So it has bee a very long time since I have updated this and treated you all to some words of our adventures. I sometimes find myself thinking of England and how far away it seems as we relax on the beach...not often or for very long...in fact once...I might have. Any hoo, we are now in New Zealand, currently sat on a bus twisting and winding it's way through various parts of Middle Earth. It is now Autumn on this side of the world meaning the sun has gotten weaker and the nights shorter but the trees and the changing colours is nothing but spectacular. It is quite strange thinking it is currently Autumn 2014 here, so we are going to have two Autumns and no Springs this year. So how did we get here? I guess that takes us back to Adelaide airport all those weeks ago.....
Another horrible flight, I believe we have found a worse airline than Ryanair in Tiger Airlines but that wasn't the problem, the weather was. Due to storms we were trapped on the plane for a while before take off but when we did finally manage to the turbulance had the plane hopping around more than a kangaroo on crack. It was the longest 1 hour flight I can remember but on the upside it will be a while before I need a manicure. As I am sure you will have worked out by the mere fact you are reading this we landed safely and had arrived in Tasmania.
We wandered over to pick up our rental car only to be given the pinkest of hot pink cars, I loved it. Tasmania was everything you wanted it to be, beautiful, clean and sparsely populated.
Wineglass bay was a particular highlight with a 6 hour hike and just driving around the island, up and down mountains and through cool climate rainforest, pure nature. At one point we had pulled off the road to enjoy our lunch stop over looking Pirate Bay when a group of bikers came in a couple of minutes behind us. You know the type, loud bikes, big beards. Sensing danger as they looked at my pink wheels I thought I best speak first
"Bet your jealous" I managed to say
"Where ya from mate?" Came the thick Aussie accented reply
"England"
"Leave your testicles there mate or did you come here to get them removed?"
It was at this point I thought back to when we picked the car up and the agent asked if is pink ok or would you like a different colour..I should have probably accepted her offer.
That was pretty much it for Tassie, we drove 1000 kms in 3 days, hiked a fair amount and got abused by local bikers, didn't see any devils but had a great time. Next stop was Brisbane to see our friend for the UK Jon, or Jonno in Australian.
Brisbane....drunk wine, went indoor climbing and spent a day on the beach. That was it really, 5 days watching Netflix and being called corned beef by Jonno's roommates...I don't even like corned beef! It was nice to finally slow down for a few days and relax with friends drinking wine, did I mention the wine?
Jonno, bored on a beach
Brisbane City
Sydney was next. We managed to get another deal on a camper van relocation and drove from Brisbane to Sydney, probably one of the most disappointing drives of all time. It looked wonderful on the map, another long coastal road but no, just a long road with nothing to see. Once again we were lucky enough to have friends to stay with, Steven and Dee. They have been quite a big part of our travels, we first met them way back in Laos where we were swimming in waterfalls and then run into them again in Ko Phagnan, Thailand where we partied together at the Full Moon Party. Last time we met them was in Kuala Lumpur as they were flying to Borneo we were heading to Myanmar and now they have ended their trip working in Sydney and let us stay. So four nights out in four different countries, quite an achievement. They are living in Manly, a suburb of Sydney to the North and a beautiful one at that.
First day was spent doing the classic touristy stuff, seeing the Opera House, the bridge, we went to Bonai Beach and met another traveller friend of past, Corey who was in Sydney for a few days. Sydney was one of those places that I didn't know if I would like too much as it is so famous and has such a high reputation to live up too but we both loved it. The only downside was the expense of eating hence we found ourselves in the cheapest places, sadly the cheapest is normally McDonalds dirtburgers. Following day was a trip up the coast to Palm Beach AKA Summer Bay, the fictional town where Home and Away is set. We went to our first ever AFL game that evening in the AK Arena built for the Olympics. The Sydney Swans Vs. Collingwood from Melbourne. In the train on the way over we got talking to a couple of fans. One guy told me that you can spot Collingwood fans as they have teeth missing then right on cue a chap over his left shoulder wearing a Collingwood cap who was stood there quietly eavesdropping our conversation removed his front two teeth and shouted "Go Collingwood" (with a lisp).
The game itself I am sorry to say I found pretty boring, the pitch is so big and the stadium was sparsely populated so the atmosphere wasn't all that great. As for the game, it was like watching lots of men in tight shorts trying to catch an ostrich egg that is rolling down a hill. I don't know whether these two teams just weren't very good but for a game that relies on straight kicking and catching a ball they weren't doing either very well. Even Kinga was disappointed, the men weren't even hot men in tight shorts. On the upside the tickets were pretty cheap so we left at the beginning of the 4th quarter happy that we had seen our fair share of egg chasing for a lifetime.
Our last day in Sydney was spent lying on the beach in Manly, finding out that bodyboarding is much harder than it looks and that lungs have a surprisingly high capacity for water before you drown. I didn't find out the upper limit but I managed to take on board a fair share and am still breathing. They have pretty big waves out here. Saying our goodbyes and big thank yous to Steven and Dee before we knew it we were waving goodbye to Australia and enjoying a jaw dropping welcome to New Zealand. We flew into Christchurch which takes you over the central mountains and it was stunning to see.
So in NZ we have spent a couple of days in Christchurch and a few in Queenstown but I am getting bored of writing now, my head hurts as this has been a very winding bus journey and you are probably bored of reading by now. I am also engaged in a battle with the snoozing Kinga next to me, she is slowly inching her way over to take up both seats and squeeze me into a corner, I must fight back so until next time, peace out home boys and girls x
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