Australia Melbourne

Neighbours - Ramsey Street
I went on the ramsey street tour and it was really surreal, i haven't watched neighbours in years, but during school i watched it religously. It kinda felt like coming home, very cool we took a tour of the street and the school and other scenes.

for most foreign scenes like the airport, train station, hospital they just use the staff cantine and turn it into what they want :-o oh and dee the one who went over the cliff will not be coming back :-(

finally i met max and we laughed about something funny.



Australian Open Tennis
Today i went on the Australian Tennis Tour and got to see all the behind the scenes, the locker rooms, hall of fame and walked out onto all the big major courts.

Finally I got to play on one of the show courts for 1 hour and got my ass kick by the tour guide, he was supprisingly good :-0

Tommorrow I fly to Sydney :-)


love

Rob

Australia - Brisbane

Brisbane Town Centre
Walked around the town centre which was nice, lots of big buildings and a nice river :-) hungout at the youth hostel bar for a bit and met a few cool people and lots of chodes :-p Also went to see a pop opera with all the oldies because it was free in the center of town.

Steve Irwins - National Zoo
A great day out at the zoo was had, I hugged a kohala bear or something spelt similarly. I fed and slept with the kangaroos, saw a croc demonstration, and had a picnic with the wombats.

Signing out

Rob

Australia - Cairns

Scuba Diving - The Great Barrier Reef
I did two dives on the great barrier reef - for a total of just over 1 hour underwater. Couldnt take any photos but it was awesome, i saw the whole cast of finding nemo :-) its like a huge underwater city with everywhere you look there is something cool going on. Gonna try and dive with sharks, whales and turtles next!

White Water Rafting
Did a day trip to Tully river of which its about level 3 - 4 rapids, however they have been having a lot of rain and floods recently and the river turned into a straight level 5 which is as high as they go.

We did about 2.5 hours then lunch then another 2.5 hours going through the rapids trying to stay in the boat. The boat got flipped once and we all came out, i almost drowned as got stuck under the boat and the rapids wouldnt let me come to the surface. Very Very Scary but i did come up and continued on with the journey no problem. Apparently a lot of asians are drowned on the river each year cos they cant swim well and with the rapids being strong there is no real way they can be rescued.


The Crocadile Farm
Went to a crocadile farm for the day and saw a croc demonstration where it was fed and teased e.t.c. also got to see lots of crocs in their natural environment and then a boat cruise up part of the rain forrest where the guide fed some of the crocs of the side of the boat.

love and peace

rob

Bay of Islands: Dolphins, Wellington, Marlborough Sounds: Walk, Marlborough Sounds: Scuba Dive

Hey all,

Appologies for the slow update but ive been super busy in New Zealand and havent had a minute to stop and reflect.

Bay of Islands: Dolphins
I went on a Dolphin experience trip and was cool we got to see a lot of dolphins however they had babies with them so we werent allowed to go into the water to swim with them :-( I was very bummed about this and will definitly make sure I get to swim with them before i return to the UK where they are in captivity or not.

Wellington
A cool city and i went to the Botanic Gardens and walked around the harbour e.t.c. The ferry from wellington to Picton broke down though and got cancelled until another turned up 4 hours later.

Marlborough Sounds: Walk
I woke up and hadn't booked anything after arriving at Picton Lodge youth hostel late last night so I asked the dude at the reception what i could do. He suggested "A ferry to Marlborough Sounds and then a short walk and hang out by the beach". Well once i got there i soon realised that I had signed up to a 10.5 km hike up and down the mountain terrain. It was cool though :-) with amazing scenery and I have a feeling my mum would love it: here are some pics.

Marlborough Sounds: Scuba Dive
Today!!! i went scuba diving damm it! it was awesome, really looking forward to it and it didnt dissapoint. I got taken out with one other dude and the instructor, the other guy is an ex-heroin addict and jail bird, stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean........


No problems though and I did two dives first one was a highly populated fish area of which we fed them and a big blue cod munched on my finger ouch!! no blood though.


The second dive was an old ferry reck of which we went all around it and inside its hull, was pretty eery but very cool. I went to a total depth of around 12 meters.

Tommorrow I'm off to Christchurch my final stop in New Zealand before I go onto Australia, Im gonna try and check out another national park before I go.

Over and Out,

Robbie

Welcome to New Zealand - Auckland, Waitomo Caves, Rotorua, Sky Tower

Hey all,

I've finally landed in New Zealand one of the places i was most looking forward to. Lots of nature stuff to do and explore and also getting to experience a quailty of life that compares to london must be supperior. I think the coolest thing about this is just being back to nature and having none of the superficial advertising and culture that we are expected to buy into.

Anyways I've been staying at sky city hotel which is at the heart of Auckland.
Great accomadation and really close to all the shops and waterfront bars, also inside the complex is its own casino, several bars and a choice of many restuarants and food. I landed at 5:00 am newzealand time and had been in the air for about 13 hours solid without getting any sleep so i was totally drained. Managed to check in early which was cool and went straight to bed - set my alarm tho so i could wake up and get used to New Zealand time zone soon as possible.

I then signed up to 2 day tours

Day Tour One - Waitomo Caves & Rotorua

This was a whole day and the first stop were the Waitomo Caves which is a complex underground set of caves complete with staligtites and staligmites. Also further down deep into the darkest of the caves were Glow Worms - They live on the roof of the caves in the dark and spin down a string which catches their food much like spiders. We werent allowed photos in the cave but here are a couple stolen.

Once we made our way through the cave on foot we then reached a river of which we got on board this make shift dingy and in the pitch black we cruised up the river with a millions of glow worms above us living their life.

Once the sun light pierced our eyes we then got back on board the bus and went to a local New Zealand farm of which they let us feed all the animals which is always great fun :-) the simple things in life.

Then we got to see a sheep dogging demonstration which has nothing to do with watching sheep in a car late at night btw just the traditional hurding up the sheep into the pen, and then we got to see how to sheer the sheep and then take the wool and process it into a useable format.

Then we went on to Rotorua which contains one of the largest steam vents along with steam pools and lava pits e.t.c. all cool stuff but i'd seen it before in St. Lucia. Fun none the less.

Then finally we got to see and experience a Maori Hangi and Concert. Of which they presented arms and then greated us and danced about for a bit ;-) They then showed us around a typical camp and gave us the guided tour of how the Maori live. Its a very simple life and something very good about knowing exactly your role, i think that is missing a lot in society and is why a lot of teenagers dont grow up cos they havent had a life changing experience or something to say you have now become a man. In this culture you have all these type of ceremonies and it forces you to take control of your life.

Last night I went out in Auckland to check out the scene, there was a cool irish bar with exactly my type of music so I partied in there for a bit and had a quick look around my hotel as well to see what was happening. Today was my day off so i been in the gym and updating my blog and planning my next journey which is Auckland to Wellington.

Then after all that i decided to go up the Sky Tower which is i believe 1,000 feet tall :-o :-) The tallest building in the southern hemisphere. I actually have a bit of an issue with heights and for me to face this and goto the top was awesome :-) and im very happy for that. Very scary cos they had glass panels which you walk across and you can see 1,000 feet below but i did it all and am happy i did.

Tomorrow im off to the North - Bay of Islands to swim with dolphins! Rock On!!

Peace and Love,

Rob