Round the World with Ann and Katie

Katie had us up at 6.30am by mistake, bless her. We had planned to go to the buried village near Rotorua but couldn’t get any transport so we decided to go to a place called Hell’s Gate instead. Said buried village was buried by a volcanic eruption in 1886. The same eruption also destroyed the Pink and White Terraces which were said to be the 8th wonder of the world. Hell’s Gate is an extensive area of volcanic activity with lots of boiling pools and blobbing mud and fumaroles emitting steam etc etc. It got its name courtesy of George Bernard Shaw apparently. We also saw some Thermophilus bacteria which is also known as land coral and can survive very high temperatures. Katie revealed that she used to use an enzyme in her research work that was derived from the same type of bacteria and it was useful because you could heat it up and it would still work unlike other enzymes. At the same place we did some wood carving, Maori style, which was quite difficult. Then we decided to have a mud bath. We had to borrow some swimsuits and towels (they were very small swimsuits and a bit of a struggle to get into). We sat in the warm mud for about 20 minutes and then were obliged to have a cold shower before getting into some warm sulphur springs for another 20 mins or so. It was very relaxing and I thought afterwards that my neck was not nearly so stiff afterwards. In the afternoon we went to the museum in Rotorua which is housed in the old bath house. Some bright spark had the idea in the early part of the last century of making money by luring Europeans out to NZ to have mud baths etc for their health. The building is Elizabethan in style from the outside. The thing never really took off as it then took six weeks to get to NZ and not many people came. Also two world wars and a depression finished it off as well as the fact that the water was so corrosive it ruined all the fixtures and fittings in no time flat. Lesson: do your research before embarking on a major business undertaking! However, the exhibits in the museum were interesting including a good display about the volcanic eruption to which I referred earlier. In front of the museum were some very English gardens with roses and bowling greens etc.
We spent the following morning wandering round the park near the hostel which had lots of blobbing mud activity and lots of steam. After a coffee we caught the bus for Thames. This was another typically NZ bus experience. About 50 mins before we were due to arrive in Tauranga to change buses we only had about 30km to go so I said “We’ll be in early”. In the event, after a traffic jam and 2 detours we were in fact about 20 minutes late. Our hostel in Thames was a complete contrast to the one in Rotorua, which had been a modern, state of the art place. This one was a couple of houses converted into backpacker accommodation: very comfortable and friendly. Thames is on a river which Capt Cook (he got around, didn’t he?) thought looked like the Thames at home. It also has the distinction of having the longest straight main street in NZ. We had a walk up the coast after dinner – if you have been to Weston super Mare you will understand what the beach is like at Thames. We met a couple of lads looking for somewhere to swim!The next day we took a shuttle bus up into the hills and did a walk called The Pinnacles. They seem to exaggerate the difficulty of their walks here – the time they say the walk will take is usually far in excess of the time it actually takes as well. It was a good walk nonetheless and the clouds kept away for us to have a good view from the top. The last section involved ladders and via feratta-like metal rungs in the rock. We wandered down and were about an hour and a half too early for the shuttle bus. But we sat around by the river which was quite pleasant until it started to rain. After dinner we went to see the film “Atonement” based on the book by Ian McEwan. Neither Katie nor I was terribly impressed by the film but then I never really got on with the book either.
On Wednesday we borrowed some bikes from the hostel (ancient ones, mine was all rusty and there were springs sticking through the saddle) and cycled about 6km (no further!) to the “Butterfly Gardens”. This was a bit disappointing as they only seemed to have about 6 species of butterfly and they also import about 400 a month from Asia and we weren’t sure whether this was really the thing to do or not. After that we had an excellent walk. It had no made up paths, no steps or ladders – just a narrow, muddy trail all overgrown. On the way down the hill we spent most of the time in a stream – great fun! Then we got the bus to Whitianga – mercifully it was only about an hour and a half in the bus with no detours or stops. The hostel is right on the beach.
On Thursday we were going to go to Hotwater Beach where you dig in the sand and hot water fills your hole and then you sit in it but Katie said it was going to rain so we didn’t go. But what did she know- it turned into a lovely day so we took the ferry across the river and had a stroll to various beaches including Cook’s Bay (that man again). He pulled in there to chart the transit of Mercury across the sun in 1769. Dunno why he had to come half way round the world for this but it must have been important. The best beach was called Lonely Bay and we had a swim there before having lunch and heading back to Whitianga. We then spent the afternoon doing some bone carving. You use a dentist’s drill to fashion a design out of bone (from cows). We both did a fish hook design and then they are turned into necklaces. It took all afternoon but they look really nice when they are done. Afterwards we borrowed some surf boards from the hostel and threw ourselves about in the waves for a while.
Today we went to Hotwater Beach. It rained. We got soaked. It took over an hour to cycle there and then we had to put on our swim suits and do a major river crossing before getting to the beach. We dug a hole, which did fill up with hot water (so hot that it burned your hands in fact) but the sea was very rough and kept flooding our hole. So we gave up and cycled back to the hostel in the rain. It has now stopped raining. It is supposed to be summer here. I hadn’t expected it to rain like this. I have this idea that we will be sitting on the beach on Christmas Day in the sun. I am determined to sit on the beach even if I have to wear my waterproofs! There have been a few earthquakes near here in the past few days including one that was nearly 7 on the Richter scale.
Anyway, I may not be back on-line again before the big day so both Katie and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The following day saw us on the bus bound for a small village called National Park. Our intention was to do the Tongariro Northern Circuit, a 3 day walk through a volcanic area. The bus journey was the usual tortuous one but we finally arrived at the hostel after about 6 hours. We had a brilliant room which we accessed through the climbing wall at the hostel. After booking onto the shuttle bus to get us to the start of the walk we hired some harnesses and shoes and did a spot of climbing – until a huge group of boys (scouts, I think, arrived) and we decided to have dinner.
We were up at about 6.15 the following morning to get the shuttle bus, which was full of people doing the Tongariro Crossing. It is billed as the best day hike in NZ, with some justification we felt. The first day of our walk took in most of the Crossing and the trail was quite crowded. It was quite a cold, cloudy day but the walk was very enjoyable all the same and was in stark contrast to most of our other walks in NZ as there weren’t any trees.
The initial part of the walk is fairly easy and then it gets quite steep up to a saddle between two volcanoes, Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngau….hoe (sorry, will have to look up the spelling of this!). In the distance we could see the slopes of Mt Ruapeho which had seen some activity recently we were told. We then crossed a crater: the landscape was very similar to that which I had experienced in Iceland last year. Then up another steep ridge, by which time we were about half way. From there we decided to climb to the top of Mt Tongariro. The path went up a ridge into the clouds and by this time it was quite windy and had started to rain – home from home! We made it to the top but had no views at all. So we came back down again! Continuing on with the trail we went passed Red Crater and then steeply down to Emerald Lakes, a group of brilliant blue lakes looming out of the mist. There were lots of vents with steam issuing forth from them in the area. We had lunch there and then carried on in poor visibility across another crater until the path began to zig-zag down the hill to our first nights accommodation at Ketetahi Hut. At first we had it our ourselves but then a group of boys from Aukland doing their Duke of Edinburgh turned up – it’s so English here it’s just not true. We had a pleasant evening in the hut and the clouds even parted to give us views of Lake Taupo in the distance.
The next morning we waited until the boys had gone – I’m still not sure why all Kiwi’s feel obliged to get up at 5.30am when they are staying in huts. We made our way back to Emerald Lakes and the clouds were blowing in and out giving nice views along the way – more than we had seen yesterday anyway. There was nobody else at the lakes which was nice so we got some better photos. Then we branched off downhill to a lunar landscape of wierd rock formations. The weather had improved by then and we reached another hut in time for elevenses. They have a great snack here called One Square Meal which I haven’t seen at home. It is supposed to provide you with one third of everything you need each day so is good for lunch (but supplemented by other things, of course!). We continued on through undulating volcanic territory and then descended through beech woods to a river where we stopped for lunch. Then off again up and over one last ridge to the next hut (Waihohonu). Again we shared it with another D of E party who kept on rearranging the furniture and making a huge noise. But they finally gave up and went to bed.
It rained in the night and we set off on our last day through grass and scrub that was very wet indeed. In no time at all our trousers were soaked so I resorted to shorts while Katie took here trousers off and just wore her waterproof trousers. After about 3 hours there was another side trip to see some more lakes which took about an hour. Then the last lap took us another couple of hours and went past a nice waterfall before we ended up in a village called Whakappapa. I had been having the tea shop fantasy for a few hours so we had a pot a tea and a scone before catching the shuttle bus back to the hostel. It was, we both agreed, an excellent walk: it is one of the Great Walks in NZ.
The next day we travelled on Rotorua, after first having another go on the climbing wall. It would have taken about 2 hours by car but the bus took more like 5 hours. But it was a nice scenic trip and as we arrived so late we went out for a pub meal. No time left on computer – more later!

Sea kayaking at Abel Tasman

We travelled up to Franz Joseph through wonderful scenery. New Zealand coaches are rather odd in that they seem to try to be a tour bus as well. There are numerous stops and some of the drivers give a running commentary. We had one who talked non-stop for about 4 hours! Anyway after taking all day to do a journey that might have taken about 4 hours in a car (but who is in a hurry anyway?) we arrived in Franz Joseph. Its one claim to fame is the glacier and nearly everyone either has a helicopter flight over the glacier (at vast expense) or a guided glacier walk. Having just had our glacier experience on Mt Aspiring we opted for a walk up a hill called Alex Knob at the side of the glacier (thanks for tip, Anna). At about half way up we could see out over the glacier but then the clouds came down and it turned into quite a Scottish experience i.e. walking through clouds and drizzle. All the helicopter flights were cancelled. When we got back to the hostel one of our room mates had just landed on the glacier when she was whisked off it again due to the bad weather. We completed our walk which was quite pleasant even though it rained a bit and then went to see a film of the glacier filmed from a helicopter.
The next day we had a very long coach trip up to Nelson – almost 11 hours! During the morning I think the coach was stationary for longer than it was in motion. One place that was worth a stop though was Pancake Rocks – strange layered rock formations on the coast with blowholes. Again the scenery was magnificent but we were glad to arrive in Nelson. As we were so late arriving we treated ourselves to fish and chips or as they say here fush n’ chups. Very early the next morning we caught another bus out to the Abel Tasman National Park – we managed to get there without any “refreshment breaks” but then it only took about an hour!
We presented ourselves at the Sea Kayaking Company offices and were duly kitted out with buoyancy aids, spray decks, dry bags etc before setting off with our kayaks for the beach. Our guide, Brad, seemed to have kayaked everywhere in the world. We loaded the kayaks with tents, sleeping bags, food etc etc and then paddled off up the coast. My previous experience of sea kayaking had been in the North Sea in November so this was a real treat – blue sky, blue sea, sun – brilliant. The sea was very calm to start with and we paddled until lunchtime when we pulled up on a lovely beach. There are dozens of beautiful sandy beaches some of which you can only reach from the sea. The food on the trip was really nice, much better than your averaage camping food. And we had real coffee! After lunch we paddled up the Mad Mile where the sea was a bit rougher and there were quite a lot of rocks to avoid. The wind had got up by this stage so the waves were getting bigger all the time. We reached our first campsite at Anchorage and after putting up the tents we went for a walk. The Abel Tasman coastal track runs all along the coast we were paddling up so there were opportunities to explore a bit in the evenings. After a huge dinner which included a pavlova with fruit on top we haad a walk aalong the beach before turning in.
The following morning the wind was really strong aand there were big waves out to sea. The bay itself was quite calm but once we rounded the headland it got quite exciting riding the big waves. We made good time however and landed at a small beach for coffee and cakes. The plan had been to go to Bark Bay aand set up camp and then explore further north in the kayaks in the afternoon. But the waves were so big we walked up to Bark Bay to have a look and see if it would be possible to land there. Brad decided that it was just about on so we returned to the kayaks and paddled round to Bark Bay where we surfed in to the beach – really exciting. After lunch we went out for another paddle but the waves were so big Brad decided we should go back after about an hour.
The next day the wind had dropped a lot and we paddled all the way back down to where we had started from a couple of days previously. On the way we saw sea lions and dolphins. After lunch the water was dead calm again and it seemed a bit dull after the waves of yesterday.
Back ata base we were able to have a shower and change before catching the bus back to Nelson.

Hi Guys
It seems a long time since we were last on line in Queenstown. We climbed Ben Lomond on 23rd Nov. There is a gondola that goes part of the way up but we didn’t cheat! We walked all the way from the bottom. It took about 2 hours to get to the top: we had to cross a small patch of snow. There were great views of Queenstown, the Remarkables and the lake from the top. We went down to the upper gondola station where we had a coffee and a cake and then we had a shorter walk through woods alongside a river before going back to the hostel. Spotted a down jacket 40% off in an outdoor shop. It is fatal to go into these places – but I resisted.
Saturday 24th Nov. Bought said down jacket on the way to catch the bus for Wanaka! No moral fibre! But it really is a bargain. We arrived in Wanaka at about 11ish and immediately bumped into two guys whom we had met on the Milford Track. Small world. My camera was playing up – a poor battery connection I think but we have cobbled it up with gaffer tape. Hope it lasts a bit longer.
Sunday 25th. We took a shuttle bus about 6km out of town and climbed Roy’s Peak (1578m). It was quite a long walk as the path had huge zig zags and it was jolly windy. We walked back to Wanaka along the lake. The next day we thought we would have a lazy day in preparation for our expedition to Mount Aspiring the following day. So we went to Puzzle World where there is a maze in which you have to find 4 corner towers (the easy bit) and then the way out (not so easy). It was rather frustrating but good fun and we managed to get out in time for lunch. There are also rooms with various optical illusions and holograms and lots of puzzles laid out on tables in the cafe. So that took quite a long time before we walked back into Wanaka. We booked a 3 day sea kayaking trip in the Abel Tasman National Park.
At last we began the much anticipated Mount Aspiring Trip! We went to the Aspiring Guides office at 8.30am where we had a warm welcome and a coffee before meeting our guide, Murray, before going through all our gear. The girls in the office had warned us that he was quite eccentric but he just seemed like a normal climber to us – if there is such a thing. There were two other guys in the office who were also going to the mountain but they had different guides. We had arranged to hire all the technical gear from Aspiring Guides so we were duly provided with a pair of Koflachs each (uncomfortable plastic boots for the uninitiated), a harness, crampons, various items of climbing gear and ice axes. We did a bit of shopping and then met back at the office at about 12ish and drove to the farm where we were to catch the helicopter to fly us up to the Bonar Glacier. We had never been in a helicopter before and being of a nervous disposition I was a bit apprehensive. But it was fine although it didn’t seem to be going fast enough to stay airborne to me and it rattled and vibrated something shocking.We landed at Bevan Col and after a few “before” photos we set off across the glacier to the Colin Todd Hut about 1.5hours away. The snow was quite soft so we didn’t need crampons. Crossing the glacier you get good views of the mountain. It looked very high and steep – as we discovered the next day it actually was very high and steep! The hut is perched at the end of a ridge and on arrival it quickly became apparent that there were rather more people than there were bunks. Fortunately some people had brought tents so the problem was solved until two more people turned up just as it was getting dark. We had brought our thermarests just in case so we lent them those.
Summit day! It was reported to be minus 11 deg outside the hut at 3am when we got up so we put on all our layers including our new merino wool icebreaker long johns. After brekky we put on our boots and crampons and head torches and roped up and set off across the glacier to the start of the climb.It was just getting light (about 5.30ish) when we reached the start of the Ramp. This was fairly steep and icy so Murray led about 9 pitches up to the saddle where we had a rest and a drink and something to eat. By this time it was about 8am. Getting to the summit took another couple of hours and it was a lot steeper than it looked from the hut. There was ice and rock bands to negotiate. We moved together until very near the top when it became much steeper and was very icy so Murray led a final pitch to the summit (3033m) where we posed for the photos and admired the spectacular views and ate chocolate and dried bananas. The descent was quite hard as it was steep and icy – we went down the same way as we had come up. When we reached the saddle Murray lowered us down most of the pitches of the Ramp. When we reached the end of the rope Katie banged in a snow stake and I clove hitched us in. Then Murray came down to us and we repeated the process over and over again until we got to the glacier again. On the way down (at about 1.30pm) we passed the two guys who had arrived late at the hut the previous evening on their way up. Too late really because they were very slow and didn’t arrive back at the hut until about 3am the following morning! Once back on the glacier we were able to take off our crampons and walked back to the hut for a well earned cup of tea or three. We then watched people descending the Ramp. It becomes quite dangerous later in the afternoon when the sun gets on it as chunks of ice fall down on you. One guy’s helmet was shattered by one such lump and another was also hit on the head by ice. We took about 11 hours to do the whole climb which apparently is quite good going. We had brilliant weather for our ascent – clear, sunny, no wind – a perfect day.
The weather took a turn for the worse over night and we woke up to high winds and snow. So we decided to stay in the hut rather than starting the walk out. It was good to have a rest day after the climb and nobody complained too much. So we snuggled up in our sleeping bags and ate and drank tea ans swapped climbers’ and travellers’ tales. One of the guides did a demo of crevasse rescue inside the hut, suspended from a bolt in the ceiling. The snow and wind cleared in the evening and we had a beautiful sunset.
Friday dawned clear and we set off across the glacier for Bevan Col and the walk out. The descent was quite steep and the snow was fairly soft before we finally descended a rocky/icy gully to the horizontal world again. There was evidence of recent avalanches on the way. Walking out along the valley was quite rough along a rocky river bank and then through a forest. Awkward in Koflachs and I got a blister on the sole of each foot in the last couple of km along the flat.We arrived at Aspiring Hut in the late afternoon where we spent the night. Yesterday we completed the walk out in about 2 hours (abandoned the boots and wore sandals – would have been a good idea apart from the freezing stream crossings along the way!) and were back in Wanaka at about 11am. After lunch I adopted horizontal mode for an hour or so and then we met one of our fellow climbers for a pizza in the evening. Having a lazy day today, doing the washing, sitting by the lake, writing postcards etc. Tomorrow we are off to Franz Joseph on the bus where we will spend a couple of nights before going to Abel Tasman for our kayaking trip on Thursday.

We spent our last morning in Melbourne at the aquarium which was quite interesting and entertaining. The best thing was watching divers feeding the sharks and rays. Our flight to Christchurch was OK except that there was no food provided. On a previous flight which was not supposed to have food we had a very nice meal and free wine but we had to buy a rather miserable sandwich on this one. We arrived in Christchurch at about 11pm and had to unpack all our stuff again to have our boots and tent checked (biosecurity). So it was very late when we finally arrived at our hostel. There is not a huge amount to do in Christchurch really. Once you have had a look at the cathedral and been to the museum that is about it. But in the afternoon we went to the Royal New Zealand Agricultural Show which was good fun. It was huge and you could have spent the whole day there. We watched some sheep dog trials and looked at all the livestock. The merino rams were enormous – more like bears. And there were loads of tractors of all vintages – (Charlie eat your heart out!). There was a huge parade of all the animals that had won prizes and they paraded around to a pipe band – home from home.
The next day we caught the bus for Queenstown. It was a very scenic run which took about 6 hours and we saw Mt Cook in the distance. We had a hostel right on the lake with excellent views. This was to be our jumping off point for the Milford Track. We had a walk up Queenstown Hill which gave great views over the mountains including Ben Lomond which we determined to climb on our return to Queenstown. Then we started our long-awaited trip to the Milford Track- we had booked our places on 1st July on a computer in St Petersburg! We caught another bus to Te Anau where we spent the night at the YHA before catching yet another bus to Te Anau Downs where the boat leaves for the start of the Track. The boat trip takes just over an hour and then we were on the track. We got off the boat just after 3pm and it was only a short walk to the first hut -about 4km. The track goes through beechwoods for a lot of the time. The trees are covered in moss and lichens and the undergrowth is more dense than in the Chilterns beechwoods. It was very green: they get up to 7 metres of rain a year here. But we were on the trail for 4 days and had no rain at all. We were so lucky because sometimes you have to wade down the track or it becomes impassable altogether. We arrived at the hut at about 5pm. There were two big dorms and a well equipped kitchen. Gas rings are provided but you have to take your own pans etc. There is cold water only but the huts are very comfy. We were getting to know our fellow walkers when it became apparent that a lot of people had left the dining room. They had all gone to bed and it was only about 8.30pm! Anyone who has been away to a hostel or bunkhouse with me will know that I generally turn into a pumpkin well before everyone else so I was staggered. But a few of us stayed up until it got dark and went out for a short walk to see some glow worms which were really pretty – just like little fairy lights. On our return to the dorm everyone was asleep so I couldn’t find my ear plugs in the dark and the guy next to us snored all night long. So we got very little sleep, especially as people started to get up well before six. The days walk was only going to take about 6 hours at the very most so this struck us as quite unnecessary. But we got up – well you might as well after the door has been slammed a few times and people have been rustling plastic bags for ages. The walk to the next hut was mainly flat on a well-made path and stayed close to the river most of the way. Again we were mainly in the woods but there were occasional clearing where you could see the surrounding mountains still with snow on the tops. There were several areas where we weren’t allowed to stop because of the danger of avalanches. Although we had left well after most people we arrived quite early at the next hut and grabbed a couple of bunks in the corner to try to avoid a recurrence of the previous night. The day had been hot and sunny and as we arrived there was an avalanche on the mountain opposite the hut. We were recommended to walk up to the top of MacKinnon Pass that afternoon in case it was cloudy in the morning. So we tackled the zig zag path up to just over 1000m and were rewarded with spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and lush green valleys far below. And lots more avalanches – crack! whoosh! One of our fellow trampers was a guy called Neil who had bleached blonde hair arranged in a sort of a cap of 2″ spikes all over his head. Appearances can be very deceptive as he turned out to be very nice and good fun. The next day we did manage to stay in bed until about 7.30am and were one of the last to set off. It was cloudy so we were glad we had gone up the pass the previous day. We arrived at the top to find everyone trying to take photos in a cloud. The cloud did clear though later and it was another sunny hot day. There is a hut on the pass where you can make hot drinks but we didn’t bother. The path down was quite rough and we had to take a detour to avoid the risk of avalanches. One feature of the pass was mountain lilies which are in fact the world’s largest buttercups. Once we reached the valley floor we were back in the woods again, this time beside the Arthur River. There were lots of rapids and waterfalls on the way down to a day shelter where we had lunch. After that we had a bit of a detour to the Sutherland Falls, the highest waterfall in NZ and the 5th highest in the world (I think). It was very dramatic, roaring down and bouncing off rocks at the bottom. I had a refreshing cold shower in the spray. We then carried on to the last hut where there was a very naughty kea ( a big parrot) that took peoples boots if they didn’t put them out of reach. He strutted about looking for trouble all evening and the following morning. We decided to have a dip in the river but it was freezing. I stayed in for about 20 seconds – Katie got in as far as her knees, the wimp! Again people went to bed at 8pm! We had to be at Sandfly Point to catch the boat across Milford Sound by 2pm but it was only about 5-6 hours walk again so why they all had to get up before 6am again I really don’t know. You don’t want to get there too early and end up waiting for the boat for ages as it is called Sandfly Point for a reason. They are tiny black flies that give you an irritating bite if you are not careful. The walk on the last day was again mainly through woods. It was a lovely walk but if I have one criticism it would be the fact that most of the time you are in woods with very few open views.By the time we caught the boat the weather had deteriorated somewhat and it was all grey and cloudy. But by this time it didn’t really matter. We stayed the night in Milford Sound Lodge and came back to Queenstown this morning. We had dinner at the pub (The Blue Duck) in Milford. It took an hour to get our food (Gordon Ramsay would have delivered a few expletives I’m sure!) but it was nice to have something meaty that we had to chew as a change from porridge and noodles. And the beer wasn’t bad either for the Antipodes.
Tomorrow we intend to climb Ben Lomond and then on Saturday we will be off to Wanaka and will be climbing Mt. Aspiring next week (with any luck!)

The rain didn’t let up all Tuesday night. Call us wimps if you like but there comes a point when camping ceases to be fun anymore. So on Wednesday morning we bailed out (almost literally) and converted the two nights camping we had paid for in advance to one night in a cabin. Bliss! It had its own bathroom and kitchen and a heater (and an electric blanket – which we didn’t use I might add). But it was great to have somewhere warm and dry to sit and not to have to paddle on the way to bed. After transferring our gear to the cabin we set off for the caves at Jenolan about 75km away. We had booked tickets in advance and as part of the deal we got an audio guide to do a self-guided tour of two caves, the Devil’s Coach House and Nettle Cave. The Devil’s Coach House is a huge open cave and the audio guide filled us in on the formation of the caves and on their discovery. They are, in parts, about 130 million years old (I think I have remembered this correctly) and were extensively explored by candlelight originally. In Nettle Cave we saw lots of beautiful crystal formations including some stromalites which looked like lobsters. Those of you who have been paying attention will remember that stromatolites are formed by cyanobacteria (see previous entry on Shark Bay). All the “lobsters” are orientated in the same direction due to the direction of the light in the cave. In the afternoon we had a guided tour of one of the show caves, which we had booked – the River Cave. This took about 2 hours and wound its way through lots of caverns, up and down steps and ladders. There were lots of stunning crystal formation of all different types and colours and, as the name of the cave suggests, an underground river and pools. There are about 10 different caves which are open to the public so the whole complex is very extensive. After that we had a walk down the river (outside the caves) where there were supposed to be platypusses but we didn’t see any. Back at the cabin it was still raining and the cloud was down again so we were really pleased to be able to snuggle into our nice warm bed.
We abandoned the Blue Mountains (still raining) the next morning and headed for Botany Bay. When we got there the sun was out and it was warm so we stripped off all our layers of fleece and put the tent up to dry it out. Botany Bay (as you probably know) is where Captain Cook first landed in Australia. You can see the actual spot. It is all very industrial in the area now but there is a national park as well with monuments to Cook, Banks and Solander. There is also quite a god exhibition called “8 days that changed the world” because that was the length of time they spent in Botany Bay. When the tent was dry we had a short walk along the coast and then had great trouble finding somewhere to stay. Having got the tent dry we didn’t want to get it wet again so we decided to go to a hostel – fully booked. After driving round in ever decreasing circles in the rush hour we finally ended up in a motel for the night.
In the evening there was a programme on the TV about the origins of the Australian accent. It seems that it was the children of assorted immigrants who developed the distinctive Aussie sound. Interestingly they referred to a book called “Let’s Talk Strine” which I remembered from my youth and mentioned that wonderful phrase “Emma Chisset”. The next day it was raining (surprise!) so we decided to go to Featherdale Wildlife Park. We still hadn’t seen any koalas or wombats and this was our last chance. Anyway, there were more koalas than you could shake a stick at, all propped up asleep in trees – magic! And several wombats and a yard full of kangaroos that you could wander through. Some had Joeys in their pouches. It was quite entertaining watching the pouches wriggling about prior to a little head popping out. We also saw an echidna (not being terrorised by a dog this time!). And lots of birds and reptiles. Then Katie drove us into Sydney and we took the car back and found our hostel which was about half an hours walk from the opera house. And we managed to get tickets for a concert! There was a series of concerts conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy – all Rachmaninov. We could only get two separate tickets in the cheap seats right up in the gods. We strolled around the harbour and round an area called the Rocks which is all market stalls and pubs and cafes before heading back to the hostel for dinner.
Saturday was sunny! So we headed off in the direction of Darling Harbour and the National Maritime Museum. The best thing there (for us anyway) had nothing to do with the sea at all. When we had been to the Dolomites a few years ago we had passed through Bolzano where they have a museum containing Otzi the Iceman but it was closed. So we thought we would never get to see the exhibition but there it was in Sydney. Otzi was killed on his way over the Alps about 5300 years ago and was discovered in the early 90s by some moutaineers, well- preserved with all his clothing etc. The exhibition covered all the research they had done on the body trying to find out where he had come from and what his life was like and how he had died.
Then we had a tour of an actual sized replica of the Endeavour, built in the late 80s/early 90s. It was actually quite a small ship. Inside it loooked amazingly clean with hammocks hanging up for the crew and tables laid for dinner – rather cleaner than a lot of the hostels we have stayed in! The officers’ quarters were very cramped with low ceilings and tiny little doors to each of the cabins. They take the replica ship out to sea sometimes.
For a bit more culture we went to the Art Gallery of New South Wales where there was an exhibition of the works of Sydney Nolan. If you are as ignorant as me you probably won’t have heard of him but he is one of Australia’s greatest artists. He was born in 1917 in Victoria. Some of works are of the Goulburn River near where he was born and are really beautiful, including one which is made up of panels which go round nearly 360 degrees. He painted mainly in enamels, PVA and spray paint so the colours are very strong and vibrant. I think he is most famous for his paintings of Ned Kelly but he has also done lots of landscapes of Australia and other parts of the world including China. I thought the paintings were wonderful. To round off a very full day we attended the concert which I mentioned earlier. We heard “The Rock”, the fourth piano concerto and the second symphony. It was brilliant and it didn’t matter that we were so far from the orchestra as the acoustics were very good.
On Sunday we were feeling quite lazy so we walked to the harbour and bought day trip tickets for the ferries. You can have as many rides round the different parts of the harbour as you like. First we went to Manly, which has a famous surfing beach. There were all sorts of competitions between the local surf life saving clubs going on which was quite entertaining. After lunch on the beach we headed back to the quay and got a ferry up river towards Parramatta. This took about an hour and we admired all the expensive houses around the harbour and the yachts and motor boats. I think you have to be quite well off to live in Sydney but we agreed that it was the nicest of the Australian cities we have visited. On our return to Sydney we walked across the Harbour Bridge from which you get good views of the city – somewhat obscured by the fencing to prevent people jumping off.
For our last day in Sydney we decided we had to go to Bondi Beach. Can you visit Sydney and not go to Bondi Beach? It was a bit disappointing though as it was a nice beach but no better than others we had been on (and certainly not a patch on Cable). The waves weren’t even very big. We had a walk along the coastal path where there were about 100 scupltures on display. The path was clogged with coach trips of pensioners and school parties looking at the sculptures. We watched the surfers for a bit before getting the bus back to Sydney. We strolled around the Botanic Gardens for a while before heading back to the hostel to collect our gear to catch the overnight bus to Melbourne. The journey took about 12 hours and we arrived this morning (Tuesday) at about 6.30am. We will be here until tomorrow when we fly out to Christchurch, NZ. So we have to say goodbye to Oz which is a shame as it has been a great place. But I am sure we will be back to see all the things we couldn’t see this time (most of the east coast, Kimberley, the Bungle Bungles, Tasmania………………)
Continuing our theme from China we thought we would list our five best things in Oz.
1. The weather (Blue Mountains excepted!)
2. The Outback
3. The beaches
4. The wild life
5. The wine

There aren’t five bad things that we could think of.
1. There are so many things that want to kill you (jellyfish, crocodiles, spiders, snakes)
2. The beer – nothing but lager
3. Unsealed roads which you can’t go on in a hire car

We picked up the new car which is much smaller than our previous one so we have things piled up on the back seat. It has the same problem as the other one though -the windscreen wipers and indicators are on the wrong side so when you want to turn a corner you generally turn the wipers on. We drove up to Trawool last Monday and spent a couple of days staying with Heather’s sister and her husband, Gerhard not to mention their dog, Black Jack. They live in a lovely valley and have a beautiful house which they built a few years ago. They keep some cattle on about 100 acres of land which includes a stretch of river. They made us feel very welcome and it was great to have some home cooking and some nice comfy beds. Although that part of the country is a lot greener than other parts of Oz that we have visited they have been suffering from drought for a long time. We had some walks in the hills near their place and there were some Highland cattle in one of the fields – just like home! The dog found an echidna so we have been able to tick off another species. There were lots of wombat holes around as well but we didn’t see any wombats.
On Wednesday we drove up to the Mount Buffalo National Park where we should have been able to camp but the campsite in the park wasn’t going to open until Friday. So we camped in a place called Porepunkah just outside the park. We had time in the evening to go into the park and do an interesting walk which involved scrambling down a steep gully with a ladder on a short section. The next day we did the Big Walk which is about 11.5 km one way – we had to do it both ways as we had left the car at the bottom. It is a superb walk, climbing about 1000m through a variety of terrains. The views were great.
During the night it absolutely poured with rain – the heaviest we have had since we set out. Hopefully, some of it fell on Carolyn and Gerhard’s place as well. We had intended to drive to the Snowy Mountains next and do some walking there but the weather forecast was not good so we decided to abandon the walk and just drove through the mountains and camped at a place called Jindabyne on a huge lake. The drive was most enjoyable and Katie tackled her first hairpin bends. On the way we stopped off at the Snowy Mountains hydro electric and irrigation scheme visitor centre where we had a very interesting guided tour and learned about the construction of the scheme. It took 40 years to complete and is huge. On Saturday we continued on to the Blue Mountains, quite along journey. We arrived at Katoomba in the late afternoon in thick fog but eventually managed to find the campsite. There was another huge storm in the evening and night with torrential rain. Katie decided to sleep in the car but I kept faith with the tent and didn’t get wet at all. The following morning was bright and sunny though windy so we decided a walk was in order. The campsite is only a short walk from the cliff top trail which runs for several kilometres. Katoomba is on the edge on the escarpment and there are spectacular views across the Blue Mountains as you walk along the edge. We started out early and had it all to ourselves for a while until we came to a place where coaches can drive up to a lookout. This was of course teeming with Japanese tourists. From the lookout you can see the Three Sisters, three columns of rock on a ridge. We then parted company with the other tourists and headed off down the Giant’s Staircase. This was very step and there were lots of ladders on the steepest bits. We arrived at the bottom of the cliff and found ourselves in temperate rain forest. There were lots of tree ferns and huge eucalyptus trees. We wandered along for several kms before doubling back on a different path until we reached the bottom of the scenic railway which takes all the lazy people up and down the cliff. It is the steepest such railway in the world and was originally used to as transport for the coal mines which used operate in the area until 1945. We climbed to the top of the cliff via steps and ladders and had good views of Katoomba Falls on the way up. I now have lots of photos of waterfalls! After lunch we went back to the campsite and left several fleeces and our waterproof trousers behind as he weather now looked settled. We then had another good walk which visited a place called Lyrebird Dell – but alas no lyrebirds were in residence. This brings us up to yesterday (Monday) when we had a bit of a false start as the trails we originally wanted to use were closed.It also started to rain just as we were about to set out so we had a coffee until it cleared a bit. We had another good walk through the rain forest – a more challenging walk than the previous one both in terms of terrain and navigation but we did see a lyrebird. In the evening we decided to go out for a meal having had enough of camp food for a while. We found a good pub in Katoomba that did food upstairs. We had a pizza and salad but we didn’t realise that the accompanying chips and potato wedges were both enough for 4 people so we rather over-ordered. Oh I nearly forgot – Katie picked up a couple of small leeches in the rainforest so we are now equal in the respect!
Today it has rained again.We went to the nearby Botanic Gardens which would have been really nice on a decent day but was OK. It has continued to rain on and off all day: another night in the car for Katie I think! Tomorrow we are going to the limestone caves at Jenolan and then on Friday we hit Sydney.

The flight to Melbourne was very smooth although you lose 2 hours on the way over from Perth. Then we had to put our clocks forward an hour on Sunday. What a contrast to the west coast though. Whilst Melbourne is a pleasant city we much prefer the west coast and the outback. But we might change our tune when we venture out into the countryside later today. We are hiring another car to explore the Snowy and Blue Mountains on our way up to Sydney, stopping off for a visit to Heather’s sister who lives just north of Melbourne. We spent Saturday in the city, however. It has some interesting architecture including some very modern box-like buildings in Federation Square. One of these houses the Australian Centre for the Moving Image where we saw an excellent film called “The Lives of Others”. I hadn’t been to the cinema in the morning since we used to go to the Saturday Club when I was about 6! The film was German and was about the Stasi persecuting a playwright in East Berlin. It was very well acted and the plot had several twists. Apparently it won the Oscar this year for best foreign language film. Then we went to the Immigration Museum which followed the history of immigration to Australia. We had a walk along the Yarra River and managed to get ourselves locked in to the Botanical Gardens. We were released by a nice man with keys! In the evening we went to China Town to brush up our chopstick skills. Yesterday we went to St Kilda on the tram and wandered round for a bit. But Katie was keen to “do something” so we returned to Melbourne and went to a climbing wall which has recently been opened here. They taught us a different system for tying on and belaying. The grading system is different here so we didn’t know what we climbing really. It goes from 1-30, 1 being a walk uphill and 30 presumably being something along the lines of E10. We hovered around the 12-18 bracket. It is the only wall we have seen in Oz and we came to the conclusion that they don;t have a lot of experience in route setting as several of the routes we tried were bizarre to say the least. But it was good fun and satisfied Katie’s need for some action. We went out for a Greek meal in the evening. The hostel we are in here is not very nice and the kitchen is a bit of a health hazard so we ate out. So we are off to pick up the car in a few minutes. More news anon.

Well we finally made it to Rottnest Island yesterday (Weds). We were collected from the campsite at 6.30am and had a scenic tour of caravan parks and hotels in the Perth area before being dropped off at the jetty in time for the 8am ferry. It took about 45mins to get to the island which was named by Dutch explorers who thought that the quokkas who live on the island were large rats. An easy mistake to make we thought after we had seen some. On arrival we hired some bikes and set off round the island which is only about 11km long by (I think) about 4 wide. So you can easily cycle round it in a day. There are loads of beautiful beaches to choose from but the ones along the north coast often have jellyfish so we just looked at those. On the way over in the boat we had seen some more humpback whales. Katie is rather blase about this now. “Oh are there” she said as everyone else in the boat jumped up and down to get a good view!
We saw some other wildlife including the said quokkas and lots of lizards and Katie saw a huge snake crossing the road. But the highlight of the day was the snorkelling. We had bought a snorkelling guide to the island so we knew the good places to go. The water was quite cold (again!) but it was crystal clear and we could see beautiful corals almost immediately after getting in to the water. Our favourites are the ones that look like brains, except that they are purple. There were also masses of fish. It is difficult to find out what they are called because once on land you tend to forget exactly what they are like so that when you look them up you think “It could have been this one or it could have been that one”. But it was great fun anyway. Thankfully it was a hot day without too much wind so we could lie on the beach and dry out after our first snorkel before cycling on a little way for another one. There was a dolphin cruising round in the bay but it ignored us. But there was again lots of lovely pink coral and Katie who went out further than me (I got rather cold!) reported some huge fish. Back at the small collection of shops and cafes that they call “The Settlement” we had tea and cakes and Katie bought a pair of shorts that were half price.
This morning we have been sorting out all our stuff prior to our departure for Melbourne tomorrow. There were 4 weeks worth of dead flies encrusted on the front of the car so we gave it a hose down and vacuumed it out – so you can’t escape these mundane jobs even when travelling!
We have very much enjoyed our time in Western Australia. There are so many places to go and a huge variety of things to see and do that I can strongly recommend it as a holiday destination. I am only rather sorry that I didn’t discover Australia earlier: and we have only seen such a small part of it. Even in Western Australia we didn’t really get into the Kimberley or the Bungle Bungles – but there is always next time! The only downside are the flies: really irritating. They get all over you and in your ears and up your nose – ugh! But I have been wearing my Scottish midgy net a lot of the time to thwart them.

We spent just one day in Geraldton which seems to owe its existence to the fact that it is quite a large port and also to the lobster fishing industry. We went for a short walk near the campsite and all of a sudden we saw what looked like two ospreys sitting on a log by the beach – and they were ospreys! They had a nest up a big pole with a chick looking out of it. Apparently they stay there all year round and don’t migrate like our ospreys. Then we went to the museum where the main attraction was a large display about shipwrecks, mainly of Dutch East India Company ships in the 17th century. They used to go to Cape Town and then sail across to the west coast of Australia before turning north for Indonesia to collect spices. Sometimes they misjudged it and ran onto the many reefs along the coast. One of the wrecks (The Batavia) was the subject of a particularly gruesome film which we watched. Many of the survivors including women and children were murdered by some of the crew who had mutinied and then when the remaining people were eventually rescued there were rather brutal executions. Two mutineers were however marooned on the coast of Australia and could have become the first settlers but nobody knows what became of them.
We also visited a very moving memorial for the HMAS Sydney which went down with 645 crew duriing WW2. It consists of a metal dome made out of 645 flying seagulls and there is a bronze of a woman looking anxiously out to sea.
The next day (Weds 15th) we set off from Geraldton but only drove for about 20 mins before stopping near Greenough for a walk along the river, about 17km. We nearly tripped over a snake on the path – only the second one we have seen so far. Then on to Cervantes where we had quite a lot of rain in the evening which put a bit of a damper on our swimming plans. I had to get my thick fleece out! The thing to see near Cervantes are the Pinnacles. There are thousands of limestone pinnacles in the desert, all shapes and sizes. They reminded me of stone circles like we have at Avebury etc but of course they are entirely natural. We arrived in the Swan Valley later that afternoon.
The Swan Valley calls itself the valley of good taste and is primarily a wine producing area, although there other nice goodies on offer such as nougat, beer, cheese, chocolate etc. As I mentioned previously It was Katie’s idea that we should go on a wine tour so I had to go along to keep an eye on her. We booked a tour for Saturday through the tourist information office. Many of the places round here have very English names – Guildford, Caversham, and even High Wycombe!
Friday: Off to Perth today. We started off in the museum which, in common with most of the others we have visited is very good indeed. Museums have really improved a lot in recent years I think. The best bit was a display called “From diamonds to dinasaurs” which traced the history of the universe from the Big Bang through to the present day (and all before lunch too). I learned a lot that I didn’t know about meteorites and it was interesting to relate the displays to places we have actually visited in Oz.
We have walked such a long way in 4 months that I had to buy some new sandals! They threw away my old ones at the shop – most embarassing.
Then we went to King’s Park, which overlooks the city and has great displays of native flowers ( it is Spring here) including lots of everlasting flowers.
The wine tour was a great success. We visited 5 wineries and had tastings at each one. In this area the main wines seem to be Shiraz and Chenin Blanc, although we had a very acceptable Grenache at one of the wineries as well as a wine called Voignier that I had never heard of before. Also Verdelho is popular here but we weren’t impressed. Included in the tour was an excellent lunch of bread, cheese, cold meats and salad with a glass of sparkling wine. Then we sampled the nougat and chocolate before finishing up with the beer which was unfortunately German lager, the only down side of the day. We were dropped off at the campsite and didn’t really need any dinner that evening! Just a lie down.
We met a rather nice Canadian couple at the campsite. They are going to travel up the west coast reversing our trip so we gave them our map and pointed out the best places to go for snorkelling.
Fremantle is apparently the place to go on Sundays so we followed the trend and went there on the train. Katie had a wish to visit the prison which is now a tourist attraction. It originally housed convicts until they stopped sending them in the 1860s and then it was a maximum security prison until 1991. Some of the cells were displayed as they would have been set up for convicts and I think they had a better deal than the modern day prisoners. Even when the prison closed there was no plumbing in the cells and conditions were appalling. They were even worse for the women prisoners who were housed there until 1970. They only got one cold bath a week and had to spend 8 hours a day in cages in the yard if they weren’t washing sheets or darning socks, the only occupations which were thought to be appropriate for them in those days. It really was very depressing. We also heard about all the escapes and attempted escapes. Not many people succeeded in getting out and then most of them were recaptured. Unfortunately, the next morning I realised that I had left my camera in Fremantle, probably on a bench outside the prison where we had lunch. All my photos of our trip down the coast! So I reported it to the police (about as useless as they are back home) and then phoned the prison as soon as they opened. And somebody had handed it in! So off I went to Fremantle to retrieve it – what a relief! In the afternoon we had a great walk of about 10km in a national park not far from the campsite. There were lots of lovely wild flowers and more kangarooos than you could shake a stick at. Very tame ones who posed for photos.
Today we should have gone to Rottnest Island but they messed up our transport to the ferry so we are going tomorrow instead. It is about 45 mins by boat from Perth and has some lovely beaches and wildlife. So instead we are in Perth again this time for a tour round the WACA. We even got to stand on the pitch! This will I know only be of interest to cricket lovers but they have a museum there with lots of cricket memorabilia (signed bats and lots of photos etc). And they still have an old-fashioned scoreboard (not an electronic one) and no big screens so it is like stepping back in time.
After lunch we went to the art gallery and joined a tour on Aboriginal Art. This included dot paintings on bark but also “Western” style paintings. And lastly we attended a lecture on Tutankhamun. So we are feeling very well-educated and cultured at the moment. Oh, and I didn’t mention the display of wildlife photography, rather like the Wildlife Photographer of the Year that we have at home.