Blogs from Oceania - page 6534

The 170km from Omarama to Queenstown take us gently back towards the mountains. The road passes through Tarras, a tiny blip on the map which gained worldwide fame (well, almost) as the home of Shrek, a naughty merino sheep who was found in 2004 having evaded the shears for six consecutive years and, as you might expect, looking quite alarming for this fact. The hapless creature, having avoided capture for so long by hiding in caves, was caught and promptly shorn of his fleece, which weighed in at no less than 27 kilograms (enough wool, I am told, to make twenty suit jackets). Queenstown has a spectacular location: on the shores of squiggle-shaped Lake Wakatipu, the town sits against a backdrop of soaring, snow-capped peaks. Queenstown has developed into New Zealand's undisputed backpacker capital which, in ... read more

Along with our cheese toasties for dinner last night, we thought we'd add a touch of sophistication by cracking open a bottle of white wine. New Zealand produces some fabulous wines but unfortunately most of them are well out of our price range so the cheap Black Label wine we picked up at the supermarket before leaving Christchurch was far from the best. Flavour-wise it was quite nice actually but the way my head felt this morning made me vow never to touch a drop again as long as I live! Luckily we weren't going far today. Well, in fact we weren't going anywhere at all! We had enjoyed our time by Lake Pukaki so much yesterday that we agreed to stay on another night if the weather was nice again and it most certainly was. ... read more

We arrived at lunch time and were amazed at the location of Waitomo. It is basically just caves in the middle of nowhere, with a couple of cafe's, hotels and activity company's that have presumably popped up, as tourism to the area increased. It is a beautiful place with amazing views and is almost silent except from the birds and insects, and the odd car traveling through. We had a quick lunch and then headed for the information centre to get some info on local walks to make the most of the beautiful location. We were lucky and there was a decent walk that started just over the road from our hostel. It was about an hour and a half each way with an extra half hour add on at the other end if we wanted ... read more

We arrived in Airlie Beach after an overnight bus journey from Hervey Bay. Got about 2 hours sleep, it was so uncomfortable, and just as I fell asleep the driver would decide to make a stop, turning all the lights on and announcing on his microphone that we were stopping, therefore waking everyone up even though it was 2am. He would also play strange films at loud volume, so I don't see how anyone is meant to sleep. So, tired in Airlie Beach we checked into our hostel, Magnums, not the greatest place I've stayed by far. The kitchen didn't even have hobs, and there were no table and chairs to sit and eat. Anyway, we were so tired so we got an early night in our 10 people dorm. Unfortunatley we had 10 Irish people ... read more

Ok, well Tim got here eventually although I had a few problems trying to work out what day he actually arrived because he was travelling for three different days due to the time difference. Anyway mum managed to get hold of me just before I was gonna go on the wrong day (thanks) and so it was all good. Managed to get there at the right time and on the right day. Had to be there at 5 in the morning which was horrible. After we got back and slept, I played tour guide for a couple of days, exploring the sights of cairns. We spent a bit too long in the sun the first day that he was here and he ended up burning his face pretty badly. Then at night time we had a ... read more