......Fat and Reds Travels

FOUR WEEKS IN GERMANY

2009-08-01T11:22:00.003+12:00

Highlights of Germany were the Tanz- and Folk Festival in Rudolstadt, a two weeks trip through former East Germany, a couple of days in Denmark and spending a few days in Dresden. Germans drink and eat far too much, we struggled to keep up and also put on a few kilos but can’t wait to go back for Christmas...

Click here for more photos of Germany and Denmark.

THAILAND

2009-07-05T11:09:00.004+12:00

I recently uploaded our pictures from our short stay in Thailand which included a week in Koh Tao where Phil finished his advanced diving course and a few days in Bangkok where we primarily went shopping.

Thailand wasn’t our favourite destination compared to other parts we have seen in South East Asia and therefore we weren’t too sad when we entered the plane to head back to Europe after nearly 3 years....

TRAVEL MAP CAMBODIA

2009-06-20T21:30:00.000+12:00

SIEM REAP/ANGKOR WAT (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-20T20:05:00.005+12:00

We kept Siem Reap/Angkor Wat as the highlight to the very end and it was worth it. We spend the first day visiting a silk farm and spend the rest of the day in the market shopping. It’s so much fun to haggle.

Next day we got up at 4am, took our bicycles and see the sunrise at Angkor Wat. We set ourselves an itinery and after seeing 3 temples we were pretty tired and had enough till we entered Bayon. It’s a breathtaking architecture and by then our favourite. We watched locals feeding the monkeys and nearly missed the sunset at Phnom Bakheng.

We hired a tuk tuk for the second day as Banteay Srei and Roluos Temple group are much further away from Angkor Wat. We saw some fantastic sandstone carvings and also the first temples in the area. At the very end we went to see Angkor Wat. It’s huge and very different inside than we expected. It even reminded us on Roman architecture with the inside baths and monastery look.

As it was our last day/night in Cambodia we decided to buy some of those $5 vodka red bull pitchers. Who would have thought that we are still drinking 4am in the morning having to catch a bus at 7am? How we managed is magical with not even losing a single item while packing. We were even still buzzing while heading towards the boarder in the taxi.

Please click here for more photos.

BATTAMBANG (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-17T20:00:00.001+12:00

We stopped in Battambang to visit some of the temples in the surrounding areas, our built up for Angkor Wat.

Again the motorbike rental seemed the most practical and of cause cheapest way to do that. We managed to do that tide program within a day: Wat Ek Phnom, Phnom Banan, Phnom Sampeau and also visited an old Pepsi company. It was shut in 1975 after Pol Pot took over and was never reopened again. There is still some old machinery in there and hundreds of empty bottles. The care taker took us around and even let us in the building after Phil begged him for getting an empty bottle. Hope we won’t break it while travelling.

Please click here for more photos.

KOMPONG CHHNANG (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-15T19:35:00.001+12:00

We stopped here for a day only to see the floating village and the only pottery place in Cambodia.

The banks by the floating villages were overfilled with rubbish, not a pretty side. The ceramic at Ondong Rossey is very simple with no glazing but we found a teapot and a little bowl for so little money.

Food was a little harder to find, no tourists-no restaurants. We bumped into an nice NZ couple in their 50th who are travelling around on a motorbike for 6 months. We were amazed and hope we will still be that adventurous when we are older.

Please click here for more photos.

CHI PHAT (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-15T15:39:00.001+12:00

What is there to do in Chi Pat? People in Krong Koh Kong heard about it but don’t really know anything about the place. All we read was Wildlife Alliance started to set up ecotourism in the community to prevent further hunting and logging.

Rather taken the advertised boat we took on the journey on motorbike to give s the chance to turn back if we had too. We found the right turn into the gravel road leading to the village but it didn’t end there. There were many different ways to go and we had to wait a few times before anyone came along to ask for directions. It was also slippery and raining but Phils motorbike skills were amazing and we didn’t fall of once. The last stretch was nearly unbearable with big mud pools and the afternoon heat. Our last obstacle was the ferry ride over the river where Phil had to balance the bike over a small piece of wood. It took us nearly 2 ½ hours for 20km of dirt road.

We weren’t disappointment by the Chi Phat establishment, staying in a homestay at our first night on an orange farm with battery operated electricity and a really friendly family.
We decided to hike for 2 days/1 night including camping in the jungle with sounded promising. We hired a guide “Le Heng” and a cook “Mr Hung” who knew the bush well. They made fires from scratch and put up our camp quickly as it started pouring down with rain. We slept in hammocks under a tarpaulin in the bush which we always wanted to do but never had the opportunity. We saw 3 snakes and gibbons; unluckily it wasn’t quite the season to see any animals as they don’t need to come to the lagoons in the wet. The 21km hike on the 2nd day was tiring at the end but our cook treated us with a fresh coconut from his garden when we returned.

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KRONG KOH KONG (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-15T15:32:00.001+12:00

Reading up about this place it sounded very promising. It’s a jump off point to Botum Sakor NP, Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary and the Southern Cardamon Mountains, the sad story its not very well developed to get into these areas. Some roads are inaccessible as little streams turn into big rivers and travel agencies aren’t very enthusiastic, at least not in the low season.

We hired a motorbike to see the mangrove forest and Tatai Waterfall, visited a cute settlement on the other side of the river and had dinner at a quiet place at the beach on our way back. The town was out of power for most of our stay as a ship crashed into a cable leaving us with no fan for the night and being unable to charge up any of our equipment.

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SIHANOUKVILLE (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-15T15:27:00.002+12:00

We got offered a cheap ride in a taxi for this 4 hour trip and knew it would be pretty cramped. I ended up on Phil’s lap for most of the journey.

Sihanoukville hasn’t much to offer apart from nice beaches and cheap beer. We had a rat in out bungalow but it was so cute till it chewed through our headphone cables. We booked a relaxing day and snorkelling trip on a boat and left the town to find something more adventures to do.
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KAMPOT PROVINCE (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-11T15:13:00.003+12:00

It was our first experience of the wet season and it just didn’t stop raining. We hired a motorbike anyway and visited a pepper farm and the cave temple near Kompong Trach.

We included an overnight stay in Kep to try the legendary crab in green pepper sauce at the market. We weren’t disappointed, even better we just couldn’t stop licking our fingers covered in delicious pepper sauce.

Next day we drove around Kep NP with beautiful views over the lush jungle forest and
Phu Quoc Island which they lost to Vietnam. Before heading back to Kampot we couldn’t resist eating at the crab market once more.

Please click here for more photos.

PHNOM PENH (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-05T14:59:00.003+12:00

Phnom Penh is the capitol of Cambodia and has two very diverse sightseeing to offer. There is the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda representing the wealth of king Sihamoni. Controversial there is S-21, security prison led by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot between 1975 -1979.
We spent 4 hours in there learning about the inhumanity towards their own people, killing nearly 2 million with torture, starvation and diseases. Only a few years ago they started prosecuting some of the main leaders and still there are so many open questions about the meaning of Cambodia’s darkest years.

There is an interesting but also very sad book called “First they killed my father”. It’s a heartbreaking story and gives a better understanding how people suffered and how they just managed to simply survive.

For more photos please click here.

KOMPONG CHAM (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-02T05:32:00.004+12:00

We were positively surprised by this peaceful little town. No one hassle you to buy but on the other hand nothing was advertised to see the surroundings either. We already heard it was nearly impossible trying to find t independently on a motorbike and we nearly gave up when we started to chat to a tuk-tuk driver. He wanted a reasonable fare but we pushed it down to $10 to show us all in 2-3 hours. It was a trip we won’t forget. He took us to all the places we never would have found ourselves.

First we visited a rubber plantation. He had a lot of knowledge as his dad used to work there. Our second destination was a weaving village. he know the people, gave the kids some treats and showed us the different trades involved in producing money for the community. Our last sight of interest was Wat Maha Leap, a wooden pagoda over a century old and used as a hospital under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

To save some petrol we took a short cut back along the Mekong River. It was an off road journey in a tuk-tuk only skilled drivers can do and it was great to see all those remote villages.

All in all our tour took 5 hours. We gave him $15 as we could not have had anyone better looking after us and giving us so much information. We did forget his name which is a shame as we would recommend him to anyone with pleasure.

For more photos please click here.

KRATIE (CAMBODIA)

2009-06-01T04:46:00.000+12:00

We made a stopover in Kratie to see the Irrawaddy Dolphins and we weren’t disappointed. We had a great boat driver who took us on the Mekong River, stopped his engine as soon as we spotted them and took us to 3 different sights. It was so peaceful seeing them swimming around and we even saw them fighting for fish. Unfortunately our battery had died by then and we have no records of it. Have a look at the video we took to get a brief introduction what we saw within an hour.

For more photos on Kratie please click here.

BORDERCROSSING LAOS-CAMBODIA

2009-05-31T04:12:00.000+12:00

That was one of our worse border crossings, the road into Cambodia. First we were charges $1 at every administration point, right into the pocket of the officials, and there were three all together. We’ve got overcharged for our ongoing bus ticket but at least we were able to leave. That wasn’t the end of the trip. Supposedly changing our bus in Stung Treng, we were left there to wait for 5 hour. Still asked to wait but with no hope of any connection we finally took a taxi and paid again. We lost $20 but we could have lost even more, our time and patients. We learnt to forget about disappointments quickly in order not to ruin our travels.

LAOS TRAVEL MAP

2009-05-30T02:40:00.000+12:00

DON KHON-4000 ISLANDS (LAOS)

2009-05-29T01:17:00.000+12:00

4000 Islands is a group of islands in the Mekong River, a relaxing spot to hang out for a few days. We’ve got ourselves a cheap hut along the riverside on Don Khon with a rather unenthusiastic host. We always felt asking for food in the most inconvenient time of her day, which seemed all day long. At least we could taste some of her family meal: SNAKE, more precisely it was python. We don’t really know what it really tasts like as it was subsidized by too much pepper and chilli.

We also hired bicycles to cruise around Don Khon and Don Det, nearly unbearable in the heat but the dounut was a treat.

Please click here for more photos.

PAKSE (LAOS)

2009-05-28T03:57:00.001+12:00

We met a lovely Belgium couple while searching the streets for a good deal on motorbikes for the day. We joined them to visit nearby ruins of Champasak. The ferry ride over the river was a quite unique experience, a platform built across a few boats to ship anything from a single person to a tractor.

We also had a puncture on the way, nothing dramatic in Vietnam. We soon found a repair shop and the woman there changed the inner tube quicker then we could even finish our beer Lao.

We also went to see a couple of waterfalls but the access roads were more dramatic than the waterfalls itself. We nearly fell of the bike a few times.

For more photos please click here.

SAVANNAKHET (LAOS)

2009-05-27T03:41:00.001+12:00

We arrived late in Savannkhet and all banks were shut. Luckily we had a few dollars on us which bought us a meal and a few beer Lao. We were stuck here for another day as buses leave early morning and we were in urgent demand to get money from the bank (no ATMs). The highlight of our stay was dinning along the Mekong River. We were very curious about locals sitting there on the floor cooking and eating so we joined in. not knowing what to expect we were given a stove and a bowl, herbs, vegetables and raw meat and had to cook the soup ourselves. It was so much fun for so little money.

For more photos please click here.

BORDER CROSSING LAO BAO (VIETNAM - LAOS)

2009-05-25T03:08:00.001+12:00

Getting to Savannakhet in Laos sounded not to bad when we booked it, included a 20 hour journey overnight. It wasn’t quite like that. First we arrived in Hue in the evening and where told our connection bus was early morning the next day. Quickly getting our belongings together we jumped of the bus and followed a motorbike that was suppose to bring us to our free accommodation. After 30 minutes walking and not knowing where we were, we arrived at our destination. We double checked if it really was free (you never know!) but it was. Next day we were picked up by minibus who still didn’t take us all the way. He dropped us off at the border and that was it. We demanded our ticket; instead he referred us to a woman to follow her. After 2km walking she took over all formalities at the border and overcharged us for our visa. There was nothing we could do, she was our connection to get us on our connection bus and there is only one a day. Later on we heard is was a charge by the officials rather than her and as long as that border crossing is smoothly we can call ourselves lucky. So we did and enjoyed the ride of our first few hours in Laos.

For more photos please click here.

TRAVEL MAP OF VIETNAM

2009-05-22T00:49:00.000+12:00

VIETNAM AS WE SAW IT

2009-05-21T01:03:00.000+12:00

There are a view clips put togethet as we saw Vietnam, enjoy.

HOI AN (VIETNAM)

2009-05-20T23:37:00.005+12:00

Hoi An is the place for tailors and around 200 are trying to make a living of making suits, dresses, trousers or whatever you require in less than a day. We joined the experience, got measured, chose material and had clothes made we wanted.

We also visited the ruins of My Son nearby on a motorbike we hired and we saw some beautiful little villages along the 34km ride.

We decided Hoi An was the last destination on our travels in Vietnam as we were getting tired of bargaining for everything (even bread!), being constantly approached to eat, buy or get a ride and the frequent feeling of being ripped off. We were losing faith of meeting honest Vietnamese people and even the honest ones you didn’t trust.

The food will stay memorable forever. They do know how to serve some tasty dishes and our favourites were BBQed pork or freshly cooked hot Vietnamese spring rolls. Good bye VIETNAM.

For more photos about Hoi An and nearby My Son please click here.

NHA TRANG (VIETNAM)

2009-05-17T22:39:00.002+12:00

A beautiful bus ride from Dalat took us to Nha Trang, a town on the coast of Vietnam and a popular destination for Vietnamese people and Westerners. Our “hotel shopping ” was pretty useless, they all charge the same and offer the same. Same, same but different (Vietnamese saying)? So what exactly is the difference? They don’t understand that concept of question either so there is no answer. In general you always get an answer as long as you ask the common question, anything beyond is foreign.

We visited the site of the Giant Buddha and experienced the madness off rush hour on the way back. We managed to find a great fish restaurant where it was freshly BBQed before serving.

We also booked a cheap boat tour with entertainment and snorkelling along the reef. Our expectations weren’t high but we were positively surprised by the majority of Vietnamese people on our boat and had fun with free wine at the floating bar. It was a fun day out before heading to Hoi An on a night bus.

For more pictures please click here.

DALAT (VIETNAM)

2009-05-15T20:37:00.005+12:00

Dalat is situated in the highlands of Vietnam and it was nice to experience a little cooler climate and even nicer having a hot shower. We hired a motorbike for the day and drove to nearby Lang Bian Mountain. After about 20 minutes walking up the road to the peak, we were invited by forester workers to join in their lunch break. It’s considered rude not to drink if it’s offered to you and we had to have some rice whisky out of a plastic bag. They enjoyed practicing their English but we had to leave after a while to make the climb up the peak. Even that we did not see any people on the track, it was the dirtiest we’ve ever experienced. There were hundreds of empty plastic bottles and empty food wraps even on the very top. The last 30 minutes were very hard, it was so steep and slippery after the heavy rain few days ago and on the way back we used our bum more than our feed to balance.

Unfortunately we had to spend a few days in Dalat due to ill health. Was it the food or the rice whisky, we are not sure but we recovered after emptying our bowels completely.

For more photos in and around Dalat please click here.

PHU QUOC ISLAND (VIETNAM)

2009-05-10T11:16:00.002+12:00

We reached Phu Quoc Island from Rach Gia on a speed boat ferry in 2 1/2 hours. It was actually quite comfortable with enough leg room and air con.

We had to take a bus to get into the main town of Duong Dong with a lively harbour and market. We gave the chicken, goose and fish a miss and bought some fresh fruit instead. We ended up playing cards with some Vietnamese people in our Guesthouse as it was too hot to carry on walking around.

Next morning we hired a motorbike to explore the island. It started off that we soon recognised that sealed road on our map were gravel, signposts seemed to disappear and after 1 hour driving and asking for directions we suddenly ended up in Duong Dong again. Nevermind, we started a second attempt, this time taking a different route but after driving another hour it started raining heavily. Already soaking wet we found a little place to sit for a coffee. There was thunder, lightning und it hit somewhere really close to us and blow out all the electricity. It settled after a while and we carried on driving. The rain made the road very slippery and we had to drive so careful. After about 40km the road was getting really bad and we nearly fell of the bike. We decided to turn back as it already started raining again. We arrived safe back in town and spend the rest of the afternoon drying off.

We left the island the next day and if you wish to see more photos of this trip, please click here.

CANTHO (VIETNAM)

2009-05-07T10:51:00.000+12:00

After we arrived in Cantho the same happened to us as in Mytho, we were surrounded by motorbike taxi wanting to take us into town. As we had no idea where we were we bargained a good price and took the ride.

Again we hired a boat to take us up the river to see the floating markets. It was an early start, 5.30am, but how nice to get coffee served on the river from the floating cafe. Even that our guide could hardly speak any English you don’t need a translator to see what is happening. It was fantastic to see the busy trading on the river. Some of the houses looked rather poor along the river and some of them we were surprised they were still standing.

At about 10am it was getting unbearable hot on our little boat and we could not wait getting back on land and have a refreshing cold shower.

For more photos please click here.

MYTHO (VIETNAM)

2009-05-06T01:56:00.000+12:00

We found our way out of Saigon to the long distance bus terminal. The bus ride was not too bad but we got dropped off a little outside from town. Getting off the bus we were surrounded by motorbike taxis wanting to give us a lift. We didn’t think it was possible but they do anything for a bit of money.

We hired a boat and a guide to show us around the Mekong Delta. It’s rather dirty everywhere and the attempt by Phil to fish in the Mekong River was not very successful.

We had a look around town for something to eat. There were no restaurants, just street food or eating halls where they serve one dish only. I ended up eating a lovely fish soup and Vietnamese spring rolls with shrimps for $1. Phil didn’t trust in the fish of the street so we found another little place where they sold bbq pork and they gave me a plate too, 2 meals for Petra.

We visited Vinh Trang Pagoda the next day and headed off to Cantho afterwards.

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SAIGON (VIETNAM)

2009-05-04T00:56:00.001+12:00

We arrived late at the airport, took a taxi and stayed in a guesthouse in a side street off Pham Ngu Lao, the backpacker land of Saigon. We had a brief look around the centre and Saigon River the next day, visited the war Remnants museum and booked a tour to see Caodai Great Yemple and Cu Chi Tunnels. The guide was quite annoying after a while trying to be funny, we stopped at a factory with overpriced art craft and stopped at a cafe for food with no choice of choosing a different place. We decided to try to travel more independently to avoid the crowds of tourists and to see the real life of Vietnam.

For more photos please click here.

NORTHERN TERRITORY

2009-05-01T00:09:00.002+12:00

Our trip to Darwin didn’t start well. First we nearly didn’t catch our flight. Assuming we have to catch it from the domestic airport we realized quickly it was departing internationally as it carried on to Asia. We quickly made a move over the road. We had 10kg overweight with would have cost us $90. Instead we repacked und just got away with paying. The hostel in Darwin was expensive, awful and packed with travellers. Car hire companies charged a daily rate of $70 for a tiny car, well over our budget. Things weren’t all bad. We were lucky to get a wicket camper for a reasonable rate and a jug of beer was $8.

Before entering Kakadoo NP we made a stop at Foggs Dam, a bird’s paradise for royal spoonbills, egrets and jabirus. We carried on 50kms on gravel road to reach Shady Point. Our camp for the night a good fishing spot for barramundi. There was a salt water crocodile cruising around but we kept an eye on him. The night was hell. We had to make a decision to keep windows open and get eaten alive by mosquitoes or shut everything and die on a heat stroke. Next day we bought a mosquito net.

We saw different points of interest in Kakadoo NP but were very disappointed by the state of the tracks. Many were not cleared or were still completely closed. Aboriginal Art sites at Ubirr and Nourlangie were really worse the visit.

Lichtfield NP is much smaller but has a few waterfalls with swim holes for refreshment. On our way to Berry Springs we saw 3 frilled lizards on the way but as soon we stopped the car to take photos they were gone. We also met some of the strangest people in the local pub, mostly Aboriginals, some of them pretty drunk.

Berry Springs has a hot spring which was wonderful at 7am in the morning. We stayed most of the day in the Territory Wildlife Park where you see most of the animals of the Northern Territory. It’s one of the best wildlife parks we have seen and it gave us the opportunity to see the animals we did not spot in the wild.
We headed back to Darwin to join the reopening of the Mindil Beach night market with fireworks. There was a brilliant band playing with crazy didgeridoo sounds.

If you would like to see any more photos, please click here.

QUEENSLAND

2009-04-21T20:54:00.004+12:00

We were positively surprised by the friendly welcoming of people and their kindness to help when we arrived in Cairns. We had 2 days to have a look around, hire a car and get everything sorted for our round trip. We visited close by Kuranda and its Barron Falls and were excited to pick up our car. Yes we were looking for the best deal in town and went the for a backpacker option but didn’t quite expect a 23 year old run down car. Never judge a book by its cover it did its job and ran very economically.

Our first target was Daintree NP and Cape Tribulation. There are many short boardwalks in the area and a fresh and cooling swimming hole and we even saw a cassowary. We booked a trip with Rum Runners to dive and snorkel on Great Barrier Reef. The visibility was not as good as we expected, the whole day trip seemed rather short and on top Petra got sunburned.

Getting in the area of Atherton tabletop was refreshing after the high humidity of the Daintree NP. We saw many waterfalls, spotted a platypus, two Lumholtz tree kangaroos, tortoises, snakes and spiders.

Our last destination was Mission Beach, to hopefully see a cassowary again. Early morning is normally good to spot them. Your best chance to see one is just driving along the road. We did that for nearly 2 hours but no luck. Instead, we couldn’t believe it at first, we saw a manta ray swimming around the pier for about 30 minutes.

One other thing we would like to mention is the laughing kookaburra. He did wake us up every morning at about 6am with his amazing laughter. It’s a funny noise to listen to.

For more photos please click here.

TRAVEL ROUTE OF NEW ZEALAND

2009-04-12T18:09:00.000+12:00

NORTH ISLAND TRAVEL ROUTE

SOUTH ISLAND TRAVEL ROUTE

DUNEDIN AND SURROUNDINGS

2009-04-10T14:45:00.004+12:00

We spent the last days of our holiday in Dunedin, enjoying a last German BBQ and finishing off Phils home made spirits and my parents sloe schnaps. The city of Dunedin itself impressed us with its scottish architecture but rather disappointing Phil found the cadburys factory. He only got 3 tiny little bars of chocolate instead off all the kids getting a big bag.

We spend a whole day on Otago Peninsula visiting the gardens of Larnach Castle, watching sea lions at Allans beach, yellow eyed penguins at Sandfly Bay and blue penguins at Pilot beach. You had to assums they where blue penguins as they decided to come on land when it was already dark.

Heading back to Christchurch we visited the Moeraki Boulders but didn't stay long as the cold rain made it very unpleasant.

Please click here for more photos.

THE CATLINS

2009-04-07T02:35:00.000+12:00

Driving through the Catlins is a bit hop on hop off. there are many little sights on the way and its not unusual to bump into people you have seen at a sight before. Unusual is to meet 2 guys in there campervan again after joining the bungee jump in Queenstown and sleeping in the same hostel in Milford Sound. We must have seen them about 6 times on the way and you wont believe it, we even met them again in Dunedin high street.

TE ANAU TO RIVERTON

2009-04-05T01:50:00.001+13:00

We made a few stops on the way to Riverton and one of the most memorable one was the Clifden Limstone Caves. As we only had 2 torches Phil and my dad decided to go in on their own. We briefly had a look on the map which stated a 40min walk over 300m to another exit. After waiting at the exit for nearly an hour we started to wonder. We walked back to the entrance of the cave and had a second look at the map. We then realized there was no way to get to the other exit as there was a 7 meter drop after a lake and it was for experienced climbers with rope only. Me and my mum got rather nervous if those 2 would be sensible enough to turn back. As we heard them after 1.30hrs crawling out of the hole we were much happier again. Check out more photos here.

MILFORD SOUND

2009-04-03T01:32:00.002+13:00

Milford Sound has not got an awful lot of accommodation, to be precise, there is only one for "Non Milford Sound Trampers". We therefore ended up sleeping in a 4 dorm bedroom, 1 bunk for us and 1 for my parents. Milford Sound is beautiful but to keep it preserved not much has been established. You really can only admire it by boat and we joint an early 2hr cruise. The sandflies in the harbour made the decision easy for us at the end of the tour and we left quickly.

AROUND THE SOUTHERN LAKES

2009-04-01T00:57:00.000+13:00

We spend a day exploring Rob Roy Track near Wanaka before heading towards Queenstown over the Cardrona Range. Queenstown has so much to offer and we decided to stay there for 5 nights. We checked out Arrowtown, tramped parts of the Routeburn track and Phil and my dad decided to jump down 134m on a bungee. We also hiked an ascent of 1400m to climb Mt Lemond with some stunning views over the town and far behind.

THE WEST COAST

2009-03-26T00:05:00.000+13:00

My poor parents didn't have much time for relaxing after their 24hrs flight from Germany. We took them out of rainy Christchurch to drive all the way over Arthur's Pass into Hokitika. We spent a few hours in the riverbeds looking for greenstone but we found nothing.

The 6hrs return trip to Roberts Point was a very interesting and challenging track to see Franz Joseph Glacier. It was a bit of an obstacle walkway to see on top of the ice.

In Okarito we had the most beautiful little wooden cottage and we got woken up by keas in the morning. We saw Royal Spoonbills and White Herons on our kayak trip on the lagoon. Our highlight was seeing 3 Okarito brown kiwis. They were fighting, passing our legs and weren't even bothered by us.

On the way to Haast we stopped at Chips Creek for a walk through the dunes and were surprised by jumping hector dolphins very close to the beach. We were also lucky to survive the west coast without rain, what a start for a holiday with my parents.

KAIKOURA

2009-03-20T13:50:00.008+13:00

Most people visit Kaikoura to look at sea creatures on a boat, we went to catch them! We decided to go on a fishing trip, the best money we ever spent. It started off with emptying the crayfish pots followed by being surrounded by playful dusky dolphins.

We ankered the boat at about 75m and started putting our rods in. It took literally seconds

to hook on a fish and we did that for about 2 hours. Petra got the biggest catch, a blue cod.

The fillets were cut out there and then and the albatross were fighting for some left overs. We had kilos of cod and 2 crayfish and we BBQed most of it at Louises house in Christchurch.

For more photos of our Kaikoura fishing trip please click here.

NELSON LAKE NP AND PUNAKAIKI

2009-03-17T13:20:00.000+13:00

We spent a few relaxing days at Rotoiti Lake. Phil had a 24 hour licence for trout fishing and we also enjoyed the views from the top of St Arnaud range. there were millions of sand flies and we struggled to keep them off us. The eels in the lake were amazing as they all swim towards the light if you shine a torch into the water at night.

We made sure to hit Punakaiki at high tide but it was not enough to make the blow holes "blow". Still, the Pancake rocks are pretty and at least we had 1 of those 2 sunny days in the 7day weather forecast for the West Coast.

There are more photos of Nelson Lake NP and Punakaiki.

ABEL TASMAN AND FAREWELL SPIT

2009-03-14T12:40:00.004+13:00

Our first destination on the South Island was Farewell Spit. It offers fantastic views and some awesome rock formation. We were stunned by the water reflection and couldn't stop taking photos. We were also lucky to see 3 white herons on the way.

The day after we planned to walk part of the Abel Tasman Walkway. We had to start as early as 7am and finished at 5pm as parts of the track can only be crossed at low tide. the beaches are beautiful but sand flies make you leave them quickly. It is a very popular track and we may stick to less crowded ones in the future. For more photos please click here.

EAST CAPE TO WELLINGTON

2009-03-11T11:45:00.004+13:00

Sunday afternoon we started our exciting trip around New Zealand. 6 weeks in total but it didn’t start all smoothly. We had our car checked in Whatakane before hitting the East Cape. Our starter cables needed replacing.

The East Cape is a very derelict part of New Zealand with broken cars, houses and piers and no one seems to be bothered.

There is not much established for tourism. No walking tracks into the “holy land"and signs everywhere to point out private properties and no camping. The east cape is mainly populated by Maoris.

Napier instead was a refresher, literally, as we soaked in a hot pool under blue sky. We had time to make a stopover in Waiohine Geoge to step on the highest swing bridge in New Zealand.

As we headed into Wellington, the disaster started. Gears were slipping and short before reaching our hostel the car overheated. Pulling onto the side quickly Phil inspected the car carefully and recognised that the head gasket had blown. Unfortunately we have to say, our Mitsubishi never made to the South Island. It got sold for $61 on Trade Me. We bought ourselves a Subaru Legacy after wasting time and energy in Wellington.

Not everything was bad. Phil caught a massive Barracoutta in Wellington harbour of the pier and we saw dolphins jumping around too. We are still optimistic and for more photos of our first week please click here.

THE END......

2009-03-01T14:05:00.002+13:00

We officially finished working, had our leaving party and we are heading of to the East Cape first. We are leaving Auckland this afternoon, the start of our travelling. We will update this site as frequent as we can. Our plan is as follow:

-New Zealand mainly South Island, 6 weeks

-Australia: Cairns to Darwin, 3 weeks

-Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, 8 weeks

-Germany, 4 weeks

LEAVING PARTY FROM WORK

2009-03-01T13:17:00.017+13:00

After a nice meal most of us carried on in the pub next door. It was a very amazing evening including speeches, a presentation of a Haka and quite a few drinks. I am sad to leave such a great bunch of people who know how to enjoy life.

BEFORE

AFTER

LEIGH

2009-03-01T11:43:00.015+13:00

We organised a last trip around Leigh to catch some snapper. In case we were unsuccessful we planned to snorkel in the marine reserve to at least see one.

Phil caught 3 all together, but they were not quite the required 27cm.

Sunday morning he even made us get up at 4.30am to sit on the rocks in the rain for about 4 hours.

We still hired snorkeling gear and were amazed how much fish was in there.

SNAPPER

2009-02-11T22:51:00.002+13:00

Phil caught his first snapper. What a nightmare to get it on land....1o minutes of struggling and nearly contrubuting a second rod he was proud to be the only one catching one at Westhaven Habour in Auckland tonight.

WAIHEKE

2009-02-11T21:46:00.014+13:00

Spending a long weekend with Jana on Waiheke Island was very relaxing. Yes, we had to walk 30 minutes to our campsites and yes, it was basic and had no showers but what a spot right next to the water.

Philip met up with a friend for fishing. Enthusiasm ended up in a big disaster. He could not bare the thought of loosing some tackle and broke his rod instead.

Waiheke is the place for many artists and again gave us a opportunity to think or just shake our heads. Al least we had a cloud free day for some ideal pictures. To see more of them please click the photo tab on your right side.

VISITING LOU AND MATT IN CHRISTCHURCH

2009-02-11T21:26:00.009+13:00

This year we spent Christmas and New Years Eve with Jana on the South Island, visiting Lou and Matt in Christchurch.

We also hired a car to drive along the east coast to Dunedin.

After climbing up those pan pipes we headed towards Wanaka. We enjoyed a fun day in Puzzling World with lots of optical illusions.

The cricket game was pretty disappointing. Yes, anything can happen but being rained off after 20 minutes the game carried on after 4 hours. That was rather time wasting. We were far to cold to carry on seeing the match and went to the pub instead.

MACGYVER, THE REAL STORY

2009-02-04T23:04:00.005+13:00

CONTEMPORARY ART OR JUST DUMB?

2009-02-04T20:35:00.004+13:00

3-D Painting

WHAT HAPPENED TO BRIAN ADAMS?

2009-02-04T20:25:00.005+13:00

Poor Brian, that is what happens if you don't play the music right...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2008-12-07T14:43:00.005+13:00

Our Christmas party this year was held at Ellerslie Horse Race ground. Trying to get suitable clothes on a low budged was a mission but not impossible. Our betting was rather unsuccessful till Phil won in the last race.

Sorry, it has been such a long time till we last updated our blog, partly because we were without a laptop for over 1 months. I added 4 new entries today while I'm keeping an eye on the distilling process. They may will be our last once in 2008, therefore

We are wishing everyone who is following our blog a

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

CHINESE SCOOTER vs VMOTO

2008-12-05T15:12:00.002+13:00

How to merge two different types of scooters into one? It was desperation and anger after breaking down constantly with a Chinese bike which falls to pieces and parts were not available.

It took Phil 2 days of sweating and brain work but its nearly finished and running.

GLUTTONY

2008-11-07T14:38:00.000+13:00

Ever eaten so much you fell asleep right next to your dinner plate?

ROTORUA AND WHITE ISLAND

2008-10-17T13:08:00.000+13:00

DAY 1:

We started the day riding the luge. You are sitting on a sledge with wheels and you have 3 downhill options to choose from. Supposedly good fun if Phil wouldn't have nearly smashed his new HD camcorder. Yes, it was a little damaged and so was Philips knee but all in all everything was still in working order.

We carried on having a stroll around town, walking along Rotorua Lake, visiting the Marae, having a cup of coffee in the Redwood Forest and enjoying Tutea Falls.

We wanted to finish the day with a nice relaxed kayak trip along the stream next to our holiday camp. Phil was first and we all watched him when he lost his balance and fell into the water.

Cold but normally not a big deal if he wouldn't have forgotten to take his iPhone out of his pocket. He didn't even have a second set of dry clothes to wear. He spend the whole evening trying to fix the iPhone but no luck...

DAY 2:

We had to get up early, drive all the the way to Whakatane and catch our boat we booked to White Island. White Island currently sits on an alert level rating of 1, meaning she is always active and constantly steaming. We all decided it was well worth the money even that we did not spot any sea life on the way to the island which we were hoping for.

WHANGAREI

2008-10-04T12:40:00.003+13:00

Finally my friend Jana made up her mind and decided to come over to NZ for 1 year.

As soon as the miserable rainy winter had finished we took her new/old car for a good ride up North. The hiking introduction wasn't to harsh for her either, long walk but flat.

We were well happy with our cabin we got for the night, 1/3 was dedicated to the Internet cafe but for $35 both a night we can't complain.

We also made the effort to go into town for a drink. after one beer we had enough, Whangarei really is not the place for a fun night out.

KIWI ADVERTISING

2008-07-31T19:11:00.022+12:00

The North of New Zealand has been under continuous rain attack for the last 4 weeks or at least it seams like it. Therefore not much is happening on the travelling side, but I have been looking through some of our previous photos. I found one I wanted to share with others and still I have not fully understood the meaning of this advert.

So here is the question:
Does it mean,

1. Kiwis are easy?

2. Kiwis like to use and abuse?

3. If you know an ugly Ozzie bird, send her to NZ, she will definitely get it?

4. Kiwis are really into there recycling?

5. Kiwis are desperate?

6. Kiwis would like to get on better with the Ozzie's?

7. Kiwis like to be on top of others?

or simply

8. Just F**K IT!

Well I can't think of any other explanations but at least I will show you what it originally was used for to advertise:

Very bizarre, but maybe that is what happens if you live to far away from any other civilisation....

VISIT LOU IN CHRISTCHURCH

2008-06-30T10:25:00.007+12:00

Deciding to spend a weekend in the cold is already pretty brave but being punished with rain for the entire time is rather depressing. So, what is there to do in Christchurch for days like these. Eating and drinking sounds like a great idea at first
but surly there must be more to do than this.

There wasn't a great deal of indoor activities which interested us. We visited Christchurch's Museum, Art Gallery and Botanic Gardens with a wonderful display on insect eating plants and bonsai trees. We also gathered information about expeditions on the South Pole in the Antarctic Centre including being part of "Half Pints" release out of quarantine. He joint the "special group", blue penguins with disabilities.

On Sunday Lou drove us out of Christchurch while we experienced a dry patch. We visited Littleton's Timeball Station, walked along the beach at Sumner and ended up with a non starting vehicle. Phil crawled around and under the car for about 30 minutes and of course he fixed it as usual.

One last place I would like to mention. The Dyslexia Discovery outdoor exhibit. It displays various bronze sculptures for brilliant photo opportunities. I was not passioned enough to get soaked therefore here are two photos I found of Richard Tylers "Inner Struggle" which I think are amazing shots.

MOVING TO PARNELL

2008-06-22T13:46:00.043+12:00

TO STOP ANY FURTHER CONFUSIONS: THE PHOTOS AT THE TOP ARE TAKEN OF PROPERTIES WE LOOKED AT BUT WE DID NOT LIKE. PHOTOS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ENTRY ARE TAKEN OF OUR NEW HOME. SORRY, SOME PEOPLE DID NOT SEEM TO GET THAT...

Finding a new home was not as easy as we all thought. Were our expectations to high or the properties just not ideal for us, we struggled to find the perfect place.

Really, all we wanted was a place suitable for Leila and MacGyver, 2 fairly seized bedrooms, a little patch for our vegetables, a little place for storage, a deck or balcony for our BBQs in the summer, a secure place to store Phil's scooter, no hassle to park our cars and no dampness in the house. Oh well and affordable of course! Is that to much to ask for?

It seemed like it at first and we got tired and frustrated with looking at properties till one day Chris and Phil viewed a place in Parnell and loved it immediately.

Before moving in, we had to move out first. Our place was getting cleaner and cleaner but also more empty with every day. The cats were missing there familiar placed and so did we as we didn't even have chairs left on our last night at Seaview Road.

OUR NEW HOME IS EXACTLY WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR.

We were settled within 48 hours.

We transplanted our vegetables with 24 hours.

MacGyver was back to normal within 6 hours.

And Leila finally found a comfortable place right next to the beer fridge.

HAPPY DAYS IN PARNELL ROAD!

ALL BLACKS vs ENGLAND AT EDEN PARK

2008-06-15T10:50:00.003+12:00

We were looking forward seeing the rugby test match at Eden Park and especially seeing the Haka as a life performance by the All Blacks. The trains were packed getting to the stadium, reminding us on normal rush hour scenario on London's underground system. The only difference were the wheels on the track sounding quite scary, obviously not used to that weight.

We had great seats but the opening of the match with English knights fighting against knights from New Zealand was rather bizarre.

There were lots of English supporters in the stadium as well as a group of Germans behind us and All Blacks supporters in front of us. The atmosphere was fantastic especially the Mexican wave which went around the stadium 3 times with rubbish flying up in the air. Chris got injured by a bottle, luckily there were selling plastic ones only.

It was quite sad to see England loose against the All Blacks. The end result was 37-20 but what an amazing evening out.

BAYLYS BEACH

2008-06-01T18:02:00.010+12:00

Booking a budget accommodation over the Internet is always a little risky to what you end up with. To our surprise we arrived late night on Friday and entered a lovely specious bach which was in a much better state than any of our current rented properties.

On Saturday we drove up to the Waipoua Kauri Forrest and also had a look at Kaiiwi Lakes. Sunday was the highlight of our weekend. Over the phone we arranged a trip to Kaipara Lighthouse. We than drove all the way down to Pouto to meet our guide and have a look what we ended up with:

Kaipara Lighthouse was built in 1884 to guide ships crossing the bar at the mouth of the Kaipara Harbour. The lighthouse closed down in 1952, and the area is now a historic reserve managed by the Trust. The lighthouse is situated on the last outcrop of sandstone and is 278 feet above sea level.

Our guide was also the owner of the keys to the lighthouse. It took us about 30 minutes to open the door as previously people tried to break in and damaged the door quite badly. We had the pleasure of seeing the inside and enjoyed the amazing views from the top.

BILTONG

2008-05-25T11:41:00.007+12:00

Phil was talking about making Biltong for ages and one day he came home with all those instructions. He changed our boiler cupboard into an drying cupboard including Petra's reading lamp. He bought 3kg of good quality beef and all necessary ingredients including spices from the South African Shop. There was a certain smell in the house for a few days as you can imagine when all that meat is hanging up in the cupboard to dry. The end result was delicious and more than 3/4 has already been eaten.

Hopefully Phil will make more Biltong soon and as much as we laugh about his determination of making things, we do always enjoy the end result...

KAKAS IN THE WILD (OPOUTERE BEACH)

2008-05-18T13:36:00.001+12:00

We both had the weekend off and we were out of town again. We drove along Karangahake Gorge and visited two batteries which all closed down in the early 19th century. We stayed the night in Waihi and had an awesome night drinking in the local pub. As we entered, everyone was staring at the TV screen watching horse racing. The landlord was pretty stressed as we didn't choose a kind of beer within 2 seconds. There was even a TV screen turned towards the window so people standing outside smoking didn't miss any of those important races. Two drunken woman playing pool decided then to play the jukebox. Instead of turning one or the other off the volume of the horse race got turned up even louder. We didn't think the atmosphere was going to get any better in the next couple of hours and we decided to leave and get cosy in the van.

Next day we hiked up to Wentforth Falls and stopped at Opoutere Beach-Wharekawa Habour Wildlife Refugee afterwards. The pine forest was full of Fly Agarics and while Petra was trying to get some good close up shots of them Phil spotted a Kaka. First of all it just looked like a black bird but indeed it was a Kaka. He did not care about us at all, minding his own business of eating and dropping things. First of all we thought he may broke out somewhere as he seemed so calm, but 30 min later we actually saw 2 other Kakas flying over the pine forest. Wasn't that a beautiful ending of our little weekend trip?

WELLINGTON

2008-05-05T20:39:00.000+12:00

Phil's birthday present this year was an extended weekend trip to Wellington. We landed on a sunny morning, walked around town exploring the tattoo museum, Te Papa and various second hand shops. We went to bed early to be prepared for a good Saturday night out in town.

We already heard of a good rock club and we were also lucky to get tickets for a small comedy show which was already sold out. She was English and surprisingly Kiwis seemed to accept her swearing on stage. To safe money we went back to our hostel to enjoy our homemade whiskey before hitting the town. Unfortunately not being in training anymore, Petra passed out after about 2 glasses and even worse was not up for much the day after.

Even our $5 breakfast placed was closed on Sunday! At least we were lucky to see Kakas at Karori Wildlife Sanctuary instead of Tuataras which were all hiding on such cold cloudy day.

Our last day in the capital we walked up to Sinclair Head where there is a male NZ Fur Seal colony between the months of May to August. having a delicious branch on the way back we got told by the waitress there had been not long ago an Orca sighting just 5 metres of the beach. By then Phil decided that's where he wants to live.........

CAPE BRETT TRACK

2008-04-20T08:43:00.001+12:00

It seemed a mission driving all the way to the Bay of Islands Friday night to hike 40 km over the weekend and then drive home afterwards to happily go to work again on Monday? Crazy idea? Well, we did it.

It didn't start very well. Picking up Phil from his late shift after work our battery died. I always appreciate Phil's initiative in situations like that. He got the work van out of the garage to jump start our car. Sounds pretty simple but keep in mind the cars are GPS tracked which somehow needed an explanation as Phil isn't even suppose to drive them. Also, the alarm of the building was set to 10pm, not giving us an awful lot of time to finish the procedure successfully.

It took us over 4 hours to drive up to the start of the track in Rawhiti as we stopped hundreds of times on the last stretch looking at all the cute possums.

We slept in the car that night and started our track at 8am the next morning. The first 2 hours were pretty hard but we thought it can't go uphill forever. That proofed us wrong as the whole track is a constant up and down. We finally reached a sign pointing out the last 2 hours of the track. After already hiking 5 hours it seemed the end was close.

Unfortunately the end was also the hardest bit we found. Maybe because we were getting tired, maybe because it seems so much further away we struggled on the very last stretch.

When we suddenly saw the light house in front of us we felt absolutely overwhelmed. A steep downhill to the former light house keepers cottage and we were able to take those shoes of our burning feet.

We were spoil by a bottle of wine someone left untouched. We drank it sitting on the cliffs and it felt so far away from any civilisation.

BRICK BAY SCULPTURE TRAIL

2008-03-09T20:37:00.014+13:00

On the way from Warkworth to Leigh is a beautiful Vinyard surounded by contemporary art. The Brick Bay Sculpture Trail showcases sculptures by established and emerging artists.

Art is always a matter of taste as we all know and one of our favorite sculpture was Gregor Kregars "Brick Bay Polyhedron".

Petra also liked Virginia Kings "Silver" but would we really spend $79,000 to call that ours?

There were of course less expensive exhibits available like Robert Jahnkes "Rauwai" for $39,375.

What about Mary-Louise Brownes "Meteoral"?

A one letter evolving chain of words for only $35,000. If you are interested to find out more about all the sculptures and their artists than visit Brick Bay Sculpure Trail near Warkworth.

THE BIG DAY OUT IN AUCKLAND

2008-01-18T23:56:00.008+13:00

"You can bring into the show an unopened bottle of water"

There is a challenge for us. We nicely suringed our vodka in the bottom of a sealed water bottle and it worked perfectly fine.

We also exceeded the legal drinking age and could proudly show off with our wrist bands.

The headliner this year were Bjork and Rage Against the Machine. The sound in the big stadium was pretty aweful but the dance tent was great seeing Carl Cox and LCD Soundsystem.

We all had a jolly good day and as always far too much to drink.

KATZENKLO (dedicated to our cat Mac Gyver)

2008-01-10T23:20:00.013+13:00

Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die Katze froh.

Willst du eine saubere Katze haben, musst du im Geschäft nach Katzenklo fragen.

Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die Katze froh. Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die Katze froh.

Gehst du ins Geschäft hinein,
Kauf was Schönes für die Katze ein.

Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die richtige Katze froh. Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die Katze froh.

Eine Katze will immerzu fressen,
Eine Katze will immerzu fressen.
Ich gebe ihr was,
ich geb ihr was zu fressen und sie bezahlt nichts dafür.
Und das ist gut.
Die Katze frisst mir die Haare vom Kopf,
Eine Katze frisst den ganzen Tag.
Damit es ihr gut geht, will sie fressen-
Ich stelle ihr was hin.
Sie isst das auf.

Katzenklo,Katzenklo-ja das macht die Katze froh, Katzenklo,Katzenklo macht die richtige Katze froh.

I MET A GIRL FROM GERMANY...

2007-12-26T21:34:00.007+13:00

When three girls go on holiday

we enjoy ourselves in a different way

showing off our camel toe

being stupid wherever we go

the cigarette holder invention was major

we love to take our pants off in nature

but one thing we obviously missed a lot

something unfortunately we have not got

and even sucking on ice lollies like made

or pretending that one of us had

that magic thing we always desire

what lights in us an horrendous fire

and not to go completly crazy

we went to the beach and were'nt lazy

we used creativity, we used our hand

to design this amazing sculpture in sand...

POI BOY

2007-12-21T20:52:00.000+13:00

Phil loves his hobbies! Unfortunatly there where quite expensive in the past. Living on a budget, he had to rethink and got involved again with his previous love to the poi. He was trying hard to get back to his old performance and he would like to share his effort with you of practicing the "behind-the-back weave". Please notice the well performed greeting in his appropriate chosen oufit and the high quality of handeling the poi followed by an exellent finishing......enjoy;-)

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2007-12-20T13:46:00.000+13:00

We experienced a very different Christmas time this year with lots of rain and sun and blooming Pohutukawa trees.

Still, everyone is listening to Christmas Carols, buying Christmas trees and everything is decorated for the special occasion. Some people like to show how much they value the festive session like our neighbour next door.

Auckland even put on a big free Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park show to convince everyone that it really is Christmas. We stayed for 1/2 hour to get something to eat and walked back home. The show was rather dreadful.

My friend Jana is here over Christmas this year but that will be a new story soon.

GREY LYNN PARK FESTIVAL (NZ)

2007-11-17T12:51:00.000+13:00

This year we went to the Grey Lynn Park Festival.

Grey Lynn Park Festival is a community based, free event organised by the Grey Lynn Park Festival Trust Board. This was the twenty-third year that the festival has been held.

The main focus of the Grey Lynn Park Festival is family fun and community spirit. Entertainment throughout the day will include performances from diverse cultural groups, school groups and children.

ROUTE OF OUR TRAVEL WITH MY PARENTS IN NEW ZEALAND

2007-11-11T13:25:00.000+13:00

October/November 2007

HOLIDAY WITH THE OLD FOLKS (NZ)

2007-11-10T18:23:00.000+13:00

My parents decided to take the opportunity to come over here and be guided by us through the North Island of New Zealand. We started in Coromandel and went to places like Hot Water Beach, Cathedral Cove and Broken Hills.

We carried on to Rotarua where we visited Wai-o-Tapu, Rainbow Springs and the Redwood Forest.

Our next destination was Taupo. We saw the Aratiatia Rapids, Maori Rock Carvings and Phil did his sky dive from 12.000 ft. We also hiked along a wonderful river walk to the Huka Falls and we soaked our self in a hot stream on our way back.

The Tongariro Crossing in the Tongariro National Park is one of the best known day hikes on the North Island. We found the transport fees for drop off and pick up where quite costly therefore we decided to hike half of the crossing as a return trip. We stayed in Whakapapa for a couple of nights in a beautiful chalet with an amazing few of Mt Nguarahoe.

We discoved the area around Waitomo Caves which cost us a new pair of breaks and a break disk. No garage for miles and Philip decided to get parts only on the way to fix the car at home. After spending an unexpected night in Auckland we headed further north for the last part of our holiday.

We drove over Kawakawa with the famous Hundertwasser public toilet, made a stopover in Paihia and carried on all the way to Cape Reinga. We drove back on the west cost through the Kauri Forest and stayed for a night on Baylys beach before we headed back into Auckland.

POWDERFINGER AND SILVERCHAIR

2007-10-20T06:54:00.000+13:00

We saw two Australian bands live in the Vector Arena

Silverchair

and

Powderfinger.

Phil was that keen on the bands he went there a week earlier after changing shifts and getting someone to drop him off there after work. When standing in front of the gates in the rain and no one there he actually had a look at his ticket realising his mistake.

SALSA NIGHT

2007-10-10T21:03:00.001+13:00

We are back to our regular Salsa dancing. Every Wednesday we join an hour lesson and lots of practicing after at the The Kingslander . It is a lot of fun, very busy and the music is great. For about 4 hours a week it feels like being traveling again with all those macho South Americans showing off their moves.

PRIVATER KIPPENWEG?

2007-10-08T20:19:00.000+13:00

Wie jetzt! Ein Kippenweg um Kippen zu kaufen, zu rauchen, zu entsorgen...? Und dann auch noch privat? Da darf man schon in Pubs und Restaurants hier nicht mehr rauchen, jetzt muss man auch noch was besonderes sein sich in der Oeffentlichkeit eine anzuzuenden?

MT MAUNGANUI (NZ)

2007-10-07T22:12:00.000+13:00

The whole house finally managed to get away for a weekend. We chose Mt Maunganui situated in the sunny (at least more then Auckland) Bay of Plenty. We drove through Paeroa were New Zealand’s very own soft drink L&P was born early last century. They are pretty proud of it even that it is now manufactured by multi-national Coca-Cola. We still can't make our mind up which was more impressive

THE GIANT BOTTLE

OR THE TALKING TOILET?

Anna and Chris talked us into taking the ferry to Matakana, a little island in the bay. You never heard of it? Well, its probably because there is absolutely nothing there apart from private land. Luckily we spoke to a farmer when we came off the ferry. She offered us to spend some time at the beach of her property. We made the most of it practicing poi and Chris even made it into the water.
Back to Mt Mounganui we were really impressed with our little cabin in the "Cosy Corner" campsite and enjoyed the BBQ and beers.
Of cause if you get to Mt Mounganui you do have to go up the mountain. We did so the next morning after we finished watching the All Blacks being kicked out at the rugby world cup and the nation was in shock. Anna took it fairly well and got distracted quickly by the steep walk uphill. From there we saw the sandy beach of Matakana island which we never reached but at least it was nice to see what we missed. We finished our trip with fish and chips and can't wait to our next one.

SNELLS BEACH (NZ)

2007-09-16T00:50:00.000+12:00

This entry is just updating you on some photos we took last weekend. We finally got ourselves a big car which is eating petrol like mad but it doesn't matter, we are independent again. It broke down the second day we got it, luckily it was only a pipe broken and we thought the radiator needed repairing.
Only $20 needed on the repair, Petra smashed the laptop a few days after arguing it was left unattended laying on the floor while Phil blamed her drunkenness. Well, whoever is right, its broken anyway.
Luckily we found a way to connect to Chris's Computer, not the fasted but we cant really complain (snobby travellers!!).
We made a trip to Snells Beach last weekend, which was wicked meeting up with Marco and Denise again watching Sheep World and getting an idea of their life on a little farm. What would we give changing our lifestyle at the moment?
Unluckily we got a house party coming up this weekend, guess we have to attend for that!

Otherwise we are saving up our pennies (sorry cents, while the poms are getting beaten to shit) and we are the happy tickets holders of the Muse concert in November. Yeah, some band are actually making the effort to come over here!
This sheep is still alive, its just in a really relaxed position, apparently so.
That's Petra having her red colour back and nearly got into trouble at work. Well who knew that New Zealand is even more conservative then England?
And if yo think that this entry was really random then I wonder if you have anything more interesting to talk about!

EARTHQUAKE IN PERU

2007-09-10T19:08:00.000+12:00

Do you remember our entry about Pisco in Peru? You can imagine how shocked we were hearing about the disaster there just a few weeks ago.

A massive earthquake struck southern Peru about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of the capital, Lima, in the early evening on August 15, decimating several towns near the Pacific coast. The quake, which registered 8.0 on the Richter scale, killed 513 people, injured 1,100, and left as many as 100,000 homeless. Hardest hit were Pisco, Ica and Chincha, the largest towns immediately south of Lima.

Apparently not a safe place at all to visit at the moment. The civil defence are having to send armed guards with the supplies as trucks are being raided. It is becoming fairly hostile in the south now due to the level of desperation of local people, also hundreds of prisoners escaped from a prison nearby.

Well, we are glad we saw it in peaceful times and hope it will get back to it fairly soon.

GERMAN INVATION

2007-08-26T21:22:00.000+12:00

Ich habe mit meiner Mutti letzte Woche mal wieder telefoniert, da teilte sie mir aufgeregt mit sie gebe ein Geschenk an zwei Leute weiter die bald nach Neuseeland kommen. Eine Flasche Schlehenschnaps, das kann ich ja wirklich nicht ablehnen. E-Mail Adresse und Telefonnummer wurden weitergegeben, der Name dieser Personen war mir immer noch nicht bekannt und als ich dann einen Anruf bekam war ich echt verblüfft Denises Stimme zu hören. Seit bestimmt 8 Jahren nicht mehr gesehen, aber DIE Stimme erkennt man gleich.

Wir haben es wenigsten noch auf die Reihe bekommen uns auf einen Kaffee zu treffen, Geschenk zu übergeben und auch endlich erfahren das die zwei hier für die nächsten 10 Monate Rumreisen wollen.

Eigentlich hatten wir geplant mit der Fähre nach Waiheke zu fahren und den Sonntag mit einem Spaziergang auf der Insel geniessen. Kurzerhand wurde aber entschieden Denise und Marko zum Autohaus zu begleiten. Wir waren nun doch gespannt in was für einer alten Kiste die zwei die nächsten Monate verbringen. Einkaufen ging es dann auch noch, das war gleich bei uns um die Ecke. Da der Vorbesitzer des Busses ein Dreckschwein war haben sie bei uns schnell eine Grundreinigung gemacht und dann ging es endlich los.

Denise und Marko müssten unterdessen endlich in Coromandel angekommen sein, währenddessen wir nun bald ins Bett gehen, uns den Wecker auf um 6 stellen und morgen früh wieder fröhlich aus dem Bett hüpfen um auf Arbeit zu gehen.

Well, you can't have everything!!!!

IN A WHITE WOODEN HOUSE (NZ)

2007-08-25T14:47:00.000+12:00

2 months ago we moved in with the lovely couple

ANNA and
CHRIS

in one of the uniquest houses of the area.

Never judge a book by his cover...

its big, has a garden and two big balconies where we hopefully can put our hammock up soon.

We also have some awesome interior design. Its looking a bit sad with all the dust on his head but we reassured him spring clean is soon.

Andrea and Mike sponsored us 10 wooded beer crates which work wonderfully as a shelf and we are having back some order in our small room. Phil is already having a full box dedicated to his gadgets and we hope it wont get any more.

We also have two cats. The lady Leila and the farmers boy MacGyver. We adopted MacGyver not that long ago and Leila is still not happy sharing her big house with a fat, dumb creature. MacGyver doesn't really care. He loves Phil and it really looks so cute them two sharing a double bed together. Apparently he is even watching Phil in the morning having his shower, that must be love.

Leila instead developed quite a guarding role protecting Chris's beer whilst he is out. She is having such a HARD time at the moment.

We instead stick to our Speights and if you haven't tried it yet there are some crazy Kiwis on a boat at the moment taking a pub full of Speights to London http://www.greatbeerdelivery.co.nz/.

WAITOMO CAVE (NZ)

2007-07-29T11:28:00.000+12:00

Here we go again! Phil coming stumbling back from a work party at 4am in the morning. Unfortunately Petra wasn't much better of falling in bed unconscious after drinking with housemate Chris. Anyway, someone had to drive the hired car and we still can't believe they even gave us one the state we looked like.

On the way driving we took a German hitch hiker as we know how frustrating it can be waiting along the road for a ride. He was a carpenter and did the traditional 3 years travelling in his traditional work clothes and we had something in common to talk about.

We reached Waitomo Caves early afternoon and were quite disappointed by the bad explained tour of such an impressive cave. We booked into a cabin in a holiday park and it must have been that comfortable that Phil slept the whole rest of the afternoon. In the evening we went for a night walk along in the Ruakuri Scenic Reserve. We saw many glow-worms but no Possums as Phil may was hoping.

Next day we were woken up by rain and it didn't stop till the afternoon. We stopped at Marokopa and Bridal Veil Falls and the small communities of Raglan and Kawhia. Apparently its all really pretty and we may do it again if the weather is a bit more sunny.

ROTORUA (NZ)

2007-07-15T20:09:00.000+12:00

Our First weekend trip was going to be Rotorua. Phil was ill from the beer the night before so Petra kindly took over the driving. In Rotorua we wanted to ride downhill the Luge so we went and had a look. We asked for directions and got told we are not allowed up there by foot only by cable car. We made up our mind quickly and gave it a miss!

Instead we walked around the thermal areas in Rotorua and around the lake. We visited Tamatekapua Meeting House. Its a sacred meeting house for Arawa people and unfortunately not open to the public. In the evening we went to Rainbow Springs Nature Park and we saw 2 really active Kiwis looking for food. The good part was we were the only ones in there, the bad part was we were not able to take any photos of them in the dark.

We stayed in a hostel and the next morning they gave us back a key deposit we never paid. That seemed like a good start and we headed of to Wai-O-Tapu, a large thermal complex including boiling pools,volcanic craters, bubbling mud, mineral terraces and the Lady Knox Geyser. We also went to the buried village of Te Wairoa. The story of the eruption of the volcano Mt Trawera was very interesting but outside there was not much left to see. As the name already sad, a "buried village".

We had a wonderful weekend and we are hoping to do something similar again soon.

AUCKLAND (NZ)

2007-05-30T20:00:00.000+12:00

We arrived in Auckland at the end of May and we were really lucky being able to stay at Mike and Andrea's little apartment. We don't think we would have survived without them having hardly no money left and finding it difficult to find work straight away.

Petra finally found a job as a Dental Assistant in a really nice surgery in St Heliers Bay and Phil took on the challenge as a animal control officer (who is controlling who??).

After 4 weeks living with Andrea and Mike we had money again and could afford to share a little wooden house with another couple, Chris and Anna. Now we are saving up for a second hand car but that means working for a few more weeks.

We are planning to do little weekend trips on the North Island so you will hear from as soon.

MOOREA (TAHITI)

2007-05-29T19:10:00.000+12:00

On Tahiti we walked all the way to the port in the boiling hot only to find out that all ferries to Huahine are fully booked a week in advance. A little bit disappointed we changed plans and took the ferry to the closer island of Moorea instead. The weather seemed nice and as we didn't camp for a few months we decided to give our tent another chance. We got flooded 2 nights in a row, one of the pols snapped and unfortunately it had to go in the bin after all.

We cycled 60km all around the island. The bikes were old and our bums did hurt badly after that day. We also snorkeled with white tipped sharks, sting rays and lots of other sea creatures. Hitch hiking is the best way to get around the island but it can be quite frustrating too seeing pick ups after pick ups and no one wants to pick US up.

After a week in the rain and the sun we headed to our final destination New Zealand and we were looking forward to meet up with Mike and Andrea.

LOS ANGELES

2007-05-21T20:46:00.000+12:00

Our airport arrival was very humiliating being sent back three time before we finally filled in all the boxes correctly for American standards. We had no idea were to go, the information was already closed and we started to miss South America already. Luckily someone offered us a lift to a hostel in Santa Monica. We moved to Hollywood the next day, a more exciting area but also the start of Petra being ill. Phil enjoyed his freedom joining a 65 year old lady showing him around and buying him lunch. She even took him into a beauty saloon but unfortunately he refused any treatment. At night he met Marcus who bought him Jack Daniels until he could not remember anymore but he was very pleased with his achievements for the day.

Next day Petra was feeling better and we enjoyed a day at Universal studios with awesome rides and brilliant shows. Los Angeles is the place for the rich and famous and the strange and wired ones too. What we thoroughly enjoyed was suddenly getting hot water again for 24 hours and being able to throw toilet paper into the loo again even that we were still looking for the bin in every toilet. We left Los Angeles after a week staying at the airport 24hours before catching our next flight because Petra mixed up the times on the ticket.

OUR TRAVEL MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA

2007-05-12T09:37:00.000+12:00

09/06 - 05/07

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS (EQUADOR)

2007-05-11T18:37:00.000+12:00

We booked a 8 day boat tour to visit the Galapagos Islands. We saw many birds, lizards and mammals we would not get as close to anywhere else. We also did not have to share the first class boat with the older generation as we first thought. Instead it was a bunch of young people from various places in the world. Phil enjoyed his first lunch break jumping of the boat with Tanja and ended up with major headaches and a sinus infection. On his birthday he got two nice shots in his bottom from the island doctor and he finally started feeling better. He was not the only one staying in the cabin a lot. Alon, an Israeli guy got himself overdosed on seasickness tablets and we did not see and hear much of him until he realized his mistake. The tipping was apparently a sensible matter for the crew and so it was for our wallet too.

We decided very spontaneously to stay on the island for another week to do our PADI open water course but at first we spent a few days on Isabella to totally cure Phil's infection. We went to swim with turtles and rays, we were holding little shitting turtles and we saw two flamingos very close too. After 3 days we took the 2 hours speed boat back to Santa Cruz to start our diving course. Petra was absolutely useless to blow out the water from her goggles and Phil had a few problems with equalizing and we even lost him once (or he us). After 4 dives and a written test we are the proud owners of a diving certificate and we hope we will use it again soon.

QUITO (EQUADOR)

2007-04-26T17:38:00.000+12:00

In Quito we were getting up every morning at 7am (preparation for being back at work soon), cooking our own food and not touching a drop of alcohol.

We went to stand on the equatorial line where you can prove your patients to balance an egg on a nail. We also saw the water going clockwise and anticlockwise down a sink on either side. On our day trip to Otavalo we spent all our time and money in the market and after 5 hours we had two huge bags full of clothes, another parcel back to England.

On our last day in Quito we visited Basilica del Voto National, one of the only churches we heard of where you can go all the way up in the bell tower. First we had to go over rickety wooden planks inside the roof then climb up steep steps and ladders to finally reach the top at 78 meters. Phil even stepped outside on a tiny little platform with no fences while Petra preferred to stay inside taking pictures. Guys, if you ever get to Quito, get up there we highly recommend it.

TENA (ECUADOR)

2007-04-22T13:05:00.000+12:00

We decided to go to Tena to book a longer trip into the jungle again but under the rainy circumstances we arrived we didn't take the risk of paying and maybe get rained of. Instead we were hanging around for a few days sleeping long, eating lots, playing pool and drinking beer. Isn't that the way how traveling is suppose to be sometimes too?

At least be booked a wild water rafting trip (class 3) to have something to talk about. Going through all the procedures of how, when and where to raft and sit, what to do if the boat flips over and how to swim in the strong current we started to get a bit nervous. After a few meters in the water there was no way back and it turned out to be an amazing trip with lots of laughter. The current was very strong at times, we got thrown over board so many times by our guide and our boat flipped over once but we all managed well. We really didn't think it would be so much fun, it was worth the money and we would do it again any time but the next time with suncream, we got badly burned in our faces.

Petra SANDBOARDING?

2007-04-20T11:06:00.001+12:00

CANT BELIVE THAT SHE WAS BETTER THAN ME

Worlds Most Dangerous Road - Bolivia

2007-04-20T09:02:00.001+12:00

We loved it!

WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS ROAD (BOLIVIA)

2007-04-20T09:01:00.000+12:00

We did it, oh yeah baby!

ocelot

2007-04-20T07:53:00.001+12:00

Hes so Cute!

OCOLOT

2007-04-20T07:52:00.000+12:00

Hes so cute

BANOS (ECUADOR)

2007-04-18T12:26:00.000+12:00

Most inhabitants of Banos were evacuated in 2000 for several months because of the erupting volcano Tungurahua but apart from a few insignificant steaming fumaroles its not worth the night tour every agency offers. Instead we went to a nearby lookout but the volcano was surrounded by clouds and that was all we saw that day.

More impressive was our 61km bike ride to Puyo along Rio Pastaza dropping nearly 1000m into the Amazon Basin. Phil did his first swing jumping from a bridge on the way, we took a cable car 100m above the river to reach the other side of the valley, we saw beautiful waterfalls and got scared like hell by German Shepperd's. Following a path we accidentally entered a private property and got attacked by 3 vicious dogs. Phil was more switched on and kicked them in his defence. Petra tried to run away screaming, fell and got bitten a few times in her legs. After a few tears and Phil's caring attention she got over it and carried on walking back to the bicycles. We reached Puyo near before darkness, threw our bikes on top of a local bus and got driven back to Banos.

Staying in Banos you cant miss the thermal spas. Running around in your bathers from hot to warm to freezing cold pools at night is fun and the pub night after was even better,

GUAYQUIL (ECUADOR)

2007-04-14T12:11:00.000+12:00

From Guayquil you get the cheapest flights to the Galapagos Islands so we headed there to book our tour. We didn't expect that tours are fully booked for at least a week so we changed planes and decided to book it but we will be flying out from Quito. We also got a stunning deal of a first class boat for $50 more compared to tourist class. It's an upgrade of two classes with a class 3 guide (bilingual biologist) who only works on top class boats.

After seeing all the iguanas in the central Parque Bolivar, whispering into the walls of monument La Rotonda and dancing to a few salsa tunes with tiny Ecuadorians we left that city to hit our next destination.

CUENCA (ECUADOR)

2007-04-12T11:52:00.000+12:00

Cuenca is the third largest and supposedly the most prettiest city of Ecuador. We visited museum Pumpapunbo with its archaeological site of Tomebamba and the highlight of 5 displayed shrunken heads from the Shuar culture of the South Oriente.

Another day we got up at 6am to visit Parque National Cajas. Its a moor-like countryside at 4000m altitude with more than 200 chilly lakes. The $10 entrance fee includes a map but unless you have a compass it's nearly impossible to find any of the longer trails. We hitch hiked to the bottom of the park which was better accessible without any equipment. Phil sat on the deck of a pickup with 3 kids and a woman and got asked exactly the same questions as Petra sitting in the front with the driver and his wife:

Where are you from?
Are you married?
Do you two have children?

Those questions seem to interest the majority of Ecuadorians. We went for an easy walk to and around a lagoon and spotted Andean Toucans. Back on the road we hailed down a bus back to Cuenca and while we were waiting we even got offered a free ice cream.

VILCABAMBA (ECUADOR)

2007-04-10T11:36:00.000+12:00

After being stuck in the sleepy boarder town of Maraca on Easter Friday where everything was shut it took us nearly the whole next day to reach Vilcabamba. We arrived there in the dark and the place looked tiny, run down and dead. There seemed to be a crazy party train driving around town full of drunken locals who seemed to have a pretty amazing time. During the night we got woken up by strange noises and we realised are hostel was situated next to a slaughterhouse where pigs were killed by cutting their throats all through the night.

When we woke up the next morning we were stunned by the views outside our window. We were surrounded by hills and we used the good weather to hike to a nearby lookout. After reaching the top we decided to carry on walking on top of the ridge to use a different way for the decent. Unfortunately it wasn't signposted at all (as nothing ever is in South America) but apart from a few scratches from all the spiky plant and trees Phil navigated us well down hill and we treated ourselves to a nice German meal on Easter Sunday.

LIMA (PERU)

2007-04-07T10:08:00.000+12:00

We lost our bible for travellers, our lonely planet and we were hoping to be harassed by hostel owners on our arrival as usual but that wasn't the case. We got dumped in the middle of the road with rubbish lying around everywhere and the area looked rather dodgy. After walking for a few minutes towards the city centre a car hit a person who came flying over the road. By then Petra had enough and was quite happy to spend a few soles on a taxi. He found us a cheap hotel and we were very grateful for that.

Lima has not much to offer and coming towards Easter the city was building up with people and so were the queues to get into church. We decided to leave this place and the country as soon as possible but being Easter all long distance buses were fully booked. We had to hop along in buses for over a day to finally reach the boarder.Bye, bye Peru and we don't think we will visit you again.