White Water Rafting on River Kaituna!

The next day in Rotorua called for nerves of which I did not possess. We had decided to give White Water Rafting a try...but just as the bus to take us there was about to pick us up, we got nervous and were just perhaps going to back out...but it was too late - we were suddenly in the bus and on the way before we knew it. 15 minutes later were were kitted out in wet suits, over jackets, a life jacket, completed with a "Raft It!" helmet clamped down on our heads and on a bus to the river. 15 minutes after that we were on the River Kaituna listening attentively to everything the instructor told us, 5 minutes later we were approaching the first rapid!

But really it was great fun, real high octane, adrenaline pumping stuff! The Route we did was actually the highest grade 5 activity (of the 1-5 grade rating system of thrill seekers activities)...why? Because of the bloody great big waterfall that lay ahead of us on the river. In a 4 metre raft complete with oars, we were soon approaching a 7 metre water fall. In fact its the World's Highest Commercially Rafted Waterfall! As we approached it, I knew it was too bloody big for my liking! But with it fast approaching, I just ducked as we were told to do and then all I remember is water!
In actual fact we had made it down the water fall, pushed down into the water below and became totally submerged before bobbing up to the surface a few seconds later. Bloody scary but great fun...afterwards! Phew...thank god we didn't capsize since I hadn't listened properly to the instructions as to what to do if we had!

The rest was pretty easy except for the part when our guide picked on me and another girl, and stuck our heads in another rapid...so much water went up my nose! But it was a grand day out! I spent a lot of it plain scared but I'd definitely recommend it!

"There's no Baggins's here...they're up in HOBBITON!"

You may guess our next stop, it was Hobbiton! Yes we took a trip to Alexander Farm and into the only place left in New Zealand to actually have parts of the movie set remaining. After feeding the sheep their breakfast (one sheep unfortunately had a cold and left sheep snot all over my hand...not pretty) we set out into the real Lord of the Rings country with its bright blue clear skies, rolling green hills and lots of sheep, so many sheep as far as the eye could see! We arrived at the Hobbiton set where all the hobbits live hidden amongst all the hills except there was no hobbits left but after going in the 17 hobbit holes that remained; I just know my mum would fit very comfortably in one of them, being a little hobbit herself!

It was great to hear about what lengths Peter Jackson (the director) would go to for perfection when filming, also about where the stars hung out and we walked along the trail Gandalf took when he first visited Bilbo at the start of the film! Plus so much more! We were even given a tiny, teeny, wheeny polystyrene part of the bridge set (I'm thinking ebay) and then had time to dance on the Party Field (like crazy fools) and hug the hobbit's Party Tree before returning to the Shire's Rest for lunch! It was great fun for crazy film fans such as we are!

Rotorua...The town of smells!

Next stop was a smelly town called Rotorua. The reason for its unusual odour was seen everywhere. The area was all geothermal, meaning the Earth's Crust underneath is not as thick as it is in other places around the world and so the heat from under the ground seeps out and causes: boiling pools, steaming rivers and bubbling mud pools! The smell was due to the sulphurous gases that also creep out the ground...smells like egg - which you got used to, it just made us want egg mayonaise sandwiches really badly!

All the geothermal areas by the Lake Rotorua, the steam holes and heat pools in Kuirau park were really pretty but also quite errie - with all that steam hanging in the air...great for photos though!

First Stop...Waitomo Caves!

Well, a week passed with us still lazying in the hostel so we thought it was about time to get moving again...in very much "the littlest Hobo" fashion. We therefore bought our magic bus pass tickets and before you could say "how bloody much!" we were back on the road, first stop Waitomo caves. Staying in a nice cosy lodge, we took time to visit two caves in the region, the first being Ruakuri Cave. Not a place for those with claustrophobia but it was really beautiful in places, formations, stalactites and mites! Plus Glow worms! Like little blue/green Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, these little larvae have little glowing butts to attract their meals but to me they were just pretty! We saw more of the little fellows in the second Waitomo glow worm cave where we floated along a small river going through the cave underneath a canopy of the glow worms which was really cool!

Ohhh...we also saw these massive Angora white bunnies not in the cave but in a shearing shop in Waitomo village. The bunnies were being sheared of their long fur to make woolly hats and so forth, so we went along to watch their humiliation as they were sheared but left with very fluffy feet and ears! So sweet! Bless their furry woolen socks!

Goodbye Australia...I'll miss you!

Yes, so here we were on our last day in Oz. It was a bit of a crazy rush saying goodbye to people from the tour who were also at our hostel, doing some last minute chocolate shopping and so on, but luckily we found time to visit the "Baby Kangaroo Rehabilitation Hospital" which was great! As we got to see what good work the couple who ran it did for the baby joeys found in the pouches of their dead mothers' by the side of the road. The joeys were hopping around everywhere and then they put them into pillow cases and gave them to us to hold and cuddle as humans are the same body temperature as kangaroos (interesting fact there!). They were so sweet and soft! Then it was goodbye to the red centre of Australia as we hopped on a flight back to Cairns.

Arriving in Cairns (warmer than Alice Springs!) we found our way to the international terminal and sat ourselves down for the long night (12 hours) ahead before our flight to Brisbane and then onto Auckland then next day...hence the chocolate shopping! Luckily the time passed quick as there were other travellers spending the night at the airport too! Then as we went through to departures early the next morning Jenny was extensively searched for residues of explosives, which I found hilarious! They said it was a spot check but I think they must have seen that crazy look in her eye!

All too soon it was a sad goodbye to Australia but a happy hello to New Zealand! Even though it was cold, rainy and very like England. But it was time for relaxing a bit in Auckland, lounging the hostel watching DVD's, for a bit of well needed R & R! Nice!

Kings Canyon and the end of our tour!

Another early start, 5am! This time to get to Kings Canyon as the sun came up. We were freezing again as it was another night out in minus 4 degrees temperature so we began our day's hike in 5 layers of clothing. Then we climbed the aptly named "Heart-attack Hill" and immediately I regretted wearing 5 layers of clothes! Eventually though I made it up the top where it was a bit too high and a too bit windy but a great photo opportunity! Our guide told us about the Canyon's formation which had something to do with the fact that whole region of Australia used to be under water a long time a go and the sandstone collapsing. He also told us about the aboriginal uses of the plants and their properties in that area. Including showing us a plant that's juices could blind a person for a few days! Crazy! We saw the Lost City, the Garden of Eden (in the depths of the canyon where a good water supply can reach it) and lots of great views of the surrounding area from around the rim of the Canyon before our final meal and embarking on the long journey home (where we saw wild Kangaroos bounding along)! Once back in Alice, we had a goodbye meal in a local Aussie bar before our last day in Crocodile Dundee Country!

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

With the sun finally up, our limbs began to loosen up a little with the warmth and soon we were back on the road, this time heading for a formation of rocks equally as spectacular as The Rock if not more so. They're called Kata Tjuta and look like a series of domed rocks out the middle of nowhere but were actually formed around the same time as Uluru. We had a long but good hike around the domes and sat amongst them to hear our guide tell us aboriginal stories of the rocks creation and how The Rock and Kata Tjuta were first discovered and named Ayres Rock and The Olgas. He also told us the geology behind how the rocks were formed and it was very interesting...I just can't really remember it now. But we did see another huge spider.

That night we camped at cattle station and had another fab meal, plus we tried Kangaroo tail (not great, bit fatty and pretty pointless as there was hardly much meat on it) and tried our best to play the didgeridoo (or alternatively, make elephant sounds with it if you're me!) before another night under the stars. I wrapped myself up cosy in my swag with the "monster flap" (bit of canvas that goes over your head to keep the monsters out...i.e. snakes) just over my forehead which left a gap between for my eyes to poke out and I could watch the stars and milkyway on wide screen! Pretty good.

Sunset, Sunrise!

So then we stopped at a fab viewing place to watch the sunset on the rock. It was really spectacular as the rock seemed to burn a bright orange and then as the sun sank under the horizon you could watch the purple shadow creep and then gallop up the side of the rock. That night came a nice camp meal (made by our guide, therefore no cooking required - woohoo!) by the fire before getting into our cosy Swags to sleep under the stars. I counted seven shooting stars that night (well, satellites or pieces of junk floating in our orbit....but it was still pretty!) That morning however was early and bloody cold! We dashed out of our swags and into a freezing bus to park up and view the sunrise beside Uluru which was fantastic. We were all huddled there together: freezing and moaning, but then the sun began to rise and then suddenly all you could hear was the clicking and beeping of digital camaras as people took hundreds of photos of the bloomin' sun...myself included! But it was quite an awesome sight to behold!

The red Centre & Uluru....We made it!

A nutritious breakfast of fruit loops and coco pops, a 2 hour flight with 30 minutes time difference and we were finally there: Northern Territory, The Red Centre! We stayed in a fantastic little hostel called Alice Lodge at Alice Springs, where the town's river runs underground (crazy I know!) before we embarked on our 3 day tour to Uluru (Ayres Rock and beyond). Aptly named "The Rock Tour" it was an early start and a long drive down a very long, straight road that stretched out as far as I could see! Listening to our crazy tour guide's crazy taste in music until finally seeing a giant red rock standing in the distance amongst all the flat nothing around it! Uluru as it's been renamed from Ayres Rock. All I could think was it's bloody huge! So when we actually arrived at the rock to walk the base I couldn't fit the whole thing in one photo, so instead I have loads of photos of all little bits of it! Success!

We did the basewalk around Uluru (which took ages) and the whole time we were covered with these annoying flies (I nicknamed them "Sons of Satan"); they were on my hat, they'd take a ride on your back, they'd land on my glasses and even in my mouth (which got me singing, "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly...")! We were told that we would know if we had gotten lost during the walk as the Rock would no longer be on our right side, but luckily it was still there after 2 hours as we got back to where we had started! It was a good walk as you actually saw the rock is grey, only the top surface had oxidised to a red colour. Cool!

Cairns and Cape Tribulation!

Well, we made it to our final stop via the greyhound coach ticket. It was kind of sad knowing it was our last but I got over it. In Cairns it's so humid but that was nothing compared to up in Cape Tribulation where we went next. We went up Daintree River hunting for crocdiles and saw a couple but they're bloody hard to spot, saw snakes too but they're not as exciting really. We walked through a couple of tropical rainforests after that: one at Daintree and the other was called Dubuji not far from Cape Tribulation beach. While in Cape Tribulation we went to see a very cute, so cute fruit bat before going on this weird forest walk that we ended up nearly running through as what seemed like a swarm of mozzies attacked us. They wouldn't go away, two for instance just trawled behind Jen who was infront of me, as if trying not to be seen...I later called them Alfred and Juniper! Though now, covered in bites and itchy all over...I find I actually dislike them with great intensity. After Cape, and a short stop at Port Douglas we have come back down to Cairns again to spend some days lazing and for me to eat some icecream before our flight to Alice Springs on Sunday!

Magnetic Island Madness!

Magnetic Island was our next stop and what a fab little place it turned out to be! We were staying at this place called Bungalow Bay Koala Park which backs onto the wildlife park. The little hut-type accomodation was cool and you you fall asleep to the sounds of all the animals around and then get waken up about 6am by a laughing Kookaburra! We had a special deal to go into to the wildlife park to see all the little critters and hold some too! So I held a cute little 2 year old Saltwater Crocodile called "Barbie" as well as a lizard, a Carpet Python snake and had a photo cuddling another Koala, this one was called Barney! I also licked a green ant's butt (tasted like sherbet) and ever since ants have been attacking me...its as if they know! We also walked through the forest and saw hundreds of thousands of butterflies and fruit bats flying overheard before coming face to face with the golden-orb spider which is one big female spider... especially compared to the males! But I was ok as long as I could look at it without it crawling on my face...I was ok! At Magentic Island we also saw a couple of wild koala's up in the trees and fed a flock of Rainbow Lorikeets that seem to land all over you and scratch the hell out of you before finally one that was sitting on my head actually crapped on it too! Which is not good luck in the least!

Sailing the Whitsundays

Next it was Airlie beach where we spent $1000's on trips and flights to Ayres Rock, etc plus on Didgeridoos! It was also the first room we came across that has satellite TV in the bedrooms...nice! Though watching Neighbours so far ahead is a bit weird but still watchable. This was also where we set sail for the Whitsundays Cruise on board "The Pride of Airlie". It was great fun on the open ocean with our "Goone bags" (bags of Wine) and free food! We stayed each night at a resort on South Molle Island where they'd feed us more free food! The first day we went to Whitehaven Beach which was beautiful and the day after that to Hook Island where we did some great snorkeling on the reefs in our dashing stinger suits! I took some pictures of fish, fish and more fish, though saw a leopard shark and sea turtles too!

Dingo Fun on Fraser Island!

Next we were on to Hervey bay where we were to depart from for our 4x4 safari on Fraser Island! After a crazy early awakening by what must have been a huge possum clambering across our room's roof and diving into the tree next to me bunk bed..which I mistakenly took for an alien from the film "Signs" as I was half asleep, anyway, we then got the ferry over to Fraser in our 4WD Vehicle in a small group of 8 people!

Fraser Island was so cool, driving in the forest parts and along the sandy shores of Fraser Island (The World's Largest Sand Island) and we saw some really pretty sights like Lake McKenzie (in the top ten beaches of the world) and Indian heads look out, the Green Basin Lake and the Coloured sands BUT there was one thing I was not happy to see. One thing I had dreaded encountering. I was sitting in the back of the 4x4 as it was driving along and then at the corner of my eye I saw it and turned to see a hairy, massive (later identified as the Huntsman Spider) Son of Satan, SPIDER crawling towards me. I, seconds later then proceeded to panic as it crawled behind my back, I couldn't get my seat belt undone but finally when I did I lept up and landed on the otherside as we all yelled for Johnny (driving) to stop! The funniest thing about it all that at the precise moment I realised the spider was there, Jen was recording so on the video you her me shout "S*** it's a SPIDER!" and then guess who screams...the two guys sitting across from us! It makes us laugh everytime we watch it back! After the encounter with the spider (still in the vehicle) we set up camp. It was great fun camping out under the stars..I saw some shooting stars and the milky way. Also I found it funny how some people reacted (i.e. by screaming) to the Dingos that would come up to the camp, smelling the food. I just used to shine my torch at them and shout "Bah!" to no great effect really.

What was not fun was getting up the first night at 3.15am when there was a huge gale making the tent top cover nearly blow off and so had to run out in the cold and peg the damn thing down again and then the second night when we got the crap tent that leaked and of course there was the most massive thunder storm that meant by 4am we were sitting in the middle of the tent surrounded by pools of water from all sides...absolutely soaking but singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody at the top's of our voices before watching the sunrise after the storm! But it was fun nevertheless!

The Crocodile Hunter's Diaries!

After Brisbane the next stop was Maroochydore and finally the time had come to got to Australia Zoo! Yes indeed, being such a huge, huge, HUGE fan of the great late Steve Irwen, it was something I was really looking forward to. Though I was a little sad about it all, I actually cried on the bus going as they were showing a special video about him and it had a bit about when his dog Chilli died! But the Zoo was fantastic, I feed an elephant, saw a leopard be taken for a walk, held and hugged a very cute Koala, went to the Crocoseum and I spent ages at (my personal favourite) the Wombat enclosure...I just love the wombats...they're so cute! So after taking hundreds of pictures of them and clutching my little Steve Irwen figurine purchased from the gift shop along with a "Crickey!" keyring it was unfortunately time to leave : ( but it was a grand sort of day to be had! The next day we went biking along Maroochy River and say a spotted Stingray, that night a guy showed us the sting barb from one he'd caught and indeed it was very sharp and serrated in such a way that was very horrid!