Page 5 of Lauren on the move Travel Blog Posts

Hi! The last week or so has been busy trying to sort out my time here. In brief I've been in Cairns, Cape Tribulation, Port Douglas then Cairns again. ............ When I arrived in Cairns it was 25 degrees and really humid. It has since cooled down but I'm still in shorts, flip flops, bikini, sunglasses, sunhat etc having ditched the fleece, raincoat, covered shoes, headscarf etc (for now, apparently down south is very cold!) The first few days I solidly trawled the many, many tourist agencies (all hostels double up as these as well) and read brochures. The price of activities in Oz shell shocked me again, I have quickly (and begrudginly) had to increase my Oz budget by a half. The hardest decision was what company to go with to learn to dive ... read more

What an incredible day! I was up at 6.45am for early morning dolphin encounters. We found two pods early on in the trip. Unfortunately we couldn't swim because they had young. However they were swimming and jumping alongside the boat. We were able to lie on our fronts with our head over the front of the boat under the rails (there were only 7 on the trip) so the dolphins swim right under you. Often they turn to look up at watch you since they are curious creatures and sometimes blow water in your face! (Photos to come, my camera card filled up, so some nice people on the boat will hopefully be emailing me some!) Our dolphin guide was fantastic. I loved her enthusiasm and love of the creatures. She knew all the the dolphins ... read more

The Black Abyss at Waitomo Caves was for me the most fun and interesting activity I have done so far; though it's not for the faint hearted! David and I were up at 6.30 today to get the 2 hour bus from Rotorua to Waitomo (home of glow worm caves) to go to the Black Water Rafting company. The company offers various options and The Black Abyss is the most challenging but (I think) most fun, taking 5 hours in total. Our group consisted of eight people with two fun guides. Once kitted out in wetsuit, wetsuit jacket, booties, rubber boots, harness, helmet with headtorch (and balaclava and wetsuit gloves for the other girl and I!) we abseiled 30m down into a cave. (Luckily you couldn't see the bottom since it was dark and we ... read more

Today I hiked one of the (reputedly) world's top ten one day walks - the Tongariro crossing. It was fantastic. Up at 5am, on bus 5.40am to start the 18.5km gruelling walk at 7am across mountainous volcanic terrain for 3.30pm pick up. This was definitely one of my best days so far. The walk covers four 'terrains' - first general mountainous region including the high and long climb up the devils staircase (This hurt a lot, especially since I strained my muscles dancing and limboing during my last night in Wellington, and then even more last night when I was trying to loosen them up! Pain!) Then you pass Mount Ngauruhoe, used as Mount Doom in the LOTR films. Climbing this is optional, but personally the 45 degree scree slope had little appeal to me! ... read more

Since last writing I have travelled to Christchurch and Kairkoura again, and then Wellington where I am now. The drive from Queenstown to Christchurch took all day but the scenery was fantastic. We stopped to look at Mount Cook and various other little stops, including a toilet and icecream break in a little town called Grenadine (I think!) As I approached the cafe I suddenly remembered that I had been there before and visited the same shops. It's funny how such an indescript memory can suddenly pop out. I have spent the last few days with Meg and Megan, two awesome Canadian girls who have unfortunately now moved on at a faster pace than me. When leaving Christchurch we accidentally got on the new peoples' bus (which we assumed was just a normal overflow kiwi ... read more