In Cambodia! But not for long.
So what have we done.... Looks like I missed out all of Australia (again). Mostly we were doing organisey type things. We did manage to get a trip along the Great Ocean Road and into the Grampians in, which was pretty good. Had a week-and-a-bit in Melbourne, went to the Neighbours sets and Ramsey Street (yeah!) and pottered about in Canberra for a bit.
Then we were in Thailand! On the flight over I had 8 under 5s in my immediate vicinity. The stuff of nightmares. But they were all erally well behaved and I even made friends with a Thai baby. Nice.
We decided to join a group to do a tour through Asia as after 7 months we're both utterly bored and tired of organising everything and the tour has taken all the hassle out of travel, which is rather nice. We had a couple of days in Bangkok where we met the group. Reports of riots and violence seem vastly exaggerated, no problems at all. We came to Cambodia about a week ago and have been busy little bees! First off we headed to Siam Reap, the gateway town to Angkor Wat. What a place. I've seen a million asian temples in my time, but the various different temples here just blew me away, particularly Ta Prohm where trees have been reclaiming it back into nature (if you've seen Lara Croft, which I haven't.. it was filmed here).
So.. after Angkor, we headed to Pnomh Penh. Here we visited the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng prison. Absolutely heartbreaking places, and I think we were all in shock as we walked around looking at the skulls and bones sticking out of the ground and the stories from the guide. So hard to believe it was all so recent. A very sobering day. We also took in the Royal Palace complex, same same =)
Yesterday we arrived in Sihanoukville, which is where we are now. Unfortunately my purse was stolen from my zipped up bag which was next to me the whole time last night by one of the million kids trying to sell us bracelets etc. Bit of a pain, but there wasn't much in it and nothing irreplaceable. Just means that I'll have to blag my way onto a dive boat and that Jimbo has to act as my bank. Poor boy. Travelling with someone makes things like this so much easier to deal with.
Excuse me for the poor quality of this post: it was a long night last night and I'm pretty tired. However, a long day on the beach beckons =)
Till next time
xx
Monday, April 27, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Back in Straya
Hi!
After a very gentle poking from James' mum I've been reminded that I haven't been keeping this up to date. Whoops. So here I am again.
I left you 4 weeks ago just as I was about to take on 2 weeks of Conservation Volunteers New Zealand (CVNZ). What a marvellous two weeks it was. I was picked up from the rather dire Base hostel in rather lovely Christchurch on Monday morning by a chap called Sam in his minibus. Along with Sam were Bruno (French) and Andy (English). Sitting behind Sam I couldn't help but notice his 'interesting' haircut, but didn't feel like I could comment on it so left it. We drove out of Christchurch and headed over to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass. What a fabulous drive. I was also lucky enough to get my first sight of wild Keas at Arthurs Pass village. They certainly lived up to their 'cheeky' reputation, as one stole something from a group next to us causing a chap to leap from his seat, run across the road, jump onto a bin and haul himself up onto the roof of a bus shelter to rescue whatever it was that was taken. He came back triumphant, but I have the feeling that it doesn't always work out like that!
So anyway, after a few hours we made it over to Punakaiki. Luckily Andy (who had already been there a few weeks) asked Sam about his hair and it turned out that he'd dropped his hair clippers, picked them up, and continued to shave without realising that the guard had slipped off. Hmm. I must say I was glad to find out that the short patch of hair was not the result of brain surgery or similar. Waiting for us at the volunteer house were Laurie (also French) and James (a different one, also English, and according to him, the coolest guy I've ever met. Arrogant). It didn't take long for us to all fall into a routine of taking the mick out of each other =) Clearly we were going to work well together.
The work? In the first week at Punakaiki we ended up doing an assortment of jobs, ranging from building stoat traps, to painting, to planting native shrubs and trees. One of the aims at this project site is to return some land that was previously used as pasture to native bush. I must say it felt good to do something so worthwhile. The project only started about 4 months ago and already a lot has been accomplished. It would have been brilliant to spend more time there but alas one never knows these things until it's too late! Evenings at Punakaiki were spent on the beaches watching fabulous sunsets and then enjoying the food prepared by whoever felt like it. As I love french food, it was a real treat to have Bruno and Laurie there as they both prepared some first class meals. Sam also made us confit on a budget (chicken thighs instead of duck) which turned out to be fabulous.
The weekend was free time, and we decided to venture down to Hokitika to take in the Wild Food festival, something of a phenomenon in New Zealand. Originally intended as a celebration of all the food that can be found in the bush, it's now turned into something of a drunken event and an excuse to dress up with the food somewhat pushed into the background. There was some first class people watching to be had (where else could you see teletubbies mingling with oompa loompahs, while a man wandered past with a giant inflatable dolphin?), alongside the opportunity to try some more obscure tasty treats. Worms, huhu grubs, worm larvae ice cream, testicles.. you name it! I did think that $2 for a worm was a bit steep mind, could've just dug one up myself.
The next week we headed down to Okarito, just north of the glaciers. We stayed in the YHA, acutally a turn of the century schoolhouse, a remnant of the goldrush that took over the town. What a gorgeous little building. Unfortunately, this week wasn't to turn out quite as planned. 100m before arriving at the school (after driving about 5 hours) a lawnmower threw up a stone which smashed the back window of the van into a million pieces. Poor sam then had to try and make arrangements to get it fixed. The nearest place that could do it was 4 hours away... we'd passed through on our way down. Not so good.
The main objective in Okarito was to help clear away the gorse that was ruining a recreation area and also threatening to take over the beach. Not the most pleasant job in the world, and hard work, but quite satisfying to see what a difference a few hours with the loppers could make. We only managed to get a day and a half of work in, as the weather rained us off for a full day, and we had to leave a day early to get the van fixed. Andy, James and I went for a swim in the lagoon on the beach, getting eaten to death by sandflies in the process. Good times =)
Memorable quotes include:
Sam: 'I didn't realise Rudyard Kipling was so racist'
Katy: 'Well, he was brought up in colonial India.. maybe that had something to do with it..'
James: 'His apple pies are insane though!'
James: 'Is tuna made from dolphin?'
and other such amusements...
I haven't much time left on the internet meter and so much more to write about! For another view of the 2 weeks check out the blog of team leader Sam (http://wonderfulworldofsam.blogspot.com/2009/03/non-merci.html).
We were dropped off back in Christchurch and I spent the evening with Bruno and Laurie saying goodbye. I flew to beautiful Queenstown the next day to meet back up with James. What a stunning setting. During our few days there we made friends with a Canadian golf pro called Dan, and a fellow Geordie lass, Rachel. James, Dan and I went up to Deer Park Heights, a private farm which you could drive through and feed lots of different animals (kept me happy) and also the setting for many scenes from Lord of the Rings (kept the boys happy). Absolutely fabulous views from up there. Like true ecology/zoology graduates, the animals couldn't get enough of us and kept trying to break into the car. Donkey teeth look quite scary when pressed up against the window! A particularly perseverant goat took a fancy to James, and wouldn't stop trying to get into the car with him. I'm sure the hire company won't have been too impressed with the goat and donkey spit on the door handles. Oh well.
The 4 of us decided to go the ice bar in Queenstown together, that was pretty cool (pun very much intended =O) and had a great time decked out in the attractive parka jackets provided. None of us had ever been to one before and we all enjoyed the novelty of drinking out of ice glasses.
From there, we drove to Te Anau, a base to explore Milford Sound. We managed to visit the sound when there hadn't been any rain for 7 days (this area gets 7m annually!) which is unheard of. Apparently the waterfalls were mere trickles compared to usual, but they were still pretty impressive. We saw dolphins and plenty of fur seals. The drive there was almost as stunning as the sound itself. More Kea were spotted at the entrance to the Homer tunnel so we amused ourselves taking pictures of them.
From Te Anau, we went down to Invercargill for a couple of days. Not much going on there at all! We took a daytrip down to Bluff, because we'd heard about what a horrible little rundown town it was.. actually it wasn't *that* bad, and we took the obligatory pictures next to the famous AA sign there.
We had a rendezvous with Larnach Castle waiting for us, so we decided to take the Southern Scenic Route along the Catlins Coast to Dunedin. Due to the useless signposting we ended up going the wrong way for over 100km (whoops) before we realised our mistake. Thankfully we didn't have to backtrack too far, and cut across country to join the road, but it did a wee while to get to where we should've been.... We had lunch in the least friendly cafe in the entire world: I think the woman was offended that we dared to come in and try to spend money, and then made our way along. We stopped at one of the beaches along the way as my guidebook said that we had a chance of spotting a rare Hooker's sea lion here. Well.. we certainly did spot one! We headed on down the dune not really paying much attention and suddenly this massive head reared up infront of us. We had nearly walked straight into a fully grown male. He wasn't too happy about it and started lumbering towards us menacingly... hearts beating we ran backwards not taking our eyes off him (they can outpace us over 30m!)and went in separate directions. He decided that James looked more threatening than little old me (who wouldn't?) and so went after him, leaving me free to take photos and laugh! James beat a hasty retreat to the car. Another car pulled up, and the couple inside decided to take a closer look at him. James warned them that he wasn't a very happy sealion, but the man was having none of it. Only when the sealion let out a massive roar did the guy appear to wet his pants and scramble back to the safety of his car. Unfortunately his reatreat was hindered by a rather large puddle which caused his legs to pedal in a cartoon fashion, until he finally beat gravity and vaulted over the bonnet. Most amusing from my viewpoint!
Once the sealion had clambered up the hill and away from the car park we continued on our way, with many stops to admire the stunning views, and one stop to spot yellow eyed penguins coming out of the sea! We managed to see one a fair distance away. This was the first that James had seen, but I'd already seen them with my mum. Beautiful birds they are. One notable stop on the journey was at McCracken's rest, where we had to stop to take the infamous picture. We'd just got all posed with cameras on self timer when a bus pulled into the car park full of smirking faces. We retreated sheepishly as they got out and laughed all the way down the road =)
Well.. the journey to Dunedin took much longer than anticipated and we were pretty hungry when we got there, so we called Larnach to say we'd be arriving at about 10pm and went for some scran (i.e food). After dinner, we jumped in the car and drove along Otago peninsula. We pulled up to the castle gates and James pressed the buzzer. 'Is this my late check in?' asked the receptionist in her very strong kiwi accent.. James, not really thinking, heard 'chicken' (kiwi's have the vowel sounds all mixed up..) and responded with, 'Oh yes, I am your late little chicken!' He turned to me 'Oh, wasn't that so sweet, sounds like something mum would say!' When I told him what she had actually said we both dissolved in fits of giggles and he was so embarrassed he could hardly speak to her face to face! Luckily she hadn't realised his mistake... =) Most amusing.
We were staying in the castle as past of James' birthday present from his parents (thank you both!) and what a fabulous setting it was! I had really enjoyed the short time I spent on Otago peninsula with my parents when they visited and was eager to explore it a bit more. James wanted to visit the Cadbury factory in Dunedin for his birthday, so we had a short tour complete with free chocolate =) In the evening of we had a meal in William Larnach's very own dining. The meal was served 'house party style' and so we were sat with 8 aussies (who says australians don't visit NZ?) Good food and good conversation in a gorgeous room made for a memorable birthday evening for James and we both had a fantastic time, complete with chocolate birthday cake (YEAH!).
Our explorations of the peninsula uncovered loads of wildlife! I took James to the Royal Albatross Centre for his birthday present and we couldn't stop making exclamations about just how big and impressive they are. Incredible birds! This is the only mainland breeding site for Albatross in the entire world and it was such a privilege to view them nesting. We also managed to find many more photogenic Hooker's sealions, some fur seals, some more Yellow eyed penguins and some gorgeous Little Blue penguins. We enjoyed some more good food at 1908 restaurant (one evening I went in with soaking shoes and trousers having got a little too enthusiastic in my photo taking efforts and getting stranded in the sea without realising. Whoops) and generally had a pretty spectacular few days.
We flew back to Wellington, sorted some stuff out, posted some things home... Strange to be there and not see Anne and Ian (they're over here in Oz on hols at the moment). A couple of days ago we flew out here to Sydney.. both of us have struggled to adjust to the noise, people, dirt etc associated with city life after the tranquility of NZ! Yesterday we went to Sydney Aquarium which was just fabulous. A real highlight for me was seeing Platypus underwater and also Dugongs. What beautiful animals they are!
Tonight we fly to Melbourne, hopefully we'll meet up with Dan who we stayed with over xmas and new year. It would be great to catch up with him
Finally.. I've caught up. *exhale*
I hope all is well back home for everyone. Neither of us can believe that we'll be home in under 8 weeks. Crazy. Still, I'm sure we have a lot more adventures in store before then!
xx
After a very gentle poking from James' mum I've been reminded that I haven't been keeping this up to date. Whoops. So here I am again.
I left you 4 weeks ago just as I was about to take on 2 weeks of Conservation Volunteers New Zealand (CVNZ). What a marvellous two weeks it was. I was picked up from the rather dire Base hostel in rather lovely Christchurch on Monday morning by a chap called Sam in his minibus. Along with Sam were Bruno (French) and Andy (English). Sitting behind Sam I couldn't help but notice his 'interesting' haircut, but didn't feel like I could comment on it so left it. We drove out of Christchurch and headed over to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass. What a fabulous drive. I was also lucky enough to get my first sight of wild Keas at Arthurs Pass village. They certainly lived up to their 'cheeky' reputation, as one stole something from a group next to us causing a chap to leap from his seat, run across the road, jump onto a bin and haul himself up onto the roof of a bus shelter to rescue whatever it was that was taken. He came back triumphant, but I have the feeling that it doesn't always work out like that!
So anyway, after a few hours we made it over to Punakaiki. Luckily Andy (who had already been there a few weeks) asked Sam about his hair and it turned out that he'd dropped his hair clippers, picked them up, and continued to shave without realising that the guard had slipped off. Hmm. I must say I was glad to find out that the short patch of hair was not the result of brain surgery or similar. Waiting for us at the volunteer house were Laurie (also French) and James (a different one, also English, and according to him, the coolest guy I've ever met. Arrogant). It didn't take long for us to all fall into a routine of taking the mick out of each other =) Clearly we were going to work well together.
The work? In the first week at Punakaiki we ended up doing an assortment of jobs, ranging from building stoat traps, to painting, to planting native shrubs and trees. One of the aims at this project site is to return some land that was previously used as pasture to native bush. I must say it felt good to do something so worthwhile. The project only started about 4 months ago and already a lot has been accomplished. It would have been brilliant to spend more time there but alas one never knows these things until it's too late! Evenings at Punakaiki were spent on the beaches watching fabulous sunsets and then enjoying the food prepared by whoever felt like it. As I love french food, it was a real treat to have Bruno and Laurie there as they both prepared some first class meals. Sam also made us confit on a budget (chicken thighs instead of duck) which turned out to be fabulous.
The weekend was free time, and we decided to venture down to Hokitika to take in the Wild Food festival, something of a phenomenon in New Zealand. Originally intended as a celebration of all the food that can be found in the bush, it's now turned into something of a drunken event and an excuse to dress up with the food somewhat pushed into the background. There was some first class people watching to be had (where else could you see teletubbies mingling with oompa loompahs, while a man wandered past with a giant inflatable dolphin?), alongside the opportunity to try some more obscure tasty treats. Worms, huhu grubs, worm larvae ice cream, testicles.. you name it! I did think that $2 for a worm was a bit steep mind, could've just dug one up myself.
The next week we headed down to Okarito, just north of the glaciers. We stayed in the YHA, acutally a turn of the century schoolhouse, a remnant of the goldrush that took over the town. What a gorgeous little building. Unfortunately, this week wasn't to turn out quite as planned. 100m before arriving at the school (after driving about 5 hours) a lawnmower threw up a stone which smashed the back window of the van into a million pieces. Poor sam then had to try and make arrangements to get it fixed. The nearest place that could do it was 4 hours away... we'd passed through on our way down. Not so good.
The main objective in Okarito was to help clear away the gorse that was ruining a recreation area and also threatening to take over the beach. Not the most pleasant job in the world, and hard work, but quite satisfying to see what a difference a few hours with the loppers could make. We only managed to get a day and a half of work in, as the weather rained us off for a full day, and we had to leave a day early to get the van fixed. Andy, James and I went for a swim in the lagoon on the beach, getting eaten to death by sandflies in the process. Good times =)
Memorable quotes include:
Sam: 'I didn't realise Rudyard Kipling was so racist'
Katy: 'Well, he was brought up in colonial India.. maybe that had something to do with it..'
James: 'His apple pies are insane though!'
James: 'Is tuna made from dolphin?'
and other such amusements...
I haven't much time left on the internet meter and so much more to write about! For another view of the 2 weeks check out the blog of team leader Sam (http://wonderfulworldofsam.blogspot.com/2009/03/non-merci.html).
We were dropped off back in Christchurch and I spent the evening with Bruno and Laurie saying goodbye. I flew to beautiful Queenstown the next day to meet back up with James. What a stunning setting. During our few days there we made friends with a Canadian golf pro called Dan, and a fellow Geordie lass, Rachel. James, Dan and I went up to Deer Park Heights, a private farm which you could drive through and feed lots of different animals (kept me happy) and also the setting for many scenes from Lord of the Rings (kept the boys happy). Absolutely fabulous views from up there. Like true ecology/zoology graduates, the animals couldn't get enough of us and kept trying to break into the car. Donkey teeth look quite scary when pressed up against the window! A particularly perseverant goat took a fancy to James, and wouldn't stop trying to get into the car with him. I'm sure the hire company won't have been too impressed with the goat and donkey spit on the door handles. Oh well.
The 4 of us decided to go the ice bar in Queenstown together, that was pretty cool (pun very much intended =O) and had a great time decked out in the attractive parka jackets provided. None of us had ever been to one before and we all enjoyed the novelty of drinking out of ice glasses.
From there, we drove to Te Anau, a base to explore Milford Sound. We managed to visit the sound when there hadn't been any rain for 7 days (this area gets 7m annually!) which is unheard of. Apparently the waterfalls were mere trickles compared to usual, but they were still pretty impressive. We saw dolphins and plenty of fur seals. The drive there was almost as stunning as the sound itself. More Kea were spotted at the entrance to the Homer tunnel so we amused ourselves taking pictures of them.
From Te Anau, we went down to Invercargill for a couple of days. Not much going on there at all! We took a daytrip down to Bluff, because we'd heard about what a horrible little rundown town it was.. actually it wasn't *that* bad, and we took the obligatory pictures next to the famous AA sign there.
We had a rendezvous with Larnach Castle waiting for us, so we decided to take the Southern Scenic Route along the Catlins Coast to Dunedin. Due to the useless signposting we ended up going the wrong way for over 100km (whoops) before we realised our mistake. Thankfully we didn't have to backtrack too far, and cut across country to join the road, but it did a wee while to get to where we should've been.... We had lunch in the least friendly cafe in the entire world: I think the woman was offended that we dared to come in and try to spend money, and then made our way along. We stopped at one of the beaches along the way as my guidebook said that we had a chance of spotting a rare Hooker's sea lion here. Well.. we certainly did spot one! We headed on down the dune not really paying much attention and suddenly this massive head reared up infront of us. We had nearly walked straight into a fully grown male. He wasn't too happy about it and started lumbering towards us menacingly... hearts beating we ran backwards not taking our eyes off him (they can outpace us over 30m!)and went in separate directions. He decided that James looked more threatening than little old me (who wouldn't?) and so went after him, leaving me free to take photos and laugh! James beat a hasty retreat to the car. Another car pulled up, and the couple inside decided to take a closer look at him. James warned them that he wasn't a very happy sealion, but the man was having none of it. Only when the sealion let out a massive roar did the guy appear to wet his pants and scramble back to the safety of his car. Unfortunately his reatreat was hindered by a rather large puddle which caused his legs to pedal in a cartoon fashion, until he finally beat gravity and vaulted over the bonnet. Most amusing from my viewpoint!
Once the sealion had clambered up the hill and away from the car park we continued on our way, with many stops to admire the stunning views, and one stop to spot yellow eyed penguins coming out of the sea! We managed to see one a fair distance away. This was the first that James had seen, but I'd already seen them with my mum. Beautiful birds they are. One notable stop on the journey was at McCracken's rest, where we had to stop to take the infamous picture. We'd just got all posed with cameras on self timer when a bus pulled into the car park full of smirking faces. We retreated sheepishly as they got out and laughed all the way down the road =)
Well.. the journey to Dunedin took much longer than anticipated and we were pretty hungry when we got there, so we called Larnach to say we'd be arriving at about 10pm and went for some scran (i.e food). After dinner, we jumped in the car and drove along Otago peninsula. We pulled up to the castle gates and James pressed the buzzer. 'Is this my late check in?' asked the receptionist in her very strong kiwi accent.. James, not really thinking, heard 'chicken' (kiwi's have the vowel sounds all mixed up..) and responded with, 'Oh yes, I am your late little chicken!' He turned to me 'Oh, wasn't that so sweet, sounds like something mum would say!' When I told him what she had actually said we both dissolved in fits of giggles and he was so embarrassed he could hardly speak to her face to face! Luckily she hadn't realised his mistake... =) Most amusing.
We were staying in the castle as past of James' birthday present from his parents (thank you both!) and what a fabulous setting it was! I had really enjoyed the short time I spent on Otago peninsula with my parents when they visited and was eager to explore it a bit more. James wanted to visit the Cadbury factory in Dunedin for his birthday, so we had a short tour complete with free chocolate =) In the evening of we had a meal in William Larnach's very own dining. The meal was served 'house party style' and so we were sat with 8 aussies (who says australians don't visit NZ?) Good food and good conversation in a gorgeous room made for a memorable birthday evening for James and we both had a fantastic time, complete with chocolate birthday cake (YEAH!).
Our explorations of the peninsula uncovered loads of wildlife! I took James to the Royal Albatross Centre for his birthday present and we couldn't stop making exclamations about just how big and impressive they are. Incredible birds! This is the only mainland breeding site for Albatross in the entire world and it was such a privilege to view them nesting. We also managed to find many more photogenic Hooker's sealions, some fur seals, some more Yellow eyed penguins and some gorgeous Little Blue penguins. We enjoyed some more good food at 1908 restaurant (one evening I went in with soaking shoes and trousers having got a little too enthusiastic in my photo taking efforts and getting stranded in the sea without realising. Whoops) and generally had a pretty spectacular few days.
We flew back to Wellington, sorted some stuff out, posted some things home... Strange to be there and not see Anne and Ian (they're over here in Oz on hols at the moment). A couple of days ago we flew out here to Sydney.. both of us have struggled to adjust to the noise, people, dirt etc associated with city life after the tranquility of NZ! Yesterday we went to Sydney Aquarium which was just fabulous. A real highlight for me was seeing Platypus underwater and also Dugongs. What beautiful animals they are!
Tonight we fly to Melbourne, hopefully we'll meet up with Dan who we stayed with over xmas and new year. It would be great to catch up with him
Finally.. I've caught up. *exhale*
I hope all is well back home for everyone. Neither of us can believe that we'll be home in under 8 weeks. Crazy. Still, I'm sure we have a lot more adventures in store before then!
xx
Thursday, March 5, 2009
From then till now...
So it seems it's been a bit longer than I realised since I last updated!
Mum and Dad have been and gone! They arrived in Welly in absolutely horrific weather and I was expecting a very grumpy pair of travellers but they were actually amazingly happy - probably just to get off the plane! I had a great two weeks with them, highlights including:
-Swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura
-Watching Yellow-eyed penguins in Otago
-Climbing Franz Josef glacier
-Billy Connolly in Taupo
Mum and Dad have been and gone! They arrived in Welly in absolutely horrific weather and I was expecting a very grumpy pair of travellers but they were actually amazingly happy - probably just to get off the plane! I had a great two weeks with them, highlights including:
-Swimming with dolphins in Kaikoura
-Watching Yellow-eyed penguins in Otago
-Climbing Franz Josef glacier
-Billy Connolly in Taupo
and many other things. Obviously it was pretty hard to say goodbye to them and to Tomek, but so good to see them all! Another hard goodbye was to Anne and Ian! They've been wonderful hosts for us over here and i was sad to leave their lovely house (and cat) behind!
Unfortunately, for the last few weeks, James has been rather poorly with glandular fever, although he's back up on his feet now. Because he ended up having to miss the North Island we're currently split up! I'm now down in Christchurch, having been kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park for 3 days, and he's off exploring by himself. On Monday I go to do 2 weeks of conservation volunteering on the west coast of the South Island, and after that's finished I'll meet up with James in Queenstown. Busy busy!
Not much time to do an update so I'm sorry it's all a bit vague!
Katy xxx
Unfortunately, for the last few weeks, James has been rather poorly with glandular fever, although he's back up on his feet now. Because he ended up having to miss the North Island we're currently split up! I'm now down in Christchurch, having been kayaking in the Abel Tasman National Park for 3 days, and he's off exploring by himself. On Monday I go to do 2 weeks of conservation volunteering on the west coast of the South Island, and after that's finished I'll meet up with James in Queenstown. Busy busy!
Not much time to do an update so I'm sorry it's all a bit vague!
Katy xxx
Monday, February 9, 2009
P.S
I forgot to mention...
James had a wee next to the Prime Minister of NZ in Auckland airport. AWESOME!
James had a wee next to the Prime Minister of NZ in Auckland airport. AWESOME!
A bit more of New Zealand
Hi all!
Eeek I have been lax with updating this blog. Sorry guys!
So, James and I headed up to Auckland with the idea of being there for a week. However, we got there and were both slightly unimpressed with the city so decided to run away the next day! Caught a bus up to the Whangerei so we could go diving (surprise surprise!). We stayed in a nice little caravan park in a wee cabin for two (which was only about $8 a night more than staying in a grotty dorm). The park had a jacuzzi and a pretty nice swimming pool. Lovely.
We booked two days diving at the Poor Knight's Islands. Jacques Cousteau ranked them in his top 10 sites, and they are generally regarded as the best temperate diving in the world. Naturally we were both quite excited to go diving there!
Unfortunately we had a really bad experience on the first day (hmmm diving for me has not been simple recently!). I was given a wetsuit with a 20cm ish hole in the crotch, fins that were too big and kept falling off and also a dodgy tank. I told the dive instructor but she said it wouldn't make a difference. Hmmm. James was given one small fin and one large fin so he had constant foot cramp. I was completely unable to enjoy myself as I was so cold - I oculd feel myself sliding into panic and tears were starting to come. After about 20 minutes underwater I needed to get out. During the dive I was too busy looking at my computer and checking my fins to really look around us. What was probably the most annoying thing is that the dive site itself was featured in the BBCs Blue Planet series and was a really interesting place. Gutted! So.. I wasn't going to to the 2nd dive, however they swapped my dodgy suit for a one too big. Obviously it still wasn't a good fit but it was better.
So.. we weren't going to go back the next day and called to try and cancel. The staff were really apologetic and convinced us to give it another go. When we arrived it was obvious that the skipper of our boat had given them all a real rollicking as they were treading on eggshells around us and gave us brand new kit! Suffice to say the diving was infinitely better, and we really enjoyed it. Such a shame that the first day was such a disaster, there was no need for it whatsoever.
Anyway, we've made a decision not to go diving for a while - my last 10 or so dives have all been problematic and i've been quite put off! So.. a rest is required!
We headed back to Auckland, and James felt a bit iffy, so off I went canyoning without him. Basically this was glorified gill scrambling =) A few abseils and jumps along the way. Absolutely beautiful scenery and a great place for a day like this.
And then it was the 1st of February - the arrival of Tomek! We headed to Auckland airport to pick him up. The plan was to get him and then jump straight on a bus to head up north to join our tour bus. However, the plane was over an hour late. Shouldn't have been a problem but there was a huge backlog of people trying to clear customs. After a couple of hours it was clear that we wouldn't make it, so I rearranged everything for the next day. Then people started filtering through and no Tomek. Another 30mins, still no Tomek. Eventually he appeared, but without any luggage - it had been left in Melbourne! Not easy for him after almost 40 hours of travel to try and sort this out, but he managed to get $90 out of them to buy some basics. He decided that we should just go and join the tour because otherwise he could miss a load of things waiting for it to turn up.
After a night in Auckland we were up early to head up to the Bay of Islands and on to join the Flying Kiwi bus. The first day was very relaxed and mostly spent in a swimming pool! It was nice that Tomek was able to recover from the flight like this!
We did loads of things in the following week - sandboarding, cultural show, sea kayaking around the Coromandel peninsula (beautiful!), hot springs, mud pools, Rotorua, Lake Taupo... In Taupo I noticed a familiar face when I looked out of the bus window, and jumped out to see a friend from home! Julie is travelling around with her friend for 6 weeks! I've previously been on a holiday with her to France, and she's very friendly with my Mum and with Nick and Sue. Completely bizarre to bump into her and really nice to see someone I know! Probably the only other person to have every escaped Haltwhistle too...
However, one of my favourite parts of the week was the Tongariro crossing. This was a beautiful walk through some volcanos (the setting for Mount Doom in LOTR). It was ridiculously hot though, with no cover so it was hard work!
Agh I'm running out of steam for writing. Currently we're back in Wellington waiting for my parents to arrive on Thursday. The weather is a bit grey and cloudy, but nothing to compare with you guys!
Katy xx
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Wellington again!
Hi all!
Sorry it's been a while! So... what've we been up to. Let's see if I can remember.
We moved into Anne and Ian's house as mentioned. They're fantastic, and completely spoiling us! So much so that they might never get rid of us.
We spent a few more days in Wellington. I took James to his first ever karate class. It was the first one back for the club after xmas and so they decided to make it a real killer. The boy done good - we must have done over 3000 punches/blocks at the start interspersed with sit ups/push ups etc and then some fighting at the end and he didn't get put off at all. So we'll probably be going back again tonight. On Saturday, Anne very kindly took us for a drive around Wellington and up to some viewpoints and then bought us a lovely breakfast. See... we're being spoilt rotten... so we got our bearings and saw lots of gorgeous views of the city.
On Sunday we headed over to the South Island to go and stay in the Bach (wooden house type thing) with Ian, Anne's husband, who had been there for the last month or so. The scenery there was absolutely stunning, and it was nice just to sit and take it all in without having to do anything! At Ian't suggestion we went out diving for a day. The water was a chilly 16 degrees and we were both wearing semi-dry suits, with a full hood and gloves. It made us look like US navy seals! The suits were pretty much brand new, so no leaks (YES!) and we were snug in the water. As we'd both anticipated freezing to death this was a welcome surprise! Ian came along with us on the boat, and at one point was the only man on deck, prompting him to ring Anne and tell her that he was skipper! We had a dive in a marine reserve, teeming with curious Blue Cod that came and nibbled our fingers, and another dive on the wreck of the Koi. Good fun. We're hoping to go back and dive the wreck of the Mikhail Lermentov in the near future.
What else... We went into Blenheim for a look around. Ummm can't remember... Came back with Ian to Wellington yesterday. Currently we're looking at ways to get up to Auckland and when we should go so we can meet Tomek on the 1st. Hope all is well at home!
Oh yeah.. Happy (belated) birthday Dan! And HI Gran!
Katy xx
Friday, January 9, 2009
Wellington, New Zealand
Hello!So we're in Wellington now. I can't really remember what we did in our last few days in Sydney, apart from climb the Harbour Bridge! That was pretty memorable. As you can see from the picture we got to wear a really sexy jumpsuit for the experience. High fashion indeed. The climb we did is a new one called the Discovery Climb. Basically you walk/climb up the lower arch until you hit the road, and then get onto the upper arch to climb to the top for the obligatory cheesy photo =) Definitely hairy at times. I can't imagine what it would've been like actually working on building it and not being roped on. We both had a fantastic time wandering around up there with our roommate Dan.
... and then we left Oz! Sob! However, here we are in Wellington and absolutely loving it. Completely different from Oz. Colder for a start (we've both just bought hoodies, and it seems the old board shorts might be remaining in our bags for a while!), but that's probably because it's so windy here! Both loving the city, it's fantastic just to wander around in and people watch. We haven't done too much apart from that yet, although we spent a wonderful few hours in the Te Papa museum getting very excited about the only Colossal Squid specimen on display in the world. Mmm cephalopod-tastic!
I've been in touch with a local Goju-Ryu karate club and am off to train with the Chief Instructor for NZ in a special dan grade class on Sunday which should be good. 4 months of doing nothing might hinder my fitness somewhat but I'm looking forward to it! I've also sent an email to the president of the NZ Northumbrian Pipers Society (such a thing does indeed exist!) but I haven't heard back yet so we'll see if anything comes of that. I'm sure that would completely melt my brain =)
We're not entirely sure of our plans past this next week or so. We're getting prepared for the arrival of Tomek on 31st and then my parents two weeks later, so plans are being made to fit around that. For the moment we're happy hanging out here. At the moment it looks like we'll be moving into Lisa's flat on Tuesday (thank you!) with the help of her wonderful mum Anne (thank you!) and then we'll take it from there.
Hope the weather is picking up at home!
Katy x
Friday, January 2, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Christmas and New Year!
Hello all in 2009!
So we're getting towards the end of our stay in Sydney! I wish I'd been able to update this earlier as I can't remember what we've been up to. Seeing as none of you know though I could make it up and you'd be none the wiser. Hmmm.
Anyway. Christmas day. We woke up to a fairly overcast day. All of us from the dorm decided that a swim in the sea would be a good start to the day. THe water, however, was absolutely freezing so we beat a hasty retreat to the hostel to warm up. There was a bit of lunch provided by the hostel and so we sat and ate by the beach as the weather got steadily hotter. Many drinks were had (!) and we sat there chatting until 11pm when the police cleared the area. The atmosphere was fantastic - so many people on the beach, both tourists and locals, and there was no hassle at all.
The day was marred slightly at about 1am when a drunk lad threw himself accidentally from the 3rd floor balcony of our hostel. He was very lucky to land on a tin roof on the floor below, but he still fell a good 15m. James ended up doing the first aid, which can't have been fun, and we were all very proud of him for getting on with it and taking charge. The lad has ended up in hospital with severe internal damage. What a nice Christmas!
On boxing day we went to watch the start of the Sydney - Hobart yacht race leaving Sydney harbour - very cool.
On the 27th I was lucky enough to be taken for a wonderful dinner courtesy of James' parents (THANK YOU!) at Wildfire. We were seated looking directly at the Opera House, which was beautifully lit up. Stunning food and we both laughed like idiots the whole night. Fantastic =)
Hmmm losing detail as I run out of time! New Years Eve was a day and a half. We went to Cremorne Point at 11am to make sure we had a spot to view the fireworks from. It was completely manic with people getting horribly possessive over every square inch of space. The day passed pretty quickly. Thankfully we managed to get a good view of the fireworks and they were absolutely spectacular. Definitely worth the wait! I wish I could get some photos up, but these computers are rubbish and I can't. Promise I will soon though!
The journey back took up about 3.5 hours. We were really unlucky... got a broken bus, then a broken train, then had a big wait for our final bus. People who left 2 hours later than us got back to the hostel first! However we had an unforgettable night so no complaints!
Ok... the time is going. Had a grand day at Taronga Zoo with Jimbo today. We're off to New Zealand on the 5th. Still a few bits and bobs to do here.
Happy New Year to all our readers.. (and much love to Gran, who I know reads the blog avidly!).
xxx
So we're getting towards the end of our stay in Sydney! I wish I'd been able to update this earlier as I can't remember what we've been up to. Seeing as none of you know though I could make it up and you'd be none the wiser. Hmmm.
Anyway. Christmas day. We woke up to a fairly overcast day. All of us from the dorm decided that a swim in the sea would be a good start to the day. THe water, however, was absolutely freezing so we beat a hasty retreat to the hostel to warm up. There was a bit of lunch provided by the hostel and so we sat and ate by the beach as the weather got steadily hotter. Many drinks were had (!) and we sat there chatting until 11pm when the police cleared the area. The atmosphere was fantastic - so many people on the beach, both tourists and locals, and there was no hassle at all.
The day was marred slightly at about 1am when a drunk lad threw himself accidentally from the 3rd floor balcony of our hostel. He was very lucky to land on a tin roof on the floor below, but he still fell a good 15m. James ended up doing the first aid, which can't have been fun, and we were all very proud of him for getting on with it and taking charge. The lad has ended up in hospital with severe internal damage. What a nice Christmas!
On boxing day we went to watch the start of the Sydney - Hobart yacht race leaving Sydney harbour - very cool.
On the 27th I was lucky enough to be taken for a wonderful dinner courtesy of James' parents (THANK YOU!) at Wildfire. We were seated looking directly at the Opera House, which was beautifully lit up. Stunning food and we both laughed like idiots the whole night. Fantastic =)
Hmmm losing detail as I run out of time! New Years Eve was a day and a half. We went to Cremorne Point at 11am to make sure we had a spot to view the fireworks from. It was completely manic with people getting horribly possessive over every square inch of space. The day passed pretty quickly. Thankfully we managed to get a good view of the fireworks and they were absolutely spectacular. Definitely worth the wait! I wish I could get some photos up, but these computers are rubbish and I can't. Promise I will soon though!
The journey back took up about 3.5 hours. We were really unlucky... got a broken bus, then a broken train, then had a big wait for our final bus. People who left 2 hours later than us got back to the hostel first! However we had an unforgettable night so no complaints!
Ok... the time is going. Had a grand day at Taronga Zoo with Jimbo today. We're off to New Zealand on the 5th. Still a few bits and bobs to do here.
Happy New Year to all our readers.. (and much love to Gran, who I know reads the blog avidly!).
xxx
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