Author: sigormley

There have been quite a few demonstrations of how big Australia is, and a four hour flight across two time zones where you land in the same country has to be one of the best. Yes, we’ve left Sydney for most probably the last time on this trip and headed across the continent/country to Perth. At least the weather was fine as we landed and were met by Caroline’s uncle to spend a few days exploring Perth. Caroline’s aunt and uncle live on a golf resort where the kangaroos regularly get in the way of the games – how Australian can you get?

Our chances of seeing the blue mountains were dashed as we awoke to heavier rain than yesterday. Polishing off an Eggs Benedict breakfast (a tradition when visiting Katoomba, and something everyone should try), we managed to find the station in the mist and boarded the train for Sydney.
Sydney wasn’t much better though, but the hotel was in the shadow of the harbour bridge, and as we had free passes to go up the turret we idled away the afternoon in there. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t take too many interesting photos (but I did take some Cat!), so here’s a photo of Sydney sans Opera House. There was public outcry at the time, as the disused tram depot would be knocked down to make way for the Opera House, go figure!

The weather forecast warned us of rain in the Blue mountains, but we paid little heed (and the hotel was booked anyway). What we hadn’t banked on was actually being in the rain cloud so that there was literally nothing to see. The viewpoint for the three sisters looked out to a white nothingness, and even a walk to the base of the first sister didn’t reveal any more. So it was a good job the hotel was nice (Lilianfels, the Orient Express hotel from Caroline’s birthday) and had a roaring fire going. Of course we’re on more of a budget than Caroline’s parents so we were in the local YHA, but still got to use the pool, stay warm and eat the good food, well that’s the best bit isn’t it?

As you know, we’ve been in and around Sydney for a good few months, and in the nick of time (our last full day) we’ve squeezed in one of the top Sydney attractions: a walk up to the top of the harbour bridge. All four of us slipped into the attractive grey suits, attached belts and clipped on all manner of bits before walking out underneath the roadway to the famous arch of the coathanger. The walk was nice and easy, and soon we were on top of the arch peering down at the harbour below and off into the misty distance. At the peak we were 130 metres high, which somehow felt higher than the Auckland Skytower (192m), and way taller than the canyon swing (113m). Must make a mental note not to compare all heights to things I’ve jumped off, you know, just to keep the temptation at bay (as the guide said, if the bridge was in New Zealand there would be 3 bungies and a flying fox from the top).
The climb finished and left us with half a day to fill, so braving the rain we caught the ferry across the harbour to Manly to promenade and eat fish and chips, well it’s what you do!

Our tour guide role carries on for another day, showing Caroline’s parents the glitzy Sydney sights such as the Rocks market, the IBM Darling Harbour office where I used to work, and Paddy’s market – home of cheap Chinese Australian souveniers. We even managed to take a look at the Fruit Bats at the Botanical Gardens, or more accurately let them look at us from their tree top hanging positions, before the rain set in. Our excellent idea of going to a photo exhibition was a tad too popular with everyone else in Sydney, so we retreated to the hotel for room service and an in-room movie, I think we’ve taken to hotels a little too well…

Ah, New Zealand, we’re sorry to leave, every day has been an adventure with something around the corner to explore, amaze, wonder at the glory of, excite, or simply scare the pants off you. There really is something for everyone here, beautiful vistas, unique wildlife and adventures to be had, and I’m sure we’ll be back again.
But all good things must come to an end, and today we flew back to Sydney to meet Caroline’s parents. Now you’d think with all this flying around the world that nothing would impress, but the Emirates airplane has the pinnacle of in-flight entertainment. Not only could you choose movies, music and games, the whole thing worked on a touch screen (jealous, Cat?) and also had live camera feeds from the front and bottom of the plane so you got a pilots view for take off and landing, who needs movies when you’ve got that!?
Arriving in Sydney was like coming home, it was easy to navigate the airport, we knew where the bus was going and recognised streets and buildings on the way to the hotel. Then there were the familiar faces of Caroline’s parents to greet us to our home for the next few days – that’s pretty permanent for us!

Our last full day in New Zealand, and what better way to sign off our stay in New Zealand than jumping off something. However, the only thing you can jump off also happens to be the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere, the Auckland Skytower, standing at about a third of a kilometre tall. Donning a rather fetching jumpsuit and stepping into the familiar harness I was standing in the lift with a glass bottom watching the floor disappear beneath me, trying not to think about the fact that I’ll need to somehow convince my legs to throw me off. In mere seconds (it was a quiet day and a slick operation they run) I was outside, standing on a ledge 192 metres above the ground, clammy hands gripping on to the rail, coming close to hitting the abort button in my head. But no, must do this one last jump. Waving to the camera with what can only be described as pure apprehension, I moved to hang on to the final two rails before preparing to let go, and passed on the invite to look down. A short countdown and somehow my hands let go of the rail, moving quickly to grab the harness for an odd sense of safety. Hang on a minute, this is actually fun! After a few seconds of hanging around, the wind started whistling past my ears, and the ground started moving up. The fall felt quite relaxed, even though moving toward the ground at 85km/h the harness still pulled back so it wasn’t like a freefall. 12 seconds later and it was all over, would I like another go for free as it was so quiet? Damn right!
P.S. Cat – That jump was a cracker, right?! It’s so easy to imagine you calm-faced jumping off that ledge, in fact did you run off? 😉

The end of an era has come: 5 months, 3 vans, 2 countries, and 22,000Km on 5 islands and our campervanning days are over, for now. To say we’ve had fun is an understatement, and whilst we can’t deny there’s been times we wished to have more than a few cubic metres space to live in, I’m sure we’ll do it again sometime.
With our belongings nearly shoehorned back into our rucksacks we checked into the Auckland hostel and marvelled at the space afforded to us, and the fact that we didn’t need to convert the bed each night.

I could be wrong, but it appears that Papamoa is the world centre for Blokarting, the sport where a sail is attached to three wheels and the wind does the rest. All was going well until we sat in the kart all prepped and ready to go when the wind died down to a whisper. Fair play to the two guys running the place who were determined to get us going and pushed the karts in the hope that the wind would carry us on. The furthest I managed to get was one complete lap before slowly grinding to a halt, and no amount of me pushing would get the kart going on it’s own. I’m still not convinced how you get it to go into the wind, but I’d definitely like to try it again on a windier day.