D&K'S RTW Adventure

South island

After a scenic 2.5 hour crossing through the Cook Straight, we arrived in Picton for the start of the south island drive. Here are the highlights:

Kaikoura:

Whale watching center - the only place on our travels where we have been able to get out and actually see 4 sperm whales in action (so to speak!). The Kaikoura Whale Watch company are very professional and the boats are state of the art, using hydrophone technology to listen and track the whales as they surface (for just a few mins) once every 30-60 mins. You only get to see them raise their tail once - just before they dive...

The boats also have a plasma screen mulimedia presentations throughout the trip to give you all the information regarding these amazing creatures.

Christchurch
Spent a couple of nights here, climbed the cathedral tower..

Also took the gondala from Heathcote valley to the top of mount cavendish for some amazing views of the peninsula and Lyttleton harbour.

We also went to the very disapointing antartic centre... good for comedy value!

Spent one night in dunedin which is the place with all the scottish names . Dunedin being celtic for edinburgh...apparanty. They even have a statue of rabbie burns gaurding the city centre.....

Also visited Cadbury world...not a sniff of willies wonka or an umpalumpa.....

Fiordland
We based ouselves at Lake Te Anau as we decided that we wanted to see both Milford and Doubtful sounds.
First was a full day trip to doubtful which entailed an early start via a bus to Manapouri then a boat accross lake Manapouri to the west arm hydroelectric power station for an underground tour. Then another bus trip accross wilmot pass to deep cove and then onto doubtful sound.
As we entered the fiord it was very angry skies

Weather improved sligtly and we had a couple of sunny periods to break the grey skies.

We also had an amazing encounter with the local dolphin population about 30 or so very playful bottlenose dolphine having a great time with the boat.

Our next stop was onto Milford sound via the scenic Milford road. We stopped at the stunning Gunn Lake...

before heading onwards. Once again the weather was to dictate our experience and unfortunatley we got to see Milford Sound on one of it's angry days...

One of the benefits of the heavy rain (they get 6 meters a year!) is that there are plenty of waterfalls into the sound...

On comparision, we would say that Doubtful Sound is more stunning in it's varied islands and wildlife, plus it is much greener with tree's on the mountains and islands. Milford sound however is totally geared for bus tourists, so it's much easier to get to etc and has a more bleak/barren feel to it.

After the fjords it was off to the glaciers.....
Fox and FranzJoseph Glaciers
Unfortunately the west coast weather wasnt too kind to us here and our walk on the franzjoseph glacier was very cold and rainy but still an awsome experience, seeing close up the massive river of ice coming down the mountain. Here's a pic of me lookig miserable in the rain...

We would have likedto do a scenic helicopter flight in this area but the weather didnot allow it.
Wanaka
This is a beautiful lakeside town in the shadows of Mt Aspiring.

Mount Cook
The weather was kinder to us here, so we took our chance and hopped on our helicopter for an amazing scenic flight over the Ben Ohau Mountain Range , the zodiac and richardson glaciers, mount brown and the base of the tasman glacier and mount cook.. We also got to do a high altitude snow landing in deep fresh powder snow.

The views from the top of the mountains were superb as the sky was so blue and the snow so fresh

It was strange to be in a very cold snowy environment but very spectacular
This pic is of the view from mount cook village

Queenstown
After the coldest night yet in the van (sub zero) we headed back down to Queenstown. Just outside the town, is the site of the world's first bungy site. Kris being Kris wanted to do something special for his 30th birthday - and jumping of a bridge with just some knicker elastic tied to his ankles seemed just what he wanted...

and then...

with David happily taking pictures from the viewing platform (bottom left of pic)....

After the excitement courtesy of Mr AJ Hackett, we carried onto Queenstown. Although it has undergone major development, it is still a stunning small town located on the shore of lake Wakatipu and surronded by the alpine ski resorts of the Remarkables and Coronet Peak. We took the gondola up to the Skyline restuarant and viewing platform, for the best views of the area.

There is also a downhill gokart type track called the Luge, which you can ride down through a special hillside circuit...obviously Kris had to do this too...

We also took one of the jet boat rides, which take you up the Shotover rapids as the boats can travel in just under 4 inches of water at high speed...

and in the boat...

We also took a pleasant walk through the city center gardens (left side of pic)...

North island

After picking up our latest campervan (a bit bigger and with an ensuite!) we started our 4 week overland journey down to the south island. Here are the highlights of the north island:

Bay of Islands: Took a great boat trip out to the islands and visited the famous hole in the rock.

It was also a good oppotunity to check out some of the local widelife (seals, dolphins, albatross, shoals of salmon etc). Kris got to dive the famous Rainbow Warrior (sunk by the French government in 1985) and I got fobbed off onto a cultural experience at the Waitangi treaty center where NZ become part of the commonwealth.

Rotorua: The famous sulphur city - phew does it stink of rotten eggs... mostly because of it's thermal activity, where one of the oldest Maori tribes still live and use the geothermal pools to wash and cook their food in.

We were treated to a tradtional Maori performance of song and dance to welcome us.

We took the more civilised option at the Polynesian Spa where we soaked in 40c thermal outdoor hotpools by the beauitiful lake...

Lake Taupo:

Wellington:

We took the quaint cable car (or funicular railway) up to the university for one of the best views of the city and harbour, and then a pleasant stoll back down via the Botanical gardens. Next stop the south island via the Lynx Interislander ferry, which will cost approx 220 dollars to take the van and ourselves over.

Auckland

We arrived safely after quite ashort flight from brisbane with quantas. This was our first quantas flight and we were quite shocked to find how crap they were. Some of the crew were pretty rude,the seats were quite cramped and they showed a movie which was about 15 minutes longer than the flight...I mean whats the point of that!....There not a patch on Emirates. We flew quite a few times with virgin blue in oz and found them really good, more room and much friendlier.
Anyway Auckland....well we thought it was in new zealand but really it appears to be in new asia!....auckland really is full of asian people - immigrants and students. Walking down queens street sometimes we seemd to be the only non asian people around. Apparantly they have had a fairly open door to migrants from asia over the last 20 yrs and the majority have settled in auckland.
After we got over the unexpected culture shock we found its a really nice city. Its known as the city of sails which is a good name as there is numerous harbours dotted around the area.
We went up the city tower which gives amazing views over the city and islands and lets you het your head round the geography of the area. We were staying between the cbd and the parnell area. Parnell is a very up market area which lots of posh cafes and shops etc
We decide to get all cultural and did the maritime and national museums which were pretty good. The maori and polynesian cultures are really interesting.
We went up to the K road to check out some of the bars which were pretty good and chatted to some locals about the changes in the racial mix of the city.
Also visited the victoria market.
Stayed in the aukland city hotel which was pretty good value, we even had a telly, fridge and ensuite!!...oh the luxury!....
Weather isnt bad at all, not as cold as we expected and some sunny days, just wait till we go to the southisland!...After our few days in auckland were off to pick up our 4th camper van for a 3week drive down to queens town.
First stop will be the bay of islands...

byron bay

After another great flight back accross Oz with virgin blue we spent our last 5 days in Oz down at byron bay. We picked up a cheap car near brisbane airport and drove the 2 hrs into new southwales to byron.
We managed to get agreat contact from mandy at the no.14 hostel in katoumba for a small self contained studio apartment in byron, so we called ahead and booked it....oh the luxury, our own kitchen ,ensuite and main door.
It turned out to be ace!, and really cheap, we were delighted, no more backpacker hostel hell for a few days anyway!.
We'd read quite a lot about byron and its history as an old hippy colony and surf town, but im afraid after spending a few days there, it wasnt quite what we thought.
In reality theres very few hippies there now, they've all moved inland to Nimbin and byron is yet another backpacker resort now sadly. Off they hop, off their packpacker bus straight into the backpacker hostel, eating in the backpacker restaurant and drinking in the backpacker pub and booking all their tours in the backpacker tour agent offices......its so sad !
Anyway...enough of that, yea its now a dedicated tourist town, but not a bad place to spend a few days.
Its got some cracking beaches with good surf and really clear water, we thought the beaches were much better than up at Noosa where the water was a bit murky. We took a wander up the lighthouse which gives some awsome views of the coast.
We were lucky our studio was a bit out of town so we werent traumatised too bady by the backpacker brigade......or backpackages as we now call em.
We took a ride up to nimbin to check it out and also the sunday market, it was quite cool and friendly, comedy to watch them all dancing about on the village green dressed as fairies etc..
Before we even got the car parked in nimbin we were offered grass!!...amsterdam doesnt have a look in here!...lol. We were only there for an hour or two and must have been approached about 10 times with offers of "smoko"...
All in all a great chilled last few days in oz. On the way back up to brisbane we took in dream world on the gold coast, a coupla good rides but not really up to that much, def not worth the 60 bucks!...it was funny to see the tackiness of the gold coast...kind of benidorm in Oz really Bizarre that its advertised as some kind of glam coast cause its concrete geometric blocks beside some surf beaches......really naff, glad we didnt spend any time there...
anyway off to new zealand we go...

Western Australia

Thanks to good old virgin blue we managed to squidge in a couple of weeks over in W.A.
What a difference to queensland!....its a humungous desert basically, this pic shows what its like as you drive along for hours and never see another car or person...

WA borders on the Indian ocean!...The heat is a dry heat very different from the east coast. One awful feature though is the flies, in some places they are in tolerable, everyone wears those mad hats with nets. It spoils the beauty and enjoyment of the region sometimes.

First impressions of Perth,were that it is a very nice looking city. Tragically I thought it was right on the ocean but it sits on the swan river which is very wide near the city so thats where the impresssion of the ocean front skyscrapers come from.
We arranged to stay 15mins out of perth down at Cottersloe beach at the ocean beach backpackers. The beach is absolutely beautiful down there, great swimming and surfing.

Unfortunately the ocean beach packpackers is very expensive, noisey and badly run. The location is the only thing its got going for it! It is attached to a cafe which is SO expensive, they charge 14 bucks for a breakfast!...therefore for people on a budget its ridiculous, everyone of course cooks for themselves but the fridges are minging and theres no organistation of peoples food. Its rightnext door to theocean beach hotel which is a trendy hangout for perths disco dollies and boy racers. Im afraid it was the last straw for us as far as backpacker places go, so many of them suck so badly!..yes theres a few good ones like no.14 in the blue mountains but mostly weve found them rank. So - we decided to take to the road yet again and hired another camper van. We've found the camp sites better run, cleaner and disco backpacker dolly free, so has to be good.
Whilst in perth we decided to take a day tour of the swan valley wineries which was really good, we managed to taste about 20 wines in 5 or so wineries and bought about 4 bottles!, kris also won one in a raffle. We got some good information on wine and know have a better idea of what this wine thing is all about!.
We also wanederd around the c.b.d which has quite a laid back feel to it and some impressive high buildings which look great when pictured form the river.
We went to the famous swan bells tower and had a see go at bell ringing which was a good giggle.

Then off to britz to pick up the van.
We decided to drive up north on the indian ocean drive to exmouth and back.
The drive is pretty amazing from the desolation of the desert to the white beaches and the blue ocean.

We stopped at cervantes to take in the sunset,
and watch the dolphins play in the shallows. We also spent some time at the amazing pinnacles national part where I went emu stalkling, I am so obsessed with animals....odd! This pic shows the emus visiting us in the van park, kris did a runner back into the van in case they stole his bacon butty!...lol

Also spent some time at the pinnacles national park which is stunning and the pinnacles are really striking.

We went through geralton and carnavor up to shark bay. We found shark bay a bit disappointing, we were warned about the toursit trap of monkeymia so we gave it a miss!
We drove on to coral bay which we were looking fwd to, it wasnt quite what we had expected, pretty busy, not the deserted paradise we were hoping for.
Theres alot of controversy right now about coral bay and the development there, but as it stands its spoilt and we thought thety should have left it alone. At present you get people taking their 4wd's right into the water to lainch their boats just yards away from the reef which is ridiculous. The ningaloo reef is really nice.

We took a snorkel trip from here which cost 70 bucks for not much more than half a day, it was a rip to say the least, we were taken a couple of miles up the coast and promised a "sausage sizzle" lunch on board, in reality this consisted of one sausage and one bread roll !..not nearly enough for a flat slag like me!!....lol . Oir recommendation would be to walk around the headland for a few klms and just snorkel off the beach.
Stacks of tours up there for swimming with whale sharks...you get stung over 300 bucks and in reality you might see one and if you do, you get about 7 mins in teh water with them....yea right !,.... kutching !
Off we drove to exmouth and turqoiuse bay.....and yes it was amazing!...just what we were hoping for. The surrounding area is a national park so its not spoilt. the water is so clear and blue and the sand so white. We did the famous drift snorkel along the beach, swimming with giant turtles and all the reef fish. Its just smazing how close the ningaloo reef is to the beach.
Our advice to people travelling up to the ningaloo reef is to miss out coral bay as its a tourist trap and spend more time at the cape range park and turquoise bay.
On the way back down to perth we stopped at areally stunning place at greenhead called dynamite bay, a really perfect beautiful quiet bay .
Our last day back in pert we dropped off the van after spending the day over at kings park in the city which is massive and affords amazing views of the city. We also found a really nice hostel called comfort hostel on the great eastern highway, brand new very clean and spacious and has a spa and everything, better value than many of the hotels and that ocean beach hell hole!.
off on thered eye flight back to brisbane to spend afew days at byron bay before our month in NZ... we are going to be SO COLD !
pics of brisbane and westen oz to follow...