Blogs from Oceania - page 7084

Headed east for a 4-day trip around Maori country, involving staying for one night in the first city in the world to see the sun rise each day (Gisbourne), staying on a Maori farm and staying with a Maori family. Excellent trip - one of the highlights so far.... read more

I was in Cervantes by lunchtime, and checked into the (justifiably) award-winning Pinnacles Backpackers. Cervantes is so named because of a ship that was wrecked off the coast, however the local council took things one step further by deciding to name all the streets after places and people mentioned in de Cervantes' 17th century classic "Don Quixote". Cervantes relies on tourism generated by the nearby Nambung National Park, which contains the Pinnacles desert, a sandy expanse dotted with thousands of menhir-like limestone pillars. The pillars were originally formed underground, but the constant inshore winds have gradually blown away the surrounding sands to reveal them. There's a 3km one-way loop winding through the Pinnacles, with regular parking bays where you can stop and go for a wander. Especially when the sun drops lower in the sky and ... read more

Yesterday was incredibly interesting. We started the day with a visit to the Antarctic Museum, which turned out to be awesome! I had never really thought about Antarctica as a major destination, but it is actually quite popular. There several bases down there, some that hold almost 2,000 people. It's really like a small city. You don't have to be a scientist to go down there, but you must have a job during your stay. Our guide explained that on her visit she had worked in the restaurant there. Dr. A modeled for us the proper Antarctic attire. It was ridiculous. At least 5 layers of clothing, at least. I lost count. By far the best part of the museum was the Snow and Ice Experience. It is a room that is set up to ... read more

Hello again.......We are extremely sorry that it has been absolutely ages since blogging, you all must be getting fed up with waiting!!! The time over the past couple of months has gone at a lightening speed so we have fell well behind, but do not despair we will continue with our blogging and will be right upto date ASAP. When we last left you we were on our way to Hervey Bay. Well, after a 5 hour coach trip (with an idiot girl sitting behind us singing the 'La la la Long' song - our worst nightmare come true - yeah thanks to Inner Circle & 'Sweat'!!!) we arrived at 9pm. We were picked up by our hostel minibus. As we had an early start in the morning we sorted our bags out and got an ... read more

Well, I'm back. And I had the best time EVER on this sailing trip! There were 18 of us on this small little sail boat, but it was the best group to be with, because we needed to stay sane with the problem of bed bugs and cokroaches crawling around in our beds, and I'm no where near kidding. We were itchy more often than not. There was a group of four Canadian guys on the boat who were just hilarious. The Friday night was one of their birthdays, so we had a huge toga party; using our bed sheets as togas and playing cards. Some other random sailors robed in togas jumped aboard as well, so our boat was just one big party! The first night (Thursday), we got a snack of potato wedges and ... read more