http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/JezLin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from JezLin en-us Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:47:12 +0000 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:47:12 +0000 Having said our goodbyes to everyone from our Fraser group we caught the Greyhound down to Brisbane. This was almost up with Melbourne as my number one Oz city. Very lively with a river running through it past cliff walks and 'Street Beach' a pleasant lagoon. We caught a Citycat ferry from the centre to the western edge of the city near the Uni and then returned after darkness had fallen to find http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/Fortitude-Valley/blog-43239.html Travelling down from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay the nearest access point to Fraser Island we stopped en route in Rockhampton 'Rockie' for a night to break up the long journey. Apparently Australias cattle capital the route to Rockie was dotted with sightings of cattle trucks bursting at the seams with horns and tail poking out every where. The following day we were back on the Greyhound b http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-42764.html Having left 'Maggies' under threat from Cyclone Jim we had our fingers crossed for good weather on our Whitsundays trip. Luckily although it rained at Airlie Beach as soon as we got off the bus two days later we woke up on the day of departure to brilliant sunshine. Our chosen performance yacht was called Freight Train a former winner of the Sydney Hobart yacht race and would be our home f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Whitsundays/blog-42375.html Jumped on an early tram by the skin of our teeth and made our way through the city to the the airport via the Skybus.No dramas checking in although we both got randomly tested for traces of explosives Must look dodgy..Our hostel in Cairns was called Gilligans and was a huge place calling itself a Backpackers resort hotel and had a lovely pool and out door bar a huge indoor barclub area with http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-37291.html Picking up our second hire car from St Kilda Europcar I had to check the number plate to see that it wasn't our original car. Picked up lin and the bags from the Ritz then drove out of Melbourne along the M1 to Torquay a small town at the start of the Great Ocean Road with a large surfing contingent at the busy beach. We sheltered in front of the sea wall for our lunch before continuing down to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Great-Ocean-Road/blog-36581.html Leaving Katoomba and the Blue Mountains behind a two hour train ride saw us back in central Sydney where we picked up a Hyundai Getz from the EuropCar offices. A neat little car much like Lins Clio with aircon and a CD player. The only CD we had was a dodgy 80's hits compilation i'd picked up from a charity shop.Driving south we stopped at Cronulla a suburb on the edge of Sydneys rail netw http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-36572.html Arrived in Sydney and walked out of the airport terminal into a hairdryer 32 degrees and it was half past five in the afternoon Our first hostelhotel was the Sydney Central on Wentworth a budget hotel which despite having a fridge and tv in the room lacked the one essential... air con Still it was fairly close to Darling Harbour and the city centre and we had a pleasant walk around getting us http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-34342.html Now you'd have thought that we'd have had enough of buses but no We took an Atomic shuttle from Christchurch up the coast to Kaikoura the world famous whale watching town. Having booked this trip at least a month before we were disappointed to find on arrival that it had been cancelled due to bad weather even though the sea in the bay looked like a mill pond Not only that but all the mornin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-34337.html Our last Stray driver and our guide to the Catlins was Noddy. A nice enough bloke but very opinionated and always having a dig at the Aussies for one reason or another.We made several stops on the trip up to Dunedin at a fur seal colony a petrified forest preserved by molten lava millions of years ago at Curio Bay three Hector Dolphins playing in the surf at Porpoise Bay and then a walk down http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Southland/Catlins/blog-34338.html Arriving at the ferry terminal at Bluff we could see across the water to the huge Aluminium smelting plant that we had heard about at Lake Manapouri. A huge facility if a bit of an eyesoreWe caught the Stewart Island Experience ferry and and hour later arrived in the little harbour that was the centre point of Oban the only town on the Island. Our accommodation was the Stewart Island Backpacke http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Southland/blog-34192.html Leaving Queenstown with our new bus driver 'Grumpy Pete' we drove to Te Anau a small town that until the proposed tunnel from Queenstown to Milford is built is the gateway to the Sounds. We stayed in Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park which was pretty accurately named..After checking in we got back on the bus and headed for Milford Sound. Arriving in midafternoon it was quite cloudy but we hope http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Fiordland-National-Park/blog-34187.html Arrived in the bustling adrenaline capital of New Zealand and booked into the Discovery Lodge Hostel. This was another purpose built brand new facility much like Base with 8 bunkbeds to a room and ensuite Shower facilities.After dinner and a quick browse around town we joined the Stray gang in the Altitude Bar under the hostel and took good advantage of the two for one offers on wine and Export G http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Otago/Queenstown/blog-33728.html Drove into Franz Josef and immediately booked ourselves onto the 34 day hike especially organised to fit in with the Stray tours for the following day. We stayed in a portacabin at the Rainforest retreat and were abit disappointed to find their Spa emptyThe Franz Josef Glacier Guides company was quite a big outfit. They gave us all the necessary kit for the hike including boots and 'Talonz' c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/West-Coast/Franz-Josef/blog-32877.html On arrival in Barrytown we'd arranged to be picked up by Jim and Margaret Park. They are friends of my Jeremys mums from her days in St Lucia. They drove us down to their place at Lake Kaniere inland from Hokitika. Their house is built on poles which means that they have great views over the trees out across the lake to the mountains in the distance. A really lovely place with all kinds of di http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/West-Coast/blog-32876.html We'd found a hostel in the Lonely Planet that was a short walk from the beach and headed straight down to the beach for our first sunbathing session. It was a great beach and we lazed around for a few hours watching the kite surfers and doing crosswords but not venturing into the water as it was freezing One of Lin's goals coming to New Zealand was to do a Paraglide. Having done parasailing in B http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Nelson-Region/Nelson/blog-32795.html After the excitement of the Skydive and Tongariro Crossing we slowed down for abit on what was essentially a travel day to Wellington. The journey was broken up by a stop at the home of the World Wellyboot Throwing championships. The 'wellies'were a pair of size 10s that we picked up from the town hall and had great fun hurling up the special Arena. Lin was up there in the girls event and I s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-32794.html As we drove into Taupo just before 4pm the gathering clouds were looking like they might spoil the party. I'd put my name down for a Skydive with Skydive Taupo but with the weather worsening by the minute it was likely that we wouldn't be able to jump and the afternoon was our only option as we were due to leave Taupo early the next day. At this point Lin was still sticking to her story that t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-32189.html Arriving in Roturua we decided to leave the group at the Base hostel and go to Hot Rocks hostel instead. The hot pools here were not so attractive as they sounded due to the rotten egg smell so we avoided these but the Lava Bar next door proved good fun.Rotorua was also our first real insight into the Maori culture.Stray had organised a visit to 'Slim's Cultural Evening' which actually wasn't http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-31065.html Leaving Hahei behind we drove towards Raglan on the West coast. Raglan beach is famous for having one of the worlds longest lefthand breaks surfer speak for waves coming into shore from the left I think. When we arrived at the Rainforest Lodge there was so much booze going into the fridge we couldn't shut the door. A good sign of things to come. The lodge was really nice and had lots of facil http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Raglan/blog-30472.html Leaving Auckland for a second time and the Fat Camel hostel thank goodness. No clean linen and they hadn't cleaned the room from our last visit we were picked up outside the hostel by Warren Woz in his big orange Stray Bus. It was pretty much full when we got on and after stopping at the YHA Backpackers and City hostels we had a full house bus.Woz began as he would everyday by giving http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Hahei/blog-30361.html