Our Travel Diary

We arrived in Picton after a four hour ferry crossing across the Cook Strait and through the Malborough Sounds. After having a brief look around the tiny town we decided to spend the night at Nelson instead.

Nelson was a lovely town where we went for a couple of walks including one to 'the centre of New Zealand'! Our next stop was Kaikoura which we found shrouded in mist for the first two days we were there, clearing up for a beautiful final day. It was only then that we realised the town was completely surrounded by stunning snow capped mountains! Whilst in Kaikoura Lucy went whale watching which she absolutely loved. Througout the tour she saw 18 meter sperm whales and fur seals which kept her smiling all day! Russell decided to stay on the beach and try and hook a whale for dinner! Yet again, he failed miserably!

We continued down the east coast to Christchurch where we sorted out our tickets in a brief stop. The city immediately struck both of us as being the nicest city in NZ but as we're both flying out at later dates, we left our exploring of the city until then and made our way to Arthur's Pass.

A Pass through the southern Alps, the town of Arthur's Pass sits high in the snow capped mountains. It was VERY quiet, nonetheless it did not stop us from making friends with the one other person in the hostel!!! We planned on going on a hike in the mountains but were scuppered by the rain the following day so went on to the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast to see if the weather was any better there. It wasn't. We spent the next two days rotting away in the hostel watching DVD's as the weather was so hideous that the area was flooded and nobody could leave the hostel! To be fair, on the west coast of New Zealand (known by locals as the wet coast) the rainfall is measured in meters rather than milimeters and averages c 7
meters per year so we should have expected it.

On our way out of the glacial region we managed to drive near to the terminal moraines to get a close up view of the glaciers but due to the weather we were not allowed on them We finally got lucky with the weather when we arrived in Wanaka. Although foggy for the first night as it was across NZ, which you may have seen on the super 14 final. The following day the weather was clear and bright. We felt so inspired by this we decided to walk up 'Roy's Peak' c. 1700m. After 5 hours of hard slog we eventually got back down having reached the top and got the most amazing photos we could have ever asked for. Next time we'll drive!

Both of us loved Wanaka but too soon we were moving on to Queenstown on the way to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is one of a number of fjords on the south west coast, famed for their beauty. It lived up to expectations and although freezing, the weather was stunning. The one hostel in Milford had no electricity after 11pm and the darkness was reminiscent of our trek in Thailand!

We then drove a big loop back to Queenstown via Invercargil (one night) and Dunedin (two nights). They have the same flare for naming cities originally as the Aussies!!! Both cities were beautiful and we were glad that we stopped there. We stayed in a lovely hostel in Dunedin finding out on the last night that it was a converted hospital and is notoriously haunted by 3 ghosts. We slept well!

We are now back in Queenstown for our last day together before Russell heads to Christchurch and home. Lucy will be sticking around in the Queenstown area before flying to the USA on 30th June to catch up with her parents.

Thanks for reading our blog updates and staying in touch whilst we've been away. We've had a wicked trip but sadly all good things must come to an end. Looking forward to catching up with you all on our return.

We landed in Auckland late at night on the 5th of May and got accommodation right in the centre of town. Lucy immediately loved the city, Russell felt it looked a lot like London. Either way we were out that evening exploring the city and it's nightlife (which we did every night we were there). We both felt Auckland was nice but by the end of our stay we decided that it was definitely a lot like London on a smaller scale.

We were pleased to get out of the big smoke and head up to the Bay of Islands (Paihia). We spent two days up here and managed to fit in some walking, sailing (there were Orca's in the bay when we went, however we got out too late), cultural visits and beer. Although the weather was tempermental we could both see the potential here - it would be lovely in the summer!

On the way down the coast we stopped at Hamilton and spent the night in nearby Raglan. Rotorua was the next stop and our favourite so far. Notorious eggy smells (from the sulphur) certainly exist but are nothing compared to the rank smells in Thailand. Coupled with this, the place was so different to anything we had ever seen with hot, steaming geysers, boiling mud pools and numerous thermal spas. A really special place with so much to do. Russell also decided to go zorbing here and loved it!

While we were there we were tipped off about Paradise Valley - a wildlife park where you can get up close and personal with Lion Cubs and pat them. It was so cute! We also got to watch the adult pride being fed behind a wire mesh fence! The Kiwi's are only used to dealing with sheep and obviously couldn't work out that these were dangerous animals. In fact they were so close that you could poke them through the bars (if you're a complete retard) and they certainly weren't shy to come up to you!

From Rotorua we moved onto Taupo where a massive volcanic erruption 60,000 years ago has left an enormous crater lake. Beautiful scenery and we were lucky enough to have a clear day to go to the Tongariro National Park where Mount Doom (Lord of the Rings) sits. We went through Napier and Palmerston North on the way to Plimmerton which is a beach suburb 30 mins north of Wellington, where we spent the last 4 days on the North Island. It was also here that Russell caught his only fish in New Zealand despite lots of effort!

We found Wellington to be a nice enough city but as with most of this trip we have planned to spend more time in the country rather than the big cities. The main attraction for us in Wellington was the Lord of the Rings exhibition at Te Papa which was absolutely incredible and a must see.

Hey Guys!

With just 10 days in Melbourne it was always going to be a whistle stop trip but we were lucky enough to have Russell's Uncle, Aunt and Cousin Carin as guides. It wasn't long before we had explored the City (which we loved) and found ourselves on route to Mount Buller where the Australian snow fields are (and there was snow!).

At the weekend we went down to Phillip Island where the relatives have a holiday home. Unfortunately as always with Melbourne the weather was pretty dodgy so we spent most of the time indoors. We still managed to fit in a BBQ and lots of Island exploring. Our next adventure was to go down the Great Ocean Road (GOR) to Adelaide and back to Melbourne in 3 days! It certainly was a hard core trip but it was well worth it.

We spent Monday night in Adelaide and managed to get in some wine tasting in the Barossa Valley and surrounding vineyards! We almost left before we arrived and were on route down the GOR back to Melbourne. The highlights of the trip for us were definitely Port Campbell, The Bay of Islands and the Twelve Apostles which were all worth the trip.

Overall we thought Melbourne was great and we were really well taken care of. It was lovely to feel homely after 5 months on the road.

Thanks to all who looked after us and hope everyone is well back in the UK!

R & L xx

Hey guys,

We've been in Western Australia for a month now and we absolutely love it - it's stunning! We landed in Perth on 24th March and the weather was gorgeous without a cloud in the sky.

We spent a few days in Northbridge (the backpackers area of Perth) before hiring a really old (yet retro) Ford Falcon and driving down to Fremantle.

Freo was amazing and probably the best place we have been to - it has got the most beautiful beaches ever, there's so much to see and do and the buildings look very grand and English.

We then headed down south for a week to explore south west Australia and the Margaret River wine region. We stopped off at Bussleton (has the longest jetty in Australia), Bunbury, Margaret River, Walpole, Denmark and Albany. We did a day of wine tasting in Margaret River, went on some coastal walks, did LOTS of driving and saw plenty of kangaroos and other wildlife. We even had a family of emus run out in front of our car!!!

On the way back to Perth we decided to go inland towards Hyden and go and visit the famous Wave Rock. Let's put it this way - you have to drive through THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE for about 7 hours without seeing another car and then you finally arrive at the rock. It's ok but really not worth all the effort of getting out to see it!

We had quite a few experiences of sleeping in our car and at many rest stops, which are little car park type things in the middle of nowhere with no facilities. Let's just say that we were sick to death of washing in the freezing cold beach showers by the end of the week!!!

On our arrival back to Perth we went and stayed with one of Russell's Aussie friends (who he used to play cricket with in England) and had a lovely time with him.

This past week was spent traveling up to the North-West with our friend Clare (who co-incidentally we happened to fly out from England with, hung out in Thailand with and again in Perth). This time we stopped at the Pinnacles (Rock formations in the middle of a desert), Geraldtown, Monkey Mia, Carnarvon and Coral Bay. The highlights were definitely Monkey Mia (where you watch wild dolphins being fed each morning) and Coral Bay.

Russ and I went out on a Kayak tour one day in Coral Bay, which was absolutely awesome! We snorkelled with sharks, turtles, eels and loads of beautiful fish! It was one of the best trips we have done so far. We were gutted though as the day we went was the first time this season that whale sharks have been spotted off shore so we hoped to swim with them but no such luck!

We met loads of great Aussies up north - went beach and deep sea fishing with them and generally had an awesome time! The weather was also boiling which made it great too!!

On our way down we stopped at Kalbarri National Park where we went gorge walking, fishing and horse riding.

We are now back in Freo staying with friends again before heading up to Green Heads for the weekend. We fly out to Melbourne on Monday which we are both really excited about!

It has been awesome over on the West Coast and we will be sad to leave but onwards to Melbourne!

Hope you are all well!

Luc & Russ

Hi guys!

We arrived in Sydney on Tuesday 21st March and made our way to our first hostel at Bondi Beach. Bondi is approximately 20 minutes from Sydney central and has a beautiful beach. We decided to stay there for a week but this got cut short as we later moved to central Syndey to be nearer the sights.

We both immediately loved the city and spent our first day trying to see as much as possible with Russell's parents. Unfortunately the weather wasn't fantastic at the beginning of the week but that didn't stop us from seeing the Opera House, The Botanical Gardens, Hyde Park, The Rocks, Circular Quay, The Aquarium, Darling Harbour and much more.

Sydney is a fantastic city with massive open spaces, beautiful beaches, great architechture and really friendly people. We particularly liked the area around the Rocks (The Opera House area) and Russell loved feeding the Cockatoo's in the Botanic Gardens. We had many nights out and on a couple of occasions Lucy managed to persuade Russell to venture into Kings Cross and Darlinghurst (the gay areas of Sydney)!

We were lucky that Russell's cousin lived in the Blue Mountains (so called because of the blue hue created by the oils from the Eucalypt trees) and was kind enough to take us on a guided tour. The five of us went to the Jenolan Caves and the Three Sisters, taking in some amazing scenery on route.

Towards the end of the week we met up with a couple of friends from Byron and it was really lovely to catch up with them after some time apart.

For us both, one of the best areas of Sydney was Manly - it's one of the northern beaches. We took a day trip via the ferry (30 mins from the CBD) and spent the afternoon on the beautiful beach and around the shops. The sea was crystal clear and there are approximately 2kms of white sand - really lovely! There was a sand sculptor who managed to keep Lucy entertained by building the most amazing sandcastle ever!

We left Sydney on the 27th March and flew 4.5 hours to Perth. We both agree that Sydney was right at the top of places we visited and would love to visit it again.