Australia and New Zealand

October - December 2023

Australia
New Zealand Read more

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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Oct 31, 2023
- ☁️ 16 °C
- Altitude: 25 m
- Australia Victoria Melbourne -37.813761, 144.96408537°48’50” S 144°57’51” E
Day 1–9
Melbourne
October 31, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
One week in Melbourne visiting Zoella and her husband Luke - honestly, the best hosts ever! Was so nice to catch up with them and slow down the pace a bit as well...
Got to explore the city with a guided walking tour and just generally wandering around checking out the 'laneways' (think this is just an Aussie term for Alleyways?!)
I also got to play netball again with Zoe's team and even did a park run on the Sat (34.5mins... quite pleased with my time tbh, 3 years since i've done any sort of run!)
Got to also hang out with some of Zoe and Luke's friends from Brum (who live in Sydney now) where we did a road trip to Geelong (don't ask about pronunciation!) and join in with Zoe and Luke's house warming party - drinking games ensured that Sunday was a struggle...
Other Melbourne activities:
- Melbourne Museum
- Brighton Beach
- Botanical Gardens
- Shrine of Rememberance
- Exploring the suburbs
- Walk along Yarra River
It is also true what they say about Melbourne and having the 4 seasons in one day - never wearing quite the right clothes and the weather is so close to the UK! It felt very homely!!!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 10, 2023
- ⛅ 40 °C
- Altitude: 67 m
- Australia South Australia Mitcham Adelaide Pirie Street Tram Stop -34.926792, 138.60097634°55’36” S 138°36’4” E
Day 11
Adelaide
November 10, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 40 °C
Went to Adelaide to meet Harvey, great 'little' city with the centre surrounded by park, can see the rolling hills one direction and out to the coast in the other. Lots of Jacaranda trees lining the roads, all full of purple blossom, really beautiful!
I arrived around 4pm quickly checked into the hostel and went on a mission to find new walking shoes ready for New Zealand (and because my trainers have basically disintegrated!)... mission was a fail as all the shops closed around 5pm... however it did give me a chance to orientate myself :-D
On Friday morning i went to Glenelg beach, really long, white sands, blue skies, was great, went for a paddle, it was 40° 🥵Met Harvey in the afternoon, was so excited to see him again, and we went to a winery and glamping... the glamping site even had its own brewery and winery 'just around the corner' (apparently this means further in Australian English than British English, but that's a tale for another time!). Went to 'down the rabbit hole' which was quite hipster (there was a bus!), Harvey got stung by a bee (murderer! Jokes, stupid bee!) And we had cocktails, wine, potatoes (random) and ice cream for dinner (not at the same time).Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 11, 2023
- 🌬 17 °C
- Altitude: 23 m
- Australia South Australia Victor Harbor Grosvenor Gardens Reserve -35.551785, 138.62304535°33’6” S 138°37’23” E
Day 12
Fleurieu Peninsular
November 11, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 17 °C
On Sat Harvey had a route planned out down the Fleurieu Peninsular so naturally we got a little lost when trying to find the start of a footpath (we never found it!) 😅 We did however get to several beaches, as we wanted to go for a swim... however it was super windy and a sand storm must have been brewing as we got fully attacked by tiny daggers of sand, our only protection was submerge in the sea (which was quite 'refreshing'!) was hilarious!!!!
We also stopped for fish and chips at Victor Harbour (the chips are really not the same) with the promise that the seagulls are not as vicious as the ones in the UK... that was a lie! We got chased down the walkway by about 8 of them, all gliding above us, much to onlookers amusement... it was terrifying! I chucked my chips away, couldn't deal with it! 🤣
Anyways, made it over to Granite Island for a ganda around... didn't see any penguins... except some copper ones at the beginning of the walk... Good walk, nice beaches and path... terrifying seagulls!
On Sunday we went out to a dolphin sanctuary, mangrove forest and ship wreck site for a bit of kayaking... we explored down a creak... got stuck trying to turn around (very narrow!), almost concussed ourselves on low hanging mangrove branches, but ya know, team work saw us through (kinda!!!)... we did see 2 dolphins as well which was pretty special 😊
Harvey disappeared after lunch (boooooooo) and so I went for a walk to the park to see the flying foxes (bats)... omg they are huge, so many of them and make A LOT of noise!!!! They were also very swoopy so I didn't stay long!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 13, 2023
- Altitude: 15 m
- Australia New South Wales Sydney The Rocks Government House -33.859247, 151.21428233°51’33” S 151°12’51” E
Day 14–19
Sydney
November 13, 2023 in Australia
Second time to see Alex in Sydney, so was nice to have done all the touristy stuff before and just chill out...
Alex picked me up from the airport and immediately lost the parking ticket!!! He somehow managed to avoid the fines by using the gift of the gab and 'I've been really stupid, please take pity on me!' And they did 🤣
So things to do in a week in Sydney:
- Take doggo for walks 😁
- Go to Manley on the ferry for beach, snorkeling and walk to view point
- Meet the wonderful Elizabeth for dinner and make her worry about my lack of internet and finding each other (sorry! 🤣)
- Chill out in the various parks and botanical gardens
- Opera house for wine and food... avoiding the seagulls and not being afraid to brutally and unashamedly battle for a table... 💪
- Catch up with another old uni buddy, Ryo, who pointed out it's been 11 years since we saw each other!
- Walk across the Harbour Bridge and check out the Luna Park and Wendy's Secret Garden
- Free gig at Pheonix Central Park
- Bbq and drink too much wine night before a flight...
It has been fun, thanks for putting up with me Alex! 😅Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 19, 2023
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 156 m
- New Zealand Auckland Mt Eden Mount Eden Domain -36.877091, 174.76453136°52’38” S 174°45’52” E
Day 20–21
Auckland take one! - New Zealand
November 19, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Soph (South America friend 😁) came and picked me up from Auckland Airport which was so nice... was great to see her again and tell her about the remaining trip and gossip! It was also good to hear about her new life in New Zealand and how she is settling over dinner and drinks 😁
On Sunday I ventured out with some of the girls from my dorm and we visited the museum and climbed Mt Edna (volcano in the city!) for the views.
In the evening we met with some others from the hostel and went for dinner at a recommendation from Soph and drinks in Danny Doolan's and ended up sitting on a table next to no other than Post Malone 😱 great night singing and dancing to the band playing and even had a chat with Postie! 🤣 Really cool guy, very down to earth!!!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 20, 2023
- 🌧 20 °C
- Altitude: 69 m
- New Zealand Waikato Waitomo District Waitomo Caves Kapongaru -38.260359, 175.10358138°15’37” S 175°6’13” E
Day 21
Waitomo caves and glow worms
November 20, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 20 °C
Spent a lot of the morning on a bus between Auckland and Hamilton and panicking as had booked a black water rafting Cave tour with no way of getting to Waitomo Caves!!! 🤦‍♀️ managed to hire a last minute car for 2 days so that's me sorted now!
Made it to the caves and had a brilliant time :-) we were all wet suited up and given tubes to float in (or mostly carry!) We had to jump off waterfalls in the Cave (a lot less scary than I initially thought!) And turn our head torches off completely to see the full glowing of the worms...
Also learnt that the glow worms aren't actually worms but are essentially maggots! And the glow comes from a chemical reaction from digesting their food... the guide so eloquently put it 'marvel at the shiney shit!' 🤣
It was brilliant!!!! Really loved the day! Recommend to anyone going to New Zealand for sure!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 21, 2023
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Altitude: 351 m
- New Zealand Lake Taupo -38.810616, 175.92247738°48’38” S 175°55’21” E
Day 22
Nerding out LotR style
November 21, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Busy day needing out at as much Tolkien as I could find in the limited time!
Left at 7:30am to go on the Hobbiton Movie set tour, which was awesome 😁 tried to make a deal with the Green Dragon Inn landlady to buy a hobbit hole... felt very homely and comfortable there 😅
The set is incredible, the detail is so good and with all the chimneys and windows poking out the hills, alongside the evidence of hobbits occupations and hobbies made you feel like it was a real live village or going to see a 'how they live' tour! The tour lasted 2 hours but I could have stayed there longer!
Next I went to find a hike - Haku Falls, it was a success!!! The walk was beautiful and the falls really powerful, was nice to stretch my legs as had already done about 3 hours driving!
Back to geeking out though, Mount Doom was just south of Lake Taupo so obvs had to go and try and see that! And on the way spotted Gollums Pools... so another obvious stop off point! Much shorter walk (litterally about 10 minutes!) and a mini scramble over some rocks to an amazing waterfall and pools, was gorgeous... and really quiet (a huge group of school kids just left, think I timed it perfectly!)
It was around 7pm by this point and realised it was at least a 3 hour drive back to Hamilton, so decided to get hoping and try and find a nice spot to watch the sunset... Lake Taupo has the perfect viewing areas!
After sunset, made my way back... didn't get back till bed until 10:30pm... long but awsome day!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 23, 2023
- 🌬 18 °C
- Altitude: 709 m
- New Zealand Canterbury Mackenzie District Lake Tekapo -43.990997, 170.48916543°59’28” S 170°29’21” E
Day 24
Lakes and walking - Lake Tekapo
November 23, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 18 °C
Picked up hire car and had a drive to Lake Tekapo. Planned on going to the Lupin field and just have a ganda around before heading to a camp site at Lake Pukaki...
The Lake is stunning, so unbelievably blue with mountains in the background... there were lupins scattered along the banks and, yer it was just beautiful... I did go up to the lupin field however there weren't that many there, but a lot of photographers popping up which kinda reminded me of snipers with their extreme camera lenses 🤣
Back on the Lake decided to go for a walk upto the observatory which was a great hike, very quiet, there were times where i didn't see many people at all, was basically the only one... and was so windy... the longer my hair is getting the more like medusa I am starting to look 🤣 what do you think?!
Anyways, fab views etc etc!
Drove to Lake Pukaki where a lovely couple called Gill and Steve adopted me for the evening and we spent the rest of the day drinking wine and watching sunset... First night sleeping in the back of the car, quite excited!!!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 24, 2023
- Altitude: 716 m
- New Zealand Canterbury Mackenzie District Mount Cook -43.735699, 170.10441743°44’9” S 170°6’16” E
Day 25
Lake Pukaki and Mt Cook
November 24, 2023 in New Zealand
Yer woke up and had a bit of a telling off by a ranger, apparently I wasn't meant to camp.in that car park as I am not self contained or something 🙄 anyways, he took pity and didn't fine me! Phew!!!
But drove off around 8ish after a not very comfy night and went to explore Mt Cook... yup, equally beautiful! 😁
Did 2 hikes, one across a few swing bridges which were fun as well...
Headed to my next camp site which I knew I was allowed to be in (!!!) via Landis Pass... the camp site is at a site with a historical hotel ruins there so thoughtbitbwould be pretty cool... had to drive down a dirt path for about 20 mins, avoiding the stubborn cows and scaring the sheep! When I arrived I was the only person there... the ruins were pretty cool but could have been quite creapy if no one else showed up!!! Which luckily they did! Befriended 2 couples who were travelling together in 2 campers so did my usual approach of 'you guys drink wine? ... Great, I come with wine, can I join you?!' And sat in their camper chatting till bed time! Great night, fab location!Read more
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Traveler Australia and New Zealand
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- Nov 25, 2023
- ☀️ 18 °C
- Altitude: 281 m
- New Zealand Otago Queenstown-Lakes District Wanaka Roys Bay -44.695189, 169.1270544°41’43” S 169°7’37” E
Day 26
Lake Wanaka
November 25, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Woke up, freezing feet... and the car was completely frozen over 🥶 immediately put on the engine and straddled the steering wheel with feet on vents to warm up!!! (Got some funny looks from a couple of the other campers 🤣) Made for an early start though, was up and out on the road before 7:30 which was great!
Went to Lane Wanaka possibly my favourite lake so far! So blue and with great mountains in the background... I saw some people swimming and decided incould do with a wash after a couple of days in the car so went in myself... omg it was cold... skin tingling cold but amazing!!! I think it's Glacier water as well so full of minerals 🤔 (no idea!) Felt so good after as well!!! Went on another hike around part of the lake (starting to become a bit of a routine this!), got a coffee and headed off to Queenstown... after Queenstown I'm going to try and stop off again at Lake Wanaka on my way up to the glaciers 😁
Blindly following Google maps took me via Crown Range Road which was very steep and VERY windy... but had some beautiful look outs... also discovered it is the highest sealed road in New Zealand!!! That's pretty cool!
Arrived at the hostel, sharing a 4 bed mix dorm with 2 German teens! Very sweet, one asked if I had just finished school!!!!!!
Went out for a few drinks and met a lovely couple who let me join in their card game, Merol and Jack. We had a few beers and went for food, shame I never got a pic of us all, never mind!
I was pooped so went back yo the hostel and in bed by 10:30!!Read more
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