Right, so I'm up again for the wind-down. Alex will fill you in on Qtown as soon as he's over the jetlag and likely leg cramp we're gonna get from walking a stupid amount around Hollywood today.
A few 'personal' notes on the big Q first though, as me and Alex were sadly separated for some unspeakable moments. First was night-time skiing. Which was absolutely sweet. Me and Shinoba Dragon Ninja (aka Shobi) climbed to the peak of the ranges and watched the sunset before hitting the darkened slopes. The snow was crunchened up perfectly in the colder conditions, the slopes were emptier and the mountain open to be explored. Absolutely quality.
Second moment of separation: Milford Sound day trip. Also a massive highlight from the whole journey. The drive there through the Fiordlands was the most scenic and stunning yet; the unlimited buffet lunch truly satisfying; the boat trip around the Fiords was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen (sorry for sounding really really gay, but its only the truth); even our bus driver was a legend. His name was Mangee (referring to the male G-string he always wears) and he had me laughing the whole way there and back.
Note 3: Fergburgers were overrated. Too much onion and not enough sauce.
Right, to the wind-down. Leaving Queenstown was as expected: saddening. Christchurch seemed pleasant enough during the one night we spent there before popping up to Kaikoura for some awesome views and a secret little seal colony that out driver only took us to after we wrote a poem pleading and begging him to.
The final legs of our trip were back through the spots we'd already visited on the North Island. Wellington was pretty nice second time round. It has the coolest little shopping street on Cuba Mall, some nice gardens leading down from the iconic cable car, and a pretty excited night scene (of which I remember little). Alex put the pressure on then got whipped by Sean. Enough said.
Lauren (the extra-excited and happy version of Pam) took us to Taupo again and I couldnt suppress my innate love for all things aeronautical. McDonalds were cool enough to have a massive plane they had converted into a kids playing area. We werent aloud in so I just climbed onto the wing the hard way and had a moment.
Rotorua and yet again our group was diminishing. Following an emotional goodbye to Georgia and Rachel (our friends right from day 1 in Auckland), we got some cheap thrills on the Luging track. Two words: intermediate left. Alex got cramp and I nearly crashed trying to take pictures of him getting cramp.
Q (the most unbothered driver yet) drove our final journey on the Kiwi bus to Auckland. We had made it in time to enjoy 3 nights at Kate's flat before flying out to LA. However, on calling said Kate (Alexs work friend) to find out where she lived we were curtly informed that she was moving out the next day and couldnt put us up at all. Sweet. Anyway we met up and drank a little then had a pillow fight. Unfortunately, following a particularly heavy blow from Alex upon my arm, my camera was flung to the floor. The lens was broken for good. I was very depressed.
So we spent the next few days buying a new camera, watching bruno, meeting Charles Marchant (yes, that one who's at the Crown sometimes!), climbing trees and failing to play football, spying on rich peoples boats and finally, on our last night in the Southern Hemisphere... Well, I wish I could remember what happened that night. Alex wishes he could too, given how he found himself knocking on apartment doors and asking to sleep on strangers sofas at 4am about an hours walk from our hostel. No one knew how or why he was there, and no one ever will. Oh, and there were some nice views of the city from Mt.Eden.
That was it, we said our goodbyes, smuggled into the hostel we never checked-out from, and left. NZ may just have been better than Oz, and leaving did cause a small clang in my heart. I sure hope I can get back there someday.
Anyway, emotion over, peace out all xx
Friday, 24 July 2009
Land of the Long White Cloud
Hey all, and welcome to another long-awaited blog update. This one comes a full month after Alex's (slightly over-abusive) biopic from Auckland, and from Auckland we have been very very busy...
Following a day walking around the city and wandering around the museum we were truly ready to get on the bus and escape to the country. And the North Island didn't disappoint. From awesome coastal scenery in Mercury Bay, we headed to smelly Rotorua and its funky geothermal activity resulting in loads of steam and eggyness all round. That night we decided to exercise our cultural curiosity and headed out to some Maori experience. The highlight was definitely the all-you-can-eat buffet meal - featuring 4 types of meat, 3 salads, pavlova and custard OR cream. Wow. Best meal of the whole trip yet. Otherwise there was the Haka, and we were made to run round some Maori agility course for about 20 minutes. The chief seemed to enjoy it.
Leaving that sulphurous stench behind we skipped across to Waitomo, famous for its underground caving world. We couldn't help but give in the the Abyss black water rafting experience. So, basically we got down to some...abseiling, zipwiring, floating around in inner tubes, climbing underground waterfalls and devouring hot chocolate and flapjacks. It was pretty damn awesome. Alex stunk at it though, and didnt we know it. That wetsuit can never be used agaain..
Sweet, so next stop was Taupo for some natural hot springs, lack of sky-diving and a night that Alex doesnt remember too well. Not sure how, given the force with which he was thrown to the floor by the bouncer at the local club. Oh, another thing: no one liked out Kiwi bus driver. Her name was Pam and she was pregnant, temperamental and not exactly easy-going most of the time. I didnt exactly have much of a problem, though the group had decreed we skip forward to the bus ahead. And everyone followed, except for one German girl who would later get Sam banned from all YHAs in New Zealand.
Next up, River Valley. Alex played poker while I enjoyed mud volleyball in the rain. Not sure who was being more manly there. Oh, and I got to do some white water rafting on the hardest river in NZ. The waters were so rough we had to get out the rafts and walk round, but that just added to the excitement, especially with our guides telling us how many lives each rapid had claimed just after we'd conquered them.
Nancy drove us down to Wellington for a night that included scary glasses-stealing stalker girl, emergency visits to the supermarket for Kettle Chips and rooftop rumours. The museum the next day was absolutely sweet. I probably spent about 6 hours there. I know, that's cool right. A word of advice - don't go watch the new Transformers film. Under any circumstances.
Onto the Interislander we went, and goodbye to the North Island we wished. The south was supposedly where it was at, and our driver was apparently an ex-rockstar whose wife had left him for their band's frontman. Pretty hardcore eh. Turns out that was all a lie though. Rich was a pretty cool dude, but really he was from a small farming town in the south and had been involved in no such scandal. The next part of our trip (heading down the West coast to Queenstown) would be the most definitive. Beautiful landscape, adrenaline-pumping activities and copious alcohol intake. Sweet.
Right, so first off was Nelson. Alex and I ran up some huge hill to the centre of New Zealand, then played football into the sunset before hitting a tipsy happiness back at El Paradiso. Westport was a bit too wet for us, but preparations were at hand for the famous Pu Party to come the next night. The theme was the definition of liberal, so anything would have been allowed. A few visits to charity shops in Greymouth and we had our outfits: I would flaunt a beautiful full-length flowery dress with matching apron and pass as Delia Smith. Alex found a toy gun, ripped up a brown shirt and donned his cowboy hat to become an admirable Woody from Toy Story.
Besides the anal Tre Cool lookalike who followed us to our room and stole our goon, the night turned out well. I cant say I remember much of the details, but I've been told it was a thumbs-up. Oh, and some guy dressed up as a KKK member...and got away with it! No hard feelings were felt. Also present were Hulk, Tiger Woods, Wolverine and Catwoman. There was another cross-dresser, but I did try to avoid him most of the night because he did look scarily like a lady. Alex also couldnt look me in the eye. Apparently I was too good a woman.
From the Pu Rich cruised us over to the Franz Joseph glacier. We climbed that monster and its treacherous tunnels and narrow passes. Tom took his trousers down too, though couldnt get his hands up in fear of excessive exposure. A quick stop off in Wanaka for a stunning sunset, sexy bangers&mash and gruesome movies and we were on the road to Queenstown. But first, a random stop-off at Puzzle World for crazy tricks of the mind and the unconquerable maze that we definitely conquered without cheating. Now to Queenstown.
And Queenstown was such a monumental climax to the trip that I cant possibly be selfish enough to take it away from Alex. So basically he's gonna come along and do an entire blog on it. I know, highly unorthodox and something we've never tried before here at the blogspot. But it really was that good. I'll be back after for the wind-down after we left that amazing place...
Take it to 'em bud
Love M xx
Following a day walking around the city and wandering around the museum we were truly ready to get on the bus and escape to the country. And the North Island didn't disappoint. From awesome coastal scenery in Mercury Bay, we headed to smelly Rotorua and its funky geothermal activity resulting in loads of steam and eggyness all round. That night we decided to exercise our cultural curiosity and headed out to some Maori experience. The highlight was definitely the all-you-can-eat buffet meal - featuring 4 types of meat, 3 salads, pavlova and custard OR cream. Wow. Best meal of the whole trip yet. Otherwise there was the Haka, and we were made to run round some Maori agility course for about 20 minutes. The chief seemed to enjoy it.
Leaving that sulphurous stench behind we skipped across to Waitomo, famous for its underground caving world. We couldn't help but give in the the Abyss black water rafting experience. So, basically we got down to some...abseiling, zipwiring, floating around in inner tubes, climbing underground waterfalls and devouring hot chocolate and flapjacks. It was pretty damn awesome. Alex stunk at it though, and didnt we know it. That wetsuit can never be used agaain..
Sweet, so next stop was Taupo for some natural hot springs, lack of sky-diving and a night that Alex doesnt remember too well. Not sure how, given the force with which he was thrown to the floor by the bouncer at the local club. Oh, another thing: no one liked out Kiwi bus driver. Her name was Pam and she was pregnant, temperamental and not exactly easy-going most of the time. I didnt exactly have much of a problem, though the group had decreed we skip forward to the bus ahead. And everyone followed, except for one German girl who would later get Sam banned from all YHAs in New Zealand.
Next up, River Valley. Alex played poker while I enjoyed mud volleyball in the rain. Not sure who was being more manly there. Oh, and I got to do some white water rafting on the hardest river in NZ. The waters were so rough we had to get out the rafts and walk round, but that just added to the excitement, especially with our guides telling us how many lives each rapid had claimed just after we'd conquered them.
Nancy drove us down to Wellington for a night that included scary glasses-stealing stalker girl, emergency visits to the supermarket for Kettle Chips and rooftop rumours. The museum the next day was absolutely sweet. I probably spent about 6 hours there. I know, that's cool right. A word of advice - don't go watch the new Transformers film. Under any circumstances.
Onto the Interislander we went, and goodbye to the North Island we wished. The south was supposedly where it was at, and our driver was apparently an ex-rockstar whose wife had left him for their band's frontman. Pretty hardcore eh. Turns out that was all a lie though. Rich was a pretty cool dude, but really he was from a small farming town in the south and had been involved in no such scandal. The next part of our trip (heading down the West coast to Queenstown) would be the most definitive. Beautiful landscape, adrenaline-pumping activities and copious alcohol intake. Sweet.
Right, so first off was Nelson. Alex and I ran up some huge hill to the centre of New Zealand, then played football into the sunset before hitting a tipsy happiness back at El Paradiso. Westport was a bit too wet for us, but preparations were at hand for the famous Pu Party to come the next night. The theme was the definition of liberal, so anything would have been allowed. A few visits to charity shops in Greymouth and we had our outfits: I would flaunt a beautiful full-length flowery dress with matching apron and pass as Delia Smith. Alex found a toy gun, ripped up a brown shirt and donned his cowboy hat to become an admirable Woody from Toy Story.
Besides the anal Tre Cool lookalike who followed us to our room and stole our goon, the night turned out well. I cant say I remember much of the details, but I've been told it was a thumbs-up. Oh, and some guy dressed up as a KKK member...and got away with it! No hard feelings were felt. Also present were Hulk, Tiger Woods, Wolverine and Catwoman. There was another cross-dresser, but I did try to avoid him most of the night because he did look scarily like a lady. Alex also couldnt look me in the eye. Apparently I was too good a woman.
From the Pu Rich cruised us over to the Franz Joseph glacier. We climbed that monster and its treacherous tunnels and narrow passes. Tom took his trousers down too, though couldnt get his hands up in fear of excessive exposure. A quick stop off in Wanaka for a stunning sunset, sexy bangers&mash and gruesome movies and we were on the road to Queenstown. But first, a random stop-off at Puzzle World for crazy tricks of the mind and the unconquerable maze that we definitely conquered without cheating. Now to Queenstown.
And Queenstown was such a monumental climax to the trip that I cant possibly be selfish enough to take it away from Alex. So basically he's gonna come along and do an entire blog on it. I know, highly unorthodox and something we've never tried before here at the blogspot. But it really was that good. I'll be back after for the wind-down after we left that amazing place...
Take it to 'em bud
Love M xx
Monday, 22 June 2009
couldn't think of an interesting title. sorry
and so the story continues in Cairns... (sorry for the delay)
Martin as usual was being a skank and refusing to spend any money, so it was left to me - along with Frankie our Cornish beauty, Jordan Croft 'son of Lara', and Andreas the Viking - to brave rafting on the Tully river. The barbecue lunch alone would have been worth the 200-odd bucks it cost us, but the rafting had us both laughing and fearing for our lives for 5 extreme hours. I was the only one of us to get thrown out of the raft, but funnily enough nobody noticed me desperately clawing myself back on-board as they struggled to get a German girl out of the water on the other side of the boat.
Our evenings in Cairns were mostly spent in a club called Woolshed, or, in my case, outside of it. It seems Tony the bouncer who looked a bit like Malfoy from Harry Potter didn't take a liking to me or Andreas, especially when we refused to pay for 4 extortionate tequila shots at the bar. Aside from winding him up to the point of having the police called, and trying to sneak back in dressed as a pirate, we managed to walk away with a free camper van hire for a week thanks to my talents in the 'wet jock' competition. God knows how i won. I didn't even know i had or what the prize was until Frankie brought the voucher outside. We had a week in the van and had to drop it in Brisbane, which was perfect given how that's where our flight to Fiji departed from anyway.
Despite having a slightly disturbing image of a kangaroo touching itself indecently on one side, we warmed to our van quickly. Percy would be its name.
After emotional goodbyes to our 3-week-long travelling buddies (Harry, Tom, Frankie, Beau, Jordan and Andreas), myself, Martin and Rosie - who we'd met back in Hervey Bay - set off down the Bruce Highway. The next three days were spent driving down deserted highways, pulling up for lunch in the sugar cane fields, clearing the roads of cows on the way to remote waterfalls, and cooking noodles out the back of the van on the dimly lit street corners of quiet coastal towns. Not showering and wearing the same clothes for half a week wasn't a problem at all. Being in the camper van was our first chance to see the real Australia; the in-between out-of-town places where we swore we hadn't driven past another set of headlights for hours at a time.
Rosie was dropped off at Rainbow Beach, and later that day we rolled into Brisbane for the last leg of our Australian chapter. There we were re-united with three girls from our Asian tour: Laura, Emma and Lauren. And hot showers. And real beds. And alcohol...
Enough alcohol that Emma managed to cripple her ankle/foot whilst drunkenly imitating her already crippled friend in front of half the club. Oh, and i will never eat oats and yoghurt again. Scottish people must be mental.
...Martin will never see a disabled toilet in the same way. Sorry, private joke.
So we bummed around in Brisbane for 2 or 3 days taking Percy for the odd spin, hoping not to pick up a parking ticket. Of course we did though, literally hours before we dropped the van back at the depot. Ah well we thought, we'll be out of the country in a few hours. No follow-up e-mails or phone calls as yet...
What would travelling be without a little disorganisation? That was our optimistic outlook on missing our flight to Fiji by approximately 12 hours and having to spend a night in the airport. If it wasn't for 'Stavros' - don't think that was his real name, but he looked Greek - the cleaner throwing a strop as we hit 50 yard football passes to each other across the departure lounge, it could have been a really fun night. As it was, we passed the time making a small fleet of paper aeroplanes and throwing them into the abyss, somewhere over Subway and Noodlebox.
Luckily we were moved onto a flight the next day for free, and boarded our flight to Nadi after a 20 hour stay in the airport. We looked at it as a free nights accommodation.
And so within a few hours the Gold Coast was behind us and we were checking in to our hostel in the capital on the Fijian mainland. 'BULA!' was the welcoming shout of pretty much every resident, each who also wanted a touch of our football and to know which teams we played for. The people of Fiji are definitely the most hospitable and welcoming we have come across, and the next 5 days we spent touring the islands we always felt a close bond with the locals.
The islands were as you would imagine; picturesque beaches and dramatic forest landscapes, the sea was crystal clear and the heat was intense. We spent days lazing in hammocks or cooling off in the sea or playing guitar with the staff, and in the evenings they never failed to put on a show, be it playing with fire or dressing up as woman and getting everyone to take part in the 'Bula' dance. We sat by a bonfire under the stars and would share stories with other travellers as the invisible tide rolled in and hissed against the sparks of the firewood.
Apologies for rambling on like a poet on mushrooms, i think the third helping of aeroplane food we asked for today might have messed up my head a little. So anyway, we pretty must just chilled in Fiji - the one and a half days of rain were slightly disappointing but we made up for it by finding 15 like-minded guys and starting an epic game of football. Martin sampled the traditional 'Carva' stimulant and tried to find enlightenment, but he later described it as 'drinking five cups of mud water and feeling tired.' So i didn't bother.
And so our story catches up with us here in Auckland, 4 hours after landing at the airport. All i can really say about New Zealand so far is that it's about 3 times as cold as anywhere else we've been, but the Subways are cheaper, and so is the alcohol. So i guess it bodes well. The day after tomorrow we start our Kiwi Experience bus tour, which we've heard from pretty much everyone we've met is amazing. And we can't wait to get going.
Maybe we won't be so lazy and will update this a bit sooner next time, i promise we'll try for those of you who read this.
I'll leave you with the tragic news that Martin - yes, he IS solely to blame - lost our precious football in arrivals at Auckland airport; we believe it's still riding the baggage reclaim conveyor belt as we speak. Muppet.
Right, goodbye for now.. we'll put some more nice words up here soon and you can translate them through your eyes and in your brain until you can make sense of what we've been doing. Seriously, plane food.
BYE BYE, stay safe
peace and love from Alex and the idiot who lost the ball.
xxx
Martin as usual was being a skank and refusing to spend any money, so it was left to me - along with Frankie our Cornish beauty, Jordan Croft 'son of Lara', and Andreas the Viking - to brave rafting on the Tully river. The barbecue lunch alone would have been worth the 200-odd bucks it cost us, but the rafting had us both laughing and fearing for our lives for 5 extreme hours. I was the only one of us to get thrown out of the raft, but funnily enough nobody noticed me desperately clawing myself back on-board as they struggled to get a German girl out of the water on the other side of the boat.
Our evenings in Cairns were mostly spent in a club called Woolshed, or, in my case, outside of it. It seems Tony the bouncer who looked a bit like Malfoy from Harry Potter didn't take a liking to me or Andreas, especially when we refused to pay for 4 extortionate tequila shots at the bar. Aside from winding him up to the point of having the police called, and trying to sneak back in dressed as a pirate, we managed to walk away with a free camper van hire for a week thanks to my talents in the 'wet jock' competition. God knows how i won. I didn't even know i had or what the prize was until Frankie brought the voucher outside. We had a week in the van and had to drop it in Brisbane, which was perfect given how that's where our flight to Fiji departed from anyway.
Despite having a slightly disturbing image of a kangaroo touching itself indecently on one side, we warmed to our van quickly. Percy would be its name.
After emotional goodbyes to our 3-week-long travelling buddies (Harry, Tom, Frankie, Beau, Jordan and Andreas), myself, Martin and Rosie - who we'd met back in Hervey Bay - set off down the Bruce Highway. The next three days were spent driving down deserted highways, pulling up for lunch in the sugar cane fields, clearing the roads of cows on the way to remote waterfalls, and cooking noodles out the back of the van on the dimly lit street corners of quiet coastal towns. Not showering and wearing the same clothes for half a week wasn't a problem at all. Being in the camper van was our first chance to see the real Australia; the in-between out-of-town places where we swore we hadn't driven past another set of headlights for hours at a time.
Rosie was dropped off at Rainbow Beach, and later that day we rolled into Brisbane for the last leg of our Australian chapter. There we were re-united with three girls from our Asian tour: Laura, Emma and Lauren. And hot showers. And real beds. And alcohol...
Enough alcohol that Emma managed to cripple her ankle/foot whilst drunkenly imitating her already crippled friend in front of half the club. Oh, and i will never eat oats and yoghurt again. Scottish people must be mental.
...Martin will never see a disabled toilet in the same way. Sorry, private joke.
So we bummed around in Brisbane for 2 or 3 days taking Percy for the odd spin, hoping not to pick up a parking ticket. Of course we did though, literally hours before we dropped the van back at the depot. Ah well we thought, we'll be out of the country in a few hours. No follow-up e-mails or phone calls as yet...
What would travelling be without a little disorganisation? That was our optimistic outlook on missing our flight to Fiji by approximately 12 hours and having to spend a night in the airport. If it wasn't for 'Stavros' - don't think that was his real name, but he looked Greek - the cleaner throwing a strop as we hit 50 yard football passes to each other across the departure lounge, it could have been a really fun night. As it was, we passed the time making a small fleet of paper aeroplanes and throwing them into the abyss, somewhere over Subway and Noodlebox.
Luckily we were moved onto a flight the next day for free, and boarded our flight to Nadi after a 20 hour stay in the airport. We looked at it as a free nights accommodation.
And so within a few hours the Gold Coast was behind us and we were checking in to our hostel in the capital on the Fijian mainland. 'BULA!' was the welcoming shout of pretty much every resident, each who also wanted a touch of our football and to know which teams we played for. The people of Fiji are definitely the most hospitable and welcoming we have come across, and the next 5 days we spent touring the islands we always felt a close bond with the locals.
The islands were as you would imagine; picturesque beaches and dramatic forest landscapes, the sea was crystal clear and the heat was intense. We spent days lazing in hammocks or cooling off in the sea or playing guitar with the staff, and in the evenings they never failed to put on a show, be it playing with fire or dressing up as woman and getting everyone to take part in the 'Bula' dance. We sat by a bonfire under the stars and would share stories with other travellers as the invisible tide rolled in and hissed against the sparks of the firewood.
Apologies for rambling on like a poet on mushrooms, i think the third helping of aeroplane food we asked for today might have messed up my head a little. So anyway, we pretty must just chilled in Fiji - the one and a half days of rain were slightly disappointing but we made up for it by finding 15 like-minded guys and starting an epic game of football. Martin sampled the traditional 'Carva' stimulant and tried to find enlightenment, but he later described it as 'drinking five cups of mud water and feeling tired.' So i didn't bother.
And so our story catches up with us here in Auckland, 4 hours after landing at the airport. All i can really say about New Zealand so far is that it's about 3 times as cold as anywhere else we've been, but the Subways are cheaper, and so is the alcohol. So i guess it bodes well. The day after tomorrow we start our Kiwi Experience bus tour, which we've heard from pretty much everyone we've met is amazing. And we can't wait to get going.
Maybe we won't be so lazy and will update this a bit sooner next time, i promise we'll try for those of you who read this.
I'll leave you with the tragic news that Martin - yes, he IS solely to blame - lost our precious football in arrivals at Auckland airport; we believe it's still riding the baggage reclaim conveyor belt as we speak. Muppet.
Right, goodbye for now.. we'll put some more nice words up here soon and you can translate them through your eyes and in your brain until you can make sense of what we've been doing. Seriously, plane food.
BYE BYE, stay safe
peace and love from Alex and the idiot who lost the ball.
xxx
Monday, 8 June 2009
Hey people,
Apologies for the rushed and curt style of the last blog. Alex has stories to tell and I may leave them for his next blog as they are truly severe and incriminating in nature. Anyway, to sum up what's happened to us in the last few weeks or so..
From 'incredible' Fraser we got the luxurious and enjoyable 13-hr overnight bus to Airlie Beach. With us we brought 2 Cornish frisbee professionals, one Cornish something and a Dutch girl called Beau. This group would form our travelling fellowship for the 3 weeks that followed up to today and indeed the end of Australia.
After meeting everyone we possibly could meet at the lagoon (including Berko massif), it was all aboard the Pride of Airlie, the so-called 'party boat'. The catamaran took us to our island accommodation (we arrived around a goon of litre lighter per head) and all that can be said is that the ensuing 'party' involved the comandeering of a sailboat, hijacking of a jeep and midnight diving. Like I said, I don't want to incriminate anyone. But seriously, the police were spared and we got off the island safely the next day to see Whitehaven Beach. And shit, it was amazing. And don't worry - the next night on the island only featured mild breaching of authority and some chair-into-pool throwing.
Ok to list the highlights since then...Alex may or may not have been kicked out of night clubs on consecutive nights (and banned from the street for 24 hours); renting scooters on Magnetic island was probably the best and most fun idea in the world; Mission Beach should be more famous for its crickets and pervy photographers. And one I can never forget - the skydive. I don't want to ruin the feeling by putting it into words, but oh my god it was amazing. Scuba dive today was sweet as well.
Right I'm massively out of time. Another brief flavour of what's been going down here in Oz to come shortly.
Yak xx
Apologies for the rushed and curt style of the last blog. Alex has stories to tell and I may leave them for his next blog as they are truly severe and incriminating in nature. Anyway, to sum up what's happened to us in the last few weeks or so..
From 'incredible' Fraser we got the luxurious and enjoyable 13-hr overnight bus to Airlie Beach. With us we brought 2 Cornish frisbee professionals, one Cornish something and a Dutch girl called Beau. This group would form our travelling fellowship for the 3 weeks that followed up to today and indeed the end of Australia.
After meeting everyone we possibly could meet at the lagoon (including Berko massif), it was all aboard the Pride of Airlie, the so-called 'party boat'. The catamaran took us to our island accommodation (we arrived around a goon of litre lighter per head) and all that can be said is that the ensuing 'party' involved the comandeering of a sailboat, hijacking of a jeep and midnight diving. Like I said, I don't want to incriminate anyone. But seriously, the police were spared and we got off the island safely the next day to see Whitehaven Beach. And shit, it was amazing. And don't worry - the next night on the island only featured mild breaching of authority and some chair-into-pool throwing.
Ok to list the highlights since then...Alex may or may not have been kicked out of night clubs on consecutive nights (and banned from the street for 24 hours); renting scooters on Magnetic island was probably the best and most fun idea in the world; Mission Beach should be more famous for its crickets and pervy photographers. And one I can never forget - the skydive. I don't want to ruin the feeling by putting it into words, but oh my god it was amazing. Scuba dive today was sweet as well.
Right I'm massively out of time. Another brief flavour of what's been going down here in Oz to come shortly.
Yak xx
Saturday, 30 May 2009
When We Went to the Islands.
Hello again.
The last 10 days and nights have been probably the best we've had in australia so far. We had a 3 day self-drive tour of Fraser Island which is the world's biggest sand island and is full of dingoes ( although we only saw one and we went on 2 night hunts). It was basically 10 of us driving round the island in a massive jeep/van thing, visiting the lakes and beaches during the day, and then setting up camp for night. The weather was perfect until the last night... which caused 500 fisherman to be evacuated from the island, and we had to move camp to the West coast after a ranger told us the tide could be 4 metres high during the night. Which would have been slightly problematic considering we were camping on the beach.
8 minutes til i run out of time, this could be rushed a little...
ah screw it i have to say goodbye to Jordan and Andreas my Swedish partner in crime and fellow pirate. I'll finish the story next time....
bet you're excited.
peace and love, Alex x
The last 10 days and nights have been probably the best we've had in australia so far. We had a 3 day self-drive tour of Fraser Island which is the world's biggest sand island and is full of dingoes ( although we only saw one and we went on 2 night hunts). It was basically 10 of us driving round the island in a massive jeep/van thing, visiting the lakes and beaches during the day, and then setting up camp for night. The weather was perfect until the last night... which caused 500 fisherman to be evacuated from the island, and we had to move camp to the West coast after a ranger told us the tide could be 4 metres high during the night. Which would have been slightly problematic considering we were camping on the beach.
8 minutes til i run out of time, this could be rushed a little...
ah screw it i have to say goodbye to Jordan and Andreas my Swedish partner in crime and fellow pirate. I'll finish the story next time....
bet you're excited.
peace and love, Alex x
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Boarding Passes, Cockroaches and Rainy, Rainy Noosa
Wow its been a while since the last one of these...
Where to start? Well after a few days idling around Sydney eating Subways we caught the night bus up to Byron Bay. It's a chilled out backpackers paradise where we spent 3 days on the beach taking on the Germans, French, Danes and Dutch at football. I still have the cuts on my toes.
We took our first proper trip to the supermarket and whipped up a few beautiful dishes in the evenings, including fajitas with Justin the gay Canadian who on consecutive nights tried it on with me and Martin. Flattered, we both politley declined his offers. We at least i know I did...
Surfer's Paradise was next... the beach was amazing, the waves were the biggest i've seen so far, it was just a shame we had to return in the evenings to our cockroach ridden hostel which threatened to evict you for just about everything you could wish to do in a hostel. That's just not the spirit really. And there were no cups goddammit. Luckily we met up with some Canadian dudes who helped us get drunk in their campervan. Hopefully we'll meet up in Montreal where it helps to be 19.
So, horrificly hung-over after only 4 hours sleep, we hopped on a bus to Noosa where i'm writing from now. We stayed in a campsite out in the bush, and it rained for literally 2 straight days. Which was nice. We battled through it in our canoes and sang songs as we drifted down the river like drowned rats. Honestly witnessed the strongest downpour ever when we reached the lake. We saw our first kangaroos who got qute excited by all the food we were carrying and had a good go at standing up against us to try and get in our bags. They kick aswell. Oh, and there were bloody millions of mosquitos. I can't count all the bites on my bum from sitting on the 'hole in the ground' toilet. The evenings were great though - drinking games and watching movies and playing with fire. It's nice to come back to civilisation with flushing toilets and hot showers though.
At this point it's probably worth paying tribute to our most valuable travelling companion in Australia so far. His name is goon, he costs $10 for 4 litres, and he'll show you a good time regardless of his bad taste. You might not be so thankful of him the next morning though.
Anyways i've written as much as i can be bothered to right now... guess i've missed out loads of stories but most of them probably aren't suitable for children or jut take too long to explain.
So for now it's hello and goodbye... hope everyone who reads this is safe and well.
Peace and love, Alex.
and Martin.
.....pictures soon
Where to start? Well after a few days idling around Sydney eating Subways we caught the night bus up to Byron Bay. It's a chilled out backpackers paradise where we spent 3 days on the beach taking on the Germans, French, Danes and Dutch at football. I still have the cuts on my toes.
We took our first proper trip to the supermarket and whipped up a few beautiful dishes in the evenings, including fajitas with Justin the gay Canadian who on consecutive nights tried it on with me and Martin. Flattered, we both politley declined his offers. We at least i know I did...
Surfer's Paradise was next... the beach was amazing, the waves were the biggest i've seen so far, it was just a shame we had to return in the evenings to our cockroach ridden hostel which threatened to evict you for just about everything you could wish to do in a hostel. That's just not the spirit really. And there were no cups goddammit. Luckily we met up with some Canadian dudes who helped us get drunk in their campervan. Hopefully we'll meet up in Montreal where it helps to be 19.
So, horrificly hung-over after only 4 hours sleep, we hopped on a bus to Noosa where i'm writing from now. We stayed in a campsite out in the bush, and it rained for literally 2 straight days. Which was nice. We battled through it in our canoes and sang songs as we drifted down the river like drowned rats. Honestly witnessed the strongest downpour ever when we reached the lake. We saw our first kangaroos who got qute excited by all the food we were carrying and had a good go at standing up against us to try and get in our bags. They kick aswell. Oh, and there were bloody millions of mosquitos. I can't count all the bites on my bum from sitting on the 'hole in the ground' toilet. The evenings were great though - drinking games and watching movies and playing with fire. It's nice to come back to civilisation with flushing toilets and hot showers though.
At this point it's probably worth paying tribute to our most valuable travelling companion in Australia so far. His name is goon, he costs $10 for 4 litres, and he'll show you a good time regardless of his bad taste. You might not be so thankful of him the next morning though.
Anyways i've written as much as i can be bothered to right now... guess i've missed out loads of stories but most of them probably aren't suitable for children or jut take too long to explain.
So for now it's hello and goodbye... hope everyone who reads this is safe and well.
Peace and love, Alex.
and Martin.
.....pictures soon
Monday, 4 May 2009
Let's have lunch two times!
Hello again everyone,
We're now at Singapore airport and its free internet access, but unfortunately we only get 12 minutes per go so this may be rushed and a little on the short side.
So to the highlights of the last few weeks. We left the sun and splendour of the Thai beaches and headed across the Malaysian border to the second biggest city of Penang. Besides some hotel exploitation, increased drink prices and dodgy city tours, not much was greatly noticeable. From there we hit the road to the Cameron Highlands, situated at 1200m above sea level. A rushed day tour included jungle trekking, tea plantations, holding deadly scorpions and firing blow pipes.
Next up was the capital Kuala Lumpur. Finally we succumbed to the BigMac (which is smaller in Mlaysia). I was conned into a '100% real copy' of a watch that lasted around 2 and a half days; we saw the city from the heights of the KL tower; then we headed out to explore the local night scene and found a pretty sweet reggae bar full of travellers (and one special Canadian found Alex).
Then onto Malacca, and the funniest boat tour of all time with Bernard, a resident speaker of 102 languages. Alex lost his departure card heading into the highest security border crossing in the world at Singapore. He got through, only after a heavy spanking.
Singapore stood out for having the most expensive drinks of all time at the riverside, but we made up the budget by staying with a friend's friend and enjoying luxury and comfort (complete with 6 pools, 3 tennis courts and a gym). Oh, and a maid who wouldnt stop making pancakes for breakfast. Alex joined in the tribal performance at the Night Safari and I punched a 3 yr old girl whilst swimming lengths.
We met some awesome people on the tour of which we can discuss in more detail when we have more than 2 minutes left. Next stop, Sydney.
Bye for now!
Martin (and Alex says Hi)
We're now at Singapore airport and its free internet access, but unfortunately we only get 12 minutes per go so this may be rushed and a little on the short side.
So to the highlights of the last few weeks. We left the sun and splendour of the Thai beaches and headed across the Malaysian border to the second biggest city of Penang. Besides some hotel exploitation, increased drink prices and dodgy city tours, not much was greatly noticeable. From there we hit the road to the Cameron Highlands, situated at 1200m above sea level. A rushed day tour included jungle trekking, tea plantations, holding deadly scorpions and firing blow pipes.
Next up was the capital Kuala Lumpur. Finally we succumbed to the BigMac (which is smaller in Mlaysia). I was conned into a '100% real copy' of a watch that lasted around 2 and a half days; we saw the city from the heights of the KL tower; then we headed out to explore the local night scene and found a pretty sweet reggae bar full of travellers (and one special Canadian found Alex).
Then onto Malacca, and the funniest boat tour of all time with Bernard, a resident speaker of 102 languages. Alex lost his departure card heading into the highest security border crossing in the world at Singapore. He got through, only after a heavy spanking.
Singapore stood out for having the most expensive drinks of all time at the riverside, but we made up the budget by staying with a friend's friend and enjoying luxury and comfort (complete with 6 pools, 3 tennis courts and a gym). Oh, and a maid who wouldnt stop making pancakes for breakfast. Alex joined in the tribal performance at the Night Safari and I punched a 3 yr old girl whilst swimming lengths.
We met some awesome people on the tour of which we can discuss in more detail when we have more than 2 minutes left. Next stop, Sydney.
Bye for now!
Martin (and Alex says Hi)
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