SteveNewton.me.uk

Archive for September, 2008

It’s coming to the end of the Ski season on the North Island so we thought we’d get one last weekend in before the ski fields close.  We would also get to take the campervan on it’s first big trip out of Auckland and test out all the electrics and fittings I’ve recently added!

We set off early Saturday morning for the 4.5 hour drive from Auckland to the Whakapapa Ski fields.  The campervan worked really well out on the motorways and coped well with the hills (when it decided which gear to select!!  It’s why I don’t like automatics!!)

We got closer to the Tongariro National Park and for the first time in our 3 previous trips to the region, we could actually see the mountains!  Mt Tongariro & Mt Ngauruhoe could clearly be seen from a distance (Mt Ngauruhoe was made famous for playing the part of Mt Doom in The Lord of the Rings!).  Mt Ruapehu was the larger of the snow capped mountains and is the location of the Whakapapa Ski fields we would be using.

It was now 11am so we headed straight up the mountain to the ski fields and arranged our ski lift passes and ski equipment.  We first spent some time in Happy Valley which is a lower mountain ski field with 3  different runs available.  It took a while to get the basics back but after a couple of runs we were flying down the slopes!

A couple of hours had passed in this time, and with the ski fields closing at 4 today, we decided to head back down the mountain and park the campervan for the night!  I’d not used the Bongo since installing new electrics and fitting curtains, etc so it would be a fun night finding out what worked, and what else needed to be done to the van!

I woke up about 4.30am absolutely freezing (well we were halfway up a mountain is ski season!) but I’m so glad I had spent time the night before getting the electric heater to work in the van!  A full electric heating system had been installed and left in the van when I bought it but I had never had the time to get it working…I’m glad I did!  After warming up the van I managed to get back to sleep again!

Day Two on the slopes gave us about 4 hours of skiing time before we’d have to get back on the road to come back to Auckland so we needed to make the most of our time.  We started back in Happy Valley again to get some more practice in.  After a few runs I went up to the upper mountain and scared myself on one of the steeper runs!  After that I came back down to Happy Valley to meet up with Jo who was still practising turns.  After another hour on Happy Valley we both headed back up the mountain to do a run on the intermediate slopes.  These were much longer runs, and much steeper!

After a run on the harder slopes we ran out of time for the say so had to head home on the 4.5 hour trek up to Auckland.

More images available in the gallery HERE

Well we thought our adventures would all be over…however the air plane had different ideas!

We were due to catch the 11.50pm flight from Cairns to Auckland.  Unfortunately the previous flight had been delayed and so it was 12.30am before we finally took off.

We had been warned that the entertainment system wasn’t working which didn’t bother us as we needed to catch up on sleep (however Air New Zealand kindly gave use all $30 vouchers as compensation!)

So after a few hours sleep we got to Auckland ready to land….unfortunately the fog now had other plans!  We had one aborted landing when air traffic control moved us to a different runway while on final approach!  We then had a second aborted landing…literally wheels touching the tarmac then the plane aborting and pulling up!

Because of these two failed landings – due to the fog – we had to be diverted to Wellington airport to refuel!  So after a 20minute stopover at Wellington we finally made it back to Auckland just as all the fog was clearing.  We landed about 11.30am – as opposed to the 6.30am scheduled landing!

An eventful ending to the Australia travels!

Our final day in Australia was also the hottest with temperatures reaching 32 degrees.  We decided to have a break from our normal action packed days and relax around the city.  After our first lie-in in 2 weeks we checked out of our hostel and walked into the city.

Our first stop was to have a look around the marina, which we only got a brief glimpse of on our Great Barrier Reef trip.  There were plenty of expensive boats – both sailing and power boats!

We then headed to the ‘Lagoon’.  Due to the waters around Cairns, and the lack of beaches, it is not possible to swim in the sea.  Cairns has solved this problem by building a outdoor swimming pool and beach which leads the eye right into the ocean.

We relaxed by the lagoon, while listening to a free concert taking place in the park.

After a little more shopping around the back streets of Cairns we decided to head to the airport to get our flight home.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We’d booked onto Uncle Brian’s Rainforest Trip for our last full day in Australia so at 7.30am Cousin Paul turned up to pick us up (Uncle Brian was on holiday!).  After picking up the rest of the group, Cousin Paul headed out of Cairns in ‘Gus the Bus’ taking us towards our first rainforest.  Along the way he introduced us to the city trees – Electrici-Trees (Electrical Pylons!), The ‘Orangemen’ (Highway workers who sometimes waved at Gus!), and Bruce (The highway!).  After 20minutes we could tell our trip with Cousin Paul would be a fun one!

Our first stop of the day was at Babinda Boulders to do the Devils Pool Walk around a lowlands rainforest.  Cousin Paul explained all about the rainforest and various trees along our route.  Our scenic walk took us alongside the Babinda Boulders which formed amazing rapids in the water.

The walk was followed by our first food stop of the day with excellent cake and juice tou build up our engery levels!  After a short drive in Gus we arrived at Josephine Falls in the Wooroonooran National Park for our first swim of the day.  The falls were a collection of 3 waterfalls with large pools below each one.  We braved the cold temperatures of one of these pools and after a quick swim to the other side we gained access to a natural rock slide!  This was a smooth incline with a gentle flow of water over it…obviously many diferent techniques were tried in order to find the best way down!

After the falls we had a short drive to ‘Mr Lunches’ for our main meal of the day – An excellent spread of Chicken and Cous-cous!

Once lunch had settled we set off in Gus down the road to the Milla Milla Falls.  These falls were made (in)famous by Pete Andre’s Mysterious Girl video and the Timotei Adverts.

Swimming in this pool allowed you to swim under and behind these spectacular falls.  The force of the water made it fun to swim through but the view upwards was amazing!

We had a final swim in a Volcanic Crator Marr and had chance to warm up under the sun’s rays.  After our final meal (Muffins, Marshmellows and Hot Chocolate) we boarded Gus for the last time.   The journey home was a chance to have a sing-a-long to “Gus FM” and meet Elmo!

By far and away the best organised trip I’ve been on!

More images available in the gallery HERE

We headed off to Cairns marina for 7.30am where we met the Ocean Free sailing boat and crew.  As we set sail towards our private mooring on the Great Barrier Reef we were treated to breakfast of muffins and coffee!  Our outward journey was under engine power and took about 1.5 hours to get to our mooring point just off the Green Island.

The first diving session was about 2 hours long and allowed us to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef.

We saw some fantastic coral, fish, and also Sharks!  (Granted these were the harmless reef sharks!)

After a buffet lunch back on board the Ocean Free we took a short power boat ride to the Green Island.  We had a walk around the islands beach, pier and National park before heading to the Marineland Melanesia’s nautical museum.  Here we saw turtles, reef fish up close (including the deadly stonefish!) and got to see various crocodiles (including ‘Cassius’ – The largest crocodile in captivity)

After a brief visit to the island we headed back to the boat for more diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Our journey home was under sail during which we had a glass of wine and some cake!

More images available in the gallery HERE

The most boring and painful day possible!  We knew we had taken on a big task travelling over 4000km in 16 days but today was the worst journey of them all as we needed to catch a bus to Cairns.

We started at 8.30pm last night and drove for 21 hours!

We arrived in Cairns at 5.30pm this evening, checked into our last hostel and collapsed!

These sunrises seem to get earlier and earlier!  We woke up about 6.30am and decided to go for an early morning walk on the beach.  We had a relaxing morning before being picked up for Scooteroo!

Scooteroo provided 50cc American Chopper motorbikes with the traditional high handlebars.  Once kitted out we headed off on a 60km ride through the Australian bush and around the Town of 1770.  It was good fun speeding down the open highway…just a little annoying the bike hit the limiter at 55mph!

We stopped off by the beach at 1770 for beer & chips while we waited for the sun to set over the ocean.  A dusk ride back to base gave us chance to relax before catching our last greyhound bus of the trip…A 21 hour journey to Cairns!!!

More images available in the gallery HERE

Yet again we had another early start as we headed over to Tin Can Bay which took about 30 minutes by boat.  We arrived on the dock about 7.30am to find 3 wild Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphins in the water.

We got off the boat and into the water to get up close to them.  We were then given some fish which we could feed them with.  They were only allowed 3kg of fish each (They normally eat about 20kg a day) so they could maintain their wild nature and hunt for the remaining food.  Although these were wild dolphins, they resided within the estuaries in land.  Mystique (a 17 year old male) had obvious scares from a battle with a shark so now was too afraid to go out to sea.

On our boat ride back to Rainbow Beach we were followed by a Whistling Kite which swooped alongside the boat.

After a quick lunch it was back onto the Greyhound coaches for another 5 hours as we headed north towards the Town of 1770.  We arrived after sunset and settled into a fantastic hostel.  After a quick beer and pizza we headed off for an early night!

More images available in the gallery HERE

We had an early start to the day waking up at 5.45am to watch the sun rise over the eastern coastline from our tent on the beach!

After seeing the sunrise we headed up the beach to Eli Creek to go for an early morning swim!  Eli Creek is the largest creek on the east coast of the island with a flow of 80 million litres per day – This makes it a fun place to walk or swim through!

We next headed down the beach about 30km to enter the central lakes scenic drive at Cornwells.  After yesterdays difficult 4×4 tracks these were a lot easier to drive!  Our first stop was Lake Wabby which is the deepest lake on Fraser Island.  Its shore lies at the advancing edge of the Hammerstone sandblow which is slowly engulfing the lake.

We followed the track for another 20km down the bumpy sand tracks until we reached Lake McKenzie which is a spectacular blue water lake with perfect white sands.

After a quick dip in the lake we had to get back on the tracks and head towards the beach at Eurong.  By now it was 11am and we had to drive over 40km with difficult beach conditions in 2 hours or the high tide would engulf the beach!  The soft sand really slowed progress and the incoming tide kept causing us to drive in the rougher tracks.  Eventually we made it to Hook Point and the ferry back to the mainland.

After converting back to 2wd mode we headed back to Rainbow Beach to check back in to our hostel.  We found that we’d been upgraded to an apartment so moved in quickly before heading off to clean and return the 4×4.

More images available in the gallery HERE

We woke up at 6am for a shower before collecting our 4×4 vehicle – A Daihatsu Feroza.  We rushed through the paperwork to get to the island as soon as possible – Low tide was at 6am so we’d only have until about 12pm to drive on the beach before the sea took over for a few hours.  Once we had the 4×4 we had to go and purchase a permit to allow us onto Fraser Island, all of this took ages!  After all the paperwork and permits was finally out of the way we set off on our 2 day adventure.

We drove about 10km from Rainbow Beach to Inskip Point where we had to switch to 4wd mode to drive across the beach to the waiting ferry.  We drove onto the car ferry at 8am and had the 10 minute journey to the island all to ourselves.

Fraser Island is considered to be the largest sand island in the world.  The Island has over 100 dune lakes, as well as the second highest concentration of lakes in Australia. The freshwater lakes on are some of the cleanest lakes in the world.  The 75 mile beach runs along most of the east coast of Fraser Island – It is not be the best place for swimming due to dangerous currents and plentiful Tiger sharks, it is extremely beautiful.  The beach also acts as both a highway and a runway. The hard packed sand below the high tide mark can make for quite smooth driving, but care must be taken with speed; there are many deep wash outs and you can suddenly find yourself driving vertically into one if you’re going too fast!  Aircraft often land on the beach- highway rules state that vehicles must give way to aircraft if they are oncoming!

After arriving on the island we encountered the beach!  Driving was fun – completely different to 4×4 driving in the UK.  You had to constantly look out for the soft sand, tide traces, churned up sand from other vehicles and also deep creeks flowing to the sea.

We drove about 45 miles up the beach to the S.S.Maheno wreck.  This ship was beached in 1935 after breaking loose from a tow in a cyclone.  She has since started to decay and rust leaving an amazing piece of maritime history on the beach.

After a quick stop at the wreck we drove a few more miles up the beach before entering the rainforest on the 36km Northern Forests Scenic Drive.  We had to get off the beach due to high tide and this seemed a good route to take inland.

The terrain changed to luscious rainforest with sandy “roads” – It was still amazing to think that this whole island was made from sand with some of the rainforests we saw.  The inland route was very complicated to drive but great fun! (After completing the trip we read the guide…”This is very rough and remote.  Experienced and self sufficient 4wd users only!”)

Our first encounter was the Knifeblade sandblow before driving a little further to Lake Allom.  Here we stopped for a short walk around the lake and spent some time watching the freshwater turtles.  We then continued on down the ever challenging track for another 27km, which took about 2 hours to complete.  We had hoped to get back on to the beach after this drive inland but it was still high tide so we stopped for lunch at Happy Valley – which is the main hostel, cafe and filling station on the island.  After lunch we went to sit on the beach (the main highway!) while we waited for high tide to pass – Your not allowed to drive on the beach 2 hours either side of high tide in hire cars!

After finally getting back onto the beach we attempted to drive up to Eli Creek but the tide had made the sand too soft for our little 4wd!  We decided to call it a day and pitch the tent on the beach for the night!

More images available in the gallery HERE