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!

Kaikoura is a small town midway up the east coast between Christchurch and Picton which has turned into a tourist mecca due to the marine life just of the coast. Whale watching and swimming with dolphins is big business here and also insanely expensive. I had planned to go whale watching, but after seeing the cost decided against it. I’ll save that venture until i’m back in Sydney where it’s cheaper, though the chances of seeing whales there is much lower but doing it in Sydney will mean I get to cross one more thing of the list there – travelling in and out of the harbour by boat!

One thing Kaikoura does have, which is free, is Seals! Just south of the town is a seal sanctuary where the seals come onto the land for a bit of relaxation. Being able to stand just meters away from WILD seals is an experience! Not going up and touching them takes will power, though the signs saying they bite help with the resisting!

After two days it’s stopped raining! Today was a perfect day and so I went for a walk up to the summit of Avalanch Peak which dominates the Arthurs Pass Landscape. It’d supposed to be a 3 hour walk to the summit however as with most DOC (Department of Conservation) walk times they are well off and the summit was actually reachable in half that time. The first part of the walk is through thick trees before passing above the bush line where the stunning views over the area begin. It meant I got to watch a helicopter flying through the valley below from above! That’s a somewhat strange experience!

Tomorrow it’s due to rain again, thankfully i’m leaving and heading back to Christchurch for a night before heading to Kaikoura!

It’s not just raining, it’s pissing it down and them some! And has been since I arrived in the mountain village of Arthurs pass this morning! Village is probably being over optomistic when catagorising a place. It’s basically just a couple of places to stay and a shop that sells almost nothing. The hostel is nice enough but the only people here are all couples and there is no TV! ack! Hope the rain stops soon and I can do a bit of walking.

So far i’ve gone through all my photos and sorted them out, played solitaire a few times and wrote this. I’ve no idea what too do now. Apparently the rain has come from Australia where its been hailed as drought breaking!!

Think I may go and count raindrops on the window – should keep me occupied for an hour or two!!

I arrived back here in New Zealand a week ago. It was so hard to leave Australia and everyone I know. So hard in fact that I think i’m going back sometime next month! I’d like to spend more time over there and there is a chance of doing a roadtrip in a campervan from Adelaide into either Western Australia, the Northern Territory or both!

I’m in Christchurch at the moment, having just spent a few days in a sleepy town called Akaroa a couple of hours from here. The town is built in the crater of an extinct volcano which the sea has nicely filled to create a really scenic area. Mountains just dive straight into the water and there’s enough to do to occupy a few days. Dolphin watching is the main attraction, but there is plenty of walking too.

Tomorrow I head for the tip of the Southern Alps and a town called Arthurs Pass!

So its been almost two months since my last update – oops!

Most of that time since Port Stephens was spent back in Sydney. It’s an addictive city to live in and leaving is always hard. Staying there is all too easy! I did manage to escape for what was supposed to be two weeks on Magnetic Island to enjoy the sun and beaches, however after the first week a couple of friends mentioned they were going to drive the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide and I should go and join them, so I did!

Magentic Island was lovely and relaxing! Hot, clear blue skies and the stinger season had just ended so it was safe to go in the water in the many bays. I also mangaged to bump into a few people I knew there which was good.

The Great Ocean Road, by contrast, was cold! But a lot of fun and turned into a mad binge where chocloate and food in general was concerened. It was great to see the scenery again, and have the option of doing ‘whatever’ that a car gives.

After arriving in Adelaide and spendign a couple of days there it was back to Sydney (never a good move to go back somewhere you keep getting stuck) but only for a few days before flying back to where I am now – New Zealand!!

Following on from the previous post i’ve added some of the photos taken while in Port Stephens. All thats missing at the moment is a lot of a Kookaburra that was around the hostel and those of a Koala spotted while walking to the beach…

They can be found here!

After the week in the desert in Alice Springs and around Uluru I was back in Sydney for a few weeks. However I was starting to get a little bit bored so I came a few hours north to an area known as Port Stephens. This area takes in a number of small towns from Newcastle up to Nelson Bay. I’ve been staying in Samurai Beach Bungalows – I fantastic small hostel with little bungalows hidden among the trees and amazing hosts, Mark and Sandy.

It’s been a great place to escape the city with some fantastic beaches and activities from Sandboarding to Dolphin Watching. The people staying there are those you want to meet when travelling and most nights were spent just chatting about random things over a few drinks.

The highlight though was the night a group of us decided to abandon the comfort of our beds and head down to Samurai Beach to spend the night there. The idea grew during the day from just taking a couple of groundsheets and sleeping bags to having a campfire and cooking over it. Mark was great and gave us a lift down to the beach with all our stuff and we soon got the fire going and had a nice bbq before laying back under the stars. It was a perfect evening with no cloud and no lights so the stars were outstanding. A little later that night the moon started to rise so we were able to sit and watch that. Once the moon was up the beach was nicely lit so I went for a walk along under the moonlight before eventually getting some sleep.

One of those nights and places never to be forgotten!

So after a few days in Alice Springs it was time to head to Uluru. I couldn’t decide whether or not to take a tour, the price was putting me off. Eventually I just decided just to spend a few days at the Ayers Rock Resort, for a quite time taking some photos. At least that was the plan…

On the first evening there i’d booked on a shuttle bus to take me out to the sunset viewing point. While there I met a couple of random people, Tash and Simon, who were having a laugh and I got chatting to them. This led to a drunken session in the bar that night and when that closed a late night swim in the resort pool. Thankfully security weren’t around that night! Got to bed at around 2:30 and head to get up again at 4:30 to catch the Kata Tuja shuttle for the Valley of the Winds Walk.

On hot days, and all the time I was there it was higher than 40c the walk closes at 11am so you have to do it early. Great when hung over and tired! The walk was impressive, and included seeing a number of geckos and other wildlife. It also included a muppet who had booked on the shuttle that morning and arranged the time with the driver for pickup. He then met on the walk some people he knew and went off with them and later decided to go back to the resort with them without telling anyone! Something you just don’t do in the desert… This meant we waited at the pickup point for an hour for him, after the agreed time before the shuttle driver had a search round nearby car parks for him before heading back to advise the resort he was missing. Thankfully just as we got back to the resort he’d decided to contact the shuttle company to say he’d got back with friends. A little longer and searches would have started!

Another couple of nights in the bar followed as well a few more trips to the rock for sunrise, sunset and the base walk. A great 3 hour walk round the entire rock. Some of the shapes in the rocks are incredibly like those of Australian animals its a little creepy. Snakes, Crocodiles and even Kangaroos seem to be there…

Oh, I was sharing a room with the muppet mentioned above. Well two rooms, the resort had to move us as he broke the aircon one night when playing with it… He also broke it in the second room we had, but not to the same extent as the first. Thankfully he left a day earlier than he’d planned before he could do anything else. Word had got round the resort about him making his own way back and it was amusing to hear the drivers and tour guides slagging him off.