Holiday 2005

17th August - Arrive Home!

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:54:27 +0000

After nearly 9 weeks of fantastic holiday, I arrived home. Now I just have to deal with the jet lag!

09th - 13th August - Skiing

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 05:21:36 +0000

We spent the last 5 activity days of our holiday skiing at two locations near Queenstown. The first three days were spent at Corronet Peak and the final to at The Remarkables.

Over the first 3 days we had 5 lessons, reaching a level to confidently ski down the easy 'green' slopes. We attempted a 'blue' (intermediate) slope at the end of the third day, but this was pushing us too far too soon and several falls occured (no major ones though)!

Throughout the week we fell over several times, mostly by accident although sometimes deliberately to avoid any major accidents! We managed to avoid any significant injuries.

08 August - Off Road Tour to Macetown

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:23:57 +0000

We departed Queenstown on a 4hr off-road tour in a Land Rover. We drove along really rough hilly tracks and made 26 river crossings. The tour went along the Arrow River which used to be a major gold mining area. We stopped to have a go at gold panning. We found a few small specks but nothing worth saving. Aparently when the river floods (about once a year) its possible to find nuggets in the area.
Macetown is no longer inhabited, it was abandoned long ago after the gold rush ended and just a few buildings are still standing.

06 August - Lord of the Rings Tour

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 09:20:36 +0000

In the afternoon we took a mini bus tour around some of the sites where LOTR was filmed. It was quite a good tour although the sites look soo different from the film, partly due to computer manipulation and partly due to the lighting effects. None the less the scenary at these sites was fantastic.

05th August - Shotover Jet and Luge

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 05:04:31 +0000

In hte morning we went on a 30min jet boat ride along a river. The boats travelled at up to 80km/hr and can travel on as little as 2 inches of water! With 360 degree spins and narrow misses it was a great ride. It was however, freezing cold.

In the afternoon we took a ride on the gondola at Queenstown to the top of Bob's Peak to ride on the Luge (tobogan) and look out over Queenstown.

Photos are in the gallery - New Zealand part 2

4th August - Horse Riding

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:23:13 +0000

In the morning we played on a very elaborate indoor crazy golf course. Each hole was modelled on part of Queenstown and had chair lifts, rockets and other interesting features.

In the afternoon we went on a 2hr horse ride in Glenorchy (about 45min drive from Queenstown). We rode along side the mountains (known as the misty mountains from Lord of the Rings) and had to cross the river a few times (just managing to avoid wet feet). Some great views and we managed to keep the horses under control, although we didnt attempt trotting (or faster).

31st July - New Zealand

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:04:09 +0000

We arrived in NZ on the 30th. The following day we hired a car and drove over the mountains to Greymouth on the west coast. We stayed there over night before taking a 3hr drive down the coast to Franz Josef. In the afternoon we climbed the Franz Josef glacier. This was incredible to climb a huge glacier which is in a valley, closely surrounded by rainforest. The glacier is currently moving at about 1metre a day and because it changes daily, each climb is unique. There were some stunning views. Some photos will be available shortly...

28th July - Manley Beach

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 09:00:45 +0000

On the opposite side of the harbour from Sydney city centre is Manley. I took a 30min boat trip accross the harbour to see it.
The main feature in Manley is the beach. It's a lot larger and, in my opinion, better than Bondi. Nearby are a few smaller secluded beaches of equally high quality.

27th July - Opera House Concert

Tue, 02 Aug 2005 08:57:18 +0000

I went to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House.
Although it was not really my kind of music, it was a good experience to go to a concert in the largest theatre in the Opera House. The achoustics were, ofcourse, great and they do not use microphones of any kind as the building is designed to carry the sound naturally.

23rd July - Sydney Olympic Park

Sun, 24 Jul 2005 11:38:52 +0000

At the Olympic Park we took a swim in the Olympic swimming pool - this is the first pool I've been in where I've been unable to touch the bottom and keep my head above water!
We also had a look at a Homes of The Future exhibition in the Olympic Park. This had demo homes made of cardboard, glass with emmbedded nano technology, clay and stone. They had some interesting ideas to regulate things like temperature, however the houses didn't in any way feel homely.
After a round of crazy golf in the afternoon, we also hit a few balls on the golf driving range, before heading off to a concert at the Superdome stadium.

22nd July - Blue Mountains

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:59:57 +0000

We took a coach day trip to see the Blue Mountains. They were named as such because there appears to be a blue haze as the sunlight hits the eucalyptus trees. There were some great look-outs over the stunning scenary. Then, having walked down a path to the bottom of a cliff, we caught a really steep (and short) 'train' ride back up. Its more like a theme park ride than a train and at its steepest point we were going up at about 70degrees.

21st July - Sydney Harbour Cruise

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:57:43 +0000

In the afternoon we went a harbour cruise which lasted about 2.5hrs. It was very informative and gave us a good look around the world's largest natural harbour.

20th July - Bondi Beach

Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:55:24 +0000

We took a free bus to Bondi beach from the hostel. The beach itself looks great, although it is really small. Other than that there is very little in Bondi, so we went back to Circular Key for the afternoon.

19th July - Opera Hosue and Revolving Tower Resturant

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:50:06 +0000

During the day we went on a short tour of the Sydney Opera House. It was fascinating to find out about its construction. It cost $102m to build over 14 years - that was 10years and $95m over budget!!! However the cost was paid off by running an Opera House lottery. The money was paid off in just 18months!!!

In the evening we went to the revolving tower resturant - the highest building in the centre of Sydney. There were some great views and I tried some different meats:

Emu - Very deep red in colour, tasted like pork.
Kangaroo - Very similar to beef but with a slight tang to the taste.
Cammel - Had a very moist texture but was quite tough, flavour similar to beef.

18th July - Sydney Harbour Bridge

Wed, 20 Jul 2005 00:41:10 +0000

Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge was great. We saw some great views and got to see the details of how the bridge was constructed.The climb itself takes about 2.5hrs and there is about an hour of training before that.
Security on the bridge is very strict and before we could climb we had to take an alcohol breath test, surrender all loose objects and pass through a body scanner (like at the airport).
We were then issued with some equipment which included an all-over body suit to cover our clothes, a harness to attach us to the guide rail on the bridge, a radio to listen to the guide and accessories (like a fleece, baseball cap), all of which attached to our suits so it was not possible to drop them.
Although we were unable to take photos ourselves, the guide took some of us.
We saw some great views of the harbour and opera house and could see the Blue mountains in the background.