Chapter 7 - Island hopping

Hello everyone, it has been great to hear from people recently, but once again, sorry to hear about your smack Jack, and Harriet for that matter, because it was her car, haha (thats not funny). Anyway, I havent updated my blog recently, not because of being caught in a storm and washed out to sea as i thin Mother believes, just because i havent had the commitement. Its ok though, because i have found a computer in this cafe, where the trime is stuck n 23 minutes, and it has been for the past half hour, free internet for Ewan.
So i was in Queenstown Nezealand when i last wrote. I really enjoyed myself there, it had a small town feel but a big towns nightlife. I dont know whether i had mentioned the Danish guys before, but i spent most of my time with these 3 crazy characters, drinking and doing activities during the day, one of those activities happened to be an 134m bungee jump. Now it is hard to explain the feeling before you do one of these things, from waking up in the morning you have the usual butterflys and travelling in the bus to the jump station, those butterflies start to fly around a little more. Yet it is only when you have climbed the ridiculously steep hill

and taken a cable car to the middle of a huge gorge where everyone piles into this tiny cabin suspended by wire, that you start to crap yourself. Luckily for me though they were playing motivational music and i got in the fucking zone. I am not sure whether chris and jon felt the same but by the time i was about to jump, i was pumped like a gorilla on steroids, saying american motivational phrases like, 'yeah' and 'come on', 'alright' probably featured aswell. Yet all the self motivation in the world can not prepare you for when you walk out onto the ledge, suddenly all your senses are enhanced, you feel ythe wind more, the temperature and without looking down you can sense the height. Then before you can ponder the moment it is....3,2,1 jump. And like an obedient dog, off i jumped.

There is no point in me trying to write how it felt when i was plumetting through the air with nothing restricting my speed because i would nt be able to find th words. All i will say is that you can breath and you almost feel your heart stop. It was the strangest feeling in the world, but one i will never forget.
To help us get over how much fun we had, we all got ridiculously drunk that night, and most of what happened remains a mystery to me. The rest of my time in Queenstown was not so adrelin filled. We spent a drizzly day at Milford sounds, supposedly one of the worlds natural wonders but my experience was dampened by the fact we had to take a tour bus that was 10 hours drive in total, 5 there and 5 back with a 1 and a half hour boat ride when we got there. Spectacular, yes, but not my type of trip.

So then we had a few more nights out etc, enjoyed the mountain scene then i headed to Dunedin, one of the south Islands most southerly cities. Here i stayed in a really nice hostel called Hogwarts that was in an old Bishops residence, was a bit full of fucking snobby brits though, the type of traveller that thinks they ar better than most because they stay in places for 3 months instead of a few days. Piss me off. Anyway, they had a Cadbury NZ factory there, but the main reason for going was to see the penguins and seals on the otago peninsula, nearby. Luckily the Danish lads turned up the next day, as planned, and we hit the Cadbury factory haha, which was, interesting, well not so much interesting but just quite good. Anyway, after we had successfully gorged ourselves on dairy milk we had a few beers then hit the sack ready for a day of penguin spotting. Which might i add started at a fantastic time, 1 in the afternoon, none of this, waking up at 6 in the morning malarky. So we jumped on the bus with our super friendly guide Tony (not in a homo way). Drove out to see some albatross, fur seals in the middle of nowhere, then sea lions, we were literally 1 metre away from them, then finished the day with penguins. Those guys are fucking brilliant, they surf into the beach on the waves then waddle up the beach just like you would expect them to, i laughed myself silly, lookin at the little fella's. Once we had hiked back to th van, we drove back to Dunedin as the sun was setting across an incredible pink and orange sky, listening to jeff buckley as it was the anniversary of his death (according to Tony). That whole day was one of the biggest hightlights of my trip so far. It was so chilled out and fun but we saw some incredible things, and all for 65 bucks. Which is like 20 quid.
On my final evening the guys and I cooked up a famous Danish dish and enjoyed a huge meal, then all of a sudden it was my last day in Dunedin and I said my goodbyes to Morten, Jon and Cris, then headed to Christchurch to catch my plane. I stayed for a night in a hostel then flew out the next day. One the plane i started to think how quickly the months seem to be flying past but how much i had actually seen and done in the time. It still never ceases to amaze me when i stop and think about it.

So i jumped of the aeroplane and was greeted by a sun drenched sydney, sunny, but chilly, remember, it is winter here. I spent the evening wandering around and orientating myself with the city. It seemed huge, compared to the cities in NZ, and very american in its layout and even its culture. American brands dominate the high street alot more than in New Zealand, where they seem to be holding onto their British routes a little tighter. I had a cracking Thai and hit the sack, i spent the next day exploring and soaking up the sun down by the harbour. I did all the typical sights, the harbour bridge and the Opera house. Both were very impressive. Especially the opera house, its interior looks dated now, but its design is still very muc holding its own. By now, i had my fill of big cities and i wanted to get to the beaches. I bought an overnight Greyhound bus pass to Byron Bay which is just south of Brisbane. I say just south, it is probably 4 hours away, but this country is so ridiculously huge that it takes soo long to get anywhere. I spoke to a guy in NZ who had worked on the cattle farms in the Northern Territory, the one he was on wa 500, 000 acres and considered an ;average' size.
Anyway after a hideous 12 hour bus journey i arrived in the balmy town of Byron Bay NSW, famed for its good surf (ha) and its beautiful beaches. By chance, i stumbled off the bus and into the tourist information, picking up the ni8cest looking hostel flyer and made my way towards it. I rocked up and immediately i knew i would like it. The Manager was a young attractive woman and there were palm trees all around. Then she showed me to where i would be staying. There was a house, with two floors, they had maybe 4 bedrooms on each floor, a selection of dorms, twins singles etc. On my floor, upstairs, there was a large veranda and big kitchen/lounge. When i walked in there was a bunch of people all just chilling on the veranda, sat next to THE BARBY. I dont normally go into so much detail about hostels, but this one was different. I stayed there for 5 days and it became home. Every night we all had a big barbeque, splitting the cost for the food and drunk cheap wine (goon). I surfed every morning and kept my board at the hostel, i loved Byron and the people were ace, i got to know the ones who stayed pretty well. I miss it now that i am not there. The surf wasnt great though, that was one of the drawbacks, and the weather was a little...unreliable but the nightlife was tops, especially the night when me and two other american guys tried to getinto a club on the guest list. Then one of them got arrested later for trying to jump through a window round the back of the club, then climbing onto the roof. That was a funny night.
Anyway, i reluctantly left Byron, which, in the scheme of things is not very far up the coast, to my destination, Cairns.
2 hour bus ride and i arrived in Surfers Paradise, but not my paradise. Large Residensial skyscrapers dominated the horizon and only the beautiful white sand beach provided salvage from the neon lit commercial town centre. Granted, it is supposed to be a good night out, but i didnt try. Instead, i tried to surf it, which was damn near impossible, then i left.
After Surfers i hit Brisbane, another big city with high rise buildings, not fantastic weather and no beach....why stay. It was a nice city though, the centre was lively and had someone thrown me a coupleof hundred buckks i could have had a riot. I moved after one night though, and now i am in, glorious Noosa.
It is another, smallish surf town but has developed, in certain areas, into somewhere that the O.C could be filmed. Rich people with their beautiful cars and houses dominate Noosa heads, and the main beach area. Its kind of like southern california i would imagine, rich girls and rich boys, but beautiful beaches, which is why i am here, and relatively good accomodation. I have to say goodbye now though, as my time is up.