When my ass was 26 years old...

Skydive Lake Wanaka

mattandandy — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:17:00 GMT

Here's what each of us thought of our moment of freefall...

Note: the jumpsuits only fitted one of us....

Andy:

The next morning we woke up to some patchy cloud and were sure they would cancel our jump again. However to our suprise they said it was clearing up over the jump zone so we headed to the airport. We donned our very striking jumpsuits, strapped into our harnesses and there was no turning back. My tandem was a South African called Eric, and we’d opted to have a video done so we each had our own cameraman too. There were five of us jumping, each with a tandem, plus four cameramen. We all squeezed into the plane and we were off with some great views on the way up. The ascent was about 20 minutes and the three girls infront of us were jumping first from 12,000 feet. Seeing someone jump out of an open door of a plane is the weirdest sight! We each had to wear oxygen masks to get up to our jump height of 15,000 feet. The jump light went green and Matt was first, he shuffled down the plane and before I knew it he was out the door. We followed and I got to the door, got into position and then we were out. That initial feeling of free fall is indescribable, the adrenalin kicks in and there’s a wall of air hitting your face as you quickly accelerate to 130mph. The freefall lasted for 60 seconds and it’s easily the biggest rush I’ve ever had, I can see why it’s so addictive! As the canopy opened my feet and hands were numb from the rush, and as I looked around at the mountains and lakes Eric said “here’s the view from my office”, it was a moment I will never forget.

Matt:

As for my skydive I was to entrust my life with a Brazilian by the name of Mac. Very laisez fair he was too! As we got onto the plane i noticed tht everyone elses harnesses were nice and tight except mine which was pretty much hanging off. ‘Ah don’t worry about it,’ came the response from Mac. Hmm reassuring. After a good twenty minutes of ascent onbard the plane we were set to go. Mac kindly tightened up all straps with minutes to go, much to my relief. He also chose these very moments before we jumped out of the plane to explain what i had to do. Some of this i forgot immediately; no surprises there. You don’t really have time to contemplate much before you get hurtled out of the plane at an alamring speed. What you do get is a huge rush –something akin to the best rollercoaster you’ve ever been on but with that very moment of freefall extended. If money were no object i would have immediately handed my credit card over and done it again. As for my forgotten instructions; well I hung onto my harness for dear life for the duration of the downfall. Something I only had to do for a couple of seconds. Hence on the video i look a complete tit; again no surpises there. All in all, highlight of the trip so far. There are a couple of decent places to skydive on the north island and it’s taking quite a bit of self control not to splurge and do it all again!

Wanaka

mattandandy — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 19:10:00 GMT

Now that we’d gotten our fill of mountains we headed further south to Lake Wanaka. This is the quieter version of Queenstown by all accounts and very nice it was too. With much of the activities of Queenstown but without all the drunken folk. It makes for more of a chilled out place to recover from all the adrenalin escapades. We’d been planning on doing a skydive in Wanaka as it has some of the best views of all the jump spots in New Zealand. So upon waking up the next day and finding nothing but bright sunshine we thought we’d scored lucky. But alas just as the people before us landed they decided it was too windy. This was to be the case for the rest of the day and with the next day being wall to wall cloud we were left in limbo.

Rather than waste our time waiting for the weather gods to sort out their act, we decided to try our luck at mountain biking. After deciding that all the beginner tracks looked a bit boring we headed for something a bit more adventurous. We had of course gone for the cheapest bike option and hired them from the hostel we were staying at; something we came to regret later. With dodgey suspension and brakes (mostly Andy’s) we somehow made our way up and down various near vertical hills and the like without serious harm. Other than shear exhaustion of course.

Mount Cook (Aoraki)

mattandandy — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 18:54:00 GMT

Mount Cook

After giving our car a propper run in (the wonder that is a Nissan Sunny!) we arrived at Mount Cook. Our route took us past the brilliantly blue lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki. The first day was a bit of a wash out so we headed to the Edmund Hillary museum which was worth a visit. Andy didn’t even know who he was....much to learn! Day two turned out to be a stunner so we headed up the Hooker Valley on a good half day hike. This was definately worth the trek with swing bridges and glaciers gallore. Stunning views of course!

Upon gettting back to the car we thought that after four hours of walking maybe we’d do a bit more, so headed towards a hike called the Sealy Tarns (which turned out to be two little ponds). But intrigued by the views we set off on the climb up the mountain side. And by climb I mean scrambling up what was the most steep and rock strewn path I’ve dealt with. After 700 meters of climbing, much grumbling, and both of us close to passing out with sun stroke we reached the top. Another hour up it turns out that there’s the Mueller Hut where you can stay overnight, but alas we hadn’t planned ahead (something that the people heading down the path said was the most amazing place they’d ever stayed); next time maybe...

After seeing Mount Cook and the surrounding scenery up close we decided it was definitely beer o’clock so set off back towards civilisation, or as close as it got this remote. One point of note for New Zealand; the beer is really good (by which I mean lager), better than most in the UK I’d say – ales excluded of course. To accompany this great beer the food seems to evolve entirely around steak, burgers and salmon. Not bad at all! For anyone searching for the best chicken burger known to man try the Mountaineers Cafe; stuffing, cranberries and roast chicken in a burger – words don’t do it justice!

Christchurch / Banks Peninsula

mattandandy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:37:00 GMT

First stop in New Zealand was Christchurch which we didn’t spend much time in. By all accounts the city is pretty boring and still recovering from the earthquake of last year. (A four pointer aftershock hit a few days after we left; Andy quite wanted to exerience an earthquake too but plenty of chance for that in California I guess....). Anyhow, there was one highlight to our stay in Christchurch and that was the Jailhouse hostel. Converted a couple of years back; until ’99 it was a fully fledged jail and looked the spitting image of what you’d expect (think Shawshank or Porridge). Something of an experience staying in our own cell but something I’d definately recommend as long it’s by choice!

As Christcurch had nothing to offer we headed for the Banks Peninsular, one hour east. It’s a huge volcanic crater right on the edge of the south island with a nice mix of mountains and bays. We stopped off at the local town of Akaroa which turned out to be French of all things. The French had a go at colonising New Zealand before we kicked them out; unlucky monsieurs! After much driving around and admiring of scenery we decided this was far too lazy so decided to walk up one of the peaks. Great views again; something that you tend to take for granted after being here for a while.

Sydney - Northern Beaches

mattandandy — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 17:38:00 GMT

We were reluctanct to leave the brilliant Blue Mountains and the girls, but with only a few days remaining in Sydney we wanted to explore the northern beaches. We got the train back into Sydney and took the hour long bus ride over the Sydney Harbour Bridge up to Collaroy. I’d seen the hostel we were staying in (YHA Sydney Beachhouse) months ago online and was really looking forward to the beach location, laid back vibe, and free surf board hire. Talk about the biggest disappointment ever! Our room was on the top floor and we opened to a hum of hot air and man sweat. The three guys in the room were literally permanent residents, and it felt like we were invading their home, or more their squat from the state of the place. After a day of chilling on the beach and two very sweaty, sleepless nights we decided enough was enough and checked out. We decided to make best of our location and took the bus up to Palm Beach, a.k.a. Summer Bay of Home and Away.

Plenty of nice houses, good sun, and Sheela’s so we were happy. Definitely somewhere to move to if you strike it lucky with the lottery!

Picked up our gear from the Devil's Hostel as we’ve labelled it (in nearly every game of shithead there I had 666 in my hand; I of course still kicked Matt’s butt in every game – think I’m about 30 ahead now) and headed back for Sydney Central YHA. Woke up that morning and Matt looked like Rocky in Rocky 4 after the fight with that Russian dude; after much deliberation we decided it must have been some allergic reaction from something in the dirty squat room, or sun burn. He'd also managed to again change the combination on his lock so we’ve gone out and bought a new one. Weather was crap so we headed to Bondi for some shopping and Nando’s (yes!). On our last day in Australia we took the ferry over to Manly and enjoyed the sunshine.

For those of you who ever come to Sydney and wanna hit the beach, we thought Palm was the nicest:
1. Palm Beach
2. Manly
3. Bondi
4. Bronte
5. Collaroy - hole

That night we met up with our buddy Sean from the Blue Mountains and the whiskey did flow. With a 5.30am wake up call to catch our flight to Christchurch, Matt decided to down a litre of water before hitting the hay in order to try and stem his hangover; drunken logic..... About an hour and a half later he woke up with the most urgent call of nature, and with drunk logic still in charge he proceeded to search his bed for his room key card and came to the conclusion that it must be in his duvet. With duvet in tow and wearing just his pants he headed for the toilet. Upon arrival he searched his duvet, alas no key card, and at 3am realised there was no way to access the toilet, or get back into the room. Thus wearing his duvet he had to head down to reception, and in front of all the returning drunken revellers had to ask for a replacement; another classic Matt moment, although one I sadly missed as I was comatose. 9am flight and we were on our way to New Zealand!

Blue Mountains

mattandandy — Fri, 7 Jan 2011 13:43:00 GMT

Got the train up to the Blue Mountains; only two hours and definately worth it. Headed to Katoomba YHA and wasn’t dissapointed; a really nice hostel. After me getting another beating by Andy during a game of shithead we got invited to play some drinking games with two Canadian girls, Marisa and Lindsay, and an Irishman, Sean. The evening went downhill from then on. Drank a fair amount of our nice cheap (but not the cheapest – Andy has labeled me wine ponce) and drunkenly commited ourselves to a nice long six hour trek to the Ruined Castle with Marisa and Lindsay. Woke up in the morning slightly worse for wear and set off on our jaunt into the wilderness. The ladies were suitably attired in shorts and trainer socks; something they regretted later I’m sure! After a couple of hours of trecking in what felt like a Gorrillas in the Mist remake (very nice it was too), Lindsay noticed something black and wormlike hanging onto her trainer. With much screaming ensuing, (mostly by the girls) the days battle against the dreaded leaches began. Top scorer with three bites was Andy with me and Lindsay following closely behind with two a piece. Note for future reference – leaches can bite through socks....the little gits!

Anyway, after another hour we arrived at the first rock outcrop and after a bit of debate decided these weren’t good enough to warrant the name of Ruined Castle and so set off further down the path. I was imaging some kind of aboriginal take on a medieval fort but what we found was even better. Arrived at some huge rock outcrops right at the top of a hill. After some haphazzard rock climbing (Andy hugged some rocks nice an closely) we made it to the top and had a much deserved lunch.

The great views made the journey and war against the leaches definately worth it. Headed back towards Katoomba and completed our 10k trek with a 900 step stairs to finish off mostly intact.

For some reason the girls took it uppon themselves to return all the errant Katoomba shopping trolleys on the way back to the hostel, so Andy and I did the gentlemanly thing - watched and laughed as they trudged up the hill.

Got back to the hostel and decided we were too knackered to cook so headed out for a bite to eat. This was delayed by a whopping two hours while the Canadian contingent beautified themseleves. By ten we managed to actually head out and stumbled from closed place to closed place and somehow through a stroke of luck ended up at a really nice pizza place. Ended up in a locals pub wth good music. Ordered the cheapest whiskey & coke and got served a morgans spice instead – oh well who am i to argue.

Quote of the day – ‘Do women have kidneys too?’

Photos: Sydney

mattandandy — Tue, 4 Jan 2011 20:01:00 GMT

Sydney pics

Sydney

mattandandy — Tue, 4 Jan 2011 13:40:00 GMT

Bondi – The next day we took the 333 bus to Bondi beach. The beach is huge and really busy; sort of reminded me of Southend seafront on a grander scale.

We took a walk south to some of the smaller beaches of Tamarama and Bronte along the coastal path and had Baramundi and chips on the beach like true British toursists before heading back to Sydney Central. That night there was a moment of fear as Matt somehow managed to change the combination on his padlock while attached to his loker with all his stuff locked inside. After about 10 minutes of frantic attempts then managed to crack his new combination; I laughed the entire time, no doubt more Matt moments to come on this trip!

Met the coolest named dutch guy ever...Rocky Rodriguez

Boat tour day. Headed to the harbour to catch a Captain Cook boat tour with Rocky, good views etc. North Sydney looks nice – bit greener. Ignored the stop offs at the zoo, islands and headed straight for the one with the recommended pub. Enjoyed a nice few beers and a bit of sun burn.

Headed back to Sydney and saw a street performance by a woman contortionist. Sat and watched the cricket, tried to explain the rules to dutch Rocky but gave up after a fair bit of confusion.

Cricket!! Day three of the final Ashes test and we got tickets! Lots of barmy army around; almost like a home game i should think. We managed to get the only seats surrounded by aussies it would appear; good laugh though.

Watched Cook and Bell both get their centruries in the sun so definately worth going. Nice to see the aussies get a pasting!

New Years Eve

mattandandy — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:35:00 GMT

New Years eve – We’d heard that the Botanical Gardens are a great spot to watch the New Years fireworks from (thanks Angharad!). After speaking to people at the hostel we found out they limit the capacity to 20,000 people so you have to get there early. We arrived at 9am and queued with a few thousand other people.

Eventually got into the site at about 1pm and headed down to the far end of the site nearest the water where the media area is. We managed to blag wrist bands to the non alchohol section and then proceeded straight to the bar. Cunning hiding of the wristbands with our watches worked a treat!

Sat and enjoyed the festival vibe and the sunshine with a few beers throughout the day. There was an aerobatic display and also a smaller set of fireworks at 9pm to keep us entertained. Strange bit of sky writing by a plane, ‘jesus lives’, hmm not really relevant to new years . It got close to midnight so we grabbed our spot and stood and watched the midnight fireworks. I’ve never seen anything on that scale before; there were 4 sets of fireworks off of floated barges, fireworks off three of the skyscrapers, and fireworks off of the Sydney Harbour Bridge; definitely worth coming to see if you ever get the chance and was a great way to start off our trip. And of course midnight brought around Matt’s 27^th birthday. Happy Birthday again mate!

Matt’s Birthday – Treated ourseleves to a really good fryup in the Wake Up cafe over the road from our hostel then took a walk to the Sydney Opera House. Matt geeked off about building processes and the like so he was content. (I stand by the great concrete comments - matt). Did you know the guy who designed the Sydney Opera House also designed the Labworth Cafe on Canvey Island?! Shot some pool in the Side Bar that evening and had a few more beers to round off Matt’s birthday.

Sydney arrival

mattandandy — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:32:00 GMT

After a very sleepless night on the plane to Sydney sat next to a very annoying couple who both seemed to have ADD! A short train journey to Central Station we got to the YHA Railway Square. Our room was a converted train carriage sleeping 8 people and the hostel is situated right next to the Central train station. It was quite an experience waking up next to a functioning train platform but was good fun none the less.

Great group of people in our first dorm, all with great tips for further travels. Thanks guys!

Photos: Singapore

mattandandy — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:50:00 GMT

Singapore

mattandandy — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:29:00 GMT

On flight from UK we watched a film about some climbers and surfers heading down to Patagonia called 182 Degrees South. A great film and definitely whetted our appetite for South America. After the 12 hour flight and a short tube ride into the city we arrived in Singapore in the morning and checked into the Hangout hostel @ Mt Emily. The hostel is nice and close to Orchard Street where the heart of the shopping district (Singaporians love their shopping – they make us look like Communists) and has a cool rooftop terrace with good views of the city.

We took a wander into Little India and had a really good veggie curry at the Komala Vilas restaurant. We then headed to Sin Lim Square for a good spot of haggling to find a cheap point and click camera. Managed to sleep off most of the jet lag that night and got up early the next day to take a tube down to the Singapore Flyer. After beer o’clock near the pit lane of the F1 circuit we then headed to the viewing deck of the Marina Bay Sands hotel; a new 55 floor hotel with some great views of the city. It also has the tallest swimming pool in the world at an altitude of 200m which looks like the edge falls away off the side of the building.

We then walked to Raffles for a famous Singapore Sling cocktail to round off our time in Singapore.

Photos: Blog pics

mattandandy — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:36:00 GMT

Blog pics