http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Catman161/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Catman161 en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:56:43 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:56:43 +0000 Where to Begin Agnes Water1770 It's been a long time since my last entry sorry guys. A catch up is indeed required Right here goes On the 10th July we caught the greyhound bus to the town of 1770Agnes Water. The weather was great whilst we were there. we stayed for 2 nights at a hostel named 'Cool Bananas' and it was indeed really coolI'd recommebnd it to anyone travelling there. The sta http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-304552.html Where to Begin Well it has been a very long time since my last entry so I shall try to put things into some sort of logical order by doing this entry in sections Ipswich Well what a saga Ipswich was Ipswich is a suburb of Brisbane and is where I went to do my solo skydiving training AFF Training with Brisbane Skydiving Centre which is owned and operated by Brian Scoffell along with all http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-296763.html Brisbane So we arrived in Brisbane a few nights ago now on the 17th june. Once again we all travelled together Sarah Vanessa Myrthe and Katie I. Brisbane is ok. It's a very large city with a tidal river running through it dividing the city in half. But it's still just a city like any other. We all booked into Brisbane City Backpackers as it said the internet was free I wish we hadn't it http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-289857.html Surfers Paradise Well we all travelled on the greyhound bus together Katie I Sarah Vanessa and Myrthe and arrived at Trekkers backpacker hostel in the afternoon on the 15th June. The weather was stunningly hot and sunny yet my first impression of Surfers was that it was ugly. High rise buildings absolutely everywhere you look. The beach was lovely but spoilt by the high rises. We all booked http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Surfers-Paradise/blog-289844.html Byron Bay So Chilled Out Wow Byron Bay what a place Im writing this in retrospect as I have got a bit behind with the blog We spent a week in Byron Bay and to be honest it was one of the most chilled out weeks of my life so there is not much to write about For the first couple of days it rained hard and nonstop We just hung around the hostel or local pubs and shops for those two day http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-289826.html Sunshine at last We got to Port Mac on 50608 and I went fishing and Katie sat and read as shes not a reel fan of fishing get it 'Reel' like that did ya That's one of mine SO anyway I didn't catch anything that day. The next day the sun was shining bright and it was about 21 degrees celcius so we took a leisurely stroll to the Koala hospital via a boardwalk which goes through the local wil http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Port-Macquarie/blog-285662.html We Made It We made it down under We flew into Sydney on the afternoon of the 300508 and it was beautiful sunshine and 21 degree heat. Shame that hasn't lasted Let's see that afternoon we just checked into the Glebe YHA hostel and got the bus back into town and wandered around circular quay for a few hours doing the usual touristy stuff like photos of the bridge and the opera house. After th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Glebe/blog-282889.html Christchurch Well its been a while since my last entry so I shall set to filling you all in on what we've done. We actually spent a couple of nights in Nelson and walked to the centre of New Zealand. Then we spent our last 3 days in NZ with some friends in Christchurch. I hadn't seen Stacy for a very long time over a decade in fact Stacy and her husband J very kindly let us stay with them in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-282883.html What a great place Well allot has happened since the Fox Glacier blog so I shall fill you all in. Hokitika As I mentioned on the last entry we stayed one night in Hokitika. It was a funny place like a ghost town. We met only two other backpackers. The weather was gorgeous and the beach lovely. We spent the evening there just walking along the beach looking for Pounamu greenstone and found a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Abel-Tasman-National-Park/Marahau/blog-280164.html The Nimble Fox Well we arrived in the tiny village of Fox Glacier. It really is tiny the population was like less than 1000 So the only thing we could do there was literally either walk the glacier or go to the pub so we did bothWe arrived there 2 nights ago and Katie being extremely well organised had booked our walk when we were in Queenstown which is good cos the tour was full What a da http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fox-Glacier/blog-277655.html Wahoo Hey guys. Well Queenstown what a blast We stayed there 3 nights. We arrived fairly late on after a hefty bus ride. So on the first night there we didn't really do much just rested really it's tiring traveling The next day i did go and bungy jump from the Nevis High Wire It was soooo amazing. I got picked up at around midday in Queenstown and then there was a good 45 minute scenic http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-277425.html Te Anau Man its been a cool couple of days. We arrived in Te Anau after a fairly long bus ride of 6.5 hours from Dunedin. It was a good ride though the scenery and how it changed along the way was stunning. We saw more of the same livestock they farm here on the south island. Allot of Red deer cows and of course thousands of sheep Also the birdlife was pretty good too. Allot of spur winged plo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Te-Anau/blog-275688.html Ruuuun Well we arrived in Dunedin 2 nights ago and we are leaving tomorrow. Its a quaint place. Like many of the larger towns in New Zealand they call it a city. I suppose they can legitimately call it a city I mean it's got a population of over 110000 and a cathedral and a university. It's just when you are walking around the city centre known as the Octagon you don't feel like you are in a c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Dunedin/blog-274630.html Wahoo Well its been an exciting couple of days As you may have read from the previous blog we were disapointed to be leaving Kaikoura having not swam with the local dolphins. As it happens we awoke yesterday to the most perfect weather we have had since arriving on the south island Immediately I thought bloody typical the day we are leaving the weather gets better. Then I thought 'ya know w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-273630.html Kaikoura Well we finally made it to the South Island of New Zealand We got the ferry from Wellington to Picton and then hopped straight onto the Intercity bus to Kaikoura. Kaikoura means 'Food Crayfish' mainly because that is a delicacy that is caught around here. As soon as we arrived at Kaikoura we booked into our hostel called 'The Lazy Shag' which refers to the bird not the activity you http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-272045.html WellingtonWell we've made it to the bottom of the North island in relatively quick time I think It's been about 4 weeks and we have crammed in allot. Currently we reside in Wellington New Zealands capital city. But boy did it take some getting to We got the intercity bus from Tongariro National Park Village and it took us in total around 7 hours to get here We stopped in a place called Bulls http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-271018.html The Alpine CrossingWell we left Taupo on the 240408 and got a short intercity bus ride to the next town called Turangi. We waited there for a couple of lovely sunfilled hours having lunch and feeding the sparrows until our connecting bus arrived. That bus was in fact just a large minibus with no luggage room and the weirdest driver we have encountered yet Not weird in a nasty or bad way just http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Tongariro-National-Park/blog-270312.html TaupoWell we arrived in Taupo 3 days ago now and we seem to have crammed allot into a short space of time It only took around an hour to get from Rotorua to get here. I must say it was one of the most enlightening and enjoyable Intercity bus journeys we have done. The reason for this being that the driver commentated over the microphone for the entire journey. He gave information on everything we http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-268461.html RotoruaWell we got to Rotorua by car of all things instead of the Intercity on the 130408. I just want to say a big thankyou to Liz who we met at the Cats Pyjamas in Whitianga for giving us a lift all the way to Rotorua it definately beat 4.5 hours on the bus As soon as we stepped out of the car in Rotorua our nostrils were assaulted by an overwhelming smell of rotten eggs Obviously there http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-266860.html WhitiangaWell we got to Whitianga on the 090408 and its now the 12th april. We have been soooo lucky with the weather. On the 10th april we hired a car and drove about 28km to Cathedral Cove which Im positive you'll agree is one of the nicest beaches I have been to in my life so far just check out the pictures they are like postcard pictures. Then after the beach that day I bought a beachcast http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Coromandel/Whitianga/blog-265496.html