Touring around NSW with Manda

So in addition to what Pat said, here's my version of the last couple of weeks.

We had a great time touring around New South Wales with Manda, we only wish it lasted longer! After meeting Mand at the airport, we went to pick the van up and then headed for the Blue Mountains, where we celebrated Mand's 21st. Once we'd soaked up the scenery, off we went to the Hunter Valley so that me and Mand could sample the local wine on offer and spend a small fortune in the process. Well it would be rude not to, we thought. Of course Pat declined a day of watching us get more and more tipsy and decided to chill out at the campsite, even though it meant mingling with hoards of Rod Stewart fans playing their music at full blast. Thankfully, we left the next day and headed north for the beaches and wildlife of Port Macquarie, South West Rocks and north of Coffs Harbour. Pat and Mand gave body boarding a go and Mand managed to get sunburnt in the process. It was amazing to see wild koalas in the trees and kangaroos roaming around the campsites.

Running short on time we headed back to Sydney via Bellingen (so Mand could buy a didgerydoo) and Forster, where Pat decided we should stay in a pirate themed place full of parrots, eye patches and jolly rogers. We had a few days in Sydney to show Mand the sites, including the obligatory Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We decided to take a jet boat ride around the harbour which was great fun, even though the wave jumps must have compacted our spines by 5 inches!

Like I said, we had a fab time. You can see some of the pics here.

What next, you say?

Just to prove that I do read the comments that people post on the blog (well, that Fatih and Matt post, anyway), I thought I'd better write this.

We're back in Australia again. To be more precise, we're just north of Coffs Harbour, in another campervan. This time, we have an extra passenger, in the shape of Amanda, Triny's sister, who has come out to join us for a couple of weeks. So far it's been waterfalls, beaches, sunburn and far too much wine and chocolate in the Hunter Valley. Well, I had too much chocolate, while Triny and Amanda did their best to reduce the amount of wine in the vineyards of the Valley.

From here, we're slowly making our way back down to Sydney, where Triny is talking to the Oz version of her old company about some work and sponsorship for her Visa. It looks like we'll be in Sydney for a bit.

It does mean the end of the travelling for a bit (boo!) but I doubt that it'll be for good.

Before all that, though, I'm off to get a bit more sunburnt.

Ending with a bang

Tomorrow we leave New Zealand, though we'll definitely be back. I still haven't managed to do any diving, for a start.

What have we been up to? After we left Kaikoura and the whales, we drove round the top of the South Island to the Abel Tasman National Park to do some kayaking. After staying in a very bad campsite for the night, we turned up at the centre and the instructor told us that the weather wasn't looking good for the day. What with my not having canoed for nearly twenty years and Triny not having canoed at all, we decided to skip it and try again the next day. Then we drove down the road to a campsite which didn't have hot and cold running cockroaches., which was a much better place to spend the night.

The next day, the weather was much better and we got away in the kayak. The Abel Tasman Park is a fantastic place: crystal clear waters, lagoons, golden beaches, the lot. Unfortunately for us, it also had wind that was blowing straight into our faces for the entire day, and a mile-long stretch of rocks and very high waves that nearly capsized us several times. We finally got to Anchorage Bay where we stayed the night in a floating hostel. Then we paddled further up the coast for the next day, though we did stop paddling at the bay before a second stretch of rough waves and exposed coast, and sat down on the beach to wait for pickup. A much more civilised way of spending the afternoon.

After getting back, we headed further down the west coast to the glaciers, and a guided walk on to the Franz Josef glacier. I wanted to try the helicopter flight that landed at the top of the glacier, but the cost was a bit silly. Next time. Then it was down to Milford Sound, which was spectacular. The sand-flies were pretty impressive, too, if only because the pain they could cause as they took what felt like an entire limb each time they bit you was incredible. We booked onto a boat trip into the Sound, and visited the Observatory halfway round. The floating platform has a viewing section that is eight metres under the water, and you can see all kinds of fish and marine life that would normally be too far down to see.

From the Sound, we carried on driving round the South Island and on to Mount Cook. Through the cloud and almost constant rain, we think we even managed to see the mountain. Though we're not sure. It didn't exactly have a big signpost on it.

We were planning to spend the last couple of days in the van on the Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch. On the drive there from Mount Cook, we were driving through a place called Geraldine when a car pulled out in front of us and we stopped by driving into the side of it. No-one was hurt, thankfully, but Ginger lost his radiator grille and headlights and the chassis was bent a bit out of shape. (The other car came of worse, mind, with a front tyre that was definitely not vertical afterwards.) Thank God we paid the money to get the insurance excess payment right down.

So, with a front door that didn't close as well as it used to, we decided that we'd just head straight to Christchurch and hand the van back a day early. Swapping to a replacement van for the last night just didn't seem worth the effort when all we'd have time to do would be drive to the edge of the city and find a campsite.

We've had a great time in New Zealand (with the exception of the last couple of days, obviously), and it's a shame to be leaving when there's so much we haven't seen, but like I say: It's just a good excuse to come back.

Here's a couple of photos from the last few weeks. The rest of them (including a very fetching one of Ginger and his wounds) are here.

The North Island (and a bit of the South)

We're back on the South Island now, which must mean that we're halfway through our stay in New Zealand. Which is definitely a shame, as it feels like we've missed huge chunks of the North Island despite being there for 3 weeks.

After we crossed the Straits, we headed up to Wanganui (or is it Whanganui?) to spend some time round the river. We drove up the Wanganui River Road, 90 kms of gravel road, stopping along the way to take a jetboat ride up the river a short way. It was so peaceful that we decided to come back on the way back down the Island so that we could take the jetboat again but jump out at the top and paddle a canoe back down. We didn't, though. Just ran out of time.

From there it was further north to see huge Kauri trees, even more Kauri trees, really enormous Kauri trees, and finally a few more Kauri trees. Had enough of them for now. We also stopped at Waitomo to go caving and see the glow worms. Dead good, that was, except for the bit where the guides madfe us turn our torches off and feel our way along the wall of the cave for a bit. I think everyone must have fallen over at least twice, but we were all wearing very thick, padded wetsuits for just that eventuality.

Then north again, to the Bay of Islands and the Poor Knights Coast. I was hoping to do some diving there, as the Poor Knights Islands have been described as one of the top 10 dive-sites in the world by no less than Jacques Cousteau. The slight problem was the weather, with a 6-metre swell coming in on the day I was hoping to dive, and all the operators cancelling their trips until it calmed down again. We had to move on before the weather cleared up. The same thing happened at Papamoa, so I've done precisely no diving yet. There's still time, though.

After wandering round the Coromandel Peninsula for a couple of days, we headed for Rotoroa to have a look at bubbling mud, geysers and waterfalls. And to throw ourselves down half of the waterfalls while clinging onto a floating plastic sledge.Wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped, as I just couldn't control my direction as much as I wanted to, and spent most of the trip fighting to turn my sledge towards the right bit of the current. Triny didn't enjoy it either, after capsizing during the first rapids. We would probably have enjoyed rafting more than sledging, but I didn't think I would be able to persuade my knee to be as flexible as it would have needed to be when crouching down in the raft would have been necessary.

After Rotoroa we had to start driving south again on our way back to Wellington and the ferry. We spent a couple of days in Wellington so that we could go to the Te Papa museum, which was worth the visit. It also gave us the chance to book a hotel for a couple of days of luxury after three weeks in a van.

We made the ferry crossing and came back to Kaikoura to have another shot at a whale-watching trip. The weather this morning was bright and sunny, and we saw a sperm whale, a load of dolphins and a seal colony. Brilliant, though we were both fighting the sea-sickness that came from the rather choppy sea. The "traditional remedy" that we had bought from the tour company was about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

So, from here, we'll head back over the top of the South Island to the Abel Tasman park to hopefully do some kayakking. After that, it's south towards Milford Sound. And then lots of other stuff, but we haven't got that far yet, so God knows what it'll be.

Incidentally, there are some more pictures to look at. You can see them here, but here's a couple of teasers:






Right. I'm off. Though Triny will probably be along in a minute to write about everything I forgot to mention.

Kiwi photos

Just a quick post to prove that we're actually in New Zealand and not lounging around in, say, Skegness or somewhere. The rest of the photos are here.

North Island Pt. 1

Well, we’ve spent a week and a half travelling around the North Island, and I have to say that I’ve loved every minute of it. Sure, everyone stares at the van, but we’re used to it now. Besides, good old Ginge is doing a grand job of get us from A to B, C, D and E.

After a very sedate start in quiet Christchurch we were relieved to find more people and goings-on on our way. We’re looking forward to seeing the north and east sides of the North Island over the next week and South Island thereafter, given what we’ve seen already and what we’ve heard and read, it will blow us away. We enjoyed a private jet boat ride on the Wanganui River Road (only because no-one else was there) which was so beautiful and quiet, apart from the 360 degree spins. Pat suggested we do the Tongariro Crossing and I was so glad he did. It was a hard 18k slog and we were exhausted at the end, but it was out of this world to see the volcano-scape and sources of inspiration for the Lord of the Rings films. I couldn’t help coming up with ‘My precious’ and ‘Oh Frodo’ lines walking through parts of it! Looking for something relaxing the following day we took a cruise on the Barbary on Lake Tuapo. That was great and Pat had a chance to steer, despite the whitterings of an annoying drunk Aussie couple. And the other day we went to see the famous Waitomo cave glow worms, doing a spot of abseiling, caving, climbing and blackwater rafting in the process. That was great fun and absolutely freezing some 65m below the surface. You’ll see the pics soon – we look absolute fools in what we’re wearing…..and doing.

A link

Sorry, forgot to add this link to my last post.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7166411.stm

It's only one photo, and it wasn't exactly news, but I was still very smug about it.