Kiwi road trips...

As you may have noticed, I've added some photos to the older posts (which will look familiar to those of you on Facebook since I haven't got any new ones since I last added to my albums).  I tried to get some more recent ones from my mom's camera, but unfortunately the computer at our hostel doesn't seem to like her memory card and she forgot to bring the usb cord for her camera....I will do my best to get some up before she leaves on Saturday though....

Anyway here's the latest update on what I've been up to: we rented a car in Christchurch on Monday morning and headed north.  To say that our little Toyota Starlet is a budget car is a bit of an understatement....it's got over 200 000km on the odometer, the hatchback rattles when we hit 80km/hr, mom says it's kind of gutless between 60-79km/hr and I'm convinced it kind of smells like diapers (clean ones thankfully!).  It's definitely no Wombat, but it's doing it's job so I shouldn't complain.

We drove up to Oxford (about an hour's drive from Christchurch) to visit the YWAM base so that mom could see it.  I met some of the people I'll be living with and learning from over the next 6 months and am really looking forward to going back next week.  The base is small, but cosy and definitely feels like a good fit for me.  I think there might be photos on their website?

After our stop at the base we drove another hour and a half into the mountains a bit to Hanmer Springs which is a hotsprings area.  We did a little hiking and then relaxed at the resort until it started to rain....had a really nice hostel with a wood fire place and slept well after our fresh air and relaxation.

Tuesday we drove 4hours across the island and north to Nelson.  The peaks we saw along the way were spectacular, but the rain that poured down as we arrived in Nelson was not so spectacular.  It's a coastal city which kind of reminded me of Prince Rupert (although that could have been due to the fact that it was raining there when I visited as well...at least this time I remembered my raincoat!).

Wednesday (today) the rain held off until late afternoon and we drove to Golden Bay and did a few different hikes in the rainforest which was fun.  Hopefully it will be nice enough tomorrow for a boat ride along the Abel Tasman National Park coastline.

Ketchup and Catchup

So the last couple posts have been really rushed because of my internet time running out so this one will be really long and I'll try to catch up as much as I can remember (and on another note I have to say that as lame as this sounds, one food that can't seem to be replaced over here is Heinz ketchup.....Tomato Sauce just isn't the same...).

Ok so I skimmed quickly through the Whitsundays so here are a few highlights and lowlights from our sailing trip:

Highlights
-snorkelling in pursuit of a turtle
-lazing on the front deck of the boat in my new Australian bikini
-hot showers
-delicious food
-gorgeous sunsets
-amazing stars
-fun people from all over the world
-Whitehaven Beach...
Lowlights
-sharing a one-person bunk with Josie (not because I don't like her, but sailboat beds although larger than they look are not that big and kind of like cubby-holes)....although I think it was more of a lowlight for her because apparently I snore...
-sunburning my face
-30second showers

I also skimmed over the drive to Hervey Bay and Fraser Island.....so to get from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay took about 9 hours maybe (not exactly sure, but it felt like forever!).  We got off our sailboat at 8:30 am, snuck in a hot shower (longer than 30 seconds for the first time in 3 days) and booked a hostel for Hervey Bay before we left Airlie.  Apparently the end of September is school holidays in Australia which means there are a lot of families out travelling so we didn't want to be stuck without accomodation.  The highlight (?) of our drive....okay maybe just the most memorable moment....was when we drove through 2 towns around 8pm and realized there was nowhere to eat dinner for an hour and a half and we were starving.  Luckily we had some groceries so I pulled over to the side of the road and Cafe Wombat was born (I nicknamed our car the Wombat).  Mom served up cereal, nutella on bread and apples from the backseat to Josie and I while I filmed it....yup pretty tired at that point....I'm a little worried about what the video will look like if Josie posts it on Facebook......

The hostel in Hervey Bay is not one we would recommend to anyone (even enemies.....cus you're supposed to love your enemies and sending someone there would definitely not be love).....but we made it through.  Another lowlight of Hervey Bay was learning that the lines on the screen of my camera which now appeared where the picture was supposed to meant that it was busted.....and even better was the fact that the warranty is only good in Canada....so yaay now I have to buy another camera here AND they are way more expensive.  Let me tell you I am PSYCHED :p

Luckily Fraser Island was awesome so I am coping with the bitterness (although apparently it is just beneath the surface).  Here are some highlights and lowlights of Fraser:
Highlights
-our guide Karl eating bush tucker (plants) on our forest walk (and basically any of the stories he told as well as his poems which he recited)
-hiking over sand dunes to get to Lake Wabby, then running down the steep dunes into the Lake
-floating down a creek
-sleeping in a bed of my own and having a bathroom all to ourselves
-Karl passing a broken-down bus on the side of the one lane sand road almost going into the bushes
-seeing a dead shark on the beach and Josie's face when I dared her to kiss it (she didn't do it)
-pippi racing
-when we got back to Hervey Bay our sketchy hostel had not booked us beds as they had promised so we ended up in a hotel unit for the same price which was actually decent
Lowlights
-a 4X4 self-guide getting bogged in the sand in front of us so that we only got 45min at Lake McKenzie instead of an hour and a half
-tourist trap photos at the Maheno Wreck
-sand sticking to everywhere that I put sunscreen (which to avoid burning I put on every piece of exposed skin...)

We then continued on to Noosa which apparently has more roundabouts than any other Aussie town....and Mom was not impressed.....Here are some highlights and lowlights:
Highlights
-staying in a hostel minutes from the beach
-watching kite boarders
-great beach
-trying surfing for the first time (ironic fact....I was convinced that I was probably not going to like surfing and that it would be too hard and I would be horrible at it and that I would love diving, turns out I had a blast surfing even though I wasn't that great and I didn't really love diving....go figure.  I guess it just goes to show that you should try everything and not be afraid to stink at something because you just never know....)
-half price ice cream....3 times
-seeing Aboriginal art at the Eumundi market...if only I was rich!
-hiking one of the most beautiful easy coastal trails I've seen
-seeing a koala in the wild
-clean nice backpacker place
Lowlights
-only going surfing once
-ripping the seat of my new capri pants the first time I wore them
-saying goodbye to Josie

So after a little drama returning the rental car (Mom and I could not for the life of us find a gas station.....don't ask!) we waited at the airport for a while and flew over to Christchurch where we are now.  Apparently it was daylight savings so instead of flipping our watches ahead 2 hours with the time change it was actually 3 hours which made getting up pretty brutal this morning. 

It's quite a bit cooler here in New Zealand and I immediately realized that flip flops are not going to cut it and that I'm really glad I packed my jacket!  The flowers are out and it's a beautiful spring plus the green grass is a nice change from the dryness of Queensland.

We've sorted out our details thanks to the local visitor info centre and have rented a car for tomorrow.  We are stopping in at the base to take a look and then driving to the Hanmer Hotsprings for the night.  Next day we drive to Nelson and spend a few days there before Mom hops on the ferry to Wellington on the North Island and I jump on the train back to Oxford.  I'm pretty excited to be here in New Zealand....I've been waiting years for this and I'm really looking forward to exploring Nelson and meeting my YWAM leaders at the base tomorrow.

Ok....finally done here.  This computer doesn't really let me add pictures (and I don't have any since before Hervey Bay anyway) so maybe later I can get some from Josie or Mom to make this super long post more interesting.....hope all is well back home.  Thanks to all of you who have been messaging and commenting (it's nice to know someone is reading this!)

Last Days in Aus...

So my last week in Australia was filled with all kinds of great stuff.  We did a two day, one night guided tour of Fraser Island and had an awesome guide named Karl.  We got sand everywhere and had fun swimming in lakes for a change and for once I didn't even have to sleep on the top bunk! I'll try and fill in more details later, but I'm at the airport now with 3 minutes ticking away....

After Fraser Island we drove to Noosa which is a beach town on the Sunshine Coast.  We stayed in a nice guest house there and went to a market in a nearby town, lazed on the beach, hiked the Noosa National Park along the coast, went kayaking, tried surfing (sooo much fun!), and went out for a nice dinner together before we said our goodbyes to Josie.

Tonight we fly to Christchurch where I have one more week of travelling and then it's time to settle into DTS. 

Time is ticking

Wow I can't believe I only have one more week here in Australia!  Right now we are in Hervey Bay and about to book a tour on Fraser Island for tomorrow and the next day so that should be fun.

Basically all we've done since the last time I wrote was go sailing on the Whitsundays and then drive from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay.  The Whitsundays were wonderful and I loved the sailing.

I tried scuba diving for the first time, but I got kind of freaked out being under water (much to my disappointment) and since I didn't seem to be missing out on seeing that much by just snorkelling I stuck with the surface for the rest of the trip. 

My highlight of sailing was seeing a Hawksbill sea turtle while snorkelling on the outer reef.  Of course, that was the one time I didn't take my camera out snorkelling but it was absolutely amazing!

The food was great on the boat, and we didn't get seasick for the most part...the first day was a little rough.  It was completely relaxing, but we are still trying to get rid of our sea legs and the dizzyness that goes along with them.  Anyway running out of time here so will try to add more another day.

I'm Sailing Away....Tomorrow

So we've covered a lot of km since I last updated (probably about 1200).  We spent last Thursday hiking in the Australian Jungle in Springwood National Park about a 1.5hr drive from Surfer's Paradise. 

Mom did a great job driving on the narrow windy roads along the sides of mountains through the rainforest (while Josie did a good job not hyperventilating riding shotgun). 

We visited the natural bridge and had our first rainforest experience...anyone know what the birds that sound like lasers are called? 

Then we started what we thought was a 300m walk to see a 100m drop waterfall, but turned out to be a 4km walk down a bazillion stairs (luckily down the stairs and not up....). 

The Purling Falls were breathtaking and I can only imagine what they would have looked like with more water flowing....the rainy season wasn't very rainy this year so things are pretty dry. 

We also saw a goanna lizard from really close up, but that was the only wildlife we saw other than birds.

Friday morning we left Surfer's Paradise (with a tear in our eyes) and made our way to the Australia Zoo, home of the Crocodile Hunter.  After paying the $53 entrance fee (Crikey that's expensive!!) we got to see all the wildlife we didn't in the bush....found out there were a lot of poisonous snakes living here and were pretty glad we hadn't encountered any of them.  Got to pet and feed a kangaroo (they don't slobber at all unlike the animals I fed at the PG petting zoo this summer with Laura, Owen and Megan). 

Also got to pet a sleeping koala which was pretty cool.

After 2 hours out in the sun at the zoo we drove off to Maroochydore where we were supposed to drop off Josie's extra bag at the YWAM base to be stored for the rest of our trip.  After an hour of being lost, some time on the wrong side of the road, some shouting, and 3 different sets of directions we finally got a map which led us to a place which was not the base so we've still got the extra bag.  Stayed in an 8 bed dorm at a backpacker that night all on top bunks which wasn't a change for me, but I don't think mom was a fan of it.

We left Maroochydore early the next morning to drive to Airlie Beach....gateway to the Whitsunday Islands and our dreams of sailing and snorkelling....

14 hours later we found ourselves lost again in Airlie Beach (a feat we thought would be impossible because it is really not very big at all) driving around the same roundabout I swear about 20 times!!  We found our hostel and slept really well that night.

Yesterday Josie and I booked our sailing trips and we leave for 2.5 days 3 nights on the Emperor's Wings tomorrow afternoon.  VERY EXCITED!!  We are trying to convince Mom to stay somewhere nicer than the backpacker while we're gone, but she's just so thrifty I'm not sure it's working....I think we've convinced her that she can't come back in the car to Brisbane until she's gone to Whitehaven Beach though so hopefully she will have fun without us around (tough job I know...).

Anyway here are a couple highlights from those few days:

-feeling Purling Falls pour over top of us

-hearing a croc snap its jaws mere meters away from us!
-road trip ice cream stops
-seeing the millions of stars as we drove through the country at night
-getting an adaptor to listen to our ipods in the car
-sunsets
-Josie buying another Australian bikini
-takeout Thai food....mmmm cashew chicken stirfry!

And some of the low lights...

-running over some sort of furry creature (a possum perhaps?)
-all the dead 'roos along the road in various stages of decomposition
-being in the car for an entire gorgeous blue sky day

-finding our car covered in ants gorging themselves on all the dead insects stuck to it from driving in the dark

Sunshine on the Gold Coast

We spent a couple days in Brissy and then decided to hire a car and head down to the Gold Coast to Surfer's Paradise for a few days before we go north.  We've got a little Hyundai Getz hatchback which we managed to fit all our luggage in and safely drive on the left side of the road down from Brisbane to Surfer's Paradise.

Here are our highlights and lowlights since the last time I updated:

Highlights:
-Josie almost stepping on a lizard and freaking out...made my day!
-lying on the man-made beach in Brisbane
-successfully making it through a huge round-about and not getting lost driving from Brisbane to Surfer's Paradise
-beach day in Surfer's Paradise especially playing in the waves
-buying Australian bikinis

Lowlights
-Julie freaking out about us getting a manual car (turned out to be an automatic)
-Josie being too much of a baby to drive (aka she's not 25 and it cost waaay more...poor Josie)
-Josie making me spill my delicious beer on my lap
-using the windshield wipers instead of the turn indicator\
-getting sunburnt on the beach in Brisbane
-crashing at 8pm and waking up at 6 every day...can't wait for this jet lag to end


I'm sure there's more but running out of internet time (lowlight!)

Tres bien!

So after a lot of time killing in Vancouver waiting for our flight (had awesome Japanese food, checked out the new skytrain line from Richmond to Van and played some Connect Four--I totally rocked Josie) we have finally arrived in Brisbane.

Highlights of the flights included the individual controls for the movies on our 13hr flight, yummy snacks, good company, sleeping for at least 4 hours, no crying babies, no turbulence, and being able to check into our B&B at 8am even though we told them we wouldn't be getting in until much later.....lowlights included Josie not sleeping at all (well a lowlight for her anyway, but I think Wolverine helped her deal with that), mom losing her glasses and me having to dive under the seats to find them, trying to figure out where to go in LAX, realizing our hotel was up a big hill when we arrived this morning, and me trying to find ANYTHING in my overpacked bag (hopefully mom will take some stuff home with her).

We got into Brisbane at about 6am Sunday morning and crashed at the hotel until noon.  Our afternoon can't be described as anything but lovely and included yummy Thai lunch at the mall food court, a walk through the Botanical Gardens where there was live music and really cool trees to climb, flashing back to the Thames in London and English Bay in Van as we walked along the river, dipping my feet in the pool at the man made beach, and finding a hat I actually like for $10!

We're hoping to go to an evening church service later before we crash again and then tomorrow will probably be filled with trying to find a rental car for the next leg of the journey.