Cairns

I arrived in Carins, Australia at 10 pm. I saw an ad in the airport for JJ Backpackers and caught a shuttle there to spend the night.
It was pouring rain the next day. Absolutely miserable!! Everything was flooding and people were soaked right through. Thank goodness it's warm here. One thing I do like about the tropics, difficult to get cold. I spent the day seeing the town and planning my activities for the next couple days. Cairns is definitely a backpacker town. Full of them everywhere! And they drink a lot! Lots of night life, a place where many young travellers go to just party, and uncontrollably at that. Not really my thing. I just want to do the activities.
My had 2 bunk mates, Veronica from Brazil and Jamie from England, and we went out to dinner together. Our hostel have free meal vouchers for a pub in town called "The Woolshed" so we ate there. The upgrade meals were good, but the free backpacker meal was pretty bland. No different than making pasta and putting the sauce from the jar on top of it yourself. But it was free...
Then we chatted in our room until bedtime. The hostel was run by really friendly people and had a shuttle running into town almost every hour so that was nice. What I didn't like was that it was pretty dirty and had no soap in the bathrooms. It was kind of like a swimming pool, you know, how wet the tile floor is, with all the hair and dirt... ya, nice. I'm so used to New Zealand's hostels that it'll be an adjustment to Australia's. Apparently, Oz has low standards when it comes to hostels. Well, boo to that! I'll just have to suck it up and make the best of it!
In the morning, I took the city bus to the Skyrail. It's a cable car ride that goes over top the rainforest canopy and has 2 stop offs before ending in the town Kuranda. My first stop was Red Peak Station where you have a guided walking tour along a boardwalk to learn a little about the plants. It was neat learning about how the plants compete for sunlight. They have to reach the top of the trees to get the sun so some have spikes to attach to other plants or coiled ends of leaves to attach to itself once wrapped around a tree, like a hug. Of course, you have different ones like the Stranger Fig that germinates on top of the tree and have the roots grow down to the ground. These plants get enough water from the rain, oxygen form the air and nutrients from the hosts tree bark (there's always moss growing on the trees). So that's how they survive till they meet the earth and then strangle the host tree till it dies. Sad, but looks really cool :)
The second stop was at Barron Falls Station where there was a large rushing waterfall. My last stop was the market town of Kuranda. Just shops and exhibits here. I went to the Kuranda Koala Gardens first, where there were sleeping wombats, wallabies you can pet and feed, reptiles and of course koalas. I did the photo shot with one so I could hold her. She was 6 years old and super cuddly. She really holds on and liked to be close to your body. I was sad to let her go :( I want one, lol.
Then I headed over to Birdworld where they let all of their colourful birds fly free (except the cassowary, those can be dangerous. Very large birds, kinda like emu but colourful). I had a Blue and Yellow Macaw land on my day pack as soon as I walked in and he started chewing at my water bottle lid. A bit of environmental enrichment I guess. While he was doing that, I looked around and was petting this sweet Rainbow Lorikeet when he got the lid off. All I could here was "watch your earring!" but it was too late. He managed to get my stud out in 2 seconds, and gently may I add. Cheeky bugger that one, lol! No problem, it was a plastic gem anyway so easily replaced. I just told the workers so they new he ate it. He'll have a sparkly poo eventually ;)
My last exhibit was the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary. It was my favorite. The butterflies fly freely and there were free guided aviary tours to learn there cycle and behaviour. They had a breeding laboratory where they clean the collected eggs to free them of any disease, then placed in nurseries for the caterpillars to hatch, grow and eat. Once a pupae, they go into another enclosure so their wings can dry before going into the sanctuary with all the others to breed, fly and eat. Really cool. My favorite was the male Birdwing with the brilliant green and yellow colours. I caught the bus home from there and had a quiet free dinner and went to bed.
The next day I did a day tour up to Cape Tribulation. The girl who sat beside me was Louise from England, and we hit it off from the start. Such a nice girl. Our guide, George, told us "man eating" crocodiles stories all the way up to our first stop at Mossman Gorge where we had a walk to see the river and forest. Unfortunately, with all the rain, the current was a bit too strong for swimming.
We had our morning tea, did a quick stop at the Alexandra Range lookout (couldn't see much with the rainclouds) and had a guided walk along the Marrdja Boardwalk. We saw 2 Dragon lizards on the walk.
From there we stopped at Cape Tribulation main beach for a short while. But with the rain, everyone just hopped onto the bus quickly. Couldn't swim in the water there anyway because of the Box Jellyfish. Apparently, they come close to the shore to fresh water for spawning, then the rainfall washes them back to sea.
From there we made a pit stop at the Daintree ice-cream company where they make ice cream from the fruit they grow in their orchard. It was organic and the flavors were banana, blueberry, wattle seed (mocha tasting) and my favorite, soursop (lemon/lime taste). From there we hopped onto the boat for our Daintree River Croc cruise. We saw 2 young crocodiles and a tree snake. So that was good. Also some nice birds.
After we did a quick drive tour through Port Douglas on the way back to Cairns. Louise and I made plans to meet up for diner. We met up at a place called Tequila where they had $2 backpacker meals and we socialized for the evening before turning in.
We met up the next day and spent the day lounging by the lagoon in town where we had a swim, then ate a late lunch at a cafe. It was a lovely day. We said our goodbyes and hoped to catch up again down the road.
I had a quiet dinner and planned my dive for the next day and went to bed early.
I booked my dive with Silverswift. It included 3 dives on the outer reef (which is the best part of the GBR, also the northern parts), morning and afternoon tea and coffee with either biscuits/muffins or cake and a nice buffet style lunch for around A$260. We set out for the 2 hr ride at 8:30 am and I was glad the water was calmer than it had been during the week. It was rough even for us on a calm day. 3 people ended up using their vomit bags and the other half of the group were sucking on ice cubes watching the horizon outside to help with the seasickness. Even I was nauseous at the last 15 mins of the ride. It was pretty funny.
Our first dive was Coral Gardens at Flynn Reef. My buddy for the day was a nice young man my brother's age named Jack, from Finland. We saw 1 White Tip shark, 3 Kuhl sting rays, giant clams, of course loads of tropical fish and a Notodoris (yellow nudibranch or sea slug). Not often you see those.
On our second dive along Gordons on Flynn Reef, our highlights were: a sleeping White Tip shark lying on the sand under a reef, 2 Hawsbill sea turtles, 2 Green sea turtles brass drummers and boxer shrimp.
We went out to Milln Reef for our last dive at Pools. The current was a little stronger here. What was neat here was a Lionfish! I'm glad they keep to themselves as they're quite poisonous. No touchy!! Also saw a puffer fish and spaghetti worms.
I was happy that I rented a camera for the day from Cairns digital. I managed to get some descent photos, but I still have a long way to learn with underwater photography. The company burned all my photos on a DVD for me, all for A$45. It was worth it. When I got back, I had a nice shower and booked my flight to Darwin.
Today I'm heading to the airport at 10:30 am and it takes 3 hours to get to Darwin. It supposed to be even warmer there. Around 32 C and with high humidity... It'll be sticky!!

Dunedin - Oamaru

I arrived in Dunedin in the afternoon on Sunday. It was a long morning. I was so tired that it took me almost twice as long to walk to the hostel than it normally should have. I decided to stay at Penny's Backpackers because it had free internet and was just outside the city centre. It's cold in the hostel, but that's no different that most. There's a heater in the room to turn on and I had an extra blanket. So it's comfortable at night. The people working there for exchange were great. My first day was pretty quiet. Just relaxed and checked out the town. I walked to the otherside of it to see Baldwin street. That's the steepest street in the world according to the Guinness World Records. And steep it was, glad it was short. Wasn't to bad to climb up.
I ended up going to the Otago Peninsula the next afternoon with a man named Matthew who works on the computers at the hostel. We drove to a beach called Sandfly Bay. We had to climb down a sand dune and once on the beach, we saw lots of sea lions sleeping on the beach. All except for 2 young ones that were play fighting with eachother. It was so fun to watch them chase one another. At the end of the beach was a nesting area for the penguins with a little hiding hut. I went inside hoping to spot one since they're currently nesting and one should be sitting on the egg while the others at sea. But I didn't see any :(

We continued up the peninsula to the tip where the Albatross hang out. But the wind was really strong, and most of the birds were in for the night sheltered amongst the cliffs. So again, didn't see them. Ah well, another time.
The following morning, I went on a tour through Cadbury World. It was great! Learned about how they made it and got to go inside the factory to watch. It smelled wonderful! We also got free samples to try, including 3 full chocolate bars, liquid chocolate and 2 small treats. We went into a silo where they release a ton of liquid chocolate that falls like a waterfall. You just want to dive right in! Yummy! I think I want to work in a chocolate factory now. I just loved it!
Then I popped into the Otago museum. It was free admission and nice to roam around. Much smaller than the one in Wellington though. They were similar.
The next 2 days were pretty low key. Just catching up on my emails and blogs and chatting with people. I can't believe I spent a couple hours on the computer with 2 other guys checking out this website called "damn lol" It was pretty funny. Haven't laughed that much in a while.
Since I head to Australia soon, I'm keeping things pretty relaxed.

I took the bus to Oamaru the next morning to see some penguins. There were 2 species there, the Yellow-eyed penguin and the Blue penguin. The latter being the smallest penguin in the world. The hostel I stayed in was called Swagger's Backpacker and it was run by an interesting lady, Agra. I was the only one the first night and she wanted to make sure I wasn't bored, so she drove me around the town so I'd now where to go to see penguins for free.

There was on old part of town that centred mostly on crafts and trades from the older days and even people in cafes were dressed in Victorian clothes. Pretty neat. There were limestone carvers, wool spinners, sculpture makers, bone carvers and all other kind of artists.

I roamed the old town and walked along the wharf for the afternoon. After dinner, I got dropped off at a beach where the Yellow-eyed penguins nest. It was neat seeing them ride the waves onto the beach and waddle up to the trees to find their nests. They didn't come till sundown so I was there only a short time before it was too dark to see them.

I headed back into the old part of town from there, which took about 45 mins, and right there on the street along the shore were Blue penguins! They actually live in some of the missing brick spaces in the buildings along the shore. Quite interesting. Cute little guys. Seemed not to mind people too much as well, providing you give them space.

The next day was rainy, so Agra took me out to a local restaurant called Riverstone. It was amazing food!!! And prices were reasonable too. It's run by a farming family that over the years have been building the eatery as well as a couple stores of neat stuff they've made. I enjoyed that alot!

At dinner, there was an exhibition by a company called Steampunk. They make art that resembles the steam engine but mixed with futuristic Sci-fi. It was "way out there." Very strange, even the townspeople dressed up for it. Kind of felt like Halloween :) After that, I just had dinner and lounged around the hostel watching a movie before bed.

I caught the bus in the morning for the 4 hour ride to Christchuch. I checked into Kiwi Basecamp hostel. It was in the process of a few repairs, but it was nice. Just not enough toilets :(

Since the earthquake, the city centre was still closed down. It was all fenced off and buildings were crumbled to the ground, windows shattered, roads cracked and foundations unleveled. Sad to see. But the neighbouring areas were mostly up and running. I roamed the Botanical gardens and the Northlands mall for the rest of the day. At night, I watched the rugby game (New Zealand vs Australia) in the TV lounge, It was an intense game!

The next day, I thought, "I still haven't seen a kiwi bird" so I went out to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. They had 4 kiwis, but only 2 were active and about. Such neat birds. Much bigger than I thought they'd be. About the size of a chicken. I couldn't get a picture of them since they are nocturnal and don't like the light, so sorry, no photos.

There were many birds, farm animals, monkeys, lizards, wallabies, and other native animals like the fresh water eels. Those were neat! Used to being fed by visitors so they come up to you and open there mouths for a spoonful of meat. Funny. After that, I went back to town and walked around Hagley park and Riccarton rd to see some shops.

Today, I catch my flight to Cairns Australia. A day at the airport. Oh, what fun (*sigh*). It's a 6 hour flight. Good thing I have a book :)

Queenstown - Milford Sound - Glenorchy

I booked my Milford Sound trip with a tour company called Mitre Peak Cruises. It was a 12 hour day so I had an early start. We drove straight to a small town called Te Anau for a break, seeing mostly farmland on the way. Te Anau was on a huge lake with nice hills in the background. Quite scenic. But the drive from there to Milford Sound was absolutely gorgeous! We stopped at a few places along the way to get some pictures as we drove through the Alps. There was even a tunnel that went right through a mountain to come out the other side zigzagging down a valley.
On one of our photo stops, we had a Kea fly over looking for some food. Cheeky fellow, kept following this poor girl trying to eat her banana. Lol.
The cruise itself was nice. The first mountain top you see looking at the inlet is called Mitre Peak (hence the company's name) and is the prettiest landscape. I see why this was another filming spot for the LOTR movie. There were a couple of waterfalls and we saw some fur seals lazing about on the rocks. No penguins or dolphins this day. We had free tea and coffee on board, which was nice as the wind was a bit chilly sitting outside on the upper deck. We spent about an hour getting out to the ocean, and then an hour back to port.
I didn't get back to the hostel till mid-evening so I had a quiet night.
I went hiking the next day. Queenstown Hill is 907 m and pretty much just up behind the hostel. It was a steep walk just to get to the car park. Whew, no wonder the locals are in shape.
The view was stunning! I wish I ran my town errands before the hike so I could enjoy it longer! There is farmland at the summit so you can see a dirt path all across the land. Very tempting to walk all over exploring... but it is private land :(
Queenstown is a very small town, surrounded by mountains and on Lake Wakatipu, which is really big! One of the most picturesque towns I've seen. Full of adrenalin rush activities here and has a reputation of being a party town. Lots of gift shops and eateries as well.
After my errands, I went to the park and sat on a bench along the lake walkway to watch the sunset. Unfortunately, the mountains block it a bit so I thought, maybe it'll be nicer up at the summit of Queenstown Hill. Plan to try it out the next day then.
I spent most of the following morning day reading, using the computer and making my picnic dinner. I hiked back up Queenstown Hill at 4 pm and planned to stay till 8 pm to watch the sunset. The hike was easier that day for some reason... and I ventured a little farther along the path to a different summit overlooking the adjoining town Frankton. It was so windy and once the sun got low, was super cold. But again, the sunset was still hidden. I tried, but it's just not the best place for them. Oh well, it was so peaceful up there. Once I got back to the hostel, I lounged in the TV room before bed.
The next day, I wanted to go to Glenorchy, but since there weren't any buses running there, I had to hitchhike. I walked just outside of town, before the highway started, to a nice gravel patch for people to pull over. Took about 45 mins, but finally got a ride. A nice Chinese couple drove me the 48 km and dropped me off at the township. I got a room at the Glenorchy Hotel & Backpackers. The dorms were still closed due to the off-season, so I was placed in a room all to myself. Nice to have the space, however the hotel itself was freezing, poorly insulated and very old and run down. At least I had a little heater I could turn on at night.
I went to the beach and walked around the Glenorchy Walkway that went into the wetlands. Such a beautiful area. It's just at the other end of Lake Wakatipu. Again, surrounded by mountains. Lots of movies were filmed here, LOTR, Wolverine, Chronicles of Narnia, Willow, the Waterhorse, etc... I wish I could have done the Routeburn Trek while here, but it takes a few days and my time here is ending soon. Plus, it's difficult to get to some areas as you need a 4x4 vehicle and there wasn't anyone doing drop offs and pickups in those locations for day hikes. Best to go there when it's in season.
I ate dinner at my hotels restaurant. I didn't have many options as there's only 3 places to eat, and 1 cafe closes for the evening. The town is just local homes, 1 hotel, 3 eateries and 2 info centres with one having an extremely small store. My dinner wasn't that great either considering the price I had to pay, so won't eat there again.
I went on a 6 hour day hike the next day. I walked just out of town to the Whakaari Conservation area and went up the Mount Judah Track. I hiked up to Bonnie Jean Hut which was my summit for the day. The mount is an old mining area so I passed a few mines and a scheelite battery camp. I guess they found lots of tungsten up in the hills. There was quartz everywhere in this region. Glistening rocks a plenty!
A nice way to spend a clear sunny day and I didn't encounter anyone else! All to myself... and cows and goats. Couldn't believe how much dung was on the path! Had to watch my step the whole way, lol.
I had a hot shower when I got back and ate at the other cafe for dinner. Then, I read in bed till I fell asleep.
I checked out this morning and a nice local man offered me a ride back to Queenstown. I went back to Aspen Lodge, had lunch and finished my book. This evening, I watched another rugby game (England vs France) in the lounge and am having an early night since I'm catching a bus first thing tomorrow.

Punakaiki - Greymouth - Franz Josef

We got up early to catch our buses. It was a long day of traveling, but a lovely one. We were heading into the mountains along with rivers and valleys.
Andreas and I said our goodbyes to Sergio as we got off at our stop in Punakaiki. We checked into the Punakaiki Beach Hostel which was right on the beach. It had a rustic atmosphere with all the beach wood in the lounge and kitchen. I loved it. And there was only 2 other people in the hostel so we had the bunk room all to ourselves. Nice and quiet and Andreas didn't mind me cranking up the heat.
The town really just consisted of a few beach houses and resorts, 2 cafes, an I-site and gift shop. The main reason people come here is to see the pancake rocks and blowholes at high tide. We arrived just after high tide so we checked out a cavern before checking out the rocks. We were hoping to see some glow worms, and well... we saw 4. Nothing to spectacular, but at least Andreas got to see one before he left the country.
There was a nice walking loop along the shore side to see the pancake rocks. Pretty neat formations. We planned to check them out the next day at high tide before catching the bus out of town to see the blowholes.
After talking to the staff at the I-site, we went on a 3 hour walk up through the forest. More of that lovely subtropical forest with palms, ferns and tall trees. We crossed a suspension bridge over Punakaiki river at the beginning and walked along side the Pororari river on the way out. About half way through, we stopped to take a picture of this big mossy tree over a stream, and as I casually looked back at the trail, there was a flightless bird staring at us. I said "WHAT IS THAT!?" Really excited, thinking "KIWI". But, it was still daylight, so we weren't completely convinced what kind of bird it was. The bird then walked to the side of the trail, pecking at a dead possum, (Umm, strange, aren't Kiwi's vegetarian?) then walked to my backpack and had a nibble. Since it wasn't edible, it took off down across the steam and disappeared into the forest. It started making calls and we heard another answer up behind us. But, after a few minutes, we figured, that was it for the sighting and carried on. Andreas got a video of the bird pecking at my bag, so we thought we'd check with a local what it was once back in town.
Then, once we're along the river we spotted 2 more but with 2 chicks! This family was pretty shy and jumped off into the bushes fairly quickly.
By the time we got back to the hostel, the sun was setting so we had a late dinner and chatted up a nice English fellow before calling it a night.
In the morning, we asked the hostel owner what the bird was, and it was a Weka. Think of it as the New Zealand's "wild chicken." Too bad, not a Kiwi. Oh well, at least it was wildlife, right?
We dropped our luggage off at the cafe in front of the bus stop and went to check out the blowholes. When there was a nice wave surging against the rocks, it would pass under some tunnels and come out the top. Even had a "Chimney". The water vapor would come through this small opening from all the pressure of the surge. Neat stuff.
Our bus came around 12:30 pm and we headed off to Greymouth for a night. We checked into Noah's Ark Backpackers. I liked the animal theme and there was a friendly golden retriever to great you and a shy calico short haired kitty. It was a very clean and spacious hostel. It also had a free hot tub and bikes, so we took the bikes out for a spin to see the town. Greymouth only was one street with shops, so after 15 mins, you've seen everything. We went to the end of town, and biked along a fitness track following along the beach. There was a few day hikes around, but we thought we'd take a break. After the ride we went out to nice cafe for dinner and then watched a movie, with another bunk mate joining us. We watched "Horrible Bosses." It had it's funny moments. Enjoyed it anyway. Then we called it a night.
The next day, I was catching a bus to Franz Josef and Andreas was taking a train to Christchurch as he was heading home the following morning. I accompanied him to the souvenir stores so he could buy gifts for his family. After that, we went to the station and had to say goodbye. I was sad, we'd been traveling for about 9 days together, and were so used to doing all our activities together that it felt strange to part. Who will be my travel buddy now? You never know. It's a small country and you tend to bump into people you've met before :)
It was about a 4 hour ride to Franz Josef. I stayed at the Montrose Backpackers. It was extremely big and the owners were super laid back and friendly. I organized my tour for the next day to do a full day hike up the Franz Josef Glacier and took an early night.
My guided tour with the Franz Josef Glacier Guides started at 9 am so I went over to get all my gear. They gave me a toque, mittens, raincoat, rain pants, socks and boots (but I used my own) and crampons. We started with a 45 min walk from the car park to the bottom of the glacier and walked up an ice mound covered in flinted rock. Once we were on at the top of the mound we strapped on our crampons as it was all ice from there. Had to step with feet shoulder width apart and place feet firmly down, to allow it to catch the ice. It was surprisingly warm with the sun beating down from the cloudless sky. I was able to wear just my t-shirt!
We weaved though the crevasses and narrow channels seeing brilliantly blue ice. There were two areas were water was dripping down and I got a bit wet. That was cold! I made sure to put my raincoat on for the second passing.
We went as as far as a flat plateau where all the clean ice was for lunch before heading back down along the edge with the water flow.
We were able to drink the glacier water. It was so good! We spent a total of 6 hours out of our 8 hour day on the ice.

I made friends with a nice young girl Genevieve (Jinny) from Spain and we planned to meet up after dinner to go to the Glacier Hot Pools since it was included in our tour. We had 2 more people join us, my bunk mate Teng, from Malaysia, and Ernesto, from the USA. What a nice way to relax after the day. The hot pools were gorgeous. They kept it as a natural setting, building around the rocks and trees so the were along side the pools. Great atmosphere.
We all went out to the Blue Ice Bar for a couple drinks and wedges. First time I've seen video games in a pub. Not sure which game system, but it had a sensor to read your body movements. Bowling and soccer were the 2 games that people were playing.
After saying goodnight, Teng and I went back to our room and I thought, since it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it would be best to go on a night walk tonight to try to see glow worms. Teng wanted to join so we left and walked down the Terrace walk in the forest at the end of town. After 8 mins down the track, there was a fallen tree and under all the dirt stuck to the uprooted roots were a little galaxy of glow worms. Just fabulous! We had our lights off and tried to get a couple pictures with the long exposures, but they're really hard to get. Just a bunch of green pinpoints on a black photo. But, at least we enjoyed them as they were. Since it was 1 am, we headed back and went straight to bed.
I met up with Jinny for a bit the following day and showed her where the glow worms were in case she wanted to go see them herself one night. It was pouring rain and a day best spent inside so we arranged to meet up after dinner at 8 pm to watch the rugby game. It was a relaxing afternoon of reading and booking my bus ride and accommodation for the next day, and I soon went to the Monsoon Bar and Restaurant to watch the Scotland vs England match with Jinny.
Today, I caught the bus in the morning to Queenstown. An 8 hour ride. Got in at 4 pm and walked the short distance to Aspen Lodge Backpackers. I like how close to town it is and it's very quiet considering my 10 bed dorm room is full. There's 2 kitchens and plenty of bathrooms. One of my favorite hostels so far. I'm planning on going to Milford Sound tomorrow since it comes highly recommended by my fellow travellers. We'll see how that goes!