Melanie Earp
The original plan was to just do 3 months volunteering to get some experience before I could start applying for jobs in conservation....and it just grew!! I have had to reel myself in a little and am now doing 'The World' in 2 halves, with possibly some other little excursions in between. The first half being Ghana, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. More details later. After looking into volunteering and realising how expensive some of the projects were I decided to go it alone and I'm hoping that my personal experiences will help others to realise that you don't have to spend £800 -£1500 per week to volunteer. Having said that I can see why, in some instances, it is expensive, it takes a lot of planning, research and organisation. I've spent the last 18 months or so planning my trip and I've probably still missed something but that's part of the adventure. Anyway, my trip starts on 9th June (thanks to Alitalia) more later. Hopefully someone will find my rantings interesting.budgettraveller
Travel Blog Posts
And now, the end is near!
Published: April 12th 2012Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Northland » Paihia
January 12th 2012
Couldn't resist quoting the late great Frank Sinatra! but here I am, the last leg, the last 10 days of my epic journey. So where do I spend it? Paihia! Lovely little town North of Auckland, not much going on but the same can be said for many of the towns I'v stayed in along my journey. The thing is, that's not what New Zealand is all about. I have loved every minute of my time here in New Zealand and Paihia was no different. Yes, the rain kind of put a dampener on things for the first few days but I don't suppose it would have mattered where I was, the rain tends to do that. In fact my welcome back from Australia was a little offputting to say the least. The rain never stopped ... read more
January 5th 2012
After a most fabulous week in Sydney I made my way down to Melbourne and I have to say at first glance, it didn't impress me as much as Sydney. Sydney is more of a high rise city whereas Melbourne is more open, which is nice but whereas in Sydney everything seemed to be easily accessible from Central Quay, Melbourne seems much more spread out. I did spend a day there, I visited Victoria Market which I have to say I loved, the food part anyway, and I picked up something for lunch. There were so many fruit and veg stalls. I had a wander down to Cook's Cottage but didn't go in as I wanted to see as much as possible in my day as I didn't think there would be enough to warrant coming ... read more
Welcome to Oz!
Published: January 5th 2012Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Kensington
January 5th 2012
First of all can I just say that Australia was never on my list of places I wanted to visit - why? - well they have eight legs! I always thought that they were everywhere and as I have a bit of a phobia I wasn't prepared to risk it. Anyway, I'm here now and can I just say - WOW, what the hell have I been thinking for all these years, Sydney is awesome, the waterfront is superb. I got the most fabulous view of the city as we came in to land but unfortunately my camera was in the overhead locker so you'll just have to believe me. I got my monies worth from the weekly travel ticket and just went everywhere. Firstly, the ferry over to Darling Harbour which has the most amazing ... read more
Return to the North
Published: January 1st 2012Oceania » New Zealand » North Island » Wellington Region » Wellington
January 1st 2012
Welcome back to Wellington. Got a bit of a shock as I'd only been in the hostel for about an hour when we had an earthquake. The epicentre was actually 60km down just south of Picton on the south Island, so quite a way away but the building definitely rocked! Te Papa, the museum in Wellington has 'quake-proof' foundations and they have a display where you can see how they work. It's pretty cool actually. I wonder if they intend to rebuild Christchurch on them, or perhaps they should just move the city a few kilometres? I thought about going to the theatre but got confused with the dates of when the show I fancied seeing was on. Ah well. Wellington is a bit of a sprawling city so just kept to the waterfront, as usual ... read more
Abel Tasman
Published: December 20th 2011Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Nelson Region » Nelson
December 20th 2011
Rained quite hard as I moved on to Nelson this morning but my first thoughts were for my son who starts his basic training today - albeit 13 hours later due to time difference! One of the good services that the hostel in Nelson provided was a free pick-up from the bus station which was greatly appreciated. The other was free hot chocolate pudding and ice cream at 8.00pm every night. It's the sister hostel to Sequoia Lodge in Picton. Up early the next morning to make my way to the beautiful Abel Tasman National Park. I had hoped to do some walking in the park but again I should have checked independently on me hostel's location because although in the description it says it is on the edge of the park - compared to Auckland ... read more
December 20th 2011
After leaving Queenstown, I started my journey back up towards Auckland starting with Wanaka, which is a lovely town, again on the edge of it's own lake and with lots of the same activities as Queenstown but less boisterous! There are some good walks, Puzzle World and a quirky cinema call Paradiso that has sofas and armchairs to sit in and serves home-made cookies and ice-cream in the intermission. Continuing on my way North, I stopped at a place called Haast - why? because the guidebook said it was good for bird-watching so I thought a nice place to relax. That didn't work out though because, firstly it rained most of the day but apart from that, as it typical in New Zealand you really need your own transport as the bird-watching is a few kilometres ... read more
December 20th 2011
I left Dunedin and headed for Te Anau, a lovely litle town on the edge of a lake. Good base for walks, however, I was only there overnight before heading for Milford Sound the following morning. It was a very long day, but well worth it. It took 3 hours in total to reach Milford Sound as we had a couple of stops on the way, Mirror Lakes, Chasms and Monkey Creek. We were really lucky with the weather again and I managed to take some fab photos and got to drink out of the creek. I know it's only water but with no chlorine, no fluoride it was delicious. The cruise was fabulous, I didn't get to see any wildlife but the scenery was amazing. After the 3 1/2 hour cruise we had a 5 ... read more
December 8th 2011
Wow, so much has happened since my last blog a month ago. I know I've been very lax but other people have been making demands on my internet time but here goes. I stayed a total of 10 days in Christchurch during which time I went to the most fab Fireworks display at the beach. The fireworks were all set up on the pier and it was just a like a festival - there were thousands of people there. Apparently it's the main one in Christchurch which is why it gets so busy. It's also free, which helps. I had some great weather in Christchurch and even got to do a bit of sunbathing. I left Christchurch and went on to Oamaru, still on the east coast where I got to see some adorable little blue ... read more
November 5th 2011
Here's the first lot of photos! Lots of views but that's what New Zealand is all about. Enjoy!... read more
November 3rd 2011
Sorry I've not managed to do an update for a while, been working and not had great access to the internet, plus when I do it's not exactly cheap! Anyway done a couple of Helpx projecs in Coromandel Peninsula which is awesome, the views are absolutely stunning both the landscape and the seascape, unfortunately didn't get to see any Orca's which are known to appear frequently but did get involved in some conservation work, baiting possum traps! - they are a real serious pest here, unlike in Oz where they protect them!? and chopping down ginger which grows like a weed and again is a serious problem. My next stop was just inland from Whakatane where I pruned some fruit trees, did general gardening and for the first time in years went riding, thanks Kelly. Whilst ... read more
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