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Archive for August, 2008

Today was a day for exploring the city!

After a bit of a sleep in to recover from the 20 hour day before we headed off to St Kilda to explore.  We had a walk down the pier to view the city skyline, before heading into St Kilda to explore the shops.  For a small suburb of Melbourne, it must have had the most Cake shops per street in the world!  After looking in every cake shop window along the street, we decided on a cup-cake and a black forest gateau cake!

We then headed into the city centre and made our way to the city circle free tram.  After seeing the sights from the tram we hopped off at a couple of spots to explore the shops and Victoria market.  We decided to explore China Town for tea and found a small restaurant to have an early dinner at.  We wanted an early meal so we could head back to the pier at St Kilda to try and catch the munchkin penguins!

So just after dusk we made our way back to the pier.  After a bit of searching we found several munchkin penguins coming out of the water and into the rocks.  After an hour or so watching we thought we’d head back to the hostel for the evening.  We thought it would be a simple walk but we made the mistake of discovering an ice cream shop open late at night.  So after a quick ice cream break (I chose strawberry and jelly babies!) we headed off to bed.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We set off from Auckland at 4.30am catching the Airbus from Auckland central straight to the airport.  After a quick check-in we were ready to depart, however the plane’s engineers had other ideas!  The brakes on the plane needed a quick change so after an hours delay we finally took off for Australia.

We touched down at Melbourne International Airport about 10.30am (local time) and hopped on the airbus to travel the 20km into the city centre.  We had a quick wonder around the city before meeting up with our friend Harry who took us to the Eureka Skytower.  After speeding up the tower’s 88 floors in about 30 seconds we went out onto the deck for a 360 degree view of the city.  Here you could see all the ports, skyscrapers and the Formula 1 Albert Park race track.

After the view of the city from above we got onto the tram network and made our way to St Kilda to drop our bags off at the backpacker lodge.  It was then back into the city for another good look around the CBD and shopping areas.  We met up with a group of Harry’s friends and went for dinner at a pizza place before heading off back to his place to check out Melbourne University.

In the evening we all headed off to the Telstra Dome to go watch the seasons final Aussie Rules Football match.  Trying to understand the rules was a little complicated but it was an interesting game to watch!  Both teams had players who were close to scoring a 100 goals in a season.  The Hawks player managed to do this in the first quarter of the game which led to a massive pitch invasion!!  Over 10,000 people ran on to the pitch to celebrate.  After the police finally cleared to pitch, the game got back under way.  We headed off just after half-time as we’d been awake for over 20 hours but it was a fantastic game to watch!

We’re currently sat in an internet cafe trying to book a Neighbours Tour!

More images available in the gallery HERE

We fly out to Melbourne early Saturday morning touching down about 9.30am.  We then have about 3 days to explore Melbourne; Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit, Neighbours film locations, potentially pygmy penguins at Philip Island, etc.

Monday night we have a 12 hour bus journey on the Greyhound Bus to Sydney, hopeully arriving at 8am.  We then have another 3 days in Sydeny; Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Blue Mountains, etc.

After another 13 hour bus journey on Thursday night we arrive in Brisbane for a day or so.  We then have about 6 days to work our way up the Gold coast towards Cairns were we will spend a couple of days before returning to Auckland on Sunday 14th.

Hopefully it will be an action packed 16days!!  Watch this space for photos and blog messages!

On our way back to Auckland we decided to spend the night at the beach at Mount Manganui.  The holiday park was right on the beach front with fantastically clear blue waters perfect for surfing.

The bay leads to Moturiki Island which was an amazing place to explore with fantastic scenery.  The views of the Bay of Plenty and Motuotau Island were stunning at sunset.

After an explore of the local area, and being fed up with the usual campervan style food, we decided to head to a bistro for some dinner. After a nights stay by the beach, we headed back to Auckland along State Highway 2. We stopped quickly at at Waihi to view the Martha Gold mine.  The scale of production here is massive with Gold and Silver being extracted from the open pit mine.

More images available in the gallery HERE

After the failed attempt to go skiing at Whakapapa we decided to head towards Rotorua. We decided to head there the scenic route via Lake Taupo and although it had stopped snowing, it was still raining. The scenery around Lake Taupo is fantastic with amazing views of the lake and surrounding forests. We also had time for a quick driving break at Whakamaru Hydro Village.

Arriving in Rotorua the sun finally came out for the first time during the weekend. We did the touristy sight seeing activities on the Saturday, firstly visiting the i-site (Tourist Information Centre) to pick up lots of leaflets on the local area before finding a holiday park for the night.

We stayed at the Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park which offered free use of the mineral thermal pools. These are fantastic hot pools perfect for relaxing in after a long day’s driving. I think we spent too long in these though as it had got dark and started raining before we got the hint to go to bed!

On Sunday morning we left the camp site by 9am and headed down Highway 5 towards Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. Wai-O-Tapu (Māori for “Sacred Waters”) is an active geothermal area just north of the Reporoa caldera in Taupo’s Volcanic Zone. The Thermal Wonderland is the most active part of the 18 square km reserve and has at its northern boundary the volcanic dome of Maungakakaramea (Rainbow Mountain). Beneath the ground at Wai-O-Tapu is a system of streams which are heated by magma left over from earlier eruptions. The water is so super heated that it absorbs the minerals out of the rocks through which it passes and conveys them to the surface as steam where they are ultimately absorbed into the ground. The wide range of colours are all natural and are due to different mineral elements.

We first went to see the Lady Knox Geyser which is induced to erupt by dropping soap into the opening of the vent. Eruptions produce a jet of water reaching up to 20 meters and can last for over an hour.

After seeing the geyser we went for a walk around the thermal park. There are various craters around the park containing hot water springs and sulphur deposits. The most spectacular pool is the Champagne Pool which is 65 meters in diameter and its surface temperature is 74^oC. Minerals within the water are Gold, Mercury, Sulphur and Arsenic! The park leads to the spectacular green waters of Lake Ngakoro.

In the afternoon we headed to the Skyline Gondola and Luge track. After a scenic Gondola trip up Mount Ngongotaha we had a quick lunch in the café and watched everyone on the luge tracks below. The Luge is a gravity ride on a 3 wheel cart with a unique braking and steering system. We bought 3 luge tickets so started on the intermediate track which is a 1.7km track featuring a tunnel, spirals and a chicane. The track was great fun and as most people did not understand how to use the carts properly, it was easy to go flying by everyone at break neck speeds! At the end of the track you take chair lift back to the start. The second ride we went for the advanced track which was shorter, only 1km long, but much steeper and tighter! I really enjoyed this track hurtling down, taking the racing line and overtaking lots of people…up until the point I missed a corner and nearly ended up half way down the mountain! The third lap was back on the intermediate track where I tried to balance a camera while holding on to the handle bars. A little bit tricky to control but the video is just about viewable!

We decided to spend the night near Tauranga which is about 50km to the north of Rotorua so set off to find a holiday park in the early evening.

More images available in the gallery HERE

After picking up the hire campervan we set off down to Whakapapa Ski fields for what we thought would be two full days of skiing. We should have got the hint things wouldn’t go our way this weekend when we left Auckland in torrential rain and at 5pm rush hour traffic time! Crawling out onto the 5 lane motorway took forever but after about 30 minutes of slow traffic, it gradually filtered down to normal driving along State Highway 1.

After 7 hours on the road we arrived in the Tongariro National Park. We had to be careful on driving up Highway 48 as there were patches of ice on the road, however most of the road was clear due to a massive snow plough driving back and forth. We turned into Whakapapa Campervan park just after midnight to be confronted by a snowed in park – The snow plough obviously hadn’t ventured into the park! As we had been driving so long we thought we would simply abandon the campervan in the nearest bay and have an early night – If only! After some skilful driving on ice we managed to get into the park but couldn’t make it up the small hill due to wheel spin. Luckily I’ve driven lots on ice before and know how to control a vehicle in a slide but a massive campervan is slightly more of a handful! A group of kiwi rugby lads offered to give us a push up the slope and into the first bay, but a combination of drunk rugby lads and lack of grip saw the back end slide into a snow drift!

It took almost an hour to dig the van out of the snow so that all four wheels could get traction on the grit. A bit of skilful wheel spinning and a push from the lads got the back end of the van out of the snow drift and in line with the road again! It then took some careful reversing down the slope, and on ice, to get back onto level ground and a slightly cleared road.

At 1am (after over 8 hours on the road!) and with it still snowing we made the decision to leave the Whakapapa area and drive back down the Highway 48. With the snow falling so thickly I didn’t fancy getting stuck there for the weekend! It took another 30minutes to drive carefully back down the mountain and find a holiday park close by. After finally turning the engine off at 1.45am we went to bed!

We woke up on Saturday morning about 9am in the hope that we could get back up to the ski fields. However when we opened the windows there was a foot of snow outside! With the ski fields under even more snow up the mountain (they were digging out the ski lifts!) we had to abandon all plans of skiing this weekend.

After a quick look on the map we decided to head to Rotorua to spend the remaining weekend relaxing and doing some sight seeing.

(Driving to Rotorua took us past Highway 48 which by now was closed and impassable so we were glad we had abandoned plans to stay at Whakapapa!)

More images available in the gallery HERE

Well after a few weeks of searching the classifieds for a campervan I finally found a half decent one!  It seems that unless you spend over $25k (approx £9.5k) you don’t really get much for your money!  The offerings from previous backpackers (typically around $4k – approx £1.5k) are not worth the risk.  They are often in a shocking state and, depending on the various previous owners, probably a shocking mechanical condition.

After raising the budget and looking at various dealers I found a newly imported Mazda Bongo for $13k.

It’s a 2001 model straight from Japan with about 90,000km on the clock.  It’s in very good condition for its age with no external marks or rust.  The automatic 1.8l petrol engine has quite a bit of power behind it and the van has the advantage of being 4wd (useful for finding the white water rivers off the beaten track!).

The only work required to it is to install a New Zealand mains power system, so we can hook it up to the campsites power supply, and to buy a set of roof racks for the kayak!

More images available in the gallery HERE

This week has been fairly productive (and expensive!) in planning our future travels around the world…Here are our plans (so far!) for the next year…

Australia (Sept 2008)

16 days of travelling up the east coast of Australia.  We start in Melbourne before moving up to Sydney and then Brisbane – Spending about 3 days in each city.  We then have about four/five days to work our way up the Gold Coast  before arriving in Cairns for our last couple of days.  We’ve arranged a Greyhound Australia Hop-On/Hop-Off  pass so we can stop whenever we see something we like along the route!

New Zealand – South Island (Nov-Dec 2008)

We have lots of time in the South Island over the summer and will basically be travelling around the whole country in a campervan!  One of the big things we wanted to do is walk the Milford Track.
The Milford Track is New Zealand’s most famous tramping route and is one of the most famous walking tracks in the world.  The track spans a distance of 53.5 km starting at the head of Lake Te Anau and finishing at Milford Sound at Sandfly Point.  We have a group of about 6 of us booked on to this amazing 4 day walk.

South East Asia (Dec 2008 – Feb 2009)

Our big travels for the summer!  We fly to Brunei in mid-December and spend Christmas in Borneo, and New Year in the Philippines.  In early January we fly into Bangkok, Thailand.  Here we have 7 weeks to travel around Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos before heading back to Bangkok and home to Auckland at the end of February.

South America (July – Aug 2009)

Still in the planning stages…We plan to leave Auckland in July 2009 and return to London via South America.  Currently we are planning to fly into Quito, Equador and travel down Peru (taking in the Inca Trail), Bolivia, and Argentina.  We aim to finish our travels at Buenos Aires before flying home mid August.

Time for another volcano!  We headed off to Waiheke Island early Saturday morning catching the 9am ferry from Auckland ferry terminal.  After a 40 minute trip we arrived in Matiatia Bay and set about hiring a car for the day…a well used Nissan Sunny!

After a quick fuel stop and some off road gravel driving (there aren’t many tarmac roads on Waiheke!) we headed off to the other end of the island to visit Stony Batter.  Stony Batter is a boulder strewn landscape left over from previous volcanic explosions and lava flows.  It also contains a range of WWII tunnels and gun emplacements that were built in 1941 to defend Auckland’s harbour.  We borrowed a few torches and headed underground to explore…after deciding the information sheet was a bit boring we went off on our own route!  The various tunnels led to the WWII gun emplacements – with fantastic views of the islands bays and other local islands.

After a bit more off road driving we went for a quick tour of the islands bays and came across some stunning coves and beaches.  Man o’ War Bay was particularly spectacular with amazing views of the coastline.

After a quick lunch stop at a beach cafe overlooking Onetangi Bay we headed home on the ferry.  These volcanoes are tiring…!

More images available in the gallery HERE