29/04/2007

in byron bay now. hostel is massive, but good atmosphere. bob marley playing all night.
drive from port maquarie was 6 hours, with a stop off in coff's harbour. we have 2 nights here, then on to brisbane for 4 nights. i think i'll spend the day on the beach tomorrow drinking beer - i have yet to do this on my entire holiday! i hear the beach here is cool.

22/04/2007

in port maquarie. getting really down about australia. had a great time in the blue mountains visiting my auntie maire's, but just plain unimpressed with the rest of oz so far. melbourne was a nice city, but i haven't seen anything here that wow'ed me. if i came directly here, i'm sure i would have loved the blue mountains and beach coastlines, but after new zealand and fiji, this place doesn't even register. i really hope it gets better as we make our way up to byron bay, brisbane, cairns, etc. at the moment i'd just drive straight to cairns and cut our oz holiday short 10 days and fly to thailand and spend some extra time there - at least you know that place is going to be different.

i've suggested leaving early, but dee wants to give it another chance. i've even suggested heading to japan for a week, but she doesn't have the spondoolicks. heading to byron bay tomorrow [6 hours] and will stop in coffs harbour on the way.

we went to a koala hospital today. there were all cute and stuff. they didn't mention that koalas actually eat there mother's sh1te for the 1 st 6 months of their life [because they can't generate the bacteria to aid digestion] and that loads of them have the sexual desease clamidia, AND last but no least the male rapes the female if she doesn't put out. cute things really though. they sleep 20 out of 24 hours, and eat eucalyptus leaves the rest of the time.

more on animal planet later...

some pics 23

maori night at MITAI in rotorua, new zealand

pukakohe race track in new zealand

penguins in auckland

some pics 22

21/04/2007

spend a few days in melbourne. nice city. amazing transport system. went on great ocean road 2 day bus trip, very good. saw loads of sea stacks, arches and wildlife. koalas, kangaroos and emus in their wild habitat. nice. will put up pics soon.

in sydney now. staying in a dorm room in a hostel in the city. nice location, but cockroaches in the food press, and one room had to be evacuated on account of a full on case of bed bugs. one of the guys in now in our roon, and he is bitten ALL over. mank. leaving for blue mountains tomorrow, picking up the hyundai getz beast rent-a-car tomorrow.

met up with sarah barry yesterday [she's finishing her PhD here] for lunch and then again at night for a good few drinks. was good to see her. we're heading out with her again today on a harbour cruise type thingy and to go to a local market. should be good, but at the moment, i'm a little hung over from drinking the local brew...

some pics 21

07/04/2007

5 hour boat trip back to mainland. sue gone to north america. we have 5 more days on the humid, hot mainland, but going to the coral coast tomorrow morning @ 8am, so should be nicer than nadi. really looking forward to OZ now, and we've also heard a lot about thailand recently (mainly about how cheap it is), so it should be a good place to finish our trip with our much lightened wallets! if i have any money left at that stage, i'll be buying my wardrobe there for the next 3 years!

05/04/2007

not many updates. still on nakula island, orsmans bay resort. this island is larger than the last one, and it has inhabitants living on it (the last one only housed staff while working). we went on a tour of the local village and got to see 2 churches, kindergarden & primary school, the chief's house and the shell market. the kids in the primary school sang for the group, they must have sang at least 10 songs! very strong singers... they were singing in harmony and solo's and all!

snorkelled a bit more. the coral is a lot closer to the beach here. the fish swim right up to the edge of the water - it's weird. aiming to go kayaking and on the floating lounger tomorrow. again, the views and sunsets are amazing here. we won't mention the bugs though...

03/04/2007

the day started with a boat trip taht we thought would only last 2 hours, but we miscalculated. it turned out to be 4 1/2 hours, which did not help dee's sea-sick prone nature. we got to nakula island @ about 1pm. i didn't think there would be much difference between the islands, but this one has some nice additions. the bure is much more like hotel standard and the sand (i normally hate sand) is sooooooooo soft, unlike the rough sand on bounty island. the beach is not littered with twigs & seaweed washed up, and the sea is smoother and clearer.

gone is the buffet style dinner (i miss it), replaced with a 3 course dinner. the resort i smaller and we were forced to sit at different tables due to arriving late for dinner and most tables being full. we all got good opportunities to mix with travellers, which we have not being doing often enough.

went for an late enjoyable swim until it rained, but even then, we stayed for a while longer. probs go snorkelling tomorrow.

02/04/2007

dee's chest is still roaring red, but the sunburn seems to be dying down on both the girls. we head out snorkelling, but the waves are a bit choppier, making the water cloudy with the disturbed sandy dea bed, and it's a little harder to swim aswell. not as good as yesterday but worth it.

(rant.start)
i'm almost finished my 2nd book and thought i might get more into reading if i used the holiday as an opportunity to read a few books. i've come to the conclusion that books just aren't my thing. i'm reading them way faster than i would like (and i'm a very slow reader) and if i tried, i could finish a book in about 2 days. that just aint value for money! and average books costs €10-20 and once you read it once, you probably won't read it again. there are exceptions though... reference books. i have several mechanical books that i use on a regular basis, and if i learn something new from somewhere, i can re-read my books in new light and understanding. i suppose the same could be said for any technical books, like ones for web design, or even the bible i guess.
(/rant.end)

leaving in the morning for the next island.

01/04/2007

feeling much better this morning. raring to go! as raring as fiji gets, which is pretty much to plan to sleep for most of the day, read books and venture out into the sea once the sun has eased off - which is about 4 or 5pm. if you don't want to risk swimming in 30 degrees heat, there is limited time available; by the time you wake up @ 8am or so, it is already bright and roasting outside, so you have to wait until the sun eases or when cloud cover arrives @ 4pm. it rains on que here every day around 5 or 6pm, but swimming in the rain is fine as the water is very warm. as the everning wears on, it turns a bit monsoon on account of the humidity.

anyway, i snorkeled for the 1st time today. i am not a good swimmer, so only ventured out as far as i could still stand up if need be. still, i saw thw edge of the coral reef and saw many fish - clown fish, angel fish, zebra fish (as i call them), even a flay ray fish thingy. really loved it abd i'm hoping to get the girls to join me snorkelling tomorrow if their sunburn has died down.

31/03/2007

ate some dodgy chilli stir fry in nadi and felt bad for most of the next day. we got to our 1st island, getting away from the hole that is nadi. bounty island is our 1st stop. turns out celebrity love island or some sh1t was filmed here, not that it matters. the bure is right on the beach with a 10 second walk over course sand to dip your toes in the sea. the broken shells and debris washed up on the sand don't make for great walking along the beach unless your feet have soles like wellies, but the place is beautiful. like nothing i've ever seen.

there are activities on all day to keep you occupied, but the girls got so badly burned on the 1st day, so we opted to sleep for most of the days on bounty island. we have 3 nights here. we have been sleeping A LOT! like 16 hours a day! it's like being an infant again. you sleep all day or lounge on the beach until they bang some drums to let you know food is ready. eat, go back to bed... deadly!

didn't eat to much today on account of belly pains.