Bus Tour

Right so, the bus tour... We jumped on the bus at 7:30am in auckland, and met our fellow bussers and our driver Lucky (her parents were hippies). From auckland we hot footed it to the north coast to a place called hot water beach, which suprisingly is a beach with hot water. Geothermal vents bubble up through the sand and if you dig a hole in the beach it will fill with nice warm water, when the tide came in the mixture of refreshing cold waves and sitting in hot water was very nice. That evening we all chipped in $10 and Lucky cooked us a huge BBQ, homemade dips, garlic breads, steak, sausage, the works!

The next morning we woke early to watch the sunrise, then set off on the bus at 8:00am to a place called Raglan. One of the worlds top surf sites, there we rented boards and had an afternoon of surfing, which was cool, and i am definately improving, by the time i hit LA i want to be good. Played some touch rugby on the beach with some kiwis then back to the hostel for fish n chips.

Set off at 8:00am again the next morning and headed to Waitomo, where we went caving, abseiled down a waterfall and crawled through caverns lined with glowworms, that was really cool. In the afternoon/evening we headed to a maori tribe and had a cultural evening, we learnt the haka, ate maori food and had a fire on the beach.

Bus at 8:00am this morning and we headed to where i am now, Rotorua, where we went white water rafting this morning. We got 5lads together and told the guide we wanted to go extreme, and he delivered the goods. The raft flipped over twice, and we went over a 7m waterfall, the biggest rafting drop in the world..... Backwards, it was amazing. We bought the CD of photos so they will all be on facebook later.

So that brings you up to date, this afternoon we are gonna chill in Rotorua, we are staying here for 2nights then catching the next bus to continue the tour. Tomorrow I think we are gonna check out the hot pool and geysers and other such geothermal things. Best wishes, blog soon.

Rich

New Zealand

Alloha. So, we arrived in Auckland yesterday at midnight, after a taxi into town and wandering around to find hostels with 24hr reception we got to sleep at about 3am. The flight from Cairns was pretty awesome, i asked to be sat on the side of the plane with views over the barrier reef and got cracking views, it is huge.

But anyway, New Zealand. We were hoping to rent a campervan today and start our tourn of the north island, but it seems march is still classed as high season, so they are very expensive. Because of this we have decided to wait until april to get a camper as prices drop dramatically. So for today and tomorrow we rented a car and are doing a quick tour of the northenmost tip of the north island, returning to auckland on tuesday and hopping on a coach tour to take us - via many stops - down to christchurch. First impressions of NZ, its very hilly, the coastline we have been hugging today is mainly rocky, but tomorrow we are going to the northernmost tip of NZ and heading back via some beaches. Hopefully doing some dune surfing or standard surfing. blog soon.

Rich

The Great Barrier Reef!!

So, the day before our Reef trip the only real point of note was watching England dominate France in the rugby with some lads from the hostel which was good fun. But anyway, onto the meaty stuff....

Take your pick of superlatives, they wont even come close to describing how good it was spending two days and a night on the Great Barrier Reef. I feel the need to just blurt out random amazing parts but ill control myself and try to recount it chronologically and fit everything in.

We rose at 5am on the 17th, it seems like so long ago but it was only yesterday. After dragging ourselves out of bed we decided to take the 30minute walk to the jetty to wake ourselves up. The boat which we were to spend the next two days on was called the Rum Runner, and is fairly small as far as live aboard boats go, with room for 16 passengers. There were 10 of us on this trip and that was on the crowded side. At 7:30am we set off from the harbour 3hrs away from our first dive, being a small boat there was plenty of movement out in the open water, but it wasn't too bad. As cairns shrank into the distance we basked in the sunshine on the deck, being cooled by the occasional big wave that would spray us with salty water. After about 2 and a half hours we began to notice what looked like breakwater in the distance, a sign of a reef just below the surface, sure enough in a few minutes the water around us showed splotches of turquoise and we began to kit up for our first dive.

The first dive was at a small reef called horseshoe reef, the visibility was not that great but even so the vivid colours of clown fish (Nemo), parrot fish and angel fish shone out from meters away in the murky water. First dive over we hopped back on board, and while the skipper took us to our next dive site (1hr away) we ate lunch. The next dive was at a location called the three sisters, and was an entirely different animal, visibility was much better, and the coral formations were amazing. The coral is not just amazing for its colours, but the intricate detail in the different formations and types of coral, and in between these delicate and fragile growths hide hundreds of tiny fish, sheltering from the dangers of open water. The most notable fish on this dive were a stingray lurking about the bottom, and a reef shark, probably 1.5m long, darting beneath us.

Back on board the boat and time for another snack as we pootled to the next dive site, only 5mins away. Here we moored up for the night and me and dave decided to go it alone for this dive, sans guide. In the water for no more than 30seconds and still getting our bearing and a turtle wafted past, no more than a metre from our masks. Theres something endearing about the cumbersome paddling of the fairly plain turtle in comparison to the elegant and bright tropical fish. The highlight of this dive however was getting caught in a bait ball of 10cm fish, thousands of them, and they seemed to be circling me. Perhaps because they knew i was harmless but might scare away the bigger fish. Being surrounded by these shimmering specks, cascading light as they twisted and turned to avoid being eaten was something very special indeed.

Next dive was at the same reef, but with a twist..... it was at 8:30pm, pitch black! Highlights of this dive as far as fish are concerned was helping some big red fish (whose name has escaped me) to hunt but shining our torches on smaller fry. The biguns would lurk behind us as we waved our torch about, then when we found a little fish and were busy admiring it.... Bam! The big reduns would strike, bye bye little fish. But by far the best part of the night dive was not what we saw, but what we didn't see. Being submerged in the dark water, with only a thin beam of light reaching out into the nothingness, that was a surreal and bewitching experience.

That evening I reclined on the deck with a couple of glasses of red wine and felt very nautical, staring up at the stars through the crystal clear sky on a gently rocking boat.

7am start the next day and the visibility underwater was even better, and early morning is when most fish wake up and are feeling hungry, so plenty of activity down there. Im running out of time, and am inclined to say that the last two dives were much the same as the previous. Lots of fish and lots of coral. But no two dives have ever been the same, and every one has been nothing short of spectacular.


Right, back at the hostel now and ill put down my thesaurus, heading out tonight to a bar in town for a drink with the crew of our boat and a few of the diving peeps, then tomorrow think i will go to the botanical gardens, where crocs live!! I probably wont blog again until New Zealand which is on Saturday the 21st. So unless anything terribly exciting happens between now and then, my next blog will be around then. Best wishes.

Rich

Australia Zoo and Cairns

This might be a bit rushed so excuse the spelling and grammar. After arriving in Brisbane and getting a mammoth pizza takeaway from Eagle Boys we settled in at the hostel and watched telly, Australian TV has so many adverts it hurts your brain. The next morning we woke early at 7am and got a rental car out, we then drove our swish new wheels to Australia Zoo, the project set up by the late Steve Irwin and now run by his family. It was awesome, we got to hand feed elephants and kangaroos, and petted koalas kangaroos wallabies and even a baby croc. All in all it was a cracking day out, on the way back we climbed up to a veiwpoint, but it was a bit cloudy due to a cyclone that is working its way down the east coast. We dropped the car off that eve and arrived back at the hostel for all you can eat pizza and film night (dont worry mother i am back on healthy eating now, plenty of fruit n veg).




The next day we flew to Cairns, got some cracking views of the reef as we flew in, we arrived at our hostel at about 5pm, to be given a FREE MEAL voucher! and two BOGOF beer vouchers! Too good to be true we thought, considering we are paying $15 a night. It was, the beer tokens were fine, and for the first time in australia they served it in proper pint glasses. But the free 'meal' consisted of three mini vegatable samosas. Ah well.

The next day we headed into cairns and investigated Dive companies for scubaing the barrier reef, then in the eve had a pool competition, i got through to round 2, then potted the white after potting the black to win. Day after swam in the lagoon and played ball games on the park then watched rugby in the evening, all very relaxing. Got to go now internet time runnign out. hope you are all well. Blog soon

Rich

Coffs and Byron

So, We are now in brisbane, after spending our last day in sydney attempting to surf, we travelled to Coffs Harbour. Coffs is a small town, with a big Jetty and a BIG Bannana! We spent two nights there, arriving on the first day at 6am. While lloyd slept i went to a dolphin and seal show where i got to stroke the dolphins and get a kiss from a seal. It was good fun, but i always feel uncomfortable at such places because the animals are in captivity. I came back to the hostel to find dave awake, and we watched a film over lunch, then rented a canoe and paddled down the creek. We saw many wading birds and a few fish jumping from the water, but no koalas :(. In the evening we had a BBQ at the hostel and chatted to a few of our roomies.

The next day we got up and went to the beach for a swim, I jumped off the jetty which was fun. Then we headed back and rented bikes, and rode to the big bannana, which is a large concrete and fibreglass bannana..... Bizzare. Back at the hostel that eve we watched a film and then got an early night.

Headed to byron bay the next morning on the bus, and had a surf lesson. This was really good fun, and i stood up on the first wave! Kelly Slater eat your heart out. Spent the eve in byron playing Jenga in the hostel. The next day (today) we caught the bus to brisbane and here i am. Tomorrows plan is to rent a car and go to Australia Zoo, which is Steve Irwins family run zoo and should be really good if we are to believe the reviews. Next stop Cairns on the 12th. Will blog then.

Rich

G'Day from Australia

Hello there. So.... we are in sydney, bondi beach to be precise. And to be honest, theres not that much to report, we have been beach bums. We arrived at 9pm in bondi and met up with Ben (a mate of mine from uni) who took us back to his place and there we have been sleeping on his floor for the past 3nights. First day we monged on the beach, had a burger, monged, slept. Second day we went into sydney, took a picture of the opera house, its a lot dirtier than it looks on the postcards. Took a picture of the harbour bridge, not that big. Had a burger, and then came back to bondi and went to the gym where Ben works for a free workout. That evening we went out to a bar on the beach, had a few schooners (what aussies call a beer, but its considerably less than a pint). Today we are gonna teach ourselves to surf, should be interesting. Then tonight we are getting the night bus up to a place called coffs harbour, where we can do daytrips platypus spotting and go to a koala bear hospital. Should be awesome. Hope you are all well, blog soon.

Rich

Frolicking Monkeys at Tiger Cave Temple