Els Bels

Our Kiwi Experience began with a huge trek which left us exhausted and sweating... from the effort of carrying all our bags down Queen Street to meet the Kiwi bus! The driver took one look at us and renamed us 'The Bag Ladies' - what can I say? We were prepared for every eventuality (breakfast, lunch and dinner, that is). As we recovered in the bus, we drove to the Coromandel Peninsula and set off for Cathedral Cove on the longest walk I've ever had to get a beach. Windy paths, up and down dale, through forest, fighting off wild animals... well you get the picture. It was worth it though as the cathedral-shaped cove was very picturesque - so picturesque in fact that it was the setting for Narnia in the Prince Caspian film! How ... read more

Hi everyone - after a long period away from the blog I am back in action! I had a fantastic Christmas and New Year with Mum and Dad visiting Sydney, Melbourne and hot hot Ayers Rock, and was sad to part ways as they left for home in January while I continued my adventures to New Zealand. Fresh from the airport, I met Kate and Laura - friends I met back in Malaysia in September. They had done all the hard work in finding an apartment for us to stay in the centre of Auckland, so all I had to do was move in! We had a three month lease in a lovely two-bedroom place in the city with views of the harbour and the sunset - perfect. Had a relaxed first week settling in, finding ... read more

After breakfast on Saturday morning we walked to the Joffre lookout point to see the view from the top of where we walked yesterday. Straight into bus (no packing away needed) to drive to Knox Gorge - a fairly long way away but I put my mp3 player on for some good tunes! The gorge wasn't too difficult a walk but fairly long and winding over stepping stones across the river - we got to the end where a big fallen tree had landed in between the rocks. Carol noticed that with a bit of decoration (the 'Danger No Entry' tape) the tree looked a bit like a horse, so we had fun taking pictures of that - and then I nearly lost my balance trying to stand up so got down quick-sharpish! Back along the ... read more

Photos are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13481&l=37127&id=510918332 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13483&l=aa4e5&id=510918332 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13484&l=c0bf9&id=510918332 Perth Zoo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13485&l=932b2&id=510918332 Barrier Reef! http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=13594&l=9169c&id=510918332 Up not-so-bright and early for the start of the next part of the tour! Couldn't believe how many people were joining us - 21 in total felt like a lot after our little group of 13. Paddy was our next tour guide taking over from Ian - seemed like the most laidback guy after Ian the taskmaster! The bus felt like a downgrade compared to Ian as it was smaller, but I was lucky as I got to stretch out on the back seat for the morning. Spent quite a bit of the day travelling south - 500km in total - but st... read more

I was so tempted to sleep in the hammock outside the room on Sunday night like Carol - would have been a good idea because the room was SO HOT! Had actually broken into a sweat by the time I clambered up into the top bunk whilst trying not to wake Dirk up who was underneath (a ladder would have helped!). Didn't sleep so well and we were up chatting until late so I had a bit of a lie-in (i.e. not getting up at dawn!) and Carol, Chell and I walked down to Cable Beach mid morning. The beach was so beautiful and quiet, but we were a bit too scared to swim in the turquoise sea as there were jellyfish, sharks and crocs out there! It was SO hot, we sunbathed until I could ... read more

The next morning I sat up in the front of the truck with Ian and made sure we had some good tunes! We went to Windjana Gorge first thing which was just next to our camp. Couldn't believe that we were standing over what was once a big reef, thousands of years ago. We spotted a few fossils in the rocks and walked down to the riverbank where there was a handful of crocs (what's the name for a group of crocodiles? A snapper of crocs?!) and went round the corner to pose for pictures with a freshie just a metre away from us! Although I felt real fear when it moved! After lots of fun with our cameras (we're so mature) we headed back to the bus and set off for the site of an ... read more

After our unexpected bog experience it was lovely to have a bit of a lie-in. In complete contrast to the mud-splattered states we were in the day before, we relaxed round the pool in the morning while Ian went to rescue the bus which had been stood in the mud overnight. We all cheered when he finally came back avec bus! Set off again in the afternoon after thanking the Parry Creek people for their help, stopping at the Five River Lookout at Wyndham. It was quite interesting to see where the rivers join (with help from the map) but wasn't the most inspiring view compared to the sights we've previously seen - a bit grey at the edges due to the silt at the edges. We had a long journey to our camp at Pentecost ... read more

Tossed and turned in my sleeping bag in the early hours then woke up properly around 4.30am to realise why I was restless - we could hear what sounded like rain but was in fact a huge wind storm directly overhead - really strange. It felt and sounded like it was just about to pour it down with rain, like the storms in Malaysia - but no rain came! I unzipped our tent just as Elizabeth's tent cover whipped off her tent and flew into ours! Maaike came past looking for her clothes which she'd hung out her tent to dry which were now flying all over the campsite - mayhem! I had to keep one foot in the tent to stop it from blowing away while trying to fasten on the waterproof cover. Ian came ... read more