Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Travelling Post 53 - Around the North Island
I'm just going to briefly go over what I've done on the North Island since the Hot Water Pools.
From Hahei we headed to Raglan for the second night of the tour and then Maketu [spkn: Mak-e-tu] for the third. At Maketu we were treated to an excellent cultural evening. A local family performed some traditional dances for us and then taught the lads the Haka and girls the Poi.
The following night I hopped off the bus and spent the night in nearby Roturua. Roturua is situated on a a bed of geothermal activity and smells very badly of sulphur. Before getting back on the bus I walked around Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where I saw Lady Knox Geyser erupting [pictured] and an array of heated water pools of varying colours and smells plus boiling mud pools. All very different to anything you'll find in Oz or back home.
After being driven to Taupo I spent the afternoon relaxing and the next day I completed a couple of easy, short walks around a Tongariro National Park.
From Tongariro National Park the bus headed to Wellington, the nation's capital and a much nicer city than Auckland. I had intended to spend part of my birthday doing a Lord of the Rings tour, but it wasn't running that day so I did that the day before. Satisfying my inner geek, the tour was interesting - for me anyhow - and from both the tour and my views of just the North Island's landscape it is easy to see why LOTR was filmed in NZ.
Next Stop: The South Island
From Hahei we headed to Raglan for the second night of the tour and then Maketu [spkn: Mak-e-tu] for the third. At Maketu we were treated to an excellent cultural evening. A local family performed some traditional dances for us and then taught the lads the Haka and girls the Poi.
The following night I hopped off the bus and spent the night in nearby Roturua. Roturua is situated on a a bed of geothermal activity and smells very badly of sulphur. Before getting back on the bus I walked around Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland where I saw Lady Knox Geyser erupting [pictured] and an array of heated water pools of varying colours and smells plus boiling mud pools. All very different to anything you'll find in Oz or back home.
After being driven to Taupo I spent the afternoon relaxing and the next day I completed a couple of easy, short walks around a Tongariro National Park.
From Tongariro National Park the bus headed to Wellington, the nation's capital and a much nicer city than Auckland. I had intended to spend part of my birthday doing a Lord of the Rings tour, but it wasn't running that day so I did that the day before. Satisfying my inner geek, the tour was interesting - for me anyhow - and from both the tour and my views of just the North Island's landscape it is easy to see why LOTR was filmed in NZ.
Next Stop: The South Island
Travelling Post 52 - On the road again.
After 3 nights and 2 days in Auckland I left the city behind for the rest of NZ. I'd booked myself on a Stray bus, which is a hop on hop off tour. The tours first destination was Hahei which we got to via a lucky tree and windy roads. We arrived in Hahei in the late afternoon and went on a coastal walk to Cathedral Cove, before having a BBQ dinner. Late evening we boarded the minibus for Hot Water Beach. This was pretty great, we dug holes in the sand and due to geothermal activity the water was hot, in some points to hot to touch. Certainly one of the more different evenings I've spent on my travels.
Below, Relaxing after the work was done, sadly the beer in the picture is not mine I forgot to bring some.
Above, digging the hole.
Below, Relaxing after the work was done, sadly the beer in the picture is not mine I forgot to bring some.
Travelling Post 51 - Auckland
I landed in Auckland sometime in the mid afternoon and eventually ended up at my accommodation a couple of hours later. My first nights stay was at the Nomads Fat Camel Hostel and, thankfully, I only booked one night. It took ages for me to get checked in as the staff were slow and they only had one machine to encode the key cards, then they sent me to a room where I had to ask fellow backpackers which bed was free and strip it myself. When i made my bed I discovered they hadn't even given me all the sheets I needed so had to go back to reception for more, and then the people in my room were amongst the biggest idiots I've had the experience of meeting on my trip so far. At 1.30 they came in drunk and loud, then left again, then came back and so on for the next hour before I gave up and went downstairs to read before they went to sleep. Safe to say I checked out there early the next morning and moved to Auckland City YHA, which was a vast improvement, but my first night in NZ didn't look like a good omen.
After not getting a good nights sleep I still couldn't waste the day so I wandered around town, looking in an Art Gallery (not my thing) then checked out the excellent Maritime Museum and the equally excellent Auckland Museum,
On my second day in Auckland I took a free Stray tour of the city where I learnt Auckland has the 4th biggest city sprawl in the world. Their comparatively small population of only 1.4million obviously has a policy of 'why build up when you can build up across' and why not I say, it makes for a good view. I got to see someone bungee jump from the Skytower, the highest building in the Southern hemisphere which was OK. The tour also drove us around the city, pointing out places to get a cheap or free haircut, and other such useful information as well as stopping off at Mt Eden for some great city views, a memorial for the first NZ Labor Prime Minister, and I got to walk along the Harbour Bridge to watch a free fall bungee jump. The tour was really interesting and great value, unlike some things I've paid for whilst away a didn't want to I wouldn't have minded having to pay for this.
After not getting a good nights sleep I still couldn't waste the day so I wandered around town, looking in an Art Gallery (not my thing) then checked out the excellent Maritime Museum and the equally excellent Auckland Museum,
On my second day in Auckland I took a free Stray tour of the city where I learnt Auckland has the 4th biggest city sprawl in the world. Their comparatively small population of only 1.4million obviously has a policy of 'why build up when you can build up across' and why not I say, it makes for a good view. I got to see someone bungee jump from the Skytower, the highest building in the Southern hemisphere which was OK. The tour also drove us around the city, pointing out places to get a cheap or free haircut, and other such useful information as well as stopping off at Mt Eden for some great city views, a memorial for the first NZ Labor Prime Minister, and I got to walk along the Harbour Bridge to watch a free fall bungee jump. The tour was really interesting and great value, unlike some things I've paid for whilst away a didn't want to I wouldn't have minded having to pay for this.
Travelling Post 50- Almost Full circle with a Michael Palin wannabe sans camera crew.
I arrived back in Sydney on Friday 19th October after a 15hr greyhound bus journey from Surfers Paradise. Previously I had planned to go to Byron Bay but decided to bypass it in favour of Sydney. I also wanted to be back for a beer festival on the Saturday, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, the beer was too expensive for what you got. The Tandoori Chicken pizza i bought for tea was really nice though and the company was good. Other than that I spent my first Saturday back relaxing. That was my aim for the next 10 days, how I was so wide of my target.
I'd travelled the top half of the East Coast meeting up with a couple of other backpackers, Bethan and Briony, and after about a week or two apart I met up with them again in Sydney. After achieving my aim on Sunday, lazing around and watching TV with the girls, I went out on Monday evening for an easy night of social drinking and then came Tuesday night.
On Tuesday night we went out for a Chinese as it was my last night with the girls before I left OZ, as they were heading further South the following day. The meal was nice that is not the issue. Also at the meal were a few people I'd met briefly coming down the East Coast - Paul, Mette and Rachel - whom Bethan and Briony knew quite well from the Oz bus. Two of those people, Mette and Paul were friends travelling together and hadn't been to Sydney before. The following day I became their unofficial tour guide, and whilst loving the ability to show of my knowledge of Sydney it ended up being an expensive week of drinking, eating out and sight seeing. Such a hard life.
The following day I met up with Mette, Paul and Rachel and did a little sightseeing, bought some fish and then round to a different Paul's flat and had my most civilised meal since Easter Sunday.
On the Thursday, with me counting down the days the four of us then traipsed around Paddy's Market, Darling Harbour and then Paul and I visited the Maritime Museum. In the evening it was cinema time to watch the badder than bad Good Luck Chuck, I knew it would be pretty awful but I decided to go along with the crowd, never again.
On Friday, with 4 full days left in Oz I was eager not to waste my time so I went out drinking all day. A suitable, if expensive, use of my time whereby I most likely embarrassed myself but no one complained, they all thought I was funny. I just hope they were laughing with me not at me.
With three days left to go I took Paul and Mette around the Botanic Gardens and the excellent Rocks Market. In the afternoon I begged off staying out to long because I needed to return to my bed for a brief afternoon nap. I'd be forced to wake up at a ridiculously early 8.30am to play tour guide and my hangover hadn't gone by 3pm despite 2 litres+ of water a a couple of Panadol. In the evening I experienced my first, but most definitely not my last, taste of tapas. I am learning so much about new foods I've not tried before on my trip around Oz. [Please note that does not mean I will try old foods I know I don't like!]
On Sunday, 2 days before my Tuesday departure, I undertook the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Originally I wanted to do this on my last day but sharing the experience with friends was much more preferable, especially as I have no photographs. If I needed my love of Sydney reigniting, which I didn't, the Bridge Climb would have done it, if I needed to be reminded of how expensive Sydney could be, the Bridge Climb would have done that to. The views from the top are simply spectacular, I challenge any city in the world to beat that view. I will also disagree with said city if they believe their daytime city view is better, simply because they would be wrong.
I had expected the Bridge Climb to be hard work but I was wrong. Tourists are put on the Bridge like a conveyor belt moving along every 10 minutes so there was a lot of stopping and starting as we waited for photographs to be taken ahead of us, and then we had to wait as we had to be stopped for our photograph. The biggest, nay the only real, criticism I have of the Bridge Climb is, rather predictably, the cost. It cost $200 to do the climb on a weekend (we waited a few days for good weather) and only 4 photos on one CD would have cost $50 and change. The photos were not good enough to even split the cost three ways with Paul and Mette, and I'll always have my memories so I didn't purchase them.
After the climb we headed to Coogee where I had a brief look around to see what had changed and what hadn't before taking my sightseers on the Coogee-Bondi walk. I think it was as I walked down Coogee Bay Road, looking at what used to be my old work place, now transformed into a coffee bar not evening resembling the previous establishment that I knew how much I'd miss Oz. Although that was a fleeting feeling that got suppressed in the usual mix of emotion and the excitement of heading to NZ.
In the evening after a Lasagna for dinner the three of us headed to the tallest building in Sydney, the Skytower rounding of the busy day of sightseeing with some night time views of the city and a high altitude drink of course. Then it was off for more drinks, before a 2am bed time.
I arose early on my last full day in Sydney to go for pancakes. We were supposed to be meeting for breakfast but by the time we were sorted, by 'we' I mean Paul and Mette not I, it was more like brunch. After brunch we headed to the Pylon lookout, the original Harbour Bridge climb (up some stairs) which was included in the Bridge Climb price. The views from the Pylon were impressive but not quite so much as further up on the top of the bridge, but at least I got to take my own photos and had some taken of me [see below]. In the early afternoon I left Paul and Mette boarding their taxi saying good bye to them and also to Rachel, my Friday drinking partner, who was joining them in their journey South, then I headed to IEP where I used their free Internet for one last time and said goodbye to the staff. My last night in OZ ended up being one of my cheapest. I ate spaghetti on toast for dinner and watched TV all evening, it was a bit of a come down from the past week but I needed a break so didn't mind too much
On Tuesday 30th October 2007 just after 11am I left Australia on Air New Zealand flight 704 for Auckland, leaving behind the sixth largest country in the world and all its deadly creatures. Some things have been excellent, otherwise good, some things so so and yet others (mostly the work) a little bit crappy. If I had the chance to go back in time I wouldn't do much different, otherwise I wouldn't have met the people I met and had the experiences I've had, but if I was repeating my year in the future there is certainly things I would never do again such as work on a vineyard and perhaps I wouldn't staple my thumb again. Perhaps.
I'd travelled the top half of the East Coast meeting up with a couple of other backpackers, Bethan and Briony, and after about a week or two apart I met up with them again in Sydney. After achieving my aim on Sunday, lazing around and watching TV with the girls, I went out on Monday evening for an easy night of social drinking and then came Tuesday night.
On Tuesday night we went out for a Chinese as it was my last night with the girls before I left OZ, as they were heading further South the following day. The meal was nice that is not the issue. Also at the meal were a few people I'd met briefly coming down the East Coast - Paul, Mette and Rachel - whom Bethan and Briony knew quite well from the Oz bus. Two of those people, Mette and Paul were friends travelling together and hadn't been to Sydney before. The following day I became their unofficial tour guide, and whilst loving the ability to show of my knowledge of Sydney it ended up being an expensive week of drinking, eating out and sight seeing. Such a hard life.
The following day I met up with Mette, Paul and Rachel and did a little sightseeing, bought some fish and then round to a different Paul's flat and had my most civilised meal since Easter Sunday.
On the Thursday, with me counting down the days the four of us then traipsed around Paddy's Market, Darling Harbour and then Paul and I visited the Maritime Museum. In the evening it was cinema time to watch the badder than bad Good Luck Chuck, I knew it would be pretty awful but I decided to go along with the crowd, never again.
On Friday, with 4 full days left in Oz I was eager not to waste my time so I went out drinking all day. A suitable, if expensive, use of my time whereby I most likely embarrassed myself but no one complained, they all thought I was funny. I just hope they were laughing with me not at me.
With three days left to go I took Paul and Mette around the Botanic Gardens and the excellent Rocks Market. In the afternoon I begged off staying out to long because I needed to return to my bed for a brief afternoon nap. I'd be forced to wake up at a ridiculously early 8.30am to play tour guide and my hangover hadn't gone by 3pm despite 2 litres+ of water a a couple of Panadol. In the evening I experienced my first, but most definitely not my last, taste of tapas. I am learning so much about new foods I've not tried before on my trip around Oz. [Please note that does not mean I will try old foods I know I don't like!]
On Sunday, 2 days before my Tuesday departure, I undertook the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Originally I wanted to do this on my last day but sharing the experience with friends was much more preferable, especially as I have no photographs. If I needed my love of Sydney reigniting, which I didn't, the Bridge Climb would have done it, if I needed to be reminded of how expensive Sydney could be, the Bridge Climb would have done that to. The views from the top are simply spectacular, I challenge any city in the world to beat that view. I will also disagree with said city if they believe their daytime city view is better, simply because they would be wrong.
I had expected the Bridge Climb to be hard work but I was wrong. Tourists are put on the Bridge like a conveyor belt moving along every 10 minutes so there was a lot of stopping and starting as we waited for photographs to be taken ahead of us, and then we had to wait as we had to be stopped for our photograph. The biggest, nay the only real, criticism I have of the Bridge Climb is, rather predictably, the cost. It cost $200 to do the climb on a weekend (we waited a few days for good weather) and only 4 photos on one CD would have cost $50 and change. The photos were not good enough to even split the cost three ways with Paul and Mette, and I'll always have my memories so I didn't purchase them.
After the climb we headed to Coogee where I had a brief look around to see what had changed and what hadn't before taking my sightseers on the Coogee-Bondi walk. I think it was as I walked down Coogee Bay Road, looking at what used to be my old work place, now transformed into a coffee bar not evening resembling the previous establishment that I knew how much I'd miss Oz. Although that was a fleeting feeling that got suppressed in the usual mix of emotion and the excitement of heading to NZ.
In the evening after a Lasagna for dinner the three of us headed to the tallest building in Sydney, the Skytower rounding of the busy day of sightseeing with some night time views of the city and a high altitude drink of course. Then it was off for more drinks, before a 2am bed time.
I arose early on my last full day in Sydney to go for pancakes. We were supposed to be meeting for breakfast but by the time we were sorted, by 'we' I mean Paul and Mette not I, it was more like brunch. After brunch we headed to the Pylon lookout, the original Harbour Bridge climb (up some stairs) which was included in the Bridge Climb price. The views from the Pylon were impressive but not quite so much as further up on the top of the bridge, but at least I got to take my own photos and had some taken of me [see below]. In the early afternoon I left Paul and Mette boarding their taxi saying good bye to them and also to Rachel, my Friday drinking partner, who was joining them in their journey South, then I headed to IEP where I used their free Internet for one last time and said goodbye to the staff. My last night in OZ ended up being one of my cheapest. I ate spaghetti on toast for dinner and watched TV all evening, it was a bit of a come down from the past week but I needed a break so didn't mind too much
On Tuesday 30th October 2007 just after 11am I left Australia on Air New Zealand flight 704 for Auckland, leaving behind the sixth largest country in the world and all its deadly creatures. Some things have been excellent, otherwise good, some things so so and yet others (mostly the work) a little bit crappy. If I had the chance to go back in time I wouldn't do much different, otherwise I wouldn't have met the people I met and had the experiences I've had, but if I was repeating my year in the future there is certainly things I would never do again such as work on a vineyard and perhaps I wouldn't staple my thumb again. Perhaps.
Travelling Post 49 - Brissy and Surfers Paradise...
Cunningly shortened to Brissy, Brisbane is Queensland's capital and its largest city and was my penultimate stop before Sydney. As Oz cities go, its nothing special, both Melbourne and Sydney have more attractions and Perth is a little prettier. The banks of the river are beautifully designed with relaxing walkways, but I felt all this, like much of the city was not decked out for the tourists but its inhabitants. Brisbane is a not really set up for the casual backpacking tourist but to live in I reckon it would be a bonza place.
After Brisbane I headed back for one night and day in Surfers Paradise. I was there the day before the Indie 300, so the coastal town was quite busy and the promotion made the town a little more appealing on the eye, even if there was nothing else particularly special about it.
After Brisbane I headed back for one night and day in Surfers Paradise. I was there the day before the Indie 300, so the coastal town was quite busy and the promotion made the town a little more appealing on the eye, even if there was nothing else particularly special about it.
Travelling Post 48 - Crickey it's a Croc
From Fraser Island I continued my journey southward to Noosa Heads. Noosa is a small town, which looks, and is expensive. The reason for heading there was to visit Australia Zoo, that institution formally owned by the late great Steve Irwin, for as a backpacker many other reasons to visit Noosa Heads are too costly.
As zoos go, Australia Zoo isn't huge, the number of animals caged there are fewer than cheaper but larger zoos such as Toronga in Sydney. The comparably few animals isn't a criticism, the animals here are among the most well kept I have ever seen with the animal accommodation more spacious than pretty much any I've ever seen before. What is a criticism is the price, it certainly hurt the wallet.
I visited the zoo with a few friends I'd met on the Fraser Island trip and upon entering the zoo our first sight was a talk on Galapagos Tortoises, they were huge. It struck me immediately how much the zoo keepers cared for the animals. Our next stop was the elephant feeding, where members of the public, including myself, queued up and offered to get our hands all slimy. We saw elephants later on as well, this time they were playing ball with the zoo keepers - the life of an incarcerated animal seems easy.
The main attraction of the Zoo is the Crocoseum, a 5,000 capacity arena where the zoo keepers bring in animals for all to view and learn about. The show was a bit of an anti climax, whilst still entertaining it was very Americanised with overly enthusiastic presenters and poor, poor jokes. The highlight of the show is the crocodile feeding, but having seen this in the wild all that was in it for me was learning a bit more about these ferocious killing machine.
As zoos go, Australia Zoo isn't huge, the number of animals caged there are fewer than cheaper but larger zoos such as Toronga in Sydney. The comparably few animals isn't a criticism, the animals here are among the most well kept I have ever seen with the animal accommodation more spacious than pretty much any I've ever seen before. What is a criticism is the price, it certainly hurt the wallet.
I visited the zoo with a few friends I'd met on the Fraser Island trip and upon entering the zoo our first sight was a talk on Galapagos Tortoises, they were huge. It struck me immediately how much the zoo keepers cared for the animals. Our next stop was the elephant feeding, where members of the public, including myself, queued up and offered to get our hands all slimy. We saw elephants later on as well, this time they were playing ball with the zoo keepers - the life of an incarcerated animal seems easy.
The main attraction of the Zoo is the Crocoseum, a 5,000 capacity arena where the zoo keepers bring in animals for all to view and learn about. The show was a bit of an anti climax, whilst still entertaining it was very Americanised with overly enthusiastic presenters and poor, poor jokes. The highlight of the show is the crocodile feeding, but having seen this in the wild all that was in it for me was learning a bit more about these ferocious killing machine.
All in all it was a good day, but Australia Zoo is still just a zoo and having seen a fair few in Oz already and seeing many animals in the wild it wasn't worth the entry fee.
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