Fun on a Brown River (Steve) 18/19/20th November

No, we're not back in India, but 12 of us decided to rent a huge houseboat on the Murray River last weekend, for the meesly sum of a three hour drive and $100 or so dollars each we headed to Echuca to pick up our stupidly big boat.

Its fair to say that you would expect a decent level of instruction on how to drive the thing, especially given our collective lack of boat driving experience. But, within 5 minutes of the 'instructor' climbing aboard he was off, leaving Adrian, Dave and myself (at this point the girls didnt fancy a go, Sian and Emma Peel later drove superbly) to negotiate the fairly fast flowing Murray. Later that night, the others joined us making a happy twelve-some. Most of us had a go at driving the boat, Adrian and Emma P proving to be some of the more 'trust-worthy' hands. Thats all I'll say about driving the boat, a few near misses, and one tree later we needed to pay an extra charge for 'structural re-alignment' of the front of the boat, aforementioned tree being to blame, silly place to put a tree really, a riverbank.........what were they thinking....

The rest of the time we were busy jumping in the river, drinking, BBQ-ing and more drinking, oh, and sunburning a bit, intermingled with being bitten by mosquitos, apart from Sian who seems to be imune to the flying critters.

Photos will be on soon, when I can, and definately one of the best weekends we've had in Oz so far, doing it again in February hopefully......

Nelson, Ferrys and smelly places (Steve)

After the pleasant hostel in Greymouth, we headed north to Nelson, before getting the Interislander ferry from Picton to Wellington. Nearly two weeks later, as I write this, I cant remember anything that great about Nelson, other than the fact that it has the geographical centre of New Zealand, conveniently placed on top of a hill, who'd have thought it!

The next day we drive to Picton where we manage to kill 3 hours (it seemed) over a coffee whilst we hung out aimlessly untill the ferry was due to arrive. When it did we took our last glimpses of the South Island and looked forward to the Volcanic North. The South island is absolutely stunning and everyone should visit if they can.

Arriving in Wellington we have accidently booked a hostel just 1 km away from the ferry terminal, right near central Wellington. We stayed in a converted hotel that the Queen stayed in in ......1954, it has slid a bit by now, still, it had art-deco character. Our plans for the next day were nearly hampered by us choosing to be in town of one of only TWO days a YEAR that they close the cable car, so a steep walk later saw us get to the Carter Observatory to look at the sun through thier special telescope, only it had clouded over and wasn't exactly as open as we had hoped. Still, foe all that good luck Wellington is a nice place to stop in, sadly none of its reputed 11 fault lines rumbled so we are still to experience an earthquake on our travels, one day.....

On the last night we caught some rays before heading back to Oz. 

Wellington (Sian)

We arrived in Wellington at about 9pm so didn't get a chance to do much that evening but our 1930's hostel was great. Apparently the Queen stayed there in 1954 although it is not really fit for a Queen now.

Wellington is a windy city, and it was great to be blown around everywhere! Wellington also made me realise how new, New Zealand is... all of the old buildings were only just over a hundred years old. The best one was the old cathedral, not much from the outside but wonderful inside with Tudor looking decor and fabulous stained glass windows.

The city cable car was out of action during our visit so we had to climb all the way up to the top of the hill for a visit to the observatory and botanical gardens. The view from the top was great which made the hike to the top worth while.

Whilst in Wellington we also managed to see a modern jazz band play which was as interesting as it was good. Wellington have a brilliant Jazz festival we missed it by just 2 days!

Wellington was also great for shopping. Steve purchased a fab yellow tshirt and Heather bought me some twinkly shoes which I totally adore.

All too quickly we said goodbye to the big smoke and headed on our way to the volcanic regions...

Rotorua-Theres a Geyser in there somewhere. 

We're gonna miss the scenery in NZ. 

Clubbing in New Zealand just isnt the same..... 

So thats where all the mud-packs come from! 

The best Hostel (Sian)

So leaving the Glacier district we head to Greymouth for an over night stop. If anyone ever has to stay there go to The Global Village- It was the best Hostel ever!! It was all decorated in African memorabilia and paintings, it was spotlessly clean and played cool music. Our beds were lovely and comfy and the kitchen was well stocked and clean. We even managed to hire bikes for free but that's another story...

Before cycling off on the bikes we discussed if we need helmets but as we hadn't been told that we had to wear them we decided not too. We were cycling around the harbor having a great time with the wind blowing our hair around until the police stopped us and asked where our helmets were. Being a tourist was rather handy in this situation as I am sure we were about to be fined for not wearing a cycle helmet... Ooops. We then had to push the bikes for 45 minutes back to the hostel. BOO

Had I let one go or was it that lovely, in-escapable sulpher again? 

Craters of the Moon, sulpher smells great!!  

Sunset at Lake Taupo-the largest lake in the southern hemisphere. 

North Island-Huka falls, swim anyone? 

Dawn from our bedroom window in Nelson, just before getting the ferry to the North Island. 

Seeing as I couldnt get a picture of the seals at the Seal Colony, this will do, an odd thing to have on the edge of a remote cliff? 

A nice lake on the South Island somewhere. 

Franz Joseph Glacier- bigger than me.