I'm sure your all waited with baited breath for my last blog entry, I do admire and applaude you if you've managed to stay consious whilst reading my waffle. Last few days in NZ were uneventful, had a good night out in Christchurch to celebrate the end of our travels, lets just say Helen moonwalked on stage (she wasn't invited to!). After that Sunday in Christchurch wasn't so much fun and we sat around the hostel getting very bored. Just flew in this afternoon to London which was very exciting, it smelt like home which was nice. Pretty serious flight but [View Full Entry]

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Since my last facinating blog we drove down from Wanaka across the 'Crown range' which was so extreme that we had to carry snow chains and wear beanie hats and take photos of us smiling in the snow. Drove down to Te Anau, the town of nothing, they had a cinema that only showed this DVD of the local area. Drove from Te Anau to Milford Sound, was disappointed by the Sound, the only bit of water in NZ that we've seen that was poluted, but the drive there and back through the mountains was more than worth it and made [View Full Entry]

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Woke up crrrazily early to catch the ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island. All went smoothly and honestly getting the ferry into Picton is the best introduction to the South Island you could imagine. It sails through Malborough Sound, absolultely stunning and peacful and wonderful. Drove down to Kaikura, more beautifulness, drove through the Malborough wine region which was pretty but then hit the coastal road. The Kaikura mountains to our right and then black sand and the sea on our left, the road was literally on the beach at points. We stopped to watch some seals flop [View Full Entry]

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Finished our time on the North Island, got to Wellington yesterday. Driving up to Wakapapa was stunning, there were 3 mountains in that region including 'Mt. Doom' from the LOTR movie, which is volcano shapped, but at this time of year was covered in snow. Really stunning, we had great plans to drink hot chocolate in the posh hotel up there and admire the view but they were rude and wouldn't serve us so we didn't. To be fair we very rarely change our clothes at the moment, mainly because it's too cold to take off your clothes and warm up [View Full Entry]

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Ok firstly before you ready this, look at where I am, Whakapapa, ok a Maui word, right... Maui's pronounce Wh as Fu... Nearly didn't make it to the airport! Will say nothing more than it involved a night out with some people from the hostel, and me turning off my alarm when drunk and a 6.55am bus to the airport. Once at the airport I was a proper hobo sleeping on my bag, most likely snoring and dribbling. Flight was fine got to Auckland and was met by friends of Siov's. I stayed with them for a night, they had a [View Full Entry]

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Woop made it to Cairns. Went from Magnetic Island (was sad to leave) to Mission beach so Siov could go rafting. I decided to book onto do 2 dives on Saturday, was a disaster. Got ill on Friday evening (suspecting a fish burger but I don't know) but still went on the trip. It was cold(ish) on the day and we had a 90 minute boat ride through the roughest conditions I think I've ever been though. At one point 5 people were throwing up (luckily not me) and I was being propped up by an Italian as all the younguns [View Full Entry]

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Spent a day sailing around the Whitsunday's on the boat 'Camira', was expecting it to be really tacky and touristy (we'd gone for the cheapest option avaliable) but was pleasantly suprised. Did some snorkeling but the visability was really poor and the reef wasn't that excited - made me exciting for all the dive trips I'm doing before I leave Aus though! Went to Whitehaven beach, was really stunning, perfectly white sand, clear blue water, like Lake Mackenzie. Can't really describe it any better than that, basically was the most perfect beach ever! Spent the rest of the day sailing around [View Full Entry]

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Had a really good day in 1770, we borrowed bikes for free (woop!) from the hostel and cycled around the tiny town of 1770 all the way to the headland. Was amazing weather and the views were great, felt good to be doing some exercise! On the way back ate the most amazing pie ever, we were so hungry! We also constructed the most amazing washing line in our dorm room and cooked the most salty sausages ever, the first meal we've had to throw away, they were inedible and I felt ill all night... Nice! Set off early (we're getting [View Full Entry]

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Left Brisbane after sorting out everything for the rest of the trip and running around and around the city trying to track down a copy of the police report. Getting pretty sick of having to do boring stuff like go the police and argue with the car hire company. Had a really good night out in Bris and we're enjoying being in the more sociable hostels rather than in the cold campsites with old people. Glad to leave the city (when we eventually managed to get out the one way system!) and be driving on the dead straight roads that we're [View Full Entry]

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We left Simon's after sleeping on his sofa for 2 nights. Very different to British student life, they live in the most beautiful apartment overlooking a lake. Really spacious and modern, they also all drive really nice cars and live a more luxurious lifestyle than any students I've ever met! Did a major shop to replace all the essentials that were stolen, shopping in Australia is good, lots of Billabong shops but it's the same price as back home. All other shops are probably about half the price although you don't really get any of the brands from home, but I [View Full Entry]

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