Queenstown

Having successfully completed a skydive over scenic Wanaka I was looking forward to relaxing here in Queenstown for a few days and taking in the sights, the longest time I have stayed in any one place since Los Angeles. It is a hard life!!

But for those of you who have been to Queenstown will know that it is pretty difficult to relax what with so many activities to do and bars to go to, thus it is a pretty hectic place!!!

But I have managed to catch up on a bit of sleep and take in the sights, it is really beautiful here with the town being surrounded by lakes and mountains. The weather has been great too as it has been sunny for most of the time so the rugged Remarkables mountains could be seen quite clearly when walking around town.



Yesterday I did a small walk up to one of the hills looking over the town having the day before gone up the gondola with a few people from my tour. This walk was by myself which was quite cool as I whacked my mini-disc player and listened to a few tunes whilst strolling at my own pace, some say it is too fast, that why I go alone these days.

No really it was nice to take some time out from the rigours of the tour, reflect and take in the sights of Queenstown. The tour has been excellent, especially of the South Island or the "mainland" as locals call it and Wanaka and Queenstown so far have to be the highlights of the tour.

Today I went to Milford Sound which was quite good, but unfortunately the weather there was not!!! So we took in the sights as best as we could but it was raining quite heavily as well as windy. On the positive side we saw waterfalls blowing sideways, now that is a first and it was quite choppy out there, so eventful and different!!!

Tomorrow I go to Christchurch for one night, head up the coast to Kiakoura for one night to see what it is like there and then return to Christchurch for a final night in New Zealand before flying to Brisbane in Australia. Really looking forward to catching up with my Mum's sister and family there and seeing what has changed in the 8 years since me and my family were last there. Can't wait!!!

Ady - Skydiver

Skydive at Lake Wanaka

After unsuccessfully trying to do a skydive at Taupo on the North Island two weeks ago, due to bad weather, I was unsure whether or not I would do a skydive here in New Zealand at all.

But things happen for a reason and in the end I began to think about a skydive more and more as we approached Wanaka. The scenery there is just incredible and the weather was fantastic and that more than anything else persuaded me to take the plunge!!!

I signed up for it along with two other members of the group for the following day and we just hoped that the weather would hold out. Early the next day I woke up and opened the curtains to find a cloudless blue morning sky, perfect!!

I wasn't really nervous as I was looking forward to it more than anything else. But as we went up in the specially designed plane I was located right next to the perspex door (I was going to be the first to go) in clear view of the thousands of feet that lay beneath me. It looked like a long way and we were only at 4,000 feet, another 8,000 feet to go!!! Uh oh!!

The plane journey in itself was worth the skydive as the views of lakes and across to the snowcapped Southern Alps was amazing, especially on such a clear day. I looked across to my follow skydivers and they looked nervous, I then looked out of the window at the ever increasing height that I was going to jump from, a long way indeed.

The instructor gave me a few last minute instructions and I tried to take it in as much as possible. The door was hoisted open and a sharp cold wind could be felt, I had a last look across to my fellow skydivers as we put our legs out of the plane, stong winds indeed. I had butterflies in my stomach by this point and as we jumped out of a plane at 12,000 feet (crazy!!) all the instructions went quite literally out of the window. The height was incredible, and it took me a while to come to my senses and not look at the ground to hold my position which we soon did as we went into a backflip position.

The g-forces I felt whilst doing the backflip was quite strong and the rush of air against the face especially was intense!! The freefall lasted around 45 seconds and it was utterly brilliant, did a few spins in the process and marvelled at the views, it was quite a relief when the parachute did open as I knew that I could do it all again another time!!!

I was really glad I did it and very lucky with the weather, got some good photos for you all to check out soon on the website. Just arrived in Queenstown today for four nights, going to Milford Sound tomorrow for a day trip to check out the fiords.

Catch you all soon.

Franz Josef glacier walk

After experiencing an amazing half-day walk over the Athabasca glacier in Canada, I wasn't sure whether to spare the funds to do another glacier walk, this time in New Zealand at Franz Josef. But the more I heard about it I realised just how different it was to the Canadian glacier.



The Franz Josef glacier is far more rugged in comparison and the face of the glacier rises steeply. This meant that the true difference would be the experience, as instead of merely walking on the ice, we would be in-amongst it, walking through narrow passages and crevices - getting wet and cold in the process!!



With other members of the New Zealand tour we decided to do the full-day hike on the ice, a crazy 8 hours, great fun though!!



To begin the ice walk (or climb!) we had to use special crampons attached to our hiking boots. We began the hike by tackling the steep face of the glacier, ascending a flight of ice steps, which are hacked out by a dedicated team each morning. They also check or create bridges across deadly, steep crevices, but these are more like ladders with a wooden plank in the middle! Not very reassuring!!



We spent much of the day just looking at ice, sunglasses were a must and some of the scenery was amazing.



We were handed some ice-axes when the going got tough, this was probably the best part of it as the whole glacier then turned into a massive playground!! We had competitions to see how could hack the most ice (Manu, Adam and me pictured below - enjoying our new game)!!



But it went too far in the end as we wasted a lot of energy, the glacier probably receeded far more that day than the previous year, and as we began to spray each other with ice, we started to get cold!! It wasn't so funny anymore!!



I had to take my SLR camera with me on the hike which was tricky but got some great photos on the way back down when the weather began to get overcast. The camera survived luckily. As for me, I got mild frostbite on my tongue, knew I shouldn't have licked the ice and got an ice burn in the process dammit!!!



A great day.

Wellington, New Zealand

Hey everyone, I did some crazy white water rafting yesterday at River Valley. We were all a bit worried about it as the promotional video wasn't really encouraging: lots of people falling off rafts, off waterfalls, falling into huge rocks, scary stuff. So I didn't sleep too well as you can imagine and the following morning it was raining heavily (as it had been all night) which didn't improve our chances for a injury-free white water rafting trip.

In the end, it wasn't too bad, but it was still scary and the water was icy cold, so we made sure we followed all commands so that we didn't fall in. Though we went for a few dips along the way in the water including jumping into the river from a 7 metre high rock, this was cool, literally!!

Now in rainy Wellington and heading to the South Island tomorrow for around two weeks. Will let you know how that goes, will be colder that is for sure!!

Starring in Lord of the Rings and Terminator

Due to an accident in Terminator I was perfect to play the main part in Lord of the Rings!!!

Update from Waitomo

Yesterday we went from Rotorua to Waitomo and got here at around 1pm which was good as was able to have a good look around. This makes a change from travelling all day and putting tents up in evening like in America!! So we did an activity yesterday which is called "black water rafting" which is tubing down a cave and this was really good fun, albeit a bit cold (don't worry mum I did have a wetsuit and helmet)!!

There are also glow worms down there which was quite surreal especially when we turned our lights out and drifted on our tubes, this was when it was essential to put my feet in front as could see anything!! But it was great fun, off to Taupo today so will let you know what that is like.

Auckland, New Zealand

As we flew over New Zealand, it immediately looked familar, lush green grass and rolling hills, even yellow heather was visible near the coastline. Moreover, it was raining and cold, a taste of home methinks!!!

Auckland seems like Toronto and even like Nottingham in parts especially Waverely Street where Charlie spent his Uni years, and near those streets, there is even a street called Waverely Street!! It is very nice. I bumped into a couple who were also on my mainland tour of Fiji in my Auckland hostel and last night we went to an ice bar called "minus 5" but it was $25 for 25 minutes so we instead went to the bar next door and looked through the window, impressive indeed.

Today I had a list of things to do, so busy (did laundry too)!!! I got my haircut, not bad too and only $10, then I also sold a ticket I had won at the hostel reception when I arrived for a trip which I couldn't do for $60 (worth $90), also to a guy in the hairdressers, must be my marketing expertise!!

Most importantly I went to the Qantas office (everything seems to be within reach of this hostel, even STA travel!!) as I wanted to change my final flight home and so far I hadn't got the flight that I wanted. This was quite annoying as initially I was going to arrive in the UK on a Friday and I told the lady at the Qantas desk in Los Angeles that I wanted to get home at the weekend. So she got a ticket for me and I thought everything was fine until I double checked the date of the 28th of November to arrive into the UK and it was a Monday!!! Dammit!! By then I was already in a hammock in Fiji so it has been playing on my mind a bit!!!

So I spoke to a lady in the Qantas office and finally it seemed like something could be done to get home at the weekend. I said to her "Try and get me home for the weekend, even if it means staying somewhere on the way for one night". So I waited a while and this lady seemed to know what she was doing thankfully and at long last!! She said "Well one thing you can do is go via Tokyo and be in situ for a few hours, I can then get you home for Saturday". I said "Okay that sounds good, any chance I can have a night in Tokyo?".

So a waited a while longer thinking about the benefits of being able to check out Tokyo and then she came back to me "Well, unfortunately you can't stay in Tokyo, but you can stay in Hong Kong so we can do it that way and you'll get back for Sunday". Oh yeah!!!!

So that is my return ticket now, I managed to wrangle Hong Kong for a 50 pounds charge of changing the ticket!! Now I will leave Perth on Friday 25th of November in the morning and arrive in Hong Kong at 5.30pm in the evening. I will stay one night and then the next day my flight doesn't leave until 11pm at night so I have a whole day in Hong Kong too!!!

Will be interesting to check Hong Kong out, especially thinking about the documentary I saw a while back about how they built the airport, bridges and subway system, reclaiming a lot of land in the process. I will arrive back in the UK as planned; at the weekend and on Sunday 27th of November, albeit at 5am in the morning!!!

Sorry Mum, Dad, Charlie and Edwin, and anyone else - I'll see you then!!!

I begin my Kiwi Experience tour tomorrow morning, so will let you know how that goes. Speak soon and take care everyone.

P.S. I hope England win the Ashes!!! Will be perfect for when I go to Australia!!!

Swimming with Manta Rays

The Fijian Islands

The day after the tour ended I jumped straight onto another bus which took me to the port and from there I caught a boat which goes via the Mamamuca and Yasawa islands. It was strange thinking that another tour had ended, and I had said my goodbyes again but I was looking forward to spending a few days in a hammock on the beach.



On the journey we went pass several different islands and each was beautiful, especially with the sun bringing out the best of the clear blue water surrounding most of the islands. The boat finally reached my island and it looked amazing, just 3 people including me got off and a Fijian band welcomed us onto the beach. There was no need to carry our bags since that was taken care of, and we had a fruit cocktail drink when we arrived!!! You should have seen the smile on my face, the island looked amazing.



The dorm there was very clean and quiet since many of the 30 beds were empty, and I spent the afternoon snorkelling just off the beach and I couldn't believe the coral reefs that were just on our doorstep!! I saw many different species of fish and beautiful colourful coral. The following morning a drum could be heard from the beach sounding the manta ray tour and this was probably one of the best things I have done. We went a little way in the boat just around from the island and then one of the Fijian guys pointed out some shadows in the water. The manta rays surfaced slightly and you could see the tips of their wings. Unbelievable. The boat stopped around 20 metres in front of their direction and we then jumped out with our snorkelling gear in deep blue water.

When I jumped into the water - I thought man, this is crazy, if I see one I'll be very happy indeed. And then I ducked my head under the water only to be faced by 5 manta rays coming straight towards me with their mouths open!!!! I merely gulped!!! There were small yellow fishes swimming in their mouths and I just stayed still keeping my arms and hands to myself!!! They just gracefully swam pass me and glided through the water effortlessly.

We did the same thing several times getting back into the boat and waiting for them in the water. I began to swim with them a bit more, diving deep into the water and following them someway.

Back on the island I relaxed again, but it was almost too quiet!!! And so when the first boat arrived at lunchtime and I saw two people from my mainland Fiji tour I couldn't believe it. One of them was Natalie from High Wycombe again, who I had met in Los Angeles, it was quite funny to see her there!! I began to call her stalker as she had joined my tour in Fiji and now the island too!!! We teased each other about it, but it was good to have some company on the island. We also met another guy called Andy from Devon, he was really cool and in fact we spent the next few days with him too.

I needed something to do in the afternoon so I persuaded one of the Fijian guys to teach me how to climb a coconut tree!!! He picked out one that wasn't too tall, though not too easy either and he easily climbed up and showed me how to do it, more difficult than it looks, or painful!!



It probably took me three times as long to get to the top and high enough to pick a coconut. The problem with this was that I had to twist the coconut around a few times and this required balance what with one hand reaching out for the coconut!!! But I didn't give up and finally the coconut fell to the ground, rather satisfyingly!! After the Fijian guy had chopped through the top of it (I've never been a fan of coconut milk) I took a swig and it tasted great!! AKA Robinson Crusoe indeed.



I did a bit more snorkelling again and thought about extending my two night stay on the island to three. I did the manta ray tour again the following morning and this time I dived again but upside down swimming underneath them. Amazing. I actually got a bit of an ear infection, but I think it was "swimmers ear" probably from my snorkelling antics in the water!!! I also did a lot of snorkelling that day checking out the other side of the bay as our beach faced onto another island's deserted beach and that was great. I was going a bit crazy in the water, diving deep and swimming upside down again going through gaps in the reefs like the boy searching for pearls in the Barclays advert!!! My ear cleared up eventually thank god!!!



After three nights on that island, I went to South-Sea island which is very small and a maximum of 32 guest are allowed. I spent two nights there and after the first night I decided to give windsurfing a go in the morning, especially as it was free!!! It took me ages to work it out (no guidance given) and quite embarrasing in front of all the guest on the beach!! But I didn't give up and finally I mastered bringing the sail out of the water and waiting for the wind to take the sail. When I did this there were a few claps from some of the guests on the beach!!



I sailed a bit, probably for around 20 seconds but getting back to the island proved difficult and took me quite some time, especially with the wind against me, so I swam with it back to the island.



On my final morning there I wanted to walk right around the island and after a few minutes I was surprised to find myself where I started, it was very small!!!

Spent my sixth night in the Mamamucas at Beachcomber island for one night, this is known as party island and it wasn't really a massive party but good fun nonetheless with a Fijian band playing. I caught up with Natalie and Andy there too, so we had a good laugh. I headed back to the mainland the next day staying at Nadi Bay hostel for one night and then I flew to New Zealand. Before I got my flight I took a few more pictures in Fiji of small old, rustic lorries carrying sugar cane and the mountains visible in the distance so hopefully they have turned out alright!!

That was Fiji, a great place and great fun.

Bula Fiji

Well, well, well, after some time spent in the North Americas I was looking forward to the next stage of my journey heading from America over the equator and into the southern hemisphere, crossing the international date line in the process, where time begins, to the Fijian islands deep in the pacific ocean, where water drains anti-clockwise.

Well, in truth, I did not know what to expect, though I knew it was going to prove quite different to my experience of the Americas. My flight from LAX was pretty good as it was an overnight flight and I had the whole aisle to myself, beats first class for sure!!

So I finally arrived in Fiji at 5am local time and as the sun rose, I realised that I was one of the first people in the world to see the sunrise, if not the very first. It was strange going through customs and being passed through effortlessly, not only that, a Fijian band welcomed us in and then I was presented with a shell necklace, bula Fiji indeed!!!

So I walked around the airport, checking out the reaction to my new necklace, it went down okay, but maybe only in Fiji, so I thought I would make the most of it while I could!! At 8am, the tour bus picked me and a few others up from the airport and the four-day tour of the mainland had begun already!!!

On the first day we headed straight for the coral coast stopping by for a bbq lunch on the beach playing rugby and volleyball with the Fijian kids and before lunch (it was Fiji time so it took a while!) I went straight into the clear blue sea for my first dip in the ocean. It was a cloudy day but warm. Funnily enough Natalie an English girl from High Wycombe was there rejoining the tour after going to an island for the night, I met her in the Los Angeles hostel and knew she was going to Fiji but not on my tour!!! It was great to see a familar face!!! Me and this Irish guy called Paul decided to catch some of the waves which were pretty big and do a spot of bodysurfing. And even though we got dumped a few times on the beach and covered in seaweed, it was great!!



Later on we went sandboarding and when I first looked up at the sand dunes it looked a bit steep and worst of all, sand sloped down steeply onto flat grass, so any false move and the participant could be well, slightly injured!! But it wasn't so bad and I even showed off by going down on my knees initially and then lied down on the board for the final ride.

On the second day we did a very muddy hike, which was very, very muddy!!! It also rained which added to the fun I guess. The hike was unlike any I have done so far, we walked through rainforest and waded down rivers for quite some time before finally reaching the main Navua river at last!!! From there we tubed downriver on inflatable rings and then got a long boat back to the coast. It was a long day, but fantastic!! That night we went out in the capital city of Suva and danced the night away.



On the third day we went to an orphange which was quite amazing, the Fijian children are really nice and I met a yong boy called Andrew who was going to live with his Grandmother the week after. After that we went to a village and participated in a kava ceremony (me with a sarong and my necklace, very Fijian!!! Will show you a picture soon!) with the village chief. Kava is a Fijian drink which is basically muddy, herby water but it went down well!!



Some of the guys from the village took us bilibili rafting on bamboo rafts afterwards but we soon ditched the rafts and swam in the river. We also split up into two teams for a game which was basically a mix of water polo and rugby in one and most of the Fijian guys, well-built I might add were on the other team but we worked hard and even surprised them at times keeping the ball for long periods!!!



That night we took a ferry across to Nananu island and spent the night there, some of us guys had pineapple and rum punch, that was very nice!!! According to the Fijian bus driver, the pineapple acts like dynamite and the rum takes greater effect, and that it did, it was a great night!!!!

On the final day we went to some mud pools which was excellent, as I got the muddiest ever in my life!!! Everyone got pretty muddy and one guy decided to pick a big block of mud out and squelched it down over his head, it was pretty funny, you couldn't see him for mud!!! I don't think he could see anything either!!!

Well that was my first 4 days in Fiji and on the fifth day I went straight to the islands beginning with Manta-Ray island and I will hope to tell you more about that in the next few days, take care everyone!!

Characters along the way...