land.
When we finally figured out where the bus stop was (it wasn't very obviously just a bit of paper stuck to a lamp post) we were on our way to the youth hostel which was on Worcester St. When we reached our hostel we were surprised by the architecture, it was very much like an English country town much like Worcester and Stratford in my opinion.
Oh yeah.. it was noticeable colder here more like England already.
After dumping our bags we looked out the window to see the Arts Centre opposite was housing the last day of the Jazz festival, we were both glad of this as it meant we didn't have to walk very far and could enjoy some time relaxing listening to music, which was pretty good. We also got a couple of local beers and some fancy cheese and bread.
After monging out on the grass watching the jazz we headed into town for a brief look around before getting something to eat at a place called Mum's (yer.. you can probably make a your mum's joke) which was a Japanese/Korean restaurant and we had a pretty good meal before heading back and trying to stay awake till a reasonable time so that we didn't wake up at a stupid time in the morning.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Last day in Australia
We arrive in Sydney at 7am. Sleeping on a train after two days surfing was a bad idea. At least I managed to get some sleep... Ben did not. It's too early to check in at the hostel so we crash out in some comfy chairs until we can check in.
Once we check in we head to Paddy's market hoping to find some cheap souvenirs. I loaded up with boomerangs but decided it wasn't practical to carry a didgeridoo around with me for the rest of the trip.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Surry Hills Festival which happened to be on. We watched some Capoeira and quite a few bands of varying quality (some really good, one in particular quite awful). As the festival closed up we headed to Bugerlicious for dinner then head back to the hostel for sleep. We have to be up very early.
You know what the funniest thing about Australia is? It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over here that we got there, but it's just, here it's a little different. For example you can walk into a movie theater and buy a beer. And I don't mean just, like, in no paper cup. I'm talking about a glass of beer (well at least in the one we went to). And, you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Australia? A quarter pounder with cheese despite having the metric system here, and not knowing what a quarter pounder is. I don't know what they call a whopper because I didn't go to Burger King because they are called Hungry Jacks. (Surely someone got that one right?)
And now I hand blogging duties back over to Ben for New Zealand!
Once we check in we head to Paddy's market hoping to find some cheap souvenirs. I loaded up with boomerangs but decided it wasn't practical to carry a didgeridoo around with me for the rest of the trip.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Surry Hills Festival which happened to be on. We watched some Capoeira and quite a few bands of varying quality (some really good, one in particular quite awful). As the festival closed up we headed to Bugerlicious for dinner then head back to the hostel for sleep. We have to be up very early.
You know what the funniest thing about Australia is? It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over here that we got there, but it's just, here it's a little different. For example you can walk into a movie theater and buy a beer. And I don't mean just, like, in no paper cup. I'm talking about a glass of beer (well at least in the one we went to). And, you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Australia? A quarter pounder with cheese despite having the metric system here, and not knowing what a quarter pounder is. I don't know what they call a whopper because I didn't go to Burger King because they are called Hungry Jacks. (Surely someone got that one right?)
And now I hand blogging duties back over to Ben for New Zealand!
Friday, 17 April 2009
If everybody had an ocean
We'd enjoyed surfing. This is why this morning we got up early and checked out and went surfing again in the morning. I was still rather sore from the day before which didn't help my performance. After surfing for a couple of hours we sneak back into the hostel to have a shower then head back into town to have a quick explore before we have to get back on a bus to take us to Casino to catch an overnight train to Sydney.
Whilst exploring Surfers Paradise something happens which I didn't expect, Ben finally purchased a hat! Well I say purchased... at first the card transaction didn't go through but the guy serving him didn't seem to realise and Ben left with a free hat. The guilt soon consumed him and he rushed back to tell them of their error. This earned him an extra AUS$10 off.
Then back on the bus and train back to Sydney.
Whilst exploring Surfers Paradise something happens which I didn't expect, Ben finally purchased a hat! Well I say purchased... at first the card transaction didn't go through but the guy serving him didn't seem to realise and Ben left with a free hat. The guilt soon consumed him and he rushed back to tell them of their error. This earned him an extra AUS$10 off.
Then back on the bus and train back to Sydney.
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Lets go surfing now, everybody's learning how
We decided today we'd go surfing so we signed up for a lesson. We were informed that early in the morning we'd be starting out (well 2pm) and that some honeys would be coming along, which I found a bit strange. The guide told us he'd be loading up the woody with boards inside and that when we head out we'd be singing a song. It went 'Come on baby wait and see / Yes I'm going to take you surfing with me / Come along baby wait and see / Yes I'm gonna take you surfing with me'. He informed us that everybody is learning how to surf and that at Huntington and Malibu they're shooting the pier and at Rincon they're walking the nose. This didn't really mean anything to me but hey ho. Apparently surfing is constantly gaining in popularity and people are doing it from Hawaii down to the shores of Peru (I really hope someone got that).
Anyway Ben was too good for my liking managing to stand up and ride a wave on his second attempt. We both had a lot of fun and were informed we could get cheap board rental at the place we'd done the lesson if we wanted to do anymore surfing at any point. Surfing is also rather tiring and I feared I'd be very sore in the morning.
Anyway Ben was too good for my liking managing to stand up and ride a wave on his second attempt. We both had a lot of fun and were informed we could get cheap board rental at the place we'd done the lesson if we wanted to do anymore surfing at any point. Surfing is also rather tiring and I feared I'd be very sore in the morning.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Some stupid country thinks I owe them money
Despite the fact we had checked out of the hostel and had nowhere to shower and would have to get a coach to Surfers Paradise later we decided to make the most of the fact it was actually sunny and have a beach day.
The waves were powerful. They knocked you off your feet and threw you around. It was good fun and with the weather looking better for the next few days we decide surfing will be on the cards in Surfers Paradise.
We arrive in Surfers Paradise quite late and crash out.
The waves were powerful. They knocked you off your feet and threw you around. It was good fun and with the weather looking better for the next few days we decide surfing will be on the cards in Surfers Paradise.
We arrive in Surfers Paradise quite late and crash out.
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
I'm coming EARL!
The weather forecast for today was really bad. Heavy rain with thunder and lightning. When we get up the weather isn't too bad so we go for a walk up to the lighthouse and the most easterly point on the Australian mainland whilst prepared for some bad weather to hit at some point.
The walk involves a trek through a little bit of rain forest which is really humid and this stupid beard just collects sweat. From the lighthouse we can see black sky on the horizon and we head back expecting that weather to hit us soon. We get lucky and only the edge hits us so we only have to contend with a little rain.
The evening is spent drinking some beers. Wisely we decide not to go out properly as we have to check out at 10am.
The walk involves a trek through a little bit of rain forest which is really humid and this stupid beard just collects sweat. From the lighthouse we can see black sky on the horizon and we head back expecting that weather to hit us soon. We get lucky and only the edge hits us so we only have to contend with a little rain.
The evening is spent drinking some beers. Wisely we decide not to go out properly as we have to check out at 10am.
Monday, 13 April 2009
I can't get a straight answer out of this crazy hemisphere
Today it rained... then it stopped for long enough to nip into town... we got an ice cream.... then it rained... hard... for ages...
Sunday, 12 April 2009
The Danish are coming
Some more fun travel today. An early train from Brisbane before getting off at Casino and getting on the bus to Byron Bay. Although by recent standards this was quite a short journey... only 5 hours! It was quite nice to arrive somewhere in the early afternoon rather than absurdly early or late.
After checking in at the hostel we explore Byron Bay. It's quite busy when we arrive as there is a big blues festival going on (tickets are a bit expensive for us). Byron Bay itself has a cool hippy / surfer vibe. A multitude of surf shops and shops where you can have your chakra realigned.
We walk along the beach and the sea is littered with surfers despite the rubbish weather. On the way back from the beach we stumble upon a group of people who are having a BBQ and giving away free food. Free food? Deal! Although whilst waiting in the queue we wait to see what the catch is. Turns out they are Christians (I'd forgotten it was Easter Sunday) and were just giving out food to be groovy.
The evening is spent getting drunk in the hostel with a group of Danish who seem to have taken over the hostel (a group of about 20). We toddle along to a club... I enjoy the tunes more than Ben.
After checking in at the hostel we explore Byron Bay. It's quite busy when we arrive as there is a big blues festival going on (tickets are a bit expensive for us). Byron Bay itself has a cool hippy / surfer vibe. A multitude of surf shops and shops where you can have your chakra realigned.
We walk along the beach and the sea is littered with surfers despite the rubbish weather. On the way back from the beach we stumble upon a group of people who are having a BBQ and giving away free food. Free food? Deal! Although whilst waiting in the queue we wait to see what the catch is. Turns out they are Christians (I'd forgotten it was Easter Sunday) and were just giving out food to be groovy.
The evening is spent getting drunk in the hostel with a group of Danish who seem to have taken over the hostel (a group of about 20). We toddle along to a club... I enjoy the tunes more than Ben.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Your signs broken. We are already in Australia!
Today we explored Brisbane. We headed to the Suncorp Stadium to see if any sport was on today. It turned out there was nothing on and it proceeded to absolutely chuck it down. We headed back to the hostel to get some lunch and wait for the rain to pass.
In the afternoon we headed along the south bank which is quite a nice place with free gas BBQs, places to sit, exhibition centres and even an inner city beach. Our walk takes us across the river and through the botanical gardens and then back into the city centre. We explored the shops, hunting for souvenirs and Ben continued his search for the ideal hat which I'm becoming more and more certain he'll never find and will leave Australia empty handed.
In the evening the weather was rather rubbish again so we headed to the cinema and saw 'Mary and Max' which was a very charming claymation film. I'm not sure if it's going to get a cinema release in the UK but I recommend it if it turns up. We had an early start tomorrow so we were sensible for once and went to bed at a reasonable hour.
In the afternoon we headed along the south bank which is quite a nice place with free gas BBQs, places to sit, exhibition centres and even an inner city beach. Our walk takes us across the river and through the botanical gardens and then back into the city centre. We explored the shops, hunting for souvenirs and Ben continued his search for the ideal hat which I'm becoming more and more certain he'll never find and will leave Australia empty handed.
In the evening the weather was rather rubbish again so we headed to the cinema and saw 'Mary and Max' which was a very charming claymation film. I'm not sure if it's going to get a cinema release in the UK but I recommend it if it turns up. We had an early start tomorrow so we were sensible for once and went to bed at a reasonable hour.
Friday, 10 April 2009
CRIKEY!
Today we set off for Australia Zoo. The zoo run by Steve Irwin and his wife Terri before his death in 2006. We got up early and caught the train, however due to track work part of the journey had to be made by bus.
The zoo is slighty surreal with massive pictures of Steve Irwin everywhere and more utterances of the word 'Crikey' than I've ever seen. We start the day with the Alligators, Turtles and Galápagos Tortoises. Then we head to the Crocesum in anticipation of the Croc Show. As a special easter sunday treat the Croc show is being performed by Terri Irwin and Wes Mannion! The show starts with snakes and birds but then what everyone is waiting for... the Crocodile. Terri and Wes proceed to dangle bits of meat at the waters edge tempting the crocodile in and then making a speedy get away when it goes for the meat. This involves an amusing moment when Wes is trying to tempt the crocodile and as the crocodile attacks he utters "SHIT!... er... I mean crikey"... maybe you had to be there. We spend the rest of the day exploring the rest of the Zoo. We see Camels, Dingos, lots more Crocodiles, Kangaroos, Kolas, a Komodo Dragon, Elephants, Tigers, Red Pandas, Emus, a tasmanian devil (eventually... I started to suspect it was just an empty enclosure) and some other stuff.
It takes quite a while to get home as the train company has mucked up the replacement bus service (I've never felt more at home).
The zoo is slighty surreal with massive pictures of Steve Irwin everywhere and more utterances of the word 'Crikey' than I've ever seen. We start the day with the Alligators, Turtles and Galápagos Tortoises. Then we head to the Crocesum in anticipation of the Croc Show. As a special easter sunday treat the Croc show is being performed by Terri Irwin and Wes Mannion! The show starts with snakes and birds but then what everyone is waiting for... the Crocodile. Terri and Wes proceed to dangle bits of meat at the waters edge tempting the crocodile in and then making a speedy get away when it goes for the meat. This involves an amusing moment when Wes is trying to tempt the crocodile and as the crocodile attacks he utters "SHIT!... er... I mean crikey"... maybe you had to be there. We spend the rest of the day exploring the rest of the Zoo. We see Camels, Dingos, lots more Crocodiles, Kangaroos, Kolas, a Komodo Dragon, Elephants, Tigers, Red Pandas, Emus, a tasmanian devil (eventually... I started to suspect it was just an empty enclosure) and some other stuff.
It takes quite a while to get home as the train company has mucked up the replacement bus service (I've never felt more at home).
Thursday, 9 April 2009
What kind of a sick country would kick someone with a giant boot?
So we arrive in Brisbane quite early, we find a hostel. We then spend most of the day figuring out what we are going to do next. We had originally hoped to get further north to Cairns but with it being Easter the price of flights had gone up and were a lot more busy anyway. Instead we decide we'd be better off heading south to Byron Bay and Surfers Paradise.
We spend the rest of the day exploring Brisbane but we are both quite tired after two nights of trying to sleep on a train which didn't go so well and we need to make an early start tomorrow as we head to Australia Zoo!
We spend the rest of the day exploring Brisbane but we are both quite tired after two nights of trying to sleep on a train which didn't go so well and we need to make an early start tomorrow as we head to Australia Zoo!
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Clever girl
So we arrive in Sydney around 7am. We got some sleep on the train but it was not a great nights sleep. At 7am not much is open so we end up waling around Sydney again from Darling Harbour to the Opera House (The big news of the day is that Hugh Jackman referred to it as the 'Opera Center' on his twitter. OUTRAGE!) and then through the botanical gardens.
We end up at the museum and have a look around. Another case of getting too excited for a 24 year old but dinosaurs are still awesome. We then eat far too much at a Pizza Hut buffet before we get back on a train... 15 hours to Brisbane... NICE!
We end up at the museum and have a look around. Another case of getting too excited for a 24 year old but dinosaurs are still awesome. We then eat far too much at a Pizza Hut buffet before we get back on a train... 15 hours to Brisbane... NICE!
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Laughing time is over!
So rather worse for wear myself and Ben check out at 10am. Not really in a state to do much so we try to recover in the hostel before heading to the train station for our trip to Brisbane (which involves two overnight trains and spending 7am until 4pm in Sydney waiting for the connection).
We head to the station a bit early and check our luggage in. A final walk around town reveals we've missed a chance to participate in an attempt to break the world record for most people dribbling basketballs at once. If only we'd known we'd have dragged ourselves down.
Then it's time for another long train journey. Hooray!
We head to the station a bit early and check our luggage in. A final walk around town reveals we've missed a chance to participate in an attempt to break the world record for most people dribbling basketballs at once. If only we'd known we'd have dragged ourselves down.
Then it's time for another long train journey. Hooray!
Monday, 6 April 2009
That's when good neighbours become good friends
Today was 'Neighbours' day. We had decided against the offical tour, instead we just headed to ramsey street ourselves. When we arrive a tour group is there and they are doing some filming on ramsey street.
*SPOILERS* Steve Bastoni (Steve Parker) was filming the classice 'leaving in a taxi cab' scene. We hear that apparently all the Parkers are leaving and that Bridget DIES! THE HORROR! *END OF SPOILERS*
Once the filming packs up we wander around the street. It is slightly weird standing outside the Kennedy's house, and Harold's house... and so forth.
We head back to the hostel before heading to the official Neighbours night. "Meet the Stars!" the poster loudly proclaims "Dr Karl Kennedy! Elle Robinson! Dan Fitzgerald!". It also states "Meet backpackers from all over the world!"... this statement, as expected, was false. "Meet backpackers from all over the UK & Ireland!" was more accurate.
The first part of the night had the stars come up and they go round and have their pictures taken with everyone. There was also a pub quiz going on at the same time and somehow our table ended up finishing second. Neither Pipa Black (Elle) or Brett Tucker (Dan) can resist a good high five from me as they leave. Then it was time to bust some moves to Alan Fletcher's (Dr K) band 'Waiting Room'. Good fun is had by all. Later I realise I haven't seen Ben for a little while and discover him outside as he's been chucked out for "being drunk". Ben is "too angry" to get any transport back to the hostel se we set off on a nice walk back. Check out at 10am! We really need to stop going out the night before checking out.
*SPOILERS* Steve Bastoni (Steve Parker) was filming the classice 'leaving in a taxi cab' scene. We hear that apparently all the Parkers are leaving and that Bridget DIES! THE HORROR! *END OF SPOILERS*
Once the filming packs up we wander around the street. It is slightly weird standing outside the Kennedy's house, and Harold's house... and so forth.
We head back to the hostel before heading to the official Neighbours night. "Meet the Stars!" the poster loudly proclaims "Dr Karl Kennedy! Elle Robinson! Dan Fitzgerald!". It also states "Meet backpackers from all over the world!"... this statement, as expected, was false. "Meet backpackers from all over the UK & Ireland!" was more accurate.
The first part of the night had the stars come up and they go round and have their pictures taken with everyone. There was also a pub quiz going on at the same time and somehow our table ended up finishing second. Neither Pipa Black (Elle) or Brett Tucker (Dan) can resist a good high five from me as they leave. Then it was time to bust some moves to Alan Fletcher's (Dr K) band 'Waiting Room'. Good fun is had by all. Later I realise I haven't seen Ben for a little while and discover him outside as he's been chucked out for "being drunk". Ben is "too angry" to get any transport back to the hostel se we set off on a nice walk back. Check out at 10am! We really need to stop going out the night before checking out.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Only if something tickles me just right
So today we comedied it up the ying yang. We headed into the city early to expolre and head via the blackboard to see what is on later. A guy comes up to us and starts telling us about a sketch show called 'Comicide' he's in. He explains that they have reviewers in tonight so they are selling tickets for AUS$2 to try and make the room as full as possible. For AUS$2 we are in! Having only spent AUS$2 we decide we may as well see something else as well. So as we've seen a standup, some comedy theatre, with a sketch show to come we decide the obvious choice is to see a comedy band. 'The Axis of Awesome vs Bee' gits the bill so we sort out tickets and wander the streets of Melbourne.
'The Axis of Awesome vs Bee' turn out to be good fun and enjoyable with some very amusing songs. The sketch show we'd payed a pound for was also very good. There were some amazing sketches and very few duff ones which is all you can really hope for. On the way out of a guy comes up to us with a 2 for 1 offer for a sketch show he is in later and we think "half price? Go on then". This show was by some uni students and was good fun as well despite not having quite such a good amazing to duff ratio. So three shows for less than a fiver each on average... not bad.
'The Axis of Awesome vs Bee' turn out to be good fun and enjoyable with some very amusing songs. The sketch show we'd payed a pound for was also very good. There were some amazing sketches and very few duff ones which is all you can really hope for. On the way out of a guy comes up to us with a 2 for 1 offer for a sketch show he is in later and we think "half price? Go on then". This show was by some uni students and was good fun as well despite not having quite such a good amazing to duff ratio. So three shows for less than a fiver each on average... not bad.
Saturday, 4 April 2009
FOOTBALL!!
We'd decided that whilst we were in Melbourne we should go and watch something at the MCG. We'd also decided that whilst in Australia we should see some aussie rules football. These two aims were achieved through one plan to watch an AFL game at the MCG.
Collingwood v Melbourne was being played today and a ticket for the price of AUS$20 (about a tenner in proper money). Collingwood were at home so we supported them. Ben felt right at home as Collingwood play in black and white stripes and are nicknamed the magpies. The only difference between them and Newcastle is Collingwood won! Yeah I went there, take that Ben!
In the evening we decided to see another comedy act. They are called 'The List Operators'. The woman at the ticket counter says she has heard good things and she is going to see them when she gets a night off. I wonder if she says that about every act. However I've heard some good things too and they won some awards last year at the festival. It turns out they are very funny and as the more perceptive may have guessed their act revolves around lists, such as 'Countries it's okay to be racist about' which is based on audience participation. Amazingly nobody suggests the USA. Less amazingly France makes the list... twice.
Collingwood v Melbourne was being played today and a ticket for the price of AUS$20 (about a tenner in proper money). Collingwood were at home so we supported them. Ben felt right at home as Collingwood play in black and white stripes and are nicknamed the magpies. The only difference between them and Newcastle is Collingwood won! Yeah I went there, take that Ben!
In the evening we decided to see another comedy act. They are called 'The List Operators'. The woman at the ticket counter says she has heard good things and she is going to see them when she gets a night off. I wonder if she says that about every act. However I've heard some good things too and they won some awards last year at the festival. It turns out they are very funny and as the more perceptive may have guessed their act revolves around lists, such as 'Countries it's okay to be racist about' which is based on audience participation. Amazingly nobody suggests the USA. Less amazingly France makes the list... twice.
Friday, 3 April 2009
Excuse me sir. Do you like to laugh?
So today was the first day of our trip where we were rather unlucky with the weather. It rained. Hard. All day. Thunder and lighting and everything. This gave us a chance to do some washing though. The excitement!
However in the evening the rain cleared. Now the advantage of coming to Melbourne a week later is that the International Comedy Festival has just started. Huzzah! The shows are also cheaper in the first few days of the festival as they are 'Previews'. Double Huzzah!
We head into town and consult the big board which lists all the acts and informs people of what is sold out. There are a wide range of comedians here from international stars like Steve Coogan to local university students. Arj Barker (Flight of the Conchords) is sold out... hmm... still tickets for Rich Hall and Reginald D. Hunter who have both made me laugh on 'QI' and 'Have I Got News For You'. We end up going for Rich Hall who puts on a great show. The first half of the show is him doing straight standup, whilst the second half involves his country singer character Otis Lee Crenshaw. A good time is had and we head home.
However in the evening the rain cleared. Now the advantage of coming to Melbourne a week later is that the International Comedy Festival has just started. Huzzah! The shows are also cheaper in the first few days of the festival as they are 'Previews'. Double Huzzah!
We head into town and consult the big board which lists all the acts and informs people of what is sold out. There are a wide range of comedians here from international stars like Steve Coogan to local university students. Arj Barker (Flight of the Conchords) is sold out... hmm... still tickets for Rich Hall and Reginald D. Hunter who have both made me laugh on 'QI' and 'Have I Got News For You'. We end up going for Rich Hall who puts on a great show. The first half of the show is him doing straight standup, whilst the second half involves his country singer character Otis Lee Crenshaw. A good time is had and we head home.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
It's pretty big... I guess
As previously mentioned, getting around on public transport is slow. To get to Melbourne we had to catch a bus at 3:45am to Dubbo. We must then spend a night in Dubbo but arrive too late in the afternoon to do much (plus we've had barely any sleep). We wander around town. Go back to where we are staying and watch the SoccerRoos play Uzebekistan in a Fifa World Cup Qualifer (Australia win 2-0... Australian football pundits are more entertaining then English ones. They are less polite). Fall asleep. Up early for a 7am bus to Cootamundra and then a train to Melbourne. Find our hostel, find a student pub near the uni. Get some food and a few drinks whilst listening to a guy with a guitar playing some songs in the pub.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
When will I run out of Simpson quotes to use as titles?
Right you've probably not heard of Broken Hill. I knew I hadn't until Ben suggested we go there. It's a small old mining town and is about as close to the centre of Australia as we have time to get to.
We spent the first day exploring the town. It's almost like something out of a Western. A lot of the old Victorian buildings remain, lining the streets. It's also one of those places where everyone knows pretty much everyone else so the tourists stand out more than normal. We also explored the south part of the town which was a little walk and Ben then insisted we walk the long way back for a reason I don't yet know.
The next day we decided to walk to the 'Living Desert'. It's about 8km from our hostel and as englishmen we joined the mad dogs out in the midday sun. Thankfully the ranger spotted us whilst we were walking and informed us of a shortcut to take a couple of kilometres off our trek. We see some wild kangaroos and walk around and view the sculptures and do another little walk.
There was a weird sense of isolation when walking back alongside the road and realising the only footprints in the sand are the ones you made when you were going in the other direction earlier in the day. The fact you can count on one hand the number of cars that go past just adds to this feeling.
By the time we get back we are knackered. A lot of walking in relentless heat whilst being mobbed by hundreds of flys (literally hundreds which all seemed obsessed with getting in your eyes and mouth). Despite being knackered we have to wait until 3:45am to catch our bus as we head to Melbourne. We hang around the hostel and listen to the aussie country boys complains about how busy Sydney is.... I'm not sure how they'd cope with London or New York.
We spent the first day exploring the town. It's almost like something out of a Western. A lot of the old Victorian buildings remain, lining the streets. It's also one of those places where everyone knows pretty much everyone else so the tourists stand out more than normal. We also explored the south part of the town which was a little walk and Ben then insisted we walk the long way back for a reason I don't yet know.
The next day we decided to walk to the 'Living Desert'. It's about 8km from our hostel and as englishmen we joined the mad dogs out in the midday sun. Thankfully the ranger spotted us whilst we were walking and informed us of a shortcut to take a couple of kilometres off our trek. We see some wild kangaroos and walk around and view the sculptures and do another little walk.
There was a weird sense of isolation when walking back alongside the road and realising the only footprints in the sand are the ones you made when you were going in the other direction earlier in the day. The fact you can count on one hand the number of cars that go past just adds to this feeling.
By the time we get back we are knackered. A lot of walking in relentless heat whilst being mobbed by hundreds of flys (literally hundreds which all seemed obsessed with getting in your eyes and mouth). Despite being knackered we have to wait until 3:45am to catch our bus as we head to Melbourne. We hang around the hostel and listen to the aussie country boys complains about how busy Sydney is.... I'm not sure how they'd cope with London or New York.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
It was an emergency from the International Drainage Commision
Another one of those days where we don't really do much but hang around waiting for trains. Our train is in the afternoon so we spend the morning at the Botanical gardens. Despite many signs warning us to keep an eye out for Brown snakes we see none.
Now Australian cities aren't very well connected to each other. You can get anywhere you want as long as you want to go to Sydney. So our trip to Broken Hill invovles a train from Canberra to Sydney (arriving in Sydney at 11pm), spend the night in Sydney, catch an early train to Dubbo (depart Sydney at 7am), then get on a coach to Broken Hill (arriving at 11pm).
When we arrive in Broken Hill we find the hostel (eventually). Sleep.
Now Australian cities aren't very well connected to each other. You can get anywhere you want as long as you want to go to Sydney. So our trip to Broken Hill invovles a train from Canberra to Sydney (arriving in Sydney at 11pm), spend the night in Sydney, catch an early train to Dubbo (depart Sydney at 7am), then get on a coach to Broken Hill (arriving at 11pm).
When we arrive in Broken Hill we find the hostel (eventually). Sleep.
Friday, 27 March 2009
Mr Prime Minister! ... ANDY!
Today we had originally intended to head to Melbourne but because of the Australian F1 GP a change of plan was required! Instead, we head to Broken Hill before Melbourne instead of after and we have an extra day in Canberra.
Another slightly late start... they seem to becoming more common the morning after drinking for some reason. We head to the National Dinosaur Museum... oh it's shut on Friday. The tourist information leaflet that clearly states it is open every day is a an outright lie. So we head to the war memorial which is also a very impressive war museum.
The evening is spent drinking and playing pool and Ben loses his unbeaten record in Australia.
Another slightly late start... they seem to becoming more common the morning after drinking for some reason. We head to the National Dinosaur Museum... oh it's shut on Friday. The tourist information leaflet that clearly states it is open every day is a an outright lie. So we head to the war memorial which is also a very impressive war museum.
The evening is spent drinking and playing pool and Ben loses his unbeaten record in Australia.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
I'm taking this all the way to the Prime Minster!
The first thing to say about Canberra is there isn't much too it. It's by far the smallest capital we've seen. It's a town with a parliament essentially. Which makes the parliament seem like the sensible place to start. It looks impressive and from there you can see down to the old parliament and to the war memorial. We went around the inside but there is only so long you can stay interested in displays on the Australian political system.
The afternoon is spent at the National Museum which has a little section dedicated to Rolf Harris... amazing scenes! We had dinner at a place where you grill your own steak. I managed to cook mine to perfection which I was very happy with. Drinks are also consumed.
The afternoon is spent at the National Museum which has a little section dedicated to Rolf Harris... amazing scenes! We had dinner at a place where you grill your own steak. I managed to cook mine to perfection which I was very happy with. Drinks are also consumed.
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
I see you've played knifey spooney before!
Today wasn't particular interesting to experience so will be less so to read about. I'll keep it brief.
Wake up feeling a bit worse for wear. Ben feels rather ill as we queue to check out. Crash out in some comfy chairs to recover. We need to do something so we go to Sydney Cricket Ground & Football Ground. Ben knows roughly where it is... get lost.... consider sneaking into Fox Studios... chicken out. Find the SCG, it seems going to an actual game of something is cheaper than any sort of tour. So we'll do that at some point instead. We found our way back much easier and grab a very tasty burger from 'Bugericious'. Just got to wait for our train to Canberra. I'm amazed by Australian trains as I have plenty of leg room making the prospect of a 4 and a half hour train journey more bearable. Arrive in Canberra.... find hostel... sleep.
Wake up feeling a bit worse for wear. Ben feels rather ill as we queue to check out. Crash out in some comfy chairs to recover. We need to do something so we go to Sydney Cricket Ground & Football Ground. Ben knows roughly where it is... get lost.... consider sneaking into Fox Studios... chicken out. Find the SCG, it seems going to an actual game of something is cheaper than any sort of tour. So we'll do that at some point instead. We found our way back much easier and grab a very tasty burger from 'Bugericious'. Just got to wait for our train to Canberra. I'm amazed by Australian trains as I have plenty of leg room making the prospect of a 4 and a half hour train journey more bearable. Arrive in Canberra.... find hostel... sleep.
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
That's not a knife that's a spoon
Wake up a bit later than intended... expected my legs to hurt more than this after yesterdays exploits. We had been tipped off by some Aussies on our travel that Manly is better than Bondi so we set off to check it out. It's a 30 minute ferry from Sydney Harbour to Manly Harbour and we head to the beach for the first part of a coastal walk. The waves seem pretty crazy and there are a lot of people attempting to surf. There only seemed to be one who was actually any good. We spent some time on the beach before continuing on the walk. This brings us to a smaller beach that is much more sheltered and much more suitable for swimming. The water is freezing. We continue on the walk... get a bit lost... end up with a nice view back across towards Sydney Harbour. Grab a curry for dinner. I've missed Indian curries.
We decide to go out for a drink and find a cheapish pub. One becomes two becomes three and so on. At 11pm a band comes on and plays covers of rock songs (and Katie Perry for some reason). Feel much drunker than we should... amble back to our hostel... check out at 10am.... urgh.
We decide to go out for a drink and find a cheapish pub. One becomes two becomes three and so on. At 11pm a band comes on and plays covers of rock songs (and Katie Perry for some reason). Feel much drunker than we should... amble back to our hostel... check out at 10am.... urgh.
Monday, 23 March 2009
You call that a knife? This is a knife!
Our first venture into the Aussie bush. Today we went to Blue Mountain which is a world heritage sight and is a 2 hour train ride from Sydney. They day started at 6:30am... I'm still not a morning person.
We spent the day doing a couple of bush walks. Not particularly interesting to describe via the medium of text. The second walk started out at the 'Three Sisters' and involved going down the 'Giant Stairway' which is approximately 900 steps. My legs felt weak on the descent so I was not particularly looking forward to the ascent back up. Ben started talking about how he had to go back up as it felt like a challenge had been set. At this point I knew the railway back up wasn't going to happen. A 2.5k walk led us to the railway and another stairway to the top. We went to see how much train was.... $10... 'if it was $5 I'd be tempted' said Ben. This, I knew, was a lie, for competitive Ben had emerged and even if the train was free he'd want to go up the stairs. The climb was hard, at one point I heard the Indiana Jones theme music and thought perhaps I was going mad but we made it in the end and on the journey home I listened to Transatlantic and felt a little homesick for the first time.
Note: Ben is much more fun to play at Pool when he is losing.
We spent the day doing a couple of bush walks. Not particularly interesting to describe via the medium of text. The second walk started out at the 'Three Sisters' and involved going down the 'Giant Stairway' which is approximately 900 steps. My legs felt weak on the descent so I was not particularly looking forward to the ascent back up. Ben started talking about how he had to go back up as it felt like a challenge had been set. At this point I knew the railway back up wasn't going to happen. A 2.5k walk led us to the railway and another stairway to the top. We went to see how much train was.... $10... 'if it was $5 I'd be tempted' said Ben. This, I knew, was a lie, for competitive Ben had emerged and even if the train was free he'd want to go up the stairs. The climb was hard, at one point I heard the Indiana Jones theme music and thought perhaps I was going mad but we made it in the end and on the journey home I listened to Transatlantic and felt a little homesick for the first time.
Note: Ben is much more fun to play at Pool when he is losing.
Sunday, 22 March 2009
R.I.P. Casio Watch – We Hardly Knew Ye
Casio Watch Feb '09 to Mar '09. Our time together was short but she served me well.
The day started a little later than usual. We are still catching up on lost sleeping hours is our excuse. Today we headed to Bondi Beach, we felt we couldn't go to Sydney and not check it out. I'm also worried that at the age of 24 I shouldn't be so excited at the prospect of double decker trains.
Bondi is pretty much as expected with lots of surfer shops, beach clothing, cafes and bars. We were a little late to do a walk we had planned so just chilled on the beach. I was informed in Vietnam by some Aussies that all you need to do to get on the TV is to get into difficulty in the sea at Bondi as the rescue crews are filmed as part of a reality show. However neither of us got in trouble in the sea which was a shame.
In hindsight wearing my watch into the sea may have not been the wisest move but it had coped previously with a bit of sea water but alas not this time. The watch had served me well as alarm and timekeeper. We grab some food from a place overlooking the beach and head home. We have an early start tomorrow.
Note: Thongs are not the same thing in Australia. The headline 'School children given free thongs for Australia Day' was not as creepy as it first appeared (thongs are flip flops).
The day started a little later than usual. We are still catching up on lost sleeping hours is our excuse. Today we headed to Bondi Beach, we felt we couldn't go to Sydney and not check it out. I'm also worried that at the age of 24 I shouldn't be so excited at the prospect of double decker trains.
Bondi is pretty much as expected with lots of surfer shops, beach clothing, cafes and bars. We were a little late to do a walk we had planned so just chilled on the beach. I was informed in Vietnam by some Aussies that all you need to do to get on the TV is to get into difficulty in the sea at Bondi as the rescue crews are filmed as part of a reality show. However neither of us got in trouble in the sea which was a shame.
In hindsight wearing my watch into the sea may have not been the wisest move but it had coped previously with a bit of sea water but alas not this time. The watch had served me well as alarm and timekeeper. We grab some food from a place overlooking the beach and head home. We have an early start tomorrow.
Note: Thongs are not the same thing in Australia. The headline 'School children given free thongs for Australia Day' was not as creepy as it first appeared (thongs are flip flops).
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Nine Hundred Dollarly Doos!?
Suddenly everything seems expensive having come from South East Asia. No more glasses of beer for 3000 Vietnamese Dong (about 20p).
We head towards the Royal Botanical Gardens which are near the Opera House. On the way we stroll through Hyde Park and then we spot the library has some exhibitions on. One of the exhibitions is an art prize called the 'Moran Prize'. It's a competition for Australian artists with portrait and open photography sections. Ben doesn't agree with the winners. My enjoyment is only spoilt by those people who are often found in art galleries who are desperately trying to sound as clever as possible whilst discussing the artwork. Back on the trail for the Royal Botanical Gardens we discover an art gallery. There is a lot of 18th and 19th Century paintings by various European and Australian artists. Then there was some modern stuff, including some modern aboriginal art which was very interesting. Now full of culture we finally explore the botanical gardens. A nice place to leisurely stroll around. We walk up to the Opera House and have a look around. We grab some food and have a few drinks but we are still quite tired so we go back to the hostel to play pool. I lose my unbeaten record in the 2 Guys 1 World pool series... a sad day.
We head towards the Royal Botanical Gardens which are near the Opera House. On the way we stroll through Hyde Park and then we spot the library has some exhibitions on. One of the exhibitions is an art prize called the 'Moran Prize'. It's a competition for Australian artists with portrait and open photography sections. Ben doesn't agree with the winners. My enjoyment is only spoilt by those people who are often found in art galleries who are desperately trying to sound as clever as possible whilst discussing the artwork. Back on the trail for the Royal Botanical Gardens we discover an art gallery. There is a lot of 18th and 19th Century paintings by various European and Australian artists. Then there was some modern stuff, including some modern aboriginal art which was very interesting. Now full of culture we finally explore the botanical gardens. A nice place to leisurely stroll around. We walk up to the Opera House and have a look around. We grab some food and have a few drinks but we are still quite tired so we go back to the hostel to play pool. I lose my unbeaten record in the 2 Guys 1 World pool series... a sad day.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Okay... hello... new blogger taking over. I thought it was only fair that Ben gets a break. So we had planned to get the bus to Bangkok airport but while we were waiting a taxi driver pulled up and offered to take us for the same price as the bus... Deal! Next the usual airport malarky. Now I know everyone will have been worrying about how I've been getting my film fix. Luckily British Airways has had some decent films on their long haul flights which makes the nine hour flight to Sydney go by a little quicker (so far I've watched Vicky Christina Barcelona, Control, Burn After Reading, Doubt, Changeling and Happy-Go-Lucky over the course of the two long haul flights). So you can all rest easy.
We arrive in Sydney at 6am (our body clock is on 2am) and I didn't manage to sleep on the plane. Australian immigration is easily the craziest we've been through so far. A questionnaire, sniffer dogs, random questionings whilst waiting for our bags and all our bags are x-rayed again... maybe it's the beard. A train from the airport to the city. Oh my! Double decker trains! Amazing scenes. Arrive at the hostel at 7am but can't check in until 2pm, but we can dump our bags.
Walk to the harbour, that'll be good. Starting to feel tired. The Opera House! The Sydney Harbour bridge! Walk across the bridge, take some photos... bad headache... feeling tired. Find a tourist information centre. The biggest iMax in the world and they are showing Watchmen! That'll be something to do later. Walk to Darling Harbour. Blackadder quotes a plenty. Explore the harbour. So tired... maritime museum has free exhibitions. Captain Cook. The Dutch. Mass immigration. If I was more awake I might learn something.
Check in at hostel. Informed by two guys in our room we won't get much sleep as it's a party room... great. Go to see Watchmen at the iMax. Hope I don't fall to sleep. Can feel myself dozing, but wait this is pretty entertaining... urge to sleep fading. Get some fish and chips on the harbour. Head back to hostel. Turns out guys we met in our room earlier don't actually stay in our room. About 10 people come and go. Try to stay up as long as possible. Crash out. Sleep through till morning.
We arrive in Sydney at 6am (our body clock is on 2am) and I didn't manage to sleep on the plane. Australian immigration is easily the craziest we've been through so far. A questionnaire, sniffer dogs, random questionings whilst waiting for our bags and all our bags are x-rayed again... maybe it's the beard. A train from the airport to the city. Oh my! Double decker trains! Amazing scenes. Arrive at the hostel at 7am but can't check in until 2pm, but we can dump our bags.
Walk to the harbour, that'll be good. Starting to feel tired. The Opera House! The Sydney Harbour bridge! Walk across the bridge, take some photos... bad headache... feeling tired. Find a tourist information centre. The biggest iMax in the world and they are showing Watchmen! That'll be something to do later. Walk to Darling Harbour. Blackadder quotes a plenty. Explore the harbour. So tired... maritime museum has free exhibitions. Captain Cook. The Dutch. Mass immigration. If I was more awake I might learn something.
Check in at hostel. Informed by two guys in our room we won't get much sleep as it's a party room... great. Go to see Watchmen at the iMax. Hope I don't fall to sleep. Can feel myself dozing, but wait this is pretty entertaining... urge to sleep fading. Get some fish and chips on the harbour. Head back to hostel. Turns out guys we met in our room earlier don't actually stay in our room. About 10 people come and go. Try to stay up as long as possible. Crash out. Sleep through till morning.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Last day in Asia, Bangkok Thailand
We had an early start because we wanted to get to the MBK (a massive department store) which we were told by Tom and Min was worth visiting and sold mango stick rice. So we got the train and then walked in the direction of the MBK but when we were nearly there we were stopped by the police.................. the tourist police!!!!!
Basically they are there to help tourists, like a moving tourist information centre but when it says police you kinda think they there are there to arrest tourists. He told us the MBK didn't open till about 11 although you could go in and explore the centre around 10 which still gave us half an hour. Therefore we visited the national stadium but unfortunately no sign of the Thai football manager, the man, the legend Peter Reid.
The MBK was a weird place it had a whole floor dedicated to food with large indoor markets amongst the department stores. We eventually found a store selling the mango stick rice and it is probably the sweetest thing I've had for a little while and I would say that only sugar has more sugar. It gave me the extra energy needed for the day but later cost me sleep on the plane to Sydney, well that what I like to believe anyway. We then had to leave as our flight was late afternoon and we had to get through the Bangkok traffic , we actually ended up getting a taxi for the same price as the bus after a little bit of haggling and a few hours later we left on a jet plane Australia bound.
Well that's it from Asia and myself hope you've enjoyed the blog so far even though some of it has been a long time coming, and other bit hard to read (mainly down to late night blogging). Ollie will be taking the reins in Oz giving me much needed time off, it's a hard life!
Adios till New Zealand or when Ollie gets bored.
Basically they are there to help tourists, like a moving tourist information centre but when it says police you kinda think they there are there to arrest tourists. He told us the MBK didn't open till about 11 although you could go in and explore the centre around 10 which still gave us half an hour. Therefore we visited the national stadium but unfortunately no sign of the Thai football manager, the man, the legend Peter Reid.
The MBK was a weird place it had a whole floor dedicated to food with large indoor markets amongst the department stores. We eventually found a store selling the mango stick rice and it is probably the sweetest thing I've had for a little while and I would say that only sugar has more sugar. It gave me the extra energy needed for the day but later cost me sleep on the plane to Sydney, well that what I like to believe anyway. We then had to leave as our flight was late afternoon and we had to get through the Bangkok traffic , we actually ended up getting a taxi for the same price as the bus after a little bit of haggling and a few hours later we left on a jet plane Australia bound.
Well that's it from Asia and myself hope you've enjoyed the blog so far even though some of it has been a long time coming, and other bit hard to read (mainly down to late night blogging). Ollie will be taking the reins in Oz giving me much needed time off, it's a hard life!
Adios till New Zealand or when Ollie gets bored.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Nothing's The Same Once You've Been To Nam! - Hanoi Vietnam
Previously in the adventures of Ben and Ollie, After nearly being led into a brothel, a near death experience with a rogue elephant, facing the life threatening task of crossing the road in Ho-Chi-Minh city, braving the evil flip-flops of Hoi An, and now in the adventures of Ben and Ollie..........
We would only be spending a couple of days in Hanoi sandwiched in-between them was a trip to Halong Bay. When the taxi dropped us off in the evening in Hanoi it dropped us by a small dark alley and we were like “errrrrr....... Is this the right place”. Our taxi driver assured us that our hostel was just a little bit further up. We started walking up hoping we wouldn't get jumped and then we found it, and the place was actually okay even though it was called the Victory Queen and we had to share a double bed the first night, Ollie tried to hide his excitement.
The next day we had another walking tour which didn't cost a great deal as it revolved around walking a fair distance around Hanoi city centre, at least we would earn our meals that way. The streets in Hanoi definitely had more of an old Western feel, most likely this was down to the French. Our walk started at the lake in the middle of the city which already made it more picturesque than Saigon (Ho-Chi-Minh). From the lake we made our way through the narrow streets to the market which was surprisingly large. Here we saw a fish try to jump out of it's tank but it seemed to have second thoughts in mid-air about suicide and just landed back in it's tank. We then got a little lost after veering off the track looking for food so we missed out on seeing a street full of toy shops that day. When finally returning to the track we visited a cathedral although we couldn't go in because it opened at stupid o'clock in the morning and for a couple of hours in the evening. We then got a bite to eat before a stop of at the Fanny's in Hanoi to get some more of that tasty ice-cream. After our break guess where we went next, I bet you can.
Yes that's right a museum, the revolutionary museum of Hanoi to be exactly. Even though we have already seen a lot of museums we still got kicked out before we got all the way round, what can I say we just just like to get our monies worth.
Walk The Plank - Halong Bay, Vietnam
We took an early morning bus from Hanoi to Halong which took about 3 hours. During which, Ollie spotted two guys and a buffalo on a motorbike. I unfortunately missed this but saw something similar on the way back.
On arrival in Halong we proceeded to our boat, there were so many tourist boats it was like encountering the Spanish armada but maybe just a little less threatening with cannons replaced by sun loungers. When we eventually set sail (a couple of Americans typically holding us up) we had lunch which was a little odd cause we sat at tables with strangers sharing food. I suppose this is nice in a way cause you are forced into conversing. I have to admit the weather wasn't amazing it was very much like a British summer say about 22 C and overcast. This wasn't ideal as the views of the islands in Halong Bay were slightly limited due to the mist, having said that you could still see quite some distance very clearly. I can see why is it a natural wonder of the world that's for sure, there are just so many little islands and with that cover it makes the ocean seem more like a lake, so incredibly calm.
We had a couple of activities planned for the day. The first was visiting a cave which gave some spectacular views over the islands below. The cave itself was also quite impressive it reminded me of the cavern that the fellowship have to go through in Lord of the Rings, mainly because of its natural features combined with the man made steps. After, we got back on the boat to go kayaking. It is worth mentioning that there were many other boats all doing the same sort of tour so whenever we had to moor, the boats would pretty much just push each other out of the way to create space, like boat bumper cars............'bumper boats'. Kayaking was great fun me and Ollie were in the same kayak and after a few seconds to get our coordination we were pros. We headed in the opposite direction to most circling round a rock before heading back in the other direction at some pace (we were learnding now). We overtook an Aussie couple before heading back via a small cave which was too tight to turn so we ended up reversing. Our last stop of the day was a small island setup to be a swimming area. It was quite late now and not really too warm so no-one besides myself even paddled in the water. The area also had a view point which involved climbing a few steps (shame that the weather wasn't amazing it would have been a good spot to see the sunset, oh well you can't have it all your own way).
In the evening we were separated for dinner. Ollie was on a table with four Aussies about the same age as our parents (basically old) and a Swiss guy, and I was seated with an English couple, a Chinese couple and a Portuguese girl (interesting mix). We had our dinner then sat around talking to the people at our tables for a little while before I joined Ollie with the Aussies, who probably kept a couple of families for a little while on all the booze they purchased.
The following morning we woke up thankfully before the boat blew it's horn. We then changed boat to head back to the harbour to get some lunch on LAND!! While making our final tour around the islands guess what???????
It started to rain a reminder of England which we quite enjoyed, while most other people went and hide inside.
Return of the Hanoi – Hanoi, Vietnam
After our trip to Halong we had till about 6pm to view the city for the final time, well at least for another 4 and a bit months. We took it pretty easy but we wanted to go to a street cafe and get the local food, we headed back to the cathedral and found the one particular cafe that smelt awesome when we were on the walking tour. We were clueless what was on the menu but luckily for us the owner was an expert in languages and recognised the international sign for hungry. She pointed at a number of different items in front of her and held up a 20,000 Dong note (less than £1). I have to say this was one of our best meals in Vietnam making us wish that we when to more cafe place for food but on the other hand it was a good way to finish Nam.
We walked around for the last time time taking a final look at Vietnam and we finally saw the dog meat section (apparently bad luck to eat in the first half of the month), should have got some but we were full from our quality meal earlier. We did managed to find the street full of toys that we missed on the walking tour and some how end up back at the lake even though we were sure we were heading away from it. We saw fresh beer advertised for 3000 Dong so we had to have some of that before we left.
So... sad times. That it is for Vietnam leaving me with one thing to say “Nothing's the same once you've been to Nam!”
We would only be spending a couple of days in Hanoi sandwiched in-between them was a trip to Halong Bay. When the taxi dropped us off in the evening in Hanoi it dropped us by a small dark alley and we were like “errrrrr....... Is this the right place”. Our taxi driver assured us that our hostel was just a little bit further up. We started walking up hoping we wouldn't get jumped and then we found it, and the place was actually okay even though it was called the Victory Queen and we had to share a double bed the first night, Ollie tried to hide his excitement.
The next day we had another walking tour which didn't cost a great deal as it revolved around walking a fair distance around Hanoi city centre, at least we would earn our meals that way. The streets in Hanoi definitely had more of an old Western feel, most likely this was down to the French. Our walk started at the lake in the middle of the city which already made it more picturesque than Saigon (Ho-Chi-Minh). From the lake we made our way through the narrow streets to the market which was surprisingly large. Here we saw a fish try to jump out of it's tank but it seemed to have second thoughts in mid-air about suicide and just landed back in it's tank. We then got a little lost after veering off the track looking for food so we missed out on seeing a street full of toy shops that day. When finally returning to the track we visited a cathedral although we couldn't go in because it opened at stupid o'clock in the morning and for a couple of hours in the evening. We then got a bite to eat before a stop of at the Fanny's in Hanoi to get some more of that tasty ice-cream. After our break guess where we went next, I bet you can.
Yes that's right a museum, the revolutionary museum of Hanoi to be exactly. Even though we have already seen a lot of museums we still got kicked out before we got all the way round, what can I say we just just like to get our monies worth.
Walk The Plank - Halong Bay, Vietnam
We took an early morning bus from Hanoi to Halong which took about 3 hours. During which, Ollie spotted two guys and a buffalo on a motorbike. I unfortunately missed this but saw something similar on the way back.
On arrival in Halong we proceeded to our boat, there were so many tourist boats it was like encountering the Spanish armada but maybe just a little less threatening with cannons replaced by sun loungers. When we eventually set sail (a couple of Americans typically holding us up) we had lunch which was a little odd cause we sat at tables with strangers sharing food. I suppose this is nice in a way cause you are forced into conversing. I have to admit the weather wasn't amazing it was very much like a British summer say about 22 C and overcast. This wasn't ideal as the views of the islands in Halong Bay were slightly limited due to the mist, having said that you could still see quite some distance very clearly. I can see why is it a natural wonder of the world that's for sure, there are just so many little islands and with that cover it makes the ocean seem more like a lake, so incredibly calm.
We had a couple of activities planned for the day. The first was visiting a cave which gave some spectacular views over the islands below. The cave itself was also quite impressive it reminded me of the cavern that the fellowship have to go through in Lord of the Rings, mainly because of its natural features combined with the man made steps. After, we got back on the boat to go kayaking. It is worth mentioning that there were many other boats all doing the same sort of tour so whenever we had to moor, the boats would pretty much just push each other out of the way to create space, like boat bumper cars............'bumper boats'. Kayaking was great fun me and Ollie were in the same kayak and after a few seconds to get our coordination we were pros. We headed in the opposite direction to most circling round a rock before heading back in the other direction at some pace (we were learnding now). We overtook an Aussie couple before heading back via a small cave which was too tight to turn so we ended up reversing. Our last stop of the day was a small island setup to be a swimming area. It was quite late now and not really too warm so no-one besides myself even paddled in the water. The area also had a view point which involved climbing a few steps (shame that the weather wasn't amazing it would have been a good spot to see the sunset, oh well you can't have it all your own way).
In the evening we were separated for dinner. Ollie was on a table with four Aussies about the same age as our parents (basically old) and a Swiss guy, and I was seated with an English couple, a Chinese couple and a Portuguese girl (interesting mix). We had our dinner then sat around talking to the people at our tables for a little while before I joined Ollie with the Aussies, who probably kept a couple of families for a little while on all the booze they purchased.
The following morning we woke up thankfully before the boat blew it's horn. We then changed boat to head back to the harbour to get some lunch on LAND!! While making our final tour around the islands guess what???????
It started to rain a reminder of England which we quite enjoyed, while most other people went and hide inside.
Return of the Hanoi – Hanoi, Vietnam
After our trip to Halong we had till about 6pm to view the city for the final time, well at least for another 4 and a bit months. We took it pretty easy but we wanted to go to a street cafe and get the local food, we headed back to the cathedral and found the one particular cafe that smelt awesome when we were on the walking tour. We were clueless what was on the menu but luckily for us the owner was an expert in languages and recognised the international sign for hungry. She pointed at a number of different items in front of her and held up a 20,000 Dong note (less than £1). I have to say this was one of our best meals in Vietnam making us wish that we when to more cafe place for food but on the other hand it was a good way to finish Nam.
We walked around for the last time time taking a final look at Vietnam and we finally saw the dog meat section (apparently bad luck to eat in the first half of the month), should have got some but we were full from our quality meal earlier. We did managed to find the street full of toys that we missed on the walking tour and some how end up back at the lake even though we were sure we were heading away from it. We saw fresh beer advertised for 3000 Dong so we had to have some of that before we left.
So... sad times. That it is for Vietnam leaving me with one thing to say “Nothing's the same once you've been to Nam!”
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool - Hoi An, Vietnam
We spent three days more in Hoi An, we spent our time in the old town and at the beach. The first day was spent in the old town since we already visited the beach briefly the day before. It was the first we saw of the narrow streets common in many old Western towns. We got a pass which allowed us to visit a few attractions in town and we managed to sneak into a couple more free. After we visited the majority of the attractions we headed back out of town and in the direction of the river which led us in a loop back into town and through a market, this was where the evil flip-flops struck again. This time it was personal. I was walking along the river when the flip-flops made me slip in the mud only for me to recover my balance but this only led to further pain as I fell very awkwardly grazing most of my toes and knee, this one hurt a little!!! We then stopped at the next cafe for a much needed drink and of course a wash down of the injuries and recovery time. After that we visited the famous Japanese bridge and spent the rest of the afternoon wondering the street before going back for a late afternoon swim in the hotel pool.
The following day we spend down the beach, this was a generally chilled out day and also our first and only full day on an Asian beach. It was warm day but a comfortable temperature for us Brits to sit in the sun reading a book with the odd visit to the sea. After some lunch we continued to chill at the beach waving off the constant Vietnam women trying to sell us various items before the 3km trek back to the hotel.
Our last day in Hoi An we sorted out payment for the room and transport to Hanoi. We decided to fly to Hanoi as it was near enough the same price as the train which would have taken 15 hours and arrived at 4am!!! The flight was in the evening giving us the day, in which we headed to town to have a look around the shops and for me to finally buy some postcards in which some awesome haggling skills were used (me sticking to a price and not moving). After that small victory we got a big lunch, we had six courses for only £4 and the quality of the food was second to none. After a last look around town we headed back to the hotel and waited for the taxi and eventually our plane (it was delayed by about an hour, our first delay of the trip hopefully we won't get any longer than this).
The following day we spend down the beach, this was a generally chilled out day and also our first and only full day on an Asian beach. It was warm day but a comfortable temperature for us Brits to sit in the sun reading a book with the odd visit to the sea. After some lunch we continued to chill at the beach waving off the constant Vietnam women trying to sell us various items before the 3km trek back to the hotel.
Our last day in Hoi An we sorted out payment for the room and transport to Hanoi. We decided to fly to Hanoi as it was near enough the same price as the train which would have taken 15 hours and arrived at 4am!!! The flight was in the evening giving us the day, in which we headed to town to have a look around the shops and for me to finally buy some postcards in which some awesome haggling skills were used (me sticking to a price and not moving). After that small victory we got a big lunch, we had six courses for only £4 and the quality of the food was second to none. After a last look around town we headed back to the hotel and waited for the taxi and eventually our plane (it was delayed by about an hour, our first delay of the trip hopefully we won't get any longer than this).
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Evil Flip-Flops!!!! - Hoi An, Vietnam
After waking up a few times in the night I finally got up, well sat up since we were still on the train, at about 8am. Amazingly didn't sleep too badly considering it was on a train in a small cabin. What is more amazing was that we still had another 4 hours till we arrived in Da Nang, but time past pretty swiftly with the help of reading and music.
On arrival we got a taxi from Da Nang to Hoi An since it was about 30 km, the roads seemed empty in comparison to what we had seen on roads in Asia so far and we also saw the sea in Asia for the first time on our journey. When we arrived we decided to walk the 3km to the nearest beach most people got a bike (motor or pedal) but we decided we didn't want to spend the money when we could walk it. This was the day where the evil flip-flops would first strike. They made me slip on a curb and graze my knee, I just got up and continued walking as if nothing had happened although it stung like hell. The beach was pretty empty and we had a little paddle and rest before heading back via a cafe to get some cold drinks.
On arrival we got a taxi from Da Nang to Hoi An since it was about 30 km, the roads seemed empty in comparison to what we had seen on roads in Asia so far and we also saw the sea in Asia for the first time on our journey. When we arrived we decided to walk the 3km to the nearest beach most people got a bike (motor or pedal) but we decided we didn't want to spend the money when we could walk it. This was the day where the evil flip-flops would first strike. They made me slip on a curb and graze my knee, I just got up and continued walking as if nothing had happened although it stung like hell. The beach was pretty empty and we had a little paddle and rest before heading back via a cafe to get some cold drinks.
Monday, 9 March 2009
Go Chi Minh - Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Today we followed a guided walk which began at a large roundabout with a monument at its centre which was opposite the central Market.
Crossing the road in Ho Chi Minh was a small victory every single time, you kind of have to step out and play dodge the motorbike.
The city didn't have to many street sellers but it turned out they were just in the market, every single stall tried to sell us shorts, t-shirts, anything really, it doesn't seem to easy to browse in Asia generally. Next stop was the otherwise of the roundabout (pulls shirt collar) we made it eventually and started heading in the direction of the art museum which happened to be closed on a Monday, we later found out. Next up was the street market followed by fannys, we found the street market easy enough but we were really struggling to find fannys, okay fannys is an ice cream parlour that the walk recommended :D
Just as it looked like we wouldn't find it we found the road it was meant to be on and there it was, we were very happy. The next stop was the revolutionary museum showing the city through the ages, it also had a couple having their wedding photos taken. The war museum followed via the cathedral which gave us a lot of info on the Vietnam war as well as tanks, planes and guns and that was just the cathedral. We were running way behind schedule now so decided to walk to the Saigon river and grab a drink. The time problem was fine cause we had booked a night train to Da Nang the next day so we had plenty of time to check out the remaining attractions then.
The next day as planned we took our time to get ready as our train was booked for 7pm. When we finally got bored of watching TV in the room we set out to find the history museum, this was a fair walk from our hotel, a lot further than it seemed the other day. I can't say it was the most interesting museum because it wasn't but it was definatley worth a visit.
We didn't really have enough time to visit anywhere else so we decided to walk back in the direction of our hostel to get some food and drinks before the longest train journey of our lives. On our way back we walked through a park (well bit of green anyway) and sat down on a bench, it was hot and we were thirsty. When a couple of vietnamese students came over, we thought they are probably trying to sell us something cause everytime people engage you in conversation they are normally trying / doing that. It turned out that they were just interested to know a bit about England and wanted help with their English pronunciation. One of them was called Yu and I nearly made THE JOKE but didn't think he would understand. It made us happy that there were people who didn't care about selling us stuff and just wanted to talk.
We then went to get some food as we had planned then picked our bags up and got a taxi to the train station. Eventually we found out that our train was in front of us it was just waiting. After having our ticket checked throughly we proceed to our cabin which was for four people, we were hoping to have it to ourselves that wasn't to be, oh well. The worst thing about the train journey was the annoying music that was playing, this was due to every track skipping but did they turn it off..... NO!!!
Crossing the road in Ho Chi Minh was a small victory every single time, you kind of have to step out and play dodge the motorbike.
The city didn't have to many street sellers but it turned out they were just in the market, every single stall tried to sell us shorts, t-shirts, anything really, it doesn't seem to easy to browse in Asia generally. Next stop was the otherwise of the roundabout (pulls shirt collar) we made it eventually and started heading in the direction of the art museum which happened to be closed on a Monday, we later found out. Next up was the street market followed by fannys, we found the street market easy enough but we were really struggling to find fannys, okay fannys is an ice cream parlour that the walk recommended :D
Just as it looked like we wouldn't find it we found the road it was meant to be on and there it was, we were very happy. The next stop was the revolutionary museum showing the city through the ages, it also had a couple having their wedding photos taken. The war museum followed via the cathedral which gave us a lot of info on the Vietnam war as well as tanks, planes and guns and that was just the cathedral. We were running way behind schedule now so decided to walk to the Saigon river and grab a drink. The time problem was fine cause we had booked a night train to Da Nang the next day so we had plenty of time to check out the remaining attractions then.
The next day as planned we took our time to get ready as our train was booked for 7pm. When we finally got bored of watching TV in the room we set out to find the history museum, this was a fair walk from our hotel, a lot further than it seemed the other day. I can't say it was the most interesting museum because it wasn't but it was definatley worth a visit.
We didn't really have enough time to visit anywhere else so we decided to walk back in the direction of our hostel to get some food and drinks before the longest train journey of our lives. On our way back we walked through a park (well bit of green anyway) and sat down on a bench, it was hot and we were thirsty. When a couple of vietnamese students came over, we thought they are probably trying to sell us something cause everytime people engage you in conversation they are normally trying / doing that. It turned out that they were just interested to know a bit about England and wanted help with their English pronunciation. One of them was called Yu and I nearly made THE JOKE but didn't think he would understand. It made us happy that there were people who didn't care about selling us stuff and just wanted to talk.
We then went to get some food as we had planned then picked our bags up and got a taxi to the train station. Eventually we found out that our train was in front of us it was just waiting. After having our ticket checked throughly we proceed to our cabin which was for four people, we were hoping to have it to ourselves that wasn't to be, oh well. The worst thing about the train journey was the annoying music that was playing, this was due to every track skipping but did they turn it off..... NO!!!
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