New Zealand, South Island

Me up Franz Josef Glacier

That's us in Kaikoura today, on the East Coast of the South Island. I've just been on a Whale Watching tour, saw about 7 Sperm Whales and loads of Dusky Dolphins and even an Albatross! It was excellent - got lots of photos!

Sperm Whale diving under

We've been quite busy on the South Island seeing all the sights. We went to the Franz Josef Glacier on the West Coast, and got a Hellicopter Ride to the top which was great. Also saw the Fox Glacier, Mt Cook and Lake Mathieson. Then we drove down to Queenstown and spent a little while there, it was a nice little town. We had hoped to drive to Milford Sound but the roads were very icy so we decided it would be safer not to chance it so we went across to Dunedin on the East Coast instead - it was a small town very similar to Edinburgh, with similar street names etc!

Lake Mathieson

We went past Lake Tekapo on the journey up to Kaikoura which was a nice little spot in "MacKenzie Country." Planning to drive up to Picton today and get the ferry across to Wellington and go to see Rotorua, Lake Taupo, and Gisborne. So it's all been quite busy! We've done over 3000km in our Camper, but it seems to be pretty reliable and no problems yet (other than the amount of fuel it uses!)

New Zealand, North Island

That's us in Wellington, in the North Island of New Zealand! Everything is going fine so far, we've got a little camper and we've stayed in it for most of the nights so far. We're heading down to South Island tonight on the ferry and everyone says it is much colder so we will need to see how it goes, might have to check ourselves into a hostel more often!

We went up to the Bay of Islands, looked around Auckland, went to Waitomo Glowworm caves and on to New Plymouth yesterday, where we saw Mt Taranaki.

I've uploaded my photos so far to flickr. Not taken very many as what we have seen so far hasn't been all that impressive. Hoping the South Island will be more scenic and we are planning to go past Rotorua and Lake Taupo on the way back to Auckland [we come back to the North Island on the 31st July] which should be really good.

Must go and put a new parking ticket on the camper!

Sydney

Sydney Opera House from Harbour Bridge

Getting ready to set off now. Leaving tomorrow at 11.30. We walked across the Harbour Bridge on Thursday and got some great photos of the Opera House. Went back at night and got some aswell.

I went out to the Blue Mountains yesterday, it was really nice. The mountains give off a blue haze because they are covered in Eucalyptus Trees and their oils affect the light spectrum making the air appear blue apparently! Did lots of walking around the hills and went on a Cable Car across the valley and a scenic railway (the steepest in the world) down the mountain.

The Three Sisters and the Blue Mountains

Planning to go to Rocks Market today and have a last look around Sydney. I've uploaded lots more photos on flickr.

Southern Queensland

Been a rushed week! Been to a few of the main stops on the east coast:

Brisbane

Seemed like a really nice city. We just arrived when the doctor was arrested for the terrorist thing in Glasgow so that was all over the news! We went to the Castlemaine XXXX Brewery, Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and Southbank. It was State of Origin weekend, kind of like Six Nations games in Edinburgh so it was very busy. We went to the cinema to see Oceans 13 - was quite good.

Surfers Paradise

Much bigger place than I imagined. It's on the Gold Coast, and the beach stretches all the way down the city. We went up the Q1 Residential Tower (20th Tallest Building in the World!), and relaxed at the beach.

Byron Bay

This is another surfers area - it's the first main stop in New South Wales. We hired Bikes and went a tour around, then today we went a walk upto Cape Byron Lighthouse - the most easterly point in Australia. Its normally a great spot to see Whales and Dolphins but today its been very windy so didn't spot any, lots of surfers out about though!

Getting the overnight bus to Sydney tonight, that's going to be a 14 hour trip. Staying there until Sunday when we head off to New Zealand. We've hired a camper for 3 weeks, its going to be winter there so we're preparing ourselves for the cold weather.

The last six months in Australia seem to have gone by incredibly fast!

Koala with Baby from Lone Pine Koala Park

Me in Surfers Paradise with the Q1 Tower in the background

Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

That's us just arrived in Brisbane this afternoon (After an 18 hour bus journey down!). Airlie Beach was very nice, very touristy but it had a nice lagoon and the weather was great. We stayed at a place called Bush Village, which was slightly out of town but quite nice. There were lots of Rainbow Lorikeets around which were very tame and shared our Breakfast with us!

Rainbow Lorikeet at Bush Village, Airlie Beach

We went out on a day trip to the Whitsundays and did some more snorkelling - it wasn't as good as Fitzroy island but still quite a lot to see. It turned out there was a Sea Snake in the water when we were in but thankfully it didn't get anyone! Then we got to Hill Inlet to look at the shifting sands of Whitehaven Beach - it was really amazing, the sea was clear as anything, you could even see the Stingrays in the water from the top of the hill! We got along to Whitehaven Beach then and got a few hours on the beach - it is a Silica Sand beach which is really fine sand.

Not much planned for Brisbane so far - going to go to a Koala Sanctuary at some point and possibly the Castlemaine XXXX Brewery - apparently there are lots of freebies!

Shifting sands from Hill Inlet

Me with Whitehaven Beach in the Background [Need to crop out the corner of the boat!]