To infinity...and New Zealand!

"Good afternoon this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard this Rocket ship journey from Christchurch which circles the south island of New Zealand, provided by Spaceship Campervans. This service will be making scheduled stops at Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown, Fox Glacier, Franz Joseph and Kaikura before returning to Christchurch. We will be cruising today at an average altitude of 4ft with speeds reaching up to 100km per hour. The outside air temperature is around 20C, and with the exception of a few clouds the weather should be mostly fine.

We may encounter a small amount of turbulence during our flight today and this is most likely to be caused by either rock fall or gravel roads. I therefore encourage you to remain seated with your seatbelt securely fastened for the duration of this journey. A small selection of drinks and snacks will be available throughout the journey, and these will be dependent on the stock levels of the nearest supermarket. Sleeper class is available at the rear of the vehicle, but we would like to remind customers that this is only available while the vehicle is stationary. 

A small range of fragrances will also be available to purchase during the course of our journey, with this weeks special being "haven't had a shower for a while"; the latest fragrance from Dior, of which a tester is available free of charge.
If you require a toilet break, please inform myself and I will try and find a safe place somewhere within the next 200km. So please sit back and enjoy your journey with Spaceship Campers."

So as you may have realised by now we have spent the majority of the last 2 weeks touring the South Island of New Zealand in a campervan, but this wasn't before an eventful start to our time in New Zealand.

With our campervan. You can see me clutching the small gold tin of travel sweets that no journey is complete without :)

Although we were due to explore the South Island of New Zealand first, our flight from Australia would actually take us into Auckland on the North Island and from there we would make our way down south by a series of buses and a ferry. However with our first bus running an hour late, we ended up missing the inter island ferry and this in turn meant that we ended up missing our bus to Christchurch. As we had missed our trip to Christchurch we ended up missing our hotel room that we had booked for the night. So as we weren't in Christchurch that night we ended up missing the first day of our campervan rental. Therefore we had to scrap one day of our planned itinerary in order to get back on track.

* A worthy note to any other travellers making a similar journey to us; although bus times will often make out that there is enough time between the bus and the ferry, you have to board the Interislander ferry 45 minutes before it sails. The buses often run late (despite there being very little traffic) and so it becomes very easy to miss a ferry that you thought would not be a problem to catch.

Once we were on the ferry (which was rescheduled free of charge by the bus company) we got our first real taste of what New Zealand landscape can be really like. The deep blue waters on which we were sailing were flanked on either side by rolling green hills edged with a dramatic rocky face, and a couple of small penguins followed alongside the ship until we made free of the land and got into open waters. Likewise, as we made our way through the Marlborough Sounds into Picton on the south island the scenery was of the quality to take your breath away. 

Taken from the ferry between Wellington and Picton

We stayed that night in Picton as the bus company had also rebooked our bus ticket to Wellington, but that was not until the following day. Unfortunately the bus company accept no liability for accommodation in circumstances such as this, and so we ended up paying for both the hotel room in Christchurch that we could not use as well as the hostel that we hurriedly booked on our arrival in Picton. The town there is a lot smaller than we thought it might be, and I think to an extent it suffers from people driving off the ferry and passing straight through it without stopping.

After our bus journey the following day we found ourselves in Christchurch, where we needed to book another extra hostel room as we were unable to pick up our camper until the morning after (the costs of one late bus soon add up!). I was really surprised to see how much damage remained from the earthquake that the city suffered back in February 2011, with the rebuilding process only just now getting under way  According to our bus driver this period of time has been left deliberately by the government to ensure that any aftershocks or further earthquakes have passed before the rebuilding begins. There is still a large "red zone" in the middle of the city where the worst of the damage has happened, and this area is out of bounds to pedestrians and most traffic. There is a bus however that is still permitted to run through the red zone which you are able to take to see the main damage, but it is a lot more expensive than any other bus in town. Strange that a natural phenomenon that killed many people has effectively become a tourist attraction.

The next morning we stood keys in hand in front of our transport and our home for the next 10 days. Our Spaceship campervan had it's name "SANDO" stickered on the side, although we think this is a rubbish name for a spaceship. It is essentially a Toyota people carrier that has had the interior refitted to have rotating rear seats and a double bed included. Simple, but it does the job. 

Doing a spot of cooking at a camp site

Fighting to make up the lost day in our schedule we made our way down to Dunedin, where we went in search of our new best friend; the library. Often with free wifi and a power source at hand the libraries of New Zealand have become invaluable to us to ensure we can keep "in the loop" with facebook and emails while making sure we have enough power in the evening to watch a film in the van.

The following day was one of our longer journeys as we made our way down and around the coast to Invercargil, dropping down to Bluff (the most southern part of the south island of New Zealand) before beginning our journey up the west coast as far as Monowai.

Our next major stop along the way was at Milford Sound. Milford has a great reputation with tourists, and in a sense that worried us a little. There is little worse than finding a wonderful, tranquil and serene area only to find it is packed with too many loud (and dare I say in some cases ignorant  tourists along with just as many people trying to sell them useless pieces of tat. As such we nearly opted for the notably quieter Doubtful Sound, although time and money would not allow for this. We were however overjoyed with our time at Milford. We booked ourselves on the first cruise of the day through the fijords, and we were pleasantly surprised that it was not as overcrowded and as touristy as we might have thought.

Milford Sound

The boat tour was incredible, and on our way back we were even treated to a dolphin swimming in the bow wave in front of the boat. The scenery was spectacular, and it s easy to see why it is considered one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. The road journey there wasn't half bad either, although it is currently only open during daylight hours due to a rockfall which is waiting to happen.

A few more days later and we found ourselves at the famous Fox Glacier. The one thing that you notice about the country is how diverse it's landscape is. Beaches, rainforests, open plains, mountains, glaciers, they have the lot. 

We had booked ourselves on a half day trek on the glacier, and we arrived full of excitement about all of the wonderful ice formations that we were going to see. Unfortunately the glacier didn't quite live up to our expectations, and we realised to get to see all of the cool things that are pictured in the booklets and on websites you have to take a helicopter hike at the mere cost of $400 per person. Slightly out of our price range! Don't get me wrong it was still good to get out on the ice and learn more about their intriguing creation and movement, but we just felt it left a little bit to be desired for the price we paid.

Vicky and our guide (Dora) scaling the Fox Glacier

During our journey we were mostly making use of campsites provided by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, some of which are free and some of them require a small fee (usually around $6 per person). From some stories I have heard there have been problems before with campers leaving a lot of mess behind while "freedom camping", and so these sites act as a kind of fair deal for everybody. 

The main event for us in the south island though was still yet to come. We journied coast to coast to make our way from Graymouth to Kaikura where we booked ourselves on a tour to swim with wild dolphins. You may or may not know that New Zealands temperatures are very similar to that of the UK, and so needless to say the water was very cold. Equipped with full wetsuits as well as all of your standard snorkelling gear we made our way out into the Pacific Ocean in a small vessel until we found a pod of a couple of hundred  "dusky" dolphins. We slipped down off of the back of the boat and into the water and instantly the dolphins all came over to see what we were about. There were so many of them swimming around us as close as only an inch or two away, while others were putting on an acrobatic display of dives and flips right in front of our very eyes. 

Me swimming along with one of the dolphins

The way that these tours are operated are really positive. The do not feed or train the dolphins at all to encourage them to interact with the swimmers, and everything is all completely on the dolphins terms. They have in entire ocean to swim away from people if they don't want to be near them, and you get a real feeling of it being a privilege of being let into their world when they stay and play with you. 

The weirdest sensation for me was not being able to see the ocean floor. Normally when I have been snorkelling the water has been less than 10 metres deep, with the focus being on the corals and reef fish that are easily within eyesight. In this case however the ocean floor was some 135 metres down, and all that was apparent was a sense of being at the top of a giant blue chasm with no way to tell left from right or up from down. The dolphins soon distract you from that though!

So now returning our campervan to Christchurch we turn our attention to the journey back up to the north island. Will it run smoother than our journey down? I certainly hope so, but the only way to find out is to check back here for the next instalment.

"This is your captain speaking. We have now arrived at our destination in Christchurch. The local time is still the same as when you set off, and the weather is now raining. On behalf of the whole crew we would like to thank you for choosing Spaceship Campers and we hope to see you again soon."

Oz: Over and Out

We have spent the last 2 weeks in a rural area just outside of the town of Wauchope where we have been helping a family with various tasks around their property in exchange for food and accommodation.

Our objective was to find somewhere that we would be able to stay for 2 weeks and  at the same time to try and learn a bit more about environmentally friendly living, and Peter (our host) and his family were able to offer us just that. Living with Peter were his son's Lewis and Billy, as well as a lovable cat and dog; a black Labrador named Banjo and a ginger moggy called Monty.

Billy and Banjo on the floor in front of myself, Vicky, Peter and Lewis (holding Monty)

All of the water in their house comes from a rainwater collection system with 3 tanks around the house that can hold around 20,000 litres each. The water is heated for showers and washing up by a couple of solar panels that are installed on the garage roof. They have a compostable toilet that over time is able to create a fertiliser for the soil and is of course water free. 

The family were all really easy to get along with and we would often sit and discuss our favourite films and music, as well as comparing different stories from our respective parts of the world. 
While the work was relatively simple, it has given us inspiration for ideas that we can put into practice back home along with many of the other things that we have seen over the last 8 months.

The only nasty experience that I encountered during the 2 weeks was being bitten by a couple of bull ants while we were trying to clear their nest that we had found while scrub clearing. While raking the vegetation away from the giant mound that was their home (so that we were able to burn them out with petrol without the fire catching and taking the whole forest with it!) I failed to notice 2 bull ants that had scaled my legs and were then stinging me on my neck and chest. For those that are not aware a bull ant is around an inch long and has 2 very large mandibles on it's head. At it's rear end it has a stinger like a bee or a wasp, and it holds on to you tight with it's mandibles while delivering it's sting. They are very aggressive, and will come towards you to attack from up to 2 metres away.

Bull ant

Banjo is a crazy dog and was full of excitement 24 hours a day. Every times we would set foot out of our room in the morning he would be waiting and would come running with an enthusiasm that made it look like you had been gone for a week. He adores chasing a stick or a ball, and having a tennis racquet and a downhill slope made the game lighter work for us!

On the few days that we were not helping out on the property we would tend to go into Port Maquarie where we were able to visit a Koala hospital and enjoy a couple of hours walk on the coastal path from the lighthouse point at the end of Miner's Beach. The Koala hospital was very interesting to visit and it was amazing to see how well a number of the koalas have recovered from very distressing circumstances. They are often hurt in collisions with traffic, and are also frequently caught up in the forest fires that decimate the landscape on a regular basis.

Sleepy Koala at the hospital

During our walk along the coastal path we fortunate enough to see a whale and a pod of dolphins that were all visible from the shore. The path is well used by walkers in the area, and it finishes up in the town centre bay front area where a resident pelican likes to use his large beak as a way of making people surrender some of their fish and chips in his direction!

The bay's resident Pelican

We were very sad when our two weeks with the guys came to an end as we felt that we had settled in quite well with them, and we can only hope that our work was good enough to reward them for the very kind hospitality that they showed us. So back on the road (or rails in this case) again we would be as we made our way to Brisbane.

We arrived only yesterday in Brisbane, but we are already again on our way out again. A bus to Casino and a train to Sydney followed by a flight to Auckland in New Zealand is bringing our time in Oz to an end. Yesterday in Brisbane we took a river cruise to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where you are able to visit and learn about Koalas as well as many other animals. There were so many different animals to see we struggled to fit them all in during our time there, but it was a really worthwhile experience on a gloriously sunny day.

Vicky feeding a small Roo at the Lone Pine Sanctuary

This morning, before departing for our 25 hour journey to New Zealand, we took a walk through the Roma Street Parkland which is home to many different types of Australian wildlife and plant life. It is strange to hear people mentioning Christmas while we are out and about as the days here are still getting longer and hotter!

So Australia down and just New Zealand to go. Bring it on! :)

Melbourne and Apollo Bay

Travelling overnight on the train to avoid paying for a nights accommodation didn't come without it's downsides. After a very "on - off" nights sleep we arrived in Melbourne Station to find ourselves a 40 minute walk away from our hostel at a time in the morning where the trams weren't even running. Refusing to pay the extortionate price for a taxi (they make the UK look cheap!) we set off on foot carrying all of our luggage and were delighted when the hostel's doors were finally in sight.

After our last experience of a hostel back in Sydney we were a little wary of what we might find awaiting us, but as we looked around the Melbourne Metro YHA we were pleasantly surprised to find a comfortable, clean and warm environment that didn't cost the earth to stay in. After a much needed hot chocolate in the hostel's cafe, we headed straight out to explore the city with the use of the free shuttle bus.

Unfortunately it was difficult to say that the weather we had in Melbourne was any good, so making use of the free bus (13 stops around the whole city) and the free tram (a loop around the Central Business District) frequently saved us from the cold and sometimes wet conditions while providing a great way of learning the layout of the city. 

Melbourne's free city circle tram

The second night of our stay in Melbourne we booked to go and see the famous Penguin Parade on Phillip Island. This is the official title given to the homeward journey each night of Little Penguins (that is their actual name and not a description) as they come back from their day at sea. As they grow to only a maximum of 30cm high the penguins are quite vulnerable to attack from larger birds during daylight hours, and so they leave and return to their burrows under the cover of darkness when the predators have gone back to their own nests. The phenomenon was first recorded back in the 19th Century, and it has now gone on to be a fully fledged tourist attraction with a visitor centre and seating areas from which to observe the penguins. Each night hundreds (sometimes even thousands) of penguins make their way out of the water, and the subtle lighting placed on the beach allows the spectators to watch them as they make their way up to 1km inland to find their burrows. It really is quite a sight, but unfortunately no photography is allowed as camera flashes have been proven to damage the penguin's eyesight.

Although we had planned to stay in Melbourne for 6 days, we actually decided to change our plans and head down to Apollo Bay where the YHA hostel was offering 3 nights for the price of 2. The main reason however for our visit was our desire to travel the Great Ocean Road. With private trips being expensive and short term car hire not being possible, we found that by booking a trip with V-Lines (bus and train travel) to Apollo Bay from Melbourne we could travel the Great Ocean Road for a couple of hours on the way to our destination. Not only that but it was far more economical.

Some of the coastal views over the rocky landscape are very impressive, and in places reminded us of Cornwall but with added sunshine! For it's low cost we were gobsmacked to see how good the YHA Apollo Bay Eco Hostel was. Not only that, but when we arrived we were upgraded from our dorm room to a private double room for no extra cost, despite the private rooms being 3 times as expensive! It actually ranked as one of the best we have stayed in on this whole journey so far, and with it's clean cut feel it was a great example of how less can feel like more. The hostel is 50% more energy efficient than other hostels of a comparable size, but the facilities were just as good if not better.

The shore line at Apollo Bay

On that first evening we went for a stroll down into the harbour and were shocked to see not only one but 2 stingray in the water that measured around 2 metres across. They were certainly bigger than any that Vicky and I have seen before! Only around 10 metres further round the harbour where the water was getting shallower, we found a pufferfish living among the rocks and plant life among many other smaller species of fish. It was certainly a surprise to see so much from dry land.

Pufferfish. Currently all out of puff!

The next day we set off to try out some of the Great Ocean Walk which was opened in 2006 (the reason for only  walking some of it being that it is 91km long). However due to the poor signposting of what is supposed to be the most impressive walk around led us to lose the path within half a kilometer, and we ended up walking around 7km by the side of the Great Ocean Road. After those 7km we managed to find a trail that linked our position back to the correct path and so we used that to make the return journey. Along the way we had a close encounter with a Tiger Snake (the 2nd most poisonous snake in that area) as well as bumping into a couple of Echidnas which are a lot larger than we thought they might be!

The first Echidna that we met. He's actually bigger than a size 5 football!

Before we knew it our final day in Apollo Bay was upon us and so we took the opportunity to go and gaze at the wonderful shoreline one more time, this time walking in the opposite direction to the way that we had previously gone. We checked in on the harbour on our way back to find our pufferfish still there and several more smaller stingray had also arrived.

A couple of days worth of travelling was now in front of us as we would make our way round to Wauchope on the East coast where we would be picked up to go to our work exchange project for 2 weeks. The return Great Ocean Road journey took us back to Melbourne where we had most of the day to wander the city again before we boarded the overnight train to Sydney. At Syndey we would have nearly 5 hours to waste before our connecting train to Wauchope that would last 7 hours. 

Next time's installment will feature the work exchange project in more detail, and that should be online in about 2 weeks time. See you then :) 

A New Chapter Begins

Beginning a new chapter of our journey on our own was both exciting and sad at the same time. While missing all of the people that we have travelled with for the last 7 months, we were glad to be in control of all of our decisions and movements to really make the time what we wanted it to be.

Our first decision however didn't quite turn out the way we had planned as we checked into the Elephant Backpackers Hostel in Sydney. Laura from our group had checked into the same hostel, and rather quickly all 3 of us had noted all sorts of strange behaviour (mostly alcohol or drug induced) that would disturb us during our stay there. None of us really got any decent sleep in the hostel that night.

Fortunately for us we stayed there only the one night as our friend Amber invited us to come and stay at her house in Bondi for a few nights. I met Amber 3 years ago while climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland and we have stayed in contact ever since. The last time we had seen her before now was at our wedding a year ago this month.

Vicky, Laura, Amber and myself enjoying a drink

During our first day in Sydney we took a walk around the Central Business District and took in some of the sights, as well as getting up close and personal with Sydney Opera House. While making our way to Amber's house the next day we stopped off at Bondi Beach to check out some of the surfers showing off their impressive skills.

That evening Amber took us down to Rose Bay which is on the opposite side of the headland from Bondi Beach, and we sat with a bottle of wine and watched an incredible sunset develop in front of our eyes. The sky went through every colour from a burning orange to a bright pink.

What an amazing sunset!

The following morning we saw some traditional British weather arrive in Sydney, just as we were beginning a nice long walk between Bondi and Coogee. As we walked along the cliffs admiring the exhibits in the "Sculptures by the Sea" exhibition we were being pelted by heavy rain, high wind and then hailstones. A couple of hours later we arrived in Coogee before catching a bus to the Central Business District to go and have a lunch date with some of the group who were still in Sydney. After lunch we went for a walk through the Botanical Gardens and found a cracking view across the water looking at the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

It was the bridge that would become the focus of our attention later that evening as we took on the famous Sydney Bridge Climb. Zipped into jumpsuits with all of our accessories clipped to us to avoid anything falling off the bridge, we took on the 1390 steps that go from the base of the bridge to the peak of the arch which sits at 134 metres above sea level. Despite the fact that the weather was still bad and that we had to endure another hail storm while on the bridge, the view from the top was amazing as we looked out across the cityscape lit up against the night sky. It was certainly worth the experience and something that we won't forget for a long time. 

Sydney harbour bridge by night

The next morning we were due to have a surf lesson, but the poor weather put pay to that and so we had to entertain ourselves within the city once more. Once the weather had cleared up Vicky, Laura and myself stocked up on provisions and headed off to have a picnic in the park near Darling Harbour. Despite being hassled by gulls and ibis for our food we had a nice little spread that we enjoyed before heading back to our respective accommodation.

Fortunately for us the sea was much calmer the next morning and we were able to reschedule our surfing lesson that we had cancelled the day before. Vicky, Laura and myself all went along as beginners and spent 4 hours during the day finding inventive ways to part company with a surf board in the rushing waters. It was great fun but also very tiring as we repeatedly battled against the waves to get out far enough to try and surf back into the beach. All of us managed to stand up a few times, but more often than not a slap in the face from a wave was the only prize waiting for us as we toppled off of our boards. 

Surf's up!

In the evening Amber and Natalie (who we met in London while she was living with Amber) took the 3 of us out for chips by the sea and a couple of drinks as for the 3 of us it would be our final night in Sydney. Laura would be flying home the next day to the UK, while Vicky and I would catch an overnight train to Melbourne where our adventures will continue....

Couldn't leave you without a picture of this iconic building...The Sydney Opera House

UK to OZ: The Finale

They say that all good things must come to an end, and that is now finally true for our (considerably smaller than when we started) merry band of travelers on our journey from London to Sydney. So now we will run you through the final 2 weeks of the UK to OZ adventure April - October 2012.

Our arrival into the final country of the  journey was late on the night of the 8th October, landing in Darwin airport after our 2 hour flight from Bali. A short minibus ride later we arrived at our campsite (for the few hours that were left of the night) and the first example of how expensive our new country would be. $47 (around £30) for a few hours of camping. Fortunately this cost is included in our travel package.

The first thing you notice having made the journey over from Indonesia is how much colder the nights are here. We have gone so long without the temperature dropping below a comfortable 25C that it was a shock to suddenly find ourselves at 10-12C most nights. Hardly freezing, but very cold when you are no longer used to it!

The following morning we boarded our new vehicle that would get us from Darwin to Sydney. A small 20 seater minibus and trailer is far from the crowd puller that our old orange truck used to be, but with only 14 people left (including Adam the driver) there was no real need for anything bigger.

The first day's drive took us to Kakadu National Park, where we were able to walk around and view some aborigine cave art before climbing to the top of a rock formation to find an amazing view out across the valley below. It was also interesting to get used to some of the wildlife that Australia would present us with; eagles soaring through the sky searching for prey, small bearded lizards darting through the grass, and spiders a little larger than any that we had seen before. A brief glimpse of fur bounding across the road was as much as we would see of a Kangaroo for the day.

At the top of the rock formation in Kakadu National Park

Despite the cold weather we were really enjoying being back in the tents and cooking our meals together, as the group had become a little fragmented all the time that we were staying in Hotels and fending for ourselves. Instead of having a rota for the evening chores like before, we all chipped in to help out every night and the atmosphere around the camp was really good.

Day 2 took our group to Katherine Gorge where we were able to go for a couple of hours hike across the cliffs along the top of the gorge. Along the cliffs where there is little shade the temperature had got up to just over 45C, a temperature we had not seen since the days of India. Again the rugged scenery was breathtaking as we gazed down into the sapphire blue river running through the bottom of the gorge. The ground around the tent that night was extremely hard to get the tent pegs into after the sun has baked it for so many weeks, but we eventually managed it and were able to get a sound nights sleep.

Katherine Gorge

Day number 3 took us to the Daly Waters pub, which is credited with being the birthplace of the Australian airline Qantas. The pub is now a bit of a tourist trap, but incredibly interesting to look around. As they are so far away from any other pub (we are talking around 100km) they are at liberty to charge whatever they like for their food and drink, but the pub is kitted out with all manner of things that people have chosen to leave behind there over the years. From foreign currency notes to football shirts and bras and knickers the bar had everything you could think of, mostly with a small message written by the person who donated them. It would have been a fitting place to leave my Dover shirt after all these months, but I was too determined to have a photo taken with it in Sydney Harbour! 

Left in the Daly Waters Pub

Another stop along the way took us to a natural hot spring where we were able to play around in the warm deep waters, while hundreds of flying foxes flew above our heads and nested in the trees. It really was something that you had to see to believe!
That night we were not so lucky with the tent. Again it was a struggle to get the pegs into the rock hard ground, however this time a night time storm put an end to our camping as the pegs were ripped from the ground and the tent collapsed down on top of us. We were forced to retreat to the minibus, as I made a mad dash through the rain in my underwear to try and secure the keys from Adam's tent.

Our fourth day of our North to South travels took us to the Devil's Marbles, a very interestingly balanced range of rock formations that nobody really knows how it was created. We took the following group photo just before we jumped back in the van to head off and find our camp site for the night.

Group photo on part of the Devil's Marbles

During our fifth day of travel we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, ending our long stay in the tropics. I tried stepping either side of the line, but it felt equally tropical on both sides...most puzzling! 
Day 6 had an early start, as we made our way from our overnight camp to Ayers Rock where we went to watch the sunrise. You really can't imagine the scale of the rock until you actually see it, and the 11km walk around the base of it after sunrise really allows your legs to get a feel for the scale as well.

Sunrise at Ayers Rock. Much colder than it looks!

After Ayers rock we made our way over to the Olgas range for a bit more walking, although by this time the heat had curbed a lot of our enthusiasm and most people only ventured out as far as the first main vantage point. 

For our evening meal we made our way back to Ayers Rock and sat with our dinner as the sun went down, capping off a wonderful day.

The following day was simply a drive day to get some more miles on the clock. Our total journey over the 13 days I am describing now was just over 6100km, so sometimes it was just necessary to hit the road and keep on trucking. Also I could note here that other than the odd toilet there was nothing worth getting out of the minibus for. Australia is a vast country and it amazing how far you can go without seeing anything other than the odd petrol station that you dare not drive past.

We spent the majority of day number 8 in the remote mining village of Coober Pedy. The town, as well as the general area of Australia, is well known for it's opal mining and there are many different mines and exhibitions that you are able to look around here. With it's quirky nature the town is quite interesting to wander around, although due to it's size it doesn't take you very long to do just that. We finally found a free wifi area in the towns library which was a bit of a shock as wifi is virtually non-existent in the outback, and where you can find it you will normally be paying around £1.50 for every 5 or 10 minutes (other than this McDonald's has been the only other place we could get online for free). We finished the day in Coober Pedy by "noodling" through the piles of excavated mine rock for tiny scraps of opal, of which we found 3 between us.

That night as we were looking for a place to camp, we managed to get the minibus bogged down in a field of sand which looked a lot firmed than it actually turned out to be. With all hands to the deck we managed to dig out some of the sand from around the wheels, and with a lot of pushing and then pulling we managed to recover first the minibus and then the trailer to an area that could take it's weight. All that was left to do was carry all of the contents of the van and it's trailer to the new campsite after we had emptied them to make them lighter!

Tim digging out the wheel of the truck

The day after we paid a visit to Lake Hart which is the largest salt water lake in Australia. With the dry weather they have had here lately the lake was completely dry, but the white crystalised salt bed that was left behind was quite a sight and could easily have been mistaken for a snowfall. We spent about an hour admiring and playing around on the salt bed before making our way back to the minibus and getting on the road again. 

Messing around on the bed of the salt lake

Day 10 was mostly noted for the spontaneous drinks session that we had around the campfire after dinner. Most of the day had been spent driving but we had bought the drinks that lunch time in preparation for the night after (when we thought we would have a party to celebrate our last night in the wild), but temptation got the better of us and we decided to open them anyway. We sat around the campfire and stargazed for quite a while (we spent a lot of time looking at the stars during these days for 2 reasons; 1) There is not much else to look at in the open desert, and 2) it is amazing to see the number of stars that are visible when you are so far away from sources of pollution. So many more than you would ever see from a town or city) before finally heading for bed.

Our eleventh day was again mostly spent on the road, with stops only to have lunch and pick up supplies for dinner in the town of Dubbo.

Day 12 began in style with a wine tasting in the town of Orange. It was only around 9.30am when we arrived at the vineyards but that did not put many (including Vicky and myself) off of trying a range of the different wines that were on offer.

Next we made our way to the Bathurst Panorama Race Track where we were able to put the minibus (trailer and all) through it's paces. A Ferrari it may not be, but we had a good time driving as quick as we safely could around there. 

The minibus on pole position in Bathurst

We set up our final campsite for our journey at Lake Lyell, and strangely everybody had a comparatively early night. 
And so the 13th day in Australia and the final day of our trip was upon us. We drove up into the Blue Mountains region where we were able to spend a couple of hours taking in the view and going for a short walk. Adam the driver had a shock though as when he went to try on a hat in the gift shop he found a large Huntsman spider living inside it!

The "3 Sisters" in the Blue Mountains range

Finally though after 7 long months on the road we pulled the minibus up at the side of Macquarie Street, overlooking Sydney Harbour and the Opera House. Emotions ran high as we all got out to have our final group photo taken, and of course begin to say goodbye to each other. It was a very strange feeling to have spent so long together with all of the group and to now be going our separate ways.

The survivors photo. In front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge before we all said our goodbyes

Our adventure is still to continue however as for the next 9 weeks we will backpack around Australia and New Zealand before heading home for Christmas. Come back soon to find out what we have been getting up to!

Indonesia: One step left to Oz

After the highs of Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia got off to a slow start as we arrived on the island of Batam for our first night in our penultimate country on this trip (not including New Zealand that we are doing off of our own backs). 

There was very little to do in the vicinity of our hotel, and so most of the time was spent doing planning and preparation for our time in Australia. The only other task that remained was to buy some food for the very long ferry journey that we would be taking the next day.

The ferry journey is billed as being 26 hours, but they are widely known for being late. At the time of us disembarking we had been on the ferry for 32 and a half hours (and believe me it felt even longer than that!). The conditions on the boat were dreadful, with the main problem being a cockroach infestation (although at least 4 different rats were spotted in the sleeping area as well). Just in my bed alone I had 6 cockroaches that had taken up permanent residence in the framework, as well as others that frequently joined them presumably for the cockroach equivalent of a weekend break in Margate. The soundtrack for the journey mostly revolved around dodgy Indonesian TV shows that were playing from the broken TV just along from my bed, combined with crying children and the repeated "WHACK" of the girls flip flops as another cockroach got just that little bit too close! My bed had a lingering fishy smell after a food seller spilled his seafood sauce over it just as I was getting on to the boat. The only redeeming features of the journey were a beautiful sunset on the second night with nothing else but open sea in view, and knowing that we were officially crossing the equator line around midnight of the first day. 

The end of the sunset from the boat

Finally, after it seemed that we would never get off of the ferry we disembarked and set foot on Java where we would be spending the first 2 nights in Jakarta. In truth there wasn't a lot that we really wanted to see in Jakarta, and even the guide books didn't really sell it as a place to go for foreign visitors. Our time outside of the hotel and local restaurant was minimal, with 2 hours taken up by trying to find a flea market that featured on our map but was unknown to everybody that lived there! 

Yogyakarta was our next destination after leaving Jakarta, and it turned out to be the point in Indonesia where the action really picked up for us. We had booked ourselves on several side excursions from our hotel here, the first of which was a morning trip to Borobudor (a 9th Century Buddhist Temple situated just over an hour out of the city). The temple is a very impressive structure made up of 6 square layers all decreasing in size as you go up to make a pyramid shape that has had it's top cut off, and carved into the walls are many images that would have been used as the "teachings" of the religion. Although some restoration work has helped we were surprised at just how well preserved some of the original structure and carvings have been preserved. 

Borobudor temple. Notice all of the Buddhas 

After arriving back from the temple (which we had set off for at 5am) we had a mere hour to spare before our next trip which was cave and river tubing. I'm sure some of you will recall tubing as I mentioned it in the blog back in Laos, but if you have forgotten it is basically sitting in an inflated inner tube of a tyre and floating your way down a river. Compared to the Laos tubing (which was full of bars at various stages down the river) this was a very calm and relaxed tempo, with most of the time the tubes being "towed" in a group by a man swimming at the front. How guilty did we feel?! The cave that we drifted through was full of huge stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and in a number of places above there were bats nesting in the roof of the cave. Aside from the guides headlamp, much of the cave was pitch black, but was frequently lit up by the flashes on people's cameras. Like Laos there are a number of places where you are able to leap into the water from, and inside the cave this required scaling some of the rocks at the side before you were able to jump down. I think a great time was had by everybody!

Steph limbos under the largest stalactite in the cave

The next morning provided the group with a choice; a 20 hour sleeper bus journey or to pay extra and have two 12 hour journeys with a stop-over at Mt. Bromo, an active volcano on the eastern side of Java island. With the morning of the stop-over falling on mine and Vicky's 1st wedding anniversary, it took very little to decide that it would be an awesome way to spend our special day watching the sunrise over the spectacular volcanic landscape.

After arriving in the region of Bromo late the night before after a rather crazy journey (Note: I think of all the bad driving I have seen on this trip Indonesia seems to make me the most nervous, and this guy was the worst! We swerved in and out of oncoming traffic, overtook far too fast on blind bends, forced 2 bikes off of the road, and when we were approching a traffic jam he drove off of the side of the road and started haring down the verge shaking us about like a can of Green Giant Sweetcorn in the hands of a 5 year old! By all accounts the guy that drove the sleeper bus was just as bad if not slightly worse), and quickly made our way to bed knowing we had a 3.30am start in the morning.

For the moment of sunrise we made our way up a steep hillside a kilometer or two away from the volcano, which is widely regarded as the best viewing point to watch the sunrise from. It didn't disappoint, and we were treated to an incredible display of colours forming across the sky before the fiery ball finally poked it's head above the clouds. On a side note it was incredible to actually feel chilly again, as at the altitude we were currently occupying the temperature had dropped to a mere 10C. Day or night in the countries we have visited the temperature doesn't really drop below 25C, and so being cold actually made a welcome change.

Volcanoes behind us just after the sun has risen

After the sunrise we made our way back down to the bottom of the hill before heading across to the volcano itself. Another 30 minute walk was ahead of us to reach the summit, but bearing in mind that we were sleep deprived, it was uphill and the ground underfoot was purely volcanic ash (like walking on ultra fine black sand) it was an exhausting work. The crater that awaited us at the top though was fully worth it though, and we stood and watched as trails of steam and smoke emerged from the sulpherous pool in the middle of the crater. Much like my Birthday back in Nepal, I think this is an anniversary that will take some beating!

At the top of the crater with Walter the bear

Another long bus ride (including a short ferry ride) later we arrived at our final destination before we head off to Australia; the island of Bali. Bali in my eyes is a mixed lot. It cannot be doubted that it is a beautiful looking island, but at the same time it really is a bit of a party haven for British and Australian tourists alike. The area is hugely popular for surfers, and it is quite entertaining to sit on the beach and watch them try and ride the waves. The area in which we are staying offers a lot of cheap (or for an hour a day free) alcohol at certain times, and while we have enjoyed making the most of these offers there are always plenty of people who just push it too far. Hence by the end of the night it can be quite noisy with drunken revelers wandering the streets trying to find their way back to their hotel. 

On our final day in Bali Vicky went diving off of the North East coast of the island, while I went for a walk along the beach with Laura, Janet, Libby and Steph. Vicky had a great time diving and came back recalling all of the different fish she had seen. Meanwhile the girls and I managed to walk as far as an airport just over an hour away down the beach and stood and watched as planes swooped in over the sea to land on the runway (which literally finished in the sea).

So on to Australia next for the final 2 weeks that we will all spend travelling together. Unfortunately our good friend Jay will not be joining us in Australia having chosen to fly home, and we will miss him a lot. Good luck Jay! Anyway as we are camping through the outback for the final 2 weeks of the organised tour we will not have any internet, so don't expect to see us online for a while! 

20 Questions

During the course of our travels so far we have been asked a number of questions about our experiences by friends and family, local people who stop to speak to us as well as many Brits, Americans and Aussies that we have met while on the road. So here is our top 10 of the questions that we are most frequently asked, and of course their corresponding answers!

What has been the highlight of your trip so far?
Dan: That's a really tough question as I could change my answer on an almost hourly basis! All of the wonderful things we have seen appeal to me for different reasons, and so it can be difficult to judge them directly against each other. Right now I think I would say that experiencing life in Iran was pretty awesome and I loved it there, but the one off experiences of washing elephants and the Formula 1 push it close!

Vicky: I think I'm going to have to have a top country and a top activity as it is too difficult to chose. My favourite country has been Iran, for me it was a once in a lifetime experience finding a country that was so different from my expectations. Everybody was just so welcoming. For my favourite activity I think I could name about 5 that would tie for top position, but if you had to push me for one it would be my freediving in Koh Tao as it is something that I will do again and again. Obviously we're not finished yet, so something else could come along and knock it off top spot!

What has been the worst experience that you have had?
Dan: Without a second thought it is being ill in India. It was so difficult to recover from such a serious bout of illness without all of the home comforts and "safe foods" that we are used to back home. Even the most spectacular sight in the world will feel like nothing to you when you feel like we did there. 

Vicky: The combination of the heat with being ill in India. We haven't written off India completely, but this experience will take some forgetting!

Wow 7 months! That's a long time to be travelling, how have you found being on the road for such a long time? 
7 months is a long time, especially when you don't stay in the same place for more than 3 days at a time. It can actually be pretty tiring and it takes more out of you than you would think! On the flip side there is no way you could do it any quicker if you want to take in as many places and experiences as we have. 

So you are all travelling together for the whole journey. What is it like travelling as a large group and does everybody get on?
At it's largest our group was made up of 22 people. Most of the time people are able to get along well, but there are naturally some personality clashes within the group. It's impossible to have that number of people living in each other pockets without there being some disagreements. Most of the time it's not a problem, and fortunately I think we both get on with everybody in the group quite well. 

Did you all know each other before you left the UK?
Obviously with the exception of those that were already couples, none of us knew each other before we started. We had a facebook page set up by the company where we could all chat and compare notes, but it's not the same as actually knowing somebody. I think that has added to the excitement of the whole experience though.

Are you British or Australian?
Naturally this was mostly asked by locals in various countries, I would hope that friends and family would all know! I can confirm that we are both 100% British :)

Would you like a cup of tea? (I could also list would you like to buy this? here as this question would quite often follow the former!)
Generally yes. I love tea and even Vicky is now beginning to appreciate it. (Generally no. I'm not interested in what you are trying to sell me.) Iran was a great exception because generally people offered you a drink just because they wanted to talk to you.

Are there a lot of nasty bugs or animals?
We have been quite lucky so far and haven't really come across anything too bad. We have seen one poisonous snake and one or two larger than normal spiders, but nothing that has caused us any harm. Generally we have got used to seeing cockroaches and rats by now, and sharing your hotel room with lizards and geckos is also commonplace (they eat mosquitoes though so we don't mind them!)

So you finish the trip in Sydney on the 20th October, but you are not flying home until Christmas eve. What are you going to do with all that time?
We are going to spend the first 2 weeks travelling around the South East corner of Australia taking in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane if at all possible. The next 2 weeks we will be going to help out on a "work exchange" project with a family who have veg plots and make garden furniture out of recycled timber, which will help us keep the cost of our travelling down as they will provide us with food and accommodation. Following that we will be making our way across to New Zealand, and although we haven't set an itinerary for the country yet we will be looking to spend around 2 weeks on the north island and 3 weeks on the south island. Once that is all done...Bob's your uncle it's the 23rd of December and we are on our way home!

Would you travel overland for this amount of time again?
No. We are both really glad that we have done this, and we have seen some brilliant things and met some great people along the way and we wouldn't have changed our experience for anything. If we were to overland again it would probably be for only 6-8 weeks in one go. Another alternative is that we would travel for this length of time again, but visit fewer places and therefore spend much longer in the places that we did go. If we did it this way we would probably plan our own route rather than go with an organised tour, so that we could ensure we went to the countries we wanted, and during the most appropriate season for each country (no more 50C heat in India thank you!). One thing that we have certainly taken out of the experience is that we have found a number of great places that we will come back to for individual holidays in the future, as in so many places we haven't had time to do everything that we have wanted. 

Since I started writing this post, I had the brainwave that we should include the 10 questions that we have asked most since we left. So here they are!

Is that your best price?

Is that really your best price? I don't think it is!

Have you got wifi? (If yes, usually followed by what is the password?)

Is there any toilet roll? (Upon a member of the group coming out of a previously unvisited toilet!)

Where can we buy stamps? (frantically pointing at the top right hand corner of our postcards!)

How do you say thank you again? I know you told us half an hour ago, but we have since had a beer.

Are you sure this is vegetarian? That looks an awful lot like bacon.

Have you got any ketchup?

How much longer are we on this (insert current form of transport here)?

This is the last petrol station before we cross the border and I still have 50 (insert appropriate currency here) what do you think I can buy with that? (The ultimate result from this question is a Magnum ice cream. Never fails to disappoint!)