After 16 months away from the UK, it was time to return. Due to low pay rates in New Zealand, it made sense to come back to a live in the UK. I have enjoyed my travels abroad immensely. The past 16 months seem like the biggest blur and longest dream its difficult to believe it has all happened. Looking back, there is not a moment I would change and not a memory I will forget. To anyone who may be thinking of travelling to Australia and New Zealand, take my advice, if you can do it, GO!
I have left the little one in New Zealand and aim to meet up with her again in October after I have been to camp, and she has finished her ski season in New Zealand. We will meet again in Asia for a 6 week adventure before returning to the UK permanently. Hard to believe I know, but this is the plan.
2011 will be the year that the next experience in my life will begin. Choosing a career, finding a job, finding a house and all those things that you should do in your 20's!
This here begins a suspension of my blog until I embark on my Asian adventure in October. As soon as I have a date of departure I will update my blog, then check back after I have left to see what I am up to.
The KIWI Experience, similar to the OZ Experience I travelled with in January 2009 but better. New Zealand is a lot smaller and so this company can operate more successfully. It's basically a bus pass taking you around the whole country. You book segments of your journey as you need. On the bus, the driver provides information on the local areas and organises activities and accommodation so you don't have to worry about sorting all that out.
We met lots of great people on our trip, even the welsh! Most of the north island we were with different people, but on the west coast of the south island we had the same bus full and got to know some people quite well. The rest of this blog gives a bit more in depth information on the highlights of the trip.
Whangarei and Pahia
On February 12th, I left Flora in Auckland and headed north to visit Rachel (Christian Ed Director, camp 2006) and her husband. I had not seen Rachel in over 3 years but it was great to catch up and see her hometown. We visited a few beaches and while I was in Whangarei I stayed with Dan, a friend from Auckland in his beach house. I then headed up to Pahia where the Waitangi treaty was signed, and Russell, the first capital of New Zealand.
Rotorua, Waitomo, Taupo and Wellington
Before heading south down the north island we spent one last night in Auckland and what a night to remember! It went so well we slept in and missed our bus out of Auckland and ended up staying in the city for another night.
We made a trip to Cathedral cove, a picturesque beach before arriving at Rotorua. Rotorua is the cultural capital of New Zealand. We took advantage of this by visiting a Maori Cultural evening. We saw how the Maoris used to live and enjoyed a show before digging into a buffet dinner. YUM! Our time in Rotorua was also spent white water rafting. Rotorua is home to the worlds highest commercially rafted waterfall at 7 metres. That was great fun, check out the photos!
Our next stop was Waitomo where we went tubing in the underground caves. In the very depths we switched off all torches and looked up to see hundreds of glow worms. Cool stuff!
Then onto Taupo where we intended on doing the Tongariro crossing (one of the top 10 1 day walks in the world) but weather denied us this opportunity! Our aim was to try it again on the way back up to Auckland at the end of our trip, but weather caused it to cancel once again.
Wellington was our next stop where we enjoyed our last taste of city life before heading to the south island. Wellington situated on a harbour is just a standard city housing the Te Papa museum which needs approximately 2 1/2 days to complete and a few beaches. We met up with a few people we had met at the beginning of our kiwi trip for a round of pub golf. It was an excellent evening. =)
West Coast of South Island
It took a four hour ferry trip from Wellington to Picton to get us to the south island. The west coast of the south island is absolutely amazing. The scenery is out of this world and the further south we went, the better it got. We started in Nelson visiting the centre of New Zealand before heading to Nelson lakes, Westport, and a stop at the Poo Pub. This is home to New Zealand's oldest landlord at 86. This is dress up night for the kiwi experience. This old guy closes his pub every evening for kiwi goers and hosts a dress up party. Our theme was hollywood red carpet. Flora and I went as Mickey and Minnie Mouse along side the likes of Titanic, Ghostbusters and the fresh prince of Bel Air.
Our next stop was Franz Josef. We took a one day hike onto the Franz Josef glacier which could possibly be one of the most amazing things I have ever done. The weather was beautiful for the day, no rain which is uncommon and breathtaking views.
Queenstown
The adrenaline capital of New Zealand if not the world. Home of the bungy jump. As I already bungeed in Las Vegas in 2004 and vowed never to do it again, a different adventure was required. This came in the form of a canyon swing. Swings in the park are good fun but how about 109 metres high over a canyon, 90 metre free-fall with speeds of up to 150kph. Sounds fun! This was awesome. I did it going backwards and loved it so much I did it again, from a handstand! I have the act on DVD... just ask to see it. The adrenaline was pumping hard and that evening we embarked on the Queenstown pub crawl. Another great night.
We took a day trip to Milford Sound, a national park and world heritage site. Surrounded by the Southern Alps, this trip was breathtakingly stunning. There are links to photos below but they do not do it the justice if deserves. A lot like New Zealand. I would recommend New Zealand to anyone, if you can get there, its worth it and can only be experienced properly first hand.
Christchurch and back to Auckland
As our time in Queenstown ended, a 7 hour bus trip landed us in Christchurch where we met up with Chris and Gemma, our friends from Melbourne. It was great to catch up after 10 months since we worked and lived in Melbourne. After visiting the rest of the south island, the south alps and all its glory, a city didn't really match up. Our time in Christchurch was short but I wasn't worried about that.
We then flew to Wellington and quickly made our way back up the north island to Auckland.
I have spent the majority of January and the beginning of February working in a turkish restaurant called Mecca. It was a small cafe styled restaurant where I worked as a runner. Thankfully Flora and I both found jobs within 3 days of arriving in New Zealand! The people I worked with were great but the job sucked! Flora and I decided that Auckland was not the place for a backpacker to work. We will move onto Queenstown to look for work there, the next blog entry will be very exciting!
Working for accommodation
Just like in Sydney last February and March, we managed to get ourselves set up in the Base hostel in Auckland making beds for 4 hours a day 5 days a week in exchange for a free bed. We lived in a four bed dorm with Ella and Steph which changed into just Steph, Steph and Mike, just Mike, and Jamie and Mike (can you figure that one out...!). It was a great month, working 9-1 then sleeping most afternoons, then working in the evening at Mecca then socialising with work and hostel mates before heading to bed, sometimes not until 6am. We worked with a team of permanent housekeepers who were great fun. Most mornings us as backpackers were barely awake after only having a couple of hours sleep, but that just made it more fun!
Trips
Flora's cousin Ben took us out on his boat on the Auckland Harbour our first weekend here where we did some fishing. My first cast caught an awesome snapper, unfortunately too small to keep. Flora and I both had the opportunity to drive the boat which was good fun!
Big Day Out - Music festival. This was a great day, the weather was great and we saw Kasabian, Dizziee Rascal, Calvin Harris, Dead Prez, Muse and Groove Armada. It went on from 11am to 11.30pm and we were definitely knackered by the end of the day!
Phia Beach, Nicole (camp 2005&6) drove Steph and I out to this amazing beach for an afternoon. The World Junior Surf Championships were being held while we were there. Unfortunately, the good surf was quite far from the beach so we couldn't really see what was going on.
Just before leaving Auckland, we visited Auckland Museum, a museum with great exhibits, but the layout baffled both of us. There was no chronological order to the exhibits. It was very interesting however, and we even experienced a volcano explosion, if there ever was one in Auckland harbour.
Nights out
As most of our time during the day was spent on sleeping or working at the hostel or our other job, nights out were almost every night during January. The hostel was on top of a bar called Globe which is where most people went, and where Flora and I would end up after wherever we went to with work people after work. I spent most of my time in Bubble Champagne Lounge (Mecca's bar) and foxes, the bar next door where we had discount! Flora spent her time in the Belgian Beer Cafe where she worked. We would always end up bumping into each other at Globe on our way back to the hostel around 3am. Some great nights and great memories from this month of different living compared to the way of life we experienced in Australia.
Future Plans
We have now left Auckland and are traveling around New Zealand with the Kiwi experience on route to Queenstown. Activities that we will be participating in on the way include white water rafting, black water rafting, one of the best one day hikes in the world, glacier walking and so much more. Check out next month for how we get on!
So much to talk about over the past 2 months that I could not attach photos to this post. There are photo albums, as normal at the end of this post that pretty much correspond to each section of this post. Enjoy the final part of my Australian travels! I very much did!
Northern Territory - Darwin to Alice Springs
As we moved on from our Western experience, we came with a few folk from the west. As time passed by in Darwin, each moved on to what was best for each. We had farewell nights out with many of our western friends.
This three day trip sent us down the Stuart Highway, runs between Darwin and Adelaide. It's basically a long straight road with nothing very interesting in between!! We stopped for one night in Katherine where our campsite featured at the centre of an almighty thunderstorm. When you see lightning, usually you count the seconds before you hear the thunder... this storm, they came at the same time, and the sound was LOUD! Pretty scary, but very awesome!
We also stopped at Daly Waters Pub, oldest pub in the Northern Territory. It has lots of memorabilia as you will see in the photos. It was a good place to stop for lunch. Another stop was at the devils marbles. Strange rock formations where marbles balance on each other. INSANE! There are some great photos of our trip here.
We spent this part of the trip with 2 girls, Laura and Bob, from Portsmouth of all places. They are only travelling around the globe for a short period, but were our best company on this part of the tour!
Northern Territory - Uluru
Uluru, just amazing. On our first day of this 3 day your, we visited Kata Tjuta. This is where we experienced temperatures of 70 degrees centigrade during our walk. Our thermometer at 6pm read a temperature of 51.1degrees centigrade. That was impressive but hard work.
That evening we enjoyed champagne, chips and dips while the sun set over Uluru, before heading back to our campsite, cooking in the dark, running into Laura and Bob, sleeping and getting up before sunrise to head back to Uluru and watch the sun rise over it. That was again an impressive site and then walked around the base.
The next day we visited Kings Canyon before heading back to Alice Springs, it's a proper canyon unlike the Grand Canyon which is in fact a gorge. However, it seems slightly less impressive than the Grand Canyon but almost identical on a smaller scale.
East Coast - Cairns
Our first night in Cairns made for a reunion with Martin, Adrian, Laura and Bob, our friends from the west and the northern end. This would be the people that we either leap frogged or travelled with down the coast. This turned out to be a great night dancing on tables, as you do in the Watershed!
While we were in Cairns, we took a trip up to Cape Tribulation, the oldest rainforest and a day trip out on the Great Barrier Reef where Flora had a go and found a passion for scuba diving. I was happy with just snorkeling on the surface, there's plenty to see from where you can still breathe real air.
We also met up with Penny, Dan's fiancée, who may have featured in previous posts. Dan is at home for Christmas, but we enjoyed a few cocktails in non-backpacker bars thanks to Penny.
Unfortunately, Cairns was not the best place for me. Within the space of 3 days, I managed to loose not only my phone, but my camera as well! So if anybody reading this has not heard from me in a while, it’s because I no longer have your number. It's probably best you send me an email, or find what number I'm currently using (I am writing this from New Zealand and my Australian number has been disconnected!).
East Coast - Airlie Beach and Whitsundays
Airlie Beach, some of you may remember this town from previous posts. I was here in January during a cyclone. My Whitsundays trip was cancelled and I then fast tracked straight to Sydney. This time the weather was beautiful and we managed to sail the Whitsunday Islands on the Avatar, a trimaran. Our adventure was awesome and we were joined by Martin and Adrian, our Irish accomplices!
Our boat had two massive trampolines, unfortunately not allowed to jump on them! They providing a lot of room for all 26 passengers to spread out and sun bathe! We visited Whitehaven beach, one of the top ten beaches of the world! Its sand was so silky and so pure. Just look at the photos and see how amazing this trip was! The only strange part was that as we had travelled the west coast first and spent all our time with the same group of people, no one cared how anyone looked. Most backpackers who come to Australia for a short time only do the east coast. They glam themselves up every night and this was evident in Airlie beach. Thankfully, thanks to the training of the west, and the fact we just couldn’t be bothered, we made no effort and just took each day as it came… no matter how we looked, and still enjoyed it immensely!
East Coast - Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island
Rainbow beach, known for its beach featuring many different colours of sand. Not the colours of the rainbow, but many different shades! This was the gateway to Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island.
We hired a 4by4 through our hostel along with 64 other people. Our team, team F, Team Frankie was determined to be the best team departing that day. We had the best members, the best vehicle and definitely the best spirit! While on the island we visited Lake McKenzie where upon entering and exiting the lake, you would feel 10 years younger from the fresh water swamped in aloe vera. It’s true, our skin was perfect and you felt you had the body of a ten year old! We also visited Eli creek, Indian’s Head, a lookout, and Lake Wabby where catfish ate the dead skin off your body!
The trip was a huge success, our team was the first in and out of Lake McKenzie, first to our campsite day 1 and day 2, first back on the mainland and it rained the first night we were back at Rainbow Beach. A day earlier and we would have been soaked camping out on the island!
East Coast - Brisbane
Brisbane was the last city we would see in Australia, one that never seemed to stand out to me. We cycled round the city on our first visit and walked around parts of it. I was filled with confirmation that I had spent the working part of my time in Australia in two of its best cities, Sydney and Melbourne. There was a lot to see, and we had fun. Said goodbye to Martin and Adrian and even bumped into some people who we travelled Fraser Island with, but there was nothing special about Brisbane.
On our return to Brisbane after New Year and before we departed for Auckland, we were joined by Kim and Chris at a quiz in our hostel. We ended up with winning the quiz, a $50 bar tab and a free trip to Fraser Island which we had to pass on to Kim and Chris. We had already completed that adventure and were leaving for New Zealand the next day, what were we supposed to do?
Gold Coast - Christmas and New Year
Another Christmas at the Stumers was even better than 2008. We were joined this year by Ruth and Flora and spent the season in a house Martha was house sitting, complete with pool!
At New Year we were joined by Kim and Chris, the newly weds, for a great evening of celebration and fun times in the pool!
Over our time in the Gold Coast, we visited Boonah, where I spent Boxing Day 2008. A short trip in the New Year to Byron Bay was a success, providing swimming with dolphins, excellent surf conditions (using nothing but our bodies, that's right, no boards!) and last minute accommodation where we all crampt into a hotel room similar to the way we find accommodation in New York every summer!
The end of Australia
The past 13 months have been full of adventure and I have seen so much. My friendships with those already living in Australia whom I have met at Camp have been strengthened and I know that this isn't a final goodbye, even though they won't be as contactable.
THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR IN AUSTRALIA.... HERE'S TO THE FUTURE!!
Future Plans
As of 11/1/10, my plans are as follows:
I am currently in Auckland working in a restaurant. I intend on staying here until at least March, April time, when I will start travelling around New Zealand. Travel around the whole of New Zealand will be completed by June in time for me to get back to the USA and another season at Camp Tecumseh. In September I will make my way back to England and complete my travels around the globe and begin my long long search of starting my career!
