New Zealand

So we've just finished the Kiwi Experience and have had the most fantastic 3 weeks, doing some incredible things and meeting some amazing people. Tara, Dani, Isla, Jake, Dan, Becca, Phil, Pete - the list goes on- we've had the best time with you all, thank you for making our trip so special. We miss you already!

Our trip got off to a rocky start in Auckland, having only been there an hour when we were evacuated out of the hostel when the fire alarm went off. Unfortunately, Eli was in the shower. Lols. From Auckland we got on the Kiwi Experience bus and drove via Hot Water Beach to Waitomo, where we did 'Black Water Rafting', which is tubing through the caves looking at the glow worms on the top. We thought this was all very romantic until we found out that the bit of the worms that makes them glow is actually their poo!

Next stop was Rotorua,where we went to a Maori culture evening, where we got to take part in Maori games, watch a concert showing off their traditional songs and fighting techniques and the infamous haka. There we got an amazing dinner, cooked in the ground in the traditional Maori way. In true Eli style, 5 courses later and we can safely say that it was $90 well spent...

Up next was Taupo, which was where Chess did her Skydive! Adamant she wouldn't do it for 8 weeks, she signed up the day before and had the most incredible experience ever. Jumped out of the plane at 15,000 feet, free fell for 65 seconds and then enjoyed a 5 minute parachute ride over Lake Taupo - not your average Tuesday morning!

Last stop on the North Island before Wellington was River Valley, where we stayed in 32 bed dorms - made for an interesting nights sleep... The next morning we decided to go on, what we thought would be, a leisurely walk but actually led to us having to abseil/fall down a muddy slope to go and look at the river, which we could see from our room anyway. While Eli and Dani were lapping up the adventure, it's fair to say Tara and Chessie were not. At all.

After a short stop over in Wellington we got the ferry to the South Island, where one of our first stops was Westport, where Eli had her first surfing lesson. Although the weather was terrible, she managed to stand up and had a great time catching some waves.

Our next stop was Lake Mahinapua, where on the way we stopped at Cape Foulwind seal colony and got to see baby seals playing around in the water which was so cute. The place we stayed here was called 'The Poo Pub'. Guess the name should have given us some warning, but when we turned up at what can only be described as a shed on the side of the road, it took us a while to realise the drivers weren't joking and this was our home for the night. That evening we had a water themed party, and we all tried our best to win the fancy dress competition but were completely outshone by a girl who came as a shower. Head, curtain, water and all...

After here we stopped at Franz Josef for 2 days, where on the first day we did a 3 hour kayak on the lake with the mountains on one side and the rainforest on the other. Though it was tiring the views were stunning and we had a really great afternoon. The next morning we took a helicopter up to the Franz Josef glacier, where we hiked up to the top and back again which was amazing, and being the geography geeks that we are found it all rather more exciting than everyone else. We spent the afternoon at the hot pools, where we stayed in the water for so long we all resembled prunes when we got out!

Next up was Lake Wanaka, stopping at Ships Creek on the way to see the dolphins, and then we went onto Wanaka where Eli did her skydive. Same height and length of freefall, but had views of Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea and the snowy mountains. Now that we both had a taste for adrenaline we didn't want to stop there and when we got to the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown, we made the most of what they had to offer. Eli did the Nevis Bungy (at 134m high it's the 3rd highest bungy in the world) - albeit in a pin drop manner rather than an elegant dive and spent the next few days hobbling like an old man. Chessie did the slightly less scary option of the canyon swing with Isla, where you freefall for a couple of seconds off the side of a cliff and then swing around at the bottom over the canyon. Having left home promising each other we we would do none of these things, we've now done the 3 scariest things in New Zealand! We also enjoyed the nightlife Queenstown had to offer, and of course the food - probably took one too many trips to Fergburger (where the burgers are literally the size of your face).

Last stop was Christchurch where we stayed in a converted jail. We still cant work out whether it's cool or wierd...

We've had a brilliant 3 weeks here and have left New Zealand with great new friends, amazing memories and far too many free t-shirts! Roll on Japan!

Sydney and Melbourne

So after 6 weeks, 4 flights, 10 bus and 3 boat trips we've travelled 4030km from Cairns to Melbourne and our time in Australia has come to an end. In Sydney we met up with Nat (Chess' cousin), and had a fab time in the city being tourists and taking in the sights like the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. 
We also took a tour around the Olympic Park, where we spent the whole time slaughtering everything we saw, comparing it to London 2012 (go team GB!), which was miles better. We visited the world famous Bondi Beach, which wasn't nearly as busy as everyone thinks but we still had a fun afternoon watching some incredible surfing and from here we walked to Coogee Beach taking in the coastal scenery. One evening we were lucky enough to go to a circus/burlesque show, 'La Soiree', at the opera house which was great fun - our favourite act being the 'English Gents', whose main talent was their fantasic abs. Our other favourite acts included a topless man in a bath, a topless man on a unicycle, and a topless man lifting himself up a lampost...

After Sydney we took the dreaded overnight bus to Melbourne, where we arrived in surprisingly high spirits once we saw the first rays of sunshine in 3 and half weeks! We're staying in the chilled area of St. Kilda, a small town by a beautiful harbour and we spend most of our days sunbathing on the beach. It's a hard life. We also saw some friends we met at Fraser Island (the ones who told us about the amazing chocolate shop Max Brenner), and re visited the shop for the 4th time. It was just as good as the first And second and third. We took trips into the city to explore places like the Sports Precinct, home to Melbourne Cricket Ground, Carlton Gardens and Queen Victoria Markets. Although they were nice to see, we were a little underwhelmed by what the city had to offer so didn't end up spending too much time in the actual city itself. However the highlight of Chess' time in Melbourne was the Neighbours Set Tour (for a non neighbours watcher like Eli, her excitement was brilliant to watch.) We got to visit the outside sets, and see the real Ramsay Street! The tour came with a 'star meeting' and we got to meet Libby (not Karl like Chess had hoped) which was a strange experience, just because she was so wierd.

Overall we've had a really great 6 weeks in Australia, even though the weather hasn't been great. It wasn't what we expected at all, but we've done so many amazing things in such a short time, our top experiences being the Uncle Brians Tour, Whitsundays and Fraser Island (and for Chess of course the Neighbours tour). We can't believe we're one country down and a third of the way through the trip, but are so excited to be moving on to New Zealand tomorrow!

Noosa, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise and Byron Bay

After Rainbow Beach we headed to Noosa, where we spent a romantic Valentines Day at Australia Zoo, set up by Steve Irwin. On the coach on the way there we got to watch re runs of The Crocodile Hunter and realise how crazy he actually was. First stop at the zoo was the elephants, where we got to feed them lunch, and then onto the koalas. Although cute and fluffy, holding one proved to be less pleasant than expected as they actually smell really bad. Later on we watched the main event at the zoo, the crocodile show. It started well, until the trainer dropped the meat he was using to entice the croc to a place where neither of them could reach it - rather an anti climax. The trainer then proceeded to accidentally trip into the crocodile pool, and from there it went downhill. Overall a little disappointed, but still worth a visit. The English weather also seemed to catch up with us here and we had to cancel our plans for the rest of our time in Noosa - not exactly what we were hoping for.

Next up after Noosa was Brisbane, and having been in so many beach towns it was nice to get back into the city. We spent days along the South Bank and visiting the markets, which reminded us of a summers day in London, bar the artificial beach. We were told by some other travellers to go to 'Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar' (the best advice we've got all trip), where we queued for 50 minutes to receive the best chocolate experience of our lives. Not wanting to stop there, in true flashpacker style we decided to hit a French steak restaurant for dinner. Needless to say, neither of us have any money anymore and are back to living on Nutella and toast.

Our chocolate heaven

After Brisbane, our next stop was Surfers Paradise where we were back into the bad weather. However, in true English fashion, we didn't let is stop us and we spent the days at sea world, movie world theme park and a water park and had some of the best (but by far the coldest) days of the trip. It seemed we were the only ones willing to brave the weather and we didn't have to queue for a single ride. We took, what we thought would be, full advantage of the empty park and sat on the front of the biggest rollercoaster. However our greed came back to quite literally slap us in the face, after we had to endure a minute of going through the rain at top rollercoaster speed, leaving our faces stinging and the rest of us soaking wet. Finishing off a top couple of days, we headed out to take advantage of the first good nightlife we've come across since arriving in Oz.

After the rollercoaster in the rain

Proof that we have actually been out at least once this holiday!

When we got to Byron Bay, because of the bad weather there wasn't a great deal to do, but we did spend a strange day at the hippie town of Nimbin. We enjoyed perusing the shops with names like "happy high herbs" and found the posters "politicians are slave driving bloodsucking parasites" and "legalise weed and stop the war" mind boggling, but somewhat amusing. We felt like we'd stepped into the 70's! We also discovered hemp ice cream - who knew that existed?!

 

Agnes Water, Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach

We finally made it out of Airlie Beach after a week and our next stop was Agnes Water, where we went on the renowned Scooteroo Tour, where you ride around the town spotting kangaroos on motorbikes for 3 hours. Before we saw the bikes Eli was raring to go, and Chessie was - to be fair- bricking it. However the tables turned when we actually got onto the bikes, with Eli narrowly missing running over the instructor and then driving into a tree, whereas Chess found her inner biker almost straight away. We were immediately put onto the road - or in Eli's case into the path of another car. However after a while, she did manage to get the hang of it in time to enjoy the ride and take in the sunset.

Us getting into the biker spirit

From Agnes Water we drove to Hervey Bay, where our tour to Fraser Island would leave from the next day. Keeping true to form and adding to our string of unlucky journeys, the bus was 3 hours late and arrived with broken aircon. However, we found refuge with a group of true Australian hippies, mellowing out to Bob Marley in a camper van painted like a scene from Finding Nemo- only in Australia.

We spent 2 days driving through Fraser Island, on what they called 'roads', but to any other normal person - death traps, and despite the relentless mosquito attacks we had a fantastic time and met a group of really great people. On day one, we visited Lake Mackenzie, the most famous spot on the island. Unfortunately the weather didn't quite go our way, but we still got to appreciate the beauty of it.While still brushing the sand from the beach at the lake off of us, we were lead into the rainforest for the afternoon. It amazed us (as keen/lame geographers) that the two could be in such close proximity to each other. The next day we swam down the freezing cold Eli Creek, which was the highlight of Eli's day. We walked to a group of sand dunes where we had endless jumping off the top and rolling down, and then visited the Champagne Pools - natural rock pools which filled with bubbles when the waves crashed past. Last stop of the day was Indian Head, a large cliff face which we climbed up to hopefully catch a glimpse of some sharks or dolphins in the water below... we didn't.
Now that we've been here almost a month, we've developed a few daily routines, one of which consists of Eli eating her own meal, and then finishing the rest of Chessie's, which earned her the ever so ladylike title of "remorseless eating machine" on our tour. lol.

Excitement overload 

Eli doesn't mess around

We travelled from there to Rainbow Beach, the name being fairly misleading, unless a rainbow consists of only the colours brown and black. We spent the afternoon sand boarding on a giant sand dune, not realising how steep it was until we'd actually reached the bottom, or in Chessie's case fallen off the board half way down, flipped, and then rolled down the rest of the way, crash landing at the bottom - lets just say not as elegantly as Eli. There was sand in places sand should definitely never be...

Before the crash!

Mission Beach and Airlie Beach

We arrived in Mission Beach after Cairns and spent two really relaxing days here, being lazy and lounging by the pool and on the beach. While here we visited a rescue wildlife centre where we got to hold baby wallabies and kangaroos, as well as lizards and snakes, though only Eli was brave enough to have the 2 metre long python put round her neck! Later that day we took a walk into the rainforest and went swimming in one of the creeks, though all the while keeping one eye out for crocodiles!

Eli and the snake. Her face says it all.

After Mission Beach we took a 12 hour bus journey to Airlie Beach, which was eventful to say the least. On the way there, the temperature outside was so high (40C to be exact) that the bus overheated and broke down, meaning we had to change buses half way through the journey. As if this wasn't bad enough, the bus driver then told us that no more buses would be running because of the floods down south so we would be stuck in Airlie Beach for a week! Luckily it's a really great place with loads to do, so getting stuck here was actually not so bad at all.

In Airlie, we visited the infamous Whitsunday Islands - a collection of 72 islands off the coast of Queensland. We took a tiny speed boat there which was so much fun but absolutely crazy coming back as the weather had turned and the waves were huge. On the tour we got to go around some of the islands and go snorkelling, hoping to fulfill our ongoing quest to see a turtle but once again we had no such luck. We then travelled to Whitsunday Island itself, home to Whitehaven Beach which is absolutely breathtaking - the photos below really don't do it justice. If you had to envision paradise this is probably the closest you'd get. We got to relax and spend the afternoon there taking in the amazing views and feeding the fish.

 

The unbelievable view of Whitsunday Island from the Hill Inslet lookout

We spent some of the rest of the days at the lagoon, which was one of the strangest things we've ever encountered. Imagine Hyde Park with a giant swimming pool in the middle, with water the temperature of the bath and that's where we were!

As we still had a lot of time to kill we took a day trip to Daydream Island which was a really fun day out. The main event of the day was our very competitive game of mini golf. It was a close call but in the end Chessie won by 1 point, with a solid score of 25 over par. Later we visited the lagoon to see the sharks and on our walk back to the boat we were accompanied by a kangaroo - our first sighting of a wild one, which got us far too over excited! The island also had a huge kids play area, which we definitely did not play on...

Game faces on for crazy golf

The Journey Here and First Week in Cairns

Our journey started on Monday afternoon and after arriving in a very rainy Cairns on Wednesday (having had to get on one extra - very bumpy- flight we weren't aware we had to get) we were shattered after more than 24 hours travelling, so we decided to explore the town and then promptly gave into our jetlag and decided to call it a night at 5.30pm.

First tour of the week was Uncle Brian's Rainforest and Waterfall tour which was absolutely incredible. Anyone coming to Australia cannot leave without having done it. We got to visit some amazing places such as Josephine Falls and Millaa Millaa waterfalls, where we did loads of swimming, sunbathing and rock sliding, as well as visiting the town of Babinta and getting to know more about the aboriginal cultures. And later on we got to go and spot a real life Perry the Platypus! Guiding us was the brilliantly stereotypical Aussie cousin Rohan, who showed the "brighter side of life", as printed on the side of the tour bus.

Next stop in Cairns was the Great Barrier Reef. We went snorkelling at Paradise Reef and Michaelmas Cay, at times close enough to touch the animals (obviously we didn't do this...). The best spots were 2 blue spotted stingray, and purple giant clams that turned turquoise in the light. This also allowed us to get away from the rain in Cairns for a day and take full advantage of the Australian sun!

Less than a week to go!

So it's less than a week to go until we leave now! We're both so excited and cannot wait to get going. We'll try and update the blog weekly, so watch this space. See you in 4 months!