There have been so many disasters recently it seems like it may be the end of the world soon. I sort of wonder if there are always this many and I have just never realised as they have never been anywhere near me and I havn't known anyone affected. Anyway, I have found this:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=logo#!/papercranesforjapan
You should have a look -for every origami crane you make and upload a picture of they will donate $2 to Japan. My first attempt went horribly wrong but I blame the paper. I have since made 2 (1 half made by Ryan before he gave up). Just look on youtube to find out what to do. It's an easy, fun way to help Japan. I think everyone should make at least 1 :).
In other news it is 8 days till my birthday :D
I haven't been up to much at all lately, just been out a few times and uni stuff. I seem to have loads of work to do this week. I have a lab report to write up and a 7 minute presentation on thursday which seems like a long time to be standing up in front of people talking for. I'm not looking forward to it much. I've been trying to get some sort of hospital work experience lately but that's not going so well. I applied to volunteer weeks and weeks ago at the PA hospital but they still havn't sorted it out. Which is concerning as they want you to do a minimum of 3 months and I only have 3 months left in the country.
3 months! I have been here for 9. I can't believe how quickly it has gone. I'm definitely feeling pretty ready to go home now though, especially as I can't afford to do anything here now! I'm looking forward to so many things at home.
This weekend I'm planning to go to Byron so I hope its sunny. It's starting to get cooler here now, which seems very strange when it's getting hotter at home. Stranger than when it was getting hot here and cold at home, I guess that was a bit more exciting though.
Anyway, make a crane it's for a good cause xxx
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Thursday 31 March 2011
Tuesday 22 March 2011
When Jamie came to stay.
Week 4 at uni already and yet there is still so much to update you on. After New Zealand me and Ryan spent a few days unsuccessfully house hunting. On the first day there were 2 pretty nice places we would go for and decided to go with the cheaper one, only to find out the next day that the landlord didn’t want a couple living there. And by this time the other one had already been taken. So it turns out that we’re now living in my old house as Aymeric was moving out so it was just easier and more convenient for us to move in. And with the floods and so many students looking for houses it was so difficult to find anywhere. We stayed downstairs until Aymeric left but I didn’t really spend much time here as JAMIE arrived and we were busy having adventures.
He arrived in the middle of the night, around 1.30am. It was so good to see him, and oddly didn’t seem at all weird for him to be here. It was just as normal as hanging out at home. He even brought me a penguin! We slept until morning and then headed into the city where we stumbled upon Australia’s Next Top Model auditions. Jamie was very excited to be in Australia and for it to be sunny and warm! We couldn’t stay in town too long as we were flying to Airlie Beach that afternoon. We landed in the tiniest airport I had ever been too. The luggage was brought out on a trailer in the car park and the departure lounge was just a waiting room with a telly. We got the bus to Airlie beach and saw Jamie’s first wallaby en route! It was strange to be going along the Bruce highway as I’d only been there a couple of months before but in completely different circumstances –not living in a van this time! We arrived at our hostel and headed out for some dinner. Jamie even bought us strawberry daiquiris to celebrate! It was delicious. We bought some goon on our way back to the hostel and had a fun first night in Airlie beach drinking and dancing. The next day we had to check in to our boat trip in the morning and check our luggage into storage at Peterpans. We had a bit of a wander around as well and the amazing chips for lunch. We then headed to the quay to board the New Horizon, although we got completely soaked on the way with an extremely heavy shower. There is never drizzle here, when it rains it pours –even if the sky has been clear just before!
We waited at the quay for a bit until Scott from New Horizon came to show us to the boat. We climbed on board, dropped our stuff off on the table and then set sail. The boat was actually pretty small to have so many people on it. The bedrooms were below deck and dorm style –it was a bit different to the dive boat I stayed on! It was so lovely to just sit with your legs hanging over the side as we sailed across the ocean. Everyone there was seemed to be a backpacker or on holiday so everyone was really young and friendly. We met some really nice welsh girls from Swansea and an Irish girl who we had a very funny night running around the boat with. The next day we were woken up really early at about 6am by the anchor being pulled up and then had to get up at 7am for breakfast. We headed to Whitehaven beach early taking a little boat across from where we were anchored. It was the kind of boat that you sit on the side of and as I was sat quite near the front my dress got completely soaked as a wave came over! The beach was amazing though –we had a little walk to it from where we dropped off and when we arrived you could just see amazingly white sand and blue sea. We sunbathed for a while and then donned our stinger suits to go swimming. I thought it would be a good idea to sit on Jamie’s shoulders when he suggested it but then found myself being dunked in the water! The sand at Whitehaven beach is supposed to be the finest in the world with 98% silica so it’s supposed to be good to exfoliate with so we had a go. You’re also supposed to be able to clean your teeth with it (but I didn’t fancy that) and clean jewellery. We had another bit of a sunbathe before heading up to the viewing point to take some pictures. Unfortunately I’d managed to get sand in my camera, even though I never took it out of my bag, so I don’t actually have any pictures from this trip. It was very beautiful though.
From Whitehaven beach we went to a fringing reef off one of the islands where we went diving. There was only 1 other certified diver so me and her went first with Scott as a guide whilst everyone else did introductory dives. It was really, really good! There seemed to be so many more fishes here than I saw in Cairns. I saw clownfish, parrotfish, leopard fish, an absolutely huge angel fish as well as lots of other little ones. It was a really good dive –I saw so much. We then snorkelled to the shore from where we finished up (we left our gear on the boat). The water was shallow so you could even see pretty well whilst snorkelling, and you could hear the fish as they were munching on the coral. It was very strange; I wondered what it was at first. Jamie did his first ever dive here as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t really think anyone can not like diving, at least in Australia. I’m not sure how keen I would be to dive at home. The rest of the afternoon was spent sunbathing while everyone was doing their intro dives (they could only go 4 at a time). But the beach we were on was very uncomfortable as it was just made up of coral.
When we got back on the boat we travelled on to where we would stop for the night and had dinner. The food was surprisingly good on the boat, we had fish one night and spaghetti bolognaise the other. The night was spent having a few drinks, and hanging out on the boat. The next morning we were woken up early again and then were taken to another bay to go snorkelling or diving. I couldn’t afford another dive (not that I could afford the first) but Jamie went again. I just snorkelled instead. There were strange organisms in the water that looked like jelly fish but didn’t sting. I’m not sure what they were but there were so many you couldn’t avoid touching them. They felt very odd and got in the way of everything. Luckily they were only near to the shore and disappeared once you got out a bit further. Anyway this day was the day we met Elvis. A huge, tame fish. You could even stroke him! He felt really, really smooth it was a bit strange. It was pretty cool to stroke a fish though. After some more snorkelling we headed back to the boat which we jumped off into the sea. That was fun! Jamie even took a video.
We then had some hot dogs before sailing back to Airlie Beach. It was a very rocky journey with water coming over the side of the boat. We started off sat at the front of the boat and got absolutely soaked (although so was everyone at the sides). It was hard to even stand up. We started playing a game with Gem and Aine where you had to stand up without touching anything for as long as possible. It was very funny. The rocky journey went on for so long though and I started to feel sick. I went back to the front of the boat to sit with the wind in my face and that made me feel a lot better though. Strangely I was the only person on deck at that point –I think you’re supposed to avoid the front of the boat when it’s rocky but it definitely helped me. By this time we were nearly back anyway so it was all alright.
When it was time to go I definitely didn’t feel ready for it to be over –I could have done with a few more days on the boat. It all went so quickly. That night we all met up for an afterparty. Everyone looked so nice and showered compared to the boat! We were only allowed a 1min shower a day on there! It was a good night ending in me and Jamie discovering delicious chips and wedges. Then the next day we were flying back. We spent the day hanging out at the lagoon and in the park before heading back in the evening. Bit of a disaster when we got back though. Ryan had got completely lost coming to get us and the trains had already stopped. We waited for him for over an hour and he had been driving for nearly 3 hours! He had ended up going in completely the opposite direction. So he was a little grumpy when we finally made it.
From Brisbane we headed to the Gold Coast for a surfing lesson! Ryan came with us this time as well. It was a lot of fun and I even managed to stand up a few times. I wasn’t the natural I had hoped I would be though. Definitely spent a lot more time in the water than on top of it. After surfing we headed back to our hostel and had a little wander round the town before me and Ryan went to play crazy golf whilst Jamie skyped his parents. That night me and Jamie headed out initially with the hostel but then ended up sat by the beach for a while whilst Jamie told me all about the oldies. We headed back to the club and broke out some new dance moves i.e.) the scuba, the guns and the shopping trolley. We went home via a 24h restaurant with delicious nachos.
The next day me and Ryan woke up early so headed into town to get some breakfast and a packed lunch before Jamie was up. We then spent the day at SeaWorld. It was amazing! They had the best dolphin show. I’d never seen one before and I loved it! Their jumps were amazing, they were throwing their trainers up in the air and even letting them ride them surf style! I think my mouth was pretty much open throughout. We also saw a really good sea lion detective show. The animals there were amazing. Me and Jamie also went on the rollercoasters but the dolphins were definitely the highlight. There was a big indoor penguin enclosure there as well. It was really funny as some of the penguins would try and jump out of the water but end up falling in. I could have spent ages watching them but eventually we had to go home.
The next day was spent doing nothing much in Brisbane before getting our flight to Sydney in the afternoon. Foolishly we had not booked a hostel and as it was a Saturday night there were absolutely no vacancies. We asked in so, so many hostels and Ryan was phoning them up for us as well. We even ended up asking in a motel and a travel inn but even they didn’t have any vacancies. We thought we were going to have to sleep in a park! Thankfully Ryan was able to get in to contact with Shell and she let us stay at hers for the night. It was so kind of her as it was already fairly late by this point; she literally saved us from sleeping rough and even gave us ice lollies. Ryan had told me about her love for ‘lollies’ (sweets) so in the morning me and Jamie went to a supermarket and bought bags and bags of sweets for her to say thank you. I can’t believe how lucky we were and will not be arriving in a city without having accommodation booked again! At least we’ve learnt!
We spent the day exploring and sightseeing. We went down to the markets at the rocks- I wanted to buy loads of gifts for everyone here but I wouldn’t have had space in my hand luggage as it was nearly too heavy already. We then went to the opera house and did some viewing. In the evening we went for a few drinks in a bar. A live band started to play so we went up to see them and were treated to some very amusing dancers. There was what looked like a very drunk office worker breaking out his moves while his embarrassed girlfriend tried to calm him down. It was very funny to watch. There was also a crazy old lady who took a liking to Jamie.
The next day we took the Manly ferry to Manly beach. It was a lot nicer than Bondi beach! It felt like a cute little seaside town. We thought it was a bit chilli to swim so sat by the beach, browsed the shops and ate some chips before heading back. We went for a wander in the evening but had an early night ready for Jamie’s birthday the next day.
JAMIE’S BIRTHDAY. We got up and took the ferry to Taronga zoo where we entered via the skyrail. A cable car that goes right above the zoo-we went right over the elephant enclosure! We then went to see the koalas –which Jamie had never seen before. We saw loads of animals giraffes, tigers, seals, penguins, lions......so many! We watched a seal show which was really good and we went to the elephant talk and watched the elephants getting trained. My favourite bit was when the elephants were playing football and then the smallest baby elephant stole the ball and sat on it. It was so funny and cute! It was also cool to see all the adult elephants rushing over to the babies when they started trumpeting (for what seemed like no reason). The baby elephants were amazingly cute; I wish I could have one! There were 3 babies there; the youngest was only born in November! After we had been all around the zoo and Jamie had stroked a wallaby we got the ferry back to the harbour. Now I had secretly planned a jet boat trip for Jamie from me and Mel so I had to keep distracting and delaying him until it was time to go. It was quite funny and he didn’t seem to realise I was up to anything. The jet boat was so much fun! We were doing slides and spins and speeding along bouncing off the waves. We even did some sightseeing and saw the house of the man who owns all the Westfield shopping centres in Darling harbour (I’m not sure if we have those at home but they are everywhere here so he must be uber rich). We were already rather damp when the driver suggested showing us what the boat was famous for. It turns out it was a completely drenching tidal wave that came right over and on to us when we braked suddenly. Everyone got absolutely soaked and I sort of wished I didn’t know what the boat was famous for. It was really good though and I wanted to go again straight away.
From here we headed back to the hostel to dry off before dinner. We went to dinner at a pub buffet which was rather yummy. After we finished I surprised Jamie yet again with some cupcakes I had sneakily taken there earlier. I wasn’t actually allowed to light the candles because they would set the fire alarms off though. We did it outside the hostel instead though and sang happy birthday. We then headed out with people from the hostel. It was ladies night so most of the guys were wearing dresses –disappointingly we hadn’t realised before so Jamie didn’t get to dress up. It was a good night and we got extra free drinks because it was Jamie’s birthday.
The next day we had to get up fairly early to catch our flight back to Brisbane. I was quite sad that this was the end of my travels now. Although now it seems like ages ago! I miss travelling loads and keep on wishing that I would be sleeping in a van instead of in a house. Even last night when I was cycling back from dance there were loads of bugs under the lights on the bridge and even that made me want to go travelling again, although I hated that part of it!
We spent a last few days relaxing after all our activities in the last few weeks. We went into town one day and Jamie got to experience the wonderful pancake house. Most delicious. And then Jamie had to go home, although we were both hopeful that he might miss his flight. As he left I was sad that he was going and also jealous that he got to go back to the UK. Although I’m sure he was jealous of me staying in Australia too. It made me quite homesick to see him go. But that will be me in 3 and a half months. Time seems to be flying by now; I just do not know what happens to it! Already it is week 4 of uni, yet we only just started. In a month it’ll be mid-semester and then after that just over another month until exams. What is going on?
I think this post is long enough by now but I will update you on what I’ve been doing more recently soon. Although that will surely not be as long as I really haven’t been up to much at all.
Miss you xxxxxxxxxxx
He arrived in the middle of the night, around 1.30am. It was so good to see him, and oddly didn’t seem at all weird for him to be here. It was just as normal as hanging out at home. He even brought me a penguin! We slept until morning and then headed into the city where we stumbled upon Australia’s Next Top Model auditions. Jamie was very excited to be in Australia and for it to be sunny and warm! We couldn’t stay in town too long as we were flying to Airlie Beach that afternoon. We landed in the tiniest airport I had ever been too. The luggage was brought out on a trailer in the car park and the departure lounge was just a waiting room with a telly. We got the bus to Airlie beach and saw Jamie’s first wallaby en route! It was strange to be going along the Bruce highway as I’d only been there a couple of months before but in completely different circumstances –not living in a van this time! We arrived at our hostel and headed out for some dinner. Jamie even bought us strawberry daiquiris to celebrate! It was delicious. We bought some goon on our way back to the hostel and had a fun first night in Airlie beach drinking and dancing. The next day we had to check in to our boat trip in the morning and check our luggage into storage at Peterpans. We had a bit of a wander around as well and the amazing chips for lunch. We then headed to the quay to board the New Horizon, although we got completely soaked on the way with an extremely heavy shower. There is never drizzle here, when it rains it pours –even if the sky has been clear just before!
We waited at the quay for a bit until Scott from New Horizon came to show us to the boat. We climbed on board, dropped our stuff off on the table and then set sail. The boat was actually pretty small to have so many people on it. The bedrooms were below deck and dorm style –it was a bit different to the dive boat I stayed on! It was so lovely to just sit with your legs hanging over the side as we sailed across the ocean. Everyone there was seemed to be a backpacker or on holiday so everyone was really young and friendly. We met some really nice welsh girls from Swansea and an Irish girl who we had a very funny night running around the boat with. The next day we were woken up really early at about 6am by the anchor being pulled up and then had to get up at 7am for breakfast. We headed to Whitehaven beach early taking a little boat across from where we were anchored. It was the kind of boat that you sit on the side of and as I was sat quite near the front my dress got completely soaked as a wave came over! The beach was amazing though –we had a little walk to it from where we dropped off and when we arrived you could just see amazingly white sand and blue sea. We sunbathed for a while and then donned our stinger suits to go swimming. I thought it would be a good idea to sit on Jamie’s shoulders when he suggested it but then found myself being dunked in the water! The sand at Whitehaven beach is supposed to be the finest in the world with 98% silica so it’s supposed to be good to exfoliate with so we had a go. You’re also supposed to be able to clean your teeth with it (but I didn’t fancy that) and clean jewellery. We had another bit of a sunbathe before heading up to the viewing point to take some pictures. Unfortunately I’d managed to get sand in my camera, even though I never took it out of my bag, so I don’t actually have any pictures from this trip. It was very beautiful though.
From Whitehaven beach we went to a fringing reef off one of the islands where we went diving. There was only 1 other certified diver so me and her went first with Scott as a guide whilst everyone else did introductory dives. It was really, really good! There seemed to be so many more fishes here than I saw in Cairns. I saw clownfish, parrotfish, leopard fish, an absolutely huge angel fish as well as lots of other little ones. It was a really good dive –I saw so much. We then snorkelled to the shore from where we finished up (we left our gear on the boat). The water was shallow so you could even see pretty well whilst snorkelling, and you could hear the fish as they were munching on the coral. It was very strange; I wondered what it was at first. Jamie did his first ever dive here as well and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don’t really think anyone can not like diving, at least in Australia. I’m not sure how keen I would be to dive at home. The rest of the afternoon was spent sunbathing while everyone was doing their intro dives (they could only go 4 at a time). But the beach we were on was very uncomfortable as it was just made up of coral.
When we got back on the boat we travelled on to where we would stop for the night and had dinner. The food was surprisingly good on the boat, we had fish one night and spaghetti bolognaise the other. The night was spent having a few drinks, and hanging out on the boat. The next morning we were woken up early again and then were taken to another bay to go snorkelling or diving. I couldn’t afford another dive (not that I could afford the first) but Jamie went again. I just snorkelled instead. There were strange organisms in the water that looked like jelly fish but didn’t sting. I’m not sure what they were but there were so many you couldn’t avoid touching them. They felt very odd and got in the way of everything. Luckily they were only near to the shore and disappeared once you got out a bit further. Anyway this day was the day we met Elvis. A huge, tame fish. You could even stroke him! He felt really, really smooth it was a bit strange. It was pretty cool to stroke a fish though. After some more snorkelling we headed back to the boat which we jumped off into the sea. That was fun! Jamie even took a video.
We then had some hot dogs before sailing back to Airlie Beach. It was a very rocky journey with water coming over the side of the boat. We started off sat at the front of the boat and got absolutely soaked (although so was everyone at the sides). It was hard to even stand up. We started playing a game with Gem and Aine where you had to stand up without touching anything for as long as possible. It was very funny. The rocky journey went on for so long though and I started to feel sick. I went back to the front of the boat to sit with the wind in my face and that made me feel a lot better though. Strangely I was the only person on deck at that point –I think you’re supposed to avoid the front of the boat when it’s rocky but it definitely helped me. By this time we were nearly back anyway so it was all alright.
When it was time to go I definitely didn’t feel ready for it to be over –I could have done with a few more days on the boat. It all went so quickly. That night we all met up for an afterparty. Everyone looked so nice and showered compared to the boat! We were only allowed a 1min shower a day on there! It was a good night ending in me and Jamie discovering delicious chips and wedges. Then the next day we were flying back. We spent the day hanging out at the lagoon and in the park before heading back in the evening. Bit of a disaster when we got back though. Ryan had got completely lost coming to get us and the trains had already stopped. We waited for him for over an hour and he had been driving for nearly 3 hours! He had ended up going in completely the opposite direction. So he was a little grumpy when we finally made it.
From Brisbane we headed to the Gold Coast for a surfing lesson! Ryan came with us this time as well. It was a lot of fun and I even managed to stand up a few times. I wasn’t the natural I had hoped I would be though. Definitely spent a lot more time in the water than on top of it. After surfing we headed back to our hostel and had a little wander round the town before me and Ryan went to play crazy golf whilst Jamie skyped his parents. That night me and Jamie headed out initially with the hostel but then ended up sat by the beach for a while whilst Jamie told me all about the oldies. We headed back to the club and broke out some new dance moves i.e.) the scuba, the guns and the shopping trolley. We went home via a 24h restaurant with delicious nachos.
The next day me and Ryan woke up early so headed into town to get some breakfast and a packed lunch before Jamie was up. We then spent the day at SeaWorld. It was amazing! They had the best dolphin show. I’d never seen one before and I loved it! Their jumps were amazing, they were throwing their trainers up in the air and even letting them ride them surf style! I think my mouth was pretty much open throughout. We also saw a really good sea lion detective show. The animals there were amazing. Me and Jamie also went on the rollercoasters but the dolphins were definitely the highlight. There was a big indoor penguin enclosure there as well. It was really funny as some of the penguins would try and jump out of the water but end up falling in. I could have spent ages watching them but eventually we had to go home.
The next day was spent doing nothing much in Brisbane before getting our flight to Sydney in the afternoon. Foolishly we had not booked a hostel and as it was a Saturday night there were absolutely no vacancies. We asked in so, so many hostels and Ryan was phoning them up for us as well. We even ended up asking in a motel and a travel inn but even they didn’t have any vacancies. We thought we were going to have to sleep in a park! Thankfully Ryan was able to get in to contact with Shell and she let us stay at hers for the night. It was so kind of her as it was already fairly late by this point; she literally saved us from sleeping rough and even gave us ice lollies. Ryan had told me about her love for ‘lollies’ (sweets) so in the morning me and Jamie went to a supermarket and bought bags and bags of sweets for her to say thank you. I can’t believe how lucky we were and will not be arriving in a city without having accommodation booked again! At least we’ve learnt!
We spent the day exploring and sightseeing. We went down to the markets at the rocks- I wanted to buy loads of gifts for everyone here but I wouldn’t have had space in my hand luggage as it was nearly too heavy already. We then went to the opera house and did some viewing. In the evening we went for a few drinks in a bar. A live band started to play so we went up to see them and were treated to some very amusing dancers. There was what looked like a very drunk office worker breaking out his moves while his embarrassed girlfriend tried to calm him down. It was very funny to watch. There was also a crazy old lady who took a liking to Jamie.
The next day we took the Manly ferry to Manly beach. It was a lot nicer than Bondi beach! It felt like a cute little seaside town. We thought it was a bit chilli to swim so sat by the beach, browsed the shops and ate some chips before heading back. We went for a wander in the evening but had an early night ready for Jamie’s birthday the next day.
JAMIE’S BIRTHDAY. We got up and took the ferry to Taronga zoo where we entered via the skyrail. A cable car that goes right above the zoo-we went right over the elephant enclosure! We then went to see the koalas –which Jamie had never seen before. We saw loads of animals giraffes, tigers, seals, penguins, lions......so many! We watched a seal show which was really good and we went to the elephant talk and watched the elephants getting trained. My favourite bit was when the elephants were playing football and then the smallest baby elephant stole the ball and sat on it. It was so funny and cute! It was also cool to see all the adult elephants rushing over to the babies when they started trumpeting (for what seemed like no reason). The baby elephants were amazingly cute; I wish I could have one! There were 3 babies there; the youngest was only born in November! After we had been all around the zoo and Jamie had stroked a wallaby we got the ferry back to the harbour. Now I had secretly planned a jet boat trip for Jamie from me and Mel so I had to keep distracting and delaying him until it was time to go. It was quite funny and he didn’t seem to realise I was up to anything. The jet boat was so much fun! We were doing slides and spins and speeding along bouncing off the waves. We even did some sightseeing and saw the house of the man who owns all the Westfield shopping centres in Darling harbour (I’m not sure if we have those at home but they are everywhere here so he must be uber rich). We were already rather damp when the driver suggested showing us what the boat was famous for. It turns out it was a completely drenching tidal wave that came right over and on to us when we braked suddenly. Everyone got absolutely soaked and I sort of wished I didn’t know what the boat was famous for. It was really good though and I wanted to go again straight away.
From here we headed back to the hostel to dry off before dinner. We went to dinner at a pub buffet which was rather yummy. After we finished I surprised Jamie yet again with some cupcakes I had sneakily taken there earlier. I wasn’t actually allowed to light the candles because they would set the fire alarms off though. We did it outside the hostel instead though and sang happy birthday. We then headed out with people from the hostel. It was ladies night so most of the guys were wearing dresses –disappointingly we hadn’t realised before so Jamie didn’t get to dress up. It was a good night and we got extra free drinks because it was Jamie’s birthday.
The next day we had to get up fairly early to catch our flight back to Brisbane. I was quite sad that this was the end of my travels now. Although now it seems like ages ago! I miss travelling loads and keep on wishing that I would be sleeping in a van instead of in a house. Even last night when I was cycling back from dance there were loads of bugs under the lights on the bridge and even that made me want to go travelling again, although I hated that part of it!
We spent a last few days relaxing after all our activities in the last few weeks. We went into town one day and Jamie got to experience the wonderful pancake house. Most delicious. And then Jamie had to go home, although we were both hopeful that he might miss his flight. As he left I was sad that he was going and also jealous that he got to go back to the UK. Although I’m sure he was jealous of me staying in Australia too. It made me quite homesick to see him go. But that will be me in 3 and a half months. Time seems to be flying by now; I just do not know what happens to it! Already it is week 4 of uni, yet we only just started. In a month it’ll be mid-semester and then after that just over another month until exams. What is going on?
I think this post is long enough by now but I will update you on what I’ve been doing more recently soon. Although that will surely not be as long as I really haven’t been up to much at all.
Miss you xxxxxxxxxxx
Tuesday 8 March 2011
New Zealand
As we begun our trip to New Zealand I was excited just to be in an airport again! I miss airports here, I’ve got used to flying all the time at home. So I spent my time trying on perfume and browsing duty free. The flight seemed to go really quickly- perhaps due to the onboard entertainment systems. I’m a big fan of having my own personal screen for shows and games even though the flight is only 3 hours. They should introduce them on trains and buses!
So we arrived in New Zealand around 12pm and caught the airport bus into Auckland where we had booked to stay the night in Nomads. The hostel was extremely noisy as it was right above a club but I was so exhausted I slept right through it until our alarm went off early in the morning so that we could catch our 7.30am bus to Rotorua. This first bus was actually a Great Sights tour bus so we had a really good driver who was telling us all about everything we passed. The countryside is very similar to English countryside. And there were a lot of cows –many more than sheep, which was unexpected. Our North Island bus ticket had included a stop at Waitamo Glow Worm Caves. They were amazing! At first it just seemed like a standard cave tour, in a huge cave with normal rock so nothing too exciting there. We were then shown some small patches of glowworms and some that were low down so that we could see the lines they put down to catch food. After this we went down to the river that flowed through the cave where we all got in a large boat that was going to take us out. As we travelled along the river the amount of glow worms was amazing. The cave wasn’t lit in this part so the glow worms really stood out. It was just like looking at the stars in the sky –just really up close! It was so beautiful.
We then got back on the bus and carried on to Rotorua where were greeted by a horrible smell of egg due to all the sulphur produced by the geothermal activity. We stopped there for a few days but never really got used to the smell. At least it wasn’t very strong in the area we were staying. It was amazing to see the bubbling, steaming pools of water and mud though. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s so strange to think that the water I was standing by was heated by the centre of the earth. You expect that sort of thing to be impossible or a volcano. We spent the rest of the day wandering round the town and visiting the park with the hot water pools. Then in the evening there was a night market on which we had a little wander around before claiming our free drink from the hostel in the local pub.
The next day we slept for ages and then got up to have a wander by the lake where there were baby black swans! They were so, so cute! We didn’t really do much this day, but we’d been so crazy busy lately it was nice to have a rest and a chance to actually sleep in. We arranged to go to Hell’s gate park and spa the next day. We were picked up by a minibus in the morning and taken to Hell’s Gate Thermal Park. We firstly walked around the park where we saw all the various thermal pools –all different temperatures, pHs and colours. It was interesting to see the variety of it all –we even saw a hot waterfall. Where usually you see spray from the falling water, steam was rising. Very strange to see. Some of the pools were so hot they would bubble ferociously up into the air –even metres high! After the walk we came back to the Wai Ora Spa where we had a mud bath! It was so much fun sitting outside in a warm bath covering ourselves in mud! I think everyone should probably play in mud more often. We stayed in the mud bath for 20 minutes before having a cold shower and getting in the Sulphur pool. A large hot bath where the sulphur water is supposed to have healing properties. From the sulphur bath you could look out over the hot pools where the water was taken from. It is quite a surreal experience sat outside in New Zealand in geothermally heated sulphur water looking out at the bubbling pools and rocky landscape. I think this was definitely the highlight of the trip, and really the geothermal activity was the reason I went to the North Island. It is like nowhere else I’ve ever been. After our time in the spa we looked around the shop and tried our hand at wood carving. It looked surprisingly good after the carver fixed it up for me [Symbol]. We then headed back to the town for some lunch and a wander around. That night we had nachos in the pub with the free drinks which was quite delicious.
The next day we went for a walk around the lake but came to a part of the track that was completely flooded –we had managed to make our way around the puddles up until now but now the track was completely covered and water would have been up to out ankles. So we decided to go back and walk through the golf course. I think we would have been dryer wading through the puddles. The golf course was completely waterlogged and our feet got drenched! But at least at the end of it we got to see the baby swans. Someone started feeding the birds bread and it was so funny to see all the geese run over with their wings spread wide. The birds were crazy stealing bread off each other and there were so, so many of them!
That afternoon we got the bus to Napier where we found a nice hostel to stay in that seemed more like a house. Somehow the dorm room we paid for turned out to be a twin so that was a bit of a bonus too. Napier is interesting because it was more or less completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt in the art deco style. Although to be honest I never worked out what that was but whilst we were there we had a good game of mini golf, spied on the seals through the fence of the closed sealife centre and walked up to the top of a hill to lookout over the coast and the port. I later rolled down the hill which was great fun, something I have not been doing enough of. I even started a small craze as some teenage girls saw me doing it and then went to have a go. I also somehow managed to have my picture taken with a random Asian guy at the lookout. I accidently walked down a path into his picture so he decided he would have it with me. It was quite amusing and he seemed a nice chap who was studying something that I couldn’t quite understand in NZ.
From Napier we travelled on to Wellington, which I think was my favourite place we went to on the trip. We checked into a hostel right by the station when we arrived before having a wander into town and then a look around Te Papa museum. The museum was really quite good we went in an earthquake room where it’s as if you are actually in an earthquake, and we saw the only colossus squid on public display. It was huge- many metres long and apparently has the largest eyes in the world. It is even supposed to have shrunk since the found it, but it was truly massive. It was caught accidently by Antarctic fisherman when their line caught the fish the squid was eating. As they pulled the fish up the squid just did not let go and ended up coming up to the surface from the depths of the ocean. It was really interesting to see it.
The next day in Wellington we had tickets for the city sights bus tour that had come free with our bus pass. So we got the bus at 9.30am and were driven around the city. We saw the wooden houses that people still live in and the way Wellington is expanding up into the hills rather than outwards because it is constricted to the small place in the valley. People who live there have to walk up hundreds of steps or use cable card to get from the roads up to their houses! We got off the bus in town and then caught the cable car up to the top of the hill. We then went to the Carter Astronomy where we sat in reclined chairs to watch a film on the ceiling of the dome about the stars and how the universe was made. It was really interesting and really cool how you were surrounded by the film. I would definitely recommend it. We then had a look around the exhibit before going to the cable car museum where we sat in one of the old cars that used to be used. We then walked through the botanical gardens, stopping at the duck pond and to see the rose garden. We then got back on the citysights bus to go to see parliament. As we walked in we had to go through metal scanners and leave our bags in the cloakroom before we could go on the tour. Luckily one was just starting as we got there. It was actually so much more interesting than I had anticipated. We learned how absolutely anybody can write in to have an audience with the committee as they make their decisions on which laws to pass and I was made Queen for the day as I stood exactly where the throne is put if any of the royal family are ever there. I think I’d now like to do one of these tours in London but I wonder if you even can there... There was also an Anne Frank exhibition at parliament which was interesting to see.
From parliament we walked into town and did a little shopping before heading back to the hostel where we played pool with a couple of guys and I even managed to pot a few balls! Later we went and ate tea by the harbour looking over the water. I was sad to leave Wellington and in hindsight we should have planned an extra day there instead of in Auckland but at least we made the most of our time there. We got an early bus to Taupo but on the bus encountered the most awful, ridiculous girl I think I’ve met. The bus was really full and me and Ryan had managed to get the last pair of seats together. At a later stop a girl and her boyfriend got on but had to sit apart as there weren’t any seats for them and this girl ended up sitting in front of us. We stopped for a quick loo stop and me and Ryan had both got off the bus, literally only for a few minutes. But when I got back on I saw this girl moving my bag and sitting in my seat. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I told her she was sat in my seat (perhaps it was an accident) but all she replied was “So?”. I asked her to move and she refused and then started to call her boyfriend over to go and sit in Ryan’s seat, but all of our stuff was still there. I looked at him to see what he was going to do and he at least acknowledged that it was our seat and told the girl to just stay where they were. But she was so stupid she just refused to move and then other people on the bus started to get involved telling her to move and eventually she did but really what did she think she was doing. As she moved Ryan had got on the bus so I told him what had been going on and then got threatened by this girl that she would “punch me in the head” if I kept on talking about her. She was crazy. At the next rest stop other people were commenting about her to us and telling us to get on the bus quick so she didn’t steal our seats again!
Thankfully we were able to get away from her at Taupo. We checked into a hostel and then went for a wander around the town. Down by the lake there is a hole in one golf course where the hole is out in the lake. We watched a few people having a go but no one managed to do it. The next day we got up quite early and had a morning game of pool in the hostel before heading out to walk to Huka Falls. The waterfall was amazing! The water was travelling ridiculously fast, but it's not like a normal waterfall. The fall forms as the river is constricted because the type of rock changes to one that is not easily degraded. The water speeds along, shooting into the air and off rocks before it makes it to the ledge of the waterfall (which is really actually quite small in comparison). At one point the water seems to form an inverse wave as it hits a bump and is forced backwards over itself. I have never seen such powerful water -you would easily go along the 100m length in about 10seconds if you fell in but you would nearly definitely die on the way. We walked back along the path to the hot water stream where geothermally heated water joins the lake so you can sit in it as if in a bath. Although the heat is a bit more patchy and less consistent. Weirdly as we sat there rocks were floating by us. Apparently they'd all been washed down in a storm. These porous stones were easily carved so we sat there in the river bath making stone shapes. It was lovely. On the way back to the hostel we walked through a park and found a zipwire to play on. Some Asian people also found it at the same time and the granny Asian even had a go! It was quite funny.
The next day Ryan was watching the rugby so I went shopping when it was on and then we went to play crazy golf. Which I won and amazingly we both got hole in ones on the last shot which meant we won a free round. It was quite amusing because Ryan's went straight in to the hole whilst mine bounced off the sides for a while before going in. But I clearly meant for it to happen like that. Unfortunately we didn't have time for a 2nd round so we gave the tickets to reception to give to the next people to come in before going to catch our bus to Auckland and our final stop in New Zealand.
When we arrived in Auckland we checked into the first hostel we saw (which turned out it wasn't that nice as we had a boiling hot room in the basement with no windows) before going to a little chinese restaurant for tea. I decided to try something new so I had wonton noodle soup. It turned out I liked the wontons but not the soup, it actually made me want to be a little bit sick. Anyways, the restaurant was located opposite a reverse bungy so we were able to watch crazy people getting shot up into the air. We didn't really do too much in Auckland, there wasn't really anything to see. We spent the first day wandering around town and down to the harbour.Where there was actually a giant rubber duck that was really cool. But when we went into the iSites even though couldn't tell us anything we could do without spending loads of money. We thought about going up the skytower but as we were walking in someone walked out going "That was definitely not worth it". So we thought perhaps we should save our dollars. When we went back to the hostel we asked the staff there and a funny gay man recommended walking up the volcano Mount Eden. So that's what we spent our evening doing but it took so long. We had been told it would take 40mins so me, Ryan and 2 Swedish guys we'd met in our room headed out. It ended up taking us hours, we seemed to have walked halfway across town and out into the suburbs before we were anywhere near, and by that time it was dark so we had to scramble up the side of the volcano and every short cut we took seemed to be the complete opposite. It was a very beautiful view from the top though -definitely worth going to instead of the sky tower. It was cool to see the crater as well -a huge, huge dip down like an inverse hill. You could barely even see the bottom of it, although it was pretty dark by this point.
The next day in Auckland was spent looking round the shops, using the internet (trying to find a house) and then getting a bus to the seaside. It was pretty average there though. I had a paddle but decided it was too chilli for a swim. Stupidly we had decided to go the airport early for our 6am flight rather than staying in the hostel so we spent our night not being able to sleep in an airport.
New Zealand was great but it seemed to end on a bit of a low note with Auckland being so disappointing. I'd really like to go back though -next time to the South Island to see some glaciers!
lots of love xxxxxxx
So we arrived in New Zealand around 12pm and caught the airport bus into Auckland where we had booked to stay the night in Nomads. The hostel was extremely noisy as it was right above a club but I was so exhausted I slept right through it until our alarm went off early in the morning so that we could catch our 7.30am bus to Rotorua. This first bus was actually a Great Sights tour bus so we had a really good driver who was telling us all about everything we passed. The countryside is very similar to English countryside. And there were a lot of cows –many more than sheep, which was unexpected. Our North Island bus ticket had included a stop at Waitamo Glow Worm Caves. They were amazing! At first it just seemed like a standard cave tour, in a huge cave with normal rock so nothing too exciting there. We were then shown some small patches of glowworms and some that were low down so that we could see the lines they put down to catch food. After this we went down to the river that flowed through the cave where we all got in a large boat that was going to take us out. As we travelled along the river the amount of glow worms was amazing. The cave wasn’t lit in this part so the glow worms really stood out. It was just like looking at the stars in the sky –just really up close! It was so beautiful.
We then got back on the bus and carried on to Rotorua where were greeted by a horrible smell of egg due to all the sulphur produced by the geothermal activity. We stopped there for a few days but never really got used to the smell. At least it wasn’t very strong in the area we were staying. It was amazing to see the bubbling, steaming pools of water and mud though. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s so strange to think that the water I was standing by was heated by the centre of the earth. You expect that sort of thing to be impossible or a volcano. We spent the rest of the day wandering round the town and visiting the park with the hot water pools. Then in the evening there was a night market on which we had a little wander around before claiming our free drink from the hostel in the local pub.
The next day we slept for ages and then got up to have a wander by the lake where there were baby black swans! They were so, so cute! We didn’t really do much this day, but we’d been so crazy busy lately it was nice to have a rest and a chance to actually sleep in. We arranged to go to Hell’s gate park and spa the next day. We were picked up by a minibus in the morning and taken to Hell’s Gate Thermal Park. We firstly walked around the park where we saw all the various thermal pools –all different temperatures, pHs and colours. It was interesting to see the variety of it all –we even saw a hot waterfall. Where usually you see spray from the falling water, steam was rising. Very strange to see. Some of the pools were so hot they would bubble ferociously up into the air –even metres high! After the walk we came back to the Wai Ora Spa where we had a mud bath! It was so much fun sitting outside in a warm bath covering ourselves in mud! I think everyone should probably play in mud more often. We stayed in the mud bath for 20 minutes before having a cold shower and getting in the Sulphur pool. A large hot bath where the sulphur water is supposed to have healing properties. From the sulphur bath you could look out over the hot pools where the water was taken from. It is quite a surreal experience sat outside in New Zealand in geothermally heated sulphur water looking out at the bubbling pools and rocky landscape. I think this was definitely the highlight of the trip, and really the geothermal activity was the reason I went to the North Island. It is like nowhere else I’ve ever been. After our time in the spa we looked around the shop and tried our hand at wood carving. It looked surprisingly good after the carver fixed it up for me [Symbol]. We then headed back to the town for some lunch and a wander around. That night we had nachos in the pub with the free drinks which was quite delicious.
The next day we went for a walk around the lake but came to a part of the track that was completely flooded –we had managed to make our way around the puddles up until now but now the track was completely covered and water would have been up to out ankles. So we decided to go back and walk through the golf course. I think we would have been dryer wading through the puddles. The golf course was completely waterlogged and our feet got drenched! But at least at the end of it we got to see the baby swans. Someone started feeding the birds bread and it was so funny to see all the geese run over with their wings spread wide. The birds were crazy stealing bread off each other and there were so, so many of them!
That afternoon we got the bus to Napier where we found a nice hostel to stay in that seemed more like a house. Somehow the dorm room we paid for turned out to be a twin so that was a bit of a bonus too. Napier is interesting because it was more or less completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 1930s and was rebuilt in the art deco style. Although to be honest I never worked out what that was but whilst we were there we had a good game of mini golf, spied on the seals through the fence of the closed sealife centre and walked up to the top of a hill to lookout over the coast and the port. I later rolled down the hill which was great fun, something I have not been doing enough of. I even started a small craze as some teenage girls saw me doing it and then went to have a go. I also somehow managed to have my picture taken with a random Asian guy at the lookout. I accidently walked down a path into his picture so he decided he would have it with me. It was quite amusing and he seemed a nice chap who was studying something that I couldn’t quite understand in NZ.
From Napier we travelled on to Wellington, which I think was my favourite place we went to on the trip. We checked into a hostel right by the station when we arrived before having a wander into town and then a look around Te Papa museum. The museum was really quite good we went in an earthquake room where it’s as if you are actually in an earthquake, and we saw the only colossus squid on public display. It was huge- many metres long and apparently has the largest eyes in the world. It is even supposed to have shrunk since the found it, but it was truly massive. It was caught accidently by Antarctic fisherman when their line caught the fish the squid was eating. As they pulled the fish up the squid just did not let go and ended up coming up to the surface from the depths of the ocean. It was really interesting to see it.
The next day in Wellington we had tickets for the city sights bus tour that had come free with our bus pass. So we got the bus at 9.30am and were driven around the city. We saw the wooden houses that people still live in and the way Wellington is expanding up into the hills rather than outwards because it is constricted to the small place in the valley. People who live there have to walk up hundreds of steps or use cable card to get from the roads up to their houses! We got off the bus in town and then caught the cable car up to the top of the hill. We then went to the Carter Astronomy where we sat in reclined chairs to watch a film on the ceiling of the dome about the stars and how the universe was made. It was really interesting and really cool how you were surrounded by the film. I would definitely recommend it. We then had a look around the exhibit before going to the cable car museum where we sat in one of the old cars that used to be used. We then walked through the botanical gardens, stopping at the duck pond and to see the rose garden. We then got back on the citysights bus to go to see parliament. As we walked in we had to go through metal scanners and leave our bags in the cloakroom before we could go on the tour. Luckily one was just starting as we got there. It was actually so much more interesting than I had anticipated. We learned how absolutely anybody can write in to have an audience with the committee as they make their decisions on which laws to pass and I was made Queen for the day as I stood exactly where the throne is put if any of the royal family are ever there. I think I’d now like to do one of these tours in London but I wonder if you even can there... There was also an Anne Frank exhibition at parliament which was interesting to see.
From parliament we walked into town and did a little shopping before heading back to the hostel where we played pool with a couple of guys and I even managed to pot a few balls! Later we went and ate tea by the harbour looking over the water. I was sad to leave Wellington and in hindsight we should have planned an extra day there instead of in Auckland but at least we made the most of our time there. We got an early bus to Taupo but on the bus encountered the most awful, ridiculous girl I think I’ve met. The bus was really full and me and Ryan had managed to get the last pair of seats together. At a later stop a girl and her boyfriend got on but had to sit apart as there weren’t any seats for them and this girl ended up sitting in front of us. We stopped for a quick loo stop and me and Ryan had both got off the bus, literally only for a few minutes. But when I got back on I saw this girl moving my bag and sitting in my seat. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I told her she was sat in my seat (perhaps it was an accident) but all she replied was “So?”. I asked her to move and she refused and then started to call her boyfriend over to go and sit in Ryan’s seat, but all of our stuff was still there. I looked at him to see what he was going to do and he at least acknowledged that it was our seat and told the girl to just stay where they were. But she was so stupid she just refused to move and then other people on the bus started to get involved telling her to move and eventually she did but really what did she think she was doing. As she moved Ryan had got on the bus so I told him what had been going on and then got threatened by this girl that she would “punch me in the head” if I kept on talking about her. She was crazy. At the next rest stop other people were commenting about her to us and telling us to get on the bus quick so she didn’t steal our seats again!
Thankfully we were able to get away from her at Taupo. We checked into a hostel and then went for a wander around the town. Down by the lake there is a hole in one golf course where the hole is out in the lake. We watched a few people having a go but no one managed to do it. The next day we got up quite early and had a morning game of pool in the hostel before heading out to walk to Huka Falls. The waterfall was amazing! The water was travelling ridiculously fast, but it's not like a normal waterfall. The fall forms as the river is constricted because the type of rock changes to one that is not easily degraded. The water speeds along, shooting into the air and off rocks before it makes it to the ledge of the waterfall (which is really actually quite small in comparison). At one point the water seems to form an inverse wave as it hits a bump and is forced backwards over itself. I have never seen such powerful water -you would easily go along the 100m length in about 10seconds if you fell in but you would nearly definitely die on the way. We walked back along the path to the hot water stream where geothermally heated water joins the lake so you can sit in it as if in a bath. Although the heat is a bit more patchy and less consistent. Weirdly as we sat there rocks were floating by us. Apparently they'd all been washed down in a storm. These porous stones were easily carved so we sat there in the river bath making stone shapes. It was lovely. On the way back to the hostel we walked through a park and found a zipwire to play on. Some Asian people also found it at the same time and the granny Asian even had a go! It was quite funny.
The next day Ryan was watching the rugby so I went shopping when it was on and then we went to play crazy golf. Which I won and amazingly we both got hole in ones on the last shot which meant we won a free round. It was quite amusing because Ryan's went straight in to the hole whilst mine bounced off the sides for a while before going in. But I clearly meant for it to happen like that. Unfortunately we didn't have time for a 2nd round so we gave the tickets to reception to give to the next people to come in before going to catch our bus to Auckland and our final stop in New Zealand.
When we arrived in Auckland we checked into the first hostel we saw (which turned out it wasn't that nice as we had a boiling hot room in the basement with no windows) before going to a little chinese restaurant for tea. I decided to try something new so I had wonton noodle soup. It turned out I liked the wontons but not the soup, it actually made me want to be a little bit sick. Anyways, the restaurant was located opposite a reverse bungy so we were able to watch crazy people getting shot up into the air. We didn't really do too much in Auckland, there wasn't really anything to see. We spent the first day wandering around town and down to the harbour.Where there was actually a giant rubber duck that was really cool. But when we went into the iSites even though couldn't tell us anything we could do without spending loads of money. We thought about going up the skytower but as we were walking in someone walked out going "That was definitely not worth it". So we thought perhaps we should save our dollars. When we went back to the hostel we asked the staff there and a funny gay man recommended walking up the volcano Mount Eden. So that's what we spent our evening doing but it took so long. We had been told it would take 40mins so me, Ryan and 2 Swedish guys we'd met in our room headed out. It ended up taking us hours, we seemed to have walked halfway across town and out into the suburbs before we were anywhere near, and by that time it was dark so we had to scramble up the side of the volcano and every short cut we took seemed to be the complete opposite. It was a very beautiful view from the top though -definitely worth going to instead of the sky tower. It was cool to see the crater as well -a huge, huge dip down like an inverse hill. You could barely even see the bottom of it, although it was pretty dark by this point.
The next day in Auckland was spent looking round the shops, using the internet (trying to find a house) and then getting a bus to the seaside. It was pretty average there though. I had a paddle but decided it was too chilli for a swim. Stupidly we had decided to go the airport early for our 6am flight rather than staying in the hostel so we spent our night not being able to sleep in an airport.
New Zealand was great but it seemed to end on a bit of a low note with Auckland being so disappointing. I'd really like to go back though -next time to the South Island to see some glaciers!
lots of love xxxxxxx
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