Well boy have I had a VERY interesting week and a bit since my last update, but I'll get onto that a little later.
So the Speights Brewery Tour, well it was very interesting and all together quite impressive looking over all of the old brewing equipment. Speights claim to be one of the only Breweries in the southern hemisphere using the gravity fed brewing system. It basically means that they lug all of the raw material used to make beer up to the seventh floor, put it in and hey presto on the ground floor you get beer. Our guide was a right character which helps, the tour was a little rushed though as I didn't have the chance to read all of the info plaques. The best bit of all though was the free beer at the end; we were taken into the tasting room and let loose on the six beers that they produce. I must now state that for quality control I felt obliged to 'test' all six of the beers numerous times [of note we unfortunately were not given pint glasses, only measly tasting vessels].
After the tour I met up with Steve and we got back onto the road but before we left the city we thought that it would be worthwhile seeing a couple more of Dunedin's must do sights. These included Baldwin St, the worlds steepest at an incline of 1 to 2.36 if I am correct and of course I just had to drive up it. It was soo steep that I had to put the car into low range 4WD and drive up in 2nd gear! After this we just spent the next couple of hours walking around Dunedin's and En Zeds first Botanical gardens. It was the height of the Rhododendron season which made for some rather spectacular walks. There was also a rather impressive Aviary in the centre of the park, the parrots were all out and talking! At this point we were both absolutely starving and as there was a cheap Dominoes Pizza nearby we each bought a pizza sat on the lawns in the dimming afternoon sun enjoying some food and a spot of rugga!
At this point it was getting late in the afternoon and we thought that it'd be about time that we made our way out to the Otago Peninsula for the night. The Peninsula is known for its bird and sea life which we wanted to see before we continued on. We ended up sleeping in the front seats of our car right at the end of a road to a scenic reserve. Awaking early we made our way straight down to Sandfly Bay to see some Sea Lions and boy were we lucky as there were loads of them on the beach lounging in the sun! As they were sleeping you could get up to them pretty close, 10 metre's or so I'd say! There is also a chance to see some penguins and albatross out on the peninsula but we were unlucky on both of those fronts.
The afternoon was spent cruising inland towards Waipouri Falls along a beautiful gravel road right up a beech forested valley. We were heading this way as we wanted to go on the historic Clutha Punt but unfortunately it was close due to repairs. The night was spent in a picnic site again in the back of the car only this time i got the mattress out. It was a great place to sit by the river in the sun with a line in the water hoping to catch something, which of course we didn't whilst reading my book.
The next day, the dreaded next day Steve took over the driving to give me a chance to see some of the scenery. It was brilliant I was enjoying the views across the forests and farmlands of central Otago until, WHABAM we crashed on the PENULTIMATE corner before we made tarmac! It was a sweeping flat right hander, I still remember it clearly in slow motion, as we rounded the corner the back near side hit a deep patch of gravel. The rear end came out, jab of the breaks, a bit of correction we slid to the other side snapped back to the other and rammed into a ditch! We were so close to not crashing but hey I suppose that is the case with a lot of crashes these days. Steve and I were both okay, I was suffering from a bit of whiplash, Steve did not feel any till the next day, but the car was buggered.
To our sheer luck the nicest guy came round the corner literally just after it happened, Dave a local sheep farmer. Fortunate for us he was in his 4X4 ute had a set of tow ropes and was able to pull us out of the ditch. He said that the local copper was a bit of a prat, to put it nicely, and that he did not want the guy coming out and trying to screw us over for speeding or some other misdemeanor! As such he said it would be fine for us to store our car until we figured out what to do with it in his garage, just five minutes down the road. After a cup of super sweet coffee and a long chat about our options he rather kindly gave us a lift into town, showed us around and dropped us off at the local camp site.
Cutting a long story short we were stuck in Lawrence, a small town in central Otago for a couple of days. In the end we decided that we needed to make our way back to Dunedin to buy another car. In the proceeding two days we managed to find a few hopefuls on the internet, sort out a quote from a local wreckers and speak to the local mechanics. Steve and I hitched a lift back into Dunedin with three of New Zealand's craziest girls that we have met so far! On our first day in Dunedin we managed to look at two cars and buy one all in the space of a few hours! Seen as we had a car we thought it would be good to go and view the Otago Museum as we didn't get a chance to last time. After a couple of days in Dunedin we again headed back to Lawrence to try and rid ourselves of the other car as it was a burden to us and the farmer. As it turns out the local wrecker offered us a far better price for the car than we would have been able to get in Dunedin. Eager to get back on the road we went out to Dave's house armed with a crate of beer and a huge thanks said our good buys and continued our journey south.
Driving a little slower and with more due care and attention we made our way towards Balclutha, paralleling the Clutha river before hitting the coast once more and turning south for the Catlins. On the way to the camp site we stopped off at Jacks Blowhole a huge 55m deep, 147m long, and 44m wide open cavern 200m inland from the sea. It was just amazing, when the waves come in they rush along a tunnel inland and shoot out into this cavern (http://farm1.static.flickr.com/104/291726981_909c30efd0.jpg?v=0). Getting dark we made our way to the camp site, set up and fell asleep pretty early as we had a big walk the next day.
Setting off early Steve and I started on a 4 1/2 hour/ 14 km walk through the most amazing temperate rainforest. It was just as I imagined the woodlands of NZ to be like, moss covered trees and boulders, fir plants carpeting the floor, lush river valleys, cable bridges across streams, just beautiful. After returning from a rewarding but knackering walk we made our way to the next camp site for the night stopping off at the Purakanui falls, before setting camp beside the sea. The next day we wanted to make it to Invercargill so another early start this time stopping off for the obligatory photos at Slope Point, NZ mainlands most souther point and likely to be the most southerly point I am ever going to frequent in my lifetime! We also visited the 200 Million yr old fossilised forest and MacLenan Falls before entering Invercargill.
Unfortunately for us all of the guest houses were fully booked which mean that steve and I spent the night in the front seats of our cars out towards Bluff. Not wanting to be caught we rose early had a walk round Bluff before checking into our hostel where I have spent the afternoon relaxing reading my book writing this and walking around the museum.
Boy that was a long one, my fingers and back are starting to ache now so I'm off to cook toad in the Hole.
Adios till next time. Jared
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
ALE ALE ALE!
Hey again this time from Dunedin.
Well we finally got the car sorted at a cost of 100 bucks each... ouch! Hey at least it is sorted now, hopefully fingers crossed we'll have no more problems with the car.
Well we ended up having to stay in ChCh for another two days to wait for the car to be sorted and to get the post so we could pick up our insurance doc's for the car. Yeah it was nice but this was the third time that we have seen the darn place now that it got a little boring.
When we did finally make it back on the road we headed south/ west-ish straight away. There is a Lord of the Rings site about 2 hours outside of ChCh that I wanted to see + there was Mt Sommers that I wanted to climb. The LOR site was absolutely amazing, It was so strange right out of the movie (Eldoras), as if we were on set. The road there was also quite amazing, gravel track in the middle of nowhere! Steve was driving so I could get a look at the views. As we were going along at around 60 K's a ford just appeared out of nothing and I tell ya hitting a dry ford at 60 K's is NOT good for the car. Think all four wheels off the ground and SMASH! luckily we have a plate under the car to protect the engine but we did manage to rip the incense plate cover off and put some huge dents in the exhaust down pipes!
The first night was spent on the shores of Lake Clearwater with the most amazing views across a huge valley. As we were so far from any street lighting the stars were pretty spectacular. As we wanted to climb Mt Sommers the next morning we rose fairly early to give us enough time to tackle the climb. Unfortunately once we got there we soon realized that the climb was a little out of our league as it took 2 days to make it too the top! Instead we did a smaller walk up to a tramping hut through some old coal mines which took us around 4 hours and of course it rained. We were absolutely soaked by the time we made it back to the car! Miserable, but fun none the less.
Next stop was Mt Cook/ Aoraki via the best fish and chips that I have had in NZ. Kerry one of the ladies that we worked with told us about this Fish and Chip joint in Geraldine that was on the way to Mt Cook. As she had told us about it we thought it'd be a shame not to stop and sample some good old fish and chips.
On the way to Mt Cook we stopped off at Lake Pukaiki, a large glacial lake formed during the last ice age in NZ. Due to glacial sediment (rock flour) in the water the lake has a brilliant blue/ turquoise colour as the sun light hits it. Its indescribable, very similar if not the same colour as Lake Banff in Canada. Mt Cook itself was rather disappointing as we couldn't actually see the thing! The whole two days that we were there all of the surrounding mountains were completely shrouded in cloud. We did do some of the smaller walks in the vicinity up to the Tasman glacier and the Hooker glacer, but again you couldn't actually see that much. bummer. The night that we did spend there though was bloody freezing, I have never been so cold on the whole of this trip, I didn't sleep much as I was that cold!
Next stop, Pioneer Park, just outside of Fairley. Really nice place in the middle of a forest. We only stayed the one night as we wanted to get on the way to Lake Ohau another 100 k's or so down the road. Next stop was Temple Basin just west of Lake Ohau, we liked it so much in this place that we ended up staying 2 and a bit days here. The campsite was free and it had a shelter with a log fire and a supply of dry fire wood. The first night there we met a young Israeli couple and spent the whoel night talking to them. The next day Steve and I thought it would be a good idea to climb the peak next to the campsite. It was an awesome climb through old beech forest and fields of heather and gorse. The climb was pretty tough as there was no defined path, up through rocky gully's using all four limbs in the howling wind, fun none the less. The view from the top was just amazing across the wide valley floor surrounded by snow peaked tops! The way down though was even better as we stumbled across a huge scree field which mean that we could effectively run down the mountain! The second night was also spent up talking to the Israelis and as they told us that they're walk was so good, Steve and I decided that it would be a shame not to do it ourselves the next day. Imagine walking through an ancient beech forest in a a steep sided valley with snow peaked tops either side. Amazing. Rather disturbingly though there was a sign at the start of the track warning of avalanche paths that crossed the track!
The next day we thought it about time that we made our way to Dunedin for some much needed sleep in a bed as it had been six days of camping. We didnm't make it all the way unfortunately as we stopped off on the way in Omaru on the east coast to see some of the best Victorian buildings in NZ. As such we stayed a night in a small campsite just 50 or so K's north of Dunedin. The next day was spent pretty much on the road to Dunedin only to stop off at the Moeraki Boulders (Huge spherical boulders just placed on the beach, weird).
Dunedin itself is a really nice city, It's said to be the Scottish city of NZ and I can see why. They roll their R's here and there is even a statue of Robert Burns! Steve and I did find a pub though that sold ALES, OH MY GOD an ALE! London Pride, ESB, Fullers Porter, Old Speckled Hen, Green King IPA and Abbot Ale. It was horrifically expensive though but well worth it. The beer was way way to cold but they put them in the microwave for us to heat them to the normal 'English' standard, something they said they did for the locals. The things we'll do for a pint!
Well tomorrow is going to be spent seeing the sites that Dunedin has to offer along with the obligatory Speights Ale Tour!
Adios till next time.
Jared
Well we finally got the car sorted at a cost of 100 bucks each... ouch! Hey at least it is sorted now, hopefully fingers crossed we'll have no more problems with the car.
Well we ended up having to stay in ChCh for another two days to wait for the car to be sorted and to get the post so we could pick up our insurance doc's for the car. Yeah it was nice but this was the third time that we have seen the darn place now that it got a little boring.
When we did finally make it back on the road we headed south/ west-ish straight away. There is a Lord of the Rings site about 2 hours outside of ChCh that I wanted to see + there was Mt Sommers that I wanted to climb. The LOR site was absolutely amazing, It was so strange right out of the movie (Eldoras), as if we were on set. The road there was also quite amazing, gravel track in the middle of nowhere! Steve was driving so I could get a look at the views. As we were going along at around 60 K's a ford just appeared out of nothing and I tell ya hitting a dry ford at 60 K's is NOT good for the car. Think all four wheels off the ground and SMASH! luckily we have a plate under the car to protect the engine but we did manage to rip the incense plate cover off and put some huge dents in the exhaust down pipes!
The first night was spent on the shores of Lake Clearwater with the most amazing views across a huge valley. As we were so far from any street lighting the stars were pretty spectacular. As we wanted to climb Mt Sommers the next morning we rose fairly early to give us enough time to tackle the climb. Unfortunately once we got there we soon realized that the climb was a little out of our league as it took 2 days to make it too the top! Instead we did a smaller walk up to a tramping hut through some old coal mines which took us around 4 hours and of course it rained. We were absolutely soaked by the time we made it back to the car! Miserable, but fun none the less.
Next stop was Mt Cook/ Aoraki via the best fish and chips that I have had in NZ. Kerry one of the ladies that we worked with told us about this Fish and Chip joint in Geraldine that was on the way to Mt Cook. As she had told us about it we thought it'd be a shame not to stop and sample some good old fish and chips.
On the way to Mt Cook we stopped off at Lake Pukaiki, a large glacial lake formed during the last ice age in NZ. Due to glacial sediment (rock flour) in the water the lake has a brilliant blue/ turquoise colour as the sun light hits it. Its indescribable, very similar if not the same colour as Lake Banff in Canada. Mt Cook itself was rather disappointing as we couldn't actually see the thing! The whole two days that we were there all of the surrounding mountains were completely shrouded in cloud. We did do some of the smaller walks in the vicinity up to the Tasman glacier and the Hooker glacer, but again you couldn't actually see that much. bummer. The night that we did spend there though was bloody freezing, I have never been so cold on the whole of this trip, I didn't sleep much as I was that cold!
Next stop, Pioneer Park, just outside of Fairley. Really nice place in the middle of a forest. We only stayed the one night as we wanted to get on the way to Lake Ohau another 100 k's or so down the road. Next stop was Temple Basin just west of Lake Ohau, we liked it so much in this place that we ended up staying 2 and a bit days here. The campsite was free and it had a shelter with a log fire and a supply of dry fire wood. The first night there we met a young Israeli couple and spent the whoel night talking to them. The next day Steve and I thought it would be a good idea to climb the peak next to the campsite. It was an awesome climb through old beech forest and fields of heather and gorse. The climb was pretty tough as there was no defined path, up through rocky gully's using all four limbs in the howling wind, fun none the less. The view from the top was just amazing across the wide valley floor surrounded by snow peaked tops! The way down though was even better as we stumbled across a huge scree field which mean that we could effectively run down the mountain! The second night was also spent up talking to the Israelis and as they told us that they're walk was so good, Steve and I decided that it would be a shame not to do it ourselves the next day. Imagine walking through an ancient beech forest in a a steep sided valley with snow peaked tops either side. Amazing. Rather disturbingly though there was a sign at the start of the track warning of avalanche paths that crossed the track!
The next day we thought it about time that we made our way to Dunedin for some much needed sleep in a bed as it had been six days of camping. We didnm't make it all the way unfortunately as we stopped off on the way in Omaru on the east coast to see some of the best Victorian buildings in NZ. As such we stayed a night in a small campsite just 50 or so K's north of Dunedin. The next day was spent pretty much on the road to Dunedin only to stop off at the Moeraki Boulders (Huge spherical boulders just placed on the beach, weird).
Dunedin itself is a really nice city, It's said to be the Scottish city of NZ and I can see why. They roll their R's here and there is even a statue of Robert Burns! Steve and I did find a pub though that sold ALES, OH MY GOD an ALE! London Pride, ESB, Fullers Porter, Old Speckled Hen, Green King IPA and Abbot Ale. It was horrifically expensive though but well worth it. The beer was way way to cold but they put them in the microwave for us to heat them to the normal 'English' standard, something they said they did for the locals. The things we'll do for a pint!
Well tomorrow is going to be spent seeing the sites that Dunedin has to offer along with the obligatory Speights Ale Tour!
Adios till next time.
Jared
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Back on the road again... Nearly
Hi All
Well Steve and I have finally finished work and have hit the road again, if only for a short while, but I'll get onto that a little later.
It feels so good to be finished at work, the last two weeks really have been spent doing the more manual of the farm jobs as Robin (the boss) wanted to get us to do a few things before we left. We pretty much spent the last week picking flowers in the mornings whilst spending the afternoons either digging up the land or shifting timber about the farm. Pretty droll stuff really but hey we're getting paid so I can't complain!
Nights in Sumner/ Lyttleton have also been rather interesting over the last few weeks. The Marine (the backpackers/ pub we're staying in) recently celebrated their 10th anniversary with a huge beach party, attracting all of the locals! Steve and I thought that we'd go a little differently to the norm of beach hats and Hawaiian shirts, as such we decided to don Victorian beach attire made by us. We went to the local $2 clothes shops bought some old white boiler suits, cut the legs and arms off to make a 'one piece' and painted huge red stripes across it. We unfortunately didn't have the knotted handkerchief but people got the jist of it. When we walked into the bar it was pretty apparent that we were the only people in there in fancy dress! It wasn't too bad though as it meant that everyone wanted to talk to us, I even managed to get 3 free pints for swapping my outfit with the local police detectives wife for 20 mins! All in all it was a bloody good night.
Robin and the gang at work have also really sorted us out on our trip round the south island. Robin gave us his key to his batch (beach holiday home infamous among kiwi's) on the west coast at a place called Punakaiki to use for effectively as long as we want (so long as there are no paying guests). Kerry has sorted us out with some accommodation in Twizel and down in Invercargil in another batch. Lauvaunne has given us the contact details of her friend up in the north island to stay with and Gary has given us the details of his batch down in Haast Pass to meet him for some Whitebait fishing! Sorted!
When we finally got on the road though we didn't make it all that far! Our first day on the road was miserable with rain and snow! We were driving some awesome gravel tracks up the side of a mountain to views of well nothing really as it was snowing, cool road though. First night was spent at Akaroa, the only French settlement in NZ, prior to the Waitangi treaty (when us Brits declared NZ as a colony). Quite a quaint little town, again spoiled by the rotten weather. We spent our first two nights out at Onuku farm, with a 1000 acres and 2000 sheep its quite big! Its great though as your allowed to walk all over his land, so Steve and I spent a day just meandering all over the place lapping in the views across Akaroa Harbour. The farm itself was a little strange, too quiet and it seemed like the place that you would get a telling off for putting your feet on the coffee table.
The second place we visit was Peraki Bay, amazing (look it up on google earth/ images) place, you have to ring before hand to get permission to pass through the farmers land. Driving there was just amazing, on the way we stopped off at Opawe Pa (Maori fort) which can only be reached at low tide, to get across you have to climb this razor ridge about 20 ft high, not great in flip flops! There wasn't much there apart from a few ditches and stone works but cool none the less. Back to Peraki though, this place was just too cool. In the middle of no where, we had to go through a few paddocks full of cows and sheep to get to the beach where we set up camp. As it was so remote and there was no light pollution the stars were unbelievable, I have NEVER seen so many stars before in my life, you could even see the Milky Way clearly!
Well after spending a night there we headed over to tops towards Camp Bay. The farmer would not give us permission to camp on her land and because our post (insurance docs for the car) hadn't arrived back in Christchurch we decided to head out to Craigieburn National Park. On the way out there we stopped off at Castle Hill limestone formations. Absolutely nuts, right out of Lord Of the Rings, huge towering limestone cliffs with an amazing mountain backdrop (again look up on google). We didn't hang around for too long as we had to set up camp before it got to dark. We decided to camp at the foot of Broken River Ski area and boy what a night we had! We spent the night drinking by a huge campfire with some real characters, an Aboriginal man who had been living in the woods for 3 weeks as his car had broken down and a Rhodesian man who had been living on the road touring NZ for the last 3 years, nuts I tell ya! boy did we get some interesting stories out of those guys! A good night though.
After a lazy morning we didn't get on the road again til noon and as it was only a ten minute drive down the road we were not too fussed. We parked up at Cave Stream donned our warm gear and flashlights and headed down to the entrance of cave stream. Its a 560m long cave that goes right through the centre of a hill and if the water is not high you can walk right through it! The water was bloody freezing though as there is quite a lot of snow melt coming down from the mountains! It started off with a wade through a waste deep pool and then it was a 200m slog through an amazing cave! Through channels, up little falls, at times when the current was really strong using the rocks to pull yourself up made for an awesome time. Unfortunately we had to turn back at one point because the water was too high and strong. After we made it back out we just sat there in the sun drying out for a while before getting on the road, only we didn't get on the road as such!
The blasted car wouldn't start we had to ask three other backpackers to give us a push through the car park so we could roll the car downhill to bump start it. We finally got back on the road and thought that it were about time that we got the car seen to as we didn't want this to happen when we were in the middle of nowhere!
So here I am sitting in the hostel writing this blog up waiting for the bad news on the car. Hopefully its not too bad and we can get back on the road, I have a sinking feeling that its not going to be cheap.
Anyhow I'll let you all know how it goes next blog update.
Adios
Jared
Well Steve and I have finally finished work and have hit the road again, if only for a short while, but I'll get onto that a little later.
It feels so good to be finished at work, the last two weeks really have been spent doing the more manual of the farm jobs as Robin (the boss) wanted to get us to do a few things before we left. We pretty much spent the last week picking flowers in the mornings whilst spending the afternoons either digging up the land or shifting timber about the farm. Pretty droll stuff really but hey we're getting paid so I can't complain!
Nights in Sumner/ Lyttleton have also been rather interesting over the last few weeks. The Marine (the backpackers/ pub we're staying in) recently celebrated their 10th anniversary with a huge beach party, attracting all of the locals! Steve and I thought that we'd go a little differently to the norm of beach hats and Hawaiian shirts, as such we decided to don Victorian beach attire made by us. We went to the local $2 clothes shops bought some old white boiler suits, cut the legs and arms off to make a 'one piece' and painted huge red stripes across it. We unfortunately didn't have the knotted handkerchief but people got the jist of it. When we walked into the bar it was pretty apparent that we were the only people in there in fancy dress! It wasn't too bad though as it meant that everyone wanted to talk to us, I even managed to get 3 free pints for swapping my outfit with the local police detectives wife for 20 mins! All in all it was a bloody good night.
Robin and the gang at work have also really sorted us out on our trip round the south island. Robin gave us his key to his batch (beach holiday home infamous among kiwi's) on the west coast at a place called Punakaiki to use for effectively as long as we want (so long as there are no paying guests). Kerry has sorted us out with some accommodation in Twizel and down in Invercargil in another batch. Lauvaunne has given us the contact details of her friend up in the north island to stay with and Gary has given us the details of his batch down in Haast Pass to meet him for some Whitebait fishing! Sorted!
When we finally got on the road though we didn't make it all that far! Our first day on the road was miserable with rain and snow! We were driving some awesome gravel tracks up the side of a mountain to views of well nothing really as it was snowing, cool road though. First night was spent at Akaroa, the only French settlement in NZ, prior to the Waitangi treaty (when us Brits declared NZ as a colony). Quite a quaint little town, again spoiled by the rotten weather. We spent our first two nights out at Onuku farm, with a 1000 acres and 2000 sheep its quite big! Its great though as your allowed to walk all over his land, so Steve and I spent a day just meandering all over the place lapping in the views across Akaroa Harbour. The farm itself was a little strange, too quiet and it seemed like the place that you would get a telling off for putting your feet on the coffee table.
The second place we visit was Peraki Bay, amazing (look it up on google earth/ images) place, you have to ring before hand to get permission to pass through the farmers land. Driving there was just amazing, on the way we stopped off at Opawe Pa (Maori fort) which can only be reached at low tide, to get across you have to climb this razor ridge about 20 ft high, not great in flip flops! There wasn't much there apart from a few ditches and stone works but cool none the less. Back to Peraki though, this place was just too cool. In the middle of no where, we had to go through a few paddocks full of cows and sheep to get to the beach where we set up camp. As it was so remote and there was no light pollution the stars were unbelievable, I have NEVER seen so many stars before in my life, you could even see the Milky Way clearly!
Well after spending a night there we headed over to tops towards Camp Bay. The farmer would not give us permission to camp on her land and because our post (insurance docs for the car) hadn't arrived back in Christchurch we decided to head out to Craigieburn National Park. On the way out there we stopped off at Castle Hill limestone formations. Absolutely nuts, right out of Lord Of the Rings, huge towering limestone cliffs with an amazing mountain backdrop (again look up on google). We didn't hang around for too long as we had to set up camp before it got to dark. We decided to camp at the foot of Broken River Ski area and boy what a night we had! We spent the night drinking by a huge campfire with some real characters, an Aboriginal man who had been living in the woods for 3 weeks as his car had broken down and a Rhodesian man who had been living on the road touring NZ for the last 3 years, nuts I tell ya! boy did we get some interesting stories out of those guys! A good night though.
After a lazy morning we didn't get on the road again til noon and as it was only a ten minute drive down the road we were not too fussed. We parked up at Cave Stream donned our warm gear and flashlights and headed down to the entrance of cave stream. Its a 560m long cave that goes right through the centre of a hill and if the water is not high you can walk right through it! The water was bloody freezing though as there is quite a lot of snow melt coming down from the mountains! It started off with a wade through a waste deep pool and then it was a 200m slog through an amazing cave! Through channels, up little falls, at times when the current was really strong using the rocks to pull yourself up made for an awesome time. Unfortunately we had to turn back at one point because the water was too high and strong. After we made it back out we just sat there in the sun drying out for a while before getting on the road, only we didn't get on the road as such!
The blasted car wouldn't start we had to ask three other backpackers to give us a push through the car park so we could roll the car downhill to bump start it. We finally got back on the road and thought that it were about time that we got the car seen to as we didn't want this to happen when we were in the middle of nowhere!
So here I am sitting in the hostel writing this blog up waiting for the bad news on the car. Hopefully its not too bad and we can get back on the road, I have a sinking feeling that its not going to be cheap.
Anyhow I'll let you all know how it goes next blog update.
Adios
Jared
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Soaking up the Sun in Sumner
Hi
I guess it's about time that I sat myself down and updated this blog!
Well after heading back to ChCh Steve and I started work at the Gormack's flower farm in Redcliffs just outside of ChCh commuting everyday from Foley Towers Hostel in the centre of town. As it was becoming a pain to get up every morning and commute in we decided that it would be a good idea to head out to Sumner, a town a little closer to our work. Its technically a suburb of the city but it really has a feel of being a completely different town, full of surfers. We ended up staying in the Marine Pub and Backpackers (what more could you want from a backpackers other than being attached to a pub!), a nice little place run by Mel and Doc. Steve and I have pretty my ended up with our own private room as there is not many other guests coming through at the moment so the owners put all of the other backpackers in the other rooms, sorted!
Apart from picking flowers everyday, which is killing me I might add, we have cleared timber piles, dug ditches, trimmed hedges, done some dump runs, bunched flowers for fathers day! You could say that this job couldn't get any more polar!
Through work colleagues we have sorted ourselves out with some good contacts and gear. Robin the boss, lent Steve and I his old ski gear (hideous 80's one pieces I might add, I was going down the slopes with a huge silver bugs bunny on my back!) to go snowboarding on Mt Hutt and skiing at Porter Heights, bloody good fun! No doubt we returned with bumps and bruises! Lana's husband runs a surf school so that has sorted us out with some cheap private lessons at Taylor's Mistake beach down the road. Kerry owns a two seater kayak that Steve and I are going to borrow to go camping on Quail island just off the coast in this large bay next to Lyttleton. Weekends are going to be spent in the not too distant future camping in some of the nearby national parks. Saturday, our nights out are spent [usually] playing snooker at the local RSA (the same as the British Legion) for 40 pence an hour along with super cheap pints at about 1.70, before frequenting the local bars before heading back to our 'pub'!
Well I haven't been up to much else really just the general routine that one gets into with work only this time it's in NZ! I can't wait to Finnish work and get back on the road again, not too much longer 3 weeks!
Adios for now.
Jared
I guess it's about time that I sat myself down and updated this blog!
Well after heading back to ChCh Steve and I started work at the Gormack's flower farm in Redcliffs just outside of ChCh commuting everyday from Foley Towers Hostel in the centre of town. As it was becoming a pain to get up every morning and commute in we decided that it would be a good idea to head out to Sumner, a town a little closer to our work. Its technically a suburb of the city but it really has a feel of being a completely different town, full of surfers. We ended up staying in the Marine Pub and Backpackers (what more could you want from a backpackers other than being attached to a pub!), a nice little place run by Mel and Doc. Steve and I have pretty my ended up with our own private room as there is not many other guests coming through at the moment so the owners put all of the other backpackers in the other rooms, sorted!
Apart from picking flowers everyday, which is killing me I might add, we have cleared timber piles, dug ditches, trimmed hedges, done some dump runs, bunched flowers for fathers day! You could say that this job couldn't get any more polar!
Through work colleagues we have sorted ourselves out with some good contacts and gear. Robin the boss, lent Steve and I his old ski gear (hideous 80's one pieces I might add, I was going down the slopes with a huge silver bugs bunny on my back!) to go snowboarding on Mt Hutt and skiing at Porter Heights, bloody good fun! No doubt we returned with bumps and bruises! Lana's husband runs a surf school so that has sorted us out with some cheap private lessons at Taylor's Mistake beach down the road. Kerry owns a two seater kayak that Steve and I are going to borrow to go camping on Quail island just off the coast in this large bay next to Lyttleton. Weekends are going to be spent in the not too distant future camping in some of the nearby national parks. Saturday, our nights out are spent [usually] playing snooker at the local RSA (the same as the British Legion) for 40 pence an hour along with super cheap pints at about 1.70, before frequenting the local bars before heading back to our 'pub'!
Well I haven't been up to much else really just the general routine that one gets into with work only this time it's in NZ! I can't wait to Finnish work and get back on the road again, not too much longer 3 weeks!
Adios for now.
Jared
Sunday, 2 August 2009
I'm a Lumberjack and I'm okay.... oh and the beging of my New Zealand saga
Hello All from the not so sunny climbs of the Canterbury plains/ Christchurch and christ is it cold!
Well I guess I'd better tell you lot what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks in New South Wales.
After getting quite possible the worst night bus(worse than SE Asian night buses and that's saying something!) to Sydney from Byron Bay I spent the morning in a skanky Internet cafe. I arrived in Sydney at 6 but was not meeting Tom Jansen till 10 which meant that I spent a good hour freezing my arse off on a Central Station platform.
Right the bit before this was written ages ago, I know I am a tad behind on the whole updating the blog thing. I have a job now so you have to forgive me... plus I'd rather go to the pub!
SO lets continue:
Tom picked me up form Roseville station in northern Sydney before spending the afternoon running around Chatswoo/ Chatswong aka Chatswood on the family errands. It was a bit strange at first as I had never met Tom or any of his family before but after a while I felt at ease.
The drive out to Wisemans Ferry was quite stunning really, out along a ridge top looking across the Sydney basin to the Blue mountains in the distance (so named not because of the colour of the actual mountains but due to the blue haze that can be observed on some days arising from the huge number of eucalyptus trees, neat huh!).
Well Wisemans Ferry is gobsmackingly beautiful, Tom owns a plot of land right on the waters edge of the great Hawksbury river, "jazz club". I ended up staying just over a week with Tom, Amanda, Jacob, Emma and Jo and also ended up extending my time in Australia for a few days because I was having such a blast. Tom is by trade a tree lopper and I ended up becoming for a few days during my stay, fine for me as I was earning a few bob (which I quickly spent, oops). First days pay cheque 200 aussie dollars, whoooaaaa I like this job beats office work any day. It is hard work but its outdoors and manual which I prefer and its different everyday, like some days we're chipping a 2 ft diameter tree whilst on others we're pulling down a 60 ft-ter with ropes pulleys and a 4X4!
Days off were spent in a tinney on the river scouting for some fish running out of petrol and floating with the current, walking through the local park and in the Pub! I had some excellent evenings there drinking beer round some rather large bonfires, at the pub bench or on the veranda with Tom Amanda and a fair few of their friends. I also managed to get a job in New Zealand through one of Toms friends Bycie.
I enjoyed my time in Wisemans Ferry so much that if I have the chance and the money I'll get a flight back there for a week or so in November!
Sydney was spent on foot pretty much walking everywhere trying to see as much of the sights as possible. Boy does it live up to expectations though, it was great to see those iconic sights such as the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I quite liked Sydney and would definitely go back again. Sydney was also the location of my first Aussie Rules match visit with a couple of dutch guys (Walter and .... the name escapes me?). Aussie Rules is 'alright' but it looks like a comple screw up on the field, players everywhere scrambling for the ball, its also rather long at 2 hours plus! Enjoyable none the less. The evenings rather unsurprisingly were spent sampling the nightlife that Sydney has to offer with the two Dutch chaps that I met. Its not to bad, expensive though!
New Zealand next woohoooo! After getting up at a ridiculous hour to get to the airport I boarded a rather full plane and spent the majority of my time chatting in a aussie bloke called Mark about NZ where to go and what not, I also got the full family story from his side, the camera was out and everything!
Flying over the Southern Alps is absolutely stunning if not a tad turbulent. The wings were flapping big time, along with many of the passengers! On terms of views think of completely forested hills capped in a beautiful carpet of white standing tall over the majestic Canterbury Plains dissected by the many braided streams, stunning.
First impressions of Christchurch... bloody FREEZING! The city itself is nice enough, very green, lovely cathedral, river, squares, very British in that sense but if size defines a city Christchurch (ChCh) certainly is not! Ayslesbury esque (ONLY in size, Aylesbury is dire!) Ther first few days were spent in the best hostel I have EVER stayed in, Dorset house, an absolutely stunning place crammed with character and style with tha added bonus of super comfy beds, electric blankets and super duper powerful showers! Steve and I also bought ourselves a car here. A 1.8 Subaru Legacy all time 4WD (Hi/Lo) quite a bargain at 1600 NZ dollars. After we were all Christchurched out, visiting the museums and art galleries (amazing) and what not we ventured north.
First stop Lake Sumner about 2 hours drive north west of ChCh along some excellent gravel track roads, super fun to dive extra sensibly on, no horse play in the slightest honest! We didn't actually make it to the lake as by the time we got there it was too late to make the three hour walk up there, instead we decided to pitch our tent next to the river and have a walk up one of the smaller hills in the area for some spectacular views across the valley.
Next day we made our way toward Hanmer Springs, a hot springs site another 2 or so hours north. On the way we passed a winery advertising free tasting and of course we just had to go in it'd be criminal not to! The wine was bad though! Hanmer itself does not have too much to offer apart from the hot spring which were nice enough (30 - 41 degrees C) but nothing on par with those found in Iceland. After an afternoon of relaxing in the hot pools we continued north before stopping for the night at a free campsite just south of Lewis Pass, Now this is where the trouble begins!
We woke to the heaviest frost I have ever seen only to find that the damn car would not start, bugger what do we do now? Well we tried bumping the car but the hill was not big enough to get it going, we then thought it would be a good idea to push it into the sun as the engine must be cold, still not starting. A bit of a panic now. We then decided to flag cars down on the road as there was no cell phone signal. After three hours of this we finally found a car full of Maori's with jump leads, excellent. The jump leads didn't work, crap! Luckily he had a tow rope so we got the car going eventually, phew! (it turned out to be a dodgy distributor which we had to get replaced in ChCh).
After we got the car going we drove north to meet Chloe at Picton, stopping along the way in a small campsite on the coast just outside of town. Picton itself has nothing going for it at all, its not ugly but its just plain boring! As such when I finally met with Chloe we spent most of our time outside of Piction, either driving along some excellent coastal roads around Queen Charlotte Sound or sampling some of the fine wines that the Marlborough region has to offer! Prior to starting our wine tour we went to visit Chloe's aunt out at their vineyard, an absolutely beautiful place with superb views. She also cooked us up some excellent muffins accompanied buy a cuppa. Wineries visited in the afternoon included Huja, Bouldervines and none the less Cloudy Bay! All had some very nice wines and some nasty wines, or not to my liking.
Whilst we were up in the region Steve and I enquired about jobs but unfortunately nothing was available until the summer. I did however give a chap called Robin Gormack a call, a flower farmer based in Redcliffs just outside of ChCh and he gave us a job woo hoo!
After dropping Chloe off at the ferry terminal I headed south back towards ChCh to go and start life as a flower farmer. We arrived at Gormack's farm on a rather sunny Wednesday afternoon and pretty much started work straight away! Flower farming I must admit is not the most thrilling of jobs as it rather repetitive but it pays none the less. Days off are spent either recovering from a hangover or driving around Banks Peninsula.
That's pretty much the story so far, in days to come I hope to get onto some of the slopes at one of the local ski fields, do some walking in the hills and save save save.
Hope all is well with every one and ill update a little sooner next time.
Adios
Jared
Well I guess I'd better tell you lot what I have been up to for the last couple of weeks in New South Wales.
After getting quite possible the worst night bus(worse than SE Asian night buses and that's saying something!) to Sydney from Byron Bay I spent the morning in a skanky Internet cafe. I arrived in Sydney at 6 but was not meeting Tom Jansen till 10 which meant that I spent a good hour freezing my arse off on a Central Station platform.
Right the bit before this was written ages ago, I know I am a tad behind on the whole updating the blog thing. I have a job now so you have to forgive me... plus I'd rather go to the pub!
SO lets continue:
Tom picked me up form Roseville station in northern Sydney before spending the afternoon running around Chatswoo/ Chatswong aka Chatswood on the family errands. It was a bit strange at first as I had never met Tom or any of his family before but after a while I felt at ease.
The drive out to Wisemans Ferry was quite stunning really, out along a ridge top looking across the Sydney basin to the Blue mountains in the distance (so named not because of the colour of the actual mountains but due to the blue haze that can be observed on some days arising from the huge number of eucalyptus trees, neat huh!).
Well Wisemans Ferry is gobsmackingly beautiful, Tom owns a plot of land right on the waters edge of the great Hawksbury river, "jazz club". I ended up staying just over a week with Tom, Amanda, Jacob, Emma and Jo and also ended up extending my time in Australia for a few days because I was having such a blast. Tom is by trade a tree lopper and I ended up becoming for a few days during my stay, fine for me as I was earning a few bob (which I quickly spent, oops). First days pay cheque 200 aussie dollars, whoooaaaa I like this job beats office work any day. It is hard work but its outdoors and manual which I prefer and its different everyday, like some days we're chipping a 2 ft diameter tree whilst on others we're pulling down a 60 ft-ter with ropes pulleys and a 4X4!
Days off were spent in a tinney on the river scouting for some fish running out of petrol and floating with the current, walking through the local park and in the Pub! I had some excellent evenings there drinking beer round some rather large bonfires, at the pub bench or on the veranda with Tom Amanda and a fair few of their friends. I also managed to get a job in New Zealand through one of Toms friends Bycie.
I enjoyed my time in Wisemans Ferry so much that if I have the chance and the money I'll get a flight back there for a week or so in November!
Sydney was spent on foot pretty much walking everywhere trying to see as much of the sights as possible. Boy does it live up to expectations though, it was great to see those iconic sights such as the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. I quite liked Sydney and would definitely go back again. Sydney was also the location of my first Aussie Rules match visit with a couple of dutch guys (Walter and .... the name escapes me?). Aussie Rules is 'alright' but it looks like a comple screw up on the field, players everywhere scrambling for the ball, its also rather long at 2 hours plus! Enjoyable none the less. The evenings rather unsurprisingly were spent sampling the nightlife that Sydney has to offer with the two Dutch chaps that I met. Its not to bad, expensive though!
New Zealand next woohoooo! After getting up at a ridiculous hour to get to the airport I boarded a rather full plane and spent the majority of my time chatting in a aussie bloke called Mark about NZ where to go and what not, I also got the full family story from his side, the camera was out and everything!
Flying over the Southern Alps is absolutely stunning if not a tad turbulent. The wings were flapping big time, along with many of the passengers! On terms of views think of completely forested hills capped in a beautiful carpet of white standing tall over the majestic Canterbury Plains dissected by the many braided streams, stunning.
First impressions of Christchurch... bloody FREEZING! The city itself is nice enough, very green, lovely cathedral, river, squares, very British in that sense but if size defines a city Christchurch (ChCh) certainly is not! Ayslesbury esque (ONLY in size, Aylesbury is dire!) Ther first few days were spent in the best hostel I have EVER stayed in, Dorset house, an absolutely stunning place crammed with character and style with tha added bonus of super comfy beds, electric blankets and super duper powerful showers! Steve and I also bought ourselves a car here. A 1.8 Subaru Legacy all time 4WD (Hi/Lo) quite a bargain at 1600 NZ dollars. After we were all Christchurched out, visiting the museums and art galleries (amazing) and what not we ventured north.
First stop Lake Sumner about 2 hours drive north west of ChCh along some excellent gravel track roads, super fun to dive extra sensibly on, no horse play in the slightest honest! We didn't actually make it to the lake as by the time we got there it was too late to make the three hour walk up there, instead we decided to pitch our tent next to the river and have a walk up one of the smaller hills in the area for some spectacular views across the valley.
Next day we made our way toward Hanmer Springs, a hot springs site another 2 or so hours north. On the way we passed a winery advertising free tasting and of course we just had to go in it'd be criminal not to! The wine was bad though! Hanmer itself does not have too much to offer apart from the hot spring which were nice enough (30 - 41 degrees C) but nothing on par with those found in Iceland. After an afternoon of relaxing in the hot pools we continued north before stopping for the night at a free campsite just south of Lewis Pass, Now this is where the trouble begins!
We woke to the heaviest frost I have ever seen only to find that the damn car would not start, bugger what do we do now? Well we tried bumping the car but the hill was not big enough to get it going, we then thought it would be a good idea to push it into the sun as the engine must be cold, still not starting. A bit of a panic now. We then decided to flag cars down on the road as there was no cell phone signal. After three hours of this we finally found a car full of Maori's with jump leads, excellent. The jump leads didn't work, crap! Luckily he had a tow rope so we got the car going eventually, phew! (it turned out to be a dodgy distributor which we had to get replaced in ChCh).
After we got the car going we drove north to meet Chloe at Picton, stopping along the way in a small campsite on the coast just outside of town. Picton itself has nothing going for it at all, its not ugly but its just plain boring! As such when I finally met with Chloe we spent most of our time outside of Piction, either driving along some excellent coastal roads around Queen Charlotte Sound or sampling some of the fine wines that the Marlborough region has to offer! Prior to starting our wine tour we went to visit Chloe's aunt out at their vineyard, an absolutely beautiful place with superb views. She also cooked us up some excellent muffins accompanied buy a cuppa. Wineries visited in the afternoon included Huja, Bouldervines and none the less Cloudy Bay! All had some very nice wines and some nasty wines, or not to my liking.
Whilst we were up in the region Steve and I enquired about jobs but unfortunately nothing was available until the summer. I did however give a chap called Robin Gormack a call, a flower farmer based in Redcliffs just outside of ChCh and he gave us a job woo hoo!
After dropping Chloe off at the ferry terminal I headed south back towards ChCh to go and start life as a flower farmer. We arrived at Gormack's farm on a rather sunny Wednesday afternoon and pretty much started work straight away! Flower farming I must admit is not the most thrilling of jobs as it rather repetitive but it pays none the less. Days off are spent either recovering from a hangover or driving around Banks Peninsula.
That's pretty much the story so far, in days to come I hope to get onto some of the slopes at one of the local ski fields, do some walking in the hills and save save save.
Hope all is well with every one and ill update a little sooner next time.
Adios
Jared
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Sailing the Whitsundays, Roaming Fraser, Boozing in Brisbane, Wave Bashing in Byron
Hello,
Just got back from an awesome 3 days driving in a 4x4 around Fraser Island. The best fun that I have had in a long while!
Any how back to what I have been up to...
Airlie Beach: The gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. I was walking along the street one morning to go and book a tour and low and behold I saw Matty Rogers walking down the street (an old school mate) what a small world!
I ended up booking a one day tour on board the Maxi Ragamuffin, a old racing yacht. We set sail early on a freezing day without a jumper, Australia is not meant to be cold! It also sucked that that day we were setting off the weather decided not to blow a gale, one a measly breeze! Which meant that we didn't actually get the chance to do that much sailing. Yeah they did haul up the mainsail and the front one (the name escapes me?) but we had to travel for most of it under the motor! None the less it was still an awesome time to be sailing through the Whitsunday Islands. We did also go to Whitehaven Beach, often voted best in the world. The sand is like caster sugar and I am not kidding either, texture and colour!
After another night in Airlie Beach BBQ - ing we decided the next day that, as we did not have that much time left we would mission it to the Town of 1770, a mere 710 km! We did make it in time but arrived after dark, not the best thing to do as there are Roo's on the road and a roo + Car = destruction!
1770 was a nice enough town really small, some excellent views of sandbanks just off the coast and a really nice headland to walk too. Apart from that there was not much else to do, as such we drove to Hervey Bay for Fraser Island.
I ended up booking a 3 day 2 night tour of the island - self drive. Basically they rent the vehicle out for you provide you with all of the equipment that you'd require and you drive around the island with 9 other people in a huge Toyota Land Cruiser. It also turned out that I was turning 22 on the worlds largest sand Island! Not bad Aye! I was also really lucky that the group of people I ended up being with were a right laugh. There were 7 lads all around 20 - 24, all of us seemed to have the same sense of humour which was cool.
After getting up very early one morning for our brief I drove to the hire depot to get the rest of the equipment before heading to the ferry for Fraser Island. Driving on the road was very strange as the car was really front end light, and the brakes were like sponges. As soon as we were on the sand though it was a different story, this beast powered through the deep sand ruts, up some hills i did not think possible. Its also a really really strange thing when you have full right lock but you're going forwards! The views of the island were amazing, huge sand dunes, a 75 mile beach, rocky outcrops, unbelievably clear inland fresh water lakes, beautiful fresh water creeks. Man I need to upload some photos at some point! The evenings were really cold, beer blankets ensued so I [felt] was alright! STARS!, I have never seen so many stars nor the milky way in such splendour before!
When we originally got the cars, we were told that there was a set itinerary that we were to follow. Well lets just say we didn't, we ended up driving all over the island and saw loadsa places that the others didn't. Glad we didn't crash or get stuck as our insurance would have been void! oops.
My birthday was a right laugh, just a bunch of us lads having a few drinks around the camp, as I also had brought my snorkel with me we used that!
When we got back to the mainland it was one of the others guys 22nd birthdays also, so we went out for a 'all you can eat Mexican' and a few beers in one of the local pubs.
The next day Tom n Nicole drove us back to Brisbane to drop off our camper van at which point I split from travel with them to do the last bit on my own. I ended up staying in Base right in the centre of town. I spent only the one real day there walking around South Bank, visiting a few museums along the way. In the evening we all as a group went down to the backpackers bar, before heading out for some nice Italian at one of the local 'art' cafes.
After a 2 hour bus I arrived at Byron Bay at about 10 in the morning and pretty much signed up for a 4 hour surfing lesson that afternoon. It was awesome fun, we drove to Flat Rock which is a beach about 20 mins out of town, which mean that is was quiet compared to the rest. I did after many attempts manage to stand up, oh yeah, get in there! (disclaimer: for about 2 seconds!). Today I have spent the morning shopping for some warm clothes for Sydney writing this monumental blog post and walking out to Cape Byron, Australia's most Easterly (mainland) point!
Anyhow, getting the bus this evening to Sydney before getting the train in the afternoon to meet Tom and Amanda Jansen.
Ciao For now
Jared
Just got back from an awesome 3 days driving in a 4x4 around Fraser Island. The best fun that I have had in a long while!
Any how back to what I have been up to...
Airlie Beach: The gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. I was walking along the street one morning to go and book a tour and low and behold I saw Matty Rogers walking down the street (an old school mate) what a small world!
I ended up booking a one day tour on board the Maxi Ragamuffin, a old racing yacht. We set sail early on a freezing day without a jumper, Australia is not meant to be cold! It also sucked that that day we were setting off the weather decided not to blow a gale, one a measly breeze! Which meant that we didn't actually get the chance to do that much sailing. Yeah they did haul up the mainsail and the front one (the name escapes me?) but we had to travel for most of it under the motor! None the less it was still an awesome time to be sailing through the Whitsunday Islands. We did also go to Whitehaven Beach, often voted best in the world. The sand is like caster sugar and I am not kidding either, texture and colour!
After another night in Airlie Beach BBQ - ing we decided the next day that, as we did not have that much time left we would mission it to the Town of 1770, a mere 710 km! We did make it in time but arrived after dark, not the best thing to do as there are Roo's on the road and a roo + Car = destruction!
1770 was a nice enough town really small, some excellent views of sandbanks just off the coast and a really nice headland to walk too. Apart from that there was not much else to do, as such we drove to Hervey Bay for Fraser Island.
I ended up booking a 3 day 2 night tour of the island - self drive. Basically they rent the vehicle out for you provide you with all of the equipment that you'd require and you drive around the island with 9 other people in a huge Toyota Land Cruiser. It also turned out that I was turning 22 on the worlds largest sand Island! Not bad Aye! I was also really lucky that the group of people I ended up being with were a right laugh. There were 7 lads all around 20 - 24, all of us seemed to have the same sense of humour which was cool.
After getting up very early one morning for our brief I drove to the hire depot to get the rest of the equipment before heading to the ferry for Fraser Island. Driving on the road was very strange as the car was really front end light, and the brakes were like sponges. As soon as we were on the sand though it was a different story, this beast powered through the deep sand ruts, up some hills i did not think possible. Its also a really really strange thing when you have full right lock but you're going forwards! The views of the island were amazing, huge sand dunes, a 75 mile beach, rocky outcrops, unbelievably clear inland fresh water lakes, beautiful fresh water creeks. Man I need to upload some photos at some point! The evenings were really cold, beer blankets ensued so I [felt] was alright! STARS!, I have never seen so many stars nor the milky way in such splendour before!
When we originally got the cars, we were told that there was a set itinerary that we were to follow. Well lets just say we didn't, we ended up driving all over the island and saw loadsa places that the others didn't. Glad we didn't crash or get stuck as our insurance would have been void! oops.
My birthday was a right laugh, just a bunch of us lads having a few drinks around the camp, as I also had brought my snorkel with me we used that!
When we got back to the mainland it was one of the others guys 22nd birthdays also, so we went out for a 'all you can eat Mexican' and a few beers in one of the local pubs.
The next day Tom n Nicole drove us back to Brisbane to drop off our camper van at which point I split from travel with them to do the last bit on my own. I ended up staying in Base right in the centre of town. I spent only the one real day there walking around South Bank, visiting a few museums along the way. In the evening we all as a group went down to the backpackers bar, before heading out for some nice Italian at one of the local 'art' cafes.
After a 2 hour bus I arrived at Byron Bay at about 10 in the morning and pretty much signed up for a 4 hour surfing lesson that afternoon. It was awesome fun, we drove to Flat Rock which is a beach about 20 mins out of town, which mean that is was quiet compared to the rest. I did after many attempts manage to stand up, oh yeah, get in there! (disclaimer: for about 2 seconds!). Today I have spent the morning shopping for some warm clothes for Sydney writing this monumental blog post and walking out to Cape Byron, Australia's most Easterly (mainland) point!
Anyhow, getting the bus this evening to Sydney before getting the train in the afternoon to meet Tom and Amanda Jansen.
Ciao For now
Jared
Saturday, 11 July 2009
Damn beer is expensive!
Howdy
Australia has rubbish cell signal! and the Internet is expensive here. In fact the whole darn country is expensive with the pound being so weak against the aussie dollar! Oh well I'll just have to work for longer in New Zealand.
I'm again a bit far behind on the updates so I am going to try and keep this one short.
Cairns was pretty cool, I had a really good time there met some cool people ended up going out for the evening and having an awesome time, which I did regret the next day! Tom, Nicole and I also ended up renting a van for the next two weeks to get ourselves to Brisbane! Its pretty cool, it has two double beds, a fridge, cooker, microwave, sink, the works!
Any how we headed north towards Cape Tribulation, the tropical rainforests of Australia and boy is it cool. The views are absolutely amazing the rainforest reaches the sea, I mean it hits the beach! The first night we just thought this looks nice lets pull over and camp for the night. We ended up having, well I did, a few beers by a large campfire on the beach. Idyllic. The next day we just continued north on the coastal road stopping off here and there to look at the view before we made it into Cape Tribulation.
After a couple of days hanging around in Cape Trib we headed back down south towards Cairns again so that I could do some diving on the reef. I ended up having to book with a larger remit which I was not too happy about as I would rather have gone on a smaller boat with fewer people, however expense and time dictated otherwise. For my first dive I decided to take guided as I was a little unsure and boy what a mistake. For one the Dive leader was rubbish, the dive sight was rubbish (it was used as a try dive site so all of the coral was damaged), there were six people in my group which meant that we had to keep coming up to 'drop people off'. The dive leader kept signalling for me not to go too deep, we were at 15m. Not impressed. Needles to say I decided to take the second dive unguided and had a whale of a time. The coral wall was amazing, the fish were amazing, the 'coral canyons' were amazing... you get the idea!
After my day on the reef Tom drove us to The Boulders at Babina. We arrived here quite late, by which time it was dark. Luckily the camp-site was free! We ended up parking next to a northern bloke who looked like he was from the Royale Family! and boy could he talk for Britain! He did give us a load of really useful information as he had spent the last 6 months in a van touring the whole of Oz. We found out that there are loads of places where you can camp for free or didly squat. The Boulders themselves were a collection of huge rocks that filled a gorge creating some brilliantly clear swim pools. We didn't spend too long here as we heard that just down the road was Josephine falls which had some even better water falls and holes to go swimming in. There was a huge natural rock slide that you could hurtle down into another large swimming hole.
After a morning messing around in the watering holes we headed south for Mission Beach only once we arrived it decided to rain. The forecast was for rain for the next two days so we only ended up staying the one night before heading south again this time for Mt Fox and Wallaman Falls (the tallest in the southern Hemisphere!). We never did make it to the top of Mt Fox as we couldn't actually find the start of the path! Bit of a shame. The drive up was absolutely amazing though, basically a single track stuck to the side of a very steep mountain! Instead we headed back towards Wallaman Falls. WOW. 268m single drop meaning that the water turns to mist before it hits the bottom. As it was quite late by the time we got there we had to camp for the night before we made the trek down there. It was a 2km dirt track switch backing down the side of the cliff. Just think of a 300m deep gourge surrounding you by 270 degrees with a hugh waterfall at one end, superb!
We decided it would be a good idea to head south towards Bowen beacuse we thought it had some prety good beaches. The drive took us the rest of the day and as we decided to stop off in Townsville we didnt get there till after dark. Lets just say that both were not that impressive. Townsville was a dump. Bowen, now thats another story. We foolishly though that souther Queensland would be like the North, i.e. you could pull over anywhere and camp. NO! We parked up on the esplanade and ended up getting moved on by the old bill or a $300 fine! As Tom and I had already had a couple of beers Nicole had to drive us to some dirt track 20Ks outta town for an absolutely freezing nights sleep!
Next port of call was the Whitsundays but I'll save that for my next update, my fingers are tired!
Ciao for now.
Jared
Australia has rubbish cell signal! and the Internet is expensive here. In fact the whole darn country is expensive with the pound being so weak against the aussie dollar! Oh well I'll just have to work for longer in New Zealand.
I'm again a bit far behind on the updates so I am going to try and keep this one short.
Cairns was pretty cool, I had a really good time there met some cool people ended up going out for the evening and having an awesome time, which I did regret the next day! Tom, Nicole and I also ended up renting a van for the next two weeks to get ourselves to Brisbane! Its pretty cool, it has two double beds, a fridge, cooker, microwave, sink, the works!
Any how we headed north towards Cape Tribulation, the tropical rainforests of Australia and boy is it cool. The views are absolutely amazing the rainforest reaches the sea, I mean it hits the beach! The first night we just thought this looks nice lets pull over and camp for the night. We ended up having, well I did, a few beers by a large campfire on the beach. Idyllic. The next day we just continued north on the coastal road stopping off here and there to look at the view before we made it into Cape Tribulation.
After a couple of days hanging around in Cape Trib we headed back down south towards Cairns again so that I could do some diving on the reef. I ended up having to book with a larger remit which I was not too happy about as I would rather have gone on a smaller boat with fewer people, however expense and time dictated otherwise. For my first dive I decided to take guided as I was a little unsure and boy what a mistake. For one the Dive leader was rubbish, the dive sight was rubbish (it was used as a try dive site so all of the coral was damaged), there were six people in my group which meant that we had to keep coming up to 'drop people off'. The dive leader kept signalling for me not to go too deep, we were at 15m. Not impressed. Needles to say I decided to take the second dive unguided and had a whale of a time. The coral wall was amazing, the fish were amazing, the 'coral canyons' were amazing... you get the idea!
After my day on the reef Tom drove us to The Boulders at Babina. We arrived here quite late, by which time it was dark. Luckily the camp-site was free! We ended up parking next to a northern bloke who looked like he was from the Royale Family! and boy could he talk for Britain! He did give us a load of really useful information as he had spent the last 6 months in a van touring the whole of Oz. We found out that there are loads of places where you can camp for free or didly squat. The Boulders themselves were a collection of huge rocks that filled a gorge creating some brilliantly clear swim pools. We didn't spend too long here as we heard that just down the road was Josephine falls which had some even better water falls and holes to go swimming in. There was a huge natural rock slide that you could hurtle down into another large swimming hole.
After a morning messing around in the watering holes we headed south for Mission Beach only once we arrived it decided to rain. The forecast was for rain for the next two days so we only ended up staying the one night before heading south again this time for Mt Fox and Wallaman Falls (the tallest in the southern Hemisphere!). We never did make it to the top of Mt Fox as we couldn't actually find the start of the path! Bit of a shame. The drive up was absolutely amazing though, basically a single track stuck to the side of a very steep mountain! Instead we headed back towards Wallaman Falls. WOW. 268m single drop meaning that the water turns to mist before it hits the bottom. As it was quite late by the time we got there we had to camp for the night before we made the trek down there. It was a 2km dirt track switch backing down the side of the cliff. Just think of a 300m deep gourge surrounding you by 270 degrees with a hugh waterfall at one end, superb!
We decided it would be a good idea to head south towards Bowen beacuse we thought it had some prety good beaches. The drive took us the rest of the day and as we decided to stop off in Townsville we didnt get there till after dark. Lets just say that both were not that impressive. Townsville was a dump. Bowen, now thats another story. We foolishly though that souther Queensland would be like the North, i.e. you could pull over anywhere and camp. NO! We parked up on the esplanade and ended up getting moved on by the old bill or a $300 fine! As Tom and I had already had a couple of beers Nicole had to drive us to some dirt track 20Ks outta town for an absolutely freezing nights sleep!
Next port of call was the Whitsundays but I'll save that for my next update, my fingers are tired!
Ciao for now.
Jared
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