twelve countries twelve months

Sydney

•May 31, 2010 • 2 Comments

It has a similar feel to London, but it is not as busy, and probably contains slightly less Australians!

Sydney Harbour

We were only in Sydney for a brief stopover on route to Vietnam, but couldn’t wait any longer for some tasty Asian food, so on our first night we headed straight out for a cheap Thai curry!

Although we only had a few days in the city, we still managed to fit in all the top sights and suburbs. The ferry to Manly and the beach in Bondi. Soaking up the atmosphere in Darling Harbour and checking out the famous view over the Opera House and Harbour bridge. Eating more Thai food in China town, and enjoying a beer in Kings Cross. We even managed to fit in a day in the nearby Blue Mountains. We took a three hour hike along the cliff tops from Katoomba to Leura, which left us both exhausted. Our stamina seems to have completely plummeted since the glory days of Patagonia.

Sydney at sunset

Manly Harbour

Us under the Harbour bridge

The Blue Mountains

The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains

Leura Falls, Blue Mountains

Rach in the Blue Mountains

Coffee and a Sudoku - travelling is not just about sightseeing!

Then before we knew it we were on a plane to Vietnam, our penultimate country, with only about 6 weeks of our trip left. We were sad that our trip was coming close to the end, but excited about the different experiences that Asia would bring (especially the food did I mention that already?!), and also we were starting to look forward to coming home.

Posted in travel
Tags: australia

Rain

•May 15, 2010 • 4 Comments

We headed down the west coast towards New Zealand’s glaciers and it started to rain. Then it rained some more. Then it rained even more! We arrived in glacier country and checked the forecast – five more days of heavy rain and thunderstorms. After our brief taster in Patagonia, we had been looking forward to a full day of glacier hiking here, but we decided it wasn’t going to be much fun walking anywhere in that kind of weather, so we cut our loses and headed inland to Queenstown. Where we were greeted with more rain! Lake Wakatipu was right on the verge of flooding. The shops along the lake shore were taking out their carpets and boarding up the doors with sandbags. We had been expecting some rain in this area, but apparently this was some of the heaviest rain for ten years.

Bruce Bay, in the rain

After a week of almost non-stop rain, when we were getting sick of sitting in our car, we suddenly got two days of sunshine, and headed straight to one of the highlights of the South Island; Milford Sound. To appreciate the fiord fully we took a cruise along its entire length. The early morning mist lifted to reveal massive waterfalls plummeting down the steep sides straight into the waters of the fiord - breathtaking. The rain was forgiven and we loved New Zealand again.

Wanaka

Autumn in Arrowtown

The Spaceship admires The Remarkables, Queenstown

The road to Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Posted in travel
Tags: glacier, new zealand, waterfalls

Adventure time

•April 29, 2010 • 3 Comments

After two weeks of leisurely driving around and sightseeing, our New Zealand trip suddenly stepped up a gear, when I threw myself out of a plane at 12,000 feet.

Ready to go!

I have always fancied a parachute jump and I’m glad I waited until New Zealand to do it. The views of the massive emerald Lake Taupo (which is larger than Singapore) in front of the volcanic cone of Mount Ngauruhoe (which featured as Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings films) made the drop even more unforgettable. Rach was being a wimp and didn’t join me, but now slightly regrets her decision and is threatening to find some even more impressive scenery elsewhere in New Zealand and do a jump of her own!

Not wanting to slow things down, we pulled on some wetsuits and dived into the waters of Queen Charlotte Sound to go swimming with dolphins. It was quite an event. First we had to find some dolphins and we were quite lucky as we managed to track down a group of bottlenose dolphins after only half an hour. Then we sat on the back of the boat while the captain positioned it in front of the dolphins. When he was happy he shut off the engines and it was go go go! We jumped into the water, stuck our heads under and swam around making as much noise as possible. We had to make whatever noise we though would attract the dolphins and ended up sounding like a right bunch of clowns! The first few times the dolphins didn’t seem to be interested, but after four or five attempts they stayed and swam with us. It was amazing to be in the water and make eye contact with dolphins only a few centimeters away.

Queen Charlotte Sound

Jumping dolphin

After we got out the dolphins stayed around our boat and we were able to watch them jump, feed and generally mess around right up by the edge of our boat.

Abel Tasman National Park was next up. The best way to explore the park was by kayak, so it was time for Rach and I to try a bit of teamwork; we climbed aboard a two person sea kayak and cruised the coast. We passed two seal colonies and explored tidal lagoons. It turns out we were a pretty slick team – I sat at the back supplying the power and controlling the steering, while Rach sat at the front taking all the photos!