Saturday 26 February 2011

In a nice safe place..in NZ

Hello!!  It's 3:23pm here, and 3:23am with you!  Feels kind of strange to be about as far away as it is possible to be.  & starting to settle again in a city, if just for a few months.

Firstly though, for anyone following the news, I'm nowhere near Christchurch, and the earthquake worries.  That's the south island, and we're in Auckland, in the north.  It's been saturating the news here, & there are loads of fundraising events going on everywhere.  Wearing red & black for Christchurch is in at the moment, & as it transpires, that's what I'm doing today.  What are you wearing?!

Our brief jaunt through Brisbane also closely followed the end of their floods.  On their south bank of the river running through Brisbane, they have an artificial beach which had been completely washed away.  (Despite that, very much enjoyed the south bank, & in Londonesque style, a very cool modern art gallery.  I'll try to put up the picture of me in the universe room, surrounded my multicoloured neon 'stars'..)

Auckland, so far, seems pretty great.  The coastline around the city is really bendy, with little outcrops, penisulars & islands - I know now that this is due to it being on a volcanic spot.  A bit of geography there!  Very much looking forward to checking out the sights, maybe getting back on some beaches & there's even a cool wreck dive site, which I think is an old Greenpeace boat.

Our attention has so far been based on finding somewhere to live, so that we don't have to invest too much in staying in backpacker hostels.  Yesterday this came together, & we found a crazy commune type place full of various europeans.  There's even a baby!  It looks pretty cramped, but something about being expected to be in to have dinner with everyone, being the chef once a week, & having lots of people around is appealling to both of us.  I'm already planning some baking!

Next on the agenda is getting some jobs & a bit more of a social life.  At the moment we're getting stuck into the free events on the fringe festival programme!  Found some charity shops, a cool guy called Louie on 'couchsurfers', & a cafe that does free cake when you buy coffee, so it's all looking OK!



Friday 18 February 2011

Citier & citier

We worked out earlier that it's only been 10days since we left Koh Tao, & Thailand.  Since then we've spent a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpar, a couple in Singapore, a couple in Brisbane & a couple in transit! 

The cities have been a bit of a shock to us (& the increasing costs of everything!  We miss India!) but at least the route we have taken has been quite a nice progression. 

Kuala Lumpar was quite an approachable place, apart from the sweltering heat!  Easy walks to China Town & Little India.  Singapore has larger versions of both..  Nice to be back within easy reach of some decent curry!  & I narrowly avoided spending too much money on some pretty chinese dresses..not the most practical backpacking attire!

We've now been in Brisbane a couple of days, & back to proper western prices.  Scary stuff.  We'll be in Fiji tomorrow, & it looks like our cash will go a bit further there..  Soon enough, hopefully, we'll be stocking up the funds a bit in NZ.  Tim's very keen to get working.. I'm still enjoying the holiday myself!  Haha, it's nice if you can get it!  After we got over the shock of Australia, we have made the most of being central.  Places here (& Singapore) look almost exactly like parts of London.  They have a great modern art gallery here!

Anyway, a few more photos to get online before I disappear again.  Sorry about the rambling - my head's a bit all over the place!

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Pretty Thai islands

Getting ready to leave Thailand, and head down to Malaysia.  30hr journey to Kuala Lumpar, appealing!  Oh welll, although it's sad to be leaving Katt & Tim's sister Yasmine, we have some ground to cover.. we should be in Australia in about a week!

The last couple of weeks we've been doing little on Koh Tao.  It's an island that revolves around diving, everyone dives.  So we got involved; I dived a couple of days and Tim learnt to free dive (hold your breath & go for it!).  Very cool seeing as he snorkeled for the first time a month ago.  Katt's thing here is flying trapeze.  She's training most days, & looks pretty great already.  I had a go...reluctantly!  Yasmine's sticking around to master her back flip!

Before Koh Tao we checked out Phi Phi, which is a beautiful island.  More great diving and snorkeling - lots of fun in the sea!

I'll miss the excellent cheap massages, good thai food, a currency that I've just about got the hang of, & some great friends.  But there's packing to do, & a boat, minibus & bus combo to catch.  & we need to start looking for jobs in New Zealand soon!

Love to all, over & out x