Franz Josef Glacier or 'Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere' in Māori (translated as 'the tears of Hinehukatere') is quite unique as glaciers go. Glaciers are essentially slow moving rivers of ice. They are formed by the accumulation of snow that fuses to form glacier ice under pressure from the layers of snow above it. Franz Josef Glacier is unique because it is one of the few places in the world where a glacier descends into temperate rainforest - the contrast is staggering. Having arrived at the small town of Franz Josef, there was no way that we weren't going to hike on [View Full Entry]

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After 2 days in Christchurch, essentially spent acclimatising to the nearly antarctic New Zealand weather (but also having the bitter-sweet experience of watching the famous All Blacks perform the Haka, then go on to stuff our own national team), we headed northwards on the first leg of our Kiwi Experience bus tour. We spent a day in Kaikoura, where you can see whales all year round, and dolphins during the current season, but poor weather conditions meant the day-long boat trip was cancelled. We head back through Kaikoura on our way up to the North Island, however, so with kinder weather [View Full Entry]

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I, Ben, have arranged flights to return to Australia after visiting New Zealand and Fiji, where I intend to tour back down the East Coast from Cairns to Brisbane by bike! It is a trip I had been planning only a short while after arriving into Australia, and one which several backpackers have encouraged me to do for charity - so I am - for the UK children's charity "Whizz-Kidz"! I ordered a bike online which arrived slightly late in Cairns due to the public holiday in Australia for the Queen's Birthday, but once it did I was able to get [View Full Entry]

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Our last stop in Australia was Cairns, up in Northern Queensland. We noticed this mainly due to the high mileage we had covered in the bus and the increasingly patriotic support for the second 'State of Origin' Rugby League game when it came on telly. Cairns is not a small town, but unfortunately for us the Lagoon was closed for the duration of our stay. With most of the town focussing on Sugar Cane production ect there was little else to do for more than a few days. One highlight though was a boat trip out into the heart of the [View Full Entry]

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Following the huge stress of snorkelling, swimming and generally being sailed around the Whitsundays, we moved northward to Townsville and caught a ferry to the adjacent "Magnetic Island" where we'd booked an $89 3-day/2-night package at Base Hostel. The hostel had small rooms and a dreadful kitchen, but a huge bar right on the beach-front which more than made up for it! We met spent the majority of our time there playing cricket with other travellers from our Greyhound Bus, and spent an hour of the second day kayaking out to the peninsula neighbouring our hostel, where we saw fish, crabs [View Full Entry]

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We stopped for 2 nights in Airlie Beach - a small town basically serving as a hub for tourists to set-off on their voyages to the Whitsundays from. It is still a pleasant little village, however, and has a really cool Lagoon - perfect for chilling off in after a couple of hours catching rays on the nearby beach. We boarded our vessel and home for the next 3 days - 'The Bomerang' - and headed out into the Pacific towards he world famous Whitsunday Islands. The Boomerang was an 83ft former racing yacht, and previous winner of the World Series. [View Full Entry]

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We arrived into Noosa mid afternoon and checked into the YHA hostel, which was situated just a short walk from the beach. There was three things we hope to do while we stayed in Noosa: 1st was visit Australia Zoo, also known as the Steve Irwin Zoo; 2nd was to catch some more surf and sun down at the beach and 3rd was watch the Champions League final between Man Utd and Chelsea. The first day we caught the free early 1hr bus, which takes you directly from Noosa to Australia Zoo. The zoo was founded by the parents of Steve [View Full Entry]

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Brisbane. 3rd largest city in Australia. It's a nice enough place to be I guess but there isn't much to keep the seasoned traveller entertained. We toured the city on our first afternoon following the Lonely Planet's 4hr walking tour and saw the best bits of this laid back and rather quiet city. Our relaxing walk through the mangroves was interrupted suddenly when we came across a 7ft python slowly making his way along the boardwalk. The boards were only 3ft wide and we were forced to tip-toe past him, although it was at a pace that prevented him snatching one [View Full Entry]

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Although many of the towns up the East coast seem very similar in style and attitude, Byron Bay seems like arguably the most genuine little 'surf' town we have come across so far. It is a tiny place, with one main street which is home to one bottle shop, two bars, a couple of backpacker hostels and, strangely, two subways. We stayed at Main Beach Backpackers which was the nearest hostel to the beach - only about 50m across the road. The hostel was one of the best we found in Australia, with BBQ's every night and either a poker comp [View Full Entry]

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There is a great rivalry between the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Sydney has the iconic landmarks while Melbourne has the art and culture scene. Melbourne has historically been the larger and more lively city, one highlight of which was hosting the Olympic Games back in 1956. Recent times have seen Sydney spring to the for as Australia's most dominant city, some proof being their opportunity to host one of the best Olympic Games ever in 2000. It is also at least partly true that the choice of Canberra as the country's capital - almost exactly halfway between these two cities [View Full Entry]

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