Monday 30th July 2007

We woke up this morning and couldn't wait to get out of the hostel - the people in our room were well creepy. When we were getting ready for bed a guy came in and we started chatting. I told him about our nightmare journey and he seemed to feel sorry for us... before putting his music on AND THEN TURNING UP THE VOLUME! Next, another guy came in, grunted something and climbed straight into bed.

So, like I said, we couldn't wait to get out of the hostel (even though the place wasn't that bad in the light) - but first we ate some pancakes that someone was cooking for everyone, and then checked out.

The hostel bus dropped us off in the centre and we spotted someone from the Byron Bay YHA, so we jumped into his van and checked in there for the night. This place is much better. It's just like a holiday complex, and Me and Nikki have got our own room again... yippee!

After getting settled we headed into town and had a look around. First, we went into a lovely little café, which sold cheap drinks and also had wireless internet - so we had a drink and surfed the net. Then we did some shopping, which we dropped back at the hostel and then went for a long walk along the beach. This evening Nikki made us a spaghetti bolognese for our tea and the we went to the cinema, to watch The Simpsons Movie, which was cool!

Byron Bay looks very awesome!

Sunday 29th July 2007

We woke up this morning and packed our bags as we'd planned to move onto Byron Bay today. Afterwards we had some breakfast and then went out for a walk. First we went into a little market opposite our hostel and then walked up the beach in the opposite direction to yesterday.

On our way back this afternoon, we bumped into Ash, Adam and some other guys from the hostel, who said they were heading over to the jetty because they wanted to jump off it. Me and Nikki tagged along to watch as Adam was REALLY scared and we didn't think he'd do it.

When we got there we understood - the jetty was about as high as the roof of a house. Ash jumped off no problem. It took Adam about 10 minutes but he did it in the end and then the other 2 guys were stalling - so I stripped down to my boxer-shorts and threw myself off - just to show them how easy it was. The water was surprisingly warm too... bonus!

We came back to the hostel and Nikki made us fried-egg sarnies for our lunch and then we helped Ash and Adam make chips for theirs - the poor little sods didn't have a clue and i'm sure they would've set the kitchen on fire if it hadn't been for Nikki! When we'd all finished our lunches me and the lads went outside for a game of cricket, while Nikki sat and read a magazine. I'm happy to report that I did ok at representing England at bowling - and got a couple of the Aussie guys out for a duck... quaaaaccckkk!

After all of today's excitement, a bloke from the hostel dropped us off at the bus-stop to catch our Greyhound. We got there at about 4pm and the bus finally turned up at... 8.15pm - it was 3 and-a-half hours late! Apparently the starter motor had blown up (probably as a result of them taking breaks every 5 minutes) and we finally got to Byron Bay at about 11.30pm. Luckily, some guy from our new hostel came and picked us up - so we got there at about midnight!

Stupid Greyhounds - ours needed putting down!

Saturday 28th July 2007

We got up this morning and it's definitely getting warmer (I had the infamous Chicago Bulls vest on today) so, we sat by the pool whilst we ate our breakfast. Afterwards we took another walk into town to have a look around and Nikki said she wasn't feeling too good. I said i'd buy her something to help cheer her up - so I did... a smoothie and a kebab!

This afternoon we took a nice long walk along the beach and I even had a paddle in the sea. When we got back to the hostel we had toasted sarnies and hung out with the other guys who are staying here. We also bumped into a guy called Rob, who we met in a hostel in Newcastle - and he seems to be following us up the coast. He's on his own, so we sat drinking with him tonight.

Oh, we booked a trip-type-thing today too. For $399 each (about £160) we get a 3 day 2 night Whitsunday Cruise (sleeping on the boat - with all food and drink included), a 3 day 2 night Fraser Island 4wd Camping Safari and 9 nights accommodation at different hostels up the coast (including Byron Bay, Surfers Paradise, Hervey Bay, Airlie Beach and Magnetic Island) - in total, it's 13 nights accommodation!

Nikki, it's getting hot - you'd better dust off the suncream!

Friday 27th July 2007

We got up this morning and went out to explore Coffs Harbour. First we took a walk into the town, which took us about 25 minutes, but was really nice because the sun was shining and it was really warm. We took my MAC into an Apple Centre because it's been playing up lately, but typically - the problem had gone when we got there - so we left and had a look in the shops before heading back.

This afternoon we had a walk round by our hostel and the harbour. We walked along the beach and then up to Mutton Bird Nature Reserve, which is much further out to sea than the coast - and also a good place to see wildlife and sometimes whales swimming past! This evening we took a walk out along the historic jetty, where we sat and watched the sunset.

Afterwards we came back to the hostel and cooked ourselves some tea. We got chatting to the drunk lads from last night (they're called Ash and Adam) and they told us that they'd been in Australia since about May and only had about $500 left between them (they're supposed to be here for a year) - I guess this explained why they were drinking cuppa-soups for their tea!

One day, I'm gonna jump off that jetty!

Thursday 26th July 2007

When we got up this morning we hung about the hostel making some food for this afternoon's bus journey up to Coffs Harbour and then packed our bags, before taking a walk down into the centre. We had a look around the shops and then we bought smoothies each, which we sat drinking on the grass next to the sea, before going back to the hostel and collecting our bags. We then got the courtesy van down to the station and caught our Greyhound.

We got to Coffs Harbour at about 4.45pm this afternoon and even though we never had anywhere to stay there were 3 guys from different hostels fighting for our business. We decided to go with the YHA because that was were everyone else was going.

The hostel is IMMACULATE - it's more like a hotel and we're in a room with 5 beds! There are a few people here, but it's not too busy, which is nice. Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to go and look about, all the local shops had closed and only the supermarket was open, so we bought some breakfast for the morning and then had a bowl of muesli for our tea... we were starving! We then sat in the TV room with a couple of young guys, who were absolutely wasted, and watched Neighbours and Home & Away.

Muesli for our tea - how will we survive?

Wednesday 25th July 2007

We were up and about quite early this morning, because we'd booked to go out on a Whale Watching Cruise. We had some breakfast and then headed out into the sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it seemed like a perfect day to be going out on a boat.

Our boat set sail at just after 11am and there was about 12 of us onboard, which was nice because it meant there was plenty of room for everyone to get up and walk about. After sailing along the coast for a few minutes, we headed out to sea and within minutes we spotted 3 Humpback Whales. When we were about 100 meters away (which is the legal requirement) the captain switched off the main engines and we were just able to coast alongside them. We followed them for about an hour and found that they were on their way to meet another couple of whales, but we didn't get that close to them - we decided to leave them all alone and head back to shore.

We spent this afternoon exploring Port Macquarie and looking in all the shops. The weather was so good that when we went back to our hostel for lunch, we collected the jumpers we'd bought in New Zealand (along with Nikki's coat) and gave them away to charity - hopefully it's just gonna get warmer and warmer from now on!

This evening Nikki made us another chilli for our tea, (which was loads spicier than last night), and we sat down with our new film friend (we don't even know his name) and watched 'The Rock' and 'Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels'... brilliant!

It was great to see the whales in the wild - but they didn't do as many tricks as the ones at SeaWorld!

Tuesday 24th July 2007

We got up this morning and we helped ourselves to the free breakfast. The sun was out and we can tell that it's starting to get warmer, so we asked Keith if it was still ok to use the bikes? When he said yes, we put on our helmets and rode into town.

We started by cycling through a place called Kooloonbung Creek Nature Reserve, which was pretty crazy: sometimes we'd be out in the open and the next we'd be in thick bushes on dirt-tracks - it was like something out of LOST!

Afterwards we cycled into town and along the coast to some of the secluded beaches. After a short rest we cycled off the track and up into the hills, where we stopped on a bench looking at the ocean, and had a sarnie that Nikki had made for us this morning.

Next we rode back along the coast and across town to the Koala Hospital. This is where sick koalas are taken when they've been injured - some are attacked by cats or dogs and some are hit by cars or involved in bush fires. We were able to get up close to some of them, who just sit about in low trees whilst they're rehabilitating and also watched one get hand-fed by one of the staff.

This morning we'd made enquiries about a Whale Watching Cruise and one company had mentioned that if we signed up with them, then they'd also let us go out on a sunset-cruise for free. So, on our way back from the Koala Hospital we dropped off the bikes and headed down to the harbour where we climbed aboard this small boat. We were taken out onto the river and around the Port Macquarie National Reserve, where koalas and kangaroos live in the wild - unfortunately we didn't see any, but when we were heading back to shore as the sun was setting we did see some dolphins who were swimming by our boat!

Tonight, Nikki made us a chilli for our tea and we sat and watched another film with the same guy as last night - we're like an unofficial film club!

Yep, it's definitely getting warmer - white bits here we come!

Monday 23rd July 2007

The alarm woke us up at about 7.45am this morning, because we had to head to the bus-station to catch our Greyhound Bus. Yesterday we'd booked ourselves tickets to take us about 4 hours up the coast to a place called Port Macquarie.

Our time on the bus wasn't too bad! It was quite a new bus and they put films on for us (which Nikki slept through), plus they stopped a couple of times - so it seemed like we were there in no time. When we were unloading our bags, two men spotted we were travelers and asked if we had anywhere to stay tonight? When we told them no, they started competing with each other - telling us what their hostel offered. In the end we settled for the one that had free internet, free breakfast, free tea and coffee and free shuttles to the bus depot - Port Macquarie Backpackers.

Keith, the guy from the hostel, was really nice and on the way back he showed us around town - telling us things we could do. When we got back he said that they had a couple of bikes for hire at $5 each, but if we just wanted to go into town we could have them for nothing. He also explained about what wildlife we could see in the area - so we dumped our bags and headed out.

When we got to the centre, we were taking a walk in the sunshine along the river, when dolphins started swimming past - there were about 5 of them! Apparently, if you hire kayaks and paddle along the river - they sometimes come and swim next to you - so we might do that tomorrow! After a couple of hours, we came back to the hostel and Nikki cooked us some pasta bolognese for tea before we sat down with some other guy from the hostel and watched a film.

The thermometer said it was 21° today, but we're not so sure - i'll wear my shorts tomorrow to make a better judgement... yippee!

Sunday 22nd July 2007

We woke up this morning and decided that we'd head into the centre of Newcastle and try and find another hostel. We quite enjoyed staying in this one - the people were a great laugh - it's just that we're a married couple, and married couples don't usually spend too long in bunk-beds! We got ready, caught the free bus into town and went in Tourist Information for some help.

Tourist Information told us all about Newcastle and then found a hostel with a double room for us. We walked out into the sunshine and eventually checked ourselves into a YHA place. The first thing we did, after paying our money (before even getting to our room)... we signed up for the free pub dinner tonight - WooHoo! Free Food!

After checking out the YHA we caught the free bus back across town and had a walk around an indoor market and then along the harbour. The weather was beautiful today - it was easily the warmest it's been since leaving Miami. We walked for a couple of hours and even had the cheek to moan about how hot it was getting... yippee! Newcastle seems really nice. We went in loads of shops and Nikki bought herself a new Billabong wallet with her never ending stash of 'birthday money'. There was a free concert going on in the park, which we walked through on our way to Nobby's Beach where we sat in the sun, next to the sea.

This evening we came back to the hostel and did some washing, (which was desperately needed as Nikki went commando today!), before getting ready to go out. A huge group of people staying at the YHA then went to an Irish pub in town for a meal. The pub seemed ok and the free meal went down a treat! After we'd finished eating, and then finished our drinks, me and Nikki came back and sat chatting before I thrashed her at Scrabble - even though she was using dirty words, she still lost!

Wa-yai man - Newcastle's alright like!

Saturday 21st July 2007

We were woken up this morning by some lunatic banging on our bedroom door. Poor Nikki almost hit the ceiling and was convinced that we had slept in and it was the hostels way of throwing us out. When i'd calmed her down, (it was someone banging on the wrong door), we got ready, had some breakfast and checked ourselves out. We walked up to the Kings Cross station and caught the train into the centre, where we walked to the Bus Station.

Our bus to Newcastle wasn't booked until 1pm and we had a few hours to kill, so we went into a little café and had a drink whilst we sat reading Nikki's 'Lonely Planet' guide to find out what there was for us to do. After a short while we were boarding the bus and were on our way North.

Not far out of Sydney and there was some nice scenery, the sun was shining really brightly onto the surrounding lakes - it reminded us of New Zealand. After about 3 hours we arrived in Newcastle. The first thing for us to do was to find somewhere to stay tonight, and as we were leaving the bus station we saw a mini-bus advertising a hostel called Backpackers Newcastle, so we made enquiries and then jumped in.

When we first got to our hostel we were a little wary - the place looked really strange and there were some odd looking people walking around. We dumped our bags in our room (we're in a four-bed dorm, but luckily the other two beds are empty) and headed out to a small area called Hamilton for something to eat. We had a wander around the shops, had a kebab each and then came back.

We went into the TV room and it was full of the people we'd seen earlier. They were all really nice - but some were crazy! We watched the All Blacks vs Australia rugby game on TV and two of the crazier people had a bet on (one was from New Zealand and the other Australia): which ever team lost - that person had to jump into the swimming pool. The crazy Ozy fool did it too! Nikki also got chatting to a guy from Southampton - who supported Bristol Rovers... prat!

We thought traveling was mad - but not as mad as some of the people we've met here!

Friday 20th July 2007

We woke up this morning in our new hostel and after getting ready, we had some of the breakfast they provided before heading into town. The sky was a bit grey and it looked like it might rain, so we went in to one of the huge cinemas they have here and watched 'Knocked Up', which was very funny!

When the film had finished and we left the cinema the weather looked like it was starting to brighten up so we had another wander around the centre - looking at the different sights we didn't see yesterday.

After lunch we did some shopping and I bought Nikki a white leather Billabong watch for our anniversary. We looked at some more of the sights and then headed back in the direction of our hostel. On our way we passed a car dealership, which specialised in 'sports cars'. Seeing as Nikki had bought me a wallet for our anniversary and her watch was more expensive - I put forward my case for perhaps having a Porsche to go with it. The plea fell on deaf ears, but I still got to look at some nice 911s (which are much cheaper here than at home).

On our way home we stopped in O'Malley's Irish Pub again and instead of getting a drink each, we shared a jug-of-beer, which for some reason was a few bucks cheaper! We sat chatting, drinking and listening to the music before heading back to our hostel to chill-out.

I may not have left with a Porsche - but Nikki never said NO!

Thursday 19th July 2007

We were up before the alarm again this morning and, after getting ready and having some breakfast, we sat in the common-room of the hostel watching The Simpsons - waiting to use the internet (the hostel had given us half-hour free). Afterwards we walked round the corner and checked into our new place - Chilli Blue Backpackers.

Once we were all checked into our new hostel we headed down towards the centre because we wanted to sort out our Greyhound Bus Passes. We've decided that we're going to leave the main attractions in Sydney until we return (in about November) and that we're going to start heading North, up the East coast this weekend. With that sorted, (we're booked on the bus to Newcastle on Saturday), we went to explore...

Our first stop was the St Andrews Cathedral, which stands out because it's really old looking and is surrounded by new buildings - it turns out it's actually the oldest Cathedral in the whole of Australia! We looked round the shops and then went for some lunch. We ended up in the same food-court as yesterday, (which Nikki says is the biggest she's ever seen), and both had some yummy Chinese.

This afternoon we walked down to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and then on a massive trek to Darling Harbour. We spent a few hours walking around in the sunshine (it was quite warm today - because there was no wind), before heading back. We walked home a different way - along Oxford Street and stopped in an Irish pub called O'Malley's, where we had a free-beer from staying in the Jolly Swagman.

Man, Sydney is BIG - all that walking's wore me out!

Wednesday 18th July 2007

We woke up before the alarm this morning (probably something to do with the time-difference) and had showers, ate some of the free food the hostel was providing for breakfast and then went out to explore Sydney.

The weather was really nice today - the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky - there was a slight chill in the air, but nothing like what we had in New Zealand. We walked from our hostel along the edge of the water and through the Royal Botanic Gardens towards the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. We were able to walk right up to the Opera House and had a look around, before walking around the harbour and into the centre.

Sydney seems like a nice place. It's a lot like other major cities (busy, lots of people, traffic etc), but we didn't mind, it was so quiet in some parts of New Zealand, it made a nice change. We decided to head back to our hostel this afternoon to arrange some accommodation for tomorrow and found somewhere around the corner (Chilli Blue Backpackers) for almost half the price. Afterwards, we shared a coffee and a muffin and then headed back into the centre.

We carried on looking around the shops and in one of the shopping centres we both had a massage in a small Chinese shop, which was really nice and Nikki bought me a new leather Rip Curl wallet for our 2nd anniversary (good Wifey). We then came back to our hostel where we had noodles for our tea before planning things to do tomorrow.

G'day Australia!

Tuesday 17th July 2007

I have to say - if a night in prison is anything like it was last night, then it's not all bad - our bed was lovely and comfy! We woke up quite early this morning, because we had to 'escape' by 10am, and did a Skype call with Mum and Keith before catching the bus into town.

We bought some cakes from a little bakery we've found (and love) and caught another bus out to the airport. Our flight was supposed to be at 2.30pm but was delayed and we took of at 3pm.

When we arrived in Sydney, we phoned some hostels before finding one called 'The Jolly Swagman' and a shuttle came and collected us and took us there. It seems pretty cool! There are quite a few people here, and at 7pm there was an announcement over the loud-speaker that there was pizza and beer down in the kitchen. When we got there it was only $1 a slice and $1 a beer so we sat eating that and chatting with some of the other travelers (one guy was from Bristol). Afterwards we came up to our room and chilled out watching TV.

New Zealand was great, now onto Australia... fair dinkum!

Monday 16th July 2007

Happy 2 year anniversary Wifey!

Waking up alone was weird enough this morning, but on the top-bunk, on our anniversary was too much! We got ourselves ready, packed our bags and checked out of our hostel before moving onto the place we'd be staying tonight... jail!

Because of the run-in with the Police Nikki had earlier in the week we had to report to Christchurch jail first thing in the morning. Only joking, we'd seen some information about this place that used to be a prison but had been converted to a hostel. We thought it would be a cool place to spend our anniversary night (how romantic). The jail was a lot better than we'd imagined and after getting to our 'cell' we spent a couple of hours getting ready and then went out for a nice meal.

We ate in a place called The Tap Room. The food that we ordered was brought to our table on a 'hot rock', which is a stone that is heated to 400° and you cook the meat (which is raw) to your liking! Nikki had seafood (grouper fish, muscles, prawns, scampi and scallops) and I had crocodile, wild boar and kangaroo. We spent a couple of hours eating and drinking and then walked back to our hostel. Nikki phoned her mum and then we came up to bed - we fly to Australia tomorrow... yippee!

I hope this is the only time we spend behind bars on this trip!

Sunday 15th July 2007

The alarm woke us up at 8.30am this morning, because we were moving rooms. We'd forgot to book ourselves in earlier in our stay and when we finally got round to it, our double room had been booked by someone else - so we were moving to a twin room (d'oh! we'd be waking up on our anniversary in separate beds). Oh well...

After moving our things out of our room and into storage, we had some breakfast and then went to the bus exchange, where we caught the bus to a place called Sumner.

We spent a couple of hours in Sumner, which is a sea-side town. The sun was really bright and so we walked along the beach, sat and ate a bag of chips with tuna sarnies that Nikki had made, and bought ourselves ice creams - we had a really good time!

When we got back this evening, we moved our bags to our new 'twin room' only to find that it had a bunk-bed. Great - I wouldn't even be able to see Nikki when we woke up on our anniversary (but at least I bagged the top-bunk... yippee).

With the bags moved and the beds assigned, we went into the New Excelsior bar, which is under our hostel and had a drink before coming back and watching TV in our room.

We've been married 2 years tomorrow!

Saturday 14th July 2007

We woke up quite late this morning - and even when we opened our eyes, we couldn't be bothered to get out of bed - this is one of the guilty pleasures of having a real bed (indoors) I suppose! When we were finally up-and-about, we decided that - seeing as it's our 2 year anniversary on Monday - we'd go our separate ways and look for pressies for each other.

After about an hour-or-so of looking about, I went into a surf shop to see if there was anything in there for Nikki, and who did I bump in to? Yep, Nikki (great minds think alike). We decided that we couldn't be bothered to look around anymore - and that we'd rather buy gifts when we're together, and so instead went and got a cake and a hot chocolate in a bakery.

Nikki made us a spaghetti bolognese for our tea and then we went out to the theatre to watch a play we'd bought tickets for earlier. We didn't know anything about the play - but the tickets were only $10 each (about £4), so we thought 'what the heck!' We're really glad we went. The play was called Babylon Heights and it was brilliant. It only had 4 people in it and it was quite a dark comedy - but it was really well done.

As we were walking back to the hostel, we looked in a couple of bars to see if the rugby was on (New Zealand vs South Africa), and everywhere seemed pretty quiet - so we assumed it was over. We didn't bother stopping for a drink and instead came straight back (for a cuppa). When we got back to the room we realised the rugby HAD just started - so we watched it in bed instead.

Watching plays at the theatre and then drinking cuppas in our room - old farts!

Friday 13th July 2007

Yesterday, we heard that a local radio station was dropping thousands of balloons over Cathedral Square - some containing money and tickets for tomorrows All Blacks vs South Africa Rugby match (which is here in Christchurch), so of course - we headed over to grab-the-cash! Unfortunately, the place was packed - thousands of people had the same idea (don't these people have jobs?) and so all we came away with was a free newspaper.

Seeing as we were already in the centre, and the sun was shining, we decided we'd take a walk through the Botanic Gardens. Afterwards we went into the Christchurch Museum for about an hour-or-so, and then went to Tourist Information to see what else we could do.

At about 5.30pm this evening, we got picked up and were taken to a place called Willowbank Wildlife Reserve - where we'd booked to see a Maori experience called Kotãne. We had a really good time. We were taught all about Maori history, and were walked through a forest to a village, where I took part in a Haka and Nikki took part in a Poi Dance.

Afterwards, we were taken to a restaurant where we ate a traditional New Zealand / Maori dinner (Hangi) and then were given a tour of the wildlife reserve, where we saw Kiwi and other native New Zealand birds.

A Haka with the Maori - i'm an All Black now!

Thursday 12th July 2007

We set the alarm this morning - but even when it went off, we couldn't be bothered to get up. We had to take the campervan back today, plus we had to pay $36 for the campsite last night - so we wanted to stay as long as we could to make the most of it. We slowly got ready and packed our things into our backpacks - making sure we didn't leave anything behind, before driving over to our hostel in the centre.

After filling the van up with diesel, we took the it back to the Christchurch office. The Jucy staff told us that we had done 4273km in the van, which they said was quite impressive - we didn't like to say about the detours we had taken through the wilderness! We collected our things and said our goodbyes to Kiwi before catching the bus back to the hostel.

This afternoon we took a walk down to the supermarket to get some supplies before dropping them back and then looking round the shops. We did go into the Christchurch Cathedral, which looked quite impressive, but they were closing - so we'll have to go back.

When it was starting to get dark we came back to hostel and cooked some tea (yes, I helped), before relaxing in our room. It's nice because we have a real bed and a TV - unlike the campervan - where I had to make the bed every night.

Goodbye Kiwi - thanks for showing us New Zealand!

Wednesday 11th July 2007

We'd found a open internet signal in the centre of town last night, so this morning we got up early, had a quick cuppa and then headed out to make a Skype call to my Mum and Keith. When we got to where we thought the signal was, but it had gone - so we drove about until we found another one (he he). We spoke to them for about an hour and then we spoke to Nikki's Mum on MSN - the owners of the shops must have wondered what the hell we were up to!

Afterwards, we drove to Burger King for a quick snack (by now it was just after 11am), and then on to Christchurch.

When we got to Christchurch this afternoon, we found somewhere to park the van and then went in search of hostels for tomorrow night (it's our last night in the van tonight). We looked around all the available ones and then booked a double room in one called the New Excelsior for tomorrow and possibly Friday night.

This evening we found a campsite and settled in for the night with a MASSIVE slice of carrot cake... each!

Boooo - Kiwi goes back tomorrow!

Tuesday 10th July 2007

The alarm went off at 8.30am this morning, and when we looked out of the window we were shocked - there was snow everywhere! We knew it was cold last night but we weren't expecting that.

We set off at around 11am for Timaru. We were a bit concerned when we saw the signs advising that snow-chains must be carried at all times, but we took a slow drive (without snow-chains) anyway and luckily the roads had cleared a bit by now.

It was about 12pm when we arrived. There is not much here, just a Town Centre with a few shops, although we did manage to find a Chinese bar, where we stopped for lunch.

We popped into Tourist Information, who recommended a walk along to Caroline Bay. It only took around 45 minutes to do the walk and the weather was quite nice too (not too cold, with blue skies). There wasn't much to see here - the bay was a bit like Severn Beach, but with nicer views - and we did enjoy wandering around the town looking in the shops afterwards.

We checked into a campsite which is a 5 minute drive outside of town. Then, once we'd had a cuppa and a few minutes rest, we headed back into town and watched Shrek 3 at the cinema.

Christchurch, here we come!

Monday 9th July 2007

We woke up this morning and the views from the van were amazing - there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and because we were on a hill, we could see for miles! Also, the mountains were covered in even more snow than the last time we were here.

After getting ready and having bacon & egg sarnies for breakfast, we drove into town and sat by the lake for a while, chatting and taking photos. When we were done, we set off North in the direction of Christchurch.

On our way we stopped in a small town called Twizel, where we got out of the car for a walk - but there wasn't much around. When we were heading to Lake Tekapo, (which is famous for it's clear water and turquoise colour), we drove through snowy mountains and past icy lakes - in the Canterbury region, where Mount Cook is. We also passed Lake Pukaki, which was perfectly still and was reflecting the sky and surrounding mountains like a mirror!

We arrived in Lake Tekapo, (where we decided to stop for the night), and we had a walk around the local shops before we went and booked into a camp. It was starting to get cold outside (we heard on the radio it could get down to -6°), so we just locked ourselves in the van and watched a film.

We miss Queenstown (and Arno)!

Sunday 8th July 2007

Man, Arno's house is cold! I think if we stay much longer, we'll go into hibernation mode.

We woke up around lunch time (all of us - even Arno the insomniac) and we decided to take a drive down the coast to Glenorchy. We took our van along the 40 minute drive, which was spectacular. Today was a lovely sunny day (although it was still cold), and when we were sat in the van, (with the heaters blowing), looking out over the lake, it could have been a hot summers day.

We got to Glenorchy at around 2pm and we were all starving. After having a walk around the lake, we stopped in a small café for some lunch. The sarnies we had were fantastic and we also bought enormous, freshly baked cookies.

We dropped Aaron off back at his house, picked up the rest of our things, and said our goodbyes (Arno's house-mate, Pia, also gave Nikki a coat - so that should stop the moaning for 5 minutes). We decided we'd stop for another night in Wanaka. We had heard that the Crown Range road was the most scenic to take, so we went for it. We were a bit disappointed because by the time we got up there it was pitch black so we didn't get to enjoy any of the views - although we could see that everywhere was covered in about a foot of snow.

We arrived at the camp just before closing, at around 7.30pm. I set up the van, whilst Nikki did some washing (she's a good Wife) and then we crashed out... again.

Thanks Arno (and friends) - we had a great time in Queenstown!

Saturday 7th July 2007

We woke up this morning at about 11am, but didn't bother getting up right away because Arno had gone back up the mountain to get in some morning snow-boarding. He was due back at about 12.30pm, and was taking us out for the day - so we stayed in bed until about 12.25pm!

I drove the van to a place call 'Deer Park Heights', which was fantastic (loads of 'Lord of the Rings' was filmed here). The weather was beautiful and, after paying $20 to get us in, (thanks Arno), we drove up the mountain looking at the fantastic views of Queenstown. On the way to the top we were able to stop and take pictures of the wild animals that were roaming about, and Arno bought some pet food for us to feed them (although Nikki was too scared (I was a bit as well)). There were loads of animals there - we saw... Shetland Ponies, Donkeys, (very ugly) Pigs, Ducks, Chickens, Lamas, Alpacas, Deer and Stags, Goats, Sheep and some HUGE Highland Cattle. Arno didn't care - the animals were climbing all over him. When Nikki refused to get out of the van, he picked up a baby goat for her to smooth.

We watched the sunset from the top - and the colours were amazing! The surrounding mountain ranges, topped with snow, were changing from red, to pink, to orange, to blue - it was stunning!

Tonight, we went into town and had a meal in a pub called Monty's. Afterwards, Liz met us in Harry's bar and we drank and played pool till the wee hours.

Arno - Lord of the Goats!

Friday 6th July 2007

The alarm woke us up at about 7am this morning because we needed to be in town for about 8am - to be able to catch the coach to the top of Coronet Peak - where we would be going skiing... yippee!

We got to town fine and the queue for the bus was already huge. We were quite early (for a change), so Nikki went and got us a hot chocolate to keep us warm whilst we waited. We got talking to a family from Australia and they seemed really interested in our trip. They said that they'd done a few months traveling around Europe, so they knew how it can be sometimes and then gave us their phone number - saying if we wanted, we could stay with them for a while!

The weather on the mountain was causing trouble for the coaches and we eventually got on one at just before 10am (D'oh! We were supposed to be having our first lesson at 10.20am). The road up to the top was awesome. One minute the roads were fine, then the next the driver had to pull over to put snow-chains on the wheels because everywhere was covered in about a foot of snow! When we finally got there and had collected all the rental clothes and gear it was time to hit the snow. Or so we thought...

We were told that the slopes were especially busy and that our first lesson might get cancelled. After half an hour of everyone complaining, they rescheduled our lesson for 12pm, we even had the boss dragged out of his office to teach us.

We felt the lesson was a bit basic, this was probably because I had previously bought us a dry slope skiing lesson, so we did have a small amount of knowledge. The lesson lasted for 1.5 hours and then we had a quick break for lunch before our second lesson at 2pm.

This afternoon's lesson was great! We were taken a bit higher up the mountain (using the Magic Carpet) and once we were taught how to stop and turn we were allowed to practice what we'd learnt on our own. The queue for the Magic Carpet was about 5 minutes long, so, rather than waiting, we were taking off our skis and running back up the mountain so we could get more goes in.

After about 7 or 8 runs, disaster struck! I was hurtling down the mountain (to film Nikki coming down) and ran out of room to stop. Instead, I crashed into the fence and my skis went right through. It was lucky the fence was there because, otherwise, I would have gone flying off the mountain!

We absolutely loved the skiing and we wished we had gone up the mountain earlier in the week, so we could have gone again. Nikki was brilliant and didn't moan at all about the fact that it was -4°!

This evening we went into town and went into Winnies for some food. There was quite a long wait, so we sat in front of the big open fire, with a beer, waiting for our table. The pizza was great but poor Nikki had to put up with me moaning all night about how much my legs were aching.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee! Skiing rocks!

Thursday 5th July 2007

We slept in again this morning. When we do eventually wake up, everyone has gone out for the day - so it's cool that we get to stay cuddled up in bed for as long as we like before braving the outdoors.

When we finally got into town today, the clouds were quite low on the mountains (but at least it wasn't raining) so we started by going into an internet café. We updated our blog, sent some emails and then went into the food court where we shared some Sushi for our lunch.

This afternoon, when we left the food court, the clouds in the sky had cleared and the sun was shinning, so we decided to take the opportunity to ride the Gondolas (cable cars) up to the Sky Ledge. It cost us $20 each, but was well worth it because the view of Queenstown was amazing. We went into the café, where we shared a hot chocolate and a muffin whilst we warmed up. When we came back outside it had started to snow quite heavily so we got the chair lift up to the top of the hill and then walked back down - throwing snowballs at people as we walked.

We popped in to see Arno, at work, this evening and Nikki got to watch some of the EastEnders catch-ups on the laptop, whilst he showed me some of the cool things he does at work. When we got back to his house, his friend Liz came round and he cooked us all a spaghetti bolognese. Then we all sat around chatting in front of the fire.

We've set the alarm for tomorrow - we're going skiing!

Wednesday 4th July 2007

I stayed up till about 2am last night, chatting with Arno (the man's an insomniac) and so I didn't wake up until about 11am this morning. It's nice to not have to be up and out in a rush, like on the campsites - where we usually have to leave by about 10.30am (although we never do). It seemed really cold out and so we lay in bed, huddled together until Nikki got up and made us some breakfast. We then got ourselves ready and headed into town.

I'm glad I did my bungy jump yesterday, because the weather was pretty pants today - all it did was rain (not heavy - just a drizzle). We had a look in all the shops and then in the afternoon we went into a local burger place called FergBurger, for some lunch. They do all sorts of cool, freshly-made burgers - and best of all they were HUGE!

After looking around the shops some more, we decided that we'd head back to Arno's, where we spent another night in front of his open fire.

Mmmmm FergBurger!

Tuesday 3rd July 2007

Today we woke up without a cold breeze on our faces, which made a pleasant change. This was because we slept on a mattress in Aaron's living room. The houses are still a bit cold in New Zealand because they don't have central heating (or double glazing), but we fell asleep last night with an open fire burning - so we're not complaining.

Everyone had left when we woke up, (some people have to work), and so we had the house to ourselves. Nikki made us toast and a cuppa and then had a shower whilst I tided the room and loaded the van. As we were leaving, we opened the curtains and could not believe our eyes... Aaron and his flat-mates have the most amazing views - looking out over a lake and the snowy mountains.

When we got to the centre, I said I wanted to "price-up" the Nevis Bungy Jump. Before I knew it, I was signed up for the 2pm jump! We quickly went into Subway to get a 'New Zealand Lamb Sub', which was yummy and then caught the bus over to the canyon.

Our journey out there was quite a hair-raising experience - it's a private road, which you can only enter in a 4-wheel drive vehicle and the mud-track road was right on the edge of a steep cliff. When we got to the end, we were all weighed in (not Nikki, she was only supervising) and I was told I would be jumping second - so four of us were loaded into the cable car, which carries you out to the jump pod and said our goodbyes to the other 'jumpers'.

The jump pod is suspended in the middle of the canyon, by wires - 134m above the floor! It has a glass floor and I was really proud of Niks - she didn't appear scared at all (unlike one of the jumpers who was terrified). After the first guy had gone I was loaded into the chair, where they strapped my ankles together, and led to the edge. 5 seconds later i'd thrown myself off the pod and was plummeting towards the floor - with the free-fall lasting about 8.5 seconds - AWESOME!

When we got back to town, we went to the Bungy Centre and picked up the pictures of my jump before buying some sweets from another 'traditional' sweet shop and heading back to Aaron's. We got lost and had to ring him for directions, but when we did arrive he had the fire already burning - so Niks was well happy.

3-2-1 Buunnnggggyyyyy!

Monday 2nd July 2007

We woke up with a view of the beautiful mountains surrounding Wanaka this morning. We got ready, had some breakfast and did some washing before driving into town. We went into the Post Office to send home some postcards and then headed to Queenstown.

On the way down to Queenstown we passed the Kawarau Bridge, which is the 'home of the bungy jump'. It was where the first jumps were done and we thought we'd have a look. They had a big building which was dedicated to bungy jumping and also a viewing platform where you can watch the other jumpers. I didn't do it - not because I didn't want to - it's just that i'm saving myself for something bigger (this one was only 43m high). Unfortunately I couldn't convince Nikki to do it either... maybe another time!?

It wasn't a long drive from here to Queenstown but on the way we stopped in a place called Arrowtown, which was tiny. It looked like something from Disney World - it was one street, that looked like it was packed away at night. We had a look around and went into this old fashioned sweet-shop where we bought some crème brûlée fudge... Mmmmmm!

We got into Queenstown at about 4pm, and on first impressions - it looks really cool. We drove through the centre of town and when we found an open wireless internet signal we contacted my friend El Beardo (Aaron) on MSN. He said he was finishing work soon and so we parked up the van and hung around - first buying ourselves some thermal clothes and then getting a drink in a place called Harry's Bar. When he arrived, we spent about an hour catching up and then me, Nikki, Aaron and his friend Liz all went out for some dinner. Afterwards, we went back to Aaron's house, where he said we could stay for a few days.

Hello Queenstown - Ben and Nikki have arrived!

Sunday 1st July 2007

This morning the sun was still shining and so we figured we'd have a day around Wanaka again. We had showers, had some breakfast then did some washing - what good children!
By the time we were ready, it was about 12pm so we headed into town.

We drove straight to a place called Puzzling World, which was good fun. It's a huge site - full of illusions, puzzles and a 1.5km maze. It says that to complete the challenge of visiting each corner and then make your way to the end should take you between 30-60 minutes. We did it in about 40 something - so I guess we did ok!

When we left Puzzling World, we drove into the centre and had a look there. It was starting to get a bit colder so we got some supplies in the supermarket and then came back to the camp for a cake and a cuppa (although Nikki had a cheese-scone - which is a waste of a cake opportunity in my book)).

After chatting for a while, we headed back into town where we went back into Scruffy Murphy's - where it was Happy Hour, so we had and some drinks. When we'd finished we came back and Niks cooked us another great meal for our tea.

Onto Queenstown tomorrow!

Saturday 30th June 2007

We woke up this morning and it was still raining! It rained ALL DAY yesterday. We don't remember a minute where it stopped. We had some breakfast, got ourselves ready and jumped in the van. We hoped that on our way to Wanaka we could drive out from under the clouds - but didn't hold our breath...

About half-an-hour into our drive it DID stop raining (yippee) and suddenly EVERYWHERE was covered in snow (we'd left Jurassic Park and were now in Narnia) - it was at least a foot deep so we pulled over to take some pictures. When my back was turned Nikki thought it would be funny to launch a surprise snowball attack on me. Luckily she's a rubbish shot and missed - I however did not - hitting her right on the arse as she jumped into the van. When she refused to come back out I passed the time by building a snowman - Steven.

The drive to Wanaka had some wonderful scenery. All through the Southern Alps everything was covered in really thick white snow (much better than the sludge we get in England) - it was beautiful!

When we finally arrived at about 1pm we found a campsite and Nikki made us beans on toast for our lunch. We ate that and then headed back into town. The sun was shining and it was quite warm so we parked-up and took a walk along a huge lake and around the shops.

This evening we stopped in Scruffy Murphy's Irish bar for a Bulmers, before heading to the local curry house for an Indian, (which was nowhere near as good as Paprika), and then back to our camp.

Snowball fights rock!

Friday 29th June 2007

We've been really lucky with the weather so far (well, apart from the cold). The West coast of the South Island, especially the area around the Southern Alps gets a lot of rain - which gives everywhere the lush green look - and we'd not had any rain. Until today...

It started in the middle of the night - banging down on our roof. At 7.51am, Nikki could stand it no longer and ran off to the toilet for a wee. When she got back we got ourselves ready and had some bacon and egg sarnies (again!) for breakfast and made our way, slowly, to the Franz Josef Glacier. We hoped that by driving slow the rain would pass.

It didn't! We got to the site of the Glacier and were told that to actually see it you have to go on a 20 minute walk. We didn't think much of it, put on our kags and went for it. We got soaked! We got up as close as we could, but because of the low clouds we couldn't really see anything - it's supposed to be spectacular on a clear day, but on a rainy day like today, we couldn't really appreciate the view of the Glacier.

We headed back to the van and drove onto the Fox Glacier. The entrance to this site was marked with a sign saying that the narrow road was not suitable for large vehicles, cars with trailers and camper vans - but there was no way that was gonna stop me. After the drive we had from Taupo to Napier (Thursday 21st June) I was prepared for anything. The road up to the Glacier view-point was really thick with trees and bendy. With the rain pouring down I thought we were in Jurassic Park! Once again the view of the Glacier wasn't that great, but at least we'd seen it, and this time we didn't have to leave the van!

As pretty much everything around the area was geared towards the Glaciers (walking on them etc), we figured we drive onto the next place which is called Haast. It was a few hours away and the drive was pretty bad as the conditions were still awful. When we arrived, there wasn't much there but we didn't fancy driving for the next few hours to get to Wanaka and so we set up camp for the night. We had our tea quite early then watched films and episodes of LOST on the laptop.

Rain, rain go away - come back another day!

Thursday 28th June 2007

We woke up this morning and... Ray was not joking about the cold - it was bloody freezing! Nikki made us bacon and egg sarnies for our breakfast, which went a long way in lifting our spirits (just joking - it was cold though).

After we'd left the camp, we drove into the centre of Greymouth, but we were too cold to get out of the van, so we drove around, window shopping, and then moved onto a place called Shantytown, which is a small custom-built town in which everything is as it was 100 years ago. We had a lot of fun and got to ride on a real steam-train, got to buy sweets at old prices and even got to pan for gold! The highlight of Nikki's day however, was when we went into the restaurant and there was a large buffet cart which included cauliflower-cheese. When she asked how much it was, the chef told her that it wasn't for everyone - it was for a certain party, but said if we came back then he'd do us a deal. When we went back about an hour later, the chef said he'd get us a plate and we could help ourselves... kerching: a free meal!

We left Shantytown and drove South towards Glacier Country. On our way, we passed through a town called Hokitika where we stopped and went into a Jade factory where they were carving all sorts of jewellery and things.

Our drive took us past Lake Moprika, just as the sun was setting - the scenery was amazing - everything was a shadowy blue and the water was so calm and clear that the trees around the edge were reflected perfectly. It was almost too perfect!

We continued our short drive into Franz Josef, which is a small town not far from the famous Franz Glacier and booked ourselves into the Rainforest Holiday Camp. This place was very cool - with some of the lodges built up in the trees (like tree-houses), but these didn't have heating - so we stuck with our little van!

Here's to our free meal - long may they continue!