Advertisement
Published: July 14th 2009
Sydney skyline
Fab weather when I arrived in May14 Jul - greetings from New Zealand. Only been here a few days but lovin this country...despite the cold, brrrrrrr.
Had an AWESOME 3 hours yesterday when I went heli-hiking on the Franz Josef glacier. Superb weather - blue skies, great snowy mountains and glistening ice like I've never seen before. An amazing experience riding on a helicopter, landing on the ice then hiking for two hours through the ice wearing crampons, exploring ice caves and tunnels.
Anyway, to rewind...since my last blog, the rest of my time in the land down under was fantastic. Hectic but v enjoyable. Had a wonderful three days sailing round the Whitsundays on Solway Lass, a tall ship. Whitehaven beach was spectacular, with white sands and blue, clear waters that are truly as impressive as they look in the photos.
Two days on Fraser Island just wasn't enough but a great experience 4WD-ing down the beach. Saw dingos, dolphins and whales!
Few days in Brisbane. Just another Aussie city, but it was Tartan Day when I was in Brissie, tartan tat galore...with a chance to win a trip to Scotland, now that sounds like a nice place to visit 😊
Byron Bay was a great wee laid back town. Nice walk to the lighthouse and Australia's more easterly point. The next day I went sea-kayaking for the first time. Absolutely petrified ( I hate the surf / being in the water) and can genuinely say I hated every minute of it. AND it was pouring with rain. Glad I made myself 'face the fear' though, and to see a dolphin only a few feet away was unforgettable.
Back in Sydney I was able to catch up with Leigh and family before flying to NZ.
Few days in Christchurch (soooo English), great train journey across the Southern Alps on the TranzAlpine, tour of Monteith's brewery in Greymouth then arrived in Franz yesterday lunchtime before taking the heli-hike 30 mins later - PHEW, this pace is exhausting but sooooooo much fun. I DON'T WANNA COME HOME.
So, the travels continue. Still having great fun...running out of money...missing everyone. Hope you like these photos from Oz.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.189s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0801s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Ali
non-member comment
Fantastic photos!
Brilliant pictures. I've loved looking at these, thanks so much for posting them up. Looking forward to seeing you in SF. Ali.x