Well after 3 weeks of wrapping grapevines I gave up. In the end the beast that was the 1985 Toyota Sprinter was sold (thanks to Tim - didn't deserve him!) to raise money to see the North Island. I was very sad to see it go, the seat was molded to the shape of my arse after the number of miles we had done together, and often going places it wasn't really designed to go! Before getting on the ferry across the Cook Strait I spent 4 days walking the Queen Charlotte Track, a 71km walk with awesome views of both [View Full Entry]

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I have finally left Christchurch & become a traveller again! It was a long 6 months (actually 7.5 in the end), which I enjoyed despite the odd drama and a large dose of cabin fever! I will love my adoped family forever and missed them as I got used to flying solo again. Will also miss working at FAR, I have gotten used to working with those bloody birds and taking stick for my tea drinking habits! I left Christchurch & headed south. Stopped for a night in Geraldtown before heading out to Lake Tekapo. Lake Tekapo is stunning, gorgeous blue [View Full Entry]

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Hope everyone had a fantastic Easter, and no-one made themselves sick on chocolate eggs;) I managed to escape Christchurch on roadtrip. I drove up to Kaikoura on Friday morning and went whale watching. It was awesome, saw 2 sperm whales. They are giants, the bit we see from the top of the water is only 10% of them. Huge!! They are so graceful as they dive into the water as well, you would think something that big would just sink! From there I drove up to Blenheim. Popped into town for dinner & watched the rugby before going back to the [View Full Entry]

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I am busy with work at FAR and have taken a job at the local pub to start the get out of Christchurch fund. Any and all donations to the fund will be appreciated;-) I am getting very itchy feet as a result of staying in the same place for so long so I am trying to make the most of my time off to stop me just running for it now!! I have been to see some of the buskers at the international busking festival that was here a couple of weeks ago. Some where amazing, there were some acrobatic [View Full Entry]

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I have managed to see a bit of New Zealand at long last! Over the new year I went on road-trip with Sue, we rented a car as my $1500 (roughly £500) has proven to be a little unreliable. Sue came and picked me up from work on Friday afternoon and we did the very dull drive down to Oamaru. In Oamaru we decided against paying a fortune to be sat on a grandstand with coach loads of people looking at the penguins so instead went for a walk along the harbour. We were lucky and saw blue penguins which are [View Full Entry]

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I have been here for just over month and am beginning to feel settled in. Bought a car so I’m mobile, ideal as I’m working 1/2 hour out of town. I am working for the Foundation for Arable Research in Lincoln which is going well, am just beginning to get used to having to work for a living again! I am working on peas - I know how to have fun!!! My workmates are really friendly which is a big help. My new house is also great. I was beginning to despair - I met a huge number of freaks whilst [View Full Entry]

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From Broome I got on the Wilderness 4x4 tour over the Kimberley’s to Darwin. The first day we drove to Windjana gorge which was really beautiful and saw lots of freshwater crocodiles. These are actually out of all the things that can kill you in Oz, one of the scariest. Typical me tough spaced it and forgot my camera, so no photo’s of crocodiles to go along with the no photos of kangaroos! From there we went on to tunnel creek which was also stunning and interesting as this is where the equivalent of Robin Hood but aboriginal was eventually caught. [View Full Entry]

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Landed in Perth from Hong Kong and got my backpack stolen from the YHA so didn’t get to do too much. I saw the inside of the police station & spent a day at the doctors - I am a girl that knows how to have fun!!! The up side to having all my stuff nicked was a guilt free shopping day where I spent an absolute fortune but it made me feel better. I did manage to get on a wine tour of the Swan Valley which was great - tried loads of wine, some cheese & visited a chocolate [View Full Entry]

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I had a fantastic experience in China. My favourite places where Pingyao and Hangzhou. The highlights of my trip were the great wall and the three gorges. I loved the food most of the time, even though I wasn’t always sure what I was eating - ignorance is bliss. I enjoyed the challenge of booking journeys & finding my way around, the 25 hour train journeys and dodgy buses. The down sides where definitely the pollution and the spitting (which is just nasty). I also learned a lot, I can now ask for a cold beer in Mandarin (essential for survival), [View Full Entry]

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