5, 4, 3, 2...1

As you know from our last blog, we spent St.Patricks day in Auckland. It seems the Auklanders celebrate it in a big way with parades, dressing up and lots of drinking. The Volvo Ocean Yacht Race was also in town, so we walked around the marina past many very pricey yachts in time to see the NZ team yacht leave for the next leg of the race. After a pint of Guinness we headed back to our campervan to make our way to our last campsite only to find some scumbag had broken in and stolen pretty much all of our belongings :( everything we'd collected along the way-even our journals worth nothing to them but everything to us! After a loooong phone call to the Police we were advised to leave the van so it could be finger printed. Finding new accommodation was not an easy task with a pop concert on in town and St. Paddy's festivities we had no chance in the city and ended up in a hotel by the airport. The next morning we had to buy a new case for the few things the robbers had left us with!
At the airport we briefly met up with Vicky, a friend from home who moved out here 3 years ago (we'd have met the night before for drinks if circumstances were better!). It was great to catch up and she did manage to redeem some of Aucklands good points!
12 hours and 7 films between us later (we don't sleep well on planes), we arrived in LA. We were a bit disorientated after departing at 2:05pm and travelling back in time to 6:20am on the same day. Being too early to check in and catch up on sleep, we headed to Santa Monica to see about replacing some of our clothes. After a real American breakfast of eggs benedict and coffee on free refill (much needed), we trawled the shops for some clothing bargains.
Up early the next morning, (NOT!) we headed over to Warner Bros studios for a tour. We learned the secrets of the trade and got to see some memorabilia from past films including the 'Tumbler' from the new Batman films and loads of Harry Potter props too. We even got sorted by THE Sorting Hat into Gryffindor House. Yay!
Afterwards we went for a walk around Hollywood to see the infamous sign on the hill and the walk of fame. It also happened to be the world premier of American Reunion, so we got within arms reach of Jim, Nadia and S*#tbrick!!! But the real highlight was seeing Jedward arrive at the premier!?! We celebrated with dinner and drinks at Hooters (Matt's suggestion).
We spent our last day taking it easy with a few beach walks and a coastal drive. First we went to Santa Monica beach and had a walk along the pier and took a look a Muscle Beach where all the Arnie wannabes pump iron. One supposed Beef Cake had sprained his poor lickle army warrmy and called the paramedics. How we chuckled! We then took a drive up the coast to Malibu for another stretch of the legs along the beach before heading to LAX to catch our flight home :-(

Happy St Patrick's Day

Cheers!

From caves to coastline

Next stop was Taupo, on the edge of the largest lake in New Zealand (Lake Taupo). We took it easy as we were still achy from the previous days shenanigans! We milled around the town for a bit before heading to the Huka Honey Hive where we unsuccessfully tried to spot the queen bee in their live hive display! We tasted about 9 different honeys - all very different but equally as yummy, from the light floral lavender, to medicinal Manuka to the god damn super tasty Tawari. We parked up at a free campsite and took a walk to Huka Falls. Quite spectacular falls on the Waikato river which starts from Lake Taupo and ends in Auckland making it the longest river in New Zealand. The flow over the falls is 40 cubic metres a second and as a whole the river produces 15% of New Zealand's power (hmmm interesting I hear you say!!??).
From Taupo we headed West to Waitomo, famous for its expansive cave systems, home to the even more famous glow worms. Here we took a legendary black water rafting trip of three hour adventure, hiking through a jungle, venturing into a dark cave, jumping off waterfalls (in the dark cave) and floating in tubes while glancing up at the glow worms living on the cave ceiling. It was quite amazing, they look like little blue stars in the night sky! After a much needed hot shower and soup we headed north to the Coromandel Peninsular where we'd spend the last few days in NZ.
We started by visiting the famous Paeroa (L&P) and had the customary photo taken with the giant bottle! We spent the following day driving up the west coast visiting various picturesque beaches, some of which featured nude sunbathing - not by us may we add! We finished the day by hiking up Mt Paku (all of 178 metres of it) for stunning panoramic views. The 'short walk' to this extinct volcano took somewhat longer than expected, so the offer from an older unfit American couple (who drove most the way up) back to the town was much appreciated!!! We rewarded ourselves with fresh caught fish and chips- red snapper and Dory-yummy!
Up early the next morning for our 3 hour sea kayaking trip around Hahei Marine Reserve to the famous Cathedral Cove among other beautiful secluded beaches. Luckily the sea was flat as a pancake and we managed to remain vertical at all times. Matt spent the rest of the day unsuccessfully fossiking in Gemstone bay for Sam's amethyst! That evening we thought seeing as we were in the area, we should do the customary touristy thing and dig ourselves a spa on Hot Water Beach. Natural hot springs under the sand provide water up to 75 degrees celsius, and 2 hours before and after low tide you can dig yourself a spa. We learned theres an art to it from the locals. Dig half in a hot area and half in a cold area and you get a good mix.
Next day we ambled down the east coast of the peninsula and saw some huge Kauri trees around 600 years old and 6 metres in diameter but still only a 10th the age of the oldest recorded, before heading up to Aukland for our last day in New Zealand.

Goodbye OZ...hello NZ!

Well what can we say, what a beautiful country! Having arrived at an ungodly hour on a total of zero hours sleep we picked up our camper van, a.k.a Sir Ed (you'll see why from the photo), and made our way sharpish out of Christchurch. Unfortunately due to the earthquakes its a shell of a city now, and a tremor a day keeps Matt and Sam away!
Our 1st stop was Akaroa, a small town about an hour south of Christchurch on the coast, very picturesque. We only spent a day here but did a lovely walk taking us high above the town and harbour. Our 2nd destination was Tekapo, about three hours south west, and on arrival very wet and windy - our dinner of beans on toast was nearly cold beans on bread but a nice Polish couple offered us their kitchen (a much more advanced camper van than our budget one) to cook in! Luckily we woke up to clear blue sky and hot sun. Lake Tekapo is famous for its strikingly turquoise colour (see photo-it has not been photoshopped, this is what it really looks like!). We decided to hike up Mount John where Canterbury University have an observatory. Its apparently one of the best locations to view the night sky in New Zealand but unfortunately our evenings were cloud covered. At the observatory we got to look directly at the sun through a solar filtered telescope which was very cool!! Our evening was spent at the local Alpine Springs - 3 hot pools varying in temperature from 35-39 degrees with a view of the lake.
The following day we made our way to Queenstown, Otago a three hour drive South West where we met up with Mark and Jen who we'd met at the wedding in Melbourne last week! They showed us the town by night with more than a few drinks and some great pizza in a place with a roof that opens to views of the starry sky.
At the time it seemed a great idea to do a bungy the next morning, after all Queenstown is home to the original bungy by AJ Hacket - so jump from a 43m high suspension bridge we did... Another extreme activity ticked off our 'to do' list :) the adrenaline left us shaky and exhausted for the rest of the day (this may have something to do with the night before too!), so we ambled around a small town called Arrowtown, once a gold mining haven for the rest of the afternoon. We camped out a few km's north of Queenstown on the way to Glenorchy where we spent the next morning before heading back to pig out on the famous 'Fergburger' with Jen and Mark - it certainly lived up to expectations and we WILL be having another before we leave the area!

The state of Victoria - 'The place to be'

We arrived in Melbourne just after lunch and spent the rest of the day taking it easy, wandering around the botanical gardens and going for the recommended Tea and scones!
On the second day we took a wildlife tour to Phillip island, home of the Little Penguin (30cm tall when fully grown).
The tour was lead by an amusing Aussie guy (with massive eyebrows) who showed us the sights including a visit to a chocolate factory (see pic!!). The penguins arrive from the sea at nightfall in small groups and make their way up to the beach (very slowly) to their nesting grounds. They're the cutest little fluff balls, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos to prove it as the flashes send them waddling back into the sea faster than they came out :( but we did get within a few cm's of them!
The next day was spent in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsular, a beautiful coastal town with breathtaking views and a great beach with rock pools to bring back childhood memories. Unfortunately we underestimated our journey times so spent about 6 hours on public transport only getting about 2 and a half hours actually in Sorrento! But if nothing else, it was worth it for the gigantic ice cream we consumed when we arrived! The saying 'eyes too big for your belly' sprung to mind!!

The next day was the start of our Great Ocean Road whistle stop tour. Hours of the most amazing coastal driving! We hired the cheapest car possible, which struggled on the hills, but thankfully had air-con!
The first town you come to is Torquay - where the surfing brands Rip Curl and Quicksilver started out, and also home to Bells Beach where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze filmed the showdown scene of Point Break apparently!
Next stop was Anglesey (seeing a British theme here?) with another fab beach! Further down the coast the road opens up to picture perfect postcard views of turquoise sea, bright blue skies, sandy beaches etc etc. After checking in to our hostel in Apollo Bay, we had a race against time to catch the sun setting on the famous sea stacks an hours drive down the coast; 12 Apostles, London Bridge, The Arch and The Grotto, All carved by the wind and waves over millions of years and utterly spectacular. We just made it in time to experience a not so spectacular (cloud obstructed) sunset! Our journey back to the hostel was VERY dark, slow and nearly ended up in tears when a Kangaroo forgot his green cross code by sitting in the middle of the road on a blind bend-Matts lightening reflexes saved all three of us! The following day we headed to the 2nd most southerly point in Oz - Cape Otway, however it wasn't the highlight of the trip, the most exiting thing about this little drive was the Koala lined road-no exaggeration there were 100's being their usual sleepy selves (they sleep up to 20 hours a day) high up in the gum trees, it became a bit of an obsession trying to see how close we could get to them!
Once we'd satisfied ourselves that we had some good photos we set off for Yarra Glen for the big wedding of our friends Gareth and Andrea. The drive was about 4 hours in total but this included a 20 minute stop off to harass an Echidna that Sam spotted at the side of the road for a photo (see pic!). Another wild animal ticked off our list!
The evening was spent catching up, eating and drinking with Gareth an his family and grooms men (bizarre seeing friends on the other side of the world).
We had some time to kill before the wedding the next day so thought it only right to visit some vineyards seeing as we were in wine country. We made it to two, one of which was Domaine Chandon (Moët Chandon). The wedding, also set at a vineyard 'The Stones of the Yarra Valley' was fabulous, the bride looking beautiful and the groom very handsome! The ring exchange brought back memories of ours... hot hands and a struggle to push the grooms ring on, but it got a few giggles! Then drinks were flowing for the rest of the evening and into the early hours, the speeches were great despite nerves, we think the brides topped them all though-very brave Andrea! Understandably the next day was a slow start but eventually we made it over to the brides family home (with a pool!) for our 1st real Aussie BBQ (I know, on our last day can you believe). Unfortunately that pretty much rounds off our time here in Oz! We're very sad to leave but exited by the next stage as we travel a little further round and down the globe to New Zealand ;)

Sydney - Round 2!!

Waking up on the first morning back in Sydney was a sad sight. Rain and dark skies over the city made our prospects of a nice day at the beach look grim. However, as optimistic as ever we push on and take the bus to Coogee, south east of the city. To our surprise and delight the sun had put his hat on had come out to play (inland was dark grey still). We took a 4 mile walk north along the coast past picturesque coves and bays until we hit Bondi Beach in full sun. Within minutes we were on the beach and in the surf, riding some pretty huge waves. After much fun and a snooze on the sand we took the bus back to the city and scrubbed up for a posh dinner at the Sydney Sky Tower, tallest building in the city. The circular deck of the tower rotates giving 360 views of the city, and as our booking was just before dusk, we got to see it all by day and night.
The next morning much to Matts delight (note sarcasm), Sam talked him into the Park Run of Sydney, as some on you will know this is a 5k run in a local park which started in the UK and has made it (just) to Oz, in fact it was just the 4th week of the Sydney run and starts at 8am due to the heat! Ouch! We both completed the run in respectable times (all things considered) and decided to walk the 3 miles back to prevent our (Matt's) muscles ceasing up!! The rest of the day was spent perusing the weekend markets at 'The Rocks' starting out hot and sunny, turning torrential and stormy, then back to some of the best sunshine yet. After lunch we wandered over to the Sydney Observatory for amazing views of Darling Harbour and the Harbour bridge. Incidentally this also seemed to be the place to go for wedding photos, we saw at least 6 different newly weds posing for the cameras-they may have us in the background (lucky them!). As the weather was so good we went back to the Opera House for a second round of photos, this time with blue sky backgrounds. Once back we'd clocked 16 miles of walking/running in one day!
For Our last day in Sydney we headed over for the Northern beach town of Manly, recommended by many friends who have been before. We got more than we bargained for, as it happened to be the Australian Open Surfing competition and a blistering hot day. We picked up tips from the pros (from the beach side), soaked up the sun and had a play about in the waves, but by 4pm a storm hit so we headed back to Sydney - exhausted!
In a nutshell thats Sydney ticked off the list, so now southwards to our final Aussie destination, Melbourne in the state of Victoria for city sights, the Great Ocean Road and of course our 1st wedding of the year :)

Sydney and the not so Blue Mountains...

Sadly our arrival in Sydney has marked the end of our good luck with the weather. Somehow we managed to dodge all the tropical storms up in Queensland and see nothing but blue skies. It's now a chilly 18 degrees in the Blue Mountains (but still 26 in Sydney).
We spent our first 2 days in Sydney exploring the city by foot, clocking up a respectable 20 miles. This of course resulted in 4 very sore feet, but allowed us to visit Darling Harbour and it's many attractions. First we took in the opera house, which from a distance looks spectacular, but becomes a little disappointing when you get up close to its roof which is tiled and surprisingly beige in colour. It wouldn't look out of place on Skem concourse or the London underground!!
We then visited the botanical gardens which are extremely impressive especially with the addition of the friendly cockatoos who landed on Matt for a cheeky feeding of white bread (don't tell, bit naughty of us!!) and the sleeping bats by day. We came back at dusk for the mass exodus of bats as they roused from their nocturnal sleep to squawk lots and feed! We opted out of the Harbour Bridge climb (due to extortionate cost) and settled with walking over it, the views we're still very impressive and even the sun put in an appearance for us!
Now we're in the Blue mountains, previously thought to named after the eucalyptus oils rising from the gum trees giving a blue haze seen from miles around (as far a Sydney - which is 65k east - on a clear day), however its actually due to a more boring scientific reason we won't go in to right now, besides we'd say they were more grey/white in colour at the moment :(
The most recognisable and visited feature of this area is the 3 sisters, three rock pinnacles which have Aboriginal spiritual significance, so we hiked over to have a look (and got temporarily side tracked in the most amazing chocolate shop for a much needed 'do it yourself' hot choc - see photo!!) and made it just in time before the mist descended and remained for the rest if the day but it didn't stop us from doing a bit of bush walking and working up an appetite!!
Today we got some good advise from our hostel about walks suitable for this weather (wet) and so headed for Wentworth Falls. We actually had great weather and were treated to epic views across the gum tree forests and saw some truly stunning waterfalls (4 in total).
Heading back to Sydney now and planning our next 3 days in and around the city.

Koalas, Sky-dives and Scuba dives...

So the last three days have been pretty WILD (to stay in keeping with the rest, naturally!!).
Starting with Australia Zoo, certainly the best zoo experience we've both had-right from getting through the entrance you realise how unique this zoo is (compared with British zoos anyway). There were lizards roaming freely about our feet (a few of them nearly got trodden on), and kookaburras and parrots in the trees. In the 'Crocoseum' they put on a Steve Irwin style show with snakes, birds and the infamous 'Salty' or saltwater crocodile. We hugged a Koala (naturally) fed kangaroos and fell in love with all the other bizarre Australian creatures!
Next stop Brisbane! On the first day we thought we'd throw ourselves out of a perfectly good aeroplane and skydive from 14,000 feet. Fortunately, as you will have deduced from the existence of this blog, we both landed safely! It was the biggest adrenaline rush we've ever had, ears, face, lips flapping in the wind-the photos are hilarious!!
Yesterday we set off early for North Stradbrook Island just south of Brisbane to try and scuba dive with manta rays. The weather was great but unfortunately there was a lot of swell at the dive sites and currents pulling us this way and that, so the mantas didn't come out to play. We did however see lots of sting rays, bull rays, carpet sharks, highly camouflaged and venomous stone fish and an excellent close encounter with a large leopard shark (vegetarian).
After a long day of travel, diving and travel we went for a night time stroll through the botanical gardens and were treated to nocturnal encounters with some very large and noisy bats, puffed up birds sleeping at arms reach in the trees and a very inquisitive possum who seemed to want to be fed.
Today is our last in Brisbane and we'll be taking it easy down at the lagoon (man made beach) with a book and a cold one. Tomorrow we fly to Sydney to explore the city and visit the Blue Mountains.

Fraser island...home to the worlds most venomous spider and snake, breeding ground for tiger sharks. Welcome!!

After a 12 hour overnight bus from Airlie to Hervey bay and minimal sleep we were picked up by a butch Aussie with a love of fishing driving a fushia pink van! This is what we'd be driving for the next 3 days on our Fraser island 4x4 tour! With barely any time to even fill our water bottles we were briefed, met the other people (1 guy and 11 girls!!) we'd be camping with for the next three days, and of course our Michael Palin lookalike guide 'Syd'. As half the group couldn't drive manual and others had no driving licence we were fortunate enough to do most of the driving-Yay!! Matt was told at the end of the trip, much to his satisfaction, that he could have a job any time as his driving was better than some of the other guides!
The group food shop lead to some disagreements but once we'd stocked up on the Goon it was all calm again. Fraser island is the worlds largest sand island home to the purest breed of Dingo along with the funnel web spider, the deadly Taipan snake and extremely irritating March flies (immune to repellant but pretty slow, so by the end of the three days we'd swatted and killed in excess of 100 each). Our 4x4 accommodated both of us and 4 Canadian girls- Ali, Erin, Danielle and Sam. This led to a comical confusion of Sams' (also known as Sam Squared) where Matt was suntan lotioned by the wrong Sam! Ours was by far the best jeep in comparison to the dull silence of the German/Belgian/Dutch jeep driven by our guide. :-)
So during this trip we covered just short if 300 miles including the 75 mile beach (yes it really is that long) and many off-road tracks inland leading
to the most beautiful lake and our favourite place so far, Lake Mckenzie (photo), the pictures just don't do it justice. We saw a few Dingos, one of which took a bath with us in the fresh water Eli Creek. We also saw a Goanna lizard (3 foot long) skulking around after our lunch leftovers, and at night some of the huuuuugest insects and arachnids you have ever seen! Both nights we camped in a quiet little camp site surrounded by Dingo proof fencing. One night we braved it though the creepy crawly infested jungle with head torches to the beach to look at the upside down constellations. After 3 very busy action packed days (and a total of 5 nights without a proper bed) we headed back to the main land for some much needed rest. However we were up early again for the Greyhound to Mooloolaba.

Dolphins, turtles and ospreys.....oh and the Whitsunday Islands

Australia really put on a show for 'Australia Day' with sightings of wild dolphins, up close and personal swim-alongs with a green turtle and an acrobatics display from not one but two ospreys, also up close and personal. We've been out on a 2 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands on a maxi racing yacht. Sadly however there wasn't so much as an asthmatic wheeze to blow us along, so we had to resort to motor power. The first day consisted of captains briefings, a spot of snorkelling and an evening under the edges of the galaxy. Countless stars! The next morning we were up early to watch the sun rise. Some of the livelier passengers missed it however after a night on the 'goon' (Aussie slang for wine in a bag). After brekkie we made for Whitsunday island and more specifically the world famous Whitehaven beach-the only pure silica sand beach in the world. As the beach is protected you cant drop anchor on the beach side of the island, so we were dropped off on the opposite side of the island and trekked through the mosquito and arachnid infested jungle to get there (Matt was eaten alive!). It was spectacular to say the least, mostly because of the fine white sand and turquoise water, but partly because if the resident sting rays that feed just off the beach.

Later on a trip over to the reef bought an impressive sighting of dolphins plodding along in the near distance. Once on the reef we had another opportunity to swim with an inquisitive turtle. After snorkelling we were treated to a feeding display from 2 ospreys dive bombing just off the side of the boat (photos to follow). Right now we're back on dry land awaiting another coach to take us to Fraser Island where we'll be 4x4ing along the beaches.

Moving South

The second half of the dive trip was even better than the first with great weather (a bit of sunburn) and more great aquatic creature encounters including an early morning swim alongside a green turtle eating a jellyfish breakfast. Yum! We took a late Greyhound bus down the coast after the dive trip to Mission Beach. We were picked up by the super friendly Bernie, a 70 something local fella who gave us the standard Aussie chat on the way to the hostel. After a much needed 11 hour sleep we spent the day relaxing, walking along the tropical beach line. On the lookout for Cassowary's (large native bird about the size of a small emu) Sam was attacked by a mean bush covered in barbs and now has the wound to prove it. We sadly didn't see any Cassowary's but did see a Kookaburra and some wierd looking spidery crab looking things. Decided to give skydiving a miss here and do it in Brisbane, so watch this space. 

Out on the GBR

That's the Great Barrier Reef incase you were wondering! We've been living on a boat for the last day and a half and have 5 dives under our belt including a night dive! The waters a warm 28 degrees and the reefs are alive-we've had plenty of underwater creature encounters including reef sharks, turtles (one inquisitive
fella on the night dive who swam straight up to Sams torch!) Also the usual nemos, dories, angelfish and a couple of triggers! We're being extremely well looked after with plenty of food and drink and a dive brief before each dive to make sure we don't get lost-we have become quite expert at compass reading under water!! There's a great group of people on board from all corners of the earth, right now were just upping anchor and on our way to the next reef for a further 6 dives before returning to try land tomorrow afternoon!

We've arrived :)

At long last were here, after 25hrs and 45 minutes on 4 planes plus the waiting in between we are well and truly cream crackers and along the way we lost Tuesday! But that's the worst of it done an dusted-now for the fun (after some well deserved sleep). So far we've checked-in and ventured into Cairns along the beach front-it seems that despite the ridiculous heat and humidity, these locals love their running/power walking and are barely breaking a sweat-were struggling to walk!! Just back from a GBK type place in time to escape a minor tropical thunderstorm (found out its 'wet' season-trust us!). The hostel is fun and lively and the staff are very helpful and keen to get us organised onto some trips in the next few days. So think we'll head to the bar and get some stuff organised before turning in and hopefully waking fresh and full of 'adventure beans'!!

The Adventure Begins...

Whoop whoop! We're finally leaving on a jet plane. The bags are packed and in a couple of hours we'll be in the sky on our long long long flight to Australia. It's a 4 leg journey - Manchester to Heathrow, Heathrow to Singapore - Singapore to Sydney, and finally Sydney to Cairns. By this time it'll be the 18th and we'll be well and truly jet-lagged but ready to embark on our adventures!
See you all at the other end...watch this space!x