Ahhh, aparently the best beach IN THE WORLD!

Yes you read correctly, I spent Saturday baking on possibly one of the most most beautiful and serene beaches in the world, speeding through and around some of these 72 tropical islands, lunching on healthy salads, cut meats and fruit whilst sitting cross legged on my sarong in the middle of a tiny strip of pure white silica sand, jutting out into the tranquill azure blue ocean. Pretty awesome way to spend a Friday hey!? Ooh and then spent the afternoon snorkeling, spotting huge Napoleon fish, these guys range from about 3ft to 6ft! & have humongas lips and huge goggly eyes and either come in silver or dark grey, brilliant and they always look so serious and lots of other yellow tipped fish, angel fish, parrot fish, the list goes on, and I saw my 1st clam, it looked a bit like a green curvy fish at first, with black spots, then I realised what it was and that that was its mouth or the opening to the clam, the body was covered in algiand stuck onto the side of the rest of the coral, love it! Ooh when walking on the sand though it was really strange, like sinking sand or mud for the 1st few metres when walking off the boat through the sea onto the shore, your feet just sink sink sink deep about nearly a foot into the sand, v strange and tricky to walk on, good for the old thighs though! and the sand is really cool, it never ever gets warm no matter how hot the temperature gets.
The day was so much fun and relaxing on this beach and in these magnificent surroundings was bliss.

Its so lovely to;

A) Be back in the HOT sunshine again

B) Get my freckles back & a lovely glowing tan

C) See such stunning beaches & tropical islands, exactly like out of a magazine

D) Snorkel again after so long, discovering again the fascinating & beautiful world under the sea

A moody day in Byron Bay

Acouple of days ago I visited Byron Bay. Its a small sweet town, a little hippyish (I think back in the day, a lot more so) but now its quite back packery, but has small clothes, souvenier & holistic shops & plenty of little eateries, (which you will be actually suprised to hear, I didnt sample, not one!) I arrived from Sydney late at night, tired and my hostel was quite large but very laid back, quite loud, funky and over run with little whipper snappers. But I did like it there and I had 3 sweet lovely girls as roomies. One of them was Andrea, a really pretty & friendly girl from London, we got on and in the morning we took a yoga class together, yes, thats right, me, back on the Yoga, limbering up & stretching, ready to take on the day ahead. Bugger, its raining! Hard. I have a yumi breakfast of eggs on toast and a hot ginger, lemon & honey drink and float off to bed for a couple of hours of reading and snoozing, not bad for a Wednesday, after all Id only get soaked if I ventured outside. After my lovely rejuvenation I head out into town, stroll around then venture to my all time favourite place. The Beach. No matter what the weather is like, the beach is always my calm place, and wonderful, always...
The rain had ceased, so I strolled along this rugged lanscape, watching the odd surfer braving the coolwaters & crashing waves, I do admire their passion, they seem to go out in all weathers. There were only a few people on the beach this breezy afternoon, a dad playing with his little boy, a couple more tiny families & people like me, solo, just strolling and taking it all in. The light & sky were incredible, the sky was soo sooo moody full of slightly angry dark grey clouds, lighter ones edging round them, the late day sun trying its hardest to shine and break through, creating a light but deep shade of pink behind the grey & little snippets of blue sky peeping out just hear and there as if playing a game with the rest of the grey sky, and losing, but trying none the less.
I only stayed 2 nights at Byron, I need warmth and sun, im getting there but bloomin rain is letting me down. I jumped on a flight, another one, you may be thinking, flights are the same price or nearly anyway as the buses and as this was the choice between a 24hr bus ride on regular buses (not amazing Argentinian ones) or a 1.5hr flight, its an obvious choice really, and there is something about floating around different airports thats makes me fel like a right jet setter, ooh get me eh!!
I headed to Airlie Beach which is about half way up the country on the East Coast. Its only bloomin raining all day here, well on and off anyway, but its defionatly warmer. I purchase some sun screen, be lovely to use it given half the chance! Had fresh fish cakes & calamari on the beach whilst reading my book and only went and nabbed myself a couple of lovely clothing bargains in the sale, in the shape of a pinky/ coral vest top for only 1 pound & such a cute denim coloured cotton dress that nips in at the waist, is sleaveless and just really cute and so handy for only 7 pounds. Brilliant. Am I a saddo that this makes me really happy.

Here, off the coast of Airlie, lay the Whit Sundays, they look so so breath taking, a cluster of 72 tiny forrested islands fringed with white white sand and blue azure clear & tranquil waters. Also apparently the best & most exquisite beach in THE WORLD! Whitehaven Beach, the sand is something like 90% Silica, (i´ll describe more ones I myself know more and have experienced this phenomenom for myself. Lots of companies run sail boat & regular motor boat trips, 1, 2 or 3 days to sail around and snorkel, dive & just bask in the sun and enjoy. Ive decided to take a 1 day trip, boats dont love me, so I dont want to push my luck by spending 2 nights on one! Maybe a speed boat, gliding through the clear waters and around the islands, bask on the ¨the Beach¨ for a couple of hours, snorkel, maybe see another turtle & these huge huge big lipped goggly eyed fish (ill find out the name) lunch under a plam tree, then be wisked home in time for sunset and a glass of wine (which by the way is quite rare these days) I´ll keep you posted on how this day actually turns out....

Sydney, Sydney, Lovely lovely Sydney

Yes, as you may have guessed from the title, I love Sydney, whats not to love. Firstly its Winter here and 16 degrees, bright blue skies & warm sun shine gracing my skin, so SO SO many shops in quaint suberbs, stalls, vintage & craft markets in public school yards, church yards & winding lanes. Adorable street side cafes, deli´s and of course cake shops. Mmm after brousing round one of the quaint markets above in a little area called Balmain, I happened to wander into one of these yumi cafe´s and purchase some Turkish cinemon & raison bread, which had cought my eye earlier in the day and I just couldnt resist a try. The lady lightly toasted it for me and put a littl lashing of butter on the warm toast, so it all melted and oooh it was soooo good, all warm, buttery, slightly sweet from the cinemon and gooey from the raisons, well, i would return to Balmain purely for this! Acutually, maybe ill do just that on Monday....

Sydney has an exhibition on everynight, well its a bit more like an art instalation, its called Vivid Light and basically they project images, text & pictures onto the most poinant buildings and landmarks around the city of Sydney, sometimes with acompanying music. The 1st one I caught was projected onto St Marys Cathedral, a huge gothic style cathedral in the heart of the city. It looked incredible, all vivid brigh tclours, text scrolling accross the centre, images of iconic people 40ft high, ever changing colours, all with the theme of history relating to that particular building. This was acompanied by a deep violin & digiredoo recording and large black bats circling over head, occasionally gliding accross the light path of the projector thus giving the whole experience a slightly eerire mood, fantastic, such a great idea.
The next night, after my day of exploring, I fould myself back at the harbour around sunset just in time to watch the night draw in over Sydneys impressive bridge & Opera House. It was stunning for those few minutes while the days orange & light blue sky melted into a deep bluey purple one with hints of yellows & magenta from amusement & harbour lights surrounding the bridge. It feels very surreal, having seen this landscape hundreds of times on post cards & tv, having drawn it in art work at school & now to be standing right here, pretty damn great indeed!

I popped into the Opera House to see what was showing and have a gander around, and noticed on the bulitin board that Vivid Light were doing their projections on the Opera House too, from 6pm. It was 10min too, so I waited and got photograhing like mad once all of these bright vivid patterns emerged onto the sides of the sails. My favourites were an orange & brown animal print & a bright purple geometric design. The sails & whole building together took on a whole new light & intersting glowing form. Its brilliant to experience such a light show, something so simple, transforming the way we see such an iconic structure - so So refeshing & WOW!! It wpuld be fab if the sails were actually painted in anilmal print! I think anyway!? Thoughts anyone???

This morning, on my way to The Rocks, a little area, just to the west of sydney harbour, I found myself walking through a pretty mall, so I wandered on in to a shop called What Alice Wore, or something along those lines, maybe referencing Alice in Wonderland. Well, a pretty black & white dress caught my eye, along with a couple of other things, but mainly the this dress, so I go to try it on and in the proccess, manage to get both shop assistants knocking on the changing room door offering my helpful advice & opinions, saying come out give us a twirl etc (Annie I could have done with your help at this point!) It looked really pretty, obviously, being totally honest, not completly nessesary for my trip, but having said that, sometimes a bit of retail therapy goes a very long way & im always looking for pretty dresses and rarely find them & actually, my total shopping budget in the past 10 months has been extreemly low, so, even though I actually left it on the rack and walked out of the shop empty handed, its on my mind now, and I think I will return there tomorrow too, and treat myself!

This was a very positive start to my Sunday, next I ambled up to The Rocks, I had actually intended to go straight to Circular Quay to take the ferry to Manly, lots of freinds along the way have advised me this was not to be missed. But, I´d read about The Rocks in my little free guide book and it sounded lovely and the weekends are a great time to visit such places as street markets are often in full swing then and all the people give the place a great buzz. It was buzzy alright, people everywhere, eating corn on the cob, cakes, popcorn, delicious looking wraps & drinking smoothies, wandering around all of the craft stalls, kids running about. After making myself tasty salads & picnicing for the last 2 days, I thought Id sample one of this lovely cafe´s delicacies today, so I purchased a wafer thin cut beef & salad wrap & a caramel slice, gotta keep my sweet tooth happy :) I ate half whilst sitting on a comfy seat in a sun trap & the other once I arrived in Manly and was settled on the golden beach.

So there I was, enjoying my ferry ride to Manly, sat in the open air at the front, drinking in the sun shine (goodness my pale skin needs this) when the man next to me pipes up some question or other, he´s about mid 40´s & english, we get chatting and turns out he´s here on tour, he´s part of Cat Stevens band (the other members are a few seats back) he offers me to join them for a spot of lunch, he´s friendly but I decline as I like exploring on my own and I have the 2nd part of my delicious wrap in my bag to eat on the beach. Then he says well if I would like to go to one of the shows, he can get me a ticket or a few if I want to bring anyone. I said this would be great, I think I was mistakenly thinking of Cat Power not Cat Stevens, (however I have since downloaded some on Cat Stevens music and of course know lots of the songs, think everyone does, but not really my thing, not enought togo see a whole performance anyhoo) anyway we swap emails incase I do want to see the show, say goodbye and off we both toddle in different directions.

Manly is bustling, its Sunday lunch time and the place is jam packed full of surfers bobbing in the water, young hip families taking their kids to the beach for the day, lots of pregnant ladies!? young teenage kids just hanging out with their friends, surfing, skate boarding or just relaxing in the sun, trendy couples strolling hand in hand, bare foot in the cool sand. Its so great to be by the beach again, I always feel a sense of coming home & tranquility as soon as I see the sea and set foot on the sand. I sit down inthe sunshine, let it warm my skin, eat my lunch and read my book, lovely lovely lovely.

I explored the botanical gardens, Sydney is still very green, and a lot of the land right next to the waters edeg is covered by parks and grass and the most magical tree´s, so that you can sit back and watch ove rthe bay with the obstrutions. But even the high rise fancy office blocks next to the harbour look all dazzling and cool, Sydney is quite slick but not in an overwhelming way.
Im off to exlpore again now before catching my flight later to the Gold Coast in search of hot hot heat and amazing beaches to kick back and laze on, ahhhh the bliss of it all, what can I do but smile :)

I flew!! Yes I sky dived!!!

On a sunny clearish blue skied day, icy cold in amongst the snow capped mountains of Queenstown New Zealand, on Thursday 10th June 2010, I, Catherine Donovan, sky dived from a teeny tiney plane 12,000ft high in the sky.
Heres my story...
So, as you may or may not know, I ve always wanted to sky dive, but never had the guts or been in such an incredible place to do it before, before now that is!

Id been thinking of doing such a thing for the last week, scenes as though I was in this incredible environment and on this amazing journey of mine, why the hell not, after all its good to do something that scares you every now and then, so I hear, but I think there is truth in that.

So, the day before on a day trip to Milford Sound, id met 2 girls and their mum who were all from Singapore, ill tell you about this great day on the next blog but for now, ill concentrate on my great story. The girls are lovely and had done this sky dive the day before and raved about it, so, I thjough, it was now or never. So, the next day, I oppted out o going skiing with them and booked myself on the 12:30 dive before I had a chance to think about it too much argh!!!

So, id booked it, just after breakfast and as soon as I did had about an hour of feeling really quite giddy with excitement and nerves. I just had to tell Age that I was doing this so we skyped and I think I was just laughing whilst sqeeling about what I was about to do, and with the time difference, he was just about to go to bed.

There we all were, our little group of about 12 people, all taking it in turns of 3 people to go suit up, have a quick breifing and disapear up up up high into the clouds in the tiny plane. I got chatting to a nice girl from America who was studying in NZ for 6months, it turned out we were to go in the plance and do our jump at the same time and we were the last to go up, so we waited & waited for about 1hr , on the ground watching all of the others go up, and sail down above us, untill finally it was our turn.

Jump suited up, tight harnesses on, pictures taken by fellow members of the group, quick intro with our tandem instructers it was time to board the plane. Still I was feeling calm, suprizilngly, excited but calm, not many nerves, cool as a cucumber, I was. We hoiked ourselves up into the teeny tiny plane, all sitting on the inside of our intructers legs, all v cosy indeed, 8 of us, sat on the floor in a tight row, no room to spare, the plastic clear door shuts and away we go. My goodness, the instucters are super cool (I mean this in a relaxed way, not cool cool) mine was called Caleb, easy breezy, making chit chat as we escalated higher and higher into QT sky. Stretching my neck to look out of the tiny porthole like windows, to catch glimpses of the Incredibles, this is the mountain range which runs down one side of Queenstown, they are so beautifl and picturesque, so this helped fill my mind and take it off this crazy thing I was about to throw myself into. All that I could see now was clouds,patches of crisp blue sky and these picture perfect snopw capped mountains. Oh my goodness. Still we hadnt buckled ourselves together, so I casually inquired, shall we get attached together now, get all buckled up so were ready, hmmm, yes yes, shall we do it now. Caleb just chuckled ¨yeah we´ll do it in a minute, dont you worry Cate¨ me, ¨ah ok, just making sure were all set, incase the flimsy door blows open, or you happen to forget were no attached to each other and everyone starts jumping and were not ready¨
But sure enough, 2min later, a bit of tugging on my harness, and awkward manouvering, half sitting on his lap while we get all strapped together, and were ready. Well, at this point, the nerves were starting to rise, and my breaths were pretty close together, and I was grinning a little too harshly.
The door slides open, cold Autumn air is now rushing into the cabin, 1st the japense girl is out, Ashley follows and then, bugger, were shifting the 2ft towards the open door of this tiny plane, im being shuffled along from behing by Caleb who is strapped to my back, and considerably larger, stronger and taller than little old me, I catch a glimpse, then a full on wide look of the huge expanse that is the world beneath us, a LONG long way down, OH MY GOODNESS, what the hell am I doing, what am I doing, nooooo, im being pushed, closer and closer to the door, I have no control now, (these thoughts are all in a matter of about 2 seconds only)
I dangling over the edge, about to fall 12000ft, OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! NOOOOOOO, im out! Im flying, my stomach is in my mouth, roller coaster style! the cold cold air is rushing towards me at record speed, its gushing inot my wide open mouth, which im having trouble closing, im desperatly trying to breath, but its so bloody hard, the mixture of excitement & force of the air are making it near impossible, the harness is tight agaist my throat and chest, my arms are outstretched, legs flung back, im taking everything in, the mountains are all around, everwhere I look, the turquise lake Whakatipu is shining brightly below, were still falling, falling, really fast, ive managed a breath and am concentrating hard on regulating this, tryiong to make sense of what is happening and enjoy this 45 second free fall. Then a small tug, time freezes for a second, feels like we pause mid air, then up we rise, and then the parachute is open, and were sailing, twisting and turning, everything is considerably slower, Caleb is in my ear asking if im ok, adjusting my tight harness, relesing some of the presure on my chest and neck, were now comfortable, my breaths are regular, it feels sooooo exhilerating, and So fresh and new, were sailing through the air, it feels really slow, almost like were not moving at all at some points, just suspended, hanging there amid this stunning back drop, drinking it all in, absorbing as much as I can before its all over and my feet are back on the ground. The view is spectacular, I feel slightly queesy, Caleb asks shall we do some twists & turns, Ok I say maybe just the 1, and we do, we spin in the air, like on a huge swing, around, spinning with the earth below us and my head in the clouds. Minutes later, the base & people below all take shape and start to get back top their regular size, were coming intop land, my legs are in the air, its happening fast and gently gently we touch down, im sat back on the grassy ground, safe and sound, smilig from ear to ear, in a daze, adrenelin running through my whole body and still, it all feels very sureal and like a dream. Amazing amazing amazing. I DIT IT WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!

P.S the pics dont do it justice at all but you get the general gist, me, sky diving company, quick prayer before we start, sexy jumpsuit (not) & me sailing down from the sky in a parachute

Its like another world

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Wednesday 2nd June
I made some friends yey! 2 french girls, one who is in my dorm and another and also an Irish guy who is also in my dorm. We all spent the day in one of the girls cars exploring the stunning clear water lakes and forrest land & stumbled across 2 waterfalls too. Its funny to be in a friends car driving around, I havent done that in oooo long. We had fun.
4 girls, a big bag of Peanut M&Ms and Sex & the City 2 woohoo! A great light hearted end to a really lovely day. Who would have thought Id be watching the SATC 2 this year with 3 gilrs Id just met on the other side of the world, not me!


Thursday 3rd June
I headed of to a magical place called Mai-o-Tapu, well, this was actually like walking around another planet! Its hard to describe, but you know me, I´ll give it a good go. Wai-o-tapu, what a magical place. It is in Rotorua on the North Island. Its a land of erupting geysers, smoke, hot hot steam floating out of vivid mineral pools & huge craters eroded by the poisenous gases that ooze out from the earths core beneath the ground. This place is like nothing Id ever see before. We started the day by watching the main geyser go off, this went on for about 30min! it just spued out warm foaming water for so so long (the foam was due to the soap like stick that the park rangerpopped into the top to regulate the eruption) I was thinking, there must be geysers like this going off all over volcanic land around the world, erupting despite being watched by lots of people each day, creating these hissing spurts of water every day, funny if you think about it for too long, as its obviuosly natural, its just I & most people arent used to seeing it, so dont really ever think about it or realize it exists. The rest of the national park is a glowing tropical, mist of steam, smoke, such vivid coloured pools ( my camera doesnt do the colours justice at all!!) I associate this place with one of those films where the world is ending & really bizare things occure, the earths core is bubbling up, and cracking and strange pungant smells fill your nostrils, it is like another World, another planet of a different temperature & unfamiliar surfaces, truely eye openig and wonderfu!. Ooh and there was a fantastic forrest too, all the tall tall trees looked like they had balls on top, clusters of leaves and bracnhes in a round shape and they all bent in and curved drastically in 1 direction, you know me, I love trees, enjoy!
My evening was spent in the amazing thermal baths, for the 2nd time that week! its just so so relaxing, calm, sat enjoying the hot hot waters on such cool days, underneath the stars ahhhhh.

Friday 4th June . Mamouth day of travelling from North to South island, this country is bigger than the uk, it takes a whike to get around. Bu the great thing is that the drives go through such stunning scenary its like going on a tour, and the drivers give you a running comentary of the places your passing including all the history surrounding them too, and they always stop for lunch and cake & coffee breaks, this isnt helping with my no cakes healthy living regium, Infact, I havent really got started on that yet! bugger, 2wks to bikini beach time! eeek! They even sometimes stop at farms & cute small villages on these breaks so you get to see a bit of everything, and then they drop you at your hostek door if your lucky, sweet!


Saturday 5th June
Woweee, Anna you would have loved this day, a whole afternoon of Marlborough Wine tasting mmm mmm mmmm. Such incredibly amazing tasting wines, from Sauvingnon Blancs through to Reislings, sweet and dry & again more oaky Chardonays. Ok, where to start....
Well.... myself and a girl called Ashliegh who I met at our cute hostel, which by the way makes chocolate pudding every night complimentary for its guests and has a hot tub. She is only 20, so such a young whipper snapper, and a chef at the famous Atul Kutchers restaurant, shes very focused and has worked her way round Michelin stared restaurants on this trip in South Africa, Sydney and will hopefully work in Gordon Ramseys restaurant in NYC too, impresive hey! So we were chauffered around, about 5 different vine yards in our little mini bus, all a bit different from each other, tasting the most incredible white wines. I just had to buy some dessert wine from a vine yard called Forrester, they ship some of their small stock to England so you know what I´ll be bringing to any future dinner parties or picnics! But they dont ship this particular dessert wine, its so complex, all warm honey aromas & delicate flowers, the various smells & tastes just float accross your tongue & up your nose, so before I even took that 1st small sip, I just knew it was going to be like no other dessert wine I had ever tasted, and I was right, so hopefully it makes it all the way back home and we can all share some after dinner. We drifted from place to place being educated along the way, and I can still safely say that NZ white wine is my absolute favourite and I will be looking out for all the different types that Ive had the pleasure of trying, along the way. Ashliegh and I rounded our day off with dinner aboard an old boat that was mored in the pretty harbour of Picton, which is about half an hour drive from Blenhium which is the wine area. I had good old sausage & mash as I hadnt had this in a bout a year! (like a lot things) and she had very large green muscles, I tried one as im not a musclefan but these were really big and meaty without that chewy or stringyness that smaller ones sometimes have. Bloody good ooh and of course we ordered a bottle of dry Reisling to wash it all down with. A few photos aboard the ship, and back home for hot choc pud and a soak under the stars in the hot tub, what a bloody great day! I love wine & travelling, yes I do!


7th June
Here I am in snowy Queenstown. I arrived yesterday, but nearly didnt make it at all as the bus route is through the mountains and the road closed for 3hrs due to all of the snow! Well as you can imagine, this snow delighted me. It was strange because I was travelling from rainy Christchurch and it was grey and cloudy and rainy most of the way and then all of a sudden it was snowing heavily, and looked like ti had been for some time in this area as everywhere was white with snow clinging to all of the branches of the beautiful tall pine trees which lined the mountains. Cars and vans putting chains on their tyres and everyone, including myself, getting snap happy from our coach seats trying to soak up and capture this amazimg winter wonderland! It was time to stop for lunch and to hear whether we could actually drive over the Lindus Pass and down through to QT. I practically jumped off the bus and straight into the deep deep snow, slipping and sliding as I went, hurriedly to the lake edge past grown people throwing snow balls and squeeling like kids. I had my walking shoes on but there not waterproof so given a few minutes and snow was creeping down the top of them and in through the mesh, oooh cold feet but, sod it, this was too much fun, I even fell over right on my bum and decided to make snow angels (I have a picture, asked a friendly New Zealander to capture it on camera) I hadnt seen this much snow in so so long. Its funny because ever since Patagonia, through to now here in snowy QT, I wake in my cosy bunk bed, wherever this may be, snuggled up in my duvet & cosy blanket and I think ahhh am so excited its Christmas yey! just for a moment, I think its Christmas time and then realise, oh, of course its not, its June! My seasons have been all topsy turvey the last year, ive been so so lucky to have about 8 months of summer time, a hot Christmas on a beautiful island relaxing on the beach & now, its June, England is having some sunshine finally, and here I am, wearing practically all of my clothes each day in the freezing snow feeling all festive in June!! Odd Odd Odd, and to top that off, am hopefully going to hit the beaches again in 2wks in Cairns or there abouts, I can´t bloomin wait! NZ is great and ive extended my stay here by 4 days to explore more, but the hot hot sun cant warm my skin too soon.
Well, to be honest Im tiring of hostel living at the moment. Sharing dorms (sometimes slightly smelly & cold ones) with a mixture of people, sometimes nice & friendly, sometimes a little bit odd or just very silent! Trying to cook in kitchens with limited & broken utensils around a million other people also trying to cook at the same time. Id love my own comfy bed with out the springs digging into my boobs & ribs! in a room full of just my things, all clean and smelling fresh. With a clean & non industrial bathroom, that I can leave my products in, and a clean organised kitchen with al of my lovely tasty food in the fridge and I dont have to label it or fear my treats being stolen by naughty midnight snackers. And if I fancy a lay in, I dont get woken by felow roomies turning on the bright light, rumaging in their ruck sacks and generally being bloody noisy and sometimes inconsiderate!
I dont think ive moaned so far about life on the road and general hostel living, and for the most part its great, the hostels are homely, quite clean and friendly and this is all part of the experience, but, do you know what, after a whole year of living out of my back pack, wearing the same clothes over & over and moving every few days to somewhere new, hoping hoping that it will be as good as the last place, does get a little bit draining at times, so the thought of home is a good one. It will be bizare, but exciting in its familiarity too. I think as NZ isnt as challenging as the rest of the places I have visited on this trip, and parts of the landscape and the people and easy going laid back way of life reminds be of the UK, I feel like im back in England sometimes buit without my friends & family and usual comforts I would have there. Im looking forward to the challenges and energy of India, after of course, the beaches, snorkeling, lots of sun bathing hoefully and diving in Oz yey!
Anyway, back to my time in QT. I took the gondola, as its called up a mountain today which over looks QT and the snow capped mountains that surround it. The place was covered in snow, love it! Took lots of pics over QT from above, walked a little, tried to get used to the freezing cold, and couldnt! then once back at the bottom, it was time for a hot snack, I needed warming up, I strolled along the lake edge and came across this sweet little shack, with this big fat man frying up lots of fishy goodies. I noticed something called Paua cakes and thought, yes, Ill have meself one of thise please! not knowing what Paua was, I inquird and its a large black shelfish, they mince up the trimmings of the Paua (as Paua is very expensive so gets shipped over seas) combine this with mash potato & onions etc and fry it. It was bloomin tasty, it looked a bit strange as was dark grey inside the patty but tastd good and was piping hot, and he also threw in a few calamari rings for me too, yuuummmmiii!!


9th June
I took a day drip to Milford Sound, this place is very beautiful and reminded me of a gorge in Mexico that Age and I wizzed through on a power boat. The Fiordland is huge thick forrested mountains that plunge into shallow water that was once glacial. The enormity of it all, whilst you sail through almost engulfs you and swallows you up. There are waterfalls cascading down the rock formations on the mountain side, seals lazing on the rocks, beautiful birds gliding in and around the boat and seals, and, wait for it! dolphins! out of no where, and so unexpected a couple of graceful cheeky dolphins decide they want to join our tour, they swim along side then infront oif the boat, as if guiding it through the shallow waters towards the opening to the sea. So so wonderful to see and then, 2 or 3 more of thier friends joined them, wizzing through the water, eyeing up the humans and just catching our eye, playing up to gthe cameras, and then they were gone, as quick as they came, into the icy clear waters. Incredible!! It was on this tour that I met Liz, Amy & thier mum Mel, they are from Singapore and are really lovely, we hung out for the next few days & when I go to Singapore on the 8th July for 3 days I´ll meet up with the girls then too, and we´ll go dancing and other fun things yey!! We ended our very long day with dinner in town, huddled around a log fire to warm up, eating chicken pasta & palying Monopoly cards, I´ll buy a pack for whe I get back, its lots of fun and un lik ethe boad game, only lasts 10min per game! I have to watch those girls though, they are sharks!! And Mel, she comes across as a bit dodery and claims to not know the rules very well, but she is cunning too.

June 10th
SKY DIIIIIIIVVVVEEEE!!! & Cocktals out fo tea pots and dancing, lots of dancing. So, as you know, today was the day I put my fears behind me and jumped out of a plane at 12000ft.
Anyway, after this I was to meet up with new found friends Amy, Liz & thier mum Mel for dinner. Well I got chating in the ever cosy hostel lounge with an English girl Ros and a Peruvian girl Fiorella (such a beautiful name) & german girl Christina, we all ended up playing cards, having a drink and heading out for diner togther, for Indian, WOW it was good and I hadnt had Indian and Naan for sooooo sooo long, mmm mmm, creamy Chiken Tika Masala & Kashmiri Naan, all coconuty & steaming hot, greeeaaattt! Ahhh the little things... So, after dinner we went to a bar where there was a live band, they sounded really good but the lead singer pulled a funny tight face when he sung he he! but the wine was good as usuall in this country & the roof actually opened in two, like a dolls house, amazing, you get to see the starts! and good ventilation too. Then it was off to a bar where they sold cocktails in TEA POTS, funny to try and dance around your tea pot & a bit tricky pouring cocktails, on the dance floor into tiny shot glasses,so much fun though! even though the averfage age in there was about 5yrs younger than me eek! and every so often, Ros & I would turn around and everyone would be snogging urgh!! - am I getting old!!??

11th June

Bit of a lazy day, helped the others try and find a house to live in in OT as they are all staying for a yr in NZ, then a lovely walk around the quiet lake, followed by us all heading down to Frg Burger, a very well renowned Burger joint in QT, its famous for a reason, they burgers are bloomin fantastic!!! mmm mmmm v hearty indeed, followed by a quick trip to the pub to share a bottle of NZ finest.

12th June
Dunedin here I come. Dunedin is on the East Coast and has the Otago Peninsula there which is jam packed full of wild life, this was what id read, so off I went to see for myself. I wasnt dissapointed. I arrived and quickly made friends with 2 boys from Argentina, this is easily done as Latino boys are always ready to chat to girls, they were sweet and we toddled off together to a hostel I had a brochure of. I had a little explore of the town, then, the next day booked myself onto one of the wild life tours. Its a little bit frustrating that you can only go up to half of the Peninsula by public transport and then not onto any of the beaches to encounter the wild life as they are all privatly owned by the farmers who own the rolling hills just infront, for their sheep to graze on. So, a tour must be taken. But, on the upside, you get a guide who knows exactly what she uis talking about, can show you all of the best spots, picks you up from town, then you go on a 2hr walk up and down these meandering hills in the brisk chilling sea breeze, coming face to face with huge beautiful powerful sea lions, dainty dodering Yellow Eyed & Haired Penguins & tiny Blue Penguins, cute Albatross & adorable Seals & lots of them. Well well worth it. I think the happiest I am on this trip is when being so so close to nature, stunning landscapes, graceful sea creatures whilst snorkeling or diving & strong wild lifeowning their space and allowing you a glimpse into their lives. It makes me smile - LOTS!! Ooh and as this type of Penguins dont like walking on leaves and path ways, the tour company is building them their preffered habitat of forrests & bushes & have laid an organic biodegradable carpet for them to walk on, how cute!!
We were very lucky, we ambled onto the rugged beach, and glimpsed at a tiny blue penguin sleeping in a man made hut, 2 little penguins waddling out of the sea, negotiating around the large Sea Lions, dozing like big lumps on the sand, treading carefully as not to disturb them for fear of being their midnight snack!! Did you know? that Sea Lions can actually walk, yes, they can! they use there 2 flippers at the front and their tale, which almost divides at the top into 2 to form 2 legs, they can out run a human - easily! and their tummys dont touch or drag along the ground whilst doing so, suprizing hey!? So, we had to walk slowly and quietly behind our guide, who was called Donna, so that if one did wake up and get angry with us for waking him, we could have a heads up on running the opposite way. Its so odd to be walking along a beach and there suddenly are 10 or so Large Sea Lions, sleeping on the sand, they are used to humans so luckily when we walk on by, cameras at the ready, 1 or 2 just opened 1 eye, tok a quick look of us up & down, then decided we wernt worth waking up properly for and put fin around their companion and carried on dozing. We tip toed to a man made hut at the other end of the beach, where we could get a look at more penguins etc and low & behold, a large friendly sea lion was right there, at the side of the hut, sat on his own, we dashed past him and in through the gate to saftey. From here we could peer over the barriers and get all snap happy and this was so great for me, him being this close as my camera doesnyt have a zoom so I could reach within a ft of him and take his portrait, which he loved by the way! See pics, he posed like mad for at least 20min, what a star!! OOh and I saw Albatross and their babies, which are actually bigger tan their parents and I met a lovely Mauri lady, see pic attached, she has the tatoo on her bottom lip and chin, she was very informative and chatty, like a cute grandma. Oh and did you know, that Albatros that are bvorn in NZ fly when they are 7 months old all the way to Chilie, then Argentina and around the Americas for 8yrs. It takes tehm 8 days to make the flight to Chilie and then they fly around for 8rs before returnig home to NZ, amazing isnt it. As their wings are so long and have an additional joint, they abuilt for gliding rather than flapping and so they glide so gracefully, then just rest on the water when they are tired. Clever and beautiful birds that they are.


Im heading now up the coast to Kaikoura to go Whale watching & spend a little bit more time by the sea, ive found that im happiest by the sea, it calms & grounds me, I dont even mind if its not hot sunny weather, its just lovely to be out in the open, walking on the shore edge, so close to this massive wide open space. Thats not to say im not counting the days ( 2 by the way) before I head to Sydney, where, fingers crossed, the heat will just rise & rise untill I make my way home to sunny England.

The weather was perfect in Kaikoura and I met a lovely girl at my hostel on the hill, we went for a long long walk the day I arrived right up the beach and around the rocky coast to see a seal colony, again, I came face to face with these beautiful creatures who were basking in the sun trying to have a sleep. The rest of my evening was spent cooking and then in the hot tub, yes anothe rone! its a bit of a constant in NZ hostels, brilliant! and I needed it as aprt from there and the lounge, the whole hostel was bloody freezing, I was up and down all night switching the tiny room heater on and adding yet more clothes, I ended up laying there in my little bed, shiveringyet wearing my wooley hat, 2 tops, a fleece, shorts, then legings & lama socks and still it was cold, and im normally like a human radiator, I had a word in the morning, not v happy. But my day got better and better as the sun was shining, the sea was calm and off I went to watch Sperm Whales yey!!! Id never seen a Whale in their natural habitat before (Shamooo at Sea World sadly doesnt count) it was good, and we were very fortuanate indeed to see 9 whales, but they dont dovery much, they float on the top of the water, and they are huge so thats impressive, they spurt water out of their noses every 15 sec and then they dive far uunderneath for 40min untill their breath runs out, this is the best bit as they flick their enormous tales into the air while doing so and this creates a stunning scene, that I never tired of watching!

Well, Im actually in Oz now, after my short and sweet flight. I must say I am very impressed with Quantas Air, the staf are very friendly, the food is really quite good I hate to admit! and the films are always current, I sipped G&T, it went down very nicely, ate my creamy curry, butter chicken & rice along with a light green salad, followed by a Cadburys chocolate mint, all while watchig Ewan McGregor do his thing as a ghost writer in the fim, then just as I thought I was being passed a warm face towel, I had a lovely suprize as it was actually an ice cream covered in nutty milk chocolate, well, you can imagine how happy this made me indeed! yes, I do like Quantas.

Sydney is brilllliiiannt!!! I´ll tell you more, I promise, asap, but for now, after a long day of sight seeing , a picnic in the sun opposite the opera house, window shopping ahhGold Coast and praying for hot sunshiney beach weather! & a pedicure & manicure that was long over due, im so very tired, I must sleep.... xxx