New Zealand

Well - I'm currently in Queenstown. I haven't really had chance to email so here's an update of what's been goin on.

New Zealand,
well its a little cold,
a little warm,
bit rainy,
bit sunny,
very green

and finally

THE MOST INCREDIBLE PLACE I HAVE EVER VISITED.

Seriously the place is beautiful... I decided I like it about 2 hours after being here. I loved being in Oz, but this place makes Australia look like Whitby or Blackpool (but cleaner). It is absolutely stunning, every corner you grab a new view or perspective.. perfect. I keep being surprised - I think I've seen it all and then bang and new view!!!

I have joined a tour for the south island - the people are cool and its been quite agood laugh - We've done so much that it would take years to write so here's the short version

Well the first day we visited Lake Ohau and Lake Tekapo, where we stayed the night in a wicked lodge on the shoreline - this had brilliant views of Mt Cook!

Next day we headed to Milford Sound for an overnight Cruise though the huge ford. This was stunning... The scale of the place was so vast you couldn't take a decent picture cause you simply could not get it all in... Wow. I then canoed on the lake - where we saw Penguins coming in from feeding.. plus saw a few seals... Next day was the best though. The mist had cleared on a stunning blue morning and as we sailed back to the port - dolphins swan next to the boat - they were so graceful - I was able to get some film of them - seriously it was gobsmacking!!! From there we headed to Queenstown. Queenstown is a small town which specializes in activity sports - adrenaline Junkie heaven.

Out hoste again has great views and the nightlife has been quite a laugh. Last night we were drinking cocktails out of teapots.. very British...

I visited Nevis, Here's a few fact about Nevis

Nevis is a huge valley - Over 600 meters high and has a fantastic river at the bottom. Nevis also has a stationary gondola on a cable car style rig up over the canyon.. you get a little cage out to it and the view was magnificent. Now the thing with Nevis is that its not really for sightseeing. Its for Bungi Jumping and its the highest Bungi in NZ!!!!

Yep I did a 134m bungi Jump with 8 seconds freefall

It was absolutely heart stopping _ I've bought the DVD to prove Ive done it - I loved it so much I'm doing another one tonight.. I actually have a very sore throat at the mo as I have never yelled so much in my life and the rush of falling to the ground is .. well I cant describe it. I did Nevis as a substitute - the original plan was to skydive but its been to windy and all skydiving has been cancelled. But Nevis has more than made up for it!!!

Gonna have to dash - I'm off bodyboarding on the River now - 4hours of rapids and diving.. wicked! Havent had time to spell check so ignore any bad spelling!!!

Hope all is well!

Bye Bye Melbourne...

Hi All - Just biding my time before I head to the airport to fly to NZ, Until five minutes ago I was well looking forward to it until I read a an email from Jen at Work saying that the weathers crap in NZ and the hostel she stayed in Christchurch a couple of days ago was a complete dump.. which turns out to be the place I'm staying tonight... mmmmm brill.

Apart from that all's cool... I've really enjoyed being in both Sydney and Melbourne but I am longing to get back out into some big open country. Living & Visiting in a big city is great but coming here was about seeing outside the cities and I'm now itching to get back out there into the wilderness. My planes lands in NZ at 11.35pm (their time) and my tour starts tomorrow at 8am... so if the hostel is crap I wont get chance to see it as I wont be there long enough.

Spent the last couple of day wondering around the city - Yesterday met up with one of the girls (Eunice) from the diving course - she lives in Melbourne and showed me some of the site's.. We went up the Rialto tower to the observation deck on floor 55.. amazing views... the lift literally too 20 seconds to get to the top.

Then we went to a fantastic Sushi bar... which was playing funky piano jazz music. After some great sushi (and I thought M&S Sushi was great) we headed to the Contemporary Museum in Federation Sq. There was a photography exhibition on new Australian Photographer's - There was some fantastic work but others were very badly Photo-shopped and quite embarrassing to look at ...

Last night I met with Sharon who use to live in London.. Had a great night and ended up in a greasy spoon equivalent of a Chinese restaurant - packed full of Chinese families - so that means it was going to be good... Well the fried pork dumpling we had for starter was bloody ace... the main meal was a bit whooooo - what the frig is that... but still nice. You had to take your own drink and they supply the cups... pretty freaky really - but cool and CHEAP! Loads of Pork Dumpling and too large bowls of noodles and soup $23.00 or 12 pounds... bargain - seriously it is cheaper here to eat out than go shopping.... After that we went to a hoxton like bar - it was an old cargo container transformed into a bar... great place I know everyone in London would have loved it.

Right - feel like I've bored you all enough now... How all's ok -

Trouble - I've posted your Birthday card - Speak to you before then...

Mort did you get my text message - let me know!!

Ill post next in New Zealand - where the weather is going to be glorious and the hostel is going to be 4 star...

Take Care - Rich

Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road

Landed yesterday in a very humid Melbourne... Lovely place - a lot more chilled that Sydney and a great place to walk around... which I did most of yesterday... great blisters.

But today I went on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. 7am this morning I was picked up at the bus station and myself and another 36 passengers we're whizzed off up coast. The journey was pretty hair raising at times... esp. going round the tight bends of the corners whilst looking down shear cliff faces... Only small issue was the weather closed in.. a thick mist was coming in off the sea which messed up the visibility a little... Saw loads of Koala's in their tree's and went past bells beach (from the film point break apparently).

After lunch we headed to the spectacular Twelve Apostles... huge sandstone rocks sitting out at sea... as the weather had cleared up I decided to take advantage of the special offer the tour was offering - a helicopter ride over the Apostles... BLOODY AMAZING! It was like Magnum Pi's copter only it was white... Once we landed - the tour headed to Loch Ard Gorge -a huge cove which has a history of ship wrecks... the most famous one I forgotten.. genius...! From there to London Bridge - another huge rock and then home... cool day! Though the coach was half full of Korean and Japanese Tourists who I now believe do not know how to read the time.. seriously they were crap! Anyway - I'm off to bed as I'm knackered!!!

Hope all's well!

Goin upt'Manley

Well last day in Sydney was a blast.. headed over to Manley on the ferry to see Joey before I left for Melbourne. Once we got there (Me & Lee had hangovers) we headed out to Whale Beach, which was about a hours drive from Manley. Whale beach is a lovely quiet beach, nothing like the packed Bondi beach... Met some of Jo's mate's who'd we'd met the previous week.. good guys... Then did a bit of body surfing... I first tried this in Bondi and half of the ocean went up my nose but this time I was much better and managed to catch a wave!! Though the waves were much harder and bigger here so We were all knocked to the floor a few times... We followed this by a great game of volleyball... well, more like keep the ball in the air as long as poss.. all good fun. Then headed to Joeys house to meet her temporary housemate.. Tyrone.. a fantastically excitable Staffordshire Bull Terrier.. slobber everywhere!! After saying our goodbyes to Jeppy - headed back to Bondi to pack!!! Now off to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road...

Oh - just before I finish - never got chance to do the Blue Mountains.. I had planned two days to do them... the first day was Sydneys coldest November in recorded history and the second day the mountains had a huge Bush Fire - have put them on my to do list for my next Oz Holiday!!


PS: Bought some Raybans... 40 quid BARGAIN!!!!!

R.I.P Oakley

Today I hate Australia...

shouldn't last too long,

but I hate it...

Anything remotely Australian is bad,

BAD!!!

The reason being....

I've lost my bloody Oakley Sunglasses..!!!! I am gutted... went to the Aquarium with them, came out without them... legged round like a nutter trying to find them but unfortunately the place was full of kids.. so either there is a Ozzie kid walking round looking cool with them - or one of the sharks is wearing them... either way.. there all dead to me...

ahem.... So, if you see anything Australian after reading this email.. please kick/punch/growl/snarl at it and think of me....

But on a lighter side -I'm off to Melbourne in two days time and really starting to look forward to it + there are some great sunglasses Shops in Bondi Shopping Centre - might have to pop along and get some new ones...

:-)

Gone Fishing...

Hey all... well I'm sitting in the Internet cafe round the corner from my mates gaff... I stink of fish.. literally I have had the hottest shower in the world and still I can smell it....

Now I smell of fish because of the mini fishing trip we did today.. we travelled for an hour and 20 minutes up the coast to Palm Beach.. there we hired a small speed boat and went fishing... Its been great... little choppy which was quite fun and glorious sunshine (a complete contrast to yesterday - it was Sydney's coldest November in 100 years)...

Anyway.... we all did really well, I caught a couple of fish... I will say they we're huge, but I may be exaggerating and Lee and Steve caught some too.

Lee was the luckiest, he caught the biggest and the weirdiest - A fish called a leathercoat - no scales and a huge spike on its head. A one point we drifted too close to shore and you have never seen such pandemonium caused by three blokes on a boat trying to escape a little bunch of shore weed... so much so that I caught Steve's ear with my hook... then laughing so hard I sat on the tube of suncream and caused a Carry on type style explosion... genius.

After 4 hours we headed back.. think the bloke at the jetty must have been surprised seeing 3 lobsters walking of the boat... Luckily I'm not the reddist one. After that we took a walk up the beach... it was at this moment that the feelings of familiarity became clear.. It was the bloody Home and Away Beach! I'm now off home to bleach my hands... seriously they honk!

Hope all's well!

Dun Dun DUNFORDDDDDD

Well... landed in Sydney and I was in shock... so far my impression of OZ was dusty roads, searing heat, drunk abo's and flies. Walked out of Sydney airport in shorts, t-shirt and flipflops, then turned around and walked straight back in again - it was freezing... helping reinforce how hot the north was... It actually wasn't that cold, it was 25 deg.. I just went into mild shock.

The second thing that confused me was the fact that I could have been in London or Birmingham... it felt just like home - jumped in a taxi... and headed off to the Dunford's place...

Met with Dunny - still the same little Yorkshire man.. and met his flatmates all really nice and then had a nice surprise as Jeppy turned up. Once she'd stopped screaming we headed to the pub.. this is where things got blurry.. had a great night and the last thing I remember is 'paddling' in the sea whilst dunny and his mate Steve and Debs were swimming... this is when the sun began to rise (5.15am).

On the Saturday headed into the city (no hangover) and saw the sites... Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Botanical Gardens, HMV, Subway... all classics... it was more of a flying visit - going to head down this afternoon for a better mooch. But the sun was out and it was lovely. Yesterday headed to the Newtown Music festival, met Jeppy there and her mates.. and had a absolutely brilliant time... 3pm in a park, dancing like a nutter with a load of other crazed people.. got some ace shots... again will post when I can... Then headed to a house party (friends of Jeps).. again all good fun... and not a sniff of a hangover. Personally my body is in shock... I haven't drank properly for a month or so and Ive been out on the trot now for three days... im craving orange juice...

mmmm seems its started to rain... oh well off to the pub! Hope all's well!

Hotter than the sun

Hey all... been a while since I've last been on.. things are flying by here. Im currently in a internet cafe in Bondi.. with loads of crazed Italians around me talking on MSN..

Left Cairns on Tuesday - as I looked out of the plane window at the sea, I didn't realise that within a few hours id be craving to see it again... landed in Alice Springs.. lovely air conditioned airport, walked outside and the only way to describe it is... as if I'd walked into a blast furnace. It was 41 degree's.. Wow!

Cairns was hot but this place was nuclear... But guess that's what you get when you go to the desert... Hostel was cool, literally - as I had the air con on defcon 12!! Maximum impact - you could have froze chicken in my room.. it was ace.

Walked around Alice Springs.. and Im not one to be critical about a place until I've seen it all...

sooooo five minutes later after seeing it all I decided it was a shit hole... (sorry mom). This may seem negative but seriously the flying doctors tv program made it look glamorous.. If you like didgeree doo shops and drunk aborigines then head here - you'll love it.

But, this minor thing is so insignificant when I saw the sunset at Uluru (Ayres Rock)... Absolutely amazing... being that far away from civilisation (it takes 6 hours from Alice Springs via coach) makes you truly appreciate the vastness of the outback.

I took a two day tour from Alice Springs to Uluru, Kings Canyon and the Olga's. On my bus was a mixed group of people including Gold member baddie from Austin powers... mad Dutch man who loved acdc and who also wore a shell suit... classic. Some cool people on the bus including a couple called Dan and Sarah.. got chatting to them, both Graphic designers... I tell you you cant move for designers over here...

Firstly we went to Kings Canyon, and did a two hour hike over the top of it... brilliant, hot, but brilliant... It was 41 degree's in the shade and our guides thermometer hit 51 degree's at one point. Now quick side track.. our guide... called Boom, or as Dan and myself called him Wally alla Crocodile Dundee... talks like he knows his stuff but really you think... is he making this up? Nice guy though...

After the trek... went for swim.. best swim every... once all 20 of us jumped int he pool I think most of the water evaporated... From Kings canyon we drove to Uluru (a further three hours) and this is when we caught the sunset. That night I slept in a swag under the stars.. seriously it was ace... lying there just looking at the night sky... Beautiful - though every time a pidgeon farted you were awake checking for spiders... apart from that had a fantastic nights sleep.

Was woken up at 4.15 am by the good morning Vietnam soundtrack, very surreal. We then headed to see the sun rise at Uluru.... loads of people there. Then walked half way around it... from a distance it looks smooth but up close its a different story... loads of small caves and nooks and cranies everywhere... Here's a fact for you.. Uluru is a monolith and current scanning technology has estimated that it goes 6 miles underground... You'll bee telling people that in the pub tonight.

From here we went to the Olga's again a fantastic place.. huge rock formations and millions of flys........ the walk was ace though I was close to a nervous breakdown with swarms of flys.. I go mental at home if there is one fly in the house... there was tonnes here and all heading for me...

Left Ulura happy and contented and the fact I was heading back to A.Springs didn't bother me at all.... now off to Sydney!!

PADI PADI PADI

Hey all...

Well Im sitting in an internet cafe in Cairns and its boiling hot... I feel like I have cotton wool wrapped around my head... My ears are blocked from the diving yesterday... Been the docs and he's given me some antibiotics... and some decongestants.. So if you hear a loud whistling noise and then a mighty pop in the next few days then that's my ears clearing... Apart from this minor annoyance the whole diving experience has been fantastic.

I am now a qualified Adventure Diver...

I spent two days in the classroom and pool - learning the techniques of diving and getting kited up.. Then Friday morning at 6am I was on a boat (Scubapro III) sailing out to the reef... The Great Barrier Reef is about 3 hours out from Cairns and the Journey was cool.. Saw a dolphin and a turtle on the way out... Got to the reef and the water was fantastically clear... you could see the fish over the side of the boat... Got kited up - You dive in pairs.. I was 'buddied' up with a lad called Alex who was in the class with me... Alex is from Switzerland and was a good laugh..

Anyway stepped onto the back of the boat... Did final checks and then looked out to the horizon and stepped out... Well the moment I got my bearings and looked under the water for the first time I was hooked... all the White Shark attack programs I stupidly watched with my house mate Shaun were forgotten - Once in the water you didn't care what was in there as it was so enthralling that you forgot everything...

That evening a few of lay on the top deck of the boat watching the stars and gently drifting in the current... I would of fell asleep if it wasn't for the poor selection of 90's tunes playing through the ships speakers...

The next two dives were exam dives... did tests like removing your mask underwater and replacing it then clearing it, Removing your respirator then again replacing it... sharing air form your buddy etc.. after dive 4 I became qualified... and then Myself & Alex and another pair Eunice and Catherina dived in a qualification open water divers.. Saw some amazing things, giant clams, White tailed reef sharks, clown fish... again too many to mention... We then did a second test for to allow us to move up a level on the dive ladder... Adventure diving. The first test of this was diving at night...

Now, diving at night was at first a nervous experience... not helped by our instructor Dan briefing us about what to do should we see a large shark as they were more common at night... By this point my stomach has turned upside down and I suddenly felt sick... That's when it clicked that Dan was winding us all up... git. So in I jumped and surprisingly it was quite clear & bright underneath... the light from the boat lit up a whole area... Fish at night are completely different.. The predators come out and the day fish sleep. Having just a torchlight to navigate/see by is actually really cool cause strangely you relax more and just take it all in.. saw another reef shark and huge walls of coral all pretty awe inspiring....

Two dives left and the first of those was to 30 meters... Once I had equalized my ears.. I swam down to 30 meters and sat on the ocean floor... There we did some mental tests... At 30 meters the pressure of the water can cause an drunken effect (narcosis) on the brain and simple tasks can become difficult... I then... Had a drink of coca cola from a can at 30 meters below the ocean... And it tasted great...

Not much left... The final dive was off a small dingy, and this time I took a camera... Now my respect for underwater photography has tripled... It was really difficult to concentrate on the diving as well as taking a good shot.. Professional UW photographers have my respect... Got some ok pics... will post them as soon as I fugure out how.... So now Im a qualified Adventure Diver - I am going to try and get some more dives in either Sydney or Auckland...

Off now to sway back to the hostel.. the blocked ears are still telling my brain im on a boat and it feels weird... and off to Alice springs and Uluru tomorrow...

Hope alls well.. Rich.