With only a few days left in New Zealand we had to make the most of our time, so we took a VERY scenic route to Rotorua in order to visit the glow worm caves in Waitomo on the way. The caves were about a two or three hour drive from Taupo, and it was at least that long again on to Rotorua. But they were well worth it. The Waitomo region is home to an incredible network of caves, the ones we visited are the most well known. As part of a guided tour we were brought through the caves [View Full Entry]

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One tiny plane. Three irish chicks. 15,000 feet in the air. And three Australian gentlemen who claim to know how the hell we got here. Hmmmmmmm.......quite an afternoon. But before that we had to get the Lake Taupo (sky diving capital of the world, so surely THE place to do it. If you're ever going to do it!) - we took a bit of a scenic route from Wellington, taking in the art deco town of Napier on the way. The North Island is instantly much busier and more commercialised than south. The roads are still bendy, but around many of [View Full Entry]

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I take it back. YHA hostels are fantastic. At least this one in Wellington is. It's what all good hostels should aspire to be. There are endless lounge areas with more couches than Harvey Norman could shake a stick at, two huge spotless kitchens, giant mugs from which to drink my coffee, M&M machines everywhere, a tv room with the comfiest sofa from where I just watched Dr Phil and Oprah, and a rather lovely notice board in reception with 100 Free Things to do in Wellington. How thoughtful! And it gets all this praise despite the fact that we are [View Full Entry]

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Time for a challenge, anyone? From Queenstown we headed for Wanaka, a small town about two hours north, along a series of ridiculously windy roads (did I mention we were out late the night before?). It's a cute enough place, surrounding (surprisingly) Lake Wanaka, and among its attractions is Puzzling World, a quirky place for those fond of getting lost. The main draw is a large maze when adults and kids alike wander around (unfortunately its a wooden construction, in my opinion any proper maze should consist of hedges), looking for the four corners, before finding their way out again. Myself [View Full Entry]

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As soon as we left Omarama, we seemed to enter Wild West country; dry mountains of reds and burnt browns - all that was missing was a tumbleweed or two. You get to take in sooooooo much scenery simply driving through New Zealand, it's amazing. Things got a lot greener as we approached wonderful lovely beautiful Queenstown. I love this town! It looks like the most perfect little alpine resort that you could imagine; minus the snow(at this time of year). The town curves around one side of Lake Wakatipu, and is completely surrounded by stunning mountains, most of which make [View Full Entry]

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Christchurch eh? Christchurch is interesting, in so far as, it's not interesting at all. One would expect New Zealand's second biggest city to have some sort of pazzaz or life to it, but turns out it doesn't. We arrived (several hours later than planned thanks to delays at the airport) to our hostel at around midnight, feeling a little dazed and confused. Our taximan from the airport had helpfully informed us that we were now as far away as possible from home, a grand total of 13hours ahead. Thanks mate; god forbid any of us should be feeling homesick! We were [View Full Entry]

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Since I last updated the blog, a lot has happened. After all our visitors left us (sniff sniff!) at the end of January, we started the job hunt to keep ourselves fed for the last stretch in Melbourne. But then, Claud got a phonecall to go home, as her dad had had a heartattack. She got to spend two days with him before he passed away on January 26th. Thankfully, Claud is back with us now, in fantastic spirits, despite the hard times she and all of her family have gone through. Our next, and final, three months of travelling are [View Full Entry]

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Ahhhhh, on the road again, if even for a few days! I was determined to do some "good stuff" with the girls in the greater Melbourne area while they were here, so a day after we got back from Sydney I had arranged for us to hire a car, and set off down the Great Ocean Road. Now, obviously I have driven in Australia before, but driving in Melbourne presents a whole new list of problems due to the "feckin trams". Main problem being, you have to turn right from the left hand lane if you are crossing a tram track. [View Full Entry]

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The first thing to say is, my mother didn't disappoint. Well, she never does, does she? The pressure was on for Mags Meade to pull out all the stops in a foreign country and with alien kitchen utensils and produce a feast of a dinner on Christmas Day. And a feast it was! The celebrations started about 24 hours earlier when Sabrina's boyfriend Paul arrived (no flight delays thank lord) on Christmas Eve morning. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, the happy couple reunited at last; sure twas lovely altogether. That night we all went to PJ O'Brien's in Southbank to toast the festive season. Now, [View Full Entry]

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Jaysus lads, it's been a while hasn't it?? Apologies, apologies, BUT, in my defence, this is a TRAVEL blog, and we haven't actually been travelling at all for the last two months..... An alibi of sorts surely?? Anyway, I'm back, and a lot has happened since my last entry. Mainly, we've been living the the (second) best city in the world.....Melbourne baby! And I LOVE IT. We all do, and it has been treating us very very well, thank you very much. We arrived here back in September, with a rough plan to find a place to live and a job [View Full Entry]

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