Well here I am in USA and going home tomorrow! (Hopefully!) Chris informed me that I really should blog one last time before I go so here it is...
Last time I wrote I was in Cairns. Went snorkeling again and it was SPECTACULAR! I kept getting water in my mouth cos I'd say things like "this is soooo beautiful!" out loud to myself with my head under water. Silly. But yes, fabulous. I highly recommend everyone goes.
That night I met with Sam who had been in the Pink Room with me in Mission Beach and we went for dinner. I was planning to go to bed early and pack etc but instead ended up drinking rather a lot of wine and watching some jelly wrestling with a bunch of boys from Bucks. (Wondered if we had any mutual friends until I discovered they were 18! 18!!!) Random, but excellent fun, and I still managed to get up in time to pack and make it to my plane on time.
Flights from Oz - NZ and NZ - USA were relatively uneventful. As ever, Air NZ was true to its roots and provided copious quantities of lamb, kumara (sweet potato), manuka honey and NZ ice cream. Num num num. Had an empty seat next to me on the NZ - USA flight which was good as I got lots of sleep.
Arrived in San Fran and lovely Caitlin was there to meet me. Bit of excitement going through customs as realised I shouldn't have brought some meat products over but somehow managed to charm the customs man and was the only person around who didn't get their bag x-rayed. He was very concerned that I'd brought over a kinder surprise which is apparently a choking hazard, so once I had assured him I had not he didn't seem so concerned re illicit animal produce.
Clakes and I wandered around San Fran a bit and went to cheesecake factory where I had delicious meatloaf (although Shepherd's Pie was also on the menu, please note mummy Mc) but then I got super tired so we went home.
The next day Caitlin and I went to Great America theme park - no Disney but very fun nonetheless.
The next day (no idea which day of the week, I have lost all track - probably Saturday?!) Alex, Shaun and Robert arrived and we picked up the minivan (people carrier) for the trip. Then off we went!
I have no hope of remembering everywhere we went, but here are some highlights...
AMAZING crater lake in Oregon, which was surrounded by 15 foot of snow and super impressive.
Excellent fun night out in Portland, Oregon with all the gang and also Nii who flew over to join us for a couple of days.
Yellowstone park which was also very, very spectacular. Lots of volcanic stuff and a big geyser which we had to wait a crazy amount of time for but was very cool.
Getting a stamp in my passport and a HUGE toffee apple in Canada, other than that I thought Vancouver was super ugly. But we also had delicious greek food mmmm lamb shank.
Shopping rather too much in Seattle, and a posh dinner there.
Ridiculous numbers of games of travel scrabble in the minivan.
All in all, good good times. Alex, Robert and Shaun are off today so Clakes and I are going to see some of the San Fran sights, then home tomorrow (hopefully - unless there are any more volcanic eruptions...)! Been fabulous but am ready to get back to fabulous Blighty.
Will probably blog for one last time when I get home, but until then... xxx
Thursday 22 April 2010
Monday 5 April 2010
I am in Cairns on the final leg of my Ozzie trip! Can't believe it!
So I spent a whole week in Townsville in the end, the hostel was just so chilled and lovely. Met lots of nice people there including a lovely German girl Alex who I went to the beach with several days (and discovered Cold Rock icecream - awesome flavours and then mushed up bits of any kind of topping you can think of mixed in mmmmm) and some more South Londoners (they really get around!) who I went on a monster walk with. Up this massive massive hill and they were rather a lot fitter than me and a tropical rainstorm started halfway up... so that was interesting!
Then headed from Townsville to Mission Beach, proper rainforest. Was chucking it down like I've never seen when I arrived. Got into a bit of a grump so decided to upgrade my room, ended up in a 4 bed girls dorm with all pink sheets and towels and stuff called the Princess room. Obviously I was loving it. Met a nice girl in there so we went out for a few drinks, the bar / club by the hostel was hilariously awful but was nice to get out anyways. She's coming to Cairns while I'm still here so we'll probably go out here too. Good times. While in Mission Beach I managed to use the little bit when it wasn't raining to go on a rainforest walk, was rather exciting. Lots of geckos and spiders and butterflies and birds, and even a squashed snake on the side of the road on the way back. Also saw some wallabies and black parrots while I was there, but still no bloody kangaroos or koalas! Boo Australia lying (lieing?! I never remember that one!) about its wildlife...
Now in Cairns, just been wandering around the town, it's very busy at night and has a cool night market. Can't believe I'm only got 3 nights left! Probably going to go snorkeling on Tuesday although depends on the weather, it'll be okay if it's just a bit wet but if it's as torrential as it was today I'm not sure how fun it will be. We shall see. Then off to USA on Wednesday! Will write more then. xxx
So I spent a whole week in Townsville in the end, the hostel was just so chilled and lovely. Met lots of nice people there including a lovely German girl Alex who I went to the beach with several days (and discovered Cold Rock icecream - awesome flavours and then mushed up bits of any kind of topping you can think of mixed in mmmmm) and some more South Londoners (they really get around!) who I went on a monster walk with. Up this massive massive hill and they were rather a lot fitter than me and a tropical rainstorm started halfway up... so that was interesting!
Then headed from Townsville to Mission Beach, proper rainforest. Was chucking it down like I've never seen when I arrived. Got into a bit of a grump so decided to upgrade my room, ended up in a 4 bed girls dorm with all pink sheets and towels and stuff called the Princess room. Obviously I was loving it. Met a nice girl in there so we went out for a few drinks, the bar / club by the hostel was hilariously awful but was nice to get out anyways. She's coming to Cairns while I'm still here so we'll probably go out here too. Good times. While in Mission Beach I managed to use the little bit when it wasn't raining to go on a rainforest walk, was rather exciting. Lots of geckos and spiders and butterflies and birds, and even a squashed snake on the side of the road on the way back. Also saw some wallabies and black parrots while I was there, but still no bloody kangaroos or koalas! Boo Australia lying (lieing?! I never remember that one!) about its wildlife...
Now in Cairns, just been wandering around the town, it's very busy at night and has a cool night market. Can't believe I'm only got 3 nights left! Probably going to go snorkeling on Tuesday although depends on the weather, it'll be okay if it's just a bit wet but if it's as torrential as it was today I'm not sure how fun it will be. We shall see. Then off to USA on Wednesday! Will write more then. xxx
Sunday 28 March 2010
Laziest yet
Power was back on as soon as I got back. Yay! Since everyone had been stuck in for 3 days 3 girls who'd been staying at the hostel a while and the manager were all going out. Me and the girl I was sharing a room with ending up coming too and it was a pretty crazy night. Hostel manager bought lots of drinks (I spent no money, yay me) and we had some fun dancing etc. Wendy (room-mate) and I ended up chatting to these firemen and long story short ended up back at the firestation (very innocently, don't worry family members!) with them, sitting in the fire-engine, playing with the sirens etc. Super fun times.
Then the next day I was ridiculously lazy, read a whole book, watched the sunset on the beach etc. Lovely. Then next day was the boat trip which was AMAZING. The speed boat was so fun, we were bouncing over massive waves cos it was still really choppy post-cyclone. I ended up hanging out with the sister of the boat's skipper so got to know all the insider info. We did 2 snorkels which were beautiful (and I got my money's worth out of my waterproof camera - took about 100 pics!) and the island / beach we ate lunch on was stunning too. Great lunch also mmmm, and free so no calories obviously.
Then next day I got a bus to Townsville, where I am now. The hostel I'm in is LOVELY, more like a guest house with hardly any people, really chilled and quiet, tv and fridge in room etc. Was on my own the first night, then 2 nice English girls second night, then tonight til I leave there's a lovely German girl. Lonely planet reckoned Townsville was amazing, it's actually a bit hick-ville-esque but I'm enjoying the chilling anyway so staying for 6 days. Having a good relax before Alex begins his regimented schedule for US when I get there in about 10 days. Went to the beach today, going to hit up the botanic gardens and do some walks and stuff, already got through a book and a half. Bliss.
Probably won't blog for a while cos I'm not doing anything! Heading up the coast a bit more in a few days to a rainforesty beachy place, then Cairns, then US! Can't wait to see Alex and Clakes (and pick up my new uggs that were delivered to Caitlin's!!) Miss you all lots xxx
Then the next day I was ridiculously lazy, read a whole book, watched the sunset on the beach etc. Lovely. Then next day was the boat trip which was AMAZING. The speed boat was so fun, we were bouncing over massive waves cos it was still really choppy post-cyclone. I ended up hanging out with the sister of the boat's skipper so got to know all the insider info. We did 2 snorkels which were beautiful (and I got my money's worth out of my waterproof camera - took about 100 pics!) and the island / beach we ate lunch on was stunning too. Great lunch also mmmm, and free so no calories obviously.
Then next day I got a bus to Townsville, where I am now. The hostel I'm in is LOVELY, more like a guest house with hardly any people, really chilled and quiet, tv and fridge in room etc. Was on my own the first night, then 2 nice English girls second night, then tonight til I leave there's a lovely German girl. Lonely planet reckoned Townsville was amazing, it's actually a bit hick-ville-esque but I'm enjoying the chilling anyway so staying for 6 days. Having a good relax before Alex begins his regimented schedule for US when I get there in about 10 days. Went to the beach today, going to hit up the botanic gardens and do some walks and stuff, already got through a book and a half. Bliss.
Probably won't blog for a while cos I'm not doing anything! Heading up the coast a bit more in a few days to a rainforesty beachy place, then Cairns, then US! Can't wait to see Alex and Clakes (and pick up my new uggs that were delivered to Caitlin's!!) Miss you all lots xxx
Tuesday 23 March 2010
Cyclone craziness
Sooo... I said goodbye to Sydney. Another fairly uneventful monster bus, main noteworhty points being the lady across from me crying at intervals throughout the journey, foolishly caught her eye as she was getting off so she felt the need to explain to me why she was crying - because her son was in jail at the place she was going on the bus and she was about to see him for the first time. Cheerful. Had some amazing spag bol at a service station... perfected my sleeping-on-bus stylings by using a pillow and several jumpers, pretty comfy.
Got to Brisbane, checked into hostel. Pretty nice, although very small room. Got chatting to some guy and discovered he was from Peckham rye, much to my excitement of course. Henceforth he will be known as 'Peckham boy' (hope you're reading this, Alan!) Err, what did I do in Brisbane? Can't be bothered to break down into days, but during the 3 days I was there I went to the botanic gardens (especially in search of the 'wedding garden' which I may or may not have found and may or may not have just been another patch of green, all very confusing), looked at (but didn't go on - learned my lesson from the terror of the one in Brussels) the Brisbane big wheel, went to the man-made inner-city beach, 2 art galleries, several tea shops to read my book, shopping, cinema (to see Dear John, great cheesey romcom). Think that's about it. Highlight was a hilarious and very random night out with Peckham boy involving bumping into someone he knew, crashing his friend's 21st birthday party and eating copious amounts of the free food, me then teaching various party-goers the dance to Poker Face (which I only realised as I was doing it that I don't actually know at all but discovered if you dance convincingly enough people believe you know what you're talking about), sneaking everyone back to the hostel, meeting another teacher (not that I'm a teacher anymore!!) from Bucks, and general good silly times.
After 3 days in Brisbane I then (despite all my better judgement / everyone I spoke to telling me not to) got the bus to Airlie Beach (where you get to the Whitsunday Islands from) which was hit by a cyclone the other day. The bus driver scared the pants off everyone by saying we wouldn't be able to buy water / food so to stock up before we arrived, which everyone did, then we get here and the pick-up guy from the hostel was highly amused by this as everything was fine. Of course in typical Jules bungle fashion, I managed to have booked (and paid for) to stay at the one hostel that's very slightly out of town and thus has no electricity still. But it's supposed to be back on today, and the up side to this is that I have a 4-person room to myself which is very luxurious (well, luxurious compared to sleeping with 7 people like I was in Brisbane, not that luxurious compared to the real world, what with the lack of hot water etc!). So have headed into town to get some electricity anyways, also booking a trip to the Whitsundays probably for Thursday on some kind of crazy speed boat so even if it's choppy it just makes it more fun (/ scary!). Hostel seems nice other than lack of electricty, they have a big screen cinema thing every night (assuming elec is on) and quiz night and stuff so seems pretty friendly.
Many apologies to daddy Mc who emails lots and I always forget to credit. Thanks also to mummy Mc, Holls, Trots & Claire for their frequent contact and especially to Chrissy for braving the wrath of the Wood senior by long-distance phoning me.
Back a month today! 2 weeks of sun (hopefully!) and beaches, 2 weeks of fun with Ally and co and then beautiful Blighty. All very exciting. Lots of love xxx
Got to Brisbane, checked into hostel. Pretty nice, although very small room. Got chatting to some guy and discovered he was from Peckham rye, much to my excitement of course. Henceforth he will be known as 'Peckham boy' (hope you're reading this, Alan!) Err, what did I do in Brisbane? Can't be bothered to break down into days, but during the 3 days I was there I went to the botanic gardens (especially in search of the 'wedding garden' which I may or may not have found and may or may not have just been another patch of green, all very confusing), looked at (but didn't go on - learned my lesson from the terror of the one in Brussels) the Brisbane big wheel, went to the man-made inner-city beach, 2 art galleries, several tea shops to read my book, shopping, cinema (to see Dear John, great cheesey romcom). Think that's about it. Highlight was a hilarious and very random night out with Peckham boy involving bumping into someone he knew, crashing his friend's 21st birthday party and eating copious amounts of the free food, me then teaching various party-goers the dance to Poker Face (which I only realised as I was doing it that I don't actually know at all but discovered if you dance convincingly enough people believe you know what you're talking about), sneaking everyone back to the hostel, meeting another teacher (not that I'm a teacher anymore!!) from Bucks, and general good silly times.
After 3 days in Brisbane I then (despite all my better judgement / everyone I spoke to telling me not to) got the bus to Airlie Beach (where you get to the Whitsunday Islands from) which was hit by a cyclone the other day. The bus driver scared the pants off everyone by saying we wouldn't be able to buy water / food so to stock up before we arrived, which everyone did, then we get here and the pick-up guy from the hostel was highly amused by this as everything was fine. Of course in typical Jules bungle fashion, I managed to have booked (and paid for) to stay at the one hostel that's very slightly out of town and thus has no electricity still. But it's supposed to be back on today, and the up side to this is that I have a 4-person room to myself which is very luxurious (well, luxurious compared to sleeping with 7 people like I was in Brisbane, not that luxurious compared to the real world, what with the lack of hot water etc!). So have headed into town to get some electricity anyways, also booking a trip to the Whitsundays probably for Thursday on some kind of crazy speed boat so even if it's choppy it just makes it more fun (/ scary!). Hostel seems nice other than lack of electricty, they have a big screen cinema thing every night (assuming elec is on) and quiz night and stuff so seems pretty friendly.
Many apologies to daddy Mc who emails lots and I always forget to credit. Thanks also to mummy Mc, Holls, Trots & Claire for their frequent contact and especially to Chrissy for braving the wrath of the Wood senior by long-distance phoning me.
Back a month today! 2 weeks of sun (hopefully!) and beaches, 2 weeks of fun with Ally and co and then beautiful Blighty. All very exciting. Lots of love xxx
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Kareoke, buses and beaches
Well, it's been a while! And I can't be long as am very randomly and last minutely meeting up with one of my girls from camp who's in Sydney. But being young and youthful as she is, she doesn't even go out til 10! Which is probably good, as means I'll be sufficiently exhausted to sleep tomorrow on the bus to Brisbane.
So... CSSSSWDCA'10 was of course a lot of fun. It rained and was cold so we spent most of the time sitting in the tent, drinking wine (WD) and playing card games. And chatting and catching up, of course. Happy happy days.
Then got back to Claire's and saw some more of Chip (more sitting around watching TV obv) and then me, him, Claire and some of Claire & Chip's awesome friends went out to fun fun Barry's for cheesey dancing and kareoke. Before which there were more silly drinking games at Snowy's. Including more jenga, equally stressful second time around. As predicted, much much fun was had by all. Claire and I sung Britney and girls aloud. Claire's friend Em is planning a trip to England in 2011 and already we have Christened it GA'11 in honour of girls aloud.
After a ridiculously emotional goodbye to Chip at the club we went back to Snowy's, slept, watched lots of Gavin and Stacey and then Chip came to pick me up to take me to the coach, thus making last night's emotional goodbye somewhat silly. So there was another emotional goodbye with Claire, a less emotional (due to the lesser amount of alcohol) than the previous night with Chip, and off I was on my merry 18 hour bus journey to Sydney. I was disappointed with the lack of stops for red rooster, and going to the toilet on the bus was somewhat traumatic what with the shaking and such, but I managed to sleep a fair bit and got to Sydney in one piece.
Checked in in the hostel and dumped my stuff, then headed out for a wander. Saw the opera house, used the toilet as recommended by my posh-toilet buddy Heffster, saw some other stuff. Went back to the hostel early due to tiredness, chatted to some hostel-folks and had a sleep. Next day I headed to Bondi which was full of attractive people (and lots of naked breasts!) and lazed and then did a walk which was APPARENTLY only 5km but I reckon was more like 10. But it was very picturesque anyway. Then I went to the cinema to see The blind side (sandra Bullock) - was excellent. Then naughtily saw Remember Me (Edward from Twilight) without paying - I figure acceptable since cinemas are ridiculously expensive. Also very good. Then bed. Then today I got the ferry to Manly, more beach action (my tan is getting silly - I keep catching glimpses of myself in shop windows etc and thinking what a great tan that tall lady has and then realising it's me!) and happy times. I have discovered paddle pops - delicious and low fat icecream mmm. Trying to diet after seeing v unflattering photos of my arm / lack of neck from kareoke. Ha. We'll see how long that lasts...
Then as I said, out tonight with Bogey. Will be random but nice to catch up. Not planning a late one but we shall see. Have also just booked my buses and hostels for the rest of my time in Aus which was exhausting but am glad it's now done.
Okay, off to make myself look slightly more presentable and then head on out. Hope everyone is well, I have to say people are lacking on the emailing / facebooking / texting front (noteable exceptions to Trots, Claire and Fruity) so buck up people. Miss you all lots, lots of love xxx
So... CSSSSWDCA'10 was of course a lot of fun. It rained and was cold so we spent most of the time sitting in the tent, drinking wine (WD) and playing card games. And chatting and catching up, of course. Happy happy days.
Then got back to Claire's and saw some more of Chip (more sitting around watching TV obv) and then me, him, Claire and some of Claire & Chip's awesome friends went out to fun fun Barry's for cheesey dancing and kareoke. Before which there were more silly drinking games at Snowy's. Including more jenga, equally stressful second time around. As predicted, much much fun was had by all. Claire and I sung Britney and girls aloud. Claire's friend Em is planning a trip to England in 2011 and already we have Christened it GA'11 in honour of girls aloud.
After a ridiculously emotional goodbye to Chip at the club we went back to Snowy's, slept, watched lots of Gavin and Stacey and then Chip came to pick me up to take me to the coach, thus making last night's emotional goodbye somewhat silly. So there was another emotional goodbye with Claire, a less emotional (due to the lesser amount of alcohol) than the previous night with Chip, and off I was on my merry 18 hour bus journey to Sydney. I was disappointed with the lack of stops for red rooster, and going to the toilet on the bus was somewhat traumatic what with the shaking and such, but I managed to sleep a fair bit and got to Sydney in one piece.
Checked in in the hostel and dumped my stuff, then headed out for a wander. Saw the opera house, used the toilet as recommended by my posh-toilet buddy Heffster, saw some other stuff. Went back to the hostel early due to tiredness, chatted to some hostel-folks and had a sleep. Next day I headed to Bondi which was full of attractive people (and lots of naked breasts!) and lazed and then did a walk which was APPARENTLY only 5km but I reckon was more like 10. But it was very picturesque anyway. Then I went to the cinema to see The blind side (sandra Bullock) - was excellent. Then naughtily saw Remember Me (Edward from Twilight) without paying - I figure acceptable since cinemas are ridiculously expensive. Also very good. Then bed. Then today I got the ferry to Manly, more beach action (my tan is getting silly - I keep catching glimpses of myself in shop windows etc and thinking what a great tan that tall lady has and then realising it's me!) and happy times. I have discovered paddle pops - delicious and low fat icecream mmm. Trying to diet after seeing v unflattering photos of my arm / lack of neck from kareoke. Ha. We'll see how long that lasts...
Then as I said, out tonight with Bogey. Will be random but nice to catch up. Not planning a late one but we shall see. Have also just booked my buses and hostels for the rest of my time in Aus which was exhausting but am glad it's now done.
Okay, off to make myself look slightly more presentable and then head on out. Hope everyone is well, I have to say people are lacking on the emailing / facebooking / texting front (noteable exceptions to Trots, Claire and Fruity) so buck up people. Miss you all lots, lots of love xxx
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Okay, so as I left you I was off to see Chip. As predicted there was some telly and some junk, also some delicious drinks that taste like sweets (or lollies as the locals call them). We went and looked round the touristy town near him and then had a chicken parma for dinner. These are Chip's favourite food and I have to say very spectacular. And exceedingly filling. The next day went we to the (huge) mall (where I didn't buy ANYTHING! Go me!) to buy a shirt for the wedding he was off to that day, where we bumped into seemingly everyone he knew, who was also last-minute wedding shopping.
Then we went for lunch in the BEST fast food restaurant ever. Called Red Rooster and it's like KFC but with delicious roast chicken not skanky fried stuff. Amazing. Then Chip dropped me off at Claire's friend Snowy's where I was planning an afternoon of more telly (are you detecting a theme here?!) but then Snowy's housemate John informed me we were actually playing drinking games (including drinking uno jenga - stressful!) so the telly fell by the waste-side and instead a night of ridiculousness ensued (but very restrained ridiculousness, don't worry mummy). We bbqed (very messily) a lot of sausages and had happy silly times. Oh just remembered I forgot to mention the AMAZING hail storm (see the link Chris found: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8550000/newsid_8553600/8553644.stm ) which was crazy and apparently made Chip / Claire's friend late for the wedding cos the windscreen of the wedding car got smashed! It was the weirdest weather I've ever seen.
Then the next day Snowy and his other housemate Em and Claire and I went off to Claire's favourite shop in the world, AGAIN I restrained myself (getting worried about not being able to fit my UGGs in my backpack) and then we went to red rooster again. Equally spectacular the second time. We then went to see Wolfman which, although not my usual cup of tea, I rather enjoyed. Had some disappointing strawberry sour belts (not as good as our faves Trots), should've gone for the chcoolate covered raisins. Silly Jules.
So that brings us to Monday, which was mainly spent sitting around watching TV (yet again) and I taught Claire the card game Slam (remember the happy hours spent playing that in the dining room when we should've been working in the library, CHS folks?!) which got rather intense also (who needs a job when you have all these games to provide daily stress?!) and Claire's mum made amazing lasagne so I was very happy.
Today Claire and I are off on the train / bus to the beach at Lorne for CSSSSWDCA'10 (see if you can work that one out, bet you a million pounds no one can). We're camping, which could be disastrous since it's been raining ridiculously heavily every night, but fingers crossed all the rain is now over and we're headed for 4 days of beautiful weather. Hmm... Back Friday or Saturday, then I'm going to Claire's favourite bar / club every (Barry's - featuring 'barreoke'- nice) and then Sunday night I am getting on the FIFTEEN hour bus to Sydney. Probably won't blog again til I'm there, so have a happy week all and I will speak to you from sunny (hopefully!) Sydney! xxxxx
Then we went for lunch in the BEST fast food restaurant ever. Called Red Rooster and it's like KFC but with delicious roast chicken not skanky fried stuff. Amazing. Then Chip dropped me off at Claire's friend Snowy's where I was planning an afternoon of more telly (are you detecting a theme here?!) but then Snowy's housemate John informed me we were actually playing drinking games (including drinking uno jenga - stressful!) so the telly fell by the waste-side and instead a night of ridiculousness ensued (but very restrained ridiculousness, don't worry mummy). We bbqed (very messily) a lot of sausages and had happy silly times. Oh just remembered I forgot to mention the AMAZING hail storm (see the link Chris found: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8550000/newsid_8553600/8553644.stm ) which was crazy and apparently made Chip / Claire's friend late for the wedding cos the windscreen of the wedding car got smashed! It was the weirdest weather I've ever seen.
Then the next day Snowy and his other housemate Em and Claire and I went off to Claire's favourite shop in the world, AGAIN I restrained myself (getting worried about not being able to fit my UGGs in my backpack) and then we went to red rooster again. Equally spectacular the second time. We then went to see Wolfman which, although not my usual cup of tea, I rather enjoyed. Had some disappointing strawberry sour belts (not as good as our faves Trots), should've gone for the chcoolate covered raisins. Silly Jules.
So that brings us to Monday, which was mainly spent sitting around watching TV (yet again) and I taught Claire the card game Slam (remember the happy hours spent playing that in the dining room when we should've been working in the library, CHS folks?!) which got rather intense also (who needs a job when you have all these games to provide daily stress?!) and Claire's mum made amazing lasagne so I was very happy.
Today Claire and I are off on the train / bus to the beach at Lorne for CSSSSWDCA'10 (see if you can work that one out, bet you a million pounds no one can). We're camping, which could be disastrous since it's been raining ridiculously heavily every night, but fingers crossed all the rain is now over and we're headed for 4 days of beautiful weather. Hmm... Back Friday or Saturday, then I'm going to Claire's favourite bar / club every (Barry's - featuring 'barreoke'- nice) and then Sunday night I am getting on the FIFTEEN hour bus to Sydney. Probably won't blog again til I'm there, so have a happy week all and I will speak to you from sunny (hopefully!) Sydney! xxxxx
Friday 5 March 2010
Telly tubbies, parrots and chicken poo
Well I know it has been a naughtily long time since I last blogged. I am currently at Claire's house near Melbourne (in the very pretty Dangedongs - or something silly like that - mountains / forest). Keep intending to go for a walk to see the wallabies (like small kangaroos) but you have to go at dawn / dusk and I'm too lazy to get up that early and dusk interferes with dinner. Got to get your priorities straight (food / sleep over animals obviously).
So what have I been up to? On Saturday Claire, Zan and I went to her friend's kid's party-themed birthday do, I went as a telly tubby in the end and Zan and Claire went as Bill and Ben. I will put photos up properly soon, or if you're on facebook you've probably already admired my profile pic of Claire and me. Other than that I've been pretty lazy. I went in to Melbourne one day and saw some more sights, also got the tram to St Kilda's to sample the cake shops since both Chris AND the lonely planet recommended them very highly (obviously Chris's recommendation was more important). Cake was indeed good - I had a mousse / chocolate thing. Zan and I also went to the tea room 2 minutes from Claire's where I had another good cake (raspberry cheesecake although the crust was too thick, school boy error I reckon). So lots of tea and cake as usual. The beach in St Kilda was also nice, and I got a lot of sand in Claire and Zan's bed while we were watching Dawson's Creek in it after (less annoying that getting it all in your car Lan?! Maybe not...) Yesterday I didn't get dressed until about 5 because I just watched Dawson's creek, although have also been doing useful / random chores like getting the chickens out and mopping up chicken poo. Ah, country life.
Today I'm going out with Chip (person I met second year at camp who randomly knows Claire too), or probably more likely sit around his house eating junk and watching telly like he did when he came to London. Possibly with his personal trainer friend with the amazing arms, or possibly not. Then Claire and I are going to her favourite shop in the world on Sunday. We're now not going to Sydney because she's a bit broke, we're getting the bus to camp at some nice beachy place nearby so that'll be fun. I'm still off to Sydney but a bit later, hopefully will meet up with some of Chris's lovely friends and also my nanny friend from Belgium Helen who is there at the moment too. I've also changed my flight so I'm going to US from Cairns instead of Melbourne, it seemed silly to have to faff about coming back down, and it only cost me $40 in the end so that was quite a bargain.
What else? Oh Zan and I made fondue which was very successful, only cheese and chocolate in the end cos the oil one we were going to do wouldn't work in the ceramic fondue pot. Got the fondue set for $2 - what a steal! Claire's mum is a great cook so I've also been enjoying lots of tasty baked goods and hearty meals, which is good since I'll be back on crappy easy food when I'm traveling again later. They have a dog that apparently hated Hull when he stayed but loves me, which obviously amuses me, and there are parrots meandering around the garden - very cool. Think that's about it. I'd love to say I've not blogged cos I've been too busy but really I've just done nowt to talk about! Having a lovely time though!
Right, best be off. Zan is trying to persuade me to build a bridge over the creek with him, but I reckon we should just watch some more Dawson's Creek. Keep in touch, still missing everyone lots xxxx
So what have I been up to? On Saturday Claire, Zan and I went to her friend's kid's party-themed birthday do, I went as a telly tubby in the end and Zan and Claire went as Bill and Ben. I will put photos up properly soon, or if you're on facebook you've probably already admired my profile pic of Claire and me. Other than that I've been pretty lazy. I went in to Melbourne one day and saw some more sights, also got the tram to St Kilda's to sample the cake shops since both Chris AND the lonely planet recommended them very highly (obviously Chris's recommendation was more important). Cake was indeed good - I had a mousse / chocolate thing. Zan and I also went to the tea room 2 minutes from Claire's where I had another good cake (raspberry cheesecake although the crust was too thick, school boy error I reckon). So lots of tea and cake as usual. The beach in St Kilda was also nice, and I got a lot of sand in Claire and Zan's bed while we were watching Dawson's Creek in it after (less annoying that getting it all in your car Lan?! Maybe not...) Yesterday I didn't get dressed until about 5 because I just watched Dawson's creek, although have also been doing useful / random chores like getting the chickens out and mopping up chicken poo. Ah, country life.
Today I'm going out with Chip (person I met second year at camp who randomly knows Claire too), or probably more likely sit around his house eating junk and watching telly like he did when he came to London. Possibly with his personal trainer friend with the amazing arms, or possibly not. Then Claire and I are going to her favourite shop in the world on Sunday. We're now not going to Sydney because she's a bit broke, we're getting the bus to camp at some nice beachy place nearby so that'll be fun. I'm still off to Sydney but a bit later, hopefully will meet up with some of Chris's lovely friends and also my nanny friend from Belgium Helen who is there at the moment too. I've also changed my flight so I'm going to US from Cairns instead of Melbourne, it seemed silly to have to faff about coming back down, and it only cost me $40 in the end so that was quite a bargain.
What else? Oh Zan and I made fondue which was very successful, only cheese and chocolate in the end cos the oil one we were going to do wouldn't work in the ceramic fondue pot. Got the fondue set for $2 - what a steal! Claire's mum is a great cook so I've also been enjoying lots of tasty baked goods and hearty meals, which is good since I'll be back on crappy easy food when I'm traveling again later. They have a dog that apparently hated Hull when he stayed but loves me, which obviously amuses me, and there are parrots meandering around the garden - very cool. Think that's about it. I'd love to say I've not blogged cos I've been too busy but really I've just done nowt to talk about! Having a lovely time though!
Right, best be off. Zan is trying to persuade me to build a bridge over the creek with him, but I reckon we should just watch some more Dawson's Creek. Keep in touch, still missing everyone lots xxxx
Thursday 25 February 2010
Tie me kangaroo down, sport...
Okay, so a lot has happened since I've last blogged and I've started to get confused. I may have to skip over the rest of NZ otherwise I'm just going to get bored (and, let's face it, so will you... cos if I think I'm boring goodness knows everyone else probably got bored about 10 paragraphs earlier).
SO! Went around the rest of NZ. Major highlights include staying at Lan's family member (2nd cousin or something equally distant)'s house on a vineyard and having a tour of the vineyard, as well as lots of free wine and a luxurious hot-tub. I'm sure we also saw lots of cool and impressive things but I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, apologies. We got the ferry back over to the South Island again and then off I went to Christchurch airport (after a bit of an emotional goodbye after the realisation that I may not see Lan again until my weddings - or her's but she claims she doesn't want one - and who knows if I will ever get married?!?!) and flew on over to Melbourne. Bit of disappointing PF (plane food duh) as advertised as chicken pie but was really just chicken in breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs do not = pastry. Silly air NZ peeps. Bit of excitement on the plane as was sat across the aisle from a sick person who was lying on a stretcher and had to have their blood pressure checked every hour. Obviously I didn't tell them I thought this was exciting but was instead suitably sympathetic. Watched The Soloist (very good) and The Invention of Lying (also very good).
Aaaanyways, got to Melbourne, got bus from airport, checked into hostel which was nice. Chatted to a girl who sounds JUST like Alannah (Lanny are you from Devon cos she is) who was very nice for a while until Claire arrived (after getting a bit lost, silly...) She had to go to work tomorrow so we just had a quick drink and then I got the train back with her just to keep her company, which also meant I could see Zan (who has grown a ridiculous moustache for all of those who know him and want to laugh) when he came to pick her up from the station so that was all very lovely.
Today I did the walking tour of Melbourne from my lonely planet, which passed FAR too many shops and thus forced me to buy rather too much (forced me!). Am loving Melbourne, is very different from NZ's beautiful scenic-ness but very cool. Lots of graffiti-type street art things which are fun, excellent cafes (I hope you visited lots when you were here Chrissy) and as I said, awesome shops with lots of pretty dresses (and shoes, and bags, and sunglasses...) Am still trying to find yellow face / body paint for my bananas-in-pyjamas outfit for Claire's friend's party.
Oh just remembered another NZ thing. Bought some 50c (c 25p!) amazing corn-on-the-cob and bbqed it, as recommended by these crazy tattooed biker guys who we met at a campsite (and proceeded to chat to all night - very random but cool) and it was delicious. So have now bought more corn (3 for 2$, not as cheap boo) which I will have to make do with microwaving tonight.
Just about to go phone the stand-by-cars people to hopefully get Claire & me a campervan or something to head to Sydney in - exciting times. I'll keep you all posted of course.
Hope everyone is doing very well. Will probably blog again once I get to Claire's at the weekend. Miss you all lots xxx
PS I heard there was more snow in London?! It's 30 degrees here teehee.
SO! Went around the rest of NZ. Major highlights include staying at Lan's family member (2nd cousin or something equally distant)'s house on a vineyard and having a tour of the vineyard, as well as lots of free wine and a luxurious hot-tub. I'm sure we also saw lots of cool and impressive things but I can't remember any of them off the top of my head, apologies. We got the ferry back over to the South Island again and then off I went to Christchurch airport (after a bit of an emotional goodbye after the realisation that I may not see Lan again until my weddings - or her's but she claims she doesn't want one - and who knows if I will ever get married?!?!) and flew on over to Melbourne. Bit of disappointing PF (plane food duh) as advertised as chicken pie but was really just chicken in breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs do not = pastry. Silly air NZ peeps. Bit of excitement on the plane as was sat across the aisle from a sick person who was lying on a stretcher and had to have their blood pressure checked every hour. Obviously I didn't tell them I thought this was exciting but was instead suitably sympathetic. Watched The Soloist (very good) and The Invention of Lying (also very good).
Aaaanyways, got to Melbourne, got bus from airport, checked into hostel which was nice. Chatted to a girl who sounds JUST like Alannah (Lanny are you from Devon cos she is) who was very nice for a while until Claire arrived (after getting a bit lost, silly...) She had to go to work tomorrow so we just had a quick drink and then I got the train back with her just to keep her company, which also meant I could see Zan (who has grown a ridiculous moustache for all of those who know him and want to laugh) when he came to pick her up from the station so that was all very lovely.
Today I did the walking tour of Melbourne from my lonely planet, which passed FAR too many shops and thus forced me to buy rather too much (forced me!). Am loving Melbourne, is very different from NZ's beautiful scenic-ness but very cool. Lots of graffiti-type street art things which are fun, excellent cafes (I hope you visited lots when you were here Chrissy) and as I said, awesome shops with lots of pretty dresses (and shoes, and bags, and sunglasses...) Am still trying to find yellow face / body paint for my bananas-in-pyjamas outfit for Claire's friend's party.
Oh just remembered another NZ thing. Bought some 50c (c 25p!) amazing corn-on-the-cob and bbqed it, as recommended by these crazy tattooed biker guys who we met at a campsite (and proceeded to chat to all night - very random but cool) and it was delicious. So have now bought more corn (3 for 2$, not as cheap boo) which I will have to make do with microwaving tonight.
Just about to go phone the stand-by-cars people to hopefully get Claire & me a campervan or something to head to Sydney in - exciting times. I'll keep you all posted of course.
Hope everyone is doing very well. Will probably blog again once I get to Claire's at the weekend. Miss you all lots xxx
PS I heard there was more snow in London?! It's 30 degrees here teehee.
Friday 19 February 2010
Another quick one just to fill you in on today because had a super fun day!
Yesterday we drove North from Auckland and camped some more. I'm feeling much less ill now by the way, just lots of nose blowing. Amusingly the lady said it was "perfect weather for camping, it's not rained here in weeks" and then of course it started howling a gale around 2am so we had to get up and shut all the windows of the tent and then of course I had to wee twice and our tent was miles away from the toilets and I got soaked. Anyways, that wasn't the point...
Today we went on a coach tour which involved driving up the beach which was very cool but main highlight was sand dune toboganing (sp?!) which was awesome fun. Obviously I fell off when no one else did. Silly Jules. We also went to some gum tree thingy which was good and generally it was a fun day. I also finished another book, which is obviously always a highlight of my day. OH! And the sandwiches on the trip were ace - triple decker ham / v tasty pickle / cucumber / tomato. I had seconds of course.
Yum yum yum. xxx
Yesterday we drove North from Auckland and camped some more. I'm feeling much less ill now by the way, just lots of nose blowing. Amusingly the lady said it was "perfect weather for camping, it's not rained here in weeks" and then of course it started howling a gale around 2am so we had to get up and shut all the windows of the tent and then of course I had to wee twice and our tent was miles away from the toilets and I got soaked. Anyways, that wasn't the point...
Today we went on a coach tour which involved driving up the beach which was very cool but main highlight was sand dune toboganing (sp?!) which was awesome fun. Obviously I fell off when no one else did. Silly Jules. We also went to some gum tree thingy which was good and generally it was a fun day. I also finished another book, which is obviously always a highlight of my day. OH! And the sandwiches on the trip were ace - triple decker ham / v tasty pickle / cucumber / tomato. I had seconds of course.
Yum yum yum. xxx
Wednesday 17 February 2010
"You bring the body and I'll bring the steam" (slighty saucy but relevant old-school song quote there)
Okay, so as I said we were planning, we've had a volcanic / hot stuff etc extravaganza in the past few days. I have completely lost track of days of the week so use your imagination / bonus points for people who can work out what days I'm talking about.
Went to Huka falls which was indeed a big and impressive waterfall. Also the
'craters of the moon' which did look like craters but big steaming ones like they were about to explode. Also saw some rapids which have a massive dam in them which is opened 4 times a day (largely for the tourists). A 2 minute warning goes off, hilarious numbers of tourists rush towards the bridge in a frantic panic, and then suddenly huge huge amounts of water come crashing through what was previously dry rocks. Pretty cool. By far the coolest thing around Taupo though was Orakei Korake (sp?!) or Hidden Valley as it is in non-Maori. It's difficult to explain (check out the photos) but was like being in another world of awesome colours and steaming things and bubbling mud.
After 3 nights in that camp site in Taupo we moved onto another campsite by the beach, which would've been awesome in theory except it chucked it down the whole time we were there so we saw no beach, just inside of tent. We also went via Mount Teranaki but didn't see much of that due to cloud (see photos again). Er I am getting really bad at remembering stuff. Maybe I need to start making notes?
Anyways, am currently in Auckland. It's weirdly huge and spread out cos all kiwis expect to have a house to themselves and a garden so even in the biggest city no one will live in flats. So even though there are only about a million or so here it's way bigger than London. But nothing old or pretty! We're staying with Lan's lovely friend (who is a chef, mmmm yummy food for Jules) and her hot rugby-playing boyfriend (who won't let me come watch him train, shame on him). Yesterday I went into Auckland on the train which was good. Lots of sitting around in cafes eating cake, drinking tea and reading my book ie ideal Julia holiday material. I was going to go up the sky tower which is Auckland's most famous monument (although I thought just a bit of a crappy version of the one in Seattle?!) but it was too cloudy so I didn't think it was worth the $30. Went to an art gallery instead which had lots of cool Maori and Maori-inspired art (as well as a cafe with nice cake!) so that was good too. Also did a spot of shopping, including some souvenirs for you lovely folks. Obviously the highlight was finding upwords in a whsmith-type shop, sadly not for 5pounds like the McKinley bargain upwords and I decided it was really too bulky to carry around the rest of NZ / Aus / US so that was distressing of course.
Woke up today with a nasty cold / tonsilitis-type thing so have spent the day watching the olympics, on facebook and reading my book. As well as eating far too many delicious home-made brownies. So again, excellent Julia holiday stuff.
Okay, I have been told that I need to ask more questions on my blog so here goes. Oh, and answer to glacier one was The Devil Wears Prada.
1) What is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere?
2) Why is the water in some super cool NZ lakes so blue?
3) Who sings the song of this blog title?
4) What is the acronym of Especially Super Terrific Umbrellas Are Really Yummy?!
Tune in next time for the answers...
One more week in NZ then off to Aus and Clairey! May not get on again before then so enjoy, savour the photos, and keep texting. Text thanks go to Fruity, Dave, Chrissy, Jim, Trots AND E-war this time. Well done people! xxx
Went to Huka falls which was indeed a big and impressive waterfall. Also the
'craters of the moon' which did look like craters but big steaming ones like they were about to explode. Also saw some rapids which have a massive dam in them which is opened 4 times a day (largely for the tourists). A 2 minute warning goes off, hilarious numbers of tourists rush towards the bridge in a frantic panic, and then suddenly huge huge amounts of water come crashing through what was previously dry rocks. Pretty cool. By far the coolest thing around Taupo though was Orakei Korake (sp?!) or Hidden Valley as it is in non-Maori. It's difficult to explain (check out the photos) but was like being in another world of awesome colours and steaming things and bubbling mud.
After 3 nights in that camp site in Taupo we moved onto another campsite by the beach, which would've been awesome in theory except it chucked it down the whole time we were there so we saw no beach, just inside of tent. We also went via Mount Teranaki but didn't see much of that due to cloud (see photos again). Er I am getting really bad at remembering stuff. Maybe I need to start making notes?
Anyways, am currently in Auckland. It's weirdly huge and spread out cos all kiwis expect to have a house to themselves and a garden so even in the biggest city no one will live in flats. So even though there are only about a million or so here it's way bigger than London. But nothing old or pretty! We're staying with Lan's lovely friend (who is a chef, mmmm yummy food for Jules) and her hot rugby-playing boyfriend (who won't let me come watch him train, shame on him). Yesterday I went into Auckland on the train which was good. Lots of sitting around in cafes eating cake, drinking tea and reading my book ie ideal Julia holiday material. I was going to go up the sky tower which is Auckland's most famous monument (although I thought just a bit of a crappy version of the one in Seattle?!) but it was too cloudy so I didn't think it was worth the $30. Went to an art gallery instead which had lots of cool Maori and Maori-inspired art (as well as a cafe with nice cake!) so that was good too. Also did a spot of shopping, including some souvenirs for you lovely folks. Obviously the highlight was finding upwords in a whsmith-type shop, sadly not for 5pounds like the McKinley bargain upwords and I decided it was really too bulky to carry around the rest of NZ / Aus / US so that was distressing of course.
Woke up today with a nasty cold / tonsilitis-type thing so have spent the day watching the olympics, on facebook and reading my book. As well as eating far too many delicious home-made brownies. So again, excellent Julia holiday stuff.
Okay, I have been told that I need to ask more questions on my blog so here goes. Oh, and answer to glacier one was The Devil Wears Prada.
1) What is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere?
2) Why is the water in some super cool NZ lakes so blue?
3) Who sings the song of this blog title?
4) What is the acronym of Especially Super Terrific Umbrellas Are Really Yummy?!
Tune in next time for the answers...
One more week in NZ then off to Aus and Clairey! May not get on again before then so enjoy, savour the photos, and keep texting. Text thanks go to Fruity, Dave, Chrissy, Jim, Trots AND E-war this time. Well done people! xxx
Friday 12 February 2010
North Island
Hi de hi kids, hope all are well.
Another quickie-ish one as am once again paying for internet.
Had very fun boat trip from South to North islands - the superbowl was on and we found some (hot) yanks to explain the rules and keep us entertained. Was cool.
Then we got into Wellington and the hostel was very nice. I got chatting to some dude in our room so we invited him out with us. We went to Jim's brother's pub in town and although he was working we got some free drinks and chatted with the very very drunk kitchen hand and another girl and it was good times. Lan and I then went to see Precious which was very distressing but made me think how I definitely do want to do my new future career so that's cool.
Next day (er, Tuesday?) we went to the NZ museum which was good and then I went shopping. Had to buy a new camera because I am a retard who takes my camera to the beach and gets sand stuck in it, the new one is very ugly (as waterproof) but has a special mode for taking pictures of food! How useful for me!
Then in the evening we met up with Jim's brother again (hotter, taller, less sillily facial pierced version of Jim, good times) and he got us way too much free wine. Went off dancing, met up with some of his work colleagues, happy days.
Next day Lan and I were suffering somewhat so in the confusion forgot to go to all the places we were supposed to go that day, but made it in one piece anyway. Camped that day, next day went to rugby musuem, town called bulls with loads of awesome puns (bank is called bank-a-bull, beauticians called beauty-fy-a-bull etc) and a few other places.
Now in nice new campsite, off to see hot springs etc today, weather is back to being sunny again yay. No money left so will say bye bye. Lots of love xxx
Another quickie-ish one as am once again paying for internet.
Had very fun boat trip from South to North islands - the superbowl was on and we found some (hot) yanks to explain the rules and keep us entertained. Was cool.
Then we got into Wellington and the hostel was very nice. I got chatting to some dude in our room so we invited him out with us. We went to Jim's brother's pub in town and although he was working we got some free drinks and chatted with the very very drunk kitchen hand and another girl and it was good times. Lan and I then went to see Precious which was very distressing but made me think how I definitely do want to do my new future career so that's cool.
Next day (er, Tuesday?) we went to the NZ museum which was good and then I went shopping. Had to buy a new camera because I am a retard who takes my camera to the beach and gets sand stuck in it, the new one is very ugly (as waterproof) but has a special mode for taking pictures of food! How useful for me!
Then in the evening we met up with Jim's brother again (hotter, taller, less sillily facial pierced version of Jim, good times) and he got us way too much free wine. Went off dancing, met up with some of his work colleagues, happy days.
Next day Lan and I were suffering somewhat so in the confusion forgot to go to all the places we were supposed to go that day, but made it in one piece anyway. Camped that day, next day went to rugby musuem, town called bulls with loads of awesome puns (bank is called bank-a-bull, beauticians called beauty-fy-a-bull etc) and a few other places.
Now in nice new campsite, off to see hot springs etc today, weather is back to being sunny again yay. No money left so will say bye bye. Lots of love xxx
Sunday 7 February 2010
'By all means, move at a glacial pace'
Haven't really been up to much since the last blog to be honest. Saw the glaciers as planned, they were impressive but not like I thought they'd be. Do I recall correctly, McKinley family members, that we saw a glacier somewhere and actually stood on it? Perhaps the Jung Frau Joch (sp?!)?? Or in Canada? It was very big and cool though nonetheless, and learned lots of interesting glacier-y type facts, such as that it takes 5 years for snow fall at the top to reach the bottom that's how slow they are.
More camping in a random little town with lots of churches that night, ate some kumara (sweet potato) chips which were delicious and a venison sausage which was less so. Beat Alana at spiderman uno, for which she threatened to drive off in the morning while I was still sleeping and leave me on my todd. Silly.
Then the next day involved huge amounts of driving in the heat again, once again I managed to get heatstroke / carsickness combo which resulted in my wandering around like a lost sheep feeling very rough. But then we arrived at Alana's lovely friend Renee's house where I have been fed like a King. Many many home-made puddings and sheep killed by the man of the house and veggies grown in the garden. As was suggested by a certain Mr West, like the 1950s in the nicest possible way... Yesterday I mainly worked on my tan (which is getting better all the time) but today it is cloudy (despicable!) so I have been reading up on Aus and preparing myself for AAAA (awesome around australia adventure). Looking into super-cheap campervan-hiring options - loving the image of me behind the wheel of one. The roads in Aus are easy, right...?! Am debating not doing the surfing tour to allow myself more time to get around, the lonely planet seems to think I should be staying about 3 times longer than I am. Hmm... Definitely will do at least a lesson though, who knows, surfing may be my secret sporting talent! (Somehow I doubt this, but you never know...)
Tonight I believe I am eating BBQ, perhaps with fresh fish caught by Renee's partner on his fishing trip. Oh I am spoilt. Hopefully the sun will come out later too. If not I am also enjoying my newest book (from a second hand book shop, not seen any book swaps lately sadly) about London in the plague. Am also reading the Kite Runner aloud to Alana (reminds me of happy teacher-ing times) which is good too. Also been watching some rugby 7s and deciding on my future husband - there's a very toothy one that I think I would have excellent smiley babies with - although sadly we are arriving in Wellington tomorrow and it's all over already. Silly timing Julia. So yes, ferry to Wellington (on North island) tomorrow then we're there in a hostel for a couple of nights. Then we're having a camping fest (hopefully will be less painful as have borrowed air beds from Renee - this has been officially approved as acceptable since i am working up to proper camping for all you doubters of my hardcore-ness out there) around the middle of the island before heading to another friend of Alana's in Auckland around Tuesday week. So probably won't be online much before then, but keep your emails /texts / facebooks coming, I'm having odd bursts of homesickness so it's very lovely to hear from people. Text thanks this time go out to Lanny and E-war.
Oh, and correct answer to the 'which is the most photographed building in the southern hemisphere question' was indeed Sydney Opera house. Well done to Lanny, Chris and daddy Mc for getting it right. Today's task is to name the film from which this blog's title quote comes from (Clakes, if you don't get it i'll be appalled!)
Bye for now, speak to you all again from the North Island... xx
More camping in a random little town with lots of churches that night, ate some kumara (sweet potato) chips which were delicious and a venison sausage which was less so. Beat Alana at spiderman uno, for which she threatened to drive off in the morning while I was still sleeping and leave me on my todd. Silly.
Then the next day involved huge amounts of driving in the heat again, once again I managed to get heatstroke / carsickness combo which resulted in my wandering around like a lost sheep feeling very rough. But then we arrived at Alana's lovely friend Renee's house where I have been fed like a King. Many many home-made puddings and sheep killed by the man of the house and veggies grown in the garden. As was suggested by a certain Mr West, like the 1950s in the nicest possible way... Yesterday I mainly worked on my tan (which is getting better all the time) but today it is cloudy (despicable!) so I have been reading up on Aus and preparing myself for AAAA (awesome around australia adventure). Looking into super-cheap campervan-hiring options - loving the image of me behind the wheel of one. The roads in Aus are easy, right...?! Am debating not doing the surfing tour to allow myself more time to get around, the lonely planet seems to think I should be staying about 3 times longer than I am. Hmm... Definitely will do at least a lesson though, who knows, surfing may be my secret sporting talent! (Somehow I doubt this, but you never know...)
Tonight I believe I am eating BBQ, perhaps with fresh fish caught by Renee's partner on his fishing trip. Oh I am spoilt. Hopefully the sun will come out later too. If not I am also enjoying my newest book (from a second hand book shop, not seen any book swaps lately sadly) about London in the plague. Am also reading the Kite Runner aloud to Alana (reminds me of happy teacher-ing times) which is good too. Also been watching some rugby 7s and deciding on my future husband - there's a very toothy one that I think I would have excellent smiley babies with - although sadly we are arriving in Wellington tomorrow and it's all over already. Silly timing Julia. So yes, ferry to Wellington (on North island) tomorrow then we're there in a hostel for a couple of nights. Then we're having a camping fest (hopefully will be less painful as have borrowed air beds from Renee - this has been officially approved as acceptable since i am working up to proper camping for all you doubters of my hardcore-ness out there) around the middle of the island before heading to another friend of Alana's in Auckland around Tuesday week. So probably won't be online much before then, but keep your emails /texts / facebooks coming, I'm having odd bursts of homesickness so it's very lovely to hear from people. Text thanks this time go out to Lanny and E-war.
Oh, and correct answer to the 'which is the most photographed building in the southern hemisphere question' was indeed Sydney Opera house. Well done to Lanny, Chris and daddy Mc for getting it right. Today's task is to name the film from which this blog's title quote comes from (Clakes, if you don't get it i'll be appalled!)
Bye for now, speak to you all again from the North Island... xx
Wednesday 3 February 2010
Camperific
Howdy ho, just a quickie cos I'm paying for internet, pah.
Have survived camping so far! We are hardly slumming it though as this place has internet, showers etc. Although showers are broken (so half price for the site) so cold ones = sort of hardcore.
Yesterday was crazy busy and involved getting up at six, a boat trip to a sound (which is apparently where the sea unexpectedly goes into a sort of lake type thing - who knew?!) and far, far too much driving, so today we have been super lazy. It's c. 32 degrees and I think I had a touch of heat stroke yesterday, couldn't form sentences properly when talking to guy in a hostel (although possibly was because he was exceedingly attractive?!!) so today I have been wearing my hat religiously and drinking lots of water. New hat actually - 3 dollar cowboy hat! Happy bargain days. Swam in the lake yesterday which was lovely. It's super pretty and mountainy and lakey and cool.
Tomorrow we're going to the glaciers which will be nice as hopefully it'll be a bit cooler. Hot weather is a bit of a shocker in February, but the tan is coming along nicely. Alana has got a rash from the suncream, teehee. Avacadoes have gone up to 2dollars in this touristy town, very distressing compared to the bargain 75c ones in Dunedin.
Only 48 seconds left so just time to say ta to Fruity, Dave and Trots for their texts. Keep 'em coming... xxx
Have survived camping so far! We are hardly slumming it though as this place has internet, showers etc. Although showers are broken (so half price for the site) so cold ones = sort of hardcore.
Yesterday was crazy busy and involved getting up at six, a boat trip to a sound (which is apparently where the sea unexpectedly goes into a sort of lake type thing - who knew?!) and far, far too much driving, so today we have been super lazy. It's c. 32 degrees and I think I had a touch of heat stroke yesterday, couldn't form sentences properly when talking to guy in a hostel (although possibly was because he was exceedingly attractive?!!) so today I have been wearing my hat religiously and drinking lots of water. New hat actually - 3 dollar cowboy hat! Happy bargain days. Swam in the lake yesterday which was lovely. It's super pretty and mountainy and lakey and cool.
Tomorrow we're going to the glaciers which will be nice as hopefully it'll be a bit cooler. Hot weather is a bit of a shocker in February, but the tan is coming along nicely. Alana has got a rash from the suncream, teehee. Avacadoes have gone up to 2dollars in this touristy town, very distressing compared to the bargain 75c ones in Dunedin.
Only 48 seconds left so just time to say ta to Fruity, Dave and Trots for their texts. Keep 'em coming... xxx
Sunday 31 January 2010
New Zealand thus far...
So I've been having fun here in NZ so far.
As I said we were planning to, went to the steepest street in the world. It was indeed steep. Even ran up the last bit though - get me! Had a delicious kiwi icecream too - hokey pokey (vanilla with lumps of stuff like the inside of a dime) and gold rush (honeycomb flavour with honeycomb pieces) mmmmm.
We then went to try and look for albatrosses and penguins but failed to find any, did see some fur seals though which were very cute (although apparently not nice at all and regularly attack tourists). I kept thinking I saw albatrosses but apparently they were just big sea gulls. Have seen lots of hawks and eagle-like things though which I think are cool. Also there are lots of farmed deer which Lan laughs at me for getting over-excited about every time.
Also took a photo of the train station which is apparently the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere. Prize for first guesser of most photographed. It's very obvious.
Then we went to the gardens of Larnach castle which were pretty cool. Did a native plants tour which involved me getting lost several times. Also got crazy hayfever and was sneezing the whole way round (not as badly as notorious hayfever with you e-war) but was interesting nonethless.
The next day was Cadbury world day. Yay! It was very interesting (did you know that England got chocolate 100 years after Spain because when we raided their ships we thought cocoa beans were sheep poo and throwed it over-board!) and got lots of yummy chocolate that we don't have in UK - my favourite was called Pinky - how apt!
Afterwards I walked to the Botanic gardens which were pretty. Was desperate for the loo and the toilets there were closed so I went in a public one that was very crazy and modern - it even talked to you! But then because I had headed to the toilet I managed to get very lost of my way to meet Lan at the police station and ended up back at the Steepest Street again (way back at the other end of town, oops).
The next day we finally emerged from Dunedin and Alana's house and headed down to Invercargill. We went via the Catlins national park and saw a waterfall (playing pooh sticks on the way - Lan had never played before - what a deprived child!) and Nugget Point lighthouse. Also had some more delicious bargain avacadoes, num num. We then got to Invercargill and lovely Alana's mum cooked us dinner.
That brings us to today (I think - I'm very confused on days at the mo). We went to Bluff which is the Southernmost point of NZ. Took a cheesy tourist shot under the sign that says how far to lots of different points. Over 18000 km to lovely London. Then we went to a beach that you can drive on just because you can drive on it, I paddled away while Lan sat in the car and looked at me like I was an idgit. After that we rolled to the Invercargill museum and looked at some lizardy thing that is a distant relative of the dinosaur and some maori stuff.
Then the highlight of the trip so far... MILKING A COW! Went to Alana's Aunt's farm and did some milking both by hand AND with a milking machine. I think I was pretty good, but apparently I wasn't. I was surprised by how modern and technical it was. Good times.
Aside from Alana: "Attempted to milk a cow but it didn't really work. Thought she was going to get kicked by the cow - which doesn't happen - and got paranoid as soon as the cow started to move. While posing for a photo she decided to squeeze the teet and wondered why the cow would move. As you can understand, I was in fits of laughter. When it came to using the milking machine she was ALRIGHT at doing it once she figured out which way it goes."
Now back at Alana's mum's watching the tennis. Off to glow worm caves tomorrow, then some more naturey stuff and then some watching crazy bungeers in Queenstown. Hopefully actually camping tomorrow - hardcore! It's boiling at the mo, lovely lovely. Not sure when I'll next be online, at latest at the weekend when we get to Lan's friend's house. Over and out for now. xxx
As I said we were planning to, went to the steepest street in the world. It was indeed steep. Even ran up the last bit though - get me! Had a delicious kiwi icecream too - hokey pokey (vanilla with lumps of stuff like the inside of a dime) and gold rush (honeycomb flavour with honeycomb pieces) mmmmm.
We then went to try and look for albatrosses and penguins but failed to find any, did see some fur seals though which were very cute (although apparently not nice at all and regularly attack tourists). I kept thinking I saw albatrosses but apparently they were just big sea gulls. Have seen lots of hawks and eagle-like things though which I think are cool. Also there are lots of farmed deer which Lan laughs at me for getting over-excited about every time.
Also took a photo of the train station which is apparently the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere. Prize for first guesser of most photographed. It's very obvious.
Then we went to the gardens of Larnach castle which were pretty cool. Did a native plants tour which involved me getting lost several times. Also got crazy hayfever and was sneezing the whole way round (not as badly as notorious hayfever with you e-war) but was interesting nonethless.
The next day was Cadbury world day. Yay! It was very interesting (did you know that England got chocolate 100 years after Spain because when we raided their ships we thought cocoa beans were sheep poo and throwed it over-board!) and got lots of yummy chocolate that we don't have in UK - my favourite was called Pinky - how apt!
Afterwards I walked to the Botanic gardens which were pretty. Was desperate for the loo and the toilets there were closed so I went in a public one that was very crazy and modern - it even talked to you! But then because I had headed to the toilet I managed to get very lost of my way to meet Lan at the police station and ended up back at the Steepest Street again (way back at the other end of town, oops).
The next day we finally emerged from Dunedin and Alana's house and headed down to Invercargill. We went via the Catlins national park and saw a waterfall (playing pooh sticks on the way - Lan had never played before - what a deprived child!) and Nugget Point lighthouse. Also had some more delicious bargain avacadoes, num num. We then got to Invercargill and lovely Alana's mum cooked us dinner.
That brings us to today (I think - I'm very confused on days at the mo). We went to Bluff which is the Southernmost point of NZ. Took a cheesy tourist shot under the sign that says how far to lots of different points. Over 18000 km to lovely London. Then we went to a beach that you can drive on just because you can drive on it, I paddled away while Lan sat in the car and looked at me like I was an idgit. After that we rolled to the Invercargill museum and looked at some lizardy thing that is a distant relative of the dinosaur and some maori stuff.
Then the highlight of the trip so far... MILKING A COW! Went to Alana's Aunt's farm and did some milking both by hand AND with a milking machine. I think I was pretty good, but apparently I wasn't. I was surprised by how modern and technical it was. Good times.
Aside from Alana: "Attempted to milk a cow but it didn't really work. Thought she was going to get kicked by the cow - which doesn't happen - and got paranoid as soon as the cow started to move. While posing for a photo she decided to squeeze the teet and wondered why the cow would move. As you can understand, I was in fits of laughter. When it came to using the milking machine she was ALRIGHT at doing it once she figured out which way it goes."
Now back at Alana's mum's watching the tennis. Off to glow worm caves tomorrow, then some more naturey stuff and then some watching crazy bungeers in Queenstown. Hopefully actually camping tomorrow - hardcore! It's boiling at the mo, lovely lovely. Not sure when I'll next be online, at latest at the weekend when we get to Lan's friend's house. Over and out for now. xxx
Thursday 28 January 2010
Good NZ times
So here I am in New Zealand!
Bit of a drama getting here, the plane from HK was late so I thought I was going to miss my connection. This was made worse by NZ's frankly ridiculous laws about bringing things into the country which meant that some silly little dog started waving its paws around by my handbag because I'd had an apple in it earlier (which I had eaten!) They then had to x-ray my bag which slowed everything down and I became convinced I was going to miss my connection. So this nice lady I'd befriended at HK airport gave me a lift to the domestic connection bit and somehow I caught the plane!
So Alana picked me up at the airport and we went to the hostel. We were in a room with 35 beds / "bids" as the kiwis would call them which I reckon is quite hardcore. We went out for a few drinks and then had an early night.
The next day I called up Sian and we met up with her in the centre of Christchurch. There was a cool busker's festival on which was full of random people doing random things like juggling fire on a unicycle or pretending to be mannequins and such ridiculousnesses. So we did a lot of that.
In the evening that night (Saturday I think, days have lost all meaning) we went to some pubs. Sian and I were boogying away to some crazy Irish music and befriended some equally crazily dancing kiwi boys who were very entertaining. They took us all to a weird bar called "the cleaning room" where we danced with hoovers and such (like the Britney dancing at mine andrew & chris!) and played limbo with a broom. Fun times.
Sunday we had a lazy day watching lots more busking shows and a concert in the park. We then went to a stand-up comedy show in the evening which was very good, aside from the kiwi in-jokes which I didn't understand.
Monday was tourist-fest day. We went on a punt on the Avon, a tram tour around the city and a cable car up a mountain. Or maybe a big hill, I don't know how one tells them apart... We then went back to where Sian is staying (lucky so-and-so has managed to wangle free accommodation for a month!) and she cooked a lovely chilli, then we went to another comedy show. This one was also good, highlight was when the lady was talking about naughty illegal things and asked if there were any cops in, Sian pointed out Alana who then got lots of abuse. Yay!
Tuesday Alana and I said bye to Sian and drove on down to Dunedin. We went a very long and round-about route to see lots of touristy places. The towns in NZ are ridiculously small and pointless but it's very pretty. I've never been so into looking out the window, beautiful. Loving the beaches, and the sheep dog statues too.
Yesterday I woke up late at Alana's in Dunedin and had the laziest of lazy days. Went to the supermarket, made a salad and some cauliflower cheese, lay around in the garden (at 4pm, with factor 30 and still tanned! amazing!) and had a bbq. Fabulous. Today I am being equally lazy although we're planning to go see some crazy steep street later and some birds. Got to love the random kiwi activities. Then Cadbury world tomorrow - yay!
Sorry this has been a bit long and boring. I will write again soon with some more amusing excerpts. Thanks again to the texters - this week's special mentions go to Lanny, Heff, Ed, Trots, Dave and Jim. Check out the photos if you haven't already, and keep in touch! xxx
Bit of a drama getting here, the plane from HK was late so I thought I was going to miss my connection. This was made worse by NZ's frankly ridiculous laws about bringing things into the country which meant that some silly little dog started waving its paws around by my handbag because I'd had an apple in it earlier (which I had eaten!) They then had to x-ray my bag which slowed everything down and I became convinced I was going to miss my connection. So this nice lady I'd befriended at HK airport gave me a lift to the domestic connection bit and somehow I caught the plane!
So Alana picked me up at the airport and we went to the hostel. We were in a room with 35 beds / "bids" as the kiwis would call them which I reckon is quite hardcore. We went out for a few drinks and then had an early night.
The next day I called up Sian and we met up with her in the centre of Christchurch. There was a cool busker's festival on which was full of random people doing random things like juggling fire on a unicycle or pretending to be mannequins and such ridiculousnesses. So we did a lot of that.
In the evening that night (Saturday I think, days have lost all meaning) we went to some pubs. Sian and I were boogying away to some crazy Irish music and befriended some equally crazily dancing kiwi boys who were very entertaining. They took us all to a weird bar called "the cleaning room" where we danced with hoovers and such (like the Britney dancing at mine andrew & chris!) and played limbo with a broom. Fun times.
Sunday we had a lazy day watching lots more busking shows and a concert in the park. We then went to a stand-up comedy show in the evening which was very good, aside from the kiwi in-jokes which I didn't understand.
Monday was tourist-fest day. We went on a punt on the Avon, a tram tour around the city and a cable car up a mountain. Or maybe a big hill, I don't know how one tells them apart... We then went back to where Sian is staying (lucky so-and-so has managed to wangle free accommodation for a month!) and she cooked a lovely chilli, then we went to another comedy show. This one was also good, highlight was when the lady was talking about naughty illegal things and asked if there were any cops in, Sian pointed out Alana who then got lots of abuse. Yay!
Tuesday Alana and I said bye to Sian and drove on down to Dunedin. We went a very long and round-about route to see lots of touristy places. The towns in NZ are ridiculously small and pointless but it's very pretty. I've never been so into looking out the window, beautiful. Loving the beaches, and the sheep dog statues too.
Yesterday I woke up late at Alana's in Dunedin and had the laziest of lazy days. Went to the supermarket, made a salad and some cauliflower cheese, lay around in the garden (at 4pm, with factor 30 and still tanned! amazing!) and had a bbq. Fabulous. Today I am being equally lazy although we're planning to go see some crazy steep street later and some birds. Got to love the random kiwi activities. Then Cadbury world tomorrow - yay!
Sorry this has been a bit long and boring. I will write again soon with some more amusing excerpts. Thanks again to the texters - this week's special mentions go to Lanny, Heff, Ed, Trots, Dave and Jim. Check out the photos if you haven't already, and keep in touch! xxx
Thursday 21 January 2010
Bye bye HK!
Just a quick one to say that I am flying over to NZ today. Very excited. Looking forward to the PF muchly of course (just realised I still haven't shared what the food was on the way here! Poor form McKinley).
Spending the weekend in Christchurch in a hostel with Alana and almost definitely seeing Sian too so I'm very much looking forward to that. Probably won't be online again for a few days but then I will be able to put up my photos and things from Alana's (as well as visiting the Cadbury's factory mmmm).
Yesterday I went to the Chinese garden as planned and it was very impressive. There was also a Buddhist nunnery which was interesting, and I found a nice English couple to chat too which was a bit of excitement (too much of my own company is starting to send me a bit loopy). Then had what will hopefully be my last Chinese pot noodle for a long time (also ate a massive tub of cherries - perhaps unwise before a 10 hour plane flight?!).
Thanks again to people who are keeping in touch lots. It's really nice to hear from everyone. And remember, I may be too cheap to reply, but my phone DOES receive texts! (Thanks Trots & Holls & E-war who are texting up a storm!)
Lots of love xxx
Spending the weekend in Christchurch in a hostel with Alana and almost definitely seeing Sian too so I'm very much looking forward to that. Probably won't be online again for a few days but then I will be able to put up my photos and things from Alana's (as well as visiting the Cadbury's factory mmmm).
Yesterday I went to the Chinese garden as planned and it was very impressive. There was also a Buddhist nunnery which was interesting, and I found a nice English couple to chat too which was a bit of excitement (too much of my own company is starting to send me a bit loopy). Then had what will hopefully be my last Chinese pot noodle for a long time (also ate a massive tub of cherries - perhaps unwise before a 10 hour plane flight?!).
Thanks again to people who are keeping in touch lots. It's really nice to hear from everyone. And remember, I may be too cheap to reply, but my phone DOES receive texts! (Thanks Trots & Holls & E-war who are texting up a storm!)
Lots of love xxx
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Disney over-excitement
So major highlight since my last blog is DISNEY!!!!
Went there yesterday on the MTR - they have a special Disney line with Disney trains with Mickey shaped windows and thingies that you hang on to... Very cool. And when you pull into the station the voice over says "have a magical day". Love it. I arrived and was ridiculously over-excited and grinning to myself. Most other people looked sort of miserable which made me a bit cross - hello, it's Disneyland! Silliness. It's ridiculously tiny and only has 1 proper rollercoaster (Space Mountain - not as good as the one in Paris OR Florida for you Disney geeks out there... ie my father) so that was a bit of a let-down. But never mind, I went to all the shows and they were great. Lion King show was especially cool (and Chrissy, unlike in London they actively ENCOURAGE you to sing along - yay!) and there was a 4d show which was also good (although they obviously only had 1 kind of smell squirter so you had the same smell for food / flowers / sea which was a bit odd). Discovered my eyes DO work with 3d glasses, so that's a relief (cos my eyes are a bit silly for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - speaking of which I keep forgetting to do my eye exercises, bad Jules). I ate some Disney-themed Chinese food (am massively on pastry overload - planning to eat salad for lunch. By choice! Crazy...) and went home relatively early. But a good day and I'm glad I went, and am looking forward to CA disney with Clakes even more now! And am possibly back wanting my Disney wedding again too... Hmm...
Blimey that was a long paragraph.
Anyways, other than that I've mainly been doing a bit of sight-seeing. Went up to the peak and to some more city parks as you probably gathered from my last post. Started a new book, hand-washed some clothes (feel like a proper traveler doing that!), read a bit about NZ. Heading to another garden/park place today to enjoy the last of the hot weather as it seems not that nice in NZ. Bit cloudy at the moment but hoping that's about to burn off any minute (although probably for the best - I'm a bit sunburnt! In January! Crazy!) so I can sit around in the sun reading my book. Lovely lovely.
Oh, and you'll be pleased to know that my McDonalds was every bit as delicious as I hoped.
Went there yesterday on the MTR - they have a special Disney line with Disney trains with Mickey shaped windows and thingies that you hang on to... Very cool. And when you pull into the station the voice over says "have a magical day". Love it. I arrived and was ridiculously over-excited and grinning to myself. Most other people looked sort of miserable which made me a bit cross - hello, it's Disneyland! Silliness. It's ridiculously tiny and only has 1 proper rollercoaster (Space Mountain - not as good as the one in Paris OR Florida for you Disney geeks out there... ie my father) so that was a bit of a let-down. But never mind, I went to all the shows and they were great. Lion King show was especially cool (and Chrissy, unlike in London they actively ENCOURAGE you to sing along - yay!) and there was a 4d show which was also good (although they obviously only had 1 kind of smell squirter so you had the same smell for food / flowers / sea which was a bit odd). Discovered my eyes DO work with 3d glasses, so that's a relief (cos my eyes are a bit silly for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about - speaking of which I keep forgetting to do my eye exercises, bad Jules). I ate some Disney-themed Chinese food (am massively on pastry overload - planning to eat salad for lunch. By choice! Crazy...) and went home relatively early. But a good day and I'm glad I went, and am looking forward to CA disney with Clakes even more now! And am possibly back wanting my Disney wedding again too... Hmm...
Blimey that was a long paragraph.
Anyways, other than that I've mainly been doing a bit of sight-seeing. Went up to the peak and to some more city parks as you probably gathered from my last post. Started a new book, hand-washed some clothes (feel like a proper traveler doing that!), read a bit about NZ. Heading to another garden/park place today to enjoy the last of the hot weather as it seems not that nice in NZ. Bit cloudy at the moment but hoping that's about to burn off any minute (although probably for the best - I'm a bit sunburnt! In January! Crazy!) so I can sit around in the sun reading my book. Lovely lovely.
Oh, and you'll be pleased to know that my McDonalds was every bit as delicious as I hoped.
Monday 18 January 2010
Some thoughts from HK...
Not sure I've done enough of interest to warrant a standard blog, so here are some Julia-thoughts for you all...
1) No matter what country I'm in, I really enjoy sitting around reading my book. Currently reading a crime novel I found in the hostel. Surprisingly good, like reading an episode of CSI.
2) Hong Kong streets are very crowded and everyone walks painfully slowly. Odd that I am the tourist and the one who wants to speed up... Perhaps because my legs are longer?
3) Lots of Hong Kong brides get their wedding photos taken in random places on the street. Best seen so far: outside a tea museum. (Possibly location for you Trots?!)
4) Are all cities' pre-pay train ticket thing named after a sea creature beginning with O? (Think oyster, now octopus...)
5) If your diet consists almost entirely of Chinese pot-noodles, greasy take-aways, fruit, ice-cream and chocolate, your stomach isn't going to thank you. (McDonalds for dinner tonight methinks, just to re-Westernise my insides)
6) It's not worth paying the extra to go to the viewing platform at the top of The Peak. It is, however, worth climbing the 105 steps to get to the viewing platform in Hong Kong Park.
7) I am developing a slight obsession with city parks. So far I have been to 3 here and loved them all. Sure the one in Christchurch with the folk band will be equally spectacular too.
8) Even if it's 20 degrees c, Hong Kong-ers look at you like you're a complete loony if you wear a shorts / vest / flip-flops combo.
9) Earl grey / green tea blend is delicious.
10) Being tall is still causing me problems. My legs are too long to fit in Hong Kong pedicure chairs properly. And I also bang my head a lot on the bars on the MTR.
That's it for now. Will write normally again soon. xxxxx
1) No matter what country I'm in, I really enjoy sitting around reading my book. Currently reading a crime novel I found in the hostel. Surprisingly good, like reading an episode of CSI.
2) Hong Kong streets are very crowded and everyone walks painfully slowly. Odd that I am the tourist and the one who wants to speed up... Perhaps because my legs are longer?
3) Lots of Hong Kong brides get their wedding photos taken in random places on the street. Best seen so far: outside a tea museum. (Possibly location for you Trots?!)
4) Are all cities' pre-pay train ticket thing named after a sea creature beginning with O? (Think oyster, now octopus...)
5) If your diet consists almost entirely of Chinese pot-noodles, greasy take-aways, fruit, ice-cream and chocolate, your stomach isn't going to thank you. (McDonalds for dinner tonight methinks, just to re-Westernise my insides)
6) It's not worth paying the extra to go to the viewing platform at the top of The Peak. It is, however, worth climbing the 105 steps to get to the viewing platform in Hong Kong Park.
7) I am developing a slight obsession with city parks. So far I have been to 3 here and loved them all. Sure the one in Christchurch with the folk band will be equally spectacular too.
8) Even if it's 20 degrees c, Hong Kong-ers look at you like you're a complete loony if you wear a shorts / vest / flip-flops combo.
9) Earl grey / green tea blend is delicious.
10) Being tall is still causing me problems. My legs are too long to fit in Hong Kong pedicure chairs properly. And I also bang my head a lot on the bars on the MTR.
That's it for now. Will write normally again soon. xxxxx
Saturday 16 January 2010
Ｈｏｔ ｃｙｃｌｉｎｇ
Hello hello, less exciting update for you today I'm afraid.
Yesterday I was feeling a bit uninspired (largely due to the darn loss of my awesome plan in my guide book) so did a lot of wandering around. Went to the ladies' market to try and buy some more shoes but once again my hugeness let me down as they only had ugly shoes in a big enough size. Silly Hong Kong-ers and their small feet / height. I went on the star ferry across the water (sea? river? I think sea right? Or perhaps it's an estuary?!??) which was cool. Er... sure I must've done some other stuff but can't think of it right now. Watched Miss Congeniality 2 in my room in the evening (told you today's update was less exciting!). So, boring to write about but I enjoyed the doing nothing.
Today I was planning to go to a museum and monastery so I got the MTR as planned. By the time I got there it was about midday and the sun was beaming down and I decided it was far too nice and hot to stand in a building. Hotness still has great novelty after the snow etc in England. So I meandered around a bit and found a very pretty park which had lots and lots of people on bikes. Then I saw a sign for a bike rental place and I thought, why not?! So I hired a bike and cycled along the path by the river for an hour or so. Very peaceful (most of the time, apart from when crazy children brake suddenly in front of you / people don't respect the one-way system / decide to cycle alongside each other kissing) and pretty, and an interesting juxtaposition of concrete jungle in the surrrounding area and trees, waterfalls etc in the park. A bit like Central Park in NYC I suppose. (Oooh I sound like a jet-setter when I say that! Ha!) And a bit like in Greenwich park where you can see Canary Wharf in the background. So like any city park then.. Hmm... Anyway so I tried to take a self-time picture of myself on the bike, I look ridiculous as you can imagine, I will try and put photos up tomorrow.
After I gave the bike back I wandered around the park some more and found a man doing a little performance thing with his guitar, I think he was singing in English but I couldn't work out what he was saying. He was quite good anyway (or maybe that's just because he was a man playing a guitar so I got a bit over-excited) so I sat and watched that for a bit.
Then I MTRed back to the stop near me and hit up the supermarket. I am doing very well at being budget-y and buying stuff in advance rather than in restaurants. Might even manage my 5-a-day today, good work McKinley. So now here I ａｍ ｏｎｌｉｎｅ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅｎ ｐｌａｎｎｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｗａｔｃｈ ｓｏｍｅ ｐｒｏｊｅｃｔ ｒｕｎｗａｙ ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ． Ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｇｏ ｔｏ ａ ｂａｒ ｏｒ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｂｕｔ Ｉ am far too lazy. Plenty of time for that in NZ / Aus ／ ＵＳＡ．
Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｏ ｃｈｅｃｋ ｔｈｅ ｗｅａｔｈｅｒ ｆｏｒ ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ ａｎｄ ｉｆ ｉｔ’ｓ ａｓ ｎｉｃｅ ａｓ ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｔｏｄａｙ Ｉ think a day in a different park will have to be arranged. Oh I ｄｏ ｌｏｖｅ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｌａｚｙ．．．１
Ｔｈａｎｋｓ ａｇａｉｎ ｔｏ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｗｈｏ ｈａｖｅ ｅｍａｉｌｅｄ ／ ｔｅｘｔｅｄ ／ ｆａｃｅｂｏｏｋｅｄ． Ｙｏｕ ａｒｅ ａｌｌ ｖｅｒｙ ｌｏｖｅｌｙ． ｘｘｘ
Yesterday I was feeling a bit uninspired (largely due to the darn loss of my awesome plan in my guide book) so did a lot of wandering around. Went to the ladies' market to try and buy some more shoes but once again my hugeness let me down as they only had ugly shoes in a big enough size. Silly Hong Kong-ers and their small feet / height. I went on the star ferry across the water (sea? river? I think sea right? Or perhaps it's an estuary?!??) which was cool. Er... sure I must've done some other stuff but can't think of it right now. Watched Miss Congeniality 2 in my room in the evening (told you today's update was less exciting!). So, boring to write about but I enjoyed the doing nothing.
Today I was planning to go to a museum and monastery so I got the MTR as planned. By the time I got there it was about midday and the sun was beaming down and I decided it was far too nice and hot to stand in a building. Hotness still has great novelty after the snow etc in England. So I meandered around a bit and found a very pretty park which had lots and lots of people on bikes. Then I saw a sign for a bike rental place and I thought, why not?! So I hired a bike and cycled along the path by the river for an hour or so. Very peaceful (most of the time, apart from when crazy children brake suddenly in front of you / people don't respect the one-way system / decide to cycle alongside each other kissing) and pretty, and an interesting juxtaposition of concrete jungle in the surrrounding area and trees, waterfalls etc in the park. A bit like Central Park in NYC I suppose. (Oooh I sound like a jet-setter when I say that! Ha!) And a bit like in Greenwich park where you can see Canary Wharf in the background. So like any city park then.. Hmm... Anyway so I tried to take a self-time picture of myself on the bike, I look ridiculous as you can imagine, I will try and put photos up tomorrow.
After I gave the bike back I wandered around the park some more and found a man doing a little performance thing with his guitar, I think he was singing in English but I couldn't work out what he was saying. He was quite good anyway (or maybe that's just because he was a man playing a guitar so I got a bit over-excited) so I sat and watched that for a bit.
Then I MTRed back to the stop near me and hit up the supermarket. I am doing very well at being budget-y and buying stuff in advance rather than in restaurants. Might even manage my 5-a-day today, good work McKinley. So now here I ａｍ ｏｎｌｉｎｅ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅｎ ｐｌａｎｎｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｗａｔｃｈ ｓｏｍｅ ｐｒｏｊｅｃｔ ｒｕｎｗａｙ ｔｏｎｉｇｈｔ． Ｐｒｏｂａｂｌｙ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｇｏ ｔｏ ａ ｂａｒ ｏｒ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｂｕｔ Ｉ am far too lazy. Plenty of time for that in NZ / Aus ／ ＵＳＡ．
Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｏ ｃｈｅｃｋ ｔｈｅ ｗｅａｔｈｅｒ ｆｏｒ ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗ ａｎｄ ｉｆ ｉｔ’ｓ ａｓ ｎｉｃｅ ａｓ ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｔｏｄａｙ Ｉ think a day in a different park will have to be arranged. Oh I ｄｏ ｌｏｖｅ ｂｅｉｎｇ ｌａｚｙ．．．１
Ｔｈａｎｋｓ ａｇａｉｎ ｔｏ ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｗｈｏ ｈａｖｅ ｅｍａｉｌｅｄ ／ ｔｅｘｔｅｄ ／ ｆａｃｅｂｏｏｋｅｄ． Ｙｏｕ ａｒｅ ａｌｌ ｖｅｒｙ ｌｏｖｅｌｙ． ｘｘｘ
Friday 15 January 2010
Trains, Planes, Fire Engines & cable cars...
Hello hello! Here I am in Hong Kong! I hope this is working as all the clicky things are in Chinese so I as confused as ever... I will try to be brief but inevitably won't, so here are the edited highlights if you can't be bothered to read it all:
1) Everything's fine
2) Fire alarm in middle of the night, made a friend
3) Cable car to monastery with friend, eat vegetarian food messily
Now here are the juicy details:
Flight was good, nothing note-worthy (other than the PF which I will leave 'til another day for you hardcore JRAWA followers). Decided to be super brave / budgety and get the bus rather than the train from the airport to the hostel (third of the price!) which was a bit of excitement and resulted in me asking the poor lady in front of me if we were at my stop every 2 minutes. Arrived in the end, walked to the hostel without any problems (apart from crazy people trying to sell me something every 100 metres, I learned quickly to stop doing Julia's friendly smile at every one and walk with my head down avoiding eye contact) and checked in.
Room was fine, small but very clean and lots of YWCA freebies like toothbrushes and soap. Absolutely shattered so went to sleep almost immediately (after a shower - washing my hair was somewhat challenging since the shower head was fixed to the wall at a height clearly designed for small Chinese people not giant Julia-sized people). And that is where the drama began. Circa 11pm (about 3 hours into my sleep) I am rudely awoken by the fire alarm. Oh yes, the fire alarm. It's loud. And I'm ten floors up. I put on my coat and shoes (and remember to grab my passport and money, my parents have trained me well!) and go and investigate. I was hoping everyone else would just be going back to bed but instead I am greeted by a crazy Chinese lady yelling "DOWN! DOWN!" in my face and pointing at the stairs. So down I go, half asleep, down 10 floors. Around floor 5 I notice there is somehow a massive rip in my pyjama trousers. Oh well, too late to worry about it then...
When I get down the fire brigade are just pulling up (very efficient) in two fire engines. There are about 10 firemen (none of whom are even remotely attractive, alas) all looking very excited. I take a photo, much to the amusement of my companions. Another girl (from NZ) is even more bewildered than me, she's super jet-lagged and starts asking me what day it is. We start chatting and from the moment she says "this is my first time staying in a hostel and look what's happened!" I know we are going to be friends.
Anyway, needless to say there is no fire. Someone was smoking in a non-smoking room. Nice one. So I walk UP (much worse than down) the 10 floors after arranging to meet Sea (NZ girl - from Thailand hence interesting name) the next day.
So Thursday arrives and Sea and I head off on the MTR. She's even more obsessed with food than I am so we stop several times on the way to the station to buy some- egg custards (mmmm Trots they're far better here than in UK) and weird beefy things on sticks and some strange waffle type item. All very tasty and surely an excellent test for my always-dodgy-when-abroad stomach (which, by the way, is currently fine).
We arrive at Tung Chung and head for the cable car. Sea is crazily scared of heights and I'm not such a big fan myself but we go for it nonetheless. Cable car heads up the mountain and we're not too scared apart from the fact that our cable car mates keep getting up and swapping places and generally making it shake. It takes about 25 minutes and is very pretty. We get to the top and have a look around. There's lot of touristy stuff (and a starbucks) but in my quest to be hardcore we by-pass the commercial-looking restaurants and eat in the vegetarian restaurant bit in the monastery. It's very tasty and I feel like a proper local with my chopsticks and soup spoony thing. My side of the table is rather messy whereas Sea's is completely clean and the inside of my spring roll fell out everywhere but I think other than that I did rather well.
We admire the big Buddha from afar (too lazy to climb up the steps after all the step-climbing we did in the middle of the night) and peruse some shops and then head back down in the cable car. We then have a look around a big outlet mall nearby where I buy some flip-flops after my forgetting-all-my-shoes bungle in UK and I also stock up on food to eat during the week. Bananas were only 30p for 5! Healthy bargain good times.
MTR back to the hostel, I say goodbye to Sea who sadly was only in HK for a day on her way to plan her wedding in Thailand (obviously we did lots of conversing re wedding plans / proposals etc) and then faffed about in my room for a bit before another early night. My jet-lag meant I slept from about 9 - 2am then was awake for 3 hours before sleeping 5-10ish but I feel vaguely refreshed today. I've somehow managed to lose my HK guidebook so no longer have my detailed plan of what I'm doing every day but I'm sure I'll keep myself busy.
Have discovered free internet here in the library next door to the hostel so I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks to those who've emailed / facebooked / texted - it's great to hear from people.
Over & out (for now) xx
1) Everything's fine
2) Fire alarm in middle of the night, made a friend
3) Cable car to monastery with friend, eat vegetarian food messily
Now here are the juicy details:
Flight was good, nothing note-worthy (other than the PF which I will leave 'til another day for you hardcore JRAWA followers). Decided to be super brave / budgety and get the bus rather than the train from the airport to the hostel (third of the price!) which was a bit of excitement and resulted in me asking the poor lady in front of me if we were at my stop every 2 minutes. Arrived in the end, walked to the hostel without any problems (apart from crazy people trying to sell me something every 100 metres, I learned quickly to stop doing Julia's friendly smile at every one and walk with my head down avoiding eye contact) and checked in.
Room was fine, small but very clean and lots of YWCA freebies like toothbrushes and soap. Absolutely shattered so went to sleep almost immediately (after a shower - washing my hair was somewhat challenging since the shower head was fixed to the wall at a height clearly designed for small Chinese people not giant Julia-sized people). And that is where the drama began. Circa 11pm (about 3 hours into my sleep) I am rudely awoken by the fire alarm. Oh yes, the fire alarm. It's loud. And I'm ten floors up. I put on my coat and shoes (and remember to grab my passport and money, my parents have trained me well!) and go and investigate. I was hoping everyone else would just be going back to bed but instead I am greeted by a crazy Chinese lady yelling "DOWN! DOWN!" in my face and pointing at the stairs. So down I go, half asleep, down 10 floors. Around floor 5 I notice there is somehow a massive rip in my pyjama trousers. Oh well, too late to worry about it then...
When I get down the fire brigade are just pulling up (very efficient) in two fire engines. There are about 10 firemen (none of whom are even remotely attractive, alas) all looking very excited. I take a photo, much to the amusement of my companions. Another girl (from NZ) is even more bewildered than me, she's super jet-lagged and starts asking me what day it is. We start chatting and from the moment she says "this is my first time staying in a hostel and look what's happened!" I know we are going to be friends.
Anyway, needless to say there is no fire. Someone was smoking in a non-smoking room. Nice one. So I walk UP (much worse than down) the 10 floors after arranging to meet Sea (NZ girl - from Thailand hence interesting name) the next day.
So Thursday arrives and Sea and I head off on the MTR. She's even more obsessed with food than I am so we stop several times on the way to the station to buy some- egg custards (mmmm Trots they're far better here than in UK) and weird beefy things on sticks and some strange waffle type item. All very tasty and surely an excellent test for my always-dodgy-when-abroad stomach (which, by the way, is currently fine).
We arrive at Tung Chung and head for the cable car. Sea is crazily scared of heights and I'm not such a big fan myself but we go for it nonetheless. Cable car heads up the mountain and we're not too scared apart from the fact that our cable car mates keep getting up and swapping places and generally making it shake. It takes about 25 minutes and is very pretty. We get to the top and have a look around. There's lot of touristy stuff (and a starbucks) but in my quest to be hardcore we by-pass the commercial-looking restaurants and eat in the vegetarian restaurant bit in the monastery. It's very tasty and I feel like a proper local with my chopsticks and soup spoony thing. My side of the table is rather messy whereas Sea's is completely clean and the inside of my spring roll fell out everywhere but I think other than that I did rather well.
We admire the big Buddha from afar (too lazy to climb up the steps after all the step-climbing we did in the middle of the night) and peruse some shops and then head back down in the cable car. We then have a look around a big outlet mall nearby where I buy some flip-flops after my forgetting-all-my-shoes bungle in UK and I also stock up on food to eat during the week. Bananas were only 30p for 5! Healthy bargain good times.
MTR back to the hostel, I say goodbye to Sea who sadly was only in HK for a day on her way to plan her wedding in Thailand (obviously we did lots of conversing re wedding plans / proposals etc) and then faffed about in my room for a bit before another early night. My jet-lag meant I slept from about 9 - 2am then was awake for 3 hours before sleeping 5-10ish but I feel vaguely refreshed today. I've somehow managed to lose my HK guidebook so no longer have my detailed plan of what I'm doing every day but I'm sure I'll keep myself busy.
Have discovered free internet here in the library next door to the hostel so I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks to those who've emailed / facebooked / texted - it's great to hear from people.
Over & out (for now) xx
Sunday 10 January 2010
Testing Testing
Obviously everyone will want to know what I am doing on my travels. So here is my blog. Fingers crossed I will be as ridiculous in print as I am in person.
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