Missi333
Missi Hirt Joined: February 12th 2007
Logged in: January 30th 2011
Logged in: January 30th 2011
My BFF, Rachelle, and I depart for our ADVENTURE DOWN UNDER on February 17, 2007. This is a trip we've talked about since we were in Junior High!
The general plan is to arrive in Sydney where we'll have a few days to acclimate, explore Sydney, and then pick up our awesome fully stocked campvan / home-on-wheels. . . and then the road trip begins . . .
Tenative plan and general route:
Febraury 19, 2007 AUSTRALIA
1rst Sydney
2nd Byron Bay (Great Barrier Reef)
3rd Melbourne
4th Adelaide (Kangaroo Island)
5th The Out Back
6th Blue Mountains
March 18, 2007 NEW ZEALAND
1rst North Island
-Aukland
-Rotorua (Vocanic Park)
-Tongariro National Park
2nd South Island
-Nelson
-Franz Josef (Glacier)
-"Rivendale" ; - )
-Queenstown
See you in a couple of months! . . . . Stay tuned for updates!
Travel Blog Posts
Mount Cook, New Zealand
"The purpose of life is to live it, to experience it to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience." - E. Roosevelt. All expectations for this trip were exceeded. We conquered fears, turned dreams into reality, and truly enjoyed every minute of it! To say that we grew from our experiences would be an understatement - our souls were left sailing, and our imaginations ignited even further. I walk away from this journey knowing that I will always create excitement, challenge, and beauty in my life. Everyday is an adventure, everyday is an opportunity. "I haven't a clue as to how my story will end. But that's alright. When you set out on a journey and night covers the road, that's when you discover the stars!" - Nancy Willard ... read more
Flying above New Zealand
Queenstown is a place I will certainly return - a beautiful, lakeside town, tucked in the mountains. This is the adventure capital of the world - and Rachelle and I couldn't resist getting involved! Rachelle conquered the Canyon Swing, a bungee Swing that drops you straight down into a canyon before swinging you out - a terrifically scary experience! She screamed until she had no breath left. This morning however, she conquered all fear of heights by doing THE NEVIS - this is the World's 3rd Largest Bungee Jump (one advertisement warns, "Whatever you do don't look down!" This "suicidal-like leap" entails a nerve-racking gondola ride to a suspended platform and an 134 meter dive into a rocky canyon towards the river below - what an empowering accomplishment! - she's been buzzing ever since! Go Rachelle! ... read more
Heli/Hike
We reunited with our Kiwi friends, YAY! and traveled the west coast, including various walks, tourists stops, and a hilarious costume party (we had to be a cartoon character who's name began with the first letter in our first name, also we had to use garbage bags in our costume) - A really zany and fun night. Next day we arrived in Franz Josef village, nestled in the Westland National Park, passing many kettle lakes along the way, these deep lakes were created as glaciers retreated and the ice melted. Franz Joseph village- ahhhh - staggering mountains on all sides, "The Glacier" in sight, and lush rainforest all around. I splurged at the RainForest Retreat and got us accommodations in a little log cabin cottage tucked in the trees - deck, heated bed - lap of ... read more
White Water Rafting
River Valley Adventure Lodge / White Water Rafting: We stayed in a lodge situated deep in a valley next to the Rangateki River. We had to hike down about 1/2 mile just to get to it - a beautiful setting. The next day, we geared up, wetsuits, life vests, and helmets to conquer some of New Zealand's Class 5 and most dangerous rapids. After many dunks, raft flips, and swims in the icy river water, we were ready for a nice hot tub at the lodge under the stars . . . Abel Tasman: Next, we had a night of celebrating with our Kiwi experience friends in Wellington and parted ways with them (temporarily) to do the Abel Tasman National Park. In order to get there, we had to take a bus to the bottom of ... read more
Tongariro Crossing
Wow, we have really packed in a lot! It's been non-stop! We've been weaving down the North Island and a few days ago took a ferry to the South Island where the scenery just gets more and more stunning. In Waitomo, we suited up for some serious spelunking in the Waitomo Caves, we repelled down a narrow opening in the earth and wound up 50 meters underground. Above our heads were glowing worms on the ceiling of the caves - they looked like stars in the sky! After a zip line, a leap off a ledge on our inner tubes into the river system below, we began our float through the caves. We carried on exploring the caves stopping for lunch in the pitch black (only our head lamps leading the way). It was quite an ... read more
Rotarua Hot Springs
We love New Zealand!! We only just arrived yesterday in Aukland, North Island, and quickly made arrangements to head out the next day. We are traveling on the Kiwi Experience Hop-on Hop off bus, really fun, with loads of backpackers from all over. What a blast! Everyone is excited and cool (and currently partying here at our Turltle Cove Youth Hostel). Our bus took us winding through the mountains - what spectacular views - steep green mountains, just stunning scenery!! We are a bit knackered after a day sea kayacking in Mercury Bay. We saw a few stingrays in shallow waters, kayacked around an island, and got a story about the area from our kayack guide. What a wonderful day. We pulled over mid-trip to Catherdral Cove where we had a Mochachino, enjoyed the views, walked ... read more
Blue Mountains
After Kangaroo Island we spent a day in the beautiful Barossa Valley doing a bit of wine tasting and, wound up with a couple of bottles, hee hee. The Shiraz was especially good. Next was our long haul back through the OUTBACK and to the Blue Mountains. We camped there for two nights - staying in a canyon valley the first night and then just outside of Katoomba the second. The Blue Mountains reminded us of the Grand Canyon with trees. We spent the last night with some rowdy campers who were on the first night of their Austalian trip and we were glad to stoke them out with our music adaptor and road atlas. (Music and maps - some road trip essentials!) We returned the camper van and headed back to Glebe to spend the ... read more
Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island
We headed down to enjoy the drive along the Great Ocean Road - a beautful costal road winding around white sandy beaches and ecalyptus trees. It was magical camping next to the ocean, (the stars here seem brighter) and falling asleep to the sound of the waves! We stopped along to way to go for a bit of a hike and managed to spot 18 kaolas - it was incredible! They were everywhere and so cute! Our next stop was the 12 apostles (which actually number 7) - theses are rock formations just off the coast, a nice stop - but the flys there were kamakazi, I created a special "move" for keeping them away from my face (inquire later for a demonstration - pretty funny). KANGAROO ISLAND We loaded our lil' Britz and ourselves onto ... read more
Alison, Rachelle, Missi and Brad
We love Melbourne!! This city is awesome and we were lucky enough to hook up with friends, Alison (who attended elementary school with me, we discovered) and her husband Brad. Today we went to St. Kilda, a really cool part of town (like Santa Cruz) and then headed over to the Sydney street fair and caught a SKA show (the Skavenders!) - they were awesome and we danced until we were broken. Super fun! We are now back at Alison and Brad's apartment which is in the heart of the city) - Alison is currently at the decks spinning Motorcycle, (ahhh yay!). We were just working on the learning the Melbourne shuffle with her (a very cool Melborne born dance move). Rachelle and I will be working on it as we head out tomorrow after a ... read more
Lone Pine Kaola Sanctuary
After our marvelous adventure with the turtles and marine life, we headed south to Bisbane to the Lone Pine Kaola Sanctuary. Here we got to pet and feed the kangaroos and, the highlight, hold a Kaola (the only place in Australia you are allowed to hold them). They are SO CUTE! Mine was all cuddled up with me (no worries mates, I got a picture). Next we really got into our roadtrip and hit the OUTBACK. Very deserty, red, and HOT!! We saw lots of lightning storms blow through and red dust tornados. Last night we camped in the OUTBACK, and sat under the stars before heading to bed. Our camper is so comfy - perfect for us. In the morning, we noticed a few pink and white cockatoos in the tree next to us. The ... read more
