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Contiki kids reunion Okay here begins my travel log for 2006.
After travelling extensively last year I have decided to take up the opportunity to live in England for 6 months once more and continue to travel also. This doesn't come without trepidation, considering I did do it last year and feel I maybe covering my tracks again.
Last year I was lucky enough to live in England, play cricket and work, and in my 5 month stint there I also managed to fly out and visit Turkey, where I saw the battlefields at Gallipoli (something I think most Australians should do) and Portugal. I also visited a fair few places within England, with the added bonus of not living far outside of London meant I could get in there quite regularly. After my time there I did a 30 day Contiki tour of Europe, encompassing France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Netherlands and Belgium. That tour became quite possibly the greatest month of my life. I was able to go to countries and places I had longed to go to, and did it with some great people that allowed for many fun times. I had a ball!!!! I could write so
One day final
Going out to bat with Murph much on that right here and now, but I am trying to keep this bit brief. But Paris, oh what an amazing city, people question this and accuse the French of being rude etc. but I found them all fine and friendly (maybe I was lucky). But it was just an amazing looking city and had some extra feel about it. Ah, here I go I am going to start going through every city place I visited in this synopsis, but every place we went to I had a great time and continue just to remember so many great moments we had. Staying at a French Chateau, visiting the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo, seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the rennaisance city of Florence. The Roman ruins that encompass Rome and The Vatican City, Pompeii, a ferry to Corfu and vegeing out for a while there, with Toga parties and Greek dinners, while getting lost and almost dying on the roads there.
Taking an all day ferry to Venice and Verona, Juliet's balcony and tomb. Venice flooded, and then taking gondola rides with a gondolier who wouldn't sing, so we sang at the top of our voices, all
while consuming champagne. Driving through the Dolomites to Vienna. Vienna and Austria in general surprising us, a visit to a Schnaps museum there. Arriving in Munich and straight to a beer hall (only a few days after Oktoberfest) singing and dancing, Prost! Down to mountain bike and parapent in the Austrian hills, visiting a concentration camp, white water rafting beside the Paramount Pictures mountain. Beautiful Switzerland, and Lauterbrunnen in between two gigantic cliffs, allowing ourselves to skydive over the Swiss Alps. Making myself tour guide as we drove up the Rhine River towards St Goar, I had a ball doing that! Making our way to Amsterdam and all that goes on there! Weird and wonderful place, that I am still getting over. Then the emotional goodbyes we had in London. I obviously don't have much to write about this trip!
Honestly it was so much fun! Plenty of parties, great times, great friends, great scenery, amazing cities. WOW. I want to do it all over again!
After this I flew to New York, where I met my mum on her 50th birthday. I saw her for a couple of days before she moved on to other parts of
Anzac Cove
This is me at Anzac Cove. Where Australian and NZ troops landed at Gallipoli in WW1 USA. I stayed in New York for a while, spending Halloween there and seeing all the most famous sites, before visiting Washington DC, Boston and LA. In LA I stayed with Kerrie and Molly, friends I had made from my Contiki tour of Europe. It was fun and gave me a look into their lives and away from the normal hostels I was staying in. My mum also managed to get to LA before she returned home, and we were able to all have a bbq dinner together, with Kerrie and Molly's parents and Kezza's brother, which was weird having not known these people 2 months prior. Also went to Disneyland again, and had many great nights in LA, with plenty of drinks to be had (yes please).
From there I moved onto Miami and stayed on South Beach (great scenery there!) for a few days before my South American adventure. Where I flew to Lima, Peru, from there I made my way to Cuzco where I began my Inca Trail, of four days trekking to reach Macchu Pichu. It was here at the end of the trek where I enjoyed my 23rd birthday with my fellow Inca trekkers.
Venice
The gondolas in Venice After getting back to Lima, I then made my way to Buenos Aires, where I spent a few days before a 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu to witness to mighty Iguazu Falls which is on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. It was awesome. Another bus ride back and after spending another night in Buenos Aires I flew to Santiago. A couple of days where spent in Chile's capital. South America was a great place to visit, very beautiful, but unlikely I could ever live there for a period of time. There was a fair bit of poverty that I saw and was pretty emotional when I saw a child with no arms, no legs and a burnt face begging on the streets in Lima. It really got to me, but what could I do? As you are told most parents use their kids to beg as people are more likely to give the kids the money, but then the parents take it straight off them.
After a delay overnight and being sent to a hotel due to failure with the plane, we then finally got on board for a 13 hour plane ride to Auckland,
Switzerland
Amazing sight coming into Lauterbrunnen New Zealand. Luckily I had a full two seats to myself there. I felt like I was getting back to the Down Under feel with the accents, language and lifestyle back to what I missed. I flew home after a full 10 months away from home on a beautiful Melbourne day.
I managed to get home just before Christmas which is what I had in plan before I left. I was proud that I said I was going to do all this and went through and did it off my on bat. Many people say 'I wanna' or 'I'm gonna', but I was proud of myself that I did do it all and had some of the most amazing experiences in my life.
It is a bit hard once you get home, as you are pleased to get home and see everyone, but after everything you go though, it can be somewhat of a let down. And you get a bit of withdrawals (I suffered big withdrawals after Contiki ended too).
But after a while it was great to enjoy Melbourne once again. I think the Commonwealth Games helped that too. Well done to Katrina on her
Austria
Parapenting in Hopfgarten gold, that was pretty awesome!
Great to play cricket with my mates again, at a great club, MUCC, and able to enjoy all of 'The Office' banter once more! Brilliant ... fact!
So after all that and taking it fairly easy again. Showing new found friends around Melbourne and hanging out and having a good time and after starting to feel like I belonged back home I am off once more. I don't want to regret not going overseas again (at an age I can) and I am now getting excited about the opportunities that await me once more!
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Shinz
non-member comment
I'm first to comment :)
Hey, you've got some good pics on here! I didn't realise how long you were travelling around for, man thats heaps. Wish I could still travel! I would like to point out that of course you'd have spare seats next to you on the plane because they were preparing you for how people in NZ are like! We are so nice and friendly and look after you!! :) The next time you come to NZ you're not getting away without catching up with me first tho. How are you feeling now that you've left, after that big delay? Happy travels Luv Shinz.