And finally...

I forgot I had a photo of a black tip reef shark from one of my last dives on Koh Tao, so couldn't finish the blog without including it. It's not the clearest photo ever, but hopefully you can make it out! There is also a good (i.e. in focus) photo of a puffer fish.

Also here is picture of the full moon - famous in these parts for the monthly Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan. I didn't go across to that island, but this is the moon that those ravers and revellers would have been under while drinking buckets of hallucigenic cocktails! And a photo of the Big Blue bar and restaurant area, this is where I stayed for 8 days. It was very cool and laid back.

Shark, Koh Tao

That's all from me

This my first Monday morning that has sucked since leaving work. This morning I get the boat which takes me to the mainland then get the plane to Bangkok then the plane to London Heathrow, boooooooo!!!!

See you guys soon. This is where the adventure ends.

Another day in paradise

The photos below say it all really, the past 24 hours have been sweet. I spent yesterday afternoon and early evening chilling laid out on the mats in a bar at the beaches edge and witnessed a stunning sunset.

Then today I went on 3 dives off Koh Tao. So many fish and such variety. Underwater photos never do justice to the colours I saw, but I have included a few of the better shots. We saw a massive jelly fish drifting by just under the boat as we ascended, kept well clear of that big fella. Especially as I was still feeling the slight pain of a stinger that somehow found its way down the back of my wet suit as soon as I entered the water for the first time today!!

Diving Koh Tao, 28-08-07

Island paradise

Wanted to show you a few photos of the hut I am staying in and the beach I am just 50 metres from. Sairee Beach for those that have been to Koh Tao.

The hut is very basic with no air con, no flushing toilet and no hot water, but it makes up for these shortcomings in character! It is in a shady spot surrounded by trees and bushes, is in spitting distance to the beach and dive centre, and is right on the doorstep of the village centre for bars and cafes and shops. Perfect, apart from the thumping bass a local bar was pumping out til 4am this morning!

Sairee Beach, Koh Tao

Jungle Fever (and other ailments)

I know I know, I've been quiet on the blog from Thailand so far - sweet reflief I hear you shouting! There are good reasons for this lack of blogging - I've been on a beach with Sam. Although it turned out not to be quite the trip to paradise we hoped for...

Sam arrived in Bangkok feeling dreadful. She'd been feeling sick just before she left and on the flight things took a turn for the worse with wicked headaches and fever. Not the vision of loveliness I had anticipated, she looked knackered and sick!

To cut a long & painful (for Sam) story short, she had a fever brought on by an upper respiratory infection, temperatures up to 100F and had to spend 36 hours in hospital (it felt more like 36 days to her) under observation as the doc was wondering if she might have a brain infection. Her brain was fine, so we headed to Krabi just a few days late.

The beach and the resort were lovely. Railay Beach is quite a short strip of land on a peninsula south of Krabi, surrounded by vertical cliff faces and mountains, lush green palms & bushes, and golden sand. This sounds like paradise, but our tale of woe was just beginning. I don't want to go on about it all too much cos you might think it ruined our time together, but we still managed to have fun despite...

- quite a bit of rain that kept us in our room for hours on end. (Not exactly a punishment for a couple getting reacquainted!)
- both being idiots and getting severe sun burn on the 3rd day (1st day the sun came out). We got burnt so badly that I couldn't touch my back and Sam her front for days. I've never been burnt so badly. It's now over 4 days later and I'm still sore and the top 5 layers of skin on my back are starting to leave me. We were fooled by overcast conditions - a lesson to be sure!
- obviously the regulation travellers diarrhea, which for me has really out-stayed its welcome now.
- and to top it off it looked this morning like Sam might have picked up an eye infection overnight.

We are not usually sickly people!

All in all we both felt physically quite miserable for much of our week together!! But we managed to make the most of it and had a fun time. We ate well (local snapper was delicious), walked to some local caves with impressive limestone formations, laughed at other tourists we didn't like the look of, and ate plenty of ice cream. Once again it was dreadful to say goodbye.

I'm now spending a night in Surat Thani before getting the morning ferry to Koh Tao for some of Thailand's best diving. Yeee-haa!!

Railay Beach, Krabi

Thailand: 6 hours ahead of BST

I'm here, arrived safely and only a little late yesterday evening, finally got to bed at 2am local time, 25 hours after I woke up in Auckland. Didn't get any sleep on plane so feel a bit jaded still.

I'm back on my UK mobile +447971832797 in case you need it.

Next stop Bangkok

After 3,621 kilometres travelled by me and my trusty van, it's time to say so long to NZ and get ready for the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, then the easy pace of life on the island beaches.

Even better than that I see Sam when I get to Bangkok, so it's all good. Or as the Kiwis might say, it will be choice.

Black Water Rafting

I rocked up at Waitomo at 2pm wondering where to stay and what to do. I had heard from a few people that the glow worm caves are worth seeing. I stumbled across a company called Black Water Rafting, which involves getting into a thick wetsuit and taking a big inner tube into the caves to ride down underground waterfalls and rivers. As I'm pretty extreme these days I thought, "I'll have some of that".

I assumed it would all be tourist-friendly and easy going on lit tracks and steps. But none of it, we squeezed down a hole in the ground which looked like a dead end to me, and straight away it was pitch dark. Luckily we had lights on our helmets. This was much more like proper caving than I expected and I loved it. We jumped down little waterfalls in our rubber rings, trekked through caves and shallow streams, floated along underground streams looking up at the hundreds of shining glow works in the ceiling above us, like a starry night sky.

The water was f-ing freezing. My toes and feet went numb quite early on and warmth is still trying to come back to my toes 90 minutes later! But it was great fun, even as much fun as sky diving I think, and it exceeded all expectations.

Black Water Rafting

Skydiving is easy

I had a great instructor (Alex who called me "bro" a lot but I don't think we're related), perfect weather, and it was brilliant!

I jumped from 15,000 feet (which is as high as you can go) and had 60 seconds of free fall at up to 120mph before the 'chute was deployed.

Luckily I'm as hard as Tarzan's feet so I didn't even get very nervous. I'm so extreme. Unlike the bungy there was no fear about jumping and after the initial shock of falling through the air - very strong and loud wind, freezing wind - I was able to look about at Lake Taupo below me and the surrounding snow covered volcanic peaks. Beautiful.

A wicked experience, but for fear factor and adrenalin-rushing highs I would recommend a bungy jump.

I've put some photos here taken from the ground, but the DVD I got is 5 mins long so would take about 3 hours to upload onto the blog. I'll have to show you it when I see you.

Skydive

Damn wind

It was too windy in the Cook Strait to go diving yesterday. Maybe a blessing in disguise as I have a bit of a cold (hazard of sleeping in a big metal box through near freezing temperatures!) and plunging into 10 degree waters may not have aided recovery.

So instead I'm going to jump out of an airplane tomorrow...

Kaikoura - Nelson

Kaikoura - Nelson

Another beautiful day for a drive. Finally got on the road (after having to turn back cos I left my milk in the holiday park's fridge!) for a wicked brunch at a road side cafe called The Store, recommended by Lonely Planet & they were very right.

Made it to Picton by lunch. Picton is where the ferry to Wellington departs. I found a dive shop by the quay and enquired about a wreck dive. I'm signed up to go on Monday, fingers crossed the weather behaves. See details of the wreck I cut & paste below:

The Mikhail Lermontov is one of the BIGGEST diveable cruise shipwreck in the world. Only the Empress of Ireland (resting at 150Ft) & the Titanic are bigger. This 175 metre Russian cruise ship sank in 1986, trying to navigate the passage between a lighthouse and Cape Jackson. The wounded ship managed to make it into Port Gore, before losing power and sinking in the middle of the bay unable to make the beach. All passengers escaped by lifeboat.

Once I knew the dive was Monday I decided to head to Nelson for the weekend. The Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton & Nelson is absolutely stunning. Twistier that a twisty twisted thing! Really fun driving even in my boat of a van (if that makes sense!). It winds along the coast of the Marlborough Sounds for about 25 kms and the views are panoramic to say the least.

Queenstown - Lake Tekapo

I wouldn't normally include a blog posting for every leg of my journey, but there are so many panoramic scenes driving through the mountains that I think they are worth showing.

It was the sunniest nicest day I've had in NZ so far, long may it continue as I head North to the warmer climate.

Queenstown to Lake Tekapo (pronounced 'take-a-poo') was about 250 kms through Cromwell, Omarama (where I had my lunch in a car park), into Twizel to use the ATM, past Lake Pukaki (another of those fabulous reflecting ones with Mt Cook in the background) and finally Lake Tekapo. The one sight-seeing thing I did was to check out the Church of the Good Shepherd on the lake. Quite a stunning setting. Also there was a statue to the loyal border collie, in honour of the dogs' tireless work in shepherding. Here here.

I found a camp site on the lake and could look out to the lake and the mountains from my camper van bed! The sunrise was special.

[Note: my pronunciation above of Tekapo was not the truth!]

Queenstown - Lake Tekapo

Check This: Bungy movie is here!

I love it. Watching this brings it all back. Enjoy!

Milford Sound

Billed as one of the world's greatest scenic areas.

Well it was good, but loads of low clouds meant I didn't get to see it in its full glory. The Mitre Peak is the most photographed icon in the sound - it towers nearly 1,700 metres high - but half of it was hidden by clouds today. Boo.

It's a long way to go - about 4 hours coach journey each way - for a cold boat ride on a dreary fjord. (Capt Cook misnamed it a sound (created by a river) when in fact it's a fjord (created by glaciers)).

Having said that, I'm glad I went and tried to appreciate it. It was on my list of definite things to do in NZ after all. At least our weather was better than yesterday - it was torrential rain. Plus the road to Milford has been closed due to avalanche and only just re-opened so I was lucky in that respect.

I attach some of the better photos, I took loads but most didn't come out very well as the contrast between the bright white clouds and the dark wet mountains was too much for my camera to take!

Milford Sound

Extreme: NZ's highest bungy at 134m

Nevis Highwire

Oh yeah, I took it on and conquered my fears... just! It was sooo scary. I felt fine for the most part even when I was in the chair having my leg harness attached I was not too nervous. But inching out towards the edge of the platform and looking down 134m to the Nevis River made me suddenly very scared. It makes no sense to jump of into mid-air.

I mustered up the courage to jump at the end of the countdown and the jump was even scarier. It's really high so there's plenty of time to pick up speed and it felt like a very, very fast fall - the fall takes 8.5 seconds and you get to just 20m above the river!

The fall was such a rush. I screamed all the way down out of pure excitement & fear, screaming until my lungs were empty!

Sorry there are no photos of my actual jump, the guy I asked to be my photographer took a really good movie clip of the jump instead, but at 75Mb it's too big to email you guys. If anyone (Dan Haley?) knows how to upload a movie onto Picasa using an internet cafe that won't allow me to download software, then I'm all ears.

I'm feeling very extreme today.

Wanaka - Queenstown

Wanaka - Queenstown

It was a shame to leave the beautiful town and lake of Wanaka, but the open road was calling me and my van!

I decided to take the shorter but much more scenic route to Queenstown along the mountain road via Cardrona. It was truly stunning and the views along the valley after I had passed the ski fields were awesome (see photos). Luckily the weather was fine as a sign at the start of the road said "snow chains must be carried", so the road can get pretty hairy.

Before I got to Queenstown I stopped for coffee at an old gold mining town called Arrowtown, which was very quaint and pretty, surrounded by looming mountains on all sides. For those of you that have been to Clarens in the South African Drakensburg mountains (probably only me & Sam of those reading this!) it reminded me of there, but Clarens was nicer.

I also drove the 45 kms from Queenstown to Glenorchy - another beautiful scenic route. A kiwi friend at Shell (Bella) told me to go here and it was excellent advice. This is Lord of the Rings country apparently. The road winds along the edge of Lake Wakatipu, which itself is surrounded by snowy peaks. Lovely.

Fox Glacier to Wanaka

I left Fox bright & early ready for a big day on the road not knowing exactly where I was going to end up. Once again the driving was so picturesque, if I don't drive off the side of road looking at scenery before I leave NZ I will be surprised!

About 60 kms south of Fox I stopped at a salmon farm & cafe. It is in the middle of nowhere but was perfect. The place was empty, had a huge roaring fire and served the best eggs benedict with smoked salmon (instead of ham), made from its own fresh fish. The views over the fish farm were impressive too (see photos), and the cafe was on stilts built above the farm. Very cool.

I stopped at a great look out over Knights Point. Then I drove through Mt Aspiring Scenic Region with more breath-taking views. (I need new words for 'views' and 'scenery' cos I'm getting fed of repeating them!) Along the way I stopped to look at Thunder Creek Falls, Fantail Falls and Blue Pools - all with lovely short walks and nature at its best (see photos).

It was between Fantail Falls and Blue Pools that I had a hairy moment on the road. A car went past me on the other side and threw up a rock at my windscreen. It hit high on the driver's side and felt to me like a bullet and sounded like a bomb! The boulder almost went clean through the windscreen - it would have given me a nice side parting!! - glass shards covered my fleece and jeans. Needless to say I kept calm and in control, slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road, got out to survey the damage, then peed my pants.

Now I'm in Wanaka (the town beside the lake of the same name). I'm hanging here for the afternoon to do internet things and laundry. It's a nice town, very pretty and much livelier than Fox village was. This is a small ski resort, so lots of holiday makers. Tomorrow I head to Queenstown to get extreme!

Fox - Wanaka

NZ road trip so far

3 days in and the going is gggrr-eat! Me and the camper van are getting on famously. It's fairly basic in the back but I have a lamp and a heater, so when I plug it in at camp sites I can make the place feel homely! The whole back section of the van turns into a queen-size bed at night and I have duvets, covers & pillows for 3 people, so it's very comfy. Quite the passion wagon! But enough about the van, sorry I'm quite excited by it.

New Zealand is beautiful! The 1st leg of my journey was due West from Christchurch over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass. I was surprised how quickly you get to the mountains once you leave Christchurch. They are covered in snow and looked beautiful in the sunshine. I took loads of photos (some I even stopped driving to take!). That night I stayed in Greymouth, the highlight of which was the Highway 6 south out of there the next morning!

Christchurch - Greymouth

Next day I went to the glaciers - Franz Joseph & Fox. Via a cool reflecting lake - Ianthe Lake - and the wooded and lush Wantaroa scenic area. It is really fun driving through windy mountain roads and roads cut through lush rainforest. I stopped at Franz Joseph hoping to heli-hike on the glacier, but rain stopped play, so I drove another 20 kms to Fox.

On the way into Fox Glacier village I turned off to see Lake Matheson, which is a hidden gem. I thought Ianthe was beautifully reflective, but this lake was a picture postcard view in ever direction! It's one of the most photographed lakes in NZ because the reflected backdrop is Mt Cook (Australasia's highest peak) and Mt Tasman. I took enough photos to fill an album! Plus the 60 minute walk around the lake was through rain forest and was cool in its own right. It's weird having rain forest in NZ when it's so cold and the mountains are right next door. It's definitely wet enough for it - Fox Glacier gets 200 rain days a year (probably not impressive for those in England reading this under the threat of flood!).

Greymouth - Fox Glacier village

Today I spent the day hiking the Fox Glacier. My group of 10 consisted of 6 Germans, so it was a riot as you'd imagine! However it was amazing scenery as you'd expect. Photos don't do justice to the blue & green colours in the ice. Fox Glacier is 13 kms long and is one of the few glaciers in the world actually growing - slowly. It was a tough day in the crampons, we were on the ice for over 4 hours, and the walk from the car park to the ice took about 90 minutes on the way up a rain forest track including 500 steps and 60 mins on the way down. Tired legs, but a great day - I'm happy here in NZ. Australia has it's beauty spots, but I love the grand scenery of NZ more. I think I'm more a mountainous peaks man than a bush guy...

Fox Glacier hiking

New country-New Zealand-New mobile: +642102563353

I arrived Tuesday lunch time into Christchurch, it's chilly here! Luckily I've been hauling thermal vests, hats, scarf & gloves around SA and Oz for this very moment.

I'm picking up the camper van tomorrow - a day early as I couldn't wait to get on the road. Am so excited about driving where I want when I want. Will get some photos of the mean machine on my blog ASAP. They are all painted with wacky & artistic designs, can't wait to see mine.

I'll miss all my friends in Sydney and the fun times we had in the many pubs & clubs of Sydney, but I'm looking forward to discovering a beautiful new place. The snow peaked Southern Alps looks amazing from the airplane this afternoon.

Next blog entry from out on the road...

Reader feedback

Jon has come back from talking to some of my regular blog readers at Palm's wedding and reported that I need to "sex it up"! Apparently my factual and informative style, although fascinating and insightful, needs to be more exciting.

Well I'll do my very best for my loyal readers out there.