My last post of the trip. Apologies for the long gap from the previous post to this but Africa you know, not the best of internet facilities. But the country makes up for it many other ways.
Given that it's been nearly 6 weeks since my last monologue, I thought I'd spare you all the details and just give you the highlights. Blimey, that's a huge sigh of relief I'm hearing!
I left you in Swakopmund where the following day I went quad-biking. So much fun! And so much embarrassment when I got stuck in the sand. Twice! Eek! From there we headed up to Etosha National Park where there was a floodlit watering hole and during our night viewing we saw giraffe (my favourite!), impala, elephant, rhino and a leopard. Soooo cool.
After stopping off at the Cape Cross Seal Colony which whilst having a gozillion very cute seals was extremely smelly, we headed to Windhoek which is where we spent Christmas day. Very odd for me having a hot Christmas. But lots of fun and we had a great Christmas lunch at Joe's Beerhouse (which is actually a restaurant before you all start thinking I'm turning into and alcoholic) and I got a very cool carved comb as my Secret Santa present.
Very early the next day, a very hungover truck load of people headed to Ghanzi in Botswana ready for our trip the following day into the Okavango Delta. We travelled to our campsite in the delta in Mokoros, hollowed out tree trunk canoes, mine and Mark's steered by Letta our poler. This was a magical journey and very relaxing - a few snores could be heard from our group! In the Delta we spent the afternoon relaxing because it was too hot to do anything else then as it cooled down and then again very early in the morning we did a couple of game walks where we saw elephants, wildebeest, zebra and a couple of hyenas.
From the Delta we headed to Chobe National Park. A bit disappointing on the animal front as the rain had started with a vengeance by now and all the animals seemed to go in to hiding. We did get to see a lot of beautiful birds though and there were lots of impala and hippo to keep us amused. We also had New Years here - even got to sing Aulde Lang Syne with Fiona - the only other English person on the tour (Mark my Welsh canoeing partner refused to join in - not a bad thing if you were to hear him sing!).
From Botswana we headed into Zambia where we stopped in Livingstone for 5 very long, very very wet days. There were literally rivers running through the campsite and at times you couldn't even see the other side of the Zambezi river the rain came down so hard. It is also here that I thought I was going to die when the white water rafting raft I was in flipped us over and we all obviously fell out which wouldn't have been so bad had we not been heading for a rapid which was level 6, not allowed to go through under any circumstances called "Commercial Suicide". Fortunately all turned out OK and I lived to tell the tale although think I'm now put off WWR for a while! Victoria falls on the other hand was absolutely gorgeous. Amazing power of nature and worth a far longer trip than the hour we spent there.
After being almost washed away in Livingstone we headed into Malawi and had 2 nights at Kande Beach where I got to dive in Lake Malawi and hopefully didn't get schistosomiasis! Malawi is incredibly beautiful and I think probably my most favourite African country that I visited. At Kande beach we got to do a village walk on which I was guided by Steven and Captain Morgan (I also met Tony Blair, Fred Flintstone and Jack Daniels!) and it was both amazing and shocking to see the school where there were 1250 students, most of whom lived in the attached orphanage because their parents had died, usually due to AIDS. They were adorable though and would fight each other over who was going to hold your hand - that coming from me who isn't very keen on children too! From there it was up to Chitimba and Iringa (and a campsite with the cleanest long-drop toilets you could ever come across!).
Tanzania was the next stop and 3 nights in Zanzibar. Incredible place. Stonetown was a labyrinth of tiny alleyways yielding great shops selling every nicknack, souvenir and random object you could wish to buy and then up to North Beach where the pristine white beaches and amazingly blue sea could make the tensest of people relax (although I was about chilled as I could possibly get by this point anyway). Lots of good food and massages on the beach made this couple of days feel like 2 weeks. Would definitely recommend a few days here to chill out!
Then it was back to mainland Africa and heading up to Arusha, our jumping off point for the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. These 2 places were amazing. We saw 4 out of the big 5 here, only missing out on leopard - and that's because I did a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti and those that didn't saw one on their game drive that morning. Unfortunately the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and so we only got a half hour ride rather than an hour but it just meant we drank more champagne to make up for it, followed by a full English breakfast in the middle of the Serengeti. Marvelous!
The Ngorongoro crater had the highest concentration of animals you can imagine and so we saw so much there. Impala, hippo, male and female lion, cheetah, warthogs, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, jackals, hyena. The list goes on!
And then on our last day - as by this point we knew that tour was being finished in Arusha and not going into Kenya because of all the trouble there - we did a Maasai village walk and saw their education centre and their health centre where we met up with 4 people from our tour who had just been diagnosed with malaria. That being the case and a good percentage of us having had dodgy stomachs for a while and a couple of us having cold symptoms, we all decided to get tested and it ended up with 14 out of the 24 of testing positive - me being one of them! So no big night out for the last night, the pills made quite a few of us feel really rough and so we were in bed by 9pm!
Fortunately the effects were gone the next morning when I woke up at 3.30am to go to the airport to fly to Dar Es Salaam ready for my flight the next day back home and the night in a 5* hotel where I treated myself for the last night also helped and now being looked after by my Mum is the final icing on the cake!
This has been the most amazing 6 months of my life. Anyone vaguely contemplating doing something like this I would say go for it. Since I've been back, the most common question I've been asked is "what was your favourite place?" but with a trip like this, there isn't really anywhere that's favourite. Some places you like for the place, some for the people, some for the things you do there. It's just exciting visiting the places and finding out the reason why you like it. I know one thing. I can't wait to do something like this again.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Loving Africa
I am currently in Africa and absolutely loving it! Arrived here just over a week ago and spent a wonderful few days with Katalin and Rob in their lovely home in Cape Town. So easy to see why they enjoy living out there! Then I started my Acacia tour from Cape Town to Nairobi on Saturday so only been going a few days but as Internet access will be very sporadic from this point onwards I thought I'd do a post whilst I can!
We started off with a Township tour in Cape Town. Have to say it was a very weird experience for me. Having worked on TB in South Africa for so long and having given numerous talks on where my samples came from i.e. children in townships in SA and the conditions there,I found it partly quite upsetting to see for myself what the conditions are actually like but uplifting too when I heard the stories of how people either try to improve their situations or make the best of what they have. The trip was preceded by a visit to District 6, the area of Cape Town where Blacks were displaced in favour of Whites and it really explained the situation Black people had been placed in very well. Whilst at the township we visited various houses, some which had been renovated and others which hadn't, the difference being quite dramatic, and we had the opportunity to taste the "local brew" in a Shabeena in Langa which I have to say I won't be going back for another sip of, and then went to a restaurant in Guguletu for lunch - in "Mzoli's meats" which was delicious but not for the vegetarians (and if you can't pick that up from the name...!!) From there we carried on to our campsite which was in the middle of a vineyard. Great until the rain started - and yes I did say camping!
We woke up to a completely flooded campsite with the truck (not bus - we have to buy the next round for calling it a bus and so one girl on the trip will effectively be buying all our drinks tonight!!), but after a soggy start the weather improved dramatically and we spent next evening camping alongside the Orange River, recently renamed the Hareep river to tie in with the Hareep Dam.
The following morning we went canoeing. Sounds good, especially when I tell you we were going with the current not against it, but I was paired up with a Welsh chap called Mark who insisted we went near the river bank because we would see much more there. Unfortunately he couldn't decide which river bank so I actually think we got a good deal because we must have rowed at least 3 times the distance of anyone else but they still charged us the same price!!
From there we headed to the Fish River Canyon which really was a sight to behold and then we had dinner there watching the sun set. Magical!
From there we crossed the border into Namibia where we went to the Namib Naukluft National Park, to Sesriem where there was another canyon which Stephanie, our guide said wasn't all that spectacular but it was shallow enough to walk through which made it very cool - different to the campsite where we had 37 degrees!
Our jurney the next day took us to Solitaire which is the smallest town in Namibia. Consists of the campsite and, well, just the campsite really! But they did sell absolutely fantastic apple crumble which I think even though I haven't had it anywhere else in Namibia was so good it could just be accurate when it says it's the best apple crumble in Namibia!
From there we travelled today to Swakopmund where we have 2 nights, IN BEDS!!! Yeah! We're having a big night out tonight and then tomorrow after mooching in the day (shopping to get my secret Santa present actually!) I'm going quad biking in the evening which will take me through sunset and sounds great.
Can't believe this is my last 6 weeks away but if the first part of the Africa trip is anything to go by, I'm going out with a bang!!
We started off with a Township tour in Cape Town. Have to say it was a very weird experience for me. Having worked on TB in South Africa for so long and having given numerous talks on where my samples came from i.e. children in townships in SA and the conditions there,I found it partly quite upsetting to see for myself what the conditions are actually like but uplifting too when I heard the stories of how people either try to improve their situations or make the best of what they have. The trip was preceded by a visit to District 6, the area of Cape Town where Blacks were displaced in favour of Whites and it really explained the situation Black people had been placed in very well. Whilst at the township we visited various houses, some which had been renovated and others which hadn't, the difference being quite dramatic, and we had the opportunity to taste the "local brew" in a Shabeena in Langa which I have to say I won't be going back for another sip of, and then went to a restaurant in Guguletu for lunch - in "Mzoli's meats" which was delicious but not for the vegetarians (and if you can't pick that up from the name...!!) From there we carried on to our campsite which was in the middle of a vineyard. Great until the rain started - and yes I did say camping!
We woke up to a completely flooded campsite with the truck (not bus - we have to buy the next round for calling it a bus and so one girl on the trip will effectively be buying all our drinks tonight!!), but after a soggy start the weather improved dramatically and we spent next evening camping alongside the Orange River, recently renamed the Hareep river to tie in with the Hareep Dam.
The following morning we went canoeing. Sounds good, especially when I tell you we were going with the current not against it, but I was paired up with a Welsh chap called Mark who insisted we went near the river bank because we would see much more there. Unfortunately he couldn't decide which river bank so I actually think we got a good deal because we must have rowed at least 3 times the distance of anyone else but they still charged us the same price!!
From there we headed to the Fish River Canyon which really was a sight to behold and then we had dinner there watching the sun set. Magical!
From there we crossed the border into Namibia where we went to the Namib Naukluft National Park, to Sesriem where there was another canyon which Stephanie, our guide said wasn't all that spectacular but it was shallow enough to walk through which made it very cool - different to the campsite where we had 37 degrees!
Our jurney the next day took us to Solitaire which is the smallest town in Namibia. Consists of the campsite and, well, just the campsite really! But they did sell absolutely fantastic apple crumble which I think even though I haven't had it anywhere else in Namibia was so good it could just be accurate when it says it's the best apple crumble in Namibia!
From there we travelled today to Swakopmund where we have 2 nights, IN BEDS!!! Yeah! We're having a big night out tonight and then tomorrow after mooching in the day (shopping to get my secret Santa present actually!) I'm going quad biking in the evening which will take me through sunset and sounds great.
Can't believe this is my last 6 weeks away but if the first part of the Africa trip is anything to go by, I'm going out with a bang!!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Asian Influences
The last time I posted to the blog I was in Brisbane and as it's not that big a city, the 2 days I had there were pretty much long enough! Really liked the feel of the city though and it had a bit of a buzz going on with it, I think partly because the elections for the new Prime Minister were going on when I was there. They were interesting to see as there is far more going on at the polling station than you get back home. No serious-faced person in Australia asking if "they can rely on your vote" but stalls and balloons and people giving out leaflets to show how to vote for their candidate, made it almost seem like a bit of a circus! Make of that what you will! Also seemed strange to me with it being on a Saturday but with compulsory voting you can see why it's then and not a Thursday.
So I left Brisbane and headed to Singapore. Some of you know that I've wanted to visit this place for years (about 15) and I have to say, it really was all I hoped for, absolutely loved it! I was staying in the Islamic quarter which was fascinating in itself, with the Muslim Mosque and all the all the shops. On the first day I mooched round there and then went up to Little India which was scarily like the real India I visited earlier in the year. OK, the roads weren't all being dug up and there weren't people sleeping in various random places, but the smells and colours and the people hassling you to buy "pashmina/shawl" were all too familiar! They didn't seem to honk their car horns quite so much though which did show some restraint compared to the real thing! I also went to the Tekka Market in Little India which is not for the faint hearted! I walked in and saw something move out of the corner of my eye when I first got there and it turned out to be a fish that had somehow escaped from it's box where it was supposed to be with the other fish and then there were stalls selling various meat products - that's about the best description I can give you as my anatomy classes at Uni were obviously not good enough to know what some things were in the market!
From there I went to Fort Canning and mooched round the gardens there before heading back to the hostel where on my journey I found a Marks and Spencers. Now not that I'm craving home or anything but the sight of something so familiar and the thought that I could buy M&S pants which will fit my ever expanding bottom was just too much and so couldn't resist a visit! and yes I do now have new pants that fit!! Marvelous!
The next day I went to the Botanic Gardens and the Orchid Gardens that are situated within them. It was absolutely beautiful there and the orchids were out of this world. Whilst there however, the inevitable happened and the heavens opened! I thought I'd seen some rain storms in Cape Tribulation but this one made those look like an April shower! I waited under some shelter for about 45 minutes and then decided I could probably be there all day at that rate so braved the rain, getting incredibly wet and so cut my losses and headed back to the hostel for dry clothes. That night I went to the night safari which was good but quite a few of the animals had obviously decided they didn't want to come out in the rain (which by this point was barely noticeable) so didn't get to see some stuff.
On the Thursday I headed to the Orchard Road which is the most amazing shopping street if you've got lots of money and don't have to carry everything in a rucksack - so obviously I miss out on both those counts!! Then from there went to Chinatown and then mooched round various places such as the Raffles Landing Site, Boat Quay and the Sri Mariamman Temple. That night I went to Raffles for my Singapore Sling (or 3!) which was delicious! And like a good girl threw my peanut shells on the floor!
On my last day there I went for a walk around the Colonial District and the Padang which is where the Cricket Club is and then that night met up with my old boss Paul and had a really fun night out with him (was very good to see you Paul!).
After the slightly (!) late night I then had to get up early for my flight to Hong Kong which went fine - finding the hostel when I got there, not quite so fine but found it in the end. As soon as I got in the room, a girl started chatting to me who it turns out came from Hinckley (and for those of you who don't know that's about 4 miles away from where I come from!). Along with her were 2 girls in the room from Newcastle so we all went out together for dinner which was a lot of fun. The next day we all stayed together and went to visit the Big Buddha which is truly huge! along with Po Lin Monastery which is next to it. Then in the evening we took the tram to the top of "The Peak" for spectacular views across Hong Kong.
The following day I walked miles and headed from Fortress Hill where I was staying all the way across to the Star Ferry and goes that over to Kowloon. As I was quite thirsty by this point, I had a watermelon juice which had birds nest and honey jelly in the bottom. Slightly strange but quite nice. Then carried on up to Mongkok, the big shopping area, the Jade Market and finally went for a walk down Temple Street Market in the evening.
As I was a bit cityed out by then I went to the Botanic Gardens (it seems every city has them!) and zoo followed by the escalator which is basically as series of escalators which take you up a steep hill! From there went to Hong Kong park where a very sweet guy learning English got me to listen to him and help him with his pronunciation (and with my accent as well!!).
Although I did quite a lot in Hong Kong, have to say I didn't really get the city. There was just something about it which didn't appeal to me although I couldn't say for sure what it was. I guess you just like some places more than others.
And so at the moment I'm in Tokyo! In the guide books they always warn you about something about the city to be aware of. For example, in Singapore it was the snort. Similar to the Indian throat clearing but as they're not allowed to spit they do it twice as loud to make up for it from what I can gather. In Tokyo it should be the bikes. Cycling is very common over here but cyclists use the pavements not the roads and there doesn't seem to be priority for them over pedestrian or vice versa and so everyone is vying for the same space. Almost been taken out by one at least 3 times so far! I really like Tokyo, it's a great place, very clean and other than the cyclists everyone seems very polite but I don't feel I can really get to know this place as I'm finding the lack of my ability to speak Japanese quite a hindrance. Most of the restaurants are OK because a lot of them have these very realistic plastic versions of the food they sell on display outside and so you can just take the waitress out and point at what you want. And basically lots of bowing and "arigato" saying (means thank you) seems to work well! It's the fact that not very many of the streets have names and so addresses are linked to an area and not a street and the block and building number within that area so although I'm seeing lots of cool places to visit in my guide book I can only actually find about 20% of them! Which is quite frustrating! But never mind, have still manged to see lots of the city, even if it doesn't always include everything that I wanted to see. Today I went to the Imperial Palace East Garden which was just beautiful as the leaves on the trees (mostly Acers - one of my favourite trees) were changing colour and it was just amazing. Then from there went to Ueno and to the Park there and again a similar thing with the trees. Have also been to the Shinju Temple which is close to where I'm staying where I bought a fortune which turned out the be "Bad Luck" and went on to say I will have bad luck and this bad thing will happen and that bad thing and my employer will not be happy with me (thank goodness for being unemployed at the moment!!) etc etc. Deciding that I wasn't happy with that I bought another one which turned out to be "Good Luck" and was - not too surprisingly - the opposite of everything that had been said in the bad luck one!
So I have one more day here before I head off to South Africa and have a few days with Rob and Katalin which I'm very much looking forward to before I start my 6 week tour of Africa.
And as for a weather update. It didn't rain once in Hong Kong and hasn't done so yet in Tokyo. Here we have beautiful days which although cold are crisp and have beautiful sunshine!
So I left Brisbane and headed to Singapore. Some of you know that I've wanted to visit this place for years (about 15) and I have to say, it really was all I hoped for, absolutely loved it! I was staying in the Islamic quarter which was fascinating in itself, with the Muslim Mosque and all the all the shops. On the first day I mooched round there and then went up to Little India which was scarily like the real India I visited earlier in the year. OK, the roads weren't all being dug up and there weren't people sleeping in various random places, but the smells and colours and the people hassling you to buy "pashmina/shawl" were all too familiar! They didn't seem to honk their car horns quite so much though which did show some restraint compared to the real thing! I also went to the Tekka Market in Little India which is not for the faint hearted! I walked in and saw something move out of the corner of my eye when I first got there and it turned out to be a fish that had somehow escaped from it's box where it was supposed to be with the other fish and then there were stalls selling various meat products - that's about the best description I can give you as my anatomy classes at Uni were obviously not good enough to know what some things were in the market!
From there I went to Fort Canning and mooched round the gardens there before heading back to the hostel where on my journey I found a Marks and Spencers. Now not that I'm craving home or anything but the sight of something so familiar and the thought that I could buy M&S pants which will fit my ever expanding bottom was just too much and so couldn't resist a visit! and yes I do now have new pants that fit!! Marvelous!
The next day I went to the Botanic Gardens and the Orchid Gardens that are situated within them. It was absolutely beautiful there and the orchids were out of this world. Whilst there however, the inevitable happened and the heavens opened! I thought I'd seen some rain storms in Cape Tribulation but this one made those look like an April shower! I waited under some shelter for about 45 minutes and then decided I could probably be there all day at that rate so braved the rain, getting incredibly wet and so cut my losses and headed back to the hostel for dry clothes. That night I went to the night safari which was good but quite a few of the animals had obviously decided they didn't want to come out in the rain (which by this point was barely noticeable) so didn't get to see some stuff.
On the Thursday I headed to the Orchard Road which is the most amazing shopping street if you've got lots of money and don't have to carry everything in a rucksack - so obviously I miss out on both those counts!! Then from there went to Chinatown and then mooched round various places such as the Raffles Landing Site, Boat Quay and the Sri Mariamman Temple. That night I went to Raffles for my Singapore Sling (or 3!) which was delicious! And like a good girl threw my peanut shells on the floor!
On my last day there I went for a walk around the Colonial District and the Padang which is where the Cricket Club is and then that night met up with my old boss Paul and had a really fun night out with him (was very good to see you Paul!).
After the slightly (!) late night I then had to get up early for my flight to Hong Kong which went fine - finding the hostel when I got there, not quite so fine but found it in the end. As soon as I got in the room, a girl started chatting to me who it turns out came from Hinckley (and for those of you who don't know that's about 4 miles away from where I come from!). Along with her were 2 girls in the room from Newcastle so we all went out together for dinner which was a lot of fun. The next day we all stayed together and went to visit the Big Buddha which is truly huge! along with Po Lin Monastery which is next to it. Then in the evening we took the tram to the top of "The Peak" for spectacular views across Hong Kong.
The following day I walked miles and headed from Fortress Hill where I was staying all the way across to the Star Ferry and goes that over to Kowloon. As I was quite thirsty by this point, I had a watermelon juice which had birds nest and honey jelly in the bottom. Slightly strange but quite nice. Then carried on up to Mongkok, the big shopping area, the Jade Market and finally went for a walk down Temple Street Market in the evening.
As I was a bit cityed out by then I went to the Botanic Gardens (it seems every city has them!) and zoo followed by the escalator which is basically as series of escalators which take you up a steep hill! From there went to Hong Kong park where a very sweet guy learning English got me to listen to him and help him with his pronunciation (and with my accent as well!!).
Although I did quite a lot in Hong Kong, have to say I didn't really get the city. There was just something about it which didn't appeal to me although I couldn't say for sure what it was. I guess you just like some places more than others.
And so at the moment I'm in Tokyo! In the guide books they always warn you about something about the city to be aware of. For example, in Singapore it was the snort. Similar to the Indian throat clearing but as they're not allowed to spit they do it twice as loud to make up for it from what I can gather. In Tokyo it should be the bikes. Cycling is very common over here but cyclists use the pavements not the roads and there doesn't seem to be priority for them over pedestrian or vice versa and so everyone is vying for the same space. Almost been taken out by one at least 3 times so far! I really like Tokyo, it's a great place, very clean and other than the cyclists everyone seems very polite but I don't feel I can really get to know this place as I'm finding the lack of my ability to speak Japanese quite a hindrance. Most of the restaurants are OK because a lot of them have these very realistic plastic versions of the food they sell on display outside and so you can just take the waitress out and point at what you want. And basically lots of bowing and "arigato" saying (means thank you) seems to work well! It's the fact that not very many of the streets have names and so addresses are linked to an area and not a street and the block and building number within that area so although I'm seeing lots of cool places to visit in my guide book I can only actually find about 20% of them! Which is quite frustrating! But never mind, have still manged to see lots of the city, even if it doesn't always include everything that I wanted to see. Today I went to the Imperial Palace East Garden which was just beautiful as the leaves on the trees (mostly Acers - one of my favourite trees) were changing colour and it was just amazing. Then from there went to Ueno and to the Park there and again a similar thing with the trees. Have also been to the Shinju Temple which is close to where I'm staying where I bought a fortune which turned out the be "Bad Luck" and went on to say I will have bad luck and this bad thing will happen and that bad thing and my employer will not be happy with me (thank goodness for being unemployed at the moment!!) etc etc. Deciding that I wasn't happy with that I bought another one which turned out to be "Good Luck" and was - not too surprisingly - the opposite of everything that had been said in the bad luck one!
So I have one more day here before I head off to South Africa and have a few days with Rob and Katalin which I'm very much looking forward to before I start my 6 week tour of Africa.
And as for a weather update. It didn't rain once in Hong Kong and hasn't done so yet in Tokyo. Here we have beautiful days which although cold are crisp and have beautiful sunshine!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
So much to see and do!
Well the time has flown by since my last post - I've been so busy that I'll try not to make it too long of a post but I'm not hopeful!
After my last post I was heading out to the Barossa Valley for the day where I got to taste wines at Wolf Blass, Vine Crest, Grant Burge and Monkey Nut Tree wineries. All very yummy - including the wide varieties of ports I got to try and being a bit of a port fan anyway this was good! Also had my first taste of Kangaroo as I had it for lunch that day too.
For the rest of my time in Adelaide I went to the Donald Bradman Collection (who went to work for Harry Hodgetts - a stockbroker - when his cricketing career was over!), The South Australia Museum, SA art gallery, Adelaide Uni, Chinatown and Central Market. On my last day there it was the Melbourne Cup so a few of us booked a table at the local pub to eat and watch the race. My go on the sweepstake was about as successful as it is on the Grand National but a fun time was had by all!
After Adelaide I travelled on the Ghan train up to Alice Springs which took 26 hours but was good because a. you get loads of leg room; b. I got a double seat to myself and c. there is a lounge car and dining car for you to walk around in so you're not stuck in your seat all that time - they even have a shower on board if you want one!! The sunset as we travelled on the train was absolutely amazing and so was the sunrise the next morning.
Once in Alice Springs I went to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service base there which was really interesting and then went to a kangaroo rescue centre where they look after joeys that are rescued from the their mother's pouches when the kangaroos have been hit by vehicles. They were soooo cute! After there I went to the School of the Air where I saw a lesson on computing taking place. These days the lessons take place via computer linkup rather than radio and so there have been some issues with when the homesteads switch on their generators as they need to be on for the satellite linkup which wasn't an issue with the radio system. The logistics of it all was amazing though and it was a fascinating place to visit.
The next day I had a really early start (5.30am) for my Mulga's tour of King's Canyon, Kata Tjuta (think can 'a' tuna!) and Uluru. On the first day of the tour we had a long drive out to King's Canyon and then we walked the rim until we got to a swimming hole that hasn't had water in it for a year (but obviously knew I was on my way so they'd had a huge storm which had filled it up) so we got to swim in it which was cold but lots of fun and also saw the creek that runs though it which also had water in it for the first time in a year. That night we set up camp and slept out under the stars in swags which was freaky at first but then when you got used to the idea of bugs and spiders and snakes it was OK!
The following day we walked through Kata Tjuta (otherwise known as The Olgas) which was absolutely beautiful, the place was magnificent. From there we went round to Uluru and saw the watering hole there and some of the aboriginal paintings that had been done on the stone. Then we went to the sunset viewing area and had dinner whilst the sunset over Uluru. That night we went back to camp and made it up in the dark! Then we all sat down and had a few beers and Beej (the guide) starting playing the guitar. Just lying back on the swag listening to him and looking up at the many many stars made for a magical evening. Which was good because we had and even earlier start the next morning (4.30am) to go watch sunrise at Uluru which to be honest wasn't all that impressive!! After that we did the base walk - you weren't able to climb it that day due to the high winds - not that I wanted to anyway - which is still about 9 km to give you an idea of just how big this rock is. On the way back to Alice that day we stopped off at a camel farm and I had a ride on a camel, which I have to say was almost as traumatic as the donkey ride I had along Blackpool beach when I was about 8!! After arriving back in Alice we had a group dinner that night and then went to the most soulless nightclub I think I've ever been to - but we'd had a few beers so all was good!!
The next day, myself and 5 others from the Mulgas tour flew to Cairns, where not surprisingly it was throwing it down with rain, but we went out for a few drinks together that night anyway. The following day we all had breakfast together and then we all went our separate ways. That afternoon I went white water rafting on the Barron River which was great fun. I had 4 Japanese, 2 Korean people and the Japanese guide in my boat so I got my picture taken a lot but couldn't really have a conversation with most of them (the guide spoke English of course) and so there was lots of fun and lots of smiles but not too much chat from me! Fortunately I didn't fall out of the boat either!
The next day I went up to Cape Tribulation in the rain forest where it wasn't supposed to be rainy season for another month but Cyclone Guba was having it's fun in the area (the first cyclone in November for 35 years!) and so it poured down with rain the whole time I was there. Didn't stop me doing a days diving on the Great Barrier Reef although it did make the dive fairly murky having churned up the bottom of the sea. Also didn't stop me Canopy surfing where you fly from tree to tree on zip lines which was excellent fun. Unfortunately on the 3rd day it stopped me getting back to Cairns by completely flooding the road that I need to cross! Fortunately after waiting for a couple of hours the water level dropped enough that a large 4WD truck was able to tow us across so eventually made it back to Cairns in time for the 3 day liveaboard boat that I went diving from the next day.
So, remember the cyclone I mentioned? Unfortunately the liveaboard was following in its wake. So that made for a very bumpy journey (Jim you'd have hated it!). Also meant that for those 3 days we didn't get the best visibility in the water - I've had better in the UK at times! However, it was still good to dive the Great Barrier Reef and the fish were fab. I even got to see a long-nosed hawkfish which is a fish I'd been desperate to see but never did in the Red Sea so I was excited anyway!
And so now I'm in Brisbane for a couple of days before I head off to Singapore on Monday which I'm very excited about. It's not raining at the moment, but of course, it's forecast for later!!
After my last post I was heading out to the Barossa Valley for the day where I got to taste wines at Wolf Blass, Vine Crest, Grant Burge and Monkey Nut Tree wineries. All very yummy - including the wide varieties of ports I got to try and being a bit of a port fan anyway this was good! Also had my first taste of Kangaroo as I had it for lunch that day too.
For the rest of my time in Adelaide I went to the Donald Bradman Collection (who went to work for Harry Hodgetts - a stockbroker - when his cricketing career was over!), The South Australia Museum, SA art gallery, Adelaide Uni, Chinatown and Central Market. On my last day there it was the Melbourne Cup so a few of us booked a table at the local pub to eat and watch the race. My go on the sweepstake was about as successful as it is on the Grand National but a fun time was had by all!
After Adelaide I travelled on the Ghan train up to Alice Springs which took 26 hours but was good because a. you get loads of leg room; b. I got a double seat to myself and c. there is a lounge car and dining car for you to walk around in so you're not stuck in your seat all that time - they even have a shower on board if you want one!! The sunset as we travelled on the train was absolutely amazing and so was the sunrise the next morning.
Once in Alice Springs I went to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service base there which was really interesting and then went to a kangaroo rescue centre where they look after joeys that are rescued from the their mother's pouches when the kangaroos have been hit by vehicles. They were soooo cute! After there I went to the School of the Air where I saw a lesson on computing taking place. These days the lessons take place via computer linkup rather than radio and so there have been some issues with when the homesteads switch on their generators as they need to be on for the satellite linkup which wasn't an issue with the radio system. The logistics of it all was amazing though and it was a fascinating place to visit.
The next day I had a really early start (5.30am) for my Mulga's tour of King's Canyon, Kata Tjuta (think can 'a' tuna!) and Uluru. On the first day of the tour we had a long drive out to King's Canyon and then we walked the rim until we got to a swimming hole that hasn't had water in it for a year (but obviously knew I was on my way so they'd had a huge storm which had filled it up) so we got to swim in it which was cold but lots of fun and also saw the creek that runs though it which also had water in it for the first time in a year. That night we set up camp and slept out under the stars in swags which was freaky at first but then when you got used to the idea of bugs and spiders and snakes it was OK!
The following day we walked through Kata Tjuta (otherwise known as The Olgas) which was absolutely beautiful, the place was magnificent. From there we went round to Uluru and saw the watering hole there and some of the aboriginal paintings that had been done on the stone. Then we went to the sunset viewing area and had dinner whilst the sunset over Uluru. That night we went back to camp and made it up in the dark! Then we all sat down and had a few beers and Beej (the guide) starting playing the guitar. Just lying back on the swag listening to him and looking up at the many many stars made for a magical evening. Which was good because we had and even earlier start the next morning (4.30am) to go watch sunrise at Uluru which to be honest wasn't all that impressive!! After that we did the base walk - you weren't able to climb it that day due to the high winds - not that I wanted to anyway - which is still about 9 km to give you an idea of just how big this rock is. On the way back to Alice that day we stopped off at a camel farm and I had a ride on a camel, which I have to say was almost as traumatic as the donkey ride I had along Blackpool beach when I was about 8!! After arriving back in Alice we had a group dinner that night and then went to the most soulless nightclub I think I've ever been to - but we'd had a few beers so all was good!!
The next day, myself and 5 others from the Mulgas tour flew to Cairns, where not surprisingly it was throwing it down with rain, but we went out for a few drinks together that night anyway. The following day we all had breakfast together and then we all went our separate ways. That afternoon I went white water rafting on the Barron River which was great fun. I had 4 Japanese, 2 Korean people and the Japanese guide in my boat so I got my picture taken a lot but couldn't really have a conversation with most of them (the guide spoke English of course) and so there was lots of fun and lots of smiles but not too much chat from me! Fortunately I didn't fall out of the boat either!
The next day I went up to Cape Tribulation in the rain forest where it wasn't supposed to be rainy season for another month but Cyclone Guba was having it's fun in the area (the first cyclone in November for 35 years!) and so it poured down with rain the whole time I was there. Didn't stop me doing a days diving on the Great Barrier Reef although it did make the dive fairly murky having churned up the bottom of the sea. Also didn't stop me Canopy surfing where you fly from tree to tree on zip lines which was excellent fun. Unfortunately on the 3rd day it stopped me getting back to Cairns by completely flooding the road that I need to cross! Fortunately after waiting for a couple of hours the water level dropped enough that a large 4WD truck was able to tow us across so eventually made it back to Cairns in time for the 3 day liveaboard boat that I went diving from the next day.
So, remember the cyclone I mentioned? Unfortunately the liveaboard was following in its wake. So that made for a very bumpy journey (Jim you'd have hated it!). Also meant that for those 3 days we didn't get the best visibility in the water - I've had better in the UK at times! However, it was still good to dive the Great Barrier Reef and the fish were fab. I even got to see a long-nosed hawkfish which is a fish I'd been desperate to see but never did in the Red Sea so I was excited anyway!
And so now I'm in Brisbane for a couple of days before I head off to Singapore on Monday which I'm very excited about. It's not raining at the moment, but of course, it's forecast for later!!
Friday, November 02, 2007
An itchy tale...
So, I did not lie in my last post when I said I was planning to tell you that the weather was going to warm up. It did and so I enjoyed a few days of glorious sunshine! This made the view from Sydney Harbour Bridge (which I was climbing at the time!) absolutely amazing. Shame we weren't allowed to take cameras up there (they have a problem with people dropping things on the highway that runs across the bridge for some reason) as there would have been some amazing photos. But never mind. It was great fun doing the climb, we had an excellent guide who was really lovely and told us lots of interesting facts along the way and so I would heartily recommend this to anyone traveling to Sydney (thanks to Rachel and Jim for the recommendation). After this went to Doyle's in Watson's bay for food. They have what looks like a lovely fish restaurant there but my backpacker budget unfortunately only extended to their takeaway! Was still delicious though!
The next day I took a trip to Bondi Beach which I was definitely too white to sit on (I was pretty well camouflaged against the white sand!!) but it was very beautiful there and great fun to sit and watch the surfers. On my way home I called in to the Sydney Botanic Gardens which were also great to walk round and had some trees that had so many flying foxes hanging from them they looked as if they were covered with huge seed pods. I was there just as they were starting to wake up ready for their dusk feeding session. I walked back through Woolloomooloo (how many Os in that word?!) along the quay and felt very jealous of the people that were sat in the fabulous looking restaurants in their fancy clothes (travelling gear is neither smart nor attractive!).
The next day I traveled up to Manly and had a couple of days relaxing on the beach - or at least my version of relaxing as I need far too much entertainment to sit on a beach so I read, did sudoku, listened to my iPod, people watched and whatever else I could whilst sat in the same place for 3 hours!
From Manly I got the ferry back into central Sydney and headed straight back out again to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. On the first day I went to Echo point and the 3 sisters rock formation and then went to "The Edge" cinema to to watch a movie on the Blue Mountains. Whilst very beautiful, there are many many flies (actually flying insects in general) in the Blue Mountains which is mildly annoying and so the next morning when I woke up with a number of bites I didn't really think anything of it. Spent the next day going to Wentworth Falls and walking along the Valley of the Waters before coming back to Katoomba and walking down the falls there and then I got the steepest railway in the world back to the top of the mountains. It's a 52 degree incline or 127 in 100. Steep! That night I forgot to put insect repellent on when I went to bed so didn't really think anything of it again when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites.
From here I went back to Sydney for an overnight stop as I couldn't get to my next destination the same day. That evening they had a "make your own pizza" night in the hostel I was in which was much fun and quite delicious! That night I smothered myself in insect repellent and so was pretty fed up when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites and so it was on the 8 hour bus trip I had to Albury that I figured I wasn't being bitten by some kind of flying insect.
In Albury I met my Dad's cousin who I've never met before and got to have yet another bizarre experience! Howard sells semen to farmers for artificial insemination of cows and that night there was the regional final presentation dinner for the state competition of cows in various classes which his company was sponsoring e.g. best 2 year old, best mature cow etc and so I got to find out all the best features needed in dairy cattle such as good ligaments, optimal teat placement, prime wedge shape good gait etc. etc. The things I'm learning on this trip are remarkable! Australia is in the grip of 7 year drought but that night they had more rain in one night than they had in the whole of October last year and Fe, Howard's friend who also came with us to the cow dinner (not really sure how else to describe it!) unfortunately had a flood at her house that night as a result (which will be a great insurance claim in the middle of a drought!). I had a few more bites that evening and so the next day when we returned to Albury I headed straight for the chemist to see if he knew what the bites were. He thought I'd picked up scabies (nice!) but having had scabies before (not nice!) to me it didn't really look like that but anyway when I got to Melbourne later that day I treated myself for scabies and washed all my clothes on a hot wash etc etc but still had a few more bites (nothing like in previous evenings though) and spoke to another pharmacist who told me that I had been bitten by bed bugs! Grim! Fortunately I managed to get some bug spray which kills bed bugs so I thoroughly sprayed my rucksack and rewashed all my clothes and fortunately after that the biting slowed dramatically and seems now to have stopped. Fingers crossed. Have maxed out at 204 bites to give you some idea of how much I was bitten!
Anyway, having treated the bed bugs I was then able to enjoy what was left of my time in Melbourne although would really like to go back to this city as I liked it a lot. Managed to see the Queen Victoria market (very good but not quite Borough market!), the Anzac War Memorial, most of the city centre and then on my last day I went to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill which is where they have a replica mining town from the 1860s and the people that work there dress in period costume and you can pan for gold etc. Would have been great except for the fact that by then the wind which whist being about 100kph the day before but warm had slowed down somewhat but turned very cold and also Sovereign Hill was full of kids. And most of you know I don't need to say any more for you to know how that made it for me!
Over the last 3 days I've been doing a "Groovy Grape" tour along the Great Ocean Road. This was great fun and I met some really lovely people on the tour. It was an excellent way of seeing the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians and we saw various things such as the 12 Apostles rock formations, Bells Beach (where the last scene in Point Break was set - although not filmed) and watched the surfers there, Bay of Martyrs and the Grampians National Park before heading into Adelaide last night.
Today I've just been mooching and catching up on random chores such as washing as I have 5 more days here in which one of them I have tour booked to the Barossa Valley which includes a wine tasting at Wolf Blass winery (yum!!).
Adelaide is in Southern Australia, which is the driest state in the driest continent, but guess what the weather's doing today.
You got it - raining!!
The next day I took a trip to Bondi Beach which I was definitely too white to sit on (I was pretty well camouflaged against the white sand!!) but it was very beautiful there and great fun to sit and watch the surfers. On my way home I called in to the Sydney Botanic Gardens which were also great to walk round and had some trees that had so many flying foxes hanging from them they looked as if they were covered with huge seed pods. I was there just as they were starting to wake up ready for their dusk feeding session. I walked back through Woolloomooloo (how many Os in that word?!) along the quay and felt very jealous of the people that were sat in the fabulous looking restaurants in their fancy clothes (travelling gear is neither smart nor attractive!).
The next day I traveled up to Manly and had a couple of days relaxing on the beach - or at least my version of relaxing as I need far too much entertainment to sit on a beach so I read, did sudoku, listened to my iPod, people watched and whatever else I could whilst sat in the same place for 3 hours!
From Manly I got the ferry back into central Sydney and headed straight back out again to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. On the first day I went to Echo point and the 3 sisters rock formation and then went to "The Edge" cinema to to watch a movie on the Blue Mountains. Whilst very beautiful, there are many many flies (actually flying insects in general) in the Blue Mountains which is mildly annoying and so the next morning when I woke up with a number of bites I didn't really think anything of it. Spent the next day going to Wentworth Falls and walking along the Valley of the Waters before coming back to Katoomba and walking down the falls there and then I got the steepest railway in the world back to the top of the mountains. It's a 52 degree incline or 127 in 100. Steep! That night I forgot to put insect repellent on when I went to bed so didn't really think anything of it again when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites.
From here I went back to Sydney for an overnight stop as I couldn't get to my next destination the same day. That evening they had a "make your own pizza" night in the hostel I was in which was much fun and quite delicious! That night I smothered myself in insect repellent and so was pretty fed up when I woke up the next morning with yet more bites and so it was on the 8 hour bus trip I had to Albury that I figured I wasn't being bitten by some kind of flying insect.
In Albury I met my Dad's cousin who I've never met before and got to have yet another bizarre experience! Howard sells semen to farmers for artificial insemination of cows and that night there was the regional final presentation dinner for the state competition of cows in various classes which his company was sponsoring e.g. best 2 year old, best mature cow etc and so I got to find out all the best features needed in dairy cattle such as good ligaments, optimal teat placement, prime wedge shape good gait etc. etc. The things I'm learning on this trip are remarkable! Australia is in the grip of 7 year drought but that night they had more rain in one night than they had in the whole of October last year and Fe, Howard's friend who also came with us to the cow dinner (not really sure how else to describe it!) unfortunately had a flood at her house that night as a result (which will be a great insurance claim in the middle of a drought!). I had a few more bites that evening and so the next day when we returned to Albury I headed straight for the chemist to see if he knew what the bites were. He thought I'd picked up scabies (nice!) but having had scabies before (not nice!) to me it didn't really look like that but anyway when I got to Melbourne later that day I treated myself for scabies and washed all my clothes on a hot wash etc etc but still had a few more bites (nothing like in previous evenings though) and spoke to another pharmacist who told me that I had been bitten by bed bugs! Grim! Fortunately I managed to get some bug spray which kills bed bugs so I thoroughly sprayed my rucksack and rewashed all my clothes and fortunately after that the biting slowed dramatically and seems now to have stopped. Fingers crossed. Have maxed out at 204 bites to give you some idea of how much I was bitten!
Anyway, having treated the bed bugs I was then able to enjoy what was left of my time in Melbourne although would really like to go back to this city as I liked it a lot. Managed to see the Queen Victoria market (very good but not quite Borough market!), the Anzac War Memorial, most of the city centre and then on my last day I went to Ballarat and Sovereign Hill which is where they have a replica mining town from the 1860s and the people that work there dress in period costume and you can pan for gold etc. Would have been great except for the fact that by then the wind which whist being about 100kph the day before but warm had slowed down somewhat but turned very cold and also Sovereign Hill was full of kids. And most of you know I don't need to say any more for you to know how that made it for me!
Over the last 3 days I've been doing a "Groovy Grape" tour along the Great Ocean Road. This was great fun and I met some really lovely people on the tour. It was an excellent way of seeing the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians and we saw various things such as the 12 Apostles rock formations, Bells Beach (where the last scene in Point Break was set - although not filmed) and watched the surfers there, Bay of Martyrs and the Grampians National Park before heading into Adelaide last night.
Today I've just been mooching and catching up on random chores such as washing as I have 5 more days here in which one of them I have tour booked to the Barossa Valley which includes a wine tasting at Wolf Blass winery (yum!!).
Adelaide is in Southern Australia, which is the driest state in the driest continent, but guess what the weather's doing today.
You got it - raining!!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
G'Day!!
So I left you on my last afternoon in Queenstown. That night went out for beers with a very nice Canadian man called Dave and we had lots of fun in the Buffalo bar (which with 2 for 1 on beers was fairly unavoidable!). Didn't bother calling Paul (brother-in-law's uncle) before I left which ended up being a mistake because on the Saturday morning I got up bright and early (which was a struggle after 2 for 1 beers in the Buffalo bar), got on a bus headed for Lawrence where I was met by Paul who had planned for us to go back to Queenstown! So I got in his car and headed straight back to Queenstown! Was planning that day to do my bungy jump at A.J. Hacketts original bungy jump place but they were full I so I booked "The Ledge" instead where you bungy off the side of the mountain! Slightly differently as well, you don't have your feet attached to the bungy cord and fall forward, instead you wear a harness and have to take a running jump off the platform - which I must say took some nerve but was well worth the scariness!!
From there Paul and I went to visit Tinker one of his friends who is a fireman in Queenstown where I got a guided tour of the fire station and got to sit in a firetruck and try on some fireman's gear and everything!
The following day we headed down to Invercargill where we went for a drive along the beach. Fortunately Paul's truck has 4-wheel drive as the sand which for the most part was quite firm suddenly became very soft which could have had disastrous consequences! For those of you that know him I'm sure you can imagine quite what Paul's language was like at this point!!
The next day we went to Bill Richardson's Transport Museum which holds a huge collection of vintage tractors, trucks, petrol pumps and other such memorabilia. It was amazing - not something I would normally have done but it was really fascinating. From there we got on a very small (8-seater) plane and headed over to Stewart Island. Whilst noisy (propellers - obviously) it was a great flight and the colour of the sea was amazing - as is the colour of virtually every body of water in NZ! Once on Stewart Island we went for a walk to the Lighthouse which had been described to us as "well worth the visit". Not entirely sure how bad the rest of the sights are in Stewart Island but the Lighthouse turned out to be a bulb on a stick!! So fortunately the walk was nice, the fact that it started pouring down with rain on the walk back so that we got absolutely drenched may mean that I wouldn't necessarily recommend the Lighthouse as a place to go! That night we mingled with the locals so that getting up the next morning to fly back to South Island was particularly difficult for Paul (who had fallen into the trap of having whiskeys with the locals - at which point I allowed Jan - another tourist in the bar - to pull me over to the juke box to avoid the whiskey!) but slightly less difficult for me.
When we got back to South Island - after a very bumpy ride this time -we headed up to Te Anau which was very pretty and then headed back towards Lawrence stopping off at Gore for an absolutely fantastic 20 minute ride on a Tiger Moth Series 1 (rare plane!). It was amazing and my pilot was an Aerobatics champion and so we did barrel rolls and loop-the-loops and all sorts! It was just brilliant. And I might be famous from it as they took pictures of my flight which may end up in their calender for next year!!
From there we headed back to Paul's house in Lawrence ready for the start of the vintage truck rally round South Island which Paul was taking part in and I was cadging a lift for part of. Paul has a 1974 Scania 80 which has no heating, seat belts etc. but fortunately whilst I was with him did actually work (he broke down the day after I left him!!). Our first stop was back in Christchurch where we stayed with his friends Viv and Simon who are Brits who moved out to NZ about 3 years ago and along with them being very lovely what I found great was that they kept their house absolutely baking hot which given that it was cold travelling in the lorry was good!!
From Christchurch we headed round to Nelson and the first night we were there there was a festival going on where people were all dressed up and wearing masks which was lots of fun, and there were bands playing in the square. The following day we took part in a vintage truck run up to Puponga and Farewell spit. Some of the older trucks really struggled up the hills to get there but we all made it in the end! And I might be famous again as they took photos of us all to put in the local paper!
The next day, Paul went off to another vintage vehicle museum but I headed into Nelson and had a bit of a mooch round. Then in the evening we had a formalish dinner to celebrate the Nelson leg of the Truck Rally which was great fun.
Monday I headed back to Christchurch ready for my flight out to Australia and Paul headed down the west coast of South Island where he ended up having snow, and then the truck broke down! I decided at that point that the terrible weather we'd had pretty all the time I'd been in South Island couldn't possibly be my fault as I had lovely sunshine on my trip down the east coast of South Island and it was really hot the last morning I spent in Christchurch.
But then I came to Australia.
Which had 34 degrees on the morning of the day I was coming here.
But by the time I got here, the temperature had dropped 15 degrees so it was only 19 degrees at the point I arrived.
And it's no warmer today and it even - you guessed it - started raining this afternoon!
Unbelievable! But I have high hopes for it getting warmer and at least the drop in temperature and the rain means it helps them put the fires out around the city!!
So I plan to give details of wonderfully warm weather in my next post. Fingers crossed!!
From there Paul and I went to visit Tinker one of his friends who is a fireman in Queenstown where I got a guided tour of the fire station and got to sit in a firetruck and try on some fireman's gear and everything!
The following day we headed down to Invercargill where we went for a drive along the beach. Fortunately Paul's truck has 4-wheel drive as the sand which for the most part was quite firm suddenly became very soft which could have had disastrous consequences! For those of you that know him I'm sure you can imagine quite what Paul's language was like at this point!!
The next day we went to Bill Richardson's Transport Museum which holds a huge collection of vintage tractors, trucks, petrol pumps and other such memorabilia. It was amazing - not something I would normally have done but it was really fascinating. From there we got on a very small (8-seater) plane and headed over to Stewart Island. Whilst noisy (propellers - obviously) it was a great flight and the colour of the sea was amazing - as is the colour of virtually every body of water in NZ! Once on Stewart Island we went for a walk to the Lighthouse which had been described to us as "well worth the visit". Not entirely sure how bad the rest of the sights are in Stewart Island but the Lighthouse turned out to be a bulb on a stick!! So fortunately the walk was nice, the fact that it started pouring down with rain on the walk back so that we got absolutely drenched may mean that I wouldn't necessarily recommend the Lighthouse as a place to go! That night we mingled with the locals so that getting up the next morning to fly back to South Island was particularly difficult for Paul (who had fallen into the trap of having whiskeys with the locals - at which point I allowed Jan - another tourist in the bar - to pull me over to the juke box to avoid the whiskey!) but slightly less difficult for me.
When we got back to South Island - after a very bumpy ride this time -we headed up to Te Anau which was very pretty and then headed back towards Lawrence stopping off at Gore for an absolutely fantastic 20 minute ride on a Tiger Moth Series 1 (rare plane!). It was amazing and my pilot was an Aerobatics champion and so we did barrel rolls and loop-the-loops and all sorts! It was just brilliant. And I might be famous from it as they took pictures of my flight which may end up in their calender for next year!!
From there we headed back to Paul's house in Lawrence ready for the start of the vintage truck rally round South Island which Paul was taking part in and I was cadging a lift for part of. Paul has a 1974 Scania 80 which has no heating, seat belts etc. but fortunately whilst I was with him did actually work (he broke down the day after I left him!!). Our first stop was back in Christchurch where we stayed with his friends Viv and Simon who are Brits who moved out to NZ about 3 years ago and along with them being very lovely what I found great was that they kept their house absolutely baking hot which given that it was cold travelling in the lorry was good!!
From Christchurch we headed round to Nelson and the first night we were there there was a festival going on where people were all dressed up and wearing masks which was lots of fun, and there were bands playing in the square. The following day we took part in a vintage truck run up to Puponga and Farewell spit. Some of the older trucks really struggled up the hills to get there but we all made it in the end! And I might be famous again as they took photos of us all to put in the local paper!
The next day, Paul went off to another vintage vehicle museum but I headed into Nelson and had a bit of a mooch round. Then in the evening we had a formalish dinner to celebrate the Nelson leg of the Truck Rally which was great fun.
Monday I headed back to Christchurch ready for my flight out to Australia and Paul headed down the west coast of South Island where he ended up having snow, and then the truck broke down! I decided at that point that the terrible weather we'd had pretty all the time I'd been in South Island couldn't possibly be my fault as I had lovely sunshine on my trip down the east coast of South Island and it was really hot the last morning I spent in Christchurch.
But then I came to Australia.
Which had 34 degrees on the morning of the day I was coming here.
But by the time I got here, the temperature had dropped 15 degrees so it was only 19 degrees at the point I arrived.
And it's no warmer today and it even - you guessed it - started raining this afternoon!
Unbelievable! But I have high hopes for it getting warmer and at least the drop in temperature and the rain means it helps them put the fires out around the city!!
So I plan to give details of wonderfully warm weather in my next post. Fingers crossed!!
Friday, October 05, 2007
NZ needs to discover the joys of central heating!
When I left you last I was headed to Taupo. I arrived in Taupo safely and got picked up and taken to the hostel by a cute guy named John and the hostel I stayed in was great, really friendly. I had originally planned to go to Napier when I left Taupo but I picked up some kind of chesty cough in Pahia and as I'd not been able to clear it I decided to miss Napier out and stay an extra night in Taupo to take it easy. That worked for the first day but then I kept seeing people coming back from doing sky-dives and saying how brilliant it had been and so I booked a sky-dive for my second day! So sensible me, threw myself out of a plane at 12,000 ft strapped to a guy called Greg (who was the current NZ sky-dive champion) and then did a freefall to earth for about 7,500 ft before (fortunately!) the parachute opened and we drifted gently back to the ground. It was amazing and fortunately the weather was really clear so got great views. Not so great was the fact that the only cloud that was present was covering the volcano that had erupted two days previously so didn't get to see that from the sky but the rest of it was amazing.
From Taupo I headed down to Wellington and stayed with my friend Amanda and her partner Duncan. Was really good to see them and I got to sleep in my own room in a double bed and use proper towels and everything (Nic you were so right about getting fed up with your travel towel!!). That night they had friends round so lots of good food and wine later meant the next day we woke up with sore heads and so we did a gentle tour of Wellington and the surrounding areas in the car then went to Te Papa museum which lived up to all the good reviews I've heard about it.
As I've not really had any extreme weather for a while, that all changed when the next day I had to get the ferry from North Island to South. Winds were gusting at around 100 kph and there was a severe weather warning in place for the Cook Straits which was due to hit round lunchtime that day (luckily after I had crossed) and so I dosed myself up on sea sickness tablets, avoided breakfast in an effort to get through what ended up - bizarrely - as being one of the smoothest journeys I've ever had on a boat! But I'm not complaining!
Once in South Island I headed down to Christchurch to my friend Colette's house and stayed with her, Billy and their daughter Olivia for the night (again had the double bed, own room and towel thing. So spoilt!). The next day I got the West Coast Shuttle over to Greymouth with the lovely driver Cedric and as we crossed Arthur's Pass the views were unbelievably pretty. Although the weather again had been meant to be terrible it ended up being really sunny, until we got through the pass and then the rain started. And other than for one day it hasn't stopped since! And it's cold on South Island. I got to the stage of 5 layers including 2 fleeces and thermals!
Only stayed in Greymouth for the night because my buses didn't work out for me to leave on the same day and then headed straight for Franz Josef where I did a half day walk on the Glacier. It was the only good day we've had here in a week and boy did it make the walk amazing. Got kitted up in the most uncomfortable boots and spikes but it was so worth it when you got quite high up. The ice was so blue (from the oxygen trapped in it apparently) and it was worth every penny doing it (even if my legs are aching so much from it can barely walk at the moment - am doing a great John Wayne impression!).
Had planned from Franz Josef to travel to Wanaka for a night but due to more severe rain there had been a massive landslide into a river causing the formation of a new lake which is about ready to burst its banks and flood the area that I had to travel to to get to Queenstown so instead I travelled to Queenstown a day early to avoid getting stuck and I am here now. Sitting at a computer which had views over mountains that currently have their tops covered in cloud because yet again it is raining! I did see though that Sydney has 34 degrees at the moment though so only about 9 more days of cold to endure!
Tomorrow I travel to Lawrence where my brother-in-law's Uncle lives (get that?!) and will stay with him for a few days so will tell you all about my adventures with Paul soon!
From Taupo I headed down to Wellington and stayed with my friend Amanda and her partner Duncan. Was really good to see them and I got to sleep in my own room in a double bed and use proper towels and everything (Nic you were so right about getting fed up with your travel towel!!). That night they had friends round so lots of good food and wine later meant the next day we woke up with sore heads and so we did a gentle tour of Wellington and the surrounding areas in the car then went to Te Papa museum which lived up to all the good reviews I've heard about it.
As I've not really had any extreme weather for a while, that all changed when the next day I had to get the ferry from North Island to South. Winds were gusting at around 100 kph and there was a severe weather warning in place for the Cook Straits which was due to hit round lunchtime that day (luckily after I had crossed) and so I dosed myself up on sea sickness tablets, avoided breakfast in an effort to get through what ended up - bizarrely - as being one of the smoothest journeys I've ever had on a boat! But I'm not complaining!
Once in South Island I headed down to Christchurch to my friend Colette's house and stayed with her, Billy and their daughter Olivia for the night (again had the double bed, own room and towel thing. So spoilt!). The next day I got the West Coast Shuttle over to Greymouth with the lovely driver Cedric and as we crossed Arthur's Pass the views were unbelievably pretty. Although the weather again had been meant to be terrible it ended up being really sunny, until we got through the pass and then the rain started. And other than for one day it hasn't stopped since! And it's cold on South Island. I got to the stage of 5 layers including 2 fleeces and thermals!
Only stayed in Greymouth for the night because my buses didn't work out for me to leave on the same day and then headed straight for Franz Josef where I did a half day walk on the Glacier. It was the only good day we've had here in a week and boy did it make the walk amazing. Got kitted up in the most uncomfortable boots and spikes but it was so worth it when you got quite high up. The ice was so blue (from the oxygen trapped in it apparently) and it was worth every penny doing it (even if my legs are aching so much from it can barely walk at the moment - am doing a great John Wayne impression!).
Had planned from Franz Josef to travel to Wanaka for a night but due to more severe rain there had been a massive landslide into a river causing the formation of a new lake which is about ready to burst its banks and flood the area that I had to travel to to get to Queenstown so instead I travelled to Queenstown a day early to avoid getting stuck and I am here now. Sitting at a computer which had views over mountains that currently have their tops covered in cloud because yet again it is raining! I did see though that Sydney has 34 degrees at the moment though so only about 9 more days of cold to endure!
Tomorrow I travel to Lawrence where my brother-in-law's Uncle lives (get that?!) and will stay with him for a few days so will tell you all about my adventures with Paul soon!
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