The North Island. Wellington to Lake Taupo.

We had arrived, Wellington, the capital, what next? Heading through the town we did a not so quick drive around town, got semi lost and thoroughly enjoyed being in what felt like a very big city (it really isn't though). Parking was reassuringly expensive, parking spaces were few and far between, people seemed to be in a rush. So we parked, and went for a wonder through the shopping area and then down to the harbour. The hardly frenetic activity died down quickly, and by the time we found a little Mac's brewery and tried some of their homebrew the city was almost entirely still. The Kiwi's love to party it seems, and when we got out of the cinema a little later on, the streets were almost full of Thursday night revelers. Not really being able to camp in the centre of town, we headed off into towards the Botantical gardens in light rain. Wellington is built on some pretty steep hills and the van struggled to get up some of them them, cursing us as we pushed it up in 2^nd gear in some places almost having to change to first in others! We found a nice quiet space in a parking lot near the botanical gardens and did the usual free camping. The wind was picking up … and seemed to keep us awake all night as it was buffeting our van with gales that rocked the van back and forth. How lucky we were to have crossed the Cook Straights 12 hours earlier! In the morning we woke up to find out van, with hand brake on, had been moved a good meter backwards and the wheels at the back sat outside the parking bay in the very quiet road- torrential rains and wind what a combination. Looking around we saw other vehicles in a similar position and heard on the news that some vehicles had been turned over. Apparently these winds were typical though and could get far worse in their spring, 1-0 for the wind as it pushed us out of town heading off first east then north in the pissing rain.

In character, the north island is very different to the south island, the mere presence of people in the north and the flatter landscapes have meant that it has been the more densely populated of the islands. This still doesn't bring it to anything near European levels of population densities though. We drove through small towns and villages, many it seemed supported only by tourism and/or agriculture- i.e. sheep farming. The bungalows type houses in the villages and dotted along the road usually resembling converted caravans, with metal walls and roofs, the occasional house was built or perhaps just clad with more solid brick structure. The wealth is not invested into buildings in New Zealand it seems, as we learnt later on, very few houses have central heating and some of the poorer ones might only have portably electric heaters, the majority having wood burning stoves. We had 500 kms on the one day to drive so didn't take too many stops as we headed north, a little shopping, fuel and lunch was pretty much it until we drive past a honey shop.

There are actually a lot of honey shops in New Zealand, this being the first we came across; it's a very nice way of getting to know the various honey products that you wouldn't really expect to have like skin creams, ice cream, mead candles etc. The tasting of manuka honeys was great, they have such a distinct flavor, I would have loved to buy some but didn't think I'd be able to finish it in time for our departure. We ended up with Ice Cream, honey and cream based… very very tasty before heading off.

As the day drew on, the light grew dimmer and it rained more heavily- heaven on earth for driving, well maybe not. The landscape was changing though as we drove closer to Lake Taupo, more rugged and desolate- the national park area with volcanic peaks, snow covered had apparently also been used in the making of the Lord of Rings- and somewhere around the was Mt Doom. It was sadly too dark for us to stop off and have a wander so we enjoyed from the car and motored on around increasingly windy roads, cornering slowly again, the driving that we'd become so used to on the south island.

We arrived in Lake Taupo and it was fairly chilly. Having spent the last night in quite wet and windy conditions we thought we'd look for a campsite for a change and use their amenities, things like our three daily shower were certainly necessary! Lake Taupo we'd arrived!

So after carefully backing into a tree (no damage to car or tree) we took to our usual evening occupation, eating and drinking and listening to the patter of rain on the van roof. It stopped in the morning and we read about hiring some bikes which to our delight, were cheap only 30 NZD for the day and definitely fine for what we had in mind! There is a specific mountain bike trail heading to see the local waterfall/gorge and it as it was the first real exercise in ages, the path was a little tough in parts, but seriously good fun. Starting off in pines and light forest, we'd head down through valleys dark and damp with plenty of mud in them on narrow trails up and down hillsides with steep drop offs and little bridges and then back into pine woodlands with views over the river. We'd decided to make a day of it and carried on up to see "craters of the moon" which was the first of some fairly putrid smelling hot air vents or mud pools. The entire area was superheated and even down by the river there was warm water here and there. The smell of sulphur was the constant accompaniment to the environment which we later drove through. The day of biking was great fun and we're feeling it that evening.

The next day was set to be exciting, we'd decided it was a must to go rafting and had made some enquiries about the rivers open. Apparently, even though there was lots of rain, it wasn't enough for some rivers to be opened as they need much more snow melt, meaning the ones we'd wanted to go on and had spent time increasing our insurance levels for were closed and we could only go on the smaller 3-4 rivers which are largely damn controlled apparently. The Rafting van picked us up early in the pouring rain and it never stopped raining all day, however, kitted out as we were it wasn't exactly cold! 5mm thick wetsuits and various apparel meant we were warmer wet than most nights dry in the van. The Rafting was south and the into the mountain, we'd picked up a fairly hungover backpacker on the way so we totaled 3 customers and one guide- perfect I suppose for getting a flavor of the rafting. We rafted 12kms down the river which picks its way through a national and unesco heritage listed site, and it was breathtaking in parts, the river was never too quick and the whole trip was a definite great fun day and I'm looking forward to faster and bigger rivers! Following the drop off after the day we revved up the van and headed north again to find a pool called "Butchers Pool' which was good to camp at and would be a nice hot bath to relax in. We found it eventually. The next morning it was beautiful sunshine and we took our time leaving the pool, having a good long soak in what seemed to be around 40 Celcius water- which in some parts was not suitable for standing in as the ground felt somewhat hotter than that! That was pretty much the last of Lake Taupo and area, so onto the next bit! (MT)

Bits we missed:

• Tongario Crossing- 17km walk closed due to snow fall and poor conditions.
  

Ferry Crossing from South to North

Tea break en route to Nelson...

To The North (via Nelson and Picton)

It's great driving around small islands, the distances are so short and with such minimal traffic, it always feels like you make such good time. So to make it more equitable to places such as the UK, throw in a couple windy roads and things start to take a little longer. Those little roads do make travelling so much more interesting. Leaving behind the valley of Bacchus (or one of his many valleys) the route took us through horse country and past some inlets that cover much of the northern coast line. Interesting as they are flooded river systems by the sea (sea level rise) as opposed to the southern variants of flooded valleys – the Fjords which are ice created and much more dramatic in scale. Nevertheless, this was a great and beautiful drive, with the logging and fishing being the obvious mainstays of the economy here. Heading through the mountains towards Nelson we noted a couple of campsites which looked pleasant and a route to Picton which was decidedly more interesting that returning via Blenheim. So a couple more bendy ups and downs with signposts for 25kms at each one and we eventually got to a coastal flat of Nelson. The number of trucks roaring up the hill for more logs almost created a busy road.

Nelson is a lovely little place spread out between the main grid city and then along the coast line to the south. The main harbour had a couple of ships loading timber and some very nice yachts in the marina. We took it easy, ate a pleasant lunch overlooking the marina and then found some parking and wandered into the main city looking for a little internet which wouldn't be too pricey. Nelson has some good shopping – focused mainly on the outdoors sporting life and boating/fishing. The town isn't massive and well, we spotted another cinema and decided to watch a late showing of Defiance which was pretty good – again, cinema is so cheap so it's a nice way of being warm and taking it easy while not sitting in a van. I think we are getting over the van this being the 10^th week in one :-0. Well evenings anyway! Nelson has an interesting cathedral in the city and the history behind it is quite trivial and vaguely interesting. It seems small mindedness and independence from the other island persuaded Elisabeth to grant them their own Archbishop (CoE) and thus Nelson is a city in its own right. The cathedral has been rebuilt a number of times, those bloody earthquakes keen ruining things. The bell tower might want some help in being replaced though, its hideous and frankly worth tearing down, or perhaps cladding with wood or something. Imagine the architects of south bank in London with their love of concreted building a cathedral tower and that's pretty much what you have. A little less concrete though.

So onwards ho, back up the hill to a little campsite, the drive up in third gear mainly- it's pretty damn steep!!! Arriving at an aforementioned campsite. The next day Jen drove the last stretch to Picton along a very windy picturesque road – almost in a convoy with some other campers. The road not only twists and turns hugging the coast line, but dips and climbs very erratically to bays and summits. Tunnels?

Then as you start wondering where Picton is, a small port full of logs turns up with two Chinese ships loading at a relaxed pace- but that isn't it; around the corner the town of Picton appears. We didn't bother visiting the town as the port was practically the first left as we entered the place and frankly the view from the ship a little later was all we needed… the primary route between the islands, the town has a lot of rail tracks and roads from the south (two of each) heading to the ferries. Our ferry was an ex GB-France one as the painted over name on the side was Pride of Cherbourg….

On board was the usual ferry ride, a good view of a town not really worth spending time looking at, but great views of the sea and in the clear waters below, the fish and birds swimming/diving in the water chasing them. Leaving the dock, we headed out into the sounds following the coast and executing a couple tight turns around through the valleys. We finally reached the sea and while we had been warned it could be choppy, did not expect what we had. Complete and utter calm waters, the whole way. It was great, the ferry trip afforded us some views of Albatrosses and the usual people watching, cups of tea and chocolate. What felt like 1 hour was actually three and when we arrived, we found a new and very different NZ to what we had experienced.

Cycling through the vineyards of Marlborough

Marlborough Valley wine tasting

Blenheim 11-12th May

More wine. Fine wine. Cheap fine wine. Well perhaps. The promise and lure of tasting wine from an area made famous by two brands –Oyster Bay and Cloudy Bay – of white wine, we were looking forward to finding smaller independent vineyard cellar doors. On the route in, we were almost out of fuel- the red light just about to come on when we found the first petrol station after almost 100kms on the coast road which flanks the north eastern line- hugging it tightly as you pass crayfish vans and crashing waves. The pace was sedate, but none of the other traffic seemed to be particularly hurried either for a change. Stopping at the petrol station the freshly baked sausage role begged attention so it had to be bought. It was truly outstanding, lamb mince with pork wrapped in homemade pastry- the mince was more like a burger in size, and it was less than $5NZ!!! Fully fuelled up, the car hose finally stopped too, and we paid a wopping 100$ NZ for our full tank of 58 litres.. 2 litres left when we arrived, close call!

Not too much further down the windy road we found the first winery sign and decided to follow it down and found a very new building surrounded by vines well kept and multicoloured- lighter than those in the Otago region- still green where there were leaves! The winery was called Yealands, and belongs to a Peter Yealand apparently. Very keen on environmentally friendly production methods, his key sales points apart from the very nice wine was his full commitment to organic and natural production methods. Amusingly, they were looking at baby doll sheep to graze around the vines and keep the lawns low as guinea pigs hadn't been allowed in by the government. What are baby doll sheep? I'm assuming some kind of mini sheep that can't reach the grapes. We were provided a tasting with four others by a very outgoing and knowledgeable wino who ignored some of the others when they asked him to hurry up without even skipping a beat of his presentation. In fact, I'm pretty sure he slowed down after that. The winery is apparently the largest contiguous vineland in the southern hemisphere- well over 1000 ha under production. Keep an eye out for Yealands in the UK, it was quite nice!

Onwards we drove, through some other vineyards- literally we had a mini detour and rallied around one as we couldn't find their cellar door and then took a wrong turn- luckily they are all so well maintained it turned into a lot of fun driving. The Handbrake may have been applied more than once. From there we drove towards Blenheim town and found the large wineries, Montana which Jen knows well. It was gigantic… and frankly ok, but not the best wine we tasted. The staff were as ever helpful and friendly, but we managed to leave without buying anything and headed onto two more wineries, one small and outstanding with a very chatty owner once he warmed up (Lawsons Hills); the other, well mass market but they did serve great nibbles (Wither Hill). (MT)

NZ-Milford Sound, Queenstown pt2 (Arrowtown), Mt. Cook

Leaving Queenstown fairly late after a very relaxing spa sessions at the Queenstown Lodge (far end of town uphill from roundabout…) we headed into the black night and settled in for a the dark drive to Te Anau which is the last permanently inhabited town area before the fjordlands of the south island. We arrived shortly before midnight and found a "campsite" on the side of the road- in an area in where camping is made pretty difficult with lots of very obvious no camping sites. The night had been blustery and it was fairly cold outside, when we hit the pillow it had started to rain gently. Waking up to pissing rain wasn't that great, the occasional car driving by and beeping wasn't much better. What was worrying at 8am was the large amount of tour buses driving by and other campervans! So, in spite of really wanting to stay wrapped up in the warmth of the van- relative warmth, it was bloody freezing in our van, we got ready quickly and headed south east though fields of golden long grasses contrasting beautifully with the dark skies and the driving rain. When the rain abated around a half hour later, the nature of the road had changed to winding through lush temperate rainforest which was various shades of green around and above us and above that the steep sides of mountains which had received a good sprinkling of snow. The higher we drove the deeper the snow and the more fantastic the thousands of waterfalls looked cascading down the dark grey basalt rocks. What a drive! The roads cleared quickly by the mountain road clearing teams, we were held up once briefly while they swept snow off the road ensuring the hoards of buses and campers could pass. Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, winter and all keeping visitor numbers down. Through a long tunnel reminiscent of dwarfish work perhaps; we headed down hill into the next valley- rather Fjord/sound, and our destination Milford Sound. The drive down was steep and our brakes were kept very hot by the steep gradients and the sharp corners, taking us down into the valley floor once more and to the harbour. It started raining fairly heavily at this point so we decided to have a long lunch – but first checked out the costing of the tours which turned out to be rather expensive. With the serious lack of visibility it didn't make sense to do any of them, even though one did include a lunch deal. Sadly it was also too rainy for the kayak trip which would have been the ideal trip taking us close to penguins, seals, possibly dolphins and whales, and incidentally wasn't bookable from the sound, but from Te Anau. Milford sound was terrific- and definitely a place to recommend.

Heading back towards the Central Otago region – yes once again through the pissing rain for much of it during the day meant that we this time saw much more of the countryside we'd driven through towards Queenstown. It was pretty impressive - nonstop "wow's" with final amazing wow around the lake coming to Queenstown. Naturally, we had to be headed for a spa and sauna, followed by a nice meal- and a cheeky camping site in the spa hotels carpark J Thanks!!!

The next day we left early and headed to Arrowtown a little way out of town- and were very pleasantly surprised. The whole area was a gold rush area and apparently attracted a vast number of Chinese from Hong Kong in the 1870's who effectively migrated there and build a small community of very small huts- have a look at the picassa pictures!!! The remnants have been restored in some instances and are well kept for tourists to have a look at- off the beaten path. The town itself is an upmarket little tourist place, which sells lots of merino wool products and has created an image of itself to suit an illustrious past- very twee and quaint. Visit it, and have some very tasty scones and cream. It is also located like everything and everywhere else in NZ near some great walks along rivers, through mountain and in the autumnal conditions made for a lovely morning. The colours of the forests in the autumn are simply perfect - from the golden and rust coloured vines through to the shades of yellow and light green and coppers in the mixed forests up the flanks of the hills and mountains. West from there we found our route once more and drove solidly until we arrived at Mt Cook, stopping only for fuel and a stretch of legs here and there. Oh- and of course, yet another great picnic spot overlooking another lake, some vineyards and the snow capped mountains. For those of you that enjoyed the Two towers in Lord of the rings, we drove past Twizel (yes!!! A small town where lots of battles scenes with Orcs were filmed - private land so only organized tours for uber geeks), and then up the road near Mt Cook , the shots of Isengard, the mountain refuge castle – the name escapes me, and what looks like the big trek through the mountains on a path far up the mountain. It is an amazing setting and keeps the locals interested in the outside world I think. I have a sneaky suspicion it would be very easy to ignore all but the millions of sheep farmers at your doorstep in this area- the mountains and heliskiing, and lakes… Film buffs who have visited the south island will also recognize the Fjordland Milford sound and this area featuring in Wolverine, the locals were very pleased about this!!! (MT)

I shall just write a little about Mt. Cook…amazing drive into the village, past a huge turquoise lake with the majestic peaks rising cheekily into the mist on the horizon. We camped in a wee site, very basic but right at the base of the mountain. Arriving early evening, our first port of call was the information centre, which on discovering being shut, turned into the gorgeous café next door. It is a family owned business and fits all the wonderful clichés of a mountain lodge: huge roaring fires, animal skin covered armchairs, piano, hot chocolates that you could drown in pleasurably, etc, etc. However, this place also had a funky floor-ceiling glass wall overlooking the mountains as well as photos of all the mountaineering relatives from decades back – you actually do not need a gortex North Face jacket – we should all be wearing tweed Victorian dresses for mountain hikes. Chatting to the chap who owns the place has the benefit of not only feeling like you are in a place steeped in family history, but also in the very safe hands of an expert mountaineer. Mark and I were very excited by the fact that he takes people up onto the glacier for a day's skiing in his little plane and I think if it had not been too early in the season, we would happily be much poorer now. We booked a day's glacial kayaking on the lake instead which sounded pretty amazing, although unfortunately when we got up the next morning it was too windy to go out safely. That night, I cooked a big hearty stew and we tried to stay as warm as possible in the very cold van – we had ice on the inside the next morning. As the kayaking was cancelled, we went for a walk around the valley which was beautiful and very energizing with bright blue skies and a bracing wind blowing us along our way. Before departing Mt. Cook, it would have been rude not to sample the hot chocolate spectaculaire one more time… (JG)

Christchurch to Queenstown 30th Apr – 4th May

Christchurch 30^th April

After a very smooth flight from Sydney, which took a surprisingly short 2.5 hours, we arrived in Christchurch. We immediately picked up the van, which was absolute luxury compared to our Australian version. For a start, you can stand up to full height inside, which will hopefully save weeks of near unconsciousness. It has a fridge (no steaks floating in smelly water at the bottom of an ice box), 2 gas hobs inside and a sink with running water and a proper duvet – yippee! I optimistically ordered outside chairs and tables as well, however, I think we are going to be very glad that we can do much more inside. It's funny what excites you when you have been used to living very basically for a while – probably quite good for everyone to do it now and again to appreciate the simpler things in life! The first night we met up with Stevie who was staying in a hostel in the centre of town, not before having a late pub lunch of roast lamb – mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Christchurch is very small and there is not a huge amount to do, so having agreed to meet up with Steve and the other boys (who fly in on the 8^th) to do some wine tasting on the 9^th May, Mark and I decided to head south.

Arthurs Pass: Trans-Alpine route – May 1^st

My sister recommended quite a few places in NZ including this drive – it is the same route that the Trans-Alpine train takes from Greymouth to Christchurch and it does not disappoint. For our first taste of NZ scenery, it definitely had the wow factor. Every corner you turn is accompanied by a 'wow, get the camera.' Rolling valleys and dramatic mountains, red and gold autumnal leaves, sprinklings of snow on certain peaks, rushing crystal clear rivers and everything being a luscious green. We stopped en route for a walk around some fantastically shaped rocks which reminded me of a giants' cemetery. In addition, we had many stops for quick walks, view admiring and of course, one of Aunty's homemade venison pies. Greymouth is set on the sea with a backdrop of the dramatic snow capped Southern Alps. We visited Speights ale bar and sampled some of their offerings, before returning to the van to camp by the beach in a quiet spot off the road. Friday night was probably not the best to camp, as we were interrupted by some teenagers 'pretending to be the NZ police' – quite convincing aside from the banging tunes coming out of the revved up car and the giggles in the background. Very comical. I thought I was very safe the next morning using the outdoor loo on the deserted beach in front of the van, until a helicopter appeared out of nowhere only 20m above me, with a waving a smiling pilot…what else could I do other than to wave back and give my best grin?

Franz Josef Glacier 2^nd – 3^rd May

You would imagine that you would get blasé about the consistently stunning scenery, however it is impossible, and as ever, the drive from Greymouth to Franz Josef was beautiful, having the sea on our right, and the mountains on our left. Franz Josef is a small wee alpine resort totally geered into visitors, with some cosy bars and the all important hot springs. We arrived mid afternoon, and decided to get some fresh air, so hiked up a hill and along to one of the rivers, which flows down from the glacier. It was a beautiful 3 hour walk and we even managed to pick up a lost cat on the way back who was extremely friendly, following us all the way down. I am not normally fussed about cats, but this one was really very sweet, enjoying being carried down some of the hill and constantly purring. I did feel a bit guilty though once we had lured it down to the bottom as a huge great Rottweiler came bounding out of nowhere – oops. The cat suddenly wasn't so tired anymore.

In the evening we visited the hot springs, which are beautiful at night – all open air and flood lit, there are 3 pools from 36 – 40 degrees. Compared to the cold air outside of the pool, it is fantastic to lie there steaming yourself and looking at the stars. We camped up near the glacier and seeing it by night was beautiful as the moon lights it up making it look like a big snowy river. We had to turn up the gas stove that night though as it was pretty chilly!

Bright and early we walked to the bottom of the glacier. There is a huge river bed in front of the glacier where the retreat has taken place over past years. You have to walk over this, and then you get to the base of the glacier. It is fantastic being able to get so close and see the river underneath, almost in a natural bridge. It retreats or extends by up to 1m a year, and it is very interesting/scary to see how much it has retreated since, say the 1920s, when the river bed was actually a lake. You can climb the glacier with ice shoes, something Mark and I would love to have done, however we were not keen on route marching up in a group of 20 (x perhaps 15 groups). Therefore we both decided it was a beast to be conquered when we have more money and can hire a private guide!

We also drove past the Fox glacier, which is also possible to climb. Onwards towards Queenstown, which was a relatively long drive (although nothing seems long after Australia). We stopped at Bruce Bay and Lake Wanaka, which were just gorgeous. We also had a brief pit stop at a new winery in Central Otago to get a bottle of red to go with our lamb chops that night. We met a very friendly NZ lady who had just come over from living in Guernsey to 'live her dream' in setting up her own winery. She loved the fact we were driving around in a van!

Queenstown 3^rd – 4^th May

We got to Queenstown just as it was getting dark and found somewhere to camp, along the lake esplanade. The town is really cute – beautiful setting by a lake and surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range, it surpassed my expectations as purely being a party town for the ski bums. It does seem to have great amenities, international cuisine and a whole host of adrenaline seeking activities available – not for the faint hearted. We visited a small wine bar/cellar door which drew us inside purely by the big open fireplaces and sheepskin rug clan armchairs and had a winter warmer before exploring the rest of the town.

Rudely awakened the next morning by a traffic warden banging on our door, we thought if we pretended to not be in the van and hide further under the duvet, he would just go away. Unfortunately this was not the case & he was peskily persistent. Apparently our lake side abode was simply not acceptable & we had to move/not camp within 10km inside the town again – he was friendly enough I suppose and at least we did not get fined. So we moved about 20m down the road and had breakfast over looking the lake, which was lovely. Then onwards and upwards – we took the cable car up to the top of the hill and had a crack at the Luge, which is great fun by the way. Their marketing is very much around the consensus that once is 'never enough.' They were right – I believe that being equally competitive meant Mark and I had to have another go at the hilarious carting track from the top of the chair lift down to the bottom.

Quick hot chocolate, then off for a walk. We followed the track towards Ben Lomond saddle, which went through some gorgeous pine forests then into the open fields, with great views of the lake. We walked up for about an hour and a half before we got to the saddle, and then decided that we wanted to climb to the top, so we kept going. The weather was warm and windless, so the 360 degree views were absolutely spectacular. We struggled a bit towards the top as it was about 3pm and we had not eaten since the naughty traffic warden woke us up about 8am, so we were both absolutely starving. It was 100% worth the climb though as it felt like we were on top of NZ at the top (we weren't actually – that'll be Mt. Cook next week). After wolfing down a very late lunch (about 5pm) we went off in search of a shower, which we found in the form of a great jaccuzzi and sauna overlooking the lake for only 5$ - this made us very happy indeed! In the evening we drove about 170km to Te Anau in preparation for our trip to Milford Sounds in the morning. JG

Blue Mountains & Sydney

We arrived in the Blue Mountains to be somewhat surprised by the cold weather – 6 degrees C – Australia is not meant to be cold! We had a fun day driving around, stopping at various walking tracks and pottering around looking at the impressive craggy views. We ended up camping in a random rest area, making a fire and drinking some more of our Hunter Valley purchases. We were joined by an Aussie chap called Roy, who was driving around on his own, and we had a very pleasant evening cooking together and sharing travelling tales.

Next day, onwards to Sydney! We arrived just as the light was fading and got a spectacular view of the city skyline as we drove over the bridge, which was exciting. We did a bit of a recky of the city trying to find somewhere to camp. Parking is so expensive and it seems that they have all areas covered, or maybe not! We found a little spot in Rushcutters Bay to camp, hoping that we would not wake up to banging outside the next morning. Even better, we opened up our van door, and had a fabulous view of the harbour and the bridge – for free – who needs to stay in the Intercontinental?!

The next day, first stop was the public swimming pool – I could have sworn that there was a film of dirt around both of us despite showering beforehand! Moving further down the coast had meant that the free cold beach side showers were not so appealing, so we were going an average of 3 days at a time without showering! Feeling clean and spritely, we had an excellent day pottering around the city, which was every bit as accessible as I remembered – Sydney does seem to be one of those places where you can 'have it all' – the outdoorsy healthy lifestyle combined with a cosmopolitan city. Day 2 we prepared the van for return, which took quite a while, particularly getting those last bits of Outback dust out. We did this at Bronte Beach, which is just a short walk around the cliff from the popular Bondi and much more beautiful.

On the final day, we walked around Darling Harbour and up to the Opera House, having a picnic of take-away sushi in the Botanical Gardens. The evening was spent with some of Mark's friends from London who have moved to Sydney, so it was fun to get a 'Sydneysider's view of the city while enjoying some excellent and very cheap Indian food. For the last two nights, Mark and I treated ourselves to a hotel room, although I say treated, it was still cheaper than two youth hostel beds at the YHA! What a wonderful time we had in Australia – and so much more to see another time. In hindsight, the best decision we made was taking a camper van – it really gave us the choice and flexibility to become very isolated or join the tourist trail. I am looking forward to NZ for more camper van adventures! JG

 

Bluemountains.. cold !!!

Whitsundays to Broke… it’s a long one folks!

Leaving another very touristy town full of the usual mix of backpackers pretending to see the world and yachties fully enjoying the drunken buffoonery of them, we travelled south in the pissing rain with high winds making the journey time slightly longer than we wanted.. to where, not sure, just south and away from the crowds. Well, not quite, we had a good idea of where we wanted to go- set steam for Bundaberg and the Rum distillery. Through the coastal roads, mountains and back into the plains, we first decided to stop off at Agnes Waters and Town of 1770 which we'd heard about but I don't think fully appreciated when we got there till the next day.

Arriving there this year is possibly not such a bad deal, the large number of newly built holiday homes along the road connecting the two villages is substantial and it seems like they will be overrun at some point in the not too distant future- however, as they are low rise there is hope if won't affect the character of the area too much. The beach itself was superb, with a beautiful crescent bay and long breaking waves coming in making it a perfect place to learn surfing. An even better reason was the price- $22 per head. Turn up at the surf shop at ten am and then go from there. Surfing was great fun, according to some it's just a waste of time trying to wait for the right wave and then riding it for seconds. I think they either suck at it, or really believe any old bullshit. It is a great sport and the next day our much underutilized muscles ached as we'd been swimming through the surf, riding waves (trying to) and then turning around and doing it again. The surfing rash… well that was another story. Surf. It is great fun and pretty cheap. Go to 1770. Free camping near the campsite in 1770 – about 10 minutes drive from main village- you might have to choose to ignore no camping signs. Two days later we headed on south towards Bundaberg, home of the now fairly famous Rum.

Heading off to Bundaberg on half empty tank took around 3 hours down a road which would be classed as an B road, and at times was as windy and narrow as those in Norfolk, but the forested countryside with its large farm, horse dotted between the forests and lakes makes it perfect for a relaxed drive! At some stage you sadly hit the main road into Bundaberg which is like many other Australian cities and has a very sad looking main shopping street, a railway and some other shopping areas, but this time round a massive railway line. Oh, and of course the distillery. Thankfully we were starving for lunch after tasting some very potent rum- so we left Bundaberg sober… Incidentally, our lunches were outstanding pub grub, most suited to the day. Mashed potato with leeks and onions served with butterflied pork chop in cream and white sauce with apples - all for less than 5$ a head, and cooked in one pot and one frying pan. Who said you can't eat well camping? Anyway… onwards and south to Hervey Bay and our favourite weekend to date.

Hervey bay is the base camp for most expeditions to Fraser Island and it's a great little town, stretched thinly along the coast with all the usual amenities – beach, sea, bbq spots and eating spots. Great! We booked a tour like pretty much everyone else with a firm called Beaches. They run hostels and do tours- if you aren't younger than 21 and have some money, don't bother. However, we got our fair bit from them, as their car park was next to their showers and no one checked to see… so we slept onsite and used their amenities without paying- great success!

So, arriving in a fairly nondescript little town on the coast in Australia – on the east coast usually implies there was something pretty worthwhile to do. Friends and various tour books suggest that a trip to Fraser Island is a must do, so whilst we had studiously avoided most of the tourist traps on the coast, we did think we should go and do this as it offered the opportunity to drive through a massive sand dune and along a beach, visit crystal clear lake McKenzie and possibly see Sharks amassing off a place called India Head. All really worthwhile incidentally. The technical driving at slow speeds through the forests is an amazing experience and you really have a bit of a learning curve driving heavily loaded "Troopies" as they're know locally – some have even greater luck of learning how to drive them with a full load of monkeys onboard. Canadian in our case- they epitomized what is wrong with the tours- or at least one of the three in the convoy that starts off drinking at 9am from the rental place which Beaches works with. This seemed to be true of all of the groups- Steve and Dean had one car load similar to ours in their convoy too, and we saw several more enroute who had two normal cars of backpackers who were excited about seeing the island and were able to have fun without getting utterly trashed and then aggressive. So…our first day started off with a worry, then some polite disagreements, and ended up in yelling matches and being threatened with violence when we refused them driving. I have honestly never met such a bunch of wankers in my life. At the very end there were even threats to break Jen's jaw!!! What a man Tyler tries to not be. When we finally got to the camping site, 4 hours late due to smoking breaks galore, a challenging, but very enjoyable 4x4 rock section, the campsite manager was utterly distressed due to the pretty crap day they'd had. He asked us about our trip and then promptly put a call into the local policeman to speak to the boys- who then finally calmed down. We had some very sobering news at that point that another troopie (Landcruiser trooper) had toppled and rolled 8x that morning and two hadn't made it. We were all the more thankful for our stubborn reserve, the idiots on our trip didn't seem to realize what a challenge beach driving with 11 people in a troopie is. The other Landcruisers on the beach btw, didn't have the same tyre tread as us- generally much wider and also did not have the very top heavy loading. My criticism for the trip organizers is that sending out 11 people per carrier is greedy and unsafe, when pretty much all the other vehicles have much broader tyres, shouldn't the off road tyres being used by the firm be changed? Finally, Beaches should by now know the nature of heavy drinking on their trips and perhaps instead of loading the cars full of booze should do a monthly delivery of a set amount of drink to the island that can be pre ordered from a specific list to ensure sober drivers and consumption only when out of the cars?

What was great? Have a look at the photo's, the champagne pools, lake McKenzie, the driving along the beach and through the forest tracks, the large majority of tourists who were exceptionally helpful and supportive during the entire weekend and the managers of the campsite. What would I suggest you do if you want to go? Find 3 to 4 other people and rent a 4x4 Landcruiser and kit and food. It is a stunning island and overall exciting and beautiful.

 

So…. What next after a tumultuous weekend? We decided to carry on heading south, having heard that there was plenty to see slightly inland and also make some time to the Hunter Valley and Bluemountains. To get there, we had to drive a fairly boring motorway filled with drivers overtaking in any lane passing Gympie (YES its called Gympie!!!) and then bypassed Brisbane. The big city experience we wanted we thought we'd save for Sydney- Brisbane we thought would be unlikely to really wow us this time round. We'd heard good things about the coastal resort of Surfers Paradise, and decided to make our stop there – what a mistake that was. Surfers Paradise should be a beautiful town by the name of it, but instead its filled with shops surely no surfer can afford, ridiculously tall condo buildings, and lots of crass tourists from Asia and Europe. We found a camping place, cooked dinner found a starbucks had some tea and then went to bed. Woke up overlooking the beach, something I am always happy with, as is Jen, saw the skyscrapers and almost unanimously said "lets go."

From there onward the trip returned to its blissful and enjoyable driving, walking and experiences. We headed East into Nerang and then headed towards Lamington National Park. The drive was amazing, steep roads and winding bends through lush countryside. We stopped at a Natural Bridge which was also thus signposted- a great achievement of the Australians is their literal naming of places which are in English. The number of 3 mile and 12 mile creeks is enormous for starters. Parking up at the Natural Bridge was certainly something new and interesting- the facilities suddenly took a dive in quality and condition, there was no water in the taps- essentially NSW vs NT and QSLD NSW loses out badly, bt when you have a camper it was no problem! Plenty of water for some fresh pasta and bacon with whitewine sauce, another great meal. The bridge itself was amazing, water pouring into one hole from above and through the filtering blue light into the darkness and then back into splendid sunshine- we've tried to take some good photo's of it.. but it wasn't that easy- have to work on those skills J.

From there we headed south into the pissing rain and towards Grafton. By this time, the rain and the weather had slowed us right down so we ploughed on and were chased by several large trucks who aggressively overtook anytime they had the chance. With no roobars we decided to take it slowly coming to our campsite at a rest station enroute south of Grafton. The next day our weather fortune was slightly better and we headed to Coffs Harbour which isn't much of a town, but provided an excellent walk with massive waves crashing across the harbour protection as well as the surfers and body borders taking advantage of the massive swell. There is a small Mutton bird sanctuary there where we met an fun old man from Newcastle who was with the Salvation Army and a bunch of kids on day trip. He was more than happy to tell us where to see a Muttonbird chick and then chatted to us later on about what we could catch in Newcastle. At this point I had no idea what we'd be seeing there and was astounded to hear that they transfer pilots from coal ship to coal ship by helicopter, pretty cool stuff. It is apparently the largest Coal Harbour in the world, and when we go there, that was understandable. The trainlines running into Newcastle seemed to be clogged with coal trains and I think the UK Newcastle with its history might be a little peeved with the way history has worked out. The town itself is a very interesting mix of heavy industry and shipping, some amazing old town bits where we were naughty and surfed the web for free, and of course like any other town in Oz, has endless suburbs. At sea… its pretty amazing, huge coal tankers waiting in line to come into the port area and surfers once more enjoying the swell. The next morning we watched the local ferries and tug boats emerge and disappear into the mist while eating our breakfast, with the van door firmly closed. It was COLD!

Australia has a few must see's, the Roo's, the croc's and of course the cuddly stuff. Newcastle has a great free sanctuary for these little grey things that appear to prop up tree's while resting on very thin branches. Koala's are very cute, but very, very boring. We didn't try and cuddle one, but we were pleased to have seen some after having seen signs warning about then falling out of tree's along the road. I assume falling out of tree's as they don't seem to move. I think they wait for the leaves to grow in front of them, then wake up and eat them before hibernating once more. Wombats were much more impressive.

Heading again south, where else?

Hunter Valley – April 24th

After a short drive from Newcastle, via a wildlife sanctuary with Koalas, we arrived in Cessnock in the heart of the Hunter Valley. Confusion over how to get to the Vineyards was short-lived after discovering that every sign in fact was signposted to a Vineyard of sorts. Opting to go through the town first we took the last turning and ended up driving through beautiful countryside, with rolling green hills, paddocks full of horses, and of course, rows upon rows of vines.

You almost stumble across the vineyards by accident as despite being frequent, they are mostly tucked away up steep winding tracks. In essence, the process for each wine tasting session is to walk into the old stone houses which all contain a bar, and then you proceed to get asked which wines you would like to sample. The owners are all extremely knowledgeable with their recommendations (and excellent sales people) although there is never any pressure to buy and the whole atmosphere is very lighthearted and definitely about appreciating fine wine. Mark and I decided to stick to the small wineries which produced exclusively for the Hunter Valley to get some more interesting and individual tastings. The HV classics are Semillon for white and Shiraz for red. Learning more about wine has been high on the desires list in a bid to escape going for a bottle that is 'expensive so it must be good' or 'it has to be dry.' It seems that the ideal conditions are dry weather but not too hot, with certain years producing sought after batches of wine. Being a huge fan of red wine, I was understandably in heaven having sample after sample thrust forth with the declaration that you 'really must try this vintage 1999 merlot' – how can one possibly be so rude as to refuse..? And emerging into the very bright (!) daylight after each cellar to be drenched in brilliant sunshine and indulged in such beautiful surrounds really made the day one of the highlights so far. I have listed the vineyards where we graced our presence, as much for my memories as for your potential interest. The day was rounded up by a fabulously illegal bit of parking on top of a hill in a rest area overlooking the valley accompanied by BBQ steak, a select bottle from our educational day and a very long game of chess…

Vineyards in order of visit (I think)

1. Briar Ridge (bought Rose)
   
2. Petersons (bought Vintage Merlot)
   
3. Mount View (lunch stop on their hill afterwards & bought Shiraz, only 3000 bottles made)
   
4. Savannah Estate (bought 1/2 bottle Syrah)
   
5. Petersons Champagne House
   
6. Hungerford Hill
   
7. Tempus Two Winery (also fabulous smelly cheese shop abusing free samples and purchasing of Ciabatta)
   
8. Tamburlaine Wines
   
9. Pokolbin Estate (also port sampling & olive shop – bought bottle Tempranillo. Funny man serving who offered to let us see his pet brown snake. Hmmmm…)
   
10. Rosemount Estate and Lindemans (only big winery visited for novelty purposes. Knew it was time to leave when I asked if one could order 'onwine') –PS (Mt ( owned by fosters!!!))
    

Next morning: BBQ sausage sandwiches with Ciabatta and much gloating from chess win. Floating happy feeling for waking up in such a beautiful place and for having had such a funny, funny day before. JG

 

Waking up ontop of a hill looking at wineries, we knew our only option was to leave and head for Broke, as otherwise we would be. The road headed East then south and twisted and turned its way through Military practice areas and more wineries before the turn off to Wollombi and turn into a sometimes one way, sometimes two way road. Winding and twisting, with bridges limiting weight of vehicles strictly, we found ourselves accompanied by Motorbikes of all shapes and sizes who wizzed down the roads and around the corners with massive grins and perhaps a couple of flies in their teeth? This road took us down into the Blue Mountains and was slow, but superb. (MT)