http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Neil-Banks/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Neil Banks en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:26:11 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:26:11 +0000 I checked out of my hostel Base Christchurch and headed to the airport on friday 10th July. Unfortunately there was a problem refueling the plane which meant we were sat on the ground for 2 hours before setting off over the amazing Southern Alps of New Zealand. The delay meant that I missed my connecting flight from Sydney to Singapore I was rushed through Sydney airport by the nice lady fro http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/blog-418928.html On the Sunday still in Queenstown we headed up Coronet Mountain to watch the finals of the Winter Festival for skiing and snowboarding which had been taking place in Queenstown over the last 10 days. However when we got up there we saw one guy come down the mountain and fall off then they announced it had finished Turns out we got there a bit late... so that was a waste of money but hey firs http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-418402.html Hello so I'm now down in Queenstown where I will be for the next few days before heading up to Christchurch to catch my flight out of NZ. Didn't do much on our last day in Wellington just went to the museum for a bit then went to watch The Hangover at the cinema in the evening which was an appropiate film at the time.... Got the ferry down to the south island on the 27th of June where about http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-415009.html So we arrived in Waitomo around lunch time and then in the afternoon went black water rafting apparently one of the only places in the world where you can do it. It's called rafting but there isn't much rafting involved. First we absailed into the caves about 40m down or around a 10 storey building which is a fair long way they neglected to tell us how far down it was before we did it You go http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Wellington/blog-412449.html Kia OraI successfully made it to New Zealand And it is COLD. But hey it's been really good so far. I'm doing Kiwi Experience which is basically a hop off hop on bus like I did in OZ but this one is way better. Here you pretty much stay with the same people on the bus the whole way round and each day is packed with stuff to do. We usually get on the bus at around 8 in the morning then stop off http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Taupo/blog-411383.html G' dayWe're up in Carins now the last stop in oz before flying to New Zealand this Friday. So from where we left off from 1770 we moved on up to a cattle ranch at Kroombit a compulsory overnight stop with Oz Experience. It's like a proper outback working farm which has branched out into tourism to make a bit more money. We got to herd a few goats and ride a mechanical bull but the best bit was http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-406059.html HelloSo after spending about 6 days in Byron a little too long we headed up to Surfer's Paradise in our group of 15 stayed in a really nice hostel spent a few days chilling out on the beach then upto Brisbane. Spent just 2 nights in Brisbane nice city but not much to do and we needed to get a move on and get up the coast it's a hell of a long way Me and Sam left the others in Brisbane as th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/1770/blog-400725.html Arrived in Byron Bay a couple of days ago after our 5 day surf trip. Staying here for another couple of nights then head up the coast to Surfer's Paridise on Saturday. The surf trip was awesome stoped at some amazing beaches up the way and I have definitely caught the surfing bug We had all our food provided a few bbqs on the beach and camped out on the last night with the kangeroos. On the s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-396644.html HelloArrived safe and sound in Oz and have had an awesome first week with Oz intro in Sydney. Staying here for a few days more before we start heading up the coast on Thursday. There was about 30 of us in total doing the oz intro week split into two groups. Pretty much planned what i will be doing in oz still not sure what the plan is after that but hey. The guys at Oz intro have been really he http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-394237.html HelloBack in Bangkok now for our last night in Thailand before flying off to oz tommorrow. Our last week in Thailand has been spent on Koh Samet one of the island's about 50 mins off the coast. Really beatiful place spent most of the time chilling out on the beach and going out at night. It's not been without incident tho mainly the moped crash... we hired moped's to explore the island on thur http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Ko-Samet/blog-391763.html HelloSo this week was trekking week moved from the resort last sunday for the drive in to the jungle near the Burma border. Saw a massive black snake on the dirt track into the jungle set things up for an interesting week has been a good week altho would have liked to have done more seemed like we had quite a bit of free time. Trekked to the camp site on the first day took about 3 hours th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Suphanburi/blog-389560.html So last friday 27.03.09 we went to monkey city aka Lop Buri which is pretty much as the title suggests lots of monkeys which just live in the city. They can be pretty cheeky you have to hide your stuff or they will try and nik it. Last weekend we did a trip away on the saturday went to Erawan national park to some waterfalls then out in some random town we were staying in don't even know t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Singburi/blog-387506.html ...so arrived at our accomodation the Lemon house about 3 hours north of Bangkok. I'm pretty surprised actually it's pretty nice and Thailand is far more developed than I expected it would be in this more rural area. We have got proper beds electricity running water TV western toilets and have all of our meals cooked for us. Although all the food is veggie which is pretty annoying I try a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Singburi/blog-384952.html Hello everybodyThought I would do one of these blog malarkies to keep everyone updated on what I am doing. Firstly Mum I am alive healthy and have zero medical issues to report malaria has thus far been kept at bay. Although the old mossies are trying their best Arrived in Bangkok mid afternoon last friday with Megan then meet up with the rest of the group theres 12 of us in total and wen http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-384631.html