April Fools' Day 2005, Pete and Sarah arrive in Australia. We very quickly got into the Aussie lifestyle after meeting Sally; we were in the spa drinking beers very quickly. On Saturday we went out for Sally's birthday, which was the next day, and pretty much as soon as we woke up on Sunday hair of the dog was suggested (and accepted) and all the blokes and soon the girls were drinking again in the hot Perth sun. That evening we had a barbie with Kangaroo steaks, of course drinking pretty much all day. Then until thursday myself and Sarah very [View Full Entry]

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We had a very long drive to Christchurch, which probably took a lot of the life out of the van's engine, to meet one of Sarah's friends from her old job in London. It was great to stay with Alvin, Jenny and Alistair who were incredibly kind to us and helped us to finally sell the van - for $500 to a dodgy Egyptian bloke - through the fantastic Trademe auction site. We also spent a couple of days hanging around in the Backpackers' Car Market with 40 or so other hopeful sellers. We got a couple of test drives: one [View Full Entry]

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We were feeling energised by our very succesful walk and we decided to turn our planned rest days into action. Our next stop was the highly renowned Milford Sound, the only road-accessible fjord in New Zealand's "fjordland". The fact that it's the only road-accessible one might give you an impression how undeveloped New Zealand actually is - and I'm 100% in favour of keeping it that way. It was a long drive from Queenstown around in a huge loop back to and past a place we'd been only a couple of days before during our walk. After 4 hours' driving we [View Full Entry]

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From Queenstone we headed to Glenorchy to set off on our next adventure - the 5-day hike we had had planned for several weeks. Our itinerary was to link the relatively flat Greenstone track (2.5 days) with the Great Walk Routeburn Track (2.5 days). It was perfect weather and fantastic scenery all the way as our packs got lighter and the hills got steeper, the air stayed fresh and the sandflies stayed bitey. Day 1 took us on a boat across the lake from Glenorchy to the start of the Greenstone track. It was a sunny day and we walked did [View Full Entry]

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WEEEEEEE! Splash! BOING! (that's what bungying into a river is like) Driving into Queenstown in the morning, we almost passed the AJ Hacket bungy centre. Out of curiosity and not at all planning to do a bungy we stopped to have a look. It's site is the original 43m jump-off-a-bridge-into-the-river-below and world's first commercial bungy centre. Well looking at other people doing it - one memorable one was a tiny Japanese girl doing the customary Japanese victory Vs before jumping - amongst the crowd of onlookers I just couldn't walk away without the t-shirt. 20 minutes later I was [View Full Entry]

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After picking up some supplies and sorting ourselves out we set off south, first inland and then past lake Rotoiti towards the west coast of the South Island - past the Kilkenny lookout in the Buller gorge (see picture of Sarah enjoying the view there). It was a long day's driving and not doing too much apart from functional stuff. We ended up on the coast near the village of Punakaiki where we spent the night. The Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki In the morning we decided to visit one of the famous local landmarks, the Pancake Rocks and accompanying blowholes. The [View Full Entry]

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The Queen Charlotte Drive Named after an 18th Dutch Queen (this is from a hazy memory now) the Queen Charlotte sounds are an absolutely breathtaking area of New Zealand. They're unspoilt and pristine with countless miles of coastline that winds in and out and in and out seemingly forever - the best way by far to see them would be to sail around them, but we only had the option of driving along the specatacular Queen Charlotte Drive which winds its way from near Picton (where the ferry goes from) along the coastline to the Pelorus river. The road then goes [View Full Entry]

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From Wellington and the Picton ferry we needed to visit some friends in Blenheim, Val and john, to pick up a package. We met them for the first time and they very hospitably took us to visit their favourite vineyard for a little winetasting. We tasted the wines available and enjoyed the cheeses, and had a lovely time. Also in Blenheim we booked ourselves in with the Blenheim dive centre to complete our PADI dive training - Sarah's cold had gone now and we were all set to get certified! We went with the expert instructors down to the marina, did [View Full Entry]

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That morning we set off from Phakapapa towards Wellington. This was the first time the van wouldn't start straight away and we also noticed a considerable amount of smoke for about 20 minutes while the engine presumably warmed fully. At the time I commented that there may be a problem with one of the piston rings and set about explaining the internal combustion engine to Sarah while we drove. By lunchtime we were very close to Palmerston North and a quick look in the guidebook told us there were some award-winning gardens there, so we made for the town centre and [View Full Entry]

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The same day we left the Thermal wonderland we drove to Lake Taupo - I was booked in for a skydive that afternoon and didn't want to miss the appointment! The Skydive At this point in my life I have got to say that the exhilaration from the skydive - the feelings of freefall and the accompanying visuals - is the purest feeling I have ever felt. I was on a buzz for a long while afterwards, replaying the first seconds in my head like a videoclip. We arrived at the Taupo Tandem Skydive office with plenty of time, and proceded [View Full Entry]

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