The Further Adventures of...

Northern Tanzania and homeward bound

beckandphil — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:48:00 GMT

Beautiful beaches in Zanzibar

From Stone Town we headed North to the picturesque beaches of Nungwi. We caught the hotel tourist shuttle for the hour ride northwards. On the way we picked up and dropped off a lot of locals - their ride paid for by our dollars. We decided to indulge and took the luxury room with an ensuite and a verandah on stilts over the lapping water (when it was high tide anyway). We didn't do much with our days on the beach. We had hoped to go snorkelling but there were no prescription masks available so Phil wouldn't have been able to tell the fish from the sea weed. We explored the village; we explored the shore where the locals still made fishing boats and hauled in their catch. We also walked down to the next resort - this was harder than it sounded as the beach was split into coves; the walk involved a little bit of paddling and a lot of jumping waves and we did time our walk with low tide. For our last day on the beaches it just rained and rained and rained: we swam in the sea; read our books and watched a lot of David Attenborough wildlife programs in the bar.

Dar Es Salaam

The journey back to the main land took all day. We got a taxi back to Stone Town; spent an hour in the bank trying to cash traveller cheques (do not bother taking TCs to Africa); we then had to wait for the late ferry; the ferry was even later leaving as there were more people than seats (2 of our group sat in a toilet cubicle) and then it took even longer to make the crossing then scheduled. Once back in Dar Es Salaam had to go to Shoprite (affectionately called Shopshite) for food for the next few days. We ended up getting the ferry to the spit where the campsite was at 6pm on a Friday evening and it was heaving. We were carrying all of our luggage and 3 days worth of food (at least 3 supermarket bags each).

To get to our next destination we had to drive back across Dar Es Salaam. Despite leaving at 6am it still took us 3 hours to get out of the city. We were delayed by a small accident. A car trying to under take the truck as we were coming off a roundabout (we'd swung out for the corner). He couldn’t make the corner and drove into the side of the truck. There was not a mark on the truck but the other cars bumper was hanging off and his side lights were smashed. While our driver was “discussing” insurance details another car and another truck had exactly the same accident only 10m behind us. It is Africa.

Usambara Mts

From Dar es Salaam we drove to Lushoto in the Usambara Mts. Lushoto was a normal little town nestled in the hills. It was one of the first NGO community projects. It’s famous for its walk in the nearby hills. A lot of travellers come here to do a bit of last minute emergency training for climbing Mt Kilimanjaro. We were walking just for fun. The walks aren't marked instead you take a local guide with you. In the tourist information centre they detail the most popular walks. We went for a rainforest and Irente viewpoint combination walk. It was advertised as 7 hours but the guide reckoned we'd do it much quicker - he didn't realise how unfit we were after 8 weeks sitting on the truck.

On leaving town we cut through the market place which was just beginning to come to life with locals still setting up their stalls. From here the road/track gradually climbed to the top of the ridge above the town giving views back down the valley. When we started walking it was a beautiful clear sky but it did gradually begin to cloud over. We walked along the ridge to the edge of the rain forest. We only just touched the edge of the forest as we scrambled up to the forest view point. There were a few ups and downs through the forests. It was a well worn footpath through the forest. Unfortunately we didn’t see the black and white colobus monkeys that live in the forest – though there were shadows and waving branches so we knew they were nearby. When we got to the viewing platform the cloud was just starting to wrap around our view. We snacked and rested there and headed off for the view point which rather bizarrely was 500m lower than the forest viewpoint.

We took a different route down to the ridge. We descended the other side of the ridge walking along steep narrow paths along the farmers fields. Farmers fields is an ambitious term for the patchwork of cultivated small plots that cover the steep hillsides of the area. The path was wet red clay and I'm surprised we didn't skid all the way to the bottom. We zig zagged through the countryside: through natural vegetation; clusters of houses; maize and cassava. We called into an old colonial farm and purchased some cheese (absolute luxury in Africa on our budget trip). From the farm it was another 30minutes to the viewpoint.

The Irente viewpoint was spectacular. The mountains drop down to the plains in a cliff that extends for as far as the eye can see left and right. We stood on the rocky outcrop looking at the plains below. Apparently we could see 100km. We had our luxury impromptu picnic of cheese and crackers - a glass of red wine would have been fantastic. We returned to camp a different way; a quicker way; mainly along the road passing the locals returning home from the market or church. It was a 22km walk (approx) and we completed it in 6hours – we walked pretty fast and the guide pushed us pretty hard I think he wanted to get home early.

Snake Park near Arusha

Arusha is the main hub for the safaris in Northern Tanzania. We stayed in a village just outside Arusha at a snake park in Mesari. The owner was English and very altruistic. He'd setup and was involved in running the local medical centre. The snake park was a side line - the main purpose was to provide anti-venom for anyone who needed it for free funded by the tourist attraction. The snake park was better than we expected. In a few of the cages were live mice in the other cages the snakes had a tell tale lump in their throat ;) They had a number of pythons with documentary evidence that a python can swallow a human adult. They also had a few other reptiles that had to be moved from their natural habitat as they were a problem from humans.

The Masai warriors who ran in the London marathon were from this village.

Game drives in Tanzania: Ngorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara NP

We had 2 days of game drives. The first day we went into Ngorongoro Crater. This is adjacent to the Serengeti National Park and both are included in an all encompassing conservation area. The beginning of the day was ominous. As we entered the park we entered a thick fog. We drove up the outer edge of the crater. The driver, following his usual routine, stopped at the view point but you could only see 10m. We rimmed the crater to get to the descending road. It was 600m to the crater base. Once we got to the bottom of the crater we were below the cloud. It was a very flat grassed plain. There were only a couple of clumps of trees - all that broke up the grass plains were the dots of animals.

I had really high hopes for the crater and I wasn’t disappointed. As always there were lots of zebra crossings. We also saw lots of crowned cranes – just a pretty bird I’d wanted to see; no one else was that excited. We drove around all morning. The highlights were the young fluffy hyena by the road; and lions; lots of lions; 2 lion cubs in the road then suckling from their mother; 2 males lions zig zagging through the collected jeeps. To make it a little bit more fun our jeep wouldn’t start (flat battery). We couldn’t get out and push as there was a lion within 5m. Instead one of the other jeeps had to push start us.

Cathy got very close to a black kite at lunchtime. It swooped down and took her sandwich from her plate which was on her lap at the time.

The afternoon was just as good: a wild cheetah; a lion with a new kill (we missed the chase but watched the feast); a lion in a tree; lion sex; and the lion cubs playing in a ditch by the road. We were almost lioned out by the end of the day. The clouds had lifted by this point so you had beautiful views across the crater and better views as we drove back up the crater side and along the rim.

We didn’t really have time (given the expense) to go into the Serengeti so instead we went to the nearby Lake Manyara NP. It’s a small park with a lake and the cliffs of the rift valley towering above it. It’s one of the most smallest parks in Tanzania but also one of the most bio diverse. It was a pleasant change to the other scenery. The area around the entrance of the park was thickly rain forested. There were elephant tracks through the forest but we only saw vervet monkeys and baboons. We stopped and watched the baboons for a while. It was a massive troop and there was always some interesting interactions occurring. The rainforest gradually turned into acacia forest and then into scrubland. The thick vegetation meant that when we came across animals they were very close – and often in the middle of the road. However the grasslands at the lakes edge gave the most scenic photos of the elephants and giraffes. Our lunch on this day was interrupted by a baboon. Our guide yelled “baboon!!” I expected a baboon to be scouting around us – instead he was running straight at us. He was straight onto the table and sitting in the middle of the picnic. I naively thought he’d grab some food and run but he sat there filling his face. We started throwing things at him (water bottles; knives; plates) – in the end we tipped the table sending the rest of the food flying. He scampered with fat cheeks and a bag of bread in each hand.

We're still looking for a leopard...

This was the last night our group was together so we treated ourselves with a nice meal out. We reminisced; reviewed and enjoyed each others company as well as some good food and wine. Given we had travelled through tropical Africa in the wet we didn’t get that much rain – as soon as we articulated that thought the heavens opened. To get back to the truck we had to paddle through ankle deep water!

The end of the road; Nairobi, Kenya

We dropped 4 of our passengers in Arusha the next day and only 4 of us continued up to Nairobi. It was very empty in the back of the truck. We had a couple of days in Nairobi, or NaiRobbery as it’s usually called. There were no signs of the trouble that had plagued Nairobi in recent months but we were staying in one of the nicest suburbs. For the most part we lay low in our hostel – the only reason a tourist goes to Nairobi is the transport links. It doesn’t have many tourist attractions – our guide book suggested going to the cinema! We were intending to watch movies at the hostel but the rain kept causing power cuts so jenga; battle ships and card games were the distractions of choice.

We did venture out to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. This is an elephant and rhino orphan sanctuary that we’d visited when we were in Nairobi 3 years ago. The focus is on raising the elephants so they can be re-integrated into the wild populations of Tsavo East NP. The elephants are brought out to play in front of an audience between 11am and midday every day. They were 2 groups of elephants this time – grouped by age. The youngest elephant was 5months old and was wrapped in blankets to keep him warm. So cute! They are kept in Nairobi until they are between 2 or 3 years. They start by feeding them milk from a bottle. Some of the bottles get knocked down and then elephants suck up the spilt milk through their trunks. It sounds like young elephants are as demanding as their human counterparts and it takes at least 6years before they are ready for release into the wild. In the final transition phase the elephant’s stall (in the national park) is always unlocked so they can come and go as they please.

The further adventures of….

As we landed into London even the local air hostess described it as dreary – and then it began to rain. Our intention in coming back in April was to miss the winter but there was frost this morning. All the trees are still bare – its been 3 years since we’ve seen the bleak landscape of an English winter. The landscape looks washed out compared out to the verdant African countryside. I’ve particularly enjoyed the hot shower; the double bed; the washing machine (rather than hand wash) and all of the nice food that’s been stock piled for our return! We’re ready to start the next adventure – starting new jobs and finding a new home.

Jambo Mzungu (Hello white person...)

beckandphil — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:17:00 GMT

We're now on the tropical island of Zanzibar. It's hot and humid. We've covered a lot of miles in the last few weeks. 2 long drive days puntuated with 2 days chilling out has been the norm. There are no photos to accompany this blog as we left the necessary cables back on the mainland - sorry.

From Livingstone we travelled East through Zambia visiting South Luangwa National Park. We stayed at the Flat Dogs camp - we were the first visitors after the long rains. It had only re-opened the day before we got there. The whole of the region was green; lush with vegetation and the roads were pot holed and muddy. The camp was situated on the side of the Luangwa river. The front of the river bank was a no go area (especially at night) due to crocs and hippos - the other side of the river was the NP. There were some platforms in the trees so we pitched a tent up there. Hippos came through the campsite at night and you could hear them munching the grass below - unfortunately it was too dark to see them. Vervet monkeys came through the camp at any time of the day - we were careful with our food but they bit through our toothpaste; pinched Phil's toothbrush (we found it about 3m away from the truck) and tasted our washing powder. Once they knew we were there we had to be ever vigilant when preparing/eating food.

The National Park is huge and our game drives only touched a tiny section of the park. We did an evening/night drive. We were only 100m out of camp; before we were in the park itself I saw a lone buffalo. Within 500m of the gate of the park we'd seen 2 elephant and 4 lion. One of the lions was just lazing in the road. A keen observer saw the other lion and her 2 cubs in the adjacent bush. Despite the 4 safari vehicles nearby the lion didn't move. Previous game drives we'd completed in the truck but for these game drives were in a converted landrover: the top taken off and rows of open benches added to the back. We were a lot lower and a lot closer to the animals and it was a lot more open too - very exciting.

The jeep driver was a little too keen to go off the road to get close to the animal - we got very close to lone buffalo and lone elephant (the 2 animals most likely to charge!) The area near the river was a flooded wetland (for now) and there were lots of birds and lots of crocs and hippos. The driver went so close to a couple of lone bull elephants I was actually scared. It was far too close one of the elephants we could hear the elephant fart. We watched the sunset and the drove for a couple more hours around the park in the dark armed with a massive spot light. We saw the hippos out of the water - they aren't very graceful creatures. A gennet - a carnivorous mongoose like creature about the size of a cat. We also saw the lions again - this time walking along the roads. They stayed around for photos but it was far too dark by this point.

The next morning we did another game drive. This wasn't as good as the night before. We saw some more elephants (with a baby); a hyanea; a hippo out of the water in the daylight (very exciting but our driver in hiss eagerness to take us close scared the hippo back into the water). Most of the time we spent bouncing around the muddy tracks - you needed the 4x4. The seats were just benches and we just slid left to right with the different pot holes. We saw a warthog - but he knew where he was better off the warthog followed teh jeep from the posh lodge - they must have had a better breakfast than us. We did one last loop across one of the plains when a passing vehicle said he'd seen some African wild dogs heading into the bushes and he was expecting them to appear this side; we u-turned to see the dogs crossing the open plain. Our driver cut the corner to get us there in time - very bumpy through a marshy section but we got close and hopefully got some good photos. Wild dogs are the most threatened carnivore in Africa they need huge areas to roam. They were the one thing Eve (Jason's girlfriend; also works as a tour guide in Africa) had never seen in almost a year of safaris- very good spot.

From here we drove into Malawi; a couple of days driving for a couple of days chilling out at Kande Beach. We'd been assured that Kande beach had the fastest internet in Malawi; also it had VOIP and would take incoming international calls. We had plenty of time to make the most of this facility - unfortunately the phone lines were down so we spent the time in the hammock reading books; jumping waves in the lake; teaching the Dutch couple on the tour how to play pool and sun baking. We also did a horse ride which was very amusing. Neither Phil nor Michel had even been on a horse before. Me and Sandra had but not for a long long time. Phil's horse clearly knew that Phil had no authority and Phil stopped at every lush piece of grass; he also had a bit of a run under a low branched tree. We cut though the village where the children were singing in harmony. The ride ended at our campsite where you get into your bikini and ride bare back into the lake. If riding on a saddle is hard and uncomfortable then riding bare back is just a balancing act. Phil is not eager to try horse riding again. NB the stables were run by a Brummie.

From Kande Beach we'd done 2 days of hellish driving up to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam is situated for its bay. It took us 1hour 40mins to drive from the centre of Dar to the camp site but its only 600m on the passenger ferry from the other side of the bay.

Zanzibar isn't as beautiful as I'd expected. It had really been hyped up but its a bit run down. It's a maze of twisting winding streets and it doesn't seem very African at all - however all of the inhabitants are African but in a more Arabian dress style. It's all a bit confused. There are some very nice hotels (where we're staying cheap and cheerful) and we went to one of them to watch the sunset yesterday evening. It's in the old British consulate and it was nice to see how the other half holiday. In the evening we went to the evening street markets and filled ourselves with Zanzibar pizza (more like a savoury crepe) and fish kebabas and chipatas. Today we did a spice tour which was interesting. I'm not sure what we'll be doing for the next few days.

The trip we're on is as cheap as chips. Consequently its very hands on: we set up camp; we shop and we cook. In Namibia there were supermarkets but through Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania shopping has been a little more rural. We've been going to "OK Supermarket" or "People's choice" supermarket but it really is only just OK and the other doesn't really have much choice (we couldn't even buy pasta). Instead we've been going to the markets which is a little more time consuming but a lot more fun. The stalls are just wood lashed together with a make shift roof; they form into a maze of small stalls. Each of the stalls only sells what the owner grows - rarely more than 2 vegetables at 1 stall. Rather bizarrely all of the tomato stalls are together; all of the banana stall are together; all of the potato stalls are together. It makes it easy to compare prices. Choice is limited: we've been eating a lot of bananas and a lot of tomato and a lot of generic mince meat! It also makes every meal like Ready steady cook - you have a random selection of ingredients and you have to make a meal. This trip has been a little bit more 'gourmet' than the last - mainly because we've had to be more creative. It's a smaller group now and we've had dinner around the trestle table and invested in wine glasses and a box of wine.

We're nearing the end of our trip. We're got a few more days on Zanzibar; we're then heading to Lushoto into some mountains for bit of walking and then to Ngororo Crater.

Northern Namibia; Botswana and Victoria Falls

beckandphil — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:46:00 GMT

We're now in Livingstone, Zambia and we're half way through our trip of from Cape Town, South Africa to Nairobi, Kenya. We last updated the journal in Swakopmund, Namibia since then we've stayed with bush man, done game drives in Etosha NP; boat cruises in Chobe NP and canoe'd through the Okavango Delta.

When we left Swakopmund we headed north through Namibia. The scenery gradually got greener. Un-Namibian green apparently - it was an unusually wet wet season. We passed through an area famous for its rock art. We stayed the night at a beautiful rock formation: Spitzkoppe and took some absolutely fantastic sunset shots. Sunsets in Africa are something else. We saw rock engraving that were 2-6000 years old. We also called into the Cape Cross Seal Colony - I'd seen this on the telly 200,000 seals squished toghether on the beach. What you can't appreciated on the telly is the smell or how many baby seals actually do get squished!!

Cheetah Park

The cheetah park is not a conservation project - its a family of farmers looking for a compromise. They didn't want the cheetah eating their animals or the cheetahs killed. Their response was to capture any wild problem cheetahs and keep them on enclosures on their farm. It all started when they killed a mother; but she had cubs and the cubs were brought up as pets in the farmhouse!

Unfortunately our 13ton truck got stuck in the mud on the private track up to the farm. It was already dark; we spent 80mins trying to dig the truck out (when I say we I mean Jason; Mick and Tobi tried to dig the truck out). Failing this the people who lived at the farm came to collect us in 4x4s but the track was so bad we still had to carry all the camping; personal and cooking gear through 1.5km of mud in the pitch black. As Dragoman (tour company) slogan does state not your everyday journey. We got to camp at about 10pm and had a gourmet supper of peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

The next day a hard core few spent the morning digging the truck out - the rest of us drank a lot of tea (books; music; clean clothes were on the truck about 5km away). In the afternoon we went up to the farm house and petted the tame cheetah. Forget guard dogs this place had 3 guard cheetah!! They're just like pussy cats - but more likely to go for the jugular! Later on in the afternoon we went to feed the captured wild cheetah. These are held in large animal enclosure on the farm. We stood on the back of an open truck with bugger all seperating you and the cheetah (one of the guides was armed with a walking stick!). As soon as we entered the enclosure a cheetah skulked out of the bushes behind the truck and stalked alongside us. The further into the enclosure we went the more cheetah could be seen through the bushes. We stopped in an open part and the cheetahs began to circle the truck. It made for some good photos but it was a little disconcerting. They passed close enough to brush the front of the truck. The cheetah are fed hunks of donkey which are thrown from the truck. They race and fight each other for the hunks and then run off into the bushes to eat them.

On the way back we stopped at the enclosure adjacent to our camp. The guides went into the enclosure armed with two pieces of meat and the big stick. They returned with the cutest baby cheetah. A ball of fluff; only 2 weeks old; that they'd taken from the mother. The poor thing was scared shitless. We could pet it and they put it down were it did its best to hiss at us but it wasn't very scary.

Etosha NP

The good thing about being here in the wet season is the ground is lush and every animal has a baby trotting along beside it. The bad thing about being here in the wet season is you can see beggar all due to the thick undergrowth. The water holes are empty - water is abundant so the animals can wonder to any area they like. Despite this we still saw most of the animals we wanted to see. We saw so many Springbok; Oryx (still majestic); zebra (commonly called disco donkey) and of course ostrich. There was a large cluster of giraffe - i didn't think they were a herd animal but there were 30 or 40 either side of the road. They first day wasn't so good: we'd stopped to take a photo of a bird nicely situated on a dead tree - another car pulled up to see what we were looking at; his response was "Why are you looking at the bird there's a lion 500m down the track". The lion was within a few metres of the road with an oryx carcass. An impatient car behind papped his horn (we were blocking the road) - the lion got up; oryx leg in mouth; and walked a little bit further into the trees. It as a male lion and I swear he was looking right at me. Very cool! We're never satisifed now that we've sign a lion we now want to see a lion kill!

The evening game drive was all about finding elephant!! Regardless of how thick the bush is you think you'd be able to find a 1ton 10ft high elephant. We drove along the edge of the Etosha pan (which actually had water in it - only happens every few years). We saw some beautifully situated oryx but we were looking for elephant. You have to back in camp at sun set (as they shut the gates) we were about to turn back when a lone male wondered onto the road in front of the truck. He wasn't particularly pleased to see us; he opened his ears; waved his trunk and started to come towards us - just a warning. Jason had to reverse down a single track gravel road but he was doing it blind - all he could see in the wing mirrors were 12 people leaning out of the side of the truck taking photos!

San Bushman

We spent the night with a group of san bushmen. These used to be the nomadic hunters but the farmers didn't like them hunting their animals so the government moved them to land of their own and overnight they had to change their lifestyle. They now keep their traditions alive as a 'living museum' - like the Black Country Museum in the West Midlansds. There are a couple of different projects throughout Namibia. The one we visited wasn't sign posted; advertised; documented anywhere - goodness knows how Dragoman found it. Apparently the BBC were there in January filming a documentary. We camped at the village - people staying over night is very uncommon (once every 3 months) and the kids were SO excited.

They performed some songs and dance in the evening around a camp fire. It was very good. The bushman are still untouched by the 'tourist business' ethics. The dances were performed in a tight circle as they always had been. The traditional dancing involved a lot of bum cheek vibrations. The explanations were brief and the other villagers talked over the top. Half the village came down to watch the performance too - they talked; sang and danced along. The san bushmen talk with a click language so all you could hear as you sat around the fire was a lot of tutting - not sure what the noise means to them. They have 4 distinct click sounds (I can only do 2 of them) and they run them into other syllables. There's a bush called !'nara but when they say it the click sound flows into the word.

It was a very amusing set up we camped in the village - the village where they lived in their 2nd hand Western clothes. The next day we went down to the tourist village where they 'worked' wearing their traditional clothes. We did a bush walk were they dug up roots and talked about the plants; set snares etc. We then spent some time in the 'village' learning how to make bows and arrows (for blokes) and beads (for ladies). Every young lady had a baby on her back - when the baby peed it just dribbled down her legs too - eugh.

Change of plan

On our way to the Delta we stopped at a lodge on the okavngo river, on the Angolan border. The track down to the lodge wasn't great and we got seriously stuck in mud in the middle of a field. We stopped so suddenly that i ended up sitting on the floor of the truck! The main road was in sight and a builders JCB style truck pulled us out. Unfortunately the blades on the fan were broken; the radioator was knackered and the air filter was hanging off. We extended our stay in the lodge as the truck was going nowhere. They ordered parts from Windhoek to arrive on Saturday morning...no one was hopeful that they would arrive. We got th radiator but they resorted to proper bush mechanics for the fan: they heated the fan blades on our gas cooking stove and then smashed as straight as they could!! The air filter is held on with a selection of rope (and probably some paper clips).

Okavango Delta

We travelled into the Okavango Delta in the traditional "fibre-glass" mokoro canoes. We spent 2 nights in the delta. The Okavango river flows inland - its path is blocked by the Kalahari desert and the water spreads out into a 30,000km2 wetland. The first at a fixed camp with very nice outdoor showers. Our tent had hippo footprints right by the door which didn't make me happy (luckily no hippos spotted in the camp the night we were there). The first camp was only a kilometre into the delta. The next day we loaded up the mokoro's with all the camping gear and headed off into the delta. The waterways that dissect the swamplands are actually hippo highways. As hippos are the biggest killer in Africa the polers are loathe to use the waterways and instead just cut a new trail through the grasses. Consequently you get covered in grass seeds; frogs; and crickets. The shallower pools are covered in water lillies. We saw a few hippo bathing at the deeper end of one of the pools we crossed. It was very relaxing but we didn't see as much as I'd hoped - most of the time visually you could have been sitting in a field of long grass!

Chobe NP

Unfortunately there was only enough time to do an evening boat cruise in this park - I would have loved to do a game drive too. There were 3 overland trucks on the boat. Although we thought it was a game cruise others obviously thought it was a booze cruise. I was surprised that we saw anything given the noise we were making! We started off small - a very pathetic crocodile basking on the side of the river; we then upgraded to kudu (very big; quite tasty antelope). Through the bushes a herd of elephant came down to the waters edge to drink and play. There were a family of a dozen at the waters edge and we were happy to stay and watch them for a while. We then went to see a large group of hippos - we went close enough to make them yawn ( a warning to keep away). On the way back down the river the elephants had entered the river and were playing in the water. The photos aren't great as its a silouhette into the setting sun but it was very cool to watch!

Victoria Falls

Victoria falls are very impressive. The local name translates to "the smoke that thunders". The spray can be seen from our campsite 5km away; in the quiet of the night you can hear the roar of the falls too. We went to see the falls yesterday but it would be more appropriate to say we 'experienced' the falls. You could see nothing due to the spray and you couldn't take many photos. Imagine the most impressive waterfall you've seen and now make it 1.7km wide! It's like someone just slit into the rock and the river disappears into the hole - its then focused through a gorge which is only 100m wide down into a place they call the boiling pot.

I anticipated there were be water in the air when we went to see the falls but the reality was a lot wetter. The spray from the waterfall was like a swirling monsson shower. We were soaked to the skin in a minute; the paths were ankle deep in water in places. it was better than any shower we've had in Africa - if only we'd taken the bodywash! It is the wet season; but the water is at its highest in April.Obviously you only got fleeting views of parts of the falls until another swirl of water engulfed you. Photos were out of the question the camera was in a bag; in a bag; in a bag! We did a helicoptor flight over the falls this morning which was great. The pilot then zoomed down the gorge below the falls only a few metres above the water - that was the highlight of the flight.

Yesterday afternoon there'd been a tropical storm and when we returned to camp the water was ankle deep in places. Luckily there had been people in camp and they'd moved some of the tents out of the flash flood river - it had been lapping at the zip of one of the tent. The water subsided in a couple of hours but I suspect its a taste of what we can expect in the next few weeks as we travel across Central Africa during the long rains.

What's next: Travelling through Zambia; up to Malawi and into Tanzania.

It began in Africa...

beckandphil — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:25:00 GMT

I'm in an internet cafe in Swakopmund, Namibia. The town is surrounded by rolling sand dunes on 3 sides and the other side meets the Atlantic ocean. Where have we been for the last few weeks?

Cape Town

We spent a week holidaying in Cape Town with my parents. We stayed in a rather swanky apartment - clearly my parents hadn't liked the accomodation me and Phil had suggested. It took us a while to slow down to their pace...there seemed to be a lot of cafe stops. We really liked Cape Town. It's on the Southern tip of the African continent and has a temperate climate but it was still really hot when we got there.

On the trip to Robben Island my parents got their first taste of Africa time. We were booked onto the 9am tour which didn't leave until 10:55am. C'est la vie. The island was shrouded with fog so the 'scenic boat ride' and the 'scenic tour of the island' were a waste of time. Robben Island was the prison used to house the political prisoners of apartheid. You do a tour of the jail lead by an ex-political prisioner. It's an interesting concept as a tourist attraction. I was amused by the people doing smiley family happy-snaps outside Nelson Mandelas prison cell.

The next day we drove out to the Stellenbosch wine region. The town of Stellenbosch was very posh and very white. Many of the buildings are the original Dutch colonial buildings. Apparently the thing to do is to go for a picnic at the Boschendal estate. I was a little bit dubious about the picnic thing but it is very good. The tables are spaced over the long lawn leading up to the manor house under the trees. Each table gets a large picnic hamper including french baguettes, pate, salmon tartlets, cold meats, salads, brownies, cheese and biscuits. It puts the side of the road sandwiches that had become mine and Phil's staple to shame. We also went to the wine cellar there. This was outside under a large oak tree - I think Mom would have been happy to sit there all afternoon.

The next day was clear and Table Mountain could be seen towering over the apartment. We'd been told if you can see Table Mountain get up there! Mom and Dad got the cable car up whereas me and Phil walked up. It was steep and the gorge got all of the morning sun. Even though we started at 8am we were soon sweating. The top of Table Mountain isn't quite as flat as it seems from a distance. We walked across to the summit looking over False Bay (not worth it) and then headed to the cable car station for a cold drink. The cable car station is where the sweaty walkers mix with the well turned out cable car riders. After a cold drink we continued our walk across the top of Table Mt behind Clifton Beach and down into Camps Bay. This part of the walk was really good but very very hot. On the way down you could feel the heat radiating off the rocks. The path we'd chosen came down to the suburb we were staying in. We got back to the apartment at 3pm and jumped straight into the pool.

We also did the day trip to Cape Point. From Camps Bay we drove down the West coast along Chapmans Peak Drive. Everything was covered in low cloud and the views were hazy which was a little disappointing. After we crossed the saddle to the Eastern Seaboard the cloud disappeared. We stopped at Boulders Beach which is famous for its penguins. There are 2 parts of this the protected colony where you see the penguins from viewing platforms. There were a lot of penguins including some babies. It was a hive of penguin activity as well as tourist-tastic. We then walked across the Boulders Beach you could bathe at. There were fewer penguins and fewer people here but there were no boardwalks so the penguins were walking down the paths with you and appearing out of the waves as you paddled. We continued down to the Cape for a swanky lunch at the restaurant there. Of course my Mom made us wait for a table at the front of the balcony to become available - sigh! We then went up to the lighthouse on top of Cape Point. It's covered in fog so often they had to build another lighthouse lower down. Luckily the day we were then it was glorious blue skies. The whole of the Cape Point area is a national park but we saw one large antelope at a distance and a pack of baboons. As the weather had cleared we also drove back along Chapmans Peak Drive and watched the sun set (beautiful) - it was Valentines day and there were lots of couples with picnics, blankets and champagne unfortunately Dad and Phil are not that organised!

After Cape Town

For the rest of our time in Africa we're travelling around on a Dragoman overland truck. It's a converted army truck that's painted bright orange. There are 12 people on our tour and 1 tour guide/driver. Most of the trip is camping and it's very hands on: we pitch our tents; shop; cook. It's a good group of people - which is good because we'll be with most of them for the next 8 weeks.

Namibia

From Cape Town we headed North into Namibia. Namibia is a bleak landscape, but beautifully bleak. They've actually had rain in some parts of the desert which means there was grass and grazing animals were there wouldn't usually be. On the way up we stopped at Orange River for a lazy day kayaking. We also called into Fish River Canyon though its too big to walk in. It's 27km long and 50m deep and during the summer its closed for walkers due to the heat/lack of shade/lack of water. We washed the sunset from the viewpoints. Despite the lightening; rolling thunder and rain clearly visible further up the canyon we decided to cook dinner at the view point; this was followed by an improtu disco miles and miles from civilisation.

The highlight of the trip so far have been the rolling sand dunes of the Namib desert. We based ourselves at Sesriem from where we would be getting up at early o'clock to drive 45km into the desert and climb a dune for sunrise. The drive was brought to a brief halt as the river crossing actually had water in it and the rangers car in front of us was flooded, stuck in the middle. We pulled them out; our guide Jason walked across to confirm the road was still there; the flow was ok; it wasn't too high and we were good to go. The river flash floods depending on the rain in the mountains so there was a risk that we'd be stuck in the desert for a day if the river rose any further but we had food and our stuff on the truck so we were all happy to risk it. After the shennanigans we got to the dune with about 2minutes to spare. Walking up dunes is blinking hard work but it was magnificent (put Ayers rock to shame). A dry gravel flood plain splits the dunes. The dunes run perpendicular to the plain - over 60 dunes in all. The one we climbed was 150m high. The mature dunes reach 300m in height. We then did a guided tour through the desert. The plains flood - at least every 10years so there are few bushes and trees. However if the moving dunes stop the water the plants die and with no moisutre they don't decompose - there are tree trunks that died 600 years ago. It was very evocative: white plain; dead trees; bright red dunes; beautiful blue sky - even Phil should have managed to get some good photos.

We're now in Swakopmund. Yesterday we did sand boarding - very good fun despite how bad we were AND having to walk up a 90m dune between each run. We also tried 'toboganning' down a couple of the dunes Phil reached speed of 71kpmh; I managed 64kmph. Phil fell of his board after the board jumped and took a face full of sand - no harm done. Our shower; our room and all of our clothes are completely covered in sand. This afternoon we're going quad biking over the dunes.

Got to go! Yesterday we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and we're heading north so I'm expecting more rain; more rain means moe grass and more grass means more animals....

A taste of civilisation in Victoria

beckandphil — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 10:31:00 GMT

The Grampians

From Kangaroo Island we started the drive to Victoria. We were keen to drive as much as we could after getting off the ferry but with the tent you really have to be pitched by dark. We spent the night in a town called Keith – this struck me as a rather strange name for a town. In the morning we were up bright and breezy, caught up on the chores in Horsham and collected the tourist info and headed for the Grampians.

Mt Stapleton was our first walk. This was another walk without a path- just a series of markers on the rock. Similar to the Flinders Ranges the hillsides (or ridges) are tilted layers of sedimentary rock, so that one side of the hill is a smooth steady slope but the other side has definite ridges. Unlike the Flinders Ranges the rock was grey and the area around it was green with trees and shrubs. It was a steady rock hop to the top with a very bizarre bird shaped rock half way up. The marked path seemed to end just below the summit. The views were good and Phil started to snap away with the camera. I wanted to get to the summit, so I took a rather unorthodox route to the very top but Phil didn’t want to follow – however it meant that I found the proper marked path for Phil to come up (and for us both to go down). The view was pretty special; possibly even worth the climb, looking south to the Grampians and north along the ridge and out to the plains beyond. As 1 walk is clearly not enough for an afternoon we then climbed Hollow Mountain – this was a lower peak on the same range but had some good caves to explore (gaps underneath very large boulders).

The main town in the Grampians is Halls Gap and we stayed in the campsite that night. It was a pretty noisy campsite with flocks of cockatoos; galahs and of course a fair few laughing kookaburras. There was a large mob of kangaroos grazing the grass in the early evening – as soon as we checked in I wanted to go and have a look at them. Phil still can’t believe that I’m not all kangaroo’d out.

The next day we walked from Halls Gap, up a ravine up to an area called ‘Wonderland’. For goodness sake – Wonderland is almost as bad as “Surfer’s Paradise” for silly names! The walk up to the Wonderland car park was pretty uneventful – another unique opportunity to see the Australian bush recovering from fire. The walk around the summit of Wonderland was one of the best walks I’ve done in Oz for a while. You walked up through an area called the ‘Grand Canyon’ – again the name is a little grandiose but the area was pleasing enough (it just wasn’t on as Grand a scale as you’d think from the name). The path cut across open rock to ‘Silent Street’ this was a perfectly straight canyon about 2 stories deep and 2m wide and about 75m long (and out of the sun) which was pretty impressive. All of this was gradually climbing up to “The Pinnacle”. This was the top of the range looking down onto Halls Gap town and out over the flat farmed wheat plains of Victoria. As you looked out in the far distance there was still a mist with the southern Grampians cutting through. In the near distance it was very obvious where the national park ended and the private land began – a definite line of green breaking to the dry yellow of the fields. It’s crazy to think that only 200 years ago the woodlands would have stretched out for as far as the eye could see.

Great Ocean Road

From Halls Gap we cut down to the Great Ocean Road at Portland. The campsite faced the Southern Ocean and we camped under a bush to protect us from the prevailing winds. The next morning we went out to explore Cape Bridgewater. It had some bizarre rock formations that looked like fossilised trees. We then walked out to the Cape and had a look at the seal colony down below us.

We spent a couple of days trundling along the Great Ocean Road taking in some of the sights and towns we’d missed before and revisiting a couple of others. We stopped at the 12 Apostles again, which is the famous view on the Great Ocean Road, and amazingly Phil only took ONE photo – even he conceded that the light was wrong. We were hoping to walk up to some of the waterfalls behind Lorne. We walked up to She-oak falls (600km in 30 minutes according to the sign) and were disappointed to find a dry gully with a dry cliff at the back and a murky pool below. I guess the summer isn’t the season for waterfalls in Victoria!

Melbourne

From the Great Ocean Road we drove to Melbourne to stay with our friends Clare and Michael. Clare really wanted to go to the cricket and we were cajoled into going as it was a cheap and cheerful 20/20 match and it was at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground). It is the Australian sporting mecca and holds about 105,000. We saw Australia vs India. There were 84,041 people in attendance. It was the first time either of us had been to a cricket match and I was unsure of the rules. 20/20 is a little bit more rowdy than a test match with music played between balls and it’s a lot faster than a normal match. I was just getting into it and had just grasped the rules when it was all over. India got annihilated.

We’ve been to visit Clare and Michael a couple of times but we’d always had some particular activity planned, so we had not really had chance to explore Melbourne. On Saturday we borrowed Clare and Michael’s bikes and bike map and headed off by ourselves. Melbourne is a much more bike friendly city than Sydney – there are bicycle lanes; bikes are free on the trains, and most importantly the city of Melbourne is flat! We cycled along the front at Williamstown; got a punt across the river under the Westgate bridge (which dominates the nearby skyline) and then cycled along the front of the bay to St. Kilda. We lunched in St. Kilda and then cycled into the city. We didn’t spend too long in the city; by the time we’d completed our chores it was time to head back to C&Ms. Clare and Michael had collected a visiting pom friend (Sam) from the airport and we joined them for an evening game of beach cricket before heading back home for a BBQ and a birthday cake.

Great Ocean Road – Day trip

Michael tabled a number of itineraries for the Sunday and the winner was the Great Ocean Road again – but a slightly different twist to our visit. We first called in to the golf course at Lorne so Sam could see a kangaroo. He took a photo from the car…and was then amazed at how close you can get. He wanted to see them bounce so Phil and Michael kindly obliged and ran at a couple of them!

We hired kayaks at Anglesea. Rather than tootling round the lagoon we kayaked under the road bridge (watching our heads) and explored the wetlands that were just inland. The bloke we hired them from explained there was an island we could circumnavigate. It was like a mini Kakadu though we had to disturb a few fishermen. It was all going well until we came to a rope swing over the waterway…we couldn’t resist. We are 27 going on 7!! We pulled our kayak up on the far bank and swam across, then took it in turns to swing and jump into the water! It was a bit of a power paddle to get the kayaks back – in fact we were probably about 20 minutes late but luckily they didn’t seem to mind.

We then went to Aireys Inlet and Split Point lighthouse – which IS the “Going Round the Twist” light house (childrens TV program). We did the cliff walk and watched the surfers not doing much surfing – they were waiting for the right wave apparently. Clare had a new camera and became paparazzi Clare for the day. We then did the lighthouse guided tour. This was another lighthouse where the interior was pre-fabricated in Birmingham – bizarre. We got some good photos from the top. The day out was finished off with a big chunk of tasty cake at the lighthouse café, then a bit more beach cricket. For Sunday dinner Clare had offered to cook us anything we wanted. As we’ve been camping for the last 3 months it had to be something in the oven. She prepared a massive lasagne which was easily demolished by 5 of us. I’m a little bit worried what she’ll ask for when I return the favour.

Morwell and Wilsons Promontory National Park

On the Monday we drove out to Morwell, to the East of Melbourne, to say Hi to Phil’s Auntie Anne and Uncle David. From here we did a 2-day trip to Wilsons Prom. The leaflet we were given only had walks up to 6km and we felt like something a little more energetic. The lady at the visitors centre recommended the walk to Sealers Cove. Off we went….it was 10km each way. The first section went over a saddle. It was a 300m descent through forest (with nice fern gullies) and finally a 1.8km boardwalk across to the beach. The beach was lovely – the sky had brightened and the sun was shining. To our left were the remains of a jetty: photogenic remains, just above the waterline rather than scruffy remains. To our right a tannin-stained stream came down to the beach and the area was strewn with boulders. The beach was enclosed by thickly forested granite mountains. It was reminiscent of Freycinet Peninsula (in Tassie) but possibly even prettier. Wilsons Prom is the end of the land bridge that used to join Tasmania to mainland Australia, so it could well have been the same mountain range? We had a picnic lunch at the beach and a paddle and then headed back. The walk back was not so much fun – I hadn’t really noticed the down on the outward trip but I definitely noticed the up. A young echidna brought a little bit of interest to the walk. As did a sudden ‘Eeek’ from Phil – our foot steps had disturbed a snake and he’d darted across the path between Phil’s legs (while Phil was in motion).

I’d promised we’d climb up Mt Oberon if it was still clear when we got back to the car. We’d walked 20km; I was tired and grumpy and Phil still made me go up Mt Oberon. It wasn’t really a climb. The walk was along a well graded management road – it was always up but never steep. By the time we reached the top the sun had gone and the clouds were rolling in again. The bay and the islands below us were still in light and hopefully we should have some rather good photos. It was 7pm by the time we got to camp that night. We were carefully watched by our own flock of seagulls as we prepared; cooked and ate dinner. We did get to see a wombat in the campsite that night, but despite the warning signs I don’t think he seemed particularly aggressive.

It rained through the night and the next morning it was still raining. We checked the forecast at the visitors centre: rain with patches of occasional drizzle. I’d linked together a few shorter walks for a good figure-of-8 hike, but I didn’t really fancy it in the rain (plus I was still tired from our 27km epic the day before). The campsite was located behind Normans Beach, so after breakfast, brollies in hand, we went to have a look at that and the mouth of Tidal River. We then did the Lilly Pilly Gully circular walk (not Silly Billy as Phil wanted to call it) as this was sheltered by the trees. The rain was intermittent so we were able to make a dry dash for Squeaky Beach but unfortunately wet sand doesn’t squeak. We were hoping to go to Picnic Bay for lunch but it was misnamed so we had lunch in the car at a lookout. Picnic Bay was similar to Squeaky beach. They were both nice beaches but rather unappealing in the drizzle. We then headed back to Morwell in time for tea.

We’ve spent the last few days working through our finally leaving Oz/preparing for Africa chore list. I don’t know if we’ve had a lot to do or if we’ve just been particularly inefficient?! We fly out to Cape Town tomorrow and we’re both very excited now. We’re ready for a change of scenery…

Adventures in South Australia

beckandphil — Thu, 7 Feb 2008 08:36:00 GMT

Clare Valley and Mt Remarkable NP

From Adelaide we drove up to the Flinders Ranges. On the way up we called into the Clare Valley, which is a small wine growing region (apparently reminiscent of Tuscany) full of boutique wineries and sleepy little villages. We only stopped at one cellar door as it was early in the morning and we still had quite a bit of driving to do. We chose our vineyard based entirely on the logo – a fish drinking wine. It was mid-week and there was only us there, consequently the bloke at the cellar door had the time and the inclination for a good chat. We tried a few of the wines and nodded politely when he suggested that “you could really taste the plum on the mid-palate with this wine”. It was pretty tasty and reasonably priced so we bought a bottle – he kindly suggested it would cellar well for up to 3 years but we drank it that night out of our plastic mugs.

From the Clare Valley we cut across to Mt Remarkable NP – we’d not heard of it before either, but it looked like a convenient place to spend the night. Our campsite had emus on it! We were much more perturbed by their presence than they were by ours. After we slammed the door a few times they wondered off. We did a walk to a look out in the evening and a loop nature walk in the morning. The morning was much better as there were lots of wallaroos (another type of macropod).

Flinders Ranges

From here we continued up north. The further we went the bleaker the landscape got. It was a beautiful bleakness of dry dusty red land and an endless sky with the hills of the flinders ranges on the horizon. The landscape was dotted with abandoned homesteads; windmills (that drive the bore to lift the water to the surface) and rows of trees which show where the water flows when it rains.

It was too hot for doing any serious walking so we stopped off at all of the little diversions on the way: waterholes; old homesteads; aboriginal rock art (which was a lot further from the car than we anticipated). We stayed at Wilpena Pound resort which was a civilised bush camp with a pub and a swimming pool. The afternoon was cloudy and unseasonably cool (still high 20s) so we decided we could attempt one of the walks. The most appealing was to the summit of Mount Ohlssen Bagge: 6.4km return but according to the notes it took 4 hours! We set up camp and left for the walk at 4pm, but its light till 8:30pm so we had plenty of time even if it did really take 4 hours. For the first 1km the path slowly wound upwards along a very nice path through the scrubby bush. After that the ascent became quite steep and was a case of following markers up the rock rather than a defined path. Where has our fitness gone?? It wasn’t a peak more of the highest part of this side of the Pound. Wilpena Pound is an oval shaped depression caused by two ridges. The spectacular views from the top looked into the Pound and then out over the Flinders Ranges and along the western ridge.

The walk down was OK – we were both glad it stayed cloudy as the path was exposed. There were a few kangaroos in the bottom of the valley at the end of the walk but they were quite jumpy. However the kangaroos at the campsite were over friendly. People definitely feed the wildlife all over Oz. The cheeky kanga in the campsite pulled herself up onto the table top to see what we were cooking for dinner. While we were eating our dinner there were a couple of kangas under the table, centimetres from our feet, waiting for any scraps to fall through.

The next morning we’d booked at scenic flight over Wilpena Pound. We were advised to go at early o’clock to get the best of the morning light. We woke up and it was cloudy. We’d been hoping for a wonderful red morning glow instead we got a morning gloaming. The flight was just us and the pilot in a little Cessna. Before take off we had to traverse the runway to scare off the emus and kangaroos that were grazing there. The flight was pretty good we went round and over Wilpena Pound and then followed the ridge line down. The campsite end of the pound is where the main river exits the Pound and there’s a well defined gap. At the far end of the pound the ground must be harder and the land was carved into a series of rugged gorges. The ridges themselves seem to be folded sedimentary rock. One side is gently sloping to the summit; the other side of the ridge is clearly sedimentary layers.

We drove back South a different way heading slightly west towards the Barossa valley. There were no tourist sites on this road but we did stop a few times (and jump a few fences) so Phil could get the ‘perfect’ outback photo. The small towns we stopped in/drove through were fascinating: the garage doubled up as the camping and hardware store. We also encountered a field full of strange tin men; tin emus; tin aliens etc. There must be some eccentrics living out in the outback….and a lot of spare tin, and a lot of spare time.

Barossa Valley

We arrived in Tanunda late afternoon just in time to fit in 1 vineyard, which was a faux chateau near the town centre. Despite arriving 5 minutes before they officially closed they let us in – I suspect the staff were having a late afternoon tipple. The wine was OK we didn’t buy any instead we popped into the bottle shop while walking back to the campsite for beer. Tanunda bottle shop (off license) is possibly the best bottle shop I have ever been into. It was the downstairs of a house and each room had a different drink: red wine; white wine; beer (a room for slabs and a room for 6-packs); spirits; and another room for special offers. In the wine rooms they stocked several years of the same wine from the same vineyard. They had bottles behind locked doors that were $3000!!

The Barossa was originally settled by Germans Jesuits. The guide book told us how the towns in the Barossa all had a real German feel. The people who write the guidebooks have obviously never been to Germany. It was all very small town Australia. We did find a ‘German’ bakery – all the usual breads but with the names in German too.

I’m a little bit worried about Phil. In the Daintree (far north Queensland) I wasn’t allowed an ice cream before midday because it was just wrong! However at 10am the next morning we found ourselves at the Jacobs Creek cellar door. There are lots of vineyards in Barossa; we struggled to choose; but after our small boutique winery in the Clare valley we wanted to compare and contrast with the behemoth of Jacobs Creek. There was very little banter they just poured and poured and poured. The girl even encouraged us to try the more expensive ones as a good opportunity to get some for free. Their cellar door prices were the same as the shelf price which is very unusual (its usually more at the cellar door). We did buy a cellar door special and then motored down South to catch the ferry across to Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is listed in all of the “Australia’s top sights” however we just didn’t get it. Either the people who rate it in their top sights haven’t seen much of Australia or they didn’t have to pay their own ferry fare (extortionate). It was pretty good: it was like a lot of good bits of Australia put into one easy to drive around island.

The first day we went to some of the beaches on the North Coast. The North Coast faces the port of Adelaide and the water was calm and absolutely clear. The first beach, Stokes Bay, was accessed by following a path that went through and under 8 foot wide boulders. There were only us and 1 other morning walker. It was absolutely beautiful. The 2^nd beach wasn’t quite so good as you could drive down to the beach, so everyone with a 4X4 had done so and they were lined up at the back of the beach. The sun was shining, the water was perfect and I couldn’t resist a swim this time….once we were in we were rudely reminded that it was the Southern Ocean and not the tropical seas of the reef. It was blinking freezing! We had a token swim and then stood on the beach to dry off.

From here we drove across to Cape Borda Lighthouse in the Flinders Chase National Park. We did the guided tour but our timing meant there were only us on the tour. Our guide was very chatty; it was more like your uncle enthusing about his favourite hobby than a tour. We even got to go into the weather station because we showed an interest (judging from the mess in the office I don’t think this is usually on the tour). The lighthouse was pre-fabricated in Birmingham including the lens – most Aussies don’t realise that Birmingham is the most land locked city in the UK.

The campsite for the night was also the site of the koala walkway. We chose a pitch due to proximity to facilities; flatness and grassiness of pitch. Much to our delight the pitch also had 2 tamar wallabies nearby and a koala in the tree above the tent. Before dinner we did the koala walk – we got some pretty good photos. Koalas may be cute but they really aren’t that entertaining to watch. We actually found one on the move and we even got a photo with motion blur. The other thing no one tells you is how noisy koalas can be. We were woken a few times in the night by a grunting/barking noise of the koala defending his territory or perhaps making crooning noises for a mate.

The next morning Phil wanted to get up early to go to the Remarkable Rocks for sunrise. The plan was for a beautiful morning light; yet again it was cloudy. The rocks didn’t look that remarkable from a distance. Once we were clamouring on the rocks they were pretty: eroded to bizarre shapes and speckled with orange algae. 90% of the park had burnt in early December but the area around Remarkable Rocks was still OK. It was kind of nice having them to ourselves – the size of the car park implied it may have got a lot busier later on.

From here we drove along the South Coast of the island stopping off at Seal bay. This is home to a colony of Australian Fur Seals. These are different to NZ fur seals; they’re lighter in colour; squeak instead of bark and have different hunting habits. The breed in 18months cycles. They hunt for 3 days and then sleep for 3 days solid – they swim and hunt on the continental shelf 50km south of Australia. It is possible to go onto the beach where they rest as part of a guided tour – yet again we got lucky; just me, Phil and the guide. To be honest it was more of an accompanied viewing than a guided tour. You were allowed to get within 10m of the seals. I’m glad there were some pups about playing as the adults just slept. Interestingly the seal pups ran at the flocks of seagulls on the beach much like toddlers run at pigeons. We also went onto a viewing platform where we got a couple of great photos of a mother and pup sleeping beneath us.

That night we camped at a National Park campsite called Murray Lagoon. From the view point there was absolutely no sign of the lagoon. Rather perplexed we decided to do the short walks in the morning. The first walk was alongside some dry expanses of land; the second walk up a hill gave views of a piece of dry flat land with a tiny pond in the middle with a single duck swimming around. South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent on earth.

We got take away fish and chips while waiting for the ferry to take us back to the mainland. The black board outside suggested we could try grilled fish with salad – as if?! Beer battered fish with chips – Yum.

Up the East Coast of Austrlalia

beckandphil — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:51:00 GMT

This journal entry may be a little bit busy! It's been way too long since we added anything and we've been rather busy in the meantime. We've been keeping a journal so I'll just try and keep to the highlights.

Fraser Island

The winds finally dropped and the Eastern Beach (called 75mile beach) of the island was now OK to use as a highway again so the tour was running. We had to change from a 3 day to a 2 day tour as the North of the island was still getting battered so was a no go area. The dodgy weather had made the peak season rather quite and there were hardly any other tourists there. The first day was a bit of a disappointment - this may have been due to the rain. We were staying in a permanent camp with a covered camp kitchen. It was great there was a real bed with linen!! Best of all, when we'd filled in the booking form we were feeling flippant and as part of our dietary requirements we'd specified 'lots of tim tams' - lo and behold on our bed there was a box of timtams (Ozzy choc biscuit - a bit like a penguin). Nice touch!

The 2nd day was better. The sights were better. The rain had stopped and it was almost sunny for some parts of the day! We started off at the Pinnacles on 75 mile beach - multi coloured mini sand canyons (imagine a mini Bryce Canyon, USA). We then went to Wobby Lake. This is a 1km walk through burnt out forest; 1km walk across the sand dune (thank goodness the sun was in for this bit); the sand dune dropped away (rapid 10m descent) into the lake. We had a relaxing swim and then walked back to the truck a different way. The lunch spot at the old station was adjacent to a beautiful rain forested creek. The sand at the bottom of the creek was so white you could barely see the creek running over it - and there were lots of goannas. In the afternoon we went to another lake - Lake Birrabeen. It was beautiful: white sand; beautiful shallow water dropping into a bright blue lake and there was time for another swim.

Eungella NP

This is a little known National Park just in land from Mackay. According to the guide book its beautiful rainforest - but its really just about seeing Platypus in the wild! Though perhaps a wild platypus is an oxymoron?! We did a few of the short rainforest walks in the afternoon and then late afternoon hung around the platypus viewing platform hoping to get lucky. Platypuses are freaky little aquatic creatures: they lay eggs; they suckle their young like mammals; they breathe air; have a duck bill, webbed feet, and venomous spurs. They're nocturnal and shy too which makes spotting them good fun. We've been to a few tourist places in Oz which have claimed to have platypus but we've always been dubious. You could see a trail of bubbles coming up through the water...then plip up popped the platypus. It stayed at the surface long enough for the photo shoot before diving back down and all that we could see were more bubbles. We actually saw 2 in the same pool. I thought it would be 1 fleeting glimpse but they were happy to stay in that pool while there were tourists there to take their photos.

We then drove to our campsite. Whoever said the road is easily passable in a 2WD clearly only has a 4WD!! It was very pot holed with a few little creek features. We stayed at the platypus bush camp which apparently has more platypuses in a different pool. We sat there with our morning tea but didn't get lucky. It was a quirky camp site - run by an old stoned English guy. The showers had 3 walls and a half a roof - the other side was rainforest. You were requested to keep the toilet seats down to stop the frogs climbing into the toilet.

The next day we went on a flying fox through the rainforest canopy. This was run by a couple from Leeds! It was quite good to see a different side of the forest. We'd seen a lot of tree trunks and vines when walking the day earlier but swinging through the trees leaves was good fun. It was aptly named as there were quite a lot of flying foxes.

Whitsundays

The Whitsundays were one of my highlights up the East Coast. They are a cluster of islands most with swanky resorts on them. We stayed on South Molle Island, at Sandy Bay. It was gorgeous - we had the beach to ourselves. You could snorkel over the reef straight off the beach (with a little bit of searching). I admit facilities were limited: drop toilets only and you had to camp and cook yourself but for $9 a night (+ transfers) you couldn't complain! The camping on the beach front was a little exposed when the wind picked up in the evening...but we survived.

We also did a day boat cruise around the islands. Luckily it was a bright day but still cloudy which meant we didn't frazzle in the sun (the wet season has some benefits). We did some snorkeling at a different sight in the morning and I really got to swim with the turtle. It is encouraged that you wear a stinger suit as its stinger season - this was the first snorkeling trip where we saw LOTS of jellyfish. We quickly refined our swim backwards technique. Unfortunately the really bad jelly fish are the size of a thimble. I've been really impressed with all of our reef trips. Lots and lots of very brightly coloured fish. We then landed on Whitsunday Island: first walking up to Hill Inlet view point and then spending time on Whitehaven beach. Whitehaven beach is another contender for whitest/most beautiful beach. I thought it was quite a bleak stretch of perfect white sand. I don't really get the beach thing.

We also stayed at a swanky 4.5 star caravan park here. It was so swanky you even got 'Adventure Whitsunday caravan park' branded golf balls when you did the mini golf on site (I beat Phil - twice). There was also a rather funky pool with slides; water mushrooms and mini jacuzzi areas.

Mission Beach and Dunk Beach

Our Australian guide book recommends about 6 highlights for each section. One of these in the tropical Queensland was to stay at a specific hotel in Mission Beach: The sanctuary. The standard rooms have a double bed; a roof; but the walls are just insect netting. The huts are spaced through the forest down the hill so from your room it’s just you and the rain forest. The only down side is the car park is a good 600m from the huts - down the hill and along a winding forest track - it was only a down side because we had forgotten a couple of essential things and Phil had to walk it an extra 2 times. Phil was the tallest person that had been along it for a while and took a number of cobwebs to the face - he wasn't happy. The communal area was at the top of the hill, looking out of the rainforest canopy and down to the sea. It was so nice we stayed 2 nights. Apparently you're very likely to see Cassowary (big ostrich like bird that lives in the rainforest) while walking through the site but we weren't lucky enough too.

Facing Mission beach is Dunk Island. A beautiful tropical island with a rather silly name. I'd expected the Whitsundays to be covered in tropical forest - but they weren't. This island was. It was beautiful. It was another hot and humid day and we'd only walked about 500m on the flat before we were soaked in sweat. We did a 10km loop, quite slowly, climbing up through the forest to the peak of the island giving views South over Hitchinbrook. The path then looped down through a gully - some of the best rainforest we'd see so far. The forest went down right to the waters edge. Small sandy coves; beautiful clear water and rain forest directly behind. Unfortunately you can't swim due to the stingers. We were back at the resort an hour before our beach pickup and we just had a nanna nap on the sun loungers (in the shade).

Undara Lava Tubes

This was our taste of outback Queensland. The landscape wasn't the bleak red on the brochure but green, with grasses waist height. The rainy season had been working its magic. In fact the rainy season was still working its magic. For the 24hours we were at Undara it rained and rained and rained. The lava tubes are what they sound like. 100km of tube were lava flowed. When the lava stopped flowing the tubes emptied and remained hollow for thousands of years. You do a guided tour. Due to the rain the tubes were the only dry place around and consequently were full of bats - even the guide was gobsmacked. I've never been so close to bats and they didn't ALL fly off. The fascinating thing about the caves is how they are formed. The area was also good for seeing macropods - kangars, wallaroos and rock wallabies - right through camp. One of the joys of camping in Australia is to be woken up by the sweet sound of the laughing kookaburra!!

Atherton Tablelands

Heading back to the coast we passed through the Atherton Tablelands. This area is famous for its waterfalls and would probably been rubbish in the dry season. The rain stopped and we did the Milaa Milaa waterfall circuit. 3 waterfalls in 12km. All beautiful falls falling over the edge of an old lava flow framed by untamed rainforest greenery. There’s a famous tree - called the curtain fig. A lot of the fig trees in Australia grow from a seed deposited in the branches of another tree. The roots of the fig then grow down to the ground. The fig tree eventually kills the 'host' tree either by strangling it or by breaking it with the weight of the new tree. The tree in question was growing on the diagonal with roots dropping down like lace curtains.

We then drove through to Kuranda to the Barren Gorge Falls. These are the most impressive waterfalls I've seen in Australia. To be honest most waterfalls we've seen in Australia are usually dry. These were flowing over a drop of 300+m over several stages. We stayed at another lovely campsite - this one had padamelons (really little macropods) in the camp at night. Kuranda town is very touristy. The whole town is only open 10-3 as that’s when the day trips arrive from Cairns. It had some Aboriginal art galleries - the amount some people will pay for art intrigues me.

Daintree and Cape Tribulation

The Daintree is the old remnants of the rainforest that used to cover most of Australia. The climate has remained unchanged for 400million years which mean the forest hasn't had to change either. We got to Mossman Gorge early, about 8am, to our amazement all of the other cars in the car park were 4WD tours - the road was perfectly suited to our 2WD car. The tours only covered the view points of the gorge. There was another 2km circular walk to explore which we had to ourselves. This had some quality buttress roots and strangler figs. We then headed north - getting the ferry across the Daintree River up to Cape Tribulation.

We stayed in a rather nicely situated camp site at Cape Tribulation (again run by another English loony/character). Unfortunately it was infested with mozzies. I swotted 5 while I was on the toilet and sustained more than 5 bites. There were some more rainforest board walks in this area of the rainforest - these included mangrove sections. The rainforest might have been nice but we stormed through to reduce the bites - yes, we were doused in insect repellant but any bits you'd missed the mozzies found. They were also happy to bite through your clothes so shoulders, legs, bum are all covered too. Why didn't Noah swot those 2 mosquitoes?

Agincourt Reef, Great Barrier Reef

From Port Douglas we did a day trip to the Outer Reef, specifically the Agincourt Ribbon Reef. Despite the forecast the sea was as flat as a pancake. We'd done a lot of snorkeling but it had all been on fringing reef. We decided we'd try an introductory dive. This is a proper scuba dive but in a very small group (just 4 of us) and an instructor who monitors your tank level and controls where you go etc. I must admit I was a little nervous. You watch a video which is meant to put you at ease but really lists all the ways your lungs/ear drums/sinus can explode. It also tells you how to avoid this.

We got kitted out. We did a dry run (with the air tank) of all the skills they'd shown us. We then went into the water and repeated the same skills with about 50cm of water over our heads. Once the instructor was happy and we were happy we descended down a rope to the bottom. It's very surreal. Its very wrong being able to breath under water. They hadn't put enough weights on Phil and he had to continually swim downwards to stop himself floating upwards (like when our goldfish had swim bladder). The first dive was good. We were just getting used to it when it was time to return to the surface. We decided to dive again at the second site. The second site was awesome! There was a 25m pinnacle coming up from the ocean floor - as we were only allowed to depths of 10m so we swam round the middle of it. So many fish. So much coral (just like on the post card but a little bit murkier). Phil found Nemo.

Adelaide

We're now in Adelaide. The change in humidity and the reduction in the number of mosquitoes (no bites last night) have significantly improved our mood. We're picking up a car later today and we're heading up to the Flinders Rangers; via Barossa Valley (or maybe a Clare valley) then down to Kangaroo Island.

Sunshine Coast in the rain, Australia

beckandphil — Wed, 2 Jan 2008 03:09:00 GMT

Christchurch, NZ

Christchurch is a very English city. It was obvioulsy built by the new settlers to be a little piece of home. The River Avon runs between Cambridge and Oxford Terraces. The buildings, in particular the old school, are built in an olde English stylee with quads and stonework reminiscent of Oxbridge colleges. The weather was even like an English summer when we there: warm, sunny buit with a chill on the breeze. The first afternoon we walked to the arts centre (which is held in the quad of the old school). The market was aiming towards Camden or Paddington markets but on a much smaller scale. The whole scene was watched over by a large pub with a nicely situated garden and we couldn't resist an afternoon beer (alocholic ginger beer was interesting but not as good as I'd hoped). Short on cash we wondered round the free natural history museum specifically the Maori section. Walking around Christchurch the whole city was very quiet - it was hard to believe it was the last weekend for Christmas. It felt more like a Wednesday afternoon.All of the local population must have been on holiday too!

The Sunday was our last day in NZ. The backpackers we were staying in cooked fresh bread for breakfast - we had apricot and choc chip loaf still warm, with butter. Yum! We packed, then picniced in the Botanic garden, then went to the modern art gallery. It was like a proper Sunday. We watching the pennies and it came as a nasty shock to found out there was a departure tax. Faced with the prospect of MacDonalds for dinner as the only expenditure for the day we changed a little bit more money. In the evening we dined at the Monteiths pub next to the river. Given the gorgeous weather and the fact it was the weekend before Christmas the pub wasn't that busy. We succeeded in drinking and eating our remaining NZ dollars.

Christmas in Australia

We got the early o'clock flight out to Brisbane. It was much more obvious from the traffic on the road and the choas in the supermarket that it was the start of the holidays in Oz. We stocked up on Christmas goodies and continued our drive to Byron Bay. The campsite in Byron Bay was full. Australians camp in style with each pitch over flowing with awnings; camp chairs; bikes; tables; people even take their own fridges!! The campsite was much noisier than those in NZ too: the buzz of the cicadas, strutting bush turkeys as well is the screaming kids on bicycles. It was quite a nice Christmassy atmosphere - caravans decked out in fairy lights and flashing Santas etc.

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve we went into Byron Bay bought some more trendy shorts; had an ice cold beer over looking the beach; had dinner at the campsite and an early night (we had been up since 4am).

Christmas day we were woken up at 6am by the kids in the next site...to be honest their dad was making the most noise!! We had a lazy morning cooking bacon and egg on the BBQ (gas powered hot plate). We prepared our picnic and headed down to the beach. Byron Bay is the eastern most point on the Australian coast and the head land is a national park. It was a full moon the night before and the tide was in....higher than usual as the waves were lapping over the grass at the back of the beach. We walked around the head land in the morning and then relaxed on the beach in the afternoon. We took the Aussie brochures down with us to plan our itinerery but we just looked at the pictures! We then built a sand castle with a spade that had been abondoned on the beach...it was a masterpiece a sand fortress more like (it would have been better if we'd had a bucket). The forecast for the day was showers but luckily the rain held off but we were both grateful for the cloud otherwise we'd have burnt to a crisp! In the evening we cooked a Turkey turner on our camping gas stoves!! We bought a lump of turkey breast which we re-heated on the BBQ; served with mashed potato; vegies and gravy; followed by mince pies.

Mount Warning

Mt Warning is the cork in a big caldera on the East Coast of Australia and the walk/climb has been recommended by a couple of people we've met. The cloud was pretty low but it was now or never. Minutes after leaving the car the heavens opened. We put waterproofs on but the temperature was still about 27degrees so we were still pretty soggy with sweat. This was a tropical style downpour in a sub-tropical rainforest. Phil said it added to the authenticity of the rainforest experience. Humph! This was perfect leech country - we'd seen one crossing the tarmac in the car park. With leeches and rain we barely stopped....just trudged up. The last section is a scramble up the rock face with a cable to pull yourself up on - or semi abseil down on the way back down. When we reached the top we could see bugger all!! Just a white abyss in all 4 directions. The national parks service had kindly provided signs showing us what we should have seen! I think we'd secretly harboured the hope that the top of the mountain would be above the cloud. The rain held off for us to have our sandwiches. Phil did see a leech on his leg before it latches on (it will wander around before it finds somewhere it likes). Back at the car park I took my boots off and discovered a leech just inside. When Phil took his socks off something plopped onto the floor; his sock was covered in blood and he had 3 little bloody circles on the back of his ankles - despite his horror he survived his first leech encounter!

Bald Rock and Girraween

From Mt Warning we headed inland to Granite country - on the New South Wale and Queensland border. We stayed at a National Park campsite which was deserted...but then it was the most expensive campsite we've stayed at so far. Bald Rock is a granite monolith like Ayers Rock but a little bit smaller and hidden in the trees. It was not even visible from the camp site but was only 200m away. We explored that in the morning and then went to the nearby Giraween National Parkin the afternoon to climb their pyramid. I was still exciting at the number of wallabys and kangaroos we saw. Granite country was fromed when a magma chamber built up..however it never quite became a volcano and the magma cooled to form a very large piece of granite. Over time the surrounding earth has eroded away leaving these large granite monoliths.

Glass House Mountains and Australia Zoo

Just north of Brisbane is an area called the Glass House Mountains. There are small corks from volcanoes protruding from fields of pineapples and macademia trees. Only a couple have walking tracks to the top the others are for mountaineers with ropes only. We'd been at the information sign for 2minutes and we'd both sustained several mozzy bites (I thought the little blighters were meant to be nocturnal). Soaked in insect repellant we did our first walk. We drove out to the view point from here you could clearly see the rain in the distance; and gauge how quickly it was coming our way. This was the first of a squally showers we've encountered over the last few days. Soaked to the skin in 3 minutes flat and by then the shower passes over.

Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo (aka the Crocodile zoo) is also in the Glass House Mountains so we spent the day there. It was originally opened as a reptile park by his parents in the 70s. The highlight of the day is the croc show. The idea is you put a hungry croc in an arena with the employee; tease him and feed him (hopefully the prepared food rather than a limb). You can't train a croc and there were a few very clear 'oh shits' during the show apparently they're meant to say crikey! The show for the day was done by Terri Irwin, with Bindi in the audience. It was good to see the family are still so hands on with the zoo. The zoo mainly had Australian animals with a few Asian animals. As its privately owned it can write its own rules and its very much hands on - there were lots of handling and feeding sessions. We got to feed Asian elephants :) The other highlight was the tigers: 3 playful cubs being actively played with 3 staff on display in the enclosure - it looked like a great job.

Noosa

We then headed back to the coast and to Noosa. There's an area of low pressure off the coast for the last few days which has been providing high winds and a regular series of squally showers. On the news there was brief talk of the low pressure area turning into a cyclone...but instead its just hanging around for a few days. The consequence of this are dangerous seas all along the coast. Noosa is famous for its surfing but is notoriously dangerous given how the waves run along the coast even on a normal day but with a dangerous seas warning there were surfers EVERYWHERE! We spent a day there watching the surfers and exploring the rather nice Noosa National Park. The town itself was the epitomy of tourist town in high season. There were people everywhere. Cars everywhere. It was quite good fun after the quieter towns we'd been to.

Lady Elliot Island

Yesterday we went out to the reef and it was AWESOME!! Lady Eliott Island is a coral cay and pretty much the southern most part of the reef. Its quite a long way off shore and we got a flight out there for the day. The plane was an 8seater cessna and the flight was a little hairy given the windy conditions (but nowhere near as bad as we were expected; and a hell of a lot better than being on a boat). The runway on the island runs across the island at its widest point. Its a field with white markers and with birds nesting at either end. As the plane comes into land a few hundred birds take off in front of you. There were bird nests everywhere including on the floor - there were just chicks walking around the resort. My initial thought was about the smell of the bird poo!!

We were quickly kitted up with snorkel and mask and out on a glass bottom boat. They took you about 50m offshore to where the reef drops away to a depth of about 10-15m. Despite the recent turbulent weather the visibility was still really good - you could see the bottom clearly. There was a bit of a swell but it was OK. There was also another downpour of rain but once we were in the water we didn't mind. The coral wasn't as brilliant as I expected - apparently you only see the brightly coloured stuff if you dive. However there was a good variety of shapes and sizes. What was absolutely amazing was the abundance and the variety of fish. The national park uses the phrases "abundant and prolific" and I would say its actually true. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank!! A lot of the fish are quite small but make up for it with their unnecessarily bright colourings. Unfortunately I don't know what we saw. Phil saw an eel; someone pointed out a manta ray to us; and we saw a 1.5m (guess) groper (big ugly fish). Just as we were getting into our flow we realised that everyone else was back on the boat - they clearly didn't like the swell so much.

After a buffet lunch we went out onto the lagoon. This was a more sheltered shallower part of coral straight off the beach. Much to our amazement the variety of fish just off the beach was just as impressive. We even saw a turtle. The water was only waist deep but you can't stand up due to the coral (if you tread on it you kill it AND you'll get a nasty infected cut) so we took floatation devices with us. The water was surprisingly warm (26 degrees apparently).

At 4pm we had to fly back. The clouds had lifted so we had great views over the island and coast line as we flew back down. Yep - it was still just as windy...it looks like the cold front is going to hang there for a while. We're now in Hervey Bay - commonly called Gods waiting room due to the number of people who retire here. We had booked onto a 3 day Fraser Island tour but it was cancelled due to the high seas. Fraser Island is just a massive sand dune and the only roads are the beaches. The main beach is the main road and is currently covered in massive waves; coupled with high tides (due to the moon being closer to the earth than normal). Hopefully our 2 day tour will go ahead tomorrow if not we're cutting our losses and leaving early.

Fiordland, Mount Cook and Kaikoura

beckandphil — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 06:29:00 GMT

Doubtful Sound Cruise

After the 3 day Routeburn track we were expected every muscle in our body to ache so we'd given ourselves 3 days to recover before we began the Kepler Track. We originally intended to go to Milford Sound during this time but we'd heard good things aout Doubtful Sound and were enticed by the idea of an overnight cruise. Doubtful Sound is longer than Milford and much harder to get to (you have to cross a lake and then get a shuttle bus - a 90minute transfer just to get the sound); consequently there are considerably less tourists. We met at the wharf at 12:30 but it was 2pm by the time we got to our boat. A steady drizzle had been falling all day.

The boat was lovely - even though we were in bunk beds. We sailed up one of the arms of the fiord when we'd found a quiet piece of water we went out in kayaks for 40mins - despite the rain. We did decline the swimming option. The walls of the fiord towering up above you into the cloud. It was all very atmospheric as the clouds swirled around us. Phil struggled to get many photos as it was just too wet to go outside with the camera. They took us to the mouth of the fiord where there were some islands with NZ fur seals and penguins. There was a roast buffet dinner. The excessive quantity of quality food was just what we needed after 3 days of track food.

That night it really started to rain! When we got up the next morning (it was still raining) there was waterfalls every 50m along the walls. They just got more and more impressive. In some places just sheet of water running down the rock. Apparently there are usually only 3 permanent waterfalls along the fiord. The cloud lifted a little so you got an impression just how deep the fiord was. We were "priveleged to see the fiord so alive" - I'm not sure if this is true or whether they told us that to make us feel better! Fantastic experience.

Kepler Track

The Kepler is a 4 day circuit walk from TeAnau. As you have to book in advance its pot luck with the weather. The forecast was ominous: day 1 - rain; day 2 - showers; day 3 - rain; day 4 - rain!!! We packed and dressed accordingly. We were probably carrying an extra 500g of plastic bags with us. We'd packed our bag on the veranda at the campsite - too wet to pack outside. Luckily the rain held off when we actually started to walk though the clouds were still ominous and you still couldn't see the peaks we would be climbing over on Day 2! The first part of the walk is along the lake. This was fine, if a little dull. We stopped for lunch by the lake side and within minutes we had a swarm of sand flies. They really love the back of my ruck sack. Sand flies became a theme of this walk - we used SO much insect repellant and we still sustained a fair few bloddy itchy bites (people walked out a day early just because of the sand flies). It was then a steady 800m(?) climb on a well maintained track up to the hut. It was gruelling. Once we broke up onto the Alpine tussock we had wonderful views of cloud. From the hut you're meant to get views across Lake TeAnua - we could see about 50m of cloud!! At least we were dry.

Day 2 is the alpine crosssing. Having completed the Kepler track this alpine crossing is clearly the highlight of the walk. When we got up in the morning you still couldn't see the lake below (due to cloud) but you could see mountains across from us and the alpine plateau stretching into the distance. There were more clouds above us. It was like a cloud sandwich! The cloud continued to swirl around all day in a teasing kind of way. The walk is along ridges with views of the moutain either sides - probably. At times we were in cloud that reduced our visibility to 50m. At other times the clouds lifted revealing the mountains and the paths ahead. You could tell the view would be absolutely spectacular if it was clear but the ever changing views we got kept you interested. Day 2 hut was another sandfly infested spot. We also worked out how to turn a set of Uno cards into playing cards....if you're happy with red, blue, yellow, green rather than club, diamonds, hearts, spades.

Damn it - just lost most of my text. Dodgy internet connection :(

All loop walks have a crappy bit which joins the good bits. Day 3 of the Kepler track is THAT day! It was a samey walk through beech forest. The highlight was trying to find a suitable walking stick for an injured Canadian we were walking with. The forests are covered in moss so anything that's been off the tree for too long is pretty much rotten. Day 3 hut was scenically located by the lake but as soon as you stop the sandflys found you. The only blessing is that sandflys are only active in the day. There were screens on the doors and windows but it wasn't enough. We awoke the next morning to the sounds of the other people in the bunkroom smacking/clapping the bugs. The night of day 3 we had brought 'back country food' - a special range of outdoor tasty meals; that are light to carry; nutritionally balanced; etc etc. We went for the beef curry - simply add hot water and leave 10mins to rehydrate. It was surprisingly good but we were pretty hungry by this point.

I was determined to do Day 4 of the Kepler track because everyone else in the huts was getting a bus back from Rainbow Reach - cutting off 4 hours of the 6 hours walking for the day. It was better than Day 3. It had carnivourous plants; fewer sandflys; and it cut along the river that joins lake Manapouri and Lake TeAnau. The river was DEFINITELY used for Lord of the Rings. The day 4 track is also a popular day walk and finally felt a bit icky in my rather smelly clothes. The clouds were still ominous but we were back at the car with no rain on days 3 and days 4...within 15mins of being at the car we were treated to a heavy shower! Great timing.

Mt Cook

Apparently there's a tall mountain visible from Mt cook village. Apparently there should be fabulous views of glaciers too. We arrived at 4pm to drizzle, which alternated with horizontal rain. We pitched the tent in a dip in the rain.The evening was a right off and we just sat in the kitchen - later in the evening the cloud lifted (still raining) to reveal a glacier in the valley behind the tent. We didn't take a photo because clearly the weather was going to be fine the next day! You'll be glad to know the tent was lovely and dry inside...until we got in it and created a little pool. As it was going to be 'fine by dawn' we set the alarm for early o'clock...to find it was still raining and the cloud was even lower! There was no point doing the Muellers Hut that had been recommended. We cut our losses and did the 3 hour Hooker Valley track - which was lovely. The rain eased to a drizzle to nothing. The rivers were roaring and we were early enough to be before the crowds. It takes you up to the terminal of the Hooker Glacier, the hooker lake and through lots of clearly glacial terrain (lots of moraines).

Kaikoura

We went 'swimming with seals'. AWESOME. In our case this more involved donning full wet suit including hoods and swimming into the pool in the middle of the seal colony. From here we just floated and watched them watching us; as well as play and fight. They're truly curious creatures and they came close enough to touch as they eye-balled you under the water. Sorry, I can't write more. I'm outta time....

We're in Akaroa at the moment in the Banks Peninsula. It's actually sunny again! We're heading to Christchurch tomorrow then flying to Oz on Christmas Eve...

Have a fab Christmas!!! All the best for the New Year. We'll catch up with you soon from Australia - I'm definitely ready for some more sunshine.

Glaciers and snow-capped Mountains

beckandphil — Sun, 9 Dec 2007 23:04:00 GMT

Franz Josef Glacier, West Coast of South Island NZ
The Franz Josef Glacier is a 'temperate' or 'warm' glacier. The glacier actually comes down BELOW the treeline. The neve (the area the snow collects in) is massive; about the size of Auckland (Wolverhampton/Preston); it receives 50 metres of snow through the year and this is all chunnelled into the glacier. The glacial valley is only 2km (my guess) wide which means there is a hell of a lot of snow/ice pushing down the steep valley all year round.

We'd booked onto the all day glacier walk as this takes you up on to the blue ice and was rated 'adventurous'. When we got up the morning was glorious - you could even see the glacier and the mountains from our campsite...however by the time we got to the site the clouds we starting to gather. We were kitted out with their boots and crampons and jackets (why trash our own stuff when we can borrow theirs!).I was initially horrified when 50 other people got on the transfer bus. Most of them were on a backpacker bus - the English people who didn't fancy going to Spain this year. Some of them were wearing full make up - I wasn't sure if this was applied especially for the glacier tour or was a remanent of last nights drinking!? When we got to the head of the glacier (the terminal) they thankfully split us into 5 groups of 10.

There were well carved steps into the glacier. It took me a while to trust my crampons especially after the scree and snow we'd encountered on our other walks. The glacier was surprisingly dirty for most of the way up - this was due to some waterry explosion 10 years ago (called a hupplecut or something like that?). Also it was very wet...there was a continual sound of running water pouring down the side of the steps; the walls; under the path. It was all very disconcerting. I was expecting the glacier to be flat on top but instead it was peaky - a bit like the top of the meringue but more ridges (apparently this reflects the steepness of the valley underneath - this is the steepest commercial glacier in the world apparently).

Once we were off the half day circuit our progress slowed as our guide cut steps for us (using a massive pick axe) as we went. The walk took us over peaks then down into brilliant blue crevasses. It also meant that you couldn't see the other people on the glacier - it felt like it was just your group. It was drizzling by this point (or were we just in the cloud?) and I was starting to get a bit chilly. It was like walking through a foxes glacier mint. The glacier moves about 1 metre a day so crevasses are continually opening and moving and closing; consequently they change the route every couple of days. They were hoping to go into a new crevasse. We waited for 30 minutes while two guides tried to dig steps into to it but ultimately they decided it was too dangerous (it had a 4 metre drop to one side!) I do not like taking a step of normal distance if its over a big drop! The clouds lifted (almost sunny) and the whites got whiter and the experience far more enjoyable. Some Keas (Alpine parrots) even came over to say hello. I ripped my trousers on the crampons :( ...I've only got 3 pairs of trousers for 5 months!

Fox Glacier and drive to Wanaka
There's a famous photo taken near Fox Glacier (about 20km further south from Franz Josef) of Mount Tasman and Mount Cook over Lake Matheson. We were informed that to get this photo you needed a massive dose of luck and it helped if you were at the view point at early o'clock. The view point is at the far point of a 90 minute walk. I indulged Phil and at 6am we were at the car park; with several other cars. At the view point there were 5 photographers in the row snapping away - I struggled to suppress a snigger! By 7:30am we'd completed a 90 minute walk. We then went up to the glacier view point - another 90 minute walk - both completed before 11am. The view point was disappointing but the forest was great. I don't know how to take a photo or describe the lushness of forest. Everything was green; covered in moss or lichen; you daren't stop in case you become part of the forest too!

We spent the rest of the day driving to Wanaka...quality drive day. We drove over the Haast Pass. The biggest problem was deciding which of the many waterfalls; view points and short walks to stop at. We couldn't stop at all of them or we'd never have made it!

Wanaka has a reputation as a chill out place but clearly the biggest draw card is Puzzling World. It has some mess with your mind 'illusion rooms' and a maze with 2 levels. The maze has 1.5km of paths but most people walk between 3km-5km to solve it (from the start; to the 4 corners; to the finish). It's a proper maze for adults; with emergency exits; time to complete between 30 and 90minutes. After 40 minutes we'd only found 2 corners and the start again. We resorted to the left hand rule (keep your left hand on the wall) - much to my amusement Phil applied this rule physically! Completed in an hour - we were rubbish!

Queenstown
Queenstown is a serious stop on the backpacker route. I didn't like it when we first got here buts its growing on me. Its got a reputation as the adventure capital of NZ but that doesn't take away from the fact that its a happening little town very prettily situated on the side of a lake. Lots of cafes; bars; restaurants and bucketloads of tourists. The closest we got to adrenalin activities was the luge (downhill go kart track) - I really don't fancy bungee jumping. Unfortunately we discovered the frisbee golf in the gardens too late!

Routeburn Track
The Routeburn Track is a 3 day alpine pass. Its not a very long walk; each day is about 5 hours. The walk is only 35km long, however it's 350km by road between the track ends!! We got a transfer to the Glenorchy end - a drive alongside the lake by Queenstown. At the head of the lake are the valleys of Routeburn, Caples, Dart and Greenstone rivers. We had a lazy morning; picked up a midday transfer and started the track about 2pm. Day 1 had the biggest climb; it was a gentle climb up an old Bridleway through mountain beech to Routeburn Flats (or Route Burn - the name of the river). The streams and waterfalls that cut our path were sheer, clear, azure moutain streams; tumbling over large granite boulders. The valley was steep sided with snow capped mountains towering above us. From Routeburn Flats it became a bit of a slog up to Routeburn Falls and the nights first hut. The hut was beautifully situated; at the tree line with views down the valley from the balcony. The NZ Department of Conservation installs huts onto the alpine back country routes. The huts provide a dorm and a kitchen. The Great walks get the most people and the most investment. The hut was lovely - better than some of the hostels we've stayed in. I was just very grateful that we didn't have to carry a tent; mat or stove! This meant we could take lots of food (or so we thought).

Day 2 of the Routeburn is the alpine crossing over the Harris saddle. As we were already at the tree line there wasn't too much more up but the path isn't quite so well maintained at this part and some of the steps up were a bit of a grunt with the big pack (for my short legs). At the risk of sounding repetitive the views were spectacular. Snow melt fuelling the clear waterfalls; alpine tarns; did i mention the towering snow capped mountains surrounding us, and gorgeous views down the Routeburn valley? Once we croosed the Harris saddle we were looking at the Hollyford valley. The rest of the day clung to the side of the Hollyford valley remaining above the treeline. We lunched on ryevita; cream cheese and salami - yum! Immediately after lunch the path turned into a hanging valley and we could see Lake Mackenzie and the Lake Mackenzie hut below us. Lake Mackenzie had a glorious green tinge to it (its emptied by an underground stream) with Emily pass towering over the valley end. It looked so close but it was so far....the path then switch backed down the steep sided valley for 90 minutes before we reached the hut! It was a glorious blue sky day and we chilled out by Lake Mackenzie. Some people swam in it but as it was only 8 degrees we declined!

Day 3 of the Routeburn: It seems the huge amounts of food we took were only just enough! According to the cereal packet I had enough museli for 10 servings but we'd finished it in 2 days! All the good snacks were gone - by this time we're basically living on nuts and dried fruit - I felt like a parrot. Even Phil was almost passe about the never ending snow-topped mountain vistas; steep valleys; gravel flats and rivers at the bottom. The actual 'Routeburn' part of this walk was not as good as Days 1 or Day 2 but the side track up to 'Key Summit' made up for it. A zig-zag up to an interpretaive walk with 360 degree views of the 3 surrounding valleys - get more fantastic views of towering snow-capped mountains. The final part of the walk seemed almost English - but that may have been the sound of traffic from the road nearby!

We then had a very long transfer back to Queenstown. We were picked up at the track end at 3pm and back in Queenstown for 7pm. After the exercise it was important to have a well balanced meal - take away pizza and cold beer in the park on the lake front :)

We're now back in Queenstown. We're doing some chores today and driving to Te Anau for an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound; then walking the Kepler Track (a 4 day one this time) and then heading to Milford Sound.

Please note that since my previous entry, we've found our that a Sound is a flooded river valley; a Fiord is a flooded glacial valley. Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound are actually fiords misnamed by Captain Cook when he explored this area.