http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Oceania en-us Wed, 14 May 2008 01:31:58 BST Wed, 14 May 2008 01:31:58 BST Hey guys.....Ok so we only just updated our last blog and we know that it took ages to do that one As a result we thought we'd just wack some photos on this time so you can have a picture blog......If you're lucky if we can be arsed we may eventually upload a proper blog for our time on the east coast but for now you'l just have to marvel at some of these pics.....Please dont be too jealous ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/blog-275964.html The packers are filling boxes in our apartment as I type... it's time to say goodbye to Canberra. A couple of pictures of Canberra in autumn the next installment will be from the Great Ocean Road en route to Russ and Kate's fabulous wedding next week http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Australian-Capital-Territory/Canberra/blog-275959.html Another beautiful sunny day in the Adelaide Hills. Guy is not expecting to hear from the Builder for a few days while he builds up more work so he started the day with school. I had a morning appointment with the optometrist and I have asked for a late shift with Drake. I did not hear from them so gave them a call. Drake has been very quiet for requests for work so I decided to ring Blackwood hosp http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/blog-275954.html It was a beautiful sunny day and school was back in. Guy had not heard from the builder so he would be home for the day. I have requested a late shift with Drake and are awaiting a call. With it being a warmer day I was keen to wash our bed spread up at the local laundry where they have a 16kg washing machine. So I packed the car with dirty washing and my bag of 1 coins and off I went while Guy s http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/blog-275949.html We spent four days in Samoa staying at the Aggie Gray resort. The flight from NZ took 4 hrs and we arrived early 520am local time 420am NZ time Friday morning so we were tired when we got in.Aggie Grays Resort is very nice. The water is blue and warm and there is a lovely pool with a bar the foods good its well maintained and the staff are very friendly. On Friday night there was a c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Samoa/Upolu/blog-275947.html Hey Greetings from New Zealand I have been loving it here as well. Arrived on the 8th with Kat and Brett. I had a lot of fun with them. We drove around. Went to the Waitomo glow worm cave on the 9th which was super cool. Drivng through the countryside was a lot of fun. Then we got to Turangi and on the 10th Brett and I hiked around Tongariro national park around where mordor stuff was fi http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-275937.html It is 209am and i have finally FINISHED packing what a trial that was After a whole day of running around doing errands and being manic...i had to figure out how to fit the next 3 weeks of my life into a backpack.Unfortunately I didn't succeed and in fact succumbed to the lure of the suitcase instead. With the help of the very experienced and well traveled Phuongy much love woman We managed t http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Hurstville/blog-275835.html Happy Mother's Day I woke to the kids jumping into our bed and very pleased with their gifts. I received a new travel cup a Beautiful kits of perfume and cream and a pedometer to encourage me to do some more walking. Firstly I need a new hip Guy cooked my favorite breakfast of Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon which I love. We got dressed for the day and phoned our mums to say a big hi. We head http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/blog-275770.html Everyone was a bit excited because there was to be no school work this weekend We were all excited especially the kids. They slept in and read their books in bed before they finally got up. Then they watched TV while they had breakfast which was a real treat. I had requested a shift with NASA but there was no phonecall so Guy and Jacqueline went orienteering down at Flinders Uni in the afternoo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/South-Australia/Adelaide-Hills/blog-275769.html We went to see The Big Picture today. This is the most amazing painting we have ever seen. It is the world's largest painting which stands 12 meters high and 100 meters long. WOW It looks so real. It is a scene of the outback but the way it has been presented is amazing. I highly recommend a visit to see this it was pained by Peter Anderson.In the afternoon the four of us went out http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/blog-275762.html I have always wanted to come to Broken Hill to see the amazing array of art galleries. Well I havenrsquot been disappointed. We went to the Pro Hart gallery the other day and what an amazing place it is. So many paintings by this wonderful artist. He had such a great sense of humour. You could look at his paintings for hours and never see everything they are truly wonderful.We also vis http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Broken-Hill/blog-275756.html Had yet another fab day Decided to have a day exploring inland. We visited small towns villages waterfalls and lakes. The best part was calling off at a national park. We weren't expecting much but it was really cool with huge granite rock formations. The walks were pretty tough though as you had to leap between boulderts and scramble up giant rocks The highlight were the wallabies that c http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/blog-275745.html We came back from two weeks off. It wasnt easy. Im starting to get a bit sick of school like I normally do at home. The first day back I had a soccer game. it was a home game our first game of the season. It was an intense game. We scored first in the first half off a beautiful goal and at the end of the half it was still 10. Then in the second half Sean had a PK which he missed miserably kickin http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/New-South-Wales/Sydney/Avalon/blog-275744.html today I was back at work for Adrian. I arrived at 8AM and Adrian didn't show up until about 835. From there we loaded some stuff onto the truck and took off. We stopped at a home improvement place to pick up concrete powder and timber. We went to a job site where I was for the rest of the day until 430. Today there was also a new guy working for Adrian who happened to be staying in the same room http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-275739.html Today I did the dumbest job I will probably do in my life. I needed a break from work so I thought I would take a half day of work today and then take tomorrow off completly. I wasnt really paying attention when mike told me what we would be doing but I ended up cleaning ice cream trucks. It was the shittiest and dumbest work ive done. They never really told us what to do and at the end when they http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/blog-275737.html We travelled to Magnetic Island for some relaxation on the picturesque beaches but ended up hiring a moped and exploring the Island http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Magnetic-Island/blog-275704.html I arrived in Auckland at a stupidly early hour and was not in the best of moods having realised that I had left my MP3 on the plane. Very irritating as I had just put all my music on it but hey these things happen and at least it was not anything too importantI got myself to a hostel and then decided to look around Auckland but to be honest it wasnt that great so it was a good thing Claudio http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-275692.html My Christmas holiday started in Labasa the main town on the second largest island Vanua Levu. My fellow travellers and I spent the first day looking around town. Labasa is a big centre for the sugar cane industry here so it wasnt unusual to see huge trucks spilling over with sugar cane trundling through the main street in town. Next stop was Savusavu about a 3 hour bus ride from Labasa. It http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Taveuni/blog-275666.html I spent the Easter long weekend with the Rucksack Club in the Viti Levu highlands. This trip was to Heaven's Edge about 2 hours inland from Nadi. On Good Friday the plan was to walk from Nagado Village to Heaven's Edge. No one was really sure how long it would take to do the walk with estimates of somewhere between 2 hours and 9 hours We started off around 10am and it was a good but tiring wa http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Fiji/Viti-Levu/blog-275662.html HelloI know I don't update my blog as often as everyone wants and for that I'm sorry. But anyway I've just been in Christchurch working and been living in my flat and have been struggling to save money. It is very difficult to save money here in NZ. I tell that to kiwi's and all they say is its all relative. That sounds like something my Dad would say and I'm pretty sure has before. Anyway I ha http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Canterbury/Christchurch/blog-275658.html this morning to physio after that morning coffee at the information centre.next as it is a lovely sunny day we walked along the river at raumanga.just to prove we where there here the photo s. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Whangarei/blog-275650.html We left Kaikoura on Sunday morning to drive down to Christchurch in the Canterbury Region of South Island. We stopped on the way at the country town of Cheviot took a side trip to Gore Bay with it's spectacular Cathedrals mud formations in the cliffs and then continued through the Waipara Vallery passing many wineries along the way. We had a look at some of the 'commutabletoChristchruch' http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-275633.html We had a great day in Kaikoura this is one of our favourite places on earth pacific ocean snowcapped mountains beaches cliffs rockpools abundant seafood resident seal colony etc. We spent the morning walking on the cliffs and then had fresh seafood cooked by the side of the road. Then late afternoon we drove 133kms inland into the mountains stopping on the way at Mount Lyford a m http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Kaikoura/blog-275632.html ArrivalThe bus journey from Surfers to Brisbane was relatively quick mainly because we slept like babies. We were soon stretching our aching muscles at the Brisbane Transit Centre in the warm Queensland evening.We had phoned up and booked a cheap deal with Brisbane City Backpackers a central hostel in surprisingly enough the city of Brisbane. We stumbled about with the weight of our bags up http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Brisbane/Central-Business-District/blog-275631.html Good morning readers Welcome to Mel Bel Nic's travel blog Here we are going to try keep you all updated on our travels adventures and drinking shenanigans. So we have 11 more days till we take off on our world trip. First stop Hawaii... so watch this space and well keep you all posted x Melski http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Western-Australia/Perth/blog-275622.html Successful daysAfter we found the wonderful beaches at Farewell Spit and drove back via the mountains of Abel Tasman we got to do some kayaking again This time we paddeled a full day unguided around the Abel Tasman National Park. Not only stunning beaches and wonderful islands were our company but also little seals They followed our kayak swam in cricles and jumped like doplins Unfortunate http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Nelson-Region/Nelson/blog-275617.html Nicky Hi all So this will be our last blog from NZ. We have a great time the last week exploring the bottom of the south island although it has got so cold It is not nice to hear that England is bathed in sunshine it is supposed to be us that is on holiday ha haIt got so cold last night that we wimped out and rather than staying on a remote campsite next to a beautiful lake we drove i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Queenstown/blog-275616.html Nach meinem Extremadrenalinerlebnis vom Vortag war ich auf den Geschmack gekommen und beschloss nochmal was sportliches zu unternehmen. Etwas das pur Kiwi ist. Nein nicht BungyJumping das reizt mich ueberhaupt nicht nein von Zorbing ist die Rede.Fuer die die es nicht kennen es ist nicht besonders bekannt der Zorb ist ein riesiger Gummiball aehnlich einem Golfball im Inneren hohl so http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/Rotorua/blog-275601.html Well i havnt done really anything but relax the last week. In two days i will be going to the great barrier reef in style HELICOPTER. Nothing like seeing the great barrier reef from the sky then in the water for divingsnorkeling followed by a boat ride in. Kinda spend most of my time walking around town up and down the esplanade city park. Went for dinner a few nights ago and ate the b http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/Australia/Queensland/Cairns/Cairns-City/blog-275598.html