Tuesday, 31 July 2012
Airlie Beach again and onto Brisbane!
We got the bus up to Brian and Judys place - Bush Village where we would be lounging about for the next few days getting over our sailing trip! We moved to bush village to volunteer for accommodation and it really turned out to be a good idea! We had to do a few hours work in the morning (Gem cleaning and making up the rooms for the guests and I was doing the odd jobs about the hotel). They really treated us well giving us an apartment to ourselves including on-suite kitchen, bathroom and dining room! We were made up and thought it was the best place we had stayed the whole trip! We went for a wander into town a few days to try and get some clothes for our trip to Brisbane where we would be meeting the Irish girls we had met in Thailand. We managed to save a lot of our budget by doing the volunteering and would be able to fly to all of our next destinations! Brian and Judy were great hosts treating us to beers in their living room and watching movies with them in the night (feeling like true Australians!). We were gutted to be leaving but excited to be meeting up with the girls again and staying in their home. As usual Brian went out of his way to drive us to the port where we would be getting a boat to Hamilton Island Airport where we would catch our flight to Brisbane Airport. We shook hands and said farewell and hopefully we will see them again some time soon!
Sailing on the Whitsundaaays!!
Well this is the trip we have been waiting for... The Whitsunday Island trip!
Soo we got up early and took at walk down to the pier with the Swedish girl we met at the hostel. We had a box of 30 beers and a bottle of wine...too much for 2 days...we don't think so lol! As we arrived at the port we had to wait for our boat...We got given our wetsuits and had to sign disclaimer forms to say if we dies scuba diving it wasnt the boat company fault..aww gr8! After being given our wetsuits and ben laughing cos i was the only person on the boat to get an 'Extra Short Suit' we walked down to the boat. Our's was a yellow green and white Maxi Yatch called the Apollo. It was really cool and we went down to our rooms under the deck! In our room their was us to 2 German girls, 1 Dutch 1 Russian girls, and 2 Welsh lads...who would turn out to be the funniest people on the boat! They had bought 28 litres of Goon!!! Now Goon.....is a disgusting form of wine..made from FISH and EGGS don't ask me how or why but it is! it is sold in boxes of 4 liters and tastes like absolute crap! One box of it and your bladderd....they had bought 7 boxes for 2 people for 2 days haha!!!!! No one could believe it...they said they were going to try and set a world record haha!!! So we got sailing along the sea and it was amazing, me and Ben helped to sail the boat which was a really cool experience as we didn't realise so much effort had to go into sailing a yacht!When we got to our first stop the deck hand on the boat..who was a typical Aussie...long blonde curly hair, tanned skin, shark tattoo on his belly and always says...."Duuuddee' haha i told him he sounded like the turtles from Finding Nemo and he thought it was hilarious but it actually true! He asked who would like to be the first to go Scuba Diving, me n Ben said we would go first! It was amazing, such a great experience we learned how to equalize and use the mask and everything and we went into the deep blue sea to see what we could find! We saw some amazing fish and Coral and it went so fast before we knew it we were heading back up to the surface again! Afterwards we had tea on the boat and the drinking started...Everyone was drunk before tea was even served..2 Asian people where bladdered and in bed by 6:30pm!! We all stayed up untill about 12:30AM drinking and playing cards and drinking games, the Welsh lads had 2 boxes of goon, spewed up and were in bed by 8pm haha! We spent the night talking to Vince and Julian 2 French guys who were really funny and Julian was the SPIT absolute image of Captain Jack Sparrow!!!
Next day we got up a few people really rough and red faced and we sailed to another island called pearl island and we went snorkeling, we saw some amzing fish and coral once again! We basically spent the whole of the second day in the sea snorkeling, in the afternoon we went to Whitehaven beach! One of the most beautiful beaches on the world! It really was beautiful but unfortunately the weather was bad and we couldnt get any good pics! We spent a few hours running around on the beach ion our wetsuits and we saw, Sharks and Sting Rays swimming past our feet argh!!! In the afternoon we got back on the boat with the weather being miserable everyone wanted to stay below deck but we thought it was better to stay on deck even if it meant getting wet as we wanted to see everything and not miss out! The Captain of the boat was laughing at us and said he thought we were crazy but great lol! It payed off for us siiting up on the deck though because to our surprise we got to see a WHALE, DOLPHINS and TURTLES!!! it was amazing and we couldn't believe how lucky we were! The Captain let Ben drive the Boat and he went inside and just left us to it! Afterwards he asked Ben to fish from the side of the boat and if he caught anything we could have it for tea, unlucky for us we didn't catch anything but it was still fun trying! That night we had our tea and had another party on the boat Welsh lads were still trying to drink thier goon but they had admitted defeat there was no way they could drink it all before they got off the boat haha! After another night drinking playing card and drinking games we all went to sleep knackered and cold but happy! That night the baot was rocking crazily and everyone struggles to sleep. At 6am in the morning the boat crew put Metallica on full blast to wake us all up arrgghh haha what a way to start ya day lol! One of the crew was really funny and kept screaming in an Aussie accent 'Sailing on the Whitsundays' about once everyone half an hour! We went snorkiing ina place called turtle bay which was lovely! We got given a speed boat ride back to the Yacht and had our last lunch together! We were all gutted to be getting off the boat after such a fun few days!
We spent the morning watching dolphins jumping outta the water and drinking beer and listening to Johnny Cash whilst 'Sailing in the Whistsundays!' Amazing!!!!!!! Couldn't have asked for a better three days! After getting off the boat we made our way back to the hostel and got changed and ready for the after party! All 30 of us from the boat met us and had a meal together in a bar and then went out to say goodbyee! After a great laugh we all headed home cos we were soo tired from the past 3 days!
Soo we got up early and took at walk down to the pier with the Swedish girl we met at the hostel. We had a box of 30 beers and a bottle of wine...too much for 2 days...we don't think so lol! As we arrived at the port we had to wait for our boat...We got given our wetsuits and had to sign disclaimer forms to say if we dies scuba diving it wasnt the boat company fault..aww gr8! After being given our wetsuits and ben laughing cos i was the only person on the boat to get an 'Extra Short Suit' we walked down to the boat. Our's was a yellow green and white Maxi Yatch called the Apollo. It was really cool and we went down to our rooms under the deck! In our room their was us to 2 German girls, 1 Dutch 1 Russian girls, and 2 Welsh lads...who would turn out to be the funniest people on the boat! They had bought 28 litres of Goon!!! Now Goon.....is a disgusting form of wine..made from FISH and EGGS don't ask me how or why but it is! it is sold in boxes of 4 liters and tastes like absolute crap! One box of it and your bladderd....they had bought 7 boxes for 2 people for 2 days haha!!!!! No one could believe it...they said they were going to try and set a world record haha!!! So we got sailing along the sea and it was amazing, me and Ben helped to sail the boat which was a really cool experience as we didn't realise so much effort had to go into sailing a yacht!When we got to our first stop the deck hand on the boat..who was a typical Aussie...long blonde curly hair, tanned skin, shark tattoo on his belly and always says...."Duuuddee' haha i told him he sounded like the turtles from Finding Nemo and he thought it was hilarious but it actually true! He asked who would like to be the first to go Scuba Diving, me n Ben said we would go first! It was amazing, such a great experience we learned how to equalize and use the mask and everything and we went into the deep blue sea to see what we could find! We saw some amazing fish and Coral and it went so fast before we knew it we were heading back up to the surface again! Afterwards we had tea on the boat and the drinking started...Everyone was drunk before tea was even served..2 Asian people where bladdered and in bed by 6:30pm!! We all stayed up untill about 12:30AM drinking and playing cards and drinking games, the Welsh lads had 2 boxes of goon, spewed up and were in bed by 8pm haha! We spent the night talking to Vince and Julian 2 French guys who were really funny and Julian was the SPIT absolute image of Captain Jack Sparrow!!!
Next day we got up a few people really rough and red faced and we sailed to another island called pearl island and we went snorkeling, we saw some amzing fish and coral once again! We basically spent the whole of the second day in the sea snorkeling, in the afternoon we went to Whitehaven beach! One of the most beautiful beaches on the world! It really was beautiful but unfortunately the weather was bad and we couldnt get any good pics! We spent a few hours running around on the beach ion our wetsuits and we saw, Sharks and Sting Rays swimming past our feet argh!!! In the afternoon we got back on the boat with the weather being miserable everyone wanted to stay below deck but we thought it was better to stay on deck even if it meant getting wet as we wanted to see everything and not miss out! The Captain of the boat was laughing at us and said he thought we were crazy but great lol! It payed off for us siiting up on the deck though because to our surprise we got to see a WHALE, DOLPHINS and TURTLES!!! it was amazing and we couldn't believe how lucky we were! The Captain let Ben drive the Boat and he went inside and just left us to it! Afterwards he asked Ben to fish from the side of the boat and if he caught anything we could have it for tea, unlucky for us we didn't catch anything but it was still fun trying! That night we had our tea and had another party on the boat Welsh lads were still trying to drink thier goon but they had admitted defeat there was no way they could drink it all before they got off the boat haha! After another night drinking playing card and drinking games we all went to sleep knackered and cold but happy! That night the baot was rocking crazily and everyone struggles to sleep. At 6am in the morning the boat crew put Metallica on full blast to wake us all up arrgghh haha what a way to start ya day lol! One of the crew was really funny and kept screaming in an Aussie accent 'Sailing on the Whitsundays' about once everyone half an hour! We went snorkiing ina place called turtle bay which was lovely! We got given a speed boat ride back to the Yacht and had our last lunch together! We were all gutted to be getting off the boat after such a fun few days!
We spent the morning watching dolphins jumping outta the water and drinking beer and listening to Johnny Cash whilst 'Sailing in the Whistsundays!' Amazing!!!!!!! Couldn't have asked for a better three days! After getting off the boat we made our way back to the hostel and got changed and ready for the after party! All 30 of us from the boat met us and had a meal together in a bar and then went out to say goodbyee! After a great laugh we all headed home cos we were soo tired from the past 3 days!
Airlie Beach!
After leaving Magnetic Island and getting a bus, ferry and coach to Airlie Beach we were shattered! We cooked up some of our special fried rice and met our room mates in our dorm. 2 of the guys were from Canada and were telling us funny stories about how one of them had a fight with an Australian girl with the result being getting slapped in the face with a steaming hot steak and kidney pie! The other was a Swedish girl who we were about to get on the Apollo boat with and sail on the Whitsunday islands. We had an early night and got our drink supplies from the local bottle-o and packed our bags ready for our 3 day - 2 night sailing trip!
Magnetic Island!
After a beautiful boat ride over from Cairns we arrived at the beautiful Magnetic Island! It was a beautiful day and it was like something from paradise! We got the local bus sround the island and arrived at our hostel Base (party hostel lol.) We decided to have a wander around the island so we stepped out of or hostel and onto the beach where there was a 5km stretch of golden sand...Bliss! We spent the afternoon strolling along the beach and talking to a few Aussies who advised us where to go what to do ect. That night we went to our hostel and treated ourselves to a meal at the restaurant it was delicious!! We had some cocktails and watched the sun setting on the beach it was a beautiful way to end the night!
Next day we got up early to see the sun rising unfortunately it was too cloudy, so we had brekkie and set off for today's walk up a mountain! We decided we would do this as there uis a chance to see wild Koala's and there is a lot of history from ww2 on the mountain! 1 litre of water 2 peanut butter sandwiches later we made it to the top woohoo!! The view was great as we could see the whole of the island! on the way up we got to see the ammunition houses for the guns of ww2 and the gun stands where the Aussies used to shoot as the Japanese ships trying to invade. It was all really interesting and we made our way down the mountain unfortunately we didn't see any wild Koala's! That night we packed up all our stuff and got ready to leave for our boat early in the morning. We stayed up swapping stories and laughing with the 8 people in our dorm and then went to sleep night night!
Next day we got up early to see the sun rising unfortunately it was too cloudy, so we had brekkie and set off for today's walk up a mountain! We decided we would do this as there uis a chance to see wild Koala's and there is a lot of history from ww2 on the mountain! 1 litre of water 2 peanut butter sandwiches later we made it to the top woohoo!! The view was great as we could see the whole of the island! on the way up we got to see the ammunition houses for the guns of ww2 and the gun stands where the Aussies used to shoot as the Japanese ships trying to invade. It was all really interesting and we made our way down the mountain unfortunately we didn't see any wild Koala's! That night we packed up all our stuff and got ready to leave for our boat early in the morning. We stayed up swapping stories and laughing with the 8 people in our dorm and then went to sleep night night!
Arriving in OZ - First stop Cairns!
The flight from NZ was easy enough and a free shuttle transfer to our hostel was just what we needed - no worries mate! We stayed in our own room in cairns which was a nice change and we sampled the night life on arrival...as usual! We ended up going out with a guy from Newcastle and his girlfriend from London. From what we can remember it was a good night and apparently one of the best places to 'party' in Australia! We realized pretty early on that we would be staying in Cairns for a while because the weather was so good so we had a look around for some work for accommodation! With a bit of luck Gem got a job the same day we started looking which was basically an hour of cleaning a kitchen followed by mopping two floors. Our accommodation was now half price and Gem didn't mind doing the graft while I done my master chef thing and cooked up our meals! We spent the next week or so saving up and sunning ourselves on the beaches. We had a couple of BBQ's on the nights and booked our trip with the local tour agents. We would be heading into the rainforest just north of Cairns called Cape Tribulation. The day of the tour came and we were up and out early, taken to a number of walks through the rainforest watching dingo's (small kangaroos), a hidden beach and a Aboriginal show in the jungle also. We had dinner in cape tribulation were we ate Coral fish and chips which were delicious! It was a long day so cooking wasn't on the menu that night and we went to the local Irish Pub for the meal deals - Guinness Pie, chips and Steak!. The next day we were off again to visit a place called Magnetic Island which Captain Cook sailed past and named due to his compass reading strange directions!
Leaving NZ...:-(
After returning to Auckland we were on the wind down to leaving NZ and starting our next part of the trip in Australia starting in Cairns - a north eastern city of australia in Queensland. We visited a few of the last attractions Auckland had to offer and packed our bags sorted the shuttle and were on our way before we knew it. Goodbye NZ it was fun while it lasted!
Rotorua Maori Cultural Village
So we arrived at the Maori Culture capital of New Zealand, we booked into our hostel which was right in the heart of the action, great news for us no walking miles with backpacks lol! We set off out n took a walk down to the local Maori village. We gatecrashed someone else guided tour and learnt all about the village it was discovered in the late 1800's. We wandered around and got talking to a few of the locals who were more than happy to discuss Maori culture and heritage it turned out to be a really interesting afternoon. Afterwards the sun was shining so we decided to take a walk along the lake it was a lovely walk where we saw black swans and beautiful fish we kept on walking until we came to a secluded little beach that no one seemed to know about! it was beautiful just a small beach but it was soo quiet and beautiful and we were the only ones there...Amazing! We decided we had a hard day adn took a walk back to our hostel where it was free pizza night woohoo!! We kept quiet that we had al;ready been to the Dominoes next door n had a pizza already hehe and stuffed ourselves with as much free pizza as possible haha! Then we chilled out watching movies, eating pizza and drinking beer with a Dutch guy and a guy from Columbia all swapping traveling stories and having a laugh! Then it was bedtime Goodnight :D xxxxxx
Next day we went to the Maori cultural centre called Te Pui. We had a tour around the place it was really cool the first thing our guide taught us was how to say his home towns tribal name .......Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu!! Yes it was hard to say and no we cant remember how to say it now haha!! We saw Kiwi birds which were really cute and we went to see the geysers which were amazing! Geysers are due to volcanic eruptions underground and make huge jets of steam and water burst out of the ground! It was amazing!! It was hard to believe it was natural and not man made but the guide explained how it all worked to us and we were impressed! After me asking the guide a million and one questions our tour ended! he was really cool and explained to us all about his tribe took us into their village hall and explained their way of life..he also told us that he was going out hunting tonight wow! After trying to hitchhike home (but no one would pick us up...we must have loked bad haha) We got the local bus back. That night we went out to a local farmers market in the middle of the village, it was great with lots of yummy food n arts and crafts made tbe the locals! we got talking to a lady who sold homemade garlic sauce and houmus and fresh pitta bread she was asking us all about our travels ect and liked us so much she said we could have as much of her tasters as we wanted for free and then gave us to cups of homemade lentil soup which was delicious, and told us we could take home a pot of garlic cream and bread for free wow!! We were made up because it was so delicious :D after trying some more samples of bread cheese ect hehe, we went to the local pub where we made friends with the barmaid she was from Wales and she gave us free drinks all night haha! We couldn't believe our luck! after our drinks and watching the rugby we went home happy full and tired and went to bed!
Next day we went to the Maori cultural centre called Te Pui. We had a tour around the place it was really cool the first thing our guide taught us was how to say his home towns tribal name .......Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu!! Yes it was hard to say and no we cant remember how to say it now haha!! We saw Kiwi birds which were really cute and we went to see the geysers which were amazing! Geysers are due to volcanic eruptions underground and make huge jets of steam and water burst out of the ground! It was amazing!! It was hard to believe it was natural and not man made but the guide explained how it all worked to us and we were impressed! After me asking the guide a million and one questions our tour ended! he was really cool and explained to us all about his tribe took us into their village hall and explained their way of life..he also told us that he was going out hunting tonight wow! After trying to hitchhike home (but no one would pick us up...we must have loked bad haha) We got the local bus back. That night we went out to a local farmers market in the middle of the village, it was great with lots of yummy food n arts and crafts made tbe the locals! we got talking to a lady who sold homemade garlic sauce and houmus and fresh pitta bread she was asking us all about our travels ect and liked us so much she said we could have as much of her tasters as we wanted for free and then gave us to cups of homemade lentil soup which was delicious, and told us we could take home a pot of garlic cream and bread for free wow!! We were made up because it was so delicious :D after trying some more samples of bread cheese ect hehe, we went to the local pub where we made friends with the barmaid she was from Wales and she gave us free drinks all night haha! We couldn't believe our luck! after our drinks and watching the rugby we went home happy full and tired and went to bed!
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Auckland
Got to Auckland eventually and extended the lease on the van because we couldn't bear to part with it! Had dinner in the car park, it was delicious but we looked mental as usual. Aucklands main draw is the Sky Tower which happens to be the tallest building south of the equator. Inside there was a casino bar and restaurant. We werent allowed in the poker room because we looked too scruffy so we observed the games in the casino instead! Grabbed some sweets and watched films in the van! We gave our lovely van back the next day said our farewells and hopped the bus back to town. We stayed in the Ymca hostel and had our own room! Bliss! After speaking to a French couple who thought we were German we had dinner with two Irish people who told us to get to Father Teds 24 hour bar to drink the home brew beer and watch the all blacks play Ireland. After a close game Ireland lost by one point and everyone in the pub was going mental. The atmosphere was electric even though Ireland lost there were plenty of happy kiwis!! So we had a few beers and watched the amazing live band :-) then we got talking to an Irish lad called Johnny and his two mates, we went around Auckland drinking n having a laugh and at 5am we got the standard kebab for the way home n got a taxi home...which we could have walked in 5 mins! Massive hangovers the next day so we done nout! We decided to go and see the geysers and culture in Rotorua (the Maori capital of NZ) so we booked our bus and off we went!
Monday, 16 July 2012
Taupo and LOTR scenery!
We were up early today and had look around the local museum. Back in the van and started the five hour drive to Taupo, home of NZ's biggest lake. The scenery along the way was nothing short of breathtaking and we were alone most of the way. We were sure we had seen the mountains and ranges in the Lord of the rings films! When we arrived in Taupo you couldn't miss the lake. It was a nice clear day and we wandered around the town. Stocking up in the supermarket and finding a hostel to get washed and cook some food in and realising Ireland would be playing the all blacks tonight! We had some Tui's with dinner and found an Irish bar to see the game in. Its been 39 years since Ireland has beaten the all blacks and we soon saw why. They were pretty good. The Haka at the start which is a Maori cultural dance was amazing aswell and really got the crowd going. Ireland lost and the bar was packed anyway so we stayed out and can't remember what time we got back the van! We were awoken by what sounded like loads of people outside and it turned out we were right. We'd parked in the middle of a weekend market and it was in full flow! We had a chat to the local llama farmer and butchers. We got some sausages for dinner and taste tested everything on offer :-). After cooking
Windy Welly
After staying in kaikoura and being told the weather was too bad to go swimming with wild dolphins (another problem! :-( ) we drove to seal bay were wild seals lazed about in the morning sun and getting really angry when you go near them! After that we drove to Neston to get the ferry to Wellington, NZ's capital city. We parked the bacon wagon in the car park on the boat and went upstairs for dinner and a walk around. Ben got sea sick because the boat swayed everywhere and went on deck and got talking to the locals. The locals told him about how Peter Jackson had bought some land in Wellington and built some houses and showed him where they were. The ferry across the strait was pretty quick and we were back in the wagon and in Welly quick as. We parked up in the centre and went out to sample the night life because apparently it was one of the best places to go. We walked down the bar street and found a nice place with a fire beer bands and house wine :-D perfect! After a few local brews we were back in the van and fast asleep.
The Day from HELL!
Today we got our Campervan!! But first we had to wade through knee deep snow to get to the office. Its a jucy one which means it's purple, green and orange with a hot chick called juicy Lucy on the front, really easy to blend in like ha! We got to the rental place n it began to snow, we were going through all the important/boring stuff n the woman tells us she thinks it would be a good idea for us to also hire snow chains! We thought this through....n decided nah we can do without them...$40 think how much other cool stuff we could buy! The woman didn't look very impressed n said she thinks we would be silly not to hire them especially the route we were taking, so we ummed n ahhed n reluctantly decided to take them, little did we know what a good idea it would turn out to be! After driving for an hour or so the snow was getting thicker n heavier, and we were in the middle of nowhere. As we drove through a load of open fields and up a hill our bacon wagon (as it was later lovingly named) got stuck!! Oh no...literally stuck on snow n ice in a hill with a campervan! Ben was as cool as a cucumber n i started freaking out i was convinced we would die on the mountain! We were stranded in the middle of nowhere,with no one or nothing around for miles! So here's where the heroic snow chains come in...oh yeah but we forgot one thing...we didn't know how to put them on!! After me being knee deep n Ben lying in the snow in just a tee shirt we had them on in some fashion n we decided to go for it,1..2..3.... The car wouldn't move n inch it was really stuck! We looked around and laughed Haha what else could we do! Next minute we heard a noise and in the distance we could see a tractor coming this way! Woohoo! After the famer struggling also with the snow chains, he digs us out with his tractor! We said thanks and waved as we drove off into the deepest snow we have ever saw! We had to carry on as we were in the middle of nowhere n we thought it was pointless going back so we went for it. We drove down another road where we followed another campervan for a few miles until he turned around thinking it was too dangerous...but we cracked on! After driving about 20mins we had the nightmare of trying to get the snow chains back off which meant more lying in the snow! After getting them off we drove for about 10mins when the car drifted nearly off a cliff n we missed crashing into a bollard by inches! It was too close for me n i started freaking out Haha! We drove further down the road when a huge tree had fell blocking the road so we decided thee bacon wagon would probably drive over it if we reversed and hit it at top speed. Luckily it did. We carried on further n got stuck in the snow once again, 2 metres away from us some fella had rolled his car into a ditch n was getting winched out by some helpful locals! Snow chains back on then...lying in the snow...fingers frozen brrrr! After talking to the locals they told us that this road had actually been closed as it was that dangerous but the snow must have covered the sign. They said they had never seen anything like this, i was Sooo cold i thought my fingers would fall off, and this woman felt sorry for us n give me a hug n told us if we get stuck we are welcome to stop over at her place! They were lovely but we wanted to get out of this weather before it got worse, the locals helped us out of the snow n literally escorted us to near a main road as they had land rovers to help us out if needed, they all told us to be careful as they couldn't believe we'd made it this far in a campervan. We thanked them for being so kind!
After all the madness we eventually reached a motorway where it was a bit clearer, we were soaked..tired n cold n we still had a 3hr drive to do...!
We finally reached Kaikoura and got our tea! Just as luck would have it, turns out this towns electric had been turned off because of the weather n everything was shutting at 7:30pm it was now 7 grrr! We went to a chippy where we got a well deserved fish n chips with a half price pie n 2 free sausage rolls, yes i know it sounds loads and it was, but after the day we'd had we deserved it Haha! After stuffing ourselves till we felt sick the lecky went off n we watched a movie n slept on the street in our campervan! What a crazy day!!
Christchurch Earthquake
We jumped the naked bus to Christchurch and stayed in New Brighton, one of the few places not destroyed by the massive earthquake. It was a quaint sea side village so we headed into the city centre and were shocked to find it had been destroyed. The whole city had been ruined and barriers placed everywhere. There were no cars or people and it was like ghost town. The road had been cracked and crumpled and the windows had fell out of buildings. The cities main feature was St Peters cathedral which had been destroyed beyond repair (so they say). However, there is alot of controversy surrounding the issue and people are protesting regularly to rebuild it. It was shocking to see and it was like trying to imagine Liverpool abandoned as it was once a thriving city. After we seen the destruction we looked online n found that everyday for the last ten days there had been earthquakes in the Christchurch area. The only place open was the local library so we headed back to the hostel and got off at the wrong stop (Bens fault) but seen alot of houses abandoned through the earthquake. It was sad to see so many homes abandoned and destroyed. We went the pub that night to play poker ans spoke to the locals who told us that snow was due the next day...the day we will be leaving (hopefully we'll miss it!).
Dunedin - The Edinburgh of NZ
Sooo after recovering from our terrifying but brilliant Skydive we spent the next day chilling out and booked our bus to Dunedin. After a night relaxing and sat in the tv lounge watching 3 lord of the ring films :-0 we went to bed.
Next day we got up early and made the long walk to bus stop where we would be getting the 'naked bus'. We got on the bus and prepared ourselves for the 5hour journey. Surprisingly the buses here were more sickly than in Asia and it was a long journey! After taking in the beautiful scenery and fighting the urge to spew we made it to the student town of Dunedin! We found ourselves the backpacker hostel in the centre aptly named 'central backpackers'. We stocked up on food and went for a beer and watched ufc :-). The next three days we wandered around the centre of Dunedin and planning the journey North via campervan :-D.
Queenstown for a quick Skydive...
Had a great sleep in the hostel and jumped the bus back to Queenstown were we walked along the lake in the night for some more scenic views and an early night at base backpackers. We decided that a sky dive was a must while we were here and booked ourselves in for the 12,000 foot plunge! They told us today was the best day to do it which we thought was just sales talk but there wasn't a cloud in the sky! We were shuttle to the N-zone building were we were briefed on how to do the banana when you leave the plane and what to do while free falling :-\. After donning our overalls Gem got slightly nervous and had a cry while trying to have a conversation with her tandem partner. I had to wait for my tandem partner to land as he was already mid fall with someone else, the place was like a conveyor belt! He landed and i other harnessed up and we got on plane. Me and Gem sat at the back and soon found out we'd be last off...oh god. As we reached 9000 feet, which seemed high enough, the door opened and the wind howled through the plane. A cameraman climbed out and stood on the wing waiting for a diver to roll out so he could film her! As the last diver was sucked out the plane it finally hit us that we would be next! Gem asked the instructor why the plane was flying backwards not realising she was just sitting the wrong way and looking at the back of the plane and i put my flight hat on backwards! Good start! I went first and my stomach turned for the first time, we shuffled to the door and it opened. We were above the mountains and clouds with my feet dangling out the plane. The sky above us was dark blue almost black and clear as could be. We rocked backwards and forwards twice then frontrolled out the plane and in the sky three times. I seen Gem leave the plane above me and we fell at 200 km per hour. It felt like a second but it was nearly a minute of freefall i looked around at the mountains and heard the wind whistling around us, it was amazing! He deployed the chute and we were sucked upwards, then we had an eagle eye tour of the mountains and lakes of Queenstown. We headed for the landing spot and hit the ground running and full f adrenaline. Gem landed thirty seconds later and we were in shock! We got some photos and had a brew to calm down and was gutted it was over. On the way back to Queenstown we stopped at the airport got our passports back which topped it off. We celebrated with dinner in the locally famous burger shop and had a few beers in the bar. What a day...
Queenstown
After sleeping a night in a cold dark cabin we woke at 3am because we couldn't sleep with the cold. We got up cooked some noodles as we were still on Thai time. We packed r stuff and waited until 6am to go the supermarket n get some brekkie, we bought bread n eggs n teabags n milk. After 3 months of noodles n rice it was the best egg on toast n brew ever Haha!! We left and went to see lake Tekapo it was beautiful! We continued onto Queenstown, we had a quiet night as we still hadn't recoverd from the crazy time.difference we were unsure what day n time it was Haha! The next morning we had to take the car back so we said goodbye to our lil getz, and decided to walk the 5mile walk home to save £7 Haha! When we got.back.it was dark but it was a beautiful walk n the scenery was unbelievable! We went home n.cooked a pizza for tea yummy! We chilled out again n decided to have an early night Cos we had to get the bus to te anau at 7:30am but jet lag had different ideas...4:30am we were both still wide awake with no sleep grrr! We got up packed r stuff when Ben said where are the passports?? Then a horrible feeling struck when we realised we had left them in the car!!!! We couldn't cancel r bus so we decided when we got to te anau we would email the rental place. After arriving we got a bus to Milford sounds which is meant to be one of the nicest places in New Zealand and it was beautiful! Ice capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and blue lakes, some of the nicest landscapes we have ever seen!! We got lots of pics and unfortunately we couldn't do the river cruise because the boat got cancelled for the first time ever ha! Unlucky! We wernt that bothered because with no sleep we were both Sooo tired so we got back on the bus for another 4 hour journey back. We got some supplies n made spaghetti bol for tea yummy, we got some drinks n chilled out with everyone else from the hostel, before heading back to r room for a well deserved sleep!!
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Friday, 13 July 2012
BKK --> NZ
We got our bus for Kanchanaburi and met an Irish guy called Mike and arranged to meet for drinks later on as this would probably be the last time we drank in a while :-(. We had a great night from what we can remember and woke up to find pictures of ourselves eating crickets and drinking more buckets....The next day we headed to the local shopping centre were Mike picked up a camera for the start of his travels and we wished we were starting again with him! We had tea that night and ha an early one as the next day we were going to the biggest market in the world apparently! The following day the market was insane and the heat was almost unbearable but we managed to get a few bargains for NZ and some souvenirs. That night we met Mike again and th days were going faster than we thought possible. The next day we packed our bags and sorted our tickets then watched the cinema to see the Avengers which was a surprisingly nice change of scenery. Once again the Thai patriotism surprised us by the whole cinema standing to the national anthem before the film started. That night we got the best sleep we could as the next days journey would be the hardest we'd done to date! 1 bus and 3 trains later we made it to the airport and were checking in our backpacks hoping we'd see them again at the other end. Our flights with Emirates were great both planes were empty so you could have four seats each and the transfer in Sydney was great. Despite the flights we hadn't had much sleep between us and the two hour drive to Lake Tekapo was hard going! Didnt really help that when we got there, there had been a power outage and we went to bed cold and hungry :-(
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Milford Sounds
The jet lag had different ideas and we were both still awake at 4:30am! We got our stuff packed up when Ben said where are the passports?? Then a horrible feeling struck and we realized we had left them in the hire car and we were about to get on a bus and head ten hours the wrong way with no way to pick them up! We would just have to phone the rental place when they opened...After arriving in Milford Sounds which is meant to be one of the nicest places in the whole of NZ and it was beautiful! Ice capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and the bluest lakes, some of the nicest landscape we have ever seen!! We got lots of pics but unfortunately for us (which is a common occurrence for us in NZ by the way) the river cruise had been cancelled through a boat fault for the first time ever! We weren't really that bothered because with having no sleep we were pretty tired anyway and the four hour journey back we managed to get some zeds in :-) We got some supplies from the local shop and had Spaghetti bolognaise for tea which was yummy! We got some drinks and chilled out with everyone else in the hostel after a long day!
Queenstown
After sleeping a night in the cold dark cabin we woke at 3a.m. because we couldnt handle the cold. We cooked up some noodles as we were still on Thai time, packed our stuff and waited until 6a.m. to go the supermarket and get some breakie. We bought the essentials and went home to have eggs and soldiers which was long awaited after months of rice. We left the cabins and went to see Lake Tekapo which was beautiful! We continued onto queenstown and had a quiet night as we still hadnt recovered from the Jet lag.The next morning we had to take the car back so the little Getz had a good send off and we decided to do the 5 mile walk home along the Lake for a bit of exercise which was very scenic! That night we had booked ourselves in for a spa bath with a view of the stars lit by candles which was going to be pretty romantic! It was lovely and the bath was nice and warm! You could see the mountains and stars and it was a crystal clear night! Perfect! We got home and cooked upto pizza for tea and chilled out again in the night because the next day we were headed for Milford Sounds at 7:30am!
BKK - - > NZ
We got our bus from Kanchanaburi and met an Irish guy called Mike and arranged to meet for drinks later on as this would probably be the last time we drink in a while :-(. We had a great night from what we can remember and woke up to find pictures of ourselves eating crickets and drinking more buckets than necessary...The next day we headed to the local shopping center were Mike picked up a camera for his travels and we wished we were starting again with him! We had tea that night and had an early one as the next day we were going to the biggest market in the world apparently! The following day the market was insane and the heat was almost unbearable but we managed to get a few bargains for NZ and some souvenirs. That night we met up with Mike again and the days were going faster than we'd wanted :-(. The next day we packed our bags and sorted our tickets then went the cinema to see the Avengers which was a surprisingly nice change of scenery. Once again the Thai patriotism surprised us by the whole cinema standing to the national anthem before the film started! That night we got the best sleep we could as the next days journey would be a hard one 3 trains and a bus to the airport. When we made it to the airport we checked our bags in hoping we would see them again in NZ! Our flights with Emirates were great we had to get a plane to Sydney then transfer on another one to Christchurch and both planes were empty giving us 4 seats each! :-D. Despite the flights we didn't get too much sleep and picked up our Hire car (which was the exact same as Gems back home) and done the two hour drive to Lake Tekapo which turned out to be a hard one! Didn't really help that when we got there there had been a power outage and they couldn't remember the last one they'd had in town! The whole place was in darkness so we got into our dark cold cabin beds and went straight to sleep!
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