What time is it there?!

We’ve arrived in New Zealand’s land of BIG scenery. One of the first things they tell you here is that Captain Cook got it wrong when he was naming things, the local landscape was carved by ice, and so these are not Sounds at all, they’re Fjords. Well whatever you want to call them they’re still every bit as spectacular as you expect.

Doubtful Sound is probably less well known than Milford Sound up the road, which reminds me of the relationship between Sequoia and Yosemite parks in the USA. Doubtful Sound is the ‘Sequoia’ of the pair; it may not have the iconic landmarks that you’ve already seen in a thousand photos, but it still has beautiful scenery and because there are far fewer people there it is much more peaceful. We were the only boat on the sound and at one point they stopped, told everyone to sit down quietly, and switched off the engines and generators for a few minutes. You can’t get that experience at Milford because you are on just one of a procession of boats. Oh, and they don’t make you pose for the cheesy tourist photo when you board the boat either!

Our trigger happy approach to photography shows no sign of letting up, and we probably already have fifty or so shots to sort through before we encounter the pod of dolphins halfway towards the sea. Although we’ve seen quite a few dolphins now we’ve never seen this many together, there are believed to be around 60 in this group and it seems that most of them came out to see us today. By the time the day is over we’ve got something like 200 pictures to sort through in an attempt to produce a sensible amount to upload. Hopefully we will succeed and you won’t find them too repetitive to look at.....see how we did, here!

We headed for the southeast and into ‘proper’ rain. Along the way we managed to see the impressive (?!) Moeraki Boulders, but after that rain definitely stopped play. Our timing turned out to be fortunate, as after being kept awake by driving wind and rain we awoke in Dunedin to discover that we had only been a couple of hours ahead of a storm that flooded and closed a couple of the major roads we had just passed along.

Dunedin had all the characteristics of being a beautiful coastal town with wonderful architecture and brightly coloured wooden houses perched high on the hillsides ..... or so we assumed, because it also had the poor weather shrouding it in a blanket of pea soup fog. So, we managed to amuse ourselves with a brewery tour and (another) Cadbury factory tour (have we explained how hard the travelling life is?!). The town also possesses the steepest street in the world, so that’s another pub quiz answer to store away in the back of our minds...

For a fee you can book a hotel room with a view of New Zealand’s highest mountain. Alternatively, you take your campervan and park in a nice layby facing away from the mountain, then you get to wake up with this view for precisely zero dollars. Unfortunately, by the time we made it onto the walking trails the mountain was shrouded in low rain clouds, but we did make it to the foot of the Hooker glacier. The actual glacier didn’t look quite as pristine as we had imagined, but the large chunks of ice floating in the lake made up for it. Photos are here and here.

There isn’t much doubt that the most ‘touristy’ parts of the north island are the thermal areas around Lakes Taupo and Rotorua. I actually saw the town referred to as RotoVegas in a local paper in Auckland, and it’s not too difficult to see why as it it seems that everyone with a bit of steam coming out of their land has figured out some way to extract tourist dollars from it!

You can’t come here without going to see some of it though, so we headed off to a couple of the recommended places. Although it all looks quite impressive when you’re standing in front of it steam coming out of the ground doesn’t look that exciting in photos. The Lady Knox Geyser is also a whole lot less exciting when you realise that they chuck soap powder into it just to make sure that it erupts on schedule at 10:15 each day! Bubbling mud pools are a whole different story though, and you’d be surprised how quickly you can snap 200 pictures in the search for the perfect ‘mud shot’!

This being New Zealand, there are of course a wide range of activities available to help you injure yourself in exciting new ways. In fact, if you look at the ‘exclusions’ in a ‘backpacker’ travel insurance policy you’ll probably find that in theory you can’t do anything here at all! Take for example Zorbing; for those of you who don’t already know this involves throwing yourself down a hill inside a large plastic ball. If you prefer they won’t even strap you in, they just throw in some cold water to prevent friction burns. And, if that’s not enough, you can try running the whole way down the hill (inside the ball), which will win you a T-shirt! Phil, we know you did it, but neither of us were capable of drinking enough Guinness to make it seem like a good idea, so instead we went for the..... er..... mud bath and spa option. Look, it rained while we were in the (outdoor) bath, doesn’t that count as a dangerous sport?!

There are numerous Maori ‘nights’ available, the Hangi being a feast cooked in the ground (much like the Fijian Lovu). We tried hard to find the most authentic, and one that did actually have some ‘cultural’ content. The guy in the tourist office did his job well and refused to be drawn into recommending one, but by a process of gentle interrogation we managed to select the one which we think he preferred. It turned out to be a good choice, so if you are in the area we can recommend the Mitai night. It was still fairly touristy (obviously), but the host of the evening impressed by being able to greet the tourists from 20 different countries quite convincingly in their own languages. The meal was excellent, although I assume that dessert didn’t feature in a traditional Hangi (unless trifle and swiss roll were ancient Polynesian delicacies!). You also won’t go hungry, and my old Safeway colleagues will understand if I explain that even the ‘Hungry Russian’ would struggle to clear out the buffet!

TIP: Don’t get the clever idea of doing any washing in the hostel laundry, because the water comes out of the local springs, and it all comes out smelling of eggs. Nice. Trust us on this, we are still living with it now!!

Oooh, wine country again. This wasn’t meant to be a tour of the wine regions of the world, but we’re doing pretty well! We managed to be the first through the door at Lindauer (look, it’s a well know fact that the palate is at it’s best in the morning!). Top vote however must go to our latest ‘favourite winery’, Esk Valley. Not only were the wines very good and the staff very friendly, but they were so pleased that Nikky had found a red wine that she liked (some of you may not realise what an achievement this was) that she was given a ‘prize’ of a free bottle of said wine. So on that day I wasn’t complaining about the fact that Nikky only ever likes the expensive stuff!

We had only allowed ourselves a couple of days to travel down the west coast, but given the poor weather this wasn’t to much of a problem. We missed out the caves at Waitomo, because there seem to be glow worm caves everywhere we go! We did stop in at ‘The Shearing Shed’ though, which was (surprisingly) nothing to do with sheep but in fact all about Angora rabbits. These are BIG rabbits. The rabbits are shorn every 3 months, and apparently each animal produces enough wool for a jumper each time! We happened to turn up in time to see a shearing demonstration, and the medieval looking device you can see in the photos is apparently for the rabbit’s safety and causes no injury or distress (they certainly didn’t seem bothered by it).

We continued south to New Plymouth, which seems to have about as much outstanding architecture as the city centre of ‘old’ Plymouth. One thing it does have though is the Wind Wand. Fodor’s describes this as “a sculpture as iconic to New Plymouth residents as the Statue of Liberty is to New Yorkers”. Not quite, but it is impressive, in fact it’s probably the most impressive example anywhere of a 150ft high red lamp post that sways about in the wind!

Some time ago we were asked if we could do a Top Ten of the places we've visited so far. Well, it's taken a while to get round to it so we'll have a full awards ceremony instead. In true 'Oscars' style this will commence with some more minor awards before leading up to the final 'Best Picture' prize.....

Most Amusing Announcements By Cabin Crew
Winner: United Airlines, Seattle-San Francisco.
"Cabin crew cross check doors, and check hair and makeup"
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the city by the bay. Please refrain from smoking until you have left the state of California"

Favourite Public Transport Experience
Winner: Le Truck, Tahiti
Has to be seen to be believed. A close runner up is the unnofficial "How many more people can we fit on the bus?" competition on the Savusavu to Labasa express (3hrs!) bus in Fiji.

Worst Hotel
Winner: Howard Johnson Motel, Redding, California
The ants parading up and down the wall and around the bathroom made this hotel the runaway winner.....

Best Scam For Fleecing Money From Tourists
Winner: The Cook Islands Driving Licence

Most Obscenely Large Portion Of Nachos
Winner: Moxies Bar and Grill, Sandman Hotel, Calgary
Probably enough to feed four, but listed as an 'Appetizer'!

Best Meal
Winner: Sounds of Silence Dinner, Uluru
Go there and see for yourself!

Worst Meal
Winner: All You Can Eat Buffet (Mexican Theme Night), Saddlewest Casino, Pahrump, Nevada
Possibly some of the heaviest & stodgiest substances known to man (but with a cheesy sauce!).

Best Inflight Movie
Winner: Madagascar

Best Free Breakfast In A Hostel
Winner: Hostelling International, Seattle
Seriously, you might not need to eat again all day!

Best Breakfast Anywhere
Winner: Bellagio, Las Vegas
No contest. Never mind the rest of the day, you probably won't need to eat for a week!!

Most Comfortable Airport Seats
Winner: Nadi Airport (Domestic Terminal), Fiji
Stuck at the airport for hours before check-in opens? Don't sit in the dodgy plastic chairs in the international check-in area, head down to the HUGE leather sofas in the almost deserted domestic terminal!

Award For Extreme Campness In A Security Official
Winner: Unnamed TSA man in Seattle airport.....
..... who took us to one side and explained in a serious tone that he wanted us to do something important when we returned to the UK. "You have to get the Spice Girls back together"!!

Most Outrageous Crime Award
Winner: The unknown individuals (at least three it appeared) who had taken books from the book exchange at the Cathay Hotel in Lautoka and replaced them with....... stolen Gideons Bibles!

Favourite 'Hotels' So Far
Not in any order
1- Jasper Inn
Jasper, Canada
2- Napoleon on Kent Apartments
Sydney, Australia
3- Rarotonga Backpackers
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
4- Greenhouse Backpacker
Melbourne, Australia
5- Tubakula Beach Bungalows
Coral Coast, Viti Levu, Fiji
6- Hotel Kaveka
Moorea, French Polynesia

The Top Ten
Of course this only takes us up until we left Australia, so it's the Top Ten for the first six months really. We've tried to narrow it down a bit and pick specific bits, rather than just saying something vague like 'The Rocky Mountains'. The links will take you to the photos or the blog page if you haven't already seen them (what do you mean you haven't read it all!!).

11- Monkey Mia, Western Australia
Sorry, we couldn't get the list down to ten! Photos here.
10- Bouma National Park, Taveuni, Fiji
Includes both the Marine Reserve and the Waterfalls. Photos here.
9- Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
If you don't want to walk all day catch the shuttle bus and walk the last section to Dove Lake. Photos here.
8- Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia
If you don't like diving or snorkelling there really isn't anything here. But if you do like getting in the water then go before it gets spoiled by too much development.
7- Hamelin Bay, Western Australia
Feeding stingrays on the beach. Photos here.
6- Moraine Lake & Peyto Lake, Alberta
If you've always liked the pictures on the front of guide books about Canada this is where to come. Photos here and here.
5- Sounds of Silence, Uluru
It's not cheap, but then nothing is at Uluru. Crocodile Ceasar Salad..... mmmmm....... Photos here.
4- Athabasca Glacier, Alberta
It's nice and sunny down in the car park, but make sure you put on plenty of layers before boarding the bus for the glacier! Photos here.
3- Rocky Mountaineer
Just as spectacular as it looks in the brochures. Save your pennies for just a little longer and go for the 'Gold Leaf' service, you'll get a far better view as well as the service. Photos here and here.
2- Glacier Point, Yosemite
Leave yourself plenty of time to take the 32 mile round trip to Glacier Point because once you get there you'll probably spend at least an hour gawping and taking pictures. Photos here.
1- The Grand Canyon
You've seen the pictures and read the books. You know it's going to be big. But somehow none of this prepares you for your arrival at the first lookout point. The IMAX at the park entrance shows a Grand Canyon film, DON'T watch it until after you've seen the real thing.
For sunset the bus goes as far west as Hopi Point. If you have time to walk the extra distance (we didn't) we were told that Mojave point is even better. No matter how cold it is get up for sunrise. Oh, and just hope it isn't cloudy on the days you visit. Photos here.