New Zealand, North Island

We started by renting a car in New Zealand. It will be our home and trusty steed for the following weeks. Heading up north to Cape Reinga to round out the trip, our first stop was at a Marine Park on the east coast, where we had our first chance to see the amazing little creatures of the country and to dip in its freezing sea. Once was enough. We stopped over at a bee farm as well, the first of the many which are spread out in all over both islands. We had honey tasting and could learn a lot about these animals too.

The welcoming airport in Auckland

Nice little sea-slug in the Marine Park

The beautiful Cape Reinga

Finally we reaced the northernmost point of the country, where the Tasman sea and the Pacific ocean meets. One can see the clash of the two bodies of waters from the hills, the waves going in opposite directions from the two sides, meeting  in a long line out in the sea. The surroundings were astonishing too, we had a long trek to a nearby bay and we were all on our own in this amazing scenery. The visitors usually merely looking at the lighthouse, literally no one walks the hills.

After the cape we had a brief excursion to the Ninety Mile Beach, which is literally that, a 90 km long stretch of sandy beach from the cape towards the south. On the way there we went to see the giant sand dunes in ……, had a go at dune-surfing and generally enjoying ourselves. Once reaching the Beach we were in a nice surprise. We found an overnight stay house with campground, kitchen,etc that was operated by a local family purely on donation basis! Fantastic experience! Nice clean facilities and were on our own. The place is called Utea Park in Hukatere. I can recommend it to anyone visiting the Ninety Mile Beach area.

Dune surfing, well with loads of sand....

Beach...90 miles of it

Further heading southbound we aimed for Rotorua. On the way there we bumped into a thermal resort that had camping grounds and half price entry to the pools for campers! Spent the whole day in there, the weather was perfect, the water 37/39C. And they even had two giant slides, free to use!

Braving the slide

Rotorua area is obviously famous for its thermal activity, here we went to see a thermal park, home of New Zealand’s largest regular geyser,Pohotu. The native guide guy was very helpful, he told us how to find a few other local attractions, including a thermal spa, used by the residents! It was there, it was free and it was very good!

As we are all fans of the Lord of the Rings movies, we decided that we are going to visit a few filming locations. The first on our way would have been The Shire but it was built on a private farm and they wanted an outrageous entry fee, so we missed that and instead went to see some other sites in the Tongariro National Park. Here we could see Mount Doom, random areas of Mordor and the Anduin river. These were well worth the walk but as the weather was not perfect we decided that we are going to climb them on our way back.

Site of Anduin river and a 80m bungy jump!

Some of the scenes were shot at sites with bungy equipment, I guess it was technically easier and also those are the deepest, most picturesque gorges and rivers. All in all we could hardly resist to go for a jump ourselves.

Heading further south we reached Wellington on the 12^th day of our journey. Here I am going to continue. Until then: Merry Christmas to everyone.

North of Sydney

After  a week in Sydney we hired a car and decided to go up along the eastern shore to Cairns. It was a long, 4 day trip but it was well worth the mild discomfort. The countryside along the way wasn’t very varied, mainly eucalyptus forests lined the road, mostly with signs of recent bushfires. As it turned out it is a very frequent occurrence and even commercial radio channels often remind residents of necessary precautions.

The tropical heat was a welcome change for all of us. The morning of our first day in Cairns greeted us with a 34C temperature. Not wasting our time we booked a Great Barrier Reef trip in a couple of days. The journey included a catamaran ride to the reef 40 km-s off the coast, to an artificial platform, where we could go to snorkel the surrounding waters, use the glass-bottom boat and a semisubmersible to sail out a bit further and look around in the immediate vicinity from the underwater observation deck of the platform. For extra money one could go scuba diving or for a helicopter ride over the Reef.

Pre-dive preparations of the lycra squad

The sights were awesome, with incredibly rich marine life. I saw a Grey Reefshark but missed the photo opportunity with the resident Maori Wrasse, called Wallie, which is a massive blue fish, about 40-50kg and can be cuddled and stroked All in all the experience was well worth the money.

We settled in well in Cairns, in a great little campsite, Palm Cove, north of town. The weather was really good all the way through, so spent most of our days swimming, which was only allowed in the fenced area as it was jellyfish season. These creatures can be dangerous as can the crocs which, apparently, were rather common in the vicinity.

Daniel started his fisherman career here as well. Didn’t catch anything but was quite happy to chill out on the pier and wet the line.

We met a lovely English expat family in the camp, Patrick, Georgina and their two children who were very friendly and helpful. Spent some time together and they told us about a few local secret attractions. If you are reading this blog, thanks for all and do visit us in Hungary!

On the second week we went to see and cuddle the koalas and kangaroos in the Cairns Zoo. The kids immediately decided that they want one of those at home! There were plenty of crocodiles and alligators too, along with a small show, which unlike the one in Thailand, was focusing mainly on the educational side of things.

We found Cairns to be a cool place, of course very touristy. We loved the large open swimming pool in the beachfront in the middle of the town! The shopping was great too.

A beach on the beach, the pool at the seafront

Nearly two weeks we spent in Cairns then headed back to Sydney. First we popped up a bit further north, following the advice of  Pat and Georgie and indeed, the environment was amazing. We saw some of the real rainforest, beautiful swimming holes in the jungle and Cape Tribulation where the forest meets the ocean. It was fantastic.

The Blue Pool in the rainforest

The fence of the police station in a little town along the way

Then finally, while the weather turned rainy, we got down to Sydney. Still had two days til our flight, but we were lucky again. The customer service guy at Quantas changed our itinerary immediately on the airport and two hours later we were sitting on the plane to New Zealand!

Australia

As I promised at the end of the last blog, I manage to continue with the Australia leg of our journey in 2011! Yey! I am so lazy it is almost an art form. Although the internet access in Australia is very poor to say the least, oit contributed a lot to the delay in keeping touch. I would strongly recommend to anyone planning to go there to buy a mobile dongle at arrival, could save a lot of hassle.
To start at the beginning though, Sydney is simply the best city we have ever been. It is not as beautiful as, say Cambridge or many other old and proud British ones, but it is very well designed, very, very green and accessible (this is probably the best expression to say how easy and obvious it is to find your way around). Full of young people and life. The weather was perfect all the way and we found a cheap campsite literally in the city, in a national park. Yes, that is how green it is. Right on the first day we invested in a family weekly pass on the public transport, which is another essential I highly recommend to anyone. It gave us access to all the buses, trams, trains and ferries in the city.
The fauna in the park was extremely colourful, the kookaburra in the picture was only the cheekiest. It patrolled the kitchen area and stole food from the unaware. We saw it with a whole steak once!

Sydney is also full of beaches. Even in the not-so -hot spring weather they were full of people, sunbathing, playing, surfing. And some building sandcastle.

Visited the well known sights like the Opera House, the Botanic Garden, etc but also some lesser known jewels like the Chinese Garden and the Powerhouse Museum (the last probably for the ones with children).

Locals 

The Dragon Wall in the Chinese Garden

The wedding Chariot of the Chinese Emperor, made from jade only!

Water Dragon in the National Park

While there we brainwashed the kids in the Powerhouse Museum

To Be Continued

Last days in Thailand

Sorry for the delay, the last few days in Thailand were very hectic and interestingly it took a while until I found free WiFi in Australia.
Anyway. During the last period of our Thailand stay we could not sit down on our bums. We ventured into Tong Sala, the biggest village on Koh Phangan. The market was great.

Now what are they going to do with the fish at the end of the day?

I would rather buy fruits

As we still had plenty of time we decided we would do a PADI course with Daniel. Rather Thailand dives than England ones, right?

It was all very exciting and Daniel was handling the underwater tasks much better than I did. On our real dive we went to Sail Rock dive site, which was rich and amazing, we even saw a whale shark!! This is an endangered species and apparently very rarely seen.

At a depth of 12m.

Met loads of fish...

...and the whale shark

The last 2-3 days in the resort were spent hanging around and eating. The owner invited us for a surprise dinner on the last night even! She is a lovely woman. It is called Haad Salad Villa. Go there.

Very tasty dishes, one with garlic and apple, the other with chilli

We got slightly worried about the floods in the North, so we went up in Bangkok 2 days before the departure. There was some water in certain areas but luckily our hotel and the airport was dry at the time. Otherwise the city was not as impressive as we thought, or maybe we just didn't get to the interesting parts.?

We liked the canal boats though! It is stinky a bit but hilarious as the boat speeds in the narrow waterways, only slowing down to allow the passengers to get on and off.

The airport was HUGE, very decorative and luckily had our flight going.

A sculpture depicting a mythological scene

The flight was comfortable as always and only two days after our arrival to Australia we got to know that it was possibly the last Quantas flight for nearly 2 days as they entered a strike! Lucky.

More about Australia in the next post.

Hopefully that will be this year.

Wild experiences

So where were we? I think I left you with the 2 day trip around Samui.
Well, after that we had a couple of days left in the Pink House, which we spent resting and one afternoon trekking the nearby mountain. It was hot, jungle-y and interesting. The kids as usual were very good, hardly complaining, despite the wear and tear on everybody's feet as a result of the hike.

Worn out team

But the view was worth it

Once our time was up in our lodge, we decided to move over to the small island of Koh Tan we visited earlier that week. So finally I got some of the much awaited rough living. It was rather successful, as we eventually survived it and even enjoyed the experience. The kids learned how to make fire. I learned how not to make a fishing net and Kati learned how to cook the rice in 1000 different ways.

Kids on board

Exploring a nearby small island

Still enjoying rice.

Nice campsite, isn't it?

We spent 4 nights there altogether, only us, the fishermen and the daytime random tourists. It was unforgettable. We never enjoyed ice cream like we did after we returned to mainland...

As we still had no lodging sorted, we opted to go to the next island, Koh Phangan, to see what that is like. On the ferry there we picked up an info book and a map of it and decided to go to the North as it offered the best snorkeling sites. I found a cheap room in about half an hour on the best beach on the island, Salad beach after the taxi put us down at a resort. Spent the next few days exploring the area, including a mini island, Koh Ma, next to the main one. Then yesterday we went on a daytrip to see the Ang Thong Marine Park. What can I say, it was amazing. Beautiful, untouched nature, many-many tiny, exotic islands, cool snorkeling sites and perfect service on the boat all day. We used the Orion company/trip/boat, I don't really know which, I can recommend it if you ever come to this part of the world; http://www.phanganboattrips.com/.

Our resort, Haad Salad Villa, 600 THB (£13) per night for all of us, with aircon.

More than good.

Nice snorkeling site 50m from beach

Daniel is learning Snooker

Boarding the Orion

Rich marine life in the park

Some of the view of the archipelago ( I hope I spelt it right)

A snorkeling site

Sunset on the way back.

It was one of the best days of the whole trip so far, definitely a must for anyone coming this way. I think we are setting up camp at our present resort. As we produce more pics will add to a new post. If anyone interested in all the photos we made so far, can have a look at our Picasa album here.