Heading around the world

oooops

2009-09-21T13:53:00.002+01:00

i'm currently in hong kong airport and passing some time. just read some of my blog and the spelling and gramatical errors are terrible, and increadibly frequent. so sorry about that!

See you all soon! except those of you in australia... it'll probably be a while before i see you... soz

20th September (Hong Kong)

2009-09-21T09:44:00.001+01:00

For my final day, I planned something purely to do what everyone should do when in China. The day trip was to Ocean world, a theme park right at the back of Hong Kong Island. It had rides and roller coasters, sea lions, dolphins doing back flips, Chinese crocs, a huge aquarium with sharks and rays and dragon seahorses, but these were all passing time before I got to see what I'd really come for. The park was split into two sections, joined by a scenic cablecar over the mountains. The second home was home to two adult giant pandas and their cubs, Le Le and Ying Yin. The cubs are two years old now, so are quite large now, but still around half the size of their parents. They were so cute. I had all day to burn, so I sat and watched them all for a while. It is well worth hanging about and waiting. I got to see all kinds of interaction between the bears and they really were very cute. Eventually it was time to go home though, and I returned to my hostel and cooled myself under my long awaited aircon.

Hong Kong is an interesting place, but five days is more than enough time to see it. I get the feeling this is the business man/ wealthy couples perfect get away for a short while as it boasts some amazing places to eat and shop, especially shop, but even then 5 days is all you would need. I had heard it was cheap in Hong Kong but not so, it is the same as NZ except for the night markets. Everyone has told me to buy electronics here, and yes, the choices are incredible with the greatest array of phones and cameras I have every seen, but at exactly the same price as in England. The Chinese are obsessed with their cameras though, completely smitten. Everywhere you go they have huge SLRs with amazing lenses, and all attached to tripods. Even for pictures of standard simple things they set up the tripod. They're also partial to preparing the tripod, setting a timer and taking pictures of themselves. It all looks very odd. Another thing I noticed was that anyone old than twenty refused to smile in a photo. It could be in a theme park or by the water front, they would stand in a line, hands by their sides and look bored for the camera. You'll be glad to hear that in none of my photos do I look bored... maybe a few, and if you're interested I'll be more than happy to show you them once I'm back home!

Well this is the end, hope you've enjoyed hearing the stories, I've tried my best to portray them as fully as possible but my writing skills aren't exactly the best, and when you're typing away like a mad man trying to save money in an Internet cafe they're bound to be full of repetitions and horrendous spelling mistakes. But if you look past that you'll see a series of amazing moments that I feel have shaped my life for years to come and have definitely set ablaze a passion for travelling that I believe will never go out.

18th -> 19th September (Kowloon & Lantau Island)

2009-09-21T09:20:00.001+01:00

This morning I had a deserved lie in, and only left the hostel at 10:30. today I had planned a visit to a few markets. I took the MTR this time (bot too far to walk) to 'Monk Kok' terminal (the name did make me giggle just a little). There was a very good clothes market going on there, with replica watches, wallets, handbags and clothes, but I'd seen all this last night. I was heading on to more interesting markets. One was the largest fish market in kowloon where locals got their omega 3. You could buy all kinds of crazy things. Lobster, prawns, shrimp, lumpfish, frogs, squid, crab, turtles (is that legal?) and every size of fish possible. If you ordered a fish ( a foot long cod would set you back around $25) they would hand pick it out, cut it's throat, scale it and gut it for you in a matter of seconds. they were very professional. The next market was called the goldfish market. This was truly spectacular, with every shape and size of goldfish you could believe being sold by their thousands. As well as this there were massive coral displays with tropical fish and shrimp everywhere. In one store you could buy a twenty foot long tank full with live coral, hard and soft, and fill it with fish, shrimp starfish, the lot. It was stunningly beautiful and has given me a very real aspiration for the future, but I think owning live coral is illegal in the UK... The third market was the Bird Garden. This was less than good in my books. I had been so impressed with the other markets that I had high hopes, but the stalls here just made me sad. Birds were held in cages stacked on top of each other, barely big enough for them to spread their wings. Bird crap was everywhere, and even the parrots and love birds were packed into a 2ft cubed cages with ten or twenty in each. My heart broke completely when I saw a Macaw parrot at the back of a stall in a tiny cage, dirty as hell, completely mistreated with it's wing and tail feathers broken and bent. It wasn't good, so I left there pretty quick.

That night I walked down the 'Avenue of Stars', a Hollywood style boulevard where Chinese film stars have a start placed in the floor and print their hands. It all meant nothing to me until I saw Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Then I was excited. And for a small guy, Jackie has some massive hands! At 8 o'clock Honk Kong puts on a light and sound show by the water front, where twenty odd buildings join in with a light display set to music. It is described as Hong Kong's main attraction and is crowned the largest permanent light and sound display in the world by Guiness world records, but I wasn't that impressed. The music was fun though. The kind you would expect at a little kids singalong show in China, great fun to bob along to.

The next day, Lantau Island was on the agenda. It wasn't the best day to chose due to weather conditions: over 100 degrees and 86% humidity it was hell walking around I felt dizzy most of the day. The whole point of the trip was to see Po Lin monastery and a giant Buddah. It was all very cool. The Giant Buddah is surprisingly big, it really is a piece of artistic and engineering genius, sitting at 110ft tall. But, after a short while the heat got to me and I headed back to Kowloon for some airconditioning.

16th- 17th September (Kowloon & Hong Kong Island)

2009-09-21T08:42:00.001+01:00

Hong Kong is described as the place where East meets West. It really is a clash of cultures with Prada stores facing Asian medicine shops held up with bamboo scaffolding. I'm not sure the clash is such a good thing but the tourist board seems to think it's worth promoting. It was all very confrontational as soon as I arrived in Kowloon district (the area recommended for budget accommodation). Everyone was grabbing my wrist telling me to come with them for a cheap room. I already had it in my head that I would go to a place called Chunking Mansion that was recommended to me, but I didn't realise that the place was made up of multiple hostels spread over several floors. It was a scrum to say the least with Indians Malaysians and Chinese people all fighting for my money. Eventually I went with a guy who looked local and got a good deal for a room. I had been told to expect to pay $200 but got $120 instead (HK$12.6 to the pound). I didn't have much cash when I arrived, only $40 from converted money in NZ, so I went to find an ATM. An Indian man offered me a tailored suit. I said no, but could he guide me to a cash machine. Hash? You want Hash, follow me. I gave up. HSBC is pretty prolific in Hong Kong, so I didn't have to look long. On the way I bought myself some beef noodles to go, paid for my room and eat watching BBC world news before sleeping.

The next day I was energised and ready to go. *:30 and I was out the door wondering what this new place had to offer, and at 8:30, not a lot. Nothing opens in Hong Kong until 11. My plan was already made though, I was to take the star ferry across to Hong Kong island, take the Peak Tram up to the Peak Tower Sky Terrace and look out over the city from the highest vantage point it had to offer. Then I would head back home and browse the night market. I hedged my bets and turned right out of Chunking Mansion. The pier was left. I took a ten to twelve kilometer detour around Kowloon province before finally reaching the star ferry terminal. I did get to see the real Hong Kong though, taking the back alleys and wandering through some pretty impressive fish markets. I finally got the ferry and saw Hong Kong city from the water. it is very impressive, such a compact city is a rare sight. Still not tired of walking I ditched the idea of the MTR (underground train). My navigational abilities were better this time, but still not perfect I walked through some very weird places, jumping between alleys full of food stalls and beggars to shopping streets and malls full of Versace and Louis Vitton. The main thing that strikes me about Hong Kong is it's obsession with fashion. Everything is about clothes. You don't earn a uniform, you buy it. If you want to be like your athletic heroes you buy the clothes. Sports shops sold clothes and shoes, never balls, bats, racquets or bikes. It felt like you weren't meant to do the sport, just look like you do.

Eventually I found where I was on the map and I was the opposite side of the Botanical gardens from where I wanted to be: the tram station. I am so glad I got lost this time. The gardens were incredible. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and completely free to the public. They had an amazing aviary with all kinds of cranes and parrots, including a Macaw. Then there was the primate area, boasting gibbons, ring-tailed lemurs, pygmy gibbons, emperor monkeys and an orangutan! I was awestruck. I came out the other side and (after a long search) caught the Peak tram. This consisted of a tram-cart attached to a cable pulling you up the mountain at a 45 degree angle by a counter weight system with a cart going down. At the top there were some fantastic views, both over the city and out to the South China Sea.

On my way back I caught the star ferry at night and watched the city light up at skyscrapers displayed their lights. It's the most photographed view by far. That night I sampled the night market, haggling for bargains and trying to suss out the actual price of items. I asked how much some Oakley sunglasses were. $90. I walk away. $70... $60... 50. They all stopped at 50. The glasses are worth 50. A silver necklace? $170... 100... 70... 50. That's where they all stopped. I didn't actually buy anything this first visit, you have to be economical with these things, sample the goods as it were. ;)

11th -> 15th (Paihia, Bay of Islands, Omapere and back to Auckland)

2009-09-19T11:02:00.002+01:00

The bus trip was an easy choice for me, because it included a free boat tour of the bay of Islands that I wanted to do anyway, and the whole trip cost the same as the tour by itself! Weird. Anyway, Climbed aboard and low and behold three different people I'd made chums with got on as well. So it was looking good very quickly. We arrived in Paihia, the gate way to the Bay of Islands, and swapped onto the boat. Weather conditions weren't great but at least it wasn't raining. The boat trip was a sight seeing/dolphin watching/HOLE IN THE ROCK EXPERIENCE! That's right, a highlight for the Bay of Islands was a rock, with a hole in it. I asked the girl at the ticket desk what the fuss was about and she did say it was a big hole, but it wasn't incredible. At least they weren't trying to beef it up, calling it The Great Mysterious Portal Through Earth or something. Anyway, I never got to see the hole because it was too windy. And the captain warned us they hadn't seen a dolphin for a few days. So we did a short loop of some islands because the wind was too strong to go further out and then came back to shore. I went to sleep.

Hole in Rock:

At least it was a nice town though, and the hostel was really homey with a top quality kitchen and swimming pool. I spent most of my time in Paihia chatting away to various people and this continued well into the nightlife too in one of Paihia's two bars. It was a good bar actually, with a raffle going on one night where our table won 2 for 1 on: sky diving, bungy jumping, kayaking, fishing, sailing, paintballing and horse riding. Not a bad lot! Indoors was a safe place to be the next day as the heaven's opened. A group from Auckland on a weekend break arrived in the hostel. They were celebrating one of the girl's 21st Birthday, woot! so that fueled the evening's entertainment. Time was running short, weather was poor and I had to move on, so I caught the early morning bus across to the west coast: Omapere. This quaint little place was by far the best stop in the far North. A lovely old gal ran the hostel and provided us with anything we wanted, including chocolate cake :) The hostel was more of a home, and we were the only people staying there. A huge sitting room hosted a bountiful collection of games and puzzles, so we spent the morning exploring, followed by chess, checkers, jenga and jigsaws (we're so cool). That night we headed off to the beach to watch the sun set, and walked across the sand chatting to some local fishermen before heading back. We played some silly drinking games with cards and packed in for the night.

Morning broke through, and we hurriedly got ready for the day's excitement: bone carving. The whole day was about us as individuals. We were to design, cut and carve our own pendants, and we had all day to complete it. A lovely Mauri man called James collected us and took us to his house where we were introduced to his wife and grandparents before being seated in the workshop. We each had a cow's leg (meat removed) and a dentist's drill (James had bought them from a dentist friend). We drew our designs on the bone with pencil and got going. My carving was a traditional Mauri shaped pendant representing strength and leadership, engraved with another Mauri symbol for the joining of two cultures/peoples. Rather good idea thought. The scariest thing about the whole experience was how easily the dentist's drill went through bone. Seriously, it's scary! I am going to be very nervous when I go to the dentist now. the whole process took a long time. I finished mine in around 6 hours, but others took seven or eight. The whole process was very labour intensive and took incredible hand control but I was pleased with the end result. I get the feeling it gets a lot easier with practice. The whole experience though was incredible, just concentrating on the little piece of bone in front of you, not thinking about anything else. It was quite meditating. Everything was done in James's house and his wife cooked us lunch (lots of fish). They also had a 10 week old puppy that provided me with endless joy.

That evening we booked onto something called the Footprints Tour'. In short it involved walking through the forest and watching a Mauri guy sing to humongous trees. It was alright, but nothing special. especially seeing as the paths were public walkways anyway. It was ranked as the second best thing to do in NZ by the Lonely Planet Guide Book, but I wasn't that impressed. The trees were very big though. Trunks 17m in circumference.

Soon it was time to head back to Auckland, and I had a long night ahead of me. The bus back took six hours, so took up most of the day, so I only arrived in Auckland late afternoon. I grabbed some food and watched a few films with friends. I had befriended the owners of a hostel so they let me stay there with my bags until my flight that night. My plan had been to go out that night but a bit too much of the bone marrow dust had got lodged in my nose. I stayed up all night, to catch a 6 o'clock flight. It was necessary, especially with my watch alarm being so bad.

I was incredibly impressed with NZ, and al coming back for sure. I think next time I'm coming with a friend, or a group of friends, because NZ has to be done by campervan. There is not other equivalent way of doing it, camping is the best by miles. The only problem with it is it sucks the money out of you like a vacuum cleaner. This was mainly because I had no car, but it was still twice as pricey as Australia and multiple times more than Thailand. I've learned a lot in NZ, and I believe I have picked up a lot of secrets needed to enjoy the country fully; it's very easy to get sucked into the tourist trap and you have to spot the genuine from the unnecessary. Can't wait to come back, but for now, bring on Hong Kong!

9th -> 10th September (Auckland)

2009-09-18T14:33:00.004+01:00

Auckland was a very good city. It had just the right amount of everything, although it was trying too hard to be Sydney. As soon as I arrived I dropped my bags at a recommended hostel and headed out the the bars. Hands down the best nightlife in New Zealand, helped along by the fact that it's where most travellers start their journey in NZ so everyone's eager and fresh to the scene. Over the nights I was there I joined in with a pool competition, a spot of poker, a riske Boys Vs Girls competition for $150!! and a gratis poll dancing lesson thanks to a girl being a poll dancing instructor. There was also a spaghetti wrestling competition but unfortunately only girls were aloud to participate :( during the day I went on free organised tours which included walking in the harbour bridge (like the Sydney one but no where near as impressive) and watching a few people bungy jump from it. While in Sydney I did wonder how long it would be before someone would set up a bungy from the top of Sydney Harbour bridge but dismissed the idea due to boats passing underneath but it hasn't stopped the Kiwis! The tour was cool, got to see most of Auckland in a day. But I decided I'd seen Auckland and booked a trip up the northern peninsula, via the bay of islands. Ding ding, all aboard!

6th -> 9th September (Rotorua)

2009-09-18T13:55:00.002+01:00

I was expecting the sulphur/egg smell to be stronger, if I'm honest, but it did hit you in waves. Sometimes it did become a bit over powering. The sulphur smell in the town is due to volcanic activity below ground. The surrounding area is full of hot springs, boiling mud and volcanoes. When we arrived we wanted a hostel with character. We saw a Base (eurgh) and moved on. A YHA, and moved on. Then we saw Cactus Jack's. I've attached a few photos for you to get an idea of what it was like. It prided itself on being "the only themed hostel in Rotorua". It was the only themed hostel I'd come across at all. But great fun, and full of the most prolific lay-abouts I've ever come across. They would spend everyday sitting outside in "The Bank" chatting, eating and smoking. Good fun to chat to though.

Once we'd settled in Rob and I met Gill and the three of us stuck together during my time in Rotorua. The first thing we did was white water rafting :D It totally rocked, but wasn't as scary as I though. I ended up jumping in on purpose for the fun of it. Our rapids took us over the biggest commercial drop in the world: a seven metre water fall. All the way down I was hoping we'd flip the raft but alas, we made a safe landing. The next day was a trip to 'Hell's Gate' so called because some author some time visited it and named it after some book he wrote. But enough trivia, it was basically a big collection of boiling mud-pits. Some hotter than others, some deadlier than others. One of the hot pools came quite close to the walkway so, being a man, I decided to touch it. Rob told me it was supposed to be 96 degrees C, and they're not lying. Same temperature as the stuff coming out of your freshly boiled kettle. It was really impressive stuff. There was even a mud spa for the women (and couples) to get pampered, and a free bit where you could dangle your feet in a tepid mud pool. I didn't really get what all the fuss was about with the healthy exfoliating water but I did enjoy playing with the mud.

That evening was a highlight for me. We went on a Maori experience with the Kamate tribe who lived just outside of Rotorua. Obviously they now lived the modern way with modern jobs, but they still keep to ancient traditions and have created a replica village for the experience. All of the traditions, practices, formalities and pass times of the Mauri were displayed and explained, and some of them you could join in with. After the greeting ceremony (which incorporated a display similar to the Haka) we were given a while to explore the village and experience some Maori traditions. I joined in with a game involving sticks and agility (I won, go me) and a training exercise for warriors. We were then given a music and dance performance in what would be their town hall, followed by a Hangi, a traditional meal cooked in the traditional way. It was a really good experience and would recommend it to anyone. I was amazed that the men and women still practiced the tradition of facial tattoos. I can just imagine the chief being a lawyer, turning up to court in a suit with his face covered in tattoos.

The next day we took a trip to Paradise valley springs to feed some trout and see some wildlife, which included a pack of lions strangely enough. It was a bit of a random day but fun none the less. Cactus Jack's had a free pool table, so we spent most evening playing pool with some drinks followed by a visit to the bars. There weren't many, but enough to have a decent night out. By this point I was running out of time. I had a week before I had to fly out, so I booked a bus to Auckland and bid Rob and Gill farewell.

3rd -> 5th September (Taupo)

2009-09-18T04:50:00.002+01:00

It was a lucky morning for me: I'd set my watch alarm to go off at 6.30 for the 7:30 bus, giving me an hour. Lovely. But my watch alarm is the most useless alarm ever made. You know that noise you make when you hold a sneeze in... sort of sounds like a big bug being squished... that's louder. So unsurprisingly I rolled over, casually looking at my watch at 7:15 and swore loudly. I caught the bus though. Clever me knew my alarm would probably fail it's purpose so I'd packed the night before. "Taupo here I come" I thought. I was really excited to be going there, I'd heard a lot of things about the place and they all gave great promise. Fishing (lots and lots), prawn fishing, kayaking, bungy, waterfalls and jetboating; it all looked great. And I had a whole day to enjoy it when I got there.

You remember what I said about Franz Joseph? Well Taupo is a lot bigger, it has around 40 streets instead of one, but it has the same population. It was impossible to find people! The shops opened ten or eleven in the morning and shut around 5ish; they usually had a siesta during lunch, leaving you with an hours in the morning and another in the afternoon to get stuff done. And the hostels were even worse: there were 4 people in my hostel, and two of them worked there. The Base Backpackers opposite us was packed out with school kids on a trip and that was it. I went to the i-site to try fishing but none of the boats were going out fishing due to lack of demand, unless I wanted to pay $300 to hire the whole boat for a few hours. Finally I managed to find some one, a German girl, and we headed on a kayaking tour. Unsurprisingly we were the only people going. The next day I decided to relax and have some more me time, so I went prawn fishing. It was a nice place set up in a prawn farm/restaurant and you fished for the day catching as many as you wanted. They even cooked your prawns for you at the end of the day. I took a few beers and a book and got settled in. Three and a half hours later it was closing time, no prawns. A group of Chinese guys had two buckets full, but I had none. It's not in my blood, clearly.

After the first couple of days Taupo got better. A bus load of backpackers turned up and finally I had some company. There was a beautiful long walk you could take to see a raging waterfall and a beehive with free fudge and honey tasting, so i did that, and finished the day with a very rude stand up comedy show in the evening. For the record, people are still quite sensitive about Michael Jackson. Those jokes didn't go down too well, tumbleweed style. On my last day me and a guy I'd been hanging out with for a while headed off to a natural hot spring and sat there for the morning, basking in the sun, every now and then getting up to swim in the ice-cold river. We decided to travel on together, and booked a bus to Rotarua; sulphur city.

It was a shame I didn't get to fish in Taupo, it was the main thing I wanted to do. New Zealand has some of the best fishing and game hunting in the world, and I wold love to come back and do it properly. It's going n my ever expanding to do list :)

31st -> 2nd September (Picton & Wellington)

2009-09-18T04:03:00.002+01:00

Arriving in Picton it was clear to me that I should move on. It was merely a port town, with a few hostels set up for anyone who missed the last bus of ferry and needed somewhere to sleep. The Lonely Planet Guide Book says "the ferry to Wellington takes you through some of New Zealand's most beautiful scenery, weaving between hundreds of little islands and sand banks before you reach the open sea." Well this may be true, but New Zealand has a habit of turning what is usually beautiful into the ordinary. Everything in NZ is stunning. There was barely one moment where I could look out to the horizon and not be mesmerised. So during the ferry crossing, I tried to look interested, but the scenery just looked normal to me now. So I slept.

It was a relatively fast crossing, only three or four hours. And the ferry drops you only a few kilometers away from Wellington city centre. I had chatted away to a couple on the boat who were travelling kiwis and they offered me a lift to town. The guy had just quit his job and fixed himself a campervan and was touring his home country, doing the odd bit of electrician work here and there. They dropping me in town and I walked to the first hostel and headed out immediately to explore. This was my first experience of the north island. In fact, I hadn't even read up on the north island at all. All I knew was that I had two weeks to get to Auckland. So I spent most of that late afternoon in the i-site working out where was good to go and what I could fit in.

The next day I had a bit of me time. Walking down by the harbour and waterfront, window shopping and finally headed off to the Te Papa Museum when it started raining, it was free after all. The highlight of the visit was a preserved gargantuan squid. It was horrendously big... eyes the size of footballs. Amazing to see. Looked like a Damien Hurst piece, suspended in formaldehyde. I liked Wellington, but not enough to stay there for any length of time. Everyone there was either passing through or desperately trying to get a job. I booked myself on a morning bus to Taupo and moved hostels to be closer to the station (the other one was around 2k away! Not walking that at 7am with a bag on my back). I wasted the night away playing pool and drinking cheap beer before getting a relatively early night.

25th -> 30th August (Kaikoura and Hanmer springs)

2009-09-15T16:01:00.000+01:00

After all that effort to get to Kaikoura, the weather turned up a gale. It was really howling. The trouble with that was that everything to do in Kaikoura was on the water, and the boats weren't going out in the weather, not even the big ones. So, I took out one of Adelphi Lodge's free bikes and rode around the town and down the coast to explore. There was also a seal colony and a cliff walk to the east side of town a little way out, so I stopped in there and spent the best part of the day walking around the bay taking pictures of seals and watching them as they swam. I headed back to the hostel for free soup and everyone else had done the same. Just walked around in the wind. It was no good, and the next morning was the same. i decided to skip town for a bit... see somewhere else for a few days then come back, so I hitched out of Kaikoura. After all that effort to get there it seemed mad to be leaving, but I knew I'd be back. Fanely had told me about a place called Hanmer Springs, NZ's largest natural hot spring. So I headed down that road towards Hanmer and was picked up pretty quick, by three twenty year old guys travelling around aswell. They pulled over and beckoned me into the back. It was an odd mix of people, one Kiwi, a Brit with a Brummy accent and an Italian. The Italian later told me the only reason why he stopped was because he thought I was a girl!.. He was a bit of a predator to say the least. I had to sit on their tent. Apparently it had blown over the night before and broke while they were in it. They had to wait until morning to work out what had happened. Still, we headed off to the springs, and chatted away all day chilling out in the hot waters. There was a bus full of Uni students from Auckland there as well, so we chatted to them until it got dark. One of their tents was still working, so they invited me to come join them and we drove off into the darkness and into the most remote area. we drove around 5min out of town, and then a further 20min out over this dirt track into the forest. It was a good thing these guys were trust worthy, and not that big! Before we left on our adventure we bought some chips and dip with sausages to cook on a bonfire and soon had a nice set up. The wind was still gale force but we were sheltered by the trees around us. We still had enough room for a fire though, and soon got the light and heat we needed. It was a really great couple of days with these guys and it was sad to say goodbye, but the Kiwi and I are likely to stay intouch and hopefully meet up next time I'm out here!

But, for now, I had to get back to Kaikoura, and unfortunately the other guys were going to Christchurch. They dropped me off in a little town on route and drove off. thankfully, this time I only had my small bag and it only took around 30min to get a lift. And yes, it was another guy named Nick. But this was the best nick of all, mainly because he lived in Kaikoura and had a boat :D We became pretty good friends on the journey up so we exchanged phone numbers and soon got in contact. He mentioned that he was playing in a band at the local pub that night, so I headed out and watched him perform. They were very good, for a small town band, and the locals definitely appreciated their efforts. Thankfully a lot of people came with me from the hostel, so I knew a lot of the people in there, but we soon got to know the locals. Phyllis joined us on our pub outing and she was soon beckoning everyone to get up and dance. She was a minx! Definitely got involved in the 70s... peace man.

kaikoura has been one of the best townships on my travels. And it filled a lot of firsts for me. The first time I'd caught and eaten a fish. The first time I caught and eat a crayfish (3 of them :D) and the first time I saw a whale. There were organised whale watching trips and we saw two, I went out on a charter fishing boat as well as Nick's boat and caught plenty of Perch and crayfish. Nick also spear-fished but I left that to him. On my last night I was very lucky. A football team from Christchurch had come to Kaikoura for their post-season celebration. A very rowdy lot and they were drinking like fish, but as an added bonus they provided me with booze for the whole night. Wahey! The party soon moved on to the beach, where I got a few free pies. Wahey! And we lit a bonfire to huddle around. A few of the footballers went skinny-dipping, but I didn't join them... not in that water. On the way back one of the footballers had had way too much whiskey and trying to look macho, tried to double scissor kick me in the head... or something to that description. If I had filmed that I would definitely be in for 250 pounds! He woke up wondering why his arm had been bleeding! They were a generous lot and treated me to a full cooked breakfast in the morning too. Waahey! So with a full stomach and a happy heart I headed on to Picton, to catch the ferry across to the north island

23rd -> 24th August (Hitchin' around... Greymouth/Christchurch/Kaikoura)

2009-09-15T11:04:00.001+01:00

The morning I decided to leave Franz, Mother Nature decided to perspire, dramatically. And to make matters worse we'd missed the bus. So we stood under the bus shelter and ran out into the road with our thumbs out every time a car came past... which was about every eight minutes. I knew NZ would be hard to hitchhike, but to cut a long story short three hours later me and Stef (the English girl) were picked up by some friendly Spanish guys. A father and son out traveling together in a campervan. Awwwww, bit of male bonding! these guys were only going to Greymouth though... I wanted to get to Kaikoura (300km east as the crow flies). By the time we got to Greymouth Stef was tired and booked into a hostel, but I knew Greymouth was a dump (it even has a dump-y name) so I bid her farewell and asked the information centre how much a bus to Christchurch would be. $75. Bugger that. So I hitched, and it was much easier this time. i think Stef was cramping my hitching mojo. It only took twenty minutes before a surfer dude picked me up on his way to Christchurch. My journey to Kaikoura was a 'Z' shape, but it was the only way to get there. Christchurch was over 250km drive away, but it was one hell of a drive. The surfer was called Nick (I met a lot of Nicks) and he knew everything about NZ, seriously. We didn't stop talking until we were in Christchurch, 3-4 hours later. We stopped off at his house and had a coffee with his family. his wife was there, his son, and his grandson.... Now Nick looked a maximum of 30 years old, and his wife looked barely 27 but there they were, grandparents... his wife was the most gorgeous grandmom I have ever seen (sorry Grandma) and they were all lovely. Anyway, after a little rest stop Nick zoomed me into Christchurch city centre and pointed out the best places to stay. Christchurch was a bit bland and a very quiet night out, but I did get to do some street performing with a German busker. he had some fire poi, so I (obviously) joined in for a while. I earned him a few extra bucks i think!

Early the next morning I decided to get out pretty swift so headed to another information centre. One way bus to kaikoura: $54. Bugger that. So I walked out to the highway and hitched again. the day to follow was one of the most beautiful but also one of the most frustrating days of the whole trip. Kaikoura is 180km from Christchurch. It is one long road with only small towns along the way the break the highway. But it still took five different cars, a whole day and a lot of walking to get me to Kaikoura. People who picked me up lived in the weirdest of places. One stopped in the middle of nowhere and said "Right, out you get... I turn off here." It was a one way dirt track to the left with no civilization on the horizon. So I walked, for the best part of two hours with my bag on my back to find somewhere with houses. This was essential, I found out, as people are very suspicious of a young man trying to hitch in the middle of nowhere when only one or two cars pass in ten minutes. So, I sat outside a farming complex and tried my luck. The walk there was hot and sweaty but it was beautiful. I saw endless rows of grape trees in perfect lines, growing for the wine harvest in the summer. I saw fields of sheep and rolling hills, great big boulders growing out of the ground, the same seen in the Lord of the Rings movies. Finally, after picking my spot, a car pulled in and picked me up. I was shocked at this one... I had seen campervans, snowboarder's cars, SUVs and 4x4s all drive past with plenty of room in them, yet it was a guy in his eighties that stops to help me out. A completely defenceless man, and a total sweet heart. He had just been in Christchurch for some sort of prostate cancer check up or something and was heading home. I loved that old guy, but he was a rubbish driver. He said his favourite thing to do in his car was to hit the rumble strip on the inside of the road, which he demonstrated several times at 100km/h plus. He, again dropped me off before Kaikoura in a little village and wished me the best.

Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one trying to hitch from Christchurch to Kaikoura. There was a Dutch guy doing the same, and he joined me on a fence post to head North. We chatted for a while before an MX5 pulled in and offered one of us a lift (it's a convertible sports car :D woo!) i was given first choice, but I met the dutch guy later in our backpackers in Kaikoura. Amazingly my bags fitted into the car (his boot was full) and we drove on. "We can put the roof down if you like?" He said. obviously we did. He was called Nick (told you there were a few of them), a slender very well spoken IT consultant. He was coming back from Christchurch after, and I quote, "Getting my tits pierced." I thought it was quite forward to tell me that but he soon followed up by saying it was nothing compared to his Prince Albert. Despite being very camp and a bit of a worry at times, he was also lovely and we catted long and intellectual things about the economical structure of NZ. It was great fun. I finally got to Kaikoura, and settled into Adelphi lodge backpackers. I was almost put off by the name resembling Delphi Diesel but I'm glad I gave it a show, because it was the most homey and welcoming hostel I've been in so far, with two lovely old ladies names Barbra and Phyllis. I think these two ladies made the stay there twice as good, and I would go back to Kaikoura in an instant. That night I settled in slowly, eat some vegetable soup Barbra cooked for me and went to bed.

21st -> 22nd August (Franz Joseph)

2009-09-10T06:30:00.000+01:00

Franz Joseph is a street... not a town. Whoever decided that this place should be a major destination for all traveling kind had never been there. If I was driving in a car at 60km/hour I would have just about enough time to say "Oh look, it's Franz Joseph" before I was out the other end. Despite this there were around 5 backpackers and at least three helicopter pads. The whole attraction (and income) for this 'street' was the glacier, Franz Joseph Glacier, so named because some intrepid explorer from Germany decided it looked like the beard of his emperor, Emperor Franz Joseph. He later got knighted for his work for the empire... what a brown nose. Anyway, it was a seriously impressive glacier, moving up to 7m a day (gawp... and I walked on it). When I arrived a British girl on the bus looked equally disappointed at the size of the place, so we decided to check into the same hostel, seeing as we were probably doubling the town's population by being there. It was a beautiful place, no doubt, and we spent the rest of the morning exploring and walking around the various tracks and up to the glacier edge. You weren't allowed on the glacier on your own though. You had to be approved by the DOC office (an explorer's HQ basically) or go on a guided tour. I decided my glacier walking skills were a bit rusty, so did the tour. It was one of the top experiences so far. An eight hour trek over the glacier, through caverns and caves, barely squeezing between two blocks of ice 20m high, separated by a cataclysmic crack. The sheer power of the glacial movement could squish me like a bug. It was great fun. One cubic meter of the ice weighs a tonne, and I was standing on a couple of kilometres of the stuff, 70-100 metres deep, all moving around. It's amazing stuff. The guide said that everyday he carves out a new path with new steps, because the old path has moved or disappeared over night. Every now and then we'd see some old steps from the day before and see where they took us and then we'd have to carve out new steps, zig-zaging up a sixty degree incline. I loved every minute of it, and wished I could have gone higher.

That night we went to Frans Joseph's only bar, which doubles up as it's only cafe, and watched the NZ Vs OZ rugby match. It was great fun, with me and an Aussie being the only non-All Black supporters. It was a good thing NZ won, because at least then they were jolly about it. At one point in the night I was playing pool and a group of people came over and grabbed me, telling me there was a chance for free shots... fair play I thought. The deal was anyone could have as many free shots of the barman's mix as they liked. Simple. Except that the main ingredient (around 50%) was something red, and the bottle had "300 times as powerful as Tabasco" written on the side. One person had taken one but he's disappeared. Now usually I would have realised that it was a daft thing to do, but I had just watched the film YES-MAN with Jim Carrey, so I had to do it. I knew it would be hot so I chucked it straight down my throat and waited. At first it wasn't so bad, I felt pretty macho, but it didn't last. Soon I was sweating, my insides burning, eyes watering and limbs tingling. In short it was very hot. This provided people with amusement for around 5 minutes, and I felt pretty ill afterwards. It was only the next morning that I was told out of four guys I was the only one not to throw up... no girls tried it. Not sure if they were displaying weakness or intelligence... but you can decide that.

19th -> 20th August (Wanaka)

2009-09-10T06:29:00.001+01:00

So after the excitement in Nomads Queenstown I booked a bus to Lake Wanaka and sat watching some morning TV. Superbad was on (awesome film) so me and two girls sat and laughed at it and got chatting. Turned out they worked there and were getting the same bus to Wanaka as I was to promote a boozy night back in Queenstown. Bonus... bit of entertainment. We got the bus, arrived, settled into Base backpackers (eurgh) and went out flier distributing and chatting away to people. It was pretty easy to get people interested seeing as the fliers were advertising free food and booze all night to anyone staying at Nomads... you know what backpackers are like. Besides that, Wanaka had very little to offer. There was a cute little cinema that showed one movie a day, a very beautiful late to sit and look at and two or three bars. It is known as a rest point for people snowboarding at Cardrona but I had done a weeks boarding and at $130 a day, I wasn't that keen on any more. So, after one day's entertainment promoting, I bit the girls farewell and sat by the lake chatting with some NZ army guys for the best part of a day. They were travelling NZ for 'training' where they had to 'endure' kayaking, rafting, caving, snow trekking, survival training in snow and skiing... in case they had to go fight in Siberia or something. Pretty nice if you ask me. The nightlife was pretty thin, but a karaoke bar provided some entertainment for the night I was there... especially as some guys had been drinking since around 2pm and were getting a free drink for every time they went up to sing, which was quite frequent.

Here, in Wanaka, I tried my first hitch in NZ. No good. An hour later I realised NZ was going to be hard to get around cheaply, so I booked myself on a bus to Frans Joseph, for $42 (ouch!!). It's a cost I hadn't really calculated in. But at least it stopped at a salmon farm on the way so I could get a smoked salmon sandwich with wholegrain bread, slices of salmon drooping out of every edge, (they might as well have given me the whole fish) for cheap as chips.

10th -> 18th August (Queenstown)

2009-09-01T04:39:00.003+01:00

Both Australian and Kiwi customs seem to think I look dodgy. Leaving Sydney I was randomly searched, swabbed and scanned for bombs and 'bomb making substances'. Then on arrival to Queenstown airport I was taken to a side room and just short of interrogated. The guy checking me pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and asked me to open my bag to be checked. It was clean. He then swabbed my phone, diary and USB stick. Apparently my USB stick had traces of LSD on it... ummmm. He turned around to look at me, revealing the flashing red diagnosis on his screen. I just laughed and told him it was wrong. He disappeared behind a two way mirror for around twenty minutes, reappeared, swabbed the stick again (it came up clean the second time), and finally let me go. The whole thing took an hour, but hey... it's a story to tell at least :p

I hopped between four different backpackers in Queenstown, and only found the perfect one for the last couple of nights. A place called Nomads that organised ice-breaker/drinking games in the evening and had the best facilities at the lowest price! The town definitely lived up to it's name as the adrenaline and nightlife capital. I snowboarded, skydived, bungy jumped, the lot. The Bungy was the best! 134m drop with an 8.2 second freefall... time that on your watch... it's a long time. Hopefully going to do another one at Lake Taupo where you get dipped int he icy water :) Snow conditions were alright... on my first day it rained! Not what I'm used to on the slopes. I boarded with a guy I'd met in Base Backpackers (rubbish place) called Andre, and we carved it up big time. At least the snow was soft. The night after we got 30cm of powder, so I headed to a different mountain: The Remarkables. This place is top for off piste and snow parks and it was incredible. Not too busy but still enough people for some company. I was chatting away to a guy I'd been boarding with for the day and suddenly from the other side of the chairlift someone said "Ed? Is that you?" ... ... It was Lawrence, a guy I had worked and lived with that year in Stroud to save up for my travels. I knew he had been in New Zealand but I had no idea he'd still be there... especially on the same chairlift. It was great to see him again, and we had a lot of catching up to do. We boarded and went out a lot together over the next few days with his mate Ellie.

It took me a while, but I soon grew to love Queenstown and would very quickly go back there for a few months... maybe in the summer next time though, for some biking :) The best bit was a burger shop called Fergburger, and you havn't lived until you've been there. From 7am until 2am (that night) There is a queue outside the place. People go there for breakfast! haha

6th -> 9th August (Janolan Caves & Sydney)

2009-08-30T05:18:00.000+01:00

It was a long drive to get there, but it firmed my belief that a cycling holiday in Oz would be perfection. The cabins were gorgeous, with a clear view over the Blue Mountains and wallabies hopping around. We visited the caves and had a tour, and Dad George and I went for a bush walk to find a didgeridoo... no luck. It was a lovely trip, with great company and so relaxing. It was such a breath of fresh air not having to worry about where I would be sleeping/eating that day. Once back in Sydney Craig and Di challenged us to a day of bowling to celebrate Matthew's birthday. Thomas and Matthew are great kids, and I loved bowling and playing rugby with them... and they're both surprisingly good at it. Matthew's going to be a great halfback and Thomas takes no prisoners when he tackles. Believe me, I know. Craig also had some killer skills to show us with his remote controlled stunt plane. Makes me hope Dad will finally finish building a plane and make it last longer than one flight :P

All that's left for Australia is a flight... it was a sad moment saying goodbye. I really fell in love with Oz and will definitely be back!

2nd -> 5th August (Sydney)

2009-08-30T05:16:00.000+01:00

After a very easy flight, I caught Dad and George in the arrivals lounge in Sydney airport. This was a great achievement on Dad's part because I only emailed him my flight times and details that morning. haha! But he's good like that. It was great to see them again, especially as George was wearing the t-shirt and jeans I picked out for him when we went shopping and a leather jacket I'd given him. He also took my aviator sunglasses and put them on. He looked like Maveric, but it was very cute and flattering all the same.We headed back to Pom-Pom's old place and I was given some time to settle in.

The next day us three boys trekked out to the city. We parked up and walked over the bridge, an experience in itself, and visited the bridge museum. The Sydney boat show was on the week so we made our way through town towards the docks, visiting the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Observation Tower and QVB on the way. Walking through the gardens I was amazed when a fruit bat the size of a golden eagle glided over my head and joined a few hundred others hanging from a tree... and there were a dozen other trees just as full. I couldn't believe how active they were in broad daylight. After a tour of the city and gawping at some boats, we visited the aquarium and I finally got to see a Dugong! I'd heard about them in Cape Tribulation but never saw one.

The next day Craig joined us for the Hallett Manly Beach trip, where we went to the famous pie shop for lunch. Aparently it was one of Pom-Pom's favourite walks, so it was nice to be there, but sad I didn't get to see him and tell him about my trip. I remembered being there before, and it was cool to see the pelicans again. As a kid I was seriously scared of by them... they were bigger than me... and I could see George was being a little wary :) That afternoon Dad treated us all to a hike up Harbour Bridge, and as we came down the sun dropped with us. Sydney looked amazing with the orange glow complementing the skyscraper shadows panning out over the city. An amazing experience I'd recommend to anyone. For some reason I thought I'd climbed the bridge before, but according to Dad I hadn't. Still, the guide presented me with my certificate telling me I was now a "Master Bridgeclimber". Sounded good to me, seeing as the others got a "First Timer's certificate" :D That night Lisa and Javier hosted us for dinner and we caught up on the goss and swapped stories. I loved catching up, they're lovely people and I was very excited that we were going on a trip together with Craig as well to Janolan Caves!

26th July -> 1st August (Cairns and Scuba Diving)

2009-08-16T01:46:00.001+01:00

When I got back to Cairns I booked by scuba diving for a couple of days time and booked a tablelands tour for the day aswell. The tour was ok, not that great due to weather (constant rain) but it was better than doing nothing. The best bit was a stop at a chocolate and cheese factory. Free tastings of everything (made me very happy) and we got to see the factory itself and the cows. I grew quite fond of a baby calf, mainly because it didn't have any teeth and the longest tounge I have ever seen. lol. The day after I hung out with the old crowd for the day and said goodbye to Fanely (I was on the boat for 5 days).

The next morning it was an early wake up: 7:00 meeting by the boat. The bonus was an incusive breakfast: bacon and egg bap :) The boat we were on for the morning was for the day trippers; everyone staying longer was transferred before lunch time onto a bigger boat. This was my home for 5 days, and it was better than I could have asked for. The crew were amazing, and it was a really spacious beautiful boat. When we weren't diving we were either chilling out in the lounge area, chilling out on the upper deck, or eating some of the most amazing food. The y also had a didge onboard, which I took great pleasure in playing and teaching others to play. The cook was a legend and being me I instantly became friends with the cook through my continuous requests for seconds. At first I thought I was being a little cheeky, but I was soon to find out how much food was left over after each meal!

Visibility underwater was poor to say the least. For the 5 days I was on the boat it rained every day. There were patches of sunshine inbetween, sometimes a few hours, but it was mostly wind and rain. It was a shame because what I did see was fantastic, and it would have been a dream to be down there in perfect weather. At the same time, I did have some amazing moments due to the conditions. One that sticks in mind was when I saw a napoleon fish swimming past me around 6 metres above my head. (A napoleon fish is a giant fish 1-2m long with a hump on it's head). It was beautiful because I could only make out it's silhouette against the sky due to the sediment blocking any detailed viewing. I had only admired the sighting for a moment when eight more napoleons came swimming behind the first. It was beautiful. one of the best things about scuba is the lack of sound. It's very slow and peaceful. I did around 14 dives in 5 days and saw so many amazing things: I saw napoleon fish, lion fish (red ones and black ones), groupers, Christmas tree worms, green turtles, parrot fish, wrass, angel fish, clown fish, sea cucumbers, urchins, shrimp, sting rays and a cuttle fish to name a few. No sharks, but I saw them in Thailand :)

After three days, my jolly "guest" status was no more, and I became a "hostie". This was a deal I'd struck with the boat that allowed me to stay on two more days in return for some work. Basically I would serve, clean and organise breakfast lunch and dinner, clean bathroom, make beds and do some laundry each day in return for accommodation on the boat, three meals a day and three dives a day as well; a deal worth $120 a day. I was happy, and the work was actually better than being a guest. I had an amazing team behind me and we made it so much fun! We would sing and dance and play stupid games while we were working and I loved every moment of it. I also got a hell of a lot done, and the crew really appreciated it: when I left they said if I every wanted a job in Cairns I should drop into the office and they'd give me one as a crew member :) Bingo! Next summer's organised already then :)

My favourite time on the boat was actually clearing up dinner. Sounds strange, but we would all pitch in (except this one guy and his gf, from Germany, they were lazy &*)%%# to say the least, but the crew knew it) and we would sing and dance and eat the left overs. Sometimes we fed the fish off the side of the boat, and they were big fish! After all of the clearing up we were then allowed to take as much food as we wanted (YES!) and sit down to eat, and we'd earned it. We would then do our night dive and be back in time to serve and eat dessert :D

The night diving was fun, but not that much going on. I know it may sound obvious... but everything's asleep! The best thing was seeing the silhouette of my buddy ahead of me with only the torch light ahead. The other memorable thing underwater was one particular wrass. At around 10cm long Pill the wrass (yes he was famous on the boat) wasn't the scariest of fish, but he had a trick. There was a place we dived called the Coral Gardens, and if a man would kneel down in the small sandy patch in the middle of the coral, Phil saw his chance. This little Bas---d apparently had a taste for ear hair, and would dig deep to get at it. Now when I knelt down Phil came a-swooping and went for a proper mining expedition. It felt like I had burst an eardrum... my regulator came shooting out of my mouth when I screamed in pain and I had to grab it quickly to breathe. Panick stricken, I swam away very fast and finished my dive in a flustered state. When I got up onto the boat, I told everyone about my experience, and they were all like "Oh, yeah, that's Phil... does it all the time." I was shocked! Could they not have warned me! "Do not kneel in the sand patch!!" or something to that effect. My ear hurt for 48 hours after that, it was so painful. 24 hours and 4 neurofen after it happened, we dived the same reef, and I told myself to avoid that sandy patch at all costs. Some how, twenty minutes in, I thought to myself "this area's pretty... I've been here before... I know that patch of sand... I recognise that wrass... the bugger's coming straight for me!" Like a bat out of hell, no jokes, the little fella was darting straight for me. I had been clever, and put my mask straps over my ears just in case, but none the less I was freaked. I started swimming away. He was still following. I swam faster. He was gaining. I eventually had to bat him away before he gave up the pursuit! He liked our first encounter, he was coming for seconds. The two girls I was diving with were fine, Phil doesn't go for girls... hence the theory that he likes ear hair. They found the whole thing hilarious, and so did the crew when they told them about my little friend's attempts.

All in all I had a great time on the boat, the best time, and I was honestly heartbreaking to leave. I left a lot of good friends behind there. The only disappointment was not eating Phil, but I'll be back, and I'm bringing a harpoon.

Back on land I met up with Fanely and the Cairns crew for one more day before my flight to Sydney. In another random coincidence we bumped into two girls we'd met on Mission Beach, and they tagged along for the evening. A few drinks at a posh lounge bar a friend worked at followed by a trek out of town to Noah's basement... sounds dodgy I know, but we had an awesome time having a house party in the basement listening to old school rock metal. Fanely and I walked back in the early morning to catch some sleep before I had to fly. I left for the airport at midday, leaving an upset Fanely behind, but we're still in contact and she's invited me snowboarding with her near where she lives... I knew there was a reason I chose a French girl :)

22nd -> 25th July (Mission Beach)

2009-08-15T21:17:00.002+01:00

Mission Beach was probably the best destination, because it's relaxed, fun attitude came just at the right time. Fanely and I had hitch hiked to a town called Tully, 30 kilometers from Mission Beach, and it was now 8:00pm. The guy who gave us a lift had also given us a warning not to stay out in the dark too long as there had been some bashings recently in the town. Gulp. I decided it was best to wait in the service station up the road a bit and ask if anyone was going our way... but as soon as Fanely put her thumb out a woman driving a 4x4 full of potted plants pulled up and said "Yeah, I live on Mission Beach, hop in!" We had been very lucky up until now with rides, but that was pure fluke! She was a lovely lady and stopped off at a banana plantation and baught some 'pick your own' bananas for us (one of which was a DOUBLE BANANA!!!!) and then gave us a guided tour of Mission Beach before dropping us at one of the two hostels on Mission beach. The guided tour consisted of two restaurants, another hostel, the beach and a petrol station. That was it for Mission Beach, But the reason for it being so great was the Hostel, and the enormous and gorgeous beach.

We walked into the hostel and sat down for a bit. It was called Scotty's, and it was more of a holiday complex than a hostel. It was a series of bungalows joined in a ring around a grass area with palm trees and a swimming pool! Hammocks included! It was gorgeous. That night there was a fireshow going on in the hostel, but one of the performers hadn't turned up. So, with my mountains of experience and showmanship I offered to stand in, and I did pretty well (did all the tricks the woman could do... haha). We spent that night chilling and drinking in the hostel and got to know some awesome people. At the end of the night Fanely and I grabbed our bags and headed for the beach. Fanely had a tent, so we found a hidden area and pitched our tent for a free night. The morning after was worth the hastle... the beach was spotless and the water was smooth as ice. I opened the tent as the sun came up and sat on the beach watching the sun bounce off the small ripples of the water. It was bliss. Absolute silence matched with the tranquility of the water. After a while basking in the solitude we whipped out the didge and broke the silence. We played all morning, and practiced Poi for the onlookers passing by.

Our playing was halted though when a serious looking man asked us to move off the beach, as it was now a landing strip... confused, we moved out of self-preservation. A sat by the trees at the beach edge. A few minutes later a parachuter swooped down from the sky and glided along the wet sand with both feet before stopping and lowering his parachute. He was wearing a helmet, with a camera stuck to the side of it. Another three came down and did the same thing, and were soon followed by four tandem skydivers. It was only once they had all landed that we noticed the skydivers were some of our friends from the night before. We went to chat, and they were all a bit spaced out. The sky dive was from 12,000ft which included a 45 second free fall. They were grinning from ear to ear, and a month later I would understand why, because I would be doing a sky dive in the NZ mountains.

That night I stayed in Scotty's. We had slept in the tent for four nights and I was looking forward to a real bed. That night there was a massive bonfire on the beach, with everyone invited... even the people from the other hostel! Every backpacker on Mission beach was there chatting away by the fire, at least 70 of us. There was beer, wine, a guitar and speakers all getting us in the mood. We swam, we sang, we danced around the fire and kept it up long into the night until it rained. Everyone scattered. It was monsoon size rain drops, soaking you through with one hit. After 10 seconds of it we were soaked so gave up running and skipped home in a long line singing "Singin' in the rain". I'm very glad there weren't many locals. Once back at the hostel we were still partying so we swam in the pool and played music and the girls went off to sing Madonna songs in the girls toilets.

In the morning everyone was a little slow, but we had to check out by 10am, so there was no long lie in for us. I went to the desk and it was only then that I noticed that the whole staff of the hostel had been out partying as well. There was me thinking "I hope we don't get chucked out for making noise and swimming in the pool well past the 11 o'clock curfew" and half the people doing it were the staff members! We were lucky that morning (again)... a friend was driving to Cairns that same morning. So off we went.

17th -> 21st July (Magnetic Island)

2009-08-15T01:33:00.003+01:00

Jake's car was... an antique... but it was a fun ride :) The drive was over 4 hours and we listened to rock music most of the way. It was great. Windows down, iced coffee in hand and one of the most beautiful roads I've been on stretching out in front of us. It was amazing to have the sea to the left of us, the tablelands to the right and farmland surrounding us as we drove down the straight road. All the way to Townsville the side of the road changed from banana plantation to sugarcane field around every 40 minutes, separated by a few minutes in a town or village. I loved it.

We arrived in Townsville, waved goodbye to Jake and headed for the dock. Townsville seemed well groomed but nothing seemed to have any character... so we didn't hang around. On the ferry across to Magnetic Island Fanely and I were reading a map and getting a little worried about how to get to a backpackers to drop off our bags (the nearest one to the ferry was a 3k walk... fine with my bag but not Fanely's). She spotted a guy with a 4x4 and went to ask for a lift while I started chatting to a pair of English girls. I came away with success :) They had a camper van with room. Score!

The four of us ended up staying in Base Backpackers, on the south coast of the island. It was a nice place, with a big bar area, but they charged us $12.50 each to pitch up a tent! Not best pleased we all then joined in the $10 dollar all you can eat BBQ on the same ticket. hahaha! That'll teach them. After eating 3 or 4 plates of meat (can't remember how many) we chilled at the bar and met the locals. It had become common practice by this stage, it just felt natural to sit at a table full of strangers and chat away... not like home. I'll definitely try it when I get home, but I don't think it'll be the same. The next morning we still felt cheated by the camping fee so we stayed another night without paying. hahaha! Teaching them twice!

The island is amazing, I loved it, and I will go back again. It was full of amazing walks that take you through the bush, onto beaches, over rocks and up to the highest places on the island. It was a stunning island and the weather was perfect. The best part for me was the wildlife. I saw Akidnas, Koalas, lorakeets, cockatoos, a red tailed black cockatoo, rock wallabies, lizards and sea eagles to mention a few. I was loving it!

For our third night Fanely and I hitch hiked up to the north of the island and stayed at a place I was dying to go: Koala village. It was an open plan camping area with, yes you guessed it, lots of wildlife. We met two girls from Sydney and spent the day on the beach, walking in the bush and fishing. That night we sat out in a group of six eating dinner and three possums came down from the trees to suss us out. they obviously knew it was food time! But we weren't eating a lot: we had booked in for a Bush tucker breakfast for the morning, all you can eat :) my favourite. I havn't eaten like that ever since!

Sadly it was time to leave and we headed back to Townsville and stayed in a backpackers ready to hitch hike in the morning. It was the most dull place I visited. The people in the hostel were great, and the marina was beautiful but no character or spirit in the place. So we left early the next morning for magnetic island. But to complicate things, Fanely decided to buy a didgeridoo... a great idea, and great fun (we'd been playing other people's didges everywhere we went) but it did make hitch hiking a little harder...

14th -> 16th July (Cape Tribulation)

2009-08-12T01:25:00.002+01:00

This was the closest to the wild Australia I got, and I loved it. The bus ride there took us to a few stops on the way: a rainforest walk, a mangrove swamp and boardwalk, a creek that was sacred to local Aboriginals (and I could see why) and an animal sanctuary for animals injured by human activity. There was a giant croc in the sanctuary as well as others... I just hope it was hurt by a boat rather than a car... otherwise I'm worried!

Once we got to Cape Trib it was awesome. Fanely and I stayed in a backpackers called PK's, in the middle of the forest, but only 200 metres from the beach. We instantly met a new croud and went for gorge walks (with wild crocs) and explored the various beaches. That night a group of us decided to go to the beach to start a bonfire, and Fanely had a torch. We were halfway there when we saw some silhouettes (can't spell) in the distance. A group of Americans (had to be) had tried to make their was to the beach guided by the lights from their lighter... and run out of gas... Now to make this clear, it wasn't a road, or a tarmac paths to the beach, it was a thin board walk over mangrove swamps to get to the beach. In other words we called them various words all meaning 'idiot' had a good giggle and they joined us for the ngiht. They also had a pile of firewood so it was a good coinsidence.

The next day we walked, talked, beached and sunned our selves and a few of us went sea kayaking on possibly the windiest day for months. Some people found it a bit too hard, but I loved it! Crashing over the waves and flying over waves and slapping back down on the otherside just to do it all again. It was a guided trip, so we went to a secluded beach and walked to a summit and looking out over the sea, beautiful.

After a brilliant excape from the city, it was over in three days and we headed back to Cairns, but not for long. Fanely and I had enjoyed the romantic side of the beach walks and decided to continue together to Mission beach and Magnetic island. A guy, named Jake, who we met in Cape Trib was driving to Townsville (a ferry ride away from magnetic island) in a few days, so our plan was set.

8th -> 13th July (Cairns)

2009-08-12T01:08:00.002+01:00

Hello Everyone!

So, it's a bit late, but I'm going to try and blast out all the information (I can remember) about Aus! So here goes.

As soon as I landed in Cairns it was all fairly straight forward, and I got on a bus to the city centre. The bus was full of backpackers already booked into various accomodation around the city, so I had a good tour of the place before we stopped outside Giligans, the place Mum had been recommended. A few people were heading there so we chatted and I had a look inside. It was nice... almost too nice. I was informed later on in my stay that Giligans is refered to as the "flashpackers" of Cairns; it's for people who want to think they're doing the backpacker thing, but with a hotel style room and top facilities. It was minimum $30 a night for a 10 person dorm... not my budget. So I crossed the road and went to Corona's Backpackers. It was so much better! 4 dorm rooms and a kitchen. All you need, and the people were the best I could have hoped for. (the other thing was, with Giligan's next door, we could go and use their games room / pool / bar / TV room when ever we wanted!)

As soon as a booked in I was practically assulted by the extremely friendly and sociable Noah who would turn out to be the highlight of my stay: wherever he was, there was a hell of an experience to be had. He has travelled for 4 years, acting, doing bar work and cleaning, even modelling in europe. And now he was in Aus, with no job and $200 dollars left in the world. Good fun :)

It was with Noah and a sturdy group of around 20 guys and gals that I spent many days chilling by the waterfront in a place called "the Lagoon" and many nights in the small but packed clubs and bars of Cairns. One faitful night we were all out on the stairs (the best venue in Northers Australia) having a few drinks and chatting, when one of the girls started doing all the guy's make up. Going back a step... the stairs were really, just some stairs in Corona's, but people from all over would come there with boxes of goon (wine) to drink and share stories! So to cut the story short, we all went clubbing looking like trannies.

This went on for longer that I had intended... chilling in the day with some sun, and going out to varying quality bars. The best bit was the day time. At the Lagoon people would share everything. Food, stories, books and tallent. For a few days we hung out with a guy who had a tightrope, then some Thai guys with Poi and fire sticks. And every other person had a guitar! There was beach volleyball, an open dock (you could go onto people's boats and chat) and so many friendly faces.

Another perk of Cairns was the free dinners :) three places offered free dinners if you had vouchers (just needed to know where to get them) so some days (most) we would skip breakfast and lunch and have three dinners :) Anyway, after a while I decided enogh was enough and I wanted to go explore. Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation were next on the list, and a French girl called Fanely decided she was keen too. So we headed off together, and ended up travelling a lot together over the next few weeks.

Sorry... :(

2009-08-08T23:19:00.004+01:00

I'm catching my flight to NZ in 40 minutes so wish me luck, and I'm sorry I've been useless in Oz... I'll update you all on Australia while I'm in NZ... and DO I have some stories ;)

Malaysia & Singapore.

2009-07-05T07:34:00.004+01:00

The last two destinations in Asia were a bit of a disappointment, compared to the fabulous time I had in Thailand, but it was still good fun. The experience was a far more mellow one, and it culminated in a brilliant night in Kuala Lumpur . Walking down the street, an Indian man stopped me and asked if I had accommodation. I said yes, I did, but we continued talking and he invited me to his hostel where he was putting on a buffet dinner for his guests, and I was invited, free of charge. I thought why not, and went for it.

At seven that evening I walked to the place he'd described and found the hostel name that matched his business card. As I entered it looked like an essex council flat with rubbish everywhere and iron shutters, with that dim blue glow they have, expecting a herroin addict in the corner. I continued, and walked up the stairs until I reached the roof, where there were lots of people laying out on stone deck chairs and eating this fantastic food. And the mood was not what I expected: it was alive. The top characters I met that night were a travelling musician who was ripping CDs from his laptop to give to people as sample music. He was a "Lyrical beat-boxer" as he called it. He was pretty cool. The other was a man, 45, who had grown up on the streets in Byron bay from the age of 11 and now lived in an Aboriginal collony when he was not away travelling. Boy did they have some stories.

Finally, some cracking quotes from the people I've met in this stage of my trip, that I simply had to write down:

Harley, a raw vegan who had been cycling around Asia for 5 years with his two raw vegan friends, Freeleya and someone else (not as chatty):

" Most people work in a job they don't want, to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't like. Don't be one of those people; follow your heart."

Azzai, the grown up aboriginal street kid:

"My spiritual beings I call Mom and Dad. I take their guidance through life like a coin: they are both oppisite faces of the coin, often telling me completely different things, and I am the rim inbetween them, blending the two together."

Sean, the travelling beat-boxing American:

"The universe has a way of looking after you. We're all made from the same stardust; everything is. We're all brothers before we're even born."

Some random indian guy:

"Travelling is not about 'finding yourself', it is about creating yourself."

Diving and Koh Pangan

2009-07-01T04:43:00.002+01:00

June 23rd:
After a heavy (and eventful) night before, I was up at seven for an early morning scuba dive. I walked up the bay and it started raining. Great. Missed the taxi to the pier. Great. Climbed onto a motor bike and raced down, only to find the diving boat had already left. Great! But... some people are genuinely kind: I climbed aboard a fishing boat that sailed out and dropped me onto the right boat. I was on my way. The skys cleared and the sun beat down on us as we prepared for the dive. And blimey was the diving good! It was exquisite! Visibility was strong and we went to some of the top sites: shark island and Hin Ngaam Bay. We saw snappers, blue-lined groupers, angel fish, bat fish, barracuda, tiny shrimp and a 2 1/2 foot cloudy grouper. The most impressive were the trigger fish though. The other divers weren't as friendly as the fish though: everyone else was training for dive master and knew each other very closely. Shame, but at least a batfish took a liking to me, staring me in the eyes around ten inches from my face!

June 24th:
Caught an early morning ferry to Koh Pengan; a more built up version on Koh Tao but still pretty chilled. Had a very lazy day. On the beach, in bars, swimming, meeting people... the usual. We had planned to watch a film at a bar that night with a canadian girl, but walking up the beach we were suckered into a cocktail bar called Drop In Bar by the temptation of free drinks. For three nights in a row we went there and I spent 100 baht in total (two pounds). I didn't understand it, they kept giving us free drinks! I was happy. There was a massive fire show going on and I tried my luck with the fire Poi and fire stick with everyone at the bar watching. I did well! Only a few slight burns. lol. Some people filmed it so hopefully I'll get those over the internet some time :) Anyway, a few burns and a lot of Kudos later I met A group of girls and guys from London and we hung out for most of the three days I was on the island. Before long the bar pulled out a flaming skipping rope that they spun from raised platforms... COME ON! I had to give it a go, I was on an island!.. best night so far :)

Koh Tao.

2009-06-23T12:33:00.002+01:00

June 20th:
I caught the over night bus/ferry to Koh Tao, a late bus where I met a very cute couple from Malaysia; Chan and Catrina. Very useful for me because they gae me tips for their country.Didn't sleep too well on the bus, but didn't need it: the beach to come would provide time to shut my eyes. Met a guitar player named Dan on the ferry and we hit it off straight away. As soon as we landed we booked a twin room and headed to the beach. We played guitar, making up songs and lyrics, and juggled in the waves. Bit of snorkling, bit of sleeping, (rapidly followed by a bit of sun burn) and a good boozy night out. The snorking was amazing, even only a few foot deep. Amazing.

June 21st:
Early morning, catching the 8:30 boat out snorking all around the island of Koh Tao. First stop, Shark Bay... correctly named. Before I knew it two black finned reef sharks swam by me, elegantly floating in the water. Many other great sight, and I borrowed an underwater camera case so I have a few pictures! Highlight of today: having rice thrown at us in the water and the fish swimming around us, eating it all! One fish mistook my friend Matt's nipple for a grain of rice. CRUNCH!

June 22nd
An early morning trek across the island got me to freedom beach, 3 kilometers and a leter of water away! It's a beautiful secluded area with long white snady beaches. Dan had left that morning and Matt offered to put me up for the night! Sounds good! Matt told me about a nice dutch couple he'd met who talked about a bar with a swimming pool. Sounded good so off we went. Found a pool, a bar, some sun beds, very nice. It was only 20 minutes later that we realised we were in Koh Tao Resort, the most expensive place to stay on the island... freely using the pool. we stayed another few hours. We eventually found the right place that night and spent it having all our drinks baught for us! Bonus!

Kanchanaburi

2009-06-19T11:45:00.001+01:00

Hi!!

Sorry it's been a while, but I've been too busy having LOADS of fun! :) lol. Just got back from a three day trip to Kanchanaburi and it was fantastic! We stayed on a hostel floating on the river in the middle of the forest! So beautiful. Went bamboo rafting down the river, riding elephants, swimming in water falls where fish nibble the dead skin off your body... really creapy at first (some of the girls couldn't handle it) but after a while it's sort of like being tickled. lol.

Really easy to find places to stay, and loving the Thai food :) No western food for me! It's really hard to say everything here in an email, I've just got too much to say! Met a whole new hoard of people in Kanchanaburi and I now have a massive list of facebook names to add :)

Going to try and put some photos online for you, see if it works.

It's all just been such an experience! I have to say though, three days in Bangkok is enough, it's all so hectic and no time or space to yourself because you're always busy and getting hastled.

Off to Koh Tao in 30min. It's an island off the east coast that has amazing beaches and scuba diving places (corals etc) and it's meant to be really chilled out (no cars!) so that's what I want right now... done enough partying. lol. Won't last too long though. Going to Koh Pangan for the black moon party and all the parties leading up to it :)

That's it for now! Up date you soon!

Ed

First full day

2009-06-16T07:11:00.002+01:00

Hello again!

The massage was really nice :) it was like a really good stretch before some sport... I felt really good after :) Standing really upright. It was slightly strange tho, having this Thai girl walking on you and bending you in ways I'm not used to. Lol.

Had a great day yesterday, went to the Grand Temple, and the giant reclining Buddah and then went off to the Siam aquarium in central Bangkok. Was really great because each of the places I went I met up with people and went around doing stuff with them. Barely been on my own. Lol. Then went out last night (very long night) and met two girls from Denmark, two girls from Ireland, 5 guys from Leeds, two guys from Edinborough, 6 teachers from California (coolest teachers I've ever met) and a very tall German... to name a few. So yeah, it really is that easy to meet people :)

Thinking of heading off to Kanchanaburi today instead of staying in Bangkok another night, mainly because I've seen the sights I'd be interested in and the city is so polluted and full of taxi and tuk tuk drivers hastling you all the time. It's great for a while, but I think I want to see the more rural side of this country.

I did get the bus in the end, and again, that way I got to meet people. Two of the girls on the bus were the people I went to the temple with, so there you go!

Best thing so far:
Walking down Khao San Road with some mates, hastled by a Tuk Tuk driver saying "You need Tuk Tuk? I show you city. 5 baht, for you special price" to which my Scottish friend said "You need Tuk Tuk! I give you good service, see ping pong show!" This was followed by a collection of angry sounding Thai words from the Tuk Tuk driver and a few gestures, but he got the message ;)

2009-06-14T13:02:00.001+01:00

Arrived safely and have found an internet cafe right next to where I'm staying. This keyboard is crazy... it's got about four symbols on each key but at least it's qwerty!

Very nice room, to stay in for my first night, so thanks very much for organising that Mum and Dad :) found it in the end.

Got chatting away to four very nice people on the way to Khao San road... but unfortunately none of them are staying for long. Couple are off to Cambodia, and one (very nice bloke) is staying in a hostel quite far away... but I'm bound to meet lots of other people. It's funny cos when you walk past a westener you're instantly friends... just because it's clear you're both in the same boat and happy to make friends :)

Best moment so far: walking 100 yards to the bus station I was hailed by two taxi drivers saying the bus takes hours and never turn up and taxt is cheaper, etc, etc. I know they'd try their best :) I clearly look lost and gullible.

Going for a complementary massage tonight :) bit random but looking forward to it :)

Just leaving :)

2009-06-13T18:47:00.002+01:00

Right... flying out to Thailand in 4 hours...

wish me luck :)

Two weeks.

2009-06-01T12:45:00.003+01:00

Hello!

I've left work now, (thank god) and am soaking up some British sunshine in the garden :) I believe I've got everything sorted for travelling now: visa, money, bag, passports, flights, research, etc. Might be booking a place to stay for my first night in Thailand but am undecided... anyone got any suggestions?

Really excited about Thailand! The flight lands around 4:30pm so it gives me enough time to settle and go out to survey the local scene. I'm planning to hit Khao San Road (pictured) as soon as I land. It's meant to be backpacker's paradise so plenty of like minded people to bump into I hope.

If anyone has any suggestions for hostels to stay in please let me know! This is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Crafts, paintings, clothes, pirate CDs, DVDs, fake educational diplomas, fake driver's licenses, food, second-hand books and many other useful backpacker items are among the common goods traded along the road. It's also popular among local people, especially artists and art students. The road hosts a number of pubs and bars, where people of many nationalities meet and discuss their travels.

It is one of Bangkok's most vibrant streets, host to people from around the world. One Thai writer described the road as "a short road that has the longest dream in the world."

Sounds like a pretty good laugh! Haha! I've been learning up on my "wai" and trying to learn a few words/phrases to get me by. Also a few etiquettes to bear in mind, for example, did you know the Thai people see the head as sacred and you mustn't touch anyone on the head unless you're really great pals! I'll remember that cos I'm not too keen on getting kick boxed to buggery!

Next update I'll probably be in Thailand so let me know if you've got any tips!

Speak soon.

Preparation: 38 days until I go

2009-05-06T13:28:00.000+01:00

Right, Hello and Welcome.

I have never written a blog before so bare with me...
38 days to go, handed in my resignation at work today! Last day of work is 29th May, can't wait.

Things left to do:
* Get a Thai Visa
* Get a bag to take with me
* Decide what I want to take
* Maybe send a suitcase to Australia to pick up there..?
* Confirm my Flight to Thailand
* Understand how to comfirm my flights.
* Lots more I can't think of atm...