The countryside on the way to Rotorua was typical New Zealand farm vistas, all bright green tellytubby hills...except random plumes of steam everywhere coming out of the ground looked like dozens of unattended fires. It was weird! Rotorua SMELLED. No, it STANK. We checked into Base backpackers, and went on a walking tour in the last remaining light of the day - most of which was spent lingering in one of the town parks, filled with bubbling mud pools and lakes - steam rose all over the place, it was like a completely different planet. We went back to the hostel [View Full Entry]

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So when we arrived at Wellington we picked up our new Nissan Sunny and proceeded to swim up to New Plymouth. Im not joking, it didnt stop raining the entire way. We passed by Mt Taranaki, but couldnt see it through the cloud and storm. We stayed at Sunflower lodge, quite nice but we were freezing at night. Only given a paper thin blanket, we slept fully clothed - or rather lay awake all night wishing we were warm enough to sleep. New Plymouth was quite quiet, we didnt get to look around as it was dark when we got there. [View Full Entry]

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From Queenstown we had a long, long trip to Milford Sound, way down in the south. On the way we stopped briefly at Te Anau, a pituresque lake on the tourist trail, and headed on down the one way highway. The drive got more and more spectacular, we went from the green fields and mountains to driving down a steep narrow, winding road past walls of mountains. Their high peaks were hidden in mist, so it just looked like granite walls, rising vertically up from the gorge below. Waterfalls that tumbled down looked like dribbling taps; dwarfed by the sheer size [View Full Entry]

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The flight to Wellington was fine, no hitches right up until we got to our hostel, Rosmere. Turns out they didnt have our booking, and we had to make do with a dorm and a single (i nabbed the single since was still feeling like death warmed up) The next day we checked into the YHA, very swanky and a lot more central. Wellington is notoriously windswept, and it certainly didnt disappoint. The weather was grey and rainy, but the city stretches round the harbour and up into the hills behind, pretty in the way big city harbours are. Despite being [View Full Entry]

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The bus to Cairns was an exhausting one, I pretty much slept all the way. I was still knackered by the time we got there, and when we got to our hostel, Serpent, I went straight to bed. Unfortunately the impossibly loud girls in the dorm decided against me getting a good nights sleep, and one of them embarrassingly brought back Rupert from Pride of Airlie...had to lie and listen to them, praying to be either shot or put to sleep. The next day we didnt get up to much, had a look round Cairns, a city backed by the mountains [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Airlie beach just after 9am, it was in beautiful lush green hilly surroundings, with a gorgeous marina - flat sea, turqouise glinting water, palm trees hugged the shoreline, and sail boats rocked gently in the breeze. We weren't allowed to check in till 11, so me and Phil went for a wander, getting some food and bumping into Rich. I bought myself my very first piece of dive gear - a mask and snorkel - no more manky masks filled with other people's spit! We sat on the sweeping shingle beach and soaked up some sun before check [View Full Entry]

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On the bus to Hervey Bay, I was amused to no end by probably THE worst film ive ever had the pleasure of watching. It was called 'Dog gone', had just two locations, predictable plot, terrible acting, and was as a result one of my favourite films: i loved it, it was too awful to be true it had me in stitches! I got to the next koala hostel at night, and met Phil, plus Aimee and Rich from Kent, who were in our room and also on the Fraser island trip. Then Ian turned up, and I got chatting to [View Full Entry]

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On Easter day i got itchy feet and decided to go North to Noosa, a town a bit like Byron Bay, but more of a playground for the rich and famous. I got there and was picked up by the hostel van, given a mini tour of the place, and got taken to Koala hostel - great little place with a pool and bar. I didnt have much daylight left, so took a walk up a nearby hill to 'laguna lookout' - quite a steep hill, it turned out. Numerous cars drove past at speed, the occupants smiling serenely out as [View Full Entry]

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Got to Brisbane after a nice bus ride through gorgeous green countryside that looked a lot like Britain. Had a wee look around the centre, pretty standard big city stuff, and got sucked into watching a fashion show then pretty much passed out in my dorm, utterly exhausted from travel. Early start the next day, as we headed to Australia Zoo, home of the 'crocodile hunter' Steve (Crikey!) Irwin, with wife Terri and daughter Bindi. It was SOOO GOOD. We took the train, and a courtesy bus picked us up and took us to the zoo. It was Easter weekend, and [View Full Entry]

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An odd thing happened in Sydney: me and Al got chatting to a couple, and on hearing the unmistakable Northern twang i asked where they were from...'Newcastle' was the reply. Its always a happy coincidence, there's not a lot of geordie travellers. Where in Newcastle? 'Jesmond'. This was a bit stranger. I asked if the girl knew the Peoples Theatre, and Jesmond Park East. Turns out, among lots of flabbergasted noises, that we lived just a couple of minutes away from each other, on either side of Armstrong Bridge. Not only that, but her mum had gone from living in Jesmond [View Full Entry]

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