Oamaru (south island)

In Oamaru for just one night, the main attraction here is the penguin colonies, they have yellow eyed penguins and blue penguins. Thankfully the weather is on our side and the sun is out!
We have found this great hostel, is really nice and cosey and only 12months old...the best thing about it is that we have the place totally to ourselves, which makes a nice change!! The town here is really lovely to, we had a wonder round and really is pretty, some of the street are really old, with old factorys and wool shops that are still in use, think it was called the heritage trail, was very pretty!
Off we went in the evening, bird watching...no annorak in sight, although we did have a pair of binnoculars!!! We went to see the yellow eyed penguins first as they arrived back fom sea earlier than the blue, surpisingly we did manage to see quite a few, think they have about 20 at that particular place we was...we got really close to a couple, one of them was nesting and the other was just mulling about!
Later that evening we went to see the blue penguins,unfortunately we couldnt take any pictures as there were signs all over saying they get distressed and leave the colonie!! The Blue Penguins were a lot smaller than the other ones and tend to stick together in small groups, we was just sat watching them for ages and they swam into shore in a big group then all got out of water and was waddling around then went up over the stones to where they was nesting, it was so funny watching them fall over and jump...was even funnier watching them try and get out of the water!! But yeh was there for over an hr then the cold got the better of us so we wnet back to the hostel and perched infront of the log fire for the rest of the evening!! On the way back to the hostel it was funny because there was signs all over saying warning penguins crossing slow down ha ha!!

Mount Cook (south island)

The drive was so pretty, it really was..we was stopping all the while trying to get some good photos! We also stopped off at Lake Tekapo for lunch, you can see by the pics it really was just amazing..the water was so blue and it was such a lovely day aswell, which made a nice change as all we have had recently is rain! We also stopped off at Peters lookout before we arrived at Mount Cook, and basically it is just a little village in a horseshoe of mountains its really lovely and fortunately for us the day got better and better, the sun was so hot by the time we arrived! Unfortunately for us, the only place to stay was the YHA and they had no doubles left so we had to go into a dorm for 2nights!!
The main attraction here is the walking, the mountains still had snow on them it was such a gorgeous sight! We decided that afternoon we would do a short walk to Kea Point, the walk was only 2hrs and you got some good views of the Mueller Glacier, Mt sefton and footstool, Lake Aoraki and Mt Cook!! On the way back we did another little walk through Governers Bush, it was only a 30min walk or so but was really nice and out of the sun which was very cold!
That evening, we met a guy from York who was staying at our hostel and also a couple of girls from Sweden who are hitchiking there way round New Zealand, they had some very funny storys to tell..! We ended up getting the cards out and played a few games of shithead and black jack!!
Early start for us, up bright and early for our walk of the day which was Ball Shelter Hut, we decided to do this one as there isnt much snow about here, and as we both havent really got any decent walking shoes with the snow thought it would be the safer option! The walk was good, mainly a flat walk with a bit of a climb towards the end..but offered really good views of the glaciers!
Think we was quite lucky with the weather its been nice for the last couple of days, but today its changed dramatically..very windy and raining...yip yip glad we are moving on!!

Back to Christchurch????

Bit of a nightmare really, a bit ago my top filling came out, think it was around the time of the Whitsundays, well chewing on a sweet the other day half of another filling came out at the bottom! The top one was already a little painful and now the bottom was also a little delicate. We decided that as we were more or less passing through Christchurch to get to our next place we would stop off at a dentist!
Oh god, maybe we should of just carried on....the dentist took one look and basically told us we would have to stay in Christchurch over night and that i had an abcess at the top and the bottom tooth needed reconstruction?? He said i could have the tooth taken out (top one) or i could have a root filling?? He told us that it would only cost $968.00..oh right is that all!!!!!!!! Bang goes the budget!!!
Anyhow it needed doing, so we we went away checked back into the hostel we stayed in last week and then went back to the dentist at 1700, he sorted the bottom and sortd the top, apparently it had 4 canals and it was a tricky little tooth..he has put a temp filling in it and it basically just needs a proper filling and a crown..he said the temporary filling may not last that long and therefore we need to go back on the 15th November, not good it sort of mucks our plans up a bit, but hey ho at least i still have both my teeth!!!!

Kaikoura (south island)

The rain just didn't stop unfortunately, we got to Kaikoura about 1300 and it was hammering down. The town here is lovely its well known for swimming with seals and dolphins and also whale watching, so hopefully if the weather improves!! We decided to have a walk to the town as we are staying about 2km out, got all our layers on and set off, the rain just got worse so turned back for car.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in bed warming up, got up made some dinner and just got out a bottle of wine and put a cheesy vid on "Top Gun"!!
There is quite a lot more walking to be done here which is good, there was a walk around the peninsula which we have done today, it wasn't raining thank god just a little chilly..so wrapped up warm armed with flask of hot chocolate, which incidentally wasn't hot when we came to have it!!! But anyway, the walk was good we walked to the seal colonies and there was loads of seals about, it was so funny i was telling Paul to get close to the seals so i could take a picture and this one seal started growling at him, he couldn't get away fast enough..then as we walking away a bird shit on him, i nearly died laughing, it went all over his top, in his ear everywhere..was so funny, cant stop laughing about it even now!!!

Hanmer Springs (south island)

Its great having a car, so much easier..get up when we want set off when we want..stop for lunch where we want and do whatever we want in between!!
The drive to Hanmer was brilliant the views are amazing, reminds me a lot of the Lake district but obviously on a bigger scale, the weather had improved a lot also it was roasting! We booked into a little French place called Le Gite, it was lovely really homely, it's a renovated house it only has 5 rooms a nice kitchen area and a nice lounge/dining area..it was really nice and cosey! We checked the village out picked up a couple of things sorted out what there was to do then headed back to the backpackers and sat in the garden for the rest of the afternoon!
The evening was spent in front of the tv with a bottle of wine, we met a guy called Simon from Colne who was also staying & working at the backpackers and a girl called sonia from Oz!
Next day weather wasn't brilliant but we decided to go for a walk up mount Isobel,the walk was more of a climb and the weather was worsening by the minute, we eventually reached the top and my god the wind was so strong i had to sit on the grass as it was pushing me over, i tried to take a couple of pictures but i was just getting blown all over and Paul had to grab me at one point. We decided to turn round and instead of going to the summit we took the waterfall route, which was equally as nice and not that much of a climb! Just as we was nearly home it started to rain so thankfully we didn't get that wet, but the other people who was staying in the backpackers had also gone for a walk and they arrived back about 1hr after us , they was soaking and cold, umm nice timing on our part!! Needless to say the evening was spent in front of the log fire watching movies!!

New Zealand Christchurch (south island)

We made it and no drama's we both arrived in one piece!! Tell you what though its freezing, so cold and when we first arrived it was raining, was like been back at home, needless to say we have been shopping and stocked up on a few warm items!!
The Hostel we are staying in is lovely, its called Stonehurst..its really, really nice. we have a double room with tv, and the kitchen facilities are excellent...we can make great food, like broth, casserole, soup all the things to warm us up!
Christchurch is really nice, a lot of people say it looks a lot like old England. The buidlings are really nice and so is the scenery, its a bit like say Keswick?? As of yet we haven't done much while we have been here, well i say that but i mean touristy things, we have sorted ourselves a car out. Its brill a black Nissan Sunny, its ok..not our first choice of course!! because we have hired it for 64days we got it really cheap, works out about 6pound a day?? not bad eh? Also get 24hr roadside assistance? So yeh snapped that little bargain up!
We have also been to the city center, had a walk round, checked the coffee shops out purchased a couple of hand warmers from starbucks!
We walked through the Botanical gardens, yeh they seemed nice but it was too cold to appreciate it!
Think today we are going to take a tram ride, its an old style tram and they basically do a little tour round the city and show you all the sights! This afternoon we are going to a fudge factory, they show you how fudge is made and you get free samples so yeh thought that would be nice, its an old style factory and the only one in New Zealand, so why not!
Pauls ankle, its much better, all the bruising is out and the limp has nearly gone, bit of shame really as he is going to be missing out on the ski-ing!!
Anyhow will get back to you shortly and let you no what's what, we are due to leave Christchurch tomorrow, not sure 100% where we are off to think a little north then south??

Melbourne (Victoria)

We had been on the bus for over 10hrs, wasn't off the bus more than 10mins, making our way to the hostel when Captain Kaos struck again. Paul only went over on his ankle didn't he? Couldn't believe it...backpack, daysack, food bags everywhere..his ankle swelled up automatically and he couldn't walk, the funny thing is we was literally outside the backpackers!! Eventually got him in and got him sorted, we was staying in a dorm where there was only top bunks available, Paul couldn't manage so had to move dorms, only turns out the dorm we are now in is the same dorm that JJ is staying in, because he has hooked up with a girlie and that is her room, how funny what are chances of that!! Also Haz has got himself a fella, lovely bloke called Tom. Them pair came and met us at the dorm, had a good laugh at Paul then went back to pub, last time we saw them in Darwin, he had just broke his toe!!
Saturday morning, thank god..Pauls ankle was a little better, he could just about walk on it and it was still swollen and slightly red, at first he thought he may of torn a ligament but he was able to get around and Ibuprofen was helping so we didn't bother with a medical center!!..
We met up with haz later on in the afternoon, he showed us a few of Melbournes sights, we also watched a street performer which was really funny then funnily enough ended up in the pub!!
Saturday evening was messy, we went out about 8ish, had a curry on the cheap..did a bit of a pub crawl and ended up in bed about 0430..was a good night though had a bit of a boogie to some good old do music!!
Sunday was how Sundays should be, we just stayed in bed till 1130, got up Paul and Haz sorted us some tickets out for footie, then came back to the hostel and cooked a fry up for us all, chilled out for a bit then went to watch Melbourne v's Adelaide at the telstra dome, 1-0 to Adelaide. most exciting thing that hpnd was the manager fell off his chair!! Back to hostel for a movie and sleep!!
We fly to New Zealand today, leaving about 1330 might try and cram in a few pics of Melbourne other than pissed up ones, as you can tell by the pictures, for a change Paul had the camera and its typical he always has it when im well lets say merry!!

Canberra (Capital Territory)

Well as you probably know Canberra is the capital of Austraila and it is really lovely! It's not quite what we expected, we thought like all the other cities, it would be high rise building, shops and bars all over and streets crowded with people, but really it was quite the opposite!
Everywhere was so green and spaced out, lots to see and do and the city center was small in comparrison to others.
We stayed in a budget B&B, it was really nice the breakfast was fantastic! We arrived late afternoon, so got oursleves sorted with food etc and then chilled out! Next morning we hired a couple of bikes, there are cycle paths all the way round canberra that go right round all the sights and a lovely big lake! We cylced roughly about 10miles, and did a little bush walking to the lookout, which was fairly high!
We stopped off at a couple of museums, had ourselves a little picnic on the park next to the lake, was a really good day, a very hot day aswell!
We was off to Melbourne the next afternoon, so we got up early and had a walk into the city center (which was in total about 8miles)!!!..like i say though it was fairly small..one shopping center and a few little coffee shops and other stores dotted about, a really good place!
We was off at 1330, 10hr bus ride to Melbourne..the last greyhound ever!!! Yip Yip!!

Newcastle (New South Wales)

Arrived late on at our hostel, yet again another great find. We stayed in a little cottage, there was about 4rooms in our cottage but when we was there it was really quiet so we more or less had the place to ourselves!
As it was Pauls birthday the following morning we decided that we would try and get on the wine tasting tour, but unfortunately it was fully booked so it was then onto plan b!
We walked into the city center, just had a mosey around the shops, had some lunch then decided to go to the afternoon movies to watch World Trade Center! It was really good, quite sad..the down side is that we got a large popcorn, couldnt eat it as it was salted popcorn?? Who eats salted popcorn, as if we knew, so yeh that was just thrown then this old lasy came and sat on our row, even though the rest of the cinema was more or less empty..and she just coughed and spluttered all the way through...and just constantly sounded like she was snoring!
After the film we decided to go for a coffee, well with a twist thought we try something different, big mistake!! I got a choc nut latte and Paul got a white hot chocolate and a big piece of white choc cheesecake, they both was just so sweet so we only drank a bit of the drinks and pauls cheesecake was that sweet he got toothache and couldnt eat it...lesson to be learnt, in future we will stick to what we know...to lattes and a piece of shortbread!!
In the evening, we went out for a few drinks, then for a mexican followed by a visit to the ice-cream parlour..ferro rocha with maltessers..yum yum, then back to pib, were Paul was a little worse for ware!!!
We only stayed a couple of nights in Newcastle, the town is nice and probably would of been ideal to stay a little longer, Paul could of got some surfing in as the beaches were lovely and surfing is a big thing there, but time is of the essence!!!
Left next morning for Canberra, the capital!

Coffs Harbour (New South Wales)

Only a little stop off here, just staying for the one night! We had booked our hostel already, it was the cheapest $40 and that was with ensuit, we was like oh god its gonna be a right hole! Anyway we arrived, the town here seems really nice, not as in your face as the last few places we have been to, a little bit more relaxed! We was very pleasantly surprised at our room, its more like a motel rather than a hostel and the room is great, we have a good bathroom, tv, fridge and its nice and clean so we was happy!
We walked down to the beach, then walked into the town..! Later on we just spent a couple of hrs chilling in the room watching a bit of tv and just relaxing, we were both just tired!
We got a couple of free drinks from the hostel at a little bar over the rd, so of course we took advantage of those in the evening and then retired to bed to watch Starskie and Hutch!
Paul was gonna get a surf board out today for a couple of hrs as we have to get out bus at 14:00, but unfortunatly its pouring down and not to warm so instead we are just sorting out a few things!

Byron Bay (New South Wales)

With what happened to our tent, we already planned ahead and booked a hostel..a dorm! Arrived its not great, well the hostel seems ok and we got 1 hr free internet so..? but when we arrived our room stank of beer and god knows what there was beer bottles all over and clothes draped everywhere and there was 3lads snoring their heads off! We just dumped our stuff and went off for a look around!
Its loads nicer than Surfers, just got a bit more of an atmosphere to it and although its still touristy its just not quite as in your face! We spent the day mulling around the center, then spent the afternoon chilling on the beach, and as always what a gorgeous beach!
We decided to eat out tonight, well partly because the pizza shop had a good deal on so why not, cheaper than cooking our own! Think we are off to check the night life out in a min, although Paul has another surf lesson in morn so wont be a late one me thinks!!!
Night life was ok, we cant beleive how touristy the east coast is, its unreal..think we was a little nieve and expected it to be more like the west coast! Its mainly about the nightlife, very social! But yeh we was there, went to a couple of bars..indulged in some chocolate mud cake and ice cream..yum, yum!!!
Paul had his second surf lesson, it went ok, he seems to be picking it up pretty quickly and enjoying it! We then chilled on the beach for a couple of hrs, then decided to go for a walk up to the lighthouse. The walk was about 4km, we walked to the most easterly point in oz, then followed the loop round and went through the rainforest and back! Same, same again in the evening, couple of bars and then bed for our earlyish departure to Coffs Harbour!

Surfers Paradise Gold Coast (Queensland)

Well it certainly isnt my idea of paradise, but still each to there own! Its very nice dont get me wrong, but so touristy, mind you what did we expect! We are staying about 3km just outside of Surfers, on a really nice campsite, it doesnt take that long to walk in either, you can walk along the boardwalk its really nice!
Our first day here, weather wasnt great, bit cloudy and very windy...we browsed about Surfers, so much going on here, iv never seen so many shops, restaurants and god knows what else! Also its weird, you can go down one street and its really nice and modern with gorgeous buildings and lovely shops, then you walk down another street and its just like Blackpool?? We booked Paul in for some Surf lessons, well 2hrs and then think he is having some more when we get to Byron Bay! Went to the happy hr at the surf club, well actually it was happy 2hrs!! Then walked back to the campsite along the boardwalk, checking out the night market..still no UGGS!
Paul had his Surf lesson today, i must say i was sat soaking up the rays watching and i was really proud of him, also i think he looked quite hot in his wetsuit with the surfboard tucked under his arm!! It was good watching him, he seemed to pick it up really easily, even managed to stand a couple of times, batteries run out on camera but will get it next time! His Knees are red raw though!
We decided to stop off at starbucks on the way home for a couple of frappacinos, then we hit the boardwalk (whenever i say that, bet midler pops in my head and i cant shake that song off for about 2days)but yeh we hit the boardwalk and camped around the pool at the campsite for a couple of hrs and just generally chilled for rest of day!
We are off to Byrone Bay tomorrow, early start again, but unfortunately our tent has broke, one of the poles has snapped or been snapped, not sure if someone has accidentally fallen on it or something, because its broke in a funny way...but anyway its broke and its come right through the outer so will have to bin it when we leave tomorrow, we have patched it up for now Jack Duckworth style!

Brisbane Sunshine Coast (Queensland)

Found a great Hostel, was probably one of the best we have stayed in yet, it was like having our own apartment..there was 4 double rooms a big lounge area with satalite tv...a really great built in kitchen and bathroom..was so nice to just have some normality for a couple of days!
Brisbane, was roasting...the city center was absolutely bustling...its a really nice center with just about everything there, oh except UGG boots! We also decided that Paul needed his hair cutting and we came across this sign saying style cuts for $16, thought that's cheap enough so off we trot. Got there and it was like a college place, where people were training...still seemed ok and the price was $10 not $16, so thought why not i'll have mine done to!!!!! Oh god!!! It was a nightmare, Paul had to get his hair finished by one of the teachers and well, mine oh god....all im saying is its a good job its curly! But yeh, after that trauma we had a stroll down to South Bank, which is lovely, its got a man made beach and little lagoon to swim in, was very busy though people everywhere, its the school holidays to so...!
In the evening we chilled out quite comfortably on the leather couches back at the hostel, watched a bit of tv then beddy bo's!
Best sleep we both had in a long while, got up, bright and breezy and got the bus to the lookout point at Mt Coot-tha reserve, it was really nice you could all of Brisbane and just about make out Moreton Bay! We walked a couple of the walking tracks upto JC Slaughter Falls (unfortunately they weren't falling) also walked along an aboriginal art trail, wasn't that impressive either but hey ho back to bus then down to South Bank to chill out for a while before making our way back to hostel, of course we stopped off along the way for a couple of cheeky vb's!
The best was yet to come, tv at its finest....corrie, emmerdale ( a little behind back home but still..!)Property ladder and finally what not to wear...see what i mean about normality!
Another great nights sleep, then off to get bus to Surfers Paradise where we will be camping!!!..!