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!!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
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!
Monday, September 24, 2007
LOVING NZ!!
So I left the touristyness of Pahia just over a week ago to head up to Kaitaia - the so-called stepping off point for 90-mile beach. I did the beach as part of a day tour which took in a Kauri workshop - Kauri being a wood that has been under ground for thousands of years, preserved in bogs that has been dug up and is turned into beautiful trinkets for tourists like me to buy and large pieces of furniture for rich people to buy; Cape Reinga and the lighthouse there, which was built along absolutely stunning coastline; then went sand tobogganing which as the name implies, involves climbing up a very high sand dune and then sitting in a toboggan to slide all the way back down again! Was tremendous fun! Then to get back to the hostel we drove back down 90-mile beach which is actually only 67 kilometres long.
The next day I headed back to Auckland for the night on my way to my next destination as my buses didn't connect to get me there in one day which was fairly uneventful and then headed on up to a very beautiful part of the world called Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga). Stayed in a lovely hostel there which overlooked the bay so had great sunsets. At this point I hooked up with a girl called Sam who had been in my hostel room at Pahia but we'd gone our separate ways for a few days and just happened to meet up again at Whitianga and so together we crossed the bay and then got a shuttle bus driven by Dan, a cute kiwi guy who took us on a little adventure round Whitianga starting with Shakespeare Point which had the most amazing views and then we went to Cathedral cove which had pink sand! After that he picked us up and took us to hot water beach and on the drive there we looked out and saw some surfers who had a pod of dolphins swimming next to them so we stopped off and watched them for a while before going to dig out hot pool on the beach. It is very fun, you basically dig a hole in the sand and because of the thermal activity in the area it fills with hot water that you can sit and depending on how big you dig it submerge as much of your body as you see fit! We stuck to feet! The water got that hot our feet had turned red by the time we took them out about 10 minutes later! We then went onto Purangi vineyard to try some of the wines (yum!) and liqueurs (Feijoa - a local fruit one - yuck!) before heading back to out side of the bay for fish and chips!
After leaving Whitianga, Sam and I headed to Thames for a few hours before getting a connecting bus to Tauranga. We could have got a bus with only a connecting time of 20 minutes but I figured that I wanted to have a look round Thames to so took the bus that went 6 hours later. Big mistake. It was raining and so whilst I'm guessing there's little to do in Thames on a good day there's even less to do on a wet day so we just sat and drank endless cups of coffee!
Fortunately life got better once we got to Tauranga and we went to Mount Maunganui, a sleeping volcano in the area which we walked around because we were too lazy to walk up it! Then we went and lazed around in the natural hot salt water baths they have there which was wonderful!
I left Sam in Tuaranga and headed down to Rotarua where there is lots to do and so I hit the ground running there! The first evening I went to Maori cultural theatre night which involved a display of traditional Maori singing and dancing followed by a meal cooked in the hot water pools as would have been done in bygone years. Whilst it was very interesting and the food was delicious, I experienced what is the bane of a single travellers life where you are used to plug holes in tables and so I filled in the spare seat on a table with 5 non-English speaking Japanese tourists and family of 4 who didn't want to speak to anyone outside the family - but fortunately the NZ wine was good I discovered!!
The next day I went to Te Puia which is a Maori complex where I watched another Maori production, different from the previous day's entertainment so also very interesting and then went to look at the geysers there which were erupting at the time and so fascinating to watch - if a little bit smelly! They also had a weaving and carving workshop on site which you could go and look round which was really interesting. From there I went zorbing!! Which basically involves getting inside a big inflatable plastic ball with a bucketful of water in it and sliding down a hill. It was such good fun! Came home from there and that evening went to a Polynesian spa with Yasmina, another girl from the hostel I was staying in. It was wonderful. There were numerous naturally hot pools all at various temperatures and one which looked out over
Lake Rotarua and it was just wonderful. It was raining slightly and it just added to the ambiance. There we were, lying in these hot pools with the raining gently keeping us from turning into complete lobsters! Can't beat it! And then today I've come to Waitomo where there is nothing to do except for the glow-worm caves which is why I came here in the first place. You enter the caves which are full of stalactites and stalagmites and then head down the river and above you on ceiling of the caves are all these twinkling lights from the worms. It was quite magical!
Tomorrow I head off to Taupo but more about that after I've been there!!
The next day I headed back to Auckland for the night on my way to my next destination as my buses didn't connect to get me there in one day which was fairly uneventful and then headed on up to a very beautiful part of the world called Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga). Stayed in a lovely hostel there which overlooked the bay so had great sunsets. At this point I hooked up with a girl called Sam who had been in my hostel room at Pahia but we'd gone our separate ways for a few days and just happened to meet up again at Whitianga and so together we crossed the bay and then got a shuttle bus driven by Dan, a cute kiwi guy who took us on a little adventure round Whitianga starting with Shakespeare Point which had the most amazing views and then we went to Cathedral cove which had pink sand! After that he picked us up and took us to hot water beach and on the drive there we looked out and saw some surfers who had a pod of dolphins swimming next to them so we stopped off and watched them for a while before going to dig out hot pool on the beach. It is very fun, you basically dig a hole in the sand and because of the thermal activity in the area it fills with hot water that you can sit and depending on how big you dig it submerge as much of your body as you see fit! We stuck to feet! The water got that hot our feet had turned red by the time we took them out about 10 minutes later! We then went onto Purangi vineyard to try some of the wines (yum!) and liqueurs (Feijoa - a local fruit one - yuck!) before heading back to out side of the bay for fish and chips!
After leaving Whitianga, Sam and I headed to Thames for a few hours before getting a connecting bus to Tauranga. We could have got a bus with only a connecting time of 20 minutes but I figured that I wanted to have a look round Thames to so took the bus that went 6 hours later. Big mistake. It was raining and so whilst I'm guessing there's little to do in Thames on a good day there's even less to do on a wet day so we just sat and drank endless cups of coffee!
Fortunately life got better once we got to Tauranga and we went to Mount Maunganui, a sleeping volcano in the area which we walked around because we were too lazy to walk up it! Then we went and lazed around in the natural hot salt water baths they have there which was wonderful!
I left Sam in Tuaranga and headed down to Rotarua where there is lots to do and so I hit the ground running there! The first evening I went to Maori cultural theatre night which involved a display of traditional Maori singing and dancing followed by a meal cooked in the hot water pools as would have been done in bygone years. Whilst it was very interesting and the food was delicious, I experienced what is the bane of a single travellers life where you are used to plug holes in tables and so I filled in the spare seat on a table with 5 non-English speaking Japanese tourists and family of 4 who didn't want to speak to anyone outside the family - but fortunately the NZ wine was good I discovered!!
The next day I went to Te Puia which is a Maori complex where I watched another Maori production, different from the previous day's entertainment so also very interesting and then went to look at the geysers there which were erupting at the time and so fascinating to watch - if a little bit smelly! They also had a weaving and carving workshop on site which you could go and look round which was really interesting. From there I went zorbing!! Which basically involves getting inside a big inflatable plastic ball with a bucketful of water in it and sliding down a hill. It was such good fun! Came home from there and that evening went to a Polynesian spa with Yasmina, another girl from the hostel I was staying in. It was wonderful. There were numerous naturally hot pools all at various temperatures and one which looked out over
Lake Rotarua and it was just wonderful. It was raining slightly and it just added to the ambiance. There we were, lying in these hot pools with the raining gently keeping us from turning into complete lobsters! Can't beat it! And then today I've come to Waitomo where there is nothing to do except for the glow-worm caves which is why I came here in the first place. You enter the caves which are full of stalactites and stalagmites and then head down the river and above you on ceiling of the caves are all these twinkling lights from the worms. It was quite magical!
Tomorrow I head off to Taupo but more about that after I've been there!!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Since Dallas Fort Worth!
Well, this is the 2nd time I'm sending this post - tried yesterday but having typed or at least 30 minutes I then went and lost it all! So hopefully more successful the 2nd time!
So I left you in Dallas Fort Worth Airport and thankfully made it to Vancouver in the end! There I stayed with my friends Sunita and Franck who moved to Canada in March. For those of you who know them, it's true what Sunita says, they are obviously very happy there which was really good to see and it was lovely to spend time with them. Those who know Sunita would also not recognise the woman that you all know and love because the first day I was there she took me on a bike ride and then a couple of days later on a hike! AND, she even owns a hiking stick to help you walk up hill! Anyway, it was all good and the views both from the bike ride to the beach and hike up the mountain were amazing. It is very easy to see why they're so happy there. We also did a BBQ on Wreck beach one evening. On approaching Wreck beach there is a a sign that says clothing is optional and so when the sunset appeared I was faced with 2 dilemmas. Firstly, was photography allowed on a nudist beach, and if it was, would the very tanned not very attractive naked man standing in front of me enhance the photograph or detract from the view?!?! Fortunately he moved on and so I didn't have to worry about the latter! I should probably say, we decided to keep our clothes on for those of you who were wondering!!
After spending a lovely few days with Sunita and Franck I got the bus down to Seattle and a flight into San Francisco which amazing was fairly uneventful giving previous travelling traumas! Even saw the Starbucks HQ on the way! I arrived into San Francisco to be greeted with the infamous SF fog! Fortunately it had cleared by the next day and so I spent a few days walking up - and down - some VERY steep hills (they are so much worse than they look in the movies!), went to Sausalito, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge and of course, had the obligatory ride in the Cable Car! I met some lovely people in SF as well, including Esra a really funny Turkish girl who I shared a room with and had many laughs with .
From SF I had a connecting flight through Los Angeles to Auckland which should have been easy but the fog was back! So my flight got delayed and instead of having 2 hours in LA I ended up with 55 minutes! With changing airline from AA to Qantas I had to check in for the Qantas flight when I got to LA and with being delayed I was a bit concerned I wouldn't get my aisle seat but all was good and the check-in guy nearly got a kiss when he said there was still one available!
So at the weekend I lost a day from my life (the 8th of September is gone forever!) and arrived in Auckland at 4.45am. Yuck! Fortunately my lovely friends Rachel and Jim had paid for me to have a couple of nights in a hotel as a joint birthday and Christmas present and so the lovely hotel let me in check in that early which is good as it turns out there is virtually nothing to do in Auckland on a Sunday in early spring! Having heard it described as being like a wet Saturday afternoon in Hinckley I can see understand the description! Fortunately as I discovered the next day when I met up with Chris and Kiri, once you leave Auckland things improve considerably! We went to Mission Bay which was lovely. Chris used to service the piece of equipment I worked on in the UK but he managed to escape the evils clutches of Bio-Rad and he and Kiri moved to Auckland the week before I got here. Having only stopped a couple of nights in Auckland I went to Waiheke Island which was so beautiful. Actually I should say now I'm out of Auckland everything I've seen is so beautiful, you could just spend the entire day taking photos! The hostel was a little odd as it felt like I'd stepped into a hippie commune and so wasn't really me but it was very relaxing! (without any chemicals before you ask!) Whilst there I went to do a wine tasting in Stonyridge Vineyard and by some stroke of luck the manager had decided to open a bottle of their $200 a bottle the previous day and so they were offering tastings (normally they don't - you have to just buy one!) so of course had to try it and it was delicious!
I'm now in Pahia which is very touristy but very easy to get to non-touristy places form so today I've been to Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the treaty that marked the "birth" of New Zealand was signed and then later I've been to Russell which has the most amazing views. Was a bit cliched last night as in the hostel we watched LOTR! but with scenery like this you can so see why you'd want to make movies over here!
So I left you in Dallas Fort Worth Airport and thankfully made it to Vancouver in the end! There I stayed with my friends Sunita and Franck who moved to Canada in March. For those of you who know them, it's true what Sunita says, they are obviously very happy there which was really good to see and it was lovely to spend time with them. Those who know Sunita would also not recognise the woman that you all know and love because the first day I was there she took me on a bike ride and then a couple of days later on a hike! AND, she even owns a hiking stick to help you walk up hill! Anyway, it was all good and the views both from the bike ride to the beach and hike up the mountain were amazing. It is very easy to see why they're so happy there. We also did a BBQ on Wreck beach one evening. On approaching Wreck beach there is a a sign that says clothing is optional and so when the sunset appeared I was faced with 2 dilemmas. Firstly, was photography allowed on a nudist beach, and if it was, would the very tanned not very attractive naked man standing in front of me enhance the photograph or detract from the view?!?! Fortunately he moved on and so I didn't have to worry about the latter! I should probably say, we decided to keep our clothes on for those of you who were wondering!!
After spending a lovely few days with Sunita and Franck I got the bus down to Seattle and a flight into San Francisco which amazing was fairly uneventful giving previous travelling traumas! Even saw the Starbucks HQ on the way! I arrived into San Francisco to be greeted with the infamous SF fog! Fortunately it had cleared by the next day and so I spent a few days walking up - and down - some VERY steep hills (they are so much worse than they look in the movies!), went to Sausalito, Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge and of course, had the obligatory ride in the Cable Car! I met some lovely people in SF as well, including Esra a really funny Turkish girl who I shared a room with and had many laughs with .
From SF I had a connecting flight through Los Angeles to Auckland which should have been easy but the fog was back! So my flight got delayed and instead of having 2 hours in LA I ended up with 55 minutes! With changing airline from AA to Qantas I had to check in for the Qantas flight when I got to LA and with being delayed I was a bit concerned I wouldn't get my aisle seat but all was good and the check-in guy nearly got a kiss when he said there was still one available!
So at the weekend I lost a day from my life (the 8th of September is gone forever!) and arrived in Auckland at 4.45am. Yuck! Fortunately my lovely friends Rachel and Jim had paid for me to have a couple of nights in a hotel as a joint birthday and Christmas present and so the lovely hotel let me in check in that early which is good as it turns out there is virtually nothing to do in Auckland on a Sunday in early spring! Having heard it described as being like a wet Saturday afternoon in Hinckley I can see understand the description! Fortunately as I discovered the next day when I met up with Chris and Kiri, once you leave Auckland things improve considerably! We went to Mission Bay which was lovely. Chris used to service the piece of equipment I worked on in the UK but he managed to escape the evils clutches of Bio-Rad and he and Kiri moved to Auckland the week before I got here. Having only stopped a couple of nights in Auckland I went to Waiheke Island which was so beautiful. Actually I should say now I'm out of Auckland everything I've seen is so beautiful, you could just spend the entire day taking photos! The hostel was a little odd as it felt like I'd stepped into a hippie commune and so wasn't really me but it was very relaxing! (without any chemicals before you ask!) Whilst there I went to do a wine tasting in Stonyridge Vineyard and by some stroke of luck the manager had decided to open a bottle of their $200 a bottle the previous day and so they were offering tastings (normally they don't - you have to just buy one!) so of course had to try it and it was delicious!
I'm now in Pahia which is very touristy but very easy to get to non-touristy places form so today I've been to Waitangi Treaty Grounds where the treaty that marked the "birth" of New Zealand was signed and then later I've been to Russell which has the most amazing views. Was a bit cliched last night as in the hostel we watched LOTR! but with scenery like this you can so see why you'd want to make movies over here!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Dallas Fort Worth Airport
Well, I send this from Dallas Fort Worth Airport where I am experiencing delays but have been able to rent a laptop for $6.95 an hour! Bargain! So, I left you in Chicago saying how nice the weather had turned out. Boy did I speak too soon! That afternoon it started raining and then it stopped for a while and so I decided to go out for a coffee. Oh my, did I time it wrong or what. Got my coffee and then afterwards decided to go for a mooch round the shops as I hadn't been round by the hostel and then the heavens opened! I'm not normally scared of storms but the thunder was so loud that it frightened the life out of me! Waited underneath a shop overhang for half an hour for it to die down but of course it didn't and so I got extremely wet walking back to the hostel!! Never mind. Dried off and then the next day headed off to Minneapolis. I ended up having to get a bus. Disastrous! They told me to get there by noon as they would be sending an express bus to Minneapolis at midday, 1pm etc but although I got on a bus round about midday, it didn't leave until 2.15pm and by the time we got to Minneapolis it was 10.15pm!! Fortunately got chatting to a nice guy called Rick who was sitting behind me so we had a really fun chat and whilst I wouldn't say time flew, it definitely felt a lot faster than it was!
In Minneapolis I stayed with my friend Sue and had a really lovely time. On the Saturday we went to the Minnesota State Fair and ate lots of things that are bad for you such as cheese curds, snow cones and sweet Martha's cookies. Then I became famous! I got interviewed on live TV because I was the person they could find who had travelled the farthest to go to State Fair so I was live on the news!! On the Sunday Sue and I went to Church and then just mooched for the day. On the Monday we went to Sue's parent's farm in Wisconsin and we had a great visit with her parents. Made all the more exciting for my influence on the weather! There was due to be a storm in the region but it should have split and gone north and south of us and so because I was there when Sue's folks severe weather alert system in their house went off in the middle of the night we ended up having to go down to the basement at 2am to avoid the storm!! Fortunately no major damage was done although Sue's car now has lots of little dents in it from the hail! Tuesday we came back to the Twin Cities and then Tuesday went out with my friend Karen to Caribou coffee and then to Famous Dave's BBQ! Delish!!
Today I've had a great flight down to Dallas but unfortunately there is a problem with the flight up to Vancouver and so I should have left at 4.40pm but it's currently 6.40pm and they say we won't be leaving til at least 7.17pm. Something to do with holding patterns and our plane having to land somewhere else. Hey ho! Hopefully get there today at some point!
In Minneapolis I stayed with my friend Sue and had a really lovely time. On the Saturday we went to the Minnesota State Fair and ate lots of things that are bad for you such as cheese curds, snow cones and sweet Martha's cookies. Then I became famous! I got interviewed on live TV because I was the person they could find who had travelled the farthest to go to State Fair so I was live on the news!! On the Sunday Sue and I went to Church and then just mooched for the day. On the Monday we went to Sue's parent's farm in Wisconsin and we had a great visit with her parents. Made all the more exciting for my influence on the weather! There was due to be a storm in the region but it should have split and gone north and south of us and so because I was there when Sue's folks severe weather alert system in their house went off in the middle of the night we ended up having to go down to the basement at 2am to avoid the storm!! Fortunately no major damage was done although Sue's car now has lots of little dents in it from the hail! Tuesday we came back to the Twin Cities and then Tuesday went out with my friend Karen to Caribou coffee and then to Famous Dave's BBQ! Delish!!
Today I've had a great flight down to Dallas but unfortunately there is a problem with the flight up to Vancouver and so I should have left at 4.40pm but it's currently 6.40pm and they say we won't be leaving til at least 7.17pm. Something to do with holding patterns and our plane having to land somewhere else. Hey ho! Hopefully get there today at some point!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Boston and Chicago
I send this post whilst doing the wonderful job of laundry! Am having a fairly lazy day today which after being so immersed in the world of discovering new places is quite nice! Today is my last day in Chicago, since I last wrote I've also been to Boston. I found Boston a little disappointing. Don't think it's entirely Boston's fault, just that I'd heard so many fantastic things about the place it couldn't possibly have lived up to its reputation! That said, it was a nice city and described very well as a walking city because everything is fairly close. My trip on Greyhound was an experience. It turns out that it doesn't matter what time your ticket is for, if you rock up when a bus is due then you get let on anyway. Not realising this and even though I had my ticket quite a while in advance as I'd had to check out the hostel, I almost didn't make it onto the bus I had booked for as all the other people who had later tickets than me were already on it! Fortunately I was the last person on the bus!! Whilst in Boston I went to a free night out at a comedy club - organised by the hostel then did lots of the touristy stuff - Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall, walked the Freedom Trial which takes you round all the important historic places, USS Constitution, Cheers Bar (which is of course nothing like the TV bar!) and visited Harvard and MIT (which was actually quite dull!). On my last day there I went to Salem as having studied The Crucible at school I couldn't really not go, so got the ferry up there and it was such a disappointment. It was just like a Disney Witchland. There was one memorial which really gave you a feel for how traumatic the witch hunt era must have been but other than that it was full of touristy witch and wizard shops and you got hassled to do ghost walks all the time. Seriously would not recommend going there. Anyway, last Saturday I flew to Chicago and what a difference. I love this city! It has such a great feel to it. You're definitely in a big city and yet being on the banks of Lake Michigan (which being a great lake really is huge!) you almost feel like you're at the seaside as well. It even has beaches! Didn't do too much when I first got here as I was staying just one night in a hostel on the outskirts of town as I couldn't get into the central hostel the first night but since then have been out and about. The weather was appalling when I first got here. I left a balmy 28-30 degrees Celsius in Boston and got a not quite so balmy rainy 16 degrees in Chicago. So on came the bottoms of the trousers (they're the zip off ones) and out came the fleece and umbrella! Having been told that this weather was due to be with us all week I bought a City Pass which gives you access to multiple places of interest for cheaper than buying separately and I headed off to the Museum of Science and Industry which was good and huge. Went and had my traditional Chicago Pizza that day from the original place and it was delicious (Shalini - I have a picture of it!). The next day the weather changed and we've had bright sunshine since! Typical! Anyway, the next day I went to the Field Museum which is a natural history museum and it was great! What made it even better was that there were virtually no kids there so I got to play on all the interactive stuff which you usually can't get access to!! From there went to the aquarium, which was just full of fish really - until I turned up at the dolphin pool just in time to see a dolphin display which was excellent and showed you how they use the playtimes to keep a check on the dolphin's health as well. Then went to the penguin area where a few days earlier a baby penguin had hatched which was very cute! That night as I was walking back it turned out to be one of the nights for the Chicago 8th Film Festival to have one of its free movie in the parks nights so I hired a chair and sat and watched "Sweet Smell of Success" and old Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis movie. Had I been here a week later it would have been the Sound of Music! But seeing as the last time I spent a long time from home and I watched that I spent the whole movie crying my eyes out (Mum's favourite film!) I figured it was probably best I was here this week! Yesterday I went to the Adler Planetarium and watched a show on the stars at night so in theory I should be able to point some constellations out now. I blame the light pollution in Chicago for stopping me doing that last night!! From there I went to the Hancock observatory - 94 floors up! It has taken over here from the Sears tower as having the best views in Chicago so will leave the Sears tower for another time I think. In the evening I went to a jazz bar on the pier that had great jazz and did great barbeque. Had 24 hour brisket (marinaded with spices for 12 hours, cooked for 12 hours - yum!!) and then there was a free fireworks display over the harbour.
So today, I'm having a lazy day!! Tomorrow I head up to Minneapolis although at the moment I'm not sure how I'm getting there! I have a train ticket booked but there were floods in South Minnesota a few days ago which washed some of the tracks away! I went to ask at the station what was happening and of course forgot that I wasn't in the UK where it would take at least 6 weeks to put this sort of thing right as the guy said they already had one track running again but I might be being bussed up there. I think the bad weather must be following me - floods in England, floods in New York and now floods in Minnesota. I think I should get sent to drought areas!!
So today, I'm having a lazy day!! Tomorrow I head up to Minneapolis although at the moment I'm not sure how I'm getting there! I have a train ticket booked but there were floods in South Minnesota a few days ago which washed some of the tracks away! I went to ask at the station what was happening and of course forgot that I wasn't in the UK where it would take at least 6 weeks to put this sort of thing right as the guy said they already had one track running again but I might be being bussed up there. I think the bad weather must be following me - floods in England, floods in New York and now floods in Minnesota. I think I should get sent to drought areas!!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Really does deserve naming twice!!
Hi from New York! Have one day left here now and it's been a jam-packed few days since I got here! Arrived on Tuesday afternoon having braved the Chinatown Express and have been staying in the International Student Centre whilst I've been here which really has felt like being back at University. Not surprisingly with and age limit on guests being 35, at 33 I'm probably the oldest one here! At least I look as if I am anyway!
As I said though, it's been a busy few days and I've managed to get to see the places I wanted to but didn't have time to my last visit here. Have been the the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, mooched round Greenwich village, Soho, Lower Manhattan went to Brooklyn, to the botanical gardens there and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge, spent time in Central Park - watched softball games there and met an old guy called Kevin and chatted to him for a couple of hours yesterday. I have to say I've walked absolutely miles since I've been here! Fortunately the weather got a little bit cooler (even had one day where I had to reattach the bottom of my zip-off trousers and wear a fleece it was actually cold!) and so it's made doing the touristy things far more pleasant than in Philadelphia. My first day here I almost thought I was back in the UK as having had so much rain here the night before the subway system had major delays or "train traffic" because of signal failure! Nice to see it's not just in London they can't cope with a bit of rain! Fortunately though it was all back up and running to get me home from a free concert I went to In Madison Square Park, a couple of guys called the Woods Brothers - a bluegrass group that were excellent.
Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy as having walked all the way from Lower Manhattan to 86th street today I'm feeling a little tired now and then it's off to Boston on Tuesday. Will have my only greyhound experience then and apparently my hostel in Boston is fabulous so hope to have great things to tell you about it in the next post!
As I said though, it's been a busy few days and I've managed to get to see the places I wanted to but didn't have time to my last visit here. Have been the the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, mooched round Greenwich village, Soho, Lower Manhattan went to Brooklyn, to the botanical gardens there and walked back across the Brooklyn Bridge, spent time in Central Park - watched softball games there and met an old guy called Kevin and chatted to him for a couple of hours yesterday. I have to say I've walked absolutely miles since I've been here! Fortunately the weather got a little bit cooler (even had one day where I had to reattach the bottom of my zip-off trousers and wear a fleece it was actually cold!) and so it's made doing the touristy things far more pleasant than in Philadelphia. My first day here I almost thought I was back in the UK as having had so much rain here the night before the subway system had major delays or "train traffic" because of signal failure! Nice to see it's not just in London they can't cope with a bit of rain! Fortunately though it was all back up and running to get me home from a free concert I went to In Madison Square Park, a couple of guys called the Woods Brothers - a bluegrass group that were excellent.
Tomorrow I'm going to take it easy as having walked all the way from Lower Manhattan to 86th street today I'm feeling a little tired now and then it's off to Boston on Tuesday. Will have my only greyhound experience then and apparently my hostel in Boston is fabulous so hope to have great things to tell you about it in the next post!
Saturday, August 04, 2007
First post!
Well, I'm hoping that this works OK because I don't think the computer I'm on has the most up to date drivers as just about every instruction is a series of little boxes on the screen! Anyway, on my last evening in a hotel with free internet access I thought I'd send my first blog from my trip. Have been in Phila (that's how they abbreviate it here) for 2 days now and have to say I really like this city. It has a great feel to it. In some areas it doesn't really feel like I'm in America (although that's not the reason it feels good!!) and the thing that struck me first was that almost all the buildings are brick, which may sound crazy, but when I lived in Minneapolis, my friend Molly lived in the only brick house on her street, and if you knew how long some streets were over here...! As it's the 2nd day as well, I don't have an awful lot to tell you about where I've been and what I've been doing although that is partly to do with the fact that there is a heatwave going on here where temps have been in the mid 90s and there's been the humidity to go with it - almost feel I'm back in Mumbai! As such Starbucks with its wonderful AC and iced drinks is a bit of a fave hangout at the moment! One thing that I love about the city is that you can be ambling along on an area which doesn't have much going on when suddenly you happen upon something unexpected. There was a most amazing Italian market today (which is in the guidebooks but from one street before and one after you wouldn't know it was there) and a lovely organic supermarket which would rival the one that's just opened in Chelsea I should imagine. Yesterday I found a beautiful shop called Spirit of the Artist (www.sotagifts.com) which sold the most beautiful art items. The people here are really friendly too. As for general touristy stuff, I have of course gone to see Liberty Bell and went to the Museum of Liberty yesterday along with Betsy Ross's house and Bejamin Franklin's grave. Unfortunately they don't have the London system of free entry to museums here so on my budget it's a case of picking and choosing. Another thing that almost makes this city feel like London in a way is that there are quite a few small green spaces and it makes it seem like the small squares like Paddington Street Gardens. Anyway, tomorrow I leave my life of relative luxury in this lovely hotel that is the Alexander Inn (Jim and Rachel - it's lovely, you'll like it here) and head for my first hostel. Fortunately I walked past it yesterday and discovered it only opens in the morning for a couple of hours and then from 4.30pm 'til midnight or that could have been a long day walking round with the rucksack! 'Til the next time!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The tickets have arrived!!!!
Tomorrow I'm 33. Not entirely sure how I got to this age this quickly! But anyway I have and so my birthday also marks 3 weeks until I go. Got the tickets this morning and have to say, I was incredibly excited when I saw them and started reading them. Bizarrely I am travelling on paper tickets and so I have a veritable thesis to take with me. I really don't understand it to be perfectly honest, it seems a ridiculous system to me. Why is it that when you only travel on short hop trips you can do it on an e-ticket yet when you travel round the world, don't really want to take too many valuable bits of paper and could do with having as much stuff electronic as possible, they give you a paper ticket? I'm sure someone somewhere can explain that one to me!
Anyway, in honour of the fact that the tickets have now arrived I decided to post my finalised itinerary on my blog! So here goes:
1st August: fly to Philadelphia
From here I plan to go to on to New York and Boston going by bus between cities
18th August: Boston to Chicago
24th August: Train to Minneapolis
29th August: Vancouver
3rd September: Bus to Seattle, fly to San Francisco
7th September: Fly to Auckland
Will be travelling around the North and then South Islands of New Zealand although no firm plan as to where and for how long in each place
16th October: Fly to Sydney
16th October - 13th November travelling round from Sydney through Blue Mountains, Melbourne, Adelaide and then up to Uluru/Alice Springs
13th November: Alice Springs to Cairns
In Cairns I have a 3 day SCUBA diving trip booked on the Great Barrier Reef on a liveaboard boat.
After that I travel down to Brisbane via the Whitsundays
26th November: Brisbane to Singapore
1st December: Hong Kong
5th December: Tokyo
10th/11th Tokyo to Cape Town
from 15th December-24th January: Africa tour
27th December: Fly home
This is the liveaboard in Cairns that I'm doing.
http://www.spiritoffreedom.com.au/3_Day_Monday_Departure_Cod_Hole,_Ribbon_Reefs_Itinerary.htm
This is the Africa tour:
http://www.acacia-africa.com/OVERLAND_CTK41.htm
As many of my friends from work will laugh at me for having such a fixed itinerary, I remind them that I have had to put dates to flights but I can change them if I want to as I go round. I think they and me know that's unlikely to happen but you never know! Hey, I've still not booked any more hostels so I'm doing fairly well on the spontaneity thing so far!!
This weekend I'm planning to go get my entire wardrobe for the trip. Planning on taking 2 pairs of zip off trousers and about 6 tops. Need to buy new underwear for the adventure but am going to Fosse Park with Mum on Thursday so will hit M&S there! Have left buying clothes as was hoping to shed a few pounds before buying them but that's not happened and I can't be naked on my trip so guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a bigger size!
Have really enjoyed being at home the last 3 weeks and whilst I'm starting to get just a teensy bit nervous about the trip now I have to say I'm also starting to look forward to going. I've really enjoyed being at home with my parents and whilst I've done that because I really wanted to spend some time with them before I go, it's definitely going to make it harder to leave. Has to be done though. I really need this time for myself.
I also got my new phone today. Think it's going to take a bit of getting used to but not guessing I'll be using it all that often though I may be wrong! Have worked out about setting Mum and Dad up on BT international so they can call me when I'm away and for Christmas when that won't work we'll just load up my mobile and can chat on that, that was the point of getting it after all!
Right, well will post closer to the leaving date when I'm starting to get more than a little bit stressed about it all knowing me!
Anyway, in honour of the fact that the tickets have now arrived I decided to post my finalised itinerary on my blog! So here goes:
1st August: fly to Philadelphia
From here I plan to go to on to New York and Boston going by bus between cities
18th August: Boston to Chicago
24th August: Train to Minneapolis
29th August: Vancouver
3rd September: Bus to Seattle, fly to San Francisco
7th September: Fly to Auckland
Will be travelling around the North and then South Islands of New Zealand although no firm plan as to where and for how long in each place
16th October: Fly to Sydney
16th October - 13th November travelling round from Sydney through Blue Mountains, Melbourne, Adelaide and then up to Uluru/Alice Springs
13th November: Alice Springs to Cairns
In Cairns I have a 3 day SCUBA diving trip booked on the Great Barrier Reef on a liveaboard boat.
After that I travel down to Brisbane via the Whitsundays
26th November: Brisbane to Singapore
1st December: Hong Kong
5th December: Tokyo
10th/11th Tokyo to Cape Town
from 15th December-24th January: Africa tour
27th December: Fly home
This is the liveaboard in Cairns that I'm doing.
http://www.spiritoffreedom.com.au/3_Day_Monday_Departure_Cod_Hole,_Ribbon_Reefs_Itinerary.htm
This is the Africa tour:
http://www.acacia-africa.com/OVERLAND_CTK41.htm
As many of my friends from work will laugh at me for having such a fixed itinerary, I remind them that I have had to put dates to flights but I can change them if I want to as I go round. I think they and me know that's unlikely to happen but you never know! Hey, I've still not booked any more hostels so I'm doing fairly well on the spontaneity thing so far!!
This weekend I'm planning to go get my entire wardrobe for the trip. Planning on taking 2 pairs of zip off trousers and about 6 tops. Need to buy new underwear for the adventure but am going to Fosse Park with Mum on Thursday so will hit M&S there! Have left buying clothes as was hoping to shed a few pounds before buying them but that's not happened and I can't be naked on my trip so guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy a bigger size!
Have really enjoyed being at home the last 3 weeks and whilst I'm starting to get just a teensy bit nervous about the trip now I have to say I'm also starting to look forward to going. I've really enjoyed being at home with my parents and whilst I've done that because I really wanted to spend some time with them before I go, it's definitely going to make it harder to leave. Has to be done though. I really need this time for myself.
I also got my new phone today. Think it's going to take a bit of getting used to but not guessing I'll be using it all that often though I may be wrong! Have worked out about setting Mum and Dad up on BT international so they can call me when I'm away and for Christmas when that won't work we'll just load up my mobile and can chat on that, that was the point of getting it after all!
Right, well will post closer to the leaving date when I'm starting to get more than a little bit stressed about it all knowing me!
Thursday, June 07, 2007
The end of work is nigh!
Well, this weekend I move out of my flat and go to stay with my lovely friend Dawn. I'm currently surrounded by boxes and can't believe quite how much stuff I have. I've chucked out 8 bags full of rubbish, have a full bin bag of clothes to go to the charity shop, a full bag of recycling and I still seem to have far too much stuff. Fortunately my Dad has a very big van! Only have a week and a day left at work. Finally got to believe that I will be able to teach Shea and Janine (my replacements) what they need to know by next Friday which has left me feeling a little bit more relaxed and had my "end of contract negotiation" meeting earlier in the week and so it's all being finalised for my departure. Found out today though I have to pay £65 for my checkout inventory which is a complete ripoff and leaved me really quite relieved I saved up for this and the cleaning (approx £140) whilst I've been here.
Since my last proper post I've been to India to see Sarah and my, what a mad place that was. For the photos you can see my facebook album on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8352&l=8a110&id=579325733
Since my last proper post I've been to India to see Sarah and my, what a mad place that was. For the photos you can see my facebook album on http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8352&l=8a110&id=579325733
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Manic Manic Manic!!!
Just wanted to say I've not forgotten you blog, it's just that now I'm in the final few weeks of work life is getting a bit crazy. Posts of India and all the plans to date will appear in a couple of weeks when I finally get time to myself!!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
When you start to change your mind...
One thing about me is that I am pretty good at talking myself out of doing things that would actually be good for me. This is why some of you reading this may think that I'm being really organised and control freakish in booking my tickets etc etc so far in advance (which partly I am) but also it's because I knew if I booked stuff then I wouldn't be able to unbook it and so I'd have to go. So, with this in mind, I knew myself well as I'm having a "what am I doing?" phase which I can't pay any attention to really because it's all booked and now I can't talk myself out of it without losing vast sums of cash! When I was doing my PhD, a very nice lady called Alice who was a lecturer in the department told me that she thought you should only do a PhD for one of two reasons. The first is because you really enjoy the subject, the second is because you can go no further in life without doing one. I'm beginning to think travelling is the same. The websites say you shouldn't do it unless you really want to. But in actual fact I think the second reason is a good one too. You should only do it if you can go no further in life as you are. And I think that's my reason for this trip.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The needles are out!!
Firstly, thanks for your comment Mad Dog! Exciting to get comments from people reading my blog!
Well, had my first injection today. Rabies. Went to 1st Contact for it as couldn't get it from my Drs. Was planning to get the Japanese B Encephalitis from 1st Contact as well but the nice lady told me that I didn't really need it for where I was going and so given that it would cost over £100 figured I'd give it a miss! So far feeling fine after the rabies jab so hopefully they'll all be as good!
I did book the harbour bridge climb and the 3 day liveaboard as I put in my last post and I've also booked my Africa tour as well! All coming together now which is exciting. Saved 10% on Africa as well by booking more than 6 months in advance. Sunita is going to check out the flight for me in Canada for between Vancouver and San Francisco. What's the nightmare with that one is the taxes. Basic flight about £46. Total cost with taxes £81.60!! Madness! Hopefully there'll be some budget airline out there I don't know about which means she'll be able to get it cheaper for me.
Have my flight booked for going out to see Sarah in India as well. Go there from 8th-16th May and so have needed to get those injections sorted out for that as well. I am so going to fill my passport up this year!
Well, had my first injection today. Rabies. Went to 1st Contact for it as couldn't get it from my Drs. Was planning to get the Japanese B Encephalitis from 1st Contact as well but the nice lady told me that I didn't really need it for where I was going and so given that it would cost over £100 figured I'd give it a miss! So far feeling fine after the rabies jab so hopefully they'll all be as good!
I did book the harbour bridge climb and the 3 day liveaboard as I put in my last post and I've also booked my Africa tour as well! All coming together now which is exciting. Saved 10% on Africa as well by booking more than 6 months in advance. Sunita is going to check out the flight for me in Canada for between Vancouver and San Francisco. What's the nightmare with that one is the taxes. Basic flight about £46. Total cost with taxes £81.60!! Madness! Hopefully there'll be some budget airline out there I don't know about which means she'll be able to get it cheaper for me.
Have my flight booked for going out to see Sarah in India as well. Go there from 8th-16th May and so have needed to get those injections sorted out for that as well. I am so going to fill my passport up this year!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Flights are booked!!
I am soooooo excited! Yesterday I went to Trailfinders and booked my flights! Managed to book every one bar the Vancouver to San Francisco leg on the One World Explorer ticket. Couldn't do that flight because although it's an American Airlines flight it's actually operated by Alaskan Airlines and as they're not part of the alliance I couldn't book it. Can always sort it out when I get to the US so I'm not too worried. Came to £2317.10 in the end which wasn't bad as I have about 17 flights in total on there. Had a really helpful man at Trailfinders called Dan who I'm going to call tomorrow as well to book a 3 day liveaboard trip to Lizard bay and Cod Hole for when I'm in Cairns and also I'm going to book my Sydney Harbour Bridge climb through him as well. Only £3 more expensive than booking it myself so it's just as easy to book the whole thing in one go. Will also book the Africa tour tomorrow. Planning to go into Acacia tomorrow to go book it in person as it's only a 5 minute walk from work. It's all coming together now. When that's booked have no more to book! Am also planning to pop into the Drs tomorrow to start making appointments for my injections. Am going to need some of them for India anyway and if I'm going there in May need to get them sorted out soon anyway! Trailfinders have recommended I get Diphtheria - Tetanus - Polio, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Meningitis, Rabies, Hepatitis B, TB, Japanese Encephalitis, Yellow Fever and of course, anti-malarials. Fortunately have had Hep B with work and was BCG vaccinated as a kid although working in the field of TB at the moment I know it's fairly pointless me being vaccinated anyway! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
4 days 'til booking!
Am hugely excited this week as I'm going to book my flights on Saturday. Finalised my plan and did decide not to do Lima (just found out a 4th person from work who went out there had tummy troubles so just don't want to have to deal with that at the start of my trip!) and so it's going to be Philadephia, New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Vancouver, San Francisco, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya and then back home again. Have the Africa tour on hold at the moment with Acacia Africa as I looked on the Intrepid site who you can book with as well and they only had 2 places left and got a bit worried but it turns out there are a few places left. So anyway, the lovely woman at Acacia sais they'd put one place on hold for me til I can book next week. Been in touch with Sarah in India a bit as well and hearing about all that she's getting up to is making me really keen to go exploring. Probably going out to see her at the beginning of May so will get to try out a few travelling bits and bobs as well so will be a really useful trip. Can't wait. Plus she's only been gone a few days but it feels like a long time already. Yet more experiments failing at the moment so hard not to be too excited about not having to do them for much longer!!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Today's post
REALLY looking forward to my trip today! My best friend Sarah went off to India last night which was very sad, and my close friend Sunita goes to Vancouver on Monday so I want it to be my turn to escape now! I only have another 14 weeks at work which really isn't very much time at all.
I'm getting more and more bits and bobs together for my trip. Bought my day pack and money belt at the weekend. Found an amazing camping shop near my parent's house which stocks just about everything you could ever need! I'm going to book my flights a week on Saturday and then I'm planning to go to Acacia to book the Africa part of my tour after that. Then it's a case of starting to get visas and injections. Pin cushion time! Hopefully I'll be as good as Sarah was and not feel any effects. Well, you can live in hope!
Have been thinking of adding South America to the beginning of my trip but I'm not sure. I know someone who is living in Lima at the moment and it would really good to go and see him but it means adding another continent to my flight which will up the cost somewhat but then it's going to be so much cheaper to live in South America for a week than North America so it could just be swings and roundabouts, but it is just for a week and so not sure if it's worth it. Also, my boss has just been to Peru and ended up with a dodgy stomach (as did another friend of mine when she went) and I'm not sure I want to start my trip getting ill! although obviously I do realise that I might not get ill! Not forgetting it will be winter there in August.
I'm getting more and more bits and bobs together for my trip. Bought my day pack and money belt at the weekend. Found an amazing camping shop near my parent's house which stocks just about everything you could ever need! I'm going to book my flights a week on Saturday and then I'm planning to go to Acacia to book the Africa part of my tour after that. Then it's a case of starting to get visas and injections. Pin cushion time! Hopefully I'll be as good as Sarah was and not feel any effects. Well, you can live in hope!
Have been thinking of adding South America to the beginning of my trip but I'm not sure. I know someone who is living in Lima at the moment and it would really good to go and see him but it means adding another continent to my flight which will up the cost somewhat but then it's going to be so much cheaper to live in South America for a week than North America so it could just be swings and roundabouts, but it is just for a week and so not sure if it's worth it. Also, my boss has just been to Peru and ended up with a dodgy stomach (as did another friend of mine when she went) and I'm not sure I want to start my trip getting ill! although obviously I do realise that I might not get ill! Not forgetting it will be winter there in August.
Monday, January 22, 2007
New possibilities for Africa
Having decided that I can't actually do the trip through Zimbabwe I started looking for other possibilities and found a tour that sounds amazing with Intrepid Travel. It's a 41 day tour that starts in Cape Town (which is better for me because it means I can miss out Jo'Burg which I wasn't that keen on going to and also it doesn't start until the 15th December so it gives me extra days to play around with making Australia and New Zealand less of a rush. However, being longer it also means that it costs more but having reworked out my finances last night it's looking just about possible. Might need to make some more money on the side though so I'm currently looking into easy ways to make money. Thinking of doing online paid surveys. May only pay a few pounds a time but it's easy and every penny counts at the moment! Might try selling some stuff through Amazon as well as I have lots of random books at home which I don't really need and could sell. Other than that it's my body!
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
ya-de ya-de ya-de
My friend's boyfriend went off on his travels for the year yesterday and it seems that it was a while away before he was due to go and yet it's come round so quickly. I'm hoping that my trip is the same. Only 21 weeks and 2 days of work left so it's really not that long. I bought my sleeping bag a couple of weeks ago. Bought a Vango Ultralite 700. Didn't end up being as small as advertised but that may be because I'm not the Incredible Hulk so can't compress it as much as it can be compressed! It's still fairly little though and I'm very pleased with it. Also bought a camera battery from ebay which was a bargain and I'm currently bidding on a memory card! Ebay is quite addictive so I'm having to exert a bit of self-control!
Was reading about San Francisco last night and all sounded very exciting. Think I might miss out LA as I've been there before and I need a few days for Vancouver and then I can spread out SF a bit. Seeing as I've wanted to go there for years might as well make the most of it.
Checked out the Merrell Frond sandals at the weekend but didn't find them that comfortable so will have to find something else. I am not having Epidemics (otherwise known as Tevas but we call them epidemics because when they first came out everyone had them so it was like an epidemic!) or anything like them because I think they are not very attractive and the thought I might have to did actually put me off going away for a while! Have to wait for the sales to finish and all the summer stuff to come out.
Was reading about San Francisco last night and all sounded very exciting. Think I might miss out LA as I've been there before and I need a few days for Vancouver and then I can spread out SF a bit. Seeing as I've wanted to go there for years might as well make the most of it.
Checked out the Merrell Frond sandals at the weekend but didn't find them that comfortable so will have to find something else. I am not having Epidemics (otherwise known as Tevas but we call them epidemics because when they first came out everyone had them so it was like an epidemic!) or anything like them because I think they are not very attractive and the thought I might have to did actually put me off going away for a while! Have to wait for the sales to finish and all the summer stuff to come out.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year!!
Well it's now 2007 - the year of the trip! Had some lovely things for it as Christmas presents. Got a Life Venture towel, a hair turban, a first aid kit, Swiss Army Knife and then went and bought a toiletry roll from Jacksons. Was hoping they'd have a sale on - they didn't - but it was still reasonable. My friends Rachel and Jim (who bought me a great travel journal for Christmas) have given me complimentary tickets to the Travel Show at Earls Court in February so will be good to check out some travel possibilities and Kumuka will be there so can speak to them about the changes to the Africa trip. It's gonna be a good year!
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