TravelStream™ news feed for member carolandjoe on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/carolandjoe en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:24:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1205975340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1205975340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1205975340/tpod.html Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:24:46 -0400 Round the world in 547.5 days app.!!!

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Queenstown, New Zealand

After a few days in CC, it was time to head down to Queenstown. The drive here was absolutely beautiful, the scenery was amazing, the snow capped mountains, the lakes - everything was just beautiful. We stopped off en route at Lake Tekapo which had the bluest water, it doesn't even look real its so nice. Arriving in Queentown we couldnt believe the scenery, its nestled in between Alpine Mountains and Valleys and sits on Lake Waikatiko ( I think thats how to spell it ). Queenstown is the heart of New Zealand, possibly the world, for thrill seekers and the activities you can partake in are endless, your wallet would also need to be to afford them.

We decided to go outback and arranged to do a 3 day two night Trek in the mountains - the routeburn - this was an amazing trek which was made more challenging by torrential rain and 120km winds. The downside to this, or one of them was the fact we didint get to see as much of the views as we could have done. The second day which was an 8 hour trek it just rained all day so we got fairly wet. The fact that we were doin it on a budget and didnt really have the necessary equipment didnt help either!!
We enede that trek with a well earned night in a Mountain lodge and a boat cruise around the Milford Sound, which is a huge Fiord with 100s of wtaer falls gushing down from the surrounding peaks. Although it is the capital of the world for bungy we decided to head north for the rest of our activities were its that little bit more affordable.
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Christchurch, New Zealand

After spending couple of weeks in Oz on my own, i flew New Zealand to meet up with Joe in Christchurch.

After the weather in Oz coming to NZ was a big shock - it was so cold i just couldn't believe it, but after a day of rain and wind the next day was beautiful, so i quickly learnt that the weather in NZ is very tempramental!

Christchucrh is a lovely little city, it has the most beautiful Cathedral, Gardens and art galleries, like i've also found out in NZ, everywhere is really quiet, its not a sbusy i thought i twould be, even with all the tourists that are around. On the day i went to the Catehdral thre choir boys were havign a rehersal and it was absolutely beautiful, it sounded so nice and it was so peaceful just sitting listening to them for a while.

Outside the cathedral in the square the infamous "wizard" was giving his hillarious talk on women and children - so funny :)

After a few days in ChristChurch it was time to head on.
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Ayers Rock, Australia

On our road trip form the Cattle station back to Sydney we stopped off at a few places along the way including Devils Marbles, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Ulur (Ayers Rock), Coober Pedy, Simpson Desert, Port Augusta and Berri Springs. This trip was over 4000km and we managed it in 10 days. We had another Iirsh guy Steve who came with us on the journey which was great as we had someone else to share the driving etc

This was a great road trip and we got to go to Uluru which has got to be one of the most amazing places in Australia - anyone that says its just a big rock is talking nonsense, i just loved it here and it has definitely been the highlight for me so far in oz.

After the 10 day of driving we arrived back in Sydney the Sunday before Chrsitmas - just in time to get a bit of shopping done and to get into the festive spirit!

we would put the photos on from the road trip - but they are the photos that were on the camrera which we lost! :(
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Katherine, Australia

After spending a month in Darwin we headed down to Adelaide River to work on the Tipperary Cattle Station. This place was like a tropical paradise, not a cattle station. It was a whole community of people who worked on the station - it even had its own school, airstrip, butchers, shop and caravan park!! not your average cattle station.

When we were here, Joe worked as a gardener and i worked as a kitchen hand. It was a great experience being here with other Aussies, there were a couple of backpackers but they left after a couple of weeks.

This cattle station was in the absolute middle of nowhere, it was 2 1/2 hours drive to the nearest town (the "town" was more like a hamlet with a pub and petrol station in it) so the nearest big town was nearly 4 hours drive away!Our closest town was Adelaide River - here they had the stuffed buffalo "Charlie" that was in Crocodile Dundee. so as you can imagine you felt very isolated at times, but at least w had the car and we could head away at the weekends up to Darwin or to one of the other "towns" like Daly River or Douglas Daly.

This was an experience and a half for both of us - we would put loads of photos up, but as i'm sure you all know, we lost our camera and don't have any of the cattle station! but it was nice, trust me!!! :)
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Darwin, Australia

After the best 4 months in Perth we bought ourselves a wee motor (a 1986 Toyota Corona Station Wagon) and started the trek from Perth up to Darwin, all 4000km. we gave ourselves roughly a month to do the trip and so we could spend extra time doing things that we wanted on the way.

As we left Darwin we headed straight for Kalbarri, Monkey Mia, Coral Bay, Exmouth, Karijini National Park, Broome, Cable Beach, Halls Creek (beside Wolfe Creek!!!), Fitzroy Crossing and then eventually Darwin.

This was one hell of a road trip, we got to see some of the most amazing places, the Ningaloo Reef was beautiful and Karijini had some of the most amzing waterfalls and Rainforest to walk through. Also on the road trip there's a whole load of nothing to see as you're driving through bushland for hours on end.....,it has to be seen to be believed!

The wildlife enroute was also amazing - we did a few stop and turn arounds to try and get pics of Eagles or dingoes, Roos, frilled lizards, snakes or whatever other species happened to be at the side of the road! sometimes you forgot these things were in their natural environment, when you're so used to just seeing them at Zoos or in books etc!
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Sydney, Australia

So were finally in Oz!!! The photographs im sure will tell there own story, we spent the first month with Butsy and Sam, and then into a cockroach infested house in Tamarama with Simon, Tracey and Carol ( Barr ), a Russian on the run from his mafia family and an isreali dude. The house was cool apart from our little friends. We of course went to the opera house and bridge and all that craic and had a good new year, xmas wasnt the best as we didnt really know what to do with ourselves, I was recovering from food poisoning and Simon from nearly drowning thanks to Butsy, but he didnt thanks to Sam. It was also Carols 30th birthday which I spent in bed so it didnt really work out that well but she is now looking forward to her 40th so we can make up for it then!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1202255520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1202255520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/carolandjoe/roundtheglobe/1202255520/tpod.html Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:30:17 -0400 Round the world in 547.5 days app.!!!

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Fiji, Fiji

Well what can we say about Fiji apart from the fact its got to be one of the most beautiful places on the earth!

it was complete paradise and we had such a great time here....as well as getting engaged here, as everyone knows.

The first island we stayed at was Robinson Crusoe, which was absolutely idyllic - completely unspoilt! they had no main electricty (the supply was through a generator which was turned off at 12 every night) and to have a shower you had to fill a bucket of water and hang it above your head, then turn the tap on - absolutely brilliant - this was totally what we had expected it to be like and it couldn't have been any better!

the second island we stayed at was Beachcomber, this is more of a party island but still beautiful as well, we stayed in a 150 person dorm which was fab - not as bad as what most people think - just really cool and different.

the Fijiian folk are so nice, they couldn't be nicer if they tried. Genuinely friendly and happy people who were a pleasure to meet and spend time with!

Best Time Yet!!!
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LA, California, United States

Out of all the places in the States we were due to visit this was the one place i wasn't too bothered to hang about in, but after spedning a couple of days here, my opinion completely changed! LA is a really cool city and although it has its rough areas, the places we spent time at were grand. We both could of spent more time here in the end!

When we got here, we did the usual touristy things, we even got a limo round all the sights like Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood sign, looking at some famous folks houses (got to see the Osbournes mansion that they used to live in while doing the MTV show and the Playboy Mansion!), the walk of fame and Mann Chinese theatre.

We also managed to get a day out at Santa Monica boulevard and Venice beach which was beautiful (as you can imagine Joe was in his element here!!!)
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Grand Canyon, Nevada, United States

We couldnt pass by and not see the grand canyon! After the hustle and bustle of Vegas it was good to get back to nature for a while. The Grand canyon was pretty amazing the, sunsets the lodge and theb sunrise with the wild deer coming to the lodge in the morning to feed on the due layden grass. We walked down into the canyon a small bit which could be pretty hairy at times as the trail was just a couple of feet wide wide with near sheer drops to the side. Cool!!
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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

We then felt the need for debauchery and Vegas is definetly the place to be.
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