The last one

This will be the final blog and one that does a bit of a rundown on some of the more amazing things I did or saw while away. Ive been putting it off for a while but having been asked a few times now what my highlight or highlights were I thought I should put something together. So here are my top 11 moments of my trip abroad. Its 11 because I was gone for 11 months and includes at least one moment from each country I visited. For those of you who dont remember I was in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Australia and New Zealand. Ive ordered them in how much they mean to me (or in some cases what I remember of them) so number one is clearly the best. Lets begin our countdown with Number 11!

11. Teaching Math & Science: This one kind of had to feature since it comprised 5 months of my trip away. I still remember arriving at the school for my first day's work under the impression I had to teach English with a little bit of Math or Science on the side. This turned out to be the other way around and straight away I had to chat to the kids for a good half hour having been told I would only have to say hello! This one takes in a lot of things from teaching itself, living in a foreign country where I dont speak the language or look like anyone else, cleaning days which were my days off, games in the classroom, relearning what I had to teach the night before I had to teach it, hanging out with the other teachers in the school who spoke english, Ajarn Chaweewan, trips to Chiang Mai (one of my fave cities if not the fave) and so much more. It was a challenging experience that took a while to get used to but left me with the confidence to take on other challenging things I might have shied away from if I hadnt gone and done this. I now forever have the sentence “Well if I can teach thai kids Math and Science then I can do this!”.

10. Phi Phi: Probably my first big trip once in thailand and working was going to Koh Phi Phi for New Year. It was a nightmare logistically because I assumed it had all been taken care of for me and I just had to show up. So it started with getting to Phuket and missing the ferry, followed by missing the gang on Phi Phi and not getting into the hostel till nighttime. Once there things picked up and I had a great time with the friends I made in teaching orientation in Bangkok. I got really drunk and really sunburned but had an amazing time. I played football on a beach, I got to visit The Beach, I got to sit on perfect white sand and swim in crystal clear water. Then there was NY Eve itself and getting off my face on 'buckets'. It was an amazing little holiday from work and we all made the most of it.

9. The slow boat down the Mekong: In a way the beginning of the travelling for me. I had moved out of Li and with my backpack on my back I was off to Laos, on a boat. Crammed onto barge for two days with a large gang of other backpackers there is little to do but befriend people and have a good time. We spent plenty of time chatting, a lot of time drinking and the boat was under a haze for a lot of the trip too. I made friends aplenty here and met them all along the way through Laos, though mostly in Vang Vieng where we did some more socialising and drinking. My first overland border crossing too which is a ritual I would come to hate but at the time was all good fun.

8. Franzjosef: Hiking on a glacier for a full day, what's not to like? It was a truly spectacular experience and one that will stick with me for a while. The sheer beauty of the glacier and the surrounding valley made this a special journey. The highlight of which was shuffling through the blue ice crevasse. There are not many places in the world left where you can get up close and personal with that deep shade of blue ice.

7. The Great Barrier Reef: An amazing day trip where I got to snorkel over one of the natural wonders of the world. The weather was good, the water was beautiful, the staff on the boat were amazing and I got to see Nemo and a turtle in the wild! Beautiful coral, amazing fish and sealife, its what visiting Cairns, Australia is all about.

6. Mae Hong Son: A week-long motorbike trip through the northwest of Thailand with Markus Chisholm. The two of us just rented a pair of motorbikes and sped off into the mountains, driving our way through some spectacular scenery and visiting some wicked towns like Pai and Mae Hong Son. Pai itself is an amazing little place and we had a good laugh there. The journey didnt end so well or it might be higher in the list but if you dont know what im talking about then look back through my blogs. I still have the scars.

5. Wat Rong Khun (The White Temple): This was a crazy place in the thai city of Chiang Rai where an artist had taken your standard red and gold temple and painted the entire structure white. He added a few little twists of his own on top of this such as the bridge over the sea of souls but the highlight was the inner wall of the chamber. On the wall that you pass through to enter it had a painting with all sorts of crazy stuff on it from Bin Laden to Superman, from Converse shoes to Neo, its one of these things you have to see to believe.

4. Ha Long Bay: A boat trip on the famous bay just north of Hanoi in Vietnam. It is a massive bay with thousands of rock formations rising up from the water like little islands (some of them are actual islands too). Its a fairly mind numbing experience as shown by the fact that all of us on the boat sat there staring around us in amazement for most of the boat journey. The sunsets were particularly impressive and I got to do some sea kayaking so all in all a pretty cool trip! Oh and there was the visit to Monkey Island.

3. Skydiving: An amazing experience if probably the most terrifying thing ive ever done. Im still not entirely sure why I did do it but im glad to be able to say I jumped out of a plane at 15,000 feet and lived to tell the tale.....barely. Ive got the photos and the dvd to prove it to any doubters too.

2. Angkor Wat: These truly deserve to be one of the wonders of the world and Cambodia itself is such a beautiful and welcoming place to go on top of it. The temples will blow you away, simply because they are among some of the oldest man made structures still standing in the world today and you can see how the ravages of time and mother nature have taken their toll. This place was in the middle of a jungle for a very long time which you can clearly see when you visit the 'Tomb Raider' temple which has trees growing on and around and through walls at what seem impossible angles. Go and see it for yourself!

1. Whitsunday Islands: Surprised at the number one? Well you shouldnt be. On this trip I got to travel on a sailing boat and help out, snorkel with fish and beautiful coral but more importantly meet one crazy, hot scottish girl. You've got to love that scottish accent......

So that's a wrap for me. There are plenty of experiences I had which didnt feature on the list such as tubing in Vang Vieng, the border crossing into Vietnam, Phnom Penh, Hoi An, Fraser Island. Sports days in the school and many, many more. It is a journey I will treasure and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

This is the end......

My final stop on my 11 month journey was in Queenstown, NZ. From here i would fly (not directly) home to Ireland after 6 nights living it up in the party central of NZ. At least that was the plan. It was all going well for a few days, had a savage night out with the Magic bus crew the first night and had sussed out the town during the days. Then i met up with Dan, fresh into town from Wanaka, and went for a few drinks with him. However, as i went to the atm to get some cash out i soon discovered a problem. The money had run out. I was broke 4 days from the end of my trip! Luckily enough i had the hostel paid for, $30 in my pocket and a bag of rice so i had food and lodging. it meant the partying had to end there and then and i wouldnt be doing any of the many crazy activities which Queenstown has to offer. But i did have a prepaid trip on the gondola and luge so when we got a sunny day myself and Dan went on it. The view from the top of the gondola over the town and lake with the snow topped mountains surrounding everything was amazing. The luge then was great craic full of dips, sharp bends and tunnels but another lap or two would have made it a more worthwhile activity. Ah well.

Later on that day we had a go at frisbee golf in the local park. This involves a frisbee each and a frisbee golf course which was marked out. I sucked at it. Dan wasnt too bad but the trees took a dislike to having a plastic frisbee thrown at them and said frisbee was dead by the end of the round. How it survived that long i dont know. The fun kind of ended there really. The weather turned over the next few days and i was cooped up in my hostel most of the time. On my last night i went and spent the last few dollars i had on drinks with a small group. I spent a bit of time planning for my return to Ireland and the fact that my journey was over sank in fast. It has been an amazing trip and i am so glad i did it. I will have one final blog covering the highlights of the entire journey so keep an eye out for it!

Wanaka

We left Franzjosef in the early morning and began the long journey south towards Queenstown. Before getting that far i would be jumping off the bus in the small lakeside town of Wanaka. We had a few stops on the way the initial one of which was at Lake Matheson, famous for being the 'Reflection Lake'. Basically it is a smallish lake with really still water so you can see the reflection of the mountains in its surface. Its quite pretty and we had a decent day so i walked all the way around it with a couple of others. We had a nice brisk walk as we were a bit tied for time but it was a good way to wake up! After that we had another few stops for some photos, food and the toilets but the next major thing was actually when we got as far as Lake Wanaka after which the town is named. Its a massive lake and we effectively had to drive the whole length of it to reach the town but the scenery on the way was superb. But mostly there was a lot of driving to the day and we got into Wanaka by 2.30. The hostel looked really nice and had a great view out over the lake itself. I figured that i would take it easy for the afternoon and do some stuff the following day. So i went for a bit of a walk and bumped into Cicero, the Brazilian guy from the bus. The two of us chilled out for a little bit and then i went back to the hostel for the evening. Later on a few of us went for drinks, including Dan, a guy i met in FJ and one who i was planning to meet up with in Queenstown and visiting Milford Sound with. But we went for drinks in Wanaka first and had a good laugh mostly at Cicero's expense due to his complete lack of a tolerance for alcohol.

The next morning i was planning to go to Puzzle World which is one of the more eccentric attractions I've come across on my travels. Dan was up to join me as well so the two of us made our way over. Puzzle World is an odd place but cool. It has a maze, an illusion gallery and a cafe with loads of puzzles on the tables. We started with the gallery and saw 3-D holographic pictures, the wall of moving faces and the tilted room where everything is at a 15 degree angle. The weirdest bit was a room that had a slop in it. From the outside it looked normal enough but there were two doors and if you stood inside one of them compared to someone standing in the other you looked like a giant compared to them. You could watch it all on a video link set up outside and its hilarious to see, especially with two people! After this we went outside to the maze and we had a race to see who could find the four corners and get out first. I was doing well by getting to the corners ahead of Dan but got totally lost and by the time i got out he was waiting for me with a big grin on his face. We finished the morning off with 3-D X's and O's where i got the upper hand (success!). Worn out from our mental activities we headed back to town. Dan went off for a walk and i went to watch Inception at the funky Cinema Paradiso.

If you haven't seen this movie yet then do, its epic! The cinema was one screen and littered with couches, armchairs and normal cinema seats as well as a car from which to watch the film. There was also an interval which caught me off guard, i thought the frigging film was ending! Later on we had the All Blacks v Wallabies in the TV room in the hostel so it was a pretty laid back day. The following day wasn't busy by any means either. Chilling in the hostel before hopping on the bus to Queenstown. Oh and i beat Dan at chess so i was getting revenge for losing at the maze!

Glacier hiking

The trip to FranzJosef was fairly short but had one important little stop along the way. We stopped in a tiny place called Ross and did some gold panning. This little settlement was the centre for gold mining and panning in its heyday and they still mine there today i believe. When we got to the i-site and paid our $8 we got a pan of stones each with the promise we would all strike gold. They led us out back to where they had a series of baths. Here we were shown how to 'wash' the stones out of our pans using the water to drag the bigger stones into the bath. Its all about rolling the stones out without losing any precious gold! Because the gold is heavier than stone it stays at the bottom and a lip on the pan ensures it doesn't get washed out. There are only small flakes in each pan so its easy enough to get down to it and pick out the stones at the end. We certainly weren't going to get rich out of the gold we found. So in the bottom of each pan are flecks of gold (and greenstone) which get transferred into a little vial to give you a souvenir of the experience.

We arrived in FJ around noon which allowed people to go on a half day hike on the glacier and move on the following morning if they were in a rush which plenty of people chose to do. There were a few of us hanging on for the full day experience and we got to see the glacier in the afternoon from a viewpoint near its head. The next day we would be walking on ice for many hours so it was quite an impressive sight to see this frozen river of ice flowing down the valley. After that i just chilled out and did a few bits and pieces that id put off for a few days including getting all the gear together that i would need to bring with me tomorrow. Later on a few of us in the hostel took advantage of happy hour in a nearby bar to have a few cheap drinks and then it was an early night to prepare myself for my adventures the next day.

I arrived at the Glacier Guides centre at 8am excited by the prospect of the coming day. There were 40 people on the hike with me which sounds a lot but it worked out ok as i'll explain later. We got our briefing and were provided with waterproof jacket and trousers, boots, woolly socks and crampons. These are metal spikes which you strap onto the sole of your boots to give you grip on the ice. This all took a while as there were so many of us so it was after 9am by the time we were on the bus which shuttled us to the viewpoint id been at the previous day. This is where the trek began. It started with a quick hike through some woodland to the valley floor close to the glacier itself. Here we were split into two groups, the pace setters and the picture takers. I jumped in the first group as i was there for the challenge and experience more so than to take a million photos which, upon looking around, i suspected plenty of people were. Photos are great but if you don't enjoy these places when you are there then what's the point? Our group took off at a good, steady pace and soon reached the front of the glacier where 2 more guides were waiting. We now had 4 guides which put each group at 10 to one guide which is pretty manageable. Next we climbed a hill of scree until we reached the ice itself. At this stage we put on the crampons and were ready to walk on ice!

The trick to walking on ice in crampons is to keep walking forwards in a straight line and stamping your feet slightly at each step to dig the spikes in. Keeping your feet apart also ensures you don't faceplant or rip your pants. Other than that its pretty straightforward (get it?). Just pay attention and you'll be fine. But then when you are walking on one of the most amazing natural occurrences and gazing around you at the natural beauty of the glacier and its valley then you can be forgiven for being a little distracted. I guess the first thing i noticed about the glacier is the surface. When i think of ice i think of smooth, shiny and slippery but a glacier is different because it is constantly melting and freezing so the surface is rarely flat, hardly ever smooth and often quite rough. There are dips, cracks, crevasses, towering walls, tunnels and hills all over the surface of it. Because the glacier is basically constantly melting and reforming the surface changes a lot. So it forms randomly and is tricky to negotiate. Our guide began putting his pickaxe to good use clearing a path for us mostly by cutting steps or clearing new ice from existing steps. This makes progress pretty slow as we have to wait for him to do this at times. We spent a lot of time climbing up but at times would walk through little 'valleys' with walls of ice rising on each side. The going wasn't too bad so far, we were moving steadily and doing plenty of climbing up and down with small patches of walking on flat terrain. We could fill our water bottles from the various little streams we occasionally came across too. So this point it was a pleasantly challenging experience. But it was about to get better.

The first bit of real excitement was the first tunnel. We crouched and half crawled, half shuffled our way through a tiny tunnel carved into the ice, a prime photo stop! Soon after this we stopped for lunch and the other groups caught up. Then the guides disappeared somewhere together for what seemed like an age. When they came back they were soaked through and grinning from ear to ear. We were told to don our waterproof stuff and follow them. Around the corner we we saw what had them so wet and excited. We were going to go through a blue ice crevasse which had water streaming down both sides. It was a tight squeeze, you could only go through sideways but it was an amazing sight. It was deep enough that we could see the true (blue) colour of ice and with the aid of a rope we could get in and out and see it up close and personal. So close in fact that we got pretty wet, waterproof gear or not! Taking pictures was kind of out of the question as there was a lot of water falling on us so sadly no amazing pictures. That was easily the highlight of the day and we followed it with a couple more tunnels and crevasses. We were all really enjoying the day but i was starting to get a little frustrated with two of the group. We had 2 chinese girls in our group who every 5 minutes or so would stop and take several pictures of each other. This could be halfway up or down a slope, inside a tunnel or crevasse or just while walking along. Its really annoying when you are trying to get up a hill of ice and the person in front of you stops. I got stuck behind them for an hour and was getting pretty fed up of them before i got a chance to pass them. I think its an Asian thing to take millions of photos of yourself while abroad while doing the "peace" salute.

Besides this i really enjoyed the day and its definitely a highlight of my overall trip. That said, when we began to descend the glacier i was happy enough to do so. It was after 3 by this time and we had been walking pretty consistently since before 10am. It took no time at all to work our way down and we were on the rocks taking the crampons off by 4. A brisk walk back through the bush and we were back on the bus. We got dropped off at the office where we shed all the gear we had been given for the day and that was it. I jumped on the net to share my day's adventure with everyone and then it was back to the hostel in time for the free soup. After that i made my way to the glacial hot pools to relax my weary muscles. 3 hot pools at 36, 38 and 40 degrees celsius soothed my stiff legs and i chatted away to a few other people who were doing the same. Back at the hostel i watched a bit of a movie and had an early night and that was me done.

I had one last day in FJ afterwards which, needless to say, was a lazy one. Besides the glacier there is precious else of interest in this quiet little town so i relaxed and caught up on some reading and a bit of blogging. After such a hectic day yesterday it was nice to sit in the sunshine and chill out. I was still on holiday after all! Next stop is Lake Wanaka for a bit more chilling out before finishing it all off in the craziness known as Queenstown.

The west coast of NZ's South Island

From Nelson it is a long trip to the next major settlement on the west coast: Greymouth. The plan was to have just one night there and move on to FranzJosef the following day. This necessitated a lot of traveling. We spent almost the whole day on the bus taking occasional photo stops and toilet breaks. The weather wasn't the best so it was a poor enough day for sightseeing. Still I was able to appreciate the stark, rugged beauty coastline of the west coast of NZ with the mountains on one side and the Tazman Sea on the other. The first stop of interest was to see a seal colony. I thought we would be walking along a beach amongst them but we simply looked down from the top of a cliff at them. If they weren't moving about you might not even notice they were there as they blend in quite well to the rocks they are sitting on. There were plenty of pups flopping around the place which was kind of cute but the weather meant we didn't hang around for long. There was a pretty cool signpost though that pointed to the major cities of the world and gave the distances from that point to them. Dublin didn't feature but Westport did (the NZ one)! Later in the day we had another stop at a landmark known as the 'Pancake Rocks'. They are so called because they have formed in layers like a stack of pancakes. They are some kind of geological anomaly and were interesting enough but I was more interested in the blowholes; holes in the rock above a cave where waves crash in and spout from the blowhole. After that we had another quick stop at a lookout that had a waterfall on the beach and we were pretty much in Greymouth.

Most of us on the bus had signed up to the activity here in Greymouth offered by the Magic Bus: a brewery tour. We got a deal on a tour and tasting followed by a meal in a bar of our choice. The brewery tour was quite interesting, it was a lot smaller than the one I had visited in Brisbane but there was a more personal touch to the brewery process because of that. The highlight of the tour was undoubtedly the tasting at the end. We got to taste 7 different brews from cider to pilsner to ale and afterwards had the opportunity to pour a glass (or two) of your favourite. One of our group proved themselves to be a lightweight here as they got smashed off the tasting. Who? A Brazilian guy named Cicero. He provided the entertainment for the evening as we drank more in the bar later. We got ferried to said bar in a taxi and had our pub grub and a few more bevvies. It was a good night and a great way to end a long day traveling. We didn't get to see much of Greymouth as a result but by all accounts I wasn't missing much. We had an early start the next day but a relatively short trip to the town of FranzJosef, home of the FranzJosef glacier on which I would be hiking for a full day!

Arrival on the South Island and Nelson

The day began with a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal. We loaded our luggage much as you would do for a flight and boarded the ferry which would take us across the Cook Straits to the South Island of NZ. The journey was to last 3 hours and it was a bright, sunny day so it promised to be a pleasant crossing. The first part of the journey was nice but it wasnt until we got close to the South Island that it became spectacular. I had been told a few times that the North Island was almost ugly compared to the South and I began to see what they were getting on about. As we sailed through the straits that would lead us to the town of Picton I almost felt like I was back in Ha Long Bay. Surrounded on both sides by green, forested mountains and headlands it is a truly picturesque journey. We passed little bays and inlets along the way and even saw little isolated dwellings from which the only transport to civilisation could be boat. My mood and health were quickly improving by the time we landed. It was an effortless process to collect my baggage and hop on the waiting Magic Bus. From there it was a straight trip to Nelson where I would be staying for the next two nights. The scenery along the way was as breathtaking as that on the approach to the S. Island and I was quickly falling in love with the place. By the time we reached Nelson it was evening so barring a quick trip by a few of us off the bus to the supermarket it was a quiet night in. On the boat I began hearing about the earthquake which had hit Christchurch during the previous night and done so much damage, I didnt know anything about it till I saw a tv screen with news about it!

What most people do when they get to Nelson is take a trip to Abel Tazman National Park. I decided against this as I was just starting to recover from the flu and I was more focused on my hike on the FranzJosef glacier in a few days time. I wanted to be in good health for that. That said I did go for a short walk to the “Centre of NZ” which is the top of a hill on the outskirts of town. A brisk 30 minute walk took me to this nice viewpoint and I sat there and enjoyed both the sunshine and the view for a while. After a bit I decided to continue my walking and took another little walk which brought me over some hills to another part of town. All in all I was walking for a couple of hours and got back to the hostel in the early afternoon. Nothing too challenging but it fit the bill nicely. I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the hostel, doing some reading and writing and in the evening I followed this up by taking full advantage of the free hot spa and sauna provided by the hostel. It was an excellent way to finish off a good day. Also in the hostel I met a number of people who would be on the same Magic Bus as me in the morning so there would be a good gang of us for the next leg of the journey!

Welly and couchsurfing part 2

Wellington didnt have much of a chance since I arrived there sick and a bit down in the dumps as a result. Our driver for this section, Dusty, was the total opposite. He was a real livewire and was always chipping in on the mike with funny comments about various things and was just full of enthusiasm. Our main photostop was atop Mt Victoria which is beside Wellington. From here we got a good view of the city and the outlying bay. After this we went down into the city itself and everyone got off to check into their respective hostels. I wouldnt be using a hostel this time round as I had plans to couchsurf while I was in town. I had to wait until my host finished work first so I dossed around the city for a while using the internet and just getting some hot drinks into me. Then it was time to catch the bus out to one of the suburbs. All this was fine and I arrived at the house ok, sadly there was nobody there to greet me. I stuck around for about a half hour and realised there was a massive traffic jam just around the corner, a bus was blocking both flows. This meant wherever my host was she wouldnt be home anytime soon. I had no phone to get in touch with her and was starting to get cold as well so decided to abandon this couchsurfing attempt at least for one night. Lucky for me a friendly guy walking past was able to advise me on my best route back into the city centre which conveniently took me past his house so I walked with him for a bit before he showed me the entrance to the botanic gardens where there is a cable car down the hill into the city centre. So I caught that into town and walked to the nearest hostel to book in. After I got that sorted I bought a call card and got in touch with my would be host and let her know what had happened and that I would try catch up with her when she was in the city the following day. With all that done it wasnt long before I crashed into bed.

The next day started pretty sluggishly. I had no major plans for the day bar hitting the free museum and tracking down this couchsurfer. I achieved one of those goals. By the late morning I was wandering around Te Papa, the free national museum in Wellington. Its a really amazing complex comprising several floors and takes in everything from the geological history of New Zealand to the Maori history with everything in between and a few quirky sideshows thrown in for good measure. I spent a good 3 hours walking around it and didnt take in everything, its that big. If you are ever in Wellington it is well worth a visit and is the right price = FREE! In the afternoon I braved the famous winds of the 'Windy City' to search for my couchsurfer. She was supposed to be doing some charity work on one of the major streets but I never saw her. That pretty much killed the whole couchsurfing attempt and I just booked myself in for the remaining two nights in town. I spent the rest of the day chilling in the hostel and went for a few bevvies with a crew from my room. I stuck to the hot toddies to see if they would help shift the flu and had a good laugh with the crew.

My last day in Wellington was a lazy one. I wasnt really in the mood for doing anything in particular so I just hung around the hostel and arranged my travel for the next day. I was starting to feel a bit better due mainly to some stronger meds. Hopefully going to the South Island would give me a boost as well since its supposed to be beautiful and the real reason for visiting NZ!

Freefallin

It was another early start to catch the bus to Taupo via Waitomo. In Waitomo they have a couple of tourist attractions centred around the caves that permeate the area. We stopped in this tiny little spot (popn about 50 people) for 3 hours so I, like most people on the bus, decided to take a guided tour of one of the caves. The reason the caves here are so popular is the resident gloworms. We took a walk through the cave dimly lit by candlelight and saw tiny little specks of light on the ceilings and walls of the cave. In a sense its like looking at stars on a clear night. I think they are unique to NZ too so pretty neat. Between this and a bit of mooching around we filled our time here and were soon on our way to Taupo through heavy rain. This didnt bode well for my planned activity the following day – skydiving. We got to Taupo in the afternoon and considering the weather a few of us stayed in and chilled at the hostel.

In the morning the nerves came on as it sunk in I would be jumping out of a plane later that day. I was scheduled for a 10.30am jump and I got picked up at the hostel a half hour before that. The banter in the car was good, everyone seemed in good form. Then, when we arrived at the centre we chose which package we wanted to do. After some deliberation I chose 15,000ft with a dvd and photos of the freefall. It was more money than I had planned on spending but I reasoned that I may never do something like this again and without the dvd and photos I may not remember it as its all over in a flash. This decision made we were introduced to the plane we would be flinging ourselves out of shortly, it was yellow and had teeth painted on the front. Then we suited up, met our tandem masters and cameramen and get our harnesses tightened up. Then it was time to go. By this stage everything is moving too quickly for you to dwell on what you are doing. Suit, harness, tighten harness, gloves, hat and goggles, then a tap on the shoulder and you are heading for the plane. I was first (bar my tandem master) into the plane so I would be one of the last jumpers. On the way up my tandem master, seated directly behind me kept chatting away and giving instructions which again kept my mind from dwelling on the swift approaching moment. We eventually reached 12,000ft and two people jumped out. Here things began to sink in. I realised just how high we were up and how freaking cold it was, and we still kept going up. Now all the clasps and belts get checked and and I get attached to my tandem guy. Hat gets clipped on and goggles go over my eyes. The plane levels out and we shuffle to the opening door. My cameraman has climbed out and is hanging on the side of the plane. I'm now sitting on the edge of the plane, legs tucked under the belly of the plane looking out at the great expanse in front of me. A quick smile at the camera that takes a pic of you just before you jump then its head back, 1, 2, 3 and.........

My first thoughts upon leaving the plane were along the lines of “OHF$%^&INGHELLWHATTHE&^%$AMIDOINGITSXXXXINGHIGHUPICANTBREATHEWHYCANTIBREATHEIMGONNADDDDDIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!” (Good luck reading that) or something like that. Jumping out of a plane tends to make concentrating hard for some reason. The freefall was a complete blur but by looking at the dvd afterwards I was able to remember a couple of things. One was the feeling of impending doom as you plummet very, very, very quickly towards the ground and the other is the struggle to draw breath. I got so scared I forgot how to breathe. We began to level out and the cameraman came over, smiling, and reached out to shake his hand. I’d been told that during the freefall I should focus on him so that I get the most out of the dvd since the camera is in his helmet but when you’re up there the dvd is the least of your worries. There was lots of spinning around and waving at the camera before he backed away and then THUMP! The parachute gets deployed and you suddenly aren’t flying face first towards your death, you start to float quite peacefully. For the first time I was able to take in the scenery. Lake Taupo is bigger than Singapore and at 5,000ft you can see the whole lot plus all the rolling green fields around it and even some mountains in the distance. At this point my heart rate was slowing down a little bit and I remembered how to breathe again but when we started to do some turns my heart did skip a beat as we sped up our descent a fair bit. A couple of minutes floating around and a few turns later and we are approaching to land. Feet up and a nice soft landing and its all over, feet back on terra firma again. As a group all the jumpers then did another piece for the dvd and then it was time to strip off all the gear. At this point I realized I couldn’t hear a damn thing, this would go on to last a full 24 hours. After I had the gear off I went into the video editing room and watched the video of my freefall. I look as terrified as I felt. Then I paid up, got my certificate, dvd, photos and a free t-shirt and it was back on the bus to the hostel.

For the rest of the day I just tried to relax at the hostel as adrenaline was still buzzing around my system and my ears were still not working. Then in the evening I crashed and my body’s immune system crashed with me. The flu set in. I had a bit of a stuffy nose going skydiving but I came back with a full blown case of the flu. Im guessing flying up 15,000ft in an unpressurised plane then dropping the same distance in minutes may have played a part. However I got it I was laid up for the next day and night in Taupo with it. As a result I didn’t see much of the town but it will always be the place I did my (first?) skydive. Totally worth it!

Bad smells and Zorbonauts

The journey to Rotorua began with a stop at Mt Eden in Auckland which is one of many old volcanoes in the region. It also gives a pretty good view over the city. While here our bus driver told us a deadly story about some students who played an April Fools joke on the city's residents. They climbed the mountain in the middle of the night (the night before April fools day) and threw some old couches and tires into the cone of the volcano then set them alight. So the people of Auckland woke up to the sight of black smoke billowing from what they knew was a volcano. It caused widespread panic throughout the city for several hours before somebody realised what day it was and took a walk up. Best April Fools ever! Also on the way to Rotorua was the town of Hobbiton where we took pictures of a Gollum statue and the Hobbiton sign. Apparently with the Hobbit film coming up the place has been rebuilt too. It was afternoon by the time we got to Rotorua and we paid a visit to one of the Maori culture centres for a brief introduction to some Maori folklore as well as visiting a jade factory before we got dropped off at our respective hostels. I was in town for 4 nights (just the way the buses worked out) so I would need to space my activities out. Thus my first night was spent curled up on a couch in the common room with some hot chocolate watching a film courtesy of the hostel.

After a good night's sleep I was ready to see what this little town had to offer. First of all it is a highly geothermal area and there are bubbling mud pools and hot springs all over the place. It also seems to be constantly under a cloud of steam/sulphur which escapes from said geothermal sites. If you are unfamiliar with what sulphur smells like then I can tell you it isnt a pleasant smell, kind of like boiled rotten eggs.... but you get used to it. I got up close and personal with this smell and with the mud and springs as I walked through one of the parks which is full of fenced off areas so you dont fall into the mud and get boiled alive. Not happy with my sulphur dose for the day (or getting used to the smell quite quickly) I took a scenic walk along the lake beside which the town sits and paid a visit to the aptly named 'Sulphur Point'. The smell was quite pungent here so I think im going to be off eggs for quite some time! Later on I paid a visit to the local night market which was small but nice (im spoilt having been to night markets in asia) and chilled out in the hostel for the evening.

Up early the following morning for my big activity day. I booked one of the Maori cultural experiences for that night and set off on a walk to the Redwood Grove here in Rotorua. I followed the directions from reception at my hostel which promptly got me lost. They failed to mention a vital turn..... Supposedly a 45 minute walk it took me several hours to find my way to my destination, the Redwood Visitor Centre. Once I did eventually arrive here they told me there was a bus I could have taken. Oh well I did get a hell of a lot of exercise and a brisk hike through the forest before I found the Giant Redwoods. To be honest it was worth it to see them, they are pretty spectacular trees. After all this walking I got the bus back to town (5 minute trip grrr) just in time to shower and change and get taken out for my Maori culture experience with Te Puia. First off was a tour of the grounds where they gave us a heap of information about the Maori people, their history and heritage and tried to teach us a few bits and pieces. They are very proud of being Maori and happy to share their heritage and beliefs with everyone. We also saw a kiwi and two natural geysers so it was a nice little tour. Then we had a bit of free time before our guide for the night arrived and we began the real cultural experience. First of all he greeted us in Maori (Kia Ora) and informed us all that for the night we would be treated as a tribe visiting his tribe's home. As such we needed a chief to take part in the welcoming ceremonies and assure his tribe we came in peace. Guess who got picked out to be the chief? Only the biggest, most Maori like guy in the group: me..... I guess saying hello back to him at the beginning was the clincher. This meant I had a few duties for the start of the evening. The first of these was to be greeted by a Maori warrior. Basically I stood on the path to their main meeting hall ahead of everyone else and had to stand my ground as this huge Maori guy in full costume charged towards me brandishing a very threatening looking stick. He was basically challenging me if I was there for a fight but by standing still I showed I came in peace. Once he had made his challenge and I made it clear I had no intention of getting the crap kicked out of me he laid a leaf on the ground. I then walked forward (slowly) and picked it up and backed away. Success! Me and my tribe were safe, for now at least. Then we were brought inside the hall and the hosting tribe began a show for us. The sang and danced for one song and then I played the second part of my role as chief. I had to perform the greeting ritual which involves shaking hands while saying “Kia Ora” and then touching our noses together twice. I had to do this with three warriors and then my chief duties were done. Then they performed a couple more songs and dances which are loud, energetic and pretty cheerful. They had to crowd participation moments as well. The girls had a go at using the 'poi' which are basically balls on string and seem to be used in dances and as a way of maintaining hand dexterity. The guys got to try the Haka. This was enormous fun and is trickier than it looks especially the bit where you bulge your eyes and stick your tongue out because you just feel ridiculous. To them it is a statement of “look how big and scary I am”. Once all the performances were done we had our 'Hangi' meal. This is a traditional Maori feast whereby they cook all their food in the ground using steam. This was by far the biggest meal id had in a bloody long time but I felt it was a tad rushed. It was good though. The night was finished off with a visit to the geysers and a cup of hot chocolate. They look superb in the darkness as the bright white of the steam contrasts against the darkness of night. We also sat on the 'hot seat' which is a stone bench heated naturally by the geothermal activity below. All in all it was a really cool way to spend an evening!

My last day in Rotorua began with a visit to the museum which complimented my previous night's adventures quite well as I got more info on the Maori culture of the tribes in the region and some history of the town. Then in the afternoon I paid a visit to the adventure side of town. I had a look at doing something called a 'Schweeb” which is a like a bicycle in a pod hanging from a monorail, but in the end I chose the NZ original: Zorbing. Here I became a zorbonaut which involves climbing into a 12 foot inflatable globe which has some warm water in it and then rolling down a hill. It was mental craic and totally worth it if a bit pricy. Later that evening I relaxed in the hostel's hot tub and got an early night. Next stop Taupo where I would do my skydive!

Bay of Islands and Auckland sunshine

I rose early (6am) to check out and get the Magic bus to Paihia. First impressions of Magic were good, I had a bubbly bus driver called Lisa who was full of info, brain teasers and riddles and had a cool selection of music on her ipod. My fave teaser was 'Name the 7 countries in the Northern Hemisphere that have the letter P in the name. It cant start with P or have republic in the name though'. It took a while but I got em all (see how you do). I also got chatting to one of my fellow passengers whose name was Arran. Between the teasers, the bits of info and someone to chat to the journey went by pretty quickly. We also had a couple of stops along the way which included a nice waterfall and a stop just outside Paihia to look out over the Bay of Islands. So when I landed at the hostel I was in good spirits. I was staying at a place called Peppertree Lodge and as it turned out so was Arran. Cool bananas! It was a nice place; quiet, clean and comfortable. Me and Arran went to find the supermarket and beef up the old provisions as well as for a general look around the place. After that I just lounged about the hostel really. Here I met Conall who is a Welsh guy on a tour of NZ and I spent most of the evening showing him card games. A few other people began to return to the hostel from their daily adventures including 3 girls from LA. They fit the American stereotype of being clueless about things outside the borders of America (or probably California in their case). At one point I ended up trying to explain the difference between Ireland and the UK, this was pointless as they couldnt grasp it. Later in the evening they stuck on some hollywood movie with Angelina Jolie in it that id never heard of and before they pressed play they asked the three of us (Arran, Conall and me) if we needed subtitles on. We just kind of looked at each other and said we would be fine. English subtitles because we might not understand the American accent.....sigh.

The next day Arran went up to Cape Reinga which is the most Northern part of the country and I hung around Paihia. I went for a walk since it was such a nice day and ended up walking to a waterfall which was a 10km round trip. Good thing it was a nice waterfall, I would have been pretty pissed if I walked all that way for a crap one. After that I took the ferry over to the nearby island which houses Russell which used to be the first capital of NZ I think. Its a cute little town with some really old buildings and a pretty good viewpoint (atop a steep hill) which gives a good view of the bay. Back at the hostel I had some dinner and a game of RISK with Conall and the hostel manager. My first game in a long time, which I naturally won :) In the morning I got all my gear together for the trip back to Auckland and caught the bus in the afternoon. I spent the journey chatting to my fellow passengers and we got to Auckland in the early evening. I got there in plenty of time for poker night in the hostel. Here was another thing that I hadnt done in a while and with 8 of us playing at a fiver a piece it reminded me a lot of games back in Maynooth. Unlike most of those games I managed to win this one and was 35 quid richer! The money was quickly spent the following day on a harbour cruise. I got some nice pics of Auckland in the sunshine which are a rarity, especially in the wintertime. After that it was early to bed for my early start in the morning on the bus to Rotorua!

Auckland is a nice enough place but its just a city and doesnt have a whole lot to do. Paihia then is a small little seaside town with a few things of interest in it and plenty of things nearby to do (like the Cape). But my NZ adventure wouldnt really start until I got to Rotorua which is home to a lot of activities and cool stuff.

The beginning of the end: Auckland

Looking out the window of the plane as I came into Auckland my first impression of New Zealand was of rolling green hills. Getting through the airport was a bit tricky upon landing as they take customs pretty seriously here in NZ. Bringing food in is frowned upon so you just gotta be careful. I got through ok, I even had a chat to one of the guys working there about ireland, and then I hopped on the bus into the city centre. I made it to the hostel ok and dumped my gear. By this stage it was late in the afternoon and the weather was pretty miserable so I didnt do a whole lot. I went for a bit of a walk and had a bite to eat then chilled in the hostel for a bit before getting to bed early. On my first full day in Auckland I visited the Magic office to arrange my travel for the coming 4 weeks. I have to get to Queenstown to fly home so I should have enough time to see the majority of the country. The biggest problem would be the bus times since they only run 2 or 3 times a week. It would mean either staying in places for either one night or 3 most of the way. I worked out a schedule that should let me see most of the country though. This coupled with a trip to the supermarket took up most of the day to be honest. Then in the late afternoon I was due to meet up with a guy from couchsurfing. His name is Otto and he has been in NZ for most of his life. He is Samoan originally but came over when he was a kid. He picked me up in the city centre and we went to a bottle shop to grab some beers. The plan was to drive to the beach and drink them there but there are new laws which ban drinking in such places so that idea was out the window. We went for a walk on the beach and visited a few other places before catching a meal. All in all it was a cool evening and it was good to chat to one of the locals. Then he dropped me back to my hostel where I was just in time to go on a pub crawl which I soon got roped into. It was one of the slowest pub crawls ive ever been on (4 bars) but we made the most of it....

My next day in Auckland was my last for the time being. I was off to the Bay of Islands for 2 days before I came back here again to start my NZ trip properly. I spent this day doing bugger all really since the weather was so crap. I had a bit of a wander but the weather soon had me running for shelter back at my hostel where I caught up on my blogging and a bit of reading. Auckland is a pretty boring place for the most part especially in crap weather. I also got my gear together for my trip north where hopefully the weather would be warmer!

Sydney part 2

I caught the overnight bus from Melbourne to Sydney which was nowhere near as comfortable as half the bus journeys I have taken and ive been on a few at this stage. I miss the sleeper buses from Vietnam. Anyway the Greyhound driver's have a tendency to turn on all the lights and loudly announce when we arrive somewhere which is a tad annoying at 4 in the morning. I did learn of a small town in the middle of nowhere in Oz that has a submarine sitting in a park. This town is inland and its a proper submarine (from what I could tell in the dark as we drove past it at 1am) which is quite bizarre. I got to Sydney early in the morning (like 8am I think) and began making my way out to my digs for the next few days. I have a 2^nd cousin in Sydney (my mother's cousin) and he and his wife were going to put me up for my last few days in Oz. I managed to get out there ok and was treated to breakfast by Fionola who is Brian's wife and who was at the time quite heavily pregnant with their first child. Later on in the morning Brian arrived back from a business trip and I got to know the two of them a little bit. In the afternoon I made my way to the city for some souvenir shopping as this would be one of my last chances to visit the cheap markets in the city centre. With all this done i got back to the house and had some dinner and a few drinks while watching a movie before heading to bed. This was a badly needed night's sleep after my bus trip and a reasonably active day.

I was awake early in the morning because I was going to skype with my mates from home. They were having a party and were going to set up a webcam to let me participate. It was great to see and chat to them again even though I was barely awake and they were mostly drunk. Then it was time for breakfast with Brian and Fionola after which they brought me to the Blue Mts. This is one of the main touristy things to do around Sydney and something I had missed out on the last time I was here so they kindly brought me out there for the day. It was a good 2 hour drive from their house so it was late in the morning by the time we got there. We visited the '3 sisters', Leura Cascades and Wentworth Falls and I got all the typical touristy pics. The reason they are called the Blue Mts is because the gum trees that fill the valleys give off a blue haze and you could kind of see it. For mountains though they are a bit more hills and valleys but lets not quibble. We were a bit restricted a bit weather and timewise but we still had a good day. I got to walk down to the top of Wentworth Falls and get a cold shower as the spray was being blown back up. The wind was pretty gusty that day which isnt ideal for a day walking along cliff edges. We had lunch in the small town of Leura and that was pretty much it. By 3pm we were on our way back to try and avoid the worst of the traffic. It was a Sunday and a lot of people from Sydney would be in the Blue Mts for a day out. Brian then cooked us up dinner later in the evening and we watched a movie called “Into the Wild”. Its a total backpacker film and kind of weird but still pretty good.

I was up early again the following morning as I was off to Bondi Beach. It was a lot more impressive this time around as I got to see it in the sunshine. From there I walked along the coast to another beach, Coogee. This was a great walk in the sun and the views were pretty amazing. I had plenty of time so I took it easy, unlike all the joggers that passed me by and offered some eye candy when I wasnt looking at the scenery. It was about lunchtime when I got to Coogee so I sat down and had some food in the sun in the park and even treated myself to an ice-cream! Feeling mightily pleased with myself after all this I caught the bus into town. Taking advantage of the nice weather I walked across the Harbour Bridge again and got some sunny pictures of the city of Sydney. Then I got the ferry back over and sat by the Opera House till sunset. Sitting there watching the play of light on the white exterior of the Opera House was really nice and so was watching the sun set behind the Harbour Bridge. Then it was time to hop back on the ferry and get shipped over to Cremorne (where Brian and Fionola lived). One more bus and I was back at Brian's house. I had dinner with them again and we chatted the night away.

This was going to be my last day in Oz and it began with a lie in, something I hadnt had in a while. I eventually got up and got my bag organised as well as doing some planning for New Zealand. I got some accommodation sorted in Auckland. I would be traveling around NZ by Magic bus so I put together a bit of an itenerary for what I wanted to do and see while there. This needed to be a bit more specific than I have done in the past as the buses only go about twice a week, it being winter. I put something together and hopefully it will do the trick! I had some lunch then and made my way into the city one last time. I was due to meet up with Uncle Paddy a little bit later for a drink. He had kept in touch while I was off touring the country and I had promised I would meet up with him again before I left. So we met up in the Rocks in an Irish bar and had a few drinks in a few different places in the area. It was a pleasant evening but neither of us could stay too late as we were both off early in the morning, him to work and me to the airport.

So Sydney the second time around was pretty enjoyable. I did some things I hadnt done before and I met some family I didnt know I had. The weather was also significantly better. All in all a pretty good way to finish off Oz. I dont know if Oz was quite what I expected. Sure it is full of amazing things to see and do and I havent seen or done all of them. But it has seen so many backpackers that things are extremely expensive now as people just look to bleed you dry. That is the impression I got with a lot of things as a traveler is that I was simply a bag of money to tour companies and hostels. If you are reading this and planning to visit Oz then be aware that its expensive and getting more so. That said I may be back here before too long looking for work is things in Ireland are as bad as people say. Still, i did really enjoy my stay in Australia and did some really awesome things - driving a big ass jeep over rough terrain, a trip on a sailing boat and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef among others.

Im now down to the last leg of the journey. 4 weeks left of an 11 month journey that has taken in SE Asia and Australia and culminates in New Zealand. Its hard to believe I left Ireland 10 months ago and its nearly time to go back. I'm kind of looking forward to it to see family and friends again but what everyone says is that after returning home from a big trip you get itchy feet by the second week. Better make the most of the last month on the road then!

Melbourne

After a pretty innocuous flight I arrived in Melbourne and called the hostel I planned to stay in to arrange a pickup. I wanted to stay at Habitat HQ in St Kilda and needed a shuttle bus since its on the other side of town. It was late evening as well so I wasn't about to go trying to get there via public transport. I eventually got there and lo and behold but who was there only Jamie! Well it wasn't quite that much of a surprise since I knew she was staying there and she had been make (not so) subtle suggestions that I should do likewise when I got to Melbourne. This way we could hang out over the next few days before her holiday ended and she had to go back home. That evening we just curled up on a couch with some wine in the common room being tired from our travels and made some plans for the days to come. The next day I rose early for the free breakfast and I was heading to the Queen Victoria Markets to help Jamie pick out her souvenirs for folks at home. We spent the whole morning walking around the markets, which are pretty extensive and definitely a good place to buy cheap souvenirs, and got all the bits and pieces needed. This included a didgeridoo which was a birthday present for her brother which we then visited a post office to send home. All the shopping done it was time for some lunch in a cute little cafe of which Melbourne is bursting. Then we took a stroll around Federation Square which is the main arty/touristy area in the city. There are a few parks there along the river too so we took a wander down there as well. Its all very picturesque and chic and made for a nice afternoon stroll. We stopped at a bar on the river and had a few drinks and talked the evening away. Then it was back to the hostel to cook up some food and watch a movie.


The following day we did different things. She was heading off on a Neighbours tour in the morning and meeting up with the two Irish girls off Condor for dinner and a girly chat. So not my kind of gig then. I went to an AFL game instead with a few people from the hostel. It was a good group and we got on pretty well and had a laugh. The match itself was a grudge match between Collingwood Magpies and Carlton Blues in the MCG Arena. This place holds about 80000 and was almost full. Its also spherical in shape. A pitch in Australian Rules is called an oval but its really a circle. The game itself is an odd one if you haven't seen it before but basically involves lots of kicking and catching but strangely not a lot of tackles. I was expecting to see crushing tackles but it was all a bit tame really. It seems to be an odd mash up of rugby and GAA. This particular game probably wasn't the best to introduce me to the sport as it was quite one sided. Collingwood made bits of Carlton and only for they switched off in the last quarter and let Carlton make the final scoreline a bit more respectable then they would have won by a country mile. But our group had a great laugh and we went back to the hostel fast friends. Once I got something to eat in the hostel I abandoned my new buddies to meet up with the three girls in the city centre. They had gone for a meal and I met them in the restaurant where they had been since 4pm drinking wine. It was close to 10pm when I got there so they were pretty smashed. I was sober as a judge so it was quite entertaining for me. We moved onto a bar for another few drinks but it wasn't long before we (I) decided it was best if the lot of them got to bed. Bloody drunks :)


The next day was Jamie’s last in the land of Oz as well as Karen and Liana’s (2 Irish girls). We had lunch together since breakfast was a big no no considering the drunken messes they all were the previous night. They claimed it was because of checkout times in the hostels but I knew better. Anyway we had a pleasant lunch and we all said our goodbyes. Jamie was heading from our hostel (the other two had been staying in the city centre somewhere) so I said goodbye to her a little later than the other two. I was pretty upset to see her go but all good things come to an end and we both intended to keep in touch after she got back so I’d live. Plus we had talked with the other two about arranging a reunion back in the northern hemisphere so we would see each other again in the not too distant future no doubt. I spent the rest of the evening with the gang from the footy game and we all got merrily drunk on very cheap wine and a bit of goon. We followed this up the next day with a trip into town to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens and Melbourne Zoo. We had a very weird, random but ultimately hilarious day. We began well by getting lost and walking onto the grounds of a school much to the amusement of the kids playing football. After this slight detour we worked our way to the Botanical Gardens and looked at all the pretty flowers, trees and lakes. As Caitlin (American girl) had a savage camera she was the resident photographer for the day and we had lots of fun with some crazy pictures. These would include the band pose in one and all of us seated on a different bench in another. For some reason whoever had put the benches in the park hadn't gone to too much trouble about where they went, hence you had a few odd placements like facing a big tree from 3 feet away…. Much faffing about later we found our way into the city and figured out which tram we needed to get to the zoo. Oh yeah the trams! Melbourne is full of them and they are the cheapest and easiest way to get about. They are also remarkably unpoliced so mostly they were free (ahem). They’re not really like the Luas except for the newer versions but the concept is the same. Anyway we got to the zoo late in the afternoon so we didn’t have much time to see the stuff we wanted to see but managed to fit in monkeys, koalas, roos and lions among others. The lions were cool as the males were roaring at each other when we passed their enclosure. Pretty cool to hear that up close but not too close! We finished the day off with a trip to Chinatown for dinner and some drinkage back at the hostel. Much merriment was had by all!

The following day I moved out of Habitat (with a heavy heart) and moved around the corner to a place called Home Travellers Motel where I would be working 2 hours a day for my nights accommodation. I was starting to think about New Zealand and the things I wanted to do there so I needed to curb my spending a little bit. So I spent a week there doing odd jobs and generally having uneventful days. Every now and again I would meet up with the gang back at Habitat and we would do something together. We had a few nights out which were good fun and sometimes I just went up there to chill. My new hostel had a decidedly worker feel to it and most of the people there were in it for a few months and all new each other so I felt a little bit of an outsider. Luckily I had the boys and girls from Habitat (Mike, Julie and Caitlin) to turn to in my times of boredom. One of the days I went into the city with Mike from NY and we visited the markets and took a trip up Eureka Tower. This is a massive tower the top of which has incredible views of Melbourne and the surrounding countryside. On another occasion I went to St Kilda pier to see the little penguins that live there and come out at night. They are tiny and impossible to get a pic of because you aren’t allowed to use flash. Other than these events I laid low and kept my cash in my wallet. I still enjoyed Melbourne and think it’s a pretty cool place, probably better than Sydney. Everything to this point had been going overbudget so I needed to be practical and keep my debts to a minimum on returning home. Gotta leave something for NZ!