Adelaide - Uluru - Adelaide - 2000 miles, 4.5 days...

We made it! We spent a lovely few days with Jeff and his family in the outskirts of Adelaide (very stunning), and ate delicious food, saw really strange animals and generally had a great time.

We picked our Wicked campervan up on Thursday (named Candy) - pictures on the picasa website - and started our drive up to Uluru. 2000 miles round trip - 4.5 days... need I say more?! The drive was stunning - so flat and beautiful - the road was straight, we didn't even get to hit a kangaroo... although Haz was absolutely fabulous avoiding a stray emu. We weren't allowed to drive in the dark as the risk of hitting 'roos was so high - they are attracted to the headlights and jump out in front of the car, the stupid things! So we had to get up at 6am every day when the sun woke up and start driving.

I love the Outback - far more than Sydney! It is beautiful - pictures on picasa too. Everyone waves hello from their cars and campervans. They have road trains here -3 massive trucks put together to form a massive vehicle. Also the trains have more than 50 carriages - everything is on a large scale in this place! We stocked up on water and food, and camped our way through rain to hit the Northern Territory. Candy (although a little filthy - metaphorically and literally) - did us proud, and didn't even complain. She is a little snug for the 3 of us, but we are getting used to fitting our stuff in (including ourselves), and thoroughly love her.

So we hit Mount Ebeneezer services on Friday night, where we met 3 truckers who entertained us with their Australian humour. Sitting around outside, drinking goons and beers - it was pretty perfect. They came to visit Candy and completely appreciated her - a lovely evening - completely unexpected.

Uluru Saturday - basically a big red rock. But it's pretty spectacular, and of course has loads of Aboriginal meaning. I'll talk about the Aboriginals another time - lets just say there is a huge amount of discrimination and stereotyping - and a lot of gestures from the government seem to be either window dressing or handouts, rather than a policy of integration. But the rock was pretty cool, and we respected the Aboriginal people and didn't climb it, as it is sacred to them. But we walked 9.8km around it, getting hotter and hotter... and more irritated with the flies! They are completely unlike anything else - up the nose, in the eyes and ears, and in the mouth. So persistent, and enough to make anyone utterly miserable. I had great joy in killing those I could!

We also visited The Olgas rocks - larger than Uluru and about 30 minutes away. They were so impressive - far better than Uluru. They were so unusual in their formation, and the colours were glorious. We headed back to Uluru for sunset and sunrise again, before heading back to Adelaide...

So spent yesterday and today in the van, and are running some errands in Adelaide at the moment before seeing Paul and Jeff this evening. We feel very proud to have survived the Outback although we didn't get to hit a kangaroo... (they taste darn good!)

Must dash to see Hayley's family now, but love to all, from us all
Alice xxxxx

Adelaide!

Hey hey,

What a few days! We had a lovely time visiting Dean and Josh in Cronulla (south Sydney) - although due to a 'scenic' route I drew from google maps, we ended up taking over 2.5 hours to get there... oops! Much catching up, reminiscing, walking on the beach and socialising. Also met up with Beth, a lovely Ozzy geezer who, we realised, is on her own planet. Hilarious. She is entertainment to be with. Even getting to see us, she was very hungover and tried brushing her teeth in her car, only to realise she didn't have any water. So she spat the toothpaste out of her car and it went everywhere. Kinda like bird poo. They are very strange here! The weekend was great, and was nice to have a proper 'Sunday' with Dean playing footie, us going shopping, having coffee, and ending it with a very energetic and entertaining game of 'Cranium' in Dean's friend's penthouse apartment overlooking the sea and Sydney... such a hard life!

So back into central Sydney on Monday to run a few errands, and then we met with another mate, Thierry, who is Australian but we met in Bolivia. Great catching up with him too - he kept us laughing with his very realistic impressions of people we all knew from La Paz. So nice to catch up, it really was, in a strange way providing some kind of stability and feeling of home even on the other side of the world! He bought us our own presents - so kind - J got a kangaroo, Haz got a koala, and I got a wombat. Now we only have to see these things in the wild...

So we tried sleeping in the domestic airport last night, but unfortunately it closed at night. So we taxied over to the domestic airport to bunk down on the floor for the night, only to come back again early in the morning. We saved ourselves a massive 50p (rather than paying for a hostel) after all our baggage storage costs for the day, and the taxis between airports - lesson learnt - always check that the wretched airport is open before trying to sleep there!

So we turned up this morning and Jeff, Haz's uncle, very kindly came and collected us from the airport. He's a lovely guy and so kind putting us up for a couple of days. He lives just outside Adelaide, and so we are going to go looking for wombats and kangaroos tomorrow and cuddle some koalas... such a hard life!

We are picking up a Wicked campervan (http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/) early Thursday morning (well it depends if the mechanic is tired or not as to what time it is ready!) to drive 3200km round trip to Uluru. So might be out of contact for a couple of days from the internet...! But we will have our Australian mobile on all the time, and so feel free to call or text us as it doesn't cost us anything to receive calls or texts. (Number is 0061 416 836 117).

Lots of love from us all, and will message again when we next get to civilisation!
Alice xxx

Sydney, Sydney, Sydney...

Hey hey there,

Am eating copious amounts of toast -got up early in order to get some of the free brekkie! We had a great day doing everything we planned - a smelly fish market, meeting Dean for lunch on the Kings Wharf, seeing the Contemporary Art Museum, and the other 2 went to the aquarium too...

We are heading off to stay with Dean and Josh for 2 days, so might not be able to check emails or facebook then, but our Australian telephone number is on my facebook status if you need to get in contact with us. We are sharing the number, and it is working out very useful! Will try to check emails on Monday before heading to sleep at the airport overnight again, to fly to Adelaide early Tuesday morning...

Lots of love to everyone from us girlies,
Love Alice xxx

Australia... finally!

Hey there,

Australian mobile number is +61 416 836 117.

Well, to backtrack slightly as not written on the blog for a little while, we had a great time in Queenstown over Easter, relaxing and recharing our batteries (after a night or two of drinkies). I learnt where our bounds of friendship are - lets just say that Haz and J declined to do a certain type of wax for me, although Haz did hold my hand in the salon...

So we headed up to Dunedin (not much to do there), and saw the boulders at Oamaru. Beautiful balls coming out of the sea (the smaller ones had been stolen by people years and years ago). It was a lovely drive along the coast, but ran through quite a few towns which was quite unusual after driving through the centre of the South Island.

Oamaru - very strange little town, very twee, and not much there, apart from one yellow-eyed penguin (with about 50 people watching it from the observation post), and some blue penguins. But we had a gorgeous little cottage to ourselves that night, paying very little, which we really appreciated. Our own kitchen, bathroom, tv, electric blankets... yes it was freezing though!

Upwards and onwards to Christchurch, where we stayed in the Jailhouse Accommodation - a prison renovated to be a hostel. Our cell was small, and the whole place rather strange (look at the photos on Picasa). But again, quite an experience! We explored Christchurch - J and Haz went to the Antarctica centre and got up and close with some coldness, and I went to a museum, art centre and we visited the Christchurch Art Gallery too. Lovely gallery, interesting building and some good exhibitions.

So we got a shuttle bus to the airport on Wednesday night at 10pm, with a very strange lady. She was talking about setting her rottweilers on possom roadkill, and using the dead possom as bait for the eel pot.. very very weird. But we love those kind of experiences! We survived the journey, made ourselves a nest, and headed off to Sydney at 6.30am Thursday...

Sydney is lovely in the sunshine, and is a very strange mix of being very cosmopolitan, but also very relaxed too. Nothing like the frenetic pace of London. We have seen Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, many gardens (and giant bats), The Rocks... and that was just yesterday after our journey here! We have more sightseeing planned today, and will head to see our friends Dean and Josh tomorrow. Should be interesting... But Sydney is great, the hostel is alright, (although does great food deals for supper), and I finally think I have caught up on sleep...

So hope that everyone is ok back in the UK,
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx

SYDNEY!

Hey hey there,

Just another quickie - sorry absolutely ravenous and the other 2 are waiting - to let you know that we have safely arrived in Sydney this morning, and have walked for miles in the sun, exploring away. It is beautiful, and a strange mix between Manhatten and London. We have walked from the Asylum (our hostel), through Hyde Park to another harbour, to the Harbour Bridge via the Rocks, then the Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Wooloomoo whatever it is, back to Kings Cross, where we are staying (yes the red light district!) So thoroughly enjoying the heat and the sun, and it is friendly and very metropolitan here, but in a chilled way.

Our night in the airport went ok, armed with our sleeping bags we managed to nod off for a bit, but an early night is called for methinks tonight...

Anyway, will write again properly later on, but lots of love to everyone from us girlies,

Alice xxx

Oamaru to Christchurch... to SYDNEY!

Quickly - will email when arrive in Sydney tomorrow! All safe and well here,
Lots of love,
Alice xxx

Wanaka, Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown...

Hey hey,

Just a quickie to saay that we are safe and well, and Happy Easter! Hope you are all eating lots of Easter eggs... I might have felt the love too much for the wine last night and am feeling pretty unwell, so am going to keep this quick.

We have loved Queenstown, (although it is tiny!) It is definitely a tourist town - skiing, skydiving, bungy jumping, shotover jet, and other crazy things to nearly kill yourself with. It is full of foreigners, but has a friendly air and when it isn't raining, it is pretty beautiful on the lake. We ventured up to stay at Te Anau for one night, and then saw Milford Sound which was beautiful too - new photos up. We spent the weekend in Queenstown as it is nice enough, the hostel is fine and it's great to chill out in.

We are heading up somewhere before Christchurch tomorrow (still need to sort it out)... but will let you know how it goes, before we fly to Oz on Thursday morning! Very very strange thinking we're going to be heading out of NZ again. Can't keep up with myself!

Anyway, hope you're all having a great weekend, enjoy all the chocolate, and Happy Easter again.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
ps loads more piccys up!

Through Lewis Pass to Greymouth, Hokitika, Franz Josef and Fox Glacier... and to the rain.

Hey hey

Apologies if this is making little sense as it is 7.30am and have not yet quite woken up! We managed to drive along a beautiful road to Greymouth, through Lewis Pass (stunning - the others were very kind and let me stop to take photos!) on the west coast of the south island. Greymouth is a normal kind of town, but we saw a free exhibition about jade, a photo exhibition and went to watch the sunset off the dock, taking 2 Dutch guys with us. A lovely relaxing afternoon and evening, and the hostel was beautiful. Our dorm was a converted chapel, the living room was huge, with new, comfy sofas, and the kitchens were massive. Lots of love people staying there, and so ended up chatting for a few hours.

Ever onwards and we took a diversion to look at some pancake rocks. They are rocks with many many rings on them, looking like a pile of pancakes, but I was disappointed to find out that the rocks weren't circular. Quite upsetting. However, the scenery was pretty spectacular anyway, and the sun was still rising onto the ocean. We jumped back into the car and drove down through Hokitika, to buy some jade and see some real live kiwi birds and massive 200 year old eels (I think it made my fear of them worse rather than better). We then stopped at Franz Josef, which has a massive glacier a few kilometres away. Franz Josef is a small town, but nice enough, but unfortunately a little overpriced as it is a tourist trap. (The next petrol station heading south is 120km away)... We arrived and decided to brave the drizzle to see the glacier on a 20minute walk. It was quite impressive, but unfortunately the photos don't look took good as it was so grey. The glaciers here are covered with dirt which has blown onto the ice, giving them a brown look. It wasn't as nice as the Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia, Argentina, but it was still impressive.

So then hiked for 4 hours yesterday morning in the pouring rain in non-waterproof waterproof trousers, boots, jacket and so on. We spent about an hour walking with crampons on the glacier, which was just like walking on ice really. Unfortunately we couldn't walk through any tunnels, and photo opportunities were severely curtailed due to the shape and size of the glacier at the moment, and the heavy rain beating down on us... why did we think it was a good idea to pay money to do this?! Still, it was an experience, and great to dry off afterwards (even had to get dry underwear out of the car)... a lovely staff member at the Fox Glacier put our clothes into his dryer, but even that wasn't enough so we had to do them again at the hostel. But we were very grateful anyway.

So spent yesterday afternoon dodging the torrential rain (still raining this morning), and watched 'Dirty Dancing', Éntrapment' and checked emails... brilliant way to avoid the weather. It is feeling very much like the UK here! We are heading to Wanaka or Queenstown this evening, not sure where yet, but will let you know when we arrive.

Lots of love from us all, to you all,
Alice xxx

sorry, going to get back into bed now! xxx

Wellington, Picton, Nelson and Kaikoura... plus swimming with seals!

Hey hey again,

Slightly strange writing on this computer as the screen keeps on shaking around, so have to try and capture the words before they fly off! Hope that everyone is well in the UK - we have headed to the South Island and it is sooooooo cold (well definitely need our jumpers, and have seen frost on our car for the first time in months).

So, we left you in Taupo to try and find some fodder. Unfortunately, we are unused to the timings here, and still in Argentinian mode where it is perfectly normal to eat supper at midnight or 1am. Attempting to find supper at 9.30pm was virtually impossible in Taupo. We did bump into some people we had been on the flight to NZ with, and thought we might have to resort to McDonalds (we haven't done yet on our trip), but luckily we spotted a fish and chips place along the road that was just closing up, so we dived in and were very naughty eating junk food. But so delicious!

Unfortunately, J and Haz's skydive was cancelled due to there being cloud (apparently the pilot needs to see the landing site). This was the only cloud that we had seen after arriving in NZ, so was very frustrating. Still, we decided to head on, and started our 9 hour drive. We drove through the Forgotten Highway for 155km, which took us 3 hours due to the bad quality road! It was winding through dense vegetation, and we spotted many of NZ's tree ferns, which, for some reason, we are all enchanted with. We drove through a place called the Republic of Whangomomoma, which is a different country to NZ! It is a tiny village, and they have annual independence parties from the rest of New Zealand. It was very strange, didn't really pay much attention to the handpainted sign welcoming us into the Republic, but certainly did see the sign saying 'Welcome back to New Zealand!' Very strange country here...

So stopped along the way and had the most beautiful Indian meal I have ever tasted - Sag Aloo - for under a fiver, then managed to arrive in Wellington about 9pm. Quick shower later, and we were ready to have a little beverage in the hostel bar. The Base hostel was another massive one - 240 beds, mainly full of buses of gap year drunkards from the UK, with companies such as Magic and the Kiwi Experience. So we showered and tarted ourselves up, and were immediately scared by 2 Brazilian guys we met. 'Have you every tried a Brazilian kiss?' 'No'. Well the proper word is probably 'pounced', but luckily us girls stuck together.

Met 2 Americans and 1 Irish guy (who, the same day as kayaking off a 6m waterfall and skydiving, then decided to dive into a lake. There was less than 1ft of water. He was wearing a neck brace). The Americans were called Ted and Connor (Ted was a small ball of fun and energy, Connor was unique in his own way)... and the Irish boy was called Ronan, well lets just say they were very generous with buying our drinks, and we didn't exactly go to bed early. Oh well, these things happen! We ran a few errands the following afternoon (once we had resurfaced), and then met up with J's uni friend for the evening and had the most beautiful meal, about 1hr outside of Wellington. Was lovely for J to catch up, and we went to a gorgeous restaurant which overlooked the sun setting on the ocean. Had mountains of delicious food for not much money, so tasty. Certainly slept very well that night!

Spent Sunday in Wellington too, met up with Ronan again and generally explored the city centre and the Oriental Bay area. Lovely city, didn't expect to like it but ended up liking it very much. The sun was shining, and people were out and about for the weekend, either running, swimming, shopping and so on, or running errands. But such a friendly atmosphere, with the ocean running along the city waterfront, dotted with marinas and some pretty big boats. The city centre wasn't the prettiest place I've been, but it was certainly nice enough and we had a great time.

A 3 hour ferry ride that evening and we arrive at the Atlantis hostel in Picton, to be welcomed by Sheera, who had come down to the ferry to meet us, despite Haz telling her we were driving ourselves to the hostel... with peroxide blonde hair that looked like she had had an unfortunate accident with the mains electricity, she was a very startling person to first meet! The hostel used to be a museum, and felt like it (our dorm room only had about 20 beds in it - really). But she was absolutely brilliant - completely loopy. She was great fun to watch and to talk to, really enjoyed staying there. Alas, always moving onwards, so we drove off down a gorgeous scenic road to Nelson the following morning.

Nelson is on the northern tip of the South Island, and is a small town, with everything you need - supermarket, internet (actually in the hostel), little crafty shops and a delicious sushi stand, plus a second hand book shop. We meandered around the town, and walked up a hill to look at the sun starting to set on the town and on the surrounding ocean and islands. Apparently we were at the 'Centre of New Zealand' - not really sure what that was about, but there was a plaque. We stayed in 'The Bug' hostel, and it is the nicest one so far I think. Completely crammed with VW Beetle paraphernalia (our room was called 'Sunny Bug' - we had 'Lady Bug' opposite), the hostel had everything we needed - kitchen, laundry (cheap), clothes line, FREE internet (rare in NZ), lounge area and the most beautiful room with new carpets (so soft, actually wanted to take my shoes off and walk on them), plus a gorgeous bathroom. It makes all the difference! So had a lovely time there, and met some great people.

Visited Stephen, the Bone Carver on Tuesday, and spent all day (well 4 hours) carving cow bone into lovely pieces of jewellery, inlaid with paua shell (pictures going up on Picasa page). Everyone made something gorgeous and professional looking - Stephen was a great teacher, and it was very reasonably priced. Definitely recommend it, and we would have gone back had we more time and money! Everything though cost us about 25 quid for the day (materials, tuition and so on), so we were happy.

Wednesday - (is it Thursday today?! I have no idea!) we walked for 4 hours from Marahau to Anchorage in the Abel Tasman national park. It was stunning, an easy coastal path and the scenery was just superb, with private, unspoiled beaches. Again, photos probably describe it better! So we arrived in Kaikoura last night quite late (we arrived at 8.30pm and most of the receptions for hostels had already shut for the night, so we ended up staying in the Backpacker part of a motel, and had it all to ourselves, telly and all (including all the grime)... we did ask for it to be cleaned and luckily they have sorted it out.

Kaikoura is little as well, and again, has everything - supermarket, jewellery shops, internet, i-site information centre, and everything is within a 5 minute walk. We went swimming with seals today for a couple of hours. 'Seal Swim' took us off shore in our wetsuits and snorkels in a boat, and for the next couple of hours we floated (I did a credible out-of-control impression), and swam next to seals, who ended up floating and dancing for us. They were beautiful, and I was petrified. Literally. I was trying to get a good photo (with my underwater camera), and suddenly the seal was inches away, eye-balling me. It is amazing how much I could squeal even with a snorkel in. The others laughed. Didn't realise how scared I am still (after doing the diving course) - of fish and seaweed. Luckily Haz came to my rescue and let me hold her hand while we swam closer to get some more photos, although don't think she had reckoned on my grip-of-death once we were within a metre of him... such a good friend! J meanwhile had taken my camera and got herself stranded on a rock, and took some beautiful pictures of the seals whilst being simultaneously beaten up by the rocks. So the photos you see are real teamwork!

We really enjoyed our hot showers afterwards - it is so cold here! - so much infact that there were comments afterwards from the staff that they were thinking of calling the fire brigade to turf us out... but a cuppa later and we were feeling right as rain again. So we are looking forward to having a TV night with sole custody of the TV remote, and to recover from the traumatic stress of realising how scared I am of seals! (J and Haz had no problems). Easier once I imagined them as wet dogs. Until I looked down and saw other fish. And I swear I saw an eel...

So driving through Lewis Pass tomorrow to end up in Greymouth tomorrow night. We have loved it here in Kaikoura, unfortunately our budget didn't stretch to watching whales from a boat today, but swimming with seals was certainly a unique experience.

Anyway, fingers v cold now, but lots of love to all, from us all,
Alice xxx