ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

Our flight to Auckland got in past midnight so we didn’t notice much on our arrival. We were so tired and wired at the same time that Chris left his passport at the airport (luckily the police found it and we recovered it later). After collecting our bags we boarded a shuttle that was supposed to be bound for the city center but, it was over an hour and five stops later that we were finally delivered to Auckland Central Backpackers. It was around 3am when we found our nice clean room and passed out. The next morning, we walked out of our hostel and were happy to be in the center of everything, only blocks from the sailboat-filled bays, gorgeous parks and the gardens of nearby Auckland University. Smaller than Sydney and more manageable but with most of the advantages, Auckland is clean and beautiful but still large enough to have anything anyone would need.

After a bit of exploring Read the rest of this entry »

The drive from Sydney to Melbourne took all day to cover the more than 800 kilometers, mostly through small farming towns. The landscape turned much dryer as we entered the state of Victoria and approached the Southern coast, with treed mountains and hills giving way to brush-covered plains. There was also a twinge of cool in the air as we made it further and further South, which felt odd. We skirted the city of Melbourne to reach the small surfing town of Torquay to the Southwest. This would be our base for a few days to try to catch some good surf at the world-famous Bell’s Beach and to drive a good part of The Great Ocean Road, which extends for hundreds of kilometers to the West.

After exploring the town center of Torquay, which took all of five minutes, we found a few bunk beds at the only hostel in town, which was also the only sleeping option left in town. The place, like the town, was a shrine to surfing but was reasonably clean. We shared a room with an unfortunate Italian couple that had been unable to find another place to stay and were definitely past the age of enjoying a bunk bed in a hostel. After finding no waves the next day, we spent the day driving the Great Ocean Road to the Twelve Apostles. We estimated it would be about a 2 hr drive. Somehow, it was 8, but one of the most beautiful 8 hr stretches of cliffs winding mountain drives, with endless views of the sea and the cliffs falling into it. We drove past sandy pristine beaches, past perfect rocky ones and kept going. Finally we decided we were in it too far to just simply return without seeing the 12 Apostles rock formations, which is one of the most photographed spots in Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Leaving the party that was Byron Bay, we drove to Port Macquarie – a quiet, mid-sized town on the coast with breathtaking views from the public beaches and parks but a little too spread out and quiet (empty) for us. We had to venture inland about a mile to find a hotel we could afford but we were rewarded with cable TV, a fridge and our own bathroom! Although we didn’t find much to do in the area we stayed two nights just to soak in the luxury. It was here that, during our usual “what do you miss most about home” game, that we started to feel homesick.

Newcastle was next on the itinerary but we ended up just passing through since it felt very similar to a decent-sized industrial American city on the water. It did have a nice revived arts district where we found an all-organic burger joint for lunch. There is also reportedly great surf in the area but of course the swell was down when we passed through. We couldn’t wait to see Sydney since we had heard so may different things on our way South so we made a full day’s drive to get to there by sunset.

The small beach towns of Northern Sydney from Manly to Palm Beach run together with indistinguishable boundaries however each has a unique personality. Manly is teeming with shops and restaurants with a mixed buzz from the tourist beachgoers and the flow of residents making the ferry commute from Sydney. Dee Why and Narrabeen further north are more residential but just as crowded and at the far end of the peninsula are the small, exclusive communities of Avalon and Palm Beach, Australia’s versions of Laguna Beach. Of course, we based ourselves in Manly since it had the cheapest (not cheap!) accommodation and more food options. Read the rest of this entry »

With the newfound freedom of having a car, we couldn’t wait to get down to the Gold Coast to explore. The 30km strip on the Southern end of the state of Queensland is a surf mecca with countless surf shops, resident professional surfers and some of the best surf breaks in the world. The travel guide warned that the area has come under heavy development over the last decade. But, because of the name (like Bali) and images we’d seen from surf videos, magazines and pictures over the years, we weren’t deterred. Driving through town after little town (all grown together) though, from Surfer’s Paradise to Coolangatta, we were reminded of a huge, glitzier Daytona Beach. In parts we had trouble even finding the beach because of the high-rise hotels and condos. Plus, of course, since we were in town, the surf was not. Shopping at the surf shops was out of the question with $45 t-shirts and $35 hats. We reached the end of the Gold Coast in only a few hours and stood confused as to what to do since we’d planned on spending almost a week. At times like these, in areas we aren’t crazy about, we have to remind ourselves that although frustrated, we aren’t at work or putting up with winter cold back home. We counted our blessings that we’d have more time now to spend in the South and made the most of it for two nights: checking the surf, reading, exercising, catching up on our entries and calling family and friends.

While catching up on emails, Jenny found out two of her good friends from FSU, Amanda and Naomi (twin sisters), happened to be in Australia at the same time and were working their way North to Byron Bay as we were going South. We planned to meet up over Australia Day weekend to catch up and partake in the celebrations. Read the rest of this entry »

The Northern coast from Cairns down to Brisbane is fairly barren and, at over 1000 miles, would have been a daunting drive. Having seen the highlight of the North, The Great Barrier Reef, we made the decision to catch a cheap flight to Brisbane then explore the area and the rest of the way South in more detail. We found flights for about $120, which was cheaper than a bus ticket and saved us about 23 hours. Upon landing we caught an efficient public transport train into town and were deposited in the city center with no real plan. Being Australia’s third largest city, we figured we’d explore Brisbane for a night or two before heading to the Sunshine Coast for the week, however our first impression was that it was a fairly normal, forgettable place with no stand-out sights to see. Wandering around on foot, we checked some hostels and were price-shocked again by charges of $80 and up for a room. For the first time in a while, we were in a place we didn’t really like, we were being faced with outrageous prices to stay there, and we felt trapped by not having a car. As we considered what to do, a nice lady let us in on a secret: “there’s really nothing to do in Brisbane anyway.” Relieved that we had saved ourselves the trouble of discovering a boring town, we lugged our bags to the bus station to check on the next ride to Noosa. Lucky for us, a bus with a few seats left was leaving in a few hours. Unlucky, the rate was $25 each for the two-hour ride plus $15 for the surfboard! On the way, we started doing the math and discovered we’d go broke quickly riding buses everywhere and we’d be doing a lot of walking in between. We missed our old Rodeo already!

Noosa is a gem of a beach town at the Northern end of the Sunshine Coast. There’s a small enough collection of cute shops and restaurants to maintain a village feel, with the inevitable but controlled real estate boom. Turquoise-clear blue water washes up and around several rocky headlands separating picturesque bays each with its own personality of a beach and world-class surf break. The star of the town however is Noosa National Park, which occupies the best real estate and protects all the amazing forests, beaches and bays from development or exploitation with a huge buffer zone. We found a decent, though party-friendly hostel near the shops and not far from the beach/park entrance and lucked into a private room for $60 Aus. Though the waves were small, we spent three great days exploring the town, visiting the beaches and hiking the park. We met some friendly locals who were thrilled to tell us more about the area and their country and even saw some Koalas in the wild just as we walked the trail to the beach. When preparing to leave we had that feeling that we may not find anything as good as we moved South, but we had to move on to find out.

On the way back down the Sunshine Coast we took a local public bus, which saved us heaps and gave us a better snapshot of the small coastal towns as we passed through. We could have enjoyed a few days in any of them but decided to stop in Caloundra since it was the closest to the Australia Zoo. Made famous by the late Steve Irwin, the zoo is famous for its crocodile shows and collection of reptiles, marsupials and kangaroos. The budget accommodations in Caloundra were slim to none so, with the only hostel filled up, we settled on a private camper at the Hibiscus Caravan Park, $70 Aus with A/C and a bathroom just past the shuffleboard court. For some reason, that camper felt like our own little cottage from the moment we stepped inside and it turned out to be one of our favorite places we’ve stayed.

In the morning, the Australian Zoo’s tour bus picked us up at the local bus station for a complimentary ride to the zoo. The zoo was large, well organized and easily manageable – perfect for a stress free day of animal loving. We saw huge tortoises, emus, lizards and snakes of every size, alligators, camels, dingoes, wombats and the infamous crocs. Our favorites however, were the kangaroos or “roos” as the Aussies put it and the koalas. Enormous fields were dedicated to the kangaroos, which roamed freely and lazily lounged in the shade. Incredibly, anyone could enter the fields and hang with the roos for as long as they wanted. Needless to say, we were there for a long time. You could feed, pet, scratch, and lie with them. Since neither of us had ever seen one, we were in awe. Some moved around with their joeys (babies) in their pouches – with the longest feet you have ever seen limply hanging out.

After nearly kidnapping a roo and deciding against it, we headed to the koalas and were able to hold one. We quickly learned that when koalas are awake they constantly go #2, so he pooed on us the entire time! The caretaker finally pried him out of our hands so we headed on to explore the rest of the zoo, watch a croc feeding and pay homage to the late Steve Irwin – who we realized had done more than most could imagine for wildlife, preservation and Australia as a whole. It was refreshing to spend a full day roaming around a zoo where we were close to animals, if not with them and who were revered and treated like royalty. The zoo was less about making money and more about creating awareness and a wildlife/environmental consciousness for everyone who visited. Tired from the strong, Australian sun and smelling like wild animal, we boarded the bus to head back to our camper and our favorite spot for dinner – the local grocery.

The next day we were set to leave to go South but we couldn’t bear the thought of jumping on another overpriced bus just to get dropped off in another large town so we could only explore the 3 blocks closest to our hostel. We were seriously missing our drive-the-coast, explore-every-nook-and-cranny style that had gotten us through Central America. We decided we’d pick up a rental car back in Brisbane for the next 2 weeks but on a whim we walked into a Thrifty agency right in touristy Caloundra on the off chance that they would want to make us a deal. Remarkably, the manager had an extra car to send to Melbourne and was sympathetic to our budget constraints. After we had already negotiated a great price to get the car for a full two weeks, Jenny batted her eyes and used the old “can we get any kind of honeymoon discount, pleeeeassse?” It never fails. He knocked off even more and we drove off exuberant at having our own wheels again. I just had to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, shifting with the wrong hand and foot and confusing the wiper switch with the turn signal that was on the wrong side of the wheel! Off we went!

Leaving Indonesia marked quite a transition in our trip as we left the last developing country for all the modern conveniences of Australia, New Zealand and Europe. We left behind the strange customs, foods and toilets but we were also leaving the inexpensive caterings. Adapting to the high first-world prices was going to be difficult but we were definitely ready for the conveniences and predictability of first-world countries again. Not to mention, Australia has been a dream destination for both of us for years. For all the unknowns, coming here felt like turning the corner towards coming home and we couldn’t have been more excited.

With only a month for Australia we decided to concentrate on the East Coast. We would begin with Cairns in the North in order to see the Great Barrier Reef, then work our way South all the way to Melbourne. Unfortunately we arrived in Cairns with two bad feet, a serious leg burn and a case of traveler’s stomach as a parting gift from Indonesia so we were moving at half-speed. With only a few days to spare before we snorkeled the GB Reef, we wanted to revive as soon as possible. We found a nice double room in an ultra-modern hostel for $60 Aus. (about $48 US – let the sticker shock begin!) and laid low to nurse our wounds.
Our first night out for dinner we noticed two things straight away: the prices (higher than the US) and the closing times. Walking around town at 6:00pm this well-populated city looked like a ghost town. All the shops and restaurants had closed an hour earlier. Even the mall closed sharply at 5:00pm. We wondered how anyone got anything done around here. A few bars remained open which served meals for around $15-$30 and beers starting at $4.50. We worried our budget would be completely blown just to get some dinner but luckily, we found a Woolworth’s that stayed open a little later. The small grocery/department stores, now virtually extinct in the US, are everywhere in Aus. For us it was like walking into a Super Target and we were thrilled to find fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and frozen foods. Jenny found a rack with real gossip magazines! The prices were still a little high but we could eat well and stick to our budget.

We booked a decent snorkeling tour of the outer reef for $100 Aus each. Sure, the tour in Thailand only cost $18, but this one was well worth the difference. We loaded our 80ft boat at 7:30am with around 30 others and set out at 8:00 after complimentary morning tea, true Australian style. The crew introduced themselves and seemed passionate about taking us out to see their treasure. Instead of a few random teenagers driving the boat and dumping snorkelers into the water like in Thailand, we had a real Captain, first aid, a chef, underwater photographer and trained dive professionals. We were still a bit nervous about being in the water all day with our wounds so the first aid guy set us up with some good bandages and we were on our way.

The GB Reef is the largest living organism on earth – it is larger than Japan. As the water temperatures rise due to global warming, the reef will slowly die and greatly affect the marine life that relies on the reef. Seeing the reef was important to us and we soon made a pact to return one day. The boat took us to two different outer reef spots for about 4 hours of total dive time. For us it felt like 10 minutes, as we couldn’t get enough. We’d heard how amazing the reef was but we were blown away seeing it in person. The colors and variety of reef growth, corals and the size and shapes of the fish were simply breathtaking. If snorkeling Phi Phi Island was like being in an aquarium with its cute little fish this was like being a part of the ocean. The boat took us 2 hours off the coast and the water was clear and chilly. We undulated up and down with the currents and swell of the ocean and watched the fish as the currents forced them in one direction and then the other with us in tow. Fish of every color imaginable swam around like you weren’t even there. Some were the size of your hand while others were as large as a beach ball. Swimming with or against the schools of fish as they brushed against you was magical. Reaching our fingers out we could practically pet the fish as they passed by. Sea Turtles swam below and stingrays gracefully fluttered their wings and disappeared under the reef. We found fish that we particularly liked and dove down to follow them, only to discover some twice their size hiding beneath. We envied the divers since they could dive deeper and stay under longer. And the reef! The boat dropped us off just yards away from the edge, so we swam up to it with the water depth quickly rising from 50ft deep to only 10ft. You could swim down the edge of the reef as long as you could hold your breath to see the sights that waited at each deeper level or you could just swim atop and around it checking out the intricacies in the shallow areas. We saw huge boulder-shaped rocks covered with a spectrum of growth and oyster shells the size of a suitcase. It was easily one of the best natural sights we had ever witnessed. On the ride home, as people shared their experiences, the crew broke out some wine to toast the day. We were elated at our first true Australian outing and couldn’t wait to see more.

It’s going to be hard to be honest about Bali and still be nice. Having left now I can say we had a great experience but it was nothing close to what we expected. We just didn’t do our homework on this one. Bali is at once beautiful and horrible, overcrowded but sadly empty, pristine and trashed. As one British Expatriate told us, Bali now is nothing but a name. We, as many others, were drawn there by the name and the images it conjures. But the reality is that Bali is simply worn out by over 30 years of adapting to a tourist boom. Read the rest of this entry »

After another exhausting series of bus rides, we were back in Thailand and heading South to Kho Phengang Island, one of three well known islands on the Eastern side in the Gulf of Thailand. Kho Samui to the South was much larger and more heavily populated while Kho Tao to the North was quieter and required a longer boat ride so we split the difference. A two-hour long ferry ride later, we were dropped at the main port and we managed to reserve a great room at a guesthouse overlooking the ocean for around $11. The whole area was beginning to fill up for New Years so we were lucky to arrive in time to get a good spot.

The island was lush, mountainous and colorful with a laid back feel and very friendly locals. It really had everything but waves. Read the rest of this entry »

We woke up on Christmas Eve a little sad that we were in dusty Cambodia, the furthest thing imaginable from a white Christmas. But, our trip was getting easier. We found a money changer and a makeshift breakfast to start the day. We walked around the town a bit and found out it wasn’t all bad, much like an infant Bangkok just developing to serve the needs of the hoards of travelers starting to come see the ruins. And we found another nice tuk tuk driver who agreed to give us a tour of Angkor Wat for the day for $8.

We hopped in and were on our way. At the entrance to the ancient city, we each paid $20 USD for the day – pricey, but well worth every cent. We couldn’t even do its history justice here but, suffice it to say it was once the largest, most powerful city in Southeast Asia, with over a million people when London only had 50,000 inhabitants. Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking full well that the following 24 hours would be hell, Chris and I boarded the icebox of a bus hoping that with earplugs we could trap a couple hours of sleep. It never ceased to amaze us that the bus was colder than the Arctic. We were bundled in layers, our only 2 pairs of socks, sharing the scarf that we bought from the longnecks, covered in a blanket and still too cold to sleep most of the night. I would awake from nightmares that I was losing limbs to the snow, much like the movie I watched over and over at 13 – Alive. Picture this – even though the temperature outside approached 80 degrees, the bus attendant strode around in a ski jacket, mittens, scarf and beenie. And she looked at us like we were crazy when we asked if they could turn the air off! Still, pounding karaoke welcomed us with psychedelic neon upholstery, like an outdated and scary casino engulfing us in a dizzying trance. We arrived in Bangkok before sunrise and were whisked away by an awaiting cab driver to wait on a dirty street corner for our next bus to the border. Six hours or so passed and we were a mile away from the Cambodian border. Read the rest of this entry »