by Clare on 08.20.09 in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, 20th August 09
Hi everyone! We arrived in Hamilton today after spending 4 good days in Rotorua. Once we got used to the smell of rotten eggs (the sulphur released from underground geothermal activity), it was a really nice town. Because we were there midweek it was very quiet, but we still managed to seek out the livlier spots in the town (lava bar being the best) and had a good time. We met up with a few people and had a great singsong one of the nights – it had to be done at some stage 
Apart from partying and treating ourselves to nice meals in swanky restaurants (we look after ourselves well!), we also managed to see some of the sights. Went to the Rotorua museum which is well worth a visit…I know, I know…museum…boring, but this one is really good! The building was originally the site of the bath house, where people visited from all over the world to bath in the healing thermal waters in the hope of curing themselves of all kinds of diseases. It also has exhibitions about the volcano in the late 1880s that buried several nearby villages and destroyed the pink and white terraces. Fascinating stuff!
photo credit: Ben Newcomer
After our museum visit, we went to the ‘Mitai’ Maori village for an evening of entertainment and more culture! It was a great night. The host was hilarious, the Maori culture show was very good – Haka, traditional songs and dances, tools and weapons etc, and the buffet dinner was delicious! After the village, we went on a stroll through the forest with our torches to see glowworms and then into Rainbow Springs wildlife park where we saw the famous New Zealand Kiwi birds, aswell as some parrots, lizards and other interesting creatures.
photo credit: Allie_Caulfield
The next day, we headed for the Polynesian spa and treated ourselves to a dip in a private deluxe thermal pool. It was really nice just chilling out, looking out over lake Rotorua.
So, we’re just relaxing in Hamilton. We treated ourselves to a hotel, so it is so nice to have a little luxury and an ensuite bathroom, not to mention a tv in our room! Amazing how you take the little things for granted. I’ve just used the gym – God help me, it’ll take a lot of effort to work off all those meals out, but a good start is half the battle 
by Clare on 08.16.09 in New Zealand, Rotorua, Taupo | No Comments »
Sunday, 16th August 2009
Kia Ora! Hello from Rotorua. We arrived here today after spending 3 nights in rainy Taupo. I don’t think it actually stopped raining once in the whole time we were there and it’s looking the same way here too! The rain, along with our cramped, damp little ‘tree house’ room in the hostel in Taupo made it difficult to get motivated, get the rain jackets on and get out and see the sites! Well, fair play to us, we made the effort and ventured out to check out the local area. Unfortunately the famous Tongariro crossing was inacessible due to weather conditions – seems to be a recurring theme at this stage. Maybe winter isn’t the best time to be visiting New Zealand!?
Anyway, we headed out to ‘Orakei Korako’, a geothermal area with hot pools, geysers, mud pools and a very cool cave. It was a really amazing place.
photo credit: wellington264
The following day, we ventured out on a boat cruise on Lake Taupo to see the Maori carvings. The carvings were pretty impressive and we stared at them in wonder and amazement until the skipper told us that they dated from 1970!!! 1970!? talk about inventing a money spinner tourist attraction! They could at least pretend they are ancient. Anyway, it got us out and about for the day, albeit in the cold and rain!
photo credit: whistler1984
We went to see the beautiful Huka falls this morning before leaving for Rotorua. So, we’ve spent the rest of the day roaming about the shops. Rotorua looks like a cool town. We’ve already found the Irish bar, which is a good start
photo credit: nim
by Clare on 08.12.09 in Nelson, New Zealand, Wellington | No Comments »
Wednesday, 12th August
Hi there. Just chilling out in Wellington at the moment, capital city of New Zealand. We left Franz Josef Glacier on Saturday and landed in Nelson after stopping on the way to have a look at the lovely pancake rocks in Punakaiki. We decided to hit the town in Nelson when we landed, so made our way around some of the pubs. It’s a small city and quiet enough. Had a good night and as a result, spent the next day sleeping off 2 many beers! So, we didn’t get to see what Nelson has to offer (if anything!?).
photo credit: Simon Schaumann
Moved on up to Picton, a nice little town, where we had some lunch before boarding the Interislander ferry and crossing over to the North island.
So that brings us to Wellington, a lively bustling city. We’ve spent our time here walking around, visited the Te Papa museum (national museum with lots of Maori heritage stuff). We got the cable car up to the Botanic gardens today and then hit the shops for some retail therapy – Orla lost the run of herself! We were out and about last night for a ‘few quiet ones’ (no such thing!). So, we move on to Taupo tommorrow. Our last long (ish) bus journey! Hurray! I never want to see a bus again after this trip!
by Clare on 08.07.09 in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, 7th August
Hello again! We had a great last night in Queenstown. After going for some cocktails in the Minus 5 ice bar, we got the skyline gondola/cable car up the side of a mountain with spectacular views over the lovely Queenstown. We gorged on the most beautiful buffet dinner in the restaurant at the top – by far the best meal we’ve had on our travels – and afterwards were treated to a Maori Haka show. It was a fab night all in all.
photo credit: jeaneeem
The next morning we said goodbye to Queenstown (and to the smelly hostel thank God!) and we jumped on a bus up to Franz Josef Glacier. On route, we drove through Mt. Aspiring National Park, stopping for photo shoots at Thunder Creek Falls and Knights Point. We got to see a lot of that beautiful scenery that New Zealand is famous for – snow capped mountains, waterfalls, rivers, lakes and forests. Spectacular!
photo credit: Bournagain
So, we landed in the tiny town of Franz Josef Glacier and checked into the nice, cosy hostel – back to the old reliable YHA’s. Today we did the most fantastic helihike trip up on to Franz Josef Glacier. We were blessed to get up there, as the trip had been cancelled for over a week due to weather conditions. So thank God, the sun was shining when we boarded our helicopter which took us on quite a smooth ride up onto the glacier. Spent 2 hours hiking across the ice, through caves and tunnels. It was amazing! A little scary in parts, especially when one of the guys in our group fell through the ice chest deep! My heart! I thought he was a goner! We made it back to base anyway with no more incidents. It was well worth it – a brilliant trip.
photo credit: AdamSelwood
We’re heading for Nelson tommorrow via the pancake rocks – around a 10 hour trip, but we figured we’d motor on a bit up North. So, until next time, thanks for reading…
by Clare on 08.04.09 in New Zealand, Queenstown | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, 4th August
Hello from Queenstown! It’s a fab little town surrounded by snow capped mountains. It’s got lots of bars (with cosy fires), cafes and restaurants and sells itself as the adventure capital of the world. Also home to the worst hostel in the world – Pinewood Lodge. It smells really bad and is freezing. The whole place just needs to be levelled. So, we have been spending as much time as possible away from the smelly hostel.
photo credit: Adamina
Yesterday, we rented the most horrendous snow gear (think binman/burglar outfits) and we headed off to the slopes of Coronet Peak for some skiing. Had a fantastic time. I was a bit of a ‘menace on the slopes’, as Orla put it, for the first few hours. Fell over on the pully lift thing and the girl had to stop the lift while I recovered and tried to stand up again – very difficult cause I was in tears laughing! After eventually getting upright again, I skiied right back into the pully lift, nearly taking out an innocent child. Again, lift had to be stopped, hysterical laughter, before Orla dragged me away from the danger zone before I caused more havoc. After that though I improved no end, with the help of 2 lessons and even mastered the ‘magic carpet’ onto the green slope. It was so much fun. I’m converted now – skiing holidays here I come!
photo credit: Ted Percival
Today, Orla persuaded me to go on the ’shotover jet’ – a thrill jetboat ride along the shotover river. I very nearly chickened out, but plucked up all my courage and got on the boat. I was so glad I did it – It was fantastic! Speeding our way along the river, closely missing rocks. So much fun!
photo credit: Alex E. Proimos
So, we’ve another day here. Heading on the gondola tommorrow (cable car up side of very steep mountain). We’re having a buffet dinner at the top, followed by a New Zealand Haka show, so looking forward to that.
by Clare on 08.01.09 in Akaroa, Christchurch, New Zealand | No Comments »
Saturday, 1st August
Greetings from Christchurch, New Zealand. We landed in cold and wintry Christchurch on Thursday night. We explored the city on Friday and did some ice skating and headed out to check out the bars on Friday night. Ending up having a great night, bopping until the early hours in Sullivans Irish bar. Needless to say, we suffered today, but still managed to drag ourselves out of the bed and get a bus to the beautiful little seaside town of Akaroa, East of Christchurch, where the French settled. It is such a pretty town.
photo credit: robynejay
We headed out onto the harbour for some dolphin watching. There weren’t many around, but we still saw a few jumping out of the water. So, it’s another early start tommorrow. We are heading down to Queenstown to hit the slopes for a few days. Let’s hope I can get the hang of this skiing thing!
by Clare on 07.30.09 in Australia, Great Ocean Road | No Comments »
Thursday, 30th July
Hi all. Since last writing, we did our tour to the spectacular Great Ocean Road. First stop was one of the top surfing beaches in Oz – Bells beach. We nearly didn’t make it to the twelve apostles due to a eucalyptus tree which fell down blocking the road (quite common apparently!). After a bit of a wait we made it through and it was certainly worth the wait. It was a pretty wild and windy day which made the views more exciting with the waves crashing off the cliffs. We headed onto Loch Ard Gorge which was equally as beautiful a sight.
photo credit: b.i.g.d.u.k.e
We hit the shops yesterday for some retail therapy. It turned into more of a quest to find the most horrendous outfit after trawling through rails and rails of dodgy clothes. I guess the Aussie’s aren’t renowned for their fashion! I did manage to pick up a beautiful pair of Nine West shoes for a real bargain, so all was not lost! So yesterday evening, we got all dolled up in our heels – a rare occurence these days – and toddled off to the theatre to see the musical ‘Wicked’. It was fantastic!
photo credit: yumiang
So it’s our last day in the wonderful land of Oz. We fly to New Zealand this evening. It’s been a blast! We’ve seen a lot of amazing stuff and had a fantastic time here. We’ll miss it! New Zealand – you’ve got a lot to live up to, but we’re hopeful! See you in New Zealand…
by Clare on 07.27.09 in Australia, Melbourne, Philip Island | No Comments »
Monday, July 27th
Hello from cold, windy Melbourne! We landed in Melbourne on Saturday and checked into a hostel in South Yarra. Met up with John there and we had a few quiet ones back in the hostel. We decided to up sticks and move closer into the city yesterday morning, so once we had found the trusty YHA and dumped our stuff, we spent the rest of the day doing the ‘culture vulture walking tour of Melbourne’. Strolled around the botanic gardens and went on the rickety ‘wheel of death’. We ended up at an aussie rules football game – interesting! Headed out last night in St. Kildas for a few. We had a good laugh and were home at a reasonable hour!
photo credit: MacJewell
Today we went on a day trip to Philip island where we saw the excellent penguin parade. After sunset, groups of cute little penguins come ashore and cross the beach to find their burrows up in the dunes. It’s amazing to watch. They just appear out of the ocean and form in groups of about 20 or so and waddle their way up the beach. They are pretty noisy little creatures too!
photo credit: hughiethethird
Aswell as the penguins, we stopped off at a wildlife park where we got to feed some pretty big kangaroos including a female with a joey in her pouch. Also saw cute little koalas sleeping in the trees, some wallabies and a tasmanian devil. We also went to the nobbies on Philip island, home to the seal rocks and also a few little penguins. It was pretty wild out there – the winter gear has finally come out! So it’s off to the great ocean road tommorrow…better bring the thermals!
by Clare on 07.23.09 in Australia, Hunter Valley, Palm Beach, Sydney | 1 Comment »
Thurs, 23rd July
Greetings from Sydney. What a fab city! So much to do here. We’re staying in the Ibis hotel which is really central and within walking distance of everything we want to see. We spent Tuesday just getting to know the city and taking in the sites – Sydney harbour bridge, Opera house and got the ferry out to Manly. We also visited Darling harbour and the Sydney Aquarium where we saw some pretty impressive sharks and stingrays, while resisting the urge to throw the throngs of school holiday kids into the tanks.
photo credit: avlxyz
We headed for Palm Beach yesterday where Home and Away is filmed. Unfortunately Alf Stewart and flathead were on vacation in Yabby Creek and we didn’t get to meet them, but the beach is really fab and we had fun chilling out near the surf club waiting for the next drama to unfold…
photo credit: Cre@tivity
We are just back from a day of wine tasting in the hunter valley wine region. We visited Waloombi, Stonehurst and Savannah Estate wineries where we sampled lots of their wines and champagnes – mmm! I think we have slept off the effects on the bus back though! May venture out for a few this evening just to compare wines, now that we are connoisseurs! We are here until Saturday, when we fly to Melbourne for 5 days. Looking forward to that but getting sad that the Oz leg of the trip is nearly over 
by Clare on 07.19.09 in Australia, Brisbane, Byron Bay | No Comments »
Sunday, 19th June
Hello readers! We are in the lovely, laid back hippy town of Byron Bay where we are enjoying a well earned break from activities and chilling out, which is what everyone seems to be doing in this town! Just spent a few hours on the fab beach and have returned now to the hostel for a bit of internet-ing before we head out for a bite and a few drinks. We had a good time in Brisbane. It’s a lovely city – very busy though! We spent a lovely day strolling around the botanic gardens and then over to South Bank where we went to a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition (culture vultures again!) before taking a spin on the Brisbane wheel to get an aerial view of the city.
photo credit: xamesm
We had a great night out on the town on friday night. We met up with some friends from home and generally had a lot of fun and some sore heads the next morning!
So, it’s on to Sydney on the overnight bus tommorrow evening, after no doubt another day of chilling out on the beach in Byron Bay (it’s actually still quite warm down here, Brisbane got pretty chilly in the evenings). We’ve went all out and splashed out on a hotel in Sydney for 5 nights. Looking forward to the bit of luxury! Champagne backpackers here we come!
photo credit: jaredten
