Travel stories - australia and new zealand

This is a travel report from May 2004 (australia and new zealand)

Hello there my friends,

Yes, i know i've waited a long time to send some account of my travels so far, but the pace has been rather quick and i finally have some time to write it all down, so here it goes ...

Well, I left on April 9 and the plane trip was, umm, LONG. Anyway, the cute flight attendants from Singapore Airlines did try to make me comfortable, which cannot be said from the customs officer in Sydney. He searched my bag and almost put my Abba CD in quarantine. Very bad taste, I'll leave it to you to decide if I'm talking about him or me.

Anyway, I was picked up at the airport by my friends An en Fred, and since it was dark already (gets dark at 6 pm these days in sydney) I didn't see a whole lot of the place that evening. After a good night's sleep we started off with a walk in a national park close to Gosford where my friends live. After that a bit of bodyboarding on Avoca beach and aussie champagne on the beach. Not a bad start at all.

The next few days were equally full: a day in Sydney (Oera house, a walk around the bay, Sydney by night) and then two days to the blue mountains. The blue mountains are actually more like canyons thans mountains, although the aussies seem a bit touchy on this matter. The trees in those canyons secrete a substance that does create a blue mist when the sun hits it right. All in all a beautiful sight at sunset, sitting on a cliff 500 meters above the valley floor.

A new day, and no rest for the wicked. This time going diving not too far from newcastle. Especially the second dive is big fun (also means I'm getting more used to diving again): a bunch of gray nurse sharks swim by within arm's length. Inquisitive and generally goodnatured creatures, don't worry. We bought some fresh fish and prawns in the harbour and had a great barbecue in real aussie tradition.

A bit faster now, otherwise this will become a new 'lord of the rings' in terms of size anyway. Five more friends from belgium got out of the plane fully rested and awake on Saturday, and the day after we all flew to New Zealand. Picked up a rental car and squeezaed the six of us plus packs into the Toyota. As soon as we leave Christchurch it starts: ooooh, aaaah, stop to take a picture, .... I have to admit that it was breathtaking. Fall has started and is colouring the landscape in shades of yellow, red and green. Sheep-dotted hills lead up to mountains, partially obscured by bands of clouds. And there's rivers and lakes to reflect all that beauty thousandfold.

We stay in Wanaka the first day and climb a hill that looks out over the lake on one side and the mountains on the other side. Beutiful, but that can be said about most things around here. Even about the wine ;-)

A small word about new-zealand animal life by the way. Overall, they can be divided into two major categories: the squashables and non-squahables. The possum for example is a very squashable animal (the locals call it a squashum). Once imported for its fur it is now a major pest that is menacing the local birdlife (many birds nest on the ground here, better than mcdonalds for the possums) and plantlife. The kiwi on the other hand is definitely non-squashable (the bird, not the fruit). The sandfly: VERY squashable (bites worse than mosquitos). It's all a bit confusing.

Glenorchy is a wonderful village by a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains, and th ekinloch lodge is the best backpackers around. Imagine a hot tub, a tub of water heated to 39 degrees, from which you can see the sun setting above the mountains and even watch the milky way if you have the stamina to stay in the hot water. Sigh.

Next day: jetboating on the river. A boat with a flat bottom and a engine that spits out 400 liters of water per second. It races along the edges of the river, and once in a while by doing a 180 turns ar full speed. Accompanied by some incomin water of course. Fun!

After glenorchy we stop at the Franz Jozef glacier. According to the maori it was create dwhen a girl that liked to climb mountains convinced here less than enthousiastic lover to come along one day. He fell to his death and she cried so much she created a glacier. Before we drove back to christchurch we passed by the blowholes near punakaiki (holes in the cliff where the seawater is pushed through with great force). No blowing going on though, so onwards to Christchurch and to Ayckland the next day. It's close to nighfall when we reach our next place to stay in the Coromandels, a peninsula..

I'll stop here before people need a rest and a meal inbetween reading. Will send another mail with more about NZ and Aus soon though...

Hope everyone's having fun wherever they are, and let me know how you're doing !!!

take care,

nico