TravelStream™ news feed for member samkirsop on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/samkirsop en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:30:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208823720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208823720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208823720/tpod.html Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:30:36 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Sao Paulo, Brazil

We arrived in Buenos Aires after an uncomfortable 5 hour flight from Lima on the South American equivalent to EasyJet which eventually took off at 3am. On our first full day in the Argentinian capital, after waking up at 1pm, we took a stroll down the main High Street, Avenida Florida. We decided to drop into one of the malls which turned out to be full of Tiffany, Prada, Hugo Boss etc..., a little out of our current budgets but we took a walk around anyway. We took a taxi ride out to Palermo later that night to sample Lonely Planet´s most highly recommended steakhouse (no small honour in a city brimming with them) and we weren´t disappointed. We were presented with two steaks weighing a few kilograms each, and accompanied by dozens of pots of every possible condiment.The next day we visited the poshest suburb of Buenos Aires called Recoleta, where the rich and famous reside. In the centre is a large and elaborate cemetary where all of Argentina´s biggest stars are buried, including Evita. Surrounding this are large parks and green spaces full of trees and fountains and Avenida Alvear is the main street, lined with Hermes, Armani and very expensive hotels. Feeling very out of place wearing our now worn and dirty clothes we headed back into the centre of town and back to Avenida Florida where we took advantage of the cheap prices in Argentina to buy a few more clothes.That evening we took a walk down to the bright pink presidential palace in the centre of the city which features the balcony from where Evita made her famous speech, and then we strolled around the nearby marina which has recently been extensively redeveloped and the waterside which houses hundreds of luxury yachts was lined with swanky restaurants and bars.We followed this up with a visit to a tango show in the Buenos Aires instution Café Tortoni where three couples and a live band performed great tango dancing in the basement of a lively restaurant. Although we were only in Buenos Aires for two days, we could have stayed for much longer. It´s a beautiful city and everybody there was very friendly. It had an almost European feel and felt very out of place from the rest of South America that we´ve visited.The next morning we awoke to a strange site - all of the city was covered in a thick smog which reduced visibility down to around 20m. We jumped in a taxi to the airport to find that all flights had been suspended until it cleared and the airport soon filled up with people waiting to fly out. It turned out that the cause was angry farmers lighting bush fires in the city which had filled it with thick smoke - in the airport you couldn´t seen from one end to the other for all the smoke. Eventually our flight took off a few hours later than scheduled and we touched down two hours later in the town of Puerto Iguazu.The next day we woke up early to visit the Iguazu Falls before the masses arrived. Although it was raining we jumped in a taxi and headed to the national park at 9am for opening time and then boarded a train which takes you through the park to the main attraction - Garganta del Diablo<i> (Devil´s Throat). Once the fifteen minute journey through the jungle was over we took the 600m walk over a series of metal catwalks which traverse the Iguazu River and take you right into the heart at the action. The rain cleared and the view from the edge of the catwalk was stunning, jetting right out over the edge at the top of the raging Iguazu Falls as they fell 80m down below.We spent a few hours walking around the National Park, including taking a boat trip out to an island in the middle of the falls to get a great perspective of all of the horse-shoe shaped falls from the middle. Iguazu Falls are undoubtedly the most spectacular waterfalls that we´ve seen on the whole trip (and we´ve seen a lot!)They say that given the opportunity, you should try to visit the Brazilian side of the falls to get a full perspective of their power. I tried, but the attempt ended in disaster. I took a public bus across the Argentinian border and was stamped out of the country without a problem, but the bus driver didn´t stop at the Brazilian border and so I was never officially in Brazil (apparently this was because it was a Brazilian bus company and so they assume everyone onboard has the right to be there). When I arrived in Foz (the Brazilian town associated with the Falls), I couldn´t find anywhere to withdraw cash. Eventually after flapping my arms and trying to communicate with a friendly Brazilian lady I tracked down a cashpoint (nobody in the town spoke any English and Portugese wasn´t as similar to Spanish as I´d hoped). A nearby supermarket had a room full with eight cashpoints. I was in luck.Unfortunately, the first machine didn´t accept Visa - nor did the second or third. I eventually found out that the only machine that did accept Visa in Puerto Iguazu was out of order. I was stuck in Brazil illegally, with only 6 pesos in Argentinian money (just under a pound). I jumped back on the next bus to Argentina, as soon as I´d worked out where they left from.That afternoon we found out that as it was a full moon, the park allowed a handful of lucky visitors the chance to visit the falls at midnight to see the Devil´s throat. We were able to purchase tickets and so after an all-you-can-eat BBQ dinner laid on by the hostel, we took another bus back to the national park where a spooky fog was starting to settle.The clouds had cleared leaving the full moon visible and we boarded the train again, after being warned about jaguars and snakes that could be around. The train trudged through the fog and we reached the catwalks again, which we slowly walked over back to the edge of the falls. It was eerie being in the park so late and with so few people around. The view from the edge of the viewpoint was spectacular with the moon casting a silver light over the water surface which plunged right down into the total blackness below. We felt lucky to be able to see the falls in such a different way.The following day we took our last long bus journey (16 hours) across the border into Brazil (which this time stopped to stamp us in) and arrived in Sao Paulo this morning. We had been due to carry onto Rio but an outbreak of Dengue Fever meant we couldn´t head all the way there. Tomorrow, after 98 days of unforgettable travelling, we´ll be jumping on a flight back home to Harpenden...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208207700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208207700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1208207700/tpod.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:25:28 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Lima, Peru

If Hell had a capital, it'd be La Paz. Although we were both glad to visit, it's not the kind of place you go on holiday.We arrived after an eleven hour coach journey over night which was, for 90% of the journey, on bumpy dirt roads which were so violent that every few minutes the bumps opened the squeaky window next to me, letting in a blast of the icy air outside which was well below freezing. Apart from a few toilet stops, the bus plodded on steadily overnight and arrived in La Paz, capital of Bolivia and the World's highest capital city (3600m) at 7am. After grabbing our rucksacks and heading five minutes walk downhill to the hostel, we crashed out in our room. A few hours later we plucked up the courage to head out into the chaos of the city which we could feintly hear out of the window. We were warned about the many scams that operate in the city (namely, fake policeman, "money inspectors", and the worst which involves a person spitting on you, which is&nbsp;followed by a well-wishing local who offers to&nbsp;clean it off you, whilst in the meantime you are relieved of all your possessions by a third accomplice).We took a short walk down the steep hill into the city centre and the sight had to be seen to be believed. You'd think that everyone was trying to escape a natural disaster, with gridlocked roads, car horns beeping, people running and everyone shouting. The roads were mainly packed with<i>&nbsp;micros, which are private minibuses which act as shuttles around the city, packing in as many people as physically possible into the bus. One person drives the bus while another leans out the window shouting out the bus' route, and cramming people in, four to a seat. We were happy to be walking but the scene on the pavement was not much less chaotic, with every good under the sun on offer from roadside stalls.We were glad to get back to the relative refuge of the hostel and just watched a film in the afternoon before heading up to the bar that evening which had great panoramic views of the city and served free Saya beer, brewed in the hostel's own microbrewery. The next morning we decided to venture once again into town, after the all-you-could-eat pancake buffet included in the five pound a night price of the hostel. We strolled for half an hour right through the city to a park just South of the CBD which afforded great views of La Paz. The park designers had either gone for that "living on the edge" feel, or the builders had run out of money - despite being on the side of a cliff, stone paths and stairs would just stop abruptly and turn into a pile of rubble which fell away down the hillside with no prior warning. After three or four dead ends, we gave up trying to reach the top and sat on the grass to take in La Paz. It really does seem like a strange place to build a city - houses cling to the side of the mountainside and many of the streets are too steep to get cars up at all. In the distance are snowy capped Andean peaks and it was nice to get away from all the hustle of the city centre and take in the surreal cityscape.That evening we had hoped to visit an Oxygen Bar (to breathe in pure oxygen which, apparently at these altitudes, is very beneficial)&nbsp;but, being a Sunday, most of the city had closed down for the evening. However, we found another bar and took a taxi there which was another experience in itself. The taxi driver, like all drivers in La Paz, had obviously played too much Grand Theft Auto. Taxis nudge forward into every inch of road space, hitting walls, lights and eachother, and even people - on one roundabout we hit an old lady with our wingmirror, and she didn't even bat an eyelid. When the traffic cleared, we could've been forgiven for thinking we'd gone for a ride with Lewis Hamilton as the driver pushed the pedal to the floor down narrow, cobbled,&nbsp;one way streets.Needless to say, we weren't too upset to be leaving La Paz the next morning as we climbed aboard a minibus to Lake Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is wrongly known for being the World's highest lake or World's highest navigable lake. It isn't either, but it is the largest in South America. On our full day in Copacabana, the small Bolivian town on the shore of the lake which shares&nbsp;its name but none of the characteristics with the funky Rio beach resort, we were supposed to take a boat trip out to the Isla del Sol which was the birthplace of the Inca empire. However,&nbsp;a dodgy lasagne put an end to those plans as I was confined to bed and small walks around the town in my pyjamas.The following day we took another bus across the border and into Peru and stopped off over night in the town of Puno before taking another bus up to Cuzco the following day. We decided to take a luxury bus up to Cuzco which not only paid off because it had a toilet which came in handy for when Lotte became reacquainted with the previous night's chicken milanese, but because it afforded brilliant people-spotting opportunities for the eight hour trip. Of particular interest were the larger than life Brazilian couple, who always delayed the bus by half an hour at every stop because they were buying souvenirs (incan earrings, llama blankets etc), and even better was the French 'David Bailey' who, complete with beret and thick rimmed glasses, subtly took pictures through his jumper of artefacts in the museum after being asked not to use his camera by the curator.The following day, our first in Cuzco, we took a visit to the local doctor after my assortment of stomach cramps and nausea had left me without eating for five days. After a lot of umming and ahhing he prescribed some antibiotics for a stomach infection and a lot of Gatorade which I worked through all the flavours of over the following few hours (and gladly now I'm all back to normal). We took it easy because we knew the next day was going to be long. We had no idea. We woke up at 5am and headed down to the central station to climb aboard the train to Aguas Calientes, a town just short of one of the Seven Wonders of the World - Machu Picchu. The journey there was pretty uneventful. After leaving right on time at 6.30am the train climbed a steep hill out of Cuzco by means of a series of slow switchbacks, before finally reaching the top of the hill and carrying on with the 4 hour train journey down the valley. It was a picturesque ride, starting in the bleak plains with snowy mountains on either side and slowly descending 1000m until we were plodding through steep, forested valleys with white-water rivers running through the middle.As soon as we arrived we jumped off the train, stretched our legs and went off to buy our tickets, before climbing aboard a bus which drove the last twenty minutes through a series of hairpin turns which snaked up the mountainside. After the initial view of Machu Picchu when we walked in, which looked exactly like the picture-postcard face it is always portrayed as, we found ourselves surrounded by mobs of tourists. You can go anywhere within the ruins and so swarms of tourists move around to see all the famous sights. Away from the beaten track, however, the site has a much better quality and is much more beautiful. In the quiet it is much easier to appreciate all that Machu Picchu has to offer. The mountains around the area are stunning, with trees clinging onto cliffs and sheer drops which travel thousands of metres down to the sacred river of the Incas below. However, to take advantage of all the tourists, Lotte came up with the genius idea of taking a "Where's Wally" picture and so, armed with a stripy woolly hat, I ran off into the hoards and posed like a tourist while Lotte took a picture from afar. See if you can spot me...The train journey back was when things started getting very strange. We had booked onto the slightly more expensive "Vista Dome" train which had panoramic glass windows in the roof which gave magnificent views of the thick black plume of smoke which came from the engine car right ahead of us. After a dinner of chicken and peach sandwiches and passionfruit marshmallows a man ran out of the crew area wearing a balaclava shouting. We had been hijacked.Or that was what we thought, but soon the typical Peruvian clown was dancing along with an array of props including a small llama and a whip. It was enough to give anybody nightmares.The clown show was followed by a fashion show where the steward and stewardess walked down the carriage in a variety of llama wool jumpers and cardigans, which then retailed at prices in excess of two hundred pounds and, much to our astonishment, people were actually buying them. Just when we thought it couldn't get much worse, the train slowed to a halt and the carriage lights went out. We were about an hour away from Cuzco, it was well below freezing outside and it was the middle of the night when the train broke down. At first the crew thought it was a temporary problem but soon the mechanics were fumbling around in the dark trying to fix the problem (luckily one of the American tourists onboard the train had a torch which the mechanics gladly borrowed to help them see). We sat in the darkness for over an hour not knowing what was going on before the stewardess announced we would be leaving the carriage in single file and waiting for rescue. I made a video at the time... Eventually after another hour waiting out in the cold on the tracks, a bus came and drove us back to Cuzco and back to the warmth, where we feasted on chicken nuggets and collapsed into bed.We spent the next day recovering in Cuzco before heading to Lima airport today, from where this evening we are heading onto Buenos Aires to begin our last week of travelling before heading back to the UK.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1207326660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1207326660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1207326660/tpod.html Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:32:09 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Uyuni, Bolivia

It was one of those moments where you are hoping for the best, but already resigned to the fact that its not going to happen. We had just arrived in Santiago airport and had been waiting for our bags for 45 minutes, watching the carousel go round and round - watching new bags from new flights being but out for collection and with each new load, the hope of our bags arriving diminished. Most of the people from our plane had long gone, and so we trudged over to the baggage services desk to report the missing luggage. The lady at the desk radio-ed a few people and, minutes later, our two backpacks were coming down the reclaim towards us. They'd been left on the plane. "Welcome to South America", we thought...The flight over had been pretty uneventful. The 11 hour flight from Auckland to Chile on Lan Airlines crossed the date line and so we took off at 5pm on 27th March and landed in Santiago at 11am on the same day. It's taken us the best part of a week to get over the jet lag which comes from completely reversing your body clock, but we've hardly spend up the process by napping at every opportunity and then lying wide awake until the early hours every night. In Santiago we were staying at Hostal Forestal, named by the Lonely Planet as one of the top five hippest hostels in the World. We didn't really get the opportunity to find out why, collapsing into bed as soon as we arrived and then waking up again at 4am, once the hostel had gone to sleep.We did, however, manage to stay awake to have a&nbsp;walk around the city the following day and take in all the sights. Santiago had the feel of a big Spanish city, very cosmopolitan and busy with big open plazas and narrow alleys. It's picture-postcard face is that of a modern city backed by the snowy peaks of the Andes, but we couldn't see them for all the smog. The metro system was the most impressive thing, linking everywhere in the city with trains every minute, and a single fare of 30p for any journey. As soon as each train pulled out of the station, the next one was already pulling in.That evening we tried to find a ncie place to eat and, after walking through some less than comfortable streets, find the tourist drag, and a lively American-style music restaurant where we&nbsp;drank cocktails and had huge meals at tiny prices, feeling safe that there was a bouncer on the door.The following day we prepared ourselves for what was we fully expected going to be one of the worst experiences of travelling - a 24 hour bus journey North to the Atacama desert. We decided to splash out and bought 'semi-cama' seats, which means that they recline pretty far back, but not quite beds. The ticket set us back 27 pounds - expensive by South American standards, although Chile is the most expensive country on the continent.Our worst fears were realised when just 5 minutes into the journey, the ten year old boy sitting next to us got out his mobile and starting playing tinny RnB music as loud as his phone would allow. Luckily, his stop was only an hour into our one day marathon and the journey turned out to be more than bearable. We were given food and drinks every few hours, there were TVs playing music videos and some Spanish films, and we were given blankets and pillows too. Every hour or so we would pick up a local food vendor who would come onboard to sell food&nbsp;- first up was the big, sweaty baker who came on with a basket brimming with stale rolls, which we gave a miss. Later on though, a lady came on selling empanadas, a traditional South American delicacy like greasy&nbsp;cornish pasties. It was like a gift from heaven. 24 hours and 5 minutes later we arrived at San Pedro de Atacama, at 2pm in the afternoon, and trudged to our hostel through the baking desert heat. We tried to stay up as late as we could, but at 10pm went to bed, feeling shattered. Sure enough, jet lag kicked in and we lay wide awake for around 2 hours until a big Spanish guy came back from drinking in town and got into bed. Minutes later he was snoring - not just the little snuffly kind but proper 'shaking the walls' snoring, relentlessly. Needless to say, the next day I slept in until the afternoon after finally drifting off to sleep in the wee hours (and by doing so further delayed the effects of jet lag), and then we took a stroll around the tourist-town of San Pedro de Atacama. We booked onto a three day tour that we'd be starting the next day and went to an Empanadium which offered over 220 types of empanada. That evening we booked onto a stargazing tour, with San Pedro offering some of the clearest skies in the World. We had of course heard all that before, and with two previous star tours being cancelled in Ayers Rock and Lake Tekapo in New Zealand, we didn't hold out much hope of the tour going ahead, especially as clouds brewed on the horizon. However, the sky cleared up and we were soon driving into the desert to see what the stars could offer. The&nbsp;French astronomer who had moved out here was passionate about his subject, and brought the night sky to life. After explaining a little history and pointing out many of the constellations in the Southern Hemisphere we got the opportunity to look through telescopes and many of the features in the sky. The most impressive was Saturn, which look unbelievably real, with clearly defined rings - it looked like a picture out of a textbook and&nbsp;Lotte and I will still need a little convincing that it wasn't a sticker stuck on the end.The next day we set off on a three day jeep tour to Bolivia. From the outset we weren't expecting luxury - the tour price included 2 nights accommodation, all of our meals, entry to the national parks, departure and entry taxes to Chile and Bolivia respectively and our transport - the grand total was just under fifty pounds, and we forked out for a more expensive tour. The two hour drive out of San Pedro was steep and climbed over 2000m to the border which was situated at 4800m - well within the boundaries of altitude sickness which can strike upwards of 2500m. We were lucky to survive the three days with only a few headaches, as some of the members of the group came off much worse. There were six people in our jeep and after completing border customs, our spanish-speaking driver took us to some of the sights of the <i>altiplano. The difference in temperature from San Pedro was incredible, and the climate was much more harsh. We were soon putting on trousers and jumpers to protect us from the cold, although there would be places where the temperature was much warmer and we would be slapping on the suncream. On the first day we visited thermal pools, <i>Laguna Verde which was a bright green colour and full of flamingoes, and <i>Laguna Colorada which was multi-coloured due to all of the minerals, including a blood red colour at the edges. We arrived at our hostel early afternoon and it had to be seen to be believed&nbsp;- it was a concrete shell with a corrugated plastic roof held on by rocks. The beds too, were made of concrete, and covered in blankets made of llama wool. After dinner we settled down into bed for one of the most uncomfortable nights of the trip, with temperatures diving down to minus 20 degrees celcius. The next morning, with temperatures still freezing, we left for the second day of the tour. By now the tape of bolivian music which the driver played was starting to wear thin as it looped every ten minutes, playing the same songs of wailing bolivian men and women backed by an electronic keyboard. The dust tracks were teeth-chatteringly bumpy and we drove through alien landscapes not seeing anyone for hours. We stopped to take pictures of a tree made of a rock, several active volcanoes, geysers and hot pools and rocks which had been the inspiration for many of Dali's paintings when he once visited the area. We were close to breaking point but luckily the hotel that night was much better. It was a hotel made of salt from many of the <i>salares (salt plains) that lay around everywhere. The floor, walls, chairs, tables and even beds were made out of blocks of salt and, even though it was cold, the temperature didn't nearly get as cold as the previous night. We also took advantage of hot showers - the first for a long time. Everything was great and that evening we sat down to dinner with everyone and discussed whether the the tape that our driver had now been playing for two days was broken, or that was actually how it was meant to sound. The next day, our final day of the tour, we headed into what the area that the whole experience had been for - the Salar de Uyuni.The Salar de Uyuni defies description. Its a salt flat 12,000 square kilometres in area, made up of the whitest salt imaginable, up to 6m deep in places. We drove accross it for hours, arriving at a solitary island in the middle of the Salar which was full of giant comic-like cacti. We climbed up to the top of the island and in every direction you looked, white salt stretched out as far as the horizon, perfectly flat. We took the opportunity to take plenty of pictures of the unbelievable landscape, the most incredible thing that I've seen on the entire trip so far. From the island we continued driving for another two hours to the edge of the salt plain to the town of Uyuni, stopping many times along the way to take pictures, even though the landscape barely changed. 2km South of the town we stopped at another surreal site&nbsp;- a train cemetry where defunct locomotives had been dumped 50 years ago and left to rust. After checking that we'd had our tetanus jabs, we had a bit of time to explore the graveyard, climbing over the trains and looking through the carriages.The last few days have probably been the hardest but most rewarding travelling. Seeing the Salar is unforgettable and despite the rough tour which you inevitably have to go through to get there on a backpackers' budget, its well worth it.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206569340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206569340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206569340/tpod.html Wed, 26 Mar 2008 03:29:27 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Auckland, New Zealand

So I left you in Kaikoura on the South Island where storm forecasts threatened to throw our dolphin swimming plans into the bin. We woke up at 7am to find out whether the tour would be going ahead and luckily, they decided after much 'umming and ahhing' to go to sea. When we checked in, however, we were warned that there were heavy seas and, as such, a sea sickness warning was in place. Nevertheless, we decided to go ahead and took a couple of trusty 'magic pills' that my sister put in my first aid kit that cure sea sickness, stomach bugs and hangovers. We were fitted up in double-layered wetsuits (including hoods) and after watching a short film about the dolphins, started out on our journey to sea. Within minutes we were rewarded for our efforts and had pods of dusky dolphins swimming along beside us. Dusky dolphins are known as the 'acrobats of the sea' and it was great to see them performing - flipping 360degrees nose over tail and jumping high out of the water infront of the boat. We continued on for 20 minutes to find a large pod of dolphins and found a group numbering well over a hundred duskys. We got kitted up as quickly as possible and swam from the back of the boat to see them up-close. The dolphins were so curious - swimming around and checking us out and then, after seeing we weren't a threat, playing with us. You could chase them round in circles or dive down under the the water and they would dive down after you in pursuit. You had to keep reminding yourself that these dolphins were totally wild - they weren't fed to be attracted to the boat nor encouraged to stay with us for any reason apart from us entertaining them - we were encouraged to make&nbsp;'dolphin sounds' and it was&nbsp;funny watching a&nbsp;group of 10&nbsp;adults trying to make their most convincing dolphin&nbsp;sounds through&nbsp;their snorkels.&nbsp;After a couple of 5 minute swims (we were probably in the water for around 30minutes) we cruised back towards to harbour with the dolphins jumping at the bow of the boat.That afternoon we carried on driving up North and boarded the ferry across to the North Island. It was pretty spooky - the massive ferry was pretty much empty and I sat outside for some of the journey and it was quite ghostly being out under the full moon. By the time we arrived in Wellington on the North Island it was nearing 11pm so we drove the short way to our campsite and pitched up for the evening.The next day we had a long day drive up to Lake Taupo, a large lake which is in the crater of a dormant supervolcano. Along the way we passed by Mt Ruapehu, an active volcano more commonly known through it's appearance in the Lord of the Rings films as Mount Doom. After a night in Lake Taupo we carried on driving up North, first stopping to take a look at the Volcanic Activity Centre North of town which had a disappointingly tame earthquake simulator but quite a few cool exhibits about the local tectonically active area. We then continued the drive up North to Rotorua, famous for it's bubbling pools of water and mud around the town, and steaming drains which are on every street. Every where you go, the smell of sulphur (rotting eggs) follows you around but it was nice to see the bubbling pools up close, even if you did get shrouded in smelly steam. On our next day we took a day tour out to White Island, with a tour that left Rotorua at 6am! White Island is New Zealand's only active marine volcano, which means you can visit the top of the volcano without barely any hiking as the tip sticks out of the sea. After an hours boat ride we landed on the volcano and were geared up with helmets (to protect us from falling, molten rocks) and gas masks (to help us breathe when surrounded by acrid air). We were also given instructions should the volcano erupt - run behind any cover you can find...&nbsp; We took an interesting walking tour of the volcano up to the crater lake and it was amazing to see the power of the Earth close up. There was luminous yellow sulphur everywhere and the water was bubbling in the streams and crater lake.&nbsp;We got a chance to taste the water coming out of the volcano, which supposedly tastes of blood because there is so much iron in it, and we learnt all about the various failed attempts to mine sulphur from White Island, which usually resulted in the deaths of everyone on the island either through suicides or landslides. It would be a grim place to live...Today was our last full day in New Zealand and we set off on our last drive to Auckland at 10am. We stopped off along the way in a&nbsp;small town called Matamata which had an attraction that brings thousands of people every year to an otherwise remote, rural, unpopulated&nbsp;region of the North Island - the location of Hobbiton.When we travelled through Africa all those weeks ago I soon earned the nickname of Hobbit by everyone on the trip, for many reasons but mainly because I walked everywhere in bare feet, and had eternally dirty feet, even minutes after stepping out the shower. A trip to Hobbiton was something that I couldn't pass up on. We arrived at the farm where the set was built just 2 minutes late for the tour and were dismayed to learn that it had just left. However, the man offered to drive us through the sheep farm to catch up and luckily we could go on with the rest of the tour. The facts that the guide told us where amazing and it was incredible to learn how everything had been built and filmed. The farm was discovered by Peter Jackson after he flew a plane over the area and saw the farm and thought it looked okay. When he visited later, he realised that it was perfect for the job and set construction, which took 9 months, began.&nbsp; The detail the team went through was amazing, for example, in Tolkein's book, there was an oak tree overhanging Bilbo's house - so Jackson found a nearby farm which had an oak tree, chopped it into pieces and brought it to Hobbiton. On site, it was re-erected using metal poles and, because most of the leaves had fallen off, it took 3 people 3 days to stick 250,000 plastic leaves onto the tree by hand using glue - apparently computer effects just aren't realistic enough for creating trees. There isn't too much left of the set now so you had to use your imagination, but all the hobbit holes are still in the hillside, aswell as the round tree which was already on the farm before Jackson arrived. They're desperately hoping that the crews will return to film The Hobbit there soon.We then jumped back into the camper for the last time and drove the final stretch of road to Auckland, where we arrived earlier this afternoon. Our journey around New Zealand has been amazing and through the 3209km road trip we've seen everything from volcanoes to sandy beaches and glaciers to rainforests, and a lot of mountains in between. New Zealand really is the land of contrasts.Tomorrow we set off for the last leg of our Around The World journey as we fly to Santiago in Chile.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206076620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206076620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1206076620/tpod.html Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:29:26 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Kaikoura, New Zealand

The morning after our heli-hike we awoke early for a long drive South. Before we got going, we took a short detour to take a look at Lake Matheson early in the morning, famed for it's spectacular reflections. After a brisk 15 minute walk around the lake we arrived at the viewing point and were rewarded with amazing views of New Zealand's highest peak, Mt Cook, and a perfect reflection of it in the water below. The water was so still that it was like a mirror reflected everything around. We carried on driving for around 400km South to Wanaka, along a winding mountain pass, stopping at waterfalls and to take in the views along the way. Wanaka is a small town on the edge of Lake Wanaka with a stunning mountain backdrop. After parking up at the campsite we took a walk around town and that evening cooked up a barbecue for dinner out the back of the camper. The following morning we took up the opportunity to take a break from driving and hiking and lazed around on the pebbly beach down by the lake. Ever since we arrived in New Zealand we've been blessed with amazing weather - there has barely been a cloud in the sky over the past seven days which is pretty rare, and the sun was more than hot enough to laze around&nbsp;in and have a read. Seeing as we're travelling in Middle Earth, I read The Hobbit and it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings films that have made the NZ scenery so famous - we're hoping to visit 'Hobbiton' in a few days time.Later that afternoon we went to Cinema Paradiso in town, which is famous across the country. Cinema Paradiso is pretty unique - it mainly shows arty films and the cinema is quite small. Everyone sits around on sofas or armchairs (although they also have a car if you want to feel like you're in a drive-in movie) and there's a bar. They have a food menu too and you can order food before the meal to have in the intermission or after the movie has finished. We went and saw the Kite Runner which was about life in Afghanistan which was really well made but quite harrowing. Lotte and I are already formulating plans to build our own Cinema Paradiso in Harpenden.The next day we took the short drive down to Queenstown along a really steep and winding mountain pass. We decided that after "roughing it" for a week in the camper we'd check in for a bit of luxury at a hostel. Queenstown is the adrenaline capital of NZ and if you can think of an adventure sport then they'll certainly offer it in this town. After driving through&nbsp;places seldom bigger than villages in the UK that the Kiwis refer to as their big towns, it was a refreshing change to get to bustling Queenstown. We spent the afternoon picking up leaflets and deciding which activities to try and getting booked in before heading to Winnie Bagoes for dinner -&nbsp;a quirky pizzeria which features an opening roof. On Monday morning I woke up early&nbsp;to take the scenic flight to Milford Sound - one of the most famous natural sites in the country. The 30 minute flight to the sound was stunning, passing close over massive lakes, rugged mountains as far as the eye could see, and shiny glaciers. The landing approach was straight down the sound, offering amazing views of all the famous sights within. We jumped out of the plane and went for a walk around the shoreline (meanwhile trying to dodge the infamous sandflies). The weather in the Fjordland was closing in and so we had to leave Milford quickly, but not before the pilot gave us a close-up tour of the sound once more. The flight back took a different route and we got great views of the Milford Track (one of the most highly rated 3 day walks in the world) and also of Sutherland Falls, the highest waterfall in New Zealand. Milford Sound was spectacular and was dubbed by Rudyard Kipling as the 8th Wonder of the World. One of Queenstown's institutions is Fergburger. When talking to a girl in Sydney a fortnight ago we told her we were heading to Queenstown and she asked us if we were going to Fergburger and was stunned when we hadn't heard of it. There are Facebook groups dedicated to its appreciation. So we thought "when in Rome..." and headed to Ferg for lunch, and we weren't disappointed - they must do some of the World's biggest burgers. It was a mistake ordering fries aswell.That afternoon I wanted to keep busy so decided to try out the Shotover Jet, billed as the World's most exciting jet boat experience. It was awesome fun - the boat was capable of speeds up to 80km/h and can travel in just 10cm of water, which was lucky seeing as the depth in parts of the river was barely more. The 30 minute ride took the boat through canyons and within inches of rocks and trees. It was until afterwards that I found out that just two weeks ago a boat had got a little too close to the rocks, and everybody on board was taken to hospital. Nevertheless, the trip I was on went well and we were treated to dozens of the trademark 360 degree Shotover spins - the boat can spin in the same distance as it's length...That evening was St Patricks day and so we hit the town to celebrate.On Tuesday I booked into to do canyoning and had another early start to try out a new adventure sport. Canyoning involves moving along a canyon using zipwires, abseils, swimming, sliding and jumping. After a ten minute drive we arrived at 12-Mile Delta Canyon and geared up - 2 layers of wetsuits. It seemed a little excessive but when we arrived at the river I found out why - the water was an icy 6 degrees. The two hours in the canyon flew by and it was great fun, I soon forgot about the cold. The best part was when we stopped in a pool and could do a series of progressively higher jumps into the water. The final jump was from 10m, into a pool only 1.5m deep. Getting up there was a mission but the 2 second jump was well worth it, hitting the water like a cannonball and bouncing back off the bottom.It was so much fun that the following day I booked on to try out Rock Climbing. It was definitely a lot tougher than I was expecting, but that made it more rewarding. The cliff face that we climbed on was sheer - barely anywhere to grip onto. The guide introduced us to the techniques involved, so we tied ourselves onto the rope and helped eachother up by taking it in turns to be the b-lay (backup person who pulls the ropes). Two days on and I still have cuts all over my legs and my upper bodys aches, but it was well worth it!That afternoon, our last in Queenstown, Lotte and I went to another cinema (just a normal one this time), to watch "The Bucket List" - a film starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman about two terminally ill guys who want to make the best of their last few months. It had a killer ending - everyone in the cinema was reduced to an emotional wreck.Yesterday we left Queenstown and drove to Lake Tekapo, which has the clearest skies in New Zealand which are amazing for star gazing, except when they clouded up last night, and then today we drove another 409km up to Kaikora on the East Coast. We're hoping to go swimming with dolphins in the open ocean tomorrow, but only if the weather holds out - there's a storm forecast to hit over night which might make things interesting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205451420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205451420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205451420/tpod.html Thu, 13 Mar 2008 03:34:17 -0400 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Fox Glacier, New Zealand

Our travels in New Zealand have got off to a fine start, in more ways than we intended. We went to pick up our campervan early on Monday morning and, to our initial disappointment, hadn't been allocated the Batmobile which we'd hoped for. However, when we finally saw what was to be our home for the next 17 nights, we were more than happy. Our camper has been decorated with characters from 80's cult film Labyrinth, starring David Bowie. Or so that's what everyone has been telling me - I've never heard of the film, but the goblins look pretty cool. People have come up to the street and commented on our camper and made reference to the film&nbsp;- I've just smiled.On our first day we drove 450km North West to the city of Nelson via the mountainous Lewis Pass. The roads are empty and we drove for hours barely seeing any other road users at all. Wide rivers and steep mountains lined the road and it was a pretty stunning start to New Zealand. Having not set off until the early afternoon, we didn't arrive in Nelson until sunset and drove the last few kilometres to our final stop at Kaiteriteri in the dark - the gateway to Abel Tasman National Park. The next morning I took the opportunity to get my first glance at the national park from the skies, with the help of a microlight. Microlights are pretty much hang gliders with an engine strapped to the back, except you sit down rather than lie down. The takeoff happened really quickly and soon we were soaring 1000ft over the beaches and forests that make Abel Tasman famous. There were great views of the tidal sand flats, kayakers paddling between the bays and even stingrays way down in the water below. The pilot (who controls the machine with a few cables)&nbsp;flew through me through steep valleys and low down over the bays to get a brilliant view and put the whole area in perspective. After 40 minutes we came in to land - the microlight came in really steeply and then at the last minute levelled right out to come to a smooth stop on the grass.We then took the camper into the national park and hopped onto a speedboat to do a quick tour of the bays. It looked a little like going back to the Whitsundays with long sandy beaches and blue, clear and turquoise waters all mixing together. The boat also took us close to seals sunbathing on the rocks. The following day was another long drive - 425km, to get to the West Coast. We left around 10am and our first stop was at Buller Gorge, the site of New Zealand's longest swinging bridge. It's 110m long and, although it's only about 25m above the river, it really does sway when you cross it.We carried on West and arrived at the town of Greymouth for a lunch stop. Parking was scarce and so after driving around for a while we spotted a space and slotted in. After lunch we returned to the camper and saw a piece of paper flapping around under the wiper. Hoping it would just be a flyer, on closer inspection we'd been fined. The offence - parking the wrong way around. Apparently in New Zealand you have to park in the same direction as the traffic travels on that side of the road.Grumbling, we drove down to the town council office where a nice lady behind the counter read the fine and obviously noted we weren't local. After a lot of puppy dog eyes, "sorrys" and Lotte's "we've learnt our lesson", she went off to see what she could do and came back with the good news that she could let us off, blaming the rental company for not letting us know. With new found happiness, we continued our journey South along a coastal road. We stopped at Franz Josef Glacier along the way and did the short walk to the viewpoint which provided spectacular views of the glacier's terminal face, and then carried on driving for another 20km to our stop at Fox Glacier where we are at the moment.This morning we awoke to grey skies and Lotte set off early for her glacier walk while I kept my fingers crossed that the heli-hike would still be going ahead. At midday I found at that it would be and that I was quite lucky - only 50% of the tours scheduled to helihike the glacier go ahead due to the inclemency of the weather in the valley.After donning thick boots and several layers of clothing we jumped in the helicopter and took the stunning 15 minute flight up onto Fox Glacier. Within minutes, thoughts of the grey skies in the village below were gone as blue skies opened up all around us bathing the glacier in sun. We soared over the jagged ice below and the pilot skillfully flew the plane up close to the valley sides, at one point nose-diving towards a waterfall which disappeared beneath the ice. The strangest thing is that the glacier ends where rainforest begins, it's a really odd sight. We soon came into land on the ice and crawled out from the helicopter when we strapped crampons onto boots and started the walking tour. The ice where we were standing was 250m deep and, despite&nbsp;generally retreating since 1800,&nbsp;Fox Glacier is currently advancing. We took a two and a half hour walk over the ice, through ice caves and past moulins, where the water falls down through tunnels over 200m vertically into the glacier. We got a closer inspection of Victoria Falls, where the helicopter had already taken us close to, and saw the 100m waterfall disappearing into the ice below us. The whole tour seemed to fly by and before I knew it we were crouching down on the ice again, with the helicopter landing and spraying ice in all directions. The weather had begun to close in and on the flight down we dropped through the cloud and discovered it had been pouring down in the village for hours. Weather in the mountains can change just a few kilometres away! The glacier heli hike is without doubt the highlight of my trip so far and one of the best things that I can ever remember doing. Getting so up close and personal was an amazing experience and ever since, Lotte and I have been comparing things we learnt on our tours - admiring these things isn't just a geography thing!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205100900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205100900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1205100900/tpod.html Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:02:28 -0500 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Christchurch, New Zealand

It's been a while since I last wrote and today we've moved onto New Zealand where we'll be spending the next 3 weeks or so travelling around in a campervan.However, I last posted on here from Byron Bay, where we left about a week ago and moved onto Surf Camp.&nbsp;Surf Camp is a little campsite right on a beach which lies in Limbo halfway between Sydney and Byron Bay. There's nothing else there except the camp, white sandy beaches and the open ocean. We arrived early afternoon and went straight out for a surf lesson. It took us a while to find our feet but within a few hours we were standing up on the board, and then we were allowed to go into the sea. It was really cool trying to ride the waves, and I saw dolphins swimming around in the swell. Apparently there was a tiger shark circling some of the surfers just a few weeks before, but they didn't tell us that before we got in (nor the fact that a few months ago a great white shark attacked a kayaker in Byron Bay close to where I was scuba diving). They like to play shark attacks down low! That evening the whole camp descended onto the beach to watch the sunset and then party into the night. The camp had fashioned a stereo out of an old wheelie bin which was rammed with speakers and everyone sat around a "campfire" which had been made in a wheelbarrow. After a while, one of the Oz Experience drivers brought out his "fire toys" and gave us an amazing show of juggling fire and I managed to get some awesome photos of it all. It was a really clear night and the stars were out in full force so it was nice to just lie back on the sand and take it all in - our last evening travelling down the East coast.The following morning we left the camp at 7.30am for the 8 hour drive down to Sydney. It passed pretty quickly and by 4 o'clock we were driving across the famous harbour bridge into the city, with views of the famous Opera House to our left. Wake Up! hostel was to be our home for the next five nights and we were like kids in Activity World when we arrived. Used to modest hostels and little camps, Wake Up had 7 floors, lifts and even keycard doors - it only takes little things to please backpackers! Apparently it's been voted the World's best large hostel for the last few years in a row.We decided to take a walk around town to get our bearings and headed to Circular Quay, where all the famous sites are - the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and ferry terminals. A dinner in Wagamamas was on the cards and then we headed back for an early night, ready for another early start. At 8.30am the next day we arrived at Bridge Climb ready for yet another adventure.&nbsp;After getting kitted up in giant grey romper suits and harnesses, we started the 2 hour bridge climb experience. The start is pretty exciting as you're walking over walkways suspended by cables about 50m above the ground, which you can see straight through to the roads below. Then, after negotiating a series of ladders up to the arch, you begin the final push up to the top. It was great to climb early to see the city waking up, and also to climb before it got too hot.On our way back down we spotted a couple about 50m below with a chisel trying to prise open a car window. They got quite a shock when we shouted at them and they turned round to see 12 people glaring at them - they looked pretty embarrassed! We could only assume they had locked their keys in... After taking a trip to see the malls and shopping streets in the afternoon, I took a walk to visit a swimming pool in the botanical gardens which had glowing reviews in Lonely Planet. It was definitely the nicest pool I've ever swum in - 50m long, and surrounded by a glass wall it was perched on the edge of the gardens with amazing views over the swanky Woolloomoolloo harbour. Swimming in Westminster Lodge will never quite be the same again.The walk back was equally great through the Botanical Gardens. The park was pretty empty and above my head were hundred of flying foxes flying into the night. I walked back the whole way with a big smile on my face which was stuck there for pretty much the whole time I was in Sydney - it really is an incredible place to visit.That evening we went down to the hostel bar with some people we met in the room. They had a guy playing the acoustic guitar who was great and got the whole place dancing and it turned out to be an awesome night. On our second full day in Sydney we woke up late and then met up with Katie Harrison who we went to school with and&nbsp;took a ferry ride across to Manly where we spent the afternoon sunbathing on the beach and walking around Manly - a nice little seaside suburb of Sydney where all the surfers hang out.That evening we took a walk down China Town to Darling Harbour where all the trendy bar and nightclubs are but, after a heavy night the night before, we were happy just to take in the view of the city at night. The next day I took a 2 hour train ride out to the Blue Mountains. They're called so because all of the eucalyptus plants give off an oil which makes the whole place look really blue. My main destination was a place called Scenic World where they have 3 attractions to give you a different perspective on the mountains. Firstly was the scenic skyway - a horizontal cable car which traverses a 200m gorge. However, as soon as the cable car had left the station the operator flicked a switch which made the floor which seemed opaque suddenly turn to see-through glass, and everyone was left with amazing views down to the canopy below.Next up was the funicular railway which takes you right down into forest below. It's 450m long and is the World's steepest railway, in some places going seeminly near to vertical as it passes through tunnels and gorges on it way down. At the bottom was a 15 minute boardwalk which showed you remnants of the area's history as a mining area with mine shafts disappearing into the mountains, and then a 5 minute cable car (the steepest in Australasia) took visitors back up to the start.That night we took another trip down to Side Bar which ended up being another awesome night... On our last full day in Sydney we took a trip in the morning to the Imax cinema in Darling Harbour which has the largest cinema screen in the World. We watched a film called Deep Sea which was a 3D documentary about life in the oceans. The quality of the film was amazing at the 3D effects were used really well - at one point it looked like you were surrounded by jellyfish and so many times it felt as if you could reach out and touch the animals. After our trip to the Imax we went to a Sydney classic - Bondi Beach. Being a Saturday, the beach was jammed pack and it was cool just to watch everyone going by and watching the hundreds of surfers trying to find space to ride a wave in the Ocean. On our way back to the hostel we stopped in the Botanical Gardens to watch the sun set over the city. Sydney has just been voted the "World's best city" again and Lonely Planet describes it as being "outrageously good looking". From our viewpoint, it was easy to see why.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1204481640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1204481640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1204481640/tpod.html Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:06:37 -0500 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Byron Bay, Australia

Before I came away, I would never have guessed that the song that would stay with me most from travelling would be Soulja Boy. Nevertheless, everywhere we go we're followed by the dance, cranking and super soaking all down the East Coast...After taking in the Whitsundays, we got back onto the Oz Experience bus and headed to Kroombit, a cattle and goat station in Outback Australia. It was definitely remote -&nbsp;the driveway to the ranch took half and hour to drive down. When we got there we realised we had arrived in what looked like the set of horror film Wolf Creek. However, unlike the backpackers in that film (which was based on true events), we survived our trip into the wilderness.Once dinner had been served, we turned our attention to learning essential ranch skills, including cracking a whip and riding on the mechanical bull named "nutcracker". There's a reason why guys seldom manage to stay on past the 5 second mark. Despite being the last on the bull, and having the opportunity to watch the best technique, I managed to stay on for just a measly 3 seconds, being trounced by Lotte's time in the process. The next morning we tried our hand at lassooing and then took part in a goat rodeo - teams of three have to catch a goat, turn it over and then "brand" the goat (with a cool iron) in the quickest time possible. Again it wasn't really my sport - wearing flip flops I nearly went flying into the mud trying to corner the goat but just managed to save myself in time. I think my team came last - it's a good job I never wanted to be a farmer.Later that day we continued driving down to Rainbow Beach and then the next morning finished off our journey to Noosa - the swankiest place we've visited on the East Coast. The high street was full of trendy clothes shops, bars and cafes but still we ended up having a Subway for lunch. We spent the rest of the day taking in the town and the following day Lotte went deep sea fishing while I travelled to Fraser Island.Fraser Island is the World's largest sand island. A World Heritage Site, the 120km is made up of pure sand which extends to over 400m deep in places down to the ocean floor. It's a surreal site - rainforests still manage to grow on the island, and there are many crystal blue, freshwater lakes dotted around the island, such as Lake Mackenzie where we stopped for lunch. The 75mile long beach also acts as the highway and runway on the island, so our 4x4 vehicle was being hit by waves as we drove along around the island.The following day we continue South along the coast and on the way stopped at Australia's only Zorbing centre. Zorbing is a sport that the Kiwis invented whereby riders sit inside a 3m inflatable PVC ball which is filled with 40 litres of water and then rolled down a hill. It was great fun and&nbsp;really surreal&nbsp;- the closest I'll ever want get to experiencing what it's like to sit inside a washing machine. Lotte's screams from inside the zorb could be heard by those waiting at the bottom of the hill.After zorbing we continued onto our destination in Byron Bay, where we've been for the last two days. It's a really vibrant, exciting town and it's proximity to Nimbin (the hippy capital of Australia) has definitely rubbed off. Yesterday morning I headed out to Julian Rocks to SCUBA dive. Apparently the rocks are one of Australia's best dive sites - but certainly not yesterday. Visibility was really poor (perhaps 5m), and it was impossible to see any marine life that wasn't right below you or infront of you. However, we saw a handful of wobbegong sharks which dwell on the bottom not doing much.Then last night we headed to Cheeky Monkey's Bar in town where, once again, Soulja Boy was on the menu.Today's our last day in Byron before we&nbsp;make our final push to Sydney, stopping for just one night along the way at Surf Camp to learn how to do one of Australia's favourite sports...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203889800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203889800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203889800/tpod.html Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:07:50 -0500 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Airlie Beach, Australia

I last wrote from Cairns, where we had just arrived in a tropical storm ready to start our Oz Experience adventure down the East Coast of Australia. The next morning we were up at 6am and headed into Cairns Central to get on the bus, first stop Mission Beach. On the way to Mission Beach we stopped at Johnstone River Crocodile Farm. After a few minutes holding snakes and lizards in the reception of the farm (I didn't hold them after the handler was bitten by a python when he was taking it out of its tank), we took a tour around the farm which both breeds crocodiles for food and takes in rogue crocs from around the country. It was amazing to see how well camouflaged the crocs were - sometimes they'd be hiding in water 0.5m deep and you still couldn't see them. It definitely put us off swimming in any rivers or 'billabongs'. The biggest croc they have there is Gregory, who is 5.2m long and weighs 1200kg - an actual monster. Two of the crocs of the farm are living there after they attacked humans in the wild and so were relocated. After the stop we continued South to Mission Beach and arrived mid-afternoon. We were staying in a nice hostel close to the beach but again that evening, because it's so close to the rainforest, we had another big tropical storm which was cool to sit out and watch. That was the last rain we've seen on the East Coast.The next morning I got up early to go for my next adventure...I was picked up and driven 30mins to a nearby airstrip to skydive. After a short briefing and signing my life away on 3 different indemnity forms, I was strapped onto Marcel (my skydive instructor) and we were soon in the plane. We were skydiving from 14,000ft (as high as commercial skydives can go) which gives you around 60seconds of freefall and then a 5minute parachute ride back to the ground. The plane took around 15minutes to climb up to the right altitude and as we got near, the door opened and the traffic lights on the wall went to amber. The view below was awesome - 10,000ft below were some scattered clouds, through which we could see rainforest, beach, turquoise blue seas and tropical islands. There wasn't much time to admire the view though and, within a moment, the traffic light went green and we were hurtling at 200km/hr towards the ground. It was so exhilarating and, at that altitude, you're too high to realise how high you are or even&nbsp;how fast you're going so it's not scary. The freefall was apparently 60 seconds, but it seemed to go by in a second. Before I knew it, the parachute had opened and we were gliding slowly down the last 5,000ft back to terra firma. We landed on Mission Beach and I was ready to go straight back up and do it again. It definitely won't be the last time I skydive - it was incredible.We spent the rest of the day chilling out by the pool and reading and got ready to move on the next day.The following day we jumped back on the Oz Experience bus to Magnetic Island - a small, exotic island which is a 20 minute ferry ride off the coast. On the way down we passed through Tully - the wettest town in Australia. In recognition of the record amount of rainfall that the town had received in 1950, the town had built a giant welly to the same height as the amount of rain they had received in&nbsp;that year&nbsp;- 7.9m tall.&nbsp;We arrived at our hostel at 7pm and knew it was special. Base Backpackers is without doubt the nicest hostel we've stayed in so far - more like a boutique hotel. It's right on the beach, with a bar and terrace looking out to sea, and had a really great atmosphere. On our first night it was quiz night and we joined up with four guys who we met on the bus down to the island earlier that day. They were really cool guys and we ended up spending all of our evenings on the island drinking with them on the beach. Magnetic Island is only a small place, so we hired an open-topped car and drove the length of the island, taking in the beaches. It was a really nice place and we were really lucky with the weather - barely a cloud in the sky for both days we were there. Even though it's just a few hundred kilometres down the road from the wettest place in Australia, Maggie Island is one of the sunniest - with 320 sunny days every year. Then yesterday we continued South to Airlie Beach - the gateway to the Whitsundays, which are a group of 74 islands off the coast of Oz. They've had some really rough weather here recently and there's evidence of it everywhere. The town was blocked off due to flooding and you can still see plants that have been thrown onto bridges, metres above the river level. Then today, on our speedboat tour, we saw two shipwrecks that both happened in the storms last week - one of them was a tourist sailing&nbsp;boat which ran ashore and everyone onboard had to be airlifted to safety at 3am. Luckily the weather has since cleared up - apparently today was the nicest day they've had in Airlie Beach for 2 months with not a cloud in the sky. We took some time out to do snorkelling, and had to wear sexy 'stinger suits' to protect outselves from 'stingers' (jellyfish). Out here they have Irukandji jellyfish which&nbsp;are too small to see, but deadly if&nbsp;they stings you. Only in Australia. After snorkelling, we continued on the speedboat to Whitehaven Beach, apparently the most photographed beach in the World, and it was easy to see why.Tomorrow we jump back on board the bus to carry on South towards Sydney and we're stopping in Kroombit, a cattle ranching station for an authentic taste of Outback Australia.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203294060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203294060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/samkirsop/sams-gap-year/1203294060/tpod.html Sun, 17 Feb 2008 05:22:46 -0500 Sam's Round-The-World Gap Year Adventure

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Cairns, Australia

We arrived in Perth 5 days ago and headed straight out into the nearby suburb of Fremantle, a trendy town and the haunt of all the backpackers in the area. The first day in Freo was great, but we couldn't quite work out what all the hype was about - there were a few nice shops and it was a really picturesque town, right on a big port, and the weather was equally great, but apart from that it seemed no different from your average seaside town. We took a trip into Perth city centre on the trains, which run like clockwork and put our system back in the UK to shame, and hit the shops to replace all our belongings that were ruined from a month in Africa, and then headed back to the hostel.The hostel was by far the most uncomfortable night sleep we've had so far on the whole trip. We were put into a cosy 16-person dorm and, rather than the dry heat that Perth is known for, it must have been climbing towards 100% humidity, while the evening temperatures remained well above 30. We didn't have the luxury of air conditioning either.Nevertheless, the next day we awoke (or at least, got up), and decided to hire some scooters for a few hours to have a ride up the coast. While walking around, a whole new side of Freo opened up that we had totally missed - trendy bars and cafes stood alongside trendy clothes stores on a long street which ran parallel to the marina. It totally changed our opinion of the town, and it was a really cool place to hand out. After walking around for a few hours we finally found the scooter place and, after a few minutes trying to get used to riding the scooters (we both shot out of the car park and nearly crashed in the same parked car opposite, something about accelerating and braking at the same time), we finally got to grips and spent an enjoyable 2 hours scootering up the coast and seeing the beaches that Perth is reknowned for.The following day we caught an early flight to Ayers Rock. It was a funny flight - I think the pilot must have been training because the landing was hilarious, but we arrived just about in one piece at midday. Yulara (the town built for Ayers Rock) is a funny place and reminded us both of Disneyworld. Everything was immaculately groomed and the hotels themed. It's the most expensive hostel that we'd be staying in on the whole trip so we hoped we wouldn't be disappointed, and we weren't - really nice, new rooms&nbsp;of 4 people, with air conditioning and a nice bar. We watched sunset over Uluru (Ayers Rock) that night from the viewing point and then went to the Outback Pioneer BBQ, where you buy meat from the counter and cook in on their BBQs, and we enjoyed a feast of Kangaroo, Emu and Beef sausages and Crocodile. On our only full day in Ayers Rock we took a short helicopter flight over the rock and luckily the visibility was great and the views we got were stunning, taking in Mt Connor and The Olgas (similar landforms) aswell as the massive Ayers Rock.The midday heat was way too hot to go out so we took the opportunity to chill out in the room. I've just finished reading Dan Brown's Angels &amp; Demons and, considering I don't read much fiction, it was a fantastic book.Ayers Rock's only downside is the flies - they are absolutely everywhere and, unlike normal flies which you can waft away, these flies land on you and stick - you have to actually knock them off your face. They're also attracted to all the moisture on your face - mouths, nostrils and eyes. We should've invested in cork hats.We had hoped to go on a stargazing tour last night at Ayers Rock Observatory but unfortunately the clouds came in and obscured our view of the stars. At least its an excuse to come back. Instead we had a few drinks in bar and tucked into our homemade dessert of&nbsp;powdered chocolate mousse&nbsp;(we've realised we've got to start cooking for ourselves if our budget is to last us).Then this morning we had an early start at 5am to crawl out of bed up to the viewing point to see the sunrise over Uluru and, after a few more hours in bed, flew up to Cairns, where it's been raining ever since. It's an awesome hostel and a shame we can't stay for longer to enjoy it, but tomorrow morning at 7am we start our journey down the East coast of Oz to Sydney...
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