Adelaide to Sydney

The Barossa valley wine tour was great! We got to go to four different wineries; all different, from the oldest and most well-known (but not excellent) Jacob's Creek to smaller boutique shops that don't produce wines for the supermarkets. We got to try about 6 different wines in each so we came away quite tipsy! Our taste in wines hasn't changed (we still love Shiraz, we quite like Cabernet Sauvignon and Julie hates Riesling!) but it was nice to try new things and learn something about wine production, and the whole Barossa region has stunning scenery.



From Adelaide we managed to get our first car relocation job, back to Melbourne. We were specifically looking to drive this route since you can drive via the Great Ocean Road, apparently one of the nicest drives in the country.




It was indeed beautiful, and it was nice to be back on the road again. We had really terrible rain and wind on the second day which meant that we had to stop driving earlier than planned, and then we had a massive amount of driving on the final day, but we managed to see most of the sights on the way, although a bit rushed!



We decided at some point on the journey that we also wanted to drive from Melbourne to Sydney rather than fly, but we kept checking the internet and couldn't find any cars that needed moving in that direction. Still, when we arrived to drop the van off in Melbourne I thought it couldn't hurt to ask if they had anything that needed to go to Sydney and we were amazed when they told us that we could have a campervan for free if we could get it to Sydney within 3 days! So after a brief divertion back to St. Kilda (to pick up one bag that we'd left in storage there) we were back on the road straight away!

It was another nice drive, but by the time we got to Sydney we were knackered. Obviously, Australia is a massive country, but you really only feel that when you're driving. We drove for about 7 hours every day for three days, then you look at the map and see you've covered just the tiniest fraction of the country, whereas you could have circled New Zealand in that time (not that you'd want to do that in 3 days!). So, this is probably the end of our van relocating adventures. It was nice to try it and we saved ourselves some money, but we decided it's better to take the time and see the country properly, so we'll probably be renting a van again for the next stretch up the east coast.

For the next week at least though, we will be in Sydney putting our feet up. We're staying with Andrew, an Aussie we met in Vietnam who's now back home again. He lives in a lovely place close to the centre with amazing balcony views over the bay. I spent most of yesterday sleeping out on the balcony and getting some rest!



A mate of his has a kayak which he very kindly arranged for us to borrow this morning, so we spent a few hours out on the bay getting some exercise (which we really need, actually!). We haven't seen the centre of Sydney yet, since we came straight to Andrew's place yesterday, so it was amazing to be out in the middle of the bay and suddenly spot the famous opera house!




Tomorrow, Andrew's housemate Dani has offered to take us into town to see the sights, so really looking forward to that. Sydney seems like a beautiful city and we haven't even seen the centre yet!

Alice Springs and the Outback

We arrived in Alice Springs in the burning heat, with no car to take us to Uluru (we didn't manage to get a van for the dates/price we were after) and our accommodation plans based on the hope that a bloke called Aaron would meet us and offer a couch to sleep on.

We hadn't run out of our luck though. At the airport we found a tourist information booth, and booked ourselves not a car but a 3-day tour of the main sites in the area. We had also booked our returning flight one day too late for our original plans, which turned out to be lucky because we were only able to get on this tour the following morning, and so had we got our flights right we wouldn't have been back in town in time. Sweet!

Safe in the knowledge that we were going to see Uluru, we headed out to town to buy some swimming gear, which we hadn't anticipated needing in the desert.



After a bit of shopping and a well deserved pint (or two, to be perfectly honest) in a western style saloon we still hadn't heard anything from Aaron. Slightly concerned at this point, we decided to send him a text message to see why he didn't want to meet us. It turned out he had been calling us but our phone claimed to be switched off! Damn Aussie sim card! Five minutes later we were picked up from outside the saloon and chauffeured to Aaron's place for our first Aussie barbecue.



Aaron turned out to be a really nice guy who had a big house with several bedrooms, and a pool in the garden. We are starting to really get into this couchsurfing business; you just can't argue with good company, fine food and a cold beer by the pool! Aaron was also very patient with me when he was explaining the rules of cricket, a game I have failed to understand several times. I can't say that I'm a real fan yet, but at least I can make an educated guess at why the players suddenly start cheering when seemingly nothing happens.

Before the tour we had one day to explore Alice Springs, so we decided to do the cultural thing for a change (and also because the air-conditioned indoors were just too inviting). We visited the Royal Flying Doctors and the Alice Springs Cultural Centre. Both were good experiences and gave us more of an idea about the history of the place and also the vastness of the area. If I remember correctly, the area serviced by the flying doctors is equal to roughly 21 times the size of Finland.

After another pleasant night at Aaron's, we were picked up at 6 in the morning for our tour. We were a bit worried about the whole idea of going on a tour because we much prefer to do things on our own, but it seems that this time we made the right decision. Our tour group was very nice and very international. Luckily our group had no 18-year-old Americans (no offence, but, you know). Our guide was very knowledgeable and fun, and we learnt a lot more about the Aboriginal traditions and culture as well as geology and biology of the outback than we would have learnt on our own.



After a few hours of driving on straight desert roads we reached our first main attraction, Kings Canyon. We did a three-hour hike in the scorching desert (although the locals thought that the 35 degrees was quite mild and pleasant) with a stop for a swim in a natural water hole half way through (hence the shopping for swimmers). The walk was beautiful in an arid desert way, and certainly got us ready for lunch.





In the evening we stopped at bush camp in the middle of nowhere - quite literally - and rolled out our swags and sleeping bags on the ground around a fireplace. Crawling into your sleeping bag and gazing at the clear stary sky after a day that involved a lot of driving and walking was a lovely feeling.



The next morning we were up before sunrise and moving on to Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas). There we did another nice walk, slightly shorter this time, but equally nice. The Olgas are rock formations that rise from the ground at a 20 degree angle, and look bizarre to say the least.



From there we went to the Cultural Centre to learn more about what we had just seen. In the evening we headed to Uluru to catch the sunset. Even though it seemed that every tourist in the southern hemisphere had decided to do the same, we really enjoyed having our dinner while watching the last rays of sun change the colour of the rock. After dark it was another night out in the open, but this time in the relative comfort of a camping ground (showers, yay!).



The early mornings continued as we had to be up to see the sun rise at Uluru. This time we found a more quiet spot for viewing, and munched our breakfast while the sun was rising behind the rock. After that we went for a walk around Uluru, which took a couple of hours, and then started making our way back towards Alice Springs.



We arrived in Alice Springs in the evening and had a nice evening with Aaron and another couple of couch surfers that were also staying in his place. The next morning it was time to fly back to Adelaide.



Overall, we had a great time in Alice Springs and on the tour. Considering how thoroughly we had managed to screw up all our bookings, we landed very nicely on our feet; making new friends, enjoying the beautiful scenery, and not having to drive the entire 1000 kilometer loop in the desert more than made up for the fact that we didn't manage to do it on our own.

We are now back in Adelaide, and will be going on a wine tour of the Barossa region tomorrow (I'm pretty sure we have the dates right this time), so we will soon have another tour to report on. Let's see if we change our minds about the touring life.

Organising (and screwing things up!) in Australia

Hello again and greetings from Australia!

So far so good, although we've spending so much time on the internet organising stuff that I don't feel we've really had the chance to settle down and enjoy it yet! We decided after New Zealand that we had spent a little more money over there than we'd anticipated, so we were going to do Australia with a different (more thrifty!) strategy. Firstly, we registered with a website called couchsurfers.com which is basically a network of travelling-minded people who use each others couches/ spare rooms when travelling, and who host travellers themselves when they're at home. We thought this sounded great, because not only do you get a free nights sleep, you also get to meet local people for a change instead of fellow travellers (no offence, fellow travellers!) Secondly, we decided that rather than rent a van for the entire duration of our stay here, we would look out for vans that need relocating somewhere else, and, erm, relocate them! Basically it works that you pay about a dollar a day for the vehicle, the company gives you some petrol allowance and you get a set amount of time to drive it from A to B. So this is our new plan of getting across Australia, although obviously that's not going to work all the time!

We arrived in Melbourne and were met at the airport by Laura and Andy (who we travelled across Laos with) and spent the next few days catching up with them. None of us are really city people so we stayed in a hostel in St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne, by the beach.




I suppose we could've been anywhere really, since we spent most of the time inside our hostel room challenging each other to card games (we've played more card games on this trip than in the rest of our lives; it's getting to be quite an addiction!). Oh, we also did one very silly touristy thing though: we drove to Pin Oak Court, a.k.a. Ramsay Street in the TV soap Neighbours! I have to say it didn't look much like how I remembered, and it was surprisingly small!



Laura and Andy left us after 3 days as they have a job starting, but hopefully we'll meet up again after it finishes. We have also arranged to meet up again with Neil (who we met in China and walked the Tiger Leaping Gorge with) who is about to finish his trip and return to his hometown Melbourne, but he's not going to be there for another week or so, so in the meantime we decided to make a trip to Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers rock). As luck would have it, there were some really cheap flights going there via Adelaide.

So we took a flight to Adelaide, and here we tried the couch surfing service for the first time. A bloke called Steven responded to our request within just 5 minutes, and even offered to pick us up at the airport! Amazing! When we arrived at the airport we were wandering around for a while with no sign of Steven and I started to wonder if the couch surfing was really going to be our thing. But it turned out that Steven was there all along, and Mikko and I had walked right past him, despite him holding up a sign with our names on! Steven's really nice, really interesting to talk to, and a great host. We had a wonderful night's sleep on the sofa bed last night. Today we went into Adelaide to have a quick look around, then when we got back this evening we spent a few hours playing computer games.

Tomorrow we have an early flight on to Alice Springs, from where we hoped to hire a van for a few days and drive ourselves to Uluru and surrounding areas. One small hitch... Mikko has just checked our van rental confirmation details and it seems that instead of renting it from the 5th to 9th of March, we've got it from the 5th to 9th of April!! I tried to call them to see if there's any way we can change the booking, but they had already gone home for the day. So we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if they can sort it out for us, or if we've lost our money. FRUSTRATING!! Still, we've had the most amazing luck so far on our trip; we've found amazingly good deals on flights/ van rentals, etc., so I can't be too angry. Something had to backfire at some point, and I don't think we can blame anyone but ourselves for this cock-up!

More from us soon! Bye for now ;-)

Last few days in NZ :-(

Hi again. Still in New Zealand at the moment but only for another 6 days before we move on to Australia. This is one place I will be very sad to leave!

Since the last entry, we have been making our way up north slowly. From the glaciers we followed the coast up towards the North Island, stopping at Westport (a weird little place that seemed to have more churches/ religious centres than houses, and no people!), then Kaiteriteri (a cute little beach town where we enjoyed doing nothing for a couple of days) then Nelson (stayed at a hostel here for the first time in NZ, full of pretentious, annoying people half our age, one of who "wanted to live life the way nature intended" - Nature, it seemed, intended for the moron to lounge about in the jacuzzi all day in his fancy Billabong shorts. Needless to say we got the hell out after one night.) then Picton (quite a boring little place, but we needed to be here to catch the inter-island ferry).

We then made the 4 hour ferry crossing over from Picton into Wellington (accompanied by a lorry-load of cows whose smell was overwhelming and didn't do much for my sea-sickness!). We stayed in Wellington for 4 days. It was the first place in New Zealand that really felt like a city, and as cities go, it was a really nice one. It's full of culture and has all the shops, restaurants and everything you'd expect from a city, but it's also very scenic and clean and friendly. I'm sure I could live in Wellington.



But our main reason for visiting was to see an old university friend of mine, Emily. Emily moved over to NZ at around the same time as Mikko and I moved to Finland, and we haven't seen each other since. So it was great to catch up with her, and to finally meet her lovely husband Leigh. The two of them were really great hosts, giving us a personalised tour of the city, and taking us out for meals. We really didn't want to leave but we knew we had to as we still had the rest of the North Island to see.




From Wellington we moved on to Tongariro. Tongariro has a lot of volcanoes and is supposed to have one of the most interesting and scenic day-walks in the country. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the information centre to check the route details they were warning of very severe weather conditions (wind and rain) for the next few days so unfortunately we had to move on as we no longer had enough spare time to wait around for the weather to clear. The next day was indeed the most attrocious weather we had encountered in New Zealand and we felt quite glad to be warm and dry, playing cards in the back of Kylie the van, and not cold and wet and lost in fog in the mountains!

The day before yesterday we arrived in Rotorua which is a nice little place although a little bit touristy. It has a large Maori population, and as a result a lot of Maori tourist attractions. We booked ourselves in on a Maori cultural evening which included some singing, tribal war-dance, a trip through the bush to see some glow worms and a large feast cooked in the traditional Maori way (food is cooked slowly, underground, over hot rocks). It was a delicious meal and a really entertaining show. It was very commercialised, but then, how else were we going to see all these ancient rituals?



Besides the Maori culture, the whole Rotorua area is famous for its geothermal activity; every hotel seems to have thermal pools and spas and the whole place smells eggy! But you do get used to that. We had to check out the huge geysers and the bubbling mud pools in the Te Puia park. Really impressive stuff!



The park also had a Kiwi house (the Kiwi is a native, endangered bird which can't fly) and so after hearing so much about these birds we finally got to see a few of them.

Today we'll be moving on up North to the Coromandel peninsular for a few days before we finish our NZ trip in Auckland. We will also have to return Kylie there, which will not be easy as she's been such a lovely little van. A few of you commented on her in a previous post: you'll be pleased to know that we've been looking after her really well; she developed a squeak at one point but we took her into a garage and the nice mechanic gave her some oil and she was much happier after that! But we did have a small mishap the other day when we accidentally left her lights on and 6 hours later the battery was completely flat. But again, someone came to the rescue with some jump leads and after running her around town for a while she has completely healed! Oh, and Mikko and I are both fit and healthy too :-)

Kaukana kotoa

Otetaan valilla talla toisella kotimaisella. Taalla maailman aarissa ei valitettavasti aakkosiin kuulu meitin pistehiset kirjainten paalle, joten tolkun tulkinta jaa lukijalle.

Tahan mennessa reissu on siis kulkenut maitse lapi Venajan, Mongolian, Kiinan ja Kaakkois-Aasian. Bangkokissa jouduttiin ensimmaista kertaa lentokoneeseen, muuten olisi edessa ollut parin kuukauden seilaus Uuteen Seelantiin.

Kaikista kolutuista paikoista tama uuden karhea Seelanti on kaikkein lahinna kotiseutujen elamaa: taalla syodan pottuja ja juodaan viinia. Aasialaisen riisiyliannostuksen jalkeen perunat katoaa kitaan hirmuvauhtia. Mustaamakkaraa ei kuitenkaan ole missaan tullut vastaan, eli ei tama sentaan mikaan sivistysvaltio ole. Uuden Seelannin suuri kulinaristinen lohtu on "Moro"-suklaapatukat, joita mutustellessa ei voi olla muistelematta maailman ainoaa paikkaa. Niiden ostaminen on myos lystia kun voi vain kavella kauppaan ja murahtaa etta moro, selvalla tampereella, eika kukaan katso kieroon.

Uuden Seelannin elaimet herattavat meikalaisessa kummastusta: linnut eivat lenna (Kiivit ja pingviini) ja hylkeilla on turkki (fur seals). Olon tekevat hieman kotoisemmaksi santakarpaset (sand fly), jotka ottavat pirullisuudessaan vahvasti mittaa kotoisista hyttysista, usko vaan etta syyhyaa!

Maisemiensa puolesta Uusi Seelanti ei juuri kotia muistuta, taalla kun on vuoria, vuonoja ja sademetsia vahan turhan tiheaan. Ihmisetkin ovat kovasti puheliaampia kuin kotopuolessa, kaupantaditkin aina kyselee, etta mites menee ja mista tulee? Vaan kaikkeen tottuu, hidas hamalainenkin.

Seuraava kohde reissulla on Australia, joten kotiseutukoulun vaihto-opiskelu sen kun jatkuu, mutta ei menna asioiden edelle...

Extremish

Queenstown was full of all kinds of extreme sport opportunities that you can think of. However, we decided to start it easy and went for a walk (can you smell the adrenaline?).

We ended up walking to the summit of the hill overlooking Queenstown and not only had nice views but also found a little kiosk offering paragliding. Julie had always wanted to try it, and it doesn't take that much to talk me into throwing myself off a mountain, so we decided to book ourselves in for a flight the next day.

The next morning we were picked up by the wrong paragliding company, then swapped from one van to another, with equally frightened looking people taking our places. After all this human trafficing we were finally on our way to the launch site up Coronet Peak.

Paragliding was great fun (despite the look of horror on my face in all the pictures), and the views over the mountains and lakes were spectacular. After the run down the mountain side and the leap into thin air the ride got really quite steady and comfortable. We even did a few sharp bends and spirals!





After Queenstown we drove up to Wanaka, a nice little town by a beautiful lake. We stopped there for lunch, considered doing another walk, but then decided to rent kayaks instead.



Next stop was Fox glacier. You can get almost to the glaciers edge by yourself, and we did a couple of walks around the glacier and got some nice views. Apart from the glacier there was not much in the town, and we headed off to the next glacier.



Franz Josef glacier was just 30 minutes drive away, and this time we decided to do a guided walk on the glacier. We opted for the full day walk, which included 6 hours on ice. The walk turned out to be one of the nicest experiences so far. The glacier is massive, and the guides managed to find some beautiful blue caves and nice viewpoints for us. I went in the "fast" group, which turned out to be somewhat slowed down by a chap who was afraid of heights (and he just had to put himself in the most adventurous group, didnt he?). We also had an American lady in our group who sang hymns as we plodded on and quoted glacier facts from "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown". Religion and cartoons can be a dangerous cocktail, it seems.

New Zealand, South island

Hi again, and sorry it's been so long since the last blog. We've been out in the wilderness quite a bit, with limited internet access!
So we're now in New Zealand. It was a bit of a sudden decision to come here which is why we rushed through Thailand so quickly. The reason for the sudden change of plan was that we realised we'd arrive in New Zealand in the middle of winter if we'd carried on travelling south at our current rate. Plus, we found a super-cheap flight from Bangkok to New Zealand and we didn't want to miss out on the offer.

So, we took that flight. There was a small hitch at Bangkok airport when they asked to see our return flight out of New Zealand. We didn't have one (because we didn't know we needed one) but fortunately we had a good hour before check-in closed, and so we went to an internet cafe and found ourselves yet another bargain flight from Auckland to Melbourne! Problem solved. Then we took our first flight of this entire trip and within 24 hours arrived in Christchurch.

New Zealand is a fantastic country. It is a complete change from Asia. Asia was excellent, exotic, beautiful but after 4 months there we needed a change and a rest, and New Zealand seems to be the perfect place to wind down. It's so easy to be in a place where everyone speaks your language, where they eat food you can identify and where you don't have to haggle for everything you buy. It's a home from home.

We had a day exploring Christchurch, which was a nice enough town, but we were eager to get on the road and explore the countryside. So on our second day we went to pick up the van we had reserved. She's a great little van. We named her Kylie (she just looked like a Kylie!), and she will be our transport and our accommodation for the six weeks we spend in New Zealand.




From Christchurch we drove south through the Banks peninsular, inland to Lake Tekapo and Mount Cook, down to Dunedin, along the south coast, through Fiordland and up to Queenstown where we are now. All the way the scenery has been absolutely stunning, from snow-capped mountains to clear blue lakes to alpine forest to fields of deer and sheep to golden surfing beaches.







We've been staying in campsites, most of which have been in really beautiful locations, and have a campers kitchen where you can make your own food. It's been really nice to cook our own meals again and make the things that we craving when we were in Asia. Our first meal was spaghetti on toast with cheddar cheese on top. Strange what you miss when you can't get it!

Fiordland was especially wonderful. We arrived in the village of Te Anau and booked one of the hikes (or "tramps" as they're called here). We originally wanted to do the Milford track which is supposed to be one the most scenic walks in the world, but it seemed that everyone else wanted to do it too and there was no space for us, so we settled for the Kepler track, which is a 4 day (3 night) 65km hike. I found it quite hard going, since we have done very little in the way of exercise in the last few months, and rather too much drinking! On the way from Christchurch to Te Anau we did several day-walks to prepare ourselves but in retrospect it was probably not enough. Still, when we emerged from the forest after an all-day uphill climb and saw the views for the first time we realised it was worth the pain in our calves and shoulders.






The excellent views continued all through the second day as we walked along a ridge between peaks. We met some great people on the walk too, and when we finished on the fourth day, even though I was absolutely knackered and was walking like a penguin, I was sad that it came to an end. I did cheer up in the evening though, when we enjoyed a beer in the campsite jacuzzi!

After Kepler we drove up to Milford Sound. Since we couldn't get on that trek we decided to take a boat trip. The scenery there is undescribable. Mountains rise up on either side of you, into the clouds, and the sun shines through the clouds... it was magical. If we ever come back to New Zealand we are definitely going to book the trek well in advance!





Now we're in Queenstown. Most people come here to do some kind of extreme sport like bungy jumping or skydiving; they have everything here. I didn't really think we'd be doing anything like that but now I'm here I'm a bit tempted by paragliding and Mikko is even thinking about doing a skydive. If nothing else, we will climb the Coronet peak tomorrow and take the luge/ toboggan down. But that's for the next post :-)