Australia: hot stuff

The time has finally arrived for us to part company with our adopted home of New Zealand and hop the water to the bigger, more dangerous animal-filled and more beer-swilling country of Australia. We’d seen from weather forecasts that many areas on our planned trip from Cairns down to Sydney were underwater with the recent heavy monsoon rains, so we were a bit nervous boarding the plane! Our fears were unfounded though as we arrived in Cairns to some sunshine and the news that the week ahead looked like decent weather – phewf!

The first thing we noticed about Australia is that it is VERY hot and humid, and we had arrived during the uncomfortable wet season! We spent a while lying under the fan in our room trying to acclimatise. We had an afternoon around Cairns, dodging traffic, booking bus trips, and generally trying to avoid the hoards of young English tourists all intent on getting drunk and watching as many Premiership matches as possible – all a bit of a shock after untouched New Zealand! There were some good points - we had a cheap $10 meal that night in a canteen-style pub and also had a nice pool in our hostel to escape the heat, but generally we were glad to jump on the Greyhound bus the next morning and head south to Townsville.

We caught the Sunferry over to Magnetic Island from Townsville harbour, with the aim to relax for a few days before heading to the Whitsundays. We had booked into a B&B called Myra’s, a bit at random as our main choices were full, but we lucked out in a big way. We were met by a great old Aussie called Wal, who took us in his 4x4 across the island, stopping on the way to feed some cute little rock wallabies (by hand) and big salt water piranhas (definitely not hand fed!). Our place for the three nights was an awesome little cabin tucked away by itself in the garden, with bathroom, kitchen, TV and a balcony overlooking a little creek complete with rope swing. There was a resident possum in a box on the tree outside and thousands of birds and butterflies in the surrounding trees. Pretty sweet, but it got better when Wal told us breakfast was included (more on that in a bit) and we could also use his little car, a 27 year old Mini Moke with no roof and a top speed of about 30mph! We motored off in it straight away down to the local bay and bought some beers from the drive in bottle shop (typically Australian)!

The breakfast in the morning was BIG - we ate cereal, toast, fruit and a huge cooked breakfast, with tea and juice on the side. Both of us were so full we could hardly move and only managed a small dinner for the rest of the day! We spent that day walking up to an abandoned WW2 fortress and then skirted the coastline of the island. We were chuffed to bits to see a koala in the wild; he seemed really at ease with us (he spent 5 minutes scratching his bum!) and we got quite close for some great pictures. The rest of the island was picture perfect, with plenty of deserted beaches and tree lined headlands separating them. We were pretty hot and thirsty by the time we finished and flopped into the nearest pub for delicious pints of shandy before cycling on our free bikes back. We spent the afternoon and evening drinking beers whilst sitting in the creek to cool down and zooming around on the rope swing!

The next day we were floored by another huge breakfast so had a relaxing day. We fed some tropical parakeets in the B&B garden (they seemed to like sitting on Rach’s head for some reason!) before going for a swim in Picnic Bay. The deadly jellyfish in the bay meant we had to swim in the netted area, but we were still pretty nervous of random tentacles drifing through so it was a rather tense swim! We drove the Moke around for the rest of the day, stopping at sunset after bouncing down a very rutted road and watching shooting stars over the palm trees. Perfect! The next day we sadly left the island, after a smaller breakfast (at our request!), and returned to Townsville for our 6 hour trip down to Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsundays.

Our plan was to book onto one of the sailing boats which cruised around the Whitsunday Islands. The weather forecast for the three day window was not good so we were unsure whether even to go, especially given what happened to Gaz during the boat trip in rough seas in Hawai’i. We decided to risk it, and after buying a stack of seasickness pills, we headed to the booking office. The trip we decided on was aboard the Alexander Stewart, a tall sailing ship which was to go on a 3 day and 2 night voyage around some of the 74 Whitsunday Islands. We stayed that night in a fairly mediocre backpackers full of boozy locals but were too excited to care!

In the morning we stashed our main bags, packed a small sack each and headed to the harbour. We found out that even though two other boat’s guests had been put on our ship as they had broken down, it wasn’t full, with only 14 on board! We all walked down to the huge wooden ship, took off our shoes, stowed our booze in the cooler, and got on board. Our cabin was wood panelled and comfy, with air conditioning (bonus!), and after the awesome buffet lunch one hour into the trip, we knew the food was going to be great too. The crew were great people too – Stacey (cook), Andy (deckhand and bush guide) and Rick (skipper). We first sailed to Whitehaven beach as the weather was due to turn later in the day. We got a dinghy to the shore then walked through the bush with Andy to a lookout over the beach. On the way we learned a fair bit about Aboriginal life in the area, and got an idea of medicine by licking an ant’s butt to get vitamin C! The views over Whitehaven were magical – flour white sand and aquamarine water. We were all really keen to get into the water so we dashed back down the hill to the beach to get the stinger suits on. Looking like a little lycra clad army we trooped into the 29 degree water, watching fish and stingrays swimming all around us! After a couple of hours at the reputed best beach in the world we were motored back to the ship. Rach almost got a punishment spoonful of Vegemite for forgetting to log her name onto the return sheet, but got out of it with some rapid apologising! We had afternoon tea, cakes and chocolate pie then sailed to our mooring for the night. We arrived at nice little sheltered bay, had some pre-dinner snacks and some wine, then lay on deck as the sun set. We had a fresh fish dinner as the stars came out – a perfect day!

As the air con had been switched off at midnight, we woke feeling pretty hot so were keen to get up on deck in the fresh air! It was a bit less sunny but the wind was a bit higher, which was great news for using the tall ship sails! We had a breakfast on deck then set sail to Hook Island and a snorkelling spot. We both lent a hand raising various sails and soon we were cruising in total silence, slicing through the waves. It was pretty exhilarating! We sailed for a couple of hours, then stopped at Maureen’s Bay and anchored for the snorkelling. We had a great hour flippering around the coral, seeing loads of brightly coloured fish, huge blue clams and lobsters! The sun came out after we got back on the boat, so we lay on deck and caught some rays as the boat sailed for our next night’s mooring at Hayman Island. As the sun set the wine flowed and we were soon playing drinking games with the others, which kept getting interrupted by glimpses of bright red squid and metre-long reef sharks circling the boat!

Our final day, which was much sunnier than the day before (yay!), started with more snorkelling. We were assured this would be different to all snorkelling we’d ever done before, and we soon found out why. We were ferried to a coral shore and jumped in from there. We swam around huge sardine shoals and saw lots of parrot fish and sergeant majors too. All of a sudden the water started to boil and there were fish everywhere, flapping around our masks and faces; we looked up to see Andy in the dinghy throwing handfuls of fish food right at us! We couldn’t see anything but fish and the experience was pretty amazing, if a little frightening! We both got nipped by a few of the frenzied fish! We got back to the boat, had a delicious lunch, then set sail back to Airlie Beach. It started to rain and blow a heavy wind on the way; we realised that we’d been incredibly lucky with the weather as it had pretty much been perfect for the whole trip, despite the forecast.

We got back to harbour and said goodbye to everyone, only to find a table had been booked at a local bar for that night with free booze! We spent the afternoon doing some bookings and shopping, before heading to the bar to meet the others. We had a great night reliving the last few days and trying to get over the strange sensation of feeling off-balance on dry land! We left rain soaked Airlie Beach at midnight to catch the overnight bus to Rockhampton – trying to sleep on the the bus seats made our boat cabin seem like the real height of luxury!

New Zealand... in a van

The next day heralded the start of our 12 day campervanning tour of the south island. Gaz, misjudging the distance to the rental garage, walked for two hours to pick up the van, but returned with an absolute gem. Our van is a Toyota Hiace, just big enough for two and with room to stand up inside. Overjoyed with our new toy we spent the day driving over Arthurs Pass, no small feat for our little van with high hills and steep corners - its tips a bit on the corners and all the cutlery rattles! Brilliant fun driving through scenic mountain ranges, and we had fun pulling up to make a cup of tea in the back of the campervan with a view of the wild sea! That night we camped at Lake Mahoupina which was a nice quiet spot. We spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to put the campervan bed together, and then another good hour swatting the zillions of mosquitoes that had gotten in, with ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ playing on the mp3 player to keep us motivated!

The second day of our campervanning took us to Glacier Country, where we stopped at the awesome Franz Josef glacier. We joined a 4 hour guided tour that took us up onto the ice. The surface was pretty treacherous so we had to strap crampons on for the climb up whilst our guide cut steps in the ice. Once up the place was just fantastic - we took in the sights of deep dark crevasses, wave-like blue and white ice walls, huge waterfalls and piles of jagged rock looking ready to give way at any time! We set off to find a free camping spot that evening which the Rough Guide recommended, but which turned out to be a total dump, so we reluctantly had to travel 40km back and stay in a proper campsite that looked rather like a supermarket car park!

Our travels took us then over the Haast Pass, a spectacular drive starting with a view of Mount Cook reflected in Lake Matheson, and then taking in views of surrounding mountains and waterfalls as we climbed the steep road and let the van zoom down the other side. We found a super spot for lunch down on a pebble beach in a valley with not a soul in sight. All the scenery is very majestic here and makes our little campervan look tiny! We stopped en route to see the Blue Pools; these were startling blue crystal clear glacial ponds with trout swimming around in them. The sandflies were a bit vicious though so we had to hop around whilst taking photos! That night we stopped on the shores of Lake Wanaka to camp – a great find. In order to get the best spot in the camp we decided to risk it and drove the camper down a little pebble hill, and after a few skids wondered if we’d ever get back up (luckily we did!). We were rewarded with a stunning lakeside spot and had a brilliant evening dunking in the freezing lake, inventing home-made showers using a punctured juice bottle, then relaxing by a campfire on the millpond calm lake shore watching the sunset. This is what campervanning is about!

Next stop was Queenstown, the adventure sports capital of New Zealand, famous for blowing most backpackers budgets! We were quick to book a trip on the Shotover Jet on our first day there, an activity which remains high in the adrenalin hierarchy. The jet boat charges downstream in the Shotover Canyon, narrowly missing rock faces, shooting over rapids and 4inch deep water with rocks below. Much squealing from Rach and lots of grinning from Gaz! It also does sudden 360 degree spins down the river and drenches everyone in the process, and the second spin was so fast Gaz’s sunglasses flew off his face never to be seen again, whoops! That evening we found the most spectacular free camping spot at Moke Lake, tucked away from the city with gorgeous alpine colours and lake reflections that had us both out exploring around the lake for hours. The photos just say it all… WOW.

The following morning we did some exhilarating paragliding over Queenstown being towed by a boat. The views of the Remarkables mountains lived up to their name, and we were surprised at how high our legs were dangling above the lake and the powerboat looked tiny below! Had a fantastic time floating around up there, and we got the giggles when the guide dunked us in the lake and then revved the engine quickly and we catapulted back up into the air. Gaz vowed he was not going to bungee jump whilst travelling, and yet somehow that afternoon we ended up with Gaz perched on the edge of a 47m drop looking decidedly nervous and Rach watching ready with cameras… also nervous! Gaz took a swan dive off the ledge down into the river, got his head dunked in the river, and then bounced back up as the cord kicked in and let out a massive shout of exhilaration. Rach was just rather relieved the elastic band attached to his ankles had done the job. And we hope mummy Hughes is not reading this or Gaz is in trouble ;-)

New Zealand: Abel Tasman to Christchurch

Back on the road again we picked up a great little Suzuki Swift hire car (it was indeed swift, yay!) and set off towards the far north of the south island. On the way we got side-tracked and ended up signing up for some quad biking and the infamous Skywire at this little farm in the middle of nowhere. A fun-packed afternoon ensued, with quad biking up dusty tracks to the top of a mountain, and swinging them around the farmland corners in the hills with sheep everywhere. At the top of the mountain we climbed into the Skywire, a cable car that swoops for 1 mile over the forest canopy, and then backwards again. We reached 90mph, woo hoo! The tour guide gave us a freebie ride too! It was a great feeling rushing forward with the wind in your face and trees tops flashing by under your legs. We finished the day covered from head to toe in dust and got some funny looks whilst shopping in the supermarket afterwards – Rach had a great dust monobrow from her sunglasses!

The next few days were spent exploring Golden Bay and the Abel Tasman Park, a wonderful area of fern forests, white beaches and blue water. We tackled part of the Abel Tasman Coast Track first, and walked for 5 hours along little sea cliffs, fern forests, across secluded white sand beaches, had lunch with seals surrounding us, and stumbled across the cutest little quail chicks cheeping on the track – even Gaz was reduced to gooeyness! Somehow we mustered the energy to then do a 14km cycle to see nearby springs (Rach was flagging a bit by this stage and needed some uphill pushes from Gaz, hee hee), where the water was crystal blue and clear and the pond weed looked good enough to eat.



The following day was our 1 year anniversary, and we had a great day exploring the park from the water in a nifty double sea kayak complete with a rudder. Sunshine and millpond calm conditions made for a great morning, drifting over beautifully clear shallows with enormous stingrays flitting before us, seals next to the kayak (cool!), seabirds galore, and lunch on the most gorgeous beach with two cheeky seagulls for company. We managed to get much further than the half-day map suggested, and surfed all the way back in the kayak with the wind behind us. Later we drove up to Farewell Spit, an enormous spit of wind blown sand that curves around the top of the South Island. We did a great walk through pretty farmland and along the windy desert – superb sand patterns and dunes to jump off with not a soul in sight. Treated ourselves to dinner at the wonderful Mussel Inn on the way home, and had our first New Zealand pies which were YUMMY.

The next part of our journey took us to Kaikoura on the east coast of the south island. It was a severe drive so we broke it up with another scrumptious lunch in a winery – this one in the Marlborough area near Bleinheim. Our plan for Kaikoura was to book onto a tour to swim with dolphins but our luck with the weather finally ran out and it bucketed down for most of our time there. The high winds and seas meant all the dolphin and whale tours were grounded, but we managed to find a company that was going out, to swim with the seals in their huge colony just offshore from the town. We wetsuited up (complete with hoods to make us look more seal-like!) and swam out to the colony. The water was murky but we had some great close encounters with the inquisitive seals as they swam around our little group. Gaz was convinced by the guide to eat some sea urchin on the way back, which tasted just like egg. Rach was not quite so keen! In Kaikoura we also took in the slightly weird spectacle of a sheep shearing show, where a local guy brought in an extremely woolly sheep and then gave it a proper little haircut. It was all very surreal but lots of fun, especially getting to feed the biggest ram in the universe (nicknamed ‘Ram Man’)!

We then headed for Christchurch, a great city with lots of English heritage. There were lots of references to Oxford Uni in particular, as the city’s founder had gone to Christ Church college, so we both felt right at home! We left our Suzuki and explored the city on foot, also taking the time to bus out to a little seaside suburb called Sumner, where we had delicious boysenberry frozen yoghurt cones and sat by the sea. Later we met up with Rach’s mate Paul (over from the UK) and his brother, who lived down the road from our hostel, and chilled at their place with some cold beers. Great day!

New Zealand: windy Wellington and heavenly Hopewell

Our last few days on the North Island were spent exploring Wellington and the surrounds. Outside the city we spent a good few hours tip-toeing through the Kaori Wildlife Sanctuary, a maze of pretty little walks through protected forest teeming with birds. Fantastic birdsong chorus, and lots of cheeky little black robins came startlingly close to check us out (Gareth found that kicking around the leaves seemed to keep them interested!) and we explored a cave with torches to find a ‘weta’ which we thought was a little spider, but which turned out to be an enormous scary grasshopper… so we didn’t hang about in the cave too long!

The following day we got blown around the windy city of Wellington. First stop was the Te Papa Museum, the best in new Zealand, where we stood in a house that simulated an earthquake and read about lots of geeky New Zealand geography. All museum-ed out after an hour we had big chocolate milkshakes on the trendy Cuba Street, and were then too full of chocolate for lunch. Took a little boat out to Somes Island, where we hot footed it around the entire island with great views towards Wellington, in time for the ferry to pick us up again. We then scrambled up Mount Victoria for more views over the city, and on the way back down bumped into a local walking his dog who informed us we were walking through the forest filmed in Lord of the Rings where the evil black horses are looking for Frodo – cool!

We left the North Island on the huge inter-islander ferry. The three hour journey to Picton, on the South Island, was incredibly picturesque. We passed across the Cook Straight and then entered Queen Charlotte Sound, which was millpond calm and surrounded by tree-covered mountains with little jetties along the shore. We took a water taxi from Picton (after some tasty fish and chips) across the bay to the far shore, then transferred again to our hostel, a little retreat called Hopewell accessible only by boat. We stayed for three nights in this hostel, rated the best hostel in New Zealand, and it was just paradise! The hostel was right on the water’s edge and we could take out fishing boats, kayaks and mountain bikes whenever we wanted. Typical of us, in a restful retreat, we managed to cram our days full of activities! On the first morning we played golf on the deserted (apart from sheep) local golf course, which was made more exciting by having to jump the electric fences surrounding the greens! That afternoon Gaz mountain biked and scrambled to the top of the nearby Pete’s Peak, taking in some incredible views, whilst Rach opted for some kayaking in gale force conditions to reach another sound below, watching skates scoot under her boat. We finished up with a huge meal of huge green-lipped mussels and dips from the local mussel farm all spread out on newspapers and with all the other guests tucking in, put on for free by the hostel. We must have eaten at least 20 of the yummy monster mussels! Not yet content on relaxing we decided to try some night fishing as we had heard there was more chance of a catch in the dark. We had no such luck, although Gaz did manage to ‘catch himself’, ending up in rather precarious situation with one leg out the boat and the other with a fish hook stuck in the water shoe…. all in the dark! We finished up the day with a glass of wine and a hot tub in the dark looking up at the night sky and spotting a shooting star… relaxation at last. Heaven!

The second day we decided a slower pace was needed, so we relaxed and sunbathed in the morning, then took out the fishing boat on the sound. Rach managed to hook a ‘spotty’ fish (she was actually hoping she wouldn’t catch one!), and Gaz had a couple of promising big tugs on the line but no catch. We later went kayaking again, this time over to the other side of the sound to have an ice-cream and explore a shipwreck there. Once back we headed up the beach at low tide with a bucket and rummaged around in the sand for cockles and mussels – great fun! – which we cooked up into a little feast back in the hostel. Quite understandably we were very reluctant to leave this little piece of paradise the next day. Highly recommended for anyone passing through New Zealand!!