New Zealand!!

Hello from Christchurch!!

We'll here we are, a couple more hours in New Zealand and then we're off to Fiji!!!
Its been three and a half really fun weeks driving around in our spaceship, sleeping in some of the randomest and most beatiful places (such as next to Lake Wanaka, Stunning!)

New Zealand has soo much to offer as we found out from visiting Seal Colonies in Kiakura, climbing up the Franz Josef Glacier, Skydiving from 15,000ft over Lake Wanaka, Queenstown!! Bungee Jumping! and Surfing in Dunieden. We've really enjoyed ourselves here, having the freedom to go where we want and see what we want. It's good to have that freedom and attempt to get away from the usual tourist route and really make a trip our own.

Most of the things we have done here should definately be at the top of your list to do before you die. The day of the Skydive I have never been so scared!! I was soo nervous and im not entirely sure why loking back at it. (this shows in my dvd) but with nerves came soo much fun. It was such a good feeling except for the fast it was soo soo cold.

In New Zealand the place to be is definately Queenstown, theres soo much to do! One evening we all went to the 'world bar' and we entered a compettion to win a bungee jump and I was lucky enough to have my number drawn out of the hat. So I won a free nevis jump (the biggest in New Zealand) which was a big saver as I would have spent $220 on this the previous day!! While in Queenstown I was lucky enough to do 2 bungee jumps. 1) was a tandem with stu off the Kawara Bridge (i think thats how u spell it) well anyway, this was the first commercial bungee jump in the world which was really really fun. We were both quite ok until we got to the ledge and though what are we doing! We jumped anyway and it was sucha good feeling, the adrenaline rush is soo much fun. 2) The Nevis, Stu was nervous because this time it was 3times the size of the day before! 8 seconds freefall. Chris and Mike were both excited hiding both their nerves. I really couldnt wait to do it. Everyone should try this, seriosly one of the most fun things ever, you really do have to push urself to go over the edge but when you do it such a good feeling, the whole day i was pretty much speachless!!

So next stop on our Journey is Fiji!! We really look forward to getting back to the hot weather and onto a beach. Its really tiring moving about all the time here and we need a holiday! I think I may do my dive course out there which I'm really looking forward to!

All my recent photos are now up so i'f you have time on your hands heres the link.

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gapyear2008/NewZealandLakeWanakaToChristchurch

Christchurch to Franz Joseph Glacier (life in a spaceship)

Hey all from the wonderful Franz Joseph Glacier (located west of the south island).

We have been traveling through New Zealand for about a week in our Spaceship (camper van car) named 'Megatron'. It's just what we needed, we are far away from the tour bus, touristy areas, we can finally be free!! The past week we have mainly been hiking in some fantastic locations, camping in some really random places and watching DVD's in our Spaceship. Today we were lucky enough to climb up the Franz Joseph Glacier, It was amasing! Something I was very keen to do here in New Zealand! You will have to check out the photos, it was stunning!! 6hours of hard work climbing up the ice was well worth the view and the opportunity to climb through the ice sheets. We've been to some very cool destinations including Chetwood Forest which was included in the Lord of the Rings film. Theres not all that much more to say about New Zealand but WOW the scenery is breathtaking and were having a really good time despite it being really really cold. The pictures are much much better than words so go and have a look. On Tuesday we plan to get to Lake Wanaka, Chris and i are very keen to do the 15,000ft skydive there so I think we will be booking that tonight. Really loving New Zealand but looking forward to being back on the beach. Ohh and by the way my eye has healed fine, the stitches came out a couple of days ago and you wouldnt know a thing.

i'll do my best to keep you all posted, but internet is proving rare in some places.

Go check out the photos!!

AJ.xxxxx

Sydney to Melbourne to Sydney to New Zealand!!

I know!! It's been quite a while since I last posted! We'll I've only jus found time! We're non-stop at the moment. So heres the vaugue story so far (if you want the low down of every second of our travels please see chris's blog).... Ohh all of my pictures are now up if you would like to check them out. Im very excited about getting some awesome landscape shots here in New Zealand.

So I left you last when we were about to travel to Melbourne. We took a Greyhound bus overnight lasting around 12hrs (much longer than I thought) to the well recommended city! We arrived around 8am and checked into our hostel called Nomads Industry (by far the best hostel so far). really cool funky little bar downstairs and hot working showers!! We stayed in Melbourne for a week exploring the city (reminds me of Bristol quite alot, with all the river etc.) We spent most of our evenings in Uni bars which were awesome, just our thing I guess. Tons of people our age, no tourists about and cheap beer. A bar we found on the thursday night was called the 'Traders Bar', we found this jus by walking down some back alley it was reali quite cool. On the Wednesday it was Mikes Bday!! woop. It was reali funi, we bought Mikee party hats, drink umrellas, curly straws and Party blowers and went for lunch along brunswick street. In the evening we were determined to head out for a big night but it was a wednesday and ended up in some small Irish bar in the Centre. On the Friday we were lucky enough to be taken out by one of Chris' relatives to a Wildlife park which was fun and quite different as we had our own safari. (check out the pics of the baby hippo, its pretty cool). It was reali gd to be taken out by someone who lives there as gettin around is next to impossible without a car. On the saturday Ellen a friend of mikes who we were stayin with took us out to a cool little surf beach where we spent the day on the Surfboards, it was good fun. Later on that evening we met up with some friends who we met along the way and went to an AFL game. It was very exciting to watch as it was a very close scoring game! AFl is a strange sport, It is pretty much a cross between football and rugby. It doesnt seem too logical but they are crazy for it in Melbourne. It was good to watch tho, a really awesome atmosphere.

After a pretty busy week in Melbourne, we head back to Sydney for Stuarts birthday, arrived at about 8am off the bus again and went to breakfast with stu and his parents who shared their storis about their travels around Fiji!! We then all head off to the pub (about 11am now) where chris and I left to book our campervan for NZ. An hour later chris and I returned to a very drunk stu where we joined in and then head to the cinema to give the livers a rest. After the cinema we head back to the hostel to get some sleep that didnt really happen!) Not too long after Stu parents arrived with a cake and sparklers. We lit the sparklers ready to sing Happy Birthday when we suddenly realised that there were smoke detectors in the room. We quickly attempted to put them out but it was too late. The fire alarms to the whole hostel were going off. We evacuated the builing, and stus mum ran down to reception to explain. We got outside when two fire engines arrived and cleared the building!! It was soo funi. We were very lucky we didnt get charged for the call out!! We decided to stay clear of the hostel and head back to the pub til the evening and went to Sidebar to meet some of stus rugby mates from back home. It was a very amusing evening. The remaining 3days we decided to spend at Manly beach which was an aweosme little chilled out surfing town!! We spent a day at Bondi surfing and another at Manly!! On the last day we all hired boards and immi and rachael came down to visit us!! We were out in the surf for about 4hours all of us were getting up great and the surf was pretty gd. Although we were surfing quite close to each other. I unfortunately managed to injure myself when i fell offr my board and then chris fell off his board resulting in a surf board in the face causing an inch long gash within my left eyebrow. It wasnt painful but there was blood evverywhere, we walked to the nearest doctors who stiched it up for me (5 stitches!!) and took a break for the rest of the day!!

We are now in New Zealand and loving every minute of it, my stiches come out tomorrow woo, hopefuli It wont scar too much! We now have our own Spaceship (a type of campervan which we will be staying in for the next 3weeks!!) Its really good fun, were stayin around some of the worlds best scenery, check the pics, we slept on the beachfront last night was soo nice.

I must go now, but ill keep you all posted about our adventures in New Zealand!!

Alex

Sydney!!

Picture taken at Mojo Surf Camp, was such a wicked day!!



Hello from Sydney!!!

We have now finished the East Coast of Australia, travelled 4,000km and it has been an amasing 5 weeks!! Loved every minute. We arrived in Sydney late afternoon, checked into our hostel (cheapest yet in oz at $17 a night) and went out to 'The Gaff' Australia's Number 1 backpacker bar for an Afterparty with the Oz Experience bus. It was really good fun, stu met up with us and the 4 of us were once again back together which was really good fun!! Yesterday (our first whole day in sydney) we decided to head out to one of its many beaches, so we went to visit Coogie Beach, we took a very scenic walk along the coastline (for about and hr) to the famous Bondi Beach which was amasing and had a quick swim. Checked out the costs for surfboard hire for the following days to come. Last night we headed out into Kings Cross with Joe, Emma and Martin. It was martins last night away and was heading back home today :( so we all said our goodbye's and danced to night away. The DJ was amasing!!
Today (well in about 10mins) we plan to head off to the sydney opera house and the harbour bridge to get some photos (watch this space). Then Ed (who we met in Thailand) and I will be heading off to the ANZ Stadium (formerly Telstra Stadium) where Englang Won the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics were held!!

Chris and I are off on our bus to Melbourne which were really looking forward to. I will keep you updated from there.

Much Love

Alex.

Brisbane and the Gold Coast

Hey all!

It's been a while since I have posted as I have been soo busy!! Everything moves soo fast over here especially when you are non stop. This is literally one fo the first times ive been able to sit down and write this.

So we arrived in Brisbane on the 25th of March at an amasing hostel (my favourite so far) named Bunk, it had a TV room, Hot Tub, Bar, Swimming Pool and tons of people we have met along the way. It was a real good laugh. Janhavi joined us for a couple of days which was good fun and quite surreal to see her the other side of the world. Natalie also joined us for her easter break and has now travelled down to sydney with stu. We spent until the 30th visiting Southbank [public beach pool] and going out in Brisbane's Valley [brisbanes top nightlife location]. We then headed down to Surfers Paridise [which is apparently the benidorm of Australia] lots of high rise buildings and miles and miles of stunning beaches where we spent most of our time. We only stayed in Surfers for one night before we headed down to stay with Vicki and Jack [Verity's Cousin] in Burleigh/Miami. It was really good to be out of the hostels and into a home. Vicki and Jack were both very kind to us letting us stay for the time we did, we had a good laugh and really enjoyed ourselves. Within the week we stayed we managed to visit Burliegh Heads [stunning view all along the coast], go to Wet n' Wild [which was sooo much fun, we spent most of our time on a water ride called the Tornado, which threw you and 4 other people down a watery half pipe at high speeds, it was good fun!] and also in Burleigh I took a surf lesson which was amasing. The waves were brilliant and I managed to catch quite a few, on my first attempt to stand up I managed to do it which I thought was a great achievement. We were using big boards and they were really good conditions. I really hope to do more as we go down the coast. However my last day in Burleigh, I hired a board and spend most of my time on the beach with my head in the sand as the waves were very rough as there was a storm brewing.

We are now in Byron Bay, back with Mike, Joe and Emma. The weather here has been rubbish lately but we hear its better in Sydney (which is where we are heading tomorrow). Despite the rain we have managed to go out on bike rides up to the lighthouse which was the most easterly point in Australia and watch dolphins below in the sea which was really good to see.
I'm not sure if you have head back home about the Shark attack on a 16 year old boy in Ballina [15mins south, a couple of headlands away]. This happened yesterday so all the beaches were closed to surfers and swimmers which was quite scary. However we plucked up the courage to go surfing this morning which was good fun. Tipping down with rain but ah wel we were wet anyway.

So tomorrow we head to Surf Camp for one night then to Sydney where the 4 of us will be re-united again. :)

keep checking the photos! We've got tons up now!
Still loving every minute, hope your all enjoying the snow back home.

Alex.

Fraser Island / Rainbow Beach

Happy Easter!! The Sun is shining here and I hear you have plenty of snow back home. We arrived back from our 4x4 Camping Trip to Fraser Island yesterday afternoon. Tired and with Sand everywhere!!!

We left on Friday in a Toyota Land Cruiser (a Tank!) with 11 people in total. Packed up the vehicle with enough food, alcohol and camping equipment for 3days! It was good fun, reminded Chris and I of being in cadets. We soon left for the biggest sand Island in the world and soon arrived at the ferry terminal for the 7minute journey over to the island. Alan (from Ireland) drove most of the time, which was good because he was the only one who had driven a 4x4 before. It was good fun. Driving along the longest beach with FatBoy Slim pumping out the stereo, it was good fun. 100km later we arrived at Indian Heads which was the most northern part of the Island. We couldn't drive any further so we visited 'Champagne Pools'. It was stunning, there were waves crashing up against the rocks on one side and the other there were these quite pools with the spray of the waves coming over the top, making the water look like champagne bubbles. It was really good to visit, we ended up swimming in the pools until the waves got higher and started washing us back! Later on that day we drove back along the beach and set up camp near quite a few other campers. The tents were suprisingly easy to set up, despite there being sand EVERYWHERE. We tried our best to keep it out. We set up the cooker and cooked our meal for the night Steak and Potatoes, which turned out really well. We soon moved onto our selection of alcohol consisting mainly of wine as its what is cheap out here which im slowly getting used to. It was'nt too long before we headed to bed as it was a very long day.

The following day we awoke around 9am to cook scrambled eggs for breakfast, quickly packed up the Land Cruiser and head off to Eilie Creek about 5mins down the beach. It was a small creek of water that had come down from the hills, ICE cold. It was very shallow so we managed to walk down the whole thing. We soon moved on to Rainbow Gorge which had some amazing sand dunes, the sand was all different colors, it was stunning. Some of the steeper sand dunes we ended up sprinting down, jumping and even roli poling down. It was good fun, we got a couple of good pictures aswell. Once we shook most of the sand off of our clothing we began to head back to the car. On the way back Chris managed to spot a python hiding underneath a tree stub, Our first close encounter with a snake. Chris got about half a meter away whereas I stood way back with my big lens to take a picture. Later on in the day we head off to Lake Wabby which was a good 40minute walk through the forest it was quite secluded. Well worth the walk tho because it was stunning. There was a massive sand dune headed downwards into the water where we had races into the lake almost toppling over, it was really funi, martin ended up falling in head first (wish i got a picture). Along the beach we found some Australians body boarding down the slopes which looked like soo much fun. Around 4pm we head back to the car because we could only drive until 5 (because we could'nt drive on the beach during high tide). We headed to a campground on the beach close to the entrance to the road leading to Lake McKenzie so we could visit it in the morning. We set up Camp and it was a similar story to the following night. We awoke in the morning to a touch of rain. We had cornflakes which somehow attracted a dingo that was hanging around the sight, the girls that were traveling with us got quite scared as it was right outside the tent. Chris took a few good photos and it soon went away. Once the dingo left we soon packed up camp again and headed along a long bumpy track to Lake Mackenzie. White sands, blue waters. It was amazing, soo clear. It was very touristy tho which I didn't like and not as secluded as Lake Wabby so I didn't enjoy it as much. Was a stunning lake tho and got a couple more pics.

We soon headed back for our 2pm ferry, tired and sandy. We got back to Dingo's (our hostel) at around 4, jumped into the comfort of a bed, washed all the sand off and chilled out for the rest of the evening. It was well needed.
So after a refreshing sleep and some free pancakes here I am in Dingo's Internet cafe spending the next couple of hours trying to upload all the photos from the past couple of weeks. Have a look! Theres loads tho, can't stop taking pictures.

Today were going to head up to Carlo Sand blow, which is another sand dune region of rainbow beach. We're gonna take the body boards so it should be good fun!! Tomorrow we head off to noosa for a night, to check it out. Then off to Brisbane, I'll update you all of our movements from then.

Hope your all enjoying the snow :)

Whitsundays / Airlie Beach

Yesterday we arrived back on the mainland at Airlie beach on the return from our boat journey on the Atlantic Clipper. It was amasing, it was quite a big yaht and had 50passengers on board. We headed out to the Whitsunday Islands. The first island we visited began on the first night where we headed to the Northern part of the region of Islands to an Island named Hook Island (one of the 74 Islands within the National Park). It was soo peaceful, not a car or a plane in sight. We docked up there for the night as the water was soo still. Early on in the evening Chris and I were on deck talking to the dive instructor when suddenly out the corner of his eye he spotted something and shouted 'HAMMERHEAD'. If you havnt gathered he spotted a hammerhead shark. Chris and I darted round to cath a glimpse in the water. The rest of the boat attempted to join us but i think it was too late for them I think. We were told this is where we wernt going to be snorkelling. :) In the evening we had our meal which was cooked in a small kitchen oin board consisting of chicken and mashed potato which was great, i havnt eaten mashed potato in a couple of months. different to my usual diet of noodles or pasta. The boat is a great place to be when its still, although not soo much below deck when we're hitting fairly big waves. We finished the eveing with a couple of games involving some alcohol and socialising with some new found friends on board. The cabins we were staying in were quite small, stuffy so I did'nt sleep well for the first time since being away and awoke around 5am to sit on deck to cath the fresh air. Once everyone had awoken we head off to a beach where everyone went snorkelling and scuba diving. I gave scuba diving a go as I had been waiting to do it for quite a while now. I did an introductory dive which cost me about 25pounds which was really good. It was very strange at first getting the breathing right but after a while I got used to it and we all went for a dive in no time. We got down to about 9meters. The weightlessness was such a cool feeling and we saw soo many fish. We managed to swim underneath and between some of the coral, it was quite a surreal experience. We soon headed back to the boat for some lunch and then head off to Whitehaven beach. We were dropped off by a speedboat on a nearby beach and took a short walk to Whitehaven Beach, It was stunning. It's hard to explain so ull have to see the pictures! It was amasing!!!
After this spectacular visit we went anchored up for the night and played a few on the boat games such as Eat the Box, involving a box and a cricket bat and alot of flexibility. One to play in freshers week with the rugby team when i get home. The rest of the evening was spent socialising with the rest of the passengers on the boat, most people were from Australia, Holland or Canada. It was good fun.

The following day we took the day to relax and recover from the following early mornings and then went out in the evening for St Patricks night which was great fun. We went to san Irish Bar called Paddys, There was an amasing cover band playing. It was a good fun.
Another day to recover we spent by the Airlie Beach Lagoon, chilling out in the sun and swimming. In the evening we cooked a BBQ and said goodbye to a few friends we had met along the way, Joe and Emma. We may see them again, maybe in New Zealand. And for once headed to bead early for our 5 o clock rise for our bus journey to Kroombit Cattle Ranch.

Kroobit Cattle Ranch was a typical Australian Ranch (about 10,000 hectares) we arrived late in the evening and we all learnt how to crack a whip. I attempted to ride the mechanical bull and failed miserably, (chris has a great video about 1 second long), Chris was much better and didnt fall off until it started turning.

Now we are in Rainbow Beach, we have a tour booked for tomorrow and a 4x4 with a group of 10other people ready to go to Fraser Island. I'm really looking forward to it, something completely different. We will be camping and cookung on stoves just like the good old times at cadets.

Theres soo much to write about, but so little time, Internet here is rare and expensive. Uploading as many pictures as possible atm so keep your eyes out. Cya in 3days.

Alex.