Em_the_Gypsy

The remainder of my time in China ended up being a lot more relaxing than planned, for reasons I will go into later . . . After leaving Yangshuo, I took a minibus to Guilin and then an overnight train to Kunming. The train journey was a similar experience to the Guangzhuo - Guilin one, in that the resounding noises were the ubiquitous snoring, hocking and spitting that by that time I had more or less come to expect from the Chinese, if not gotten used to. Upon arrival at my hostel in Kunming (the most excellent Cloudland Hostel) I quickly made a plan for the next week, as I was intending to stay in China only another week before heading into Vietnam. I had booked a flight to Shangri-La (in the north of Yunnan province) ... read more

Before I get to the main subject of this entry - my journey into the unknown - I want to talk a little about the country and about Manila, as that is the place that I flew into and where I am now. My first impressions of the city were that it is huge, busy and smog-filled but I really liked it. The people have been exceptionally friendly nearly everywhere I have been (sometimes a bit too friendly!), they seemed curious of me and the women love my pale skin! I get a lot of attention walking down the streets here - maybe it is because I am on my own, or maybe it is because they don't seem to get many solo Western women here. Either way, it is the first time I have experienced ... read more

Melbourne After I returned to Melbourne I spent another few days in the city, catching up on doing some of things that I didn't have time to do before I went to Adelaide (the tennis pretty much took up most of my time while I was there the first time!). I only stayed at Stuart's flat another couple of nights, before I moved to stay with a lovely, friendly, upbeat guy called Kim that I had met at a party the previous week. He lives with his good friend Yvonne, who I liked straight away, in a gorgeous city centre apartment, and from then on my time in Melbourne became much more enjoyable and sociable, and they really made me feel so welcome. It was a great feeling being with people who I felt genuinely enjoyed ... read more

So, where was I? The remainder of my time in Queenstown was pretty restful, with a solo trip to Milford Sound breaking it up a bit (more about that in a minute). Stuart and I went to the cinema a couple of times (finally saw 'Happy Feet' - it's so cute!) and I spent a lot of time just pottering around the town, which had a lovely feel to it. I can't claim to have indulged in any of the extreme sports and activities that the Queenstown region plays host to - I'm just not that type of person! I did, however, go on a 'Photo Safari' in the Glenorchy area, which was a 5-hour 4WD trip with an international award-winning local photographer. I had a great time, and learned a fair bit about digital SLR ... read more

Firstly, Merry Christmas everyone! Compared to South America, travel in New Zealand almost seems like cheating: I mean, everyone speaks English, something I had grown so accustomed to not hearing that it is taking a little adjustment to being in an English-speaking country again! Having said that, it is wonderfully refreshing and I'm going to make the most of finding travelling and communicating easy for a while! So, after spending a couple of uneventful days in a HUGE hostel in Auckland (the place had about 500 beds - weird!) I headed up north to the Bay of Islands for a 5-day whistle-stop tour of the Bay and to the northernmost point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. First stop was a day in Whangarei, during which I had planned to take a trip of some nearby caves, ... read more