Well we have now arrived in New Zealand. The flight over was very nice and i slept, ate and listened to my m pod however the check in and security bit before hand was not so relaxed. Basically we had very little time to pack our bags before we had to go to the airport as the flight was at 9.15 meaning we had to be at the airport for 7.15 meaning we had to wake up at 5.45!!!!! so in my hand luggage was a very sharp and pretty dangerous object which did not go down very well with the x ray machine! after my bag being stared at for a long time and sent through the x ray machine a couple more times they decided to empty my full bag on the table in front of me. not only was this pretty annoying but i also had some things in there which caused a bit of embarrassment to me such as lots of rubbish from a long time ago a bottle of suncream and some cosmetic pads i had recently bought! the cosmetic pads particularly seemed to amuse the security guard who had, worryingly, started to put rubber gloves on! i thought i was going to be violated in possibly the worst way imaginable! but it turned out to be ok and i got to keep my dangerously sharp object!
When we landed in Christchurch we had to go and pick up our car for the next month. This was far easier than picking up the campervans and after half an hour we were ready to drive off. There is one slight twist and that is that the car is an automatic! it hasn't caused any problems yet but whenever i slow down my hand automatically goes out to grab the non existent gearstick and my foot tries to press the non existent clutch! pretty amusing! Anyway after a short drive we reached our first stop the Ellis family. They have been sooooo lovely to us 4 ragamuffins! they gave us a huge cooked meal (lasagna and pancakes) and we all have beds with CLEAN linen!!!!!!!! and they have carpets! for the whole 2 months i have not felt the luxury of carpet between the toes and my have i missed that feeling!! they also gave us a good idea of where to travel and some pretty tourist spots so that should be good! and they offered to have us for one more night which we are more than happy to oblige to!!
Anyway thats all for now
From the land of the hobbit goodbye
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
beaches, travelling and coldplay tomorrow!
At this moment i am sitting in a library in newcastle (no i haven't ran out of money and flown back to england where i have found a place to cower away in the shame of my ability to spend too much money). An old women has just tried to use a computer and it told her to wait for 30 mins. she did not like this at all and said ' no computer has ever told me what to do and in such a rude manner'! she is currently pulling out wires from the back of the computer and muttering profanities! my australian make me laugh!!
Anyway the last week or so we have been a bit more relaxed in the travelling and have taken our time to get down to newcastle (just above sydney) visiting many pretty beaches. The best place was probably byron bay. This was a pretty little bay with a long beach full of golden sands! We had a surf leasson with an old man here who looked rather homeless with no shoes and a stained white t-shirt. Despite this we (me tom and josh) had a really fun time and were, in my opinion, the best out of the group of 14!
Oh and we also saw our first wild kangaroos which was pretty exciting. We stopped on the side of the road and walked cautiously towards them. They were pretty tame and could have easily been someones pets. This was also the first time we saw kangaroos hop about as the ones in Australia zoo were lazy and didn't do too much moving.
I'm sure we did some other stuff but i can't quite remember. oh and i've just checked the football for the first time in ages and to my suprise liverpool beat real madrid 4 -0! thats a right whooping! good work lads! i know your all reading my blog!
Anyway the last week or so we have been a bit more relaxed in the travelling and have taken our time to get down to newcastle (just above sydney) visiting many pretty beaches. The best place was probably byron bay. This was a pretty little bay with a long beach full of golden sands! We had a surf leasson with an old man here who looked rather homeless with no shoes and a stained white t-shirt. Despite this we (me tom and josh) had a really fun time and were, in my opinion, the best out of the group of 14!
Oh and we also saw our first wild kangaroos which was pretty exciting. We stopped on the side of the road and walked cautiously towards them. They were pretty tame and could have easily been someones pets. This was also the first time we saw kangaroos hop about as the ones in Australia zoo were lazy and didn't do too much moving.
I'm sure we did some other stuff but i can't quite remember. oh and i've just checked the football for the first time in ages and to my suprise liverpool beat real madrid 4 -0! thats a right whooping! good work lads! i know your all reading my blog!
Sunday, 1 March 2009
g'day mate, throw another shrimp on the barbie and all that
well the last few days have been filled with rather eventful traveling. But before that we went on a trip to Cape Tribulation which is a rainforest leading onto a beach just north of cairns. We were greeted in the early morning by our tour guide called billy mcdonald who turned out to be the best tour guide in the word ever. He would laugh and joke and play tricks on people and he had an australian accent! what more can you ask for! Anyway cape tribulation was really nice and is the second largest rainforest in the world! the day started off with a rainforest walk than we went for lunch followed by a trip to the beach and then a swim in a fresh water lake which was pretty nippy but fun! this was also the day where i found out i was allergic to a certain kind of fish i had for lunch which left me covered in swellings and a rash! not good! At the time i wasn't too sure what was going on but luckily there were 3 really nice nurses on the trip who told me what was wrong and even took me to the pharmasist who got me to take off my t shirt and gave me some antihistamines. after a day i was back to my normal unswolen and un-rashed self. however the pharmasist told me to not eat fish for a bit of time as she thought i could have developed an allergy to ALL fish!! i think she wasn't telling the truth so i will go back to eating fish soon!
Anyway the next day we picked up our campervans after alot of hassle with putting down bonds for both the vans. Also it turns out i can drive the campers which was a pleasant suprise! Basically the last few days have just been filled with traveling in the rain to get down to the prettier, sunnier and wavier south of Australia. We have however fitted in some fantastic trips to different islands. The first we visited was the whitsunday islands. These are a group of 74 islands most of which are pretty untouched. We decided to go for a 3 island tour and so the next day we boarded our boat and headed for the best island, whitsunday island. The weather was scorching and the sand was cool and pleasant between the toes! however to get into the sea we had to wear stinger suits which prevent jellyfish stings but make you look like a ballet dancer! We wore these rediculous outfits and entered the sea and attempted to perfect our 4 man tower of people! we are pretty close but can't quite manage it yet! perhaps a bit more muscle is needed! We then went on to visit the other two islands where we went to a place that was like a rundown butlins and another island where we went snorkelling in very murky water and only saw a few little fish. On the way beack to cheer our moods up we stared longingly into the captains driving bit and he saw us and let us sit in his posh driver chair which was good fun! the next few days we just travelled in the pouring rain for about 10000000 km and saw a 3m python and a possum and some kangaroos in a farm.
The next place that i will mention is Frasier island. This was probably the best place i have visited so far in australia. The island is the largest sand island in the world and has a wide variety of ecosystems from rainforests to deserts. Our tourguide for the day was an old man called Captain Kangaroo! you can't get more australian than that! As it was all built on sand we had to go on a 4 by 4 bus which was rather bumpy but extremely fun! At one point we went on the largest sand highway that is also used as an aeroplane runway and people are allowed to sunbake!! mad! We then went on to have a walk around the rainforest copntaining dingo's and other animals. The highlight of the day was by far going to lake mackenzie. it was a fresh water lake that looked sooooo idilic and just really nice. We met some other english people and attempted to make a huge human pyramid in the water. the closest we got was 3 at the botton the 2 then 2 again! so not bad!
Anyway the weather is really nice here and we can go in the sea and surf and bodyboard! it hasn't rained for ages and we are all working up quite a tan!
Hope everyone else is having fun!
Anyway the next day we picked up our campervans after alot of hassle with putting down bonds for both the vans. Also it turns out i can drive the campers which was a pleasant suprise! Basically the last few days have just been filled with traveling in the rain to get down to the prettier, sunnier and wavier south of Australia. We have however fitted in some fantastic trips to different islands. The first we visited was the whitsunday islands. These are a group of 74 islands most of which are pretty untouched. We decided to go for a 3 island tour and so the next day we boarded our boat and headed for the best island, whitsunday island. The weather was scorching and the sand was cool and pleasant between the toes! however to get into the sea we had to wear stinger suits which prevent jellyfish stings but make you look like a ballet dancer! We wore these rediculous outfits and entered the sea and attempted to perfect our 4 man tower of people! we are pretty close but can't quite manage it yet! perhaps a bit more muscle is needed! We then went on to visit the other two islands where we went to a place that was like a rundown butlins and another island where we went snorkelling in very murky water and only saw a few little fish. On the way beack to cheer our moods up we stared longingly into the captains driving bit and he saw us and let us sit in his posh driver chair which was good fun! the next few days we just travelled in the pouring rain for about 10000000 km and saw a 3m python and a possum and some kangaroos in a farm.
The next place that i will mention is Frasier island. This was probably the best place i have visited so far in australia. The island is the largest sand island in the world and has a wide variety of ecosystems from rainforests to deserts. Our tourguide for the day was an old man called Captain Kangaroo! you can't get more australian than that! As it was all built on sand we had to go on a 4 by 4 bus which was rather bumpy but extremely fun! At one point we went on the largest sand highway that is also used as an aeroplane runway and people are allowed to sunbake!! mad! We then went on to have a walk around the rainforest copntaining dingo's and other animals. The highlight of the day was by far going to lake mackenzie. it was a fresh water lake that looked sooooo idilic and just really nice. We met some other english people and attempted to make a huge human pyramid in the water. the closest we got was 3 at the botton the 2 then 2 again! so not bad!
Anyway the weather is really nice here and we can go in the sea and surf and bodyboard! it hasn't rained for ages and we are all working up quite a tan!
Hope everyone else is having fun!
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