Thursday, June 26, 2008

Home again

Last couple of photos from Rio are from here on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thesupersaints3/RioDeJaneiro/photo#5215250157879685698


The trip to the favela was very worthwhile and also Cristo Redentor (Christ the redeemer). All that remains is the depressing task of finding work.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Iguazu and Rio

Well anyway we arrived into Sao Paulo from Caracas and thingsinstantly became all the easier. People were friendly. Colombia would be my favourite place in South America but I'd love to have more time to see Brasil. From our limited time here it has been amazing and so easy to get around in with the helpfullness of the people.

Anyway we did an overnight bus to Foz de Iguacu which was meant to be 16 hours (I think) but we did it in 15. This is more or less on the Brasil-Argentina border. From here we headed to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina via both border checks. If anyone is lanning on doing this I'd recommend a taxi as the bus doesn't stop at the border checkpoints. We relaxed the first day and headed for the falls the following day. We did the boat ride under the falls which is a bit of a ripoff and not worth doing at all but on the other side the park is very good value. On the Argentinian side you really get close to the falls and the views are amazing. We headed for Catarata on the Brazilian side the following day which amazingly was even better than the Argentinian side. The pictures do more justice than any description I can give you. We headed to Parque de Aves after the falls after this which was really good as well.

Well onto Rio that night on another night bus of 24 hours. After all the travel the first couple of days were fairly uneventful. Caroline came to the Macarana to watch Fluminese draw 1-1 against Santos (Pele's old club). It was great atmosphere even with the limited crowd. Fluminese were poor considering they're in the Copa Libertadores final against LDU Quito. It's also strange that they're currently bottom of the league. Last Saturday we headed for Flamengo against Sao Paulo which was absolutely amazing atmosphere with it being like a nightclub inside a football stadium. Flamengo lost 4-2 though although they still top the league. Caroline had alot of beach time here while I don't know what I did. Pao de Asucar was the only thing I went off on my own doing. The views from this were amazing. Today we did a favela tour in the morning and just rambled around the Centro in the evening. The favel atour was very good with some of the proceedsgoing to different projects here such as a nursery. The gap between rich and poor here is astounding.

Well 25 hours to go to my departure now. See you all soon. The weather better be good.

Slan,
David

Monday, June 16, 2008

Salto Angel, Iguazu Falls, Rio De Janeiro

Latest photos from Rio are here:
Rio de Janeiro


Also finished adding the remaining photos from Ciudad Perdida along with Salto Angel and Iguazu Falls:
Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida, Salto Angel, Catarata Iguacu, Rio De Janeiro


Anyway as I said at the end of the last post we headed for Venezuela. We had been warned that Venezuela was a dump and more trouble than it was worth by almost every traveller we met bar maybe 1 or 2 but with Chavez's high profile and it being a socialist state I wanted to see it for myself. From the moment we got into the country it was nothing but trouble with our bags being x-rayed twice, being asked for our passport 3 times and Carolines bag being searched before we got to our chosen destination which was Ciudad Bolivar via Caracas. They also have a double economy going on here with a black market operating at a rate of 3000 Bolivars to the US Dollar whereas the cash machines give you about 2100. This is designed to keep inflation down for the poorer population but in my opinion what happens is that anyone reasonably well off has access to the american dollars so it's only the poorer people that lose out. One thing Chavez had done was giving a handout to the Indigenistas of $150 a week we were told but on the downside they aren't growing crops or farming animals due to having this free money. For those that don't know it the country is the third highest producer of oil worldwide. I'd be very worried what happens here when the oil runs out as the people here have forgotten how to work and are extremely unfriendly for the most part.

Oh and while I think of it those that say FARC are all bad must have a look at this link on Alvaro Uribe, the leader of Colombia whose father was heavily involved in the drug business:
Alvaro Uribe's links to drugs

Having said that Colombia was absolutely amazing and would definitely recommend it.

Anyway back to Salto Angel. We did the tour with green Iguana in Ciudad Bolivar. It cost 600 Bolivar Fuerte which equated to about $430 with the preferential exchange rate. The sites on the tour were absolutely amazing but the guide left alot to be desired. It doesn't really matter quality wise which group you book with as all the tour companies are lumped together when you arrive at Canaima. It's strange in Venezuela that nearly every tour is run by German ex-pats which even the Germans refer to as the German mafia due to their wheelings and dealings. We were really lucky as we saw Salto Angel without any mist which I think is fairly unusual not that you'd get any info out of the tour operators. Also on our first night we were only 5 minutes from the falls but our tour guide neglected to mention this simple fact. On the last day we saw Sapo falls and went right under them which was brilliant. We flew back to Ciudad Bolivar from Canaima in only a 5 seater Cessna plane which was very good. The trip here is very overpriced but it is absolutely amazing to do.

We headed back to Caracas on the overnight bus that night and stayed around the hotel for most of the day mostly because we were shattered and we had also been warned that it was unsafe. We went out for food that night which was as usual overpriced. Venezuela left a very bad taste in our mouth compared to the friendliness in Colombia. English music was very prevalent here but from our observations most of the time the people couldn't be bothered making the effort to try to understand you.

We flew to Sao Paulo the following morning and as per the norm in Venezuela only one of the cash machines in the international airport accepted international cards. Was a disaster but we'd come to expect this in Venezuela. I'll have to tell you about Iguazu and Rio later as I've run out of time but I promise it has a much happier ending.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Cartagena, Santa Marta, Ciudad Perdida

Hello all,

We flew up to Cartagena and we ended up spending much more time there than we intended. It was a lovely city and the real narrow streets and the generally laid back atmosphere reminded me of Cuba an awful lot. The first 2 days we didn't get up to a whole lot bar just strolling around the streets otherwise known as bumming around. I think we might have been a small bit shattered from all the bus trips before this. After 2 days of this we reckoned we should get our act together and the following day we headed for Isla de Rosario and Playa Blanca. I didn´t think much of the tour and we probably would have been as well just heading straight for Playa Blanca. The nhext day we headed for Volcan de Tolcan which is a volcano that is filled with mud from it bubbling. It was really good surprisingly. We met a crowd on this trip from Brasil, Germany, America and Switzerland and ended up going on a Chiva bus around the town that night with them to be dropped at a nightclub later. It was a ripoff though if any other travellers are reading this. It was 25 mil for just over an hour whereas it's advertised as being 4 hours and most of this time wasn't spent on the bus. Very good sport and got a fair bit of free rum into us.

The following day post champions league final we headed for Santa Marta via Taxi to bus station via Bucaramanga (Shakiras birthplace by the way but sadly didn't get the photo of her statue) via station in Santa Marta to Taganga. Taganga is a great little coastal town just outside Santa Marta but sadly infiltrated with scores of Israelis and every restaurant seems to cater for that. I wouldn't be surprised if half the town is Israeli owned but that's pure hearsay. We only nbummed around here for 2 nights and then we did penance on the Ciudad Perdida trek.

I´d recommend the trek but you would definitely want to be in some sort of condition. I´m in the prime of my life at 29. If there´s anyone reading this blog and you´re touch and go whether you´ll actually do the trek you can post comments here and I´ll get my girfriend Caroline to get back to you on how hard the trek was as her and my opinions would differ a good bit and she read alot of blogs before she did it as she was unsure of the difficulty. The first day had a hard first hour but the other 2 hours were ok. Day 2 I think was 5 hours walking but it was easyish. We got there when we thought we had at least 1 more hour of walking left. Day 3 I think was the hardest with 8 river crossings which I did in my bare feet but you´d probably be better off if you had flip flops or sandals. After this there were 1350 steps to the top to Ciudad Perdida. We only spent 1 day in Ciudad Perdida and to be honest this is enough. Day 4 was long enough but from here on in each day was a repeat of what we´d done before. 5 was fine but 6 was tough as there was heavy rain with about an hour to go. Was very testing but I thought the hike was very good. Our guides Gabrielle and Alberto were excellent. I think magitours in Taganga was the name of the tour company we did it with.

After tonight we´ll have spent 3 nights in Taganga post tour. Just relaxed for most of it as well as catching the Ireland V Colombia match here, Ireland jersey and all. Today we went to Parque Tayrona. This was well worth a visit. It´s about an hour from Santa Marta so if you´re going you should go early as there´s a bit of walking to get to the beaches even when you get the jeep from the front gate.

Early start in the morning to head into Venezuela. The only thing we´ll see will be Angel Falls here and after that we´ll be heading for Sao Paulo followed by Iguazu falls. Hope the sunshine is lasting at home. 16 days to go.

Here are the latest photos:
Cartagena, Taganga, Ciudad Perdida


More photos to follow as they´re not loading very fast for me tonight.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Medellin, Bogota

Medellin wasn´t great at all. The city has very little to offer but I´ve heard that maybe the highlights are to be seen in the countryside outside it. Zona Rosa is the main area with nightlife but it´s like going for a drink in Cafe en Seine or Ron Blacks with a similar pricing structure. It was 5000 for a beer here compared to 1800 everywhere else and the accommodation in Casa Kiwi was 60,000 compared to 40,000 here in Bogota which is the highest we have paid. The exchange rate here is 1800 Pesos to the dollar so we generally just half and take away the 000 to convert to dollar. The dollar is generally our benchmark here to decide whether we´re paying alot. Colombia has been the dearest country we´ve encountered so far. The lonely planet doesn´t give an honest reflection at all on prices and we´ve heard rumours that the lonely planet writers weren´t even in Colombia and judging by prices and the errors I wouldn´t find that hard to believe.

Anyway we headed for Bogota after here and naturally the 9 hour trip took 12 hours but that´s to be expected. We were very pleasantly surprised by Bogota. It´s the nicest capital city we´ve encountered so far. We arrived in late the first night so didn´t see much. we stayed in Hostel Sue which was really lovely near Platypus hostel. The first day was filled with museum visiting with us seeing the Museo del Oro (or Gold museum), Museo Nacional and also Cerro de Montserrate which gave a great view of the city. Plaza Bolivar was also very nice to see. Today we headed to Cathedral Sal in the morning which is a church-cathedral built into a hollowed out salt mountain and this afternoon we headed for the Museo de Policia which was very good. The sound guides here as much as the material made it. It was really interesting talking to the guides covering a broad range of topics such as FARC and cocaine production.

Tomorrow we´re headed for Cartagena on a flight. Santa Marta is our only other planned destination in Colombia but I´m sure we might stop in between somewhere. After that we´ll head for Venezuela where Maracaiba, Caracas and Angel falls are our planned destinations. If time allows we might also head for the Orinoco delta. We´re planning on being down to Manaus in Brasil to catch a flight to Sao Paulo on the 5th of June from where we´ll head towards Iguazu falls. That´s the plan but it´s open to change.

The latest photos are here:
Salento, Medellin, Bogota

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Buenas Noches from Medellin

We headed to Armenia the following day and it was another hour from here until Salento. Salento is only a snall town but it was great here. The Salsa music and dancing was really cool not that we partook much with our limited talents. We planned on spending one night here but ended up staying 3. We trekked in the Cocora valley the first day. You can catch a jeep to here from the main plaza for 3000 pesos. We headed up to the lookout at Montana here which was amazing. I'll add photos in due course. The second day we headed for 2 coffee plantations which were really different with one being a modern mechanized one with the other being very traditional with everything manually operated. These were really good. We had planned on heading back for Armenia in the evening but the weather and the atmosphere in the town we stayed on for the third night. Was great atmosphere on the plaza with it being mothers day here. They had all tents set up on the plaza for food and drink as they do every weekend but it was probably busier again due to Mothers day.

We headed to Medellin today which took the 6 hours plus the extra 2 that always seem to be added onto any transport in Colombia. Here is the home of Pablo Escobar, the drug lord but that's a long time ago now. Looks a fairly modern city. It's meant to have one of the best metros in the world. To be honest I'm looking forward to getting back out of cities again. Probably spend 2 nights here before heading for Bogota. Piping hot here. Hope the weather has remained good at home.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Update from Cali in Colombia

Puert Lopez in Ecuador was our next port of call after Montanita. Not much to there but is nice and relaxing and the scenery around it is impressive. We spent 2 days here and the first day we got a boat over to the island of Isla de la Plata. We did a 10 k walk here which was really good. The blue footed boobys are the main attraction here and we also saw 2 Albatrosses. We also snorkelled here for half an hour and I was really impressed with what we saw. We headed to Los Frailes and Laguna Blanco the following day and as the photos will show the place was really pretty. We met a Ecuadorian lad from Quito on the boat trip the previous day and I must say Mucho Gusto to him if he´s reading this for driving us to Laguna Blanco and home again.

Our next stop was Banos which was west of us but it weas really awkward getting here as due to the state of the roads we had to head back down south to Guayaquil to get here. We left at 9 in the morning and only arrived in Ambato which is an hour from Banos at 10 at night. We hit for Banos early the next morning in the Colectivo which is really just a mini bus of sorts. Banos was beautiful. It´s built in a valley with the mountains appearing to be at all sides and there´s a volcano just outside it. We did a 12 k cycle here to Aguas Verdes which was really nice with loads of waterfalls but on the down side we were covered in muck from head to toe. Bar this we took it fairly relaxed here. It´s a spot I´d definitely recommend to ther people though.

Quito was our next stop and our final stop in Ecuador. All the rest of Ecuador was amazing but Quito was very bad. We always felt that we had to watch our back here and in the evenings we really clocked up the man hours on the telly here. We stayed here 3 nights in total. The first day we went to the old town to see all the churches. It was a really nice place to walk around in. I must say that it´s the new town that has the reputation for being dangerous but maybe the old town could have been different. The second day we headed to Mitad Del Mundo or centre of the earth aka the Equator. Inti Nan Museo Solar was recommended to us here as opposed to the Mitad Del Mundo complex as it´s at the real equator whereas the other place is 300 metres off. This was really good and I enjoyed it alot better than expected. We headed back for a salsa lesson that night which again was really good once you got into it. It was run by a Cuban lad who was really good.

The following day we arrived into Popoyan in Colombia after a 16 hour bus journey from Quito. Still living the dream as you can imagine. We arrived to Tulcan at the border after 5 hours and the formalities at both sides were handy enough. Colombia was a cake walk. I was able to check Caroline through immigration without her even coming to the window. We arrived into Ipiales on the Colombian side and we then organised our bus to Cali which was meant to get in at 10. With all the delays we decided on staying in Popoyan that night as we only arrived into here at 10 with Cali being a further 3 hours away. Popoyan was lovely with all the walls very white looking. Churches are the main attraction here and after the old town in Quito I've seen enough of these but very nice to have a stroll around and very safe.

We headed for Cali the following day. Cali was meant to have super night life but it wasn´t evident last night. Maybe it´s the weekend that things get busy. We headed to the Zoo today which was absolutely amazing. There are lots of photos from here you can check out. We headed south of the Rio Cali after this to have a look around town but bar churches there wasn´t much on offer. The scenery in Colombia has been very impressive so far. Tomorrow we´ll head for Armenia and Salento and probably only spend one night here. At the moment our plan is to head for Bogota after this followed by Medellin, Santa Marta and Cartagena.

The latest photos are here:
Montanita, Puerto Lopez, Banos, Quito, Popoyan, Cali


I believe the weather is very good at home so here´s hoping it lasts till June. Hasta Luego.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Update from Montanita

I came back to Cuzco after 2 days seeing Macchu Piccu and the town of Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is very over priced relatively speaking to the rest of Peru and there´s alot of price fixing going on. They have hot springs here where we went to the 2 days we were here. This was nice enough but there wasn´t a whole lot else in the town to do. The first day it was raining so we didn´t do a whole lot and we also missed out on the climb up Putucusi which is meant to have a great view over Macchu Picchu but with the rain all we would have seen is mist anyway. The second day we headed into Macchu Picchu which is really good but it´s got very expensive. According to the lonely planet it was meant to be $21.50 but now it´s gone up to 144 sole which is the guts of $48. Also for a place that has so much walking about they know how to charge for water it is 10 sole here for a small 300 ml bottle whereas the normal price is 3 sole everywhere else in Peru and 4 sole in Aguas Calientes for a 2.5 litre bottle of water. The site here is very impressive when you look past all the overcharging though. I climbed Huayna Picchu at the back of the site while I was here. The last time I did the Inca trail the other lads climbed this but I got a bit of the vertigo so chickened out. I was lucky to get to climb this at all as I was 399 of 400 allowed to climb it per day. It´s alright the first stretch of it where you´re not looking down at all but the bit at the top is scary as. I nearly chickened out but I said feck it seeing as I´ve climbed it this far. Whatever it was like going up it was terrifying coming down as the steps were small little steps with barely enough room for your feet and steep as. I managed it alright though in my hands and knees.

In Lima before this we stayed in Miraflores, kind of the posh part of Lima. Very nice spot and the views from the Larcomar are very impressive. We headed into the center of Lima for a look around the Plazas which was good. We got a look at the changing of the guard at Palais Nacional. We got a tour guide here who brought us around the various churches.

I arrived into Tumbes late about 2 days ago after our flight from Cusco via Lima and Piura although here we didn´t even get off the plane. Tumbes hadn´t much in it and we didn´t get up to much here bar going for a bit of breakfast in Plaza De Armas.

We headed onto Guayaquil in Ecuador about lunchtime that day which was about 5 hours away. We did the border crossing ok and arrived into Guayaquil that night. We scored with the Sander hotel here which had our own tv for only $12 although almost every channel was in Spanish but a tv none the less. We got a lovely seafood platter kind of thing which was a nice break from the Peruvian cuisine in the Malecon 2000. The food in Peru wasn´t up to much and it hardly varied from place to place. It was like they delivered the same menu to every place in Peru but the Ecuadorian food is alot better. By the way Ecuador is so named because of it´s position on the Equator. The Malecon is a lovely shopping / financial / park area they´ve developed right on the waterfront. Bar the Malecon Guayaquil hadn´t a whole lot to offer but it more than served it´s purpose as a stopping off point. By the way Guayaquil while not being the capital is Ecuadors largest city.

We headed onto Montanita then where we are still which is a surfing spot as well as being a bit of a party town. It didn´t let us down on either front as my head can testify to today. We ended up meeting a guy Sean from Kerry who´s in Ros na Ruin and an Israeli that we ended drinking with last night. It´s a nice little town here with plenty happening and we´ll probably spend 2 more nights here before heading for Puerto Lopez which connects to Isla De Plata which is referred to as the poor mans Galapagos. However almost everything here with any bit of wildlife here is referred to as a poor mans Galapagos. In total we´ll probably spend about a week on the Pacific coast before heading for Banos and Quito.

Here are some photos since the last installment:
Cancun, Huanchaco, Lima, Cusco, Macchu Picchu, Guayaquil

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Huanchaco adieu

Well Muchachos,

¿Esta Bien? Good 10 days of surfing was had in Huanchaco outside Trujillo. For any surfers there when the swell is good about the 2m it´s very good about the pier but if you go right from the pier down towards hostal naylamp it´s absoluely amazing. It´s like being on a rollercoaster except you´re not on any tracks. Absolutely brilliant and very safe in case there are worried relations out there. Hostal Naylamp is a great spot here but the nightlife is almost non-existent no it is non-existent. Sabe´s 4 or 5 doors up from Naylamp has the only small bit of activity but almost all days 2 people is the most you´ll see in here. I met a Carlow lad, a couple of New Zealanders, an Arbentinian Belgian and other odd stragglers which broke up the evenings. The Trujillo is the local beverage here which is tasty tack and only a dollar a 620 ml bottle.

I came back on the night bus from Trujillo last night and will head for Cusco on the 16th for probably 4 or 5 days for Macchu Picchu. After that we´ll be making tracks for Ecuador. Not sure of our route yet but I´ll let you know in time.

Any Bertie bashing be sure to give me a shout.

On a more sombre note Trevor Deely´s mother asked my mother to put this picture about of Trevor. If anyone has any news contact me or the number on the poster.
Trevor Deely

Friday, April 4, 2008

Cancun, Lima, Huanchaco

Cancun turned out to be alright. It's very developed with 24 km of concrete and there's also a bit of segregation in the resorts with alot of the gringos in the nice pools and the Mexicano on the beach. It's a bit sad for the Mexicans also as I'd say they have trouble accessing the beaches. The only way to get to the beach is via the hotels and I'm told the hotels generally stop Mexicans. I went to a fantastic nightclub here though called Coco Bongos. They have different acts on stage all night and they have trapeze artists swinging down onto the bar. It was $63 in but it's free drink once you get in which seems to bring on bouts of headaches the next morning. All in all I'd recommend anyone to go there.

I arrived into Lima about 1 in the morning and spent only the next day there. I took it fairly handy there and only hung around for the day and also had a look down at Miraflores. I took the overnight bus (10 hours) to Truquillo that night and got the colectivo to Huanchaco. This is basically just a big outdated minibus that drops people off and picks people up along the route. It's entertaining enough looking at the guys hanging out the door trying to pick up a fare. This spot I'm in is a small fishing village which doubles as a surfing village for the tourists. Good surf here. It's about 2m alot of the time although yesterday I must have picked the only calm part of the day. I'll head for a surf now after my Desayuno or breakfast. I'm getting by with my limited Spanish but I could do with alot of improvement.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sydney Adieu, Mexico

After doing my last blog entry in one huge chunk I haven't learned my lesson at all. I stayed one more week in Sydney and apart from surfing, the Tea gardens and the Cock and Bull not much else happened. The Paddys day parade was good craic and especially post parade in Hyde Park. Having said that I'm not sure whether there were many Paddys in the organising committee as the bar was diabolical. Paddys day wasn't great I have to say. The surf that day was highly enjoyable though. I stayed in Caroline's friend's, Breda Murnanes place. She gets an honourable mention if she's reading this.

After a week in Sydney I was off to Mexico for it's culture but I was to be cultured out by all the information. It was a very good tour none the less. We started off in Mexico city. I arrived the night before my Mam and spent the first night in a hostel/ hotel. It was good value at $20 for a double room and your own shower. This was the roughing part of it as I would be staying in hotels for the rest of the trip. We stayed in the hilton for the 3 nights we were in Mexico city. We saw lots although at times my mother was climbing the himalayas going in and out of metro stations. Taxis and walking on level ground was soon decided to be the mode of transport. There´s loads to see in Mexico city including Palacio Bellas Des Artes (Museum of modern art), Catedral Metropolitana, Plaza de Republica and Plaza Major (Major Aztec Site). The people of the city were very friendly I thought although the major hotels, the Sheraton in particular do their best to rip you off.

The second day on the tour we headed to Teotihuacan outside Mexico city. This is a former Toltec site. This would be my highlight of the archaelogical sites but maybe this is partially because this was at the start of the tour before I got Archaelogicaled out. We did the tour with caravan tours and although the guide was very knowledgeable sometimes a break from talking for a kip would have done me the world of good. The tour was made up of 44 people with the bulk of these being Americans although some had Mexican and Columbian backgrounds. If I had been told this before the tour I probably would have had a hernia but they surprised me with how sound they were and knowledgeable. By the way I'm not licking arse here as it'll be a miracle if any of them find this blog but I'm just saying it broke the stereotype I had of them. Back to Teotihuacan I climbed the Pyramide de Sol and de Luna here. These were nice climbs and weren't too difficult.

The next day we had a long day of driving to Veracruz. Veracruz hadn't much of note but it was a real party town with lots going on down on the beach and there was plenty of activity on the main square. We only spent a night here but it would have been great to have spent longer here.

The following day we were off to Palenque. By the way I'm struggling with names here so I have the Lonely Planet out constantly trying to find the names of the different places I was. We stopped in a lovely town Pueblo on the way. This is a UNESCO site but it is getting rundown due to lack of funding. They don't charge to get here like other UNESCO sites which I think is a pity. The government of Mexico is totally corrupt and the wealth of the country is controlled by 13 families. Also Mexico has natural resources of oil but the wealth from this doesn't filter down to the lower classes. Mexico signed the NAFTA treat with the US and Canada but it gets no benefit from this as the American multinationals come in as well as the cheap agricultural produce which kills the Mexican farmer. The Mexican government doesn't seem to show any leadership at all. We also visited Olmec heads in Villahermosa en route.

Palenque was lovely but it was also very similar to Teotihuacan. These sites start to get tedious after seeing a couple of them but well worth a look all the same. We had that afternoon off to laze in the pool or whatever and this was heaven after all the early starts and all the driving.

Two nights in Palenque and it was onwards to Merida via the ruins in Uxmal. Maybe with the passing of time I'll appreciate all I saw but not after only finishing the tour today. Merida was another nice colonial town and we visited Chichen Itza from here. The tallest pyramid here was really impressive as the photos hopefully will testify.

Today we came to Cancun on the shores of the Caribbean. The colour of the sea here is amazing, a nice turquoise colour. There's 24 km of hotels to ruin that though. I worry about people from the US that come down here as it's just another version of America. I'm here for 2 days until Monday so hopefully I'll get some snorkelling in. Then I'm heading for Lima and I'll head north of here to Huanchaco for a week of surfing before Caroline arrives back on the 14th of April.

Pictures from Mexico as well as footage of the supersaint here:
Mostly Mexico

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Alice Springs to Adelaide to Tasmania

The photos of Tasmania and Adelaide are here:
Adelaide, Tasmania


Now after ignoring the blog I have to do itall in one big chunk. I've done a heap since I last updated it. Anyway we had arrived into Alice Springs last time I updated this. Alice is smallish but as we were to find out before we left the place was very unsafe. There are were lots of Aboriginals roaming about the place much like you see some young lads roaming around O Connell street. They're doing nothing wrong but you're very wary of them as they just seem dodgy. I think people that have been trodden on for over 100 years with no education and no opportunities would be no different but at the same time they don't do themselves any favours. For instance you can't go out in Alice Springs on your own at night. You have to get a taxi home. Also that night we stayed in Alice 2 of the hostels were broken into and it was said that it was aboriginals and in one of the places one of the girls actually saw aboriginals taking her rucksack. They were only given the vote in 1967 and Uluru was only handed back to them in 1985 with one of the conditions being that they allow people to climb it. The Aborigines ask people not to climb it but hundreds still do. As a mark of respect I think they shouldn't allow people to climb it. Our guide likened climbing it, to skygliding off the vatican. I think it's closer to pissing on an altar. Also compared to New Zealand where they're educated on Maori customs, there's no education in Australia on Aboriginal customs. Rant finished.

We lefty Alice at 5 in the morning to do over 500 k to our first stop Kings Canyon. Here our walking was going to begin. It wasn't too bad but it was a good taster of what the following 6 days would hold. The photos will give you a better idea of what it was like than any description I can give you. It was good but it paled in comparison to Kata Tjuta which comes later. We saw the sunset over Uluru and Kata Tjuta that night from our campsite which was nice. On the way to the camp site we passed a mountain really similar in shape to Uluru called Mount Connor and it was gas seeing everyone taking photos of it in excitement only to be told later it wasn't the main man.

We saw Uluru for sunrise the next morning but I wasn't that impressed with it. There's a taller monolith than it in WA called Mount Augusta but I suppose it's not as pretty. I main thing I thought that would recommend Uluru to people is the Aboriginal stories/history here.Our guide Adam from adventure travel was really informative and it was good to see an Australian person actually cared about the plight of the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginals are starting to get into Aboriginal based tourism and I think this could be very useful for educating people about their customs. We saw Kata Tjuta that evening which I thought was the most impressive out of this 6 day trip. You'll see the pictures but it really reminded me of scenes from the Lion King.

Our next stop was Coobers Pedy in another 7 or 800 k. I was looking forward to coming here. This is an underground city but I didn't rate it in the end. I don't know I just thought of it as all being underground with tunnels between shops and houses but it wasn't like that at all. Most places just had a cellar in their house. The underground bar here was actually overground. I didn't rate it at all but I suppose fair play for making something of nothing here, something Australian tourism is brilliant at. Irish tourism could well take a leaf out of their book.

The next day we saw Lake Torrens and stayed close to Wilpena Pound which is part of the Flinders ranges. Lake Torrens is a big salt lake. I thought this was very impressive. We climbed Wilpena Pound the following day. This is a decent climb but it was well worth doing. We stayed in Parachilna that night for our bush/roadkill bbq. We had Kangaroo, Camel and Emu. I thought it was very tasty but the views of the girls on the trip differed wildly. It wasn't all bad, more for me. We had a couple in the pub here that night. It was a real bush pub with no bars for over 400 km.

The last day we headed for Adelaidevia a wine tasting in Clare valley. It was nice to be back in civilization but it was scary as well. It was really strange to see all these people after being in the wilderness for 6 days. Overall the tour was very good. Uluru and Coober Pedy were a bit of a dissappointment but the other parts more than made up for it. Adelaide was nice. We didn't get up to a whole lot here but it was grand just to stroll around the streets. The market and Glenelg beach were very nice.

We were only 2 nights in Adelaide and then we hit for Tasmania. To be honest I think we were shattered after all the 6 o clock starts on the 6 day tour and we did alot of sleeping the first couple of days. We arrived into Hobart airport and only spent a night here which was more than enough. We hit the harbour, Salamance place and north Hobart. North Hobart was the most happening of the whole lot. It was very quiet and we were happy enough to hit the road the following day.

Our next stop was Port Arthur, a former convict settlement. We did a ghost tour here that night which was brilliant. Caroline was holding my hand alot tighter in here for some reason. This was the highlight and was much better than the tour the following day in daylight. The brutality here was shocking and judging by our guide, he seemed to think it'd be a great idea if this system was re-introduced. Solitary confinement was a feature here and the opening of a lunatic asylum here didn't seem to alert the English authorities that something wasn't going quite to plan here. Good to see but there isn't a town nearby to here. Tasmania isn't setup very well for tourism at all here. Especially in the south you're very lucky to find backpacker or budget accomodation in the towns. You have to check this out before you go near a town.

We headed for Ross that night for the famous bridge. They have a crossroads here that goes in either of 4 directions temptation (pub), salvation(church), recreation (town hall) or damnation (old jail). A happening spot as you can believe.

We headed for Freycinet National Park the following day to see Wineglass bay. The photos of this are fairly impressive.

The Bay of Fires up the north is also worth a visit. This is a real beach area although you have to be careful with the rips here. We stayed in Longford that night above a pub and we headed down at 9.30 for a drink only to find the pub was actually closed.

Next stop was Cradle mountain. This is the start of the overland track. After 1 day of walking I was glad I wasn't doing 7 more days of it. I think all the walking between Alice and Adelaide had us all walked out.

Then back to Lanceston. Not much to report here either. Cataract gorge is the highlight here. Tasmania is very nice but you'd have to be fairly fond of the walking. Nightlife here was pretty non-existent. The entries you might have noticed are getting shorter and shorter now. It's not entirely due to Tasmania but more due to me getting bored writing.

Myself and Caroline arrived back in Sydney the day before yesterday and she went home yesterday. I'm in Sydney till the 19th after which I'm heading for Mexico for 10 days to meet my mam. Then I'll be meeting Caroline back in Lima in mid April to be home for late June. You can surely drop me a line after that big long essay. Slan.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Very brief update

So much to say and I mightn't get to say it all now as it's been over 2 weeks since I did any updates. I'm currently on the last day of the Tasmania phase and we did the 6 day Alice Springs to Adelaide trip. Here are the last set of photos:
Last night in Cairns, Alice Springs to Adelaide Trip


I didn't get far did I. I'll give more updates next week.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Cairns

The only update I give to you is that we arrived in Cairns and are due to leave it for Alice Springs in the morning. We're doing a 6 day tour down to Adelaide from here but the bad news is that we're being collected at 5.10. Ouch. Back to Cairns. It's a big enough place and the pubs are very good craic here. Maybe a little too much. We arrived in here late and the next morning we hit off for the Cape Tribulation tour which we were doing over 2 days and 1 night. The driver Troy with Jungle Tours was really good. We hit Port Douglas on the way up which is a yuppie tourist town. It has a local population of 9000 yet it doesn't have a hospital or a school while a smaller town of 4000 up the road has both. We also did a river cruise where we saw crocodiles and flying foxes. We stayed in the Beach House in Cape Tribulation which was fairly dull but on the plus side it did allow us to see the beach and the lookout the following day. The tour had 2 Mayo girls, Ann and Majella who we ended up going out with when we arrived back to Cairns. Nursing a hangover today we manged to do the Kuranda skyway and the train return. Lovely scenery and the Barron falls were amazing. It's the most spectacular waterfall I've seen on the trip yet. The photos will do more justice than my description. It's probably more amazing at the moment as there's a huge amount of rain.

I also added more photos into that same folder as below.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Tully, Mission Beach

It must have been all the rain in Aerlie Beach that had me in bad form. Queenslanders aren't a bad aul sort although the majority of hostel owners are thieving gypsies. The hostel banana barracks in Tully is a dive and they do have the fruitpickers there over a barrel as it's the only backpackers in the town. The backpackers who want to stay on do this as if you work for a 3 month stint on a farm you get another year on your visa. Having said that we were delighted to have it to go for a drink as the other bar in the town in the Hotel Tully was closing as 7.22 PM. The next day we were doing the white water rafting with Raging Thunder. This was excellent. Any of the lads reading this will be pleased to know that I managed to stay in the boat but just about. I half fell out but managed to hold onto the ropes. John Tobin has my other fallout on general release as I assume most of you have seen. They've stopped doing DVDs so you'll have to depend on my own version of events. We went back to Mission Beach after this and we're still there but are due to leave for Cairns this evening.

I couldn't see anything about the croc in Mission beach but I came across this. Gives a new meaning to Water hazards:
"A CROCODILE that has taken a preferred lie in a water hazard on The Willows Golf Club course at Townsville in north Queensland golf course is to be allowed to stay. The metre-long freshwater crocodile was found following recent floods in a lake on the 14th hole at the Willows Golf Club at Kirwan, near Townsville. As he poses no threat, Queensland Parks and Wildlife decided he could stay until he chooses to move."

Here's a story about the yacht that was wrecked on Aerlie beach:
Romance

We had trouble getting up from Aerlie to Tully and there were no buses operating due to the floods one of the days. When we did get up we couldn't see what the fuss was all about. An area Mackay further south was declared a natural disaster zone though. See:
Mackay

Here's some pictures anyway:
Whitsundays, Tully, Mission Beach


I'll have to get some cheerier news for next time. It's starting to sound liker naturaldisasters.com.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Koala's, Westpac

This is only of interest for anyone travelling Australia. I'd avoid the Koala's like the plague. The hostels in Noosa and Hervey Bay were terrible. The kitchens were tiny and it was like fight club trying to get yourself dinner. In Noosa the only knife was stuck in between a cooker and the microwave so to cut anything you were constantly on the move. In these places it's like they're trying to make conditions so bad that you have to buy dinner in the bar. Also their trip to Fraser Island is terrible with both the vehicles and the equipment substandard. They don't seem to service the vehicles at all. Our clutch was wrecked by the second day and when you pressed it down you had to have a piece of string to pull it back up. Also when we rang from the port to get their assistance with the car which was basically unroadworthy we were told they couldn't collect it. We also heard that another Koalas vehicle had the same problem while we were there. As part of the equipment we were given a rusty shovel that cracked the first time we used it. They also had the cheek to charge the group beside us for a knife that fell apart when they were cutting vegetables for dinner. The lads that run this are most arrogant group of people. They have a $60 bond from each person so that you can't complain about the abuse/insults you get or they keep part of your bond. They asked the girls in our group to demonstrate French kissing. I'm emailing this to lonely planet so that hopefully they can take out any reference to these in the next issue. I think the place in Aerlie Beach is already taken out of it.

While I'm at it avoid Westpac. They try to charge you for any international transactions and they tried to charge me twice for the same transaction.

Noosa, Frasier Island, Whitsundays

Noosa was a great spot. Lovely place to have a look around. Really enjoyed the surf here.

Our next stop was Hervey Bay. There's not much happening here bar people either going to Fraser Island or coming back. The Aboriginal name of this island K'gari means paradise which I think it should really be known as. The name Fraser comes from the widow of Captain Fraser who is meant to have told exaggerated tales of how her husband was killed/died. The island itself is amazing. It's the largest sand island in the world. Lake MacKenzie and Lake Wabby are 2 freshwater lakes which are amazing. The view from Indian Head is fantastic. Champagne Pools is a rock pool that gets filled by the breaking surf of the sea outside. We spent 3 days and 2 nights here with 7 other people who were really sound. Was great to see again. I've been to all the places north of here on the east coast but if they're anything like Fraser it'll be great to see them again.

We arrived in Aerlie beach on Tuesday after a 15 hour journey which should have been 12. The floods here are fairly bad. We just about got through. At some places we had just under the 0.3 metres of water. If it's above this it's not allowed to drive. There are boats washed up on the beach here and one boat Romance was actually wrecked the day before we were due to go out but the weather had calmed considerably by the next morning. It has been rumoured that the crew of this boat were actually drinking so that could have had an effect. We got poxy lucky with the weather and had great weather for 2 of the 3 days. Also the crowd we went with were sound out with 2 from Glasgow, 2 from Nottingham, A Melbourne lad and a Danish girl and 1 German. We got 3 snorkels in over the 3 days and also saw Whitehaven beach in the sunshine which helped. The fish were amazing here but I think there was better on the Ningaloo reef in WA. Is that a bit too much namedropping? The food on board was really good as well. Last night just as we headed for bed it started lashing and it's only really stopped recently. In Mackay which is about 50 km from us they've had 348 mm in the last 24 hours. Also Queensland has had double their usual February rainfall in 15 days. This is worse than normal but having said that we were told on the boat that this is normal for monsoon season which is November till March and they couldn't believe that the tourist operators would hide this from us. We're used to this by now as Eastern Australians either have their heads up their own arses or are just out and out liars. For instance when we visited the shark show in Hervey Bay the guy running this was basically saying that alot of the shark attacks here are covered up by the government unless there's an actual eye witness. There was one in Mission Beach a couple of days ago and it was never reported in the media.

Because of the weather we're going to skip Magnetic Island and head straight for Tully tomorrow assuming the bus is going north. At the moment it's very touch and go.

More photos here:
Auckland, Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Brisbane, Noosa, Fraser Island

Monday, February 4, 2008

Byron Bay, Surfers anti-Paradise, Brisbane

Auckland was very very quiet. It's a city of 1.5 million people but they must be all tee-totallers. We were there on the Monday of the bank holiday weekend and there wasn't a sinner. A table quiz in one of the Irish pubs was as lively as it got. Also had a pint in a pub called father teds here. Great name but the craic was lacking. The following morning we headed for Auckland Skytower. Was very good. Glad I was on the inside of the glass though as there were lads doing vertical drops onto this circle painted in red and white stripes. I'll add the photo when I get a chance.

We flew to the gold coast that afternoon to begin the East Coast adventure. We passed Coolangatta en route on the bus where the world surfing champion, Mick Fanning is from. We finally reached our destination Byron Bay that night. Byron is a good spot but the nightlife outside the hostel was quiet enough. The surf here is the best that I've experienced. The speed of it is amazing. You really fly. Alot of what we did was beach and surfing. Sure how bad. We also did a tour that brought us to Nimbin. This is a drug haven which was interesting to see but I wouldn't like to spend more than an afternoon here. The tour was more interesting for the bus tour and the history lesson of the area we got. The locals here stand up for the community against these multinationals that would make this little town into another surfers paradise which is just skyscrapers all over the place. Subway backhandedly got into the town by going in under another name as they knew there would be protests if they went in under their real name.

We spent 3 nights here before we headed for Surfers. Surfers Paradise is the opposite of what a surfer would call paradise. It's highrise everywhere and the nightlife is very like what the resorts are like in Ayia Napa or how I imagine Ibiza would be like. There's a heap of Irish pubs here but they're not much craic. The first night the nightclubs looked fairly dead.

We headed to the Wet N Wild water park the following day which was brilliant craic. We spent the whole day there even missing the last direct bus back to surfers. The Tornado ride was the best here which has a really steep drop into a funnel shaped tube. Have a look here for more details:
Wet N Wild

That night we headed on a pub crawl of 4 of the nightclubs. Was alright craic with people from 8 of the hostels in Surfers there. It was only $30 and you got a free drink in each of the nightclubs.

With a brutal hangover we headed up the q1 for a view of Surfers to get the mandatory shot of the skyscrapers with the sea in the background. If they're looking for a solution to the water problems in Australia I'd be open to bulldozing this place and putting in a resorvoir here.

We headed onto Brisbane in the afternoon. Nothing really planned here. Just lazing around the city. We met Aisling O Mahony last night for a couple of drinks in her local the Paddo.

We'll head for Australia Zoo tomorrow en route to Noosa. This is the zoo that Steve Irwin became famous from. After that we'll head for Hervey Bay - Frasier Island - Aerlie Beach -Whitsundays - Townsville- Magnetic Island - Tully - Mission Beach - Cairns - Cape Tribulation.

Slan for now.

Monday, January 28, 2008

North Island

The Tongariro Crossing was our next stop off point after about a 300 k drive. We stayed in National Park YHA which is really a ski town but becomes a stop off point for this walk. The walk is through a volcanic area whith 3 dormant Volcanoes around it but there were numerous bangs during the day which I amn't sure were mini tremors or rocks falling. The walk was fairly testing but I stubbornly admit it was well worth it. Funnily the uphill I found to be the easier of the trek with the downhill at the end being a killer. Also got dull enough here as you couldn't see anything bar the trees and you had no idea how close you were to finishing the thing. We also spent the second night here as we were shattered from the trek. We were lucky with our weather here as after we ledft I think it was going to be called off for the next 3 days due to bad weather coming in.

The next day we headed for Rotorua via Lake Taupo. The Huka falls here were really impressive with 250,000 metres passing through the gorge every second. Here is a thermal area and this was the start of seeing thermal baths and bubbling water. First stop on this geographical journey was the Craters of the Moon park outside Taupo. They also have a Geothermal power plant here which was deadly looking.

Onto Rotorua after this but the nightlife here was not going to live up to Queenstown. It was raining the night we came in and to be honest it looked a dreary enough place by night but during the day it looked quite nice. New Zealand in general is quiet enough on the nightlife front but it more than makes up for it with their daytime activities. The next morning we headed to the Polynesian Spa first of all down by the lake. Was nice enough. We then headed for the buried village. The guide in the museum here was very good and while the walk around was good it didn't really live up to the Pompei of New Zealand. We headed to the Maori show later that night. This was fantastic. Chiefs were elected from the tourists party to pay homage to the Maori chief. It went through the steps in visitors being invited to a Maori Marae meeting house. They did the Haka and I tried to get involved. Caroline took part in the Poi swinging which are like Pom Poms. It was a great night and we got a Maoro Hangi (this is food cokked in the ground, cooked in the hot springs in our case). The follwing morning we headed for Hells gate which is another Thermal Park but much more more spectacular. Last but definitely not least was the Zorbing which is a ball filled with water that you go down the hill in. It's wild craic. You'll see videos here and I'll also add my photos later:
Zorbing

We headed for Mount Manganui next for a surf. It's very scenic here as well. Great surf. They're building an artificial reef here which is is costing $1.5 million. According to the local surf school this is a waste. I think it is too as the surf was good enough here as it was.

We headed for another surf spot after here too in Whangamata. Here the surf was better again. This spot is in the Coromandel. Superb area.

It was going to be painful getting to the next area after this with the bank holiday weekend in the Auckland area. In the end it took us 5 hours to get to Whangarei which was only really a transit point to the Bay of Islands.

Finally we made it to Russell via a car ferry to the Bay of Islands. This is a beautiful spot. We don't appreciate it as much after all our travel but the fact that we can appreciate it after all our travel says alot for the place. Russell was a real old looking place but it's full of yuppies as we were to discover that night at the Drifters trbute band. Russell is also the place that the British flag was chopped down by Hone Heke 4 times. More than enough to recommend a place in my book. We headed across to Paihia by Ferry to also get a look at this town. It looked a much better town and it was actually our preference but it was booked out with the weekend that was in it. We headed up to Waitangi that night for a play that re-enacts the history of New Zealand through the dialogue between a grandson and his grandfather. We also had to be welcomed into the Marae house like in Rotorua so we needed Chiefs. Me being the natural born leader I am, I was a chief. The protocol is that the Maori chief comes down to you swinging his spear and shouting like a good thing and lays a leaf before you. By you taking it you signify that you are a friend and accept his greeting. You have to real serious, almost funeral like otherwise the theory is that if he thinks you're not being respectful he'll stab you with his spear or nowadays he'll swing the spear close enough to your face taking off your grin and anything else if he miscalculates. Also this was where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed which is the basis of Maori and Europeans living together. As usual the British are at their tricks. The Maoris believe that they gave away governance while the British believe they signed away Sovereignty. Having said that the Maoris are much better respected here than the Indigenous in Australia.

The Trounson Kauri forest was our next stop to do a night walk to see Kiwi. It was absolutely amazing. The Kiwis are amazing but they make enough noise. It;'s easy to see how they're endangered. They're being wiped out by introduced wildlife though which includes the Australian possum. These were introduced to export the fur trade to NZ. As with the introduced rabbits in Australia they're wiping out the wildlife/Environment. Also the problem with the Possum is that they breed like rabbits and have no predators. This is outside Dargaville. The tour is very good here but the people providing the accomodation are a rare breed who I wouldn't mind seeing on the endangered list.

I'm in Auckland now and am due to fly back to the Gold Coast in Australia tomorrow. I'll miss New Zealand. The people here were fantastic and were much more friendly than Sydneysiders. We'll see if that extends to other parts of Australia. Hopefully not as the West Coast and Melbourne had great people. Here are some more photos.

Rotorua, Bay of Islands

Friday, January 18, 2008

Queenstown, Wanaka, Franz Jozef, Hanmer Springs, Kaikoura, Nelson, Wellington

I went on to do a Bungie Jump over Kawerau River in Queenstown after. Was absolutely terrified as any of you who did the Sydney bridge climb or Inca trail with me will testify. The worst part is mentally throwing yourself off the bridge. Thankfully I had assistance in willing pushers.

Also the Luge on the mountain above Queenstown was great craic. It's like tobaggoning or go-karting with gravity as the engine. 5 trips was the default amount but we ended up doubling it to 10 goes.

We headed for Wanaka after Queenstown. The main attraction here was Puzzling world but the first day it was a bit too puzzling after stopping in a winery outside Queensown on the way. The next day this place was very good. They had these anti-gravity rooms where up was actually down. Weird, definitely to be tackled with sober heads. You get really dizzy in here with nil drink in you. The maze didn't really suit my patience levels but I got out of it after climbing 2 fences and climbing under another. There are no rules in warfare. Caroline and her mother got out of it long after myself and her father. More on Puzzling World here:
Puzzling World

After Wanaka we headed for the Glaciers of Franz Jozef. Myself and Caroline did Ice climbing on the glaciers. Very good but is very hard on the arms but that might also have something to do with technique. carolines parents were due to do a helihike but bthat was cancelled with the weather so they headed off quadbiking. It was amazing to see a Glacier.

After 2 nights here we headed off to Hanmer Springs to the thermal springs. Unbelievable heat to occur naturally. I think the hottest spring was 39 degrees. Nice but it was the water slides that really appealed to me. These were great sport. I was like a child in a playground.

The following day we did the short trip to Kaikoura to go swimming with the dolphins. This is by a long shot the highlight of the trip. The photos give you some idea but they don't do justice to what we saw. We got up at 5 to go out to see the Dusky Nosed dolphins. It was amazing. At some points there were dolphins within a foot of your face. They're nocturnal animals so they were just after feeding so were in great form. Who wouldn't be after a great feed.

After this we were heading north to Nelson while Cariolines parents were going back for Chrischurch so we would have to go back to backpacking after living in 2 bedroom apartments for the last 2 weeks. Nelson was nice. Very laid back. Museum here was alright but not much to it. We headed for Picton that evening to head for Wellington. The cruise through the marlborough sound was very impressive although watching the Christmas hour long edition of Coronation Street ruined the karma. Wellington looked a fairly happening place and we'll spend another night here. Will head for the Te Papa museum, the Beehive and Government Buildings today.

Our itinerary for NZ is Tongariro Pass(on Mark Carrolls recommendation from his blog)- Lake Taupo - Rotorua - Bay of Plenty - Auckland - Bay of Islands including Waitangi. Any advice is welcomed.

Here are some photos anyway:
Queenstown, Franz Jozef, Hamner Springs, Kaikoura, Nelson

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Queenstown

All well here. Skydive went well yesterday and not a quarter as bad as expected. First 3 seconds are tricky enough but after that you wouldn't even think you were going 200 km an hour. It's like watchiong the ground in slow motion on video and it's quite nice. You're on the ground in 6 minutes from 12,000 feet and after that it's difficult to tell whether you actually did what you did. It's like walking on air for the first couple of minutes after landing.

We also did River rafting which is going down a river on boogie boards. Very tough on the body and I was sore after it having not got the right fitting boots. Very glad I did it. Much scarier than the skydive and there were lots of girls in tears. I'll let you know after the bungie which was worse.

Here's photos from Christchurch, Dunedin, Te Enau, Milford Sound and Queenstown:
Christchurch, Mount Cook, Dunedin, Milford Sound, Queenstown

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Dunedin, Te Enau, Milford Sound, Queenstown

Everything is great here. I'm in Queenstown now. Brilliant spot. I've booked a skydive for tomorrow and am also going boogie boarding down a river later in the day after that. All going well I'll do a bungie the following day. Good spot. I was in the two Irish bars Pig & whistle (not very Irish sounding but has a ballad group in there tonight) and Morrisons. Lovely town very based around adventure sports as you may have noticed.

Was in Te Enau before this. Te Enau was lovely situated on the banks of a lake like alot of towns in NZ. We headed for Milford Sound from here. It's over 100km of a drive but it's very scenic. Was very wet so the waterfalls were full of water. It ahd been greart weather here for the previous week but the waterfalls had all dried up so in a way we were very lucky. Did a boat trip here which was excellent. Must post the photos when I get a chance. Also on a note of Geography Milford isn't a sound at all because it's created by glaciation so it's a fjord whereas a sound is created by a river.

Contrary to all the reports about Dunedin we thought it was great. Museums here are fairly impressive. They're quite informative for the slow readers among us mainly me. In Question Time on the museums the Cronins fared badly though for all their fast reading.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Dunedin

I saw the fireworks in Botanical gardens behind the opera house on New Years Eve and it was very impressive. Long day though. We had to be there at 2 in the day. There were meant to be 22,000 in this park but it was spacious enough.

I arrived in Christchurch in New Zealand today. Very nice city but very nice. It's good to see indigenous people being treated properly here. The Maoris have 7 seats in parliament. Some facts for you - NZ has 4 million people but 39 million sheep. Up to 1967 the pubs here shut at 6 in the evening but thankfully that's all changed. In world war 1 100,000 of the 1 million poulation fought in the war which was 67% of men aged between 18 and 45.

We did the gondola in Christchurch the following day which is really a cable car to the top of the mountain. It has great view of Lytellton harbour where most of the antarctic explorers left from. They have what my understanding of a gondola is in the city but they call it a punt. Anyway I cycled down the mountain after which had brilliant views. We left for Twizel near Mount Cook taking in Lake Tekapo and Pukaki en route. The colour of these lakes were amazing. A kind of milky blue colour. We also saw Mount Cook en route. It looked amazing and we'd see it ourselves tomorrow.

We headed 60 km up the road to Mount Cook the following day and the views were class. Mount Cook is the highest mountain in NZ and it is fairly famous with the mountaineering fraternity. Edmund Hillary for instance climbed it before he tackled Everest. We did a couple of walks around here which were excellent. Cook is only climbed by the most experienced mountaineers and a guide was killed on the previous day so we gave it a miss climbing it.

We headed onwards to Dunedin where we still are. This place means Edinburgh in Scottish. We headed to an Albatross reserve this morning which was brilliant. The size of them shocked me. There wingspan is over 3 metres and they can glide up to 1000km a day. They're the largest seabird. Also as infants they can eat 2 kg a day. Sounds like a description of myself. I headed to Otago museum this evening while the Cronins headed for the Cadburys factory.

We'll head for Te Enau tomorrow, Milford sound the following day, Queenstown for at least 2 days, Hanmer Springs and Kaikoura after that.

Here are some photos from the New Years in Sydney as well as a few from Christchurch. I'll add the rest in due course.

Aquarium, New Years Eve, Christchurch