http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rich-and-Sal/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rich and Sal en-us Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:14:31 +0000 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:14:31 +0000 We're now writing this blog from sunny manchester having finished our fabulous trip a couple of weeks ago. It's grey and wet outside so what better way to pass the time than looking back over our time in the USAAfter an absolutely amazing week in fiji we were quite sad to leave the island behind but once we were on our flight to LA that was replaced with excitement at our american adventure sti http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/blog-320094.html After seven weeks of cold and rain in New Zealand it was amazing to touch down in Fiji and finally see some sunshine We spent our first night in a hostel on the mainland where we got to spend the evening eating and having a few drinks around the pool. Was lovely and relaxing.The next morning we were up early to get our ferry connection out to the malolo islands where we were planning on spendin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Mamanuca-Islands/Malolo-Island/blog-320097.html After our rafting exploits in Rotorua we headed north to the Coromandel peninsula. Our destination for the first night was Hahei beach where we were on a campsite right next to the beach lovely in the pouring rain Up early the next day went on a walk to Cathedral Cove a lovely little beach with massive cliffs and a cathedral shaped hole in a rock. The walk was really nice and the beach was st http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-304555.html After leaving Taupo in the pouring down rain we drove through the Tongariro national park but could not see Mt Ruapehu Mt Doom because of the cloud. Our first stop was Ohakune land of the giant carrot. Ohakune is the carrot capital of NZ and has a monument to this in the shape of a giant carrot. Its also a big ski town where we were hoping to be able to get a taste of skiing.That night we hea http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-300281.html After the ferry crossing from hell we had made it to Wellington Instantly different to the south island we were greeting with skyscrapers and traffic when we got off the boat and we had to drive the van on a motorway for the very first time Very exciting. We planned to spend a day in Wellington so next morning we were up bright and early to get a bus into the city to explore.First up was the http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-298580.html When we woke up on our first day in Nelson it was sunny Something we haven't experienced for about a week now. We headed off for a look round Nelson whcih is famous for its cafes and artists. There were lots of nice places to eat and drink which was good. In the afternoon we started driving up toward Golden Bay on the northwest tip of the South Island. The drive was really scenic as we passed th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/blog-298577.html We set out from Wanaka in pouring down rain aiming for the West Coast. The West Coast is apparently the wettest place in New Zealand so we were pleasantly suprised to pass over the mountain range and descend into glorious sunshine The drive up the coast was pretty spectacular it's the Tasman Sea which is one of the roughest seas in the world so all along you have massive crashing waves which http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Franz-Josef/blog-294604.html After the scenery of the Fiordland we headed north for more fun in Queenstown activities centre for the whole of New Zealand. Unfortunately on our first day there it absolutely poured down with rain and we couldn't really do anything The next day we awoke to much brighter skies so set off to enjoy everything the town had to offer. Apparently it's essential to do some kid of extreme activity in http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-293394.html Te Anau is the main town in the Fiordlands to base yourself to visit the Sounds on day trips. We spent our first day in Te Anau itself booking a couple of trips once that was out of thw ay we waited for the rain to ease a little before heading out on a bit of a walk. We ended up walking a couple of hours along the Keppler Track which is one of the great walks in New Zealand and is apparently qui http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Milford-Sound/blog-293385.html After leaving Oamuru we headed south toward Dunedin. On the way we stopped at a place called Moeraki to go and view the famous boulders on the beach. The boulders were formed a long time ago there are loads of them along the beach and they are almost perfectly spherical. They look quite strange We also had a look around Moeraki which was a little eery we appeared to be the only people there.La http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Dunedin/blog-291398.html After 5 months on the road we arrived in New Zealand After getting through scary airport security thought at one point we were going to be refused entry for having a bag of pasta in our luggage we set off for our hostel in Christchurch and midnight snack from McDonalds on the way.Next day was a day of organising with the majority of the day spent finding a campervan and starting to plan a rou http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-288624.html We arrived back in Melbourne after our trip to the outback looking like a pair of tramps. We had slept outside in swag bags the night before and had not had time to get showered and changed before the flight to Melbourne so we arrived into the airport covered in red dust and looking filthy. Attracting one or two strange looks on the way....We set off for our hostel to get a shower some clean clo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Melbourne/blog-284875.html After one of the best drives ever along the great ocean road and up to the grampians we were then faced with a five hour drive to adelaide to drop off our car and meet our tour bus. It was the most boring drive ever There was one stretch of road that was 10km and we didn't have to turn the steering wheel once Mad. Anyway we made it to adelaide and dropped the car off on time yay. Next morni http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Northern-Territory/Uluru/blog-283574.html After a looooonnnnggggg bus ride to Melbourne complete with the strangest bus driver and probably the strangest man I have ever come across lots of sneezing burping and many received phone calls announced by Dancing Queen at full blast we made it to Melbourne. It was late when we arrived so didn't really see much of the city. Next day we had a day of organising and ended up arranging to http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Victoria/Great-Ocean-Road/blog-280308.html After almost four months travelling we have reached Sydney Kind of a milestone in our trip and one of the places we were most looking forward to seeing.We arrived at 6am in the morning not much was open at that time so we dumped our rucksacks at the hostel we were staying at in Kings Cross as it was too early to check in. Then we headed off to go and see the harbour bridge and opera house. It w http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/blog-280307.html Our first stop in New South Wales as Byron Bay. It was a fantastic little town with a very very laid back atmosphere.We were staying in a hostel right by the beach and on our first day spent the morning catching some sunshine and watching the surfers.In the afternoon we set off to walk around the coast to get to the famous lighthouse the most easterly point of Australia We were told that the wa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Byron-Bay/blog-280276.html It was strange getting off the bus in a city Haven't seen a skyscraper or any building bigger than two storeys since arriving in Oz a month ago. We were both very excited about spending some time in Brisbane. We'd arranged to stay with my cousin linda and her family which was brilliant. They had a bar pool table three great kids and the cutest puppy. We were happy We spent our first day explo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-273424.html After the excitement of Fraser Island it was definitely time to chill out so we headed for a tiny little town called Tiaro population approximately 1500 including my Uncle Roger and his wife Rose and their cat Saffi. We had a brilliant and very relaxing couple of days staying with them in their lovely house complete with swimming pool and massive back garden which is suprisingly still intac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Noosa/blog-273421.html After our brilliant whistundays trip we headed down to Hervey Bay for the next big activity Fraser Island It was raining when we arrived so we decided to hang around in Hervey Bay for a few days in the hope that the weather would improve before we headed over to Fraser Island. There's absolutely loads to do here and it's a lovely place too. On our first day we hired some bikes from our hoste http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Fraser-Island/blog-272061.html We made it to airlie beach the departure point for the whitsundays. It's a really nice little town with a gorgeous beach On our first afternoon there we headed straight to a travel agent to sort out a sailing trip around the whitsundays. After a very convincing sales pitch by the travel agent we somehow ended up booking to go on a luxury catamaran sailing boat slightly different to the backpac http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Airlie-Beach/blog-271323.html