Friday, 3 August 2012
Last stop...Melbourne!! <3
Sooo we have arrived at our final destination and i'm sad already! Just got off our plane where i cried because an old guy was waving his granddaughter off at the airport...Oh god I'm gonna be an emotional wreck here..cannot believe this is the end!!!!!
So we've booked ourselves into a cool hostel called Home @ Mansion it was a former Mansion converted into a hostel and it's fab!! Went up to our room were we met a scouse girl! So we were chatting to her for ages! We took the free tram into the city but we could have walked because our hostel is 2 mins away from the centre. We had a good look around and went and bought some supplies for our last few days! So we have spent the last few days going to the museum's and seeing all the cultural sides of Melbourne, we went to the biggest backpacker bar and met up with a guy from Singapore and an Aussie we had a few beers with them then headed back to the hostel.
Tonight we decided to get a tram to St Kilda where you can see a colony of the smallest penguins in the world in their natural habitat! we got the tram down thier ealr and to our surprise after looking arounf for 5 mins we got to see a family of penguins all cuddles up between some rocks! They were soooo cute :D then as it became dusk more people began to arrive on the beach, as we were all looking out to the sea waiting for the penguins to come in 2 little fellas came swimming in and then ran as fast as a penguin can and ran into the rocks to keep warm! It was one of the cutest things we have ever saw, and soo cool because it wasn't in a zoo or anything just sitting on the beach watching them! After seeing many clambering upon the rocks trying to find a warm spot we couldn't stay much longer as we were so cold! So we got the tram back into the city centre and went to watch some of the Olympics were us 'pommys' as the Aussies call us won a gold medal for the rowing woohoo go Team GB!! It was getting late so we headed back to our hostel for our last nights sleep away from home booho!! Today we visited the Famous Victoria Market and got some souvenirs and headed to Melbourne Airport to fly back home :(
We cannot believe our trip has ended..We really have had the time of our lives and have had the best experiences ever..Walking with Tigers, to Elephant Trekking through the jungle, Tubing in Vang Vieng, partying until the sun rise at the Full Moon party, eating Crickets in Bangkok, Seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Skydiving in New Zealand, Driving both island of New Zealand in a Camper, Getting the Camper stuck in snow haha, Sailing on a Yacht around the Whitsunday Islands Australia, Seeing Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, Sting Rays, Little Penguins and Turtles in Australia and Seeing the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House! That's just a few to mention! We have met some of the funniest craziest people that we will probably ever meet, and hopefully made some friends for life! Possibly the Best 6 and a Half months of our lives!!! Looking forward to getting home now to see all our family and friends...and hopefully planning the next trip hehe!!! :D xxxxx
Gem n Ben :D xxx
Liverpool - Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand - New Zealand - Australia - Liverpool !!!
30th Jan 2012 - 4 Aug 2012!!
So we've booked ourselves into a cool hostel called Home @ Mansion it was a former Mansion converted into a hostel and it's fab!! Went up to our room were we met a scouse girl! So we were chatting to her for ages! We took the free tram into the city but we could have walked because our hostel is 2 mins away from the centre. We had a good look around and went and bought some supplies for our last few days! So we have spent the last few days going to the museum's and seeing all the cultural sides of Melbourne, we went to the biggest backpacker bar and met up with a guy from Singapore and an Aussie we had a few beers with them then headed back to the hostel.
Tonight we decided to get a tram to St Kilda where you can see a colony of the smallest penguins in the world in their natural habitat! we got the tram down thier ealr and to our surprise after looking arounf for 5 mins we got to see a family of penguins all cuddles up between some rocks! They were soooo cute :D then as it became dusk more people began to arrive on the beach, as we were all looking out to the sea waiting for the penguins to come in 2 little fellas came swimming in and then ran as fast as a penguin can and ran into the rocks to keep warm! It was one of the cutest things we have ever saw, and soo cool because it wasn't in a zoo or anything just sitting on the beach watching them! After seeing many clambering upon the rocks trying to find a warm spot we couldn't stay much longer as we were so cold! So we got the tram back into the city centre and went to watch some of the Olympics were us 'pommys' as the Aussies call us won a gold medal for the rowing woohoo go Team GB!! It was getting late so we headed back to our hostel for our last nights sleep away from home booho!! Today we visited the Famous Victoria Market and got some souvenirs and headed to Melbourne Airport to fly back home :(
We cannot believe our trip has ended..We really have had the time of our lives and have had the best experiences ever..Walking with Tigers, to Elephant Trekking through the jungle, Tubing in Vang Vieng, partying until the sun rise at the Full Moon party, eating Crickets in Bangkok, Seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, Skydiving in New Zealand, Driving both island of New Zealand in a Camper, Getting the Camper stuck in snow haha, Sailing on a Yacht around the Whitsunday Islands Australia, Seeing Whales, Dolphins, Sharks, Sting Rays, Little Penguins and Turtles in Australia and Seeing the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House! That's just a few to mention! We have met some of the funniest craziest people that we will probably ever meet, and hopefully made some friends for life! Possibly the Best 6 and a Half months of our lives!!! Looking forward to getting home now to see all our family and friends...and hopefully planning the next trip hehe!!! :D xxxxx
Gem n Ben :D xxx
Liverpool - Thailand - Laos - Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand - New Zealand - Australia - Liverpool !!!
30th Jan 2012 - 4 Aug 2012!!
Thursday, 2 August 2012
World Famous Sydney!
When we arrived at Sydney we realized we were staying in the party district! Meaning we weren't going to get very much sleep for the next few days :-(. The hostel we were staying in was reasonable and we decided to just cook up some tea watch a film and have an early night so we could get up and out early tomorrow and go exploring!
The next day we headed into the center of Sydney to get some snaps of the world famous Opera House, The Bridge and the royal botanical gardens! The weather was clear and sunny for a winters day (unlike ours!) We seen signs for a free cruise along Sydney Harbor to a nearby island filled with art exhibitions so we thought it was worth a try! The cruise was great and the exhibitions were strange but it was well worth going for the photos of the bridge from on the river :-) That night we chilled out again and realized the Olympics would be starting at 6 a.m. so we were probably going to have to get up for that! The opening ceremony started and Gem was wide awake for the whole thing despite really being remotely interested in the Olympics! :-S I woke up to see Team GB and Paul McCartney play a few tunes (just in time!).
Off out again we went to Paddy's market. We grabbed some much needed souvenirs from this place but wont be saying what they are on this blog because there surprises for family back home ;-). Afterwards we headed over to China town where we got stuck into some cakes and pies and all kinds of tasty stuff! We had dinner in china town and started the long walk back to the hostel!
The next days plan was to head to the famous Bondi Beach where the program 'Bondi Rescue' is filmed. There was a bus that took you directly to the place for a couple of dollars from outside the hostel. For a pretty overcast day Bondi was pretty scenic! We walked down the pier and got some snaps of the place before treating ourselves to good old fish and chips! Felt a bit like Blackpool for a millisecond but it passed...
Our time is Sydney was coming to an end and we were soon packed up and on our way to the aiport to catch ANOTHER flight to the last stop....Melbourne!
The next day we headed into the center of Sydney to get some snaps of the world famous Opera House, The Bridge and the royal botanical gardens! The weather was clear and sunny for a winters day (unlike ours!) We seen signs for a free cruise along Sydney Harbor to a nearby island filled with art exhibitions so we thought it was worth a try! The cruise was great and the exhibitions were strange but it was well worth going for the photos of the bridge from on the river :-) That night we chilled out again and realized the Olympics would be starting at 6 a.m. so we were probably going to have to get up for that! The opening ceremony started and Gem was wide awake for the whole thing despite really being remotely interested in the Olympics! :-S I woke up to see Team GB and Paul McCartney play a few tunes (just in time!).
Off out again we went to Paddy's market. We grabbed some much needed souvenirs from this place but wont be saying what they are on this blog because there surprises for family back home ;-). Afterwards we headed over to China town where we got stuck into some cakes and pies and all kinds of tasty stuff! We had dinner in china town and started the long walk back to the hostel!
The next days plan was to head to the famous Bondi Beach where the program 'Bondi Rescue' is filmed. There was a bus that took you directly to the place for a couple of dollars from outside the hostel. For a pretty overcast day Bondi was pretty scenic! We walked down the pier and got some snaps of the place before treating ourselves to good old fish and chips! Felt a bit like Blackpool for a millisecond but it passed...
Our time is Sydney was coming to an end and we were soon packed up and on our way to the aiport to catch ANOTHER flight to the last stop....Melbourne!
Brisbane!
We have been excited for Brisbane for a while partly due to it being a cool city with all kinds to do...partly cos our fab Irish friends that we met in Asia live here and have invited us to stay with them for the week yay!
So after stepping off the plane and being pleased that the weather was still pretty good we boarded the train and set of to Wooloongabba where the girls have a house! We arrived in Brisbane central and had a walk around it looked soo pretty at night all lit up :D then we got on the bus to the girls house! We arrived and the fab Jean had gave us her bedroom and made up a delicious chicken and broccoli bake yummy!! We had lots of chocolate beer and crisps and waited for Jayne and Lorraine to come home from work, once we were all together we sat around catching up on travels as the last time we were all together was in Vietnam! We stayed up chatting and met the 2 other girls Michelle n Eva who also lived there and they were lovely too! as we had been traveling all day we were soo tired n went to bed so we could get up early and explore tomorrow!
Today we decided to go and explore Brisbane, its a big city that reminded us a bit of Liverpool! The Southbank was gorgeous and they were filming Masterchef live on the esplanade! (Masterchef is bigger then Xfactor here) After watching them film for a bit we realized there was a competition on so it didn't take long for me to want to get involved lol! You had to separate egg yolk from the white add whisk as fast as possible until you could lift it above you head without it falling outta the bowl! Three people would win hehe! I WON YAAAYYY!!! i was made up cheering and everything...then i got to take my prize home..a Masterchef apron hahaha!! Oh well it was deffo worth the laugh :D. We spent the rest of the day wandering around shopping and sight seeing with Jean and Lorraine. That night we bought some Kangaroo
burgers and loads of food n beer for the barbie and spent the night having a BARBIE Aussie style!! We all stuffed our selves with beer and kangaroo burgers and relaxed ahead of tomorrows Sunday all day drinking session!
Sunday had been planned before we arrived and it was going to be a full day drinking day lol! So we all had a good brekkie and cracked opened the beers..at 12pm! Needles to say it was a good day/night we took the bus into Brisbane and went to the Normanby Hotel a cool outdoor bar with a great atmosphere we stayed there all night until we went the Vic (the girls local) Then after it being a long day we headed to Hungry Jacks aka burger King! We went home laughing after a crazy day and decided we didn't want to leave Brisbane at all haha!
Next day everyone woke up feeling a little worse for wear! We only had two days left here so while the other lounged around or went to work we had to go n sight see lol! what a hard life! We went to the museum and cultural centre which was really cool for learning about the aboriginal culture of Australia. After having a wander around we somehow ended up in a theatre watching a musical for free!! Were still not sure how we managed it haha! the musical was really good, one that had recently been written in Australia and was hoping to make iot big internationally! We will have to keep a look out for it! afterwards we went back to the girls house had a domino's and relaxed on the sofa..Bliss after staying in hostels for 2 months haha!
Awww today is our last day! We fly to Sydney tomorrow afternoon. We decided to go up the Gold Coast to Surfers Paradise. A famous beach were the waves are great for surfing! As always we didn't want to do things the easy way and go with a tour agency we decided to get there ourselves on public transport! so after a bus, 2 trains and a bus, we made it!! It was beautiful and the waves really were huuugee!!! We watched some surfers and the skill they have is unbelievable! It really felt like awe were in Australia now watching people surf on the beach haha! We spent the day at Surfers and went back to the girls to get ready for the cinema tonight..the Dark Knight rises woohoo!!! After one cinema selling out we walked to the next one which we luckily got tickets! We piled up with sweets and goodies and watched the film....Amazing! We went home had beers talked and laughed more and then all went to bed after a crazy couple of days!!
Today we leave the girls...boohoo!!! We have had a ball didn't wanna move on, but then we realized we were going onto Sydney and got all excited to see the Harbor bridge n Opera House! something I've been excited about seeing since we arrived in Oz! We got seen off by Jayne and after saying some sad goodbyes we left for Sydney!!!!!
So after stepping off the plane and being pleased that the weather was still pretty good we boarded the train and set of to Wooloongabba where the girls have a house! We arrived in Brisbane central and had a walk around it looked soo pretty at night all lit up :D then we got on the bus to the girls house! We arrived and the fab Jean had gave us her bedroom and made up a delicious chicken and broccoli bake yummy!! We had lots of chocolate beer and crisps and waited for Jayne and Lorraine to come home from work, once we were all together we sat around catching up on travels as the last time we were all together was in Vietnam! We stayed up chatting and met the 2 other girls Michelle n Eva who also lived there and they were lovely too! as we had been traveling all day we were soo tired n went to bed so we could get up early and explore tomorrow!
Today we decided to go and explore Brisbane, its a big city that reminded us a bit of Liverpool! The Southbank was gorgeous and they were filming Masterchef live on the esplanade! (Masterchef is bigger then Xfactor here) After watching them film for a bit we realized there was a competition on so it didn't take long for me to want to get involved lol! You had to separate egg yolk from the white add whisk as fast as possible until you could lift it above you head without it falling outta the bowl! Three people would win hehe! I WON YAAAYYY!!! i was made up cheering and everything...then i got to take my prize home..a Masterchef apron hahaha!! Oh well it was deffo worth the laugh :D. We spent the rest of the day wandering around shopping and sight seeing with Jean and Lorraine. That night we bought some Kangaroo
burgers and loads of food n beer for the barbie and spent the night having a BARBIE Aussie style!! We all stuffed our selves with beer and kangaroo burgers and relaxed ahead of tomorrows Sunday all day drinking session!
Sunday had been planned before we arrived and it was going to be a full day drinking day lol! So we all had a good brekkie and cracked opened the beers..at 12pm! Needles to say it was a good day/night we took the bus into Brisbane and went to the Normanby Hotel a cool outdoor bar with a great atmosphere we stayed there all night until we went the Vic (the girls local) Then after it being a long day we headed to Hungry Jacks aka burger King! We went home laughing after a crazy day and decided we didn't want to leave Brisbane at all haha!
Next day everyone woke up feeling a little worse for wear! We only had two days left here so while the other lounged around or went to work we had to go n sight see lol! what a hard life! We went to the museum and cultural centre which was really cool for learning about the aboriginal culture of Australia. After having a wander around we somehow ended up in a theatre watching a musical for free!! Were still not sure how we managed it haha! the musical was really good, one that had recently been written in Australia and was hoping to make iot big internationally! We will have to keep a look out for it! afterwards we went back to the girls house had a domino's and relaxed on the sofa..Bliss after staying in hostels for 2 months haha!
Awww today is our last day! We fly to Sydney tomorrow afternoon. We decided to go up the Gold Coast to Surfers Paradise. A famous beach were the waves are great for surfing! As always we didn't want to do things the easy way and go with a tour agency we decided to get there ourselves on public transport! so after a bus, 2 trains and a bus, we made it!! It was beautiful and the waves really were huuugee!!! We watched some surfers and the skill they have is unbelievable! It really felt like awe were in Australia now watching people surf on the beach haha! We spent the day at Surfers and went back to the girls to get ready for the cinema tonight..the Dark Knight rises woohoo!!! After one cinema selling out we walked to the next one which we luckily got tickets! We piled up with sweets and goodies and watched the film....Amazing! We went home had beers talked and laughed more and then all went to bed after a crazy couple of days!!
Today we leave the girls...boohoo!!! We have had a ball didn't wanna move on, but then we realized we were going onto Sydney and got all excited to see the Harbor bridge n Opera House! something I've been excited about seeing since we arrived in Oz! We got seen off by Jayne and after saying some sad goodbyes we left for Sydney!!!!!
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!
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