Reefs and Rainforests- Northern Queensland

5 hours further on and our first Greyhound trip is over, we have arrived in Townsville. The town is very quiet, many shops still closed after the owners locked up and fled in fear of the Cyclone. We take a short ferry to Magnetic Island and then a bus journey through to our hostel. It is on this Bus trip where we see most of the damage caused by Yasi, trees lay right across the road or piled high up on the side where volunteers have been working tirelessly to tidy up. Fences have been ripped up and dropped in next doors gardens and driving alongside the sea there is as much sand on the road as there is on the beach. The hostel, like the rest of Magnetic island was very quiet with many choosing to stay away from the area. The swimming pool was out of order, due to Cyclone damage, and the sea full of stingers... so no where to cool down from the super hot sun! Bikes seemed like a good mode of transport to take in the sights of the 10km island... this was a bad idea! 38 degrees heat, no shade and some monstrous hills, oh, and rubbish bikes (1 with jammed breaks, the other with high gears only!) Despite the searing heat and the pain we managed to cool off in an enclosed cove and then got to see the local wildlife, a family of five rock Wallabies who wanted to say hello, very cute! Next day we bused it all the way round the island! We went the the Koala village which had reopened for the first day after Yasi. This place was great, we got to hold lizards, kiss tropical birds, entangle ourselves with snakes but best of all wrestle a croc! It may have only been young but it was a croc all the same, one of natures greatest killing machines! Magnetic Island was clearly a beautiful place with much wildlife but it will take a while to restore itself after the damage of Yasi.

Next stop Mission beach... oh no this place was completely destroyed by the Cyclone! A great shame, and at the time we passed we were unable to stay even as a helping volunteer as it was still too dangerous. So we had to head all the way to Cairns, passing many destroyed banana plantations, which will be the reason for a price hike on bananas! Cairns is truly tropical, very hot, humid with the heavy rain! A city with a very holiday feel, just a shame that once again the beaches are out of action due to stinger season and the rogue salt water crocs! They do have a beautiful lagoon overlooking the sea which is great for a cool down though! First trip here had to be the Great Barrier Reef and what better day to do it on than Charlies Birthday! On this trip we would take our first ever Scuba dive and do some snorkelling on the worlds most famous reef. On the way out we received all our Scuba instructions and before we knew it we were kitted out with what felt like lead weights on our backs and plunging down to the depths below. To be honest, this was pretty scary and not all that enjoyable, breathing underwater is bizarre and the pain your ears go through is at times just silly! But we were both glad we did it and the experience will certainly stay with us unfortunately we didn't see anything we hadn't seen before. After some lunch we went to our second point and decided that we would just snorkel here. This was more like the the Barrier reef we had been expecting, crystal clear water, colourful coral and millions of fish, like being in a giant fish bowl. On top of all the brightly coloured tropical fish we managed to glimpse a couple of Stingrays (this spot was not more than 100m from where Steve Irwin had died), many giant clams and a Shovel nose shark, memories to last a life time.

All aboard the Wallaby, as we went up to the tablelands rain forest with Cousin Rowhan. Cus was an exceptional tour guide giving us plenty of information about the rain forest in particular, never wipe your bum with a stinging plant.... it will kill you! We took in some awesome sites, in particular the Millaa Millaa falls (so good they names it twice) and if you've never heard of them check out the Mysterious Girl video by the Aussie legend Peter Andre. We took in quite a few different waterholes which were super chilled which is always appreciated after a sweaty bush trek. We also managed to see the most dangerous bird in the world, the Cassowary, an amazing site especially as these giant birds are close to extinction.

Cape Tribulation was our next adventure, a rain forest that spans out onto the northern beaches. We took a cruise down the Daintree river in search of Crocs, we managed to spot two but both were only young uns probably 1yr old. We managed to spot a couple of snakes and a dragon lizard later on when we were further into the rain forest. We also took a dip in a creek that was probably 200m from a supposed croc nest, but still no wild crocodiles. A truly beautiful part of the world and people shouldn't believe everything they hear, the wildlife is only dangerous if you don't respect it!

Next stop for us is back to the Tablelands, but this time we are in search of the country working life!

On the road again - Central and North East Australia

Palya! (Said: 'Pal-e-a' - means hello in the Aboriginal language!)

Day 221: Work is finished; all packed up ready for room inspection and said goodbyes to some forever friends. To avoid things all weather hazardous, we decided to go to the middle of Australia – guaranteed sunshine! We booked to go with The Rock Tour company, 5 days on total. On the 1st Feb, we flew directly into Ayers Rock to miss out a 6 hour drive from Alice Springs. We chose correctly, the flight in and over Ayers Rock was amazing, like a private tour. Ayers Rock has a purpose built resort in the middle of the desert. It has 4 hotels, a few shops and one supermarket. A wierd place.

It was in the high 30 degrees to start and continued at around 40 degrees for the most of the trip. On walks, the shade brought a cooler relief at around 32. It was perfect weather to camp and that’s what we did! Our tour guide is a rustic fella and made us, every night, camp under the stars in swags huddled together. No complaint, it was a great experience.

The 1^st day we head out to Kata Kjuta. A gorge walk through a sacred part of the national park. Here we saw zebra finches, a good sign (to the Aboriginal people) that there is water nearby. We know a few tips how to survive in the Northern Territory desert including bush tucker. I wouldn’t count my chickens though. The air gets trapped in the gorge making the temperature nearly 50 degrees (no lie!) in the sun. It was the hottest we have been in our life, ever!! Slow movements made the sweat pour out – a lovely image. The tour guide made sure we carried 3 liters of water on walks. We then head to the magnificent Uluru (Ayers Rock) for the sunset and dinner.

Next morning we were awoken at 5am. Quick toilet break, brush teeth and head to Uluru for sunrise - yawn! The sunrise was much more spectacular making green, yellow and orange colours. We had a camp breakfast then off to explore Uluru. It was a 7km walk around the base, very flat and so quite easy. Half of the rock is scared so no pics. There is an Aboriginal tribe that still uses Uluru for ceremonies and meetings. There are cave paintings which the adults use to teach the young about the religion and stories. In the evening we had a camp fire (made of the wood we had to scavenge in the desert earlier), had bush bread, played games and gazed at the Southern Hemisphere constellations.

Day 3 we started early to take on the Kings Canyon. I understand now why it is named King, it was huge! We both agreed it was the most spectacular experience. I nearly fainted on the way up the mammoth canyon but Jon (with his dedicated sport mentality) just kept saying "positive mental attitude" and it got me up! We walked around the edge and made our way to the Garden of Eden. Wow. It was strange to see the oasis in the desert. An experience we will treasure forever.

We had to take a quick overnight pit stop in Sydney before making our way up the North East Coast.

On the 6th Feb we flew to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. This was just like flying over Fiji again. Crystal clear blue waters, dotted islands and sands banks. Beautiful. Upon arriving into Hamilton we had the most bizarre greeting. Hamilton is a luxury island, everyone drives golf buggies. A lady with microphone welcomed us and directed the small crowd to the luggage area and ferry terminal. A service we are not used to! The ferry trip to the mainland (Airlie Beach) took an hour. We settled into our hostels for a few days. In the North East waters there are box jellyfish, deadly creatures! So there is a purpose built lagoon next to the beach. No one goes on the beach or in the sea.
We were excited for our 2 night Whitsunday boat trip. We had pre-booked this 3 week trip through my work in Sydney so everything had been relaxing so far. Until the Whitsunday boat company called and cancelled our trip because cyclone Yasi had happened the week before and most roads were closed = no backpackers. There was no enough people on the boat to run the trip. So we called work and got a refund. Luckily (when in a internet cafe close to our hostel) the lady behind the counter shouted that she had a great deal. It turned out to be really great. Cheap and a bigger boat. We had to pack up and check-in within the hour!
It was called the SV Whithaven.
We helped with the masts and relaxed a lot. Snorkelling, eating and drinking was the itinerary, bliss. We visited many islands over the 2 days and visited the famous Whithaven Beach. White pure sands, bush walk and stingrays. It hurt our eyes because the sun reflected off the white sand. Saw a couple of huge spiders too. The crew were great and made our trip loads of fun. 2 days after the boat trip we still had land sickness with the feeling we were still at sea.

Out of Airlie Beach we caught the Greyhound Bus, this was our first experience. It was actually not bad. I wasn't expecting very much but the seats were comfy and a movie was played for us too! We headed to Townsville to visit Magnetic Island.

More on Magnetic Island and the rest of our 3 week holiday coming up soon! .....


xx

Sydney Australia - Part 3

With only 3 weeks to go, we have had an absolute blast in Broadway, Coogee, East Balmain, Bronte, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Darling Harbour, New Town, Marrickville, Kings Cross, Bondi and many other little places that make up Sydney. Each suburb has tonnes to offer, even now we have not been to the lovely burger and Spanish places we always say 'we will go there next time!'. It is going to be hard to leave behind our tiny apartment which we have made very homely, work friends and housemates but we look forward to our adventures up the East Coast. We are waiting for the floods to clear around the Rockhampton and Frasier Island area. The rain in Sydney is still on and off so our break along the coast may be a wash out. We have only a week or 2 to get things booked but I guess we have to wait. Watch this space!

Since our last update, 3 main events have occurred:
Christmas
New Year
Cricket

Christmas was the most peculiar event. We made Christmas as special and different as possible. With the constant White Christmas updates from back home, it was tough to compete but we did it. Despite the absence of our family, home traditions and friends it was joyful. We decorated the room with lots of cheap and tacky treats from Hot Dollar, hung stockings, played Christmas tunes most evenings and lit advent candles to count down the 12 days before. Jonny came back from the West Coast and spent the holiday with us, it was nice to have a familiar face around. On Christmas Eve both of us had to work til 4 and then we headed to the local St. Andrews Cathedral with our Canadian and Swedish friends.The Cathedral presented a beautiful service with a choir singing carols, an organ and prayers. It was covered in wreaths, lights and many trees against the stained glass windows. It was a moving service making us both think and feel deeply about the family and how we wished they were here. After the service we went to Newtown and met with a Dutch, Swedish and Kiwi friend and enjoyed a delicious Nepalese banquet and plenty of wine.

The next morning we woke as early as the hangover would allow. Opened the gifts wrapped inside the stockings and threw 'snow' around the apartment, very festive! We woke Jonny sprinkling the snow over his head - I don't think he appreciated it much!We all chipped in and made a delicious Christmas full English breakfast.

Us and 10 other house mates head over to Bronte Beach. This is inbetween Bondi and Coogee and so guaranteed to be less busy. At Bondi there was 50,000 on one strip of sand, at Bronte there was around 2,000 giving us plenty of space to lay a towel. We played in the water or should I say the water played with us with the huge waves battering down on us, made balloon animals, had a picnic and took group photos. It was a perfect day at 30 degrees and it was forecast rain too so we were lucky!

In the evening, we put together with friends a huge group Christmas dinner in the house. It was a bit of a shambles with not enough spaces to sit, no cutlery and sparse brocolli but we have enough of a fill from the Canadians whole ham contribution, drank more wine. We finished Christmas day listening to our Swedish housemate play guitar and having a laugh.

New Years Eve was also forecast to rain and it ended up being another fine day. We had made plans with the Swedish and Canadian housemates to head to a place called East Balmain. This is East of Sydney Harbour and is right on the water edge. It has perfectly clear views of the bridge. We went on the bus and found a shopping trolley to push all our goods to the coastline - very classy! We had plenty of food, water, blankets and wine and found a perfect spot at 12pm. So it was a full 12 hours before the celebration but it still went fast! We sunbathed, ate and played cards during the day. As night fall came, we sang and played guitar again and everyone around was really excited. The atmosphere was electric, I have never felt anything like it. Everytime a ferry or yacht went by the whole park would wave, whistle and cheer. There was even a marriage proposal in the sky. 9pm came and there was a kids display. I thought it was incredible and so it made everyone even more excited for the big bang. At home, there is a midnight countdown from 10 - 1, not in Australia! We were all sat around chatting then the fireworks suddenly went off! We jumped to our feet and the whole sky was in lights. Further down the harbour there was 4 more displays virtually the same as the bridge and they were all in perfect sync. It was a sight that is very difficult to describe! WOW, is all I can think of.

The Ashes one of the worlds greatest sporting rivalries, Australia vs England, Convicts vs The Pommies! The final test of the series hit Sydney and despite England leading 2-1 and thereby already retaining the Urn, England were desperate to beat the Aussies on their turf for the first time in almost 20 years. The 2 Jonny's rocked up at the impressive SCG and took our seats around 10.30 on day 4 of the test. The morning saw us rack up the runs quickly and gave us Englands highest ever score on Australian territory much to the delight of the Barmy Army which we were right amongst! The afternoon saw us sipping ice cold beer in the searing heat as our superb bowling attack tried to knock off the stubborn Aussie batsmen. We had them on the brink as the 7 wicket went down but despite an extra 30 minutes of play we couldnt finish them off. The next day the cricket was free seeing as though it wouldnt take long for us Pommes to beat the Convicts down to size, unfortunately we couldnt get seats with the Barmy Army, the area was completely packed so we sat up above them with a birds-eye view and watched with delight and pride as we took less than 1hr to finish the job and convincingly win the series 3-1. The atmosphere was brilliant, unless you were an Aussie, songs were bellowed out and the England players took there photos with the Barmy Army, if only we had had the same seats again we would of got a pic with the full squad! What a day for the English, what a great day to be in Australia!

Soon we will leave Sydney, but we have many great memories from this super city!

Sydney Australia- Part 2

So the first things we needed to do upon arriving in Sydney was find employment and shelter, well we succeeded in that task. Next task is to enjoy our Aussie city life, whilst saving money... enjoying life is the easy part, saving is not so.

Sydney is an aesthetically pleasing city and like all good cities, there is always something to do which gives it a feel good atmosphere. At weekends, when the weather is good we generally try to take advantage of many of the nearby beaches, having visited the world famous Bondi which is always packed with locals, travellers, surfers and lifeguards! Other beaches we have visited are Manly and Coogee, both a little smaller than Bondi but have a great beach vibes. There are a million and one places to eat out and we are always on the hunt for a bargain, but our recent discovery of Glebe, a long strip of cafes, bars and restaurants means we will be sure to take advantage of as it sits just on our doorstep! There are also many other events that happen in the evenings, we have seen spectacular firework displays at darling harbour which certainly wet the appetite for the NYE extravaganza, the international food festival stirred us up some treats from Nepal to Turkey and onto Sri Lanka!

The legendary Jonny Matthews came to stay for a few weeks, during this time we did a few extra touristy things-

Party harbour cruise: Jonny arrived from Thailand with just 2 hours sleep in something ridiculous like 4 days, so we thought it best to get straight into things and go on a Party Habour cruise. A 3 hour trip round the famous Sydney habour, under the Bridge, past the opera house and round the gallows where many a convict was hung in modern Australia's early days. As well as seeing all landmarks by night, I almost won us a trip up the east coast by getting to the final of the limbo competition unfortunately my back just wouldn't bend far enough at the last!

Sydney vs Central Coast Mariners & Brisbane Road v Perth Glory: Me and Jonny decided to take in some of the local football action and seeing as there were 2 games for the price of 1 it seemed like the best time to go. After winning the league last season Sydney have been pretty awful this year but managed to scrape a 1-1 draw against the Mariners despite Hayden Foxes best attempts to lose them the game. The second match was all about Australian footballs biggest name Robbie Fowler but he was unable to prevent his side Perth from going down 5-0 at the hands of Brisbane, I cant help but think the biggest problem Perth have is playing Andy Todd! The football is certainly well below the standard of the English game and the pace is slowed due to the humidity but advantages are that drinking in the stands is allowed!

Blue Mountains: Just an hour away from Sydney is the famous Blue Mountain, named simply because they look blue from certain lookout points. The trip included some spectacular views of the mountains, the 3 sisters (rock formation) and just the vastness of the Australian countryside. We also got to ride the steepest train in the world, which was once used to take the miners down to the mine entrance.

Aquarium- I think every city in the World probably has one, but Sydney's is certainly one of the better ones I have visited with all sorts of weird and wonderful sea creatures, in particular the sea elephant which was absolutely humungous and just ate loads of lettuce fed to him by the attendants.

We continue to try and make the most of our time here in Australia's biggest city whilst keeping an eye strings. The good times are surely still to roll and we will continue to ride this good time wave!

Sydney Australia - Part One

Our new home.

We flew with Jetstar and it ran smoothly, no complaints. A shuttle bus took us to our choosen hostel. The cheapest area for hostels is in Kings Cross. It is not hard to see why - people who have been there know what I mean! My Grandma Smith told me about Kings Cross before I left, describing her experience in this red light district a long time ago. I laughed when she told me the stories - I laughed again when we walked the neighbourhood, what a sight! It is Amsterdam on a smaller scale: plenty of homeless, tonnes of hostels, watering holes and prostitutes hanging out doors wearing very small smalls in the middle of the day. We didn't mind it because we never saw trouble and felt unusually comfortable.

We stayed in 2 hostels, neither were any better than the other. Dirty, smelly and cramped. We made sure we were straight on the job hunt.

In the first week I secured a job (Jon in the 2nd week) and a home. The job hunt had taken its toll, mainly because we were not getting much sleep in the noisy hostel, crazy Germans keeping us awake all night. We signed up with a company called Travellers At Work (TAW), a job website that specialises in short term work. We had to invest $69 each. A risk because they do not guarantee work. We spent each day in there sending out applications and inbetween this we searched for a place live - it costs the same to rent as it is to live in a hostel in Sydney! We used Gumtree at first to assist with the hunt, most landlords do not look after the properties, we seen quite a few scummy holes! One place was a one level old office type building next to warehouse with bars on the window - ermmm no thanks.

TAW offered to set an appointment with Furnished Property Group. They told us we can arrange a contract for only 6 weeks at a time, perfect! Even if we didn't work we could just about afford it. We went for a tour of the properties in our budget. We were spoilt for choice! We loved the 2 we had seen that day and decided to discuss in the park. 20 minutes later we signed the paperwork and were told we could move in that Saturday - wooo hooo! The only thing is that we didn't have the job and then I was starting to feel the pressure.

I went for an interview for Christmas Decorators, I would have had to go around the city center and decorate malls, hotels etc, sounded great until I found out they paid pitence and wanted me to work 60 hours a week +, that would of taken the fun element out of Sydney!

Nethertheless, I had no choice but to accept - just in case. Luckily for me, I got a call a day or two later from TAW offering me an interview. I had no idea that the office/admin role I had applied for was there! I went and I am surprised Karin (my Dutch boss, and now good friend) gave me the job! I was so tired after being kept up by the Germans, my brain didn't work and it wasn't the smoothest. Anyway, I think she took pity on me and I have been there since running the back office with my intern (Marie) by my side, I love it.

I started working and Jon was tirelessly still applying. We couldn't understand why he hadn't had the same luck. Sometimes he would get calls and the voicemail system would delete the interview contact details, very frustrating! He managed to work a few days for a Polish guy, dropping flyers in letter boxes. It was a long day for him walking 15km in one day. Cash in hand though which bought some relief.

After week two, we were starting to worry that the Sydney dream might not actually be the dream we hoped. Tired, stressed and virtually broke!

I work with girl called Chloe, she sits in our office and works for a seperate company that specialises in landscaping called Ecoplant. She mentioned that she needed new blokes urgently, Jon jumped at the chance, spent a whole bunch of $ on a white-card course, steel cap boots and work gear and was working a couple of days later. He hasn't looked back either. Both jobs sorted, and relax. Finally we started to fell good again and thought it was a bout time we started to see some of the sights! We hadn't even managed to see the Opera House up to that point.

He gets up at around 5am and works til 2.30, I do 10-6. He gets to see lots of different suburbs and enjoys the outdoors planting, digging, drilling! Plenty of sun cream required!

The apartment we chose is on Broadway, a great location. Everything in the city is within walking distance, 30 mins walk to work for me. Jon can be placed on landscaping projects anywhere in the Sydney suburbs so he generally gets the train but Central Station is only 10 mins walk away from our place :-)

We live in a large converted bank. The rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and living room is spread over 2 floors with about 30 people sharing. All the flat amtes are great. A shopping center across the street, Glebe (a small bohemian village with oodles of restaurants and cafes) 2 minutes walk away, and a park right outside our door, bliss! To get to Bondi it is a train and bus journey ride, so we don't go as often as we would like.

Everything organised, we enjoy weekends out and meeting too many new friends!

Melbourne Australia

Goon party anyone?

We said goodbye to our new New Zealand buddies and head back to the campervan place for the second time! The first time was to drop off the van, the second was to collect the phone charger and plug adapter we had left plugged into the van. These are essentials we couldn't justify leaving behind! From the depot, it was a short trip to the airport and hopped on our Quantas flight. Woooahh I love Quantas! By far the best flight experience yet, for starters the TV worked! Bliss.
We didn't know what to expect of Australia apart from it's a long way away from the UK and that's why most people go, especially the Irish and Swedish. Our first impression - rain.
It was still classed as winter/spring when we showed up but I always though it was hot ALL the time here... hhmmm. OK so there is actually a reason why it is not hot and dry as we expected. We are currently in the Big Wet (Jon knows the scientific name for it but he is napping and Google won't give me what I am looking for!). For years and years, it has been hot and dry as everyone imagines it to be but now it is not. In a way we are glad it is not always scorching because we have a lot of sunshine ahead and this gives our skin a rest. We will eventually make it to either the Red Center or Queensland and I'll be moaning it is too sweaty.
Our trip to Melbourne was split into 2 parts. First was St. Kilda. This is a beautiful harbour town and very funky. It was famous for its seedy 'massage' parlours and gay scene a while ago. There is still a smell of it but with a more classy edge with cute boutiques and cool cafe/bars where hundreds of backpackers hang out. Oz is not big on theme parks, instead they have Luna Park which is a fairground with old fashioned rides. In the winter it is closed during the week, so we missed it! The entrance is enough to scare all the kids away! Check out this link http://www.lunapark.com.au/ to see the scary man face... this is actually above the walkway and it is huge.
Travelling has either 'grown' us or we are just getting old because the hostel in St. Kilda was way too party party in the room for us! It was good at first but the fella who managed to fall asleep drunk in my laundry bag next to my bed made me appreciate the smelly private confinement of the campervan. We were also feeling rough from the parties in NZ!
We headed to the city center and stayed at the Urban Central hostel. This is the best hostel we stayed in, the rooms were smaller and quiet but the hostel vibe was fab and we met some great people. It amazing how up for a party you can be with a quiet room for slumber... OK I sound miserable now so I won't go on about that anymore. But it is proven the more one gets older the enzymes in the liver deplete and can not break down alcohol as well.............
Melbourne city is fantastic so cosmopolitan with a European twist. We went on a self-guided city walk of the street art. It took us around the graffiti covered narrow alley ways, all different colours and designs. The Parisian and European style ones too.
The Tim Burton exhibition was a highlight after we attempted to go 3 times. The exhibition has been there for months and continued to be fully booked most days. Attached was a Sound and Movement Museum for free, play as many computer games as you like for free! We also go a taste of what it is like to be in the Matrix! We recorded it too... I will get Jon to post it when he wakes up.
It happened to be Jonathan's 26th birthday too whilst in Melbourne. We had a great time and made sure we did enough to remember the occasion. Next year we can look back and think 'this time last year we celebrated in AUSTRALIA!'. He had mentioned in passing that he would like to take up some golf later in life or just whenever he gets the chance! I took it upon myself to make the dream come true. He awoke to balloons and a card on his top bunk. Had a fry-up butty for breakfast. Head to Aston Vale for a spot golf. When to the top of Eureka Tower and had a smashing Thai curry in China town to finish. Our friends posted a birthday message on Facebook for him too, that definitely added a sparkle.
After a week or so hanging around with our buddies from England, Singapore and Holland we had consumed too much box 'goon' wine ($10 for 4 litres!) it was time to move onto Sydney. We need to plan and save for the second half of our adventure and Sydney is the place to make it happen!
We bagged a fantastic deal on our flight with Jetstar - just $60 each.

All those hours spent at uni enjoying the Erinsborough lifestyle from afar in comfy pants... I nearly forgot to mention our Ramsey Street experience! No sunshine and no Harold Bishop but we got to see the famous spots and hold the street sign!!

NZ- The North Island

I dont think we saw one motorway in the whole of the South Island yet as soon as we drove off the ferry in Wellington.... we were back into full-on civilisation with 3 lanes of traffic and carrs everywhere, instantly we were lost! After composing ourselves we found our way around Wellington, which in truth aint all that big but is still a marvellous city (NZ Capital) beautifully situated at the Southern most point sticking out into the Tasmanian Sea. We spied a huge book sale where we were atlast able to get CD's for the vans stereo and I would no longer need to suffer in silence when we were out of radio range and Charlie was sleeping! That night we met some Kiwis who were at a dog show, but they supplied us with the Do's and Do nots of the North. We decided that with only a 2 week time frame we had to do some serious driving, but first we wanted to see Wellington properly. The massives of contemporary art that sprawls through the city give the place a very young and cool feeling but if you want history then hop into TePapa museum, 5 levels of interactive musueum where you can learn the history of the Country. I would not have been allowed to immigrate in the 50's but if I brought my sister then I would have been accpeted, all they wanted was the woman!

We drove straight up the centre of the North Island along roads such as desert highway, named for a reason, and it strikes that this island is far more populated and a lot less spoilt which means you miss out on the views (there still impressive though) but then you get extra action! Oh and also a lot of giant corrugated iron stuff; Gumboots, Shephards, Sheep and Sheepdogs, all very odd! Lake Taupo was where we found our wonder; took a stroll and found ourselves a stream not just any stream though this was a hot water stream, thankfuly we were prepared with swimmers so jumped in for a relax, what a feeling. Geothermal activity is everywhere in the centre of the north and we managed to see some great sights from Lady Knox geyser to Champagne pools through to the Devils bath, which is green not red as I had thought it would be. If you never get the chance to see them for real check out Billy Connelly's tour of NZ and you can see why we were so awe struck.... however you wont get the smell that way which to be honest is awful unless you have a real love for egg!

Rotorua next which is actually a town built inside the crater of a volcano which is likely to blow in the next 20years.... good idea to build a town here! Some White Water Rafting was welll and truely done, and a 7 meter waterfall was completed without problem but there may have been some screaming on the way down, what a buzz! Whilst in the area we checked out a traditional Maori village and ate corn cooked in a thermal pool, best corn I ever did have! I got involved in some haka but dont think I'll be scary many people, probably better off just with my regular dancing! Our last excursion in Rotorua was one I would not associate with NZ but Paradise Valley Springs, like NZ, is not your regular zoo. In amongst feeding goats, ducks and trout we got to stroke a couple of lions, "you'll be fine aslong as you dont touch their head" is what they tell you and it worked, not sure if it would out in the wild though!

Next stop was Waitomo for some more Black Water Rafting, Tumb Tumb Toobing style! This is basically caving with the added extra of rafting down the water on a tube. Equipped with wellies, a wetsuit, helmut and headtorch we headed underground, there were some seriously tight holes to squeeze through, glow worms (which are maggot poo) to idle at, and deep water to ride tubes down. The trip ended with pinball of which I went first.... basically float on the water and let it fire you through a small space whilst you bounce off the rocks on either side until you're spat out the other side, good times!

North East point was our next port of call, get yourself a spade dig a hole on the beach let it fill with water, make sure its not too hot and then get in! This was hot water beach, a fairly cold day saw a beach lined with people paying $5 to rent a spade and dig themselves a bath, all very bizarre but another one of the amazing aspects of this spectacular country.

Cape Reinga NZ's most northern point was a next call, a 90 mile beach leads the way to the end of the world, a long lonely road but definatley worth it. From the lighthouse the the amazing site of the Tasmanian Sea meeting the Pacific Ocean can be viewed, its as if the waters fight for their favourite. There are giant sand dunes, and when I say giant I mean monstorous! We managed to hire buggey boards from the only shop in miles clambered up the super steep dunes and looked down on what seems a vertical drop, despite doing crazy things like Bungey swings and Sky Dives Charlie thought this looked a bit dangerous so we tried to find somewhere less vertical... not possible! So I just went for it, what a rush hurtling down the sand at what seems like 100mph, problem is how do you stop, well I just came flying of the board and hurtled down the sand in a giant ball of dust! Thankfully sand is soft and I was fine, Charlie thought I had killed myself but I convinced her it was fine and she set of down the sandcliff but there was no crazy fall here a perfect surf. The rush got us doing it over and over again, after a while though the climbing of these humungous dunes gives the legs cramp and the fact that its like a desert makes it seriously tough, so we had to retire exhausted but with smiles on our face.

Our last stop was Auckland, this place holds half of the whole population of NZ and its instantly noticiable high rises, loads of traffic and people everywhere. We had been told on a few occasions that those not from Auckland call them JAFA's (Just Another F***ing Aucklander), but we found everyone here just as hospitable as the rest of the countries population. We never once got a real map in NZ and this was the first time we encountered any problems, but we wouldnt give in now and managed to navigate ourselves round with only a few angry moments. The van was given back, after it had provided us with a home on wheels for so long and it was sad to say goodbye but it was also a relief to get out of the confined and smelly tin can, we no longer had the need for it and stayed in real beds for the first time in 5 weeks.... so nice! Auckland was cool much like many other cities but it again has a very relaxed feeling and the fact its surrounded by water gives it an open feeling despite all the high rises.

Next up is Australia, but New Zealand is truely an amazing country; where else do you get stunning beaches, unbelievable mountain ranges for hiking and skiing, fiordlands, glaciers, geothermal activity, traditional and modern cities for culture and shopping, all this and you never have to travel more than 2hrs for the next wonderous adventure!

"The only difference between a flower and a weed is Judgement, we Judge New Sealand to be a true Flower!"