New Zealand

Luke booked us a wonderful trip to New Zealand to accompany his parents on part of their holiday out there. We landed at Auckland in the afternoon on Thursday 7th Feb and made a bee-line straight to the hire car they had arranged for exploring the North island.
I heave heard a lot about New Zealand's beauty from many people but nothing I have been told gave it anywhere near the justice it deserves.

View from The Duke of Wellington, Russell

The first stop was Bay of Islands, which we drove to via a beautiful scenic route along the winding coast and through stunning countryside. There's lush grass and tiny winding creeks down rolling hills in all directions. The roads are small but perfectly maintained - definite motorbike territory which I think Luke has every intention on following up at a later date.
I can see why they picked New Zealand countryside to film the Lord of the Rings, you can imagine people living in the hills as they are.

Long beach, Russell

We arrived in Russell, a small town in the Bay of Islands, at 9pm and ordered dinner straight away from the hotel restaurant. We stayed the night at The Duke of Marlborough (NZ's first licensed hotel). Luke and I sampled Kumara bread for dinner (Kumara is Maori for sweet potato) and followed it up with yummy locally caught fish accompanied by some lovely wine. It was such a novelty to stay in a hotel bed when we're so used to sleeping in Autumn - we definitely took advantage of the shower and certainly the complimentary tea bags over our short stay...

The next morning we explored Russell which was the first non-Maori town of New Zealand. There's probably only about a dozen shops on the high street and a handful of restaurants and cafes. We ventured to the end of the jetty and up to a look out point and then to the other side of the headland to Long Beach, which had the great view of all the islands.

We took the car ferry from Russell to cut out a good portion of the drive from the day before. Our next destination was Kumeu river, where Luke's parents had kindly booked us on a tour of the Kumeu River Wines. We met the son of the original founder and he walked us around the buildings. It was interesting to see a press for the first time and to learn about the wine making process a little more in-depth. Luke and I have got better at tasting (consuming) since our travels in Aus, so seeing how the wine is picked, pressed, barreled and bottled was very interesting.

Yum raspberry pavlova

A few glasses later we set off on our merry way back to Auckland where we stayed with Luke's godparents and very close family friends. They welcomed us with the most amazing food and wines and we stayed in their lovely house in Remuera, just outside Auckland centre.
The next morning Luke and I walked up part way to the local high-street. We were rescued part-way up the hill by Luke's godfather who drove us the rest of the way to pick up bread for breakfast. Remuera is a beautiful boutiquey suburb with lovely bakeries and organic food shops, cafes and clothes shops. It has beautiful views of the sea too. For lunch we hit the harbour and ate at Soul bar - we had an amazing lunch complete with New Zealand's signature pud, pavlova. A big thank you to Luke's godparents for their kind and generous hospitality. We may have to take them up on their invite back very soon indeed!

Luke's skydive

The next stop on our tour was Taupo. We arrived around 7.20pm at the Hilton (the Hilton!!?!), which was just enough time for me to run down and take pictures of the beautiful sunset over the lake.

My skydive

The next day we got a lift into Taupo with Luke's parents then walked back to the hotel in time to get picked up and taken to Skydive Taupo... Yep, we jumped. From 15,000 feet. And survived! Obviously.
We free fell for a whole minute with the most fantastic views of the lake and surrounding landscape and parachuted down in awe. Forget coffee... skydiving is where the morning buzz is!

After our skydive we all met up again and went out for an hour and a half on a chartered boat. The men (Luke and his father) reeled in 8 trout, three of which we kept for dinner. We went to a local restaurant with our trout and licenses and had them cooked up and accompanied with veggies, chips and wine. A perfect last supper, without a doubt.

Saying good bye at the airport the next day was hard. We're missing our families back home lots, despite all our frolicking. Lots of stories to tell when we see everyone! A big thank you again to Luke's parents for having us along on a wonderful holiday with them in Northern New Zealand. We will repay the favor as soon as we live in something a little larger than an airing cupboard!

Jervis Bay

Jervis Bay, NSW

We took a drive down in the camper to Jervis Bay on Friday 25th Jan, accompanied by my friend from the UK who came to stay in Manly and soak up the rays for a week and a half.
The drive was a little longer than we had anticipated but we broke it up with a little welcome break at a local winery we spotted en route! Anyone who reads my blog will know that Luke and I have become somewhat season pros (ha!?) at this wine tasting malarkey but it was a first for my friend and I think she appreciated the experience (free wine) as much as we do.

Kangaroo and Joey

Jervis Bay was on our 'to do' list whilst staying in NSW, primarily due to it's main claim to fame as having the some of the whitest sandy beaches in the world. It's also in the Lonely Planet Guide as a must see. Ticking these places off is extremely satisfying. Yes, we are lame like that.

Totem-pole

Jervis Bay is a large national park about 3 1/2 hours (in a 23 year old camper van) from Sydney. There are several bays, all with beautiful white sand and crystal blue water. There are lots of roos and wallabies hopping around the parkland and we even spotted a kangaroo carrying a joey in it's pouch.
After larking around on the beaches for a few hours we started the long drive back to the northern beaches, stopping only to scoff a takeaway pizza.

Sydney New Years 2013 & Field Day

Sydney Bridge fireworks from Vaucluse

We were especially lucky to receive an invite to our Aussie friend's house for New Years 2013.
The view of the fireworks from his balcony was breathtaking and made even more special by the angle from where we were situated. The light show reflected across the water of the harbour amongst the many hundreds of boats and their own little twinkling lights. We stood and watched the show in our short sleeves and sipping our whiskeys, decided we were in the best possible place to celebrate this coming year. We ate and drank with wonderful company and, with the many musicians present, made our own jams way into the following morning.
On 1st January 2013 Luke, I and our two friends went down to a very busy Bondi beach and lazed in the sun (the boys surfed) until interrupted by the shark alarm. We're both very happy to have spent the first day of 2013 in such an iconic location, all the way around the other side of the world.

Later on in the evening, we went to Field Day festival at the Domain (a large field next to the Royal Botanic Gardens). We watched The Vaccines, Two Door Cinema Club and Mark Ronson. We drank coffee, as we couldn't face any more alcohol and were impressed to have made it through on so little sleep. We caught the last ferry back to Manly and very slowly, made the 6km walk back to North Curl Curl, stopping to whinge at Freshwater momentarily.

Sydney Northern Beaches - Manly & Freshwater

One of the most popular spots on along the northern beaches is Manly. Famous for it's surfing and accompanying surf culture, it has been the most visited in our time here in Sydney.
We frequently walk the 5/6km route from North Curl Curl to Manly Corso (high-street) to enjoy the many restaurants and bars, supermarkets and cafes.

View from Manly Wharf

At the west end of Manly Corso lies the Wharf. Busy with all of Manly's boat traffic including the twice-hourly ferries to Sydney's Circular Quay, the Wharf also has mooring and anchoring for private boats in the harbour. Luke and I have enjoyed many a sunset/take-away dinner here and enjoyed spotting the little resident penguins!
 The harbour bay is very serene and peaceful, despite the frequent ferry traffic. There are also two little sandy beaches, one complete with shark nets, that the sun-worshipers flock to in sequence with the afternoon sun.
On the east end of the Corso is Manly beach. There are various bars, cafes and restaurants that line the beach, which is sandy (obviously) and about 2km long. Needless to say, packed with surfers... one of which now includes Luke and his (our!) recently purchased surfboard. 15/01/13.
Manly also has a few very great night clubs and bars that we have often visited. Our favorite is a small, atmospheric bar called Insitu - mostly every night there is a live acoustic band or artist and rather more importantly happy hour(s) from 4-7pm. They also do a mean apple crumble cocktail. I think I have provided this place with sufficient publicity already!

Luke in front of Insitu and Ground Zero cafe

There is also a great bar/club conglomeration on the Corso called 'The Steyne' which has a a good dozen bars all interlinking in a central courtyard. There are rum and cider bars upstairs too.

During the majority of December I was employed at a shop called Surf Dive Ski, in the middle of the Corso. I was rather conveniently scouted for the job whilst visiting a Billabong (part of the same GSM empire/monopoly of surf stores) shop on one of our first trips in to Sydney city centre. Unfortunately the lure of traveling (and sheer laziness - I am out of practice!?) didn't see my employment extend beyond December. Did you know, chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying? Fascinating!? No, I am not changing the subject.

Surfing at Freshwater on Christmas Eve

The walk from Curl Curl to Manly passes through Freshwater bay, a small sandy bay with, yet more, famous swell to sample. At each end of Freshwater is a large flight of stairs that we refer more aptly to as mountains - they require this mindset to climb them, trust me!
It was at Freshwater that we spent our Christmas eve, surfing with some great friends.

All in all, we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay an Sydney's Northern Beaches. When we arrive back from New Zealand on the 11th Feb, we will leave knowing that we have explored Sydney and it's surrounding areas to our best efforts and very ready to begin our travels up Australia's tourist trap, The East Coast!

Sydney City - Bondi

We have been so fortunate to have friends living near Bondi that have been the most obliging tour guides.
Bondi is one of Sydney's most famous tourist spots. The beach is probably the main attraction but the back streets are what's worth really exploring. There's great vintage clothing and food markets on the weekends and the actual shops that are there are amazing (and expensive). Pity I'm on a travelers budget really...
There's a beautiful cafe in Bondi that is also a library. You can order your coffee and cake and sit and borrow the books. The cafe is quite small with lots of little nooks and crannies you can hide yourself away in to enjoy your novel. It's very quaint.
There's great places to eat and an amazing organic food store... again, shame about the travelers budget!

Bondi beach from the rocks

Our friend and local resident took us along the Bondi to Bronte walk, via Tamarama. The most beautiful rugged rocks and crashing ocean below coupled with gale force winds was exactly what I needed to blow the last of my cobwebs out! The scenery throughout the walk was breathtaking and I can really see why this walk is famous. We stopped off for chai lattes in Bronte before our walk back to Bondi, where we saw a little penguin scrambling about on the rocks. So cute!

Tamarama beach

Luke bought his board from Bondi. With the help of our great friends, he got the most insane deal on a barely second-hand board, new board bag and leash, fins and traction pad. The store also threw in a load of sex wax... It's used on your surf board to make it less slippery.

Bronte beach

Needless to say Autumn is a bit tight for space now. Our night time routine not only involves the conversion of a dining area (!?!) to a bed and the removal of all junk to the front seats but also the CAREFUL and strategic placing of a 6'2" surfboard, as we don't yet have a roof rack and Luke isn't ready to banish his precious board to the outdoors yet... I have mentioned that it's waterproof, yes. Three is definitely a crowd. The only solution? To buy one for myself, of course!

We were at Bondi beach on New Years Day 2013. Luke and our friend were surfing (previous to Luke's board purchase so he had borrowed one) when the shark alarm sounded! Bondi beach on New Years Day was very busy, all the thousands of people looked like confetti. When the alarm went off it was really dramatic! All the people that were in the water were rushing out (aside the stubborn surfers - Luke not included!) and the remaining people on the beach were all standing to watch the commotion. Two helicopters circled and the life guards were patrolling up and down the beach pulling out the swimmers who were too far out. Pretty exciting stuff!