Blogs from Oceania - page 7098

We are in Australia now, yes I know, it has been a while since my last blog entry but here is the latest one!!! We arrived in Australia around 10 days ago. I have to say that Ozzies are quite paranoid, that was my first impression in customs, the asked me to have a look at my boots, which were buried deep down in my rucksack and to see the little shells that I have got from India. When you are filling the forms they ask if you have got any wood objects and of course you think, not really I haven't bought any mask or weird things around. Well HELLO!!! Isn't this bracelet a wooden bracelet, oh yes it is!! and you have NOT DECLARED IT!!! that is the situation that Ade had to ... read more

For the past 3 nights I have been living at sea on a boat called Spank Me. There was 20 of us and 4 crew members. It was all very exciting as I'd never been sailing before...and what a way to start, around the Whitsunday Islands... Our first day we went to Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island...this sand was the most softest and whitest sand that I have ever seen in my life. It is 90 something percent silica you just totally sank in it...the sea water would come across certain sections allowing you to wade through to get to an area completely surrounded by water... In the afternoon we sailed to Luncheon Bay and I had my first go at snorkelling...the reef was so colourful and suprisingly close to the beach...it was really shallow too ... read more

Day 1: home - Christchurch Thanks to Alice’s dedication in rising at 5am to drive us to the airport, we arrived in plenty of time to wander through the stupefying range of duty-free goods at Tullamarine before boarding a not-quite-full little plane on its journey to Christchurch. The trip across the Tasman was uneventful, but on approaching Christchurch it became apparent to us why Peter Jackson overspent his helicopter budget by so much on Lord of the Rings. Every break in the clouds revealed a new snowcapped-mountain landscape, as if the island has an unending supply of them. From our landing to arrival at the hotel was a slow pan of successive scenes of form-filling. One of these involved a declaration that we were carrying no form of organic matter that might decimate any of NZ’s ... read more

Now back to the First Wold, in Auckland Central Backpackers, on 9th Floor right next to the Southern Hemisphere's tallest building the Sky Tower, I will go up her tommorrow (pnar pnar, not one for the older readers) Good flight, met a couple in Fiji airport that i'd met in Cook Islands so had company, flight was 'sweet as' now an uber confident flyer, I even undo my belt just before the sign before the plane comes to a full halt (pretty impressive huh) But of course I always pay full attention to the safety videos So will spend a few days here to look around then make my chocies and forge southwards to mad activity heaven, good to have normal internet again, ... read more

Hello All Can you tell that I'm bored? I'm writing more often! The trip from Byron Bay to Brisbane passed without drama and the nice driver dropped me off at my hostel, which was a god send! However, when I got inside I felt really intimidated when I realised how big it was and saw all of these people chatting and things! Luckily, my big bro was on hand to talk me round but I was almost on a plane back home! The next day I had a mooch into town and went to some interviews with agencies. Brisbane is really pretty and the pedestrianised bits are really nice. I ended up buying some new work clothes, as I'd dyed some of my others grey, nice! And bought a new t-shirt because the man in the ... read more