Australia - Sydney

Our evening arrival in Sydney gave us no chance to start our brief Australian adventure but we were looking forward to the following day with high expectations.

Anyway our first day in Sydney and what a difference a couple of thousand kilometres can make, the weather was approximately 10 degrees Celsius warmer than that of our whole NZ experience. We started with breakfast at Hyde park café- which was a great start to the day. Then the obvious first must do; Sydney harbour and of course the accompanying Opera House and Harbour bridge. We walked along the Sydney botanical gardens to Mrs Maquires Point- named so by the wife of the governor in 1810, who ordered a chair to be chiselled into the cliff so she could watch the harbour. Wonder what she would think of it now?!




We personally thought the views were pretty striking. Onwards from here we followed the harbour around to closer inspection of the Sydney opera house- noting along the way the amount of joggers in the harbour area.




After a short time wondering around the quay, complete with it’s expensive shops and restaurants, tacky tourist shops and an interesting array of buskers- the majority of whom were native aborigines, we decided a return stroll across the bridge was an idea. The bridge really is a great feat of engineering and of course gives great views of the Opera house (a building that seems will never look dated) and surrounding harbour areas. It was unfortunate that we weren’t there for the weekend, as they closed the bridge and we heard there were thousands of people eating their breakfast there as part of a food festival- quite a spectacle I imagine!



Day two was one of the days we had planned to do for a while; Sydney Zoo- which is supposedly amongst the top zoo’s in the world. We hopped on a ferry which took all of ten minutes and arrived at the zoo It really was a better zoo than many others, with larger areas for the animals which always goes down well with me and Jen. The zoo is also great value for money- just make sure you take food with you as that really isn’t. The highlights of the zoo I hear you ask?! Well clearly the Koalas which in all fairness are one of the cutest animals you will ever see.



Other than the Koalas there is a great deal to see including meerkats, snakes (including the most venomous snake in the world), spiders, elephants, giraffes and so on.





Time flew by exceptionally quick and before we knew the day was turning into evening- this did give us a chance to stroll around the Opera House at night, for a different view of the area.



After a short stroll around the area we really did not feel like the 30 minute walk back to our hostel so instead we hopped on Sydney’s underground/overground system; a system that really puts London’s to shame… three tiered underground trains- say goodbye to crowded underground journeys.

Day three and we were hit by the hottest weather we had witnessed on our travels so far, in fact it was the hottest weather we had ever witnessed as a couple together; to say it was warm would be a slight understatement. We jumped upon another of Sydney’s public transport systems- the monorail.



A few stops later and we arrived at Darling harbour, home to the biggest Imax cinema in the world- unfortunately nothing of great interest was on so no luck there, fortunately along the harbour was an air conditioned mall- a reprieve from the heat..

The evening brought the cool weather which gave us a chance to check out Sydney’s international food festival- a festival which took over Hyde park in the evenings bringing food from all different cultures though predominantly from the Asian countries. The food was quite good though very expensive for what it was.

Our final full day in Sydney was cooler than the previous day… a lot cooler. Our morning was spent doing well…. nothing bar relaxing. In the afternoon I got dragged to the Museum of Contemporary Art, located on the Harbour. It didn’t take us long to get round as most of the work was too bizarre for either of our likings, and Jen complained about the lack of photography again. The best part was the shop, which had a lot of interesting items for sale, but at steep prices. Our evening however was much more entertaining. Our first stop was the Minus 5 bar- any guesses on what the temperature of the bar is? Yes, you got it the temperature of the bar is minus 5- you have to wear a large coat and gloves to enter and you can only spend 30 minutes max in the bar and everything is made of ice; from the bar right down to the glasses.




After a few Vodka cocktails we decided the best bet was to hop on to the underground and head to Kings Cross- an area renowned for it’s bars and seedy goings-on; prostitutes lining the streets, doormen latching onto any single men that pass the strip clubs. Arm yourself with a girlfriend and you’ll be left alone! The area is such a shock as it has no resemblance to downtown Sydney at all- it’s as if you’re in a different city. We found a little place and sat down for a few beers before heading back for the night.

Our last day before our next long haul flight to another country and another continent, however before we went we had one more ‘must do’- Bondi beach. Sydney’s famous beach, and a popular retreat for many young surfers.

Unfortunately having to fly out that day our stuff was packed and locked away far from ourselves so we had no swimwear, so we spent some time relaxing- we probably looked odd as we were the only ones really wearing clothes. It’s a very alluring small beach and the weather was just right, giving us the chance to fully appreciate it.




Our time in Sydney has been short and most definitely sweet, the city itself has an allurement than many ‘big cities’ don’t have. It’s an expensive city- a very expensive city- mind you this does not take away from it’s charm; there is plenty to do/see if you wish and also plenty of places to take life at whatever pace you wish, unlike many other cities where you feel 3 to 4 days is enough, I think we could easily be happy with a week or so in Sydney.

New Zealand - Backtracking and conclusion

The two days left before our flight onwards to Sydney were spent backtracking through Wellington and Auckland.

Our first night back in Wellington was spent walking some of the areas we hadn’t spent much time in and some essential if slightly unsuccessful souvenir shopping- by the time we actually got round to shopping the shops were closing, great planning on our part. This did however give us a chance to stroll around the Civic centre; an area that somehow we missed on our first time round. The Civic centre is an area surrounded by many forms of art and art related museums.



Being back in Wellington gave us the chance to go back to our new favourite little Japanese restaurant- Abashi. Once again the food was brilliant and if this place was in the UK I think we would spend a lot of money on their food.

We decided against another bus journey and took the Overlander- a 12 hour train from Wellington straight through to Auckland. To be honest our opinions on the journey were slightly mixed, overall I would say we enjoyed the journey but I don’t think we’d be in a hurry to do it again. Unfortunately we didn’t get a great deal of photographs due to the fact that my photographer managed to sleep for a large proportion of the trip- though she woke for the best views.




I don’t have much to say about our time in Auckland, I think more than anything we were killing time- though fortunately we managed to get some of those souvenirs we were searching for.

This concludes our New Zealand experience and what an experience it’s been, one that will live long in our memories and give us a wealth of events to talk about; from skydiving in Wanaka, to walking a glacier in Franz Josef, dolphin viewing in Picton to simply taking life at our pace and enjoying every minute. Our knowledge of New Zealand has developed from to be honest a complete lack of, bar maybe sheep, mountains and well sheep on mountains, to a competent understanding and intrigue of their young history. We’ll be sad to leave and I feel as if a part of us has been left behind with it, however our journey has not yet finished and we still have many discoveries that await us and our next comes in Sydney.

New Zealand - Waikanae

This entry is probably more for those who know us personally. Our time in Waikanae was a complete change of pace for us and a very much appreciated one at that. A few days with which to catch up with family and a time that we both enjoyed thoroughly.

As for activities other than lots of conversation, lots of eating, a fair bit of drinking and a lot of remarking how cute the baby was we really didn’t do much else- oh and the family really turned the good weather on for us, it rained almost from the moment we arrived to the moment we left.

Our time wasn’t completely lazy and as a family we took a day out at Lindale, a small complex of shops and eateries and a small farm, which you can take a brief walk around for a small fee. It’s an interesting little area and gives you the chance to meet some of the friendliest farm animals you’ll ever meet- and greediest.



After that we stopped off for an ice cream, what was without a doubt the nicest ice cream we had in our time across NZ. What of little Will I hear you ask… well he slept through the whole thing.

Our next day we decided to take advantage of the rental car and drove down to Paraparaumu, a small beachside resort a short trip from Waikanae. Unfortunately being as useless as we are sometimes we forgot the camera, anyway we took a pleasant stroll along the black beach and then had a lunch at 180 degrees- which in all fairness was amazing. From here we took a drive up to Otaki in search of a walk we had heard about in the national park area, anyway 30 minutes later some very winding gravel roads with fords, unstable edges and sharp drops into the gorge below, we made a joint decision that it was time to head back…… that and the fact if was starting to rain.

Our time in Waikanae had sadly come to end, however positively only a few days before we head to Sydney and we still have the Overlander from Wellington to Auckland to look forward to.

New Zealand - Kaikoura

Our early morning drive to Kaikoura not only brought the great weather back but it also added a nice amount of dramatic South Island scenery, making the journey feel a lot shorter than what it was.

As stated before Kaikoura is, bar a brief amount of time with family in the Waikanae and surrounding areas and a couple of nights in Wellington and Auckland, the unofficial ending to our NZ trip- though don’t worry we won’t stop writing about our NZ journeys quite yet.

On arrival in Kaikoura we stopped off for a quick breakfast, unfortunately our early start didn’t give us time for anything in Christchurch. We chose the first place we stumbled upon; the Crayfish restaurant, two fry ups later- well one and one vegetarian option, I have to say we weren’t impressed at all but the staff were undeniably friendly. Anyway with that hiccup out of the way we were looking forward to our stay in Kaikoura- a very unique place and amongst very few places in the world where you can surf and ski on the same day. One of my pointless facts but I read the only other places are in Scotland, France, Italy and another one in New Zealand, though you’d probably be better not to quote me on that one.



Having arrived early we took advantage of this rare situation and set out on a walk to the seal colony, the walk takes about 20 - 30 minutes from the centre of town and it’s definitely a must do, especially if you have a perfect day like we did. The area is constantly frequented by rather smelly fur seals sleeping on the beach; and in other much stranger areas.





After some time soaking up the views and laughing at the seals we began the 2 hour walk which loops around the peninsular into a small township, which I believe was called South Bay. From here you can take a short bush walk which leads you back to the centre of Kaikoura- or in our case right back at our hostel. This walk was easily one of our favourite walks across the whole of New Zealand and indisputably beautiful and gave Jen chance to take some wonderful photographs (as she has across the whole trip so far).




From our starting point in the centre of Kaikoura and back took us approximately 4 ½ hours, taking into account plenty of time exploring some of the bays along the walk, watching the seals, taking in some of the breathtaking views and of course some time to refuel our bodies- if you don’t do anything else in Kaikoura make sure you do this.

Day two was planned around an activity we had been looking forward to for sometime- whale watching. Unfortunately it was probably the one thing that I (Jen less so) regret spending the large amount of money that we did. However, before I hit on the negatives I’ll talk about the positives. We did get to see a sperm whale first and foremost, though it was a brief viewing and I didn’t really get many photos or many good ones I should say (again I’ll explain later).



The picture above is the whale’s fin before it’s descent. Other than that we also got to see a fully grown Wandering Albatross, we didn’t manage to get a photo but it’s wingspan was unbelievable. Other than the marine life we saw, I only have positives to say about the tour itself- bombarding you with interesting information about the area and the many different inhabitants. Now unfortunately for the reason I regret doing the trip so much; first of all we may have seen a whale but it was VERY brief and secondly and more to the point- Jen has a habit of feeling sea sick or having motion sickness and the swell was rough to say the least which did leave her feeling ill. However for some reason my body decided, and for the first time ever, it was going to get sea sick, to the point where I had to sleep for almost the entire trip. We came off the trip feeling very deflated and vowing never to do an excursion of that kind ever again- if you’re reading this and thinking of doing it please don’t be put off with my views, they do have a 98% success rate of seeing whales and from what I hear they regularly see more than the single whale. I think in hindsight we would have considered more the Wings over Whales (small plane) option as opposed to the boat- however they both have their pros and cons.

Our last late afternoon/evening was spent strolling around the beach and local area, again the weather really was fantastic for us- a sharp contrast from what we had in Christchurch. Just as the weather was perfect so was our time in Kaikoura and really the icing on the cake for us. As our last ‘new’ place in NZ we couldn’t have wanted more.

New Zealand - Christchurch

Well Christchurch, what can I say?! I’m not really sure what happened in Christchurch- not really much to be honest. We didn’t dislike it by any means in fact as a city I think we both liked it, the blend of old and new in a similar way to London appeals to us a lot, however as a city to do things in- we really didn’t find much at all. With this said the weather was uncharacteristically bad- funny how the most English place we have come across to date is also reminiscent in terms of weather. Plus maybe we didn’t look as hard as we possibly could have done.

Anyway we arrived late on our first day and the awful weather forced us to hop into a taxi to our hostel, though we had the nicest taxi driver ever, so no real complaints there. Anyway too tired and equally lazy to cook we decided upon something cheap i.e. McDonalds (how very exciting of us), anyway after walking around for a while we decided McDonalds was a bad idea and Mexican food sounded so much more interesting- so we ate out at the Mexican Café. This choice worked out to be a great one as wow was it nice, being massive fans of Mexican food we come to expect a lot from any restaurant that specialises in it and thankfully in this case we were not disappointed. The place also comes with a menu of 40+ different Tequila’s- if that’s your thing, and live Latino guitarists on Thursdays, maybe a fraction noisy for some people mind you.

Anyway day two started in an equally lethargic way- we just didn’t want to rise from our comfortable haven. Anyway when we finally did we hopped on the tram for a 30 minute trip around Christchurch with commentary, greatest features of the tram a)You can use the ticket for 48 hours (ideal for us as the one stop wasn’t far from our accommodation) and b) The auditorium and shopping district the tram passes through are definite highlights.




After our short trip and obligatory coffee stop we headed on with our day, unfortunately the weather restricted our activities, thankfully the cinema came to the rescue and we spent our evening watching ‘The Soloist’.

Our final day in Christchurch and still no great improvement in the weather nor our motivation. However we started our day with a morning excursion to the Saturday arts and crafts market at the Arts Centre, we strolled around for a short time- Jen was determined to get a Maori carving and a Christmas decoration for our future tree; the idea is we have one from each country we visit, unfortunately no luck on either of these. Though fortunately we found a man selling crepes…. we’re on holiday!! Actually eating out was a reoccurring theme on this day. Anyhow after our crepe we headed on to the Christchurch art gallery, now a lot of the gallery was due to open soon so we only saw a fraction of what the gallery has to offer, but it’s free so no complaints on that part. A large amount of the collection was modern art, which without trying to offend I have absolutely no time for. The rest of the works equally bemused me especially those by Séraphine Pick, which I couldn’t relate to in any way or form, many others may be able to understand that on an artistic level, I however shall stick to photography- reassuringly the more artistic part of this duo also wasn’t highly impressed with the works, in her words it was all a bit too fine art and strange … such a way with words. She also complained about the very poor representation of photography and bias towards painting.

Then after the very stressful morning we headed home;



Well maybe not quite home, but the street named after our hometown. We settled down at Coffee House for a mocha and a plate of nachos- who knew nachos from a coffee house could be so good.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wasting time until our dinner reservation at The Bodhi Tree, a Burmese restaurant. Now every part of me wants to love this place; the staff were great, the food was presented well and the restaurant was unique. However, it just wasn’t as good as we expected it be- though in all fairness our expectations were high; the place was booked out every night and the smell when we walked in was fantastic, plus Lonely Planet hypes it up pretty well. The food however…. well it was good but that’s about all I can say, it just wasn’t brilliant, though I’d love to go back and give it another chance.

A very early departure before what is technically our last ‘new’ place- Kaikoura. Though we do have some backtracking to do, back up to Wellington and Auckland and the rental car for our stopover with family in Waikanae, which should hopefully give us the chance to explore a bit more, no need for the tears… yet!

New Zealand - Oamaru

Arriving into Oamaru’s heritage section and main street has a similar if not more potent effect on you than Napier- the effect of stepping back in town.

Oamaru is probably one of the few places that can thank debt and depression for what it has now become- a true relic to it’s heritage and history. A town that is masked with an eccentric vibe, from the old Victorian dress you see people wearing to the horse and carts dotted around the historic part of town- even down to the main active railway line which cuts right through the centre of town and the odd penguin crossing street signs.



Oddly enough and the significance of this is for my family, it’s twinned with the UK city of Devizes.

Having arrived reasonably early we had the chance to check out the Blue Penguin colony on our first night, the main attraction of Oamaru. The penguins stand at a mere 16 inches tall and only weight in at 1kg, so very small. You pay about $20 (£9) which goes back into the blue penguin charity, the whole event is very peculiar- to sum up the evening you sit in a stand with many other tourists watching a cliff, some sea and a garden with lots of little huts inside it…Confused? We were! Anyway a couple of little penguins start heading out of the sea and very tentatively begin to head up the cliff onto land, as time goes by more and more (112 in total) of the little penguins come out of the sea. I found the whole experience to be very odd, though admittedly the little guys were very cute and wow can they make a noise and we were pumping money back into a conservation programme which I have no issue with at all.

Anyway after the late finish we headed back, walking past a few penguins waddling down the street- a strange experience. Unlike many of the other tourists we heeded the DOC (department of conservation) warning that taking photographs of the penguins can damage their eye sight and frighten them, clearly many people don’t understand simple rules.

Our second full day in Oamaru was planned around visiting the yellow penguin colony, a smaller and much rarer colony than that of the blues. However we started our morning with a trek around the Cape Wanbrow Reserve and a walk up to the lookout point, which looks onto the township of Oamaru and the south Pacific sea.



After a brief amount of time taking in the views, we began our walk to the yellow penguin colony. We decided against the boring walk along the road and on the tramp over the beach and through the scenic reserve, which in all fairness is definitely the more picturesque;




Unfortunately for us and not so unfortunate in other ways, a large group of seals blocked our path and to be honest I didn’t really feel like pushing them out of the way, though we did stop to get some photographs- without getting too close of course.



After turning back we took the not so scenic but still interesting walk along the road to the yellow penguin colony, once there we only stayed for 30 - 40 minutes and unfortunately didn’t get a glimpse of any, though we did catch one of a very lazy fur seal. We would have stayed around longer but the weather got very cold very quick and we were very under prepared.

Our last day before heading to Christchurch started out with ourselves being lost for what to actually do, being in very indecisive moods. Our natural flow took us for a stroll around the Oamaru botanical gardens- complete with an aviary, Chinese gardens and many other intricate little features- if you have a short while to spare I think we’d both recommend doing it.




Before we shot off we really thought we better check out the Whitestone cheese factory- considering Oamaru is quite famous for it’s regional cheese. We didn’t actually do the factory itself so can’t comment on that instead we decided upon a short visit to the café for a cheese platter between the two of us- definitely worth it.

New Zealand - Dunedin

The drive from Queenstown to Dunedin was very British, long rolling sheep farms as far as the eye could see.

Unfortunately I was still feeling slightly worse for wear during our time in Dunedin so we were still taking things at a slower pace than usual.

Dunedin is not just Scottish in name it also has many similarities with cities in Scotland itself- namely Edinburgh. On arrival in Dunedin we took some time to get our bearings in New Zealand’s biggest city (in terms of actual ground as opposed to population). Our first port of call was the Chinese gardens, a stark contrast to their surrounding areas, the area itself is very small and literally takes 5-10 minutes but worth a look.





Our first full day in Dunedin began at the most photographed building in Dunedin



Our excursion out on the Taieri Gorge railway was a four and half hour return journey to Pukerangi- the journey itself was great and we were once again witness to great views, however personally I don’t think I could justify the price if we didn’t have the hostel members discount. Though again with that said we really did enjoy our day out and I’m pretty sure it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Jen not fall asleep on public transport.




After our journey out on the Taieri planes we hopped on a bus from the Octagon and headed out on without a doubt the most touristy thing we had done over our entire NZ trip- Baldwin street. Baldwin street is according to the Guiness book of world records, the steepest residential street in the world, unsurprisingly enough it’s quite a tough walk to the top though some great views of the surrounding areas can be had.





Our stay in Dunedin was very short and sweet, really not a great deal to write about. Next on to the penguin orientated town of Oamaru.

New Zealand - Queenstown

In advance our Queenstown report will probably be a little short, this is down to the unfortunate case of myself falling quite ill and Jen having to deal with me. With this said, we did make the effort to do as much as we could, though unfortunately our plan to go to Milford Sound had to be called off... a real shame.

Anyway we arrived in Queenstown and once again we felt drawn to the area immediately, probably because it looks a lot like Wanaka- just on a busier scale and wow was it busy when we arrived.
Our late arrival only gave us the chance to really get supplies, while we’re on that subject, the Fresh Choice brand of supermarket has quite an ironic name, considering both times we’ve been into one the food has been far from fresh (I complain too much). An evening stroll around the harbour area conjoined with meeting a lovely American girl- Paige, ended our night.

Our first full day and determined to get what I could out of the day and the good weather, though I only managed half a day, was spent on the Gondola to the Skyline resort- probably one of the steepest Gondola rides I’ve ever been on. Though well worth it as at the top we greeted with what we both agreed was the greatest view we had seen on our travels in New Zealand.



Postcard perfect or what?! This also gave us both the chance to have another go on the Luge, not quite as good as the one in Rotorua but none the less great fun. After spending some degree of time soaking up that amazing view and equally the perfect weather, we descended down to the base of the mountain and decided upon a game of mini-golf; Jen just wanted to get one back on me after losing in Taupo- she failed, evidently I’m just a better mini golfer. A quick walk around Queenstown park to discover the first European to inhabit Queenstown was a man from Jen’s dads hometown of Haverford West.



Also, we had the chance to watch the odd sport of Frisbee golf (no explanation needed it’s pretty much as it sounds)- which looked like it needed much more skill than me and Jenny possess.

The next day we decided with the weather still in our favour we would head down to Arrowtown. On arrival I mentioned to Jen that the little place reminded me of Hay On Wye in Wales, she agreed. In a sense it really does but then again on the other hand it couldn’t be any more opposite from Hay. Arrowtown is a preserved old gold mining town, complete with buildings of that period and a handful of little shops and quite a few cafés- even though I enjoyed the town I have to say it felt far too touristy (ironic I know).



We strolled around the town before picking one of the more modern café’s down the small backstreets, Snatch. I had the very American breakfast of bacon on spicy French toast with banana and maple syrup… a concoction that oddly enough does work and I’m sure will keep me pretty slim, I think even though she’s a vegetarian Jen was very envious of my dish.

After that hearty meal a walk was needed, so we walked along the old Chinese settlement- an area inhabited by Chinese immigrants during the gold mining Rush (a few of the buildings still stand) in Arrowtown, the walk is very easy; though informative and well worth a look.




Some time spent chilling out in the sun on the riverbank was on the cards next- or in my case falling asleep.
Our final full day in Queenstown brought another slow day, though greeted us with a fantastic surprise in the morning… snow.



Though this does have one drawback, that of course being the cold weather. We headed down for the obligatory warm up drink at Patagonia- who do an amazing Mexican chilli hot chocolate- it works but it’s ridiculously sickly. We had intended to look around the Saturday morning Art and Crafts market along the riverfront, though due to the morning snow it had been called off bar a few stalls. Enough may I add for Jen to go jewellery shopping. Our alternative plan was a short visit to a free observatory under the lake, letting you see the fish in their natural habitat- the highlights though clearly being New Zealand’s only true diving duck and the not so beautiful eel.




Having been told by a British guy in Wanaka, who was incidentally from Worcester (a short drive from our own city), that we can’t leave without trying the famous Fergburger, I felt no matter what state I was in it just had to be done- and I was glad it was done, though it was the most ridiculous sized burger we’ve both had.
So much for the short entry, anyway onto Dunedin next.