Food on the move

We've been treating ourselves to a few days in cheap hotels and are rekindling those feelings of what it feels like to sleep on an actual bed with pillows. Not a blow up mattress, or a floor, or the back of a van but a real comfy bed.

However, food wise we've no cooking facilities etc. so eating out is the only way to go at the moment. A few pics of what we're surviving on until we pick up the car on New Years day and can get back into the camping groove.

 (Lush burritos and kit kats on steroids)

Sharks and Art and that...

The city centre of Sydney is much like any other we've visited really. In the CBD there are all the attractions/sites to see and the hustle and bustle of fighting your way through crowds of foreign people to get to them. I guess it's almost certainly a lot busier at the moment given that New Years eve is today.

The Sydney aquarium is awesome. No sign of any spiders or snakes yet but plenty of sharks...

 

Grand Sydney!

We have finally arrived in the beautiful and rather grand Sydney!  

After mastering the rail network early we walked to our accommodation based in the Olympic Park  grounds. It was like wondering through an Olympic dream, up-lit stadiums towering above us as we walked wearily through giant statues of running figures! It was quite a sight.

The MoneyShot...

Moving on to the land down under

Australia. Big place, big reputation, big adventure.

We have a rough itinerary jotted out which enabled us to book a couple of internal flights and sort out hire car rentals in advance to get some good deals. After speaking to several people about the hot spots in OZ and what to do whilst we're there we opted to skip on the west coast this time round and soak up all the adventures on offer on the east coast of the country.

As i write we are on board flying into Sydney where we'll spend the new year period in the city, joining an expected 1.6 million people by the harbour bridge to welcome in The new year.

Horses, Harley's and Heelkicks

I'm not a natural animal lover. I'm also not an animal hater but its just never felt in my nature to be comfortable around animals, a Neanderthal at heart I guess. But every now and then animal moments occur, brief moments that open the door to a more comfortable feeling and a voice that whispers "they're not all out to eat you Dean".

Today I had one of those moments with a horse called JJ. He belongs to Neil and Janine, and despite my constant badgering to Nay that "I'm not riding any horses when we visit your dads" Janine gave me a little talk about the way horses behave that appealed to my logical nature and I felt comfortable and confident enough to saddle up on JJ. 

Christmas Kiwi Style

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This was not my first Xmas down under, I was lucky enough to spend the Xmas of 2010 here a few years back. However for Nay, Jed and Annah a whole new experience was about to unravel.

It goes without saying that you’ll never get a white Xmas down here…but you will get turkey dinners, Michael Bublé, silly hats and moustaches…

Quackers

Made a couple of new friends at the campsite, Daffy and Donald...

3202 Steps just to get things started

Last time Nay and I came through New Plymouth Taranaki the super mountain was totally invisible behind all fog and clouds. True to form it was once again elusive behind the clouds and rain…but this time we were after a much closer look.

Forgotten Highway

Just south of Waitamo the number 3 coastal highway is the primary route down into New Plymouth and Mount Taranaki. Since its development the previous road that snaked inland down to New Plymouth has all but been forgotten about.

The Descent

One of the star attractions of New Zealand is the underground network of caves at Waitamo, and in New Zealand it’s a simple equation:


Underground dangerous wet caves = Black water tubing, waterfall climbing, abseiling and underground flying foxes. Simple.

Wet, wild and a big black fishy

Some suburbs of Auckland had recently been hit by a tornado about 2 weeks ago, but whilst we didn’t see any of the damaged areas the weather certainly hadn’t changed. Still wet and still windy but fortunately no more tornado's. So what to do in a city when its tipping it down? Well go to the pub of course! Not just any pub either, but the aptly named Father Teds for a game of pool and a massive lunch.

Hobbiton...

Quick subway pit stop for lunch then onto the Hobbiton set tour at Matamata to explore the shire. It was like all Annah's Christmas's had come at once. We saw bilbo baggins's little hobbit hole with the tree on top, the main party tree and village green where the hobbits throw a fireworks party for bilbo in the first lord of the rings film, the fellowship of the ring. 

The Luge...

Greeted by a drizzly wet morning in Rotarua the awesome foursome, as I've now decided we will call ourselves, we're again on the hot for something to get the adrenaline pumping. This morning that would be luge track racing down the hillside in Rotarua. 

Up the Creek with 7 Paddles

Hot thermal areas, bubbling mud pools and brightly coloured volcanic mineral waters make Rotarua one of very few places on earth where you can experience the power of mother nature so close to the surface. At 10:15 sharp we crowded around the thermal parks prize attraction “The Lady Knox Geyser” pronounced GUY-ZER not geezer, which is apparently an old man with two legs, or geisha an upper-class Japanese mistress.  

With a little assistance from some magical soap powder the Geyser soon began foaming then spouting its water high into the air. Sure enough the wind changed and we were treated to a special Geyser shower as the water rained down.

Running on empty…

From Napier it’s only about 90 minutes drive to lake Taupo. A quarter of a tank gets us about 100km…just after leaving Napier I spotted a road sign stating “Taupo 149km”…fearing a giant dent in my man pride I kept my mouth shut. About 50 kilometers later we passed an emergency fuel stop, but against a wave of protest I managed to protect my cash flow and convince my crew members we would make it. If it hadn’t been for a giant truck creating a much needed slipstream we probably wouldn’t have made it.

Napier Round 2

A drive that was supposed to take 2 hours...actually took nearer 5. Stopped off for emergency cheesecake supplies in a town called Woodville on route the cheesecake capital of NZ. Unfortunately wasn't much of a cheesecake but more of a crumbly base topped with whipped cream but nevertheless at 10am it was still worth it.

Arriving in Napier there is really only the city tour of all the art deco buildings worth taking a look at, but it does tend to be a case of once you've seen one, you've seen them all. A quick whizz round the town for a few snaps and then off to the holiday park to set up camp and indulge in a sausagey BBQ feast. 

The city is nicely lit up at night and so headed back out to the beachfront for a quick swim and mess around, when all of a sudden some crazy superhero guy appeared from the shadows. He started attacking Nay and Annah with a bright blinding light beam proclaiming to be "Photosynthesis Man" - the giver of light who aids dying plants in their time of need when the sun goes down...

Climb Little Hobbits

After catching the ferry back across to the north island the night before we collected Jed and Annah from the airport in Wellington and found just the right amount of time to squeeze in the compulsory holy Drexels brekkie.

There we spilled the beans that we had managed to book tickets to see the Hobbit on its release day at the embassy cinema in the evening. The embassy cinema is where the star studded world premier took place just under 2 weeks ago, and with the film shot in NZ and the director a Wellingtonian there almost certainly isn’t a more appropriate cinema in the world to watch the latest of Peter Jacksons creations.

On top of the world with a German Angel

From everywhere in Nelson and Tasman if you look westerly you can see a mountain range that dominates the horizon. These are the peaks of the Kahurangi National Park and the snow covered peak is that of Mount Arthur. At 1795 meters high it towers over the region and today was the day we would seek to conquer it.

In the absence of Nay, who perhaps wisely chose to go shopping instead, I would be climbing with Dad (new found adrenaline junky following his skydive induction), one of dad's good friends Ron and his son Jack.

Freefall on Video...

Finally got these sorted guys. Thought you might be interested... :-)  

Beauty vs. Danger

Incase you haven't seen, Auckland was savaged by a Tornado today killing three people. Thats right - A TORNADO.

If its not a volcano, an earthquake, flood or avalanche then it's a Tornado! There cannot be a single safe place in NZ. Dangerous it may be, but there's no thrill or excitement in life without a little danger :-)

Tele Kiwi Style

Over here you get all the usual stuff on Tele although it does seem to be X-Factor...on repeat...all the time. What is a little different, and perhaps its just because we're not used to it, is that the adverts seem to be generally much more entertaining than back in the UK. 

The Sunset Season

We've been treated to some incredible sunsets over the past few days. The pictures below are just taken from the garden at the back of the house across 3 separate evenings:

Santa's in town...

This time every year in Nelson the city hosts the annual Santa Parade. An excuse for everyone to line the streets for a precession of floats, knights on segways, motorbikes, giant inflatable pirates, super heros on skateboards and most importantly the man himself - Sir Santa Claus. As you can see we were ecstatic to see him on his awesome sleigh...