Well, we made it. I met Kieran here in Bangkok, alive and well, and we started it up! We set off on our first morning, and I can honestly say I was super-intimidated and uncomfortable. People coming up to you and dropping to their knees, or lying down in front of you, showing their amputated limbs, burnt skin. It's always hard to see people panhandling, but it's especially hard when they follow you, call to you. That happened to me immediatedly after leaving our hotel. The next thing that becomes frightening are all the people everywhere, trying to sell you some [View Full Entry]

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Oh, and one other thing I forgot to add! When we were in Wellington, we got a super-cool-ultra-exclusive tour! Because of a connection through Adam's father, we were able to visit Weta Studios, the company that made all the costumes, weapons, sets, miniatures etc for Lord of the Rings! (amongst other films like King Kong, some Superman stuff... right now they're working on some prince Caspian stuff). This wasn't like a tour group tour - we got an exclusive tour and even got to meet the owner of the company, who is featured in much of the LOTRs extra features stuff [View Full Entry]

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Ok, last stretch, I think. So we drove down to Wellington, the Country's capital, at the very south of the north Island. I loved Wellington- it had everything Auckland didn't - cool bars, beautiful shops, a personality. We headed down to a bar called Mighty Mighty - great place. There was a band playing. The style is known as punkfunk, but it has nothing to do with punk or funk, ostensibly. This was a group of two boys and a girl, playing three keyboards over a steady, electronic beat. Pretty catchy and dancy stuff. I liked how they sang over top [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so we've just popped out of a cave, and we're off to the Town of Taupo, home to lake taupo, NZ biggest lake. It is also full of thermal springs here, there and everywhere. you'll be walking down the street, turn a corner, and theres a giant, steaming pit in the middle of the path. Smells of sulfur. The main attraction of Taupo is it's proximity to the Tangoriro crossing. This was probably my highlight of NZ. This is where they shot much of the Mordor stuff for Lord of the Rings. In fact, it is home to MOUNT DOOM! [View Full Entry]

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Ok, you may've noticed I've been a bit inactive for a while. "Couldn't be asked!" as the brits say. But I'll try to squeeze all my adventures in. We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, situated on the north island. We weren't wild about the place - it lacked personality, a bit uninteresting, to be frank. We looked into getting on a tour bus, which is basically how every backpacker does NZ, but decided against it. The tours are around 750 dollars, which brings you up to 90 dollar days if you're only around for three weeks. Being on someone [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so we left off with the Bay of Islands. Cool! For those of you who don't know what NZ looks like, its made up of two Islands, the North and the South. The South tends to be a bit colder in the winter, but is legendary for it's concentration of beautiful mountains, glaciers, beaches... you name it, basically. The general consensus is that the South Island is better than the North. I've not had enough time to test this claim, since I've been totally blown away with the North Island, and haven't had enough time to really check out the [View Full Entry]

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So after eight days, I'm finally ready to leave Melbourne. It's been a pretty nice time. I suppose I haven't been toooo busy. I spend most days walking around, going to the library, hanging out by the beautiful Yarra river that runs through the town. Adam and I visited the casino, the largest in the southern hemisphere. Adam actually made profit player poker - he went in with 75 and walked out iwth 110 - not bad, for his first go! I decided not to gamble, because slots are boring and I don't trust my poker face. We also headed down [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so after a few days relaxing in Melbourne, Adam and I looked at our watches and realized the date. We high-tailed it down to Sydney on yet another nightbus. I woke up right as we drove past the Sydney Opera House, and gave Adam a good shake so he'd see it too. We gave each other a high-five - against all odds, we'd made it to Sydney alive. I spent only one night there, to party with some friends I'd made up in Cairns, who were enjoying their last night in style. We went to King's cross, filled with romantic [View Full Entry]

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Ok, so Fraser Island was great. There were nine guys and one girl all crammed into an extremely powerful four by four. We just went WILD! Driving at top speed along the beach, testing out the suspension on some crazy offroad driving.. it was just a really really fun time. Fraser Island is so beautiful. Absolutely covered in Dingoes. Gave us a chance to say "Crikey, Look at the size of 'im!" Beautiful lookout called Indians head- mountain overlooking the perfectly coloured water. Yet another overnight bus brought us to Byron Bay, the ultimate hippy village. Our dormroom is a tipi. [View Full Entry]

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Ok! So Airlee Beach was a great success. Three days two nights of hanging out on a boat, sailing to different snorkel and beach locations. Our most impressive destination was the famous Whitehaven beach, where the sand is paper-white and so fine it crunches under your feet like snow. Incredible, really. I went into the water up to about waist height, and within a few minutes was surrounded by sand sharks, 2.5 to 3 feet long. Don't worry, these guys eat crabs and couldn't care less about me. While whitehaven was beautiful, my favourite part of this trip was just hanging [View Full Entry]

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