Chuppa

Hello everyone, Can't believe how quickly this year has gone! Have had so much fun, so many happy times and a few sad too. Flying back to the UK tomorrow and then the hard work begins, well when I find a job that is! Sorry have been so slack with the blogs, will get them finished when I get back. Have enjoyed South Africa so much, it really is a special place to end the adventure. Thanks to all of you who have been reading these blogs. Looking forwards to seeing everyone soon. ... read more

We arrived at the bus station in Townsville in the early evening. We then found our way (somewhat haphazardly) to the correct gate for the half an hour ferry crossing to Magnetic Island, known simply as Maggie Is. to locals. After lugging the bags on and purchasing a ticket we relaxed for the journey and wondered what Maggie Is. had in store for us. Upon docking of the ferry we boarded a bus that tours the Island dropping off visitor at hostels and other venues. The bus ride took us around winding streets and then eventually we were dropped off outside our chosen hostel. We had been quite lucky to get a booking here back in Sydney, and that was three weeks prior! The whole reason for it being so popular was due to an event ... read more

We could not see the shuttle for the hostel we had booked and panicked a bit as the Greyhound had dropped us at an out of town shopping centre. But all was fine and we found the right bus after a phone call and some searching. The hostel we had booked was lovely: it was divided into self catering apartments. After we had dumped our stuff in our room we walked to the beach and took a stroll along it. This was the first time I have ever seen pelicans and as two of them swooped past us I did actually get a fright, they are massive and very impressive! We sat on the beach for a while just watching the pelicans and people walking past. While we were walking back along the beach we spotted ... read more

The overnight bus to Bryon Bay was not packed so we had two seats each! This meant that we could sleep fairly comfortably, for anyone that has done long bus journeys I am sure you would share my appreciation of this fact. We were so please to see a row of backpacker hostel reps waiting at the bus stop. We found the one we had booked with and hopped on the shuttle to have a quick tour of the town and then a lift to the hostel. Once we dumped our bags we walked back into the centre to get brekkie. We then walked along one of the nicest beaches I have ever seen. There is a nice viewpoint at one end so we took the opportunity to go up and have a long look out ... read more

The following morning we drove back down the other side of the Coromandel peninsula and again past by many beautiful sites. The road here hugs the coast line for quite some time. We decided to stop at Orera Point (just beneath Auckland). After finding the camp site (we took a few wrong turns) we headed down to the beach to soak in the view. In the morning we drove through Auckland and continued further north to Orewa beach. We missed a good walk on the way as the weather was wet and we were running out of time to complete anything longer than 20mins! Was a shame really . When we got to Orewa beach we followed the directions but discovered the camp site we had planned to stay in was closed down, however we managed ... read more

The ferry journey back over to the North Island was not as good as the first trip we took on it. No sightings of Dolphins and I was a little bit sad to be leaving the enchanting South Island. There are no camp sites in Wellington city itself so we stayed at Lower Hutt, like we had done on our way down. After checking emails, cooking dinner and stopping the ducks from getting in our van we settled down for another early night. We drove into Wellington the next day and managed to find a place to park for a few hours (very expensive to park anywhere near the centre). We looked around the Te Papa museum for the two hours we had put on the van, however my back was once again giving me great ... read more