Cruisin...

Hello all!

We picked up our van from Wicked Campers and started our journey from Brisbane to Cairns. But before that, we took a detour south to the gold coast to see the theme parks.



This is us parked up at the gold coast - our van is called Murdock as it has a big pic of the lead singer from Gorillaz, Murdoch (aka Damon Albarn from Blur). You can't see it as the door is open, but I'll get a pic sometime soon.

I had hoped to be able to choose our van, as there were heaps of options (including a Beatles one, which Princess wanted) but we were issued this. On the plus side, it was an upgrade to power steering and A/C as the one pencilled for us hadn't arrived.

We have seen heaps of these campers, and every one has a unique paint job. Saw one painted up in yellow with the DHL logo, and "Days and Hours Late" underneath it.. funny. Also seen Scoobys mystery machine, Sex pistols, Family Guy, Simpsons, the Goonies... you get the idea.

So on day one, we went to Dreamworld and looked around. I went on all the rides, but Princess didn't want to ride the scary ones. The only one that was truly scary was the Giant Drop




First off, I'm not great with heights. Second, this is easily double the height of the one at Rainbows End. Third, although fast acceleration is exilerating, being accelerated downwards is a whole different thing! I was scared for most of the ride upwards slowly, and downright petrified on the 3 seconds of freefall downwards.... urg!

To make things worse, that night we hear that some poor girl in the US got her feet ripped off at the ankle on a very similar ride, with the boss of Dreamworld going on TV assuring everyone that their ride was OK...

All the other thrill rides were fun. On top of the thrill rides there were lots of other things to do.



They had a Tiger show, and we got to get up close (but not touch) the baby tiger cubs... Sooooo cute! we saw a few iMax movies, and ate lots of (expensive) candy.. was really cool.



We won some tickets at the arcade park, so I got a tattoo for my mum - Love you mom! Don't worry its just a sticker...

Went to WhiteWaterWorld next door the next day, but it was a bit cold to really enjoy, so after trying out all the rides, we went back to DreamWorld. Princess will tell you all about the water park rides sometime anyway.

After our fun at the gold coast, we headed north to go to Australia Zoo (CRIKEY!). Aus has these rest stops that you are allowed to stay for up to 20 hours, so we found one close to the zoo and parked up for the night. Early morning, we went around to the zoo...




I tried to be a ninja like Steveo but due to the crap camera, we couldn'
t get a good action shot.




Australia zoo is very nice, big enclosures and quite natural feeling. And yes, that snake is huuuuuge! Bindi and Terri were not there, I saw them on the news (we have a tiny B/W TV that plugs into the cig lighter) that night opening some kind of whale watching endeavour in Noosa. Boy the merchandise machine is in full swing at their shop though, Crikey this, and Bindi that - I can see why some think she is being exploited. Perhaps its OK because the cash goes towards saving the crocs etc. (Crocs Reuule!)



This baby is expected to grow to 12 feet!



The Crocoseum is where they do a croc show to 5000 people (but not on a tuesday in midwinter - more like 1000). Was kinda cool, but i wish Irwin was there doing it! There was a huge memorial under this with all the letters, gifts etc sent in memory of Steve - touched lots of peoples lives ... and a few bung-holes according to south park :)



Australia zoo also had a tiger show, but theirs was better, we got to see them jumping and swimming! Very cool. The tigers didnn't like getting into the pool because their front paws are so sensitive. once their paws are wet, they jump in no problem. And don't worry, the water is heated to 28C...warm!

They didn't have all sorts of animals, mainly just Australian ones which was nice. No polar bears sweating etc. The exceptions were the Tigers (for conservation) and some Elephants. Everything else was Crocs, 'roos, birds, snakes from Aus.

Times running out, so I'll chat later. Love you all. T.

Brrrrrrisbane

So, as Princess detailed, we spent a couple of days in Auckland hanging out with her family there. Chris (Princess' Dad) had his fuel pump die and the ADSL stop going in one day - it seemed like I brought trouble with me... I didn't mean to Chris!

I think I might have brought that cold weather up from Welly, and over to Brisbane too... though I see on stuff that Otago is snowed under!





Or first day in Brisbane was cold! We spent the morning wandering around the central city looking at the shops (And being silly with the local artwork..). Its no surprise that all malls look the same, but we were both surprised at how many shops in NZ are actually Aus shops! Brumbys, cash converters, woolworths, DSE, Ma Higgins, Hogsbreath cafe.. there are heaps more, but I can't think of them ATM.

I expected it to warm up, but my lunchtime it was obvious that it wasn't going to, so we went down to a bargain clothes shop and got princess a $30 jacket.... mm much warmer. Everyone said that that the river banks were beautiful, so I suggested we hire a tandem (super tourist-y) and so we cycled a figure of 8 over the 3 big bridges and along the banks.. very nice!



Stopped our tandem down South Bank and had a look at this Tibetan (hand carved) wooden building made for the '88 expo in Brisbane. It was beautifully intricate -the pics dont do it justice.



Saw the (mechano) Storey bridge up close - very pretty, but don't look down! I can't do heights very well, and it wasn't till I suggested we stop for a picture that I realised how high that bridge is! It has a huge runup on the 'kangaroo point' side, because the other side of the river is has a cliff with the connecting road on top, so the bridge has to be quite high.

I think the EnergyIntellect office was on Kangaroo Point - not sure? Couldn't find it anyway..




After a hard days excercise (11 km ton the bike the brochure said) We went back to the YHA and just blobbed in front of the TV for a while before crashing out for the night.

Next day, we got up early and headed out to Lone Pines Koala Sanctuary. I'll let a picture speak first..



We walked around looking at a whole range of fluro colored birds, then listened to the story of koalas - how their numbers are dwindling due to predators, urbanisation and bushfires etc. Very sad. They are very picky about what gumtree varieties they eat, and their bums have unique white markings which is apparently so that when viewed from below, it looks like sun thru the trees...



Of course princess wanted to cuddle them, but they were gouging more cash for an actual hold, so we instead just went and patted them. very soft. Very cute. Very relaxed. Contrary to popular belief, they dont get stoned from gumleaves, its just that there is bugger all energy in gum leaves so they have to sleep 20 hours a day, and so are generally chill/asleep animals.





The koalas are soooooo cute! You can see the mums and their young in the pic above.



There were heaps of cute animals, if you click on one of the pics, you can go to all our pics, including the aforementioned fluro birds etc.. We werre surprised at how calm and gentle the 'roos were too - you culd just walk up and feed them! I guess they get used to it after the first hundred busloads of Japanese tourists...

Afterwards, we took the bus back to the YHA and had an afternoon nap - we aren't used to all this exercise! The next day (now for me) we checked out of the YHA and we are about to pick up our wicked campervan... wooo roadtrip! Its a diesel, and will be covered in graffiti. Pics will come. Not sure if Princess can drive it as shes still on her NZ restricted... I think she wants to do the final test up in Kaitaia where there is like 1 set of traffic lights and 1 roundabout... rush hour is when 2 cars go the same way down a street...

Love you all, Toolman

Auckland and onward..

Hi everyone!

Well it has been rather awhile since I last posted an entry, so here I am again! I have been given the task of covering the Auckland leg of our trip, so here goes...

We left Napier at 1.00pm on Saturday afternoon. It was very surreal saying goodbye to my mum, I can't believe I'm not going to see her for at least two years! After lots of hugs and photos (mum even snuck onto the bus to take some!) we were on our way. The bus ride to Taupo was great as it was snowing! There is a certain magical quality about the snow which I just love, I am always excited to see it.

We also had the great pleasure of being driven to Taupo by a gorgeous Maori man named Hone. He was SUCH a character and the epitome (sp?) of Kiwi. He gave us an interesting commentary of the local surroundings which was neat. He also made a point of reminding us to take all our belongings with us when we left the bus as he has many nephews and nieces' who would appreciate some free stuff! It was so funny.

Approx 5 hours later we arrived in Auckland. Dad came and collected us. Had a nice night catching up with Dad, his partner Gill and her daughter/my stepsister Lauren.

The next day we had a goodbye lunch with some family friends and some friends of mine. It was really nice to see everybody and get a chance to say goodbye as it might be a while before we see them again. I was very spoilt and received lots of lovely presents. Thanks guys!

This is me and my (huge) brother! He left on a 12 day mission with some of his mates to Japan the day before us.

On Monday we went and spent the day in Queen Street. It was nice to have a wander around my old stomping ground and check out what had changed. Tim's father and stepmother were heading off on a cruise from Princes Wharf in the afternoon, so we met up with them for a coffee.

(Toolman here: The obligatory pose with me and Dad - He won the cruise as a prize for selling the most in a 6 month period. If you are in Tauranga and need a home, go see Nice Paul!)

On Monday night one of my oldest and dearest friends came over for a visit which was lovely. She spent 3 months of last year over in the US, so she had lots of interesting photos to show us.

And then it was Tuesday. Departure day. It was such a strange day, I wasn't quite sure how to feel. It was all a little overwhelming to be honest. I couldn't let myself think about leaving NZ, suddenly I felt VERY patriotic. I love my little country! I bought myself a NZ t-shirt at the airport which I intend to wear very proudly.

We boarded our flight destined for Brisbane at 2.35pm. Goodbye NZ! We sat next to a lovely German guy called Christian (TT: Cwistian... he had that funny German liwsp) who we spent most of the flight chatting to. He told us tales of his adventures around NZ and Australia, and gave us some suggestions of where we should visit.

We arrived at Brisbane airport around 5.00pm. The first thing I noticed was how dark it was - it seemed like it was the middle of the night. We didn't get up to much last night, just had a quick wander round near our hostel to find some kai.

Brisbane is cold! We have spent today wandering around the CBD of the city and there is a very nasty wellingtonesque wind around. Neither of us have bought a great deal of warm clothing with us so we are freezing, hence the visit to an internet cafe! It's far too cold to be outside. Apart from the cold Brisbane is a pretty city with lots of lovely old architecture. I am very tempted by the masses of shops, but have to be strong as I am on a very strict budget! I think I may crack a little and buy a warm jacket though.....

Anyways darlings I am going to finish this now and try and convince Tim that it is time to have lunch. It's only 11.30am, but we've been up for hours as our stupid body clocks are out of whack.

Take care everyone!

xxxxxxxxxx

Napier...

..The Art Deco city.

Having left Otaki we took the bus to Napier - The second half of the bus ride was fine, with us both listening to music on our iPods. There isn't much else to do on the bus except jab each other and that novelty wears off...


eventually.

I spent the toilet stops with a small black purse full of coins feeding them patiently into the vending machines. These are all from my coin savings jar. Saving my coins was a habit I picked up from my step-mum Jill (thanks). Wasn't great at it when I was young, but when I started working seriously I decided to just throw the silver in my pocket in a cardboard glenfiddich tube every night (where you cant see it - jars are no good!). It soon accumulates - most years it exceeds $120.

I figure that 20 cent pieces weigh the most per dollar, so everything and everyone has been getting twenties till they run out. Anyway, Arrived in Napier and had our first real walk with our backpacks and, er, front packs on. Looks something like:



Our maternity packs on our fronts are not shown, but we are travelling light (later on at the airport, we were weighed at 14-15kg of pack each). Landing in Napier, we walked straight to our favourite shop; Jesters pies. Welington sooo needs one of these shops! They do a spinach feta and mushroom pie that is yummy as. After filling up, we taxied to Princess mums place (Sue) andwited for her to finish work, while cuddling Boswell.. (Boom! fatty-boswell.. Though nowhere as fat as Rusty, Princess' Dads' cat..)

We spent a lazy few days in Napier, watching TV, tying up the loose ends of the flat and any outstanding paperwork for travel. Had to redirect our post, passion all the utilities accounts for the flat, and navigate the maze that is the IRD phone system and website - we are (hopefully) now non-residents for tax purposes. Urg what a mission, but we got it done.

We also got out the movie out of the blue about Aramoana - was a very good movie, and quite chilling. Very normal rural NZ, which reminds you that it could have been anywhere.

Princess' mum, Sue, took us out to an awesome meal at a restaurant called Taste, and we both think it would be on our top 10 meals ever! The waiter/owner was bubbly and friendly, without being overbearing. At his suggestion, we tried a parsnip and apple soup to share as part of our entree. I was suitable skeptical, but it was soo nice! The apple was very subtle, and the soup was thick and creamy - the combination worked very well!



Thanks Sue, the whole meal was wonderful. I had pine nut and pumpkin fritters, while Princess had a stuffed Chicken breast and Sue had a vege Laksa. Mmmm.



Our last week in NZ was rather cold! I think the whole island was frozen; Napier especially so. Our Wellington-hardened bodies couldn't cope without blankets, heaters and lots of hot drinks. We also went to Ocean Spa, the hot pools down on Marine Parade... very nice, especially as it was socold! Every time we are in Napier, we go there - seriously, its a great place..

I upgraded Sues computer RAM - 64MB just didn't cut it, so I went to one of the small Asian computer shops to try and find some (old) SDRam. After a couple of trips back and forth with different varieties, I finally managed to find a 256Mb chip that worked in her Compaq. Windows ME sucks a lot less with 320Mb RAM! You can now switch applications (eg from internet explorer to MS word) without waiting 5 minutes listening to it chew the hard disk to pieces!





Princess had a small bundle of old letters etc that she wanted to burn - very cathartic. So I busted out my scout skills and we had a last-minute ritual burning...





Before leaving on Saturday; the bus from Napier to Taupo goes over a few ranges, and every time we got near the summit, it started Snowing! at Midday! Thats something you don't see very often...



Can't really see it, but that is snow, not clouds in the picture. Princess will tell you more about the busride in the next post, but I got through all of the audiobook, So long, and thanks for all the fish on my new iPod. A great set of stories, they are..

FP: "... its unpleasantly like being drunk.."
AD: "Whats so unpleasant about being drunk?"
FP: "Ask a glass of water..."

Catching our breath

Hi all,

Leaving Wellington, Princess and I ventured up to stay with my Mum in Otaki. We arrived with Nick and the Range Rover late evening Monday to pecan pie and coffees. After seeing nick off, retiried to bed for the night.



In the morning, we had a nice brunch with homemade bread and a suite of dips and spreads. This is the 'after' pic, sorry.

Mum was excited to show us her new cows - so we spent some time looking over the cattle. Mum has dexter cows on her property, and there are a half dozen baby cows.



Princess was trying to figure out how to get close enough for a cuddle. Baby cows (and cows in general) are very curious animals and if you stay still, they will come up and say hi... unfortunately their mums are rather protective. Now cows are gentle and passive animals, but when a tonne of beef walks up to you and moos at you to get back, you listen.

The babies were really cute, and they are short enought to get under the single line electric fence. Well most of them were; the smallest was frollicking back and forth under it, while the slightly older (and therefore taller) ones were more hesitant, as they would get zapped on the back!

Mum can tell them all apart by their horn shape and size, annd their relative sizes and boney-ness.. they all look like cows to me though..



After cow inspection, we finalised our storage, making sure they were sealed and stacked out of the way.



The old garage/extra bedroom is now a storage room! 20 x 100 liter tubs worked a treat. Thanks Mum and John!



We had a bit more of a wander arond the farm, as it was a beautiful day. I'm holding the camera in this one.. sneaky! I must have said something amusing and witty e.g. "What is the second most common topping for pizza, after tomatoes?"



Quack! Last time we came up, we managed to pick up one of the ducks. Princess got to hold it and give it a cuddle/squeeze. You should have seen the "I want to guidge (squeeze) it soo much!" look on her face... Lou you know what Im talking about.


"Now where is that cat?" - Thats Mum hunting for the elusive cat, Max.



Princess wanted to meet Max properly. Max is a very shy kitty but is sweet and beautiful if you get to meet him. Oscar is a great cat, but very alpha, and Max is very skittish. Princess did get to meet and feed them later in the evening - maybe she'll tell that story.

I remember mum telling me that cat names are always good if they have the sssss sound. I guess kitties like the noise?

Bossswell, Osssscar, Maxsssss!



The comments section weclomes (no, expects) your funny one-liners for this picture. For those new to the 'blog thing, there is a comments click-word (button) at the bottom of each story (aka posts). Oh, and blog is short for web-log - like a web journal!



No explanation nessecary. Or available.



Mum also helped me sew NZ flag patches over the brand logos on our packs. Representing New Zealand and all. And by help, I mean I watched while she did it all for us - thanks Mum you're awesome! That is my packs zip-on daypack, but Princess' pink/purple bag got one too.



Now its not that I can't operate digital cameras, but I am not great at holding stil.l and getting clear pictures. In my defence, Mum had poured me a strong vodka earlier in the evening. This picture is artistic - it reflects my mental state- blurry! (yeah.. artistic!) So we spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching TV.

Had to catch an early bus, and so it was up and out quickly. Was hard saying goodbye to my crying Mum - but I gave her a hug and jumped on the bus. 20 seconds down the road I felt very emotional. I was sobbing and I didn't know why. After the rest-stop in Palmie, I had regained my emotional balance, and was trying to explain what I couldn't on the bus.

I had just been so overwhelmed with many things all at once. Saying goodbye to my family(Except Dad/Jill - see you in AK :) , our trip actually happening, getting all the flat dissolved and all paperwork for the trip in order, no job, getting the Muppets project done and delivered, oh and did I mention an unknown adventure around the world - whew!

Lou you asked if it feels real yet? It really is for me! Its gonna be AWESOME!

P.S. Nerds: I bought a 4GB iPod nano on Monday and loaded it up to the gills with music, so that helped smooth the drive to Napier...

Stay tuned.

Away!

Phew - What a hectic last few days! We are now officially living out of our packs, so although we haven't left the country, I'd class us as travelers; No job, no residence, and nothing but the packs on our backs.

Princess finished her final day of work last Friday and had been sick all last week, adding stress because she was trying to pass as much knowledge to the "new girl" replacing her at work and could only make it to work Thurs/Fri. Sorry Sarah, Becks and "new girl"!

Meanwhile, I had been chasing the paperwork for the Netherlands work visa while we waited for our Chinese visas to be processed and our passports returned. The work visa was complicated because of 2 main complicating factors

1) the scheme is setup for immediate issue, so for us who don't get there for 6 months, they had to "see if the system would allow postdating the issue". I had to grease and hope they'd suss something out.

2) we needed to provide paperwork for health cover for the entire stay, which ends 18 months away! I wanted to go thru Mike Henry, but wanted the 15% off that the YHA offers. Most insurance schemes are for up to a year, and then rolled over assuming you are still a viable customer. So I called Mike Henry direct and worked my way up to someone competent enough to understand the problem, and they gave me the OK for 18 months coverage and a special code for the YHA to use in their system to allow the override. Phew!


So it all came together, but boy am I glad I have had so long off to chase this stuff.

On Friday night, Princess' (ex) employer took us out for a lovely meal and a few drinks, and we then went home to ponder the scope of our next task - dismantling our flat, and boxing all our possessions into boxes for storage at Mums place in Otaki.

The Warehouse sells 100 litre bins with sealed lids for $20 a piece so we bought 10 of those and stuffed all our crap into them. Mum and John came down Sunday morning and took a load north.

Nana, Princess' old car, was on trademe with a closing date on Saturday, and explicit expectation that the car needed to be transferred that weekend as we were leaving the country. Well Saturday night I got the call from the winner, and he was going to come over Sunday and settle, no problem.

Well I waited round all day for him, and after his no-show I used good old caller ID to call him back and ask what had happened and why he hadn't showed. He fobbed me off that he had showed up, seen the car and left because it was not tidy enough.

GRR! When you bid on an auction, you are obliged to buy it! His feedback showed that he had done the same to heaps of other people, so just added more feedback pointing out how unacceptable it is. Lesson - vet your bidders, especially if its important!

So on Sunday night with plans to leave the city the next day, I started scheming on what or options were. Car yard? Leave Nana with friends and relist? Neither were ideal. One nice lady had come and looked at the car and bidded, but missed out, so I tried to find her in caller ID, but she had fallen off the list as it was a week later. So I send out a fixed price offer to all people who had been 'watching' the auction at the same price.

Amazingly, the very lady I was thinking of accepted it about an hour later! The next day we met up and swapped no problems. I was very relieved because Princess is leaning on that cash to travel! The new owner said to me that she was hardly ever online that late, so I just caught her
by sheer luck. Thanks, karma!

So Monday was a chaotic day of cleaning, boxing and dashing around delivering the last give away stuff and saying goodbye to friends and family. And yes Sam, I did get the Muppets Albums finalized at last, but like all projects, I wish I had more time... I'll do a full post on that saga sometime soon.

I borrowed a Land Rover off Alvin (thanks) to get our final load (including us) up to Otaki, and greased another good friend, Nick (thanks also), to come along so he could drive the Land Rover back to Welly.


So, here we are in Otaki and I have got all our stuff stowed, and spent a lovely sunny day here with my mum ...