Travel
Essential travel kit for backpacking
Here’s a list of items I’m taking when travelling maybe essential is a bit over the top, but will all come in handy im sure. I’ve not gone into too much detail and excluded clothing as we’re going to too many different places and will need more than we can carry in a backpack (snowboarding gear etc... which will be shipped separately)
Which book to take travelling?
Here’s a shortlist of selected books, one of which will be going with me travelling. "The odyssey" has already made it through to the next round, thanks to Charlie for making my mind up on that one. Now I'm not sure which of these would be the ideal choice from the list of 'must read' books. Maybe anyone out there has an idea or is there one on the list I should take but have not listed.
- One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
- The name of the rose, Umberto Eco
- The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
- A passage to India, E.M. Forster
- The tin drum, Günter Grass
- Ulysses, James Joyce
I have to say One Hundred Years of Solitude is the favourite just now, but my mind could be easily changed.
Travel itinerary for Africa
No yellow fever for me woohoo, I’ve had enough of jabs for now although another thing is Bilhartzia. No doubt we will go swimming in Lake Malawi and as a precaution we have to de-worm ourselves - one dose of tablets 6 months after exposure.
Cambodia and the Temples of Angkor
We were staying in Siam Reap; this town seems to be booming from the close proximity to the Angkor temple area. This boom in tourism inevitably brings a lot of poor people flocking to the city to try and cash in. The evidence of Cambodia’s chaotic past is clearly on show, every street corner has landmine victims, young and old.
First day arriving in Australia - Sydney
Our first day in Sydney; we had a swim in the morning in an open air saltwater pool under the shadow of the Harbour Bridge just next to Luna Park. The rest of the morning was taken up with sleeping in the park in the sun in front of the Opera House - we were a bit knackered from the flight.
Katoomba - Blue Mountains near Sydney
The Giant’s Stairway (900 steps - there were some eager idiots coming up on our way down) and along the path to the terrifying vertical train on a rope thing. The walk was good but all too short; it would definitely be worth spending a few days up this way and taking the time to hike for longer and explore more of the area.
Rotarua
Auckland, Rotorua, Queenstown, Wanaka, Bay of Islands, North Island, South Island, snowboarding, mountain biking, swimming, walking, talking, rain, sun, wind, snow, parties, barbeques, beer, wine, cars, planes and a bit of everything else. Well it’s been a while, what’s the excuse? Well you know how it is - we’re still in Auckland working, living and generally enjoying New Zealand. The months just seem to be flying past. We’ve been away 10 months now.
Day 10 in the Big Brother house
Someone stole my f**kin biscuits. Ahhh - the joys of shared accommodation. We’ve been living in Auckland for over a month and things are going good. The area we live in is cool - loads of trendy bars. I fit right in no? I’ve been working for the past couple of weeks, doing contract work for a little company downtown. The house is sweet, just a bit odd sharing with a bunch of students. Get a job, pot head slackers. Only kidding - a mixed bag of flat mates, some are cool some are, well you know. Mind you, it’s probably no walk in the park for them seeing me shambling around of a morning.
Arriving in Auckland
So, as you may be aware we’re kind of running a bit behind on the old weblog. Our last update was the 15th of May. The hustle and bustle of finding a job/flat/furniture has taken over a bit. When you rent a room in Auckland it comes unfurnished, so we’ve had the pleasure of tracking down beds etc… New Zealand is cool; it’s been raining like crazy though. ‘Four seasons in one day’, hmmmmm - sounds like somewhere else I know.
Birthday White Russians
Then we went boozing in the Minus 5 bar, “a unique experience that will chill your bones and delight your senses.” Don’t know about that but it was feckin cold. You get kitted out in enormous Parkas and fur booties, then you go into this bar that’s made from ice, ice seats, ice tables, even the glasses you drink from are made from ice. Felt pretty Russian so you’ve guessed it, we had a White Russian. It’s a wee bit different, and for some reason drinking in the cold seems to get you more wrecked than normal.
Whitianga and the Coromandel
We spent the day walking along the beach in the sunshine, pretty nice for the middle of winter. Decided to take a longer walk on the Sunday around an old gold mining area called Broken Hills. The walk starts as a bush walk up a steep hill to a lookout over the surrounding hills and out to the coast. Then you wind down off the hill and into a valley, where you come across the entrance to an old abandoned gold mine. Through here you walk 500m under the hill and out the other side. Very cool but a bit scary, nobody else around and did anyone know we were here? Hmmm. The walk is called Collins Drive, in case anyone reading this is in New Zealand.
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