Fiji fun

We landed in Fiji with a jolt.  Literally.  Lord knows what the Fiji Air's pilot was doing, it felt like the plane dropped the last few meters.  Each and every passenger and steward shat their pants (not literally...).

Our woes actually started before we left Australia but I'll omit the details here; suffice to say our accommodation plans had changed, and would continue to remain in a state of flux for the first week.  Just pretend all you read here was as planned... "problems" experienced whilst spending Christmas and New Year in Fiji would, understandably, hardly illicit any sympathy anyway (and nor should they!!).

For the first few nights, we crashed in a backpackers hostel on the beach in Nadi, with the idea of picking up Christmas supplies in town (just a few festive snacks, decorations and such like).  It turns out, however, that although the Fijians do very much celebrate Christmas, its very different to back home.

Spend time with loved ones, enjoy a meal together and have a bit of a party.  That's it.  It puts things into perspective when you realise that even gift giving or special foods appear to be constructed traditions.

I stalwartly decided to embrace this minimalist approach; Bex, however, would take a little more convincing... she had her heart set on mince pies.

We distracted ourselves by way of a boozy desert island visit; we ate and drank too much with a load of Fijians just returned for the holidays, then it was straight on to our main stopover.

This was located in a remote region to the south of the main island, just a small main restaurant/kitchen/staff house and a series of bungalows on a verge above the sea.  This was the real Fiji we were looking for and we'd be here till after boxing day.

It was basic but brilliant.  The local staff involved us in everything and they were more like friends from the off. Aside from relaxing, eating and drinking, we also tried our luck at hand line fishing and went for a fair few walks with the resident dog, Ranger.

Ranger.  Best holiday dog ever?  Could be.

Christmas day was a great big social event between the guests and staff.  Bex and I brought along a tiny bit of home festivities (we'd managed to find a Santa hat, Rudolf ears, crackers and a ton of fizz) other than that it was all Fijian; lovo (traditional earth cooked meal) for lunch, dancing, drinking and then a bonfire and BBQ on the beach in the evening.  It was certainly different, but also definitely pretty awesome!!

Top crew.

Days later, we moved onward to a smaller island where we explored, relaxed and spent a low key new year, a couple more days after that our holiday within a holiday had come to an end.  We'd had a fantastic break and meet some great people, locals and tourists alike.  We were, however, now both eager for the next big leg of our adventure, an entire 3 months in New Zealand...

Sunset on Mana Island... It was alright I suppose

[More photos when I get home, I trashed my tablet halfway through the trip!]

Whirlwind through OZ

Our schedule for the remainder of our stay in Australia was a little mental; 11 more nights to squeeze in Alice Springs and a decent stab at the northeast coast before flying out to Fiji for Christmas.

Don't get me wrong, we would love to have hung around longer, but the cost for backpackers has skyrocketed in the last few years (east coast especially, $50+ for a dorm bed anyone?).  Cost of living is comparable to the UK and exchange rates are currently unfavourable; if you are not staying with friends and/or working then you are not staying in Australia long.

First up was a single full day and night back in Melbourne.  Bex's foot was nearly healed, but Melbourne's near British climate meant that the chance to see and enjoy the city would elude us yet again.

Back to the airport (no Monday morning craziness this time) and in short order we were in Alice Springs in somewhat warmer and drier weather; clear skies and temperatures in the mid forties.  Toasty.

We spent three nights watching old VHS through a 50" plasma, in between times visiting some really big famous rocks.  It wasn't even a tenth as busy as you might expect and was totally worth the flight to the red centre, absolutely ace.

 Barely adequate aircon and "effective" kangaroo bars...

 First bunch of big rocks

 Hidden delights at Uluru

Uluru by sunset... With booze and BBQ!

Job done, we flew northwest to crack out another big tourist attraction; the Great Barrier Reef via Cairns.

Cairns turned out to be awesome; maybe we just picked a great time to visit, but it was quiet, yet lively, welcoming and neither too touristy nor 'gap yeary'.

We crashed at a really chilled hostel which had loads of communal room and even a pool, then we headed out and about.  We did a day trip round the tablelands hitting all the compulsory waterfalls and swimming spots, not only that but we saw musky rat kangaroos and platypus in the wild!!!  Not bad for 40 bucks!!!

 Pelicans at Cairns quay

 Larking about in the tablelands

The next two days topped that, not only in experience but cost too...oops.  Bring on the reefs.

The reefs will only continue to deteriorate as time passes and I suspect I'll not return any time soon, so we weren't afraid to splash the cash a little.

First up, a 45min flight in a tiny 6 seater Cessna C206, I rode shotgun and it was utterly epic.  We did a classic boat trip out on the reefs the following day (snorkeling etc, even swimming with a couple of turtles), that was incredible too, but for me, seeing the vast expanses on the reef from the air was the stuff of dreams.

 I've got this...

 Reef by air... Unreal.

And below, not bad either!

We spent a final evening watching spectacled flying foxes filling the city's skies (Batman-esque and enthralling) and then it was time to move inexplicitly onwards to...

Brisbane.  A comedian we'd met in Borneo was showing in town; we grabbed a hire car, "settled" into the most shoddy hostel thus far and trotted off to grab our guest passes and then pre-gig beers with the man himself.

 Spectacled Flying foxes

Freebies.

Post gig beers resulted in a two day road trip down to Byron Bay and back again via every beach along the way.  Bar bills across the eventual 3 nights (final night just outside Brisbane) were budget shattering, but we all had a cracking time!!

All that was left was to wake early and head back to the airport; our short (in the scheme of things) visit to Australia was at and end.  Tasmania was the stand out highlight (and thankfully so, seeing as we spent half our time there!), but overall we'd had a really great time in Australia AND somehow kept to budget.  If I can find a way to fund it, then I'll surely return to see the rest and revisit parts we hadn't fully experienced.


Check out the genius of Jon Bennett here:

http://www.jonbennettcomedy.com/

https://www.facebook.com/jonbennettCOMEDY

Tasmania - quite simply two of the best weeks of my life.

[December 2014]

Cycle touring is out of the window, so here's the new plan.  Instead of heading round and down the east coast to Hobart by bicycle, we hire a car and follow the same route in a week or less. We then keep on cruising around and then up through the centre/west; all the while praying for Bex's foot to heal in time to do some trekking and/or summits in the second week.

All the preparations worked a dream!  We picked up a brand new (2000km on the clock!) Hyundai i20 for less than £15 a day, tent for £10, sleeping bags for £6.50... The list goes on and on,equally cheaply for all we needed, even managing to grab loads of the cooking/eating paraphernalia for about £1 (total!) In the local charity shop.  Result.

All set, the adventure began in earnest! - just over two weeks was spent living solely out of car and tent, it rained a little and was oft times cold, but for the most part we had the very best weather Tasmania had on offer.

To say Tasmanians are humble, kind and welcoming would be an understatement; describing the mountains, coasts and all the wilderness is equally difficult to do justice.  Its a staggering and immensely varied land, the coastal east and mountainous north west (in my opinion) the most beautiful.

We drove the most spectacular mountain and coastal roads, visited incredible beaches, coves, bays and high coastal walkways.  Wildlife of both land and sea were regularly encountered, often in our campsites in the case of wallabies and pademelons!!

The foot did (finally) heal sufficiently to allow us to get hiking in the wilds and, quite frankly, all this more than made up for missing out on the cycling.  Encountering touring cyclists on the roads and hills made us quite thankful to be traveling by car, it looked torturous!  We'll save that adventure for another day/country, maybe somewhere flatter...

Our most epic adventures can be found (soon!!!!) as the first published entries on my (slightly more informative) trekking and summit blog, 'summityoulike.blogspot.com':

Aside from these tales, I'll let these photos attempt to paint a picture of our time in Tasmania.  Suffice to say those two weeks were two of the very finest on our travels, the besting of which will take some doing... It was heart achingly painful to return the car and step on the plane back to Melbourne.

East coast beaches

 Friendly Beach

 The Hazards, Freycinet

 Wineglass Bay, Freycinet

 Unfriendly skies at Friendly Beach

East coast

 Wineglass bay

 Mt. Field national park

 The Neck, Bruny Island

Tarn Shelf, Mt. Field np

Foraging echidna, Mt. Field

 Cradle Mountain ascent (mental!)

Only driven on capped roads, honest gov!

NEWSFLASH - "Snakes in a drain"

Bach Ma mountain, Vietnam 09/05/2015

Backpackers unwittingly risked their lives to rescue two rare snakes in Bach Ma national park last Sunday.

The snakes were first spotted trapped within an open sewerage tank by New Zealander Andrew "roll the dice" Hutchinson; he quickly alerted fellow travellers with cries of "Holy shit! Holy shit! Guys, check this out!!"

Others were slow to respond due to Hutchinson's similar outbursts involving odd insects or merely "interesting" plantlife.

Upon inspection, however, the three other travelers were genuinely surprised with the find.

Alongside the bloated and rotting corpses of toads and frogs, two bright green, very much living, snakes could be observed.

With no thought of self-preservation it was decided that the stranded creatures must be rescued.

A man of the NZ bush, Hutchinson immediately took it upon himself to acquire a "good stick" and prepare himself for the main rescue task.

Realising the to need to document proceedings, Stuart "steadicam" Torrie, climbed some rather dodgy looking war era ruins, readied his camera and called for hush.

Skinny Essex boy climbs tower

Upon inital attempt, Hutchinson's random jabbing with the chosen stick did little other than, seemingly, annoy the first snake.

The second attempt was far more effective, the snake coiling on to the offered branch and lifted free of its concrete prison.

Hutchinson was ecstatic and deemed a pause in proceedings for photos as totally viable [with hindsight he may well have reconsidered this action]

Snake selfie - eat your heart out Steve Irwin

In short order the first snake was deposited safely in the overhanging trees, Hutchinson and team immediately set about the rescue of the second reptile.

It was at this point Hutchinson became less sure of his actions. Were these snakes dangerous? Was he, in fact, putting himself and his team in jeopardy?  There was no time for snake selfies this attempt, Hutchinson exclaiming "I dunno, I don't like this guy, his attitude's different..."

Whatever the snakes intentions, it too, took to the tree without incident.

Hutchinson initiated an immediate evacuation of the area, the two female travellers (Rebecca Thomas and Emma Sixsmith) close on his tail, Torrie was ignored completely and left to descend the tower via a rusted 40 year old "ladder" by himself.

Back on safe ground, and with adrenaline levels quickly plummeting, Hutchinson continued to deliberate the previously unconsidered risk.  "Holy shit" was to be heard by the team a fair number of times on the descent from the mountain peak.

Back at home base (Fours Seasons, Hue #fakevietnam #fakehotelsrock) the band of eco heroes went about identifying the survivors.  Hutchinson struck first.

"Holy shit!"

We all verified the find as Cryptelytrops rubeus, commonly known as the Ruby-eyed Green Pitviper, and nicknamed by locals as the "100 pace snake"... in reference to the legend that, once bitten a person can walk only 100 more steps before dropping dead.

A lucky escape not only for the snakes, but also the intrepid explorers, the quartet continue their travels across Asia with scant more regard for danger than before.

Update 13/05/2015 - the Anglo/NZ troop have yet to report their findings (Cryptelytrops rubeus found 1000m higher than reported habitats) to appropriate wildlife authorities and were last seen optimistically crossing the Hoi Van pass on automatic scooters...

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/194065/0

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110328-new-ruby-eyed-pit-viper-species-found/

Launceston - milking a broken foot for all its worth

We strolled (hobbled) out of our Melbourne hostel bleary eyed at around 6am on, what we quickly realised was, a Monday morning.  Backpacking leaves you oblivious to days and dates, but if the tube and bus journey didn't jog that realisation, then the airport certainly did.

7am at Melbourne airport on a Monday was total carnage.  Checking queues were basically out of the door; the broken foot had to be called into action.

The help desk was the first conquered.  Full hobble and matching grimace from Bex got us directly to the front of a priority queue, we checked in baggage, traded foot injury stories with the friendly clerk (she even showed us her scars) and awaited delivery of our attractive orange Jetstar wheel chair.

Yeah, we were taking it to that level.

We strapped Bex into the wheelchair, and pushed our way through to security and directly through, no explanation needed!

Result.  We'd smashed ourselves through (what we later learned to be) well over an hour of queuing.  We just chilled in the departure lounge and treated ourselves to a Hungry Jacks (Burger King) breakfast while the rest of Melbourne airport had a thoroughly terrible time.

The flight was (unsurprisingly) delayed, with little bother to us, and in no time at all we were in Tasmania.  We declined the offer of another wheelchair in Launceston airport and shuttle bused straight to the delightful Arthouse Hostel in town.

 The Arthouse hostel, great for putting your feet up!

Everyone at the airport was super friendly and the old man running the shuttle bus was excited to show us his town and island, chatting to us all the way.  The girl in the hostel greeted Bex like a long lost sister and was thoroughly moved by the tale of broken foot woe, which had shattered the Tasmania east coast cycling dream.  It was far too early for our dorm beds to be ready so we headed off to see the town and to try to work out if the new plan for Tasmania (2.0) was going to work out for us.

We returned after lunch reasonably happy that our new plans would be cost effective and (hopefully) as awesome as the cycling would have been, things were looking up.  Things continued to work out more than well in fact; in light of Bex's injury the hostel upgraded us to a private double room for the next three nights for free!  We chatted with the lovely staff who helped us plot out a few things to do in town and ink in Tasmania 2.0

We loved Tasmania after a single day, the broken foot would not hold us back!

 Gotta keep the place clean...

A sign of things to come...

Melbourne - woes of the old and infirm

We strolled (Bex hobbled) in to United Backpackers in Melbourne city centre around mid-afternoon with high hopes for the hostel, the online reviews raving about the place; I was somewhat perplexed from the off...

We'd stayed in all sorts of dives around Malaysia and Indonesia and I suppose the place was clean, but aside from that I couldn't work out what had got the gap year travelers so excited.  My online review reads a little some thing like this:

Pros:
Large clean bathrooms with great showers.
Great city centre location.
Helpful friendly staff.

Cons:
No one has ever used the showers; every dorm smells worse than any I've ever experienced before, horrifically so.
Ample kitchen area, food storage, dining and social area for about 15 people... In a hostel than houses ~400.
Zero privacy or quiet areas.

It wasn't even cheap!!

I must be getting old, like I said, the gap year kids seemed to be loving it - we had dinner (which involved washing up everything you needed before and after), drank a load of wine and crashed early; we wanted to get Bex to A&E before the Sunday morning rush....

We made a complete arse of the journey to the hospital.  The trams didn't really work out too well and Bex ended up walking a good 30mins more on her injured feet.  When we did arrive I'd expected the same as Broomfield A&E on a Sunday; a waiting room littered with Saturday night woes and early morning sports mishaps.  The place was basically empty.  Bex filled in some paperwork and was whizzed off straight away.

I watched the news, read my book and 45mins later Bex strolled back in, fitted out with a fetching new moon booty whilst clutching armfuls of pills and iodine bottles.

Our self diagnosis / fears had been spot on; hairline fracture of the fifth metatarsal and infection in the wounds on the other foot (from kicking the Manly ferry).  At least we now knew for certain the full extent of the injuries and that further treatment not required, "Just" 6-8 weeks rest.  This would be tricky.

We did some essential shopping and then spent the rest of this brief visit to Melbourne rehashing our plans; we were due to fly to Tasmania for two and a half weeks cycling the next morning...

 Retail therapy will cure all...

...as does $1 frozen Coke

Budget camper van capers!!

Across larger countries such as North America, Canada, NZ and (helpfully) Australia, vehicle rental companies utilise relocation agents to redistribute their fleets.  It was via this budget method that we would be able to travel, in a fully outfitted camper, for 3 days and 2 nights all the way to Melbourne via Kosciuszko national park [or any route you might fancy].  Not only that but, via a very odd set of fees and calculations, they would actually pay us the princely sum of $10! (Though, we would, of course, have to pay for fuel).

We signed huge swathes of paperwork, watched instructional videos, loaded up the van and promptly got hopelessly lost due my smartphone based GPS having no knowledge of Sydney's one way roads.  Helpful.

I then completely failed to bypass the toll road and spent the rest of the day switching on the wipers instead of the indicators (switched sides on Japanese vehicles apparently), swearing to myself each and every time.

There wasn't too much time to spare in the day by this point but we successfully made it to the national park before dark and got to park up in a great spot where wallabies and kangaroos were larking about, result!!!

Aside from meeting a possum on the way to the toilet in the night (the surprise almost rendering the walk as needless) the night in the camper was pleasant and restful, I instantly decided I must buy one as soon as I return to England.

One of the main reasons for the route through Kosciuszko national park, aside from chance wildlife meetings, was to summit Australia's highest mountain.  This was the task for the morning and, although a simple low gradient return trip, the task was actually met with some trepidation due to Bex carrying an injury...

She'd managed to kick the Manly ferry a few days previously and then, while compensating for that injury, made the other foot sore.  This seemingly minor injury proved hellish for her, but sheer will and stubbornness got her to the top and back.  What should have been a simple walk made us reassess the extent of the foot injury and we would have to get it looked at once back to civilisation.  Nonetheless, we had a great walk, the views and scenery were both unexpected and spectacular.

We got some more miles under the belt after the walk and spent the night parked by a babbling river in a sheltered valley.  I got to see some new ducks, I love ducks, happy times.

On the final morning we set off early, we had left far to many km to cover by 3pm drop off but we still made it to the Melbourne drop off with a little time to spare.  Our little camper van adventure had been short but sweet, we'd both have loved to continue in this manner for both Australia and NZ in the new year, but it costs crazy money in summer months.  We grabbed the the tube from (oddly) Tottenham to the city centre and went in search of our Melbourne accommodation...

Sydney, civilisation and financial ruin!

We had spent 2 months forking out less than a total of £20 a day on food and accommodation, for both of us.  We spent the same getting from Sydney airport to our hostel in The Rocks.

This was all to be expected, it's all just hard to take when previously traveling for so little, this was exacerbated by then handing over the best part of £300 for 4 days in a couple of dorm beds!!

We both needed a little air and a reality check, we strolled outside and were soon enjoying the sights and sounds of Sydney.  In no time at all I fell for the city's charms, I've never understood the infatuation people have tried to convey to me, I'm not sure I can put my finger on it either to be honest... In fact I'm going to abstain from trying, suffice to say I could totally imagine living and working there.

Days passed, we did classic ferry rides, wandered the city's streets, shops and beaches, spent little, drank little and honed budget food shopping and hostel cooking skills.

Despite all our best efforts and wishes, our strict budgeting would not allow us to linger in the city any longer.  Our first big money saver would be on our long trip south to Melbourne...