The Epic Adventures of LynMoo

It was a nervous and shaky flight in the QANTAS 'tin bucket with wings' from Nadi to LA, but we touched down safely in LAX with only the slightest of soiled undergarments!

This was it, the last chapter of our journey. 2 more weeks and The Epic Adventure of Lynmoo would be coming to a close. A sad thought no doubt, so whats there to do but make the most of those 2 weeks?! Los Angeles is obviously a huge city, and not an easy one to get around but there was only one place in LA that I wanted to stay in...Venice Beach!

Venice Boardwalk

Ive always wanted to see the Venice boardwalk. The diverse spread of people (sane or otherwise) that hang around Venice is incredible. So many Californian and LA stereotypes....and all pretty accurate! Bodybuilders at 'muscle beach', buskers and bands hoping to be the next 'Doors", street artists and performers, the patented 80 yr olds in bikinis with boob jobs, veteran hobos with shopping trolleys, skateboarders and rollerbladers, and wayyy too many chihuahua's in handbags!

Lynmoo on Venice Beach

There is an amazing atmosphere during the day in Venice and we soaked it all in on our first day walking all the way to the Santa Monica pier. We just kept walking and walking along the Venice beach which is an enormous stretch of sand taking in the classic lifeguard stations and lifeguard jeeps - no Hoff or running/bouncing lifeguards in sight though unfortunately! There were just so many iconic and recognisable sites along here and we'd only covered a small stretch.

Flexin' the guns!

Muscle Beach

Office work on the beach

Venice Beach

Walking down Venice Boulevard on our first day a homeless man approaches us and asks Lorraine:
"Change for a sandwich?"
Lorraine: "Oh, em, no thank you."
Hobo shouts to the world as we walk on: "Daaammmm man...I cant believe she just said 'No thank you'!"
Lorraine to me: "I wasnt going to take a sandwich off him!".
Rob: "No eh, he was asking for one, not offering one!".
Lorraine: "Oh. Shit. Yeah!"

Entrance to Venice Beach, LA

We stayed in Venice and explored the beach and the streets of Santa Monica for 4 lovely relaxed and chilled out days. On our 2nd night we were sitting in the hostel watching tv when it was interrupted with a 'live car chase', which I reckon only happens in the States?? So glued to the tv we watched the helicoptors' spot light follow the car as its chased through the streets by several cop cars. Only thing was it was hard to hear the tv with the sounds of the sirens and helicoptors outside the window of our room....we ended up with 2 views of the chase cos it was right outside!

Venice Beach Garage and Mural

Although we didnt spend our entire first 4 days in Venice/Santa Monica, I had a surprise up my sleeve for Lorraine on day 3..........DISNEYLAND!

Ok when Rob said he had a surprise for me I figured we were having something other than pasta for dinner.. but boy was I wrong. Like a lot of people a childhood dream of mine was to go to Disneyland & I for one had no idea that LA is the the home to the original Disney Land & Rob had booked us tickets to go. To say I was excited was probably an understatement. Our luxury coach pulled up & we joined a group of 15 other BIG kids to make our way there (there were literally no children on the bus). I was so excited I was borderline emotional as we pulled into the giant carpark to begin our Disney experience.

As it was our first time in Disneyland we got big badges which meant we got special treatment for the day. We also got personalised Mickey & Mini Mouse hats! It was 2 days before Thanksgiving so the place was covered in Christmas decorations with christmas music playing in the corner of every street - there is a reason they call this place magical We were loving it.. I think we even skipped at one stage ha!

Main Street USA, Disneyland

So we were in the queue to meet Mickey Mouse.. Myself & Rob right at the top of the queue with our big badges first in to meet the mouse in person.. WHEN.... A larger than life American woman tips us on the shoulder with her giant 10 year old kid;

American Lady: 'Can my kid go in first?'
Lorraine & Rob: (in unison) 'EH No!'

I think our enthusiasm scared Mickey Mouse a little.

Lynmoo & Mickey Mouse

After splash mountain & numerous amusement rides later we ended our day watching the Christmas parade as fake snow billowed from the sky... only in LA eh

Lorraine by xmas tree in Disneyland

What a day

Wow, Fiji. What can be said? Not much to be honest, it is just paradise on earth! I know im not eloquent enough to do it justice...but sure ive never been known as a quiet one so I'll try and describe it anyway.

We had been enjoying the New Zealand section of our trip so much that to be honest, we hadn't planned ahead for Fiji at all. So a few days before we left New Zealand we called into a travel agency to see if we could blag a package/transfers etc for the 2 weeks we would be in Fiji and we were in luck. So our Fiji trip was for the most part planned and arranged before we'd even left New Zealand which was very different then the rest of our trip to date. Knowing exactly where we'd be every hour and day for the next 2 weeks seemed strange, we normally dont know where we'd even be staying one night to the next but we planned on doing nothing but relaxing so it was a welcome change.

It was a short flight to the city of Nadi on the main Fijian island where we landed without any hassle at all and were transferred to the hotel where we'd be staying overnight before moving on to the outlying islands the following day. This was the first time we had stayed in a 'proper' hotel in some time, and we immediately felt the difference. We were on a package holiday for 2 weeks now, not so much travelling anymore. It was bitter-sweet!

The course of our stay would have us island hopping between the mainland at Nadi to 2 other islands for approx a week each of extreme laziness before transferring back to Nadi and flying out on the next leg of the trip. We didnt stray far at all from our hotel in Nadi in the few hours we were there so only got our first glimpse of Fijian life whilst on the bus to the ferry, again the package aspect of this trip hit in - we were tourists now and wouldnt get a chance to travel and explore amongst the towns and people....but i suppose we got over all of that as soon as we started cruising on the ferry out into the crystal sea to our first destination.....BOUNTY ISLAND!!

Bounty Beach

The ferry from Nadi cruised out into the calm blue waters as we burnt in the blazing sunshine on the packed deck, a deck full of backpackers and families alike. The boat slowed to a stop opposite the first island, a dot of sand and palm trees in the middle of a turqoise sea. This wasnt our destination we were due to get off at the next 'stop' but it gave us a preview of what our 2 weeks were going to be like....awesome!

The boat slowed to a halt at our first destination of Bounty Island and a small boat buzzed out to meet us. We threw the bags over and clambered into what turned out to be a glass bottomed boat the size of a small rowboat with an engine strapped on the back. The driver was crazy friendly and we were joined by 2 others as we were ferried from the ferry to the island itself, all the while looking down at the beautiful array of fish swimming below us. The clarity of the water just cannot be described, we could see the sandy seafloor perfectly clear at a good depth below us.

We were welcomed to the island by the owners of the resort singing a lovely traditional Fijian song that would remain stuck in our head the whole week! It was a great welcome as we climbed off the pier and checked into our home for the week, a lovely bungalow (called a bure in Fiji) with our own private patch of beach.

The view from our hammock outside our personal 'bure'.

There are a total of just 22 bures on the entire island, with one restaurant/main building where we would have our breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as night time entertainment and a pool - although we never bothered with that when the sea was so warm. We could walk around the entire beach-rimmed island in half an hour, and felt like we had the whole place to ourselves it was amazing.

The food was beautiful as well and the staff were great craic. We spent the nights after dinner just sitting either on the beach/in the hammock/in the bar with a few 'Fijian Golds" (the local beer) under the stars.

Reflection of the moon on the waters at Bounty Island

And needless to say, the sunsets were incredible as well!

Lynmoo on Bounty beach blazing sunset

Blazing Orange sunset

There was complimentary snorkeling gear and kayaks available which we used to explore the extensive coral around the island. During high tide the sea was beautiful to swim in we just stepped out of the bure and jumped in. During low tide the sea level retreated and just about covered the coral line. The variety of fish and coral we saw was amazing and kept us entertained the whole week, we didnt go an hour without getting back into the water.

Lorraine on Bounty

And of course how could I forget about Bounty Islands' claim to fame?! It was the island where ITV filmed the original "Celebrity Love Island"! It was a terrible horrible show, but you could see from it just how much of a paradise this place is.

Lynmoo sunset at Bounty beach

So our week of bliss on Bounty Island came to an end and we had to leave.........for another island! This is called the 'get jealous' chapter for a reason ya know! Our next stop was 4/5 islands down the line and was called Mana Island. So our ferry turned up, we said a sad farewell to our hosts who played us off from the pier, and we were on our way.

Our second destination was a tad more upmarket from the relatively basic accom we were staying in in Bounty. Mana island is much much bigger, with 2 large hills splitting the island (with spectacular views from the top) and I think possibly a landing strip for small planes. We were staying in the private resort on one side of the island, and on the other side there was a small town with some budget accom/hostels. Normally we wouldve been staying on that side, so we did feel out of place in the proper resort! The resort was huge with a spa, large fancy pool with bar, tennis courts, computer room/library, wi-fi throughout and all the mod-cons. There was a Fijian choir performing in the main bar when we arrived which made the wait for check in a lot easier! There are 152 guestrooms in this resort alone as opposed to the 22 on Bounty. It was different, but just as beautiful. And we made sure to take advantage of all the facilities available.

Mana Island Pier

Our bure this time was much more extravagant with a cool shower that was technically outdoors and a huge bed, but it wasn't on the beach...we had to walk a whole 3 minutes for that privilage! The beach itself was stunning. Spotless clean fringed by palm trees for shade and the all important spots for hanging hammocks.

Hammock on Mana Beach

The water on the North beach of the island was just as clear and warm and clean and perfect as the water on Bounty, if not more so. Again the snorkeling equipment was complimentary, we would swim out a good 50 meters over just plain sand sea floor before you would just hit a HUGE vertical drop of what must be a hundred feet or more as we couldnt see the bottom through the darkness. A steep cliff under the sea surrounding the island that would greet you with a current of cold water rushed up from the deep to meet you. It was here that the coral grew and the amazing species of fish swam around you (fish that always seemed to poo just as you reached them and fly off?!), the place teemed with life. On one of the days a huge Manta Ray breezed by me, I went to swim after it but stopped when I could hear Lorraines muffled underwater screams of objection!

Mana Island North Beach

Ohhhh SAUCY! Lynmoo on Mana beach.

At this stage of our trip I officially ran out of money! Not bad goin when you think about it I was just 20 days shy or so of coming home when I had to make 'that' call! We had to take full advantage of the breakfast and dinners we had already paid for...as lunch was extra and quite pricey, so many a bread roll was smuggled out at breakfast to do us for lunch as well!

It was another beautiful paradise and another amazing week that went by all too fast, despite not really doing much but lazing, swimming, eating and drinking!

We were picked up on our last day by the ferry and whisked back to Nadi for our flight out of Fiji. But we had 8 hours to kill, so we threw our packs into lockers and got a taxi to the nearest golf course for a game to pass the time. We finished that horribly sweaty and were forced to shower in the mosquito ridden showers that were available in the airport, which we shall just describe as an....'experience'!

Our time in Fiji had been glorious, a stunning country (from what little we saw of it) with beautiful people where we had lived like kings in paradise for a fortnight. It was with sadness that we walked to the boarding gates, and with some serious trepidation that I got on the plane! Lets just say it wasnt a new model of plane. In fact it was a rustbucket! And I was bucketing it as we took off, but off we were...to the US of A!

With stiff legs from our hiking in Abel Tasman we left sunny Nelson and made the trip to Wellington and the start of our adventures in the Northern Island of New Zealand. We got the Interislander ferry from Picton and thankfully the seas were nice and calm so neither of us were even seasick (which is a big surprise for me!). The ferry is enormous with 10+ decks and takes just under 4 hours to make the crossing, with a cinema and all on board the time flies in so it wasn't long before we were docking in the foggy harbour of New Zealands capital city Wellington. You can notice straight away the difference between this city and any of the others we'd been in on the South Island, its of a much bigger scale and alot busier. We arrived at rush hour and nearly got pummelled by the pedestrian traffic (not in the good way either!), we were big targets with all our stuff but thankfully managed to get a taxi in the madness and get to the hostel.

New Zealand Sea Reflection

Wellington is a really young, lively & highly cultured city.. There must be a theatre on nearly every street corner followed closely by an abundance of boho bars & restaurants. On our first day in Wellington we went to the 'must see' Museum called Te Papa & strolled around all the exhibits. You could be forgiven for loosing track of time in this place because the museum is enormous. A couple of hours later & i think we both had our fill of history & dinosaur exhibits but i would definitely recommend a visit.

Halloween night in Wellington was pretty strange.. We saw more than our fair share of middle aged women walking around in dominatrix/pvc outfits.. eeeekkkkk its not an image i wish to recollect However when we did make it to bed that night & just got settled we were abruptly woken by the fire alarm in the hostel. We lay there for 5 minutes waiting for it to be turned off.. afterall it is always a false alarm.. after a couple of minutes later i looked out our door & there were people making their way downstairs. We got dressed & calmly walked to the exits. Everyone was really chilled out & walking out pretty slowly - that was until a middle aged couple stormed through the emergency exit fully dressed with all their luggage. At this stage everyone felt a little uneasy & picked up the pace. There were hundreds of people piled out onto the streets dressed in pyjamas.. boxers.. vampire outfits.. It was as we had guessed a false alarm... but we enjoyed the drama.

Turns out the fire alarm was set off by someone touching one of the sensors on the ceiling of the rooms that had a big sign on it saying "Do Not Touch"! You wouldn't even know there was a sensor there to touch if they didn't put a sign on it!! Fools.

Driving by a daunting looking Tongariro volcanoe on the way to Taupo.

Right so next stop in the North Island was to Lake Taupo about half way up the country were we'd planned to hike over the Tongariro Pass, an 18.5 km trek through a trio of volcanoes used as Mount Doom for the Lord of the Rings films. We checked into our hostel which turned out was a bit of a kip, we got stuck right above the nightclub so had to listen to screaming packs of English girls the whole night, got no sleep and ended up missing our bus the next day for our planned hike over Tongariro. But the day was savage so we went on a crazy golf day. First we started smacking some balls out into the lake trying to get a hole in one on a floating green! Not too much success there so we hit the local crazy golf, then we ended up catching the bug and goin for a full game on the local course - it was golf madness!

Goin for a hole in one on Lake Taupo

Sunset over Lake Taupo

So the following day, despite yet another night sleeping to the vibrations of all the latest rap tunes coming up through the floor all night we got up and ready at 5 in the morning and jumped on a bus to the start of the Tongariro crossing. Unlike the fine weather the previous day there was a heavy fog and we couldnt even see the mountain, it was really eerie with the visability only about a hundred metres or so. We loved the strange weather it made the atmosphere for the climb very unique.

Snow plain with the peak of Tongariro in distance

Now we should warn everybody here, we took alot of photos over the day on that mountain so brace yourselves!

The first stretch of the hike took us across a boardwalk that hovered over the marshes below us for a kilometre or so as we made our way to the base of the mountain. The fog was really thick so we could only see 50 metres ahead. The boardwalk continued to emerge from the mist adding to the suspense of what the first section of the hike would be like....the dreaded devils staircase!

The devils staircase is where the climbing really starts and is one of the steepest sections too where a mixture of concrete and wooden staircases helped us scramble over the scree and sharply up the mountain. We still couldnt see much higher then and after every set of steps we hoped we were getting closer to the easier parts, but alas more steps continued looming out of the clouds above us. It was about half way up when we first started getting some glimpses of snow in patches promising some more interesting conditions higher up! it took a good 40 minutes to get past this section where we took a well deserved rest.

The next section of the climb is from the south crater to the red crater. The south crater was a long flat stretch where the snow got fairly heavy, it was up over our ankles and we still couldnt see where we were to go. We blindly followed the odd marker poles that appeared from the mist to guide us to the start of the ascent up to the red crater. This was the most dangerous part of the climb with steep drops to our left and the scree slipping from under our feet. The mist was still so thick we couldnt even see how far a drop it was.....we just knew it was far! And then we'd made it to the top! Well kind of, there was an option to climb to the next peak but it was sealed off due to the weather....so we had gotten as far as they'd let us!

Just on schedule the weather started to clear as we sat and had our lunch enthralled by the magnificent views over the surrounding countryside and the steaming emerald lakes below us.

The ascent had taken us 3 hours and we had another 3 hours ahead of us to get back down again on the other side. On the climb down we passed through 3 totally different types of terrain. From the heavy snow and icy lakes at the top to the grassy tussock plains on the middle of the mountain and finally a thick jungle like forest at the base! As we passed the craters of the volcano and made our way to the start of the descent we crossed over steaming streams of the thermal springs that flow down the mountain. A thick steam was even spewing off the boulders we passed!

I found the climb down to be harder then the climb up (especially after my knee popped), and we were both thrilled when we finally reached the car park on the far end and collapsed on the grass to wait for our bus to take us to bed.....we were gonna feel this climb for a few days but it was without doubt one of if not the best things we did in New Zealand - if not the whole trip.

Tongariro was awesome, no doubt about it...but man where we tired the next day! We really didnt fancy another night in Taupo so at the last minute as usual we stiffly packed our bags and legged it for the bus laden down with bags. It was a relatively short jaunt then to our second last stop in NZ, the town of Rotorua.

Rotorua is most famously known for its geothermal activity and its surrounded by active geysers and bubbling mud pools...and the whole place smells of eggs! I famously (or not so famously?) have little to no sense of smell, so I was kind of enjoying the enveloping sulphur aroma of the town as it got my senses back working again the smell is so strong! It is a very strange cool sort of town as the steam gushes in clouds up from the middle of the main street, out of sewer drains, up out of the path in front of you! Alot of the town is heated/powered by the thermal activity which we found really interesting. We stayed in an excellent hostel, next door to a patch of land where a house 'used' to be before a geyser erupted there out of the blue! Around the corner there was a park the centrepiece of which was a large geyser that we took a stroll over on the bridges that criss-crossed it and the whole place was unlike any where we'd ever been before.

But - apart from the randomness of the steaming roads and buildings there wasnt anything else that interesting here that we took advantage of. It is a real centre for the Maori culture and there are plenty of shows and museums about we were just seriously low on funds at this stage! We spent the first day mostly trying to recover from the hike the previous day, and browsing through the hundreds of souvenir shops in Rotorua picking up bits for the peeps at home, we were only 4 weeks away from our triumphant return after all! But probably the highlight of our short stay here was watching the US election results with all the other backpackers in the hostel...YES WE CAN!

Our final destination in New Zealand was Auckland "The city of sails". We arrived in style on the Intercity bus as normal and trudged up some monster hills to get to our hostel. We both loved Auckland, we spent the first day as normal exploring and taking in the main sights in the city centre walking the backstreets and finding some excellent cafes and book stores that we browsed for hours. We walked to the harbour and took in the stunning sight of the hundreds of yachts, and back to the Sky Tower that dominates the Auckland skyline. It is a great city with a great buzz about it and we enjoyed being back in a "big smoke"!

Auckland Sky Tower

Conveniently enough Lorraines friend Leah just 'happened' to be in Auckland, same as she had just happened to be in Sydney as well when we met her there?! So we met her for a pleasant evenings tipple and some tomfoolery as well!

But the swansong of our New Zealand adventure was not to be by a Maori fire, or jumping off a bridge, or hiking to the top of a stunning mountain, but a west end musical! We strolled by the Civic theatre during our wanderings and chanced to see if any tickets were left for the Phantom of the Opera that was playing that night, and luckily there were some good cheap last minute seats left. So we rushed to the hostel to change and made it back in time for the show, it was brilliant and something that both myself and Lorraine had been wanting to see for a long time.

Pre-show drinks

So not the most traditional of endings to our time in New Zealand, but a brilliant night all the same. It was off to sun, sand and tropical paradise in Fiji the next day but we both knew that our time in New Zealand was going to leave an ever lasting impression on both of us. It is one of the most breathtaking places we have ever had the privilege to see, the people are incredible and the craic is mighty as well. There is such a variety of landscapes from snow capped mountains to tropical forests and beaches. It is a place that can only be experienced really, and we are going to ensure that we do return to experience it all again and more as soon as we possibly can.

And so should YOU!

Whoever you might be. Mom and Dad probably. Hi Mom!

Still clinging to the disappointment of the missed heli hike at the Franz Josef glacier a week or so before we ditched our bus pass and made our own way from Queenstown to a town called Twizel hoping that the weather would be good enough to take a helicoptor flight to the mountains surrounding Mt Cook (New Zealands tallest mountain). We arrived and checked in to the hostel and got them to call the helicoptor guys to see if we could......again we couldnt as there was just the 2 of us so we were put on standby in case someone else booked in. So we made the most of the savage day and went golfin! It was class.

Golfing New Zealand

Sweaty and smelly we made our way back to the hostel and they rang again to check for us.....and it was ON! With a full tour bus of rich Thai folks no less! The Thai folks were late but we didnt mind too much, we managed to sly our way into the front two seats beside the pilot and off we went.

Sitting up front in the helicoptor

It was amazing. The 1st time either of us have been in a helicoptor at all and we zipped across the farms, over the foothills and through the snowy valleys of the mountains before setting down on the snow at the top of one of the peaks. We jumped out of the 'chopper' (thats slang for helicoptor in the industry you know!) and onto the snow a couple of thousand feet up! It was Lorraines dream come true, she really really likes snow....its scary!

Up on the mountain!

Yeah im afraid Robs not exagerating there.. I really do have an unhealthy fascination with snow im afraid to say. However i think i should be excused for getting a tad excited afterall it was a pretty amazing experience. The helicopter flight itself had us nearly peeing our pants. It was pretty fun to watch the Thai group once we landed.. They had never seen snow before & they just lost the plot in the snow.. crawling & dancing.. fair play to them cause it was really friggan cold up there.

With chopper up on the mountain

On top of the world!

After the excitement of the helicoptor trip we had the hostel to ourselves so watched the 2nd Lord of the Rings (we had to watch them all while goin through NZ. In Twizel we could look out the window at where they filmed the huge battle scene in the last film! We're nerds i know.) over a roast dinner ala chef Lorraine....what a day!

Lake Tekapo. We stopped here briefly on our way back to Christchurch.

We arrived back where we'd started in Christchurch from Twizel and were determined to stay for as little as possible and keep on moving, so after only a quick and uneventful night stopover there we jumped on a bus again up the coast to a beautiful town called Kaikoura.

Kaikoura Mountains

We decided to go for a little walk to see the local seal colony just about 30 minutes away from our hostel which actually turned out to be pretty cool. We almost walked on top of one big dude who was chilling out on the side of the road. We were able to get really close to them & got a few nice pic's as ya can see.

Sleeping seal Kaikoura

We got up really early to go swimming with the dolphins and had a really clear day for the trip. We got fitted for our wetsuits in the offices and i looked like 'Scuby Steve'! Rob looked equally as bad! We jumped on a bus to the marina and before we knew it we were on the sea on our way to see the dolphins. It was a bit surreal because the tide was quite rough and we were both struggling with sea sickness. It took us about 25 minutes to reach the dolphins. We got the rest of our gear on - gloves, socks and headgear as the water is freezing. All of a sudden there are about 15 of us hanging off the back of the boat and when the siren sounded we all had to jump into the sea. I didnt even have time to get nervous. In i jumped alongside Rob and you are instantly struck by the freezing water. It seriously takes your breath away! You almost feel like you're having a panic attack but its just your body getting used to the baltic temperatures. You soon quickly forget about the cold because you realise you are completely surrounded by dolphins. It really was amazing how close they come to you.

Dusky Dolphin

Its funny because in order to attract the dolphins you have to make noise, so everyone is swimming along shouting through their snorkels and if you're above the water it sounds hilarious and slightly ridiculous. Although it did make it easy for me to find Rob I just had to follow the sound of him singing Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire'! The dolphins are fast though and just as we were getting settled and used to the water the siren sounded and we all had to scramble back on the boat and move to find the dolphins again. Once you get out of the water you really feel the cold, we dived in 3 times before we called it a day. We also got to see 2 or 3 sperm whales in the distance and some ginormous albatross seagulls. It was a pretty amazing experience and we're both glad we did it.

Very cold after swimming with the dusky dolphins

We got very comfy in Kaikoura it was just a beautiful spot to relax in and we had to force ourselves onwards to the very Northern tip of the South island to a town called Nelson. The town of Nelson itself was really nice but absolutely dead - there wasnt a sinner about and we were there on a bank holiday weekend. The main reason we'd come here was so that we could go hiking or camping in the nearby Abel Tasman national park, but being lazy as we are we slept in the first morning and were too late to do anything. So plan B came into effect - we went on a wine tasting tour!!

Most of New Zealands' wine comes from this region so there are dozens of vineyards all around. We were on a bus with an Australian mom/daughter combo, a swedish girl and a mad Irish woman from Cork. I was well outnumbered, and outclassed too. I cant even smell so half the wine tasting technique was completely lost on me! I couldnt tell the difference between the 'gone off' stuff and the proper stuff at the beginning! Now Lorraine on the other hand is a pro, an absolute connoissor of all things vino. She was without doubt the teachers pet!

"This one has a bright citrus feel to it."
"Why yes Lorraine very very good!"

"Oh its got a very oaky, wooden and almost smoked taste i feel."
"Exactly Lorraine kudos to you!"

"I can taste a fresh meadow breeze of gooseberries and joy on my pallet from this delightful vintage. Tell me, it is a '99 Pinot gris is it not?"
"Bravo Lorraine, Bravo! You simply are the toast of the evening!"

Ah it was a great laugh, we went through a lot of beautiful wines and cheeses in 5 different vineyards and were nicely toasted by the end of it! All in the name of culture of course.

At one of the vineyards on our winery tour.

Abel Tasman is one of the most famous national parks in New Zealand & we had heard great reports from our friends Toni & Breezy about it so we were really excited about our one day hike in the park. We were dropped off by boat at Anchorage Bay which is one of the many golden sandy beaches around the park.

Hiking through Abel Tasman park

The four & half hour hike took us through dense jungle past waterfalls & numerous isolated beaches. The path we chose was quite high up & we had the most amazing views across the national park & the surrounding sea which looked a stunning emerald colour.

An Abel Tasman beach

On our way up one of the steepest parts of the trek we happened to behind this pretty large girl who had an impressive builders bum which nearly made Rob puke ha ha.. It wasnt long before we overtook her We thoroughly enjoyed the walk & only wished we had enough time to camp there for a couple of days... I guess we will have to wait to our next visit.

Cooling off

Lynmoo on Abel Tasman beach

We flew from Sydney to Christchurch in New Zealand on that most wonderful of days - the 9th of October when i turned 26! We had almost forgotten all about it until the check in lady said it, she politely refused my request for an upgrade to 1st class though! We have flown so much in the past few months that against all rationality, i have somehow developed a fear of flying and was very very aware of the irony of crashing on my birthday....but thankfully we made it safe and sound! The scenery on the way in was breathtaking as we flew over the snow topped mountains and then descended over the fields. We couldn't help but be reminded of home with the green fields and heaps of sheep.

Now immigration in New Zealand is similar to Oz in that because its an isolated ecosystem they are very strict on what you can and cant bring into the country with sniffer dogs roaming the airports and also quarantine areas for your bags. This had Lorraine in a panicky humour (I thank the lovely Mrs Lynders for making Lorraine watch alll those episodes of 'Banged up Abroad'!) which i found hilarious. She was dropping the bags and stumbling her words declaring over and over "WE HAVE SHELLS! WE HAVE SHELLS!", they couldn't have cared less really and we got through fine.

Two of my old college buddys Cara and Maeve were there waiting for us in arrivals to whisk us to downtown Christchurch and settle into our hostel for a half hour before goin on a little session that night in the hostel bar, they even picked me up a birthday cake!

With Cara and Maeve in Christchurch for Robs birthday

We hung around in Christchurch for 3 nights planning the rest of our time in New Zealand. 3 nights is most definately enough time to spend there, there isnt all that much to do even if it is a decent place. Its a very English looking city in parts with punting on the canal and all! We finally managed to book our bus pass and were psyched to at last get out and see the New Zealand countryside that we'd been looking forward to since we'd booked this trip so long ago.

Christchurch cathedral and square outside our hostel

Christchurch mainly involved a whole lot of organising & booking stuff so we were both pretty excited about leaving it & starting our trip around New Zealand for real & what better way to start it than getting the Tranzapline Train from Christchurch to Greymouth (east to west coast basically). It was on this train that we got our first real sample of New Zealands stunning landscape & we were not disappointed. 10 minutes outside the city we were instantly struck by the green & yellow countryside with lush fields & dark pine trees. Spring was definitely in full force with hundreds of lambs jumping around in the fields. Another 10 minutes outside the city we were dumbstruck by our first glimpse of the southern alps ( Misty Mountain Range for any Lord of the Rings fans). They totally dominated the skyline with their impressive snow capped peaks. Myself & Rob were extremely excited by this & spent most our 4 hour trip out on the freezing cold viewing deck taking a ridiculous amount of photos. It was really cool because at times the train would be in tunnels under the alps or else it would be trudging over a rickety old wooden bridge with a large river below. It was a great way to start our travels of New Zealand.

The Tranzalpine Train

After the 4 hour train journey we arrived in the little town called Greymouth which is on the west coast of New Zealand. We arranged to stay here one night before being picked up by our bus (Stray Bus) the next day. We stayed in a lovely YHA Hostel which was a really lovely homely place.. apart from the smell of shell fish that a group of Koreans were cooking (you could smell it the next day ughhhh!) but apart from that we loved the hostel & we got to watch the Lord of the Rings part I on video
Greymouth is really just a stop over town & there is not a whole lot there just a couple of shops & cafes but we loved our little home away from home hostel

The following day we went to our pick up point to start our tour with the Stray Bus Tour company who quotes itself on 'taking you off the beaten track'.

So we didnt really know what to expect from the bus tour. Basically we had prepaid for our south island bus ticket. You can hop on & off the bus wherever you like & they pretty much take you to see all the main sights along the way stopping for pictures etc.. We got on the bus in Greymouth & squeezed to the only two available seats down the back. Straight away there was banter between the 5 irish down the back. As we drove along we gradually got to know more & more people on the bus & to be honest we were pretty lucky cause we got a really great bunch. The bus stopped at numerous lakes etc for us to take pic's & it also stopped at a place called Hokitika which is famous for its Green Stone (Jade) - Rob even bought me a little necklace from the Jade Factory - ahhhhh how sweet

Lorraine at one of the many amazing stops we had in the mountains. Waterfalls and stunning scenery abound here.

Our final stop of the day was in a place called Franz Josef which is famous for its gi-normous glacier that spreads half way down the mountain. We booked ourselves in for a Heli-Hike for the next day & we were both really excited about doing it. The Heli-Hike basically involves us getting a helicopter up to the top of the Glacier & hiking for two hours in the ice before getting the helicopter back down the mountain. The morning of the hike we were up bright & early with lunch packed the works & arrived at the heli-center only to be told that our trip was cancelled due to bad weather on the mountains. They did say however to keep an eye on the weather because if it clears up that the trip will go ahead at a later time. Myself, Rob & 3 girls (Kaley, Adrian & Utah - the crazy German) off the bus sat pretty much all day watching the mountain with constant hope that the weather would clear & we would be able to do it! And to our sheer delight the weather did actually clear up at around 3 pm so we all went back to the office to check again if it might be possible. But once again we were shot down This happened around 4 times during the day & i dont think anyone lost hope until it started to get dark.We spent our 2 days in Franz Josef relentlessly watching the clouds & i can honestly say we were emotionally drained from the constant disappointment. We decided to do it on Mount Cook instead the following week so no great loss

We had to laugh when we saw this sign! A Photo Op if ever there was one!

After the trauma and disappointment of our 2 nights in Franz Josef we hopped on the same bus and made our way to our next stop in a small town called Makarora. The West coast of New Zealand is almost completely cut off from the rest of the island by the huge mountain range cutting through the middle of the island so the towns are all fairly small and the roads are just plain crazy! They wind down and around the mountains and back up again with drops on one side and sheer cliff face on the other. At one corner some of the crew on the bus actually saw a car sitting in the trees below the road! Anyway it was good craic on the bus as we stopped in a couple of places along the way for photos and lunch and what not. We arrived in Makarora which is pretty much just a tavern and a petrol station with cabins out the back where we stayed and then ventured to the bar. At the first mention of Karaoke everyone was predictably anxious (apart from me!) and Lorraine kept insisting she wouldn't sing, no way, she wouldn't sing at all and no one can make her.........in the end we couldn't stop her! It was a great night and we belted out some tunes!

Lynmoo and 'posse' rapping some Gangstas Paradise!

The next day we were hungover and up early on the bus to Queenstown. Lorraine died on the bus and had no voice at all from the night before! We stopped in an absolutely stunning town called Wanaka for our lunch and a trip to Puzzle World (Optical illusions and mazes and stuff) which we just couldn't handle at all in our condition so we drank them out of tea with another ill Irish couple!

There was time for the obligatory photo though!

Queenstown is the extreme sports capital of the world, if you want to jump off, out, or into anything, this is the place. But alas we are both poor and cowardly! A bad combination when it comes to any extreme sports which are damn pricey. The bus stopped at one of the bungy jumps on the way into town where some of the crew did the jump and we randomly bumped into my college mate Cara there. We arrived into the town which is another beautiful place set on the banks of an enormous lake and surrounded by large mountain ranges. Its just an amazing gorgeous location and we fell in love with the place spending the following 4 nights there.

Queenstown lake

The only half extreme sport we could afford was the luge. It involved us getting a Gondola up the mountain with amazing scenic views of queenstown below after which we had to take a ski lift up to the luge track at the top. We had 7 turns going down 2 different luge tracks. It was excellent fun & pretty daunting at times (only when Rob flies by on two wheels) although you can't help racing each other - its half the fun. We did a little birthday video for Mammy Mooney while up the mountain aswell - she said Rob looked a little tubby in the video ha ha

Lorraine in the skilift up to the start of the luge track with Queenstown behind.

Queenstown is probably the best location in New Zealand for a good night out. There are literally reams of bars & clubs to choose from & we thoroughly enjoyed sampling the towns nightlife with some of Robs college buddies. We drank cocktails out of teapots in the world bar with Cara, Aileen & Daragh which led to some pretty cheesy Robot Dancing which Aileen cant remember doing ha ha!

Lorraine at Queenstown lake

The following night we met up with Maeve & some of her buddies in town & we ate our first Ferg Burger aswell. Ferg Burgers are famous in Queenstown & im assuming its because of their size. The burger was literally the size of my head which is pretty impressive although it was only a quarter of the size of Robs head... need i say more ha ha!

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is a glacier valley which is now flooded by the sea & after hearing such good reports from everyone about it myself & Rob were quick to book our tickets to visit the area. The drive itself took about 4 hours from Queenstown which felt slighlty longer because our bus driver waffled the whole way.. on & on & on... New Zealanders just dont know when to shut the hell up! Anyway we did make some cool stops along the way stopping at the famous Mirror Lakes & The Chasm waterfall. We made our way up through the snow capped mountains through avalanche areas & also through the Homer tunnel to the beautiful coastal area of Milford Sound. We boarded a boat for our tour & spent two hours sailing around taking in all the stunning waterfalls, Dolphins & Seals.

Cruising around Milford Sound

It was a long day of travelling (8hours on a bus) however we thoroughly enjoyed it!