After Bon Jovi we were the last up the next day, all the other denim and leather clad rockers had left early, very sensible and gave an indication of the predominant age group of the fans!! We wandered around beautiful central Christchurch and bought a big shop we were cooking for guests tonight, Rich (Thompson) and Jamie. Great night, barbie and plenty of booze. Girls talked about how unfair it was to be denied all material possessions and regular shopping trips when camping and discussed Heath Ledger, boys talked solely about cricket and tents and ate a lot of chocolate! Also a lot of beer and then wine, first white and then a 3 day old pre-opened red, classic Warn! Got told off for making too much noise and were v rock and roll! Next day a sluggish start, we had to depart by 1000 and left at 0959, very pleased with that. Drove South through Ashburton (made us think of Plymouth) and stopped off at a town called Geraldine (nice name for a town) for a lovely fish and chips and other post booze treats. Weather mixed, first bright then stormy and eventually blistering as we drove towards Lake Tekapo, where we first saw the gorgeous colour of the local water, a vivid milky blue almost turquoise, created by blue skies and the glacial silt that the water carries – it was a real eye opener. Continued down towards Lake Pukaki where we saw the real money shot, facing North with Mt Cook at the head of the Lake and a wide expanse of this blue framed by green forest. Sat for a long time just sucking it all in and dipping our feet in the icy, crystal clear water. My God, this is why we came travelling. Camped that night in Twizel, yet another cool named place (Ruataniwha Camp) by a smaller lake, no less clear and attractive. Hired kayaks and went for a paddle, pushing out some phys on way out and then drifting back in the hot sun to the jetty with the prevailing wind, blowing a pine scented breeze that was just strong enough to take us home, but not too strong to be chilly!! Up early next day to conquer Mt Cook, well drive up the side of Lake Pukaki with country and western blaring out of the MP3, just perfectly suited music, Coward of the County was the favourite. Reached the settlement Mt Cook or Aoraki to give it its’ original name. Mt Cook didn’t look that well, in fact you could say it looked a bit peaky (come on!). Then we walked up a track to Kea Point which was far enough in the blistering heat. Mt Cook looked pretty close though and regal against a clear sky, crowned with snow and ice. Talked to an old German who had climbed it back in ‘66 (why wasn’t he watching the footy?) he said there was a LOT more snow around then! He was very modest especially considering the fact he probably did it in nothing but a thick pair of socks, a pair of +4s and a tweed jacket! Good walk for us though and had a smashing home made cheese and tomato sandwich when we got back to the Sir Edmund Hilary museum, the old boy would have been proud of us for sure, may he rest in peace on that big summit in the sky. Turned back and drove the way we had come, to return via Twizel and then Omarama and on to Wanaka. Bit flat on the way and boring after the great views of last 48 hours,but Wanaka very attractive, if touristy and on the banks of Lake Wanaka so good place to stay. Up very slowly for some reason the next day and seemed to be employing delaying tactics before hitting the road to our next destination – THE BUNGY JUMP dun, dun daaaaah! We travelled over the very scenic Crown Range to get to the Queenstown area, great descent from the hill top on a series of hairpin bends with no protective fences – great for the driver (me!). Turned towards Cromwell and the jump, feeling nervous all of a sudden as we saw the first sign post for it – Kawauru Gorge! As we drove over the new road bridge here, we looked across at the old bridge which is now the launch site, just in time to see someone leap off. The red metal of the bridge was stark against the unyielding grey rock of the gorge sides and the blue water crashing through the narrows foaming into peaks below. It did look a very pretty place for death to be diced with. Onto the viewing platform and at this point Soph decided she’d rather spend money on clothes. I was not happy but needed to pay the money and get this booked before I too backed out! The whole thing was really quick, about 2 minutes from the weigh in I was kitted out on the platform, listening to the staff joking about life insurance! ha, ha, ha! And that was it 5-4-3-2-1 and I was off. Fortunately the sheer shock was enough to keep me quiet – so no girlie squeals of terror, I didn’t utter a sound until the 3rd bounce, when relief gave way to laughter and some swearing! Brilliant, first and last time for me, but brilliant! Got dunked as well, right up to the waist so felt well hard waltzing around afterwards, in the shop waiting for my certificate and t-shirt. After this we went to Queenstown, which was nice enough and had a lovely gardens to walk around and come down off the adrenalin high, but the mere presence of near naked young and healthy thrill seeking travellers forced us away!! Back to Wanaka for a relaxing evening, Soph went for a quick shop (bought some polka-dot PJ bottoms, as it’s so cold at nights here) and I had a Tim-Tam (good advice Phil) and an ice-cream sorry I mean an extreme ice-cream, now I am officially a dangerous sportman!
Bed early after Gordon Ramsay swearing a lot on telly. What a few days. Bed-times are extremely comfortable now we’ve learned how to inflate the mattress properly, but it’s like being on a bouncy castle at times. Sophs fidgets as we fall asleep and I fidget in mornings, so one or the other of us has got their nose to the ceiling most of the time!
Heading North now, this is the closest we’ll get to the Antarctic Circle and it’s still boiling!! Got some great treats to look forward to over course of next week, but I’ll sign off now and leave the telling of these tales to Sophs.
Into the Mountains, down by the Lakes and a big leap of faith!! (C – 1/2) January 31, 2008
Rocking down to the South Island and rocking on with BON JOVI (Chris 28/1) January 28, 2008
Well we’ve been away for over 100 days now, did you notice us gone?? Travelled 21959 miles by air, 109 by walking, 95 by tuk tuk, 7278 by car (and counting), 2548 by train, 6 by bus, 80 by boat and 6 by tram – total 32081, I LOVE STATS!! strange thing shappening to my wife after 100 days, she’s putting things in strange places they don’t belong. 1st she threw a shop of vegetables in the bin and when it came to eat we had stir fried plastic (well we would of if we hadn’t rummaged around in the bin to find them and eat them) and 2nd she put a load of post-cards in a museum money donation box (well it was shaped like an old fashioned Brit post box so you can forgive her, guy in the museum just could not believe it, Soph asked if many people did that and he just said ‘No’ incredulously!
We left Raglan on west coast of North Island after bumping into an ex-bootneck who new a guy I worked with in recruiting, Bob Ewen – it’s a small world out here! Had food and beers with Jason and Hayley and it was nice socialising. Next day drove to the Waitomo Caves through lush forestry next to a beuatiful river that snaked through the valley in the Pirongia Park Reserve. We passed through a building called Whatuwhatu, great name. As the billboards increased and every building was advertising some adventurous activity involving black water rafting and glow-worms we knew we were getting close to the famous caves. We booked up for a standard tour and took the precaution of dressing in t-shirts, flip-flops and shorts, of course everyone else, including Pam our 60 yr old guide, was in fleecies and boots – classic Warn we said to ourselves. Inevitably it was freezing in the caves as we were led through underground caverns, with twisting eerie shapes thrown up by the meagre lighting. Then into a boat to be guided through about 100m of ‘Golem’ like caves to see the glow-worms. They were magical, thousands of pin-prick blue lights against the pitch black looking like myriad stars clustered in a desert sky. Almost poetic apart from the fact that what we were looking at was the worm poo that sits glowing in their abdomen attracting bugs for dinner! We also got a look at the 15-20 cm tendrils that hang down from the worms, covered in sticky mucous and grim looking. As we left the caves (no photography and NO talking, soph suffered I can tell you!) the light showed that Pam the pensioner had been the one dragging the boat and about a dozen people through the pitch black caves on guide-lines, she must have been about 65 what a job, there’s a lesson there Liz and Gill! After the caves we were glad to see sunshine again, the weather a bit all over the place but the sun guaranteed to start shining as soon as we get in the car! On drive to next camp site at New Plymouth, we stopped for strawberries, extremely juicy and freshly made mixed berry ice-cream, absolutely lovely. Spent a very pleasant 20 minutes munching on these in a clover field. New Plymouth not much to write home about (apart from gourmet hot pies), even worse than old Plymouth!! Stayed in camp site by the beach at Oakura. Went for a bracing swim in the Tasman Sea and beach side strolls on the black sands. Drive next day continued to Wellington through strange towns such as ‘Bulls’. Into city centre with Soph at wheel during rush hour (she as cool as a cucumber) to a back-packers which was filled with wasters so decided to turn round and drive back out of town to Upper Hutt, rural camp-site, again through rush-hour traffic, felt strange as we hadn’t seen much traffic since Auckland. Soph’s cooked up a storm on outer barbie and we ate like kings, as did the bugs feasting on my ankles and feet (just me not Sophs, I think mine smell more of quality cheeses). As we settled in tent had huge hoo-ha over thinking we’d lost the car keys, of course they were in a sleeping bag of course! Cold, cold overnight and when I shuffled out of the tent, had the privilege of a wet, slimy flysheet sliding down my back first thing, hadn’t experienced that for many a year! Up at 0545 and on road by 0615, next morning a record! Still dark as we drove to Wellington to catch early morning Bluebridge ferry, sun rising on the valley with freezing fog cloaking the river, tinged pink in early morning rays. Bluebridge ferry old and cheaper than the inter-islander, my seaman’s eye believed it to be safe though. After sausage sandwich we loaded and settled in to our comfy seats for more snoozing. Woke for entry into Tory Channel, ironic name as standing in the wind on the upper deck in the steel, grey light everyone was turning blue. This channle then turns into the Queen Charlotte Sound, which is famous for it’s beauty but I have to say as I huddled by the smoke stack for warmth the forested glens leading down to bleak foamed waters in a strengthening wind, it reminded me a lot of Scotland I half expected to tsee the floating dock in Faslane Naval BAse (AFD 60) hove into view. After 4 hiur cruise arrived at the South Island, in Picton with 2 old fashioned aircraft (bit like US Mustang, if you’re interested) doing acrobatics above our heads, they didn’t have to do all that just for little old us! Picton itslef v picturesque, but town rammed with local fete so didn’t stick around. Couple of hundred km to next camp site. Stopped off at Blenheim to do a bit of internet and indulge in yet more key losing (twice in about 18 hours must be lsoing our marbles) this time I’d left it under the keyboard in internet cafe, very wise! Drove on sharing driving, through, to be honest, the fairly boring vista of the Marlborough wine district long rolling dun coloured hills and lots of …you guessed it, vines! Arrived at Kaikuara, famous for it’s whales and dolphins, well didn’t see any of them (we are coming back for a spot of that) but did see some Bluebottle jelly fish we stopped me swimming. Fine dining that night in the campsite, red wine, pasta and pesto, accompanied by the grunts of 3 fishermen eating at next table, it was like being in The Dolphin all over again without the benefit of Bass! The next morning we slept in until 9.40 (check out at 10), as Soph’s went for morning ablutions I proved how good we’re becoming at packing up tent, by doing just that everything in the car in about 6 minutes and drove off. When Soph re-apppeared after cleaning her teeth, I’d gone. You had to be there, genius!! Fortunately Soph saw funny side and we had a right old chortle as we set off at 0959 for Christchurch. Not a lot to report, scenery continued in same vein and we arrived in CC nice and ealry to find a camp site in the city centre (you just can’t say that about many places). First one we visited looked like a set for a Quentin Tarantino movie, aplace where murderers do their laundry and crims hang out waiting for the heat to blow over – ie messy! Next place right up our alley though and soon settled in ready for the wait for THE CONCERT! We have been keeping this one a secret, apart from Sophs over the last few days tellig loads of people in e-mails so my blog isn’t as exciting as it should be (you know who you are Dover!) – the big secret off to see Bon Jovi in concert. Air of anticipation in the camp site as most people there were going. Had crayfish supper with our NZ neighbours and shared a taxi in with them. Concert excellent, ’stand up Jon’ we shouted as he arrived on stage and as he stood there with a guitar that looked to big for him, I wasn’t sure what to expect (this was my first big rock gig) – it was fantastic, lots of oldies that for some reason I knew all the words to, massive Richie Sambora?? guitar solos and lots of arm waving and shouting/screaming ’spit on me Jon’ – now why would my wife shout that?? We were at the back in seats (not sat in once) but it was awesome!!! Walked back after concert well happy with ourselves. In Christchurch library now having walked along the river that runs by the University, Botanical Gardens and Hospital – all road side cafes, ducks and people lolling around, great way to spend a Monday!! Anyway that’s all folks, unlike Jon who gave 3 encores it’s none for me, all together now ‘I’m a cowboy, on a stell horse I ride, I’m wanted ….DEAD OR ALIVE!!’
Rain,rain,GO AWAY! January 23, 2008
Hello all, after having emails from a couple of you it sounds like everyone is ill and missing the fun of Christmas. Hope the New Year gets better for you lot. Maybe you will feel better to know that we are also getting lots of rain! We have stumbled, inadvertantly upon a cyclon. Its called “Funa”ironically. Not massively scarey,no worse than a bad day in England but it appears to be following us around the island like a mean ,wet, windy stalker. We had great plans to go Kayaking, as it was free at our backpackers, but ended up snuggled up all day watching movies. This is fine when you are in your own house but when you are sat next to grubby teenage travellers who keep talking,its just not right! Luckily we were stocked up on food and wine. We are now cooking all our meals to save cash ,both of us are happy about this as we like cooking and have missed it. We are working a 2 day rota system (this is what happens when you have too much time on your hands)and taking in turns with cooking, shopping for meals and dishes. Loving it! Chris made sausages and mash, then steak with homemade ratatouille (very nice Mr Warn) and i felt prepared for equally fabulous meals with chicken saute with potatoes. Unfortunately cooking conditions took a turn for the worse on my shift and i had to cut and prep with the Leatherman and serve food in our plastic bowl(like dog food.) However the cooking in unusual situations is great and we are back on suitable low budget wine .Great fun, 2 bottles seems to help aid tent sleeping and less than one bottle, well you might as well sit in the car all night and not even bother to try sleeping!
We have been getting stuck in to some driving around the north island to keep ourselves busy in the bad weather. New Zealand is so beautiful,it really is the cleanest,healthiest looking place i have ever been. We headed North first to Cape Reinga, top North of the island,where the pacific meets the Tasman Sea. Ridiculously windy, so much so it took a while to open the car doors. Worth the battle as we walked to the farthest north point of New Zealand and saw for miles up the coasts. There was a very dinky white lighthouse,as perfect as a pepper pot sat right on the far point .The rain held off and the sun popped out briefly for some pics. Chris really wanted to come here as his uncle Rich(or uncle RRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCHHHH as most of the boys from the stag night know him) had a photo taken there under a sign post when he was a lad and Chris wanted to do the same! The sign pointing to London said we were 18029 km away, clearly a very long way to walk! We staggered back to the car holding onto each other and sat exhausted and bedraggled before heading to camp. Pretty average camp site, Ahipara, with both Mr and Mrs Warn back in the manic flapping tent after the 2nd bottle of white and slept like dreams.
Off to Taipano next.Still crazy weather and our trip on the Kohukohu ferry was a little bleak. We passed the oldest wooden house in New Zealand,”who cares “i hear you cry. Not us ,so just a quick glance around and a firm refusal to pay entrance fee had us back in the car. We drove on to the Waipoua Forest ,where it appeared everyone else had gone as well. Lots of bad clothes so we felt no shame in putting on our macs( one pound from Tesco Metro with free Emergency Blanket)Cutting a dash ,we headed for the biggest Kauri Tree in the world. Yes you heard me “the world”. We were looking out for it and pondering over which one it was, then headed around the corner to see this unbelievably huge tree.We said what i imagine hundreds of other people said before us”That tree is massive”. It seems normal size in the photo but it is really impressive in real life,5 metres wide, 50m tall and 2000 years old. Very wise old tree indeed. We took this stunning photo of us in our macs,it wasn’t raining at this point, but we just felt so special in them it seemed a shame to take them off.
As you can tell we have limited activites available to us so lots of sight seeing from the car has been the only option.The country side is amazing here, when we left the forest you could see trees and shrubs overspilling into the road as New Zealand is so fertile. The plant life is every shade of green you can imagine,piled up,jammed in and green and glossy around you.
Everything wasn’t as pretty back in our campsite that evening however. Just a car park type set up by the river outlet. It was quite strange as there was nothing there and no lighting so when it got dark at 9.30 we just had to go to bed. Very strange being tucked up in sleeping bags so early with no noise whatsoever outside.
We both woke this moring in quite foul moods. Bad weather again meant it was raining so we had to get out of wet tent, into a wet field,water falling down our backs in the process. The showers were on a money timer that was really eating up cash. It was in a shed with dead goggled eyed cockroaches staring through the transparent perspex at me. When i had run out of cash and was left soapy i nearly punched in the wall in a Incredible Hulk style and ran out throwing cars around. As it was i dried myself sadly and went and sat next to my damp sad husband in the car. After a small moan to each other we headed south passing Auckland to get to our Big Gig on 27th in the South Island. Our moods were lifted thanks to our MP3 and we sang loudly and out of tune to Oasis,Was not was, Paulo Ntini, ACDC, Dido, the Proclaimers and several bad rap tunes. The time was well spent as we asked ourselves the question,would it have been better to see Elvis in concert when he was young and handsome gyrating around? Or when he was older, fat and sweaty in that white catsuit and he had a few more tunes under his heavily strained belt? Thankfully we have arrived at our camp in Raglan for the night and can rest with a chicken curry ala Chris.
New Zealand is brilliant but we really want the rain to go away now.
In the land of the long white cloud (and blistering sunshine!) January 20, 2008
Have arrived and are immediately refreshed by New Zealand, stayed in Auckland backpackers which although noisy and filled with the dreaded young travellers, was well situated backing onto the Domain park land in central auckland and with views to the back of the Museum. walked everywhere and got a real feel for the place, lots of hills, we have buttocks like brass sculptures! Wandering around on our first day, we passed the Heineken Tennis Championships and pondered whether to go in, unfortunately we had missed most of the games already that day and an old lady advised us to not bother unless they gave us the tickets for free, her advice was good but she then ruined her credibility by falling into the gutter, I’ve not seen anyone do that since Simon Morris, awesome. We’ve eaten really well in NZ and an example of this is our first eat out in Auckland where we went into a ‘greasy spoon’ and then proceeded to scoff the best eggs benedicte I’ve ever eaten. City is clean and beautiful set against the blue waters of the Bay and we took full advantage of this with a boat trip, bit touristy but we passed under the bridge and up towards Birkenhead (prettier than the scouse version) and up towards where my Nanna and Pop used to live. Then back down to cruise past the Naval Base at devonport (see the ships meet the men, we could almost hear the call) and on to raratonga a volcanic island thats its majestically in the harbour. A great trip with free coffee and …wait fo it… choc muffins, come on you don’t get that on the Torpoint ferry. After that we went to devonport for a Sunday stroll around shops and galleries and and walked up Mount Victoria for some splendid views looking back to the city. Then we holed up in a nice little bistro ate a sumptuous meal and drank 2 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc, the walk back to the ferry was highly amusing, but we did seem to capture some great photos on the short trip back, sunset over Auckland you could enter those in a competition, the sway of the boat must have counter-acted the sway of the booze! Soph had a full shopping day in Auckland so collected a few new items of clothing, she a happy girl without me peering over her shoulder and tutting every five minutes. We also saw a few movies to save evening out expenditure, Golden compass (one for children) and American Gangster (now that’s a movie!) . Picked up new car, sleek grey Nissan Bluebird, with a boot reminiscent of my old ‘beast’ we have nicknamed this little beauty ‘The Daffy W’, bit of a drive and to sophie’s amusement has automatic drive, much easier. anyway we left auckland having really enjoyed it, saying things like ‘we could live here you know’. On way out of town quickly nipped to top of Mount Eden, to see the collapsed volcanic crater and the great views. Sweeping from One Tree Hill (ironically no tree), past Mt eden Cricket Ground, past the bridge, North Shore , the Skytower dominating proceedings and then your eyes are drawn down the harbour and to the sea, awe-inspiring (I almost got my sketch book out). We travelled over the bridge and onto the North shore where we purchased a blow up bed, victuals and some wine (soph got talking to lady in wine shop about weddings, there is just no stopping her when marital organisation is being discussed). Fully tooled up for forthcoming adventure we passed through Birkenhead and into Birkdale, where I used to live as a kid. Had many half memories flash in my head as we pulled into the road and it was quite emotional for some reason. Asked lady who owned the house if we could see garden and she kindly said help yourself, really recognised it although the last time I was there I was five! The tangerine tree is still there though! Went down to the lagoon and small beach at the end of the road to compelte the trip down memory lane (well Island Bay Rd but close). North to Waipu Cove, where we spent 2 days in a nice camp site, 1 night in a tent cooking on Trangia, next in accom both very nice evenings. The beach was beautiful and we spent both days on it, alternately swimming, sunbathing and boogie boarding. Great fun. At one point I wastood in the sea at about the surf break line, looking along the ‘tubes’ seeing fish swimming in the crests of the foaming waves, with the sun in my face being cooled by the spray from the breaking waves blown back at me by the off-shore wind, each sparkling drop looking like tossed diamonds. At this pioint, the sun reflected small rainbows all around me, and that was it – me in my own little pot of gold, very nice I’d say. The boogie boarding was also great fun, we both laughed like kids on the very rare moments when we found ourselves sharing a wave in to the beach. Wine was drunk, cheap home cooked food was eaten and there weren’t too many bugs, India was a distant memory. The only slight snag was the blow up bed deflating on the first night because we hadn’t done the valve up properly, we didn’t really notice until we became fully sober at about 3 in the morning, freezing but too lazy to pump it up again (well I know I was!) It was also the continuation of the table-tennis championships, sophs said the light was poor but the only thing that nearly distracted me from winning (ahem) was the large spider crawling across the games room ceiling, the size of a mouse it seemd to be staring at me with all of its’ mean looking 8 eyes, urrghh! After the bach we went sort of inland across green forested areas and up and down some hairy bends where the roads had collapsed in parts and big road crews were doing there best to replace the road, which was handy. The next stop was Whangerei next to Whangerei Falls a 30 m waterfall, in a nice camp site again first night in the tent the next in the accom. Food getting better as we buy more adventuruous stuff from the supermarket to cook up a storm on the BBQ. Well at least scrounge some steak from a swiss man who came much better prepared, Soph was embarrassed and called me a Gypo! Really good camp site though and we were joined on the first night by a bunch of ‘trikers’ even worse than bikers apparently. All hair, dark glasses and ACDC T-shirts, they were actually the nicest guys you could hope to meet. They were travelling up and down NZ on charity gigs, collecting money etc. For all their fearsome initial appearance, they dined on fish fingers, didn’t touch a drop and were in bed by 1030! One of them to his credit, had driven along 90 mile beach on his trike, naked, apparently copying Billy Connolly who had done it in his adventures round NZ programme. The falls were beautiful and the forest walk was lovely, lots of reds, yellows and white flowers and huge Kauri trees with a solid and re-assuring wooden canopy walkway halfway round. NZ is truly a beautiful place when the sun shines! On that note, we have moved onwards and Northwards now to the Bay of Islands, a high point in terms of views we ahven’t actually seen that many because the rain and wind has come in big time. We got an impressive glimpse on arrival, but that’s been about it. Staying at a slightly more expensive back-packers we have free use of kayaks, tennis and bikes BUT can’t use any of it because the rain’s so bad. Currently in a Macdonalds in KeriKeri (cheap Internet) with rain battering the glass windows! Visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds where on 6 Feb 1840, the basic constitution of NZ was drawn up and signed by all the major Maori Tribal leaders and various Brit representatives. This still stands as the frame-work for race relations in NZ quite impressive really as it was drawn up by a civil servant in about 4 days. They had to rush, the French were sniffing around looking for a bit more empire themselves. It was great though, nice museum bits and a live display of dancing and song, celebrating ancestors, love, welcome, challenge (incl Haka) and farewell. Really moving and not as cheesy as it sounds, Soph came out with a tear in her eye wanting to hug the ‘big fella’. Loving every minute even the rain is warm. Will blog again soon. welcome to all the new bloggers, if you don’t already know you can visit all our other blogs through the archive section of wordpress.
Warni-poor in Singapore! January 14, 2008
hello all,
we are in hot sunny luscious New Zealand after getting stuck in to yet more air miles!
We left Kuala Lumpa with great anticipation as we thought the train to Singapore was going to be very swift and cool.We had images of cool drinks rising from the arm rests with smoke and “ppphhhhhhssss” noises and a computer charactor talking us through our trip.As it turned out it was just a bit grubby and old,very cheap tuck cart,due to it all being a bit out of date.
we passed plenty of greenery over the next 8 hours,banana trees,palms,grasses.All greenery supersized due to the ample rain fall and sunshine.
We stopped briefly to go through customs.There was a sign saying”no knuckle dusters,turtles or through to Singapore”which seemed like a reasonable request.Another sign said”drug trafficing penalty of death”Which made us both instantly feel guilty and scared.Did we have any drugs on us?of course not but when the sniffer dogs came by my bag i felt like i did have.Whats that all about?
We arrived at Singapore with out any currency so had to drag ourselves through the hot wet puddles of the city centre for a cash point – we didn’t realise just how much of it we’d need here! Lots of slipping in flip flop (which had become squeaky from the wet)and cursing ,sweating and tutting.We cut our losses and got a taxi as a treat,unbelievably we got in 5 minutes after the price had gone up by 35% due to it being rush hour.Damn it!
When we arrived at our hostel we were shown into a windowless room with a mattress on the floor and not much else.Double wammy when we found out we had miscalculated prices and it was about 35 pound a night. We put up our best argument but money grabbing woman would not let us cancel. We had to stay, so we left to calm down and ate noodles in an angry way before returning back,a little less angry.The plus side of our over priced accommodation was that the air conditioning rocked ,Chris said on several occasions”its so cold you could hang meat in here”much to my amusement.Due to the fact we received no natural light it was a bit like living in a burrow and we slept like logs.Every morning we surfaced freezing cold and bleary eyed ,stumbling out of our room to find out it was 12.45 or later.Top snoozing! There was also unlimited use of the internet so i had loads of wedding discussion emails with my sister.
First day in Singapore we headed off to the centre and caught a cable car up to Mount Faber.We were just in time for the big daily downpour when we hit the top,so we sat around in the expensive restaurant avoiding eye contact with waiters as it was 6 pounds for chips and we are on a budget.Great views and managed to be selected out of a huge queue to go ahead and avoid a 50 minute wait in line.We think they assumed we were with a large group who had special treatment,not sue why they thought this as the rest of the group were Indian.We tried to keep busy while the 4 indian people we shared the cable car down from the mountain stared at us,both disbelieving and disapointed with us for blagging our way into their exclusive group!
Basking in the glory of our queue dodging we popped into yet another massive shopping centre and watched “Elizabeth The Golden age”Then back to the windowless garage we call home for another dark ,cold 14 hour sleep.Met some fellow English travellers rowing with the mean woman we had words with previously.They also were unhappy with room and price and so we sat around and grumbled with them for a bit.They were travelling for a year and left England on the same day as us which was very strange.We agreed to bond over beer the at some point,great to have met drinking companions!
The next day was a big,hot and occasionally wet day trip aroung Clarkes Quay,along the river,popping into Art House,where Chris(illegally)took a photo of a photographers work and was going to pretend we had taken the picture(very wrong i know)
We walked to Orchard Road but Christmas lights already down and we were not sure whether we were in the right place as it seemed a bit dull?!!After a stoll back passed Supreme Court Building,City Hall and St Andrews Cathedral we back tracked to the Singapore Museum.Brilliant place!You get your own head set and small system called a “companion”and it talks you aroung the exhibition.So much fun and lots of messing around that probably is inappropriate for a couple of our age.Back to the garage for another massive dark sleep.
The next day we were ridiculously excited about our lunch trip to Raffles!We skipped breakfast to be at our physical best for indulging.
We arrived in our backpacking finest,smelling a little musty as we always do now.Greeted by a man dressed head to toe in white we were shown to our gorgeous white dressed table.The next hour and a half was a combination of eating food politely while still getting as much nice food into your mouth as time would allow, a tightrope for us both!We agreed that eating noodles and rice were just a waste of stomach space and Chris was the proud overall food consumimg winner, after eating10 man sized buns.Reminded me of our honeymoon where he ate 50 buns in 2 weeks,he is a very impressive man and takes his bun eating seriously as most of you probably know.Raffles was a real blow out but the lovely sandwiches(with crusts cut off of course!)and cakes,buns,biscuits,creams,sauces and all the silverware made it a great grown up tea party. We then had Singapore Slings (what else?) in the courtyard bar and wrote posh postcards!
Full of food we met up with Finton and Claire our new buddies.Chris and i have not had many friends on our trip so we agreed to try to play it cool and not be too overexcited about our meeting.We needn’t have worried as they were brilliant fun and a long beer drinking evening continued with top quality banter. Finton and chris invincible on pool table and even sang the song ‘Yesterday’ on karaoke. Returned to our hostel and garage room drunk but happy!
In true Warni style we had to catch a flight the next day so after another row with our money grabbing land lady we left for the airport(hanging) When we arrived at the check in we were asked where our visa for Australia was, to which we replied”our what?”Quick dash to internet to get visa online then finally we could check in,tired,emotional and smelling a little of beer.
8 hours to Australia and we arrived at 4 in the morning our singapore time but 7 Australian time. We wore our flashing santa hats once more and couldn’t have been happier when we saw the beaming face of Chris’s brother Phil waiting to pick us up.Lots of hugs followed and then we met Phils chap Mustaffa and the hugging started again. Mustafa was in a suit, but it wasn’t especially for us he had to go work after driving us around! Short trip to Mustaffa’s house where i was overcome with joy at the quality of his material possessions.So many beautiful things,cushions,candlesticks,paintings,even the mugs were lovely.However tiredness overcame us and we went to sleep for a few hours before breakfast in the sun and realising we really were in Australia!yippee!
We had a sight seeing tour from Phil and took in the sights of Melbourne.No one seemed to go to work,everyone was sat in cafes drinking smoothies or beer.I think i like it here!.we will have a proper look around when we come back to Oz but seems a great place to live, we went out for a meal that evening and the food,wine and company were all perfect.Great to see Chris and Phil together and hear them taking the mick out of each other!Funny chaps!
As we only have 2 days in Oz we didn’t do much the next day,Chris and Phil collected some things our mums had sent over from post office and i sat in the house and read all Mustaff’s house magazines.Brilliant.Crazy hot day though (41) and even a walk in the park at 7 in the eve was sweaty and tiring,we saw people go by on bikes,are they mad?After a great curry made by Mustaffa we relaxed and talked about lovely Plymouth in the very hot garden and laughed like drains while drinking very nice red wine.Unfortunately we were leaving for New Zealand the next day,but will be back in a few months for a proper Oz trip.
The journey to New Zealand was pretty uneventful,however when we checked in we had another check in surprise.”Where are your tickets out of New Zealand?”we were asked ,to which we replied,”what tickets?”Another dash to ticket office where we had to buy tickets back to Australia with rather less consideration on price than we hoped for.Rushed back red faced and were led to front of queue to finally check in.My heart can’t deal with any more check in suprises!I thought we were good at travelling but we seem to be missing important things like visas and plane tickets!Dont worry mum,i am sure they were one offs.
So now we are in New Zealand which is fabulous.Great weather,not too hot,cool evenings and we are next to a beautiful park which runs up tthe back of the museum. I must admit that when we first arrived at our hostel and i saw our room,bare with a bed jammed into it,dirty curtains,used sheets and no air conditioning ,i did sit on the bed and start blubbing.Visiting Phil and Mustaff gave me a reminder of home comforts and family ,so it was hard to go back to grotty back packers.Luckily i have Chris with me and he did a brilliant job of cheering me up.Today we are off for a tour of the bay,visiting Devonport area just over water, just like Plymouth it’s the area just outside the naval base. And we are also booked in to something which will be brilliant full details later in the month.But Chris and i have agreed not to tell you yet.
We are in New Zealand for 6 weeks and hoping for lots of adventures.Will go now so i can get started on them.Love to you all.Just to remind you that if you double click on our photos you can get into our album.Cheers!!!
NY in KL (C – 2 Jan 08) January 2, 2008
Happy New Year one and all, we had a fantastic time on the night and spent the evening with a german couple, a Scottish Australian, a Russian woman and a man who came from Watford but spoke like a South African and it was brilliant, but I jump the gun. We left Koh Samui vowing to definitely return at some point, if not here then to Thailand. After a last night in Samui interrupted by a live band and a singer who sounded like Cyndi Lauper (they were so loud it sounded like they were playing in our bathroom!) Early start 4 am taxi straight to the airport and we were shattered on arrrival but were soothed by the airport facilities, cushioned seating, gentle music, complementary cafe mocha, warmed chocolate brownies and football on telly (Man U losing to West Ham) – if Carlsberg really did do Airports, this would be it. The flight back north to Thailand was the long way round to Kuala Lumpar but the cheapest, it was also short and sweet much like the lovely New Zealander we met on the 1 hour trip. Doug is from Wellington and it was great to pass the time with someone with a similar sense of humour, he also offered to help us tour vineyards in Wellington, so we agreed he was a smashing fella. He also mentioned that tourism had increased in NZ due to the film Lord of the Rings and that he had auditioned as a hobbit! Back to Bangkok airport where we tried hard not to go in any shops (or at least I tried hard not to let Soph go in any shops, full time job!) 3 hour wait and then onto 4 hour flight to Kuala Lumpar in doing so we passed the 25,000 mile mark on our travels – I love the stats!
KL really organised as you’d expect, quickly through customs and onto the Tren Ekspress (the express train, yes I know it’s not difficult being a tourist here) which whistled us the 30 miles into KL centre, very tired by this time having had brekky on one flight and lunch on the next! The train ran through lush green forestry and huge numbers of palm trees, dissected by rivers and lakes – really jungly! This vista gave way to another type of jungle, the concrete type, in really short order. 1 minute green the next, a fantastic futuristic sky line of modern buildings dominating the horizon. They have really gone to town with their architecture here and it is pretty amazing stuff. From sports stadiums, to towers to bridges they’re all done in metal and glass and look great. Anyway, we arrived at KL Sentral (central) and tried to sort out our ticket to Singapore while we were there, hot and tired we had to wait for ages to get it done and I kinda lost my rag at bit for first time on trip, only briefly but felt bad! Soph took charge though, as I appeared to have stopped being able to think in a straight line – weak! We took train through city to our hotel, big adventure, but all services are clean and efficient so it is a bit easier here than maybe doing same thing in London. We have also learnt 2 words, thankyou (treemacasee) and hello (hi) – language geniuses! Hotel is big and luxurious and we love it, soph put on the towelling slippers for a roam round the huge bed, which we dove in on shortly after to catch up on some shut-eye before the NY celebrations. Choice between going to see an Elton John look-a-likee, eating in one of the hotel’s 10 restaurants or venturing out and about. This time decision making was easy so we made our way through the sticky heat, passing people carrying silly hats and foam spray, fortunately with these faces we always look like we’ve come for a party (halloween). We walked through the immense shopping centre beneath the Petronas Twin Towers and it was packed with people, none of whom seemed to be drunk, very strange not like Plymouth! Exiting the building we entered a fountain filled park area, with big screens broadcasting live pictures of a band playing Malaysian popular music, great stuff. Most of the bars had cover charges, so we slipped into one that didn’t but still had a security cordon. Luckily, found a seat in the corner of the bar and settled in to some Tiger beer drinking – roar!! Met some fine people, especially an English speaking German couple, who were amazed that after 2 years of German study at DHS, I only remembered two words, verboten (forbidden) and fliedermouse (bat), equally amazed that by the end of the evening i had brought both into conversation. They were lovely people though and we had a great time with them and the ensemble cast mentioned in first paragraph. The fire-works were amazing and our position in the bar was absolutely slap bang in front of them – lucky Soph strikes again! We were worried that we would miss the count down, as my watch is so cheap and inaccurate, then we noticed the 5 metre high numbers on the big clock strapped to the side of the highest twin towers in the world, so managed to join in the shouted countdown. The celebrations were long and loud, like my wife! You probably won’t be suprised to learn that we were the last to leave the bar and stumble home to our hotel. Passing people going to work and some kids doing break dancing in the street, thank god Soph didn’t let me show them my moves! 1 JAN 08 DID NOT EXIST FOR US. It must have been a time warp, the only thing we managed to achieve was to eat some pizza! Today great though, after free breakfast, walked to the Petronas tower and realised we should have booked days ago to get up there, so went to Menara KL tower instead which used to be tallest building in world. Went up to observation desk 276m and looked back at the Petronas, which is about twice as tall as anything else in this city stuffed with tall buildings. Also popped into post office, to finally get our gift for the Walshies baby posted (this must be a record, we bought it 15 Nov 07) when the guy at the counter asked us for the exact change, Soph asked me if we had any cents – well I’ll leave you to answer that one, but I laughed like a drain! We are now sat in the Times Square shopping Mall, keeping Soph in check in this a true shopping Mecca has been a ‘mare, her heart-beat is at a constant 130 beats a minute and she is insane with the shopping lust! Still as weather is permanently overcast and exceptionally sweaty (especially for a bloke with man boobs!) we are about to go see ‘I am Legend’ in the biggest cinema in Asia, which must mean the world surely. Anyway, have a great ‘08 all of you, thanks for Ted Getsch for saying hello and to everyone who sent us Happy Christmas/New Yearses! We have now passed 3,000 viewings on our blog (average 200 a week) and Soph is probably shading the competition at the moment – so post me some Comments please!
