All Good Things...

Well...

I've packed my bags and will be heading to the airport in a few hours. All the old cliches apply, like 'Time flies when you're having fun'.

Any of you who have spent long periods away from friends and family will know the mixed emotions I'm experiencing right now. Excitement over going home, seeing people you dearly miss, yet gutted about the new friends you'll leave behind- not to mention the idea of the adventure coming to an end.

In some ways a year is a long time. Over the past week I've been reminiscing about my time here, looking over old photos and having a laugh. I feel like I've seen and experienced a lot. I've made good friends that I hope I'll still be in touch with in years to come. And some day in the future, I'm sure I'll be back. 

A Busy Week...

I've spent a lot of time this week trying to get organised for coming home- booking flights and train tickets, trying to get everything in order before I arrive back in Nottingham.

It's been a fun week though. Last weekend Jared and Naomi organised a surprise "Goodbye" party for me. They did a great job keeping it secret and it was a big surprise! There were people there from work and from the families I've spent time with this year. We had a great laugh looking back over photos from my year and reminiscing about funny stories we've had along the way. I don't have any pictures yet, but I'm trying to track some down.

The next day we took the youth group from church up to the snow in the mountains. It had never occurred to me that Australia had snow! But I guess it makes sense, we were pretty high up. We had a great time tobogganing down the slopes and even tried to build an igloo (with limited success!). Again, no pics yet but I'm trying to get my hands on some. 
After that we headed off to Philip Island for a few days holidays. We stayed with Jared's grandparents, fed some pelicans and even saw some penguins! I know! Another thing you don't associate with Australia, but they're here! They have a mini version called 'Fairy Penguins'! They're only about 10cm tall and they're flippin' cute.

I got some pics of the pelicans and tried to get some sunset pictures too. 

Gutted...

For months I've had my finally Aussie 'fling' planned- a trip to Uluru (Ayers Rock) followed by a 2,500km road trip through the Australian outback.  We've been talking about for ages and getting more and more excited.

Everything was looking great until, this week, Tiger Airways were grounded across Australia due to safety concerns. There was a brief glimmer of hope when it looked like the ban wouldn't last too long but,
alas, out trip is cancelled!

Gutted.

Gutted. Gutted. Gutted.

Walk about...

Went for a walk around Melbourne last night. 

Earth Shattering...

We had a 4.4 earthquake in Melbourne today!*

It reminded me of my few days in Christchurch when all the after-shocks were happening. Its such a strange feeling- its not until afterwards that you realised what happened. Thankfully everything was fine and there wasn't any damage. Apparently quakes are a pretty rare occurrence in this part of the world so it's got quite a lot of media coverage today.

*CORRECTION make that TWO earthquakes. We just had another one. Not sure what size yet.

So It Continues...

In an effort to get another star-trail shot, I've left my camera standing out in a cow field tonight. I've come back home (to the warmth) while it stands out there taking continuous photos for the next hour or so. It's winter over here in Oz and the temp is definitely dropping, so this is a much easier way to do things.

Now I just have to sit here and hope that no gust of wind (or cow!) interrupts my shot!
I'll post the photo later.

***

As promised:

This is a composite of 128 separate photos, each 30 secs long. It's not perfect, I guess my technique still needs some tweaking, but I'll get there!! :o)

I got a right fright when I went back to get my camera and saw a cow twenty feet away. the end result would have looked funny with a cow standing in 128 different positions in the field.

Wierd...

After a year away, its strange to think that my next days work will be at Abbey Road. 

The Goodbyes Begin...

The staff from school gathered in the staffroom to say farewell and wish me all the best for my trip home. They even gave me a little stash of Aussie Beers to sat thank you.

It's been great working at this school. I think I've taught in nearly every grade so have met a lot of the 600 kids! And it's been good experience to spend the last five weeks in one class. It means I'm going home feeling like I've had a wealth of experience teaching in Australia- which was, after all, the point in coming out here.

I'm gonna miss this place. 

One month today.

Mixed emotions. 

Trigger Happy...

It seems like this "travel" blog is slowly turning into a photography blog instead. I'm sorry, but I'm a bit obsessed with this new hobby. It seems like every moment not spent working is spent clicking the shutter on my camera. I fear my addiction may have gone too far after coming home last night covered in leech and mosquito bites and stinking of cow dung!

As mentioned earlier, Jared and I have been experimenting lots with long exposures- trying to capture movement in a single shot. So yesterday we bush-bashed our way through a forest to find a creek up in the hills. As is usually the case, only 10% of the shots I took were worth keeping but it's fun trying. We'd stop at a spot and try a few shots, compare notes, swap positions, kick ourselves for not getting the shot the other person got, then move on to the next area we wanted to shoot. Bleeding (from the leeches) and itching (from the mosquitos) we headed back to look at out photos.

 As we drove home we passed a little pond just as the sun was going down so jumped out for a final shot.

After having dinner it was time to head out again to try and capture some star trails. We drove out to a cattle field we had seen earlier in the day. Unfortunately I realised (a little too late) that cow pat is a lot harder to see in the dark! I think I can still smell it! The sky was perfect. Not a cloud to be seen and a new moon- just black sky and millions of stars.

Our mission was to take HEAPS of shots and them merge them later on computer.

The Rubber Hits The Road...

Had a great day yesterday. The school I've been working at for the past few weeks didn't need me so I had a bonus day off. My mate Joshi and I had been talking a lot about going on motorcycle ride together so it was great to finally put our plans into action.

After getting the train into the city, Joshi picked me up on his bike. After a quick zip down the motorway we stopped at a mates house to collect my 'steed' for the day- a sweet little Kawasaki Ninja 250cc. After not being on a bike for over a year I was pretty nervous, so we decided a few lengths of a quiet street were in order. Thankfully all my lessons can flooding back to me and we were soon ready to hit the road.

We headed straight for the motorway- the quickest way up to Mount Dandenong. It got my blood pumping to be chugging along at 100 (kph not mph) but it was nice to be driving in a straight line while I got used to the bike. The smile that had been plastered on my face for a few brief seconds was wiped away when I looked at the dash to see a red light! Driving at 100kph in four lanes of traffic is not the time to pull over! It wasn't the oil light, it was a 'speed' light. I'd never seen a speed light so was trying to figure out what was going on. I couldn't tell if the bike didn't like going this fast, or if it was simply there to help the rider check their speed.

A few minutes later we were off the motorway and in a never ending sequence of traffic lights. This was a good chance to chat to Joshi and he assured me the light came on at 80kph to stop people speeding.

All the traffic lights were really testing my clumsy clutch control. Despite a few stalls I was starting to get to grips with this little lightening bolt. I was loving it. And the farther we got out of the city, the more beautiful the roads became. After a nice warm-up on the bike it was so fun to get to the twisty roads that climbed the mountain. Granted we were taking it pretty slow but it was still a lot of fun.

A burger and chips at the lookout over Melbourne was a great rest before we saddled up and headed for home. I'm just gutted I didn't bring a camera so I don't have any pics.

Now I just need to find a bike for sale in Nottingham so I can get all the paperwork in place before I return! :o)

Hitting The Road...

I have a day off work tomorrow so my mate has arranged a for us to go motorcycle riding. The plan is to head into the mountains and get a view of the city. It's been a while since I've been on a bike so I'm a bit nervous but am definitely looking forward to it.

A photo or two should follow...

Exploring Night Photography...

Recently my mate Jared and I have been standing out in the cold until the wee hours trying to get some long exposure photographs.

We're taking lots of photos (only 1% of which are in focus!) but we're having a lot of fun. Here are some of my favs:

An English Experience...

Had a great night last night at 'The Pig And Whistle'- an English pub up in the mountains outside Melbourne. They sold Steak and Guinness pie and even had OLD SPECKLED HED, GUINNESS and HOBGOBLIN ON TAP! The Aussies aren't too into their ales so this was a real find. I've eaten at a few breweries and winers during my time in Australia, but it was so exciting to have some real English ale for a change. 

Moving House...

Naomi, Jared and I moved house today.

It's not a permanent move, just three/four days. The house attached to ours is having asbestos removed from the roof so we have to run for the hills! So we've moved out to Naomi's parents house in the countryside. Her parents are currently on a trip in Europe and only Sam (Naomi's brother) is around. It's nice to have treats like a fireplace and bath, so we plan on living it up!

More Aussie Animals...

We took a trip to Healesville Sanctuary last weekend in an effort to tick off more animals on my Aussia Animal List. Having already seen Kangaroos, Koalas, Possums, Wombats and Emus I still had a few to go- especially the deadly ones! Even though the platypus enclosure was closed, we still got to see a lot:

A Pleasant Surprise...

Thoughts of home have been at the forefront of my mind recently. I've been looking forward to little brother's wedding and have been making preparations for my return to school in Nottingham. I've had such a great time here in Australia but I know the dream can't last forever.

I was reminded recently of the fact that I should really be saving some money for all the various expenses involved in coming home. Up to this point the motivation to save was fuelled by the long list of sightseeing destinations on my list.

As I posted recently I’ve mainly been working at a child-care centre. It has been sooooo much fun but unfortunately doesn’t pay very well. So it was a nice surprise to get a phone call at the end of last week telling me that a school need me to work full time for the next five weeks! One of their staff has had to go help at another school and so there is a gap that needs to be filled. Perfect!

From a ‘pay’ point of view its fantastic, but it is a bit of a reality check- getting back into planning and assessment! I suppose it’s a step towards reality. The school is great and the staff have been so welcoming so hopefully the reality check wont be too bad.

Now I just have to go get my head around the Australian curriculum! Oh wait… THERE ISN’T ONE!!!!!!!

The Working Bee

Today I took my favourite photo from my trip so far:

This is a picture of Naomi's dad, Rob. I took it during a working bee at their house today (hence the sweat running down his cheek and dripping from his nose). It was a fun day full of weeding and raking and shovelling etc.

We were all pretty pooped afterwards but spent the evening sitting round a campfire reading Australian poetry. Interestingly a lot of 'classic' Oz literature is better understood when read in an irish accent- due to the fact that it was written by irish immigrants. It starts to get strange when you mix the irish accent with talk of 'boiling billys' and 'roos' and other Aussie colloquialisms. 

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I haven't had a blog update for a while cos life has simply consisted of work work work. School work has really slowed down this term, but thankfully the creche has needed me nearly everyday. 

Photos not working...

I've been trying to update my photos tab but it's not working. Below are links to recent photos:

Camping in The Grampians

Easter Weekend At Melaneisia

Easter Weekend...

After church on Easter Sunday Jared and Naomi (The couple I’m living with these days) and I set off for Melanesia- a small hut owned by Naomi’s relatives that sits on a national park on the coast. The had been talking it up for weeks, telling me weird and wonderful stories about their experiences there so my expectations we high. Thankfully, the reality equalled the expectations. It is a gorgeous little spot hidden away from the world, a stones throw from a secluded beach.

We were joined by two other couples, all relatives of Naomi and Jared. They were great fun. We played heaps of board games, fished on the beach and watched shooting stars. The only thing trying to spoil the fun were the leeches- and they were EVERYWHERE! It was amazing to walk to that car and back and find four climbing up each foot. We had to constantly have salt/matches at the ready after every venture outdoors. I thought it only fair to reward their diligence so rewarded two baby ones with a feast by sticking them to my belly. I think we were all intrigued to see what would happen. The short version is they arrived skinny and departed fat, but thankfully the little blighters didn’t stop the flow of laughter. We all came away relaxed and exhausted all at the same time after two days in the time warp that is Melanesia.

Camping in The Grampians...

A couple of mates and I headed off for a little camping trip last week. After a four hour drive we arrived at the mountains range we wanted to hike in- The Grampians. We chatted to a girl in a local shop who told us he had hiked up to Brigg’s Bluff with a group of school kids and had been attacked by a pack of foxes! That did all returned home safely and she said the view from the top of the bluff was fantastic. Inspired by her adventure, we had no choice but to head straight to Brigg’s Bluff! Armed with ‘fox clobbering sticks’ we set off. (Un)fortunately we saw no foxes but the hike was great and the view fab.


The next day we rose at 5am to hike up to the top of Hollow Mountain in the dark so we could watch the sunrise form the top. The climb up was a lot more fun than the sunrise that awaited us, but we had a good time. It turns out the mountain really is pretty hollow- we spent a while exploring cave all through the inside of the summit. The pic below was taken after walking into a cave in the side of the rock face then climbing up inside the mountain before coming to another cave opening higher up. Sweet! (More photos in the pics tab)

We had a fun time and I was able to add two emus to my Australian wildlife checklist.

Working Over The Hols...

Its school holidays over here so that means no teaching work. After returning from New Zealand broke I’ve been keen to keep earning through the holidays. Thankfully, my teaching registration covers me to work in the child-care centre where my friend Naomi works.


So I’ve spent the past two weeks rocking nappy-clad babies to sleep and cuddling little toddlers all day long. It’s been great fun and is a real change of pace from teaching in primary schools.

Beware The Beast...

Saw my biggest spider yet the other day:

Then went camping and saw another beauty:

Back To Melbourne...

I'm sitting in Christchurch airport about to fly to Auckland, then on to Sydney before getting on an overnight train down to Melbourne.

It feels weird to be heading back to Australia, and even more weird to be heading back to WORK! Ugh!

But I'm looking forward to getting back to seeing friends again and enjoying life in that gorgeous city.

Goodbye NZ! See ya soon.

Heading for Melbourne....

I'm back in Christchurch today. Thanks to poor (or great) planning I have a few days to kill here before I fly back to Australia on Friday. I'll fly from here to Auckland then on to Sydney that afternoon- so lets hope my first flight isn't delayed! From Sydney I'll have to find a way to Melbourne and then it'll be back to teaching for the last four months of my trip.

New Zealand has been great, but there's just so much to see. I've met backpackers who are here for two weeks and others who are here for six months and everyone agrees that their trip is just too short. I guess I'll have to plan a return trip at some point, there are still lots of things on my to-do list that haven't been ticked off this time.

At the moment I'm frantically trying to sort out accommodation in Melbourne. I thought I had my first few weeks all sorted but that hasn't worked out so I'm in the process of e-mailing all the people I know in Melbourne to see if anyone has a spare room. Fingers crossed. 

It's Been A While...

Sorry for being so slack on this over the past few weeks. I've pretty much been in a different bed every night as I travel around New Zealand and haven't much time to update this blog.
Since arriving in the south island I've travelled well over 1,000km so will have to give you the shortened version.
Nelson:
I stayed for a few days with some family friends on the north coast of the south island.

I then drove their car down to Christchurch where I stayed for two nights with a beautiful old lady.

From there I started hitch-hiking. I was trying to make my way to Tekapo and then on to Queenstown. I had to wait a while...

Thankfully, I was picked up by the most AWESOME couple and ended up travelling with them (in their big lush campervan) for three days. Thank you Ming and Carly!

We drove the whole way south to Milford Sound and pretty much laughed the whole way!

We saw lots of beautiful sights along the way and had to stop frequently to jump out of the car with our cameras.

Today we started north again as they plan on going the whole way up the west coast. We finally said our goodbyes in Wanaka, where I am now.

Unfortunately the rains of the Milford Sound were too much for my camera which appears to have died, so I'm gutted that there will not be any more pics for the foreseeable future. For pics of the last few days, hit the photos tab above.

Just Wondering...

Does anyone still read this?

Whakatane...

It's 10pm and I'm about to go to bed to get three hours sleep before we get up to drive to Auckland. The guys I'm staying with are flying to Australia at 4am and so we've got to leave early. I've booked flights to Nelson on Wednesday so I'm going to go spend the night in Auckland.

Its been a great few days in Whakatane (Fak-a-tan-ee). The family here have been so good to me and we've had a great time seeing the sights. If you've seen my recent Facebook update then you'll know we had a close call yesterday. The boys took me up to a waterfall that they like to climb. The only problem was that there has been non-stop rainfall for the past few days so the waterfall was flowing a little more 'aggressively' than usual.

To cut a long story short, we were trying to cross a section of rapids when I got pushed over part of the falls head first. The guys have since told me all sorts of horror stories about how people get pinned under the water and drown when this happens. As you can imagine, it's also especially stupid to go over head first given that there are often rocks waiting to give you a kiss on the face.

The miraculous part of the story is that my mate Hayden (in a split second decision) realised that I wasn't going to make it across the rapids. He dived out to help me and actually went over the waterfall too. Thankfully he had the experience to pin himself against the right rock and grab me before I was pulled the rest of the way down the rapids (where I would likely have broken most of the bones in my body).

Needless to say it was one of the scariest experiences of my life and we have been talking about it ever since. I still don't think any of us quite believe how fortunate we were. I guess someone was watching out for us.

Now I'm just hoping my bashed leg will heal quickly enough for me to enjoy the rest of my time in NZ! Here is a picture of Hayden just as he dived out after me, just before we were washed over the drop at the bottom of the picture. You can see my bald head on the left near the rocks and his on the right. Talk about having a new appreciation for the power of water!

A Thermal Wonderland....

Yesterday I made my way to Waiotapu. This is a town that consists of a pub, a petrol station and a cafe. I got off the bus and suddenly realised I may not have anywhere to sleep, but thankfully the pub had some beds! (I really should have looked into that in advance!)
My reason for going to this tiny place is that it is the home of the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland! Sounds promising, eh? Well it didn't disappoint.

Basically this whole region has the thinnest crust on the planet and so there are lots of thermal pools and volcanic activity. The Thermal Wonderland had all sorts of colours of pools and rocks formed by the volcanic atmosphere underground.

The whole place stank of rotten eggs, but it was amazing to see boiling water hissing and steaming as it came sputtering out of the ground.


Again, I had a great time snapping away with my camera. Hope you enjoy my pics!

A Glimpse Of New Zealand...

Yea, I have internet again!

It's been a pretty busy week, moving around lots and trying to cram in as much as I can. The good news is the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was open the day after my last post. I came home sweaty and aching, but every blister (I think I had four) was worth it. The trek was 18.6 km over the volcanic landscape of a national park. There was the added option of climbing Mt Ngarahoe- this is the mountain they used as Mt Doom in The Lord Of The Rings. As you can see from the pic below, its pretty big. If you look at the bottom right of the picture you can see a little black dot. That is a person walking along the track beside the mountain! It was pretty grueling climb but hopefully the pics on the next page show that the views were worth the pain!

The rest of the walk was worth seeing too. I dont have time here to go into all the details, but I certainly did get a glimpse of this beautiful country.

Click on me to enlarge!

Fluid Plans....

Unfortunately it hasn't worked out to borrow my friend's car like I'd hoped. That means I'm on buses during my time here. No bid problem, but the car would have been nice.

I arrived in Taupo today. It seems like a great town but I only came here for one reason- to do the Tongariro Crossing. This is a day long hike that is supposed to be STUNNING. But I got here and was told that the weather is too bad and that the walk is closed today and tomorrow. I had planned on doing it tomorrow and then moving on to Rotorua the next day.

So now I'm in a bit of a fix. Do I stay and see if it clears up by Thursday? Or do I cut my loses and move on? I'm gonna wait and see what they say tomorrow. If it's still closed on Thursday then I think I'm gonna leave it and head on to Rotorua. I'll be pretty gutted if that happens. Soooooo many people have mentioned this walk to me. It would be a bummer to miss it.

Mmmm....

Arrived In NZ...

After a long sleepless night in Sydney Airport and a battle with public transport, I finally made it to my first destination in New Zealand- Hamilton. I've been staying with Pip, a friend from back in my uni days.

Hamilton is a quiet town that's not really a major tourist destination. That said, I did go see their tourist hot-spots: The Mormon Temple (!) and the Hamilton Gardens. It might sound a bit naff, but I've had fun catching up with Pip and hanging out with her housemates. Yesterday we went surfing in the afternoon after church, then went to see a symphony in the park. It was great!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to travel over to Gisborne where I might be able to pick up a car from a friend that I'll be abel to use for the rest of my trip. I just have to make sure it's roadworthy! I'm really excited about the prospect of having the freedom to drive anywhere and everywhere without having to rely on tour buses and public transport. I have a long to-do list and having a car will make it so much easier to tick everything off.

I'll let you know how it goes...