Walking on Sunshine

Sunday December 16th - Sunday December 23rd

And finally we arrive in New Zealand. The weather's good when we land and it feels great to be back in our favourite country. This first week has involved either water or walking. Within 3 hours of being picked up from Christchurch airport by an old uni mate Dave we were all, including his soon to be wife Tara, out on the water in kayaks. The aim was to paddle across a relatively short stretch of water to Quail Island for a spot of lunch. The plan though didn't take into account my ineptitude a) on water and b) in a kayak. So, after reaching halfway and already having capsized twice, we headed back to the safety of shore and had a beachside picnic. All very pleasant and the others were very good about my uselessness (well to my face they were!)

The second water experience was a little more full-on although not quite as expected. We made our way west to Murchison where we would head off on a whitewater rafting trip. We met up with our friend Jamie and his new girlfriend Lizzie and over a beer the night before wondered whether the rain that was falling would cause problems for the next day. The rafting was going to be along the grade 5 rated (5 being the most likely to cause you to swim) Karamea River. We drove (well were driven) the 3 hours to our helicopter rendezvous (oh this was a heli-rafting trip by the way!) through torrential rain and were greeted with the bad news that the river had risen too much and was flowing way too quickly (up from 25 cubic m/sec to 500 cubic m/sec) for us to be able to raft it safely. Sadly the 5-minute joyride in the helicopter and raft down a tamer Buller River didn't make up for the disappointment but a 40% refund and a good meal in the evening certainly helped.

The second half of the week has been taken up by walking, and quite a lot. We've just finished the 71km Queen Charlotte Track after 3 days of walking. The bonus with this walk was the water taxi that dropped us at the start also transferred our big rucksacks between campsites each day so we 'only' had to walk with our smaller rucksacks.

So it was that we arrived at Ship Cove over 200 years since Captain Cook had made the same journey and raised the British flag. Admittedly he had slightly less Gore-Tex and a little more rum than we did but the similarities in the journey were eerie! The first day was to be a 27.5km slog to Camp Bay, our campsite for the night. The weather was a little cloudy but still warm and the forecast was for it to improve. We'd actually changed our plans from doing it as a 4-day walk to try and get the good weather. We made great progress and passed by Resolution Bay and Endeavour Inlet all the while getting great views of the Marlborough Sounds. All along the route there are lodges and resorts for the more discerning walker and we did wonder at one point why we weren't in one of those. Since the track is well used there are opportunities for small traders to make some pocket money and we took advantage of one of those that was selling homemade honey. Anything to try and improve the porridge in the morning. We set up camp that night at the appropriately named Camp Bay.

Day 2 of the walk was described as the most arduous of the track and they weren't kidding. We started climbing as soon as we set out but once up on the ridgeline we got spectacular views of the Sounds. From one lookout we took the video clip (which will appear below when we find a quick enough internet connection) which hopefully does some justice to what we saw. Although the day's distance covered was less at 24.5km the uphill sections meant that by the time we descended from Torea Saddle to our overnight stop at Cowshed Bay we were shattered. Rach took advantage of our beachfront site and cleansed off a couple of days worth of sunscreen while I cooled off some throbbing feet.

The walk so far had taken us through some fairly dense green forest with beech trees and ferns before it headed onto the ridge and heathland. On one side you get views of blue waters and steep tree covered hills and on the other you could be looking at the Lake District, albeit on a rare day when it's sunny, with rolling green countryside leading down to lakes. Our third and final day took us the final distance to our water taxi rendezvous at Anakiwa. There was no mention of the early morning slog uphill in the description but that's what we had and it was all we could do to stagger our way down the final descents reaching the end aching all over but really pleased with ourselves and having seen some spectacular scenery.

We now head back towards Blenheim and our Christmas accommodation in Straw Lodge.

Merry Christmas everyone from Jon and Rachel.

The week's 24/7s

Monday: Heading for the west where it rains

Tuesday: Rain falls, river rises. Cancelled, no surprises

Wednesday: Heading north where it's also now raining

Thursday: When we try we relax really well

Friday: Rehydrated food tastes great after long walk

Saturday: In this weather the Sounds look fantastic

Sunday: Gravity's no friend of pain. Cake is!

Rock Lobster

Monday December 10th - Saturday December 15th

Well this was our final week in Australia. Where the other 8 have gone to is anyone's guess. The week started with celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary with a day on the beach and a nice meal out in the evening. In fact eating good meals was a theme of the week which means that next week's needs to be exercise.While we've been in Perth we've met quite a few members of Rachel's aunt Kay's family and any we hadn't already met were ticked off with a big family gathering for a pre-Christmas meal. This included freshly cooked hams and chickens along with Christmas puddings all washed down with plenty of champagne and wine. The following day we all went round to Kay's chap (Barry)'s place and pretty much did it all again with the only addition being crayfish (or rock lobster depending on your inclination). These had been 'caught' by us the day before on a trip out with another of Kay's contacts. We probably can't claim to have caught them 100% as it required some scuba diving so Noel, the guy we went out with, did the hard work while we relaxed on the boat or swam in the sea. Eating fresh crayfish was fantastic though.

We've managed to squeeze some sport in this week too, much to Rach's relief! Tuesday saw a Twenty20 cricket international between Australia and New Zealand at the WACA. Barry came up trumps here with tickets for us although the circumstances were slightly unnerving. Sadly Barry's father passed away in August but due to him being a retired OAP he was paying peanuts for his season ticket so his family have kept it on so I went in as the late Robert Main with Rach as his guest! The game was good with the Aussies winning pretty easily.



We're both ready now to head to New Zealand and get back out in the fresh air and stretch our legs again. We've not really had much chance for that in the last couple of weeks although Rach managed to get out onto the water this week for a kayak and I had a quick bike ride. Perth has been an interesting experience not least for the fact of seeing how a city that is so far from any other major city, even in Australia, operates. You could nearly be in another country on the west coast and in some ways I think people think they are with Western Australia operating very differently in many ways to the eastern states. We've enjoyed Australia and had some fantastic experiences but it's time to move on.


The week's 24/7s
Monday: Two years. Who said it wouldn't last?
Tuesday: Wouldn't be seen dead at the cricket.
Wednesday: Christmas pudding, presents and hot weather. Lovely!
Thursday: Christmas pudding two nights in a row.
Friday: I think we're ready for New Zealand.
Saturday: 5098km, 4 states, 3 timezones. Australia...done!

End of a Century

Monday December 3rd - Sunday December 9th

The passing of 100 days is usually a key point in any event; the first 100 days for a new Prime Minister, how'd he do? The first 100 days of a war, are we fighting the right people? The first 100 days of Big Trip, is bread and water a nutritious enough meal for the next 80 days? Sunday marked the 100th day away. During this time we've passed through 6 Canadian provinces, 4 Australian states, taken 6 flights and passed through numerous timezones, all the while having a fantastic time. All of this has meant that time has passed pretty quickly and with us now making plans for the final stages of the trip the remaining 80 days will undoubtedly fly by too. Best make the most of them then.


News on the end of the trip is good, we have tickets for the Trans-Mongolian train from Beijing to Moscow and as of this week we can also legally enter China thanks to a very swift service from the Consulate here in Perth issuing our visas. Just the Russian and Mongolian ones to go but the Russian one may prove to be tricky.

We've had a pretty relaxing week all told. Thanks to an excellent public transport network here in Perth we've been able to get around really easily, and cheaply, although no matter how good a system is if you can't read a timetable properly you'll come unstuck. This we found out while waiting for a bus only to realise that we'd checked the times for Saturday services. It was Tuesday.

We headed south out of Perth for a day in the port of Fremantle, or Freo if you struggle with words of more than 2 syllables. This appears to be one of the few places we've been where they are preserving their old buildings, or at least the facades, rather than knock them down. It gives the place a really nice feel with plenty of Victorian architecture on show. They've also got the Round House there. This is a building dating back well into the 1800s that was the first jail in Fremantle. It's still in pretty good condition given its age and position on the seafront. Just behind this is the time gun. At 1pm every day a cannon is fired, as it has been for over 150 years, so that captains can rate their chronometers. Nowadays it's probably used more as a signal that it's time to head to the pub for a lunchtime drink but again the preserving of tradition here goes against a lot of what we've seen so far.

Sympathy time now, get the small violins ready. The weather this week has not been great. Temperatures have struggled to reach the mid 20s (!) and by the afternoons any warmth there's been has disappeared with the Fremantle Doctor blowing it's way in. Normally this is a very pleasant breeze but when it howls in as it has this week you have to think twice about going to the beach! We've persevered though and struggled down to the beach a couple of times to have a dip in the Indian Ocean. We also had one long walk along the coast (in the rain mind!) to stretch our legs.

One thing the weather didn't hamper was our trip to Margaret River. This is the main wine region of southern Western Australia and we spent a happy couple of days sampling the local fayre. We also visited the southwesterlymost point of Australia while here too, Cape Leeuwin. This is the point at which the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.

One more week left in Australia and then we're on to country number 3 and New Zealand. We're going to make the most of being in a comfortable house as it'll be pretty much the last chance for a couple of months give or take a day or two here and there around Christmas. We got the tent out this week to check it was all OK and give it a spring clean before it's next use in anger.

The weeks 24/7s:

Monday: Chinese visa? You don't wait long time
Tuesday: Public transport that's designed for the public
Wednesday: Cold and windy, and this is summer?
Thursday: Nearly cold enough to need some trousers
Friday: You can never taste too much wine
Saturday: At last blue skies and warm sun
Sunday: Still not convinced we're insured to drive

Four Seasons In One Day

Monday November 26th - Sunday December 2nd

It's been a busy old week really, a lucrative one and also a potentially lethal one. If that doesn't build up suspense I don't know what will.

We started the week in Sydney, spent the middle part in Melbourne and ended up on the west coast in Perth. To be honest it's been a bit of a whirlwind tour and I think we would have liked to have spent a couple more days in Melbourne to have a good look around as it's probably been our favourite place so far in Australia.

The journey down from Sydney to Melbourne was going to be something of a road trip as we were relocating a campervan for Britz. For the princely sum of $5 a day we had a pretty much brand new van, kitted out with all your mod cons such as fridge, microwave, hob, etc and stocked with cutlery and crockery too. Wehn we saw the vans we could have had we were pretty smug about having siuch a nice shiny new one. Until that evening that is. We made good progress down the east coast and following a suggestion from Colin planned to go via the Snowy Mountains to Melbourne rather than just all the way down the coast. We parked up at a campsite at Tathra Beach and for the first time on the trip asked for a site with power. We plugged the van in and went and cooked ourselves some dinner. When we came back to the van Rach noticed some liquid on the floor and thinking it was a water bottle that had leaked happily swung the rucksacks and things out of the way to stop them getting any wetter. It was only when she felt her arm burning and I noticed that the strap on her daysack was melting that we realised it was something a little more sinister than water. Turns out it was battery acid and it was making a break for freedom all the way down the van. Looking at the battery that powers all the mod cons you could see the current arcing across the battery at which point we figured unplugging ourselves from the mains would be a good idea. Luckily the guy who ran the site was very helpful and a couple of hours later he'd taken the battery out and given us the tools to give the van a good washout so that we could sleep in it without fear of getting acid on us or fumes in us. This kind of put a dampener on the road trip and also meant we were without any power in the van once the engine was off so we decided to just push on down the coast, a pretty dull drive to be honest, and make it to Melbourne to get rid of the death trap.

On reaching Melbourne, the home of four seasons in one day (it was springlike today), we'd been expecting to have to argue to get some money back for the rucksacks that had been damaged and the trouble we'd had, but I'd already agreed a value with the guy in Sydney so hoped that had fed through. By the time we left the place we'd actually made $60 including all the petrol and of course have no intention of replacing the rucksacks so we were pretty happy with things. We head into the centre of Melbourne to go and ask the tourist info for maps and the like and are given a leaflet with things on in the week. Turns out that there's a cricket match on at the MCG, only a state one-day game but still, and if you go by public transport you get in free. Rach was also keen to see Brett Lee bowling in the flesh to appreciate how fast he really was! Holding a $3 train ticket as we were it seemed rude not to so half an hour later we're strolling into one of the best cricket grounds in the world for nothing and watching some cricket. The day was working out very well indeed. To round it off we headed back into town and went to Queen Victoria Market as it was the first night for their weekly night markets in the summer season. Spent a good couple of hours wandering around looking at all the stalls and taking in the smells from well over fifty different origins of cooking.

Our only full day in Melbourne was spent riding the free tourist shuttles to see the main sights and then taking a walk through some of the parks and gardens, of which there appeared to be hundreds of in town. They also have a very striking Shrine of Remembrance as well that you can have a look around and it puts the UK to shame in terms of what we have in comparison.


Too quickly we're checking out of our hostel in St Kilda, a vibrant beach suburb of Melbourne, and rounding off our week of financial prudence in good style. We get $20 refunded for the room keys despite the fact we hadn't paid for them when we checked in. Neither of us question this until we're well out of earshot of course.

Our final destination for the week is Perth and a 2-week stay with Rach's aunt Kay. For the first time in the trip we're met at the airport and it's great to have a friendly face waiting for you and to know that you don't need to battle with public transport with your bags. Kay's house is massive and the chances of us wanting to go back to camping after staying here are looking slim. We may have to pitch the tent in the garden to get back into the habit of it.

The week's 24/7s:

Monday: Not sure battery acid should be there

Tuesday: Don't think Britz will see us again

Wednesday: Free van, free cricket, we're loving Melbourne

Thursday: Tram, bus, tram, walk, tram, food, bed!

Friday: A fabulous base for the next fortnight

Saturday: With military precision our week is planned

Sunday: You can never take it too easy