Thanks to all our hosts

 

Australia

Heather for letting us stay in her beautiful apartment in Cannonvale and to Sheena as well for entertaining us with the wallies.

Paul and Lynn for hosting us in Maleny Montville with some excellent cooking and a great trip around the area.

NZ

Dee and Hannah for looking after us so well (and their cats for entertaining us) in Napier. I’ve become addicted to the ginger nut biscuits Dee introduced us  to. Not sure they’ve done much good for our teeth as they are considerably harder than the English ones.

Mark and Christina for opening their house to us in Bendigo.  It was great to do shorter trips and come back and have a bed! And the drill/screwdriver came in handy for fixing the van. Not forgetting Dexter and Archie and their antics. I’ve also developed a liking for ginger beer! Luckily it is available in the UK.

And Christina for the night time tour of Auckland with all the spectacular boats.

Rachele for some excellent home cooking (especially the roast dinners!). Adam and Finn for taking us up the Port Hills in Lyttelton and nearly killing the pair of us.  Liam and Finn for washing the van for us.

USA

We also wanted to say thanks to Chris’s brother Zac and family for putting us up in California.

Rick Decker in Hawaii was very helpful with photography and diving tips. We much appreciated their home grown eggs. Gigi the cat was good (if noisy) company there.

Hong Kong and home

A whirlwind tour of Hong Kong.

I've been several times before as my brother lived out there for years but Chris hasn't.

The airport express train into central HK is a great introduction to the city. It's clean, fast, shows you where you are on the journey and delivers you into the centre of Hong Kong island itself. It puts London to shame.

They are lot less concerned about people taking photographs here than in the UK. We went into the HSBC bank building and asked a security guard if we could take photos and he said yes to the atrium and no to the banking hall which is reasonable. We also went up the Bank of China tower to the 43rd floor where there is a special viewing area which has a panoramic outlook over the harbour. Again no problems with photos here.

A wander through the conservatory and the aviary in Hong Kong park and then on the Peak Tram. This is incredibly steep and you are pushed back into the seat at several points on the short journey. Again a fantastic view from the Peak Tower (about 5 storeys above where the Peak Tram arrives). Very busy up here as it is a popular tourist spot.

The MTR (the equivalent of our tube) is also very good. The carriages are much wider and taller and cleaner. There are fewer seats but that doesn't seem to matter. The Octopus payments system is better than Oyster as you don't need to take it out of your pocket or bag to pay as it can read from a distance. Makes it much faster getting through the gates.

We ventured to Mongkok to look at electronics stuff. The prices don't seem that much different to the UK. Bought a new strap and battery for my camera. A very busy place and you can't walk down the pavement in a straight line as there are people coming at you from all directions. This is more like the 'real' HK. Scruffy buildings and people selling things on the street. Shopping is a major pastime here.

Another trip on the airport express and dinner in the airport.
Up early the next day to get our plane back to London.

The plane was completely full (still trying to sort out people after the problems from the Icelandic volcano) but I had a friendly kiwi woman next to me and we didn't feel too cramped. I definitely prefer day time flights as I find it very difficult to sleep on planes.  The Air NZ entertainment system and a couple of books and the 13.5 hours seemed to fly by (not quite but they definitely made it go more quickly)

Heathrow Terminal One is a very bad introduction back to London. It's small and cramped and feels dirty in comparison with the lovely airport in HK. At least our bags turned up relatively quickly. It's always an anxious moment waiting by the baggage carousel. We were lucky and didn't have any problems at all whilst we were travelling.

My parents collected us and drove us home. A bit of unpacking and an early night as still on HK time (+8 hours).

Our 96 day trip is over. We left in the cold, in the middle of winter, and arrived back in late spring. The garden is full of flowers and scents. No frogspawn in the pond as I think it was too cold for the frogs. Lots of birds singing now and bluebells coming out.

It's good to be home for the moment. Not sure what is happening with the political situation as we arrived home just before the election and now we have a hung parliament. Don't know what this will mean economically.

We need to seriously consider where we want to live over the next few years. New Zealand is an attractive option as there doesn't seem to be a recession there. Australia has too many creepy crawlies for me and I'm not sure we fit the entry criteria.

It's been a fantastic journey and opened our eyes to lots of possibilities. It was also great to catch up with old friends and to make some new ones. We are likely to have visitors later this year from both NZ and Oz.

I'll put up a summary of our favourite places later on.

Queensland and on

An easy flight from Proserpine to Brisbane and Paul collected us from the airport.

He lives about an hour and a half outside Brisbane in what is known as the hinterland. We passed the Glasshouse Mountains which are apparently plugs of rocks left from old volcanoes and were named by Captain Cook when he saw them from his ship.

Brisbane was pretty warm but it is much cooler where they live as they are up on a mountain and actually on the side of a cliff with fabulous views across to the coast. It seems more European here - there are green fields and cows. It's a popular tourist area and the local town of Montville seems to only have tourist shops. It's very pretty with lots of attractive buildings. 

We met Paul's wife Lynn and their two children Oliver and Alexandra. We even had the fire on that evening as it gets quite damp up there. Lovely home cooked food - Lynn is an excellent cook.

You have to be aware of the wildlife around here. They get big (and I do mean big) huntsman spiders which live in the post box outside or crawl into vehicles if you leave doors open. Paul had to find and then dispose of one which got into their car. At one point he was kneeling down looking for it and it was looking right back at him from the rear seat. A bit too close for comfort. Luckily this was before we arrived and we didn't see any whilst we were there. They also have mouse eating ones.    Lynn said she had seen one of these. The Australia Zoo (owned originally by Steve Irwin) is nearby and they have loads of birds and animals including crocodiles.

Paul took us on a tour of the sunshine coast - lovely sandy beaches and pretty towns. People lead a good life here. We were looking over the beach at Coolum and loads of teenage schoolkids went past us with a teacher and had their PE class swimming in the ocean. Much better than the local swimming pool in the UK!

There's a sand recycling project on the beach at Noosa Heads. It provides around 30,000 cubic metres of sand a year and this stops the beach disappearing. It's a lovely beach with a river running through it to the ocean.

Next day we were off again back to Brisbane airport down to Sydney and then onto our final stop in Hong Kong. I got scanned for explosives again at Brisbane (I must look very suspicious!)

We upgraded our seats on the Virgin flight to Hong Kong to premium economy. This mean we had more leg room, foot rests and more food and drink than we could consume. They even brought round bars of chocolate. Funnily enough the seats are no wider as they are all fixed and the armrests do not move. I believe this is still the same in the business/first class areas as well. So if you are wide bottomed people you are probably better off with sharing three seats in economy between two as long as the armrests go back properly.

Found our hotel in HK - it is attached to the airport terminal via a walkway. It was around midnight by the time we got to bed. A long day starting in one continent and ending in another.

Rain(forests) and Diving

 

Heather took us for a short walk through the local rainforest. Not many people know about this particular place so we only saw two other people whilst we were walking. The trees here grow very tall due to the sunshine, rainfall and humidity. We saw some very tall strangler figs which have overtaken their original host trees. Some of them had massive buttresses taller than we were. There are also some trees where the fruit grows directly on the trunks rather than the branches. Also lots of vines twining their way around other trees. Quite appropriately it started raining when we were about three quarters of the way round so we did the last bit whilst under umbrellas.

Umbrellas seem essential items here. For all it is known as sunny Queensland it has an awful lot of rain. Heather has been measuring the rain for the last few years and has asked us to continue doing it whilst she is away. If they have a storm it can exceed the capacity of the rain gauge which is 100cm. They had around 95cm during the recent cyclone. We’ve typically been getting 1-3cm over the last few days. It’s warm rain and soon dries out. The wet season has officially finished here but the rain is still coming down. The first week was hot, sunny and dry but the last few days have been very showery. It’s still warm – around 26 degrees – so it is very humid at times. Luckily we have aircon if necessary.

We have bought stinger suits so we can go snorkelling on our own.  Hopefully tomorrow up near Cape Gloucester depending upon the weather and the road as it has lots of floodways which may no longer be dry given recent rain.

Finally some proper diving as the ones we did previously were not very good. A 3 hour bumpy cruise to the Great Barrier Reef and Knuckle Reef. The shipping channel had 3 metre swells which are quite big when you are in a large catamaran and the waves are coming at you on the diagonal.

We had an excellent hour long dive off Knuckle Reef. Cruise Whitsundays have a pontoon moored there and the boat attaches to it and stays there all day so you can go between them. You go diving through a moonpool – down some steps under the pontoon and straight into the water. There’s an undersea viewing platform next to it so you can also see the fish without getting wet.  The fish are waiting for you as you descend. It’s a bit like James Bond…

A very relaxing amble alongside the reef whilst taking photographs. Lots of beautiful corals – there are over 150 types here both hard and soft. Plus loads of clams of brilliant turquoise, blue and other colours. The fish seemed a bonus on top of it. Lots of colourful little reef fish and a few larger ones. We both came out very happy and so did the dive guide as he had an easy dive with us.

Another 3 hour journey back and again through the bumpy shipping channel for about 45 minutes. Getting dark by the time we docked at 6pm so home for supper and an early night before 9pm as were both knackered both from diving and sea sickness tablets. I’ve uploaded some photos to Flickr but will put some more on later.

Whitsundays

 

Here in the Whitsundays the weather is rather changeable at this time of year. It’s the end of the ‘wet’ season and getting colder. Colder is a relative term here it means temperatures under 25 degrees and sometimes even as low as 22 degrees. Some people may have to sleep under blankets.

I’m writing this whilst listening to a tropical rainstorm. It’s pretty impressive as the clouds have come right down and we can barely see any boats any more. The noise on the tin roof over the terrace is very loud. The waterfall at Cedar Creek should be flowing strongly after this.

Yesterday we went up to Cape Gloucester, an eco resort about 45 minutes away. Most of the road is paved but the last bit is a gravel road with lots of crossing points for water. Some of the earlier floodways have level markers on them some of them going up to 2 metres. That’s a lot of flooding!

Cape Gloucester is very pretty with crystal clear seas and a lovely sandy beach. We had lunch overlooking the gardens with a butcher bird singing nearby. After a walk on the beach we decided to have another drink before leaving. Both of us opted for coca cola and sat down on bar stools to drink it. No sooner had we sat down and taken a few sips than we were joined by a pretty rainbow lorikeet. Green, blue and orange in colour and very tame. It jumped around our glasses and then jumped onto mine and proceeded to drink from it. It was after the sugar, I’m not sure that the caffeine was any good for it though.  It hopped onto my finger and then up my arm and onto the glass again when I tried to take it off. Then it hopped towards Chris’s glass and landed on his tummy! The chef fed two of them on his fingers. They love anything sweet. Apparently the cleaner feeds them first thing in the morning and it’s not unusual to see 17 or so.

Heather and I went to an aqua aerobics class this morning. Eleven of us in a pool overlooking the sea wearing sunscreen, hats and sunglasses. Beats an indoor pool in the UK. Wally sitting tonight whilst they took Guinness for a walk.  I also fed both of them through tiny little tubes. They only have a small quantity at present.

An evening picnic with Heather and Sheena of fish and chips next to the beach. Very civilised with tablecloth and glasses and beers. We discovered we had all stayed in the same resort in Fiji at different times and even in the same bure (room)! It’s a very small world.

Australia – Brisbane and the Whitsundays

After an easy flight from Christchurch we found ourselves in Brisbane.

Central Westend apartments are very conveniently located for the South Bank which has its own lagoon and beach set just back from the river complete with lifeguards and surfboards.

Lunch with Virginia who I used to work with from London in a cafe overlooking the river. Lots of suggestions on places to visit. There’s also a good view from the Goodwill foot/cycle bridge over the river. Another bridge is beautifully lit up at night.

A good introduction to Brisbane is to take a trip on the river. We went on the City Cat which zigzags its way across the river. The weather was a bit of a change after NZ. About 28 degrees with lots of humidity. The river trip was a welcome excursion with a lovely breeze.

Back to the airport again and off to Proserpine which serves the Whitsunday coast. A tiny little airport where they bring out the baggage on trucks and you help yourself. As it was just after Easter the flight was full.

Heather, an old friend of my mother’s, collected us from the airport. Air conditioned cars are wonderful as the humidity was even higher.  Heather is letting us stay in her ‘unit’ which is a one bedroom apartment on their property. Fantastic views over the Whitsunday Islands – beautiful blue seas and skies. Apparently green turtles are common here and dugongs (like manatees) like the local bays. As do the crocodiles we were told. There is a ‘saltie’ in the next bay along so no swimming there. Also at this time of year there are box jellyfish in the water which can be most unpleasant if they sting you. Stinger suits are the order of the day if you go into the water unless it is an area netted off against them.

Cyclone Ului hit Airlie Beach about 3 weeks ago. Luckily it came at it from the land side so the damage wasn’t too bad. It was (only!) a category 3 (it goes up to 5) but enough to mean that power, telephones and internet were all out for a few days. Lots of trees damaged as well. Heather’s property in Cannonvale was protected by the hill behind it but still lots of clearing up to do afterwards.

Heather’s sister Sheena is a ‘Wally sitter’. What may you ask is that? Adult wallabies are sometimes  hit by cars and killed but their joeys survive and need someone to help look after them until they can be released into the wild at about 1 year old. Sheena has two of them which she is looking after for someone else for two weeks. They require 4 feeds a day at around every 5 hours so it is quite a commitment. She brought them round to Heather’s house and we went out on a walk on our first evening. Heather, Sheena, Chris  and I accompanied by Guinness the dog (half greyhound and half Staffordshire bull terrier) and one of the wallies which I carried around in a cloth bag. It was very curious about everything and kept putting its head out of the bag to see what was going on.

Cedar Creek Falls are a well known local attraction. A lovely waterfall and a deep pool in which you can swim. It’s great swimming in freshwater as you don’t have to worry about showering off the salt afterwards. Our little Sunday afternoon expedition included all of the people and animals mentioned in my previous paragraph plus the second Wally. Sheena and I sharing the backseat of the car with the dog and the wallies was very cosy. Guinness took up most of it.

The first few days up here were lovely weather and very hot. A shopping trip to buy some lighter clothes and haircuts helped sort us out.

We booked a day cruise on Reefjet – a jet powered boat which only needs 0.6m of water to be able to move. A couple of short dives (in stinger suits rather than wetsuits) off Cateran Bay showed the damage the cyclone had wrought – sand everywhere and very poor visibility – only about 3 metres. It was like being in the English channel but in warmer water as the sea temperature was 27 degrees. Lots of lovely corals and some fish but no good for taking photographs. Our guide pointed out a glass shrimp which is quite rare. A tiny creature smaller than my fingernail.

Hill Inlet has lovely views across to Whitehaven Beach and on a sunny day the beach looks pure white as it is almost pure silica. When we visited it was rather cloudy and didn’t seem that much different from other beaches although the sand was finer when we walked on it.

Nelson and Canterbury

The weather forecast wasn’t brilliant so we chose to go north again to the top of the south island.

Back to the Abel Tasman national park.  Spent one night at the bottom end and the other at the top end. With a trip to a couple of beaches in between.  Fording rivers and driving along lots (!) of very narrow roads.

Lots of sunshine to start with and then the weather turned a bit colder.

Drove along to the Marlborough Sounds and lots more winding roads.
Spent the night in Okiwi Bay (nothing there but the campsite and a restaurant that opened 3 days a week none of them whilst we were there). More windy roads and several photo stops took us to French Pass. There’s an impressive tidal race there as there is an island very near to the mainland. Beautiful weather and then drove back through the clouds and forests down to Blenheim.

Felt like summer had returned again here and also in Kaikoura. Dolphins jumping out of the water and lots of seals basking on the beaches.

Down to Lyttelton near Christchurch and I think it was around 26 degrees. Spent a couple of evenings catching chickens. Adam got 5 new chickens and they decided to make a bid for freedom into the next door garden. On the first evening we went out after dark with torches and climbed over the fence and went on a chicken hunt.  Found 3 in a tree and managed to catch two but the third one didn’t like the commotion and escaped whilst Adam was holding it. Left the others until the next night and found two more roosting in a tree. Caught them relatively easily. The last one has been left to its freedom for the moment. Today Adam clipped the wings on the four we caught so they shouldn’t disappear again.

It’s our last night in NZ as we are off to Brisbane tomorrow. We have to return the can on the way to the airport so have been busy cleaning it. Liam and Finn earned some pocket money vacuuming and polishing it. They especially enjoyed the hose and cleaning the outside. So much so that they cleaned their parents cars as well.

Sad to be leaving NZ after 8 weeks but looking forward to spending time in Australia.