Blogs from Oceania - page 7358

Sydney! So i finally made it to Australia. My final flight for a few months and i get stopped by customs for a random check. They had to call over the customs manager to check that smuggling in marmite wasn't an arrestable offense, and to verify if i needed to clean my boots. Good good customs agents. Anyway, i'm slowly but surely deciding what i need to be doing with myself. Gonna head out on Monday and get a bank account set up and see about getting tax file numbers and such. Currently looking into work in either the Melbourne or Brisbane area, along with apartments and such in those areas. Gonna visit the harbour and Opera House at some point, thinking i might get to the Tower later this evening for a look of the ... read more

I heard about this great hostel from a couple at Kinloch lodge so I booked two nights here before I left. I wanted to visit Punakiki because it has a rugged coastline and the famous "Blow Holes" where the pounding surf surges through vertical holes in the sandstone and blows up into the sky. Quite dramatic. Anyway I arrived yesterday to a rainforest retreat surrounded by native forest and 8 minutes from an incredible beach. I'm staying in a small A-frame that has windows on the ceiling that look up into the forest and the sky. I can see the stars at night. I have to walk a small trail into my oasis through forest and past other well hidden retreats. My place doesn't have electricity so last night I lit 10 small candles and read ... read more

Last night, before I went to bed, Mom warned me that there was one cockroach that they had on board. Supposedly it is the large kind and so is a lone cockroach, and in the south pacific, where they've been everybody gets at least one. Well, my little bed is right by the hatch to the outside. And in the bathrooms, there were a bunch of little black crickets for some reason. Yeah, bugs. Ick! I didn't think I'd have to face that here in NZ. As I was chanting right before bed, one of the things that I was chanting about was a BUG FREE ZONE all around my bed. I slept about 8 hours, but it was a bit fitful. A boat is NOISEY! Creeking, rocking, clicking, all kinds of noises, not to mention ... read more

Yöllä heräsin kauheeseen vesisateeseen. se vähän viilensi ilmaa, joka on aivan sairaan kuuma. nukkuessa ei tarvi kuin lakanan! päivä meni vähän pitkälle ennenku noustiin. Mä heräsin siinä puolen päivän aikaan ja ystävällisesti herätin Minnankin.. ;) meillähän ei lorvita! jääkaappi kun oli tyhjä lähdettiin kauppaan. Noh meni meillä sinne 90 dollaria (1euro= 1,6dollaria) eikä edes muistettu ostaa kaikkee mitä tarvitaan! ajateltiin tehdä makaroonia ja kengurujauhelihaa (mä opetan Minnan heti paikallisille tavoille :P), mutta ei meillä ollu suolaa eikä voita. syötiin siis vaan salattia.. mut se oli ihan tarpeeks tässä kuumudessa. Aurinkorasvaa muistettiin ostaa! ja ruoan jälkeen lähdin hyppyttään Minnaa keskustaan! ;) kateltiin opera-talo ja Sydneyn silta.. ah niin ihanaa olla täällä taas! ja sitten käveltiin melken koko cityn läpi ja käytiin kattoon Darling Harbouria. Sieltä sit kotiuduttii... read more

Hi everyone This is my third and final practice blog from NZ.....the next one will be the real thing because tomorrow I'm on the plane! Yippee. I'll try and keep a weekly blog or at least a country by country one. My itinerary is Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. That will take until mid May. Then it's on to St Petersburg in Russia to work until the end of October. Final leg is a month in Thailand on the way home, arriving in NZ at the beginning of December. This last week has been lots of final paperwork and crossing things off lists! The packing is nearly done thankgoodness. There've been a few nights out as well as you will see in the photos. Thanks Ali and Gene ... read more