Hola,
I´ve got a bit much to say as usual so I´ve decided to do this in installments, and make this a short intermediary post, by way of catching up. I think we left you in Cordoba, Argentina, and we´re currently somewhere bizarre in Bolivia - so I´m going to take you on a short trot up to the Bolivian border, and then I´ll do Bolivia in a seperate post because it deserves some extensive attention of its own.
So, after Cordoba we travelled up to Salta which was an amazing place with a happy happy vibe and loads of squares and cafes to laze around in. And churches. It has a big pink cathedral which contains a mary that looks like Adriana. There is also the ubiquitous south american cable car to the top of the nearest hill where you get this view of the city. Salta is very cool and has some top bars. Here we are with all the fabulous people from our hostel. I won´t name them all but you know who you are... currently scattered all over South America as we all went in various directions after that. Just outside Salta the countryside starts getting very Andean and we saw our first cactuses (MANY more to come folks, don´t worry). Here´s Rico in a cool mountain village we went to. This was our first brush with altitude and it wasn´t even that high, maybe 2500m. Prepare yourselves for lots of altitude statistics in the Bolivia post, I´m slightly obsessed with them. Don´t worry I won´t do a spreadsheet. We saw some Inca "ruins" which had been rebuilt, for what reason I have no idea, but it was a nice spot. It was a bit chilly high up so I bought a lovely alpaca jumper from the market for about a pound. It features quite heavily in forthcoming photos.
It was around Salta that the scenery started getting more spectacular. Geography fans might enjoy this piece of rock. This is a cemetary thing by some sort of mountain thing. And this was a place called Huamahuaca (that is definitely spelt wrong), a tiny village with a disproportinately large war memorial, which was a bit scary high. The altitude is quite fun though; you get light headed like you´ve had a few beers in the sun. Can´t complain about that really. We also visited a place called seven colour hill. Does exactly what it says on the tin. The only place that was a bit crap was Jujuy - the Argentinian version of Stockport. It did however have a fabulous statue. Check out the biceps on this lady.
And so, rather briefly, that was Argentina! (For now; We are coming back). After Salta we travelled by another plush overnight bus to La Quiaca on the Argentine/Bolivian border, which is where I´m going to leave you for now.
I will leave you with this picture of Robert Powell we saw in a church (hands up who remembers Jesus of Nazereth), and a goodbye from Zoe who can be seen here retreating into her new inca home.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
tengo un tango
Hello!
You might be able to guess from the title that this blog post comes to you from a spanish speaking country.
Before I continue, let me tell you a funny story. A couple of days ago I had downloaded all the most recent pictures onto the computer in the hostel, and then got bored and thought I´d sort them out the following day. I didn´t realise that the computer in question had one of those screensavers that cycles through all the pictures on the hard drive. I happened to be passing the computer later that evening and saw a full screen version of this picture happily displaying itself to the entire bar. That´s Zoe pretending to be Frida Kahlo. We were developing our South American personalities. Zoe as a tempestuous latin firebrand and Rico the gringo gun runner. There is lots of mileage in this game. I am also a sniper in the next bourne film. although you´d be forgiven for thinking I was playing snooker in that photo.
So here we are! We flew into Santiago (Chile) at some point in the past, which was very South American with its big red flag and colossal virgin. We stayed in a very cute hostel and got straight into hostel life, marvelled at the cheap food and wine, and climbed hills to look at the pollution. We then got a bus through the Andes which was a bit bizarre, we had to get out and show our passports at 4000 metres, head spinning quite spectacularly. It was really quite high. So we are now in Argentina. We stayed in Mendoza for a few days (if you´re trying to work out why you know that name, he was the dad in cities of gold) and I gave Zoe a fringe. Mendoza is a famous wine region so as you can imagine we fitted in quite well. We hired the worlds smallest bikes anmd took ourselves on a tour of the vineyards. Here´s Zoe´s tasting face, and here´s mine. You could see Aconcagua (I really should check these spellings) from the vineyards but it was constantly obscured by telegraph poles. It is the biggest mountain outside the himalayas and at about 7000m is nearly as high as everest. Here´s my best shot. So we had a few days relaxing in Mendoza, and learnt a new word from a fellow traveller, "chillax". Some of these backpackers really are idiots. From there it was an overnight bus to Cordoba. The overnight buses are ace, they have food and wine and videos and the seats are massive and go really far back. I positively look forward to them. As long as the film isn´t too depressing, last time it was Amistad which is about slaves being murdered, so that was cheerful. Cordoba, like everywhere in Argetina, has some nice churches and a cathedral but I won´t bore you with those pictures. OK maybe just the chandeliers.
We took the opportunity offered by the sierras around Cordoba to test out our new found horse riding skills. It was very beautiful and I had a beautiful horse. So did Zoe. How rural is this photo. The two backs in that earlier photo were our friends Tom and Sarah who we are going to visit in Salta after the weekend. They work on boats in the carribean and I´m going to get them to get me a job.
We also visited Alta Gracia which has a nice house thing, and a Che Guevara museum in his childhood home. Here´s his famous motorbike, and guess what, under all that hair and hat, Che Guevara; secret hottie. Here are some people from our hostel, and here´s me sitting next to little Che.
And that´s that really. Cordoba has been fun, we made lots of friends, and I even learnt to play pool. This is one of my favourite drunk photos ever. And here´s a picture of last night´s moon. You´ll notice it´s upside down.
Only 6 weeks to go now! We are going to somewhere called Salta tonight, by overnight bus, I think it´s near Bolivia, (where we hope to bump into Peter and Domingo for those of you who know them, the two blogs will finaly cross!)
All the best,
Rico
x
You might be able to guess from the title that this blog post comes to you from a spanish speaking country.
Before I continue, let me tell you a funny story. A couple of days ago I had downloaded all the most recent pictures onto the computer in the hostel, and then got bored and thought I´d sort them out the following day. I didn´t realise that the computer in question had one of those screensavers that cycles through all the pictures on the hard drive. I happened to be passing the computer later that evening and saw a full screen version of this picture happily displaying itself to the entire bar. That´s Zoe pretending to be Frida Kahlo. We were developing our South American personalities. Zoe as a tempestuous latin firebrand and Rico the gringo gun runner. There is lots of mileage in this game. I am also a sniper in the next bourne film. although you´d be forgiven for thinking I was playing snooker in that photo.
So here we are! We flew into Santiago (Chile) at some point in the past, which was very South American with its big red flag and colossal virgin. We stayed in a very cute hostel and got straight into hostel life, marvelled at the cheap food and wine, and climbed hills to look at the pollution. We then got a bus through the Andes which was a bit bizarre, we had to get out and show our passports at 4000 metres, head spinning quite spectacularly. It was really quite high. So we are now in Argentina. We stayed in Mendoza for a few days (if you´re trying to work out why you know that name, he was the dad in cities of gold) and I gave Zoe a fringe. Mendoza is a famous wine region so as you can imagine we fitted in quite well. We hired the worlds smallest bikes anmd took ourselves on a tour of the vineyards. Here´s Zoe´s tasting face, and here´s mine. You could see Aconcagua (I really should check these spellings) from the vineyards but it was constantly obscured by telegraph poles. It is the biggest mountain outside the himalayas and at about 7000m is nearly as high as everest. Here´s my best shot. So we had a few days relaxing in Mendoza, and learnt a new word from a fellow traveller, "chillax". Some of these backpackers really are idiots. From there it was an overnight bus to Cordoba. The overnight buses are ace, they have food and wine and videos and the seats are massive and go really far back. I positively look forward to them. As long as the film isn´t too depressing, last time it was Amistad which is about slaves being murdered, so that was cheerful. Cordoba, like everywhere in Argetina, has some nice churches and a cathedral but I won´t bore you with those pictures. OK maybe just the chandeliers.
We took the opportunity offered by the sierras around Cordoba to test out our new found horse riding skills. It was very beautiful and I had a beautiful horse. So did Zoe. How rural is this photo. The two backs in that earlier photo were our friends Tom and Sarah who we are going to visit in Salta after the weekend. They work on boats in the carribean and I´m going to get them to get me a job.
We also visited Alta Gracia which has a nice house thing, and a Che Guevara museum in his childhood home. Here´s his famous motorbike, and guess what, under all that hair and hat, Che Guevara; secret hottie. Here are some people from our hostel, and here´s me sitting next to little Che.
And that´s that really. Cordoba has been fun, we made lots of friends, and I even learnt to play pool. This is one of my favourite drunk photos ever. And here´s a picture of last night´s moon. You´ll notice it´s upside down.
Only 6 weeks to go now! We are going to somewhere called Salta tonight, by overnight bus, I think it´s near Bolivia, (where we hope to bump into Peter and Domingo for those of you who know them, the two blogs will finaly cross!)
All the best,
Rico
x
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Walking in a Thermal Wonderland
Well folks, this is my last post from NZ. Tomorrow we fly to Chile for the home stretch. No more English, no more familiar food, no more swish public transport... It's shaping up to be the best bit yet. Prepare youselves for lots of donkey pics.
We left you somewhere in the North West of The South Island, where we camped in our most remote spot yet, and got a bit scared when it went dark because we were the only people for miles around. We went on the zip slide across the buller gorge, (which was higher, and faster than it looks!) and then drove all the way up to the Abel Tasman national park to do a boat trip and a "tramp". Unfortunately the weather was rubbish but there were some highlights: This is "Splut ipple ruck" which is New Zealand for, simply, "Split Apple Rock". Zoe found a magic toadstool, and here's me with an ancient tree fern like they had in the dinosaur days. You can get a vague idea of what it's supposed to be like there from this picture I took from the jungle when the rain had stopped. Oh and look! - we saw a baybee seal.
Next stop after that (not including Nelson, which I have missed out because it was boring) was Picton, where you get the ferry to Wellington. It has a beautiful harbour and, most excitingly, you can get on the mail boat and go round the fiords delivering peoples letters and shopping. You'd be surprised how much gin they get through out there. The best thing is that people's dogs come out to collect the mail. This is also where we had our first glimpse of the North Island (on the left) and visited somewhere which was something to do with Captain Cook (then again, where isn't). After the mail run we had scallops and white wine on The Echo which is a boat made into a pub (two of my favourite things). I've had one or two complaints that there isn't enough romance on the blog, (and I have to admit I've been skimming over some of our less moral moments) so I guess I should let you know that night we bonded with the local builders, over a crossword, in the irish pub and there was just the right ratio of orientations for us both to have a good night.
So that was it for the South Island! There were more boat trips we could have done but we sent our shadow selves instead. Next stop, Wellington, via a fairly cramped ferry.
Wellington was mucho fun. It has a flying ball in the town square, some nice walks in the botanical gardens and the cemetary, (there's a caption competition for that photo), and the best museum yet - a really sciencey one with loads of buttons to press, an earthquake room and some whale skellingtons. And some Maori art. The maori are our favourite indigenous population to date, scoring highly across the board on looks, sense of humour and general value down the pub. More on that later.
Wellington's nightlife was a blast; we have to say thanks to Scotty and Mal, who run the best bar in New Zealand and do the best gin martini, or three.
Travelling is a bitter sweet thing. *sigh*. I fell in love in Wellington, with a chap called Brent who I know is reading. *hi*. But unfortunately due to the advancing nature of time, and the fact we had somewhat ballsed up our North Island schedule, we moved on quite abruptly. Apologies all round. We even had to miss out the glow worm caves at waitomo that you go through in a boat. Apparently this is what we missed but that photo looks like bollocks to me..
We went straight up to Taupo where we camped next to a geothermal spring. This is where something to do with a volcano happens and hot water comes out of the ground, which they cool down so you don't boil to death, and pump it into a nice swimming pool. Thanks to a fancy irrigation system there are also loads of beautiful private pools which, and this is somewhat unsavoury, you can lock from the inside. We took the opportunity to relax and behave like adults. After that it was straight on to rotorua, which has so much volcanic stuff going on that steam comes out of the drains, and there are boiling mud pools by the side of the pavement. This is where we did our maori cultural experience, which is a bit of a patronising thing where lots of people, who probably have nice day jobs in offices, dress up as natives and shout at you, and stamp their feet, wave sticks and paddle burning canoes around. It was quite funny really. Then you have a traditional meal; They dig up some meat and potatoes which have been buried with hot coals all afternoon, which was really nice. Inexplicably followed by trifle.
And now for my favourite bit, the Thermal Wonderland at Wai O'Tapu (thats really what it was called). There is a giant geyser which goes off at 10.15 every morning. There are lots of pretty coloured rocks and strange coloured lakes because of the sulphur and iron and stuff. Here is my recreation of this photo. Here's me and some geysers, and here's Zoe and a big boiling lake. I was disappointed that nothing exploded but we did see the most fabulous boiling mud pool. Here are some plops in action, and here's a massive plop. I could have watched that for hours.
There was a band on in the pub in rotorua, revealing not only what has happened to Mutya, but I also saw Paul BH in there who claimed to have moved to New York. I took this photo surreptitiously in the dark from under my jumper but you get the idea..
And thanks to the time restrictions I didn't get a chance to go over to Taranaki and visit Hamish my old NZ penpal who I haven't seen since I was 9. But we did get to visit his little sister Alana in Waihi Beach, who was 5 last time I saw her, and has since learnt to do a great line in steaks and wine. Not sure what was going on here though. Waihi also has a working goldmine, and (and I'm predicting Adriana you'll like this) a disused gold railway where you can get a train to a cafe and back again.
And that, basically, is that. We've arived in Auckland far too late to visit any of the people we've been put in touch with, given the van back, and tomorrow we fly to Chile. I have to go and photocopy my passport now and hide it in my underpants, or something.
So, you should hear from us again somewhere in Patagonia, high on tequila and refried beans, or is that Mexico... who knows!
We left you somewhere in the North West of The South Island, where we camped in our most remote spot yet, and got a bit scared when it went dark because we were the only people for miles around. We went on the zip slide across the buller gorge, (which was higher, and faster than it looks!) and then drove all the way up to the Abel Tasman national park to do a boat trip and a "tramp". Unfortunately the weather was rubbish but there were some highlights: This is "Splut ipple ruck" which is New Zealand for, simply, "Split Apple Rock". Zoe found a magic toadstool, and here's me with an ancient tree fern like they had in the dinosaur days. You can get a vague idea of what it's supposed to be like there from this picture I took from the jungle when the rain had stopped. Oh and look! - we saw a baybee seal.
Next stop after that (not including Nelson, which I have missed out because it was boring) was Picton, where you get the ferry to Wellington. It has a beautiful harbour and, most excitingly, you can get on the mail boat and go round the fiords delivering peoples letters and shopping. You'd be surprised how much gin they get through out there. The best thing is that people's dogs come out to collect the mail. This is also where we had our first glimpse of the North Island (on the left) and visited somewhere which was something to do with Captain Cook (then again, where isn't). After the mail run we had scallops and white wine on The Echo which is a boat made into a pub (two of my favourite things). I've had one or two complaints that there isn't enough romance on the blog, (and I have to admit I've been skimming over some of our less moral moments) so I guess I should let you know that night we bonded with the local builders, over a crossword, in the irish pub and there was just the right ratio of orientations for us both to have a good night.
So that was it for the South Island! There were more boat trips we could have done but we sent our shadow selves instead. Next stop, Wellington, via a fairly cramped ferry.
Wellington was mucho fun. It has a flying ball in the town square, some nice walks in the botanical gardens and the cemetary, (there's a caption competition for that photo), and the best museum yet - a really sciencey one with loads of buttons to press, an earthquake room and some whale skellingtons. And some Maori art. The maori are our favourite indigenous population to date, scoring highly across the board on looks, sense of humour and general value down the pub. More on that later.
Wellington's nightlife was a blast; we have to say thanks to Scotty and Mal, who run the best bar in New Zealand and do the best gin martini, or three.
Travelling is a bitter sweet thing. *sigh*. I fell in love in Wellington, with a chap called Brent who I know is reading. *hi*. But unfortunately due to the advancing nature of time, and the fact we had somewhat ballsed up our North Island schedule, we moved on quite abruptly. Apologies all round. We even had to miss out the glow worm caves at waitomo that you go through in a boat. Apparently this is what we missed but that photo looks like bollocks to me..
We went straight up to Taupo where we camped next to a geothermal spring. This is where something to do with a volcano happens and hot water comes out of the ground, which they cool down so you don't boil to death, and pump it into a nice swimming pool. Thanks to a fancy irrigation system there are also loads of beautiful private pools which, and this is somewhat unsavoury, you can lock from the inside. We took the opportunity to relax and behave like adults. After that it was straight on to rotorua, which has so much volcanic stuff going on that steam comes out of the drains, and there are boiling mud pools by the side of the pavement. This is where we did our maori cultural experience, which is a bit of a patronising thing where lots of people, who probably have nice day jobs in offices, dress up as natives and shout at you, and stamp their feet, wave sticks and paddle burning canoes around. It was quite funny really. Then you have a traditional meal; They dig up some meat and potatoes which have been buried with hot coals all afternoon, which was really nice. Inexplicably followed by trifle.
And now for my favourite bit, the Thermal Wonderland at Wai O'Tapu (thats really what it was called). There is a giant geyser which goes off at 10.15 every morning. There are lots of pretty coloured rocks and strange coloured lakes because of the sulphur and iron and stuff. Here is my recreation of this photo. Here's me and some geysers, and here's Zoe and a big boiling lake. I was disappointed that nothing exploded but we did see the most fabulous boiling mud pool. Here are some plops in action, and here's a massive plop. I could have watched that for hours.
There was a band on in the pub in rotorua, revealing not only what has happened to Mutya, but I also saw Paul BH in there who claimed to have moved to New York. I took this photo surreptitiously in the dark from under my jumper but you get the idea..
And thanks to the time restrictions I didn't get a chance to go over to Taranaki and visit Hamish my old NZ penpal who I haven't seen since I was 9. But we did get to visit his little sister Alana in Waihi Beach, who was 5 last time I saw her, and has since learnt to do a great line in steaks and wine. Not sure what was going on here though. Waihi also has a working goldmine, and (and I'm predicting Adriana you'll like this) a disused gold railway where you can get a train to a cafe and back again.
And that, basically, is that. We've arived in Auckland far too late to visit any of the people we've been put in touch with, given the van back, and tomorrow we fly to Chile. I have to go and photocopy my passport now and hide it in my underpants, or something.
So, you should hear from us again somewhere in Patagonia, high on tequila and refried beans, or is that Mexico... who knows!
And announciung the first and last instalment of My Favourite Article From This week's "New Idea", I was very amused by this. Sound at all familiar?
No photos, as yet, of Beatrice's dragon tattoo though.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Fox Glacier is Mint
I'm so glad you all appreciated Zoe's chair bungy as much as I did. It was definitely a highlight. Who knows how we're going to top that.
Anyway, it's been far too long, and as usual I've got far too many photos to get through, so you might want to go and get a cup of tea... :) Or just get one anyway, and read someting more interesting, because tea is great
OK. So I have a question for Emma Russo if you're out there. How did you manage to do your skydive in a skimpy top and no helmet, when I had to wear this?? More on that later.
You left us on St Patrick's Day, making lots of new friends, none of whom we can understand. For a bit of respite we headed off to Milford Sound which is a famous, er, sound (water feature). It's one of those places that people gush about, being all magical and lovely etc. We decided to see it by kayak. And this is what it looks like. That's probably all you need to know about that, apart from that it was our first proper acquaintance with big mountains. The village we stayed in has this comedy sign. (There is a prize for anyone that can send me a picture of a "White Way").
And so, yes, lovely mountains etc, but it was now time to go back to crazy Queenstown and fill up on more adventures. The first thing we did was hop on the cable car to the top of the mountain. Where you get a beautiful view of Queenstown, and with my mega zoom on, our van in the campsite! *waves at van*. From the top of the mountain you get a chairlift even furhter up, and ride down on the exciting, and slightly dangerous, concerete luge. And here's our photo finish.
We also, and this was very exciting, went to the bird park and saw a kiwi. They are nocturnal though, so prepare youself for the first instalment of my night-time photography (there's more to come); Yup, this is a kiwi. We also had an incident where Zoe turned into her bird form. Examine the expression and tell me it's not her. On the way out of Queenstown we drove past the world's original, and possibly most famous, bungy site, the Kawarau bridge (At 43 metres high it's 66 metres shorter than the one we did, I would like to point out). Kawarau is also apparently where the "Pillars of the Kings" scene from LOTR was filmed. I have painstakingly recreated the CGI so you can recognise it, here.
Anyway, it's been far too long, and as usual I've got far too many photos to get through, so you might want to go and get a cup of tea... :) Or just get one anyway, and read someting more interesting, because tea is great
OK. So I have a question for Emma Russo if you're out there. How did you manage to do your skydive in a skimpy top and no helmet, when I had to wear this?? More on that later.
You left us on St Patrick's Day, making lots of new friends, none of whom we can understand. For a bit of respite we headed off to Milford Sound which is a famous, er, sound (water feature). It's one of those places that people gush about, being all magical and lovely etc. We decided to see it by kayak. And this is what it looks like. That's probably all you need to know about that, apart from that it was our first proper acquaintance with big mountains. The village we stayed in has this comedy sign. (There is a prize for anyone that can send me a picture of a "White Way").
And so, yes, lovely mountains etc, but it was now time to go back to crazy Queenstown and fill up on more adventures. The first thing we did was hop on the cable car to the top of the mountain. Where you get a beautiful view of Queenstown, and with my mega zoom on, our van in the campsite! *waves at van*. From the top of the mountain you get a chairlift even furhter up, and ride down on the exciting, and slightly dangerous, concerete luge. And here's our photo finish.
We also, and this was very exciting, went to the bird park and saw a kiwi. They are nocturnal though, so prepare youself for the first instalment of my night-time photography (there's more to come); Yup, this is a kiwi. We also had an incident where Zoe turned into her bird form. Examine the expression and tell me it's not her. On the way out of Queenstown we drove past the world's original, and possibly most famous, bungy site, the Kawarau bridge (At 43 metres high it's 66 metres shorter than the one we did, I would like to point out). Kawarau is also apparently where the "Pillars of the Kings" scene from LOTR was filmed. I have painstakingly recreated the CGI so you can recognise it, here.
Just before you think things couldn't get any more exciting, prepare youself for Puzzle World in Wanaka. It, simply put, is the greatest tourist attraction two nerds could come across. Apart form the altered perspective room where slides go uphill, there is a giant maze, a trompe d'oeil toilet, a room full of spooky faces that follow you round the room (because they're inside out), and a puzzling cafe and I even had a video (from my phone) where we're stood in a room, one of us looks massive and the other small, then we swap ends, but I'm afraid it hasn't worked so you'll have to make do with a still.
It was, basically, photo opportunity galore. And Wanaka itself is beautiful, we camped by the lake with a great view of the land of the long white cloud.
A perfect place, you'd think, for doing a 15,000 foot skydive. Oh yes. This has to be the BEST thing I ever done. 15,000 feet is a looooong way up in the sky. About twice as high as the nearest high mountain. And here is a picture of the nearest high mountain, Mount Aspiring, from the plane. So here I am looking cheerful, if somewhat bald, in the plane ( I was, surprisingly, not scared at all). Here I am getting out of the plane (WHAT were they thinking with those hats), here's me falling - at 200kph (apparently). And the less said about this photo the better. I was sticking my tongue out on purpose. I loved it. I know I look a little taken aback by the inital drop, but I was enjoying myself really, and the rest of it was pretty relaxing, nice view (if a bit windy) etc...
So having exhausted that bit of NZ (and ourselves) we zoomed over to the West Side, via some really incredible scenery, and more mountains. The west coast is quite barren but presents plenty of opportunities for doing art with sticks on the beach. It is also home to the world famous Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. Never being ones to skimp on style, we went up the FJ glacier in a helicopter. Then walked around on it. I could bore you forever with these photos, I love them. Here's our helicopter leaving us behind. And check out the boots they gave me, I loved them. Zoe in a tunnel, Rick in a tunnel, Zoe in a crevasse, Rick and a feature. This was our little team, and here's my picture of the main ice wall. Oh, and not forgetting, me surfing an ice wave. Aren't they great. This was one of my favourite places ever. The helicopter obviously helped.
We met some top people around there too. On this photo you can see Aidhin, (the Irish Claudine), and Mark, who I can say what I like about becuase he can't use a computer and doesn't have an email address. Mark was a lovely horse-man from the swiss army, who (and I thought this was hilarious), had a swiss army knife. I'm not sure who the blonde on the end is, but *waves* hello everyone. Oh and hi sally as well, hope you're enjoying your last few days here! x
The rest of the west coast was pretty remote, rainy, sandfly infested, but we saw the famous pancake rocks (they are made out of piles of pancakes) and, prepare yourself for more top notch wildlife photography, we camped next to this and saw these.
You may be wondering what goes on in between all this frenzy of sightseeing and throwing ourselves off things. Well, we laugh at things in the supermarket: Alison, I've had a flash forward to your future career. We make up lists of the top ten famous people in whichever country we're in ;We only have 4 for NZ so far, and it would be 3 had we not read in a New Idea yesterday that Keith Urban was born here. (And thus revealing another one: reading rubbish local magazines). We also like to endlessly discuss what films and soaps x has been in with y, or who sang with what band when, And, my current most favourite activity at the moment, go bargain hunting in The Warehouse. On my last trip I got a new washbag, 3 CDs and a citronella candle for $40.
We're now heading across the North coast of the South Island, looking forward to our last 2 weeks in NZ, and EEK planning South America.
Love you all, :)
xxx
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Zoe Driver: Adrenaline Junkie
Well, just to start you off; Look at this nutter.
Ho ho, and there was me saying New Zealand might not be that blog-worthy.
I'll get back to that.
So last time we spoke we were on our way back from Kaikoura with its dolphins and whales, via Christchurch (the only photos of which I have are of the crazy golf - it's such an interesting place). We carried on South to a place called Geraldine on the Rangitata river - best rafting in NZ apparently. So that's what I did, to kick off the extreme sports. (Zoe had a relaxing day getting to know the local mad people, but I'll let her tell you about that.)
So, that's me at the front, getting wet, wetter and wettest. It was sooo much fun, I want to go every day. We finished off with a 10 metre jump into the gorge, which you can see me being very cool about *ahem*.
Things were a bit more sedate after that for a few days, some nice camping among the sand dunes, rugged coasts and the sunsets. (NB That last photo was taken in a campsite, not a concentration camp, despite appearances). Ooh, christiane, we had your jam with some scones it was lovely.
We visited the Moeraki boulders (you can see I'm starting to look like a transient after a week in the camper van) which have a honeycomb centre, geology/malteser fans. Then we headed down to Dunedin which is full of Scottish people. The Otago peninsula near Dunedin has some cool wildlife. Look at this chubby fella. And this one! He was having a very lazy day. We also went to a penguin sanctuary which had exciting underground tunnels, and, of course, some penguins. There was also a nice castle with pretty flowers round it. No visit to Dunedin would be complete (apparently) without a trip to the chocolate factory, where I was humiliated into wearing a "beard snood". Factory rick, notagoodlook. Here is Zoe in front of a mountain of crunchies.
So having got the middle-aged activities out of the way we set off for beautiful Queenstown and moved onto the stupid stuff. That's us in our jet boating outfits. Jetboats are daft things designed and operated by cheerful petrol-heads, which can be filled up with tourists, chucked around a river at several million miles an hour, and swerved past rocks, and do 360 degree spins. (I don't think they have any other purpose). There is also a video of that. Hilariously it features me picking my nose. Queenstown itself is ace, on a lake surrounded by mountains, brimming with pubs and restaurants, and full of idiots chucking themselves off things. Which brings me on to the canyon swing. I'm not sure what we were thinking here. We sort of thought it would be a nice fun swing (I imagine a few of you are shaking you heads here) but of course it's actually just a bungy jump where you don't bounce back up, you swing across. And it's more scary - your average bungy jump has 40 metres of freefall and this has 60. Sooo stupid.
So we got in our outfits, Zoe was quite calm, and I was fucking terrified. Zoe went first and after a bit of coaxing managed to jump off forwards which was mightily impressive. I was having none of this, and made them hang me up and pull a release thing so I didn't have to jump. Predictably, for full comic effect, he released it mid sentence, ("There's just a couple of things I need to *snip*") and I screamed like someone being murdered with a chainsaw. Here I am falling.
Then Zoe decided she wanted to do it again. I have NO idea what was going through her head. If you do it again you don't have to pay but you do have to do a crazy stunt - so, obviously, she chose falling off backwards strapped to a plastic garden chair. You can never get enough of this picture.
And then the next day, for a bit of respite, we did a whole day of horse riding which we loved, despite a slight feeling of the landscape being marred by Lord of the Rings tourism. Here's adrenaline Driver going at full pelt and here's me and Polar splashing about in the river. We met a lovely couple of lads on the horseriding called Peter and Alex and had lunch in a deserted mining village. Peter has promised to mention my sunglasses on his blog.
And that, as they say, is that. St Patrick's day was fairly predictable.
And if you REALLY want to see them, here are the videos of our canyon swing. *holds head in hands*
Rick
Zoe (swing 2)
Ho ho, and there was me saying New Zealand might not be that blog-worthy.
I'll get back to that.
So last time we spoke we were on our way back from Kaikoura with its dolphins and whales, via Christchurch (the only photos of which I have are of the crazy golf - it's such an interesting place). We carried on South to a place called Geraldine on the Rangitata river - best rafting in NZ apparently. So that's what I did, to kick off the extreme sports. (Zoe had a relaxing day getting to know the local mad people, but I'll let her tell you about that.)
So, that's me at the front, getting wet, wetter and wettest. It was sooo much fun, I want to go every day. We finished off with a 10 metre jump into the gorge, which you can see me being very cool about *ahem*.
Things were a bit more sedate after that for a few days, some nice camping among the sand dunes, rugged coasts and the sunsets. (NB That last photo was taken in a campsite, not a concentration camp, despite appearances). Ooh, christiane, we had your jam with some scones it was lovely.
We visited the Moeraki boulders (you can see I'm starting to look like a transient after a week in the camper van) which have a honeycomb centre, geology/malteser fans. Then we headed down to Dunedin which is full of Scottish people. The Otago peninsula near Dunedin has some cool wildlife. Look at this chubby fella. And this one! He was having a very lazy day. We also went to a penguin sanctuary which had exciting underground tunnels, and, of course, some penguins. There was also a nice castle with pretty flowers round it. No visit to Dunedin would be complete (apparently) without a trip to the chocolate factory, where I was humiliated into wearing a "beard snood". Factory rick, notagoodlook. Here is Zoe in front of a mountain of crunchies.
So having got the middle-aged activities out of the way we set off for beautiful Queenstown and moved onto the stupid stuff. That's us in our jet boating outfits. Jetboats are daft things designed and operated by cheerful petrol-heads, which can be filled up with tourists, chucked around a river at several million miles an hour, and swerved past rocks, and do 360 degree spins. (I don't think they have any other purpose). There is also a video of that. Hilariously it features me picking my nose. Queenstown itself is ace, on a lake surrounded by mountains, brimming with pubs and restaurants, and full of idiots chucking themselves off things. Which brings me on to the canyon swing. I'm not sure what we were thinking here. We sort of thought it would be a nice fun swing (I imagine a few of you are shaking you heads here) but of course it's actually just a bungy jump where you don't bounce back up, you swing across. And it's more scary - your average bungy jump has 40 metres of freefall and this has 60. Sooo stupid.
So we got in our outfits, Zoe was quite calm, and I was fucking terrified. Zoe went first and after a bit of coaxing managed to jump off forwards which was mightily impressive. I was having none of this, and made them hang me up and pull a release thing so I didn't have to jump. Predictably, for full comic effect, he released it mid sentence, ("There's just a couple of things I need to *snip*") and I screamed like someone being murdered with a chainsaw. Here I am falling.
Then Zoe decided she wanted to do it again. I have NO idea what was going through her head. If you do it again you don't have to pay but you do have to do a crazy stunt - so, obviously, she chose falling off backwards strapped to a plastic garden chair. You can never get enough of this picture.
And then the next day, for a bit of respite, we did a whole day of horse riding which we loved, despite a slight feeling of the landscape being marred by Lord of the Rings tourism. Here's adrenaline Driver going at full pelt and here's me and Polar splashing about in the river. We met a lovely couple of lads on the horseriding called Peter and Alex and had lunch in a deserted mining village. Peter has promised to mention my sunglasses on his blog.
And that, as they say, is that. St Patrick's day was fairly predictable.
And if you REALLY want to see them, here are the videos of our canyon swing. *holds head in hands*
Rick
Zoe (swing 2)
Monday, March 10, 2008
Blue Mountains Not Blue: Shock Report
The Blue Mountains are not blue, nor are they mountains, I can exclusively reveal. They are in fact a big green valley. A source close to the mountains yesterday claimed, "They sometimes look blue, from a distance". Seeing as this is the case with all mountains, I remain unconvinced. However they are very nice, but in the interests of chronology I'll get on to that later.
We got back to Sydney just over a couple of weeks ago now, and had an amazing few days recuperating and resting back at Christiane's. She made us fabulous healthy food, and we read books, played with Mitsy and went for swims in the local rock pool. One day it got full of bluebottle jellyfish (Portuguese man'o'war) and I got scared and got out, although some people kept swimming. I've heard they give you great scars that look like whip marks but I got out anyway and spent an hour fishing them out with a net and inspecting them, before throwing them in the jellyfish bin. Our most spectacular trip to the rock pool was when a storm came over like a roof. Unfortunately this was the storm that soaked my ipod and it is now dead.
Then we checked into the youth hostel in town, for the weekend, (youth hostels have changed - look at this rooftop pool!), met up with our friend Rory from Fraser Island, did some shopping, and mooched around the city. (Which by this point was infested with gays).
Check out this graffitti - one of my favourite pictures so far this trip.
And then on Saturday it was Mardi Gras. Obviously this was a lot of fun, and the pictures are endless. I will try and be brief.
We started off in the park, where there were some teenagers in funny neon outfits, and then headed up to the parade which was led by the dykes on bikes. (Here's more). Followed by all the obligatory representation from the public services - here's the police, and the army although I sincerely hope that's not the real army. Here's me up a lamppost watching the parade (yes that's another home haircut). This is Zoe and Christiane pretending to be lesbians, quite convincing I thought. We also made some friends; Here's Christiane with a gladiator, and this is me with little red riding hood. Other highlights included the big head-dresses, dancing letters, a man dressed up as kylie (obviously), and Lisa this is specially for you, a "bear" dressed up as an angel. There's a lot more I could bore you with, but I won't. I personally never get bored of glittery sponge lettering. And here's a good example of how my stupid new camera always focuses on the wrong thing. I vaguely remember later on making friends with a nice man from the navy, with a pirate-ship tattoo. I forget his name, but that's his fault for buying me four whisky and cokes.
We flung away our hangovers in true city-Sunday style by going for a massive breakfast, walk (over the bridge to the North shore) where we went to the fair. I went on a pirate ship, in honour of the man whose name I have forgotten. After being scared "wit"less in the "prison Break Live" thing (never go in one - it involves a chicken wire maze with strobe lighting, and out of work actors covered in blood flinging themselves at you in the dark, it was horrible. Zoe will want me to point out she wasn't scared, but I was) we found our better selves in the hall of mirrors, and played on the slides.
And then we had our last day in Australia, at the "Blue Mountains" (see above). They were cool, comprising Australia's highest waterfall folks, an intrepid 3 hour hike through the jungle (see I told you they're not mountains), a ride on a brass horse, a very steep funicular railway, a cable car past the three sisters and some aboriginal dancing.
And that, guys, was our last day in Australia. *weep*. We are missing lots of things, but one thing we are NOT missing is Christiane's jam, because she gave us some to take with us and we had to cleverly smuggle it through customs. This was our last view of Sydney, from the airport.
And now we're in New Zealand! It's verrrry beautiful, and unlike Australia the weather is beautiful too *touch wood*.
Due to budgetry restraints we've hired a "wicked camper" in Christchurch, which are cheap rubbish camper vans for students and poor people. They are only about ten quid a day though - and we need it for five weeks. The downside is that they all have some crazy art on them. And you don't get to choose. We missed out on all the cool ones (We've seen The Doors, Kiss, Elvis, etc) and have ended up with a jaded political message about George Bush. It could have been worse. Look at this one we were parked next to. What were they thinking??
So after some teething problems (the radiator pipe blew off and sprayed water and oil all through the gear box and onto my jeans) the van is fully up and running. It has been amazing so far. Very different to Oz. I'm wondering how to make it blog-worthy seeing as everywhere is very deserted, and there is nothing much to do except drive places and look at the scenery, which is great for us, but boring for you. You'll like this though, we went on a boat from yet another crowded beach, and saw our first ever whale. In fact we saw three, and some dolphins, which was amazing.
So, thanks to some careful planning over sandwiches in the van, we are well underway in New Zealand. We have also been to Akoroa bay, which has a really cute town, and one of our favourite things, a crap museum. And yesterday when it was windy we did some crazy golf. Check out the Downtown hole, the rollercoaster (your ball actually goes on the rollercoaster) and the castle with the snapping portcullis. All pure genius.
The nicest thing about NZ is the familiar wildlife. I saw some bumble bees yesterday, and a couple of days ago a hedgehog tried to lick our washing up clean. I am rambling a bit, and running out of money on the meter, so I had better go. Today's picture to finish is this one of Zoe demonstrating how windy it can get here.
Oh, and what do you call a lesbian off-license? Yup.
See you all soon!
x
We got back to Sydney just over a couple of weeks ago now, and had an amazing few days recuperating and resting back at Christiane's. She made us fabulous healthy food, and we read books, played with Mitsy and went for swims in the local rock pool. One day it got full of bluebottle jellyfish (Portuguese man'o'war) and I got scared and got out, although some people kept swimming. I've heard they give you great scars that look like whip marks but I got out anyway and spent an hour fishing them out with a net and inspecting them, before throwing them in the jellyfish bin. Our most spectacular trip to the rock pool was when a storm came over like a roof. Unfortunately this was the storm that soaked my ipod and it is now dead.
Then we checked into the youth hostel in town, for the weekend, (youth hostels have changed - look at this rooftop pool!), met up with our friend Rory from Fraser Island, did some shopping, and mooched around the city. (Which by this point was infested with gays).
Check out this graffitti - one of my favourite pictures so far this trip.
And then on Saturday it was Mardi Gras. Obviously this was a lot of fun, and the pictures are endless. I will try and be brief.
We started off in the park, where there were some teenagers in funny neon outfits, and then headed up to the parade which was led by the dykes on bikes. (Here's more). Followed by all the obligatory representation from the public services - here's the police, and the army although I sincerely hope that's not the real army. Here's me up a lamppost watching the parade (yes that's another home haircut). This is Zoe and Christiane pretending to be lesbians, quite convincing I thought. We also made some friends; Here's Christiane with a gladiator, and this is me with little red riding hood. Other highlights included the big head-dresses, dancing letters, a man dressed up as kylie (obviously), and Lisa this is specially for you, a "bear" dressed up as an angel. There's a lot more I could bore you with, but I won't. I personally never get bored of glittery sponge lettering. And here's a good example of how my stupid new camera always focuses on the wrong thing. I vaguely remember later on making friends with a nice man from the navy, with a pirate-ship tattoo. I forget his name, but that's his fault for buying me four whisky and cokes.
We flung away our hangovers in true city-Sunday style by going for a massive breakfast, walk (over the bridge to the North shore) where we went to the fair. I went on a pirate ship, in honour of the man whose name I have forgotten. After being scared "wit"less in the "prison Break Live" thing (never go in one - it involves a chicken wire maze with strobe lighting, and out of work actors covered in blood flinging themselves at you in the dark, it was horrible. Zoe will want me to point out she wasn't scared, but I was) we found our better selves in the hall of mirrors, and played on the slides.
And then we had our last day in Australia, at the "Blue Mountains" (see above). They were cool, comprising Australia's highest waterfall folks, an intrepid 3 hour hike through the jungle (see I told you they're not mountains), a ride on a brass horse, a very steep funicular railway, a cable car past the three sisters and some aboriginal dancing.
And that, guys, was our last day in Australia. *weep*. We are missing lots of things, but one thing we are NOT missing is Christiane's jam, because she gave us some to take with us and we had to cleverly smuggle it through customs. This was our last view of Sydney, from the airport.
And now we're in New Zealand! It's verrrry beautiful, and unlike Australia the weather is beautiful too *touch wood*.
Due to budgetry restraints we've hired a "wicked camper" in Christchurch, which are cheap rubbish camper vans for students and poor people. They are only about ten quid a day though - and we need it for five weeks. The downside is that they all have some crazy art on them. And you don't get to choose. We missed out on all the cool ones (We've seen The Doors, Kiss, Elvis, etc) and have ended up with a jaded political message about George Bush. It could have been worse. Look at this one we were parked next to. What were they thinking??
So after some teething problems (the radiator pipe blew off and sprayed water and oil all through the gear box and onto my jeans) the van is fully up and running. It has been amazing so far. Very different to Oz. I'm wondering how to make it blog-worthy seeing as everywhere is very deserted, and there is nothing much to do except drive places and look at the scenery, which is great for us, but boring for you. You'll like this though, we went on a boat from yet another crowded beach, and saw our first ever whale. In fact we saw three, and some dolphins, which was amazing.
So, thanks to some careful planning over sandwiches in the van, we are well underway in New Zealand. We have also been to Akoroa bay, which has a really cute town, and one of our favourite things, a crap museum. And yesterday when it was windy we did some crazy golf. Check out the Downtown hole, the rollercoaster (your ball actually goes on the rollercoaster) and the castle with the snapping portcullis. All pure genius.
The nicest thing about NZ is the familiar wildlife. I saw some bumble bees yesterday, and a couple of days ago a hedgehog tried to lick our washing up clean. I am rambling a bit, and running out of money on the meter, so I had better go. Today's picture to finish is this one of Zoe demonstrating how windy it can get here.
Oh, and what do you call a lesbian off-license? Yup.
See you all soon!
x
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The croc, the flip-flop and the exotic dancer
Phew, you'll be glad to hear we're back in Sydney and in the BLAZING sunshine although I shouldn't say that and jinx us... Currently sitting in christiane's lovely beach residence after an overnight flight from Darwin. We've had showers and done some washing and had cups of tea and EVERYthing, it's so exciting, and this afternoon we are going to the beach. As of today it's our last week in Australia. Where did that go exactly!
When I left you we were about to board the bus from Airlie to Cairns which had previously been doomed to all and sundry, but we had a lucky break in the clouds and made it in one piece. Cairns itself was a bit dull, apart from a nice beachfront pool, but we were only there one day and then we flew to Darwin. Here is everything you will ever need to know about Darwin. 1) It is very hot. 2) It is very wet. 3) It has the highest alcohol consumption per person in the WORLD. 4) It is the gateway to Kakadu, the national park where Crocodile Dundee was filmed. 5) The top tourist attraction in the city itself is when someone from the tourist office goes and throws bread in the harbour and some fish come and eat it.
So guess which one we were there for. Yes that's right, number 3. Hehe, only kidding, of course it was number 4.
So Darwin is not very big, and a bit of a cultural wasteland, but we did find some good graffitti. (Graffitti in australia is often quite classy). We had an infuriating night in the hostel trying to cook some pasta when the gas kept going off, and a loud swedish woman was trying to tell me how to boil water (she nearly ended up wearing it) then the next morning we set off for Kakadu.
The first of the many cool things we saw were these giant cathedral termite mounds. You get the picture of Zoe for that one, I was pulling a hilarious "ant face". We also saw some tombstone termites. Our guide for Kakadu was very clever, he made termites interesting and I would even go so far as to recommend looking them up on wikipedia. they have one queen in each hill. I won't spoilt the rest. On the subject of our guide, he was a regular crocodile dundee outback genius (probably no coincidence). He screeched to a halt, ran over to a tree, and caught us a frill-necked lizard. It soon got its own back. After the lizard excitement we went for a walk. In the wet season Kakadu is mainly grassy floodplains, rocky rainforest and canyony waterfalls. All v cool. I managed to lose a flip flop trying to get a photo from the middle of the river. Luckily I am very nimble and after a bit of flailing around with a stick, I managed to fish it out before it went over this. Look how happy I am. I'd never have found it, and they were a right bargain, $10 in Byron Bay.
Then we got to grips with the wildlife you all go to Kakadu to see. This is me looking nervous around the local Olive Python. And then losing my cool when it went for the nuts. And then we went on a boat where some lunatic dangles meat off it, so you can see the crocodiles. This one was really old and massive. This one was small and graceful.
Somewhere hidden away in the hills was some ancient rock art, loads of it, between 4,000 and 20,000 years old. I won't bore you but here's my favourite, the lightning god. And then we polished off the day with another good outback sunset.
We did loads of walking Kakadu (you have to) so the boots got a good wear. The walks take you to all sorts of isolated and idyllic little ponds and waterfalls, it was amazing. This sign obviously gets ignored by the occasional nutter. Same went for the one that says "jump in at your own risk". Here's another waterfall, Zoe at the bottom of it and some of us swimming somewhere. On the way back we went to a roadhouse where they have the actual buffalo from Crocodile dundee, stuffed.
So that was another trip and another group, and another hunky but somewhat brainless assistant guide. We finished it off in the true Darwin tradition of watching a drunk band, pouring beer up your nose, go-go girls, and drinking rubbish alcopops because you get a scratchcard.
I'll leave you with this sign which made Zoe's day. (That would be Ms Zoe Driver, in case you didn't know).
I'm going to the beach now. (This one)
When I left you we were about to board the bus from Airlie to Cairns which had previously been doomed to all and sundry, but we had a lucky break in the clouds and made it in one piece. Cairns itself was a bit dull, apart from a nice beachfront pool, but we were only there one day and then we flew to Darwin. Here is everything you will ever need to know about Darwin. 1) It is very hot. 2) It is very wet. 3) It has the highest alcohol consumption per person in the WORLD. 4) It is the gateway to Kakadu, the national park where Crocodile Dundee was filmed. 5) The top tourist attraction in the city itself is when someone from the tourist office goes and throws bread in the harbour and some fish come and eat it.
So guess which one we were there for. Yes that's right, number 3. Hehe, only kidding, of course it was number 4.
So Darwin is not very big, and a bit of a cultural wasteland, but we did find some good graffitti. (Graffitti in australia is often quite classy). We had an infuriating night in the hostel trying to cook some pasta when the gas kept going off, and a loud swedish woman was trying to tell me how to boil water (she nearly ended up wearing it) then the next morning we set off for Kakadu.
The first of the many cool things we saw were these giant cathedral termite mounds. You get the picture of Zoe for that one, I was pulling a hilarious "ant face". We also saw some tombstone termites. Our guide for Kakadu was very clever, he made termites interesting and I would even go so far as to recommend looking them up on wikipedia. they have one queen in each hill. I won't spoilt the rest. On the subject of our guide, he was a regular crocodile dundee outback genius (probably no coincidence). He screeched to a halt, ran over to a tree, and caught us a frill-necked lizard. It soon got its own back. After the lizard excitement we went for a walk. In the wet season Kakadu is mainly grassy floodplains, rocky rainforest and canyony waterfalls. All v cool. I managed to lose a flip flop trying to get a photo from the middle of the river. Luckily I am very nimble and after a bit of flailing around with a stick, I managed to fish it out before it went over this. Look how happy I am. I'd never have found it, and they were a right bargain, $10 in Byron Bay.
Then we got to grips with the wildlife you all go to Kakadu to see. This is me looking nervous around the local Olive Python. And then losing my cool when it went for the nuts. And then we went on a boat where some lunatic dangles meat off it, so you can see the crocodiles. This one was really old and massive. This one was small and graceful.
Somewhere hidden away in the hills was some ancient rock art, loads of it, between 4,000 and 20,000 years old. I won't bore you but here's my favourite, the lightning god. And then we polished off the day with another good outback sunset.
We did loads of walking Kakadu (you have to) so the boots got a good wear. The walks take you to all sorts of isolated and idyllic little ponds and waterfalls, it was amazing. This sign obviously gets ignored by the occasional nutter. Same went for the one that says "jump in at your own risk". Here's another waterfall, Zoe at the bottom of it and some of us swimming somewhere. On the way back we went to a roadhouse where they have the actual buffalo from Crocodile dundee, stuffed.
So that was another trip and another group, and another hunky but somewhat brainless assistant guide. We finished it off in the true Darwin tradition of watching a drunk band, pouring beer up your nose, go-go girls, and drinking rubbish alcopops because you get a scratchcard.
I'll leave you with this sign which made Zoe's day. (That would be Ms Zoe Driver, in case you didn't know).
I'm going to the beach now. (This one)
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