Before setting off on my travels this site went through a number of designs until I settled on the current one. It’s based upon the Wordpress vSlider theme from iruic.ac. The basics are still the original theme but with most the templates modified and all the images to change it from blue to green.

The theme itself is now a couple of versions on from what i’m using, and the new vSlider3 now supports variable widths and colour options. Oh for that a year or so back!

Anyway, to see what the best wordpress theme has to offer head over there now! Sadly I can’t upgrade for a long while due to being on the road and i’m stuffed if I can remember what templates i’ve modified!

Despite a brief hiccup at immigration i’m back in Sydney. They took me aside for a little chat to make sure I wasn’t traveling back and forth across the Tasman to work here on a tourist visa. Me.. work.. ha! Like thats going to happen any time soon! Anyway, with the help of some very cheap duty free from the airport the first few days were spent very drunk and hungover after meeting up with old friends in Sydney.

Since then i’ve fallen back into my Sydney way of live, only without the trips to the beach. Too cold and waaaaaay to wet. Will it ever stop raining!? I’ve even done some tourist things like going up the Sydney Tower and catching an AFL game complete with crazy Collingwood supporters

A few of us also took a trip up to Newcaslte to view the stranded Bulk Carrier just off Nobbys Beach, the Pasha Bulker! – A casualty of the recent bad weather here!

I think i’m going to stay here for another few weeks before heading down to Adelaide to start a roadtrip up to Darwin. Hopefully heading up to the Blue Mountains to experience Yulefest there. It’s christmas! In July!!

The photos are now up to date on this site, the bug in the flickr importer was fixed. So check out all the latest photos in the Galllery or head on over to the flickr mirror.

So once again I found myself sat in an airport waiting for a flight. The going somewhere else is always good, the waiting… not so much. At least this time I have free wireless internet. Other airports could learn something from Wellington, especially Sydney where i’m going (again).

1.5 hours to go… hmm and argh!! Got three hours on a flying coffin after that!

Sydney tonight – woohoo

The Gallery map was timing out so i’ve deleted all the data for it. It work’s now but there is nothing on the map! I’ll try and re-add the info back at some point!

I’m also adding my photos now to flickr and then importing them here. The importer is having a few issues at the moment so photos will be lagging behind here for a while.
The flickr photos can be found on the flickr mirror here. I like the idea of having a backup and sadly flickr is the place to have photos these days!

I’d heard a number of good things about Wellington and so had planned about a week there, however something I should have learned with Auckland is cities are NOT the place to be in New Zealand. The countryside is just too good to waste in them! That and Wellington has a seedy and cramped feeling, though that opinion wasn’t helped by the nutter in my dorm the other night. After a night drinking he came in about 3am and went to bed. Nothing wrong with that, but an hour later he woke the entire room up when in a drunken (and probably drug induced) sleepwalk he was standing over somebody elses bed pretending he had a gun shouting at this person to dance for him. The dance request was inbewteen the threats of violence against everyone else in the room. He spent the rest of the night waking people up at random points shouting abuse. Very disturbing, even more so as we all thought that he actually did have a gun – trick of the light at 4am when half asleep!

I left the city a few days early and have headed to a suburb just up the coast called Plimmerton. Much more relaxed with stunning scenery. I’ll be staying here until my flight to Sydney in a few days!

One thing that is worth doing in Wellington is climbing to the Mount Victoria Lookout for views over the city and airport. Watching planes takeoff and land from there is enjoyable, if only for the fact that the runway looks waaaaaaaay to short! You can also see the soundstage used in the Lord of the Rings and King Kong films from up there.

Next Stop – Return to Oz!!

Picton is the gateway to the South Island, being the location where the Ferry from Wellington docks. Because of this it’s easy to have the image before arriving of a busy port town. Nothing could be further from this, its a very small town with a quiet relaxed atmosphere. The marina is home to some amazing yachts and also the start of a couple of walks out to a couple of headlands offering views back towards Picton and also of the Queen Charlotte Walking Track. I had intended to walk the track, but ended up just relaxing for a few days in town. The track will have to wait until i’m back there in September!