My Long Awaited 'Round the World' Trip

Sorting out Visas in KL

swhateley — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 20:24:00 GMT

As I said previously, the main reason I was in KL this time was to get my Thai Visa sorted. I got up at about 8/8.30 to have a drizzly shower (the water was still not fixed) before the shops got going and took all the water away which was not a major issue as I didn't need to wash my hair so any kind of running water was fine. I had a nice peaceful leisurely breakfast (no need to rush as I only had to get to the embassy by 11.30 so if I left at 10.30 I would be fine) & then got all the necessary stuff (I had sorted photos the night before) for the embassy and headed off in the baking heat to the embassy which took about 45 minutes in total via 2 trains and about a 20 minute walk. As the rapid transport lines are all owned by different comnpanies they don't link so you have to change & walk to a different line & buy a different ticket. Of course the best thing about the trains is that they are air conditioned so you at least get to lower body temperature every now and again.

I got to the embassy at 11.15, filled the documentation in that I needed and waited about 30 minutes to get it processed. The waiting area was also air conditioned so waiting 30 minutes was no issue whatsoever as I got to cool down again. After everything had been processed I headed back out in the sweltering heat to trek back to the Hostel where I met up with Mandy and decided that we were going to go against everything backpacker and spend the afternoon in the nice airconditioned Pavillion Mall bumming around the shops and watching a movie. The only movie available was Yes Man with Jim Carrey which would not have been my 1st choice of movie given that I had only been to 1 in the last 5 months but unfortunately the choice was limited and it actually turned out to be a nice, funny, fluffy, happy ending movie.

After the mall I went off to check emails and Mandy went back to the hostel and then went back to our Vegan restaurant for some more delicious, healthy food and then back to the hostel for a chat to our room mates before bed. The water was now all fixed and happy which meant showers, going to the loo etc etc were all good.

Had a nice lie in on Friday, got laundry sorted, had a bite to eat and went off to hopefully pick up my visa at 1.30pm. Taking from about 1.30 to 3.30 to get sorted it was a bit of a nuisance but as I had no plans for this little trip to KL it was fine. I met up with the English couple that I had travelled up to KL with at the embassy who were doing the same thing as me so I had a little chat. We all got our visas but then had to wait in the embassy grounds for 10 minutes as we were locked in while a Gaza demonstration went past all the embassies. I had seen a whole bunch of cops outside the British embassy (which was the 1st embassy of many on the street) when I walked past and did wonder what that was all about. It was a peaceful demo with nothing more than shouting so we just had to wait for them to pass before we were let out.

The British couple wanted to watch a movie so they came back with me to where I was staying so that I could direct them to the same mall that Mandy and I had been to the previous day. I said ta ra and did a mamoth internet session until my stomach told me no more & went back to the hostel to drop my stuff and go for dinner but as I was walking past the TV area I saw that the guy was watching Michael Clayton which was a movie that I wanted to see and as it had just started I asked if he would mind restarting for me which bless him he did. As dinner was not an issue I just bought some crisps from Hazdy and had a box of Pringle type crisps instead. Really healthy I know :-)

The Real Taste of Asia as I Move on to Kuala Lumpur

swhateley — Wed, 7 Jan 2009 01:34:00 GMT

So the time had come for me to take leave of Singapore, as it really is just a city and an expensive one at that compared to the rest of SE Asia, & move on to Malaysia. My initial plan was to head straight to Melaka but the Thai Visa regulations had changed to only 15 days at a time overland (which is how I was planning my arrival into Thailand) so I thought it would be better to head straight up to KL to arrange a 60 day tourist visa which would just mean that I do my trip a little differently.

Based on the advice that I got from the guys at the hostel I decided to travel the brave local way rather than the easy luxury bus or train which of course would be the less intelligent way anyway as it is the more expensive option. So I loaded my backpack onto my back and walked to the nearby Queen Street bus station to catch a local bus to the Malaysian town on the Malaysian/Singapore border.

There was a British couple that left 5 minutes before me, who were wished luck by 2 British boys who it turned out were doing the chicken route & taking a luxury coach from Lavender Street Station straight to KL for $45. I landed up on the same bus as the British couple as the bus waits until it is full before it leaves. We started off with our backpacks on seats as there was nowhere else to store them but as the bus got rammed we had to put then in the aisle. Definitely no health and safety going on here :-) We had to get off the bus with our bags at the Singapore border check point and then again at the Malaysia check point. We then had to wait about 10 minutes for the next bus in Malaysia but I asked to make sure that we were waiting in the right place to be sure that we got onto the right bus.

We stuck together when we got to the Larkin Bus station to get cash, food & bus tickets to KL & headed off with no incident 20 minutes later. We stopped for a loo break half way to KL which to my relief was a western loo so I was saved from having to deal with the squat loo issue just yet. We got to KL with no problems whatsoever but got dropped off 5/10 minutes walk from the bus station which was confusing as no one told us where the bus station was and we were dropped in front of a building site. There were a large number of buses around us so it was pretty obvious that we weren’t far from the bus station it was just the issue of being in a new city in a new country trying to find bearings. The taxi drivers pounced on us trying to convince me that it was 2km’s to the train station (which to walk on a normal day would be fine but to walk with a heavy backpack in the sweltering humid heat is no fun) however I was out of trust mode and did not believe that it was that far as my directions that I had printed out were from the bus station and they mentioned nothing about a 2km walk. I asked the taxi drivers to rather tell me where the bus station was which they eventually did reluctantly when they realised that their bullshit was not flying with me. Once at the bus station I asked the hawkers where the train station was which was about another 10 minutes walk up & behind the bus station. Little did I know that from where the bus dropped us it was only a 15 minute walk to the hostel which I found out a week later when I was heading to the bus station to get a ticket to the Cameron Highlands.

I found my way to the hostel easily enough and as the Thai visa was a drop off on one day, & pick up on the next I thought that I would stay 3 nights as I would only get to pick it up at 2pm on my second day & did not fancy rushing straight off to Melaka from there. The hostel seemed really cool even though they did not have any water as a water pump had broken downstairs and as soon as the shops and restaurants below us got going the pressure died and could not make it up to the 2^nd and 3^rd floor. They gave me the option to stay elsewhere but they were expecting the issue to be fixed the next day and as they had a shower & loo solution I thought I would just wait it out & see how it went.

Hazdy, the really nice co-owner of the B&B/hostel recommended a vegan Waga Mama type restaurant up the road for dinner which was backpacker expensive but totally delicious and worth spending the money as it was 100% animal free and really good, wholesome food. Mandy, an English girl who was in my dorm, pitched up about 10 minutes later so I invited her to join me. As it turns out she has been a vegetarian by choice since she was about 7 years old which I find amazing. Much to her parents dismay she just did not want to eat meat. Out of 6 of us in our dorm, 3 of us were veggies, which was really unusual and made a great change. We headed back to the hostel after our delicious dinner and watched a great DVD (Deception – I was very pleasantly surprised with the DVD collection) before going to bed. I did not think much of KL when I first arrived but as I walked around outside the hostel, which it appears is in the busiest part of KL, the city slowly but surely started growing on me. It was a very buzzy area, fairly touristy but just cool.

Singapore - My First Stop in SE Asia

swhateley — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 20:02:00 GMT

Although really really long (22 hours) the trip from my hostel in Auckland to my hostel in Singapore via Brisbane was a pretty good trip. As it was a day flight from Brisbane to Singapore, I was not desperate to sleep and managed to catch up on some movies as I had enough time to watch 3 movies that I had missed in the last 6 months. Fabulous. Singapore airport was pretty cool and rather modern and smart not disimilar to OR Tambo International in Joburg although more Asian of course. It was fairly late by the time I arrived in Singapore but as the public transport system is great I was able to get from the airport to my hostel in Little India which was very Asian (Lonely Planet compares it to an area in Mumbai) with little difficulty. I had a teensy bit of difficulty finding my hostel but it took all of maybe 20 lively minutes to get there from the Underground system. As far as the smells and hot, humid weather went it was definitely obvious that I had arrived in Asia.

I am afraid to say that Singapore did not make a huge impact on me although as far as travelling to Asia for the 1st time went it was a great starting place as it was very much Asia but it was pretty clean & Westernised etc so that I was able to ease into the Asian thing & put my initial fears of Asia to rest. I was also fortunate that there were enough western loos in the various shopping centres & in my hostel that my squat loo experience would not be starting in Singapore.

I walked around the city for a couple of days, to see some off the sights, got a new mobile phone at this electronic super store that was 5 crazy floors of electronics, ate the food, went to the cinema when it rained to watch Australia which was in English with subtitles which was great as I was so movie deprived, met up with a cute Canadian guy, Adam, in the cinema who was waiting for a flight to Australia at 1am so we chatted and went for a bite to eat to pass his time which was pretty cool, checked out some of the shops, watched the Fountain of Wealth at Suntec City with a cool laser show which is apparently the biggest fountain in the world, snapped pictures of the Merlion (symbol of Singapore), Sir Raffles & the high rise, concrete city business district & visited the lovely Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

I would be very interested to live somewhere like Singapore for a year purely for the experience of it as my initial impression is one of concrete jungle and a place that is filled with sky rises on a little island with very little greenery. Not ideal I think for a place to live permanently but certainly an interesting one to observe for a year.

Back to Auckland & Operation Round the World Phase 2 Complete

swhateley — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 12:10:00 GMT

With tears in my eyes & a lump in my throat, I boarded the ferry to cross the Cook Straight for the last time as everything was now all about last times in New Zealand. I was feeling pretty nervous about my SE Asia leg as I would be on a plane flying out to Singapore in less than 2 days. The ferry was uneventful as I had a late night on NYE & of course with 4 kids in the room next door there was little chance of any worthwhile sleep past 8am so I opted to sleep the 3 hour trip away.

Once in windy, chilly Wellington I negotiated my way around from the ferry terminal to the hostel using the courtesy bus to the train station & catching to local bus to the hostel which all worked out just marvelously. Wellington was pretty uneventful as it was gone 5 by the time I arrived at the hostel. As luck would have it I bumped into my Kiwi friend who lives in Wellington as I was walking out to the supermarket - he had taken a chance that I would be around to pop in and say goodbye - and had a quick chat before he zoomed off home again & then had a quick dinner & spent the rest of the evening reading my trusty Lonely Planet SE Asia on a Shoestring.

Up at the crack of dawn to catch my flight & leave Wellington for the last time to fly to a warm, humid Auckland. Stopped off for breakfast at the airport and then caught the bus to the city centre that dropped me around the corner from my hostel which was nice and easy and convenient (as so much is in this part of the world). Got checked in and sorted out & then headed into town for the last time for some last minute shopping & cheap internet before having dinner & heading off to sleep for my final night (if you could call it that - I had to wake up at the ridiculous hour of 3.30am to catch the 4.25am airport shuttle) in Australasia.

Surprise surprise I actually managed to wake up and get dressed etc and be at the front door at 4.20am. Miracles never cease. Of course with these kind of crazy situations there must be casualties & mine was my phone (or my mom's spare one) that I never picked up when I was making sure I had everything before I locked my bag (it was dark and I felt around and thought I had everything - silly I know - should have used my torch). I realised when I was sitting on the plane waiting for take off when we were told to turn phones off and it suddenly dawned on me that I had no phone to turn off. Oh the annoyance but there we go. Not a whole heap I can do about it and not much point losing any sleep over it.

Talking about a small world - when I spent the day with my Aunts best friend & her husband the last time I was in Auckland we saw a guy attemting to paraglide but the wind was not working out for him so he gave and true as bob I am sitting in my airport shuttle at 4 something in the morning and we stop off to pick someone up who is none other than that very same guy. What are the chances. Pretty bizarre really.

Weirdly enough as I was passing through customs I felt quite emotional about leaving New Zealand. I had expected to love it but not to be completely and utterly blown away. Really awesome experience & one I shall never forget and hopefully one that I will get to have again in the not too distant future.

My flight connected through Brisbane flying with Qantas which meant that I had a couple of hours stopover which was not ideal but it was not like I was pressed for time and I think if I was going for a seriously long flight a day flight would definitely be the better option. There were no delays in Australia which meant that I was now on my way to a whole new world, culture, language etc that is SE Asia. Scary and exciting all at the same time but at least by starting in Singapore I was easing into it with the most westernised Asian country & once I was on my final leg the nervousness eased off and I started getting excited for somewhere completely different and exciting. Can't wait.

Christmas & New Year with Friends

swhateley — Thu, 1 Jan 2009 23:07:00 GMT

I got back to Christchurch on the afternoon of the 23rd & got hold of Caren so that she could come and pick me up and take her to her brand new house that she & her husband had built and had moved into while I was travelling around New Zealand. How very very exciting to move into a house that was exactly the way they wanted it down to the design, light fittings, door, showers etc etc etc. I had to wait around in the centre of Christchurch for a while which for a person with a book is never a problem. The weather was gorgeous & the city centre was just humming (given that it was the 2nd last shopping day before Christmas) & I thoroughly enjoyed watching the goings on while I waited. A couple of her friends met us there as well (due to transport issues) sp we grabbed a coffee before heading off where I got to go with Caren so I could tell her all about my trip which was just great as I was buzzing from my most incredible trip & had so much to tell her. It was so exciting to get back to the house and see it all finished and moved in. Really good to see what they have done & how stunning it was (which believe it or not, compliment to my dad, had ideas taken from my parents house from our high school days). After chatting with everyone for a bit and then heading out for nyummy Indian take aways, we spent the rest of the evening in fits of laughter, trying on clothes (I needed something for Christmas) & catching up.

The next couple of days were spent doing last minute Christmas shopping & present wrapping & celebrating Christmas & Boxing day with friends and family with lots of delicious food, a fair amount of alcohol as is customary with the festive season (I even found some delicious Jacobs Creek veggie friendly Chardonnay that I could enjoy). I also got to speak to my family on Skype at the end of the evening as they were starting out their day & a happy, festive time was had by all. I had anticipated spending Christmas in a hostel which would really not have been my idea of a good Christmas but it was 1 Christmas & not the end of the world. How lucky that I had a friend in Christchurch to celebrate with.

On the 27th I joined the Constables on part of their holiday up to Picton & the Marlborough Sounds for an extra 5 days before I headed up to Auckland to catch my flight to Singapore. We joined another family of 3 in a lovely house just outside Picton & made the most of the gorgeous weather during the day on the Sounds fishing (boys fun), kayaking, swimming, boating, tubing etc & the evening chatting, playing games etc & pretty much had a great time. I chose to have a day out of the sun to watch South Africa play the last day of their 2nd test in Melbourne which to my absolute delight they won which won them the test series. As South Africa have yet to win a test series in Australia this was indeed a hugely historic day & one that I was so excited to see & so proud of our boys. It really made me remember just how great it is to be South African.

We were going into Picton to watch the fireworks after dinner but as the weather was totally rainy and wet and rubbish that we decided to rather stay in and have a couple fo drinks and play games which suited my just fine as I am not that phased by New Year so I am happy to do whatever. When we hit midnight we all wished each other happy new year & watched the fireworks from a distance & then Caren & I decided to try and do the Maori warrior stick your tongue out and pull funny eyes thing which was just hilarious. That girl and I laughed so much in the 2 weeks that I spent with her. It was just so so divine and such a crying shame that we lost touch but we are now firmly back in touch again never to be out of touch again.

When the time came to head off to the ferry it was by no means my happiest day especially as the whole family came along. I had such a great time with them all & I enjoyed the kids so much so it wasn't just a case of saying goodbye to Caren. It was all 5 of them that sucked but of course saying goodbye to Caren was the worst and I had tears in my eyes as I waved goodbye. Gees do I hate goodbyes. They really are my worst thing.

Lake Tekapo - My Final Magical Destination

swhateley — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:19:00 GMT

I awoke to another perfect day. I think apart from diving with dolphins this stunning light blue lake with the idyllic Church of the Good Shepherd would have to be my favourite destination so far. Animals aside it would definitely be my favourite destination. I was mesmerised. I could just sit on the side of the lake and drown in the beauty of it. I headed around the lake & took yet more photos including a couple of lovely mirror ones when the water was perfectly still. I thought I should get some excercise & took a steadyish, steep walk (lucky there was no Jessica this time as she is far fitter than me and this walk took me a lot longer than it would have taken her as I needed to keep stopping to get my breath - and to constantly admire the view) to the top of Mt John where I could look down on the lake and get the view. What a magnificent view it was. This lake is not a complete glacial lake like Lake Pukaki is (& therefore not quite as powdery pale blue although not far different) but it is mostly glacial which is where this truly exquisite colour comes from. Unfortunately there is no way my photos are unable to show you the full extent of what I saw as I only have a point and shoot whereas one would need a wide angle lens for this. The site of this body of pale blue water was positively breathtaking. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would have an experience like this. I understand that this is a great skiing place in the winter and although it would be freezing cold I imagine that the site of the lake after a heavy snowstorm would be just magical.

When I got back down to town I went back to the gorgeous Church of the Good Shepherd & the Collie statue (dedicated to the collie dog for its invaluable contribution to the grazing of this mountain country) and spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures from all angles and getting human free ones wherever possible. This did require a fair amount of patience as I am sure you can believe that this is a pretty popular tourist attraction but my patience did indeed pay off and I was fortunate enough to get quite a few good ones much to my delight.

I had a relaxed evening, having the pasta that I had been craving in Queenstown & watching the wonderful sunset before heading off to bed with a little sadness in my heart that this wonderful little journey that I had done around this magnificent country was almost at it's end.

I was up bright and early the next morning to board the Magic Bus for the last time as we headed back to Christchurch where I would be meeting Caren and spending the next 9 days with her and her family over Christmas and New Year.

Queenstown to Lake Tekapo via Dunedin

swhateley — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:28:00 GMT

I said a fond farewell to Jessica as we left Queenstown bright (this does not refer to sunshine) and early in the morning. We had a fair drive to Dunedin & for once there was not a whole lot to see so for the most part my fellow Magic travellers & I read, slept, listened to music, had a chat or stared out the window. It was chilly and miserable and I was so grateful to have my jacket back. We got to Dunedin at around 1.30pm where some brave souls had decided that they were going out to watch the Albatross, Penguins, Sea Lions etc. I however, was not in the mood for the rain and cold and opted to rather sit and write postcards & have a nice coffee & divine lunch in a local New Zealand coffee shop called Mojo's, recommended by a Kiwi friend as a far better option to Starbucks & voted Wellingtons favourite coffee in a recent survey.

Once postcards were written and my tummy was full I headed off to find an internet cafe to keep warm in for a couple of hours before heading back to the hostel hunched up into my fleece & jacket as the weather had now really turned cold (a couple of days before Christmas I might add when it is supposed to be warm, being summer and all). I could not wait to have a nice hot shower after dinner & to climb into my warm bed. I had not thought that there was a whole lot going on in Dunedin (other than the venue of the All Blacks recent historic loss to the Springboks - finally) & regrettably discovered that in fact the Otago Peninsula which would have been a good walk was in fact good to see although in fairness the weather wasn't exactly the best to be in, so another for next time.

We started the morning off with a little walk up Baldwin Street which is the World's Steepest Street (according to the Guiness Book of Records) & given that it was no easy little morning breather it certainly felt like the steepest street to me. Morning tea or breakfast for those who don't need breakfast first thing was at the Moeraki Boulders which was rather odd. They are a bunch of spherical boulders that look as if they have been scattered within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. Local Maori legends explained the boulders as the remains of eel baskets, calabashes, and kumara washed ashore from the wreck of an Arai-te-uru, a large sailing canoe. This legend tells of the rocky shoals that extend seaward from Shag Point as being the petrified hull of this wreck and a nearby rocky promontory as being the body of the canoe's captain. In 1848 W.B.D. Mantell sketched the beach and its boulders, more numerous than now which I suspect is from wave erosion as many of them appear to have crumbled & I suspect that they will eventually erode away completely, never to be seen again.

The answer to my why is it so cold question was answered by reception at the Dunedin YHA who told me that it had snowed somewhere nearby the previous evening (right around the summer solstice when it is NOT supposed to be snowing). This of course became very apparent once we had left the Otago shores & headed inland towards the many snow capped mountains which were just spectacular. According to our guide there should not have been a drop of snow in sight which I would then have to say that the snow Gods were indeed smiling on me (even if they were making me terribly cold) as mountains are so much prettier when they are covered in snow. Particulary when they are the background to the likes of Lake Pukaki at the bottom of Mt. Cook which is a glacial lake with the most amazing colour water I have ever seen. The inland road past damns and mountains & Lake Pukaki was yet again another stunning journey. I was absolutely bummed that our driver appeared to be in some hurry & opted not to stop at the Lake Pukaki lookout which looked over the lake towards Mt Cook which would have been such an amazing photo opportunity. Anyway, it was unfortunate but I still got to see the spectacular Lake Pukaki & Mt Cook even if there was no decent opportunity for a picture & of course memories are always better than pictures.

Once we got to Lake Tekapo we had a quick stop at the Church of the Good Shepherd for the prettiest photos I have taken so far. Absolutely idyllic. For anyone wanting to get married in a church this would absolutely be the perfect setting and I was told that one would need to book three years in advance for that exact reason. The hostel was right on the lake with beautiful snow capped mountains in the distance. Stunning. Beautiful sunsets too. We went to the pub for a couple of drinks to say goodbye to another Dutch girl and 2 Dutch guys that Jessica & I had travelled with off and on as they were off to Christchurch the following day. The stars when I walked back to the hostel at around 1am were nothing short of spectacualr. Only in Karijini had I seen such a beautiful sky. I can see why one of the Lake Tekapo activities is star gazing weather permitting. I was extremely grateful that it had been a perfect day both for taking stunning lake & mountain photographs as well as for star gazing. Does it get any better than this?

Adventure Capital Queenstown

swhateley — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:08:00 GMT

After our stunning journey to Milford Sounds & much consideration I decided that I was absolutely satisfied with my New Zealand journey so far & that I had done enough. The availability of all the outdoor adventures could seriously boggle ones mind so rather than get my mind boggled trying to decide what to do and what not to do (bearing in mind that these adventures all cost a pretty sum) and that all the exciting adventures could wait for next time. That is of course if there is a next time but I do truly believe that I have just been too overwhelmed with this country to never return & in addition my very oldest friend is here to stay with her Kiwi husband and Kiwi children & it would just do no good to never see her again so a trip now and again will just have to be arranged where I will fit in all the adventures that I have chosen to miss on this trip.

So you might be wondering exactly what it was that I was going to do while I was in Queenstown now that I had decided not to do my river rafting or Shotover Jet or canyoning or any other exciting activity. Well, after a nice little lie in (perhaps you can see the pattern of the night owl here) getting up at about 9.30 for a leisurely shower & breakfast, Jessica decided that she was going to do some parasailing for an hour or two so off we trotted into town for a stunning walk along the lake breathing nothing but fresh mountain air, so that Jessica could arrange her bits & then off she went to parachute off a boat. While she was doing that I opted to grab a coffee & head to one of internet cafes to check emails etc. I was so expecting Queenstown to be all about the activities and Milford Sound & not much else as far as the town goes but boy was I mistaken. Running alongside Lake Wakitipu with The Remarkables as the backdrop this town was certainly a stunning town & of course being the adventure capital the town itself was buzzing. When Jessica got back from her parasailing we thought that we should really head up Mt Bruce on the Gondola (cable car to you and me) and see the aerial view of Lake Wakitipu & the stunning Remarkables which was an absolute sight to behold. We wandered around the viewing area and then headed over to the Luge where we headed upwards on what looked a lot like a ski lift to me to get into our funny little cars and zoom down the hillside pushing forward to go fast and bringing it back to slow down. Although it was short and sweet (probably took about 45 minutes to get up to the Luge station three times, come down twice on our luges & pick up our bags and walk down the third time) but it was good fun and made us feel like we were 12 again although of course this time round being in full adulthood and fully understanding consequences I was a lot more cautious than I would have been at 12 I suspect. The joy of having no fear.

Once we had finished being kids we headed back down again and went in search of somewhere to have dinner as this was our last evening together as Jessica was taking the long route back to Christchurch as she was in no rush for Christmas. Let me tell you , this was no mean feat. I was really in the mood for some really nyummy pasta but it seemed that every Italian restaurant we went into (tried about 5) allmake their own pasta or use fresh pasta which means egg which means no go for Shannon & bless Jessica for her patience. As we had tried every Italian restaurant in Queenstown it appeared that pasta was not happening and that we should try something else. My second choice was risotto & as luck would have it we found a restaurant that made a Shannon friendly mushroom risotto so that we could enjoy our last meal together.

Sadly this also meant that I only had 2 more destinations left and then my stunningly amazing trip in New Zealand would be complete.

Day Trip to the Magnificent Milford Sounds

swhateley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Now this has certainly been the most worthy of an early morning get up on this trip. Of course being a night owl and all, the before 7am wake up calls are always killers but if there is a truly magnificent journey to be enjoyed it does make it all worthwhile. Although the journey was indeed a long one (about 4 hours each way in total with stops), I would absolutely have to say that as amazing as all the New Zealand journeys have been, this trip down past Te Anau to Milford Sound for a little 2 hour boat trip has been absolutely jaw droppingly beautiful and the best of any that I have done. We started off heading out of Queenstown along the stunning 84km long Wakitipu Lake which at its deepest is a massive 399m, at its widest is 5km, covers an area of 290km² & has an average temp of 11.5^o celcius - not by any means for the faint hearted amongst us that is for sure.

We passed beautiful mountains & rivers & streams, stunning wild flowers and a mirror lake that wasn't the best mirror I've seen, but then in all fairness the weather was pretty yucky so these lakes really need still weather & gorgeous sunshine like I had in Taupo on the Waikato River to do real justice. Never the less I could still make out the word mirror lake in the little lake that they had put up for the benefit of us tourists.

The most magnificent part of the journey was the mountains that we went through at one point which were covered in a fair amount of snow with a lot of mist. We hopped out in what were pretty freezing cold temperatures while we were waiting for our turn to go through the tunnel to gaze up in wonder & take pictures of this magnificent mountain (I forget to find out exactly which mountain range this was unfortunately - I think probably the Southern Alps or perhaps the Remarkables although I am just not sure). Truly remarkable whicever mountains they were.

Once we got to Milford Sound we had a short wait before hopping on our boat before heading out for our 90 minute tour of this wonderland fjord area and apparently if Wikipedia can be believed New Zealands no 1 tourist destination as well as the world's top travel destination in an international survey. We were not blessed with good weather but then one should expect rubbish weather (it is the wettest inhabited area in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world) and be grateful if it is anything but. We had rain for about half our journey but in my opinion when you are cruising around this area with sheer rock faces rising as much as 1200 metres or more on either side with so many waterfalls of varying sizes down tumbling the rock face you are in awe irrelevant of the weather.

Feeling absolutely totally and utterly satisfied I hopped back onto our bus for our long but incredibly beautiful journey back to Queenstown deliberating what, if any activities I should partake in the following day.

From Franz Josef to Amazing Queenstown - Adventure Capital

swhateley — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:30:00 GMT

So this one was a really early start yaaaaawnnn hitting the road at 7.25 for our next stop at Wanaka where Jessica & I had decided to get off while the rest of our fellow magic people were continuing to Queenstown. Needless to say after my little excursion up the Glacier, my legs were feeling a little tender but on the whole I was feeling fantastic :-)

The weather was unfortunately absolutely crap which was to be expected as this part of the world has rain for 70% of the year which means that one should be grateful for any sun that one gets to see & that one should just expect rain. They don't even bother recording rain in mm, they go straight onto the metres given that Franz Josef gets between 6 & 8 metres a year which in rain terms is A LOT of rain.

So we stopped off (in the rain) at Arnotts Point & Knights Point for some stunning views of the West coast before continuing on to the Thunder Creek Falls to take a short walk to look at the waterfall before hopping off the bus to check out the river a little further up the road. Needless to say I got a little wet as I was still waterproof jacket less so it was just my fleece which is not bad really but the jacket with a hood does a much better job.

First impression of Wanaka is that it is a really sweet little town but we thought that we would leave the proper walk partly around the lake for the next day, choosing to rather check email, stop in at the supermarket for some milk etc etc & get our washing done which of course is such a fun expereince and although the weather had improved it was still not brilliant and realistically the sun always make pictures look so much better.

As luck would have it when we got up the next day after our lie in, in our nice cosy warm beds the weather had indeed improved and the sun was shining so we got up and got going & headed off to enjoy the sunshine and take a walk around the Lake (well a little of it anyway as it is one big Lake and one would need a couple of days to get all the way around it) which was a stunning walk with fresh air, sunshine and the beautiful lake. What a great way to spend the morning. Jessica being madam fitness and all decided she was going up to the look out point to get the aerial view of the lake so I thought that a nice brisk 2 hour walk was enough for me and that she should rather do this on her lonesome. Rumour has it the view was great but I'll take her word for it.

The bus eventually picked up at about 2.30 but we had to hang around for the sky divers where I found Danielle who was travelling a day behind me and had my jacket from the hostel in Nelson. Oh joy oh joy to have that back. So anyway we actually only left Wanaka at about 4/4.30 which meant that the stop at the historical first ever commercial bungy was closed for business which would have been a big bummer had I decided that I wanted to do it for the sake of history but luckily had decided to leave the bungy stuff for next time.

Andy our quite attractive & dare I say tall Kiwi (the norm from what I saw of the Kiwi man was not a whole heap of height) eventually dropped us off at our lovely Lodge looking YHA by the lake at about 7.30 after sorting out our Milford Sound trip whic I might add I was thoroughly looking forward to. What a view we had from the front of the hostel of Lake Wakatipu with the magnificent Remarkables from that Lord of the Rings movie in the background. Wow. Really stunning.

Onwards & Upwards to the Fantastic Franz Joseph Glacier

swhateley — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:05:00 GMT

We left Greymouth nice and early in the pissing rain to stop off at Lake Matteson which is the most stunning mirror lake which sadly was not worth even bothering with as there is nothing to see when it is raining so we just had coffee at a nice little cafe instead. The journey to Franz Joseph entailed a couple of pretty stops to see some more of this amazing country and we arrived at about 12.30 in time to sign up for our half day Glacial walk. As we were only set to head out at 3pm we got checked into our nice little YHA & then hopped on the bus for some internet time (there is an internet cafe in a bus which is pretty cool). At 3pm sharp we sat waiting in anticipation for what could be a pretty cold and wet walk/hike up the glacier.

We had a rather cute Englishman with gorgeous twinkly eyes from the west country in charge who got us geared up with our waterproof stuff, socks, gloves, beanies, hiking boots and crampons & then herded into the bus for our journey to the car park about 2.5km's from the glacier.

The walk went at a relatively quick pace and in my fairly unfit state found it pretty hard going with my heavy boots & gear but I wasn't giving up any time soon so onwards and upwards we continued. The normal route would have been straight up to the glacier but as there had been an issue the previous week with a landfall or similar we had to go around which entailed a shortish hike up into the rainforest & then back down again to the base of the Glacier. How exciting and scary to get to go up on the ice. We all got our crampons fitted and as mine were in fact the wrong size scrummy Mr Brit had to fix them and then tied them too to save time - I did rather like the personal attention :-) We divided into two groups (slow and fast) so I naturally chose the slow group which was led by a newish guy called John who came with scrummy Mr Brit. My day was made :-) The walk up was pretty hard going at times and quite scary as I was not used to the crampons and walking on ice and some of the 'stairs' that had been cut into the ice were fairly steep which were mosly OK as they had rope to hang onto but there was one set that was rope free that freaked me out a little but I just went super slow and hoped that this was not going to be a bad stair day which thank goodness it was not.

The walk up was particulary hard going on the muscles in my thighs but as you do I just kept pushing on and the view once we got up as far as we were going on the 1/2 day was pretty darn amazing. The colour that came up from the water below was a beautiful Turquoise blue that we could see here and there and was just an amazing experience.

After traipsing around on the Glacir for about 5km's in all I am told we headed back down to the carpark in the rain which took us through to about 8pm. That was definitely the hardest hike that I have done & by the time I got onto the bus after a near fall down one part of the glacier (luckily the girl I instinctively grabbed onto to steady myself didn't go flying) & a kinda fall in the rain forest (I was holding onto one of the rope handrails so no major issues) I was absolutely finished. I knew at that point that the decision not to do the Tongariro crossing was in fact a good one because I just don't think I would have made it. I did however have the greatest nights sleep and would highly recommend the hike rain or shine to anyone heading in that direction.

Brilliant brilliant brilliant - of course I can say that now that it is all finished and klaar and just an amazing memory :-)

Nelson, the Awesome Abel Tasman & the Wonderful Journey Down to a Dreary Greymouth

swhateley — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:34:00 GMT

Ahhhhhhh the Abel Tasman National Park. What a worthwhile journey that was. We had a chilled night in Nelson getting some absolutely nyummy Hot Chocolate Pudding which I was immensely pleased to enjoy as it was totally egg free and sooooo delicious & then off to bed for an early morning call to head off to the Abel Tasman to take a nice little boat trip up and then do a 12.4km walk back down from Anchorage Bay & what a walk that was. The views were just spectacular & the weather was perfect. A partly sunny day with some clouds for the sun to hide behind every now and again to keep the weather warm rather than hot but no rain at all. I was pretty exhausted by the time we had finished the walk but I was totally satisfied. With views like that who can ever be unhappy.

And so the journey continues down the West Coast towards Greymouth & Franz Joseph to have the opportunity to walk on a real live moving Glacier (not while we were on it but it does move a bit each day). Our gorgeously cute Kiwi driver, Dusty, who was a bundle of joy telling us funny stories, giggling at his own jokes and using the ever popular sweet as & is one of the 10% of Kiwi's who has no interest in Rugby (good for me as no ragging about us losing the tri-nations) picked us up and took us on a little journey to the one part of New Zealand that was just yuck. To make matters 'worse' I had left my nice waterproof jacket at the hostel. Arghhhhh. Silly silly me. Good thing Danielle was staying an extra night so that I could call & ask the hostel to give it to her so that I could get it from her in Wanaka. Luckily the journey was so much better than the destination where we got to see a road kind of carved into the mountainside at Hawks Crag & then stopped off at Cape Foulwind to see the New Zealand Fur Seals in abundance although true to the name the wind was certainly foul as seals are not the best smelling animals bless them (even though Cape Foulwind was so named by Captain Cook after the gales & rain that battered his ship Endeavour in March 1770 rather than the smell). We then went for a little walk down the Truman Track to look at more beautiful coastline before stopping at the Punakaiki Pancake Rocks & Blowholes aptly named for the layered rocks that look like a stack of pancakes before finishing off in Greymouth. This ugly tarmacced town was nothing more than a supermarket stop & a spot to have a nights sleep before moving on again. I guess it can't all be amazing and I had to have something that was less than perfect that I didn't fall in love with.

Back to the South Island via Taupo & Wellington

swhateley — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:36:00 GMT

The trip in the rain back to the beautiful Taupo on the shores of the massive crater lake that is the size of Singapore was short and sweet and we stopped yet again at the wonderful Huka falls (mentioned these on the trip up) on the Waikato River. Fortunately for me I had managed to get a lovely photo of the lake on my trip up when the sun was shining so the yucky weather was not too big a deal. Jessica and I waited for a break in the weather once we got to the hostel so that we could make a dash to the supermarket for a top as we were running low on food. Luckily for us we managed to sneak out between the showers unlike one of our fellow travellers who was less lucky and for drenched. As the weather continued for the rest of the evening we decided to stay in and play cards after dinner which as always was good fun especially when Adam from Canada joined in & kept us company till midnight.

We were going to do the Tongariro crossing (an awesome 19km hike over volcano craters used in the Lord of the Rings) but Jessica was having issues with her hip & I decided that I was not fit enough which was just as well as it was cancelled due to the rubbish weather. So much better to have made a decision that I was comfortable with to not do it, rather than be told sorry - no can do. So we thought that we'd do laundry instead. Ha ha. What fun huh?? Well actually we had a little lie in & then after laundry when the weather cleared we did go for a walk for a couple of hours along the stunning Waikato River which was not quite 19km's but I'd say we still would have managed to do about 8km's so still good.

We then woke up early yet again the following day to go for yet another incredible drive with the same driver that we had in Paihia back to Wellington up to Mount Victoria to see the stunning views of Wellington. Our poor driver who was new and was filling in for a guy who had to go to a funeral took the corner on the way up to Mount Victoria to sharply and met up with the traffic light which put a nice ugly hole and crack in one of the windows. Shame, poor guy. Not the way you want to start off but there we go. One of those them things.

I had the pleasure of being taken to the Te Papa musuem & shown Wellington by night by my Kiwi friend Jeremy who I used to work with way back when at MFUK. He treated me to drinks and a vegan burger which was most pleasurable - local is always lekker - but of course time does fly when you are having fun so I did get to bed very late which did not make my 6.30am wake up call to catch the ferry to Picton across the Cook Straight & Marlborough Sounds much fun.

Once on the ferry we opted to watch a movie for the 1st 2 hours of the trip and then spent the last hour marvelling at the stunning Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Islands. Just stunning. Needless to say the trip from Picton to Nelson was not very eventful as I was feeling a little tired. It seems that the night before ferry trips are always super late ones & given that my final ferry trip will be on the 1st of Jan I have no doubt that it will follow an awfully late one too. Fun fun fun :-)

Heading Back South to Rotorua & a Maori Cultural Evening

swhateley — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 21:53:00 GMT

After spending a lovely evening and sunny day with family friends in Auckland who took me on a mini tour of Auckland which included a stunning black sparkly volcanic beach (Auckland is the land of volcanoes and is overdue for an eruption) & a substantially large colony of majestic Gannets. Of course the smell wasn't great but it was absolutely worth enduring it to watch these beautiful birds.

I then hopped back onto the Magic Bus the following morning & headed back down to Rotorua via the Waitomo caves and spectaculary beautiful scenery with Young Joe Young, who was a most amusing older guide from Oz who kept us entertained all the way down to Rotorua. Once there we had the pleasure of spending the evening doing a Maori Cultural evening where we got to witness how it would have been for visitors coming to a Maori village & being greeted & intimidated by the Maori warriors. They also showed us various practices that they used back in those days such as flax weaving, tatooing etc, performed a Maori concert for us and fed us the most delicious tasting food. This is cooked in a hangi which is the traditional Maori method of cooking food using super heated rocks buried in the ground in a pit oven. Modernised hangi methods are still used today and are often saved for special occasions such as 21st's and funerals due to the large amount of time and preparation work involved. Needless to say the flavour of the food was just nyummy and we had two gorgeous Maori men to feast our eyes on while we were at it.

On our way out of Rotorua the following day heading down to Lake Taupo we stopped off to see the Lady Knox Geyser erupting at 10.15am (a little assistance is given to ensure that it happens at the same time every day) & we also had a couple of hours in the very smelly but fantastic Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. This Wonderland of stunning geothermal activity with unique features including the world famous champagne pool, geysers, bubbling mud, steaming ground, expansive vistas, huge volcanic craters and sinter terrace formations was truly worth seeing to experience what this incredible earth of ours is capable of.

Paihia, The Bay of Islands & Cape Reinga

swhateley — Sat, 6 Dec 2008 21:14:00 GMT

And so we leave Auckland again to head up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands for a trip to the top of New Zealand. We had an early start as per usual and lucky for me a lovely Dutch girl by the name of Jessica was now doing the same journey as I was which meant that I was likely to have a bit of consistent companionship which is always good. We left Auckland in the peeing rain which lucky for us had cleared by the time that we got up to Paihia by lunchtime. After checking into our hostels and grabbing a quick bite to eat a bunch of us headed off to the Excitor to go and check out the Hole in the Rock which again was more amazing work of Mother Nature that has eroded a big hole in a rock in the middle of the sea. Pretty impressive actually & the trip there and back amongst the islands was just stunning.

Had to get up nice and early to head up to Cape Reinga at the top of New Zealand to drive up the 90 mile beach (which in fact when eventually measured correctly was not actually 90 miles), go sand boarding down the dunes, have a dip in the sea (which I might add was FREEZING) I got as far as my feet & could go no further & walk up to the Cape Reinga lighthouse to view the very top of New Zealand which is a super sacred area to the Maori's as this was the area where the first Maori landed legend has it many moons ago. On the way back we stopped off to view the magnificent ancient Kauri trees as well as a stop off at the Kaurie shop which had the most beautiful furniture and ornaments.

On our third and last day in Paihia Jessica & I had to wait until midday for the persistent rain to give up so that we could walk up to the lookout point to get stunning views of the Bay of Islands. We met up with one of the new magic bus drivers who tagged along back as we headed down for the lookout pointing useful little bits about the trees and plants that we walked past as well as keeping us entertained when he headed up the beach to check out the Maori totems. We had wanted to go to walk up to the treaty grounds but unfortunately the rain kinda decided that we should rather not. We then headed back to the hostel to play cards for a couple of hours. I was over the moon to discover that Jessica likes cards as much as I do which is such a great way to spend time in hostels in the evenings and it is cheap as chips :-)

Back to Auckland the following day with a stop off to see the great Tane Mahuta that is an awesome ancient Kauri tree who has graced this planet with its presence for 1500 - 2000 years. Needless to say it is HUUUUUGEEEEE. Stunning.

Pretty Coromandel Coast with a Little Tipple Thrown in.

swhateley — Tue, 2 Dec 2008 15:04:00 GMT

We headed out of Auckland at the crack of dawn yet again for a trip to the Coromandel on a less than lovely day in this weird unpredictable weather land of New Zealand. First stop was to the top of Mount Eden to have a little look at Auckland and I have to say that confirmed - it is a lovely looking city with a view of both the Tasman Sea & Pacific Ocean. As it was windy and rainy it wasn't exactly the nicest place to be but then I knew I wasn't here for the weather so all was good.

We took a nice little tour of Auckland and then headed off to the Coromandel to have a look at one spot that used to be full of little Kiwi Bach's as they are called (small kinda home built little holiday spots that were the Kiwi thing) which are now all being bashed down and replaced with very opulent kinda places with the helicopter pad & the boat spot and all that kinda malarky. Playground for the rich and perhaps famous.

We then stopped off at Cathedral Cove for a gorgeous 45 minute walk in the part rain part sunshine which given that there was a fair amount of uphill was not necessarily a bad thing as it got pretty warm & I suspect would have been less pleasant on a baking day. After our excercise for the day we went and had a little lookie see at the hot water beach which is an area that can be accessed at low tide where you can dig into the sand and access the hot water from below. As we were there when the tide was still highish we weren't able to actually get digging to experience it for ourselves but that is just one of those them things.

So instead, we decided to head off to a cute little winery with a nutty Kiwi for a little bit of wine tasting which was good fun and as they only use bentonite (a type of clay) to clear their wines I was able to try them all which was a most pleasurable experience. I even took a little bottle of delicious passion fruit liquer with me which was just delicious.

After getting into Whitianga in the pissing rain I opted to stay in for dinner and chat instead. There was an awesome American girl staying in the room next door who is doing a kind of thesis thing to investigate humans and their interaction with whales so she has been to Portugal & SA who are pro whales against hunting but aren't particularly active & is now in New Zealand, who along with Australia is particularly pro living whales & particulary active against the Japanese & her next destinations will be Japan & Norway so all very interesting chatting to her & as she picked up a South African boyfriend while she was in SA and spent 3 months there she was of course interested in talking to me so we were up until 3.30am. Joyous.

Back to Auckland again the following day to head up to the very top of New Zealand.

Heading North to Auckland

swhateley — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:36:00 GMT

Not as interesting on this leg although this being New Zealand - breath taking scenery is a guarantee on every single trip so there is no such thing as a boring trip here. We left Wellington rather early in the morning with Mungu (my spelling could be way out here) - a cool local Maori guy - as our guide and headed up to the Art Deco town of Napier that got flattened by a big earthquake in the 1930's & had to be rebuilt. Not a whole heap to do but cute little town never the less. Then moved up to Mount Maunganui the following day via Taupo & Roturua where we got to check out the stunningly beautiful Lake Taupo (largest freshwater lake in Australasia - same size as Singapore) with its snow capped peaks in the distance as well as the Huka falls (most visited natural attraction in New Zealand) along the Waikato river (one of New Zealand longest rivers) that drains Lake Taupo. The falls are not particularly high but the velocity with which it goes over is just remarkable (the 100M wide river is squeezed through a 20M wide gorge - every second up to 220,000 litres of water gushes through the gorge & shoots out over 8 Metres beyond to create an exquisitely beautiful blue/green foamy pool). The name Huka is the Maori word for foam which is certainly appropriate & if I ever get round to putting photos up you will see what I mean. Really amazing. I had a chilled evening in Mount Maunganui & then headed off to A gloriously sunny Auckland the following day to walk along the Auckland bridge for the gorgeous view over Auckland Harbour before heading to the hostels. As it was Christmas parade day I thought I should take a little break and have a little look see given that Christmas is almost here which just seems weird to me. So far I have to say that I like the look of Auckland as a city. It is also the biggest city in New Zealand at 1.4 million people and the only city over 1 million.

Swimming with Dolphins. WOW WOW WOW!

swhateley — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:52:00 GMT

My oldest friend & two of her darling children dropped me off on a chilly Wednesday morning at the Magic stop at the crack of dawn to jump onto the hop on hop off to head up to Kaikura for Whale watching or Dolphin swimming options on the way to Picton & the North Island. I was kind of in two minds whether I wanted to do it because the water was going to be cold & choppy & I was feeling a little car sick but the weather cleared a bit when we got to Kaikura & the car sick stopped when I got off the bus of course so I thought what the hell - once in a lifetime chance. Got to go for it & my word am I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO grateful that I did.

I took my motion sickness tablet before we went so I felt like a million dollars & we were 2 groupsof 10 that each had a chance to go into the FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZING water which was more amazing than I can put into words. The dolphins were literally swimming around us close enough to touch (not that I did) & leaping into the air right in front of me. Such a hugely humbling experience. Lucky for me the first group got the dolphins at their best & then we got to stand around the boat wathcing them dive under the boat, swim past, flip around us. Soooooo good.

I also cannot explain how cold it was. We had wetsuits which did not stop the water getting in but warmed it up as soon as it got in so it was only really feet, face & hands that were really close to falling off but it was just worth it for the experience. Giving the chance to freeze again I would be there like a bear.

How incredibly lucky are we to get to share this earth with these magnificent creatures :-)

We headed into town in the evening to meet 2 Dutch guys that were on the boat with us for a couple of games of pool and landed up chatting until 3.30am. Needless to say I was not the biggest bundle of beans the following day when we hopped on the ferry to cross over the Cook Straight to Wellington. I was fortunate enough to sleep for most of the three hours. Of course that did mean that I missed some glorious scenery but I have another 2 trips coming up so I am sure I can see them then.

What an amazing day to start my trip off in New Zealand. Wooohooooooooo!!!

Reconnecting in Christchurch

swhateley — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:55:00 GMT

How joyous to meet up with my childhood friend Caren Eccles now Constable. We have been in and out of touch since we left Fairways primary and went to high schools far away from each other all the way through until she headed out this way in 1997 & then with the beauty of emails & Facebook (we used to write letters to each other back in our boarding school days) we were able to reconnect again about two years ago when my mom bumped into her mom and got her email address for me. I have been staying with her & her family while I have been in Christchurch getting my trip around the land of the Kiwi sorted & we are hardly getting anything done because we are just so busy chatting chatting chatting. We have LOADS of catching up to do and it is just awesome.

I have booked a trip with Magic Bus to do a trip around New Zeland which I am starting tomorrow for just short of a month and then back in Christchurch for Christmas with Caren and her family. Perfect.

Byron Bay & Operation Round the World Phase 1 Complete

swhateley — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:10:00 GMT

And now for my final destination before hitting Brisbane and heading out the New Zealand. Unfortunately the weather was pretty rubbish and it was certainly not condusive to much in Byron Bay. However I did land up in a 9 bed mixed dorm with a cool bunch of people that I spent the evening chatting to & went on a great hike in the on off rain to the Cape Byron lighthouse and the Eastern tip of the mainland of Australia.

I had a lovely Finish girl with me and we had a good chat all the way there and back and took a wrong turn so what would have been a three hour trip landed up being a four trip. Had I bothered to look at the map I would probably have realised that I was going in the wrong direction much sooner than I did and would probably have found an easier route back but it was good fun all the same rain and all.

We did a little cigarette butt picking off the beach on the last leg of our journey as there are clearly a large number of people that believe a beach is as good an ashtray as any other place even though the butts get eaten by birds which gives them cancer or find their way into the sea on windy days & get eaten by turtles which kills them too. So sad really what we do to this world in our oblivion. There is a a degree of awareness in Australia about cigarette buts & platic bags & the danger of getting washed to the Great Barrier Reef to help with its demise as well as both getting eating by animals and birds & killing them too.

Headed back up to Brisbane in the pouring rain for a couple of days which at this point was just a means to an end for me. Brisbane is just a city really and I would not have been at all bothered if I missed it in its entirety. I have spoken to travellers who like it from a work perspective as it is not really a much of a touristy spot. I did however meet a lovely Irish girl and we had an absolute giggle over our Kiwi room mate who seemed a little strange. She did a lot of prancing around our 8 bed dorm room naked, walked around the hostel naked except for her handbag & her gown which only just covered her butt, spent a lot of time in front of the mirror only half covered (initially a towel to her waist & then a top to her hips which she proceeded to lift to check out her butt). Soooooo strange. Perhaps just a serious exhibitionist.

I did unfortunately have an unpleasant experience with Greyhound as I was about to head out to the airport. I had a Cairns to Byron Bay ticket that had 111km's left at the the end of my journey so I thought I might as well just catch a bus to the airport and then it was all sorted as all the hostels are either close to the transit centre or do pick ups and drop off from the transit centre. I booked this leg of my journey on the 7th of November before I left Harvey Bay after which I still had an additional 3 bus journeys to get to Byron Bay. I also put my cel number on each booking that I made so that I could be contacted if there were any issues. I double checked my trip when I got to Brisbane on the 18th & checked in with the Greyhound Desk to get a ticket for my bag for the 12.30pm bus at about 11.15am on the 20th. At no point did anyone say there was an issue with my journey. Only at 12.25 when I needed to be at the airport at 2pm did I get called over a loud speaker and was told that I should not have booked that ticket as my ticket was a Cairns/Byron Bay ticket and I could not backtrack so I would have to find my own way to the airport. Needless to say I was not the happiest person on earth being told at the very last minute that I had nothing booked to get to the airport. Thankfully the transit centre is a couple of floors above the railway station so I was able to run down to the station and grab a train so a sticky situation was averted thankfully but I just could not believe that they would do that to someone.

As it turned out I had given myself extra time to get to the airport so I had no need to panic and get stressed. I just haf to move very smartly to get my train & I was able to leave gorgeous, beautiful, amazing Oz barely a trouble & I am even more pleased to report that the spider I met on the bathroom door in the Karijini National Park was the one and only 'encounter' I had with any scary spiders. The universe must have known to keep me safe. Thank you darling universe :-)