Blogs from Oceania - page 7093

Just a quick update as internet time is precious these days. It was absolutely fabulous relaxing on the Sunshine Coast and we definitely spent a few well needed days of doing NOTHING on the beach. The weather for the most part was glorious. It really is hard to think of it being winter when the sun is bearing down on you. We are both officially tanned, yahoo. We took some awesome walks/runs on the beach and the colors were spectacular. We made friends with a wild pelican, what a weird looking bird. We ate freshly caught fish from the wharf. We found plenty of sea glass, as you all know that Ozzies love their stubbies. Basically last week was blissfully relaxing and we are well caught up on our news and even finished some more books! ... read more

Tasmania was amazing, it has beautiful scenery absolutely everywhere. We were there for a week in total. We hired a car in Launceston and drove down the whole of the east coast, right down to the south east peninsular. From there we headed back up to Launceston via Cradle Mountain. We covered 845 miles in total and thankfully managed to get the car back in one piece. Tasmania is much like the Lake District but on a grand scale. Some of the scenery really has been breath taking. Rich has even said that some of the views are nearly as amazing as Ferryside...so they must be good! Along our journey we've seen waterfalls, caves, blow holes, the vast outback, beautiful white sand beaches, mountains, bizarre rock formations, forests and a gorge. It's coming up to the ... read more

Bula!! We cant believe its out 10th day in Fiji already..After arriving at 4am we managed to get up and get on a boat from Nadi to Mana island with no jet lag at all! The boat journey was quite exciting however we were disheartened by the 'groovy gappers' that surrounded us! Mana was not what we expected and to be honest not the best first impression of Fiji. The beach was tiny very narrow and covered in seaweed, the food was awful and we booked a double room that was so tiny! Also, there was no electricity and no running water. But we did have nearly 4 litres of Fiji beer that night to improve the mood. Next we went to beachcomber island and it was a huge contrast to the Mana. The beach was ... read more

Today we drove to Kaikoura which is on the east coast, facing the pacific ocean. We hiked out on a peninsula and saw a couple of seals sunbathing on rocks (even though it was cloudy and cold) and they didn't seem at all amused by us humans. They are cute in a lazy, roly poly sort of way but the signs warn to stay 10meters away, and when one of the stubborn americans tried to get closer, he got growled at and all of those jagged pointy teeth kinda but a damper on the cute factor. The waves were crashing against the rocks like crazy and bringing in long thick strands of seaweed that felt like rubber and was fun to play with (see picture 3). There were shells in perfect condition tucked all around the ... read more

Cruisin’ in the C.O.W. - - New Zealand In mid-May, we were fortunate to have three very close friends from California, Jackie, Shekels and Eryn, join us for some New Zealand adventure…Our chosen mode of transportation was a Winnebago/campervan that we aptly nicknamed the C.O.W. (Compound On Wheels). To bystanders, any confusion about just how important the C.O.W. was to our ultimate adventure could quickly be convinced by the crew’s (and Cricket’s!) matching C.O.W. t-shirts (thank you Shekels!), our hand-sewn C.O.W. banner (compliments of Shekels!), our colorful C.O.W. poster, and our endless banter about the C.O.W., the pros & cons of the C.O.W., suggestions for improving the C.O.W., the so-called “house-rules” of the C.O.W., etc. As most of you know, New Zealand is a country known for its outdoor adventure - - we tried our best ... read more