Natalie and Jemma's Travels

Decided to do a bit of ice skating in Lake Tekapo. It was an outdoor rink surrounded by snow covered mountains and views of the lake.We spent a bit too long there possibly but it was fun. That same night we were asked by a couple of Japanese men to be in a couple of photos for the stargazing company, so us with a few other folk from the magic bus toddled off into a bus and went to do some stargazing and do some posing. Our bus driver Dusty came along, very funny for us, probably not so much for the girl filming us. Ended up with free stargazing along with me saying a few words into the camera, not the best plan, but was a good laugh and free is always good. Next day was a complete lazy day, it was raining a tad so we stayed inside most of the day watching the star wars trilogy and eating chocolate- it was very much needed. The next day consisted of a treacherous walk up a large hill that had sheets of ice on the path and very windy once we got to the top, great 360 views though. I ended up on my ass most of the way down. More magical people joined us that afternoon and we headed over to the outdoor hotpools which was so relaxing along with the sauna. We left Lake Tekapo the next morning and arrived in Christchurch about lunchtime, we had a wander round Christchurch where there was a winter festival. We left Christchurch the next day to go to Kaikoura, we stop at a point along the coast where there was a seal colony. We were supposed to go dolphin watching in Kaikoura but it got cancelled because of the weather. We left Kaikoura the next morning to go back to Picton to get the ferry back to the north island, on the way we stopped at another seal colony which was alot closer than the last one. We also got the chance to to walk up to a waterfall which was full of seal pups playing in the water. When we arrived they started jumping out the water as if they were putting on a show for us. Picton looked completely different on a sunny day and the ferry journey was completely different to the last time, it was a much calmer day and we got some really nice views of the cook straight and some of the mountains on the south island. It was weird being back in Wellington again, and we stayed in the same hostel again. We just spent one night in Wellington before making out way to Napier, we got the same bus driver for the north island again. On the way to Napier we stopped at the Mount Bruce wildlife centre, where we got to see some Kiwi birds which were alot smaller than I thought they would be. Unfortunately we couldn't see the tuatara . We finally made it to Napier about 3.30pm but most places were shut because it was a sunday, Napier is a nice place. All the buildings are Art Deco style because most of the town was destroyed by an earthquake in the 30s and the town was rebuilt. It would have been good to have had a wander round if more had been open. The hostel was really nice but slightly creepy because there was only us and one other person staying there. We moved again the next morning for our last stop before we got back to Auckland. On the way to Mount Manguani we had to go up through some mountains, the bus was struggling to make it up the hills and we had to keep stopping, we eventually had to turn back to Napier to get a replacement bus which meant we were about 3hrs behind. We had to pick up/drop people off in Taupo and Rotoura but we had already stayed a night in both places so we carried on to Mount Manguani. We didn't get there until about 5ish beacuse of the delay so we just went a walk down the beach and watch the sunset behind the mountain, it was a really clear day so it was really nice. The next day we finally made our way back to Auckland, and arrived back there about lunch time, we spent the afternoon stocking up on anything we would need while we were in fiji and then we went to the cinema to see the hangover. The next morning we left to go up north to the bay of islands for one night before we left for Fiji. We got picked up at 7.30am to go to Pahia, it was a small mini bus this time rather than a coach. We arrived in Pahia about lunch time and had lunch and then a walk along the beach, it was a really nice day. We could actually walk about in a t-shirt which you couldn't do anywhere else we had been in New Zealand. We just spent the night watching some films in the hostel and then we left again the next morning to go back to Auckland. We went to Hanuru falls just out of Pahia after we got picked up early, then it was another couple of hours before we stopped again. We made a stop at a tourist site where we got to watch a video about Opo the dolphin, which showed how the dolphin was so lonely after getting lost on his own that he started to play with people instead. We had another couple of stops on the way and finally made it back to Auckland in the late afternoon. We spent the night rearranging our backpacks for Fiji!

Sorry for the lack of updates to anyone still reading this, this will be quite brief!

We arrived in Auckland from Sydney and the view from the plane reminded us of Scotland, rainy. We had a day in Auckland before we started our Magic Bus journey, but we didn't really do much there. The next day we left for Rotorua, we stopped in Waitomo on the way and visited the glow-worm caves. We left Rotorua the next morning and visited the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal mud pools and then the Huka Falls before arriving in Taupo where we would spent the night. We moved again the next day to Wellington, on the way to Wellington we saw some of the scenery that was used in the Lord of Rings films. We spent two nights in Wellington, we spent the first afternoon walking round seeing the city. It was really cold in Wellington as it is on the coast, so we spent the next day in the museum (which was also free). The next morning we caught the ferry to the south island, the ferry takes about 3hrs and you actually have to check your baggage on like your going on a plane. The sea was quite rough going across, I sat outside for almost the whole journey despite the cold. The water was calmer once we entered the Cook Strait where we had amazing views, but I couldn't believe how close we were to the land on either side at some points. The ferry arrives in a place called Picton where we spent the night, it was really cold here and the hostel was almost as cold as outside, New Zealand has no central heating. We went a walk and got slightly lost, but we did find our way in the end. After Picton we moved on to Nelson we didn't really have much time in here, but we found a shop to stock up on some more warms clothes before we got further south. The next day we left Nelson for Greymouth and there was only 6 of us on the bus that day. On the way to Greymouth we stopped at Cape Foulwind where we saw a seal colony. We also saw Punakaiki Rocks, these are also known as pancake rocks because they look like stacks of pancakes. We spent the night in Greymouth and went on the Monteith brewery tour, where we got as much beer as we could drink and Jemma got to pull her own pint. This was followed by an all you can eat BBQ. The next day we were heading to Franz Josef, along the way we stopped at Hokitika where we got to see some Pounamu or greenstone being carved, then we stopped at Ross where we saw a demonstration of gold panning. It was a really nice day so we also got the oppourtunity to stop at Lake Weed where we got some really good pictures of the mountains mirrored in the lake. We arrived in Franz Josef about lunch time and Jemma and I went on a half day glacier hike. We were well equipped for this adventure, complete with boots and crampons. It was a really good day and we climbed about half way up the glacier, there were parts that we had to actually crawl through but it was all fun. We went back to the hostel and warmed up in the spa pool and then met up with a few people in Franz Josef's only pub. We were upstairs in the pub and not long after we got there we could feel the building swaying and see the furniture moving, it took us a few minutes to realise it was an earthquake! We were shocked to hear in the news that it was New Zealands biggest earthquake in 80 years. It was then off to Queenstown, we were supposed to have a stop at Lake Matheson on the way but it was raining so we wouldn't have got any good view of the Lake, so we didn't bother. We went out for the bus drivers birthday out first night in Queenstown, we went to a bar where you got your cocktails served to you in a tea pot :-)! The next day I was doing paragliding at 1pm and Jemma was doing the Nevis Bungy at 2.30pm. I did my paragliding from Coronet Peak, it was freezing standing in the snow on top of the mountain. It was so weird running off the side of a mountain, but it was amazing when I was in the air, there was amazing views- I really enjoyed it. On our last day in Queenstown we went on a trip to Milford Sound, this was a 12hr long trip (7am-7pm). We stopped in Te Anu on the way anda few more photo stops in the Fiordland National Park, there was quite a lot of snow lying on the windy round to milford. The bus driver was expecting more snow to fall but it never happened. When we arrived in Milford we caught a boat to travel on the fiord to the start of the Tasman Sea and then Back to Milford Sound. The weather wasn't that great, it was really misty, wet and windy and we couldn't see alot of the scenery. But the driver called it moody and atmospheric since it apparently looks better in the rain. After we got off the ferry we just made our way back to Queenstown and we went out to a pub to watch the rugby, All Blacks vs Australia and the All Blacks won!! The next morning we left for Dunedin, which is the Edinburgh of the southeren hemisphere complete with Princes Street and a robert burns statue. We went on a tour of the Cadbury World Chocolate Factory, it was sunday so the factory wasn't actually operating. But we still got some free samples and got to see 1 tonne of liquid chocolate fall through the silo. Before leaving Dunedin the next morning we first visited the worlds steepest street, Baldwin Street. It was a tough walk to the top lol. The next stop was the Moeraki Boulders, a collection of huge boulders which are scattered along the beach. We also stopped at the Benmore Dam, the largest earth dam in the souther hemisphere and then we stopped to get some amazing views and pictures of Mount Cook the highest mountain in New Zealand. We then arrived in Lake Tekapo where we are staying 3 nights.

We arrived in Sydney after another 13hr overnight bus journey, and got the bus out to palm beach (where they film home and away for those who don't know) it was a really nice beach and it was weird to sit outside the surf club with Alf Stewarts name on it. On the way back to the city we stopped in Manly and got the ferry back into Sydney. It was dark by now, so we got an amazing view of the city skyline all lit up and got great pictures of the opera house. The next day we went to the Sydney aquarium, where we finally found nemo! Melissa was coming down from Brisbane to join us for a few days, when she arrived we went down to darling harbour where we had dinner and some drinks. On friday morning we headed to Bondi beach, it was a really beautiful beach and there was hardly anyone on it because it was such a cold wind. We walked along the cliffs from Bondi beach to Bronte beach and got great views back to Bondi. We got the bus back to the city since we were doing our bridge climb tonight. We started the bridge climb about 4ish after we had got all the equipment we had to wear including the overalls, harness, gloves, hat, jacket, fleece, headset, radio and all these things had to be clipped on to you. It was then time to try the "simulator" which was basically up a ladder, over a platform and down a ladder at the other end. When we finally started to climb the bridge the sun was starting to set so we still got to see the city in daylight and by the time we got to the top it was dark and so cold and very windy. We later found out it was about 70km/hr winds, there was also lightning in the distance which was quite cool. We all really enjoyed the bridge climb despite the the cold and wind. It was good to get back in to the warmth. The next day we were going on a trip to the Blue Mountains, on the way to the blue mountains we stopped at the olympic stadium and also went a short bush walk and saw some kangaroos in the wild. It was then time for a longer walk down to wentworth falls, it was really cold. After some lunch there was more walking, down 1000 steps through rain forest. Thankfully we were not walking back up, instead we got the train back up on the worlds steepest railway track. We went back to sydney and went out to darling harbour for the night. We spent our last day in sydney doing the things we hadn't got round to yet, including having pancakes at the rocks and we also took the ferry to manly again. We spent our last night at the ice bar where even the glasses were made of ice!

We didn't have a good start to Noosa since after looking at all the hostels and booking one in a rush we had forgotten the name of the one we booked. So we actually got dropped off at the wrong hostel where we didn't have a booking and then had to get taken to the right hostel. It was lucky that the two hostels kind of work together but we still felt a bit stupid lol. Noosa is quite a fancy place with lots of shops, which we spent an afternoon looking round and Jemma nearly bought a dress but changed her mind. We had a quite a walk from the hostel into the town and we did it too many times within the 2days we were there. We got ready to go out and walked all the way into the town to find out that almost everywhere was shut and it was only about 8.30pm. We still had a good night anyway. We had a surfing lesson booked for the next day and we were told we would get picked up about 1.20pm, about an hour later we were still sitting there. There had apparently been some kind of mix up and they had tried to pick us up at a different hostel, so we thought we had missed out on our lesson But they phoned back a couple of minutes later and said they would give us an hour lesson for free and they would come pick us up. We got a very brief intro into surfing (like 1min) and were then left to try it on our own. We learned a few things from surfing:
1. Its very hard.
2. The surf boards are alot heavier than they look and carrying them on top of your head like the instructor tells you doesn't help at all.
3. You can't escape bruises, sore arms, cuts and scrapes on your shins.
4. The surf board will attack you at some point.
5. Its good fun!

We then left for Brisbane the next morning and for the first time in our months travelling we had to walk with all our luggage from the Bus Station to the hostel. Even though it was only a 5min walk it took us a good bit longer especially since there was a hill involved. We spent the afternoon walking round the city centre and met up with Melissa (my friend that is working over here) and we went to Nandos for dinner The next day we walked around the South Bank area of the city and had a walk around the markets. We then had some dinner and walked along the river taking some photos of the city at night and got slightly lost. We found our way back eventually via Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

After an overnight bus journey of about 13 hours- fun times. Hostel was nice, beach was yet again gorgeous- u think they could share some of those beaches with us. Not much got done here, lazed on the beach, actually got dressed up for once and headed out for a meal n some wine at an Irish bar. Yup all the way across the world to feel almost at home.
Another bus journey and we arrived in the sweetly named Rainbow beach, where we stay on rainbow road and there is a pot of gold at the end of it.
The main tourist attraction is a car stuck in the sand. Its a mystery spanning centuries of how the car got there?- who were the owners? where are they from? where are they now?
Only kiddin people, just wanted to make this blog more interesting. We think it was probably a couple of idiots who decided to sleep there one night and when they woke up, they were stuck. But the other story sounds better.
Free BBQ tonight. Yas.
By the way its Jem writing this, incase you didnt guess from the grammer and lingo