Feb 2008

We arrived in Alice Springs to 40 degree heat - apparently it had 'cooled off' a bit compared to the previous two weeks! For some reason, I thought we'd be able see Uluru from Alice with it being the closest town - I forgot we were in Australia though so it turns out it's over 600kms away. Oh well, better book a tour then!

The first morning we were pleased to hear that the days activities would only involve a short walk, 5 kms, around King's Canyon - what we didn't realise was that it started at midday and within 10 minutes the drinking water was too hot to swallow without retching! Mmmm. Luckily we survived the appropriately named 'heart-attack hill' and stopped midway at a waterhole to cool off. Post walk, we headed straight to camp, a barren patch in the middle of a million-acre cattle station - we unravelled the swags, cracked open a few tinnies and watched the sun go down on the red centre.

King's Canyon

First camp

The next day we started early again and headed to The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) a group of weird lookking rocks in Uluru National Park. Our task was to complete the 7kms, without passing out, and before 11am when they close the walk due to 'extreme temperatures'. I have to mention that this was the first outing of our mosquito headnets which look completely ridiculous but kept the flys from constantly landing on your face - well worth the $5 spend in Woolies!

The Olgas

A god-send on the second afternoon, a real campsite with cold showers and a pool - a Powerade and a swim later and we were feeling tip-top. We drove the short distance to see Uluru up close and personal for the first time and pitched our spot ready for sunset which we watched with a bowl full of thai chicken curry and a can of Toohey's.

Ready for another night in the bush!

We also managed to catch sunrise over brekkie the following day, before a 10km stroll around the base.

Sunrise at Uluru

Enjoying a brew

Long drive home

We had a couple of days before heading over to Darwin so took full advantage of the in-hostel bar that also served up a mean camel burger. Alice was pretty quite in itself but saw a few gems ...

This one's for you Gilly!

Only had a couple of days in Darwin but were there long enough to appreciate how humid it is - something I suppose we have to get used to for our time in Asia! Spent a day at Litchfield National Park chasing saltwater crocs with raw meat and swimming in waterholes after being reassured there are 'no salties in this bit of water ... I think'.

One armed (or is it a leg?) croc

Giant termite mound

Time to cool down!

Really enjoyed the short time we had in Oz - time to move on though, next stop Bali. Tough 'ey!

We arrived on the South Island to glorious sunshine and headed straight to Christchurch where we'd be spending our first Christmas away from home. The 23rd was spent stocking up on cheap booze at the local equivalent of Netto and buying tat for each other just so we'd have something to open on Christmas Day, aww!

Christmas Eve passed as usual - a 'few' birthday drinks followed by possibly the worst Christmas Day hangover I've ever had. The hostel had laid on a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings ... I managed to peel myself out of bed and ate one piece of chicken and three spuds before excusing myself from the table and lying face down on the grass in the shade for the rest of the day.

Santa made it to Christchurch, he must've been hot in that suit ...

A couple of days later we picked up our home and transport for the next two weeks, 'Sick Van' as it became known due to it's distinct whiff of puke - luckily that faded soon after!

Sick Van

We headed straight up the coast to Picton and Marlborough Sounds via a couple of really good vineyards ... by the second day, Sick Van was carrying a crate of beer, a bottle of vodka and four bottles of local wine. I miss that van!

Marlborough Sounds

View from Sick Van, one of the free campsites we stayed at

Our choice of New Year venue was either 'big town or small town' - we opted for small so we could hunt down where the locals head to. We managed to track down some live music and a crowd with hardly another backpacker in sight which made a nice change. We drank until the money ran out (again!) and enjoyed one of the better New Year's nights we've had for a while.

West Coast, Pancake Rocks, New Year's Day

Carried on down the West Coast until we decided to rev the stove up get a cup of tea and beans on toast on the go. Rich had a fantastic idea and drove Sick Van onto the world's most desolate beach - don't think he heard me say 'if we get stuck, I'll kill you' ... we got very stuck! A mix of desperation ( the nearest town was 21kms away) and male pride got us out eventually, took us 2 hours and lots of sandfly bites before we were heading back to the nearest campsite to have a shower and down some vodka.

S**T!!

The next day we treated ourselves to a helicopter flight onto Fox Glacier taking us about a third of the way up, 4 km, before we had the chance to jump out and explore. The view from the air was amazing taking in the glacier and Mount Cook, NZ's highest mountain. The helicopter ride there and back wasn't bad either!

Mount Cook

We'd been talking about doing a skydive since we landed in NZ and as the weather was brilliant in the South Island we couldn't really back out of it. We rocked up to Lake Wanaka about 11am, went straight to tourist info JUST to get some costs and managed to get booked onto the 2pm slot later that day - Rich also convinced me to do the highest jump 15,000ft so we'd have 60 seconds of freefall. I thought I'd be much more nervous than I actually was, which surprised me a bit!

Once you're wedged into this there's only one way out!

Heading to the plane

I honestly can't wait to do the next one! Probably one of the best things we've done so far, skydiving at Wanaka was a great choice too as there were some great views of Mt Cook and Mt Aspiring National Park on the way down. Unfortunately there was a camera 'malfunction' which means I didn't get an exit photo from the plane ... oh well, least the 'chute worked!

Onwards and southwards to Queenstown where Rich had more extreme sports planned, I was drawing the line at bungy jumping! He decided to do the big three in one day, the scariest one (even as a spectator!) was the Nevis - a 134m drop. As a 'bungy mate' I was harnessed up and allowed to go over with the jumpers to the platform, they also weighed me to give me the option of jumping once i was over there - not a chance!

Nevis bungy platform

View over Queenstown

Next stop was Milford Sound for a boat cruise, beautiful place

Mirror Lakes near Milford Sound

Speight's Brewery Tour, Dunedin - we drank as much beer as we could pull in 15 minutes ...

Lake Tekapo, I wasn't brave enough to face the cooooold water!

Last day in Sick Van and NZ was spent in Akaroa so we could swim with Hector's dolphins, apparently the smallest and rarest in the world. Took us a while to track down a pod of the little sod's but was well worth it once they appeared - once you manage to make eye contact they'll swim around you again and again.

We had such a great time in NZ we were quite gutted to be leaving, but like most of the places we've visited we've already made plans to go back! We decided to cut down the travel in Australia a few months ago so we can go back on hols and enjoy the cities when we're not on such a tight budget, we did keep the Outback bit in the plans though - next stop Alice Springs and Uluru!