New zealand

We drove a van, we trekked and drank wine. Each of these things we did a lot.

The north island's biggest highlight was trekking the tongarearo alpine crossing (sp). Superb volcanic trek with emerald lakes and red volcanic stuff everywhere, it's also the location of mount doom from lord of the rings. So we nicked some of the volcanic lava as a souvenier. Naturally. Best trek in nz!

Also wine tasting in hawkes bay and learning all the tricks of the trade. I asked one wine expert - how do you know if it's good wine? He replied, if you want to drink more of it, it's good. Well worth the tour aye? Haha

driving to the northern tip of nz was lovely but weather sucked when we got there. Managed a decent walk but slipped over and crushed by arm with my own fat arse! Worth the views though.

Rotorua was a bit of a let down considering the hype but the camp site was lush with our own lake and kerosine creek with the thermally heated water was good fun!

Taupo was amazing! Lots to see and do and mostly thermal and volcanic stuff! Favourite town in north island!

Seeing scotty and Brooke was great! Thanks for the tips, the food, the beer, the bed! All very needed!

The south island was something else! Spectacular drives around the whole island and beautiful views... A walk that rivalled the alpine crossing... The mount cook walk! Was beautiful and I was able to fulfil an ambition of standing naked on top of a mountain! Photo to follow!

Sky diving at fox glacier was a real treat! 12000 foot, 45 second free fall and a superb view of the glaciers, lake matheson and mount cook. They are the only company in nz to allow you to take your own camera up so... Photos to follow! Was a great experience and hand on heart - wasn't scared! Tanya was more scared about the turbulence in the plane going up then the drop from the plane coming down. Can't be explained really.

We managed another wine tour - this time at Blenheim! We stayed at the house (mansion) of a grape maker (real title to follow) and took some - slow - drives around the local wineries. We even managed to fit in some tennis on their court and some swimming in their pool!

Kaikoura was a favourite too. We did a lovely Coastal walk and got up close and personal with some wild seals. Er, photos to follow!

Hanmer springs is my favourite town in the south. Beautiful alpine village with a tiny population, some lovely walks and some springs that we were able to spend the whole day in. Beautiful place!

Abel Tasman was a great place too. Was a real pain tryin to find our camp site but once we were there it was the mouth to some superb treks - one led to the biggest hole in new Zealand. Was more interesting seeing it than writing or Reading about it. In fact, I might take the bit about the hole out if I run out of space here... But the walks were lovely and I some lovely views. Photos...

The glacier towns were pretty lame but I guess they don't have to be good when they're surrounded by icy mountains, beautiful lakes and rain forest. I'll forgive them for having a boring town. Got told we were camping on private property which was a panic as I'd had a few and couldn't drive but the farmer didn't really mind and was pulling our leg. The kidder.

Queenstown was a tourist fest. Everyone goes there to jump out of planes, bungee, abseil, climb, trek, boat, play Russian roulette with de Niro and Christopher walken. It's an active place where everyone seems to want to do something a bit dangerous! But we walked up a hill and went go karting. Was just as fun!

After that was mt cook with the naked mountain walk, lake tekapo with a nice little walk and onto oamaru where we saw some lovely little penguins. We saw five yellow eyed p's which are the second rarest in the world and 12 blue p's which are the smallest in the world! Was
pretty far away though so photos probably will not follow.

Back to christchurch to hand in the van and fly to kuala lumpar. The city is still devastated by last years earth quake and some of the sights were a bit shocking! A bit scary that when the earth goes mental there's not much anyone can do!

New Zealand is the most beautiful country we've ever been to and cannot wait to go back!

Indonesia... Whoops

Could have sworn I did a blog for Indonesia but I guess not. Must be a quickie as tanya will be back from hairdressers soon and no doubt I have to get into consoling mood!

Highlights:

5.visiting the monkey forest in ubud, Bali. So good I went back again! Never been so close to monkeys before! Got some fantastic videos and photos!
4.trekking in the wonderful, beautiful munduk, bali. So good we lost track of time and nearly had to spend the night sleeping in a rice paddie!
3.visiting the Borobudur temple in jogyakarta, java. Next to Angkor wat in cambodia, the best temple I've ever seen! The city itself was also a bit of a surprise! Plenty to see and do!
2.jungle trekking in bukit lawang in Sumatra! Seeing wild orangatans... Nine in total which at the time was a traveller record! Even saw a few day old wee bairn one which caught a tear in our guides eye as they're so rare! Spent a few nights in the jungle which was superb and a real highlight of the whole trip!
1.underwater life... Whether diving in pulau weh and seeing 60 manta rays in formation (another sight that few ever see!), sharks and sting rays! Or snorkelling in the gilli islands and seeing and swimming with turtles on a daily basis! This was the definite highlight of Indonesia!

There were others - taking shrooms in the gilli islands and singing alongside the locals every night 'gilli I love you', surfing in kuta, Bali even though I ended up being hit in the head and on the face at the same time by mine and tanya's board and Lorna broke a board and we ended up visiting the police.. I stood up for 8 seconds so well worth it! Visiting banda aceh, the worst hit city in the boxing day tsunami! And much, much more.

Thanks for the memories indo!

Australia

It has been ages since we've had the time to post but today we made the decision not to go to the Philippines as we were flying to Cebu which was heavily damaged by the earthquakes... We saw the damage in Christchurch one year on and they are still suffering tremors. So we decided to stay in Malaysia so I have a good day to catch up...

Oz was great! We started off the trip by spending time with friends in the danetree rainforest, the oldest in the world. It was lovely - their house is in the middle of nowhere and completely Eco-friendly. Solar power, recycling, rain water for showers etc. The whole shabang! They didn't even build Walls, doors or windows for their house. Everything was supported by pillars. Was awesome! From there we cycled to cape tribulation which was lovely. We then did our liveaboard on the great barrier reef... 3 days, 10 dives Inc 2 night dives and we took a course to become advanced so we could do it all without guides! Was superb diving, some of the best we've done and was definitely the highlight of oz! Saw sharks, rays, turtles and some of the biggest fish we've ever seen. I also woke up a sleeping trigger fish during mating season and got chased and snapped at for a few terrifying mins!

Next was magnetic island where we saw wild koalas! Very cute and looked completely stoned up in their trees!

And airlie beach which was a nice beach town, followed by ahmed water aka 1770 which is where captain James cook first founded oz for us Brits! This was a lovely place and we Learnt a bit of history (cook was the first sailor to discover that limes kept away scurvey. Not only did it save most of his Crew but earnt us the nickname - limey) we also did a great electronic bike ride which was the laziest bike ride I've ever done! We didn't see any roos but did learn they're the only mammal that tuck away their gonads. They also can hold off their pregnancy if they feel it isn't the right conditions and their cock and balls are the wrong way round. I'm sure we learnt stuff that wasn't sex/mating related but I can't remember any of it!

Hervey bay was next for tanya's birthday. Wine, a free meal and a day spent on the beach. Was splendid!

Rainbow beach is the jumping off point for Fraser island but was still a pleasant stay. A nice walk ended with one of the nicest views I've seen in oz. A HUGE sand dune that leads to the ocean! Fraser island was lovely and the lake Mackenzie was a real magnificent site! Would go back to oz just for the chance of another dip!!

Saw our first kangaroo on our way to noida but it was 50foot and a plastic gas station statue so doesn't really count! Noosa was lovely and was the nicest Coastal walk in oz. Bit of a pisshead area though and it was very apparent that it was a teenage backpacker area! Had corn on the cob nicked from us while we were still cooking it and felt like scolding the two girls in our room when they came in late from a booze up. When did I become such a grumpy old man?

Ah, Byron bay! The rumour are true.. It really is one of the sleepiest, hippy-ish, surfing town ever. And it's great! Didn't partake in the surfing due to the calamitous effort in Bali but had some lovely walks and learnt some local history (old man...) but was a great area and highly recommend it. It was also the most eastern point of oz we managed and a great walk to the lighthouse overlooking the whole town. Was bootiful!

Coffs harbor broke up the journey to Sydney but little else! Met a nice little crew, did some pathetic canooeing and saw the most amazing musician! Must look up jeff tangle on google, he was greAt!

Sydney was awesome! Saw the opera house, botanical gardens and did some good walks! Managed not to spend money in the most expensive part of the most expensive country so deserve a medal for that a reckon!

Then it was Wollongong to see the lowthers! Was ace seeing them again and meeting kirsten's family over Xmas! Bug thank you to them for making us so welcome! Was a lovely time! Especially dog on a tucker box. Probably the best thing I've ever seen. Ever. Look it up on google!

Oz was awesome and gave us some really good memories! Will go back again for sho!

New Zealand to follow...