Josh's Travels

First off, I apologize for the long delay in updating what's been happening in Australia. However, when internet is somewhat scarce, and internet when you do find it, costs $12 an hour, getting online hardly seems wothwhile. Anyway, I'm back in Sydney now, and I'll do my best to summarize the last 5 or 6 weeks.

I'll start with a story line which I haven't mentioned before, but has become a major part of the last month or so of my trip. Just before I left Denver, I called Matt to confirm that we'd booked our hostel in Fiji, but he wasn't home. His mom told me, he was in Cornwall camping with his girlfriend, which suprised me becuase I had no idea that he had a girlfriend. I didn't think much of it, but later in Fiji, and New Zealand, Matt dropped occasional hints about Hayley, (his girlfriend) visiting us in Australia for a few weeks. Noting that it would be good to have an extra person to share the costs of food and fuel. I was somewhat skeptical, but soon enough Matt told me that Hayley had quit her job, and was coming out to Australia for the entire trip. By this time, we were nearing the end of our trip in New Zealand and would soon be in Sydney. So, when we arrived in Sydney I hadn't given the prospect of another person in the van as much thought as I probably should have, and we went forward with our original plan to buy a van, and go around Australia for 3 months. Hayley was set to arrive on the 9th of January, so we thought we might be able to get some travelling in before she arrived...maybe even go down to Melbourne and then pick her up on the way up the east coast. However, buying the van over the Christmas and New Year period in Sydney turned out to be a much slower process than expected, and by the time we had figured out all the details, it made more sense to hang around in Sydney for another week until she flew in.

Buying a van for three people also complicated things somewhat, becuase it basically meant we needed to buy a pop-top, (considerably more expensive) and to add to the stress of the situation, all the mechanics in Sydney were closed from Christmas to at least the first week in January. We were essentially faced with buying a certain type of van, with no one to put our mind's at ease on the van's mechanical reliability. We didn't want to waste too much of our time in Sydney looking for a van, but at the same time didn't want to make the mistake of buying something that would break down as soon as we took it out of Sydney. The first van we went to see, a 1981 toyota hiace pop-top, was to our suprise, exactly what we were looking for (despite being 27 years old and having nearly 4 and a half thousand kilometers on the clock), and seemed to be getting a lot of attention. It was kitted out with drawer space, a refrigerator, a sink, a stove, a collapsable table, and seats which folded into a bed. There was no time to mess about or it would be sold. We had to decide if we wanted to risk making the purchase without having it checked by a mechanic beforehand. In the end, we did as many of our own checks as we could, took it for a test drive, and then took the plunge. It wasn't as impulsive a buy as it sounds in that it was nearly a week from the first time we looked at the van to when we actually bought it. Then there was the annoyingly complicated process of actually paying for it. We hadn't been taking hundreds of dollars out of ATMs for the last week, so we couldn't pay in cash, and neither of us had an Australian bank branch, so we couldn't just withdraw money over the counter like you normally would. In the end we opted for a money wire transfer from my account to the seller's. Of course there was nothing timely about that option either, and amidst weekends and bank hollidays it ended up taking 4 or 5 days just to transfer the funds. With that sorted however, Matt and I finally got the keys on January 3rd or 4th.

After building my bed out of wooden slats attached by rope on either side, we decided to take the van north out of the city for a couple days. We'd been in Sydney for far too long, and were anxious to get going. 30 kilometers out of town, the temperature gauge started rising...far too high for comfort, and we pulled over to let things cool down, and have a think on what to do. We were close enough to a beach so we coasted down into the carpark and set up for the night...waiting until the next day to deal with whatever problem awaited us. The next morning we drove back toward Sydney keeping a close eye on the temperature, and taking it easy on the engine. We ended up finding a garage that pressure tested the cooling system for us for free, but after reading through the myriad of cooling system problems, (some of them cost loads to fix) waiting for a diagnosis on the van were very very tense times. There was a small leak in the radiator, which was the cause of the problem, and the mechanic quoted us two hundred or so dollars to repair it--a massive relief after thinking you might be in for a 4 digit bill. We booked the van in for the following monday, and went to the beach for a much needed swim.

I'll just note that the majority of those few weeks weren't spent only dealing with the stresses of the van, and we spent the majority of our time exploring Sydney or on the beach.

Anyway though, Hayley arrived on the 9th of January, and Matt went to pick her up from the airport early that morning. I left them most of that day since they hadn't seen each other in a few months, and I hung out with Jake, although it was strange to know that you'll be spending the next 2 months with someone you've never met. The next day, my birthday, was a fun night and we went out into North Sydney for the night. It's probably my only birthday that I'll have to make a phone call home to be wished a happy birthday. We all spent a couple more days in Sydney waiting for the van to be fixed, and then it was finally time to hit the road. Almost immediately I could see that having a 3rd traveller along was going to change things more than I expected. The entire dynamic and atmosphere changed as a third person's opinions about food and destinations came into play. Not to mention an understandable need to spend most nights parked near toilet blocks or showers. By the time we got to Melbourne I had made the decision to move my flight to Thailand up a month, and leave for Southeast Asia early. It's nothing against either Matt or Hayley, but travelling with a couple isn't what I had planned on doing and instead of feeling stuck for the next two months, I decided it would be better to enjoy the next three weeks with them, (3 weeks I could handle) and then move on with my trip.

Aside from the unexpected tweak in my travel plans I have nothing to complain about. Living out of the van was great. We would arrive at a new place every night, make dinner in the van, fold the beds out, and then in the morning, you'd wake up, often with an amazing view of the ocean, make breakfast, and then just as simply as you'd arrived, pack up and leave.

We did this for 4 or 5 days on our way down to Melbourne (minus the ocean, becuase we took the inland route). In Melbourne, the Australian Open was in its second week, and I wandered down to Federation Square (an outdoor square with a giant screen) to watch Nadal's loss to Tsonga amid a crowd of others not willing to pay the ridiculous entrance fee to watch the match live. After a few days exploring Melbourne, a city which I actually really liked, we decided to head down the Great Ocean Road. West of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road hugs a rather scenic part of Australia's coast for a few hundred kilometers. We went surfing in Torquay, and explored some waterfalls in Lorne, where we also met up with two other travellers, Alex and Dan. Alex was from England but he'd been in Australia at school and was going around Australia with his Australian friend Dan. We'd meet up with them every couple days a little farther down the coast, and in Apollo Bay we pushed out our budget and had a barbecue next to the beach (there are free barbecue grills scattered throughout parks in Australia...great idea if you ask me). After Apollo Bay I did an overnight coastal walk and camped along the beach...good chance to see some wildlife, and I was lucky enough to spot a koala, a few kangaroos, and an echidna. I met back up with Hayley and Matt, and after seeing the twelve apostles, and spending a few more nights along the coast we made our way back to Melbourne for the return trip to Sydney.

On the way back up what's called the Sapphire coast we saw loads more kangaroos, and even saw a massive 5 foot lizard. The next night a possum snuck into our van, and the spiders over here are generally a bit frightening. A couple more long drives brought us back into Sydney on the 8th, where I said farewell to Matt, Hayley and van life. I'm staying with my godfather who lives in Sydney until I fly out on the 18th.

Overall, Australia's been a great time, and the freedom that living out of a van gives you is definitely something to be experienced. Relaxed days on the beach in the sun, where often the most stressful part of your day is deciding what to buy at the supermarket. You're almost forced to take an interest in cooking, and on a budget it's not hard to eat healthily since you can't go out for meals. We found that a great way to save money is to go into bakeries just before closing and get any bread that wasn't sold...can't argue with free bread, and we'd often get offered sandwiches, pies, rolls, and cakes as well.

The culture, as it might be expected, isn't all that different from either England or America, and seems to draw a lot from both. I'm ready though to get the backpack out and head off to something very different in SE Asia.

Matt, and I arrived on different flights. I was in about half an hour ahead of him, so I met his friend Jake from England who was in Sydney and had come to pick us up from the airport. After a bit of waiting, Matt finally came through the arrival gate, and we were off. Out of the airport doors, we were welcomed to Australia by a cloudy Sydney day....not quite what I had expected from Down Under.

Sabina, Jake's girlfriend, drove us to across Sydney Harbor Bridge. Sabina dropped us off at Jake's place of employment...BWS liquor store, where we got a couple beers to go with some pizza from up the street. Then we ate a well deserved meal by the Harbor, directly across from the Sydney Opera House.

I'd arranged to stay with George, a contact friend in Sydney, and we got a ride to his house. After going out for a couple more drinks and chatting about our plans in Sydney, Matt and I crashed on his pull out sofa. Matt had another friend living in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, and since George had someone coming in for Christmas, we changed locations to Matt's friend Amy's apartment near the beach. They were leaving over Christmas, and needed someone to look after the house while in Brisbane. So a free place to stay over Christmas it was! We also had to get on the case with looking at vans, as we had been planning on touring the country that way.

Christmas Eve was a stressful day of looking around for vans and getting our bearings in the city. Getting around a city you don't know on unfamiliar public transport definitely isn't easy...and hitching in Australia is apparently illegal and out of the question (although I'm sure people do it without too much trouble). A van that would suit us was looking like it'd be costing a good 5 grand or more. The prospect of spending that much money on a used car is frightening to say the least.

Christmas proved a nice break, and we had a barbecue with Sabina's family. Her family is Serbian, and her sister's boyfriend, Chris is a Chef from Germany. You can never complain when you have a chef cooking for you, and we indulged in ribs, steaks, sausages...etc. certainly a no vegetarian zone. Good food aside though, Christmas without snow or family, isn't quite the same.

The next couple days we spent finding out more about vans and going through the whole tedious process of making checklists of what to look for and so on. Yesterday after second guessing ourselves to bits we committed to buying a van. a pop top toyota hiace. 5500 is a lot of money, but at the end of the day we had to commit at some point, and the van was everything we could ask for. Beds, stove, even a refrigerator, all installed in the back of a van. So with a deep breath and fingers crossed, we'll see what happens

Leaving Queenstown now seems like a distant memory, but I suppose that means that I haven't been updating my blog frequently enough...

After leaving Queenstown, we hitched to a Gibbston Valley winery to sample some of the local wine. The ultimate clash of class...hitch hiking and wine tasting, but never mind. Strangely enough I randomly bumped into Alex, my contact in Queenstown at the winery. She was randomly having lunch there, and it was the first time she'd ever been...strange coincidence. After some of the winery's famous pinot noir it was back on the hitch to Wanaka where we had a couple down days before our grand hitch to Christchurch, a massive 500 kilometers away.

We started out with little confidence of making it to Christchurch that day. The few people we'd talked to gave us the impression that the road wasn't very traveled, and it might well be hours of standing by the road. Thumbs out though we got on with it. The ride out of town wasn't too difficult to come by, and in less than half an hour we'd made it to the main highway. To our despair however, the first ten minutes of waiting didn't yield one passing car. But then, half an hour later, and much to our surprise, a rickety old van drove by and then screeched to a halt 100 or so meters down the road. Not sure what exactly to think, Matt started jogging toward the van as it reversed toward us. Sure enough, it was a ride, and one that promised to take us a good 150 K's in the right direction. Despite the fact that the Korean family that picked us up didn't speak English, it was a fantastic lift.

I'm not sure the name of the town we were dropped but it wasn't long before we grabbed an even more unlikely lift with a seemingly wealthy couple from Auckland. After two weeks of hitching in which we'd watched expensive car after expensive car go by Matt and I had resigned ourselves to the fact that rich people simply don't pick hitchers up. However, we were in for the pleasant surprise of a lift all the way to Christchurch. Oh, and we even stopped for ice creams on the way, which the couple insisted on paying for!

Then, not much more than 6 hours after stepping out on the side of the road with thumbs out, be bustled out of the car into Christchurch's central square, a little perplexed by how quick and easy the previously daunting trip had been. No time to hang about though, and we got hunting for a hostel to stay at that night. The hostel chains, YHA and X-base were both full, and since we hadn't reserved rooms we weren't completely sure where to turn. We ended up finding a local hostel called Charlie B's, which made us realize that we'd been getting ripped off on the whole hostel experience. Charlie B's was a converted house, with everything you could want in a hostel...plenty of showers, nice kitchen, lounge area with a pool table and TV (never saw anything but Lord of the Rings playing for some reason...I guess traveling to New Zealand inspires people to watch it). Most importantly though, dorm beds were $19...a massive 7 dollars cheaper than what YHA had to offer (if that gives you an idea of how we're watching money), and that's beside the fact that this place actually had some character.

After the ease with which we'd made it to Christchurch however, Matt and I decided to test our luck a little and head up north about 200 kilometers to Hanmer Springs, a natural hot springs area not too far from Christchurch. We soon realized that hitching out of a city isn't quite so easy as the hitching along main roads we'd been doing around most of the country. It's obviously much better to hitch along main roads that are headed in the same direction as you, but when you're in the center of a city with little idea of direction and no major highways in the area, it's not easy to get where you're trying to go. Suffice it to say, we ended up doing a lot of walking...seemed like at least half way across the city. Once we got hitching though, things were great. Two rides got us to the Hanmer Springs turn off where we got picked up by an older guy headed to the West Coast. Van full of stuff we piled in, and in no time we were at the last junction between us and Hanmer...only 7 kilometers away. A quick lift with an English couple traveling in the area, and we were there!

I don't have to much to say about Hanmer. The hot springs were nice, and we camped illegally for two nights because we were running low on money and didn't want to incur another withdrawal fee before leaving New Zealand. Although, that's not to say there wasn't any excitement. Matt got given a massive box of camping gear the first night we were there...it was honestly like opening a Christmas present when you're a kid, not knowing what treasures lay among the tins of baked beans and packs of spaghetti. There ended up being a few pots and pans, some spices...a cutting board, some random food selections and even a camping stove. We'd seen the same backpacker stoves in outdoor stores for close to $100 so we were well pleased with that find.

Then on the morning of departure, we woke up to heavy rain, and the realization that we would have to collapse the tent and pack everything away in the rain. So, shirts off, (so they wouldn't get soaked) and rain coats over the newly found box and our bags, we did our best to roll away the tent and sprinted across the park to shelter. Once again, hitching proved remarkably easy, and after 10 minutes of standing in the rain, an Irish traveler bound for Arthur's Pass picked us up with promise of at least getting close to Christchurch. We talked the entire trip, and he even changed course to take us right into the city, saying that Arthur's Pass would be a waste of time to see in the rain. We more than happily accepted the "door-to-door" lift and stepped out of his traveler van half a block away from Charlie B's where we spent the night before our flights to Sydney the next day.

So where to pick up...

Matt and I got a hitch into Queenstown with an Aussie guy and a Brazilian girl. We were coming in on a Friday night and hoping to come into some of the Queenstown night life. By the time we got food for dinner at the "super market" and walked down to the hostel it was around 6:30 and when we got to reception they said that everything was booked up...all the hostels around the city. There were a couple other guys that were out of luck to so we decided to break our hitching vows and shell out 4 ways on a taxi to the closest cheap motel and share a room. We ended paying about 30 each for a decent room...although as we spent more time around the post boarding school brothers we'd been put up with we realized that we were in for a long night of BS.

Found our way to a hostel the next morning and booked in to a room with 6 other travelers...a good bunch in relation to the previous night although it seems like you can't escape a night without at least one snorer in the room. I went to across the street to use the internet and try to find out how to contact a family friend living in Queenstown. I was told to look up Alex Weber while I was in Queenstown, a friend of my cousin's. I got an email saying she worked at a bar called Altitude, which I thought sounded familiar. Only when I walked back to the hostel did I realize why. All the X-base hostels seem to have adjoining bars, and X-base Queenstown adjoins to Altitude...kind of a crazy coincidence.

Trying to find out what to do for the next couple days, Matt and I flipped through some of the "activity booklets". Of course everything was skydiving, bungy jumping, or river rafting with a price tag that would send me home a few months early. Even a day of mountain biking was going to leave a $75 hole in the wallet. Although after some thinking, I asked the guy in the mountain bike shop if we could take the bikes overnight for the price of one day. That way we could bike up into the mountains, camp up there, and come back in the morning. He agreed, and the next day we had plans for a ride.

The bike ride was a great way of getting away from the touristy feel of Queenstown and only a mile down the road we felt as if we'd left it behind. A steep initial climb left us riding through a valley with 360 degrees of mountain scenery, and after a few miles we stashed the tent and bags in the bushes near a good camping spot (biking with heavey bags, food, and a tent isn't the easiest thing I've done). We went along the trail for a few hours, and did a loop trail with river crossings on the return...biking through rivers, an experience not easily forgotten. We camped that night (saving on accomodation)...not to mention that camping in the New Zealand mountains beats any hostel, even if it's not quite as comfortable a night's sleep.

After the bike ride, it'd be good to get out of Queenstown again, and back into the mountains.

We went into the Department of Conservation office, and had a look at some maps and trails, but most of the advertised trails were 70 or 80 miles out of Queenstown, and had huts along the way that you had to buy permits for....hardly the getting away from the tourists experience that we were after....although I'm sure the Route burn and Milford/Doubtful sound treks are amazing. We just picked a mountain off the map and decided to go for it. The starting point, Arrowtown was only a 20 minute ride out of town...easily hitchable, and the hike looked pretty reasonable. We would pack food for another overnight trip and do Advance Peak.

We got two quick rides up to Arrowtown, with an Argentinain guy who had a Scottish accent, and two girls from Dunedin, NZ who to our surprise took us right to Arrowtown. We got right into it, and 15 kilometers, and at least 20 river crossings later, we were in Macetown, an old abandoned gold mining village, at the foot of Advance peak. We set up the tent and jumped in quick because the flies were deadly...five minutes of standing still had you eaten alive, and itching all night.

Disappointedly we woke up to a bit of cloud, but we got on with it and by noon we were standing on the summit with some pretty spectacular views! 2 quick hours down and we were back on the 15 km track to Arrowtown. The track, which I didn't mention before is a 4WD track, and they're not kidding as some of the river crossings are waist deep. A 4WD truck going down caught us up after we'd walked a couple miles and offered us a ride down. The walk down wasn't too inspiring, and it was starting to rain, so we hopped in with the couple from Nelson, who claimed to be part of a 4WD club....interesting...the man was well into it, but the lady seemed to just be along for the ride.

We arrived back in Arrowtown way ahead of schedule, and then another easy hitch brought us into Queenstown where we checked into a campsite...cheaper than the hostel, but with all the same luxuries (kitchen, showers, lounge...etc. minus the bed). We even made a 7pm game of Ultimate Frisbee that was going on at the Rugby fields...good to throw a frisbee again, I've gotta say.

It'd been a couple exhausting days though, so after dinner, and a few pints at Altitude, where I told Alex we'd be leaving Queenstown the next day it was off to bed, and out of Queenstown the next morning. Overall a great 6 days!

Finally getting the blog up to date now...

Matt and I left Fiji at 8 in the morning, and after some extra breakfasts on the plane, we arrived in a much cooler New Zealand.

We had expected to be pretty well in Auckland, but Matt and I walked out of the airport only to realize that it was a fair way into the center of the city. Not wanting to spend much money, we walked down the main road a few hundred yards and from there it was thumbs out.

We got a couple quick lifts to the highway and set our bags up on the side of the on ramp where we waited for about half an hour. An American woman named Liz picked us up on her way to a family barbecue and after talking for the better part of an hour she invited us for late lunch. It was a completely random situation in which there were about 30 kiwis who all knew each other pretty well, and then two random hitch hikers. Everyone was amazingly welcoming though, and after grabbing a free meal, and ended up camping in their garden!

Breakfast in the morning...free again, and then it was back on the road with a gallon of orange juice that we'd been given. We made our way down the North Island on the thumb and after 15 lifts we were in Wellington! Got checked into a hostel and met up with Karen who's at school there, and had gotten us in touch with Noleen and Tom in Fiji! (Thanks Karen).

We caught the ferry across to the South Island, and decided to hitch as far as we could. Not expecting much we stuck our thumbs out and within a minute we had a ride to the west coast, a good 400 kilometers down the road! The problem is that by the time we made it to his destination, Hokatika, it was 10 o'clock and dark. I don't think we ever got the guy's name, but he let us put up in his motel room for the night. Great guy!

Another random lift down the coast and we made it to Fox Glacier where we hiked up to the base of the receeding glacier. We needed to get back to the coast for the night though since we were planning on camping on the beach. We hitched a lift on a Japanese tour bus down to the main road, and hoped for a ride to the coast.

Close to two hours went by and it wasn't looking promising. It was getting dark and there was only a trickle of cars coming down the road. On the verge of giving up and just setting up the tent near behind a bush, a van pulled over! Mike, a French Canadian raft guide took us exactly where we needed to go, and we set up on the beach in the last rays of light....despite the "NO CAMPING" sign.

Another 6 hours of hitching with a ride from a random couple and a DHL courier van, and we're in Queenstown!

21 rides from Auckland to Queenstown, and overall it's been a great way to travel. We've only had a couple long waits, and instead of paying for long boring bus rides we've met loads of cool people. If you come to New Zealand...do some hitching---but don't try getting rides from Haast.