We left Port Arthur and headed up the East Coast to Freycinet National Park stopping on the way to gather visitor info and buy a parks pass, there we found out about lots of great free camping locations. It's legal to camp almost anywhere in Tassie so we decided to take full advantage and camped at Friendly Beaches which was a really cool little spot with lots of friendly Wallabies. They came nosing around the van almost as soon as we pulled up, I even managed to pet one of them, she was carrying a Joey too, we named her Muriel. We'd earlier visited the NP Visitor Info Centre so planned to get up early to do the Wineglass Bay and Hazzards Beach walk which is listed in the 60 Great Walks to do in Tassie.

It was definitely the early start, we started the walk at 7am so got up to the Wineglass lookout nice and early before the sun hit. By 11am the walk was done and worth the 4hrs for the amazing views. That afternoon we headed further up the coast to St Helens and the Bay of Fires. We had read about a nice restaurant here and so we booked in for a meal overlooking Binalong Bay, in the Bay of Fires area. We camped at one of our free sites by the beach, as was with the Friendly Beaches we were the only ones there which was pretty cool.

The next day we headed back into St Helens for breakfast consisting of two very fat plate size pancakes with Maple syrup and ice cream. The plan was to head to Launceston and visit the Boags brewery but the tours were fully booked so instead we booked for the day after and headed up to Low Head. On the way here we went to Columba Falls (tallest in Tassie) and stopped at a local cheese factory, samples compulsory. It took most of the day to get there due to the windy roads and hilly landscape. We topped up on supplies and after dinner watched the sunset at Low Head point.

Today we headed into Launceston for the much anticipated Boags Tour, well I was looking forward to it but I don't think Jenna was too fussed. It turned out to be a really cool tour and with beer and cheese tasting after who can argue. They reckon beer is a better accompaniment than wine when it comes to cheese. I of course was obliged to purchase the 6 pack mix of all their beers to sample After the tour we had lunch in Launceston and then headed towards the North West to see The Nut at Stanley. By the time we got into the vicinity it was late afternoon so we found another free campsite with a view of The Nut. The area had quite a depressive feel about it which wasn't helped by the constant drizzle that surrounded us and shrouded The Nut in greyness.

They next day the weather had improved a little and we took a stroll up and around The Nut, for those of you wondering The Nut is a huge rock formation which juts out from sea level about 100 meters and is about 500 meters wide and long, huddled in it;s shadow is the town of Stanley. From below The Nut just looks like a dreary old rock but once up there you are surprised to see an abundance of flora and fauna. After our fleeting visit Stanley and The Nut we headed off for Cradle Mountain. A long and windy road saw us arrive late afternoon, enough time to sort out a place to camp and plan a walk for the next day on the way to the visitors centre we saw a chubby Wombat by the side of the road foraging for food, the first one I've seen in the wild and an unusual site during the day as they are nocturnal like the Tasmanian Devil, sadly the only Devils we saw were the unfortunate ones that were killed by vehicles, there is a lot of roadkill in Tasmania.

After a night of wilderness camping we headed into Cradle Mountain National Park to do a circuit of Dove Lake which gives great views of Cradle Mountain and the Lake. The peaks of the mountains were still snow caped which added to their impressiveness further. By the afternoon we were on our way to the other side to the National park to Lake Saint Clair by way of a 4hr drive stopping on the way at the very redneck Queenstown for supplies, we didn't stay long! Once we arrived at Lake St Clair we booked into the campsite and since we'd been surviving on wet wipe showers for 3 days we treated ourselves to a real shower.

You guessed it the next day we did a walk, this one took in Shadow Lake which was a circuit walk with great views of the snowy peaks of Mt Hugel, Mt Rufus and Little Hugel. It was a long walk at 5hrs, good job we pack some tasty sangers to get us through it. By the time we got back Jenna was ready for a nap and I was ready for a beer!

We left Lake St Clair early in the morning and headed for Hobart, we stopped for Coffee on the way then explored a bit of Hobart stopping for some really nice cakes at Battery Point, I had a Berliner which is basically an exceedingly good custard donut. I got my hair cut at an old school barbers by this 100 year old Croatian bloke. The next day we drove up to the top of Mt Wellington for amazing views of Hobart and the coast line, we could see Port Arthur and Eagle Hawk Neck from our first stop. In the afternoon we had a nice lunch at a winery before heading to the airport for our flight back to Sydney.

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Next day was a fairly early start, aren't they always on these tours, where we'd be heading to Kalbarri which was 700km away. On the way there we saw a heavily leaning gumtree which had grown this way because of the strong west coast winds that continually batter it. We stopped for lunch at the beautiful Jurien Bay then continued on our long road arriving in time for sunset over the ocean with a beer at Red Point. We had dinner and chatted by the campfire getting to know the group.

Another early start saw us head to the national park in the gorges to see the famous Natures Window and go for a much appreciated swim in a water hole. While some of the group went horse riding in the afternoon the rest of us checked out some of the coastline at Castle Cove & Mushroom Rock. That evening we went to a local fish restaurant to sample some of the oceans produce.

Monkey Mia was our next destination on the way we'd visit Shark Bay and the Hamlin Pool Stromatolites which were single-handedly responsible for raising the oxygen levels on earth to that capable of supporting life so we've got a lot to thank these dull rock-like looking things for. They only now exist in two places on earth here and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. History lesson over we headed to the beach near Monkey Mia for lunch then went quad biking which was really good fun as we got to see some stunning coast line and some nursery sharks. After getting hot and dusty on the bikes we hit the beach for a swim and to watch the sunset. Later that evening we met up with an Aboriginal bloke called Capes who took us for a walk and told us some stories and played Didgeridoo by a fire which he was also cooking some kangaroo tails in.

In the morning I went down to the shore to watch the scientists of Monkey Mia feed the dolphins which they've been doing since the 70's, apparently they only feed the older slower dolphins so that the younger ones don't get lazy and they only get fed 1 or 2 fish so they still have to catch another 40+ to fill the quota for each day. The day would be a long one of driving to Coral Bay but we stopped on the way to see awesome views of Shark Bay. After arriving at our destination we all put up our tents after a demo by Chappie and the evening meal at Coral Bay was cooked by Allie our guide and was really nice Mexican food washed down with a few beers and a game of cards.

Spent the day chilling in Coral Bay, did some snorkeling along the Ningaloo reef whilst the rest of the group went whale watching. I took a walk along the bay and came across a shark nursery area which was fantastic, there must have been about 40 of them. I waded in knee high very quietly and took some photos, as soon as they notice you they swim off, mardy sharks! After another delicious meal we all went to the local pub for a few drinks.

The morning we were due to leave Coral Bay we took a trip on a glass bottom to see some of the reef. The rest of the day was spent driving to Karajini National Park. Here we would spend our first nights bush camping with not a shower in sight, just a couple of long drops, one of which housed a Redback spider feasting on a cockroach. There were a few Dingos knocking around whilst we were eating diner then once we were all in our tents you could hear them howling and during the night they came and ripped open the beer can bin and had a party. Today we went for a walk in the gorges at Joffre Gorge which was a great walk involvig lots of scrambling along the gorge and wading through water and a dip in a pool. Later in the afternoon we all had a swim at Fern Pool then did a further gorge walk to Circular Pool.

Another long drive later and we were at 80 mile beach where we had a sunset party on the beach and a couple Marcus & Verina celebrated their wedding anniversary. After diner we went back down to the beach to see if we could see some turtles. It was the right time of year for them and after a bit of searching we found a mother laying her eggs which was an amazing sight.

The next day we left for Broome which wasn't too far, once we arrived we stopped for lunch and then visited the costal rock formations where some fossilised dinosaur footprints were found, they can only be seen at low tide but they have a casting on the shore which you can see. By the point they have a lighthouse which is also home to a family of Osprey's nesting there. That evening we had a group meal at a local hotel and sank a few beers, not too many though as we had kayaking in the morning. The kayaking was well worth it, Broome's coastal waters are an amazing aqua colour and a great contrast to the red coastline rocks. We saw reef sharks and turtles swimming alongside us. That afternoon we met up with the rest of the group for a beachside BBQ after which we headed over to the other side of town to try and watch the staircase to the moon event. It only happens a few days of the month over a few months of the year. It is an effect created by the low tide on the mud flats which makes it look like a staircase, the problem being that it was too cloudy to see the moon. I spent the last few days chilling in Broome before heading back to Sydney for an onward flight to Hobart in Tasmania

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Our next destination was the Town of seventeen seventy which was built on the site of the second landing by James Cook and the crew of HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770. We arrived in the afternoon so I decided to go for a stroll along the beach where I came across a rather large monitor Lizard living in the rocks. I stayed for the sunset and as it was going down along came a load of people on mini Harley Davidson style bikes which looked great fun so I promptly booked in for tomorrows ride. This turned out to be much more fun as it looked, they are just 50cc scooters that look like proper bikes. Having never ridden a bike properly this is much more exciting to me than anyone who's used to riding.

Next stop on the agenda was Hervey Bay but on the way we made a trip to Bundaberg, home of Aussie rum and where a lot of the masses of sugar cane goes we'd been seeing on our way through Queensland. We did the tour round the distillery of course and sampled some of the goods, ll very interesting but I could not believe the size of the operation, compared to others I've been to this was tiny! Once we arrived in Hervey bay we booked our trip to Fraser Island and cooked up some dinner at the hostel, Spag Bol followed by Apple Pie & Custard, magic!

Up early for our ferry to Fraser Island, once there we met our guide Murray who was a great guide, straight away he was driving like a nutter and slagging off the people who bring their own 4WD's over for going too slow. The main beach on Fraser is 75 mile beach this runs along most of the east coast of Fraser Island and is also a highway the islands total length is about 120 km, it is also considered to be the largest sand island in the world at 1840 km². We visited several cool places whilst on the island which included the shipwreck of the S.S. Maheno, lake Wabby which is accessed by scaling huge sand blows, Eliy Creek and Lake Mackenzie which actually has a higher silica sand content than Whitehaven beach. Whilst at Lake Mackenzie Leigh and myself witnessed a Dingo stealing a German's backpack which we found highly amusing and since we had be warned not to approach or interact with the Dingos we could do nothing but stand, watch and laugh. Dingoes were once common on the island. They are some of the last remaining pure dingoes in Eastern Australia and to prevent cross-breeding, dogs are not allowed on the island. On one of our walks on the island we also saw a red & black bellied snake feeding on a lizard which was pretty cool and is, according to Murray, one of the rarest sights on the island.

After leaving Fraser we headed to a town called Noosa where we arrived to find no campsites in Noosa itself as I think it believes it is above campsites. I didn't really enjoy the place to be honest, it's a favoured holiday destination of Aussies on the East Coast and unfortunatelt it was the school hols so there were lots of annoying kids around. Luckily Leigh & Kath were also there so we met up and had dinner with them.

Glad to get out of Noosa we headed to Brisbane where we met up and stayed with some friends of Carrie's mum who were really nice people. It was good to get out of the van for a few nights, sleep in a real bed, do some washing and relax on a sofa in front of the TV, it also gave me chance to catch up with my blog!. After our few days off in Brisbane we headed to Byron bay and on our way we'd cross the border from Queensland to New South Wales.

Our friend Ange lives in Byron so we were off to camp in the grounds of her shared house. We met Ange in the town center when we arrived and had coffee and the most delicious organic doughnuts then went for a stroll along the beach. Later on we headed back to the house to meet all the housemates and ordered some really nice pizza, so far Byron has served up some nice food! The following day we headed out for a walk along the beautiful coast line up to a lighthouse overlooking the most Easterly point in Australia. For lunch we went to Mongers fish shop where I sampled the nicest salt & pepper squid ever! In the evening we headed out for drinks and live music with a few of Ange's friends. By the next day I was wondering what culinary treats Byron had in store for me but first we headed to the beach for a spot of body boarding the work up an appetite. I though boarding would be easy but how I was wrong, it's really, really hard work getting out to sea only to spend ages trying to catch a wave, after all that hard work I was looking forward to some lunch and I wasn't let down by the delicious seafood chowder I ordered in a lovely cafe overlooking the beach. Our last day in Byron was spent in the local town of Bangalow where they have a renowned market, the weather was blazing and we enjoyed a day of browsing and you guessed it eating, I couldn't resist another organic doughnut. That evening were were treated to a presentation on unsustainable exponential growth which was more interesting and enlightening than it sounds after which watched a movie.

Nambucca Heads was our destination after leaving Byron and since we had only a few days left to get to Sydney we arrived late and camped only one night. It was a very nicely located campground though right on the coast high up providing great views up and down the coastline. The following morning I saw a pod of dolphins out to sea and later stumbled upon a possum which is unusual as they are nocturnal creatures. It appeared injured as it was just lying around on the ground so I reported it to the campsite owner who in turn called animal rescue. The rest of the day was spent driving to Newcastle, our penultimate destination, here we just spent the night at a friends house, had dinner and went to see a movie. The next day we hit Sydney and prepared for the journey to Perth for our West Coast adventure.

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After collecting our steal of a campervan we headed off to Cape Tribulation for the night, we were advised by a few people to stop at Mosman Gorge on the way up which we did but wished we didn’t! The gorge is not much of a gorge, we did the rainforest walk and had a quick swim then had lunch before continuing up to Cape Trib, it was late afternoon when we arrived so we just camped up for the night at a site in the rainforest which was pretty cool. Daintree which is the area Cape Trib is in is really nice and definitely worth a visit but Cape Trib is not that great. By the afternoon we were in Port Douglas where we met up with some friends for dinner.

Spent the next day in Port Douglas sampling some very good coffee in a café aptly named Rehab then I hit 4 mile beach which is really nice. The only problem with the beautiful beaches of Queensland is that you can’t swim in the inviting looking ocean for the worry of being killed or maimed by all manor of creatures.

We left Port Douglas and headed down the coast back past Cairns and inland to the Gilles Range which provided some great views of the range and the coast line. We did a walk around Lake Barrine which was formed by a volcanic crater and then headed to Lake Eacham for lunch and a swim. After lunch we headed to Mt Hypipamee National Park to see the crater which was created as a result of a volcanic vent in the earth, it is over 80 meters deep and 60 meters wide. That evening we stayed at Innot Springs and relaxed in the natural spring pools.

Today we headed back towards the coast and decided to take a minor road through the national park. The going started off good with an unsealed but solid road after we hit the Ranges (Gorge Range) Mt Giringun the going got pretty tough with lots of dips and holes slowing our progress considerably and it seemed to go on for ages, finally I caught sight of the coastline and we began to descend which still took over 40 minutes, when we got to the end of the track we looked back to see a sign saying road closed! It was worth the slog for the views of the coastline and for the adventure.

Spent a day in Townsville which wasn’t terribly exciting but I did see the biggest spider I’ve ever seen in the botanical gardens, this thing was as big as your face! The next day we went to Magnetic Island for the day but the weather was dull and it rained which made the place look dull and boring.

Today we travelled to Bowen which is the home town of our friend Angie, it’s a very beautiful town with gorgeous beaches and not a soul on them. I got some photos of the beaches and the islands off the coastline which is essentially the start of the Whitsunday group of islands. We stayed at Angie’s sister Becky’s that night camping in the back garden and making friends with Diesel the dog, the softest pit bull terrier you’ll ever meet. In the morning we went down to meet the fishing boat that the family run, had a look around and were then treated to oysters Kilpatrick for lunch. After the oysters had settled of which I ate about 10 we headed off to Airlie Beach.

We organised our Whitsunday trip and we ended up getting a deal on the same boat our friends had booked at $200 less than they paid. We left Airlie Beach on our superb luxury yacht and headed to Tongue bay near Whitehaven beach where we spent the night. In the morning we woke up early for breakfast where we were able to watch turtles swimming around the boats in the bay. After breakfast we took the dinghy across to the beach where we hiked up for views of Whitehaven beach which was amazing. We then walked down to the beach and spent the morning enjoying the 85% silica sand. The afternoon was spent in another bay we’d sailed to for lunch where I went scuba diving and snorkelling. Just as we were about to leave the bay a whale and her calf showed up which was a cool end to the day as we sailed to Pearl Bay for the night. The next morning we snorkelled at Pearl Bay where I saw a white tip reef shark followed by a black tip, very cool! On the way back to Airlie one of the people on our trip had a go at steering the boat and at that moment a whale calf breach just a few meters from the side of the boat, overall an awesome trip. That evening we all went out for a meal at this cool fish restaurant and had a few drinks at the Rum Bar.

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The boat cruise on the Mary river was amazing with lots of cool wildlife with the star of the show, Esturine (Saltwater) Crocs! These killing machines are evil, the guide told us that if you were to wash your camping pots in the river at the same time each day by the 3rd day it'd take you which is what happened to the last person to be taken, an 8 year old boy who's parents had sent him to get washing up water each night, I now have total respect for salty crocs and won't be taking any chances! The fresh water crocs are tame by comparison and are scared of humans the largest thing they eat is a small Wallaby and generally eat insects! Tonight we camped at Point Stuart

Today we hit Kakadu National Park, first stop the wetlands to see lots of bird life, there were hundreds of them. After the wetlands we did a walk through the park to view some rock art sites and hear stories linked to the art. Next we hiked for fantastic views of the Nardab flood plains and they truly we fantastic!. It was getting much hotter and the humidity was soaring today so a welcome dip in some plunge pools was next on the agenda but not before we hiked up there after 45 mins of walking in the heat we made it. The location was Barramundi Gorge and the water was beautiful! There were some high sides to the gorge so diving in from a height was a must.

Today we had some 4WD action to look forward to as we headed out to Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls. The route to reach the falls is 4WD only and for good reason, this was 45 mins of bouncing around in your seat. There was a family from Slovenia on our bus and they were all moaning and refused to wear a seatbelt, oh how I was longing for one of them to slam into the roof!! Once we reached the end of the track we took a boat up the river then walked further to the falls. This is a no swimming area do the the possible presence of Saltwater Crocs so it was photos only here, team Slovenia were still annoying, Croc attack would be entertaining right now! More 4WD action to Jim Jim falls which is dry now and only runs during the wet season and because water levels are about 6m higher then it's impossible to get there and see them unless you are in a heli or light aircraft. There is a huge cold plunge pool where the falls plummet into which we swam in though so it wasn't a worthless journey. We swam about 100m right to the base of the falls and look up the 200m walls and try to imagine the falls in full flow, it's still an impressive sight even in the dry.

We had a long drive back into Darwin after the falls visits but on the way in we stopped at the Didg Hut where I decided to by a souvenir that would forever remind me of my time in Australia the classic Didgeridoo. They have such an interesting sound. We'd asked our guide about buying authentic ones that are made properly and not in some factory and apparently this is the place to buy them. Traditional Didgeridoos are not hollowed out my hand or by machine but by Termites and you can tell by running your finger round the inside, if it is all smooth it's been done by machine if it's nice and rough then it's been done by termites.

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Today we set off to Daly Waters, the town airfield was a centre for the London to Sydney air race of 1926, a refuelling stop for early Qantas flights to Singapore and a World War II Airforce base but is now more famous for the outback roadhouse which is decorated throughout with banknotes and other memorabilia left by visitors from every corner of the globe. It's also home the the only outback traffic light which is always on red to fool the tourists. Here we had lunch and the first part of our team challenge, downing a schooner race, our team lost due to the fact that the person that went first took longer to drink theirs then the whole of the other team took to finish all of their 4 drinks. IT mattered not though as we would later beat them in the trivial quiz and the dry wheatbix (weetabix) eating comp!

Our first stop of the day was at Katherine Gorge, a deep gorge carved through ancient sandstone by the Katherine River, is the central attraction of the park. Katherine Gorge is made up of thirteen gorges, with rapids and falls, and follow the Katherine River. Lunch was had at a beautiful swimming spot called Edith Falls, the water was amazing and the view the same. Though half way across the 150 meter swim to the falls I did start to think about Crocs. There is only supposed to be fresh water crocs here though not the man eating Saltwater variety! It's the nicest swiming spot ever.

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Next we headed to Wilpena Pound which is a natural amphitheatre of mountains which was used as place to graze cattle as there was only one way in and out of the place it meant it acted as a natural barrier. Here we climbed Mt Ohlssen-Bagge for amazing views of the range. Tonight we stayed at a sheep station and watched the sunset over the mountains.

On the way to our next destiantion we stopped at an amazing salt lake (Lake Hart) which used to be part of an inland sea millions of years ago. This sea is also what created the Opals found at Coober Pedy the town is known as the opal capital of the world because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. The name 'Coober Pedy' comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means 'white man underground'. The minors used to live in the holes they had dug when looking for opals and because it was so cool and remaind a fairly constant temp the idea took off and now everyone lives like this. Temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius outside where as underground it is between 24 and 27 degrees.

Today we had a whopping 700km to cover in order to reach the destiantion of the day, Uluru (Ayers Rock) so a very early start of 4:30am which meant we saw the sunrise which was really cool. On the way up we collected firewood some of which had termites inside. WHen we threw down the wood they all fell out and were promptly butchered by the hundreds of ants that were running around, it was a very interesting sight! We alse left South Australia and crossed into the Northern Territory (NT). We arrived at Uluru to watch the sunset which was amazing. Tomorrow we will walk around it! That evening we stayed in camp and slept in an Aussie Swag which is a waterproof canvas bag in effect with a foam mattress inside it. Quite cosy and warm once you've got a sleeping bag and a warm hoodie on!

Today we visited Uluru up close, it's a mighty rock and you can't quite grasp it's size until you get right up to it. It's 9.6km around but the size of the Rock is even more incredible when you consider that an estimated two thirds of it lies beneath the surface. Around much of the rock the sites are sacred to the Aborigional people and you are requested not to photograph these areas. It is also 'requested' that you do not climb the rock although it is not forbidden to do so. I decided not to climb it. After our 2hr stroll around Uluru we headed over to Kata Tjuta also known as the Olgas which are a group of large domed rock formations. The Pitjantjajara name Kata Tjuta means 'many heads'. The site is as sacred to the Indigenous people as Uluru. That evening we camped at Kings Canyon and had an awesome meal cooked on the campfire which included some beer bread make on the fire.

An early start saw some Dingos hanging around our camp before we headed up to the very impressive Kings Canyon for the 3 hr rim walk, this is a really cool place with spectacular views of the gorge below and of the surrounding landscape. About half way during the walk, a detour descends to Garden of Eden, a permanent waterhole surrounded by lush plant life. Towards the end of the walk sees views of the Lost City so called because the rocks look like a city in the distance. The rest of the day saw us head into Alice Springs where we headed to Bo's Saloon for a few beers and some tasty tucker, I had Camel and Ale pie, very tasy!

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This place is like England with a hint of the USA, a very slight hint though! It was very very cold here and rained quite a lot so it was just like being back home. It has a nice feel to it though, feels more open than Sydney and lots more going after 5pm unlike Sydney that seems to shut down. I enjoyed the few days spent there exploring the city the buildings are very Victorian and is a better looking city than Sydney.

On Saturday morning we left on our trip to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road our first stop Torquay! We stop for breakfast at the home of Quiksilver & Rip Curl now of course they are owned by big US firms so the stores don't offer any savings. Next stop was the famous Bells beach to watch some of the surfers, the waves were really good so there were lots of people out with their boards, I didn't envy them though as it was bloody freezing!

Continuing our way along the stunning Great Ocean Rd on our way to Otway National Park we see Koalas, all asleep of course along with lots of crazy birds that would sit on your hand and eat seeds. The Otway is a temparate rainforest, here we did a tree top walk which was pretty cool. The rest of the day is spent making our way further along the Ocean Rd to arrive at the twelve apostles for what should have been a stunning sunset but turned out to be a horrible rain obscured view of the mighty rocks.

The morning brought better weather and we visited the various inlets and views of the apostles and the famous London Bridge, myself and two others decided to take the Helicopter flight that was on offer which gave spectacular views of the Apostles, money well spent.

Next we headed to the Grampians National Park which is a series of sandstone mountain ranges. The ranges were named in 1836 by Surveyor General of New South Wales Sir Thomas Mitchell after the Grampian Mountains in his native Scotland. When we arrived here the weather had a treat in store, it snowed, it's pretty rare to see snow here and the tour guide, Dave, was really excited and started playing in the snow.

Next we headed off to to go Roo spotting in the National Park, we found some of course, they are an amusing animal. Aparrently Kangaroo means 'I don't understand' in Aboriginal, when the early explorers were asking the Aboriginals what the animal was called they were trying to describe it but they didn't know what they were going on about so just kept saying Kangaroo, Kangaroo - I don't understand but the name stuck and that's what they are called.

Our stay in that night was in a really nice hostel with a roaring fire which was great after another day of freezing! Anyone that tells you Australia is always hot is wrong. In the morning we woke up to the sound of Kookaburras it was 5:30am another early start and still bloody freezing, today we hike up Hollow Mountain and I learned where the Aussie's get their green and gold colours from. There is a plant called the Wattle which flowers in the winter and it's a vivid yellow flower.

In the afternoon we made our way to Adelaide which is known by many Australians as the arse hole of the Country due to it's geographical location. I though it was a very pleasant city to visit and spent a relaxing two days there. Each side of the city is covered in parkland. The city was designed by Colonel William Light, one of Adelaide's founding fathers, he chose its location close to the River Torrens and surounded it with parkland as a protection from possible enemies. I think he did a good job of the layout.

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Hope everyone is well and Happy New Year to you all, don’t forget I’m only an email away and if you want to get in touch Skype me.

Me at Bondi Beach

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The Fijians are very welcoming people and we were greeted by a welcoming party complete with guitars, after lunch we checked out the island and what was on offer. The beach was nice and there was plenty of hammocks to lazy around in, great I’m going to enjoy these 18 days! The following day myself, MC, Noelle, Lars and Nicoli want to the blue lagoon to snorkel. I have never been snorkeling and the others couldn’t believe it, I loved it there was so much coral and so many fish, you only had to swim out 10 meters to see amazing sights. We saw the clown fish from finding Nemo they are so funny, if you go near the anemone where they live they swim at you to try and scare you away as they are defending their young, pretty ballsy fish considering you’re about 100 times their size! Also saw Angel fish, sea cucumbers, blue star fish, tiger fish and rainbow fish to name a few. After that I couldn’t believe I’d left it so long to have discovered snorkeling! I think I may have been spoiled by the sights though as I understand it is one of the best places in the world to snorkel and dive. The next day was spent lazing on the beach attempting to make my pasty white skin go brown, factor 30 all the way, damn it’s hot!

Next stop was the Wanataki, a cruise boat that anchors up in bays around the islands. Myself and Lars decided to take out one of the free Kayaks, we headed for the island but it looked boring so decided to kayak into the oncoming waves which was great fun, then we surfed them onto the beach which was fun but they weren’t very big. We spotted some other much bigger waves that were breaking further out on the coral so we headed for them. This was much better and we were having a ball until we got flipped over, it’s a good job life jackets are mandatory because we were laughing so much we struggled to climb back into the kayak and had to float there for about 5 minutes before we could manage to get back in. The evening was spent with the boat crew drinking a local brew called Kava which is mixed up in special Kava bowls, Kava is made up from ground tree roots mixed with water, it tastes a bit like licorice and makes your mouth go numb, not that nice really but it was good to sample some local culture.

Next stop was supposed to be White Sandy Beach but upon arrival we were advised that there was a big cyclone headed towards us, that explains the stunning sunset we were treated to last night. They told us we may be stuck here for 3 days as all the boat operations would be shut down, anyone with a flight in the next 48hrs was being advised to head back to the mainland. We had a look around and decided that the place wasn’t very nice and since we would be here for 3 days we decided to move to another island called Waya Lai Lai and sit it out there. This was a much nicer place and despite the warning of the biggest cyclone to hit Fiji in 10 years the weather was awesome all day every day with it being windy and rainy in the evenings, perfect! After 3 days the cyclone eventually hit further north so we didn’t get to see it which is good as I understand it did quite a lot of damage with winds reaching 250k/ph.

South Sea island was our final stop it is the smallest island in the Yasaways and takes under a minute to walk across this is also where the group would begin to split up, the Danish boys had to leave the following day with the Danish girls leaving the day after and then I said my goodbyes to MC and Noelle. I had another 4 nights left and decided to put them to good use by learning to dive and becoming a certified diver. The dive instructor was a good lad called Joe from Plymouth and we got on well so I managed to get 7 dives in where as normally you’d only get 4. No pool work was done either we were straight out into the Ocean it was great. They have a shipwreck and a place called fish village to be explored at South Sea. The snorkeling is also fantastic around there and I spent 2 hours one day swimming right around the island looking at all the fish and coral. The place had a really good feel to it and I really enjoyed my time there. I felt like part of the furniture by the end, all the staff knew my name and Joe and I went to a Kava party with the local Fijians who work and live on the island.

Fiji is definitely a place to visit if you ever get the chance you should do it!

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The guys that run the place are hilarious, Ben decided to show us how one of the dogs likes to shag his leg much to the dismay of the Americans in the group and much to the amusement of the rest of us. We geared up for the day in wetsuits, helmets, life jackets etc and headed out to the start of the river, it starts of gentle and works it’s way up to a grade 5 which is the highest grade you can commercially raft.

Once the raft was in the water we all got in and I managed to get up front with Scottish Dave, great for the photos, not so great for falling out potential. Scottish had done some rafting before and said the front is the best place to be but after the first rapid and a face full of water I was starting to wonder what was so great about it. However by the grade 3 rapids I was loving it and couldn’t wait for the grade 5’s. We’d done well so far and managed not to flip the thing or loose anyone over the side. Since we’d done so well it was decided that we should try and purposely flip it so we all dived onto the front and paddled head on into a fast flowing section of water, that did the trick as we all disappeared into the water I came up about 10 meters away along with someone else and we got picked up by team America in the other dingy.

Onwards to the last section of the river, grade 5, this was so much fun seriously crazy water we were all over the shop as we went down it was all over in under a minute. As we got to the bottom we once again paddled into so really fast flowing water and the dingy was being buffeted all over the place, Ben our guide was determined to flip us again. As we headed into it for a second time the dingy suddenly lurch and I was gone, I took a big breath as I felt myself go over the side backwards the water is so powerful it only took a couple of seconds and I was on the surface about 20 meters from the dingy I looked up to see that the photographer who was also in our dingy had also fallen in, at least I wasn’t the only one!

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Next up was a trip out to the fields where I got to drive the quad bike pulling a trailer full of my fellow passengers, hold tight everyone. Hear we were treated to a demo of sheep dog skills. The dogs hearded the sheep into the shed where they were about to get sheered. They are extremely clever dogs and highly entertaining to watch. Once in the shed a few of the people who were up for a go had a bash at sheep sheering, I wasn't really up for it after watching the guy sheer one and cutting it's ear open, lots of blood, felt a bit sorry for the sheep.

After the farm we headed for Te Anau it's self which is yet another beautiful lake side town in New Zealand, the evening was spent chilling out in the hostel playing cards. Next day we'd be heading to Milford Sound.

Today we had a bit of a lie in as we weren't being picked up until 10:15 to go to Milford Sound which gave time for lunch making always a winner when you're gonna be on a bus for a while. The drive to Milford sound was cool as we made our way through the glacier created plains with huge 1500 meter high mountains on either side.

Once we reached the Milford sound, although called a sound, it is more accurately classified as a fjord, we boarded the boat for a trip through the sound to take in all the breathtaking scenery and marvel at how a glacier could have created all this. The sound is home to lots of marine life and is over 500 meters deep, we visted an under water observatory to get a closer look.

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Next we headed further along the coast for a walk in Cannibal Bay to spot some more seals, obviously we were expecting to see them from a distance little did I know that they would be literally sat on the beach, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a huge adult male seal chilling out lying in the middle of the beach. Needless to say we didn't get too close to him but close enough to smell him and he stank of rotten fish, nice!. As we left the beach we spotted a much smaller female relaxing by the rocks with her head on a patch of grass, very cute, I approached for a photo and she kept lifting her head to keep an eye on me.

As we headed closer to Invercargill we stopped again this time for a bit of penguin spotting at the petrified forest, 180 million years old, it is revealed at low tide at Curio Bay, in a spectacular area known as The Catlins. This Jurassic forest, of petrified tree stumps and logs, is most impressive you can really see how this rock was once made of wood.

Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost settlements in the world but I wasn't that impressed on arrival, although the heavy rain might have had something to do with that. There were lots of bikers in town this day as there was an event on celebrating Burt Munro made famous more recently by the movie 'The Worlds Fastest Indian' starring Anthony Hopkins.

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On the way down we stopped off at an ice cream shop which sells the biggest ice creams ever, a single scoop was like a triple scoop back home. We arrived in Dunedin at around 2pm and visited the steepest street in the world which is crap, the one in San Fran is much more interesting.

Once we'd checked into the hostel myself, MC and Laura booked onto the wildlife eco tour for the oppertunity to see Yellow Eyed Penguins and Royal Albertros. We weren't disapointed either as we got to see both and had a great laugh. Laura was trying to film the Albertros fly over but I hadn't realised and made a comment about the size of the poop that'd come out of one of those which can be heard on the video, she promptly fell off the rock she was stood on whilst filming. After seeing these massive birds which incidently have a wingspan of over 3 meters we headed off in search of Penguins on the coast.

Now I don't know about you but I'd expect to see a penguin on the beach but as we approached through the field full of sheep we suddenly noticed in the adjacent field a penguin waddling up the hill facing off with a sheep. It was so funny watching them make their way up beach onto the hillside stopping every so often to cool off. We watched from a hut on the edge of the beach and right next to us were some seals, one with a pup, it was unreal how close they were.

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The town has a good vibe and being situated right on Lake Wakatipu with stunning mountain views coupled to that the fact you can do just about all the outdoor activities you can think of means this little town has a lot going for it. One of those activities is of course bungy jumping, in fact Queenstown is the home of bungy with the first commercial bungy site being setup there, it is also home to the highest jump in the Southern Hemisphere (now that South Africa has closed down) called Nevis it stands at a vertigo inducing 134 meters suspended from a pod hanging by wires over a huge canyon this also happened to be the one I’d booked to do the following day along with Noelle and a Yank called Ian.

That evening was a large group night out which was good as it took my mind off the mental jump we had ahead of us. It was a great night with lots of Karaoke and free flowing alcohol courtesy of our driver guide Jimmy, most of the booze went in the direction of the girls though surprise, surprise. Got in at 3am and made a wise decision to drink 2 liters of water. I woke up feeling reasonable, I wish I could say the same about Noelle, she was a mess, luckily the jump pickup wasn’t until 12:20 with a 45min transfer she had time to compose herself, meanwhile myself and Ian stared nervously out of the window the whole of the journey.

Once we arrived we were harnessed up and transported 6 at a time by mini cable car across to the pod suspended high above the river below which looked tiny from up there. The do the jumps in weight order with heaviest first, luckily that day there were 2 heavier peeps so I was down to go third. I watched as they wasted no time getting the first person strapped in she looked nervous, yes I said she, she weighed 108kg, I thought she was gonna bottle it but no up she stepped and before I knew it she was gone, crap I thought my turn is coming fast!

I’m sat in the chair having the bungy attached to my feet with the instructor telling me which strap to pull to release my feet. You are harnessed at your waist and your feet so that when they winch you back up you are in a seated/lying position instead of dangling by your feet but to get into this position you have to release your feet via this strap, scary shit when you are hanging upside down flying through the air. You have to do the release at the height of the 2nd bounce as that’s the easiest time.

I shuffle to the edge of the platform and look out into the canyon and down at the floor, holy shit, that is a long, long way down…..3….2….1..Go the guy shouts, I jump, arms out swan dive style like I was told, it doesn’t last long though I’m flapping like a bird, like that’s gonna help. The ground arrives in no time then I feel the pull of the cord, phew it worked I’m safe springing skyward again, now I’m enjoying myself, I reach up release my feet and swing into a sitting position whoop whoop! Grinning ear to ear I arrive back at the pod, did you enjoy that asks the dude at the top, oh yeah I reply, wanna go again? Do I ,I shout, so I go again, this time head first arms by my side, this is awesome!!!!

Videos of both jumps are now on Facebook

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Wanaka itself is really picturesque and is actually becoming home to the stars with Tom Cruise recently purchasing land there. Once we arrived we all got changed and went for a quick dip in the very cold lake followed by a very cheap BBQ courtesy of the local church who'd setup next to the lake to raise money.

Everyone was pretty shattered and an early night was in order in prep for a big night in Queenstown. The following morning we headed to Puzzling World in Wanaka which was a right laugh, they had a maze, illusion rooms and puzzles to boggle your mind, I felt like a kid again going round the maze.

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Our first stop on the South Island was Nelson. On our way to Nelson we stopped off in Marlborough for some wine tasting. Marlborough is the wine capital of New Zealand.

That evening me and Ali cooked up a massive plate of pasta in preparation for our big day out at Abel Tasman National Park then watched wedding crashers with the rest of the group followed by an early night.

Up at 6:20 to make sandwiches and get ready for our 7am pickup, there is a 1hr drive to the park then we had to take a water taxi up the coast of the park to our drop off point for the 4hr hike back through the park. On the way up we stopped off in a few of the many amazing bays along the coast. We also came across a huge pod of dolphins who were loving the speed of the boat and playing in it's wake, chasing and jumping out of the water, a truly amazing sight. It made the trip and we hadn't even started the walk yet!

We got dropped of at Onetahuti bay where we ate one of the huge ham, tomato and avocado sandwiches we'd made, they tasted great, you have to try one. We then set off on the walk down the coastal track to Torrent bay which is supposed to take 4hrs but we marched it in 2.5hrs overtaking a couple that we on our boat who were dropped off at Bark bay further down the coast. The walk was amazing and took in some stunning coastal views.

That night we ended up having a massive party in our room. Disgusting boxed wine is all the rage and after a few glasses it actually tastes OK! We went out to a great Irish bar with some traditional Irish music and dancing! Our Irish joker, Sean, was in his element. You would actually die from laughter even if you spent 1 minute in his company. Terrible language and constant jokes....brilliant!!!

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After the run we started dinner of chili con carne which turned out really well with Noelle making the best rice I've ever had, it melted in your mouth. I'm gonna get her to teach me!

That evening a few of the guys went off to the pub and managed to get free pitchers of beer from this crazy brewery owner who has a brand of beer called 'Good Bastard'. I missed out as I didn't think my liver could stand another hammering so I stayed in with MC and Noelle.

The next day we left for Lake Mahinapua but stopped about 200 yards from the hostel to visit the crazy brewery owner who was filming a TV ad for his beer so more free beer flowed and this was at 9am!

Tonight was the night for the fancy dress party, the theme being to dress as anything starting with the letter P, I decided to go as a Pikey and bought a suitably naff shirt and a nasty pair of cheap tracksuit bottoms which I would tuck into some white socks I borrowed. MC went as a Prostitute, Ali a Puff, Matt as Phantom of the Opera, Noelle a Pink Princess, Darren a Pirate and Ash just dressed in Pink, he owned nearly all his clothes already which is a little worrying. He is a legend though and have never met such a posh person before, he can drink like a trooper though, totally mental.

Amongst the other outfits were, Presents, a Pina Colada, Pimps, a Pyromaniac, Peasant, Protester and Papa Lazarou from League of gentleman which was a really good effort and won the best costume, such a shame that the guy who won it is a complete tosser!

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Getting out of bed was a chore but we woke to a glorious sunny blue skied day which is apparently is a rarity in these parts so we got lucky. We kitted up with our geek hiker boots and cramp-ons for the icy climb ahead. After a short walk up the virtually dry river bed we reached the foot of the glacier. Steps are hacked into the ice by the guides to aid the steep climb it is an amazing place to be and once you've cleared the first section it feels like you are in the middle of the arctic. I recommend it to anyone visiting this part of the world.

The rest of my day has been spent updating this blog, looking forward to some food and a good sleep!

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The next day was in very similar to the last as we spent the morning chilling out with the afternoon taken up by the journey to Wellington. On our way to Wellington we stopped off and did a nice brisk 1 1/2 hour walk to an amazing water fall. I've lost count of the number of falls I've seen since traveling but each one is different and still very beautiful. We stopped here for lunch before continuing to Wellington.

We arrived in Wellington (capital of New Zealand) on Friday night, got ready and went straight down to the hostel bar where we got completely smashed, what a great night out. The entire bus was out Wellington is amazing! Such a party city. The next day was spent recovering, shopping and preparing for Saturday night which turned out to be as crazy as Friday night.

By the time Sunday arrived everyone was a mess and my liver was in danger of leaving my body of it's own accord. It's all good fun though. There is a group of 8 of us are really close now and its just so much fun! There is MC (Marie-Clair) Ali, Jenny, Darren, Ash, Matt and Noelle.

Monday saw an early start for the ferry to the 3 hr trip to the South Island at least I got to see United beat Blackburn, sorry Mum

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Today we headed off for Taupo but first was the Caving in Waitomo at the Black Water Rafting Co. This was an awesome 5hr trip involving abseiling, zip-lining and climbing all inside underground limestone caves.

First we had to practice abseiling outside to get used to controlling our speed and stopping after this we headed straight into the caves, our access point involved abseiling 40 meters through at small opening which you had to kind of shuffle through but which then opened up into a larger cavern that was pitch black. You get a small head torch which helps but it’s not powerful enough to illuminate the bottom, all you can see it the light of the guide who it at the base of the line in case you get into trouble.

After climbing down a few meters we were all told to turn off our lights so we were in pitch darkness and one by one we were sent down a zip-line completely blind which was so much fun and a little scary. We all had to make lots of noise on the way down creating vibrations to make the glow worms light up. At the bottom you could see hundreds of them on the cave ceiling glowing and glinting in the darkness, amazing!

After a warm cup of tea we headed down stream into the freezing underground river to explore further into the caves seeing more glow worms and a massive eel! After this at a fork we headed up stream along a smaller more enclosed river at times on all fours crawling through gaps, pretty intense but amazing fun, the best was yet to come when we had to climb up through some fairly fast flowing waterfalls. This is one of the best activities I’ve done so far. After a hot shower and a even hotter bowl of soup I was nice and warmed up ready to head to Taupo where I’d do another sky dive….

Day 2

An early rise of 5:30am was in store to see me head off to do the Tongariro crossing, one of the top ten 1 day hikes in the world and the best in NZ. I was supposed to be heading out with Alli a fellow Manc but he failed to make it out of bed, more fool him as this was an amazing day. There were lots of others from the Kiwi bus on the hike though so I didn’t have to enjoy it alone. The hike sees you hike up alongside Mount Ngauruhoe but LOTR fans will know it better as Mount Doom. After a relatively touch climb up what is known as the Devil’s Staircase you reach the South Crater of one of the volcanos, an impressive sight and about the size of 2 football pitches if not bigger. At the other side of the crater we headed up Red Crater Ridge where you get amazing views of Mt Doom and on a clear day you can see coast to coast. This crater is active and has hot spots all over so you get a nice warm bum while you eat lunch. After this we head down to Emerald lakes which is inside the Central Crater and also holds Blue Lake and offers spectacular views. After this it’s all downhill as you head off the mountain to the other side to get picked up.

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After spending some time watching the eruptions of the geysers we all headed to the exhibition center and met up with the Maori guides where the boys from the group would learn to do the Haka, as it is against tradition for the girls to perform the Haka they had to settle with some sort of ball juggling on a rope, not very interesting. So all the lads headed off to the other side of the park area to make some noise and generally look like idiots. It was a good laugh learning it and making all the stupid faces until all the girls turned up to watch and we had to perform the Haka to them!

Later that day we arrived at the Hostel in Waitomo and spent the afternoon chilling out, we were in the middle of nowhere and there wasn’t much to do so after dinner we all watched a movie. Myself and a few others had booked onto the caving trip the following day which I was really looking forward to.

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After here we headed to the home of Zorbing, this is a sport - if you can call it that, which involves getting inside a giant ball and rolling down a hill. Sound like fun? Well it is the one of the funniest things I’ve done in a long time. Myself, Jimmy and Tom decided to all get in one Zorb and went for the wet option which means they put tons of soapy water in there with you. Jimmy has a water proof camera which makes for hilarious viewing. Trying to stand up is pretty impossible and it was like being inside a giant washing machine, like I said, great fun!

That evening we all went to a traditional Maori village and feasted on a Hangi which is a Maori meal quite similar to a Sunday roast back home but it is cooked underground. It was delicious and was a buffet style which meant all you can eat! They also performed the Haka in full tribal dress, the Haka is the war dance that was performed to scare the enemy before battle and has been made famous by the Kiwi rugby team the All Blacks.

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Following this we headed through native NZ forest to reach the beautiful Cathedral Cove so called because of the Cathedral shaped archway on the beach. We spent a couple of hours chilling on the beach and checking out the volcanic formations. The sea was bloody freezing though so we didn’t make it into the water which is a shame as there were some caves just off-shore that would have been cool to check out. After our stop here we headed to Hot Water beach which has a thermal outlet where the water is pushed up through the sand by the volcanic magma underground, the water is literally too hot to stand in alone so it’s best mixed with a bit of sea water.

That evening we arrived at our hostel which provided us with a good home cooked meal, a few beers and a showing of the legendary Anchor Man, classic stuff!

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Once we arrived we were virtually straight out onto the boat as it was one of the first of the activities to leave. They had a money back deal which meant that if we didn’t see any dolphins you’d get to go free another day. We also had the option to swim with them if they didn’t have any young with them. It took a while but after about an hour we spotted a pod of dolphins in the distance. Once we got to them we realised that there was about 50 of them which is called a party pod, unfortunately there was young there so we could not swim but it was still an amazing sight. They were swimming right up to the boat to investigate us, playing around, jumping out of the water, it was fantastic I was so pleased to be there. Once they’d all dispersed we set off to look for more of them and came across some Orca’s, we followed them right into a bay where they were hunting down Ray’s around the rocks. What an amazing day! That evening we enjoyed the hostel BBQ , drank beer and played cards with people from the bus.

They following day was another early start as we headed off up to Cape Reinga for the day which is the furthest North you can go on the North Island, where the Tasmanian and Pacific Oceans meet and home to 90 mile beach, this area is also very sacred to the Maori people. Our guide from Awesome Adventures was a complete nutjob and highly entertaining. I think he’d been smoking something prior to picking us up.

First stop was a walk through the ancient kauri forests followed by Cape Reinga point itself which provided stunning costal views and the chance to be the furthest person North in New Zealand. Next up, Sand boarding down giant sand dunes, this is really really good fun, the climb up the dunes however is bloody tiring! After 3 goes we were beat plus it was time to go and I’d removed some layers of skin from my feet which act as brakes when doing this sport.

There were some concerns earlier in the day that we wouldn’t be able to access 90 mile beach due to a very late and high tide, the wind was also blowing the water back up the beach. In the end though it turned out to be all ok and when we hit the beach it was perfect. Our crazy driver promptly floored it and began racing up the beach sending spray in every direction. Along the way we came across a manta ray that had become stranded on the beach as the tide had gone out followed later by a seal slinking off the beach into the water at the sight of a bus hurtling his way.

The day was finished off with a stop at a local fish & chip shop which is apparently the national dish in New Zealand unlike England which is now curry. On the way back to Paihia we stopped at a fruit stall by the side of the road run by an old bloke from Ripon in Yorkshire.

On Wednesday myself and Tom went fishing as the previous night he won a 2 for 1 ticket in a raffle at the pub and since I’ve never been fishing before I thought it would be a laugh. This was not like the fishing you se in the UK, we were out in a boat in the middle of the sea, great stuff. Along the way we saw a load of dolphins that came alongside the boat to say hello then swam off again. The first hour was spent in vain following the Ganits as they fished on the surface for the bait below we were after the Snapper’s that feed on them below. Our Skipper got a call on his mobile from a mate who was having some success so we reeled in and set off in his direction. As we arrived he was hauling a huge Snapper out of the water, great we thought. We dropped our lines in and within 5 seconds of my bait hitting the bottom I got a bite, this felt like a big fish. I he was fighting a taking quite a bit of the reel off me, I took my time though and eventually after about 10 mins I got him out. As soon as that one was out another guy got a bite and reeled in a bigger catch than mine, game on!! I baited up again and chucked my line in and again within about 10 seconds I got a bite and this one felt huge! Even the skipper was excited, he kept telling me to take my time and reel her in slow. I finally got the fish out and it was massive!! By this time Tom was getting twitchy was he’d only managed to get a tiddler so far and he’s quite into his fishing but it didn’t take much longer before he was hauling out the 2nd biggest catch of the day. All good we headed back to the harbor to gut and fillet the fish. Since me and Tom had caught most of the fish and far too much to eat by ourselves we shared out catch with the rest of the boat. Guess what we’re eating tonight!

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