New Zealand 6 A Few Choice Words

 So, Matt went down back to Tairua with the couple while I stayed behind to sulk.

To make a long story a bit shorter, the rental company called a mechanic who could not unlock the steering column and eventually, to our dismay, broke about the entire ignition and steering column. By the time he was done, there was no key hole or even a place to put a key. We called the rental company again and they suggested we drive the van with a screw driver acting as the key.

Needless to say, we were not happy campers. I had more than a few choice words for the manager and he was actually speechless by the time I was out of breath. So, we informed him that we were bringing the vehicle back and expected a full refund.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 5 And Then... Nothing

 This time, we made it a couple hours north of Auckland to a small seaside town, just lovely, called Tairua. We had a nice, leisurely lunch by the water, had an ice cream and were on our way again. We were headed for Hot Water Beach, a famous little place on the coast where you rent a spade, dig a hole and lay in a hot water pool. We were really looking forward to it. We got about 10-15 minutes up the mountain to a prettyish

lookout and after a quick stop, got back into our van to continue and then..... nothing. The key simply would not turn - the whole steering column was locked up. At first we thought it was just a safety lock so we tried different things to disengage but.... nothing. We were quite anxious to get back on the road so we asked a couple to try and have a go at it. Both the husband and wife tried to turn the key but.... nothing.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 4 Until-Your-Teeth-Rattle

 We picked up the van first thing this morning and paid, upfront, for 49 days. Hurt a little, as it was a tremendous amount of money, even with the exchange rate. We got about, oh, 15 minutes out of the city on the expressway and the van began to shake violently. Not a gentle shake, not a mis-alignment, a jolting shake-your-bones-until-your-teeth-rattle sort of shake. A little alarmed, we pulled off and called the rental company. They took it all in stride  (maybe they get these calls often?!) and said "no, problem, bring it back". So we made our way back into the city, switched out the van and after an hour or so, we were on our way
again.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 3 Chinese Lantern Festival

 Last night we went to the Chinese Lantern Festival and it was fantastic. We ate lots of street vendor food, enjoying every bit, as we know we will NOT be able to do this in Asia. There were several performances, my favorite being the traditional culture dances. Once it got dark, the colored lanterns were all lit in the park and it was really beautiful.

We spent the day walking around the city trying to find a respectable place to rent a camper van. Unfortunately,  all the respectable places were booked clear through to the third week of March. So we settled for a cheap rental company that had vans on hand that were a little "used". We put down a deposit and pick up the van tomorrow. Decided not to go the "tourist bus" route as we want to experience New Zealand at our own pace. Later in the afternoon, we walked to Victoria Street Market (a very long walk) to check out some of the craft jewelry. I bought a few pieces and some old coins, nothing much. Off to bed early so we can pick up the van first thing.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 2 Non-Tipping

 Matt here.. Well...we're finally trekkers/ backpackers. We stayed in our first hostel last night which is also the cheapest in the area. It wasn't too bad, different, but not too bad. Auckland is a real neat city. 

It's a big city, but not a lot of people and quite clean for it's size. We're still getting used to the non-tipping thing. Most countries outside the US don't leave a tip after the meal, but the price seems to include a reasonable tip. Nevertheless, after tipping for the last 10 years, it does feel a bit awkward. I will admit that I do like it this way and it makes my life simpler.

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

New Zealand 1 Auckland

Cynthia here.....I love Auckland! it is a great city, really clean. We spent the day looking around town and basically just getting our bearings. the viaduct harbor area is very nice, lots of trendy restaurants and bars. 

I took lots of pictures of the city and will get them up as soon as I can. we have already found lots to do here but are limiting ourselves to about 3 more days in auckland. matt is looking into all of the "backpacker bus tour" options which take you around both the north and south island. you just pay for the areas you want to visit and get on and off the bus as you please. I think it will be perfect for us. 

today we visited the auckland art gallery and it was very nice but with limited works. we also went to the SkyTower and Casino which supposedly offers the best vantage point of the city but we did not pay the $18 per person to go to the top. we were told that there is a summit walk on a volcano that offers views that are comparable (and free) so we will check that out tommorow. for lunch today we had authentic (hong kong style) chinese food and it was delicious, fantastic really. and all for $8! I think we have found where we will eat for the next few days :-)

Matt and Cynthia (to be continued) 

Australia 3 Visiting Oz’s Red Center & the Wildly Popular East Coast

Having seen only very brief sunshine in the outback, which is rare, I needed the coast so I jumped a flight to Cairns.

Over the summer in LA, I went to Catalina Island just so that I could obtain my driver’s certification and be ready to spend several days on the Great Barrier Reef and the UNESCO World Heritage listed Daintree Rainforest. 

I booked the Greyhound down the east coast of Oz and stopped to sail the Whitsunday Islands for Christmas and to drive across Fraser Island for my 25th birthday. Both were gorgeous and good fun since I was on tours filled with other backpackers. I joined up with two German women for New Years in Noosa and surf lessons in Byron Bay. Which, for the record, I was terrible at doing — I need to either invest in lessons or never hit the surf again. 

Shannon O’Donnell Shannon O’Donnell (to be continued) 

Australia 2 Couchsurfing

 Instead of taking the more common route from Sydney to Cairns, I meandered down the coast of New South Wales (because, kangaroos!). 

I eventually landed in Melbourne, where I couchsurfed for a week with my buddy Row, who had actually couchsurfed with me in LA earlier that year. 

Not one to miss the highlights of any new place, I hit up the stunningly pretty Great Ocean Road, and visited the parade of tiny fairy penguins on Phillip Island. 

Instead of taking the backpacker bus, I splurged on a quick flight to Alice Springs, which was my launching point to the Australian outback and the iconic Uluru (Ayers Rock) (where it rained and rained!). 

Shannon O’Donnell (to be continued)  

Australia - Backpackers Are A Friendly Lot

My decision to start in Australia mostly stemmed from the fact that I was living in Los Angeles at the time. I booked a one-way ticket from LA to Sydney, and then spent the next five months planning the trip and downsizing my life.

As a newbie to round the world travel, I landed in Sydney without a single friend and feeling a tad lonely. Luckily, backpackers are a friendly lot. I got my travel legs under me by exploring the Opera House, the Taronga Zoo, and the Botanical Gardens. Deciding to stay in the Blue Mountains was a real highlight, and my penchant for getting incredibly lost at the least convenient moments started here. This would become a recurring theme of the trip because, yeah, I get lost a lot.

Shannon O’Donnell (to be continued) 

My trip around the World 13 I Got Way Too Hot

The hotel driver offered to take me on a bit of a drive down around the Atoll, and we drove around for about 90 minutes before heading back. Unfortunately my phone was dead at this point, so didn’t manage to get any pictures. It was interesting to see how even in the most populous part of Kiribati life was still so rural and quiet. Many of the locals had pigs tied up in their yard, and the pigs were eating/drinking out of what appeared to be old coconut shells. There just wasn’t much going on, but that appears to be the pace of life in Kiribati.

After resting, I decided to go for a bit of a walk. I walked about an hour down the atoll towards the airport just seeing sites until I got way too hot. The “administrative centre” of the entire country. Not a very busy place.

My trip around the World 11 Overnight on Tarawa, Kiribati

 My driver from Mary’s Motel showed up, and the car had ice cold air conditioning, which was nice giving the blazing mid-day sun in Kiribati. There is basically one road on Tarawa Atoll, and it runs the length of the atoll.  It’s dozens of miles long, but the Atoll is maybe 500 meters wide at its widest point:

Kiribati is also, according to some sources I read online before the trip, the least visited country in the world. I wasn’t expecting anything to see/do, more just to walk around and take in how life goes on here.

My hotel was in Bairiki which is the country’s administrative centre, and you can see it’s a bit of a drive from the airport. 

Traveldiariesapp (to be continued) 

My trip around the World 12 Kiribati

It took almost an hour, and during the drive I got a lot of insight into the country from my driver. One cool fact is that the road is under construction (it was badly potholed, etc) and that should significantly improve travel options on the atoll. Was also cool to see several large signs from my employer as one of the key financiers of the new road. Hopefully it helps things!

At Mary’s, I played the usual (by now) South Pacific game of musical rooms until I found one that had reasonably functional air conditioning.

It was clean, cool, and reasonably comfortable, and came with a few bonus creepy crawlies here and there, and a few lizards that I occasionally saw crawling on the walls. The towel origami made up for it though.

Traveldiariesapp (to be continued) 

Bondi Beach Girls

  

 

My trip around the World 10 Pizza Party

A Japanese couple, who are also volunteering arrived later that day and a guest couple from Amsterdam joined our pizza party. 

I talked to the Amsterdam couple for a long time, since they gave me a lot of good hints where to travel. They recently were at the top of a volcano, where you could see the inside, that was pretty impressive.
Everybody ate as much as we could, but there was still pizza left at the end, so we saved it up for the next day.
We all sat outside for a little longer and drank some of Grahams English Beer, he brought with him, before everyone went to bed and the second day ended. 

Traveldiariesapp (to be continued)

My trip around the World 9 Most Expensive Meat In The World

For lunch we all came together again and everybody cooked something for himself. Afterwards we still sat together for a little, before Sol finally told me that my bag has finally arrived. 

So I went to get my bag and took a shower in one of the outside showers at the van park and got on some new clothes.
Later that day we were just hanging around, while some of us got to go dolphin swimming.
Manuel had that brilliant idea that we could make a pizza party tonight , so we started prepairing for everything.
Leslie, the girl from America wanted to make mozzarella cheese, so we helped her and had a good laugh, because the water she had to strech the cheese in was boiling hot and she just couldn't make it longer than 5 seconds.
While we had some spare time I thought Sol some Austrian Card Games exchange I got thought how to play chess.
After fooling around a little bit, Manu and me were responsible for the pizza dough. After getting around 10 doughs ready we could finally start with the toppings.
One of the toppings was one of the most expensive meat in the world, which you can get here by diving up the shell that has that meat in it. 
Traveldiariesapp (to be continued)