Adios New Zealand, G'day Oz!
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2005
1
12
20
Trip End
Sep 09, 2006
Cairns, Australia
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
We've been very lazy since our last update and pretty much spent the past 3 weeks just chilling out by the beach and Caz getting very drunk!
After Rotorua we went to Auckland for 2 days, had a good night out there, did a bit of shopping of course and spent some time relaxing by the swanky harbour. Then it was up to the bay of islands for the 2nd time (we went there right at the beginning of NZ and loved it).
We rented a cottage with a friend for 9 days which was a lovely break from Backpackers. Had some great weather, so that meant lots of tanning and hanging out with friends on the beach and at the bars in Pahia. And also a strenuous Kayaking trip to Russell which is a good 45 minutes across the sea from Pahia......hard work and a good effort as all the other speed boats passed us by!
Jamie and Vanessa went on a fishing trip for the 1st time and caught snapper for dinner - but they didnt have to do any of the dirty work as their mate dan (the guy who took them out on his boat) did all the gutting and cooking! It was the best fish we've ever tasted! They also had bottlenose dolphins come right up to the fishing boat and spotted a few penguins too. Meanwhile caz soaked up even more rays at some great waterfalls - good job she didnt come fishing - she would definitely have been sea sick!!!
Now we are in Cairns - Caz spent the weekend in Sydney with our cousin emma - partying on Bondi beach and going to aussie rules footy - which she loved and illegally jumped on the pitch afterwards (pics to come). Jamie and Ness got to Cairns earlier, saw some more stunning waterfalls and went on a 7km cable car ride over the rainforest to a village in the middle of it where they visited some koalas and crocs.
Tomorrow we leave Cairns having done lots of swimming in their cool lagoon, and hot airballooning which saw us get up at 4am for sunrise over the rainforest and included a buffet style champange breakfast - pretty cool experience. We've hired a car for a month, So next stop is Mission beach and onwards until Melbourne where we have tickets for the athletics at the commonwealth games - we're very excited about that!
Hope you are all well and not feeling too cold in miserable england!!!!
Til next time
Caz and Ness
