Simon's Travel Blog

Sunday, August 17, 2003

Ok I know I said I wouldn't post any more, but I have just posted all the pictures from my travels and thought that I would add the link to it. Enjoy.

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~heurist/
Simon 1:05:00 AM

Sunday, July 27, 2003

Ok I’ve been home a few days now, so it’s about time I added my final entry. I reached the UK on Saturday the 19th and spent a couple of days with Richard in Watford. Life is getting back to normal, the washing is done, the post is opened and my car should be back on the road tomorrow. Does this mean that I have to sort out the rest of my life and get back to doing something constructive?

May be.

Thanx to all of you who have been reading this BLOG. I have always enjoyed living other peoples travels vicariously, I hope you have enjoyed mine.

Until my next travels (I wonder where I could go next week) good bye.

Simon 11:33:00 PM

Friday, July 18, 2003

Friday 18th
It's finally happened, I'm on my way home. I leave Christchurch at 6pm and get home on Saturday. Now I just have to work out how to turn my brain off for a day and a half. I know the maths doesn't work out but you have to add half a day back in for changing time zones. Richard is going to pick me up at Heathrow and I'll probably spend a day or so down there with him. Then what? Well I suppose I have to get back to reality. So unless anything unplanned happens, this is my penultimate post (I'll put in another entry when I get all the way back home).

Simon 2:53:00 AM

Thursday 17th
Had to say good bye to Nathan and Michelle who I had travelled with for most of the last two weeks. Headed south to Hamner Springs (natural hot pool resort). I didn't spend too much time there as it is school holidays and the place is full of kids. Then on to Lytelton, Sumner and Akaroa (a sort of French town). It was dark by the time I got back to Christchurch.

Simon 2:47:00 AM

Wednesday 16th
Went horse riding again. This was a very sedate meander through a rocky river bed. Have now decided that I either need to return to my old ways of never getting on a horse, or get someone to actually teach me to do it properly.

Simon 2:44:00 AM

Tuesday 15th
Picked up hire car and a couple of friends (Nathan and Michelle) and headed north to Kaikoura. In the afternoon we all went out on a boat and lifted a few crayfish pots and did some fishing. The chef on board then cooked up what we had caught and we had a good feast on fish.
Simon 2:42:00 AM

Monday 14th
Back on the bus and heading for Christchurch. This is a long drive across some very flat land. We did stop for a couple of attractions and some food, but apart from that it was pretty much just driving. Have booked a hire car for tomorrow (well you have to do something while your sat on the bus). In the evening met up with a few people that had been travelling with us and arrived in Christchurch two days ago.

Simon 2:40:00 AM

Sunday 13th
Spent some time investigating Duneden, doing a little shopping and catching up on e-mail. I had a cultured evening watching the New Zealand Royal Ballet perform Romeo And Juliet at Duneden theatre.

Simon 2:36:00 AM

Sunday, July 13, 2003

Saturday 12th
Stopping off in Dunedin for a couple of days to see some wildlife and have a morning or two where I don't have to pack my rucksack. Dunedin is famous for its colonies of albatross, blue penguin, yellow eyed penguin, fur seal and sea lion. So I went on a boat trip down the inlet to the headland and saw the albatross chicks on the cliff and the occasional parent landing or taking off. The boat drops people off at the end to go and see the penguins, which come, onto the beach just before sunset. The day was very cold, mainly because I wasn't moving around much but I did get to see all but the blue penguin. It is an interesting collection of animals because seal eat penguin, and sea lion eat seal and would have a small snack on a penguin or anything else that gets too close. There was a sea lion on the beach that evening so it took a long time and many attempts before the timid penguin managed to pluck up the courage to cross the sand and walk home.


Simon 12:21:00 AM

Saturday, July 12, 2003

Friday 11th
Invercargill to Dunedin
We had the usual stops for sights, but probably the best was at Curio bay where we wandered down the beach to see some sealions. There was a large male and three younger males that he was sort of herding and play fighting. Apparently this is practice for when he has to herd his group of females at mating time. It was the last night for some of the group to be together and Clause's (a swiss lad) birthday, so we headed into town and spent the evening getting him drunk, but I’m sure a good time was had by all.

Simon 12:19:00 AM

Thursday 10th
Te Anau to Invercargill
Traveling in fiord land there were lots more Kodak moments. We left early and as usual there was some rain and some glorious sunshine. In Invercargill I went to see Henry a 120 year old Tuatara. Tuatara are a family of lizards that never developed much from the dinasours. Henry is only about a foot long and doesn't move much so it wasn't too scary.
The hostel was right next door to an Indian resaurant which turned out to quite good (v unusual for down here).

Simon 12:18:00 AM

Wednesday 9th
Left Queenstown at 8 heading for Te Anau. About half an hour out of town there was an odd noise from the bus which turned out to be a broken drive shaft. The driver got a lift back into town, and arranged for us to jump on another bus that was heading our way (people are so helpful here). We swapped to another bus in Te Anau and headed (with the assistance of chains) through a snowy pass and down into Milford. From here we took a ferry down the sound. I had been told by so many people how wonderful it was so as we headed out into the rain and mist I was a little disappointed, but when we turned round the sun came out and I have to admit it was beautiful.

Simon 12:17:00 AM

6th 7th and 8th
Picked up my ski gear and headed for the slopes. Did two days at Coronet Peak and one at the Remarkables. Dave was going up on the hills to practice some of his snowboard moves, so we hung out together. Its much more fun skiing with other people, and a lot less boring stood in the queue when you have someone to talk to (thanx Dave). There isn't a great deal of snow yet, but the main runs were open, and if you were careful you could spot some other runs that weren't officially open but didn't have too much rock sticking out, which were much more fun and challenging than the main runs.

Simon 12:10:00 AM

Saturday 5th
Hast to Queenstown
More stunning views, now of mountains and lakes. Had lunch in a great little town called Wanaka (have to be careful spelling that one). Then headed on in to Queenstown. A friend (Dave) from back home is teaching snowboarding there, so we met up for a few drinks in the evening. Queenstown is party town so the whole bus load of us and Dave met up in The World and partied. Subway (sandwich shop) is open 24 hours here and I can confirm that it was going and busy at about 3am.

Simon 12:02:00 AM

Friday, July 11, 2003

Friday 4th
Franz Joseph and Hast
We had an early start today. Bags were packed and on the bus by 7am. Then another bus came to pick us up and take us into town. After getting kitted out with boots and crampons we set off up the glacier. The guided walk took about 7 hours, and took us about half way up the ice. The climb takes you through crevices and caves through two levels of ice fall. We caught the sunset near Fox glacier just down the coast and then reached Hast in the dark.

Simon 11:54:00 PM

Thursday 3rd
Barrytown to Franz Joseph
Had a day of great scenery traveling down the west coast, with glacier fed rivers and a road that clings to the cliffs. We had seen lots of bridges along the way that were single lane, but today I saw quite a few that were shared for both directions and the train. I never actually saw a train at any of the bridges, but I imagine that the cars give way to them, after all who is going to argue with several thousand tones of metal.

Simon 11:47:00 PM

Thursday, July 03, 2003

Wednesday 2nd
Largely a driving day, and in the rain so there were less photo stops than there should have been. We did see weird cliffs at Pancake Rocks. Stopped in at a charity shop near that evenings hostel to pick up some clothes as it was cross dressing and quiz night. I was on the winning quiz team so we had a few extra dollars to spend on drink, and wore a lovely pretty pink prom dress (pictures may follow). A good night was had by all and a small quantity of beer drunk.

Simon 5:32:00 AM

Tuesday 1st
Was hoping to do a kayak and walk along Abel Tasman, but for some reason the organisers thought it was going to be bad weather, so wouldn't do the kayak. It turned out to be a really good day, so I'm not sure what they were on about. The alternative was to take the water taxi up the coast and walk back. I managed to persuade them to take me one extra bay up than they wanted us to go. It was supposed to be 7 hours out which would have been a bit close on daylight, but in reality it only took 5 hours. There were some great views and the sun stayed out all day.

Simon 5:27:00 AM

Monday 30th
Had the morning to explore Picton, and that’s all it really needs. It is a pretty small place considering it supposed to be a busy port. At lunchtime we met our new driver and lots of new passengers that had come down from the North Island. The afternoon was spent traveling to Abel Tasman, where we stayed in Old McDonalds Farm. It was a bit basic and very cold, but we did have the place to ourselves (the occupants of the bus).

Simon 5:23:00 AM

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Sunday 29th
Kiakoura to Picton
Picton is the ferry port to the North island so half the people on the bus are heading that way. The rest of us get the afternoon to entertain ourselves. There are a couple of tracks out of town along the headland (Snout). I decided to walk the longer track. It had been raining on and off all day, but you could still see the sound. The track is supposed to take four hours, but due to the weather and my need for some exercise I went a little quick and did it in two and a half. Back at the hostel there was a spa, and a box of wine that I had bought earlier, so I spent he rest of the afternoon warming up.

Simon 11:52:00 PM

Saturday 28th
Left on the 'Stray' bus at 8am. I am going to use this bus company to go all around the south island, so I hope it is good. The first day takes us to Kaikoura. It wa nice scenery on the way up, but we didn't really go through anywhere to stop. At Kaikoura we saw some Dusky Dolphin just a few meters of the beach. The driver challenged us to get in (bear in mind that i was cold, must people were wearing jumpers and coats), well I've never been one to turn down a challenge so I jumped in in my boxers. That may be the coldest swim I have ever had, but very invigorating. We also went down to the headland to see some seals that sit on the rocks there. Normally you can go out whale watching here, but some one died a week ago, trying to free one that got tangled in some lines and it was the memorial ceremony today, so no boats were going out. Looking at the sea I'm not convinced I wanted to anyway. Spent the evening watching NZ v France in the pub (with nice real fire).

Simon 11:45:00 PM

Friday 27th
Have given in and bought some new boots, I feel lighter in the pocket, but much better about the walking ahead. Spent the rest of the day looking round Cristshurch and getting stuff ready to go away tomorrow. Met up with a couple of people that I first saw on my first day in NZ (Auckland) so we went into town together in the evening.
Simon 11:36:00 PM

Friday, June 27, 2003

Thursday 26th
Am frustrated that I didn't bring my good hiking boots with me. So far it hadn't been a problem, but has been a sudden drop in temperature with my move down here and much more opportunity for walking. I think I am going to end up buying anther pair of boots to cover the next couple of weeks, so I spent some time sussing out all the outdoor shops in town. After lunch I headed back in to have another look at the shops, but the hills out of town looked really good with the sun on them, so I just kept walking. It would be fair to say that I underestimated how far away the hills were, but once you set yourself a target you have to reach it. I walked up the hills and out along a ridge on a path called 'Crater Rim'. Looking over the other side into the crater (about 5miles across) was stunning, and the views of the city weren’t bad either. I spent some time playing on the crags and boulders on the top, getting off just before it got too dark to be safe. At the bottom I luckily found a but stop and very soon a bus (it was 10km back to the center). All up I think I covered over 12 miles (in trainers, must buy those boots).

Simon 5:31:00 AM

Wednesday 25th
Traveling day. Air New Zealand are doing internal flights at very reasonable rates at the moment, so the cheapest way of reaching the South Island was a flight from the very small airfield at Rotorua in an airoplane with propellers and 60 seats. Total cost was around $120NZ or fourty of your new British pounds.

Simon 5:22:00 AM

Tuesday 24th
The morning was rainy so I soent most of it mooching around the shops in town. The afternoon was great. I got picked up to do the white water rafting. We got into wet suits, buoyancy aids and hard hats, went through what to do if we come out etc and got on the water. The Okere falls in the Kaiumu (means eel food) is reported to be the highest commercially rafted fall in the world and stands at 7 meters. The trip is shortish but intense, about an hour on the water. Everyone gets wet, particularly the guide on one of the other boats that I helped drag in (egged on by our own guide). There are a load of photos (digital) the other 4 guys in my boat were together and bought a copy on CD, so I'm hopefully going to get them to send me a copy when I get home.

Simon 5:19:00 AM

Monday 23rd
When I woke I could hear cars on a wet road so I didn't bother ringing the airfield. Having decided that was probably the end of skydiving for this trip I headed for Rotorua again. Went slowly stopping at a few of the sights on the way. Having checked into a hostel I booked some white water rafting for the next day, and went to have a look at the river. The is a huge amount of water coming down, it looked fun. Spent a fair bit of the evening in the naturally heated spar pool.

Simon 4:30:00 AM

Sunday 22nd
Rand the airport at 8am and was told that things were pretty mellow, they should be starting to jump at 10am. I threw everything in the car and dashed back to the airport (should have been 2 hours). When I got there they had delayed jumping to 12, but the weather looked great. After a quick refresher of what I had to do, I got on the first load of the day at 12000ft three myself and two instructors shuffled to the door, and exited together. The jump went well although I was having difficulty ready and remembering my altitude, It sounds silly, but 140mph wind in your face, remembering to hold the correct position and general sensory overload make it hard to concentrate on even important things like your height. At 5000ft (well just below) I pulled the cord, and looked up. The chute had opened perfectly so no need for all those emergency procedures. When my chute opend I stop falling, but the instructors appear to fall away from me at an alarming pace (was I really going that fast?). The ride down was peaceful I steered into position over the drop zone by 500ft and had a gentle landing. So did I want to do it again? (you bet). An hour and a half later I did the whole thing again, only this time I had to perform turns whilst in freefall. The second landing wasn't quite so stylish, a reasonably touch down, but then a stumble and I didn’t quite stay on my feet (but great fun). Talking to people back at the hostel it turned out that nearly everyone had done a jump (tandem) that day, so there was a real buzz about the place. A couple of us went up to 'Craters of the Moon' to watch big steaming holes at sunset (about 6pm) and then down to 'Mullagans' and the 'Holy Cow' to some time in the morning (what a day).

Simon 4:25:00 AM

Saturday, June 21, 2003

Saturday 21st
Still too much wind to jump (this could get frustrating). Got in the car and headed west to a place called Waitomo, which is famous for its caves. The most dramatic trip I could find was called 'Haggas Honking Holes' which was 3 hours underground in wetsuits, abseiling, climbing and crawling through streams of pretty cold water. After that I felt I deserved a trip to the pub to watch NZ/Wales (ouch) and England/OZ (ooh that’s good).

Simon 11:37:00 PM

Friday 20th
At the airfield for 8am again, but there was obviously too much wind, so I went back to town and booked a course at a place called Rock And Rope. You wear a climbing harness, and do things like walking along logs suspended 10meters off the floor. The build up is to a trapeze leap (stand un top of a tall pole, and leap off to catch a trapeze about 8 feet away), and a giant swing (awesome, but not easy to describe) which involves jumping off a platform and falling several meters before a rope goes tight and you get to swing back and forth for a while.

Simon 11:33:00 PM

Thursday 19th
Get to airfield by 8am (hurray) and spent the next few hours learning which bit of string to pull, and when. Unfortunately there was too much wind for beginners (loads of tandems going), so no jumping today. Met up with some people that I had seen two nights before at Rotorua for the evening and did the night life of Taupo.

Simon 11:30:00 PM

Wednesday 18th
Picked up a hire car for the next week, and booked a flight down to Christchurch next Wednesday (that almost sounds organized). Drove down to Taupo vie some great geothermal areas and a pretty good waterfall. I went straight out the airfield to find out how to get going on a Accelerated Free Fall couser (that doesn't mean that they throw you out really hard), and have signed up to start tomorrow. Meant to have a quite evening, so went into town for some food. Before I even found food I bumped into someone that worked at the hostel so got converted to beers and had a less than quiet evening end a bit too far into the small hours to make the Idea of being at the airfield at 8am that attractive.

Simon 11:26:00 PM

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

JUST ADDED SOME PHOTOS, GET TO THEM VIA LINK NEAR THE TOP OF
http://www.heurist.freeserve.co.uk

Haven't worked out how to order them, so thay are a bit random. To make it a bit easier I have put the country at the end of each description. Enjoy.
Simon 6:24:00 AM

Tuesday 17th
Have been investigating the volcanic Rotorua today. There are big sulphur flats down by the lake and occasional boiling mud pools, there is also a park in the centre with big steaming ponds. This is definitely a weird place. Many of the hotels and houses have naturally heated pools, steam is vented all over the place via an assortment of pipes, and the whole place has an eggy fart smell (mmm nice). Spent the afternoon in the local museums and baths. Have booked a hire car for a few days, so should be off travelling again tomorrow. There are still loads of things to see here, but I may do them when I come back to drop off the car..

Simon 5:25:00 AM

Monday, June 16, 2003

Monday 16th
Hellen got the paper work done on the car, and I joined the WWOOF ing association. No I haven’t gone green and veggie on you, but I may need something to do while I'm waiting for good weather if I decide to do some sky diving, and I thought this would be a good and cheap thing. If you don't know what WWOOF ing is go and look it up. Set of for the south at lunch time, and am now at Rotorua a magic place of geothermal activity.

Simon 7:41:00 AM

Sunday 15th
Went into some caves near the hostel with the wife of the owner and a couple of other people. Apparently she has sole rights to guiding people round them. They weren't the most impressive caves I have ever seen, but the way we went around them was the most adventurous. An afternoon of rest spent sleeping and reading. Sometimes you just need to chill and this was the day.

Simon 7:35:00 AM

Saturday 14th
Have decided to head south with Hellen, well at least as far as one of the first places I want to visit. The post office isn't open till Monday so we have a couple of days here. H was considering working for a horse trekking business a few miles from here so we went up to check it out. What an experience, it was full of very strange people including the owner, and his entourage one called Murray (definite psyc problems) and one called Tarzan (not enough brain for psyc problems). We rode down and through the river which came over my boots (no warning about this sort of thing) and ended with a canter / gallop along a beach (didn't he hear that I had only ever ridden once before).
went into a cafe to buy pizza and the chef was singing the welsh national anthem, so I greeted him appropriately, I think he was getting revved up for the rugby games. Got back to the hostel in time to see England just about squeeze a victory over New Zealand, but I think we are going to have to be more convincing than that to win the world cup.

Simon 7:13:00 AM

Friday 13th
Checked out a car for Hellen (from StRay Bus). A 1986 Nissan Bluebird 2.0l. It has about 250,000 Km on the clock but still goes well and for 500 pounds what do you want. So I spent some of the rest of the day helping find out how much insurance is etc. Went into town and walked a track up the largest of the hills that overlooked the centre (an easy day).

Simon 7:07:00 AM

Thursday 12th
Had booked to go diving on 'Poor Knights Island', was woken at 6.30am by our rather fatherly hostel warden. Had two excellent and very different dives (got 50 minutes out of both). I had time over lunch to have a little kayak round the cliffs (alone, no one else would come) and another dolphin experience on the way home.

Simon 7:03:00 AM

Wednesday 11th
Wanted to go kayaking in the mangroves, but no one wanted to take us, I eventually found out that the tide was out and there was no water in the mangroves (that would explain it). A couple of us went out round some of the closer islands with a guide from our hostel. In the afternoon all three of us from the bus met to go on the MacAttack, a high speed boat (40-50 Knots I think) out round the bay of islands and through the whole in the rock (excellent but damn cold). Then the bus was supposed to take us back to Auckland but Rob and I had booked more diving further down the coast so we all got dropped at Whangarai.

Simon 6:59:00 AM

Tuesday 10th
It’s the Rainbow Warrior today. There is an hour and a half boat trip out and back from the site, but I did get to dive the wreck (its actually in fairly good condition) and swim through the bit just bellow where the wheelhouse should be. On the way we saw 3 pods of dolphin. It turns out that our skipper (a very un-talkative chap) is amazing at finding things. When we find the dolphin he calls the dolphin spotting boat over on the radio, because they hadn't found them.

Simon 6:54:00 AM

Monday 9th
Got on the StRay Bus at 8am and headed north. There was only three of us on the bus Hellen, Rob and little me. The evenings destination was Paihia, but on the way we were told about local culture, and visited a few sights such as Goat Island, Whangarai Falls (of the water variety). Stopped at horse riding place. Some people will know that I don't ride, and didn't intend to but somehow peer pressure made me go. This is the first time I have ridden a house (I did once sat on one for half an hour but I didn't have to do anything), the guide was what you might describe as adventurous, shouted something about grabbing a hand full of main and we shot off up and down some sand dunes at what I'm told was a canter, but it felt fast to me, this probably isn’t your average beginners ride. There was a BBQ at the hostel when we arrived. Spent most of the evening drinking beer and playing pool (bet you thought that was what I did every evening).

Simon 6:50:00 AM

Saturday, June 14, 2003

SMS received 14 June 2003 @13:17 BST
Having fun up north diving,kayaking walking and even horse riding.
May head south on Monday with someone from my bus that has now bought a car. Caving tomorrow morning
Simon 4:20:00 PM

Sunday, June 08, 2003

My last night (for now) in Auckland. I arrived here with the idea that I wouldn’t like the city much, so I only booked 2 nights. The night I arrived and one more day to organise my escape. Due to a combination of an excellent free (yes free) half day tour of the area and meeting some fun people I have now stayed 4 nights and could easily use more time here.

Sunday 8th
Been out to the volcanic island of Rangitoto which is about 25 minutes from Auckland wharf. Two of us went over for a bit of a stomp. The ferry left at 9.15am out and 3.45pm back. If you miss it there are no shops and no other ferries (there was some sort of rangers building, but I don’t think he lived there). We headed straight for the summit (another volcanic crater) then some weird caves formed by the lava. Being prepared I took a torch and explored a few of them. Then a satisfying tramp round a big section of the island. This evening a few of us went to the cinema to see ‘The Whale Rider’. A Kiwi film that encompassed a lot of the Maori culture. I would recommend it, but it may not make it to the UK (but who knows).

Saturday 7th
Boring I know but I had a domestic morning, laundry, haircut etc. (no adrenalin there), but there are a couple of the boats from the Americas Cup in Auckland harbour and you can pay to go out for a couple of hours. As luck would have it, and because it is low season, they had just done a deal to let backpackers go for half price. Three of our little group met up down on the wharf and did the sailing. They let you do most of the jobs, a bit of steering and the grinding (8 people turning handles together to move the canvas about). It was energetic, but only in small doses. The weather was great as were the views of the harbour. The only thing that I was sad about is that I never saw any of the manoeuvres happen because I usually had my head down pushing one of the grinding handels round.

Friday 6th
Decided to go on the free orientation tour of Auckland. It turned out to be quite a laugh. We saw a few places that I would have never bothered walking to, including Mnt. Eden, one of the many extinct (we hope) volcanoes. When we pulled up at Mnt. Eden there is a conical crater in the centre. The sides looked a bit steep, but I decided it just had to be dine so started running down. Our guide shouted down to me “the guy who did that yesterday did it much faster” so like a fool I started to run quicker, just managing to stay upright. On getting back in the coach the guide told us that he’d never had anyone on his tour run down the crater before, so he just shouted to see if I would go arse over … He was a funny welsh guy from Swansea so I suppose I had to forgive him. The tour ended at a pub where we sampled a small quantity of the local amber nectar. Later on a group of the people that I met on the tour met for sunset up the Sky Tower (its big and it’s a tower).

Thursday 5th
Caught a link bus from Surfers Paradise (well Main Beach to be accurate) to Brissy airport and after coping with a huge queue at the check in the flight left about half an hour late. Hadn’t planned where to stay the night so I went to whichever hostel the other backpacker on board went to (no I wasn’t chasing her, but we did save 5 dollars bay paying together). ACB is the biggest and in some ways the most unfriendly hostel I have stayed in so I nearly checked out on the first night. Also there are never any mugs in the kitchen, I am currently drinking tea from a pint glass that I found in my dorm. Went for a walk to inspect the town, and because I had just slipped two hours found it hard to want to go to bed.

Simon 11:38:00 AM

Friday, June 06, 2003

SMS RXED FRIDAY 6TH JUNE 2003 08:28 BST
Arrived in New Zealand Yesterday.Having fun planning what to do. Sailing on an America's cup yacht tomorrow afternoon.Heading north on Monday for some diving on the rainbow warrior. Then ??

Simon 7:42:00 AM

Friday, May 30, 2003

For a few days there we were doing as the song said, "Always take the weather with you" only we were taking the wet stuff. There was a suspicion that there was a long rope dangling off the back of the bus towing the clouds up with us, but all that has changed now and it is glorious hot sunshine.

Have spent two days at Port Macquarie, had an interesting kayak in the harbour and creek. We saw dolphins and got quite wet as it rained, but if you are going to get wet anyway does it matter. The water was actually pretty warm.

Then two days at Coffs Harbour, yesterday we went an a 4WD tour of the area. The gold mine we saw you could have reached in any vehicle, but some of the rain forest roads were more bumpy and wet. This morning it is stunningly hot. Have taken a Canadian style canoe up the local creek to town (very peaceful). Have to be ready for the bus at 3:20pm so I'll probably wander back to the hostel and try not to over exert myself reading or sun bathing.

Simon 4:08:00 AM

Sunday, May 25, 2003

I've been off for a week so there has been no postings, I know I could have done a couple of short SMS ones, but somehow it just didn't happen.

Sunday 25th
Returned to Sydney to book tickets up to Kims. Although there are 3 busses up the route a day only one of them goes at a useful time (about 7am). So we are heading up to Port Macquarie for lunch time tomorrow. Have just dropped the car off (sad to see it go) and have taken a few minutes to pop into the internet cafes up at that end of town. It is raining and I have to head back into the center in a few minutes to the YHA. Staying there tonight because it is just across the road from the bus stop tomorrow morning, and we have to check in by 6.30am.

Saturday 24th
Most of the day was spent getting to or walking up a nice little mountain called Pigeon House (715m), the weather was good, and we got some great views, it took about an hour and a half up, where we had lunch. I turned descending the hill into an adrenaline sport completing it in 25minutes.

Friday 23rd
Around Narooma. Had a much more chilled day around the area, visited Central Tilba (population 70!, that's smaller than West Wyalong, Catherine) and Mystery bay (don't know what the mystery is, but then may be that is what the mystery is). In the afternoon we hires canoes from the hostel and went for a paddle around the inlet.

Thusday 22nd
Jindabyne to Narooma. Rachael wanted to go horse riding (I've never found the steering wheel so I'm not sure how to drive one) so I dropped her to do that for part of the morning. I went off for a coffee and a read of the local paper. Most of the rest of the day was spent covering the distance to the coast. The scenery was sometimes flat and sometimes spectacular. The YHA at Narooma was very friendly so we decided to stop two nights and have a break from travelling. Watched the X-men in the evening.

Wednesday 21st
Khancoban to Jindabyne. After completing the Alpine Way (without running out of petrol!) there was time for a quick stop in Thredbo where we encountered out first snow. One of the cable cars was running which took us most of the way up the mountain, then we walked the last bit. In the afternoon we saw more snow by heading up Charlotts Pass. From the top of the pass we walked for a few minutes, and in a break in the cloud got a quick glimpse of Kosciusko (highest mountain 2228m).

Tuesday 20th
Goulbrn to Khancoban on a less than sunny (well actually quite wet) day. We stopped at the towns Gundagai, Tumut and the Yarrangobilly caves. By the time we reached Cabramurra (Australias highest town) we were in cloud, and so only saw a shop and a petrol station (closed looking) but I suspect that there really isn't much more than that. The road over the top was amazing.

Monday 19th
Last Monday I picked up a hire car for the week. I’m told that everyone that has been to Sydney goes to the blue mountains, last time I was here they were on fire so I didn’t get there. As Monday was pretty good weather I thought that a quick blast up there would be nice. The scenery is stunning, the vallys, or may be I should call them canyons are deep and almost vertical sided. At one place you can take a 'train' down at an angle of 52 degrees, which feels really steep. I walked back up to get a little exercise. After getting fish and chips I headed for Pulpit rock above a town called Blackheath. As has become a bit of a theme there was absolutely no one there, but a pretty amazing rock formation and view. Returning to Sydney was a bit of a battle as the traffic had built up by then, and I had to get to the airport by 6.30pm to pick up Rachael, who was still fairly awake looking, so we set off south to get a couple of hours driving in and make the following days journey easier.

Simon 5:48:00 AM

Sunday, May 18, 2003

When I got back to the hostel last night some of the brits were just settling down to watch the FA cup final. I was quite surprised that it is shown over here as the Ausies aren’t big on ‘soccer’. I nearly fell asleep before the incredibly long introduction was complete but somehow managed to make it into the second half before calling it a day. I think it was heading for 2am by then. Now most people know that normally that wouldn’t be late for me, but so far on this trip I have been up early nearly every morning. The day at Catherines was an exception but we had talked till 3.30am and it was alcohol assisted. I did see the only goal of a not very interesting match so I don’t think I missed much.

Went to see Patience in Sydney today. Its was good to meet normal people as well as the infinite stream of foreign backpackers. We had lunch at a smart place in Darling Harbor, and generally caught up on news.
I’m sure Sydney was larger last time I visited. I had planned on getting a train over there, but while checking out cars yesterday I found I had walked into the center which was over half of the distance, so I walked today.
The sun hasn’t been out much, but today there was no rain, so things are looking up and there is now a great view of Sydneys skyline from the roofof the hostel (yes you are allowed out there).
I will probably try and get a quick trip to the blue mountains in tomorrow, before meeting Rachael at the airport in the evening.

Simon 11:54:00 AM

Saturday, May 17, 2003

It's only a day since my last post, but at the very cheap rates for internet cafe's in Sydney I thought that I would take the opportunity to make another entry.
Yesterday evening I got a lift into Sydney (about 5 hours) in Kirsten’s huge four wheel drive monster. She was going over to join her faster at a Vietnam Vets reunion for the weekend. The vets had already had a few when we turned up, and were in reminiscing mode (as you would expect), so I got to hear some good stories. I am now staying in the Kings Cross area of Sydney at a place called Eva’s, the nice thing is that it seams to be Eva herself that runs the place, making it a bit more organised and tidy that the typical hostel which is largely run by other backpackers that forgot to move on.
I have picked up a slight cold, which sort of seems appropriate as it is dull and rainy in Sydney right now. A couple of nights ago they had quite a bit of flooding on the south side, but I haven’t noticed anything that bad at the moment.
I’ve just been relaxing today and sorting out some arrangements for the coming week or so (well you can’t go charging around all the time). Have walked down the street (between the worst of the showers) that has most of the car hire places and checked out all there prices. I must spend some time reading my guide book this evening.

Simon 5:25:00 AM

Friday, May 16, 2003

Doing West Wyalong for 24 hours. Have had a good time meeting up with Catherine, food beers and catching up with old times. West Wyalong isn't big. I have already started meeting the locals, and being recognised by them. Catherine's flat mate is off to Sydey this evening so I getting a lift, that will save a lot of hassle on public transport as there isn't an easy route.
Simon 5:01:00 AM

Thursday, May 15, 2003

SMS report received on 15 May 2003 at 05:41:15 UK time.
Good sights and exercise at Wilson's Promitory. Had one night back in Melbourne, now on bus heading in Sydney direction. Stopping to see a friend in West Wyalong on the way.
Simon 8:29:00 AM

Monday, May 12, 2003

Rented a bike (of the mountain variety) and set off south towards Mornington Peninsula just to see how far I could get in half a day. The answer was about 40km each way, and reached a small town called Mount Elisa. This was just short of my target, but unfortunatly the seat was very uncomfortable and so as well as starting to feel a little tired, my bum is going to be bruised enough. Bus for Wilsons Promitory is at 7am tomorrow morning, so I'll have to go now.
Simon 11:59:00 AM

Sunday, May 11, 2003

The great ocean raod was great, but then you might expect that from its name. I did three days with 'High Spirits' tours with our guide Steve. We left Melbourne on Friday and saw all the cool surfer beeches. The most famouse of which is 'Belles Beach' which was used in the final scene of 'Point Break' (a movie about surfer, skydiving bank robbers) and stayed the night at a hostel owned by the company which was known as an ecco hostel. This mainly seemed to be because it used water collected from the roof, and had a composting toilet. The evening meal was cooked (well more sort of burnt, by Steve) on a camp fire out the back.

Day two (the best) took in some pretty wiered limestone rock stacks and bridges created by sea erosion (its no suprise with waves as big as that). Then we went on to the Grampians (obviously not as good as Scotlland but pretty impressive). The night was spent at a bush camp with a few old army tents to act as kitchen etc. First we went off for a bit of a cannoe (Canadian style) accross the resevoir that the camp faced on to. Just an hours paddeling before the sun went down and the serious activity of food was undertaken. Again we used a campfire (we collected wood on the way to the site). After supper and a fair amount of wine / beer we lit another fire and got the bush sauna going (trust me it sounds a lot posher than it is). The sauna is nade from another old tent with an old oil drum containing a couple of gallons of water and a fire. When the water starts to boil the steam is sent down a tube into the tent and through some eucaliptus leaves. The tent get hot and smells of cough treatment. When you get too hot you race out of the tent, up the dam that makes the resevoir and jump in (it only gets about a meter deep in the midle), then you drag any of the wimpy people in that are still sttod on the shore wondering if they want to or not. After a couple of cycles of this it starts getting a but old. We were then sersuaded to apply warm (well tepid) mud from a bucket to most of our anatomy and stand around the camp fire till it was dry, one more plunge into the lake to get the mud off, and finally more time round the fire to get warm and dry. We went to bed in swags (sort of canvas bivvy bags with a built in sleeping mat) on the dam and watched the stars.

The next morning I woke at first light and watched the sun come up over the hills. After a breakfast of pancakes we went for a quick mountain bike ride. The rest of the day was spent doing now rather ordinary sight seeing etc.

I had intended to go through to Adelaide, but for various reasons have ended up back a Melbourne in the poshest hostel I have ever seen. Not quite the same atmosphere, but really clean and more like a hotel. A day or two of pampering before the next trip sounds quite nice. I am hopeing to spend tomorrow cycleing and then head south for a couple of days to see Wilsons Promontory ( a notional park ), but who knows what will actually happen.

Simon 7:47:00 PM

Wednesday, May 07, 2003

Richard (brother) put me up for the night before I left, and gave me a lift to the airport (thanks). The flight was fairly uneventfull, but very empty. For part of it I had a set of four seats to myself (is this the first fully flat beds in economy class?). Unlike the usual TV news shots there was no one in Singapore wearing face masks, or at least not untill an aircraft arrived from Germany. For some reason these passengers seemed to be unaware of how stupid they looked, and how people were actively avaoiding them, because you are only supposed to wear a mask if you have a cough and could be at risk of sreading something.

Arrived in Melbourne Tuesday morning at just after 4am. Imigration weren't that impressed that I had written 'unknown' as my address in Australia, but couldn't tell me what I should have put. Got the bus into town, then spent a while walking around before I sussed out the tram system, and where to buy a ticket. One I understood it the trams are great you never have to wait more than a few minutes fo one. I headed for an area called St Kilda and got checked into a backpackers at about 8am. I did think of having a quiet day to recover from the flight but instead opted for the doas much as possible approach. So I spent the daying doing as many of the Melbourne attractions as possible museums, old buildings, market places an a big tower with great views of the city.
I was by now feeling quite tired and prone to falling asleep if sat down for too long. The obvious thing to do would be to get an early night, but Tuesday was cheap beer night at the place round the corner from the hostel, so the whole place went down for the evening. I remember talking to people at about 2am and waking up still in the lounge at 4am when I did finally go to bed.

Wednesday wes an easy day, checking out St Kilda beaches piers and shops. It dawned on me later in the day that the large park between St Kilda and the city center was the location of the Formula 1 racing ciruit (normally roads and converted onece a year for the event), so I went down to see if I could find it and walk round it. It took a little longer than I expected, but one you've started something you have to see it through. The route takes you most of the way intothe city and encircles a very scenic lake in the park. The only real sign that it is a racing circuit is the lack of curbs, and the big pits / grandstand on the start / finish straight.

I have an early start in the moring as I am doing a 3 day tour up the 'Great Ocean Road' and the Grampian mountains. It sounds good, food cooked on a camp fire, sleeping in swags etc. I'll let you know how it goes in my next report.
Simon 12:57:00 PM

Monday, May 05, 2003

SMS Rxed at 10:49 on 5 may "Simon on hour stop at Singapore"
Simon 10:42:00 AM

Thursday, May 01, 2003

SMS test Wot no vote ?
Simon 3:46:00 PM

A couple of days to go so I am madly washing everything that I want to take with me on my travels, well you might as well start with all your stuff smelling nice, it probably won't last long.
Simon 2:03:00 PM