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Franz Josef 17th - 19th May

mm12767 — Thu, 19 May 2016 20:04:00 GMT

We arrived in Franz Josef at around 1 o clock after a fairly short journey and it was a lovely clear day so we went for a short walk up through the rainforest to some tunnels after we checked into our hostel - Rainforest Retreat. Unfortunately because of the bad weather they've had lately the tunnels were flooded so we couldn't go through them but it was still a nice walk.

On the Wednesday we were up at about 8 as we were booked in for a Helicopter flight up to the glacier so that we could do an ice hike across it. We were absolutely gutted to wake up to a cloudy and rainy day which meant that our walk was cancelled. We decided instead to take a shuttle bus to the bottom of the glacier (about 4km away from the town) so that we could take a walk and see the glacier at least. The walk was about an hour and a half and it was brilliant, the clouds cleared whilst we were there meaning that we could see right to the top of the glacier and the walk in general was just brilliant, my favourite that we've done despite the rain.

When we arrived back to the hostel we had dinner, watched a movie and had a drink at the bar and then it was an early night ready for our early start to Wanaka!

Kaiteriteri 14th - 15th May; Westport 15th - 16th May; Lake Mahinapua 16th - 17th May

mm12767 — Tue, 17 May 2016 21:16:00 GMT

I've decided to write about these few places together because I don't have too much to say about each one since we were only in each place for a night and therefore each blogpost is really short at the moment. We are travelling around by hop on hop off buses which make travelling and organisation much easier, but we do also seem to be spending a lot of time just on the bus travelling or in places where we aren't really doing anything sadly. The travelling around isn't so bad because it has to be done obviously and the views are really beautiful, its just a shame its our main activity at the moment. Soon we will be spending more than one night in a few places though which will definitely help and make things a bit less rushed and we can actually get to know the places a bit better.

Starting off with Kaiteriteri. The ferry over from Wellington took about 3 hours and was really pretty in parts but mainly just a ferryride to be honest. Kaiteriteri is about 20km outside of the Abel Tasman national park and is bordered by a beach which is really pretty and is voted one of the top 100 beaches in the world. We stayed in a hostel called Kaiteri Lodge and our room smelt like cheese and ham but other than that it was fine. We had a wander down the beach and then spent the evening watching Ace Ventura and hanging out with people from our bus.

In the morning we got a sea taxi to see a seal colony and their cubs (so cute) and then got dropped off in the national park to do a walk for a couple of hours. It was really beautiful and definitely worth the early morning.

After that we headed off down to Westport, stopping off at the beautiful Lake Nelson which was gorgeous for sure but also full of eels which were disgusting. People were feeding them and they were popping their horrible little heads out of the water. Not nice. Some people went for a little swim but after I saw those eels (and dipped a toe in the water) there was no way I was going in.

We arrived into westport in the late afternoon, went to the supermarket to get some dinner and then settled into our hostel for the evening - Bazil's. Westport itself seemed a bit dead to me, like a ghost town. When we went to the supermarket there was no one around, no cars or anything. All a bit spooky. Our hostel for the night was really cool though and there was loads of us in one room that had its own kitchen and TV so we watched a film and had a laugh.

The next day we headed off to Lake Mahinapua. We stopped off for an early walk along the coast, seeing some more seals closer up this time. I love seals, they're pretty high up in my top animals I think along with Koalas and Sloths of course.

We arrived into Lake Mahinapua at about 2pm but before that we stopped in a town called Greymouth to prepare for the evening. The place we stayed is a Kiwi Experience exclusive and plays host to the Kiwi Experience fancy dress party. The hostel was nice enough, comfy beds and included a roast pork buffet dinner and breakfast so you can't really complain. The theme for the fancy dress was that you come as something that starts with the first letter of your name. So I went as the Mona Lisa (I bought a big frame and some brown clothes), Kate came as a Kite (she bought a kite and wore all black), Amy came as Alan from the film Hangover (she bought a baby and drew herself a nice beard), Becki came as Bruce Bogtrotter from the film Matilda (stuffed a pillow up her top and smothered cake all over her face: both brilliant and disgusting) and our newest member of the gang Juliet (a really lovely girl from Oxford) came as Jeremy Clarkson.

We had a really good night and the morning began with buffet pancakes and bacon. Brilliant!

We headed off to Frans Josef after breakfast, stopping only once at a cafe and arriving into town at about lunchtime.

Wellington 12th - 14th May

mm12767 — Sun, 15 May 2016 18:53:00 GMT

We arrived into Wellington around 6pm after a long day of travelling. We had an early night ready for our day in Wellington. We spent most of our day in Te Papa which is the national museum, wandering out to town for a cafe stop at lunchtime. The museum has a really interesting war exhibit, and then a few about Maori culture and the history of New Zealand which were all quite interesting. The war exhibition had all these incredible, huge statues that were so realistic, I think those were the best bit.

In the evening Amy, Becki and I went to the cinema to see a kiwi film called The Hunt for the Wilderpeople. The film was really funny and we all really enjoyed it. Its a shame we didn't have longer in Wellington because I really liked it, but because of the way the bus runs we couldn't unfortunately. It was also quite nice to have more than one night in a place, much less tiring that way. We're off to the south island tomorrow morning on the interislander ferry, our first stop being Kaiteriteri which is on the outskirts of the Abel Tasmen national park so that should be really beautiful.

River Valley 11th - 12th May

mm12767 — Thu, 12 May 2016 18:43:00 GMT

We arrived into River Valley in the late afternoon having stopped at the waterfall which was used in Lord of the Rings (everything seems to be part of Lord of the Rings to be honest). The lodge is in the middle of nowhere basically and its normally a really good white water rafting spot but unfortunately the river was too low so we spent the evening playing games with people on the bus. We left after lunch the next day and it was a nice - albeit very quiet and relaxed - stop over and it was really pretty around the area.

Taupo 9th - 11th May

mm12767 — Wed, 11 May 2016 07:44:00 GMT

We left the Tamaki Maori village at about 8.30am and headed to Te Puia which has the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere. We wandered around for a while with our tour guide who showed us some traditional Maori crafts (carving and weaving) and cooked us an egg in on of the geothermal hot pools, and then we watched the geyser erupt. It was pretty impressive.

After that it was back on the bus to head down to Taupo. We stopped briefly at Huka falls which is probably my favourite waterfall I've ever seen. The water flowed so fast and was incredibly powerful, it was amazing to watch.

We checked into our hostel (Base Taupo) and then I hopped into a limo which took me to an airport by the lake where I did a tandem skydive. The views were absolutely beautiful going up in the plane, which did not make the jump out any less scary at all, but I am glad that I did it. I think I enjoyed it more than I did my solo jumps, but I'm not sure I'd do it again (although I did say that last time so who knows). I can't wait to show you all the video, its not as bad as the other one, but my face on the exit is pretty funny.

In the evening I got a pizza to celebrate living through the day and then we all had an early night ready for a very early start and a very long day.

We were up at 4.45 the next morning ready to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. The crossing is a 19.4km walk up and over a volcano, past the emerald lakes and the blue lakes and back down. Its voted the best day hike in New Zealand and, having now done it, I can see why. We left our hostel at about 5.30 and started the walk at about 7, so we got to watch the sun rising over the mountains from the bus which was pretty spectacular.

The climb was difficult and took about 3 hours to get to the top but I think it was worth it (depending on how achey I am tomorrow morning). The views at the top (and actually all the way up, across and back down for that matter) were absolutely stunning, some of the best we've seen on the trip for sure. It then took us about 4 hours to get down from the summit, and involved more ups than we were warned about and definitely more than we would have liked. We got back to the coach just before 2 and we had to wait for about an hour and a half to leave which was not ideal.

We arrived back to Taupo just before 5, got a well deserved McDonalds and headed back to the hostel for a shower and a very long sleep. I'm now in bed post walk, and I'm a bit achey but I have a feeling I will be worse tomorrow! Tomorrow we are off to stay in a cabin in River Valley, which is supposed to be beautiful and quite peaceful so I'm looking forward to that! Sorry I've been so slow on updating the blog, the wifi in hostels is expensive and patchy so I'm not always able to update! Will do it when I can though, the next chance is probably in about a week or so.

Rotorua 6th - 9th May

mm12767 — Mon, 9 May 2016 07:42:00 GMT

We left Waitomo at around 8.45 and headed down to Rotorua stopping on the way at Hobbiton, which is the movie set for the shire in Lord of the Rings. The set tour was really good and involved a wander round the hobbit holes and the pub. We got some good photos and then headed back to the hostel - Base Rotorua - for an early night.

The next morning we had a very relaxed morning where Katie, Amy and I went Luging and Becki hung around Rotorua. The luge trip also included a trip up the hill in a gondola (which was fantastic as the views were lovely) and a few trips up on the chair lift which I've never used before. Honestly I wasn't that keen on the chairlift at first, found it a bit scary, but after the third time I found it ok.

The afternoon included a trip to the hot pools Polynesian Spa which is heated naturally by geothermal activity. It was similar to the one we went to in Budapest but with nicer views out to the lakes and more of an eggy smell. Because Rotorua has a lot of hot pools there is a lot of sulphur in the air, so a lot of the town smells quite eggy. You do kind of get used to the smell, but when you get nearer to some pools the smell is a lot more noticeable.

The last day we spent the morning doing a bit of shopping (I needed a warm winter hat) and having a wander around the lakes, at the hot pools and at the mud pools.

In the afternoon we went to Tamaki Maori Village where we were spending the night. From about 3 until 7 our guide taught us some Maori songs and games (originally used to train for battle) and told us about some maori traditions. After that we were given a formal welcome, shown around the village and we watched a show which included performance of songs and dances and the haka. After that we were treated to an all you can eat Hangi dinner, which is cooked using an earth oven and was pretty delicious.

After dinner we spent some time with the guide discussing how Maoris have adapted to westernised life and it was all very interesting. We finished off the evening relaxing in a hot tub and sleeping on one of the best beds in the last 4 months.

All in all it was a really fantastic experience and we all really enjoyed it, I'd say its one of the best things we've done in New Zealand so far for sure. Next up is Taupo!

Waitomo 5th - 6th May

mm12767 — Fri, 6 May 2016 07:37:00 GMT

We left hot water beach nice and early (7.30) to head down to Waitomo. On the way we stopped for a short walk at the Karangahake Gorge and we arrived at Waitomo at about 2pm. We checked into our hostel - Kiwi Packer hostel - and chilled for a while, preparing for our afternoon activity of caving.

Our caving trip was called Black Labyrinth and it lasted about 3 hours and involved jumping backwards off the top of waterfalls, tubing and a lot of walking through the caves which was all pretty cool. At one point we were 65 meters underground with all our torches off floating down a freezing cold river in the pitch black. It was good fun and I'm, but I don't know if I would cave again. The best bit about it was the glowworms which live on the roof, they look like stars up there.

After caving we warmed up and went to the pub to try one of the home brews there which has won awards apparently. It was alright but not my personal cup of tea. After that it was to bed as we were all exhausted.

Hot Water Beach 4th - 5th May

mm12767 — Thu, 5 May 2016 07:35:00 GMT

We arrived into hot water beach at about 2pm and set out half an hour later for a walk down to cathedral cove. Cathedral cove is a beach split by a cove and its really beautiful. The water was far too cold to swim but we did paddle and sit on the beach for a while.

After dinner we sat and watched some tv waiting for the tide to go out so that we could go down to hot water beach. Hot water beach is sat on a crack in the earths crust so that when you dig a hole the groundwater is hot, up to 64 degrees, so you can 'dig your own spa'. You can only do it at low tide though because otherwise the hotspot is covered. The day we were there peak low tide was at 10.45pm so we went down at about 9 and started to dig. It was so weird and the water was burning hot. When we were about halfway through digging our spa a lovely Kiwi lady came over to offer us her spa as they were leaving and we were so glad. Firstly, her spa was 100times better than any we could have dug and secondly she left us with candles which was adorable. We sat in our pool looking at the clear night sky and it was fantastic, definitely an evening well spent.

Bay of Islands, Paiha 2nd - 4th May

mm12767 — Wed, 4 May 2016 18:19:00 GMT

We left Aukland at about 7am and got onto our first bus. We've bought a Kiwi Experience pass which allows us to hop on and hop off buses when and where we want to so long as its on the route we've purchased. On the way up to the bay of islands, which is north on the north island, we had a quick stop at a waterfall, and we arrived into a very cute coastal town called Paiha at about 12ish.

After lunch we walked down to the pier to catch our dolphin seeking boat. The trip was three hours around the islands and the bay, up to the hole in the rock and we saw lots of dolphins, seals and even a little penguin swimming past which was bizarre. Best of all we got to take a swim with the dolphins! I was the first in the water and the dolphins around us was amazing, but the water was so cold it was all I could think about. The dolphins didn't hang around for long - we obviously weren't entertaining enough for them - but it was still incredible.

When we got back we had fish and chips on the beach and spent the evening watching films in the hostel.

The next morning Becki and Amy headed out to do a skydive and Katie and I got a ferry over to a town called Russell. We spent the morning walking around the town and it is the cutest town I've ever seen, it was adorable and the weather was lovely so it was a really nice morning, I don't think it could have been more different to the morning that Becki and Amy had, throwing themselves out of planes.

In the afternoon we caught the bus back down to Aukland and spent the night there, leaving early the next morning for Hot Water Beach.

Aukland 30th April - 1st May

mm12767 — Sun, 1 May 2016 19:14:00 GMT

We arrived to Aukland exhausted and after 15 hours and two flights (one from Melbourne to Wellington and another from Wellington to Aukland) at about 12. We spent the afternoon shopping around queens street, had pizza for dinner and then had a very early night.

On the Sunday we had brunch and then headed out of town toward Mt Eden, one of the 50 inactive volcanoes and climbed up to the top. The view from the top gave a 360 degree view of Aukland which was brilliant and the hill wasn't too bad of a climb either. We got the train back to the city, visited the supermarket, had dinner and then watched a film (Zombieland) at the hostel (Nomads, was a bit grotty to be honest and our room stinks). We're off quite early tomorrow morning to the bay of islands where our month hop-on-hop-off coach tour begins. Apparently the bay is beautiful and we're hoping to be lucky enough to swim with the dolphins there, so fingers crossed!

Photos: New Zealand

mm12767 — Sun, 1 May 2016 19:11:00 GMT

Melbourne 25th - 29th April

mm12767 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 06:49:00 GMT

The three of us arrived to our hostel - Habitat HQ - at about 11am and spent the morning walking around St Kildas (the area we were staying). Its really nice with a bit of a London/ Bristol atmosphere which I like. Theres also a lot of cake shops which I love. We had some cake and some lunch and then headed to the memorial park where we met up with Becki's friends that she had met in America. It was Anzac day in Australia on the 25th which is the equivalent of our memorial day on November 11th but they commemorate in very different style than us. Rather than silences in Melbourne there is a celebratory AFL (Australian football league) game - which we attended - and a parade - which we sadly missed. The game was between Essendon (the team we were told we support and the team that would lose quite severely) and Collingwood (the much better team). Despite supporting the worse team the game was great fun to watch, like a mix between football and rugby but with less rules.

We headed back to our hostel for the night after the game ready for the next day. We were finally reunited with Amy on the Monday and it was so great to be back as the four of us. We spent the day looking around Melbourne's CBD, hitting the tourist spots like Federation Square, Hozier Street and South Bank. Melbourne town is really lovely and its skyline is beautiful, in general I really like it.

In the evening we caught the train to Glen Waverly - a district just outside of Melbourne - where we got dinner in a burger place that Kate has been looking forward to since before we left, I think the pictures that she's seen are the main reason she wanted to come to Australia. The burger was fantastic to be fair and we were all very pleased.

The next day we were up early to pick up our rental car and start our tour. We first headed to a post office depot (not very exciting) to pick up Becki's passport. Next stop was Brighton Beach (Australians seem to name everything after the UK) to see the colourful beach huts. After that we had lunch and drove to Mount Martha which I found very exciting, I'm not sure anyone else shared in that excitement though to be honest.

Our last stop (and the reason for our roadtrip) was phillip Island to see the penguins. The penguins live wild there and head inland from the sea each night to sleep behind the beach. The penguins were really small (about 33cms) and absolutely adorable. Seeing them get knocked over by waves was just too cute. The car we hired was for two days and was an automatic Toyota. Amy and I shared the driving for the first day seeing and Katie and Becki had done the driving in Cairns. Fortunately we were able to put all of us as drivers on this policy for no extra cost which meant that we could share the driving the next day and we could all drive the great ocean road.

We were up even earlier on the Thursday in order to beach the traffic. We picked Amy up at about 7.30am and we were off. The drive to the great ocean road was longer than expected and took around an hour and a half and then we were there. The road is really famous and runs from Melbourne to Adelaide. Its got some great views and a lot of it runs along the cliffs and the sea.

The main point of the road is some of the stops though. The first stop we made was bells beach where we watched some surfers for a while. We also spotted some wild kangaroos which was very exciting. Next was Aireys Inlet Lighthouse and the memorial archway. After the archway we stopped at a beach near Lorne to eat our packed lunched and then to the kennet river for some koala, parrot and cockatoo spotting. Next up was the main stop, the twelve apostles and last but not least was the Loch Ard Gorge. At this point the weather had turned and it had started raining and we were all tired from all day driving so we headed back. The journey home took longer than expected as our satnav took us to the wrong place once we got back to Melbourne, but we arrived at long last, all very tired and definitely ready for bed having driven pretty much constantly from 7.30am to 9.30pm.

We spent our last day in Melbourne - and our last day in Oz - doing thr Ramsay Street Neighbours tour. It was about 3 hours in total and we got to see the real street they use to film and some of the set. We also got met one of the stars (that none of us had heard of or seen before) and saw two Toady and Steph walking around the set as we were going to the toilet. It was all very exciting, was just a shame about the weather - very rainy. The afternoon was spent wandering around st Kildas again, looking for a jumper for Becki. The trip was successful and she wore the jumper out for dinner with Amy's friends who are currently living in Melbourne who shes been paying for. The restaurant was a 'pay what you think its worth' type restaurant which was very interesting, if not a bit awkward, because I've never been to one like that before. The food was ok, Kate and I had the thali platter (basically dhal and a veggie curry) and the others all had a green curry.

Then we left for the airport. We arrived there about 3 and a half hours before our flight but didn't manage to check in for about an hour and a half because the staff were awful. They sent us to queue in four different places and were so rude, refusing to help us when the machines wouldn't check us in despite us not being able to use the machines because we had foreign passports. I don't think I've ever been treated so badly and by such a rude staff as a whole, it was so bad it was laughable. Then security weren't much better, not rude but just didn't seem to care at all. But we made it. We are now sat in Wellington airport waiting for our connection to Aukland. Its been a long and mostly sleepless night and we are definitely looking forward to a bed tonight and to a good long sleep!

Australia was in general lovely. I liked a lot of the places but nowhere as much as I like places in the UK. It was completely different to Asia, pretty much just a bigger Uk but with better weather, most of the time anyway, and with swearing on the radio. I'm looking forward to New Zealand as I've heard nothing but good things about it, most people saying its the best place they've been. I am not so much looking forward to the cold weather though, but it might be good to reacclimatise to the UK, although I'll lose my tan before I even get home.

Sydney 21st - 25th April

mm12767 — Mon, 25 Apr 2016 05:53:00 GMT

The two of us arrived to Sydney Central station an hour early so grabbed a coffee and took a seat to wait for Amy who was supposed to be meeting us at the station when the bus came in. Because she had got the same bus the day before, she had known it would be early, so before long she joined us and we made our way over to Sahil's flat (less than 10 minutes walk) where the three of us would be staying that night.

He was of course asleep when we arrived, so having woken him up and signed in to the building we got ready for the day and then headed out back to the train station at about 8.40am. We got the train out to the Blue Mountains which are about 2 hours away from Sydney by a double decker train. The four of us took a very long and very tiring (so many stairs) walk around the blue mountains. The views were absolutely beautiful and it was definitely worth the hike. We were also very lucky with the weather as it was sunny and clear, unlike some of our other days in Sydney.

We arrived back to Sydney at about 6 and took a walk down Miss Macqueries Point which has the famous view of the opera house with the harbour bridge in the background. Amy had seen the opera house the day before in the light but also wanted to see both at night. It was so weird seeing it in real life when I'm so familiar with the image from TV and films. It was the same as seeing the Eiffel tower for the first time - just unreal. After that we returned to Sahils for the evening where we had a very fancy McDonalds dinner, as in Australia you can design your own burger at Maccas. It was very exciting and definitely one of my better McDonalds, if not one of my best burgers.

Amy left us early the next morning for Adelaide where she's spending the weekend with her Great Aunt and family so for the day it was just Kate, Sahil and I. We had a leisurely morning which involved cooking up a fantastic full english breakfast and then headed out for the day. The first stop was the shops to buy some cheap ugg slippers. Because they make ugg boots here they sell them for about 1/4 of the price we pay so Kate and I both got a pair for way cheaper than we would normally pay, and they are so comfy its beautiful. After that we headed to the harbour to see it from a different angle and from the light. We spent a while walking around the area, walking the stairs of the opera house and having lunch (despite the best effort of some horrible seagulls).

Next up we took the choo choo express train around the botanical gardens. Despite being a little lame, it actually turned out to be a fantastic way to see around the whole garden in a short space of time, especially as we were so tired out at this point. We also heard more about the garden than we would ever have known if we had just wandered around aimlessly. The weather in Sydney hadn't been fantastic and at this point it started hammering it down. We eventually were able to walk back and after dinner (a pasta bake) we headed to the cinema to watch the new Jungle Book.

On the Saturday morning Becki joined us again from Surfers Paradise and we headed out for the day. We first went to the Rocks market for a while where we had lunch and then hung around the harbour for a while again. In the evening we headed to Darling Harbour to watch the weekly firework display. The fireworks were great and after we wandered around the harbour had some drinks at a bar.

On our final day in Sunday we spent the day at Bondi Beach. We got the train there and then a bus which took about half an hour. We had fish and chips on the beach and we took a walk from Bondi to Congee beach which was really nice. We spent the evening packing up and getting ready to leave which was very sad. Our flight the next day was at 7am so Sahil walked me over to the hostel the girls were staying at for 5.30am where we caught the shuttle to the airport and we were away.

Byron Bay 18th - 20th April

mm12767 — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 13:10:00 GMT

The three of us (Amy, Katie and I) arrived to Byron Bay at about 11am and spent the first day wandering around the town, checking out the beach and having coffee at one of Byron's many, many cafes. Byron seems lovely, very hippy, very young and traveller but also with lots of homeless people unfortunately. We stayed at one of the two YHAs in Byron Bay and it was nice enough, pretty average really.

We spent the evening listening to some live music at a local bar. The band was surprisingly good but we were pretty much the only people in the bar which was apparently quite unusual but did spoil the mood a little.

The next day the three of us joined some others in our hostel to do a walking tour up to the lighthouse. The walk takes you through the woods up quite a steep hill up to the lighthouse, around the top of the hill and back down the other side along the beach. All in all it was about 4.5 kms and took us about 3 hours stopping a few times to hear about the local wildlife and stuff like that. On the way up the hill we saw some dolphins splashing around and a some hang gliders taking off which was cool. Two of our group apparently also saw a shark which I'm very jealous of, but I missed it.

The view from the top was really lovely, along the beach and over to the mountains, and the walk was definitely a highlight of our stay at Byron Bay. By the time we got back down Becki had arrived from Brisbane and had met up with one of her friends from Uni (Carrie) and her travelling companion (Liv) who happened to be travelling Oz and be in Byron Bay at the same time as us. We met up with them on the beach and hung around there for a while and then went back to the hostel for dinner.

Amy was the next to part ways because just after we met back with Becki she was off to get the bus to Sydney. She's staying in Adelaide for the weekend with her great Aunt, so wanted to go to Sydney a day early to make sure she could see all the sights.

After dinner the three of us that remained met up with Becki's friends again at their hostel - the other YHA - and went for a few drinks.

The next day we were up ready for check out at 10 and spent the day walking around the town, eating ice cream sundaes and sitting at the beach with our bodyboards. I also made a brilliant brie toastie for lunch which was a highlight of my day.

In the afternoon Becki left us once again to travel back up to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast with Carrie and Liv so we were left just the two of us for the overnight bus to Sydney. We had dominoes for dinner which tastes the same as it does in England but somehow costs only £5 ( about a quarter of the price) and then got on the bus at about 6pm ready for our long night. The bus was fine, not as comfy as the sleepers in Asia, but Kate and I both had double seats to ourselves which made it a bit better. I slept on and off for pretty much the whole journey and then we arrived in Sydney an hour early at 6.20am which is where I will start my next post.

Brisbane 16th - 18th April

mm12767 — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 12:54:00 GMT

We arrived to Brisbane at about 2 o clock and checked in to our hostel which was called Sunshine House Backpackers. We then took a wander into the city centre to find an apple store so that Becki could replace her broken phone. After that was done we spent the late afternoon/ early evening wandering along the south bank, looking at the market that is there and having some food - I had a falafel wrap, Kate and Becki had a bratwurst and Amy had a potato swirl. After that we headed back to the hostel for an early night ready for our visit to Australia Zoo early the next morning - the main reason for our visit to Brisbane.

Australia Zoo is the Zoo that Steve Irwin ran and I have been excited about going for ages. We left the hostel at about 7.15 because the bus takes about an hour and a half from Brisbane up to Beerwah (where the zoo is) which is on the sunshine coast.

The zoo has about 100 acres and is really interactive so whilst we were there we got to hold lizards, stroke koalas and - best of all, and the thing I've been most excited about - hand feed kangaroos. They are also famous for their crocodile shows of course so we watched two of those, one at the crocoseum and one just at the crocodile enclosure. The crocodiles are absolutely huge there and pretty terrifying but so awesome. I loved it, but I do wish we could have seen one of Steves shows himself. There are posters and videos of him everywhere, and the people that work there all speak about him in awe which is really cute and you can see how much everyone loved him.

This was also the first day in which we all split up. Sadly because of her visa appointment in Sydney Beck was the first to leave us, flying from Brisbane to Sydney on the 17th. This meant that she missed out on the zoo, but she'll be meeting us again on the 19th in Byron Bay, and we will be swapping Amy for her as she will be leaving us.

We got the bus back at 5 and we were all pretty tired so we had dinner and went to bed basically, leaving the next morning at about 9am for our bus to Byron Bay.

Hervey Bay and Fraser Island 12th - 15th April

mm12767 — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 23:39:00 GMT

We arrived into Hervey Bay at about 11am and checked in to Palace Hostel. It wasn't exactly a palace but it wasn't bad either. We went out to a cafe for lunch and then wandered around the town. There isn't much here to be honest as its mainly used a base point to go to Fraser Island from or for whale watching, but sadly it isn't the season for that.

At 4 o clock we had a safety briefing with our tour group. He told us about driving the 4 wheeled drives on sand and about the native wildlife (mainly dingos talk but also some snakes and spiders to worry about).

After that we cooked dinner and re packed our bags ready for fraser island. Since we were camping there was no room for our big bags so we each took a food bag and our small backpacks.

We were up at 5 ready for another safety briefing and ready to drive off to the ferry. The four of us were all drivers in one car with 4 boys (2 from sweden and 2 dutch). Becki drove over to the ferry from the hostel and then I took over once we arrived on the island. Since its been a while since I've driven a manual and I've never driven off road or a 4 wheeled drive I was a bit nervous but it was fine. Other than the fact I forgot you have to change out of first it was easy. I really enjoyed the drive, it was fun to bump around all over the place. There were five drivers in our car and we each took a turn driving around. The first day we visited two of the islands lakes (lake birrabeen and lake wabby), one of which (wabby) was a weird orange colour which was quite cool. We then visited central station and heard about the native culture and heard some more horror stories about the wildlife. After that it was to one of the resort towns for a quick stop and then to the camp. The camp was basic with 9 four man tents, a covered eating area and a bbq but it was all we needed. Our tour guide was called Sid and he was unintentionally hilarious. We cooked dinner - burgers - and spent the rest of the evening getting to know our campmates. The group was generally really nice and good fun which was nice.

The next day we were up at 6.45 ready for a big day. Our first stop was on the 75 mile beach where we thought we were just watching some of the planes land onto the beach but we actually ended up going on a sky tour of the island in a tiny little 6 seater plane. It was amazing and the best start to the day. We got to see the lakes from above and some of the biggest sand blows which are like temporary sand dunes. The tour went for 80km and it took about 15 minutes and it was just the four of us in one plane which made it perfect.

Next up was the quick town stop for toilets and the shop. After that it was a beach driver to Eli Creek which is a river that people float down. Unfortunately as none of us had rubber rings or any inflatables it wasn't so much of a relaxing float down the river as an amy crawl down it but it was fun - and refreshing - all the same. Apparently regardless of the weather the lakes and rivers on the island remain at 18 degrees so it felt quite refreshing. It was raining and grey the first day so we were quite lucky that the weather (for the most part) on our second day was lovely, it only rained on the way back to the camp and for about half an hour after we arrived back at camp in the evening.

After Eli Creek we drove up to the second most photographed spot in Australia, the Maheno shipwreck. The story behind it wasn't as exciting as we were expecting, but it was quite a sight. It had been a hospital ship in the war and then afterwards no one wanted it so they were towing it to Sydney. At some point on the journey it was cast off by accident and landed on Fraser so they decided to leave it there.

Next up was the pinnacles which are land formations made of sand. They were a bit underwhelming and looked a bit like the formations in Wooky hole.

Again we had been taking turns with the drives and today they were all beach drives rather than off road drives which was pretty cool and a completely different experience than any other drive I've done. The speed limit on the beach is 80km and its just so weird seeing road signs along a beach. After the pinnacles it was my turn and I drove us to a campsite where we had a lunch stop.

After lunch we headed to Indian Head which is the most easterly point of the island and has a great view. Whilst we were there we also saw a brown snake which are apparently quite dangerous so that was exciting. It was very long, skinny and brown.

Next up was the champagne pools which are basically massive rock pools but when the waves come over the water fizzes because of the rocks so it feels like your sitting in a champagne glass. I really liked them and it was good fun. The drive between indian head and the champagne pools was really loose sand so it was more difficult and a couple of cars got stuck but luckily we didn't.

On the way back it started tipping it down so when we stopped back at eli creek to wash off the salt water it was freezing and we didn't really fancy it. The last stop was at the town again for the shop and for the toilets.

After that we headed back to camp, cooked dinner (burgers again) and spent the evening chatting with everyone.

Early the next morning we headed out for the town and then to Lake Mackenzie, the most famous lake on the island. We arrived at about 10am and thankfully the sun was shining an the lake was absolutely beautiful. Bright blue with white sand and the clearest water. The water is so pure you aren't allowed to go in if you have suncream on and you can drink it straight from the lake. The sand is also apparently good for brushing your teeth with so we gave it a go, but to be honest it just gave me a mouthful of sand. We were there for about an hour and a half and then we drove over to the ferry terminal where we waited for an hour or so to cross back over.

We arrived back at the hostel at about half past three where we did some laundry, had very necessary showers and repacked. In the evening we went for dinner with the whole tour group and said our goodbyes ready to leave early in the morning the next day.

Fraser island was brilliant and we had the best time. It was such fun and it was also beautiful and completely different to anywhere else. We made some good friends and we're a bit sad to leave but we are on our way down to Brisbane now and looking forward to going to Steve Irwin's Australia zoo.

Airlie beach and the Whitsundays 7th -12th April

mm12767 — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 23:30:00 GMT

We checked into our hostel at around 7pm and after some fuss with swapping rooms we got packed up ready for the next day. Because of bedbugs (which apparently like to live in zips) we weren't allowed to take any bags with any zips on which made it a bit more difficult and meant that we also had to buy a tote bag for the trip.

We woke up early (far too early considering we didn't need to meet at the marina until 1.30), had breakfast and was waiting ready to meet the boat at about 11. This meant we had to hang around the harbour for about 2 and a half hours which was a little dull, but I'm not sure what else we would have done with the time. Airlie beach is quite a nice place, very touristy, but except for day trips and sailing trips there isn't much to do there really.

We met with the group we would be spending the next two days with which included our host Aarum, our captain Greg and his son Jack. There were 27 of us booked on to the tour, mostly girls which was odd, and unlike other tours we have done in Asia so I think more girls must travel Australia. We were shown our cabins which were twins and then served some chips and dips which was fantastic as we were all starving.

We began the journey over to an area near Whitehaven beach where we would dock for the night. The journey took about 4 hours and was really lovely, calm and full of pretty sights and a nice sunset. When we arrived Aarom (not sure how its spelt to be honest) served us a bbq dinner which was fantastic and then we played some get to know each other game called the circle of love (the kind of game I hate: tell us your name and one interesting fact kind of game) and then went to bed ready to get up for breakfast at 6.30.

The captain had told us that a lot of people like to sleep up on the deck under the stars because firstly the views are fantastic (the stars were so amazingly clear and we could see the milky-way) and secondly because the cabins tend to be uncomfortably hot. We didn't think much of it because our room felt quite cool earlier in the day and we'd thought we would try the room the first night and the deck the second - be a shame to pay for a room and not use it after all. This may have been a mistake. Becki and I woke up every two hours or so because of the heat of the room, each time debating whether to go up top or not. In the end we decided not to because we could hear the occasional shower of rain, but it didn't make the sleep any better.

Although not the worst nights sleep of the trip, waking up at 6.30 wasn't easy but it was definitely worth it. We were up and ready for the day a while before any of the other boats around us which meant we were the first group onto Whitehaven beach, which is apparently the most beautiful beach on the southern hemisphere. We first went up to the hill inlet viewpoint which was beautiful, with swirls of different colours running through the shifting sands, and then headed down to the beach. The beach was lovely with really soft and bright white sand, but I wouldn't say its the most beautiful beach we've seen - that award stays with Koh Rong Samloem's Saracen Bay. We spent a few hours there and towards the end the weather really cleared up which made it all a lot prettier (it had been quite cloudy earlier in the day) so we decided to head back up to the viewpoint to see if the change in weather affected the view at all. And it did. This time it was even better, and the colour changes were more noticeable. By this point it was time to head back to the boat ready for lunch and a couple of snorkelling spots. Unfortunately because of the rain the visibility for snorkelling wasn't very good, but there was some of the biggest fish I have ever seen and they swim right up to your face basically. It was pretty disgusting. We pulled into a cove for the night and spent the evening trying to avoid the rain.

The next morning we were up at 6.30 for our last snorkel and then we sailed back to Airlie beach, arriving at about 11 to check back into Magnums hostel. We spent the rest of the day doing some admin and laundry because everything got wet and a bit grim on the boat. We had a subway for lunch which was just perfect and then cooked for ourselves for dinner. I am definitely missing eating out for three meals a day for only £2 but we definitely couldn't afford it here sadly.

After dinner we met up with some of the people from the trip which was fun and a good way to end our time with them. The last day was spent hanging out with a book by the lagoon and wandering around the town and then we got a night bus to Hervey Bay which is where I will continue the blog.

Magnetic Island 6th - 7th April

mm12767 — Thu, 7 Apr 2016 13:58:00 GMT

We stayed in Arcadia beach guest house in Arcadia bay on Magnetic Island in two tents. The tents were more glamping than camping though as it was basically a four man tent inside an almost shed with two walls and a roof. Inside there was two fans, a double bed and a lamp so it wasn't bad.

We arrived to the hostel at about 4.30 and we headed over to the end of the bay where there is a pier where you can see some friendly but wild rock wallabies at dusk. The wallabies were tiny, smaller than the ones we saw in Cairns and they were much closer to us, there was even some people feeding them. I was a bit jealous.

After we had watched the wallabies for a while we went to a local pub for dinner (treating ourselves because we're all missing eating out three times a day). I had mackerel and chips, Amy had a fish sandwich and chips, Kate had calamari rings and Becki had a chicken parmi. The food was good, but it was all a bit tense as there was a bird with a massive head that was eyeing up all the food. The people on the table behind us left some chips and it swooped so fast. Very nervy but its safe to say it wasn't going to get any of my chips without a fight.

When we got back to the hostel there was an Australian girl watching Neighbours which we all found very exciting, so we watched it with her and then spent the rest of the evening watching a bit of tv and reading in bed. The TV here is very similar to at home it seems, there are Australian versions of loads of our tv programmes (like first dates, the chase and some others) but there are adverts every 5 minutes that seem to last as long as each segment of tv which is very irritating.

One of the reasons Becki had been so excited about Australia was for Magnetic Island. This is because on Magnetic Island you can hire your very own Barbie Car. They're tiny white jeeps with pink trim and wheels. She was therefore very excited the next morning. So excited she ended up breaking her phone. The car cost $101 to rent for the whole day, petrol and insurance with one driver.

We spent the day driving up and down the island stopping at various sights in our barbie car and as the island is only 8km in length so it didn't take long.

Our first stop was at Bungalow Bay which is a hostel / campsite which houses several reptiles, birds and (most excitingly) some koalas. We had a tour of the place which involved feeding a cockatoo some seed from our mouths, holding lizards, baby crocodiles and a python and having a cuddle from a Koala called Pebbles. Pebbles was so cute, she was three years old and she was so soft, I want to bring her home with me.

After the tour it was lunch time so we headed to the supermarket, made some lunch and took it to picnic bay. It was basically just a beach with a jetty, not sure why its called picnic bay but it was as nice as any to sit and have lunch in.

After a drink at a cafe, we headed out for a 2km walk to some forts that were used in WW2. The walk was lovely as the views were phenomenal and we spotted a wild baby koala. It was so cute. Because it was evening, the sky was beautiful and the temperature had cooled so it was a perfect temperature for a walk.

We headed back to the hostel for dinner, dropped the car off and then walked up the road to a pub that hosts toad races every Wednesday. This was a little bizarre but quite funny. They have seven toads which they hold in the centre of a circle in a plastic container, and the first to hop its way out of the circle wins. One by one the toads are bid on and whoever bids the highest on the winning toad gets the prize money. We stayed for one race and a little girl who had been desperate to win a toad won so she was very happy, not so happy when she was made to kiss the toad to collect the winnings. After the race we headed back to the hostel, watched some tv (we missed Neighbours sadly) and went to bed.

We were booked onto the 12.15 ferry so the next day we left our tents at half 11. The ferry took about 20 minutes and our bus was at 2.15 so it was a day full of waiting around really. I'm currently on the bus to Airlie Beach and it is due to arrive there at 6.40, so a day full of travel. Lots of love, Martha.

Mission Beach 5th April

mm12767 — Tue, 5 Apr 2016 13:56:00 GMT

We arrived at Mission Beach at about 4.30 and got the free shuttle to our hostel - Mission Beach YHA. There isn't really much in mission beach, its famous as being a skydiving spot. We had intended to stop by for the night, allowing just enough time to do a skydive and then head back onto the road. Unfortunately we didn't think about the fact that you aren't allowed to fly for 24 hours after you scuba dive so this spoilt our plans.

Because of this we spent the evening wandering along the beach and watching films at the hostel so our time wasn't very eventful. Its nice to have a bit of time to relax every now and then though. We left the next day at 9.45 to catch our greyhound bus to Townsville which got in at about 2.30, with plenty of time to catch our ferry to Magnetic Island at 3.45, which leads me to my next post.

Cairns 1st - 4th April

mm12767 — Mon, 4 Apr 2016 19:58:00 GMT

We arrived at Cairns airport safe and sound, albeit exhausted, at about 9am and got the free shuttle to the hostel, called Asylum. It took about 20 minutes and the first thing we noticed is how calm and wide the roads are compared to Asia. It was incredible. Its also so much less humid which makes the heat so much more bearable, enjoyable even. Its roughly 32 degrees everyday still but feels much cooler.

We found a cafe for brunch and it was the same sort of price as at home, we were both relieved that it wasn't as expensive as we expected but gutted because it means that we will definitely have to start cooling for ourselves. Even though our budget for the month is double our monthly Asian budget, we still won't be able to afford to eat out all the time. We spent the first day booking tours and buying some stuff we need for Australia (like less hippy clothes, sorry Mum). In the evening we found a Nandos which was very exciting so we headed there for dinner. It wasn't quite the same, and I don't think it was quite as good as Nandos Basingstoke, but it was definitely Nandos nevertheless and the same sort of price as at home as well.

The next day we had planned to do a waterfall and rainforest tour with a company called Uncle Brians which had been recommended. However, when we went to book it at the travel agents he suggested that since theres four of us we could save a lot of money by renting a car and just driving to all the points on the tour ourselves. So that is what we did.

It cost us about $65 (£33ish) to rent a car with two drivers (Becki and Katie), a satnav and insurance whereas the tour was going to be $119 each. We also had to fill up the petrol tank at the end of the day which in the end came to $26. Not a bad saving at all. The car we had was a Hyundai Gez and it was cute and white.

We packed up our bags with our packed lunches and off we went. Our first stop was Josephine falls which was about 60km out of Cairns and was excellently driven by Becki. Josephine falls is this long, cascading ( I think thats the right word) waterfall with a natural waterslide. The water was freezing but the slide was so fun. Katie has a couple of videos so I'll have to show you when I get home. After that we went to Millaa Millaa waterfalls which was another 60kms away expertly driven by Katie. This was the waterfall that Peter Andre filmed mysterious girl at and is taller and the water is a bit grimier than at Josephine falls, having said that, it was still really beautiful. Next up was Eacham lake which is a really beautiful and quite large lake that people swim in near Yungaburra. The water there was lovely and it was a really nice spot to take a nice relaxing dip in. After that we visited a huge tree called the Cathedral Fig tree. Its in the rainforest and is roughly about 800 years old and it is huge and quite impressive. Its 48m tall and they think the tree canopy spans two olympic sized swimming pools. It also meant that we got to take a short walk into the rainforest (barely but still) which was cool.

Our second to last stop was at Heales lookout. It was along a windy mountainside drive and it was a really beautiful viewpoint. Last but not least we stopped at a town called white rock to spot some wild wallabies that come out at dusk. We spotted a few which was exciting but Amy was disappointed because she had assumed we were going to watch the sunset and the wallabies from a hill called white rock. She was pretty gutted. I'm so glad that we rented our own car in the end. It made the day so much more relaxed and we could do what we wanted. We were also at some of the waterfalls when the bus arrived and a truck load of people arriving kind of ruined it so we definitely made the right decision, we think we might do the same for some future trips.

When we got back we went to the supermarket to buy some dinner ( we cooked ourselves a stir fry) and headed to bed because we had to get up early to catch a boat the next day.

On Sunday we left at 7ish to head down to the pier ready to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef. We were all very excited and despite some delays, we headed off on our boat at about 8.30. The company we went with was called silver swift and the boat was pretty big, holding between 25 and 100 people each day. Because we are certified divers it also meant that we got our dives cheaper than others, but we actually managed to get the first one free from our travel agents which was good.

We had our briefing in the main section of the boat and it was the most thorough briefing we have ever been given. Unfortunately the sea was really choppy. So much so that there were a few waves where we left the seats and Kate and I were really quite sea sick which wasn't great. We finally arrived at the first dive site which was called coral gardens on Flynn reef and as soon as we got in the water we were fine. The dive was brilliant, photos don't really do it justice. We went down 21metres for about 46 minutes and the coral was brilliant. It was so good Becki and I decided to do another. The second dive only cost $20 (about £10) and it was probably the best £10 I've ever spent and by far the best dive we've done. We got so close to a turtle and we went through all these tunnels and out the other side and the coral was stunning. It was some of the most incredible and beautiful sights I've ever seen. We only went down 9m or so for about 43 minutes but it was brilliant. Again, Becki has some videos which I can't wait to show you. After that we felt like we'd seen the reef and wanted to also see it from above so we decided to join the others with a spot of snorkelling. I'm disappointed we never saw a shark or a stingray, but what we did see was worth it.

The way back was also pretty choppy but not half as bad. We'd also bought some sea sickness tablets from the bar so it may have helped. We had a brilliant day, which was only made more so by the food on board which was so tasty and there was so much of it.

When we got back we bought some stuff for dinner from the supermarket and went for a drink to celebrate.

We spent the Monday morning at the Lagoon which is basically a lido in the town which is so cool and so pretty. Its fairly big and its free and always busy. Our bus for Mission beach left at 1.45pm so we wandered over there after lunch and that is where I am right now, just watching a man eat his fourth apple in a row. What a mad mad! That is all for now, lots of love, Martha.