Pictures.......and some more........

Kiwi's

Another brief blog as I don't have alot of time!!!!!

Well I left Oz on 17th January and met up with Alison again in Christchurch!!! We had a great road trip around the South Island.....The scenery has been magnificent but I will let the photos tell the story........

We have met some really great people on our travels and have had a ball just being on the road. Our journey began in Christchurch, taking us through lake Tekapo, then on to Dunedin where we had a fantastic time with Jeanette, Phil and Celine. Phil and Toby (the dog) took us for a beautiful walk along the beach where we got to watch the sea-lions just hanging out on the beach....it was a really beautiful moment......Another highlight was watching the blue penguins come in to the land at dusk to sleep for the night in their burrows.....I had never met Phil before as he knew Ali from Dublin, but when I left, I got the most amazing hug and I knew I was a friend.......

Then on to Te Anau, Milford Sound, Queenstown, Wanaka and now back to Christchurch before heading to the North Island. Ali and I have to go our separate ways again.....sob sob but we will both be back in Eire together again soon and we are already talking about our next road trip to South East Asia, South America.....who knows......but this is not the end.......

G'day Mates

This blog will be brief as I don't have a lot of time!!

Travel so far- Sydney to Coffs harbour and Woolgoolga! Then back on to the bus again to get to Bryon, really beautiful place where met a lovely girl called Emma. Then back on the bus to Surfers Paradise, really cool city on the Gold Coast where I met numerous interesting people (Rahul, Yutah, Eric, Brent, Juliano, Tiago......After this I only remember faces lol) Then on to Brisbane for a night and after that Noosa for another night. I think the highlight of my trip to Surfers Paradise was sitting in a jacuzzi with a really handsome group of guys and an international group at that. We had a Syrian, Lybian, Lebanese, Afghan, Japanese, Indian and then me!!!!!! Good times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Noosa to Airlie beach-18 hours on a bus!!!! That would have been ok had I not got stuck beside the guy who didn't know about the modern phenomenon called a shower!!! Oh my, that was a tough journey......but I survived.......

So I stayed in Sydney for New year and spent it with Alison!! We had an awesome time and I am looking forward to spending more time with her when we do our road trip of New Zealand's south Island together! Alison and I knew each other from school days in Dublin and thanks to Facebook, discovered we were both here in Oz/NZ at the same time!!! We hadn't seen each other in 10 years but as soon as we met in Sydney it was as if we had never been apart from each other! We had a lot of catching up to do and Alison found great amusement as I came out with a few whacky phrases which she has written down and will no doubt use them against me at some point or threaten me with them!!!!

Then after New year, I began my journey by greyhound up the coast. There is a general pattern to my encounters with people and I love it, the life of a traveler!!!! So the routine is, I meet a guy over breakfast then end up spending the day with him as we are both on our own......then the girl in my dorm, I bid farewell to and bump into her in a completely different city, just crossing the road, a day later!!! So random. You generally find everyone is doing the same route in some shape or form.....

 OK, so the most amusing thing so far that tickled me pink is, I met a guy on the bus. He is called Eric from Seattle. So we were staying at different hostels in Surfer's Paradise but we met up for a drink later that night. So he adds me as a friend on Facebook and the next day texts me and asks how I know Michael Slowey!!!! How random!!!! For those of you who don't know, Michael is a doctor that I worked with in Belfast and Eric met him in New Zealand!!! Just when I was thinking of being ruthless and deleting some people from my FB, this makes me change my mind cos I just love when this randomness happens!!!!!!


Australia is beautiful, as soon as I am able to, I will post the pictures!!!! Today I am about to embark on a three day cruise to the Whitsunday islands off the coast of Airlie Beach!!!! I am looking forward to it. Then I am back on the greyhound bus again to get to Cairns, my last stop in Oz before I head to NZ. I have so much more to write about my time in Oz but I have to run to get food and then hop on that boat before it leaves without me!!!!!!!