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Round the World
20 Feb 2008 - (unfinished)
Our trip takes us through New York, Canada, LA, Fiji, all over New Zealand, Sydney, Cairns, Bangkok and Phuket over 4 and a half months.
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| User: | danandemma |
| Name: | Dan Monty |
| From: | United Kingdom |
| Email: |
| dan_monty10@hotmail.co.uk |
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I'm currently in: Sydney, Australia Go there
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20 Jun 2008 |
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| Bangkok,
Thailand
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Nearing the end
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| And we'll tell you the rest when we're home!! |
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30 May 2008 |
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| Cairns,
Australia
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Cape Trib (Overnight)
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Apart from the Reef Queenland is known for crocs (Esuarine and the Johnson crocodile) and the Daintree rainforest, this trip included them both.
Cape Trib is located right in the heart of the Daintree rainforest and is made up of hotels, a supermarket and a pharmacy. Our hotel was situated right near the beach, which was good except if you went too far left on the beach, you would come face to face with the native croc, who apparently likes sun bathing alot on the beach.
As we stayed overnight in Daintree forest, we decided to do a night walk through the oldest part of the forest. It was alot of hard work walking through the rainforest as there were big vines, big dips and slippery rocks on the path. Oh and it was pitch black so you couldnt see beneath you. We did have a torch but we used that trying to find animals and insects. It may not sound hard but there was an old lady and her husand in the group and they kept falling over every 5 mins, we tried not to laugh!
On the second day we went on a crocodile cruise down the Daintree River. We managed to spot 3 estuarine crocodiles bathing on the river banks. There was also a crocodile in the mangroves but i think the guide made that up cos we couldnt see it.
We also stopped over at Port Douglas and went on the four mile beach. |
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24 May 2008 |
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| Cairns,
Australia
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The Great Barrier Reef
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Now we know why its one of the seven wonders of the world! We had a perfect day for going to the reef, as there was no waves just sun, which was 100 times better compared to what the conditions was like when we did whale watching.
The Reef from above the water looks alot like little islands submerged but when you look under the water it is completely different!
Its like sticking your head in a MASSIVE tropical fish tank, as all you can see colourful fish swimming around infront of you, its like a whole different world.
Diving the reef was completely different from snorkling mainly because you had this heavy oxygen tank on your back, and making sure you breathe under water which sounds silly but when you get told if you dont breathe properly, your lungs will explode it makes you much more nervous!
The pictures do the talking of what the reef looks like!!
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14 May 2008 |
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| Sydney,
Australia
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Sydney (Can't think of a better title!)
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The first major thing we did in Sydney was the harbour bridge climb. We decided to do a night climb because Dan had already done one in the day. We got to the centre just in time (we'd gotten lost), and rushed through to put our suits on. Everything had to be clipped to us in case it fell from the top of the bridge to the motorway below. We were attached to a line running the whole way up the bridge, and off we went.
The first bit was scariest. We stepped out onto a wire mesh really high up, and could see directly below us. After that everything below our feet felt pretty sturdy.
The climb wasn't too hard. It was more of a walk than a climb. We had the best view of the opera house. It was all lit up in the dark and looked amazing!
The next day we went to see the blue mountains, which we later found out don't really look blue, and aren't actually mountains! We got picked up outside our hostel, and drove for ages. We had several stops on the way to the 'mountains', the best being when we saw kangaroos in the wild. We stopped to see an aboriginal engraving that was supposedly of a kangaroo. Didn't really look like one though, a four-year-old could have done it!
When we got to the 'blue mountains' we went down into the rainforest by cable car. Thunder had already started, and all we could see were clouds. When we got to the rainforest, it tipped it down (living up to its name I suppose!) As usual, we were the most unprepared. Everyone else had raincoats and umbrellas, and there we were in t-shirts and flip-flops! And then the hale stones started! Huge ones the size of golf balls (slight exagerration), and they really hurt! We were both glad to get back to the nice warm van and have a hot chocolate!
On Wednesday we went to Taronga zoo. We had to get the ferry across, which meant more great views of the whole harbour.
The zoo was massive. We saw all sorts; kangaroos, koalas, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, tigers and lions etc etc. The best bit, surprisingly, was the spider show! Not for the spiders, but the snake. We both got to hold a snake because there were only a couple of other people watching the show. They're so soft to touch, and we could feel their strong grip when holding them. People were paying $20 for that and we got it for free!
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1 May 2008 |
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| Christchurch,
New Zealand
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Lord Of The Rings Tour
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For the LOTRs tour we went to the set of where the city of Rohan was filmed. If you cant remember that bit, it was the village on top of the rock in the second and third film.
We travelled to the set in a 4WD which was definately appropriate. It was a really nice day and we got some good pictures of the set.
The mountain on which they built the village was a hard location to get to. It was surrounded by streams about a 2 foot deep, which was fun driving through!
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26 Apr 2008 |
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| Christchurch,
New Zealand
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Kaikoura
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Before dropping the campervan off in Christchurch, we stopped over in Kaikoura which is about 3 hours north of Christchurch.
The town is well known as it is the only place in the world where you are guarenteed to see whales. This is because the sea levels go from 5 metres to 1000 metres in 20 minutes out to sea in a boat, which usally takes 2 days to 2 weeks anywhere else in the world to get that deep.
The reason the water level gets so deep is that fact Kaikoura is sitting on top of a underwater Grand Canyon.
Anyway we got to the check-in for the whale watching trip and they explained that there was a high risk for sea sickness which didn`t bother us (well in the end not me anyway).
The waves was very choppy when we got out to sea and it didnt help the faster the boat went, making it ten times worst. The Captain on the boat communicated with the planes going over us to spot the whales and also used a sound frequency machine that could hear the whales underwater. But the captain had to spot them quick cos they was only up for 15 mins and stayed underwater for 45 minutes.
When we saw the whales for the first time all you could see as emma put it was "a fat blob". But the best bit was waiting for them to go back down, cos that is when we saw their huge tail that lifted out of the water.
I tryed to get the best shot of the tail but the waves was making it hard to get a good photo.
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18 Apr 2008 |
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| Fox Glacier,
New Zealand
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Glacier Walks
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We had to be a Fox Glacier for 9am. First we got our boots and crampons. They weighed a ton, which wasn't good considering we had to walk on them all day!! The walk getting to the glacier was really hard. There were 500 really steep steps!! Emma had blisters after about 5 minutes (no surprise there!), which didn't bode well for a whole day walking on the ice!
It was freezing when we got to the glacier. We had a very brief lesson on how to walk on the ice with crampons, and then off we went. It wasn't too hard once we got used to it.
Because the glacier is always moving (it moves about a metre every day!), the ice is always changing. Our guide had to cut out new paths in front of us with an axe, which made it feel like nobody had ever been there before!
The most amazing part of the ice was the tunnels. They were really pretty, with a tint of pale blue in them. We could walk into them which was fun.
To call them glacier walks is a bit of an understatement. At times we were clawing our way up the ice, and sqeezing through tiny tunnels!
The crevasses were quite scarey. Some were really big, and our guide said that if we fell down, we wouldn't be able to get out and would die in minutes! He told us this just as we were walking past them on a narrow ledge, which didn't give us much confidence!
We were both absolutely knackered by the end!! Everything ached, and we could barely walk another step. It was still worth it though! |
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15 Apr 2008 |
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| Lake Taupo,
New Zealand
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Skydiving!
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The main reason we went to Lake Taupo was for skydiving. We heard it was the best and cheapest place to do it. Emma was a bit nervous when it came to actually booking it, it was real then! The first time we got was cancelled because of the wind, which made us both just want to do it, so we weren't as worried.
We ended up with a morning jump at 8:10. After being suited up and introduced to our instructor, we watched a short film on what to do, and the next thing we knew we were crammed into a tiny plane with about 12 other people, literally sitting on each others laps!
Emma view: We reached 15000 feet, and the door opened. I watched the people in front of me dropping out of the plane, and before I knew it, my feet were dangling out of the side. I turned for a quick photo, and then dropped! I expected to feel like I was falling, but didn't (even though I was at 120mph). It felt more like I was hovering, like there was a big wind machine underneath holding me up.
I was relieved when I felt the parachute go up, I could actually relax then and enjoy the view of the lake. The landing was surprisingly smooth, just gliding across the ground until we stopped. My legs were like Jelly when I stood up! It was SO AMAZING! I'd absolutely love to do it again, and recommend it to everyone!
Dan's view: I was shaking all the way up there, and I was the one who convinced emma to do the jump she didnt even look nervous she was laughing and smiling like nothing was going to happen. I was the last person on the plan to jump and you were strapped so tight to the instructor too tight. it was -6 degrees I think I had no circulation waist down and to make it worst, my instructor farted and i couldnt get away from him ( I think he must have had scrambled egg for breakfast). When we was about to jump its like being on a 15 000 ft rollercoaster but not strapped in, right at the top. Then it happens and I couldnt breath for a split second but suddenly it feels like the wind grabs up and you dont feel like your falling but floating and time just stands still! The view was amazing to your left and right you can see both ends of the north island and in front of you is Mount Doom from LOTR! Then you fill a sudden pull from above and the parachute comes out, then from out of nowhere the instructor said I had to take control a parachute and put the controls in my hand and i was swinging the parachute left and right and i think he got scared and took the contols from me lol! Anyway thats aboput it oh and we landed really smoothly on our bums! |
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12 Apr 2008 |
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| Rotorua,
New Zealand
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Eggy smell!
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Rotorua constantly smells like egg! It's actually sulphur, because the area is vlocanic and has geysers and steam popping up everywhere. We went to see the main geyser, which was pretty cool. We went on the guided tour and saw the mud pools too. They make weird popping noises all the time that made us laugh!
We also went to the thermal pools. They were SO nice, like a really hot bath. They did get a bit too hot after a while though! |
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8 Apr 2008 |
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| Bay of Islands,
New Zealand
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Bay of Islands
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| From Cape Reinga we went to The Bay of Islands. Apparently the main thing to do there is a sailing trip, so to save money, we went kayaking instead. We paddled out to this little island where you could see the bay from. Other than that we didn't do much in the Bay of Islands, just walked around looking at the scenery. |
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